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ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNIC!
SEVENTH EDITION.
X
THE
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
OR
DICTIONARY
OF
ARTS, SCIENCES, AND GENERAL LITERATURE.
«
SEVENTH EDITION,
WITH PRELIMINARY DISSERTATIONS ON THE HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES,
AND
OTHER EXTENSIVE IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS;
INCLUDING THE LATE SUPPLEMENT,
A GENERAL INDEX,
AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
VOLUME II.
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH;
M.DCCC.XLII.
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A.
A THE first letter of the alphabet in every known
} language, the Ethiopic or Abyssinian alone excepted,
in which it is the thirteenth. Of the sixteen elementary
sounds of the human voice, that which is represented by
this initial letter is the simplest, and requires the least ex¬
ertion of the organs to produce it; for its enunciation is
effected by merely opening the mouth, and breathing, so
that the air propelled through the glottis may resound
audibly in the cavity of the mouth and nostrils. Hence
this sound is remarkable for its universality as well as
simplicity. Many of the lower animals possess the capa¬
city of uttering it, as every one must be sensible who has
attended to their distinguishing cries, in all, or at least in
many of which, it may be easily recognised. It is also the
basis, so to speak, of vocality; for, on attentive examina¬
tion, it will be found that the other vowels are little more
than labial, lingual, dental, or palatal modifications of this
primary, universal, and most elementary sound. It is not
without reason therefore that the symbol of this sound is
(with one solitary exception) placed at the commencement
of every known alphabet. Cicero seems to have disliked
the sound of this letter; for in his treatise De Oratore,
c. xlix. he denominates it insuavissima littera, probably on
account of the out-breathing or expiration necessary to
produce the sound of it; but, upon the same principle, the
other vowels ought also to have shared his displeasure,
seeing that they are merely modifications of this primary
aroiyiiov or element.
In the English language, A is the mark or symbol of
three different sounds, termed by grammarians the broad,
the open, and the slender; epithets, the two former of which
have an immediate reference to organic modification, as
well as to the impulse or volume of voice ; while the latter
seems to apply to the degree of intonation alone. Of
these varieties of sound, the first, which resembles that of
the German A, occurs in such monosyllables as hall, wall,
pall, thrall, where the a is pronounced in the same man¬
ner as au in cause ; that is, broad and long. The Saxons,
it is probable, expressed only this sound of the letter,
which is still commonly retained in the north of England,
and prevails universally throughout Scotland, the only
parts of the island where the genius and idiom of the
Saxon language have withstood modern innovations. The
open sound of A, again, resembles that of the Italian in
adagio and such like words, and is nearly the same with
that of a \n father, rather, &c. But the slender sound,
which is peculiar to the English language alone, is identi¬
cal with the sound of the French diphthong ai in such
words as mais, paix, gai, and is exemplified in hate, late,
waste, paste, place, race; as also in polysyllables, such as
toleration, justification, with many others which it is unne¬
cessary to specify. So much for the varieties of this
initial sound in English words. A, however, is sometimes
employed as an affix in burlesque poetry; in which case it
has no other effect than to add a syllable to the line, with¬
out any alteration of the sense, just as the vowel or inter¬
jection O very often does in our old ballads, and in some
modern imitations of them. It is also thought to be re¬
dundant and insignificative in such words as arise, awake,
aright, adoing, agoing. But this seems a mistake ; for the a
here used as a prefix, is probably the French abbreviation of
the Latin preposition ad ; and hence it appears to have an
intensive effect, adding to and strengthening the import of
the word with which it is combined. In the line, “ Arise,
awake, or be for ever fall’n,” it is evident that the words
“ arise, awake,” convey a meaning stronger in degree than
the simple words rise, wake would have done. The pre¬
positionary effect in such words as a-doing, a-going, is in¬
deed admitted by grammarians; but, if this be the case,
where is the distinction between these instances and a-rise,
a-wake, where the prefix is said to be redundant, except
that, by usage, it has coalesced in some measure with the
word to which it is prefixed ? In such compounds as afoot,
a-sleep, a-week, a-head, a-man, as well as when used before
local surnames, as Cornelius a Lapide, Thomas a Kempis,
Thomas a Bechet, nobody has ever doubted that the o is a
preposition. When a is used as an article, it is merely an
abbreviation of the old primary numeral one, one, and
consequently it has no plural signification. Thus a house,
a field, a ship, mean one house, one field, one ship; but as
it is not one of two, ten, or twenty houses, fields, or ships,
but of any number, however great or small, hence it be¬
comes in effect quite general and indefinite, or, in other
words, the opposite of the, which defines and limits the at¬
tention to something spoken of, pointed out, or referred to.
Among the ancients, A was a numeral letter, and stood
for 500, and when a dash was placed on the top, thus, A,
for ten times that number, or 5000. In the Julian calen-
2
A
A. dar it is the first of the seven Dominical Letters. Long
before the establishment of Christianity, it had been in use
among the Romans as one of the eight Litterce Nundinales ;
and it was in imitation of this usage that the Dominical
Letters were first introduced. Among logicians, the let¬
ter A is employed as a symbol or sign to denote an uni¬
versal affirmative, in contradistinction to an universal ne¬
gative proposition, in conformity with the following, which
is the first verse of a well-known distich:
Asserit a, negat e, sed universaliter ambae.
Thus, the first mode of the first figure, which is a syllogism
consisting of three universal affirmative propositions, is said
to be a syllogism in Barbara, a word in which the alphas
alone are significant, the repetition of that letter thrice de¬
noting so many of the propositions to be affirmative and
universal, conformably to the technical classification—
Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferio, dato primae.
In the public assemblies or comitia of the Romans the let¬
ter A was used in giving votes or suffrages. When a new
law was proposed, each voter received a couple of wooden
tallies or ballots, one of them marked with a capital A,
signifying Antique, q. d. antiquam volo ; and the other with
U. R., the initials of Uti Rogas. Those who were against
the proposed law, (or rogatio, as it was called) threw the
former of these into the urn ; meaning thereby / antiquate
it, I prefer the ancient law, and desire no innovations;
while such as were favourable to the bill, as we would call
it, threw in the latter, signifying, Be it as you desire, or I
vote for the measure you propose. A was also marked on
tadlies or tablets used in voting in criminal trials, and, stand¬
ing for Absolvo, denoted acquittal; whence Cicero, in his
speech for Milo, denominates it littera salutaris, or the
letter of acquittal. We may add, in explanation, that, on
criminal trials, three of these tallies or tablets were distri¬
buted to each of the judices, or persons constituting the
assize, by whom the accused was to be tried; one of them
marked with the letter A, absolvo, I acquit; another with
the letter C, {littera tristis) condemno, I condemn; and a
(| third with the letters N. L. non liquet, it is not clear. From
the number of ballots cast into the urn, those marked
with N. L. were deducted, and the praetor or magistratus
pronounced sentence of acquittal or condemnation, accord¬
ing as the A’s or the C’s were the more numerous. In
cases of equality the prisoner was absolved.
In ancient inscriptions, whether on marble, brass, or
stone, A stands for Augustus, Augustalis, ager, agit, aiunl,
aliquando, antique, assolet, aut; A A for Augusti, Au¬
gusta;, Aulus Agerius, ces alienum, ante audita, apud agrum,
aurum argentum ; AAA for Augusti when they are three
in number, and aurum, argentum, ces; and sometimes its
meaning can only be determined by the context of the in¬
scription. Isidore adds, that when this letter occurs after
the word miles, a soldier, it denotes him young {miles
adolescens). On the reverse of ancient medals, it indi¬
cates the place where they were struck, as Argos or
Athens; but on coins of a modern date, it is the mark
of the city of Paris, probably taken anagramwise from the
last letter of the word Lutetia.
A, as an abbreviation, is likewise of frequent occurrence
in the works of modern authors; as A. D. for anno Domini,
A. M. for artium magister, anno mundi, &c. The letter a
with a line above it thus, a, is used in medical prescriptions
for ana, of each ; and sometimes it is written thus, dd; for
example, met. sacchar, et mann. d vel dd ; that is,
take honey, sugar, and manna, of each one ounce. Put
to bills of exchange, A is, in England, an abbreviation of
accepted, and in France of accepte. It is likewise usual
A A L
with merchants to mark their sets of books with the letters Aa
A, B, C, &c. instead of the ordinary numerals, 1, 2, 3, &c. ||
A A A is the chemical abbreviation for amalgama or Aalborg.
amalgamation. (a.)
AA, a river of the province of Groningen, in the king¬
dom of the Netherlands, which runs into the Dollart. It
is distinguished by the name of Westerwolder Aa.
Aa, a river in the province of Overyssel. in the Nether¬
lands, that runs into the Zuyder Sea.
Aa, a river of the province of Antwerp, in the Nether¬
lands, which discharges its water into the Neethe.
Aa, a river of France, rising in the Pas de Calais; be¬
comes navigable for barges at StOmer ; and, after a course
of about forty miles, enters the sea at Gravelines. Two
canals are supplied from this river, that of Colme and of
Bourbough. Three small streams in Switzerland bear
the same name, one in Saxony, and one in Courland.
Aa, a river in the Russian government of Courland,
which rises in the eastern part of that province, and after
receiving the waters of the Sussy, the Eckau, the Pluten,
the Anz, and the Berse, enters the Dwina.
Aa, a river in the Russian province of Livonia, which
runs from east to south-west into the bay of Riga.
AAHUS, a little town of Germany, in the circle of
Westphalia and bishopric of Munster. It is the capital of
Aahus, a small district; has a good castle; and lies north¬
east of Coesfeldt. Long. 7. 1. E. Lat. 52. 10. N.
AALBORG, one of the four sees (stiffs) into which
the Danish kingdom, properly so called, to distinguish it
from the two provinces of Holstein Sleswick and Lauen-
burg, which are a part of Germany, is divided. The see
of Aalborg is the northernmost part of the peninsula of
Jutland, encompassed on the east, west, and north sides
by the ocean, and on the south bounded by the provinces
of Ribe, Aarhuus, and Wiborg. The extent is 2902 square
miles, or 1,857,280 English acres. The surface is gene¬
rally level, with on the northern part a succession of
lakes, that nearly extend from one side of the province to
the other. In the north-east and east part are some hills,
the highest of which attain the height of 1200 feet. The
agriculture is in a neglected state, and the manufactures
are in a still lower condition. The chief branch of indus¬
try is the fishing, especially for herrings, which, when
cured, are exported in large quantities. The see is di¬
vided into three amts or bailiwicks, comprehending 10
cities, 3 market towns, and 114 parishes. The inhabitants
amount to about 124,000: in the year 1814 the births
were 2756, and the deaths 1997. The whole of the po¬
pulation are of the Lutheran profession, and speak the
Danish language; but among the superior classes the
German is generally understood.
Aalborg, a city in Denmark, the capital of the
see of the same name. It is situated on the Lumfiord,
at the spot where the Oosterae joins it; is tolerably
fortified; contains a cathedral and several other public
buildings, with 830 houses, and 660d inhabitants. There
are manufactories of sugar, soap, snuff, chocolate, and
scythes, with several distilleries; but the woollen and
hosiery trades which formerly existed are nearly ex¬
tinct. The entrance to the harbour is such as to require
vessels drawing more than 10 feet of water to lighten be¬
fore they approach the city. The chief exports are her¬
rings, corn, wool, hides, tar, tallow, and corn spirits. It
is in Lat. 57. 2. 57. N., and Long. 9. 50. 36. E. The amt
or bailiwick of Aalborg, which is the best part of the see,
extends over 1088 square miles, of which three-fifths is
ploughed land, and the rest either heaths or morasses,
with some woods. It has 3 cities, 2 towns, 113 villages,
and 64,600 inhabitants.
.AAR
Aalen AALEN, a bailiwick in the circle of Jaxt, in the king-
11 dom of Wirtemherg. Its extent is 108 square miles, or
Aargau. 69,120 acres. It is watered by the river Kocher, has
--^v^^some lofty mountains in the southern part, and is most
abundantly wooded. It produces but little corn, and nei¬
ther fruit nor wine, but pastures a competent number of
cattle. There are some iron mines worked. Many arti¬
cles of wood-ware are produced, and some wool and cotton
are spun. It contains one city, one market town, and
190 smaller towns and villages, with 17,899 inhabitants.
Aalen, a city, the capital of the bailiwick of the same
name. Its chief trade is in woollens and in breweries,
and some cotton is spun. It contains 2370 inhabitants.
It is in Lat. 48. 47. 20. N. Long. 10. 7. 27. E.
AALSMEER, a town in the arrondissement of Am¬
sterdam, in the province of North Holland. It is near
the lake of Haarlem ; celebrated for its strawberries; con¬
tains 1811 inhabitants, employed in making cotton goods.
AALTEN, a town in the arrondissement of Zutphen,
and province of Gelderland, in the Netherlands, contain¬
ing 3524 inhabitants.
AAM, or Haam, a liquid measure in common use
among the Dutch, containing 128 measures called mingles,
each weighing nearly 36 ounces avoirdupois; whence the
Aam contains 288 English, and 148f pints Paris measure.
AAMADOT, a town of Norway, in the bailiwick of
Hedemarken and see of Aggerhuus. It is situated on the
river Glommen, has 2729 inhabitants, and some trade in
making woollen and cotton caps.
AAR, the name of two rivers; one in Switzerland, the
other in Westphalia, in Germany. It is also the name of
a small island in the Baltic.
AARASSUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of Pisidia,
in the Hither Asia, thought to be the Anassus of Pto¬
lemy.
AARAU, or Arau, a circle in the canton of Aargau,
in Switzerland, containing the city from which its name
is derived, and 12 other places, with 2260 houses and
11,820 inhabitants.
Aarau, the chief city of the canton of the same name,
on the banks of the river Aar, over which there is a
covered bridge. It is well built, paved, and, at night,
lighted. It has a handsome government house, a church,
a hospital, 427 dwellings, and 3100 inhabitants, who are
very industrious manufacturers. The chief pursuits are
making silk ribbons, spinning and weaving cotton, some
tanning and cutlery, bleaching, and casting cannon. It
is in Lat. 47. 23. 31. N. Long. 8. 4. 32. E.
AARBURG, a city in Switzerland, in the circle of Zofin-
gen, and canton of Aargau. It stands at the confluence of
the rivers Aar and Bigger, has a strongly fortified castle,
the only one in Switzerland, which is the depot for mili¬
tary stores. The city contains 154 houses, and 1000 in¬
habitants, who make cotton goods and hosiery.
AARDENBURG, a town in the arrondissement of
Middleburg, in the province of Zealand, in the kingdom of
the Netherlands, with 1376 inhabitant*.
AARGAU, or Argovia, one of the cantons of Swit¬
zerland. It was originally a part of Berne, but by ar¬
rangements begun in 1798, and continued in 1803, it was
erected into a separate and independent canton. It is
bounded on the north by the river Rhine, which divides
it from the duchy of Baden, on the east by Zurich, on
the south-east by Zug, on the south by Lucerne, on the
south-west by Berne, and on the west by Solothurn and
Basle. Its extent is about 600 square miles, and its divi¬
sions are into eleven circles, which are again subdivided
into forty-eight smaller ones. By the census taken in 1814,
the number of inhabitants appeared to be 143,960, and
AAR 3
they are supposed to have increased since that period. Aargau
Then the reformed Protestants were 75,279, and the Ca- ||
tholics 67,000, besides which there were about 1800 Jews. Aaron.
The greater part of the canton is either level or undu-^^^^-^
lating, but some of the mountains on the right bank of
the Aar are of the height of 2700 feet. The chief river
is the Rhine, which forms the boundary, and is navigable,
though, on account of shoals and rocks, with difficulty.
That river receives into it the water of the Aar, the Wig-
ger, the Suren, the Reuss, and the Limmath, as well as
that of many smaller brooks and rivulets. The climate is
milder than in most parts of Switzerland. In the valley
of the Aar figs and almonds ripen, and some wine is pro¬
duced. The principal occupation is husbandry. The
products are corn, wine, and some rape-oil, hemp, flax,
potatoes, wood, and turf, and all the common kinds of
cattle. Some iron is drawn from the mines by Tegerfel-
den. The trade consists in the export of corn and wine,
and of some cotton and half-cotton goods, silk ribbons,
cutlery, leather, straw hats, and some smaller wares.
The legislative power is in the greater council of 150,
and the smaller, of 13 members, exercise the executive.
These consist of half Catholics and half Protestants. In
each circle is an amtman or bailiff, and in each subdivi¬
sion a justice of the peace, from whom there is an appeal
to a supreme court, composed equally of Protestants and
Catholics. The contingent of men for the defence of the
confederation is 2410, and of money 48,200 francs. The
income of the canton is supposed to amount to 500,000
francs, arising from land, salt, and gun-powder monopoly,
tolls, and postage. The expenditure is 10,000 francs less
than the income.
AARHUUS, one of the sees {stiffs) into which Den¬
mark is divided. It is in the southernmost part of the
peninsula of Jutland. The extent is 1810 square miles,
or 1,158,400 acres. It is a level country, somewhat un¬
dulating, having on its coasts several indentions forming
bays, and in the exterior having several lakes, rivers, low
hills, and woods. The climate is considered to be the
best in Jutland. The greater part of the inhabitants are
engaged in cultivation, and produce more corn, potatoes,
and flax, than their consumption requires, and thus leave
a portion for exportation. The ecclesiastical bishopric of
Aarhuus differs from the political see. The latter is di¬
vided into two jurisdictions or bailiwicks, and 22 baronies
{herrerders) comprehending 7 cities, 253 parishes, and 69
noble domains and dwellings. The inhabitants amount to
88,000, many of whom are occupied in the fisheries, and
the females in spinning.
Aarhuus, one of the bailiwicks into which the see
of the same name in Denmark is divided. Its extent is
864 square miles, or 558,400 acres, comprehending 2
cities and 134 parishes, divided into 12 baronies, and
containing 42,100 inhabitants.
Aarhuus, a city, the capital of the see and of the
bailiwick of the same name. It is situated on the Cattegat,
in a low plain, where an inland lake empties itself into the
sea. The cathedral is a Gothic building, and the largest
church in Denmark. It contains 892 dwelling-houses,
and about 6000 inhabitants. The harbour is small, but
good and secure; and there are 46 vessels belonging to
the city, chiefly in the coasting trade, but lately have
gone on voyages to the West Indies. There are some
sugar-houses, tanneries, and snuff-mills. The chief ex¬
ports are corn, wool, and fish. It is in Lat. 56. 9. 35. N.
Long. 10. 8. E.
AARON, high-priest of the Jews, and brother to
Moses, was by the father’s side great-grandson, and by .
the mother’s, grandson of Levi. By God’s command he
AAR
Aaron
met Moses at the foot of Mount Horeb, and they went
i. together into Egypt to deliver the children of Israel. He
had a great share in a11 tllat Moses did f01, their deliver¬
ance. The Scriptures call him the prophet of Moses,
and he acted in that capacity after the Israelites had
passed oyer the Red Sea. He ascended Mount Sinai with
two of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of
the people; but neither he nor they went higher than half¬
way, from whence they saw the glory of God; only Moses
and Joshua went to the top, where they stayed forty days.
During their absence, Aaron, overcome by the people's
eager entreaties, set up the golden calf, which the Israel¬
ites worshipped by his consent. This calf has given rise to
various conjectures. Some Rabbis maintain that he did
not make the golden calf, but only threw the gold into
the fire, to get rid of the importunities of the people;
and that certain magicians who mingled with the Israelites
at their departure from Egypt, cast this gold into the
figure of a calf. According to some authors, the fear of
falling a sacrifice to the resentment of the people, by
giving a refusal, made Aaron comply with their desire:
and they allege also, that he hoped to elude their request,
by demanding of the women to contribute their ear-rings;
imagining they would rather choose to remain without a
visible deity, than be deprived of their personal orna¬
ments. This affair of the golden calf happened in the
third month after the Israelites came out of Egypt. In
the first month of the following year, Aaron was appoint¬
ed by God high-priest; which office he executed during
the time that the children of Israel continued in the wil¬
derness. He died upon Mount Hor, in the fortieth year
after the departure from Egypt, being then 123 years old;
a. m. 2522, of the Julian period 3262, before the Chris¬
tian era 1452.
Aaron, the Caraite, a learned Jew who flourished about
the year 1299. He left many works on the Old Testa¬
ment, among which there is one entitled H Commentary
on the Pentateuch, which has been much valued. It was
written in Hebrew, and printed in folio with a Latin
translation, at Jena, in 1710.
Aaron, another Caraite Jew, who lived in the 15th
century, wrote a concise Hebrew grammar, entitled The
Perfection of Beauty, which was printed at Constantinople
in 1581. F
Aaron and Julius, Saints, were brothers who suffer¬
ed martyrdom together, during the persecution under the
emperor Dioclesian, in the year 303, about the same time
with St Alban the first martyr of Britain. We are not
told what their British names were, it being usual with
the Christian Britons, at the time of baptism, to take new
names from the Greek, Latin, or Hebrew. Nor have we
any certainty as to the particulars of their death; only
that they suffered the most cruel torments. Two churches
were dedicated to the brothers, in which their bodies were
interred, at Caer-Leon, the ancient metropolis of Wales.
Aaron, or Haroun, Al Raschid, a celebrated caliph, or
Mahometan sovereign of the Saracen empire; whose his¬
tory is given under the article Bagdad.
AARSENS, Francis, Lord of Someldyck and Spyck,
one of the greatest negotiators of the United Provinces.
He was born at the Hague in 1572. His father, Cor¬
nelius Aarsens, was secretary to the States; and being
acquainted with Mr Mornay du Plessis, at the court of
William prince of Orange, he prevailed upon him to
take his son under him, with whom he continued some
years. John Olden Barneveldt, who presided over
the affairs of Holland and all the United Provinces,
sent him afterwards as resident into France, where he
learned to negotiate under those profound politicians
A B
Ab.
Henry IV., Villeroy, Jeanin, <Src. Soon after, he was Aarsens
invested with the character of ambassador, and was the H
first who was recognised as such by the French court.
He resided in France 15 years; during which time he re¬
ceived great marks of esteem from the king, who created
him a knight and baron; and for this reason he was re¬
ceived among the nobles of the province of Holland.
However, he became at length so odious to the French
court, that they desired to have him recalled. He was
afterwards deputed to Venice, and to several German and
Italian princes, upon occasion of the troubles in Bohemia.
He was the first of three extraordinary ambassadors sent
to England in 1620, and the second in 1641; in which
latter embassy he was accompanied by the lord of Brede-
rode as first ambassador, and Heemsvliet as third, to ne¬
gotiate the marriage of Prince William, son of the prince
of Orange, with a daughter of Charles I. He was like¬
wise ambassador extraordinary at the French court in
1624, at the beginning of Cardinal Richelieu’s administra¬
tion, who had a high opinion of him. His unpublished
memoirs of the negotiations in which he was engaged,
show him to have been one of the ablest men of his time,'
and worthy of the confidence and trust reposed in him by
his country. But his character is not altogether without
stain. His enmity to the Remonstrants was bitter and
unrelenting; and he is supposed to have greatly encou¬
raged the violent measures pursued by Prince Maurice
against the venerable Barneveldt, and to have been the prin¬
cipal adviser for assembling the persecuting synod of Dor¬
drecht. He died at a very advanced age; and his son, who
survived him, was reputed the wealthiest man in Holland.
AARWANGEN, a market town and chief place of a
small bailiwick (Amtsvoigter) in the canton of Berne, in
Switzerland.
AAS AR, in Ancient Geography, a town of Palestine, in
the tribe of Judah, situated between Azotus and Ascalon.
In Jerome’s time it was a hamlet.
A ASER ALD, a town of 1016 inhabitants, in the bailiwick
of Raabygdelauget, and see of Christiansand, in Norway.
AASI, a river called by the ancients sometimes the
Orontes, at others the Axius. It issues an insignificant
stream from Schebel at Schalk, and vastly increases its
water by the Jermut, the Keber, the Esurd, and other
rivers that rise on the eastern side of Mount Lebanon.
It then passes through the lakes Kades and Epamea,
thence takes a south-west course, and, augmented by the
water of the lake Antakia, enters the Mediterranean Sea
to the southward of Scanderoon.
AASTRUP, a town in the barony of Sender and
bishopric of Laalan, in the island Falster, belonging to
Denmark, containing 1033 inhabitants.
AB, the eleventh month of the civil year of the He¬
brews, and the fifth of their ecclesiastical year, which be¬
gins with the month Nisan. It answers to the moon of
July; that is, to part of our month of the same name,
and to the beginning of August: it consists of thirty days.
I he Jews fast on the first of this month, in memory of
Aaron s death; and on the ninth, because on that day
both the temple of Solomon, and that erected after the
captivity, were burnt; the former by the Chaldeans, and
the latter by the Romans. The same day is also remark¬
able among that people for the publication of Adrian’s
edict, wherein they were forbidden to continue in Judea,
or even to look back when at a distance from Jerusalem,
in order to lament the desolation of that city. The 18th
o the same month is also a fast among the Jews ; because
the lamp in the sanctuary was that night extinguished,
m the time of Ahaz. &
Ab, in the Syriac calendar, is the name of the last sum-
Aba
Aback.
ABA
mer month. The first day of this month they called
Suum-Miriam, the fast of the virgin, because the eastern
Christians fasted from that day to the fifteenth, which
^ was therefore called Fathr-Miriam, the cessation of the
fast of the virgin.
ABA (or rather Abau) Hanifah or Hanfa, sur-
named Al-Nooma, was the son of Thabet, and born at
Coufah, in the 80th year of the Hegira. He is the most
celebrated doctor of the orthodox Mussulmans, and his
sect is the most esteemed of the four which they indif¬
ferently follow. Almansor caused him to be imprisoned
at Bagdad, for having refused to subscribe to the opinion
of absolute predestination, which the Mussulmans call
Cadha; but afterwards Abou Joseph, who was the sove¬
reign judge or chancellor of the empire under the caliph
Hadi, brought his doctrine into such credit, that it be¬
came a prevailing opinion, That to be a good Mussulman
was to be a Hanifite. He died in the 150th year of the
Hegira, in the prison of Bagdad: and it was not till 335
years after his death, that Melick Schah, a sultan of the
Selgiucidan race, erected to his memory a magnificent
monument in the same city, and a college for his followers,
in the 485th year of the Hegira, and anno Christi 1092.
Aba, Abas, Abos, or Abus, in Ancient Geography, the
name of a mountain in Greater Armenia, situated between
the mountains Niphatos and Nibonis. According to
Strabo, the Euphrates and Araxes rose from this moun¬
tain ; the former running eastward, and the latter west¬
ward. It is in N. lat. 39i. an(j connects at its eastern ex¬
tremity with Mount Ararat.
Aba. See Ab^:.
Aba, Albon, or Ovon, a king of Hungary. He mar¬
ried the sister of Stephen I. and was elected king on the
deposition of Peter in 1041. The emperor Henry III.
preparing to reinstate Peter on the throne, Aba made an
incursion into his dominions, and returned loaded with
booty; but was next year obliged to make restitution, by
paying a large sum, in order to prevent a threatened in¬
vasion from the emperor. He indulged in great famili¬
arity with the lower class of the people; on account of
which, and his severity to their order, he became univer¬
sally odious to the nobility. The fugitive nobles, aided
by the emperor, excited a revolt against him. After a
bloody battle, Aba was put to flight; and was murdered
by his oyn soldiers in 1044, having reigned three years.
ABAC IE N U M, in Ancient Geography, a town of Sicily,
whose ruins are supposed to be those lying near Trippi, a
citadel on a high and steep mountain not far from Mes¬
sina. The inhabitants were called Abaccenini.
ABACINARE, or Abbacinare, in writers of the
middle age, a cruel species of punishment, consisting in
the blinding of the criminal, by holding a red-hot basin or
bowl of metal before his eyes.
ABACK (a sea term), the situation of the sails when
the surfaces are flatted against the masts by the force of
the wind. The sails are said to be taken aback when they
are brought into this situation, either by a sudden change
of the wind, or by an alteration in the ship’s course. They
are laid aback, to effect an immediate retreat, without
turning to the right or left; or, in the sea phrase, to give
the ship stem-way, in order to avoid some danger disco¬
vered before her in a narrow channel, or when she has
advanced beyond her station in the line of battle, or other¬
wise. The sails are placed in this position by slackening
their lee braces, and hauling in the weather ones; so that
Abacus.
ABA
the whole effort of the wind is exerted on the fore part Abacot
of their surface, which readily pushes the ship astern, un¬
less she is restrained by some counteracting force.
ABACOT, the name of an ancient cap of state worn
by the kings of England, the upper part whereof was in
the form of a double crown.
ABACTORS, or Abactores, a name given to those
who drive away, or rather steal, cattle by herds, or great
numbers at once; and are therefore very properly distin¬
guished from fares or thieves.
ABACUS, among the ancients, was a kind of cupboard
or buffet. Livy, describing the luxury into which the Ro¬
mans degenerated after the conquest of Asia, says they
had their abaci, beds, &c. plated over with gold.
Abacus, or Abaciscus, in Architecture, signifies the
superior part or member of the capital of a column, and
serves as a kind of crowning to both. Vitruvius tells us
the abacus was originally intended to represent a square
tile laid over an urn, or rather over a basket. The form
of the abacus is not the same in all orders: in the Tus¬
can, Doric, and Ionic, it is generally square; but in the
Corinthian and Composite, its four sides are arched in¬
wards, and embellished in the middle with some orna¬
ment, as a rose or other flower. Scammozzi uses abacus
for a concave moulding on the capital of the Tuscan pe¬
destal ; and Palladio calls the plinth above the echinus, or
boultin, in the Tuscan and Doric orders, by the same name.
Abacus is also the name of an ancient instrument for
facilitating operations in arithmetic. The exhibition of
numbers by counters appears happily fitted for unfolding
the principles of calculation. In the schools of ancient Grecian
Greece, the boys acquired the elements of knowledge by Abacus,
working on a smooth board with a narrow rim,—the
Abax; so named, evidently, from the combination of
A, B, F, the first letters of their alphabet, resembling, ex¬
cept perhaps in size, the tablet likewise called A, B, C,
on which the children with us used to begin to learn the
art of reading. The pupils, in those distant ages, were
instructed to compute, by forming progressive rows of
counters, which, according to the wealth or fancy of the
individual, consisted of small pebbles, of round bits of
bone or ivory, or even of silver coins. From the
Greek word for a pebble, comes the verb to com¬
pute. But the same board served also for teaching the
rudiments of writing and the principles of Geometry.
The Abax being strewed with green sand, the pulvis eru-
ditus of classic authors, it was easy, with a radius or small
rod, to trace letters, draw lines, construct triangles, or
describe circles.—Besides the original word A/3a£, the
Greeks had the diminutive A(3a,'/uov; and it seems very
probable, that this smaller board was commonly used for
calculations, while the larger one was reserved among
them for the purpose of tracing geometrical diagrams.
To their calculating board the ancients make frequent
allusions. It appears, from the relation of Diogenes
Laertius, that the practice of bestowing on pebbles an ar¬
tificial value, according to the rank or place which they
occupied, remounts higher than the age of Solon, the
great reformer and legislator of the Athenian common¬
wealth. This sagacious observer and disinterested states¬
man, who was, however, no admirer of regal government,
used to‘compare the passive ministers of kings or tyrants
to the counters or pebbles of arithmeticians, which are
sometimes most important, and at other times quite insig¬
nificant.1 iEschines, in his oration for the Crown, speak-
0
. 1 EXe>'s Tovg ro,S buvayivovg ffagafl-XjjcVoug sivui roug Yrjtpoig TAI2 EHI TUN AOrmiGN. xui yao ixeivuH
tmsrw ‘Tore ^ IIAEIU an/mimv, non os 'HTTfl. (Diog. Laert. in Vita Solonis.)
fi ABA
Abacus, ing of balanced accounts, says, that the pebbles were clear-
ed away, and none left.1 His rival, Demosthenes, repeat¬
ing his expression, employs further the verb avran\uv,
which means to take up as many counters as were laid
down. It is evident, therefore, that the ancients, in keep¬
ing their accounts, did not separately draw together the
credits and the debts, but set down pebbles for the for¬
mer, and took up pebbles for the latter. As soon as the
board became cleared, the opposite claims were exactly
balanced. We may observe, that the phrase to clear ones
scores or accounts, meaning to settle or adjust them, is
still preserved in the popular language of Europe, being
suggested by the same practice of reckoning with count¬
ers, which prevailed indeed until a comparatively late
period.
Roman The Romans borrowed their Abacus from the Greeks,
Abacus. and never aspired higher in the pursuit of science. To
each pebble or counter required for that board they gave
the name of calculus, a diminutive formed from calx, a
stone; and applied the verb calculate, to signify the ope¬
ration of combining or separating such pebbles or count¬
ers. Hence innumerable allusions by the Latin authors.
Ponere calculum—subducere calcidum, to put down a
counter, or to take it up; that is, to add or subtract; co-
care aliquid ad calculum, ut par sit ratio acceptorum et da-
torum—to submit any thing to calcidation, so that the ba¬
lance of debtor and creditor may be struck. The emperor
Helvius Pertinax, who had been taught, while a boy, the
arts of writing and casting accounts, is said, by Julius Ca-
pitolinus, to be litteris elementariis et calcido imbutus. St
Augustine, whose juvenile years were devoted to pleasure
and dissipation, acquaints us, in his extraordinary Con¬
fessions, that to him no song ever sounded more odious
than the repetition or cantio, that one and one make two,
and two and two make four. The use of the Abacus, call¬
ed sometimes likewise the Mensa Pythagorica, formed an
essential part of the education of every noble Roman
youth:
Nec qui abaco numeros, et secto in pulvere met a a
Scit risisse vafer. Peks. Sat. i. 131.
From Martianus Capella we learn that, as refinement
advanced, a coloured sand, generally of a greenish hue,
was employed to strew the surface of the abacus.
Sic abacum perstare jubet, sic tegmine glauco
Pandere pulvereum formarum ductibus sequor.
Lib. vii. De Arithmetica.
A small box or coffer, called a Loculus, having com¬
partments for holding the calculi or counters, was a ne¬
cessary appendage of the abacus. Instead of carrying a
slate and satchel, as in modern times, the Roman boy was
accustomed to trudge to school, loaded with his arithme¬
tical board, and his box of counters:
Quo pueri magnis e centurionibus orti,
Lcevo suspensi loculos tubulamque lacerto.
Horat. Sat. i. 6.
In the progress of luxury, tali, or dies made of
ivory, Avere used instead of pebbles, and small silver coins
came to supply the place of counters. Under the em¬
perors, every patrician living in a spacious mansion, and
indulging in all the pomp and splendour of eastern
princes, generally entertained, for various functions, a nu¬
merous train of foreign slaves or freedmen in his palace.
Of these, the librarius or miniculator, was employed in
c u s.
teaching the children their letters; but the notarius re- Abacus,
gistered expenses, the rationarius adjusted and settled
accounts, and the tabularius or calculator, working with
his counters and board, performed what computations
might be required. Sometimes these laborious combiners
of numbers were termed reproachfully canculones or cal-
cidones. In the fervour of operation, their gestures must
often have appeared constrained and risible.
Computat, ac cevet. Ponatur calculus, adsint
Cum tabula pueri.
Juv. Sat. ix. 40.
The nicety acquired in calculation by the Roman youth,
was not quite agreeable to the careless and easy temper
of Horace.
Romani puen longis rationibus assem
Discunt in parteis centum diducere. Dicat
Filius Albini, Si de quincunce remota est
Uncia, quid superet ? Poteras dixisse, Triens. Eu !
Rem poteris servare tuam. Redit uncia; quid fit ?
Semis.
Episl. ad Pisones.
It was a practice among the ancients to keep a diary,
by marking their fortunate days by a lapillus, or small
white pebble, and their days of misfortune by a black
one. Hence the frequent allusions which occur in the
Classics:
O diem laetum, notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo !
Plin. Epist. vi. 11.
 diesque nobis
Signandi melioribus lapiltis !
Mart. ix. 53.
Hunc, Macrine, diem numera meliore lapillo,
Qui tibi labentes apponit candidus annos.
Pers. Sat. ii. 1, 2.
To facilitate the working by counters, the construction
of the abacus was afterwards improved. Instead of the
perpendicular lines or bars, the board had its surface di¬
vided by sets of parallel grooves, by stretched wires, or
even by successive rows of holes. It was easy to move
small counters in the grooves, to slide perforated beads
along the wires, or to stick large nobs or round-headed
nails in the different holes. To diminish the number of
marks required, every column was surmounted by a short¬
er one, wherein each counter had the same value as five
of the ordinary kind, being half the index of the Denary
Scale. The abacus, instead of wood, was often, for the
sake of convenience and durability, made of metal, fre¬
quently brass, and sometimes silver. In the Plate en¬
titled Arithmetic, we have copied, from the third vo¬
lume of the Supplement added by Polenus to the im¬
mense Thesaurus of Graevius, two varieties of this instru¬
ment, as used by the Romans. They both rest on good
authorities, having been delineated from antique monu¬
ments,—the first kind by Ursinus, and the second by
Marcus Velserus. In the one, the numbers are repre¬
sented by flattish perforated beads, ranged on parallel
wires; and, in the other, they are signified by small round
counters moving in parallel grooves. These instruments
contain each seven capital bars, expressing in order units,
tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands,
and millions; and above them are shorter bars following
the same progression, but having five times the relative
value. \\ ith four beads on each of the long wires, and
1 Kcf,v xaJaoai uffiv ai Yri<poi, xou gr,div rregifi. (Demosthenes pro Corona.)
ABA
Abacus, one bead on every corresponding short wire, it is evident
that any number could be expressed, as far as ten millions.
In all these, the Denary Scale is followed uniformly;
but there is, besides, a small appendage to the arrange¬
ment founded on the Duodenary System. Immediately
below the place of units is added a bar, with its cor¬
responding branch, both marked 0, being designed to
signify ounces, or the twelfth parts of a pound. Five
beads on the long wire, and one bead on the short wire,
equivalent now to six, would therefore denote eleven
ounces. To express the simpler fractions of an ounce,
three very short bars are annexed behind the rest; a
bead on the one marked S or 3, the contraction for Se-
missis, denoting half an ounce; a bead on the other,
which is marked by the inverted 3, the contraction for
Sicilicum, signifying the quarter of an ounce ; and a bead
on the last very short bar, marked 2, a contraction for
the symbol ^ or Bince Sextulce, intimating a duella or
two-sixths, that is, the third part of an ounce. The second
form of the abacus differs in no essential respect from the
first, the grooves only supplying the place of parallel
wires.
We should observe that the Romans applied the same
word abacus, to signify an article of luxurious furniture,
resembling in shape the arithmetical board, but often
highly ornamental, and destined for a very different pur¬
pose,—the relaxation and the amusement of the opulent.
It was used in a game apparently similar to that of chess,
which displayed a lively image of the struggles and vicis¬
situdes of war. The infamous and abandoned Nero took
particular delight in this sort of play, and drove along the
surface of the abacus with a beautiful quadriga, or cha¬
riot of ivory.
The civil arts of Rome were communicated to other
nations by the tide of victory, and maintained through
the vigour and firmness of her imperial sway. But the
simpler and more useful improvements survived the wreck
of empire, among the various people again restored by
fortune to their barbarous independence. In all transac¬
tions wherein money was concerned, it was found conve¬
nient to follow the procedure of the Abacus, in represent¬
ing numbers by counters placed in parallel rows. During
the middle ages, it became the usual practice over Europe
for merchants, auditors of accounts, or judges appointed
to decide in matters of revenue, to appear on a covered
bank or bench, so called, from an old Saxon or Franconian
word, signifying a seat. Hence those terms were after¬
wards appropriated to offices for receiving pledges, cham¬
bers for the accommodation of money-dealers, or courts
for the trying of questions respecting property or the
claims of the Crown. Hence also the word bankrupt,
which occurs in all the dialects of Europe. The term
scaccarium, from which was derived the French, and
thence the English name for the Exchequer, anciently
signified merely a chess-board, being formed from scaccum,
denoting one of the movable pieces in that intricate
game. The reason of this application of the term is suf¬
ficiently obvious. The table for accounts was, to facilitate
the calculations, always covered with a cloth, resembling
the surface of the scaccarium or abacus, and distinguished
by perpendicular and chequered lines. The learned Skene
was therefore mistaken in supposing that the Exchequer
C U S. 7
derived its name from the play of chess, because its Abacus,
suitors appear to fight a keen and dubious battle.1
The Court of Exchequer, which takes cognizance of all Exchequer
questions of revenue, was introduced into England by the Board, and
Norman conquest. Richard Fitznigel, in a treatise orother Con-
dialogue on the subject, written about the middle of the trivances.
twelfth century, says that the scaccarium was a quadran¬
gular table about ten feet long and five feet broad, with a
ledge or border about four inches high, to prevent any
thing from rolling over, and was surrounded on all sides
by seats for the judges, the tellers, and other officers. It
was covered every year, after the term of Easter, with
fresh black cloth, divided by perpendicular white lines, or
distinctures, at intervals of about a foot or a palm, and
again parted by similar transverse lines. In reckoning,
they proceeded, he says, according to the rules of arith¬
metic,2 using small coins for counters. The lowest bar
exhibited pence, the one above it shillings, the next
pounds; and the higher bars denoted successively tens,
twenties, hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands of pounds;
though, in those early times of penury and severe eco¬
nomy, it very seldom happened that so large a sum as the
last ever came to be reckoned. The first bar, therefore,
advanced by dozens, the second and third by scores, and
the rest of the stock of bars by the multiples of ten. The
teller sat about the middle of the table ; on his right hand
eleven pennies were heaped on the first bar, and a pile of
nineteen shillings on the second; while a quantity of
pounds was collected opposite to him, on the third bar.
For the sake of expedition, he might employ a different
mark to represent half the value of any bar, a silver penny
for ten shillings, and‘a gold penny for ten pounds.
In early times, a chequered board, the emblem of cal¬
culation, was hung out, to indicate an office for changing
money. It was afterwards adopted as the sign of an inn
or hostelry, where victuals were sold, or strangers lodged
and entertained. We may perceive traces of that ancient
practice existing even at present. It is customary in
London, and in some provincial towns, to have a chequer,
diced with red and white, painted against the sides of the
door of a chop-house.
The use of the smaller abacus in assisting numerical
computation was not unknown during the middle ages.
In England, however, it appears to have scarcely entered
into actual practice, being mostly confined to those “ slen¬
der clerks” who, in such a benighted period, passed for
men of science and learning. The calculator was styled,
in correct Latinity, abacista; but, in the Italian dialect,
abbachista, or abbachiere. A different name came after¬
wards to be imposed. The Arabians, who, under the ap¬
pellation of Saracens or Moors, conquered Spain, and en¬
riched that insulated country by commendable industry
and skill, had likewise introduced their mathematical
science. Having adopted a most refined species of nume¬
ration, to which they gave the barbarous name of algaris-
mus, algorismus, or algorithmus, from the definite article
al, and the Greek word or number, this compound
term was adopted by the Christians of the West, in their
admiration of superior skill, to signify calculation in gene¬
ral, long before the peculiar mode had become known and
practised among them. The term algarism was corrupted
in English into augrim or awgrym, as printed by Wynkyn
1 “ Because mony persons conveenis in tbe Checker to playe their causes, contrare uthers, as gif thev were fechtand in an arraved
battell, quilk is the forme and ordour of the said playe.” (Skene, ad voc. Scaccarium.)
* He calfs it Arismetica: In the Myrrourof the Worlde, printed by Caxton, in 1481, it is strangely named Ars Metrike a proof of
the total ignorance of Greek at that period in England.
ABACUS.
8
Abacus, de Worde, at the end of the fifteenth century; and appli-
ed even to the pebbles or counters used in ordinary cal¬
culation. In confirmation of this remark, we shall not
scruple to quote a passage from our ancient poet Chaucer,
who flourished about a century before, and whose verses,
however rude, are sometimes highly graphic.
This clerk was cleped bendy Nicholas;
Of derne love he coude and of solas;
And therto he was slie and ful prive.
And like a maiden meke for to se.
A chambre had he in that hostelrie
Alone, withouten any compagnie,
Ful fetisly ydighfc with herbes sote,
And he himself was swete as is the rote
Of licoris, or any setewale.
His almageste, and bokes gret and smale,
His astrelabre, longing for his art,
His augrim stones, layen faire apart
On shelves couched at his beddcs hed.
His presse ycovered with a falding red.
And all above ther lay a gay sautrie,
On which he made on nightes melodie,
So swetely, that all the chambre rong :
And Angelus ad virginem he song.
And after that he song the kinge’s note;
Ful often blessed was his mery throte.
The Milleres Tale, v. 13-32.
The abacus, with its store of counters, wanted the valu¬
able property of being portable, and was at all times evi¬
dently a clumsy and most incommodious implement of cal¬
culation. In many cases, it became quite indispensable
to adopt some sure and ready method of expressing at
BigitalNu-least the lower numbers. The ancients employed the
meration. variously combined inflections of the fingers on both hands
to signify the numerical series, and on this narrow basis
they framed a system of considerable extent. In allusion
to the very ancient practice of numbering by the arbitrary
play of the fingers, Orontes, the son-in-law of Artaxerxes,
having incurred the weighty displeasure of that monarch,
is reported by Plutarch to have exclaimed in terms exact¬
ly of the same import as those before ascribed to Solon,
that “ the favourites of kings resemble the fingers of the
arithmetician, being sometimes at the top and sometimes
at the bottom of the scale, and are equivalent at one time
to ten thousand, and at another to mere units;’1
Among the Romans likewise, the allusions to the mode
of expressing numbers by the varied inflection of the
fingers, are very frequent. Hence the classical expres¬
sions, computare digitis, and numerare per digitos; and
hence the line of Ausonius,
Quot ter luctatus cum pollice computat index.
In this play of the fingers great dexterity was acquired ;
and hence the phrase which so frequently occurs in the
Classics—micare digitis. It was customary to begin with
the left hand, and thence proceed to the right hand, on
which the different combined inflections indicated exactly
one hundred times more. Hence the peculiar force of
this passage from Juvenal:
Rex Pylius, magno si quicquam credis Homero,
Exemplum vitae fuit a cornice secundae ;
Felix nimirum, qui tot per saecula mortem
Distulit, atque sups jam dextra computat annos.
Sat. x. 246-249.
Many such allusions to the mode of indicating numbers
by the varied position of the fingers or the hands, occur
in the writings of Cicero and Quintilian. The ancients,
indeed, for want of better instruments, were tempted to Abacus,
push that curious art to a very great extent. By a single
inflection of the fingers of the left hand, they proceeded
as far as ten ; and by combining another inflection with it,
they could advance to an hundred. The same signs on
the right hand, being augmented, as we have seen, an
hundredfold, carried them as far as ten thousand ; and by
a further combination, those signs, being referred succes¬
sively to different parts of the body, were again multiplied
an hundred times, and therefore extended to a million.
This kind of pantomime outlived the subversion of the
Roman empire, and was particularly fitted for the slothful
religious orders who fattened on its ruins, and, relinquish¬
ing every manly pursuit, recommended silence as a virtue,
or enjoined it as an obligation. Our venerable Bede has
explained the practice of manual numeration at some
length ; and we have given (see Plate Arithmetic) a
small specimen of such inflections and digital signs.
These signs were merely fugitive, and it became neces¬
sary to adopt other marks, of a permanent nature, for the
purpose of recording numbers. But of all the contrivances
adopted with this view, the rudest undoubtedly is the
method of registering by tallies, introduced into England
along with the Court of Exchequer, as another badge of
the Norman conquest. These consist of straight well-
seasoned sticks, of hazel or willow, so called from the
French verb tailler, to cut, because they are squared at
each end. The sum of money was marked on the side
with notches, by the cutter of tallies, and likewise inscrib¬
ed on both sides in Roman characters, by the writer of
the tallies. The smallest notch signified a penny, a larger
one a shilling, and one still larger a pound; but other
notches, increasing successively in breadth, were made to
denote ten, a hundred, and a thousand. The stick was
then cleft through the middle by the deputy-chamberlains,
with a knife and a mallet; the one portion being called
the tally, or sometimes the scachia, stipes, or kancia ; and
the other portion named the countertally, or folium.
After the union with Scotland had been concluded in
1707, a store of hazel rods for tallies was sent down to
Edinburgh, being intended, no doubt, as a mighty refine¬
ment on the Scottish mode of keeping accounts. Their
advantages, however, were not perceived or acknowledged,
and they have since been suffered, we believe, to lie as so
much useless lumber. But the case is very different in
England, where a blind antWslavish attachment to ancient
forms, however ridiculous they may through time have
become, is almost constantly opposed to the general pro¬
gress of society. Were a sensible traveller from India or
China to visit our metropolis, and report, on his return
home, that a nation highly polished, enlightened, and
opulent, yet keep their accounts of the public revenue,
surpassing annually many millions of pounds, by means of
notches cut on willow rods,—he would certainly not be
credited, but supposed to use the licence of substituting
a description of the practice of the most savage tribes of
the American Continent.
The Chinese have, from the remotest ages, used in all Chinese
their calculations, an instrument called the Swan-Pan, or Swan-Pan.
Computing Table, similar in its shape and construction to
the abacus of the Romans, but more complete and uni¬
form. It consists of a small oblong board surroqnded by
a high ledge, and parted lengthwise near the top by an¬
other ledge. It is then divided vertically by ten smooth
and slender rods of bamboo, on which are strung two
1 KaSacrep o! ror; AAKTTAOI m ytv MTPIAAA2, h MONAAA r.Qtm, bumnu,. to auro xa/
tpiAoug, m [Xiv ro nav ovvaedou, m be rovAa^isrov. (Plut. Apophthegm.)
ABA
Abacus small balls of ivory or bone in the upper compartment,
II and five such balls in the lower and larger compartment;
each of the latter on the several bars denoting unit, and
each of the former, for the sake of abbreviation, express¬
ing five. See Plate (Arithmetic), where the balls are
actually set to signify the numbers annexed.
The system of measures, weights, and coins, which pre¬
vails throughout the Chinese empire, being entirely
founded on the decimal subdivision, the swan-pan was
admirably suited for representing it. The calculator
could begin at any particular bar, and reckon with the
same facility either upwards or downwards. This advan¬
tage of treating fractions exactly like integers was, in
practice, of the utmost consequence. Accordingly, those
arithmetical machines, but of very different sizes, are
constantly used in all the shops and booths of Canton
and other cities, and are said to be handled by the native
traders with such rapidity and address as quite astonish
the European factors.
But the Chinese have also contrived a very neat and
simple kind of digital signs for denoting numbers, greatly
superior, both in precision and extent, to the method
practised by the Romans. Since every finger has three
joints, let the thumb-nail of the other hand touch those
joints in succession, passing up the one side of the finger,
down the middle, and again up the other side, and it will
give nine different marks, applicable to the Denary Scale
of arrangement. On the little finger those marks signify
units, on the next finger tens, on the mid-finger hundreds,
on the index thousands, and on the thumb hundred thou¬
sands. With the combined positions of the joints of the
one hand, therefore, it was easy to advance by signs as
far as a million. To illustrate more fully this ingenious
practice, we have, immediately below the koua of the
Emperor Fou-hi, copied (See Plate), from a Chinese
elementary treatise of education, the figure of a hand,
noted at the several joints of each finger, by characters
along the inside, corresponding to one, two, and three,
down the middle by those answering \.o four, five, and six,
and again up the outside by characters expressing seven,
eight, and nine. It is said that the merchants in China are
accustomed to conclude bargains with each other by help
of those signs; and that often, from selfish or fraudulent
views, they conceal the pantomime from the knowledge
of by-standers, by only seeming to seize the hand with
a hearty grasp. , (B.)
Abacus Pythagoricus, the common multiplication table,
so called from its being invented by Pythagoras.
Abacus Logisticus is arectangled triangle, whose sides,
forming the right angle, contain the numbers from 1 to
60; and its area, the facta of each two of the numbers
perpendicularly opposite. This is also called a canon of
sexagesimals.
Abacus et Palmulce, in the Ancient Music, denote the
machinery whereby the strings of polyplectra, or instru¬
ments of many strings, were struck with plectra made
of quills.
Abacus Harmonious is used by Kircher for the struc¬
ture and disposition of the keys of a musical instrument,
whether to be touched with the hands or the feet.
Abacus Major, in metallurgic operations, the name of
a trough used in the mines, wherein the ore is washed.
ABADDON, is the name which St John in the Reve¬
lation gives to the king of the locusts, the angel of the
bottomless pit. The inspired writer says this word is
Hebrew, and in Greek signifies a destroyer. That angel-
king is by some thought to be Satan or the devil; but Mr
k^erC Hammond, that by the locusts
which came out of the abyss, may be understood the
VOL. II.
ABA
9
zealots and robbers, who miserably afflicted the land of Abaddon
Judea, and laid it in a manner waste, before Jerusalem II
was taken by the Romans; and that Abaddon, the king AbanUla.
of the locusts, may be John of Gischala, who having treach-V i
erously left that town a little before it was surrendered
to Titus, came to Jerusalem, where he soon headed part
of the zealots, who acknowledged him as their king, whilst
the rest would not submit to him. This subdivision of
the zealot party brought a thousand calamities on the
Jews.
ABADIR, a title which the Carthaginians gave to gods
of the first order. In the Roman mythology, it is the
name of a stone which Saturn swallowed, by the contriv¬
ance of his wife Ops, believing it to be his new-born son
Jupiter: hence it became the object of religious worship.
AB7E, or Aba, in Ancient Geography, a town of Phocis
in Greece, near Helicon ; famous for an oracle of Apollo
older than that at Delphi, and for a rich temple which
was plundered and burnt by the Persians.
ABAFT, a sea term, signifying the hinder part of a
ship, or all those parts both within and without which lie
towards the stern, in opposition to afore. Abaft is also
used as a preposition, and signifies farther aft, or nearer the
stern: as, the barricade stands abaft the main-mast, i. e.
behind it, or nearer the stern.
ABAGAITOUYES, a village or settlement of Asiatic
Russia, in the circle of Nertschinsk and government of Ir-
kuzk. Eat. 49. 34. 19. N. Long. 118. 10. 30. E.
ABAISSED, abaisse, in Heraldry, an epithet applied
to the wings of eagles, &c. when the tip looks downwards
to the point of the shield, or when the wings are shut;
the natural way of bearing them being extended.
ABAKA, khan, the eighth emperor of the Moguls, a
wise and good prince, ascended the throne in 1264. He
reigned 17 years, and is by some authors said to have
been a Christian. It may be admitted, indeed, that he
joined with the Christians in keeping the feast of Easter,
in the city Hamadan, a short time before his death. But
this is no proof of his Christianity; it being common, in
times of brotherly love, for Christians and Mahometans to
join in keeping the same feasts, when each would compli¬
ment the other with doing honour to his solemnity.
ABAKANSK, a range of mountains in the government
of Tomsk, in Siberia, extending from the river Tom to the
Jenisei, parallel to the Altai mountains.
Abakansk, a fortified town of Asiatic Russia, in Sibe¬
ria, comprehended within the government of Tomsk. It
was built in 1707, and has since been fixed on as the seat
of the courts of justice. Its population is about 1200
souls. Lat. 54. N. Long. 91. 14. E.
AB ALIENATION, in Law, the act of transferring
one man’s property to another.
ABALLABA, the ancient name of Appleby, a town
in Westmoreland, remarkable only for its having been a
Roman station.
ABALUS, in Ancient Geography, is described by the
ancients as an island in the German Ocean, where amber
was found in great abundance. It was also called Rau-
nonia, and is supposed by Mannert, a learned German
writer, to be the narrow peninsula on the Prussian coast
which lies betwixt the Baltic and the lakes called the
Frisch and Curisch Haffs.
ABANA, or Amana, in Ancient Geography, a river of
Phoenicia, which, rising from Mount Hermon, passed on
the south side of Damascus, and fell into the lake now
called Bahr el Margi.
ABANGA. See Ady.
ABANILLA, a town in the province and department
of Murcia, in Spain.
10
ABA
Abano
Abaris.
ABANO, a town in the Austrian division of Italy, situ¬
ated under the Euganian hills. It is celebrated for its
warm baths, of which there are five, viz. Fonte d’Abano,
Mont-Ortone, St Pietro, Monte Gratto, and St Barteolo-
mo, and a mud bath, Bagno di Fango. It contains 2570 in¬
habitants.
ABANTES, a people who came originally from Thrace,
and settled in Phoces, a country of Greece, where they
built a town which they called Aha, after the name of
Abas their leader; and if we may credit some ancient
authors, the Abantes went afterwards into the island
Euboea, now called Negropont: others say the Abantes of
Euboea came from Athens. The Abantes were a very
warlike people, closing with their enemies, and fighting
hand to hand.
ABANTIAS, or Abantis, in Ancient Geography, a
name of the island Euboea in the Egean Sea, extending
about 100 miles along the coast of Greece, and separated
from Bceotia by a narrow strait called Euripus. From its
length the island was formerly called Maoris ; afterwards
Abantias or Abantis, from the Abantes, a people original¬
ly of Thrace, called by Homer omekv Koyouvng, from wear¬
ing their hair long behind, having in a battle experienced
the inconvenience of wearing long hair before. ' From
cutting their hair before, they were called Curetes.
ABANY, a market town in the Austrian kingdom of
Hungary, in the palatinate of Pest, and in the circle of
Kecskemet, with one Catholic and one Reformed church.
ABAPTISTON, in Surgery, the perforating part of
the instrument called a trepan. This instrument, which
is mentioned by Galen, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, and
others, was a conical saw with a circular edge. Modern
practitioners, however, prefer the cylindrical form; and
various contrivances have been recommended to obviate
the danger that may arise from want of dexterity, or from
rashness, in performing the operation of trepanning. A
new instrument has been lately invented for this purpose.
This instrument is so contrived, that it can be fitted to
cut any thickness of bone without danger of injuring the
brain; and as no pivot or centre pin is necessary, the
dreadful accidents which have sometimes happened by
not removing it, when the instrument in common use is
employed, are completely avoided. (See Philosoph. Mag.
April 1802.)
ABAKAN, a small town in the department of Ziezar,
and province of Murcia, in Spain.
ABARCA, an ancient kind of shoe used in Spain for
passing the mountains with. It was made of raw hides,
and bound with cords, which secured the feet of travellers
against the snow.
ABARIM, high mountains of steep ascent separating
the country of the Ammonites and Moabites from the
land of Canaan, where Moses died. According to Jose¬
phus, they stood opposite to the territory of Jericho, and
were the last station but one of the Israelites coming from
Egypt. Nebo and Pisgah were parts of these mountains.
ABARIS, the Hyperborean, a celebrated sage of anti¬
quity, whose history and travels have been the subject of
much learned discussion. Such a number of fabulous
Jamblichi stories1 were told of him, that Herodotus himself seems
Vita Py- to scruple to relate them. He tells us only,2 that this
barbarian was said to have travelled with an arrow, and to
have taken no sustenance ; but this does not acquaint us
with the marvellous properties which were attributed to
that arrow; nor that it had been given him by the Hy¬
perborean Apollo. With regard to the occasion of his
•Under the leaving his native country, Harpocration3 tells us, that
word Afog/f. the whole earth being infested with a deadly plague,
Apollo, upon being consulted, gave no other answer than
thag.
2 Ub. iv.
cap. 36.
ABA
that the Athenians should offer up prayers in behalf of all Abaris
other nations ; upon which, several countries deputed am- II .
bassadors to Athens, among whom was Abaris the
perborean. In this journey, he renewed the alliance be¬
tween his countrymen and the inhabitants of the island
of Delos. It appears that he also went to Lacedaemon;
since according to some writers,4 he there built a temple4Pausanias
consecrated to Proserpine the Salutary. It is asserted, lib.94.
that he was capable of foretelling earthquakes, driving
away plagues, laying storms,5 &c. He wrote several8Porphyry
books, as Suidas6 informs us, viz. Apollo’s arrival in the in VitaPy.
country of the Hyperboreans; the nuptials of the river
Hebrus; Gtoyov/a, or the Generation of the Gods; a col-the °o”
lection of oracles, &c. If the Hebrides, or Western
islands of Scotland, (says Mr Toland7) were the Hyper-y Account
boreans of Diodorus,0 then the celebrated Abaris was of of the
that country; and likewise a Druid, having been the priest Urukls, in
of Apollo. Suidas, who knew not the distinction of thellls />oMu-
insular Hyperboreans, makes him a Scythian ; as do some jfrar/(S
others, misled by the same vulgar error ; though Diodorus vop j, ’
has truly fixed his country in an island, and not on the con-p. 161.
tinent. Indeed (continues Mr Toland) the fictions and8 Diod. Sic.
mistakes concerning our Abaris are infinite : however, it^b. ii. iii.
is agreed by all that he travelled quite over Greece, and
from thence into Italy, where he conversed familiarly
with Pythagoras, who favoured him beyond all his dis¬
ciples, by instructing him in his doctrines (especially his
thoughts of nature) in a plainer and more compendious
method than he did any other. This distinction could
not but be very advantageous to Abaris. The Hyper¬
borean, in return, presented the Samian, as though he
equalled Apollo himself in wisdom, with the sacred arrow
on which the Greeks have fabulously related9 that he 2 J.-.mb-
sat astride, and flew upon it, through the air, over rivers hchi Vita
and lakes, forests and mountains; in like manner as our
vulgar still believe, particularly those of the Hebrides, P"
that wizards and witches fly whithersoever they please on
their broom-sticks. The orator Himerius above mention¬
ed, though one of those who, from the equivocal sense •
of the word Hyperborean, seem to have mistaken Abaris
for a Scythian, yet describes his person accurately, and
gives him a very noble character. “ They relate,” says
he, “ that Abaris the sage was by nation a Hyperbo¬
rean, appeared a Grecian in speech, and resembled a
Scythian in his habit and appearance. He came to Athens
holding a bow in his hand, having a quiver hanging on his
shoulders, his body wrapt up in a plaid, girt about the loins
with a gilded belt, and wearing trousers reaching from
his v/aist downward.” By this it is evident (says Mr
Toland) that he was not habited like the Scythians, who
were always covered with skins ; but appeared in the na¬
tive garb of an aboriginal Scot.
ABARTICULATION, in Anatomy, a species of arti¬
culation, admitting of a manifest motion ; called also Di¬
arthrosis, and Dearticulatio, to distinguish it from that sort
of articulation which admits of a very obscure motion, and
is called Synarthrosis.
ABAS, a weight used in Persia for weighing pearls. It
is one-eighth less than the European carat.
Abas, in heathen mythology, was the son of Hypothoon
and Meganira, who entertained Ceres, and offered a sacrifice
to that goddess; but Abas ridiculing the ceremony, and giv¬
ing her opprobrious language, she sprinkled him with a
certain mixture she held in her cup, on which he became
a newt or water lizard.
ABASCIA, or Abcassia, the northern district of the
western division of Georgia, situated on the coast of the
Black Sea, and tributary to the Turks. The inhabitants
trade in furs, tiger-skins, linen yarn, boxwood, and bees’
ABA ABA 11
Abansi wax; but their principal traffic consists in the sale of
|| their own children to the Turks, and to one another.
Abatos. They have the name of Christians, but have nothing left
'^v^x*>,but the name, any more than the Mingrelians their north¬
ern neighbours.
ABASSI, or Abassis, a silver coin current in Persia,
equivalent in value to a French livre, or tenpence half¬
penny sterling. It took its name from Schah Abbas II.
king of Persia, under whom it was struck.
ABASSUS, in Ancient Geography, a town of the
Greater Phrygia, on the confines of the Tolistobagii, a
people of Galatia in Asia.
ABASTAS, a town in the department of Carrion, and
pr : vince of Toro, in Spain.
ABATAMENTUM, in Law, is an entry to lands by
interposition, i. e. when a person dies seized, and another
who has no right enters before the heir.
ABATE, in the manege, implies the performing any
downward motion properly. Thus a horse is said to abate
or take down his curvets, when he puts both his hind legs
to the ground at once, and observes the same exactness in
all the times.
To Abate, (from the French abattre, to pull down,
overthrow, demolish, batter down, or destroy,) a term
used by the writers of the English common law both in
an active and neuter sense ; as, To abate a castle, is to
beat it down. To abate a writ, is, by some exception, to
defeat or overthrow it. A stranger abateth; that is,
entereth upon a house or land void by the death of him
that last possessed it, before the heir takes possession, and
so keepeth him out: wherefore, as he that putteth out
him in possession is said to disseize, so he that steppeth
in between the former possessor and his heir is said to
abate. In the neuter signification thus : The writ of the
demandant shall abate; that is, shall be disabled, frus¬
trated, or overthrown. The appeal abateth by covin ; that
is, the accusation is defeated by deceit.
ABATELMENT, in commerce, a term used for a pro¬
hibition of trade to all French merchants in the ports of the
Levant who will not stand to their bargains, or refuse to
pay their debts. It is a sentence of the French consul,
which must be taken off before they can sue any person
for the payment of their debts.
ABATEMENT, in Heraldry, an accidental figure sup¬
posed to have been added to coats of arms, in order to
denote some dishonourable demeanour or stain, whereby
the dignity of coat armour was rendered of less esteem.
ABATIS, an ancient term for an officer of the stables.
Abatis, or Abattis, in military affairs, a kind of de¬
fence made of felled trees. In sudden emergencies, the
trees are merely laid lengthwise beside each other, with the
branches pointed outwards to prevent the approach of the
enemy, while the trunks serve as a breast-work to the de¬
fendants. When the abatis is employed for the defence of
a pass or entrance, the boughs of the trees are stripped of
their leaves and pointed, the trunks are planted in the
ground, and the branches interwoven with each other.
ABATON, a building at Rhodes, erected as a fence to
the trophy of Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, Coos,
&c. raised in memory of her victory over the Rhodians ;
or rather to conceal the disgrace of the Rhodians from
the eyes of the world; for, to efface or destroy the trophy
was with them a point of religion.
ABATOR, in Law, a term applied to a person who
enters a house or lands void by the death of the last pos¬
sessor, before the true heir.
ABATOS, in Ancient Geography, an island in the lake
near Memphis, formerly famous for its papyrus. It was
the burial place of Osiris.
ABATSKAJA, a town on the river Tabask, in the Abatskaja
circle of Ischim and stadtholdership of Tobolsk, in the ||
Russian dominion of Siberia, in Asia. It may be more Abauzit.
properly denominated a township, as the dwellings are'w‘^v^w/
scattered about at considerable distance from each other.
The houses are 385, and the inhabitants about 2000.
ABAUJVAR, one of the palatinates into which the
Austrian kingdom of Hungary is divided. Its extent is
about 700,000 acres, nearly one-half of which is in woods,
the other half cultivated. It contains one city, 10 mar¬
ket towns, and 227 villages. The inhabitants are about
140,000, mostly Catholics; the remainder Lutherans,
Calvinists, and Greek church, with some Jews. The chief
productions are corn, flax, hemp, tobacco, fruit, wine, and
wood. There are also valuable quarries of marble.
ABAUZIT, Firmin, a learned Frenchman, was born at
Usez, in Languedoc, in November 1679. His father died
when he was but two years of age. To avoid the rigours
of persecution to which the Protestants of France were
exposed in the time of Louis XIV. young Abauzit’s
mother, who was a Protestant, fled with her son to Geneva,
wdiere he remained secure from danger, and enjoyed the
benefit of education. From his 10th to his 19th year,
his time was wholly devoted to literature; and having
made great progress in languages, he studied mathematics,
physics, and theology. In the year 1698, he travelled
into Holland, where he became acquainted with Bayle,
Basnage, and Jurieu. Thence he passed over to England,
and was introduced to Sir Isaac Newton, who entertained
a very high opinion of his merit. For this philosopher
afterwards sent him his Commercium Epistolicum, accom¬
panied with a very honourable testimony: “ You are well
worthy, says Newton, to judge between Leibnitz and me.”
The reputation of Abauzit reached the ears of King
William, who encouraged him by a very handsome offer
to settle in England; which he declined, and returned
to Geneva. In 1715 he entered into the society formed
for the purpose of translating the New Testament into the
French language, and contributed valuable assistance to
this work. The chair of philosophy in the university was
offered to him in 1723, which he refused; but in 1727 he
accepted of the office of librarian to the city, the duties of
which were neither burdensome, nor subjected him to any
particular restraint.
Abauzit was one of the first who embraced the grand
truths which the sublime discoveries of Newton disclosed
to the world. He defended the doctrines of that philo¬
sopher against Father Castel; and discovered an error
in the Principia, which was corrected by Newton in the
second edition of his work. He was a perfect master of
many languages; his knowledge was extensive and pro¬
found ; and the different sciences which he had studied
were so well digested and arranged in his retentive mind,
that he could at once bring together all that he ever
knew on any subject. Rousseau (in his Heloise) addressed
to Abauzit one of the finest panegyrics which he ever
wrote; and a stranger having addressed Voltaire in a flatter¬
ing manner, by saying he had come to Geneva to see a gre^t
man, the poet asked him whether he had seen Abauzit.
This excellent man, having lived universally respected
to the great age of 87 years, died in the year 1767, la¬
mented by the republic, and regretted by the learned.
His writings are chiefly on religious subjects; but he
was also the author of several antiquarian and critical
pieces. In his Essay on the Apocalypse, he endeavoured
to show, that the predictions in that book were to be ap¬
plied to the destruction of Jerusalem. This work was
translated into English by Dr Twells, who added a re¬
futation, which satisfied Abauzit so much that he was
12 ABB
Abavo mistaken in his views, that he ordered an edition then
II ready for publication in Holland to be stopped. His
Abbas, other theological works are, Reflections on the Eucharist;
On Idolatry; On the Mysteries of Religion; and Para¬
phrases and Explanations of sundry parts of Scripture. His
principal works were published in Holland in 1773, by Be-
renger, in 2 volumes 8vo. under the title CEuvres de feu
M. Abauzit.
ABAVO, in Botany, a synonyme of the Adansonia.
ABB, a term among clothiers applied to the yarn of a
weaver’s warp. They say also Abb-wool in the same sense.
ABBA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Africa Pro¬
pria, near Carthage.
Abba, in the Syriac and Chaldee languages, literally
signifies a father ; and figuratively, a superior, reputed as
a father in respect of age, dignity, or affection. It is more
particularly used in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic
churches, as a title given to the bishops. The bishops
themselves bestow the title of Abba more eminently on
the bishop of Alexandria; which occasioned the people to
give him the title of Babba, or Papa, that is Grandfather;
a title which he bore before the bishop of Rome. It is a
Jewish title of honour given to certain Rabbis called
Tanaites: and it was particularly used, by some writers
of the middle age, for the superior of a monastery, usually
called abbot.
ABB AC H, a town of the kingdom of Bavaria, on a
stream flowing into the Danube, with a castle, in which
the Emperor Henry II. was born. It is in the district of
Kellhaim, and circle of Regensburg, with 600 inhabitants.
ABBADIE, James, an eminent Protestant divine, born
at Nay in Bern in 1654i; first educated there under the fa¬
mous John la Placette, and afterwards at the university
of Sedan, from whence he went into Holland and Ger¬
many, and was minister in the French church of Berlin.
He left that place in 1690; came into England ; was some
time minister in the French church in the Savoy, Lon¬
don ; and was made dean of Killalo in Ireland. He was
strongly attached to the cause of King William, as ap¬
pears in his elaborate defence of the Revolution, and his
History of the Assassination Plot. The materials for the
last were furnished by the secretaries of state. He had
great natural abilities, which he improved by useful learn¬
ing. He was a most zealous defender of the primitive doc¬
trine of the Protestants, as appears by his writings; and
that strong nervous eloquence for which he was so remark¬
able, enabled him to enforce the doctrines of his profes¬
sion from the pulpit with great spirit and energy. He
possessed uncommon powers of memory. It is said that
he composed his works without committing any part to
writing, till they were wanted for the press. He died in
London in 1727, after his return from a tour in Hol¬
land. He published several works in French that were
much esteemed; the principal of which are, A Treatise
on the Truth of the Christian Religion ; The Art of Know¬
ing one’s Self; A Defence of the British Nation, that is,
of the Revolution 1688 ; the Deity of Jesus Christ essen¬
tial to the Christian Religion; The History of the last
Conspiracy in England, called the Assassination Plot, writ¬
ten by order of King William III.; and the Triumph of
Providence and Religion, or the opening the Seven Seals
by the Son of God.
ABBAS, Mahomet’s Uncle, opposed his nephew with
all his power, regarding him as an impostor and traitor to
his country; but in the second year of the Hegira, being
overcome and made a prisoner at the battle of Beder in
623, a great ransom being demanded for him, he repre¬
sented to Mahomet, that his paying it would reduce him
to beggary, which would bring dishonour on the family.
ABB
Mahomet, who knew that he had concealed large sums of Abbas
money, said to him, “ Where are the purses of gold that II
you gave your mother to keep when you left Mecca ? Mb03**
Abbas, who thought this transaction secret, was much
surprised; and conceiving that his nephew was really a
prophet, embraced his religion. He became one of his
principal captains, and saved his life when in imminent
danger at the battle of Honain, against the Thakesites,
soon after the reduction of Mecca. But besides being a
great commander, Abbas was one of the first doctors of
Islamism. He is said to have read lectures on every
chapter of the Koran, as his nephew pretended to receive
them from heaven. He died in 652, and his memory is
held in the highest veneration among the Mussulmans
to this day.
Abbas, Schah, the Great, was third son of Codabendi,
7th king of Persia of the race of the Sophis. Succeeding
to his father in 1585, at the age of 18, he found the affairs
of Persia at a low ebb, occasioned by the conquests of the
Turks and Tartars. He regained several of the provinces
they had seized; but death put a stop to his victories in
1629, after a reign of 44 years. He was the greatest prince
who had reigned in Persia for many ages ; and it was he
who made Ispahan the metropolis of Persia. His memory
is held in the highest veneration among the Persians.
Abbas, Schah, his grandson, 9th king of Persia of the
race of the Sophis, succeeded his father Sesi at 13 years
of age. He was but 18 when he made himself master of
the city of Candahar, which had surrendered in his father’s
reign to the great Mogul, and all the province about it;
and he preserved it afterwards against this Indian emperor,
though he besieged it more than once with an army of
300,000 men. He was a very merciful prince, and openly
protected the Christians. He had formed a design of ex¬
tending the limits of his kingdom toward the north, and
had for that effect levied a powerful army; but death put a
stop to all his great designs, at 37 years of age, a. d. 1666.
ABBASSIDES, the name of a race who possessed the
caliphat for 524 years. There were 37 caliphs of this
race who succeeded one another without interruption.
ABBATEGGIO, a town in the kingdom of Naples, in
the province of Abruzzo Citeriore, with 440 inhabitants.
ABBE', in a monastic sense, the same with Abbot.
Abbe', in a modern sense, the denomination of a class
of persons which has been popular in France. They
were not in orders; but having received the ceremony of
tonsure, were entitled to enjoy certain privileges in the
church. The dress of abbes was that of academics or
professed scholars. In colleges they were the instructors
of youth, and were employed as tutors in private fami¬
lies. Many of them have risen to a distinguished rank
in the state, while others have been no less eminent in
science and literature.
ABBEHAUSEN, a bailiwick or circle of Oldenburg,
in the duchy of Holstein Oldenburg, in Germany. It con¬
tains 1255 houses and 6263 inhabitants. The chief town of
the same name has 303 houses and 1502 inhabitants.
ABBESS, the superior of an abbey or convent of nuns.
The abbess has the same rights and authority over her
nuns that the abbots regular have over their monks.
I he sex indeed does not allow her to perform the spiritual
functions annexed to the priesthood, with which the abbot
is usually invested; but there are instances of some abbesses
who have a right, or rather a privilege, to commission a
priest to act for them. They have even a kind of epis¬
copal jurisdiction, as well as some abbots who are exempt¬
ed from the visitation of their diocesans.
Martene, in his treatise on the rights of the church,
observes, that abbesses formerly confessed nuns; but
ABB
Abbeville he adds, that their excessive curiosity carried them such
II lengths, that there arose a necessity of checking it. How-
Abbey. ever> st Basil, in his Rule, allows the abbess to be pre-
' sent with the priest at the confession of her nuns.
ABBEVILLE, an arrondissement of the department
of the Somme, in the north-east of France, which extends
over 606 square miles, or 387,840 acres. It is divided
into 11 districts and 178 communes, and contains 120,303
inhabitants.
Abbeville, a city, the capital of the arrondissement of
that name, through which the river Somme passes. It is
strongly fortified, and the country around it can be easily
inundated. It is built in the old mode, has several bridges,
4 squares, 14 churches, one of them, St Wulfram’s, very an¬
tique and curious; 3641 houses, and 17,900 inhabitants.
It has long been the seat of the woollen manufacture, be¬
sides which there are manufactories for linen, cotton, soap,
leather, and twine. The river is navigable by the help
of the tides; and by it oil, linseed, and hemp, are export¬
ed. It is in Lat. 50. 7. 4. N. Long. 1. 43. 50. E.
ABBEY, a monastery, or religious house, governed by
a superior under the title of abbot or abbess.
Abbeys differ from priories in this, that the former are
under the direction of an abbot, the latter of a prior; for
abbot and prior (we mean a prior conventual) are much the
same thing, differing in little but the name.
Fauchet observes, that, in the early days of the French
monarchy, dukes and counts were called abbots, and duchies
and counties abbeys. Even some of their kings are men¬
tioned in history under the title of abbots. Philip I. Louis
VI. and afterwards the duke of Orleans, are called abbots
of the monastery of St Aignan. The dukes of Aquitain
were called abbots of the nwnastery of St Hillary at Poic-
tiers ; and the earls of Anjou, of St Aubin, Sfc.
Monasteries were at first established as religious houses,
to which persons retired from the bustle of the world to
spend their time in solitude and devotion. But they soon
degenerated from their original institution, and obtained
large privileges, exemptions, and riches. They prevailed
greatly in Britain before the Reformation, particularly in
England; and as they increased in riches, so the state
became poor: for the lands which these regulars possessed
were in mortua manu, i. e. could never revert to the lords
who gave them. This inconvenience gave rise to the
statutes against gifts in mortmain ; and Lord Coke tells
us, that several lords, at their creation, had a clause in
their grant, that the donor might give or sell his land to
whom he would (exceptis viris religiosis et Judceis) ex¬
cepting monks and Jews.
These places were wholly abolished in England at the
time of the Reformation; Henry VIII. having first ap¬
pointed visitors to inquire into the lives of the monks and
nuns, which were found in some places to be extremely
irregular. The abbots, perceiving their dissolution unavoid¬
able, were induced to resign their houses to the king, who
by that means became invested with the abbey lands:
these were afterwards granted to different persons, whose
descendants enjoy them at this day.
Though the suppression of religious houses, even con¬
sidered in a political light only, was a national benefit,
it must be owned, that at the time they flourished, they
were far from useless. Abbeys or monasteries were
then the repositories, as well as the seminaries, of
learning; many valuable books and national records, as
well as private history, having been preserved in their
libraries, the only places in which they could have been
safely lodged in those turbulent times. Many of those
which had escaped the ravages of the Danes, were de¬
stroyed with more than Gothic barbarity at the dissolu-
A B B 33
tion of the abbeys. These ravages are pathetically lament- Abbey
ed by John Bale : “ A number of those,” says he, “ who II
purchased these superstitious mansions, reserved of the
library books, some to serve their jakes, some to scour
the candlesticks, and some to rub their boots; some they
sold to the grocer and soapseller; and some they sent
over sea to the bookbinders, not in small numbers, but
in whole ships full; yea, the universities of this realm are
not clear of so detestable a fact. I know a merchant that
bought the contents of two noble libraries for 40s. price;
a shame it is to be spoken ! This stuff hath he occupied
instead of gray paper, by the space of more than these ten
years, and yet he hath store enough for as many years to
come. I shall judge this to be true, and utter it with
heaviness, that neither the Britons under the Romans
and Saxons, nor yet the English people under the Danes
and Normans, had ever such damage of their learned mo¬
numents as we have seen in our time.”
Every abbey had at least one person whose office it
was to instruct youth; and the historians of this country
are chiefly beholden to the monks for the knowledge
they have of former national events. In these houses
also the arts of painting, architecture, and printing, were
cultivated. They were hospitals for the sick and poor,
and afforded entertainment to travellers at a time when
there were no inns. They were likewise an asylum for
aged and indigent persons of good family.
ABBEYBOYLE, a town of Ireland, in the county of
Roscommon, and province of Connaught. It is remarkable
for an old abbey.
ABBEYHOLM, a town in Cumberland, so called from
an abbey built there by David king of Scots. It stands
on an arm of the sea.
ABBIATE GRAFFO, a town in the Austrian delega¬
tion of Pavia, in Italy. It is situated on the great Navig-
lio, where that river divides into three branches. It con¬
tains 4000 inhabitants, who cultivate around the place
large portions of rice.
ABBOT, or Abbat, the superior of a monastery of
monks erected into an abbey or priory
The name Abbot is originally Hebrew, where it signi¬
fies father. The Jews call father, in their language, Ab ;
whence the Chaldeans and Syrians formed Abba ; thence
the Greeks ASCag, which the Latins retained; and hence
our Abbot, the French Abbe, &c. St Mark and St Paul
use the Syriac Abba in their Greek, by reason it was then
commonly known in the synagogues and the primitive as¬
semblies of the Christians; adding to it, by way of inter¬
pretation, the word father, A££a 6 <irarr\p, “ Abba, father
q. d. Abba, that is to say, Father. But the name Ab,
or Abba, which at first was a term of tenderness and af¬
fection, became at length a title of dignity and honour.
The Jewish doctors affected it; and one of their most an¬
cient books, containing the sayings or apophthegms of
divers of them, is entitled Pirke Abboth or Avoth; i. e.
Chapters of the Fathers. It was in allusion to this affecta¬
tion, that Jesus Christ forbade his disciples to call any
man their father on earth; which word St Jerome turns
against the superiors of the monasteries of his time, for
assuming the titles of Abbots, or Fathers.
The name Abbot, then, appears as old as the institution
of monks itself. The governors of the primitive monas¬
teries assumed indifferently the titles Abbots and Archi¬
mandrites. They were really distinguished from the
clergy; though frequently confounded with them, be¬
cause a degree above laymen.
In those early days, the abbots were subject to the
bishops and the ordinary pastors. Their monasteries be¬
ing remote from cities, built in the farthest solitudes, they
\
14 ABB
Abbot, iiad no share in ecclesiastical afFairs. They went on Sun-
days to the parish church with the rest of the people;
or, if they were too remote, a priest was sent them to ad¬
minister the sacraments; till at length they were allowed
to have priests of their own body. The abbot or archi¬
mandrite himself was usually the priest: but his function
extended no farther than to the spiritual assistance* of his
monastery; and he remained still in obedience to the bi¬
shop. There being among the abbots several persons of
learning, they made a vigorous opposition to the rising
heresies of those times; which first occasioned the bi¬
shops to call them out of their deserts, and fix them about
the suburbs of cities, and at length in the cities them¬
selves ; from which era their degeneracy is to be dated.
Then the abbots threw off their former plainness and
simplicity, assumed the rank of prelates, aspired at being
independent of the bishops, and grasped at so much
power, that severe laws were made against them at the
council of Chalcedon. Many of them, however, carried
the point of independency, obtained the appellation of
lord, and were distinguished by other badges of the epis¬
copate, particularly the mitre.
Hence arose new distinctions between the abbots. Those
were termed mitred abbots, who were privileged to wear
the mitre, and exercise episcopal authority within their
respective precincts; being exempted from the jurisdic¬
tion of the bishop. Others were called crosiered ab¬
bots, from their bearing the crosier or pastoral staff.
Others were styled ecumenical or universal abbots, in imi¬
tation of the patriarch of Constantinople: while others
were termed cardinal abbots, from their superiority over
all other abbots. In Britain, the mitred abbots were lords
of parliament, and called abbots-sovereign, and abbots-
general, to distinguish them from the other abbots. And
as there were lords-abbots, so there were also lords-priors,
who had exempt jurisdiction, and were likewise lords of
parliament.
In Roman Catholic countries, the principal distinctions
observed between abbots are those of regular and com¬
mendatory. The former take the vow and wear the ha¬
bit of their order; whereas the latter are seculars who
have received tonsure, but are obliged by their bulls to
take orders when of proper age.
Anciently the ceremony of creating an abbot consisted
in clothing him with the habit called cuculus, or cowl;
putting the pastoral staff into his hand, and the shoes
coMedpedales on his feet: but at present, it is only a simple
benediction, improperly called, by some, consecration.
Abbot is also a title given to others beside the supe¬
riors of monasteries: thus bishops whose sees were for¬
merly abbeys, are called abbots. Among the Genoese,
the chief magistrate of the republic formerly bore the title
of abbot of the people.
Abbot, George, archbishop of Canterbury, was born
October 29. lo62, at Guildford in Surrey. He was the
son of Maurice Abbot, a cloth-worker. He studied at
Oxford, and in 1597 was chosen principal of University
college. In 1599, he was installed dean of Winchester:
the year following he was chosen vice-chancellor of the
university of Oxford, and a second time in 1603. In
1604, the translation of the Bible now in use was begun
by the direction of King James; and Dr Abbot was the
second of eight divines of Oxford, to whom the care of
translating the whole New Testament (excepting the
Epistles) was committed. The year following, he was a
third time vice-chancellor. In 1608, he went to Scot¬
land with George Hume earl of Dunbar, to assist in esta¬
blishing an union between the, churches of Scotland and
England; and in this business he conducted himself with
ABB
so much address and prudence, that it laid the founda- Abbot,
tion of all his future preferment. King James ever after
paid great deference to his advice and counsel; and upon
the death of Dr Overton, bishop of Litchfield and Coven¬
try, he named Dr Abbot for his successor, who was ac¬
cordingly constituted bishop of those two united sees in
December 1609. About a month afterwards he was
translated to the see of London, and on the second of
November following was raised to the archiepiscopal see.
It is not however improbable, that his extravagant
adulation of his royal master, in which he went as far as
any other court chaplain could do, contributed not a little
to his rapid preferment. In the preface to a pamphlet
which he published, the following specimen of ridiculous
flattery occurs: Speaking of the king, he says, “ whose
life hath been so immaculate and unspotted, &c. that
even malice itself, which leaves nothing unsearched, could
never find true blemish in it, nor cast probable aspersion
on it.—Zealous as a David; learned and wise, the Solo¬
mon^ of our age; religious as Josias; careful of spreading
Christ’s faith as Constantine the Great; just as Moses;
undefiled in all his ways as a Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah;
full of clemency as another Theodosius.”—Yet, as we
shall immediately see, Abbot could' sometimes oppose the
will of the sovereign with courage and constancy.
His great zeal for the Protestant religion made him a
strenuous promoter of the match between the Elector
Palatine and the Princess Elizabeth; which was accord¬
ingly concluded and solemnized the 14th of February
1612, the archbishop performing the ceremony on a stage
erected in the royal chapel. In the following year hap¬
pened the famous case of divorce between the lady Fran¬
ces Howard, daughter of the earl of Suffolk, and Robert
earl of Essex; which has been considered as one of the
greatest blemishes of King James’s reign. The part which
the archbishop took in the business added much to the
reputation he had already acquired for incorruptible inte-
grity. It was referred by the king to a court of delegates,
whose opinion the king and court wished and expected
to be favourable to the divorce. But the archbishop, un¬
awed by royal authority, with inflexible firmness resisted
it, and published his reasons for persisting in his opinion;
to which the king, disappointed in his views, thought fit
to reply: Sentence was given in the lady’s favour. In
1618, the king published a declaration, which he ordered
to be read in all churches, permitting sports and pastimes
on the Lord’s day: this gave great uneasiness to the arch ¬
bishop, who happening to be at Croydon on the day it
was ordered to be read, had the courage to forbid it.
Being now in a declining state of health, the archbishop
used in the summer to go to Hampshire for the sake of
recreation; and being invited by Lord Zouch to hunt in
his park at Bramzill, he met there with the greatest mis¬
fortune that ever befell him ; for he accidentally killed the
game-keeper by an arrow from a cross-bow which he shot
at one of the deer. This fatal accident threw him into a
deep melancholy; and he ever afterwards kept a monthly
ast on luesday, the day on which it happened; and he
settled an annuity of L.20 on the widow.1 Advantage i Fuller’s
was taken of this misfortune, to lessen him in the king’s Church
avour; but his majesty said, “ An angel might have mis-St¬
eamed in this sort.” His enemies alleging that he hadcent-xxvil*
incurred an irregularity, and was thereby incapacitatedp' 8^'
for performing the offices of a primate, the king directed
a commission to ten persons to inquire into this matter.
I he result was not satisfactory to his Grace’s enemies;
it being declared, that, as the murder was involuntary, he
had not forfeited his archiepiscopal character.
The archbishop after this seldom assisted at the coun-
ABB
ABB
15
Abbot, cil, being chiefly hindered by his infirmities; but in the
king’s last illness he was sent for, and constantly attended
till his majesty expired on the 27th of March 1622. He
performed the ceremony of the coronation of King
Charles I. though very infirm and distressed with the
gout. He was never greatly in this king’s favour; and
the duke of Buckingham being his declared enemy,
watched an opportunity of making him feel the weight
of his displeasure. This he at last accomplished, upon
the archbishop’s refusing to license a sermon, preached
by Dr Sibthorpe to justify a loan which the king had de¬
manded, and pregnant with principles which tended to
overthrow the constitution. The archbishop was imme¬
diately after suspended from all his functions as primate;
and they were exercised by certain bishops commissioned
by the king, of whom Laud, the archbishop’s enemy, and
afterwards his successor, was one; while the only cause
assigned for this procedure was, that the archbishop
could not at that time personally attend those services
which were otherwise proper for his cognizance and di¬
rection. He did not, however, remain long in this situ¬
ation ; for a parliament being absolutely necessary, his
Grace was sent for, and restored to his authority and ju¬
risdiction. But not proving friendly to certain rigorous
measures adopted by the prevailing church party, headed
by Laud, whose power and interest at court were now
very considerable, his presence became unwelcome there;
so that, upon the birth of the prince of Wales, afterwards
Charles II., Laud had the honour to baptize him, as dean
of the chapel. The archbishop being worn out with cares
and infirmities, died at Croydon, the 5th of August 1633,
aged 71 years; and was buried at Guildford, the place of
his nativity, where he had endowed an hospital with lands
to the amount of L.300 per annum. A stately monument
was erected over the grave, with his effigy in his robes.
He proved himself, in most circumstances of his life, to
be a man of great moderation to all parties; and was de¬
sirous that the clei'gy should gain the respect of the laity
by the sanctity and purity of their manners, rather than
claim it as due to their function. His opinions and prin¬
ciples, however, have drawn upon him many severe re¬
flections ; particularly from the earl of Clarendon. But
Dr Welwood has done more justice to his merit and abi-
1 Memoirs, lities.1 The following is a list of his works, as given in
8vo. 1700, Chalmers’s Biographical Dictionary:—1. Qusestiones Sex,
j>. if<{. totidem praelectionibus in Schola Theologica Oxonias, pro
forma habitis, discuss® et disceptat® anno 1597, in qui-
bus e Sacra Scriptura et Patribus, quid statuendum sit
definitur. Oxon. 1598, 4to. 2. Exposition on the Pro¬
phet Jonah, contained in certain Sermons preached in St
Marie’s Church in Oxford. 1600, 4to. 3. Answer to the
Questions of the Citizens of London in January 1600,
concerning Cheapside Cross; not printed until 1641.
4. The Reasons which Dr Hill hath brought for the up¬
holding of Papistry unmasked, and showed to be very
weak, &c. Oxon. 1604, 4to. 5. A Preface to the Ex¬
amination of George Sprot, &c. 6. Sermon preached at
Westminster, May 26. 1608, at the funeral of Thomas
Earl of Dorset, late Lord High Treasurer of England, on
Isaiah xl. 6. 1608, 4to. 7. Translation of a part of the
New Testament, with the rest of the Oxford divines.
1611. 8. Some Memorials, touching the Nullity between
the Earl of Essex and his Lady, pronounced September
25. 1613, at Lambeth ; and the difficulties endured An
the same. 9. A Brief Description of the whole World,
wherein is particularly described all the Monarchies, Em¬
pires, and Kingdoms of the same, with their Academies,
&c. 1617, 4to. 10. A short Apology for Archbishop
Abbot, touching the death of Peter Hawkins, dated Oc¬
tober 8. 1621. 11. Treatise of perpetual Visibility and Abbot.
Succession of the true Church in all ages. Lond. 1624,
4to.; published without his name ; but his arms, impaled
with those of Canterbury, are put before it. 12. A Nar¬
rative containing the true cause of his sequestration and
disgrace at Court; in two parts; written at Ford, in Kent,
1627, printed in Rushworth’s Historical Collections, vol.
i. p. 438—461, and in the Annals of King Charles, p. 213—
224. 13. History of the Massacre in the Valteline, print¬
ed in the third volume of Fox’s Acts and Monuments.
14. Judgment on bowing at the Name of Jesus. Ham¬
burgh, 1632, 8vo.
Abbot, Robert, elder brother to the former, was born
at Guildford in 1560, and completed his studies at Baliol
college, Oxford. In 1582, he took his degree of master
of arts, and soon became a celebrated preacher; and to
this talent he chiefly owed his preferment. Upon the
first sermon at Worcester, he was chosen lecturer in that
city, and soon after rector of All-saints in the same place.
In 1597, he took his degree of doctor in divinity: and, in
the beginning of King James’s reign, was appointed chap¬
lain in ordinary to his majesty; who had such an opinion
of him as a writer, that he ordered the doctor’s book De
Antichristo to be printed, with his own commentary upon
part of the Apocalypse. In 1609, he was elected master
of Baliol college; which trust he discharged with the ut¬
most care and assiduity, by his frequent lectures to the
scholars, by his continual presence at public exercises,
and by promoting temperance in the society. In No¬
vember 1610, he was made prebendary of Norman ton in
the church of Southwell; and, in 1612, his majesty ap¬
pointed him regius professor of divinity at Oxford. The
fame of his lectures became very great; and those which
he gave upon the supreme power of kings, against Bellar-
mine and Suarez, so much pleased his majesty, that when
the see of Salisbury became vacant, he named him to
that bishopric, and he was consecrated by his own bro¬
ther at Lambeth, December B. 1615. When he came to
Salisbury, he found the cathedral falling to decay, through
the avarice and negligence of the clergy belonging to it;
however, he found means to draw five hundred pounds
from the prebendaries, which he applied towards repair¬
ing it. Here he devoted himself to the duties of his
function with great diligence and assiduity, visiting his
whole diocese in person, and preaching every Sunday.
But his sedentary life, and close application to study,
brought upon him the gravel and stone ; of which he died
on the 2d of March 1618, in the 58th year of his age;
having filled the see only two years and three months.
He wrote, 1. The Mirror of Popish Subtleties. Lond.
1594, 4to. 2. The Exaltation of the Kingdom and Priest¬
hood of Christ, sermons on the first seven verses of the
110th Psalm. Lond. 1601, 4to. 3. Antichristi Demon-
stratio, contra Fabulas Pontificias, et ineptam Rob. Bellar-
mini de Antichristo Disputationem. Lond. 1603, 4to.
4. Defence of the Reformed Catholic of Mr W. Perkins,
against the Bastard Counter-Catholic of Dr William
Bishop, Seminary Priest; in three parts. 1606, 4to.
5. The Old Way ; a Sermon at St Mary’s, Oxon. Lond.
1610, 4to. 6. The true ancient Roman Catholic; being
an Apology against Dr Bishop’s Reproof of the Defence
of the Reformed Catholic. 1611, 4to. 7. Aritilogia;
adversus Apologiam Andre® Eud®mon-Johannis, Jesuit®,
pro Henrico Garnetto, Jesuita Proditore. Lond. 1613,
4to. 8. De Gratia et Perseverantia Sanctorum, Exerci-
tationes habit® in Academia Oxon. Lond. 1618, 4to.
9. In Ricardi Thomsoni Angli-Belgici Diatribam, de Amis-
sione et Intercessione Justificationis et Grati®, Animad-
versio brevis. Lond. 1618, 4to. 10. De Suprema Potes-
16
ABB / O l T
f
ABB
Abbots- tate Regia, Exercitationes habitae in Academia Oxoniensi,
Bromley contra Rob. Bellarminum et Franciscum Suarez. Lond.
.11 > 1619, 4to.
tionl^ ABBOTS-BROMLEY, a town in Staffordshire. After
the dissolution of the monasteries, it was given to Lord
Paget; and has since been called Paget's Bromley. But
it retains its old name in the king’s books, and with re¬
gard to the fairs. Population in 1801, 808; in 1811,
1019; and in 1821, 1533.
ABBOTSBURY, a small town in Dorsetshire. The
abbey near this town was founded by a Norman lady,
about the year 1026. Edward the Confessor and William
the Conqueror were considerable benefactors to it. Po¬
pulation in 1801, 783; in 1811, 812; and in 1821, 907.
ABBOTS-LANGLEY, a village in Herts, 4 miles from
St Alban’s, famous as the birth-place of Pope Adrian IV. Po¬
pulation in 1801,1205 ; in 1811, 1313; and in 1821, 1733.
ABBREVIATION, or Abbreviature, a contraction
of a word or passage, made by dropping some of the let¬
ters, or by substituting certain marks or characters in
their place. A late philosophical writer on grammar di¬
vides the parts of speech into words which are necessary
for the communication of thought, as the noun and verb,
and abbreviations which are employed for the sake of dis¬
patch. The latter, strictly speaking, are also parts of
speech, because they are all useful in language, and each
has a different manner of signification. Mr Tooke, how¬
ever, seems to allow* that rank only to the necessary
* words, and to consider all others as merely substitutes of
the first sort, under the title of abbreviations. They are
employed in language in three ways—in terms, in sorts of
words, and in construction. Mr Locke in his Essay on the
Human Understanding treats of the first class ; numerous
authors have written on the last; and for the second class
of abbreviations, see the work of Mr Tooke entitled Diver¬
sions of Parley. * Lawyers, physicians, &c. use many ab- ,
breviations, for the sake of expedition. But the Rabbis
are the most remarkable for this practice, so that their
writings are unintelligible without the Hebrew abbrevia¬
tures. The Jewish authors and copyists do not content
themselves with abbreviating words like the Greeks and
Latins, by retrenching some of the letters or syllables;
they frequently take away all but the initial letters. They
even take the initials of several succeeding words, join
them together, and, adding vowels to them, make a sort
of barbarous words, representative of all those which they
have thus abridged. Thus, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon,
in their abbreviature, is Rambam, &c.
The following Abbreviations are of most frequent occur¬
rence in the Writings and Inscriptions of the Romans.
A.
AB. Abdicavit.
AB. AUG. M. P. XXXXI. Ab Augusta millia passuum
quadraginta unum.
AB. AUGUSTOB. M. P. X. Ab Augustobriga millia pas-
suuqj decem.
ABN.' Abnepos.
AB. U. C. Ab urbe condita.
A. CAMB. M. P. XL A Camboduno millia passuum un-
decim.
A. COMPL. XIIII. A Compluto quatuordecim.
A. C. P. VI. A capite vel ad caput pedes sex.
A. D. Ante diem.
ADJECT. H-S. IX. cd. Adjectis sestertiis novem mille.
ADN. Adnepos.
ADQ. Adquiescit, vel adquisita pro acquisita.
iED. II. II. VIR. II. iEdilis iterum, duumvir iterum.
iED. II. VIR, QUINQ. iEdilis duumvir quinquennalis.
iED. Q. II. VIR. yEdilis quinquennalis duumvir.
JEL. ALlius, JElia.
AiM. vel AIM. Aimilius, iEmilia.
A. G. Animo grato, vel Aulus Gellius.
AG. Ager, vel Agrippa.
A. K. Ante kalendas.
ALA. I. Ala prima. *
A. MILL. XXXV. A milliariis triginta quinque, vel ad
milliaria triginta quinque.
A. M. XX. Ad milliare vigesimum.
AN. A. V. C. Anno ab urbe condita.
AN. C. H. S. Annorum centum hie situs est.
AN. DCLX. Anno ^excentesimo sexagesimo.
AN. II. S. Annos duos semis.
AN. IVL. Annos quadraginta sex.
AN. N. Annos natus.
ANN. LIII. H. S. E. Annorum quinquaginta trium hie
situs est.
ANN. NAT. LXVI. Annos natus sexaginta sex.
ANN. PL. M. X. Annos vel annis plus minus decem.
AN. 0. XVI. Anno defunctus decimo sexto.
AN. V. XX. Annos vixit viginti.
AN. P. M. Annorum plus minus.
A. XII. Annis duodecim.
AN. P. M. L. Annorum plus minus quinquaginta.
A. XX. H. EST. Annorum viginti hie est.
AN. P. R. C. Anno post Romam conditam.
AN. V. P. M. II. Annis vixit plus minus duobus.
AN. XXV. STIP. VIII. Annorum viginti quinque stipen-
diorum octo.
A. P. M. Amico posuit monumentum.
AP. Appia, Appius.
A. P. V. C. Anno post urbem conditam.
APVD. L. V. CONV. Apud lapidem quintum convene-
runt.
A. RET. P. III. S. Ante retro pedes tres semis.
AR. P. Aram posuit.
ARG. P. X. Argenti pondo decem.
ARR. Arrius.
A. V. B. A viro bono.
A. V. C. Ab urbe condita.
B.
B. Balbus, Bulbius, Brutus, Belenus, Burrus.
B. Beneficiario, beneficium, bonus.
B. Balnea, beatus, bustum.
B pro V, berna pro verna, bixit pro vixit, bibo pro vivo,
bictor pro victor, bidua pro vidua.
B. A. Bixit annis, bonus ager, bonus amabilis, bona aurea,
bonum aureum, bonis auguriis, bonis auspiciis.
B. B. Bona bona, bene bene.
B. DD. Bonis deabus.
B. F. Bona fide, bona femina, bona fortuna, bene factum.
B. F. reversed thus, g. q. Bona femina, bona filia.
B. H. Bona hereditaria, bonorum hereditas.
B. I. I. Boni judicis judicium.
B. L. Bona lex.
B. M. P. Bene merito posuit.
B. M. P. C. Bene merito ponendum curavit.
B. M. S. C. Bene merito sepulcrum condidit.
BN. EM. Bonorum emptores.
BN. H. I. Bona hie invenies.
B. RP. N. Bono reipublicae natus.
B. A. Bixit, id est, vixit annis.
BLGINTI. Viginti.
BfXIT. BIXSIT. BISSIT. Vixit.
BIX. ANN. XXCI. M. IV. D. VII. Vixit annis octoginta
unum, mensibus quatuor, diebus septem.
BX. AN VS. VII. ME. VI. DI. XVII. Vixit annos septem,
menses sex, dies septemdecim.
Abbrevia.
tions.
ABBREVIATIONS.
Abbrevia* Q,
ti0^* C. Caesar, Cala, Caius, censor, civitas, consul, condemno.
  'C. C. Carissimae conjugi, calumniae causa, consilium cepit.
C. C. F. Caius Caii Alius.
C. B. Commune bonum.
C. D. Comitialibus diebus.
C. H. Gustos hortorum vel heredum. «
C. I. C. Caius Julius Caesar.
CC. VV. Clarissimi viri.
CEN. Censor, centuria, centurio.
CERTA. QUINQ. ROM. CO. Certamen quinquennale
Romae conditum.
CL. Claudius.
CL. V. Clarissimus vir.
CH. COM. Cohors.
C. M. vel CA. M. Causa mortis.
CN. Cneus.
C. O. Civitas omnis.
COH. I. vel II. Cohors prima vel secunda.
COS. ITER. ET. TERT. DESIG. Consul iterum et ter**
tium designatus.
COS. TER. vel QUAR. Consul tertium vel quartum.
COSS. Consules.
COST. CUM. LOC. H-S. oo. D. Custodiam cum loco
sestertiis mille quingentis.
C. R. Civis Romanus.
CS. IP. Caesar imperator.
C. V. Centumviri.
D
D. Decius, decimus, decuria, decurio, dedicavit, dedit,
devotus, dies, divus, Deus, dii, Dominus, domus, donum,
datum, decretum, &c.
D. A. Divus Augustus. »
D. B. I. Diis bene juvantibus.
D. B. S. De bonis suis.
DCT. Detractum.
DDVIT. Dedicavit.
D. D. Dono dedit, Deus dedit, decurionum decreto.
D. D. D. Datum decreto decurionum.
D. D. D. D. Dignum Deo donum dedicavit.
DDPP. Depositi.
D. D. Q. O. H. L. S. E. V. Diis deabusque omnibus hunc
locum sacrum esse voluit.
DIG. M. Dignus memoria.
D. M. S. Diis manibus sacrum.
D. O. M. Deo optimo maximo.
D. O. JE. Deo optimo aeterno.
D. PP. Deo perpetuo.
DR. Drusus.
DR. P. Dare promittit.
D. RM. De Romanis.
D. RP. De republica.
D. S. P. F. C. De sua pecunia faciendum curavit.
DT. Duntaxat.
DVL. vel DOL. Dulcissimus.
DECAXIII. A\G. XII. POP. XL Decurionibus denarii’s
tredecim, augustalibus duodecim, populo undecim.
D. IIII. ID. Die quarta idus.
D. VIIII. Diebus novem.
D. V. ID. Die quinta idus.
E.
E. Ejus, ergo, esse, est, erexit, exactum, &c.
E. C. F. Ejus causa fecit.
E. D. Ejus domus.
ED. Edictum.
E. E. Ex edicto.
EE. N. P. Esse non potest.
EG. Egit, egregius.
E. H. Ejus heres.
17
VOL. II.
EID. Idus.
EIM. Ejusmodi.
E. L. Ea lege.
E. M. Elexit vel erexit monumentum.
EQ. M. Equitum magister.
EQ. O. Equester ordo.
EX. A. D. K. Ex ante diem kalendas.
EX. A. D. V. K. DEC. AD. PRID. K. IAN. Ex ante
diem quintum kalendas Decembris ad pridie kalendas
Januarias.
EX. H-S. X. P. F. I. Ex sestertiis decern parvis fieri jussit.
EX. H-S. CIO. N. Ex sestertiis mille nummum.
EX. H-S. go cd oo od. Ex sestertiis quatuor millia.
EX. H-S. N. CC. L. go. D. XL. Ei sestertiis nummorum
ducentis quinquaginta millibus quingentis quadraginta.
EX. H-S. DC. co.D. XX. Ex sestertiis sexcentis millibus
quingentis viginti.
EX. KAL. IAN. AD. KAL. IAN. Ex kalendis Januarii
ad kalendas Januarii.
F.
F. Fabius, fecit, factum, faciendum, familia, famula, fastus,
Februarius, feliciter, felix, fides, fieri, fit, femina, filia,
filius, frater, finis, flamen, forum, fluvius, faustum, fuit.
F. A. Filio amantissimo, vel filiae amantissimae.
F. AN. X. F. C. Filio vel filiae annorum decern faciendum
curavit.
F. C. Fieri vel faciendum curavit, fidei commissum.
F. D. Flamen Dialis, filius dedit, factum dedicavit.
F. D. Fidejussor, fundum.
FEA. Femina. *
FF. C. Ferme centum.
F. F. Fabre factum, filius familias, fratris filius.
" F. F. F. Ferro, flamma, fame ; fortior, fortuna, fato.
FF. Fecerunt.
FL. F. Flavii filius.
F. FQ. Filiis filiabusque. ^
FIX. ANN. XXXIX. M. I. D. VI. HOR. SCIT. NEM.
"Vixit annos triginta novem, mensem unum, dies sex,
boras scit nemo.
FO. FR. Forum.
F. R. Forum Romanum.
G.
G. Gellius, Gaius pro Caius, genius, gens, gaudium, gesta,
gratia, gratis, &c.
GAB. Gabinius.
GAL. Gallus, Galerius.
G. C. Genio civitatis.
GEN. P. R. Genio populi Romani.
GL. Gloria.
GL. S. Gallus Sempronius.
GN. Gneus pro Cneus, genius, gens.
GNT. Gentes.
GRA. Gracchus.
GRC. Graecus.
H.
H. Hie, habet, hastatus, heres, homo, hora, hostis, hems.
H. A. Hoc anno.
HA. Hadrianus. -* ^
HC. Hunc, huic, hie.
HER. Heres, hereditatis, Herennius.
HER. vel HERC. S. Herculi sacrum.
H. M. E. H-S. CCIOO. CCIOO. 100, N. Hoc monumen¬
tum erexit sestertiis viginti quinque mille nummum.
H. M. AD. H. N. T. Hoc monumentum ad heredes non
transit.
H. O. Hostis occisus.
HOSS. Hostes.
H. S. Hie situs vel sita, sepultus vel sepulta.
H-S. N. IIII. Sestertiis nummum quatuor.
c
18 ABB RE V
.Abbrevia- H-S. CCCC. Sestertiis quatuor centum,
tions. H-S. qd. N. Sestertiis mille nummum.
H-S. cd. CCI33. N. Sestertiis novem mille nummum.
H-S. CCIOD. CCIDO. Sestertiis viginti mille.
H-S. XX. M. N. Sestertiis viginti mille nummum.
H. SS. Hie suprascriptis.
I.
I. Junius, Julius, Jupiter, ibi, immortalis, imperator, in-
feri, inter, invenit, invictus, ipse, iterum, judex, jussit,
jus, &c.
I A. Intra
I. AG. In agro.
I. AGL. In angulo.
IAD. Jamdudum.
IAN. Janus.
IA. RL Jam respondi.
I. C. Juris consultus, Julius Caesar, judex cognitionum.
IC. Hie.
I. D. Inferis diis, Jovi dedicatum, Isidi deae, jussu Dei.
ID. Idus.
I. D. M. Jovi Deo magno.
I. F. vel I. FO. In foro.
IF. Interfuit. IFT. Interfuerunt.
I. FNT. In fronte.
IG. Igitur.
I. H. Jacet hie.
1.1. In jure.
IM. Imago, immortalis, imperator.
I. M. CT. In medio civitatis.
IMM. Immolavit, immortalis, immunis
IM. S. Impensis suis.
IN. Inimicus, inscripsit, interea.
IN. A. P. XX. In agro pedes viginti.
IN. vel INL. V. I. S. Inlustris vir infra scriptus.
I. R. Jovi regi, Junoni reginae, jure rogavit.
I. S. vel I. SN. In senatum.
I. V. Justus vir.
IVD. Judicium.
IVY. Juventus, Juvenalis.
II. V. Duumvir,.^ duumviri.
III. Y. vel III. VIR. Triumvir, vel triumviri.
IIII. VIR. Quatuorvir, vel quatuorviri, vel quatuorviratus.
IIIIII. Y. vel VIR. Sextumvir, vel sevir, vel sexvir.
IDNE. vel IND. aut INDICT. Indictione vel indictio.
K.
K. Caeso, Caius, Caio, Caelius, Carolus, calumnia, candida-
tus, caput, carissimus, clarissimus, castra, cohors, Car¬
thago, &c.
K. KAL. KL. KLD. KLEND. Kalendae, aut kalendis ; et
sic de cceteris ubi mensium apponuntur nomina.
KARC. Career.
KK. Carissimi.
KM. Carissimus.
K. S. Carus suis.
KR. Chorus.. . .
KR. AM. N. Carus amicus noster.
L.
L. Lucius, Lucia, Laelius, Lollius, lares, Latinus, latum,
legavit, lex, legio, libens vel lubens, liber, libera, liber-
tus, liberta, libra, locavit, &c.
L. A. Lex alia.
LA. C. Latini coloni.
L. A. D. Locus alteri datus.
L. AG. Lex agraria.
L. AN. Lucius Anius, vel quinquaginta annis.
L. AP. Ludi Apollinares.
LAT. P. VIII. E. S. Latum pedes octo et semis.
LONG. P. VII. L. P. III. Longum pedes septem, latum
pedes tres.
I A T I O N S.
L. ADQ. Locus adquisitus. Abbrevia.
LB. Libertus, liberi. tlons-
L. D. D. D. Locus datus decreto decurionum.
LECTIST. Lectisternium.
LEG. I. Legio prima.
L. E. D. Lege ejus damnatus.
LEG. PROV. Legafus provinciae.
LIC. Licinius.
LICT. Lictor.
LL. Libentissime, liberi, libertas.
L. L. Sestertius magnus.
LVD. SiEC. Ludi saeculares.
LVPERC. Lupercalia.
LV. P. F. Ludos publicos fecit.
M.
M. Marcus, Marca, Martius, Mutius, maceria, magister,
magistratus, magnus, manes, mancipium, marmoreus,
Marti, mater, maximus, memor, memoria, mensis, meus,
miles, militavit, militia, mille, missus, monumentum,
mortuus, &c.
MAG. EQ. Magister equitum,
MAR. VLT. Mars ultor.
MAX. POT. Maximus pontifex.
MD. Mandatum.
MED. Medicus, medius.
MER. Mercurius, mercator.
MERK. Mercurialia, mercatus.
MES. VII. DIEB. XI. Mensibus septem, diebus undecim.
M. I. Maximo Jovi, matri Ideas vel Isidi, militias jus, mo-
numentum jussit.
MIL. COH. Miles cohortis.
MIN. vel MINER. Minerva.
M. MON. MNT. MONET. Moneta.
M. vel MS. Mensis vel menses.
MNF. Manifestus.
MNM. Manumissus.
M. P. II. Millia passuum duo.
MV. MN. MVN. MVNIC. Municipium, vel municeps.
N.
N. Neptunus, Numerius, Numeria, nonis, Nero, nam, non,
natus, natio, nefastus, nepos, neptis, niger, nomen, nonce,
noster, numerarius, numerator, numerus, nummus vel
numisma, numen.
NAV. Navis.
N. B. Numeravit bivus, pro vivus.
NB. vel NBL. Nobilis.
N. C. Nero Caesar, vel Nero Claudius.
NEG. vel NEGOT. Negotiator.
NEP. S. Neptuno sacrum.
N. F. N. Nobili familia natus.
N. L. Non liquet, non licet, non longe, nominis Latini.
N. M. Nonius Macrinus, non malum, non minus.
NN. Nostri. NNR. vel NR. Nostrorum.
NO. Nobis.
NOBR, November. ,
NON. AP. Nonis Aprilis.
NQ. Namque, nusquam, nunquam.
N. V. N. D. N. P. O. Neque vendetur, neque donabitur,
neque pignori obligabitur.
NVP. Nuptiae.
O. . ..
O. Officium, optimus, olla, omnis, optio, ordo, ossa, os-
tendit, &c.
OB. Obiit.
OB. C. S. Ob cives servatos.
OCT. Octavianus, October.
O. E. B. Q. C. Ossa ejus bene quiescant condita.
O. H. F. Omnibus honoribus functus.
ONA. Omnia.
19
ABBREVIATIONS.
ibbrevia- 00. Omnes, omhino. O. O. Optimus ordo.
tions. OP. Oppidum, opiter, oportet, optimus, opus.
,^v^x,^/ORN. Ornamentum.
OTIM. Optima;.
. ' . P*
P. Publius, passus, patria, pecunia, pedes, perpetuus, pius,
plebs, populus, pontifex, posuit, potestas, pra;ses, praetor,
pridie, pro, post, provincia, puer, publicus, publice, pri¬
mus, &c.
PA. Pater, patricius.
PAE. ET. ARR. COS. Paeto et Arrio consulibus.
P. A. F. A. Postulo an fias auctor.
PAR. Parens, Parilia, Parthicus.
PAT. PAT. Pater patriae.
PBLC. Publicus.
PC. Procurator.
P. C. Post consulatum, patres conscript!, patronus coloniae,
ponendum curavit, praefectus corporis, pactum eonven-
tum.
PED. CXV. S. Pedes centum quindecim semis.
PEG. Peregrinus.
P. II. cc. L. Pondo duarum semis librarum.
P. II. S ::. Pondo duo semis cum triente.
P. KAL. Pridie kalendas.
POM. Pompeius.
P. P. P. C. Propria pecunia ponendum curavit.
P. R. C. A. DCCCXLIIII. Post Romam conditam annis
octingentis quadraginta quatuor.
PROC. Proconsul. P. PR. Propraetor. P. PRR. Proprae-
tores.
PR. N. Pronepos.
P. R. V. X. Populi Romani vota decennalia.
PS. Passus, plebiscitum.
PUD. Pudicus, pudica, pudor.
PUR. Purpureus.
Q.
Q. Quinquennalis, quartus, quintus, quando, quantum, qui,
quae, quod, Quintus, Quintius, Quintilianus, quaestor,
quadratum, quaesitus.
Q. B. AN. XXX. Qui bixit, id est, vixit, annos triginta.
QM. Quomodo, quem, quoniam.
QQ. Quinquennalis. QQ. V. Quoquo versum.
Q. R. Quaestor reipublicae.
Q. V. A. III. M. II. Qui vel quae vixit annos tres, menses
duo.
R.
R. Roma, Romanus, rex, reges, Regulus, rationalis, Ra-
vennae, recta, recto, requietorium, retro, rostra, rudera,
&c.
RC. Rescripturn.
R. C. Romana civitas.
REF. C. Reficiendum curavit.
REG. Regio.
RP. RESP. Respublica.
RET. P. XX. Retro pedes viginti.
REQ. Requiescit.
RMS. Romanus.
ROB. Robigalia, Robigo.
RS. Responsum.
RVF. Rufus.
. S‘
S. Sacrum, sacellum, scriptus, semis, senatus, sepultus,
sepulcrum, sanctus, servus, serva, Servius, sequitur, si-
bi, situs, solvit, sub, stipendium, &c.
SAC. Sacerdos, sacrificium.
SAi. vel SiEC. Saeculum, saeculares.
SAL. Sal us.
S. C. Senatus consultum.
SCI. Scipio.
S. D. Sacrum diis. Abbreria
S. EQ. Q. O. ET. P. R. Senatus equesterque ordo et po- tions.
pulus Romanus. .
SEMP. Sempronius.
SL. SYL. SYL. Sylla.
S. L. Sacer ludus, sine lingua.
S. M. Sacrum manibus, sine manibus, sine maid.
SN. Senatus, sentelitia, sine.
S. P. Sine pecunia.
S. P. Q. R. Senatus populus que Romanus.
S. P. D. Salutem plurimam dicit.
S. T. A. Sine vel sub tutoris auctoritate.
SET. Scilicet.
S. E. T. L. Sit ei terra levis.
SIC. Y. SIC. X. Sicuti quinquennalia, sic decennalia.
SSTVP. XVIIII. Stipendiis novemdecjm.
ST. XXXV. Stipendiis triginta quinque.
T.
T. Titus, Tullius, tantum, terra, tibi, ter, testamentum,
titulus, terminus, triarius, tribunus, turma, tutor, tutela,
&c.
TAB. Tabula. TABVL. Tabularius.
TAR. Tarquinius.
TB. D. F. Tibi dulcissimo filio.
TB. PL. Tribunus plebis.
TB. TI. TIB. Tiberius.
T. F. Titus Flavius, Titi filius.
THR. Thrax.
T. L. Titus Livius, Titi libertus.
TIT. Titulus.
TM. Terminus, thermae.
TR. PO. Tribunitia potestas.
TRAJ. Trajanus.
TUL. Tullus vel Tullius.
TR. V. Triumvir.
TT. QTS. Titus Quintus.
0. vel TH. AN. Mortuus anno.
©. XIII. Defunctus viginti tribus.
X
V.
V. Quinque, quinto, quintum.
V. Vitellius, Volera, Volero, Volusus, Vopiscus, vale, va-
leo, Vesta, vestalis, vestis, vester, veteranus, vir, virgo,
vivus, vixit, votum, vovit, urbs, usus, uxor, victus, vic¬
tor, &c.
V. A. Veterano assignatum.
V. A. I. D. XL Yixit annum unum, dies undecim.
V. A. L. Vixit annos quinquaginta.
V. B. A. Viri boni arbitratu.
V. C. Vale conjux, vivens curavit, vir consularis, vir cla-
rissimus, quintum consul.
VDL. Videlicet.
V. E. Vir egregius, visum est, verura etiam.
VESP. Vespasianus.
VI. V. Sextumvir. VII. V. Septemvir. VIII. VIR.
octumvir.
VIX. A. FF. C. Vixit annos ferme centum.
VIX. AN. i*.. Vixit annos triginta.
x
X
ULPS. Ulpianus, Ulpius.
V. M. Vir magnificus, vivens mandavit, volens merito.
V. N. Quinto nonas.
V. MUN. Vias munivit.
VOL. Volcania, Voltinia, Volusus.
VONE. Bona;.
VOT. V. Votis quinquennalibus.
VOT. V. MULT. X. Votis quinquennalibus, multis de-
cennalibus.
VOT. X. Vota decennalia.
20 ABC
Abbrevia- VOT. XX. vel XXX. vel XXXX. Yota vicennalia, aut tri-
tors cennalia, aut quadragenalia.
, . V. R. Urbs Roma, votum reddidit.
Abchasien. yy ca yiri ciariSsimi.
UX. Uxor.
X.
X. AN. Decennalibus.
X. K. OCT. Decimo kalendas Octobris.
X. M. Decern millia. X. P. Decern pondo.
X. V. Decemvir. XV. VIR. Quindecimvir.
ABBREVIATORS, a college of 72 persons in the chan¬
cery of Rome, who draw up the pope’s brieves, and reduce
petitions, when granted by him, into proper form for being
converted into bulls.
ABBS, St, a promontory on the eastern coast of Scot¬
land, Lat. 55.55. N. Long. 2. 8. 30. W. The shore around
is steep and rocky, and there is a depth of 30 or 40 fathoms
water not far from land. The tide runs by it with a strong
current, and a little wind causes a great rolling sea.
ABBUTALS signify the buttings or boundings of
land towards any point. Limits were anciently distin¬
guished by artificial hillocks, which were called botemines;
and hence butting. In a description of the site of land,
the sides on the breadth are more properly adjacentes, and
those terminating the length are abbutantes; which, in
old surveys, were sometimes expressed by capitare, to
head ; whence abbutals are now called head-lands.
ABCEDARY, or Abcedarian, an epithet given to
compositions, the parts of which are disposed in the order
of the letters of the alphabet: thus we say, Abcedarian
psalms, lamentations, hymns, &c.; such * are Psal. xxv.
xxxiv. cxix. &c.
ABCHASIEN, a province of the Asiatic Russian em¬
pire, on the border of the Black Sea, comprehended
between Lat. 42. 30. and 44. 45. N., and between Long.
37. 3.'and 40. 36. E. The high mountains of Caucasus
on the north and north-west divide it from Circassia; on
the south-west it is bounded by Mingrelia; and on the
south, south-west, and north-west by the Black Sea. The
extent is about 5080 square miles. The climate is gene¬
rally mild, being defended from the northerly winds by
the lofty range of mountains. The sea-coast is in many
parts a sandy soil; but in many of the vallies which run
up between the projections of the Caucasus the land is
fertile, but better adapted for pasturage than for the
growth of corn ; and hence the greater part of the inha¬
bitants are in the pastoral state. The grape and all other
fruits come to perfection. Under the Turkish dominion
the trifling commerce was with the Asiatic provinces of
that power; but its course is now changed, and passes
towards the north. The number of inhabitants is esti¬
mated at 56,500, of whom 40,000 are aboriginal. The
Turcomans, Nogay Tartars, with the Greeks, Armenians,
and Jews that occupy the towns and ports on the coast, are
reckoned to be 15,000, and the Russians and Cossacks 1500.
In early times the Abchasiens were heathens, but adopt¬
ed Christianity under the Emperor Justinian, who built a
church to the Virgin Mary in 550, and sent missionaries.
Under the Turks their Christianity gradually disappeared;
and at present the higher classes adhere to Mahomedan-
ism, whilst the mass of the people follow each a separate
species of idolatry. Though by the peace of 1812 Rus¬
sia entered into all the rights enjoyed by the Turks, it
scarcely interfered with the interior authority of the seve¬
ral chiefs, who by force gain the superiority; nor does
it draw any revenue from the country, but is satisfied
with possession of a few commanding fortresses, and with
the trade which falls into the new channels from the
effect of the political changes.
A B D
ABDALLA, the son of Abdalmotalleb, was the father Abdalla
of the prophet Mahomet. He was the most beautiful I!
and modest of the Arabian youth ; and when he married Abdallatif,
Amina, of the noble race of the Zahrites, 200 virgins are^-*^"^
said to have died of jealousy and despair. Several other
Arabians of eminence bore the same name.
ABDALLATIF, or Abdollatiph, a celebrated phy¬
sician and traveller, and one of the most voluminous
writers of the East, was born at Bagdad, in the 557th
year of the Hegira, being the 1161st of the Christian
era. Of the life of this learned person there has for¬
tunately been preserved a memoir, written by himself,
together with some additions by a contemporary bio¬
grapher, named Osaiba. The whole of this curious piece
has been translated into French, and published with a
work of Abdallatif’s, of which we shall afterwards give
some account. Long before the period of his birth, the
empire of the Caliphs had begun to decline; but their
capital still continued to enjoy those advantages for
education which it had originally derived from their
liberal patronage of learning and science. Abdallatif
was carefully instructed in every branch of know¬
ledge then taught in that renowned city; and the bio¬
graphical piece just alluded to is not a little interest¬
ing, from the glimpses it affords of the studies which
engaged the attention of the more aspiring of the Mus¬
sulman youth.
After learning to read, the rules of grammar appear to
have been studied with a degree of care and earnestness,
which has not perhaps been equalled in any other coun¬
try. With the study of grammar was joined that of the
Koran and the traditionary doctrines, and the whole of
the sacred book was carefully committed to memory.
This faculty seems, indeed, to have been severely taxed ;
for it was also thought necessary to be able to repeat
several treatises on grammar and jurisprudence, besides
some of the choicer collections of Arabian poetry. In
these arduous exercises, Abdallatif says that he was for
a considerable time accustomed to pass the greater part
of the night.
Having attained to great proficiency in the usual studies,
he afterwards applied to the natural philosophy of that
day, and to medicine ; and with the view of still further
improving himself by converse with the learned of other
places, he set out, when in his twenty-eighth year, to
Mosul in Mesopotamia. Having resided about a year in
this city, he next proceeded to Damascus, then a place
of great resort to the learned of the surrounding coun¬
tries. Abdallatif found here many of the most eminent
men of that age, part of whom were busied in the chime¬
rical pursuits of the Hermetic art, and part in philologi¬
cal and speculative inquiries. He seems always to have
entertained great contempt for the sort of chemistry then
in vogue, but he entered with eagerness into speculative
discussions ; and he at this time composed a treatise upon
the Divine essence and attributes, in consequence of some
discussions with Alkendi, a philosopher of eminence, who
was not, however, thought to be quite orthodox in his
faith.
The active curiosity of Abdallatif was next directed to
Egypt; and he accordingly proceeded to Acre, where its
sultan, the great Saladin, was at the time encamped, in
order to solicit his permission to visit that country. This
monarch was a liberal protector of the learned, and fond
of their conversation ; but having been lately defeated by
the crusaders under Richard Cceur de Lion, he was too
much occupied with the cares consequent upon this dis¬
aster, to admit Abdallatif to the expected honour of a
personal interview. He was, however, received in a
A £ D
A B D
21
Abdallatif. courteous manner by the Vizier A1 Fadhel, whom he
found in his tent writing and dictating at the same time
to two secretaries; employments which he continued
whilst he conversed with his visitor upon sundry points
of grammar and philology. Having obtained the neces¬
sary credentials from this minister, he proceeded to Cairo;
and the munificence which Saladin and his courtiers ex¬
tended towards the learned, was strikingly exemplified in
his reception and treatment in that city. He was pro¬
vided with a house, with provisions, and money; and the
vizier seldom failed to recommend him anew, in those
letters of business which he had occasion to write to the
governor of the place.
Here Abdallatif enjoyed the long wished for opportu¬
nity of conversing with that Eagle of the Doctors, as he
was called, the celebrated Maimonides, who had been
for a considerable time settled in Egypt, and was physi¬
cian to the sultan. Here, too, he was fortunate enough
to meet with a sage, who weaned him of his admiration
for the writings of Avicenna, by pointing out the supe¬
rior value of the ancients. But the philosophers of Grand
Cairo were not all of this stamp ; for some of them were
pretenders to the transmutation of metals, and one boast¬
ed that his art enabled him to fabricate a tent of the
waters of the Nile. Having passed a considerable time
in making various observations and collections in this in¬
teresting city, Abdallatif set out for Jerusalem, on learn¬
ing that he would there see Saladin, who had at length
concluded a truce with the crusaders.
Saladin received him with every mark of respect for
his talents, and bestowed upon him a pension. He was
then busied in repairing the walls of the Holy City, him¬
self, says Abdallatif, often carrying stones upon his shoul¬
ders, to animate the undertaking. But in spite of all his
cares and projects, he daily conversed with the learned
men whom his bounty had drawn around him. Abdalla¬
tif mentions, that when first introduced, he found him in
the midst of a circle of this description; and he adds,
that upon all the various subjects which were discussed,
the sultan spoke with the most agreeable address, as well
as ingenuity. From Jerusalem, Abdallatif returned to
Damascus; and, after a considerable interval, a fresh
opportunity having occurred of revisiting Egypt, he again
proceeded to Cairo, where he taught medicine and philo¬
sophy for several years.
During this period, Egypt w'as visited with a terrible
famine and pestilence, of which, and the horrors and
crimes which ensued, he has given a most appalling de¬
scription in the two last chapters of his Account of this
country. Human nature was scarcely ever presented to
observation under so hideous an aspect; the wretched
Egyptians were driven, not only to feed upon the bodies
of those who had fallen victims to want or disease, but to
seize upon children, whom they killed and devoured; and
Abdallatif asserts, that they thus cam# to acquire such a
relish for those inhuman repasts, that they with difficulty
refrained from them after the famine had subsided. It
was likewise during his second stay in Egypt that he wit¬
nessed an insane attempt to pull down the Pyramids ; a
project to which the reigning sultan (a son of Saladin’s,
who, after his death, succeeded to this part of his domi¬
nions) had been instigated by some of his favourites, and
in which he persisted for eight months, without being
able to make any sensible impression upon these inde¬
structible monuments of the ancient world.
About the year 1207, Abdallatif left Egypt for his for¬
mer residence, Damascus; and here he for some time
practised as a physician, and lectured upon medicine with
great success. But his love of new scenes, and desire of
extending his knowledge and fame, still urged him to tra- Abdallatif
vel; and he seems to have passed the rest of his life in ||
Aleppo, and various parts of Armenia and Asia Minor, Abdalma-
acquiring both wealth and glory by his abilities as a phy- ^elc*
sician and an author. Having returned to his native city,
purposing to present some of his works to the caliph, and
then to set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca, he was seized
with illness soon after his arrival, and died1 there in the
year 1231.
He was undoubtedly a person of great knowledge, and
of an ardent, inquisitive, and penetrating mind. Accord¬
ing to his Arabian biographer, to whom he was well
known, he showed himself, in conversation, somewhat
vain of his own attainments; and was accustomed to speak
rather scornfully of most of his contemporaries. But it
ought to be mentioned, to the credit of his understanding,
that his derision seems partly to have flowed from his
contempt of those chemical fooleries to which they were
so much addicted, that, to use the words of Gibbon, “ the
reason and the fortune of thousands were evaporated in
the crucibles of Alchemy.”
Of that long list of treatises on medicine, philosophy,
and literature, which Osaiba has appended to the account of
Abdallatif’s life, one only has found its way into Europe; nor
do any of the others appear to be known at this day in the
East. The work here alluded to is his Account of Egypt,
which was fortunately discovered and brought to this
country by our celebrated orientalist Pococke. The manu¬
script, which is a very old one, is still preserved in the
Bodleian Library. Of this work, an elegant edition, with
a Latin translation, notes, and a life of Abdallatif, was
published in 1800, by Dr White, professor of Arabic in
the University ofx Oxford. A French translation, with
enlarged notes, was published at Paris in 1810, by M.
Silvestre de Sacy ; and to this, among other valuable illus¬
trations, is appended a translation from an Arabic manu¬
script, of the curious biographical memoir to which we
have above alluded.
This account of Egypt consists of two books ; the first
of which, in six chapters, gives a general view' of the
country, of its plants, animals, antiquities, buildings, and
modes of navigating on the Nile ; and the second, in
three chapters, treats at large of this river, and of that
terrible famine already mentioned, which was occasioned
by a failure in the usual annual increase of its waters.
The book undoubtedly is, upon the whole, one of the most
interesting productions which has come to us from the
East; inasmuch as it presents us with a detailed and au¬
thentic view of the state of Egypt during the middle
ages, and thus supplies a link which was wanting between
the accounts of ancient and of modern times.
See Abdollatiphi Historicc AEgypti Compendium, Ara-
hice et Latine, Lond. 1800, 4to. Relation de VEgypte, par
Abdallatif, traduit par M. Silvestre de Sacy, de 1’Institut
de France. Paris, 1810, 4to.
ABDALMALEK, the son of Mirvan, and the fifth ca¬
liph of the race of the Ommiades. He surpassed all his
predecessors in power and dominion; for in his reign
the Indies were conquered in the east, and his armies pe¬
netrated Spain in the west: he likewise extended his em¬
pire toward the south, by making himself master of Me¬
dina and Mecca. Under his reign the Greek language
and character were excluded from the accounts of the
public revenue. If this change, says Gibbon, w'as pro¬
ductive of the invention or familiar use of the Arabic or
Indian ciphers, which are our present numerals, a regu¬
lation of office'has promoted the most important discove¬
ries of arithmetic, algebra, and the mathematical sciences.
He began his reign in the 65th of the Hegira, A. b. 684;
22
A B D
Abdalma- reigned 15 years; and four of his sons successively en-
laU j°yed the caliphate.
Abdalmalek. See Avenzoar.
ABDALONYMUS, or Abdolonymus, in classic his¬
tory, of the royal family of Sidon, and descended from
King Cinyras, lived in obscurity, and subsisted by culti¬
vating a garden, while Strato was in possession of the
-crown of Sidon. Alexander the Great having deposed
Strato, inquired whether any of the race of Cinyras was
living, that he might set him on the throne. It was ge¬
nerally thought that the whole race was extinct; but at
last Abdalonymus was thought of, and mentioned to Alexan¬
der, who immediately ordered some of his soldiers to fetch
him. I hey found the good man at work, happy in his
poverty, and entirely a stranger to the noise of arms, with
which all Asia was at that time disturbed; and they could
scarcely persuade him they were in earnest. Alexander
was convinced of his high descent by the dignity of his
person; and not only bestowed on him all that belonged
to Strato, but augmented his dominions, and gave him a
large present out of the Persian spoils.
ABDALS, in the eastern countries, a kind of saints
supposed to be inspired to a degree of madness. The
word is perhaps derived from the Arabic, Abdallah, the
servant of God. Hurried on by excess of zeal, especially
in the Indies, they often run about the streets, and kill
all they meet who are of a different religion. The English
sailors call this running a muck, from the name of the in¬
strument, a sort of poniard, which they employ on those
desperate occasions. If they are killed, as it commonly
happens before they have done much puschief, they
reckon it highly meritorious ; and are esteemed, by the
vulgar, martyrs for their faith.
ABDERA, in Ancient Geography, a maritime town of
Thrace, not far from the mouth of the river Nessus, on
the east side. The Abderites, or Abderitani, were very
much derided for their want of wit and judgment: yet
their city has given birth to several eminent persons ; as
Protagoras, Democritus, Anaxarchus, Hecataeus the his¬
torian, Nicenaetus the poet, and many others, who were
mentioned among the illustrious men. In the reign of
Lysimachus, Abdera was afflicted for some months with
^ucianus, a most extraordinary disease :x this was a burning fever,
quomodo whose crisis was always on the seventh day, and then it
left them; but it so distracted their imaginations, that
they fancied themselves players. After this, they were
ever repeating verses from some tragedy, and particularly
from the Andromeda of Euripides, as if they had been
upon the stage ; so that many of these pale meagre actors
were pouring forth their tragic exclamations m every
street. This delirium continued till the winter following ;
which was a very cold one, and therefore fitter to remove
it. Lucian, who has described this disease, endeavours
to account for it in this manner : Archelaus, an excellent
player, acted the Andromeda of Euripides before the Ab¬
derites, in the height of a very hot summer. Several had
a fever at their coming out of the theatre ; and as their
imaginations were full of the tragedy, the delirium which
the fever raised perpetually represented Andromeda, Per¬
seus, Medusa, &c. and the several dramatic incidents, and
called up the ideas of those objects, and the pleasure of
the representation, so strongly, that they could not for¬
bear imitating Archelaus’s action and declamation: And
from these the fever spread to others by infection.
* ABDERAHMA, a Saracen viceroy in Spain, who re¬
volted and formed an independent principality at Cordova.
He had several successors of the same name. A viceroy
and captain-general of this name led the Saracens and
their followers into France, ravaging the country wherever
Hist, sit
conscriben
dus initio.
A B D
they came. At length he was met at Tours by Charles Abdest
Martel, who had received reinforcements of Germans |[
and Gepidae; and after many skirmishes, the Saracen Abduction,
army, in a general action, was totally routed, and Abder-
ahma was killed, with 370,000 Moors. This great event,
which first broke the power of the Saracens, and taught
the Europeans that they were not invincible, happened
about the year 732 of the Christian era, and of the He¬
gira 114.
ABDEST, a Persian word, properly signifying the wa¬
ter placed in a basin for washing the hands ; but it is used
to imply the legal purifications practised by the Maho¬
metans before prayer, entering the mosque, or reading
the Alcoran.
ABDIAS of Babylon, one of the boldest legend-
writers, who boasted that he had seen Christ, that he was
one of the 70 disciples, had been eye-witness of the ac¬
tions and prayers of several of the apostles at their deaths,
and had followed into Persia St Simon and St Jude, who,
he said, made him the first bishop of Babylon. His book,
entitled Historia Certaminis Apostolici, was published by
Wolfgang Lazius, at Basil, 1551; and has passed through
several editions in other places.
ABDICATION, the action whereby a person in office
renounces and gives up the same before the term of ser¬
vice is expired.
This word is frequently confounded with resignation ;
but differs from it: for abdication is done purely and
simply, whereas resignation is in favour of some third
person. In this sense, Dioclesian is said to have abdi¬
cated the crown; Philip IV. of Spain resigned it. It is
said to be a renunciation, quitting, and relinquishing, so
as to have nothing further to do with a thing; or the
doing of such actions as are inconsistent with the holding
of it. On King James’s leaving the kingdom, and abdi¬
cating the government, the lords proposed that the word
desertion should be employed ; but the commons thought
that it was not sufficiently comprehensive. Among the
Roman writers it is more particularly used for the act
whereby a father discarded or disclaimed his son, and ex¬
pelled him the family. It is distinguished from exhcere-
datio or disinheriting, in that the former was done in the
father’s lifetime ; the latter, by will at his death : so that
whoever was abdicated, was also disinherited; but not
vice versa.
ABDOMEN, in Anatomy, is that part of the trunk of
the body which lies between the thorax and the bottom
of the pelvis.
ABDOMINALIS, or Abdominal Fishes, constitute
the lourth Order of the Fourth Class of Animals, in the
Linnaean system.
ABDON, an island of the India Sea, of the Papuan
group, to the north of Wageeoo. It is not more than
three or four miles in circumference, is scarcely cultivat¬
ed, the few inhabitants subsisting chiefly by the fishery.
Lat. 0. 30. N. Long. 131. 15. E.
^ ABDUCTION,in Logic, a kind of argumentation, by the
Greeks called apagoge, wherein the greater extreme is
evidently contained in the medium, but the medium not
so evidently in the lesser extreme as not to require some
further medium or proof to make it appear. It is called
abduction, because, from the conclusion, it draws us on to
prove the proposition assumed. Thus, in the syllogism,
“ All whom God absolves are free from sin; but God
absolves all who are in Christ; therefore all who are in
Christ are free from sin,”—the major is evident; but the
minor, or assumption, is not so evident without some other
proposition to prove it, as, “ God received full satisfaction
for sin by the sufferings of Jesus Christ.”
ABE
Abductor ABDUCTOR, or Abducent, in Anatomy, a name given
)| to several of the muscles, on account of their serving to
Abelard, withdraw, open, or pull back the parts to which they be-
long.
ABDULPOOR, a town in the centre of the southern
Indian peninsula, in the province of Beeder, 20 miles
north-west from Hyderabad, in Lat. 17. 12. N. Long. 76.
4L E.
ABEJAR, a town in the province of Soria, in Old Cas¬
tile, in Spain.
ABEL, second son of Adam and Eve, was a shepherd.
He offered to God some of the firstlings of his flock, at the
same time that his brother Cain offered the fruits of the
earth. God was pleased with Abel’s oblation, but dis¬
pleased with Cain’s ; which so exasperated the latter, that
he rose up against his brother and killed him. These are
the only circumstances Moses relates of him. It is re¬
markable, that the Greek churches, who celebrate the
feasts of every other patriarch and prophet, have not done
the same honour to Abel. His name is not to be found
in any catalogue of saints or martyrs till the 10th century ;
nor even in the new Roman martyrology. However, he
is prayed to, with some other saints, in several Roman
litanies said for persons who lie at the point of death.
Abel-Keramin, or Vinearum, beyond Jordan, in the
country of the Ammonites, where Jephthah defeated them,
seven miles distant from Philadelphia, abounding in vines,
and hence the name. It was also called Abela.
Abel-Meholah, the country of the prophet Elisha, situ¬
ated on this side Jordan, between the valley of Jezreel
and the village Bethmael, in the plains of Jordan, where
the Midianites were defeated by Gideon. Judges, vii. 22.
ABEL-Mizraim, (called also the Threshing-floor of Atad)
signifying the lamentation of the Egyptians ; in allusion
to the mourning for Jacob, Gen. 1. 3, 10, 11. Supposed
to be near Hebron.
AnEL-Sattim, or Sittim, a town in the plains of Moab,
to the north-east of the Dead Sea, not far from Jordan,
where the Isi'aelites committed fornication with the
daughters of Moab : So called, probably, from the great
number of sittim trees there.
ABELARD, Peter, an eminent scholastic philosopher
of France, of noble descent, was born at Palais near Nantes
in Bretagne, in the year 1079. Devoted to letters by his
father’s appointment, and by his own inclination, his liter¬
ary attainments could at this time only be exhibited in the
field of scholastic philosophy ; and, that he might be fitted
for his destined career of life, he was placed, after a pre¬
vious course of grammatical studies, under the tuition of
Rosceline, a celebrated metaphysician, and founder of the
sect of the Nominalists. Under the instructions of this
able master, at the early age of sixteen, he furnished him¬
self with a large store of scholastic knowledge, and acquir¬
ed a subtiltyand quickness of thought, a fluency of speech,
and facility of expression, which were necessary qualifica¬
tions in scholastic disputation.
Having spent some time in visiting the schools of seve¬
ral provinces, in the twentieth year of his age he fixed
his residence in the university of Paris, then the first seat
of learning in Europe. The master, William de Cham-
peaux, was at that time in high repute for his knowledge
of philosophy, and his skill in the dialectic art; to him he
committed the direction of his studies, and was at first
contented with receiving instruction from so eminent a
preceptor. De Champeaux was proud of the talents of
his pupil, and admitted him to his friendship. But the
aspiring youth ventured to contradict the opinions of his
master, and in the public school held disputations with
him, in which he was frequently victorious. The jealousy
ABE 23
of the master and the vanity of the pupil naturally occa- Abelard,
sioned a speedy separation.
Elated by success, and confident of his own powers,
Abelard, without hesitation, at the age of twenty-two,
opened a public school of his own. Melun, a town ten
leagues from Paris, where the court frequently resided,
was the place which lie chose for this bold display of his
talents. But it was not without considerable difficulty
that Abelard executed his plan ; for De Champeaux, who
regarded him as a rival, openly employed all his interest
against him. Abelard at length prevailed, his school was
opened, and his lectures were attended by crowded and
admiring auditories. Emboldened by this success, and
perhaps stimulated by unworthy resentment, Abelard re¬
solved to maintain an open contest with his master, and
for this purpose removed his school to Corbeil near Paris.
The disputants frequently met in each other’s schools;
and the contest was supported on each side with great
spirit, amidst crowds of their respective scholars. The
young champion was in the end victorious, and his anta¬
gonist was obliged to retire.
Constant application and violent exertions had now so
far impaired Abelard’s health, that it was become neces¬
sary for him to interrupt his labours ; and, with the advice
of his physician, he withdrew to his native country. Two
years afterwards, he returned to Corbeil, and found that
De Champeaux had taken the monastic habit among the
regular canons in the convent of St Victor; but that he
still continued to teach rhetoric and logic, and to hold
public disputations in theology. Returning to the charge,
he renewed the contest, and his opponent was obliged to
acknowledge himself defeated. The scholars of De Cham¬
peaux deserted him, and went over in crowds to Abelard.
Even the new professor, who had taken the former school
of De Champeaux, voluntarily surrendered the chair to the
young philosopher, and requested to be enrolled among his
disciples. A triumph so complete, while it gratified the
vanity of Abelard, could not fail to provoke the resentment
of his old master, who had influence to obtain the appoint¬
ment of a new professor, and drive Abelard back to Melun.
De Champeaux’s motive for this violent proceeding was
soon perceived ; even his friends were ashamed of his con¬
duct ; and he retired from the convent into the country.
When Abelard was informed of the flight of his adversary,
he returned towards Paris, and took a new station at the
abbey on Mount St Genevieve. His rival, the new pro¬
fessor, was unequal to the contest, and was soon deserted
by his pupils, who flocked to the lectures of Abelard. De
Champeaux, too, returning to his monastery, renewed tire
struggle; but so unsuccessfully, that Abelard was again
victorious.
During a short absence, in which Abelard visited his
native place, De Champeaux was preferred to the see of
Chalons. The long and singular contest between these
philosophers terminated; and Abelard, perhaps for want
of a rival to stimulate his exertions, or possibly through
envy of the good fortune of his rival, determined to
exchange the study and profession of philosophy for
that of theology. He therefore quitted his school at St
Genevieve, and removed to Laon, to become a scholar of
Anselm. From this celebrated master he entertained high
expectations ; but they were soon disappointed. On at¬
tending his lectures, he found that, though he possessed
uncommon fluency of language, he left his auditors with¬
out instruction. Abelard gradually retired from these
unprofitable lectures, but without offering offence either
to the veteran professor or his scholars. In conversation
one of them asked him, what he thought of the study of
the Scriptures ? Abelard replied, that he thought the ex-
24 ABE
Abelard, planation of them a task of no great difficulty; and to
prove his assertion, he undertook to give a comment, the
next day, upon any part of the Scriptures they should
mention. They fixed upon the beginning of the prophecy
of Ezekiel; and the next morning he explained the pas¬
sage in a theological lecture, which was heard with admi¬
ration. For several successive days, the lectures were, at
the request of the»audience, continued ; the whole town
pressed to hear them ; and the name of Abelard was echo¬
ed through the streets of Laon. Anselm, jealous of the
rising fame of this young theologian, prohibited his lec¬
tures, under the pretence that so young a lecturer might
fall into mistakes, which would bring discredit upon his
master. Abelard, whose ambition required a wider field
than that of Laon, obeyed the prohibition, and withdrew.
He returned to Paris, whither the fame of his theological
talents had arrived before him, and opened his school with
his lectures on the prophecy of Ezekiel. His auditors
were delighted; his school was crowded with scholars ;
and he united in his lectures the sciences of theology and
philosophy with so much success, that multitudes repair¬
ed to him from various parts of France, from Spain, Italy,
Germany, Flanders, and Great Britain.
Hitherto Abelard has appeared with high distinction,
as an able disputant, and a popular preceptor: we must
now view him under a different character, and when near¬
ly arrived at the sober age of forty, see him, on a sudden,
exchanging the school of philosophy for the bower of
pleasure, and even disgracing himself, as will too plainly
appear in the sequel, by forming and executing a deli¬
berate plan for the seduction of female innocence. It
happened that there was at this time, resident in Paris,
Pleloise, the niece of Fulbert, one of the canons of the
cathedral church, a lady about eighteen years of age, of
great personal beauty, and highly celebrated for her lite¬
rary attainments. Abelard, whose vanity had been satiat¬
ed with fame, and the vigour of whose mind was now en¬
ervated by repose, found himself inclined to listen to the
voice of passion. He beheld with ardent admiration the
lovely Heloise, and confident that his personal attractions
were still irresistible, he determined to captivate her af¬
fections. Fulbert, who doubtless thought himself ho¬
noured by the visits of so eminent a scholar and philoso¬
pher, received him into his house as a learned friend. He
was soon afterwards prevailed upon, by a handsome pay¬
ment which Abelard offered for his board, to admit him
into his family ; and, apprehending no hazard from a man
of Abelard’s age and profession, requested him to under¬
take the instruction of Heloise. Abelard accepted the
trust, but, as it seems, without any other intention than
to betray it. The hours of instruction were employed in
other lessons than those of learning and philosophy ; but
Fulbert’s respectful opinion of the philosopher, and his
partiality for his niece, long concealed from him an amour,
which was become the subject of general conversation.
Upon discovering her pregnancy, it was thought neces¬
sary for her to quit her uncle’s house ; and Abelard con¬
veyed her to Bretagne, where his sister was prepared to
receive them. Here Heloise was delivered of a son, to
whom they gave the whimsical name of Astrolabus. Abe¬
lard, upon the birth of the child, proposed to Fulbert to
marry his niece, provided the marriage might be kept
secret: Fulbert consented, and Abelard returned to Bre¬
tagne to fulfil his engagement. Heloise, partly out of re¬
gard to the honour of Abelard, whose profession bound
him to celibacy, and partly from a romantic notion that
love like hers ought not to submit to ordinary restraints,
at first gave Abelard a peremptory refusal. He, however,
at last prevailed, and they were privately married at Pa-
A B E
ris. Heloise from this time met with severe treatment Abelard,
from her uncle, which furnished Abelard with a plea for
removing her from his house, and placing her in the abbey
of Benedictine nuns, in which she had been educated.
Fulbert concluded, perhaps not without reason, that Abe¬
lard had taken this step, in order to rid himself of an en¬
cumbrance which obstructed his future prospects. Deep
resentment took possession of his soul, and he meditated
revenge. He employed several ruffians to enter his
chamber by night, and inflict upon his person a disgrace¬
ful and cruel mutilation. The deed was perpetrated ; the
ruffians were taken, and suffered, according to the Lex
Talionis, the punishment they had inflicted; and Ful¬
bert, for his savage revenge, was deprived of his benefice,
and his goods were confiscated. Unable to support his
mortifying reflections, Abelard resolved to retire to a
convent. At the same time he formed the selfish resolu¬
tion, that, since Heloise could no longer be his, she should
never be another’s, and ungenerously demanded from her
a promise to devote herself to religion ; and even insisted
upon her taking the holy vow before him, suspecting, as
it seems, that if he first engaged himself, she might violate
her promise, and return to the world.
A few days after Heloise had taken her vows, Abelard
assumed the monastic habit in the abbey of St Denys,
determined, as it seems, to forget, in hope of being for-*
gotten by the world. However, his admirers and scholars
in Paris were unwilling that the world should lose the
benefit of his labours, and sent deputies to entreat him to
return to his school. After some deliberation, he again
yielded to the call of ambition; and at a small village in
the country, he resumed his lectures, and soon found
himself surrounded with a numerous train of scholars.
The revival of his popularity renewed the jealousy of
other professors, who took the first opportunity of bring¬
ing him under ecclesiastical censure. A treatise which
he published at this time, entitled, The Theology of
Abelard, was supposed to contain some heretical tenets.
A synod was called at Soissons in the year 1121 ; the
work was condemned to be burnt, and Abelard was com¬
manded to throw it into the flames. After being involved
in other controversies, new charges were brought against
him, and he fled to the convent of St Ayoul at Provins in
Champagne, the prior of which wras his intimate friend.
The place of his retreat was soon discovered, and threats
and persuasions were in vain employed to recall him : at
last he obtained permission to retire to some solitary re¬
treat, on condition that he should never again become a
member of a convent.
The spot which he chose was a vale in the forest of
Champagne, near Nogent upon the Seine. Here Abelard,
in 1122, erected a small oratory, which he dedicated to
the Trinity, and which he afterwards enlarged, and con¬
secrated to the Third Person, the Comforter, or Paraclete.
Here he was soon discovered, and followed by a train of
scholars. A rustic college arose in the forest, %nd the
number of his pupils soon increased to six hundred. Jea¬
lousy again provoked the exertions of his enemies, and he
was meditating his escape, when, through the interest of
the duke of Bretagne, and with the consent of the abbot
of St Denys, he was elected superior of the monastery of
St Gildas, in the diocese of «Vannes, where, though not
without frequent and grievous vexations, he remained se¬
veral years.
About this time, Suger, the abbot of St Denys, on the
plea of an ancient right, obtained a grant for annexing the
convent of Argenteuil, of which Heloise was now prioress,
to St Denys; and the nuns, who were accused of irregular
practices, were dispersed. Abelard, informed of the dis-
ABE
Abelard tressed situation of Heloise, invited her, with her com¬
il panions, eight in number, to take possession of the Pa-
Abella. raclete.
/ It was during Abelard’s residence at St Gildas that the
interesting correspondence passed between him and He¬
loise, which is still extant. The letters of Heloise, in
this correspondence, abound with proofs of genius, learn¬
ing, and taste, which might have graced a better age.
It is upon these letters that Mr Pope has formed his
celebrated Epistle from Eloisa to Abelard. Here, too,
Abelard probably wrote his Theology, which again sub¬
jected him to persecution. His opinions were pronounced
heretical by a council; and although he appealed to
Rome, the judgment of the council was confirmed by
the pope; and he was sentenced, unheard, to perpetual
silence and imprisonment. By the interposition of some
friends, however, and by a submissive apology, he obtain¬
ed his pardon, with permission to end his days in the mo¬
nastery of Cluni.
At Cluni he was retired, studious, and devout. The
monks of the convent importuned him to resume the busi¬
ness of instruction. In a few occasional efforts he com¬
plied with their solicitations ; and his lectures were heard
with undiminished applause. But his health and spirits
were much enfeebled, and gradually declined till he died
in the 63d year of his age, A. d. 1142. His body was
sent to Heloise to be interred in the convent of the Pa¬
raclete. Heloise survived her husband 21 years, a pattern
of conjugal affection and monastic virtue ; and was buried
in the same grave. The writings of Abelard will not give
the reader a high idea of his genius or taste ; but it can¬
not be questioned, that the man who could foil the first
masters of the age at the weapons of logic, draw round
him crowded and admiring auditors, and collect scholars
from different provinces and countries wherever he chose
to form a school, must have possessed extraordinary ta¬
lents. Had his love of truth been equal to his thirst of
fame, and had his courage in adhering to his principles
been equal to his ingenuity in defending them, his suffer¬
ings and persecutions might have excited more regret,
and his title to honourable remembrance would have been
better established.
His principal works, written in Latin, are, An Address
to the Paraclete on the Study of the Scriptures ; Problems
and Solutions; Sermons on the Festivals; A Treatise
against Heresies; An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer;
A Commentary on the Romans; A System of Theology;
and his Letters to Heloise and to others. Of some of
those letters, and the answers, there are translations in
Bonnington's History of the Lives of Abelard and Heloise.
The best Latin edition is that of Rawlinson, London,
1716, 8vo.
ABELIANS, Abeolites, or Abelonians, in church
history, a sect of heretics mentioned by St Austin, which
arose in the diocese of Hippo in Africa, and is supposed
to have begun in the reign of Arcadius, and ended in
that of Theodosius. Indeed it was not calculated for
being of any long continuance. Those of this sect regu¬
lated marriage after the example of Abel; who, they pre¬
tended, was married, but died without ever having known
his wife. They therefore allowed each man to marry one
woman, but enjoined them to live in continence ; and, to
keep up the sect, when a man and woman entered into
this society, they adopted a boy and a girl, who were to
inherit their goods, and to marry upon the same terms of
not begetting children, but of adopting two of different
sexes.
ABELLA, now Avella, anciently a town of Campa¬
nia, near the river Clanius. The inhabitants were called
VOL. II.
ABE *25
Abellani, and said to have been a colony of Chalcidians. Abellinum
The nux Avellana, called also Prcenestina, or the hazel nut, (1
takes its name from this town, according to Macrobius. Aberbro-
ABELLINUM, now Avellino, anciently a town of the. lluck-
Hirpini, between Beneventum and Salernum. Long. 14.
50. E. Lat. 41. 0. N.
ABEN-EZRA, Abraham, a celebrated rabbi, born at
Toledo in Spain, called by the Jews the wise, great, and
admirable Doctor, was a very able interpreter of the Holy
Scriptures ; and was well skilled in grammar, poetry, phi¬
losophy, astronomy, and medicine. He was also a perfect
master of the Arabic. His principal work is, Commen¬
taries on the Old Testament, which is much esteemed:
these are printed in Bomberg’s and Buxtorf’s Hebrew
Bibles. His style is clear, elegant, concise, and much
like that of the Holy Scriptures: he almost always ad¬
heres to the literal sense, and everywhere gives proofs of
his genius and good sense; he, however, advances some
erroneous sentiments. The scarcest of all his books is
entitled Jesud Mora, which is a theological work, in¬
tended as an exhortation to the study of the Talmud.
He also wrote Elegantice Grammaticce, printed in octavo
at Venice in 1548. He died in 1174, aged 75.
Aben Meller, a learned rabbi, who wrote a commen¬
tary on the Old Testament in Hebrew, entitled, The Per¬
fection of Beaidy. This rabbi generally follows the gram¬
matical sense and the opinions of Kimchi. The best edi¬
tion is that of Holland.
ABENAS, a town of France, in the department of Ar-
desche; and upon a river of the same name, at the foot
of the Cevennes. Long. 4. 20. E. Lat. 44. 37. N.
ABENHEIM, a market town in the bailiwick of Alzey,
and province of the Rhine, in the grand duchy of Hesse
Darmstadt, with 940 inhabitants, who make some excel¬
lent wine.
ABENSBERG, a bailiwick in the circle of Regen, in
the kingdom of Bavaria. Its extent is 160 square miles,
or 102,400 acres. It is watered by the Danube on its
north-west boundary. The land is even, the soil partly
good, and some excellent. Both corn, green crops, and
grazing, are pursued with success. The numbers of swine
are very great, which are bred and sold to other districts
to be fattened. The inhabitants, in 2 cities, 3 towns, and
361 villages, amounted in 1817 to 15,330.
Abensberg, a small city, capital of the bailiwick of the
same name, in Bavaria. The inhabitants at present are
only 1054. It was formerly the seat of the Counts Aben-
berg. A great battle was fought near this place between
the French and Austrians in the year 1809, in which the
latter were defeated.
ABENSPERG, a small town of Germany, in the king¬
dom of Bavaria, and in the government of Munich. It is
seated on the river Abentz, near the Danube. Long. 11.
38. E. Lat. 48. 45. N.
ABERAVON, a borough town of Glamorganshire, in
Wales, seated at the mouth of the river Avon, 194 miles
west of London. Long. 3. 35. W. Lat. 51. 40. N. Popu¬
lation in 1801, 275 ; in 1811, 321 ; and in 1821, 365.
ABERBROTHICK, or Arbroath, a seaport town of
Scotland, in the county of Angus, situated at the dis¬
charge of the little river Brothic into the sea, as the name
imports, Aber in the British implying such a situation.
It is a flourishing place, well built, and still increasing.
Having been in an improving state for the last forty
years, it has now a considerable trade, and employs about
6000 tons of shipping, chiefly in the importation of flax,
the raw material of its manufactures; of flax-seed, tim¬
ber, iron, &c. from the Baltic. The chief employment
of the inhabitants is the spinning of flax by machinery,
D
26 ABE
Aberbro- and its subsequent manufacture into sheetings. A consi-
thick derable coasting trade is carried on to London and to the
II ports on the east coast of England, as well as to Leith
Abercrora- anc] ^}le other ports in the frith of Forth. At this place,
in default of a natural harbour, an artificial one of
piers has been formed, where, at spring tides, which rise
here fifteen feet, ships of two hundred tons can come,
and of eighty at neap tides ; but they must lie dry at low
water. Its chief fault is that it is small, and offers no re¬
fuge from the German Ocean in easterly storms, though
it is capable of improvement, and, with some expense,
might be rendered secure. A battery, which was erected
for its defence in 1781, in consequence of an attack from
a French privateer, has since been dismantled. This
port is of great antiquity: there is an agreement yet extant
between the abbot and the burghers of Aberbrothick,
in 1194<, concerning the making of the harbour. Both
parties were bound to contribute their proportions ; but the
largest fell to the share of the former, for which he was to
receive an annual tax payable out of every rood of land
lying within the borough. The glory of this place
was the abbey, whose very ruins give some idea of its
former magnificence. It was founded by William the
Lion in 1178, and dedicated to our celebrated primate
Thomas a Becket. The founder was buried there; but
there are no remains of his tomb, or any other, excepting
that of a monk of the name of Alexander Nicol. The
monks were of the Tyronensian order; and were first
brought from Kelso, whose abbot declared those of this
place, on the first institution, to be free from his jurisdic¬
tion. The last abbot was the famous Cardinal Beaton, at
the same time archbishop of St Andrews, and, before his
death, as great and absolute here as Wolsey was in Eng¬
land. King John, the English monarch, granted this
monastery most uncommon privileges; for, by charter
under the great seal, he exempted it a teloniis et consue-
tudine in every part of England, except London. At
Aberbrothick is a chalybeate water, similar to those of
Peterhead and Glendye. The only public buildings
worthy of notice, besides the ruins of the abbey, are the
parish church and chapels of ease, the town-house, the
public schools, and the signal tower which communicates
with the Bell Rock light-house at 12 miles distance in the
German Ocean. Arbroath is a royal burgh, and unites
with Aberdeen, Bervie, Montrose, and Brechin, in send-
/ ing a member to the British parliament. 58 miles N.N.E.
of Edinburgh. Population in 1801, 7000; in 1820, 8972 ;
since increased to 9718. Long. 2. 34. 15. W. Lat. 56.
32. 30. N.
ABERCONWAY, or Conway, in Caernarvonshire,
North Wales; so called from its situation at the mouth of
the river Conway. It is a handsome town, pleasantly si¬
tuated on the side of a hill, and has many conveniences
for trade; notwithstanding which it is the poorest town
in the county. It was built by Edward I. and had not
only walls, but a strong castle, which is now in ruins. It
is 229 miles from London. Long. 3. 47. Wk Lat. 53. 20.
N. The population in 1801 was 809; in 1811, 1053;
and in 1821, 1105.
ABERCROMBY, The Honourable Alexander
(Lord Abercromby), a Judge in the Courts of Session and
Justiciary in Scotland, was the youngest son of George
Abercromby, of Tullibody, Esq. of a respectable family in
Clackmannanshire, and was born on the 15th October 1745.
Mr Abercromby was early destined for the profession of
the law, and with this view he was educated at the univer¬
sity of Edinburgh, where he passed through the requisite
course of languages, philosophy, and law, and was admitted
advocate in the year 1766. In 1780 he resigned the office
ABE
of sheriff-depute of Stirlingshire, which he had held for Abercrcm
several years, and accepted of that of depute-advocate, by.
with the hope of extending his employment in the line ofv'-^'v'v'
his profession. In this step he was not disappointed ; for
his reputation and business rapidly increased, and soon
raised him to the first rank at the Scotch bar. But he
still retained a taste for the elegant amusements of polite
literature, and was one of that society w ho set on foot two
periodical papers, the Mirror and Lounger, published at
Edinburgh; the former in 1779, and the latter in 1785.
To the Mirror he contributed ten papers, and to the
Lounger nine. The names of the authors have been pub¬
lished in the late editions of these works, which renders
it unnecessary to point out those papers of which Mr
Abercromby was the author. In May 1792, he was ap¬
pointed one of the Judges of the Court of Session, and in
December following he was called to a seat in the Court
of Justiciary. Lord Abercromby continued to discharge
the arduous duties of these important offices till summer
1795, when he was seized with a pectoral complaint, of
which he died on the 17th November the same year, at
Exmouth in Devonshire, where he had gone for the re¬
covery of his health.
Abercromby, Sir Ralph, knight of the Bath, arid a
lieutenant-general in the British army, an elder brother of
the preceding, was born in the year 1738. Being destined
for the army, he obtained, in May 1756, a cornet’s com¬
mission in the 2d dragoon guards ’; and rose, April 24.
1762, to the rank of a captain in the 3d regiment of horse.
Ascending through the intermediate gradations of rank,
he was appointed, November 3. 1781, to the colonelcy of
the 103d infantry. September 28. 1787, he was promoted
to the rank of major-general. November 5. 1795, he ob¬
tained the command of the 7th regiment of dragoons.
Having been nearly 40 years in the army, having served
with honour in two wars, and being esteemed one of
the ablest, coolest, and most intrepid officers in the
whole British forces, he was employed on the continent
under his Royal Highness the Duke of York, in the com¬
mencement of the war against the French republic. In
the action on the heights of Gateau, he commanded the
advanced guard, and was wounded at Nimeguen. He
conducted the march of the guards from Deventer to 01-
densal, in the retreat of the British out of Holland, in the
winter of 1794-5. In August 1795, he was appointed to
succeed Sir Charles Gi*ey, as commander-in-chief of the
British forces in the West Indies. March 24.1796, Grena¬
da was suddenly attacked and taken by a detachment of
the army under his orders. He afterwards obtained pos¬
session of the settlements of Demerara and Essequibo, in
South America. St Lucia was next taken by more diffi¬
cult exertions, in which his ability was signally displayed.
St Vincent was, by the middle of June, added to the
British conquests. Trinidad, in February 1797, shared
the same fate. He returned the same year to Europe,
and, in reward for such important services, was invested
with the red ribbon, appointed to the command of the regi¬
ment of Scots Greys, intrusted with the governments of
the Isle of Wight, Fort George, and Fort Augustus, and
raised to the rank of lieutenant-general. ^He held, for a
time, the chief command of the forces in Ireland. Ip
that command, he laboured to maintain the discipline of
the army, to suppress the rising rebellion, and to protect
the people from military oppression, with a care worthy
alike of the great general and the enlightened and benefi¬
cent statesman. From that station he was called to the
chief command of the forces in Scotland. When the en¬
terprise against Holland was resolved upon, Sir Ralph
Abercromby was called again to command, under his
ibercrom-
by
II '
Aberdeen.
ABE
Royal Highness the Duke of York. The difficulties of
the ground, the inclemency of the season, delays, though
inconvenient, yet unavoidable, the disorderly movements
of the Russians, and the timid duplicity of the Dutch, dis¬
appointed our hopes of that expedition. But by the
Dutch, the French, the British, it was confessed, that
even victory the most decisive could not have more con¬
spicuously proved the talents of this distinguished officer.
His country applauded the choice, when, in 1801, he was
sent with an army to dispossess the French of Egypt.
His experience in Holland and Flanders, and in the cli¬
mate of the West Indies, particularly fitted him for this
new command. He accomplished some of the first duties
of a general, in carrying his army in health, in spirits, and
with the requisite intelligence and supplies, to the des¬
tined scene of action. The landing, the first dispositions,
the attack, and the superiority over the French which the
British infantry under his command evinced, all bear tes¬
timony to the high military talents of this commander.
It was his fate to fall in the moment of victory. General
Lord Hutchinson, who succeeded him in the command,
in the dispatches with the account of his death, has given
a fine eulogium on his character as a soldier, and strongly
expressive of the high estimation in which he was held
by the army.—“ We have sustained an irreparable loss in
the person of our never sufficiently to be lamented com¬
mander-in-chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby, who was mortally
wounded in the action, and died on the 28th of March.
I believe he was wounded early, but he concealed his si¬
tuation from those about him, and continued in the field,
giving his orders with that coolness and perspicuity which
had ever marked his character, till long after the action
was over, when he fainted through weakness and loss of
blood. Were it permitted for a soldier to regret any one
who has fallen in the service of his country, I might be
excused for lamenting him more than any other person ;
but it is some consolation to those who tenderly loved
him, that, as his life was honourable, so was his death
glorious. Flis memory will be recorded in the annals of
his country—will be sacred to every British soldier—and
embalmed in the recollection of a grateful posterity.”
His remains were conveyed on board Admiral Lord
Keith’s flag-ship to Malta, attended by Colonel Sir John
Dyer, and were interred in the commandery of the grand
master, with the highest military honours. A monument
to his memory was erected in St Paul’s church, London, in
pursuance of a vote of the House of Commons. His widow
was created a peeress, and a pension of L.2000 a-year for
her and three lives settled on the family. {Gent. Mag.)
ABERDEEN, Old, is a place of great antiquity. Ac¬
cording to tradition, it was of note in the reign of Gre-
gory, who conferred on it some privileges about the year
898. In 1004i, Malcolm II. founded a bishopric at a place
called Mortlich in Banffshire, in memory of a signal vic¬
tory which he there gained over the Danes: which
bishopric was translated to Old Aberdeen by David I.;
and in 1153, the then bishop of Aberdeen obtained a new
charter from Malcolm IV. There is extant a charter of
Alexander II. by which, in 1217, the king grants to Aber¬
deen the same privileges he had granted to his town of
1 erth.^ Ihe town lies about a mile to the north of the
New iown, at the mouth of the river Don, over which is a
fine Gothic bridge, of a single arch, greatly admired, which
rests on a rock on each side. This arch, said to have
been built by a bishop of Aberdeen about the year 1290,
is 67 feet wide at the bottom, and 34|- feet high above the
surface of the river, which at ebb tide is here 19 feet
deep. This town, which consists chiefly of one long
street, was formerly the seat of the bishop, and had a
ABE
27
large cathedral commonly called St Machar’s. Two very Aberdeen,
antique and lofty spires of stone, and the nave, which is'
used as a church, are now the only remains of it. They
are finely ornamented, and are in a state of complete re¬
pair. The bishopric was founded in the time of David I.
above mentioned. The cathedral had anciently two
rows of stone pillars across the church, and three turrets ;
the steeple, which was the largest of these turrets, rested
upon an arch, supported by four pillars. In this cathe¬
dral there was a fine library ; but about the year 1560, it
was almost totally destroyed. But the capital building is
the King’s College, on the south side of the town, which
is a large and stately fabric. It is built in form of a square,
with cloisters on the south side. The chapel is very
ruinous within; but there still remains some wood work
of exquisite workmanship. This was preserved by the
spirit of the principal at the time of the Reformation, who
armed his people, and checked the blind zeal of the barons
of the Mearns ; who, after stripping the cathedral of its
roof, and robbing it of the bells, were about to violate this
seat of learning. The steeple is vaulted with a double
cross arch ; above which is an imperial crown, supported
by eight stone pillars, and closed with a globe and two
gilded crosses. In the year 1631, this steeple was thrown
down by a storm, but was soon after rebuilt in a more
stately form. This college was founded in 1494, by Wil¬
liam Elphinston, bishop of this place, lord chancellor of
Scotland in the reign of James III. and lord privy seal in
that of James IV. But James IV. claimed the patronage
of it, and it has since been called the Kings College.
The library is considerable, but not remarkable for curiosi¬
ties. Hector Boethius was the first principal of the col¬
lege, and was sent for from Paris for that purpose, on an
annual salary of forty merks Scots, at thirteen pence each.
The square tower on the side of the college was built by
contributions from General Monk and the officers under
him then quartered at Aberdeen, for the reception of stu¬
dents. The professorships are Divinity, Medicine, Civil
Law, Moral Philosophy, Mathematics, Natural Philoso¬
phy, Greek, Humanity, and Oriental Languages; and
there are numerous bursaries for the poorer students.
Population, by the last return, 1483.
ABERDEEN, New, a considerable seaport, and capital
of the county of Aberdeen. It is situated on the German
Ocean, at the mouth of the river Dee, and in point of popu¬
lation, wealth, and commerce, ranks as the chief town in
the north of Scotland. In 1800, an act was obtained for
the general improvement of the city ; and since this period
its whole appearance and plan have been changed. New
and spacious streets have been opened, bridges of commu¬
nication have been built, and other improvements executed,
ornamental as well as useful. Union Street, which affords
a splendid access from the south and west, extends from
the market-place 1350 yards, and is 70 feet wide The
houses are built of dressed granite ; and when the street
is completely filled up, it will present a fine appearance.
To facilitate the access into the town by means of this
street, an elegant bridge, of a single arch, the span of
which is 132 feet, has been erected at an expense of
L.10,000. A new opening to the north has been made by
King’s Street; and on the line of this street there is also
a bridge over the river Don, of five arches, each of 75
feet, which has been constructed at an expense of
L. 14,000. Since 1800, numerous other new streets have
been opened, and many of them nearly completed. In
consequence of these improvements, Aberdeen may be
considered as a spacious, elegant, and well-built city.
The public buildings are numerous. There are about 30
places for divine worship. Connected with the established
28
ABE
ABE
Aberdeen, religion are the East and West churches, forming one
continued building 170 feet in length, and adorned with
a spire 150 feet in height; besides seven chapels of ease.
St Andrew’s church is an elegant new building, construct¬
ed of freestone. There are three episcopal chapels; five
meeting-houses for seceders ; eight congregational and
baptists ; one methodist meeting-house ; a Roman Catholic
chapel, in which there is a good organ ; a quaker meeting¬
house ; two meeting-houses for relief people ; and four for
independents.
The charitable institutions are numerous. The infir¬
mary is a large and commodious building, for the recep¬
tion and cure of the diseased poor, and has lately receiv¬
ed considerable additions. The managers were incorpo¬
rated by royal charter in 1773. It has extensive funds,
derived from donations, bequests, and periodical contri¬
butions. The lunatic asylum was opened in 1800, and
is under the same management as the infirmary. A large
and elegant building has lately been added to the original
house, and ample accommodation is now afforded to all
the various classes of lunatics. There is a poor-house for
the relief of the indigent, the maintenance and education
of destitute children and orphans. Gordon’s hospital, for
the maintenance of 90 boys, the sons of decayed bur¬
gesses, is a handsome building, with a good statue of the
founder in front. A large addition is about to be made
to this institution, in consequence of a magnificent legacy
lately received. There are two schools, one for boys
and the other for girls, on the Lancasterian plan. There
is also another for the education of the deaf and dumb.
In addition to these, there are various other schools and
seminaries, which are supported by subscriptions, dona¬
tions, and bequests. There are ample funds of the seven
incorporated trades for the support of decayed members,
widows, and orphans.
The college called Marischal College was founded by
George Keith, earl marshal, in the year 1593. It has a
library containing about 11,000 volumes, an observatory,
and an excellent apparatus of philosophical instruments
attached to the class of natural philosophy. The languages,
mathematics, moral and natural philosophy, natural history,
and medicine, are taught here. The other public buildings
are the town-house and old tolbooth, which stands on the
north side of the market-place, and which is surmounted
by a handsome spire 120 feet high; behind which, and con¬
nected with it, has lately been erected the new court-house,
which combines the advantages of elegance, convenience,
and comfort. In the square, and fronting the town-house,
stands the cross. It is adorned with busts cut in stone of
the royal family of Scotland, from James I. to James VII.
inclusive. The assembly-rooms, in Union Street, were
built in 1821, by subscription. They are constructed of
beautiful granite, handsomely ornamented. The rooms,
which are 90 feet in front, and' 156 feet at the back of the
edifice, are splendidly finished in the interior. There are
military barracks, which were erected in 1796; a bride¬
well, opened in 1809; and a neat theatre.
The commerce and manufactures of Aberdeen are ex¬
tensive and flourishing. One of the most important
branches of manufacture is the cotton, which was intro¬
duced about the year 1779, and has given rise to some
very great establishments, in some of which steam-en¬
gines are employed. There are other smaller works, which
manufacture stripes, winseys, druggets, &c. The whole
give employment to about 4000 hands. There are four
large woollen manufactories, three of which are moved
by water, and the other, being the most extensive, by
steam. In these are manufactured superfine broad and
narrow cloths, blankets and serges, stockings, worsted
yarns, &c. The manufacture of carpeting, chiefly for the Aberdeen
London and American markets, has been introduced
within these few years. The linen manufacture, parti¬
cularly that of thread, is carried on in all its branches to
a great extent. There are several breweries, in which
porter and ales are made ; and considerable quantities
are annually exported to America and the West Indies.
There are also several distilleries, the number of which
has been increased since the late reduction of the duty
on spirits. Of late years some extensive iron-works have
been established, in which are manufactured ships’ an¬
chors, chain-cables, steam-engines, spinning machinery,
locks, hinges, &c. The proprietors of these works also
built a large steam-vessel of 564 tons burden. There are
manufactures of soap, candles, leather, &c. The granite
stones," so famous for their durability and strength, which
are quarried, dressed, and shipped from this port, form a
staple commodity for exportation, and are a great source
of wealth to the place, by giving employment to many
thousands of industrious labourers. These stones are
chiefly used for paving streets; for building bridges, wharfs,
and docks; for erecting light-houses, &c. There are six
banking establishments in the town.
The vessels which belong to the port of Aberdeen
amount to 218, carrying 33,572 tons burden. They trade
to North and South America, the West Indies, the Medi¬
terranean, the Baltic, Greenland, Davis’ Straits, and most
of the ports of the united kingdom. Ship-building is car¬
ried on to a great extent, and gives employment to nu¬
merous hands. The want of any proper harbour was
long a detriment to the trade of Aberdeen, and occasion¬
ed the loss of many lives, and of much property. It was
narrow at the mouth, and being exposed in easterly
storms to the surf from the German Ocean, a bar of sand
was raised quite across, on which, at low water, there was
not occasionally above three feet of water. To remedy
this defect a pier was built in 1776, by Smeaton, on the
north side of it, which extended a considerable vray into
the German Ocean; and by an act obtained in 1810, it
was still farther enlarged. This extensive quay is built
of large masses of dressed granite, and measures in length
2300 yards. In consequence of this improvement they
have now, a little to the south of the bar, a depth of 17
fathoms at low water, and at the bar from 8 to 9 fathoms,
where they had formerly a few feet. The harbour is
at present (1829) undergoing some important improve¬
ments, by the construction of wet and dry docks, the
extension of the quay, &c. for which purpose a new act
was lately obtained from the legislature.
Aberdeen is a place of antiquity, its records being pre¬
served from the time of William the Lion, a. d. 1214.
From the beginning of the 15th century the journals of
the magistrates and town-council came down in a regular
series. In the 13th century Aberdeen was a commercial
place, and soon grew to be of some note. It suffered oc¬
casionally from the casualties and calamities incident to
the almost continued warfare of that rude age. About
the beginning of the 14th century an English garrison oc¬
cupied the castle of Aberdeen. But this stronghold was
taken by a sudden rising of the citizens, and the English
troops were all put to the sword. In 1333 and 1336 the
town was burnt by a fleet of Edward III.; it was speedily
afterwards rebuilt, and was afterwards known by the
name of New Aberdeen. It unites with the burghs of
Bervie, Brechin, Montrose, and Arbroath, in sending a
representative to parliament. Population by the last re¬
turn in 1821, 43,312, and has since increased by several
thousands. Distant 108 miles N. of Edinburgh, 118 from
Inverness. Long. 2. 8. W. Lat. 57. 9. N. (f.)
A B E
Mjrdeen- ABERDEENSHIRE, a county in Scotland, situate in
shire, the north-east, between 56. 52. and 57. 42. north latitude,
‘^v^'and between 1. 49. and 3. 48. of longitude west from
Greenwich. It is bounded by the German Ocean on the
north and east; by the counties of Kincardine, Forfar, and
Perth, on the south; and by those of Inverness, Moray,
and Banff, on the west. Its greatest length is 85, and
breadth 40 miles ; the bounding line being about 280 miles,
of which 60 are on the sea-coast. By a careful measure¬
ment of Arrowsmith’s map, it is found to contain 1960
square miles, an area equal to 1,254,400 English or 994,520
Scotch acres; of which somewhat more than one-third is
under cultivation. It contains 85 parishes, and is usually
described under five divisions. First, Marr, which is a
mountainous district, particularly Braemar, the highland
part of it; few of the bounding mountains being less than
3000 feet, and several of them more than 4000 feet above
the level of the sea. Red deer are here found in great
numbers, sometimes 300 in a flock; and moor game abounds
in this as in all the more elevated parts of the county.
Second, Formartin, of which the land on the sea-coast is
low and fertile ; but hills and mosses are spread over
the interior. Third, Buchan, the most extensive division
next to Marr, having a bold precipitous shore of 50 miles,
but generally a flat surface, the soil of which has been
greatly improved of late by the cultivation of turnips and
clover. The Bullers of Buchan, about 6 miles south from
Peterhead, is a natural curiosity, which has been often de¬
scribed by tourists. Fourth, Garioch, a large and beauti¬
ful valley, naturally very fertile. Before the introduction
of modern husbandry, it was termed the granary of Aber¬
deen. And, fifth, Strathbogie, the greater part of which
consists of hills, mosses, and moors. On a comprehensive
review, it may be said, that, with the exception of the low
grounds of Buchan, and the highlands of the south-west
division, Aberdeenshire consists for the most part of tracks
nearly level, but often bleak, naked, and unfertile, though
interspersed with many rich spots in a high state of culti¬
vation. In extent, it is very nearly one-sixteenth part of
Scotland.
Aberdeenshire is not rich in mineral productions. No
coal has been found in it, and limestone, though it exists in
many parts, is by no means abundant. Slate quarries are
wrought to a small extent on the hill of Foudland, in the
Garioch division; manganese is found near Aberdeen ;
and black lead has been discovered in the neighbourhood
of Huntly. The mountains of Braemar contain those
precious stones called Cairngorums by the country people,
who go thither in whole families to search for them dur¬
ing the summer season ; they are sold, sometimes at high
prices, chiefly to the London jewellers. But granite is
the most abundant mineral, and has brought considerable
sums into the county, besides supplying the inhabitants
with excellent stones, for building and other purposes.
As many stones have been raised from an acre of land
under preparation for tillage, as brought from L.30 to L.50,
for paving the streets of London. The exportation of
granite to the capital employed at one time about 70
vessels of 7000 tons, and 400 men ; and the value of all
the stones exported yearly was stated at L.40,000.
The principal rivers are the Dee and the Don. The
gross annual produce of the salmon-fisheries on these two
rivers was estimated a few years ago at nearly L.35,000.
The Ythan and Ugie within the county, and the Deveron
and Bogie on its boundaries, are also considerable streams.
Muscles are plentiful near the mouth of the Ythan ; and
pearl muscles have been sometimes discovered at its lower
extremity. One of the jewels of the ancient crown of
Scotland, a valuable pearl, is said to have been found here.
ABE 29
There are also several lakes well stored with pike, trout, Aberdeen-
eels, and other kinds of fish. The county is noted for its shire,
chalybeate springs at Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and at Pan-
anich on the Dee.
The climate of Aberdeenshire, except in the mountain¬
ous districts, is rendered comparatively mild by its being
bounded on two sides by the sea. The winters are not so
severe as in some of the southern counties, but the springs
are late, owing to the prevalence of easterly winds; and
in autumn the weather is often wet and stormy. Wheat,
however, and all the other crops cultivated in Scotland,
come to perfection ; and the inhabitants, who are not sub¬
ject to any local diseases, sometimes live to a great age.
The district of Marr, containing almost half the county,
abounds in natural woods, which are a source of wealth to
their proprietors, and of profitable employment to the in¬
habitants. This country is so well adapted to the growth of
trees, that it is only necessary to shut out the cattle by in¬
closures, and the birds and winds supply it with seeds that
soon rise into vigorous plants. These woods consist chiefly
of Scotch fir ; and the timber, especially what grows in the
forests of Braemar, has been thought superior to any that
Scotland has imported from the north of Europe. About a
tenth part of the whole surface of the county is under
wood ; and the trees found in the peat mosses indicate the
existence of still more extensive forests in former ages.
Ruins of ancient edifices are seen in different parts of the
county. In the Garioch district, the vitrified fort called
Dun-o-Deer, built on the summit of a beautiful conical hill,
which springs about 300 feet from its base, is supposed to
be 1000 years old ; and is said to have been the residence
of King Gregory the Great (as he is called by the old
Scotish historians), who died in 892. The ruins of two
buildings, supposed to have belonged to Malcolm Ken-
more, who died in 1004, are still pointed out. One of
them, situate at Castletown of Braemar, was his hunting
seat; the other stands in a small island in Loch Kanders,
and must have been inaccessible, except when the lake
was frozen. A wooden bridge, which connected it with
the land, has been found in the lake. The castle of Kil-
drummy, which in 1150 was the property of David Earl
of Huntingdon, must have been a princely edifice, cover¬
ing nearly an acre of ground; and its venerable remains
still show the power and grandeur of the chieftains by
whom it was inhabited. In the same district are some
ancient subterraneous retreats, supposed to have been
used by the Piets as places of refuge from an invading
enemy.
The agriculture of Aberdeenshire has been considerably
improved of late years; potatoes, turnips, and clover, as
well as wheat and other crops, are nowr cultivated accord¬
ing to the best courses of modern husbandry. Farms, how¬
ever, are still generally of a small size, compared with
those of the south-eastern counties; and the buildings,
though gradually improving, are for the most part much
less convenient and comfortable. Here, as in every other
part of Scotland, a lease for nineteen years is the most
common bond of connection between the landholder and
farmer ; but it would appear that the covenants of leases
are still in a considerable degree dictated by feudal ideas.
In most parts of Aberdeenshire, cattle are a more
important object to the tenantry than com ; the number
is stated at 110,000; and the sales, to England and to the
south of Scotland, amounting to about 12,000, were esti¬
mated some years ago to bring L.150,000 annually. About
two-thirds of the population depend entirely on agricul¬
ture ; oatmeal, prepared in different waj^s, with potatoes,
is the principal food of the labouring classes.
Besides the salmon-fisheries already noticed, the sea-
30
ABE
Aberdeen- fishing employs a number of hands. The Greenland
shire whale-fishery is carried on with great success, by ships
Aber ^ttec*. out from Aberdeen and Peterhead. The whole
Venn?' fisheries connected with the county are said to yield from
L.80,000 to L.100,000 annually.
The old staple manufacture, the knitting of stockings,
has declined considerably for several years; but those in
wool, cotton, and flax, are upon an extensive scale, and
employ a large proportion of the inhabitants. There are
also establishments for making sail-cloth, inkle, paper, &c.;
and, from the characteristic ingenuity and enterprise of
the people, Aberdeenshire may soon assume a still higher
rank among the manufacturing counties of Britain.
A share of our foreign trade, chiefly with the north of
Europe, has been long enjoyed by this county, and the
-ecent improvements on the harbour of Aberdeen must
contribute essentially to the extension of its commerce.
There were, in 1810, belonging to Aberdeen, Peterhead,
and Newburgh, 207 vessels, carrying 23,390 tons, and em¬
ploying 1473 men. In 1807 a canal was opened from the
harbour of Aberdeen to the town of Inverury, a distance
of 18A miles, the expense of which was about L.44,000.
The facilities which this canal affords for the conveyance
of coal and lime have already proved highly beneficial to
the agriculture of the county.
The valued rent of the county is L.235,665. 8s. lid.
DISTRICTS.
Aberdeen,
Alford,
Deer,
Ellon,
Garioch,
Kincardine O’Neil,
Strathbogie,
Turreff,
1801.
14,990
3,993
11,552
5,169
5,680
6,214
3,851
4,176
55,625
20,451
4,455
13,966
5,900
6,310
7,127
4,399
4,867
67,475
35,423
8,448
25,518
11,069
11,990
13,341
8,250
9,043
123,082
1811.
18,641
4,251
11,360
5,325
5,939
6,231
4,007
4,405
60,159
25,570
4,800
14,615
6,112
6,527
7,113
4,821
5,358
74,916
44,211
9,051
25,975
11,437
12,466
13,344
8,828
9,763
135,075
1821.
24,613
5,165
13,249
6,086
6,825
6,963
4,401
5,081
72,383
ABERDOUR, a small town in Fifeshire, Scotland, on
the northern shore of the frith of Forth, about ten miles
north-west of Edinburgh, with which there is now a fre¬
quent and easy communication by steam-boats. In old
times it belonged to the Viponts; in 1126 it was trans¬
ferred to the Mortimers by marriage, and afterwards to
the Douglases. William, lord of Liddesdale, surnamed
the Flower of Chivalry, in the reign of David II. by char¬
ter conveyed it to James Douglas, ancestor of the present
noble owner, the earl of Morton. The monks of Inchcolm
had a grant for a burial-place here from Allan de Morti¬
mer, in the reign of Alexander III. The nuns, usually
styled the Poor Clares, had a convent at this place. It
is a pleasantly situated town, and is greatly resorted to in
summer for sea-bathing. Coarse cloths are manufactured
to a small extent in the village.
ABERFORD, a market town in the west riding of
Yorkshire, about a mile in length, and pretty well built.
It is near a Roman road, which is raised very high, and
not far from the river Cock ; between which and the town
there is the foundation of an old castle still visible. It is
181 miles north by west from London. Long. 2. 45. W.
Lat. 55. 52. N. The population in 1801 was 650 ; in 1811,
775 ; and in 1821, 900.
ABERGAVENNY, a town in Monmouthshire, seated
at. the confluence of the rivers Usk and Gavenny. It is
surrounded with a wall, and had once a castle. It carries
30,481
5,146
15,629
6,378
7,181
7,560
5,024
5,605
83,004
55,094
10,311
28,878
12,464
14,006
14,523
9,425
10,686
155,387
on a considerable trade in flannels, which are brought hither
for sale from the other parts of the county. It is 142 miles
distant from London. Long. 3. W. Lat. 51. 47. N. Aber¬
gavenny appears to have been the Gibba?iiwn of Anto¬
ninus, and the town of Usk his Burrium. The popula¬
tion in 1801 was 2573 ; in 1811, 2864 ; and in 1821, 3321.
ABERNETFIY, John, an eminent dissenting minister,
was the son of Mr John Abernethy, a dissenting minister
m Coleraine, and was born there on the 19th of October
1680. When about nine years of age he was separated
r°ur 11!LPare.nts’ fiis father being obliged to attend some
public affairs m London ; and his mother, to shelter herself
rom the mad fury of the Irish rebels, retiring to Derry,
a relation who had him under his care, having no oppor¬
tunity of conveying him to her, carried him to Scotland;
and thus he escaped the hardships and dangers of the
siege of Derry, in which Mrs Abernethy lost all her other
children. He afterwards studied at the university of
Glasgow where he remained till he took the degree of
master m arts; and, in 1708, he was chosen minister of
a dissenting congregation at Antrim, in which situation
he continued above 20 years. About the time of the
Bangorian controversy (for which see Hoadley), a dis¬
sension arose among his brethren in the ministry at Bel¬
fast, on the subject of subscription to the Westminster
Confession of haith. In this controversy he became a
leader on the negative side, and incurred the censure of
Aber¬
nethy.
ABE
Scots; but the real rent for the lands and houses is pro- Aberdeei
bably not less than L.300,000 sterling. shire
The principal seats in Aberdeenshire are, Aboyne
Castle, the Earl of Aboyne; Ellon Castle and Haddo House,
the Earl of Aberdeen; Huntly Lodge, the Duke of Gor¬
don ; Keith Hall, the Earl of Kintore; Marr Lodge, the
Earl of Fife ; Philorth House, Lord Saltoun; Pitfour,
Ferguson; Castle Forbes, Lord Forbes; Skene House,
Skene; Slaines Castle, the Earl of Errol. The prevailing
names among the proprietors are, Gordon, Forbes, Grant,
Fraser, Duff, and Ferguson. The county sends one mem¬
ber to parliament, and its three royal boroughs, Aberdeen,
Kintore, and Inverury, have a share in the election of
other two; Aberdeen, with other four boroughs in the
adjoining counties, returning one, and Kintore and Inver¬
ury, along with other three, another member.
In the returns made under the population acts, the
county is divided into eight districts, viz. Aberdeen, Al¬
ford, Deer or Buchan, Ellon, Garioch, Kincardine O’Neil,
Strathbogie, and Turreft. The following table shows the
number of inhabitants at each of the three census made
under these acts. In this, as in the other maritime coun¬
ties of the north, there is a considerable disproportion be¬
tween the number of the sexes. The increase from 1801
to 1811, is at the rate of 9f per cent.; from 1811 to 1821,
15; and from 1801 to 1821, 26^ per cent.
ABE
ABE
31
U>erne- a general synod. The agitation of parties began to be
thy also felt among the members of his congregation. Many
H of them deserted him; which induced him to accept of
Ahem- an invitation to settle in Dublin, where his preaching was
^^ymuch admired. Here he continued for ten years, re¬
spected and esteemed. But his labours were terminated
by a sudden attack of the gout in the head, to which he
had been subject; and he died in December 1740, in the
60th year of his age. His writings, like his character,
are distinguished for candour, liberality, and manly senti¬
ment. He published a volume of sermons on the Divine
Attributes; after his death a second volume was pub¬
lished by his friends ; and these were succeeded by four
other volumes on different subjects, all of which have
been greatly admired.
ABERNETHY, a town of Scotland, in Perthshire, si¬
tuated at a short distance to the southward of the right
bank of the river Tay, a little above the mouth of the
Earne. It is of very ancient date, and is said to have
been the seat of the Pictish kings; and there are some
uncertain traditions of its existence prior to this period.
It is distinguished by a curious piece of antiquity; name¬
ly, a circular tower 74 feet high and 16 in diameter, con¬
sisting of 64 courses of hewn stone. It continued long to
be the see of an archbishop, which was afterwards trans¬
ferred to St Andrews. The inhabitants are engaged in
the manufacture of linen. The population in 1821 was
1701. 7 miles from Perth.
ABERRATION, in Astronomy, a remarkable pheno¬
menon, by which all the stars appear, at certain seasons of
the year, to deviate in a slight degree from their true si¬
tuation in the heavens, in consequence, as is now ascer¬
tained, of the motion of the light from every star com¬
bining itself with the motion in the eye of the observer,
caused by the earth’s annual revolution round the sun.
All vision, it is well known, is performed by the particles
or rays of light from any object striking against the eye,
and the object invariably appears in that direction in
which the rays finally impinge. Hence, for example,
arise the effects of refraction, by which the heavenly bo¬
dies appear more elevated in the horizon than they really
are; the rays of light, as they penetrate the atmosphere,
bending gradually downwards towards the surface of the
earth, so as at last to reach the eye of the spectator in a
direction more inclined from the horizon than that in which
they issue from the object: and thus the latter appears
more elevated in the sky than it really is, as in the an¬
nexed sketch.
*Slarinits
* Star elevated by refraction,
truevplace
23*.
\
In a similar manner the rays of light which fall directly
from the stars, in certain circumstances, owing to the mo¬
tion of the earth, really impinge on the eye of a spectator
in a direction somewhat oblique, so that they appear on
this account in a situation different from what they really
occupy; and this constitutes the aberration. Suppose, for
example, the earth is moving in a direction at right angles
to that of the light from any star, then it is evident there
will be a mutual collision between them; the light will Aberra-
not only strike the eye of a spectator, but the eye will tion-
also strike the light; the effect will be exactly the same
as if the eye had been at rest, and the light had been en¬
dowed with an equal motion in the contrary direction; so
that in addition to its direct motion, it has also a slight
motion laterally; and the true direction of the impact,
therefore, or of the compound motion of the light, ac¬
cording to the well-known laws of the composition of
forces, will be the diagonal of the rectangle, the sides
of which represent the directions and velocities of the
light and of the eye, as in the annexed
sketch, where S E represents the direc¬
tion and velocity of the light, F E the
direction and velocity of the motion of the
earth, and E F, therefore, the direction
and velocity of the contrary motion in the
light, the earth being supposed at rest.
When the light arrives at the eye there¬
fore at E, it has not only the direct motion
S E or E G, which is made by construction
equal to S E, but also a lateral motion E F;
so that the compound motion will be re¬
presented by the diagonal E H, which is the
true direction in which the light will really
impinge on the eye; so that the star, instead
of appearing at S, will appear at s, as far in
advance of its true position as the earth has
moved in the time the light travels from
the star to the eye. To determine the
amount of this aberration, therefore, we
have only to compare the motion of light
with that of the earth in its orbit. Now,
from the celebrated discovery of the Danish
astronomer Roemer, regarding the successive propagation
of light, as found by the observations of the eclipses of Ju¬
piter’s satellites at different seasons of the year, it appears
that light actually employs about 15 minutes to travel from
the one circumference to the other of the earth’s orbit;
and from other still more accurate observations, its velo¬
city has been determined at about 194,000 miles per se¬
cond, while the mean velocity of the earth in her orbit
does not exceed 19 miles. Hence it is easy to calculate
that the aberration in this case will amount to an angle of
about 20" of a degree ; and this case in which the earth’s
motion is perpendicular to that of the light is that in
which the aberration is the greatest of all; for, as the
motion of the earth becomes oblique to that of the light,
the aberration gradually diminishes, until at last it disap¬
pears altogether, when the two motions become in one
straight line, that is, when the earth is moving either
directly from or directly towards the stars. In all cases
the apparent direction of the stars will be in the diagonal
of the parallelogram, the sides of which represent the
direction and the relative motions of the light and of the
earth.
The aberration of light having been discovered by
means of the telescope, this has given rise to a familiar
illustration of the subject, which it may be proper to
state. It is evident, that before the star can be visible
in the telescope, the light in its progress through it must
be continually in the axis. Were the telescope, there¬
fore, affected with any considerable lateral motion, this
could not take place if the telescope were held directly
up to tjie star; because, though the light might enter the
telescope in the axis, the lateral motion would quickly with¬
draw the axis from the line of the light, which would
strike against the side of the telescope and never reach
the eye. If, for example, the light moved successively
32
ABERRATION.
I HGF
at i, Fig.
II G F
Aberra- to the points A, B, C, D, E, while the telescope or tube
tion. nioved successively parallel to itself into the positions E A,
Fyi G g, H h, I i; then
A. the light entering at A,
by the time it reaches
B the tube is off into
the position F f and by
B the time it could reach
E the tube is removed
to I i ; so that it is evi¬
dent the star will not be
visible at all in the true
direction of the light.
In order that this may
always remain in the
telescope, and traverse
it from end to end, this
must be set in the posi-
• E tion E i, oblique to E A;
then the light entering
2. will advance to b in the same time that the
axis of the tube advances parallel to itself to F f; so that
the light will still remain in the axis. In the same manner
the light and the tube will continue to advance by pro*
portional steps till the former reaches the eye, where
the star will appear in the direction of the tube, and that
as formerly in the diagonal of the parallelogram formed
by the directions and velocities of the two motions. An¬
other illustration was suggested by Clairaut in the Memoires
de 1’Academic des Sciences for the year 1746, by supposing
drops of rain to fall rapidly and quickly after each other
from a cloud, under which a person moves with a very
narrow tube; in which case, it is evident that the tube
must have a certain inclination, in order that a drop which
enters at the top may fall freely through the axis of the
tube, without touching the sides of it; which inclination
must be more or less, according to the velocity of the
drops in respect to that of the tube: then the angle
made by the direction of the tube and of the falling
drops is the aberration arising from the combination of
those two motions.
In all cases it will be observed the aberration takes
place in the direction of the earth’s motion. Hence it is
easy to deduce, from what we have stated, the effects on the
different stars. Consider, for example, those situated in
the pole of the ecliptic. To the rays of light from these,
the earth’s motion will always be at right angles; the
aberration on them, therefore, will always be of the same
amount, viz. about 20"; but as
the earth changes the direction
of its motion along the ecliptic,
the aberration will change its di¬
rection also, so that the star will
appear to move in a little orbit,
similar to, and parallel with the
ecliptic; the apparent situation
of the star revolving annually
round the true place, as the earth
revolves round the sun. Con¬
sider again the stars situated in
the plane of the ecliptic. To
the rays of light from these, the
earth's motion will be at one
time at right angles, as at A and
B in the annexed sketch, and
at another in the same direction,
as at C and D; for in all these
cases we may hold the dimensions of the earth’s orbit as
nothing compared with the distance of the star. At A,
7> s
therefore, the earth being supposed to move in the di¬
rection A D B, so as to make the star appear at a, the
aberration will be 20" in the direction Sa, and at B 20" in'’
the direction S b, so as to make the star appear at b, while
at C and D it will be nothing, and the star will appear in
its true place at S. The apparent situation will, therefore,
appear annually to oscillate on each side of the true, to
the extent of 20". Between the two extremes therefore,
namely, the pole of the ecliptic, where the aberration
causes the star to revolve in a circle, and the plane of
the ecliptic, where it causes it to oscillate in a straight
line, the stars will all describe elliptic curves, elongated
40" in a direction parallel to the plane of the ecliptic,
and the breadth or lesser axis diminishing continually
from the pole towards the plane of the ecliptic, where the
curve passes into a straight line. These motions in the
stars are confirmed by the observations of astronomers,
(see Astronomy,) and they furnish one among many
other beautiful examples of that remarkable and perfect
accordance which in this science subsists everywhere be¬
tween theory and fact. The effects of aberration also
present a striking, and one of the few direct proofs
which astronomy furnishes of the motion of the earth,
these being quite unaccountable on any other hypo¬
thesis.
Such are the principal phenomena of aberration. This
great discovery, one of the finest in modern astronomy,
we owe to the accuracy and ingenuity of the distinguish¬
ed astronomer Dr Bradley, who was led to it in the year
1727, by the result of some observations which he made,
with a view of determining the annual parallax of the fixed
stars. See Parallax.
The annual motion of the earth about the sun had been
much doubted and warmly contested. The defenders of
that motion, among other proofs of the reality of it, con¬
ceived the idea of adducing an incontestible one from the
annual parallax of the fixed stars, if the stars should be
within such a distance, or if instruments and observations
could be made with such accuracy, as to render that pa¬
rallax sensible. And with this view various attempts have
been made. Before the observations of M. Picard, made
in 1672, it was the general opinion that the stars did not
change their position during the course of a year. Tycho
Brahe and Ilicciolus fancied that they had assured them¬
selves of it from their observations ; and from thence they
concluded that the earth did not move round the sun, and
that there was no annual parallax in the fixed stars. M.
Picard, in the account of his Voyage d Uranibourg, made
in 1672, says that the pole star, at different times of the
year, has certain variations, which he had observed for
about 10 years, and which amounted to about 40" a year :
from whence some, who favoured the annual motion of the
earth, were led to conclude that these variations were the
effect of the parallax of the earth’s orbit. But it was im¬
possible to explain it by that parallax, because this mo¬
tion was in a manner contrary to what ought to follow
only from the motion of the earth in her orbit.
In 1674 Dr Hooke published an account of observations
which he said he had made in 1669, and by which he had
found that the star y Draconis was 23" more northerly in
July than in October; observations which, for the pre¬
sent, seemed to favour the opinion of the earth’s motion,
although it be now known that there could not be any
truth or accuracy in them.
Ilamsteed having observed the pole star with his mural
quadrant, in 1680 and the following years, found that its
declination was 40" less in July than in December; which
observations, although very just, were yet, however, im¬
proper for proving the annual parallax; and he recom-
Aberra
tion.
AB E R R
Vberra- mended the making of an instrument of 15 or 20 feet ra-
tiun. (liug, to be firmly fixed on a strong foundation, for decid-
ing a doubt which was otherwise not soon likely to be
brought to a conclusion.
In this state of uncertainty and doubt, then, Dr Brad¬
ley, in conjunction with Mr Samuel Molineux, in the year
1725, formed the project of verifying, by a series of new
observations, those which Dr Hook had communicated to
the public almost 50 years before. And as it was his at¬
tempt that chiefly gave rise to this, so it was his method
in making the observations, in some measure, that they
followed; for they made choice of the same star, and
their instrument was constructed upon nearly the same
principles: but had it not greatly exceeded the former in
exactness, they might still have continued in great uncer¬
tainty as to the parallax of the fixed stars. For this, and
many other convenient and useful astronomical instru¬
ments, philosophers are indebted to the ingenuity and ac¬
curacy of Mr Graham.
The success of the experiment evidently depending so
much on the accuracy of the instrument, this became a
leading object of consideration. Mr Molineux’s appara¬
tus then having been completed, and fitted for observing,
about the end of November 1725, on the third day of
December following, the bright star in the head of Draco,
marked y by Bayer, was for the first time observed, as it
passed near the zenith, and its situation carefully taken
with the instrument. The like observations were made
on the fifth, eleventh, and twelfth days of the same
month ; and there appearing no material difference in the
place of the star, a further repetition of them, at that sea¬
son, seemed needless, it being a time of the year in which
no sensible alteration of parallax, in this star, could soon
be expected. It was therefore curiosity that chiefly
urged Dr Bradley, who was then at Kew, where the in¬
strument was fixed, to prepare for observing the star
again on the 17th of the same month; when,-having ad¬
justed the instrument as usual, he perceived that it passed
a little more southerly this day than it had done before.
Not suspecting any other cause of this appearance, it was
ascribed to the uncertainty of the observations, and that
either this or the foregoing was not so exact as had
been supposed. For which reason they proposed to re¬
peat the observation again, to determine from what cause
this difference might proceed: and upon doing it, on the
20th of December, the doctor found that the star passed
still more southerly than at the preceding observation.
This sensible alteration surprised them the more, as it
was the contrary way from what it would have been had
it proceeded from an annual parallax of the star. But
being now pretty well satisfied that it could not be en¬
tirely owing to the want of accuracy in the observations,
and having no notion of any thing else that could cause
such an apparent motion as this in the star, they began
to suspect that some change in the materials or fabric of
the instrument itself might have occasioned it. Under
these uncertainties they remained for some time ; but
being at length fully convinced, by several trials, of the
great exactness of the instrument, and finding, by the
gradual increase of the star’s distance from the pole, that
there must be some regular cause that produced it, they
took care to examine very nicely, at the time of each ob¬
servation, how much the variation was ; till about the be¬
ginning of March 1726, the star was found to be 20" more
southerly than at the time of the first observation : it now
indeed seemed to have arrived at its utmost limit south¬
ward, as in several trials, made about this time, no sen¬
sible difference was observed in its situation. By the
middle of April it appeared to be returning back again
VOL. II.
A T I O N. 33
towards the north ; and about the beginning of June it Aberra-
passed at the same distance from the zenith as it had tion.
done in December, when it was first observed.
From the quick alteration in the declination of the star
at this time, increasing about one second in three days, it
was conjectured that it would now proceed northward, as
it had before gone southward, of its present situation;
and it happened accordingly; for the star continued to
move northward till September following, when it again
became stationary; being then near 20" more northerly
than in June, and upwards of 39" more northerly than it
had been in March. From September the star again re¬
turned towards the south, till, in December, it arrived at
the same situation in which it had been observed twelve
months before, allowing for the difference of declination
on account of the precession of the equinox.
This was a sufficient proof that the instrument had not
been the cause of this apparent motion of the star; and
yet it seemed difficult to devise one that should be ade¬
quate to such an unusual effect. A nutation of the earth’s
axis was one of the first things that offered itself on this
occasion; but it was soon found to be insufficient; for
though it might have accounted for the change of declina¬
tion in y Draconis, yet it would not at the same time accord
with the phenomena observed in the other stars, particu¬
larly in a small one almost opposite in right ascension to
y Draconis, and at about the same distance from the north
pole of the equator: for though this star seemed to move
the same way as a nutation of the earth’s axis would
have made it, yet changing its declination but about half
as much as y Draconis in the same time, as appeared
on comparing the observations of both made on the
same-days, at different seasons of the year, this plainly
proved that the apparent motion of the star was not
occasioned by a real nutation; for had this been the
case, the alteration in both stars would have been nearly
equal.
The great regularity of the observations left no room to
doubt, but that there was some uniform cause by which
this unexpected motion was produced, and which did not
depend on the uncertainty or variety of the seasons of the
year. Upon comparing the observations with each other,
it was discovered that, in both the stars above mentioned,
the apparent difference of declination from the maxima
was always nearly proportional to the versed sine of the
sun’s distance from the equinoctial points. This was an
inducement to think that the cause, whatever it was, had
some relation to the sun’s situation with respect to those
points. But not being able to frame any hypothesis suf¬
ficient to account for all the phenomena, and being very
desirous to search a little further into this matter, Dr
Bradley began to think of erecting an instrument for him¬
self at Wanstead; that, having it always at hand, he
might with the more ease and certainty inquire into the
laws of this new motion. The consideration likewise of
being able, by another instrument, to conform the truth
of the observations hitherto made with that of Mr Moli¬
neux, was no small inducement to the undertaking; but
the chief of all was, the opportunity he should thereby
have of trying in what manner other stars should be af¬
fected by the same cause, whatever it might be. For
Mr Molineux’s instrument being originally designed for
observing y Draconis, to try whether it had any sensible
parallax, it was so contrived as to be capable of but little
alteration in its direction; not above seven or eight mi¬
nutes of a degree : and there being but few stars within
half that distance from the zenith of Kew bright enough
to be well observed, he could not, with his instrument,
thoroughly examine how this cause affected stars that
E
34 ABERRATION.
Aberra- were differently situated with respect to the equinoctial led him to suspect that there might be the like propor- Aberri.
tion. and solstitial points of the ecliptic. tion between the maxima of other stars; but finding that don.
These considerations determined him; and by the con- the observations of some of them would not perfectly cor-v^*v^
trivance and direction of the same ingenious person, Mr respond with such an hypothesis, and not knowing whe-
Graham, his instrument was fixed up the 19th of August ther the small difference he met with might not be owing
1727. As he had no convenient place where he could to the uncertainty and error of the observations, he de¬
make use of so long a telescope as Mr Molineux’s, he con- ferred the further examination into the truth of this hy-
tented himself with one of but little more than half the pothesis till he should be furnished with a series of ob-
length, namely of 12 feet and a half, the other being 24 servations made in all parts of the year; which would
feet and a half long, judging from the experience he had enable him not only to determine what errors the obser-
already had, that this radius would be long enough to ad- vations might be liable to, or how far they might safely
just the instrument to a sufficient degree of exactness: be depended on, but also to judge whether there had
and he had no reason afterwards to change his opinion; been any sensible change in the parts of the instrument
for by all his trials he was very well satisfied, that when itself.
it was carefully rectified, its situation might be securely When the year was completed, he began to examine
depended on to half a second. As the place where his and compare his observations; and having satisfied him-
instrument was hung in some measure determined its ra- self as to the general laws of the phenomena, he then en-
dius, so did it also the length of the arc or limb, on which deavoured to find out the cause of them. He was already
the divisions were made, to adjust it; for the arc could convinced that the apparent motion of the stars was not
not conveniently be extended farther, than to reach to owing to a nutation of the earth’s axis. The next circum-
about 6^ degrees on eacli side of the zenith. This how- stance which occurred to him, was an alteration in the direc-
ever was sufficient, as it gave him an opportunity of mak- tion of the plumb-line, by which the instrument was con¬
ing choice of several stars, very different both in magni- stantly adjusted; but this, upon trial, proved insufficient,
tude and situation; there being more than two hundred, Then he considered what refraction might do; but here
inserted in the British Catalogue, that might be observed also he met with no satisfaction. At last, in a state of great
with it. He needed not, indeed, to have extended the perplexity, the discovery of Roemer occurred to him, that
limb so far, but that he was willing to take in Capella, the motion of light, however incredibly swift, was not al-
the only star of the first magnitude that came so near his together instantaneous, but took a certain interval in
zenith. passing from the sun to the earth; and then the truth
His instrument being fixed, he immediately began to flashed on his mind. He immediately perceived that the
observe such stars as he judged most proper to give him motion of the earth being also extremely rapid, might
any light into the cause of the motion already mentioned, have though a small yet a perceptible relation to that
There was a sufficient variety of small ones, and not less of light, and might thus come by combining its influence
than twelve that he could observe through all seasons of to affect the direction of the visual rays, and with them
the year, as they were bright enough to be seen in the the apparent situation of the stars, in the manner above
day-time, when nearest the sun. He had not been long explained. Pursuing this happy idea, he calculated the
observing, before he perceived that the notion they had aberration from the relative velocities of the earth and of
before entertained, that the stars were farthest north and light, and comparing it with his own observations, was
south when the sun was near the equinoxes, was ofily delighted to find them agree in every particular; so that
true of those stars which are near the solstitial colure, no doubt could remain of the truth of his discovery. For
And after continuing his observations a few months, he further information on this subject, see Astronomy, in .
discovered what he then apprehended to be a general this Encyclopaedia; and also the following works, Phil.
law observed by all the stars, namely, that each of them Transactions, vol. xxxv.; vol. Ixxii. Mem. Acad. Paris,
became stationary, or was farthest north or south, when 1737; Mem. Acad. Berlin, tom. ii.; Nov. Acad. Petrop.
it passed over his zenith at six of the clock, either in the tom. i.; Connoissances des Temps, 1788; T. Simpson’s
evening or morning. He perceived also, that whatever Essays on Several Subjects, 1740; Boscovichii Opera,
situation the stars were in with respect to the cardinal tom. v. 1785; Trade sur VAberration, par Fontaines des
points of the ecliptic, the apparent motion of every one Crutes; Cagnoli’s Trigonometrie; Vince’s Astronomy, vol. i.;
of them tended the same way when they passed his in- Delambre, Astronomic; Woodhouse’s Astronomy, (c.)
strument about the same hour of the day or night; for Aberration of the Planets. This is quite of the same
they all moved southward when they passed in the day, nature with that of the stars, only that its amount and
and northward when in the night: so that each of them direction are greatly affected by the motion of the planet
was farthest north when it came in the evening about six itself combining itself with that of the earth, and pro¬
of the clock, and farthest south when it came about six ducing on the whole a more complex result. When the
in the morning. planet is stationary, the aberration disappears altogether,
Though he afterwards discovered that the maxima, in because the light itself, participating of the motion of the
most of these stars, do not happen exactly when they planet, strikes the earth not only with its usual direct
pass at those hours; yet, not being able at that time to motion, but also with a lateral motion exactly the s&me
prove the contrary, and supposing that they did, he en- as that of the earth itself. The eye of the spectator,
deavoured to find out what proportion the greatest alter- therefore, and the light have the same motion lateral-
ations of declination, in different stars, bore to each other; ly; and thus the effect is quite the same as if they had
it being very evident that they did not all change their relatively no lateral motion at all. It is the same as if
inclination equally. It has been before noticed, that it both the earth and the planet were at rest, and therefore
appeared from Mr Molineux’s observations, that y Bra- there cannot be any aberration. In every other case, the
conis changed its declination above twice as much as the aberration is determined by combining the motion of light
before-mentioned small star that was nearly opposite to not only with the earth’s, but with the planet’s motion
it; but examining the matter more nicely, he found that also; and doing this it is found, that in every case the
the greatest change in the declination of these stars was aberration is equal to the motion of the planet about the
as the sine of the latitude of each star respectively. This earth or its geocentric motion, during the interval that
ABE
^.berra- light employs in passing from the planet to the earth.
tion. Thus, in the sun, the aberration in longitude is constant-
*~v~**J ly 20", that being the space moved by the sun, or, what
is the same thing, by the earth, in 8' 7", the time in which
light passes from the sun to the earth. In like manner,
knowing the distance of any planet from the earth, by
proportion it will be, as the distance of the sun is to the
distance of the planet, so is 8' 7" to the time of light
passing from the planet to the earth: then computing the
planet’s geocentric motion in this time, that will be the
aberration of the planet, whether it be in longitude, lati¬
tude, right ascension, or declination.
Since the motion of the planets affects so much the
aberration, ought not the motion of the fixed stars rela¬
tively to our system, if they have any, as some have sus¬
pected, be rendered sensible in this- manner ? Their pro¬
digious distance has hitherto rendered these motions, if
they do exist, almost insensible. But this would not affect
the motion of light. This element flies through the re¬
motest parts of the system; and if it be really material, the
motion with which it is propelled from one point must con¬
tinue for ever afterwards to affect it, unless opposed or
modified by extraneous influence. If the stars, therefore,
have any motion laterally in respect of the earth, so will
the light which issues from them, and which, preserving
undiminished its original impulse, must strike the eye of
a spectator on the earth not only with a direct motion,
but also with one to the right or left similar to that of the
star; and this ought to affect the aberration just in the
same manner as if the star were no farther off than any
of the planets. The same thing would be observed if the
earth, along with the whole solar system, as the late Dr
Herschel and other astronomers have attempted to prove,
be advancing forward among the stars. Since, however,
no such effect has ever been noticed, it would seem to
follow, that the stars, as well as the sun, are really at rest;
or if they have any motion, it is but a slow one, even
compared with that of the earth or the planets round the
sun. This is certainly a curious speculation, which we
have never seen discussed by astronomers. See Astro¬
nomy. (c.)
Aberration, in Optics, a certain deviation in the
rays of light, from the true or geometrical focus of re¬
flection or refraction in curved specula or lenses, arising
from two causes, viz. Is#, the figure of the speculum or
lens, giving rise to what is called the spherical aberration ;
and, 2d, the unequal refrangibility of the rays of light
giving rise, in lenses only however, to a far more mate¬
rial, and in other respects inconvenient aberration, term¬
ed the chromatic, or the aberration of colour, or of refran-
gibility. The object of all specula or lenses, is to collect
the rays of light proceeding from any object into a single
point, so as to form there a distinct image of the object,
either enlarged or diminished, according as our purposes
may require: and on this principle depends the whole
operation of the telescope, the microscope, and other opti¬
cal instruments. The more completely the rays can be
collected into a focus, so much the more distinctly, in every
case, does the image of the object appear at that point,
and so much the more perfect is the operation of the
instrument. But there are certain curves or figures in
the speculum or lens, which are necessary to produce this
effect. Parallel rays, for example, can only be collected
into one focus by a reflecting speculum of a parabolic
form, or by a refracting lens of parabolic or hyperbolic,
combined with spherical curves: all other forms cause
more or less a dispersion or aberration of the rays from
the focus. In practice, however, it is extremely difficult
to form the lenses into these complex curves; and as the
ABE 35
spherical form is much more easily constructed, and as the Aberra-
aberration from it is not generally attended with serious tion
inconvenience, this form has been universally adopted. II
The amount of the aberration is measured either by the. Atex‘
distance longitudinally at which the rays meet from
the true focus, or by the distance laterally by which
they are dispersed from it. In all double convex lenses
of equal spheres, the longitudinal aberration of the ex¬
treme ray is If of the thickness of the lens. The small¬
est aberration takes place when the radii of the spheres
are as 1 to 6, the more convex surface being exposed to
the rays; in that case, it is only ly^th of the thickness of
the lens. See Optics.
The aberration of refrangibility is of far more import¬
ance. It arises from this circumstance, that in a homo¬
geneous lens of glass the violet rays are greatly more
refracted than the red. The latter are therefore thrown
to a greater distance, and the others in proportion almost
all deviating from the true focus: hence arises that con¬
fusion of images, and that fringe of extraneous colour with
which objects are surrounded when seen through glasses of
this description, which has ever formed the great obstacle
to the perfection of the refracting telescope; so much so,
that Sir Isaac Newton, misled at the time by a partial
view of the subject, and others after him, were led to de¬
spair of success in correcting this defect, and thus direct¬
ed their chief attention to those of the reflecting kind.
Subsequent discoveries, however, led to the invention of
achromatic glasses, by which the refracting telescope has
been wonderfully improved ; and some important experi¬
ments, we understand, are now going on at the Royal In¬
stitution in London, by M. Faraday, under the direction
of the Board of Longitude, in the manufacture of a more
perfect glass than has hitherto been used, from which we
may hope to see these instruments carried to a yet higher
degree of perfection. See Achromatic Glasses ; also
Phil. Trans, vols. xxxv. xlviii., and from 1. to Iv.; Mem.
Acad. Par. from 1737 to 1770; Mem. Acad. Berlin, from
1746 to 1798; Nov. Comment. Petrop. 1762; Mem. Irish
Academy, vol. iv.; Edinb. Trans, vol. iii.; Comment. Got¬
tingen, vol. xiii.; Huygenii Dioptrica ; Boscovichii Opera ;
Klingensteirna de Aberrationibus Luminis, &c. (c.)
ABERYSTWITH, a market-town of Cardiganshire, in
Wales, seated on the Ridal, near its confluence with the
Istwith, where it falls into the sea. It has a great trade
in lead, and a considerable fishery of whiting, cod, and
herrings. It was formerly surrounded with walls, and
fortified with a castle; but both are now in ruins. Its
distance from London is 203 miles W. N. W. Long. 4.
20. W. Lat. 52. 17. N. The population in 1811 was 1753,
and in 1821, 4509.
ABESTA, or Avesta, the name of one of the sacred
books of the Persian magi, which they ascribe to their
great founder Zoroaster. The Abesta is a commentary
on two others of their religious books, called Zend and •
Pazend; the three together including the whole system
of the Ignicolie or worshippers of fire.
ABETTOR, a law term implying one who encourages
another to the performance of some criminal action, or
who is art or part in the performance itself. Treason is
the only crime in which abettors are excluded by law,
every individual concerned being considered as a princi¬
pal. It is the same with art-and-part in the Scotish law.
ABEX, a country of Africa, bordering on the Red Sea,
by which it is bounded on the east. It has Nubia or Sen-
nar on the north; Sennar and Abyssinia on the west;
and Abyssinia on the south. Its principal towns are
Suaquem and Arkeko. It is subject to the Turks, and
has the name of the beglerbeglik of Habeleth. It is about
36 A B I A B I
Abeyance five hundred miles in length and one hundred in breadth ; Europeans as the main stream; but more accurate obser- Abiad
II is a mountainous country, sandy, barren, and unhealthy, vation has now clearly determined, that the Abiad, both II
much infested with wild beasts; and the forests abound as to magnitude and length of course, is entitled to the
with ebony trees. pre-eminence. Its sources, however, and the upper part
ABEYANCE, in Law, the expectancy of an estate, of its course, have not been reached by any European.
Thus, if lands be leased to one person for life, with rever- Brown, in Darfur, made the nearest approach to them,
sion to another for years, the remainder for years is in and was informed that they lay in a mountainous country
abeyance till the death of the lessee. called Donga, situated to the south, and inhabited by a
ABGAR, or Abgarus, a name given to several of the savage people. It may be added, that, according to some
kings of Edessa in Syria. The most celebrated of them was theories, and even according to the prevailing belief in
one who, it is said, was contemporary with Jesus Christ; and Northern Africa, the Abiad is a continuation of the
who, having a distemper in his feet, and hearing of Jesus’s great central stream which we call the Niger; but the
miraculous cures, requested him by letter to come and observations of the recent mission seem to have divested
1 Hist.Eccl. Cure him. Eusebius,1 who believed that this letter was this hypothesis of every probability. M. Ruppell, who
lib. i. genuine, and also an answer our Saviour is said to have lately visited some part of its lower course, describes it
cap. 13. returned to it, has translated them both from the Syriac, during the dry season as a dead flowing stream, and little
and asserts that they were taken out of the archives of more than a stagnant marsh. See Nile.
the city of Edessa. The first is as follows :—“ Abgarus, ABIAGA, a town in the corregimento of Alcaniz, and
prince of Edessa, to Jesus the holy Saviour, who hath ap- province or kingdom of Arragon, in Spain,
peared in the flesh in the confines of Jerusalem, greeting.' ABIANS, or Abii, anciently a people of Thrace, or
I have heard of thee, and of the cures thou hast wrought (according to some authors) of Scythia. They had no
without medicines or herhs. For it is reported thou fixed habitations, but led a wandering life; dwelling on
makest the blind to see, the lame to walk, lepers to be waggons, which carried all their possessions. They lived
clean, devils and unclean spirits to be expelled, such on the flesh of their herds and flocks, on milk and cheese,
as have been long diseased to be healed, and the dead to chiefly on that of mare’s milk. They were unacquainted
be raised; all which when I heard concerning thee, I with commerce, and only exchanged commodities with
concluded with myself, that either thou wast a God their neighbours. Besides these, many other qualities
come down from heaven, or the Son of God sent to do and habits are ascribed to them, which are justly re-
these things. I have therefore written to thee, beseech- garded as fictitious.
ing thee to vouchsafe to come unto me and cure my dis- ABIATHAR, high priest of the Jews, son to Ahime-
ease. For I have also heard that the Jews use thee ill, lech, who had borne the same office, and received David
and lay snares to destroy thee. I have here a little city, into his house. This so enraged Saul, who hated David,
pleasantly situated, and sufficient for us both. Abgarus.” that he put Ahimelech to death, and 81 priests; Abiathar
To this letter Jesus, it is said, returned an answer by alone escaped the massacre. He afterwards was high
Ananias, Abgarus’s courier, which was as follows:— priest, and often gave King David testimonies of his fi-
“ Blessed art thou, O Abgarus ! who hast believed in me delity, ’particularly during Absalom’s conspiracy, at which
whom thou hast not seen; for the Scriptures say of me, time Abiathar followed David, and bore away the ark.
They who have seen me have not believed in me, that But after this he conspired with Adonijah, in order to
they who have not seen may, by believing, have life, raise him to the throne of King David his father ; which
But whereas thou writest to have me come to thee, it so exasperated Solomon against him, that he divested
is of necessity that I fulfil all things here for which I am him of the priesthood, and banished him, A. m. 3021, be-
sent; and having finished them, to return to him that fore Christ 1014.
sent me: but when I am returned to him, I will then ABIAUL, a town in Portugal, in the department of
send one of my disciples to thee, who shall cure thy ma- Thomar, province of Estremadura.
lady, and give life to thee and thine. Jesus.” After ABIB, signifying an ear of corn, a name given by the
Jesus’s ascension, Judas, who is also named Thomas, sent Jews to the first month of their ecclesiastical year, after-
Thaddeus, one of the seventy, to Abgarus ; who preached wards called Nisan. It commenced at the vernal equi-
the gospel to him and his people, cured him of his disor- nox; and according to the course of the moon, by which
der, and wrought many other miracles: which was done, their months were regulated, answered to the latter part
says Eusebius, a. d. 43.—Though the above letters are ac- of our March and beginning of April,
knowledged to be spurious by the candid writers of the ABIES, the Fir-Tree.
church of Rome, several Protestant authors, as Dr Parker, ABIGE AT, an old law term, denoting the crime of
Dr Cave, and Dr Grabe, have maintained that they are stealing cattle by droves or herds. This crime was se-
genuine, and ought not to be rejected. verely punished; the delinquent being often condemned
ABGILLUS, John, surnamed Prester John, was son to the mines, banishment, and sometimes capitally,
to a king of the Friscii; and, from the austerity of his ABIHU, brother to Nadab, and son to Aaron. The
life, obtained the name of Prester, or Priest. He attend- two former had the happiness to ascend Mount Sinai with
ed Charlemagne in his expedition to the Holy Land; but their father, and there to behold the glory of God: but
instead of returning with that monarch to Europe, it is afterward putting strange fire into their censers, instead
pretended that he gained mighty conquests, and founded of the sacred fire commanded by God, fire rushing upon
the empire of the Abyssines, called,'from his name, the them killed them. Though all the people bewailed this
empire of Prester John. He is said to have written the terrible catastrophe, Moses forbade Aaron and his two
history of Charlemagne’s journey into the Holy Land, and sons Eleazar and Ithamar to join in the lamentation,
his own into the Indies; but they are more probably ABIKSCHAN, a large fresh water lake near the river
"trifling romances, written in the ages of ignorance. Sumy, in the circle of Osnsk, whose surplus water runs
ABIAD, Bahr el, a great river of interior Africa, to the Irtisch. It is within the government of Tobolsk in
which, at Halfaia, below Sennaar, joins the Bahr-el-Azrek, Siberia.
or river of Abyssinia; and the two united form the Nile ABIMELECH, king of Gerar, a country of the Philis-
of Egypt. The Abyssinian river was long considered by tines, was contemporary with Abraham. This patriarch
A B I
Abime- and his family being there, his wife Sarah, though 90
lech years of age, was not safe in it; for Abimelech carried
j| her off, and was so enamoured of her, that he resolved to
Abipo- marry her< Abraham did not declare himself Sarah’s
husband, but gave out she was his sister. But the
king being warned in a dream that she was married to a
prophet, and that he should die if he did not restore her
to Abraham, the king obeyed; at the same time reprov¬
ing Abraham for his disingenuity; who thereupon, among
Other excuses, said she was really his sister, being born
of the same father, though of a different mother. Abi¬
melech afterwards gave considerable presents to Abra¬
ham ; and a covenant, that of Beersheba, was entered in¬
to between them, a. m. 2107. After the death of Abra¬
ham, there being a famine in the neighbouring countries,
Isaac his son also withdrew into Gerar, which was then
likewise governed by a king called
Abimelech, probably the successor of the former.
Here Rebekah’s beauty forced her husband to employ
Abraham’s artifice. Abimelech, discovering that they
were nearly related, chid Isaac for calling his wife his
sister; and at the same time forbade all his subjects, upon
pain of death, to do the least injury to Isaac or Rebekah.
Isaac’s prosperity lost him the king’s friendship, and he
was desired to go from among them. He obeyed; but
Abimelech afterwards entered into a covenant with him,
a. m. 2200.
Abimelech, the natural son of Gideon, by his concu¬
bine. His violent acts and death are recorded in Judges,
chap. ix. a. m. 2769.
ABINGDON, a market-town in Berkshire, situated on
a branch of the Thames, derives its name from an an¬
cient abbey. The streets, which are well paved, termi¬
nate in a spacious area, in which the market is held; and
in the centre of this area is the market-house, which is
supported on lofty pillars, with a large hall of freestone
above, in which the summer assizes for the county are
held, and other public business done, the Lent assizes
being held at Reading. It has two churches; one dedi¬
cated to St Nicholas, and the other to St Helena: the
latter is adorned with a spire, and both are said to have
been erected by the abbots of Abingdon. Here are also
two hospitals, one for six, and the other for thirteen poor
men, and as many poor women; a free school; and a cha¬
rity school. The town was incorporated by Queen Mary.
It sends two members to parliament, who are chosen by
the inhabitants at large not receiving alms. Its great
manufactures are sail-cloth, sacking, and especially malt,
large quantities of which are sent by water to London.
It is seven miles south of Oxford, 47 east of Gloucester,
and 55 west of London. This town is supposed by Bishop
Gibson to be the place called in the Saxon annals, Clove-
s/too. Long. 1. 12. W. Lat. 51. 42. N. The population
in 1801 was 4356; in 1811, 4696; and in 1821, 5137.
ABINTESTATE, in Law, is applied to a person who
inherits the right of one who died intestate, or without
making a will.
ABIPONIANS, a tribe of American Indians, who
formerly inhabited the district of Chahs in Paraguay; but
the hostilities of the Spaniards have now obliged them to
remove southward into the territory lying between Santa
he and St Jago. M. Dobrizhoffer, who lived seven years
in their country, informs us, in his account of them pub¬
lished in 1785, that , they are not numerous, the whole
nation not much exceeding 5000; for which he assigns
as a reason an unnatural custom among their women of
sometimes destroying their own children, from mptives
of jealousy lest their husbands should take other mates
during the long time they give suck, which is not
A B L 37
less than two years. They are naturally white, but, by Abipo-
exposure to the air and smoke, become of a brown colour, nians
They are a strong and hardy race of people, which our II
author attributes to their marrying so late, an Abiponian ^hjacta-
seldom or never thinking of marriage till 30 years of age. /
They are greatly celebrated on account of their chastity
and other virtues; though, according to our author, they
have no knowledge of a Deity. They make frequent in¬
cursions into the territories of the Spaniards, mounted on
the horses which run wild in those parts. They have a
kind of order of chivalry for their warriors; and are so
formidable, that 100 of their enemies will fly before ten
of these horsemen. The hatred which these savages,
whose manners, though rude and uncultivated, are in
many respects pure and virtuous, bear to the Spaniards,
is invincible. “ These pretended Christians,” says our
author, “ who are the scum of the Spanish nation, prac¬
tise every kind of fraud and villany among these poor
barbarians; and their corrupt and vicious morals are so
adapted to prejudice the Abiponians against the Christian
religion, that the Jesuit missionaries have, by a severe
law, prohibited any Spaniard from coming, without a for¬
mal permission, into any of their colonies.” From his
account of the success of the Jesuits in converting them
to Christianity, however, it does not appear that they
have been able to do more than bribe them to a compli¬
ance with the ceremonies of the Popish superstition; so
that in general they are quite ignorant and uncivilized;
a most striking instance of which is, that in counting they
can go no further than three; and all the art of the Je¬
suits to teach them the simplest use and expression of
numbers has proved unsuccessful. Dobrizhoffer’s account
of this people was translated into English by Mr Southey,
and published in 1822, in 3 vols. 8vo.
ABIRAM, a seditious Levite, who, in concert with Ko-
rah and Dathan, rebelled against Moses and Aaron, in
order to share with them in the government of the
people; when Moses ordering them to come with their
censers before the altar of the Lord, the earth suddenly
opened under their feet, and swallowed up them and their
tents; and at the same instant fire came from heaven
and consumed 250 of their followers. Numb. chap. xvi.
ABISHA1, son of Zeruiah, and brother to Joab, was
one of the celebrated warriors who flourished in the reign
of David: he killed with his own hand 300 men, with no
other weapon but his lance; and slew a Philistine giant,
the iron of whose spear weighed 300 shekels. 1 Sam.
chap. xxvi. 2 Sam. chap, xxiii.
ABJURATION, in our ancient customs, implied an
oath taken by a person guilty of felony, and who had fled
to a place of sanctuary, whereby he solemnly engaged to
leave the kingdom for ever.
Abjuration is now used to signify the renouncing,
disclaiming, and denying upon oath, the Pretender to
have any kind of right to the crown of these kingdoms.
Abjuration of Heresy, the solemn recantation of any
doctrine as false and wicked.
ABLA, a town on the river Almeria, in the depart¬
ment of Guadix and province of Granada, in Spain.
ABLACH, a river in the grand duchy of Baden, in
Germany, which soon falls into the Danube on the border
of Wirtemberg.
ABLACQUEATION, an old term in Gardening, sig¬
nifies the operation of removing the earth, and baring the
roots of trees in winter, to expose them more freely to
the air, rain, snow, &c.
ABLACTATION, among the ancient gardeners, the
same with what is now called Grafting by approach, is a
method of ingrafting, by which the scion of one tree being
38 A B L
Ablan- for some time united to the stock of another, is afterwards
court Cut off, and, as it were, weaned from the parent tree.
II ABLANCOURT. See Perrot.
ABLANQUEJO, a river of Spain, in the province of
Soria, which falls into the Tagus.
ABLATIVE, in Grammar, the sixth case of Latin
nouns. The word is formed from auferre, “ to take away.”
Priscian also calls it the comparative case; as serving
among the Latins for comparing, as well as taking away.
The ablative is opposite to the dative; the first ex¬
pressing the action of taking away, and the latter that of
giving.
In English, French, &c. there is no precise mark where¬
by to distinguish the ablative from other cases; and we
only use the term from analogy to the Latin. Thus, in
the two phrases, the magnitude of the city, and he spoke
much of the city ; we say, that of the city in the first is ge¬
nitive, and in the latter ablative; because it would be so
if the two phrases were expressed in Latin.
The question concerning the Greek ablative has been
the subject of a famous literary war between two great
grammarians, Frischlin and Crusius; the former maintain¬
ing, and the latter opposing, the reality of it. The dis¬
pute still subsists among their respective followers. The
chief reason alleged by the former is, that the Roman
writers often joined Greek words with the Latin pre¬
positions which govern ablative cases, as well as with nouns
of the same case. To which their opponents answer, that
the Latins anciently had no ablative themselves, but in¬
stead thereof made use, like the Greeks, of the dative
case ; till at length they formed an ablative, governed by
prepositions, which were not put before the dative : that,
at first, the two cases had always the same termination,
as they still have in many instances; but that this was
afterwards changed in certain words. It is no wonder,
then, that the Latins sometimes join prepositions which
govern an ablative case, or nouns in the ablative case,
with Greek datives, since they were originally the same;
and that the Greek dative has the same effect as the La¬
tin ablative.
Ablative Absolute, in Grammar, is a phrase detach¬
ed or independent of the other parts of a sentence or dis¬
course. In the Latin language it is frequent, and it has
been adopted by the moderns.
ABLAY, a country of Great Tartary, governed by a
Calmuck chief, but subject to Russia, to obtain its pro¬
tection. It lies east of the river Irtisch, and extends 500
leagues along the southern frontiers of Siberia.
ABLE, or Abel, Thomas, chaplain to Queen Cathe¬
rine, consort to Henry VIII. distinguished himself by his
zeal in opposing the proceedings against that unfortunate
princess for a divorce. For this purpose he wrote a piece
entitled Tractatus de non dissolvendo Henrici et Catharince
matrimonio. But the title of the book, according to Bishop
Tanner, was Invicta Veritas. He took the degree of
bachelor of arts at Oxford on the 4th of July 1513, and
that of master of arts on the 27th July 1516. In 1534
he fell under a prosecution for1 being concerned in the af¬
fair of Elizabeth Barton, called the Holy Maid of Kent.
This was an infamous impostor, suborned by the monks
to use strange gesticulations, exhibit fictitious miracles,
and to feign the gift of prophecy ; and so well did she act
her part, that she drew some persons of respectability to
her interest: but being detected, she was condemned
and executed, after discovering the names of her princi¬
pal accomplices and instigators. On her account Able
was charged with misprision of treason; and being also
one of those who denied the king’s supremacy over the
church, he was apprehended and imprisoned. He was
ABO
afterwards hanged, drawn, and quartered, at Smithfield, in Ablecti
1540. ||
ABLECTI, in Roman antiquity, a select body of sol-
diers chosen from among those called Extraordinarii.
ABLEGMINA, in Roman antiquity, those choice parts
of the entrails of victims which were offered in sacrifice
to the gods. They were sprinkled with flour, and burnt
upon the altar; the priests pouring some wine on them.
ABLITAS, a town of Spain, in the circle of Tudela,
and kingdom or province of Navarre. It is situated near
the lake of Santo.
ABLOCH, a river of Germany, rising in the principality
of Flohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and runs to the Danube.
ABLUENTS, in Medicine, the same with diluters or
Diluents.
ABLUTION, a ceremony in use among the ancients,
and still practised in several parts of the wrorld: it con¬
sisted in washing the body, which was always done before
sacrificing, or even entering their houses. Ablutions ap¬
pear to be as old as any ceremonies, and external worship
itself. Moses enjoined them, the heathens adopted them,
and Mahomet and his followers have continued them;
thus they have got footing among most nations, and make
a considerable part of many established religions.
ABNER, the son of Ner, father-in-law to Saul, and
general of all his forces, served him on all occasions with
fidelity and courage. After the death of that prince,
Abner set Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, on the throne. A war
breaking out between the tribe of Judah, who had elected
David king, and Israel, Abner marched against that prince
with the flower of his troops, but was defeated. Abner
afterward, being disgusted, went over to David, and in¬
duced the chiefs of the army and the elders of Israel to
declare for him. He was received by David with every
mark of affection, which gave offence to Joab, by whom
he was insidiously put to death, a. m. 2956.
ABNOBA, now Abenow, in Geography, a long range
of mountains in Germany, extending from the Rhine to
the Necker, and having different names according to the
different countries through which they stretch. About
the river Maine they are called the Oden or Otenwald;
between Hesse and Franconia, the Spessart; and about
the duchy of Wirtemberg, where the Danube takes its
rise, they receive the name of Baar.
ABO, a circle in the province of Finland, recently
transferred to Russia from Sweden. By the new division,
it extends over 12,145 square miles, between Lat. 59. 50.
and 62. 20. N. and Long. 19. 10. and 23. 46. E. It is
bounded on the north by the circle of Wasa; on the east
by Helsingfors; on the south by the Gulf of Finland; on
the south-east by the Baltic Sea; and on the west by the
Gulf of Bothnia, in which the Aland group of islands
comprehended in this circle are situated. It contains 6
cities, and 4980 hamlets. The inhabitants, at the census
of 1805, were 207,960; of wdiom 18,591 lived in the citiefe,
and the remainder in the country places. On the sea-
coast, and on the eastern side of the circle, it is rather
hilly; but the centre is chiefly a level country. The land
is of medium fertility, producing rye, potatoes, hemp, flax,
hops, and tobacco. The forests produce plants, pitch, and
tar, and some potash. The coasts yield abundance of
fish. It is divided into 9 horads or baronies.
ABO, a city, the capital of the late Swedish, but now
Russian, province of Finland. The river Aurajchi divides
it into two parts. By a most extensive fire in November
1827, nearly the whole city was destroyed, with the public
buildings, including the university, and its valuable library.
Before this calamity, Abo contained 1100 houses and
11,300 inhabitants, was the see of a bishop, and the chief
ABO ABO 39
Aboard trading port of Finland. The entrance of the Aurajchi
II is defended by a castle. Vessels drawing 9 or 10 feet
Aboras. water g0 up to the town; but those drawing more anchor
/">*'at 3 miles south-west of the river, where there is a good
harbour; and thence the goods are sent by small craft to
Abo. The great church is in Lat. 60. 27. 14. N. and in
Long. 22. 18. 10. E. from Greenwich.
ABO ARD, the inside of a ship. Hence any person
who enters a ship is said to go aboard: but when an
enemy enters in the time of battle, he is said to board;
a phrase which always implies hostility To fall aboard
of is to strike or encounter another ship when one or both
are in motion, or to be driven upon a ship by the force of
the wind or current.—Aboard-main-tacJi, the order to
draw the main-tack, i. e. the lower corner of the main-sail,
down to the Chess-tree.
ABOCRO, or Aborrel, in Geography, a town near
the river Ankobar or Cobre, on the African Gold Coast.
It gives name to a republican province.
ABOD, a market town of Hungary, in the circle of
hither Theiss, and the district of Erlau, where woollen
manufactories are established.
ABOLA, in Geography, a division of the Agow, in
Abyssinia, is a narrow valley, through which runs a river
of the same name, whose waters receive many tributary
streams from the lofty, rugged, and woody mountains that
form the valley.
ABOLI1ION, in the Roman law, is the annulling a
prosecution, or legal accusation: and in this sense it is
different from amnesty; for, in the former, the accusation
might be renewed by the same prosecutor, but in the
latter it was extinguished for ever. Within 30 days after
a public abolition, the same accuser, with the prince’s
licence, was allowed to renew the charge ; after a private
abolition, another accuser might renew it, but the same
could not. Abolition was also used for expunging a per¬
son s name from the public list of the accused, hung up
in the treasury. It was either public, as that under Au¬
gustus, when all the names which had long hung up were
expunged at once; or private, when it was done at the
motion of one of the parties.
ABOLLA, in antiquity, a wrarm kind of garment, lined
or doubled, worn by the Greeks and Romans, chiefly out
of the city, in following the camp. Critics and antiquaries
are greatly divided as to the form, use, kinds, &c. of this
garment. . Papias makes it a species of the toga, or gown;
but Nonnius, and most others, suppose it to be a species
of the pallium, or cloak. The abolla seems rather to have
stood opposed to the toga, which was a garment of peace,
as the abolla was of war ; at least Varro and Martial place
*n °PPosite light. There seem to have been
different kinds of abollee, appropriated to different charac-
ters and occasions. Even kings appear to have used the
abolla.- Caligula was offended with King Ptolemy for
appearing at the shows in a purple abolla, the splendour
oi which drew the eyes of the spectators from the empe¬
ror to himself. 1
ABON, Abona, or Abonis, in Ancient Geography, a
town and river of Albion. The town, according to Cam¬
den, is Abingdon ; and the river, Abhon or Avon. Others
take the town to be Porshut, at the mouth of the river
Avon, near Bristol. Abuin or Avon, in the Celtic lan¬
guage, denotes a river.
ABORAS, in Ancient Geography, by Xenophon called
Araxes, a river of Mesopotamia, which flows into the
Euphrates at Circesium. In the negotiation between
JJioelesian and Narses, near the end of the third century,
i was hxed as the boundary between the Roman and
Persian empires.
. ABORIGINES, in History, originally a proper name, Abori-
given to a certain people in Italy, who inhabited the an- gines
cient Latium, or country now called Campagna di Roma. II
Whence this people came by the appellation is much dis- Abortlon-
puted. St Jerome says, they were so called, as being
absque origine, the primitive planters of the country after
the flood: Dionysius of Halicarnassus accounts for the
name, as denoting them the founders of the race of inha¬
bitants of that country: others think them so called as
being originally Arcadians, who claimed to be earth-born,
and not descended from any people. The term Abori¬
gines, in modern geography, is applied to the primitive in¬
habitants of a country, in contradistinction to colonies, or
new races of people.
ABORTION, in Midwifery, the premature exclusion
of a foetus. It has sometimes been doubted whether this
unnatural practice was ranked as a crime in the laws of
Greece and Rome. This question has been revived, and
elaborately discussed in France, by some members of the
Institute. The subject, it seems, had been incidentally
alluded to in a discourse of Gregoire’s upon the influence
of Christianity on the condition of the female sex, read in
the early part of 1814. This produced two dissertations,
one by M. Clavier, and the other by M. Boissonade; the
first maintaining the impunity of the practice among the
ancients, the last, that it was on the contrary viewed as a
penal offence.
We find, says M. Clavier, that in one of Plato’s dia¬
logues (Theat.) Socrates is made to speak of artificial
abortion, as a practice not only common, but allowable;
and Plato himself authorizes it in his Republic, (lib. v.)
Aristotle {Polit. lib. vii. c. 17) gives it as his opinion, that
no child ought to be suffered to come into the world, the
mother being above forty, or the father above fifty-five
years of age. Lysias maintained, in one of his pleadings
quoted by Harpocration, that forced abortion could not be
considered homicide, because a child in utero was not an
animal, or separate existence. M. Clavier admits, that,
in a treatise ascribed to Galen, (An animal sit quod in
utero est ?) there is mention made of enactments by Solon
and Lycurgus against this crime; but he maintains that
this is a spurious production, and that, at any rate, his
testimony cannot be opposed to that of so many writers
who lived long before his age. Among the Romans, Ovid
(Amor. lib. ii.), Juvenal (Sat. vi. v. 594), and Seneca
(Consol, ad Helv. 16), though they lament in strong
terms the frequency of this enormity, yet they never al¬
lude to any laws by which it might be suppressed. Vari¬
ous other writers, it is said, preserve the same silence on
this point, whilst joining in general reprobation of the
crime.
On the other hand, M. Boissonade appeals not only to
the authority of Galen, but of Cicero, (Pro Cluentio,) as
placing it beyond a doubt, that, so far from being allowed
to pass with impunity, the offence in question was some¬
times punished with death. WTith regard to the autho¬
rity of Lysias, he states, that the pleading referred to is
quoted by Harpocration himself as of dubious authenti¬
city ; and, as to Plato and Aristotle, he observes, that their
speculative reasonings, in matters of legislation, ought not
to be confounded with the actual state of the laws. And
he adds, that Stobseus (Serm. 73) has preserved a pass¬
age from Musonius, in which that philosopher expressly
states, that the ancient lawgivers inflicted punishments on
females who caused themselves to abort.
It seems indeed difficult to believe, that the practice in
question should have been allowed to prevail without being
denounced as criminal by the lawgivers of Greece and
Rome; but it is not so clear that there was any law which
40 ABO ABO
Abortion punished it with death. Thnse readers who have any
II curiosity to enter more deeply into the inquiry, will be
Aboulfeda. enabled to do so by consulting the various authorities to
which M. Clavier and M. Boissonade have appealed, in
support of their respective views of the question. The
notorious frequency of the practice forms an odious feature
in the manners of ancient times. Seneca makes it a ground
of distinction for Helvia, that she had never, like others
of her countrywomen, destroyed the child in her womb,
in order to preserve her shape.
« By the law of England till lately, the only party held to
be guilty of murder in forcingabortion was the woman, when
she was proved to have taken means to destroy a child quick
in the womb, and actually to have thereby destroyed it.
But in 1803, an act was passed, inflicting the punishment
of death upon all concerned in administering any noxious
substance with the intent to procure the miscarriage of
any woman quick with child. The procuring or attempt¬
ing it before the child has quickened, is punishable only
with imprisonment or transportation. This law is evident¬
ly grounded upon a false hypothesis, that the foetus is not
quick or alive till its motion in the womb becomes per¬
ceptible to the mother; and, what is of more importance,
it makes no provision against the attempt to procure abor¬
tion by manual application. The reader will find a curi¬
ous illustration of this defect, in a trial which occurred at
the assizes held at Bury St Edmunds in 1808. See Trial
of William Pizzy, &c. Ipswich, 1808.
The case of John Fenton, tried at Perth in 1763, was
the first instance of a criminal prosecution for this offence
in Scotland; and here the public prosecutor restricted
the libel to an arbitrary punishment. Our writers indeed
agree, that, by the law of Scotland, the forcing of abortion
is not homicide, whether the child be quick or not, ex¬
cept where the mother is killed in the process. Imprison¬
ment or transportation may, and is all that can, in any
case, be inflicted.
Abortive Vellum, is made of the skin of an abortive
or immature calf.
ABOUKIR, a small town of Egypt, with a castle and
a little island adjoining, with which it is connected by a
chain of rocks. It stands at the eastern extremity of the
long neck of land between the sea and the lakes Mareotis
and Maadie, upon which Alexandria, about twelve miles
to the westward, is also situated. Eastward lies the spa¬
cious bay of Aboukir, reaching to the mouth of the Nile.
This vicinity was the scene of some of the greatest events
which distinguished the late war between Britain and
France. In the bay of Aboukir, Nelson found the French
fleet which had conveyed Buonaparte to Egypt, and in¬
stantly penetrating its line, gained that signal victory
usually called the “ Battle of the Nile,” in which the
whole of the enemy’s fleet, with the exception of two
vessels, were destroyed or captured. It was at Aboukir
also that Sir Ralph Abercromby, in 1801, effected his
landing, and having driven the enemy up the sand hills,
took possession of the place. In other respects Aboukir
is not of much importance.
ABOULFEDA, or Abulfeda, the most celebrated of
the Arabian writers on history and geography. Among
his contemporaries he was also distinguished both as a
ruler and a warrior. His descent was in a direct line
from Ayoub, father to Saladin, and from whom the house
of that conqueror received the appellation of Ayoubites.
Omar, the grandson of Ayoub, was one of Saladin’s most
distmguished generals, and enjoyed the privilege, which
he transmitted to his posterity, of being placed always on
the right of the army. In reward of his services, he was
created Prince of Hamah, the ancient Apamea, which,
with some territories adjoining, became hereditary in his Aboulfeda
family. They were transmitted, in the course of succes-
sion, to Mahommed Mahmoud, and to Mahommed, the uncle
of Aboulfeda. Although none of these princes equalled
the military glory of Omar, they were yet distinguished
both in arms and letters. Continually engaged in military
expeditions, their court was at the same time open to
learned men. It is mentioned, among the proofs of their
zeal for science, that Mahmoud caused to be constructed
at Hamah, a gilded sphere of great magnitude, on which
all the stars then known were represented.
Aboulfeda was son to Ally, the brother of Mahommed.
He was born at Damascus in the year 672 of the Hegira,
(1273 a. d.) His early years were spent in the study of
the Koran and of the sciences. By the age of twelve,
however, he was summoned to the field, and was present
at the attack of Marcab, a castle belonging to the knights
of St John. Syria was then shaken by continual war, and
thus scarcely a year elapsed, in which the young prince
wras not called out upon some military expedition. He suc¬
cessively assisted at the sieges of Tripoli, Acre, and Roum.
In 1298, Prince Mahmoud, his cousin, who held the sove¬
reignty, died, and left Aboulfeda heir. The succession,
however, being violently disputed by his two brothers, the
court, in consequence of their dissensions, took occasion
to supersede all the three ; and the Ayoubites lost the
principality which they had enjoyed for more than a cen¬
tury. Aboulfeda, however, by his valour and other emi¬
nent qualities, soon recommended himself to the favour of
the Sultan Melik-el-Nassir. He was present, and took an
active part in the victory gained at Alkoroum in 1302, and
in the still more signal one near Damascus in 1303, by
which Syria was for the time delivered from the incursions
of the Tartars. But peace was soon followed by inter¬
nal dissensions. The throne of Egypt was disputed with
Melik-el-Nassir by Bibars, who at first succeeded in ob¬
taining possession of it. His rival, however, being sup¬
ported by the great men of Syria, among whom Aboulfeda
took a conspicuous part, finally triumphed. Aboulfeda,
who had always stood well with Melik-el-Nassir, rose then
into peculiar favour. The sultan took the first opportuni¬
ty of establishing him in his patrimonial dignity of Prince
of Hamah. Honours continued to shower upon him ; he
was invested with the distinctive marks of sovereignty,
which consisted in the power of coining money, and in hav¬
ing prayers said in his name. The epithet Melik Moway-
yad, victorious Prince, was conferred upon him; and it is
stated by an Arabian author, that the sultan, in writing,
addressed him by the appellation of brother.
The rest of Aboulfeda’s life was spent in splendour and
tranquillity, devoted to the government of his territory,
and to the pursuits of science. Besides cultivating, he
patronised literature; and his court became the rendezvous
of all the learned men of the East. He conversed with
them familiarly, bestowed upon them honours and pensions,
and being himself superior to all in learning, felt no jea¬
lousy of their acquirements. During the same period he
composed the works which have transmitted his name to
posterity. In this enviable manner he spent the period
of twenty years, when an illness, of which the particulars
are not related, carried him off on the 26th October 1331.
He was succeeded by his son Melik-el-Afdhal, of whom
little is recorded, and who was the last Prince of Hamah.
The two works by which Aboulfeda is known in Europe,
are his Geography and his History. The former ranks at
least equal to any composed upon that subject by the
Arabian writers. It partakes indeed of their general de¬
fects; for, although he seems to have paid more attention
to the latitudes and longitudes than the rest of his coun-
A B R
A B R
41
joulfeda trymen, yet the imperfect application of astronomy, and after. Though Abrabanel discovers his implacable aver-Abracada
the obscurity or his notation, have much diminished the e,rm „n u:- —— 1. . . .
rabanel.„„i  * i„i  .• .v , •
value of this part of his labours. It is chiefly in the his¬
torical and descriptive parts that he can now be regarded
as an authority. Here too his knowledge, as he himself
candidly confesses, is chiefly confined to the circle of
Moslem dominion ; but within those limits, the information
conveyed by him is undoubtedly valuable.
His History possesses still higher claims to distinction.
His method, as was usual with his countrymen, is entirely
that of annals, and is in many parts too much abridged; but
the work contains much valuable information with regard
to the Saracen, and even to the Greek empire. It is di¬
vided into five parts, beginning at the creation of the world,
and ending with the year 1328.
There are copies of his Geography in manuscript in the
national library of France, in that of the university of Ley¬
den, and in the Bodleian. It has hitherto been published
only in fragments, of which the following are the principal.
Chorasmia et Mawaralnahra a Joan. Gravio, Londini; re¬
printed along with Arabia, in Hudson’s Geographi Greed
Minores, Oxford, 1698-1712.— Tabula Syri, Arab.et Lat.
by Koehler and Reiske, 4to. Leipsic, 1766.—Descriptio
jEgypti, Arab, et Lat. Michaelis, Getting. 8vo. 1776.—
Africa, Arab, cum notis J. G. Eichhorn, Getting. 1791.—
Arabia cum commentario, Chr. Rommel, Getting. 4to. 1801.
Complete editions were undertaken by Bishop Hyde, by
D’Arvieux in conjunction with Thevenot, and by Gagnier,
the translator of the life of Mahomet; but different cir¬
cumstances prevented their execution.
I he History of Aboulfeda is also found in manuscript
in the Irench, Bodleian, and Escurial libraries. A great
part of the copy preserved in the first is believed to be
autograph. This work has been published only in frag¬
ments. Life of Mahomet, Arab, et Lat. Gagnier, fol.
Oxoniae, 1723. Annales Moslemici, Lat. Reiske, Lipsim,
1754—Annales Moslemici, sumptibus P. F. Suhmii, 5 tom.
4to. Hafniae, 1/89—94. Suhm was historiographer and
chamberlain to the King of Denmark. The edition is ex¬
cellent, and enriched with notes by Reiske.
See Notice Historique sur Abulfeda et ses Ouvrages, par
Am. Jourdain. Malte-Brun. Annales des Voyages, tom.
xvm.
i AB?UTIGE> a town of Upper Egypt, in Africa, near
the Mile, where they made the best opium in all the Le¬
vant. It was formerly a large, but now is a mean place.
N. Lat. 26. 50. r
AEEA’ a silver coin struck in Poland, and worth about
one shilling sterling. It is current in several parts of
Germany, at Constantinople, Astracan, Smyrna, and
Grand Cairo.
ABRABANEL, Abarbanel, or Avrava^el, Isaac,
a celebrated rabbi, descended from King David, and born
at Lisbon a. d. 1437. He became counsellor to Alphon-
so V. king of Portugal, and afterwards to Ferdinand the
a 10 ic, but in 1492 was obliged to leave Spain with
the other Jews. In short, after residing at Naples, Corfu,
and several other cities, he died at Venice in 1508, aged
" V, • Abrabanel passed for one of the most learned of the
rabbis; and the Jews gave him the names of the Sage,
the Prince, and the Great Politician. We have a com¬
mentary of his on all the Old Testament, which is pretty
scarce : he there principally adheres to the literal sense ;
aud “is style is clear, but a little diffuse. His other works
are, A 1 realise on the Creation of the World; in which
etJrfnlA Anstatle’ who imagined that the world was
rehflnJ / lre™Se °n1 the ExI)lication of the Prophecies
relating to the Messiah, against the Christians: A book
concerning Articles of kaith ; and some others less sought
bra
Abraham.
abracadab
abracada
abracad
abraca
abrac
abra
abr
ah
a
sion to Christianity in all his writings, yet he treated
Christians with politeness and good manners in the com¬
mon affairs of life.
ABRACADABRA, a magical word, recommended by
Serenus Samonicus as an antidote against agues and se¬
veral other diseases. It was to be written upon a piece
of paper as many times as the word contains letters,
omitting the last letter of the former every time, as in the
margin,1 and repeated in the same order ; and then sus- »
pended about the neck by a linen thread. Abracadabra abracadabra
was the name of a god worshipped by the Syrians, the abraca,labr
wearing of whose name was a sort of invocation of his aid. ahrn‘-^h
ABRAHAM, the father and stock whence the faithful
spuing, was the son of Ferah. He was descended from
Noah by Shem, from whom he was nine degrees removed.
Some fix his birth in the 130th year of Terah’s age, but
others place it in his father s 70th year. It is highly pro¬
bable he was born in the city of Ur, in Chaldea, which he
and his father left when they went to Canaan, where they
remained till the death of Terah ; after which, Abraham
resumed his first design of going to Palestine. The Scrip¬
tures mention the several places he stopped at in Canaan;
his journey into Egypt, where his wife was carried off
from him; his going into Gerar, where Sarah was again
taken from him, but restored as before; the victory he
obtained over the four kings who had plundered Sodom;
his compliance with his wife, who insisted that he should
make use of their maid Hagar in order to raise up chil¬
dren ; the covenant God made with him, sealed with the
ceremony of circumcision; his obedience to the command
of God, who ordered him to offer up his only son as a sa¬
crifice, and how this bloody act was prevented ; his mar¬
riage with Keturah; his death at the age of 175 years;
and his interment in the cave of Machpelah, near the body
of Sarah his first wife.
Abraham is said to have been well skilled in many
sciences, and to have written several books. Josephus2 * Jntig. lib.
tells us that he taught the Egyptians arithmetic andi. cap. 7, 8.
geometry ; and according to Eupolemus and Artapan, he
instructed the Phoenicians, as well as the Egyptians, in
astronomy. A work which treats of the creation has been
long ascribed to him: it is mentioned in the Talmud,3 3 HekW-
and the rabbis Chanina and Hoschia used to read it on ger, Hist.
the eve before the Sabbath. In the first ages of Christian- Patriarch.
ity, according to St Epiphanius,4 an heretical sect, calledtom-iL
Sethimans, dispersed a piece which had the title of Abra- ^
hams Revelation. Origen mentions also a treatise sup-nJT
posed to have been written by this patriarch. The book 286“.
on the creation was printed at Paris in 1552, and translat¬
ed into Latin by Postel: Rittangel, a converted Jew, and
professor at Kbnigsberg, gave also a Latin translation of it,
with remarks, in 1642.
Abraham, Ben Chaila, a Spanish rabbi, in the 13th
century, who professed astrology, and assumed the cha¬
racter of a prophet. He pretended to predict the coming
of the Messiah, which was to happen in the year 1358;
but fortunately he died in 1303, fifty-five years before
the time when the prediction was to be fulfilled. He
wrote a book, De Nativitatibus, which was printed at
Rome in 1545.
. Abraham Usque, a Portuguese Jew, who, in conjunc¬
tion with Tobias Athias, translated the Hebrew Bible into
Spanish. It was printed at Ferrara in 1553, and reprint-
ed in Holland in 1630. This Bible, especially the first
edition, which is most valuable, is marked with stars at
certain words, which are designed to show that these
words are difficult to be understood in the Hebrew, and
that they may be used in a different sense.
42
A B R
A B R
Abraham Abraham, or Abram, Nicholas, a learned Jesuit, born
li in the diocese of Toul, in Lorrain, in 1589. He obtained
Abraxas. rank of divinity professor in the university of Pont-a-
Mouson, which he enjoyed 17 years, and died September
7. 1655. He wrote Notes on Virgil and on Nonnius; A
Commentary on some of Cicero’s Orations, in two vols.
folio ; an excellent collection of theological pieces in folio,
entitled Phams Veteris Testamenti ; and a Hebrew Gram¬
mar m verse.
ABRAHAMITES, an order of monks exterminated
for idolatry by Theophilus in the ninth century. Also
the name of another sect of heretics who had adopted the
errors of Paulus.
ABRAHAMSDORF, or Abrahamsfalva, a village
in Hungary, in the circle of hither Theiss, one of sixteen
which were formerly part of Poland, but in 1772 united
with Hungary, in consequence of which they all enjoy
some peculiar rights of exemption from the Austrian
taxes and judicatories.
ABRANTES, a town of Portugal, in the province of
Estremadura. It is situated on the Tagus, near its junc¬
tion with the Zezare, which is navigable for barges. The
situation is delightful, on the upper part of a sloping hill,
with a country below it covered with olive trees, and in¬
terspersed with vineyards. One of Buonaparte’s generals
had the title of .duke of this place conferred on him. It
has 4 monasteries, 1 hospital, 1 poor-house, and 3500 in¬
habitants. Its trade with Lisbon employs 100 boats.
ABRASAX, or Abraxas, the supreme god of the
Basilidian heretics. It is a mystical or cabbalistic word,
composed of the Greek letters a, £, g, a, a, (, which to¬
gether, according to the Grecian mode of numeration,
make up the number 365. For Basilides taught, that
there were 365 heavens between the earth and the em¬
pyrean ; each of which heavens had its angel or intelli¬
gence, which created it; each of which angels likewise
was created by the angel next above it; thus ascending
by a scale to the Supreme Being, or first Creator. The
Basil idians used the word Abraxas by way of charm or
amulet.
ABRASION is sometimes used among medical writers
for the effect of sharp corrosive medicines or humours in
wearing away the natural mucus which covers the mem¬
branes, and particularly those of the stomach and intes¬
tines. The word is composed of the Latin ab and rado,
to shave or scrape off.
ABRAVANNUS, in Ancient Geography, the name of
a promontory and river of Galloway in Scotland, so called
from the Celtic term Aber, signifying either the mouth of
a river or the confluence of two rivers, and Avon, a river.
ABRAUM, in Natural History, a name given by some
writers to a species of red clay, used in England by the
cabinet-makers, &c. to give a red colour to new mahogany
wood. We have it from the Isle of Wight; but it is also
found in Germany and Italy.
ABRAXAS, an antique stone with the word abraxas
engraven on it. They are of various sizes, and most of
them as old as the third century. They are frequent in
the cabinets of the curious; and a collection of them, as
complete as possible, has been desired by several. There
is a fine one in the abbey of St Genevieve, which has occa¬
sioned much speculation. Most of them seem to have
come from Egypt; whence they are of some use for ex¬
plaining the antiquities of that country. Sometimes they
Rave no other inscription besides the word: but others
have the names of saints, angels, or Jehovah himself an¬
nexed ; though most usually the name of the Basilidian
god. Sometimes there is a representation of Isis sitting
on a lotus, or Apis surrounded with stars; sometimes
monstrous compositions of animals, obscene images, Phalli Abreast
and Ithyphalli. The engraving is rarely good, but the word [I
on the reverse is sometimes said to be in a more modern i
style than the other. The characters are usually Greek,
Hebrew, Coptic, or Hetrurian, and sometimes of a m6ng-
rel kind, invented, as it would seem, to render their
meaning the more inscrutable. It is disputed whether
the Veronica of Montreuil, or the granite obelisk men¬
tioned by Gori, be Abraxases.
ABREAST (a sea term), side by side, or opposite to;
a situation in which two or more ships lie, with their sides
parallel to each other, and their heads equally advanced.
This term more particularly regards the line of battle at
sea, where on the different occasions of attack, retreat,
or pursuit, the several squadrons or divisions of a fleet are
obliged to vary their dispositions, and yet maintain a pro¬
per regularity by sailing in right or curved lines. When
the line is formed abreast, the whole squadron advances
uniformly, the ships being equally distant from and pa¬
rallel to each other, so that the length of each ship forms
a right angle with the extent of the squadron or line
abreast. The commander-in-chief is always stationed in
the centre, and the second and third in command in the
centres of their respective squadrons.—Abreast, within
the ship, implies on a line with the beam, or by the side
of any object aboard ; as, the frigate sprung a leak abreast
of the main hatchway, i. e. on the same line with the main
hatchway, crossing the ship’s length at right angles, in
opposition to afore or abaft the hatchway.
ABRIDGEMENT, in Literature, a term signifying the
reduction of a book into a smaller compass.
“ The mode of reducing,” says the author of the Cu¬
riosities of Literature, “ what the ancients had written in
bulky volumes, practised in preceding centuries, came
into general use about the fifth. As the number of stu¬
dents and readers diminished, authors neglected litera¬
ture, and were disgusted with composition; for to write
is seldom done, but when the writer entertains the hope
of finding readers. Instead of original authors, there
suddenly arose numbers of abridgers. These men, amidst
the prevailing disgust for literature, imagined they should
gratify the public by introducing a mode of reading works
in a few hours, which otherwise could not be done in
many months; and observing that the bulky volumes of
the ancients lay buried in dust, without any one conde¬
scending to examine them, the disagreeable necessity in¬
spired them with an invention that might bring those
works and themselves into public notice, by the care
they took of renovating them. This they imagined to
effect by forming abridgements of these ponderous vo¬
lumes.
“ All thes?e Abridgers, however, did not follow the same
mode. Some contented themselves with making a mere
abridgement of their authors, by employing their own ex¬
pressions, or by inconsiderable alterations. Others com¬
posed those abridgements in drawing them from various
authors, but from whose works they only took what ap¬
peared to them most worthy of observation, and dressed
them in their own style. Others, again, having before them
several authors who wrote on the same subject, took
passages from each, united them, and thus formed a new
work. They executed their design by digesting in com¬
mon-places, and under various titles, the most valuable parts
they could collect, from the best authors they read. To
these last ingenious scholars we owe the rescue of many
valuable fragments of antiquity. They happily preserved
the best maxims, the characters of persons, descriptions,
and many other subjects which they found interesting in
their studies.
A B R
A B R
Abridge¬
ment
“ There have been learned men who have censured
these Abridgers, as the cause of our having lost so many
Abruzzo exce^ent ent*re works of the ancients ; for posterity be-
coming less studious, was satisfied with these extracts,
and neglected to preserve the originals, whose voluminous
size was less attractive. Others on the contrary say, that
these Abridgers have not been so prejudicial to literature
as some have imagined ; and that had it not been for their
care, which snatched many a perishable fragment from
that shipwreck of letters which the barbarians occasioned,
we should perhaps have had no works of the ancients re¬
maining.
“ Abridgers, Compilers, and even Translators, in the
present fastidious age, are alike regarded with contempt;
yet to form their works with skill requires an exertion of
judgment, and frequently of taste, of which their con¬
temners appear to have no conception. It is the great
misfortune of such literary labours, that even when per¬
formed with ability, the learned will not be found to want
them, and the unlearned have not discernment to appre¬
ciate them.” (DTsraeli’s Curiosities of Literature.)
ABRIES, a town in France, in the department of the
Upper Alps, and arrondissement of Briancon. It was for¬
merly a portion of Savoy. Inhabitants 2030.
ABROGATION, the act of abolishing a law, by au¬
thority of the maker; in which sense the word is syno¬
nymous with abolition, repealing, and revocation.
Abrogation stands opposed to rogation: it is distin¬
guished from derogation, which implies the taking away
only some part of a law; from subrogation, which denotes
the adding a clause to it; from abrogation, which implies
the limiting or restraining it; from dispensation, which
only sets it aside in a particular instance; and from anti-
quation, which is the refusing to pass a law.
ABROKANI, or Majllemolli, a kind of muslin, or
clear, white, fine cotton cloth, brought from the East In¬
dies, particularly from Bengal.
ABROTONUM, in Ancient Geography, a town and
harbour on the Mediterranean, one of the three cities that
formed Tripoli.
ABRUCENA, a town on the district of Guadix, in the
province of Granada, in Spain, between the Sierra Ne¬
vada and Jaen.
ABRUD-BANYA, a town of Hungary, in the province
of Magyoren, in the circle of Weissenburg. It is situated
on the river Ampoy, has one Reformed and one Greek
church, is the seat of a board of mining, and in its vicinity
mines of gold and of silver are wrought. It is in Lat. 46.
14. 9. N. and Long. 23. 49. 3. E.
ABRUS, in Botany, the trivial name of the Glycine.
ABRUZZO, one of the four provinces into which the
continental part of the kingdom of Naples, or of the two
Sicilies, was formerly divided, but now the name given to
three out of the 17 provinces of the later division of that
country. It is, with altered boundaries, now distinguish¬
ed as Abruzzo Ulteriore First, Abruzzo Ulteriore Second,
and Abruzzo Citeriore.
Abruzzo Ulteriore hirst, is a maritime province on
the Adriatic Sea,which is its boundary towards the north¬
east. On the north-west the Papal dominions bound it,
on the south-east Abruzzo Citeriore, and on the south¬
west Abruzzo Ulteriore Second. The western part of the
province is very mountainous; the highest crest of the
Appenines divides it from Abruzzo Ulteriore Second, and
extends towards the sea. The district on the sea-coast is
flat, but everywhere else hilly. The valleys between the
mils possess a rich soil, well watered by rivulets and
brooks in the winter and spring, but which are generally
dried up in the summer months. These streams either
43
1’u,n mt0 Vv6 P.esGara’ w,llc]l bounds the province towards Abruzzo.
Abruzzo Citeriore, or into the Tronto, which is the boun-^V"w
dary on the Papal frontier. The extent of the province
is 1140 square miles, or 730,600 English acres. The cul¬
tivation is badly conducted, and many districts are almost
left in a state of natural wildness. The art of irrio-ation
is not understood, nor embankment of the rivers practis¬
ed, so that the best of the land is often rendered useless.
There are owners of two or three hundred acres of land,'
who scarcely raise sufficient food for their families; ami
yet the soil, when tolerably managed, will yield 12 grains
of wheat for one. The corn most cultivated and preferred
is maize. Hemp and flax are raised, but, like corn, mere¬
ly sufficient for the home supply. Olives, almonds, figs,
grapes, and chesnuts, are abundant, as is wood for con¬
struction and fuel. The number of inhabitants is 157,339,
according to the late census. They are a hardy, bold,
idle, and superstitious, race. The most industrious of
them stroll yearly into the territories of the Church to
w ork at harvest and in making charcoal, and return home
in winter with their wages. The province is divided into
two districts, Teramo and Civita di Penne. The city of
Teramo is the capital of the province.
Abruzzo Ulteriore Second, a province in the conti¬
nental division of the kingdom of Naples. It is an inland
district, bounded on the north by the Papal States, on the
north-east by Abruzzo Ulteriore First, on the south-east
by Abruzzo Citeriore, on the south by the province Terra
di Lavora, and on the west by the States of the Church,
The extent is 2210 square miles, or 1,414,400 acres.
The whole province is nearly covered with mountains of
various heights, one of which, the Grand Casso dTtalia,
near Aquila, is the loftiest peak of the Appenines. There
are no plains ; but among these mountains some beauti¬
ful and fruitful vaileys have been formed by the various
streams that run through them. None of the rivers are
navigable, but all of them have abundance ofwrater, except
in the hottest of the summer months. The largest fresh lake
of the kingdom is that of Cellano, 14 miles long, and 9
broad, surrounded with hills. A canal, built by the Romans
to carry off the surplus water, has been long neglected
and stopped up, but is now in course of being cleaned and
opened. The air is generally temperate, and the sirocco
is never felt. The cultivation just suffices to provide suf¬
ficient corn for the inhabitants, who, when the maize is
dear, make out their subsistence by the help of chesnuts.
Olives and vines rarely bring their fruit to full ripeness.
Some flax and hemp are raised, and a vast quantity of
saffron, which is generally preferred to all other. The
sheep produce fine wool when the flocks migrate, and the
flesh is good. The cows yield good butter and cheese,
which form the chief articles of exportation to the neigh¬
bouring provinces. The inhabitants amount to 249,600.
Like all mountaineers, they are a strong and active race,
and frugal in their habits. The manufactures are insignifi¬
cant, consisting of some little woollen and linen cloth,
some paper, pottery, and wood-ware ; but not sufficient of
any for the demand of the territory, which is supplied by
the exchange of almonds, figs, saffron, wool, butter, and
cheese. The chief city is Aquila.
Abruzzo Citeriore, a province in the kingdom of
Naples. It is bounded on the north-west by Abruzzo
Ulteriore First, on the north-east by the Adriatic Sea,
on the south-west by the province Molise, and on the
west by that of Abruzzo Ulteriore Second. This pro¬
vince is less hilly than the other two Abruzzos, but the
Appenines are extended through the south-west part.
They, however, gradually decline in height, and extend
themselves in wide plains of sand and pebbles. The rivers
44 A B S
Abruzzo all run to the Adriatic, and are very deficient in water
II during the summer months. Agriculture is in a very
rus13' hcickwai’d state, and the soil is rather ungrateful when
labour is bestowed upon it; and the inhabitants prefer the
chase and the fishery to it. The corn is sufficient for the
population, who grow and consume much more maize and
rice than wheat or barley. On the coast some oil and
some silk are produced, which, with wine, form the chief
export articles. Hemp, flax, liquorice, almonds, and figs,
are grown for home consumption. The cattle are more
neglected than in the other Abruzzos, though there is ex¬
cellent pasture both for sheep and cows. There are,
however, abundance of swine, goats, and asses. The ma¬
nufactures are very insignificant. All the exchange of
commodities is carried on by land; for though the pro¬
vince has an extensive frontier to the sea, it has no har¬
bour or secure anchoring places. The extent is 1920
square miles, or 1,228,800 acres. The inhabitants are
222,730. There is but one decent road through the pro¬
vince. The capital is Civita di Chieti, formerly called Teti.
ABSALOM, in Scripture History, the son of David by
Maacah, was brother to Tamar, David’s daughter, who
wras ravished by Amnon, their eldest brother by another
mother. Absalom waited two years for an opportunity of
revenging the injury done to his sister ; and at last pro¬
cured the assassination of Amnon at a feast which he had
prepared for the king’s sons. He took refuge with Talmai,
king of Geshur; and was no sooner restored to favour
than he engaged the Israelites to revolt from his father.
Absalom was defeated in the wood of Ephraim: as he
was flying, his hair caught hold of an oak, where he hung
till Joab came and thrust him through with three darts.
David had expressly ordered his life to be spared, and ex¬
tremely lamented him. The weight of Absalom’s hair,
which is stated at “ 200 shekels after the king’s weight,”
has occasioned much critical discussion. If, according
to some, the Jewish shekel of silver was equal to half an
ounce avoirdupois, 200 shekels would be 6^ pounds; or,
according to Josephus, if the 200 shekels be equal to 5
minse, and each mina 2^ pounds, the weight of the hair
would be 121 pounds, a supposition not very credible. It
has been supposed by others, that the shekel here denotes
a weight in gold equal to the value of the silver shekel, or
half an ounce, which will reduce the weight of the hair to
about 5 ounces ; or that the 200 shekels are meant to ex¬
press the value, not the weight.
ABSCESS, in Surgery ; from abscedo, to separate ; a
cavity containing pus, or a collection of puriform matter
in a part: So called, because the parts which were joined
are now separated; one part recedes from another, to
make way for the collected matter.
ABSCISSE, in Conics, a part of the diameter or trans¬
verse axis of a conic section, intercepted between the
vertex or some other fixed point and a semiordinate. See
Conic Sections.
ABSCONSA, a dark lantern used by the monks at the
ceremony of burying their dead.
ABSENTEE. See Ireland.
ABSIMARUS, in History, having dethroned Leontius,
cut off his nose and ears, and shut him up in a monastery,
was proclaimed by the soldiers emperor of the East, a. d.
698. Leontius himself was also an usurper. He had de¬
throned Justinian II. who afterwards, with the assistance
of the Bulgarians, surprised and took Constantinople, and
made Absimarus prisoner. Justinian, now settled on the
throne, and having both Absimarus and Leontius in his
power, loaded them with chains, ordered them to lie
down on the ground, and with a barbarous pleasure
held a foot on the neck of each for the space of an hour
A B S
in presence of the people. They were beheaded A. d. Absinth!
705. * ated
ABSINTHIATED, any thing tinged or impregnated II
with absinthium or wormwood. Bartholin mentions a " u‘
woman whose milk was become absinthiated, and rendered
as bitter as gall, by the too liberal use of wormwood.
Vinum absinthites, or poculum absinthiatum, “ worm¬
wood wine,” is much spoken of among the ancients as a
wholesome drink, and even an antidote against drunken¬
ness. Its medical virtues depend on its aromatic and bit¬
ter qualities. Infused in wine or spirits, it may prove be¬
neficial in cases of indigestion or debility of the stomach.
ABSINTHIUM, in Botany, the trivial name of the
common wormwood.
ABSOLUTE, in a general sense, something that stands
free or independent.
Absolute is more particularly understood of a being or
thing which does not proceed from any cause, or does not
subsist by virtue of any other being, considered as its
cause ; in which sense God alone is absolute. Absolute, in
this sense, is synonymous with independent, and stands
opposed to dependent.
Absolute also denotes a thing that is free from condi¬
tions or limitations; in which sense the word is synony¬
mous with unconditional. We say, an absolute decree, ab¬
solute promise, absolute obedience.
Absolute Government, that in which the prince is left
solely to his own will, being not limited to the observance
of any laws except those of his own discretion.
Absolute Equations, in Astronomy, is the aggregate of
the optic and eccentric equations. The apparent inequa¬
lity of a planet’s motion, arising from its not being equally
distant from the earth at all times, is called its optic
equation, and would subsist even if the planet’s real mo¬
tion were uniform. The eccentric inequality is caused by
the planet’s motion being uniform. To illustrate which,
conceive the sun to move, or to appear to move, in the
circumference of a circle, in whose centre the earth is
placed. It is manifest, that if the sun moves uniformly
in this circle, it must appear to move uniformly to a
spectator on the earth; and in this case there will be
no optic nor eccentric equation : but suppose the earth to
be placed out of the centre of the circle, and then, though
the sun’s motion should be really uniform, it would not
appear to be so, when seen from the earth; and in this
case there would be an optic equation, without an eccen¬
tric one. Imagine further, the sun’s orbit to be not circu¬
lar but elliptic, and the earth in its focus; it will be as
evident that the sun cannot appear to have an uniform
motion in such ellipse : so that his motion will then be
subject to two equations, the optic and the eccentric.
Absolute Number, in Algebra, is any pure number
standing in any equation without the conjunction of lite¬
ral characters ; as 2 a? 36 = 48 ; where 36 and 48 are
absolute numbers, but 2 is not, as being joined with the
letter x.
ABSOLUTION, in Civil Law, is a sentence whereby
the party accused is declared innocent of the crime laid to
his charge.
Absolution, in the Canon Law, is a juridical act,
whereby the priest declares the sins of such as are peni¬
tent remitted.—The Romanists hold absolution a part of
the sacrament of penance ; the council of Trent, sess. xiv.
cap. iii. and that of Florence, in the decree ad Armenos,
declare the form or essence of the sacrament to lie in the
words of absolution, “ I absolve thee of thy sins.” The for¬
mula of absolution, in the Roman church, is absolute; in
the Greek church, it is deprecatory; and in the churches
of the Reformed, declarative.
A B S A B S 45
osolution Absolution is chiefly used among Protestants for a
H sentence by which a person who stands excommunicated
bstemii. js released or freed from that punishment.
^ J ABSORBENT, in general, any thing possessing the fa¬
culty of absorbing, or swallowing up another.
Absorbent Medicines, testaceous powders, or sub¬
stances into which calcareous earth enters, as chalk, crabs
eyes, &c. which are taken inwardly, for drying up or ab¬
sorbing any acid or redundant humours in the stomach or
intestines. They are likewise applied externally to ulcers
or sores with the same intention.
Absorbents, or Absorbing Vessels, in Anatomy, a
name given promiscuously to the lacteal vessels, lympha¬
tics, and inhalant arteries ; a minute kind of vessels found
in animal bodies, which imbibe fluids that come in contact
with them. On account of their minuteness and transpa¬
rency, they escape observation in ordinary dissection.
They have, however, been detected in every tribe of ani¬
mals, and, in the animals which have been examined, in
every part of the body.
ABSORPTION, in the animal economy, is the function
of the absorbent vessels, or that power by which they
take up and propel substances. This power has been as¬
cribed to the operation of different causes, according to
tlie theories which physiologists have proposed. Some
attribute it to capillary attraction, others to the pressure
of the atmosphere, and others to an ambiguous or un¬
known cause, which they denominate suction; for this
last is nothing else than the elastic power of one part of
the air restoring the equilibrium, which has been destroy¬
ed by the removal or rarefaction of another part.
Absorptions of the Earth, a term used by Kircher and
others for the sinking in of large tracts of land by means
of subterranean commotions, and many other accidents.
Pliny tells us, that in his time the mountain Cybotus,
with the town of Curites, which stood on its side, were
wholly absorbed into the earth, so that not the least trace
of either remained; and he records the like fate of the
city of 1 antalis in Magnesia, and after it of the mountain
Sipylus, both thus absorbed by a violent opening of the
earth. Galanis and Gamales, towns once famous in
Phoenicia, are recorded to have met the same fate; and
the vast promontory called Phegium, in Ethiopia, after a
violent earthquake in the night-time, was not to be seen
in the morning, the whole having disappeared, and the
earth closed over it. These and many other histories,
attested by the authors of greatest credit among the an¬
cients, abundantly prove the fact in the earlier ages ; and
there have not been wanting too many instances of more
modern date. (Kircher’s Mund. Subter. p. 77.)
Picus, a lofty mountain in one of the Molucca isles,
which was seen at a great distance, and served as a land¬
mark to sailors, was entirely destroyed by an earthquake;
and its place is now occupied by a lake, the shores of
which correspond exactly to the base of the mountain.
In 1556, a similar accident happened in China. A whole
province of the mountainous part of the country, with all
the inhabitants, sunk in a moment, and was totally swal¬
lowed up: the space which was formerly land was also
coveied with an extensive lake of water. And, during the
earthquakes which prevailed in the kingdom of Chili, in
the year 1646, several whole mountains of the Andes
sunk and disappeared.
ABSORUS, Apsorus, Absyrtis, Absyrtides, (Stra-
b°, Mela, Ptolemy); islands in the Adriatic, in the gulf
o Carnero; said to be so called from Absyrtus, Medea’s
brother, there slain. They are now called Cherso and
Usero.
ABSTEMII, in church history, a name given to such
persons as could not partake of the cup of the eucharist Abstergent
on account of their natural aversion to wine. Calvinists Medicfnes
allow these to communicate in the species or bread only, II
touching the cup with their lip; which, on the other hand, Absti-
is by the Lutherans deemed a profanation. nence.
A.BSTERGENT Medicines, those employed for re¬
solving obstructions, concretions, &c. such as soap, &c.
ABSTINENCE, in a general sense, the act or habit of
refraining from something to which there is a strong pro¬
pensity. Among the Jews, various kinds of abstinence
were ordained by their law. The Pythagoreans, when
initiated, were enjoined to abstain from animal food, ex¬
cept the remains of sacrifices; and to drink nothing but
water, unless in the evening, when they were permitted
to take a small portion of wine. Among the primitive
Christians, some denied themselves the use of such meats
as were prohibited by that law, others regarded this ab¬
stinence with contempt; of which St Paul gives his opin¬
ion, Rom. xiv. 1-3. The council of Jerusalem, which was
held by the apostles, enjoined the Christian converts to
abstain from meats strangled, from blood, from fornica¬
tion, and from idolatry. Abstinence, as prescribed by the
gospel, is intended to -mortify and restrain the passions,
to humble our vicious natures, and by that means raise
our minds to a due sense of devotion. But there is an¬
other sort of abstinence, which may be called ritual, and
consists in abstaining from particular meats at certain
times and seasons. It was the spiritual monarchy of the
western world which first introduced this ritual absti¬
nence, the rules of which were called rogations ; but gross¬
ly abused from the true nature and design of fasting. In
England, abstinence from flesh has been enjoined by
statute since the Reformation, particularly on Fridays and
Saturdays, on vigils, and on all commonly called/is/a days.
The like injunctions were renewed under Queen Eliza¬
beth ; but at the same time it was declared that this was
done, not out of motives of religion, as if there were any
difference in meats, but in favour of the consumption of
fish, and to multiply the number of fishermen and marin¬
ers, as well as to spare the stock of sheep. The great
fast, says St Augustin, is to abstain from sin.
Abstinence is more particularly used for a spare diet,
or a slender parsimonious use of food. Physicians relate
wonders of the effects of abstinence in the cure of many
disorders, and protracting the term of life. The noble
Venetian Cornaro, after all imaginable means had proved
vain, so that his life was despaired of at 40, recovered,
and lived to near 100, by the mere effect of abstinence;
as he himself gives the account. It is indeed surprising
to what a great age the primitive Christians of the East,
who retired from the persecutions into the deserts of Ara¬
bia and Egypt, lived, healthful and cheerful, on a very
little food. Cassian assures us, that the common rate for
24 hours was 12 ounces of bread, and pure water: with
such frugal fare St Anthony lived 105 years; James the
Hermit, 104; Arsenius, tutor of the Emperor Arcadius,
120; St Epiphanius, 115; Simeon the Stylite, 112; and
Romauld, 120. Indeed, we can match these instances of
longevity at home. Buchanan informs us, that one Lau¬
rence arrived at the great age of 140 by force of temper¬
ance and labour ; and Spotswood mentions one Kentigern,
afterwards called St Mongah or Mungo, who lived to 185
by the same means. Abstinence, however, is to be re¬
commended only as it means a proper regimen; for in
general it must have bad consequences when observed
without a due regard to constitution, age, strength, &c.
According to Dr Cheyne, most of the chronical diseases,
the infirmities of old age, and the short lives of English¬
men, are owing to repletion, and may be either cured.
46
A B S
A B T
Abstract
Mathema¬
tics.
» Phil.
Trans.
No. 194.
Abstinence prevented, or remedied by abstinence; but then the kinds
of abstinence which ought to be observed, either in sick¬
ness or health, are to be deduced from the laws of diet
and regimen.
Among the inferior animals, we see extraordinary in¬
stances of long abstinence. The serpent kind, in parti¬
cular, bear abstinence to a wonderful degree. We have
seen rattle-snakes which had lived many months without
any food, yet still retained their vigour and fierceness.
Dr Shaw speaks of a couple of cerastes (a sort of Egyptian
serpents), which had been kept five years in a bottle close
corked, without any sort of food, unless a small quantity
of sand in which they coiled themselves up in the bottom
of the vessel may be reckoned as such; yet when he saw
them, they had newly cast their skins, and were as brisk
and lively as if just taken. But it is natural for divers spe¬
cies to pass four, five, or six months every year, without
either eating or drinking. Accordingly, the tortoise, bear,
dormouse, serpent, &c. are observed regularly to retire,
at those seasons, to their respective cells, and hide them¬
selves, some in the caverns of rocks or ruins; others dig
holes under ground; others get into woods, and lay them¬
selves up in the clefts of trees; others bury themselves
under water, &c. And these animals are found as fat and
fleshy, after some months’ abstinence, as before.—Sir G.
Ent1 weighed his tortoise several years successively, at
its going to earth in October, and coming out again in
March; and found, that of four pounds four ounces, it
only used to lose about one ounce.
We have instances of men passing several months as
strictly abstinent as other creatures. In particular, the
records of the Tower mention a Scotsman imprisoned
for felony, and strictly watched in that fortress for six
weeks, during which time he did not take the least sus¬
tenance ; and on this account he obtained his pardon.
Numberless instances of extraordinary abstinence, particu¬
larly from morbid causes, are to be found in the different
periodical Memoirs, Transactions, Ephemerides, &c. It
is to be added, that, in most instances of extraordinary
abstinence related by naturalists, there were said to have
been apparent marks of a texture of blood and humours,
much dike that of the animals above-mentioned. Though
it is no improbable opinion that the air itself may furnish
something for nutrition, it is cei'tain there are substances
of all kinds, animal, vegetable, &c. floating in the atmo¬
sphere, which must be continually taken in by respira¬
tion ; and that an animal body may be nourished there¬
by, is evident in the instance of vipers; which, if taken
when first brought forth, and kept from every thing but
air, will yet grow very considerably in a few days. So
the eggs of lizards are observed to increase in bulk after
they are produced; and in like manner the eggs or spawn
of fishes grow and are nourished with the water. And
hence, say some, it is that cooks, turnspit dogs, &c. though
they eat but little, yet are usually fat.
ABSTINENTS, or Abstinentes, a set of heretics that
appeared in France and Spain about the end of the third
century. They are supposed to have borrowed part of their
opinions from the Gnostics and Manicheans, because they
opposed marriage, condemned the use of flesh meat, and
placed the Holy Ghost in the class of created beings.
We have, however, no certain account of their peculiar
tenets.
ABSTRACT, in a general sense, any thing separated
from something else.
Abstract Ideas, in Metaphysics. See Abstraction.
Abstract Mathematics, otherwise called Pure Mathe¬
matics, is that which treats of magnitude or quantity, ab¬
solutely and generally considered, without restriction to
any species of particular magnitude; such are Arithmetic Abstract
and Geometry. In this sense, abstract mathematics is lumbers
opposed to mixed mathematics; wherein simple and ab- *11
stract properties, and the relations of quantities primi-
tively considered in pure mathematics, are applied to
sensible objects, and by that means become intermixed
with physical considerations: such are Hydrostatics, Op¬
tics, Navigation, &c.
Abstract Numbers, are assemblages of units, consid¬
ered in themselves, without denoting any particular and
determinate things. Thus, six is an abstract number
when not applied to any thing; but if we say 6 feet, 6
becomes a concrete number.
Abstract Terms, words that are used to express ab¬
stract ideas. Thus beauty, ugliness, whiteness, roundness,
life, death, are abstract terms.
Abstract, in Literature, a compendious view of any
large work; shorter and more superficial than an abridge¬
ment.
ABSTRACTION, in Metaphysics, is a term used to
denote the mind’s power of considering certain qualities
or attributes of an object apart from the rest; or the
power which the understanding has of separating the
combinations which are presented to it.
Abstraction is chiefly employed in these three ways.
First, When the mind considers any one part of a thing,
in some respect distinct from the whole; as a man’s arm,
without the consideration of the rest of the body. Se¬
condly, When we consider the mode of any substance,
omitting the substance itself; or when we separately con¬
sider several modes which subsist together in one subject.
This abstraction the geometricians make use of when they
consider the length of a body separately, which they call
a line, omitting the consideration of its breadth and thick¬
ness. Thirdly, It is by abstraction that the mind forms
general ideas. Thus, when we would understand a think¬
ing being in general, we gather from our self-conscious¬
ness what it is to think; and omitting those things which
have a particular relation to our own minds, or to the
human mind, we conceive a thinking being in general.
Ideas formed in this manner, which are what we pro¬
perly call abstract ideas, become general representatives
of all objects of the same kind. Thus the idea of colour
that we receive from chalk, snow, milk, &c. is a repre¬
sentative of all of that kind; and has a name given it, white¬
ness, which signifies the same quality wherever found or
imagined. See the article Metaphysics.
ABSURDUM, reductio ad absurdum, is a mode of de¬
monstration employed by mathematicians when they prove
the truth of a proposition by demonstrating that the con¬
trary is impossible, or leads to an absurdity. It is in this
manner that Euclid demonstrates the fourth proposition
of the first book of the Elements, by showing that the
contrary involves a manifest absurdity, viz. That two straight
lines can inclose a space.
ABSYRTUS, in heathen mythology, the son of iEetes
and Hypsea, and the brother of Medea. The latter run¬
ning away with Jason, after her having assisted him in
carrying off the golden fleece, was pursued by her father;
when, to stop his progress, she tore Absyrtus in pieces,
and scattered his limbs in his way.
ABTERODE, a town in the bailiwick of Bilstein, in
Hesse-Cassel, in Germany, with 972 inhabitants, who find
employment chiefly in making woollen cloth.
ABTHANES, in History, a title of honour used by the
ancient inhabitants of Scotland, who called their nobles
thanes, which in the old Saxon signifies king's ministers;
and of these the higher rank were styled abthanes, and
those of the lower underthanes.
ABU
Abu ABU and CANDU, a group of twelve islands in the
'I southern division of the Indian Ocean, to the south of the
Maldives, in Lat. 5. 6. S. and Long. 74. 23. E. They are
rocky, but have good anchorage, under the shelter of a
reef. There are no inhabitants, nor has any good water
been found.
ABU-ARISCH, the capital of the territory of the same
name, on the Red Sea, in a fruitful plain, with rock-salt
mines near it. It is in Lat. 16. 45. N. and Long. 42. 33. E.
ABUBEKER, or Abu-Becr, the first caliph, the im¬
mediate successor of Mahomet, and one of his first con¬
verts. His original name was Abdulcaaba, signifying ser¬
vant of the caaba or temple, which, after his conversion to
Mahometanism, was changed to Abdallah, servant of God;
and on the marriage of the prophet with his daughter
Ayesha, he received the appellation of Abu-Becr, Father
of the virgin. Illustrious by his family, and possessed of
immense wealth, his influence and example were power¬
ful means of propagating the faith he had adopted, and
in gaining converts to the new religion. Abubeker was a
sound believer; and although he lived in the greatest fa¬
miliarity with Mahomet, he had always the highest vene¬
ration for his character. He vouched for the truth of his
revelations after his nightly visits to heaven, and thus ob¬
tained the appellation of the faithful. He was employed
in every mission of trust or importance, was the constant
friend of the prophet, and when he was forced to fly from
Mecca, was his only companion. But notwithstanding
his blind devotion to Mahometanism, his moderation and
prudence were conspicuous in checking the fanatical zeal
of the disciples of the new religion on the death of Ma¬
homet. I his event threatened destruction to the doc¬
trines of Islamism. Its followers could not doubt that it
had taken place, and they were afraid to believe it. In
this uncertainty and fluctuation of belief, Omar drew his
sword, and threatened to cut in pieces all who dared to
assert that the prophet was dead. Abubeker, with more
coolness and wisdom, addressed the people, Is it, says he,
Mahomet ivhom you adore, or the God whom he has re¬
vealed to you ? Know thaff this God is alone immortal,
aiul that all those whom he has created are subject to death.
Appeased and reconciled by this speech, they elected him
successor to Mahomet, and ^ie assumed the modest title
of caliph, which has continued with all his successors.
Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet, regarding the elevation
of Abubeker as a violation of his legal rights to the suc¬
cession, refused at first to recognise the appointment, till
he was forced by threats into compliance and submission.
His partisans, however, still considered him as the legiti¬
mate successor, and their opinion has prevailed among
many Mussulmans, who believe that the sovereign authority,
both spiritual and temporal, remains with his descendants.
Abubeker first collected and digested the revelations of
Mahomet, which had hitherto been preserved in detached
fragments, or in the memories of the believers ; and to this
the Arabians gave the appellation Almoshaf or the Book.
He died in the 13th year of the Hegira, respected as a
prudent and equitable ruler.
,. ABUCCO, Abocco, or Abochi, a weight used in the
kingdom of Pegu. One abucco contains 121 teccalis ; two
abuccos make a giro or agire ; two giri, half a hiza ; and
a hiza weighs an hundred teccalis; that is, two pounds
tive ounces the heavy weight, or three pounds nine ounces
the light weight of Venice.
ABUCHOW, a village in Russia, in the circle of Bo-
goradsk, and government of Moscow, where are mills be-
longing to the emperor, from whence 10,000 poods of gun¬
powder are annually delivered. It stands on the river
ivliasma, whose stream turns seven mills.
ABU
47
ABUKESO, in commerce, the same with Aslan. Abukeso
ABUKOR, a town near Lepanto, in the province of ||
Aimabochte, in Turkey in Europe. Abundant
ABULAHOR, a town of Turkey in Europe, on the Number.
river Aspre, in the Sandschacor Standard of Joanina, and'^~v'v‘-'
province of Romelia.
ABULAWO, a town of Russia, in the circle of Kra-
piwna, and government of Tula.
ABULFARAGIUS, Gregory, son of Aaron, a physi¬
cian, born in 1226, in the city of Malatia, near the source
of the Euphrates in Armenia. He followed the profession
of his father, and practised with great success; but he
acquired a higher reputation by the study of the Greek,
Syriac, and Arabic languages, as well as by his knowledge
of philosophy and divinity; and he wrote a history which
does great honour to his memory. It is written in Arabic,
and divided into dynasties. It consists of ten parts, being
an epitome of universal history from the creation of the
world to his own time. The parts of it relating to the
Saracens, Tartar Moguls, and the conquests of Jenghis
Khan, are esteemed the most valuable. He professed
Christianity, was bishop of Aleppo, and is supposed to have
belonged to the sect of the Jacobites. His contempora¬
ries speak of him in a strain of most extravagant panegy¬
ric. He is styled the king of the learned, the pattern of
his times, the phoenix of the age, and the croivn of the vir¬
tuous. Dr Pococke published his history with a Latin
translation in 1663, in 2 vols. 4to.
ABULFAZEL, who is called by Sir William Jones,
“ a learned and elegant,” and by others, “ the most ele¬
gant” writer that the East has produced, was vizier and
historiographer to the Great Mogul, Akber. We have
not been able to discover the year of his birth, but his
death took place in 1604, when he was assassinated on his
return from a mission to the Decan. According to some
writers, this foul act was perpetrated at the instigation of
the heir apparent to the throne, who had become jealous
of the minister’s influence with the emperor. Akber
greatly lamented the loss of a man who was not only an
able minister of state, but of such talents as a writer, as
to make it a common saying in the East, “ that the neigh¬
bouring monarchs stood more in awe of his pen than of
the sword of his master.” He wrote, by the emperor’s
command, a history of his reign, which came down to the
forty-seventh year, in which he was assassinated. In con¬
nection with this, he also compiled a volume, intended to
exhibit a geographical and statistical view of the empire,
and of the revenue, household, and expenses of the sove¬
reign. It likewise embraces an account of the religion of
the Hindoos, of their sacred books, and their several sects
in religion and philosophy. This work, which is fraught
with much curious and valuable information, is known
under the name of the Ayeen Akbery. It has been trans¬
lated into English with great accuracy by Mr Francis
Gladwin. The translation was undertaken and published
at Calcutta, under the intelligent patronage of Mr Hast¬
ings. “ Such a work,” he said, in a minute of council,
“ could not but prove peculiarly useful; as it comprehends
the original constitution of the Mogul Empire, described
under the immediate inspection of its founder, and will
serve to assist the judgment of the Court of Directors on
many points of importance to the first interests of the
company.”—The Calcutta edition, published in 1783-6, in
three volumes quarto, is a splendid book, and the most
valuable in every respect, as the London reprints are by
no means accurate.
ABUNA, the title given to the archbishop or metropo¬
litan of Abyssinia.
ABUNDANT Number, in Arithmetic, is a number, the
48 ABU
Abundan- sum of whose aliquot parts is greater than the number
tia itself. Thus, the aliquot parts of 12 being 1, 2, 3, 4, and
II 6, they make, when added together, 16. An abundant
Abu. number is opposed to a deficient number, or that which is
remj“Vgreater than all its aliquot parts taken together; as 14,
whose aliquot parts are 1, 2, and 7, which makes no more
than 10; and to a perfect number, or one U> which its
aliquot parts are equal, as 6, whose aliquot parts are 1, 2,
and 3.
ABUNDANTIA, a heathen divinity, represented in
ancient monuments under the figure of a woman with a
pleasing aspect, crowned with garlands of flowers, pouring
all sorts of fruits out of a horn which she holds in her
right hand, and scattering grain with her left, taken pro¬
miscuously from a sheaf of corn. On a medal of Trajan
she is represented with two cornucopiae.
ABUS, in Ancient Geography, a river of Britain, now
the Humber.
ABUS AID, Ebn Aljaptu, sultan of the Moguls, suc¬
ceeded his father anno 717 of the Hegira. He was the
last monarch of the race of Jenghis Khan, who held the
undivided empire of the Moguls; for after his death,
which happened the same year that Tamerlane was born,
it became a scene of blood and desolation, and was broken
into separate sovereignties.
ABUSIR, a town of Egypt, twelve hours to the west
of Alexandria. It is in a ruinous condition, with remains
of an ancient temple, and many scattered vestiges of for¬
mer extent and population.
ABUSUMBOL, or Ebsambul, or Ipsambul, a town
on the Nile, in Nubia, to the south of the island of
Kogos, in Lat. 22. 20. 11. N. and Long. 31. 40. 57. E.
About twenty feet above the river is a temple hewn out of
the perpendicular face of the rock. At the entrance are
six colossal figures of young persons, in bas-relief, and
the space between them filled with hieroglyphics which
denote a very high antiquity.
ABU-TEMAN, an Arabian poet, of whom, though but
little can be said, it would be improper altogether to omit,
because he was held to be the prince of Arabian poets,
during the best periods of Arabian literature. He was
born about the year 787; and, happily for him, under so¬
vereigns whose love and patronage of literature made poe¬
tical eminence an unfailing road to wealth and honour.
Part of his early life was passed in Egypt, in the servile
capacity of administering drink to those who frequented a
mosque. It is also said, that he was for some time em¬
ployed in the trade of a weaver at Damascus. But his
talents for poetry soon lifted him from this humble sphere,
and removed him to Bagdad, where the caliphs loaded
him with presents, and treated him with the greatest re¬
spect. If we are to believe the Arabian historians, a single
poem sometimes procured for him many thousand pieces
of gold. So highly was he esteemed by his countrymen,
that it was said “ no one could ever die whose name had
been praised in the verses of Abu-Teman 1” His own
life was very short, for he died in his fortieth year; “ the
-ardour of his mind,” says one of his contemporaries, “hav¬
ing wasted his body, as the blade of an Indian scimitar
destroys its scabbard.” Besides being a great original
poet, he was the compiler of three collections of select
pieces of the poetry of the East; the most esteemed of
A B Y
which collections is that called the Hamasa. Sir William Abu-
Jones speaks of it as a very valuable compilation. Many Teman
of the elegant specimens of Arabian poetry contained in ''
Professor Carlyle’s well-known work, were translated from
pieces contained in this miscellany. A large portion of
it, with a Latin version, was annexed by Schultens to his
edition of Erpenius’s Arafo'c Grammar,published atLeyden
in 1748; and there are also many extracts from it in the
collection entitled Anthologia Arabica, published at Jena
in 1774.
ABUTILON, in Botany, the trivial name of several
species of the sida.
ABUZOW, a town of Russia, in the circle of Sergatsch,
and government of Rishegorod.
ABYDOS, in Ancient Geography, anciently a town
built by the Milesians, in Asia, on the Hellespont, where
it is scarce a mile broad, opposite to Sestos, on the Euro¬
pean side. It was famous for Xerxes’s bridge, and for the
loves of Leander and Hero (Musaeus, Ovid); celebrated
also for its oysters (Ennius, Virgil). The old castle of the
Dardanelles, built by the Turks, lies a little southward of
Sestos and Abydos.
ABYDUS, in Ancient Geography, an inland town of
Egypt, between Ptolemais and Diospolis Parva, famous
for the palace of Memnon and the temple of Osiris.
ABYLA (Ptolemy, Mela), one of Hercules’s pillars, on
the African side, called by the Spaniards Sierra de las
Monas, opposite to Calpe in Spain, the other pillar ; sup¬
posed to have been formerly joined, but separated by Her¬
cules, and thus to have given entrance to the sea now call¬
ed the Mediterranean ; the limits of the labours of Hercu¬
les. (Pliny.)
ABYSS, in a general sense, denotes something pro¬
found, and, as it were, bottomless. The word is original¬
ly Greek, aCu<r<rof; compounded of the privative a, and
fivstrog, q. d. without a bottom.
Abyss, in a more particular sense, denotes a deep mass
or fund of waters. In this sense, the word is particularly
used in the Septuagint, for the water which God created
at the beginning with the qpth, which encompassed it
round, and which our translators render by deep. Thus
it is that darkness is said to have been on the face of the
abyss.
Abyss is also used for an immense cavern in the earth,
in which God is supposed to have collected all those waters
on the third day: which, in our version, is rendered the
seas, and elsewhere the great deep. Dr Woodward, in his
Natural History of the Earth, asserts, that there is a
mighty collection of waters inclosed in the bowels of the
earth, constituting a huge orb in the interior or central
parts of it; and over the surface of this water he supposes
qthe terrestrial strata to be expanded. This, according to
him, is what Moses calls the great deep, and what most
authors render the great abyss.—The different arguments
concerning this subject may be seen collected and ampli¬
fied in Cockburn’s Inquiry into the Truth and Certainty of
the Mosaic Deluge, p. 271, &c.
Abyss is also used in Heraldry to denote the centre of
an escutcheon. In which sense a thing is said to be borne
in abyss, en abysme, when placed in the middle of the
shield, clear from any other bearing: He bears azure, a
fleur-de-lis, in abyss.
49
ABYSSINIA.
Abyssinia. A BYSSINIA, a large country on the eastern coast of
Africa, and the chief of the native kingdoms of
that continent, is bounded on the east by the Red Sea,
on the north and west by the barren sands of Nubia,
r on the south by unknown ranges of desert, and barbarous
kingdoms. The country itself is diversified by many
chains of high and rugged mountains. The loftiest ap¬
pears to be that of Lamalmon, which, with the mountains
of Samen to the west, and other branches stretching in
various directions, nearly cover all Tigre or Northern
Abyssinia. These mountains are of various shapes, and
tost about in a confusion so wild, that Bruce, with some
exaggeration, has compared some of them to pyramids
pitched on their bases. The assertion made by the early
missionaries, that the Alps and Pyrenees are but mole¬
hills in comparison, has proved to be a ridiculous hyper¬
bole ; but snow does actually fall on some of the more
lofty pinnacles—a fact which, under the tropics, indicates
a very great elevation. In the west, the mountains of
Gojam are not nearly so high, but cover a great extent of
territory. They are inhabited by the Agows, a primitive
pastoral race, who worship the Nile,
general In our climates, great ranges of mountains render a
iew of region picturesque indeed in its appearance, but naked
Abyssinia. an(j unfertile. It is quite otherwise beneath the burning
suns of the tropic. Exposed to their influence, soils of
the greatest natural fertility soon become parched and
arid: they must be watered and even inundated, ere
crops can cover them. Fortunate under this latitude is
the country which, like Abyssinia, is filled with storehouses
of water, which, formed in the mountains, are thence dif¬
fused over every part of its surface. Thus its numerous
plains and valleys are not surpassed in fertility by any
region in the world. Rice, the great Asiatic grain, has
not been introduced ; but on many parts of its varied sur¬
face, wheat, barley, and ofeher grains of the temperate
climates, are copiously raised. The low and hot grounds
are chiefly covered with teff, a weak herbaceous plant
with a thin stalk, and grains not much larger than the
head of a pin, out of which is made the bread in general
use throughout the kingdom. A black bread for the
poorest classes is made from a still coarser grain called
tocusso. The horses are strong and beautiful, and the
herds numerous, among which is a species of oxen with
horns of monstrous length, introduced by the Galla.
Bees swarm on all the hills, and Abyssinia is a land flow¬
ing with excellent honey. The nobler animals of prey,
the lion, and the tiger, are scarcely known ; but ferocious
and untamable hyenas haunt in crowds the scenes of slaugh¬
ter which the country too often presents: they roam by
night through the cities, and enter even the houses. The
buffalo is here wild and furious, roaming through the most
lonely and unfrequented tracts. Along the banks of the
rivers, amid the copious moisture there afforded, and the
rank vegetation to which it gives rise, those huge animals,
the elephant, the rhinoceros, the river-horse, and the cro¬
codile, toss their unwieldy bulk. All the ravages com¬
mitted by them, however, are trivial when compared with
what Abyssinia suffers from swarms of locusts, which
here, as in other parts of the East, appear sometimes in
close array like regular armies, and in a few days devour
the harvest of provinces.
The numerous waters of Abyssinia unite in two great
rivers, which though they do not, as some have supposed,
VOL. II.
constitute the Nile, reach and swell the channel of that Abyssinia,
great river. All the western mountains are drained by'^'v^>
the Tacazze, which rolls for a great part of its course
through deep valleys, choked with luxuriant vegetation,
and tenanted only by wild beasts and human savages.
It then penetrates the sands of Nubia, and joins the Nile
in the district of Berber. The numerous streams of Go*
jam unite in forming the Dembea, a great lake in the
heart of the kingdom, out of which flows the Azergue, or
Blue River, which many of the moderns have obstinately
held to be the main stream of the Nile. Bruce, indeed,
on viewing its sources, announced himself as having ac¬
complished the object of an arduous journey, by discover¬
ing the springs of that famous river. It is now, however,
considered to be a clear point, that when the Blue River,
after taking a semicircular sweep through Abyssinia, and
passing its precincts, meets the Abiad, or White River,
the latter, coming from sources far to the west and in the
interior of Africa, is a much deeper and greater stream,
and entitled to be considered as the real Nile, to which
the other is only a tributary.
Abyssinia, though thus mountainous, does not contain
many mineral productions; for the gold, of which a good deal
passes through it, is brought from countries farther in the
interior. It has, however, on its frontier a great plain,
about four days’ journey across, covered entirely with salt.
There is generally a depth of two feet of perfectly pure
and hard salt on the surface ; below, the mineral is coarser
and softer. Both the digging for the salt and the carry¬
ing it off are very dangerous operations, from the vicinity
of barbarous plundering tribes, always ready to attack
those employed, who must therefore be associated in nu¬
merous and well-armed bodies.
Abyssinia was evidently included by the ancients un¬
der that wide territory to which they gave the name of
Ethiopia, and which includes all Africa south of Egypt, and
of the mountain range of Atlas. It formed no part, how¬
ever, of the celebrated Ethiopia, whose capital was Meroe,
This region, involved in dim religious mystery, which
conquered Egypt, and which Cambyses vainly sought
to conquer, comprised the territory along the Upper
Nile now known by the name of Nubia. Abyssinia, barred
by lofty mountains, by forests, marshes, and deserts, is
not recorded as having ever been reached by any land
expedition. Neither Petronius, when sent by Augustus
against Queen Candace, nor Probus in his expedition,
against the Blemmyes, arrived even at Meroe ; and con¬
sequently did not make an approach towards Abyssinia.
Herodotus indeed mentions the isle of the Exiles, on
which a numerous body of deserters from Psammetichus,
king of Egypt, were settled by the Ethiopian monarch.
As that historian, however, evidently understands this
isle, by which, according to the practice of antiquity, he
means a region inclosed by river-channels, to extend
along the Nile, which river he understood to come from
the west, it would appear that this description must
have pointed either to Sennaar, or some region on the
Bahr-el-Abiad, and could comprehend no part of the mo¬
dern Abyssinia. The only slight notices which the an¬
cients gleaned respecting that country, were obtained by
the way of its coast, situated on the Red Sea.
It is a firm article in the national creed of Abys- History,
sinia, that the Queen of Sheba, who came from the re¬
motest south to listen to and admire the wisdom of Solo-
50 A B Y S
Abyssinia, mon, was their queen ; and that it was Abyssinia which fur-
nished the splendid and costly presents which she brought
to Jerusalem. They add with equal confidence, that her
majesty returned pregnant by that great monarch, and
brought forth a son, Menilek, whose posterity, though with
some interruption, continued to rule over Abyssinia; the
monarchs of which country thus boast themselves to be of
the race of Solomon. This genealogy, however deeply root¬
ed in Abyssinian conviction, does not seem tenable on any
rational grounds. The two leading features were the pro¬
fusion of aromatics and the numerous camels. But the
camel is an animal decidedly Arabian, has never been na¬
turalized in Abyssinia, nor is at all suited to the rugged
surface of that country ; and even if an Abyssinian queen
had possessed a stock of these animals, she would have
had no convenience, or even possibility, in that era of na¬
vigation, of transporting them across the Arabian Gulf.
The abundance of spices is equally foreign to the rugged
soil of Abyssinia, and characteristic of that of Sabea, or
the happy Arabia of the classic writers, to which, indeed,
every indication points as identical with the Sheba of
Scripture. The commerce between Sheba and Judea is
often mentioned in the sacred writings, and always as a
land intercourse, carried on by camels, and in numerous
caravans. It may be observed, also, that the inspired
writers nowhere give the least hint of that species of in¬
timacy between Solomon and her majesty, upon which the
Abyssinians found this genealogical claim.
Strabo has given some notices of Abyssinia, not in con¬
nection with Egypt or with Africa, but with Arabia, as
forming the western coast of the Arabian Gulf. It would
be difficult, and not very edifying, to verify the successive
chain of his positions ; but we may recognise already the
leading features which distinguish modern Abyssinia ; the
vast herds and huntings of the elephant; the extreme rude¬
ness of many among the native tribes, living in caves
under the shelter of trees; the prevalence of barbarous
and dissolute manners ; the use of blood as an article of
diet; copious libations of hydromel among the higher
ranks, and of an infusion of grain among the lower. He
represents them as wrapping pieces of flesh in skins, and
swallowing both together; probably an erroneous ver¬
sion of the custom of wrapping slices of meat in teff
cakes, and stuffing them down in huge mouthfuls. After
a long range of this coast came another, producing in¬
cense, aromatics, and even a species of cinnamon. This
coast, evidently that of Berbera, terminated in the Southern
Horn; the region beyond which was unknown to Strabo,
and to Artemidorus, from whom his information was
chiefly derived.
An important series of early Abyssinian history has
been disclosed by a very slight and casual circumstance.
An Egyptian monk, named Cosmas Indicopleustes, having
penetrated into Abyssinia, was employed by Elesbaan, the
king, to copy two inscriptions on a chair and small column
of white marble, which had been erected at the port of
Adulis. One of these inscriptions commemorates con¬
quests made in Asia by Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt;
the other relates conquests which extended over the great¬
er part of Abyssinia, the provinces of which are mention¬
ed almost under their modern names. Such extensive
dominion obtained by Euergetes in this part of Africa
excited considerable surprise, especially as no hint of it
had been given in any of the Greek writers. Mr Salt
copied at Axum a tablet, in which similar exploits, al¬
most in the same terms, are ascribed to Aeizanes, king of
the Axumites; and considering the silence of ancient
authorities, and that such an extent of Egyptian conquest
was rather improbable, he inclines to believe that the
S I N I A.
second inscription of Cosmas, the commencement of which Abyssinia,
had been obliterated, related not to Euergetes, but tov-^V^
Aeizanes, and was only a repetition of the Axum inscrip¬
tion. Dr Vincent, however, still adhered to the opinion
which makes Ptolemy the subject of both these inscrip¬
tions, and consequently supposed him to have made the
conquest of Abyssinia.
Some notices respecting the early state of Abyssinia
are found in the work entitled Periplus of the Erythrean
Sea, written by Arrian, a merchant of Alexandria, and
intended seemingly as a coasting guide for the merchants
of that capital. In this work Adulis, situated near the
modern Masuah, is described as the great emporium of
this region, the trade of which consisted chiefly in the
exportation of fine ivory, and rhinoceros’ horns ; in return
for which, they imported wine, oil, and many manufactures
and luxuries produced in the Roman empire. The ivory
was brought chiefly from Coloe, situated three days’ jour¬
ney in the interior; while five days beyond was Axum,
the metropolis, and a city of great magnificence, as its
ruins still attest. The coast beyond Adulis, forming now
the territory of the Baharnegash, was ruled by a prince
called Zoskales, who is described as highly polished and
intelligent, and as giving the most hospitable reception to
the strangers who visited this coast. Abyssinia appears
thus by its intercourse with Egypt to have acquired a
degree of improvement and refinement which it lost at a
subsequent period.
The first event in the modern history of Abyssinia was
the introduction of Christianity by Frumentius, in the
fourth century. That religion was then embraced by the
court and a great proportion of the inhabitants; and the
church of Abyssinia has since, with a short interval, dur¬
ing which the Romish religion prevailed, continued sub¬
ject to the patriarch of Alexandria, and has observed the
peculiar doctrines and ritual of the Alexandrian church.
Soon after this period reigned Elesbaan, the most power¬
ful and only conquering prince that ever occupied the
throne of Abyssinia. Involved by religious antipathies
in hostility with the Sabaeans or Homerites, on the op¬
posite coast of Arabia Felix, he invaded, and appears to
have made himself completely master of that country.
He assembled next a formidable force, with which he ad¬
vanced and laid siege to the already sacred city of Mecca.
Tradition represents his army as partly mounted upon ele¬
phants, from which this expedition was termed the war of
the elephant. According to the Arabian historians, a
miraculous shower of stones destroyed the Ethiopian army;
and we may probably conclude that famine and disease, in
this barren and dreary region, thinned its ranks, and com¬
pelled it to a disastrous retreat.
Notwithstanding this check, the Ethiopian monarchs ap¬
pear to have held sway over a considerable part of Abyssi¬
nia, till the time when the rise of the religion of Mahomet,
and its diffusion by force of arms, changed the face of the
East. The Mahometans boast that they established their
faith in Abyssinia; but no tradition or history of that
country gives any countenance to the assertion, nor does
its present state exhibit the least vestige of such a change.
It appears, however, that they were driven before this
torrent of fanatical conquest out of all their possessions
in Arabia; that Islamism even crossed the sea, and estab-
lished itself in Adel and other territories, by which Abys¬
sinia is closely hemmed in, and with whose people she was
ever after involved in rooted hostility, both religious and
political. J 6
From this time we are reduced to the dim lights of
Abyssinian tradition, which appear, however, to record a
remarkable revolution. The Mahometan conquest had
AB Y S
byssinia. driven before it a considerable number of Jews, who, amid
the calamities of their country, had established themselves
in different parts of Arabia. They sought refuge in Abys¬
sinia, where they became numerous and powerful, and even
established an independent dominion in the province of
Samen. Judith, a Jewish princess, possessed of more than
manly courage, and ruthless ambition, conceived the de¬
sign of usurping for herself and her country the entire so¬
vereignty of the kingdom. Availing herself of the singu¬
lar custom of immuring the whole royal family on the top
of a mountain, she gained possession of this post, and made
a general massacre of all those who could advance any
claim to the throne. The infant king, however, was carried
off by some faithful adherents, and conveyed to Shoa, where
his authority was acknowledged ; while Judith reigned for
forty years over the rest of the kingdom, and transmitted
the crown to her posterity. In 1268, however, the house
of Solomon, as it was called, (chiefly, it is said, through the
influence of Tecla Haimanout, a monk highly revered for
sanctity,) was restored in the person of Icon Amlac.
From the time of Icon Amlac the Abyssinians appear
to have kept regular annals, and record a list of successive
kings. Mr Bruce has even drawn up from these annals a
somewhat detailed history of Abyssinia. But a narrative
containing only the contests of these barbarous tribes,
mingled with superstition and fable, and illumined by few
traits of honour and generosity, is little calculated to edify
or interest. For a long time it was diversified chiefly by
the wars with Adel, a country situated along the coast of
the Arabian Gulf. The Adelians had embraced the Mos¬
lem creed, so that national antipathies were heightened
by religious bigotry, which rages so fiercely in uninformed
minds. The war was therefore carried on with excessive
fury, each party signalizing their victory by burning towns
and villages, and making a general massacre of the people.
After a contest of several centuries, Adel appears to have
been completely humbled, and is no longer mentioned
among the enemies of Abyssinia. Violent dissensions
then arose on the subject of religion. The Romish faith
was introduced by a succession of missionaries from
Europe; and several of the kings not only embraced,
but endeavoured to impose this religion by violence upon
their subjects. This gave rise to civil wars, which did not
terminate even after the missionaries had been banished,
the Catholic system abolished, and the nation had been
replaced under the spiritual sway of the Patriarch of
Alexandria.
About two centuries ago, Abyssinia began to suffer from
a new and formidable enemy, by which she has ever since
been more and more hardly pressed. From the southern
interior regions the Galla, a negro and Pagan race of the
most uncouth and savage aspect, and surpassing in ferocity
even the Abyssinians themselves, began a series of de¬
solating inroads, sparing neither age nor sex. For a long
time they succeeded only in desultory incursions, and
were uniformly routed in the open field; but at last,
taking advantage of the dissensions in which the kingdom
was still plunged, they insinuated themselves into the ser¬
vice of different chiefs, and acquired a degree of discipline
which rendered them truly formidable. They have thus
finally succeeded in overrunning all the central and finest
portions of the kingdom, and leaving to the native rulers
only two detached and severed portions.
rogress of After this rapid sketch of Abyssinian history, it will be
•iscovery. a more interesting object to trace the steps by which the
country was penetrated and explored by Europeans, and
their observations on the peculiar and striking features of
nature and society which it presents.
About the year 330, an ecclesiastic named Frumentius,
/
S I N I A. 51
who had been travelling with his relation, Meropius, a Abyssinia.
Tyrian philosopher, and who, at an island in the Red Sea,^-^^-^
had become acquainted with some Abyssinians, represented
to Athanasius, the patriarch of Alexandria, the wish of
these people to have Christianity introduced into their
cquntry. Frumentius was accordingly consecrated Bishop
of Axum by the patriarch, and appears to have made many
converts among the Abyssinians. But as Constantine the
Roman Emperor had embraced Arianism, and was at va¬
riance with the patriarch of Alexandria, he was desirous
to recall Frumentius, either that he might appoint an
Arian bishop, or that Frumentius might be re-consecrated
by one of that persuasion. With this view he wrote a
letter to the monarch of Abyssinia, By whom this letter
was conveyed is not certain, though it is probable that it
was by a person named Theophilus, who travelled into
that country about A. d. 333. The only notice which re¬
mains of the journey of Theophilus is given by Philo-
storgius (Hist. JEccles.), and it is very meagre. Theophilus
found the descendants of some Syrians in Abyssinia,
sprung, he supposes, from a Syrian colony planted there
in the time of Alexander the Great.
In the year 533, the conquests of the Abyssinians in
Arabia, and the warm professions of friendship which
they held out to the Roman empire, induced Justinian to
send an embassy into that remote country, with the hope
of persuading its sovereign to employ his forces then in
Arabia against the Persian monarch. At this period the
Abyssinians were acquainted with the arts of navigation,
and had recently imbibed the spirit of trade, and acquired
the sea-port of Adule, from which they penetrated along
the African coast, as far as the equator, in search of gold,
emeralds, and aromatics. For this important commission
Justinian selected Nonnosus, descended from a family of
ambassadors. He took the route of the Nile, from which
he crossed to the Red Sea, and landed at the port of
Adule. Though the distance of this place from Axnm,
at that period the residence of the sovereigns of Abys¬
sinia, is only fifty leagues, yet the winding passes of the
mountains which lie between them detained Nonnosus
fifteen days. He was received with great pomp and fa¬
vour by the Abyssinian monarch, Amda, or Ameda; but
we are not very distinctly informed as to the fate of his
mission. Of his original narrative, some extracts only are
preserved in the JBibliotheca of Photius, and in the Chro-
nographia of John Malala. From these, among other
particulars, we learn that Nonnosus saw, in his passage
through the forests which intervene between Adule and
Axum, an immense number of wild elephants ; and that
the Abyssinian monarch gave audience in an open field,
seated on a lofty chariot drawn by four elephants superb¬
ly caparisoned, and surrounded by his nobles and musi¬
cians. In his hand he held two javelins, and a light
shield; his clothing was a linen garment and fillet; and
though thus imperfectly covered, he displayed a profu¬
sion of gold chains, collars, and bracelets, adorned with
pearls and precious stones. Nonnosus represents Axum
as large and populous. In detailing his passage over the
mountains of Taranta, he remarks the great contrast of
the seasons on different sides of it; from Ave to the coast,
it was summer and harvest time; whereas from Ave to
Axum, and the rest of Abyssinia, it was winter. The
truth of this observation is amply confirmed by Mr Salt.
About the same period Cosmas, surnamed Indico-
pleustes, or the Indian Navigator, visited Adule. It was
the design of this author, in publishing his work entitled
Topographia Christiana, to confute the heretical opinion
that the earth is a globe, and offer proofs that it was a
flat oblong, as represented in the Scriptures. His voyage
52 , A B Y S
Abyssinia, was performed A. d. 522, and his book published at Alex-
andria a. d. 547. Photius, to whom we are indebted for
many curious extracts from works now lost, gives some
interesting passages from it; and the complete work was
published by Montfaucon, at Paris, in 1707, in the Nova
Collectio Patmim, tom. ii. The most valuable part of it
has been published in French and Greek, by Melchisidec
Thevenot, in his Relations de Divers Voyages Curieux,
non encore publiees ou traduites, Paris, 1682. To this
author we are indebted for the Adulic inscriptions. It
appears that Elesbaan, king of the Axumites, had order¬
ed the governor of Adule to send him a copy of these in¬
scriptions ; and the governor employed Cosmas, who hap¬
pened to be there at that time, and one Menas, a mer¬
chant, for that purpose. Till Mr Salt examined these
inscriptions, during his first journey, they had always been
regarded as forming only one; though in this view their
meaning was not very clear, and they were at variance
with authenticated history : but he satisfactorily proved,
that instead of being a single inscription, referring ex¬
clusively to Ptolemy Euergetes, there were two distinct
inscriptions, one of which refers to Ptolemy, and the
other to the affairs of Abyssinia. The former inscription,
among other things, mentions that Ptolemy and his father
were the first that brought elephants from the Troglodytes
and Ethiopia.
Besides the interesting information which Cosmas af¬
fords respecting the port and inscription of Adule, he
particularly describes the trade of the Axumites along
the African coast of Barbaria or Zingi, and as far as
Trapobane, Ceylon ; and mentions, that every other year
the king of Axum sent several persons of distinction to
traffic with the natives of Agow for gold, which they
bartered for cattle, salt, and iron. The journey com¬
monly occupied six months. He represents the fountains
of the Nile as in the vicinity of Agow, which sufficiently
points it out as the country of the Agows mentioned by
Peter Paez, who travelled in Abyssinia in the beginning
of the seventeenth century.
Respecting Abyssinia, the notices of travellers are few
and very meagre, from the time of Cosmas and Nonnosus,
to the conclusion of the fifteenth century. We find it
mentioned by Marco Polo, and by Ibn El Wardi, an Ara¬
bian author ; and some slight notices, particularly of the
religious missions into that country, till the year 1500,
are supplied by Renaudot, from the Coptic writers, in his
Historia Patriarcharum Alexandrinormn, Paris, 1713.
At the close of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese
missions into Abyssinia commenced: they originated in
rather a singular circumstance. John II. king of Portugal
was extremely anxious to discover the residence of Prester
John, who had long been represented in Europe as a
Christian sovereign of great power, ruling somewhere in
the centre of Asia. For this purpose, John sent Peter
Covilham and Alphonso or Michael de Payva into Asia:
the latter soon died, but the former, during his abode on
the western coasts of the Red Sea, hearing much of the
Abyssinian emperor, and of his being a Christian, con¬
cluded that he had found the object of his search. He
immediately conveyed this information to his own court,
and proceeded himself to Shoa, then the residence of the
Negush, or monarch of Abyssinia. He was received and
treated with great kindness and respect; but, according
to the usual policy of the Abyssinian court at that period,
he was not permitted to leave the country. An account
of his residence is given by Damiano Goez, in his Legatio
S I N I A.
Magni Indorum Presb. Joan, ad Emanuel Lusitania;, Abyssinj
Antwerp, 1552. King Emanuel, who was desirous oP^va
maintaining an intercourse with the sovereign of Abys¬
sinia, (not less from commercial and political than religious
motives,) sent an embassy into that country in the year
1520. At the head of this embassy he placed the famous
Edward Galvan, who had been secretary of state, and
ambassador in France, Germany, and Rome. The selec¬
tion of such a man points out the importance which
Emanuel attached to this mission. But unfortunately,
Galvan, being extremely old, was unequal to the fatigues
of so long and dangerous a journey, and died soon after
the embassy entered the Red Sea. In his stead Rodri¬
guez de Lima was appointed; and Francisco Alvarez, who
had been chaplain to Galvan, was continued in the same
office by Rodriguez. Their journey from the coast of the
Red Sea was long and troublesome, on account of the
heat of the climate and the badness of the roads; but
they arrived at the Abyssinian court on the 12th of April
1520, where they were received with much splendour and
courtesy by the Emperor David. They were detained in
Abyssinia six years, from various causes ; and on their de¬
parture, the emperor requested Rodriguez to leave behind
him his physician, John Bermudez, and a painter of his
retinue, with which request the ambassador complied.
Alvarez wrote a minute account of Abyssinia, of which
there are several editions ;—that published by himself at
Lisbon in 1540; a Spanish translation from the Portuguese,
published at Antwerp in 1557 ; an Italian translation from
the Portuguese manuscript, published by Ramusio in his
Collection of Voyages, lib. i., (which differs materially
from the Lisbon edition) ; a French translation in 1558;
and an English translation, in Purchas’s Collection of
Voyages. The value and accuracy of this author’s state¬
ments have been differently appreciated; but it seems
probable that several fabrications were published in his
name; for Damiano Goez asserts that he had seen a
journal Avritten by Alvarez, very different from most of
the published works.1 In some respects, the descrip¬
tion which he gives of Abyssinia is extremely valuable.
No European traveller, since his time, has visited Angot,
Amhara, and Shoa; the first a region occupied by the
Pagan Galla, and bordering with some barbarous tribes
near the Red Sea. This traveller visited Axum a short
time before it was almost totally destroyed by the Turkish
invasion, and he describes it as a large and beautiful place.
According to him, none of the cities of Abyssinia contained
more than fifteen hundred houses; a statement with which
the assertion of Bruce, that Gondar, when he was there;
contained ten thousand families, can hardly be reconciled.
In the year 1538, Bermudez was sent back to Portugal,
as ambassador from the Abyssinian monarch; and after
a short abode at Lisbon, he was ordered to return by the
way of Goa, and take from that place some troops to re¬
inforce the Abyssinian, who at this period had been com¬
pelled to take shelter from the Moors in the mountainous
part of his kingdom. The reinforcement was landed at
Massowa, and after a difficult journey through the moun¬
tainous passes and defiles, they joined the emperor. Ber¬
mudez published an account of his journey at Lisbon in
1565. There are also editions of it published at the same
place in 1569 and 1615, which are very scarce. It was
translated into English by Purchas {Pilgrims, 1. vii. c. vii.
p. 1149), and from thence into French by La Croze,
(Christianisme d Ethiope, p. 92—265.) But the greater
part of his work relates to the victories, defeat, and death
1 The translation of Ramusio was made from a manuscript supplied by Goez.
ABYSSINIA. 53
»vssirtia. of the Portuguese general, Christopher de Gama; and is society of Jesuits called Antonio de Angelis, who was Abyssinia,
principally valuable from the description which he gives famous for his skill in the Amharie language. In
of some, otherwise little known, parts of the country, Alphonso Mendez was sent patriarch into Abyssinia. He
which he visited in the course of the war. arrived at Fremona on the 21st of June in that year ; but,
In the year 1556, Ignatius Loyola, at the urgent re- on account of the dangerous travelling through Tigre at
quest of an Abyssinian priest called Peter, who had visit- that season, he was obliged to stay there till the October
ed Rome, projected a new mission into Abyssinia, and by following, when he went to the residence of the emperor,
his influence with the king of Portugal, persuaded him to by whom he was received with great pomp. His beha*
send an ambassador and a patriarch along with the mis- viour, however, was not such as to render him long a
sionaries. They went first to Goa, where they learned favourite; and he was ordered to retire to Fremona.
that an entrance into Abyssinia by the Red Sea would Scarcely had he arrived there, before he received a fresh
be extremely difficult and dangerous, if not quite imprac- order to leave the kingdom; and, not immediately com-
ticable, as the Turks carefully guarded the sea-coasts plying, he was conducted to Massowa. He wrote the his-
with their ships. In consequence of this intelligence, it tory of Abyssinia in Latin, a French translation of which
was resolved that the ambassador and the patriarcli should was printed at Lisle in 1633. 2 During the residence of
not attempt the journey; and of the missionaries only one Mendez in this kingdom, Peter Heyling of Lubeck, a
arrived in Abyssinia. An account of this mission was Lutheran, well versed in the Arabic, ingratiated himself
published in 1615; 1 it contains a great deal of curious into the favour of the Abima, or metropolitan bishop of
information, but ought to be read, like all the other ac- Abyssinia at Alexandria, and visited that country along
counts of the Jesuit missionaries, with great caution. with him; and he continued for several years, being highr
From this period, till the close of the sixteenth century, ly esteemed by the court and the clergy, both on account
Abyssinia was extremely difficult of access, in conse- of his skill and success in medicine, and his knowledge of
quence of the Turks having exclusive possession of the the oriental languages, and of polemic divinity. Respect-
sea-coast. At length, in 15H9, Philip II. of Spain, anxious ing the cause and period of his return there is some ob-
to renew the alliance between the two courts, sent a letter scurity. Mendez asserts that he was ordered to leave
to the Abyssinian monarch by an Italian bishop, John the kingdom; whereas Ludolphus asserts that the em-
Baptista, and a person of the name of Lewis de Mendoza, peror was very unwilling to part with him. He did not
who was then settled at Diu, and was well acquainted live to revisit Europe, having been put to death on his re-
with the commerce of the Red Sea. The bishop died turn, either by the Arabs or by the bashaw of Suakem. An
during his journey, but Mendoza penetrated into Abys- account of his life, and the few particulars which he trans-
sinia, delivered his letter, and carried back one from the mitted to his friends respecting Abyssinia, were publish-
emperor to Philip. In consequence of his success, Men- ed in German, in the year 1724, along with an epitome,
doza was sent on a second mission, and sailed from Goa in the same language, of Geddes’s Ecclesiastical History
in February 1589, accompanied by Antonio de Montser- of Ethiopia. From the character and attainments of
rato, a Catalonian, and Peter Pacz, a Spaniard. In their Heyling, in connection with the opportunities of observa-
voyage they were shipwrecked and taken prisoners, tion and information which he enjoyed, there is no doubt
This circumstance proved of great advantage to Paez, that, had he lived to return to Europe, he would have
who, being a man of considerable talents, and of great ac- added considerably to the stock of knowledge at that time
tivity of mind, as well as zeal, spent the seven years of possessed regarding this country.
his captivity in making himself a perfect master of the In the suite of Alphonso Mendez was Father Lobo, who,
Arabian language. In consequence of the intelligence of during the greater part of the nine years that he resid-
their misfortune reaching Goa, two other missionaries were ed in Abyssinia, was rector of the college of Fremona.
dispatched for Abyssinia ; Abraham de Georgiis, a man of Flis description of that country, and history of his travels,
great learning and courage, and a thorough master of all though simple and succinct, is much superior in clearness
the eastern languages, and Melchior de Sylva, by birth an and accuracy to the relations of any of the travellers who
Indian : only the latter, however, arrived in Abyssinia, had preceded him. Lobo resided for some time in the
the former having been taken and beheaded by the Ma- province of Damot, near the sources of the Nile. It has
hometans. In the mean time, Peter Paez having been been supposed, though, we imagine, erroneously, that A
ransomed, found means to penetrate into Abyssinia, where short lielation of the river Nile, of its Source and Current,
he soon gained an ascendancy over the mind of the em- by an Eye-witness, which was first published in 1668, and
peror. He is the first European who visited what the afterwards republished by Dr Rotheram in 1791, was pro-
Abyssinians deem the sources of the Nile. He died in cured at Lisbon from Lobo himself. This account of the
that country in the year 1622; and his manuscript, de- sources of the Nile differs in some respects from the ac-
tailing the aflairs of Abyssinia from the year 1556 to his count given in Le Grand’s translation of Lobo. His work
death, was transmitted to Rome, where it is said to be was originally published in Portuguese, but it is much
still preserved. The only extract which has been printed better known in the French translation of Le Grand, and
from it relates to his journey to the sources of the Nile, in the English translation by Dr Johnson,
and is given by Kircher in his (Edipus Egyptiacus. Paez In 1660, Father Tellez, at the request of the society of
was succeeded, in 1623, by Father Emanuel D’Almeyda, Jesuits, published his General History of Abyssinia under
who travelled from Massowa, by Adejada, across the plain the following title: Historia Geral de Ethiopia Alta, ou
Serawe, and partly along the course of the Mareb, till he Preste loam, &c. Coimbra, 1660, folio.3 In compiling this
arrived at the monastery of Fremona, the usual residence work, he had the advantage of consulting all the relations
ot the missionaries. He was succeeded by another of the which the missionaries had drawn up, as well as the an-
„ ^0,!°!,!* Patriarchis, J. N. Barreto et Andrea Oviedo, P. N. Godigno. Lugduni, 1G15.
cet Bm]' ll°n l'U ^®verenc^ss*lne Patriarche d’Ethiopie, Dorn. Alphonse Mendez, touchant la conversion des ames qui s’est faite en
a’ An abridged translation of this work, entitled Travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, was published in the second volume of Knapton’s
Collection of VoijaScs and Travels, Lond. 1711.
54 A B Y S
Abyssinia, nual letters which they had sent to the college of Jesuits
at Lisbon; and, as is noticed in the title-page, the relation
of Emanuel d’Almeyda is here abridged.
The Portuguese having lost their credit and influence
in Abyssinia by the haughty behaviour of Mendez-, the
French resolved to use their endeavours to establish
themselves in that country; and for this purpose Louis
XIV. wrote a letter to the father of the emperor, who
wras then on the throne, which reached him, though by
what means we are not informed. At the same time in¬
structions were sent to M. Maillet, the French consul at
Cairo, to second the plans of his court; and accordingly,
having learned that the emperor was ill, he dispatched
Poncet, a physician, to cure him. Along with Poncet
was sent, by the influence of the Jesuits, Father de Bre-
vedent, a man particularly conversant in astronomy. They
embarked on the Nile on the 10th of June 1698, and ar¬
rived within a day and half’s journey of Gondar on the
3d of July of the following year. Here the father died,
and Poncet, having rested himself till the 21st of the same
month, set out for Gondar. He particularly describes the
public audience which was granted him by the emperor,
and his rich and splendid attire. Respecting the latter,
and also in what he says concerning Gondar, his accounts
are considerably at variance with the relations of the Por¬
tuguese missionaries : hence the fidelity of his work has
been called in question, especially by Le Grand, though
on no sufficient grounds. Having succeeded in curing
the Abyssinian monarch, he set out from Gondar in the
summer of 1700, by the way of Massowa, and arrived safe
in France, where he published a distinct account of his
journey. A translation of it is given in Lockman’s Tra¬
vels of the Jesuits. The learned works of Ludolphus—
Historia Ethiopica, Francof. 1681 ; Commentarius in
Historiam Ethiopicam, Francof. 1691 ; and Relatio Nova,
&c. 1693, must not be passed over: for though he chiefly
compiled them from the writings of the Portuguese mis¬
sionaries already mentioned, he was enabled to add con¬
siderably to their stock of information, by means of his great
knowledge of the Ethiopian language,—by his conversations
with Gregory, an intelligent and liberal Abyssinian priest,
whom he invited from Rome to the court of Saxe-Gotha, 
and by the report of Morat, an Armenian merchant, who
had often been in Abyssinia. The Theologia Ethiopica
of Gregory is published in Fabricius’s Lux Evangelii.
In 1750, three Franciscans succeeded in penetrating as
far as Gondar. From this time, Abyssinia was not reach¬
ed by any European traveller, till the journey of Bruce.
Bruce’s At the time when Mr Bruce entered Abyssinia, it was
journey, rent by civil war. The king Yasous, otherwise popular,
had married a Galla princess, an unpopular step, in con¬
sequence of which an inveterate prejudice against her,
her family, and the king himself,, became rooted in the
mind of the Abyssinians. The eldest son, after suc¬
ceeding to the throne, having died, not without sus¬
picion of poison, was succeeded by loas, the son of this
Galla queen; but the evident preference which he show¬
ed for his relations belonging to this hated race, excited
a violent discontent, which issued in the rebellion of
Mariam-Barea, governor of the great province of Be-
gemder. The king was obliged to call in the aid of Suhul
Michael, the almost independent governor of Tigre.
Michael immediately obeyed the call, and soon crushed
Mariam-Barea, who sought refuge among the Galla, by
whom he was killed. Michael himself, however, now the
real master of the kingdom, could not brook the ascend¬
ancy of the king s Galla favourites; and having involved
himself in a quarrel with Fasil, the most powerful among
that body, both parties took arms. Michael gained a
SIN I A.
complete victory, after which he put the king to death, Abys?;
and substituted in his place Hannes, an old man, brother
to the late monarch, in whose name he administered the
affairs of the kingdom with absolute sway. He had be¬
fore increased his power by marrying Ozoro Esther, widow
of Mariam-Barea, and reckoned the greatest beauty in the
kingdom. Such was the state of affairs when Mr Bruce
entered Abyssinia; and as it is to him chiefly that we are
indebted for wrhat we know of the remarkable features of
that country, it must be interesting to introduce here at
some length the particulars of his journey.
On the 15th of November 1769, Mr Bruce, with two
guides, left Arkeeko, on the eastern coast of Africa, and
proceeded southwards for Gondar, the capital of Abys¬
sinia. After an hour’s journey, he pitched his tent near
a pit full of rain water, where he remained all day; and
being detained by some arrangements with his guides, did
not finally set out till the evening of the 16th. For the short
space they had travelled, the ground was covered with
grass broader in the leaf than ours; but in a little time the
soil became hard, dry, gravelly, and full of acacia, or Egyp¬
tian thorn. On the 17th, they changed their course from
south to west, and soon arrived at a range of mountains
standing so close to one another, that there was no passage
between them except what was worn by torrents; the bed
of one of which consequently now became their road. In
the evening they pitched their tent at some distance from
this torrent, which contained scarcely any water when
they left it; but all the afternoon there had been an ap¬
pearance of rain, with much thunder and lightning at a
distance. On a sudden they heard a noise among the
mountains louder than thunder; and instantly saw the
torrent, swollen immensely by the distant rains, running
like a rapid river, and the foremost part of it present¬
ing a body of water about the height of a man. Having
run for some time thus violently, the current, no longer
supplied by the rains, began to diminish, and by the next
morning was entirely gone. Among these mountains the
nights are cold even in summer.
On the 18th the journey was resumed, following the bed
of the torrent, now almost dry, though the stones were
rendered very slippery by the quantity of rain which had
fallen. Leaving this disagreeable road, they came to a
fine rivulet; which being the first clear water they had
seen from the time Mr Bruce left Syria, was exceedingly
agreeable. They proceeded along the banks of this river
for some time; and soon after leaving it, they came to
another of the same kind; but next day were obliged to
resume their course in the bed of a torrent. The moun¬
tains in this part of the world are excessively rugged and
full of precipices, entirely destitute of soil, and covered
with loose stones of a black colour. On the side of the
torrent in which they marched, however, there grew very
large sycamore trees, some of them little less than 7^ feet
in diameter. Their branches afforded shelter to an infi¬
nite number of birds, many of them without song, but
others having notes very different from the European
kinds, and peculiar to the continent of Africa. Most of
those which had very beautiful colours were of the jay or
magpie kind. The trees were loaded with figs; but they
came to nothing, by reason of the ignorance of the sa¬
vages, who knew not the process of caprification. The
sti earns of water themselves, which at this season were
ound so delightful, run only after October; they appear
on the other side of the mountains when the summer
rams in Abyssinia are ceasing; at other times no water
is to be met with, excepting what is contained in stag¬
nant pools.
On the 20th of November they began to ascend the
AB Y S
yssinia. high mountain of Taranta. Their road was now exceed-
'W-^'ingly rugged and uneven, intersected with monstrous
gullies and holes made by the torrents, as well as by huge
fragments of rocks which had tumbled down. It was with
the utmost difficulty that they could carry the astrono¬
mical instruments up the hill; in which work Mr Bruce
himself, and one of his attendants named Yasine, a Moor,
bore a principal share. The only misfortune they met
with was, that their asses, being unloaded, and committed
to the care of a single person, refused to ascend this
barren mountain; and in spite of all that their drivers
could do, set off at a brisk trot for the fertile plains be¬
low. Luckily, however, they were afterwards recovered
by four Moors sent after them, and the journey resumed
without any material interruption.
Taranta is so destitute of earth, that there was no pos¬
sibility of pitching a tent upon it; so that our travellers
were obliged to take up their lodging in one of the caves
with which it abounds. The under part of the mountain
produces in great plenty the tree called kolquall, which
was here observed in greater perfection than in any other
place throughout the whole journey. The middle part
produced olives, which bore no fruit; and the upper part
was covered with the oxycedras, or Virginia cedar, called
arze in the language of the country. On the top is a
small village named Halai, inhabited by poor shepherds,
who keep the flocks of the wealthy inhabitants of the
town of Dixan below. They are of a dark complexion,
inclining to yellow; their hair black, and curled artificial¬
ly by means of a stick, and which our author supposes to
be the same with the crisping-pin mentioned Isa. iii. 22.
The men have a girdle of coarse cotton cloth, swathed
six times round their middle ; and they carry along with
them two lances, and a shield made of bulls’ hides. Be¬
sides these weapons, they have in their girdles a crooked
knife with a blade about sixteen inches in length, and three
in breadth at the lower part. There is here great plenty
of cattle of all kinds ; the cows generally milk-white, with
dewlaps hanging down to their knees; their horns wide
like those of the Lincolnshire cattle, and their hair like
silk. The sheep are all black, both here and throughout
the province of Tigre ; having hair upon them instead of
wool, like the rest of the sheep within the tropics, but
remarkable for its lustre and softness, without any bristly
quality. On the top of the mountain is a plain, which, at
the time our author was there, they had sown with wheat.
The air seemed excessively cold, though the barometer
was not below 59° in the evening. On the west side the
cedars, which on other parts are very beautiful, degene¬
rate into small shrubs and bushes.
The road down this mountain was for some time not
inferior in ruggedness to that by which they had ascend¬
ed ; but as they approached Dixan, it improved consid¬
erably. This is the first town on the Abyssinian side of
Taranta. It is seated on the top of a hill of a form exact¬
ly conical, surrounded by a deep valley like a ditch ; and
there is no access to it but by a path which winds round
the hill. The inhabitants were formerly exterminated by
Michael Ras ; and the succeeding race were found by Mr
Bruce composed of the worst characters from the terri¬
tories of the Baharnagash and the province of Tigre, on
both of which it borders. Here he was in danger from
the treachery of his guide Saloome, who wished to have
decoyed him into the power of some assassins. Finding
that this could not be done, he surrounded Mr Bruce and
his retinue with a body of armed men; but they were
dispersed by the authority of Hagi Abdelcarder, who had
received orders to provide for the safety of the travellers.
T he only trade carried on here is that of buying and sell-
55
ing slaves, who are stolen from Abyssinia, chiefly by the Abyssinia,
priests, and sent into Arabia and India.
The next stage was from Dixan to Adowa, capital of
the province of Tigre. Leaving Dixan on the 25th of
November, they pitched their tent the first night under a
large spreading tree called daroo, which, Mr Bruce says,
was one of the finest he saw in Abyssinia, being about 7^
feet in diameter. They had been joined by some Moors
driving 20 loaded asses and two bulls, which in that coun¬
try are likewise used as beasts of burden. Here, our au- *
thor says, he recovered a tranquillity of mind which he
had not enjoyed since his arrival at Masuah; they were
now entirely w ithout the dominions of the naybe, and en¬
tered into those of the emperor. Saloome attended them
for some way, and seemed disposed to proceed; but one
of the company, who belonged to the Abyssinian mo¬
narch, having made a mark in the ground w ith his knife,
told him, that if he proceeded one step beyond that, he
would bind him hand and foot, and leave him to be de¬
voured by wild beasts.
Being now in a great measure delivered from their fears
and embarrassments, the company proceeded on their
journey with pleasure, through a much better country
than they had hitherto passed. In some places it was
covered with wild oats, wood, high bent grass, &c. but in
not a few places rocky and uneven. Great flocks of a
bird as large as a turkey, called in the Amharic language
erkoom, w'ere seen in some places. A large animal of the
goat kind, called agazan, was found dead and newly
killed by a lion. It was about the size of a large ass, and
afforded a plentiful repast. Numbers of kolquall trees
were also seen; and the sides of the river Habesh were
adorned with a beautiful tree of the same name with the
stream. There wrere in this place also many flowers of
various kinds, particularly jessamine. The mountains of
Adowa, which they came in sight of on the 5th of De¬
cember, are totally unlike any thing to be met with in
Europe; their sides being all perpendicular rocks, like
steeples or obelisks of many different forms.
Adowa, though the capital of an extensive province or
kingdom, does not contain above 300 houses; it occupies
nevertheless a large space, by reason of the inclosures of a
tree called ivanzey, which surround each of the houses.
It stands on the declivity of a bill, situated on the west
side of a small plain surrounded by mountains. It is
watered by three rivulets, which never become dry, even
in the greatest heats. A manufacture is carried on
here of a kind of coarse cotton cloth, wdiich passes for
money throughout all Abyssinia. The houses are built
of rough stone cemented with mud; lime being only used
in the construction of those at Gondar, and even there it
is very bad.
Our traveller was very hospitably entertained at Adowa,
by one Janni, with whom he resided during his stay there.
Leaving it on the 17th of December, he visited the ruins
of Axum, once the capital of the empire. He found 40
obelisks, but without any hieroglyphics. A large one is
still standing, but the two largest have fallen. There is
also a curious obelisk, of which he gives a figure, with
other antiquities which our limits will not allow us to en¬
large upon. The town has at present about 600 houses,
and carries on manufactures of the coarse cotton cloth al¬
ready mentioned. It is watered by a small stream which
flows all the year, and it is received into a fine basin, 150
feet square, where it is collected for the use of the neigh¬
bouring gardens. Its latitude was found by Mr Bruce to
be 14. 6. 36. N.
On the 20th of January 1770, our traveller set out
from Axum. The road was at first smooth and pleasant,
SIN I A.
56 A B Y S
Abyssinia.but afterwards very difficult; being composed of stones
raised one above another, the remains, as he conjectures,
of a magnificent causeway. As they passed farther on,
however, the air was everywhere perfumed by a vast num¬
ber of flowers of different kinds, particularly jessamine.
One species of this, named again, was found in such plen¬
ty, that almost all the adjacent hills were covered by it;
the whole country had the most beautiful appearance;
the weather was exquisitely fine, and the temperature of
the air agreeable. In this fine country, however, Mr
Bruce had the first opportunity of beholding the horribly
barbarous practice of the Abyssinians, in cutting off
pieces of flesh from the bodies of living animals, and de¬
vouring them raw; while at the same time they have the
utmost horror and religious aversion at pork of every
kind; insomuch that Mr Bruce durst not venture to taste
the flesh of a wild boar, just after having assisted in the
destruction of five or six.
During the remaining part of the journey from Adowa
to Sire, the country continued equally beautiful, and the
variety of flowers and trees greatly augmented; but as a
report was propagated that Has Michael had been defeated
by Basil, they now met with some insults. These, how¬
ever, were but trifling; and on the 22d in the evening
they arrived safely at Sire, situated in Lat. 14. 4. 35. N.
This town is still larger than Axum, but the houses
are built only of clay covered with thatch; the roofs in
the form of cones, which indeed is the shape of all those
in Abyssinia. Sire stands on the brink of a very steep
and narrow valley, through which the road is almost im¬
passable. It is famous for a manufacture of cotton cloth,
which, as already observed, passes as money throughout
the whole empire. Beads, needles, antimony, and in¬
cense sometimes pass in the same way. The country in
the neighbourhood is extremely fine ; but the inhabitants,
from the low situation, are subject to putrid fevers. On
leaving it on the 24th, our travellers passed through a
Vast plain, where they could discern, as far as the eye
could reach, only some few detached hills standing on the
plain, covered with high grass, which the inhabitants were
then burning. The country to the northward is flat and
open. In the way to Gondar, however, lies that ridge of
mountains called Samen; of which one named Lamalmon
is the most remarkable, and by some supposed to be the
highest in Abyssinia. Betwixt Sire and these mountains
flows the river Tacazze, which, next to the Nile, is the
largest in Abyssinia. Mr Bruce informs us that it car¬
ries near one-third of the water which falls on the whole
empire; and when passing it he saw the marks of its
stream, the preceding year, 18 feet perpendicular above
the bottom; nor could it be ascertained whether this was
the highest point to which it had reached. The Tacazze
has its source in the district of Angot, rising from three
sources, like the Nile, in a flat country, about 200 miles
to the S. E. of Gondar. It is extremely pleasant, being
shaded with fine lofty trees, the water extremely clear,
and the banks adorned with the most fragrant flowers.
At the ford where they crossed, this river was fully 200
yards broad, and about three feet deep, running very
swiftly over a bottom of pebbles. At the very edge of
the water the banks were covered with tamarisks, behind
which grew tall and stately trees, that never lose their
leaves. It abounds with fish, and is inhabited by croco¬
diles and hippopotami; the former of which frequently
carry off people who attempt to cross the river upon
blown up skins. The neighbouring woods are full of lions
and hyenas. The Tacazze is marked by Mr Bruce in his
map as a branch of the Astaboras, which falls into the Nile.
The latitude of the ford was found to be 13. 42. 45. N.
S I N I A.
This river was passed on the 26th of January; after Abyss!)
which our travellers entered into the country of Samen
the governor of which, Ayto Tesfos, had never acknow¬
ledged the authority of Has Michael, nor any of the em¬
perors set up by him since the death of loas. The coun¬
try therefore was hostile ; but the uncertainty of the event
of the war, and the well-known severity of Michael’s dis¬
position, preserved our traveller and his company from any
insult, excepting a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to ex¬
tort money. Here Mr Bruce observes that the people
were more flat-nosed than any he had hitherto seen in
Abyssinia. The path among the mountains was for the
most part exceedingly dangerous, having a precipice of
vast height close by it which way soever you turn. The
mountains appeared of very extraordinary shapes; some
like cones; others high and pointed, like columns, pyra¬
mids, or obelisks. In one place a village was observed in
so dangerous a situation, that scarce the distance of a
yard intervened between the houses and a dreadful pre¬
cipice. The lions and hyenas were very numerous among
these mountains, and devoured one of the best mules our
travellers had. The hyenas were so bold, that they stalked
about as familiarly as dogs, and were not intimidated by
the discharge of fire-arms. Their voracity was such, that
they ate the bodies of those of their own species which
our travellers had killed in their own defence.
On the 7th of February the travellers began to ascend
Lamalmon by a winding path scarcely two feet broad, on
the brink of a dreadful precipice, and frequently intersect¬
ed by the beds of torrents, which produced vast irregular
chasms. After ascending two hours with incredible toil
up this narrow path, they came to a small plain named
Kedus or St Michael, from a church of that name situated
there. On ascending to the very top of the mountain,
where they arrived on the 9th of February, our travellers
were surprised to find, that though from below it had the
appearance of being sharp-pointed, it was in reality a large
plain full of springs, which are the sources of most of the
rivers in this part of Abyssinia. These springs boil out of
the earth, sending forth such quantities of water as are
sufficient to turn a mill. A perpetual verdure prevails;
and it is entirely owing to indolence in the husbandman
if he has not three harvests annually. Lamalmon stands
on the north-west part of the mountains of Samen; but
though higher than the mountains of Tigre, our author is
of opinion that it is considerably inferior to those which
are situated on the south-east. The plain on the top is
N altogether impregnable to an army, both by reason of its
situation and the plenty of provisions it affords for the
maintenance of its inhabitants; even the streams on the
top are full of fish. Here the mercury in the barometer
stood at 20^ inches.
During the*time our travellers remained at Lamalmon,
a servant of Has Michael arrived to conduct them safely
to the capital, bringing a certain account of the victory
over Fasil; so that now the difficulties and dangers of
their journey were over. The country appeared better
cultivated as they approached the capital; and they saw
several plantations of sugar-canes, which are raised from
the seed. In some places, however, particularly in Wog-
gora, great damage is done by swarms of ants, rats, and
mice, which destroy the fruits of the earth. Mr Bruce had
already experienced the mischief arising from a small spe¬
cies of ant, whose bite was not only more painful than the
sting of a scorpion, but which issued out of the ground in
such numbers as to cut in pieces the carpets and every
thing made of soft materials.
M lien Mr Bruce approached the capital, he was dress¬
ed like a Moor: and this dress he was advised to keep
AB Y S
byssinia. until he should receive some protection from government;
vr~v''^/his greatest, indeed his only, danger arising from the
priests, who were alarmed at hearing of the approach of
a Frank to the capital. This was the more necessary, as
the emperor and Michael Ras were both out of town.
For this reason also he took up his residence in the
Moorish quarter of Gondar, a large city, containing not
fewer than 3000 houses. The only inconvenience he
underwent here, was the not being allowed to eat any
flesh : for we have already taken notice of a law made by
one of the emperors, that none of his subjects should eat
flesh but such as had been killed by Christians ; and a de¬
viation from this would have been accounted equal to a
renunciation of Christianity itself. Here he remained
till the 15 th of February ; when Ay to Aylo waited upon
him, and addressed him in the character of physician,
which he had assumed. By this nobleman he was carried
to the palace of Koscam, and introduced to the old queen.
His advice wras required for one of the royal family who
was ill of the small-pox; but a saint had already under¬
taken his cure. The event, however, proved unfortunate;
the patient died, and the saint lost his reputation. Our
limits will not allow us to give any particular account of
the steps by which Mr Bruce arrived at the high degree
of reputation which he enjoyed in Abyssinia. In general,
his success in the practice of medicine ; his skill in horse¬
manship and the use of fire-arms, which by his own ac¬
count must have been very extraordinary; his prudence
in evading religious disputes; as well as his personal in¬
trepidity and presence of mind, which never once failed
him, even in the greatest emergencies; all conspired to
render him agreeable to persons of every denomination.
By the king he was promoted to the government of Ras-
el-Feel, was his constant attendant on all occasions, and
was with him in several military expeditions; but never
met with any opportunity of distinguishing his personal
valour, though he had the command of a body of horse at
one of the battles fought at a place named Serbraxos.
Thus honoured and employed, he had an ample oppor¬
tunity of exploring the sources and cataracts of the Bahr-
el-Azrek, which he considered the Nile, as well as the
geography and natural products of the whole country ; ob¬
taining also leave at last to return home.
Ihe truth and accuracy of Mr Bruce’s narrative have
excited greater controversy than has arisen in regard to
any other work of the same description. No book ever
passed through a severer ordeal; and some have not even
scrupled to represent it as a mass of fiction from beginning
to end. Such an opinion is now on all hands admitted to
be unfounded. There certainly do appear to be some pas¬
sages that are highly coloured; nor are there wanting a
few adventurous sallies, that seem to have but little foun¬
dation in reality. But it is no longer doubted that the
events of his journey, and his account of the country and
people, are in the main correct.
Mr Salt, though he pointedly exposed the mistakes and
exa£>Serations of Mr Bruce, yet bears ample and willing
testimony to the general accuracy of his descriptions and
narrative; and records, in more than one instance, the
astonishment which the Abyssinians expressed at the
knowledge which Mr Bruce displayed of their history and
country. Mr Browne and Mr Antes, who had excellent
oppoi tunities of comparing Mr Bruce’s statements with
11e accounts given by persons well acquainted with
, yssmia, bear testimony to the general accuracy of his
etai s; and Dr C larke, while at Cairo, obtained from an
Abyssinian Dean, whom he met there, direct and specific
'evidence in favour of the correctness of some parts of his
narrative, which had till then been regarded w ith suspicion.
VOL. ii. r
S I N I A. 57
The plates given in Mr Bruce’s Travels, especially those of Abyssinia,
natural history, were early represented as inaccurate: and^v^-'
that they may be so in some of the minutiae is not improbable,
as Bruce laid no claim to a scientific knowledge of the sub¬
ject; but when Dr Clarke showed these plates to the
Abyssinian Dean, though he knew not the nature of the
book in which they w'ere contained, and the name of Bruce
was not mentioned, the latter immediately gave the same
appellations, and assigned the same uses as Bruce, to the
Ergett-denimo, Eyett el krone, Emsett, Kolquall, Gergir,
Kantuffa, &c. He confirmed the account of the zimb fly,
and asserted that he had heard of armies being destroyed
by it. When Bruce’s map was laid before him, though of
course he could not read the names, he pointed out the
locality of Gondar, exactly where Bruce had placed it.
A considerable period elapsed between the date of Mr
Bruce’s travels, and those of Mr Salt, the next European
traveller in Abyssinia; and Mr Browne informs us, that,
for nine years preceding 1796, there was even no com¬
munication between Egypt and that country, probably in
consequence of the unsettled state of Sennaar and Nubia.
Mr Salt’s first journey into Abyssinia took place in the Mr Saifs
year 1805. Having accompanied Lord Valentia in hisjourneys.
travels in the East, and his Lordship being desirous of
ascertaining the state of Abyssinia, and the probability of
opening a commercial intercourse between it and Bri¬
tain, and her oriental dominions, Mr Salt undertook the
conveyance of some presents from his Lordship to the
Ras. An abstract of the most important information con¬
tained in both his journeys will afterwards be given; at
present we shall confine ourselves to a brief outline of
his route. From Massowa he proceeded to Arkeeko;
and thence southwards, with a little inclination to the
west, he passed over Taranta to Dixan. On leaving this
place, he proceeded to Antalo, through Abha, Agowma,
and Chelicut. At Antalo he found the Ras, and deliver¬
ed Lord Valentia’s presents. From Antalo he made an
excursion to Axum, by the route of Mucullah and Adowa,
at which latter place he met with Fasilydas, the son of
Yasous, formerly king of Abyssinia. At Axum he par¬
ticularly examined the obelisks, inscriptions, and ruins;
he also discovered a Greek inscription fifteen hundred
years old, which proves Axum to have been the capital of
a people called the Axumites, and gives credibility to the
accounts before doubted, of embassies sent to them by the
Romans. This inscription fixes the conquest of part of
Arabia by the Abyssinians at an earlier period than w'as
hitherto supposed. From Axum Mr Salt returned to
Antalo by the road he came ; and on his leaving the coun¬
try, he again visited Axum and Dixan.
Mr Pearce, one of his attendants, was left behind at
Antalo; and when Mr Salt arrived in Abyssinia the
second time, about five years afterwards, he learned from
Mr Pearce, that during his residence in that country he
had made an attempt to reach Gondar. For this purpose
he set out from Antalo, and directed his course through
the province of Wojjerat, a plain inhabited by negroes
called Doha, and a district of the Galla tribe. Soon after¬
wards he reached the town of Mocurra, and the village of
Dufat on one of the high Lasta mountains ; his course dur¬
ing the whole of this part of his journey being nearly south.
After passing the village of Dufat he arrived at the town
of Senare, and visited the sources of the river Tacazze,
having before this met with no stream of importance. He
now changed his route, following the course of the river,
nearly due north, and afterwards north-east to Socota, the
reputed capital of Lasta, the district which, before his de¬
parture from Antalo, he was advised to pass through, as
lying in the most accessible road to Gondar. From Socota
H
58
ABYSSINIA.
Abyssinia, he proceeded northwards along the banks of the Tacazze,
'and, having crossed it, entered the province of Samen, the
mountains of which he ascended till he reached Mishekka,
and afterwards descended them to Inchetkaab, where Ras
Gabriel resided. Here having learned that Ras Welud Se-
lasse, with whom he had been left by Mr Salt at Antalo,
was in danger of being attacked by the Galla, he return¬
ed to that town by a more direct route than he pursued
in his journey to Inchetkaab. His next excursion was,
in company with the Ras, against his enemies, through
Lasta; and, the Galla having been defeated, he went into
the plains of the Edjow. Next year, engaging again in the
campaign, he accompanied the army into Hamazen. He
also passed over the salt-plain by Amphila. These were
the principal parts of Abyssinia which Mr Pearce had an
opportunity of visiting, during the interval between Mr
Salt’s departure from and return to that country.
Mr Salt, in his second journey, proceeded from the
coast of the Red Sea, by the route of Weah, to the foot of
the Taranta mountains, which he crossed to Dixan, and
thence proceeded to Chelicut. Here he ascertained that
it was impracticable to accomplish the immediate object
of his journey, the personal delivery of the presents with
which he had been intrusted by his Majesty to the em¬
peror of Abyssinia; as that monarch lived entirely neglect¬
ed, and in fact a prisoner at Gondar, which was in the
possession of Guxo, a chief of the Galla, and the decid¬
ed opponent of Mr Salt’s friend, Ras Welud Selasse. Dis¬
appointed in this object, he made’an excursion to the Ta¬
cazze, through the province of Avergale, a distance of
sixty miles west from Chelicut; and on his return to the
latter town, he made another excursion to Antalo. On
finally quitting Chelicut, he passed through the high dis¬
trict of Giralta, whence he descended the steep pass of
Atbara, to the banks of the Warre. His route was next
to Adowa, over several ridges of hills. From Adowa he
made an excursion to Axum, for the purpose of re-exa¬
mining its ruins and inscriptions. Having accomplished
this object, he returned to Adowa, and thence to the sea-
coast.
From this brief outline of Mr Salt’s two journeys, and
of the excursions of Mr Pearce, it will appear that neither
of them penetrated so far into Abyssinia as Mr Bruce had
done; nevertheless, their narratives are of very consider¬
able value, not only on account of the new information
which they supply, but also as they enable us to place
more steady confidence in such parts of Mr Bruce’s state¬
ments regarding Abyssinia as they had the opportunity
of verifying; and to ascribe to his Travels their just de¬
gree of value and accuracy.
The voyage of Hemprich, Ehrenberg, and their compa¬
nions, of which we have as yet only a rapid sketch from
the pen of M. Humboldt, does not promise to throw much
light on the civil and interior state of Abyssinia. It appears
that they never passed the barrier chain of mountains, but
merely explored that north-eastern face which looks to
the Red Sea. Their researches and collections relative
to the natural history of this region, as well as of Nubia,
and the others to which their journey extended, appear to
have been very extensive ; but the details have not yet
been communicated to the public.
It will now be our object to draw, from the narratives
. . of Mr Bruce and Mr Salt, a connected view of the statis-
Abyssmia. tjc^ an(j tpe c—j an(j gociai con(liti0n of this remark¬
able country.
When Mr Salt was last in Abyssinia, it was divided into
three distinct and independent states. Tigre, which was
the most powerful, was under the dominion of Ras Welud
Selasse, who possessed the monopoly of all the muskets
Present
state of
imported, and of all the salt. Tigre comprehends about Abyssin
four degrees of latitude, and the same of longitude; it
possesses the sea-coast, is naturally strong, and is inhabit¬
ed by a warlike people. Its divisions are, 1. Tigre pro¬
per ; the general character of which is, a range of hills, in¬
tersected by deep gullies and cultivated plains. 2. Agame,
which lies to the east of Tigre proper. This division,
being level land, at a considerable height above the sea,
and consequently enjoying a favourable climate, is rich
and fertile. On its eastern frontier, and near the Taltal,
it is strong; the salt-plain is in its vicinity. 3. The di¬
vision of Enderta, to the south of Agame, is mostly moun¬
tainous ; its capital is Antalo, in which the Ras resides, on
account of its being situated so as to protect the southern
provinces from the Galla. 4. To the south of Enderta ia
the division of Wojjerat; a wild district, full of forests, in
which the lion, elephant, and rhinoceros are found. 5. .
Adjoining to Wojjerat, is the small and low division of
Wofila, which borders on the lake Ashangel. Here the
Galla are intermixed with the native Abyssinians, and pro¬
fess the Christian religion. 6. The division of Lasta is rug¬
ged, and almost entirely composed of inaccessible moun¬
tains. To the north of this there are two mountainous
districts ; and between them and the Tacazze are two low
districts, inhabited by Christian Agows. 7. Farther to
the north lies the division of Avergale. It is very narrow,
and stretches, for about fifty miles north and south, along
the Tacazze. It is inhabited by the Agows. 8. The
division of Samen, which is to the east of the Tacazze, is
the highest land in Abyssinia. Its mountains run north
and south, about eighty miles. 9. Between the northern
border of Samen and Tigre proper lies the valuable dis¬
trict of Zemben. 10. Above Zemben, to the west of
Axum, is the division of Shire, the most picturesque part
of Abyssinia, abounding in rich valleys, flowery meadows,
and shady groves. 11. The last division of Tigre is com¬
monly called the kingdom of the Baharnegash.
The second independent state is that which still retains
the name of Amhara. This is almost entirely in the pos¬
session of the Galla, whose chief is Guxo, the enemy of
Ras Welud Selasse. His power on the west side of the
Tacazze is absolute; and it is much strengthened and in¬
creased by his connection with the southern Galla. His
cavalry are estimated at twenty thousand, chiefly from the
district of Begemder. Gondar belongs to him.
The third grand division, which lies in the south of
Abyssinia, is now entirely separated from the two others
by the Galla : it consists of the united provinces of Shoa
and Efat, which are supposed to retain a larger portion of
Ethiopian literature and manners than any other part of
Abyssinia. Efat lies between the ninth and eleventh de¬
grees of north latitude. It is principally high land, running
north and south, and gradually declining on each side into
a plain country. Streams flow from both sides of the moun¬
tains, and fall into the Nile and Hawush. Two branches
of the latter nearly encircle this province. The present
ruler is the grandson of Yasous, mentioned by Bruce (but,
as Dofter Esther informed Mr Salt, incorrectly) as having
visited Gondar while he was there. He resides at Anko-
ber, the capital of Efat. This district is one of the finest
in Abyssinia, and in power equal to that of Ras Welud Se¬
lasse. Its force is chiefly cavalry, who are very skilful
and courageous. The province of Shoa lies on a lower
level than that of Efat; there is extremely rich pasturage
in its valleys ; it contains several large towns, and many
monasteries. The district of Walaka and Gondar are de*
pendent on the united provinces of Shoa and Efat.
Of the rivers, the Tacazze rises from three small springs
in the plains of Margilla; it is joined by the river Arequa,
ABYSSINIA.
59
. which runs through the province of Avergale, in a north¬
west direction, in the district of Zemben ; and it forms one
of the larger branches of the Nile. The Bahr-el-Azrek, or
Blue River, or Azergue, the chief Abyssinian branch of
the Nile, rises from two fountains in Sacala, near Geesh,
flows through the lake of Dembea, sweeps, after quitting
the lake, in a semicircular direction round the provinces
of Damot and Gojam, and unites with the Bahr-el-Abiad,
or White River, at Wed Hogela, in latitude 16. N. This
river, the real Nile, is supposed to rise in the Jibbel-
el-Kumri, or mountains of the Moon. The other rivers
are, the Maleg, which joins the Abyssinian Nile, after a
parallel course, on the west; the Mareb, which forms the
boundary between Tigre and the kingdom of the Baharne-
gash ; the Hanazo and Hawush, which flow in an opposite
direction, towards the entrance of the Red Sea; and the
Jemma. The principal lakes are, Dembea, or Tzana, about
sixty miles long, and thirty broad, where most extensive,
and in the wet seasons; the lake of Lawasa, in the south¬
ern extremity of Abyssinia, a chief source of the Hawush ;
the lake of Haik, near the rocks of Geshen and Ambazel;
and the Ashangel.
The great difference of climate, owing to the vast ex¬
tent and variety of elevation in different parts of this em¬
pire, is very perceptible in its soil and productions. The
mountains in many places are not only barren, but alto¬
gether inaccessible, except by those who make it their
constant practice to climb amongst them; and even by
them they cannot be ascended without great difficulty and
danger. The shapes of these mountains, as we have al¬
ready had occasion to observe, are very strange and fan¬
tastical ; exceedingly different from those of Europe : some
resembling towers and steeples, while others are like a
board or slate set up on end ; the base being so narrow,
and the whole mountain so high and thin, that it seems
wonderful how it can stand. In the valleys, however, and
flat parts of the country, the soil is excessively fruitful,,
though in the warmest places grain cannot be brought to
perfection. Wine is also made only in one or two places;
hut the greatest profusion of fruits of all kinds is to be met
with everywhere, as well as many vegetables not to be
found in other countries. There is a vast variety of flowers,
which adorn the banks of the rivers in such a manner as
to make them resemble fine gardens. Among these a
species of rose is met with, which grows upon trees, and
is much superior in fragrance to those which grow on
bushes. Senna, cardamom, ginger, and cotton, are likewise
produced here in great quantities.
Among the rare plants to be met with in Abyssinia,
Mr Bruce particularly describes the following:—1. The
papyrus, the ancient material for paper; which our au¬
thor supposes to have been a native of Ethiopia, and not
of Egypt, as has been supposed. 2. Balessan, balm, or
balsam plant; a tree growing to the height of 14 or 15
feet, and used for fuel along with other trees in the coun-
try- It grows on the coast of the Red Sea, among the
myrrh trees behind Azab, all the way to Babelmandel.
Dus is the tree producing the balm of Gilead mentioned
in Scripture. 3. The sassa, myrrh, and opocalpasum trees.
These grow likewise along the coast of the Red Sea. The
sassa or opocalpasum is used in manufactures; and, ac¬
cording to our author, resembles gum adragant, probably
tragacanth. The tree which produces it grows to a great
size, and has a beautiful flower, scarce admitting of descrip¬
tion without a drawing. 4. Ensete, an herbaceous plant,
growing in Narea, in swampy places; but it is supposed
to grow equally well in any other part of the empire,
where there is heat and moisture sufficient. It forms a
great part of the vegetable food of the Abyssinians. It
produces a kind of figs, but these are not eatable. When Abyssinia,
used for food, it is to be cut immediately above the small
detached roots, or perhaps a foot or two higher, according
to the age of the plant. The green is to be stripped from
the upper part till it becomes w'hite; and when soft, it
affords an excellent food when eaten with milk or butter.
5. Rack is a large tree, growing not only in Abyssinia, but
in many places of Arabia Felix. Its wood is so hard and
bitter, that no worm will touch it; for which reason it is
used by the Arabs for constructing their boats. It grows,
like the mangrove, among the salt water of the sea, or
about salt springs. 6. Cusso, or Banksia anthelmintica, is
a very beautiful and useful tree, being a strong anthelmin¬
tic, and used as such by the Abyssinians. 7. Teff is a
kind of grain sown generally throughout Abyssinia, and
constituting the bread commonly made use of by the in¬
habitants. They have indeed plenty of wheat, and are as
skilful in forming it into bread as the Europeans; but this
is only made use of by people of the first rank: however,
the teff is sometimes of such an excellent quality, that the
bread made from it is held in equal estimation with the
finest wheat. From the bread made of this grain a
sourish liquor called bouza is prepared, which is used for
common drink like our small beer. A liquor of the same
kind, but of inferior quality, is made from barley cakes.
Some have been of opinion that the use of teff occasions
worms; but this is controverted by Mr Bruce. 8. Nook,
a plant not to be distinguished from our marigold, either
in shape, size, or foliage, is also sown very generally over
the country, and furnishes all Abyssinia with oil for the
kitchen and other uses.
Our knowledge in this department is considerably in¬
creased by Dr Murray’s edition of Bruce, and Mr Salt’s two
journeys. The lehem, or Toberne montana, a tree common
near the lake of Dembea, is remarkable for its beauty and
fragrance ; it grows to a considerable size, the extremities
of its branches trailing along the ground, laden with flowers
from top to bottom in great profusion, each cluster con¬
taining between eighty-five and ninety, open or shut; the
fruit is eaten, but has rather a harsh taste. The anguah,
found near the Tacazze, produces a gum resembling frank¬
incense. The leaves of the geesh, which is very common,
are put by the Abyssinians into their maize; they are
likewise reduced to powder, and mixed with the other ma¬
terials of which they make sown. The mergombey, a spe¬
cies of Solarium, is used as a cathartic ; and from the niche,
or niege, they extract their vegetable oil: it is a species
of Sesanum. These are the principal plants, descriptions
and plates of which are given from Mr Bruce’s manuscripts
and drawings, by Dr Murray. Mr Salt’s researches have
added eight new genera, and one hundred and twenty-
four new species, to botany. Near Shela, a species of
narrow-leaved Ficus grows, called by the natives chekunit;
the inner rind of the bark of which, having been bruised
on a stone, twisted round a stick, and dried, is used as
matches for their fire-arms. Near Adowa, Mr Salt found
a new and beautiful species of Amaryllis, bearing ten or
twelve spikes of bloom on each stem, from one receptacle,
as large as those of the belladonna. The corolla is white;
each petal is marked down the middle with a single streak
of bright purple ; it is sweet-scented, like the lily of the
valley; the bulbs are frequently two feet under ground.
Mr Salt brought this plant to England.
The domesticated animals are oxen. The Galla oxen,
or sanga, were not seen by Mr Bruce; and his account
of them is not strictly correct, their large horns not being
the effect of disease. The largest Mr Salt ever saw was
four feet in length, and the circumference at the base
twenty-one inches. The horns of one of them are in the
60 AB Y S
Abyssinia, museum of the College of Surgeons in London. The ani-
mal itself is of the usual size, and of various colours ; it is
by no means common in Abyssinia, being brought only by
the cqfilas, or salt caravans, as a valuable present, from the
south. The sheep are small and black ; the horses strong
and beautiful. Besides these, there are mules, asses, a
few camels, and two species of dogs ; one of which owns
no master, but lives in packs in the villages, like the
paria dog in India; the other is kept for game, especially
for Guinea fowls, which it catches very expertly.
The wild animals are, the elephant, which is hunted
by the Shangalla for their teeth : the cawe leopard, only
found in the interior districts ; very shy; its skin is an
article of barter : the two-horned rhinoceros, only found
in the forests of Wojjerat, and the low land near the
Funge; its horns have no connection with the bone
of the head, consequently the opinion of Sparman, that
they can raise and depress them at pleasure, may be cor¬
rect. This rhinoceros has no folds in the skin, as the
one-horned has; its skin is used for shields ; its horns for
handles to swords and daggers, and, according to the
Abyssinian Dean whom Dr Clarke interrogated at Cairo,
as a lining to drinking vessels, being regarded as an anti¬
dote to poison. The foremost horn is two feet long, and
very large in other respects. The buffalo is very com¬
mon in the forests of Ras-el-fil; shields are made from its
skin with great art. The zebra, in the south chiefly ; its
mane decorates the collars of the war-horses belonging to
chiefs of great rank on days of state. The wild ass is
found in some parts; lions occasionally, especially in the
sandy districts near the Tacazze. Whoever kills one
wears the paw on his shield : the skin, richly ornamented,
forms a dress like that worn by the Caffre chiefs. There
are several species of leopard, one black, extremely rare,
the skin of which is worn only by governors of provinces.
The lion-cat, tiger-cat, or grey lynx, and wild-cat, are
not uncommon. From the libet, civet is procured, and is
an article of commerce. The hyena: Mr Salt remarks
that it has a singular cry—three distinct deep-toned cries ;
then silence for a few minutes, succeeded by the same
kind of cry. The hyena and dog seldom fight; they even
feed on the same carcass. A small kind of wolf; common
fox; sea fox; and jackal. There is a great variety of
antelopes, one of which is probably allied to the chamois,'
being confined to the cold and mountainous district of
Samen. Several species of monkey ; the wild boar ; por¬
cupine ; cavy, nearly allied to that of the Cape ; a small
grey hare, deemed by the natives unclean ; squirrel; rats,
very numerous in the fields; an undescribed species of
lemur, the size of a cat, with a long tail, faintly striped
with black and white, with white bushy hair at the end :
the hair on the body is long, and of a clear white, except
on the back, where there is a large oval spot covered with
short deep-black hair. Of this every man in Tigre en¬
deavours, if possible, to have a piece on his shield. The
hippopotami are chiefly found in the deep pits, like lochs,
between the fords of the Tacazze ; they roll and snort like
a porpus; they cannot remain longer than five or six
minutes under water; their colour is a dusky brown, like
the elephant; their usual length sixteen feet. Whips are
made of their skin, and used to brush away the flies,
which are very troublesome in hot weather : the butt-ends
of the whips are ornamented with hair from the tail of
the camelopard.
The number of birds in this country is immense. Great
numbers of eagles, vultures, hawks, and others of that
kind, are met with, and come punctually every year after
the tropical rains have ceased. They feed at first upon
the shell-fish, which are met with in great quantities on
S IN I A.
the edges of the deserts, where they had lived in the salt Abyssi
springs, but being forced from their natural habitations's-^v'
when these springs were swollen by the rains, are after¬
wards left to perish on dry land. When these fail, their
next resource is from the carcasses of the large animals,
such as the elephant and rhinoceros, which are killed in the
flat country by the hunters. Their next supply is afforded
by the multitude of rats and field-mice which infesi the
country after harvest. The vast slaughter of cattle made by
the Abyssinian armies, the multitude of persons killed, whose
bodies are allowed to rot on the field of battle, &c. furnish
them also with another resource. These supplies, how¬
ever, all fail at the beginning of the rainy season, when
the hunters and armies return home, and the vast quantity
of water which continually overflows the ground renders
it impossible for them to find any other food.
The rarest birds brought home by Mr Salt from Abys¬
sinia are, a new species of JBttcco, since called JB. Saltii,
which clings like the woodpecker to the branches of trees:
a variety of the Upupa erythrorhynchos, with a black tail;
it feeds on the figs of the Ficus sycamorus : a non-descript
species of Merops; a non-descript species of Tanapq,
which perches on the backs of the cattle, and feeds on the
grubs which infest them in hot weather; the Columba Abys-
sinica, wild among the daro trees, eaten by the Abyssi-
nians ; the Tringa Senegalla ; the Erodia a?nphilorsis, al¬
lied in some degree to the Arodea Pondiceriana, probably
a new genus ; the Cursorius Europceus, an extremely rare
bird, shot on the sandy plains near the Tacazze.
Bees are domesticated in the province of "Wojjerat,
which is famous for white honey, sold at Antalo. Mr
Salt gives a dreadful account of the ravages of the Abys*
sinian locust.
Little is known respecting the mineralogy of Abys¬
sinia. Near Weah there are low hills of granitic rocks,
resting on a bed of micaceous earth. In the district of
Tigre the soil is sandy; the rocks, composed of slate,
schistus, and granite, lie in perpendicular strata. In the
districts of Geralta and Enderta the strata are rather
horizontal. But the salt-plain is the most interesting,
not only in a mineralogical, but also in an economical
view, as from it the Abyssinians obtain the pieces of salt
which they use as money. This plain lies near the coun¬
try of the Assa Durwa, about fifty miles west of Amphila,
on the road to Massowa ; it is about four days’ journey in
extent from north-east to south-west, and is crossed in
sandals made of the leaves of a species of palm. The
plain is perfectly flat; for the first half-mile the salt is
soft; it then becomes hard and crystallized, like ice on
which snow has fallen after it has been partially thawed:
branches of pure salt occasionally rise above the surface.
It is cut with an adze into pieces the shape of a whet¬
stone. For about two feet immediately under the sur¬
face it is hard and pure ; afterwards it is coarse and soft¬
er, till exposed to the air. The employment of cutting
the salt is very dangerous, on account of the Galla, who
frequently attack the workmen : none, therefore, are em¬
ployed except the lowest order of the natives, who lie
down on their backs, or flee to the mountains, on the ap¬
proach of the Galla. Salt caravans, called cafilas, are
regularly sent for salt from Antalo; and the situation of
Balgudda, or protector of these caravans, is of great im¬
portance as well as emolument; for on their safe arrival
mainly depends the internal and external commerce of
the Abyssinians: when they arrive, therefore, they are
received with great acclamation and joy. The Galla fre¬
quently attack them. The pay of the Balgudda is derived
from the duty imposed on the importation of salt;—-a
camel, the usual load of which is two hundred pieces,
I i ysainia. pays eleven; a mule, carrying eighty, pays nine ; an ass
I ^ pays six.
With respect to the climate, Mr Salt found that the
thermometer, in March, April, and May, averaged 70° at
Chelicut, 65° at Antalo, 95° on the banks of the Tacazze,
and on the mountains of Samen he supposed it to be be¬
low the freezing point. He contradicts, from his own ob¬
servation, Mr Bruce’s statement, that snow is not known
in Abyssinia. The Samen mountains were covered with
snow at the time Mr Salt saw them; and Mr Pearce, in
his passage over them, experienced a heavy fall.
Ijricul- Two varieties of1 wheat are cultivated, of which they
tu;- make large loaves, either baked or prepared by steam.
These, however, are used only at the tables of the great.
The teff, which is their usual food, varies in colour from
white to black. The Abyssinian Dean informed Dr
Clarke that beer, or sowa, was made from selleh, and not
from teff; and that it is not made from the latter, is con¬
firmed by the testimony of Michael, Mr Bruce's servant.
(Murray’s Life of Bruce, 4to. p. 252.) The neug, which
is like the raggy of India, is next in esteem to the teff,
with which, or with barley, it is mixed to make bread.
It is harsh and dry. Two kinds of barley are sown; the
black in great quantity, but it is only given to horses and
mules. Maize is much cultivated between Galla and
Dixan, but not made into bread. The vetch is cultivated
for the purpose of mixing it with teff, or forming it with
ghee and curds into balls. It is eaten in the morning.
The worst grain of every kind is generally used for seed.
As almost every man cultivates enough for his family, it
is seldom sold. On the low lands there are two crops.
The ploughs are rudely made, from the root or branch of
a tree ; sometimes the shares are of iron. They are drawn
by oxen. The land is twice ploughed, afterwards the
clods are broken by women; and when the corn is half
ripe, it is weeded by men, women, and children, singing
as they work: only females reap, and when strangers pass
they utter a sharp shrill cry, the Liralect of Syria, where
it is used on the same occasion. It is produced by trilling
the tongue against the roof of the mouth, without any dis¬
tinct words, but a constant repetition of the syllable al,
uttered with the utmost rapidity. In some parts the
grain, when carried, is secured from the weather by means
of tanned kid-skins. The plain of Larai> near Dixan, re¬
sembles the vale of Evesham. It is highly cultivated, and
irrigation is practised in it. Cotton is grown near the
Tacazze, and sold at Adowa.
pltoms, Mr Saifs description of a brind feast, though not so
I r highly coloured as that of Mr Bruce, is still sufficient to
prove the barbarism of the Abyssinians. The sides of the
table are covered with piles of thin cakes made of teff, reach¬
ing to the height of a foot, and two feet and a half in dia¬
meter ; in the middle a row of curry dishes is placed. Near
f the lias there are a number of fine wheaten rolls, for his
own use, and that of his favourites. The signal to begin the
feast is given by his breaking and distributing them : im¬
mediately female slaves, having washed their hands, dip
the tell into the curry, and serve it to all the guests, ex¬
cept the Has, who receives his portion from a male slave,
and afterwards distributes it among the chiefs, who ac¬
knowledge the favour by standing up and bowing. Balls
composed of teff, greens, and curds, are next handed
about. In the mean time the process of killing the cattle
proceeds in the adjoining yard. That process is simple:—
the beast is thrown on the ground, and its head separated
from the body with a Jambea knife, during which an invoca¬
tion is always pronounced. The skin is immediately stript
oh one side, and the entrails being taken out, are devour¬
ed by the attendants. While the fibres are yet quivering,
the flesh is cut into large pieces. These are of no regu- Abyssinia-
lar size; but generally a piece of bone is attached to the^-^v^-'
flesh, by which it is brought into the dining-room. The
chiefs with their crooked knives cut off large steaks, which
they divide into long stripes, half an inch in diametey.
If they are not pleased with the piece they haye got, they
hand it to a dependant, who, in his turn, if not pleased,
hands it to another, till it comes to one whose taste or
rank does not induce or authorize him to reject it. As
soon as the first party is satisfied, they rise from the table
and give way to others. The last cakes are scrambled
for with a great noise. It appears from Mr Salt, that
though the chiefs sometimes feed themselves at these
feasts, yet more frequently, as Mr Bruce relates, they feed
one another.
Mr Pearce witnessed a live meal, when travelling with
the Lasta soldiers. Plaving fasted long, one of them pro¬
posed to cut out the shulada: a cow was throwjn down,
and two pieces of flesh, weighing about a pound, cut from
the buttock, which they called the shulada. Whenever
Mr Salt mentioned the term, he was always understood.
After the pieces were cut out, the wounds were sewed
up, and plastered over with cow-dung. The animal was
driven on, but killed at the end of the journey. The
Abyssinians are very expert in dissecting a cow, as there
are always a number of applicants, each of whom claims a
right to a particular portion.
The Abyssinians are very fond of pictures. Their
churches are full of them ; and such chiefs as can afford it
ornament their principal rooms with them. They paint
their pictures on the surface of the walls, tracing the out¬
line with charcoal; they afterwards go over it with coarse
Indian ink; and lastly, introduce the colours, which are
excessively gaudy. They exaggerate the size of the eye,
and paint all classes with full faces, except the Jews,
whom they uniformly paint with side faces.
On their journeys they sing extemporary verses, one
person alone composing and singing them at first, after
which they are repeated in chorus by the rest.
Their dress consists of a large folding mantle, and close
drawers. To these the priests add a vest of white linen
next the skin. On their head they wear a small shawl of
white cotton, with the crown exposed. Their houses are
of a conic form, covered with thatch. In Dixan the
houses are flat-roofed, without windows : instead of chim¬
neys, there are pots of earthen ware on the roofs. There are
also caves near this place used as dwellings, which are
expeditiously made, in a very simple manner—the earth
being dug out, and the mortar tempered occasionally with
the blade-bone of an ox, and the stones that are used
shaped with an adze.
Their principal liquor is called maize, made of honey
fermented with barley, and strengthened with the root of
the Rhamnus inebrians, called sadoo. The liquor is drunk
out of Venetian decanters, called brulhes. But the com¬
mon drink among the lower class is made of the bread
left at their feasts, and parched barley ; it is called sowa,
and is drunk out of horns.
Marriage is generally a civil contract. The female,
who is seldom consulted on the occasion, is carried to the
house of her husband on his shoulders, or those of his
friends. The bride and bridegroom are sometimes seated
on a throne of turf, shaded with boughs, round which the
relations, &c. dance. The dowry consists of gold, cattle,
muskets, and cloth, and is always kept apart, and return¬
ed in case of separation. Marriage by civil contract can
be dissolved at pleasure ; by religious contract it is more
sacred, especially when the parties take the sacrament
after marriage. Ladies of rank retain their estates ancl
ABYSSINIA.
62
Abyssinia, maiden names, and assume great superiority over their
husbands. At Dixan they allow the nails on their left
hand to grow to a great length, and cover them with
cases of leather to preserve them. In some parts it is not
uncommon for one man to have several wives ; only one,
however, is deemed his lawful wife: each has her sepa¬
rate residence.
When a person is seized with a species of fever called
Tigre-ter, his relations show him all the gold and silver
ornaments, fine clothes, &c. which they can collect, mak¬
ing, at the same time, a dreadful noise with drums and
other musical instruments, to drive the devil out; for
they believe all diseases come from the devil. When
death is at hand, the drums, &c. cease ; and when it ac¬
tually takes place, howling and tearing the hair and
skin from the temples ensue. No time is lost in washing
the body and fumigating it with incense, after which it
is sewed up in the clothes of the deceased, and buried in
great haste. Wben the burial is over, the toscar or feast
of the dead commences; an image of the deceased, in
rich garments, on his favourite mule, is carried through
the town, accompanied by other mules, &c. in gay ap¬
parel, and by female hired mourners, crying out, as in
Ireland, “ Why did you leave us ? had you not houses and
land ?” When the procession returns, cattle are killed,
and an immense number of people feasted: a repetition
of this feast, at certain intervals, is given by the different
relations of the deceased, who vie with one another in
profusion and splendour.
When a person is murdered, the criminal is generally
given up to the relations of the deceased, who take him
to the market-place, and dispatch him with their knives
and spears, every relation and friend making a point of
striking a blow. When a person accused of any crime is
apprehended, he is tied by his garments to another; and
it is always considered a sure proof of guilt, if he runs
away and leaves his garments behind. The Ras decides
disputes ; before him each party makes his statement, and
stakes a quantity of salt, a mule, slaves, gold, &c. on the
veracity of his statement; the party convicted is punished
by the forfeiture to the Ras of what he staked. Lands
descend from father to son; when there is no son, they go
to the brother. All the children and relations have a claim
on the property of the deceased; if he has neither, he
generally directs it to be sold, and one half to be given to
the priests, and the other to the poor.
Their Lent continues fifty-two days, during which they
never taste food till after sunset. The chief amusement
on the holydays after Lent, among the lower classes, very
much resembles the English game of bcmdy.
On the feast of Epiphany, which, according to the Abys-
sinians, is the 11th of January, they assemble, in com¬
memoration of our Saviour’s baptism, near brooks, into
which they jump, after having received the blessing of the
priest, leaping, dancing, ducking one another, and shout¬
ing. In the performance of baptism three priests are en¬
gaged ; one Avith the incense, another with a golden cross,
and the third with the consecrated oil from the patriarch
of Alexandria. The person to be baptized is first washed
over with water, and afterwards crossed on the forehead
with some of that element, over which the incense has
been waved, and into which the consecrated oil has been
dropped. When the person is a Mahometan, every joint
and limb is crossed with the consecrated oil; he is then
wrapped in a white linen cloth, and partakes of the sacra¬
ment. No unbaptized person is allowed to enter a church.
The sacrament is given in both kinds, with new leavened
bread, and wine made of a red grape common in some
parts of the country. Great numbers of pilgrims, in a yel¬
low dress, with cords round their waists, resort to theAbyssk
rich and beautiful plains of Walasse, where they spend
their time, by no means innocently, amidst its retired
groves.
The Christians near Dixan are distinguished by a cross
on their breast, arm, &c. and a blue silk string round their
neck. They say prayers over whatever they eat, drink,
receive, or give, and afterwards blow on it, turning their
heads to the east. They turn the heads of animals to the
west when they kill them. A striking resemblance may
be traced between some of the superstitions of the Abys-
sinians and those which still linger in our own country.
The falcon, called goodie-goodie, is never killed by them;
and when an Abyssinian sets out on a journey and meets
one, he watches it carefully; if it sit still, with its breast
towards him till he is past, he regards it as a good omen;
if its back is towards him, it is unpropitious; and if it
fly away, no motive will induce him to proceed on his
journey. It is a prevalent belief, that every worker in
iron transforms himself, at night, into an hyena, and preys
on human flesh ; but if, while thus transformed, he is
wounded, the wound remains in the corresponding part of
his own body.
The languages spoken in Abyssinia and the neighbour¬
ing districts are, a corruption of the Geez, called Tigre,
Amharic, Falasha, Gafat, Agow, Tcheretch Agow, Shan-
galla, and Galla. According to Dr Murray, the written
Geez is the oldest dialect of the Arabic in existence. The
Amharic, the modern language of Abyssinia, is likewise
an Arabic dialect, more simple than the Geez in the form
of its verbs, but in all other respects the same. The
Falasha is spoken by the tribes professing the Jewish re¬
ligion, who formerly ruled in Dembea, Samen, and near
the Angrab and Kahha ; it is one of the ancient Ethiopian
tongues, and has no affinity to the Arabic or Hebrew. The
language of the Gafat nation is a corrupted dialect of the
Amharic.
Respecting the tribes which border upon, or are inter¬
mixed with, the Abyssinians, Mr Salt has supplied us
with some additional information.
The Jews are very numerous in Gondar and the pro¬
vinces of Samen and Kuara; they are chiefly employed
in building and thatching houses.
The Hazorta tribe inhabit the mountains near Tubbo,
and command the only practicable passage into Abyssinia.
They are a brave and rude people. Their population is
about 5000, over whom there are five chiefs. They pos¬
sess many cattle, which they seldom kill, but barter with
the Abyssinians for grain, being almost entirely ignorant
of the art of raising corn. They assist the Abyssinians in
getting in their harvests. During the rainy season they
go to the sea-side for three, four, or five months, and on
their return bring salt, which they exchange for grain with
the Abyssinians. When they beat their tom-toms, they
clap their hands, and hiss in such a manner, that the sound
resembles the quick alternate pronunciation of the letters
p t s. Only one person dances at a time, generally a
chief; his feet move little, but his body, and particularly
his shoulders, is extremely agitated with a kind of writh¬
ing gesture.
The name Shangalla (or, according to Bruce, Shankala)
is applied by the Abyssinians to the whole race of ne¬
groes. One tribe of them were represented to Mr Salt
as living three days’ journey beyond the Nile, and as
having a very imperfect notion of any supreme being.
The only species of adoration which they exhibit occurs
during a great holyday, when all the people assemble and
kill a cow, by stabbing it in a thousand places. They
have no priests or rulers, but pay respect to old age; the
ABYSSINIA.
63
j yssinia. old men being allowed to drink first, and take two wives.
In their marriages they mutually take each other’s sisters.
If one of the parties has no sister, he gives one of his
female slaves. The women assist the men in ploughing,
&c. and have an equal share of the produce of the land.
These people are named from some circumstances relating
to their birth, as “ Born in the nightor “ Born while
making boozaor from some marks on their bodies.
They are buried in their clothes, without ceremony, the
relatives feasting on the cattle of the deceased, his wife
getting the household furniture, and the sons his arms,
land, and agricultural implements. When hunting, they
eat whatever they can procure, even an elephant or a rat.
They tie the legs of their prisoners, and employ them in
making cloth, or manufacturing iron. Those who cannot
work, they kill. The Abyssinians consider it as sport to
hunt the Shangalla.
There are at least twenty tribes of the Galla, some of
whom, entering Abyssinia from the south, have become
naturalized, and adopted the manners of the Abyssinians.
The tribes out of Abyssinia have little connection with
one another, though they speak the same language; each
has its own chief, and they are often engaged in mutual
hostilities. There are two divisions larger than the rest,
one of which, near the Abiad, or White River, retains its
natural ferocity: they drink warm blood, adorn them¬
selves with the entrails of animals, and ride on oxen.
The Assubee Galla wear garments like the Abyssinians ;
grease and powder their hair; and cover their arms with
bracelets, and with trophies, according to the number of
the enemies slain.
The inhabitants of Hamazen differ from the rest of the
Abyssinians, being darker and stronger limbed, and more
like the Funge, who live near Sennaar; they fight des¬
perately with two-edged swords. In the province ofWoj-
jerat, also, the men are larger and stouter than the other
Abyssinians. They are said to be the descendants of
Portuguese soldiers. Their fidelity to their rulers is pro¬
verbial. The plain, eight hours’ distance from Wojjerat,
is inhabited by the Doha, one of the isolated tribes of ne¬
groes found in all parts of Africa. They are mentioned by
Alvarez, as, in his time, not marrying till they could make
oath that they had put to death twelve Christians.
The Agows, who were worshippers of the Nile till the
seventeenth century, always fix their residence near the
great branches of that river, for whose waters they still
retain a veneration so great, that they will supply a
stranger with milk, but not with water. Their buildings
are without mortar. The houses of the higher ranks are
in the form of Egyptian temples. At the earliest dawn
of day they assemble before the doors of their chiefs, and
chant their prayers,
i inufac- It has already been mentioned, that one of the objects
H1 es an(l of Mr Salt’s journeys was to ascertain whether Abyssinia
imerce- was jjjjgjy f.0 affortt any new openings to British com¬
merce. How far this is likely, will best appear from a
sketch of the manufactures and commerce of that coun¬
try. The former are few and contemptible : though cot¬
ton grows in many parts, and is of a superior quality, yet
they import a considerable quantity from India, which
they manufacture into a coarse cloth. As they have no
dark blue colour, they unravel the threads of the blue cloth
of Surat, and weave them again into their own webs:
they procure a black dye from an earth, and red, yellow,
and light blue from vegetables. Fine cloth is manufac¬
tured at Gondar, and coarse at Adowa ; the latter, besides
its common use, circulates as money: a coarse piece six- Abyssinia,
teen cubits long, one and three-fourths wide, is equal to*
thirty pieces of salt, or one dollar; a piece not so coarse,
fifty cubits long, sufficient to make a dress for a chief, is
equal to twelve dollars. Coarse carpets, from sheeps’ wool,
and the hair of goats dyed red and light blue, are manu¬
factured at Gondar and in Samen. In some parts the
sheep-skins are tanned, and worn by the women round
their waists, or over their shoulders, whenever they stir
out. At Axum, skins are made into parchment, and
finished well. Manufactures of iron and brass are com¬
mon ; the former is procured from Sennaar, Walkayt, and
Berbera: knives are made at Adowa, and spears at An-
talo: highly finished chains of brass are made by the
Galla. There are many fairs and weekly markets. At
a weekly market near Abha, were exposed for sale, iron,
wrought and unwrought, for ploughshares, &c. cattle,
horses, skins, cotton, ghee, butter in round balls and very
white, &c. It is not infamous, as Mr Bruce asserts, for
men to attend the markets.
Through Adowa, there are imported for Gondar and
the interior of Abyssinia, lead, block-tin, gold-foil, Per¬
sian carpets, raw silks from China, velvets, French broad
cloths, coloured skins from Egypt, and glass beads and
decanters from Venice. Ivory, gold, and slaves, are the
principal exports through Adowa to the coast. A few
slaves from Abyssinia reach Cairo, by way of Cossir and
Suez; they are esteemed more beautiful than those of
Soudan.
In estimating the probability that Abyssinia may afford
a new opening for British commerce, there are two cir¬
cumstances which require particular consideration. There
can be no doubt, that, in so far as a more accurate know¬
ledge of the navigation of the Red Sea, and convenient
places for landing the goods, are requisite for this object,
the journeys of Lord Valentia and Mr Salt have been of
great utility; but there can be no communication with
Gondar and the interior of Abyssinia, unless we could
either form an alliance with the chief who commands
there,—in which case we should be exposed to the en¬
mity of the Ras of T^gre, and thus be prevented even
from advancing to a short distance from the coast,—or
assist the Ras to liberate his sovereign, and replace him
on his throne. Direct assistance could not be given, and
the result seems very doubtful were we only to furnish the
Ras with a supply of arms. In the. second place, suppos¬
ing the communication with Gondar to be open and easy,
Abyssinia at present can furnish nothing in exchange
for our goods. We could indeed supply them, either
from Britain or from our Indian possessions, with most
of the articles which they procure from Arabia ; especial¬
ly with India goods and raw cotton from India, for which,
as cotton is used for clothing in the greater part of Africa,
there must be a great demand : besides, our goods could
be sold cheaper, being exempt from the heavy duty im¬
posed on what they now import. But for exchange with us,
Abyssinia produces only ivory and gold : the latter in small
quantities; the former we can procure cheaper elsewhere.
On the whole, therefore, when we consider that the
communication with the interior will probably always be
liable to interruption; and that, even if the case were other¬
wise, no returns could be looked for, except from the in¬
creased industry and skill of the Abyssinians, or from re¬
gions with which the intercourse is slow and precarious;
there seems but little reason to expect that this country
will afford any new openings to British commerce.
f
64 A B Y
Abyssi*. ABYSSINIAN, in Ecclesiastical History, is the name
nian. 0f a sect in the Christian church, established in the em-
pire of Abyssinia. The Abyssinians are a branch of the
Copts or Jacobites, with whom they agree in admitting
but one nature in Jesus Christ, and rejecting the council
of Chalcedon: whence they are called Eutychians or
Monophysites, and stand opposed to the Melchites. They
are only distinguished from the Copts, and other sects of
Jacobites, by some peculiar national usages. The Abys¬
sinian sect or church is governed by a bishop or metro¬
politan styled Abuna, sent them by the Coptic patriarch
of Alexandria residing at Cairo, who is the only person
that ordains priests. The next dignity is that of Komos,
or Hegumenos, who is a kind of archpresbyter. They
have canons also, and monks : the former of whom marry;
the latter, at their admission, vow celibacy, but with a
reservation: these, it is said, make a promise aloud, be¬
fore their superior, to keep chastity; but add in a low
voice, as you keep it. The emperor has a kind of supre¬
macy in ecclesiastical matters. He alone takes cogni¬
zance of all ecclesiastical causes, except some smaller ones
reserved to the judges; and confers all benefices, except
that of Abuna.
The Abyssinians have at different times expressed an
inclination to be reconciled to the see of Rome; but
rather out of interests of state than any other motive.
The Emperor David, or the queen regent on his behalf,
wrote a letter on this head to Pope Clement VII. full of
submission, and demanding a patriarch from Rome to be
instructed by; which being complied with, he publicly
abjured the doctrine of Eutychius and Dioscorus in 1626,
and allowed the supremacy of the pope. Under the em¬
peror Sultan Seghed all was undone again; the Romish
missionaries settled there had their churches taken from
them, and their new converts banished or put to death.
The congregation de propaganda have made several at¬
tempts to revive the mission, but to little purpose.—The
doctrines and ritual of this sect form a strange compound
of Judaism, Christianity, and superstition. They prac¬
tise circumcision, and are said to extend the practice to
the females as well as males; th^ observe both Satur¬
day and Sunday as Sabbaths ; they eat no meats prohi¬
bited by the law of Moses; women are obliged to the
legal purifications ; and brothers marry their brothers’
wives, &c. On the other hand, they celebrate the Epi¬
phany with peculiar festivity, in memory of Christ’s bap¬
tism ; when they plunge and sport in ponds and rivers ;
which has occasioned some to affirm that they were bap¬
tized anew every year. They have four Lents : the great
one commences ten days earlier than ours, and is observ-
fed with much severity, many abstaining therein even from
fish, because St Paul says there is one kind of flesh of
men, and another of fishes. They allow of divorce, which
is easily granted among them, and by the civil judge ; nor
do their civil laws prohibit polygamy itself. They have
at least as many miracles and legends of saints as the
Romish church ; which proved no small embarrassment
to the Jesuit missionaries, to whom they produced so
many miracles, wrought by their saints, in proof of their
religion, and those so well circumstantiated and attested,
that the Jesuits were obliged to deny miracles to be any
evidence of a true religion ; and in proof hereof, to allege
the same arguments against the Abyssinians which Pro¬
testants in Europe allege against Papists. They pray for
the dead, and invoke saints and angels; have so great a
veneration for the virgin, that they charge the Jesuits
with not rendering her honour enough. They venerate
images in painting ; but abhor all those in relievo, except
the cross. They hold that the soul of man is not creat-
A C A
ed ; because, say they, God finished all his works on the Aca
sixth day. They admit the apocryphal books, and the t|
canons of the apostles, as well as the apostolical consti-
tutions, for genuine. Their liturgy is given by Alvarez,
and in English by Pagit; and their calendar by Ludolph.
ACA, Ace, or Acon, in Ancient Geography, a town of
Phoenicia, on the Mediterranean ; afterwards called Pto-
lemais ; now Acre.
ACACALOTI, the Brazilian name of a bird called by
some corvus aquaticus, or the water raven : properly, the
pelicanus carbo, or corvorant.
ACACIA, Egyptian Thorn, or Binding Bean-tree,
in Botany, a species of mimosa, according to Linmeus;
though other botanists make it a distinct genus.
The flowers of a species of the acacia are used by the
Chinese in making that yellow which we see bears wash¬
ing in their silks and stuffs, and appears with so much
elegance in their painting on paper. The method is this:
They gather the flowers before they are fully open; these
they put in a clean earthen vessel over a gentle heat, and
stir them continually about as they do the tea-leaves, till
they become dryish and of a yellow colour; then to half
a pound of the flowers they add three spoonfuls of fair
water, and after that a little more, till there is just enough
to hold the flowers incorporated together; they boil this
for some time, and the juice of the flowers mixing with
the water, it becomes thick and yellow; they then take
it from the fire, and strain it through a piece of coarse
silk. To the liquor they add half an ounce of common
alum, and an ounce of calcined oyster-shells reduced to a
fine powder. All is then well mixed together; and this
is the fine lasting yellow they have so long used.
The dyers of large pieces use the flowers and seeds of
the acacia for dyeing three different sorts of yellow'.
They roast the flowers, as before observed ; and then mix
the seeds with them, which must be gathered for this
purpose when fully ripe : by different admixtures of these
they give the different shades of colour, only for the
deepest of all they add a small quantity of Brazil wood.
Mr Geofff oy attributes the origin of bezoar to the seeds
of this plant; which being browsed by certain animals,
and vellicating the stomach by their great sourness and
astringency, cause a condensation of the juices, till at
length they become coated over with a stony matter,
which we call Bezoar.
Acacia, in the Materia Medica, the inspissated juice
of the unripe fruit of the Mimosa Nilotica.
The juice is brought to us from Egypt, in roundish
masses wrapt up in thin bladders. It is outwardly of a
deep brown colour, inclining to black; inwardly of a red¬
dish or yellowish brown; of a firm consistence, but not
very dry. It soon softens in the mouth, and discovers a
rough, not disagreeable taste, which is followed by a sweet¬
ish relish. This inspissated juice entirely dissolves in
watery liquors, but is scarce sensibly acted on by recti¬
fied spirit.
Acacia is a mild astringent medicine. The Egyptians
give it in spitting of blood, in the quantity of a drachm,
dissolved in any convenient liquor; and repeat this dose
occasionally: they likewise employ it in collyria for
strengthening the eyes, and in gargarisms for quinsy.
Among us, it is little otherwise used than as an ingredi¬
ent in mithridate and theriaca, and is rarely met with in
the shops. What is usually sold for the Egyptian acacia,
is the inspissated juice of unripe sloes; this is harder,
heavier, of a darker colour, and somewhat sharper taste,
than the true sort. See the next article.
German Acacia, the juice of unripe sloes inspissated
nearly to dryness over a gentle fire, care being taken to
II
A C A A C A 65
L cacia prevent its burning. It is moderately astringent, similar
I || to the Egyptian acacia, for which it has been commonly
A'demy, substituted in the shops. It is given in fluxes, and other
^'v^'/,$sorders where styptic medicines are indicated, from a
scruple to a drachm.
Acacia, among antiquaries, something resembling a
roll or bag, seen on models, as in the hands of several con¬
suls and emperors. Some take it to represent a handker¬
chief rolled up, wherewith they made signals at the games ;
others, a roll of petitions or memorials ; and some, a purple
bag full of earth, to remind them of their mortality.
ACACIANS, in ecclesiastical history, the name of se¬
veral sects of heretics; some of which maintained, that
the Son was only a similar, not the same, substance with
the Father; and others, that he was not only a distinct
but a dissimilar substance. Two of these sects had their
denominations from Acacius, bishop of Caesarea, who lived
in the fourth century, and changed his opinions so as, at
different times, to be head of both. Another was named
from Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, who lived in
the close of the fifth century.
ACACIUS, surnamed Luscus, because he was blind of
one eye, was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, and suc¬
ceeded the famous Eusebius: he had a great share in the
banishment of Pope Liberius, and bringing Felix to the
see of Rome. He gave name to a sect, and died about
!the year 365. He wrote the life of Eusebius, which is
lost, and several other works.
Acacius, Saint, bishop of Amida in Mesopotamia, in
420, was distinguished by his piety and charity. He sold
the plate belonging to his church, to redeem seven thou¬
sand Persian slaves who were perishing with hunger. He
gave each of them some money and sent them home.
Veranius, their king, was so affected with this noble in¬
stance of benevolence, that he desired to see the bishop;
and this interview procured a peace between that prince
and Theodosius I.
There have been several other eminent persons of the
same name; particularly, a martyr under the Emperor
Decius; a patriarch of Antioch, who succeeded Basil in
458, and died in 459 ; a bishop of Miletum in the fifth
century; a famous rhetorician in the reign of the Empe¬
ror Julian ; and a patriarch of Constantinople in the fifth
century, who was ambitious to draw the whole power and
! authority of Rome by degrees to Constantinople, for which
he was excommunicated by Pope Felix II. He in his
turn passed sentence of excommunication against the
pope. Still, however, he held his patriarchate till his
death in 488.
ACAD, or Achad, in Ancient Geography, the town in
which Nimrod reigned, called Archad by the Seventy; Academics
situated in Babylonia, to the eastward of the Tigris. ||
ACADEMICS, or Academists, a denomination given Academy,
to the cultivators of a species of philosophy originally de-'^^-^^
rived from Socrates, and afterwards illustrated and en¬
forced by Plato, who taught in a grove near Athens, con¬
secrated to the memory of Academus, an Athenian hero ;
from which circumstance this philosophy received the
name of Academical. Before the days of Plato, philoso¬
phy had in a great measure fallen into contempt. The
contradictory systems and hypotheses which had succes¬
sively been advanced were become so numerous, that,
from a view of this inconstancy and uncertainty of human
opinions, many were led to conclude, that truth lay be¬
yond the reach of our comprehension. Absolute and uni¬
versal scepticism was the natural consequence of this con¬
clusion. In order to remedy this abuse of philosophy and
of the human faculties, Plato laid hold of the principles
of the academical philosophy; and, in his Phaedo, reasons
in the following manner: “ If we are unable to discover
truth,” says he, “ it must be owing to two circumstances:
either there is no truth in the nature of things; or the
mind, from a defect in its powers, is not able to appre¬
hend it. Upon the latter supposition, all the uncertainty
and fluctuation in the opinions and judgments of mankind
admit of an easy solution: Let us therefore be modest,
and ascribe our errors to the real weakness of our own
minds, and not to the nature of things themselves. Truth
is often difficult of access : in order to come at it, we must
proceed with caution and diffidence, carefully examining
every step ; and, after all our labour, we will frequently
find our greatest efforts disappointed, and be obliged to
confess our ignorance and weakness.”
Labour and caution in the researches, in opposition to
rash and hasty decisions, were the distinguishing charac¬
teristics of the disciples of the ancient academy. A phi¬
losopher possessed of these principles will be slow in his
progress, but will seldom fall into errors, or have occa¬
sion to alter his opinion after it is once formed. In his
essay on the academical or sceptical philosophy, Mr Hume
has confounded two very opposite species of philosophy.
After the days of Plato, the principles of the first academy
were grossly corrupted by Arcesilaus, Carneades, &c.
This might lead Mr Hume into the notion, that the aca¬
demical and sceptical philosophy were synonymous terms.
But no principles can be of a more opposite nature than
those which were inculcated by the old academy of So¬
crates and Plato, and the sceptical notions which were
propagated by Arcesilaus, Carneades, and the other dis¬
ciples of the new academical school.
ACADEMY.
^j^CADEMY, axaSjj/A/a, axaSjj^e/a, or i-mhrigita, (the first
two forms being probably derived from axoj, medela,
and driyog, populus, and the last from exag, procul or seorsim,
and drifiog, populus), a garden, villa, or grove, situated in
the Ceramicus, one of the suburbs of Athens, about six
stadia, or nearly a Roman mile to the north-west of the
city. The common tradition is, that it took its name from
one Academus or Ecademus, the original owner, who was
contemporary with Theseus, and made it a kind of gym¬
nasium ; and that after his death it retained his name,
and was consecrated to his memory. When Castor and
Pollux came to Athens to reclaim by force of arms the
person of their sister Helena, who, according to the legend,
ad been carried off by Theseus, and concealed in some
VOL. II.
obscure retreat by the ravisher, the Athenians declared
that they knew not where the lady was to be found ; but
as this answer was not deemed satisfactory by the warlike
brothers, Academus, cognisant with the secret, and anxi¬
ous to avert a contest about so frivolous a subject of dis¬
pute, apprized them that she was concealed in the town
of Aphidna; which was immediately attacked, taken by
assualt, and razed to the ground. Grateful for this tradi¬
tionary service, the Lacedemonians, who worshipped the
Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux), spared the house and gar¬
dens known by the name of the Academy, when they
ravaged the suburbs of Athens; and, in consideration
of the disclosure just mentioned, they honoured the me¬
mory of the original owner, from whom the place took its
I
ACADEMY.
66
.Academy, name.1 Such is the legend which the Greek writers have
transmitted to us. With regard to the spot itself, which
afterwards became so famous, in connection with the name
of Plato and his philosophical disciples, it appears to have
remained almost in a state of nature, covered with stag¬
nant water, and exceedingly insalubrious, until the time of
Cimon, when it was drained, planted with alleys of trees,
and embellished with groves and with fountains: after
which it became the promenade of the most distinguished
Athenians, and particularly of the Platonic philosophers,
thence called the Academics ; just as the Lyceum, another
gymnasium, situated to the south-east of Athens, became
the pi’omenade of the Aristotelian sect of philosophers,
called also Peripatetics (a mynursw, obambulo), from the
locomotive fashion in which they communicated or dis¬
coursed concerning their peculiar doctrines. The Aca¬
demy formed part of the Ceramicus (a word derived from
■Aipayog, signifying potter s earth or earthen vase, from its
being filled with cinerary urns), and was therefore devoted
to purposes of sepulture; it being then the practice to
inter in a public garden or grove, as in a sort of elysian
field, those who had signalized themselves by rendering
important services to their country. Cicero, desirous to
revive or preserve the name of the Academy, bestowed.it
on his villa or country-seat near Puzzuoli, where he loved
to converse with his friends on philosophical subjects, and
where, also, he composed his Academical Questions, his
treatise on the Nature of the Gods, and his celebrated
work on the Commonwealth, a considerable portion of
which was, several years ago, recovered from rescribed or
palimpsest manuscripts, by Signor Angelo Maio, libra¬
rian of the Vatican.
Academy, in its generalized acceptation, is employed to
signify a society of learned men, established for the im¬
provement of science, literature, or the arts. This term,
as we have seen, is one of very high antiquity. It was
amidst the umbrageous recesses of the gardens of Aca-
demus, so favourable to philosophical meditation, that the
divine Plato, surnamed the swan of the Academy, esta¬
blished his school, collected his disciples, and taught his
sublime morality; wherefore the sect of this illustrious
philosopher was called the Academic, and the philosophers
who adopted his doctrines Academics. For a long pe¬
riod, accordingly, this title marked out the disciples of
Plato alone; but it came afterwards to be applied to all
those who belonged to the different learned or literary
societies instituted, under the name of Academies, in imi¬
tation of the school of Athens, and in order to extend the
boundaries of human knowledge. Of these institutions
several were established in Athens itself, but none ever
equalled the renown of that founded by Plato; and, in
point of fact, they were merely schools where Arcesilaus,
Carneades, Philo, Antiochus, and other philosophers of
less note, explained the different systems with which each
in his turn sought to supersede those of his predecessors,
but which have since fallen into the most profound neglect Acadti
and oblivion.
Ptolemy Soter, having by his victories secured undis¬
turbed possession of the throne of Egypt, and wishing to
unite to the title of conqueror the more glorious appella¬
tion of patron of learning, founded, under the name of
Musaeon, the celebrated Academy of Alexandria, and
provided it with a collection of books, which formed the
nucleus of the Alexandrian library. Here he assembled the
most distinguished philosophers and scholars of his time,
charging them with the investigation of philosophical truth
and the improvement of art; and it was to the care and re¬
searches of these eminent men and their successors that
the famous library, commenced by Ptolemy, and after¬
wards so barbarously given up to the flames by the Caliph
Omar, was enlarged and improved, until it became the
pride of Egypt and the glory of the world. This academy,
distinguished alike for its useful labours and its improve¬
ments in science, has served as a model to modern aca¬
demies, both as regards the principles on which it was
founded, and the object and end of its institution. It
admitted into the number of its associates the poets and
philosophers of all countries: persons came from every
part of the earth to seek instruction, or to deposit new
information in its bosom : and all parties were enriched by
the continual interchange of ideas and discoveries. For a
long period it was the great centre of knowledge. All
the literary treasures, scattered throughout the different
countries which the tide of barbarism had overflowed, were
there collected together: towards the period when Greece
began to decline, the spirit and the genius which once pre¬
sided in her schools of philosophy were in some degree
revived in that of Alexandria; and it shone forth like a
resplendent beacon-light in the midst of the surrounding
darkness, shooting forth rays which have traversed the
long course of ages, and guided the academies of modern
times in their researches and investigations.
Rome had no academies. In the eyes of the conque¬
rors and masters of the world, the sciences appeared only
a secondary object, and of comparatively little importance.
This Virgil has admitted in his iEneid, where he says, that
in art and in science the Romans must yield the palm to
other nations, and content themselves with the glory of
conquest, and a knowledge of the means by which it
might be secured and maintained.2 The Latin poets and
writers, indeed, were formed by the study of Greek models.
But no national establishment fostered their genius and
favoured their progress, either under the republic, which
despised letters, or under the imperial tyrants, who dread¬
ed them. Augustus himself only patronised and reward¬
ed the poets who flattered him ; while Maecenas, in sur¬
rounding himself wdth assemblages of celebrated writers,
thought less of extending the boundaries of learning, than
of tasting the pleasures of learned society, and wearing
off the fatigues of business amidst the sweets of an inter-
1 From certain expressions of Eupolis, and this among others, e» ivaxioa 'bov^cimi Bcov, “ in the umbrageous groves of the god
Academus,” it would appear that this person was accounted not merely a hero, but a sort of divinity. Hence the Academy was con¬
secrated to Bacchus Academus, or to the beneficent sun of the ascending signs ; as the Lyceum with its tcmenos or hicus was dedicat¬
ed to Apollo Lycseus (so called from Xvkos, a wolf), or to the destroying sun of the descending signs of the zodiac: and hence also
these schools were the astronomical symbols or representatives of the celestial houses of the two solstices; the Academy, of the
higher, and the Lyceum, of the lower solstice.
2 Excudent alii spirantia mollius sera,
Credo equidem; vivos ducent de marmore voltus;
Orabunt caussas melius, ccelique meatus
Describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent:
Tu regere imperio populos, llomane, memento;
Hse tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.
, . JEneid. lib. vi. L 848.
I •
ACADEMY.
Ldemy. course entirely Epicurean, or of enjoyments such as lite-
L.v'C'rature alone can afford to men of refined and cultivated
miWhen the darkness which had settled down upon Eu¬
rope after the fall of the Western Empire began at length
to disperse, and when a faint glimmering of light, symp¬
tomatic of slowly approaching day, began to flicker and
tremble on the dusky brow of the long night of ignorance
and barbarism, a passion for instruction became in some
measure the mode, and gave birth simultaneously to a
multitude of learned associations; and these proceeded at
once to the study and improvement of the sciences and
arts, long neglected, and almost lost in those very coun¬
tries where they had formerly been cultivated with the
greatest success. The Gauls, however, although partial¬
ly civilized by the Romans and by Julian the philosopher
(vulgarly called the Apostate), had relapsed, under the in¬
dolent and imbecile monarchs of the first race, into the
most profound ignorance ; while the monks, who passed for
learned men when they could read, were from policy op¬
posed to the instruction of the people. The spirit of mo¬
nopoly and exclusion was then, as afterwards, a prominent
characteristic of the ecclesiastical system; and the danger
of educating the people was as vehemently exaggerated as
by certain alarmists of our own day. “ The clergy,” said
Charlemagne, “ wish to monopolize all learning, and to
continue the sole expounders of the sciences and the
laws.” Nevertheless this prince, who would have done
honour to an age far less barbarous, attempted to resusci¬
tate letters, with which he had some acquaintance ; and
with this view he, encouraged by the celebrated Alcuin,
founded in his palace an academy for promoting the study
of grammar, orthography, rhetoric, poetry, history, and the
mathematics. This academy was composed of the principal
I ‘ wits of the court, Charlemagne himself being a member.
In their academical conferences, every member was to give
an account of the ancient authors which he had read ; and
in order to efface all distinctions of rank among the acade¬
micians, he required each of them to choose a name pure¬
ly literary (as, for example, that of some ancient author
or celebrated person of antiquity), which should in no
degree serve to recall the birth, station, or dignity of the
person assuming it. Accordingly, Egilbert, a young lord,
and one of the grandees about the court, modestly took
the name of Homer; the archbishop of Mayence called
himself Damcetas; Alcuin became Flaccus Albinus;
Eginhard, Calliopus ; Adelard, abbot of Corbie, Augustin;
Theodulph, Pindar; and Charlemagne himself, somewhat
forgetful of his own rule, David.1 Fantastical as all this
may appear to us, it was nevertheless productive of good.
The nobles, who had been accustomed to value themselves
solely on their birth and ancestry, began to acquire a re¬
lish for more substantial distinctions, and to feel the force
of Charlemagne’s remark, that the state was likely to be
better served by men who had improved their minds and
cultivated their talents, than by those who had no other re¬
commendation than overweening pride and a long pedigree.
Hence the academy of Charlemagne soon obtained great
celebrity; and although few monuments of its labours
67
remain, yet it unquestionably gave an impulse to learning, Academy,
diffused a taste for knowledge, and probably laid the first
foundations of the French language, which was then a rude
idiom, composed of a barbarous mixture of the language
of the Goths, of Latin, and of the dialect of Celtic spoken
by the ancient Gauls. This idiom the academy subject¬
ed to principles, forming it into a regular language, which
afterwards became the provencal, or language of romance:
and when it had thus, as it were, been licked into shape,
Charlemagne proposed to have the hymns, the prayers,
and the laws translated into it, for the benefit of the peo¬
ple ; a proposal which reflects the greatest honour on his
memory. But the clergy resolutely set their faces
against an innovation which would have deprived them of
part of their influence as the sole expounders both of the
civil and the divine laws, and thus in a great measure
frustrated the principal object which Charlemagne had in
view in founding his academy. Still its labours, though
in some respects neutralized by the personal interest of
the monks, were not altogether useless, but, on the con¬
trary, were instrumental in diffusing the first gleams of
light throughout France, and in preparing it to emerge
from a state of barbarism.
In the following century, Alfred, a man worthy of being
classed with the first French legislator, founded an aca¬
demy at Oxford, which formed the basis of the University
afterwards established there; but this being a school for
instruction rather than an institution for exciting emula¬
tion among the instructed, it does not, for that reason,
fall within the scope of the present article. About the
same period the Moors of Spain, celebrated for their gal¬
lantry, their chivalrous manners, and their taste for poetry,
music, and letters, had also their academies at Granada
and Cordoba; but of the precise nature and object of
these institutions little or nothing is known. In the year
1325, the Academy of the Floral Games was established
at Toulouse. This academy is still in existence, and is of
course the most ancient establishment of the kind in
Europe. The members assumed the somewhat fantastical
name of Maintainers of the Gay Science; and the
prizes which it awarded, consisting of flowers of gold and
silver, excited a strong spirit of emulation among the
Troubadours of Languedoc and Provence. This society,
to which Clemens Isaurus bequeathed the whole of his pro¬
perty, still enjoys a considerable reputation; and many of
the young poets of France, who aspire to be one day
crowned with the genuine laurels of Parnassus, repair to
it, at the commencement of their career, to dispute for the
violet, the marigold, the amaranth, and the eglantine.
A whole host of academies sprung up in different coun¬
tries immediately after the revival of letters in the fifteenth
century; but it was in Italy that they were most nume¬
rous, every city in fact having its own; and they were
frequently distinguished by appellations remarkable either
for their oddity or extravagance. Thus, Rome had its
Lincei; Naples, its Ardenti; Parma, its Insensati; and
Genoa, its Addormentati;—names which some modern
academicians might adopt without the slightest impro¬
priety. Many flourishing academies existed in France
1 Some modern writers have supposed that this assumption of ancient or classical names originated in an ardent admiration of an¬
tiquity, blended with the genius of an age essentially pedantic ; and thus they have endeavoured to account for Alcuin taking the
surname of Horace as a prsenomen, and calling himself Flaccus Albinus. But from what is stated in the text, this appears to be a
mistake. With regard to the circumstance of Charlemagne taking the name of David, which, as a royal one, appears to have been
a contravention of his own rule, it is evident that his choice was determined by his passion for the composition ot canticles or psalms,
in which he believed himself to be eminently skilful, and also by his decided preference of sacred to profane literature. 1 he empe¬
ror, in fact, had great pretensions as a theologian ; and on one occasion, when reproaching Iteibode, archbishop of Treves, with his
admiration of Virgil’s poetry, he remarked of himself, that he would much rather possess the spirit of the four evangelists than that
of the twelve books of the ASneid.
68
ACADEMY.
Academy, before the Revolution, most of them having been esta-
v^v-'^blished and endowed by the munificence of Louis XIV.
In Britain we have but few, and those of the greatest
note fall to be classed under a different appellation, name¬
ly, Society, to which the reader is referred.
In giving an account of the principal academies, which
is all that this article professes to do, we shall, for the sake
of clearness, arrange them under different heads, accord¬
ing to the subjects for the cultivation and improvement of
which they were instituted. And we shall commence with
I. Medical Academies. Of this description are, the
Academy of the Naturce Curiosi of Germany; that found¬
ed at Palermo in 1645; that established at Venice in
1701, which used to meet weekly in a hall near the grand
hospital; and an institution which took its rise at Geneva
in 1715. The Royal Colleges of Physicians at London
and Edinburgh have also been ranked by some in the
number of academies, but, in our opinion, erroneously; for
they are rather of the nature of corporations, organized
with a view to guard the privileges and promote the in¬
terests of a particular profession, than academies insti¬
tuted for facilitating the advancement of medical science.
This is the exclusive object of the Royal Medical Society,
and other institutions of the same sort; which, however,
fall to be treated of under a different head, viz. that of
Society.
The Academy of Naturae Curiosi, called also the Leo-
poldine Academy, was founded in 1662, by J. L. Bau-
schius, a physician, who, imitating the example of the
English, published a general invitation to medical men
to communicate all extraordinary cases that occurred in
the course of their practice: and, the scheme meeting
with success, the institution was regularly organized, and
Bauschius elected president. The works of the Naturae
Curiosi were at first published separately; but this being
attended with considerable inconvenience, a new arrange¬
ment was formed, in 1770, for publishing a volume of obser¬
vations annually. From some cause, however, the first
volume did not make its appearance until 1784, when it
came forth under the title of Ephemerides ; and the work
was afterwards continued, at irregular intervals, and with
some variations in the title. In 1687, the Emperor Leo¬
pold took the society under his protection, and granted
its members several privileges, the most remarkable of
which was, that its presidents should be entitled to enjoy
the style and rank of counts palatine of the holy Roman
empire; and hence the title of Leopoldine which it in
consequence assumed. But though it thus acquired a
name, it had no local habitation or fixed place of meeting,
and no regular assemblies; instead of which there was
a kind of bureau or office, first established at Breslau,
and afterwards removed to Nuremberg, where letters,
observations, and communications from correspondents,
were received, and persons properly qualified admitted
as members. By its constitution, the Leopoldine Aca¬
demy consists of a president, two adjuncts or secre¬
taries, and colleagues or members, without any limita¬
tion as to numbers. At their admission, the last come
under a twofold obligation; first, to choose some subject
for discussion out of the animal, vegetable, or mineral
kingdom, provided it has not been previously treated of
by any colleague of the academy; and, secondly, to apply
. themselves to furnish materials for the annual Epheme¬
rides. Each member also bears about with him the
symbol of the academy, consisting of a gold ring, whereon
is represented a book open, with an eye on one side, and
on the other the academical motto of Nunquam otiosus.
II. Chirurgical Academies. An association of this
sort was, not many years ago, instituted, by public au¬
thority, at Paris; the members of which were not only ^cade
to publish their own observations and improvements, and'^-y
those of their correspondents, but also to give an account
of the various publications on surgery, and to compose a
complete history of the art from the works of all the
authors, ancient and modern, who have treated of it. Be¬
sides, a question in surgery was to be annually proposed,
as the subject of a prize essay, and a gold medal of the
value of 200 livres given to the successful competitor.
The Academy of Surgery at Vienna was instituted by
the present emperor, under the direction of the celebrat¬
ed Brambella. In it there were at first only two profes¬
sors; and to their charge the instruction of a hundred
and thirty young men was committed, thirty of whom had
formerly been surgeons in the army. But latterly the
number both of teachers and pupils was considerably in¬
creased. Gabrielli was appointed to teach pathology and
practice; Boecking, anatomy, physiology, and physics;
Streit, medical and pharmaceutical surgery; Hunczowsky,
surgical operations, midwifery, and the chirurgia forensis;
and Plenk, chemistry and botany. To these was also
added Beindel, as prosector and extraordinary professor
of surgery and anatomy. Besides this, the emperor pro¬
vided a large and splendid edifice in Vienna, which af¬
fords accommodation both for the teachers, the students,
pregnant women, patients for clinical lectures, and ser¬
vants. For t^e use of this academy the emperor also pur¬
chased a medical library, which is open every day ; a com¬
plete set of chirurgical instruments ; an apparatus for ex¬
periments in natural philosophy; a collection of natural
history ; a number of anatomical and pathological prepa¬
rations ; a collection of preparations in wax, brought from
Florence ; and a variety of other useful articles. Adjoin¬
ing to the building, also, there is a good botanical garden.
With a view to encourage emulation among the students
of this institution, three prize medals, each of the value
of 40 florins, are annually bestowed on those who return
the best answers to questions proposed the year before.
These prizes, however, are not entirely founded by the
emperor, but are in part owing to the liberality of Bren-
dellius, formerly protochirurgus at Vienna.
III. Ecclesiastical Academies. Under this head may
be mentioned the academy at Bologna in Italy, instituted
in 1687, for the purpose of investigating the doctrine,
discipline, and history, of each age of the church.
IV. Cosmographical Academies; as that at Venice,
called the Argonauts. This was instituted at the solicita¬
tion of F. Coronelli, for the improvement of geographical
knowledge. Its design was to publish exact maps, parti¬
cular as well as general, both of the celestial and terres¬
trial sphere, together with geographical, historical, and
astronomical descriptions. Each member, in order to
defray the expense of such a publication, was to subscribe
a proportional sum, for which he was to receive one or
more copies of each piece published. To this end three
societies were established ; one under F. Moro, provincial
of the Minorites in Hungary; another under the Abbot
Laurence au Ruy Payenne au Marais; and the third un¬
der F. Baldigiani, Jesuit, professor of mathematics in the
Roman College. Ihe device of this academy is the ter¬
raqueous globe, with the motto Plus ultra; and at its
expense all the globes, maps, and geographical writings
of I. Coronelli have been published.
In the year 1799, a Geographical Academy was esta¬
blished at Lisbon, principally for the purpose of elucidat¬
ing the geography of Portugal. By the labours of the
members of this academy, an accurate map of the coun¬
try, which was much wanted, has been completed.
V. Academies of Science. These comprehend such
ACADEMY.
Aulemy. as have been erected for improving natural and mathe-
urv-^S matical knowledge, and are otherwise called Philosophical
and Physical Academies.
The first of these was instituted at Naples, about the
year 1560, in the house of Baptista Porta. It was called
the Academy Secretmum Naturce; and was succeeded
by the Academy of Lined, founded at Rome by Prince
Frederic Ceoi, towards the end of the same century.
This academy was afterwards rendered famous in conse¬
quence of the discoveries made by some of its members,
among whom, the first place is due to the celebrated Ga¬
lileo, one of the most illustrious names of which the his¬
tory of science can boast. Several other academies, in¬
stituted about this time, also contributed to the advance¬
ment of the sciences; but none of them was in any re¬
spect comparable to that of the Lined.
Some years after the death of Torricelli, the Accademia
del Cimento made its appearance, under the protection of
Prince Leopold, afterwards Cardinal de’ Medici. Redi was
one of its chief members. In so far as regards the studies
pursued by the other academicians, a very correct idea of
them may be formed from the curious experiments pub¬
lished in 1667, by their secretary Count Laurence Magu-
lotti, under the title of Saggi di JSaturali Esperienze ; a
copy of which was presented to the Royal Society, trans¬
lated into English by Mr Waller, and published at Lon¬
don in 4to.
The Accademia degVLnquieti, afterwards incorporated
into that of Della Tracia, in the same city, followed the
example of that of Del Cimento. Some excellent dis¬
courses on physical and mathematical subjects, by Gemi-
niano Montenari, one of the chief members, were published
in 1667, under the title of Pensieri Fisico-Matematici.
The Academy of Rossano, in the kingdom of Naples,
was originally an academy of belles lettres, founded in
1540, and transformed into an academy of sciences in
1695, at the solicitation of the learned abbot Don Giacin-
to Gimma; who being made president, under the title of
Promoter General of the institution, gave it a new set of
regulations. He divided the academicians into the fol¬
lowing classes: grammarians, rhetoricians, poets, histo¬
rians, philosophers, physicians, mathematicians, lawyers,
and divines; with a class apart for cardinals and persons
of quality. To be admitted a member, it was requisite to
have taken a degree in one or other of the faculties. The
members were not allowed to take the title of Academi¬
cians mthc title-pages of their works, without a written
permission from their president, which was not granted
till their works had been examined by the censors of the
academy; and this permission was the greatest honour the
academy could confer, as they thereby adopted the works
thus examined, and became answerable for them against
all criticisms that might be made upon them. To this law
the president or promoter himself was subject; and no aca¬
demician was allowed to publish anything against the writ¬
ings of another without leave obtained from the society.
But Italy boasts of a number of scientific academies
besides those above mentioned. The Royal Neapolitan
Academy was established in 1779; and the published
memoirs contain some valuable researches on mathema-
ica subjects. The Royal Academy of Turin was esta¬
blished by the late king when duke of Savoy. Its memoirs
were originally published in Latin, under the title of Mis¬
cellanea 1 hilosophica Mathematica Societatis Privata: Taud-
Mnsis; and the first volume appeared in 1759. Among
the original members of this institution the most cele¬
brated was Lagrange, who burst on the scientific world
quite unexpectedly, by the novelty and depth of his
papers m the first volume of the transactions. An Aca-
69
demy of Sciences, Belles Lettres, and Arts, was established Academy,
at Padua by the senate, near the close of the eighteenth'
century. It is composed of twenty-four pensionaries,
twelve free associates, twenty-four pupils, twelve asso¬
ciates belonging to the ci-devant Venetian States, and
twenty-four foreigners, besides honorary members. It
has published several volumes of memoirs in the Ita¬
lian language. The Academy of Sciences and Belles
Lettres of Genoa was established in 1783. It consists
of thirty-two members; but their labours have been
chiefly directed to poetry, nor are we aware that they
have published any memoirs. The Academy of Milan
was preceded, and perhaps introduced, by a literary as¬
sembly, consisting of ten persons, who published a sheet
weekly, containing short remarks on subjects of science,
belles lettres, and criticism. This society terminated in
1767. But soon afterwards another was established, the
transactions of which, published under the title of Scelta
d’Opuscoli Scientifici, contain several very interesting pa¬
pers. The Academy of Sciences at Siena, instituted in
1691, published the first volume of its transactions in
1761, and has since continued them, at long intervals, un¬
der the title of Atti dell'Accademia di Siena. Between
the years 1770 and 1780, M. Lorgna established at Ve¬
rona an academy of sciences of a novel description. The
object of it was to form an association among the princi¬
pal scientific men in all parts of Italy, for the purpose of
publishing their memoirs. The first volume appeared in
the year 1782, under the title of Memode di Matematica
e Fisica della Societa Italiana. The most celebrated
names that appear in this volume are those of Boscovich,
the two Fontanas, and Spallanzani. There are also sci¬
entific academies at Mantua, Pisa, Pavia, and Modena;
but several of these do not publish their transactions.
Towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, F.
Mersenne is said to have given the first idea of a philoso¬
phical academy in France, by the conferences of naturalists
and mathematicians occasionally held at his lodgings. At
these Gassendi, Descartes, Hobbes, Roberval, Pascal,
Blondel, and other celebrated persons, assisted. F. Mer¬
senne proposed to each certain problems to be examined,
or certain experiments to be made, and acted, to use a
Gallic idiom, as the centre of re-union. By and by these
private assemblies were succeeded by more public ones,
formed by M. Montmort, and by Thevenot the celebrated
traveller. Nor was this spirit confined to France. Ani¬
mated by the example which had been set in that coun¬
try, several Englishmen of learning and distinction insti¬
tuted a kind of philosophical academy at Oxford towards
the close of Cromwelfs government; and this, after the
Restoration, was erected into a Royal Society. (See So¬
ciety.) And the English example, in its turn, re-acted
upon France; for, in 1666, Louis XIV., assisted by the
counsels of Colbert, founded at Paris
The Royal Academy of Sciences. Being desirous of
establishing the sciences, arts, and literature upon a solid
foundation, Louis, immediately after the peace of the Py¬
renees, directed M. Colbert to form a society of men of
known abilities and experience in the different branches
of knowledge, who should meet together under the king’s
protection, in order to communicate freely their respective
discoveries ; and with the view of carrying his design the
more effectually into execution, he appropriated a suffi¬
cient revenue, not only to defray the charge of experi¬
ments, but likewise to afford moderate salaries to the mem¬
bers. The commands of the Grand Monarque were execut¬
ed with equal zeal and ability by his minister. For having
conferred with those who were at that time most celebrat¬
ed for their learning, M. Colbert resolved to form a society
70
A C A D E M Y.
Academy, of such persons as were conversant in natural philosophy
and mathematics; to join to them persons skilled in his¬
tory and other branches of erudition ; and, lastly, to draw
together those who were engaged in the cultivation of
what was then called the belles lettres, as well as of
grammar, eloquence, and poetry. The geometricians
and natural philosophers were ordered to meet on Tues¬
days and Saturdays, in a great hall of the king’s library,
where the books of mathematics and natural philosophy
were contained; the learned in history to assemble, on
Mondays and Thursdays, in the hall where the books of
history were arranged; and the class of belles lettres
to meet on Wednesdays and Fridays; while all the dif¬
ferent classes were directed to assemble together upon
the first Thursday of every month, and by their respective
secretaries to make a report of the proceedings of the pre¬
vious month. In a short time, however, the classes of
history and belles lettres were united to the French Aca¬
demy, which was originally instituted for the improvement
of the French language; in consequence of which the
Royal Academy contained only two classes, viz. that of
natural philosophy and that of mathematics.
In the year 1696, the king, by an ordonnance datecf the
26th of January, gave this academy a new form, and put it
upon a footing still more respectable. By this decree it was
provided, that henceforth it should consist of four descrip¬
tions of members, viz. honorary, pensionary, associates,
and eleves ; which last were a kind of pupils or scholars,
one of whom was attached to each of the pensionaries.
The first class was to contain ten persons, and each of the
rest twenty. The honorary academicians were to be all
inhabitants of France, the pensionaries were all to reside
in Paris, and the eleves were also to live in the capital;
but eight of the associates might be chosen from among
foreigners. The officers were, a president, named by the
king out of the class of honorary academicians, and a
secretary and treasurer, who held their offices for life. Of
the pensionaries, three were to be geometricians, three
astronomers, three mechanicians, three anatomists, three
botanists, and the remaining two perpetual secretary and
treasurer. Of the twelve associates, two were to apply
themselves to geometry, two to botany, and two to che¬
mistry ; while the eleves were to devote themselves to the
particular branches of science cultivated by the pension¬
aries to whom they were respectively attached, and not
to speak except when called to do so by the president.
Clerical persons, whether regular or otherwise, were de¬
clared inadmissible, except into the class of honorary
academicians; nor could any one be admitted an associate
or pensionary unless known by some considerable printed
work, some machine, or other discovery. The assemblies
were held on Wednesdays and Saturdays, except when
either chanced to be a holyday; in which case the meeting
was held on the day immediately preceding. To en¬
courage members to pursue their inquiries and researches,
the king engaged to pay not only the ordinary pensions,
but even to confer extraordinary gratifications according
to the degree of merit displayed in their respective per¬
formances ; and, furthermore, his Majesty became bound,
as we have already stated, to defray the whole expense
of experiments and other investigations which it might be
judged necessary from time to time to institute. Flence,
if any member gave in a bill of charges for experiments he
had made, or desired the printing of any book, and ten¬
dered an account of the disbursements required to effect
that object, the money was immediately paid by the king,
upon the president’s allowing and signing the bill. In like
manner, if an anatomist required, we shall say, live tor¬
toises in order to make experiments on the action and
functions of the heart, he had only to signify his intention Acadei
through the president, and as many as he pleased were^-^v
brought him at the king’s charge. The motto of the aca¬
demy was Invenit et perfecit.
In the year 1716, the Duke of Orleans, then regent,
made an alteration in the constitution of this body, aug¬
menting the number of honorary members and of associ¬
ates eligible from among foreigners, admitting regular
clergy among such associates, and suppressing the class
of eleves, the existence of which had been attended with
some inconveniences, particularly that of producing too
great an inequality among the academicians, and of giving
rise to misunderstandings and animosities among the mem¬
bers. At the same time he created two other classes;
the one consisting of twelve adjuncts, who, like the as¬
sociates, were allowed a deliberative voice in matters re¬
lative to science; and the other of six free associates,
who were not attached to any particular science, nor ob¬
liged to pursue any particular work.
From the period of its re-establishment in 1699, this
academy was very exact in publishing annually a volume
containing either the works of its own members, or such
memoirs as had been composed and read to the academy
during that year. To each volume was prefixed a his¬
tory of the academy, or an extract of the memoirs and of
the res gestcc of the different sittings ; and appended to the
history were eloges pronounced on such academicians as
had died in the course of the year. M. Rouille de Mes-
lay, counsellor to the parliament of Paris, founded two
prizes, one of 2500 and the other of 2000 livres; the for¬
mer for the best work, essay, or treatise, on physical as¬
tronomy, and the latter for any treatise or improvement
relating to navigation and commerce. But notwithstand¬
ing all the advantages which the members of this aca¬
demy enjoyed, and the great facilities afforded them for
the prosecution of their researches, the institution latterly
degenerated; in consequence, doubtless, of the perpetual in¬
terference of the court in behalf of its favourites, or to effect
the exclusion of men of unquestionable merit who had in¬
curred its displeasure. The effect of all this was, that persons
of inferior acquirements were frequently admitted, while
those of the most distinguished talents and reputation
were excluded ; and hence it gradually sunk in public es¬
timation, until admission not only ceased to be an honour,
but even became a subject of contempt and derision.
Hence the well-known lines—
Ci git Pirot, qui ne fut rien,
Pas meme Academicien.
The Revolution swept away the academy amidst the
wrecks of the monarchy. It was suppressed by the Con¬
vention in the year 1793; and being new-modelled and
re-organized upon a better and more efficient plan, it
received the name of Institute, an appellation which it
still bears, notwithstanding the great political changes
which have since taken place. See Institute.
The French had also considerable academies in most of
their great cities. Montpellier, for example, had a royal
academy of sciences on nearly the same footing as that
at Paris, of which, indeed, it was in some measure the
counterpart; Toulouse also had an academy under the
denomination of Lanternists; and there were analogous
institutions at Nismes, Arles, Lyons, Dijon, Bordeaux,
and other places. Of these several, we believe, are still
in existence, if not in activity.
The Foyal Academy of Sciences at Berlin was founded
in 1700, by Frederic II. king of Prussia, on the model of
the Royal Society of England; excepting that, besides
natural knowledge, it likewise comprehended the belles
lettres. In 1710, it was ordained that the president should
ACADEMY.
.demy, be one of the counsellors of state, and nominated by the
king. The members were divided into four classes : the
first for prosecuting physics, medicine, and chemistry; the
second for mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics ; the
third for the German language and the history of the
country; and the fourth for oriental learning, particularly
in so far as it concerns the propagation of the gospel among
heathen nations. Each class was empowered to elect a
director for itself, who should hold his post for life. The
members of any of the classes were entitled to free ad¬
mission into the assemblies of the other classes.
The great promoter of this institution was the celebrat¬
ed Leibnitz, equally distinguished as a jurist, philologist,
linguist, antiquary, mathematician, and philosopher, and
who accordingly was chosen the first director. The first
volume of their transactions was published in 1710, under
the title of Miscellanea Berolinensia; and although the
institution received but few marks of the royal favour for
some time, they continued to publish new volumes in 1723,
1727, 1734, and 1740. But Frederic III., the late king of
Prussia, at length imparted new vigour to this academy,
by inviting to Berlin such foreigners as were most dis¬
tinguished for their merit and literature, at the same time
that he encouraged his own subjects to prosecute the study
and cultivation of the sciences ; and thinking that the aca¬
demy, over which some minister or opulent nobleman had
till that time presided, would derive advantage from having
a man of letters at its head, he conferred that honour on
M. Maupertuis. At the same time he gave a new set
of regulations to the academy, and took upon himself the
title of its protector.
The effect of these changes, however, it is not neces¬
sary to enlarge upon, as innovations still more recent have
been introduced, with a view to direct the attention of
the members to researches of real utility, to improve the
arts, to stimulate national industry, and to purify the dif¬
ferent systems of moral and literary education. To attain
these ends a directory was chosen, consisting of a presi¬
dent and the four directors of the classes, and two men
of business, not members of the academy, though at the
same time persons of acknowledged learning; and to the
body thus constituted was intrusted the management of
the funds, and the conduct of the economical affairs of
the institution. I he power of choosing membei'S was
granted to the academy; but the king reserved to him¬
self the privilege of confirming or annulling their choice,
as he might think fit. The public library at Berlin, and
the collection of natural curiosities, were united to the
academy, and intrusted to its superintendence.
The academicians hold two public assemblies annually ;
at the latter of which is given, as a prize, a gold medal of
fifty ducats value. The subject prescribed for this prize
is successively taken from natural philosophy, mathema¬
tics, metaphysics, and general erudition.
The Imperial Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg was
projected by the Czar Peter the Great. That despotic
reformer, haying in the course of his travels observed the
advantage of public societies for the encouragement and
promotion of literature, formed the design of founding an
afdemy of sciences at St Petersburg. By the advice
of Wolf and Leibnitz, whom he consulted on this occa¬
sion, the society was accordingly regulated, and several
earned foreigners were invited to become members.
I eter himself drew the plan, and signed it on the 10th of
February 1724 ; but he was prevented, by the suddenness
ot his death, from carrying it into execution. His de-
cease, however, did not prevent its completion; for on
ie ~lst of December 1725, Catharine I. established it
according to Peter’s plan, and on the 27th of the same
month the society assembled for the first time. On the 1st Academy,
of August 1726, Catharine honoured the meeting with her'
presence, when Professor Bulfinger, a German naturalist
of great eminence, pronounced an oration upon the ad¬
vances made in the theory of magnetic variations, and
also on the progress of research in so far as regarded the
discovery of the longitude. A short time afterwards the
empress settled a fund of L.4982 per annum for the sup¬
port of the academy; and fifteen members, all eminent
for their learning and talents, were admitted and pension¬
ed, under the title of Professors in the various branches of
science and literature. The most distinguished of these
professors were Nicholas and Daniel Bernoulli, the two
De Lisles, Bulfinger, and Wolf.
During the short reign of Peter II. the salaries of the
members were discontinuetl, and the academy utterly ne¬
glected by the court; but it was again patronised by the
Empress Anne, who even added a seminary for the edu¬
cation of youth, under the superintendence of the pro¬
fessors. Both institutions flourished for some time under
the direction of Baron Korf; but upon his death, towards
the latter end of Anne’s reign, an ignorant person being
appointed president, many of the most able members
quitted Russia. At the accession of Elizabeth, however,
new life and vigour were infused into the academy. The
original plan was enlarged and improved; some of the
most learned foreigners were again drawn to Petersburg;
and, what was considered as a good omen for the litera¬
ture of Russia, two natives, Lomonosof and Rumovsky,
men of genius and abilities, who had prosecuted their
studies in foreign universities, were enrolled among its
members. Lastly, the annual income was increased to
L. 10,659, and sundry other advantages were conferred
upon the institutioh.
The late Empress Catharine II., with her usual zeal for
promoting the diffusion of knowledge, took this useful so¬
ciety under her immediate protection. She altered the
court of directors greatly to the advantage of the whole
body, corrected many of its abuses, and infused a new
vigour and spirit into their researches. By her Majesty’s
particular recommendation the most ingenious professors
visited the various provinces of her vast dominions ; and
as the funds of the academy were not sufficient to defray
the whole expense of these expeditions, the empress sup¬
plied the deficiency by a grant of L.2000, which was re¬
newed as occasion required.
The purpose and object of these travels will appear
from the instructions given by the academy to the several
persons who engaged in them. They were ordered to
institute inquiries respecting the different sorts of earths
and waters; the best methods of cultivating barren and
desert spots; the local disorders incident to men and
animals, together wuth the most efficacious means of re¬
lieving them; the breeding of cattle, particularly of
sheep ; the rearing of bees and silk-worms ; the different
places and objects for fishing and hunting; minerals of
all kinds; the arts and trades; and the formation of a
Flora Russica, or collection of indigenous plants. They
were particularly instructed to rectify the longitude and
latitude of the principal towns; to make astronomical,
geographical, and meteorological observations; to trace
the courses of the rivers; to construct the most exact
charts; and to be very distinct and accurate in remark¬
ing and describing the manners and customs of the differ¬
ent races of people, their dresses, languages, antiquities,
traditions, history, religion; in a word, to gain every
information which might tend to illustrate the real state
of the whole Russian empire. More ample instructions
cannot well be conceived; and they appear to have been
72 ACADEMY.
Academy, very zealously and faithfully executed. The consequence
^-^v^^has been, that perhaps no country can boast, within the
space of so few years, such a number of excellent publi¬
cations on its internal state, its natural productions, its to¬
pography, geography, and history, and on the manners,
customs, and languages of the different tribes who inhabit
it, as have issued from the press of this academy.
The first transactions of this society were published in
1728, and entitled Commentarii Academice Scientiarum
Imperialis Petropolitance ad annum 1726, with a dedica¬
tion to Peter II. The publication was continued under
this form until the year 1747, when the transactions were
called Novi Commentarii Academice, &c.; and in 1777, the
academy again changed the title into Acta Academice
Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitance, and likewise made
some alteration in the arrangement and plan of the work.
The papers, which had been hitherto published in the
Latin language only, are now written indifferently either
in that language or in French ; and a preface is added, en¬
titled Partie Historique, which contains an account of its
proceedings, meetings, the admission of new members, and
other remarkable occurrences. Of the Commentaries,
fourteen volumes were published: the first of the New
Commentaries made its appearance in 1750, and the
twentieth in 1776. Under the new title of Acta Aca¬
demice, a number of volumes have been given to the
public ; and two are printed every year. These transac¬
tions abound with ingenious and elaborate disquisitions
upon various parts of science and natural history; and it
may not be an exaggeration to assert, that no society in
Europe has more distinguished itself for the excellence of
its publications, particularly in the more abstruse parts of
the pure and mixed mathematics.
The academy is still composed, as at first, of fifteen
professors, besides the president and director. Each of
these professors has a house and an annual stipend from
L. 200 to L.600. Besides the professors, there are four
adjuncts, with pensions, who are present at the sittings of
the society, and succeed to the first vacancies. The
direction of the academy is generally intrusted to a per¬
son of distinction.
The buildings and apparatus of this academy are ex¬
traordinary. There is a fine library, consisting of 36,000
curious books and manuscripts; together with an exten¬
sive museum, in which the various branches of natural
history, &c. are distributed in different apartments. The
latter is extremely rich in native productions, having been
considerably augmented by the collections made by Pal¬
las, Gmelin, Guldenstaedt, and other professors, during
their expeditions through the various parts of the Russian
empire. The stuffed animals and birds occupy one apart¬
ment. The chamber of rarities, the cabinet of coins, &c.
contain innumerable articles of the highest curiosity and
value. The motto of the society is exceedingly modest:
it consists of only one word, Paulatim.
The Academy of Sciences at Bologna, called the Insti¬
tute of Bologna, was founded by Count Marsigli in 1712,
for the cultivation of physics, mathematics, medicine,
chemistry, and natural history. Its history is written by
M. de Limiers, from memoirs furnished by the founder
himself.
The Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, or the Royal
Swedish Academy, owes its institution to six persons of
distinguished learning, amongst whom was the celebrated
Linnaeus. They originally met on the 2d of June 1739,
when they formed a private society, in which some dis¬
sertations were read; and in the latter end of the same
year their first publication made its appearance. As the
meetings continued and the members increased, the so¬
ciety attracted the notice of the king; and, accordingly, Acaden
on the 31st of March 1741, it was incorporated under'^-'V'
the name of the Royal Swedish Academy. Not receiv¬
ing any pension from the crown, it is merely under the
protection of the king, being directed, like our Royal
Society, by its own members. It has now, however, a
large fund, which has chiefly arisen from legacies and other
donations; but a professor of experimental philosophy,
and two secretaries, are still the only persons who receive
any salaries. Each of the members resident at Stock¬
holm becomes president by rotation, and continues in
office during three months. There are two kinds of mem¬
bers, native and foreign; the election of the former de¬
scription takes place in April, that of the latter in July; and
no money is paid at the time of admission. The disserta¬
tions read at each meeting are collected and published
four times in the year: they are written in the Swedish
language, and printed in octavo; and the annual publica¬
tions make a volume. The first forty volumes, which
were completed in 1779, are called the Old Transac¬
tions ; for in the following year the title was changed into
that of New Transactions. The king is often present at
the ordinary meetings, and regularly attends the annual as¬
sembly in April for the election of members. Any per¬
son who sends a treatise which is thought worthy of being
printed, receives the Transactions for that quarter gratis ;
together with a silver medal, which is not esteemed for its
value, being worth only three shillings, but for its rarity
and the honour conveyed by it. All the papers relating
to agriculture are published separately under the title of
(Economica Acta. Annual premiums, in money and gold
medals, principally for the encouragement of agriculture
and inland trade, are also distributed by the academy.
The fund for these prizes is supplied by private donations.
The Royal Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen owes its
institution to the zeal of six individuals, whom Christian
VI., in 1742, ordered to arrange his cabinet of medals.
These persons were, John Gram, Joachim Frederic Ramus,
Christian Louis Scheid, Mark Woldickey, Eric Ponto-
pidan, and Bernard Moelman, who, occasionally meeting
for this purpose, extended their designs ; associated with
them others who were eminent in several branches of
science ; and forming a kind of literary society, employed
themselves in searching into, and explaining the history
and antiquities of their country. The Count of Holstein,
the first president, warmly patronised this society, and
recommended it so strongly to Christian VI. that, in 1743,
his Danish majesty took it under his protection, called it
the Royal Academy of Sciences, endowed it with a fund,
and ordered the members to join to their former pur¬
suits, natural history, physics, and mathematics. In con¬
sequence of the royal favour, the members engaged with
fresh zeal in their pursuits; and the academy has pub¬
lished fifteen volumes in the Danish language, some of
which have been translated into Latin.
The American Academy of Sciences was established in
1780, by the council and house of representatives in the
province of Massachusetts Bay, for promoting a knowledge
of the antiquities of America, and of the natural history
of the country; for determining the uses to which its
various natural productions might be applied; for en¬
couraging medicinal discoveries, mathematical disquisi¬
tions, philosophical inquiries and experiments, astronomi¬
cal, meteorological, and geographical observations, and im¬
provements in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce;
and, in short, for cultivating every art and science which
may tend to advance the interest and increase the hap¬
piness of the people. The members of this academy can
never exceed 200, nor fall below forty.
ACADEMY. 73
AcJemy. The Royal Irish Academy arose out of a society establish- established by the Empress Elizabeth, at the suggestion Academy.
's^./'O'edatDublinabouttheyear 1782, and consisting of a num- of Count Shuvalof, and annexed to the Academy of'^'v-v./
ber of gentlemen, most of whom belonged to the Univer- Sciences. The fund for its support was L.4000 per an-
sity. They held weekly meetings, and read essays in turn num, and the foundation admitted forty scholars. The late
on various subjects. The members of this society after- empress formed it into a separate institution, augmented
wards formed a more extensive plan, and, admitting only the annual revenue to L.12,000, and increased the num-
such names as might add dignity to their new institution, ber of scholars to three hundred : she also constructed,
became the founders of the Royal Irish Academy; which for the use and accommodation of the members, a large
professed to unite the advancement of science with the circular building, which fronts the Neva. The scholars
history of mankind and polite literature. The first are admitted at the age of six, and continue until they
volume of their transactions for 1787 appeared in 1788, have attained that of eighteen. They are clothed, fed,
and seven volumes were afterwards published. A society and lodged, at the expense of the crown; and are all in-
was formed in Dublin, similar to the Royal Society in structed in reading and writing, arithmetic, the French
London, as early as the year 1683; but the distracted and German languages, and drawing. At the age of
state of the country proved unpropitious to the cultivation fourteen they are at liberty to choose any of the follow-
of philosophy and literature. ing arts, divided into four classes, viz. first, painting in all
The Academy of Sciences at Manheim was established its branches, of history, portraits, battles, and landscapes,
by Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine, in the year 1755. architecture, mosaic, enamelling, &c.; secondly, engrav-
The plan of this institution was furnished by Schaepflin, ing on copperplates, seal-cutting, &c.; thirdly, carving on
according to which it was divided into two classes, the his- wood, ivory, and amber ; fourthly, watch making, turning,
torical and physical. In 1780, a sub-division of the latter instrument making, casting statues in bronze and other
took place, into the physical properly so called, and the metals, imitating gems and medals in paste and other
meteorological. The meteorological observations are compositions, gilding, and varnishing. Prizes are annually
published separately, under the title of Ephemerides So- distributed to those who excel in any particular art; and
cietatis Meteorologicce Palatines. The historical and phy- from those who have obtained four prizes, twelve are se-
sical memoirs are published under the title of Acta Aca- lected, who are sent abroad at the charge of the crown.
demice Theodoro-Palatines. A certain sum is paid to defray their travelling expenses;
The Electoral Bavarian Academy of Sciences at Munich and when they are settled in any town, they receive an
was established in 1759, and publishes its memoirs under annual salary of L.60, which is continued during four
the title of Abhandlungen der Baierischen Akademie. years. There is a small assortment of paintings for the
Soon after the Elector of Bavaria was raised to the rank use of the scholars; and those who have made great pro-
of King, the Bavarian government, by his orders, directed gress are permitted to copy the pictures in the imperial
its attention to a new organization of the Academy of collection. For the purpose of design, there are models
Sciences of Munich. The design of the king was, to in plaster, all done at Rome, of the best antique statues
render its labours more extensive than those of any simi- in Italy, and of the same size with the originals, which the
lar institution in Europe, by giving to it, under the direc- artists of the academy were employed to cast in bronze,
tion of the ministry, the immediate superintendence over The Royal Academy of Arts in London was institut-
all the establishments for public instruction in the king- ed for the encouragement of designing, painting, sculp-
dom of Bavaria. The Privy-Councillor Jacobi, a man of ture, &c. &c. in the year 1768. This academy is under the
most excellent character, and of considerable scientific immediate patronage of the king, and under the direction
attainments, was appointed president. of forty artists of the first rank in their several profes-
? The Electoral Academy at Erfurt was established by sions. It furnishes, in winter, living models of different
the Elector of Mentz, in the year 1754. It consists of a characters to draw after; and in summer, models of the
protector, president, director, assessors, adjuncts, and as- same kind to paint after. Nine of the ablest academicians
soeiates. Its object is to promote the useful sciences, are annually elected out of the forty, whose business it is
Their memoirs were originally published in the Latin lan- to attend by rotation, to set the figures, to examine the
guage, but afterwards in German. The Hessian Academy performance of the students, and to give them necessary
of Sciences at Giessen publish their transactions under instructions. There are likewise professors of painting,
the title of Acta Philosophico-Medica Academice Scien- architecture, anatomy, and perspective, who annually read
tiaruni Principalis Hessiacce. In the Netherlands there public lectures on the subjects of their several depart-
are scientific academies at Flushing and Brussels, both of ments; besides a president, a council, and other officers,
which have published their transactions. The admission to this academy is free to all students pro-
A branch of the royal family of Portugal established perly qualified to reap advantage from the studies culti-
at Lisbon, a number of years ago, a Royal Academy of vated in it; and there is an annual exhibition of paintings,
the sciences, agriculture, arts, commerce, and economy in sculptures, and designs, open to all artists of distinguish-
general. It is divided into three classes ; natural science, ed merit.
mathematics, and national literature. It is composed of The Academy of Painting and Sculpture at Paris.
honorary members, as ministers of state and persons of This took its rise from the disputes that happened be-
mgh rank in Lisbon; foreign members, called socios ve- tween the master painters and sculptors in the French
teranos ; and acting members. The total number is sixty, capital; in consequence of which, MM. le Brun, Sarrazin,
of which twenty-four belong to the last class. They enjoy Corneille, and others of the king’s painters, formed a de¬
an allowance from government, which has enabled them sign of instituting a particular academy; and having pre-
o establish an observatory, a museum, a library, and a sented a petition to the king, obtained an arret dated
printing office. Their published transactions consist of January 20. 1648. In the beginning of 1655, they ob-
emoruis de, Litteratura Portugueza, and Memorias Econo- tained from Cardinal Mazarin, a brevet, and letters pa-
S nuras, c sides Scientific Transactions. I hey have also pub- tent, which were registered in parliament; in gratitude
18VT L?l ecfao de Livros ineditos de Historia Portugueza. for which favour, they chose the cardinal their protector,
• cademies or Schools of Arts. Under this we and made the chancellor their vice-protector. In 1663,
may mention, first of all, the academy at Petersburg, they obtained, through M. Colbert, a pension of 4000
74
ACADEMY.
Academy, livres. The academy consisted of a protector, a vice-
protector, a director, a chancellor, four rectors, adjuncts
to the rectors, a treasurer, fodr professors (one of whom
was professor of anatomy, and another of geometry), seve¬
ral adjuncts and counsellors, an historiographer, a secre¬
tary, and two ushers.
Every day for two hours in the afternoon, the Academy
of Painting held a public assembly, to which the painters
resorted either to design or to paint, while the sculp¬
tors modelled after the naked figure. There were twelve
professors, each of whom kept the school for a month ; and
there was an equal number of adjuncts to supply their
places in case of need. The professor upon duty placed
the naked figure as he thought proper, and set it in two
different attitudes every week. This was what they call¬
ed setting the model. In one week of the month he set
two models together, which was called setting the group.
The paintings and models made after this model, were
called academics, or academical figures. They had likewise
a woman who stood as a model in the public school.
Three prizes for design were distributed among the eleves
or disciples every quarter; and four others, two for paint¬
ing, and two for sculpture, every year.
There was also an Academy of Painting, Sculpture, &c.
at Rome, established by Louis XIV., wherein those who
had gained the annual prize at Paris were entitled to be
three years entertained at the king’s expense, for their
further improvement.
In 1778, an Academy of Painting and Sculpture was
established at Turin. Their meetings were held in the
palace of the king, who distributed prizes among the most
successful members. In Milan, an Academy of Architec¬
ture was established so early as the year 1380, by Galeas
Visconti. About the middle of the last century, an Aca¬
demy of the Arts was established there, after the exam¬
ple of those at Paris and Rome. The pupils were fur¬
nished with originals and models, and prizes were distri¬
buted annually. The prize for painting was a gold medal,
and no prize was bestowed till all the competing pieces
had been subjected to the examination and criticism of
competent judges. Before the effects of the French re¬
volution reached Italy, this was one of the best establish¬
ments of the kind in that kingdom. In the hall of the
academy were some admirable pieces of Correggio, as
well as several ancient paintings and statues of great me¬
rit ; particularly a small bust of Vitellius, and a statue of
Agrippina, of most exquisite beauty, though it wants the
head and arms. The Academy of the Arts, which had
been long established at Florence, but which had fallen
into decay, was restored by the late Grand Duke. In it
there are halls for naked and plaster figures, for the use of
the sculptor and the painter. The hall for plaster figures
had models of all the finest statues in Italy, arranged in two
lines; but the treasures of this, as well as all the other
institutions for the fine arts, were greatly diminished by
the rapacity of the French. In the saloon of the Aca¬
demy of the Arts at Modena, there are many casts of an¬
tique statues; but since it was plundered by the french
it has dwindled into a petty school for drawings from
living models : it contains the skull of Correggio. There
is also an Academy of the Fine Arts in Mantua, and an¬
other at Venice.
In Madrid, an Academy for Painting, Sculpture, and
Architecture, was founded by Philip V. The minister
for foreign affairs is president. Prizes are distributed
every three years. In Cadiz, a few students are supplied
by government with the means of drawing and modelling
from figures; and such as are not able to purchase the
requisite instruments are provided with them.
An Academy of the Fine Arts was founded at Stock- AcadJj
holm in the year 1733 by Count Tessin. In its hall arev->~v
the ancient figures of plaster presented by Louis XIV. to
Charles XL The works of the students are publicly ex¬
hibited, and prizes are distributed annually. Such of
them as display distinguished talents obtain pensions from
government, to enable them to reside in Italy for some
years, for the purposes of investigation and improvement.
In this academy there are nine professors, and generally
about four hundred students. In the year 1705, an Academy
of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture was established
at Vienna, with the view of encouraging and promoting
the fine arts.
The Royal Academy of Music is a name given in France
to the grand opera, which is considered as in some sort a
combination of all the liberal arts ; painting, music, and the
dance forming the principal part of that enchanting spec¬
tacle. The opera is of Venetian origin; and the Abbe
Perrin, who officiated as master of the ceremonies to Gas¬
ton, Duke of Orleans, was the first who introduced it at
Paris. He obtained letters patent from the king, dated
the 28th June 1669, conferring upon him the privilege of
establishing Operatic Academies in Music and in French
Verse throughout the kingdom. Latterly, the theatre
where operas are represented has been denominated the
Theatre des Arts ; a name which has probably been sug¬
gested by the following verses of Voltaire, which convey
a just definition of this delightful entertainment:—
II faut se rendre a ce palais magique,
Ou les beaux vers, la danse, la musique,
L’art de tromper les yeux par les couleurs,
L’art plus heureux de sdduire les coeurs,
De cent plaisirs font un plaisir unique.
The Academy of Ancient Music was established in Lon¬
don in 1710, by several persons of distinction, and other
amateurs, in conjunction with the most eminent masters of
the time, in the view of promoting the study and practice of
vocal and instrumental harmony. This institution, which
had the advantage of a library, consisting of the most ce¬
lebrated compositions, both foreign and domestic, in ma¬
nuscript and in print, and which was aided by the per¬
formances of the gentlemen of the chapel royal, and the
choir of St Paul’s, with the boys belonging to each, con¬
tinued to flourish for many years. In 1731, a charge of
plagiarism brought against Bononcini, a member of the
academy, for claiming a madrigal of Lotti of Venice as
his own, threatened tlie existence of the institution. Dr
Greene, who had introduced the madrigal into the aca¬
demy, took part with Bononcini, and withdrew from the
society, taking with him the boys of St Paul’s. In 1734,
Mr Gates, another member of the society, and master of
the children of the royal chapel, also retired in disgust;
so that the institution was thus deprived of the assistance
which the boys afforded it in singing the soprano parts.
From this time the academy became a seminary for the
instruction of youth in the principles of music and the
laws of harmony. Dr Pepusch, who was one of its foun¬
ders, was active in accomplishing this measure; and by
the expedients of educating boys for their purpose, and
admitting auditor members, the subsistence of the aca¬
demy was continued. The Royal Academy of Music M as
formed by the principal nobility and gentry of the king¬
dom, for the performance of operas, composed by Mr
Handel, and conducted by him at the theatre in the Hay-
market. The subscription amounted to LAO,000, and the
king, besides subscribing L.1000, allowed the society to
assume the title of Royal Academy. It consisted of a
governor, deputy-governor, and tM^enty directors. A con¬
test between Handel and Senesmo, one of the performers,
ACADEMY. 75
idemy. in which the directors took the part of the latter, occa-
v^Ogioned the dissolution of the academy, after it had subsist¬
ed with reputation for more than nine years.
The Academy of Architecture was founded, under
Louis XIV., by his celebrated minister Colbert in 1671,
and was composed of the most distinguished architects of
the time. It was provided, however, that the professor of
architecture, and the secretary to the academy, should al¬
ways be chosen from those Architects intrusted with the
superintendence of royal edifices ; and the title of acade¬
mician was conferred by brevet. The Academy of Archi¬
tecture held its sittings every Monday at the Louvre,
where it occupied the apartment called the Queens Sa¬
loon ; but at the commencement of the Revolution it was
remodelled, like the Academy of Sciences, and transform¬
ed into a school for the cultivation and improvement of
the fine arts. This school was divided into two sections,
the first of which was devoted to painting and sculpture,
and the second to architecture; and these two sections
received, by a royal ordonnance of the 11th August 1819,
the title of Royal Academy of the Fine Arts. The in¬
struction in architecture at this institution consists of
lessons given in special courses of lectures by four dif¬
ferent professors ; first, on the theory of the art; secondly,
on its history; thirdly, on the mathematical principles of
construction; and, fourthly, on perspective; which last
branch is common to both sections. By the munificence
of the government, this institution is amply provided with
means for supporting the pupils admitted within its walls,
as also for affording them every facility in the prosecution
of their studies ; and with the view of exciting emulation
as well as rewarding excellence, a grand prize is annually
‘ given.
The Academy of Dancing was erected by Louis XIV.,
and had particular privileges conferred upon it.
VII. Academies of Law. Under this head we may
mention the famous academy at Berytus, and that of the
Sitientes at Bologna. We are not aware of any other.
VIII. Academies of History. The first of these to
which we shall advert, is the Royal Academy of Portuguese
History at Lisbon. This academy was instituted by King
John V. in 1720. It consists of a director, four censors,
a secretary, and fifty members, to each of whom is assign¬
ed some part of the ecclesiastical or civil history of the
nation, which he is required to treat either in Latin or
Portuguese. In the church history of each diocese, the
prelates, synods, councils, churches, monasteries, acade¬
mies, persons illustrious for sanctity or learning, and places
famous for miracles or relics, must be distinctly i*elated in
twelve chapters. The civil history comprises the transac¬
tions of the kingdom, from the government of the Ro¬
mans down to the present time. The members who re¬
side in the country are obliged to make collections and
extracts out of all the registers, &c. where they live. Their
meetings take place once every fifteen days. A medal
was struck by this academy in honour of their prince, on
the obverse of which was his effigy, with the inscription
Johannes V. Lusitanorum Rex, and on the reverse, the
same prince represented standing, and raising History,
almost prostrate before him, with the legend, Historia,
Rxsurges. Underneath are the following words in abbre¬
viature : REGia ACADemia HISTorim LUSITan®, IN-
SlITuta VI. Idus Decembris MDCCXX.
An Academy of History was some time ago established
by some learned men at Tubingen, for publishing the best
historical writings, the lives of the chief historians, and
compiling new memoirs on any matter of importance con¬
nected with either.
1 c About the year 1730, a few individuals in Madrid agreed
to assemble at stated periods, for the purpose of pre- Academy,
serving and illustrating the historical monuments of Spain.
In the year 1738, the rules which they had drawn up
were confirmed by a royal cedula of Philip V. This aca¬
demy consists of twenty-four members. The device is a
river at its source ; the motto, Ln patriampopulumquefluit.
It has published editions of Mariana, Sepulveda, Solis,
and the ancient Chronicles relative to the affairs of Castile,
several of which were never before printed. All the di¬
plomas, charters, &c. belonging to the principal cities in
Spain, since the earliest period, are in its possession. It
has long been employed in preparing a geographical dic¬
tionary of that country.
IX. Academies of Antiquities; as that at Cortona in
Italy, and that at Upsal in Sweden. The first is designed
for the study of Pletrurian antiquities ; the other for illus¬
trating the northern languages, and the antiquities of
Sweden, in which valuable discoveries have been made by
it. The head of the Hetrurian academy is called Luco-
mon, a name by which the ancient governors of the coun¬
try were distinguished. One of their laws is, to give
audience to poets only one day in the year; and another is,
to fix their sessions, and impose a tax of a dissertation on
each member in his turn.
The Academy of Medals and Inscriptions at Paris was
set on foot by M. Colbert, under the patronage of Louis
XIV. in 1663, for the study and explanation of ancient mo¬
numents, and for perpetuating great and memorable events,
especially those of the French monarchy, by coins, relievos,
inscriptions, &c. The number of members w’as at first con¬
fined to four or five, chosen out of those of the French acade¬
my ; and they met in the library of M. Colbert, from whom
they received his Majesty’s orders. Though the days of
their meetings were not determined, they generally as¬
sembled on Wednesdays, especially in the winter season;
but, in 1691, the king having given the inspection of this
academy to M. de Pontchartrain, comptroller-general of
the finances, he fixed their meetings on Tuesdays and
Saturdays. By a new regulation, dated the 16th of July
1701, the academy was composed of ten honorary mem¬
bers ; ten associates, each of whom had two declarative
voices; ten pensioners; and ten eleves, or pupils. They
then met every Tuesday and Wednesday, in one of the
halls of the Louvre; and had two public meetings yearly,
one the day after Martinmas, and the other the 16th after
Easter. The class of eleves was suppressed, and united
to the associates. The king nominated their president
and vice-president yearly; but their secretary and treasur¬
er were perpetual. The rest were chosen by the mem¬
bers themselves, agreeably to the constitutions on that
head given to them. One of the first undertakings of this
academy was to compose, by means of medals, a con¬
nected history of the principal events of Louis XIV.’s
reign. In this design, however, they met with very great
difficulties, and consequently it was interrupted for a
number of years; but at length it was completed down
to the advancement of the Duke of Anjou to the crow*
of Spain. In this celebrated work, the establishment
of the academy itself was not forgotten. The medal on
this subject represents Mercury sitting, and writing with
an antique stylus on a table of brass ; he leans with
his left hand upon an urn full of medals, and at his
feet are several others placed upon a card. The le¬
gend is, Rerum gestarum fides, and on the exergue, Aca¬
demia Regia Inscriptionum et Numismatum, instituta
MDCLXIII.; signifying, that the Royal Academy of Me¬
dals and Inscriptions, founded in 1663, ought to give to
future ages a faithful testimony of all great actions. Be¬
sides this work, we have several volumes of their me-
76
ACADEMY.
Academy, moirs; and their history, written and continued by their
secretaries.
Under this class the Academy of Herculaneum proper¬
ly ranks. It was established at Naples about 1^55, at
which period a museum was formed of the antiquities
found at Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other places, by the
Marquis Tanucci, who was then minister of state. Its ob¬
ject was to explain the paintings, &c. which were discover¬
ed at those places ; and for this purpose the members met
every fortnight, and at each meeting three paintings were
submitted to three academicians, who made their report
on them at their next sitting. The first volume of their
labours appeared in 1775, and they have been continued
under the title of Antichitd di Ercolarw. They contain
engravings of the principal paintings, statues, bronzes,
warble figures, medals, utensils, &c. with explanations.
In the year 1807, an Academy of History and Antiquities,
on a new plan, was established at Naples, by Joseph Buona¬
parte. The number of members was limited to forty;
twenty of whom were to be appointed by the king, and
these twenty were to present to him, for his choice, three
names for each of those wanted to complete the full num¬
ber. Eight thousand ducats were to be annually allotted
for the current expenses, and two thousand for prizes to
the authors of four works, which should be deemed by the
academy most deserving of such a reward. A grand meet¬
ing was to be held every year, when the prizes were to be
distributed, and analyses of the works read. The first
meeting took place on the 25th of April 1807 ; but the sub¬
sequent changes in the political state of Naples have pre¬
vented the full and permanent establishment of this insti¬
tution. In the same year an academy was established at
Florence, for the illustration of Tuscan antiquities, which
has published some volumes of memoirs.
In consequence of the attention of several literary men
in Paris having been directed to Celtic antiquities, a Celtic
Academy was established in that city in the year 1807.
Its objects were, first, the elucidation of the history, cus¬
toms, antiquities, manners, and monuments of the Celts,
particularly in France ; secondly, the etymology of all the
European languages, by the aid of the Celto-British,
Welsh, and Erse; and, thirdly, researches relating to
Druidism. The attention of the members was also parti¬
cularly called to the history and settlements of the Galatae
in Asia. Lenoir, the keeper of the museum of French
monuments, was appointed president. A fasciculus, con¬
sisting of 150 or 160 pages, was to be published monthly;
and the engravings illustrative of Celtic antiquities were
to be under the inspection of Lenoir. The devices are,
Gloria. Majorum, and Sermonem patriam moresque re-
quiret.
X. Academies of Belles Lettres are those wherein
eloquence and poetry are chiefly cultivated. These are
very numerous in Italy, and were not uncommon in
France.
The Academy of Umidi at Florence has contributed
greatly to the progress of the sciences by the excellent
Italian translations executed by some of its members, of
the ancient Greek and Latin historians. But their chief
attention was directed to Italian poetry, at the same time
that they applied themselves to the polishing of their lan¬
guage, which produced the Academy della Crusca.
The Academy of Humourists, Umoristi, had its origin
at Rome in the marriage of Lorenzo Marcini, a Roman
gentleman, at which several persons of rank were guests;
for it being carnival time, to give the ladies some diver¬
sion, they betook themselves to the reciting of verses,
sonnets, speeches, first extempore, and afterwards preme¬
ditately ; which gave them the denomination of Bdli Hu-
marl After some experience, and coming more and more Acade
into the taste of these exercises, they resolved to form an^v
academy of belles lettres, and changed the title of Belli
Humori for that of Humoristi; choosing for their de¬
vice a cloud, which, after being formed of exhalations
from the salt waters of the ocean, returns in a gentle
sweet shower; with this motto from Lucretius, Redlt
agmine dulci.
In 1690, the Academy of Arcadi was established at
Rome, for reviving the study of poetry and of the belles
lettres. Besides most of the politer wits of both sexes
in Italy, this academy comprehended many princes, cardi¬
nals, and other ecclesiastics ; and, to avoid disputes about
pre-eminence, all appeared masked after the manner of
Arcadian shepherds. Within ten years from its first
establishment, the number 6f Academicians amounted to
six hundred. They held assemblies seven times a year
in a meadow or grove, or in the gardens of some noble¬
man of distinction. Six of these meetings were employed
in the recitation of poems and verses of the Arcadi re¬
siding at Rome, who read their own compositions; ex¬
cept ladies and cardinals, who were allowed to employ
others. The seventh meeting was set apart for the com¬
positions of foreign or absent members. This academy is
governed by a custos, who represents the whole society,
and is chosen every four years, with a power of electing
twelve others yearly for his assistance. Under these are
two sub-custodes, one vicar or pro-custos, and four depu¬
ties or superintendents, annually chosen. The laws of the
society are immutable, and bear a near resemblance to the
ancient model. There are five modes of electing members.
The first is by acclamation. This is used when sovereign
princes, cardinals, and ambassadors of kings desire to be ad¬
mitted ; and the votes are then given viva voce. The second
is called annumeration. This was introduced in favour of
ladies and academical colonies, where the votes are taken
privately. The third, representation, was established in
favour of colonies and universities, where the young gentry
are bred, who have each a privilege of recommending one or
two members privately to be balloted for. The fourth,
surrogation, whereby new members are substituted in the
room of those dead or expelled. The last, destination,
whereby, when there is no vacancy of members, persons
of poetical merit have the title of Arcadi conferred upon
them till such time as a vacancy shall happen. All the
members of this body, at their admission, assume new pas¬
toral names, in imitation of the shepherds of Arcadia.
The academy has several colonies of Arcadi in different
cities of Italy, who are all regulated after the same man¬
ner.
XI. Academies of Languages, called by some, Gram¬
matical Academies ; as,
The Academy della Crusca at Florence, famous for its voca¬
bulary of the Italian tongue, which was formed in 1582, but
scarce heard of before the year 1584, when it became noted
for a dispute between Tasso and several of its members.
Many authors confound this with the Florentine academy.
The discourses which Torricelli, the celebrated disciple of
Galileo, delivered in the assemblies, concerning levity,
the wind, the power of percussion, mathematics, and mili¬
tary architecture, are a proof that these academies applied
themselves to things as well as words.
The Academy of Fructiferi had its rise in 1617, at an
assembly of several princes and nobility of the country,
who met with a design to refine and perfect the German
tongue. It flourished long under the direction of princes
of the empire, who were always chosen presidents. In
1668, the number of members arose to upwards of nine
hundred. It was prior in time to the French academy,
ACADEMY. 77
A idemy. which only appeared in 1629, and was not established
^ into an academy before the year 1635. Its history is
written in the German tongue, by George Neumarck.
The French Academy had its rise from a meeting of
men of letters in the house of M. Conrart, in 1629. In
1635, it was erected into an academy by Cardinal Riche¬
lieu, for refining and ascertaining the French language and
style. The number of its members was limited to forty, out
of whom a director, chancellor, and secretary were to be
chosen; the two former of whom were to hold their posts
for two months; the latter was perpetual. The members
of this academy enjoyed several privileges and immunities,
among which was that of not being obliged to answer be¬
fore any court but that of the king’s household. They
met three limes a week in the Louvre. At the breaking
up of each meeting forty silver medals were distributed
among the members, having on one side the king of France’s
head, and on the reverse, Protecteur de VAcademic, with
laurel, and this motto, A FImmortalite. By this distribution,
the attendance of the academicians was secured; for those
who were present received the surplus intended for the
absent. To elect or expel a member, the concurrence of
at least eighteen was required; nor could any one be chosen
unless he petitioned for it; by which expedient the affront
of refusals on the part of persons elected was avoided. Re¬
ligious persons were not admitted ; nor could any nobleman
or person of distinction be elected on any other footing than
as a man of letters. None could be expelled, except for
base and dishonest practices ; and there were but two in¬
stances of such expulsions, the first of M. Grainer for re¬
fusing to return a deposit, the other of the Abbe Fure-
tiere for plagiarism. The design of this academy was to
give not only rules, but examples, of good writing. They
began with making speeches on subjects taken at pleasure,
about twenty of which were printed. At their first insti¬
tution they jnet with great opposition from the parliament;
it being two years before the patents granted by the king
could be registered. This institution has been severely
satirized, and the style of its compositions has been ri¬
diculed as enervating instead of refining the French lan¬
guage. They were also charged with having surfeited
the world by flattery, and exhausted all the topics of pane¬
gyric in praise of their founder; it being a duty incumbent
on every member, at his admission, to make a speech in
praise of the king, the cardinal, the chancellor Seguier,
and the person in whose room he is elected. The most
remarkable work of this academy is a dictionary of the
French tongue ; which, after fifty years spent in settling
the words and phrases to be used in writing, was at last
published in 1694.
An academy similar to the ab»ve was founded at Peters¬
burg under the auspices of the Princess Dashkof; and the
plan having been approved by the crown, a fund was esta¬
blished for its support. It is attached to the Imperial
Academy of Sciences at St Petersburg.
The Royal Spanish Academy at Madrid held its first
meeting in July 1713, in the palace of its founder, the
Duke d’Escalona. It consisted at first of eight acade¬
micians, including the duke; to which number fourteen
others were afterwards added, the founder being chosen
president or director. In 1714, the king granted them
the royal confirmation and protection. Their device is a
crucible in the middle of the fire, with this motto, Limpia,
Fixa,' y da Esplendor ; “ It purifies, fixes, and gives bright¬
ness. The number of members was limited to twenty-
four ; the Duke d’Escalona was chosen director for life, but
his successors were elected yearly, and the secretary for
life. 1 heir object, as marked out by the royal declaration,
was to cultivate and improve the national language. They
were to begin with choosing carefully such words and Academy!
phrases as have been used by the best Spanish writers ;V^-vr's*-''
noting the low, barbarous, or obsolete ones ; and cofnpos-
ing a dictionary wherein these might be distinguished from
the former.
The Royal Swedish Academy was founded in the year
1786, for the purpose of purifying and perfecting the Swe¬
dish language. A medal is struck by its direction every
year in honour of some illustrious Swede. This academy
does not publish its transactions.
XII. Academies of Politics. Of this description was
that at Paris, consisting of six persons, who met at the
Louvre, in the chamber where the papers relating to fo¬
reign affairs were lodged. But this academy proved of
little service, as the kings of France were unwilling to trust
any but their ministers with the inspection of foreign af¬
fairs.
Academy is a term also applied to those royal col¬
legiate seminaries in which young men are educated for
the navy and army. In our country there are three se¬
minaries of this description ; the Naval Academy at Ports¬
mouth, the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and
the Royal Military College at Farnham and Sandhurst.
Of these we shall give some account in their order.
I. The Naval Academy at Portsmouth was founded by
George I. in 1722; but the official warrant for its esta¬
blishment does not appear to have been issued till the
21st of February 1729. This warrant bears, that the aca¬
demy was instituted for the education of forty young
gentlemen, fifteen of whom were to be sons of commis¬
sioned officers in the navy. The commissioner of the
navy at Portsmouth was, ex officio, to be governor; and
there were to be two masters for the instruction of the
students in navigation and the sciences introductory or
auxiliary to it; besides a master for writing and drawing.
The annual expense was about L.1169.
In the year 1773, George III., during a visit he paid
to Portsmouth, suggested the extension and improve¬
ment of the Naval Academy; but no steps were taken to¬
wards this object till the year 1806, when an order in
council was issued for a new and enlarged establishment.
By this order it was henceforward to be called the Royal
Naval College, at Dock-yard, Portsmouth, and the follow¬
ing officers were appointed: first, a Governor, who was to
be the First Lord of the Admiralty for the time being;
and, second, a Lieutenant-Governor and inspector, who was
to be a post-captain in the navy. As the course of edu¬
cation which the students were to follow necessarily em¬
braced the mathematical sciences, the order directed that
the University of Cambridge should recommend three of
its graduates, who were able mathematicians; one of
whom, the First Lord of the Admiralty, as governor, was
to nominate professor. In order to incite him to the re¬
gular and faithful discharge of his duty, he was to receive
no fixed salary, but to be paid L.8 annually by each stu¬
dent attending the academy. The next in rank and au¬
thority under the professor is the preceptor, or head master,
who must be a graduate of one of the universities. He has
the control of the students at all hours, and is to instruct
them in the classics, moral philosophy, geography, history,
and general literature.
The order in council also appointed a writing-master,
who, besides giving instructions in his own immediate
line, was to prepare the students for the lectures of the
professor, by teaching them arithmetic, fractions, algebra,
and geometry. There are, besides, masters for drawing,
French, dancing, and fencing. The surgeon of the dock¬
yard gives his professional advice and assistance. The
domestic economy of the establishment is intrusted, by
78 ACADEMY.
Academy, the order in council, to a disabled and meritorious half-
pay lieutenant.
The peculiar advantages of this academy, however,
consist in the practical knowledge which it is intended
and calculated to bestow on those who are admitted. For
this purpose, the master attendant of the dock-yard gives
weekly lessons on the management of ships afloat, in one
of the cruising sloops; and likewise lessons in rigging
and preparing ships for sea, on board such vessels as are
preparing to sail from Portsmouth harbour. Forty-seven
lessons are given in each of these branches annually, five
weeks being allowed for holydays.
The master shipwright of the dock-yard instructs ‘the
students in the principles on which ships of war are built,
and in the mode of putting the several parts to ether;
making masts, and all other branches of naval architec¬
ture, by attending them one day in the week, during the
six summer months, through the dock-yards. The gunner
of marine artillery also instructs them in the practical
knowledge of gunnery, and in the use of the firelock.
The number of scholars, by the order in council of
February 1806, was increased from forty to seventy: of
these, thirty might be indiscriminately sons of officers,
noblemen, or gentlemen ; but forty were invariably to be
sons of commissioned officers in the naval service. None
are admitted under thirteen, nor above sixteen years of
age; and those are preferred to fill vacancies who have
been previously at sea, provided they are of the proper age.
No student can remain at the academy longer than three
years; and the whole period of his residence is to be
reckoned as two of the six years which it is necessary for
a midshipman to serve before he can obtain a lieuten¬
ant’s commission. Each student, while actually at the
academy, that is, during three hundred and thirty days
in the year, receives four shillings daily; out of which he
pays L.8 annually to the professor. The annual expense
of the establishment, as fixed by the order in council of
1806, is about L.6363.
In order to secure to the country the services of the
students in that line for which they have been educated,
the parents of all of them, except such as have been
previously at sea, grant a bond of L.200, which is for¬
feited in case they do not enter into the naval service.
The first year they are at sea, they are rated as vo¬
lunteers, on able searnaris pay; the second year, they
have the rank and pay of midshipmen. They are direct¬
ed to keep journals, to draw head-lands, &c.; and when
the ship comes into port, they are to attend the professor,
who is to inspect their journals, and examine them regard¬
ing their advancement in the theoretical and practical
knowledge of this profession.
This academy, as established by the order in council
already mentioned, was confined entirely to the education
of young cadets for the navy: but in the third report of
the commissioners, appointed to inquire into the civil
affairs of the navy, laid before Parliament in June 1806,
a regular system of education for shipwrights was also
proposed; and the suggestion was accordingly carried
into effect, though not till some years afterwards. The
professor of the naval academy is also the instructor of
the shipwright apprentices, but his instructions extend
only to that class who are to serve on board his Majesty’s
ships of war. No apprentice can be admitted to the aca¬
demy under sixteen years of age; and he must be pre¬
viously examined by the professor, before a committee of
the navy board, in arithmetic, the first six books of Eu¬
clid, and in French. If the candidate is approved, he
must be bound to the resident commissioner of the dock¬
yard for seven years, six of which he spends at the aca¬
demy, and one at sea. The salary of the apprentices in- Acadet
creases yearly, from L.60 to L.140; out of which theyv-^v
pay L.8 to the professor. The number of these appren¬
tices was originally limited to twenty-five; but latterly,
six more have been added. They spend half the day un¬
der the professor; and the other half under the master
shipwright, in the mould lofts, learning the management
of timber, and manual labour in ship-building. Lectures
are delivered three times a week, after working hours,
on the branches of science connected with naval architec¬
ture ; and annual examinations take place before the re¬
sident commissioner, the master shipwright, and the pro¬
fessor.
Out of the class of shipwright apprentices thus educat¬
ed, are selected the master measurers, foremen of ship¬
wrights, master boat-builders, master mast-makers, assist¬
ants to master ship-builders, mechanists in office of in¬
spector-general of naval works, assistants to surveyors
of the navy, master shipwrights, second surveyor of navy,
inspector-general of navy works, and first surveyor of
navy.
II. The Royal Military Academy at Woolwich was es¬
tablished by George II. by warrants dated 30th of April
and 18th November 1741, for the purpose of instructing
“ raw and inexperienced people belonging to the military
branch of the ordnance, in the several parts of the mathe¬
matics necessary for the service of the artillery, and the
business of engineers.” We find no further notice re¬
specting this institution till the year 1776, when the num¬
ber of scholars, then called cadets, amounted to forty-
eight. In the year 1786, they were increased to sixty;
in 1796, to ninety; and in 1798, to one hundred, forty of
whom were educated for the service of the East India
Company. This number continued till the year 1806,
when the establishment was improved and further ex¬
tended, the number of masters being increased, and the
cadets being divided into two bodies. This latter regula¬
tion took place in consequence principally of the unhealthy
and confined situation of the old buildings in the royal
arsenal; new buildings having been erected on Woolwich
Common, on the side of Shooter’s Hill, in a more open
and dry situation. As soon as these were finished, one
hundred and twenty-eight cadets were lodged in them;
sixty still continuing in the royal arsenal. At this period,
there were nine masters of mathematics. In 1810, the
cadets for the service of the East India Company were
withdrawn from Woolwich; and the extra cadets, who,
for want of room, had been sent to Marlow, or to private
schools, were taken into the college, under the name of
supernumeraries. The establishment at present consists
of two hundred cadets, one hundred and twenty-eight of
whom are in the new buildings, and seventy-two, includ¬
ing twelve supernumeraries, reside in the arsenal. The
number of cadets is not fixed by warrant, but is at the
discretion of the master-general of ordnance, who, with
the board of ordnance, have the entire superintendence of
the institution. The immediate direction, however, is
vested in the lieutenant-governor and inspector, who are
chosen generally from the artillery or engineers by the
master-general of the ordnance. It is the duty of these
officers, aided by the assistant inspector, to control the
masters and professors, and to see that the cadets are
taught the necessary branches of instruction. The pro¬
fessors and masters are appointed on the recommendation
ot the lieutenant-governor, who, assisted by men of science,
previously examines them. One master is appointed for
every sixteen cadets. At present there are a professor of
fortification, with two assistants ; a professor of mathema¬
tics, with six masters and assistants ; two French masters;
ACADEMY.
79
tjemv.a drawing-master for ground, and an assistant; a drawing-
' / master for figures, and another for landscape ; a dancing-
master ; a fencing-master; two modellers ; and a lecturer
on chemistry. Lectures are also given on the different
branches of natural philosophy. The inferior branches of
education are taught at the lower institution in the arse¬
nal, and the higher branches at the buildings on the com¬
mon.
The young men educated at the Royal Military Aca¬
demy of Woolwich are the sons of noblemen, gentlemen,
or military officers. They are called gentlemen cadets,
and cannot be admitted under fourteen, nor above sixteen
years of age. They are nominated by the master-general
of the ordnance, as governor of the academy; but they
must be well grounded in English grammar, -arithmetic,
and French ; and they undergo a previous public exami¬
nation before the masters of the academy. The cadets
educated at Woolwich are considered as the first company
of the royal regiment of artillery, of which the master-ge¬
neral of the ordnance is the captain. They are also divided
into companies, each company having a captain and two
subalterns, as military directors. Each cadet receives
2s. 6d. a day, or L.45. 12s. 6d. a year, which covers all
his regular expenses, except keeping up his linen. The
annual vacations consist of twelve weeks.
Monthly returns of the studies of the cadets, showing
the relative progress of each in every branch, with his
particular character subjoined, are sent to the master-
general of the ordnance: there are also public examina¬
tions before the general officers of the ordnance corps.
Commissions are given to the cadets according to the
report of their merits and acquirements ; they have their
choice of entering either into the artillery or engineers.
The whole expense to government, of the Royal Military
Academy at Woolwich, is at the rate of about L.100 for
each cadet.
III. The Royal Military College, which is at present
established at Farnham, in Surrey, and at Sandhurst, near
Bagshot, was originally settled at High Wycombe and
Great Marlow. • The establishment at High Wycombe
commenced in January 1799, at which time there was a
superintendent, commandant, two or three professors, and
thirty-four students. Next year four more professors
were added; and in 1801 it took the name of the Royal
Military College by warrant of George III. A supreme
board of commissioners, to superintend and regulate its
concerns, was appointed, consisting of the commander-in-
chief, secretary of war, and the heads of the great mili¬
tary departments, with others of high rank in the army ;
three of whom, including the secretary of war, and the
adjutant or quartermaster-general, were to form a board
of management. By his Majesty’s warrant, dated the 4th
of June 1802, another department, called the Junior De¬
partment of the Royal Military College, was formed; and
the objects of this, as well as of the original, or Senior
Department, were specifically pointed out. A collegiate
board was also established, for the internal government of
the college, consisting of the governor, lieutenant-go¬
vernor, and the commandants of the two departments.
The last warrant relating to this establishment is dated
27th May 1808. It places both the departments, form¬
ing one college, under the command of the governor and
lieutenant-governor; it continues the collegiate board;
and it vests the appointment of professors and masters,
after public notice of vacancies, and the examination of
the candidates in the presence of the collegiate board, in
the supreme board.
By these warrants it was declared, that the Junior
Department of the Institution, which was then at Marlow,
was principally intended for those who w’ere destined for Academy,
the military profession, in order to ground them in thev-^v^*-^
necessary sciences by the time they could hold commis¬
sions ; and also to afford provision for the orphan sons of
meritorious officers, who had fallen or been disabled in the
service of their country, or whose pecuniary circumstances
rendered them unable to educate their sons properly for
a military life. The warrant of 1808 fixed the number of
students in the Junior Department at four hundred and
twelve, divided into four companies of a hundred and
three cadets each. They are admitted upon three differ¬
ent establishments:—1. Orphan sons of officers of the
army or navy, who have fallen, died, or been disabled in
the service: these are admitted free of expense, except
that they are to bring the first suit of uniform on their
admission, and to keep up their stock of linen, during
their residence at the college. 2. The sons of officers
actually serving in the army or navy, who pay a certain
sum annually, from L.10 to L.60, according to the rank
of their fathers. 3. The sons of noblemen and gentlemen,
who pay L.100 per annum each.
The military branch of the establishment attached to
the Junior Department, consists of a commandant, a major,
three captains, an adjutant, and inferior officers.
The studies pursued in this department are, mathema¬
tics, natural philosophy, history, geography, fortification,
military drawing, landscape drawing, arithmetic, classics,
French, German, fencing, and writing. There are seven
masters of mathematics, four of fortification, five of mili¬
tary drawing, three of landscape drawing, four of history,
geography, and classics, six of French, one of German,
and three of fencing. The course for this department
lasts from three and a half to four years.
Applications for admission must be made to the com¬
mander-in-chief, through the governor of the college, and
his Majesty’s approbation obtained. Every candidate,
previously to admission into the Junior Department, must
pass an examination in Latin and English grammar, and
in the first four rules of arithmetic ; and no candidate can
be admitted under thirteen or above fifteen years of age.
Examinations are held monthly, which are conducted
by the professors of the Senior Department, for the pur¬
pose of ascertaining the progress of each cadet, previously
to his removal from one class to another. There are also
half-yearly examinations, in presence of the collegiate
board, on which occasion one or more members of the
supreme board, not being members of the collegiate
board, attend. These examinations are held previously to
the cadets’ receiving commissions from the college; and
if they acquit themselves well, they are furnished by the
board of commissioners, in whose presence the examina¬
tion takes place, with certificates of qualification to serve
in the army as officers. The third class, or gentlemen
cadets, are allowed to purchase commissions at any time
during their continuance at the college ; but no gentle¬
man cadet can be recommended for a commission by pri¬
vate interest, until he has made a certain progress in his
studies.
The Senior Department of the Royal Military College,
which was originally established at High Wycombe, is in¬
tended for the purpose of instructing officers in the scien¬
tific parts of their profession, with a view of enabling
them better to discharge their duty when acting in the
command of regiments ; and, at the same time, of qualify¬
ing them for being employed in the quartermaster’s and
adjutant-general’s department. The military branch of
the establishment of the Senior Department consists of a
commandant and adjutant. The studies pursued are,
mathematics in all their various branches, fortification,
80
A C A
Academy gunnery, castrametation, military drawing and surveying,
. ^^ the reconnoitring of ground, the disposition and move-
/J^^ment of troops under all the various circumstances of de¬
fensive and offensive war, rules for estimating the mili¬
tary resources of a country, and the German and French
languages. There are six professors in this department;
one for mathematics, one for fortification, two for military
drawing, one for French, and one for German.
The full completnent of the Senior Department consists
of thirty students. No officer can be admitted till he has
completed the twenty-first year of his age, and actually
served with his regiment, as a commissioned officer, three
years abroad, or four years at home. Applications for ad¬
mission must be made to the governor, through the com¬
manding officer of the regiment to which the candidate
belongs; and the governor transmits the application to the
commander-in-chief, for his Majesty’s approbation. Such
examination as may be deemed requisite, is required pre¬
viously to admission. Each student of this department
pays into the funds of the college thirty guineas annually ;
and after a certain period he is obliged to keep a horse,
for the purpose of receiving such instruction as is given
in the field. Therfe are public examinations half-yearly,
conducted on the same principle as the half-yearly exa¬
minations of the Junior Department. Such officers as
A C A
have gone through the regular course of studies, and have Acadi
passed this examination with credit, receive certificates ||]
that they are duly qualified for staff-appointments, signed Acai
by the board who examined them, and sealed with the'v>^v
seal of the college.
Officers or students of the first department, non-com¬
missioned officers, and other military persons belonging to
the college, as well as the gentlemen cadets of the junior
department, are subject to the articles of war; for which
reason the latter are placed on the establishment of the
army, and receive 2s. 6d. per day. This money contri¬
butes towards the expense of their education. The
gentlemen cadets wear military uniforms.
The general staff of the college consists of the gover¬
nor, the lieutenant-governor, the inspector-general of in¬
struction, and the chaplain, who, besides performing divine
service, teaches the evidences and principles of Christian¬
ity. The rest of the staff are exclusively occupied with
the finances of the college.
In 1801, five hundred acres of land were purchased at
Sandhurst, near Bagshot; and on this space large and
commodious buildings were erected, into which the Junior
Department was removed from Great Marlow; but the
Senior Department remained at Farnham, which is at no
great distance from Sandhurst.
Academy Figure, a drawing of a naked man or woman,
taken from the life; which is usually done on paper with
red or black chalk, and sometimes with pastils or crayons.
AC ADIE, or Ac Any, in Geography, a name formerly
given to Nova Scotia, or New Scotland, in America.
ACADNA, in antiquity, a Grecian measure of length,
being a ten feet rod, used in measuring their lands.
AC AM ANTIS, the ancient name of the island of Cy¬
prus, taken from one of its promontories situated to the
west, and called Mania?. Teos in Ionia was also called
thus from Acamas the founder.
_ ACAMAS, son of Theseus, followed the rest of the Gre¬
cian princes to the siege of Troy; and was deputed, with
Diomedes, to the TrojanS, in order to get Helen restored.
Laodice, Priam’s daughtfer, fell in love with, and had a
son by him, called Munitus. He was one of the heroes
who concealed themselves in the wooden horse. One of
the tribes of Athens was called Acamantides from him, by
the appointment of the! oracle; and he founded a city
in Phrygia Major, called Acamantium. Homer men¬
tions two other heroes of this name: one a Thracian
prince, who came to succour Priam; another a son of
Antenor.
ACANGIS, that is, Ravdc/ers or Adventurers; a name
which the Turks give their hussars or light troops, who
are generally sent out in detachments to procure intelli¬
gence, harass the enemy, or ravage the country.
ACANTHA, in Botany, the prickle of any plant: in
Zoology, a term for the lupine or prickly fins of fishes.
ACANTHABOLUS, in Surgery, an instrument for
pulling thorns, or the like, out of the skin.
ACANTHINE, any thing resembling or belonging to
the herb acanthus. Acglithine garments, among the an¬
cients, are said to be mdde df the down of thistles ; others
think they were garments embroidered in imitation of the
acanthus.
ACANTHROPTERYGIOUS Fishes, a term used by
Linnaeus and others for those fishes whose back fins are
hard, osseous, and prickly.
ACANTHUS, in Architecture, an ornament representing
the leaves of the Acanthus, used in the capitals of the
Corinthian and Composite orders.
ACAPALA, or Acapula, a town in the province of
Chiapa, in New Spain, which is situated on Tabasco river,
about five leagues north-west from Chiapa.
ACAPAM, a town of Asia, on the Euxine Sea.
ACAPULCO, a considerable town and port in Mexico,
on a bay of the South Sea, distant from the city of Mexi¬
co south-east 210 miles. It has a remarkably fine har¬
bour, from whence a ship annually sails to Manilla in the
Philippine islands in Asia; and another returns annually
from thence with all the treasures of the East Indies,
such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and other precious
stones; the rich carpets of Persia; the camphire of Bor¬
neo ; the benjamin and ivory of Pegu and Cambodia; the
silks, muslins, and calicoes, of the Mogul’s country; the
gold dust, tea, china ware, silk, and cabinets, of China
and Japan ; besides cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmegs, and
pepper; insomuch that this single ship contains more
riches than many whole fleets. The goods brought to
Acapulco are carried to the city of Mexico by mules and
pack-horses. Acapulco is but a small place, containing
about 4000 inhabitants, mostly people of colour; who
are increased to 9000 by the resort of strangers to the
annual fair, held wdien the Manilla galleon arrives. A
wretched fort, with 31 pieces of cannon, defends the har¬
bour, which is equally extensive, safe, and commodious.
Ihe basin which constitutes this harbour is surrounded
by lolty mountains, which are so dry that they are even
destitute of water, dhe air here is hot, heavy, and un¬
wholesome ; to which none can habituate themselves ex¬
cept certain negroes that are born under a similar climate,
or some mulattoes. Upon the arrival of the galleons,
traders flock hither from all the provinces of Mexico. The
value of the precious metals exported in the galleon
amounts in general to about L.200,000 or L.250,000, the
value of the goods to about L.300,000 or L.400,000, ac¬
cording to Humboldt. Long. 99. 46. W. Lat. 16. 50. N.
ACARAI, a town of Paraguay in South America, built
by the Jesuits in 1624.
ACC
ACC
Airauaa ACARAUNA, a small American fish, called by our
II sailors the old wife,
cctilia* a a u a "Mi a o ril* TiVoo qj* (rrcece
81
ACARNAN1A, a country of Free Greece, _  
1 Proper, bounded on the north by the Sinus Ambracius,
and separated from /Etolia by the river Achelous on the
east, and on the west by the Ionian Sea. This country
was famous for an excellent breed of horses; so that Axa^-
mcwxo; mro; is a proverbial saying for any thing excellent
in its kind. It now forms the western part of Livadia.
ACARON, or Accaron, a town of Palestine, called
Ekron in Scripture. It was the boundary of the Philis¬
tines to the north; stood at some distance from the sea,
near Bethshemesh; and was famous for the idol of Baal-
zebub.
ACASTUS, in classic history, the son of Pelias, king
of Thessaly, and one of the most famous hunters of the
time, married Hippolita, who falling desperately in love
with Peleus her son-in-law, and he refusing to gratify her
wishes, she accused him to her husband of a rape; on
which he slew them both.
ACATALECTIC, a term in ancient poetry for such
verses as have all their feet or syllables, in contradistinc¬
tion to those that have a syllable too few. The first verse
of the two following from Horace is acatalectic or com¬
plete, the last catalectic or deficient.
Solvitur acris hiems grata vice veris et Favoni,
Trahuntque siccas machinee carinas.
ACATALEPSY signifies the impossibility of compre¬
hending something. The distinguishing tenet of the Pyr-
rhonists was their asserting an absolute acatalepsy in re¬
gard to every thing.
ACATERY, or Accatry, anciently an officer of the
king’s household, designed for a check betwixt the clerks
of the kitchen and the purveyors.
ACATHARSIA, in Medicine, an impurity of the blood
or humours.
ACATHISTUS, the name of a solemn hymn or vigil,
anciently sung in the Greek church on the Saturday of
the fifth week of Lent, in honour of the Virgin, for having
thrice delivered Constantinople from the invasions of the
barbarous nations. It was denominated uxudiisros, i. e.
without sitting, because, in the celebration of the praises
of the Virgin, the people stood all night singing.
ACATlUM, in Ancient Navigation, a kind of boat or
pinnace used for military purposes. The acatium was a
species of those vessels called naves actuarice, i. e. such
as were wrought with oars. It was sometimes made use
of in battle. Strabo describes it as a privateer or pirate
sloop, and Suidas as a fishing vessel.
ACAULIS, in Botany, a term applied to certain plants,
the flowers of which have no pedicle or stalk to support
them, but rest immediately on the ground, such as the
carline thistle, &c.
ACCA, Saint, bishop of Hagustaldt, or Hexham, in
Northumberland, succeeded Wilfrid in that see in 709.
He ornamented his cathedral in a most magnificent man¬
ner ; furnished it with plate and holy vestments; and
erected a noble library, consisting chiefly of ecclesiastical
learning, and a large collection of the lives of the saints,
w ich he was at great pains to procure. He was account¬
ed a very able divine, and was famous for his skill in
church music. He wrote several books', particularly Pas-
sioncs Sanctorum, and Pro illustrandis Scripturis, ad Be-
dam. He died in 740, having enjoyed the see of Hexham
years, under Egbert king of the Northumbrians.
ACC ALIA, in Roman antiquity, solemn festivals held in
nonour of Acca Laurentia, Romulus’s nurse: they were
otherwise called Laurent alia.
vol. II.
ACCAPITARE, in Law, the act of becoming vassal ofAccapitare
a lord, or of yielding him homage and obedience. Hence, II
ACCAPlTUM signifies the money paid by a vassal Aeeclcra-
upon his admission to a feu. tion.
Accapitum, in our Ancient Law, was used also to ex-'
press the relief or fee payable on the entry of an heir to
the chief lord.
ACCEDAS ad curiam, in English Law, a writ used
where a man has received, or fears, false judgment in an
inferior court. It lies also for justice delayed, and is a
species of the writ Recordare.
ACCELERATION, in Natural Philosophy, denotes
generally an increase of motion or velocity, and is chiefly
applied to the motion of such bodies as go on, not with a
uniform motion, but one which becomes continually quick¬
er and quicker as they advance. A body, for example, roll¬
ing down a hill proceeds slowly at first, but gradually in¬
creases as it descends, until at last it acquires a velocity
and momentum which bears down every thing before it. The
same thing takes place when a body is dropped, and allowed
to fall freely in the air; although the acceleration is here
less observable, on account of the great rapidity of the de¬
scent. The earth, in its annual motion round the sun, is
subject to a continued acceleration from the apogee to
the perigee, while from thence again it suffers a similar
retardation. Many other examples occur of such ac¬
celeration ; but the most interesting is the Acceleration
of Falling Bodies. That such an acceleration does
take place, is obvious from many circumstances, particu¬
larly the increasing momentum which a body acquires in
proportion to the height of its descent. But it was only
by considering the cause of the descent that the true law
of the acceleration was determined. This great discovery
we owe to the genius of Galileo. Various theories had
been framed by philosophers to account for the accele¬
rated descent of falling bodies, but all of them incon¬
clusive and visionary. Some, for instance, ascribed it to
the weight of the pure air above increasing as the body
descended. The followers of Gassendi pretended that
there are continually issuing out of the earth certain
attractive corpuscles directed in an infinite number of
rays; those, say they, ascend and then descend in such a
manner, that the nearer a body approaches to the earth’s
centre, the more of these attractive rays press upon it, in
consequence of which its motion becomes accelerated.
The Cartesians again ascribed the effect to the reiterated
impulses of their materia suhtilis acting continually on
falling bodies, and propelling them downwards. It ap¬
pears now incredible how such dreams could have been
gravely proposed by men having the reputation of philoso¬
phers. Galileo, however, on considering the subject at¬
tentively, and applying the powerful aids of geometry and
mathematics, soon discovered that the true cause was
simply the continued action of the moving force of gravi¬
ty. This force, Galileo reasoned, must operate continu¬
ally on the body, not only at the moment of starting, but
also during every moment of its descent. And as the
body retains and accumulates all these impressions ac¬
cording to the great and original law of moving bodies,
no wonder that its motion should become continually
accelerated: for, suppose that gravity were to act only
at certain small intervals, each second for instance,
and suppose that at first it communicates such a mo¬
tion to the body as causes it to descend, say ten feet
in the first second; the body could not stop here even
though gravity were ceasing altogether to act on it:
retaining the original impression, it would still go on
moving uniformly at the rate of ten feet every second of
its descent; but at the end of the first second, gravity
B
82 ACC
Accelera- again acts on it and communicates a second impression, by
tion. virtue of which it would descend ten feet during the se¬
cond interval, in addition to the ten feet arising from
the original impulse ; so that on the whole it descends 20
feet in the second interval. In the same manner, during
the third interval it would descend 30 feet, and during the
fourth 40, and so on ; the space described in each second
thus increasing regularly with the increase of the time.
Hence Galileo deduced the fundamental law of acce¬
leration in falling bodies, that the Velocity, which in
every case is just the space described in each second
or other fixed interval, increases in exact proportion to
the whole time of descent; so that whatever be the ve¬
locity at the end of the first second, then at the end
of any number of seconds the velocity would just be as
many times greater,—a law from which he easily deduced
all the others regarding the descent of falling bodies,
which are of so much importance in mechanical inquiries.
The most remarkable is that which regards the Space1
described, or the total amount of the descent in a given
time. This Galileo deduced very elegantly from a simple
geometrical consideration. In every case of a body
moving uniformly without acceleration, the space describ¬
ed in any given time must be proportional to the time,
and must be found by multiplying the time by the velo¬
city : it may be represented, therefore, by a simple dia¬
gram. Let A B,for instance, de¬
note by its length the velocity of
the body, or the number of feet
described by it in a second, and
CD the time or number of se¬
conds during which it is in motion; then, if we construct
a rectangle a E, of which one of the sides, a b, is equal
to A B, and the other, c d, equal to C D, t
this rectangle, that is, the number of
square feet in it, will denote the space,
that is, the number of lineal feet described
during the- whole period. Let us now
apply this principle to the case of a body
moving with an accelerated velocity, and
let AB, CD, EF, &c. denote the velocities
at the end of certain equal intervals of time,
of which let each be denoted by l m ; and _
suppose also, that during each of these inter¬
vals the motion is uniform, and is only accelerated by a
sort of start which takes place at the end of each : then,
if we construct a rectangle a l b, of
which a b is, equal to A B, the velo¬
city at the end of the first interval, and
a l equal to l m the first interval, this
rectangle will denote the space de¬
scribed during that interval. Continue
now the line a / to m, making lm —
a l ■=. I m, and continue also l c to d,
so that l d may be equal to D C, the velocity during the
second interval, and complete the rectangle dime, this
will denote the space de¬
scribed in the second in¬
terval ; and, in the same
manner, each of the
D-
■B
—D
-F
-H
K
succeeding rectangles in
descending will denote
the space described in
l
Q_d
e
1
ACC
the succeeding interval, so that the total amount of the Aecelera.
descent will be denoted by the sum of all the rectangles
together, or by the compound figure which they form.^^^
But what is the nature of this figure ? It is evidently, as
appears more clearly by taking out the parallel lines,
triangular, only that the longest side presents a ser¬
rated outline. What is the cause of this ? It is clearly
owing to the supposition we have made of the motion
continuing uniform during the intervals, and then in¬
creasing by starts; instead of growing continually, as it
really does. Suppose then that we shorten the intervals
one-half, for instance, and
double their number, we
shall then be much nearer
the truth ; but the inequa¬
lities in the hypothenuse of
the triangle are now great¬
ly reduced ; and the more
we thus diminish the intervals, and increase their num¬
ber, the more nearly does it approach to a straight line.
In the extreme case, therefore, where there are in re¬
ality no intervals, but where the velocity goes on con¬
tinually increasing, neither will there be any inequalities
in the outline; the figure will be really a triangle : and
while the vertical side A B denotes the
time of descent, and the horizontal B C
the velocity, the area of the triangle will
denote in square measure the space
descended in the given time. But the
areas of similar triangles are in every
case proportional to the squares of their
corresponding sides; that is, the area
A B C is to A D E as the square of
A B or B C is to the square of A D or
D E. Hence in general it follows, that the spaces de¬
scribed in any given time or times are always pro¬
portional to the squares of these times, and also to the
squares of the velocities at the end of such times. Thus,
if a body describes 16 feet during the first second of its
descent, it will, during the next, descend 4 times as much,
or 64; during the third 9 times, or 144 feet; during the
fourth 16 times, or 256, and so on.
Such, then, is the great law of acceleration in re¬
gard to the spaces described. It is easily deducible also
from numerical or algebraical considerations. Let the
velocity, for example, at the end of any given time,
such as a second, be denoted by 1; then in the se¬
cond, third, and fourth, it will be 2, 3, 4, &c. But
the space described at the end of any time is evi¬
dently equal to the time multiplied by the mean velo¬
city; that is, the velocity at the half-interval. During
the first second, therefore, the space described will
be -i, during the second
§, during the third f, during
  n     -- o ^
the fourth and so on; adding these successively, the
whole space from the beginning at the end of each in¬
terval will be f, 1£, &c., being each proportional to
the square of the time. Algebraically again, if we suppose
gravity to act only at the end of successive intervals, and
the motion to continue uniform during these, then the
spaces described will form an arithmetical progression,
such as a, 2 a, 3 a, 4 a, 5 a, &c. ... n a, and the whole
space will be the sum of this series, or a + ?J« X ^ ;=
' hnu v iui* lo 3dr ji oSijfinjsnQtS tofhf
——’——■
1 This phrase, we may remark, probablv from Galileo’s geometrical illustration, has been rather aukwardly introduced in these
discussions, and in a way which tends to produce a little obscurity. Space generally includes the idea of extension, in at least two
dimensions, both length and breadth; whereas it is here employed to denote merely the lineal extent, the length of the tracK
by ite tnaviag bariffninnuung gnome THsaoA 64vI mx Jov bak $18 xm .ussidX .Yi&l o&is Jim* '
ACC ACC 83
Aiclera- n2 4- n y. -• Suppose now tlie intervals diminished
■ ion. 2 _
in extent and increased in number indefinitely, they will
bear no sort of proportion to rf2 : the second term of the
above sum therefore may be neglected, and ultimately the
whole space will be proportional to n'2, the square of the
time. In every view, then, this great law is established;
and when we come to try it experimentally, which is done
by means of Atwood’s machine, it is confirmed by the
nicest observation; every falling body describing in the
first second 16-^ feet, and in every other a space propor¬
tional to the time. See Atwoods Machine, Dynamics,
Mechanics, &c. (c.)
Acceleration, in Astronomy, is applied in various
ways, and to different objects. Thus, the Acceleration of
the Fixed Stars denotes that apparent increase of motion
or velocity by which night after night they arrive sooner
and sooner upon the meridian than before. A star which
passes the meridian to-night at 10 o’clock, for instance,
will to-morrow night arrive at it 3' 56" sooner, or at
56' 4" past nine, and so on each succeeding evening;
thus anticipating continually the niQtion of the sun,
which regulates the length of the day. A star which
passes the meridian to-day with the sun, will to-morrow
pass 3' 56" sooner; so that it appears to revolve with a
quicker or accelerated motion. It is in reality the sun,
however, moving continually backwards among the stars
which causes in them this apparent acceleration.
Acceleration of the Planets denotes that accelerated mo¬
tion with which they all, as well as the earth, advance from
the perigee to the apogee of their orbits. This acceleration
is most readily observed by comparing the successive diur¬
nal motions of the planet in its orbit. When the actual
diurnal motion exceeds the mean diurnal motion, the planet
is accelerated ; and, on the other hand, when it falls short of
it, it is retarded, as takes place between the apogee and
perigee.
Acceleration of the Moon is a remarkable increase which
has been discovered in the moon’s motion in her orbit,
which has been going on increasing from age to age by a
gradation so imperceptible, that it was only discovered
or suspected by Dr Halley, on comparing the ancient
eclipses observed at Babylon and others with those of his
own time. The quantity of this acceleration was afterwards
determined by Mr Dunthorne from more accurate data
regarding the longitudes of Alexandria and Babylon, and
from the most authentic eclipse of which any good ac¬
count remains, observed at Babylon in the year 721 be¬
fore Christ. The beginning of this eclipse, as observed
at that time, was about an hour and three quarters sooner
than he found it would have been by computation; and
hence he found the mean acceleration, or what has since
been termed the moon’s secular equation, about 10" of a de¬
gree each century. According to Laplace, it amounts to
11*135". This remarkable fact had long excited the atten¬
tion of astronomers; as, along with several others of the
same kind among the heavenly bodies, it seemed to betray
imperfection; exhibiting inequalities which were contin¬
ually increasing, instead of correcting themselves or being
somehow compensated by that admirable design which
prevailed in every other part of the system. At last, how¬
ever, it was discovered, by the application of a refined
analysis, that these inequalities were not perpetual; that
they actually terminate in the lapse of ages, and again
return in the opposite direction, thus preserving entire
tire harmony of the celestial motions. This fine discovery,
which observation alone could never have disclosed, we
owe to the genius of Laplace. See Astronomy in this
work; also Phil. Tram. No. 204, 218, and vol. xlvi. 1749,
1750, 1777; Mem. de TAcad. Par. 1757, 1763, 1786; Aecelera-
Mem. de TAcad. Berlin, 1773, 1782; Connoissances des tion-
Temps, 1779, 1782, 1790; Newton’s Principia, second . H
edition ; Say’s Astronomy ; Vince’s Astronomy ; Astrono-. Accent‘
mie, par Lalande, &c. (c.)
Accelera tion of Bodies on inclined Planes. The same
general law obtains here as in bodies falling perpendicu¬
larly : the effect of the plane is to make the motion
slower; but the inclination being everywhere equal, the
retardation arising therefrom will proceed equally in all
parts, at the beginning and the ending of the motion.
ACCENDENTES, alower order of ministers in the Ro¬
mish church, whose office is to light and trim the candles.
ACCENDONES, in Roman antiquity, a kind of gladi¬
ators, whose office was to excite and animate the com¬
batants during the engagement. The orthography of the
word is contested: the first edition of Tertullian, by
Rhenanus, has it accedones ; an ancient manuscript, accen-
dones. Aquinas adheres to the former, Pitiscus to the
latter. The origin of the word, supposing it accendones, is
from accendo, I kindle ; supposing it accedones, from accedo,
I accede, am added to. The former places their distin¬
guishing character in enlivening the combat by their ex¬
hortations and suggestions: the latter supposes them to
be much the same with what among us are called seconds,
among the Italians, patroni; excepting that these latter
only stand by to see the laws of the sword duly observed,
without intermeddling to give advice or instruction.
ACCENSI, in the Roman armies, certain supernumer¬
ary soldiers, designed to supply the place of those who
should be killed or anywise disabled. They were thus
denominated, quia accensebantur, or ad censum adjicieban-
tur. Vegetius calls them supernumerarii legionum. Cato
calls them ferentarii, in regard they furnished those en¬
gaged in battle with weapons, drink, &c. Nonnius sug¬
gests another reason of that appellation, viz. because they
fought with stones, slings, and weapons, quce feruntur,
such as are thrown, not carried in the hand. They were
sometimes also called velites, and velati, because they
fought clothed, but not in armour ; sometimes adscriptitii,
and adscriptivi; sometimes rorarii. The accensi, Livy
observes, were placed in the rear of the army, because
little was expected from them: they were taken out of
the fifth class of citizens.
Accensi, in antiquity, denotes ah inferior order of
officers, appointed to attend the Roman magistrates, some¬
what in the manner of ushers, serjeants, or tipstaves among
us. They were thus called from accire, to send for ; one
part of their office being to call assemblies of the people,
summon parties to appear and answer before the judges, &c.
Accensi was also an appellation given to a kind of ad¬
jutants, appointed by the tribune to assist each centurion
and decurion ; in which sense accensus is synonymous with
optio. In an ancient inscription, given by Torre, we meet
with Accensus Equitum Romanorum ; an office no¬
where else heard of. That author suspects it for a cor¬
ruption ; and instead thereof reads, A Censibus.
ACCENSION, the action of setting a body on fire:
thus the accension of tinder is effected by striking fire
with flint gnd steel.
ACCENT, in reading or speaking, an inflection of the
voice, which gives to each syllable of a word its due pitch
in respect of height or lowness. See Reading. The
word is originally Latin, accentus ; a compound of ad, to,
and cano, to sing. Accentus quasi adcantus, or juxta can-
turn. In this sense, accent is synonymous with the Greek
rows; the Latin tenor, or tonor; and the Hebrew oim,
gustus, taste.
Accent, among grammarians, is a certain mark or
ACCENT.
84
Accent, character placed over a syllable to direct the stress of its
pronunciation. We generally reckon three grammatical
accents in ordinary use, all borrowed from the Greeks,
viz. the acute accent ('), which shows when the tone of
the voice is to be raised; the grave accent (v), when the
note or tone of the voice is to be depressed; and the circum¬
flex accent (A), which is composed of both the acute and
the grave, and points out a kind of undulation of the voice.
The Latins have made the same use as the Greeks of these
three accents.
The Hebrews have a grammatical, a rhetorical, and a
musical accent; though the first and last seem, in effect,
to be the same, both being comprised under the general
name of tonic accents, because they give the proper tones
to syllables; as the rhetorical accents are said to be
euphonic, because they tend to make the pronunciation
more sweet and agreeable. There are four euphonic ac¬
cents, and twenty-five tonic: of these some are placed above,
and others below the syllables; the Hebrew accents serving
not only to regulate the risings and fallings of the voice,
but also to distinguish the sections, periods, and members
of periods, in a discourse, and to answer the same pur¬
poses with the points in other languages. Their accents
are divided into emperors, kings, dukes, &c. each bearing
a title answerable to the importance of the distinction it
makes. Their emperor rules over a whole phrase, and
terminates the sense completely ; answering to our point.
Their king answers to our colon; and their duke to our
comma. The king, however, occasionally becomes a duke,
and the duke a king, as the phrases are more or less short.
It must be noted, by the way, that the management and
combination of these accents in Hebrew poetry differ from
their management and combination in prose. The use of
the tonic or grammatical accents has been much contro¬
verted ; some holding that they distinguish the sense,
while others maintain that they are only intended to re¬
gulate the music or singing, alleging that the Jews sing
1 Cooper, rather than read the Scriptures in their synagogues.1 Be
Dom. Mo- this, however, as it will, it is certain the ancient Hebrews
saic. Clav. were not acquainted with these accents. The opinion
V' 31* which prevails amongst the learned is, that they were
invented about the sixth century, by the Jewish doctors
of the school of Tiberias, called the Massorets.
As to the Greek accents, now seen both in manuscripts
and printed books, there has been no less dispute about
their antiquity and use than about those of the Hebrews.
Isaac Vossius endeavours to prove them of modern inven¬
tion ; asserting, that anciently they had nothing of this
kind, but only a few notes in their poetry, which were
invented by Aristophanes the grammarian, about the time
of Ptolemy Philopater; and that these were of musical
rather than grammatical use, serving as aids in the sing¬
ing of their poems, and being very different from those af¬
terwards introduced. He also shows, from several ancient
grammarians, that the manner of writing the Greek
accents in those days was quite different from that
which appears in our books. The author of La Methode
Grecque, p.546, observes, that the right pronunciat ion of the
Greek language being natural to the Greeks, it was need¬
less for them to mark it by accents in their writings; so
that, according to all appearance, they only began to
make use of them about the time when the Romans,
wishing to learn the Greek tongue, sent their children to
study at Athens, thinking thereby to fix the pronuncia¬
tion, and to facilitate it to strangers; which happened, as
the same author observes, a little before Cicero’s time.
Wetstein, Greek professor at Basil, in a learned disserta¬
tion, endeavours to prove the Greek accents of an older
standing. He owns that they were not always formed in
the same manner by the ancients, but he thinks that differ- Accent,
ence owing to the different pronunciation which obtained
in the different parts of Greece. He also brings several
reasons, a priori, for the use of accents, even in the earliest
days : as, that all writing being then in capital letters equi¬
distant from each other, without any distinction either of
\fords or phrases, it could scarcely have been rendered in¬
telligible without accents ; and that accents were necessary
to distinguish ambiguous words, and to point out their
proper meaning, as appears from a dispute in regard to a
passage of Homer, mentioned by Aristotle in his Poetics,
chap. v. Accordingly, he observes that the Syrians,
vtdio have tonic, but not distinctive accents, have yet in¬
vented certain points, placed either below or above the
words, to show their mood, tense, person, or sense.
Mr Browne of Trinity College, Dublin, has entered
more deeply into this investigation; and as he had an op¬
portunity of conversing with the crew of a Greek ship
from Patras, a town situated not far distant from the an¬
cient Corinth, which had been driven by stress of weather
into the port of Dingle in Ireland, the result of his in¬
quiries wa.s, that the practice of the modern Greeks is dif¬
ferent from any of the theories that have been delivered in
books. “ It is true,” he observes, “ they have not two pro¬
nunciations for prose and for verse, and in both they read
by accent; but they make accent the cause of quantity,
they make it govern and control quantity, they make
the syllable long on which the acute accent falls, and they
allow the acute accent to change the real quantity. They
always read poetry as well as prose by accent. Whether
any inference can hence be drawn as to the pronunciation
of the ancients, I must leave, after what I have premised
above, to men of more learning; but I think it at least so
probable as to make it worth while to mention the in¬
stances which occurred in proof of this assertion more
particularly. Of the two first persons whom I met, one,
the steward of the ship, an inhabitant of the island of
Cephalonia, had had a school education: he read Euri¬
pides, and translated some easier passages, without much
difficulty. By a stay in this country of near two years, he
was able to speak English very tolerably, as could also the
captain and several of the crew; and almost all of them
spoke Italian fluently. The companion, however, of the
stewarch could speak only modern Greek, in vrhich I could
discover that he was giving a description of the distress
in which the ship had been ; and though not able to under¬
stand the context, I could plainly distinguish many words,
such as divdga, i^uXov, and among the rest the sound of
Av6^umg pronounced short. This awoke my curiosity, which
was still more heightened when I observed that he said
Avdgurruv long, with the same attention to the alteration of
the accent with the variety of case, which a boy would be
taught to pay at a school in England. W’atching there¬
fore more closely, and asking the other to read some
ancient Greek, I found that they both uniformly pro¬
nounced according to accent, without any attention to
long or short syllables where accent came in the way ; and
on their departure, one of them having bid me good day,
by saying KuXrifiiga,, to which I answered KaXrigtga, he
with strong marks of reprobation set me right, and repeat¬
ed Kahripiga; and with like censure did the captain upon
another occasion observe upon my saying Socrates instead
of Socrates.
“ I now had a strong wish to know whether they ob¬
served the distinction in this respect usually between
verse and prose ; but from the little scholarship of the two
men with whom I had conversed, from the ignorance of a
third whom I afterwards met, (who however read Lucian
with ease, though he did not seem ever to have heard of
ACCENT.
85
Aent.
the book,) and on account of my imperfect mode of con-
J versing with them all, I had little hopes of satisfaction on
the point-; nor was I clear that they perfectly knew the
difference between verse and prose. At length, having
met with the commander of the ship, and his clerk Atha¬
nasius Kovo/iof, and finding that the latter had been a
schoolmaster in the Morea, and had here learnt to speak
English fluently, I put the question to them in the pre¬
sence of a very learned college friend, and at another time,
to avoid any error, with the aid of a gentleman who is
perfectly master of the Italian language. Both the Greeks
repeatedly assured us that verse as well as prose was read
by accent, and not by quantity; and exemplified it by
reading several lines of Homer, with whose name they
seemed perfectly well acquainted.
“ I shall give an instance or two of their mode of
reading;
S’ kytim vugu S/to -ffoXuipXo/tfSo/o Sa'Xdffffvig,
Tm 5’ ava/AtiQofuvos trgoatpri mdag uxvg ’A^iXXsug,
'Eg b' egirag Emrqbsg ayz/gofisv, eg b’ haro/iZriv.
They made the e in axswv, crgoirspjj, and egerctg, long.
But when they read
KAvM fieu, ’ Azyjporo?, og Xgucftji/ afx<piQeQrjxag,
they made the second syllable of the first word KXuOi short,
notwithstanding the acute accent: on my asking why, they
desired me to look back on the circumflex on the first syl¬
lable, and said it thence necessarily followed; for it is
impossible to pronounce the first syllable with the great
length which the circumflex denotes, and not to shorten
the second. The testimony of the schoolmaster might be
vitiated; but what could be stronger than that of these
ignorant mariners as to the vulgar common practice of
modern Greece ? and it is remarkable that this confirms
the opinion of Bishop Horsley, that the tones of words in
connection are not always the same with the tones of soli¬
tary words, though in those of more than one syllable the
accentual marks do not change their position. I must
here add, that these men confirmed an observation which
I have heard made, that we are much mistaken in our idea
of the supposed lofty sound of voXvcpXoia^oio SaXaffffrjg; that
the borderers on the coast of the Archipelago take their
ideas from the gentle laving of the shore by a summer
wave, and not from the roaring of a winter ocean ; and they
accordingly pronounced it polyphlisveo thalasses.
“ I own that the observations made by me on the pro¬
nunciation of these modern Greeks brought a perfectly
new train of ideas into my mind. I propose them, with
humility, for the consideration of the learned; but they
have made a strong impression upon me, and approached,
when compared with other admitted facts, nearly to con¬
viction. In short, I am strongly inclined to believe, that
what the famous treatise so often mentioned on the pro¬
sodies of the Greek and Latin languages mentions as the
peculiarity of the English, that we always prolong the
sound of the syllable on which the acute accent falls, is
true, and has been true of every nation upon earth. We
know it is true of the modern Italians: they read Latin
m that respect just as we do, and say, Anna virumque cdno,
and, In nova fert animus, as much as we. And when we
find the modern Greeks following the same practice, sure¬
ly we have some cause to suppose that the ancients did
the same. In the English language, indeed, quantity is
not affected, because accent and quantity always agree.
Bishop Horsley endeavoured to prove that they did so in
Greek, but this is on the bold supposition that the accent
doth not fall where the mark is placed. The objection to
this hypothesis, which seems to have been admitted by
all writers, and considered as decisive by some as to prose,
by all as to verse, is, that such a mode of pronunciation Accent,
or reading must destroy metre, Or rhythmus. From this'
position, however universal, or however it may have been
taken for granted, I totally dissent.. That it will oppose the
metre or quantity I readily agree ; but that it will destroy
the rhythmus, (by which, whatever learned descriptions
there may have been of its meaning, I understand nothing
more than the melody or smooth flowing of the verses, or
their harmony, if you please, if harmony be properly ap¬
plied to successive and not synchronal sounds,) I can
by no means admit. On the contrary, nothing can be more
disagreeable or unmelodious than the reading verse by
quantity, or scanning of it, as it is vulgarly called. Let us
try the line so often quoted—
Anna virumque cdno, Trojce qui primus db oris,
instead of
Armd virumque cdno, Trojce qui primus db oris.
“ No man ever defined rhythmus better than Plato,
ordinem quondam qui in motibus cernitur ; the motion or
measure of the verse may be exgct, and yet the order, ar¬
rangement, and disposition of the letters and syllables such
as to be grating and unmelodious to the ear. In like
manner the feet of the verse may be exact, but the stress
laid upon particular syllables of it which follows the quan¬
tity may totally destroy the melody : in short, the radical
error seems to be the confusion of quantity with melody,
and the supposition that whatever is at war with quantity
and metre must be at war with melody.
“ It will be asked, then, what is the use of metre or
measure in verse, if we are not to read by it; and here is
the grand difficulty; and I own with candour I cannot
answer it with perfect satisfaction to my own mind: to those,
indeed, who say we are to read by accent in prose, it may
be equally asked, what is the use of long or short syllables
in prose, if we are not to attend to them when, accent
comes in the way; but to those who think otherwise, I can
only answer, that in the first place accent doth not always
interfere, and then quantity is our guide, and accent often
accords with quantity. Secondly, metre determines the
number of feet or measures in each verse, and thereby pro¬
duces a general analogy and harmony through the whole;
and it is to be observed, that, as I apprehend, accent doth
not change the number of feet, though it doth the nature
or species of them. Thus when we read
Arma virumque cdno, Trojce. qui primus ab oris,
we do not make more feet than when we scan the line, nor
employ more time than in pronouncing the next line, in
which the accent happens to accord with the quantity, viz.
Italiam fato profugus, Lavinaque venit.
Thirdly, the poet in measuring his verse certainly must
be confined to some certain number and order of long and
short syllables, in order to produce a concordance through
the whole, and even to regulate the position of accent,
which, though not subdued by quantity, will certainly have
some relation to it, euphoniee gratia ; but surely the length
or shortness of a syllable cannot determine where emphasis
shall be placed—that must depend on the meaning and the
thought; and it would be most absurd for the poet to say
to the reader, you shall not rest upon this emphatic and
significative word because its syllables are short, and
wherever there is a rest, there must be length and intona¬
tion.” {Irish Trans, vol. vii.)
The use of accents to prevent ambiguities is most re¬
markably perceived in some eastern languages, particularly
the Siamese and Chinese. Among the people of China, every
86 ACC
Accent word, or, which is the same thing, every syllable, admits of
II five accents, according as it is spoken more acutely or re-
^J^^^missly; and thus stands for many different things. The same
sound ^according to the accent affixed to it, signifies God,
a wall, excellent, stupidity, and a goose. The Chinese have
but 330 spoken words in their language ; but these being
multiplied by the different accents or tones which' affect
the vowels, furnish a language tolerably copious. By means
of accents, their 330 simple sounds come to denote 1650
things ; but this being hardly sufficient, they are increased
further by aspirates added to each word, to double the
number. The Chinese only reckon four accents, for which
the missionaries use the following marks, ad, d, d, a ; to
which they have added a fifth, thus a. They make a kind
of modulation, wherein, prolonging the duration of the
sound of the vowel, they vary the tone, raising and sinking
it by a certain pitch of voice; so that their talking is a sort
of music or singing. Attempts have been made to deter¬
mine the quantity of the rise or fall on each accent by
means of musical notes ; but this is hard to effect, as being
different in different persbns. Hence the great difficulty of
the language to foreigners, who are forced to sing most scru¬
pulously ; for if they deviate ever so little from the accent,
they say quite a different thing from what was intended.
Thus, meaning to compliment the person you are talking
of with the title Sir, you call him a beast with the same
word, only a little varied in the tone. Magalhon, however,
makes the language easier to learn on this account. The
Siamese are also observed to sing rather than to talk.
Their alphabet begins with six characters, all only equi¬
valent to a K, but differently accented. For though in the
pronunciation the accents are naturally on the vowels, yet
they have some to diversify such of their consonants as are
in other respects the same.
Accent, in Music, is a certain enforcement of particu¬
lar sounds, whether by the voice or instruments, general¬
ly used at the beginning of bars.
Acceptance, in Commerce, is the subscribing, signing,
and making one’s self debtor for the sum contained in a
bill of exchange or other obligation.
ACCEPTER, or Acceptor, the person who accepts a
bill of exchange, &c.
ACCEPTILATION, among civilians, an acquittance
or discharge given by the creditor to the debtor without
the payment of any value.
ACCESSION, in Law, is a method of acquiring pro¬
perty, by which, in things that have a close connection or
dependence upon one another, the property of the principal
thing draws after it the property of the accessory: thus,
the owner of a cow becomes likewise the owner of the calf.
It sometimes likewise signifies consent or acquiescence.
ACCESSORY, or Accessary, something that accedes,
or is added to another more considerable thing; in which
sense the word stands opposed to principal.
Accessory, or Accessary, in Common Law, is chiefly
used for a person guilty of a felonious offence, not prin¬
cipally, but by participation; as by advice, command, or
concealment.
There are two kinds of accessories ; before the fact, and
after it. The first is he who commands or procures
another to commit felony, and is not present himself; for
if he be present he is a principal. The second is he who
receives, assists, or comforts any man that has done murder
or felony, whereof he has knowledge. A man may also
be accessory to an accessory, by aiding, receiving, &c. an
accessory in felony.
An accessory in felony shall have judgment of life and
member, as well as the principal who did the felony; but
not till the principal be first attainted, and convicted or out-
A C C
lawed thereon. Where the principal is pardoned without Access®'
attainder, the accessory cannot be arraigned; it being a J|
maxim in law, Ubi non est principalis, non potest esse acces- Aradem
sorius : but if the principal be pardoned, or have his clergy v'^yA
after attainder, the accessory shall be arraigned ; 4 and 5
W. et M. cap. 4. And by stat. 1 Anne, cap. 9. it is enact¬
ed, that where the principal is convicted of felony, or stands
mute, or challenges above 20 of the jury, it shall be law¬
ful to proceed against the accessory in the same manner
as if the principal had been attainted; and notwithstand¬
ing such principal shall be admitted to his clergy, pardon¬
ed, or delivered before attainder. In some cases also, if
the principal cannot be taken, then the accessory may be
prosecuted for a misdemeanour, and punished by fine, im¬
prisonment, Sec. In the lowest and highest offences there
are no accessories, but all are principals ; as in riots, routs,
forcible entries, and other trespasses, which are the lowest
offences. So also in the highest offence, which is, accord¬
ing to the English law, high treason, there are no acces¬
sories.
Accessories, in petty treason, murder, and in felonies of
several kinds, are not to have their clergy. There can be
no accessory before the fact in manslaughter, because
that is sudden and unprepensed.
Accessory Nerves, in Anatomy, a pair of nerves which,
arising from the medulla in the vertebrae of the neck,
ascend and enter the skull, and pass out of it again with
the par vagum, wrapped up in the same common integu¬
ment, and after quitting them, are distributed into the
muscles of the neck and shoulders.
Accessory, among painters, an epithet given to such
parts of a history-piece as serve chiefly for ornament, and
might have been wholly left out; such as vases, armour, &c.
ACCIAIOLI, Donato, a native of Florence, was born
in 1428, and was famous for his learning and the honour¬
able employments which he held. He wrote, a Latin
translation of some of Plutarch’s Lives; Commentaries on
Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics; and the Lives of Hanni¬
bal, of Scipio, and of Charlemagne. He was sent to
France by the Florentines, to solicit aid from Louis XL
against Pope Sixtus IV., but on his journey died at Milan
in 1478: his body was carried to Florence, and buried in
the church of the Carthusians at the public expense.
The small fortune he left his children is a proof of his
probity and disinterestedness. His daughters, like those
of Aristides, were portioned by his fellow-citizens, as an
acknowledgement of his services. His funeral eulogium
was spoken by Christopher Landini; and an elegant epi¬
taph, by Politian, was inscribed on his tomb.
ACCIDENT, in Grammar, implies a property attached
to a word, without entering into its essential definition;
for every word, notwithstanding its signification, will be
either primitive, derivative, simple, or compound, which
are the accidents of words. A word is said to be primi¬
tive when it is taken from no other word in the language
in which it is used: thus heaven, king, good, are primitive
words. It is said to be derivative when it is taken from
some other word: thus heavenly, kingdom, goodness, Sec.
are derivatives. A simple word is easily distinguished
from a compound: thus just, justice, are simple words;
unjust, injustice, are compound: res is a simple word, as
well as publica; but respublica is a compound. Besides
these accidents, which are common to all sorts of words,
each particular species has its accidents: thus the acci¬
dents of the noun substantive are the gender, declension,
and number; and the adjective has another accident,
namely, the comparison. i . ./ vv, . ,
Accident, in Heraldry, an additional point or mark in
a coat of arms, which may be either omitted or retained
ACC
(lent without altering the essence of the armour; such as
abatement, difference, and tincture. _
ius. Accident, among Logicians, is used m a threefold
sense. 1. Whatever does not essentially belong to a
thing; as the clothes a man wears, or the money in his
pocket. 2. Such properties in any subject as are not es¬
sential to it: thus, whiteness in paper is an accidental
quality. 3. In opposition to substance, all qualities what¬
ever are called accidents; as sweetness, softness, &c.
ACCIDENTAL, in Philosophy, is applied to that effect
which flows from some cause intervening by accident,
without being subject, or at least without any appearance
of being subject, to general laws or regular returns. In
this sense accident is opposed to constant and principal.
Thus the sun’s place is, with respect to the earth, the
constant and principal cause of the heat in summer and
the cold in winter; whereas winds, snows, and rains, are
the accidental causes which often alter and modify the
action of their principal cause.
Accidental Colours are those which depend upon
the affections of the eye, in contradistinction to those
which belong to light itself. The impressions made upon
the eye by looking stedfastly on objects of a particular
colour are various, according to the single colour or com¬
bination of colours in the object; and they continue for
some time after the eye is withdrawn, and give a false co¬
louring to other objects. M. Buffon has endeavoured to
trace the connections which these accidental colours have
with such as are natural, in a variety of instances. The
subject has also been considered by De la Hire and M.
fEpinus. M. d’Arcy has contrived a machine for deter¬
mining the duration of those impressions on the eye; and
from the result of several experiments, he inferred, that
the effect of the action of light on the eye continued about
eight thirds of a minute.
Accidental Point, in Perspective, is that point in the
horizontal line where the projections of two lines parallel
to each other meet the perspective plane.
ACCIPITER, among the Romans, signified a hawk,
which, from its being very carnivorous, they considered
as a bird of bad omen:
Odimus accipitrem, quia semper vivit in armis. Ovid.
Pliny however tells us, that in some cases, particularly
in marriage, it was esteemed a bird of good omen, because
it never eats the hearts of other birds ; intimating there¬
by, that no differences in a married state ought to reach
the heart. The accipiter was worshipped as a divinity by
the inhabitants of Tentyra, an island in the Nile, being
considered by them as the image of the sun; and hence
we find that luminary represented, in hieroglyphics, un¬
der the figure of a hawk.
ACCIPITRES, the name of Linnaeus’s first order of
birds.
ACCISMUS denotes a feigned refusal of something
which a person earnestly desires. The word is Latin ; or
rather Greek, axx/<r/z,os ; supposed to be formed from Acco,
the name of a foolish old woman noted in antiquity for an
affectation of this kind.
ACCIUS, Lucius, a Latin tragic poet, the son of a
freedman, and, According to St Jerome, born in the con¬
sulship of Hostilius Mancinus and Attilius Serranus, in
the year of Rome 583; but there appears somewhat of
confusion and perplexity in this chronology. He made
himself known before -the death of Pacuvius by a dra¬
matic piece, which was exhibited the same year that Pa-
cUvius brought one upon the stage ; the latter being then
eighty years of age, and Accius only thirty. We do not
know the name of this piece of Accius’s, but the titles of
onj&iyi io iioihinG isdjiy sd '/ain donl • moo ;
ACC
87
Accius
several of his tragedies are mentioned by various authors.
He wrote on the most celebrated stories which had been ^cc|!ima
represented on the Athenian stage; as Andromache, An- ^ tjQn_
dromeda, Atreus, Clytemnestya, Medea, Meleager, Phi-V
loctetes, the civil wars of Thebes, Tereus, the Troades,
&c. He did not always, however, take his subjects from
the Grecian story; for he composed one dramatic piece
wholly Roman : it was entitled Brutus, and related to the
expulsion of the Tarquins. It is affirmed by some that
he wrote also comedies; which is not unlikely, if he was
the author of two pieces, the Wedding, and the Merchant,
which have been ascribed to him. He did not confine
himself to dramatic writing; for he left other productions,
particularly his Annals, mentioned by Macrobius, Priscian,
Festus, and Nonnius Marcellus. He has been censured
for writing in too harsh a style, but in all other respects
has been esteemed a very great poet. He was so much
esteemed by the public, that a comedian was punished
for only mentioning his name on the stage. Cicero speaks
with great derision of one Accius who had written a his¬
tory ; and, as our author had written annals, some insist
that he is the person censured: but as Cicero himself,
Horace, Quintilian, Ovid, and Paterculus, have spoken of
our author with so much applause, we cannot think it is
the same person whom the Roman orator censures with
so much severity.
Accius, a poet of the 16th century, to whom is attri¬
buted A Paraphrase of AEsop's Fables, on which Julius
Scaliger bestows great encomiums.
ACCLAMATION, a confused noise or shout of joy,
by which the public express their applause, esteem, or
approbation.
Acclamation, in a more proper sense, denotes a cer¬
tain form of words, uttered with extraordinary vehemence,
and in a peculiar tone somewhat resembling a song, fre¬
quent in the ancient assemblies. Acclamations were
usually accompanied with applauses, with which they are
sometimes confounded, though they ought to be distin¬
guished ; as acclamation was given by the voice, applause
by the hands: add, that acclamation was also bestowed
on persons absent, applause only on those present. Ac¬
clamation was also given by women, whereas applause
seems to have been confined to men.
Acclamations are of various kinds; ecclesiastical, mi¬
litary, nuptial, senatorial, synodical, scholastical, theatri¬
cal, "&c. We meet with loud acclamations, musical and
rhythmical acclamations; acclamations of joy and respect,
and even of reproach and contumely. The former, wherein
words of happy omen were used, were also called Lauda-
tiones et bona vota, or good wishes; the latter, Execrationes
et convicia. Suetonius furnishes an instance of this last kind
in the Roman senate, on occasion of the decree for demo¬
lishing the statues of Domitian, when the fathers, as the
historian represents it, could not refrain from contume¬
lious acclamations of the deceased. The like were shown
after the death of Commodus, where the acclamations
run in the following strain :—Hosti patriee honores detra-
hantur, parricidce honores detrahantur ; hostis statuas un-
dique, parricidce statuas undique, gladiatoris statuas undigue,
&c. The formula, in acclamations, was repeated some¬
times a greater, sometimes a lesser number of times.
Hence we find in Roman writers, aeclamatum est qiiin-
quies, et vicies; five times, and twenty times ; sometimes
also sexagies, and even octuagies; sixty and eighty times.
Acclamations were not unknown in the theatres in the
earliest ages of the Roman commonwealth; but tjiey
were artless then, and little other than confused shouts.
Afterwards they became a sort of regular concerts. That
mentioned by Phtedrus, Xcetore incolumis, Roma, salvo Prin-
bnr> J'yjfimi!
mo
ft Ui}
88
ACC
Acclama- dpe, which was made for Augustus, and proved the occa-
tion. sjon Gf a pleasant mistake of a flute-player called Princeps,
^*y-**s gilows that musical acclamations were in use in that em¬
peror’s reign. Revertentem ex •provincia modulatis carmi-
nibus prosequebantur, says Suetonius, who gives another
instance in the time of Tiberius : a false report of Germa-
nicus’s recovery being spread through Rome, the people
ran in crowds to the Capitol with torches and victims,
singing, Salva Roma, Salva Patria, Salvus est Germani-
cus. Nero, passionately fond of music, took special care
to improve and perfect the music of acclamations. Charm¬
ed with the harmony with which the Alexandrians, who
came to the games celebrated at Naples, had sung his
praises, he brought several over to instruct a number of
youth, chosen from among the knights and people, in the
different kinds of acclamations practised in Alexandria.
These continued in use as long as the reign of Theodoric.
But the people did not always make a single chorus;
sometimes there were two, who answered each other al¬
ternately : thus, when Nero played in the theatre, Bur¬
rhus and Seneca, who were on either hand, giving the sig¬
nal by clapping, 5000 soldiers, called Augustals, began to
chant his praise, which the spectators were obliged to re¬
peat. The whole was conducted by a music-master, call¬
ed mesoclwrus or pausarius. The honour of acclamations
was chiefly rendered to emperors, their children, and fa¬
vourites; and to the magistrates who presided at the
games. Persons of distinguished merit also sometimes
received them, of which Quintilian gives us instances in
Cato and Virgil. The most usual forms were, Feliciter,
Longiorem vitam, Annos felices. The actors themselves,
and they who gained the prizes in the games of the cir¬
cus, were not excluded the honour of acclamations.
To theatrical acclamations may be added those of the
soldiery and the people in time of triumph. The victo¬
rious army accompanied their general to the Capitol; and,
among the verses they sung in his praises, frequently re¬
peated lo Triumphe, which the people answered in the
same strain. It was also in the way of acclamation that
the soldiers gave their general the title of Imperator, after
some notable victory; a title which he only kept till the
time of his triumph.
The acclamations of the senate were somewhat more
serious than the popular ones, but arose from the same
principle, viz. a desire of pleasing the prince or his fa¬
vourites ; and aimed likewise at the same end, either to
express the general approbation and zeal of the company,
or to congratulate him on his victories, or to make him
new protestations of fidelity. These acclamations were
usually given after a report made by some senator, to
which the rest all expressed their consent by crying, Om-
nes, Omnes ; or else, ^Equum est, Justum est. Some¬
times they began with acclamations, and sometimes end¬
ed with them, without other debates. It was after this
manner that all the elections and proclamations of empe¬
rors, made by the senate, were conducted; something of
which practice is still retained at modern elections of
kings and emperors, where Vivat Rex, and Long live the
King, are customary forms of acclamation.
The Greeks borrowed the custom of receiving their
emperors in the public places from the Romans. Luit-
prand relates, that at a procession where he was present,
they sung to the Emperor Nicephorus, noKha irea ; that is,
many years; which Coddin expresses thus, by ro ■^ujOsm
to ‘TroXv^oviov, or by ro ; and the wish or salu¬
tation by wokvygovHJfjM. And at dinner, the Greeks then
present wished with a loud voice to the emperor and Bar-
das, Ut Deus annos multiplicet, as he translates the Greek.
Plutarch mentions an acclamation so loud, upon occasion
ACC
of Flaminius’s restoring liberty to Greece, that the very Acclai
birds fell from heaven with the shout. The Turks prac- tio
tise something like this, on the sight of their emperors and
grand viziers, to this day. -Accois
For the acclamations with which authors, poets, &c.'^v
were received, who recited their works in public ; it is to
be observed, the assemblies for this purpose were held
with great parade in the most solemn places, as the Ca¬
pitol, temples, the Athenaeum, and the houses of great
men. The chief care was that the acclamations might
be given with all the order and pomp possible. Men of
fortune who pretended to wit, kept able applauders in
their service, and lent them to their friends. Others en¬
deavoured to gain them by presents and treats. Philo-
stratus mentions a young man named Vavus, who lent
money to the men of letters, and forgave the interest to
such as applauded his exercises. These acclamations
were conducted much after the same manner as those in
the theatre, both as to the music and the accompaniments :
they were to be suited both to the subject and to the person.
There wrere particular ones for the philosophers, for ora¬
tors, for historians, and for poets. It would be difficult to
rehearse all the forms of them ; one of the most usual was
Sophos, which was to be repeated three times. Martial
comprehends several other usual forms in this verse:
Graviter, Cito, Nequiter, Page, Reate.
Neither the Greeks nor Romans were barren on this
head. The names of gods and heroes were given to those
whom they would extol. It was not enough to do it
after each head of discourse, chiefly after the exordium;
but the acclamations w'ere renewed at every fine passage,
frequently at every period.
The acclamations with which the spectators honoured
the victories of the athletae, were a natural consequence
of the impetuous motions which attended the gymnastic
games. The cries and acclamations of the people, some¬
times expressing their compassion and joy, sometimes
their horror and disgust, are strongly painted by different
poets and orators.
_ Acclamations made also a part of the ceremony of mar¬
riage. They were used for the omen’s sake, being the
Lata Omina sometimes spoken of before marriage in
Roman writers.
Acclamations, at first practised in the theatre, and pass¬
ing thence to the senate, &c. were, in process of time, re¬
ceived into the acts of councils, and the ordinary assem¬
blies of the church. The people expressed their appro¬
bation of the preacher variously; the more usual forms
were, Orthodox ! Third Apostle, &c. These acclamations
being sometimes carried to excess, and often misplaced,
were frequently prohibited by the ancient doctors, and at
length abrogated; though they appear to have been in
some use about the time of St Bernard.
Acclamation Medals, among Antiquaries, such as re¬
present the people expressing their joy in the posture of
acclamation. r r & . J ^ i
ACCLIVITY, the rise or ascent of a hill, in opposition
to the declivity or descent of it. Some writers on forti¬
fication use it for the talus of a rampart.
ACCOLA, among the Romans, signified a person who
lived near some place; in which sense it differed from
incola, the inhabitant of such a place.
ACCOLADE, a ceremony anciently used in the con¬
ferring of knighthood.
Antiquaries are not agreed wherein the accolade pro*-
perly consisted. The generality suppose it to be the
embrace or kiss which princes anciently gave the new
kmght, as a token of their affection; whence the word
ACC A C C 89
I, colee accolade; q. d. a clasping, or taking round the neck. Spencer,2 is owing the origin of the tabernacle, and par- Aceompa-
II Others will rather have it to be a blow on the chine of the ticularly that of the ark. These opinions, however, have niment
Afcommo- given on the same occasion. The Accolade is of been controverted by later writers. ’ II
ILv^L'801116 anti(luity> in whichsoever of the two senses it be ACCOMPANIMENT, Accompagnamento, Accom-
taken. Gregory of Tours writes, that the kings of France, pagnatura, in Music, denotes the instruments which ac- 2 nc Lari
even of the first race, in conferring the gilt shoulder-belt, company a voice, in order to sustain it, as well as to make bus Hebf!'
kissed the knights on the left cheek. For the accolee, or the music more full. The accompaniment is used in re-diss. i. 1.3.
blow, John of Salisbury assures us it was in use among citative as well as in song, on the stage as well as in theP- a2'
the ancient Normans: by this it was that William the choir, &c. The ancients had likewise their accompani-
Conqueror conferred the honour of knighthood on his son ments in the theatre; they had even instruments to ac-
Henry. At first it was given with the naked fist, but company the chorus, different from those which accom-
was afterwards changed into a blow with the flat of the panied the actors in the recitation.
sword on the shoulder of the knight. The accompaniment, among the moderns, is frequently
ACCOLE'E, sometimes synonymous with Accolade, a different part or melody from the song it accompanies.
It is also used in various senses in heraldry: sometimes it It is disputed whether it was so among the ancients. It
is applied to two things joined ; at other times, to animals is generally alleged that their accompaniments went no
with crowns, or collars about their necks, as the lion in further than the playing in octave, or in antiphony to the
the Ogilvys arms; and, lastly, to keys, batoons, maces, voice. The Abbe Fraguier, from a passage in Plato,
swords, &c. placed saltierwise behind the shield. pretends to prove that they had actual symphony, or
ACCOL1I, Benedict, was born at Arezzo in 1415. music in parts; but his arguments seem far from beino-
He became a professor of law at Florence ; • and bavins: conclusive.
been admitted a citizen, was elected chancellor of the
republic in 1459. His death took place in 1466. He
wrote in Latin a treatise concerning the war which the
Christians carried on against the infidels to recover Judea
and the holy sepulchre. This work is the ground-plot of
Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. It only includes, however,
the history of the first crusade. He also wrote an ac¬
count of the Excellent Personages of his Time, in the form
of a dialogue.
Accolti, Francis, brother of Benedict, was born about
the year 1418. He was professor of jurisprudence in
Bologna, Ferrara, and some other universities. He died
in 1483, leaving behind him several works on law, some
translations from the Greek, and some poetical pieces.
There is, in the Ambrosian library at Milan, a collection
of his Letters, written in the Latin language.
ACCOMMODATION, the application of one thing, by
analogy, to another; or the making two or more things
agree with one another. To know a thing by accommo¬
dation, is to know it by the idea of a similar thing referred
thereto.
A prophecy of Scripture is said to be fulfilled in various
ways : properly, as when a thing foretold comes to pass ;
and improperly, or by way of accommodation, when an
event happens to any place or people, like to what fell out
some time before to another. Thus, the words of Isaiah,
spoken to those of his own time, are said to be fulfilled
in those who lived in our Saviour’s, and are accommodated
to them: “ Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of
you, &c.; which same words St Paul afterwards accommo¬
dates to the Jews of his time.
. prinfitive church accommodated multitudes of Jew¬
ish, and even Heathen ceremonies and practices, to Chris¬
tian purposes ; but the Jews had before done the same by
the Gentiles: some will even have circumcision, the
tabernacle, brazen serpent, &c. to have been originally of
Egyptian use, and only accommodated by Moses to tin?
■’P1’ Purposes ot Judaism.1 Speqcer maintains, that most of
fill ‘ T' riMeS ot tlle ol4 law were in imitation of those of the
r Gentiles, and particularly of the Egyptians ; that God, in
order to divert the children of Israel from the worship
they paid to their false deities, consecrated the greater
part of the ceremonies performed by those idolaters, and
ia formed out of them a body of the ceremonial law;
lat he had indeed made some alterations therein, as
barriers against idolatry; and that he thus accommodated
his worship to the genius and occasions of his ancient
people. To this condescension of God, according to
vol. 11. • ®
Accompaniment, in Painting, denotes such objects as
are added, either by way of ornament or fitness, to the
principal figures; as dogs, guns, game, &c* in a hunting
piece.
Accompaniment, in Heraldry, any thing added to a
shield by way of ornament; as the belt, mantling, sup¬
porters, &c. It is also applied to several bearings about
a principal one ; as a saltier, bend, fesse, chevron, &c.
ACCOMPLICE, one that has a hand in a business,
or is privy in the same design or crime with another. The
Council of Sens, and the statutes of several other synods,
expressly prohibit the revealing of accomplices.
ACCOMPLISHMENT, the entire execution or ful¬
filling of any thing.
Accomplishment is principally used in speaking of
events foretold by the Jewish prophets in the Old Testa¬
ment, and fulfilled under the New. We say a literal ac¬
complishment, a mystical or spiritual accomplishment, a
single accomplishment, a double accomplishment, a Jewish
accomplishment, a Christian, a Heathen accomplishment.
The same prophecy is sometimes accomplished in all or
in several of those different ways. Thus, of some of the
prophecies of the Old Testament, the Jews find a literal
accomplishment in their own history, about the time when
the prophecy was given; the Christians find another in
Christ, or the earliest days of the church; the Heathens,
another in some of their emperors; the Mahometans
another in their legislator, &c. There are two principal
ways of accomplishing a prophecy; directly, and by ac¬
commodation. See Accommodation, and Prophecy.
ACCORD, in Painting, is the harmony that reigns'
among the lights and shades of a picture.
ACCORDS, Sieur des. See Tabourot, Stephen.
ACCORSO (in Latin Accursius), Francis, an eminent
lawyer, was born at Florence, according to some, in 1151,
according to others, in 1182. He began the study of law
at a late period of life; but such were his assiduity and
proficiency, that he soon distinguished himself. He was
appointed professor at Bologna, and became a very emi¬
nent teacher. He undertook the great work of uniting
and arranging into one body the almost endless comments
and remarks upon the Code, the Institutes, and Digests,
which only tended to involve the subjects in obscurity
and contradiction. When he was employed in this work,
it is said that, hearing of a similar one proposed and begun
by Odofred, another lawyer of Bologna, he feigned indis¬
position, interrupted his public lectures, and shut himself
up, till he had, with the utmost expedition, accomplished
M
0
90 A C C
-Accorso his design. His work has the vague title of the Great
II Gloss. The best edition of it is that of Godefroi, published
Account. Lyons in 1589, in 6 vols. folio. Accursius was greatly
extolled by the lawyers of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries, but those of the fourteenth and of the sixteenth
formed a much lower estimate of his merits. There can
be no doubt that he has disentangled with much skill the
sense of many laws ; but it is equally undeniable that his
ignorance of history and antiquities has often led him into
absurdities, and been the cause of many detects in his
explanations and commentaries. He is said to have
lived in opulence, and to have died at Bologna in the
seventy-eighth year of his age. His eldest son, Francis,
who filled the chair of law at Bologna with great reputa¬
tion, was invited to Oxford by King Edward I., and in
1275 or 1276 read lectures on law in that university. In
1280 he returned to Bologna, where he died in 1321.
Accorso, or kcc\msivs,Mariangelo,?L learned and inge¬
nious critic, was a native of Aquila, in the kingdom of
Naples, and lived about the beginning of the sixteenth
century. To a perfect knowledge of Greek and Latin he
added an intimate acquaintance with several modern lan¬
guages. Classical literature was much improved and pro¬
moted by his labours. In discovering and collating an¬
cient manuscripts he displayed uncommon assiduity and
diligence. His work entitled Diatribce in Ausonium,
Solinum, et Ovidium, printed at Rome, in folio, in 1524,
is a singular monument of erudition and critical skill.
He bestowed, it is said, unusual pains on Claudian, and
made above seven hundred corrections in the works of
that poet, from different manuscripts. Unfortunately the
world has been deprived of the advantage of these criti¬
cisms, for they were never published. An edition of
Ammianus Marcellinus, which he published at Augsburg
in 1533, contains five books more than any former one.
He was the first editor of the Letters of Cassiodorus, with
his Treatise on the Soul. The affected use of antiquated
terms, introduced by some of the Latin writers of that age,
is humorously ridiculed by him, in a dialogue published
in 1531, entitled Osco, Volsco, Romanaque Lloquentia
Interlocutoribus, Dialogus Ludis Romanis actus. It was
republished at Rome in 1574, in 4to, with his name. He
was also the author of a poem entitled Protrepticon ad
Corynym, published in a scarce collection named Cary-
ciana, printed at Rome in 1524. Accorso had been ac¬
cused of plagiarism in his notes on Ausonius; and the
solemn and determined manner in which he repelled this
charge of literary theft, presents us with a singular in¬
stance of his anxiety and care to preserve his literary re¬
putation unstained and pure. It is in the following oath :
“ In the name of gods and men, of truth and sincerity,
I solemnly swear, and if any declaration be more binding
than an oath, I in that form declare, and I desire that
my declaration may be received as strictly true, that I
have never read or seen any author from which my own
lucubrations have received the smallest assistance or im¬
provement ; nay, that I have even laboured, as far as pos¬
sible, whenever any writer has published any observations
which I myself had before made, immediately to blot them
out of my own works. If in this declaration I am for¬
sworn, may the pope punish my perjury; and may an evil
genius attend my writings, so that whatever in them is
good, or at least tolerable, may appear to the unskilful
multitude exceedingly bad, and even to the learned trivial
and contemptible; and may the small reputation I now
possess be given to the winds, and regarded as the worth¬
less boon of vulgar levity.”
ACCOUNT, or Accompt, in a general sense, a compu¬
tation or reckoning of any thing by numbers.—Collective-
ACC
ly, it is used to express the books which merchants, traders, Accoi
bankers, &c. use for recording their transactions in business. an
Chamber of Accounts, in the French polity, a sove- U
reign court of great antiquity, which took cognizance of. t™
and registered the accounts of the king’s revenue ; nearly
the same with the English Court of Exchequer.
ACCOUNTANT, or Accomptant, in the most general
sense, is a person skilled in accounts. In a more restrict¬
ed sense, it is applied to a person or officer appointed to
keep the accounts of a public company or office; as the
South Sea, the India Company, the Bank, the Excise, &c.
ACCOUNTANT-general, a new officer in the court
of chancery, appointed by act of parliament to receive all
moneys lodged in court, instead of the masters, and con¬
vey the same to the bank of England for security.
ACCRETION, in Physics, the increase or growth of
an organical body, by the accession of new parts.
Accretion, among civilians, the property acquired in
a vague or unoccupied thing, by its adhering to or follow¬
ing another already occupied: thus, if a legacy be left to
two persons, one of whom dies before the testator, the le¬
gacy devolves to the survivor by right of accretion.
ACCROCHE, mHeraldry, denotes a thing’s being hook¬
ed with another.
ACCUBATION, a posture of the body, between sitting
and lying. The word comes from the Latin accubare,
compounded of ad, to, and cubo, I lie down. Accubation,
or Accubitus, was the table posture of the Greeks and
Romans; whence we find the words particularly used for
the lying, or rather (as we call it) sitting down to meat.
The Greeks introduced this posture. The Romans, dur¬
ing the frugal ages of the republic, were strangers to it;
but as'luxury got footing, this posture came to be adopt¬
ed, at least by the men; for as to women, it was re¬
puted an indecency in them to lie down among the men,
though afterwards this too was got over. Children did
not lie down, nor servants, nor soldiers, nor persons of
meaner condition. They took their meals sitting, as a
posture less indulgent. The Roman manner of disposing
themselves at table was this:—A low round table was
placed in the ccenaculum, or dining-room, and about this,
usually three, sometimes only two, beds or couches; and,
according to their number, it was called biclinium or tri¬
clinium. These were covered with a sort of bedclothes,
richer or plainer, according to the quality of the person,
and furnished with quilts and pillows, that the guests
might lie the more commodiously. There were usually
three persons on each bed; to crowd more was esteem¬
ed sordid. In eating, they lay down on their left sides,
with their heads resting on the pillows, or rather on their
elbows. The first lay at the head of the bed, with his
feet extended behind the back of the second; the second
lay with the back of his bead towards the navel of the
first, only separated by a pillow, his feet behind the back
of the third ; and so of the third or fourth. The middle
place was esteemed the most honourable. Before they
came to table, they changed their clothes, putting on
what they called ccenatoria vestis, the dining garment;
and pulled off their shoes, to prevent soiling the couch.
ACCUBITOR, an ancient officer of the emperors of
Constantinople, whose business was to lie near the empe¬
ror. He was the head of the youth of the bed-chamber,
and had the cuhicularius and procubitor under him.
ACCUMULATION, in a general sense, the act of
heaping or amassing things together. Among lawyers it
is used in speaking of the concurrence of several titles to
the same thing, or of several circumstances to the same
proof.
AccumulA non of Degree^ in a uriircrsity, is the taking
ACC A C ,K 91
^cursed of several of theYn together, or at shorter intervals than
II usual, or than is allowed by the rules of the university.
• ccusa- ACCURSED; something that lies under a curse, or
f sentence of excommunication.—In the Jewish idiom, ac-
mrse(i an(j crucified were synonymous. Among them,
every one was accounted accursed who died on a tree.
This serves to explain the difficult passage in Rom.
ix. 3, where the apostle Paul wished himself accursed
after the nianner of Christ, i. e. crucified, if happily he
might, by such a death, save his countrymen. The pre¬
position avo, here made use of, is used in the same sense,
2 Tim. i. 3, where it obviously signifies after the manner of.
ACCUSATION, the charging of any person with a cri¬
minal action, either in one’s own name or in that of the
public. The word is compounded of ad, to, and causari,
to plead.
Writers on politics treat of the benefit and the incon¬
veniences of public accusations. Various arguments are
alleged both for the encouragement and discouragement
of accusations against great men. Nothing, according to
Machiavel, tends more to the preservation of a state than
frequent accusations of persons intrusted with the admini¬
stration of public affairs. This, accordingly, was strictly
observed by the Romans in the instance of Camillus, ac¬
cused of corruption by Manlius Capitolinus, &c. Accu¬
sations, however, in the judgment of the same author, are
not more beneficial than calumnies are pernicious; which
is also confirmed by the practice of the Romans. Man¬
lius, not being able to make good his charge against Ca¬
millus, was cast into prison.
By the Roman law, there was no public accuser for
public crimes; every private person, whether interested
in the crime or not, might accuse, and prosecute the ac¬
cused to punishment or absolution. Cato, the most inno¬
cent person of his age, had been accused 42 times, and as
often absolved. But the accusation of 'private crimes was
never received but from the mouths of those who were
immediately interested in them: None {e. g.) but the
husband could accuse his wife of adultery.
The ancient Roman lawyers distinguished between j»os-
tulntio, delatio, and accusatio. For, first, leave was desired
to bring a charge against one, which was called postulare:
then he against whom the charge was laid was brought
before the judge, which was called deferre, or nominis de¬
latio: lastly, the charge was drawn up and presented,
which was properly the accusatio. The accusation pro¬
perly commenced, according to Pedianus, when the reus
or party charged, being interrogated, denied he was guilty
of the crime, and subscribed his name to the delatio made
by his opponent.
In Britain, by Magna Charta, no man shall be impri¬
soned or condemned on any accusation, without trial by
his peers or the law; none shall be vexed with any accu¬
sation, but according to the law of the land; and no man
shall be molested by petition to the king, &c. unless it be
by indictment or presentment of lawful men, or by pro¬
cess at common law. Promoters of suggestions are to
find surety to pursue them, and if they do not make them
good, shall pay damages to the party accused, and also a fine
to the king. No person is obliged to answer upon oath to
a question whereby he may accuse himself of any crime.
ACCUSATIVE, in Latin Grammar, is the fourth case
of nouns, and signifies the relation of the noun on which
the action implied in the verb terminates; and hence, in
such languages as have cases, these nouns have a particu¬
lar termination, called accusative, as, Augustus vicit Anto-
nium, Augustus vanquished Antony. Here Antonium is
the noun on which the action implied in the word vicit
terminates, and therefore must have the accusative ter¬
mination. Ovid, speaking of the palace of the sun, says, ACe
Materiem superabat opus. The work surpassed the mate- ||
rials. Here materiem has the accusative termination, be- Acepha-
cause it terminates the action of the verb superabat.—In ^ous‘
the English language there are no cases, except the geni-V^~v~Nk
tive; the relation of the noun being shown by the assist¬
ance of prepositions, as of, to, from, &c.
ACE, among gamesters, a card or die marked only
with one point.
ACELDAMA, in Scripture history, a place without
the south wall of Jerusalem, beyond the brook of Siloam,
which was called the Potter’s Field, because clay of which
pots were made was dug out of it. It was afterwards bought
with the money with which the high-priests and rulers
of the Jews purchased the blood of Jesus Christ; and
hence it was called Aceldama, the field of blood.
ACENTETUM, or Acenteta, in Natural History, a
name given by the ancients to the purest and finest kind
of rock-crystal. They used the crystal in many ways;
sometimes engraving on it, and sometimes forming it into
vases and cups, which were held next in value to the vasa
murrhina of those times. The crystal they obtained from
the island of Cyprus was much esteemed, but often faulty
in particular parts, having hairs, cracks, and foulnesses,
which they called salts, in the middle of the large pieces.
Pliny tells us, that when it was used for engraving on, the
artist could conceal all these blemishes among the strokes
of his work; but when it was to be formed into cups or
precious vases, they always chose the Acentetum, which
had no flaws or blemishes.
ACEPHALI, or Acephalit^e, a term applied to seve¬
ral sects who refused to follow some noted leader. Thus,
the persons who refused to follow either John of Antioch
or St Cyril, in a dispute that happened in the council of
Ephesus, were termed Acephali, without a head or leader.
Such bishops, also, as were exempt from the jurisdiction
and discipline of their patriarch, were styled Acephali.
Acephali, the levellers in the reign of King Henry I.
who acknowledged no head or. superior. They were
reckoned so poor, that they had not a tenement by which
they might acknowledge a superior lord.
ACEPHALOUS, or Acephalus, in a general sense,
without a head. The term is more particularly used in
speaking of certain nations or people, represented by
ancient naturalists and cosmographers, as well as by
some modern travellers, as formed without heads; their
eyes, mouth, &c. being placed in other parts. Such are
the Blemmyes, a nation of Africa, near the head of
the Niger, represented to be by Pliny and Solinus:
Blemmyis traduntur capita abesse, ore et ocidis pectori
affixis. Ctesias and Solinus mention others in India,
near the Ganges, sine cervice, oculos in humeris habentes.
Mela also speaks of people, quibus capita et vultus in pec-
tore sunt. And Suidas, Stephanus Byzantinus, Vopiscus,
and others after them, relate the like. Some modern tra¬
vellers have pretended to find acephalous people in Ame¬
rica.
Several opinions have been framed as to the origin of
the fable of the Acephali. The first is that of Thomas
Bartholine, who turns the whole into a metaphor; being
convinced, that the name Acephali was anciently given
to such as had less brain, or conducted themselves less
by the rules of prudence, than others. Olearius rather
apprehends that the ancient voyagers, viewing pertain
barbarous people from the coasts, had been imposed on
by their uncouth dress; for that the Samogitians, being
short of stature, and going in the severity of winter with
their heads covered in hoods, seem at a distance as if
they were headless. F. Lafitau says, that by Acepfiali
92
AGE
Acephalusare only meant people whose heads are sunk below their
|| shoulders. Hulsius, in his epitome of Sir Walter Ra-
Acerra. Sigh’s Voyage to Guiana, speaks of a people which that
traveller found between the lakes of Panama and Cassipa,
who had no head or neck; and Hondius, in his map,
marks the place with the figures of these monsters. But
y Descript. De Laet1 rejects the story; being informed by others,
Amer. lib. that the inhabitants of the banks of the Caora, a river that
xvii. c. 22. flows out 0f the lake of Cassipa, have their heads so far
sunk between their shoulders, that many believed they
had their eyes in their shoulders, and their mouths in
their breasts.
Acephalus, an obsolete term for the taenia or tape¬
worm, which was long supposed to be acephalous. I he
first who gave it a head was Tulpius, and after him
Fehr: the former even makes it biceps, or two-headed.
Acephalus is also used to express a verse defective
in the beginning.
ACEQUAR A, a town of the kingdom of Naples, in the
principality of Citra, with 2263 inhabitants.
ACEQUARIA, a town of Italy, in the grand duchy of
Modena, about 18 miles south-west from the capital, with
1360 inhabitants. It is chiefly celebrated for its mineral
springs.
ACEQUI, a city, the capital of the province of the
same name, in Italy. It is a walled city, partly on the
banks of the Bormida, and partly on a hill rising above
that river. It has a cathedral, three monasteries, and a
nunnery. The inhabitants, who chiefly trade in silk, are
6600. There are some celebrated warm baths, which
were known in ancient times, and used by the Romans.
It is in Long. 8. 31. E. Lat. 44. 40. N.
ACER, the Maple or Sycamore Tree.
ACERA, the name of a town of Spain, on the river
Carion, in the jurisdiction of Saldana and province of
Valencia; and also of another on the Ebro, in the depart¬
ment of Reynosa and province of Toro.
ACERB, a sour rough astringency of taste, such as
that of unripe fruit.
ACERENZA, a town of the kingdom of Naples, in the
province of Basilicata, 80 miles east from Naples, con¬
taining 1800 inhabitants.
ACERINA, in Ichthyology, a name given by Pliny and
other old naturalists to the fish we at this time call the
ruffe.
ACERNO, a town of Italy, in the citerior principality
of Naples, with a bishop’s see, and 2400 inhabitants. It
is situated 12 miles north-east of Saluno, in Long. 15.
46. E. Lat. 40. 45. N.
ACERRA, in antiquity, an altar erected among the
Romans, near the bed of a person deceased, on which
his friends daily offered incense till his burial. The real
intention probably was to overcome any offensive smell
that might arise about the corpse. The Chinese have
still a custom like this: they erect an altar to the de¬
ceased in a room hung with mourning, and place an
image of the dead person on the altar, to which every one
that approaches it bows four times, and offers oblations
and perfumes.
The acerra also signified a little pot, wherein were put
the incense and perfumes to be burnt on the altars of the
gods and before the dead. It appears to have been the
same with what was otherwise called thuribulumandipyxis.
The Jews had their acerrce, in our version rendered cen¬
sers ; and the Romanists still retain them under the name
of incense pots. In Roman writers we frequently meet
with plena acerra, a full acerra; to understand which, it
is to be observed, that people were obliged to offer in¬
cense in proportion to their estate and condition; the
ACE
rich in larger quantities, the poor only a few grains: the Acerr,
former poured out full acerrce on the altar, the latter took ||
out two or three bits with their fingers. ^sar
Acerra, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples,
and in the Terra di Lavoro, seated on the river Agno,
7 miles north-east of Naples ; anciently Acerra. It con¬
tains 6256 inhabitants. Long. 14. 13. E. Lat. 40.55. N.
ACESCENT, a word used to denote any thing which
is turning sour, or which is slightly acid. It is only
applied properly to the former of these two meanings.
The second may be expressed by either of the two words
acidulous or sub-acid.
ACESINES, in Ancient Geography, a large and rapid
river of India, which Alexander passed in his expedition
into that country. The kingdorti of Porus, which was
conquered by Alexander, lay between the Hydaspes and
this river, which, uniting with the former and other con¬
siderable rivers, pours its waters into the Indus. Accord¬
ing to Major Rennell, the modern Chunab is the Acesines
of the ancients.
ACESIUS, a bishop of Constantinople in the reign of
Constantine, was a rigid adherent to the Novatian doc¬
trines, according to which those whom persecutions had
shaken from the faith, or who were guilty of any mortal
sin after baptism, could not be admitted to the commu¬
nion of the church, even after exhibiting the most con¬
vincing proofs of sincere repentance. Constantine, who
was extremely displeased with the severity of this rigid
sect, in discouraging and rejeding repentance, is said to
have thus expressed himself: “ Then, Acesius, make a
ladder for yourself, and go up to heaven alone.”
ACETABULUM, in antiquity, a measure used by the
ancients, equal to one-eighth of our pint. It seems to
have acquired its name from a vessel in which acetum or
vinegar was brought to their tables, and which probably
contained about this quantity.
Acetabulum, in Anatomy, a cavity in any bone for re¬
ceiving the protuberant head of another, and thereby
forming that species of articulation called Enarthrosis,
Acetabulum, in Botany, the trivial name of a species
of the peziza, or cup peziza, a genus belonging to the
cryptogamia fungi of Linnaeus. It has got the name of
acetabulum from the resemblance its leaves bear to a cup.
ACETARY. Grew, in his Anatomy of Plants, applies
this term to a pulpy substance in certain fruits, e. g. the
pear, which is inclosed in a congeries of small calculous
bodies towards the base of the fruit, and is always of an
acid taste.
ACETOSA, Sorrel ; by Linnaeus joined to the genus
Rumex.
ACETOSELLA, in Botany, a species of Oxalis.
ACETOUS, an epithet applied to such substances as
are sour, or partake of the nature of vinegar.
ACETUM, Vinegar, the vegetable acid of the che¬
mists.
ACH/EA, in Ancient Geography, a town of the island
of Rhodes, in the district of lalysus, and the first and
most ancient of all; said to be built by the Heliades, or
grandsons of the sun.
ACILEANS, the inhabitants of Achaia Propria, a
Peloponnesian state. This republic was not considerable,
in early times, for the number of its troops, nor for its
wealth, nor for the extent of its territories; but it was
famed for its probity, its justice, and its love of liberty,
Its high reputation for these virtues was very ancient.
The Crotonians and Sybarites, to re-establish order in their
towns, adopted the laws and customs of the Achseans. Af¬
ter the famous battle of Leuctra, a difference arose betwixt
the Lacedemonians and Thebans, who held the virtue of
A C H
A C H
93
A* cans
this people in such veneration, that they terminated the
dispute by their decision. The government of the Achaeans
was democratical. They preserved their liberty till the
time of Philip and Alexander; but in the reign of these
princes, and afterwards, they were either subjected to the
Macedonians, who had made themselves masters of Greece,
or oppressed by domestic tyrants. The Achaean com¬
monwealth consisted of twelve inconsiderable towns in
Peloponnesus. Towards the 124th Olympiad, about the
time when Ptolemy Soter died, and when Pyrrhus invad¬
ed Italy, the republic of the Achaeans recovered its old
institutions and unanimity. The inhabitants of Patrae and
of Dymae were the first assertors of ancient liberty. The
tyrants were banished, and the towns again made one
commonwealth. A public council was then held, in which
affairs of importance were discussed and determined. A
register was appointed to record the transactions of the
council. This assembly had two presidents, who were
nominated alternately by the different towns. But instead
of two presidents, they soon elected but one. Many
neighbouring towns, which admired the constitution of
this republic, founded on equality, liberty, the love of
justice, and of the public good, were incorporated with
the Achaeans, and admitted to the full enjoyment of their
laws and privileges.—The arms which the Achaeans chief¬
ly used were slings. They were trained to the art from
their infancy, by slinging from a great distance, at a cir¬
cular mark of a moderate circumference. By long prac¬
tice they took so nice an aim, that they were sure, not
only to hit their enemies on the head, but on any part
of the face they chose. Their slings were of a different
kind from those of the Balearians, whom they far surpass¬
ed in dexterity.
ACHiEI, Ach;eans, the inhabitants of Achaia Propria.
In Livy, the people of Greece; for the most part called
Achivi by the Roman poets. In Homer, the general
name for Grecians. See Ach-zeans.
ACHiEMENES, according to Herodotus, was grand¬
father of Cambyses, and great-grandfather of Cyrus the
first, king of Persia. Most of the commentators of Ho¬
race are of opinion, that the Achaemenes whom that poet
mentions, Ode xii. of his 2d book, was one of the Persian
monarchs; but if that were true, he must have reigned
before the Medes subdued the Persians; for we do not
hear of any king of that name from the time that the
Persians founded that great monarchy, which is looked
upon as the second universal one. However this be, the
epithet AcJuemenians is frequently given to the Persians
in the old Latin poets.
Acha:menes, son of Darius I. king of Persia, and
brother of Xerxes, had the government of Egypt bestow¬
ed on him, after Xerxes had forced the Egyptians to re¬
turn to their allegiance. He some time after commanded
the Egyptian fleet in the celebrated expedition which
proved so fatal to all Greece. The Egyptians having
again taken up arms after the death of Xerxes, Achasmenes
was sent into Egypt to suppress the rebellion, but was
vanquished by Inarus, chief of the rebels, succoured by
the Athenians.
ACHyEUS, cousin-german to Seleucus Ceraunus and
Antiochus the Great, kings of Syria, became a very
powerful monarch, and enjoyed the dominions he had
usurped for many years; but at last he was punished for
his usurpations in a dreadful manner, in the 140th year of
Xj ili. Rome, as related by Polybius.1
, ACHAFALAYA, a river in Louisiana, in North Ame¬
rica, or more properly a secondary channel of the Missis-
sippi, by which a part of its waters flows off from the
main trunk, and passes to the Gulf of Mexico. Its mouth
is about 100 miles westward of the proper mouth of the Achaia
Mississippi.! 1|
ACHAIA, a name taken for that part of Greece which Acheen.
Ptolemy calls Hellas, the younger Pliny Gracia; now
called Livadia.
Achaia Propria, anciently a small district in the north
of Peloponnesus, running westward along the bay of Co*-
rinth, and bounded on the west by the Ionian Sea, on the
south by Elis and Arcadia, and on the east by Sicyonia :
inhabitants, the Achceans, properly so called; its metropolis
Patra. It is now called Romania Alta, in the Morea.
Achaia also denoted all those countries that joined in
the Achaean league, reduced by the Romans to a province.
Likewise for Peloponnesus.
Achaiji: Presbyteri, or the Presbyters of Achaia, were
those who were present at the martyrdom of St Andrew
the apostle, a. d. 59; and are said to have written an
epistle in relation to it. Bellarmin, and several other
eminent writers in the church of Rome, allow it to be
genuine; while Du Pin and some others expressly rer
ject it.
ACHAIUS, son of Ethwin, was raised to the crown of
Scotland, a. d. 788. The Emperor Charlemagne sent an
embassy to this prince, to request an alliance with him
against the English, whose pirates so infested the seas
that the merchants could not carry on their trade. The
alliance was concluded in France, upon conditions so ad¬
vantageous to the Scots, that Achaius, to perpetuate the
memory of it, added to the arms of Scotland a double
field sowed with lilies. He died in 819.
ACHALALACTLI, a species of king’s-fisher.
ACHAN, the son of Carmi, of the tribe of Judah, at
the taking of Jericho, concealed two hundred shekels of
silver, a Babylonish garment, and a wedge of gold, con¬
trary to the express command of God. This sin proved
fatal to the Israelites, who were repulsed at the siege of
Ai. In this dreadful exigence, Joshua prostrated himself
before the Lord, and begged that he would have mercy
upon his people. Achan was discovered by casting lots,
and he and his children were stoned to death. This ex¬
piation being made, Ai was taken by stratagem. (Josh,
vii. viii.)
ACHANE, an ancient Persian corn measure, contain¬
ing 45 Attic medimni.
ACHARACA, anciently a town of Lydia, situated be¬
tween Tralles and Nysa; in which were the temple of
Pluto and the cave Charonium, where patients slept in
order to obtain a cure.
ACHAT, in Law, implies a purchase or bargain. And
hence probably purveyors were called Achators, from their
making bargains.
ACHATES, the companion of iEneas, and his most
faithful friend, celebrated in Virgil.
Achates, in Natural History, the same as Agate.
Achates, in Ancient Geography, a river of Sicily, now
the Drillo ; which runs from north to south, almost pa¬
rallel with, and at no great distance from the Gela ; and
rises in the north of the territory of Noto. It gave name
to the achates, or agate, said to be first found there.
ACHAZIB, or Achzib, in Ancient Geography, a town
of Galilee, in the tribe of Asher, nine miles from Ptole-
mais.—Also a town in the more southern parts of the
tribe of Judah.
ACHEEN, Ache', or Achen, a kingdom of Sumatra,
in the East Indies, situated on the north-western part of
the island, and not extending inland above 50 miles to the
south-east. It was formerly a flourishing and extensive
state, but has now greatly declined from its importance,
having become a prey to anarchy, from the contests of
94
A C H
A C H
Acheen.
petty chiefs. In 1820 it was bounded, according to the
most correct reports, by Tamiang on the eastern, and
Sinkel on the western coast of Sumatra. Acheen is es¬
teemed comparatively healthy, being more free from
woods and swamps than most other portions of the
island; and the fevers and dysenteries to which these
are supposed to give occasion, are there said to be un¬
common. The soil is light and fertile, and produces a
variety of the finest fruits and vegetables; also rice and
cotton in great plenty and perfection. Cattle are abundant,
and reasonable in price. Though no longer the great
mart of eastern commodities, it still carries on a consider¬
able trade with the natives of that part of the coast of
Indostan called Tellinga, who supply it with the cotton
goods of their country, and receive in return, gold dust,
sapan wood, betel-nut, patch-leaf, a little pepper, sulphur,
camphor, and benzoin. The country is supplied with
Bengal opium, and also with iron, and many other articles
of merchandise, by the European traders. A manufac¬
ture to some extent of a thick species of cotton cloth,
and of striped and checked stuffs for the short drawers
Worn both by Malays and Achenese, is established here,
and meets with an extensive sale. They weave also
very handsome silk pieces, of a particular form, for that
part of the dress which is called by the Malays cayen
serrong. But this manufacture has of late declined,
owing probably to the decay of industry among the in¬
habitants, and also to the failure in the breed of silk-worms.
Gold dust is collected in the mountains near Acheen, but
the greater part is brought from the southern ports of
Nalaboo and Soosoo. Sulphur is gathered from a vol¬
canic mountain in the neighbourhood, which supplies their
own consumption for the manufacture of gunpowder, and
admits of a large exportation. Having no convenient
coins, though most species of money will be taken here
at a valuation, traders commonly make their payments in
gold dust, and for that purpose are all provided with
scales or small steelyards. They carry their gold about
them, wrapped up in pieces of bladder, and often pur¬
chase to so small an amount as to make use of grain or
seeds for weights. They have besides a thin adulterated
gold coin, rudely stamped with Arabic characters, called
mans.
In their persons the Achenese differ from the rest of
the Sumatrans, being taller, stouter, and of a darker com¬
plexion. They do not appear to be a distinct people, but are
thought, with great appearance of reason, to be a mixture
of Battas, Malays, and Moors, from the west of India.
In their dispositions they are more active and industrious
than their neighbours; they possess more penetration
and sagacity; hav$ more general knowledge; and, as
merchants, they deal upon a more extensive and liberal
footing. Their religion is Mahometanism ; and having a
great number of mosquqs and priests, its forms and cere¬
monies are strictly observed. They speak a mixed lan¬
guage of Malay and-Batta, with all the other jargons used
by the eastern Mahomedans. In writing, they use the
Malay character.
The monarchy is hereditary, and the king usually main¬
tains a guard gf 100- sepoys about his palace. When
Acheen was a flourishing state, he ruled with despotic
authority. There was, however, according to Mr Marsden,
a grand council of the nation, which consisted of the sultan
at its head; of four chief counsellors, and eight of a lower
degree, who sat qn the king’s right hand; and of 16 others
who sat on his left. How far this council shares or con¬
trols the royal prerogative, does not seem to be ascertained.
At the king’s feet,” says Mr Marsden, “ sits a woman,
to whom he makes known his pleasure; by her it is com¬
municated to an eunuch, who sits next to her; and by Acl
him to an officer, who then proclaims it aloud to the as-k^
sembly. There are also present two other officers, one of
whom has the government of the bazar or market, and
the other the superintending and carrying into execution
the punishment of criminals. All matters relative to
commerce and the customs of the port come under the
jurisdiction of another functionary, who performs the ce¬
remony of giving the chap or 'licence for trade ; which is
done by lifting a golden-hafted kris over the head of
the merchant who arrives, and without which he dares
not to land his goods. Presents, the value of which
is become pretty regularly ascertained, are then sent to
the king and his officers. If the stranger be in the style
of an ambassador, the royal elephants are sent down to
carry him and his letters to the monarch’s presence; these
being first delivered into the hands of an eunuch, who
places them in a silver dish, covered with rich silk, on the
back of the largest elephant, which is provided with a
machine for that purpose. Within about an hundred
yards of an open hall where the king sits, the cavalcade
stops, and the ambassador dismounts, and makes his
obeisance by bending his body and lifting his joined hands
to his head. When he enters the palace, if an European,
he is obliged to take off his shoes; and having made a
second obeisance, is seated upon a carpet on the floor,
where betel is brought to him.” The crown revenues, which
fluctuate considerably, are derived from import and ex¬
port duties levied on all goods. Monopolies, the approved
resource of despotism, also afford a revenue. These are
managed by the officer who has the superintendence of
commerce, and who frequently uses his power as an in¬
strument of extortion.
Acheen, like all states in the same stage of civilisation,
is distinguished by the severity of its punishments ; and
no commutation is admitted, as in the southern countries.
But it is on the poor chiefly that the rod of justice falls
with its full weight, the nobles being secure from its retri¬
bution by the number of their dependents. Petty theft
is punished by suspending the criminal from a tree, with
a guh or heavy weight tied to his feet; or by cutting off
a finger, a hand, or leg, according to the nature of the
theft. Many of these mutilated and wretched objects
are daily to be seen in the streets. Robbery on the high¬
way and housebreaking are punished by drowning, and
afterwards exposing the body on a stake for a few days.
If the robbery is committed upon an imaum or priest, the
sacrilege is expiated by burning the criminal alive. A
man who is convicted of adultery is delivered up to the
friends and relations of the injured husband. These dis¬
couragements to vice might seem to bespeak a moral and
virtuous people; yet all travellers agree in representing
the Achenese as one of the most dishonest and flagitious
nations of the East. *
Acheen was first visited by Portuguese adventurers in
1509, after they had discovered the passage to the East
Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. Hostilities imme¬
diately commenced with the inhabitants, and continued
with various success, until the Portuguese lost Malacca
in 1641. About the year 1586 the monarchy of Acheen
attained to its greatest height of power and prosperity.
It had a flourishing commerce ; and the port of Acheen
was crowded with vessels from all the Asiatic countries,
which were allowed to carry on their trade with the most
perfect security. About the year 1600, when the Dutch
navigators had penetrated to these seas, some of their
vessels which had entered the port of Acheen were nearly
cut off by the treachery of the inhabitants. It was in
1602 that Acheen was first visited by the English ship*.
a e h
cheen. under Captain Lancaster, where they were well recelv-
> ecl. In 1607, the reigning sultan, having greatly extended
his dominions on every side, assumed the title of sovereign.
He had some correspondence with King James; and in
answering one of his letters, he takes the title of King of
Sumatra, and intimates to the king of England his wish that
he would send out to him one of- his countrywomen for a
wife. The French visited Acheen in 1621 under Commo¬
dore Beaulieu. The Dutch were now become the powerful
rivals of the Portuguese in the eastern seas. They suc¬
ceeded in 1640, by the aid of their allies the Achenese,
in wresting from them Malacca, which they had so long
maintained. They afterwards commenced their encroach¬
ments on the Achenese, and reduced the extent of their
ancient dominion, which, joined to the weakness of the
government, occasioned the decline of the Achenese
power. In 1641, the sultan Peducka Siri, who, though of
a cruel disposition, was a powerful sovereign, died; and
the Achenese monarchy continued in the female line till
1700, when a priest found means to acquire the supreme
power. The country was agitated during the whole of
the eighteenth century by anarchy, and the most san¬
guinary revolutions. In 1813, the state of Acheen, for¬
merly so flourishing, was found with hardly any form of
civil order existing, every port and village being occupied
by petty usurpers, who subsisted by piracy and smug¬
gling. At length the reigning monarch was compelled to
abdicate the throne in favour of a shop-keeper’s son in
Prince of Wales Island; but he was restored in 1819 to
his dignity. In the following year, Mr Sartorius, being
deputed to Acheen, found the country in a most miserable
state; the king’s authority a mere nullity; and though a
commercial treaty had been concluded, there appeared in
the distracted state of the country not the least chance
of its provisions being carried into effect, without some
direct and active interference to uphold the authority of
the government.
Acheen, the capital of the above state, is situated on
a river at the north-western extremity of Sumatra, and
about a league from the sea, where a road is formed, in
which the shipping may be secure under the shelter of
several islands. The town is indifferently built of bam¬
boos and rough timber, and raised some feet from the
ground on account of the overflow of the river in the
rainy season. Its appearance and the nature of the
buildings resemble the generality of the Malay bazars,
excepting that the superior wealth of this place has occa¬
sioned a great number of public edifices, which do not
however possess the smallest? pretensions to magnificence.
The sultan’s palace, which is the chief public building,
a very rude and uncouth piece of architecture, designed
to resist the force of an enemy, and surrounded with a
moat and strong walls, but without any regular plan, or
any view to the modern system of military attack.
Several pieces of ordnance are planted near the gate,
some of which are Portuguese; but two were sent
from England by James L, on which the founder’s name
and the date are still legible. The river on which the
town is situated is not large ; and the stream being di¬
vided into several channels, is rendered shallow at the
bar. In the dry monsoon it will not admit boats of any
burden, much less large vessels, which lie without in
the road formed by the islands off the point. The com¬
merce has fallen off. The chief exports are, brimstone,
betel-nut, ratans, benzoin, camphor, gold dust, pepper,
and horses ;'the imports, opium, salt, piece-goods, muslin,
&c. The town fcofitains-about 8000 houses. Long. 95.
45. E. Lat. 5.35. N. Marsden’s Sumatra, Forrest’s Voyage,
Hamilton’s Ehst India Gazetteer*
A c n sis
ACHELOUS, in fabulous history, wrestled with Her- Achelous
cules, for no less a prize than Dejanira, daughter of King 11
CEneus ; but as Achelous had the power of assuming all Acfieri-
shapes, the contest was long dubious. At last, as he took
that of a bull, Hercules tore off one of his horns, so that
he was forced to submit, and to redeem it by giving the
conqueror the horn of Amalthea, the same with the cor¬
nucopia, or horn of plenty; which Hercules, having filled
with a variety of fruits, consecrated to Jupiter. Some
explain this fable, by saying, that Achelous is a winding
river of Greece, whose stream was so rapid, that it roared
like a bull, and overflowed its banks; but Hercules, by
bringing it into two channels, broke off one of the horns,
and so restored plenty to the country. See the next article.
Achelous, a river of Acarnania, which rises in Mount
Pindus, and dividing iEtolia from Acarnania, falls into the
Ionian Sea. It was formerly called Thoas, from its impe¬
tuosity, and king of rivers. (Homer.) The epithet Ache-
loius is used for Aqueus (Virgil), the ancients calling all
water Achelous, especially in oaths, vows, and sacrifices,
according to Ephorus : now called Aspro Potamo. Rivers
are by the ancient poets called Tauriformes, either from
the bellowing of their waters, or from their ploughing the
earth in their course. Hercules, restraining by dykes
and mounds the inundations of the Achelous, is said to
have broken off one of his horns, and to have brought back
plenty to the country. See the preceding article.
ACHENWALL, Gottfried, a German writer, who
obtained considerable celebrity from having first reduc¬
ed statistics to a regular branch of study, and excited
much of the attention of others to the subject. He was
born at Elbing, in East Prussia, in October 1719. He
studied, according to the custom of Germany, in several
universities; and was at Jena, Halle, and Leipsic, before
he took a degree at the last of those cities. He removed
to Marburg in 1746, where he continued during two years
to read lectures on history, and on the law of nature and
of nations, and commenced those inquiries in statistics
by which his name became known. In 1748 he removed
to Gottingen, where he resided till his death in 1772. He
made several journeys to Switzerland, France, Holland,
and England, and published numerous small but accurate
works on their history, population, products, laws, reve¬
nues, and administration. His chief merit lay in the lec¬
tures he delivered at the university, where he was a pro¬
fessor, in which he brought forward, in a fixed and steady
form, and in a new and luminous point of view, those
active powers of states which conduce to their physical
and moral prosperity. He was married in 1752 to a lady
named Walther, who obtained some celebrity by a volume
of poems published in 1750. Both Achenwall and his,
wife were great contributors to the periodical publications
of Gottingen, by which they gained a degree of reputa¬
tion which, from their labours not having been published
in a separate form, has been since nearly forgotten, and
owing to which we are unable to place before our readers
a correct list of their writings. ’ > • (g.)
ACHER, a river in the grand dually of Baden, rising
in the Mummel lake, and failing into the Rhine between
Lechtenau and Greffern. ~ *’
ACHERI, Luke d’, a learned Benedictine of the con¬
gregation of St Maur, was born at St Quintin, in Picardy,
in 1609, and made himself famous by printing several
works, which till then were only in manuscript: t particu¬
larly, the Epistle attributed to St Barnabds ; the Works of
Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury ; a collection of scarce
and curious pieces, under the title of Spicilegiunl, i. e.
Gleanings, in 13 volumes quarto. The prefaces and
notes which he annexed to many of these pieces, show
96 . A C H A C II
Achern him to have been a man of genius and abilities. There versal, nor is it a part of his character as drawn by Ho- At e,
II was an edition of this valuable work published in 1725, in mer; for in the Iliad (B. xxi. 161.) he is actually wound-
t^ree volumes folio ; but the editor appears to have taken ed in the right arm by the lance of Asteropaeus, in the ^ t.
some unwarrantable liberties with the learned prefaces of battle near the river Scamander. Thetis afterwards in-V^ '■
. his author. Acheri had some share in the pieces insert- trusted him to the care of the centaur Chiron, who, to
ed in the first volumes of the Acts of the Saints of the give him the strength necessary for martial toil, fed him
order of St Benedict; the title whereof acquaints us that with honey and the marrow of lions and wild boars. To
they were collected and published by him and Father prevent his going to the siege of Troy, she disguised him
Mabillon. After a very retired life, till the age of in female apparel, and hid him among the maidens at the
76, he died at Paris the 29th of April 1685, in the ab- court of King Lycomedes; but Ulysses discovering him,
bey of St Germain in the Fields, where he had been persuaded him to follow the Greeks. Achilles distinguish-
librarian. ed himself by a number of heroic actions at the siege.
ACHERN, a city, chief of the bailiwick of the same Being disgusted, however, with Agamemnon for the loss
name. It is situated on the Acher, and on the mountain of Briseis, he retired from the camp; but returning to
road; has 300 houses, and 1368 inhabitants, several of avenge the death of his friend Patroclus, he slew Hec-
Vvhom are employed in woollen and in iron manufactures, tor, fastened his corpse to his chariot, and dragged it
ACHERNER, or Acharner, a star of the first mag- round the walls of Troy. At last Paris, the brother of
nitude in the southern extremity of the constellation Eri- Hector, wounded him in the heel with an arrow, while he
danus, but invisible in our latitude. was in the temple treating about his marriage with Philox-
ACHERON, feigned by the poets to have been the ena, daughter of King Priam. Of this wound he died,
son of Ceres, whom she hid in hell for fear of the Titans, and was interred on the promontory of Sigaeum ; and after
and turned into a river, over which souls departed were Troy was taken, the Greeks sacrificed Philoxena on his
ierried in their way to Elysium. tomb, in obedience to his desire, that he might enjoy her
Acheron, in Ancient Geography, a river of Thesprotia, company in the Elysian fields. It is said that Alexan-
in Epirus ; which, after forming the lake Acherusia, at der, seeing this tomb, honoured it by placing a crown
no great distance from the promontory of-Chimerium, falls upon it; at the same time crying out, that “ Achilles
into the sea opposite to the isle of Paxo. was happy in having, during his life, such a friend as Pa-
Acheron, or Acheros, a river of the Bruttii in Italy, troclus, and, after his death, a poet like Homer.” Achil-
running from east to west, where Alexander, king of les is supposed to have died 1183 years before the Chris-
Epirus, was slain by the Lucani, being deceived by the tian era.
oracle of Dodona, which bade him beware of Acheron. Achilles Tatius. See Tatius.
ACHERSET, an ancient measure of corn, conjectured Tendo-Achillis, va Anatomy, is a strong tendinous cord
to be the same with our quarter, or eight bushels. formed by the tendons of several muscles, and inserted
ACHERUSIA PALUS, a lake between Cumae and the into the os calcis. It has its name from the fatal wound
promontory Misenum, now II Logo della Collucia. (Clu- Achilles is said to have received in that part from Paris,
verius.) Some confound it with the Lacus Lucrinus, and the son of Priam.
others with the Lacus Averni ; but Strabo and Pliny dis- ACHILLINI, Alexander, was born at Bologna in
tinguish them.—A.lso a lake of Epirus, through which the 1463. He was celebrated as a lecturer both in medi-
Acheron runs.—There is also a cave of the same name, cine and philosophy, and was styled the Great Philoso-
through which Hercules is fabled to have descended to pher. Achillini died in 1512. His philosophical works
hell to drag forth Cerberus. were printed in one volume folio, at Venice, in 1508, and
ACHIAR is a Malayan word, which signifies all sorts reprinted with considerable additions in 1545, 1551, and ;
of fruits and roots pickled with vinegar and spice.' The 1568. His principal medical works are; 1. Annotationes
Dutch import from Batavia all sorts of achiar, but par- Anatomicae, Bonon. 1520, 4to, and Venice, 1521, 8vo.
ticularly that of Bamboo, a kind of cane, extremely thick, 2. De Humani Corporis Anatomia, Venice, 1521, 4to. 3. In
which grows in the East Indies. It is preserved there, Mundini Anatomiam Annotationes, printed with Katham’s
whilst it is still green, with very strong vinegar and spice; Fasciculus Medicinae, Venice, 1522, fol. 4. De Subjecto
and is called bamboo achiar. The name changes accord- Medicinae, cum annotationibus Pamphili Montii, Venice,
ing to the fruit with which the achiar is made. 1568. 5. De Chiromantiae Principiis et Physiognomiae,
ACHICOLUM is used to express the fornix, tholus, fol. without place or year. 6. De Universalibus, Bonon.
or sudatorium of the ancient baths ; which was a hot room 1501, fol. 7. De Subjecto Chiromantiae et Physiognomiae,
where they used to sweat. It is also called architholus. Bonon. 1503, fol. and Pavia, 1515, fol.
ACHILLEA, Yarrow, Milfoil, Nosebleed, or ACHIOTTE, or Achiote, a foreign drug, used in dyeing
Sneezewort. and in the preparation of chocolate. It is the same with
ACHILLEID, Achilleis, a celebrated poem of Sta- the substance more u'sually known by the name of Ar-
tius, in which that author proposed to deliver the whole notto.
life and exploits of Achilles; but being prevented by ACHIROPOETOS, a name given by ancient writers
death, he has only treated of the infancy and education to certain miraculous pictures of Christ and the Virgin,
of his hero. See Statius. . supposed to have been made without hands. The most
ACHILLES, one of the greatest heroes of ancient celebrated of these is the picture of Christ preserved in
Greece, was the son of Peleus and Ihetis. He was a na- the church of St John Lateran at Rome ; said to have been
tive of 1 hthia, in Thessaly. His mother, it is said, in begun by St Luke, but finished by the ministry of angels,
order to consume every mortal part of his body, used to ACHMET, son of Seerim, an Arabian author, has left
lay him every night under live coals, anointing him with a book concerning the interpretation of dreams, accord-
ambrosia, which pi eserved every part fiom burning but ing to the doctrine of the Indians, Persians, and Egyp-
one of his lips, owing to his having licked it. She dipped tians, which was translated into Greek and Latin. The
him also in the waters of the river Styx; by which his original is now lost. He lived about the fourth cem
whole body became invulnerable, except that part of his tury.
heel by which she held him. But this opinion is not uni- Achmet I. emperor of the Turks, the third son and
A C H A C H 97
:hmet. successor of Mahomet III. ascended the throne before
^-v^he reached the age of 15. During the period of his
reign, the Turkish empire enjoyed at one time great pros¬
perity, and at another was depressed with adversity. The
Asiatic rebels, who took refuge in Persia, involved the
two empires in a war, during which the Turks lost Bag¬
dad, to recover which every effort proved unsuccessful.
In his reign, Transylvania and Hungary were the scenes
of war between the Turks and Germans. In addition to
the calamities and distresses of war abroad, and internal
tumults and broils, a pretender to his throne disturbed
his repose, and made attempts on his life. He was much
devoted to amusements, and spent his time chiefly in the
harem and in the sports of the field. His seraglio con¬
sisted of 3000 women; and his hunting establishment was
composed of 40,000 falconers, and an equal number of
huntsmen, in different parts of his dominions. He ex¬
pended great sums of money in building, and particularly
on a magnificent mosque which he erected in the Hippo¬
drome. Achmet was less cruel than some of his prede¬
cessors, but he was haughty and ambitious. He died in
1617, at the age of 29. His three sons successively
ascended the throne after him.
Achmet II. emperor of the Turks, son of Sultan Ibra¬
him, succeeded his brother Solyman in 1691. The ad¬
ministration of affairs during his reign was feeble and un¬
settled. The Ottoman territory was overrun by the im¬
perialists; the Venetians seized the Morea, took the isle
of Chios, and several places in Dalmatia; and the Arabs
attacked and plundered a caravan of pilgrims, and even
laid siege to Mecca. Though he never discovered the
vigour and sagacity that are essentially requisite in the
character of a sovereign, in private life he wras mild, de¬
vout, and inoffensive. He was fond of poetry and music ;
and to those about his person, he was cheerful and ami¬
able. He died in 1695, at the age of 50.
Achmet III. emperor of the Turks, son of Mahomet
IV. succeeded his brother Mustapha II. who was deposed
in 1703. After he had settled the discontents of the em¬
pire, his great object was to amass wealth. With this
view he debased the coin, and imposed new taxes. He
received Charles XII. of Sweden, who took refuge in his
dominions after the battle of Pultowa in 1709, with great
hospitality; and, influenced by the sultana mother, he de¬
clared war against the Czar Peter, Charles’s formidable
rival. Achmet recovered the Morea from the Venetians;
but his expedition into Hungary was less fortunate, for
his army was defeated by Prince Eugene at the battle of
Peterwaradin, in 1716. As the public measures of Ach¬
met were influenced by ministers and favourites, the em¬
pire during his reign was frequently distracted by politi¬
cal struggles and revolutions. The discontent and sedi¬
tion of his soldiers at last drove him from the throne.
He was deposed in 1730, and succeeded by his nephew
Mahomet V. He wras confined in the same apartment
which had been occupied by his successor previously to
his elevation to the throne, and died of apoplexy in 1736,
at the age of 74. The intentions of this prince, it is said,
were upright; but his talents were moderate, never dis¬
covering that vigour of mind and steadiness of action
which are so necessary in the character of a sovereign.
Excessive confidence in his vizier diminished the splen¬
dour of his reign, and probably tended to shorten the
period of it.
Achmet Geduc, a famous general under Mahomet II.
and Bajazet II. in the fifteenth century. When Mahomet
II. died, Bajazet and Zezan both claimed the throne,
Achmet sided with the former, and by his bravery and
conduct fixed the crown on his head. But Bajazet took
VOL. II.
away his life; shining virtue being always an unpardon- Achmet-
able crime in the eyes of a tyrant. schet
ACHMETSCHET, a town of the peninsula of the U
Crimea, the residence of the Sultan Galga, who is eldest Ach.roma*
son of the Khan of Tartary. Glasses
ACHMIM, Akmim, or Echmim, a considerable city of
Upper Egypt, situated in a district very fertile in grain,
cotton, and sugar. The streets are broader and more re¬
gular than is usual in Egypt, though, being built only of
unburnt brick, they have a dull gloomy appearance. The
Greeks have a church, which they hold in great venera¬
tion, and which is adorned with granite pillars from the
ruins of Chemnis or Panopolis, a celebrated city, of which
few other vestiges now remain.
ACHONRY, a small town of Ireland, in the province
of Connaught and county of Sligo, seated on the river
Shannon.
ACHOR, a valley of Jericho, lying along the river
Jordan, not far from Gilgal; so called from Achan, the
troubler of Israel, being there stoned to death.
Achor, in Medicine, a species of Herpes.
Achor, in Mythology, the god of flies; to whom, ac¬
cording to Pliny, the inhabitants of Cyrene sacrificed, in
order to obtain deliverance from the insects, and the dis¬
orders occasioned by them.
ACHROMATIC, an epithet expressing want of co¬
lour. The word is Greek, being compounded of a priva¬
tive, and yguga, colour.
Achromatic Telescopes are telescopes contrived to
remedy the aberrations in colours. The invention of the Invention
telescope, by which the powers of vision are extended °f t*16 lele-
to the utmost boundaries of space, forms an epoch inSC0Pe*
the history of science. The human intellect had at
last emerged from the long night of error, and begun to
shine with unclouded lustre. The age of erudition, which
arose on the revival of letters, had been succeeded by
the age of science and philosophy. The study of the
ancient classics had infused some portion of taste and
vigour. But men did not long remain passive admirers;
they began to feel their native strength, and hastened to
exert it. A new impulsion was given to the whole frame
of society; the bolder spirits, bursting from the trammels
of authority, ventured to question inveterate opinions,
and to explore, with a fearless yet discerning eye, the
wide fields of human knowledge. Copernicus had partly
restored the true system of the world; Stevinus had ex¬
tended the principles of mechanics; the fine genius of
Galileo had detected and applied the laws of motion ; the
bold excursive imagination of Kepler had, by the aid of
immense labour, nearly completed his discovery of the
great laws which control the revolutions of the heavenly
bodies; and our countryman Napier had just rendered
himself immortal by the sublime discovery of logarithms.
At this eventful period, amidst the fermentation of talents,
the refracting telescope was produced by an obscure glass-
grinder in Holland,—a country then fresh from the struggle
against foreign oppression, and become the busy seat of
commerce and of the useful arts. Yet the very name of
that meritorious person, and the details connected with
his invention, are involved in much obscurity. On a
question of such peculiar interest we shall afterwards en¬
deavour to throw some light, by comparing together such
incidental notices as have been transmitted by contempo¬
rary writers. In the mean time, we may rest assured that
the construction of the telescope was not, as certain authors
would insinuate, the mere offspring of chance, but was,
like other scientific discoveries, the fruit of close and
patient observation of facts, directed with skill, and incited
by an ardent curiosity. A new and perhaps incidental
N
98
ACHROMATIC GLASSES.
Achroma- appearance, which would pass unheeded by the ordinary
^ spectator, arrests the glance of genius, and sets all the
powers ot fancy to work. But the inventor of the tele¬
scope, we are informed, was acquainted besides with the
elements of geometry, which enabled him to prosecute his
views, and to combine the results with unerring success.
No sooner was this fine discovery—admirable for the very
simplicity of its principle—whispered abroad, than it fixed
the attention of the chief mathematicians over Europe.
Kepler, with his usual fertility of mind, produced a trea¬
tise on Dioptrics, in which he investigated at large the
distinct effects of the combinations of different lenses.1
Galileo, from some very obscure hints, not only divined
the composition of the telescope, but actually constructed
one, with a concave eye-glass, which still bears his name.
This telescope is shorter, but gives less light than another
one proposed by Kepler, and called the astronomical tele¬
scope, which inverts the objects, and consists likewise
of only two lenses, that next the eye being convex.
With such an imperfect instrument—the same, indeed,
though of rather higher magnifying power, with our mo¬
dern opera-glass—did the Tuscan artist, as our great poet
quaintly styles the philosopher, venture to explore the
heavens.2 He noticed the solar spots, surveyed the
cavernous and rocky surface of the moon, observed the
successive phases of the planet Venus, and discovered
the more conspicuous of Jupiter’s satellites. The truths
thus revealed shook the inveterate prejudices of the learn¬
ed, and furnished the most triumphant evidence to the
true theory of the universe.
It is painful to remark, that the application of the first
telescope in the country which had given it birth was
directed to a very different purpose. The maker, after
having finished one, judging it of singular use in the mili¬
tary profession, was naturally induced, by the hope of
patronage, to present it to the younger Prince Maurice,
whose bravery and conduct had so beneficially contribut¬
ed to the independence of the United Provinces. But at
this moment a bloody tragedy was acting in Holland.
The chief of the republic, not content with that high
station which the gratitude of his fellow-citizens had con¬
ferred upon him, sought to aggrandize his power by crush¬
ing all opposition. In the prosecution of his ambitious
designs, he artfully gained the favour of the undiscerning
populace, and joining his intrigues fio the violence of the
Calvinistic clergy, he succeeded in preferring the charge
of a plot against the more strenuous supporters of the com¬
monwealth, which involved them in ruin. Not only was the
celebrated Grotius condemned to the gloom of perpetual
imprisonment, but the aged senator Barneveldt, whose
wise and upright counsels had guided the state amidst all
the troubles of a long revolutionary conflict, was led to the
scaffold, on the 14th of May 1619, while his persecutor, Achr.,
ashamed to approach the spectacle of his sufferings, beheld ti
at a distance, with the coolness of a tyrant, from the win- ^*as .
dows of his palace, and by help of a telescope, the gesture'^’'7 •'
and aspect of the venerable patriot, and all the melancholy
circumstances attending the decollation.3 * * *
The skill and ingenuity of artists and mathematicians Imprc ,
were now exerted in attempts to improve the construction of the t,
of an instrument so fortunately contrived. The perfec-SC0Pe' j
tion of the telescope would require the union, as far as they
are capableof being conjoined, of three different qualities,—
distinctness of vision, depth of magnifying power, and ex¬
tent of field. Of these requisites, the first two are evidently
the most important, and to attain them was an object of
persevering research. For the condition of amplitude and
clearness, it was necessary that the principal image, or
the one formed by the eye-glass, should be large, bright,
and well defined. On the supposition then genei'ally re¬
ceived, that, in the passage of light through the same
media, the angle of incidence bears a constant, ratio to the
angle of refraction, which is very nearly true in the case
of small angles, it followed, as a geometrical consequence,
that the spherical figure would accurately collect all the
rays into a focus. To obtain the desired improvement of
the telescope, therefore, nothing seemed to be wanting but
to enlarge sufficiently its aperture, or to employ for the
eye-glass a more considerable segment of the sphere. On
trial, however, the results appeared to be at variance with
the hasty deductions of theory, and every sensible en¬
largement of aperture was found to occasion a correspond¬
ing glare and indistinctness of vision. But a discovery
made soon afterwards in optics led to more accurate con¬
clusions. Willebrord Snell, a very ingenious Dutch ma- Snell,
thematician, who was snatched away at an early age,
traced out by experiment, about the year 1629, the true
law that connects the angles of incidence and of refraction;
which the famous Descartes, who had about this time
chosen Holland for his place of residence, published, in
1637, in his Dioptrics, under its simplest form, establish¬
ing, that the sines of those angles, and not the angles
themselves, bore a constant ratio in the transit of light
between the same diaphanous media. It hence followed,
that the lateral rays of the light which enter a denser
medium, bounded by a spherical surface, in the direction
of the axis, will not meet this axis precisely in the same
point, but will cross it somewhat nearer the surface. In
short, the constant ratio or index of refraction will be that
of the distances of the actual focus from the centre of the
sphere, and from the point of external impact. Since an
arc differs from its sine by a quantity nearly proportioned
to its cube, the deviation of the extreme rays from the
correct focus, or what is called the spherical aberration,
1 Kepler explained the construction of the astronomical telescope with two convex lenses; he likewise proposed a third glass to
restore the inverted image. But Schemer first employed the astronomical telescope, and described his observations with it in 1630.
Father Kheita placed the third lens of Kepler near the primary focus, and thus enlarged the field of view. Such is the arrangement
in the common spy-glass, which he gave in 1665.
2  „ like the moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening from the top of Fesole',
Or in Yaldarno, to descry new lands,
Rivers, or mountains, on her spotty globe. {Paradise Lost, hook i. 286-290 )
* The discovery of the telescope, from the mystery at first practised, is involved in considerablAincertainty. The most probable
statement, however, ascribes the invention so early as 1590 to Zachary Jansen, an intelligent spectacle-maker at Middleburg. This
intelligent person, led by accident to exercise his ingenuity on the subject, appears to have in private matured the execution of that
wonderful though simple instrument. In a short time, however, the secret had transpired; and Laprey or Lippersheim, a townsman
of the same profession, produced telescopes for sale between the years 1600 and 1610. But, in 1608, Jansen likewise constructed the
compound microscope; and both instruments, by the activity of trade, were now spread quickly over Europe. The telescope was
copied, and perhaps improved, by Adrian Metms, son of the celebrated mathematician. It was publicly sold at Frankfort in 1608,
and m the following year the instruments were brought by Drebbel for sale to London.
ACHROMATIC GLASSES. 99
Airoma- must likewise proceed in that ratio, and consequently will
tic increase with extreme rapidity, as the aperture of the
(asses. teiesc0pe is enlarged. It was now attempted to modify
^ the figure of the object-glass, and to give it those curved
surfaces which an intricate geometrical investigation marks
out as fitted to procure a perfect concentration of all the
refracted rays. Various contrivances were accordingly
proposed for assisting the artist in working the lenses into
a parabolic or spheroidal shape, and thus obtaining the
exact surfaces generated by the revolution of the different
conic sections. All those expedients and directions, how¬
ever, were found utterly to fail in practice, and nature
seemed, in this instance, to oppose insurmountable barriers
to human curiosity and research. Philosophers began to
despair of effecting any capital improvement in dioptrical
instruments, and turned their views to the construction of
those depending on the principles of catoptrics, or formed
by certain combinations qf reflecting specula. In 1663,
(.'gory, the famous James Gregory, who in many respects may be
regarded as the precursor, and in some things even the
rival of Newton, published his Optica Promota ; a work
distinguished by its originality, and containing much in¬
genious research and fine speculation. In this treatise, a
complete description is given of the reflecting telescope
now almost universally adopted, consisting of a large per¬
forated concave reflector combined with another very
small and deep speculum placed before the principal focus.
But such was still the low state of the mechanical arts in
England, that no person was found capable of casting and
polishing the metallic specula with any tolerable delicacy,
and the great inventor never enjoyed the satisfaction and
transport of witnessing the magic of his admirable contriv¬
ance. It was after the lapse of more than half a century,
Nlley- that Hadley—to whom we likewise owe another instrument
scarcely less valuable, the quadrant, or sextant, known by
his name—at last succeeded in executing the reflecting
telescope. In the first attempt, silvered mirrors had been
substituted for the specula; nor did the reflectors come
to obtain much estimation, till, about the year 1733, the
ingenious Mr Short distinguished himself by constructing
them in a style of very superior excellence.
But though thus late in guiding the efforts of artists,
the optical treatise of Gregory proved the harbinger of
that bright day which soon arose to illumine the recesses
M ton. of physical science. The capacious mind of Newton, nursed
in the calm of retirement and seclusion, was then teem¬
ing with philosophical projects. In 1665, when the tre¬
mendous visitation of the plague raged in London, and
threatened Cambridge and other places communicating
with the capital, this sublime genius withdrew from the
routine of the university to his rural farm near Grantham,
and devoted himself to most profound meditation. Amidst
i his speculations in abstruse mathematics and theoretical
astronomy, Newton was induced to examine the opinions
entertained by the learned on the subject of light and co¬
lours. With this view he had recently procured from the
Continent some prisms of glass, to exhibit the phenomena
of refraction. Having placed the axis of the prism or
glass wedge at right angles to a pencil of light from the
sun, admitted through a small hole of the window-shutter
m a darkened room, he contemplated the glowing image
or spectrum now formed on the opposite wall or screen.
This illuminated space was not round, however, as the
young philosopher had been taught to expect, but appear¬
ed very much elongated, stretching out five times more
than its breadth, and marked by a series of pure and bril¬
liant colours. It was therefore obvious that the colours
were not confined to the margin of the spectrum, nor
could proceed from any varied intermixture of light and
shade ; and the conclusion seemed hence irresistible, that Achroma-
the white pencil, or solar beam, is really a collection of tic
distinct rays, essentially coloured and differently refract- Glasses,
ed; that the ray, for instance, which gives us the sensa-V^v^^
tion of the violet, is always more bent aside from its course
by refraction than the ray which we term green,—and that
this green ray again is more refracted than the red. When
the spectrum was divided, by interposing partially a small
screen, and each separate parcel of rays made to pass
through a second prism, they, still retained their peculiar
colour and refractive property, but now emerged in parallel,
and not in diverging lines as at first. The sun’s light is
thus decomposed by the action of the prism into a set of
primary coloured rays; and these rays, if they be after¬
wards recombined in the same proportions, will always
form a white pencil. It was hence easy to discern the
real cause of the imperfection of dioptrical instruments,
which is comparatively little influenced by the figure of
the object-glass or spherical aberration, but proceeds
mainly from the unequal refraction of light itself. The
focal distance of the red ray being, in the most favourable
case, about one fortieth part shorter than that of the
violet ray, the principal image is necessarily affected with
mistiness, and its margin always encircled by a coloured
ring; for each point of the remote object from which the
light arrives is not represented by a corresponding point
in the image, but by a small circle composed of graduat¬
ing colours, the centre being violet and the circumference
red. This radical defect seemed at that time to be alto¬
gether irremediable. Newton had recourse, therefore, to
the aid of catoptrics, and contrived his very simple though
rather incommodious reflecting telescope, consisting of a
concave speculum, with a small plane one placed oblique¬
ly before it, to throw the image towards the side of the tube.
This instrument he actually constructed; and with all its
rudeness, it promised essential advantages to astronomy.
The Newtonian reflector, after having been long neglected,
was lately revived by Dr Herschel; and from its great
simplicity and moderate dissipation of light, it is perhaps
on the whole not ill calculated for celestial observations.
These unexpected and very important discoveries,
wfliich entirely changed the face of optics, were soon com¬
municated to the Royal Society, and published in the
Philosophical Transactions for 1672. They were not re¬
ceived however by the learned with that admiration to
which they were justly entitled, but gave occasion to so
much ignorant opposition and obstinate controversy, that
the illustrious author, thoroughly disgusted at such un¬
merited reception, henceforth, pursuing his experimental
researches in silence, made no disclosure of them to the
world till more than thirty .years afterwards, when his
fame being mature, and his authority commanding respect,
he suffered his Treatise on Optics to appear abroad. This
celebrated production has long been regarded as a model
of pure inductive science. The experiments which it re¬
lates appear ingeniously devised; the conclusions from
them are drawn with acuteness, and pursued with exqui¬
site skill; and the whole discourse proceeds in a style of
measured and elegant simplicity. Though the researches
were conducted by a process of strict analysis, the com¬
position of the work itself is cast into the synthetical or
didactic form, after the manner followed in the elemen¬
tary treatises of the ancient mathematicians. But with
all its beauty and undisputed excellence, it must be con¬
fessed that the treatise of optics is not exempt from faults,
and even material errors. We should betray the interests
of science, if we ever yielded implicit confidence even to
the highest master. It is the glory of Newton to have led
the way in sublime discovery, and to have impressed
100
ACHROMATIC GLASSES.
Glasses.
Achroma- whatever he touched with the stamp of profound and ori-
tic ginal genius. The philosopher paid the debt of human
, infirmity, by imbibing some tincture of the mystical spirit
of the age, and taking a slight bias from the character of
his studies. The difficult art of experimenting was still
in its infancy, and inquirers had not attained that delicacy
and circumspection which, in practice, are indispensable
for obtaining accurate results. Most of the speculations
in the second and third books of Newton’s Optics, as we
shall afterwards have occasion to observe, are built on
mistaken or imperfect views of some facts, which the ad¬
mixture of extraneous circumstances had accidentally
disguised. The very ingenious, but hasty, and often un¬
tenable hypotheses, which are subjoined, under the mo¬
dest and seemingly hesitating title of Queries, have, on
the whole, been productive of real harm to the cause of
science, by the splendid example thus held forth to tempt
the rashness of loose experimenters, and of superficial
reasoners. Even in the first book of Optics, some of the
capital propositions are affected by hasty and imperfect
statements. The term ref Tangibility, applied to the rays
of light, is at least unguarded; it conveys an indistinct
conception, and leads to inaccurate conclusions. The dif¬
ferent refractions which the primary rays undergo are not
absolute properties inherent in these rays themselves, but
depend on the mutual relation subsisting between them
and the particular diaphanous medium. When the me¬
dium is changed, the refraction of one set of rays cannot
be safely inferred from that of another. Nay, in the pas¬
sage among certain media, those rays which are designat¬
ed as the most refrangible will sometimes be the least re¬
fracted. To ascertain correctly, therefore, the index of re¬
fraction, it becomes necessary, in each distinct case, to
examine the bearing or disposition of the particular species
of rays ; since the principle, that the refraction of the ex¬
treme rays is always proportioned to that of the mean rays,
involves a very false conclusion.
When Newton attempted to reckon up the rays of light
decomposed by the prism, and ventured to assign the
famous number seven, he was apparently influenced by
some lurking disposition towards mysticism. If any un¬
prejudiced person will fairly repeat the experiment, he
must soon be convinced, that the various coloured spaces
which paint the spectrum slide into each other by indefi¬
nite shadings; he may name four or five principal colours,
but the subordinate divisions are evidently so multiplied
as to be incapable of enumeration. The same illustrious
mathematician, we can hardly doubt,' was betrayed by a
passion for analogy, when he imagined, that the primary
colours are distributed over the spectrum after the pro¬
portions of the diatonic scale of music, since those inter¬
mediate spaces have really no precise and defined limits.
Had prisms of a different kind of glass been used, the dis¬
tribution of the coloured spaces would have been mate¬
rially changed. The fact is, that all New'ton’s prisms
being manufactured abroad, consisted of plate or crown
glass, formed by the combination of soda, or the mineral
alkali, with silicious sand. The refined art of glass-mak¬
ing had only been lately introduced into England, and
that beautiful variety called crystal, or flint-glass, which
has so long distinguished this country, being produced
by the union of a silicious material with the oxyde of lead,
was then scarcely known. The original experimenter had
not the advantage, therefore, of witnessing the varied ef¬
fects occasioned by different prisms, which demonstrate,
that the power of refraction is not less a property of the
peculiar medium than of the species of light itself. He
mentions, indeed, prisms formed with water confined by
plates of glass; but the few trials which he made with
them had evidently been performed with no sufficient Achi:!.
attention. In spite of his habitual circumspection, he t
could not always restrain the propensity so natural to ^a:
genius, that of hastening to the result, and of trusting to^'"^
general principles more than to any particular details.
But the same indulgent apology will not be conceded to
some later authors. It is truly astonishing that systematic
wi'iters on optics, in obvious contradiction to the most un¬
doubted discoveries related by themselves, should yet re¬
peat with complacency the fanciful idea of the harmonical
composition of light.
Admitting the general conclusion which NewTon con¬
ceived himself entitled to draw from analogy and concur¬
ring experiment, that “ the sine of incidence of every ray
considered apart, is to the sine of refraction in a given
ratioit was strictly demonstrable, that no contrary refrac¬
tions whatever, unless they absolutely restored the pencil
to its first direction, could collect again the extreme
rays, and produce, by their union, a white light. Thus,
let the ratios of the sines of the angles of incidence and
refraction of the violet rays in their transit from air to
other two denser mediums, be expressed by 1 : ilf and
\ : m; and the like ratios of the red rays under the same
circumstances, by 1 : iV and 1 : w; where M m and N n
respectively denote the refracting indices of those ex¬
treme rays. It is manifest that the refracting indices,
corresponding to the passage of the violet and red rays
from the first to the second medium, will be represented
by M-N, and m-n. But by hypothesis, M: m \ : N: n,
and consequently M: m : : M-N: ni-n\ so that the ex¬
treme rays would not be still separated and dispersed in
proportion to the mean extent of the final refraction. The
great philosopher appears to have contemplated with re¬
gret the result of his optical principle; and he had the
penetration to remark, that if a different law had ob¬
tained, the proper combination of distinct refracting media
would have corrected the spherical aberration.
With this view, he would propose for the object-
glass of a telescope, a compound lens, consisting
of two exterior meniscuses of glass, their out- J|p^|p
sides being equally convex, and their insides of jpl ^=^ip
similar but greater concavity, and having the in- M M
terior space filled with pure water, as in the
figure annexed. He gives a rule, though without
demonstration, and evidently disfigured or im¬
perfect, for determining the curvature of the two sur¬
faces : “ And by this means,” he subjoins, “ might tele¬
scopes be brought to sufficient perfection, were it not for
the different refrangibility of several sorts of rays. But,
by reason of this different refrangibility, I do not see any
other means of improving telescopes by refractions alone,
than that of increasing their lengths.”
These remarks appeared to preclude all attempts to
improve the construction of the refracting telescope.
Brightness and range of sight were sacrificed to distinct¬
ness. Instead of enlarging the aperture, recourse was
had to the expedient of increasing the length of the
focus. For nice astronomical observations, telescopes were
sought of the highest magnifying powers, and their tubes
had by degrees been extended to a most enormous and
inconvenient size. But the famous Dutch mathemati-Huv:
cian Huygens contrived to supersede the use of these
in certain cases, by a method which required, however,
some address. Many years afterwards the reflecting,
or rather catadioptric telescope, of the Gregorian con¬
struction, was executed with tolerable perfection. But a
long period of languor succeeded the brilliant age of dis¬
covery. Not a single advance was made in the science
of light and colours, till thirty years after the death of
ACHROMATIC GLASSES.
Airoma- Newton.1 His immortal Principia had not yet provoked
tic discussion, and philosophers seemed inclined to regard
(asses. t]ie conclusions in the Treatise of Optics with silent and
incurious acquiescence. This memorable fact not only
evinces the danger of yielding, in matters of science, im¬
plicit confidence even to the highest authority, but shows,
amidst all the apparent bustle of research, how very few
original experiments are made, and how seldom these are
repeated with the due care and attention.
The impossibility of correcting the colours in object-
glasses of telescopes was therefore a principle generally
adopted ; though some vague hopes, grounded chiefly on
the consideration of final causes, were still at times en¬
tertained of removing that defect. As the eye consists
of two distinct humours, with a horny lens or cornea in¬
terposed, it was naturally imagined that such a perfect
structure should be imitated in the composition of glasses.
This inviting idea is concisely mentioned by David Gre¬
gory, the nephew of James, in his little tract on Dioptrics.
It has also been stated that a country gentleman, Mr Hall
of Chesterhall, in Worcestershire, discovered, about the
year 1729, the proper composition of lenses by the united
segments of crown and flint-glass, and caused a London
artist, in 1733, to make a telescope under his directions,
which was found on trial to answer extremely well. But
whatever might be the fact, no notice was taken of it at
the time, nor indeed till very long after, when circum¬
stances had occurred to call forth public attention.
The Newtonian principle was first openly rejected, and
a discussion excited, which eventually led to a most valu¬
able discovery in optics, by a foreign mathematician of
great celebrity and transcendent talents. Leonard Euler
was one of those rare mortals who arise, at distant inter¬
vals, to shed unfading lustre on our species. Endowed
with a penetrating genius and profound capacity, he was
capable of pursuing his abstruse investigations with unre¬
mitting ardour and unwearied perseverance. To him the
modern analysis stands chiefly indebted for its prodigious
extension; and he continued to enrich it in all its depart¬
ments with innumerable improvements and fine discove¬
ries, during the whole course of a most active, laborious,
and protracted life. Unfortunately the philosophical cha¬
racter of Euler did not correspond to his superlative emi¬
nence as a geometer. Bred in the school of Leibnitz, he
had imbibed the specious but delusive metaphysics of the
sufficient reason, and of the necessary and absolute con¬
stitution of the laws of nature. He was hence disposed
in all cases to prefer the mode of investigating a priori,
and never appeared to hold in due estimation the humbler
yet only safe road to physical science, by the method of
experiment and induction. Euler expressed the indices
of refraction by the powers of a certain invariable root,
and fancied that the exponents of those powers are pro¬
portional for the several rays in different media. Instead
of making, in short, the numbers themselves proportional,
as Newton had done, he assigned this property to their
logarithms. In the Berlin Memoirs for 1747, he inserted
a short paper, in which he deducted from his optical prin¬
ciple, by a clear analytical process, conducted with his
usual skill, the composition of a lens formed after certain
proportions with glass and water, which should remove
entirely all extraneous colours, whether occasioned by the
unequal refraction of the several rays, or by spherical
201
aberration; and in concluding, he remarked, with high .4chroma-
satisfaction, the general conformity of his results with the tic
wonderful structure of the eye. Glasses.
But this paper met with opposition in a quarter where
it could have been least expected. John Dolland, who John Dol-
had afterwards the honour of completing one of the finest lancl-
and most valuable discoveries in the science of optics, was
born in 1706, in Spitalfields, of French parents, whom
the revocation of the edict of Nantes had compelled to
take refuge in England, from the cruel persecution of a
bigoted and tyrannical court. Following his father’s oc¬
cupation, that of a silk-weaver, he married at an early
age ; and being fond of reading, he dedicated his leisure
moments to the acquisition of knowledge. By dint of so¬
litary application, he made some progress in the learned
languages ; but he devoted his main attention to the study
of geometry and algebra, and the more attractive parts of
mixed or practical mathematics. He gave instructions in
these branches to his son Petex-, who, though bred to the
hereditary profession, soon quitted that employment, and
commenced the business of optician, in which he was
afterwards joined by his father. About this time the
volume of the Berlin Memoirs, containing Euler’s paper,
fell into the hands of the elder Dolland, who examined it
with care, and repeated the calculations. His report was
communicated by Mr Short to the Royal Society in
1752, and published in their Transactions for that year.
Dolland, as might well be expected, could detect no mis¬
take in the investigation itself, but strenuously contested
the principle on which it was built, as differing from the
one laid down by Newton, which he held to be irrefrag¬
able. “ It is, therefore,” says he, rather uncourteously,
and certainly with little of the prophetic spirit, “ it is,
therefore, somewhat strange that any body now-a-days
should attempt to do that which so long ago has been
demonstrated impossible.” The great Euler replied with
becoming temper, but persisted in maintaining that his
optical principle was a true and necessary law of nature,
though he frankly confessed that he had not been able to
reduce it yet to practice. The dispute now began to pro¬
voke attention on the Continent. In 1754, Klingenstier-
na, an eminent Swedish geometer, demonstrated that the
Newtonian principle is in some extreme cases incompati¬
ble with the phenomena, and therefore ought not to be
received as an undoubted law of nature. Thus pressed
on all sides, Dolland at length had recourse to that ap¬
peal which should have been made from the beginning,—
to the test of actual experiment. He constructed a hol¬
low wedge with two plates of glass, ground parallel, in
which he laid inverted a common glass prism, and filled
up the space with clear water, as in the annexed figure.
He now continued to enlarge the angle of the wedge, till
the refi’action produced by the water came to counterba¬
lance exactly the opposite refraction of the glass, which
1 The fine discovery of the apparent aberration of the fixed stars, made by our countryman Dr Bradley in 1729, cannot be justly
deemed an exception to this remark. It belongs more to astronomy than to optics, and is indeed merely the result, however im¬
portant, of the progressive motion of light, detected near sixty years before by the Danish philosopher Itoemer, combined with the
revolution of the earth in her oroit.
102
ACHROMATIC GLASSES.
Achroma- must obtain whenever an object is seen through the com-
tic pound prism, without change of direction, in its true place.
Glasses. contrary to what he so firmly expected, the external
objects appeared glaringly bordered with coloured fringes;
as much, indeed, as if they had been viewed through a
glass prism with an angle of thirty degrees. It was
therefore quite decisive that Newton had not performed
his experiment with scrupulous accuracy, and had trust¬
ed rather too hastily to mere analogical inference. But
to remove every shadow of doubt from
the subject, Mr Dolland, finding that
large angles were inconvenient for ob¬
servation, ground a prism to the very
acute angle of nine degrees, and adjust¬
ed, by careful trials, a wedge of water
to the same precise measure of refrac¬
tion. Combining the opposite refrac¬
tions as before, he beheld, on looking
through the apparatus (as here repre¬
sented), their various objects real posi¬
tion, but distinctly marked with the
prismatic colours. . In these experi¬
ments, although the mean ray pursues
the same undeviating course, the ex¬
treme rays which enter parallel with it emerge from the
compound prism, spreading out on both sides.
The capital point being completely ascertained, Dol¬
land next tried so to adapt the opposite refractions as to
destroy all extraneous colour. This effect he found to
take place when the angle of the wedge had been further
increased, till the refracting power of the water was to
that of the glass in the ratio of five to four. His conclu¬
sive experiments were made in 1757, and he lost no time
in applying their results to the improvement of the object-
glasses of telescopes. Following the proportion just as¬
certained, he conjoined a very deep convex lens of water
with a concave one of glass. In this way he succeeded in
removing the colours occasioned by the unequal refraction
of light; but the images formed in the foci of the tele¬
scopes so constructed, still wanted the distinctness which
might have been expected. The defect now proceeded,
it was evident, merely from spherical aberration; for the
excess of refraction in the compound lens being very small,
the surfaces were necessarily formed to a deep curvature.
But this partial success only stimulated the ingenious
artist to make further trials. Having proved that the sepa¬
ration of the extreme rays, or what has been since termed
the dispersive power, is not proportioned to the mean re¬
fraction in the case of glass and water, he might fairly
presume that like discrepancies must exist among other
diaphanous substances, and even among the different
kinds of glass itself. The charm of uniformity being
once dispelled, he was encouraged to proceed, with the
confident hope of ultimately achieving his purpose. His
new researches, however, were postponed for some time
by the pressure of business. But on resuming the inqui¬
ry, he found the English crown-glass and the foreign yel¬
low or straw-coloured, commonly called the "Venice glass,
to disperse the extreme rays almost alike, while the crys¬
tal, or white flint-glass, gave a much greater measure of
dispersion. On this quarter, therefore, he centred his
attention. A wedge of crown and another of flint-glass
were ground till they refracted equally, which took
place when their angles were respectively 29 and 25 de¬
grees, or the indices of refraction were nearly as 22 to
19; but on being joined in an inverted position, they pro¬
duced, without changing the general direction of the
pencil, a very different divergence of the compound rays
of light. He now reversed the experiment, and formed
wedges of crown and flint-glass to such angles as might
destroy all irregularity of colour A _ .;
by their opposite dispersions.
When this condition was ob¬
tained, the refractive powers of
those wedges of crown and
flint-glass were nearly in the
ratio of three to two, and con¬
sequently the sines of half their
angles, or the angles themselves,
if small, were as 33 to 19, or nearly as 7 to 4. The rays
which enter parallel now escape likewise parallel, but all
of them deflected equally from their course.
The appearance was rendered still more con- ■
spicuous by repeating the combination of the
glass wedges, as in the figure here adjoined. It
will be perceived that the pencils of rays which
enter at equal distances on both sides of the
common junction, must nearly meet in the same
point of the axis ; for in small arcs the chords
are almost proportional to the arcs themselves.
This arrangement, indeed, with the projecting
wedge of crown-glass in front, represents ac¬
tually the composition of an object-glass formed
of two distinct and opposing lenses, which would
produce a similar effect. It was only required
to apply a semi-convex lens of crown-glass be¬
fore a semi-concave one of flint-glass, such that
the curvature of the former be to that of the lat¬
ter nearly as 7 to 4; but with some modifications
in this ratio, according to the peculiar qualities of the
glass. [The figure annexed represents this
combination.] But the depth of the lenses
might be diminished, by giving them curvature
on both sides. Thus, if a double convex of
crown-glass were substituted, of the same power,
and consequently with only half the curva¬
ture on each side; the lens of flint-glass adapt¬
ed to it having, therefore, their common surface
of an equal concavity, would need, in order to
produce the former quantity of refraction, and
consequently to maintain the balance of oppo-
site dispersions, a concavity eight times less than before
on the other surface. Or if a double concave  
of flint-glass with half its first depth were SiwMff
used, the front convexity of the lens of crown- HHl®
glass would be five-sevenths of the former cur¬
vature, as here represented. The surface
where the two lenses are united may hence
have its curvature changed at pleasure; but
every alteration of this must occasion corre¬
sponding changes in the exterior surfaces.
In all these cases, the refraction of the con¬
vex pieces being reduced to one-third by the
contrary refraction of the concave piece, the focal distance
of the compound glass must be triple of that which it would
have had singly. But a most important advantage results
from the facility of varying the adaptation of the lenses; for,
by rightly proportioning the conspiring and counteracting
curvatures, it was possible to remove almost entirely the
en ors arising from spherical aberration. This delicate pro¬
blem Mr Dolland was the better prepared to encounter, as
he had already, in 1753, improved the telescope materially,
by introducing no fewer than six eye-glasses, disposed at
pi oper distances, to divide the refraction. The research it-
sell, and the execution of the compound lens, presented pe¬
culiar difficulties; but the ingenuity and toilsome exertions
of the artist were at length, in 1758, rewarded with com¬
plete success. “ Isotwithstanding,” says he, in concluding
Acli
'WM_
ACHROMATIC GLASSES.
103
IA roma- his paper, “ so many difficulties as I have enumerated, I
I tic have, after numerous trials, and a resolute perseverance,
I ( isses. ’Dr0Ught the matter at last to such an issue, that I can
construct refracting telescopes, with such apertures and
magnifying powers, under limited lengths, as, in the opin¬
ion of the best and undeniable judges, who have experi¬
enced them, far exceed any thing that has been produced,
as representing objects with great distinctness, and in
their true colours.”
The Royal Society voted to Mr Dolland, for his valu¬
able discovery, the honour of the Copley medal. To this
new construction of the telescope Dr Bevis gave the
name of Achromatic (from a privative, and colour),
which was soon universally adopted, and is still retained.
The inventor took out a patent, but did not live to reap
the fruits of his ingenious labours. He died in the year
1761, leaving the prosecution of the business to his son
Pe • Dol- and associate Peter Dolland, who realized a very large
fortune by the exclusive manufacture, for many years,
of achromatic glasses, less secured to him by the invi¬
dious and disputed provisions of legal monopoly, than by
superior skill, experience, and sedulous attention. In
1765, the younger Dolland made another and final im¬
provement, to which his father had before ad- e
vanced some steps. To correct more effectually
the spherical aberration, he formed the object- glBi
glass of three instead of two lenses, by dividing §|||g
the convex piece; or he inclosed a concave lens 811f||
of flint-glass between two convex lenses of ff|Bjl
crown-glass, as exactly represented in the figure R ill
here annexed. He showed a telescope of this
improved construction, having a focal length of
three feet and a half, with an aperture of three
inches and three quarters, to the celebrated Mr
Short, who tried it with a magnifying power of fill
one hundred and fifty times, and who, superior gjnf
to the jealousy of rivalship, and disposed to pa¬
tronise rising merit, most warmly recommended it, and
declared that he found “ the image distinct, bright, and
free from colours.”
What were the curvatures of those distinct component
lenses, Dolland has not mentioned, and perhaps he rather
wished to conceal them. The Duke de Chaulnes was
enabled, however, by means of a sort of micrometer, to
ascertain the radii of the several surfaces, in the case of
one object-glass of the best composition. He found these
radii, beginning with the front lens, to be respectively
311^, 392; 214, 294; 294 and 322^, in French lines,
which corresponded, in English inches, to 32'4, 408;
22’2, 306; 30*6 and 33-5. If these measures were cor¬
rect, however, it would follow, that the middle lens of
flint-glass was not perfectly adapted to the curvature of
the lens of crown-glass placed immediate¬
ly before it. Similar admeasurements have
been repeated by others, but the results
differ considerably, and no general conclu¬
sion can be safely drawn. There is no
doubt that the artist varied his practice,
according to the nature of the glass which
he was obliged to use. The more ordinary
proportions for the curvatures of the com¬
ponent lenses would be represented by a
truncated prism, formed with a double
cluster of wedges, the outer ones having
angles of 25° 53', and 14° 27', and consist¬
ing of crown-glass, and the inner one
ma(k °f flint-glass, with an inverted angle
of 2i° 3'. Ihese two wedges of crown-glass would pro¬
duce the same refraction, it might be shown, as a single
one having an angle of 40° 54'; wherefore this refraction Achroma-
will be diminished, by the opposite influence of the wedge tic
of flint glass, in the ratio of 49 to 16, or reduced to nearly Glasses-
one-third..
Thus was achieved, and fully carried into practical ope¬
ration, the finest and most important detection made in
optics since the great discovery of the unequal refraction
of the several rays of light. It was drawn forth by a long
series of trials, directed with judgment and ingenuity, but
certainly very little aided by the powers of calculation.
Such a slow tentative procedure was perhaps the best
suited, however, to the habits of an artist, and it had at
least the advantage of leaving no doubt or hesitation be¬
hind it. On this occasion, we cannot help being struck
with a remark, that most of those who have ever distin¬
guished themselves in the philosophical arts by their ori¬
ginal improvements, were seldom regularly bred to the
profession. Both the Dollands, we have seen, began life
with plying at the loom; Short had a liberal education,
being designed for the Scotish church, but, indulging a
taste for practical optics, he afterwards followed it as a
trade, in which he rose to pre-eminence; Ramsden, whose
ingenuity and exquisite skill were quite unrivalled, was
bred a clothier in Yorkshire; Tassie, who revived or cre¬
ated among us the nice art of casting gems, was originally
a stone-mason at Glasgow; and Watt, who, by his very
happy applications of mechanics, and his vast improve¬
ments on the steam-engine, has, more than any other in¬
dividual perhaps, contributed to the great national ad¬
vancement, was early an ivory-turner in that same city,,
and still found pleasure, in his declining years, with the
amusement of the lathe. We might easily enlarge this
catalogue ; but enough has been said to prove the justness
of the observation, and it suggests reflections which are
not favourable to fixed and systematic plans of education.
The theory of achromatic telescopes, embraced in all Subse-
its extent, opened a field of abstruse and difficult investi-quent
gation. But the English mathematicians at that period, lmPr°ve-
though they might appear to be especially invited to thements‘
discussion, very generally neglected so fine an opportunity
for the exercise of their genius. They coldly suffered
the artists to grope their devious way, without offering to
guide their efforts by the lights of science. On the Con¬
tinent the geometers of the first order were all eager to
attempt the solution of problems at once so curious and
important. For several years subsequent to 1758, the
Transactions of the foreign academies were filled with
memoirs on the combination of achromatic lenses, dis¬
playing the resources and refinements of the modern ana¬
lysis, by Euler, Clairaut, and D’Alembert,—by Boscovich,
Klingenstierna, Kasstner, and Hennert. On this, as on
other occasions, however, we have to regret the want of
close union between artists and men of science. Those
profound investigations are generally too speculative for
any real use; they often involve imperfect or inaccurate
data; and the results appear wrapped in such comprehen¬
sive and intricate formulae, as to deter the artist from en¬
deavouring to reduce them into practice. We should have
thought it preferable, on the whole, not to load the solu¬
tion of the main problem with minute conditions, but to
aim at a few general rules, which could afterwards be
modified in their application according to circumstances.
All this might have been accomplished, without scarcely
travelling beyond the limits of elementary geometry.
Euler and his adherents at Berlin were still not dis-Euler,
posed to abandon his favourite optical hypothesis. It was
even pretended that Dolland must have owed his success
to a nice correction of spherical aberration, and not to
any really superior dispersive power belonging to the
104
ACHROMATIC GLASSES.
Clairaut
D’Alem¬
bert.
Achroma- flint-glass. But that candid philosopher afterwards yield-
tic ed to the force of reason and testimony; and, collecting
Glasses, ^his various optical papers, he published, in the successive
years 1769, 1770, and 1771, a complete treatise on Diop¬
trics, occupying three quarto volumes, which contain a
store of ingenious and elegant disquisitions.
The last memoir which Clairaut ever wrote related to
achromatic glasses. D’Alembert prosecuted the subject
with diligence and ardour; and the volumes of his Ma¬
thematical Opuscules, published between the years 1761
and 1767, contain some elaborate dioptrical investigations.
Among other conclusions which he deduced from his mul¬
tiplied researches, he proposed a new composition for the
object-glass of a telescope, to consist of three lenses, the
outmost one being a meniscus of crown-glass, or having a
convex and a concave surface, then a meniscus of flint-
glass in the middle, and adapted to this, on the inside, a
double convex of crown-glass. Of all the continental
works, however, which treat of achromatic combinations,
TJoscovidi. the tracts of Boscovich, who possessed a very fine taste
for geometry, may be held as the simplest and clearest.
We cannot help noticing, by the way, a curious theorem
of his concerning the form and arrangement of eye-glasses,
which would be free from irregular colours. It is, that
the correction will be produced by means of two lenses
of the same kind of glass, if separated from each other by
an interval equal to half the sum of their focal distances.
This principle furnishes a very simple construction for the
common astronomical telescope, through which the objects
are seen inverted. In the annexed figure, the object-
glass, as usual, is achromatic, being composed of two con¬
vex lenses of crown-glass, with a concave one of flint-
glass fitted between them; but the eye-glass consists of
two distinct lenses of crown-glass, both of them convex,
and exactly similar, the first having every dimension triple
that of the other, and their mutual distance double the
focal length of the smaller.
Supposing, however, that the errors occasioned by sphe¬
rical aberration were completely removed, the principle
of achromatic combination is yet far from being so perfect
as it has often been represented. Although the opposite
dispersions of the flint and of the crown-glass should
bring together the extreme rays, we are not, from this
coincidence, warranted to infer that the several interme¬
diate rays would likewise be accurately blended. In fact,
a wedge of flint-glass not only separates all the rays much
more than a similar one of crown-glass, but divides the
coloured spaces after different proportions. While the
combined lenses formed of those two kinds of glass give
an image entirely free from the red and violet borders,
they may still introduce secondary shades of green or
yellow, sufficient to cause a certain degree of indistinct¬
ness. The mode of correcting this defect would be, to
produce a counterbalance of colours, by conjoining seve¬
ral media endued with different refractive and dispersive
powers. In these qualities, crown-glass itself admits of
some variation, owing to the measure of saline ingredient;
but flint-glass differs widely with regard to its optical pro¬
perties, owing chiefly to the diversified proportion of mi¬
nium or oxyde»oflead which enters into its composition,
and partly to the variable admixture of manganese em¬
ployed to discharge the yellow tint occasioned by the
lead. Manifest advantages, therefore, would result from
a choice combination of three or more varieties of glass, Acf ^
since both the primary and the secondary deviations of
colour would be corrected. Without pretending to any^j^
theoretical perfection, every thing really wanted in prac¬
tice would be thus attained. A series of nice experiments
on the optical relations of glass could not fail, by their
results, to reward the assiduity of the ingenious artist.
He would trace and determine the separate influence
exerted on the refractive and dispersive powers by soda
in the crown-glass, and by minium and manganese in
the flint-glass. It is highly probable, that with perseve¬
rance he might discover a vitreous composition better
adapted than any yet known for achromatic purposes. It
is very generally believed, that the achromatic telescopes
now manufactured in London are not of the same excel¬
lence with those first made by Peter Dolland. This de¬
clension of such a beautiful art has frequently been im¬
puted to the baneful operation of a severe and oppressive
system of excise. Whether the new mode of charging
the duty on glass at the annealing arch has produced any
beneficial effects, we are still to learn.
An extensive and ingenious set of experiments on the 1
dispersive powers of different liquids, was undertaken,
about the year 1787, and successfully prosecuted for some
time afterwards, by Dr Robert Blair, for whom there had
been recently created,* under royal patronage, the chair of
practical astronomy in the University of Edinburgh; one
of the very few professorships in that distinguished se¬
minary which have been suffered to remain inefficient and
merely nominal. Of these experiments, a judicious ac¬
count was, in 1790, communicated by their author to the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, in a paper drawn up with
evident ability, but rather too diffuse, and unnecessarily
digressive. Dr Blair had a very small brass prism per¬
forated with a hole, which he filled with a few drops of
the liquid to be examined, and confined each end by a
plate of glass with parallel surfaces. He then applied, in¬
verted to the prism in succession, a number of glass
wedges which he had provided of different angles, and
observed, when the bars of the window, seen through this
compound prism, appeared colourless, the angle of the
wedge now expressed the relative dispersive power of the
liquid. This way of experimenting was sufficiently sim¬
ple, but a more accurate and expeditious method might
have easily been devised. For instance, if the prism, fur¬
nished with a graduated arch, had remained fixed, and a
single glass wedge made to turn upon it, and present suc¬
cessive, inclinations to the observer, the refracting angle
at which the irregular colours were united could be de¬
duced by an easy calculation. Dr Blair found, by his
trials, that muriatic acid, in all its combinations, but par¬
ticularly with antimony and mercury, shows a very great
dispersive power. The essential oils stood the next with |
regard to that property, though differing considerably
among themselves. In Dr Blair’s first attempts to im¬
prove the achromatic telescope, he conjoined two com¬
pound lenses; the one formed with a double concave of
crown-glass and a semi-convex of essential oil, and the
other composed of a double convex filled with essential
oil, of great dispersive power, and of a semi-concave, like¬
wise containing essential oil, but less apt for dispersion.
This very complex arrangement seemed, however, to pro¬
duce the desired effect, not only discharging from the
image the extreme fringes of red and violet, but ex¬
cluding also the intermediate shades of green or yellow.
A simpler combination was afterwards used, requiring
merely one liquid, composed of muriatic acid joined
with antimony, or the triple salt of that acid united in
certain proportions to ammonia and mercury. This liquid,
idalius.
A C I
hroma- being accurately prepared, was inclosed between two
tic thin glass shells, to form a double convex lens :
asses on the front was applied a semi-convex of crown-
glass, and a meniscus of the same material be¬
hind, the whole being secured by a glass ring.
' An object-glass so constructed seemed to per¬
form its office with great perfection, effectually
correcting both the primary and the secondary
admixture of colours. This kind of eye-glass
Dr Blair proposed to denominate aplanatic (from
a privative, and vXamu, to err or wander), and he
obtained a patent for his invention. The late
George Adams, optician in Fleet Street, was
intrusted with the fabrication and sale of the telescopes
thus constructed. Some of them were said to answer ex¬
tremely well; but, whether from want of activity on the
part of the tradesman, or from defect of temper in the paten¬
tee, these instruments never acquired much circulation.
It was alleged that the liquid by degrees lost its transpa¬
rency. Indeed we suspect that there is no combination in
which liquids are concerned, which can be judged suffi-
A c i
10.'
ciently permanent for optical purposes. It seems hardly Achroma-
possible to preclude absolutely the impression of the ex- tic
ternal air; the liquid must, therefore, have a tendency Glasses
both to evaporate and to crystallize; and, in the course A • f
of time, it will probably, by its activity, corrode the sur-
faces of the glass.
The manufacture of achromatic telescopes in England
furnished, for a long period, a very profitable article of
exportation. Even after the introduction of those instru¬
ments was prohibited by several foreign governments, the
object-glasses themselves, in a more compendious form,
were smuggled abroad to a large amount. In fact, no
flint-glass of a good quality was then made on the Con¬
tinent. A very material alteration, however, in that re- French
spect, has taken place, at least in France, where the sti-achroma-
mulus impressed by the revolution has worked so many tic tele¬
changes, and where ingenuity and science, in most of the scopes-
mechanical arts, have so visibly supplied the scantiness
of capital. The French now construct achromatic tele¬
scopes, equal, if not superior, to any that are made in
England. (b.)
ACHTELING, a measure for liquids, used in Germany.
Thirty-two achtelings make a heemer ; four sciltims or scil-
tins make an achleling.
ACHTYRKA, a city of Russia, the capital of the circle
of the same name. It contains eight churches, one of
which attracts many pilgrims, from an image of the
Virgin on it; 1138 houses; and 12,788 inhabitants, who
are employed in making woollen cloth, and some other
articles. It is situated in Long. 34. 50. E. Lat. 50. 23. N.
ACHYR, a strong town and castle of the Ukraine, sub¬
ject to the Russians since 1667. It stands on the river
Uorsklo, near the frontiers of Russia, 127 miles west of
Kiow. Long. 36. 0. E. Lat. 49. 32. N.
ACI, three remarkable towns, very populous, on the sea-
coast, in the province of Catania, in the island of Sicily.
Their names are Aci St Lucia, Aci Catena, and Aci St
Filipo. They are defended by the town of St Anna.
The inhabitants are occupied in the fishery, or in making
wine, and amount to 9200 persons.
ACIC ANTHER A, in Botany, the trivial name of a
species of Riiexia.
ACICULfE, the small pikes or prickles of the hedge¬
hog, echinus marinus, &c.
ACIDALIUS, Valens, would, in all probability, have
been one of the greatest critics of modern times, had he
lived longer to perfect those talents which nature had
given him. He was born at Witstock, in Brandenburg;
and having visited several academies in Germany, Italy,
and other countries, where he was greatly esteemed, he
afterwards took up his residence at Breslaw, the metropo¬
lis of Silesia. Here he remained a considerable time, in
expectation of some employment; but nothing offering,
he turned Roman Catholic, and was chosen rector of a
school at Niessa. It is related, that about four months
after, as he was following a procession of the host, he was
seized with a sudden phrenzy; and being carried home,
expired in a very short time. But Thuanus tells us, that
his excessive application to study was the occasion of his
untimely death ; and that his sitting up in the night com¬
posing his Conjectures on Plautus, brought upon him a dis¬
temper which carried him off in three days, on the 25th of
May 1595, having just completed his 28th year. He wrote
a Commentary on Quintus Curtins ; also, Notes on Tacitus,
on the twelve Panegyrics,-besides speeches, letters, and
VOL. II.
poems. His poetical pieces are inserted in the Delicice of
the German poets, and consist of epic verses, odes, and
epigrams. A little work, printed in 1595, under the title
of Mulieres non esse homines, i. e. “ That women are not
thinking and reasonable beings,” was falsel3r ascribed to
him. M. Baillet has given him a place among his Enfant
Celebres ; and says, that he wrote a comment upon Plau¬
tus when he was but 17 or 18 years old, and that he com¬
posed several Latin poems at the same age.
ACID ALUS, a fountain in Orchomenus, a city of
Bceotia, in which the Graces, who are sacred to Venus,
bathed. Hence the epithet Acidalia, given to Venus.
ACIDITY, that quality which renders bodies acid.
ACIDOTON, in Botany, the trivial name of a species
of Adelia.
ACIDS, in Chemistry, a class of substances which are
distinguished by the following properties:—
1. When applied to the tongue, they excite that sensa¬
tion which is called sour or acid.
2. They change the blue colours of vegetables to a red.
The vegetable blues employed for this purpose are gene¬
rally tincture of litmus and syrup of violets or of radishes,
which have obtained the name of re-agents or tests. If
these colours have been previously converted to a green
by alkalies, the acids restore them.
3. They unite with water in almost any proportion.
4. They combine with all the alkalies, and most of the
metallic oxides and earths, and form with them those
compounds which are called salts.
It must be remarked, however, that every acid does not
possess all these properties ; but all of them possess a
sufficient number of them to distinguish them from other
substances. And this is the only purpose which artificial
definition is meant to answer. See Chemistry.
ACIDULfE. Mineral waters that are brisk and spark¬
ling, without the action of heat, are thus named; but if
they are hot also, they are called Thermo.
ACIDULATED, a name given to medicines that have
an acid in their composition.
ACIDULOUS denotes a thing that is slightly acid:
it is synonymous with the word sub-acid.
ACIDUM Aereum, the same with fixed air; or, in
modern chemistry, carbonic acid.
' Agidvm pingue, an imaginary acid, which some Ger-
o
106
Acilius
Glabrio
A C K
man chemists supposed to be contained in fire, and by
combining with alkalies, lime, &c. to give them their caus¬
tic properties; an effect which is found certainly to de¬
pend on the loss of their carbonic acid.
ACILIUS GLABRIO, Marcus, consul in the year
of Rome 562, and 211 years before the Christian era,
distinguished himself by his bravery and conduct in gain¬
ing a complete victory over Antiochus the Great, king of
Syria, at the Straits of Thermopylae in Thessaly, and on
several other occasions. He built the temple of Piety at
Rome, in consequence of a vow which he made before this
battle. He is mentioned by Pliny, Valerius Maximus,
and others.
ACINODENDRUM, in Botany, the trivial name of a
species of Melastoma.
ACINOS, in Botany, the trivial name of a species of
Thymus.
ACINUS, or Acini, the small protuberances of mul¬
berries, strawberries, &c., and by some applied to grapes.
Generally it is used for those small grains growing in
bunches, after the manner of grapes, as ligustrum, &c.
ACIS, in Mythology, the son of Faunus and the nymph
Simaethis, was a beautiful shepherd of Sicily, who being
beloved by Galatea, Polyphemus the giant was so enraged,
that he dashed out his brains against a rock ; after which
Galatea turned him into a river, which was called by his
name.—The Sicilian authors say, that Acis was a king of
this part of the island, who was slain by Polyphemus, one
of the giants of iEtna, in a fit of jealousy.
Acis, a river of Sicily, celebrated by the poets, run¬
ning from a very cold spring, in the woody and shady
foot of Mount .dEtna, for the space of a mile eastward
into the sea, along green and pleasant banks, with the
speed of an arrow, from which it takes its name. Its
waters are now impregnated with sulphureous vapours,
though formerly they were celebrated for their sweetness
and salubrity, and were held sacred by the Sicilian shep¬
herds.
Quique per vEtnaeos Acis petit aequora fines,
Et dulci gratam Nere'ida perluit unda. Sil. Ital.
It is now called II Flume Freddo, Aci, laci, or Chiaci, ac¬
cording to the different Sicilian dialects: Antonine calls
it Acius. It is also the name of a hamlet at the mouth
of the Acis.
ACKERMANN, John Christian Gottlieb, a very
learned physician and professor of medicine, was born
at Zeulenrode in Upper Saxony, in the year 1756. Hav¬
ing acquired the rudiments of his medical education
under the tuition of his father, who was also a physician,
he proceeded to Jena and to Gottingen, and studied un¬
der Bal dinger and Heyne. On quitting the latter uni¬
versity, he established himself in practice at Stendal, the
numerous manufactories of which place enabled him to
contribute many important observations to the translation
of Rammazzini’s Treatise of the Diseases of Artificers,
which he published in 1780-83. After practising here
several years, he was appointed public professor in ordi¬
nary of medicine in the university of Altorf in Franconia,
which office he continued to fill with great repute to the
time of his death, which took place in 1801. All Dr
Ackermann’s works display great erudition. To the his¬
tory of medicine he contributed many valuable articles ;
the disquisitions, in particular, on the lives and writings
of Hippocrates, Galen, Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Are-
taeus, and Rufus Ephesius, which he furnished to Harles’s
edition of Fabricius’s Bibliotheca Grceca, are justly esteem¬
ed as masterpieces of critical research. As a practitioner
he appears to have possessed no mean talents for obser¬
vation ; though he has been accused, and, it must be ac-
A C O
knowledged, not without reason, of betraying occasionally
a predilection for antiquated hypotheses. Besides various
translations of English, French, and Italian medical au¬
thors, which were published, for the most part, previously
to his removal to Altorf, the following works have appear¬
ed under his name :—De Trismo Commentatio Medics.
1775, 8vo. 2. De Dysenteriae Antiquitatibus liber bipar-
titus. 1777, 8vo. 3. Ueber die Krankheiten der Gelehrtea.
1777, 8vo. 4*. The Life of John Conrad Dippel, in German.
1781, 8vo. 5. Parabilium Medicamentorum Scriptores
Antiqui: Sexti Placiti Papyriensis de Medicamentis ex
Animalibus Liber; Lucii Apuleii de Medicaminibus Her-
barum Liber, cum Notis. 1788, 8vo. 6. H. D. Gaubii In-
stitutiones Pathologiae Medicas, cum Additamentis J. C.
G. A. 1787, 8vo. 7. Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, Studii
Medici Salernitani Historia Praemissa. 1790, 8vo. 8. In-
stitutiones Historise Medicinae. 1792, 8vo. 9. Institutiones
Therapiae Generalis. 1793-5, 2 tom. 8vo. 10. Handbuch
der Kriegsarzneykunde. 1794-5, 2 tom. 8vo. 11. Opuscula
ad Historiam Medicinae pertinentia. 1797, 8vo. 12. Bemer-
kungen fiber die Kentniss und Kur einiger Krankheiten.
1794-1800, 8vo. 13. Pathologische-praktische Abhand-
lung fiber die Blahungen, ffir Aertze und Kranke bes-
timmt. 1800, 8vo.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, in a general sense, is a
person’s owning or confessing a thing ; but more particu¬
larly, is the expression of gratitude for a favour.
AcKisiowLEDGEMENT-Money, a certain sum paid by ten¬
ants, in several parts of England, on the death of their
landlords, as an acknowledgement of their new lords.
ACLIDES, in Roman antiquity, a kind of missile wea¬
pon, with a thong affixed to it, by which it was drawn
back. Most authors describe it as a sort of dart or jave¬
lin ; but Scaliger makes it roundish or globular, and full
of spikes, with a slender wooden stem to poise it by.
Each warrior was furnished with two.
ACLOWA, in Botany, a barbarous name of a species
of Colutea. It is used by the natives of Guinea to cure
the itch: they rub it on the body as we do unguents.
ACME, the top or height of any thing. It is usually
applied to the maturity of an animal just before it begins
to decline ; and physicians have used it to express the
utmost violence or crisis of a disease.
ACMELIA, in Botany, the trivial name of a species of
Spilanthus.
ACNIDA, Virginian Hemp.
ACNUA,in Roman antiquity, signified a certain measure
of land, about an English rood, or fourth part of an acre.
ACO, a town of Peru, in South America. It is also the
name of a river in Africa, which rises in the Abyssinian
mountains, runs in a south-east course, and discharges
itself into the Indian Ocean.
ACOEMETAE, or Acoemeti, men who lived without
sleep; a set of monks who chanted the divine service
night and day in their places of worship. They divided
themselves into three bodies, who alternately succeeded
one another, so that the service in their churches was
never interrupted. This practice they founded upon the
precept, Pray without ceasing. They flourished in the
East about the middle of the fifth century. There are a
kind of acoemeti still subsisting in the Romish church,
viz. the religious of the holy sacrament, who keep up a
perpetual adoration, some one or other of them praying
before the holy sacrament day and night.
ACOLUTHI, or Acoluthists, in antiquity, was an
appellation given to those persons who were steady and
immovable in their resolutions; and hence the Stoics,
because they would not forsake their principles nor alter
their resolutions, acquired the title of acoluthi. The
Acke
laai
. II
Acok
AGO
AGO
107
i olutiii word is Greek, and compounded of a privative, and xcktvdoi,
II way ; as never turning from the original course.
Amtius. Acoluthi, among the ancient Christians, implied a
jv-^^''pecUiiar order of the inferior clergy in the Latin church,
for they were unknown to the Greeks for above 400 years.
They were next to the subdeacon; and we learn from the
fourth council of Carthage, that the archdeacon, at their
ordination, put into their hands a candlestick with a taper,
giving them thereby to understand that they were ap¬
pointed to light the candles of the church ; as also an
empty pitcher, to imply that they were to furnish wine
for the eucharist. Some think they had another office,
that of attending the bishop wherever he went. The
word is Greek, and compounded of a privative, and xwXuco,
to hinder or disturb.
ACOLYTHIA, in the Greek church, denotes the office
or order of divine service ; or the prayers, ceremonies,
hymns, &c. whereof the Greek service is composed.
ACOMINATUS, Nicetas, was secretary to Alexius
Comnenus and to Isaacus Angelus successively. He wrote
a history from the death of Alexius Comnenus in 1118,
where Zonaras ended his, to the year 1203, which has
gone through many editions, and has been much applaud¬
ed by the best critics.
ACONCROBA, in Botany, the indigenous name of a
plant which grows wild in Guinea, and is in great esteem
among the natives for its virtues in the small-pox. They
give an infusion of it in wine. The leaves of this plant
are opaque, and as stiff as those of the philyrea; they
grow in pairs, and stand on short foot-stalks; they are
small at each end, and broad in the middle; and the
largest of them are about three inches in length, and an
inch and a quarter in breadth in the middle. Like those
of our bay, they are of a dusky colour on the upper side,
and of a pale green underneath.
ACONITI, in antiquity, an appellation given to some
of the Athlet^e, but differently interpreted. Mercu-
rialis understands it of those who only anointed their
bodies with oil, but did not smear themselves over with
dust, as was the usual practice.
ACONITUM, Aconite, Wolfsbane, or Monks-hood.
ACONTIAS, in Zoology, an obsolete name of the an-
guis jaculus, or dart-snake, belonging to the order of am-
phibia serpentes.
ACONTIUM, axe mo v, in Grecian antiquity, a kind of
<lart or javelin, resembling the Roman pilum.
ACONTIUS, a young man of the island Cea, who
having gone to Delos to see the sacred rites which were
performed there by a crowd of virgins in the temple of
Diana, fell desperately in love with Cydippe ; but not dar¬
ing to ask her in marriage, on account of the meanness of
his birth, insidiously threw down at her feet an apple, on
which were inscribed these words,
Me tibi nupturam (felix eat nomen) Aconti,
Juro, quam colimus, numina magna deae.
Or, according to others,
Juro tibi sanctae per mystica sacra Dianas,
Me tibi venturam comitem, sponsamque futuram.
The virgin having taken up the apple, inadvertently read
the words, and thus apparently bound herself by a pro¬
mise ; for by law, every thing uttered in that temple
was held to be ratified. When her father, a little after,
ignorant of what had happened, betrothed her to another
man, she was suddenly seized with a fever; whereupon
Acontius sent her a letter (expressed by Ovid, Ep. 20.)
to persuade her that her fever was caused by Diana for
not having fulfilled the promise which she had made to
him in the temple of that goddess. Cydippe therefore re¬
solved to comply w ith the wishes of Acontius, even against Acontius
the inclination of her father. Her answer is the subject II
of Ovid’s 21st epistle. (Adam’s Clas. Biog.) Acosta.
Acontius, James, a philosopher, civilian, and divine,
born at Trent in the sixteenth century. He embraced
the reformed religion; and coming into England in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, he was favourably received and
much honoured by that princess, which he acknowledges
in a book dedicated to her. This work is his celebrated
Collection of the Stratagems of Satan, which has been
often translated, and passed through many editions.
ACORN, the fruit of the oak-tree.
Acorn, in sea language, a little ornamental piece of
wood, fashioned like a cone, and fixed on the uppermost
point of the spindle, above the vane, on the mast head.
It is used to keep the vane from being blown off from the
spindle in a whirlwind, or when the ship leans much to
one side under sail.
ACORUS, Calamus Aromaticus, Sweet Flag, or
Sweet Rush.
Acorus, in the Materia Medica, a name sometimes
given to the great galangal.
Acorus, in Natural History, blue coral. The true sort
is very scarce ; some, however, is fished on the coasts of
Africa, particularly from Rio del Re to the river of the
Camarones. This coral is part of the merchandise which
the Dutch trade for with the Camarones: that of the
kingdom of Benin is also very much esteemed. It grows
in form of a tree on a rocky bottom.
ACOSTA, Joseph d’, a celebrated Spanish author,
was born at Medina del Campo about the year 1539. In
1571, he went to Peru as a Provincial of the Jesuits,
having entered into that society in his fourteenth year.
After a residence in America of seventeen years, he re¬
turned to his native country, and became in succession
visitor for his order of Arragon and Andalusia, superior
of Valladolid, and rector of Salamanca; in which city he
died in February 1600.
About ten years before his death, he published at Se¬
ville, in one volume quarto, his valuable work entitled
Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. The first two
books of this history were written during his residence in
Peru, and wrere published separately after his return to
Spain, in the Latin language, with this title; De Natura
Novi Orbis, libri duo. He afterwards translated them
into Spanish, and added to them other five books, the
whole composing a connected work, under the first men¬
tioned title. This work, which has been translated into
all the principal languages of Europe, is written on a re¬
gular and comprehensive plan. The first five books are
employed upon the physical geography and natural his¬
tory of that portion of America which had been conquer¬
ed or discovered by the Spaniards; the fifth and sixth,
upon the manners, religion, and civil institutions of the in¬
habitants ; and the last, upon the history of the Mexicans,
from their origin till the period of their subjugation. Dr
Robertson pronounces Acosta “ an accurate and well-
informed writer.” Among other things, he treats the sub¬
ject of climate in a more philosophical manner than could
have been expected in a writer of that age, and of his or¬
der. “ He was the first philosopher,” says the eminent
author just quoted, “ who endeavoured to account for the
different degrees of heat in the old and new continents,
by the agency of the winds which blow in each—a
theory which was afterwards adopted by Buffon, and
supported with his usual powers of copious and eloquent
illustration. In the course of these discussions, Acosta fre¬
quently comments upon the opinion of Aristotle and other
ancient philosophers, that the middle zone of the earth
108 AGO
AGO
Acosta, was so much scorched by the rays of the sun as to be
destitute of moisture and verdure, and totally uninhabit¬
able. This notion seems to have held its ground in the
Schools, even after the discovery of South America had
disclosed the magnificent scenery and stupendous rivers
of the tropical regions. It appears to have been thought
a sort of impiety to question a dogma of such ancient
date, and sanctioned by the assent of all the school divines.
We learn, from a curious passage in Osborne’s Miscellany
of Essays, Paradoxes, and Letters, that the exposing of
this ancient error in geography was one of the circum¬
stances which brought upon the famous Sir Walter Raleigh
the charge of general scepticism and atheism. Acosta
mentions, that, when he went to America, his mind was
deeply imbued with frightful notions of this supposed
burning zone, and that his surprise was great when he
beheld it so different from what it had been represented
in the “ ancient and received philosophy.” “ What could
I do then,” says he, “ but laugh at Aristotle’s meteors and
his philosophy ?”
Having said thus much in regard to one of the most
curious and valuable of the earlier accounts of the new
world, it may be proper to add,, that, in speaking of the
conduct of his countrymen, and the propagation of their
faith, Acosta is in no respect superior to the other pre¬
judiced and fanatical writers of his country and age.
Though he acknowledges that the career of Spanish con¬
quest was marked by the most savage cruelty and oppres¬
sion, he yet represents this people as the chosen instru¬
ments of the Deity for spreading the truths of the gospel
among the nations of America. He accordingly recounts
a variety of miracles, as a proof of the constant interposition
of Heaven, in favour of these merciless and rapacious in¬
vaders. It will appear from the following curious passage,
that he even makes the great enemy of mankind himself
a co-operator in that scheme of conversion for which he
represents the Spaniards to have been predestined.
“ That,” says he, “ which is difficult in our law to believe,
has been made easy among the Indians; because the
Devil had made them comprehend even the self-same
things which he had stolen from our evangelical law,—as
their manner of confession, their adoration of three in one,
and such like ; the which, against the will of the enemy,
have holpen for the easy receiving of the truth.”
Besides his History, Acosta wrote the following works :
1. De Promulgatione Evangelii apud Barbaros. 2. De
Christo Revelato. 3. De Temporibus Novissimis, libri vi.
4. Concionum tomi iii. All of these works were, in their
day, frequently reprinted; but it is only by his His¬
tory that his name is now known in the literary world.
The English translation, from which we have taken the
preceding extracts, was published at London in quarto
in the year 1604, and is now rather a scarce book.
Acosta, Uriel, a Portuguese, born at Oporto towards
the close of the sixteenth century. He was educated in the
Romish religion, which his father also professed, though
descended from one of those Jewish families who had
been in a manner forced to receive baptism. Uriel had a
liberal education. He was instructed in several sciences,
and at last he studied law. He had by nature a good
temper and mild disposition ; and religion had made so
deep an impression on his mind, that he ardently desired
to conform to all the precepts of the church, to avoid
eternal death, which he dreaded. He applied with great
assiduity to reading the Scriptures and other religious
books, carefully consulting also the creed of the confes¬
sors; but the more he studied, the more difficulties oc¬
curred, which perplexed him at length to such a degree,
that, being unable to solve them, he fell into the most
terrible agonies of mind. He thought it impossible to Acc
fulfil his duty with regard to the conditions required for^-^
absolution; so that he despaired of salvation, if he could
find no other means of attaining it; and it proved difficult
to abandon a religion in which he had been bred up from
his infancy, and which had been deeply rooted in his mind.
However, he began to inquire whether several particulars
mentioned about the other life were agreeable to reason;
and, upon inquiry and deliberation, he imagined that rea¬
son suggested many arguments against them. Acosta was
about two and twenty when he was thus perplexed with
doubts ; and the result of his reflections was, that he could
not be saved by the religion which he had imbibed in his
infancy. Nevertheless he prosecuted his studies in the law,
and at the age of five and twenty was made treasurer in
a collegiate church. Being naturally of a religious dispo¬
sition, and now made uneasy by the popish doctrines, he
began to study Moses and the prophets ; where he thought
he found more satisfaction than in the gospel, and at
length became convinced that Judaism wras the true reli¬
gion : and, as he could not profess it in Portugal, he re¬
solved to leave the country. He accordingly resigned
his place, and embarked for Amsterdam with his mother
and brothers, whom he had ventured to instruct in the
principles of the Jewish religion, even when in Portugal.
Soon after their arrival in Amsterdam they became mem¬
bers of the synagogue, were circumcised according to
custom, and he changed his name of Gabriel for that of
Uriel. A little time was sufficient to show him, that the
Jews did not, either in their rites or morals, conform to the
law of Moses, of which he could not but declare his dis¬
approbation : but the chiefs of the synagogue gave him to
understand, that he must exactly observe their tenets and
customs, and that he would be excommunicated if he
deviated in the least from them. This threat, however,
had no effect; for he thought it would be a most mean
behaviour in him, who had left the sweets of his native
country purely for liberty of conscience, to submit to a
set of Rabbis without any proper jurisdiction ; and that it
would show both want of courage and piety if he should
stifle his sentiments on this occasion. He therefore per¬
sisted in his invectives, and in consequence was excom¬
municated ; the effect of which was such, that his own
brothers durst not speak to him, nor salute him when they
met him in the streets. Finding himself thus situated,
he wrote a book in his justification, wherein he endea¬
vours to show that the rites and traditions of the Phari¬
sees are contrary to the writings of Moses ; and soon after
adopted the opinion of the Sadducees, for he had worked
himself up to a belief that the rewards and punishments
of the old law relate only to this life, and this because
Moses nowhere mentions the joys of heaven or the tor¬
ments of hell. His adversaries were overjoyed at his em¬
bracing this tenet, foreseeing that it would tend greatly
to justify, in the sight of Christians, the proceedings of
the synagogues against him. Before his book was print¬
ed, there appeared a piece upon the immortality of the
soul, written by a physician, who omitted nothing he
could suggest to make Acosta pass for an atheist. The i
very children were encouraged to insult him in the
streets, and to batter his house with stones; all which,
however, did not prevent him from writing a treatise
against the physician, wherein he endeavoured to confute
the doctrine of the soul’s immortality. The Jews now
made application to the magistrates of Amsterdam, and
informed against him, as one who wanted to undermine
the foundation of both Jewish and Christian religions.
He was thrown into prison, but bailed out within a week
or ten days aftqr; hpwever, all the copies of his works were
AGO
AGO
109
osta seized, and he himself fined in 300 florins. Nevertheless,
I* proceeded still farther in his scepticism. He now be-
A astics. „an to examine whether the law of Moses came from
. an(i he supposed he had at length found reasons to
convince him that it was only a political invention. Yet
instead of drawing from thence this inference, “ I ought
not to return to the Jewish communion,” he thus argued
with himself: “ Why should I continue all my life cut off
from the communion, exposed to so many inconveniences,
especially as I am in a country where I am a stranger,
and unacquainted with the language ? Had I not better
play the ape among apes ?” He accordingly returned to
the Jewish church, after he had been excommunicated
fifteen years; and, after having made a recantation of
what he had written, subscribed every thing as they di¬
rected. A few days after, he was accused by a nephew,
who lived in his house, that he did not, as to his eating
and many other points, conform to the laws of the syna¬
gogue. This accusation was attended with very bad con¬
sequences ; for a relation of Acosta, who had got him re¬
conciled to the synagogue, thought he was in honour
bound to persecute him with the utmost violence. The
Rabbis and the rest of the Jews were animated with the
same spirit, especially when they found that Acosta had
dissuaded two Christians, who had come from London to
Amsterdam, from turning Jews. He was summoned be¬
fore the grand council of the synagogue ; when it was de¬
clared to him, that he must again be excommunicated, if
he did not give such satisfaction as should be required.
He found the terms so hard that he could not comply.
The Jews thereupon again expelled him from their com¬
munion ; and he afterwards suffered various hardships and
great persecutions, even from his own relations. After
remaining seven years in a most wretched situation, he at
length declared he was willing to submit to the sentence Acostan
of the synagogue, having been told that he might easily II ,
accommodate matters; for that the judges, being satis-
fied with his submission, would soften the severity of the
discipline. Acosta, however, was caught in a snare ; for
they made him undergo the most rigorous penance. These
particulars relating to the life, of Acosta are taken from
his work entitled Exemplar Humance Vitae, published
and refuted by Limborch. It is supposed that he com¬
posed it a few days before his death, after having deter¬
mined to lay violent hands on himself. He executed this
horrid resolution a little after he had failed in his attempt
to kill his principal enemy; for the pistol with which he
intended to shoot him as he passed his house having
missed fire, he immediately shut the door, and shot him¬
self with another pistol. This happened at Amsterdam,
but in what year is not exactly known.
ACOSTAN, a mountainous island in the north seas,
between Asia and America, observed by Captain Cook.
ACOUSMATICI, sometimes also called Acoustici, in
Grecian antiquity, such of the disciples of Pythagoras as
had not completed their five years’ probation.
ACOUSTIC, in general, denotes any thing that relates
to the ear, the sense of hearing, or the doctrine of sounds.
Acoustic Disciples, among the ancient Pythagoreans*
those more commonly called Acousmatici.
Acoustic Ducts, in Anatomy, the same with meatus
auditorius, or the external passage of the ear.
Acoustic Vessels, in the ancient theatres, were a kind
of vessels made of brass, shaped in the bell fashion, which
being of all tones within the pitch of the voice, or even of
instruments, rendered the sound more audible, so that
the actors could be heard through all parts of theatres
which were even 400 feet in diameter.
ACOUSTICS.
ACOUSTICS, that branch of Natural Philosophy which
treats of the nature of Sound, and the laws of its pro¬
duction and propagation. It is a subject extremely curious
and interesting, and has at all times excited much atten¬
tion among philosophers. In treating it here, it was at
first our intention to embody the original article in this
Encyclopaedia with that which was contributed for the last
Supplement by Professor Leslie. On considering, how-
i ever, that the latter embraces in itself a general outline
of the whole science;—that it is distinguished, like all
the other productions of that philosopher, by soundness,
depth, and striking originality ; and that any changes even
in the arrangement might destroy its peculiar character;—
we have thought it best to preserve this valuable essay
entire. It accordingly forms the Second Part of this
Treatise; the First being devoted to the explanation of
the more elementary principles ; and the Third to some
details supplemental to those contained in the Second.
Part I.
'ai e of In regard to the nature of sound, the slightest atten-
')Ui • tion is sufficient to convince us, that this sensation is not
owing to the action of any peculiar substance or power,
like Heat, Light, or Electricity, but arises merely from a
certain mechanical action; a sort of concussion or agita¬
tion which takes place among the bodies from which the
sound is emitted. Every noise or sound with which we
are acquainted is accompanied with some action of this
kind. The report of a cannon, for example, produces a
concussion which shakes the ground under and to a great
distance around it. In the same manner the rushing of
waters, the roar of the sea, the whistling of the wind as
it breaks on the trees or other obstacles which oppose it;
the rattling of carriages, and that infinite diversity of
sounds which arises in general from the percussion of one
object against another: in all these cases there is a sen¬
sible and indeed violent agitation among the bodies from
which the sound proceeds. In musical sounds, which are
of a softer nature, we still also observe an agitation, which
is often felt communicating itself to the surrounding
bodies. If, for example, we stand under or near a piano¬
forte when it is sounding, we feel a sensible tremor in the
floor of the apartment. If we lay the finger or hand
on the instrument, or touch any other, such as a violin,
wrhen it is sounding, or a bell, we feel the same sort of
tremor in every part of them; and this is well observed
in the case of any glass vessel, such as a tumbler or
large cup. If we strike it so as to make it sound, and
then touch the mouth of it with the finger, we feel a
sensible tremor in the glass; and when this internal agi¬
tation is stopped, as it generally is by the contact with
the finger, then the sound ceases along with it. If there
be any water in the glass, the tremor is observed com¬
municating itself to the w'ater, and putting the whole
mass in motion. This is particularly well observed when
we make the glass sound by rubbing the edge of it with
the finger, as is done in the musical glasses. When the
sound is brought fully out, the water is violently agitated;
and as the sound declines, the agitation declines along
wdth it. Such agitation then, in the sounding body, being
110
ACOUSTICS.
Trans¬
mitted
through
the me¬
dium of
the air.
Acoustics, the constant accompaniment of sound, ceasing when it
^ ceases, and again beginning when the sound recommences;
and there being no other circumstance which can be dis¬
covered accompanying the sound in this manner; there
can be no doubt that this is in some way or other the
cause of the sensation.
But how can any mere agitation or imperceptible
tremor among bodies, and these at a distance, affect the
organ of hearing ? It is through the medium of the sur¬
rounding air. We have seen how the tremor of the piano¬
forte is communicated to the floor of the apartment, and
is there felt under our feet. This communication can
only take place through the legs of the instrument, which
form the only connection between it and the floor.
Through these, therefore, it is somehow conveyed; and
in the same manner every tremor of this kind creates an
agitation in the surrounding air, through which it is con¬
veyed from the centre of agitation in all directions until
it reaches the ear, and there striking or agitating the or¬
gan, produces the sensation of sound. That such agita¬
tion does take place in the air, we have a striking proof in
the discharge of artillery, which often produces such an
agitation as to shatter the glass in the windows of ad¬
joining houses. The ear then forms merely a sort of
organ of touch, but of such exquisite sensibility that it
becomes affected by the slightest agitation in the fluid
atmosphere by which it is surrounded. But this fluid is
continually agitated, and in a thousand different ways,
by the various motions and actions which are continually
going on among the bodies on the surface of the earth.
Every agitation of this kind communicates itself to the
sprrounding atmosphere; it is by it conveyed and propa¬
gated in all directions from the centre of agitation, some¬
what like what we observe in a smooth surface of water
when a stone is thrown into the middle of it;—a series of
little waves are observed arising and propagating them¬
selves in concentric circles from the centre of agitation
on all sides. In a similar manner every agitation in the
aerial medium propagates its influence in all directions,
and from these varied impressions arise all those diver¬
sities of sound which affect the ear.
This idea of the process of hearing and of the cause
of sound is certainly very remarkable, and well calcu¬
lated to excite our surprise and curiosity, when we think
of that infinite variety which we observe; single sounds
varying in intensity from the gentlest tap to the noise and
violence of an explosion; continued sounds, from the
ripple of waters to the roar of the cataract; strains of
melody winch enchant the ear, rising from grave to acute,
and tailing again to the lowest in the compass ; or those
harsher notes which only grate by their discord. Can it
be possible that all these diversities arise from agitations
m the air, differing only in the manner in which they
strike the ear, in the force and quickness of their action
or in the regularity of their succession ? What incredible
sensibility in this organ, to perceive and be moved by such
imperceptible shades of gradation, and to recognise such
infinite diversities in kind ! The powers of the eye in dis¬
criminating the minutest shades of colour justly excite our
astonishment; but each colour presents a peculiar modifi¬
cation of light. The powers of the ear must appear still
more extraordinary, if every sensation in it arises merely
rom a mechanical agitation of the same nature in every
case, but only differing in the force of the impulse. Yet
this is really the case; and the more we examine into the
subject, the more clearly does it appear demonstrable by
the laws of geometry and mechanics. ^
That the air is necessary for the production of sound,
is dearly proved by the beautiful experiment of inclosing
a bell within the receiver of an air-pump, and then ex- 4
hausting the air. As the process of exhaustion proceeds ^
the sound is observed to become continually fainter and 1
fainter, until at last it nearly dies away altogether. The
bell, however, continues to ring, at least the hammer
continues to strike, and thereby to agitate the bell as
before; and yet no sound is emitted, plainly because
there is no medium to convey the agitation to the ear.
If the sound in this experiment cannot be altogether ex¬
tinguished, this will be found to arise from the imprac¬
ticability of exhausting the air altogether out of the re¬
ceiver, and also of insulating completely the bell from
the plate of the air-pump on which it stands, the support
serving to convey the sound even after the air is ex¬
hausted. A very good mode of performing this experi¬
ment is, to have a bell with a small piece of clock-work
attached to it, which strikes at regular intervals, and
with a tone of uniform intensity.
In order to conceive the mode in which sound is pro- Aj 1
pagated through the air, let us consider what takes place which
when we move a series of balls ranged in a line on a sound
table, or suspended by threads. If we strike the oneP^’P?
end of the line by impelling a ball against it, it is only64
the ball at the other end which appears to be affected.
This flies off from the rest, and leaves them almost sta¬
tionary. The intermediate balls, therefore, serve mere¬
ly to transmit the impulse from the one end to the other
of the series. In the same manner it is that the agita¬
tion or impulse from which sound arises is transmitted
through the air. This fluid, like every other body, consists
of an infinite number of little particles; a single series of
which may be represented to us by the balls in the above
example. These particles are not even in contact with
each other; they are separated by minute intervals, but
are yet connected together by attractive and repulsive
forces, which tend to retain them perpetually in equili-
bno. In every case, therefore, there is in reality a chain
of such particles reaching from the sounding body to the
ear. The former by its agitation strikes that particle
which is next it, the intermediate ones serve to convey
the impression, and the last one, flying off, strikes the sen-
tient organ of hearing. The process is exactly similar to
that of impulse along a series of balls, only that in the case
ot the air, the intermediate particles, instead of remaining
at rest, move each of them backwards and forwards by a
very minute interval; the first communicating its motion to
the second, the second to the third, and so on to the last;
each performing a slight oscillatory movement, which ad-
vances from the beginning to the end of the series.
VV e now see at once the cause of a remarkable and
w e 1-known fact, that the propagation of sound is not in¬
stantaneous ; it requires time to advance from the sound¬
ing body to the ear, as is daily observed and illustrated
m the discharge of fire-arms. If the distance be at all
considerable, a sensible interval is always observed to
elapse between the flash and the report. The light flies
almost mstantaneousJy, but the report is retarded accord-
ng to the distance; as is also seen in many other cases:
when we observe the workmen, for example, cutting up
w?0! 8 -n^ny f^arry; if we stand at a little distance,
nn tVi 1I!Varia1 % an^ distinctly the blow of the hammer
ston.e !ffo*;e the sound reaches the ear. These
rp„ nther similar facts leave no doubt that sound advan-
bf nr™ ? certam rate, and invariably requires time for
tide inTlf1 'h*• ^ reason is, that each aerial par-
time °I Cl0mmunication must have a certain
oscillntinn <e ^0uhtj_ hut still definite, to perform its
thus the ‘irf11 comi?unicate its motion to the rest; and
thus the advance of the agitation and of the sound is
ACOUSTICS.
Ill
cous ^- retarded, and only sweeps with a regulated progression
>T'/^ along the line.
otfuhro- It is not through one series of particles merely that the
ugBta on oscillatory motion is communicated. The sounding body
11 having every part of it in a state of agitation, generally acts
all round ; but even though it were only to act in one direc¬
tion, the impulse, once begun at the centre, is propagated
in all directions; for though only one particle were ori¬
ginally affected, so intimately are they all connected to¬
gether and united into a system by their mutual attrac¬
tions and repulsions, that this cannot advance in any de¬
gree forwards without affecting the particles on each side :
these affect what are before and around them; and thus
the impulse is communicated, and diffuses itself on all
sides. These lateral impressions would appear to be ne¬
cessarily somewhat enfeebled, yet it is one remarkable
characteristic of such oscillatory movements, that, like
the vibrations of a distended cord, or the oscillations of a
pendulum in a cycloid, they are all performed in the
same time, however minute or however extended. The
lateral impressions, therefore, though ever so feeble, are
yet transmitted with the same rapidity as the direct; the
sound may be weakened, and we often observe it so;—a
speaker, for example, is always best heard in front; the
report of a cannon is also loudest in that direction, but
still the sound is heard at the very same instant all round.
It is owing to this'diffusion of the agitation in all direc¬
tions, the original impression being spread out, not mere¬
ly in concentric circles like the little waves in a pool,
but expanding continually, if we can conceive it, into a
wider and wider concentric sphere,—it is owing to this
that every sound decreases so rapidly as we recede from
it, and at last dies away altogether in the distance. It
requires a very loud sound to be heard at the distance of
a mile, yet we have heard the guns of Edinburgh Castle
at the distance of 20 miles; and the noise occasioned by
the falls of Niagara is said to be often heard at 60 miles.
That this diffusion of the agitating impression is the true
cause of the diminution of the sound, is proved in a re¬
markable manner by confining the air on all sides, as in a
tube. M. Biot, in his Traite de Physique, gives an account
of some very interesting experiments made by himself
in the train of cast-iron pipes used for the conducting
of water into Paris, and which extended about 2860 feet,
thus including in their interior a cylindrical column of
air upwards of half a mile in length; at which distance a
person standing at one end of the pipes, and speaking
within, could be easily heard at the other. “ The low¬
est voice,” says he, “ was heard at this distance so as
to distinguish completely the words, and to establish a
continued conversation. I wished to ascertain at how
low a tone the voice ceased to become audible, and I
could not reach it. Words spoken as low as when one
whispers in the ear of another were heard and appre¬
ciated; so that if we wished to speak so as not to be
understood, there was only one way of doing it, and that
was not to speak at all.” It is on this principle that de¬
pends the effect of those tubes which are now in such
general use, as modes of communication between distant
apartments, in houses and public offices. Hence, also,
are performed many amusing tricks with statues or busts,
situated in differsmt parts of a room, answering questions,
and speaking to one another; the figures being con¬
nected by tubes concealed under the walls or floor, or
communicating with an apartment below, in which a speak¬
er is stationed.
locit if In regard to the actual velocity with which the impulse
n<" of sound advances, it appears, from the most accurate ex¬
periments on the discharge of pieces of ordnance, and
marking the interval between the flash and the report, at Acoustics,
a distance carefully measured, that in ordinary circum-v--*’'v^-/
stances this amounts to no less than 1130 feet each second,
which is nearly equal to the velocity of a cannon ball the
moment it issues from the piece. This last is very speedily
retarded by the resistance of the air; but sound advances
with undiminished velocity. Hence it will travel a mile
in a little more than four seconds and a half, or 12-| miles
per minute. On this depends an easy method of deter¬
mining in many cases our distance from objects, and which
may often prove useful, particularly in military operations.
We have only to observe, in seconds, the interval between
the flash and report of the cannon or musket, and allow
4^ seconds to every mile, or 1130 feet to every second.
Thus, in a house in Lothian Street, directly opposite to the
castle of Edinburgh, we have frequently observed a sen¬
sible interval elapse, as the sound of the guns travelled
across the intermediate valley, we think about 2" or more ;
and the distance in a straight line is about 760 yards, or
a little less than half a mile. In the same manner, by ob¬
serving the interval between the flash of lightning and the
thunder, we can tell the distance of the point where the
electric discharge takes place.
It is remarkable also, that all kinds of sound, strong or
weak, acute or grave, advance with the same velocity;
and this arises from the circumstance already noticed,
that all the oscillatory movements in the air, however mi¬
nute or however extended, are performed each in the
very same interval of time. This effect was distinctly
proved in the experiments made by Biot in the cast-iron
pipes already noticed, by playing different airs on the
flute at one of the extremities of the tube. Now, it is
well known that a musical air is adapted to a certain
measure or time, which regulates very nicely the inter¬
vals between the successive notes ; consequently, if any
of these were propagated more rapidly or more slowly
than others, by the time they reached the ear these
would have been confounded with what preceded or fol¬
lowed them; and the air would have appeared quite
altered, in place of which it was uniformly regular, and in
its natural time ; whence it clearly followed, that all sounds
are propagated with equal velocity.
The above view of the propagation of sound explains Cause of
at once the remarkable phenomenon of the echo, which echoes,
arises in every case from obstacles opposing the progress
of sound. The agitation in the air, however, though in¬
terrupted by such obstacles, is not destroyed: each aerial
particle which strikes against the opposing surface is re¬
flected from it like an elastic ball which strikes against
any wall or table. The sound is thus reflected at an an¬
gle equal to the angle of incidence; and it is when a
number of these reflected impressions are thrown back to
the point whence the original sound issues, by the confi¬
guration of the opposing obstacles, as so frequently hap¬
pens among rocks, walls, &c. that an echo is produced.
Hitherto we have considered the air only as the vehicle Air not the
of sound, and, without doubt, it is the grand medium ofonly vehU
its transmission. Other bodies, however, convey it in a ^
similar manner, and some of them even with much greater
rapidity and force. In the liquid element this is proved
by the acuteness which fishes display to sounds made in
the air, and by many experiments. Professor Robison re¬
lated, that with his head plunged under water, he could
hear the sound of a bell, rung also in the water, at the
distance of 1200 feet. We have already seen how the tre¬
mor of the piano-forte is communicated to the floor of the
apartment; and many other familiar facts show clearly
that sound is transmitted through the most solid bo¬
dies. How readily do we hear from one apartment of a
112
ACOUSTICS.
Acoustics, house, or from one floor to another. The scratch of a
v^''’~v^“'/pin is easily heard from one end of a log to another. A
well-known but striking experiment in illustration of the
transmission of sound is, to suspend any sonorous body,
as a bell, a glass, a silver spoon, or a tuning fork, from a
thread, and putting with the finger the extremities of
the thread one in each ear;—if the body be then struck
against any obstacle, the apparent loudness and depth of
the sound are quite surprising. Again, if we shut the ears
altogether, we yet feel very sensibly the impression of any
sound conveyed through the mouth, the teeth, or the
head :—if we put a small stick or rod in the mouth, and
touch with the other extremity a watch lying on the table,
the beats will become quite audible, though the ears be
actually shut. Every noise in the mouth or among the
teeth is conveyed internally to the ear in the same man¬
ner. Sound, therefore, is transmitted through liquids and
solids, as well as through the air; and indeed, when we
consider that the former are quite similarly constituted
with the air, being composed of an infinite number of
little particles, combined into a system by the same spe¬
cies of attractive and repulsive forces, it is noway sur¬
prising that an impulse communicated to any of these
bodies should in like manner be diffused throughout the
mass; and this must be by the same species of internal
oscillations among the particles.
Such being the nature and propagation of sound, and
its actual velocity as determined by experiment, it has
long been the study of philosophers to reconcile these ef¬
fects with those physical properties of the air and of liquid
bodies, which are known from other circumstances, and
can be calculated by the laws of mechanics, aided by the
powers of mathematical analysis. This subject is inves¬
tigated in the following Part; written, as already men¬
tioned, by Professor Leslie. (c.)
Part II.
The doctrine of sound is unquestionably the most sub¬
tile and abstruse in the whole range of physical science.
It has given occasion, in recent times, to much contro¬
versy and discussion, and has eventually called forth all
the mighty resources of a refined and elaborate calculus.
Yet an evident obscurity still remains to overcloud the
subject. The discrepancies between theory and observa¬
tion have been made entirely to disappear from astronomy,
which has at last attained a degree of perfection befitting
the sublimity of the science. But some latent suspicions
pervade the structure of acoustics, sufficient to disturb
that feeling of confidence which is calculated to invigorate
our pursuits.
Sound con- The impression of sound is conveyed by means of a
veyed by a certain tremor or internal agitation, which shoots, with
!noraintre’more or less celerity and force, through any substance,
whether solid or fluid. Nor is it requisite that the con¬
ducting medium should belong to the class of bodies
which are commonly denominated elastic. In fact, all
bodies whatever, in the minute and sudden alterations of
their form, exert a perfect elasticity, and only seem to
want this energy when they undergo such great changes
that their component particles take a new set or arrange¬
ment, which prevents the full effect of re-action.
It is not every kind of tremulous motion, however, that
will excite the sensation of sound. A certain degree of
force and frequency in the pulsations appears always ne¬
cessary to affect our sense of hearing. Yet the impression
of sound is not confined to the mere external organ: the
auditory nerves have a considerable expansion, and sym¬
pathize w ith those of taste and of smell. The only inlet of
vision is by that very narrow aperture, the pupil of the
eye; but the reception of sound partakes more of theAcoi
character of the general sense of feeling, which, though'^"
most vivid at the extremities of the fingers, is likewise
diffused over the whole surface of the body. The intima¬
tion of the ear is accordingly assisted by the consent
of the palate, the teeth, and the nostrils. Fishes hear
very acutely under water, though the organ itself lies
so concealed in the head as to have long escaped the di¬
ligence of anatomists.
It was formerly supposed, that the transmission of im¬
pulse through a solid body is perfectly instantaneous.
This formed, indeed, one of the Cartesian tenets, which
Newton himself has tacitly admitted. But accurate ob¬
servations have since proved, that motion is always really
progressive, and propagated in succession. Professor
Leslie has shown that the darting of impact through any
substance, whether hard or soft, is accomplished by the
agency of the same interior mechanism as that of sound,
and has furnished the method of calculating, in some of
the more difficult cases, the celerity of transmission.
All bodies may be considered as composed of physical All b
points, without any sensible magnitude, but connected to-essen
gether by a system of mutual attraction and repulsion.elasti
When those integrant particles are compressed by exter¬
nal violence, a repulsive force is exerted to regain their
first position; or if they be dilated, a corresponding at¬
traction now draws them back to their neutral site of
equilibrium. We may further presume, that in solids
these constituent forces are confined to the proximate
particles only, but that in the case of liquids or other
fluids they embrace the particles in their near vicinity,
and include a sphere of action varying in its extent.
Hence, the former suffer disruption, without bending or
giving way to powerful pressure ; while the latter, acting
by a sympathetic union, gently recede and take a new
arrangement. In fact, the attribute of hardness applied to
body is only a relative, and not an absolute quality; in the
inferior degrees it relapses into softness, and softness again
passes through interminable shades to the most yielding
fluidity. The application of heat, by enlarging the sys¬
tem of internal connection, generally promotes softness,
and heightens the degree of fluidity itself. The effect
is conspicuous in the increased flow from a capillary sy¬
phon, when kept warm. But even liquids, when struck with
a blow so rapid and sudden as to preclude the sympathy
of their adjacent molecules, will assume all the character
of the hardest substances. This fact has a familiar illus¬
tration in the play of duck and drake; but it is beauti¬
fully exemplified in the successive rebounds made by can¬
non-shot, from the surface of the sea.
In confirmation of the remark, we may quote a very
singular and curious circumstance, mentioned by travel¬
lers, relative to the method of catching fish, which is suc¬
cessfully practised in some of the more northern coun¬
tries. I he hardy peasant, when the smaller lakes and
rivers of Lapland or Siberia are completely frozen over,
as soon as he observes, through the clear ice, a fish, per¬
haps at a considerable depth, but lying close to the bot¬
tom, strikes a smart blow against the firm surface, and the
impulse sent through the vertical column of water instant¬
ly stuns or kills his prey, which he draws up by a large
hook let down through the hole just mad.e in the ice.
If we conceive a conducting substance to be struck at
one extremity, the proximate particles, yielding at first
to the impulsion, will again expand themselves, like the
recoil of a spring, and press against the next particles in
the chain. I he vibratory commotion will thus be con-
veyed, by a successive transfer of impressions, along the
whole series of physical points. Analogous also to the
A C O U
A'ustics. oscillations of a spring or a pendulum, this multitude of
ICj''/'^concatenated internal pulses, whatever be the force or ex¬
tent of agitation, will constantly be performed in the same
instants of time. The celerity of transmission must de¬
pend on the elasticity of the medium compared with its
gravity. This estimate is most readily obtained by de-
TUi ulus termining what may be called the modulus of elasticity,
of asti- or the height of a column of the same density as the con-
,cil ducting substance, whose weight would measure that
elasticity; or, to speak more precisely, that the thousandth
part of such a column, for instance, should be equivalent
to the repulsive force corresponding to a condensation of
one thousandth part in the vibrating body. It may be
demonstrated from the principles of dynamics, that the
celerity of the transmission of ifnpulse or sound through
any medium is equal to what a falling body would ac¬
quire in falling through half the height of the modulus of
elasticity. Hence this celerity for each second will be
expressed in English feet by multiplying the square root
of half the modulus by 8, or by extracting the square root
of the modulus multiplied by 32.
lejrity of Mr Leslie has pointed out a very simple method for as-
liwd certaining the modulus of elasticity in the case of solid
(fiflrent ro(^s or P'an^s’ ^7 observing, when they are laid in a
sol: hbrizontal position, with their ends resting against two
bolts. props, the swag or curvature which they take. By an ex¬
periment of this kind, he found that Memel fir had a mo¬
dulus equal to 671,625 feet. Wherefore, an impulse
would shoot through the substance of a deal-board with
the velocity of 4,636 feet each second, or about four times
the rapidity of sound. Professor Chladni, who has thrown
so much curious light on the convoluted curves formed
by vibrations spreading along the surface of solid bodies,,
inferred, from a very different procedure,—from the musi¬
cal note which a bar of the substance emits when struck,
—the celerity of the transmission of sound through iron
and glass, which he reckoned for both at 17,500 feet, or
above three miles each second, being more than fifteen
times swifter than the ordinary communication through
the atmosphere.
The rate with which the tremor of sound is transmitted
through cast-iron, was very lately ascertained, from actual
experiment, by the ingenious M. Biot. This philosopher
availed himself pf the opportunity of the laying of a sys¬
tem of iron pipes, to convey water to Paris. These pipes
were about eight feet each in length, connected together
by narrow leaden rings. A bell being suspended with¬
in the cavity, at one end of the train of pipes, on striking
the clapper at the same instant against the side of the
bell and against the internal surface of the pipe, two dis¬
tinct sounds were successively heard by an observer sta¬
tioned at the other extremity. In these observations
M. Biot was often assisted by the late M. Malus, who has,
too soon for the progress of science, been hurried away by
death, after having opened the delicate discovery of the
polarization of light. With a train of iron pipes of 2550
feet, or nearly half a mile in length, the interval between
the two sounds was found, from a mean of two hundred
trials, to be 2*79 seconds. But the transmission of sound
through the internal column of air would have taken 2-5
seconds; which leaves *29" for the rapidity of the tremor
conducted through the cast-iron. From other more direct
trials, it was concluded that the exact interval of time
during which the sound performed its passage through
the substance of the train of pipes, amounted only to
26-100th parts of a second; being ten to twelve times
less than the ordinary transmission thi'ough the atmo-
sphere.
Except the observations of M. Hassenfratz, in the fa-
VOL. II.
S T I C S. 113
mous subterranean quarries which extend under almost the Acoustics,
whole of Paris, we are not acquainted with any attempts
that have been made to measure the elasticity of stone or
brick. Yet sound is conveyed through these materials
with great effect. The rattling of a carriage on the
street spreads a very sensible tremor along the most so-
licj buildings and the stateliest edifices. If a large stone
be rubbed against the outside of the wall of a house, it
will occasion within doors a strange rumbling noise. A
miner will strike his pick against the side of a long gal¬
lery, when he wishes to give intimation to his companion,
who listens at the other extremity. But stones or bricks,
without being directly excited, may yet form a part of
the chain which transmits sound, by receiving the tre¬
mulous impressions from the air on the one side, and de¬
livering them again to that fluid on the other. We all
know how easily the voice is heard through a thin parti¬
tion. The mode of obstructing the passage of sound is,
either to employ very thick masonry, or to interrupt the
facility of communication and transfer, by means of sub¬
divisions opposed. Hence another distinct use of lath
and plaster. Experiments on the elasticity of stones and
other articles of building are not only curious, but of
real importance ; for, in many cases, their efficient strength
must depend on their fitness to resist incidental impres¬
sions. This consideration is peculiarly necessary in se¬
lecting and combining the materials employed in the con¬
struction of bridges.
Respecting the elasticity of water and other liquids, Supposed
our information is more satisfactory and complete. Itincompres-
was long held as an axiom, that the substance of water °f
absolutely incompressible. Yet the experiments on which waten
this belief was grounded would, if weighed attentively,
point to an opposite inference. On such a subject it
were idle to cite Lord Bacon, whose credulity and igno¬
rance of mathematical science betrayed him so often into
false or shallow conclusions. The philosophers of the
Florentine academy del Cimento tried the compression of
water in three different ways, which are described in the
account of their experiments printed in 1661. L Hav¬
ing provided two glass tubes terminated by hollow balls,
they filled the one partly and the other to excess with
pure water, and joined the tubes hermetically, so as to
form one piece. Then applying heat to the first ball till
the water boiled, they forced its vapour to press against
the column in the other stem. But no contraction of the
fluid took place, though a copper ball was afterwards
substituted; and when the action of the heat was still far¬
ther urged, the tube at last burst with violence. 2. Into
a glass tube, immediately above six pounds of water,
they introduced eighty pounds of quicksilver, without
causing any diminution of volume. 3. Their most noted
experiment was, having filled a hollow silver ball with
water by a small hole, afterwards soldered accurately, to
give it a few smart blows with a hammer ; when, far from
suffering compression, the water was seen to ooze or spirt
from the pores, as they imagined, of the silver.
Mr Boyle, whose practice it was generally to repeat
the more striking experiments made on the Continent,
had a round tin or pewter vessel filled carefully with
water, and tightly plugged : the blow of a wooden mallet
beat it flat, but on piercing the tin with the point of a
small nail, the confined water instantly sprung to the
height of two or three feet. About the year 1752, Dr
Peter Shaw, who read public lectures in London, exhibit¬
ed a stout copper ball of four inches in diameter, and fill¬
ed with water by a small orifice, into which a screw
was fitted, and forced to enter by turning an iron arm
or lever; the globe was partly opened by this enormous
p
114 ACOUSTICS.
Acoustics, squeeze, and the water spouted from the crevice as from
a fountain. ,
These experiments all concur to show that water is
capable of sustaining an immense pressure without under¬
going any very sensible contraction; but they prove, at the
same time, the actual existence of such a contraction,
since the projecting of the water, after a crack has once
begun in the vessel that confines it, could only proceed
from the evolution of an internal repulsive force. Divers,
accordingly, at considerable depths under water, hear dis¬
tinctly the collision of two stones, or the remote ringing
of a bell. Authentic instances are mentioned of sounds
being transmitted audibly more than two miles through
that fluid.
Compres- The compressibility of water was first demonstrated by
Ability of the ingenious Mr Canton in 1762, by a very simple and
monstrat" conclusive experiment. To a glass ball of rather more
ed by Mr t^ian an an(^ ^a^ *n diameter, he joined hermetically
Canton. a tube about four inches long, and having a bore equal to
the hundredth part of an inch. The relative capacity of
this ball and of the stem he ascertained by introducing
mercury, and weighing nicely its separate portions. The
stem was then marked by the edge of a file into divisions,
corresponding each to the hundred thousandth part of the
whole capacity of the ball. This instrument was now
filled with distilled water, carefully purged of its adher¬
ing air, and placed under the receiver of a pneumatic
machine : on producing an exhaustion, the water appeared
. constantly to swell, rising four divisions and three-fifths
in the stem, or a space nearly equal to the mercurial ex¬
pansion corresponding to half a degree of heat on Fahren¬
heit’s scale. In a condensing engine, the water sunk just
as much, for each additional pressure of an atmosphere,—
the bulb remaining always at the same temperature, or at
the fiftieth degree of Fahrenheit. Since the stem was
left open, the pressure exerted by the air, both on the
inside and the outside of the instrument, must in all cases
have been precisely the same ; and consequently, the
glass had no disposition to alter its figure, and modify the
results. The contraction or expansion produced was,
therefore, confined wholly to the body of water and to the
thin shell of glass, of which indeed the influence might be
rejected as insignificant. It was hence decided that the
purest water suffers a visible concentration, or a diminu¬
tion of its volume, under a powerful compression. But,
in the course of his experiments, Mr Canton observed a
curious circumstance, that water is more compressible in
cold than in warm weather. Thus, the contraction, under
a single incumbent atmosphere, amounted to 4*9 divisions
when the thermometer stood at 34°, but was only 4-4
divisions when the heat rose to 64°. This singular fact
might afford room for speculation ; but it were better, in
the mean while, to repeat the experiment again with more
delicacy, and on a greater scale.
Compressi- The compression of some other fluids was likewise
bility of measured in the same way. The contraction, under the
fluids. wciSht of an atmosphere, and at the ordinary temperature,
amounted, in millionth parts of the entire capacity of the
ball, to sixty-six with alcohol, to forty-eight with olive oil,
to forty with sea-water, and only to three when mercury
was opposed. We may therefore estimate, in round num¬
bers, the modulus of elasticity belonging to those different
substances as under:
Alcohol 580,000 English feet.
Distilled water 700,000
Olive oil 730,000
Sea-water 780,000
Mercury..... *....800,000
In liquids of so distinct a nature, we should have expected
a greater diversity in their elastic power ; nor is it easy to Acoust
conceive on what conditions or habitudes that quality
actually depends. The elasticity of a body, like its other
constitutional properties, may result from the peculiar in¬
ternal structure, or the arrangement of the integral mole¬
cules. v
Some experiments on the compressibility of water have
been since performed with more striking effect, but not
equally exempt from all objections. In 1779, Professor
Zimmerman of Brunswick printed a short account of someZimnie
trials made by him and Abich, director of the salt-mines, man.
with a press of a particular construction, consisting of a
tight cylinder of very thick brass, with a piston nicely
fitted, to be pushed down by means of a long lever, at
whose extremity different weights were appended, liain-
water being introduced into the cavity, was subjected to
an enormous pressure, equivalent to that of 313 atmo¬
spheres, and had its volume then diminished between one
thirty-fifth and one thirty-sixth part. This quantity gives,
for the effect of a single incumbent atmosphere, a conden¬
sation amounting to seventy-five millionth parts, instead of
forty-six, as found by Mr Canton. The excess was no
doubt owing to the distention of the brass cylinder, which,
with all its strength and solidity, would yet partially yield
to the action of such prodigious force. This circumstance
renders the experiment somewhat unsatisfactory, and the
influence of friction must likewise affect the accuracy of
the calculation.
The effect of such distention is easily witnessed in the
case of glass. If a large bulb of a thermometer be sud¬
denly squeezed between the finger and the thumb, the
mercury will start up in the stem perhaps several degrees,
and will again sink as quickly after the pressure is remov¬
ed. To prevent any derangement from communication of
heat, the hand may be covered with a thick glove. But
the fact can be shown in a less exceptionable way: Let a
mercurial thermometer, with a large bulb and a long stem,
be first held upright, and then immediately inverted; be¬
tween these two positions the column of mercury will de¬
scend through a visible space. This apparent change of |
volume has been hastily supposed by some experimenters
to mark the compressibility of mercury, which could not
be sensible but under the action of a column of incompar¬
ably greater height.
It would be most desirable to institute a new set of ob¬
servations on the condensation of different substances, by
means of Bramah’s hydraulic press, which is a far more Eramab
perfect machine, and scarcely subject at all to the dis-hydrauli
turbance of friction. Having once ascertained the dis-P™5,
tention of the metallic cavity from pressure, it would be
hence easy to correct all the other results. This mode of
experimenting promises also the important advantage of
enabling us to determine, with ease, the compressibility
of solids themselves. It would only be required to give
those bodies a cylindrical form nearly adapted to the
cavity, and to fill up the interstice with water, or rather
with mercury. Tlhe contraction which the thin sheet of
fluid would undergo, being deducted from the whole con¬
traction, would exhibit the contraction suffered by the
solid nucleus.
. From all these investigations we may gather, that an Celerity
impulse, or a sonorous tremor, would shoot through a body sound
of fresh water with the velocity of about 4,475 feet each through
second, being four times swifter than the ordinary flightwater’
of sound in the atmosphere. Through the waters of the
ocean, the transmission of sound would be still more rapid,
by a seventeenth part. It hence follows, that a, violent
commotion, excited under that vast mass, might reach from
pole to pole in the space of three hours and twenty minutes.
ACOUSTICS.
A lustics. The swell of the sea is accordingly always observed to
precede the coming storm. The shocks of the famous
earthquake at Lisbon, in 1755, were partially felt at very
distant points of the ocean, as far even as the West Indies,
but after a considerable interval of time.
Respecting the power of ice to conduct sound, we pos¬
sess not sufficient data for the solution of the problem.
The Danish philosophers are indeed said to have lately
performed experiments of this kind on a very extensive
a scale, along the frozen surface of the Baltic. We are not
tlflugh acquainted with the precise results ; but it seems probable,
ki from various analogies, that ice has nearly the same faculty
of transmission as water itself. If a heavy blow be struck
against any part of the frozen surface of a large pool or
lake, a person standing at a wide distance from the spot
will feel, under foot, a very sensible tremor, some con¬
siderable time before the noise conveyed through the at¬
mosphere has reached his ear. It is asserted, that the
savage tribes who rove on the icy steppes of Tartary can
readily distinguish, from afar, the approach of cavalry, by
applying their head close to the frozen surface of the
ground.
Pibaga- But the proper and ordinary vehicle of sound is our
11,1 ot atmosphere. Aristotle, deriving his information probably
■’r , from the tenets of the Pythagorean school, seems to have
Ihlatmo- accluired tolerably just notions of the nature of sound and
spl're. °f the theory of harmonics. The language of that philo¬
sopher was so much corrupted, however, and disguised by
ignorant transcribers, that Galileo, who not only studied
music as a science, but practised it as a delightful art,
may be fairly allowed to have rediscovered those general
doctrines. Mersenne and Kircher afterwards made a
variety of most ingenious experiments, which, though
rather overlooked at the time, tended greatly to extend
the science of harmony. But it was reserved for the ge¬
nius of Newton to sketch out the true theory of sound,
■•flton’s In his Principia he explained the origin of aerial pulses,
■-uy °f jjy a gne application of dynamics, conducted with his
gai n 'd'1" usual sagacity, he succeeded in calculating their celerity
so d. transmission. The solution which he has given of this
intricate problem is far, however, from being unexception¬
able in the form and mode of reasoning. Instead of at¬
tempting to embrace all the conditions affecting the pro¬
blem, in a differential equation, for which, indeed, his
fluxionary calculus was not yet far enough advanced, he pro¬
ceeds less boldly, and only arrives at the conclusion by an
indirect process and a sort of compensation of errors. His
investigation of the progress of sound through the air is
chiefly drawn from the analogy of the motion of waves
along the surface of water. This comparison greatly
assists our conceptions, but it fails in a variety of essential
points. Newton further assumed the rising and subsiding
of waves to be a reciprocating motion, similar to that of
the oscillations of a fluid contained in a wide and long
tube, with its ends turned upwards. On this supposition,
it was not difficult to prove, that those alternating move¬
ments would correspond to the vibrations of a pendulum
of half the length of the tube. Transferring the inference,
therefore, to the undulations of a fluid, it followed, that
the space between two consecutive waves would be de¬
scribed during the sweep of a pendulum having a length
equal to this interval. But the conclusion does not very
well accord with the phenomena. That a wave travels
with a velocity as the square root of its breadth, may be
nearly true; and that its reciprocating motions, whatever
be the height, are all performed in the same time, is a ne¬
cessary consequence of the great principle in dynamics
first pointed out by Huygens and Hooke,—that when the
effort to restore equilibrium is proportioned to the quan¬
115
tity of displacement, the alternations of figure are con-Acoustics,
stantly isochronous. But the velocity of the undulating
progression, as calculated from those principles, will not
be found to correspond with actual observation. Newton
was apparently sensible of this disagreement, and would
consider his proposition as only an approximation to the
truth; assigning as the cause of discrepancy, that the
particles of water do not rise and fall perpendicularly, hut
rather describe arcs of a circle. The great defect of the hy¬
pothesis, however, consisted in supposing all the parts of
a wave to rise up and sink together in the same spot. The
fact is, that the fore part of a wave is always in the act of
ascending, while the hinder part of it is as constantly sub¬
siding ; Avhich combined but contrary movements, with¬
out actually transferring any portion of the water, give an
appearance of progressive advance to the swell.
In extending this theory to the propagation of sound,
Newton was, on the whole, more successful. It resulted
from his investigation, that the aerial pulses fly uniformly,
spreading themselves equally on every side, and with
a celerity equal to what would be acquired by a body
in falling through half the height of the modulus of the
air’s elasticity. This modulus, or the altitude of a column His correc-
of air, of uniform density, and whose pressure would be A011 °f the
equivalent to the ordinary elasticity of that fluid, was com- th601-!-
puted in the first edition of the Principia, which came out
in 1687, on the supposition that water is 850 times denser
than air, mercury 13-h times denser than water, and that
the mean height of the barometer is thirty English inches.
The modulus of elasticity, or the height of an equiponde¬
rant column of air, was therefore estimated at 29,042 feet,
which gave 968 feet each second for the celerity of the
transmission of sound through the atmosphere. In the
next edition, which did not appear till twenty-six years
thereafter, the computation of the modulus was somewhat
altered, but certainly not rendered more correct. Assum¬
ing the same standard of barometric height as before, and
supposing mercury to be 13§ times heavier than water, and
water 870 times heavier than air, the modulus would be
29,725 feet, to which the corresponding velocity of sound
is 979 feet in the second.
In these successive estimates, there is perhaps betrayed
some desire to magnify the result, yet without nearly ap¬
proaching to the amount of actual observation. Dr Der-
ham had recently determined, from repeated trials made
with care, that the ordinary flight of sound is at the rate
of 1142 feet each second; and Newton endeavoured, by
some very strained hypotheses, to accommodate his calcu¬
lation to this correct measure. 1. He supposes the particles
of air to be perfectly solid spherules, whose diameter is
the ninth part of their mutual distance. Sound, being in¬
stantaneously communicated through these, would thus
have its velocity increased by one-ninth, or 109 feet, or
brought up to 1088 feet in the second. 2. He next
assumes, that the particles of vapour concealed in the air,
and augmenting the common elasticity without partaking
of the impression of sound, amount to a tenth part of the
whole. This would increase the celerity of the sonorous
pulse in the subduplicate ratio of 10 to 11, or as 20 to 21
nearly, and consequently advance the last measure from
1088 to 1142 feet.
But these random and fanciful conjectpres hardly require Remarks
any serious consideration. What may be the size of the on these
ultimate particles of air, or whether they have any sensible c.orrec-
magnitude at all, we are utterly without the means of de-tlons-
termining. There appears no limit, indeed, to the degree
of condensation of which the air is capable, but what pro¬
ceeds from the imperfection of the engines employed for
that purpose. Nay, supposing so large a proportion of ab-
116
ACOUSTICS.
city of
sound.
Acoustics, solute matter to exist ip the composition of our atmosphere,
it really would not affect the result, since the transit of
§ound, as we have showh, is necessarily progressive, even
through the most solid substance. To this principle there
could be no exception, unless the particles of air were held
to be mere atoms, incapable of further subdivision,—in
short, without actual magnitude, and therefore bearing no
relation whatever to the space in which they float. The
second hypothesis advanced is still more insufficient to
rectify the general conclusion. That moisture, in its latent
or gaseous form, is united with the air, will be granted;
but it by no means constitutes so notable a share of the
fluid as Newton has assumed, scarcely exceeding, at the
ordinary temperature, perhaps the five-hundredth part of
the whole weight. But this diffuse vapour could not in
the least derange the original calculation; for, being always
combined with the air, the measure of elasticity assigned
by experiment was really that of the compound fluid which
forms our atmosphere.
Rectified We are now enabled, by the help of more perfect data,
calculation to rectify the modulus of atmospheric elasticity, or the
height of a homogeneous and equiponderant column of the
fluid. From the observations made with barometrical
measurements, it appears that such a column, exerting a
pressure equivalent to the elasticity of the air, has, at the
limit of freezing water, an altitude of 26,060 feet, and con¬
sequently, that the modulus would, at an ordinary tempera¬
ture of 62° by Fahrenheit, amount to 27,800 feet. This
corrected estimate gives only 943 feet each second for the
celerity of sound. And since the elasticity of the medium
is exactly proportioned to its density, the result is the
same, whatever be the rarefaction or condensation of the
air, so long as its temperature continues unaltered. The
flight of sound is hence as rapid near the surface as in the
higher regions of the atmosphere. It is the conjunction
of heat alone that will increase the celerity of transmission,
by augmenting the elasticity of the medium without add-
fng to its weight. The acceleration thus produced must
amount to rather more than one foot in the second for
each degree by Fahrenheit’s scale. Such a difference
ought to be perceptible under the torrid zone.
But the rate of the transmission of sound must vary in
different gases, after the inverse subduplicate ratio of their
densities. Thus, through carbonic gas, the communica¬
tion of the tremor would be about one-third slower than
ordinary; but through hydrogen gas, which is twelve
times more elastic than common air, the flight would very
nearly exceed three and a half times the usual rapidity.
An admixture of this gas with the atmosphere would,
therefore, greatly accelerate the transmission of sound.
The joint combination of heat and moisture, by heighten¬
ing the elasticity of the air, must likewise produce a simi¬
lar effect.
These inferences are'confirmed by observation, as far
as it extends. The velocity of sound was determined with
considerable accuracy, and on a great scale, by Cassini
and Maraldi, while employed in conducting the trigono¬
metrical survey of France. During the winter of the
years 1738 and 1739, these astronomers repeatedly dis¬
charged, at night, when the air was calm and the tempera¬
ture uniform, a small piece of ordnance, from their station
on Mont Martre, above Paris, and measured the time that
elapsed between the flash and the report, as observed from
their signal tower at Montlehery, at the distance of about
eighteen miles. The mean of numerous trials gave 1130
feet for the velocity of the transmission of sound.
About the same time, Condamine, who was sent with
the other academicians to ascertain the length of a degree
in Peru, took an opportunity of likewise measuring the
Rate of
transmis.
sion
through
different
gases.
Experi¬
ment in
France,
and in
America.
celerity of sound, at two very different points. He found Acoust
this was 1175 feet on the sultry plain of Cayenne, and only'^v-
1120 feet on the frozen heights of Quito. It was obvious,
therefore, that the rarefaction of the air in those lofty
regions had in no degree affected the result. Compared
with what had been observed in France, the velocity of
the aerial pulses was somewhat diminished at Quito by
the prevailing cold, but was, on the other hand, consider¬
ably augmented by the excessive heat and moisture which
oppress Cayenne.
But the "difference, amounting indeed to one-fifth of the
whole, between the velocity of sound as deduced from
theory, and as determined by actual experiment, still ap¬
peared very perplexing. This want of congruity was the
more felt, since the Newtonian system of gravitation,
after maintaining a long struggle with the adherents of the
Cartesian philosophy, had at last obtained the undisput¬
ed possession of the Continent. Its triumph was insured
by the admirable dissertations on the subject of tides,
transmitted to the Academy of Sciences at Paris in the
year 1740, when our celebrated countryman Maclaurin
had the honour of sharing the prize with Euler and
Daniel Bernoulli. The law of attraction received, indeed,
a temporary shock a few years afterwards, from the re¬
sult of the investigation which Clairaut first gave of the
lunar inequalities; but, on resuming his analysis of the
problem, and computing the values of the smaller terms
of the formula, that great geometer obtained, in 1752, a
final product, exactly conformable to the best astronomi¬
cal observations; and the solidity of the Newtonian sys¬
tem was henceforth placed on the firmest foundation.
It was therefore peculiarly desirable to examine like¬
wise the justness of the hydrodynamical conclusions of
Newton. The propositions concerning the propagation
of sound were perhaps justly considered as the most ob¬
scure part of the whole Principia. Some of the first-rate
mathematicians abroad, particularly D’Alembert and John
Bernoulli, declared their utter inability to comprehend
such intricate and disjointed demonstrations. At last
the problem of sonorous pulses was attacked directly, and
in its full extent, by the late Count Lagrange, whose Invest!
death, although at a ripe age, will be lamented as a mostfl°nof
severe loss to mathematical science. That illustrious §ranSe'
geometer shone forth at once like a meteor, and before he
had completed his twenty-third year he gave a rigorous
and profound analysis of the propagation of sound through
the atmosphere, in the first volume of the Turin Memoirs,
which appeared in 1759. “ He pointed out some mistakes
that even Newton had committed in the reasoning; but
mistakes which, by a haj^py compensation of errors, did
not affect essentially the results. Advancing from these
discussions, he assigned the dynamical conditions of un¬
dulation, which, after the proper limitations, were reduced
to an equation involving partial differences of the second
order. But this refined branch of analysis, invented by
D’Alembert and Euler, is still so imperfect, that, in order
to integrate the final expression, it had become requisite
to omit the higher powers of the differentials. Yet after
all this display of accurate research and skilful adaptation
of symbols, followed by a lax and incomplete calculus, the
same conclusion was obtained as that which Newton had
derived chiefly from the force of analogy and sagacity of
observation; and philosophers were thus obliged to sub¬
mit, and to content themselves with recording the va¬
riance between theory and experiment in regard to the
celerity of sound, or with referring that discrepancy to
some extraneous influence.” (Edinb. Review, vol. xv.
p. 431.) V
M. Poisson, one of those interesting men whose native
A C O U
Ac istics. genius has surmounted all the obstacles of fortune, very
lately attempted a more complete analysis of the propa¬
gation of sound, in the Papers of the Polytechnic School.
The final equation is more fully expressed, and its integra¬
tion is pushed some few steps farther; but still the result
is precisely the same as before. The skill and precaution
displayed in framing the conditions of the problem are
afterwards mostly abandoned in the various simplifications
adopted to arrive at the conclusion,
lelifica- A very ingenious and apparently satisfactory method
Uotof the of reconciling theory with observation, in the estimate of
thdy by the transmission of sound, was not long since suggested
Lajace. ^ the celebrated Count Laplace. If the heat contained
in air had, at every state of the density, been united con¬
stantly after the same proportion, the elasticity resulting
from the infusion of this subtile and highly distensible
element would invariably accord with what observation
assigns to the compound aerial fluid. But the capacity of
air, or its aptitude to retain heat, varies with its internal
condition; being increased by rarefaction, and propor¬
tionally diminished by condensation. When air is com¬
pressed, therefore, it liberates a portion of its heat; and
when it undergoes dilatation, it becomes disposed to
abstract more heat from the adjoining bodies. Till
the equilibrium of heat is restored, the air will be sen¬
sibly warmer after each act of compression, and colder
when suffered to dilate. If the shock given to a portion
of air be very sudden and violent, the quantity of heat
evolved from it is profuse and powerful. On this princi¬
ple, M. Mollet, member of the academy of Lyons, led by
some facts noticed by artists who manufactured wind-
guns, first constructed, in 1804, the curious instrument for
producirig fire by the rapid condensation of air confined
in a tube. But such evolution of heat must besides
augment the elasticity of the air, as the contrary abstrac¬
tion of it will, in a like degree, diminish that force. At
every sudden alteration of density, therefore, a new
power is infused, which had not entered into the ordinary
and undisturbed estimate of the air’s elasticity. Conse¬
quently, from this consideration alone, the aerial pulses
must shoot with some greater celerity than calculation as¬
signs, because the particles of air, which are suddenly
condensed, have their elasticity further augmented by the
portion of heat evolved, while the corresponding particles,
which are simultaneously dilated, have their disposition
to contract likewise increased, by the momentary preva¬
lence of cold.
jiina- The principle advanced by Laplace must therefore
jif this have a real operation, tending to reconcile the calculated
coi fction. velocity of sound with that which is deduced from expe¬
riment. The only question is, how far its influence could
actually extend. But, according to the formula given in
Leslie’s Elements of Geometry, p. 495, a condensation
equal to the 90th part of the volume of air would occasion
the extrication of one degree of heat by Fahrenheit’s scale.
Now, since each degree of heat enlarges the bulk or
augments the elasticity of the air by the 450th part, it
follows, that the heat, extricated by sudden impulse, will
communicate to the air a momentary additional spring,
amounting to one-fifth of the whole elastic force. Where¬
fore the celerity of sound would, by that influence, be in¬
creased in the subduplicate ratio of five to six, or nearly
as 21 to 23 ; which gives an addition of only 90 feet each
second to the whole quantity, bringing it up to 1033 feet.
The correction is thus insufficient, not amounting to half
of the discrepancy which it was its object to reconcile.
It may be suspected, therefore, that some inaccuracy
or omission infects the investigation itself. Till the inte¬
gral calculus has arrived at much greater perfection, it
STICS. ]17
will often be requisite for the analyst, in the solution of Acoustics,
dynamical problems, to descend from his elevation, andv-*“v'%fc'/
seek to simplify the differential expressions by a sober
and judicious application of the principles of physics.
“ Imagine a string of particles, or physical points, A, B,
C, D, E, F, &c. in a state of rest, or mutual balance. If
A were pushed nearer to B, and then suddenly abandon¬
ed, it would recoil with a motion exactly similar to the
oscillation of a pendulum. The time of this relapse might
easily be determined, from a comparison of the force of
gravity with that of elasticity, or from the number of par¬
ticles contained in a column of equipoise. The minute
interval between the adjacent particles, being now divided
by the duration of each fit of contraction, will give the
velocity with which the vibratory influence shoots along
the chain of communication. This simple investigation
leads still to the same result as before. But it proceeds
on assumptions which are evidently incorrect; for it sup¬
poses the pulses to follow each other in accurate succession,
every contraction terminating as the next begins. Since
the particles, however, do not exist in a state of insulation,
while B repels A, it must likewise press against C ; and C,
in its turn, must gradually affect D. Before the contrac¬
tion of A and B is completed, that of B and C is therefore
partially performed; and this anticipated influence may
even extend to the remoter particles. Nor is the system
of mutual action at all materially disturbed by such anti¬
cipations. Each pulsation is performed in the same way
as if it were quite detached; only the succeeding one is
partly accomplished before the regular period of its com¬
mencement. The velocity of aerial undulation is in this
way much accelerated.” (Edinb. Rev. vol. xv. p. 433.)
Each successive movement among the particles may be
viewed as produced by a force not regularly decreasing,
but partaking of the uniformity which obtains in projec¬
tion. Hence the velocity of sound is intermediate be¬
tween that derived from theory and that with which air
would rush into a vacuum. But the arithmetical mean
between 943 and 1334 feet is 1138^-, and the geometrical
is 1121! feet; neither of which differs much from 1130
feet, the quantity determined by actual experiment.
After the last correction, however, proposed by M. Modifica-
Laplace, for adjusting theory with observation relative totions re-
the celerity of the transmission of sound, the difference quired in
will not perhaps be regarded such as longer to present any fee the°ry
serious obstacle ; especially when the coincidence appears01 sounc "
closer than what generally attends the theoretical deduc¬
tions concerning the motions of fluids. The remaining
difficulties affecting the subject refer chiefly to the way
in which the aerial pulses are propagated, and the modi¬
fications which they are afterwards capable of receiving.
1. No sensation is ever excited, unless the impression j)uratjon
made upon our organs be repeated or continued during a and
certain short space of time. On this principle depends strength of
the whole success of the juggler, who contrives to change polsation.
the situation of the various objects before us with a ra¬
pidity exceeding the ordinary exercise of sight or touch.
A brand whirled swiftly round the head gives all the ap¬
pearance of a circle of fire ; and if one presses very hard
an ivory ball between his fingers, he will seem still to feel
it for several instants after it has been withdrawn. To
excite the sensation of sound, it is requisite that the aerial
pulses should have a certain force and duration. Accord¬
ing to some observations, the ear is not affected at all,
unless the tremulous impulse communicated to the tym¬
panum lasts during the tenth part of a second. Every
pulsation of a more transient kind is lost absolutely and
completely to our organ of hearing.
On the other hand, the impression of sound is not pro-
118
ACOUSTICS.
Acoustics, longed beyond the time of its actual production. If it
were otherwise, indeed, all sounds would degenerate into
indistinct noises; and articulate discourse, wdiich distin¬
guishes man from the lower animals, and constitutes the
charm of social life, would have been utterly impossible.
This fact, so obvious, and yet so important, shows indis¬
putably that.the propagation of sonorous pulses through
the atmosphere is not, in all its circumstances, analogous
to the succession of waves on the surface of water. These
undulations continue long afterwards to rise and spread
from the centre of their production. The pulsations of
the air, no doubt, likewise survive their excitement; but
such of them as succeed the first impulsion must not
have the force and character of those which are directly
shot through the fluid. What is the precise discrimina¬
tion between these different pulses, we are not enabled
from mere theory to determine. But such a distinction
must undoubtedly exist, otherwise indeed all discourse
would continue to fill the ear with a monotonous hum, or
an indistinct muttering. It would be difficult to institute
conclusive experiments on this subject, yet collateral re¬
searches might be devised which could not fail to guide
our inquiry.
Concentra- 2. But another defect in the analogy between waves
tion in a an(j sonorous pulses is, that the latter, without affecting
direction1 t0 sPreac^ e(luaPy> are capable of acquiring a superior force
or tendency in some given direction. Certain unconfined
sounds, indeed, are diffused uniformly on every side.
Thus, the noise of the explosion of a powder-mill is heard,
and often dreadfully felt, at a great distance all round
the scene of disaster. But the report of a cannon, though
audible in every direction, appears invariably loudest in
the quarter to which the engine is pointed. On this
principle, a seaman, when he seeks to be heard more
audibly, or at a greater distance, is accustomed, if no
other help occurs, to apply his spread hands on each side
of his mouth, and thus check or diminish the waste of
sound by its lateral dispersion. For the same reason, the
bent and projecting circular piece annexed to the farther
end of a speaking-trumpet is of most decided use, in as¬
sisting to give direction to the flight of the aerial pulses.
Accumula- 3. The theory of undulatory movements furnishes some
tion along elucidation, but no adequate explication, of the augment-
barners. e(j effect 0f soun(j in thg direction of a lateral barrier.
The extension of such an obstacle might appear to check
merely the spread and consequent attenuation of the so¬
norous pulses; but the great accumulation of impulse
always occurs, on either side, at the extremity of the ad¬
vancing wave. By what system of interior forces this ef¬
fect is produced, it would be difficult satisfactorily to ex¬
plain. Yet we perceive something analogous in the swell
which runs along the margin of a pool, and in the billow
which, flowing from the open sea, heaves against the sides
of a projecting mole.
It is hence that sound is made to sweep with such in¬
tensity over the smooth surface of a long wall or of an ex¬
tended gallery. An elliptical figure, though of manifest
advantage, is not really essential to a whispering gallery;
for the point of sonorous concentration is found beyond
the true catoptrical focus, and much nearer to the wall. A
fact of the same kind is well ascertained—that sounds are
always heard the most audibly, and at the greatest dis¬
tance, in a level open country, or still better on the
smooth surface of a vast lake, or of the ocean itself. The
roaring of the cannon in certain naval engagements has
been noticed at points so very remote from the scene of
action, as might seem, if not perfectly authenticated, to
be altogether incredible. On the other hand, again, sound
is enfeebled and dissipated sooner in alpine regions. Thus,
the traveller, roving at some height above a valley, des- Acou
cries, with uncommon clearness, perhaps a huntsman on'^\
the brow of the opposite mountain, and while he watches
every flash, yet can he scarcely hear the report of the
fowling-piece.
On a similar principle, we would explain the operation
of the ear-trumpet, which affords such relief to one of the
most cheerless maladies that can afflict humanity. The
wide mouth of that instrument, it is well known, is turn¬
ed to catch the stream of sound ; the extent of pulsation
is gradually contracted as the tide advances; and the
same quantity of impulse being probably maintained, the
vibratory energy is intensely accumulated at the narrow
extremity, where it strikes the cavity of the ear. A trum¬
pet of this form might, in many cases, be found very ad¬
vantageous, not only for remedying the defects of the or¬
gan of hearing, but for assisting the observer to collect
feeble and distant sounds. Even an umbrella held close
behind the head, with its concavity fronting the sonorous
pulses, will, it has been alleged, sensibly heighten their
impression.
4. To explain legitimately the reflection of sound, would Reflec
require some modifications in the theory of atmospheric modifi
undulation. Each obstructing point is certainly not the
centre of a new system of pulses ; for, in many cases, this
would occasion unutterable confusion. Nor can the ex¬
citement of sound be supposed to dart in straight lines, or
to perform the same accurate reflection as the rays of
light. In fact, neither smoothness nor exact regularity
of surface is required for the production of an echo. A
range of buildings, a row of tall trees, a ridge of rocks, or
a chain of heights, will, in certain positions, reflect sound
with clear and audible effect. It follows, therefore, that
the reflection must be formed, not at the immediate sur¬
face of those obstacles, which could occasion only an ir¬
regular dispersion, but at some boundary at a small dis¬
tance, and running parallel to the mean direction of the
whole barrier. We may conceive the tide of sound accu¬
mulating where it stops, and investing the opposite sur¬
face like an atmosphere, till a repulsion is exerted, which
again rolls it back. What seems to constitute the per¬
fection of an echo is, that the sum of the distances of
every point of the reflecting surface from the person who
speaks, and from him who listens, should be the same.
When this disposition obtains, all the reflected sounds
must reach the ear in due succession, without being in¬
termingled or confused.
We may observe, that echoes are often confounded
with the mere resonance occasioned by vibrations excited
among the obstacles themselves. In a large empty room,
with its naked floor, and walls, and benches, the voice
quickly throws the whole into a tremulous commotion,
and seems drowned in the ringing prolonged sound which
is produced ; nor does this unpleasant effect cease, until
the spectators have occupied the benches, filled the hall,
and obstructed by their weight the vibration of the floor.
What is called the deadening of sound, consists in merely
checking or preventing the disturbance of extraneous tre¬
mor. for this purpose, the floor is covered with carpets,
and the walls lined with wainscot or hangings. Such bar¬
riers, we have seen, would not, by their yielding quality,
blunt or obstruct the formation of echoes. Their only
effect is, to muffle the elastic surfaces which they cover.
1 he performance of the speaking-trumpet has generally gpeak:
been referred to the concentrated reflection of sound.trumw
Some authors have carried the hypothesis even so far
as to investigate, from mathematical principles, the best
figure of that instrument. Much labour and great inge¬
nuity have been utterly wasted in this fruitless attempt. ,
ACOUSTICS.
119
' Aiiustics. Kircher proposed the tube to be shaped like a truncated
parabolic conoid, the mouth-piece occupying the focus;
and he concludes that all the rays of sound would, by re¬
flection from such a surface, be sent forward exactly in pa¬
rallel lines. Other philosophers have imagined, from a
fanciful analogy to the property of ivory balls, that the
figure described by the revolution of the logarithmic curve
about its absciss would be the most proper for the speak¬
ing-trumpet. M. Lambert, of the Berlin academy, whose
genius and originality were both of the first order, has
given a solution still different. But it would be idle to
recite the various attempts which have ended in no prac¬
tical result.
The true physical explication of the speaking-trumpet
was first given, as far as we know, in the course of an in¬
cidental remark by Professor Leslie, in his Experimental
Inquiry into the Nature and Propagation of Heat. “ In
the case of articulate sounds,” says he, “ the confining of
the air does not affect the pitch of voice, but it augments
the degree of intonation. The lateral flow being checked,
that fugacious medium receives a more condensed and
vigorous impulsion. As the breath then escapes more
slowly from the mouth, it waits and bears a fuller stroke
from the organs of speech. But the speaking-trumpet is
only an extension of the same principle. Its performance
does certainly not depend upon any supposed repercussion
of sound; repeated echoes might divide, but could not
augment the quantity of impulse. In reality, however,
neither the shape of the instrument, nor the kind of ma¬
terial of which it is made, seems to be of much conse¬
quence. Nor can we admit that the speaking-trumpet
possesses any peculiar power of collecting sound in one
: direction; for it is distinctly audible on all sides, and is
perhaps not much louder in front,'comparatively, than the
simple unassisted voice. The tube, by its length and
narrowness, detains the efflux of air, and has the same
effect as if it diminished the volubility of that fluid, or in¬
creased its density. The organs of articulation strike
with concentrated force; and the pulses, so vigorously
thus excited, are, from the reflected form of the aperture,
finally enabled to escape, and to spread themselves along
the atmosphere. To speak through a trumpet costs a
very sensible effort, and soon fatigues and exhausts a per¬
son. This observation singularly confirms the justness of
the theory which I have now brought forward.”
Nearly about the same time, this theory was confirmed
Ha:;n. by some ingenious experiments made by M. Hassenfratz,
**tl at Paris. His method of estimating the power of a
speaking-trumpet consisted in fixing a small watch in the
mouth-piece, and observing at what distance the beats
ceased to be distinctly audible. He found that the effects
were precisely the same with a trumpet of tinned iron,
whether used in its naked form, or after it was tightly
bound with linen to prevent any vibration of the metal.
Nor could there be the smallest reflection of sound from
the internal surface of the tube, for the beating of the
watch was heard exactly at the same distance after the
whole of the inside had been lined with woollen cloth.
These simple experiments prove decisively that the per¬
formance of the speaking-trumpet depends principally on
the intenser pulsation which is excited in the column of
confined air. In the same way, sound is prodigiously aug-
mented in a long narrow passage. If a musket be fired
within the gallery of a mine, thfe explosion heard in a
remote corner will have the loudness and character of
thunder.
. The progressive motion of sound furnishes the explica-
P ry* tion of various remarkable facts and striking phenomena.
Thus, to a person standing at some distance, and directly Acoustics,
in front of a long file of musketry, the general discharge
will appear as a single collected sound, the numerous re¬
ports all reaching his ear nearly at the same instant. But
one stationed at the end of the line will hear only a pro¬
longed rolling noise, not unlike a running fire ; because
the distinct sounds, from the different distances which
they have to travel, will arrive in a continued succession.
Hence, likewise, the tremendous rumbling noise of dis-Noise of
tant thunder, which is not produced, as many have sup-thunder,
posed, by the repetition of echoes. In certain situations,
indeed, and particularly in hilly tracts, echoes may no
doubt contribute to augment the general effect; but
their ordinary influence seems to be really insignificant,
since it should cause the same modification of sound in
the explosion of a cannon, which is essentially different,
however, from the muttering and crash of thunder. This
lengthened and varied noise must yet be the production
of a moment. The rapidity of lightning surpasses concep¬
tion, and the prolongation of the sound which follows it
is owing to the various distances of the chain of points
which emit the sonorous impressions. The electrical in¬
fluence darts with immeasurable swiftness from cloud to
cloud, till perhaps it strikes at last into the ground. But
from every point of this tortuous path distinct pulses of
sound are transmitted, which consequently reach the ear
at very different intervals. Sometimes they arrive inter¬
mingled, and give the sensation of a violent crash; at
other times they seem suspended, and form a sort of
pause. It would not be very difficult in any case to imagine
the zig-zag track which the lightning must pursue in or¬
der to produce a given protracted rumbling noise. The
duration of each peal of thunder will evidently be short¬
ened if it chance to shoot athwart, but must continue
the longest when it runs in the line of the spectator. As
the distance of thunder is estimated by allowing some¬
what more than a mile for every five seconds that elapse
between the flash and the beginning of the report, so the
space traversed by the lightning, if its general direction
were known, might be computed by the same rule, from
the endurance of the sound.
We will not enter at present on that branch of acoustics Musical
which treats of the doctrine of harmony ; but a few scat- note,
tered remarks may trace the general outline of the sub¬
ject. A musical note, far from being only a repetition of
the same simple sound, should be considered as the con¬
junction of subordinate sounds reiterated at proportional
intervals. The sweetness of this compound effect or tone
appears to depend on the frequent recurrence of interior
unison. The secondary sounds which naturally and in¬
variably accompany the fundamental note are repeated
only two, three, or four times faster; nor does the
science of music admit of any proportions but what arise
from the limited combinations of those very simple num¬
bers. Harmony, again, is created by an artificial union
of different notes, analogous to the natural composition of
tone.
All tones are produced by the regular vibrations either Vibrating
of solid substances or of confined air itself. Strings instru-
of gut or of metal are most generally used; but small ments.
plates or pillars of wood, of glass, or even of stone, will
answer the same purpose, forming the singular instru¬
ment called staccata or harmonica. In these cases, the
quality of the vibrations depends on the joint influence of
a variety of circumstances; not only on the length of
the fibres, but on their thickness, their elasticity, their
density, and the degree of tension to which they are sub¬
jected. The motion of a musical stretched chord v/as
first investigated by the very ingenious Dr Brook Taylor,
120
ACOUSTICS.
Acoustics, though his solution has been since proved to be incom-
plete. At the same time, in fact, that the whole chord
oscillates, its simpler portions, the half, the third, and the
fourth of its length, actually perform a set of intermediate
vibrations.
Wind-in- Wind-instruments produce their effect by the vibra-
struments. tions of a column of air confined at one end, and either
open or shut at the other. These vibrations are deter¬
mined merely by the length of the sounding column. Yet
interior and subordinate vibrations are found to co-exist
with the fundamental one. The whole column sponta¬
neously divides itself into portions equal to the half, the
third, or the fourth of its longitudinal extent. We shall
more easily conceive these longitudinal vibrations, by ob¬
serving the contractions and expansions of a long and
very elastic string, to the end of which a ball is attached.
A spiral spring shows still better the repeated stretching
and recoil, if struck suddenly at the one end, it will ex¬
hibit not only a total vibration, but likewise partial ones,
winding vermicularly along the chain of elastic rings.
But when the air is struck with uncommon force, the
subordinate vibrations become predominant, and yield the
clearest and loudest tones. This we perceive in the dy¬
ing sounds of a bell, which rise by one or two octaves, and
expire in the shrillest note. On such a very narrow foun¬
dation—on the variable force with which it is blown—
rests the whole performance of the bugle-horn, whose
compass is extremely small, consisting only of the simplest
notes. In other wind-instruments, the several notes are
caused by the different lengths of the tube, or by the va¬
rious positions of the holes made in its side.
Tones pro- The longitudinal vibrations of a column of air, contain-
duced by ed within a tube open at both ends, are powerfully excit-
the burn- e(J? an(J Very loud and clear tones produced, by the inflam •
\ng -r" mation of a streamlet of hydrogen gas. This curious ex-
t rogengas. perjment wag ma(je grst jn Germany, an{i appears indeed
to have been scarcely known, or at least noticed in other
countries. Yet it is most easily performed, and will be
considered as amusing, if not instructive. A phial, having
a long narrow glass pipe fitted to its neck, being partly
filled with dilute sulphuric acid, a few bits of zinc are
dropt into the liquid. As the decomposition of the water
embodied with the acid now proceeds, the hydrogen gas
thus generated flows regularly from the aperture, and is
capable of catching fire, and of burning for some consid¬
erable time, with a small yet steady round flame. This
very simple arrangement, frequently styled the philosophic
lamp, is in reality of the same nature with the combina¬
tion, on a large scale, of the gas lights. A glass tube be¬
ing passed over the exit-pipe, the burning speck at its point
instantly shoots into an elongated flame, and creates a
continued sharp and brilliant musical sound. This effect
is not owing to any vibrations of the tube itself, for it is
nowise altered by tying a handkerchief tightly about the
glass, or even by substituting a cylinder of paper. The
tremor excited in the column of air is therefore the sole
cause of the incessant tone, which only varies by a change
in the place of the flame, or a partial obstruction applied
at the end of the tube. But still it is not easy to con¬
ceive how the mere burning of a jet of hydrogen gas
^within the cavity should produce such powerful vibra¬
tions. The exciting force must necessarily act by starts,
and not uniformly. The length of the flame might seem
to prove, that the hydrogen gas is not consumed or con¬
verted into aqueous vapour as fast as it issues from the
aperture. A jet of it catches instantaneous fire, but is
immediately followed by another, the succession of in¬
flamed portions being so rapid as entirely to escape the
keenness of sight. The column of air contained within
the tube would thus be agitated by a series of incessant Acou
strokes or sudden expansions.
The singular fact now described had occurred inciden¬
tally to the writer of this article in the course of his ear¬
liest experiments; and he has often thought since, that,
on the same principle, an organ might be constructed,
which would have a very curious and pleasing effect. A
vertical motion of the glass tubes, and the partial shutting
or opening of their upper ends, would occasion a consider¬
able variety of notes. By passing the hydrogen gas over
different metals, the flame would be made to assume va¬
rious colours. The apparatus might work by a spontane¬
ous mechanism; and while the eye was gratified by the
display of rich and vivid tints, the ear would be charmed
with strains of new and melodious symphony. (b.)
Part III.
We shall here add some further explanations in regard pistjr
to the nature of different sounds, and particularly oftionb
musical sounds. tween
Nothing appears more surprising than that variety ofsical!
sounds which different bodies emit when excited eitherother
by percussion or by any other method. If we strike,80™
for example, upon a log of wood, or a table, or a book,
we obtain nothing but a harsh sort of noise, which
ceases almost the moment it is emitted. Whatever
shape we form the wood into, it makes hardly any dif¬
ference. The same thing takes place with other bodies,
such as metal, or glass, or earthen ware, &c. when these
are in large masses; but how different is the case if we
form them into rods or slips, into thin plates, or, still
better, into cylindrical or hemispherical vessels, as cups,
tumblers, bells, cymbals, &c. These, when struck, inva¬
riably emit a sound much more prolonged, and in general
highly musical or grateful to the ear. What, then, is the
cause of this remarkable distinction ? All that we can
observe generally in regard to these sonorous bodies when
sounding is, that the whole body is agitated by an inter¬
nal tremor, which continues so long as the sound can be
heard. But if we examine them in their simplest forms,
some very remarkable circumstances are brought to light.
Take, for example, a slip of metal or glass, fix it firmly
at one extremity, and then strike the other; the body,
as in other cases, emits a prolonged and musical note,
and becomes agitated with the usual sonorous tremor.
This is particularly well observed in a common tuning
fork. But the nature of this agitation is of a very simple
kind. The slip merely oscillates backwards and forwards
with great rapidity on the extremity by which it is fixed.
Each of these oscillations, as the slip strikes the surrounding
air, must produce a distinct sound; but these impressions
following each other in very rapid succession, the ear can
distinguish nothing but a single continued and prolonged
note. The same thing takes place if we fix the slip at both
ends, providetl it be long enough and thin enough to oscil¬
late in the middle; and this is the case with all kinds of
distended wires or strings. These are fixed at the two
ends, and when they are struck, as with the hammer of the
key of the piano-forte, or drawn aside by the hand and
then abandoned, they continue to vibrate for a long time,
and to emit tones varying in gravity or acuteness, but all
highly musical. One remarkable circumstance regarding
the vibrations of these slips or chords is, that they are all
performed in the very same time, however minute or how¬
ever extended. They vary in different slips or chords, ac¬
cording to their length, tension, and other circumstances;
but in the same slip or chord they are all alike. When
any chord or slip is drawn out of the straight line and
then abandoned, the oscillations are wide at first, but
1
ACOUSTICS.
121
ustics. continually diminish in extent till they cease altogether,
as at Plate I. Fig. 1. Now the smallest of these vibra¬
tions takes just as long time in its performance as the
largest; and the latter, again, however wide, is performed
just as quickly as the former. The reason is, that the
force of elasticity, which produces the vibrations, increases
as the chord is drawn farther from the straight line, and
thus accelerates the wide vibrations in proportion to their
extent, as can easily be demonstrated. The consequence
is, that the successive impressions of sound which consti¬
tute the continued and prolonged note, all follow each
other at the same interval; and the regularity with which
these impressions successively fall on the ear appears to
be one essential ingredient in that melody or agreeable
effect which the sound produces. This is proved by a
very simple experiment. If we sound one of the strings
of a violin or violoncello, it emits for a long time the mu¬
sical note which belongs to it; but if, while it is sounding,
we move the finger quickly along it from the bottom
upwards, so as to shorten continually the length of the
string, to accelerate thereby the vibrations, and thus alter
the regularity of their succession, the sound continues,
but all sort of melody is gone. Some philosophers, and
in particular Dr Robison, have thought that this regular
succession of sonorous impressions is the only source of
melody; but this is far from being the case, else how
could we account for those diversities in the sweetness of
different tones, produced by different instruments or from
different sources ? What can be more regular in succession
than the impressions of sound from a distant water-fall ?
And accordingly the effect is soft and agreeable in a high
degree, yet how inferior in melody to the tone of a fine
bell, or of an organ, or the notes of a distant bugle. Another
remarkable circumstance regarding the vibrations of these
slips or chords is, that the sound is not emitted from the
string itself so much as from the mass with which it com¬
municates. If, for example, we strike a tuning fork gently,
so as to make it vibrate, it emits a sound so feeble that it
cannot be heard until we bring it close up to the ear; but
if, when it is vibrating, we press the extremity on a table,
or a book, or any similar substance, the sound becomes
perfectly audible. In the same manner a distended wire,
if quite insulated, hardly emits an audible tone ; but set it
on a board, or, which is still better, on a hollow box, and
then the tones are loud, deep, and highly musical. Many
authors who have treated this subject ascribe the sound to
the wire or chord striking the air at every vibration. This,
however, is but an imperfect view of what really takes
place. The tones arising from this source are in general
perfectly inaudible, and the use of the wire is rather to
excite the vibrations in the mass with which it is con¬
nected. This is the true sonorous body; and in this man¬
ner even wood, which appears when struck the most tune¬
less of all substances, is yet made to emit tones of the
most exquisite sweetness; as appears in the violin and
violoncello, harp, and indeed in all stringed instruments.
The wood appears incapable of having a continued series
of vibrations excited in it by percussion; but the strings
produce this effect in a very remarkable manner, and which
has hardly received that attention from writers on Acoustics
which it deserves. They put the whole mass of the wood
into a tremor, they excite its vibrations, and they deter¬
mine and govern their frequency and the regularity of
their succession. These vibrations over the whole surface
of the wood communicate an infinite multitude of similar
vibrations in the air, all which reaching the ear at the
same instant, produce those powerful and audible tones
which we observe.
Let us now consider the nature of those remarkable
VOL. II
distinctions of musical sounds into grave and acute, on Acoustics,
the combination of which depends the whole charm of'^-v^-'
music. Every one knows, that in stringed instruments Grave and
this depends entirely on the length and tension of theacute
string, as is well observed in the violin. By shorteningS0UIul3
the strings with the fingers, we obtain notes always more
and more acute; and by tightening the strings with the
pins at their extremities, we produce the same effect. In
different strings, also, another circumstance has a sensible
effect, namely, the thickness or mass of the string: the
greater this is, the sound is the more grave, and the less
the more acute. All these effects are very clearly ob¬
served, and proved with mathematical accuracy, by means
of an instrument termed the monochord or sonometer;
which is an apparatus contrived for stretching different
strings and causing them to sound by vibration, with
props or bridges to vary their lengths, and weights sus¬
pended to vary and measure the different tensions, the vi¬
brations of the strings being communicated to a hollow
box of thin elastic wood, to augment the sound. Fig. 2.
represents the instrument in an upright form, which is best
adapted for experiment with tension, because the weight
can be applied directly under the string without friction.
Fig. 3. is a horizontal form: the weight here is applied over
a pulley, and therefore the tension cannot be so very ac¬
curately measured. It answers, however, better for some
other kinds of experiments, in regard to the length of the
strings and the subordinate vibrations. Whichever of
these forms of the instrument be used, we obtain invari¬
ably the same results. The more weight we apply to
stretch any of the chords, the more acute does the sound
become. If we lengthen the strings again in any degree,
the more grave does the sound become; and the same
takes place if we substitute a heavy for a light string. It is
very remarkable, however, that if we examine these effects
carefully, and apply the aid of mathematical investigation,
they all resolve into one general law. Adding to the
weight and tension on the strings, shortening their length
and diminishing their weight, have all the same common
effect; namely, to quicken their vibrations. It is on the
single circumstance, therefore, of the quickness or slow¬
ness of the vibrations of the strings, in whatever way it is
produced, that the acuteness or gravity of the tones de¬
pends. This, then, is the great law on which all the
gradations of musical notes depend: quicken the vibra¬
tions of the chord by any means, and we are sure to sharpen
the tone in the very same proportion: make the vibrations
slower in any way, and in the same proportion does the
tone become more grave. The above circumstances, how¬
ever, do not all alter the rate of vibration in the same de¬
gree. If we shorten or lengthen the string, the vibrations
are quickened or slackened, and consequently the tones
made more acute or grave in the very same proportion;
that is, a string half the length of another just makes
double the number of vibrations in the same time, and one
one-third of the length three times ; one double the length,
again, makes half the number of vibrations, and one triple
the length one-third of the number. The effect of the
tension, again, and the weight of the strings, follows a
different law. If we load one string with double the
weight of another, it does not double the number of vibra¬
tions : it requires four times the weight to do this, and
nine times the weight to triple the number; the quickness
being in all cases in proportion to the square root of the
weight. The effect of the weight of the string follows
a similar law; one string requiring four times the mass
of another to make its vibrations in half the time, and nine
times this to make them in one-third of the time. So
that if we denote the length of the string by L, the weight
Q
ACOUSTICS.
Acoustics, of a lineal inch by W, and the weight or force of tension by
T, then the number of vibrations, N, in a given time will be
/T
in proportion to
On this law depends the construction of all kinds of
stringed instruments, and the adjustment of the length,
magnitude, and tension of the strings, to produce the
tones that we wish in the instrument, without over¬
straining the materials, or making them any way liable to
go out of tune. Accurate experiments, however, are want¬
ing to apply with success the above formula to actual
practice. On the above principle, also, of the velocity of
the vibrations regulating the tone of every sound, de¬
pends entirely the system of our musical scale, as well
as all those combinations of sound which constitute
concord or harmony in music. Every one knows, that
if with any sound we strike its octave at the same time,
the two coalesce so completely together as to form al¬
most a single continued note, which in music forms the
most perfect concord. Now the octave above is emitted
from that string whose vibrations are exactly double in
number to the original note. The vibrations of the latter,
therefore, must coincide completely with the former at
every other vibration. The impression of both thesereaches
the ear at the very same instant, and thus the two sounds
are blended into one. The intermediate sound of the
octave which intervenes between these is hardly perceiv¬
ed, owing to the rapidity of their succession; and as it
also recurs at regular intervals, it does not interrupt the
harmony, but rather contributes to give fulness and rich¬
ness to the combined tone. The same thing takes place,
though in a less degree, with the double, the triple, and
other octaves, and with all the different sounds which
form concords together; and the more frequently the two
sounds unite, the more perfect in every case is the con¬
cord. When they do not unite but at sensible intervals,
there is then produced at each of these a distinct rise in
the sound, which becomes suddenly louder from the union
of the two, and then diminishes as they begin to separate,
producing a succession of swells, or beats, as they are
termed in music. The intervals between these beats are
filled up by the vibrations of the two sounds occurring,
first one and then the other; and as they form on the
whole a very irregular succession of impressions, they pro¬
duce a jarring effect, which grates on the ear. These
combined sounds are hence termed discords. All this
will be readily understood by an example or two, and a
figure. Take first the fundamental tone and its octave;
let the vibrations of each which produce the continued
sound be represented by dots, as at Fig. 4 ; and when the
two sounds concur, let this be denoted by dots larger in
size: then the succession of impressions will be as at
Fig. 5, where we have a regular succession of beats, re¬
curring in such rapid succession that the ear can only
distinguish a single sound. The octave also intervenes,
but quite regularly, and also in such rapid succession,
that it seems rather to heighten than to mar the general
harmony. In the same manner, Fig. 6. represents the
union of the fundamental sound and its double octave;
which is the same system, only the beats are at wider in¬
tervals, and the intermediate octaves double in number.
Take now two sounds, the number of whose vibrations
are to each other as 2 to 3 ; that is, suppose one of them
performs its vibrations in- two very small parts of a
second, and the other in three. If we take the annexed
scale to represent the parts of a second, we easily form
the series of sounds and of beats at Fig. 7. We have still,
it will be seen, a regular succession of beats, but the in¬
termediate single sounds do not recur at regular intervals.
v
We have first an interval of two parts of a second; then we Acoil
have three sounds succeeding each other during the other
three parts; and then a:a interval of two parts between that
and the beat. There is obviously, therefore, a tendency
to discord; but the whole series occurs in such rapid suc¬
cession that the effect on the ear is quite harmonious.
Take now the proportion of 5 to 7. Here, as at Fig. 8,
we have a regular succession of beats, but we have no
fewer than ten intermediate single sounds, and these suc¬
ceeding each other in a very irregular manner. We have
all the elements of discord, therefore; and accordingly the
union of these two sounds would be sure to grate on the
ear, unless they were of so high a pitch that the beats
should become inaudible. These would then produce, as
before, a continued sound; and the effect of the interme¬
diate ones would be in some degree, but not altogether,
lost: we might have a concord, but not a very perfect
one. It hence appears obvious why the union of some
notes, which on a grave key are discordant, become har¬
monious by raising sufficiently the pitch. In the same
manner, in every other case the greater the intervals be¬
tween the successive conjunctions of the sounds, and the
more irregular the succession of the intermediate impres¬
sion, the greater will be the discord.
Such are the effects of combined sounds; but it is ex¬
tremely remarkable that every single sound, besides its
fundamental note, yields also spontaneously various others
of the most perfect concord with it, but all higher, and
each rising successively in pitch, so that they have hence
received the name of Acute Harmonics. This curious
and important fact, first noticed by Galileo, to whom also
we are indebted for the theory of musical strings, has
since excited much attention among succeeding philoso¬
phers, as well as among those skilled in the practice of
music. In stringed instruments, it is best observed in
the low notes of the piano-forte or violoncello. These
wrere formerly thought to emit one simple uniform tone.
An attentive ear, however, as is now universally allowed
by musicians, can actually discover three others besides
the original, viz. the octave above, the twelfth, and the
double octave. This was first distinctly proved by Ra¬
meau ; and the experiment is easily tried by striking one
of the low keys, and withdrawing the finger briskly: j
then, after the fundamental note has ceased, the three
shriller ones will be heard. The octave being in some
measure blended with the original note, is not so easily
perceived, except by an ear habituated to the minutest
discrimination of sound. But with ordinary attention the
twelfth and the double octave are heard distinctly.
Nothing in the whole science of Acoustics has given rise
to so much speculation and varied discussion as this singu¬
lar property of musical strings. It would appear at first
sight to overturn the whole doctrine we have been laying
down regarding the effect of the rapidity of the vibrations
in regulating the tone ; for here we have the same string
yielding at once a diversity of notes, varying in a wide
gradation from grave to acute. Can it be possible
that the string, besides one principal series of vibrations
from end to end, may at the same time execute vibrations
among its parts, throwing itself, as in Fig.Q, into two, three,
or four subdivisions; and the whole string, as it oscillates
between its extremities, serving as a movable axis on
which such partial vibrations may be at the same time
performed ? This appeared at first so extraordinary and
wild a conjecture, that it was long ere it could meet with
any serious attention among philosophers, far less be ad¬
mitted as an accurate view of what really takes place. It
was rather ascribed to something unconnected with thp
string; some referring the production of these harmonic
ACOUSTICS.
123
j
Adistics. notes to the structure of the ear, and the mode in which
receives the impression of the fundamental note;
others, as the celebrated Lagrange, (to whom, along
with our countryman Taylor, and Bernoulli, Euler, and
D’Alembert, we owe the whole theory of the curves assum¬
ed by the vibration of musical strings,) supposed that
they arose from sympathetic vibrations excited in the dif¬
ferent bodies adjacent to the string, but without attempt¬
ing to give any reason why these affections should always
excite notes more acute than the fundamental. The pos¬
sibility of these partial vibrations, however, was clearly
proved by Daniel Bernoulli; and, however curious it may
seem, the fact has now been established by many conclu¬
sive experiments and observations. That strings are cap¬
able of vibrating in this way, we may be convinced, from
the following considerations. If we take any string, and
withdraw it from the straight line by applying the finger,
not to the centre, but nearer to one of the ends, so as to
bring it into the position ABC, Fig. 10, then it will on
the other side assume the position ADC, in every way
the reverse of the first, as is easily proved by experiment.
In general, the vibrations are so quick that they cannot
be perceived by the eye ; but if the finger be held op¬
posite to B, or in any other part between A and C, it will
be found that the vibration is nowhere so great as at D.
In the same manner, if we apply both fingers in opposite
directions, and at equal distances from the extremities, so
as to draw the string into the position A B D C, the cen¬
tre E remaining unchanged, thdn, on the other side, it
will assume the position A 6 E C; and as the central
point E continues all the time immovable, it is evident
that the whole string will continue vibrating partially, in
I the very same manner as if it had been composed of two
strings, each half the length, and fixed at E. This point E is
hence generally termed a node, or nodal point. In the same
way, by applying the moving forces at other different
points, the string may be made to perform three, four, or
any greater number of partial vibrations, in relation to so
many intermediate nodal points, Fig. 12; and it is not
difficult to conceive, therefore, how, by the application of
certain forces, the whole string may be performing its
oscillations from end to end, while at the same time it
may be agitated internally by two, three, or more partial
vibrations; and this is proved by actual experiment. If we
take a piece of common twine about fifteen or twenty feet
long, and stretch it between two fixed points rather loose¬
ly ;—if we then cause it to vibrate by the middle, it merely
makes the ordinary vibrations; but if we apply our force
to withdraw it from the straight line near one of the ex¬
tremities, we can then see distinctly, besides its principal
vibrations, a series of subordinate ones going on throughout
its whole length. It is remarkable also that strings of this
kind are extremely susceptible of these subordinate vibra¬
tions. When the string is vibrating regularly between
its extremities, the slightest deranging circumstance is
sufficient to excite and to superinduce the partial actions;
as appears very distinctly in an experiment contrived by
Mr Hawkins of London, by stretching between two bridges
a long and spirally coiled brass wire, the spirals being
about the diameter of a quill, and extended considerably
more than those of a cork-screw. The tension was such as
hardly to emit any sound, but to leave the vibrations when
touched quite visible to the eye. If, when the whole string
I is vibrating, we oppose a slight obstacle, say at the middle,
the string then instantly divides itself into two, and along
with its principal vibration performs two others between
the centre and each extremity. If the obstacle—and even
a puff of wind from the mouth is sufficient—be placed at
the distance of one-fourth the length of the string from
either extremity, then it divides itself into four, and along Acoustics,
with its principal vibration performs four others ; and so
on, according to whatever aliquot part of the string the
obstacle be presented ; the latter always subdividing itself
into the same number of parts, and performing a series of
subordinate vibrations between each, which can often be
observed and heard for several minutes accompanying
the principal one. The same effects are beautifully ob¬
served, as was first shown by Professor Robison, by means
of a monochord sounded by an ivory wheel. When the
string was vibrating simply, if its middle point was then
touched slightly with a quill, this point instantly stopped,
but the string continued to vibrate in two parts, sounding
the octave; and the same thing happened if it was
touched at one-third,—it then divided itself into three
parts, with two nodal points, and sounded the twelfth ;
and any thing soft, such as a lock of cotton, put in the
way of the wide vibrations of the string, was sufficient to
produce the effect.
From these facts and observations, therefore, no doubt
can remain that the acute harmonics accompanying the
fundamental note arise entirely from these partial vibra¬
tions, of which every string appears to be so suscep¬
tible. But one important question still remains, and has
never yet received any satisfactory solution; namely,
what are the circumstances which determine these par¬
tial vibrations so generally in every string ? Very slight ob¬
stacles are no doubt sufficient, but still there must be some
particular causes to determine every string to divide itself
so regularly into two, three, four, or more parts; exe¬
cuting in such regular succession the vibration peculiar to
each. Inequalities in the densities or thicknesses of the
different parts of the strings have been suggested as a
probable reason; but this appears quite inadequate to pro¬
duce effects so very constant in their operation, and v/hich
besides occur, let the string or wire be ever so uniform
in its texture. This subject requires further examination,
and the trial of several experiments. The only probable
circumstance to which we can ascribe these effects consists
in the re-action of the supports to which the extremities of
the strings are attached. It is well known, that when two
strings in the same instrument are tuned to the same
note, if one of them be struck, the other begins to vibrate,
and to sound at the same time. Strings differing by an
octave have the same effect; and even those differing more
in tone, yet appear to act and to re-act on each other.
These effects have usually been ascribed to the action of the
air, communicating the vibrations from one string to another.
This, however, is not the case, as is proved by a simple
experiment. If we stretch two similar strings on two
different boards, and tune them to the same note; then if
we detach the one wholly from the other, the vibrations of
the one do not in the least affect those of the other, let
them be even brought quite close together. But the
moment we place the boards in contact with each other,
though the strings themselves be thereby farther separated
than before, yet the one vibrates uniformly in sympathy
with the other ; and the moment the boards are again de¬
tached, the effect ceases. It is clear, therefore, that the
vibrations of the one string are communicated to those of
the other, not through the medium of the air, but through
that of the wood; and this can only take place by means
of the vibrations of the one string communicating through
the supports to the wood. This agitates the supports of
the other string, and these giving at first a very slight
vibrating motion to the extremities, this gradually increases
as it is continued, until the whole string is made to vibrate
with the other. Instead of the effect, therefore, proceed¬
ing from the middle of the string to either extremity, as
\
124 A C Q
Acoustics would be the case with aerial pulses, it is just the reverse.
II When once the motion is begun, the aerial undulations
Acqs. may certainly aid and augment the effect; but this, with¬
out doubt, originates at the extremities of the strings, and
from these is communicated to the centre. That strings
in unison with each other should vibrate in this manner
more read'ly than any other, is quite easily accounted for;
because in that case the vibrations of the one, however
they may be produced, are quite isochronous with those of
the other: they are more readily excited, therefore, because
when they are once begun, however minute they may be at
first, they yet harmonize exactly with the other, and every
succeeding impulse from it justarrives in the proper time to
augment the effect of the preceding, until the two motions
become exactly alike. Were the string not isochronous,
the succeeding impulses might tend sometimes to augment
and sometimes to diminish the effect of the preceding ones;
so that no sensible vibration would take place, as really hap¬
pens with all discordant strings. With octaves, however, and
other concords, the vibrations are still produced, because
the vibrations of the fundamental note always concur
with those at certain intervals, and at others do not oppose
them. All these effects are very similar to what occurs
in the motion of pendulums ; a very slight impulse is suffi¬
cient to put a large pendulum into very wide vibrations,
if it be often repeated, and always at the proper time to aug¬
ment and not oppose the motion already communicated.
Here it is that pendulums swinging in the same frame
affect wonderfully the vibrations of each other, exactly
like musical strings in the same instrument. If when two
isochronous pendulums are at rest one of them be set in
motion, in a short time the other commences to vibrate, in
a very slight degree at first, but always increasing and in¬
creasing, until at last its oscillations become quite as wide
as the other. This effect arises entirely from the vibrations
of the one pendulum communicating through the wood
very slight impulses to the axis or centre on which the
other moves. This sets it in motion, and the impulses
being constantly repeated and properly timed, excite at
last vibrations as wide as the original. In a similar man¬
ner it is that one string causes another in the same instru¬
ment to vibrate, by means of the supports on which it is
stretched; and if this be the case so remarkably in dif¬
ferent strings, may not the vibrations of any single string
re-act on itself through its own supports, and thus excite
all those secondary vibrations which produce the acute har¬
monics ? The string being first struck in the centre, the
fundamental note must first of all be emitted. But the
vibration of this agitating the supports at each extre¬
mity, these must necessarily re-act upon the string it¬
self, must modify the original central impulse, and ex¬
cite all those subordinate vibrations which are observed.
That this is the true cause of these partial actions, and con¬
sequently of all those varied tones which they excite, appears
extremely probable. But experiments, as we observed,
are wanting to demonstrate these effects satisfactorily.
Such, then, are the singular phenomena of the acute
harmonics, and of the subordinate vibrations of strings
from whence they arise. Whatever be the cause of these,
no doubt whatever can remain of the fact itself; and it is
to this circumstance that we must perhaps ascribe much
of that agreeable effect, so pleasing to the ear, which
A C Q
we experience in the tones of our musical instruments. Aco
Regularity of succession may determine a certain pitch
in the sound; but it is from the harmonic tones ming- Acjl
ling together, and blending with the gravity of the ori-yj^
ginal note, that appears to arise all that sweetness and
rich melody which so peculiarly belongs to them. Hence
also we can now understand the reason of the musical ef¬
fect arising from the sound of thin plates, cups, or bells :
in all these, when they are examined minutely, we observe
numerous vibrations among the parts ; the substance of the
plate dividing itself into various subdivisions, separated
by nodal lines, between which all the parts are thrown into
vibration. Hence arise a variety of harmonious notes; and
these mingling together, produce that highly musical ef¬
fect which we observe. It is to Professor Chladni that
we owe a 'variety of curious facts regarding these vibra¬
tions of plates ; which he observed by strewing them with
fine sand: the nodal points and lines were then shown
by the sand throwing itself from all the vibrating parts,
and accumulating in little heaps along the lines which
divide the vibrating surface, and where, therefore, there
was no agitation at all. Squares of plate glass are well
adapted for showing these effects. If we hold these by
the centre in a sort of small wooden vice, as at Fig. 13,
and then cause them to sound by drawing a bow along
any of the edges, which are smoothed for the purpose
with emery, the gravest tone is produced by applying
the bow to one of the angles ; and then the sand assumes
the figure represented in Fig. 14. The tone next to this
in graveness is produced by applying the bow to the mid¬
dle of one of the sides; and then the sand assumes the
figure represented in Fig. 15. By varying the points of ap¬
plication in this manner, and the figure of the plates, we
obtain many other figures and curves for the nodal lines;
such as Fig. 16, 17, 18, 19, &c. These effects are ex¬
tremely curious and interesting: they are also very beau¬
tifully exhibited by plates of paper or other flexible mem¬
branes, stretched on frames like those of a drum or tam¬
bourine. But we must refer for further details on this
subject to the Traite d'Acoustique of Chladni.
Besides the lateral vibrations above described, of
strings, membranes, and plates, all these bodies are cap¬
able of vibrating longitudinally, and of emitting sounds
which are in general much more acute than the others,
and are regulated in their pitch by the length of the rods
or strings. In this manner even the air itself, confined in
a tube or pipe, is made to vibrate regularly, and to emit mu¬
sical tones; and from this source arises another extensive
and very important class of sounds, namely, those which
are produced by the various kinds of wind-instruments,
and of which also the tones of the human voice and of
that of different animals present interesting examples.
One is apt to imagine that the sound of a pipe or flute is
emitted from the wood or other material of which it is
composed ; it really, however, arises from the cylinder of
inclosed air, which is thrown into vibration by the current 1
of air striking against the reed of the pipe, or against the
sides of the hole in the plate. For a particular account
of this class of sounds, see Wind-Instruments, Organ,
Trumpet, &c. ; and for a more particular accodnt of the
scale, and of musical harmony, see Harmonics, Music,
Temperament. (c.)
ACQS, a town at the foot of the Pyrenean moun- ACQUAPENDENTE, a pretty large town of Italy, in
tains, in the department of Arriege and late province of the territory of the Church and patrimony of St Peter,
toix, in prance. It takes its name from the hot waters with a bishop’s see. It is seated on a mountain near the
m these parts. river Paglia, 10 miles west of Orvieto, and 57 north by
A C R
A ria west of Rome. It takes its name from a fall of water
11| near it, and is now almost desolate,
iragas. ACQUARIA, a small town of Italy, in Frigana, a
^ v-0(jjstrict 0f Modena, which is remarkable for its medi¬
cinal waters. It is 18 miles south-west of the city of
Modena. ■ T • a j *
ACQUEST, or Acquist, in Law, signifies goods got
by purchase or donation.
ACQUI, one of the provinces into which the conti¬
nental dominions of the king of Sardinia are divided. It is
bounded on the north-east by Alessandria, on the south¬
east and south by Genoa, on the south-west by Mondovi,
on the west by Alba, and on the north-west by Asti.
The extent is 534 square miles, or 341*760 acres. In the
north the mountains decline to a fine undulating plain,
watered by the rivers Bormido, Orbo, Erro, and Belbo,
which in the adjoining province fall into the Tanaro, and
then join the Po. The land is productive, and yields
wheat, garden vegetables, wine, fruit, chesnuts, and much
silk. Some cattle are bred and fattened; but the chief
call for labour is in winding and throwing the silk. There
are a few mines of iron and of some other minerals, but
all inconsiderable. This province, which formerly was
SUpper Montserrat, contains two cities, 81 towns and vil¬
lages, and nine hamlets, with a population amounting to
91,535 persons.
Acqui, a town of Italy, in the duchy of Montferrat,
with a bishop’s see and commodious baths. It was taken
!by the Spaniards in 1745, and retaken by the Piedmontese
in 1746; but after this it was taken again and dismantled
by the French, who afterwards forsook it. It is seated
on the river Bormia, 25 miles north-west of Genoa, and 30
south of Casal. Long. 8. 19. E. Lat. 44. 4. N.
ACQUISITION, in general, denotes the obtaining or
procuring something. Among lawyers it is used for the
right or title to an estate got by purchase or donation.
ACQUITTANCE, a release or discharge in writing for
a sum of money, witnessing that the party has paid the
said sum.
ACRA, a considerable country near the eastern extre¬
mity of the Gold Coast of Africa. It is fertile, healthy,
and the inhabitants are of a more polished and civilized
character than the majority of those found upon that
coast. While the slave-trade was carried on with acti¬
vity, there was a great resort of the European nations to
Acra, and the factories established by them: Fort James
I by the English, Crevecceur by the Dutch, and Christians-
borg by the Danes, were the centre of an extensive
trade. Acra has now greatly declined; and it may be
considered, along with the rest of the coast, as dependent
upon Ashantee. Adams considers this country as the
boundary of the gold trade on the one side, and the ivory
trade on the other; and sharing to a certain degree in
I both, though not to the same extent with some other dis¬
tricts.
Acra, in Ancient Geography, one of the hills of Jeru¬
salem, on which stood the lower town, which was the old
Jerusalem; to which was afterwards added Zion, or the
city of David. It was probably called Acra, from the
fortress which Antiochus built there in order to annoy
the temple, and which Simon Maccabeus took and razed
to the ground.
Acra Japygia, in Ancient Geography, called Salentia
by Ptolemy; now Capo di Lexica : a promontory in the
kingdom of Naples, to the south-east of Otranto.
ACRAGAS, or Agragas, in Ancient Geography, so
called by the Greeks, and sometimes by the Romans, but
more generally Agrigentum by the latter; a town on the
south coast of Sicily. See Agrigentum.
A C R 125
ACRAMAR. See Van. Acramar
ACRASIA, among physicians, implies the predomi- II
nancy of one quality above another, either with regard ^
to artificial mixtures, or the humours of the human
body. The word is Greek, and compounded of a pri¬
vative, and xigavvvgi, to mix; q. d. not mixed in a just
proportion.
ACRE, or Acra, a town and seaport of Palestine,
in the pachalic of Acre, and formerly a splendid city
of antiquity, called Ptolemais, from Ptolemy, king of
Egypt. It was named Acra from its fortifications; and
by the knights of St John of Jerusalem it was called
St John d’Acre. No town has experienced greater
changes from poUtical revolutions and the calamities of
war. It has been successively possessed by Alexander’s
successors, who ruled in Egypt, by the Romans, the Sa¬
racens, the Christian crusaders, and finally by the Turks.
According to some travellers, this city was the Accho of
the Scriptures, one of the strongholds of which the Is¬
raelites could not dispossess the Canaanites; and in con¬
firmation of this supposition, Mr Buckingham, who visited
Acre in 1816, found in the ditches which they were then
digging around the wall, fragments of houses which bore
marks of the highest antiquity; consisting of that highly
sun-burnt brick, with a mixture of cement and sand,
which was only used in buildings constructed in the re¬
motest ages. It is only, however, during its possession by
Ptolemy, and when it was called Ptolemais, that history
gives any certain account of it. It was known during
those ancient times to be a great city; and although no
perfect monument of its grandeur now remains, yet
throughout the modern town are seen fine marble and
granite pillars, used at the thresholds of door-ways, or in
the other parts of ordinary buildings, or lying neglected
on the ground. When the empire of the Romans began
to extend over Asia, Ptolemais came into their posses¬
sion ; and it yielded in like manner to the growing power
of the Saracens. They were expelled from it in 1192 by
Richard I. of England and Philip of France, who pur¬
chased this conquest by the sacrifice of 100,000 troops.
They gave the town to the knights of St John of Jeru¬
salem, and it afterwards became the principal scene of
contest between the Crusaders and the Saracens. In
1187 it was recovered from the Christians by Saladin,
sultan of Egypt; and after a siege of three years was re¬
taken by the Christians, in whose possession it remained
during a whole century. It was at this time a large and
extensive city, on the direct route to Jerusalem, and a
place of great resort. It was accordingly populous and
wealthy, and contained numerous churches, convents, and
hospitals, of which no traces now remain. The city was
under a peculiar system of government, being ruled by all
the Christian powers both of Europe and Asia, 19 of whom
exercised independent authority within its bounds. It
was taken by the Saracens after a bloody siege in 1291,
during which it suffered severely, and afterwards fell into
decay. So late as the year 1696, Maundrell, who visited
it, states that it had never recovered from its last over¬
throw ; and that, with the exception of the residences of
the French factors, a mosque, and a few poor cottages, it
presented a vast and spacious scene of ruin. Since this
period Acre has again become a considerable city; within
the last 30 years it has been enlarged, and at the same
time strengthened and improved. The last siege to which
it was exposed was the celebrated one in 1799, lyhen
it was attacked by the French under Buonaparte; but was
gallantly defended by the Turks, animated by the example
and advice of Sir Sydney Smith. During the siege the
French succeeded in making repeated breaches in the
126 A C R
Acre, walls, through which they rushed to the assault with
the most desperate bravery; but they were as often
repulsed with dreadful carnage by the Turks and their
gallant allies, and finally abandoned the attempt on
the 20th of May, after they had continued the siege
for 61 days.
The town is situated at the extremity of a plain on the
edge of the sea-shore, and at the point of a bay formed
by the promontory of Mount Carmel on the south-west,
and the termination of the plain itself on the north-east.
This bay faces the north-west, and from Cape Carmel to
the city it may be about ten miles across. The bay affords
no shelter in bad weather, being open to the north-west
winds, which blow violently on the coast; and the port
of Acre is a small hollow basin behind a ruined mole,
scarcely capable of containing a dozen of boats. Vessels
coming to this coast, therefore, either to load or discharge
their cargoes, generally frequent the road of Caipha, a
place of anchorage at the bottom of the bay, near which
the river Kishon flows into the sea. The town, on the sides
which face towards the sea, is inclosed by a single wall
which on the north-west ranges along a sandy beach, and
is unfortified; on the south-west side it is built on rocks
washed by the sea, and is mounted with 40 pieces of can¬
non, chiefly brass. The north-east and south-east sides,
which face towards the land, are surrounded by a double
wall and ditch. The outer wall, which is but of very
indifferent workmanship, is from 30 to 40 feet in height,
provided with semicircular bastions at stated distances,
and with embrasures for cannon ; and it is further strength¬
ened by a dry ditch, from 15 to 20 feet in depth, and 20
to 25 in breadth. The outer walls are the w'ork of Djez-
zar Pacha, who, after the expulsion of the French from
Syria, was at great pains to improve the fortifications
ot the place. On the outer and inner walls are planted
from 100 to 120 pieces of cannon. The only gate of en¬
trance into the city is on the south-east front near the
sea, where is a Turkish cemeterj^ and a small garden.
The town presents in the interior that incongruous ap¬
pearance of gaudy splendour and extreme wretchedness
which is so common in all the cities of the East. Among
the chief buildings may be reckoned an extensive palace
of Suliman Pacha, with spacious courts, fountains, &c.
Opposite to this is a fine mosque, built also by him, the
lofty dome and minaret of which are conspicuous from a
distance, and another palace of Ali Pacha. These build¬
ings have all a fountain near them in the public street,
inclosed by a brass-work frame. They are highly orna¬
mented, and executed in the style common at Constanti¬
nople. The other mosques, which are six in number, are
built in the same fashion as that of Suliman Pacha; but
they are of a smaller size, and are every pne of them sur¬
mounted by the crescent. The other religious edifices
are a Catholic convent, a Greek church, and a Maronite
place of worship. The Jews have also a synagogue.
Of the bazaars, besides several ordinary ones, there are
two long ranges covered in by an arched roof, and light¬
ed from above. They are paved with flag-stones, have
benches on each side, and afford shelter both from the
sun and rain. The property deposited is secured by two
large gates, which are closed at each end. They are well
supplied with provisions, and at a moderate price.
The old khane, or caravansary, is one of the best that is
anywhere to be seen. It consists in general of a large
square court, with a fine marble fountain in the centre,
a piazza of arcades going round the whole, and galleries
above, containing rooms for strangers. These galleries
are furnished with lattice-work balconies, or projecting
windows, quite in the Arabian style. The whole edifice,
A C R
from the peculiar style and furnishing of its ornaments Acre
and construction, maybe considered as most interesting,
and the only perfect memorial of Saracen architecture
still remaining in the place. Besides the inn allotted to
the Franks, there are several others throughout the town
occupied by Christians of different sects, all resembling
caravansaries in their arrangement. There are also
many spacious and well-built magazines, particularly one
constructed by the pacha, having a paved court in the
centre, surrounded by a piazza of arcades, consisting of
about 40 granite pillars, taken from the ruins of the an¬
cient city. The private dwellings are all of stone, diffeiv
ing in size and plan. The roofs are invariably flat, and
provided with terraces for taking the air in the evenings
of summer. The streets are in general narrow and dirty;
only one or two are of any tolerable breadth. Many of
them are paved. Near the north-western extremity of the
town is a large space covered with ruined buildings, heaps
of rubbish, and an accumulation of rain water. The popu¬
lation of Acre consists, one-half of Mahometans, in equal
portions of Arabs and Turks; one-fourth of Christians of
different persuasions ; and one-fourth of Jews. Acre re¬
tains scarcely any memorials of its ancient state. The Sa¬
racenic remains are only partially to be traced in the inner
walls of the town, which have been so often broken down
and repaired as to preserve few traces of the original work.
All the mosques, fountains, bazaars, and other buildings,
with the exception of the caravansary already mentioned,
are in a style rather Turkish than Arabic. The Christian
ruins are altogether gone. There is not the slightest trace
of any of the magnificent churches and convents described
by Maundrell. Even the three Gothic arches mentioned
by Dr Clarke, and called by the English sailors King
Richard’s Palace, have been razed to the ground. It is
not easy to ascertain the causes which have swept away
s? .m.any traces of the ancient city between Maundrell’s
visit in 1696, and Dr Clarke’s in 1801; but the subsequent
destruction was occasioned by Djezzar Pacha, when he
was improving the fortifications of the town. The trade
of Acre consists in the export of cotton, and in the im¬
portation of manufactures for the consumption of the sur¬
rounding country. It is 23 miles north-north-west of Je¬
rusalem, and 27 south of Tyre. Long. 39. 25. E. Eat. 32.
40. N.
Acre, in Hindostan, the same with lack, signifies the
sum of 100,000 rupees; the rupee is of the value of the
French crown of three livres, or 30 sols of Holland; 100
lacks of rupees make a couron in Hindostan, or 10,000,000
rupees: the pound sterling is about eight rupees, accord¬
ing to which proportion a lack of rupees amounts to
L.12,500 sterling.
Acre, a measure of superficies, and the principal de¬
nomination of land-measure in use throughout the whole
of Great Britain. The word (formed from the Saxon acher,
or the German aker, a field) did not originally signify a
determinate quantity of land, but any open ground, espe¬
cially a wide campaign; and in this antique sense it seems
to^ be preserved in the names of places, as Castle-acre,
west-acre, &c. The English standard acre, now the im¬
perial acre of Britain, is a square raised from the basis of
tfle chain of 66 feet, or 22 yards, or l-80th of a mile,
len of these squares form the acre, which thus contains
4840 square yards. This is divided into roods, of which
there are four in the acre; and into poles or perches, of
which there are 40 in each rood, or 160 in the acre. The
rood will thus measure 1210 square yards, and the pole
04 square yards, according to the following table, which
contains also other denominations useful to be compared
with the acre.
A C R
The above is the standard acre of England; but vari¬
ous customary acres are in use throughout the different
counties, deviating considerably from this standard both
in excess and defect, though all of them are now illegal
since the act 5 George IV., which establishes the same
standard throughout the whole kingdom. In Bedford¬
shire, it is sometimes only two roods ; Cheshire, formerly,
and still in some places, 10,240 square yards; Cornwall,
sometimes 5760 yards; Dorsetshire, generally 134 perches;
Hampshire, from 107 to 120 perches, but sometimes 180;
Herefordshire, two-thirds of a statute acre. The acre for
hops contains 1000 plants, and is only equal to half a statute
acre; for wood, again, it is 256 perches. Leicestershire,
2308f square yards ; Lincolnshire, five roods, particularly
for copyhold land; Staffordshire, nearly 2£ acres ; Sus¬
sex, 107, 110, 120, 130, or 212 perches; the short acre
100 or 120 perches, the forest acre 180 perches. West¬
moreland, 6760 square yards, or 160 perches of 6-| yards
square ; in some parts the Irish acre is used : Worcester,
the hop acre, of 1000 stocks, 90 perches, sometimes 132
or 141 perches.
In North Wales, the Brio or true acre is 4320 square
yards, the Stang or customary acre 3240 square yards,
as in Anglesea and Caernarvonshire, making 5^ Llathen,
r=160 perches of 4^- yards square, caWed.paladr : 8 acres
make an ox-land, and 8 of these a plough-land, in Pem¬
brokeshire. In South Wales the Erw varies greatly with
the perch; sometimes this is nine feet square, 160
perches making one stangell, and four stangells one erw
of 5760 yards; sometimes 101 feet square, making a
quart or quarter of a Hath, 40 of which make a stangell, and
four stangells an erw, which is thus 7840 yards, equal to
the Irish acre; sometimes 11 feet, called bat or eglwys
haw, making the erw 9384 yards, as in Glamorganshire,
one-fifth more = 11,261 yards ; sometimes 11^- feet, called
a Hath, 48 making a quarter cyvar, and four cyvars an erw
of 11,776 yards; lastly, 12 feet, giving an erw of 10,240
yards, equal to the Staffordshire acre.
Nothing can show more clearly than the existence of
such numerous and useless diversities, the necessity of the
late act for establishing a uniform standard throughout
Great Britain, and which only requires to be enforced with
strictness to abolish for ever every other measure. In Scot¬
land the acre is much more uniform, scarcely deviating in
any part more than one per cent, from the standard. It is
raised from the chain of 24 ells ; and by the verdict of the
jury assembled at Edinburgh on the 4th February 1826,
to determine the proportion between the existing mea¬
sures and the imperial, the ell was found, according to an
accurate measurement made by Mr Jardine, civil engineer,
37,0598 inches, making the chain 74'1196 feet, and the
acre 6104 square yards and •12789, &c. decimals of a yard.
It is considerably larger, therefore, than the imperial acre;
and as the act of uniformity establishes this latter in its
stead, it makes an important change throughout Scotland,
a c R 127
and it becomes necessary to know exactly the proper- Acre
tions between them. The imperial, we have seen, con- II
tains 4840 square yards, while the Scotish contains Acrido-
6104*12789, &c. They are to each other, therefore, as
is to 1*26118345; so that 1000 acres Scotish are equal to
1261*18345 imperial; and in every case, to convert Scot¬
ish into imperial, multiply by the fraction 1*26118345:
such minuteness, however, is seldom required in practice.
A ready and very accurate approximation will be obtain¬
ed by reckoning one acre Scotish equal to five quarters
imperial, and g^th part more. This will give the value
of the acre almost to one-fourth of a square yard in defect.
Hence we have this general rule : To convert Scotish acres
into imperial, add one-fourth; and if that is not sufficiently mi¬
nute, add ffth more. Take, for example, 1000 acres, add
one-fourth or 250, and we have 1250; add still -g^th, or 11,
and we have 1261. This rule is obtained by expressing the
above fraction in a series of which we take only the first three
terms. It is one acre Scotish = 1 + j ^c*
acres imperial. By a similar rule, it is easy to convert
the Scotish money rates or prices of land into imperial:
we have only to multiply the Scotish prices by the frac¬
tion 0*792906, the reciprocal of the other; or deduct one-fifth
from the price, and for greater accuracy -fffh more; or
ivhat is still simpler, deduct 20^ per cent, or 4s. in the
pound from the Scotish prices. An estate of 1000 acres,
for example, is to be let at 30s. per acre : What is the rent
per imperial acre ? Deduct 4s. l£d. and the half of it for
the additional 10s., and we have 6s. 2^d. less, or on the
whole 23s. O^d. These rules will apply in every practical
case; and for very particular and extremely accurate pur¬
poses, recourse must be had to the original fractions
0*792906 and 1*26118345.
Such are the relations of the Scotish standard acre to
the imperial; but until of late years, it was the practice
of land-surveyors to measure with a chain of 74 feet
and 4-10ths of a foot in length, the length of the ell
having been erroneously estimated at 37 inches and
2-10ths of an inch. This practice increased the acre from
6104*13448 to 6150*4 square yards; it made the ratio of
this acre to the imperial as 1 to 1*27074, &c.; or we
may reckon one acre equal to five quarters imperial,
and ^th more.
When this error in the length of the chain came to be
discovered, surveyors took to the chain of exactly 74)
feet; this length being recommended by tbe round num¬
ber, and the nearer approach to the standard. By it the
acre contains only 6084*4444, &c. yards; it is to the im¬
perial acre as 1 to 1*25711662, &c. or we make one of these
acres equal to five quarters imperial, and j-^th more.
In Ireland the perch, of which the acre contains as usual
160, is a square of seven yards. The acre, therefore, con¬
tains 7840 square yards. See Weights and Measures;
Parliamentary Deports of the Commissioners of Weights and
Measures; Act 5 Geo. IV.; and Buchanan’s Tables of
Weights and Measures, where the conversions are all given
ty inspection. (c.)
AcRE-Fight, an old sort of duel fought by English and
Scotish combatants, between the frontiers of their king¬
doms, with sword and lance: it was also called camp¬
fight, and the combatants champions, from the open field
being the stage of trial.
ACRIBEIA, a term purely Greek, literally denoting
an exquisite or delicate accuracy; sometimes used in our
language, for want of a word of equal signification.
ACIIIDOPHAGI, in Ancient Geography, an Ethiopian
people, represented as inhabiting near the deserts, and to
have fed on locusts. This latter circumstance their name
imports, the word being compounded of the Greek
128
A C R
Acrisius locust, and <payu, to eat. Dr Sparrman informs us,1 that
II . “ Locusts sometimes afford a high treat to the more
unpolished and remote hordes of the Hottentots; when,
1 Voijagr to as somet‘mes happens, after an interval of 8, 10, 15,
the Cape, or ^ years, they make their appearance in incredible
vol. i. p. 36. numbers.” The Abbe Poiret, also, in his Memoir on the
Insects of Sarbary and Numidia, informs us, that the
Moors make locusts a part of their food, that they go to
hunt them, fry them in oil and butter, and sell them
publicly at Tunis, at Bonne, &c. From these accounts,
we may see the folly of that dispute among the divines
about the nature of St John's food in the wilderness; some
maintaining the original word to signify the fruits of cer¬
tain trees; others, a kind of birds, &c.: but those who
adhered to the literal meaning of the text were at least
the most orthodox, although their arguments were perhaps
not so strong as they might have been had they had an
opportunity of quoting such authors as the above.
ACRISIUS, in fabulous history, king of Argos, being
told by the oracle that he should be killed by his grand¬
child, shut up his only daughter Daniie in a brazen tower;
but Jupiter coming down in a golden shower, begot Per¬
seus by her. After Perseus had slain the Gorgons, he
carried Medusa’s head to Argos; which Acrisius seeing,
was turned into a statue.
ACRITAS, in Ancient Geography, a promontory of
Messenia, running into the sea, anil forming the begin¬
ning of the bay of Messene ; now Capo de Gallo.
ACROAMATIC, or Acroatic, in general denotes a
thing sublime, profound, or abstruse.
# ACROAMATICI a denomination given to the dis¬
ciples or followers of Aristotle, &c. who were admitted
into the secrets of the inner or acroamatic philosophy.
ACROATIC is a name given to Aristotle’s lectures to
his disciples, which were of two kinds, exoteric and acro¬
atic. The acroatic were those to which only his own dis¬
ciples and intimate friends were admitted; whereas the
exoteric were public and open to all. But there are other
differences. The acroatic were set apart for the higher
and more abstruse subjects; the exoteric were employed
in rhetorical and civil speculations. Again, the acroatics
were more subtile and exact, evidence and demonstration
being here aimed at; the exoterics chiefly aimed at the
probable and plausible. The former were the subject of
the morning exercises in the Lyceum, the latter of the
evening. Besides, the exoterics were published, where¬
as the acroatics were kept secret, being either entirely
concealed, or, if they were published, it was in such ob¬
scure terms that few but his own disciples could be the
wiser for them. Hence, when Alexander complained of
his preceptor for publishing his acroatics, and thus reveal¬
ing what should have been reserved to his disciples, Aris¬
totle answered, that they were made public and not pub¬
lic ; foi that none who had not heard them explained by
the author viva voce could understand them. ^
ACROBATES, in antiquity, were rope-dancers, who
performed various feats by vaulting or tumbling on a rope •
sliding down on a rope from a lofty station with arms and
legs extended, in imitation of flying; and running, danc-
^dl^pingj on a rope stretched horizontally.
ACkOBATICA, or Acrobaticum, from «*«,;, high,
and ,«ar£w or (Sctmu, I go ; an ancient engine whereby peo¬
ple were raised aloft, that they might see more conveni¬
ent y about them. I he acrobatica among the Greeks
amounted to the same with what they call scansorium
among the Latins. Authors are divided as to the use of
this engine. Turnebus and Barbarus take it to have been
o t ie military kind, raised by besiegers, high enough to
overlook the walls and discover the state of things on the
A C R
other side. Baldus rather supposes it a kind of movable Acroi
scaffold, or cradle, contrived for raising painters, plaster- ni
ers, and other workmen, to the tops of houses, trees, &c. I
Some suspect that it might have been used for both pur- ^cri
poses; which is the opinion of Vitruvius and Aquinas.
ACROCERAUNIA, or Montes Ceraunii, in Ancient^
Geography, mountains so called from their being often
struck by thunder. They are on the western coast of
Greece, and terminate at a cape in Lat. 40. 25. N.
ACROCHERISMUS, among the Greeks, a sort of
gymnastic exercise, in which the two combatants con¬
tended with their hands and fingers only, without closing
or engaging the other parts of the body.
ACROCORINTHUS, in Ancient Geography, a high
and steep hill hanging over the city of Corinth, on which
was built the acropolis, or citadel.
ACROMION, in Anatomy, the upper part of the sca¬
pula or shoulder-blade.
ACROMONOGR AMMATICUM, in Poetry, a kind of
poem, wherein every subsequent verse begins with the
letter wherewith the immediately preceding one termi¬
nated.
ACRON, a celebrated physician of Agrigentum, in
Sicily, who lived about the middle of the fifth century be¬
fore Christ. He first thought of lighting large fires, and
purifying the air with perfumes, to put a stop to the pes¬
tilence that ravaged Athens, and which was attended with
success. He wrote two treatises, according to Suidas, in
the Doric dialect; the one on physic, and the other on
abstinence or diet.
Acron, a considerable kingdom on the Gold Coast of
Africa, the principal seaport of which is Apam, where
the Dutch have a fort; but both it and the town were
nearly destroyed during the Ashantee campaign of 1811,
and the trade carried on there is now of little importance.
ACRONICAL, Achronycal, or Achronical, in As¬
tronomy, is a term applied to the rising of a star when the
sun is set in the evening; but has been promiscuously used
to express a star’s rising at sunset, or setting at sunrise.
ACROPOLIS, in Ancient Geography, the citadel and
one of the divisions of Athens, called Polis because
constituting the first and original city, and the Upper
Polis to distinguish it from the lower, which was after¬
wards built round it in a large open plain, the Acropolis
standing on a rock or eminence in the heart of this plain;
and hence its name. To the north it had a wall built by
the Pelasgi, and therefore called Pelasgic ; and to the
south a wall, by Cimon the son of Miltiades, out of the
Persian spoils, many ages after the building of the north
wall. It had nine gates, and was therefore called En-
neapylon ; yet but one principal gate or entrance, the as¬
cent to which was by a flight of steps of white marble, built
in a magnificent manner by Pericles.
ACROPOLITA, George, one of the writers in the
Byzantine history, was born at Constantinople in the year
1220, and educated at the court of the Emperor John
Ducas at Nice. He was employed in the most important
affairs of the empire, being sent ambassador to Larissa
to establish a peace with Michael of Epirus; and was
constituted judge to try Michael Comnenus, who was sus¬
pected of engaging in a conspiracy. Theodorus Lascaris,
the son of John, whom he had taught logic, appointed him
governor of all the western provinces in his empire. In
1255, he was taken prisoner in a war with Michael An-
gelus; but gaining his liberty in 1260, by means of the
Emperor Palaeologus, he was sent by him ambassador to
Constantine, prince of Bulgaria; and was employed in
several other negotiations. He wrote, a Continuation of
the Greek History, from the taking of Constantinople by
ACT
u(l(lSpire the Latins till it was recovered by Michael Palaeologus in
I [| 1261, which makes part of the Byzantine history; A
ct. Treatise concerning Faith, Virtue, and the Soul; An Ex-
^ ^^position of the Sermons of St Gregory Nazianzen, and
other pieces. Gregory Cyprian, patriarch of Constan¬
tinople, in an extravagant encomium upon him, prefixed to
Acropolita’s history, says he was equal to Aristotle in
philosophy, and to Plato in the knowledge of divine things
and Attic eloquence.
ACROSPIRE, a vulgar term for what botanists call
the plumes.
ACROSPIRED, in malt-making, is the grain’s shoot¬
ing both at the root and blade end.
ACROSTIC, in Poetry, a kind of poetical composition,
disposed in such a manner that the initial letters of the
verses form the name of some person, kingdom, place,
motto, &c. The word is compounded of the Greek
axflos, extremity, and verse. The acrostic is consider¬
ed by the critics as a species of false wit, and is therefore
very little regarded by the moderns.
ACROSTICHUM, Rustyback, Wall-rue, or Fork-
Fern.
ACROSTOLIUM, in ancient naval architecture, the
extreme part of the ornament used on the prows of ships,
which was sometimes in the shape of a buckler, helmet,
animal, &c. but more frequently circular, or spiral. It
was usual to tear them from the prows of vanquished ves¬
sels, and fix them to those of the conquerors, as a signal of
victory. They were frequently represented on the re¬
verse of ancient medals.
ACROTELEUTIC, among ecclesiastic writers, an ap¬
pellation given to any thing added to the end of a psalm;
as the Gloria Patri, or Doxology.
ACROTERIA, in Architecture, small pedestals, usually
without bases, anciently placed at the middle or two ex¬
tremes of pediments or frontispieces, serving to support
the statues, &c. It also signifies the figures placed as or¬
naments on the tops of churches, and the sharp pinnacles
that stand in ranges about flat buildings with rails and
balusters.—Among ancient physicians, it signified the
larger extremities of the body, as the head, hands, and feet.
It has also been used for the tips of the fingers, and some¬
times for the eminence or processes of bones.
ACROTHYMION,fromaxgos,eatfrawe, anddufioz, thyme;
a sort of wart, described by Celsus as hard and rough,
with a narrow basis and broad top: the top is of the co¬
lour of thyme. It easily splits and bleeds. This tumour is
also called thymus.
ACT, in general, denotes the exertion of power; and
differs from power, as the effect from the cause.
Act, in Logic, is particularly understood of an opera¬
tion of the human mind. Thus, to discern and examine
are acts of the understanding; to judge and affirm are
acts of the will.
Act, in the Universities, signifies a thesis maintained in
public by a candidate for a degree ; or to show the capa¬
city and proficiency of a student.
Act of Faith, Auto da Fe, in the Romish church, is a
solemn day held by the inquisition, for the punishment of
heretics and the absolution of the innocent accused. They
usually contrive the Auto to fall on some great festival,
that the execution may pass with the more awe and re¬
gard ; at least it is always on a Sunday.
he Auto da Fe may be called the last act of the inqui¬
sitorial tragedy : it is a kind of jail delivery, appointed as
ott as a competent number of prisoners in the inquisition
are convicted of heresy, either by their own voluntary or
extorted confession, or on the evidence of certain witnesses,
the process is thus: In the morning they are brought into
ACT
129
a great hall, where they have certain habits put on, which Act
they are to wear in the procession. The procession is ledv^v-iw'
up by Dominican friars; after which come the penitents,
some with san-benitos and some without, according to
the nature of their crimes; being all in black coats without
sleeves, and barefooted, with a wax candle in their hands.
These are followed by the penitents who have narrowly
escaped being burnt, who over their black coats have flames
painted, with their points turned downwards,yw<7o revolto.
Next come the negative and relapsed, who are to be burnt,
having flames on their habits pointing upwards. After
these come such as profess doctrines contrary to the faith
of Rome, who, besides flames pointed upwards, have their
picture painted on their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and
devils, all open-mouthed, about it. Each prisoner is at¬
tended with a familiar of the inquisition ; and those to be
burnt have also a Jesuit on each hand, who are continual¬
ly preaching to them to abjure. After the prisoners comes
a troop of familiars on horseback; and after them the in¬
quisitors, and other officers of the court, on mules ; last of
all, the inquisitor-general on a white horse, led by two
men with black hats and green hat-bands. A scaffold is
erected in the Terreiro de Pago, big enough for two or
three thousand people; at one end of which are the
prisoners, at the other the inquisitors. After a sermon
made up of encomiums on the inquisition, and invectives
against heretics, a priest ascends a desk near the middle of
the scaffold, and having taken the abjuration of the peni¬
tents, recites the final sentence of those who are to be put
to death ; and delivers them to the secular arm, earnestly
beseeching at the same time the secular power not to
touch their blood, or put their lives in danger. The
prisoners being thus in the hands of the civil magistratey
are presently loaded with chains, and carried first to the
secular jail, and from thence in an hour or two brought
before the civil judge; who, after asking in what religion
they intend to die, pronounces sentence on such as de¬
clare they die in ,the communion of the church of Rome,
that they shall be first strangled, and then burnt to ashes,*
on such as die in any other faith, that they be burnt alive.
Both are immediately carried to the Ribera, the place of
execution, where there are as many stakes set up as there
are prisoners to be burnt, with a quantity of dry furze about
them. The stakes of the professed, that is, such as persist
in their heresy, are about four yards high, having a small
board towards the top for the prisoner to be seated on.
The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt,
the professed mount their stakes by a ladder; and the
Jesuits, after several repeated exhortations to be reconcil¬
ed to the church, part with them, telling them they leave
them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive
their souls, and carry them with him into the flames of
hell. On this a great shout is raised ; and the cry is, Let
the dogs’ beards be made ; which is done by thrusting flam¬
ing furzes fastened to long poles against their faces, till
their faces are burnt to a coal, which is accompanied with
the loudest acclamations of joy. At last, fire is set to the
furze at the bottom of the stake, over which the professed
are chained so high that the top of the flame seldom
reaches higher than the seat they sit on, so that they
rather seem roasted than burnt. There cannot be a more
atrocious spectacle, yet it is beheld by all sexes and ages
with transports of joy and satisfaction.
Act, in Dramatic Poetry, signifies a certain division or
part of a play, designed to give some respite both to the
actors and spectators. The Romans were the first who
divided their theatrical pieces into acts; for no such
divisions appear in the works of the first dramatic poets.
Their pieces indeed consisted of several parts or divisions.
ACT
which they called protasis, epitasis, catastasis, and cata¬
strophe ; but these divisions were not marked by any real
interruptions in the theatre. Nor does Aristotle mention
any thing of acts in his Art of Poetry. But, in the time
of Horace, all regular and finished pieces were divided into
five acts.
Neve minor neu sit quinto productior actu
Fabula, quae posci vult, et spectata reponi.
If you would have your play deserve success,
Give it five acts complete, nor more nor less.
Francis.
The first act, according to some critics, besides introduc¬
ing upon the stage the principal characters of the play,
ought to propose the argument or subject of the piece;
the second, to exhibit this to the audience, by carrying
the fable into execution; the third, to raise obstacles and
difficulties; the fourth, to remove these, or raise new ones
in the attempt; and the fifth, to conclude the piece, by
introducing some accident that may unravel the whole
affair. This division, however, is not essentially necessary,
but may be varied according to the humour of the author
or the nature of the subject.
Act, among lawyers, is an instrument in writing for de¬
claring or justifying the truth of any thing ; in which
sense records, decrees, sentences, reports, certificates, &c.
are called acts.
Act of Parliament is a positive law, consisting of two
parts, the words of the act, and its true sense and mean¬
ing ; which being joined, make the law. The words of
acts of parliament should be taken in a lawful sense.
Cases of the same nature are within the intention, though
without the letter, of the act; and some acts extend by
equity to things not mentioned therein.
Acts also denote the deliberations and resolutions of
an assembly, senate, or convention; as acts of parliament,
&c.; likewise matters of fact transmitted to posterity in
certain authentic books and memoirs.
Acta Consistorii, the edicts or declarations of the council
of state of the Roman emperors. These edicts were gene¬
rally expressed in such terms as these: “ The august em¬
perors, Dioclesian and Maximin, in council declare, That
the children of decurions shall not be exposed to wild
beasts in the amphitheatre.”—The senate and soldiers often
swore, either through abject flattery or by compulsion,
upon the edicts of the emperor, as we do upon the Bible.
And the name of Apidius Merula was erased by Nero out
of the register of senators, because he refused to swear
upon the edicts of the Emperor Augustus.
Acta Diurna, was a sort of Roman gazette, containing
an authorized narrative of the transactions worthy of notice
which happened at Rome. Petronius has given us a speci¬
men of the acta diurna in his account of Trimalchi; and
as it may not perhaps be unentertaining to see how exact¬
ly a Roman newspaper runs in the style of an English
one, the following articles are extracted from it:
“ On the 26th of July, 30 boys and ,40 girls were born
at Trimalchi’s estate at Cuma.
“ At the same time a slave was put to death for utter¬
ing disrespectful words against his lord.
“ The same day a fire broke out in Pompey’s gardens,
which began in the night, in the steward’s apartment.”
Acta Populi, among the Romans, were journals or re¬
gisters of the daily occurrences ; as assemblies, trials, exe¬
cutions, buildings, births, marriages, deaths, &c. of illustri¬
ous persons, and the like. These were otherwise called
Acta Publica and Acta Diurna, or simply Acta. The Acta
differed from Annals, in that only the greater and more
important matters were in the latter, and those of less
note were in the former. Their origin is attributed to
ACT
Julius Caesar, who first ordered the keeping and making A
public the acts of the people. Some trace them higher,^ J
to Servius Tullius ; who, to discover the number of persons
born, dead, and alive, ordered that the next of kin, upon a
birth, should put a certain piece of money into the treasury
of Juno Lucina; upon a death, into that of Venus Libitina;
the like was also to be done upon assuming the toga virilis,
&c. Under Marcus Antoninus, this was carried further 5
persons were obliged to notify the births of their children,
with their names and surnames, the day, consul, and
whether legitimate or spurious, to the prefects of the
JErarium Saturni, to be entered in the public acts;
though before this time the births of persons of quality
appear to have been thus registered.
Acta Senatus, among the Romans, were minutes of
what passed and was debated in the senate-house.
These were also called Commentarii, and by a Greek name
u-ro/^uara. They had their origin in the consulship of
Julius Caesar, who ordered them both to be kept and pub¬
lished. The keeping of them was continued under Au¬
gustus, but the publication was abrogated. Afterwards
all writings relating to the decrees or sentences of the
judges, or what passed and was done before them, or by
their authority, in any cause, were also called by the name
Acta: in which sense we read of civil acts, criminal acts,
intervenient acts; acta civilia, criminalia, intervenientia, &c.
Acts of the Apostles, one of the sacred books of the New
Testament, containing the history of the infant church
during the space of 29 or 30 years, from the ascension of
our Lord to the year of Christ 63. It was written by St
Luke,and addressed to Theophilus, the person towhom the
evangelist had before dedicated his Gospel. We here find
the accomplishment of several of the promises made by our
Saviour; his ascension, the descent of the Holy Ghost,
the first preaching of the apostles, and the miracles where¬
by their doctrines were confirmed ; an admirable picture
of the manners of the primitive Christians ; and, in short,
every thing that passed in the church till the dispersion
of the apostles, who separated themselves in order to pro¬
pagate the gospel throughout the world. From the period
of that separation, St Luke quits the history of the other
apostles, who were then at too great a distance from him,
and confines himself more particularly to that of St Paul,
who had chosen him for the companion of his labours.
He follows that apostle in all his missions, and even to
Rome itself; for it appears that the Acts were published
in the second year of St Paul’s residence in that city, or
the 36th year of the Christian era, and in the ninth or
tenth year of Nero’s reign. The style of this work, which
was originally composed in Greek, is much purer than
that of the other canonical writers ; and it is observable
that St Luke, who was much better acquainted with the
Greek than with the Hebrew language, always, in his
quotations from the Old Testament, makes use of the
Septuagint version. The council of Laodicea places the
Acts of the Apostles among the canonical books, and all
the churches have acknowledged it as such without any
controversy.
There were several spurious Acts of the Apostles;
particularly, 1. Acts, supposed to be written by Abdias,
the pretended bishop of Babylon, who gave out that he
was ordained bishop by the apostles themselves when they
were upon their journey into Persia. 2. The Acts of St
Peter; this book came originally from the school of the
Ebionites. 3. The Acts of St Paul; which is entirely
lost. Eusebius, who had seen it, pronounces it of no au¬
thority. 4. The Acts of St John the Evangelist; a book
made use of by the Encratites, Manichaeans, and Priscilli*
anists. 5. The Acts of St Andrew i received by the Mani-
ACT
A C T
131
k :ts
,
I itio.
> E ebii
}[u; Ecd,
lib.j. cap.
2.a![ix.5.
•CihUist,
LU'jt.
chffians, Encratites, and Apotactics. 6. The Acts of St
Thomas the Apostle ; received particularly by the Mani-
checans. 7. The Acts of St Philip. This book the Gnostics
made use of. 8. The Acts of St Matthias. Some have
imagined that the Jews for a long time had concealed the
original Acts of the life and death of St Matthias, written
in Hebrew; and that a monk of the abbey of St Matthias
at Treves, having got them out of their hands, procured
them to be translated into Latin, and published them;
but the critics will not allow them to be genuine.
Acts of Pilate, a relation sent by Pilate to the Empe¬
ror Tiberius, concerning Jesus Christ, his death, resurrec¬
tion, ascension, and the crimes of which he was convicted
before him.1 It was a custom among the Romans, that
the proconsuls and governors of provinces should draw
up acts, or memoirs, of what happened in the course of
their government, and send them to the emperor and senate.
The genuine acts of Pilate were sent by him to Tiberius,
who reported them to the senate ; but they were rejected
by that assembly, because not immediately addressed to
them; as is testified by Tertullian, in his Apol. cap. 5.
and 20, 21. The heretics forged acts in imitation of them:
in the reign of the Emperor Maximin, the Gentiles, to
throw an odium on the Christian name, spread about
spurious Acts of Pilate ; which the emperor, by a solemn
edict, ordered to be sent into all the provinces of the em¬
pire, and enjoined the schoolmasters to teach and explain
them to their scholars, and make them learn them by
heart. These acts, both the genuine and the spurious, are
lost. There is indeed extant, in the Pseudo-Hegesippus,
a letter from Pilate to the Emepror Claudius, concerning
Jesus Christ;2 but it discovers itself at first sight to be
spurious.
ACTiE were meadows of remarkable verdure and
luxuriancy near the sea-shore, where the Romans used to
indulge themselves to a great degree in softness and deli¬
cacy of living. The word is used in this sense by Cicero
and Virgil; but Vossius thinks it can only be used in
speaking of Sicily, as these two authors did.
ACTtEA, Herb-Christopher, or Bane-Berries.
ACTfEON, in fabulous history, the son of Ar.istaeus
and Autonde; a great hunter. He was transformed by
Diana into a stag, because he looked on her while bathing;
and was devoured by his own dogs. The effect of imper¬
tinent curiosity and expensive pleasures seem to be the
moral of the fable.
ACTIAN Games, in Roman antiquity, were solemn
games instituted by Augustus, in memory of his victory
over Mark Antony at Actium, held every fifth year, and
celebrated in honour of Apollo, since called Actius.
Hence Actian Years, an era commencing from the battle
of Actium, called the Era of Augustus. Virgil insinuates
them to have been instituted by TEneas, from that pas¬
sage, iEn. iii. v. 280:
Actiaque Iliads celebramus littora ludis.
But this he only does by way of compliment to Augustus ;
attributing that to the hero from whom he descended,
which was done by the emperor himself; as is observed
by Servius.
ACTINIA, in Zoologig, a genus belonging to the order
of Vermes mollusca, called Animal Flowers and Sea
Anemonies.
ACTIO, in Roman antiquities, an action at law in a
court of justice. The formalities used by the Romans, in
judicial actions, were these : If the difference failed to be
made up by friends, the injured person proceeded in jus
reum vocare, to summon the offending party to the court,
who was obliged to go, or give bond for his appearance.
The offending party might be summoned into court viva Actio
voce, by the plantiff himself meeting the defendant, declar- II
ing his intention to him, and commanding him to go be- •A■ctlon■
fore the magistrate and make his defence. If he would
not go willingly, he might drag and force him along, un¬
less he gave security for his appearance on some appoint¬
ed day. If he failed to appear on the day agreed on,
then the plaintiff, whensoever he met him, might take him
along with him by force, calling any by-standers to bear
witness, by asking them visne antestari ? The by-standers
upon this turned their ear toward him in token of their
consent. To this Horace alludes in his satire against the
impertinent, lib. i. sat. 9.
Both parties being met before the pretor, or other su¬
preme magistrate presiding in the court, the plaintiff pro¬
posed the action to the defendant, in which he designed
to prosecute him. This they termed edere actionem ; and
was commonly performed by writing it in a tablet, and
offering it to the defendant, that he might see whether
he had better stand the suit or compound.
In the next place came the postulatio actionis, or the
plaintiff’s petition to the pretor for leave to prosecute the
defendant in such an action. The petition was granted
by writing at the bottom of it actionem do, or refused by
writing in the same manner actionem non do.
The petition being granted, the plaintiff vadabatur reum,
i. e. obliged him to give sureties for his appearance on
such a day in the court; and this was all that was done
in public before the day fixed upon for the trial.
In the mean time, the difference was often made up
either transactione, by letting the cause fall as dubious; or
pactione, by composition for damages amongst friends.
On the day appointed for hearing, the pretor ordered
the several bills to be read, and the parties summoned by
an accensus, or beadle.
Upon the non-appearance of either party, the defaulter
lost his cause : if they both appeared, they were said se
stetisse ; and then the plaintiff proceeded litem sive actio¬
nem intendere, i. e. to prefer his suit; which was done in a
set form of words, varying according to the difference of
the actions. After this the plaintiff desired judgment of
the pretor, that is, to be allowed a judex or arbiter, else
the recuperatores or centumviri. These he requested for
the hearing and deciding the business : but none of them
could be desired but by the consent of both parties.
The pretor, having assigned them their judges, defined
and determined the number of witnesses to be admitted,
to hinder the protracting of the suit; and then the parties
proceeded to give their caution, that the judgment, what¬
ever it was, should stand and be performed on both sides.
The judges took a solemn oath to be impartial; and the
parties took the juramentum calumnies. Then the trial
began with the assistance of witnesses, writings, &c.
which was called disceptatio causcc.
ACTION, in a general sense, implies nearly the same
thing with Act. Grammarians, however, observe some
distinction between action and act; the former being ge¬
nerally restricted to the common or ordinary transactions,
whereas the latter is used to express those which are re¬
markable. Thus, we say it is a good action to comfort
the unhappy; it is a generous act to deprive ourselves of
what is necessary for their sake. The wise man proposes
to himself an honest end in all his actions; a prince ought
to mark every day of his life with some act of greatness.
The Abbe Girard makes a further distinction between the
words action and act. The former, according to him, has
more relation to the power that acts than the latter;
whereas the latter has more relation to the effect pro¬
duced than the former; and hence the one is properly the
132
ACT
Action, attribute of the other. Thus, we may properly say, “ Be
sure to preserve a presence of mind in all your actions,
and take care that they be all acts of equity."
Action, in Commerce, is a term used abroad for a cer¬
tain part or share of a public company’s capital stock.
Thus, if a company has 400,000 livres capital stock, this
may be divided into 400 actions, each consisting of 1000
livres. Hence a man is said to have two, four, &c. actions,
according as he has property of 2000, 4000, &c. livres
capital stock. The transferring of actions abroad is per¬
formed much in the same manner as stocks are with us.
Action, in Mechanics, implies either the effort which a
body or power makes against another body or power, or
the effect itself of that effort.
As it is necessary, in works of this kind, to have a par¬
ticular regard to the common language of mechanics and
philosophers, we have given this double definition ; but the
proper signification of the term is the motion which a
body really produces, or tends to produce, in another;
that is, such is the motion it would have produced had
nothing hindered its effect.
All power is nothing more than a body actually in mo¬
tion, or which tends to move itself; that is, a body which
would move itself if nothing opposed it. The action
therefore of a body is rendered evident to us by its mo¬
tion only; and consequently we must not fix any other
idea to the word action than that of actual motion, or a
simple tendency to motion. The famous question relat¬
ing to vis viva and vis mortua owes, in all probability, its
existence to an inadequate idea of the word action ; for had
Leibnitz and his followers observed that the only precise
and distinct idea we can give to the word force or action
reduces it to its effect, that is, to the motion it actually
produces or tends to produce, they would never have
made that curious distinction.
Quantity of Action, a name given by M. de Mauper-
tuis, in the Memoirs of the Parisian Academy of Sciences
for 1744, and those of Berlin for 1746, to the product of
the mass of a body by the space which it runs through,
and by its celerity. He lays it down as a general law,
that, “ in the changes made in the state of a body, the
quantity of action necessary to produce such change is
the least possible.” This principle he applies to the in¬
vestigation of the laws of refraction, of equilibrium, &c.
and even to the ways of acting employed by the Supreme
Being. In this manner M. de Maupertuis attempts to
connect the metaphysics of final causes with the funda¬
mental truths of mechanics; to show the dependence of
the collision of both elastic and hard bodies upon one and
the same law, which before had always been referred to
separate laws; and to reduce the laws of motion and
those of equilibrium to one and the same principle.
Action, in Law, is a demand made before a judge for
obtaining what we are legally entitled to demand, and is
more commonly known by the name of law-suit or process.
Action, in Oratory, is the outward department of the
orator, or the accommodation of his countenance, voice,
and gesture, to the subject of which he is treating.
Action, in Painting and Sculpture, is the attitude or
position of the several parts of the face, body, and limbs,
of such figures as are represented, and whereby they
seem to be really actuated by passions. Thus, we say, the
action of such a figure finely expresses the passions with
which it is agitated; we also use the same expression
with regard to animals.
Action, in Physiology, is applied to the functions of
the body, whether vital, animal, or natural The vital
tunctions, or actions, are those which are absolutely
necessary to life, and without which there is no life;
ACT
as the action of the heart, lungs, and arteries. On the Ac
action and re-action of the solids and fluids on each other,
depend the vital functions. The pulse and respiration
are the external signs of life. Vital diseases are all^
those which hinder the influx of the venous blood into the
cavities of the heart, and the expulsion of the arterial
blood from the same.—The natural functions are those
which are instrumental in repairing the several losses
which the body sustains ; for life is destructive of itself,
its very offices occasioning a perpetual waste. The man-
ducation of food, the deglutition and digestion thereof,
also the separation and distribution of the chyle and ex-
crementitious parts, &c. are under the head of natural
functions, as by these our aliment is converted into our
nature. They are necessary to the continuance of our
bodies.—The animal functions are those which we per¬
form at will, as muscular motion, and all .the voluntary
actions of the body : they are those which constitute the
senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, perception,
reasoning, imagination, memory, judgment, affections of
the mind. Without any or all of them a man may live,
but not so comfortably as with them.
Action, in Poetry, the same with subject or fable.
Critics generally distinguish two kinds, the principal and
the incidental. The principal action is what is generally
called the fable, and the incidental an episode.
ACTIONARY, or Actionist, a proprietor of stock in
a trading company.
ACTIVE denotes something that communicates action
or motion to another; in which acceptation it stands op¬
posed to passive.
Active, in Grammar, is applied to such words as ex¬
press action, and is therefore opposed to passive. The
active performs the action, as the passive receives it.
Thus we say, a verb active, a conjugation active, &c. or
an active participle.
Active Verbs are such as do not only signify doing, or
acting, but have also nouns following them, to be the sub¬
ject of the action or impression. Thus, to love, to teach,
are verbs active ; because we can say, to love a thing, to
teach a man. Neuter verbs also denote an action, but
are distinguished from active verbs, in that they cannot
have a noun following them: such are, to sleep, to go,
&c. Some grammarians, however, make three kinds of
active verbs; the transitive, where the action passes into
a subject different from the agent; reflected, where the
action returns upon the agent; and reciprocal, where the
action returns mutually upon the two agents who pro¬
duced it.
ACTIVITY, in general, denotes the power of acting,
or the active faculty.
Sphere of Activity, the whole space in which the
virtue, power, or influence of any object is exerted.
ACTIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town situated on
the coast of Acarnania, in itself inconsiderable, but famous
for a temple of Apollo, a Safe harbour, and an adjoining
promontory of the same name, in the mouth of the Sinus
Ambracius, opposite to Nicopolis, on the other side of the
bay. It became famous on account of Augustus’s victory
over Antony and Cleopatra, and for quinquennial games
instituted there, called Actia, or Ludi Actiaci. Hence the
epithet Actius, given to Apollo. (Virgil.) Actiaca cera, a
computation of time from the battle of Actium.
ACTIUS, in mythology, a surname of Apollo, from
Actium, where he was worshipped.
ACTON, a large village in the county of Middlesex
and hundred of Ossulton, about five miles from London.
It was formerly frequented on account of some saline
springs, which have now fallen into disuse. The grand
ACT
A r junction canal, in its way from Uxbridge to London,
passes through the parish. It is a rectory in the patron-
1 AcU'te. Le of the bishop of London. The number of inhabitants
'were, in 1801, 1425; in 1811, 1674; and in 1821, 1929.
ACTOR, in general, signifies a person who acts or per¬
forms something.
Actor, among Civilians, the proctor or advocate in
civil courts or causes; as Actor ecclesicc has been some¬
times used for the advocate of the church, actor dominicus
for the lord’s attorney, actor villce for the steward or head
bailiff of a village.
Actor, in the Drama, is a person who represents some
part or character. See Drama. Actors were highly
honoured at Athens: at Rome they were despised, and
not only denied all rank among the citizens, but even
when any citizen appeared upon the stage, he was expelled
his tribe, and deprived of the right of suffrage by censors.
The French have in this respect adopted the ideas of
the Romans; the English those of the Greeks. Women
actors were unknown to the ancients, among whom men
always performed the female character; and hence one
reason for the use of masks among them. Actresses are
by some said not to have been introduced on the English
stage till after the restoration of King Charles II. who has
been charged with contributing to the corrupting of our
manners by importing this usage from abroad. But this
can be but partly true, for Prynne, in his Histriornastix,
speaks of women actors as prostitutes ; which, as the
queen of Charles I. sometimes acted in the court dramas,
was one occasion of the severe prosecution brought against
him for that book. See Bibliography, sect. 6.
Actor, the name of several persons in fabulous history.
One Actor among the Aurunci is described by Virgil as a
hero of the first rank. (2En. xii.)
ACTORUM Tabulae, in antiquity, were tables insti¬
tuted by Servius Tullius, in which the births of children
were registered. They were kept in the treasury of Saturn.
ACTUAL, something that is real and effective, or that
exists truly and absolutely. Thus, philosophers use the
terms actual heat, actual cold, &c. in opposition to virtual
or potential. Hence, among physicians, a red-hot iron, or
fire, is called an actual cautery, in distinction from cau¬
teries, or caustics, that have the power of producing the
same effect upon the animal solids as actual fire, and are
czWeA. potential cauteries. Boiling water is actually hot;
brandy, producing heat in the body, is potentially hot,
though of itself cold.
Actual Sin, that which is committed by the person
himself, in opposition to original sin, or that which he
contracted from being a child of Adam.
ACTUARLE Naves, a kind of long and light ships
among the Romans, thus denominated because they were
chiefly designed for swiftness and expedition. They
correspond to what the French call brigantines.
ACTUARIUS, a celebrated Greek physician of the
thirteenth century, and the first Greek author who has
treated of mild purgatives, such as cassia, manna, senna,
&c. He is the first also who mentions distilled waters.
His works were printed in one volume folio, by Henry
Stephens, in 1567.
Actuarius, or Actarius, a notary, or officer, appoint¬
ed to write the acts or proceedings of a court, or the like.
In the eastern empire, the actuarii were properly officers
who kept the military accounts, received the corn from
the susceptores, or storekeepers, and delivered it to the
soldiers.
ACTUATE, to bring into act, or put a thing in action.
Thus an agent is said, by the schoolmen, to actuate a
power, when it produces an act in a subject. Thus the
A C U 133
mind may be said to actuate the body; and thus a medi- Actus
cine is said, by ancient physicians, to be actuated or ,11
brought into action, when by means of the vital heat it is Acus-
made to produce its effect.
ACTUS, in Ancient Architecture, a measure, in length
equal to 120 Roman feet. In Ancient Agriculture the
word signified the length of one furrow, or the distance a
plough goes before it turns.
Actus Intervicinalis, a space of ground four feet in
breadth, left between the lands as a path or way.
Actus Major, or Actus Quadratus, a piece of ground
in a square form, whose side was equal to 120 feet, equal
to half the jugerum.
Actus Minimus was a quantity of land 120 feet in
length and four in breadth.
ACUANITES, in Ecclesiastical History, the same with
those called more frequently Manichees. They took
the name from Acua, a disciple of Thomas, one of the
twelve apostles.
ACULEATE, or Aculeati, a term applied to any
plant or animal armed with prickles.
ACULEI, the prickles of animals or of plants.
ACULER, in the Manege, is used for the motion of a
horse when, in working upon volts, he does not go far
enough forward at every time or motion, so that his shoul¬
ders embrace or take in too little ground, and his croupe
comes too near the centre of the volt. Horses are natu¬
rally inclined to this fault in making demi-volts.
ACUMINA, in Antiquity, a kind of military omen,
most generally supposed to have been taken from the
points or edges of darts, swords, or other weapons.
ACUNA, Christopher de, a Spanish Jesuit, born at
Burgos. He was admitted into the society in 1612, being
then but 15 years of age. After having devoted some
years to study, he went to America, where he assisted in
making converts in Chili and Peru. In 1640 he returned
to Spain, and gave the king an account how far he had
succeeded in the commission he had received to make
discoveries on the river of the Amazons; and the year
following he published, at Madrid, in a quarto volume,
a description of this river, entitled Nuevo Descubri-
miento del Gran Rio de las Amazonas. He was ten
months together upon this river, having had instruc¬
tions to inquire into every thing with the greatest
exactness, that his Majesty might thereby be enabled to
render the navigation more easy and commodious. He
went aboard a ship at Quito with Peter Texiera, who had
already been so far up the river, and was therefore thought
a proper person to accompany him in this expedition.
They embarked in February 1639, but did not arrive at
Para till the December following. It is thought that the
revolution of Portugal, by which the Spaniards lost Bra¬
zil, and the colony of Para, at the mouth of the river of
the Amazons, led to the suppression of Acuna’s narrative;
for, as it could not be of any advantage to the Spaniards,
they were afraid it might prove of service to the Portuguese,
by instructing them in the navigation of that great river.
M. de Gomberville, the possessor of one of the few copies
that escaped, published a French translation at Paris in *
1682, in 2 vols. 12mo. Acuna appears to have returned
to Peru, and to have died there; but the year of his death
is uncertain.
ACUPUNCTURE, the name of a surgical operation
among the Chinese and Japanese, which is performed by
pricking the part affected with a silver needle. They
employ this operation in headachs, lethargies, convulsions,
colics, &c.
ACUS, in Ichthyology, the trivial name of a species of
Syngnathus.
134
ADA
ADA
Acute
Adam.
ACUTE, an epithet applied to such things as terminate
in a sharp point or edge; and in this sense it stands op¬
posed to obtuse.
AcuTE-angled, in Geometry, is that which is less than a
right angle, or which does not subtend 90 degrees.
AcuTE-angled Cone is, according to the ancients, a
right cone, whose axis makes an acute angle with its side.
AcuTE-angled Triangle is a triangle whose three angles
are all acute.
Acute Diseases, such as come suddenly to a crisis.
This term is used for all diseases which do not fall under
the head of chronic diseases.
Acute, in Music, is applied to a sound or tone that is
sharp or high in comparison of some other tone. In this
sense, acute stands opposed to grave.
ACUTIATOR, in writers of the barbarous ages, denotes
a person that whets or grinds cutting instruments; called
also in ancient glossaries acutor, ay.cv^r^g, samiarius, cotia-
rius, &c. In the ancient armies there were acutiatores,
a kind of smiths, retained for whetting or keeping the arms
sharp.
AD, a Latin preposition, originally signifying to, and
frequently used in composition both with and without the
d, to express the relation of one thing to another.
Ad Bestias, in antiquity, is the punishment of criminals
condemned to be thrown to wild beasts.
Ad Hominem, in Logic, a kind of argument drawn from
the principles or prejudices of those with whom we argue.
Ad Ludos, in antiquity, a sentence upon criminals
among the Romans, whereby they were condemned to
entertain the people by fighting either with wild beasts
or with one another, and thus executing justice upon
themselves.
Ad Metalla, in antiquity, the punishment of such cri¬
minals as were condemned to the mines, among the Ro¬
mans ; and therefore called Metallici.
Ad Valorem, a term chiefly used in speaking of the
duties or customs paid for certain goods. The duties on
some articles are paid by the number, weight, measure,
tale, &c.; and others are paid ad valorem, that is, accord¬
ing to their value.
ADAGE, a proverb, or short sentence, containing some
wise observation or popular saying. Erasmus has made a
very large and valuable collection of the Greek and Ro¬
man adages; and Mr Ray has done the same with regard
to the English. We have also Kelly’s Collection of Scots
Proverbs.
ADAGIO, in Music. Adverbially, it signifies softly,
leisurely ; and is used to denote the slowest of all times.
Used substantively, it signifies a slow movement. Some¬
times this word is repeated, as adagio, adagio, to denote a
still greater retardation in time of the music.
ADALIDES, in the Spanish policy, are officers of jus¬
tice, for matters touching the military forces. In the
laws of King Alphonsus, the adalides are spoken of as of¬
ficers appointed to guide and direct the' marching of the
forces in time of war.
ADAM, the first of the human race, was formed by the
Almighty on the sixth day of the creation. His body was
made of the dust of the earth ; after which, God animat¬
ed or gave it life, and Adam then became a rational crea¬
ture. His heavenly Parent did not leave his offspring in
a destitute state to shift for himself, but planted a gar¬
den, in which he caused to grow not only every tree that
was proper for producing food, but likewise such as were
agreeable to the eye, or merely ornamental. In this gar¬
den were assembled all the brute creation, and, by their
Maker, caused to pass before Adam, who gave all of them
names, which were judged proper by the Deity himself.
In this review Adam found none for a companion to him¬
self. This solitary state was seen by the Deity to be at-C^
tended with some degree of unhappiness, and therefore
he threw Adam into a deep sleep, in which condition he
took a rib from his side, and, healing up the wound, formed
a woman of the rib he had taken out. On Adam’s awak¬
ing, the woman was brought to him ; and he immediately
knew her to be one of his own species, calling her his
bone and his flesh, and giving her the name of woman, be¬
cause she was taken out of man.
The first pair being thus created, God gave them au¬
thority over the inferior creation, commanding them to
subdue the earth, also to increase and multiply, and fill it.
They were informed of the proper food for the beasts and
for them; the grass or green herbs being appointed for
beasts, and fruits or seeds for man. Their proper em¬
ployment also was assigned them; namely, to dress the
garden and to keep it.
Though Adam was thus highly favoured and instructed
by his Maker, there was a single tree, which grew in the
middle of the garden, of the fruit of which they were not
allowed to eat; being told that they should surely die in
the day they ate of it. This tree was named the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This prohibition, how¬
ever, they soon broke through. The woman having en¬
tered into conversation with the Serpent, was by him per¬
suaded, that by eating of the tree she should become as
wise as God himself; and accordingly, being invited by
the beauty of the fruit, and its desirable property of im¬
parting wisdom, she plucked and ate; giving her husband
of it at the same time, who did likewise eat.
Before this transgression of the divine command, Adam
and his wife had no occasion for clothes, neither had they
any sense of shame ; but immediately on eating the for¬
bidden fruit, they were ashamed of being naked, and
made aprons of fig-leaves for themselves. On hearing
the voice of God in the garden, they were terrified, and
hid themselves : but being questioned by the Deity, they
confessed what they had done, and received sentence ac¬
cordingly ; the man being condemned to labour, the wo¬
man to subjection to her husband, and to pain in child¬
bearing. They were now driven out of the garden, and
their access to it prevented by a terrible apparition.
They had clothes given them by the Deity, made of the
skins of beasts. In this state Adam had several children;
the names of only three of whom we are acquainted with,
viz. Cain, Abel, and Seth. He died at the age of 930
years.
These are all the particulars concerning Adam that we
have on divine authority ; but there is a vast multitude of
others, all of them conjectural, part of them downright
falsehoods or absurdities. The curiosity of our readers,
it is presumed, will be sufficiently gratified by the few
which are here subjoined.
According to the Talmudists, when Adam was created,
his body was of immense magnitude. When he sinned,
his stature was reduced to a hundred ells, according to
some; to nine hundred cubits, according to others; who
think this was done at the request of the angels, who
were afraid of so gigantic a creature.
According to the revelations of the famous Madame
Bourignon, Adam before his fall possessed in himself theipn
principles of both sexes, and the virtue or power of pro-to a
ducing his like without the concurrent assistance of wo-6”111 r
man. The division into two sexes, she imagined,1 was ^
the consequence of man’s sin; and now, she observes, man- you
kind are become so many monsters in nature, being much feA
less perfect in this respect than plants or trees, which are Aw
capable of producing their like alone, and without pain or
LdjKl-
«ihe
itimal
■ituctd as
ibovjde-
tcril,'.
ADA
misery. She even imagined, that being in an ecstasy, she
saw the figure of Adam before he fell, with the manner
how, by himself, he was capable of procreating other men.
“ God,” says she, “ represented to my mind the beauty of
the first world, and the manner how he had drawn it from
the chaos: every thing was bright, transparent, and darted
forth life and ineffable glory. The body of Adam was purer
and more transparent than crystal, and vastly fleet;
through his body were seen vessels and rivulets of light,
which penetrated from the inward to the outward parts,
through all his pores. In some vessels ran fluids of all
kinds and colours, vastly bright, and quite diaphanous.
The most ravishing harmony arose from every motion,
and nothing, resisted or could annoy him. His stature
was taller than the present race of men; his hair was
short, curled, and of a colour inclining to black; his up¬
per lip covered with short hair; and instead of the bestial
parts which modesty will not allow us to name, he was
fashioned as our bodies will be in the eternal life, which I
know not whether I dare reveal. In that region his nose
was formed after the manner of a face, which diffused the
most delicious fragrancy and perfumes; whence also men
were to issue, all whose principles were inherent in him;
there being in his belly a vessel where little eggs were
formed, and a second vessel filled with a fluid which im¬
pregnated those eggs; and when man heated himself in
the love of God, the desire he had that other creatures
should exist beside himself, to praise and love God, caus¬
ed the fluid above mentioned (by means of the fire of the
love of God) to drop on one or more of these eggs, with
inexpressible delight; which being thus impregnated,
issued, some time after, out of man by this canal,1 in the
shape of an egg, whence a perfect man was hatched by
insensible degrees. Woman was formed by taking out of
Adam’s side the vessels that contained the eggs ; which
she still possesses, as is discovered by anatomists.”
Many others have believed that Adam at his first crea¬
tion was both male and female; others, that he had two
bodies joined together at the shoulders, and their faces
looking opposite ways, like those of Janus. Hence, say
these, when God created Eve, he had no more to do than
to separate the two bodies from one another. Of all
others, however, the opinion of Paracelsus seems the most
ridiculous.2 Negabat primos parentes ante lapsum habuis-
se partes generationi hominis necessarias ; credebat postea
accessisse, ut strumam gutturi.
Extravagant things are asserted concerning Adam’s
knowledge. Some rabbis, indeed, have contented them¬
selves with equalling it to that of Moses and Solomon;
but others have maintained that he excelled the angels
themselves. Several Christians seem to be little behind
these Jews in the degree of knowledge they ascribe to
Adam; nothing being hid from him, according to them,
except contingent events relating to futurity. One writer
indeed (Pinedo) excepts politics ; but a Carthusian friar,
having exhausted in favour of Aristotle every image and
comparison he could think of, at last asserted that Aris¬
totle’s knowledge was as extensive as that of Adam.
In consequence of this surprising knowledge with which
Adam was endued, he is supposed to have been a con¬
siderable author. The Jews pretend that he wrote a book
on the Creation, and another on the Deity. Some rabbis
ascribe the 92d psalm to him; and in some manuscripts
the Chaldee title of this psalm expressly declares that
this is the song of praise which the first man repeated for
the Sabbath-day.
Strange stories are told concerning Adam’s children,
lhat he had none in the state of innocence, is certain
from Scripture ; but that his marriage with Eve was not
ADA
135
consummated till after the fall, cannot be proved from Adam,
thence. Some imagine, that, for many years after thek'-^v“^
fall, Adam denied himself the connubial joys by way of
penance; others, that he cohabited with another woman,
whose name was Lillith. The Mahometans tell us,
that our first parents having been thrown headlong from
the celestial paradise, Adam fell upon the isle of Ser-
endib, or Ceylon, in the East Indies; and Eve on lodda,
a port of the Red Sea, not far from Mecca. After a se¬
paration of upwards of 200 years, they met in Ceylon,
where they multiplied: according to some Eve had twenty,
according to others only eight deliveries; bringing forth
at each time twins, a male and a female, who afterwards
married. The rabbis imagine that Eve brought forth
Cain and Abel at a birth; that Adam wept for Abel a
hundred years in the valley of tears near Hebron, during
which time he did not cohabit with his wife; and that
this separation would probably have continued longer, had
it not been forbid by the angel Gabriel. The inhabitants
of Ceylon affirm, that the salt lake on the mountain of
Colombo consists wholly of the tears which Eve for one
hundred years together shed because of Abel’s death.
Some of the Arabians tell us, that Adam was buried
near Mecca, on Mount Abukobeis ; others, that Noah hav¬
ing laid his body in the ark, caused it to be carried after
the deluge to Jerusalem, by Melchizedek, the son of
Shem : of this opinion are the eastern Christians ; but the
Persians affirm that he was.interred in the isle of Seren-
dib, where his corpse was guarded by lions at the time the
giants warred upon one another. Some are of opinion
that he was buried at Jerusalem, on the place where Christ
suffered, that so his bones might be sprinkled with the
Saviour’s blood.
Adam, Alexander, Rector of the High School, Edin¬
burgh, and author of several valuable works connected
with Roman literature, was born on the 24th of June 1741,
on a small farm which his father rented, not far from Forres,
in Morayshire. He does not appear to have received any
powerful direction to literary pursuits, either from the at¬
tainments of his parents or the ability of the parochial
schoolmaster; but is referable to a class of men, of which
Scotland can produce a very honourable list, whom the
secret workings of a naturally active mind have raised
above the level of their associates, and urged on to dis¬
tinction and usefulness under the severest pressure of dif¬
ficulties. The gentle treatment of an old schoolmistress
first taught him to like his book; and this propensity in¬
duced his parents to consent that he should learn Latin.
To the imperfect instruction which he received at the
parish school, he joined indefatigable study at home, not¬
withstanding the scanty means and poor accommodation
of his father’s house. Before he was sixteen, he had read
the whole of Livy, in a copy of the small Elzevir edition,
which he had borrowed from a neighbouring clergyman ;
omitting for the present all such passages as his own sa¬
gacity and Cole’s Dictionary did not enable him to con¬
strue. It was before day-break, during the mornings of
winter, and by the light of splinters of bog'-wood dug out
of an adjoining moss, that he prosecuted the perusal of
this difficult classic; for, as the whole family were col¬
lected round the only fire in the evening, he was prevent¬
ed by the noise from reading with any advantage; and
the day-light was spent at school.
In the autumn of 1757, he was a competitor for one of
those bursaries, or small exhibitions, which are given by
the university of Aberdeen to young men who distinguish
themselves for their classical attainments; but as the prize
was awarded to the best written exercises, and as Adam,
with all his reading, had not yet been accustomed to write
136
Adam.
ADA
he was foiled by some youth who had been more fortu¬
nate in his means of instruction. About the same time
Mr Watson, a relation of his mother’s, and one of the mi¬
nisters of the Canongate, sent him a tardy invitation to
come to Edinburgh, “ provided he was prepared to endure
every hardship for a season,”—a condition not likely to
appal one who yet knew nothing of life but its hardships.
The interest of Mr Watson procured him free admission
to the lectures of the different professors; and as he had
now also access to books in the College Library, his lite¬
rary ardour made him submit with cheerfulness to the
greatest personal privations. Eighteen months of assidu¬
ous application enabled him to repair the defects of his
early tuition, and to obtain, after a comparative trial of
candidates, the head mastership of the foundation known
by the name of Watson’s Hospital. At this period he was
only nineteen, on which account the governors of the in¬
stitution limited the appointment to half a year ; but his
steadiness and ability speedily removed their scruples.
After holding the situation for three years, he was induc¬
ed, by the prospect of having more leisure for the prose¬
cution of his studies, to resign it, and become private
tutor to the son of Mr Kincaid, a wealthy citizen, and
afterwards Lord Provost of Edinburgh; and it was in
consequence of this connection that he was afterwards
raised to the office for which he was so eminently quali¬
fied. He taught in the High School, for the first time, in
April 1765, as substitute for Mr Matheson the rector; in
consequence of whose growing infirmities, an arrangement
was made, by which he retired on a small annuity, to be
paid from the profits of the class; and Mr Adam was con¬
firmed in the rectorship on the 8th of June 1768.
From this period the history of his life is little more
than the history of his professional labours and of his li¬
terary productions. No sooner was he invested with the
office, than he gave himself up with entire devotion to the
business of his class, and the pursuits connected with it.
For forty years his day was divided with singular regu¬
larity between the public duties of teaching and that un¬
wearied research and industry in private which enabled
him, amidst the incessant occupation of a High School
master’s life, to give to the world such a number of ac¬
curate and laborious compilations. So entirely did these
objects of public utility engross his mind, that he mixed
but little with society, and considered every moment as
lost that was not dedicated in some way or other to the
improvement of youth. Few men certainly could adopt,
with more truth and propriety, the language of Horace,
both with regard to his own feelings and the objects on
which he was occupied:
 mihi tarda fluunt ingrataqye tempera, qiue spem
Consiliumque morantur agendi gnaviter id, quod
ASque pauperibus prodest, locupletibus aeque,
ASque, neglectum, pueris senibusque nocebit.
Epist. i. 1. S3.
The rector’s class, which in the High School is the
most advanced of five, consisted of no more than between
thirty and forty boys when Dr Adam was appointed.
His celebrity as a classical teacher, joined to the progress
of the country in wealth and population, continued to in¬
crease this number up to the year of his death. His
class-list for that year contained 167 names,—the largest
number that had ever been collected in one class, and,
what is remarkable, equal to the amount of the whole five
classes during the year when he first taught in the school.
He performed an essential service to the literature of
his country by introducing, in his own class, an addition¬
al hour of teaching for Greek and Geography; neither of
which branches seems to have been contemplated in the
ADA
original formation of the school. The introduction of Ai
Greek, which he effected a year or two after his election,^ j
was regarded by some professors of the university as a ^
dangerous innovation, and an unwarrantable encroachment
on the province of the Greek chair; and the measure was
accordingly resisted (though, it is satisfactory to think,
unsuccessfully) by the united efforts of the Senatus Aca-
demicus, in a petition and representation to the town-
council, drawn up and proposed by the celebrated Princi¬
pal of the university, Dr Robertson. This happened in
1772.
It is not possible for a man of principle and ordinary
affections to be occupied in training a large portion of the
youth of his country to knowledge and virtue, without
feeling a deep responsibility, and a paramount interest in
their progress and welldoing. That such were Dr Adam’s
feelings is proved, not less by the whole tenor of his life,
than by his mode of conducting the business of his class;
by the free scope and decided support he gave to talent,
particularly when the possessor of it was poor and friend¬
less ; by the tender concern with which he followed his
pupils into life; and by a test not the least unequivocal,
the enthusiastic attachment and veneration which they
entertain for his memory. In his class-room, his manner,
while it imposed respect, was kindly and conciliating. He
was fond of relieving the irksomeness of continued atten¬
tion by narrating curious facts and amusing anecdotes. In
the latter part of his life, he was perhaps too often the
hero of his own tale; but there was something amiable
even in this weakness, which arose from the vanity of hav¬
ing done much good, and was totally unmixed with any
alloy of selfishness.
Dr Adam’s first publication was his Grammar, which
appeared in 1772. He had two principal objects in com¬
piling it;—to combine the study of English and Latin
grammar, so that they might mutually illustrate each
other; and to supersede the preposterous method of teach¬
ing Latin by a grammar composed in that language, and
of overloading the memory with rules in Latin hexame¬
ters, for almost every fact and every anomaly in its gram¬
matical structure. The change he proposed, reasonable
as it was, could not be effected without running counter
to confirmed prejudices, and interfering with established
books. Although, therefore, the grammar met with the
approbation of some eminently good judges, particularly
of Bishop Lowth, the author had no sooner adopted it in
his own class, and recommended it to others, than a host
of enemies rose up against him, and he was involved in
much altercation and vexatious hostility with the town-
council and the four under masters. Dr George Stewart,
then professor of humanity, was related to Ruddiman,
whose grammar Dr Adam’s was intended to supersede;
and to this cause may be traced the commencement of
the determined opposition that was long made to any
change. In these squabbles, the acrimony displayed by
some of his adversaries now and then altered the natural
suavity of Dr Adam’s temper; and his high notions of in¬
dependence, and contempt of presumptuous ignorance,
led him perhaps to neglect too much those easy arts of
conciliation, which enable a man, witliout the slightest com-
promise of his integrity, “ to win his way by yielding to
His work on Roman Antiquities was published in 1791,
and has contributed, more than any of his other produc¬
tions, to give him a name as a classical scholar. The vast
variety ol matter, the minuteness and accuracy of the de¬
tails, the number and fidelity of the references, the con¬
stant bearing the work has upon the classics, and the light
it throws on them at every step, were soon perceived and
ADA
am. appreciated over the whole island. These solid excellen-
/-v_/'cies abundantly compensate for a certain air of heaviness,
and the absence of the lighter graces of interesting style
and manner. His reader follows him as he would do a
faithful guide, through a strange and difficult country,
with a feeling of perfect assurance that he will arrive at
the end of his journey, if not by the pleasantest road, at
least by the most direct and secure. The Roman Anti¬
quities is now adopted as a class-book in many of the
English schools; and, even in those where the influence
of custom opposes innovation, it is found in every master’s
library, and recommended by him to his advanced pupils
for private reading and reference.
In 1794 he published his Summary of Geography a7id
History, in one thick 8vo volume of 900 pages, which had
grown in his hands to this size from a small treatise on
the same subject, printed for the use of his pupils in
1784. The object of this work was to connect the study
of the classics with that of general knowledge ; and it ac¬
cordingly contains a curious compound of interesting mat¬
ter, unwieldy as a school-book, and not always arranged
in the most luminous or engaging order, but valuable to
the young student for its succinct account of the first
principles of astronomical, mathematical, and physical
science, and for the mass it contains of geographical and
historical information, especially with regard to the fabu¬
lous ages of antiquity.
His Classical Biography, published in 1800, is the least
in request of all his works; a circumstance owing, per¬
haps, to the more comprehensive and popular plan of
Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary. It exhibits, however,
ample proofs of well-directed industry; and in the number
and unfailing accuracy of the references, furnishes an ex¬
cellent index to the best sources of information, even
where the book itself may be thought meagre and scanty.
His last work was his Latin Dictionary, which appear¬
ed in 1805, printed, like every other production of his
pen, in the most unassuming form, and with the utmost
anxiety to condense the greatest quantity of useful know¬
ledge into the smallest bulk, andlafford it to the student
at the cheapest rate. It was intended chiefly for the use
ot schools, and to be followed by a larger work, contain¬
ing copious illustrations of every word in the language.
Ihe character which he had acquired by his former works
for patient research and correct detail stamped a high
and deserved authority on this book. The clear account
of the different meanings of words, the explanation of
idioms, and happy translation of difficult passages, which
abound, particularly in the latter half, are admirably well
adapted to remove the difficulties of the younger student,
and render the work, notwithstanding the modesty of its
pretensions, equally valuable to the more advanced. It is
much to be regretted he did not live to complete his larger
work on the extended scale on which the latter part of
the small one is executed. He had proceeded as far as
the word Comburo, with a plenitude of illustration that
would have made the work a treasure of Latinity, when
he was seized in school with an apoplectic affection ; oc¬
casioned, perhaps, by the intenseness of his application,
and the small portion of sleep he allowed himself,—certain¬
ly not by his mode of living, which was simple and ab¬
stemious to an extreme degree. He lingered five days
under the disease. Amidst the wanderings of mind that
accompanied it, he was constantly reverting to the busi¬
ness of the class, and addressing his boys ; and in the last
hour of his life, as he fancied himself examining on the
lesson of the day, he stopped short, and said, “ But it
grows dark, you may goand almost immediately expired.
He died on the 18th of December 1809, at the age of 68.
VOL. II.
ADA 137
The magistrates of Edinburgh, whose predecessors had Adam,
not always been alive to his merits, showed their respect
for his memory by a public funeral. A short time before
his death, he was solicited by some of his old pupils to sit
to Mr Raeburn for his portrait, which was executed in the
best style of that eminent artist, and placed, as a memo¬
rial of their gratitude and respect, in the library of the
High School.
He was twice married; first in 1775, to Miss Munro,
eldest daughter of the minister of Kinloss, by whom he
had several children, the last of whom died within a few
days of his father; and in 1789, to Miss Cosser, daughter
of Mr Cosser, Comptroller of Excise, who, with two
daughters and a son, are still alive. (h.)
Adam, Melchior, lived in the seventeenth century. He
was born in the territory of Grotkaw in Silesia, and edu¬
cated in the college of Brieg, where he became a firm
Protestant, and was enabled to pursue his studies by the
liberality of a person of quality, wdio had left several ex¬
hibitions for young students. He was appointed rector
of a college at Heidelberg, where he published, in the
year 1615, the first volume of his Vitce Germanorum Phi-
losophorum, &c. This volume, which treated of philoso¬
phers, poets, writers on polite literature, and historians,
&c. was followed by three others : that which treated of
divines was printed in 1619; that of the lawyers came
next; and, finally, that of the physicians : the last two
were published in 1620. All the learned men whose lives
are contained in these four volumes lived in the sixteenth
or beginning of the seventeenth century, and are either
Germans or Flemings ; but he published in 1618 the lives
of twenty divines of other countries in a separate vo¬
lume, entitled Decades duce, continentes Vitas Theologorum
exterorum principum. All his divines are Protestants.
The Lutherans were not pleased with him, for they thought
him partial, and will not allow his work to be a proper
standard of the learning of Germany. He was the author
of some other works of less consequence than his Lives.
His industry as a biographer is commended by Bayle,
who acknowledges his obligations to his labours. He died
in 1622.
Adam, Robert, an eminent architect, was born at Edin¬
burgh in the year 1728. He was the second son of Wil¬
liam Adam, Esq. of Maryburgh, in the county of Fife,
who has also left some respectable specimens of his
genius and abilities as an architect in Plopetoun-house
and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which were erect¬
ed from designs executed by him. And it was perhaps
owing to the fortunate circumstance of his father’s exam¬
ple that young Adam first directed his attention to those
studies, in the prosecution of which he aftenvards rose to
such distinguished celebrity. He received his education at
the university of Edinburgh, where he had an opportunity
of improving and enlarging his mind, by the conversation
and acquaintance of some of the first literary characters
of the age, who were then rising into reputation, or have
since established their fame as historians and philosophers.
Among these were Mr Hume, Dr Robertson, Dr Smith,
and Dr Ferguson, who were the friends and companions
of the father, and who continued through life their friend¬
ship and attachment to the son.
In the year 1754, Mr Adam travelled to the Continent,
with a view to extend his knowledge and improve his
taste in architecture, and resided in Italy for three years.
Here he surveyed and studied those noble specimens of
ancient grandeur which the magnificent public edifices of
the Romans, even in ruins, still exhibit. In tracing the
progress of architecture and the other fine arts among the
Romans, Mr Adam observed that they had visibly declined
138 ADA
Adam, previously to the time of Dioclesian ; but he was also con-
' vinced that the liberal patronage and munificence of
that emperor had revived, during his reign, a better taste
for architecture, and had formed artists who were capable
of imitating the more elegant style of a purer age. He
had seen this remarkably exemplified in the public baths
at Rome, which were erected by him, the most entire and
the noblest of the ancient buildings. Admiring the extent
and fertility of genius of the artists from whose designs
such magnificent structures had been executed, he was
anxious to see and study any remains that yet existed of
those masters whose works were striking monuments of
an elegant and improved taste, but whose names, amid
the wrecks of time, have sunk into oblivion. It was with
this view that he undertook a voyage to Spalatro, in Dal¬
matia, to visit and examine the private palace of Diocle¬
sian, in which that emperor resided for nine years previous
to his death, and to which he retired in the year 305,
when he resigned the government of the empire. Mr
Adam sailed from Venice in July 1754, accompanied by
M. Clerisseau, a French artist and antiquary, and two ex¬
perienced draughtsmen. On their arrival at Spalatro,
they found, that though the palace had suffered much from
the injuries of time, yet it had sustained no less from
the dilapidations of the inhabitants to procure materials
for building; and even the foundations of the ancient
structure were covered with modern houses. With high
expectations of success they commenced their labours,
but were soon interrupted by the jealous vigilance of the
government. Suspecting that their object was to view
and make plans of the fortifications, an immediate and
peremptory order was issued by the governor, command¬
ing them to desist. This order, however, was soon coun¬
teracted through the mediation of General Graeme, the
commander-in-chief of the Venetian forces; and they
were permitted to proceed in their undertaking. They
resumed their labours with double ardour, and in five
weeks finished plans and views of the fragments which re¬
main, from which they were enabled to execute perfect
designs of the entire building.
Mr Adam now returned to England, and soon rose to
very considerable professional eminence. In 1762 he was
, appointed architect to the king ; and the year following he
presented to the public the fruit of his voyage to Spalatro,
in a splendid work, containing engravings and descriptions
of the ruins of the palace. “ For the account of Diocle-
sian’s palace,” says Mr Gibbon, “ we are indebted to an
ingenious artist of our own time and country, whom a very
liberal curiosity had carried into the heart of Dalmatia.
But there is room to suspect that the elegance of his
designs and engravings has somewhat flattered the ob¬
jects which it was their purpose to represent. We are
informed by a more recent and very judicious traveller,
the Abbe Fortis, that the awful ruins of Spalatro are not
less expressive of the decline of the arts than of the great¬
ness of the Roman empire in the time of Dioclesian.”
Upon this we may observe, that Mr Adam allows, that
previously to this period of the Roman empire the arts had
visibly declined : and only contends, that the buildings
erected in the reign of Dioclesian exhibit convincing
proofs of the style and manner of a purer age.
In the year 1768, Mr Adam obtained a seat in parlia¬
ment. He was chosen to represent the county of Kin¬
ross ; and about the same time he resigned his office of
architect to the king. But he continued his professional
career with increasing reputation; and about the year
1773, in conjunction with his brother James, who also
rose to considerable eminence as an architect, he publish¬
ed another splendid work, consisting of plans and eleva-
ADA
tions of public and private buildings which were erected a
from their designs. Among these are, Lord Mansfield’s l
house at Caenwood; Luton-house in Bedfordshire, belong- Jdar
ing to Lord Bute; the new Gateway of the Admiralty1
Office ; the Register Office at Edinburgh, &c.; which are
universally admired as precious monuments of elegant de¬
sign and correct taste. The Adelphi buildings at London,
which are also striking examples of the inventive genius
of the Messrs Adam, proved an unsuccessful speculation.
The wealth and power of a nation only were equal to so
extensive an undertaking ; it was too great to be attempt¬
ed by private citizens.
The buildings more lately erected from the designs of
Mr Adam afford additional proofs of his invention and
skill. We may mention in particular the Infirmary of
Glasgow, as exhibiting the most perfect symmetry and
useful disposition of parts, combined with great beauty
and lightness.
To the last period of his life Mr Adam displayed an
increasing vigour of genius and refinement of taste; for,
in the space of one year preceding his death, he designed
eight great public works, besides twenty-five private
buildings, so various in their style and beautiful in their
composition, that they have been allowed, by the best
judges, sufficient of themselves to establish his fame. The
improved taste which now pretty generally prevails in
our public and private edifices, undoubtedly owes much
to the elegant and correct style introduced by this distin¬
guished artist.
He died on the 3d of March 1792, by the bursting of a
blood-vessel, in the 64th year of his age, and was buried
in Westminster Abbey. The natural suavity of his man¬
ners, joined to the excellence of his moral character, se¬
cured to him the affectionate regard of his friends,* and
the esteem of all who enjoyed his acquaintance. James
Adam, already mentioned as associated with his brother
in many of his labours, died on the 20th October 1794.
Adam’s Apple, a name given to a species of Citrus.
Adam’s Bridge, or Rama’s Bridge, in Geography, a
ridge of sands and rocks, extending across the north end
of Manara gulf, from the island of that name on the north¬
west coast of Ceylon, to Ramencote or Ramankoil island,
off Raman point. | I
Adam’s Peak, a high mountain in the island of Ceylon,
on the top of which, it has been said, the first man was
created. It is in the form of a sugar loaf, and terminates
in a circular plain about 200 paces in diameter. The
summit is covered with trees, and has a deep lake which
supplies the principal rivers of the island. The mountain
is seen at the distance of twenty leagues from sea. It is
situated in Long. 80. 39. E. Lat. 5. 55. N.
ADAMANT, a name sometimes given to the diamond. j
(See Diamond.) It is likewise applied to the scoriae of
gold, the magnet, &c.
ADAMIC Earth, a name given to common red clay,
alluding to that species of earth of which the first man is
supposed to have been made.
AD AMI Pomum, in Anatomy, a protuberance in the
fore part of the throat, formed by the os hyoides. It is
thought to be so called from a strange conceit, that a
piece of the forbidden apple which Adam ate stuck by
the way and occasioned it.
AD AMI IES, or Adamians, in Ecclesiastical History,
the name of a sect of ancient heretics, supposed to have
been a branch of the Basilidians and Carpocratians.
Epiphanius tells us that they were called Adamites from
their pretending to be re-established in the state of inno¬
cence, and to be such as Adam was at the moment of his
creation, whence they ought to imitate him in his nakedness.
ADA
i Aims. They rejected marriage, maintaining that the conjugal
Union would never have taken place upon earth had sin
been unknown.
This obscure and ridiculous sect did not at first last
long; but it was revived, with additional absurdities, in
the twelfth century, by one Tandamus, since known by
the name of Tanchelin, who propagated his errors at Ant¬
werp in the reign of the emperor Henry V. He main¬
tained that there ought to be no distinction between
priests and laymen, and that fornication and adultery were
meritorious actions. Tanchelin had a great number of
followers, and was constantly attended by 3000 of these
profligates in arms. His sect did not, however, continue
long after his death; but another appeared under the
name of Turlupins, in Savoy and Dauphiny, where they
committed the most brutal actions in open day.
About the beginning of the fifteenth century, one Pi¬
card, a native of Flanders, spread these errors in Germany
and Bohemia, particularly in the army of the famous
Zisca, notwithstanding the severe discipline he maintain¬
ed. Picard pretended that he was sent into the world as
a new Adam, to re-establish the law of nature ; and which,
according to him, consisted in exposing every part of the
body, and having all the women in common. This sect
found also some partisans in Poland, Holland, and Eng¬
land : they assembled in the night; and it is asserted, that
one of the fundamental maxims of their society was con¬
tained in the following verse:
ADA
139
Jura, perjura, secretum prodere noli.
ADAMS, a township of Berkshire county, in the state
of Massachusetts, in North America. It is 140 miles
north-west of Boston, and contains 2040 inhabitants.
In the northern part of this district, a stream called Hud¬
son’s brook has worn a channel through a stratum of white
marble, and over the channel the rocks form a fine natural
bridge, which is 12 or 15 feet long, 10 feet broad, and
more than 60 feet above the water.
Adams, John, a distinguished statesman of the United
States of North America. He was born on the 19th or
(new style) 30th of October 1736, in that part of the town¬
ship of Braintree, in Massachusetts, which on a subse¬
quent division was called Quincey. His parents were of
that class, then abounding in New England, who united
the profession of agriculture with that of some one of the
mechanic arts. His ancestor Henry had emigrated from
Devonshire in the year 1632, and had established himself
at Braintree with six sons, all of whom married: from one
descended the subject of this memoir, and from another
that Samuel Adams who, with John Hancock, was by
name proscribed by an act of the British parliament, for
the conspicuous part he acted in the early stages of the
opposition to the measures of the mother country. When
about 15 years of age, his father proposed to his son
John either to follow the family pursuits, and to receive
m due time, as his portion, a part of the estate which they
had cultivated, or to have the expense of a learned edu¬
cation bestowed upon him, with which, instead of any
rortune, he was to make his way in future life. The son
c lose the latter alternative ; and having received some pre-
paratory instruction, was admitted a student at Howard
College in the year 1751. After passing about three
years in that seminary, he removed to the town of Wor¬
cester, where, according to the economical practice of that
ay in New England, he became a tutor in a grammar
school, and at the same time was initiated into the prac¬
tice of the law in the office of Mr Putnam, then an at-
orney and a colonel of militia, and subsequently a gene¬
ral ot some celebrity in the revolutionary war. A letter of
Mi Adams, which has lately come before the public, written Adams,
at the early age of 19, shows a degree of forecast which,'
like many other productions, may have led to its own ac¬
complishment. It is dated 12th October 1755, and says,
Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over to
this new world for conscience’ sake. Perhaps this appa¬
rently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire
to America. It looks likely to me ; for if we can remove
the turbulent Gallic (the French in Canada), our people,
according to the exactest computation, will in another cen¬
tury become more numerous than England itself. Should
this be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval
stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain
the mastery of the seas; and then the united force of
all Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way
to keep us from setting up for ourselves is to disunite us.
He was admitted to practice in the year 1758, and gra¬
dually rose to the degree of eminence which a local court
can confer; and obtained distinction by some essays on
the subject of the canon and feudal law, which were direct¬
ed to point to the rising difference which commenced be¬
tween the mother country and the colonies, soon after the'
peace of 1763 had delivered the latter from all disquietude
respecting the establishments of France in the adjoining
province of Canada. Elis character rose, both as a law¬
yer and a patriot, so as to induce Governor Barnard, who
wished to gain him over to the royal party, to offer him the
office of advocate-general in the Admiralty Court, which
was deemed a sure step to the highest honours of the
bench. Two years after, he was chosen one of the repre¬
sentatives of his native town to the congress of the pro¬
vince. r
His professional integrity was soon after exhibited in the
defence of Captain Preston and some soldiers, who were
tried before a Boston jury on a charge of murder. In this
case Adams was counsel for the defence; and being con¬
sidered by the people, then in an inflamed state against the
troops, as a determined friend of liberty, his eloquence
obtained a verdict of acquittal, without lessening his popu-
larity.
When it was determined, in 1774, to assemble a general
congress from the several colonies, Mr Adams was one of
those solicited for the purpose by the people of Massa¬
chusetts. Before departing for Philadelphia to join the
congress, he parted with the friend of his youth, his fel¬
low-student and associate at the bar, Jonathan Sewall,
who had attained the rank of attorney-general, and was
necessarily opposed to his political views. Sewall made a
powerful effort to change his determination, and to deter
him from going to the congress. Fie urged, that Britain
was determined on her system, and was irresistible; and
would be destructive to him and all those who should
persevere in opposition to her designs. To this Adams
replied: “ I know that Great Britain has determined on
her system, and that very fact determines mfe on mine.
You know I have been constant and uniform in opposition
to her measures ; the die is now cast; I have passed the
Rubicon ; to swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish
with my country, is my unalterable determination.” The
conversation was then terminated by Adams saying to
his friend, “ I see we must part; and with a bleeding
heart, I say, I fear for ever. But you may depend upon
it, this adieu is the sharpest thorn on which I ever set my
foot.” J
When the continental congress was assembled, Mr
Adams became one of its most active and energetic lead¬
ers. He was a member of that committee which framed
the. declaration of independence, and one of the most
powerful advocates for its adoption by the general body ;
140 ADA
Adams, and by his eloquence obtained the unanimous suffrages of
that assembly. Though he was appointed chief justice in
1776, he declined the office, in order to dedicate his talents
to the general purpose of the defence of the country.
In 1777, he, with three other members, was appointed a
commissioner to France. He remained in Paris about a
year and a half, when, in consequence of disagreements
among themselves, in which Adams was not implicated, all
but Franklin were recalled. In the latter end of 1779, he
was charged with two commissions, one as a plenipoten¬
tiary to treat for peace, the other empowering him to form
a commercial treaty with Great Britain. When arrived
in Paris, the French government viewed with jealousy the
purpose of the second commission; and Count de Ver-
gennes advised him to keep it secret, with a view to pre¬
vail on the congress to revoke it. Mr Adams refused to
communicate to the Count his instructions on that subject;
and an altercation arose, from a claim made by France
for a discrimination in favour of French holders of Ame¬
rican paper money in the liquidation of it. The Count
complained to congress, transmitted copies of Mr Adams’
' letters, and instructed the French minister at Philadel¬
phia to demand his recall. The demand was rejected,
but afterwards four others were joined with him in the
commission. Whilst these negotiations were in progress,
he went to Holland, and there, in opposition to the in¬
fluence and talents of the British minister, Sir Joseph
Yorke, succeeded both in negotiating a loan, and in pro¬
curing the assistance of that country in the defence against
Great Britain. He formed a commercial treaty with that
republic, and joined in the ephemeral association called
“ the armed neutrality.”
In 1785 Mr Adams was appointed ambassador to the
court of his former sovereign, where his conduct was
such as to secure the approbation of his own country, and
the respect of that to which he was commissioned.
Whilst in London, he published his work entitled De¬
fence of the American Constitution, in which he combat¬
ed ably the opinions of Turgot, Mably, and Price, in fa¬
vour of a single legislative assembly; and thus perhaps
contributed to the division of power and the checks on
its exercise, which became established in the United
States. At the close of 1787 he returned, after ten years
devoted to the public service, to America. He received
the thanks of congress, and was elected soon after, under
the presidency of Washington, to the office of vice-presi¬
dent. In 1790 Mr Adams gave to the public his Dis¬
courses on Davila, in which he exposed the revolutionary
doctrines propagated by France and her emissaries in other
countries. On the retirement of Washington, the choice
of president fell on Mr Adams, who entered on that
office in May 1797. At that time the government was
entangled by the insolent pretensions of the French dema¬
gogues, and by their partisans in many of the states.
Great differences of opinion arose between the individuals
at the head of affairs: one party, with Mr Hamilton at
their head, was disposed to resist the pretensions of
France by open hostilities ; whilst Mr Adams was disin¬
clined to war, so long as there was a possibility of avoiding
it with honour. Owing to this division of his own friends,
rather than to a want of public confidence, at the conclu¬
sion of the four years for which the president is chosen,
Mr Adams was not re-elected. Perhaps this was in some
measure owing to the preponderance of the slave states,
in which Mr Jefferson, his rival, and a proprietor of slaves,
had a fellow-feeling among the chief of the people.
He retired with dignity at 68 years of age to his native
place, formed no political factions against those in power,
but publicly expressed his approbation of the measures
ADA
which were pursued by him who had been his rival, who At,
had become his successor in power, but had never ceased
to be his firmly attached friend. i
The last public occasion on which Mr Adams appeared,^ J
was as a member of the convention for the revision of the
constitution of Massachusetts, in which some slight altera¬
tions were requisite, in consequence of the province of
Maine being separated from it.
He seems to have enjoyed his mental faculties to the
close of his protracted life; and even on the last day of
it, two hours only before its final close, on the 4th July
1825, the fiftieth anniversary of the act of independence,
he dictated to a friend, as a sentiment to be given at
the public dinner of the day, “ Independence for ever.”
Mr Adams was considered as a sound scholar, well
versed in the ancient languages, and in many branches of
general literature. His style in writing was forcible and
perspicuous, and, in the latter years of his life, remark¬
ably elegant. In person he was of middling stature ; his
manners spoke the courtesy of the old school; and his
address, at least when he was in England, was dignified
and manly. (g.)
ADAMSFIIDE, a district of the circle of Rastenburg,
belonging to the king of Prussia, which, with Dombrosken,
was bought, in 1737, for 42,000 dollars.
ADAMSON, Patrick, a Scotish prelate, archbishop
of St Andrews, was born in the year 1543 in the town of
Perth, where he received the rudiments of his education;
and afterwards studied philosophy, and took his degree
of master of arts, at the university of St Andrews. In
1566 he set out for Paris as tutor to a young gentle¬
man. In the month of June of the same year, Mary
Queen of Scots being delivered of a son, afterwards James
YI. of Scotland and I. of England, Mr Adamson wrote a
Latin poem on the occasion. In this poem he gave the
prince the title of king of France and England; and this
proof of his loyalty involved him in difficulties, for the
French court was offended, and ordered him to be arrest¬
ed ; and he was confined for six months. He was releas¬
ed only through the intercession of Queen Mary and
some of the principal nobility, who interested themselves
in his behalf. As soon as he recovered his liberty, he re¬
tired with his pupil to Bourges. He was in this city dur¬
ing the massacre at Paris; and the same persecuting
spirit prevailing among the Catholics at Bourges as at the
metropolis, he lived concealed for seven months in a pub¬
lic house, the master of which, upwards of 70 years of
age, was thrown from its top and had his brains dashed
out, for his charity to heretics. Whilst Mr Adamson lay
thus in his sepulchre, as he called it, he wrote his Latin
poetical version of the book of Job, and his tragedy of
Herod in the same language. In the year 1573, he re¬
turned to Scotland, and, having entered into holy orders,
became minister of Paisley. In the year 1575, he was
appointed one of the commissioners, by the general as¬
sembly, to settle the jurisdiction and policy of the church;
and the following year he was named, with Mr David
Lindsay, to report their proceedings to the earl of Mor¬
ton, then regent. About this time the earl appointed him
one of his chaplains; and, on the death of Bishop Dou¬
glas, promoted him to the archiepiscopal see of St An¬
drews, a dignity which brought upon him great trouble
and uneasiness ; for now the clamour of the Presbyterian
party rose very high against him, and many inconsistent
absurd stories were propagated concerning him. Soon
after his promotion, he published his catechism in Latin
verse, a work highly approved even by his enemies; but,
nevertheless, they still continued to persecute him with
great violence. In 1578 he submitted himself to the
ADA
ADA
141
I
I
A na.
Aduson general assembly, which procured him peace but for a
very little time ; for, the year following, fresh accusations
were brought against him. In the year 1582, being at-
' tacked with a grievous disease, in which the physicians
could give him no relief, he happened to take a simple
medicine from an old woman, which did him service. The
woman, whose name was Alison Pearson, was thereupon
charged with witchcraft, and committed to prison, but es¬
caped out of her confinement; however, about four years
afterwards, she was again found and burnt for a witch. In
1583 King James came to St Andrews; and the arch¬
bishop, being much recovered, preached before him, and
disputed with Mr Andrew Melville, in presence of his Ma¬
jesty, with great reputation; which drew upon him fresh
calumny and persecution. The king, however, was so
well pleased with him, that he sent him ambassador to
Queen Elizabeth, at whose court he resided for some
years. His conduct during his embassy has been various¬
ly reported by different authors. Two things he princi¬
pally laboured, viz. the recommending the king his master
to the nobility and gentry of England, and the procuring
some support for the episcopal party in Scotland. His
eloquent preaching drew after him such crowds of people,
and raised in their minds so high an idea of the young
king his master, that Queen Elizabeth forbade him to
enter the pulpit during his stay in her dominions. In
1584 he was recalled, and sat in the parliament held in
August at Edinburgh. The Presbyterian party was still
very violent against the archbishop. A provincial synod
was held at St Andrews in April 1586: the archbishop
was here accused and excommunicated. He appealed to
the king and the states, but this availed him little ; for
the mob being excited against him, he durst scarcely ap¬
pear in public. At the next general assembly, a paper
being produced containing the archbishop’s submission,
he was absolved from the excommunication. In 1588
fresh accusations were brought against him. The year
following he published the Lamentations of the prophet
Jeremiah in Latin verse, which he dedicated to the king,
complaining of his hard usage. In the latter end of the
same year he published a translation of the Apocalypse
in Latin verse, and a copy of Latin verses, addressed also
to his Majesty, deploring his distress. The king, however,
was not moved by his application, for the revenue of his
see was granted to the duke of Lennox; so that the pre¬
late and his family were literally reduced to the want of
bread. During the remaining part of his unfortunate life
he was supported by charitable contribution, and he died
m 1591. The character of this prelate has been various¬
ly represented, according to the sentiments of religion and
politics which prevailed. But there is little doubt that
lie encouraged and supported, under the authority of the
king, oppressive and injurious measures. His learning
was unquestioned, and he acquired great reputation as a
popular preacher. In his adversity he submitted with
pious resignation to his hard fate. The panegyric of the
editor of his works, Mr Wilson, is extravagant and absurd.
He says, that “ he was a miracle of nature, and rather
seemed to be the immediate production of God Almighty,
than born of a woman.”
ADAMUS. The philosopher’s stone is so called by
alchemists: they say it is an animal, and that it has car¬
ried its invisible Eve in its body since the moment they
were united by the Creator.
ADANA, a town of Asia Minor, in Natolia, and in
the province of Caramania. It is situated on the river
Choquen, on the banks of which stands a small but
strong castle, built on a rock. It has a great number
ol beautiful fountains brought from the river by means of
water-works. Over the river there is a stately bridge of Adanson.
fifteen arches, which leads to the water-works. The cli-^-'y'-^
mate is pleasant and healthy, and the winter mild and se¬
rene ; but the summer is so hot as to oblige the principal
inhabitants to retire to the neighbouring mountains, where
they spend six months among shady trees and grottos,
in a most delicious manner. The adjacent country is
rich and fertile, and produces melons, cucumbers, pome¬
granates, pulse, and herbs of all sorts, all the year round;
besides corn, wine, and fruits in their proper season. It
is 30 miles north-east of Tarsus, on the road to Aleppo.
Long. 36. 12. E. Lat. 38. 10. N.
ADANSON, Michael, a celebrated naturalist, wras de¬
scended from a Scotish family which had at the Revo¬
lution attached itself to the fortunes of the house of
Stuart; and was born the 7th of April 1727 at Aix in Pro¬
vence, where his father was in the service of M. de Yin-
timille, then archbishop of that province. On the trans¬
lation of this prelate to the archbishopric of Paris, about
the year 1730, the elder Adanson also repaired thither,
accompanied by his infant family of five children, all of
whom were provided for by their father’s patron. A
small canonry fell to the lot of our future naturalist, the
revenue of which defrayed the expenses of his education
at the college of Plessis. While there, he was distinguish¬
ed for great quickness of apprehension, strength of me¬
mory, and mental ardour; but his genius took no particu¬
lar bent, until he received a microscope from the celebrat¬
ed Tuberville Needham, who happened to be present at
one of the public examinations, and was struck with ad¬
miration of his talents and acquirements. From the mo¬
ment that young Adanson received this donation, to the
last hour of his life, he persevered, with a zeal almost un¬
exampled, in the observation and study of nature.
On leaving college, his youthful ardour was well em¬
ployed in the cabinets of Reaumur and Bernard de Jus¬
sieu, as well as in the Jardin des Plantes. Such was
his zeal, that he repeated the instructions of the profes¬
sors to such of his fellow-students as could not advance
with a rapidity equal to his own ; and before he had
completed his 19th year, he had actually described (for
his own improvement) four thousand species of the three
kingdoms of nature. In this way he soon exhausted the
rich stores of accumulated knowledge in Europe; and
having obtained a small appointment in the colony of Se¬
negal, he resigned his canonry, and embarked on the 20th
of December 1748 for Africa.
The motives which decided the choice of Senegal as
the scene of his observations are recorded by himself, and
are too remarkably indicative of his ardent thirst of know¬
ledge not to be noticed. “ It was,” says he, in a memo¬
randum found after his death, “ of all Pluropean establish¬
ments the most difficult to penetrate, the most hot, the
most unhealthy, the most dangerous in every respect, and
consequently the least known to naturalists.”
His ardour remained unabated during the five years
that he remained in Africa, in which period he collected
and described an immense number of animals and plants ;
delineated maps of the country, and made astronomical
observations; prepared grammars and dictionaries of the
languages spoken on the banks of the Senegal; kept me¬
teorological registers; composed a detailed account of
all the plants of the country; and collected specimens
of every object of commerce. M. Cuvier mentions that
he had seen the produce and results of all these multifari¬
ous and laborious exertions.
The situation in which Adanson was placed was ad¬
mirably adapted to foster originality of genius ; but it was
also attended with every disadvantage that can arise from
142 ADA ' ADA
Adanson. a want of comparison and rivalry. The collision of kindred scale would thus be established, not less correct as re- Ad
generally diminishes an overweening conceit; garding the order of nature, than if it had been formed^
whilst entire seclusion from literary society as generally subsequently to a full examination of all her works. This
increases the presumption of genius, and renders errors principle of classification has been named by some philo-
familiar by long uncorrected repetition. To these causes, sophers the subordination of characters. It is rational
and to the secluded life which he continued to lead even and philosophical, but its application presupposes an ad-
after his return to Europe, may probably be traced some vancement in science far beyond that which existed at the
of the peculiar features of Adanson’s character. Thus, he period when Adanson commenced his labours. Accord-
chose to distinguish himself by a new system of ortho- ingly, he adopted a more experimental method—that of
graphy; and, instead of a simple and convenient nomen- a complete comparison of species ; and the mode of ap-
clature, he employed a set of arbitrary terms, whose ety- plying his scheme is abundantly ingenious, and entirely
mology could not be traced, and the synonymes to which he his own.
rarely condescended to point out. He was opinionative He founded his classification of all known organized
in no small degree ; and his vanity and self-confidence too beings on the consideration of each individual organ. As
often led him to overlook or to undervalue the labours of each organ gave birth to new relations, so he established
those who were engaged in the same field of inquiry. a corresponding number of arbitrary arrangements. Those i
About the period of Adanson’s return to Europe, which beings possessing the greatest number of similar organs
took place in 1754, natural history had undergone a very were referred to one great division, and the relationship
important revolution, from the valuable though widely was considered more remote in proportion to the dissimi-
differing labours of Buffon and Linnaeus. The one, giving larity of organs.
loose to his imagination, pursued a path as seductive as The chief defect of this method consists in presuppos-
beautiful; the other, entering with minute discrimination mg a knowledge, not less difficult of attainment than the
into every department, furnished a text-book to philoso- former, of species and their organization. It gives, how-
phers, leaving the splendid paintings of his eloquent rival ever, distinct ideas of the degree of affinity subsisting be-
to those who delight rather in brilliancy of colouring than tween organized beings, independent of all physiological
in the chaste portraiture of nature. Both of these distin- science. Of this universal method, as he called it, Adan-
guished men, from too closely confining themselves to son gave some account in an essay contained in his
their individual views, appear to have in a great measure Treatise on Shells, published at the end of his Voyage
overlooked a most interesting branch of their subject, viz. au Senegal.
the general relations of all beings, from which is deduced Until the appearance of this work, the animals inhabit-
the division of them into families ; which division is found- ing shells had been much neglected. On this branch of
ed on their peculiar characters. This had formed an im- his subject our author exercised his wonted zeal, while his
portant branch of Adanson’s solitary reflections; and the methodical distribution, founded on not less than twenty
boldness with which he developed his views soon attract- of the partial classifications already alluded to, is decid¬
ed the admiration of naturalists. To appreciate thoroughly edly superior to that of any of his predecessors. Like
the value of his labours, it will be necessary to exhibit a every first attempt, however, it had its imperfections, and
rapid sketch of the general principles which influence na- these arose from not having examined the anatomical
tural arrangements, and the particular views entertained structure of the animals; from which cause he omitted, in
by Adanson. his arrangement of the class of Mollusca, all molluscous
Every organized being is to be considered as an assem- animals without shells,
blage of parts, which by reciprocal actions produce cer- His original plan was to have published the whole of
tain effects. Between all of these parts a mutual depen- the observations made during his residence at Senegal, in
dence subsists, and no modification can be effected in any eight volumes; but being deterred by the difficulties at¬
one member of the series, without sensibly affecting all tending so extensive a publication, he abandoned the
the others in a greater or less degree. It is obvious that scheme, and applied himself entirely to his Families of
there can only be a certain number of possible combina- Plants, which he published in 1763. In this he found the
tions, which may be divided into two great classes, the application of his general principle not less advantageous
primary and the subordinate. than in his preceding works.
The first step towards the knowledge of these combina- The distribution of plants into natural families has at-
tions would be an accurate acquaintance with all the tracted the notice of botanists since the middle of the
actually existing organs. If this were attained, and if a seventeenth century. Bernard de Jussieu, the friend and
complete view of all possible combinations were deduced, instructor of Adanson, bestowed much attention on this
every organized being would be allotted to a determinate subject; but, dissatisfied with his success, has left no other
place, according to its organs ; and there would be a cor- memorial of his labours than the arrangement which he
rect systematic arrangement of all organic nature ; every introduced in the gardens of Trianon in 1758. Prompted
relation, every property, would be reducible to general by his own bold genius, as well as by the example of so
laws ; every function might be demonstrated ; and natural distinguished a friend, Adanson undertook the task; and
history would become a precise science. Such, however, although he fell into errors which had been avoided by
is only the ideal perfection at which we aim in attempting Jussieu, he executed it, upon the whole, with consummate
natural methods, to which we cannot expect the rapid ad- ability. In the preface to this work he gave an elaborate
vance fancied by some visionary theorists, but to which a account of the history of botany; and here it is not diffi-
steady perseverance, unclouded by preconceived preju- cult to perceive, that one of his chief objects was to in¬
dices, u ill ultimately enable us to approach. sinuate his own claims to be placed at the head of scien-
The most direct means of calculating the effects of the . tific botanists,
before-mentioned modifications would be, to determine In 1774 (eleven years after the appearance of his
the f unction and the influence of each organ. In this way, Families of Plants), he submitted to the consideration of
the great divisions might be made according to the most the Academy of Sciences an immense work, containing
important organs, and the inferior would be naturally what may be called the universal application of his uni-
founded on the relations of the less important organs. A versal method ; for it extended to all known beings and
ADA
Ada:.on. substances, whether in the heavens or on the earth.
V ^ Twenty-seven large volumes of manuscripts were employ¬
ed in displaying the general relations of all these matters,
and their distribution. One hundred and fifty volumes
more were occupied with the alphabetical arrangement of
40,000 species. There was also a vocabulary, which con¬
tained 200,000 words, with their explanations; and the
whole was closed by a number of detached memoirs,
40,000 figures, and 30,000 specimens of the three king¬
doms of nature. The committee of the academy, to which
the inspection of this enormous mass had been intrusted,
warmly recommended to Adanson to separate'and publish
all that was peculiarly his own, leaving out what was
merely compilation: but he obstinately rejected this rea¬
sonable advice; by which means science has been depriv¬
ed of many essays, which, if we may judge from others
which he at different times gave to the world, would have
possessed great merit.
In the midst of his scientific ardour, Adanson devoted
much of his attention to a subject on which his feelings
had probably been powerfully awakened during his re¬
sidence in Senegal:—we need scarcely name the slave
trade. Anxious to contribute to the comforts of Europe,
as well as to the security of Africa, he addressed a me¬
moir to the minister, in which he attempted to demon¬
strate that Senegal was well fitted for the production of
all the valuable produce of the West Indian Archipelago,
and that by suitable encouragement free negroes might
be induced to engage in the cultivation of the soil. This
proposition received no encouragement either from the
minister or the French African Company; and as his
mistaken notions of patriotism led him to reject all over¬
tures from the friends of the abolition in England, the de¬
tails of his plan still remain unknown to the world.
Of Adanson’s public life little further remains to be
said; for after his rejection of the proffered counsel of the
academicians, he seems to have pursued his philosophic
career in silent and unobtrusive retirement. Engaged in
such occupations, it might have been supposed that he
would have been exempted from the evils of that terrible
I revolution which has been productive of so many calami¬
ties to his country and to Europe. But the case was very
different. As he had devoted his life to science for its
own sake, he had never made it the means of acquiring
wealth; and having no patrimony from hrs ancestors, his
only fortune consisted of pensions, the reward of his
labours in Senegal, and the price of the specimens fur¬
nished by him to the royal cabinet. With an injustice and
illiberality distinctive of revolutionary Frenchmen, the
Constituent Assembly deprived this harmless man, who
was known only as an. ornament to science, of what he had
so hardly earned. A trifling pension from the academy
still remained, and was sufficiept for his limited wants;
but on the dissolution of that respectable body by the
fanatical republicans, this his last resource was also anni-
1 hilated. When the revolutionary frenzy had subsided,
and science again received the homage of Frenchmen, the
reproachful poverty of this veteran sage was at length re¬
lieved from the public funds ; and the founders of the In¬
stitute were proud to enrol his name in the catalogue of
its members. But his life was now drawing near to its
close. He died, after many months of severe suffering, on
the 3d of August 1806.
Adanson was never married. In his will he requested,
as the only decoration of his grave, a garland of flowers
gathered from the fifty-eight families which he had esta¬
blished ;—“ a touching though transitory image,” says
Cuvier, “ of the more durable monument which he has
erected to himself in his works.” His zeal for science, his
ADA 143
unwearied industry, and his talents as a philosophical ob- Adanson
server, are conspicuous in all his writings. The serenity 11
of his temper, and the unaffected goodness of his heart, Adatais.
endeared him to the few who knew him intimately. Onv^^>>w/
the other hand, it must be admitted, that, from early
habits, he trusted too exclusively to his own talents, and
would never deign to examine the discoveries of others;
so that he persisted in a thousand times refuted errors,
with as much pertinacity as he did in the most unquestion¬
able truths of science. Cuvier relates a remarkable in¬
stance of his contempt for every thing that did not fall
within the scope of his own observations. Although he
had bestowed much care on the subject of mosses, yet, in
1800, he was ignorant not only of the discoveries, but
even of the very existence, of Hedwig. But though his
vanity was great, it was not accompanied with any malig¬
nant feelings; and, notwithstanding his misfortunes, he
was never heard to accuse any person of having contri¬
buted to inflict them.
His most important works are, his Voyage to Senegal,
and his Families of Plants. To the former some essays,
already noticed, were subjoined; and various others were
published, at different times, in the Transactions of the
Academy of Sciences. The volumes for the years 1759
and 1761 contain his observations upon the Taret (a
species of shell-fish exceedingly destructive to vessels),
and his account of the Baobab, an enormous African
tree, now known under the name of Adansonia. The
volume for 1769 contains an interesting discussion by
Adanson, upon the origin of the varieties of cultivated
plants ; and in those for 1773 and 1779 will be found his
valuable observations on gum-bearing trees. In the Trans¬
actions of 1767 he gave an account of the Oscillaioria
Adansonii, which he considered a self-moving vegetable ;
but which ought, according to some observations of M.
Vaucher, to be ranked as a zoophyte. Besides these
essays, Adanson contributed several valuable articles in
natural history to the earlier part of the Supplement to the
first Encyclopedic; and he is also supposed to have been
the author of an essay on the Electricity of the Tourma¬
line (Paris 1757), which bears the name of the duke of
Noya Caraffa. See Eloge Historique de M. Adanson, par
Cuvier; Mem. Mathem. et Physiques de ITnst. National,
tom. vii. (i.)
ADANSONIA, Ethiopian Sour-gourd, Monkeys-
bread, or African Calabash-tree.
ADAR, the name of a Hebrew month, answering to
the end of February and beginning of March, the 12th of
their sacred and 6th of their civil year. On the 7th day
of it the Jews keep a fast for the death of Moses ; on the
13th they have the feast of Esther ; and on the 14th they
celebrate the feast of Purim, for their deliverance from
Haman’s conspiracy. As the lunar year, which the Jews
followed in their calculations, is shorter than the solar by
about eleven days, which at the end of three years make
a month, they then intercalate a thirteenth month, which
they call Veadar, or the second Adar.
ADARCE, a kind of concreted salts found on reeds
and other vegetables, and applied by the ancients as a
remedy in several cutaneous diseases.
AD ARGON, in Jewish antiquity, a gold coin mention¬
ed in Scripture, worth about 15s. sterling.
ADARME, in Commerce, a small weight in Spain,
which is also used at Buenos Ayres, and in all Spanish
America. It is the 16th part of an ounce, which at Paris
is called the demi-gros. But the Spanish ounce is seven
per cent, lighter than that of Paris. Stephens renders it
in English by a drachm.
ADATAIS, Adatis, or Adatys, in Commerce, a mus-
144
ADD
ADD
Adcorda-
biles
11
Addison.
lin or cotton cloth, very fine and clear, of which the piece
is ten French ells long, and three quarters broad. It
comes from the East Indies, and the finest is made in
Bengal.
ADCORDABILES Denarii, in old law-books, signify
money paid by the vassal to his lord, upon the selling or
exchanging of a feud.
ADCRESCENTES, among the Romans, denoted a
kind of soldiery, entered in the army, but not yet put on
duty: from these the standing forces were recruited.
ADDA, a river of Switzerland and Italy, which rises
in Mount Branlio, in the country of the Grisons, and,
passing through the Valteline, traverses the lake Como
and the Milanese, and falls into the Po near Cremona.
ADDEPHAGIA, in Medicine, a term used by some
physicians for gluttony, or a voracious appetite.
ADDER, in Zoology, a name for the Viper.
Sea Adder, the English name for a species of Syn-
gnathus.
Water Adder, a name given to the Coluber Natrix.
ADDEXTRATORES, in the court of Rome, the pope’s
mitre-bearers; so called, according to Ducange, because
they walk at the pope’s right hand when he rides to visit
the churches.
ADDICE, or Adze, a kind of crooked axe used by ship¬
wrights, carpenters, coopers, &c.
ADDICTI, in antiquity, a kind of slaves, among the
Romans, adjudged to serve some creditor whom they could
not otherwise satisfy, and whose slaves they became till
they could pay or work out the debt.
ADDICTION, among the Romans, wTas the making
over goods to another, either by sale or by legal sentence :
the goods so delivered were called bona addicta. Debtors
were sometimes delivered over in the same manner, and
thence called servi addicti.
ADDICTIO in Diem, among the Romans, the adjudg¬
ing a thing to a person for a certain price, unless by such
a day the owner, or some other, give more for it.
ADDISON, Lancelot, son of Lancelot Addison, a
clergyman, was born in the parish of Crosby-Ravensworth,
in Westmoreland, in the year 1632. He was educated at
Queen’s College, Oxford, and at the restoration of King
Charles II. accepted of the chaplainship of the garrison of
Dunkirk; but that fortress being delivered up to the French
in 1662, he returned to England, and was soon after made
chaplain to the garrison of Tangier, wdiere he continued
seven years, and was greatly esteemed. In 1670 he re¬
turned to England, and was made chaplain in ordinary to
the king; but his chaplainship of Tangier being taken
from him on account of his absence, he found himself
straitened in his circumstances, when he seasonably ob¬
tained the rectory of Milston in Wiltshire, worth about
L.120 per annum. He afterwards became a prebendary
of Sarum, took his degree of doctor of divinity at Ox¬
ford, and in 1683 was made dean of Lichfield, and the
next year archdeacon of Coventry. His life was ex¬
emplary, his conversation pleasing and greatly instruc¬
tive, and his behaviour as a gentleman, a clergyman, and
a neighbour, did honour to the place of his residence. He
wrote, 1. A Short Narrative of the Revolutions of the
Kingdoms of Fez and Morocco; 2. The present State of
the Jews ; 3. A Discourse on Catechising; 4. A Modest
Plea for the Clergy; 5. An Introduction to the Sacra¬
ment ; 6. The first State of Mahometism; and several
other pieces. This worthy divine died on the 20th of April
1703, and left three sons ; Joseph, the subject of the next
article; Gulston, who died while governor of Fort St
George ; Lancelot, master of arts, and fellow of Magdalen
College in Oxford; and one daughter, first married to
Dr Sarte, prebendary of Westminster, and afterwards to Ad,
Daniel Combes, Esq.
Addison,the son of the preceding Dean Addison,
was born at Milston, near Ambresbury, in Wiltshire, on
the 11th of May 1672; and not being thought likely to
live, was baptized the same day. He received the first
rudiments of his education at the place of his nativity
under the reverend Mr Naish, but was soon removed to
Salisbury under the care of Mr Taylor, and from thence
to the Charter-house, where his acquaintance with Sir
Richard Steele commenced. About the age of 15, he was
entered at Queen’s College, Oxford, where he applied very
closely to the study of classical learning, in which he made
a surprising proficiency.
In the year 1687, Dr Lancaster, dean of Magdalen Col¬
lege, having by chance seen a Latin poem of Mr Addison’s,
was so pleased with it, that he immediately got him elect¬
ed into that house, where he took his degrees of bachelor
and master of arts. His Latin pieces, in the course of a
few years, were exceedingly admired in both universi¬
ties ; nor were they less esteemed abroad, particularly
by the celebrated Boileau, who is reported to have said,
that he would not have written against Perrault had he
before seen such excellent pieces by a modern hand.
He published nothing in English before the 22d year
of his age, when there appeared a short copy of verses
written by him, and addressed to Mr Dryden, which
procured him great reputation from the best judges.
This was soon followed by a translation of the fourth
Georgic of Virgil (omitting the story of Aristaeus),
much commended by Mr Dryden. He wrote also the
Essay on the Georgies prefixed to Mr Dryden’s transla¬
tion. There are several other pieces written by him about
this time; amongst the rest, one dated the 3d of April
1694, addressed to H. S. that is, Dr Sacheverel, who be¬
came afterwards so famous, and with whom Mr Addison
lived once in the greatest friendship; but their intimacy
was some time after broken off, by their disagreement in
political principles. In the year 1695 he wrote a poem to
King William on one of his campaigns, addressed to Sir
John Somers, lord-keeper of the great seal. This gentle¬
man received it with great pleasure, took the author into
the number of his friends, and bestowed on him many
marks of his favour.
Mr Addison had been closely pressed while at the uni¬
versity to enter into holy orders, and had once resolved
upon it; but his great modesty, his natural diffidence, and
an uncommonly delicate sense of the importance of the
sacred function, made him afterwards alter his resolution;
and having expressed an inclination to travel, he was en¬
couraged thereto by his patron above mentioned, who by
his interest procured him from the crown a pension of
L.300 per annum to support him in his travels. He ac¬
cordingly made a tour to Italy in the year 1699; and in
1701 he wrote a poetical epistle from Italy to the earl of
Halifax, which has been much esteemed both abroad and
at home. It was translated into Italian verse by the abbot
Antonio Maria Salvini, Greek professor at Florence. In
the year 1705 he published an account of his travels, de¬
dicated to Lord Somers ; which, though at first but indif¬
ferently received, yet in a little time met with its deserv¬
ed applause.
In the year 1702 he was about to return to England,
when he received advice of his being appointed to attend
Prince Eugene, who then commanded for the emperor in
Italy; but the death of King William happening soon after,
put an end to this affair, as well as his pension ; and he re¬
mained for a considerable time unemployed. But an un¬
expected incident at once raised him, and gave him an
ADD
:ison. opportunity of exerting his fine talents to advantage ; for,
/"^in the year 1704*, the lord treasurer Godolphin happened
to complain to Lord Halifax that the duke of Marl¬
borough’s victory at Blenheim had not been celebrated in
verse in the manner it deserved; and intimated, that he
would take it kindly if his lordship, who was the known
patron of the poets, would name a gentleman capable of
doing justice to so elevated a subject. Lord Halifax re¬
plied, somewhat hastily, that he did know such a person,
but would not mention him; adding, that long had he
seen with indignation men of no merit maintained in
luxury at the public expense, whilst those of real worth
and modesty were suffered to languish in obscurity. The
treasurer answered very coolly, that he was sorry there
should be occasion for such an observation, but that he
would do his endeavour to wipe off such reproaches for the
future; and he engaged his honour, that whoever might be
namedby his lordship as a person capable of celebrating this
victory, should meet with a suitable recompense. Lord
Halifax thereupon named Mr Addison; insisting, however,
that the treasurer himself should send to him ; which he
promised. Accordingly he prevailed on Mr Boyle (after¬
wards Lord Carlton), then chancellor of the exchequer, to
make the proposal to Mr Addison ; which he did in so
polite a manner, that our author readily undertook the
task. The lord treasurer had a sight of the piece when
it was carried no further than the celebrated simile of the
angel, and was so pleased with it, that he immediately
appointed Mr Addison a commissioner of appeals, vacant
by the promotion of Mr Locke, chosen one of the lords
commissioners for trade. The Campaign is addressed to
the duke of Marlborough : it gives a short view of the
military transactions in 1704, and contains a noble descrip¬
tion of the two great actions at Schellemberg and Blen¬
heim. In 1705 he attended Lord Halifax to Hanover,
and the ensuing year was appointed under secretary to
Sir Charles Hedges, secretary of state, in which office he
acquitted himself so well that the earl of Sunderland, who
succeeded Sir Charles in December, continued Mr Addi¬
son in his employment.
A taste for operas beginning at this time to prevail in
England, and many persons having solicited Mr Addison
to write one, he complied with their request, and composed
his Rosamond. Tins, however, whether from the defect
of the music, or from the prejudices in favour of the Italian
taste, did not succeed upon the stage ; but the poetry of
it has been, and always will be, justly admired. About
this time Sir Richard Steele composed his comedy of the
Tender Husband, to which Mr Addison wrote a prologue.
Sir Richard surprised him with a dedication of this play,
and acquainted the public that he was indebted to him
for some of the most excellent strokes in the performance.
-The marquis of Wharton, being appointed lord lieutenant
of Ireland in 1709, took Mr Addison with him as his
secretary. Her Majesty also made him keeper of the re¬
cords of Ireland, and as a further mark of her favour, con-
siderably augmented the salary annexed to that place.
Wlnlst he was in this kingdom, the Tatler was first publish¬
ed ; and he discovered his friend Sir Richard Steele to be
the author, by an observation on Virgil, which he had
communicated to him. He afterwards assisted consider-
? y 111 carrying on this paper, which the author acknow-
ec ges. ^ Ihe latter being laid down, the Spectator vtas
set on foot, and Mr Addison furnished great part of the
m°st admired papers. The Spectator made its first ap¬
pearance in March 1711, and was brought to a conclusion
in September 1712.
His celebrated Cato appeared in 1713. He formed the
aesign of a tragedy upon this subject when he was very
VOL. II. - J
ISON. 145
young, and wrrote it when on his travels: he retouched it Addison,
in England, without any intention of bringing it on the'v-^v-v-y
stage ; but his fi lends being persuaded it would serve the
cause of liberty, he was prevailed on by their solicitations,
and it was accordingly exhibited in the theatre, with a
prologue by Mr Pope, and an epilogue by Dr Garth. It
was received with the most uncommon applause, having
run 35 nights without interruption. The Whigs applaud¬
ed every line in which liberty was mentioned, as a satire
on the lories; and the Tories echoed every clap, to show"
that the satire was unfelt. When it was printed, notice
was given that the queen would be pleased if it was dedi¬
cated to her; “ but as he had designed that compliment
elsewhere, he found himself obliged,” says Tickell, “ by
his duty on the one hand, and his honour on the other,
to send it into the world without any dedication.” It was
no less esteemed abroad, having been translated into
trench, Italian, and German; and it was acted at Leghorn
and several other places with vast applause. The Jesuits
of St Omer made a Latin version of it, and the students
acted it with great magnificence.
About this time another paper called the Guardian
was published by Steele, to which Addison was a principal
contributor. It was a continuation of the Spectator, and
was distinguished by the same elegance and the same
variety; but, in consequence of Steele’s propensity to
politics, was abruptly discontinued in order to write the
Englishman.
The papers of Addison are marked in the Spectator by
one of the letters in the name of Clio, and in the Guardian
by a Hand. Many of these papers were written with
powers truly comic, with nice discrimination of characters,
and accurate observation of natural or accidental devia¬
tions from propriety ; but it was not supposed that he had
tried a comedy for the stage, till Steele, after his death,
declared him the author of the Drummer. This, how¬
ever, he did not know to be true by any cogent testimony;
for when Addison put the play into his hands, he only told
him it was the work of a gentleman in the company: when
it was received, as is confessed, with cold disapprobation,
he was probably less willing to claim it. Tickell omitted
it in his collection; but the testimony of Steele, and the
total silence of any other claimant, has determined the
public to assign it to Addison, and it is now printed with
his other poetry. Steele carried the Drummer to the
playhouse, and afterwards to the press, and sold the copy
for 50 guineas. To Steele’s opinion may be added the
proof supplied by the play itself, of which the characters
are such as Addison would have delineated, and the ten¬
dency such as Addison would have promoted.
It is said that Mr Addison intended to compose an
English dictionary, upon the plan of the Italian Della
Crusca ; but that upon the death of the queen, being ap¬
pointed secretary to the lords justices, he had not leisure
to carry on such a work. When the earl of Sunderland
was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Mr Addison was
again made secretary for the affairs of that kingdom; and
upon the earl’s being removed from the lieutenancy, he
was chosen one of the lords of trade.
Not long afterwards an attempt was made to revive the
Spectator, at a time indeed by no means favourable to li¬
terature, when the accession of a new family to the throne
filled the nation with anxiety, discord, and confusion; and
either the turbulence of the times or the satiety of the
readers put a stop to the publication, after an experiment
of 80 numbers, which were afterwards collected into an
eighth volume, perhaps more valuable than any of those
that went before it: Addison produced more than a fourth
part.
T
146
ADDISON.
Addison.
In 1715 he began the Freeholder, a political paper,
which was much admired, and proved of great use at that
juncture. He published also, about this time, verses to
Sir Godfrey Kneller upon the king’s picture, and some to
the princess of Wales with the tragedy of Cato.
Before the arrival of King George he was made secre¬
tary to the regency, and was required by his office to send
notice to Hanover that the queen was dead, and that the
throne was vacant. To do this would not have been dif¬
ficult to any man but Addison, who was so overwhelmed
with the greatness of the event, and so distracted by
choice of expression, that the lords, who could not wait
for the niceties of criticism, called Mr Southwell, a clerk
in the house, and ordered him to dispatch the message.
Southwell readily told what was necessary, in the common
style of business, and valued himself upon having done
what was too hard for Addison.
In 1716 he married the countess dowager of Warwick,
whom he had solicited by a very long and anxious court¬
ship. He is said to have first known her by becoming
tutor to her son. The marriage, if uncontradicted report
can be credited, made no addition to his happiness. The
year after, 1717, he rose to his highest elevation, being
made secretary of state; but is represented as having
proved unequal to the duties of his place. In the House
of Commons he could not speak, and therefore was useless
to the defence of the government. In the office he could
not issue an order without losing time in quest of fine
expressions. At last, finding by experience his own in
Addison’s course of life before his marriage has been Ad ^
detailed by Pope. His chief companions were Steele, ^jvj
Bugdell, Philips, Carey, Davenant, and Colonel Brett.
With one or other of these he always breakfasted. He
studied all morning; then dined at a tavern, and went
afterwards to Button’s. From the coffee-house he went
to the tavern, where he often sat late and drank too much
wine.
Dr Johnson justly observes, that Addison “ not only
made the proper use of wit himself, but taught it to
others; and from his time it has been generally subser¬
vient to the cause of reason and of truth. He has dissi¬
pated the prejudice that had long connected gaiety with
vice, and easiness of manners with laxity of principles.
He has restored virtue to its dignity, and taught inno¬
cence not to be ashamed. This is an elevation of literary
character, above all Greek, above all Roman fame. No
greater felicity can genius attain, than that of haying pu¬
rified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from indecen¬
cy, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a suc¬
cession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid
of goodness; and, to use expressions yet more awful, of
having turned many to righteousness!'—“ As a describer
of life and manners,” says the same author, “ he must be
allowed to stand perhaps the first of the first rank. His
humour, which, as Steele observes, is peculiar to himself,
is so happily diffused as to give the grace of novelty to
domestic scenes and daily occurrences. He never out¬
steps the modesty of nature, nor raises merriment or wonder
ability for public business, he^was forced to solicit his dis- by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by
mission, with a pension of L.1500 a year. Such was the distortion nor amaze by aggravation. He copies life with
1 Evidences
of the
Christian
Religion.
account of those who were inclined to detract from his
abilities ; but by others his relinquishment was attributed
to declining health, and the necessity of recess and quiet.
In his retirement he applied himself to a religious work,1
which he had begun long before; part of which, scarce
finished, has been printed in his works. He intended
also to give an English paraphrase of some of David’s
psalms; but his ailments increased, and cut short his
designs. He had for some time been oppressed by an
asthmatic disorder, which was now aggravated by a drop¬
sy, and he prepared to die conformably to his precepts
and professions. He sent, as Pope relates, a message by
the earl of Warwick to Mr Gay, desiring to see him.
Gay, who had not visited him for some time before, obeyed
the summons, and was received with great kindness. The
purpose for which the interview had been solicited was
then discovered: Addison told him that he had injured
him, but that if he recovered he would recompense
him. What the injury was he did not explain, nor did
Gay ever know; but supposed that some preferment de¬
signed for him had by Addison’s intervention been with¬
held. Another death-bed interview, of a more solemn
nature, is recorded. Lord Warwick was a young man of
very irregular life, and perhaps of loose opinions : Addi¬
son, for whom he did not want respect, had very diligent¬
ly endeavoured to reclaim him; but his arguments and
expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however,
remained to be tried. When he found his life near its
end, he directed the young lord to be called; and when
he desired, with great tenderness, to hear his last in¬
junctions, told him, “ I have sent for you that you may
see how a Christian can die.” What effect this awful
scene had on the earl’s behaviour is not known: he died
himself in a short time. Having given directions to Mr
Tickell for the publication of his works, and dedicated
them on his death-bed to his friend Mr Craggs, he died
June 17. 1719, at Holland-house, leaving only one child,
a daughter, by his marriage.
so much fidelity, that he can hardly be said to invent;
yet his exhibitions have an air so much original, that it
is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of
imagination. As a teacher of wisdom he may be confi¬
dently followed. His religion has nothing in it enthu¬
siastic or superstitious ; he appears neither weakly credu¬
lous nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dan¬
gerously lax nor impracticably rigid. All the enchant¬
ment of fancy and all the cogency of argument are em¬
ployed to recommend to the reader his real interest, the
care of pleasing the Author of his being. 'I ruth is shown
sometimes as the phantom of a vision, sometimes appears
half-veiled in an allegory; sometimes attracts regard in
the robes of fancy, and sometimes steps forth in the con¬
fidence of reason. She wears a thousand dresses, and in
all is pleasing.
“ His prose is the model of the middle style; on grave
subjects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling;
pure without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent
elaboration; always equable, and always easy, without
glowing words or pointed sentences. W hoever wishes to
attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and ele¬
gant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights
to the volumes of Addison.” (Johnson’s Lives of the
Poets!)
Dr Johnson has related the following anecdote, which
every admirer of Addison, every man of feeling, must be
reluctant to believe. “ Steele,” says the doctor, “ whose
imprudence of generosity or vanity of profusion kept him
always incurably necessitous, upon some pressing exi¬
gence, in an evil hour, borrowed a hundred pounds of his
friend, probably without much purpose of repayment;
but Addison, who seems to have had other notions of a
hundred pounds, grew impatient of delay, and reclaimed
his loan by an execution. Steele felt, with great sensi¬
bility, the obduracy of hrs creditor; but with emotions of
sorrow rather than of anger.” It is much to be wished,
says Dr Kippis, that Dr Johnson had produced his autho-
add ADD 14/
A lison. rity for thl-s narration. It is very possible that it may be
L.y-x-^only a story the doctor had somewhere heard in conver¬
sation, and which is entirely groundless; “ and this I am
the rather inclined to believe, as I have been assured, by
one of the most respectable characters in the kingdom,
that the fact hath no foundation in truth.” Mr Potter,
in a late publication, hath informed us, that he is told by
the best authority that the story is an absolute falsehood.
Mr Tyers, in A Historical Essay on Mr Addison, print¬
ed, but not published, has mentioned some facts concern¬
ing him, with which we were not before acquainted.
These are, that he was laid out for dead as soon as he
was born ; that when he addressed his verses on the Eng¬
lish poets to Henry Sacheverel, he courted that gentle¬
man’s sister; that whenever Jacob Tonson came to him
for the Spectator, Bayle’s French Historical and Critical
Dictionary lay always open before him; that upon his
return to England, after his travels, he discharged some
old debts he had contracted at Oxford, with the genero¬
sity of good interest; that he was put into plentiful cir¬
cumstances by the death of a brother in the East Indies;
that, having received encouragement from a married lady,
of whom he had been formerly enamoured, he had the
integrity to resist the temptation; that he refused a gra¬
tification of a three hundred pounds bank-note, and after¬
wards of a diamond-ring of the same value, from a Major
Dunbar, whom he had endeavoured to serve in Ireland by
his interest with Lord Sunderland; and that his daughter
by Lady Warwick died unmarried, residing at Bilton near
Rugby, and possessing an income of more than twelve
hundred a year.
The following letter, which probably relates to the case
of Major Dunbar, reflects great honour on Mr Addison’s
integrity. “ June 26. 1715. Sir,—I find there is a very
strong opposition formed against you; but I shall wait on
my lord-lieutenant this morning, and lay your case before
him as advantageously as I can, if he is not engaged in
other company. I am afraid what you say of his grace
does not portend you any good. And now, Sir, believe
me, when I assure you I never did, nor ever will, on any
pretence whatsoever, take more than the stated and cus¬
tomary fees of my office. I might keep the contrary
practice concealed from the world, were I capable of it,
but I could not from myself; and I hope I shall always
fear the reproaches of my own heart more than those of
all mankind. In the mean time, if I can serve a gentle¬
man of merit, and such a character as you bear in the
world, the satisfaction I meet with on such an occasion is
always a sufficient, and the only reward to, Sir, your most
obedient humble servant, J. Addison.”
Ihe anecdote which follows was told by the late Dr
Birch. Addison and Mr Temple Stanyan were very in¬
timate. In the familiar conversations which passed be¬
tween them, they were accustomed freely to dispute each
other s opinions. Upon some occasion Mr Addison lent
Stanyan five hundred pounds. After this Mr Stanyan
behaved with a timid reserve, deference, and respect;
not conversing with the same freedom as formerly, or
canvassing his friend’s sentiments. This gave great un¬
easiness to Mr Addison. One day they happened to fall
upon a subject, on which Mr Stanyan had always been
used strenuously to oppose his opinion. But even upon
ms occasion he gave way to what his friend advanced,
wrthout interposing his own view of the matter. This
hurt Mr Addison so much, that he said to Mr Stanyan,
rp.r contradict me, or pay me the money.”
\ ■ Eckell s edition of Mr Addison’s works, published
in 4 vols. 4to, there are several pieces hitherto unmen-
noned, viz. The Dissertation on Medals; The Present
State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation Addita-
considered; The late Trial and Conviction of Count Ta- ment
riff; The Whig Examiner. Five of these papers were at- . Ij
tributed to Mr Addison, and they are the severest pieces, Ade ’
he ever wrote. He is said also to have been the author
of a performance entitled Dissertatio de insignioribus Ro-
manorum Poetis, and of a Discourse on Ancient and Mo¬
dern Learning.
ADDITAMENT, something added to another. Thus
physicians call the ingredients added to a medicine al¬
ready compounded, additaments.
ADDITION, in Music, a dot marked on the right side
of a note, signifying that it is to be sounded or lengthened
half as much more as it would have been without such
mark.
Addition, in Law, is that name or title which is given
to a man over and above his proper name and surname, to
show of what estate, degree, or mystery he is; and of
what town, village, or country.
Additions of Estate or Quality are, Yeoman, Gen¬
tleman, Esquire, and such like.
Additions of Degree are those we call names of dig¬
nity ; as Knight, Lord, Earl, Marquis, and Duke.
Additions of Mystery are such as Scrivener, Painter,
Mason, and the like.
Additions of Place are, of Thorpe, of Dale, of Wood-
stock. Where a man hath household in two places, he
shall be said to dwell in both, so that his addition in
either may suffice. By stat. 1 Hen. V. cap. 5. it was or¬
dained, that in such suits or actions where process of
outlawry lies, such addition should be made to the name
of the defendant, to show his estate, mystery, and place
where he dwells ; and that the writs not having such ad¬
ditions should abate if the defendant take exception
thereto, but not by the office of the court. The reason
of this ordinance was, that one man might not be troubled
by the outlawry of another ; but by reason of the certain
addition, every person might bear his own burden.
Additions, in Distilling, a name given to such things
as are added to the wash or liquor while in a state of
fermentation, in order to improve the vinosity of the spi¬
rit, procure a larger quantity of it, or give it a particular
flavour. All things, of whatever kind, thus added in the
time of fermentation, are called by those of the business
who speak most intelligently, additions; but many confound
them with things of a very different nature, under the
name offerments.
Additions, in Heraldry, some things added to a coat-
of-arms, as marks of honour; and therefore directly oppo¬
site to abatements. Among additions we reckon Bor-
dure, Quarter, Canton, Gyron, Pile, &c.
ADDRESS, in a general sense, is used for skill and
good management, and of late has been adopted from the
French. It is used also in commerce, as synonjunous
with direction to a person or place. The word is formed
of the French verb adresser, to direct any thincr to a
person.
ADDUCENT Muscles, or Adductors, in Anatomy,
are those muscles which pull one part of the body towards
another.
ADEB, in Commerce, the name of a large Egyptian
weight, used principally for rice, and consisting of 210
okes, each of three rotolos, a weight of about two drams
less than an English pound. But this is no certain weight,
for at Rosetto the adeb is only 150 okes.
ADEL, a kingdom on the eastern coast of Africa,
which reaches as far as the Straits of Babelmandel, which
unite the Red Sea to the sea of Arabia. This country
produces corn, and feeds a great number of cattle. The
148
A D E
A D E
Adelfors inhabitants carry on a trade in gold, sdver, ivory, oil,
I! frankincense, a sort of pepper, and other merchandises of
Adelung.^ Arabia and the Indies. The king was formerly a vassal
' to the grand negus of Abyssinia ; but being Mahometans,
and the Abyssinians a sort of Christians, they could not
agree, and in 1535 came to an open rupture, when the
Adelians threw off the yoke, seeking protection from the
«rand signior. The principal places are Adela, seated in
the centre of the country, and the town where the king
resides*
ADELFORS, a town in Sweden, in the province of
Jbnkbping and district of Oestra, wherein are two gold
mines worked but very sluggishly ; whilst the iron mines
found there are very productive, and give employment both
to the forges in making bar-iron, and to individuals as nail-
makers.
ADELME, or Aldhelm, son to Kenred, nephew to
Ina, king of the West Saxons, was bishop of Sherburn in
the time of the Heptarchy. He was the first Englishman
who wrote in Latin, and the first wdio made any consider¬
able attempts in versification. He lived in great esteem
till his death, which happened in 709. He was canonized,
and many miracles were ascribed to him. He is mention¬
ed with great honour by Camden and Bale; and his life
was written bv William of Malmesbury.
ADELNAU, a circle in the province of Posen, in Prus¬
sia. It extends Over 346 square miles, or 324,440 acres, and
contains, in four cities and 111 villages, 31, i 18 inhabitants.
The river Proszna waters the east side, and the Ollabok
the centre of the circle. There are several smaller rivers,
and some lakes, the most considerable of which bears the
name of the chief place near to which it is found. It is a
* poor district, abounding with woods and game, and yield¬
ing fresh-water fish in plenty. It is very deficient in corn
and cattle. The capital, of the same name, contains two
Catholic and one Lutheran church, with 147 houses, and
1112 inhabitants.
ADELPHIANI, in Church History, a sect of ancient
heretics, who fasted always on Sundays.
ADELSCALC, in ancient customs, denotes a servant
of the king. The word is also written adelscalche, and
adelscalus. It is compounded of the German culcl, oi edel,
noble, and scale, servant. Among the Bavarians, adel-
scalcs appear to have been the same with royal thanes
among the Saxons, and those called ministri regis in an¬
cient charters.
ADELSHEIM, a city in the bailiwick of Osterburken,
and circle of the Maine and lauber, in the grand duchy
of Baden. It belongs to a mediatised family of the same
name, is walled, has two churches, 200 houses, and 1264
inhabitants.
ADELSO, an island in Sweden, in the same lake in
which the city of Stockholm is built, a little to the west
of Munso, containing a parish of the same name.
ADELUNG, John Christopher, a very eminent Ger¬
man grammarian, philologer, and general scholar, was
born at Spantekow in Pomerania, on the 30th of August
1734. He acquired his elementary instruction at the
public school of Anclam, and that of Closterbergen, near
Magdeburg, and completed his academical education at
the university of Halle. In the year 1759 he was ap¬
pointed professor at the gymnasium of Erfurt, but relin¬
quished this situation two years after, and went to reside
in a private capacity at Leipsic, where he continued to de¬
vote himself for a long period to the cultivation of let¬
ters, and particularly to those extensive and laborious phi¬
lological researches which proved so useful to the lan¬
guage and literature of his native country. In 1787 he
received the appointment of principal librarian to the
elector of Saxony at Dresden, with the honorary title of Adi 1?,
Aulic Counsellor. Here he continued to reside during^ \j
the remainder of his useful life, discharging with dili¬
gence and integrity the duties of his situation, and prose¬
cuting his laborious studies to the last with indefatigable
industry and unabated zeal. He died at Dresden on the
10th of September 1806, at the age of 72.
The life of a mere scholar is generally destitute of in¬
terest ; and that of Adelung, which was spent entirely in
literary seclusion, presents no variety of incident to the
pen of the biographer. Of his private character and
habits few memorials have been preserved; but in these
few he is represented as a man of an amiable disposition.
He was never married. His constitution, which was re¬
markably robust, rendered him capable of the most intense
and unremitted application to study, insomuch that, down
to the period of his death, he is said to have devoted four¬
teen hours of every day to literary labour. He was a
lover of good cheer, and spared neither pains nor expense
in procuring a variety of foreign wines, of which his cellar,
which he facetiously denominated his Bibliotheca Selectis-
sima, is said to have contained no less than forty different
kinds. His manners were easy and affable, and the ha¬
bitual cheerfulness of his disposition rendered his society
most acceptable to a numerous circle of friends.
The works of Adelung are very voluminous; and there
is not one of these, perhaps, which does not exhibit some
proofs of the genius, industry, and erudition of the author.
But although his pen was usefully employed upon a
variety of subjects in different departments of literature
and science, it is to his philological labours that he is
principally indebted for his great reputation ; and no man
ever devoted himself with more zeal and assiduity, or with
greater success, to the improvement of his native lan¬
In a country which is subdivided into so many distinct
sovereign states, possessing no common political centre,
and no national institution whose authority could com¬
mand deference in matters of taste,—in a ^country w hose
indigenous literature was but of recent growth, and where
the dialect of the people was held in contempt at the
several courts,—it was no easy task for a single writer to
undertake to fix the standard of a language which had
branched out into a variety of idioms, depending in a
great measure upon principles altogether arbitrary. Ade¬
lung effected as much in this respect as could well be ac¬
complished by the persevering labours ot an individual.
By means of his excellent grammars, dictionary, and va¬
rious works on German style, he contributed greatly to¬
wards rectifying the orthography, refining the idiom, and
fixing the standard of his native tongue. Of all the dif¬
ferent dialects, he gave a decided preference to that ot
the margraviate of Misnia, in Upper Saxony, and positive¬
ly rejected every thing that was contrary to the phrase¬
ology in use among the best society of that province, and
in the writings of those authors whom it had produced.
In adopting this narrow principle, he is generally thought
to have been too fastidious. The dialect of Misnia was
undoubtedly the richest, as it was the earliest cultivated,
of any in Germany; but Adelung probably went too far
in restraining the language within the limits of this single
idiom, to the exclusion of others, from which it might have,
and really has, acquired additional richness, flexibility)
and force.
His dictionary of the German language is generally al¬
lowed to be superior to our English dictionary by Dr
Johnson. It is eminently so in its etymologies; and is,
perhaps, upon the whole, the best work of the kind of
which any nation can boast. Indeed, the patient spirit of
A D E
At lung, investigation which Adelung possessed in so remarkable a
^ degree, together with his intimate knowledge of the an¬
cient history and progressive revolutions of the different
dialects from which the modern German is derived, ren¬
dered him peculiarly qualified for the successful perform¬
ance of the duties of a lexicographer.
It would greatly exceed our limits, and lead us into far
too wide a field, were we to attempt to present our read¬
ers with an analysis of the several productions of this
voluminous author; but we should do injustice to his me¬
mory, were we to pass over in total silence his last very
learned work, entitled Mithridates, or a General History
of Languages, with the Lord's Prayer, as a specimen, in
nearly Jive hundred, languages and dialects. The hint of
this work appears to have been taken from a publication,
with a similar title, published by the celebrated Conrad
Gesner in 1555; but the plan of Adelung is much more
extensive. Unfortunately, he did not live to finish what
he had undertaken; but the work has been continued
with much ability by that eminent philologer, Professor
Vater, formerly of Halle, now of Kdnigsberg. The first
volume, which contains the Asiatic languages, was pub¬
lished immediately after the death of Adelung; the
second, which comprehends the European dialects, was
published by Professor Vater in 1809; the first part of the
third volume, which is almost entirely the work of the
last-mentioned scholar, appeared in 1812. This third and
last volume is to contain the languages of Africa and Ame¬
rica, and will be enriched with some very valuable mate¬
rials, communicated to the editor by Baron de Humboldt.
Many of the works of Adelung were published anony¬
mously, but we believe the following list will be found to
be complete and correct.
1. Neue Schaubiihm der vorfallenden Stoats-Kriegs und
Friedenshdndel. New Theatre of Historical and Poli¬
tical Events. Erfurt, 1759-61, 8vo.
2. Neues Lehrgebdude der Diplomatik, aus dem Franz,
ubersetzt, und mit Anmerk. versehen. New System of
Diplomacy, translated fr«m the French, with Notes.
Vols. i. ii. iii. Erfurt, 1760-63, 4to.
3. Neue Denhwurdigkeiten der gegenwdrtigen Geschichte
von Europa. New Memoirs of the present History of
Europe. 1761, 2 vols. 8vo. •
4. Geschichte der Streitigkeiten zwischen Ddnemark und
den Herzogen von Holstein-Gottorp. History of the
Disputes between Denmark and the Dukes of Holstein-
Gottorp. Frankf. Leipsic, 1762, 4to.
5. Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte Europens von dem Able-
ben Kaiser Karls des 6ten an. Pragmatic History of
Europe, from the death of the Emperor Charles VI.
Vols. i.-ix. Gotha, 1762-9, 4to.
6. Auserlesene Staatsbriefe. Select Letters on Affairs of
State. Gotha, 1763-4, 3 vols. frvo.
7. Volltstdndige Geschichte der SchiffaJirten nach den Siid-
lundern. A Complete History of the Voyages under¬
taken to Australasia, translated from the French of the
President De Drosses, with Notes. Halle, 1767, 4to.
8. Mineralogische Belustigungen. Mineralogical Recrea-
tions. Vols.i.-vi. Copenhagen and Leipsic, 1767-71,8vo.
. Einleitung zur aUgemeinen Wellgeschichte. Introduc¬
tion to Universal History. Berlin, 1767, 2 vols. The
first volume by Prof. Franz.
10. Werke des Pkilosophen von Sans Souci. The Works
of the Philosopher of Sans Souci, translated from the
French. Erfurt, 1768.
1. Staatsmagazin, 14 Stiicke. Fourteen Numbers of the
19 optical. Magazine. Leipsic, 1766-8.
— Geschichte der Schijfahrten und Versuche, ivelche zur
A D E 1J9
Entdechung des norddstlichen Wegs nach Japan und AdeJung.
China unternommen warden. History of Voyages under-
taken with a view to discover the North-east Passage
to Japan and China. Halle, 1768, 4to.
13. Versuch einer neuen Geschichte des Jesuiter ordens.
Essay towards a new History ^of the Order of the
Jesuits. Vols. i. and ii. Berlin and Halle, 1769 and
1770, 8vo.
14. Natiirliche und burgerliche Geschichte von Californien.
Natural and Civil History of California, translated from
the English. Lemgo, 1769-70, 3 vols. 4to.
15. Unterweisung in den vornehmsten Kiinsten und Wis-
senschaften, zum Nutzen der niedern Schiden. Elements
of Instruction in the principal Arts and Sciences, for
the use of the lower Schools. Frankfort and Leipsic,
1771, 8vo. Reprinted in 1775, 1777, and 1789.
16. Glossarium Manuale ad Scriptores medice et injimce
Latinitatis, ex magnis Glossariis Caroli du Fresne Do¬
mini Ducange et Carpentarii, in compendium redactum,
multisque verbis et dicendi for midis auctum. Tomi v.
Halle, 1772-78. This is a useful abridgement of the
Dictionary of Ducange, with Charpentier’s additions.
17. Versuch eines vollstdndigen grammatisch-kritischen
Wdrterbuchs der Hoch Teutschen Mundart, mit bestdn-
diger Vergleichung der ubrigen Mundarten, besonders
aber der Ober Teutschen. Essay towards a complete
Grammatical and Critical Dictionary of the High Ger¬
man Dialect, with a constant comparison of the other
Dialects, particularly the Upper German. 1774-86,
5 vols. 4to.
18. Wallerius Chemie. Waller’s Chemistry, translated
from the Latin.
19. Allgemeines Verzeichniss neuer Bucher, mit h%irzen Am-
merkungen, riebst einem gelehrten Anzeiger, auf das lahr
1776. A General Catalogue of new Books, with short
Notes, and an Index, for the year 1776. Leipsic, 1776,
8vo. Also the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th annual series
of the same periodical publication, down to 1781.
20. Schauplatz des Baierischen Erbfolge Kreigs, u. s. w.
Theatre of the War of the Bavarian Succession, &c.
6 numbers. Leipsic, 1778, 1780, 4to.
21. Militarisches Taschenbuch auf das lahr 1780. Mili¬
tary Pocket-book for the Year 1780. Leipsic, 12mo.
22. J. Williams Ursprung, Wachsthum und Gegenwdrti-
ger Zustand der Nordischen Reiche. J. Williams’s Origin,
Progress, and Present State of the Northern Govern¬
ments, translated and corrected from the English.
Leipsic, 1779-81, 2 vols. 8vo.
23. Kurzer Begrijf menschlicher Kenntnisse und Fertigkei-
ten, so fern sie auf Erwerbung des Unterhalts, auf Verg-
niigen, auf Wissenschaft, und auf Regierung der Ge-
sellschaft abzielen. A Short Compendium of Arts and
Sciences, so far as they have for their object to satisfy
the wants, to increase the pleasures of life, and to re¬
gulate the government of society. Leipsic, 1778-81. 2d
edit. 1783-9. 4 vols. 8vo.
24. Ueber die Geschichte der Teutschen Sprache, iiber
Teutsche Mundarten und Teutsche Sprachlehre. On the
History of the German Language, on German Dialects,
and German Grammar. Ibid. 1781, 8vo.
25. Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache und den Bau der
Wdrter. On the Origin and Structure of Language.
Ibid. 1781, 8vo.
26. Teutsche Sprachlehre, zum Gebrauch der Schulen in
den Kdnigl. Preuss. Landen. German Grammar, for
the use of the schools in his Prussian Majesty’s domin¬
ions. Berlin, 1781. 2d edit, improved and enlarged,
1792. This grammar has been frequently reprinted.
27. Auszug aus der Teutschen Sprachlehre fur Schulen.
150 A D E
A delung. Abridgement of the German Grammar for Schools.
1781, 8vo.
28. Lehrgebdude der Teutschen Sprache, zur Erlduterung
der Teutschen Sprachlehre fur Schulen. Theory of the
German Language, to illustrate the German Grammar
for Schools.
29. Tindals und Sr More Ammerkungen zu Rapins Ges-
chichte von England. Tindal’s and More’s Notes to
Rapin’s Hist, of Engl. Translated from the English.
30. Versuch einer Geschichte der Cultur des Menshlichen
Geschlechts. Essay towards a History of the Civilisa¬
tion of the Human Race. 1782, 8vo.
31. Leipziger Politische Zeitung und Allerley. Leipsic
Political' Journal and Miscellanies.
32. Neues Grammatisch-kritisches Wdrterbuch der Englis-
chen Sprache, fiir die Teutschen. New Grammatical
and Critical Dictionary of the English Language, for
Germans. Leipsic, 1783, 8vo.
33. Beytrdge zur B'drgerlichen Geschichte, zur Geschichte
der Cultur, zur Naturgeschichte, Naturlehre, mid deni
Fellbaue ; aus den Schriften der Akademie der Wissens-
chaften zu Brussel. Contributions to Civil History, to
the History of Culture, to Natural History, Natural
Philosophy, and Agriculture; from the Transactions of
the Academy of Sciences at Brussels. Leipsic, 1783,
8vo.
34. Forsetzungen undErgdnzungen zu Christ. Gotti. Idchers
allgemeinem Gelehrten Lexica. Continuations and Ad¬
ditions to Christ. Gotti. Idcher’s General Dictionary of
Literature. These additions by Adelung extend from
letter A to K. Leipsic, 1784, 2 vols. 4to.
35. Ueber den Teutschen Styl. On German Style. Berlin,
1785, 3 vols. 8vo.
36. New Leipziger Gelehrte Zeitung. The New Leipsic
Literary Journal. This work was conducted by Adelung
in 1785 and following years.
37. Grundsdtze der Teutschen Orthographic. Principles
of German Orthography. Leipsic, 1782, 8vo.
38. Geschichte der Menschlichen Narrheit oder Lebens
beschreibungen beruhmter Schwarzhunstler, Goldmacher,
Teufelsbanner, Zeichen und Liniendeuter, Schwdrmer,
Wahrsager und anderer philosophischer Unholden. A
History of Human Folly; or Lives of the most cele¬
brated Necromancers, Alchemists, Conjurors, Astrolo¬
gers, Soothsayers, &c. Leipsic, 1785-87-89, 7 vols.
39. Geschichte der Philosophic fur Leibhaber. A History
of Philosophy, for Amateurs. 1786-87, 3 vols.
40. Volstdndige Anweisung zur Teutschen Orthographic,
nebst einem kleinen Wdrterbuche fur die Ausprache, Or¬
thographic, Biegung und Ablietung. Complete System
of German Orthography, with a small Dictionary for
Pronunciation, Orthography, Derivation, &c. Leipsic,
1786, 2 vols. 2d edit. 1790.
41. Jacob Puterich von Reicherzhausen, tin Kleiner Bey-
trag zur Geschichte der Teustchen Dichtkunst im Schwd-
bischen Zeitalter. Jacob Puterich, &c. a small Contri¬
bution to the History of German Poetry in the age of
the Suabian Minstrels. Leipsic, 1788, 4to.
42. Auszug aus dem Grammatisch-kritischen Wdrterbuch
der Hohen Teutschen Mundart. Abridgement of the
Grammatical and Critical Dictionary of the High Ger¬
man Dialect. Leipsic, 1793, 1 vol. 1795, 2 vols. 8vo.
43. Mithridates, oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde. Mithri-
dates, or a General History of Languages, with the
Lord’s Prayer, as a specimen, in nearly five hundred
Languages and Dialects. Berlin, vol. i. 1806; vol. ii.
1809; vol. iii. part i. 1812. This great work was left
by Adelung in an unfinished state; but, as already
mentioned, it has been continued by that able philo-
- A D E
loger Professor Vater of Konigsberg, to whom the A h,
public is indebted for an excellent Hebrew Grammar. ™
It is observed by Madame de Stael, that the English are^v
much better acquainted than the French with the litera¬
ture of Germany; but we have met with very few pos¬
sessed of any knowledge of the works of this learned and
celebrated writer; and, with the exception of one or two
of his smaller essays, none of them, we believe, has ever
been translated into the language of this country. In the
above list there are more than one work which might
probably be published with advantage in the English
tongue. (k.)
ADEMPTION, in the Civil Law, implies the revoca¬
tion of a grant, donation, or the like.
ADEN, a city on the Arabian coast, to the east of the
Straits of Babelmandel. It is situated in Lat. 12. 50. N.
Long. 45. 10. E. According to the Arabians, it derives its
name from Aden, the son of Saba, and grandson of Abra¬
ham. Be this as it may, it was once the most flourishing
city of Arabia, though it now presents little more than a
heap of ruins surrounded with miserable huts. But it is
nevertheless a place of considerable consequence on that
coast, from the superiority of its harbour, and its other
advantages for trade. It is accessible at all times of the
year; and from it a constant intercourse may be maintained
with the coast of Africa. Coffee of the best quality, and
all the other articles which enter into the commerce of the
Red Sea, may be procured at this port. In particular, it
is the chief mart for the gums brought over from the
north-eastern districts of Africa; on which account this
drug may be procured here at a cheaper rate than at
Mocha. The English traders are much in favour at Aden.
—See Salt’s Voyage to Abyssinia, and Milburn’s Oriental
Commerce.
ADENANTHERA, in Botany, Bastard Flower-
fence.
ADENAU, a circle in the department Rhine Moselle,
in the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine. It extends
over 172 square miles, or 110,080 acres, and contains
19,210 inhabitants, all Catholics, except 16 Jews and
eight Protestants, in one city, three market towns, and 267
villages. It is watered by the river Ahr. It is generally
a hilly and woody country, where little corn except oats
grows, and where the chief subsistence is potatoes. Cattle
and sheep are bred with tolerable success ; and potashes
and charcoal are made from the forests. There is some
little employment furnished by spinning and weaving both
linens and wmollens on a small scale. The chief place of
the same name contains 1250 inhabitants.
ADENBURG, or Aldenburg, a town of Westphalia,
and in the duchy of Berg, subject to the elector palatine.
It is 12 miles north-east of Cologne, and 17 west of Bonn.
Long. 7. 25. E. Lat. 51. 2. N.
ADENOGRAPHY, that part of anatomy which treats
of the glandular parts.
ADENOIDES, glandulous, or of a glandular form; an
epithet applied to the Prostate.
ADENOLOGY, the same with Adenography.
ADENOS, a kind of cotton; otherwise called marine
cotton. It comes from Aleppo by the way of Marseilles.
ADEONA, in Mythology, the name of a goddess in¬
voked by the Romans when they set out upon a journey.
ADEPHAGIA, in Mythology, the goddess of gluttony,
to whom the Sicilians paid religious worship.
ADEPS, in Anatomy, the fat found in the abdomen.
It also signifies animal fat of any kind.
ADEPTS, a term among alchemists for those who pre¬
tended to have found the panacea and philosopher’s stone.
A D H
Ad<bijan “ Such is the nature,” says Paracelsus, “ of this higher
philosophy, that one mortal can no more communicate it
to another, than the paper on which letters are traced can
of itself declare their meaning. It originates not from man,
but from heaven.”
ADERBIJAN. See Adirbeitsan.
ADERNO, a city at the foot of Mount Etna in Sicily,
in the intendancy of Catania. It is built in an unhealthy
situation, but contains 6600 inhabitants. It has several
churches, the chief of which is supported by beautiful
pillars of polished lava. It is the site of the ancient city
Hadranum, whose ruins are still visible. In the river
Giarretta, which passes the city, is a remarkable water¬
fall.
ADES, or Hades, denotes the invisible state. In the
heathen mythology, it comprehends all those regions that
lie beyond the river Styx, viz. Erebus, Tartarus, and
Elysium. See Hell.
ADESSENARIANS, Adessenarii, in Church History,
a sect of Christians who hold the real presence of Christ’s
body in the eucharist, though not by way of transubstan-
tiation. They differ considerably as to this presence;
some holding that the body of Christ is in the bread,
others that it is about the bread, and others that it is un¬
der the bread.
ADFILIATION, a Gothic custom, whereby the chil¬
dren of a former marriage are put upon the same footing
with those of the second. This is also called unio prolium,
and still retained in some parts of Germany; though Hei-
neccius observes that this is not adoption.
ADHA, a festival which the Mahometans celebrate on
the 10th day of the month Dhoulhegiat, which is the 12th
and last of their year. This month being particularly
destined for the ceremonies which the pilgrims observe at
Mecca, it takes its name from thence ; for the word signi¬
fies the month of Pilgrimage. - On that day they sacrifice
with great solemnity, at Mecca, and nowhere else, a sheep,
which is called by the same name as the festival itself.
I he Turks commonly call the festival the Great Bairam,
to distinguish it from the lesser, which ends their fast,
and which the Christians of the Levant call the Easter of
tie Turks. The Mahometans celebrate this festival, out
of the city of Mecca, in a neighbouring valley ; and some¬
times they sacrifice there a camel.
ADHESION, a term chiefly used todenote the force with
which the surface of a solid remains attached to the sur¬
face of a liquid, after they have been brought into contact.
Suppose a polished glass plate to be suspended horizon tal¬
ly from one extremity of a balance, and to be exactly
counterpoised by weights put into the opposite scale; if
we bring this plate in contact with the surface of a quan-
1 y. .° mercury, we shall find that a certain additional
"e.ght must be placed in the opppsite scale in order to
separate the glass from the mercury. The force which
Kept the two bodies in contact is called adhesion. Three
sets of experiments on this subject have been published
hy different philosophers. -
tl Dp,]-i10°k iraylor’ in a PaPer on Magnetism, inserted in
t e ilulosopbicaj Transactions for 1721, describes the re-
t /na s determine the weight necessary to se-
'a e "^•boards of different sizes from the surface of
nP.er' . resu^ °f bis experiments was, that the weight
be uS ^ pr0p°rtional t0 the surface of the fir-board to
minto!)6 M'ar 1' '3, Guyton-Morveau ascertained experi-
0f y t le porce of adhesion of eleven different metals
ThA rcu^ pbe metals which he employed were pure,
and °*rpiacb was an inch (French) in diameter,
P shed. The following table exhibits the weight in
A D H
151
French grains necessary to separate each metal from the Adhesion,
mercury.
Gold 440
Silver 429
Tin 418
Lead 397
Bismuth 372
Platinum 282
Zinc 204
Copper 142
Antimdny 126
Iron H5
Cobalt  8
M. Morveau ascertained likewise that the adhesive force
is not diminished by removing the pressure of the air.
A great number of experiments on the same subject
were made at a still later period by Mr Achard of Berlin.
He measured the force of adhesion between various sub¬
stances and water. He found that when the temperature
was increased, the adhesion proportionally diminished.
He even attempted to determine the diminution occa¬
sioned by the elevation of temperature, amounting to a
single degree of the thermometer; and gives us a formula
denoting that diminution. But it is not necessary to enter
into any details respecting his experiments here, for a rea¬
son that will appear immediately.
Besides these three philosophers, many others have ex¬
amined the rise of liquids in capillary tubes, a phenomenon
which is nothing else than a peculiar case of adhesion,
though we cannot with propriety treat of it here. Laplace
published a dissertation on the subject in the year 1805,
in which he has given us an historical detail, which, how¬
ever, is far from accurate. His reasoning appears to us in
general correct; though several very plain propositions
are rather obscured than elucidated by his mathematical
demonstrations.
When we make experiments on the adhesion of solids
to liquids, and endeavour to ascertain the force requisite
to separate them from each other, two cases may occur:
the solid body may separate from the liquid dry, or its
surface may be covered with a thin coating of the liquid,
which it retains. If a surface of tallow be placed in con¬
tact with water, and separated from it by weights succes¬
sively introduced into the opposite scale, we shall find,
after the separation has taken place, that the surface of
the tallow is dry, or that it has not carried along with it a
thin coating of the wrater. But when we employ a fir-
board, as Dr Brook Taylor did in his experiments, and as
Mr Achard did in many of his, the case is very different:
we shall find the whole surface of the board thoroughly
wetted; that is to say, a thin film of the liquid remains
adhering to the wood. Now, it is only the first of these
two cases that can be considered as exhibiting the true
force of adhesion. In the second case, it is not the solid
which separates from the liquid, but one portion of the
liquid which separates from the other. Such experiments,
therefore, really show the force of cohesion between the
particles of the liquid, not the force of adhesion between
the solid and the liquid. Now, as the experiments of
Brook Taylor and Achard belong all to this last case, it is
obvious that they cannot be considered as experiments on
adhesion. We must therefore leave them out of our con¬
sideration at present. The cohesion of the particles of
liquids is well known to diminish as the temperature in¬
creases, till at a certain temperature this cohesion disap¬
pears altogether, and the liquids assume the state of elas¬
tic fluids, the particles of which repel each other. Hence
the reason why, in Achard’s experiments, the adhesive
force diminished as the temperature increased.
152
Adhesion
II
Adhil.
A D H
Adhesion is obviously an attractive force, by which the
two surfaces are kept in contact. It must evidently in¬
crease as the surfaces adhere, because the number of
adhering particles increase in the same ratio. This force
is insensible when the two surfaces are at any perceptible
distance from one another; so that it acts only at insensible
distances. From Morveau’s experiments it appears, that
it differs very much in intensity when different solids are
made to adhere to the same liquid. Thus, gold adheres
to mercury with a force more than twice as great as zinc
does, and almost fifty-six times as great as cobalt does.
Now these two properties, namely, acting only at insensi¬
ble distances, and varying in intensity in different bodies,.
characterize that peculiar force known by the name of
chemical affinity. But there is one particular in which
chemical affinity appears at first sight to differ from adhe¬
sion. Chemical affinity is confined to the ultimate parti¬
cles or atoms of bodies; whereas adhesion takes place be¬
tween surfaces of any size whatever.
But if we consider that these surfaces consist each of
a congeries of atoms united into a large mass by the force
of cohesion; that adhesion is not sensible at any percep¬
tible distance, however great the extent of surfaces may
be; and that its strength increases in proportion to the
surfaces ;—if we consider these phenomena, we shall find
reason to conclude that adhesion is a force which acts
only between the atoms or integrant particles of bodies.
It is therefore merely a case of chemical affinity.
The phenomena of adhesion depend upon the strength
of affinity between the adhering bodies. If the affinity be
weak, the two surfaces will separate by a small force ap¬
plied, and the solid will retain no impression of the liquid
whatever. This happens when cobalt is brought in con¬
tact with mercury, or tallow with water. If the affinity
be strong, a considerable force will be requisite to separate
the two surfaces. This is the case when gold or silver is
brought in contact with mercury. So great is the affinity
indeed in these cases, that if the adhesion continue for a
short time, a combination actually takes place between
the two metals. In that case the gold comes away white,
or coated over with a film of mercury; the experiment is
no longer an example of the force of adhesion between
mercury and gold, but exhibits the cohesive force of the
particles of mercury to each other. We have even found
that this holds with platinum, though it be a metal which
has a much weaker affinity for mercury than gold has. If
a clean surface of platinum be kept for some time in con¬
tact with that of mercury, a very evident amalgamation
takes place.
When a surface of wood, marble, or metal, comes in
contact with water, on removing it we find that surface
moist; that is to say, it has carried with it a thin film of
wrater. This shows us that the adhesive force of water,
or the affinity of water to these different bodies, is greater
than the cohesive force of the particles of water to each
other. Yet this force is not sufficiently strong to produce
a chemical combination between the respective bodies.
When a surface of sugar or common salt comes in contact
with water, this surface is not merely wetted. If the con¬
tact be continued for a sufficient time, the solid loses its
cohesion, and is dissolved by the liquid. This is a compli¬
cated case. The water by capillary attraction insinuates
itself through the pores of the sugar. The minute crystals
of sugar are deprived of their cohesion to each other by
this intervening liquid. Being separated from each other,
they gradually dissolve or enter into a chemical combina¬
tion with the water. (l.)
ADHIL, in Astronomy, a star of the sixth magnitude,upon
the garment of Andromeda, under the last star in her foot.
A D J
ADIANTUM, in Botany, Maiden-Hair. . Ai ^
ADIAPHORISTS, in Church History, a name import¬
ing lukewarmness, given in the 16th century to the mo-^ ft
derate Lutherans, who embraced the opinion of Melanch- ^
thon, whose disposition was much more pacific than that
of Luther.
ADJAZZO, Adrazzo, or Ajaccio, a handsome town
and castle of Corsica, in the Mediterranean, with a bishop’s
see and a good harbour. It is populous, and fertile in
wine. It is 27 miles south-west of Corte. Long. 41.54. E.
Lat. 38. 5. N.
ADJECTIVE, in Grammar, a kind of noun joined with
a substantive, either expressed or implied, to denote its
qualities or incidents. > -
ADIGE, a river in Italy, which, taking its rise south of
the lake Glace, among the Alps, runs south by Trent, then
east by Verona, in the territory of Venice, and falls into
the Gulf of Venice north of the mouth of the Po.
ADJOURNMENT, the putting off a court or other
meeting till another day. There is a difference between
the adjournment and the prorogatian of the parliament;
the former not only being for a shorter time, but also done
by the house itself; whereas the latter is an act of royal
authority.
ADIPOCIRE, derived from adeps, fat, and cera, wax,
denotes a substance which has been lately examined by
chemists. It is formed by a certain change which the
soft parts of animal bodies undergo when kept for some !
time in running water, or when a great number of dead
bodies are heaped together in the same place. Great i
quantities of this substance were found on removing the I i
animal matters from a burial-ground at Paris in the year |
1787. In this burial-ground 1200 or 1500 bodies were
thrown together into the same pit, and being decomposed,
were converted into this substance. It has some of the
properties of wax or spermaceti.
ADIPOSE, a term used by anatomists for any cell,
membrane, &c. that is remarkable for its fatness. . ^
ADIRBEITSAN, in Geography, a province of Persia,
in Asia, and part of the ancient Media. It is bounded on
the north by the province of Schirvan, on the south by
Irac-Agemi and Kurdistan, on the east by Ghilan and the
Caspian Sea, and on the west by Turcomania. Long. 42.
to 48. E. Lat. 36. to 39. N.
ADIT, in a general sense, the passage to, or entrance |
of, any thing. # .
Adit of a Aline, the hole or aperture whereby it is
entered and dug, and by which the water and ores are
carried away. The term is sometimes used for the air-
shaft, which is a hole driven perpendicularly from the sur- j !
face of the earth into some part of the mine, to give en¬
trance to the air.
ADJUDICATION, in Scotish Law, the name of that ac¬
tion by which a creditor attaches the heritable estate of i
his debtor, or his debtor's heir, in order to appropriate it
to himself either in payment or security of his debt; or |
that action by which the holder of an heritable right, i
labouring under any defect in point of form, may supply j i
that defect.
ADJUNCT, among philosophers, signifies something
added to another, without being any necessary part of it-
Thus, water absorbed by cloth or a sponge is an adjunct, |
but no necessary part of either of these substances.
Adjunct, in Metaphysics, some quality belonging to 1
either the body or mind, whether natural or acquired.
Thus, thinking is an adjunct of the mind, and growth an
adjunct of the body.
Adjunct, in Music, a word which is employed to de¬
nominate the connection or relation between the principal
ADM
Aincts mode and the modes of its two-fifths, which, from the in¬
tervals that constitute the relation between them and it,
At-inis- are called its adjuncts.
lr or. Adjuncts, in Rhetoric and Grammar, signify certain
^ words or things added to others, to amplify or augment
the force of the discourse.
Adjunct Gods, or Adjuncts of the Gods, among the
Romans, were a kind of inferior deities, added as assistants
to the principal ones, to ease them in their functions.
Thus, to Mars was adjoined Bellona and Nemesis ; to Nep¬
tune, Salacia; to Vulcan, the Cabiri; to the Good Genius,
the Lares; to the Evil, the Lemures, &c.
ADJUTANT, in the military art, is an officer whose
business it is to assist the major. Each battalion of foot
and regiment of horse has an adjutant, who receives the
orders every night from the brigade-major ; which, after
carrying them to the colonel, he delivers out to the
serjeants. When detachments are to be made, he gives
the number to be furnished by each company or troop,
and assigns the hour and place of rendezvous.
AoJUTANTs-general, among the Jesuits, a select num¬
ber of fathers, who resided with the general of the order,
each of whom had a province or country assigned him, as
England, Holland, &c.; and their business was to inform
the father-general of state occurrences in such countries.
To this end they had their correspondents delegated,
emissaries, visitors, regents, provincials, &c.
ADJUTORIUM, a term used by physicians for any
medicine in a prescription but the capital one.
ADLE Eggs, such as have not received an impregnation
from the semen of the cock.
ADLEGATION, a term formerly used in the public
law of the German empire, to denote the right claimed by
the states of the empire of adjoining plenipotentiaries, in
public treaties and negotiations, to those of the emperor,
for the transacting of matters which relate to the empire
in general; in which sense adlegation differs from lega¬
tion, which is the right of sending ambassadors on a per¬
son’s own account.
ADLOCUTION, Adlocutio, in Antiquity, is chiefly
understood of speeches made by Roman generals to their
armies, to encourage them before a battle. We frequent¬
ly find those adlocutions expressed on medals by the ab¬
breviature Adlocut. Coh.—The general is sometimes re¬
presented as seated on a tribunal, often on a bank or
mound of turf, with the cohorts ranged orderly round him,
in manipuli and turmce. The usual formula in adlocutions
was, Forth esset ac fidus.
ADMANUENSES, in ancient law-books, persons who
swore by laying their hands on the book, as was the
case with laymen. Clerks did not swear on the book,
their word being reputed as their oath ; whence they were
also denominated fide digni.
ADMINICLE, a term used chiefly in old law-books to
imply an aid, help, assistance, or support. The word is
Latin, adminiculwn; and derived from adminicular, to
prop or support.
Adminicle, in Scotish Law, signifies any writing or deed
referred to by a party, in an action of law, for proving his
allegations.
ADMINICULATOR, an ancient officer of the church,
w lose business it was to attend to and defend the cause
° widows, orphans, and others destitute of help.
ADIVIINis,j’R..A'ITC)N, in general, the government, di¬
rection, or management of affairs, and particularly the
exercise of distributive justice. Among ecclesiastics, it is
o ten used to express the giving or dispensing of the sacra¬
ments, &c. ° o r t,
ADMINIS1R ATOR, in English Law, he to whom the
vol. n.
A D M
153
Admiral.
ordinary commits the administration of the goods of a Adminis-
person deceased, in default of an executor. If the admi- trator
nistrator die, his executors are not administrators ; but the
court is to grant a new administration. The origin of ad-,
ministrators is derived from the civil law. Their establish-^
ment in England is owing to a statute made in the 31st
year of Edward III. Till then, no office of this kind was
known beside that of executor; in case of a want of
which, the ordinary had the disposal of goods of persons
intestate, &c.
Administrator, in Scotish Law, a. person legally em¬
powered to act for another whom the law presumes in¬
capable of acting for himself.
Administrator is sometimes used for the president of
a province ; for a person appointed to receive, manage,
and distribute the revenues of an hospital or religious
house; for a prince who enjoys the revenues of a secu¬
larized bishop; and for the regent of a kingdom during
the minority of a prince or a vacancy of the throne.
ADMIRABILIS Sal, the same with Glauber’s Salt.
ADMIRAL, a great officer or magistrate, who has the
government of a navy, and the hearing of all maritime
causes.
Authors are divided with regard to the origin and de¬
nomination of this important officer. Sir Henry Spelman
thinks that both the name and dignity were derived from
the Saracens, and, by reason of the holy wars, brought
amongst us ; for admiral, in the Arabian language, signi¬
fies a prince, or chief ruler, and was the ordinary title of
the governors of cities, provinces, &c.; and therefore they
called the commander of the navy by that name, as a
name of dignity and honour. Ducange assures us that
the Sicilians were the first, and the Genoese the next,
who gave the denomination of admiral to the commanders
of their naval armaments; and that they took it from the
Saracen or Arabic emir, a general name for every com¬
manding officer. As for the exact time when the word
was introduced among us, it is uncertain. Some think it
was in the reign of Edward I. Sir Henry Spelman is of
opinion that it was first used in the reign of Henry III.
because neither the laws of Oleron, made in 1266, nor
Bracton, who wrote about that time, make any mention of
it. In the latter part of that reign, not only the historians,
but the charters themselves, very frequently use the word
admiral.
Anciently there were generally three or four admirals
appointed for the English seas, all of them holding the
office durante heneplacito, and each of them having par¬
ticular limits under his charge and government; as
admirals of the fleet of ships from the mouth of the
Thames, northward, southward, or westward. Besides
these, there were admirals of the Cinque Ports. We
sometimes find that one person had been admiral of the
fleets to the southward, northward, and westward; but the
title of Admiralis Anglice was not frequent till the reign of
Henry IV. when the king’s brother had that title given
him, which in all commissions afterwards was granted to
the succeeding admirals. It may be observed, that there
was a title above that of admiral of England, which was,
locum tenens regis super mare, the king’s lieutenant-general
of the sea: this title we find mentioned in the reign of
Richard II. Before the use of the word admiral was
known, the title of custos maris was made use of.
Of the rank of admiral there are three degrees; admiral,
vice-admiral, rear-admiral. Each of these degrees consists
of three divisions, which are distinguished by as mainy
different colours or flags ; hence all admirals assume the
common title offlag-officers, and take rank and command
in the following order :—
U
154 5 ADMIRAL.
Admiral. Admirals of the Red, of the White, of the Blue Squad*
rons, bearing their respective flags at the main-top-gallant-
mast head; Vice-admirals of the Red, of the White, of
the Blue Squadrons, bearing their respective flags at the
fore-top-gallant-mast head; Rear-admirals of the Red,
of the White, of the Blue Squadrons, bearing their re¬
spective flags at the mizen-top-gallant-mast head.
It may be remarked, that for a century nearly we had
no Admiral of the Red Squadron; that flag, according to
a vulgar error, having been taken from us by the Dutch
in one of those arduous struggles for naval superiority
which that nation was once able to maintain against the
naval power of England. But the fact is, the red flag
was laid aside on the union of the two crowns or England
and Scotland, when the Union flag was adopted in its
place, and usually hoisted by the admiral commanding in
chief. The red flag, however, has recently been revived,
on an occasion worthy of the event; namely, on the pro¬
motion of naval officers which took place in November
1805, in consequence of the memorable victory off Tra¬
falgar. See Navy.
Admiral of the Fleet is a mere honorary distinc¬
tion, which gives no command, but an increase of half¬
pay, his being three guineas a day, and that of an admi¬
ral two guineas. It is sometimes conferred, but not al¬
ways, on the senior admiral on the list of naval officers,
being held at present by his royal highness the duke of
Clarence. If the admiral of the fleet should happen to
serve afloat, he is authorized to carry the union flag at
the main-top-gallant-mast head; which was the case when
the duke of Clarence escorted Louis XVIII. across the
Channel to take possession of the throne of France.
The comparative rank which flag-officers hold with offi¬
cers in the army has been settled as follows by his Ma¬
jesty’s order in council:—
The admiral and commander-in-chief of the fleet has
the rank of a field-marshal in the army; admirals with
flags at the main take rank with generals of horse and
foot; vice-admirals with lieutenant-generals; rear-admi¬
rals with major-generals; commodores with broad pendants
with brigadier-generals. See Navy.
Admiral, the Lord High, of England, an ancient
officer of high rank in the state, in whom not only the go¬
vernment of the navy is vested, but who, long before any
regular navy existed in England, presided over a sove¬
reign court, with authority to hear and determine all
causes relating to the sea, and to take cognizance of all
offences committed thereon.
There can be little doubt of the Asiatic origin of the
name given to this officer, which does not appear to have
been known in the languages of Europe before the time
of the holy wars. Amir, in Arabic, is a chief or com¬
mander of forces; it is the same word as the ameer of
the peninsula of India (as ameer al omrah, the chief
of lords or princes), and the emir of the Turks or Sa¬
racens, who had, and still have, their emir or ameer l
dureea, commander of the sea; amir l asker dureea, com¬
mander of the naval armament. The incorporation of the
article with the noun appears, we believe, for the first
time in the Annals of Eutychius, patriarch of Alexandria,
in the tenth century, who calls the Caliph Omar Amirol
munumim, seu, Imperator fidelium. Spelman says, “ In
regno Saracenorum quatuor praetores statuit, qui admiralli
Yocabantur.” The d is evidently impertinent, and is
omitted by the French, who say Amiral. The Spanish
write Almirante; the Portuguese the same. Milton
would seem to have been aware of the origin of the word,
when he speaks of “ the mast of some great Ammiral.”
It is obvious, then, that the supposed derivations of
dkiwoog from the Greek, aumer from the French, and aen Adn
mereal from the Saxon, are fanciful and unauthorized ety- ^ )
mologies.
The period of time about which this officer first makes
his appearance in the governments of European nations,
corroborates the supposition of its having been adopted
in imitation of the Mediterranean powers, at the return
of the Christian heroes from the holy wars. According
to Moreri, Florent de Varenne, in the year 1270, was the
first admiral known in France ; but by the most approved
writers of that nation, the title was unknown till, in 1284,
Enguerand de Coussy was constituted Admiral. The
first admiral by name that we know of in England was
W. de Leybourne, who was appointed to that office by
Edward I. in the year 1286, under the title of Admiral
de la mer du Roy d'Angleterre. Mariana, in his History of
Spain, says that Don Sancho, having resolved to make
war on the barbarians (Moors), prepared a great fleet;
and as the Genoese were at that time very powerful by
sea, and experienced and dexterous sailors, he sent to
Genoa to invite, with great offers, Benito Zacharias into
his service; that he accepted those offers, and brought
with him twelve ships; that the king named him his ad¬
miral {Almirante), and conferred on him the office for a
limited time. This happened in the year 1284. Several
Portuguese authors observe, that their office of Almirante
was derived from the Genoese, who had it from the Sici¬
lians, and these from the Saracens; and it appears, from
Souza’s Historia Genealogica da Caza Real, that, in 1322,
Micer Manuel Pi^agow was invited from Genoa into Por¬
tugal, and appointed to the office of Almirante, with a sa¬
lary of three thousand pounds {livras) a year, and certain
lands, &c. on condition that he should furnish, on his part,
twenty men of Genoa, all experienced in sea affairs, and
qualified to be alcaidis (captains) and arraises (masters)
of ships : all of which terms, almirante, alcaidi, and arrais,
are obviously of Arabic derivation.
Edward 1. who began his reign in 1272, went to the
Holy Land, and visited Sicily on his return. He must
therefore have had an opportunity of informing himself
concerning the military and naval science of the various
countries bordering on the Mediterranean—an opportuni¬
ty which so able and warlike a prince would not neglect;
but whether the title and office of admiral existed in
England before his time, as some are inclined to think,
or whether W. de Leybourne was first created to that
office in 1286, as before mentioned, we believe there is
no authentic record to enable us to decide. Supposing
him, however, to be the first, Edward may either have
adopted the office and title from the Genoese, or the Si¬
cilians, or the Spaniards, or the French; or even had it
directly from the Saracens, against whom he had fought,
and with whom he had afterwards much amicable inter*
course. It would seem, however, that the office was in
Edward's time merely honorary; for that monarch, in !
1307, orders the lord mayor of London, at his peril and
without delay, to provide a good ship, well equipped, to
carry his pavilions and tents; and, in the same year, an- i
other order is addressed to the Vicecomes Kantice, to pro¬
vide, for immediate passage across the seas, tot et tales
pontes et claias as the constable of Dover Gastle should
demand, without one word being mentioned of the admi¬
ral. (Rymer, vol. iii. p. 32.)
From the 34th Edward II. we have a regular and un¬
interrupted succession of admirals. In that year he ap¬
pointed Edward Charles Admiral of the North, from the
mouth of the river Thames northward, and Gervase Al¬
lard Admiral of the West, from the mouth of the Thames
westward; and these two admirals of the north and the
admiral.
Adirai- west were continued down to the 34th Edward III., when
V^ ^^John de Beauchamp, lord warden of the Cinque Ports,
constable of the Tower of London, and of the Castle of
Dover, was constituted High Admiral of England; but
nine years afterwards the office was again divided* into
north and west, and so continued until the 10th Richard
II., when Richard, son of Alain earl of Arundel, was ap¬
pointed Admiral of England. Two years after this it was
again divided as before; and in the 15th year of the same
reign, Edward earl of Rutland and Cork, afterwards duke
of Albemarle, was constituted High Admiral of the North
and West; and after him the marquis of Dorset, and
earl of Somerset, son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancas¬
ter; then Percy earl of Winchester next succeeded to
the same title, which once more was dropped in the 2d
of Henry IV. and divided as before. But in the 6th of
the same reign the office of Admiral of England became
permanently vested in one person. In the 14th Henry
VI. John Holland duke of Exeter was created -A.dmiral
of England, Ireland, and Aquitaine for life; and in the
third year of Edward VI. John Dudley earl of Warwick
was constituted High Admiral of England, Ireland, Wales,
Calais, Boulogne, the marches of the same, Normandy,’
Gascony, and Aquitaine, also Captain-general of the navy
and seas of the king, &c. In the 27th Elizabeth, Charles
Lord Howard had all the aforesaid titles, with the addi¬
tion of Captain-general of the navy and seas of the said
kingdoms.
On the 20th November 1632, the office of high admi¬
ral was for the first time put in commission, all the great
officers of state being the commissioners. During the
Commonwealth, a committee of parliament managed the
affairs of the admiralty. At the Restoration, in 1660,
his royal highness James duke of York was constituted
Lord High Admiral of England. The commission was
revoked on the 22d May 1684, and King Charles II. held
t ic admiralty in his own hands, and managed it by the
great officers of his privy council until his death. He
took this occasion of reserving for his own use all the
droits and perquisites claimed by the lord high admi-
TS: j ^ .James IL declared himself in council Lord
High Admiral and Lord General; and he managed the
affairs of the admiralty and navy by Mr Secretary Pepys
ah the time of his reign. In the 1st William and Mary,
the admiralty was again put in commission. In the 6th
Anne (1/07), his royal highness George prince of Den¬
mark was appointed High Admiral of Great Britain (in
consequence of the union of the two crowns), with a
ta ass}st J"11; and at his death the queen acted
1 Jje.office by .Mr Burchett. On the 29th November
«, it was again put in commission, or rather, the earl
ol Pembroke was constituted High Admiral, with a coun-
i to assist him; since which time the office of lord
ugh admiral continued to be executed by lords com¬
missioners of the admiralty, until the 2d of May 1827
SJ1* ro/al highness the duke of Clarence was ap-
P nted Lord High Admiral, with a council of four mem-
ers to assist him ; in which office he continued to act, to
mvn grCat sat,lsfactlon of the navy at large, until, at his
h s h;!?Uem ’ 16 Wat Perrnitted by his Majesty to resign
°n the 19th September 1828, when it was
a^ain put in commission.
Geo^e of Denmark, when lord high admiral,
nrofii? surrendered, by a formal instrument, all the rights,
ino- and advantages whatsoever, appertain-
Se the benefitW use of the public, with
of in sn?h n °f t le ST ofL-2500 a year, to be disposed
Maiestv manner, and for such particular uses, as her
fJ y, under her sign manual,, should direct; the salary
155
of the lord high admiral, which had hitherto hopn a a • i
™rivy JeT^LTCIOoV™ n°WJXhd’ by Warrant
p ivy seal, at D./000 a year; which sum, by 1st George
. was divided equally among seven commissioners, and
continued to be so down to the present time, the part of
the commissioner who stood first in the patent havino-
however, been made up from other funds to L.SOOO^a
year, and, m the year 1806, further increased by Lord
Mowick, then first lord commissioner, to L.5000 a year,
bince the surrender above mentioned, all the droits of ad'-
miralty, as they are called, with all the fees, emoluments,
perquisites, &c. whatsoever, have been taken from the
admiral, and applied to public purposes.
Ihese droits and perquisites are by no means incon¬
siderable. As enumerated in the patent, they consist of
notson, jetson, lagon, treasure, deodands, derelicts, found
within his jurisdiction; all goods picked up at sea; all
fines, forfeitures, ransoms, recognizances, and pecuniary
punishments; all sturgeons, whales, porpusses, dolphins,
rigs, and grampusses, and all such large fishes; all ships
and goods of the enemy coining into any creek, road, or
port, by stress of weather, mistake, or ignorance of the
war; all ships seized at sea, salvage, &c. together with his
shares of prizes; which shares were afterwards called
tenths, in imitation probably of the French, who o-ave
their admiral, for supporting the dignity of his office, son
droit de dixieme. All prizes are now wholly given up by
the crown to the captors, and such share of the .droits as
trom circumstances may be thought proper. The lord
ugh admiral also claimed, and enjoyed as his due, the
cast ships; and the subordinate officers of the navy as
their perquisites, all other decayed and unserviceable
stores.
Though by act of 2d William and Mary the lords
commissioners of the admiralty are vested with all and
singular authorities, jurisdictions, and powers, which have
been and are vested, settled, and placed in the lord
high admiral of England for the time being, to all in¬
tents and purposes, as if the said commissioners were
m admiral of England; yet there is this remark¬
able difference m the two patents by which they are con¬
stituted, that the patent of the lord high admiral men¬
tions very little of the military part of his office, but chief¬
ly details his judicial duties as a magistrate; whilst, on
the contrary, the patent to the lords commissioners of
the admiralty is very particular in directing them to go¬
vern the. affairs of the navy, and is almost wholly silent as
to their judicial powers.
These powers, as set forth in the patent to the earl of
1 embroke in 1/01, are, the power to act by deputy; to
take cognizance of all causes, civiLand maritime, within
Ins jurisdiction; to arrest goods anti persons ; to preserve
public streams, ports, rivers, fresh waters, and creeks
whatsoever, within his jurisdiction, as well for the preser¬
vation of the ships, as of the fishes; to reform too straight
nets, and unlawful engines, and punish offenders; to arrest
ships, mariners, pilots, masters, gunners, bombardiers, and
any other persons whatsoever, able and fit for the service
of the ships, as often as occasion shall require, and where¬
soever they shall be met with; to appoint vice-admirals
judges, and other officers, durante beneplacito ; to remove,
suspend, of expel them, and put others in their places, as
he shall see occasion; to take cognizance of civil and
maritime laws, and of death, murder, and maim.
It was by no means necessary that the lord high ad¬
miral should be a professional man. Henry VIII. made
his natural son, the duke of Richmond, lord high ad¬
miral of England, when he was but six years old. When
the high admiral, however, went to sea in person, he had
156
ADM
Admiral usually a commission under the great seal, appointing him
]l Admiral and Captain-general of the fleet, sometimes with
Admiralty. p0wers t0 confer knighthood, and generally to punish with
life and limb. Such a commission was granted by Henry
VIII. to Sir Edward Howard, who executed indenture
with the king to furnish 3000 men, 18 captains, 1750
soldiers, 1232 mariners and gunners; the pay of himself
to be 10s. a day, of a captain Is. 6d., of the rest 5s. as
wages, and 5s. for victuals each man, for twenty-eight
days, together with certain dead shares.
It appears, from Mr Pepys’s Naval Collections, that the
lord high admiral did anciently wear, on solemn occasions,
a gold whistle, set with precious stones, hanging at the
end of a gold chain. The whistle, it would seem, has long
since descended to the boatswain and his mates, (m.)
Admiral, Lord High, of Scotland, one of the great
officers of the crown, and supreme judge in all maritime
cases within that part of Britain.
Admiral is also an appellation given to the most con¬
siderable ship of a fleet of merchantmen, or of the vessels
employed in the cod fishery of Newfoundland. This last
has the privilege of choosing what place he pleases on the
shore to dry his fish; gives proper orders, and appoints
the fishing places to those who come after him; and as
long as the fishing season continues, he carries a flag on
his main-mast.
Admiral, in Conchology, the English name of a species
of the voluta, a shell-fish belonging to the order of vermes
testacea.
ADMIRALTY, High Court of. This is a court of
law, in which the authority of the lord high admiral is
exercised, in \\\s> judicial capacity, and wherein all causes
are determined appertaining to the sea, and all offences
tried that are committed thereon. Very little has been
left on record of the ancient prerogative of the admirals
of England. For some time after the first institution of
the office, they judged all matters relating to merchants
and mariners, which happened on the main sea, in a sum¬
mary way, according to the laws of Oleron, promulgated
by Richard I. These laws, which were little more than
a transcript of the Rhodian laws, became the universally
received customs of the western part of the world. “ All
the sea-faring nations,” says Sir Leoline Jenkins, “ soon
after their promulgation, received and entertained these
laws from the English, by way of deference to the sove¬
reignty of our kings in the British ocean, and to the judg¬
ment of our countrymen in sea affairs.”
In the patents granted to the early admirals between
the latter end of the reigfr of Henry III. and until the
close of that of Edward III. no mention is made of marine
perquisites or of civil power, nor does it appear that the
admirals enjoyed either; but after the death of the lat¬
ter, new and extraordinary powers were granted to them,
and it would appear that they usurped others. The pre¬
amble to the statute of 13th Richard II. sets forth, that
“ forasmuch as a great and common clamour and com¬
plaint hath been oftentimes made before this time, and
yet is, for that the admirals and their deputies hold their
sessions within divers places of this realm, accroaching to
them greater authority than belongeth to their office, in
prejudice of our lord the king, and in destruction and im¬
poverishing of the common peopleand it is therefore
directed that the admirals and their deputies shall not
meddle from henceforth of any thing done within the
realm, but only of a thing done upon the sea. And two years
afterwards, in consequence, as stated in the preamble of
the statute, “ of the great and grievous complaint of all
the commons,” it was ordained that the admiral’s court
should have no cognizance of any contracts, pleas, or quar-
ADM
rels, or of any thing done or arising within the bodies ofAdm
counties, whether by land or by water, nor of wreck ofv-
the sea; but that the admiral should have cognizance of
the death of a man, and of maihern done in great ships
beino- and hovering in the main stream of great rivers, yet
only'beneath the bridges of the same rivers nigh the sea.
Ho may also arrest ships in the great floats for the great
voyages of the king and of the realm, and have jurisdic¬
tion over the said floats, but during the said voyages only.
But if the admiral or his lieutenant exceed that jurisdic¬
tion, then, by 2d Henry IV., the statute of 13th Richard
II. and common law may be holden against them ; and if
a man pursues wrongfully in the admiralty court, his ad¬
versary may recover double damages at common law, and
the pursuant, if attainted, shall incur the penalty of L.10
to the king.
The place which, according to Spelman, is absolutely
subject to the jurisdiction of the admiral, is the sea;
which, however, comprehends public rivers, fresh waters,
creeks, and all places whatsoever, within the ebbing and
flowing of the sea, at the highest water, the shores or
banks adjoining, from all the first bridges to the seaward;
and in these, he observes, the admiralty hath full juris¬
diction in all causes, criminal and civil, except treasons
and the right of wreck. Lord Coke observes, that “ be¬
tween the high water mark and the low water mark, the
admiral hath jurisdiction super aquam, when the sea is
full, and as long as it flows, though the land be infra cor¬
pus comitatus at the reflow, so as of one place there is divi-
sum imperium at several times.”
But though the statute restraineth the lord high ad¬
miral, that he shall not hold plea of a thing rising in the
body of a county, he is not restrained from making exe¬
cution upon the land, but is empowered to take either
body or goods upon the land; otherwise his jurisdiction
would often prove a dead letter. He also can and does
hold his court in the body of a county. So, likewise, the
civil power may apprehend and try persons who may have
been guilty of offences cognizable at common law, though
committed in the fleet, in any port or harbour of Great
Britain, or at sea, provided such persons have not already
been tried for such offences, either by court-martial or in
the admiralty court; and in all ports, harbours, creeks,
&c. lying in any county, the high admiral and the sheriff,
or coroner, as the case may be, have concurrent jurisdic¬
tion.
The Lord High Admiral is assisted in his judicial
functions by the following principal officers:—1. The
Vice-admiral; 2. the Judge; 3. the Registrar; 4. the
Marshal; 5. Advocate-general; 6. Procurator-general;
7. Counsellor; 8. Solicitor.
1. The Vice-admiral. This officer is the admiral’s de¬
puty or lieutenant, mentioned in the statutes of 13th and
15th Richard II., and was the person, most probably, who
presided in the court. At present the office of vice-ad¬
miral of England is a perfect sinecure, generally conferred
on some naval officer of high rank and distinguished cha¬
racter in the service, having a salary attached to it in ad¬
dition to his half-pay of L.469. 5s. 8d. per annum, lhat of
rear-admiral of England is the same, and the salary in
addition to his half-pay is L.370. 4s. 3d. per annum. Each
county of England has its vice-admiral, which is little
more than an honorary distinction, though the patent gives
to him all the powers vested in the admiral himself.
Similar powers were also granted to the judges of the ad¬
miralty county-courts; but this was found so inconveni¬
ent and prejudicial to those who had suits to commence
or defend before them, that the duke of York, when lord
high admiral, in 1663, caused instructions to be drawn
ADMIRALTY.
157
Adn alty.up in order to ascertain to each his province, whereby goods that are or shall be taken; and to hear and deter-Admiralty
v^.-Othe whole judicial power remained with the judge, and the mine according to the course of the admiralty, or the law ^^v-v^
upholding of the rights of the admiral, and levying and of nations; and a warrant issues to the judge of the ad-
receiving the perquisites, &c. appertained to the vice-ad- miralty accordingly.
miral. _ _ The admiralty court being in this respect a court in
Each of the four provinces of Ireland has its vice-ad- which foreigners of all nations may become suitors an
miral. There is one vice-admiral for all Scotland, who appeal may be had from its decisions to a committee of the
has a salary of L.1000 a year on the ordinary estimate of lords of his Majesty’s privy council, who hear and deter-
the navy; and one for the Shetland and Orkney islands, mine according to the established laws of nations.
The governor of most of our colonies has a commission At the breaking out of a war, the lord high admiral
of vice-admiral granted to him by the lord high ad- also receives a special commission from the crown, under
miral or lords commissioners of the admiralty, and ge- the great seal, to empower him to grant letters of marque
nerally a commission from the king, under the great seal, and reprisals against the enemy, he having no such power
grounded on the 11th and 12th William III., and further by his patent. These letters are either general or special;
confirmed by 46th Geo. III., by which he is authorized to general, when granted to private men to fit out ships at
try all piracies, felonies, or robberies committed on the their own charge to annoy the enemy; special, when in
seas, where the parties are taken into custody in places the case of any of our merchants being robbed of their
remote from England; the court to consist of seven per- estates or property by foreigners, the king grants them
sons at the least, of whom the governor, the lieutenant- letters of reprisal against that nation, though we may be
governor, the vice-admiral, the flag-officer, or commander- in amity with it. Before the latter can be sued for, the
in-chief of the squadron, the members of the council, the complainant must have gone through the prosecution of
chief justice, judge of the vice-admiralty court, captains his suit in the courts of the state whose subjects have
of men of war, and secretary of the colony, are specially wronged him ; where, if justice be denied or vexatiously
named in the commission: but any three of these, with delayed, he must first make proof of his losses and charges
four others selected from known merchants, factors, or in the admiralty court here; whereupon, if the king is
planters, captains, lieutenants, or warrant-officers of men satisfied he has pursued all lawful means to obtain redress,
of war, or captains, masters, or mates of merchant ships, and his own interceding should produce no better effect,
constitute a legal court of piracy. special letters of reprisal are granted; not, however, as
The vice-admiralty courts in the colonies are of two must be evident, until a very strong case has been made
descriptions. The one has pow^r to inquire into the out. This custom, which we may now consider as obso-
causes of detention of enemies or neutral vessels, to try lete, seems to be a remnant of the law of ancient Greece,
and condemn the same for the benefit of the captors, as called by which, if a man was slain, the friends
well as to take cognizance of all matters relating to the and relations of the deceased might seize on any three
office of the lord high admiral The other has power citizens of the place where the murderer took refuge, and
only to institute inquiries into misdemeanours committed make them slaves, unless he was delivered up. Both
in merchant vessels, and to determine petty suits, &c. and Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II. granted letters of
to guard the privileges of the admiral. The former are reprisal. In 1638 the Due d’Epernon seized on the ship
usually known by the name of Prize Courts, the latter Amity of London, for the service of the French king
by that of Instance Courts. against the Spaniards, promising full satisfaction; but none
The following are the colonies and foreign possessions being made, the owners obtained letters of reprisal from
in which Prize Courts have been established in the course the usurper, and afterwards, in 1665, from Charles II.
of the last war:—Gibraltar, Malta, Newfoundland, Hali- In 1666 Captain Butler Barnes had letters of reprisal
fax, Bermuda, Bahama Islands, Barbadoes, Antigua, Tor- against the Danes. The Dutch having burnt six English
tola, Jamaica, Cape of Good Hope, Ceylon, Bombay, Ma- merchant vessels in the Elbe, within the territories of
dras, and Calcutta. The following colonies had Instance Hamburg, which city, instead of giving any assistance or
Courts only:—Dominica, Grenada, St Vincent, St Chris- protection, hindered the English from defending them-
topher, Trinidad, St Cervix, Martinique, Berbice, Deme- selves, letters of reprisal were granted to the sufferers
rara, and Essequibo ; in addition to which is a court esta- against that city. Lastly, one Justiniani, a noble Genoese,
blished at Sierra Leone for the trial and condemnation of being indebted in a great sum to Joseph Como, a mer-
captured slaves only. chant in London, which he had several years solicited for.
In none of the patents to the lord high admiral, vice- but could get no satisfaction, Captain Scott, commander
admiral, or judge, is any mention made of prize juris- of his Majesty’s ship the Dragon, stationed at that time
diction. Lord Mansfield had occasion to search into the in the Mediterranean, received orders to make reprisals
records of the court of admiralty in Doctors’ Commons, upon the ships of that republic; upon which the debt was
to ascertain on what foundation this jurisdiction was ex- paid.
ercised by the judge of the admiralty; but he could not 2. The Judge. The patents to the judge of the ad-
discover any prize-act books farther back than 1643; no miralty and vice-admiralty courts run pretty nearly in
sentences farther back than 1648. The registrar could the same manner as those of the lord high admiral,
go no farther back than 1690. “ The prior records,” says and point out the several matters of which he can take
us lordship, “ are in confusion, illegible, and without in- cognizance. The parliament of 1640 established the of-
dex. Hie prize jurisdiction may therefore be considered fice of judge of the admiralty court in three persons,
as of modern authority, and distinct altogether from the with a salary of L.500 a year to each. At the Kestora-
ancient powers given to the admiral. To constitute the tion there were two judges of the high court of admi-
authonty for trying prize causes, a commission under the ralty, which sometimes proved inconvenient; for when
great seal issues to the lord high admiral, at the com- they differed in opinion no judgment could be had. These
mencement of every war, to will and require the court of judges, before the Revolution, held their appointment
admiralty, and the lieutenant and judge of the said court, only during pleasure. At that period Sir Charles Hedges
us surrogate or surrogates, to proceed upon all manner was constituted judge under the great seal of England,
u captures, seizures, prizes, and reprisals, of all ships and quamdiu se bene gesserit, with a salary of L.400 a year, and
158 ADMIRALTY.
Admiralty, an additional L.400 out of the proceeds of prizes and per- spectively of all the fees, dues, perquisites, emoluments, Adni
quisites of the admiralty; but in the year 1725 the lat- and profits received by and on account of the said re-^'
ter sum was diminished from the ordinary estimate by gistrars, out of which all the expenses of their offices are
the House of Commons. Lord Stowell, the late judge, in to be paid ; that one-third of the surplus shall belong to
consequence of the extraordinary increase of the business the registrar and to his assistant (if an assistant should
in the admiralty court, had a salary of L.2500 a year on be necessary), and the remaining two-thirds to the con-
the ordinary estimate of the navy. solidated fund of Great Britain, to be paid quarterly into
The judges of the vice-admiralty courts in certain of the exchequer; the account of such surplus to be present-
the colonies, limited by 41st George III., are allowed a ed to the court at least fourteen days before each quarter
salary not exceeding to each the sum of L.2000 a year, day, and. verified on oath.
to be paid out of the consolidated fund of Great Britain; 4. The Marshal. This officer receives his appointment
together with profits and emoluments not exceeding to from the lord high admiral or lords, commissioners of
each the further sum of L.2000 per annuvi, out of the fees the admiralty, and holds his situation by patent under
to be taken by the said judges, of which a table is direct- the seal of the high court of admiralty during pleasure,
ed to be hung up in some conspicuous place in the court; His duties are, to arrest ships and persons, to imprison in
and no judge is to take any fee beyond those specified, the Marshalsea, to bear the mace before the judge, and
directly or indirectly, on pain of forfeiture of his office, to attend executions. His emoluments depend chiefly on
and being proceeded against for extortion; and on his re- the number of prizes brought into port for condemnation,
tirement from office, after six years’ service, his Majesty and the number of ships embargoed, and may probably
may, by authority of the act above mentioned, grant unto be reckoned in time of war, communibus annis, from
such judge an annuity for the term of his life, not ex- L.1500 to L.2000 a year, out of which he has to pay about
ceeding L.1000 per annum. This liberal provision puts L.400 a year to a deputy. In peace, the whole emolu-
the judges of the colonial courts of vice-admiralty above ments are probably not sufficient for the payment of the
all suspicion of their decisions being influenced by un- deputy’s salary.
worthy motives; a suspicion they were not entirely free 5. The Advocate-general. This officer is appointed by
from when their emoluments depended mainly on their warrant of the lords commissioners of the admiralty,
fees. - His duties are, to appear for the lord high admiral in his
During the late war, a session of oyer and terminer to court of admiralty, court of delegates, and other courts;
try admiralty causes was held at the Old Bailey twice to move and debate in all causes wherein the rights of
a year. The commission for this purpose is of the same the admiral are concerned; for which he had anciently
nature with those which are granted to the judges when a salary of twenty marks a year, and an additional allow-
they go the circuits; that is to say, to determine and ance, granted to him in 1695, of L.200 a year. At pre¬
punish all crimes, offences, misdemeanours, and abuses; sent he has L.213. 6s. 8d. a year, voted on the ordinary
the end of both being the same, their limits different; the estimate of the navy. Formerly the admiral’s advocate
one relating to things done upon the land, the other to was always retained as leading counsel, but since the
things done upon the water. The lords commissioners droits were transferred to the crown, he has gradually
of the admiralty, all the members of the privy council, been supplanted by the king’s advocate, who is generally
the chancellor and all the judges, the lords of the trea- retained in all cases, the admiralty advocate acting only
sury, the secretary of the admiralty, the treasurer and as junior counsel; and while the former makes sometimes
commissioners of the navy, some of the aldermen of from L. 15,000 to L.20,000 a year, the latter rarely receives
London, and several doctors of the civil law, are the from his professional duties more than from L.1500 to
members of this commission ; any four of whom make a L.2000 a year. This difference, however, may probably
court, the quorum .being the lords of the admiralty, judge be owing in a great degree to the personal character of
of the admiralty, the twelve judges, and the doctors of the the men who hold the two situations,
civil law. 6. The Procurator. The admiralty’s proctor stands
The session of oyer and terminer lasts generally from precisely in the same situation to the king’s proctor that
one to three days, and the court is entertained each day his advocate does to that of the king, though there is not
with a dinner at the expense of the lord high admiral, that quite so great a difference in their emoluments. They
is to say, of the public. act as the attorneys or solicitors in all causes concerning
The proceedings of the court are continued de die in the king’s and the lord high admiral’s affairs in the
diem, or, as the style of the court is, from tide to tide. high court of admiralty and other courts. All prize
3. I he Registrar of the Admiralty has hitherto held causes are conducted by the king’s proctor, which the
his place by patent from the lord high admiral gene- captors are disposed to consider as a grievance, but which
rally for life, though the admiral himself and the lords the gentlemen of Doctors Commons, on the contrary, main-
commissioners of admiralty hold their places only during tain to be for their convenience and advantage. It is
pleasure ; and, what is still more remarkable, the office of supposed that in some years of the war the king’s proctor
registrar has sometimes been granted, and is now vested did not receive less than L.20,000 a year,
in reversion. He had no salary, the amount of his emo- 7. The Counsel of the Admiralty is the law officer who
luments depending on the number of captures, droits, &c. is chiefly consulted on matters connected with the mili-
condemned by the court; which, during the late war, tary duties of the lord high admiral; his salary is L.100
were so enormous, that in 1810 an act was passed for re- a year, besides his fees, which in time of war may be rec-
gulating the offices of registrars of admiralty and prize koned to amount to from L.1200 to L.1800 a year,
courts, by which it is enacted, “ that no office of re- 8. The Solicitor to the Admiralty is also an officer more
gistrar of the high court of admiralty, or of the high immediately connected with the military functions of the
court of appeals for prizes, or high court of delegates in admiralty. He is styled sometimes assistant to the coun-
Great Britain, shall, after the expiration of the interest sel: his salary is L.1500 a year, in lieu of all fees, bills,
now vested in possession or reversion therein, be granted and disbursements.
for a longer term than during pleasure, nor be executed The Judge Advocate of the fleet is a sinecure appoint-
by deputy; that an account be kept in the said offices re- ment, with a salary of L.182. 10s. a year, on the ordinary
ADM ADO 159
jfcni'aLty estimate of the navy; but the Deputy Judge Advocate re- state of adolescence lasts so long as the fibres continue to Adollam
| sides at Portsmouth, and assists at all courts-martial held grow either in magnitude or firmness. The fibres being I!
A<l-es- at that port, for which he is allowed an annual salary of arrived at the degree of firmness and tension sufficient to Adonis-
See Navy. . > • (m.) sustain the parts, no longer yield or give way to the ef-
Admiralty Bay, a spacious bay, with good anchorage, forts of the nutritious matter to extend them ; so that
on the west coast of Cook’s straits, in the southern island their further accretion is stopped, from the very law of
of New Zealand. Long. 174. 54. E. Lat. 40. 37. S.— their nutrition. Adolescence is commonly computed to
There is a' bay of the same name on the north-west be between 15 and 25, or even 30 years of age; though
coast of America, in Long. 140. 81. W. Lat. 59. 31. N. in different constitutions its terms are very different.
Admiralty Inlet, the entrance to the supposed straits The Romans usually reckoned it from 12 to 25 in boysj
of Juan de Fuca, on the west coast of New Georgia, in and to 21 in girls, &c. And yet, among their writers*
Long. 124. 15. W. Lat. 48. 30. N. It was visited by juvenis and adolcscens are frequently used indifferently for
Captain Vancouver in 1792, who found the soil on the any person under 45 years. J
shores rich and fertile, well watered, and clothed with ADOLLAM, or Odollam, a town in the tribe of Judah,
luxuriant vegetation. _ to the east of Eleutheropolis. David is said to have hid
Admiralty Islands he in about Long. 146. 44. E. and himself in a cave near this town.
Lat. 2. 18. S. There are between 20 and 30 islands said ADOM, a state or principality of the Gold Coast, in
to be scattered about here, one of which alone would Africa. It is a populous, rich, and fertile country, abound-
make a large kingdom. Captain Carteret, who first dis- ing with corn and fruits.
covered them, was prevented from touching at them, al- ADON, a populous village in the province of Stuhl-
though their appearance was very inviting, on account of Weissenburg, belonging to Hungary. It lies in a fruitful
the condition of his ship, and his being entirely unprovid- country, towards the river Danube. Long. 19. 20. E.
ed with the articles of barter which suit an Indian trade. Lat. 47. 30. N.
He describes them as clothed with a beautiful verdure of ADONAI, one of the names of the Supreme Being in
woods, lofty and luxuriant, interspersed with spots that the Scriptures. The proper meaning of the word is my
have been cleaied for plantations, groves of cocoa-nut lords in the plural number, as Adoni is my lord in the
trees, and houses of the natives, who seem to be very nu- singular. The Jews, who, either out of respect or super-
merous.^ The largest of these islands is 18 leagues long stition, do not pronounce the name Jehovah, read Adonai
in the direction of east and west. The discoverer thinks in the room of it as often as they meet with Jehovah in
it highly probable that these islands produce several va- the Hebrew text. But the ancient Jews were not so
luable articles of trade, particularly spices, as they lie in scrupulous; nor is there any law which forbids them to
the same climate and latitude as the Moluccas. pronounce the name of God.
_ ADMONITION, in ecclesiastical affairs, a part of dis- ADONI A, in Antiquity, solemn feasts in honour of
cipline much used in the ancient church. It was the first Venus, and in memory of her beloved Adonis. The Ado-
act or step towards the punishment or expulsion of de- nia were observed with great solemnity by the Greeks,
linquents. In private offences it was performed, accord- Phoenicians, Lycians, Syrians, Egyptians, &c. From
ing to the evangelical rule, privately; in case of public Syria they are supposed to have passed into India. The
oftence, openly, before the church. If either of these prophet Ezekiel1 is understood .to speak of them. They 1 Ch. viii.
sufficed for the recovery of the fallen person, all further were still observed at Alexandria in the time of St Cyril, 14-
proceedings in the way of censure ceased: if they did and at Antioch in that of Julian the Apostate, who hap-
not, recourse was had to excommunication. pened to enter that city during the solemnity, which was
Admonitio Fustium, a military punishment among the taken for an ill omen. The Adonia lasted two days ; on
Romans, not unlike our whipping, but it was performed the first of which certain images of Venus and Adonis
^ra^c^es* . were carried, with all the pomp and ceremonies practised
ADMONT, a town in the Austrian duchy of Steyer- at funerals: the women wept, tore their hair, beat their
mark, in the circle of Judenburg. In a Benedictine ab- breasts, &c. imitating the cries and lamentations of Venus
bey is an establishment for education, with a director, six for the death of her paramour. This lamentation they
professors, and a library. Ihere are some iron goods called AdojviafffMs. The Syrians were not contented with
made, the metal for which is furnished by mines in the weeping, but subjected themselves to severe discipline,
vicinity. I he inhabitants were 824 in 1817. shaved their heads, &c. The Egyptian Adonia are said
ADNAIA, in Anatomy, one of the coats of the eye, to have been held in memory of the death of Osiris; by
w ich is called also conjunctiva and albuginea. others, of his sickness and recovery. Bishop Patrick dates
Adnata is also used for any hair, wool, or the like, their origin from the slaughter of the first-born under
which grows upon animals or vegetables. Moses.
I i Adnata, or Adnascentia, among gardeners, denote ADONIDES, in Botany, a. mime given to botanists who
tiose offsets which, by a new germination under the described or made catalogues of plants cultivated in any
earth, proceed from the lily, narcissus, hyacinth, and other particular place.
°Tn\Tnn^ a^t.erwar^s become true roots. ADONIS, son of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, the favourite
ADEOUN is used by some grammarians to express of Venus. Being killed by a wild boar in the Idalian ♦
w lat we more usually call an adjective. The word is woods, he wras turned into a flower of a blood-colour, sup-
ormed by way ot analogy to adverb, in regard adjectives posed to be the anemone. Venus was inconsolable; and
lave much the same office and relation to nouns that ad- no grief was ever more celebrated than this, most nations
verbs have to verbs. Bishop Wilkins uses the word ad- having perpetuated the memory of it by a train of anni-
name in another sense, viz. for what we otherwise call a versary ceremonies.2 The text of the Vulgate, in Ezekiel z See
preposition.^ viii. 14, says that this prophet saw women sitting in theAD0X1A'
c^CENCE, the state of growing youth, or that temple and weeping for Adonis ; but according to the
penod of a person’s age^ commencing from his infancy reading of the Hebrew text, they are said to weep for
an terminating at his lull stature or manhood. The Thammuz, or the hidden one. Among the Egyptians,
woul is formed ol the Latin adolescere, to grow. The Adonis was adored under the name of Osiris, the husband
160 ADO
Adonis of Isis. But he was sometimes called by the name of
II , Ammuz, or Thammuz, the concealed, to denote probably
Adoption. hjs or burial. The Hebrews, in derision, call him
sometimes the dead, Psal. cvi. 28. and Lev. xix. 28. be¬
cause they wept for him, and represented him as one
dead in his coffin; and at other times they call him the
image of jealousy, Ezek. viii. 3. 5. because he was the ob¬
ject of the god Mars’ jealousy. The Syrians, Phoenicians,
and Cyprians, called him Adonis; and F. Calmet is of
opinion that the Ammonites and Moabites gave him the
name of Baal-peor.
Adonis, Adonius, in Ancient Geography, a river of
Phoenicia, rising in Mount Lebanon, and falling into the
sea, after a north-west course, at Byblus; famous in fable
as a beautiful shepherd youth loved by Venus, slain by a
boar, and turned into a river.
Adonis, in Botany, Bird's Eye, or Pheasants Eye.
ADONISTS, a sect or party among divines and critics,
who maintain that the Hebrew points ordinarily annexed
to the consonants of the word Jehovah are not the natu¬
ral points belonging to that word, nor express the true
pronunciation of it, but are the vowel points belonging
to the words Adoncti and Elohim, applied to the conson¬
ants of the ineffable name Jehovah, to warn the readers,
that instead of the word Jehovah, which the Jews were
forbidden to pronounce, and the true pronunciation of
which had been long unknown to them, they are always
to read Adonai. They are opposed to Jehovists ; of whom
the principal are Drusius, Capellus, Buxtorf, Alting, and
Reland, who has published a collection of their writings
on this subject.
ADOPTIANI, in Church History, a sect of ancient he¬
retics, followers of Felix of Urgel and Elipand of Toledo,
who, towards the end of the eighth century, advanced the
notion that Jesus Christ in his human nature is the Son
of God, not by nature, but by adoption.
. ADOPTION, an act by which any one takes another
into his family, owns him for his son, and appoints him
for his heir.
The custom of adoption was very common among the
ancient Greeks and Romans; yet it was not practised
but for certain causes expressed in the laws, and with
certain formalities usual in such cases. It was a sort of
imitation of nature, intended for the comfort of those who
had no children: wherefore, he that was to adopt was to
have no children of his own, and to be past the age of
getting any; nor were eunuchs allowed to adopt, as being
under an actual impotency of begetting children : neither
was it lawful for a young man to adopt an elder, because
that would have been contrary to the order of nature;
nay, it was even required that the person who adopted
should be eighteen years older than his adopted son, that
there might at least appear a probability of his being the
natural father.
Among the Greeks it was called u/onjs, filiation. It
was allowed to such as had no issue of their own, ex¬
cepting those who were not xuwo/ saurwv, their own masters,
e. g. slaves, women, madmen, infants, or persons under
twenty years of age; who being incapable of making
wills, or managing their own estates, were not allowed to
adopt heirs to them. Foreigners being incapable of in¬
heriting at Athens, if any such were adopted, it was ne¬
cessary first to make them free of the city. The cere¬
mony of adoption being over, the adopted had his name
enrolled in the tribe and ward of his new father; for
which entry a peculiar time was allotted, viz. the festival
SagyriAia. To prevent rash and inconsiderate adoptions,
the Lacedemonians had a law, that adoptions should be
transacted, or at least confirmed, in the presence of their
ADO
kings. The children adopted were invested with all the Adop
privileges, and obliged to perform all the duties, of natural'^
children; and being thus provided for in another family,
ceased to have any claim of inheritance or kindred in the
family which they had left, unless they first renounced
their adoption, which by the laws of Solon they were
not allowed to do, unless they had first begotten children
to bear the name of the person who had adopted them;
thus providing against the ruin of the families, which
would otherwise have been extinguished by the desertion
of those who had been adopted to preserve them. If the
children adopted happened to die without children, the
inheritance could not be alienated from the family into
which they had been adopted, but returned to the rela¬
tions of the adopter. It should seem that, by the Athe¬
nian law, a person, after having adopted another, was
not allowed to marry without permission from the magi¬
strate ; and there are instances of persons who, being ill
used by their adoptive children, petitioned for such leave.
However this may be, it is certain that some men married
after they had adopted sons ; in which case, if they begat
legitimate children, their estates were equally shared be¬
tween the begotten and the adopted.
The Romans had two forms of adoption; the one before
the pretor, the other at an assembly of the people, in
the times of the commonwealth, and afterwards by a re¬
script from the emperor. In the former, the natural father
addressed himself to the pretor, declaring that he eman¬
cipated his son, resigned all his authority over him, and
consented that he should be translated into the family of the
adopter. The latter was practised where the party to be
adopted was already free ; and this was called adrogation.
The person adopted changed all his names, assuming the
prename, name, and surname, of the person who adopted
him.
Besides the formalities prescribed by the Roman law,
various other methods have taken place, which have given
denominations to different species of adoption among the
Gothic nations, in different ages. Thus,
Adoption by Arms was when a prince made a present
of arms to a person, in consideration of his merit and va¬
lour. The obligation here laid on the adoptive son was
to protect and defend the father from injuries, affronts,
&c. And hence, according to Selden, the ceremony of
dubbing knights took its origin as well as name.
Adoption by Baptism is that spiritual affinity which is
contracted by godfathers and godchildren in the cere¬
mony of baptism. This kind of adoption was introduced
into the Greek church, and came afterwards into use
among the ancient Franks, as appears by the capitulars
of Charlemagne.
Adoption by Hair was performed by cutting off the
hair of a person, and giving it to the adoptive father. It
was thus that Pope John VIII. adopted Boson, king of
Arles, which perhaps is the only instance in history of
adoption in the order of the ecclesiastics; a law that
professes to imitate nature, not daring to give children to
those in whom it would be thought a crime to beget any.
Adoption by Matrimony is the taking of the children
of a wife or husband by a former marriage into the condi¬
tion of proper or natural children, and admitting them to
inherit on the same footing with those of the present
marriage.
Adoption by Testament, that performed by appointing a
person heir by will, on condition of his assuming the name,
arms, &c. of the adopter; of which kind we meet with
several instances in the Roman history. Among the
Turks, the ceremony of adoption is performed by oblig¬
ing the person adopted to pass through the shirt of the
T
ADO
i0] ye adopter. Hence, among that people, to adopt is ex¬
pressed by the phrase, to draw another through my shirt.
,rion.jt is said that something like this has also been ob-
served among the Hebrews, where the prophet Elijah
adopted Elisha for his son and successor, and communi¬
cated to him the gift of prophecy, by letting fall his cloak
or mantle on him. But adoption, properly so called, does
not appear to have been practised among the ancient
Jews. Moses says nothing of it in his laws ; and Jacob’s
adoption of his two grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, is
not so properly an adoption as a kind of substitution,
whereby those two sons of Joseph were allotted an equal
portion in Israel with his own sons.
ADOPTIVE denotes a person or thing adopted by
another. Adoptive children, among the Romans, were on
the same footing with natural ones, and accordingly were
either to be instituted heirs or expressly disinherited,
otherwise the testament was null. The emperor Adrian
preferred adoptive children to natural ones; because we
choose the former, but are obliged to take the latter at
random.—M. Menage has published a book of eloges or
verses addressed to him, which he calls Liber Adoptions,
an adoptive book, and adds it to his other works. Hein-
sius, and Furstemberg of Munster, have likewise publish¬
ed adoptive books.—In ecclesiastical writers we find adop¬
tive women or sisters (adoptivce ftemince or sorores) used
for those handmaids of the ancient clergy, otherwise call¬
ed sub-introductce.
Adoptive Arms are those which a person enjoys by
the gift or concession of another, and to which he was
not otherwise entitled. They stand contradistinguished
from arms of alliance.—We sometimes meet with adoptive
heir by way of opposition to natural heir, and adoptive
gods by way of contradistinction to domestic ones. The
Romans, notwithstanding the number of their domestic,
had their adoptive gods, taken chiefly from the Egyp¬
tians : such were Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Apis, Harpocrates,
and Canopus.
ADORATION, the act of rendering divine honours, or
of addressing a being, as supposing it a god. The word
is compounded of ad, to, and os, oris, mouth; and lite-
rally signifies to apply the hand to the mouth; manum
ad os admovere, to kiss the hand; this being in the
eastern countries one of the great marks of respect and
submission.—The Romans practised adoration at sacri¬
fices and other solemnities ; in passing by temples, altars,
groves, &c.; at the sight of statues, images, or the like,
whether of stone or wood, wherein any thing of divinity
was supposed to reside. Usually there were images of
the gods placed at the gates of cities, for those who went
in or out to pay their respects to. The ceremony of ado¬
ration among the ancient Romans was thus:—The devotee,
having his head covered, applied his right hand to his lips,
the fore finger resting on his thumb, which was erect, and
thus bowing his head, turned himself round from left to
right. The kiss thus given was called osculum labratum ;
tor ordinarily they were afraid to touch the images of
their gods themselves with their profane lips. Sometimes,
owever, they would kiss their feet, or even knees, it
being held an incivility to touch their mouths; so that the
uttair passed at some distance. Saturn, however, and
ercules were adored with the head bare; whence the
vvors up of the last was called institutum peregrinum, and
Tl , (xjGcanicus, as departing from the customary Roman
method, which was to sacrifice and adore with the face
veiled, and the clothes drawn up to the ears, to prevent
any interruption in the ceremony by the sight of un-
uc y objects. The Jewish manner of adoration was by
prostration, bowing, and kneeling. The Christians adopt-
VOL. II. r
ADO
ed the Grecian rather than the Roman method, and ador¬
ed always uncovered. The ordinary posture of the ancient
Christians was kneeling, but on Sundays standing; and
they had a peculiar regard to the east, to which point they
ordinarily directed their prayers. J
Adoration is also used for certain extraordinary civil
honours or respects which resemble those paid to the
Deity, yet are given to men.
The Persian manner of adoration, introduced by Cyrus,
was by bending the knee and falling on the face at the’
piinces feet, striking the earth with the forehead, and
kissing the ground. This ceremony, which the Greeks
called ‘x^oer.vmv, Conon refused to perform to Artaxerxes,
and Calisthenes to Alexander the Great, as reputing it
impious and unlawful.
The adoration performed to the Roman and Grecian
emperors consisted in bowing or kneeling at the prince’s
feet, laying hold of his purple robe, and presently with¬
drawing the hand and clapping it to the lips. Some at¬
tribute the origin of this practice to Constantius. It was
only persons of some rank or dignity that were entitled to
the honour. Bare kneeling before the emperor to deliver
a petition was also called adoration.
, The practice of adoration may be said to be still sub¬
sisting in England, in the ceremony of kissing the king’s
or queen’s hand, and in serving them at table, both being
performed kneeling.
Adoration is also used among Roman writers for a
high species of applause given to persons who had spoken
or performed well in public. See Acclamation. We
meet with adoration paid to orators, actors, musicians, &c.
The method of expressing it was, by rising, putting both
hands to their mouth, and then returning them towards
the person intended to be honoured.
Adoration is also used in the court of Rome for the
ceremony of kissing the popes feet. It is said of Dioclesian,
that he had gems fastened to his shoes, that divine ho¬
nours^ might be more willingly paid him, by kissing his
feet. The like usage was afterwards adopted by the popes,
and is observed to this day. These prelates, finding a
vehement disposition in the people to fall down before
them and kiss their feet, procured crucifixes to be fasten¬
ed on their slippers; by which stratagem the adoration
intended for the pope’s person is supposed to be trans¬
ferred to Christ.
Adoration is also used for a method of electing a pope.
The election of popes is performed two ways; by adora¬
tion and by scrutiny. In election by adoration, the cardi¬
nals rush hastily, as if agitated by some spirit, to the ado¬
ration of some one among them, to proclaim him pope.
When the election is carried by scrutiny, they do not
adore the new pope till he is placed on the altar.
Barbarous AdorAtion is a term used, in the laws of
King Canute, for that performed after the manner of the
heathens, who adored idols. The Romish church is
charged with the adoration of saints, martyrs, images,
crucifixes, relics, the virgin, and the host; all which by
Protestants are generally aggravated into idolatry, on a
supposition that the honour thus paid to them is absolute
and supreme, called by way of distinction Latria, which
is due only to God. The Roman Catholics, on the con¬
trary, explain them as only a relative or subordinate wor¬
ship, called Dulia and Hyperdulia, which terminates ulti¬
mately in God alone. But may not the same be said of
the idol worship of the heathens ? The Phoenicians adored
the winds, on account of the terrible effects produced by
them : the same was adopted by most of the other nations,
Persians, Greeks, Romans, &c. The Persians chiefly paid
their adorations to the sun and fire; some say also to
161
Adoration.
162 ADR
Adorea rivers, the wind, &c. The motive of adoring the sun was
II the benefits they received from that glorious luminary,
which of all creatures has doubtless the best pretensions
to such homage.
ADOREA, in Roman Antiquity, a word used in dif¬
ferent senses : sometimes for all manner of grain ; some¬
times for a kind of cakes made of fine flour, and offered
in sacrifice ; and, finally, for a dole or distribution of corn,
as a reward for some service ; whence by metonymy it is
put for praise or rewards in general.
ADOSCULATION, a term used by Dr Grew to imply
a kind of impregnation without intromission ; and in this
manner he supposes the impregnation of plants is effected,
by the falling of the farina fbecundans on the pistil.
ADOSSEE, in Heraldry, signifies two figures or bear¬
ings being placed back to back.
ADOUR, the name of a river of France, which rises in
the mountains of Bigorre, in the department of the Upper
Pyrenees, and running north by Tarbes through Gascony,
afterwards turns east, and passing by Dax, falls into the
Bay of Biscay below Bayonne.
ADOWA, the capital of Tigre in Abyssinia, is situated
on the declivity of a hill, on the west side of a small plain,
which is surrounded on every side by mountains. The
name, signifying -pass or passage, is characteristic of its si¬
tuation ; for the only .road from the Red Sea to Gondar
passes by Adowa. The town consists of 300 houses, is
the residence of the governor, and has a manufactory of
coarse cotton cloth, which circulates in Abyssinia as the
medium of exchange in place of money. Long. 38. 50. E.
Lat. 14. 7. N.
ADOXA, in Botany, Tuberous Moschatel, Hol¬
low-root, or Inglorious.
ADRA, a seaport town of the province of Granada,
in Spain, 47 miles south-east of Granada. Long. 2. 37. E.
Lat. 36. 42. N.
ADRACHNE, in Botany, a species of the strawberry
tree.
ADRAMMELECH, one of the gods of the inhabitants
of Sepharvaim, who were settled in the country of Sama¬
ria in the room of those Israelites who were carried be¬
yond the Euphrates. The Sepharvaites made their chil¬
dren pass through the fire in honour of this idol and an¬
other called Anammelech. It is supposed that Adramme-
lech meant the sun, and Anammelech the moon : the first
signifies the magnificent king, the second the gentle king.
ADRAMYTTIUM, in Ancient Geography, now Adra-
miti, a town of Mysia, at the foot of Mount Ida, an Athe¬
nian colony, with a harbour and dock.
ADRASTEA, in Mythology, was the daughter of Ju¬
piter and Necessity, and, according to Plutarch, the only
fury who executed the vengeance of the gods. The name
is derived from King Adrastus, who first erected a temple
to that deity.
Adrastea Certamina, in Antiquity, a kind of Pythian
games instituted by Adrastus, king of Argos, in the year
of the world 2700, in honour of Apollo, at Sicyon. These
are to be distinguished from the Pythian games celebrat¬
ed at Delphi.
ADRASTUS, in Ancient History, king of Argos, son of
Talaus and Lysianassa, daughter of Polybius, king of Si¬
cyon, acquired great honour in the famous war of Thebes,
in support of Polynices his son-in-law, who had been ex¬
cluded the sovereignty of Thebes by Eteocles his brother,
notwithstanding their reciprocal agreement. Adrastus,
followed by Polynices, and Tydeus his other son-in-law,
by Capaneus and Hippomedon his sister’s sons, by An?-
phiaraus his brother-in-laAv, and by Parthenopmus, marched
against the city of Thebes; and this is the expedition of
ADR
the Seven Worthies, which the poets have so often sung. Ad,,
They all lost their lives in this war except Adrastus, who
was saved by his horse called Avion. This war was re- t
vived ten years after by the sons of those deceased war-^^
riors, which was called the war of the Epigones, and end¬
ed with the taking of Thebes. None of them lost their
lives except iEgialeus, son of Adrastus; which afflicted
him so much that he died of grief in Megara, as he was
leading back his victorious army.
ADRAZZO, or Ajaccio, the same with Adjazzo.
ADRIA, a city of Italy, in the Austria-Venetian pro¬
vince of Bovigio. It is a city of high antiquity, and gave
its name to the sea on whose shores it is built. From its
situation on a peninsula formed by the rivers Po and Tar-
taro, it is very unhealthy. The inhabitants are 9620.
The chief trade is that of tanning leather. Long. 12. 2.E.
Lat. 45. 2. N.
ADRIAN, or Hadrian, Publius tElius, the Roman
emperor. He was born at Rome on the 24th of January, in
the 76th year of Christ, A. u. c. 829. His father left him
an orphan, at ten years of age, under the guardianship of
Trajan, and Coelius Tatianus, a Roman knight. He be¬
gan to serve very early in the armies, having been tribune
of a legion before the death of Domitian. He was the
person chosen by the army of Lower Mcesia to carry the
news of Nerva’s death to Trajan, successor to the empire.
Trajan, however, conceived some prejudices against him;
and Adrian, perceiving that he was no favourite with the
emperor, endeavoured to ingratiate himself with the em¬
press Plotina, by which means he succeeded in obtaining
for his wife Sabina, the emperor’s grand-niece and next
heiress. This was probably the first step to his future
advancement, and facilitated his ascent to the throne. As
questor he accompanied Trajan in most of his expedi¬
tions, and particularly distinguished himself in the second
war against the Dacians. Afterwards he was successively
tribune of the people, pretor, governor of Pannonia, and
consul. After the siege of Atra in Arabia was raised,
Trajan, who had already given him the government of Sy¬
ria, left him the command of the army; and at length,
when he found death approaching, it is said he adopted
him. Adrian, who was then in Antiochia, as soon as he
received the news thereof, and of Trajan’s death, declared
himself emperor, on the 11th August, A. d. 117.
No sooner had he arrived at the imperial dignity than
he made peace with the Persians, to whom he yielded up
great part of the conquests of his predecessors ; and from
generosity or policy he remitted the debts of the Roman
people, which, according to the calculation of those who
have reduced them to modern money, amounted to
22,500,000 golden crowns; and he burnt all the bonds
and obligations relating to those debts, that the people
might be under no apprehension of being called to an ac¬
count for them afterwards. There are medals in comme¬
moration of this fact, in which he is represented holding
a flambeau in his hand, to set fire to all those bonds which
he had made void. He went to visit all the provinces,
and did not return to Rome till the year 118, when the
senate decreed him a triumph, and honoured him with the
title of Father of his Country ; but he refused both, and
desired that Trajan’s image might triumph. No prince
travelled more than Adrian, there being hardly one pro¬
vince in the empire which he did not visit. In 120 he
v/ent into Gaul; from thence he w'ent over to Britain, in
order to subdue the Caledonians, who were making con¬
tinual inroads into the provinces. Upon his arrival they
retired towards the north. He advanced, however, as far
as York, where he was diverted from his intended con¬
quest by the description there given him of the country
ADR
by some old soldiers who had served under Agricola.
'In hopes, therefore, of keeping them quiet by enlarging
their bounds, he delivered up to the Caledonians all the
lands lying between the two friths and the Tyne ; and at
the same time, to secure the Roman province from their
future incursions, built the famous wall which still bears
his name.1 Having thus settled matters in Britain, he
returned to Rome, where he was honoured with the title
of Restorer of Britain, as appears by some medals. He
soon after went into Spain, to Mauritania, and at length
into the East, where he quieted the commotions raised by
the Parthians. After having visited all the provinces of
Asia, he returned to Athens in 125, where he passed the
winter, and was initiated in the mysteries of Eleusinian
Ceres. He went from thence to Sicily, chiefly to view
Mount fEtna, contemplate its phenomena, and enjoy the
beautiful and extensive prospect afforded from its top. He
returned to Rome in the beginning of the year 129 ; and,
according to some, he went again the same year to Africa;
and, after his return from thence, to the East. He
was in Egypt in the year 132, revisited Syria the year
following, returned to Athens in 134, and to Rome in 135.
The persecution against the Christians was very violent
under his reign; but it was at length suspended, in con¬
sequence of the remonstrances of Quadratus, bishop of
Athens, and Aristides, two Christian philosophers, who
presented the emperor with some books in favour of
the Christian religion. He conquered the Jews, and by
way of insult erected a temple to Jupiter on Calvary, and
placed a statue of Adonis in the manger of Bethlehem:
he caused also the images of swine to be engraven on the
gates of Jerusalem. At last he was seized with a dropsy,
which vexed him to such a degree that he became almost
raving mad. A great number of physicians were sent for,
and to the multitude of them he ascribed his death. He
died at Baiae in the 63d year of his age, having reigned
21 years. The Latin verses he addressed to his soul,
which he composed a short time before his death, in a
strain of tender levity, have been much criticised, and
have been the subject of numerous translations and imi¬
tations.
Animula vagula, llanclula,
Ilospcs, comcsque corporis,
Quce nunc ablins in loca
Paliidula, rigida, nudula,
Ncc, ut soles, dabis jocos t
Ah ! fleeting spirit! wand’ring fire,
That long hast warm’d my tender breast.
Must thou no more this frame inspire ?
No more a pleasing cheerful guest ?
Whither, ah whither art thou flying ?
To what dark undiscover’d shore ?
Thou seem’st all trembling, shiv’ring, dying,
And wit and humour are no more! Pope.
ADR
163
Some fragments of his Latin poetry are still extant, and
there are Greek verses of his in the Anthology. He also
w rote the history of his own life ; to which, however, he Adrian,
dul not choose to put his name; but that of Phlegon, one
of his freedmen, a very learned person, was prefixed to
it. . He had great wit and a retentive memory, and he 2 Sparti-
distinguished himself in the various branches of literature anus? in
and science. In his natural disposition he was suspicious,
envious, cruel, and lascivious. In his character there was
a strange composition of virtues and vices. He was affable,
courteous, and liberal; but he was capricious and unsteady
in his attachments, and violent in his resentment. Thus
he was distrusted by his friends, and dreaded by his ene¬
mies. Antoninus his successor obtained his apotheosis,
and prevented the rescission of his acts, which the senate
once intended.
Adrian I. Pope, ascended the papal throne A. d. 772.
He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman, and
possessed considerable talents for business. Lie maintain¬
ed a steady attachment to Charlemagne, which provoked
Desiderius, a king of the Lombards, to invade the state
of Ravenna, and to threaten Rome itself. Charlemagne
rewarded his attachment by marching with a great army
to his aid; and having gained many considerable advan¬
tages over Desiderius, he visited the pope at Rome, and
expressed his piety by the humiliating ceremony of kiss¬
ing each of the steps as he ascended to the church of St
Peter. The affairs of the church now' claimed Adrian’s
particular attention; for Irene, who in 780 assumed the
regency at Constantinople during the minority of her son
Constantine, wishing to restore tlie worship of images, ap¬
plied to Adrian for his concurrence. The pontiff readily
acquiesced in her proposal for calling a council, and com¬
missioned two legates to attend it. The first council,
however, was dispersed by an insurrection of the citizens;
but at the next meeting, in the city of Nice, in 787, which
was protected by a military force, a decree was passed for
restoring the worship of images. Adrian approved the
decree, but in the western church it was deemed heretical
and dangerous. Charlemagne condemned the innovation,
and the French and English clergy concurred in opposing
it. A treatise, containing 120 heads of refutation, was
circulated as the work of Charlemagne, under the title of
The Caroline Books, in opposition to the decree of the
council. This work was presented to the pope by the
king s ambassador, and the pope wrote a letter to Charle¬
magne by way of reply. The king, and also the Gallican
and English churches, retained their sentiments; and in
794 a council was held at Frankfort on the Maine, consist¬
ing of about 300 western bishops, by which every kind of
image-worship was condemned. Adrian did not live to
see a termination of this contest; for after a pontificate of
nearly twenty-four years, he died in 795. Adrian seems
to have directed his chief attention to the embellishment of
the churches and the improvement of the city of Rome;
and he was probably furnished by Charlemagne, out of the
plunder of his conquests, with ample means for this purpose.
creen thou^ called by the Roman historians^ murus, which signifies a wall of stone, was only composed of earth covered with
river Tvne on'ti!tCallfCl f°^/r01? tle Solway Frith, a little west of the village of Burgh on the Sands, in as direct a line as possible, to the
70 Roman mUoc, 5, TSt’ tha place where the town of Newcastle now stands; so that it must have been above (>0 English, and near
2. The ditch A, ti! engt“- It consisted of four parts : 1. The principal agger, mound of earth or rampart, on the brink of the ditch ;
from it • 4 A inv 10 nort 1 ®1(*e "l't'lie rampart; 3. Another rampart on the south side of the principal one, about five paces distant
it was so tn thr, J’c ramPart °n th6 north side of the ditch. This last was probably the military way to the line efforts on this work :
attending it tv orm‘:[lv'1)11114 ^ gric°la ? and if it did not serve the same purpose in this, there must have been no military way
pal rannnrf n C ^J^l1 rainPart might serve for an inner defence in case the enemy should beat them from any part of the princi-
work has bp’on in mi • 1)6 (lesigna(l t0 protect the soldiers from any sudden attack of the provincial Britons. For manv ages this
it seems nrohild^fwa,0118 ? C<?nclltlon’that 14 18 impossible to discover its original dimensions with certainty. From their appearance,
was consulerahlv PnnciPal ramPart was. at least ten or twelve feet high, and the south one not much less ; but the north one
to have been nine c f i rom4hf dimensions of the ditch, taken as it passes through a lime-stone quarry near Harlow Hill, it appears
twenty feet distant fr fl'dj'l eleVen Wlde at the 4op’ but somewhat narrower at the bottom. The north rampart was about
164 ADR
Adrian. Adrian II. Pope, succeeded Nicholas I. a. d. 867.
Having twice refused the dignity, he accepted it in the
76th year of his age, at the united request of the clergy,
nobility, and people. The contest for power between the
Greek and Latin churches had been very violent some
years before his accession to the papal chair. Adrian,
during this contest with the eastern patriarch, was ex¬
tending his authority over the kings and princes of the
West. He employed his whole interest to induce Charles
the Bald, who had taken possession of the kingdom of
Lorraine, and who had been crowned at Rheims by the
archbishop Hincmar, to relinquish it in favour of the em¬
peror ; and he even sent legates to the king, after having
attempted to engage Hincmar, the clergy, and the nobili¬
ty, to desert him, ordering him to surrender to the empe¬
ror’s right. The king was invincible; and the pope was
obliged to give up the contest. He also further inter¬
fered in the concerns of princes, by taking Charles’s re¬
bellious son Carloman, and the younger Hincmar, bishop of
Laon, under the protection of the Roman see. He pro¬
ceeded in this business so far, that he was under the ne¬
cessity of submitting without gaining his point. Death
terminated his ambitious projects and his life of inquietude
a. d. 872, after a pontificate of five years.
Adrian IV. Pope, the only Englishman who ever had
the honour of sitting in the papal chair. His name was
Nicholas Brekespere, and he was born at Langley, near
St Albans, in Hertfordshire. His father having left his
family and taken the habit of the monastery of St Albans,
Nicholas was obliged to submit to the lowest offices in
that house for daily support. After some time he desired
to take the habit in that monastery, but was rejected by
the abbot Richard. Upon this he resolved to try his
fortune in another country, and accordingly went to Paris ;
where, though in very poor circumstances, he applied
himself to his studies with great assiduity, and made a
wonderful proficiency. But having still a strong inclina¬
tion to a religious life, he left Paris and removed to Pro¬
vence, where he became a regular clerk in the monastery
of St Rufus. He was not immediately allowed to take
the habit, but passed some time by way of trial, recom¬
mending himself to the monks by a strict attention to
all their commands. This behaviour, together with the
beauty of his person and prudent conversation, rendered
him so acceptable to the monks, that after some time
they entreated him to take the habit of the canonical order.
Here he distinguished himself so much by his learning
and strict observance of the monastic discipline, that upon
the death of the abbot he was chosen superior of that
house ; and we are told that he rebuilt the convent. Pope
Eugenius III. being apprized of the great merit of Nicholas,
and thinking he might be serviceable to the church in a
higher station, created him cardinal-bishop of Alba in
1146. In 1148 his holiness sent him legate to Denmark
and Norway, where, by his fervent preaching and diligent
instructions, he converted those barbarous nations to the
Christian faith, and erected Upsal into an archiepiscopal
see. When he returned to Rome, he was received by the
pope and cardinals with great marks of honour ; and Pope
Anastasius, who succeeded Eugenius, happening to die at
this time, Nicholas was unanimously chosen to the holy
see in November 1154, and he took the name of Adrian.
When the news of his promotion reached England, King
Henry II. sent Robert, abbot of St Albans, and three
bishops, to Rome, to congratulate him on his election ;
upon which occasion Adrian granted very considerable
privileges to the monastery of St Albans, particularly an
exemption from all episcopal jurisdiction, excepting to the
see of Rome. Adrian, in the beginning of his pontificate,
ADR
A,
boldly withstood the attempts of the Roman people to re-
cover their ancient liberty under the consuls, and obliged irv
those magistrates to abdicate their authority, and leave
the government of the city to the pope. In 1155 he
drove the heretic Arnaud of Bresse, and his followers, out
of Rome. The same year he excommunicated William,
king of Sicily, who ravaged the territories of the church,
and absolved that prince’s subjects from their allegiance.
About the same time Frederick, king of the Romans, hav¬
ing entered Italy with a powerful army, Adrian met him
near Sutrium, and concluded a peace with him. At this
interview Frederick consented to hold the pope’s stirrup
whilst he mounted on horseback. After which his holi¬
ness conducted that prince to Rome, and in St Peter’s
church placed the imperial crown on his head, to the great
mortification of the Roman people, who assembled in a
tumultuous manner, and killed several of the imperialists.
The next year a reconciliation was brought about between
the pope and the Sicilian king, that prince taking an oath
to do nothing further to the prejudice of the church, and
Adrian granting him the title of King of the Two Sicilies.
He built and fortified several castles, and left the papal
dominions in a more flourishing condition than he found
them. But notwithstanding all his success, he was ex¬
tremely sensible of the disquietudes attending so high a
station; and declared to his countryman John of Salis¬
bury, that all the former hardships of his life were mere
amusement to the misfortunes of the popedom, that he
looked upon St Peter’s chair to be the most uneasy seat
in the world, and that his crown seemed to be clapped
burning on his head.1 He died September l. 1159, in the'i
fourth year and tenth month of his pontificate, and was j
buried in St Peter’s church, near the tomb of hisprede-J
cessor Eugenius. There are extant several letters and
some homilies written by Pope Adrian.
Adrian V. Pope, a Genoese, whose name was Otto-
boni Fiesci, succeeded Innocent V. a. d. 1276. He was
by his uncle Innocent IV. created cardinal-deacon of St
Adrian, and in 1254 sent by him to England, to settle the i
disputes between Henry III. and his barons. He was
employed again for the same purpose by Clement III.
when he issued a sentence of excommunication against
the king’s enemies. When he was congratulated on his j
accession to the papal chair, he said, “ I wish you had
found me a healthy cardinal rather than a dying pope.”
After his election he went to Viterbo to meet the empe¬
ror Rodolphus, for the purpose of opposing the usurpation
of Charles, king of the Two Sicilies; but died soon after
his arrival, having enjoyed his dignity only 38 days.
He zealously encouraged the crusade to the Holy Land,
and upon his election sent a large sum to Constantinople
towards building galleys.
Adrian VI. Pope, was born at Utrecht in 1459. His
father was not able to maintain him at school, but he got
a place at Louvain, in a college in which a certain number
of scholars were maintained gratis. It is reported that he
used to read in the night-time by the light of the lamps
in the churches or streets. He made a considerable pro¬
gress in all the sciences, led an exemplary life, and
there never was a man less intriguing or less forward than
he. He took his degree of doctor of divinity at Louvain,
was soon after made canon of St Peter’s and professor of
divinity at Utrecht, and then dean of St Peter’s and vice-
chancellor of the university. He was obliged to leave an
academical life to be tutor to the archduke Charles.
'Ibis young prince made no great progress under him:
however, never was a tutor more considerably rewarded;
for it was by Charles V.’s credit that he was raised to the
papal throne. Leo X. had given him the cardinal’s hat in
ADR
A D V
165
lA(Wt
F Hi
kdriir
oplo
K17 After this pope’s death, several cabals in the con-
W ended in the election of Adrian, with winch the
C a ei nf Rome were very much displeased. He would
notchangehis name, and in every thing he showed a great
Hi, ike for all ostentation and sensual pleasures, though
than aversion had been long ago out of date. He was
“ rtial to Charles V. and did not enjoy much Iran-
•n;L under the triple crown. He lamented much the
wicked morals of the clergy, and wished to establish a
reformation of manners among them. He died Septem-
’’"nRUtfcardmal priest, of the title of St Chrysogonus,
was a native of Cornetto, in Tuscany. Innocent VIII.
Int him nuncio into Scotland and into France; and after
lip had been clerk and treasurer of the apostolic chambei,
Pone Alexander VI. whose secretary he had been, honour¬
ed him with the cardinal’s hat. His life was a continued
scene of odd alterations. He narrowly escaped death on the
dav on which Alexander VI. poisoned himself by mistake.
Afterward he drew upon himself the hatred of Julius II. so
that he was obliged to go and hide himself in the moun¬
tains of Trent. Having been recalled by Leo X. he was
so ungrateful that he engaged in a conspiracy against him.
The pope pardoned his fault; but the cardinal, not caring
to trust to this, made his escape, and it could never be
known exactly what was become of him. He was one ot
the first who effectually reformed the Latin style. He
studied Cicero with great success, and made many excel¬
lent observations on the propriety of the Latin tongue.
The treatise he composed, De Sermone Latino, et de moais
Latine loquendi, is a proof of this. It was published at
Rome in 1515, in folio. He also wrote, in elegant Latin,
a treatise on the Christian religion, entitled De Vera Pki-
losophia, printed at Cologne in 1548. . .
ADRIANI, Joanni Battista, was born of a patrician
family of Florence in 1511. He wrote a history of his
own times in Italian, which is a continuation ol Guicciar¬
dini, beginning at the year 1536 ; to which Ihuanus ac¬
knowledges himself greatly indebted: besides which, he
composed six funeral orations on the emperor Charles V.
and other noble personages; and is thought to have been
the author of a long letter on ancient painters and sculp¬
tors, prefixed to the third volume of Vasari. He died at
Florence in 1579.
ADRIANISTS, in Ecclesiastical History, a sect of he¬
retics, divided into two branches. The first were disciples
of Simon Magus, and flourished about the year 34. Theo-
doret is the only person who has preserved their name
and memory, but he gives us no account of their origin.
Probably this sect, and the six others which sprung from
the Simonians, took their name from the particular disci¬
ples of Simon. The second were the followers of Adrian
Hamstead the anabaptist, and held some particular errors
concerning Christ.
ADRIANOPLE, a city of Turkey in Europe, called
by the inhabitants Edrene. It is in the province ot Ro¬
mania or Romelia, on the river Marizza, at the spot where
the Tundscha and Arda empty their waters into that
stream. It is well fortified, and has a strong citadel; and,
next to Constantinople, is the largest and most populous
city in the Turkish dominions. The streets are irregular,
unpaved, and filthy ; but some of the buildings, especially
the two palaces of the emperor, the seraglio, and the
mosque of Sultan Selim II. are in the most magnificent
style of Turkish architecture. The dwellings are 16,000,
the inhabitants about 105,000, nearly one-half of whom
are Greeks, with many Jews and Armenians. These
several people are the chief manufacturers, and produce
large quantities of silk goods, of Turkish curried red lea¬
ther, of tanned leather, of woollens of various kinds, of Adrianum
hard ware, and of the best preparations of opium. The 11^
trade is extensive, both to Constantinople by caravans ture>
of camels, and by sea with other countries. It is sup-,
plied with fresh water by means of a noble aqueduct,
carried by arches over an extensive valley, which sup¬
plies 22 public baths, 52 fountains, and 16 copious wells.
It is in Long. 22. 31. E. and Lat. 41. 47. N.
ADRIANUM, or Adriaticum Mare, in Ancient Geo¬
graphy, now the Gulf of Venice, a large bay in the Me¬
diterranean, between Dalmatia, Sclavonia, Greece, and
Italy. It is called by the Greeks A^/as KoXwos, and
Adria by the Romans, (as Arbiter Advice Notus, Hor.)
Cicero calls it Hadrianum Mare, Virgil has Hadriaticas
Undas. It is commonly called Mare Adriaticum, without
an aspiration; but whether it ought to have one, is a dis¬
pute. If the appellation is from Hadria, the town of the
Piceni, it must be written Hadriaticum, because the em¬
peror’s name who thence derives his origin is on coins
and stones Hadrianus ; but if from the town in the terri¬
tory of Venice, as the more ancient, and of which that of
the Piceni is a colony, this will justify the common appel¬
lation Adriaticum. It extends from latitude 40. to 45.55.
north, between the coasts of Italy and Illyria. I he tides in
this sea are distinguishable, but the ebb and flow is incon¬
siderable, though greater than in the Mediterranean.
AD RIP ALDA, a city in the province of Principato
Ulteriore, in the kingdom of Naples. It is situated on the
river Sabato, near to Avellino, The number of inhabitants
is 4236, who carry on trade in cloth and paper, in iron
and copper goods, and make large quantities of nails.
ADROGATION, in Roman Antiquities, a species of
adoption, whereby a person who was capable of choosing
for himself was admitted by another into the relation of a
son. The word is compounded of ad, to, and rogare,
to ask, on account of a question put in the ceremony
of it. Whether the adopter would take such a person for
his son ? and another to the adoptive, Whether he con¬
sented to become such a person’s son ?
ADSIDELLA, in Antiquity, the table at which the
flamens sat during the sacrifices. .
ADSTRICTION, among physicians, a term used to
denote the rigidity of any part.
ADVANCED, in a general sense, denotes something
posted or situated before another. Thus,
Advanced Ditch, in Fortification, is that which sur¬
rounds the glacis or esplanade of a place.
Advanced Guard, or Vanguard, in the art of war, the
first line or division of an army, ranged or marching in or¬
der of battle; or, it is that part which is next the enemy,
and marches first towards them.
Advanced Guard is more particularly used for a small
party of horse stationed before the main guard.
ADVENT, in the calendar, properly signifies the ap¬
proach of the feast of the nativity. It includes four Sun¬
days, and begins on St Andrew’s day or on the Sunday
before or after it. During advent, and to the end of the
octaves of epiphany, the solemnizing of marriage is for¬
bidden without a special licence. It is appointed to em¬
ploy the thoughts of Christians on the first advent or
coming of Christ in the flesh, and his second advent or
coming to judge the world. The primitive Christians prac¬
tised great austerity during this season.
Ad ventrem inspiciendum, in Law, a writ by which
a woman is to be searched whether she be with child by
a former husband, on her withholding lands from the next,
failing issue of her own body. . Tr „
Adventure Bay, the name of a bay in Van Diemens
Land, so called by Captain Cook.
166
A D U
A D U
Adven¬
turer
ADVENTURER, in a general sense, denotes one who
^ hazards something.
Adult,?ra- Adventurers is particularly used for an ancient cona¬
tion. Pany merchants and traders, erected for the discovery
of lands, territories, trades, Ax. unknown. The society of
adventurers had its rise in Burgundy, and its first esta¬
blishment from John duke of Brabant in 1248, being
known by the name of the Brotherhood of St Thomas
a Bechet. It was afterwards translated into England,
and successively confirmed by Edwards III. and IV.
Richard III. Henries IV. V. VI. and VII. who gave it the
appellation of Merchant Adventurers.
A.DVERB, in Grammar, a particle joined to a verb, ad¬
jective, or participle, to explain their manner of acting or
suffering, or to mark some circumstance or quality signi¬
fied by them. The word is formed from the preposition
cul, to, and verbum, a verb ; and signifies literally a word
joined to a verb, to show how, when, or where, one
is, does, or suffers; as, the boy paints neatly, writes ill;
the house stands there. Ax.
ADVERSARIA, among the ancients, a book of ac¬
counts not unlike our journals or day-books. It is also
used as a title for books of miscellaneous remarks and ob¬
servations.
ADVERSATIVE, in Grammar, a word expressing
some difference between what goes before and what fob
lows it. Thus, in the phrase, he is an honest man, but a
great enthusiast, the word but is an adversative conjunction.
ADVERSAfOR, in Antiquity, a servant who attended
the rich in returning from supper, to give them notice of
any obstacles in the way, on which they might be apt to
stumble.
. ADVERTISEMENT, in a general sense, denotes any
information given to persons interested in an affair; and
is more particularly used for a brief notice inserted in the
public papers, for the information of all concerned.
ADULA, in Ancient Geography, a mountain in Rhaetia,
or the country of the Orisons, part of the Alps, in which
are the fountains of the Rhine; now St Gothard.
ADULE, or Adulis, in Ancient Geography, a town of
®Sypb built by fugitive slaves, distant from its port on the
Red Sea 20 stadia. Pliny calls the inhabitants Adulitce.
The epithet is either Adulitanus, as Monumentum Adu-
htanum, on the pompous inscription of the statue of
Ptolemy Euergetes^ published by Leo Alatius at Rome
in 1631, and to be found in Spon and Thevenot; or Adu-
licus, as Adulicus Sinus, a part of the Red Sea.
. ADULT, an appellation given to any thing that is ar¬
rived at maturity : thus, we say an adult person, an adult
plant, Ax. Among civilians, it denotes a youth between
14 and 25 years of age.
ADULIERATION, the act of debasing, by an impro¬
per mixture, something that was pure and genuine. The
word is Latin, formed of the verb, adulterare, to cor¬
rupt, by mingling something foreign to any substance.
Adulteration of Coin properly imports the making or
casting of a wrong metal, or with too base or too much al¬
loy. Adulterations of coins are effected divers ways : as,
by forging another stamp or inscription; by mixing im¬
pure metals with the gold or silver; by making use of a
wrong metal, or an undue alloy, or too great an admixture
of the baser metals with gold or silver. Counterfeiting
the stamp, or clipping and lessening the weight, does not
so properly come under the denomination of adulterating.
Ibis term is somewhat less extensive than debasing, which
includes diminishing, clipping, Ax. To adulterate or de¬
base the current coin is a capital crime in all nations.
I he ancients punished it with great severity. Among the
^Sjpbans both hands were cut off, and by the civil law
the offender was thrown to wild beasts. The emperor Adu
Tacitus enacted, that counterfeiting the coin should be ^
capital; and under Constantine it was made treason, as it AdltrT.
is also among us. '
ADULTERINE, in the Civil Law, is particularly ap¬
plied to a child issued from an adulterous amour or com¬
merce. Adulterine children are more odious than the il¬
legitimate offspring of single persons. The Roman law
even refuses them the title of natural children, as if na¬
ture disowned them. Adulterine children are not easily
dispensed with for admission to orders. Those are not
deemed adulterine who are begotten of a woman openly
married, through ignorance of a former wife being alive.
By a decree of the parliament of Paris, adulterine children
are declared not legitimated by the subsequent marriage
of the parties, even though a papal dispensation be had
for such marriage, wherein is a clause of legitimation.
Adulterine Marriages, in St Augustine’s sense, de¬
note second marriages contracted after a divorce.
ADULIERY, an unlawful commerce between one
married person and another, or between a married and
unmarried person.
Punishments have been annexed to adultery in most
ages and nations, though of different degrees of severity.
In many it has been capital ; in others venial, and attend¬
ed only with slight pecuniary mulcts. Some of the pe¬
nalties are serious, and even cruel; others of a jocose and
humorous kind. Even contrary things have been enacted
as punishments for adultery. By some laws the crimi¬
nals are forbidden marrying together in case they become
single ; by others they are forbidden to marry any besides
each other: by some they are incapacitated from ever
committing the like crime again ; by others they are glut¬
ted with it till it becomes nauseous.
Among the rich Greeks, adulterers were allowed to re¬
deem themselves by a pecuniary fine: the woman’s fa¬
ther, in such cases, returned the dower he had received
from her husband, which some think was refunded by the
adulterer. Another punishment among those people was
putting out the eyes of adulterers.
I he Athenians had an extraordinary way of punishing
adulterers, called a.'irogacpu.vthoRn; vagariX/Ao;, practised
at least on the poorer sort who were not able to pay the
fines. This was an awkward sort of empalement, performed
by thrusting one of the largest radishes up the anus of the
adulterer, or, in defect thereof, a fish with a large head,
called mugil, mullet. Alcaeus is said to have died in this
way, though it is doubted whether the punishment was
icputed mortal. Juvenal and Catullus speak of this cus¬
tom as received also among the Romans, though not au¬
thorized by an express law, as it was among the Greeks.
There are various conjectures concerning the ancient
punishment of adultery among the Romans. Some will
have it to have been made capital by a law of Romulus,
and again by the twelve tables; others, that it was first
made capital by Augustus; and others, not before the
emperor Constantine. The truth is, the punishment in
the early days was very various, much being left to the
discretion of the husband and parents of the adulterous
wife, who exercised it differently, rather with the silence
and countenance of the magistrate than by any formal au-
thonty from him. Thus, we are told the wife’s father was
allowed to kill both parties, when caught in the fact, pro¬
vided he did it immediately, killed both together, and as
it were with one blow. The same power ordinarily was
not indulged the husband, except the crime were commit¬
ted with some mean or infamous person ; though, in other
cases, if his rage carried him to put them to death, he
was not punished as a murderer. On many occasions^
A D U
A D V 167
>rv however, revenge was not carried so far ; but mutilating,
^castrating, cutting off the ears, noses, &c. served the turn.
The punishment allotted by the lex Julia was not, as
many have imagined, death, but rather banishment or
deportation, being interdicted fire and water ; though Oc¬
tavius appears in several instances to have gone beyond
his own law, and to have put adulterers to death. Under
Macrmus, many were burnt at a stake. C onstantine first
by law made the crime capital. Under Constantius and
Constans, adulterers were burnt, or sewed in sacks and
thrown into the sea. Under Leo and Marcian, the penalty
was abated to perpetual banishment, or cutting off the
nose. Under Justinian, a further mitigation was granted,
at least in favour of the wife, who was only to be scourged,
lose her dower, and be shut up in a monastery. After
two years, the husband was at liberty to take her back
again; if he refused, she was shaven, and made a nun
for life; but it still remained death in the husband. The
reason alleged for this difference is, that the woman is the
weaker vessel. Matthaeus declaims against the empress
Theodora, who is supposed to have been the cause of this
law, as well as of others procured in favour of that sex
from the emperor.
Under Theodosius, women convicted of this crime were
punished after a very singular manner, viz. by a public
constupration; being locked up in a narrow cell, and
forced to admit to their embraces all the men that would
offer themselves. To this end the gallants were to dress
themselves on purpose, having several little bells fasten¬
ed to their clothes, the tinkling of which gave notice to
those without of every motion. This custom was abolish¬
ed by the same prince.
By the Jewish law, adultery was punished with death in
both parties, where they were both married, or only the
woman. The Jews had a particular trial or ordeal for a
woman suspected of the crime, by making her drink the
bitter waters of jealousy ; which, if she were guilty, made
her swell.
Amongst the Mingrelians, according to Chardin, adul¬
tery is punished with the forfeiture of a hog, which is
usually eaten in good friendship between the gallant, the
adulteress, and the cuckold. In some parts, of the Indies,
it is said any man’s wife is permitted to prostitute herself
to him who will give an elephant for the use of her; and
it is reputed no small glory to her to have been rated so
high. Adultery is said to be so frequent in Ceylon, that
there is not a woman who does not practise it, notwith¬
standing its being punishable with death. Among the
Japanese, and divers other nations, adultery is only penal
in the woman. In the Marian islands, the woman is not
punishable for adultery; but if the man go astray he pays
severely; the wife and her relations waste his lands, turn
him out of his house, &c.
In Spain they punished adultery in men by cutting off
the instrument of the crime. In Poland, before Christi¬
anity was established, they punished adultery and forni¬
cation in a particular manner : the criminal they carried
to the market-place, and there fastened him by the offend¬
ing part with a nail, laying a razor within his reach, and
leaving him under a necessity either of doing justice upon
himself, or of perishing in that condition.
In England adultery by the ancient laws was severely
punished. King Edmund the Saxon ordered it to be
punished in the same manner as homicide; and Canute
the Dane ordered that a man who committed adultery
should be banished, and that the woman should have her
nose and ears cut off. In the time of Henry I. it was
punished with the loss of eyes and genitals.
In Britain adultery is now reckoned a spiritual offence,
that is, cognizable by the spiritual courts, where it is Adultery
punished by fine and penance. The common law takes no I!
further notice of it than to allow the party aggrieved an Advocate,
action and damages. This practice is often censured by
foreigners, as making too light of a crime, the bad conse¬
quences of which, public as well as private, are so great.
It has been answered, that perhaps this penalty, by civil
action, joined with the ignominy attached to it, is more
calculated to prevent the frequency of the offence, which
ought to be the end of all laws, than a severer punishment.
Adultery is, both in England and Scotland, a ground of
divorce ; but in the former a complete divorce can only be
obtained through an act of parliament, whereas in the
latter a complete divorce may be effected by the sentence
of the consistorial or commissary court. The adulterous
parties are by the law of Scotland prohibited from inter¬
marrying with each other. See Divorce.
Adultery is used in Scripture for idolatry, or depart¬
ing from the true God to the worship of a false one.
Adultery is used by ecclesiastical writers for a per¬
son’s invading or intruding into a bishopric during the
former bishop’s life. The reason of the appellation is,
that a bishop is supposed to contract a kind of spiritual
marriage with his church. The translation of a bishop from
one see to another was also reputed a species of adultery,
on the supposition of its being a kind of second marriage,
which in those days was esteemed a degree of adultery.
This conclusion was founded on the text of St Paul, Let a
bishop be the husband of one wife ; by a forced construction
of church for wife, and of bishop for husband.
Adultery is used by ancient naturalists for the act of
ingrafting one plant upon another ; in which sense Pliny
speaks of the adulteries of trees, arborum adulteria, which
he represents as contrary to nature, and a piece of luxury
or needless refinement.
ADVOCATE, among the Romans, a person skilled in
their law, who undertook the defence of causes at the bar.
The Roman advocates answered to one part of the office
of a barrister in England, viz. the pleading part; for they
never gave counsel, that being the business of thejuris-
consulti.
The Romans, in the first ages of their state, held the
profession of an advocate in great honour; and the seats
of their bar were crowded with senators and consuls,
they whose voices commanded the people thinking it an
honour to be employed in defending them. They were
styled comites, honorati, clarissimi, and even patroni; as
if their clients were not less obliged to them than freed-
men to their masters. The bar was not at that time venal.
Those who aspired to honours and offices took this way
of gaining an interest in the people, and always pleaded
gratis. But no sooner were luxury and corruption intro¬
duced into the commonwealth, than the bar became a
sharer in them. Then it was that the senators let out
their voices for pay, and zeal and eloquence were sold to
the highest bidder. To put a stop to this abuse, the tri¬
bune Cincius procured a law to be passed, called from
him Lex Cincia, whereby the advocates were forbidden to
take any money of their clients. It had before this been
prohibited the advocates to take any presents or gratuities
for their pleading. The emperor Augustus added a pe¬
nalty to it; notwithstanding which, the advocates played
their part so well, that the emperor Claudius thought it
an extraordinary circumstance, when he obliged them not
to take above eight great sesterces, which are equivalent
to about L.64 sterling, for pleading each cause.
Advocate is still used in countries and courts where
the civil law obtains, for those who plead and defend the
causes of clients intrusted to them.
168
A D V
A D V
Advocates. Advocate of a City, in the German polity, a magistrate
'appointed in the emperor’s name to administer justice.
Advocate is more particularly used in church history
for a person appointed to defend the rights and revenues
of a church or religious house. The word advocatus, or
advowee, is still retained for what we usually call the pa¬
tron, or he who has the advowson or right of presentation
in his own name.
Consistorial Advocates, officers of the consistory at
Rome, who plead in all oppositions to the disposal of be¬
nefices in that court. They are ten in number.
Elective Advocates, those chosen by the abbot, bishop,
or chapter, a particular licence being had from the king
or prince for that purpose. The elections were originally
made in the presence of the count of the province.
Feudal Advocates. These were of the military kind,
who, to make them more zealous for the interest of the
church, had lands granted them in fee, which they held
of the church, and did homage and took an oath of fide¬
lity to the bishop or abbot. These were to lead the vas¬
sals of the church to war, not only in private quarrels of
the church itself, but in military expeditions for the king’s
service, in which they were the standard-bearers of their
churches.
Fiscal Advocate, fisci advocatus, in Roman Antiquity,
an officer of state under the Roman emperors, who plead¬
ed in all causes wherein the fiscus or private treasury
was concerned.
Juridical Advocates, in the middle age, were those
who, from attending causes in the court of the comes or
count of the province, became judges themselves, and
held courts of their vassals thrice a year, under the name
of the trio, placita generalia. In consideration of this fur¬
ther service, they had a particular allowance of one third
part of all fines or mulcts imposed on defaulters, &c.
besides a proportion of diet for themselves and servants.
Matricular Advocates were the advocates of the mo¬
ther or cathedral churches.
Military Advocates, those appointed for the defence
of the church, rather by arms and authority than by plead¬
ing and eloquence. These were introduced in the times
of confusion, when every person was obliged to maintain
his own property by force. Bishops and abbots not being
permitted to bear arms, and the scholastic or gowned ad¬
vocates being equally unacquainted with them, recourse
was had to knights, noblemen, soldiers, or even to princes.
Nominative Advocates, those appointed by a king or
pope. Sometimes the churches petitioned kings, &c. to
appoint them an advocate ; at other times this was done
of their own accord. By some regulations, no person was
capable of being elected advocate unless he had an estate
in land in the same country.
Regular Advocates, those duly formed and qualified
for their profession by a proper course of study, the re¬
quisite oath, subscription, licence, &c.
Subordinate Advocates, those appointed by other su¬
perior ones, acting under them, and accountable to them.
There are various reasons for the creation of these subor¬
dinate advocates ; as, the superior quality of the principal
advocate, his being detained in war, or being involved in
other affairs; but chiefly the too great distance of some
of the church-lands, and their lying in the dominions of
foreign princes.
Supreme Sovereign Advocates were those who had the
authority in chief, but acted by deputies or subordinate
advocates. These were called also principal, greater, and
sometimes general advocates. Such, in many cases, were
kings, &c. wdien they had either been chosen advocates,
or became such by being founders or endowers of churches.
Princes had also another title to advocateship, some of a
them pretending to be advocati nati of the churches with- '
in their dominions. ^
Advocates, in the English courts, are more eenerallv^ l
called counsel. 6 y '
Facidty of Advocates, in Scotland, a respectable body
of lawyers, who plead in all causes before the courts of
session, justiciary, and exchequer. They are also enti¬
tled to plead in the house of peers and other supreme
courts in England.
A candidate for the office of an advocate undergoes
three several trials : the first is in Latin, upon the civil
law, and Greek and Roman antiquities; the second, in
English, upon the municipal law of Scotland; and, in the
third, he is obliged to defend a Latin thesis, which is im¬
pugned by three members of the faculty. All this, how-
ever, has become very much matter of form. Immediately
before putting on the gown, the candidate makes a short
Latin speech to the lords, and then takes the oaths to the
government and defideli.
The faculty at present (1829) consists of 324 members.
As the profession of an advocate is esteemed the genteelest
in Scotland, many gentlemen of fortune become members
of the faculty without having any intention of practising
at the bar. This circumstance greatly increases their num¬
ber, gives dignity to the profession, and enriches their
library and public fund. It is from this respectable body
that all vacancies on the bench are generally supplied.
Lord Advocate, or Kings Advocate, one of the eight
great officers of state in Scotland, who as such sat in par¬
liament without election. Pie is the principal crown
lawyer in Scotland. His business is to act as a public
prosecutor, and to plead in all causes that concern the
crown, but particularly in such as are of a criminal nature.
The office of king s advocate is not very ancient: it seems
to have been established about the beginning of the six¬
teenth century. Originally he had no powder to prosecute
crimes without the concurrence of a private party; but,
in the year 1597, he was empowered to prosecute crimes
at his own instance. He has the privilege of pleading in
court with his hat on. This privilege was first granted
to Sir Thomas Hope, who having three sons lords of ses¬
sion, it was thought indecent that the father should plead
uncovered before the sons, who as judges sat covered.
AD\ OCATION, in Scotish Law, a mode of appeal from
certain inferior courts to the supreme court. The writ
employed is called a Fill of Advocation.
AD VOW EE, in ancient customs and law-books, denotes
the advocate of a church, religious house, or the like.
I here were advowees of cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries,
&c. Thus, Charlemagne had the title of advowee of St
Peter s ; King Hugh, of St Riquier; and Bolandus men¬
tions some letters of Pope Nicholas, by which he consti¬
tuted King Edward the Confessor and his successors ad¬
vowees of the monastery at Westminster, and of all the
churches in England. These advowees were the guardians,
piotectors, and administrators of the temporal concerns of
the churches, &c.; and under their authority were passed
all contracts which related to them. It appears also, from
tie most ancient charters, that the donations made to
churches were conferred on the persons of the advowees.
4 hey always pleaded the causes of the churches in court,
and distributed justice for them, in the places under their
jurisdiction. They also commanded the forces furnished
by their monasteries, &c. for the war; and even were their
champions, and sometimes maintained duels for them.
This office is said to have been first introduced in the
fourth century, in the time of Stillico; though the Bene¬
dictines do not fix its origin before the eighth century. By
Udv'P-6
Ljvovon
A D V
degrees men of the first rank were brought into it, as it
was found necessary either to defend with arms or to pro¬
tect with power and authority. In some monasteries
they were only called conservators; but these, without
the name, had all the functions of advowees. There were
also sometimes several sub-advowees or sub-advocates in
each monastery, who officiated instead of the advowees
themselves; which, however, proved the ruin of monas¬
teries, those inferior officers running into great abuses.
Hence also, husbands, tutors, and every person in ge¬
neral who took upon him the defence of another, were
denominated advowees or advocates. Hence several cities
had their advowees, which were established long after
the ecclesiastical ones, and doubtless from their example.
Thus, we read in history of the advowees of Augsburg, of
j^rraS
The vidames assumed the quality of advowees ; and
hence it is that several historians of the eighth century
confound the two functions together. Hence also it is
that several secular lords in Germany bear mitres for
their crests, as having anciently been advowees of the
great churches. .
Spelman distinguishes two kinds of ecclesiastical ad¬
vowees : the one, of causes or processes, advocati causa-
rum ; the other, of territory or lands, advocati soli. The
former were nominated by the king, and were usually
lawyers, who undertook to plead the causes of the monas¬
teries. The other, which still subsist, and are sometimes
called by their primitive name, advowees, though more
usually patrons, were hereditary, as being the founders
and endowers of churches, &c. or their heirs.
Women were sometimes advowees, advocatissw; and
the canon law mentions some who had this title, and who
had the same right of presentation, &c. in their churches
which the advowees themselves had. In statute 25 Edw.
III. we meet with advowee paramount for the highest
patron; that is, the king.
ADVOWSON, or Advowzen, in Common Law, sig¬
nifies a right to present to a vacant benefice. Advowson
is so called because the right of presenting to the church
was first gained by such as were founders, benefactors, or
maintainers of the church. Though the nomination of fit
persons to officiate in every diocese was originally in the
bishop, yet they were content to let the founders of
churches have the nomination of the persons to the
churches so founded, reserving to themselves a right to
judge of the fitness of the persons nominated.—Advow-
sons formerly were most of them appendant to manors,
and the patrons were parochial barons. The lordship of
the manor and patronage of the church were seldom in
different hands, until advowsons were given to religious
houses. But of late times the lordship of the manor and
advowson of the church have been divided.—Advow¬
sons are presentative, collative, or donative: presentative,
where the patron presents or offers his clerk to the bishop
of the diocese, to be instituted in his church; collative,
where the benefice is given by the bishop, as original pa¬
tron thereof, or by means of a right he has acquired by
lapse; donative, where the king or other patron does,
by a single donation in writing, put the clerk into posses¬
sion, without presentation, institution, or induction.
Sometimes, anciently, the patron had the sole nomina¬
tion of the prelate, abbot, or prior, either by investiture
(i. e. delivery of a pastoral staff) or by direct presentation
to the diocesan; and if a free election was left to the brother¬
hood, yet a conge delire, or licence of election, was first
to be obtained of the patron, and the person elected was
confirmed by him. If the founder’s family became extinct,
the patronage of the convent went to the lord of the ma-
VOL. II.
iE A C
nor.—Advowsons are temporal inheritances and lay fees :
they may be granted by deed or will, and are assets in
the hands of heirs or executors. Presentations to advow¬
sons for money or other reward are void. (31 Eliz. cap.
6.) In Scotland this right is called patronage.
ADY, in Natural History, a name given to the palm-tree
of the island of St Thomas. It is a tall tree, with a thick,
bare, upright stem, growing single on its root, of a thin
light timber, and full of juice. The head of this tree
shoots into a vast number of branches, which being cut off,
or an incision being made therein, afford a great quantity
of sweet juice, which, fermenting, supplies the place of
wine among the Indians. The fruit of this tree is called
by the Portuguese caryoces and cariosse, and by the black
natives abanga. This fruit is of the size and shape of a
lemon, and contains a kernel, which is good to eat. The
fruit itself is eaten roasted, and the raw kernels are often
mixed with mandioc meal. These kernels are supposed
very cordial. An oil is also prepared from this fruit,
which answers the purpose of oil or butter. Ihis oil is
also used for anointing stiff and contracted parts of the
body.
ADYNAMIA, in Medicine, of a privative, and buvaiMig,
strength, want of power, debility or weakness from sickness.
ADYNAMON, among ancient physicians, a kind of
weak factitious wine, prepared from must boiled down with
water, to be given to patients to whom genuine wine
might be hurtful.
ADYTUM, in Pagan Antiquity, the most retired and
sacred place of temples, into which none but the priests
were allowed to enter. The Sanctum Sanctorum of the
temple of Solomon was of the nature of the pagan adytum,
none but the high-priest being admitted into it, and he
but once a year.
ADZE, or Addice, a cutting tool of the axe kind,
having its blade made thin and arching, and its edge at
right angles to the handle ; chiefly used for taking off thin
chips of timber or boards, and for paring away certain ir¬
regularities which the axe cannot come at. The adze is
used by carpenters, but more by coopers, as being con¬
venient for cutting the hollow sides of boards, &c. It is
ground from a base on its inside to its outer edge ; so
that, when it is blunt, they cannot conveniently grind it
without taking its helve out of the eye.
AE, or M, a diphthong compounded of A and E.
Authors are by no means agreed as to the use of the w in
English words. Some, out of regard to etymology, insist
on its being retained in all words, particularly technical
ones, borrowed from the Greek and Latin; while others,
from a consideration that it is no proper diphthong in our
language (its sound being no other than that of the sim¬
ple e), contend that it ought to be entirely disused; ami
in fact the simple e has of late been adopted instead of
the Roman ce, as in the word equator, &c.
yEACEA, in Grecian Antiquity, solemn festivals and
games celebrated at iEgina in honour of iEacus.
ABACUS, the son of Jupiter by TEgina. When the
isle of iEgina was depopulated by a plague, his father,
in compassion to his grief, changed all the ants upon it
into men and women, who were called Myrmidones, from
an ant. The foundation of the fable is said to be,
that when the country had been depopulated by pirates,
who forced the few that remained to take shelter in caves,
yEacus encouraged them to come out, and by commerce
and industry recover what they had lost. His character
for justice was such, that, in a time of universal drought,
he was nominated by the Delphic oracle to intercede for
Greece, and his prayer was answered. See the article
jEgina. The Pagans also imagined that iEacus, on ac-
Y
169
Ady
II
yEacus.
170
M D I
M G I
^Cdile.
jEhudse count of his impartial justice, was chosen by Pluto one of
11 the three judges of the dead; and that it was his pro¬
vince to judge the Europeans.
/EBUDiE, a name anciently given to the Western
Islands of Scotland.
JECIIMALO TA RCH A, in Jewish Antiquity, a title
given to the principal leader or governor of the Hebrew
captives residing in Chaldea, Assyria, and the neighbour¬
ing countries. This magistrate was called by the Jews
rasch-galuth, i. e. the chief of the captivity ; but the above
term, of like import in the Greek, is that used by Origen
and others who wrote in the Greek tongue.
iEDES, in Roman Antiquity, besides its more ordinary
signification cf a house, likewise signified an inferior kind
of temple, consecrated to some deity.
vEDICULA, a term used to denote the inner part of
the temple, where the altar and statue of the deity stood.
iEDILE (fp.dilis), in Roman Antiquity, a magistrate
whose chief business was to superintend buildings of all
kinds, but more especially public ones, as temples, aque¬
ducts, bridges, &c. To the aediles likewise belonged the
care of the highways, public places, weights and mea¬
sures, &c. They also fixed the prices of provisions, took
cognizance of debauches, punished lewd women and such
persons as frequented gaming-houses. The custody of the
plebiscita, or orders of the people, was likewise committed
to them. They had the inspection of comedies and other
pieces of wit; and were obliged to exhibit magnificent
games to the people, at their own expense, whereby many
of them were ruined. They had the power, on certain
occasions, of issuing edicts, and by degrees they procured
to themselves a considerable jurisdiction. All these func¬
tions, which rendered the aediles so considerable, belonged
at first to the aediles of the people, cedilesplebeii, or minores.
These were only tw o in number, and were first created in the
same year as the tribunes; for the tribunes, finding themselves
oppressed with the multiplicity of affairs, demanded of the
senate to have officers to whom they might intrust mat¬
ters of less importance ; and accordingly two aediles were
created; and hence it was that the aediles were elected
every year at the same assembly as the tribunes. But
these plebeian aediles having refused, on a signal occasion,
to treat the people with shows, pleading that they were un¬
able to support the expense thereof, the patricians made
an offer to do it, provided they would admit them to the
honours of the wdilate. On this occasion there were two
new aediles created, of the number of the patricians, in the
year of Rome 388. They were called cediles curules, or ma-
jores, as having a right to sit on a curule chair, enriched
with ivory, wRen they gave audience; whereas the ple¬
beian aediles only sat on benches. Besides that the curule
aediles shared all the ordinary functions with the plebeian,
their chief employment was, to procure the celebration of
the grand Roman games, and to exhibit comedies, shows
of gladiators, &c. to the people; and they were also ap¬
pointed judges in all cases relating to the selling or ex¬
changing of estates. To ease these first four aediles, Csesar
created a new kind, called cediles cereales, as being deputed
chiefly to take care of the corn, which was called donum
Cerens; for the heathens honoured Ceres as the goddess
who presided over corn, and attributed to her the inven¬
tion of agriculture. These 'aediles cereales were also taken
out of the order of patricians. In the municipal cities
there were aediles, and with the same authority as at
Rome.
We also read of an cedilis alimentarius, expressed in ab¬
breviature by JEdil. alim. whose business seems to have
been to provide diet for those who were maintained at the
public charge, though others assign him a different office.
—In an ancient inscription we also meet with ccdile of the $<]
camp, cedilis castrorum.
iEDILITIUM Edictum, among the Romans, was that «,
whereby a remedy was given to a buyer in case a vicious^
or unsound beast or slave was sold to him. It was call¬
ed cedilitium, because the preventing of frauds in sales and
contracts belonged especially to the curule aediles.
iEDITUUS, in Roman Antiquity, an officer belonging to
the temple, who had the charge of the offerings, treasure,
and sacred utensils. The female deities had a female
officer of this kind called AEditua.
iEGADES, islands off the western coast of Sicily, be¬
tween Trapani and Marsala, consisting of Maritime, Le-
vanso, and Favignana, which were of some note during the
first Punic war.
A2GAGROPILA, a ball composed of hair, generated
in the stomach of the chamois goat, which is similar to
those found in cows, hogs, &c. There is another species
of ball found in some animals, particularly horses, which
is a calculous concretion.
AEGEAN Sea, in Ancient Geography, now the Archi¬
pelago, a part of the Mediterranean, separating Europe
from Asia Minor; washing, on the one hand, Greece and
Macedonia ; on the other, Caria and Ionia. The origin of
the name is greatly disputed. Festus advances three
opinions: one, that it is so called from the many islands
therein appearing at a distance like so many goats; an¬
other, because iEgea, queen of the Amazons, perished in
it ; a third, because ^Egeus, the father of Theseus, threw
himself headlong into it. j
iEGEUS, in fabulous history, was king of Athens,
and the father of Theseus. The Athenians having basely
killed the son of Minos, king of Crete, for carrying
away the prize from them, Minos made war upon them;
and being victorious, imposed this severe condition on
-'Egeus, that he should annually send into Crete seven of
the noblest of the Athenian youths, chosen by lot, to be
devoured by the Minotaur. ‘ On the fourth year of this
tribute, the choice fell on Theseus; or, as others say, he
himself entreated to be sent. The king, at his son’s de¬
parture, gave orders, that as the ship sailed with black
sails, it should return with the same in case he perished;
but, if he became victorious, he should change them into
white. When Theseus returned to Crete, after killing the
Minotaur, and forgot to change the sails in token of his
victory, according to the agreement with his father, the
latter, who watched the return of the vessel, supposing by
the black sails that his son was dead, cast himself head¬
long into the sea, which afterwards obtained the name of
the AEgean Sea, The Athenians decreed YEgeus divine
honours, and sacrificed to him as a marine deity the
adopted son of Neptune.
among physicians, a white speck on the pupil
of the eye, which occasions a dimness of sight.
iEGIDA, now Capo d’Istria, the principal town on the
north of the territory of Istria, situated in a little island,
joined to the land by a bridge. In an inscription it is
called AEgidis Insula. Long. 14. 20. E. Lat. 45. 50. N.
It was afterwards called Justinopolis, after the emperor
Justinus.
iEGILOPS, the name of a tumour in the great angle
of the eye, either with or without an inflammation. The
word is compounded of a/^, goat, and u^, eye ; as goats
are supposed extremely liable to this distemper. If the
aegilopsbe accompanied with an inflammation, it is supposed
to take its rise from the abundance of blood which a ple¬
thoric habit discharges on the corner of the eye. If it be
without an inflammation, it is supposed to proceed from a
viscous pituitous humour, thrown upon this part. The
M G I
ii irus method of cure is the same as that of the ophthalmia.
^ But before it has reached the lachrymal passages, it is
iia. managed like other ulcers. If the aegilops be neglected,
,'v"/it bursts, and degenerates into a fistula, which eats into
the bone. . . . . ,
iEGIMURUS, in Ancient Geography, an island in the
bay of Carthage, about 30 miles distant from that city,
(Livy); now the Goletta. This island being afterwards sunk
in the sea, two of its rocks remained above water, which
were called Arm, because the Romans and Carthaginians
entered into an agreement or league to limit their respec¬
tive boundaries by these rocks.
iEGINA, in fabulous history, the daughter of Asopus,
kino- of Bceotia, was beloved by Jupiter, who debauched
heAn the similitude of a lambent flame, and then carried
her fromEpidaurus to a desert island called CEnopia, which
afterwards obtained her own name.
TEgina, in Ancient Geography, an island in the Saronic
gulf, 20 miles distant from the Piraeus, formerly vying with
Athens in naval power, and at the sea-fight of Salamis
disputing the palm of victory with the Athenians. It
was the country and kingdom of iEacus, who called it
AEgina, from his mother’s name, it being before called
(Enopia. (Ovid.) The inhabitants were called JEginetm,
and Mginenses. The Greeks had a common temple dedi¬
cated to Jupiter in iEgina, the remains of which still exist.
The (Eginetae applied themselves to commerce, and were
the first who coined money called No/wc/ia A/y/va/ov; hence
AEgineticum ms, formerly in great repute. The inhabit¬
ants were called Myrmidones, or a nation of ants, from
their great application to agriculture. The island was
reckoned 180 stadia, or 22 miles and a half, in circumfer¬
ence. It is now called AEgina, the g soft and the i short,
and was generally the seat of the Greek government
in 1828 and 1829. The temple above mentioned is situ¬
ated upon the summit of a mountain called Panhellenius,
at some distance from the shore. It was of the Doric or¬
der, and had six columns in front. Twenty-one of the
exterior columns are yet standing, with two in the front of
the pronaos and of the posticum, and five of the number
which formed the ranges of the cell. The entablature,
except the architrave, is fallen. The stone is of a light
brownish colour, much eaten in many places, and indicating
a very great age. Some of the columns have been injured
by boring to their centres for the metal. In several, the
junction of the parts is so exact that each seems to con¬
sist of one piece. This ruin Mr Chandler considers as
scarcely to be paralleled in its claim to a remote antiquity.
The situation, on a lonely mountain at a distance from
the sea, has preserved it from total demolition amid all the
changes and accidents of numerous centuries. The soil
of this island is, as described by Strabo, very stony, es¬
pecially the bottoms; but in some places not unfertile in
grain. Besides corn, it produces olives, grapes, and al¬
monds ; and abounds in pigeons and partridges. It has
been related, that the TEginetans annually wage war with
the feathered race, carefully collecting or breaking their
eggs, to prevent their multiplying to such numbers as to
produce a famine. They have no hares, foxes, or wolves.
The rivers in summer are all dry.
(Egina, the capital of the above island. Its site has
been long forsaken. Instead of the temples mentioned
by Pausanias, there are 13 lonely churches, all very mean ;
and two Doric columns supporting their architrave. These
stand by the sea-side, towards the low cape ; and, it has
been supposed, are a remnant of a temple of Venus, which
was situated by the port principally frequented. The
walls belonging to the ports and arsenal were of excellent
masonry, and may be traced to a considerable extent,
JE G I 171
above, or nearly even with the water. At the entrance /Egineta
of the mole, on the left, is a small chapel of St Nicholas ; li.
and opposite, a square tower with steps before it, detach- ^gls*
ed from which a bridge was laid across, to be removed on^-^^^^
any alarm. This structure, which is mean, was erected
by the Venetians while at war with the Turks in 1693.
iEGINETA, Paulus, a celebrated surgeon of the island
of iBgina, from whence he derived his name. According
to M. le Clerc’s calculation, he lived in the fourth cen¬
tury; but Abulfaragius the Arabian, who is allowed to
give the best account of those times, places him with more
probability in the seventh. His knowledge in surgery
was very great, and his works are deservedly famous.
Fabricius ab Aquapendente has thought fit to transcribe
him in a great variety of places. Indeed, the doctrine of
Paulus fEgineta, together with that of Celsus and Albu-
casis, make up the whole text of this author. He is the
first writer who takes notice of the cathartic quality of
rhubarb ; and, according to Dr Milward, is the first in all
antiquity who deserves the title of man-midwife.
7EGINHARD, the celebrated secretary and supposed
son-in-law of Charlemagne. He is said to have been car¬
ried through the snow on the shoulders of Imma, to pre¬
vent his being traced from her apartments by the empe¬
ror her father; a story which the elegant pen of Addi¬
son has copied and embellished in the third volume of the
Spectator. There is a letter of AEginhard’s still extant,
lamenting the death of his wife, written in the tenderest
strain of connubial affliction : but it does not say that this
lady was the affectionate princess ; and indeed some late
critics have proved that Imma was not the daughter of
Charlemagne. He was a native of Germany, and educat¬
ed by the munificence of his imperial master, of which he
has left the most grateful testimony in his preface to the
life of that monarch. fEginhard, after the loss of his
wife, is supposed to have passed the remainder of his days
in religious retirement, and to have died soon after the
year 840. His life of Charlemagne, his annals from 741
to 889, and his letters, are all inserted in the 2d volume
of Duchesne’s Scriptores Francorum. An improved edi¬
tion of this valuable historian, with the annotations of
Hermann Schmincke, in 4to, was published in 1711.
iEGIPAN, m Heathen Mythobgy, a denomination given
to the god Pan, because he was represented with the horns,
legs, feet, &c. of a goat.
AEGIPPIILA, in Botany, Goat-friend.
AEGIS, in Ancient Mythology, a name given to the
shield or buckler of Jupiter and Pallas. The goat Amal-
thsea, which had suckled Jove, being dead, that god is
said to have covered his buckler with the skin; whence
the appellation mgis, from a/g, a/yog, she-goat. Jupiter
afterwards restored the animal to life, covered it with a
new skin, and placed it among the stars. He made a
present of his buckler to Minerva; whence that goddess s
buckler is also called mgis. Minerva having killed the
Gorgon Medusa, nailed her head in the middle of the aegis,
which henceforth had the faculty of converting into stone
all those who looked upon it; as Medusa herself had
during her life. Others suppose the aegis not to have
been a buckler, but a cuirass or breastplate; and it is
certain that the aegis of Pallas, described by Virgil, AEn.
lib. viii. ver. 435, must have been a cuirass, since that poet
says expressly that Medusa’s head was on the breast
of the goddess. But the aegis of Jupiter, mentioned a
little higher, ver. 354, seems to have been a buckler. The
words—
 Cum ssepe nigrantem
jEgida concuteret dextra,
are descriptive of a buckler, but not at all of a cuirass or
172
IE L F
/Elfric.
jEgisthus breastplate. Servius makes the same distinction on the
two passages of Virgil; for on verse 354 he takes the
^ aegis for the buckler of Jupiter, made, as above mentioned,
of the skin of the goat Amalthaea; and on verse 435 he
describes the aegis as the armour which covers the breast,
and which in speaking of men is called cuirass, and aegis
in speaking of the gods. Many authors have overlooked
these distinctions for want of going to the sources.
iEGISTHUS, in Ancient History, was the son of Thyes-
tes by his own daughter Pelopea, who, to conceal her
shame, exposed him in the woods. Some say he was taken
up by a shepherd, and suckled by a goat; whence he was
called JEgisthus. He seduced Clytemnestra, the wife
of Agamemnon, and lived with her during the siege of
Troy. Afterwards with her assistance he slew her hus¬
band, and reigned seven years in Mycenae. He was, to¬
gether with Clytemnestra, slain by Orestes. Pompey
used to call Julius Caesar JEgisthus, on account of his
having seduced his wife Mutia, whom he afterwards put
away, though he had three children by her.
iEGIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of Achaia
Propria, five miles from the place where Helice stood, and
famous for the council of the Achaeans, which usually met
there, on account probably of the commodious situation of
the place.
fEGOBOLIUM, in Antiquity, the sacrifice of a goat
offered to Cybele. The asgobolium was an expiatory sacri¬
fice, which bore a near resemblance to the taurobolium
and criobolium, and seems to have been sometimes joined
with them.
iEGOPODIUM, in Botany, Small Wild Angelica,
Goatwort, Goatsfoot.
iEGOSPOTAMOS, in Ancient Geography, a river in the
Thracian Chersonesus, falling with a south-east course into
the Hellespont, to the north of Sestos; with a town, and a
station or road for ships, at its mouth. Here the Athen¬
ians under Conon, through the fault of his colleague Iso¬
crates, received a signal overthrow from the Lacedemon¬
ians under Lysander, which was followed by the taking of
Athens, and put an end to the Peloponnesian war.
7EG YPTIAC UM, in Pharmacy, the name of several
detergent ointments; as black, red, white, simple, and
compound.
7EGYPTILLA, in Natural History, the name of a stone
described by the ancients, and said by some authors to
have the remarkable quality of giving water the colour and
taste of wine. This seems a very imaginary virtue, as
are indeed too many of those in former ages attributed to
stones. The descriptions left us of this remarkable fossil
tell us, that it was variegated with, or composed of, veins
of black or white, or black and bluish, with sometimes a
plate or vein of whitish red. The authors of these ac¬
counts seem to have understood by this name the several
stones of the onyx, sardonyx, and cameo kind; all which
we have at present common among us, but none of which
possesses any such strange properties.
7EGYPTUS, in fabulous history, was the son of Belus,
and brother of Danaus.
AEINAUT7E, in Antiquity, ativavrcu, always mariners,
a denomination given to the senators of Miletus, because
they held their deliberations on board a ship, and never
returned to land till matters had been agreed on.
7ELFRIC, an eminent ecclesiastic of the 10th century,
was the son of an earl of Kent, and a monk of the Bene¬
dictine order in the monastery of Abingdon. In 963 he
was settled in the cathedral of Winchester, under Athel-
wold the bishop, and undertook the instruction of the
youth of the diocese ; for which purpose he compiled a
Latin-Saxon vocabulary, and some Latin colloquies. He
JE M I
also translated from the Latin into Saxon many of the
historical books of the Old Testament. While he resided
at Winchester he drew up Canons, which are a kind of
charge to be delivered by the bishops to their clergy. He
was afterwards abbot of St Albans, bishop of Wilton, and
finally, in 994, translated to the-see of Canterbury. Here
he had a hard struggle for some years in bravely defend¬
ing his diocese against the incursions of the Danes. He
died in 1005, and was buried at Abingdon; but his re¬
mains were removed to Canterbury in the reign of Canute.
Hilfric is held up as one of the most distinguished prelates
of the Saxon church. His learning, for the times, was
considerable, his morals pure, and his religious sentiments
untainted with many of the corruptions of his age. Be¬
sides the works already mentioned, he translated two vo¬
lumes of Homilies from the Latin Fathers.
TELIA, Capitolina, a name given to the city built by
the emperor Adrian, a. d. 134, near the spot where the
ancient Jerusalem stood, which he found in ruins when he
visited the eastern parts of the Roman empire. A Ro¬
man colony was settled here, and a temple, in place of
that of Jerusalem, was dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus.
Hence the name is derived, to which he prefixed that of
his own family.
TELIAN, Claudius, born at Praeneste, in Italy. He
taught rhetoric at Rome, according to Perizonius, under
the emperor Alexander Severus. He was surnamed
MiXryXuaeog, Honey-mouth, on account of the sweetness of
his style in his discourses and writings. He was like¬
wise honoured with the title of Sophist, an appellation
in his days given only to men of learning and wisdom.
He loved retirement, and devoted himself to study.
He greatly admired and studied Plato, Aristotle, Iso¬
crates, Plutarch, Homer, Anacreon, Archilochus, &c.
and, though a Roman, gives the preference to the writers
of the Greek nation. His curious and entertaining work
entitled Variae Historice has been frequently republished.
The edition published at Amsterdam in 1731, by Gro-
novius, cum notis variorum, consists of two 4to volumes.
His treatise Be Natura Animalium has also been several
times reprinted. A very useful edition, in all respects
indeed the best, was published by Schneider, at Leipsic,
in 1784, in 8vo. Besides the above, the collated edition
of his works, published by Gesner, contains his Epistolce
Rusticce.
AELTERE, a town with 3973 inhabitants, in the ar-
rondissement of Ghent, and province of East Flanders.
TEL UR US, in Egyptian Mythology, the deity or god of
cats; represented sometimes like a cat, and sometimes
like a man with a cat’s head. The Egyptians had so
superstitious a regard for this animal, that the killing of it,
whether by accident or design, was punished with death;
and Diodorus relates, that, in the time of extreme famine,
they chose rather to eat one another than touch these
sacred animals.
AEM, Am, or Ame, a liquid measure used in most parts
of Germany, but different in different towns. The aem
commonly contains 20 vertils, or 80 masses: that of Hei¬
delberg is equal to 48 masses, and that of Wirtemberg to
160 masses.
7EMILILTS, Paulus, the son of Paulus TEmilius who
was killed at the battle of Cannae. He was twice consul.
In his first consulate he triumphed over the Ligurians,
and in the second subdued Perseus, king of Macedonia,
and reduced that country to a Roman province, on which
he obtained the surname of Macedonicus. He returned
to Rome loaded with glory, and triumphed for three days.
He died 168 years before Christ.
TEmilius, Paulus, a celebrated historian, born at Ve-
Q*
iE N I
rona who obtained such reputation in Italy, that he was
°' invited into France by the cardinal of Bourbon, in the
reien of Louis XIL, in order to write the history of the
,is. kjmrg of France in Latin, and was presented to a canonry
’^in the cathedral of Paris. He died at Paris on the 5th
of Mav 1539- His work entitled Be Rebus gestis Franco-
rum was translated into French by Renard in 1581, and
it has also been translated into Italian and German.
7EMOBOLIUM, in Antiquity, the blood of a bull or ram
offered in the sacrifices, called taurobolia and criobolia;
in which sense the word occurs in ancient inscriptions.
TENSAS, in fabulous history, a famous Trojan prince,
the son of Anchises and Venus. At the destruction of
Troy, he bore bis aged father on his back, and saved him
froin the Greeks; but, Being too solicitous about his son
and household gods, lost his wife Creiisa in the escape.
Landing in Africa, he was kindly received by Queen
Dido ; but quitting her coast, he arrived in Italy, where he
married Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus, and de¬
feated Turnus, to whom she had been contracted. After
the death of his father-in-law, he was made king of the
Latins, over whom he reigned three years; but joining
with the Aborigines, he was slain in a battle against the
Tuscans. Virgil has rendered the name of this prince
immortal, by making him the hero of his poem.
TEneas Sylvius, Pope. See Pius II.
TEN E A TO RES, in Antiquity, the musicians in an army,
including those that played on trumpets, horns, &c. The
word is formed from ceneus, on account of the brazen in¬
struments used by them.
TENEID, the name of Virgil’s celebrated epic poem,
devoted to celebrate the establishment of iEneas in Italy.
TENGIA, one of the islands of the Archipelago. It lies
in the bay of Engia, and the town of that name contains
about 800 houses and a castle ; and near it are the ruins
of a magnificent structure, which was formerly a temple.
TENIGMA denotes any dark saying, wherein some well-
known thing is concealed under obscure language. The
word is Greek, Aiviyga, formed of aimndGai, obscure in-
nuere, to hint a thing darkly, and of a/vog, an obscure
speech or discourse. The popular name is riddle; from
the Belgic raedcn, or the Saxon araethan, to interpret.
Painted JEnigmas are representations of the works of
nature or art, concealed under human figures, drawn from
history or fable.
A Verbal AEnigma is a witty, artful, and abstruse de¬
scription of any thing. In a general sense, every dark
saying, every difficult question, every parable, may pass
for an aenigma. Hence obscure laws are called cenigma-
ta, juris. The alchemists are great dealers in the enig¬
matic language, their processes for the philosopher s stone
being generally wrapt up in riddles: e. g. Fac ex mare
et fcemina circulum, indc quadrangulum, hinc triangulum,
fac circulum, et habebis lapidem philosophorum.
F. Menestrier has attempted to reduce the composition
and resolution of enigmas to a kind of art, with fixed
rules and principles, which he calls the philosophy of
(enigmatic images.
The Suly'ect of an JEnigma, or the thing to be conceal¬
ed and made a mystery of, he justly observes, ought not
to be such in itself; but, on the contrary, common, ob¬
vious, and easy to be conceived. It is to be taken either
from nature, as the heaven or stars ; or from art, as paint¬
ing, the compass, a mirror, or the like.
The Form of JEnigmas consists in the words which,
whether they be in prose or verse, contain either some
description, a question, or a prosopopoeia. The last kind
are the most pleasing, inasmuch as they give life and
action to things which otherwise have them not. To
iE O L
173
TEolic.
make an senigma, therefore, two things are to be pitched iEnigmas
on which bear some resemblance to each other, as the sun "
and a monarch, or a ship and a house; and on this re¬
semblance is to be raised a superstructure of contrarieties,
to amuse and perplex. It is easier to find great subjects
for senigmas in figures than in words, inasmuch as paint¬
ing attracts the eye and excites the attention to discover
the sense. The subjects of senigmas in painting are to be
taken either from history or fable : the composition here
is a kind of metamorphosis, wherein, e. g. human figures
are changed into trees, and rivers into metals. It is es¬
sential to aenigmas, that the history or fable under which
they are presented be known to every body, otherwise
it will be two aenigmas instead of one; the first of the
history or fable, the second of the sense in which it is to
be taken. Another essential rule of the aenigma is, that
it only admits-of one sense. Every aenigma which is sus¬
ceptive of different interpretations, all equally natural, is
so far imperfect. What gives a kind of erudition to an
aenigma, is the invention of figures in situations, gestures,
colours, &c. authorized by passages of the poets, the cus¬
toms of artists in statues, basso-relievos, inscriptions, and
medals.
As to the solution of aenigmas, it may be observed, that
those expressed by figures are more difficult to explain
than those consisting of words, because images may
signify more things than words can; so that to fix them
to a particular sense, we must apply every situation, sym¬
bol, &c. and without omitting a circumstance. As there
are few persons in history or mythology without some
particular character of vice or virtue, we are, before all
things, to attend to this character, in order to divine what
the figure of a person represented in a painting signifies,
and to find what agreement this may have with the sub¬
ject whereof we would explain it. Thus, if Proteus be
represented in a picture, it may be taken to denote incon¬
stancy, and applied either to a physical or moral subject,
whose character is to be changeable, e. g. an almanack,
which expresses the weather, the seasons, heat, cold,
storms, and the like. The colours of figures may also help
to unriddle what they mean ; white, for instance, is a mark
of innocence, red of modesty, green of hope, black of sor¬
row, &c. When figures are accompanied with symbols,
they are less precarious ; these being, as it were, the soul
of amigmas, and the key that opens the mystery of them.
AENIGMATOGRAPHY, or iENiGMATHOLOGY, the
art of resolving or making aenigmas.
AENITHOLOGIUS, in Poetry, a verse of two dactyls
and three trochaei; as Prcelia dir a placent truci juventw.
TEOLIiE Insulas, now Isoli Lipari, in Ancient Geo¬
graphy, seven islands situated between Sicily and Italy;
so called from iEolus, who reigned there about the time
of the Trojan war. The Greeks call them Rephcestiades ;
and the Romans Vulcanice, from their fiery eruptions.
They are also called Liparceorum Insulce, from their prin- ■
cipal island Lipara. Dionysius Periegetes calls them
nXura/, because circumnavigable.
iEOLIAN Harp. See Acoustics, and Harp.
iEOLIC, in a general sense, denotes something belong¬
ing to iEolis.
iEoLic, or TEolian, in Grammar, denotes one ot the
five dialects of the Greek tongue. It was first used in
Bceotia, whence it passed into iEolia, and was that which
Sappho and Alcmus wrote in. The .Eolic dialect general¬
ly throws out the aspirate or sharp spirit, and agrees in so
many things with the Doric dialect, that the two are
usually confounded together.
The Aolic digamma is a name given to the letter P,
which the JEolians used to prefix to words beginning with
174
iE O N
^Eolic
^Eon.
vowels, as Yotvog for o/vog; also to insert between vowels,
as oF/j for o/g.
JEolic Verse, in Prosody, a verse consisting of an iam¬
bus or spondee; then of two anapests, separated by a
long syllable ; -and, lastly, of another syllable : such as,
O stelliferi conditor orbis. ihis is otherwise called eulogic
verse ; and, from the chief poets who used it, Archilochian
and Pindaric.
iEOLIPILE, in Hydraulics, is a hollow ball of metal,
generally used in courses of experimental philosophy, in
order to demonstrate the possibility of converting water
into an elastic steam or vapour by heat. The instrument,
therefore, consists of a slender neck or pipe, having a
narrow orifice inserted into the ball by means of a shoulder¬
ed screw. This pipe being taken out, the ball is filled
almost full of water, and the pipe being again screwed
in, the ball is placed on a pan of kindled charcoal, where
it is well heated, and there issues from the orifice a vapour,
with prodigious violence and great noise, which continues
till all the included water is discharged. The stronger
the fire is, the more elastic and violent will be the steam;
but care must be taken that the small orifice of the pipe
be not by any accident stopped up, because the instru¬
ment would in that case infallibly burst in pieces, with
such violence as might greatly endanger the lives of the
persons near it. Another way of introducing the water is
to heat the ball red-hot when empty, which will drive out
almost all the air ; and then by suddenly immerging it in
water, the pressure of the atmosphere will force in the
fluid, till it is nearly full. Descartes and others have used
this instrument to account for the natural cause and gene¬
ration of the wind : and hence it was called JEolipila : q. d.
])ila Mali, the ball of fEolus, or of the god of the winds.
FEOLLS, or Alolia, in Ancient Geography, a country
of the Hither Asia, settled by colonies of fEolian Greeks.
Taken largely, it comprehends all Troas and the coast of
the Hellespont to the Propontis, because in those parts
there were several iEolian colonies. In a more limited
sense it is applied to the district between Troas to the
north and Ionia to the south. The people are called
JEoles or JEolii.
7EOLUS, in Heathen Mythology, the god of the winds,
was said to be the son of Jupiter by Acasta or Sigesia,
the daughter of Hippotas; or, according to others, the
son of Hippotas by Meneclea, daughter of Hyllus, king of
Lipara. He dwelt in the island Strongyle, now called
Strombolo, one of the seven islands called fEolian, from
their being under the dominion of fEolus. Others say
that his residence was at Rhegium, in Italy ; and others,
again, place him in the island Lipara. He is represented
as haying authority over the winds, which he held en¬
chained in a vast cavern, to prevent their continuing the
devastations they had been guilty of before they were put
under his direction.
fEON, a Greek word, properly signifying the age or
duration of any thing. b
fEox, among the followers of Plato, was used to signify
any virtue, attribute, or perfection: hence they repre-
sented the deity as an assemblage of all possible mons,
and called him pleroma, a Greek term signifying fulness.
The Valentinians, who, in the first ages of the church,
blended the conceits of the Jewish cabalists, the Platonists,
and the Chaldean philosophers, with the simplicity of the
Christian doctrine, invented a kind of Theogony, or Gene-
alogy of Gods (not unlike that of Hesiod), whom they
called by several glorious names, and all by the general
appellation of Aions : among which they reckoned Zw>j,
life; Aoyog, word; Movoyovqs, only-begotten; UXriPojga,
fulness; and many other divine powers and emanations,
iE P I
amounting in number to thirty; which they fancied to be
successively derived from one another, and all from one
self-originated deity, named Bythus, i. e. profound m un- 1
fathomable ; whom they called likewise, the most high andf*
ineffable father.
AiORA, among ancient writers on medicine, is used for
gestation ; which sort of exercise was often prescribed by
the physicians of those days. Other exercises consisted
principally in the motion of the body ; but in the ceora the
limbs were at rest, while the body was carried about and
moved from place to place, in such a manner as the phy.
sician prescribed. It had therefore the advantage of ex¬
ercise, without the fatigue of it. This exercise was pro¬
moted several ways ; sometimes the patient was laid in a
sort of hammock, supported by ropes, and moved back-
ward and forward ; sometimes his bed ran nimbly on its
feet; and sometimes he was carried in a litter, in a boat
or ship, or on even ground in a chariot. Asclepiades was
the first who brought gestation into practice, which was
used as a means to recover strength after a fever, &c.
iEPINUS, Francis Ulrich Theodore, eminent in
the mathematics, and in natural philosophy, was born at
Rostock in Lower Saxony in 1724, and died at Dorpt in
Livonia in 1802. We regret that our means of informa¬
tion do not enable us to communicate any particulars in
regaid to his personal history; but we shall give some
account of his contributions to science; and these, after all,
form the most interesting memorials of a philosopher’s life!
The work by which he is best known is entitled Ten-
tamen Theoriai Electricitatis et Magnetismi, published at
Petersburg in 1759. It appeared under the sanction of
the Imperial Academy, to which the theory had been in
part communicated ; and it is said on the title-page to be
Instar Supplementi Comment. Acad. Petropolitance. The
work indeed merited this distinction, as being the first
systematic and successful attempt to apply mathematical
reasoning to the subjects of electricity and magnetism.
Already the theory of Franklin with regard to the for-
mer was very generally received, and was supposed to
affoi d a satisfactory explanation of the phenomena. But
though it seemed sufficient for this purpose in the common
and somewhat loose manner in which the matter had
hitherto been treated, it was not certain that the same
would hold when the conclusions were accurately and
mathematically deduced. To apply this test was what
/Epinus undertook, and what he has executed in a manner
very satisfactory and complete. He has treated very ful-
ly, and perhaps has nearly exhausted, what may be called
the statics of electricity and magnetism, or the equilibrium
of their forces. A great field yet remains, where the mo¬
tion of the electric fluid is to be considered, and its dis-
tiibution over the surfaces of bodies of a given figure;
where greater difficulties are to be encountered, and where
the latest improvements of the integral calculus in the
hands of Laplace and Poisson have begun to be applied,
ihe investigations of Aipinusin their own department led
to very satisfactory results, and the exact agreement be¬
tween them and the phenomena actually exhibited was
extensively observed. Notwithstanding this agreement,
we cannot consider the theory of positive and negative
electricity as being yet sufficiently established. Though
the assumption on which it is founded appear very simple
at first, it is found more complex on a nearer inspection.
I he assumption is, that a fluid resides in the surfaces of
all the bodies termed electrics, which is highly elastic, and
strongly attracted, at the same time, by the particles of the
body; and that while this fluid remains equally diffused over
t le suiface of the body, no phenomenon whatever gives any
information of its existence. By certain mechanical opera-
M P I
£ ip. t;ons> however, the equilibrium of this fluid maybe destroy-
kWed; the fluid may be accumulated at one end, or on one side
of a body, and entirely withdrawn from the opposite. It is
when an electric is brought into this state that it exhibits
the phenomena of electricity, between which and the cal¬
culus instituted on the suppositions just laid down, jEpinus
has everywhere remarked the most exact agreement. One
„reat difficulty, however, still remains : the negative ends
of two electrified bodies repel one another just as much as
the ends which are reckoned positive. But such an effect
cannot result from the mere absence of a substance : when
the electric fluid is withdrawn, if repulsion still continue,
it must arise from the mutual action of the particles of the
body itself. Thus it would appear, that, in the absence of
the electric fluid, the tendency of the particles of matter
is to repel one another. This is an essential part of the
theory; and it is not accurate to say, that the doctrine of
Franklin or iEpinus supposes no more than the existence
of an elastic fluid diffused over the surfaces, and strongly
attracted by the particles, of bodies. It supposes, besides,
that those particles, in the absence of this fluid, mutually
repel one another. This not only takes away from the
simplicity of the hypothesis, but it is obviously a very un¬
natural, not to say a contradictory supposition ; because,
when the electric matter is removed, how comes it to pass
that the particles of the body, notwithstanding their mu¬
tual repulsion, still cohere together as firmly as before ?
This difficulty is acknowledged by fEpinus himself; but it
would seem that the theory had taken a strong hold of
his mind before he was aware of this consequence from it,
so that he became by degrees reconciled to a supposition
which appeared to him at first not a little incongruous.
This must not surprise us: it is not always that, even
among philosophers, we meet with the candour, or perhaps
we should say the courage, with which Newton suspended
his belief in his own great discovery, the principle of uni¬
versal gravity, as long as the erroneous opinion then exist¬
ing about the magnitude of the earth made the moon’s
motion in her orbit appear inconsistent with the descent
of falling bodies.
Another remark, made by AEpinus himself, involves in
it a difficulty which should have induced him to view his
theory with considerable diffidence. Though he considers
the difference of the two electricities to be the same as
between excess and defect, or to consist in this, that the
fluid which is deficient in the one part is in excess in the
other, he admits that no phenomenon points out on which
side the excess, or on which the defect lies. This is a
strong indication that the difference is not of the kind sup¬
posed. We are not left at a loss to tell whether cold is
the absence of a substance which we call heat, or heat the
absence of a substance which we call cold. If there were
just as much reason for asserting the one of these propo¬
sitions as the other, one would certainly be inclined to re¬
ject both. The same should be done with respect to elec¬
tricity and magnetism.
The investigations of iEpinus, however, are by no means
rendered useless, even if the theory of positive and nega¬
tive electricity, or of positive and negative magnetism, be
exchanged for that of two elastic fluids, each attracting
the other, and both attracted by the particles of bodies.
Most of his investigations may be easily accommodated to
this supposition, and, therefore, they are, fortunately for
themselves and for their author, of a more permanent na¬
ture than the principles from which they were deduced.
It is to be added to this, that iEpinus was the first who
saw the affinity between electricity and magnetism in its
full extent, and perceived the light that these two mutu¬
ally cast on one another. He instituted a regular series
iE P I
175
of experiments on the nature of the tourmaline, on which -®pinus.
he wrote a small treatise, published in 1762. He is to be'
regarde'd also as the inventor of the condenser of electri¬
city, and of the electrophorus, of which he gave the com¬
plete theory.
A very excellent view of the theory of ASpinus was
published at Paris by M. Hauy in 1787, in 8vo. The
same author has, however, -adopted the theory of the two
fluids in his own treatise, Lemons de Physique. There is a
remarkable coincidence between vEpinus’s work on elec¬
tricity and magnetism, and that of Mr Cavendish, given in
the Philosophical Transactions for 1771, p. 584. The prin¬
ciples from which they set out, and the conclusions at
which they arrive, are in a great measure the same. It
appears, however, quite certain, that Mr Cavendish knew
nothing of the work of the Russian philosopher till his own
was completed. His mode of proceeding is more geome¬
trical, and in some parts he has gone farther.
The researches of iEpinus were not confined to the
subjects now mentioned, but extended to most of the
branches of natural philosophy. Beside the treatise on
the tourmaline, he published, in 1762, a work, in 4to,
On the distribution of heat at the surface of the earth ; a
work which, though translated into French, has hardly,
we believe, made its way into this country, and of which
we are therefore unable to speak from our own knowledge.
He is also the author of many valuable memoirs on dif¬
ferent subjects in pure mathematics, in astronomy, mecha¬
nics, optics, meteorology, contained in the 7th, 8th, 9th,
10th, and 12th volumes of the Novi Commentarii Petro-
politance, and in the volumes of the Berlin Memoirs for
1755, 1756. In a memoir contained in the last of these,
is the first account of his experiments on the tourmaline,
which were conducted with great accuracy and judgment,
and do honour to the author as a man of a sound and
philosophical understanding, well instructed in the true
principles of inductive investigation. Indeed, notwith¬
standing the objections we have made to his theories of
electricity and magnetism, we must acknowledge that this
is the general impression produced by the perusal of his
works. He appears to have been well acquainted with
practical astronomy, and sometimes to have had the
charge of the imperial observatory. He made improve¬
ments on the micrometer and the reticulum, and wrote a
memoir on the effects of parallax in the transit of a planet
over the sun ; a difficult subject, and one rendered at that
time (1764) peculiarly interesting, on account of the tran¬
sit of Venus which was just past, and that which was
soon expected. (Novi Com. Pet. tom. x. p. 433.) In the
same volume he has a memoir on the subject of accidental
colours, which at that time had hardly been treated of by
any author but Buffon ; and another on the affinity between
electricity and magnetism. In the 12th volume he notices,
we believe for the first time, the electric property of the
Brazilian emerald. He was not aware that this emerald
is in reality the green tourmaline (Brogniart, tom. i.
p. 418.) ; a variety of that mineral on which he had already
exercised his ingenuity with so much success.
It is rare, in an advanced state of science, to have the
satisfaction of making a new discovery with regard to a
subject quite elementary, and one that has been long a
subject of attention. This, however, happened to iEpinus
with respect to the lever, and to the simplest kind of le¬
ver—that which has equal arms; of which he has demon¬
strated a new property, in the 8th volume of the Com¬
mentaries above referred to. It is this :—If a lever with
equal arms be acted on at its opposite ends by forces in
a given ratio to one another, and having their directions
parallel to straight lines given in position; and if these
176
iE R A
A E R
^quime- forces be resolved each into two, one at right angles to
lium   -
/Rrarium.
the lever, and the other in the direction of it; in the case
of equilibrium, the sum of the two forces, having the same
^ direction with the lever, will be the greatest possible. This
theorem, remarkable for its simplicity, and for illustrating
the connection between the equilibrium of bodies, and
certain problems concerning the maxima or minima of
variable quantities, occurred when he was pursuing some
of his inquiries concerning magnetism. He seems not to
have been very fortunate, however, in his investigation,
which is more complex than is necessary, as the proposi¬
tion admits of a geometrical demonstration remarkable for
its simplicity. (n.)
iEQUIMELIUM, in Antiquity, a place in Rome where
stood the house of Spurius Melius, who, by largesses cor¬
rupting the people, affected the supreme power. Refusing
to appear before the dictator Cincinnatus, he was slain by
Servilius Ahala, master of the horse ; his house was razed
to the ground, and the spot on which it stood was called
Area JEquimelii. (Livy.)
fERA, in Chronology, a fixed point of time from
whence any number of years is begun to be counted.
It is sometimes also written in ancient authors Era.
The origin of the term is contested, though it is general¬
ly allowed to have had its rise in Spain. Sepulveda sup¬
poses it formed from A. ER. A. the notas or abbreviatures
of the words annus erat Augusti, occasioned by the Spa¬
niards beginning their computation from the time their
country came under the dominion of Augustus, or that of
receiving the Roman calendar. This opinion, however
ingenious, is rejected by Scaliger, not only on account that
in the ancient abbreviatures A never stood for annus, un¬
less when preceded by V for vixit; but that it seems im¬
probable they should put ER for erat, and the letter A,
without any discrimination, both for annus and Augustus.
Vossius nevertheless favours the conjecture, and judges
it at least as probable as either that of Isidore, who de¬
rives ara from ces, the tribute-money wherewith Augustus
taxed the world ; or that of Scaliger himself, who deduces
it likewise from as, though in a different manner. JEs, he
observes, was used among the ancients for an article or item
in an account; and hence it came also to stand for a sum
or number itself. From the plural cera, came by corrup¬
tion ara, arum, in the singular; much as Ostia, Ostiam,
the name of a place, from Ostia, the mouths of the Tiber.
The difference between the terms ara and epoch is, that
the aeras are certain points fixed by some people or na¬
tion, and the epochs are points fixed by chronologists and
historians. The idea of an sera comprehends also a cer¬
tain succession of years proceeding from a fixed point of
time, and the epoch is that point itself. Thus, the Chris¬
tian aera began at the epoch of the birth of Jesus Christ.
iERARIUM, the treasury or place where the public
money was deposited amongst the Romans.
JErarium Ilithya, or Jiinonis Lucina, was where the
moneys were deposited which parents paid for the birth
of each child.
JErarium Privatum was the emperor’s privy purse, or
the place where the money arising from his private patri¬
mony was deposited.
JErarium Sanctius contained the moneys arising from
the twentieth part of all legacies: this was kept for the
extreme necessities of the state.
JErarium Vicesimarum, the place where the money
arising from the taxes levied from foreign countries was
laid up ; so called because it most commonly consisted of
a twentieth part of the produce.
There are several other treasuries mentioned in history,
as the JErarium Juventutis, Veneris, &c. The temple of
Saturn was the public treasury of Rome, either because
Saturn first taught the Italians to coin money, or, which is
most likely, because this temple was the strongest and most
secure, and therefore the fittest place for that purpose.
JErarium differs from Fiscus, as the first contained the
public money, the second that of the prince. The two are
however, sometimes indiscriminately used for each other!
fERARIUS, a name given by the Romans to a degrad!
ed citizen, who had been struck off the list of his century.
Such persons were so called, because they were liable to
all the taxes (ara), without enjoying any of its privileges.
The ararii were incapable of making a will, of inheriting
of voting in assemblies, or of enjoying any post of honour
or profit; in effect, they were only subject to the burdens,
without the benefits of society; yet they retained their
freedom, and were not reduced to the condition of slaves.
To be made an ararius was a punishment inflicted for
some offence, and reputed one degree more severe than
to be expelled a tribe, tribu moveri.
AHrarius was likewise an officer instituted by Alexan¬
der Severus, for the distribution of the money given in
largesses to the soldiery or people.
fERARius was also used for a person employed in coin¬
ing or working brass. These are sometimes called ararii
fusores. At other times, ararius is distinguished from
fusor ; the former answering to what we now call copper¬
smiths, the latter to founders.
fERARius was also applied to a soldier who receives pay.
AERIA, or Eeria, in Ancient Geography, the ancient
name of Egypt. The scholiast on Apollonjus Rhodius
says, tha.t not only Thessaly, but Egypt, was called Higm
by the Greeks, which Eusebius also confirms ; and hence
Apollinarius, in his translation of the 114th Psalm, uses it
for Egypt. Hesychius applies this name to Ethiopia.
AERIANS, in Church History, a branch of Arians, who
to the doctrines of that sect added some peculiar dogmas
of their own; as, that there is no difference between
bishops and priests,—a doctrine maintained by many mo¬
dern divines, particularly of the presbyterian and reform¬
ed churches. The sect received its denomination from
Aerius, an Arminian priest of the fourth century.
Flos iERIS, among alchemists, small scales procured
from copper melted by a strong heat: it is sometimes
used for aerugo or verdigris.
AERNEN, a market town near the river Rhone, in the
canton of Walles or Valais, in Switzerland, in the district
of Sambs. It has a state-house and other good buildings,
and is the seat of justice for the district.
AEROGRAPH Y, from cojg, air, and ygoupu, I describe;
a description of the air or atmosphere, its limits, dimen¬
sions, properties, &c.
AEROLITE, a term recently, but perhaps improperly,
applied to those singular substances commonly called
Meteoric Stones.
AEROMANCY, a species of divination performed by
means of air, wind, &c.
AEROME TRY, the science of measuring the air. It
comprehends not only the doctrine of the air itself, con¬
sidered as a fluid body, but also its pressure, elasticity,
rarefaction, and condensation. But the term is at present
not much in use, this branch of natural philosophy being
more frequently called Pneumatics.
AERONAU1ICA, from ajjff, and munxog, derived from
vccvg, ship ; the art of sailing in a vessel or machine through
the atmosphere, sustained as a ship in the sea. See
Aeronautics.
AEROPH^LACEA, a term used by naturalists for
caverns or reservoirs of air, supposed to exist in the bowels
of the earth.
l\ -rim
/,-Aj
177
AERONAUTICS.
Uro u. TN every stage of society men have eagerly sought, by the
tk I- combination of superior skill and ingenuity, to attain
- those distinct advantages which nature has conferred on
radl the different tribes of animals, by endowing them with a
;SC°U peculiar structure and a peculiar force of organs. The
rna a’ rudest savage learns from his very infancy to imitate the
swimming of a fish, and plays on the surface of the water
with an agility and a perseverance which seem to decline
with the advancement of civilisation. But an art so con¬
fined in its exercise, and requiring such a degree of bo¬
dily exertion, could not be considered of much avail. It
was soon, perceived, that the fatigue of impulsion through
the water could be greatly diminished, by the support and
floating of some light substance. The trunk of a tree
would bear its rude proprietor along the stream; or, hol¬
lowed out into a canoe, and furnished with paddles, it
might enable him even to traverse a river. From this
simple fabric, the step was not great to the construction
of a boat or barge, impelled by the force of oars. But it
was a mighty stride to fix masts and apply sails to the
vessel, and thus substitute the power of wind for that of
human labour. The adventurous sailor, instead of plying
on the narrow seas, or creeping timidly along the shore,
could now launch with confidence into the wide ocean.
Navigation, in its most cultivated form, may be fairly re¬
garded as the consummation of art, and the sublimest
triumph of human genius, industry, courage, and perse¬
verance.
Having by his skill achieved the conquest of the waters
that encompass the habitable globe, it was natural for
'man to desire likewise the mastery of the air in which we
breathe. In all ages, accordingly, has ingenuity been
tortured in vain efforts at flying. The story of Icarus tes¬
tifies how fatal such daring attempts had generally proved
to their projectors. Trials made with automatons, though
less liable to risk and danger, were yet equally fallacious.
Archytas, a most eminent Greek geometer and astrono¬
mer, who perished by shipwreck on the coast of Calabria,
was believed by his admiring contemporaries to have con¬
structed an artificial dove, which, by the action of a sys¬
tem of internal springs, wafted itself through the air. If
such a piece of mechanism was ever made, we may be
sure that its flight was really produced, as in the scenes
of the opera, by means of invisible strings or wires.
- So thoroughly were the ancients convinced of the im¬
possibility of men being able to fly, that they ascribed the
absolute rule of the sky to divinities of the first order.
The supreme Jupiter alone reposed on his empyreal throne,
far above the heights of Olympus; and to him was it
given, from the region of the clouds, to point the winged
lightning, and to hurl the flaming thunderbolt. On spe¬
cial missions he dispatched Mercury, as his messenger,
through the wide range of atmosphere. The oriental
nations, from whom we have borrowed the greater part
of our vulgar mythology, likewise committed such journeys
to certain genii or ministering spirits. But the glowing
visions of the East received a darker tinge from the cha¬
racter and climate of our Gothic ancestors. The arch¬
fiend himself was, at no very distant period, firmly be¬
lieved to have the especial control of the air, and to career
in the whirlwind and impel the howling tempest. Those
wretched creatures whom the unfeeling credulity of our
ancestors, particularly during the prevalence of religious
fanaticism, stigmatized and murdered under the denomi-
vol. n
k„“
iniujj,
nation of witches, were supposed to work all their enchant- Aeronau-
ments, to change their shapes at will, and to transport i tics-
themselves through the air with the swiftness of thought,
by a power immediately derived from their infernal masr
ter. At a period somewhat earlier, every person in pos¬
session of superior talents and acquirements was believed
to deal in magic, and to perform his feats of skill chiefly
through the secret aid granted him by the prince of
darkness. In spite of the incurable perverseness of his
conduct, it must be confessed that the devil has always
had the credit of retaining some little inclination to assist
the efforts of genius.
During the darkness of the middle ages, every one at and to ma-
all distinguished by his knowledge in physics was gene-gicians.
rally reputed to have attained the power of flying in the
air. Our famous countryman Friar Bacon, among other
dreams engendered in his fervid brain, has not scrupled
to claim the invention of that envied and transcendent
art. To these pretensions the credulity and indulgent
admiration of some authors have lent more credit than
they really deserved. Any person who will take the
trouble to examine the passages of Bacon’s obscure though
ponderous works, must soon be convinced, that the pro¬
positions advanced by him are very seldom founded on
reality, but ought rather to be considered as the sportive
illusions of a lively and teeming fancy. Albertus Magnus,
who lived about the same period, and was esteemed in
Germany as a perfect prodigy, pretended also to the art of
flying. More than a century afterwards, John Muller of
Kbnigsberg, and thence styled Regiomontanus, one of the
chief restorers of genuine mathematical learning in Europe,
was reported by some writers of note to have, like Archy¬
tas, fashioned an artificial dove, which displayed its wings,
and flew before the emperor Charles V. at his public
entrance into Niiremburg. But, unfortunately for the
veracity of the story, Regiomontanus died in early life,
full sixty years before that visit took place.
While the belief in necromancy prevailed, such tales Dark fea_
assumed colours of the most lurid hue. Fiery dragons, tures of
created by infernal machination, were imagined to rush that art.
impetuous through the sky, vomiting flames, and widely
scattering the seeds of pestilence. Grave writers, in
those benighted ages, even ventured to describe the me¬
thod of imitating the composition of such terrific monsters.
A mass of large hollow reeds were to be disposed and
bound together, then sheathed completely in skin, and
smeared over with pitch and other inflammable matters :
this light and bulky engine, partially set on fire, and
launched in the thickest darkness into the air, might be
sufficient, when borne along by the force of the wind, to
strike the ignorant populace with affright and horror.
But such spectacles would come to lose their terrors by
repeated failure and the insensible progress of knowledge.
So late as the year 1750, a small Catholic town in Swabia
was almost entirely burnt to ashes by an unsuccessful expe¬
riment of that sort, instigated, and probably directed, no
doubt for the edification of their flock, by the lowest or¬
der of priests. It was attempted to represent the effigy
of Martin Luther, whom the monks firmly believe to be
the very imp of Satan, under the form of a winged serpent,
furnished with all the requisite appendages of a forked tail
and hideous claws. Unluckily for the skdl of the machinist,
this phantom directly fell against the chimney of a house,
to which it set fire and the flames spreading furiously in
AERONAUTICS.
Later at¬
tempts at
flying.
Impossibi¬
lity of fly.
ing first
demon¬
strated by
Borelli.
every direction, the people had soon cause to lament bit¬
terly their intemperate zeal.
The scheme of flying in the air, which men of the first
genius had once entertained, appears to have gradually
descended to a lower class of projectors. Those who
afterwards occupied themselves with such hopeless at¬
tempts, had commonly a smattering of mechanics, with
some little share of ingenuity, but wrought up by exces¬
sive conceit.
In the beginning of the sixteenth century, an Italian
adventurer visited Scotland, during the reign of James
IV.; and being a man of some address, and at the same
time a pretender to alchemy, he contrived to insinuate
himself into the favour of that gay and needy prince, by
holding out hopes of augmenting his scanty treasury by
the acquisition of the philosopher’s stone. He was collat¬
ed by royal favour to the abbacy of Tungland in Galloway;
but not having succeeded in creating artificial riches, he
resolved, in the height of his enthusiasm, at once to gra¬
tify and astonish the courtiers, by the display of a feat
still more extraordinary. Having constructed a set of
ample wings, composed of various plumage, he undertook,
from the walls of Stirling Castle, to fly through the air to
France. This experiment he had actually the folly or
hardihood to try; but he soon came to the ground, and
broke his thigh-bone by the violence of the fail. For his
unlucky failure, however, the abbot had the dexterity to
draw a very plausible excuse from the wretched sophistry,
termed science in that age. “ My wings,” said the artful
Italian, “ were composed of various feathers ; among them
were the feathers of dunghill fowls, and they, by a certain
sympathy, were attracted to the dunghill; whereas, had
my wings been composed of the feathers of eagles alone,
the same sympathy would have attracted them to the re¬
gion of the air.” This anecdote has furnished to Dunbar,
the Scotish poet, the subject of one of his rude Satires.
A century afterwards, Fleyder, rector of the grammar-
school at Tubingen, entertained, in 1617, the worshipful
magistrates of that city with a lecture on the art of flying,
which he published at the lapse of eleven years, yet pru¬
dently contented himself with barely explaining his theory.
A poor monk, however, ambitious to reduce this theory
into practice, having provided himself with spacious wings,
took his flight from the top of a high tower; but encoun¬
tering a cross wind, his machinery misgave, and falling
precipitously to the ground, he broke both his legs, and
perished miserably. An accident of a similar kind is re¬
lated to have happened not long since near Vienna.
The impossibility of rising, or even remaining suspend-
■ ed in the air, by the action of any machinery impelled by
human force, was first demonstrated by Borelli, a most
eminent Italian mathematician and philosopher, who lived
in the fertile age of discovery, and was thoroughly ac¬
quainted with the true principles of mechanics and pneu¬
matics. In his celebrated and excellent work De Motu
Animalium, published in 1670, he showed, by accurate
calculation, the prodigious force which the pectoral mus¬
cles of birds must exert and maintain. The same princi¬
ples, applied to the structure of the human frame, proved
how very disproportionate was the strength of the cor¬
responding muscles in man. It is not, therefore, the mere
difficulty of contriving and combining machinery which
should perform the peculiar motions of wings, that has
rendered all attempts of the kind futile, but the utter
want of adequate force in the human body to give such
impulsion to those extended vanes as would be necessary
for supporting so great a weight in the thin medium of
the atmosphere.
Having found by experience the impossibility, from
any application of inherent strength, of ascending into
the atmosphere, it* was natural for men of ardent minds, "
who still pursued that dazzling project, to look for someMA
extraneous aid among the varied powers of the elements.
The notions entertained by the ancients respecting theC 4
composition of the world might have suggested importantg' il
hints for realizing the scheme of aerial navigation. The11 °ft
four elements—earth, water, air, and fire or ether, ar
ranged according to their several qualities and tendencies,
were supposed to constitute this universal frame. Earth
being heavy and inert, occupies the centre of the system
and above it flowed the waters; air, from its lightness
rose upwards, and invested the globe with an atmosphere;
while the diffuse ethereal substance soared, by its extreme
buoyancy, to the celestial regions, and filled with splen¬
dour their pure expanse. Every portion of these distinct
elements, if transported from its place, was conceived as
having a natural and constant appetency to return to its
original situation. Earth and water sink downwards by
their gravity, while air and fire, endued with an opposite
principle, as invariably rise to the higher spaces. A por¬
tion of fire, joined to water or to air, communicates, in a
corresponding degree, its levity, or disposition to ascend.
Thus, warm air always rises ; water, subdued by excessive
heat, flies upwards in the form of vapour; and the volatile
parts of inflamed bodies are borne to the sky in smoke.
The first person that seems to have formed a just idea Id
of the principle on which a balloon could be constructed®
was Albert of Saxony, a monk of the respectable order of^ ft
St Augustin, who lived in the fourteenth century, andjj’1
w . —    J7 and!
wrote a learned commentary on the physical works of^
Aristotle. Since fire is more attenuated than air, and of
floats above the region of our atmosphere, this ingenious
person conceived that a portion of such ethereal substance,
inclosed in a light hollow globe, would raise it to a cer¬
tain height, and keep it suspended in the sky. But the
same philosopher rightly subjoined, that a greater mixture
of air introduced into the balloon, by rendering this heavier
than before, would cause it to descend proportionally, in
the same way precisely as water admitted through the
seams of a ship makes the vessel to sink in the ocean.
It is evident that nothing was wanted for completing
Montgolfier’s discovery, but to carry those fine views into
execution.
Ihe ideas of Albert of Saxony were long afterwardsam
zealously embraced by Francis Mendoza, a Portuguese6^
Jesuit, who died at Lyons in the course of a tour through ^
France in 1626, at the age of 46. He maintained that
the combustible nature of fire was no real obstacle to its
application in balloons, since its extreme levity, and the
exclusion of the air, would hinder it from supporting in¬
flammation. Casper Schott, a Jesuit likewise, pursued am
more soberly the same speculation in Germany. He^
stated that no air of these lower regions is ever light
enough to produce an ascent, and that the lucid ethereal
matter which swims above our atmosphere is alone fit¬
ted for aerial navigation. Were any superhuman power,
therefore, to bring down a store of that buoyant substance,
to be inclosed in a hollow ball of wood or thin lead, the
vessel, being furnished with a rudder and sails, might
then, he conceived, boldly navigate the sky.
Similar notions have been renewed at different times.Bh
They were likewise often blended with the alchemical"’’;
tenets so generally received in the course of the fifteenth,
sixteenth, and part of the seventeenth centuries. Con- 10
ceiving with the ancients that the dew which falls during
the night is of celestial origin, and shed by the stars,
speculative men still imagined this pure humidity to be
drawn up again to the heavens by the sun’s rays in the
AERONAUTICS.
179
,auu
Lgr.au- heat of the day. Many persons, imbued with the wretch-
’ ti. ed learning of that age, had the simplicity to believe that
^'^an egg-shell filled with the morning dew, and placed at
the foot of a ladder leaning against the roof of a house,
would, as the day advanced, spontaneously rise along the
tv hi iicalbars, and mount to the chimney-tops. This whimsical
rojt s offancy is confidently related as an observed fact by Father
'athi Lauretus Laurus. “ Take,” says he, very gravely, “ a
goose egg, and, having filled it with dew gathered fresh in
the morning, expose it to the sun during the hottest part
of the day, and it will ascend, and rest suspended for a
few moments.” To perform the experiment on a greater
scale, however, he proposed to employ the largest swan’s
egg, or a bag artificially prepared from the thinnest and
lightest skin, into which, instead of dew, he would intro¬
duce the three alchemical elements, nitre, sulphur, and
mercury; and he imagined that these active bodies, ex¬
panded and sublimed by the mere heat of the sun, must
spring powerfully upwards. In this way he thought the
dove of Archytas might be constructed. But the vision¬
ary priest had yet another scheme to advance for effect¬
ing the ascent of the automaton : he proposed to cram the
cavity of the dove with highly condensed air ; and was so
grossly ignorant of the principles of motion as to suppose
that this imprisoned fluid would impel the machine in
the same manner as wind does a sail. Should such a
force be found not sufficiently efficacious, he finally recom¬
mended the application of fire; not, however, on account
of its buoyant property, but because of the propulsive
power which it exerts. To prevent the fire from con¬
suming the wooden machine, he recommends lining the
inside with cloth of asbestos or other incombustible mate¬
rials ; and to feed and support steadily this fire, he sug¬
gested a compound of butter, salts, and orpiment, lodged
in metallic tubes, which he imagined would at the same
time heighten the whole effect, by emitting a variety of
musical tones like an organ.
Influenced by the same views, other authors, and par¬
ticularly the famous Cardan, have proposed, for aerial
(1 Jury.ascents, to apply fire acting as in a rocket. Still later,
but in the same country, Honoratus Fabry, penitentiary
of the pope, and teacher in the gymnasium at Rome,
who died about the end of the seventeenth century, de¬
scribed a huge apparatus, consisting of very long tin pipes,
in which air was compressed by the vehement action of
fire below. In a boat suspended from the machine, a man
was to sit and direct the whole, by the opening or shut¬
ting of valves.
The projects and vagaries of learned men about the
misty period of the restoration of science were finely
de r‘d'culed by Cyrano de Bergerac, a very witty and elo-
iv -quent French writer, in a philosophical romance, entitled
The Comical History of the States and Kingdoms in the
Sun and Moon. This eccentric genius, born at Perigord
in 1620, was noted for his impetuous temper and boiling
courage. He spent his youth in dissipation and feats of
arms; but afterwards, in riper life, he quitted the military
profession, and betook himself to the study of poetry and
philosophy, which he prosecuted with great ardour and
success till he died, at the early age of 36. In his ro¬
mance, from which perhaps Swift borrowed the idea of
Gulliver’s voyage to Laputa, Bergerac introduced a good
deal of the Cartesian philosophy, then just coming into
vogue; but lashed severely the pedantry and ignorance of
various pretenders to science. To equip himself for per¬
forming the journey to the moon, the French traveller
fastens round his body a multitude of very thin flasks fill¬
ed with the morning’s dew. The heat of the sun, by its
attractive power exerted on the dew, raised him up to
ilo.
fa.
ncf )f
the middle region of the atmosphere ; where some of his Aerqnau-
flasks happening unluckily to break, the adventurer sunk tlcs-
again to the ground, and alighted in Canada. There
constructed a new machine, acting by a train of wheels,
with which he mounted to some height; but falling down,
he had the misfortune to break his leg. He crept aside,
in search of ox-marrow to compose a salve, with which he
instantly healed his bruises; and returning again, he found
his engine in the possession of some soldiers, who had
fixed to it a number of sky-rockets. Replacing himself
now in the car, he applied fire to the rockets, and darted
upwards with inconceivable swiftness: the earth retired
gradually from view, while the orb of the moon appeared
proportionally to expand, till, approaching the sphere of
her activity, he was borne softly along, and descended
on the lunar surface into a most delicious and luxuriant
grove. Here, of course, he met with angelic personages,
endowed with every perfection of body and mind, and far
exalted above the mean vices and the rancorous passions
which poison and inflame the inhabitants of this blood¬
stained globe. In the conversations which Bergerac held
with those supernal beings, he was informed that a na¬
tive of our planet, utterly disgusted at the crimes which
pollute its “ sin-worn mould,” had once on a time provided
himself with a pair of very large and thin metallic vessels,
which he filled with smoke, and sealed in the light; and
having attached himself below them, the buoyant power
of the confined smoke carried him to the highest region
of our atmosphere, where the attraction of the moon at
length prevailing, drew him to her surface, while the great
extent of the machinery, by opposing resistance, served to
break the force of his fall. The moment, however, those
slender capacious vessels were liberated from his weight,
they rose again by the action of the smoke, till they
reached a medium of the same density, and finally took
their station in the bright fields of ether, where they form
the constellation now called the Balance.
In further discourse with his sublime-instructor, our
romantic voyager was shown how to obtain the power of
ascension from the loadstone. He was directed to take
two magnets, each about a foot square, to roast them in
the fire, to separate their impurities by solution, and thus
concentrate their attractive virtue in a mere calx, which
could be formed into a ball. Aided by such counsels, he
now resolved to visit the sun. Mith much labour and
perseverance he constructed a chest of very thin steel,
six feet high and three feet wide; an icosahedron of
crystal, the highest of all the regular solids, being fitted
into the top, and the bottom having a small valve which
opened outwards. Into this chest he shut himself, while
the sun’s rays, concentrated and multiplied by reflection
from the numerous facets of the crystal, heated the air
intensely, and drove a great part of it out below; and he
ascended rapidly towards the glorious luminary, breathing
ecstaticly in divine light, which gleamed with the richest
tints of enamelled gold and purple. But it would be fo¬
reign to our purpose to follow the rest of the narrative,
which, though disguised and mingled with fantastic vi¬
sions, evidently contains the true principles of aeronautics.
The most noted and elaborate scheme for navigating Lana’s
the atmosphere was proposed by the Jesuit Francis Lana, scheme for
in a book written in the Italian language, and printed at^vigating
Brescia in 1670, with the aspiring title of Prodromo dell
Arte Maestra. His project was to procure four copper
balls of very large dimensions, yet so extremely thin, that,
after the air had been extracted, they should become, in
a considerable degree, specifically lighter than the sur¬
rounding medium. He entered into some calculations to
prove that the buoyant power thus obtained would be
180
AERONAUTICS.
Aeronau- fully adequate to produce the desired effect. Yet he
ties. seems to have had only a slender knowledge of geometry,
and but little acquaintance with the progress of physical
science. For instance, he founds his computations en¬
tirely on the pneumatical discoveries of Galileo and Tori-
celli, without making any reference to those important
facts which the invention of the air-pump by Otto Gue¬
ricke had successively detected in the course of near 30
years. He assumes that air is 640 times lighter than
water; that a cubic foot of water weighs 80 pounds, and
. consequently that the weight of the same bulk of air is
His calcu- an ounce and a half. If we rectify the estimate of Lana,
lation.s. an(j reduce it to English measures, each of his copper balls
had about 25 feet in diameter, with the thickness of only
the 225th part of an inch, the metal weighing 365 pounds
avoirdupois, while the weight of the air which it contain¬
ed must amount to 670 pounds, leaving, after a vacuum
had been formed, an excess of 305 pounds, for the power
of ascension. Those four balls would therefore rise to¬
gether into the atmosphere with a combined force of 1220
pounds, which was thought sufficient by the projector to
transport a boat completely furnished with masts, sails,
oars, and rudders, and carrying several passengers. To
extract the air from their cavities, the method proposed
was, to procure a Toricellian vacuum, by connecting each
globe, fitted with a stop-cock, to a tube of at least thirty-
five feet long; the whole being filled with pure water, and
raised gently into a vertical position, the mass of liquid,
exceeding the pressure of the atmosphere, would flow
out, and subside to some point below the cock, which
could then be shut.
His at- Lana enumerates the different objections which might
tempts to be urged against his scheme, and endeavours to answer
answer ob- them. He thinks that the spherical and perfectly arched
jections. form 0f sjieq 0p COpper WOuld, notwithstanding its ex¬
treme thinness, enable it, after the exhaustion was effect¬
ed, to sustain the enormous pressure of the external air,
which, acting equally on every point of the surface, would
rather tend to consolidate than to crush or tear the
metal. As the atmosphere becomes always lighter in the
upper regions, the machinery could only rise to a certain
limit; and if this were found too high for easy breathing,
the ascent could be regulated by opening occasionally the
cocks to admit some air into the cavity of the balls, and
thus increase their specific gravity. There seemed to him
no very great difficulty in directing and impelling the
aerial bark, by means of rudders, oars, and sails; but the
objection was more serious on account of the hazards of
tremendous shipwreck, from the violence of winds and
tempests. Yet what most alarmed the insinuating Jesuit,
and which he earnestly prays God to avert, was the dan¬
ger that would result, from the successful practice of the
art of aeronautics, to the existence of civil government,
and of all human institutions. No walls or fortifications
could then protect cities, which might be completely sub¬
dued or destroyed, without having the power to make
any sort of resistance, by a mere handful of daring as¬
sailants, who should rain down fire and conflagration from
the region of the clouds.
So sanguine was Lana, as to conceive that the very
moderate sum of a hundred ducats would be sufficient to
defray the expense of all this huge and delicate apparatus.
But his poverty, fortunately, no doubt, for his credit as a
man of learning, prevented him from proceeding further
than mere speculation; and none of the foreign princes,
who about that period often squandered, like gamesters,
much of their wealth in the dark and chimerical search
after the philosopher’s stone, seemed any way disposed to
engage in the magnificent scheme of aerial navigation.
The project of Lana appears to have in some degree /
excited the attention of the learned, though it was at the
same time very generally condemned. Hooke, Borelli k /\;
Leibnitz, and Sturmius, examined it, and severely expos¬
ed its defects. Indeed, any person at all acquainted with
actual experiment must see that it was absolutely im¬
practicable. Passing over other circumstances, the at¬
tenuated shell of copper, from its size and excessive thin¬
ness, could not have strength enough to support even its
own weight, far less the slightest pressure of the atmo¬
sphere. The plate, however, that Lana has given of his
whole combined apparatus appears very striking ;andafter
Montgolfier’s discovery, it could not fail to attract a greater
share of notice than it was otherwise entitled to claim.
So late as the year 1755, and not very long before thefjUj
final invention of balloons, a very fanciful scheme, yet onQ
the grandest scale, for navigating the atmosphere, was pub¬
lished with most circumstantial detail, in a small pamphlet,
by Joseph Galien, a Dominican friar, and professor of phi¬
losophy and theology in the papal university of Avignon.
This visionary proposed to collect the fine diffuse air of
the higher regions, where hail is formed, above the sum¬
mit of the loftiest mountains, and to inclose it in a bag
of a cubical shape, and of the most enormous dimensions,
extending more than a mile every way, and composed of
the thickest and strongest sail-cloth. With such a vast
machine, far outrivalling in boldness and magnitude the
ark of Noah, it would be possible, he thought, to transport
a whole army, and all their ammunitions of war. But we
need not stop one moment to consider a project so per¬
fectly chimerical, which involves, besides, the erroneous
supposition that the air of the upper regions is, indepen¬
dently of its diminished compression, essentially thinner
and more elastic than the air below.
It cannot fail to strike the reader, that the persons who
have occupied themselves the most with attempts at
aerial navigation, were all of them Catholic priests
whether this pursuit is to be explained from their habits
of seclusion and their ignorance of the affairs of real life,
or from their familiar acquaintance with the relations of
miracles and other legendary tales, which might lead them
to see nothing very extraordinary in the art of flying
through the air. The various schemes of that kind, pro¬
duced at different times, contain a few just principles,
generally mixed up, however, with a large portion of ab¬
surdity. But very wide is the distance from such specu¬
lations to the real exhibition of the experiment itself.
Some writers have stated that Lord Bacon first pub-(
lished the true principles of aeronautics. This round as-id
sertion we cannot help noticing, because it has really no I
foundation, except in the propensity, fostered by indolence,0
which would gladly refer all theMiscoveries ever made to1'
a few great names. They mistake, indeed, the character
of Bacon, who seek to represent him as an inventor. His
claim to immortality rests chiefly on the profound and
comprehensive views which he took of the bearings of
the different parts of human knowledge; for it would be
difficult to point out a single fact or observation with
which he enriched the store of physical science. On the
contrary, being very deficient in mathematical learning,
he disregarded or rejected some of the noblest discoveries
made in his own time.
We can find only two passages in Lord Bacon’s works
which can be considered as referring to aeronautics, and
they both occur in that collection of loose facts and in¬
conclusive reasonings which he has entitled Natural His¬
tory. The first is styled Experiment Solitary, touching
l1 lying in the Air, and runs thus : “ Certainly many birds
of good wing (as kites and the like) would bear up a good
AE R ONAUTI C S.
181
... „011 weieht as they fly; and spreading feathers thin and close,
. . 1 Ji.U wt-* 11 1 Root* IITA Ci CTl'AQf'
Trj the
and in great breadth, will likewise bear up a great
'weight, being even laid, without tilting up on the sides.
The further extension of this experiment might be thought
upon.” This hint is not in fairness obnoxious to stric¬
ture,'since the ingenious Bishop Wilkins, twenty years
afterwards, still believed that men could acquire the
art of flying. Nor waS there any reason to despair,
till Borelli at length demonstrated its absolute impos-
sibility. The second passage is more diffuse, but less
intelligible : it is styled Experiment Solitary, touching the
Flying of unequal Bodies in the Air. “ Let there be a
body of unequal weight (as of wool and lead, or bone and
lead); if you throw it from you with the light end forward,
it will turn, and the weightier end will recover to be for¬
wards, unless the body be over long. The cause is, for
that the more dense body hath a more violent pressure of
the parts from the first impulsion; which is the cause
(though heretofore not found out, as hath been often said)
of all violent motions: and when the hinder part moveth
swifter (for that it less endureth pressure of parts) than
the forward part can make way for it, it must needs
be that the body turn over; for (turned) it can more
easily draw forward the lighter part.” The fact here
alluded to is the resistance that bodies experience in
moving through the air, which depending on the quan¬
tity of surface merely, must exert a proportionally great¬
er effect on rare substances. The passage itself, however,
after making every allowance for the period in which it
was written, must be deemed confused, obscure, and un-
philosophical.
That a body must remain suspended in a fluid denser
on bal- than itself, was first established by Archimedes, whose pro-
ioojj positions in hydrostatics were further extended in modern
times by Stevinus and other early mathematicians. But
the principles on which a balloon could be made to rise in
the atmosphere were scarcely understood till very long
afterwards, when chemistry, near the latter part of the
last century, had succeeded in ascertaining the properties
of the different kinds of aeriform substances. The Greeks
of the lower empire knew that air is greatly dilated by
warmth; and Sanctorio, the ingenious medical professor
at Padua, by applying this expansion, about the year
1590, to the construction of the thermometer, had hap¬
pily placed it in a strong light. His countryman Borelli
remarked, almost a century afterwards, that a heated iron
or a burning taper brought near one of the scales of a
well-poised balance, by exciting a vertical current, will
cause it to mount up with force,—a fact which affords the
only true explication of the numerous experiments of
Buffon with the weighing of red-hot balls, whose regular
and constant results appeared to that eloquent philosopher
to exhibit a conclusive demonstration of the actual pon¬
derability of heat. Yet warm air, alone and unassisted,
has still no very great power of ascension. The buoyancy
communicated to that fluid by the distensible vapour of
water and other more volatile liquids is in some cases
considerable, especially when combined at the same time
with heat. But those aeriform substances which are
more elastic than common air display the most steady
and powerful tendency to rise in the atmosphere. Such,
in a remarkable degree, is the hydrogen gas, owing pro¬
bably to the expansive force communicated by the very
L tness large share of heat which is embodied with it. The late
1 rlll'°' most ingenious and accurate Mr Cavendish, in 1766,
as found, by a nice observation, this fluid to be at least seven
bv
ndish.times lighter than atmospheric air. It therefore occurred
to Dr Black of Edinburgh, that a very thin bag filled
with hydrogen gas would rise to the cieling of a room.
He provided, accordingly, the allantois of a calf, with the Aeronau-
view of showing, at a public lecture, such a curious ex- tics-
periment before his numerous auditors; but, owing
some unforeseen accident or imperfection, it chanced to
fail, and that celebrated professor, whose infirm state of
health and cold or indolent temper more than once al¬
lowed the finest discoveries, when almost within reach, to
escape his penetration, did not attempt to repeat the exhi¬
bition, or seek to pursue the project any farther. Several
years afterwards, a similar idea occurred to Mr Cavallo,
who found, however, that bladders, though carefully
scraped, are too heavy, and that China paper is permeable
to the gas. It is rather singular that he did not think of
gold-beater’s skin, which had for like purposes been re¬
commended two centuries before by the grammarian
Joseph Scaliger and some other writers. But in 1782
this ingenious person succeeded with the pretty experi¬
ment of elevating soap-bubbles, by inflating them with
hydrogen gas.
To construct an aeronautic machine, it is only required, Power of
therefore, to provide a thin bag, of sufficient capacity, andascension-
to fill it with hydrogen gas, or with air which is kept in a
rarefied state. The form and strength of the material are
not so essential as in Lana’s project, since it here suffers
an equal pressure on both its outer and its inner side.
Nor is it an absolute condition that the substance of the
bag should be quite impervious to the gas or confined air;
though such a defect, by allowing the partial escape of the
buoyant fluid, must inevitably diminish the vigour and
abridge the duration of the power of the balloon’s ascent.
This power is evidently the excess of the weight of an
equal bulk of atmospheric air above the aggregate weight
of the included gas, joined to that of the bag, and of all
its appendages: in other words, the final power of ascent
is the difference between the weight of the included gas
and of that of an equal volume of external air, further
diminished by the weight of the whole apparatus. But
supposing the form of the balloon to remain the same, this
counteracting load, as it depends on the quantity of sur¬
face contained in the bag, must be proportioned to the
square the diameter; whereas the difference between
the internal and external volume of fluid, which consti¬
tutes the whole of the buoyant force, increases in a faster
ratio, being proportioned to the capacity of the bag, or the
cube of its diameter. It hence follows, that however small
the excess may be of the specific gravity of the external
air above that of the collected fluid, there must always
exist some corresponding dimension which would enable
a balloon to mount in the atmosphere.
The theory of aeronautics, considered in its detail, in¬
cludes three distinct things : first, the power of a bal¬
loon to rise through the air; second, the velocity of its
ascent; and, third, the stability of its suspension at any
given height in the atmosphere. These points we shall
examine separately.
I. The buoyant force of balloons. Since balloons in Buoyancy
their shape generally approach to the spherical form, it01 t)dUoons
will be more convenient to ground our calculations on that
figure. A globe of common air at the level of the sea,
and of the mean density and temperature, is found to
weigh about the 25th part of a pound avoirdupois. Con¬
sequently, if a perfect vacuum could be procured, a bal¬
loon of ten feet diameter must rise with a force of 40
pounds; one of twenty feet diameter, with that of 320
pounds; and a balloon of thirty feet in diameter would
mount in the atmosphere with the power of 1080 pounds:
 thus augmenting always in the ratio of the cube of the
diameters. But air expands by heat about the 450th part from heat;
182
Aeronau
tics.
AERONAUTICS.
from hu¬
midity ;
from heat
joined to
moisture.
Smoke bal
loons.
l“ ifs bulk for each degree on Fahrenheit’s scale. Sup¬
posing, therefore, that the air included within the bag
were heated 50 degrees, which is as much perhaps as
could be well supported, it would follow *thaf one ninth
part of this fluid would be driven out by the warmth, and
consequently, that the tendency of the balloon to rise up¬
wards would be equal only to the ninth part of the entire
power of ascension. Were it possible to maintain a heat
of 75 degrees within the balloon, the buoyant force would
yet not exceed the sixth part of the absolute ascensional
power.
1 he dilatation which the presence of humidity commu¬
nicates to air will, during fine weather in this climate,
amount generally to one eighteenth part, though it may
sometimes reach to more than the double of this quantity.
But, in the tropical regions, such dilatation will commonly
exceed the twentieth part of the volume of fluid. Hence
moist air thrown into a bag, likewise wetted, and suf¬
ficiently large, would cause it to rise in the atmosphere.
To succeed, however, in this way, the balloon construct¬
ed of coarse linen would require enormous dimensions;
not less than three hundred feet in diameter.
But it is the union of heat and moisture that gives to
air the greatest expansion. The white smoke with which
the balloons are filled on Montgolfier’s plan, was found, by
computation, to be at least one-third specifically lighter
than the external air. This purer sort of smoke is scarcely
any thing but air itself charged with vapour, being pro¬
duced by the burning of chopped straw or vine twigs in
a brasier, under the orifice of the bag. It would have re¬
quired no fewer than 150 degrees of heat alone to cause
the same extent of rarefaction.
We have therefore sufficient data for calculating the
buoyant force of the common fire, or rather smoke balloons.
This force, being estimated about ISJ- pounds avoirdupois
when the diameter of the bag is ten feet, would amount
to 1562J pounds if the diameter were fifty feet, and to
12,500 pounds if it were a hundred feet. The weight of
the linen case may be reckoned at two-fifths of a pound
for a sphere of one foot in diameter. Consequently, a
balloon of ten feet diameter would, without its appen¬
dages, weigh 40 pounds ; one of fifty feet diameter, 1000
pounds ; and one of a hundred feet diameter, 4000 pounds.
Such a balloon of ten feet diameter would need 274
pounds to make it rise, but one of fifty feet diameter
would ascend with a force of 562t pounds, and one of a
hundred feet diameter would exert an ascending power
of not less than 8500 pounds. There is besides to be de¬
ducted the weight of the cordage, the car, the ballast, and
the passengers. It would require, on these estimates, a
diameter of 33| feet, to procure merely an equilibrium
between the weight of the canvass and the buoyant force
of the rarefied air.
The hydrogen gas obtained from the action of dilute
sulphuric acid upon iron filings is only six times lighter
than atmospheric air ; but the gas evolved during the so¬
lution of zinc in that acid is not less than twelve times
lighter than the standard fluid. The ordinary way of ex¬
amining the specific gravity of the different gases requires
a very delicate operation of weighing with the most ex¬
quisite balance ; a serious difficulty, which long retarded
our knowledge of their comparative densities. " In one of
the notes to his Treatise on Heat, Professor Leslie has
pointed out a very simple method, founded on the princi¬
ples of pneumatics, for discovering the relative specific
gravities of the aeriform fluids. This consists in observ¬
ing the time that a given portion of the gas, under a de¬
terminate pressure, takes to escape through a very small
aperture. The density of the gaseous fluid must be in-
c
versely as the square of the interval elapsed. Thus, the k
hydrogen gas procured from zinc, but without any depu- p,
ration, was found, under a pressure of the same column of'"' "V
water, to flow thrice as fast as atmospheric air. This ex¬
periment is very striking, and requires no more apparatus
than a cylindrical glass jar, open below, and surmounted
by a cap terminating in a fine tubular orifice.
On a very moderate supposition, therefore, and after B t,
making every allowance for imperfect operation, we maywi f
consider the hydrogen gas which fills a balloon as six^r'
times lighter than the like bulk of common air. Conse¬
quently, such a balloon must exert five-sixths of the whole
buoyant force corresponding to its capacity, or will have
a tendency to mount in the atmosphere, that is equal to
the thirtieth part of a pound avoirdupois for a globe of
one foot diameter. A spherical balloon of fifteen feet
diameter would hence have a buoyancy of 112^ pounds;
one of thirty feet, 900 pounds ; and one of sixty feet no
less than 7200 pounds. But thin silk, varnished with
caoutchouc or elastic gum, to render it impervious to air,
is found to weigh only the twentieth part of a pound
when formed into a globe of one foot diameter. A silk
balloon of fifteen feet diameter would hence weigh 11}
pounds ; one of thirty feet, 45 pounds ; and one of sixty
feet diameter, 180 pounds. Wherefore, the power of as¬
cension exerted by such balloons would, in pounds avoir¬
dupois, be respectively 101^, 855, and 7020. It follows,
also, that a balloon of a foot and a half in diameter would
barely float in the atmosphere, the weight of its varnished
silk being then exactly balanced by the buoyant effort of
the body of hydrogen gas.
But the calculations now given would in strictness re¬
quire a small modification. The weight of the bag and
of all the appendages must evidently compress the in¬
cluded gas, and thereby render it in some degree denser.
To compute this minute effect, we have only to consider,
that the pressure of a column of atmosphere, at the mean
temperature, and near the level of the sea, is 1632 pounds,
on a circle of a foot diameter. Thus, in the large balloon
of sixty feet diameter, if we suppose the whole load to
have been 6000 pounds, the compression of the bag would
only amount to five-thirds of a pound for each circle of a
foot diameter in the horizontal section, or correspond to
the 979th part of the entire pressure of the atmosphere.
But the weight of the confined gas being 1200 pounds,
its buoyancy must have suffered a diminution of somewhat
more than a pound, or -A- from the encumbrance opposed
to it. This correction is therefore a mere theoretical
nicety, which may be totally disregarded in practice.
II. The next circumstance to be considered in aero-Cek ^
nautics is, the celerity with which balloons make their ascent. ^1 !
It is obvious that the efficient power of ascension, or the0 2
excess of the whole buoyant force above the absolute
weight of the apparatus, would, by acting constantly, pro¬
duce always an accelerated motion. But this acceleration
is very soon checked, and a uniform progress maintained,
by the increasing resistance which the huge mass must
experience in its passage through the air. The velocity
which a balloon would gain from unobstructed acceleration
must, from the theory of dynamics, be to that which a
falling body acquires in the same time, as the efficient
buoyancy is to the aggregate weight of the apparatus and
of the contained fluid. Thus, if the balloon were to rise
with a force equal to the eighth part of its compound
weight, the celerity resulting from a constant acceleration
w^oulcl be expressed by multiplying four feet into the
number of seconds elapsed since it was launched into the
air. Its accelerating advance, however, being opposed,
AERONAUTICS.
1S3
Ai>inau.
la.
Terminal
velttty*
ixriple.
rerial
brqla.
the balloon may to all appearance attain, though still af¬
fected with partial oscillations, the final velocity in per-
s haps little more than double the time required without
such obstruction. , . . t
This final velocity, or the velocity at which the ascent
becomes uniform, the resistance from the air being then
equal to the efficient buoyancy of the balloon, is easily cal¬
culated. The resistance a circle encounters in moving
through any fluid in the direction perpendicular to its
plane, is measured by the weight of a column of that fluid,
having the circle for its base, and an altitude equal to the
height from which a heavy body in falling would acquire
the given celerity. But near the level of the sea, and at
the mean temperature, a column of atmospheric air 17 feet
high, and incumbent on a circle of one foot diameter,
weighs a pound avoirdupois ; which is therefore the resist¬
ance that such a circle would suffer if carried forwards
with the celerity of 33 feet each second. According to
the same theory, however, which we owe to the sagacity
of Newton, the resistance of a sphere is just the half of
that of its generating circle, and consequently a velocity
of 46§ feet in a second through the air would, in ordinary
cases, create a resistance of one pound to a ball of one foot
diameter. In other circumstances, the quantity of resist¬
ance must be proportional to the squares of the velocities
and of the diameters. Whence, if the buoyant force
were always the same, the velocity of the ascent of a bal¬
loon would be inversely as its diameter.
Suppose a balloon to have thirty feet in diameter, and
an ascensional power of 100 pounds. This effort is evi¬
dently the same as the ninth part of a pound for a globe
of a foot diameter, and would therefore be countervailed
by the resistance corresponding to a velocity of 46S divid¬
ed by 3, the square root of 9, or 15| feet each second.
The balloon would therefore reach the altitude of a mile in
about six minutes. Its accelerating force being only the
sixteenth part of its total weight, it might have acquired
the uniform motion of ascent in twenty seconds, or before
it had attained the height of 200 feet. This example dif¬
fers very little from reality, and the method of computa¬
tion will easily be transferred to other cases.
But the resistance of the air assigned by theory is, from
the circumstances omitted in the simplification of the pro¬
blem, generally somewhat less than the results of obser¬
vation. In low velocities this difference amounts seldom
to the fifth part of the whole effect; but in the high
velocities it increases considerably, exceeding even the
third part in certain extreme cases. From the numerous
and accurate experiments of Dr Charles Hutton, we may,
however, deduce a simple formula for expressing the ter¬
minal velocity of balloons, or the celerity of their uniform
ascent. Let a denote the diameter of the balloon in Eng¬
lish feet, and/ its ascensional power, measured in pounds
avoirdupois; then—-v// will very nearly represent in feet
a "
the velocity each second of its regular ascent, or that ve¬
locity which would cause a resistance from the air pre¬
cisely equal to the buoyant force. Or, to express the rule
in words: As the diameter of the balloon in feet is to the
constant number 40, so is the square root of the ascen¬
sional power in pounds to the terminal or uniform velocity
ot ascent each second. To illustrate the application of
the formula by an easy example ; suppose the balloon to
have a diameter of 60 feet, with an acceleratin'g power of
144 pounds; the corresponding rate of uniform ascent
40 2
becomes —^144, or ^ X 12, that is, 8 feet each second,
or about a mile in eleven minutes.
III. The last point which demands attention in aero- Aeronau-
nautics is, the stability of the suspension of a balloon at any tics‘
given height in the atmosphere. The circumstances which
might regulate or determine that stability, requiring some 0faSURpen_
little exercise of thought, have been commonly neglected, sion.
and very seldom examined with due care. It will be pro¬
per to consider,/^, the fire or smoke balloons, and, second¬
ly, the balloons filled with hydrogen gas.
1. The warm humified air of the balloon constructed Smoke
after Montgolfier’s plan suffering less external compres-^1100113,
sion as it approaches the upper strata of the atmosphere,
must at the same time necessarily expand, and partly
escape by the orifice above the brasier. The weight of the
included fluid, and that of the part expelled, constituting
its buoyant force, will hence be reduced, in proportion to
the diminished density of the medium in which it floats.
The balloon will continue to ascend till, its enfeebled buoy¬
ancy is no longer able to support the incumbent load. At
the height of a mile above the surface, the power of ascen¬
sion would be diminished rather more than one fifth part;
but at an altitude of three miles and a half it would be
reduced to one-half. At the ordinary temperature, this
buoyancy would suffer a reduction of the hundredth part
for each ascent of 278 feet. Resuming the data formerly
stated, and supposing the balloon to have a spherical shape,
its actual power of ascension, estimated in pounds avoir-
d5
dupois, will be denoted by —> where a signifies the dia¬
meter in feet, or the cube of the diameter divided by the
constant number 80. If m : n express the ratio of atmo¬
spheric density at the surface and at any given height,
then will — denote the diminished buoyant force at
m 80
that altitude.
We shall select, for example, a balloon of 100 feet dia¬
meter, which is one of the largest dimensions ever ac¬
tually constructed. Near the level of the sea, and at the
ordinary temperature, its power of ascension would be
12,500 pounds ; but at the height of8000 feet, or somewhat
more than a mile and a half, when the density is diminished
one-fourth, or — z=-, that power becomes reduced to
m 4
^><12,500, or 9375 pounds, being a deficiency of 3125
4
pounds. On the supposition that the balloon was at first so
much loaded as to rest just suspended at the ground, a bal¬
last of 3125.pounds must have been thrown out, to make it
rise to the altitude of a mile and a half. Hence also the
rejection of 125 pounds would have been sufficient to give
the balloon an elevation of 278 feet. For the same reason,
10 pounds of ballast heaved out would raise it 22 feet at
the surface, 29 feet at the height of a mile and a half, and
44 feet at that of three miles and a half.
2. The stability of the suspension of balloons filled with Balloons
hydrogen gas must depend on principles which are very charged
different and less marked. In these aeronautic machinesAvith hy.
after the gas has been once introduced, it is closely shutd™gen
up; and therefore, having constantly the same absolute
weight, it should likewise, in all situations, exert the same
buoyant force. Flence, if the balloon were capable of inde¬
finite extension, it would still continue its ascent through
unbounded space. The determinate capacity of the bag
alone can oppose limits to its rise in the atmosphere. The
upper strata being rarer than those below, will have less
power to keep any given bulk suspended ; and the actual
buoyancy being diminished from that cause, the balloon
will find its station at a corresponding height in the dif¬
fuse medium. But this diminution of the buoyant force,
184
AERONAUTICS.
should not
he com¬
pletely
filled;
unstable
when flac¬
cid.
IMode of
adjusting
balloons.
and the consequent increase in the density of the hydro-
gen gas, must necessarily be confined within very mode¬
rate limits, otherwise the thin silk case would be torn to
shreds by the expansive efforts of the imprisoned fluid. A
safety-valve is accordingly placed at the top of the balloon,
calculated to give vent to the gas before the distension has
become such as to endanger the bursting of the case.
A balloon should not at first be filled completely with
hydrogen gas, but allowed to begin its ascent in a flac¬
cid state. As it mounts into the rarer atmosphere, it
will gradually swell, till it has attained its full distension,
when the safety valve may come to act. But such dissipa¬
tion of the gas ought, by a previous arrangement, to be as
much as possible avoided. If the balloon were intended to
rise to the height of four miles, it would not be requisite
to fill more than half its capacity with the elastic fluid. To
push the charge any farther in this case, would only oc¬
casion a superfluous waste of materials. By throwing out
part of his ballast, the aeronaut may raise himself higher;
and by opening the valve to permit some of the imprison¬
ed gas to escape, he may descend again: but both those
expedients are attended by a wasteful expenditure of
power.
It is evident that a balloon can have no stability of equi¬
poise, so long as it remains in a loose or flaccid state.
The slightest action would then be sufficient to make it
rise or fall, since, under such circumstances, any change
of its station could not in the smallest degree affect the
measure of its buoyant force. The general elevation to
which the balloon will ascend must be determined by its
quantity of ballast, conjoined with the regulation of the
safety-valve; but the strain of the silk case itself would
be sufficient to confine the ascent within certain limits, and
to procure the stability of the floating mass. Thus, if a
balloon fully distended had yet a slight disposition to rise,
the imprisoned gas, suffering more and more compression
as it gradually ascends, would become proportionally den¬
ser, and therefore lose a corresponding part of its previous
buoyancy. An equilibrium would hence soon obtain,
which must arrest the floating machine at a determinate
height in the atmosphere.
Suppose a balloon to be capable, without any danger of
bursting, of sustaining an expansion equal to the hun¬
dredth part of the elasticity of the included fluid; the whole
buoyancy would, by such an alteration, be diminished one
five hundredth part,' or this floating machine would sub¬
side 55 feet near the surface, and sink proportionally more
in the upper regions. To produce the effect, it would
only be requisite to throw common air into the bag, with¬
out suffering any portion of the hydrogen gas to escape.
On this principle Meusnier, an ingenious French chemist,
very soon after the first discovery of balloons, proposed to
regulate with nicety their ascent and position of equili¬
brium in the atmosphere. The mode which he suggested
was, to place within the principal balloon a much smaller
one, to be filled occasionally with common air by help of
bellows, or emptied again by opening an exterior valve.
The aeronaut would thus have it in his power, without
expending the charge of hydrogen gas, either to sink
gently through a short space, or to rise again at will, by
inflating the inner balloon, or allowing it to collapse. The
adjustment of the height of a balloon could hence be man¬
aged with great precision.
The command possessed by the aeronaut of raising or
depressing his machine at pleasure, might afford him the
means of influencing the direction of its course. From
the various motions of the several ranges of clouds, we
may infer that different currents exist at the same time in
the atmosphere. The aeronaut has, therefore, in his as¬
cent, only to seek the current best suited to his purpose Ao,
and, taking his station in that stratum, to commit his ffioi! ^
sy vessel to the guidance of the stream. ^
Any other attempts to direct or control the flight of ^
balloon are altogether fallacious. Since it is carried alongapip
with the swiftness of the wind, no rudders or sails cans%
have any action whatever. The aeronaut might fancy1111
himself to float in a perfect calm, unless he chances to en¬
counter irregular currents. The application of oars may
turn a balloon, but can have no sensible effect in divertino-
or impelling its course. How vastly disproportionate is
the force of the human arm to the overwhelming pressure
of the wind against so huge a machine! To adapt ma¬
chinery under these circumstances would be preposterous
and to look for help from such a quarter is visionary in the
extreme. It must be admitted, however, that after a bal¬
loon has once gained its station of equilibrium, or passively
floats in the air, the vigorous action of broad vanes, down¬
wards or upwards, might serve to raise or depress the
machine through a small space. Thus, a vertical force,
exerted equal to nine pounds, would lift a balloon of thirty
feet in diameter 278 feet higher. The application of bal¬
last is hence infinitely preferable to any such bulky and
unmanageable apparatus.
At the period where we left our narrative, the principles
on which a balloon could be constructed were therefore
pretty generally known to men of science. But to reduce
these principles to complete effect, was still an enterprise
of the most dazzling kind. This experiment seemed un¬
fit for a cabinet or a laboratory, and it could succeed only
on a large scale, exposed to the gaze of the multitude.
W ithout the toil of investigation, or indeed any exercise
of thought, all the world might witness the result, and
admire the magnificent spectacle which it would present.
This triumph over matter was at length achieved by the^i,
skill and perseverance of Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, Md,
sons of the proprietor of an extensive and very celebrated fier i-
paper manufactory established at Annonay, on the banksual -
of a rivulet which flows into the Rhone, near forty miles c0!, e
below Lyons. These remarkable persons, though bred inba '
a remote provincial town, possessed in a high degree in¬
genuity and the spirit of observation. Without' having
the benefit of a liberal education, their active curiosity
had led them to acquire a more extensive and accurate
stock of knowledge than is usually found in the same |
condition of life. Stephen was more attached to mathe- !
matics, but Joseph directed his studies chiefly to chemistry ;
and natural philosophy. They were associated in business
with their father, who passed his quiet days, like a patri¬
arch, amidst a large family, and a numerous body of work¬
men, and reached the very advanced age of 93. Of the
younger brother, who survived the other, and lived to
make the very valuable yet much neglected discovery of
the hydraulic ram, we may venture to speak from personal
acquaintance. He was a man of great modesty and sim¬
plicity of character, yet firm and undaunted, of a calm and
sedate aspect, tall and athletic in his person, and of a
swarthy complexion, not unlike the celebrated Mr Watt,
whom he resembled in some other particulars of his for¬
tune. He was too speculative, perhaps, to succeed in the
details of business; for, after trying various schemes of im¬
provement, he quitted his paper manufactory and repaired
to the capital, where he obtained a situation of trust un¬
der the late imperial government, at the -chamber of mo¬
dels, as inspector of patents and internal improvements.
In 1809 he had a stroke of palsy, which induced him to
i esort to the waters of Bourbonne; but receiving no be¬
nefit from them, he gladly preferred those of Balaruc,
AERONAUTICS.
185
A-r. iu- near his old friends, where he died on the 26th of June in
* ti the following year, at the age of 60.
The two brothers, who were accustomed to form their
'hajsuc-p]ans in concert, had long contemplated the floating and
!X" ascent of clouds in the atmosphere. It seemed to them,
enn n S that a sort of factitious cloud, formed of very thin vapour,
inclosed in a light bag of immense size, would mount to
the higher regions. In pursuit of this idea, they selected
a fluid specifically lighter than atmospheric air ; and, ac¬
cordingly, introduced hydrogen gas into large bags of
paper and of thin silk, which rose up, as had been expect¬
ed, to the cieling, but fell down in a few seconds, owing
to the rapid escape of the gas through the cracks and
pores of the case. This great facility with which hydro¬
gen gas makes its way through any substance of a loose
and incompact texture, is partly due to its extreme flui¬
dity, but is chiefly occasioned by its strong and obstinate
attraction for common air. The mode of preventing, or at
least checking that escape, by the application of a proper
varnish, was yet unknown. The prospect of overcoming the
Idifliculty was so discouraging, that our experimenters had
recourse to another scheme, more analogous to their origi¬
nal ideas, and it rewarded their continued efforts with the
most complete success. In the month of November 1782,
Joseph Montgolfier, happening, in the course of his fre-
quent excursions, to be then at Avignon, procured a small
silk bag, of the form of a parallelopipedon, open below, like
ia lady’s hoop, and having a capacity of about forty-five
cubic feet; under its orifice he burnt some paper, and saw,
with inexpressible transport, the bag quickly swell, and
mount rapidly to the height of seventy-five feet, where it
* remained till by cooling it lost its buoyancy. Returning
to Annonay, he communicated the happy result to his
brother, and it was resolved by them to prosecute the ex¬
periment on a large scale. Having provided a large quan¬
tity of coarse linen, they formed it into the shape of a globe,
about thirty feet in diameter, which they lined with paper.
On lighting a fire within its cavity, to warm and expand the
air, they had the delightful satisfaction of seeing the bag
ascend with a force equivalent to 500 pounds.
It was very natural that the brothers should now de¬
sire an occasion for exhibiting this grand experiment in
their native town. They invited the members of the pro¬
vincial meeting of the states of the Vivarais, then assem¬
bled at Annonay, to witness the first public aerial ascent,
nrstjib. On the 5th June 1783, amidst a very large concourse of
spectators, the spherical bag or balloon, consisting of difi.
oon. " . rent pieces of linen, merely buttoned together, was sus¬
pended from cross poles ; two men kindled a fire under it,
and kept feeding the flames with small bundles of chopped
straw ; the loose bag gradually swelled, assuming a grace¬
ful form, and in the space of five minutes it was com-
| pletely distended, and made such an effort to escape, that
eight men were required to hold it down. On a signal
being given, the stays were slipped, and the balloon in¬
stantly rose with an accelerating motion, till it reached
some height, when its velocity continued uniform, and
carried it to an elevation of more than a mile. All was
admiration and transport. Amidst the shouts of unbound¬
ed acclamation, the progress of the artificial cloud retiring
rom sight arrested every eye. It was hurried along by
t ie wind; but, its buoyant force being soon spent, it re¬
gained suspended only ten minutes, and fell gently in a
vineyard, at the distance of about a mile and a half from the
P ace of its ascension. So memorable a feat lighted up
t le glow of national vanity, and the two Montgolfiers were
jailed and exalted by the spontaneous impulse of their
teilow-citizens.
Of this splendid experiment a very hasty and imperfect
account was transmitted to Paris, and quickly circulated Aeronau-
over Europe. In those halcyon days, during the transient tics,
calm of political turmoils, and the happy absence of all
military events, the prospect of navigating the atmosphere The V"'
excited a very general ferment, and engrossed the con- madebv it
versation of all ranks. Yet the tale appeared so extraordi- in^urope.
nary as to leave some doubts of its veracity. In many
places, and especially in this country, the more ignorant
class of men, and those who affected superior wisdom,
both agreed in considering the relation of Montgolfier s
discovery as nothing but an imposition practised on the
public credulity. To dispel the suspicions which infected
the subject, it was necessary to repeat the experiment in
every large capital.
When the intelligence of the first ascent of a balloon
reached St Petersburg, it found the venerable Euler in a
state of great debility, worn out with years and unremit¬
ting intellectual toil. Having lost, in the middle of his
career, the sight of an eye, he had been for several years
visited with total blindness. But in this afflicting situa¬
tion his mind was still entire, and found delightful exer¬
cise in his former habits of calculation. It was in training
a domestic to act as his amanuensis, that this great genius
now condescended to dictate, in the German language, to
his humble pupil, a work of the highest merit, The Ele¬
ments of Algebra. During his last illness, Euler made an
expiring effort, and applied his favourite analysis to de¬
termine the ascending motion of a balloon. He dictated
the preliminary steps of the problem to one of his grand¬
children : but the hand of death was already stretched
over the patriarch ;—no farther could he proceed with his
investigation ;—and composing himself for nobler scenes,
he calmly expected the moment of dissolution.
The virtuosi at Paris were eager to repeat the experi- imitated
ment of the ascension of a balloon. M. Faujas de St Fond, at Paris,
an active and zealous naturalist, set on foot a subscription
for defraying the expense, which was soon filled up. The
construction of the machine was intrusted to the skill of
two brothers of the name of Robert, under the superin¬
tendence of M. Charles, an ingenious lecturer in natural
philosophy. It had at first been proposed merely to copy
the process of Montgolfier, but Chaides preferred the ap¬
plication of hydrogen gas; a resolution which afterwards
occasioned much difficulty and delay. The balloon con¬
sisted of thin silk or tiffany, varnished with a solution of
elastic gum, disposed into a globular shape, of about thirteen
feet in diameter. The hydrogen gas was procured from
the action of dilute sulphuric acid upon iron-filings, and
was introduced through leaden pipes. But this gas, being
rapidly formed, without having been made to pass through
a body of cold water, entered the cavity of the balloon
excessively hot, and charged with acid fumes, which after¬
wards condensed against the inside of the bag, injuring its
texture, and loading it with superfluous humidity. Not
fewer than 500 pounds of sulphuric acid were used, and
twice this weight of iron-filings; yet several days were
spent in abortive attempts to fill the balloon completely.
At last it rose, and was kept suspended at the height of
100 feet above the ground. In this state it was convey¬
ed with acclamations to the Place des Victoires, where it
rested, and underwent some repair. About midnight it
was thence transported in silent procession, preceded by
torch-lights, and guarded by a detachment of horse and
foot soldiers, to the Champ de Mars, at the distance of
near two miles. The few passengers found at that still
hour on the streets gazed with astonishment at the float¬
ing mass; and the very coachmen, filled with a sort of awe,
respectfully saluted it as they passed.
Next day, being the 27th of August 1783, an immense
2 A
186
AERONAUTICS.
Aeronau- concourse of people covered the Champ de Mars, and in-
tlcs- numerable spectators had planted themselves along the
banks of the Seine and the amphitheatre of Passy. By
Charles 0t ^iree 0’e^0Ch every avenue was filled with carriages, and
ami Ro- t^ie beauty and fashion of Paris flocked towards the
bert. Ecole Militaire. The preparations being finished, a can¬
non was discharged as the signal of ascent. The balloon,
liberated from its stays, shot upwards with such rapidity
as in two minutes to reach, according to calculation, the
height of 3000 feet, wher* it seemed lost in a dark cloud.
It re-appeared at a greater elevation, but was soon obscured
again amidst other clouds; and after performing a flight
of about fifteen miles in the space of three quarters of
an hour, it sunk to the ground in a field near Ecouen,
where the peasants secured it, having noticed a rent in
the upper part of the bag, to which its fall might be im¬
puted. The success of the experiment was complete.
The incredulous were sadly mortified; but every minor
reflection was drowned in the tumult of excessive joy and
exultation. It began to rain immediately after the balloon
was launched, yet this unlucky circumstance had no effect
to abate the curiosity of the spectators. Regardless of the
torrents that fell, they were wholly absorbed in following
with eager gaze the progress of the machine through the
air. Even elegant ladies, dressed in their finest attire,
stood exposed, looking intently the whole time, and were
drenched to the skin. This small balloon weighed only
thirty pounds, and had at first a buoyant force of forty
pounds avoirdupois. If we employ the formula before
given, the terminal velocity would be — yMO — 19 f~
feet in a second, or 1168 feet each minute; which appears
to correspond very well with fact.
Joseph About this time Joseph Montgolfier visited Paris, and
Montgol- was invited by the Royal Academy of Sciences to repeat
tier eon- experiment of Annonay on a larger scale. He con-
e structed, with coarse linen and a paper lining, a balloon
loons at a Pear shape, and about 43 feet wide and 75 feet high.
Paris. The smoke of fifty pounds of dry straw, in small bundles,
joined to that of twelve pounds of wool, was found suf¬
ficient to fill it in the space of ten minutes. The bag duly
swelled, and made an effort to rise equivalent to the
weight of 500 pounds ; but being reserved for exhibition
the next day, it was totally destroyed, by its exposure
during the night to incessant and violent rain. It became
necessary, therefore, to prepare another balloon; and such
was the expedition of the artist, that in five days he go't
the whole completed. Early on the morning of the 19th
of September, it was placed upon an octagon scaffold, in
front of the palace of Versailles. It had a very showy
appearance, being painted with ornaments in oil colours.
By ten o’clock the road from Paris was crowded with car¬
riages of all descriptions. Every person of any note or
fashion hurried from the metropolis to view the experi¬
ment ; ladies of distinguished rank filled the windows;
and the spacious courts and walks, and even the tops of
the houses, were covered with impatient spectators. The
royal family and their attendants came forth, and examined
the details of the apparatus. About one o’clock the dis¬
charge of a mortar gave notice that the filling of the bal¬
loon was to commence. In eleven minutes another dis¬
charge announced that it was completely inflated; and on
the third discharge of the mortar, the cords were cut, and
the balloon instantly liberated. After balancing at first in
a moment of anxious expectation to the spectators, it rose
majestically, in an oblique direction, under the impulse of
the wind, till it reached the height of 1500 feet, where it
appeared for a while suspended; but in the space of eight
minutes it dropped to the ground, at the distance of two
miles from the point of its ascent. A sheep, a cock, and Aei
a duck, which had been put into the basket, the first ani- 1
mals ever carried up into the air, were found perfectly^
safe and unhurt by the journey, and the sheep even feed¬
ing at perfect ease. See Plate II. for a view of this bal¬
loon and the following ones.
This successful experiment encouraged Montgolfier to
prepare, on a more solid construction, another balloon, of a
spheroidal form, 45 feet wide and 75 feet high. While
it was filling with smoke, Pilatre de Rozier, a young na¬
turalist of great promise, and full of ardour and courage,
leaped into the car, and was borne up to the height of 300
feet, where he continued some minutes suspended, the
balloon being held down by long cords till it gently de¬
scended. The dangers of navigating the balloon being
thus brought to a more correct estimate, it was resolved
speedily to attempt the daring but sublime experiment.
The badness of the weather, however, at this late season
of the year, made the project be deferred several days.
At last, on the 21st of November, every thing was ready
for the ascent in the spacious gardens of the chateau of
Muette, belonging to the court of the Dauphin. The sky
had a lowering aspect, being loaded with heavy clouds,
driven about by irregular winds. But the adventurers
were not to be easily discouraged. After a first trial, Ma
which had nearly proved fatal to them, the balloon wasfirs
again filled; and Rozier, with the marquis d’Arlandes, av0.v
major of infantry, who had volunteered to accompany him,
took their seats in the car, having a store of ballast, and a
provision of straw to supply the fire. About two o’clock
the machine was launched, and it mounted with a steady
and majestic pace. Wonder, mingled with anxiety, was
depicted in every countenance ; but when, from their lofty
station in the sky, the navigators calmly waved their hats,
and saluted the spectators below, a general shout of accla¬
mation burst forth on all sides. As they rose much higher,
however, they were no longer discernible by the naked eye.
ni.
o
t’a
ill
 in the surging smoke
Uplifted spurn the ground; thence many a league,
As in a cloudy chair ascending, ride
Audacious.
This balloon soared to an elevation of more than 3000
feet, and traversed, by a circuitous and irregular course,
the whole extent of Paris, whose gay inhabitants were all
absorbed in admiration and amazement. A curious cir- J ;
cumstance occurred during the passage of the floating | I
mass : to the gazers planted on the towers of the metro¬
politan church of Notre Dame, it chanced to intercept the
body of the sun, and thus gave them, for a few seconds,
the spectacle of a total eclipse. It has been alleged, that
when the balloon had reached so high that the objects on
earth were no longer distinguishable, the marquis d’Ar¬
landes began to think that his curiosity and ambition
were sufficiently gratified. He was therefore anxious to
descend, and murmured against his companion, who still
kept feeding the fire. At last, on hearing some cracks
from the top of the balloon, and observing holes burning
in the sides, the major became outrageously alarmed at
his imminent danger, and applying wet sponges to stop the
progress of combustion, he compelled the savant to desist >
from his officious operations. As they now descended too
fast, however, M. d’Arlandes' was not less anxious and
diligent in throwing fresh straw upon the fire, in order to
gain such an elevation as would clear the different ob¬
stacles. The navigators dexterously avoided the lofty
buildings of Paris, by supplying fuel as occasion required;
and, after a journey of 20 or 25 minutes, they safely
alighted beyond the Boulevards, having described a track
of six miles.
Aeri au-
New il-
AERONAUTICS. 187
Such was the prosperous issue of the first aerial navi- of the bag, and heating up the contained gas to the tem- Aeronau-
tion ever achieved by mortals. It was a conquest of perature of 55 degrees by Fahrenheit’s scale.
ence which all the world could understand; and it After this prosperous descent, the globe, though be-^^^^
flattered extremely the vanity of that ingenious people, come rather flaccid and loose by its expenditure, yet still
ho hailed its splendid progress, and enjoyed the ho- retained a great buoyant force when relieved from the
mir of their triumph. The Montgolfiers had the an- weight of the travellers. The sun had just set, and the
mial nrize of six hundred livres adjudged to them by the night was beginning to close ; but M. Charles formed the Ascent of
\rademv of Sciences; the elder brother was invited to resolution of making alone another aerial excursion. His Charles
court decorated with the badge of St Michael, and courage was rewarded by the spectacle of one of the mosta one’
received a patent of nobility; and on Joseph a pension novel and enchanting appearances in nature. He shot
was bestowed, with the further sum of forty thousand upwards with such celerity as to reach the height of near
livres to enable him to prosecute his experiments with two miles in ten minutes. The sun rose again to him in
balloons full orb; and, from his lofty station in the heavens, he
The facility and success, however, of the smoke or fire contemplated the fading luminary, and watched its part-
balloons appeared to throw into the shade the attempts ing beams, till it once more sunk below the remote hori-
made by the application of hydrogen gas. M. Charles, zon. The vapours rising from the ground collected into
the promoter of this plan, was keenly reproached by clouds, and covered the earth from his sight. The moon
M. Faujas de St Fond, for departing from the method prac- began to shine, and her pale rays scattered gleams of
tised by the original inventor ; and he was, moreover, with various hues over the fantastic and changing forms of those
his associates the Roberts, held up to public derision in accumulated masses. This scene had all the impressive
the smaller theatres of Paris. To silence the cavils and solemnity of the true sublime. No wonder that the first
insinuations of his antagonists, he resolved, therefore, on mortal eye that ever contemplated such awful grandeur
making some new efforts. A subscription was opened to could not refrain from shedding tears of joy and admira-
defray the expense of a globe twenty-eight feet in dia- tion. The region in which M. Charles hovered was now
meter, and formed of tiffany, with elastic varnish. After excessively cold; and as he opened the valve occasionally
repeated accidents and delays, this balloon was planted, during his ascent, to prevent the violent distension of the
on the 1st of December 1783, at the entrance of the great balloon, the hydrogen gas, not having time to acquire the
alley of the Tuilleries ; and the diffuse fluid was this time temperature of the exterior air, rushed out like misty va-
introduced into it from a sort of gasometer. The dilute pour, with a whistling noise. But prudence forbade the
sulphuric acid and the iron-filings being put into wooden voyager to remain long at such an elevation, while dark-
casks, disposed round a large cistern, the gas was conveyed ness was gathering below. He therefore descended slow-
in long leaden pipes, and made to pass through the water ly to the earth, and, after the lapse of 35 minutes, alight-
under a glass bell plunged in it. The whole apparatus ed near the wood of Tour du Lay, having, in that short
cost about L.400 sterling, one-half of which was expend- interval, travelled about nine miles.
ed on the production of the gas alone. An immense con- 1 his balloon, with its passengers and ballast, weighed
course of spectators had collected from all parts. The at first 680 pounds ; but, notwithstanding the caie taken
discharge of a cannon at intervals announced the progress in filling it, the hydrogen gas must have been mixed W1th
in filling the balloon. To amuse the populace, and quiet a large proportion of common air, since it was_ only 5^
their impatience, 1VL Montgolfier was desired to let off a times lighter than this fluid. The barometer, which stood
small fire-balloon, as a mark of his precedence. At last, at 29’24) English inches at the surface of the ground,
the globe being sufficiently inflated, and a quantity of bal- subsided to 20-05 at the greatest elevation, to which
last, consisting of small sand bags, lodged in the car, M. Charles had reached. This gives by calculation an alti-
leaving only 22^ pounds for the measure of the buoyant tude of 9770 feet. The thermometer, which was at 41
force, MM. Charles and Robert placed themselves in the by Fahrenheit s scale at tne first ascent, fell to 21 at the
appended boat or car, and the machine was immediately highest flight; giving a difference of one degiee for every
disengaged from its stays. It mounted with a slow and FSBg feet of ascent. _
solemn motion. According to the formula given, the ter- The next voyage through the air was perioimed m the Ascent of
minal velocity of ascension must have been only about 400 largest balloon ever yet constructed. The elder Mont-Montgo-
feet each minute, or at the rate of somewhat less than five golfier had been persuaded to open a subscription at
miles in the hour. “ The car, ascending amidst profound Lyons for the sum of L.180 sterling, to construct an aeio-
silence and admiration,” to borrow the warm and exag- nautic machine capable of upholding a great weight, and
gerated language of the reporter, “ allowed, in its soft and of carrying a horse or other quadruped. It had an elon-
measured ascent, the bystanders to follow with their eyes gated shape, 109 feet wide and 134 feet high, and was
and their hearts two interesting men, who like demigods formed of two folds of linen, having three layers of paper
soared to the abode of the immortals, to receive the reward laid between them, and quilted over with ribands. It
of intellectual progress, and carry the imperishable name showed at first enormous buoyant power. A tiuss of
of Montgolfier. After the globe had reached the height straw, moistened with spirit of wine, was found, when set
of 2000 feet, it was no longer possible to distinguish the on fire, to yield humid smoke sufficient to inflate the bal-
aerial navigators; but the coloured pennants which they loon, and the burning of five pounds weight of alder fag-
waved in the air testified their safety and their tranquil gots kept it in full action. Though loaded with a ballast
feelings. All fears were now dissipated; enthusiasm sue- of eighteen tons, it yet lifted up six persons from the
ceeded to astonishment; and every demonstration was ground. Unfortunately, it was very much damaged one
given of joy and applause.” The balloon, describing a night, in consequence of being exposed to ram, frost, and
tortuous course, and rising or sinking according to the snow. However, on the 19th of January 1784, the balloon
fancy of its conductors, was, after a flight of an hour and was charged in seventeen minutes, by the combustion of
three quarters, made to alight on the meadow of Nesle, 550 pounds of alder. Joseph Montgolfier, accompamec
about twenty-five miles from Paris. For the space of an by the ardent Pilatre de Rozier, and four other persons of
hour, the buoyancy of the machine had been sensibly note, with the proper ballast, took their seats in a wic er
augmented by the sun’s rays striking against the surface gallery, and were launched into the atmosphere. Ihey
188
AERONAUTICS.
Aeronau- manoeuvred over the city of Lyons, and near the course
tics. 0f tile Rhine, for the space of forty minutes ; but a large
rent having been observed in the upper part of the bal¬
loon, they were compelled to descend abruptly, though
without any further accident.
The difficulties and dangers of aerial navigation being
at length surmounted, the ascents of balloons were now
multiplied in all quarters. It will therefore be sufficient
henceforth to notice very succinctly some of the more dis¬
tinguished attempts of that kind.
Andreani. The Chevalier Paul Andreani of Milan had a spherical
balloon, of 70 feet in diameter, formed after Montgolfier’s
plan, at his own charge, in which, accompanied by two
companions, he ascended from that capital on the 25th of
February 1784. The machine rose to the height of 1300
feet; but after having described, in twenty minutes, a
very circuitous track, it settled upon a large tree, from
which however the voyagers, by applying fresh fuel, ex¬
tricated themselves, and alighted on clear ground, without
receiving any hurt.
Blanchard. On the 2d of March Blanchard, who had been for
some years before occupied with the chimerical project
of flying in the air, and who fancied that the same prin¬
ciples and contrivances might be applied to direct the mo¬
tion of balloons, mounted alone, and with great intrepidity,
at Paris, in a silk balloon 40 feet in diameter, constructed
by subscription, and filled with hydrogen gas. He darted
rapidly to the height of above a mile, and after being
driven about by cross winds for an hour and three quarters,
he descended in the plain of Billancourt.
On the 28th of June in the same year, an ascent was
made at Lyons before the King of Sweden, who then tra¬
velled under the name of Count Haga, with a fire-balloon,
having somewhat of a pear shape, and 75 feet in height.
T-'leurant Two passengers, M. Fleurant and a young lady, Madame
andThible. Thible, the first female that ever adventured on such a
daring voyage, entered the car, and ascended with great
velocity. In four minutes the noise of the multitude was
no longer audible, and in two more the eye could not dis¬
tinguish them. It was inferred, from a trigonometrical cal¬
culation, that they had reached the altitude of 13,500 feet.
Their flag, with its staff of 14 pounds weight, being thrown
down, took seven minutes to fall to the ground. The
thermometer had dropt to 43° on Fahrenheit’s scale ; and
to the sensation of cold which they felt was joined that of
a ringing in the ears. Different currents were found to
occupy distinct strata of the atmosphere ; and in passing
from one stratum to another, the balloon was affected by
a sensible undulation. The travellers continued to feed
their fire with the loppings of vines, till this provision
being nearly spent, they safely alighted in a corn-field,
having traversed about six miles in three quarters of an
hour.
Rozierand About a fortnight afterwards, the same prince was gra-
Proust. tified by a more splendid ascent, commanded for his en¬
tertainment by the French monarch. A large fire-balloon,
carrying the naturalists Rozier and Proust, was launched
from the outer court of Versailles. It soared to the height
of 12,520 feet, and might appear to float in a vast con¬
gregation of extended and towering white clouds. The
thermometer stood at 21° of Fahrenheit, and the flakes of
snow fell copiously on the voyagers, while it only rained
below. ' Descending again from that chaotic abyss, they
were charmed with the lively aspect of a rich and populous
district. They alighted at the entrance of the forest of
Chantilly, about thirty-six miles from Versailles, after a
flight of an hour and five minutes.
We omit the relation of a prosperous ascent performed
at Rhodes on the 6th of August, by the Abbe Carnus 4
and his companion, with a fire-balloon, of a globular shape, 1,1,11
and 57 feet in diameter.—The longest aerial journey yetM
made was accomplished at Paris, on the 19th of Septem¬
ber. The duke de Chartres, afterwards Orleans, and the d
noted Egalite, employed Robert to construct for him a0
silk balloon, which should be filled with hydrogen gas. It
had 56 feet in height and 36 feet diameter, being compos¬
ed of a cylinder terminated by two hemispheres ; a con¬
struction which was rightly supposed to give much ad¬
ditional solidity to the machine. A small bag, on Meus-
nier’s plan, had been introduced within it, and the boat
besides, furnished with a helm and four oars. This
balloon, bearing the duke himself, the two artists, and an¬
other companion, and having 500 pounds of ballast, was
allowed to rise very slowly, with a buoyancy of only 27
pounds. At the height of 1400 feet, the voyagers perceiv¬
ed, not without uneasiness, thick dark clouds gathering
along the horizon, and threatening the approach of a thun¬
der-storm. They heard the distant claps, and experienced
something like the agitation of a whirlwind, although they
had not felt the slightest concussion in the air from the dis¬
charge of cannon. The thermometer suddenly dropped
from 77° Fahrenheit to 61° ; and the influence of this cold
caused the balloon to descend within 200 feet of the tops of
the trees near Beauvais. To extricate themselves, theynow
threw out more thanforty pounds of ballast, and rose to an
elevation of 6000 feet, where it was found that the confined
gas had so obstinately retained its heat, as to be no less
than 42° warmer than the external air. The duke became
alarmed, and betrayed such impatience to return again to
the earth, that he is said to have pierced the lower part of
the silk bag in holes with his sword. After narrowly
escaping the dangers from wind and thunder, the balloon
at last descended in safety near Bethune, having perform¬
ed a course of 135 miles in the space of five hours.
On the 25th of April in the same year, the celebrated Gt
chemist Guyton-Morveau, with the Abbe Bertrand, as-Mli
cended from Dijon in a balloon, nearly of a globular shape,
29 feet in diameter, composed of the finest varnish¬
ed tiffany, and filled with hydrogen gas. They did not
start till five o clock in the evening, the barometer being
at 29*3 inches, and the thermometer at 57° on Fahren¬
heit’s scale ; and, after surmounting some accidents, they
rose ,to an altitude of 10,465 feet, or very nearly two Eng¬
lish miles, where the barometer had sunk to 19-8 inches,
and the thermometer to 25°. They felt no inconvenience,
however, except from the pinching of their ears with cold.
They saw an ocean of clouds below them, and in this si¬
tuation they witnessed, as the day declined, the beautiful
phenomenon of a parhelion, or mock sun. The real lumi¬
nary was only ten degrees above the horizon, when, all at
once, another sun appeared to plant itself within six de¬
grees of the former. It consisted of numerous prismatic
rings, delicately tinted, on a ground of dazzling whiteness.
At half-past six o’clock, after a voyage of an hour and a
half, they safely alighted near Magny, about fifteen miles
distant from Dijon.
With the same balloon, M. Guyton-Morveau made ajiis
second ascent on the 12th of June, accompanied by theascf
I resident De \ irly. It was launched at seven o’clock in
the morning, the barometer being then at 29*5 inches, the
thermometer at 66°, and Saussure’s hygrometer at 81^°.
It swelled very fast, however, owing to the effect of the
sun s increasing heat; and the upper valve being at inter¬
vals opened, to give vent to excess of the gas, this escaped
with a noise like the rushing of water. As the voyagers
did not mount to any very great elevation, they enjoyed
an agreeable temperature, and could easily, by observing
AERONAUTICS.
189
Ah- au- the situation of the different villages scattered below them,
tj. trace out their tortuous route on the surface of the map.
By nine o’clock they had reached the height of 6030 feet,
the barometer now standing at 24*7 inches, the thermome¬
ter at 70°, and the hygrometer at 65£. Three quarters of
an hour afterwards they descended at the village of Ete-
vaux, only twelve miles from Dijon, having described at
least double this distance in the air. The heat had in¬
creased so much since the morning, that, notwithstanding
the loss of elastic fluid, the balloon seemed yet nearly in¬
flated on touching the ground.
Ren ka- An aerial voyage, most remarkable for its duration and
Ljevi'age its adventures, was performed on the 18th of June 1786,
jt'T u. from Paris, by M. Testu, with a balloon 29 feet in diameter,
constructed by himself, of glazed tiffany, furnished with
auxiliary wings, and filled, as usual, with hydrogen gas.
It had been much injured by wind and rain during the
night before its ascension; but having undergone a slight
repair, it was finally launched, with its conductor, at four
o’clock in the afternoon. The barometer then stood at
29-68 inches, and the thermometer as high as 84°, though
the day was cloudy and threatened rain. The balloon
had at first been filled only five-sixths, but it gradually
swelled as it became drier and warmer, and acquired its
utmost distension at the height of 2800 feet. But, to avoid
the waste of gas or the rupture of the silk, the navigator
endeavoured to descend by the re-action of his wings.
Though this force had little efficacy, yet at half-past five
o’clock he softly alighted on a corn-field in the plain of
Montmorency. Without leaving the car, he began to collect
a few stones for ballast; when he was surrounded by the pro¬
prietor of the field and a troop of peasants, who insisted on
being indemnified for the damage occasioned by his idle
and curious visitors. Anxious now to disengage himself, he
persuaded them that, his wings being broken, he was wholly
at their mercy. They seized the stay of the balloon, which
floated at some height, and dragged their prisoner through
the air in a sort of triumph towards the village. But
M. Testu, finding that the loss of his wings, his cloak, and
some other articles, had considerably lightened the ma¬
chine, suddenly cut the cord, and took an abrupt leave of
the clamorous and mortified peasants. He rose to the re¬
gion of the clouds, where he observed small frozen parti¬
cles floating in the atmosphere. He heard thunder roll¬
ing beneath his feet, and, as the coolness of the evening
advanced, the buoyant force diminished, and, at three
quarters after six o’clock, he approached the ground near
the abbey of lloyaumont. There he threw out some bal¬
last, and in the space of twelve minutes rose to a height
of 2400 feet, where the thermometer was only 66 degrees.
He now heard the blast of a horn, and descried huntsmen
below in full chace. Curious to witness the sport, he
pulled the valve, and descended, at eight o’clock, between
Etouen and Varville, when, rejecting his oars, he set him¬
self to gather some ballast. While he was thus occupied,
the hunters galloped up to him. He mounted a third time,
and passed through a dense body of clouds, in which thun¬
der followed lightning in quick succession.
With fresh alacrity am! force renew’d,
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire,
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all sides round
Environ’d wins his way.
Ihe thermometer fell to 2-10, but afterwards regained its
oimer point of 66°, when the balloon had reached the al¬
titude of 3000 feet. In this region the voyager sailed till
>a t-past nine o’clock, at which time he observed from his
watch-tower in the sky” the final setting of the sun.
ie was now quickly involved in darkness, and enveloped
in the thickest mass of thunder-clouds. The lightnings Aeronau-
flashed on all sides, and the loud claps were incessant. tics-
The thermometer, seen by the help of a phosphoric light
which he struck, pointed at 21°, and snow and sleet fell
copiously around him. In this most tremendous situation
the intrepid adventurer remained the space of three hours,
the time during which the storm lasted. The balloon was
affected by a sort of undulating motion upwards and down¬
wards, owing, he thought, to the electrical action of the
clouds. The lightning appeared excessively vivid, but the
thunder was sharp and loud, preceded by a sort of crack¬
ling noise. A calm at last succeeding, he had the plea¬
sure to see the stars, and embraced this opportunity to
take some necessary refreshment. At half-past two o’clock
the day broke in; but his ballast being nearly gone, and
the balloon again dry and much elevated, he resolved to
descend to the earth, and ascertain to what point he had
been carried. At a quarter before four o’clock, having
already seen the sun rise, he safely alighted near the vil¬
lage of Campremi, about 63 miles from Paris.
At this period, ascents with balloons had been multi-Balloons in
plied, not only through France, but all over Europe. They England,
were very seldom, however, directed to any other object
than amusement, and had soon degenerated into mere
exhibitions for gain. The first balloon seen in England
was constructed by an ingenious Italian, the Count Zam-Zambec-
beccari. It consisted of oiled silk, in a globular shape, cari.
about ten feet in diameter, and weighed only eleven
pounds. It was entirely gilt, which riot only gave it a
beautiful appearance, but rendered it less permeable to
the gas. On the 25th of November 1783 it was filled
about three-fourths, and launched at one o’clock from the
artillery ground, and in the presence of a vast concourse of
spectators. At half-past three in the afternoon it was taken
up at Petworth, in Sussex, about the distance of 48 miles.
It was not till the following year, on the 21st of September,
that a countryman of his, named Lunardi, first mounted I.unardf.
in a balloon at London. He afterwards repeated the ex¬
periment in different parts of England, and during the
following year in Scotland. This active person took an
expeditious but careless method of filling his balloon with
gas. He had two large casks, sunk into the ground for
their better security, in which he deposited 2000 pounds
of the borings of cannon, divided by layers of straw, to
present a larger surface. An equal weight of sulphuric
acid, or common oil of vitriol, diluted with six times as
much water, was poured upon the iron, and the hydrogen
gas now formed, without being cooled or washed, was im¬
mediately introduced into the balloon. To Lunardi suc¬
ceeded Blanchard, who possessed just as little science,Blanchard,
but had greater pretensions, and some share of dexterit}'
and skill. This adventurer is said to have performed not
fewer than thirty-six voyages through the air, and to have
acquired a large sum of money by those bold and attractive
exhibitions. His most remarkable journey was across the
British Channel, in company with Dr Jeffries, an Ameri¬
can physician. On the 7th of January 1785, in a clear
frosty day, the balloon was launched from the cliff of
Dover, and, after a perilous course of two hours and three
quarters, it alighted in safety on the edge of the forest of
Guiennes, not far beyond Calais. By the magistrates of
this town were the two aerial travellers treated with the
utmost kindness and hospitality; and their wondrous ar¬
rival was welcomed as a happy omen, alas! how fallaci¬
ous, of the lasting harmony to subsist between rival na¬
tions, now cemented by the conclusion of the famous
Commercial Treaty.
The original smoke balloon of Montgolfier appears to *
190
AERONAUTICS.
Aeronau- have gradually fallen into disrepute, and the more elegant
ties. an{j expensive, but far more powerful construction, which
employs varnished silk to contain hydrogen gas, came to be
generally preferred. With due precaution and management,
the sailing through the atmosphere is perhaps scarcely more
dangerous now than the navigating of the ocean. Of some
hundred ascents made at different times with balloons, not
above two or three cases are recorded to have had a fatal
termination. The first was rendered memorable by the
shocking death of the accomplished and interesting Rozier,
who perished a martyr to his ardent zeal for the promotion of
science. Being anxious to return the visit which Blanchard
and Jeffries had paid to the French coast, by crossing the
channel again and descending in England, he transported
his balloon, which was of a globular shape, and forty feet
in diameter, to Boulogne; and after various delays, oc¬
casioned chiefly by adverse winds, he mounted on the 15th
June 1785, with his companion M. Romain. From some
vague idea of being better able to regulate the ascent of
the balloon, he had most incautiously suspended below it a
small smoke one of ten feet diameter; a combination to
which may be imputed the disastrous issue. Scarcely a
quarter of an hour had elapsed, when the whole apparatus,
ltomaPnd at ^le °f above three thousand feet, was observed
onmm. to ke on £re. an(j jtg scat;tered fragments, with the unfor¬
tunate voyagers, were precipitated to the ground. They
fell near the sea-shore, about four miles from Boulogne,
and were instantly killed by the tremendous crash, their
bodies being found most dreadfully mangled. The next
fatal accident with balloons happened in Italy, several
years later, when a Venetian nobleman and his lady, after
having performed successfully various ascents, fell from a
vast height, and perished on the spot.
Shocking
late of
The Para. Balloonists have no doubt been often exposed, in their
clmte. aerial excursions, to the most imminent hazard of their
lives. The chief danger consists in the difficulty of pre¬
venting sometimes a rapid and premature descent. To
guard, in some degree, against the risks arising from the
occurrence of such accidents, the Parachute was after¬
wards introduced ; being intended to enable the voyager,
in case of alarm, to desert his balloon in mid-air, and drop,
without sustaining injury, to the ground. The French
language, though not very copious, has yet supplied this
convenient term, signifying a guard for falling, as it has
likewise furnished the words of analogous composition,
parapluie, paravent, and parasol, to denote an umbrella, a
door-screen, and a shade for the sun. The parachute very
much resembles the ordinary umbrella, but has a far
greater extent. The umbrella itself, requiring such
strength to bear it up against a moderate wind, might na¬
turally have suggested the application of the same prin¬
ciple to break the force of a fall. Nothing was required
but to present a surface having dimensions sufficient to
experience from the air a resistance equal to the weight
of descent, in moving through the fluid with a velocity not
exceeding that of the shock which a person can sustain
without any danger. Accordingly, in the East, where the
umbrella, or rather the parasol, has been from the remot¬
est ages in familiar use, this implement appears to be
occasionally employed by vaulters, for enabling them to
jump safely from great heights. Father Loubere, in his
curious account of Siam, relates that a person, famous in
that remote country for his dexterity, was accustomed to
divert exceedingly the king and the royal court by the
prodigious leaps which he took, having two umbrellas
with long slender handles fastened to his girdle. Fie
general!}7 alighted on the ground, but was sometimes car¬
ried by the wind against trees or houses, and not unfre-
i«i
quently into the river. Not many years since, the um- i
brella was, at least on one occasion, employed in Europe
with similar views, but directed to a very different purpose.^) A
In the early part of the campaign of 1793, the French
general Bournonville, having been sent by the National
Convention, with four more commissioners, to treat with
the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg, was, contrary to the faith or
courtesy heretofore preserved in the fiercest wars that
have raged among civilized nations, detained a prisoner
with his companions, and sent to the fortress of Olmutz,
where he suffered a rigorous confinement. In this cruel
situation he made a desperate attempt to regain his liber¬
ty. Flaving provided himself with an umbrella, he jump,
ed from a window at the height of forty feet; but being
a very large heavy man, this screen proved insufficient to
check his precipitate descent. He struck against the oppo¬
site wall, fell into the ditch, and broke his leg, and was
carried in this condition back again to his dungeon.
Blanchard was the first who constructed parachutes, Fi
and annexed them to balloons, for the object of effecting
his escape in case of accident. During the excursion
which he undertook from Lisle, about the end of August
1785, when this adventurous aeronaut traversed, without
halting, a distance not less than 300 miles, he let down a
dog from a vast height in the basket of a parachute, and
the poor animal, falling gently through the air, reached
the ground unhurt. Since that period the practice and
management of the parachute have been carried much
farther by other aerial travellers, and particularly by
M. Garnerin, who has dared repeatedly to descend from
the region of the clouds with that very slender machinev
This ingenious and spirited Frenchman visited London Girii'i
during the short peace of 1802, and made two fine ascentsdef;
with his balloon, in the second of which he threw himself
from an amazing elevation with a parachute. This con¬
sisted of thirty-two gores of white canvass formed into a
hemispherical case of twenty-three feet diameter, at the
top of which was a truck or round piece of wood ten inches
broad, and having a hole in its centre, admitting short
pieces of tape to fasten it to the several gores of the can¬
vass. About four feet and a half below the top, a wooden
hoop of eight feet in diameter was attached by a string
from each seam ; so that when the balloon rose, the pa¬
rachute hung like a curtain from this hoop. Below it
was suspended a cylindrical basket covered with canvass,
about four feet high, and two and a quarter wide. In this
basket the aeronaut, dressed in a close jacket and a pair
of trousers, placed himself, and rose majestically from an
inclosure near North Audley Street at six o’clock in the
evening of the 2d of September. After hovering seven or
eight minutes in the upper region of the atmosphere, he
meditated a descent in his parachute. Well might he be
supposed to linger there in dread suspense, and to
   look a while
Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith
He had to cross  
He views the breadth, and, without longer pause,
Downright into the world’s first region throws
His flight precipitant, and winds with ease,
Through the pure marble air, his oblique way.
He cut the cord by which his parachute was attached
to the net of the balloon; it instantly expanded, and for
some seconds it descended with an accelerating velocity
till it became tossed extremely, and took such wide oscil- j
lations that the basket or car was at times thrown almost
into a horizontal position. Borne along likewise by the
influence of the wind, the parachute passed over Mary-le-
bone and Somers-town, and almost grazed the houses of
St Pancras. At last it fortunately struck the ground in a
W-neighbouring field; but so violent was the shock as to
% thr„w poor Garnerm on his face, by winch accident he
rv'^rec
AERONAUTICS.
191
Hutton's valuable experiments for the basis of the calcula- Aeronau-
tion, the terminal velocity of descent may be expressed in
ived s«m£^lutf:;^rKi/;/eiTKu!r!er^ round numbers, by ^ in feet each second, and con-
lUtf.
to be much agitated, and trembled exceedingly at the
moment he was released from the car. One of the stays
of the parachute had chanced to give way; which un¬
toward circumstance deranged the apparatus, disturbed
its proper balance, and threatened the adventurer, during
the1 whole of his descent, with immediate destruction.
The feeling of such extreme peril was too much for human
nature to bear.
i f prom the principles before explained, we may easily
e j'a determine the descent of a parachute. When, with its
attached load, it is abandoned in the air, it must, from
the continued action of gravity, proceed at first with an
accelerated motion, till its increasing velocity comes to
oppose a resistance equal to the force of attraction, or to
the combined weight of the whole apparatus. After this
counterpoise has taken place, there existing no longer any
cause of acceleration, the parachute should descend uni¬
formly with its acquired rapidity. This perfect equili¬
brium will not, however, be attained at once. The accu¬
mulation of swiftness produced by the unceasing operation
of gravity, is not immediately restrained by the corre¬
sponding increased resistance of the atmosphere. The
motion of a parachute must hence, for some short time, be
subject to a sort of interior oscillation, alternately accele¬
rating and retarding. It first shoots beyond the terminal
velocity, and then, suffering greater resistance, it relaxes,
and contracts within the just limits. This unequal and
undulating progress which a parachute exhibits subse-.
quently to the commencement of its fall, is calculated to
excite disproportionate alarms of insecurity and danger,
efts The terminal velocity of a parachute, or the uniform
sequently the length of fall which would occasion the same
shock, is ©•/ or very nearly Thus, if the
parachute had thirty feet in diameter, and weighed, to-
26
getherwith its appended load, 225 pounds; then^- ^225
or.v
'rmu
-26 *
“ 30 X
15 = —
15
X 15 ri 13 feet, or the velocity with
which it would strike the ground; and
(rl^T 225 =
\120/
velocity to which its motion tends, would, according to
theory, be equal, if its surface were flat, to the velocity
that a heavy body must acquire in falling through the al¬
titude of a column of air incumbent on that surface, and
having, under the usual circumstances, the same weight
as the whole apparatus. But we have already seen, that
a cylinder of air, one foot in diameter and height, weighs
only, in ordinary cases, the seventeenth part of a pound
avoirdupois. Wherefore, if the square of the diameter of
a parachute be divided by 17, the quotient will give the
number of pounds equivalent to the weight of an atmo¬
spheric column of one foot; and the weight of the appara¬
tus being again divided by this quotient, the result will ex¬
press the entire altitude of an equiponderant column. Of
this altitude, the square root multiplied by 8 will denote
the final velocity, or that with which the parachute must
strike the ground. Suppose, for example, that the dia¬
meter of the parachute were 25 feet; then 25 x 25 =
625; and this, divided by 17, gives 36j-|. Consequently,
if the parachute with its load weighed only 36j-^ pounds,
the shock received at the surface of the earth would be
precisely the same as that which is felt in dropping from
an elevation of one foot. Had the weight of the appara¬
tus, therefore, been four times greater, or 14)7^ pounds,
the shock sustained would be the same as that from a fall
of four feet; which is near the limit, perhaps, of what a
person can bear without suffering injury from the violence
of concussion. The velocity of descent, on this latter
supposition, would be 8 ^/4, or sixteen feet each second.
But the actual resistance of the air is rather greater
than what theory would give; and it is besides augmented
by the concavity of the opposing surface, which occasions
an accumulation of the fluid. Let a denote the diameter
of a parachute, and f the total weight of the apparatus
abandoned to its gravity in the atmosphere ; if we take Dr
feet, being the height from which a person dropping freely
would receive the same shock.
Since the resistance which air opposes to the passage of Celerity in
a body is diminished by rarefaction, it is evident, that the the higher
parachute disengaged from a balloon, in the more elevated reSlons-
regions of the atmosphere, will at first acquire a greater
velocity than it can afterwards maintain as it approaches
the ground. Resuming the notation employed before,
the ratio of the density of the air at the surface, and
at any given height, being expressed by n : m‘ then
the velocity of counterpoise at that elevation would be
— I m .f,ov it would be equal to what is accumulated
a ktj n, J
1 0 -I- ^2 /T* #
in falling freely a height of —2- • — -J feet. It is the
final velocity, however, that must be chiefly considered in
parachutes, being what determines the shock sustained in
alighting. The violence of the rushing through the air
will seldom be attended with any serious inconvenience.
If we suppose the mean velocity with which a parachute
descends to be twelve feet each second, this will corre¬
spond to the rate of a mile in 7^ minutes ; not more than
that of a very gentle trot. We are not told from what
height Garnerin dropped; but if he took four minutes in
his descent, it was probably about half a mile.
The practice of aeronautics has not realized those ex¬
pectations of benefit to mankind which sanguine projectors
were at first disposed to entertain. It was soon found,
that a balloon, launched into the atmosphere, is abandoned,
without guidance or command, to the mercy of the winds.
To undertake to direct or impel the floating machine by
any exertion of human strength, was evidently a chimeri¬
cal attempt. All the influence which the aeronaut really
possesses consists in a very limited power of raising or
depressing it, according to circumstances. He cannot
hope to shape his course, unless by skilfully adapting his
elevation to catch the prevailing currents.
Almost the only purpose to which balloons have hither-Balloons
to been applied with success, had for its object that of used in
military reconnaissance. In the early part of the French war.
revolutionary war, when ingenuity and science were so
eagerly called into active service, a balloon, prepared under
the direction of the Aerostatic Institute in the Polytechnic
School, and intrusted to the command of two or three ex¬
perienced officers, was distributed to each of the republi¬
can armies. The decisive victory which General Jpurdan
gained, in June 1794, over the Austrian forces in the
plains of Fleurus, has been ascribed principally to the ac¬
curate information of the enemy’s movements before and
during the battle, communicated by telegraphical signals
from a balloon which was sent up to a moderate height in
the air. The aeronauts, at the head of whom was the cele-
192
AERONAUTICS.
Aeronau- brated Guyton-Morveau, mounted twice in the course of
^^^j^that day, and continued, about four hours each time,
hovering in the rear of the army at an altitude of 1300 feet.
In the second ascent, the enterprise being discovered by
the enemy, a battery was opened against them ; but they
soon gained an elevation above the reach of the cannon.
Another balloon, constructed by the same skilful artist,
M. Conte, was attached to the army sent on the memorable
expedition to Egypt. What service it rendered the dar¬
ing invader in the wide plains and sandy deserts of Africa,
we are not informed ; but, after the capitulation of Cairo,
it was brought back, with the remains of the army, to
France, and employed in the sequel, as we shall find, more
innocently in philosophical research. These balloons, being
calculated for duration, were of a more solid and perfect
Method of construction than usual. Originally they were filled with
them* hydrogen gas, obtained from the decomposition of water
on a large scale. For this purpose, six iron cylinders had
been fixed by masonry in a simple kind of furnace, each
of their ends projecting, and covered with an iron lid. Two
sets of metal tubes were also inserted, the one for convey¬
ing hot water, and the other for carrying off the gas which
was formed. The cylinders being charged with iron-turn¬
ings, and brought to a red heat, the humidity was instantly
converted into steam, and decomposed, the oxygen uniting
with the iron, while the hydrogen gas was discharged, and
made to deposit any carbonic gas that might adhere to it,
by passing through a reservoir filled with caustic lye be¬
fore it entered the balloon. By this method there was
procured, at a very moderate expense, and in the space of
about four hours, a quantity of hydrogen gas sufficient to
inflate a balloon of thirty feet in diameter.
The ascents with balloons should appear to furnish the
readiest means of ascertaining important facts in meteo¬
rology and atmospheric electricity, departments of science
which are still unfortunately in their infancy. Some
aeronauts have asserted that the magnetic needle ceased
to traverse at very great elevations in the atmosphere; a
statement which received some countenance from the ob¬
servations made by Saussure on the lofty summit of the
Col du Geant, where that celebrated naturalist thought
he had found the magnetic virtue to be diminished one
fifth part. It has been pretended by others, that the air
of the higher regions is not of the same composition as at
the surface of the earth, and is, independently altogether
of its rarity, less fitted for the purpose of respiration. To
determine these, and other relative points, was, therefore,
an object interesting to the progress of physical science.
Scientific A few years since, two young and ardent French philoso-
BioT11°/ P^ers, MM. Biot and Gay-Lussac, proposed to undertake
Gay Lus aerial ascent, in order to examine the magnetic force
sac.’ ' great elevations, and to explore the constitution of the
higher atmosphere and its electrical properties. For such
a philosophical enterprise they were eminently qualified,
having been educated together at the Polytechnic School,
and both of them deeply versed in mathematics; the for¬
mer indulging in a wide range of study, and the latter con¬
centrating his efforts more on chemistry and its applica¬
tion to the arts. Their offer to government was seconded
by Berthollet and Laplace, and the celebrated chemist
Chaptal, then minister of the interior, gave it his patronage
and warm support. The balloon which had once visited
Egypt was delivered to the custody of Biot and Gay-
Lussac ; and the same artist who constructed it was, at the
public expense, ordered to refit and prepare it under their
direction. Besides the usual provision of barometers, ther¬
mometers, hygrometers, and electrometers, they had two
compasses, and a dipping-needle, with another fine needle,
carefully magnetized, and suspended by a very delicate
silk thread, for ascertaining by its vibrations the force of
magnetic attraction. To examine the electricity of the1'
different strata of the atmosphere, they carried several
metallic wires, from sixty to three hundred feet in length
and a small electrophorus feebly charged. For galvanic
experiments they had procured a few discs of zinc and
copper, with some frogs; to which they added insects and
birds. It was also intended to bring down a portion of
air from the higher regions, to be subjected to a chemical
analysis; and for this purpose a flask, carefully exhaust¬
ed, and fitted with a stop-cock, had been prepared.
The balloon was placed in the garden of the Conserva¬
toire des Arts, or Repository of Models, formerly the Con¬
vent of St Martin ; and no pains were spared by Conte in
providing whatever might contribute to the greater safety
and convenience of the voyagers. Every thing being now
ready for their ascent, these adventurous philosophers, in
the presence of a few friends, embarked in the car at ten
o’clock in the morning of the 23d of August 1804. The
barometer was then at 30T3 inches, the thermometer at
61-7° on Fahrenheit’s scale, and Saussure’s hygrometer
pointed at 80-8o, or very near the limit of absolute hu-
midity. They rose with a slow and imposing motion.
Their feelings were at first absorbed in the novelty and
magnificence of the spectacle which opened before them;
and their ears were saluted with the buzz of distant gra-
tulations, sent up from the admiring spectators. In a few
minutes they entered the region of the clouds, which
seemed like a thin fog, and gave them a slight sensation
of humidity. The balloon had become quite inflated, and
they were obliged to let part of the gas escape, by opening
the upper valve; at the same time, they threw out some
ballast, to gain a greater elevation. They now shot
through the range of clouds, and reached an altitude of
about 6500 English feet. These clouds, viewed from
above, had the ordinary whitish appearance ; they all oc¬
cupied the same height, only their upper surface seemed
marked with gentle swells and undulations, exactly re¬
sembling the aspect of a wide plain covered with snow.
MM. Biot and Gay-Lussac now began their experimen-T
tal operations. The magnetic needle was attracted, asPe
usual, by iron; but they found it impossible at this time0"'
to determine with accuracy its rate of oscillation, owing
to a slow rotatory motion with which the balloon was
affected. In the meanwhile, therefore, they made other
observations. A Voltaic pile, consisting of twenty pairs
of plates, exhibited all its ordinary effects,—gave the
pungent taste, excited the nervous commotion, and occa¬
sioned the decomposition of water. By rejecting some
more ballast, they had attained the altitude of 8940 feet,
but afterwards settled to that of 8600 feet. At this great
elevation, the animals which they carried with them ap¬
peared to suffer from the rarity of the air. They let off
a violet bee, which flew away very swiftly, making a hum¬
ming noise. The thermometer had fallen to 56-4° by
Fahrenheit, yet they felt no cold, and were, on the con¬
trary, scorched by the sun’s rays, and obliged to lay aside
their gloves. Both of them had their pulses much acce¬
lerated : that of Biot, which generally beat seventy-nine
times in a minute, was raised to one hundred and eleven;
while the pulse of his friend Gay-Lussac, a man of a less
robust frame, was heightened from sixty to eighty beats in
the minute. Notwithstanding their quickened pulsation,
however, they experienced no sort of uneasiness, nor any
difficulty in breathing.
What perplexed them the most was the difficulty ofM
observing the oscillations of a delicately suspended mag'0,*1
netic needle. But they soon remarked, on looking atten-1*0
irds nC'
ited :
ist
fight}
AERONAUTICS.
193
Aen iu- lively down upon the surface of the conglomerated clouds,
r ti' that the balloon slowly revolved, first in one direction, and
jr‘vw* then returned the contrary way. Between these opposite
motions there intervened short pauses of rest, which it was
necessary for them to seize. Watching, therefore, the
moments of quiescence, they set the needle to vibrate, but
were unable to count more than five, or very rarely ten
oscillations. A number of trials, made between the alti¬
tudes of 9500 and 13,000 feet, gave 1" for the mean
length of an oscillation, while at the surface of the earth
it required 1 to perform each oscillation. A difference
so very minute as the hundred and fortieth part could be
imputed only to the imperfection of the experiment; and
it was hence fairly concluded, that the force of magnetic
attraction had in no degree diminished at the greatest ele¬
vation which they could reach. The direction of this
force, too, seemed, from concurring circumstances, to have
continued the same; though they could not depend on
observations made in their vacillating car with so delicate
an instrument as the dipping needle.
At the altitude of 11,000 feet they liberated a green
linnet, which flew away directly; but, soon feeling itself
abandoned in the midst of an unknown ocean, it returned
and settled on the stays of the balloon. Then mustering
fresh courage, it took a second flight, and dashed down¬
wards to the earth, describing a tortuous yet almost perpen¬
dicular track. A pigeon which they let off under similar
circumstances afforded a more curious spectacle. Placed
on the edge of the car, it rested a while, measuring as it
were the breadth of that unexplored sea which it designed
to traverse: now launching into the abyss, it fluttered ir¬
regularly, and seemed at first to try its wings in the thin
element; till, after a few strokes, it gained more confi¬
dence, and, whirling in large circles or spirals, like the
birds of prey, it precipitated itself towards the mass of ex¬
tended clouds, where it was lost from sight.
It was difficult, in those lofty and rather humid regions,
to make electrical observations ; and the attention of the
scientific navigators was besides occupied chiefly by their
rnagnetical experiments. However, they let down from
the car an insulated metallic wire of about 250 feet in
length, and ascertained, by means of the electrophorus,
that the upper end indicated resinous or negative electri¬
city. This experiment was several times repeated; and
it seemed to corroborate fully the previous observations of
Saussure and Volta relative to the increase of electricity
met with in ascending the atmosphere.
The diminution of temperature in the higher regions
was found to be less than what is generally experienced
at the same altitude on mountains. Thus, at the eleva¬
tion of 12,800 feet, the thermometer was at 51° by Fah¬
renheit, while it stood as low as 63^° at the observatory;
being only a decrement of one degree for each 1000 feet
of ascent. This fact corresponds with the observations
made by former aeronauts, and must have been produced,
ve conceive, by the operation of two distinct causes,
first, the rays from the sun, not being enfeebled by pass¬
ing through the denser portion of the atmosphere, would
act with greater energy on the balloon and its car, and
consequently affect the thermometer placed in their vici-
fy. Next, the warm current of air, which during the
nay rises constantly from the heated surface of the
ground, must augment the temperature of any body which
is exposed to its influence. During the night, on the con-
the upper strata of the atmosphere would be found
co der, we presume, than the general standard, owing to
ie copious descent of chill portions of air from the high¬
est regions. , &
The hygrometer, or rather hygroscope, of Saussure, ad-
VOL. II
mini
not
nper
re.
gror
obst
Mms.
vanced regularly towards dryness, in proportion to the Aeronau-
altitude which they attained. At the elevation of 13,000 tics-
feet it had changed from 80-8° to 30°. But still the con-
elusion, that the air of the higher strata is drier than that
of the lower, we are inclined to consider as fallacious. In
fact, the indications of the hygroscope depend on the re¬
lative attraction for humidity possessed by the substance
employed, and the medium in which it is immersed. But
air has its disposition to retain moisture always augmented
by rarefaction, and consequently such alteration alone
must materially affect the hygroscope. The only accu¬
rate instrument for ascertaining the condition of air with
respect to dryness is founded on a property of evapora¬
tion. But we shall afterwards have occasion to discuss
this subject at due length.
The ballast now being almost quite expended, it was Their
resolved to descend. The aeronauts therefore pulled the descent,
upper valve, and allowed part of the hydrogen gas to
escape. They dropped gradually, and when they came
to the height of 4000 feet, they met the stratum of
clouds, extending horizontally, but with a surface heaved
into gentle swells. When they reached the ground, no
people were near them to stop the balloon, which dragged
the car to some distance along the fields. From this
awkward and even dangerous situation they could not
extricate themselves without discharging the whole of
their gas, and therefore giving up the plan of sending
M. Gay-Lussac alone to explore the highest regions. It
has been reported that his companion M. Biot, though a
man of activity and not deficient in personal courage, was
so much overpowered by the alarms of their descent, as to
lose for the time the entire possession of himself. The
place where they alighted, at half-past one o’clock, after
three hours and a half spent in the midst of the atmo¬
sphere, was near the village of Meriville, in the depart¬
ment of the Loiret, and about fifty miles from Paris.
It was the desire of several philosophers at Paris, that
M. Gay-Lussac should mount a second time, and repeat
the different observations at the greatest elevation he
could attain. Experience had instructed him to reduce
his apparatus, and to adapt it better to the actual circum¬
stances. As he could only count the vibrations of the
magnetic needle during the very short intervals which oc¬
curred between the contrary rotations of the balloon, he
preferred one of not more than six inches in length, which
therefore oscillated quicker. The dipping needle was
magnetized and adjusted by the ingenious M. Coulomb.
To protect the thermometer from the direct action of the
sun, it was inclosed within two concentric cylinders of
pasteboard covered with gilt paper. The hygrometers,
constructed on Richer’s mode, with four hairs, were shel¬
tered nearly in the same way. The two glass flasks in¬
tended to bring down air from the highest regions of the
atmosphere had been exhausted till the mercurial gage
stood at the 25th part of an inch, and their stop-cocks
were so perfectly fitted, that, after the lapse of eight days,
they still preserved the vacuum. These articles, with two
barometers, were the principal instruments which M. Gay-
Lussac took with him. The skill and intelligence of the
artist had been exerted in further precautions for the
safety of the balloon.
At forty minutes after nine o’clock on the morning ofGay-Lus-
the 15th of September, the scientific voyager ascended, as sac ,ascends
before, from the garden of the Repository of Models. The a«ain
barometer then stood at 30-66 English inches, the ther- one‘
mometer at 82° by Fahrenheit, and the hygrometer at
571°. The sky was unclouded, but misty. Scarcely had
the observer reached the height of 3000 feet, when he
observed spread below him, over the whole extent of the
2 B
194
AERONAUTICS.
magne
tism.
ture.
Aeronau- atmosphere, a thin vapour, which rendered the distant ob-
tics. jects very indistinct. Having gained an altitude of 9950
feet, he set his needle to vibrate, and found it to perform
twenty oscillations in 83", though it had taken 84'33" to
make the same number at the surface, of the earth. At
His obser- the height of 12,680 feet he discovered the variation of
vations in compass to be precisely the same as below ; but with
macme- the pains he could take, he was unable to determine
with sufficient certainty the dip of the needle. M. Gay-
Lussac continued to prosecute his other experiments with
the same diligence, and with greater success. At the al¬
titude of 14,480 feet he found that a key, held in the
magnetic direction, repelled with its lower end, and at¬
tracted with its upper end, the north pole of the needle of
a small compass. This observation was repeated, and with
equal success, at the vast height of 20,150 feet ; a clear
proof that the magnetism of the earth exerts its influence
at remote distances. He made not fewer than fifteen
trials at different altitudes, with the oscillations of his
finely suspended needle. It was generally allowed to vi¬
brate twenty or thirty times. I he mean result gives
4*22" for each oscillation, while it was 4-216" at the sur¬
face of the earth ; an apparent difference so extremely
small, as to be fairly neglected.
Successive During the whole of his gradual ascent, he noticed, at
(iecre- g-f^ intervals, the state of the barometer, the thermome-
nients of an(j the hygrometer. Of these observations, amount-
tempera- .n all to twenty.one, he has given a tabular view.
We regret, however, that he has neglected to mark the
times at which they were made, since the results appear
to have been very considerably modified by the progress
of the day. It would likewise have been desirable to
have compared them with a register noted every half
hour at the Observatory. From the surface of the earth
to the height of 12,125 feet, the temperature of the at¬
mosphere decreased regularly from 82° to 47-3° by Fah¬
renheit’s scale. But afterwards it increased again, and
reached to 53-6°, at the altitude of 14,000 feet; evidently
owing to the influence of the warm currents of air which,
as the day advanced, rose continually from the heated
ground. From that point the temperature diminished,
with only slight deviations from a perfect regularity. At
the height of 18,636 feet the thermometer subsided to
32-9°, on the verge of congelation; but it sunk to 14'9°
at the enormous altitude of 22,912 feet above Paris, or
23,040 feet above the level of the sea, the utmost limit of
the balloon’s ascent.
From these observations no conclusive inference, we
son of tliese think, can be drawn respecting the mean gradation of cold
t:ons'Va" which is maintained in the higher regions of the atmo¬
sphere ; for, as we have already remarked, the several stra¬
ta are during the day kept considerably above their per¬
manent temperature by the hot currents raised from the
surface through the action of the sun’s rays. If we adopt
the formula given by Professor Leslie at the end of his
Elements of Geometry, which was the result of some ac¬
curate and combined researches, the diminution of tem¬
perature corresponding to the first part of the ascent, or
12,125 feet, ought to be forty degrees of Fahrenheit. It
was actually 34-7°, and would no doubt have approached
to 40°, if the progressive heating of the surface, during
the interval of time, were taken into the account. In the
next portion of the voyage, from the altitude of 14,000 to
that of 18,636 feet, or the breadth of 4636 feet, the de¬
crement of temperature according to the formula should
only have been 16^°, instead of 20*7°, which was really
marked; a proof that the diurnal heat from below had not
yet produced its full effect at such a great height. In the
last portion of the balloon’s ascent, from 18,636 feet to
Compari-
22,912, a range of 4276 feet, the decrease of heat ought Ai
to be 15^°, and it was actually 18° ; owing most probably
to the same cause, or the feebler influence which warmH
currents of air from the surface exert at those vast eleva-
tions. Taking the entire range of the ascent, or 22,912
feet, the diminution of temperature according to the same
formula would be for the gradation of temperature in as¬
cending the atmosphere 85-4°. The decrease actually
observed would be 67-1°, which might be raised to 80°,
if we admit the very probable supposition, that the sur-
face of the earth had become heated from 82° to 94-9°
during the interval between ten o’clock in the morning
and near three in the afternoon, when the balloon floated
at its greatest elevation.
After making the fair allowances, therefore, on account
of the operation of deranging causes, the results obtained
by M. Gay-Lussac, for the gradation of temperature in the
atmosphere, appear, on the whole, to agree very nearly
with those derived from the formula which theory, guided
by delicate experiments, had before assigned. This gra¬
dation is evidently not uniform, as some philosophers have
assumed; but proceeds with augmented rapidity in the
more elevated regions. The same conclusion results from
a careful inspection of the facts which have been stated
by other observers.
The hygrometers, during the ascent of the balloon, held In
a progress not quite so regular, but tending obviously to-tin
wards dryness. At the height of 9950 feet they had11"
changed from 57-5° to 62°; from which point they con-^'
tinued afterwards to decline, till they came to mark 27-5°,
at the altitude of 15,190 feet. From this inferior limit
the hygrometers advanced again, yet with some fluctua¬
tions, to 35-1°, which they indicated at the height of
18,460 feet. Above this altitude the variation was slight,
though rather inclining to humidity. There can exist no
doubt, however, that, allowing for the influence of the
prevailing cold, the higher strata of the atmosphere
must be generally drier than the lower, or capable of
retaining, at the same temperature, a larger share of
moisture.
At the altitude of 21,460 feet M. Gay-Lussac openedb
one of his exhausted flasks ; and, at that of 21,790 feet, ^
the other. The air rushed into them through the narrow“
aperture, with a whistling noise. He still rose a little
higher, but, at eleven minutes past three o’clock, he had
attained the utmost limit of his ascent, and was then
,22,912 feet above Paris, or 23,040 feet, being more than
four miles and a quarter, above the level of the sea. The
air was now more than twice as thin as ordinary, the ba¬
rometer having sunk to 12-95 inches. From that stupen¬
dous altitude, sixteen hundred feet above the summit of
the Andes, more elevated than the loftiest pinnacle of our
globe, and far above the heights to which any mortal had
ever soared, the aerial navigator might have indulged the
feelings of triumphant enthusiasm. But the philosopher,
in perfect security, was more intent on calmly pursuing
his observations. During his former ascent, he saw the
fleecy clouds spread out below him, while the canopy of
heaven seemed of the deepest azure, more intense than
Prussian blue. This time, however, he perceived no clouds
gathered near the surface, but remarked a range of them
stretching, at a very considerable height, over his head:
the atmosphere, too, wanted transparency, and had a dull,
misty appearance. The different aspect of the sky was
probably owing to the direction of the wind, which blew
from the north-north-west in his first voyage, but in his
second from the south-east.
While occupied with experiments at this enormous ele-o
vation, he began, though warmly clad, to suffer from ex-
AERONAUTICS.
iron - cessive cold, and his hands, by continual exposure, grew
195
•   7   # , J ,   1  7 O v ”
tics benumbed. He felt likewise a difficulty in breathing, and
pvVhis pulse and respiration were much quickened. His
throat became so parched from inhaling the dry attenu¬
ated air, that he could hardly swallow a morsel of bread;
but he experienced no other direct inconvenience from
his situation. He had indeed been affected, through the
whole of the day, with a slight headache, brought on by the
preceding fatigues and want of sleep; but though it conti¬
nued without abatement, it was not increased by his ascent,
ides The balloon was now completely distended, and not
Jt- more than 33 pounds of ballast remained: it began to drop,
and M. Gay-Lussac, therefore, only sought to regulate its
descent. It subsided very gently, at the rate of about a
mile in eight minutes; and after the lapse of thirty-four
minutes, or at three quarters after three o’clock, the an¬
chor touched the ground, and instantly secured the car.
The voyager alighted with great ease near the hamlet of
St Gourgon, about sixteen miles north-west from Rouen.
The inhabitants flocked around him, offering him assist¬
ance, and eager to gratify their curiosity.
[ana As soon as he feached Paris, he hastened to the labo-
f ratory of the Polytechnic School, with his flasks, contain-
a'r ing air of the higher regions, and proceeded to analyze it
in the presence of Thenard and Cresset. Opened under
water, the liquid rushed into them, and apparently half
filled their capacity. The transported air was found, by a
very delicate analysis, to contain exactly the same propor¬
tions as that collected near the surface of the earth, every
1000 parts holding 215 of oxygen. From concurring ob¬
servations, therefore, we may conclude that the atmo¬
sphere is essentially the same in all situations,
jad The ascents performed by MM. Biot and Gay-Lussac
are memorable, for being the first ever undertaken solely
r' for objects of science. It is impossible not to admire the
intrepid coolness with which they conducted those expe¬
riments, operating, while they floated in the highest re¬
gions of the atmosphere, with the same composure and
precision as if they had been quietly seated in their cabi¬
nets at Paris. Their observations on the force of terres¬
trial magnetism show most satisfactorily its deep source
and wide extension. The identity of the constitution of
the atmosphere to a vast altitude was likewise ascer¬
tained. The facts noted by Gay-Lussac, relative to the
state of the thermometer at different heights, appear ge¬
nerally to confirm the law which theory assigns for the
gradation of temperature in the atmosphere : but many
interesting points were left untouched by this philosopher.
We are sorry that he had not carried with him the cycmo-
mter, which enabled Saussure to determine the colour of
the sky on the summits of the Swiss mountains. Still
more we regret that he was not provided with an hygro¬
meter and a photometer, of Leslie’s construction. These
delicate instruments could not have failed, in his hands, to
furnish important data for discovering the relative dry¬
ness and transparency of the different strata of air. It
would have been extremely interesting, at such a tremen¬
dous height, to have measured with accuracy the feeble
hght reflected from the azure canopy of heaven, and the
intense force of the sun’s direct rays, and hence to have
determined what portion of them is absorbed in their pas¬
sage through the lower and denser atmosphere.
Since that time numerous ascents have been per-
tormed in different countries, generally by adventurers
guided by no philosophical views, nor leading to any
•ic va uahle results. It would therefore be superfluous to
;s Fecount such repeated attempts.
Balloons have at different times been thought capable
0 useful application. It has been even proposed to em¬
ploy their power of ascepsion as a mechanical force. This Aeronau-
might be rendered sufficient, it was believed, to raise wa- tics,
ter from mines, or to transport obelisks, and place them'w^v^-/'
on great elevations. We can easily imagine situations
where a balloon could be used with advantage ; such as to
raise, without any scaffolding, a cross or a vane to the top
of a high spire. But the power would then be purchased
at a very disproportionate expense. It would require
pounds of iron, or 6 of zinc, with equal quantities of sul¬
phuric acid, to yield hydrogen gas sufficient to raise up
the weight of one pound.
The proposal of employing balloons in the defence and
attack of fortified places appears truly chimerical. They
have rendered important service, however, in reconnoitring
the face of a country, and communicating military sig¬
nals ; and it is rather surprising that a system, which
promised such obvious benefits, has not been carried
much farther.
But to a skilful and judicious application of balloons, we Their ap-
may yet look for a most essential improvement of the in-plication
fant science of meteorology. Confined to the surface ofproposed
this globe, we have no direct intimation of what passes infor tIie iln-
the lofty regions of the atmosphere. All the changes 0fP™vement
weather, which appear so capricious and perplexing, pro-pol^e°"
ceed, no doubt, from the combination of a very few simple ’
causes. Were the philosopher to penetrate beyond the
seat of the clouds, examine the circumstances of their
formation, and mark the prevailing currents, he would
probably remove in part the veil that conceals those
mighty operations. It would be quite practicable, we
conceive, to reach an elevation of seven miles, where the
air would be four times more attenuated than ordinary.
A silk balloon, of forty feet diameter, if properly con¬
structed, might be sufficient for that enormous ascent,
since its weight would only be 80 pounds, while its buoy¬
ant force, though not more than a quarter filled with hy¬
drogen gas, would amount to 533^ leaving 453^ pounds
for the passenger and the ballast. The balloon could be
safely charged, indeed, to the third part of its capacity, on
account of the contraction which the gas would afterwards
suffer from the intense cold of the upper regions ; and this
gives it an additional buoyancy of 177| pounds. The
voyager would not, we presume, suffer any serious incon¬
venience from breathing the very thin air. The animal
frame adapts itself with wonderful facility to external cir¬
cumstances. Perhaps the quickened pulse and short re¬
spiration, which some travellers have experienced on the
summits of lofty mountains, should be attributed chiefly
to the suddenness of their transition, and the severity of
the cold. The people of Quito live comfortably 9560 feet
above the level of the sea ; and the shepherds of the ham¬
let of Antisana, the highest inhabited spot in the known
world, who breathe, at an elevation of 13,500 feet, air that
has only three-fifths of the usual density, are nowise de¬
ficient in health or vigour. But the intenseness of the
cold is probably what the resolute observer would have
most to dread, at the height of seven miles. This decrease
of temperature, perhaps equal to 148 degrees, might ex¬
tend below the point at which mercury freezes. Yet se¬
veral circumstances tend to mitigate such extreme cold,
and proper clothing might enable an experimenter for a
short time to resist its effects.
Much could be done, however, without risk or material
expense. Balloons from fifteen to thirty feet in diameter,
and carrying register thermometers and barometers, might
be capable of ascending alone to altitudes between eight
and twelve miles. Dispatched from the centres of the
great continents, they would not only determine the ex¬
treme gradation of cold, but indicate by their flight the
1
196 iE S C
Aerschot direction of the regular and periodic winds which doubtless
II. obtain in the highest regions of the atmosphere. But we
/^"^^’will not enlarge. In some happier times, such experiments
may be performed with the zealous concurrence of different
governments ;—when nations shall at last become satisfied
with cultivating the arts of peace, instead of wasting their
energies in sanguinary, destructive, and fruitless wars, (b.)
In Plate II. there is a view of the principal balloons.
The figure in the centre represents the shape of the gores
AERSCHOT, a fortified city in the Netherlands, on
the river Dander, 7 miles from Louvain, and 20 from
Antwerp, containing 2750 inhabitants.
TERUGINOUS, an epithet given to such things as re¬
semble or partake of the nature of the rust of copper.
iERUGO, in Natural History, properly signifies the
rust of copper, whether natural or artificial. The former
is found about copper mines, and the latter, called verdi¬
gris, made by corroding copper plates with acids.
iERUSCATORES, in Antiquity, a kind of strolling beg¬
gars, not unlike gypsies, who drew money from the credu¬
lous by fortune-telling, &c. It was also a denomination
given to griping exactors, or collectors of the revenue. The
Galli, or priests of Cybele, were called ceruscatores tnagnce
matris ; and yr~?aywrai, from their begging in the streets ;
to which end they had little bells to draw people’s atten¬
tion, similar to some orders of mendicants abroad.
AERZEELE, a town of 2809 inhabitants, in the arron-
dissement of Kortryk, and province of West Flanders.
AERZEN, a bailiwick in the province of Kalenberg, in
the kingdom of Hanover, with 1 market town, 19 villages,
852 houses, and 4895 inhabitants. The extent is about
28,400 acres. The chief town of the bailiwick has the same
name. It contains 159 houses, and 901 inhabitants.
iES uxorium, in Antiquity, a sum paid by bachelors, as
a penalty for living single to old age. This tax for not
marrying seems to have been first imposed in the year of
Rome 350, under the censorship of M. Furius Camillus and
M. Posthumus. At the census, or review of the people,
each person was asked, Et tu ex animi sententia uxorem
habes liberorum qucerendorum causa ? He who had no
wife was hereupon fined after a certain rate, called ces
uxorium.
AEs per et libram was a formula in the Roman law,
whereby purchases and sales were ratified. Originally the
phrase seems to have been only used in speaking of things
sold by weight, or by the scales; but it afterwards was
used on other occasions. Hence even in adoptions, as
there was a kind of imaginary purchase, the formula there¬
of expressed, that the person adopted was bought per ces
et libram.
AESCHINES, an Athenian, a Socratic philosopher, the
son of Charinus, a sausage-maker. He was continually with
Socrates; which occasioned this philosopher to say, that
the sausage-maker’s son was the only person who knew
how to pay a due regard to him. It is said that poverty
obliged him to go to Sicily to Dionysius the tyrant; and
that he met with great contempt from Plato, but was ex¬
tremely well received by Aristippus, to whom he showed
some of his dialogues, and received from him a handsome
reward. He would not venture to profess philosophy at
Athens, Plato and Aristippus being in such high esteem;
but he opened a school, in which he taught philosophy, to
maintain himself. He afterwards wrote orations for the
forum. Phrynicus, in Photius, ranks him amongst the
A3 S C
for forming the cloth into a globular shape. AE, the length
of the gore, is equal to the half of the circumference of
the globe ; BC, the breadth, is the same proportional part ^
of the circumference as the number of gores which it re-^
quires to form the sphere. The figures between CB and
A denote the breadths of the half-gore, at equal distances
from the centre ; the breadth BD at the centre being taken
equal to 1, and the others in decimals. In this manner it is
easy to construct an exact pattern of the gores, all which,
being united, will form a true sphere.
'Jim
best orators, and mentions his orations as the standard of
the pure Attic style. Hermogenes has also spoken very
highly of him. He wrote, besides, several Dialogues, of
which there are only three extant: 1. Concerning virtue,
whether it can be taught. 2 Eryxias, or Erasistratus;
concerning riches, whether they are good. 3. Axiochus;
concerning death, whether it is to be feared. M. le
Clerc has given a Latin translation of them, with notes
and several dissertations, entitled Silvce Philologicce.
JEschines, a celebrated Grecian orator, was born at
Athens 327 years before the Christian era. According to
his own account, he was of distinguished birth ; according
to that of Demosthenes, he was the son of a courtesan,
and a humble performer in a company of comedians.
But whatever was the true history of his birth and early
life, his talents, which were considerable, procured him
great applause, and enabled him to be a formidable rival
to Demosthenes himself. The two orators, inspired pro¬
bably with mutual jealousy and animosity, became at last
the strenuous leaders of opposing parties. iEschines was
accused by Demosthenes of having received money as a
bribe, when he was employed on an embassy to Philip of
Macedon. He indirectly retaliated the charge by bringing
an accusation against Ctesiphon, the friend of Demosthenes,
for having moved a decree, contrary to the laws, to confer
on Demosthenes a golden crown, as a mark of public ap¬
probation. A numerous assembly of judges and citizens
met to hear and decide the question. Each orator employ¬
ed all his powers of eloquence; but Demosthenes, with su¬
perior talents, and with justice on his side, was victorious;
and iEschines was sent into exile. The resentment of De¬
mosthenes was now softened into generous kindness; for
when ZEschines was going into banishment, he requested
him to accept of a sum of money; which made him ex¬
claim, “ How do I regret leaving a country where I have
found an enemy so generous, that I must despair of ever
meeting with a friend who shall be like him !”
ZEschines opened a school of eloquence at Rhodes, which
was the place of his exile ; and he commenced his lectures
by reading to his audience the two orations which had been
the cause of his banishment. His own oration received
great praise, but that of Demosthenes was heard with
boundless applause. In so trying a moment, when vanity
must be supposed to have been deeply wounded, with a
noble generosity of sentiment, he said, “ What would you
have thought if you had heard him thunder out the words
himself.”—iEschines afterwards removed to Samos, where ;
he died in the 75th year of his age. Three of his orations
only are extant. His eloquence is not without energy,
but it is diffuse and ornamented, and more calculated to
please than to move the passions.
ZESCHYLUS, the tragic poet, was born at Athens.
The time of his birth is not exactly ascertained. Some
suppose that it was in the 65th, others in the 70th Olym¬
piad ; but according to Stanley, who follows the Arunde-
.ESC
?lus lian marbles, he was born in the 68d Olympiad. He was
5 the son of Euphorion, and brother to Cynsegirus and Amy-
^cjla- njas, who distinguished themselves in the battle of Mara-
1 I'f thon and the sea-fight of Salamis, at which engagements
^gchylus was likewise present. In this last action, ac¬
cording to Diodorus Siculus, Amynias, the youngest of the
three brothers, commanded a squadron of ships, and
fought with so much conduct and bravery, that he sunk
the admiral of the Persian fleet, and signalized himself
above all the Athenians. To this brother our poet was,
upon a particular occasion, obliged for saving his life,
^lian relates, that Aeschylus, being charged by the Athe¬
nians with certain blasphemous expressions in some of his
pieces, was accused of impiety, and condemned to be
stoned to death: they were just going to put the sen¬
tence in execution, when Amynias, with a happy presence
of mind, throwing aside his cloak, showed his arm without
a hand, which he had lost at the battle of Salamis in de¬
fence of his country. This sight made such an impression
on the judges, that, touched with the remembrance of his
valour, and with the friendship he showed for his brother,
they pardoned iEschylus. Our poet, however, resented
the indignity of this prosecution, and resolved to leave a
place where his life had been in danger. He became more
determined in this resolution when he found his pieces
less pleasing to the Athenians than those of Sophocles,
though a much younger writer. Some affirm, that iEschy-
lus never sat down to compose but when he had drunk
liberally. He wrote a great number of tragedies, of which
there are but seven remaining ; and notwithstanding the
sharp censures of some critics, he must be allowed to have
been the father of the tragic art. In the time of Thespis
there was no public stage to act upon, the strollers
driving about from place to place in a cart. iEschylus
; furnished his actors with masks, and dressed them suit¬
ably to their characters. He likewise introduced the bus¬
kin, to make them appear more like heroes. The ancients
gave Aischylus also the praise of having been the first
who removed murders and shocking sights from the eyes
of the spectators. He is said likewise to have lessened
the number of the chorus. M. Le Fevre has observed,
that AEschylus never represented women in love in his
tragedies, which, he says, was not suited to his genius;
but in representing a woman transported with fury he
was incomparable. Longinus says, that AEschylus has a
noble boldness of expression, and that his imagination
is lofty and heroic. It must be owned, however, that he
affected pompous words, and that his sense is too often
obscured by figures. This gave Salmasius occasion to say
that he was more difficult to be understood than the
Scripture itself. But notwithstanding these imperfections,
this poet was held in great veneration by the Athenians,
who made a public decree that his tragedies should be
played after his death. He was killed in the 69th year of
his age, by an eagle letting fall a tortoise upon his head
as he was walking in the fields. He had the honour of a
pompous funeral from the Sicilians, who buried him near
the river Gela; and the tragedians of the country per¬
formed plays and theatrical exercises at his tomb. The
best editions of AEschylus are those of Stanley, folio,
Lond. 1663, with an excellent Latin translation and com¬
mentary ; and of Schiitz, in 3 vols. 8vo, Halle, 1782.
AESCULAPIUS, in the Heathen Mythology, the god of
physic, was the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis.
He was educated by the centaur Chiron, who taught him
physic, by which means AEsculapius cured the most des-
perate diseases. But Jupiter, enraged at his restoring to
life Hippolytus, who had been torn in pieces by his own
horses, killed him with a thunderbolt. According to Cicero,
S O 197
there were three deities of this name: the first, the son .Escula-
of Apollo, worshipped in Arcadia, who invented the probe pius
and bandages for wounds; the second, the brother of !l
Mercury, killed by lightning; and the third, the son of /EsoP-
Arsippus and Arsinoe, who first taught the art of tooth-
drawing and purging. At Epidaurus, AEsculapius’s statue
was of gold and ivory, with a long beard, his head sur¬
rounded with rays, holding in one hand a knotty stick, and
the other entwined with a serpent: he was seated on a
throne of the same materials as his statue, and had a dog
lying at his feet. The Romans crowned him with laurel,
to represent his descent from Apollo; and the Phliasians
represented him as beardless. The cock, the raven, and
the goat, were sacred to this deity. His chief temples
were at Pergamus, Smyrna, Trica, a city in Ionia, and the
isle of Coos; in all which votive tablets were hung up,
showing the diseases cured by his assistance. But his most
famous shrine was at Epidaurus, where, every five years,
games were instituted to him, nine days after the Isthmian
games at Corinth.
AESOP, the Phrygian, lived in the time of Solon, about
the 50th Olympiad, under the reign of Crcesus, the last
king of Lydia. As to genius and abilities, he was greatly
indebted to nature; but in other respects not so fortunate,
being born a slave and extremely deformed. St Jerome,
speaking of him, says he was unfortunate in his birth,
condition in life, and death; hinting thereby at his defor¬
mity, servile state, and tragical end. His great genius,
however, enabled him to support his misfortunes; and in
order to alleviate the hardships of servitude, he composed
those entertaining and instructive fables which have ac¬
quired him so much reputation. He is generally supposed
to have been the inventor of that kind of writing; but this
is contested by several, particularly Quintilian, who seems
to think that Hesiod was the first author of fables. AEsop,
however, certainly improved this art to a very great degree;
and hence it is that he has been accounted the author of
this sort of productions;
JEsopus auctor quam materiam reperit,
Hanc egopolivi versibus senariis. Pii.-t.d.
Mine is the task, in easy verse,
The tales of iEsop to rehearse.
The first master whom AEsop served was one Carasius
Demarchus, an inhabitant of Athens; and there, in all
probability, he acquired his purity in the Greek tongue.
After him he had several masters, and at length came
under a philosopher named Idmon or ladmon, who en¬
franchised him. After he had recovered his liberty, he
soon acquired a great reputation amongst the Greeks; so
that, according to Meziriac, the report of his wisdom
having reached Crcesus, he sent to inquire after him, and
engaged him in his service. He travelled through Greece,
according to the same author, whether for his own plea¬
sure or upon the affairs of Crcesus is uncertain; and
passing by Athens soon after Pisistratus had usurped the
sovereign power, and finding that the Athenians bore the
yoke very impatiently, he told them the fable of the frogs
who petitioned Jupiter for a king. The images made use
of by AEsop are certainly very happy inventions to instruct
mankind: they possess all that is necessary to perfect a
precept, having a mixture of the useful with the agreeable.
“ AEsop the fabulist,” says Aulus Gellius, “ was deservedly
esteemed wise, since he did not, after the manner of the
philosophers, rigidly and imperiously dictate such things
as were proper to be advised and persuaded; but framing
entertaining and agreeable apologues, he thereby charms
and captivates the human mind.” AEsop was put to death
at Delphi. Plutarch tells us, that he came thither with a
198
A E T
iE T H
iEsop
Aeth.
great quantity of gold and silver, being ordered by Croesus
to offer a sacrifice to Apollo, and to give a considerable
, sum to each inhabitant; but a quarrel arising betwixt him
and the Delphians, he sent back the money to Croesus;
for he thought those for whom the prince designed it had
rendered themselves unworthy of it. The inhabitants of
Delphi brought an accusation of sacrilege against him;
and pretending they had convicted him, threw him head¬
long from a rock. For this cruelty and injustice, we are
told, they were visited with famine and pestilence; and con¬
sulting the oracle, they received for answer, that the god
halia
Netherlands, and province of Hainault, situated on the
river Dender, about 20 miles south-west of Brussels.
iETHALIA, or Ilua, in Ancient Geography, now Elba, pier. |
an island on the coast of Etruria, in compass a hundred^ v\j
miles, abounding in iron. It was so called from atiuXrj,
smoke, which issued from the shops of V ulcan.
iETHELSTAN, see Athelstan.
iETHER is usually understood of a thin, subtile mat¬
ter or medium, much finer and rarer than air, which,
commencing from the limits of our atmosphere, possesses
the whole heavenly space. The word is Greek, ai^o, sup.
designed this as a punishment for their treatment of posed to be formed from the verb aifciv, to burn, to flame;
some of the ancients, particularly Anaxagoras, supposing
it to be of the nature of fire.
The philosophers cannot conceive that the largest part
of the creation should be perfectly void; and therefore
they fill it with a species of matter under the denomina¬
tion of cether. But they vary extremely as to the nature
and character of this aether. Some conceive it as a body
sui generis, appointed only to fill up the vacuities between
the heavenly bodies, and therefore confined to the regions
above our atmosphere. Others suppose it of so subtile
and penetrating a nature as to pervade the air and other
bodies, and to possess the pores and intervals thereof.
Sat. iii.
iEsop. They endeavoured to make an atonement, by rais
ing a pyramid to his honour.
iEsop, Clodius, a celebrated actor, who flourished about
the 670th year of Rome. He and Roscius were contem¬
poraries, and the best performers who ever appeared upon
the Roman stage; the former excelling in tragedy, the
latter in comedy. Cicero put himself under their direc¬
tion, to perfect his action. TEsop lived in a most expen¬
sive manner, and at one entertainment is said to have had
a dish which cost above L.800. This dish, we are told,
was filled with singing and speaking birds, some of which
cost near L.50. The delight which iEsop took in this
sort of birds proceeded, as M. Bayle observes, from the 'Others deny the existence of any such specific matter,
expense. He did not make a dish of them because they and think the air itself, by that immense tenuity and ex-
could speak, according to the refinement of Pliny upon pansion it is found capable of, may diffuse itself through the
this circumstance, this motive being only by accident, interstellar spaces, and be the only matter found therein,
but because of their extraordinary price. If there had In effect, aether being no object of our sense, but the
been any birds that could not speak, and yet more scarce mere work of imagination, brought only upon the stage for
and dear than these, he would have procured such for his the sake of hypothesis, or to solve some phenomenon real
table. TEsop’s son was no less luxurious than his father, or imaginary, authors take the liberty of modifying it as
for he dissolved pearls for his guests to swallow. Some they please. Some suppose it of an elementary nature,
speak of this as a common practice of his; but others like other bodies, and only distinguished by its tenuity,
mention his falling into this excess only on a particular and the other affections consequent thereon; which is the
day, when he was treating his friends. Horace1 speaks philosophical aether. Others will have it of another spe-
hb. ii. 239. on}y 0f one pearl of great value, which he dissolved in cies, and not elementary, but rather a sort of fifth ele-
vinegar and drank. When he was upon the stage, he ment, of a purer, more refined, and spiritous nature, than
entered into his part to such a degree as sometimes to the substances about our earth, and void of the common
be seized with a perfect ecstasy. Plutarch mentions it as affections thereof, as gravity, &c. The heavenly spaces
reported of him, that whilst he was representing Atreus being the supposed region or residence of a more exalted
deliberating how he should revenge himself on Thyestes, class of beings, the medium must be more exalted in pro¬
be was so transported beyond himself in the heat of ac- portion. Such is the ancient and popular idea of aether,
tion, that with his truncheon he smote one of the servants or aethereal* matter.
crossing the stage, and laid him dead on the spot. The term (ether being thus embarrassed with a variety
iESHMATIO Capitis, a term met with in old law- of ideas, and arbitrarily applied to so many different things,
books for a fine anciently ordained to be paid for offences the later and severer philosophers choose to set it aside,
committed against persons of quality, according to their and in lieu thereof substitute other more determinate
several degrees. ones. Thus, the Cartesians use the term materia subtilis,
FESTIVAL, in a general sense, denotes something which is their aether: and Sir Isaac Newton, sometimes a
connected with, or belonging to summer. Hence aesti- subtile spirit, as in the close of his Principia; and some-
val sign, aestival solstice, &c. times a subtile or (ethereal medium, as in his Optics.
iESTUARIA, in Geography, denotes an arm of the sea, Heat, Sir Isaac Newton observes, is communicated
which runs a good way within land. Such is the Bristol through a vacuum almost as readily as through air; but
channel, and many of the friths of Scotland. such communication cannot be without some interjacent
iESTUARIES, in ancient baths, were secret passages body, to act as a medium. And such body maybe subtile
from the hypocaustum into the chambers. enough to penetrate the pores of glass, and may permeate
iESTUARY, among physicians, a vapour bath, or any those of all other bodies, and consequently be diffused
other instrument for conveying heat to the body. through all the parts of space.
JESYMNIUM, in Antiquity, a monument erected to The existence of such an aethereal medium being set-
the memory of the heroes by Aisymnus the Megarean. tied, that author proceeds to its properties ; inferring it to
He, consulting the oracle in what manner the Megareans be not only rarer and more fluid than air, but exceedingly
might be most happily governed, was answered, If they more elastic and active; in virtue of which properties he
held consultation with the more numerous; whom he taking shows, that a great part of the phenomena of nature may
for the dead, built the said monument, and a senate-house be produced by it. To the weight, e. g. of this medium,
that took within its compass the monument, imagining he attributes gravitation, or the weight of all other bo-
that thus the dead would assist at their consultations, dies; and to its elasticity, the elastic force of the air and
(Pausanias.) of nervous fibres, and the emission, refraction, reflection,
AETH, or Ath, a strong little town in the Austrian and other phenomena of light; as also sensation, muscular
iE T I
^ er motion, &c. In fine, this same matter seems the primum
mobile, the first source or spring of physical action in the
R cs- modern system.
The Cartesian aether is supposed not only to pervade,
but adequately to fill, all the vacuities of bodies ; and thus
to make an absolute plenum in the universe.
But Sir Isaac Newton shows that the celestial spaces
are void of all sensible resistance; and hence it follows,
that the matter contained therein must be immensely
rare, in regard the resistance of bodies is chiefly as their
density: so that if the heavens were thus adequately fill¬
ed with a medium or matter, how subtile soever, they
would resist the motion of the planets and comets much
more than quicksilver or gold. But it has been supposed
that what Newton has said of aether is to be considered
only as a conjecture, and especially as no new proofs of its
existence have been adduced since his time.
The late discoveries in electricity have thrown great
light upon this subject, and rendered it extremely proba¬
ble that the aether so often talked of is no other than the
electric fluid, or solar light, which diffuses itself through¬
out the whole system of nature.
^ETHEREAL, AUthereus, something that belongs to,
or partakes of, the nature of jEther. Thus we say, the
(Ethereal space, aethereal regions, &c. Some of the ancients
divided the universe, with respect to the matter contained
therein, into elementary and aethereal. Under the aethe-
real world was included all that space above the upper¬
most element, viz. fire. This they supposed to be perfect¬
ly homogeneous, incorruptible, unchangeable, &c. The
Chaldees placed an aethereal world between the empy-
reum and the region of the fixed stars. Besides which,
they sometimes also speak of a second aethereal world,
meaning by it the starry orb; and a third aethereal world,
by which is meant the planetary region.
ETHIOPIA. See Abyssinia, and Ethiopia.
AETIANS, in Church History, a branch of Arians,
who maintained that the Son and Holy Ghost are in all
things dissimilar to the Father. See Aetius.
ETIOLOGY is that part of pathology which is em¬
ployed in exploring the causes of diseases.
AETION, a celebrated painter, who left an excellent
picture of Roxana and Alexander, which he exhibited at
the Olympic games. It represents a magnificent chamber,
where Roxana is sitting on a bed of a most splendid ap¬
pearance, which is rendered still more brilliant by her
beauty. She looks downwards in a kind of confusion,
being struck with the presence of Alexander standing be¬
fore her. A number of little Cupids flutter about, some
holding up the curtain, as if to show Roxana to the
prince, whilst others are busied in undressing the lady;
some pull Alexander by the cloak, who appears like a
young bashful bridegroom, and present him to his mis¬
tress. He lays his crown at her feet, being accompanied
by Hephaestion, who holds a torch in his hand, and leans
upon a youth, who represents Hymen. Several other
little Cupids are represented playing with his arms: some
carry his lance, stooping under so heavy a weight; others
bear along his buckler, upon which one of them is seated,
whom the rest carry in triumph; another lies in ambush
in his armour, waiting to frighten the rest as they pass by.
fhis picture gained Aetion so much reputation, that the
president of the games gave him his daughter in marriage.
ETIfES, or Eagle-stone, in Natural History, a
flinty or crustated stone, hollow within, and containing a
nuckus, which, on •shaking, rattles within. It was former¬
ly in repute for several extraordinary magical as well as
medical powers; such as preventing abortion, discovering
thieves, and other ridiculous properties. The word is
T N 199
formed from afro;, eagle, the popular tradition being, that Aetius
it is found in the eagle’s nest, whither it is supposed to II
be carried while the female sits, to prevent her eggs from -®tna*
being rotten. It is found in several parts. Near Trevoux,V^^V^^
in France, one can scarcely dig a few feet without finding
considerable strata or beds of the coarser or ferruginous
kind. They are originally soft, and of the colour of yel¬
low ochre. But the finest and most valued of all the
eagle-stones are accidental states of one or other of our
common pebbles.
AETIUS, one of the most zealous defenders of Arian-
ism, was born in Syria, and flourished about the year 336.
After being servant to a grammarian, of whom he learned
grammar and logic, he was ordained deacon, and at length
bishop, by Eudoxus, patriarch of Constantinople. Aetius
was banished into Phrygia on account of his religious
opinions; but was recalled from exile on the accession of
Julian, and was much esteemed by that emperor. He
died, it is supposed, at Constantinople, about the year 366.
St Epiphanius has preserved 47 of his propositions against
the Trinity. His followers were called Aetians.
Aetius, a famous physician, born at Amida in Meso¬
potamia, and the author of a work entitled Tetrabiblos,
which is a collection from the writings of those physicians
who went before him. He lived, according to Dr Freind,
in the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth
century. 1
Aetius, governor of Gallia Narbonensis in the reign of
Valentinian III., forced the Franks who were passing into
Gaul to repass the Rhine. He defeated the Goths, and
routed Attila, king of the Huns, who invaded Gaul with
an army of 700,000 men. But the emperor, jealous of the
merit of this great man, killed him in 454, with his own
hand, under the pretence that he had permitted the inva¬
sion of the Huns, after Attila’s defeat.
ETNA, (in the Itineraries JEthana, supposed from
aiQ'ji, to burn; according to Bochart, from athuna, a
furnace, or cetuna, darkness), now Monte Gibello ; a vol¬
cano or burning mountain of Sicily, situated in Long. 15.
E. Lat. 38. N.
This mountain, famous from the remotest antiquity,
both for its bulk and terrible eruptions, stands in the eastern
part of the island, in a very extensive plain, called Val di
Demona, from the notion of its being inhabited by devils,
wTio torment the spirits of the damned in the bowels of
this volcano.
The base of Etna is well defined by the sea, and byMagni-
the rivers Giaretta and Alcantara; and is about eighty- tude and
seven miles in circumference, with its greatest diameter height °t
extending from east to west. The following measure-^11101111'
ments, taken by Captain Smyth, we have adopted as the
most accurate hitherto published:
The Summit 10874 feet.
Foot of the Cone ....9760 .
The English House 9592
Philosopher’s Tower   .9467
Bishop’s Snow Stoves 7410
Highest part of the Woody Region 6279
The Goats’ Cavern 5362
Angelo the Herdsman’s Cottage 4205
Nicolosi Convent 2449
Lingua-Grossa 1725
Caltabiano Station 371
Catania Station 47
The products and general appearance of this volcano General
have been described by many travellers. The journey appear-
from Catania to its summit has been described by M.ance-
D’Orville, Mr Brydone, Sir William Hamilton, M. Houel,
the abbe Spallanzani, Smyth, &c. They all agree that
200
JS T N A.
iEtna.
Crater de¬
scribed.
this single mountain affords an epitome of the different
climates throughout the whole world. Towards the foot
it is extremely hot; farther up, more temperate; and
grows gradually more and more cold the higher we as¬
cend. At the very top it is perpetually covered with
snow : from thence the whole island is supplied with that
article, so necessary in a hot climate, and without which,
the natives say, Sicily could not be inhabited. So great
is the demand for this commodity, that the bishop’s re¬
venues, which are considerable, arise from the sale of
Mount ^Etna’s snow ; and he is said to draw L.1000 a year
from one small portion lying on the north side of the
mountain. Great quantities of snow and ice are likewise
exported to Malta and Italy, making a considerable branch
of commerce. The snow of iEtna, says Captain Smyth,
is not only consumed in vast quantities all over the island,
but forms an extensive article of commerce with Malta
and Italy, to which places it is sent in such profusion as
to be sold from a penny to threepence the pound, a rate
which renders it accessible to the lower orders.
In the middle of the snowy region stands the great
crater, or mouth of iEtna. Sir William Hamilton describes
the crater as a little mountain, about a quarter of a mile
perpendicular, and very steep, situated in the middle of a
gently inclining plain, of about nine miles in circumfer¬
ence. It is entirely formed of stones and ashes; and, as
he was informed by several people of Catania, had been
thrown up about 25 or 30 years before the time (1769) he
visited Mount ./Etna. Before this mountain was thrown
up, there was only a prodigiously large chasm or gulf in
the middle of the above-mentioned plain ; and it has been
remarked, that about once in 100 years the top of iEtna
falls in ; which undoubtedly must be the case at certain
periods, otherwise the mountain would continually increase
in height. As this little mountain, though emitting smoke
from every pore, appeared solid and firm, Sir William
Hamilton and his companions went up to the very top.
In the middle is a hollow, about two miles and a half in
circumference, according to Sir William Hamilton ; three
miles and a half, according to Mr Brydone ; and three or
four, according to M. D’Orville. The inside is crusted
over with salts and sulphur of different colours. It goes
shelving down from the top, like an inverted cone; the
depth, in Sir William Hamilton’s opinion, nearly corre¬
sponding to the height of the little mountain. From many
places of this space issue volumes of sulphurous smoke,
which being much heavier than the circumambient air,
instead of ascending in it, roll down the side of the moun¬
tain, till, coming to a more dense atmosphere, it shoots
off horizontally, and forms a large track in the air, accord¬
ing to the direction of the wind; which, happily for our tra¬
vellers^ carried it exactly to the side opposite to that on
which they stood. In the middle of this funnel is the tre¬
mendous and unfathomable gulf, so much celebrated in
all ages, both as the terror of this life and the place of
punishment in the next. From this gulf continually issue
terrible and confused noises, which in eruptions are in¬
creased to such a degree as to be heard at a prodigious
distance. Its diameter is probably very different at dif¬
ferent times; for Sir William Hamilton observed, by the
wind clearing away the smoke from time to time, that the
inverted hollow cone was contracted almost to a point;
while M. D’Orville and Mr Brydone found the opening
very large. Both Mr Brydone and Sir William Hamilton
found the crater too hot to descend into it; but M. D’Or¬
ville was bolder; and accordingly, he and his fellow-tra¬
veller, fastened to ropes which two or three men held at
a distance tor fear of accidents, descended as near as pos¬
sible to the brink of the gulf; but the small flames and
smoke which issued from it on every side, and a greenish
sulphur, and pumice stones, quite black, which covered M
the margin, would not permit them to come so near as to
have a full view. They only saw distinctly, in the middle
a mass of matter which rose in the shape of a cone, to the5
height of above 60 feet, and which towards the base, as
far as their sight could reach, might be 600 or 800 feet.
While they were observing this substance, some motion
was perceived on the north side, opposite to that whereon
they stood; and immediately the mountain began to send
forth smoke and ashes. This eruption was preceded by a
sensible increase of its internal roarings; which, however
did not continue, but, after a moment’s dilatation, as if to
give it vent, the volcano resumed its former tranquillity;
but as it was bj no means proper to make a long stay in
such a place, our travellers immediately returned to their
attendants.
The top of ./Etna being above the common region oD’i^J
vapours, the heavens appear with exceeding great splen-1’1 ial
dour. Mr Brydone and his company observed, as they1" 1
ascended in the night, that the number of stars seemed
to be indefinitely increased, and the light of each of them
appeared brighter than usual; the whiteness of the milky
way was like a pure flame which shot across the heavens;
and with the naked eye they could observe clusters of
stars that were invisible from below. Had Jupiter been
visible, he is of opinion that some of his satellites might
have been discovered with the naked eye, or at least with
a very small pocket-glass. He likewise took notice of
several of those meteors called falling stars, which ap¬
peared as much elevated as when viewed from the plain;
a proof, according to Mr Brydone, that “ these bodies
move in regions much beyond the bounds that some phi¬
losophers have assigned to our atmosphere.”
To have a full and clear prospect from the summit of
Mount iEtna, it is necessary to be there before sunrise,
as the vapours raised by the sun in the daytime will ob¬
scure every object. Accordingly, our travellers took care
to arrive there early enough; and all agree, that the
beauty of the prospect from thence cannot be described.
Here Mr Brydone and Sir William Hamilton had a view
of Calabria in Italy, with the sea beyond it; the Lipari
islands, and Stromboli, a volcano at about 70 miles dis¬
tance, appeared just under their feet: the whole island
of Sicily, with its rivers, towns, harbours, &c. appeared
distinct, as if seen on a map. Massa, a Sicilian author,
affirms, that the African coast, as well as that of Naples,
with many of its islands, has been discovered from the
top of ./Etna. The visible horizon here is no less than
800 or 900 miles in diameter. The pyramidal shadow of
the mountain reaches across the whole island, and far into
the sea on the other side, forming a visible track in the
air, which, as the sun rises above the horizon, is shortened,
and at last confined to the neighbourhood of ./Etna. The
most beautiful part of the scene, however, in Mr Bry-
done’s opinion, is the mountain itself, the island of Sicily,
and the numerous islands lying round it. These last seem
to be close to the skirts of ./Etna, the distances appearing
reduced to nothing.
M. Houel gives the following description of the view
he enjoyed from the summit of the mountain. Here,
being sheltered from the wind, and the day advancing,
they began to enjoy the glorious prospect, which every
moment became more extensive. At the rising of the
sun, the horizon was serene, without a single cloud. “ The
coast of Calabria,” says our author, “‘was as yet undis-
tinguishable from the adjoining sea ; but in a short time a
fiery radiance began to appear from behind the Italian
hills which bounded the eastern part of the prospect.
iE T N A.
The fleecy clouds, which generally appear early in the
kvK morning, were tinged with purple ; the atmosphere became
r str0ngly illuminated, and, reflecting the rays of the rising
sun, appeared filled with a bright effulgence of flame. The
immense elevation of the summit of ./Etna made it catch
the first rays of the sun’s light, whose vast splendour, while
it dazzled the eyes, diffused a most cherishing and enliven¬
ing heat, reviving the spirits, and diffusing a pleasant sen¬
sation throughout the soul. But though the heavens were
thus enlightened, the sea still retained its dark azure, and
the fields and forests did not yet reflect the rays of the
sun. The gradual rising of this luminary, however, soon
diffused his light over the hills which lie below the peak
of iEtna. This last stood like an island in the midst of
the ocean, with luminous points every moment multiplying
around, and spreading over a wider extent with the greatest
rapidity. It was as if the universe had been observed
suddenly springing from the night of non-existence. The
tall forests, the lofty hills, and extensive plains of iEtna,
now presented themselves to view. Its base, the vast
tracts of level ground which lie adjacent, the cities of Si¬
cily, its parched shores, with the dashing waves and vast
expanse of the ocean, gradually presented themselves;
while some fleeting vapours, which moved swiftly before
the wind, sometimes veiled part of this vast and magnifi¬
cent prospect.” In a short time every thing was display¬
ed so distinctly that they could plainly recognise all those
places with which they were before acquainted. On the
south were seen the hills of Camerata and Trapani; on the
north, the mounts Pelegrino and Thermini, with the cele¬
brated Enna once crowned with the temples of Ceres and
Proserpine. Among these mountains were seen a great
many rivers running down, and appearing like as many
lines of glittering silver winding through a variety of rich
and fertile fields, washing the walls of 28 cities, while their
banks were otherwise filled with villages, hamlets, &c. ris¬
ing among the ruins of the most illustrious republics of
antiquity. On the south and north were observed the
rivers which bound by their course the vast base of Mount
iEtna, and afford a delightful prospect to the eye ; while
at a much greater distance were seen the isles of Lipari,
Alicudi, Felicocide, Parinacia, and Stromboli.
pgi<|l This mountain is divided into three parts or zones,
which are distinguished by the names of the Regions
Culta, the fertile or cultivated region ; the Regions Syl-
vosa, the woody or temperate region ; and the Regions
Deserta, the frigid or desert zone or region. All these are
plainly distinguished from the summit.
The desert region is a dreary waste of black lava, scoria,
and ashes, in the centre of which, in a desolate plain, rises
the cone, to the height of eleven hundred feet. Imme¬
diately under the cone is an edifice, erected at the ex¬
pense of the British officers who during the late war
were stationed in Sicily, containing rooms and stabling;
a great convenience to those travellers who resort to
it in the proper season, but during the greater part of
the year a single snow storm is sufficient to overwhelm it.
Not far from this house are the vestiges of a brick build¬
ing, called the Philosopher s Tower, from the supposition
of its having been the dwelling of Empedocles. M. Houel,
however, says, “ it seems not to be very ancient, neither
the materials of which it consists, nor the mode of archi¬
tecture, bearing any resemblance to those of the Greeks
i . or Romans.”
tfv| ' . Immediately below the desert region is the woody
region, which is an extensive forest of about six or seven
miles in length, encircling the mountain, and affording
pasturage to the numerous flocks and herds that are
fed there. The woods are irregularly distributed, ac-
VOL. II.
201
cording to the ravages of the lava, and the senseless de- jEtna.
struction of them by the natives. The neighbourhood of
Maletto is richly clothed with fine oaks, pines, and poplars ;
above Nicolosi and Milo are produced stunted oaks, with
fir, beech, cork, hawthorn, and bramble; and in the dis--
tricts of Mascali and Piraino there are groves of cork, and
luxuriant chesnut trees. The vicinity of Bronte abounds
with pines of great magnitude; but the Carpinetto boasts
that father of the forest, the venerable Castagno di cento
cavalli, or chesnut of the hundred horses, supposed to be
one of the oldest known trees, and, as far as is known, the
largest tree in Europe. Some travellers describe it as a
single tree ; others, and with more plausibility, as produced
by the inosculation of several young chesnut trees. It ap¬
pears to consist of five large and two smaller trees. The
largest trunk Captain Smyth found to measure 38 feet in
circumference, and the circuit of the whole five, measured
just above the ground, is 163 feet. It still bears rich fo¬
liage, and much small fruit, though the heart of the trunk
is decayed, and a public road leads through them. Be¬
sides this, there is abundance of other trees in the neigh¬
bourhood, very remarkable for their size. One is men¬
tioned as being upwards of 70 feet in circumference.
Many parts of this region are remarkably picturesque,
and even romantic; and its cool temperature is extreme¬
ly grateful when contrasted with the heat of the lower
region.
“ These majestic forests of jEtna,” says Houel, “ afford a
singular spectacle, and bear no resemblance to those of
other countries. Their verdure is more lively, and the
trees of which they consist are of a greater height. These
advantages they owe to the soil whereon they grow ; for
the soil produced by volcanoes is particularly favourable
to vegetation, and every species of plants grows here with
great luxuriance. In several places, where we can view
their interior parts, the most enchanting prospects are dis¬
played. The hawthorn trees are of an immense size. Our
author saw several of them of a regular form, and which
he was almost tempted to take for large orange trees cut
artificially into the figures they represented. The beeches
appear like as many ramified pillars, and the tufted branch¬
es of the oak like close bushes impenetrable to the rays of
the sun. The appearance of the woods in general is ex¬
ceedingly picturesque, both by reason of the great number
and variety of the trees, and the inequality of the ground,
which makes them rise like the seats in an amphitheatre,
one row above another; disposing them also in groups and
glades, so that their appearance changes to the eye at
every step; and this variety is augmented by accidental
circumstances, as the situation of young trees among
others venerable for their antiquity; the effects of storms,
which have often overturned large trees, while stems
shooting up from their roots, like the Lernsean hydra,
show a number of heads newly sprung to make up that
which was cut off.”
Several extensive caverns occur in this region, among
which, one is well known by the name of the Goats Ca¬
vern or Grotto, because it is frequented by those animals,
which take refuge there in bad weather. Formerly tra¬
vellers on their ascent rested here, but since the erection
of the more convenient shelter higher up the mountain,
called the English House, it has been abandoned.
The fertile district or region comprises the delightful Regione
country round the skirts of the mountain, and is veryCuita.
unequal in its dimensions, being in many parts from six
to nine miles broad, and above Catania nearly eleven ;
while on the northern side, where the woods encroach, it
is little more than half a mile broad. The whole is more
or less covered with towns, villages, and monasteries, and
2 c
202
iE T N A.
jEtna. is well peopled, notwithstanding the danger of such a situa-
tion. The soil is made up of decomposed lava and tuffa.
It is easily worked and very productive, yielding the finest
corn, oil, wine, fruit, and aromatic shrubs, in Sicily. The
inhabitants, however, of many of these districts, as Smyth
remarks, from the numerous minute particles of volcanic
dust that fly about, severely injuring and disfiguring their
eyes, and soiling their persons, their furniture, and their
houses, have a squalid, slovenly, and dejected appearance.
These circumstances, with the want of water, and the nu¬
merous and arid patches of lava amidst the surrounding
vegetation, leave such a paradise little to be envied. In
addition to these inconveniences, the constant danger of
losing both landed and movable property by an erup¬
tion must be borne in mind; a disaster compared with
which, earthquakes, hurricanes, plagues, and other visita¬
tions are light, as these may be counteracted in a few
years, while the other destroys for ages. The terrible erup¬
tion of 1699 burst forth in this region.
In this region the river Acts, so much celebrated by the
poets, in the fable of Acis and Galatea, takes its rise. It
bursts out of the earth at once in a large stream, runs
with great rapidity, and about a mile from the source throws
itself into the sea.
Season for The most desirable season, according to Smyth, for as-
ascending cending the mountain, is during the full moons that occur
taf m°Un* between the middle of June and the first autumnal 1’ains.
The latter appear in the form of snow on the summit; and
the peasants below attentively observe whether the east or
west side is covered earliest, because in the former case
they expect a wet season, and in the latter a dry one.
After the equinox the weather again becomes settled, and
the journey is practicable and easy until the middle of
October. The ascent from Catania, through Nicolosi, to
the English house, is effected on mules with the greatest
ease, or even in a Lettiga ; but from thence to the top of the
. cone the journey is very fatiguing. The obstacles are nu¬
merous : the surface, towards the summit, is frequently so
hot as to make even resting inconvenient, and the materials,
being only scoria, puzzolana, and triturated ashes, occasion
the foot to sink and recede more or less at every step.
Geognosti- This mighty mountain, which rises suddenly from the
cal struc- surrounding low country, is mostly composed of porphyri-
ture‘ tic lavas, which in every instance possess such characters
as show that in all probability they have been ejected above
the surface of the waters, and not under pressure. It rises
out of a basaltic crater of elevation, hence its lower part
is of a basaltic nature. The products of the eruptions of
this mountain, in point of magnitude, form a striking con¬
trast with those of Vesuvius; for even the greatest bodies
of lava erupted from the Neapolitan mountain almost sink
into insignificance when compared with those of TEtna
some of the streams or coulees of iEtna being four or five
miles in breadth, 15 in length, and from 50 to 100 feet in
thickness.
The elevation of iEtna, too, is so great that the lava fre¬
quently finds less resistance in piercing the flanks of the
mountain than in rising to its summit; and has in this man¬
ner formed a number of minor cones, many of which pos¬
sess their respective craters, and have given rise to con¬
siderable streams of lava. The most striking and original
feature in the physiognomy of iEtna, says Dr Daubeny,
is the zone of subordinate volcanic hills with which it is
encompassed, and which look like a court of subaltern
princes waiting upon their sovereign. Of these, some are
covered with vegetation, others are bare and arid, their
relative antiquity being probably denoted by the progress
vegetation has made upon their surface; and the great
difference which exists in this respect seems to indicate,
that the mountain, to which they owe their origin, must
have been in a state of activity, if not at a period ante¬
cedent to the commencement of the present order of things,
at least at a distance of time exceedingly remote. It
must be remarked, however, continues Daubeny, that the
time which it takes to bring a volcanic mountain or stream
of lava into cultivation is very variable ;l and that the
progress is generally more rapid in a cone composed of
finely comminuted cinders, than in a stream of lava, which
consists of a hard glossy substance, that yields but slowly
to the causes of decomposition. There is nothing in the
nature of lava, chemically considered, prejudicial to vege¬
tation ; but mechanically, the hard surface is inimical,
as it gives no support to the tender shoots, and from its
vesicularity often carries off all the moisture that falls on its
surface. From these causes, the surface of a stream of
lava must always require a long time to bring it into cul¬
tivation. This being the case, we naturally feel desirous
of verifying an observation reported by Brydone, on the
authority of the canon Recupero, which might render us
doubtful as to the correctness of our received chronologies.
This writer, says Dr Daubeny, after giving an instance of
a lava, the date of which goes back to the time of the
second Punic war, proceeds to state, that at Aci Reale we
see seven such beds superimposed one on the other, each
of which has its surface thoroughly decomposed and con¬
verted into rich vegetable mould. Now, if a single bed of
lava has continued for more than 2000 years without ex¬
periencing any alteration, what a lapse of time must it
have required to reduce seven successive beds of the same
material into a state of such decomposition.
“ Although I have no reason,” says Dr Daubeny, “ to
doubt that Brydone received from Recupero the observa-
1 “ This will appear from the following statement of the condition of a few of the lavas of Vesuvius, which I examined with reference
to this question in 1823 :
Lava of 1551—Fossa di Gaetano. Much decomposed; heaths grow upon it, and vines begin to be planted.
1737—But little decomposed; moss alone grows on it.
1760.—Near the hill of the Camalduli. Still unfit for vegetation ; surface, however, whitened and crumbly, owing to
decomposition, which has proceeded farther than in that of 1737.
1771.—Colour grey; moss grows upon it, but no heath.
1785—Fossa di Sventurato. Lava still quite hard and rough.
1794.—I ossa di Cucazzello. Surface much decomposed ; moss grows upon it, and a few heaths, but no trees or shrubs. It
is to be observed, that even the latter are met with on the surface of the crater from which this lava flowed, and
which was formed by heaps of scoriae ejected at the same time ; a proof of what I have asserted in the text with
respect to the more rapid decomposition ofloose ashes than of a bed of lava.
1805—Fossa del Noce. Colour very white ; no moss appears to grow upon it; but, being covered with the loose scoria- of
later eruptions, it has trees growing upon it in a few' parts.
1810—Colour grey ; surface rough, though somewhat decomposed ; moss grows upon it, but no heaths or trees are seen,
except in one part where it is covered with cinders.
• 1822—Colour black; surface very rough and irregular; no moss as yet to be seen.
It will be seen that many of these lavas are in a more forward state than that of Ischia, which flowed in 1302, more than 200 years
before.” (Daubeny's Volcanoes, p. 204.)
iE T N A.
203
tion on which he grounds his inferences, I think it most
L/'-fw-'probable that the conclusion itself was his own, though he
perhaps thought it would sound more piquant if put into
the mouth of the Canon, whose scientific knowledge he
seems willing to exalt at the expense of his orthodoxy.
In reality, however, this good priest appears to have, en¬
joyed in both respects a reputation which he very little
deserved. The reports of Dolomieu and other really scien¬
tific travellers make him out to have been a man of but
slender philosophical attainments, but as one who at least
was free from all imputation of scepticism. It is curious,
nevertheless, that another foreigner has stated, as an in¬
stance of the intolerant spirit prevailing in the country in
which he lived, that the poor Abbe was thrown into pri¬
son for his religious opinions, although the truth appears
to have been, that the reports circulated in his favour by
Brydone, Borch, and others, induced the Neapolitan go¬
vernment to grant him a pension on the score of his scien¬
tific deserts. Indeed, the only annoyance, it is said, he
ever experienced in consequence of his imagined disco¬
very, was the being informed that certain foreigners, to
whom he communicated his observation, not content with
wresting it to a purpose of which he had never dreamt,
had given him credit for the inferences which th'y had
chosen to deduce from it themselves.
“ The fact, nevertheless, reported by Brydone, obtain¬
ed a currency proportionate to the popularity which his
work enjoyed; and the heterodox conclusion excited at
the time no slight degree of consternation among divines.
It was generally combated, by remarking the great vari¬
ableness as to the period which a bed of lava will take to
undergo decomposition ; and even Spallanzani, though he
visited Sicily, seems to have contented himself with point-
ingout instances in which newer beds of lava have taken the
start of older ones in their progress towards cultivation.
“ I was therefore not a little surprised, when, on visit¬
ing the celebrated spot of the Abbe’s observation, I found
that the beds of vegetable mould, which proved, accord¬
ing to Brydone, the degree to which the decomposition of
the lava had extended, were in reality nothing more nor
less than beds of a ferruginous tuffa, formed probably at
the very period of the flowing of the lava, and originating
perhaps from a shower of ashes that immediately succeed¬
ed its eruption. It is true that the cliff, which exhibits a
section of these lava beds with interposed tuffa, shows also
the greater facility with which the latter has yielded to
the action of the elements, as the bare and mural preci¬
pices presented by the lava are in contrast with the gentler
slope of the beds of tuffa, which afford a soil sufficient for
the hardy cactus, and in some places even for the vine.
Still there is not the slightest evidence that the decom¬
position exists internally, or that it had taken place in
any one instance before the superincumbent bed of lava
was deposited.
“ Even had the tuffa in question been in xedSXy vegetable
mould, the validity of Mr Brydone’s conclusion might
very easily be disputed, for I think it cannot be shown
that any one of the beds, of which the cliff of Aci Reale
exposes a section, are of postdiluvial origin. So abrupt
and lofty a face of rock would hardly have been cut by
processes now in operation, but may be attributed with
more probability to the cause which last reduced our con¬
tinents to their existing form.
“ If we examine, too, the characters of these beds, we
shall find them sufficiently distinguished by their greater
compactness and stony aspect from modern lavas; whilst
the general correspondence in mineralogical characters
that exists between them all, affords a strong presumption
of their having been produced about the same period.
“ But it is useless to multiply proofs of the fallacy of ^tna.
Mr Brydone’s statement; and the only circumstance that^^v^-
needs surprise us is, that thirty years should have elapsed
without any traveller having visited the spot with the view
of ascertaining the correctness of the observation.
“ Should the high antiquity I have assigned to this
volcano be questioned, I may remark, that there are valleys
on the slope of the mountain which appeared to me too
considerable to be the result of torrents, and that among *
the diluvial matter at its foot, I have found rolled masses
of cellular as well as compact lava; the presence of the
former seeming to prove that the volcano was in activity
at some period intermediate between the general retreat
of the ocean and the event which formed the valleys, and
reduced the fragments of rock detached to the rounded
condition in which we observe them.” (Daubeny’s Volca¬
noes, p. 206.)
We shall close this article with an enumeration of all
the different eruptions from Mount /Etna which are found
upon record.
1. The first is that of which Diodorus Siculus speaks, List of
but without fixing the period at which it happened. That eruptions,
eruption, says he, obliged the Sicani, who then inhabited
Sicily, to forsake the eastern and retire to the southern
part of the island. A long time after that, the Sicilians,
a people of Italy, migrated into Sicily, and took up their
abode in that part of the island which had been left desert
by the Sicani.
2. The second eruption known to have issued from this
volcano is the first of the three mentioned by Thucydides;
of none of which he fixes the date, mentioning only in
general, that from the arrival of the first Greek colonies
that settled in Sicily (which was in the 11th Olympiad,
and corresponds to the 734th year before the Christian
era), to the 88th Olympiad, or the year 425 before Christ,
iEtna at three different times discharged torrents of fire.
This second eruption happened, according to Eusebius, in
the days of Phalaris, in the 565th year before the Chris¬
tian era. The assertion of Eusebius is confirmed by a
letter from that tyrant to the citizens of Catania, and by the
answer of the Catanians (if, after Bentley’s Dissertations
against their authenticity, any credit be due to the Epistles
of Phalaris). But Diodorus gives both these pieces.
3. The third, which is the second of the three mention¬
ed by Thucydides, happened in the 65th Olympiad, in the
477th year before the Christian era, when Xantippus was
archon at Athens. It was in this year that the Athenians
gained their boasted victory over Xerxes’s general Mar-
donius near Plataea. Both the eruption of the volcano
and the victory of the Athenians are commemorated
in an ancient inscription on a marble table, which still
remains. An ancient medal exhibits a representation
of an astonishing deed to which that eruption gave oc¬
casion. Two heroic youths boldly ventured into the midst
of the flames to save their parents : their names, which
well deserve to be transmitted to future ages, were Amphi-
nomus and Anapius. The citizens of Catania rewarded so
noble a deed with a temple and divine honours. Seneca,
Silius Italicus, Valerius Maximus, and other ancient authors,
mention the heroism of the youths with just applause.
4. The fourth eruption, the third and last of those
mentioned by Thucydides, broke out in the 88th Olympiad,
in the 425th year before the Christian era. It laid waste
the territory of Catania.
5. The fifth is mentioned by Julius Obsequens and Oro-
sius, who date it in the consulship of Sergius Fulvius
Flaccus and Quintus Calpurnius Piso, nearly 133 years
before the Christian era. It was considerable; but no
peculiar facts are related concerning it.
JE T
6. In the consulship of Lucius iEmilius Lepidus and
Lucius Aurelius Orestes, in the 125th year before the
Christian era, Sicily suffered by a violent earthquake.
Such a deluge of fire streamed from iEtna as to render the
adjoining sea, into which it poured, absolutely hot. Orosius
says, that a prodigious quantity of fishes were destroyed
by it. Julius Obsequens relates, that the inhabitants of
the Isles of Lipari ate such a number of those fishes as to
suffer, in consequence of it, by a distemper which proved
very generally mortal.
7. Four years after the last mentioned, the city of Ca¬
tania was desolated by another eruption, not less violent.
Orosius relates, that the roofs of the houses were broken
down by the burning ashes which fell upon them. It was
so dreadfully ravaged, that the Romans found it necessary
to grant the inhabitants an exemption from all taxes for
the space of ten years, to enable them to repair it.
8. A short time before the death of Caesar, in the 43d
3^ear before Jesus Christ, there was an eruption from
Mount ./Etna. Livy mentions it. Rhegium suffered dur¬
ing this eruption. It was afterwards considered as an
omen of the death of Caesar.
9. Suetonius, in the life of Caligula, mentions an erup¬
tion from Mount /Etna which happened in the 40th year
after the Christian era. The emperor fled on the very
night on which it happened, from Messina, where he at
that time happened to be.
10. Carrera relates, that in the year 253 there was an
eruption from Mount .Etna.
11. He speaks of another in the year 420, which is also
mentioned by Photius.
12. In the reign of Charlemagne, in the year 812, there
was an eruption from Etna. Charlemagne, who witness¬
ed it, was much alarmed.
13. In the year 1169, on the 4th February, about day¬
break, there was an earthquake in Sicily, which was felt
as far as Reggio, on the opposite side of the strait. Ca¬
tania was reduced by it to ruins; and in that city more
than 15,000 souls perished. The bishop, with 44 monks
of the order of St Benedict, was buried under the ruins
of the roof of the church of St Agatha. Many castles in
the territories of Catania and Syracuse were overturned;
new rivers burst forth, and ancient rivers disappeared.
The ridge of the mountain was observed to sink in on the
side next Taormino. The spring of Arethusa, so famous
for the purity and sweetness of its waters, then became
muddy and brackish. The fountain of Ajo, which rises
from the village of Saraceni, ceased to flow for two hours,
at the end of which the water gushed out more copiously
than before. Its waters assumed a blood colour, and re¬
tained it for about an hour. At Messina, the sea, without
any considerable agitation, retired a good way beyond its
ordinary limits; but soon after returning, it rose beyond
them, advanced to the walls of the city, and entered the
streets through the gates. A number of people who had
fled to the shore for safety were swallowed up by the
waves. Ludovico Aurelio relates, that the vines, corn,
and trees of all sorts were burnt up, and the fields cover¬
ed over with such a quantity of stones as rendered them
unfit for cultivation. At this time a great part of Syria
was wasted by an earthquake.
14. Twelve years after this, in the year 1181, a dread¬
ful eruption issued from Etna, on the east side. Streams
of fire ran down the declivity of the mountain, and en¬
circled the church of St Stephen, but without burning it.
Nicholas Speciale, who relates, though he did not see,
this event, was witness to another conflagration on Etna
48 years after this, in the year 1329, on the 23d of June,
of which he has given a description.
N A.
15. On that day, says he, about the hour of vespers
Etna was strongly convulsed, and uttered dreadful noises:
not only the inhabitants of the mountain, but all Sicily,
were struck with consternation and alarm. On a sudden'
a terrible blaze of fire issued from the southern summit
and spread over the rocks of Mazzara, which are always
covered with snow. Together with the fire, there appear¬
ed a great deal of smoke. After sunset, the flames, and
the stones that issued out with them, were seen to touch
the clouds. The fire making way for itself with the most
furious impetuosity, burnt up or reduced to ruins all those
structures which the piety of former times had consecrat¬
ed to the Deity. The earth yawning, swallowed up a
great many springs and rivulets. Many of the rocks on
the shore of Mascali were shaken and dashed into the
sea. A succession of these calamities continued till the
15th of July, when the bowels of Etna were again heard
to rebellow. The conflagration of Mazzara still went on
unextinguished. The earth opened near the church of
St John, called II Paparmecca ; on the south side fire
issued from the gap with great violence. To add to the
horrors of the day, the sun was obscured from morning
to evening with clouds of smoke and ashes, as entirely as
in an eclipse. Nicholas Speciale went towards the new
opened crater, to observe the fire and the burning stones
which were issuing from the volcano. The earth rebel¬
lowed and tottered under his feet; and he saw red-hot
stones issue four times successively in a very short space
from the crater with a thundering noise, the like of which,
he says, he had never before heard.
In a few days after this, all the adjacent fields were
burnt up by a shower of fire and sulphurous ashes; and
both birds and quadrupeds, being thus left destitute of
food, died in great numbers. A great quantity of fishes
likewise died in the rivers and the contiguous parts of the
sea. “ I cannot think,” says he, “ that either Babylon or
Sodom was destroyed with such awful severity.”—The
north winds, which blew at the time, carried the ashes as
far as Malta. Many persons of both sexes died of terror.
16. Scarcely had four years elapsed after this terrible
event, when Etna made a new explosion, and discharged
volleys of stones, causing the neighbouring fields to trem¬
ble. This happened in the year 1333.
17. Forty-eight years after this, on the 25th of August
1381, an eruption from Etna spread its ravages over the
confines of the territory of Catania, and burnt up the olive
yards in the neighbourhood of that city.
18. In the year 1444, 63 years after the last eruption,
a torrent of lava issued from Etna, and ran towards Ca¬
tania. The mountain shook; and the shocks were so
violent, that several huge masses of rock were broken
from its summit, and hurled into the abyss with a tremen¬
dous noise.
19. After this Etna was scarcely at rest for 18 months
or two years. On Sunday the 25th of September 1446,
about an hour after sunset, an eruption issued from the
place called La Pietra di Mazzara. This eruption was
soon over.
20. In the following year, 1447, on the 21st of Septem¬
ber, there was another, with a good deal of fire; but this
eruption was likewise of short duration.
21. Etna now ceased to emit fire, and that for a con¬
siderable time. The neighbouring inhabitants not only
ascended to the summit of the mountain, but even, if we
may credit accounts, went down into the fiery gulf, and
believed the volcanic matter to be now exhausted. But
on the 25th of April 1536, near a century from the slight
eruption in 1447, a strong wind arose from the west, and
a thick cloud, reddish in the middle, appeared over the
.ETNA.
205
summit of the mountain. At the very same instant a
Vx -'L'large body of fire issued from the abyss, and fell, with the
noise and rapidity of a torrent, along the eastern side of
the mountain, breaking down the rocks, and destroying
the flocks and every other animal that was exposed to its
fury. From the same crater, on the summit of the moun¬
tain, there issued at the same time a stream of fire more
terrible than the other, and held its course towards the
west. It ran over Bronte, Adrans, and Castelli. It con¬
sisted entirely of sulphur and bitumen. On the same day
the church of St Leon, which stood in a wood, was first
demolished by the shocks of the earthquake, and its ruins
after that were consumed by the fire. Many chasms were
opened in the sides of the mountain; and from these
issued fire and burning stones, which darted up into the
air with a noise like that produced by a smart discharge
of artillery. Francis Negro de Piazza, a celebrated phy¬
sician, who lived at Lentini, wishing to have a nearer
view of the eruptions, and to make some observations
which he thought might be of consequence, was carried
off and burnt to ashes by a volley of the burning stones.
This conflagration of .Etna lasted some weeks.
22. In less than a year, on the 17th of April 1537, the
river Simeto swelled so amazingly as to overflow the ad¬
jacent plains, and carry off the country people, and their
cattle and other animals. At the same time, the country
around Paterno, the neighbouring castles, and more than
500 houses, were destroyed by the ravages of the river ;
and most of the wood was torn up by the roots by violent
blasts of wind. These ravages of the elements were fol¬
lowed by .Etna, which on the 11th of the following month
was rent in several places, disclosing fiery gulfs, and pour¬
ing out a deluge of fire in more terrible torrents than those
of the preceding year. They directed their course to¬
wards the monastery of St Nicholas d’Arena ; destroyed
the gardens and vineyards ; and proceeding onwards to¬
wards Nicolosi, burnt Montpellieri and Fallica, and de¬
stroyed the vineyards and most of the inhabitants. When
the conflagration ceased, the summit of the mountain sunk
inward with such a noise, that all the people in the island
believed the last day arrived, and prepared for their end
by extreme unction. These dreadful disturbances con¬
tinued throughout the whole year, more especially in the
months of July and August, during which all Sicily was
in mourning. The smoke, the noise, and the shocks of
the earthquake, affected the whole island ; and if Filotes
may be believed, who relates this event, many of the
Sicilians were struck deaf by the noise. Many structures
were demolished; and among others the castle of Cor-
leone, though more than 25 leagues distant from the
volcano.
23. During the succeeding 30 years there was no dis¬
turbance of this nature. At the end of that space, Sicily
was alarmed by a new eruption from the mountain. Etna
discharged new streams of fire, and covered the adjacent
country with volcanic ashes, which entirely ruined the
hopes of the husbandman.
2L In the year 1579 Etna renewed its ravages; but
[ no particular account of the damage which it did upon
this occasion has been transmitted to us.
25. Twenty-five years had elapsed, when Etna, in the
month of June 1603, flamed with new fury. Peter Car¬
rera affirms that it continued to emit flames for the space
ot 33 years, till 1636, without interruption, but not always
with the same violence. In 1607 the streams of lava
which flowed from it destroyed the woods and vineyards
on the west side of the mountain. In 1609 they turned
their course towards Aderno, and destroyed a part of the
forest Del Pino, and a part of the wood called La Sciam-
brita, with many vineyards in the district Costerna. These Etna,
torrents of lava continued to flow for three months.
the year 1614 a new effort of the subterraneous fire open¬
ed another crater, from which fire was discharged on
Randazzo, in the district called U Piro. The fire continued
to flame for 10 or 12 years longer.
26. The same Peter Carrera relates, that a dreadful
conflagration happened in the year 1664, of which he
himself was witness. It happened on the 13th of Decem¬
ber, and lasted without interruption, but with different
degrees of violence, till the end of May 1678. But in
1669 the inhabitants of Nicolosi were obliged to forsake
their houses, which tumbled down soon after they left
them. The crater on the summit of Etna had not at
this time a threatening aspect, and every thing there con¬
tinued quiet till the 25th of March : but on the 8th of
that month, an hour before night, the air was observed to
become dark over the village La Pedara and all that neigh¬
bourhood ; and the inhabitants of that country thought
that an almost total eclipse was taking place. Soon after
sunset, frequent shocks of earthquakes began to be felt:
these were at first weak, but continued till day-break to
become more and more terrible. Nicolosi was more af¬
fected than any other tract of country on that side of Etna.
About noon every house was thrown to the ground; and
the inhabitants fled in consternation, invoking the protec¬
tion of heaven. On the 10th of March a chasm several
miles in length, and five or six feet wide, opened in the
side of the mountain ; from which, about two hours before
day, there arose a bright light, and a very strong sulphur¬
ous exhalation was diffused through the atmosphere.
About 11 in the forenoon of the same day, after dread¬
ful shocks of earthquake, a crater was opened in the hill
called Des Noisettes, from which there issued huge volumes
of smoke, not accompanied with fire, ashes, or stones, but
with loud and frequent claps of thunder, displaying all the
different phenomena with which thunder is at different
times attended. And what was very remarkable, the chasm
was formed on the south side, between the top and the
bottom of the mountain. On the same day another chasm,
was formed two miles lower, from which issued a great
deal of smoke, accompanied with a dreadful noise and
earthquake. Towards the evening of the same day, four
other chasms were opened towards the south, in the same
direction, accompanied during their formation with the
same phenomena, and extending all the way to the hill
called La Pusara.
About twelve paces beyond that, another of the same
kind was formed. On the succeeding night, a black smoke,
involving a quantity of stones, issued from this last chasm:
it discharged at the same time flakes of a dark-coloured
spongy matter, which became hard after they fell. There
issued from the same gulf a stream of lava, which held its
course into a lake called La Hardia, six miles from Mont¬
pellieri, and on its way thither destroyed many dwelling-
houses and other buildings in the neighbouring villages.
On the next day, March 12th, this stream of fire di¬
rected its course towards the tract of country called Mal-
passo, which is inhabited by 800 people: in the space of
20 hours it was entirely depopulated and laid waste. The
lava then took a new direction, in which it destroyed some
other villages.
The mount of Montpellieri was next destroyed, with all
the inhabitants upon it.
On the 23d of the same month, the stream of fire was
in some places two miles broad. It now attacked the
large village of Mazzalucia; and on the same day a vast
gulf was formed, from which were discharged sand or
ashes, which produced a hill with two summits, two miles
iE T N A.
in circumference, and 150 paces high. It wag observed
'to consist of yellow, white, black, grey, red, and green
stones.
The new mount of Nicolosi continued to emit ashes for
the space of three months ; and the quantity discharged
was so great as to cover all the adjoining tract of country
for the space of 15 miles. Some of these ashes were con¬
veyed by the winds as far as Messina and Calabria ; and'
a north wind arising, covered all the southern country
about Agosta, Lentini, and even beyond that, in the same
manner.
While at that height on Nicolosi so many extraordinary
appearances were passing, the highest crater on the sum¬
mit of iEtna still preserved its usual tranquillity.
On the 25th of March, about one in the morning, the
whole mountain, even to the most elevated peak, wras agi¬
tated by a most violent earthquake. The highest crater
of iEtna, which was one of the loftiest parts of the moun¬
tain, then sunk into the volcanic focus ; and in the place
which it had occupied, there now appeared nothing but a
wide gulf more than a mile in extent, from which there
issued enormous masses of smoke, ashes, and stones. At
that period, according to the historian of this event, the
famous block of lava on Mount Frumento was discharged
from the volcanic focus.
In a short time after, the torrent of fire, which still
continued to flow, directed its course towards Catania with
redoubled noise, and accompanied with a much greater
quantity of ashes and burning stones than before. For
several months many most alarming shocks of earthquakes
were felt, and the city was threatened with destruction
by the torrent of fire. In vain they attempted to turn or
divert its course: the lava rose over the walls, and enter¬
ed by an angle near the Benedictine convent on the 11th
of June following. This awful events related by Francis
Monaco, Charles Mancius, Vincent Auria, and Thomas
Thedeschi.
A description of the lava issuing from Mount Aiitna in
1669 was sent to the court of England by Lord Winchel-
sea, who at that time happened to be at Catania on his
way home from an embassy to Constantinople. Sir W.
Hamilton gives the following extract from it. “ When it
was night, I went upon two towers in divers places ; and
I could plainly see, at ten miles distance, as we judged,
the fire begin to run from the mountain in a direct line,
the flame to ascend as high and as big as one of the great¬
est steeples in your Majesty’s kingdoms, and to throw up
great stones into the air. I could discern the river of fire
to descend the mountain, of a terrible fiery or red colour,
and stones of a paler red to swim thereon, and to be some
as big as an ordinary table. We could see this fire to move
in several other places, and all the country covered with
fire, ascending with great flames in many places, smoking
like a violent furnace of iron melted, making a noise with
the great pieces that fell, especially those that fell into the
sea. A cavalier of Malta, who lives there, and attended
me, told me, that the river was as liquid, where it issues
out of the mountain, as water, and comes out like a tor¬
rent with great violence, and is five or six fathom deep,
and as broad, and that no stones sink therein.”
The account given in the Philosophical Transactions is
to the same purpose. W’e are there told, that the lava is
“ nothing else than divers kinds of metals and minerals, ren¬
dered liquid by the fierceness of the fire in the bowels of
the earth, boiling up and gushing forth as the water doth
at the head of some great river; and having run in a full
body for a stone’s cast or more, began to crust or curdle,
becoming, when cold, those hard porous stones which the
people call sciarri. These, though cold in comparison of
what first issues from the mountain, yet retained so much
heat as to resemble huge cakes of sea-coal strongly ignited,1^ \j
and came tumbling over one another, bearing down or
burning whatever was in their way. In this manner the
lava proceeded slowly on till it came to the sea, when a
most extraordinary conflict ensued betwixt the two ad¬
verse elements. The noise ivas vastly more dreadful than
the loudest thunder, being heard through the whole coun¬
try to an immense distance ; the water seemed to retire
and diminish before the lava, while clouds of vapour dark¬
ened the sun. The whole fish on the coast were destroyed,
the colour of the sea itself was changed, and the trans¬
parency of its waters lost for many months.”
While this lava was issuing in such prodigious quantity,
the merchants, whose account is recorded in the Philoso¬
phical Transactions, attempted to go up to the mouth it¬
self, but durst not come nearer than a furlong, lest they
should have been overwhelmed by a vast pillar of ashes,
which to their apprehension exceeded twice the bigness
of St Paul’s steeple in London, and went up into the air to
a far greater height. At the mouth itself was a continual
noise, like the beating of great waves of the sea against
rocks, or like distant thunder, which was sometimes so
violent as to be heard 60, or even 100 miles off; to which
distance also part of the ashes was carried. Some time
after, having gone up, they found the mouth from whence
this terrible deluge issued to be only a hole about 10 feet
diameter. This is also confirmed by Mr Brydone; and is
probably the same through which Sir William Hamilton de¬
scended into the subterranean caverns already mentioned.
27. Some years after this conflagration, a new burning
gulf opened, in the month of December 1682, on the sum¬
mit of the mountain, and spread its lava over the hill of
Mazzara.
28. On the 24th of May 1686, about ten in the even¬
ing, a new eruption burst out from the summit of the
mountain, on the side contiguous to the hill Del Bue. Such
a quantity of inflamed matter was thrown out as consum¬
ed woods, vineyards, and crops of grain, for four leagues
round. It stopped its course in a large valley near the
castle of Mascali. Several people from the neighbourhood
had ascended a hill between the wood of Catania and the
confines of Cirrita, to observe the progress of the lava;
but the hill on a sudden sunk inwards, and they were
buried alive.
29. iLtna was now long quiet; for no less a space of
time indeed than one half of the present age. In the year
1755 its eruptions were renewed. During these eruptions,
there issued from the mountain a great torrent of boiling-
hot salt water.
This water took its course down the west side of theErJo#
mountain; and the channel which it cut for itself is still of j1
visible. The eruption of water from burning mountains is h'
still much less frequent than that of lava or half-vitrified
solid matters, ashes, &c. though that of water, and even
mixed with the shells of marine animals (though we are
not told whether it was salt or not), has sometimes been
observed in other volcanoes, particularly Vesuvius. The
eruption we now speak of happened in the month of Fe¬
bruary 1755. It was preceded by an exceedingly thick
black smoke issuing from the crater, intermixed with
flashes of fire. This smoke gradually became thicker, and
the bursts of flame more frequent. Earthquakes and sub¬
terraneous thunder convulsed the mountain, and struck
the inhabitants of the adjacent parts with the utmost terror.
On Sunday the 2d of March, the mountain was seen to
emit a huge column of smoke, exceedingly dense and
black, with a dreadful noise in the bowels of the earth,
accompanied also with violent flashes of lightning. From
iE T N A.
207
time to time there were loud cracks, like the explo-
v'L/gions of cannon; the mountain appeared to shake from its
' foundations; the air on that side next Mascali became
very dark, and loud peals of thunder were heard. These
seemed to issue from two caverns, considerably below the
summit, on the side of the mountain, and were accom¬
panied with violent blasts of wind like a tempest.
1 These terrible phenomena continued and increased.
jEtna seemed ready to swallow up at once all those ma¬
terials which it had been for so many years disgorging, or
rather about to sink at once into the bowels of the earth,
from whence it appeared to have been elevated. The
prospect was far beyond any idea that can be given by
description of this tremendous scene. The inhabitants
were alarmed beyond measure; the sight of the flames
driven by the winds against the sides of the mountain, the
shocks of the earthquake, and the fall of rocks, struck the
imagination with a horror not to be conceived. During
this dreadful commotion, an immense torrent of water was
emitted from the highest crater of the mountain. The
whole summit of iEtna was at that time covered with a
thick coating of snow. Through this the boiling water
directed its course eastward, and in its passage met with
frightful precipices. Over these it dashed with the ut¬
most violence, adding its tremendous roaring to the com¬
plicated horrors of this awful scene. The snow, melting
instantaneously as the boiling torrent advanced, increased
its destructive power by augmenting its quantity; while the
mischievous effects of the heat were scarcely diminished,
by reason of the immense quantity of boiling liquid which
continued to pour from the summit of the mountain.
This boiling torrent having dashed its awful cataracts
from one chain of rocks to another, at length reached the
cultivated plains, which it overflowed for a number of
miles. Here it divided itself into several branches, form¬
ing as many deep and rapid rivers, which, after several
other subdivisions, discharged themselves into the sea.
Though the mountain continued to discharge water in
this manner only for half an hour, the ravages of it were
very terrible. Not only those of common inundations,
such as tearing up trees, hurrying along rocks and large
stones, took place here, but the still more dreadful effects
of boiling water were felt. Every cultivated spot was laid
waste, and every thing touched by it was destroyed. Even
those who were placed beyond the reach of the torrent,
beheld with inexpressible horror the destruction occasion¬
ed by it; and though the alarming noises which had so
long issued from the mountain now ceased in a great
measure, the shocks of earthquakes, and the violent smoke
which continued to issue from the mountain, showed that
the danger was not over. Two new openings were now
observed, and two torrents of lava began to make their
way through the snow.
On the 7th of March a dreadful noise was again heard
in the bowels of the mountain, and a new column of very
thick and black smoke began to issue from it. A horrid
explosion of small stones succeeded, some of which were
carried as far as the hills of Mascali, and great quantities
of black sand to Messina, and even quite over the strait to
Reggio in Calabria. On the shifting of the wind to the
northward this sand reached as far as the plains of Agosta.
iwo days after, the mountain opened again, and a new
torrent of lava was discharged ; which, however, advanced
very slowly towards the plain, moving only at the rate of
a mile in a day. ' It continued to flow in this manner for
six days, when every thing appeared so quiet that the
canon Recupero set out to view the changes which had
taken place.
That gentleman’s design was to trace the course of the
dreadful torrent of water above mentioned. * This he was J<:;tna.
very easily enabled to do by the ravages it had made;
and, by following the channel it had cut all the way from bourse of
the sea to the summit of the volcano, he found that thisthecurrent
immense quantity of water had issued from the very bowels j>aced '°:v
of the mountain. After issuing from the crater, and in-1 eLupero*
creasing its stream by passing through and melting the
snow which lay immediately below the summit, it destroy¬
ed in an instant a fine and extensive forest of fir-trees. All
of these were torn up by the violence of the current, though
many were no less than from 24 to 30 inches in diame¬
ter. He observed that the great stream had in its descent
divided itself into four branches ; and these had again sub¬
divided themselves into several smaller ones, easily dis¬
tinguishable by the quantity of sand they had deposited.
Afterwards re-uniting their streams, they formed many
islands, and rivers 900 feet in breadth, and of a depth
which could not easily be determined. Proceeding farther
down, and still forcing its way among the beds of old lava,
the channel of the waters was widened to 1500 feet, until
it was again contracted in the valleys as before. Every
object which stood in the way of this tremendous torrent
was moved from its place. Enormous rocks were not only
hurried down, but several of them moved to more elevated
situations than those they formerly occupied. Whole hills
of lava had been removed and broken to pieces, and their
fragments scattered along the course of the river; and the
valleys were filled up by vast quantities of sand which the
waters had deposited. Our author observed, that even
at the time he visited the mountain, about ten years after
the eruption, the whole side of it still bore the marks of
this deluge.
30. In the year 1763 there was an eruption, which con¬
tinued three months, but with intervals. iEtna was at
first heard to rebellow. Flames and clouds of smoke were
seen to issue out, sometimes silver-coloured, and at other
times, when the rays of the sun fell upon them, of a pur¬
ple radiance. At length they were carried off by the
winds, and rained, as they were driven before them, a
shower of fire all the way to Catania and beyond it. An
eruption soon burst out: the principal torrent divided into
two branches, one of which ran towards the east, and fell
into a deep and extensive valley.
The flames which issued from this new crater afforded
a noble spectacle. A pyramid of fire was seen to rise to a
prodigious height in the air, like a beautiful artificial fire¬
work, with a constant and formidable battery, which
shook the earth under those who were spectators of the
scene. Torrents of melted matter, running down the sides
of the mountain, diffused a light bright as day through
the darkness of night.
At sunrising the burning lava was observed to have run
round some oaks that were still standing unburnt. Their
leaves were all withered. Some birds had fallen from
their branches, and been burnt to death. Some people
cast wood upon the lava, and it was immediately burnt.
This lava continued hot, and exhaled smoke, for two years.
For five years after this, no snow appeared on the summit
of iEtna.
31. In the year 1764 a new crater was opened at a
great distance from Mount iEtna.
32. In the year 1766 another was opened at the grotto
of Paterno : fire, smoke, and an inconsiderable torrent of
lava, issued out of it.
33. On the 27th of January 1780 a new opening was
formed two miles under the last-mentioned crater. On
the 28th of February and the 14th of March the earth¬
quake was renewed on the north side, and accompanied
with terrible noises.
208 iE T N
JE T O
vEtna, Between the 6th of April and the 7th of May the con-
vulsions were renewed, accompanied with noise as before.
A quantity of pumice stones and fine sand was dis¬
charged from it.
On the 18th of May the shocks were renewed. On the
23d a new crater was formed on the side of Mount Fru-
mento on the summit of iBtna, and from it a torrent of
lava discharged, which spread through the valley ofLau-
dunza. It was 200 paces in breadth. Two other chinks
were opened in the mountain near Paterno, and very near
one another. The lava issuing from them proceeded, in
the space of seven days, six miles ; on the 25th it had run
nine miles.
A new crater was likewise opened on the 25th, from
which a quantity of red-hot stones continued to issue for
half an hour, and fell at a very great distance. There pro¬
ceeded likewise from it a stream of lava, which in the
same space of time ran over a tract of country two miles
in extent.
Several parts of those streams of lava were observed to
be cold on the surface, and formed into solid masses, but
melted again by a new stream of burning lava, which,
however, did not melt the old lava.
Account 34. In 1787 there was a great eruption. From the 1st
of the to the 10th of July there were signs of its approach. On
eruption tpie nth, after a little calm, there was a subterraneous
in 1787. no;se) ]ike the sound of a drum in a close place, and it
was followed by a copious burst of black smoke. It was
then calm till the 15th, when the same prognostics re¬
curred. On the 17th the subterraneous noise was heard
again: the smoke was more abundant, slight shocks of an
earthquake followed, and the lava flowed from behind one
of the two little mountains which form the double head of
JEtna. On the 18th, while the spectators were in anxious
expectation of a more severe eruption, all was quiet, and
continued so for more than 12 hours. Soon after they per¬
ceived some new shocks, accompanied with much noise ;
and the mountain threw out a thick smoke, which, as the
wind was westerly, soon darkened the eastern horizon.
Two hours afterwards a shower of fine black brilliant sand
descended : on the east side it was a storm of stones, and
at the foot of the mountain a deluge of flashes of fire, of
scoria and lava. 4
These appearances continued the whole day. At the
setting of the sun the scene changed: a number of
conical flames rose from the volcano; one on the north,
another on the south, were very conspicuous, and rose and
fell alternately. At three in the morning, the mountain
appeared cleft, and the summit seemed a burning mass.
The cones of light which arose from the crater were of an
immense extent, particularly the two just mentioned. The
two heads seemed to be cut away; and at their separation
was a cone of flame, seemingly composed of many lesser
cones. The flame seemed of the height of the mountain
placed on the mountain, so that it was probably two miles
high, on a base of a mile and a half in diameter. This cone
was still covered with a very thick smoke, in which there
appeared very brilliant flashes of lightning, a phenomenon
which vEtna had not before afforded. At times, sounds
like those from the explosion of a large cannon were heard,
seemingly at a less distance than the mountain. From
the cone, as from a fountain, a jet of many flaming vol-
cauic matters was thrown, which were carried to the dis¬
tance of six or seven miles. From the base of the cone a
thick smoke arose at the time when the rivers of lava
broke out, which for a moment obscured some parts of
the flame. This beautiful appearance continued three
quarters of an hour. It began the next night with more
force, but continued only half an hour. In the intervals,
however, iEtna continued to throw out flames, smoke, ig.
nited stones, and showers of sand. From the 20th to the
22d, the appearances gradually ceased. The stream of ^
lava was carried towards Bronte and the plain of Lago. ^
After the eruption, the top of the mountain on the
western side was found covered with hardened lava, scoria,
and stones. The travellers were annoyed by smoke, by
showers of sand, mephitic vapours, and excessive heat.
They saw that the lava which came from the western
point divided into two branches, one of which was direct¬
ed towards Libeccio, the other, as we have already said,
towards the plain of Lago. The lava on the western
head of the mountain had, from its various shapes, been
evidently in a state of fusion ; from one of the spiracula,
the odour was strongly that of liver of sulphur. The
thermometer, in descending, was at 40 degrees of Fahren¬
heit’s scale; while near the lava, in the plain of Lago, it
was 140 degrees. The lava extended two miles; its
width was from 13f to 21 feet, and its depth 13J feet.
35. Eruptions in 1792. Eruptions of greater and less
magnitude from May until the close of the year.
36. A small eruption in June 1798.
37. Smaller eruption in June 1799.
38. Eruption of lava and flood of water in February
1800.
a
39. Eruption in 1802.
40. Eruption in March 1809.
41. Eruption in October 1811.
42. Eruption in May 1819. (0.)
iETOLARCHA, in Grecian Antiquity, the principal
magistrate or governor of the iEtolians.
iETOLIA, a country of ancient Greece, comprehend¬
ing all that tract now called the Despotat, or Little Greece.
It was parted on the east by the river Evanus, now the
Fidari, from the Locrenses Ozolae ; on the west, from
Acarnania, by the Achelous; on the north, it bordered
on the country of the Dorians and part of Epirus; and on
the south extended to the Bay of Corinth.
The iEtolians were a restless and turbulent people,
seldom at peace among themselves, and ever at war with
their neighbours; utter strangers to all sense of friendship
or principles of honour; ready to betray their friends upon
the least prospect of reaping any advantage from their
treachery: in short, they were looked upon by the other
states of Greece no otherwise than as outlaws and public
robbers. On the other hand, they were bold and enter¬
prising in war; inured to labour and hardships; undaunt¬
ed in the greatest dangers; jealous defenders of their li¬
berties, for which they were on all occasions willing to
venture their lives, and sacrifice all that was most dear to
them. They distinguished themselves above all the other
nations of Greece in opposing the ambitious designs of
the Macedonian princes, who, after having reduced most
of the other states, were forced to grant them a peace
upon very honourable terms. The constitution of the
/Etolian republic was copied from that of the Achaeans,
and with a view to form, as it ■were, a counter-alliance;
for the jEtolians bore an irreconcilable hatred to the
Achaeans, and had conceived no small jealousy at the
growing power of that state. The Cleomenic war, and
that of the allies, called the social war, were kindled by
the vEtolians in the heart of Peloponnesus, with no other
view than to humble their antagonists the Achaeans. In
the latter they held out, with the assistance only of the
Eleans and Lacedemonians, for the space of three years,
against the united forces of Achaia and Macedon; but
were obliged at last to purchase a peace, by yielding up
to Philip all Acarnania. As they parted with this pro¬
vince much against their will, they watched all opportu-
T O A F F 209
r ; nities of wresting it again out of the Macedonian’s hand ;
>r-l.vL',fbr which reason they entered into an alliance with Rome
ainst him, and proved of great service to the Romans
in their war with him; but growing insolent on account
of their services, they made war upon the Romans them¬
selves. By that warlike nation they were overcome, and
granted a peace on the following severe terms :—1. The
majesty of the Roman people shall be revered in all
jEtolia. 2. -ditolia shall not suffer the armies of such as are
at war with Rome to pass through her territories, and the
enemies of Rome shall be likewise the enemies of iEtolia.
3. She shall, in the space of 100 days, put into the hands of
the magistrates of Corcyra all the prisoners and deserters
she has, whether of the Romans or their allies, except such
as have been taken twice, or during her alliance with
Rome. 4. The iEtolians shall pay down in ready money,
to the Roman general in iEtolia, 200 Euboic talents, of
the same value as the Athenian talents, and engage to
pay 50 talents more within the six years following.
5. They shall put into the hands of the consul 40 such
hostages as he shall choose, none of whom shall be under
12, or above 40 years of age : the pretor, the general of
the horse, and such as have been already hostages at
Rome, are excepted out of this number. 6. iEtolia shall
renounce all pretensions to the cities and territories which
the Romans have conquered, though these cities and terri¬
tories had formerly belonged to the iEtolians. 7. The city
ofOenis and its district shall be subject to the Acarnanians.
After the conquest of Macedon by iEmilius Paulus,
they were reduced to a much worse condition; for not
only those among them who had openly declared for Per¬
seus, but such as were only suspected to have favoured
him in their hearts, were sent to Rome, in order to clear
themselves before the senate. There they were detained,
and never afterwards suffered to return into their native
country. Five hundred and fifty of the chief men of the
nation were barbarously assassinated by the partisans of
Rome, for no other crime than that of being suspected to
wish well to Perseus. The iEtolians appeared before
Emilius Paulus in mourning habits, and made loud com¬
plaints of such inhuman treatment, but could obtain no
redress; nay, ten commissioners, who had been sent by
the senate to settle the affairs of Greece, enacted a de¬
cree, declaring that those who were killed had suffered
justly, since it appeared to them that they had favoured
the Macedonian party. From this time those only were
raised to the chief honours and employments in the iEto-
lian republic who were known to prefer the interest of
Rome to that of their country ; and as these alone were
countenanced at Rome, all the magistrates of iEtolia were
the creatures and mere tools of the Roman senate. In
this state of servile subjection they continued till the de¬
struction of Corinth and the dissolution of the Achaean
league, when iEtolia, with the other free states of Greece,
was reduced to a Roman province, commonly called the
province of Achaia. Nevertheless, each state and city was
governed by its own laws, under the superintendency of
the pretor whom Rome sent annually into Achaia. The
whole nation paid a certain tribute, and the rich were for-
bidden to possess lands anywhere but in their own country.
' In this state, with little alteration, TEtolia continued
under the emperors till the reign of Constantine the
Great, who, in his new partition of the provinces of the
empire, divided the western parts of Greece from the rest,
calling them Neiv Epirus, and subjecting the whole coun¬
try to the prcefectus preetorii for Illyricum. Under the
successors of Constantine Greece was parcelled out into
several principalities, especially after the taking of Con¬
stantinople by the western princes. At that time The-
, VOL. II.
odorus Angelus, a noble Grecian of the imperial family, Afer
seized on iEtolia and Epirus. The former he left to Mi- II
ehael his son, who maintained it against Michael Palaeo- Affiance,
logus, the first emperor of the Greeks, after the expulsion
of the Latins. Charles, the last prince of this family, dy¬
ing in 1430 without lawful issue, bequeathed fEtolia to his
brother’s son, named also Charles ; and Acarnania to his
natural sons Memnon, Turnus, and Hercules. But great
disputes arising about this division, Amurath II., after the
reduction of Thessalonica, laid hold of so favourable an op¬
portunity, and drove them all out in 1432. The Maho¬
metans were afterwards dispossessed of this country by
the famous prince of Epirus, George Castriot, commonly
called Scanderbeg, who with a small army opposed the
whole power of the Ottoman empire, and defeated these
barbarians in 22 pitched battles. That hero at his death
left great part of fEtolia to the Venetians ; but they not
being able to make head against such a mighty power, the
whole country was soon reduced by Mohammed II. wRose
successors hold it to this day.
AFER, Domitius, a famous orator, born at Nismes,
flourished under Tiberius, and the three succeeding em¬
perors. Quintilian makes frequent mention of him, and
commends his pleadings. But he disgraced his talents,
by turning informer against some of the most distinguish¬
ed personages in Rome. Quintilian, in his youth, culti¬
vated the friendship of Domitius very assiduously. He
tells us that his pleadings abounded with pleasant stories,
and that there were public collections of his witty say¬
ings, some of which he quotes. He also mentions two
books of his On Witnesses. Domitius was once in great
danger from an inscription he put upon a statue erect¬
ed by him in honour of Caligula, wherein he declared
that this prince was a second time consul at the age
of 27. This he intended as an encomium, but Caligula
taking it as a sarcasm upon his youth and his infringe¬
ment of the laws, raised a process against him, and
pleaded himself in person. Domitius, instead of making
a defence, repeated part of the emperor’s speech with
the highest marks of admiration; after which he fell
upon his knees, and begging pardon, declared that he
dreaded more the eloquence of Caligula than his imperial
power. This piece of flattery succeeded so well, that the
emperor not only pardoned, b*t also raised him to the
consulship. Afer died in the reign of Nero, a. d. 59.
AFFA, a weight used on the Gold Coast of Guinea, equal
to an ounce : the half of it is called eggeba. Most of the
blacks on the Gold Coast give these names to these weights.
AFFECTION, in a general sense, implies an attribute
inseparable from its subject. Thus magnitude, figure,
weight, &c. are affections of all bodies; and love, fear,
hatred, &c. are affections of the mind.
Affection is a term used by various writers on Moral
Philosophy to denote all those active principles whose di¬
rect and ultimate object is the communication either of
enjoyment or of suffering to any one of our fellow-creatures.
(Stewards Philosophy of the Active Powers, vol. i. p. 75.)
Affection, among physicians, is the same as disease.
Thus, hysteric affection is the same as hysteric disease.
AFFERERS, or Afferors, in Law, persons appointed
in courts-leet, courts-baron, &c. to settle, upon oath, the
fines to be imposed upon those who have been guilty of
faults arbitrarily punishable.
AFFETTUOSO, or Con Affetto, in the Italian music,
intimates that the part to which it is added ought to be
played in a tender, moving way, and consequently rather
slow than fast.
AFFIANCE, in Law, denotes the mutual plighting of
troth between a man and woman to marry each other.
2 D
1
210 A F G
A F G
Affidavit AFFIDAVIT signifies an oath in writing, sworn before
li . some person who is authorized to take the same.
tan1113" AFFINITY, among civilians, implies a relation contract-
ed by marriage, in contradistinction to consanguinity, or
relation by blood. Affinity does not found any real kin¬
ship ; it is no more than a kind of fiction, introduced on
account of the close relation between husband and wife.
It is even said to cease when the cause of it ceases:
hence a woman who is not capable of being a witness for her
husband’s brother during his lifetime, is allowed for a wit¬
ness when a widow, by reason the affinity is dissolved. Yet
with regard to the contracting of marriage, affinity is not
dissolved by death, though it be in every thing else.—
There are several degrees of affinity, wherein marriage
was prohibited by the law of Moses : thus, the son could
not marry his mother, or his father’s wife (Lev. xviii. 7.
et seq.) ; the brother could not marry his sister, whether
she were so by the father only or by the mother only,
and much less if she was his sister both by the same
father and mother; the grandfather could not marry his
grand-daughter, either by his son or daughter. No one
could marry the daughter of his father’s wife; nor the sis¬
ter of his father or mother; nor the uncle his niece ; nor
the aunt her nephew; nor the nephew the wife of his
uncle by the father’s side. The father-in-law could not
marry his daughter-in-law; nor the brother the wife of
his brother while living, nor even after the death of his
brother if he left children. If he left no children, the
surviving brother was to raise up children to his deceased
brother, by marrying his widow. It was forbidden to
marry the mother and the daughter at one time, or the
daughter of the mother’s son, or the daughter of her
daughter, or two sisters together.
Affinity is also used to denote conformity or agree¬
ment. Thus we say, the affinity of languages, the affinity
of words, the affinity of sounds, &c.
Affinity, in Chemistry, a term employed to express that
peculiar propensity which the particles of matter have to
unite and combine with each other exclusively, or in pre¬
ference to any other connection.—The attractions between
bodies at insensible distances, and which of course are con¬
fined to the particles of matter, have been distinguished by
the name of affinity; while the term attraction has been
more commonly confined to cases of sensible distance.
AFFIRMATION, in Logic, the asserting of the truth
of any proposition.
Affirmation, in Law, denotes an indulgence allowed
to the people called Quakers, who, in cases wdiere an
oath is required from others, may make a solemn affirma¬
tion that what they say is true; and if they make a false
affirmation, they are subject to the penalties of perjury.
But this relates only to oaths taken to the government,
and on civil occasions; for Quakers are not permitted to
give their testimony in any criminal case, &c.
Affirmation is also used for the ratifying or confirm¬
ing of the sentence or decree of some inferior court. Thus
we say, the house of lords affirmed the decree of the chan¬
cellor, or the decree of the lords of session.
'Ua.
n.
■v
AFFIRMATIVE, in Grammar. Authors distinguish
affirmative particles, such as yes. The term affirmative e
is sometimes also used substantively. Thus we say, the
affirmative is the more probable side of the question: there ^ ^
were so many votes, or voices, for the affirmative. ,
AFFIX, in Grammar, a particle added at the close of a
word, either to diversify its form or alter its signification.
We meet with affixes in the Saxon, the German, and other
northern languages, but more especially in the Hebrew,
and other oriental tongues. The Hebrew affixes are
single syllables, frequently single letters, subjoined to
nouns and verbs, and contribute not a little to the brevity
of that language. The oriental languages are much the
same as to the radicals, and differ chiefly from each other
as to affixes and prefixes.
AFFLATUS literally denotes a blast of wind, breath,
or vapour, striking with force against another body. The
word is Latin, formed from ad, to, and flare, to blow.
Naturalists sometimes speak of the afflatus of serpents.
Tully uses the word figuratively, for a divine inspiration;
in which sense he ascribes all great and eminent accom¬
plishments to a divine afflatus. The Pythian priestess
being placed on a tripod or perforated stool, over a holy
cave, received the divine afflatus, as a late author expres¬
ses it, in her belly; and being thus inspired, fell into agi¬
tations, like a phrenetic; during which she pronounced,
in hollow groans and broken sentences, the will of the
Deity. This afflatus is supposed by some to have been a
subterraneous fume or exhalation, wherewith the priestess
was literally inspired. Accordingly, it had the effects of
a real physical disease, the paroxysm of which was so
vehement, that, Plutarch observes, it sometimes proved
mortal. Van Dale supposes the pretended enthusiasm of
the Pythia to have arisen from the fumes of aromatics.
AFFORESTING, Afforestatio, the turning of ground
into forest. The Conqueror and his successors continued
afforesting the lands of the subject for many reigns, till
the grievance became so notorious, that the people of all
degrees and denominations were brought to sue for relief;
which was at length obtained, and commissions were
granted to survey and perambulate the forest, and sepa¬
rate all the new-afforested lands, and reconvert them to
the uses of their proprietors, under the name and quality
oHpurlieu or pouralle land.
AFFRAY, or Affrayment, in Law, formerly signified
the crime of affrighting other persons, by appearing in un¬
usual armour, brandishing a weapon, &c.; but at present
aff ray denotes a skirmish or fight between two or more.
AFFRONTEE, in Heraldry, an appellation given to ani¬
mals facing one another on an escutcheon ; a kind of bear¬
ing which is otherwise called confrontee, and stands opposed
to adossee.
AFFUSION, the act of pouring some fluid substance
on another body. Dr Grew gives several experiments of
the luctation arising from the affusion of divers men-
struums on all sorts of bodies. Divines and church his¬
torians speak of baptism by affusion, which amounts to
much the same with what we now call sprinkling.
AFGHANISTAN,
A N extensive and powerful kingdom of Asia, which
YjL formed at one time a considerable portion of the
Mogul empire. On the decline of that power, it rose to
the rank of an independent state ; and from its population
and extent, and still more from the character of the peo¬
ple, who are brave, hardy, and enterprising, as well as
from its commanding position in the heart of Asia, it soon
acquired political importance, and has since acted a prin¬
cipal part in all the revolutions which have occurred either
in Hindostan or in Persia.
It is only of late years that Europeans have obtained
any authentic account of this interesting country. In
AFGHANISTAN.
• 1793 Mr Foster, in the course of an overland journey from
AfyniS‘ jn(ya’ jn which he was exposed to the greatest danger
the predatory habits and religious prejudices of the
people, succeeded in penetrating into those mountainous
regions. He visited the cities of Cashmere, Cabul, and
Candahar, respecting which his information is equally
curious and instructive. But the most complete and sa¬
tisfactory account of Afghanistan is derived from the
work of Mr Elphinstone, by whom it was visited in 1808.
It was supposed that about this time the French were me¬
ditating an invasion of British India ; and Afghanistan be-
inf in a manner one of the outworks of Hindostan through
which an invading army must make its approaches on the
north, it was judged necessary to apprize the sovereign
of his danger, in order to secure his co-operation against
the common enemy. With this view a mission was sent
to him by the British government, at the head of which
was Mr Elphinstone, who, along with the other members
of the embassy, determined, with a laudable and enlighten¬
ed zeal, to profit by so favourable an opportunity for col¬
lecting information respecting the geography and pro¬
ductions of the country, the manners of the people, and
their condition, character, and habits ; on all which sub¬
jects they have accordingly furnished the most satisfac¬
tory and ample details. From the valuable materials fur¬
nished by those travellers, the following account has been
chiefly composed.
Bouia. It is extremely difficult to fix the boundaries of this
ries. country, which frequently extend into wild mountainous
tracts, or into deserts, where no definite line of demarca¬
tion is to be found, either political or natural. Its boun¬
daries are also apt to fluctuate, from the constant warfare
of the frontier tribes, who own but a very imperfect alle¬
giance to their monarch, whoever he may be, and who
by their lawless inroads continually encroach on his do¬
minions. Afghanistan, in the era of its greatest prospe¬
rity, extended to 16 degrees of longitude from Sirhind,
about 150 miles from Delhi to Meshed, and about the same
distance from the Caspian Sea. In breadth it extended
from the Oxus to the Persian Gulf, a space of 910 miles.
But its territories have been greatly reduced by war ; and
the authority of the sovereign, even in many of those
countries which are included within his dominions, is but
feebly acknowledged. In defining the irregular limits of
this diminished kingdom, we may premise, that from the
east of Bengal, in long. 90°, to Herat, in long. 62°, a vast
chain of mountains, which tower above the level of per¬
petual snow, extends under the names of the Himalaya,
Hindoo Coosh, and Paropamisus. The country of the
Afghans is bounded on the north by this great moun¬
tain wall, which from Cashmere, the eastern limit of
Afghanistan, takes a south-west direction as far as the
snowy peak of Hindoo Coosh, nearly north of Cabul,
from which the whole range derives its name. From this
peak the same chain, with a lower declination, extends
westward, under the name of the Paropamisan Mountains,
350 miles to Herat, and thus completes the northern
boundary of Afghanistan. On the east the Indus is the
boundary so long as the river continues near the hills,
which is as far as lat. 32. 20. The plain on the western
bank of the river to the south of this is inhabited, not by
the Afghans, but by the Beloches, an independent tribe,
and intervenes between die Afghan territory and the
river. The Soliman Mountains, therefore, which are a
branch from the Hindoo Coosh, running south-south-east
along the course of the Indus, with their subordinate
ranges, and the plain immediately at their base, are includ-
; ed in the country of the Afghans, and form here its eastern
boundary. In lat. 29° north, where the Soliman Moun¬
211
tains terminate, this plain extends westward, and has new Afghanis-
boundaries. On the north it has hills which stretch east tan.
and west at right angles to the Soliman range; and those
hills form the southern boundary of Afghanistan, sepa¬
rating it from the low and hot plain of Cutch Gundawa
or Seweestan on the south. The southern frontier of
the Afghan country is extremely irregular. Before reach¬
ing the table-land of Kelat, in long. 66° E., it recedes
towards the north, and extends west as far as the desert,
which separates it on the north-west from Persia. The
Afghans have no general name for their country but that
of Afghanistan, which, Mr Elphinstone thinks, was pro¬
bably first employed in Persia. It is frequently used in
books, and is not unknown to the inhabitants. It is some¬
times known under the appellation of the kingdom of
Cabul.
Afghanistan to the west of the Soliman Mountains, Aspect of
which form an eastern barrier, may be described generally the coun-
as a table-land, lying higher than most of the neighbour-tr75 moun-
ing countries. The Hindoo Coosh Mountains, its northern'■f1”8’ anc*
bulwark, overlook the low country of Balk, the ancientnvers‘
Bactria, formerly a province of Persia, and inhabited by
the Usbeck Tartars. On the east it is equally elevated
above the lower plains of the Indus. On the south it
overlooks Seweestan; and on the south-west a deep val¬
ley runs between it and Belochistan. It slopes gra¬
dually to the west, and loses the appearance of elevation
as it approaches the Paropamisan Mountains. The
mountainous chain of Hindoo Coosh is a continuation
of the great Himalaya ridge, which it rivals in grandeur
and elevation. From the elevated plains of Afghanistan
these mountains are seen on the north in four distinct
ranges. The first and lowest had no snow in February,
when it was observed by Mr Elphinstone from the plain
of Peshawer; but the tops of the second still had their
winter covering, and the third had snow half-way down.
The fourth and highest range is covered with snow at all
seasons. It is of great elevation, some of its peaks rising,
according to measurement, to the height of 20,493 feet,
and is conspicuous from Bactria, from the borders of In¬
dia, and from places in Tartary at the amazing distance
of 250 miles. “ The stupendous heights of these moun¬
tains,” says Elphinstone, “ the magnificence and variety of
their lofty summits, the various nations by whom they
are seen, and who seem to be brought together by this
common object, and the awful and undisturbed solitude
which reigns amid their eternal snows, fill the mind with
an admiration and astonishment which no language can
express.” The inferior ranges of the Hindoo Coosh
Mountains decrease in height according to their distance
from the principal chain. The title of table-land, which
has been applied to Afghanistan, if it is understood to
imply any thing more than that it is raised above the level
of the surrounding regions, will convey a very inaccurate
idea of the nature of the country, which, so far from be¬
ing a plain, is of the most diversified surface, being inter¬
sected everywhere with chains of mountains, which di¬
verge in various directions from the main ridge of Hindoo
Coosh. We will not enter into any detailed description
of this complicated mass of mountains, which, however
accurate, would fail to present any very clear view of the
topography of the country. It may be generally stated,
that the ridges branch off southward, not exactly at right
angles from the main ridge, but in irregular lines, to the
distance of 60 or 70 miles, when they decline to a lower
level; and that those ridges are separated by intervening
valleys, each of which is watered by a river flowing down
the southern declivity of the Hindoo Coosh Mountains
into the Cabul, which, after an easterly course along
212
AFGHANISTAN.
Afghanis- the base of the mountains of about 350 miles, joins the
tan. great Indus. These valleys or glens all open from the
south into the great valley of Cabul; and the country is
described as being fertile, and of a pleasing appearance.
On the lower hills by which the valleys are closed in,
the snow generally lies for four months in the year; there
are few trees on the tops, but their sides are covered
with forests of pine, oak, and wild olive. Lower down,
the country improves, and is interspersed with many
little valleys, watered by clear and beautiful streams, and
enjoying a delicious climate, under which European fruits
and flowers grow wild in the utmost variety and perfec¬
tion ; and even the rocks add to the beauty of the scene¬
ry, from the rich verdure of mosses with which they are
covered. The narrow and alluvial plain at the bottom,
through which the river runs, is in general highly pro¬
ductive. The valley of the river Swaut, which may be
taken as a sample of all the others, yields two harvests,
and produces most sorts of grain; and on the plains are
numerous mulberry trees and planes, besides other fruit-
trees improved by culture.
Westward from the Indus about 150 miles, an immense
curve or angle projects southward from the mountain
barrier of the country into the interior to the distance of
70 miles, when the snowy mountain abruptly descends
into the low and hot plain of Jellalabad. The range
then resumes its westerly course, when lower hills assume
their former appearance and character, and form the Co-
histan or high lands of Cabul, a country watered by the
river of this name and its tributary streams, and described as
fruitful and of a delightful aspect. The Paropamisan chain
bounds this country on the west, and forms a maze of
mountains, of which the most intimate knowledge would
scarcely be able to trace the plan. They afford a habi¬
tation to some wandering and predatory tribes. This ge¬
neral description applies to that portion of the country
from east to west which extends southward about 100 or
150 miles from the Hindoo Coosh Mountains. Beyond
this the aspect of the country is varied by the range of
the Soliman Mountains, which, commencing with Suffaid
Coh, or the White Mountain, so called from the snow
with which it is covered at all seasons, extend south-
south-west almost parallel to the course of the Indus.
These mountains decline towards the west by lower
ridges, which run nearly in the same direction as the
main ridge ; while other ridges branch off eastward toward
the Indus. The height of these mountains is greatly in¬
ferior to that of the Plindoo Coosh; but it is still great,
as they are covered with snow to the end of spring,
which, in the latitude of 31 degrees, gives a considerable
altitude. Beyond the Soliman ridges on the west, the
country consists for the most part of high and bleak
downs, interspersed with moderate hills; in some places
desert and ill cultivated, bare and open, better fitted for
pasturage than for the plough, and inhabited by migratory
tribes of shepherds. There are exceptions, however, to
this general description. In the country which is watered
by the Helmund and its tributary streams are found
many fertile and delightful spots, which afford pleasant
retreats to the shepherds, and pasturage to their flocks.
The country round Candahar is fertile and highly culti¬
vated ; but to the south, and especially as it recedes west
from the Helmund, it is a complete desert.
Livers. Afghanistan has few large rivers for a country of such
extent, and so interspersed with mountains. With the
exception of the Indus, there is not one which is not
fordable throughout its course for the greater part of the
year. They partake generally of the character of moun¬
tain torrents, swelling rapidly, and running off; or they
are sometimes all drained away for the irrigation of the A
fields. The Indus, the eastern boundary of the country,
from its volume of water, and the length of its course 1
which has Been traced 1350 miles from its mouth, and
which has its source much higher, may be reckoned one
of the greatest rivers in the world. Of the rivers of Af¬
ghanistan it alone is navigable, though little use is made of
it for this purpose. All the rivers of this country which take
their rise in the Hindoo Coosh Mountains are tributary to
this great stream. The Cabul is the drain of all the waters
which fall on the southern declivity of the Hindoo Coosh
Mountains. The most important river which it receives
is the Kaushkhaur, which has its rise beyond the Hindoo
Coosh range, in the same snowy peak which contains the
sources of the Oxus. It rushes with surprising violence
into the valley of the Cabul river, which it joins about
100 miles west of the Indus. Lower down, the Indus is
joined by the Koorum from the west. The only river
south of this which runs into the Indus is the Gomul,
which, however, unless when it is swollen by the rains,
never reaches its destination, being generally consumed
in the irrigation of the country. The greatest of the
rivers which run through the rest of Afghanistan is the
Helmund or Etymander. This river is the drain of that
extensive slope which lies between the Soliman and the
Paropamisan Mountains. It has its rise in the latter, and
running a south-west course of 400 miles, terminates in
the Lake Seestan. The Urghundaub rises 88 miles
north-east of Candahar, and after passing within a few
miles of that city, joins the Helmund. It is never more
than 150 yards broad. The Kashrood, which is a larger
river, joins the Helmund after a course of 150 miles.
The Furrahrood is a still larger stream; it has a course
of 200 miles, and it is uncertain whether it reaches the
Lake of Seestan, or is lost in the sands. The Turnuk
is a tributary of the Urghundaub, which it joins about 75
miles west of Candahar. It is a rapid torrent, and re¬
ceives the Urghessaun and other smaller rivers. Not¬
withstanding these additions, its stream rather decreases,
being consumed in the irrigation of the country, or in the
parched and barren sands through which it passes. The
Lera, which rises in the south of Afghanistan, has a west¬
ern course from the Soliman Mountains of 200 miles,
where it disappears before it reaches the Helmund.
The climate of Afghanistan is extremely various, owing (
to the height and inequality of its surface. According to !
its latitude, which is between the 29th and 35th degrees,
it should have a decidedly hot temperature; but the ge¬
neral law of climate is here modified by the elevation of i
the ground, and great diversities of heat and cold are ac¬
cordingly experienced within a very limited space. The
mountainous nature of the country also occasions peculi¬
arities in its climate, and distinguishes it in some degree
from that of the adjacent regions. In almost all the
countries of Asia within the same latitude as Afghanistan,
one important circumstance in their climate is the season
and quantity of the periodical rains. Throughout the
greater part of India the rainy season is ushered in by the
south-west monsoon, which drives the rolling clouds from
the ocean on the land, where they descend in rains. The
monsoon is earlier in the south of India, and in the vicini¬
ty of the ocean, than in the north, and the rains are
heavier. In many cases the opposition of mountains in the
interior either arrests entirely the progress of the clouds,.
or it varies their direction; and hence large tracts of
country are exempted from, or only partially experience,
the influence of the monsoons. Before they make their
way from the Indian Ocean to Afghanistan, these periodi¬
cal tempests are greatly moderated, having to traverse
ate.;
AFGHANISTAN.
if i us- the whole extent of Bengal in their progress to the Hima-
i lava Mountains, when they are forced by this impassable
^ ^ barrier out of their original course towards the south¬
east and afterwards towards the east by the range of
Hindoo Coosh; and it is from that quarter that such parts
of Afghanistan as are exposed to the monsoon receive the
periodical rains. But the clouds are exhausted as they
pass on westward to this country, the rains gradually be¬
come less heavy, and are at last merely sufficient to water
the mountains, without much affecting the plains below.
In the north-eastern districts of Afghanistan, near the
Indus, the countries under the range of Hindoo Coosh
have their share of the rains; but 50 miles west, in the
valley of Swaut, the season of the monsoon is merely a
month of clouds, with occasional rains; and in the plain
ci Peshawer, which is other 50 or 60 miles farther west,
and in some of the valleys to the south, it appears only in
some clouds and showers : it is still less felt in the valley
of the Cabul river. But the passing clouds being opposed
by the southern projection of the Hindoo Coosh Mountains
and the Soliman range, collect over some of the plains
below, which are accordingly plentifully deluged with the
periodical rains. In the country of Damaun, eastward of
the Soliman Mountains, along the Indus, the monsoon
prevails; as also generally in the southern parts of the
country. But it varies greatly in different countries, being
merely in some parts a month of clouds with showers. Its
influence is less felt towards the north. Besides the par¬
tial influence of the south-west monsoons to which the
eastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan are expos¬
ed, it has the winter and the spring rains, which are of
great consequence to agriculture in all those countries
between the Indus and the Hellespont which are not
subjected to the full effect of the south-west monsoon.
The temperature of Afghanistan varies of course with
the difference of level, and also from local causes. It is
affected by the direction of the prevailing winds, some
blowing over snowy mountains, others being heated in sum¬
mer and rendered cold in winter by their passage over
deserts and arid tracts of great extent. The heat of
summer is refreshed in some places by the breezes from
moister countries, and others are so environed with hills
as to be sheltered from all winds. Thus, throughout this
extensive country, great diversity of temperature takes
place often within very short distances. In the Hindoo
Coosh Mountains perpetual winter reigns, and among the
lower ranges snow frequently lies for four months in the
year. In the plain of Peshawer, which is within view of
these snowy summits, the thermometer in summer rises as
high as in the hottest parts of India. It is mentioned by
Mr Elphinstone, that in a tent artificially cooled, the ther¬
mometer stood for several days of summer at 112° and 118°
in the shade. But the heat is not so uniform, nor does it last
so long, as that of an Indian summer. At intervals in June
and July cold north-west winds set in, which refresh the
air, and render it pleasant. The last half of September
is so cold as to be counted among the winter months, and
the cold continues to increase till February. But the win¬
ter is not severe ; and though there is frost in the night,
it is always dispelled during the day by the influence
of the sun. The temperature of the different valleys de¬
pending in this manner on their respective levels, they
frequently exhibit the most remarkable contrasts of heat
and cold. The plain of Jellalabad during summer is in¬
tolerably hot, while to the south, and immediately above
’h ’be mountain of Suffaid Coh lifts its snowy summit to
the clouds. To the north the nearest hills are cold; and
in the distance the Hindoo Coosh Mountains are seen
skirting the horizon with a bright outline of perpetual
213
snow, while the taole-land of Cabul, immediately to the Afghanis-
west, enjoys the coolness and. verdure of a temperate tan.
summer. Among the Soliman Mountains, the higher
countries are exposed to severe cold; but there are some
of the lower valleys where the heat is even greater than at
Peshawer. The low plains of Damaun, which run along
the shores of the Indus, are oppressed during summer by
scorching heats both night and day. On the western
plains heat predominates, and they are accordingly de¬
serted in the summer by the wandering shepherds, for the
cool retreat and grassy valleys of the mountains. At
Candahar the heat of summer is excessive, and is oc¬
casionally aggravated by the simoom winds. In proceed¬
ing north-east, however, along the course of the Helmund
and its tributary streams, we reach elevated ground, where
the cold is excessive, and where winter is experienced
in all its severity. If we ascend the course of the Turnuk
to Ghuzni, we find the snow lying deep for some time
after the equinox, and so thick a covering of ice on the
rivers as to afford a passage for camels. At Cabul the
winter is more steady and severe than in England, while
the summer heat is greater. The great difference between
the seasons, and the quickness with which they change, are
marked by the changes which take place in the dress of the
inhabitants. In winter they wear woollen garments, and
in some places clothes of felt, and over these a large great¬
coat of well-tanned sheep-skin with the long shaggy wool
inside. With the vernal equinox the snow disappears, the
country is covered with young grass, the buds burst forth,
and are soon followed by a profusion of flowers; and the in¬
habitants change their winter dress for a thin one of chintz
or cotton, and frequently sleep at night under trees in the
open air. The prevailing winds throughout Afghanistan
are from the west, and they are generally cold ; while the
easterly wind is hot, and brings clouds. On the whole,
the climate of this extensive country seems little subject
to rains, clouds, or fogs; and judging from the size and
strength of the inhabitants, it must be considered salubri¬
ous. Some fatal diseases are, however, common; such as
fevers and agues, which prevail in autumn and in spring;
also colds, which are sometimes dangerous in winter ; and
the small-pox, which still carries off many persons, though
the practice of inoculation has long been introduced in
all parts; and lastly, the ophthalmia.
Afghanistan abounds in wild animals, which find ample Animals,
range in the extensive forests and large tracts of unfre¬
quented deserts which it contains. The lion, however,
though so common in Persia, and though it has been lately
found in such numbers in Guzerat, and in the Hurriana,
north-west of Delhi, is rare. In the hilly country around
Cabul there is a small animal which bears the name with¬
out any of the qualities of the lion. In the districts east of
the Soliman range tigers and leopards are common, and
they are to be found in most of the woody tracts of the
country. Wolves, hyenas, jackals, foxes, hares, porcupines,
and hedgehogs, are to be seen everywhere. The wolves
are formidable during the winter in the cold parts, where
they assemble in troops, destroying cattle, and frequently
attacking men. The hyenas sometimes attack a bullock
singly, and, as well as the wolves, they make great havock
among the sheep. Bears of two kinds, the one the black
bear of India, and the other of a dirty white, are quite
common in all the woody mountains; but they rarely
leave their haunts, except when they are tempted by the
sugar-cane. There are also mangooses, ferrets, and wild
dogs. Monkies are common in the north-eastern parts.
The wild boars of Persia and India are seldom seen ; and
the wild ass is confined to the south-western districts, on
the lower Helmund, and to the sandy country round Can-
214
AFGHANISTAN.
Afghanis- dahar. The mountains abound with many kinds of deer,
tan. including the elk ; but the antelopes are rare, and confin¬
ed to the plains. A species of deer is seen, which is re¬
markable for the size of its horns, and the strong but not
disagreeable smell of its body. The king.is in possession
of a few elephants ; but neither that animal nor the rhi¬
noceros is to be found in any part of the country.
Among the domestic animals is the horse, a consider¬
able number of which is bred in the Afghan dominions ;
and those bred near Herat are very fine, uniting the
figure of the Arab horse with superior size. In general,
however, the breed of Afghan horses is not good. There
is a very strong and useful breed of ponies. On the other
hand, the mules and asses are the most wretched that can
be conceived. The camel is the animal most employed in
carrying burdens. The dromedary, the tall long-legged
animal common in India, is found all over the plains. The
Bactrian camel, with two distinct humps, which is lower
than the other by one-third, but stout, and covered with
shaggy black hair, is much more rare, and is brought
from the country beyond the Jaxartes. Buffaloes are to
be found in many parts; and oxen are universally em¬
ployed in the plough, and sometimes camels. They are
not reared in the country, but are imported from the Raj¬
poot States, where they are the best in India. The sheep
forms the principal stock of the pastoral tribes: it is re¬
markable for a tail about a foot in breadth, and consisting
almost entirely of fat; in other respects it resembles the
English sheep. The goat abounds in all the mountains,
and is not scarce in the plains. Some of the breeds have
remarkably long and curiously twisted horns. The pas¬
toral tribes in the country, who are extremely fond of
hunting, breed great numbers of excellent greyhounds,
and even pointers, resembling those in England both in
shape and quality. There is a breed of long-haired cats in
great esteem, and of which great numbers are exported.
Of the birds, there are three sorts of eagles, and many
kinds of hawks; namely, the gentle falcon, a large grey
short-winged bird; the gos-hawk; the shauheen, which
soars over the falconer’s head, and strikes the quarry as
it rises; and the chirk, which is trained to strike the an¬
telope, and, by fastening on its head, to retard its flight
till the greyhounds come up. The other birds are, he¬
rons, cranes, storks, wild ducks, geese, swans, partridges,
quails, and a bird known in Europe under the name of the
Greek partridge. There is another smaller bird resem¬
bling it, which is found nowhere except in Afghanistan.
Pigeons, doves, crows, and sparrows, are common in all
countries. Cuckoos, which are rare, and magpies, which are
unknown in India, abound in the colder climate of those
northern mountains ; while peacocks, so commonly found
wild in India, are here seen only in their domesticated
state. Parrots make their appearance in the eastern pro¬
vinces near the Indus.
The country is not infested with venomous reptiles.
The snakes are mostly harmless; and though in Pesh-
awer the scorpions are noted for their size and venom,
their bite is scarcely ever fatal. There are no crocodiles,
but there are turtles, as well as tortoises. In Khorassan,
great flights of locusts have sometimes occasioned famine
by their devastations, though this rarely occurs. Mus-
quittoes are less troublesome than in India, except in the
southern district of Seestan, where they sting as severely
as in Bengal.
In most parts of Afghanistan there are two harvests,
one in spring and the other in autumn. In the countries
west of the Soliman range the former is the most import¬
ant; but in the eastern parts the autumn harvest is the
most considerable. The produce of the first, which is
anil.
sown in spring and reaped in autumn, is wheat, barley a
peas, beans, and other grains; that of tfie second, sown in
the end of spring and reaped in autumn, is rice, IndianS{%
corn, and various kinds of pulse. Cotton is confined to theC|ill
hot climates, and sugar is cultivated in some of the rich P: lets,
plains. Tobacco is produced in most parts. There is
another distinct harvest, which is counted of great import¬
ance, of musk-melons, water-melons, the scented melon
and various sorts of cucumbers, pumpkins, and gourds'
which are grown in the open fields. All common garden-
stuff’s are abundant, “such as carrots, turnips, beetroot
lettuce, onions, garlic, spinnage, greens of all kinds, cal>
bages, cauliflowers, and many of the Indian vegetables.
The castor oil plant is found everywhere. Madder abounds
over all the western provinces, and the assafeetida plant
in the hills. In the west, lucerne and a sort of trefoil
are among the most important products of husbandry.
Of the fruits and trees which abound in tropical countries,
few are to be found east of the Soliman range, and none
to the west; but almost all the European trees and
fruits are indigenous in the congenial climate of those
elevated regions. They are frequently found growing
wild in different parts of the country, and are still more
common in gardens and orchards. The most common
trees in the mountains are pines, oaks, cedars, a sort of
gigantic cypress, the walnut and the wild olive tree, the
birch, the holley, and the hazel. In Hindoo Coosh the
pistachio tree grows wild; and on the plains are the mul¬
berry, the tamarisk, and the willow; also the plane and
the poplar. English flowers, such as roses, jessamines,
poppies, narcissuses, and hyacinths, are found in the gar¬
dens, and often in a wild state.
Of the minerals produced in the country little is known.M all
Gold is said to be washed down the streams that flow
from the Hindoo Coosh Mountains. Small quantities of
silver are found in Caffristan; also lead, iron, and anti¬
mony, in different parts ; sulphur and rock-salt in the salt
range of mountains, and saltpetre everywhere.
The political institutions of the Afghans present theGi
rude and disjointed materials of a free constitution. Them<
form of the government is patriarchal. The nation is
supposed to derive its origin from four tribes, which are
divided and subdivided into inferior clans, until the last
subdivision does not include more than a few families.
The chief of a tribe is called Khan, and is elected in
general by the king; while the head of one of the inferior
divisions owes his choice to the people. To the khan,
among the aristocratic tribes, is committed the collection
of the royal revenue and the raising of the militia; and
from the exercise of these duties, and the emoluments
of his office, he derives extensive power and influence,
more especially where he presides over a numerous tribe.
Each inferior division of the tribe has its respective head;
and in cases of emergency these all meet together and
form a general assembly, called a Jeerga, which, with the
khan presiding over it, deliberates and decides in all
matters of public importance. The heads of the inferior
branches of the tribe hold similar assemblies, which de¬
cide on minor matters, and are guided by the same rules
as the greater convention. When wars arise among the
different tribes, it is the business of the assemblies to pro¬
vide the means of carrying them on, to concert the plan
of operations, or to settle the terms of peace. They have
the power, along with the khan, to call out all the fighting
men of the tribe, or they may levy taxes for any purpose
of public utility. There is scarcely a petty community
throughout the nation which does not make its own ar¬
rangements for the support of moollahs, an order of Ma¬
hometan priests, and for the maintenance and reception
AFGHANISTAN.
if„hiis* of strangers into the tribe, whom it is always reckoned a
I tai duty to treat with peculiar attention.
1 The Afghan nation consists in this manner of numerous
rude democracies, which are formed into one state by the
supreme authority of the sovereign. He is the natural
head of the tribe of Dooraunee, the greatest, bravest, and
most civilized in the nation. He has, besides, a general
superintendence over the whole kingdom, and may levy
troops or money from each tribe for the common defence.
But his authority is not equally respected by all the
tribes. In the plains around the towns, throughout a con¬
siderable portion of the country, and in all the foreign
provinces, he rules with full power, and collects a revenue
and maintains an army without the aid of the khans or
the popular assemblies. He employs for this purpose
officers of his own appointment, namely, a haukim, wdio
collects the revenue and commands the militia; a sirdar,
who commands the regular troops, and whose duty it is to
enforce submission to the haukim, and to the cauzy, who
presides over the administration of justice. The heads of
tribes, and under them the heads of the divisions of tribes,
act in the revenue and police departments, under the
haukim and the sirdar. Where the royal authority is
strong, the khans have comparatively little influence; but,
on the other hand, where it is weak, it is frequently re¬
sisted by the powerful influence of the khans, who form
the aristocracy of the land, as their authority is also resist¬
ed by the inferior assemblies ; and it sometimes happens
that those assemblies differ with each other about the
limits of their own powers; and hence the democratic
tribes are often involved in dissension by this complicat¬
ed collision of rival authorities. In the concerns of some
of the tribes the king never interferes; he merely levies
supplies of money for the public service, which, notwith¬
standing the presence of one of the royal sirdars, are fre¬
quently withheld or granted, according to the discretion
of the khan: and in like manner the khan and the cauzy
contend with more or less success, according to the state of
the king’s authority, for the exercise of the judicial power.
One or two tribes, such as the Eusofzyes, in the eastern
corner of the country, set the king at defiance, and boast
of their independence. The country is divided into 27
provinces, in 18 of which the royal authority prevails, and
the king’s officers, the haukims and the sirdars, constantly
reside. These are, Herat, Furrah, Candahar, Ghuzni,
Cabul, Baumican and Ghorebund, Jellalabad, Lugh-
man, Peshawer, Dera Ismael Khan, Dera Ghauzi Khan,
Shekarpoor, Sewee, Sinde, Cashmere, Chuch Hazareh,
Leia, and Mooltan. Several of these provinces, owing to
the distraction of the country, have since aspired to inde¬
pendence ; and in the other nine the royal authority car¬
ries little weight.
The government of the Afghans, though it contains in
this manner the elements of freedom, fails entirely in the
great end of securing to the community the blessings of
good order and peace. The people are bold and inde¬
pendent, and spurn the restraints of law. Among such
a variety of independent communities, imperfectly con¬
trolled by the royal authority, wars arise, which are waged
'wth great fierceness, and in which the tumultuary mi-
htua of the tribes frequently come to blows, and w^aste
each other s territories. Private revenge also, though
prohibited by the laws, is sanctioned by manners: it is
accordingly practised by all classes, and is accounted
the unalienable right of every freeman. Hence family
ends arise, which are not only carried on with bitterness
at t ie time, but being transmitted from generation to ge-
;;ieraV°n> produce a long-continued course of violence and
oodshed. Afghanistan, with its bold and turbulent aristo-
215
cracy, and the rude independence of its people, presents a Afghanis-
hvely picture of the state of society in Europe under the <tan-
feudal system, when every potent baron could defy thev^^v^
authority of the crown, and when, owing to the private
feuds of the nobles, the whole country was frequently one
general scene of rude commotion. But the liberty of the
Afghans, notwithstanding all its disadvantages, is prefer¬
able to a state of despotism. The rude and stormy indepen¬
dence which they enjoy is calculated to give to the national
character a manly and heroic cast, to inspire the Afghan
with proud and elevated sentiments, and to raise him, in
point of courage and intelligence, far above the wretched
slaves of Asiatic despotism. The Afghan himself, far from
desiring to exchange his disorderly independence for the
peace of tyranny, glories in the freedom of his institutions;
and it is well observed by Elphinstone, that a European
visiting the country, however he might lament that the
inhabitants were “ trained by their unhappy situation to
fraud and malice, to rapine, deceit, and revenge, could yet
scarce fail to admire their martial and lofty spirit, their
hospitality and their bold and simple manners, equally re¬
moved from the suppleness of the citizen, and the awk¬
ward rusticity of the clown; and he would probably be¬
fore long discover, among so many qualities that excited
his disgust, the rudiments of many virtues.”
The judicial institutions of the Afghans, more especially
where the royal authority is superseded, as it frequently
is, by that of the khans, are rude and imperfect. There
are no regular tribunals of justice, nor any organized sys¬
tems of police. The popular assemblies of the tribes,
composed of khans, mulliks, or elders, assisted by mool-
lahs, and even by grave and experienced persons of in¬
ferior rank, discharge the functions of judges in criminal
cases. Petty offences are settled by the elders of the vil¬
lage in which they occur; and in loosely governed tribes,
every village or subdivision acts for itself. When the
members are assembled, they hear the accuser’s story;
and after examining witnesses and other evidence, they
proceed to give judgment. The right of private revenge,
which is congenial to the habits of a barbarous nation, is
but feebly restrained by the judicial tribunals. Among
several tribes the adjustment of disputes is attempted by
mediation and persuasion, to which the chief and the
elders lend their influence. But if, notwithstanding this
mediation, the aggressor refuses compensation, and the
injured party to forgive, the latter is no longer restrain¬
ed from pursuing his revenge. Among some tribes the
obstinate party is compelled to yield obedience to the
award of the court. The general law of the country is
that of Mahomet; but there is the code of Pooshtoon-
Wallee, or the peculiar usages of the Afghans, which has
all the force of law. In towns justice is administered by
the cauzy, who decides both in civil and in criminal cases,
aided by the mooftees. There is an officer named Ameeni
Mehkemeh, who takes charge of all deposits; and the
Darogha of the Adawlut superintends the whole proceed¬
ings. There are also three officers who superintend the
police of the towns. But in the judicial as well as the
police departments the greatest abuses are said to prevail,
and justice is frequently sold to the highest bidder.
The Afghans are strict Mahometans, and the moollahs Manners
or priests have great influence over them. They are looked of the
upon with extraordinary reverence, and are especially PeoPle*
powerful in the neighbourhood of Peshawer and other
parts. They frequently gratify their private enmities by
raising a charge of heresy against obnoxious individuals,
and exposing them to persecution. In the remote dis¬
tricts of the country an insult to any of those personages
would of itself be sufficient to raise a tumult. Being
216
AFGHANISTAN.
Afghanis- intrusted with the education of youth,-the practice of the
tan- law, and the administration of justice, and in possession of
all the learning and science which are to be found in the
country, they take the lead in popular assemblies, or in
judicial proceedings, and are frequently of use in mode¬
rating the violence of an ignorant people. In some cir¬
cumstances they are enabled, by their superior knowledge
and habits of business, to exercise an almost unlimited
influence over individuals, and even over bodies of men;
to check and control the governors and other civil offi¬
cers ; and sometimes even to overawe and control the
power of the crown itself. Those priests are generally
taught to read the Persian classics and the Arabic
grammar, which they study diligently. They afterwards
repair to Buckharia, or Peshawer, or some other seat of
Mahometan learning, where they are initiated in logic,
law, theology, and the system of physics known in the
East, as well as in history, poetry, and medicine, which
last is a favourite study. The moollahs are not so into¬
lerant as Mahometans generally are ; and the people, when
they are not instigated by them, are still less disposed to
religious persecution. The Hindoos in Afghanistan are
allowed the free exercise of their religion, though they
are prohibited from all religious processions or public ex¬
posure of their idols. But among so rude a people dis¬
senters from the popular creed can have little security
for their freedom; and among the Afghans, accordingly,
there are not wanting some cruel examples of religious
tyranny. Yet the Hindoos, though they are held to
be impure, and though no strict man would consent to
eat meat of their dressing, are employed in public situ¬
ations of trust and emolument, and appear to enjoy as
much security as the other inhabitants. All the Afghans
are sent in their infancy to a moollah for education,
by whom they are frequently taught nothing more than
some prayers and passages of the Koran, and the cere¬
monies of their religion. A great portion of them remain
consequently in a state of ignorance, and cannot read
their own language. The rich maintain moollahs in their
own houses, to teach their children, some of whom are
taught to read the Persian classics and the Arabic. The
Afghans have no literature of their own beyond a few
patriotic songs or tales of love, of which passion they
speak in the most romantic strain. The Mahometan re¬
ligion exercises, as usual, its injurious influence on the
character and condition of the women, who, especially
among the higher classes, are shrouded in concealment.
Polygamy is allowed, and any woman may be divorced
at the caprice of her husband. Among the lower classes
the women are more freely exposed, and do all the
drudgery of the house, being forced to bring in water,
and, among the ruder tribes, to do the work of the men
out of doors. Slavery is allowed, as in all Mahometan
countries. The greater part of the slaves are born at
home; but supplies are received of Abyssinians, and ne¬
groes from Arabia; and of Persians from the inhabitants
of Belochistan, who seize them in their forays. Caufirs
are purchased from their own nation, or carried off by
some of their own border tribes. These last are gene¬
rally women, who are in great request on account of their
beauty.
The low state of knowledge among the Afghans is
evinced by some of their favourite studies and amuse¬
ments. They are greatly addicted to alchemy and to
magic; they have implicit faith in ghosts, in dreams, in
the arts of divination, the power of talismans, and in the
possibility of controlling genii and demons. Grown up
men play at marbles. Prisoners base, quoits, and a game
like hunt the slipper, are also common; as are wrestling
and other trials of strength and skill. Fighting quails,
cocks, dogs, rams, and even camels, are much admired.
Some of their sports are, however, more manly. The'
chace is the favourite amusement of all classes, for which
the abundance of game in the country affords ample scope.
Horse-racing is common. An amusement of the better
classes is to tilt with their lances, or to shoot at a mark
with carbines or matchlocks on horseback; or with guns
or bows and arrows on foot. They also practise a com¬
plicated sort of dance, which gives them great delight.
The Afghan women are described as large compared
with those of India, and very fair and handsome. The men
are all of a robust make, and are generally lean, though
bony and muscular; and with high noses, high cheek-
bones, and long faces. Their hair is always coarse and
strong, and they wear long and thick beards, which are
generally black or brown, but rarely red. There is an
expression of manliness and deliberation in their counte¬
nance, joined to an air of simplicity, not allied to weakness.
The eastern Afghans have the natural features most
strongly marked. Those of the western tribes are less
distinct, and exhibit a greater variety of countenance,
some of their features being the reverse of sharp, though
their high cheek-bones never leave them. The western
Afghans are larger and stouter than those of the east,
some being of surprising strength and stature; but in
general the Afghans are not so tall as the English.
The eastern Afghans, owing to the heat of their climate,
have generally dark complexions, approaching to that of
the natives of Hindostan; while those of the west are
olive, with a healthy colour and appearance. But among
them, as among the eastern Afghans, are to be found men
of swarthy complexions, like the natives of India; and
others, again, as fair as Europeans. In the east, however,
it is more common for the complexion to have a swarthy
tinge than in the west. But the two races, the eastern
and the western, are distinguished by still more striking
peculiarities in their manners than in their complexion.
Having derived their civilisation from the Persians and
Indians, they each retain the usages of the respective
nations with whom they have been connected. The
Persian dress, language, and manners, distinguish the
western tribes; and from the supremacy which two
of these, particularly that of Dooraunee, have at times
maintained over the whole, they decidedly prevail in the
nation, and are even recognised where the Indian cus¬
toms are more in repute. The manners of the Afghans
are frank and open ; sometimes rustic, but seldom fierce
or insolent, except among the eastern tribe of the Eu-
sofzyes, who have naturally an arrogant carriage. About
towns they are more polished than in the country, and are
accustomed to pay respect to their superiors. In all cases
they show a great reverence for old age. They are alto¬
gether a superior people to the Hindostanees, being free
from their puerility, and from the apathy which they dis¬
play in all matters not bearing on their own interest;
nor are they delighted with the baubles which form the
most acceptable presents in India. The bulk of the people
are rather remarkable for prudence, observation, and,
though not very enlightened or enlarged in their views,
for a rational spirit of inquiry. At Calcutta those that have
seen the arsenal or the ships seem deeply interested in
the superior improvements and knowledge of the English.
And though they have not the same regard to truth as
the Europeans, they do not indulge in the practice of
gratuitous falsehood, to which the natives of Hindostan
and Persia are universally addicted. From the nature
of their country, which admits no travelling except on
horseback, they are inured to cold and heat, and to
AFGHANISTAN.
217
tan.
iftrh^s* the exertion of making long journeys, and of climbing China; cochineal, cloth, British hardware, looking glasses, Afghanis-
ta mountains, and of swimming across rapid torrents. Old Russian leather from Buckharia, to which place they come
Ikv^men who seem hardly able to sit on horseback will ride from Russia ; also a fine cloth made of camels’ wool. The
at a good pace up and down the steepest and roughest exports to Persia are shawls and shawl goods, indigo,
passes, or along the edge of precipices, where it is even carpets of Herat, chintz, Indian brocades, muslins, and
dangerous to walk. They are hospitable to strangers under other cotton cloths. The imports are raw silk, silken stuffs,
certain circumstances; but they are notorious freebooters, a coloured cotton manufacture, and silken manufactures,
especially the mountain tribes, and plunder travellers which are used in large quantities by all ranks; embroi-
without scruple. dered satin, velvet, and Persian brocade, which are confin-
The inhabitants of the towns differ in their origin and ed to the rich. Indian chintz, manufactured at Masulipa-
character from the cultivators and peasantry. The greater tarn on the Coromandel coast, comes by sea to Busheer
part of them in the western country consists of a race call- in the Persian Gulf, and is thence brought by land to Af-
edTaujiks, originally descended from the Arabs and Per- ghanistan, where it is much used. The exports to Chinese
gians; andin the east, of Hindikies, who areof Indian origin. Tartary are the same as to Buckharia. The imports are
No Afghan ever keeps a shop, or exercises any handicraft woollens, Chinese silk and satin, tea in small boxes of thin
trade. Those employments are chiefly left to the classes
'ratio
mentioned above, and to the Persians, some of whom have
acquired great wealth. The banking business is chiefly pro¬
secuted by the Hindoos. They lend money at an enor¬
mous interest by negotiating bills of exchange ; and they
occasionally accommodate government with loans, for which
they receive bills on the revenues of the provinces. Many
of them are rich, and they conceal their wealth. Mr
Elphinstone relates, that one of them, who gave him
cash for bills on India, would only make his payments in
the dead of night, when he dug up the money, and paid it
with the utmost secrecy. There is a very strict police
in the towns, which being exercised by the Mahometan
priests, often affords pretexts for extortion. The food of ing the portions too small for the support of their pro
the common people is leavened bread, rice, flesh, vege- prietors, they are consequently sold to those who have
tables, sometimes cheese, and always dried curds, of acquired wealth in public employments, or by agriculture
lead, china, porcelain, raw silk, cochineal, crystal, gold dust,
and ingots of gold and silver with the Chinese stamp.
There are five classes of cultivators in Afghanistan:Agricul-
1. the proprietors, who cultivate their own lands; 2. ten-tuve.
ants, who pay a rent in money, or in part of the produce ;
3. buzgurs, who, like the metayers, are supplied with
seed, cattle, the implements of husbandry, and furnish
only their labour ; 4. hired labourers ; and, 5. villains, who
are the property of the landlord. From the influence of
various causes, landed property is more equally divided
than in most countries. The Mahometan law, which di¬
vides the father’s property equally among his children,
soon breaks down the largest landed estates ; and render-
which all classes are fond. Provisions are cheap, and
there is a prodigious abundance of fruit.
In an inland country such as Afghanistan, mountain¬
ous, destitute of navigable rivers or of proper roads,
commerce is carried on entirely by beasts of burden.
There are no wheeled carriages, and camels are the ani¬
mals chiefly employed. The merchants travel at the rate
of about 8 or 10 miles a day in large caravans, the roads
often lying through close and craggy defiles, and nar¬
row stony valleys, among bare mountains, or along the
beds of torrents, or over waste plains, where there is
neither water nor provisions. The principal trade is with
commerce. Hence small proprietors, who cultivate
their own lands either with the aid of their families or
labourers, are numerous. The number of tenants is not
great; and many of these subset it to others, who let it
to metayers. The common term of a lease is one or two
years ; the longest is for five. The rent varies from one-
tenth to two-thirds of the produce, the latter being the
rent of the fertile lands around Cabul. The value of land
is from nine to twelve years’ produce. Labourers in hus¬
bandry are paid by the season, which is about nine months.
They receive, besides food and clothing, 30 rupees, equal
to L.3. 10s. In towns the price of labour is 4d. a day with
India, Persia, and Chinese and independent Tartary. food; in Candahar it is between 6ld. and 7d. The price of
The caravans which set out for Tartary consist of horses provisions is incredibly low. In Candahar coin of the value
or ponies, which are alone able to traverse the mountain- of 1000 pence would purchase five pounds of wheat flour ;
ous roads that lie in one part over the snowy ridges of and at Peshawer the price of flour to the British mission
Hindoo Coosh. They set off from Cashmere and Pesh- was 76 pounds for a single rupee of the value of 2s. 4d.
awer. Cabul is the great mart of Independent Tartary, The Afghan nation is divided into a variety of clans,
Candahar and Herat that of Persia. The trade from the which we cannot even enumerate ; nor does it appear to
north of India centres in Peshawer. That which crosses be necessary, since a mere list of names, even if it were
the desert from Jypore and other countries still farther given, would throw no light whatever on the peculiar
south comes to Shekarpoor, Bahawulpoor, and Mooltan ; character and manners of the different tribes. One inl¬
and that which is carried on by sea comes to Koratchee, portant distinction, however, divides the community into
and thence to Shekarpoor and Candahar. The exports to two great classes ; namely, the pastoral tribes, who live in
Hindostan, which form by far the most considerable trade tents, and who migrate with the seasons in quest of sub¬
carried on by the Afghans, consist of horses and ponies, sistence for their flocks and herds; and those again who
which chiefly come from Balk, on the northern side follow agriculture, and have fixed habitations. The coun-
of the Hindoo Coosh Mountains; furs, shawls made at try of Afghanistan which is near the hills consists of
Cashmere, and fruits. The imports are coarse cotton flat and low-lying plains, or of strongly-marked ranges of
cloths, which are worn by all the common people of the mountains. Western Afghanistan has an entirely oppo-
country; muslins, silken cloth, brocade, indigo in great site character, consisting of extensive and open plains, in-
quantities, ivory, chalk, bamboos, wax, tin, sandal wood, habited chiefly by pastoral tribes. These wandering hordes
sugar, musk, coral, drugs, and spices of all kinds. To select the grassy valleys among the mountains for their
Independent Tartary the exports are chiefly white cloth, summer habitation; but the approach of winter warns them
shawls, Indian turbans, chintz, and indigo previously im- to go in quest of more genial regions ; and they accord-
ported from India. The imports are horses, gold, and ingly migrate, some to the lower valleys at the foot of the
silver ; the latter consisting of the gold coin of Buckharia, Paropamisan Mountains, some to the low countries in the
Hutch ducats, Venetian sequins, and ingots of silver from south, and others of the more purely pastoral tribes, wan-
218
AFGHANISTAN.
Afghanis- dering from the mountain valleys of Khorassan, along the
tan’ course of the Gomul, and across the Soliman hills, fix
their winter habitations in the plains of Damaun, along
the western shores of the Indus. The Dooraunees, who
occupy a tract in the plain of Khorassan, 400 miles in
length by about 148 in breadth, form one of the greatest
pastoral tribes. It consists of many subordinate tribes,
all of whom are more or less addicted to the wandering
life; though a considerable proportion combine agricul¬
ture with pasturage, and have fixed residences. The pas¬
toral part of the Dooraunee people are mostly to be found
in the eastern hilly tracts near the frontiers of Persia, be¬
tween Herat and Seestan, and in the waste plains of
the south. To the south-east of Candahar the inhabitants
are shepherds; in other parts of the country the hus¬
bandmen and shepherds are intermixed. North of Can-
dahar, the migrating tribes seek the plains in winter and
the hills in summer. Those to the south retire from the
summer heat to the northern hills. The numerous tribes
still farther south beyond the Helmund also quit the
plains, which are thus left with scarcely a single inhabi¬
tant before the middle of spring. There are some tribes,
such as the Naussers, who are purely pastoral in their
habits, who live in tents, and have no fixed dwelling-place,
and who regularly wander with the change of the season
from their winter to their summer habitations. At the
appointed time they assemble and march in a body,
amounting to 30,000 people, with their numerous flocks
and camels, and their whole possessions, and are en¬
camped in about 200 tents. In the wild and solitary
wastes of Khorassan they move in perfect security; but
as they approach the populous parts of the countiy, they
have to make their way through hostile tribes, who beset
them in the mountain passes, and either attack the main
body or cut off the stragglers. Hence they are compel¬
led to adopt the strictest precautions. Scouts are planted
on all sides, the flanks and rear are protected by armed
bands, and the main body advances with all the caution
and exact discipline of a regular army. These shepherds
are all plunderers ; and no single travellers, if they are rich,
are safe in any part of the country. They are fierce and
warlike in their actions, and enterprising in their habits; yet
are they capable of strong attachments, and are keenly
alive to the force of social and domestic ties. In distant
countries they dwell with the fondest enthusiasm on the
valleys of their native land, on the varieties of its scenery,
on the beauties and delights of spring, and on all the pleas¬
ing vicissitudes of their wandering life ; and it is seldom
that they quit their own happy abodes for foreign adven¬
tures. Their camps usually consist of from 10 to 50 tents.
One hundred is an unusually large number. The tent is
formed of coarse black camlet, and affords excellent
shelter from the weather, the threads of the blanket
swelling as soon as they become wet; so that its texture,
naturally close, is rendered quite impervious to rain. The
tents of the common people are from 20 to 25 feet long,
10 or 12 feet broad, and 8 or 9 feet high. The tents
of the khans are of a superior description, being large
enough to contain a numerous assembly, and so high as
easily to admit a camel.
Mr Elphinstone estimates the population at 14,000,000,
to which he supposes that the different natives who in¬
habit the country contribute in the following proportions:
Afghans, 4,300,000; Beloches, 1,000,000; Tartars of all
descriptions, 1,200,000; Persians, including Taujiks,
1,500,000 ; Indians, Cashmeres, &c. 5,700,000 ; miscella¬
neous, 300,000.
The Afghans, like most barbarous nations, derive their
origin from high antiquity. They claim their descent from
Popula¬
tion.
V
History.
Afghan, the son of Irmia or Birkia, son of Saul, king of Af|4
Israel; but this is a vain tradition, which is unsupported
by the slightest historical evidence. The first account we ^
have of them is in the 9th century, when they were esta¬
blished in the north-eastern mountains of Afghanistan.
In 997 Afghanistan was conquered by a Tartar officer, Se-
buctaghi, who made Ghuzni or Ghizni his capital. His son
Mahmood greatly enlarged the limits of his empire, which
extended over the present kingdom of Cabul, India, Balkh,
Badukshan, and a great part of Khorassan. His dynasty
lasted till the year 1159, from which period till the inva¬
sion of Baber in 1506, different dynasties reigned in Afghan¬
istan with some interruption. The country was subdued by
Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane; and during their govern¬
ment, and that of their descendants, the native Afghans
appear to have maintained their independence in the
mountains. Baber, the descendant of Timour, began hia
career by the conquest of Cabul, which was his capital
till the end of his reign. On his death his sons extended
their conquests into India. Their capital was transferred
to Delhi; and the plains of Afghanistan were divided be¬
tween the empires of Hindostan and Persia, while the
mountains as before afforded an asylum to those who
rejected a foreign yoke. In 1720 the Afghan tribes
threw off their allegiance to Persia, and advancing into
the country, took Ispahan. But in 1728 they were driven
back by the celebrated usurper Nadir Shah, who pursu¬
ing his success, in the year 1737 subdued the whole of
Afghanistan. He established his power over all the coun¬
tries to the west of the Indus, which continued subject
to Persia till his assassination in 1747. On this event an
Afghan officer of the Dooraunee tribe, Ahmed Shah,
who had risen to high command in Nadir’s army, took
possession of Candahar, and having united all the Afghans
under his authority, founded the present kingdom. He
was a wise and politic prince, who united courage and
activity with great military talents. He invaded Hin¬
dostan at different times ; and in the memorable battle of
Paniput, fought in 1761, on the 7th January, he gave a
decisive blow to the Mahratta power. He died in 1773,
and was succeeded by his son Timour Shah, whose indol¬
ence was as noted as his father’s activity. He died in
1792, after a despotic reign, leaving his dominions to his
two sons, Homayon and Zemaun Shah. War soon broke out
between the two brothers ; and the elder being defeated,
the whole kingdom acknowledged the authority of Zemaun
Shah. In 1796 this prince invaded Hindostan with a
large army, and advanced to Lahore ; but he was obliged
to retreat in consequence of an insurrection in his own
country. In 1800 Zemaun Shah was dethroned and de¬
prived of his sight by his brother Mahmood. He was in
1803 expelled by his brother Shuja, who was in his turn
expelled by Mahmood in 1809, and had a pension as¬
signed him of 50,000 rupees per annum. Meantime Run-
jeet Singh, the Seik chief of Lahore, profiting by the
confusion, conquered Peshawer, the modern capital of
Afghanistan. In 1818 Shah Shuja, impatient of retirement,
attempted to regain his former dignity; but failing in this,
he was, with a lenity not common among Asiatic con¬
querors, allowed to retire with his pension; and at the
same time a pension was assigned to his blind brother
Zemaun Shah. The two rival competitors, Mahmood and
Shuja, were in 1826 quietly residing, the latter within the
British territories, and the former with his son Camram,
at Herat. The country was 'then partitioned among the
sons of Futteh Khan, and Yar Mahomed Khan was ruling
at Peshawer. (An Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and
its Dependencies in Persia, fartary, and India ; by the
Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone.) (F0
A F R
Afrola AFRAGOLA, a large manufacturing town in the king-
A dom of Naples, and in the province of Napoli. It has
Afa- three parish churches, and contains 12,640 inhabitants,
^'^who produce, among other goods, 6000 dozen of hats
annually.
A F R 219
AFRANILS, Lucius, a Latin poet, who lived about a Afranius
century before Christ. He wrote comedies in imitation II
of Menander; and is commended by Tully and Quintilian Africa-
for his acute genius and fluent style. Only some frae--
ments of his works are now extant. 7 S
AFRICA.
kaci^
togwhy
THE knowledge which ancient writers have transmitted
to posterity, of this great continent, is of very limited
» A<> extent, owing principally to its physical construction.
^’•vt desert of sand, which in a broad belt stretches quite across
the continent, forbade every attempt to pass it until the
introduction of the camel by the Arabs. The want of any
known great river, except the Nile, that might conduct into
the interior, contributed to confine the Greek and Roman
colonists to the habitable belt along the northern coast.
We know, however, from unquestionable authority, for
so we deem the sacred records to be, that 4000 "years
ago the grandson of Ham fled to and settled in Egypt or
Misraim, names which that country has preserved to the
present day; and that3600 years ago it was as well or better
known to eastern nations than any part of Europe was at
that time. The latter, indeed, may be said to have re¬
ceived the germs of civilisation from the Egyptian colo¬
nies on the shores of the Mediterranean; for we have
sufficient proof that Egypt had reached to a considerable
degree of civilisation in the patriarchal ages, from the
circumstance of the sons of Jacob proceeding thither out
of Asia to purchase corn; for a commerce in grain im¬
plies civilisation. The Carthaginians are also known to
have formed establishments on the northern coast of
Africa at a very early period of history, certainly not less
than 2700 years ago ; and the conquest of Egypt by Cam-
byses dates as far back as 2300 years. We may con¬
sider, therefore, the coasts of Egypt, of the Red Sea, and
of the Mediterranean, to have been settled and well
known to the ancient Asiatics, who were constantly pass¬
ing the narrow isthmus which divided their country from
Africa, and led them immediately from parched deserts
into a fertile valley, watered by a magnificent river. But
whether they were much or little acquainted with the
western coast, which bounds the Atlantic, and the eastern
coast washed by the Indian Ocean, is a question that has
exercised the research and ingenuity of the ablest scho¬
lars and geographers, and has not yet been satisfactorily
answered.
This question being one of curiosity rather than utility, Western
we shall only state the case, and the results of the several coast,
inquiries, without entering into the merits of the argu¬
ments advanced by the different parties. We are told by
Herodotus, that Necho, king of Egypt, sent out an expe¬
dition under the command of certain Phoenician seamen,
for the purpose of circumnavigating Africa; and that, on
their return, they asserted that they had accomplished this
undertaking. Few of the ancient writers give credit to
the story; but, among the moderns, the Abbe Paris and
Montesquieu have contended that this voymge was actually
performed. Isaac Vossius and D’Anville have strong
doubts ; and Dr Vincent and M. Gosselin maintain that such
an expedition, at such a period, exceeds all the means and
resources of navigation, then in its infancy. Last of all
comes Major Rennell, who, in his elucidation of the geo¬
graphy of Herodotus, has done more than all the rest in
clearing away the doubts of history; and he argues the
possibility of such a voyage, from the construction of their
ships, with flat bottoms and low masts, enabling them to
keep close to the land, and to discover and enter into all
the creeks and harbours which any part of the coast might
present. At all events, one thing is evident: if such an expe¬
dition ever left the Pillars of Hercules, and proceeded down
the coast, the fruits of it have nearly, if not entirely, perished.
About half a century after this supposed expedition,
the account of another voyage, down the western coast, is
contained in the Periplus of Hanno, which has also called
forth many learned and elaborate discussions among mo¬
dern geographers. The principal persons engaged in this
controversy were Bougainville, Rennell, and Gosselin, the
several results of whose researches will be seen in the fol¬
lowing table; the first column of which exhibits the de¬
scription of the successive lines of coast, and their most
remarkable features, as given by Hanno, who commences
his narrative from the Pillars of Hercules or Straits of
Gibraltar. The others show the correspondent modern
positions, as severally assigned by these three distin¬
guished geographers.
DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS ON THE COAST,
AS GIVEN BY HANNO.
Thyrmterium, overlooking a vast plain (twol
days’ sail) J
Promontory of Soloeis, covered with trees
A day s sail; five cities founded; then arrive
at the great river Lixus, flowing from Libya
After sailing two days west and one day east,
arrive at the island of Cerne
A large river called Chretes
A bay or lake, with several islands larger than 1
Cerne f
A large river, full of crocodiles and hippopotami
Return to Cerne; twelve days’ sail along the A
coast of the Ethiopians; then a Cape, formed f
1 by mountains covered with odoriferous trees, (
doubled in two days \
MODERN POSITIONS, ACCORDING TO
BOUGAINVILLE.
Cape Cantin
Cape Bojador
Rio d’Ouro
Arguin
River St John
Islands near its mouth
The Senegal
Cape St Anne near)
Sierra Leone J
RENNELL.
Near Mamora
Cape Cantin
Difficult to place
Arguin
River St John
Islands near its mouth
The Senegal
Cape Verde
GOSSELIN.
Cape Mollabat
Cape Spartel
River Lucos
Fedala
River Rebeta
Lake of the Negroes
River Subu or Saboe
Cape Geer
AFRICA.
Eastern
coast.
DESCRIPTION OF OBJECTS ON THE COAST,
AS GIVEN BY HANNO.
Five days’ sail along an immense gulf
A gulf called the Western Horn ; large island"
with a salt water lake. Fires, with music,'
and loud cries during the night. Three i
days’ sail
Large flaming mountain called the Chariot of]
the Gods
New gulf called the Southern Horn, at which
the voyage terminated. Another island and !
lake. Gorilla (oran outangs)
MODERN POSITIONS, ACCORDING TO
BOUGAINVILLE. RENNELL. GOSSELIN.
To Cape Palmas
To Cape Three Points
An extinguished vol-1
cano J
Gulf of Benin
To Cape Roxo (em-'
bouchure of the
Gambia)
Gulf of Bissago
Sagres
Sherbro Sound
Gulf of Santa Cruz
To Cape Nun
Fabulous
To the river Nun
The extent to which ancient discovery proceeded along
the eastern coast of Africa, has divided the opinion of the
learned nearly as much as its progress on the western
coast. Delisle, Huet, and Bochart, made the discovery of
the coast to extend as far south as Mozambique and Ma¬
dagascar. D’Anville could trace such discovery no far¬
ther than to Cape Delgado; and M. Gosselin contends
that the ancients never proceeded down the coast beyond
Brava. But Dr Vincent, who has entered more pro¬
foundly into the subject than any of his predecessors, and
brought a great fund of learning to bear on the question,
in his Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, has with great plau¬
sibility extended these boundaries to Mozambique and
to the island of Madagascar. The following table exhi¬
bits at one view the comparative nomenclature and sup¬
posed identities of the several places on the coast, as
found in the two ancient authorities and the two modern
commentators ; and also the description of the coast.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST.
The cape at which the coast)
turns to the south j
A promontory and mart
A considerable mart
A promontory
A mountain with three summits
Two successive gulfs
Azania
A port
A promontory and port
A harbour
Anchorages at mouths of rivers
Islands merely named
A low wooded island 300 stadia)
from land j
A promontory and great em-)
porium (termination of the >
Periplus) )
An island 5° W. long, from Prasum
A promontory, port, and river,'
the limit of ancient know¬
ledge on this side of the con¬
tinent
mi
ANCIENT NAME IN
PERIPLUS. PTOLEMY.
Aromata
Tabai
Opone
f Apokapa the less
1 Apokapa the greater
j Little coast
( Great coast
Serapion
Nicon
Seven in succession
The Pyralaan
Eitenenediom—Me
nouthesias (Menu
thias)
Rhapta
Aromata
Pano Vicus
Opone
Zengifa )
Phalangis V
Mons )
Apokapa
Southern Horn
Little coast |
Great coast J
Serapion
Nici
None mentioned
Occurs after- )
wards $
Rhapton
Menuthias
Prasum
MODERN POSITIONS, ACCORDING TO
GOSSELIN. VINCENT.
Cape Guardafui
Cape d’Orfui
Cape Delgado
Bandel Caus
No objects
Unknown
Cape Baxas
No traces to be found
Unnoticed
Misplaced
Bandel veilho
(mouth of the
Doara)
Magadoxo
Brava
Cape Guardafui
Cape d’Orfui
Bandel Caus
f Bandel D’Agoa
1 Morro Cobir
Zorzella
Cape Baxas
(No objects except
( Magadoxo
Brava
J Mouths of theObii
\ or Quillimanci
TFormed by its
) branches atMe-
) linda, Mombaca,
( &c.
Monfia
Quiloa
Madagascar
Mozambique
Egypt, under the Ptolemies, the great patrons of sci¬
ence and promoters of discovery, possessing the advan¬
tage of the only great river which falls from the African
continent into the Mediterranean, made no progress be¬
yond its ancient boundaries; and though the Romans,
who subsequently colonized Egypt, penetrated beyond
the limits of their own dependencies, they extended their
discoveries no farther than Fezzan in one direction, and,
at a later period, beyond Nubia as far as Abyssinia. But
the source of the Nile eluded their research, and is still
but imperfectly known, from the account of it as given by
Bruce, who appears to have borrowed a portion of his de¬
scription of Gondar from Tellez and Payz. If we admit,
what seems to be the- fact, that the Bahr-el-Abiad is the
VTT
A F R
main branch from which the Nile derives its supply of
rl! Wwater, the source of this celebrated river is still unknown;
and we may say with the poet,
 in extremum fugit perterritus orbem,
(3'cculuitque caput, quod adhuc latet.
ar \ye know nothing of the progress made by the Cartha-
thaqians.ginians in the discovery of interior Africa; but although
h jt jias been asserted that their merchants had reached the
banks of the interior river, which we call the Niger, they
have left nothing on record that will warrant such a sup¬
position. The story told by Herodotus at fourth hand, of
some Nasamonians crossing the desert and arriving at the
same river, appears to be deserving of very little credit.
The abs. The people from whom we derive the first information con-
* cerning the interior of Northern Africa are the Arabs, who,
by means of the camel, were able to penetrate across the
great sandy desert to the very centre of the continent,
and along the two coasts as far as the Senegal and the
Gambia on the west, and to Sofala on the east. On this
latter coast they not only explored to an extent far be¬
yond any supposed limits of ancient discovery, but plant¬
ed colonies at Sofala, Mombas, Melinda, and at various
other places.
The rtu- The fifteenth century produced a new era in maritime
gm discovery. The voyages of the Portuguese were the first
to give any thing like an accurate outline of the two
coasts, and to complete the circumnavigation of Africa.
The discovery of America and the West India islands
gave rise to that horrible traffic in African negroes, which
has since been carried on without intermission; and this
traffic has been the means of acquiring a more extended
and accurate knowledge of that part of the coast which
lies between the rivers Senegal and the Cameroons, as
well as of the manners and character of the people who
inhabit this extended line of coast. . The English settle¬
ments along this line gave opportunities for making sur¬
veys, and occasionally of visiting certain portions of the
interior. Still more recently, a regular survey has been
made by Captain Owen of the navy, between the Cape
Guardafui or Guardefan, in the Arabian Sea, to the Cape
of Good Hope, and thence continued to the Gulf of Guinea,
the completion of which is now (1829) in progress, as
far as to the Straits of Gibraltar.
Afrit As- The uncertainty and the confusion that prevailed in the
•ockiin. geography of the interior of Africa, induced a few learned
and scientific individuals to form themselves into an asso¬
ciation for promoting discoveries in the interior of Africa;
under whose patronage those important additions made
by Houghton, Hornemann, Mungo Park, and Burckhardt
were effected, and under which an individual, who had
travelled as draughtsman to Mr William Banks, has more
recently been employed in exploring the source of the
Conf ix- Bahr-el-Abiad. In consequence of an opinion given by
pditii. park an(] Maxwell, as to the southern course of the Niger,
an expedition was fitted out by the government to explore
the source of the river Congo, under the direction of Cap¬
tain Tuckey, the result of which did not add so much to our
information respecting that great river and surrounding
country as might have been expected, owing to the great
mortality of the party, occasioned, as it would seem, more
from imprudent exposure and exertion, than from un-
V*50' -• healthiness of climate. The next attempt to push disco-
Qudl • VeiT 'nto ^le interior of Africa was the mission of Oud-
Ea; ney, Denham, and Clapperton, from Tripoli to Bornou,
and ([p. under the auspices of government; which was followed up
Peru by another under Clapperton, from the Bight of Benin
to the same part of the country which he had reached on
tile first journey; thus supplying a complete series of ob-
I c A. 221
servations for the latitudes and longitudes, from the Medi- Africa,
terranean to the Gulf of Guinea. These two expeditionsv V '
have cleared away all those conjectural speculations of
the courses of rivers, ranges of mountains, and positions
of lakes and cities, many of which are now ascertained to
have no existence; while others that do exist are found
to have been placed on the maps several hundred miles
out of their true situations, to the utter confusion of topo¬
graphical consistency. In short, our maps of this great
continent were very little better than those of the six¬
teenth century, wherein, as Swift facetiously says,
Geographers, in Afric maps,
With savage pictures fill their gaps ;
And o’er uninhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns.
In consequence of the recent expeditions and surveys
above mentioned, and a variety of other information, we
are now in a condition to give a far more accurate and
detailed account of this great continent than has appear¬
ed in any former edition of this work. It may be right,
however, in the first place, to take a general and com¬
prehensive view of this quarter of the globe, on which will
be found to exist many peculiarities to distinguish it from
the other continents.
Africa is separated from Asia by the Isthmus of Suez, and General
from Europe by the Straits of Gibraltar; stretching from the description
equator to about the average latitude of 35° N., and also to °* Mrica.
the same degree of latitude south. It embraces every va¬
riety of temperature, from extreme heat to the mildest of
European climates, the softness and salubrity of the latter
of which are experienced in the Barbary States, and at
the Cape of Good Hope. On the other hand, its tropical
regions, especially on the sea-coast, are most destructive to
Europeans who attempt to settle in them, by diseases occa¬
sioned by a rich and swampy soil, clothed with an exuberant
vegetation. The greatest length, from north to south, is Dimen-
from Cape Serrat in Algiers, in lat. 37. 18. N., to Capesi°ns-
Laguillas, in lat. 34. 55. S.; and the greatest breadth,
from Cape Verde, in long. 17. 31. W., to Cape Guardafui,
in long. 51. 15. E. Its mean length may be estimated at
about 4000, and mean breadth at 2000 miles, containing an
area of 8,000,000 geographical miles. The northern por¬
tion of this great continent is fully twice the size of the
southern portion, and may be considered as about equal
to South America. South Africa is contracted to half
the width of the northern part, and is, as nearly as may
be, about the size of Australia or New Holland. The
inspection of a map of the world would induce one to
conclude, that the two continents of Africa and America
were once united; the bulging part of the former fitting
in exactly to the Gulf of Mexico; and the bulging part
of South America, about Paraiba and Pernambuco, being
about the size and shape to fill up the Gulf of Guinea.
Africa has neither the lofty mountain chains nor the Moun-
magnificent rivers of the opposite continent of America, tains.
Of the mountains, those of the greatest height that are
actually known are the great cluster of the Atlas, one
chain of which runs southerly to the desert of Zahara,
and another easterly to the neighbourhood of the Syr-
tes; two or three points of which are said to be per¬
petually covered with snow, which would give them an
elevation of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet. The cluster of
Abyssinian mountains, on the opposite side, are very simi¬
lar in their shape and grouping to those Of Atlas. Those
parts which lie in the provinces of Tigre and Gojam, from
being almost constantly covered with snow, may be con¬
sidered as about the same height as those of Atlas. The
Kong mountains, which were supposed, and are so drawn
222
AFRICA.
Africa.
Kivers.
in the maps, to run across the continent in one unbroken
'chain near the equator, are of doubtful existence as to
their continuity. Where crossed by Clapperton, they no¬
where rose to the height of 3000 feet; but they were of
granite; and a few degrees to the southward, and behind
the river Cameroons, two or three lofty peaks are visible
from the sea, which appear by triangulation to be from
13,000 to 14,000 feet. Along the eastern coast, one conti¬
nued chain extends from the Abyssinian range to the Table
Mountain of the Cape of Good Hope, but of no great
height, as far as known. Perhaps we may consider the
continent of Africa as one great plateau, supported by
littoral chains, presenting their steep sides seawards, and
sloping gently into the interior, in which many rivers will
be found to descend from them, that in all probability
never reach the ocean.
All the rivers discharged into the Mediterranean, with
the exception of the Nile, are small mountain streams.
The same is the case from Ceuta along the western coast
• to the commencement of the desert, a distance of about
eight degrees of latitude. On the coast of the Zahara
there are no rivers. The Senegal, the Gambia, and the
Rio Grande, are rivers of considerable magnitude, and
each has its source in the same system of mountains.
But it is into the Gulf of Guinea that the largest rivers
of Africa discharge their waters. The Volta, the Benin
or Formosa, the Bonny, the Old and New Calabar, the
Rio del Rey, and the Cameroons, are all of them large
rivers; but nothing is known of them farther than some
forty or fifty miles from their mouths, and they have
been supposed, except the last two, to be branches
of one and the same river. Farther down, and near
the equator, are the Angra, the Gaboon, and the Lopez,
all of which, with the others, probably derive their
sources from the range of lofty peaked mountains which
have been mentioned as seen from the sea. Still farther
south is the great river Zaire or Congo, and lower down
still the Coanza, and a few smaller ones, comprehended
within the Portuguese settlements, which extend from
about lat. 6. to 16. S. From hence to the Cape of Good
Hope, with the exception of the Gariep or Orange River,
there is none deserving of notice. On the eastern coast
the rivers are much smaller, but more numerous. From
the Isthmus of Suez, along the whole coast of the Red
Sea, and from Babelmandel to Cape Guardafui, and from
this cape to Pattah, in lat. 2. 15. S., opposite to which
is the river Obii or Zebee, there is not a stream of any
note throughout the distance of 2500 miles. In proceed¬
ing hence southerly we have the Quilimance, Mombas,
Monghow or Mongallow, Mozambique, Quiloa, Lindy,
Quillimane, Jambeze, Sofala, Inhambane, and Marfooma
and Mapoota, which fall into De la Goa Bay. From
hence to the Cape of Good Hope a few streams of little
importance fall into the Eastern Ocean.
Face of the A very short description will suffice to give a general
country, outline pf the surface of Africa. Between the Straits of Gib¬
raltar and the Gulf of the Syrtis, which is about two-thirds
of the Mediterranean coast, the country exhibits a broken
chain of mountains, interspersed with fertile valleys, in
width extending between the 35th and 29th parallels, or
about 360 miles. The rest of this coast, including
Egypt (Vhich, with Abyssinia, extends to the 12th pa¬
rallel), is generally composed of fine fertile hills and dales
and valleys, mixed, however, with deserts, in which are
a few insulated spots of verdure, known by the name of
oases. I his portion of Africa belongs (with the excep¬
tion of Egypt) to the Barbary states of Tripoli, Tunis,
Algiers, and Morocco. The next region, proceeding
southerly, is the Zahara or great sandy desert, lying be¬
tween the 29th and 16th parallels, or about 780 miles in aL|
breadth, and extending across the continent, from the^L
Atlantic to the borders of Nubia. It is inhabited only by ^
wandering pastoral tribes, who move about from one oasis
to another, where a little verdure may be found. Some of
these tribes add, to the scanty means of subsistence, the
plunder of such feeble caravans as they may venture to
attack, and others are employed in collecting salt and na¬
tron for the markets of Bornou and Soudan. The third
region is that of Soudan, or the country of the negroes,
extending in a belt quite across the continent as far as
Abyssinia, and from the 16th to the 5th parallels, or about
660 miles in width ; a rich and fertile region, yielding, with
little labour, all the valuable productions of tropical cli¬
mates. Beyond the latter degree of latitude we are in
utter ignorance of what the rest of North, and the whole
of South Africa may contain, with the exception of the
Cape of Good Hope and the Portuguese settlements on
the eastern and the western coasts, between which they
are said at one time to have kept up a communication ■
but if so, they have taken good care to keep to them¬
selves whatever knowledge of the intermediate country
they might have acquired. The colony of the Cape,
on the southern angle, extends not above 500 miles
on either coast from that promontory. Thus, then, there
still remains a tract of country at the least 30 degrees of
latitude, by 25 of longitude, or about 2,600,000" square
geographical miles, of which nothing whatever is known.
The vegetable productions of a country which embraces Ve? k
such a variety of surface, soil, and climate, must neces-prod
sarily be very varied. There is, however, a great simi-tio!ls
larity in those, both of the vegetable and animal world,
which exist in the two temperate extremities; and most
of the larger kinds of animals, peculiar to this continent,
are found in every part of it, north and south of the line,
except perhaps in Egypt, which is too thickly inhabited,
and on the broad belt of the desert, where there is nothing
for them to subsist on. At the two extremities, the forest
trees are not remarkable, either for their exuberance of
growth or their utility in naval and civil architecture, ma¬
chinery, or domestic uses. In the valleys, and on the sides
of the hills of Mount Atlas, are extensive forests; but in no
other part of the northern region. The erythrina, several
mimosas or accasias, particularly the mimosa nilotica,
numerous species of euphorbia and cactus, of rhamnus,
aloe, and the huge adansonia, are found in the most arid
soils, even on the great desert, but there in a more dwarfish
state. The scanty vegetation, however, that partially
appears on the surface of this “ land of perpetual thirst,”
this “ leonum arida nutria*” is mostly confined to the
more humble tribe of mysembri-anthema, salsolse, salicor-
nias, gnaphaliae, and a few other species of saline and suc¬
culent plants, which are able to support a feeble exist¬
ence in a soil unrefreshed by rain or moisture. The
southern extremity of Africa enjoys, in addition to the
northern Flora, the magnificent family of proteas, and
innumerable species of the elegant heaths. The tropical
regions, it is almost unnecessary to add, abound with fo¬
rests of the finest timber trees, many of them of dimen¬
sions that can scarcely be credited. The finest naval
timber, stated to be superior either to oak or teak, is im¬
ported from the western coast of Africa, chiefly from the
neighbourhood of Sierra Leone and the River Gambia.
Ihroughout Soudan, wherever there is soil, vegetation is
most vigorous, and much more labour is requisite to keep
it under, than would be necessary for the cultivation of
alimentary and other useful plants, if the ground were
once cleared.
Those vegetable productions which are raised by the
am hand of man, and which administer to his sustenance, his
—fiwNothing and shelter, and also to his other comforts, are
abundantly supplied, without severe labour, in all parts of
this continent, with the exception of the sandy desert.
Jn the tropical regions, near the coast, they have the two
most useful trees, the cocoa-palm and the common spe¬
cies of palm, which supply them with oil and wine.
They have citrons, lemons, oranges, pomegranates, plan¬
tains, and bananas; rice and Indian corn, and various
other useful plants, the introduction of some of which
they owe to the Portuguese ; perhaps the only benefit con¬
ferred, in compensation for the many evils inflicted by
them on this unfortunate people. In the interior they
have figs, pomegranates, plantains, abundance of fine
yams, melons, gourds, and pumpkins; earth-nuts, coly-
cynth, dourrha, and other kinds of millet; maize or Guinea
corn, rice, vegetable butter, sweet potatoes, onions,* and
pepper. But the dourrha is the grain chiefly cultivated;
and from this, with a mixture of pepper and honey, they
make the fermented beverage, known in almost every part
of Africa under the name of booza, with which the negroes
delight to make themselves intoxicated. Cotton and in¬
digo are everywhere cultivated with the greatest ease; and
they have plants which afford them dyes of every shade
of colour for their cloths. In the temperate parts of the
continent, the finest grain of every species is produced,
not excluding the maize and millets; every kind of Eu¬
ropean fruits and vegetables, and many of the tropical
ones, particularly oranges, lemons, and limes. All the
varieties of grapes, figs, peaches, and apricots, are of the
richest and most delicious flavour; but apples, pears,
plums, and cherries, are found to deteriorate, both at the
northern and southern extremities. Melons, pumpkins,
and every species of pulse, are as fine as can be produced
in any part of Europe. In the northern portion grows the
rhamnus lotos or jujube, on which the lotophagi of the
ancients are supposed to have fed; and on the skirts of
the desert, that most useful tree the date-palm grows in
whole forests, affording a very considerable part of the
subsistence of the natives.
iiima; It would require a volume to name the several objects
in the vegetable world. We proceed, therefore, to take
a glance at the animal part of the creation ; and first, as
Ian. being most important, of its lord and master, Man. The
first peopling of any country is always an object of curi¬
ous research, though rarely productive of a satisfactory
result. If we admit the grandson of Ham to have settled
in Egypt, perhaps we shall not err in considering the rest
of Africa, at least of tropical Africa, to have been ori-
egro ginally peopled by the negroes, and every other race of
«pr man now found on it, whether pure or mixed, to be ad-
" venfifi°us. This hypothesis is grounded on the fact, that
piu all the people now in Africa, except the blacks, can be
traced to an Asiatic origin ; while no negroes were ever
found, except as slaves, in Asia, though they are met with
on some of the Asiatic islands. Whether this nation,
now confined to the tropical regions, were ever in possession
ol the two extremities of the continent, it were in vain to
inquire; but, considering their indolent disposition, which
makes them averse from labour, and anxious to avoid it
whenever it is possible, their great delight being to bask in
the sun all day, and to sing, dance, drum, and drink booza
all night, we may naturally suppose they would make choice
ol a country where all the necessaries of life are either
produced spontaneously, or with the least possible exer¬
tion of those who are to use them. This is not the case
in the extra-tropical regions of Africa, where labour is
| required to render the soil productive. It has been con¬
jectured, on grounds slender enough—the features of the
fPhythat the ancient Egyptians were negroes; the Africa,
lips, however, are the only negro feature in that extraor-
dinaiy piece of sculpture. But were it completely negro,
it would prove nothing, unless it could be shown that this
statue was more ancient than all the temples of Egypt 
the Memnonium, Epsambul, Tentyra, the tombs of the
kings of Thebes, and many others—in all of which the
sculpture and the paintings of the human figure are in¬
variably represented with features that approach nearest
to the Persians, that original hive, as Sir William Jones
has supposed, of the human race, or at least of the greater
portion of the orientals. The negroes are by nature a
harmless and inoffensive race, and their easy and timid
disposition has been turned to their disadvantage, by the
facility with which they have suffered themselves, and
still submit, to be dragged from their country and friends
into a state of foreign slavery. Domestic slavery has
undoubtedly existed in all times among the negroes, as
well as among other nations, and without being consider¬
ed as an evil; but the peculiarly unfortunate lot of the
negro is that of being torn away from all his connections,
never to see them again. In the interior, the slaves are as
happy and cheerful as their masters, and treated just as
well; and strangers are received by them with cheerful¬
ness, kindness, and hospitality.
Considering, then, the negroes as the sole aborigines of
Africa, and the other races inhabiting this continent as ca¬
pable of being traced to an Asiatic origin, the numbers
that have poured in are easily accounted for, by the faci¬
lity with which the Isthmus of Suez afforded them a pas¬
sage, like a bridge, from one continent to the other. They
may be classed, according to the purity of their race,
as follows: the Berbers, the Moors, the Arabs, and the
Turks; of the mixed breeds, the Copts, Nubians, and
Abyssinians, are not greatly dissimilar ; the Caffres (Kafirs)
or infidels of the eastern coast are obviously of Arab and
negro extraction; and the Hottentots, crammed into one
single and the most distant corner of Africa, if not an
original race, are, it must be admitted, a most singular
anomaly among mankind. Of the Jews it is unnecessary
to say any thing, as they are scattered over the whole
world, and everywhere the same.
The Berbers are probably the most ancient inhabitants Berbers,
of the northern belt of Africa. The authors of Mithri-
dates seem to consider them as the remains of the an¬
cient Getuloe, to the west of Mount Atlas, and of the
Libyans to the east. But from whence did these two
people proceed? At present they are found in dif¬
ferent parts of the continent under different names.
The Shillas in the mountains of Morocco, the Kabyles
in the mountains of Algiers and Tunis, the Tibboos in
the eastern part of the great desert, and the Tuaricks
in the western and central parts of the desert, may all be
considered as emanating from the same race. They all
speak different modifications of the same language, which,
though written in a character wholly distinct (if Oudney
be correct) from every other existing, is said to partake
of the Hebrew and Phoenician. Mr Marsden, who has
paid great attention to the subject, has traced this lan¬
guage from the extreme east to the extreme west of
Northern Africa, and conjectures that it may have been
the general language of the northern part, antecedent to
the period of the Mahometan conquests; and that so
marked is its affinity to certain forms of the oriental lan¬
guages, as to make it not unreasonable to consider it as
connected with the ancient Punic; an opinion in which
M. Dangles is disposed to concur. They are a stout
hardy race, of a complexion varying in hue from white to
almost black, according to the exposure they have en*
n
224 A F R
Africa, dured, and the degree of latitude they inhabit. Their form
generally well made, tall and thin, their carriage erect and
independent. They are most abstemious, their food con¬
sisting chiefly of coarse brown bread, dates, olives, and
water. Even on the heated desert, where the thermo¬
meter generally is from 90° to 120°, they are clothed from
head to foot; and they cover the face up to the eyes with
a black or coloured handkerchief. Those who inhabit the
desert live by plundering the caravans from Morocco to
Soudan, or by carrying salt to Timbuctoo, Kano, and even
as far as Soccatoo. Lander, the servant of the late Cap¬
tain Clapperton, describes a troop of 500 camels laden
with this article for the Soccatoo market. “ They were
preceded,” he says, “ by a party of 20 Tuarick salt mer¬
chants, whose appearance was grand and imposing. They
entered at full trot, riding on handsome camels, some of
them red and white, and others black and white. All
the party were dressed exactly alike. They wore black
cotton tobes and trousers, and white caps with black tur¬
bans, which hid every part of the face but the nose and
eyes. In their right hand they held a long and highly
polished spear, whilst the left was occupied in holding
their shields and retaining the reins of their camels.
The shields were made of white leather, with a piece of
silver in the centre. As they passed on, their spears
glittering in the sun, and their whole bearing bold and
warlike, they had a novel and singular effect, which
delighted me.” They are, however, a very dirty people,
and never wash themselves. Water, they say, was given
to man to drink, and that it does not agree with the skin
of a Tuarick, who always falls sick after much washing.
They have partly embraced Mahometanism, and make
use of water to perform their ablutions. They are exceed¬
ingly superstitious; and their whole clothing, spears,
swords and muskets, if they have them, are covered over
with charms.
Tibboos. The Tibboos are apparently of a less pure race than
the Tuaricks, being much more slender in their shape,
having softer features, of a dark shining colour, nearly
black, but with little or no appearance of the negro
features. The women are described by Lyon as models
of black beauties, full of vivacity, and tbnd of music
and dancing. On the desert they frequent all the
wells and wadeys, or little oases, with their sheep and
goats. Neither the men nor the women cover their
faces, but have the same bold indepeudent gait as the
Tuaricks. The men are great traffickers in slaves to
Bornou, Kanem, and Baghermi, which they carry to Fez-
zan, Tripoli, and Egypt, in exchange for horses, which
they sell at a high rate to the Bornouese. They are re¬
ported to be great thieves, laying wait to rob the caravans
between Tripoli and Bornou, but never daring to attack
them openly. Poor as they are, they are constantly ex¬
posed to the predatory excursions of the more fierce and
warlike Tuaricks, who carry on their marauding expedi¬
tions to the very frontiers of Bornou and Soudan. The
language of these several tribes of Berbers of the desert,
as far as the few vocabularies extend, has been found to
be very nearly the same.
Moors. The Moors are numerously spread over that northern
belt of Africa which is known, as we have already said, by
the name of the Barbary States. They are a handsome race
of men, resembling in their stature and features the best
formed Europeans or western Asiatics, but of a darker com¬
plexion. They are more robust than the Arabs, their
features more full; but they speak a dialect of the Arabic,
abounding in expressions, however, that are peculiar to
themselves. They are supposed to be the descendants of
the ancient Mauritanians, from whom they derive their
I C A.
name, mixed perhaps with the Numidians, and subsequent- ,
ly the Arabs ; and as Sallust says that the Numidians and^ v
Mauritanians were originally descended from an Asiatic
colony composed of Armenians, Medes, and Persians, a
comparison of the Moorish with these languages might
prove interesting to the philologist. The Moors are de¬
scribed as a cruel, revengeful, and blood-thirsty race.
They abound most in Morocco and Tripoli. The emperor
of the former state was of the race of Moors that conquer¬
ed Spain, but since 1547- the posterity of Mahomet has
sat on the throne; but the pasha of the latter state is of
the Moorish race. The reigning family of both the one
and the other, have been guilty of such atrocious and
cold-blooded acts as make human nature shudder. The
present pasha of Tripoli shot his own brother in cold
blood, while he was sitting and conversing with his mother
on an ottoman; and two years ago, his second son, Sidi
Hamet, who is to succeed to the throne, the eldest being
in exile, deliberately drew a pistol and shot his wife, a
beautiful Georgian, just after her confinement, for having
accused him of infidelity with two of her slaves. The
Moors are temperate in their diet, and simple in their
dress; but the women of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers
wear splendid apparel, and deck themselves all over with
gold, silver, and ornaments of precious stones. In the
towns the Moors are merchants, and in the country the la¬
bours of the field are chiefly in their hands. On the borders
of the desert, particularly in the Morocco dominions, they
are found in considerable numbers, living, like the Arabs,
in tents, and subsisting on dates, millet, and Indian corn,
in the most frugal and abstemious manner. Here they
practise the art of weaving, and of preparing what is
known by us as Morocco leather. They dye skins and
cotton cloth of different colours; they manufacture swords,
and decorate their scabbards with plates of gold and silver;
make stirrups and bridle-bits of single pieces of metal;
work gold rings, chains, bracelets, and all other decorative
ornaments, with great taste and skill; and are, in short,
an ingenious people.
The Arabs are spread over every known part of Africa, An
and are just now in possession of the finest portions of Sou¬
dan. Mounted on their camels, or the swifter species of
dromedary called moherey, they fly across the desert,
and have planted the standard of their prophet from the
shores of the Red Sea to Cape Negro, and from the Se¬
negal to Sofala. “ The conquest of Africa,” says Gibbon,
“ from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean, was first attempt¬
ed by the arms of the Caliph Othman. The pious design
was approved by the companions of Mahomet and the
chiefs of the tribes; and 20,000 Arabs marched from
Medina with the gifts and the blessing of the commander
of the faithful.” This event took place in the year of
Christ 647. These conquests, however, were suspended,
and about forty years afterwards the complete subjugation
of this unfortunate country was reserved for Ackbah,
whose career, as we are told, but not his zeal, was checked
by the prospect of a boundless ocean. “ He spurred his
horse,” says the Roman historian, “ into the waves, and
raising his eyes to heaven, exclaimed, with the voice of a
fanatic, ‘ Great God ! if my course were not stopped by
this sea, I would still go on to the unknown kingdoms of
the west, preaching the unity of thy holy name, and put¬
ting to the sword the rebellious nations who worship any
other gods than thee.’ ” Gibbon had no dislike to an ori¬
ental hyperbole, and the one just quoted is made up from
two French interpreters of Novaire’s Encyclopedia. The
Greek colonists were expelled the country, but it was
some time before the Moors consented to receive the
laws, the religion, and the language of the Arabs. It is
the custom to speak of the conquest of Spam by the
Moors; but the motley crew which passed the strait,
from Ceuta and Tangier, consisted of a far greater pro¬
portion of Arabs than of Moors.
The true unmixed Arabs, or those who call themselves
Shirifs, the descendants of the family of Mahomet, are
easily distinguished from the Bedouins and the numerous
tribes who have freely mingled with the people among
whom they have planted themselves. The true Arab
has a more lively and expressive physiognomy; a com¬
plexion more approaching to the olive colour; a small,
dark, sparkling eye, deeply sunk in the head; an angular
face; a short pointed beard; hair strong and black; a mouth
but half-closed, discovering his teeth ; and a form of body
more adapted for agility than strength. Those who dwell
near the towns are cultivators of the soil, but the greater
number lead a wandering pastoral life; and though capa¬
ble of the greatest exertion, and patient of hunger and
fatigue, they are nearly as fond of an indolent inactive
life as the negroes. The Arab women are almost univer¬
sally ill-featured, and when a little advanced in years
are horribly ugly; notwithstanding which they exercise
a considerable degree of influence over the men.
rks It might have been supposed that the Moors and
Arabs, who had driven the Greek and Roman colonists
out of Africa, and who had succeeded in conquering
Spain, when driven back out of the latter, would have
been able to maintain their government in the former
country ; but this unfortunate portion of Africa was doom.-
ed to endure the more galling yoke of Turkish ferocity,
nurtured by fanaticism and ignorance. A handful of
Turkish adventurers succeeded in establishing their do¬
minion on the Barbary coast, and, by the payment of an
annual tribute to the Ottoman Porte, have ever since
continued their barbarous rule, by means of a few Turkish
troops, over the more docile and industrious Moors and
Arabs. The Turks are an ignorant, bigoted, and indolent
race. They will lounge whole days, lying at full length on
the flat roofs of their houses, or on the ground in the pub¬
lic places, or in frequenting the baths, or smoking opium
and drinking coffee in the houses where these ingredients
are sold ; but they are very rarely found to submit to any
kind of labour. In Africa, indeed, they are almost exclu¬
sively employed in the military service. The most en¬
lightened Turkish ruler in Africa is Mahomed Ali Pasha
of Egypt, but he has yet done as little as any of the rest
to meliorate the condition of his subjects. Aiming at in¬
dependence, since the fatal blow recently given to the
Ottoman dominion, and being free from the fanaticism of
Islam, there is some hope, by the ardour with which he is
adopting European arts and habits, that he may live to
regenerate the fertile country over which he presides.
ts' The Copts are very generally supposed to be the de¬
scendants of the ancient Egyptians, mingled with the
Persians who are said to have been left by Cambyses,
and with the Greeks carried thither by Alexander and
the Ptolemies, the Romans under the eastern empire, and
most, probably with the Arabs, more particularly those
who inhabit Upper Egypt and Nubia. Their complexion
js somewhat darker than that of the Arabs, their fore¬
heads flat, and their hair partakes rather of a soft and
woolly character; their noses are short, but not flat;
mouths wide, and lips thick; the eyes are large, and bent
upwards in an angle like those of the Mongols; and their
cheek-bones also are high, and their beards thin; and
enon says there is no grace or symmetry in their shape,
and that their bandy-legs and long flat toes are ill adapt-
e ..;or agdity. Their original language, which they have
8 ul preserved, is a relic of the ancient Egyptian, mixed
vol. ii.
with some Arabic and Greek words. The Coptic alpha- Africa,
bet, though evidently modelled on the Greek, contains
some characters belonging to the ancient writing of the
Egyptians; and the knowledge of this language has
greatly facilitated the alphabet, which Champollon by
years of application has extended a little, and but a little,
beyond the attempts originally instituted by De Sacy
and Dr Young, and of which he has availed himself,
without the decency of acknowledging the obligation, as
he ought to have done. The Copts are Christians, and
addicted to trade and business; a habitude which affords
them generally employment under the ignorant and in¬
dolent Turks.
The Nubians are a mixed race between Arabs and Nubians.
Ethiopians. The Barabras or Berbers, though somewhat
similar to those already mentioned, are supposed to be a
different people, or at least to have a greater intermixture
with the Arab: their language also is different, as far as
the vocabularies have been compared. Like the Arabs,
they are so remarkably spare in their persons, as to have
apparently almost neither fat nor muscle. Their skin is
shining, and in colour not unlike bronze. “ Their hollow
eyes sparkle under an uncommonly projecting eye-brow ;
their nostrils are large, the nose sharp; the mouth wide,
but the lips thin ; the hair of the head and beard is thin,
and in small tufts. They become wrinkled at an early
age, but are always lively and nimble ; they only betray
their age by the whiteness of their beards. Their phy¬
siognomy is cheerful, and their dispositions lively and
good-humoured. They dress in a piece of white or blue
woollen cloth ; earn very little by their labour, subsist on
next to nothing, and are always attached and faithful to
their masters.’’ {Malte-Brun.) These people are found
from Darfoor to Sennaar, and they are described by
Burckhardt, at least such of them as dwelt at Berber and
Shendi, to be a most debauched and drunken set,—men
and women equally immoral and abandoned.
The next class of Nubians are the Ababdes, who inhabit Ababde
the deserts to the east of the Nile. They are Arabs, but Arabs,
differ in customs, language, and dress, from the Arabs in
Egypt. They are nearly black, but have Asiatic features ;
live in tents, use little clothing, possess sheep, horses, and
cattle ; but what they take most pride in is a species of
camel, smaller and more active than the common kind,
which they call aguine. They are Mahometans. Burck¬
hardt says they have for ages preserved the purity of
their race, and will not permit their women to intermarry
with the Nubians. “ They pride themselves, and justly,”
says this intelligent traveller, “ in the beauty of their
girlsand he describes them as an honest and hospitable
people.
The Nubians to the west of the Nile are descendants,
in all probability, of the Nubae or Ethiopians of Ptolemy.
They are a gentle kind of negroes, with small features,
flat noses, and woolly hair. They are idolaters, and, ac¬
cording to Bruce, worship the new moon. They use cir¬
cumcision, but feed pigs, and eat pork without any scru¬
ple. They are found in this neighbourhood, and the
whole way between the Nile and the great desert; and as
far down as Bornou are found a great number of different
tribes of Arabs, mixed more or less with the original native
blacks of Africa, of many of which Burckhardt has given
the best account probably that is extant, from his intimate
knowledge of the language and history of the Arabians.
Abyssinia is the country of the ancient Ethiopians. Abyssi-
The inhabitants, however, are, strictly speaking, notnians.
black, but their complexion is rather peculiar to them¬
selves, which Mr Bruce compares to the colour of pale
ink; or, as may be inferred, a sort of iron-grey. Many,
2 F
226 A F El
Africa, however, are described as of an olive brown, somewhat re-
sembling bronze. And although in their well-shaped
forms, their regular features, and their long hair, they ap¬
proach to the European, there may still be discovered in
their features some faint traits of the negro. The Gheez
language, in which the books of the Abyssinians are writ¬
ten, is considered to be a dialect of the Arabic; and the
Amharic, which is the spoken language, and in use at
court, though full of Arabic roots, is of a peculiar con¬
struction. It is concluded, therefore, that whatever the
original race may have been, it has received a mixture of
Arab blood; and the maritime parts, most probably, at
some period or other, have been peopled by an Arab co¬
lony. They have, however, successfully resisted Islam-
ism; but their Christianity is mixed with some of the
Jewish rituals, and admits circumcision in both sexes as a
harmless practice. The Troglodytes, who inhabit the
country of Habesh, which extends along the Arabian Gulf,
or Red Sea, seem to have changed little of the manners
and customs ascribed to them by the ancients. The hol¬
lows of the rocks were, and still are, their dwellings;
they subsist by fishing, and breeding a few sheep and
goats; they speak the Gheez language, and are in all
probability a branch of the original Abyssinians.
CafTYes or Along the whole range of the eastern coast of Africa,
Kafirs. from Cape Guardafui to within 500 miles of the Cape of
Good Hope, are a race of people more or less black, ge¬
nerally of a deep bronze colour, large in stature, of a bold
and independent gait, of fine forms, and strongly built,
having the head shaped like the most perfect of Euro¬
peans, the nose a little arched, the lips somewhat thick¬
ened, the hair frizzled, but wiry rather than woolly,
and, when suffered to grow long, hanging in spiral
locks like so many cork-screws. They make u§e of
different dialects of the same language, in all of which
may be heard a mixture of Arabic words, more or less
as they are nearer to or farther from the Strait of Babel-
mandib. The Portuguese, when they had first doubled
the Cape of Good Hope, and touched at the Arab settle¬
ments on the eastern coast, learned from the Mahometan
settlers, that these people were called Caffres or Ka¬
firs, by which they meant only that they were infidels.
Those tribes nearest to the colony of the Cape still bear
the name. It does not appear that they anywhere ex¬
tend a great way into the interior, as the whole of the
many thousand slaves that have lately been carried away
from this coast of Africa by the French, the Portuguese,
and the Imaum of Moscat, were negroes, the warlike
Caffres having successfully repelled every attempt of
these infamous traders to reduce them to a state of sla¬
very. The tribe nearest to the Cape colony call them¬
selves Koussie. Beyond them are the Hamboonas, and
at Port Natal the Zoolas. Those who inhabit the inte¬
rior to the north and north-west are the Boshuanas, the
Barroloos, and the Wanketzens ; and thus, till we reach
the Gallas, at the foot of the Abyssinian Mountains, each
tribe has its own name, though they are evidently sprung
from the same origin, a mixture of Arabs with the native
black African. These several tribes subsist almost en¬
tirely by their herds of cattle, and a little millet (holcus),
and a species of bitter gourd, these being almost the
only plants they cultivate, at least to the southward.
More northerly, the country, increasing in warmth of cli¬
mate and fertility, may probably afford them spontaneous
products of nutriment. At Port Natal a lieutenant of
the English navy has established a little colony, to which
these people bring him large quantities of ivory, skins,
bees-wax, and some other articles, which he purchases
cheap, and sends to the Cape of Good Hope.
I C A.
In the southern angle of Africa, and confined within
very narrow limits, is a race of men totally distinct from
every other tribe of people on that continent, and, inH 5
some respects, from every known people in any part ofto!
the globe. Where they originally came from, and how
they happened to be hemmed in, and confined entirely to
this remote corner of the earth, is a problem not likely to
be ever satisfactorily solved. The only people to whom
the Hottentot has been thought to bear a resemblance
are the Chinese or Malays, or their original stock the Mon¬
gols. Like these people, they have the broad forehead
the high cheek-bones, the oblique eye, the thin beard
and the dull yellow tint of complexion, resembling the
colour of a dried tobacco leaf; but there is a difference
with regard to the hair, which grows in small tufts, harsh,
and rather wiry, covering the scalp somewhat like the
hard pellets of a shoe-brush. The women, too, have a
peculiarity in their physical conformation, which, though
occasionally to be met with in other nations, is not uni¬
versal, as among the Hottentots. Their constitutional
“ bustles” sometimes grow to three times the size of those 1
artificial stuffings, with which our ladies are now (1829)
disfiguring themselves. Even the females of the diminu¬
tive Bosjesmen Hottentots, who frequently perish of hun¬
ger in the barren mountains, and are reduced to skeletons,
have the same protuberances as the Hottentots of the plains.
It is not known even whence the name of Hottentot pro¬
ceeds, as it is none of their own. It has been conjectured
that hot and tot frequently occurring in their singular lan¬
guage, in which the monosyllables are enunciated with a
palatic clacking with the tongue, like that of a hen, may
have given rise to the name, and that the early Dutch
settlers named them hot-en-tot. They call themselves
qui-quoe, pronounced with a clack. They are a lively,
cheerful, good-humoured people, and by no means want¬
ing in talent; but they have met with nothing but harsh
treatment since their first connection with Europeans.
Neither Bartholomew Diaz, who first discovered, nor Vasco
de Gama, who first doubled, the Cape of Good Hope, nor
any of the subsequent Portuguese navigators, down to
1509, had much communication with the natives of this
southern angle of Africa; but in the year above mention¬
ed, Francisco d’Almeyda, viceroy of India, having Landed,
on his return, at Saldanha (now Table) Bay, was killed,
with about twenty of his people, in a scuffle with the na¬
tives. To avenge his death, a Portuguese captain, about
three years afterwards, is said to have landed a piece of
ordnance loaded with grape shot, as a pretepded present
to the Hottentots. Tw o ropes were attached to this fatal
engine ; the Hottentots poured down in swarms. Men,
women, and children flocked round the deadly machine,
as the Trojans did round the wooden horse, u funmque
manu contingere gaudent” The brutal Portuguese fired
off the piece, and viewed with savage delight the mangled
carcasses of the deluded people. The Dutch effected their
ruin by gratifying their propensity for brandy and tobacco,
at the expense of their herds of cattle, on which they sub¬
sisted. Under the British sway they have received pro¬
tection, and shown themselves not unworthy of it. They
now possess property, and enjoy it in security. One of the
most beautiful villages, and the neatest and best culti¬
vated gardens, belong to a large community of Hot¬
tentots, under the instruction and guidance of a few Mo¬
ravian missionaries.
Africa possesses in abundance all the larger kinds ofQt
quadrupeds that are found on other continents, with manyPe
that are peculiar to itself; as, for instance, the giraffe or
Camelopardalis, the hippopotamus, the zebra, the quacha,
the gnoo, and some other species of the antelope tribe,
AFRICA.
227
of the last of which there are about twenty, and the
► Afi,W two-horned rhinoceros, of which tl^ere are at least two
^ varieties. Of the minor quadrupeds, there are also many
species unknown to other countries, and many yet, no doubt,
remain to be discovered. The ancients had a strange no¬
tion, from the extraordinary nature of the Camelopardalis,
the ostrich, and some others, that newly-created species
were constantly springing up in Africa, which is thus ac¬
counted for by Pliny: “ Africa hcec maxime special, inopia
aquarum ad paucos amnes congregantibus se feris. Idea
multformes ibi animalium partus, varie fceminis cujusque
generis mares awl vi aut voluptate miscente. Unde etiam
vulgare Grcecice dictum—semper aliquid novi Africam
afferre.” A brief notice of some of the more remarkable
animals will suffice, in the general view we are now taking
of the continent of Africa.
Ip, ( That extraordinary animal, named the Camelopardalis
jji', or giraffe, is found in all the dry regions of Africa, between
the sources of the Senegal and Dongola; but it is doubt¬
ful whether it is ever met with in the rich soil of Soudan.
There is reason to believe, however, that it is common in
most parts of South Africa, as far down as the Orange
River, along the northern banks of which they are found
in great numbers; but none has been known to cross this
river. For a long time the existence of such an animal
was considered to be doubtful, though various writers have
mentioned their being exhibited at Rome ; but it is now
familiar enough, particularly since the pasha of Tripoli
sent over two living species, one for his Majesty, and the
other for the king of France. In its native country it
browses on trees, particularly on a species of mimosa;
but when domesticated, which it soon becomes, it will eat
any kind of vegetable food. On the passage of the two in
question from Tripoli, they were fed chiefly on cow’s milk.
They are mild and inoffensive animals.
’he iip- This singular and unwieldy animal, we believe, ispecu-
opoU liar to Africa, in almost all the large rivers of which it is
found in considerable numbers, though it has been sup¬
posed to exist in the rivers of Sumatra. This is not very
probable, as it would not be easily explained how it
came into this insulated situation, seeing that it has no
existence in India or China, or in any other of the large
islands of the Indian Ocean. This amphibious creature
seems to derive its chief sustenance from the land, though
its dwelling is mostly in the water, from which it never
proceeds to any great distance. It browses on the near¬
est shrubs, and feeds on the reeds of the marshes. “ He
lieth,” we are told in the book of Job, “ under the shady
trees, in the covert of the reed and fens ; the shady trees
cover him with their shadow, the willows of the brook
compass him about.” In their track, which is easily dis¬
covered by two deep furrows like the ruts of waggon-
wheels, the negroes make a deep pit carefully covered
oyer, into which if he once fall, there is no possibility of
his ever getting out. The Caffres and Hottentots, how¬
ever, say that he has learnt to be too cunning to fall into
the trap; and their mode of taking him is to watch by
eight, and to wound him with their darts or spears in the
tendons of the knee-joint, which lames him so much that
they easily dispatch him with their numerous hassagais.
Ihe little Bosjesmen Hottentots, however, continue to
take them in pits. Mr Barrow says, that in the Orange
River his party shot no less than four in one day, out of
one of which a perfectly formed foetus was taken, wanting
only the teeth and tusks. It was only seven inches long,
while the weight of the parent was estimated to be from
three to four thousand pounds.
i f 1 ns curwus animal, of the asinine tribe, is singular
h'om having its body striped in every part, from the tip
of the nose to the end of the tail; but its head is large, Africa,
its ears long, and it is without beauty of form in any part
of its body. It is difficult, if not impossible to tame it,
when taken at full growth, being vicious in the highest de¬
gree. An Irishman belonging to a dragoon regiment per¬
sisted in mounting a half-tamed female zebra belonging to
the Landrost of Zwellendam. She kicked, plunged, and
threw herself down, to no purpose ; the man kept his seat.
She then threw herself from a high bank into a hole in the
river; the dragoon was thrown, but still kept hold of the
bridle, and she dragged him to the shore, when turning
quickly round, and putting her head close to his face, she
completely bit off his ear.
This animal is also peculiar to Africa, and was long The
considered as the female zebra. It is, however, a distinct Quacha.
species, less striped, but much more robust, and better
shaped, than the zebra, and not difficult to domesticate.
A pair of these animals were to be seen not long ago draw¬
ing a light carriage in Hyde Park. The late Lord Mor¬
ton had a stallion that covered an Arabian mare, which
produced a handsome horse, partaking much of the form,
and having the stripes of the quacha. But the most re¬
markable circumstance is, that the same mare afterwards
produced two foals in succession, on which the stripes
were very visible, though she had been removed from the
quacha to another part of the country, and had never seen
him but at the time above alluded to. This fact has been
attested by Sir Everard Home, who examined the two foals.
This animal, of the antelope genus, for so it has been The Gnoo.
classified by naturalists, is a most extraordinary creature.
It has been described as partaking in its form of the horse,
the ox, the stag, and the antelope; the shoulders, body,
thighs, and mane, being equine; the head completely bo¬
vine ; the tail partly of the one and partly of the other,
exactly resembling that of the quacha; the legs and feet
slender and elegant like those of the stag; and lastly, it
has the subocular sinus, which is supposed to be the dis¬
tinguishing characteristic of the antelope tribe. In the
Systerna Naturce of Linnaeus, it is described, by Sparrman,
among the antelopes, and mentioned also a second time
as a variety of the bos Coffer, under the description of ele-
gans et parvus Africanus bos. It is so fierce, and so full of
gambols, that the Dutch boors of the Cape have named it
the wilde beest. It possesses in an eminent degree strength,
swiftness, a nice nose, and a quick sight. Its motions are
free, varied, and always elegant: whole herds of them are
seen together in the plains bordering the Orange River.
Truter and Somerville procured in the Boshuana country
a much larger species called the kokoon, having a long
flowing black mane, not erect and trimmed, as it appears
to be in the common gnoo.
The common two-horned rhinoceros of Africa is alto- The Rhi-
gether different from that of India in its figure and cha- noceros.
racter. The skin may be called smooth when compared
with the folds that are so remarkable in the Indian species,
which is covered as it were with a hide of mail. The
eyes are very low in the head, almost at the root of the
nose, and close under the upper horn, and so minute, that
one would be apt to conclude them of little use to so en¬
ormous an animal; but by being placed in a sort of pro¬
jecting socket, nature has compensated this apparent
want by giving them a greater range, allowing them, with¬
out moving the head, to sweep round a portion of the
horizon equal perhaps to 260 degrees. The variety found
near the mouth of the Orange River is called the white
rhinoceros, being much larger than the other, having its
hide remarkably thin, and of a pale carnation colour, all
of which, however, may be the effects of age. Another
variety was met with at a considerable distance to the
228
AFRICA.
or Eland.
Africa, north-east of the Cape colony by the missionary Camp-
bell, having the longer horn almost perfectly straight and
of an unusual length, while the lesser one was smaller in
proportion. And Truter and Somerville, in the Boshu-
ana country, met with a very large species, with the two
horns nearly of the same length, which the natives called
the jeckloo. This large animal, of one species or another,
is found in all the woods of Africa, from Soudan to the
Cape of Good Hope.
The Oreas Of this family of animals Africa contains more species
than are to be found in all the rest of the world, and of
all sizes, from the large oreas, which the Dutch call
eland, to the small pigmy antelope; but then Africa is
supposed not to possess a single species of the Cervus or
deer tribe in a state of nature. The oreas is the finest
species of this numerous genus; it has a large dewlap,
and other characteristics of the bovine genus. The male
has been known to measure the enormous length of ten
feet and a half, by six feet and a half in height. The
flesh resembles that of beef, on which account the boors
hunt them, and salt the flesh for winter provision; and so
easily are these animals overtaken, that in all probability
the eland has ere this disappeared from the colony.
This is another large species, also partaking of the ox,
and hunted down for the sake of its carcass. Like the for¬
mer, this is also a mild and patient animal; its size about
seven feet long by five high. Like the eland, too, it is a
gregarious animal; but being easily hunted down, both
species will probably disappear altogether.
The Strep- This is a noble animal, but somewhat inferior in size to
siceros or the bubalus. It is the striped antelope of Pennant, and is
remarkable for its long spiral horns, which are commonly to
be met with in almost every museum of natural history.
A black mane adorns the neck of the male, and along the
spine is a ridge of white hairs. The female has none of
these, nor any horns.
This is one of the most elegant, and by far the most nu¬
merous, of all the species of antelope that frequent South¬
ern Africa. They have been known to assemble in herds of
thousands, particularly when about to migrate towards the
north. The leaps that this creature is enabled to take
are quite astonishing, being from fifteen to twenty-five
feet. No dog is able to approach them, except when
jammed together like a flock of sheep, which sometimes
happens in making their way through a narrow pass. The
other antelope species that are met with in the colony of
the Cape, are (taken in the order of their size), the
gems-bok; (A. Oryx of Syst. Nat. and Passan of Buffon);
the blau-bok (A Leucophcea) \ bonte-bok (A. Scripta);
the steen-bok; the bosch-bok; the klip-springer; the
greis-bok; the duyker; the reit-bok; the Orabie ; and the
Pygmcea, the smallest perhaps of hoofed quadrupeds, with
the exception of the little Indian musk-deer. Many other
species of this extensive genus are no doubt to be found
in other parts of Africa. Two new ones were seen by
Messrs Truter and Daniell in the Boshuana country, the
one named the palla, resembling the spring-bok in shape
and horns, but larger; and the tak-heize, or wild crea¬
ture, so named from its ferocity, though apparently partak¬
ing of the cow and the antelope. Two or three others,
apparently new, were also seen by Denham and Clapper-
ton in Soudan. The numbers that formerly frequented
the Cape have considerably diminished since the forma¬
tion of the new settlements to the eastward: even previ¬
ously to this, where the Caffres had possession of the plains
of the Zeure-feld, their mode of hunting was not only
most destructive to the several kinds of game, but calcu¬
lated to drive them away beyond the limits of the colony.
A party, consisting of several hundreds, men, women, and
The Buba.
lus or Ha-
sJebeest.
Koodo.
The Py.
gargus or
Spring¬
bok.
children, formed a circle round the plain on which they
discovered a herd of antelopes: they then marched to-^
wards the centre, narrowing the diameter till the obiects
of their pursuit were completely fenced in. The ante¬
lope tribe, more particularly the spring-bok, follow their
leaders like sheep. An opening is made in the circle
through which all endeavour to rush, and while impeding
each other, the men with their hassagais get in among
them and make a dreadful slaughter.
This huge animal is found in all the wooded parts ofTb
Africa, from the southern boundary of the great desert pha
to the Cape of Good Hope, on the eastern coast of which
they are still very numerous. Gigantic as it is, the ele¬
phant is a harmless animal in comparison with the lion
the leopard, wolves, and hyenas; but if irritated, he never
fails to seek revenge. The Caffres and the Negroes usual-
ly take them in pits, at the bottom of which are fixed
sharp stakes. The African elephant is of a less size than
those of India, Pegu, Siam, Cochin-China, and Ceylon,
rarely averaging more than nine feet; whereas in the coun¬
tries above mentioned they attain the height of eleven
feet. Dr Lichtenstein was assured by experienced hun¬
ters, and he was silly enough to believe them, that in the
forests of Tsitsikamma, in Southern Africa, there are ele¬
phants eighteen feet high, that run in troops of 500 to¬
gether. Major Denham also says, that on the margin of
the lake Tsad may sometimes be seen elephants of sixteen
feet high, in troops of 400. It does not appear, however,
that he ever had any opportunity of measuring one, other¬
wise he would have corrected his mistake as to size.
This animal is the bos Coffer of the Systerna Natura, The If.
and is probably the most fierce and powerful of the bo-bo¬
vine tribe. Its height is about that of a common-sized ox,
but it is nearly twice its bulk. Its horns are twelve or thir¬
teen inches broad at the base, separated only by a narrow
channel, which fills up with age, and gives to the animal a
forehead of solid horn, hard as rock. The lion is said some¬
times to measure his strength with the buffalo, but his at¬
tack is, as usual, by stratagem. Couching till his prey is
within his reach, he springs upon his back, fixes his fangs
in his throat, strikes his paw in his face, and pins him by
the horns down to the ground.
The African lion is the noblest animal of his race. The!
None of the Asiatic lions are to be compared with him
for size, strength, or beauty. Indeed it is a remarkable
fact, that all the animals in Africa are superior to those of
the same species in other countries, with the exception
perhaps of the elephant, which, as we have said, is much
smaller than those of India, Siam, and Cochin-China, and
also of Ceylon. The habits of the lion differ little from
those of the rest of the feline tribe. He seldom attacks
openly, and not at all except when pressed by hunger.
Much of his life is supposed to be passed in sleep, from
which he is roused only by hunger. He then watches in
ambush till an opportunity offers for pouncing on his prey;
but if nothing present itself near his den, he walks out
leisurely; and in the exact manner of a cat when she ad¬
vances towards a mouse or bird, does the kingly mon¬
ster approach a flock of antelopes or sheep, till he may
be able to pounce upon his victim. The Hottentots say,
and the Dutch boors of the Cape confirm it, that if a lion
should get near a flock of sheep guarded by one of these
people, he will invariably prefer the biped to the quad¬
ruped, and in doing so he shows his judgment; for, to un¬
case a sheep of its woolly covering would require some
labour, which his indolent habits prompt him to avoid.
The naked Hottentot requires no preparation; besides
which, he is generally well basted with grease. The lion
is found in every part of Africa.
The striped Bengal tiger is peculiar to India and some
rvMother parts of Asia; but in Africa there are various
species of the tiger family, less powerful, but not less fero¬
cious than that of Bengal. Leopards are numerous and
very fierce; and a smaller kind, known as the tiger-cat, not
less so; and all of them, if hard pressed, will turn round
and spring upon their pursuers.
u p , The native dogs are of two kinds, one large, resembling
the common wolf and another small, not unlike the fox
or common jackal. There are besides two species of
ravenous wolves, which commit great depredations among
the cattle ; two species of jackal; and two of hyenas, one
striped, the other a dark brown colour. These disgusting
animals, in the early periods of the Cape settlements, were
numerous in the caves of the Table Mountain, and used
to prowl the streets of the town at night. Kolbe relates
a story of a drunken trumpeter, while asleep in the street,
being seized and dragged along by one of these powerful
animals. The man awaking, and without exactly knowing
what was going on, got his trumpet to his mouth and blew
a blast, which so terrified the ravenous beast, that he im¬
mediately let loose his prey, and ran off at full speed,
bor That curious animal, the sus Ethiopica, is found in all
iriru: the woods, whose hooked tusks, curved upwards, have
!*■ puzzled philosophers so much in endeavouring to explain
their utility: they are certainly not intended, as an in¬
genious Frenchman suggested, to hang up the animal’s
head on a branch while it sleeps. The earth hog of the
Dutch is the myrmecophaga, or ant-eater. The hystrix
icristata, or crested porcupine, is also common; and al¬
most every species of the genus viverra is abundant¬
ly found in all parts of Africa. Baboons and monkeys of
all sizes and varieties are most abundant in the woods of
the tropical regions; but the cynocephalus, or black baboon,
is almost the only one that frequents the more temperate
climates. Lizards abound in all the sandy deserts, and
tw6 or three species of the cameleon; and the crocodile or
alligator is found in all the larger rivers, to the great terror
of the negroes. In fact, they are as dangerous to man
when in the water as the sharks are. The singular attack
made by one of these animals on Isaaco, who accompanied
Mungo Bark, would not be credited on less authority than
that of the unfortunate traveller himself,
ffts d It is almost unnecessary to observe, that in such a cli-
^eS: mate as Africa, noxious insects and reptiles of almost every
kind abound : scorpions, scolopendras, enormous spiders,
snakes, and other venomous creatures. But the Africans
suffer less from any of these than from two other objects,
which, though individually harmless, are, when in swarms,
I the greatest scourge that can be inflicted on a country.
These are the termites or white ants, and the grylli or lo-
k u custs. These ants, small as they are, construct their habi¬
tations of clay of an enormous size. Clapper ton met with
some of these in his last journey, rising to the height of
ten or twelve feet, and having the appearance of so many
gothic cathedrals in miniature. In the extra-tropical parts
they rarely exceed four or five feet. This destructive
creature devours every thing in the shape of wood, leather,
cloth, &c. that falls in its way ; and they march together
in such swarms, that the devastation they commit is al¬
most incredible. One of the Portuguese missionaries to
Congo relates, that an army of these insects not only drove
him out of his house, but ate the whole of it except the
"alls; and another says, that having tied up a cow in an
outhouse, he found in the morning nothing left of the ani-
mal but the skeleton. Stories equally wonderful are told
0 r!1’8 Pernicious insect in India.
^ocusts are still more destructive, for they some-
1 tlrnes lay waste a whole country. They are gregarious,
and whenever an army of these insects is on its march, Africa,
not a blade of grass or leaf of tree or shrub escapes their
voracious appetite; and the tract of country over which
they have passed appears as if it had been swept with a
broom. In a few hours a whole field of corn is totally
consumed. No remedy has yet been discovered to stay
this afflicting scourge. The smoke of green wood seems
to annoy them; but if they rise from one place, it is only
to alight again in the immediate vicinity. It has been
stated by various travellers of undoubted veracity, that,
when on the wing, they form so numerous and dense a
phalanx, as to obscure the face of the sun like a black
cloud.
Africa contains the hugest of birds, the ostrich, as well Birds,
as the largest of quadrupeds; and it has specimens of the
feathered race of all gradations of size, and brilliant plum¬
age, down to the beautiful little certhia or creeper. The con¬
dor vulture is not uncommon; the percnopterus or Egyp¬
tian vulture, and the sociable vulture, are most abundant;
and all that Pliny has related of this bird, as to its sagacity
in discovering dead carcasses, seems to be perfectly correct.
We are told, that if an animal should die in the very midst
of the dreary desert, in the course of a few minutes there
will be seen, high in the zenith, a number of minute objects
descending in regular gyrations, and increasing in size at
every revolution, and these on their approach to the earth
are discovered to be vultures. Thus descending even in
the presence of man, they will at once pounce on the
prey, which they devour with such greediness as frequent¬
ly to be unable to rise from the ground. The serpentarius,
or snake-eater, called by the Dutch the secretary bird
(from some quill-feathers growing out of the head), is the
declared enemy of snakes, which it attacks wherever they
are met with, and feeds its young with them. Eagles,
kites, and crows are abundant; and guinea fowls, bus¬
tards of an enormous size, grouse, partridges, and quails,
much more so. The Numidian, the virgin, and Balearic
cranes, the rose-coloured flamingo, the solitary pelican, and
a great variety of water-fowl, frequent the lakes and rivers
of every part of Africa except the sandy desert. In the
equinoctial regions are parrots and paroquets innumer¬
able, and birds of the most beautiful plumage, but with¬
out those sweet notes with which our more modestly
clothed warblers are gifted. Nothing can exceed in ele¬
gance and brilliancy, on a sunny day, the numerous tribes
of certhias, which, perched on the petals of the vase¬
shaped corollas of the protea mellifera, may be seen in
great numbers, sipping out the honey with their long
scimitar-shaped beaks.
It is almost unnecessary to say, that on both coasts of Fishes.
Africa, within the tropics, sharks are most abundant.
Whole shoals of them may be seen in the Bight of Benin
and that neighbourhood, following the slave ships in parti¬
cular, from which no day occurs without some unfortunate
victim being launched overboard. On the southern coasts,
on both sides of the continent, both the black and sperma¬
ceti whales are plentiful. The edible fish are various, and
some of them, of the perch genus in particular, are very
good.
Having thus taken a very general view of the face of the Distribu-
country, its productions and varied inhabitants, the next tion of
step will be to give a brief account of their particular dis- Africans,
tribution and condition, state of society, habits of industry, ^c'
and other particulars, as far as our limits will allow; com¬
mencing with Egypt and Abyssinia, continuing down the
eastern coast to the Cape of Good Hope, thence to the
Straits of Gibraltar, and returning along the Mediter¬
ranean to the Isthmus of Suez, whence we set out: after
this to take a condensed view of the interior of Northern
230
AFRICA.
Africa
Egypt.
• Africa, as far as the late geographical discoveries will with
^ certainty admit.
The government of Egypt, under its present ruler Ma¬
homed Ali, is unquestionably the most civilized of any in
Northern Africa. Perhaps also it is the most populous,
and, with its late conquests, embraces a larger extent of
territory, comprehending Nubia, Dongola, Sennaar, and,
nominally at least, Cordofan, and Darfoor.
The pasha nominally holds under the Ottoman Porte;
and his confidential officers, and those of the army, were
mostly Turks, until the late unfortunate campaign with
Russia, since which he is said to have discharged every
Turk from his army. There are however many Arabs,
particularly in the upper parts of Egypt, and in the deserts
on each side of the Nile. The Copts are mostly in Lower
Egypt, and are many of them employed as writers and
factors. The great mass of the population are the fel¬
lahs or cultivators of the land, a mixed race of Moors,
Arabs, Copts, and Negroes. The chief city is Cairo, which
has often been described, and the pi'incipal port Alexan¬
dria. It is said, that from 20,000 to 40,000 pilgrims, from
the Barbary States and other parts of Africa, on their
way to Mecca, used annually to pitch their tents under
the walls of Cairo, where they were supplied with provi¬
sions for their future journey, on which the pasha took
care to levy a contribution; but there is reason to sup¬
pose that these pilgrimages have received their death¬
blow by the late events.
From Cairo", the two chains of hills which bound the
valley of the Nile begin to diverge, the one turning east
to Suez, the other north-west to the Mediterranean. The
valley they inclose is the delta of the seven-mouthed Nile,
all now closed up except two ; the one emptying itself into
the Mediterranean at Rosetta, the other at Damietta.
This great triangular plain owes its fertility to the annual
overflowing of the Nile, which is of so extraordinary a na¬
ture, that without manure or lying fallow, it has continued
to yield an annual crop for several thousand years. The
mud which the Nile deposits, on being analyzed by the
French, was found to contain nearly one-half of pure argil¬
laceous earth, about one-fourth of carbonate of lime, the
remaining fourth carbonate of magnesia, oxide of iron,
and water. All kinds of grain and vegetables grow on the
delta with the greatest luxuriance. Cotton, flax, indigo,
carthemum, tobacco, beans in great variety, and cucurbi-
taceous vegetables, are the most common products of
Lower Egypt. In Upper Egypt, Nubia, Dongola, and
Sennaar, the dourrha (hole us) is the common food of the
people. The date-palm is seen in groves of thousands
together, and gives a striking character to the country.
Citrons, lemons, oranges, pomegranates, bananas, figs,
the carob, jujube, and olives, and the laurus Persia, are
abundant. The cassia fistula and the mulberry are also com¬
mon. The few trees not of much use are chiefly confined
to accacias or mimosas, sycamores and willows.
They have plenty of good horses; those from Dongola
being of an excellent breed. They have also fine asses and
mules, camels and buffaloes, sheep and goats. Poultry
is abundant; and the factitious incubation of eggs, by
means of artificial heat, is still practised. The Nile is not
much celebrated for esculent fish; and the huge hippo¬
potamus and the crocodile are almost entirely banished
from Egypt, particularly the former. The ibis, held
sacred by the ancient Egyptians, is a species of curlew
still extant; and the perenopterus vulture still acts as
the scavenger of the towns and villages.
The invasion by the French destroyed what little trade
the port of Alexandria then possessed, which it has not
yet recovered, though it is on the increase. Most travel¬
lers agree in the melancholy feelings, excited by the forlorn
and neglected state of this once magnificent city, which
abounded in temples, palaces, baths, and theatres, and
which is said to have reckoned 300,000 freemen amone
its population, when it first fell under the dominion of the
Romans. On Mahomed Ali’s accession to the govern¬
ment, not more than about 100 vessels frequented the
port: they are now at least 1000. The population may be
reckoned about 20,000. Rosetta is a dark and dismal
city, the upper parts of whose houses, like those in the
old towns on the continent of Europe, overhang the ground
stories, and almost meet at top ; but it is surrounded with
date-trees, bananas, and sycamores. Damietta is sur-
rounded by a swamp or morass, which is noted for the
excellence of its rice. It is a dirty town, with a consi¬
derable population, among whom fevers, agues, and blind¬
ness, are the predominant diseases. The former of these
cities contains about 20,000 inhabitants, and the latter
about 40,000. The total population of Egypt, exclusive
of the wandering Arab tribes, is reckoned at about
2,000,000; and these pastoral tribes may perhaps amount
to about half a million more. The Greek war, in which
the pasha was compelled to take a part, and the annual
tribute he has been obliged to pay to the Ottoman Porte,
have greatly embarrassed his finances. Before the battle
of Navarin, he is said to have had 50 sail of ships of war,
great and small, and from 30,000 to 40,000 regular troops!
To recruit these, both the agriculturists and the merchants,
chiefly Jews and Armenians, have been greatly oppressed
by new and excessive contributions.
The condition of all classes of the population, but more
especially of the agriculturists, is as miserable as can well
be imagined. It would appear indeed to have undergone
no change for the better since the days of the Pharaohs;
and in later times, whether under the yoke of the Persians,
the Greeks, Romans, Arabians, Turks, Mamelukes, or
French, this unfortunate country, as Niebuhr has justly
observed, has enjoyed no interval of tranquillity and free¬
dom, but has constantly been oppressed and pillaged by
the lieutenants of a distant lord; the sole object of both
being that of extorting as large a revenue as possible from
the hard hands of the peasants.
In Nubia, the mass of the inhabitants who are named
Barabras, or Berebers, or Berbers, are more independent
than those below the cataracts of the Nile. They are
found in Dongola and Sennaar, and along the western
side of the Nile, residing among the Arabs and Negroes,
and their mixed offspring, from whom however they are
easily distinguished. They are stated to be a frugal,
harmless, and honest people, subsisting chiefly on dates,
dourrha, and a few leguminous plants. When Mr Legh
visited Dehr, which he calls the capital of Nubia, the
cachef was drunk. He had 300 armed negroes at his elbow,
and at least 3000 in the district. These fellows, as Burck-
hardt observes, are to be dreaded by travellers ; but there
is nothing to fear from the Nubians, who are in general
free from the vice of pilfering. This intelligent traveller
makes a remark which is curious, that the size and figure
of the Nubians were generally proportioned to the breadth
of their cultivable soil, that is, in other words, to the
quantity of food they had to subsist upon. The chief
produce is dourrha, of which they make a kind of cake,
not unlike the teff of the Abyssinians ; and they also brew
a strong beer or spirit from it, called booza, which, it ap¬
pears, is known under the same name all over Soudan,
and in which all classes were observed by Burckhardt to
indulge to the greatest excess, as he advanced to the
southward, more particularly at Berber and Shendi.
Still farther south is Sennaar, which also submitted a
frits,
Al
AFRICA.
few years ago to the arms of the pasha of Egypt; but the
m0untaineers to the southward and westward, between the
rivers Azrek and Abiad, refused to acknowledge their new
master. These mountaineers are described as a fine and
handsome race of men, quite black, but with Arab features,
which nearly resemble those of the inhabitants of Sennaar.
They are called Bokki, and resemble in their dress very
much the Indians of South America, being covered almost
with beads, bracelets, and trinkets, made of pebbles, bones,
and ivory. The men have helmets of iron, coats of mail
made of leather, carry long lances, and a weapon resem¬
bling the ancient bills used by the yeomanry of England.
A musket, which was new to them on the invasion of
the Turks, they called a coward’s weapon, which destroy¬
ed life by an invisible stroke.
An American gentleman, who accompanied the pasha’s
army, describes the people from Assuan to Sennaar as
differing in character and complexion as follows: Those of
Succoot are less black than the Nubian and Dongolese;
the latter are dirty, idle, and ferocious ; those of the third
,cataract are indolent, but honest and obliging. The Ber¬
bers are the most civilized; the people of Shendi and
Halfeya are sullen, scowling, crafty, and ferocious ; while
the peasants of Sennaar are a quiet and respectable peo¬
ple, but very much the reverse in the capital. They re¬
semble, he thinks, the Indians of America in possessing
the general characteristics of courage and self-respect.
That long strip of land interjacent between the Nile
and the Red Sea, and from the Isthmus of Suez to the
Strait of Babelmandib, an extent of 13 degrees of latitude,
or 780 geographical miles, is a naked and arid desert of
rock and sand, wholly destitute of water. A precipitous
chain of mountains bounds the eastern shores of the Nile
like an artificial wall; and the boundary next the Red
Sea is in most places equally precipitous, affording very
few, and these but indifferent, harbours. , This country
seems to have no particular name, though it is sometimes
called Habesh, by some Asiatic Egypt, and by others
African Arabia. The latter might be the most proper,
as it is chiefly inhabited by a few straggling Ababde
Arabs, with their sheep and goats, and by some mixed
Arabs, and Negroes, and Copts, as fishermen on the sea-
coast. Bruce calls them Agazi or Gheez, which means
shepherds; and they speak the Gheez language, which is
a dialect of the Arabic. It was in this miserable country
that the ancients placed the small race of men called the
Troglodytes, from their dwellings being the caverns of
the rocks; and it was here, too, that the ancients were
supposed to have worked the emerald and the topaz
mines, and which the present pasha of Egypt employed
a frenchman of the name of Caillaud to explore and
work. At Mount Zaborah, seven leagues from the Red
Sea, and 45 to the southward of Cosseir, he gives a mar¬
vellous account of a mine into which he descended through
difficult and winding passages, 400 feet under ground,
and brought back a hexahedral prism of emerald. This
mountain appears to be the Jebel Zumnid of Bruce, who
“ saw in four days more granite, porphyry, marble, and
jasper, than would build Rome, Athens, Corinth, Syra¬
cuse, Memphis, Alexandria, and half a dozen such cities.”
Belzoni thought these mines, with their pits and shafts,
nothing more than stone quarries. The pasha, however,
nas so pleased with his emerald, that he gave Caillaud
~ camels, and 50 Ababde Arabs to take care of them,
to load with the precious stones; but the whole party,
men and beasts, had nearly perished for want of water.
e brought back, however, to Cairo several pounds’ weight
o green stones, which he called emeralds, but which were
pi obably nothing more than beryl or aqua marina, which
231
did not answer the purpose of the pasha, and the search Africa,
was discontinued. He talks of thousands of excavations, and
traced the ruins of a Greek city of stone, 500 houses of
which were still standing, in which were lamps, broken
vases of earth and glass, and circular stones for grinding
corn. The Arabs call it Sekket Bender el Kebyr. It was
on this desert also that Ptolemy Philadelphus built the
city of Berenice, which afterwards became the emporium
of the eastern trade carried on by the Romans, and whose
site is supposed to be near the port of Habesh. It was
on this arid desert also that the ancient Ascetics, equally
ignorant and uncivilized as the savage Troglodytes, had
their cells; and it is said that the monasteries of St An¬
thony and St Paul are still inhabited by Coptic monks,
who pretend to have power over the serpents and scor¬
pions, the demons, and the few prowling beasts of prey
that infest the country, while they are unable to protect
themselves from the depredations of the starving Arabs of
the desert. Cosseir, and Suakim, and Massuah, are the
principal ports on this barren coast of the Red Sea.
The name of Habesh, or the mixed people, is given to Abyssinia,
the Abyssinians by the Mahometans. Abyssinia is a moun¬
tainous country of considerable extent, divided into seve¬
ral kingdoms, or rather provinces, as Tigre, Wagora, Sa-
men, Dembea, Gojam, Amhara, Damota, and some others.
Whatever may have been the primitive race of Abyssinia,
it is evident, from the two languages of the country, the
Gheez and the Amharic, being dialects of the Arabic, that
the present inhabitants are a mixed race of Arabs and
some other, probably that of the Copts, with a little of na¬
tive African or negro blood also in their veins. They have a
history which goe.s back to the celebrated queen of Sheba,
who travelled to Judea to admire the magnificence of So¬
lomon, and is said to have brought back a living token of
the effect which her charms produced on the Jewish king;
and that his descendants continued to reign for 960 years
after the birth of Christ. In the fourth century, the
Christian religion was introduced into Abyssinia, and has
continued ever since; but they retain the Jewish rite of
circumcision.
The city of Axum, in Tigre, is the ancient residence of
the Abyssinian monarchs, who still go thither to be crowned.
The obelisk described by the early Portuguese travellers,
of a single block of granite, was seen by Salt, who states
it to be 80 feet high. There are many ruins of temples,
and palaces, and monuments, bearing inscriptions in the
Greek, Latin, and Ethiopian languages. This town has
now not more than 600 houses, and a few manufactories
of parchment and cotton stuffs. Gondar is stated by
Bruce to contain 10,000 families and 100 Christian
churches. One quarter is inhabited by Moors or Arabs.
There is a good market; and the medium of exchange is
gold, salt, and cotton cloth.
The natives, whatever they might originally have been,
are at present what the Arabs call them, a very mixed
race, partaking much of the Arab and the Negro charac¬
ter ; and even their language, though confined to this great
cluster of mountains, has a very considerable mixture of
Arabic roots in it. Their manners are brutal, and their
habits filthy. Their houses are mostly circular, and co¬
vered with conical-shaped roofs, which is the common
form through the central parts of Africa, among the ne¬
groes, and down to the colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
The children go naked to an advanced age. They are
excessively indolent, and all the works of artisans and ar¬
tificers are in the hands of the Jews. The great lords
have the newly-dressed food actually put into their mouths
by their servants. They eat raw flesh, quivering almost
with life, and placed between cakes of teff, made from a
232
AFRICA.
Africa, species of small millet, or rather grass-seed (Poa Abys-
’ sinica); but they do not cut the flesh from the animal
while alive, as Bruce has asserted. This is one of those
romances, or exaggerated pictures, which brought his
whole narrative into discredit; but which, though cir¬
cumstantially false, is substantially true. The principal
alimentary plants of Abyssinia are millet, barley, wheat,
maize, and various cucurbitaceous vegetables, and a con¬
siderable variety of fruit. Their domestic animals are
small horses, buffaloes with long extended horns, cows
with bumps between the shoulders, goats, and sheep ; be¬
sides asses and mules as beasts of burden. Most of the
animals already enumerated as natives of Africa, both
great and small, are to be found in Abyssinia.
Their southern neighbours, the Gallas and Shangallas,
have more of the negro and less of the Arab blood in
their veins, and are somewhat less civilized. Beyond
them to the southward and westward are the negroes,
and to the eastward the Samaulies, who a little farther back
in the interior take the name of Caffres.
From the narrow entrance into the Red Sea, or Babel-
mandib, along the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden,
and from thence south by Cape Guardafui to Cape Bashas,
in lat. 5. N., the whole territory of both coasts is inha¬
bited by the Samaulies, who are supposed to be a tribe of
the same people as the Gallas, mixed, however, with the
Arabs, who have from time immemorial occupied the east¬
ern coast of Africa down to Sofala, and whose language
is partially incorporated with the native tongue, and traced
through all the Samaulie or Caffre tribes, down to the co¬
lony of the Cape of Good Hope. The territory above
mentioned was known to the ancients under the name of
Asania, which is obviously taken from the Arabic name
Azine, a descriptive term signifying a rocky, barren, in¬
accessible coast. The rocky cliffs rise out of the sea to
the height of three and four hundred feet, and where
they cease, in about 7. 40. N., the coast is sandy, but
improves towards the equator. The want of harbours
along this coast, the general barrenness of the country,
the fierceness of the natives, and probably the difficulty
of procuring negroes in this portion of Africa, have pre¬
vented any traffic of slaves in this quarter.
From the equator to 10. 50. S., the whole country is
extremely fertile, clothed with forests of the finest timber,
well watered with numerous fine rivers, and contains
many excellent ports. The river Jubo or Jabon, or, as
the natives call it, Wooreenda, immediately under the
line, is a very fine river, said to have its source in the
mountains of Abyssinia. At Raas Boorghal, in lat. 1. 13. S.,
is port Durnford, having safe anchorage, and a fine river.
The bays and harbours of Lamoo, Patta, Quayhoo, but
particularly between Lamoo and Mandra Islands, in about
the lat. 2. 15. S., afford safe and convenient anchorage.
The port of Melinda, in lat. 3. 12. S., though deprived of
its former splendour, possesses all the advantages of a
good harbour. The pillar erected here by Vasco de Gama
is still standing. The island and city of Mombas, placed
in the centre of a most magnificent harbour, sufficient to
contain the largest fleets, appears to be the central point
of Arab commerce on this coast, more particularly in
slaves, who are brought down in great numbers by the
two fine rivers which fall into the southern and western
sides of the harbour. The city is situated in lat. 4. 4. S.
In 5. 30. S. is the Quillimane, one of the largest rivers on
the east coast. Quiloa or Kulwa Island, like Mombas, is
surrounded by a fine harbour, into which flow two large
rivers. It is situated in lat. 9. S. There is also a port
and river at Querimba, named Lindy, in lat. 9. 59. S.;
and in 10. 7. is the great river and port of Monghow or
Mongallow. The whole of this country to Cape Delgado
is under the dominion of the imaum of Moscat, who an'
points his officers to the several stations on the coast to
levy taxes on the natives, and to participate, as he does
largely, in the slave-trade. In fact, he is said to demand
as his share of the revenues, one-half, careless how they
are raised, or in what manner the people are oppressed
The governor of Mombas, who exercises a sort of con¬
trol over all the other settlements, was so dissatisfied
with the conduct of the imaum, that when Captain Owen
called there, he waited on him at the head of 200 chiefs
and at least 2000 of the inhabitants, to entreat that he
would accept the country, in the name of the king of Eng.
land, as a free gift, without any reservation or restriction
and take it under his protection. His Majesty’s govern’
ment, however, did not think it proper to accept the offer
of a territory, nominally at least, belonging to the imaum
of Moscat.
From Cape Delgado, in about the lat. 10., to De la Goa
Bay in lat. 26., the whole extent of coast, though every,
where inhabited by Arabs, and Samaulies or Caffres, is
nominally belonging to the Portuguese, or the half-casts
of that people, who are held in great contempt by the
Arabs, some of whom told Captain Owen that they could
at any time drive them away from every part of the coast,
even their head-quarters, on the small island of Mozam¬
bique, if it were not for fear of drawing upon them the
hostility of the English, under whose protection these
Portuguese represent themselves to be. This settlement,
which once bore some appearance of prosperity, while
suffered to carry on an uninterrupted trade in slaves, is
now reduced to a very contemptible state. The popula¬
tion consists of about 500 half-cast Portuguese, a mixed
race of Arabs and Caffres, and an equal number of negro
slaves, the whole not amounting to 3000 souls. The si¬
tuation for trade is admirable, and behind it is a fine deep
bay, with rivers that communicate with the interior, from
whence they still clandestinely procure slaves, a small
quantity of gold dust, ivory, bees-wax, rice and other
grain, fruits and vegetables.
In the district of Sofala is also a fine river, named Quil¬
limane, or Great Water, which preserves its width of more
than a mile up to the town, situated at the distance of
twelve miles from its mouth, which, however, has a bar
across it. Near the town it divides into two other branches,
forming an extensive delta; and at Senne, it is formed by
the union of two large rivers, the Jambeze from the south-
west, and the Suaba from the north-west. To explore
these rivers, Captain Owen sent Lieutenant Brown, Mr
Forbes, a botanist, Assistant-surgeon Kilpatrick, an in¬
terpreter, and three servants, accompanied by a Portu¬
guese serjeant. They arrived at Senne all well; but after
this the only account received of them was, that they had
all died. Senne is about 250 miles from the mouth of the
river, and another settlement called Tete, 150 miles farther
in the interior. About a hundred miles farther west are the
silver mines of Chicova; and on the Suaba, the other
branch of the Quillimane, are Monica and Zamba, where
it is supposed the gold mines are situated. Neither the
one nor the other, however, is productive; and the pro¬
bability is, that the small quantity of gold brought down
to Mozambique is collected by the natives from washing
the sand and the alluvial soil of the rivers.
Sofala itself is a miserable village, having a governor
who is a petty trafficker, with a small fort, defended by
about 60 soldiers, half black and half Portuguese; the
inhabitants a mixture of Arabs, Moors, Portuguese, and
Negroes ; the country fertile, producing rice, pulse, palms,
wangoes, bananas, pine-apples, and numerous other fruits.
•J? 2.
AFRICA.
233
Af^'
?eof
The river has a bar across its mouth, which is also the case
with the fine river Inhambane, in lat~ 23.45. S. The whole
of the coast of this district is intersected with rivers and
hays, and fenced in, as it were, with numerous fertile
islands, remarkable for the number of large trees of the
cassuarina genus. The continent is here thickly covered
with wood, and the native inhabitants appear to be spar¬
ingly scattered along the coast.
The kingdom of Monomotapa, of whose queen we have
heard nearly as much as of the queen of Sheba, is at the
distance inland of about 40 days journey from Sofala. The
natives are clothed in goat-skins, and subsist chiefly
on rice and millet, manioc and sweet potatoes. Their
weapons are bows and arrows. A small quantity of gold,
topazes, and rubies, are brought down to Sofala, in ex¬
change for such luxuries as the governor, the chief trader,
may have to dispose of.
De la Goa Bay, where the Portuguese establishments,
if they can be so called, end, in about the 26th parallel of
latitude, has the two rivers Mafooma or English River
falling into it from the west, and Mapoota from the south.
A black Portuguese serjeant, or corporal, with a handful
of men of the same colour, commands a miserable fort in
this fine bay.
From hence to the Great Fish River, in lat. 33^. S.,
where the colony of the Cape of Good Hope commences,
the sea-coast is inhabited by the Hamboonas, the Mam-
bookis, the Tambookis, the Zoolas, and the Koussie, or Ma-
kousie, adjoining the Cape, all of whom are of the same race
of people as those farther north; Caffres or Samaulies, or
by whatever name they may be called—a mixed breed of
Arabs and Negroes. The Zoolas, who are stationed along
the coast of Natal, having driven down their next neigh¬
bours to the borders of the Cape colony, and alarmed its
nearest residents, the Caffres, about 500 English troops
were sent into the country of the latter to drive them back.
They resisted, and a battle ensued. About ten thousand of
them, armed with spears, and covered with shields of leather,
stood the fire of musketry, which seemed to make but little
impression. Our troops then charged them with the bayo¬
net, and some accounts state that more than a thousand
were left dead on the field before they gave way, while the
cowardly Caffres, on whose behalf they were thus attacked,
looked on, or rather began to massacre the women and child¬
ren, and to plunder them of their cattle, which, however,
was speedily put a stop to by the English forces. In fact,
the cattle form the chief support of these roving tribes, who
on moving them from place to place in search of food, en¬
croach upon some other tribe, and hostilities ensue, which,
with occasional famines, keep down the population to the
level of subsistence. A little millet (holcus sorghum), and
a sort of tasteless water-melon, and a bitter gourd, are the
only vegetables they attempt to cultivate.
It is not known how far the Caffre race extend into the
interior, but, from the number of negroes that are brought
to every part of the coast, from the equator to Mozambique,
and part of Sofala, it may be concluded that they extend
to no very great distance ; nor is there any good authority
for the great chain of mountains, which are called Lapoota
or the Spine of the Earth, as laid down on the maps. It
would seem, however, from the accounts drawn from
some negro children brought down to Mozambique, that
there must be high land in the interior, as they spoke of
hunting the boar in the cold season, when “ they can
walk on the water.”
The colony of the Cape of Good Hope extends on the
east to the Great Fish River, and on the north to the
Gariep or Orange River, which empties itself into the
Southern Atlantic in lat. 28. 50. S. While in the hands
VOL. II.
of the Dutch, this colony was little more than an inter- Africa,
mediate convenient station between Holland and its In-
dian possessions, from which it received tea, nankeens,
muslins, spices, and other articles, in exchange for wheat
and wine, which were raised chiefly by the labour of
negro slaves; even the boors or farmers in the interior,
who were of the laziest description of men, cultivating
only what was barely sufficient for their owm families, and
employing Hottentots to tend their cattle. The popula¬
tion of Europeans was very limited, and all in good cir¬
cumstances. Since it has become an English settlement,
the population is supposed to have nearly doubled, and the
slaves diminished more than one-half; and in the course
of a few years they will probably disappear altogether.
The colony, however, can never become of much value in
an agricultural point of view, owing to the very great
proportion of waste land, unfit either for culture or pas¬
turage, which is at least two-thirds of the whole. The
frequent visitations of drought, rust, and locusts, make
the crops of grain very uncertain, and numbers of cattle
perish for want of food. The great value of this colony
to England is its position as a half-way house to India,
where troops required for the latter country become well-
seasoned, and on an emergency can speedily be forward¬
ed thither, as has been done on several occasions. As a
general emporium of commerce, there is not perhaps a
spot on the globe more favourably situated ; but the East
India Company have strong objections to its being made
a free-port, or even to its receiving any India and China
produce for the consumption of the natives, but such as
may be carried thither in their own vessels.
The exportable products of the Cape are, wine, dried
fruits, hides, salted meat, ostrich feathers, leopard skins,
a small quantity of ivory, whale-oil, wax, and a few other
trifling articles, for which they receive clothing, furniture,
and other manufactures from England. Almost every
species of animal, already enumerated as belonging to
Africa in general, is to be found within the limits of the
colony; and nothing can exceed the beauty of the vege¬
table part of the creation, as our conservatories can testi¬
fy. About 300 species of heath are supposed to be scat¬
tered over the colony; those of protea are numerous,
beautiful, and magnificent; the bulbous-rooted plants are
inexhaustible; and those of a succulent nature, such as
euphorbia, crassula, aloe, and cotelydon, in great variety
and grandeur. Forest trees, however, are scarce, except
along the sea-coast, and accacias or mimosas along the banks
of some permanent or occasional stream. Oaks, chesnuts,
and other European trees grow well in the valleys, where-
ever they have been planted; and the fruit-trees of Eu¬
rope, with the exception of those of the apple and cherry,
all do well; and figs, pomegranates, oranges, lemons, and
limes, are everywhere met with in great abundance in this
fine and healthful climate.
The western coast of' the Cape colony is sandy and Western
barren, with here and there a spring of water and a little coast from
verdure in the valleys. On it is the beautiful harbour of t|‘e Cape to
Saldanha, whose shores are surrounded by sterility. From ^ etlua-
the Orange River to Cape Negro, in lat. 16. S., upwards
of 1000 miles, the whole coast consists of sand-hills, with¬
out a tree or a drop of water, having only in all this dis¬
tance three bays entirely exposed to the north-west
winds, the Great Fish Bay, Walvisch Bay, and Angra
Pequina. From Cape Negro, where the hilly country
commences, to the equator, are the Portuguese settle¬
ments of Caconda, Benguela, Angola, Congo, and Loango,
of the wealth and splendour of which we read so much in
the old accounts of the Jesuits, who, to magnify their own
merits and the success of their missions, exaggerated and
2 c
234
AFRICA.
Africa.
Sierra
Leone.
falsified their reports and descriptions wherever they
went. These colonies are now miserable in the extreme,
and scarcely a trace remains among the wretched natives,
a great part of whom are a sort of half-cast between Portu¬
guese and Negroes, of former prosperity, or of that religion
to which these holy fathers represented many hundred
thousands to have been converted. To add to the general
stock of misery in which these countries are involved, the
person who at present (1829) holds the throne of Portugal
has banished thither several hundred families, who must
perish from famine and the climate. Till within a few
years, the governors and lieutenant-governors, and officers
of black troops, and other employees, had subsisted en¬
tirely by the abominable traffic in slaves ; but this resource
appears to have failed them, not in consequence of the ex¬
piration of the time allowed by treaty for carrying on that
traffic,but because the interior hasbeen completely exhaust¬
ed of its negro population. Captain Tuckey’s unfortunate
expedition afforded some insight into the interior of the dis¬
trict of Congo. The extraordinary mortality that took place
was never satisfactorily explained. The climate, after pass¬
ing the falls, appears, by Captain Tuckey’s journal, to have
been excellent, the thermometer having never descended
below 60° in the night, and seldom rising above 76° of Fah¬
renheit during the day, and the atmosphere being remark¬
ably dry. The slave-dealers towards the lower part of
the river are described as the vilest of mankind, a mongrel
breed of French, Portuguese, and Negroes. Above the
cataracts the negro population was far more respectable,
but so indolent, that with difficulty they could be prevail¬
ed on to assist, on any terms, to push forward the canoes.
Captain Tuckey states his reasons for concluding that the
source of the Zaire must be to the northward of the equa¬
tor, probably in those high mountains, a portion of which
are visible from the sea in the Bight of Biafra.
Proceeding to the northward, and crossing the equa¬
tor, we arrive at the bottom of that great bay or indent
generally known as the Gulf of Guinea, a part of which
forms the Bights of Benin and Biafra. Beginning at Cape
Palmas, the extreme western point of this gulf, we have
in succession the Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, and the
Slave Coast, the last extending from the river Volta to
Gabon under the line. The inhabitants of this great ex¬
tent of coast are nearly the same, very much corrupted
by their intercourse with Europeans, more especially at
those several places where European settlements have
been formed. They are all intolerably lazy, and the
richness of the soil, and the great heat and constant mois¬
ture, enable them to be so, and at the same time may be
considered as some excuse for indolence. Nothing can
exceed the fertility of the coast of Guinea. Maize, rice,
holcus of various species, yams, cassava, sugar-cane,
fruits of every kind common to tropical climates, spices,
peppers, gums of five or six sorts, the oil, the tallow, and
the butter-tree, cotton, indigo, and various dye-woods,
are produced with little labour, and many of them spon¬
taneously. Behind the Ivory Coast elephants roam in the
woods and savannahs, in the latter of which the grass and
reeds are said to exceed the height of 20 feet, and into
which these huge animals retire to rest: these are some¬
times caught by the negroes setting fire to the thickets, but
mostly by pitting. In Bambouk and Akim, and various
other places, gold-dust is collected in the sand brought
down the mountain streams, but in no great quantity.
Higher up the coast is the settlement of Sierra Leone,
which, as a place for civilising the negroes by education
and free labour, would appear to have entirely failed: it
certainly is of very little value, either as a commercial or
naval depot, and every body avoids it as much as possible,
on account of its extreme insalubrity. Its chief value
a national point of view is the great quantity of ship-timber, C. ^
said to be superior to oak, which is brought down the river
from the interior, and imported at a lower price than Eng.
lish oak bears in the market. To the northward of this
the half-cast Portuguese have a slave-dealing settlement
among the Bissagos Islands; and higher up on the coast
is the English colony on the river Gambia; and lastly, the
French settlement on the Senegal. The chief articles of
the trade which is carried on at the last two settlements
are spirituous liquors and tobacco ; in return for gums
of different kinds, bees-wax, a litle gold-dust, and ivory.
The territory in the neighbourhood of these rivers is in
possession of various mixed tribes, Moors, Arabs, Berbers,
and Negroes; but the pure negro is rarely found among
them, except in a state of slavery. The Felatas, under
the name of Foulahs, are numerous ; so are the Serrawolles
of Galam, the Mandingos, the Bamboukis, the Feelops, the
Jalofs, the Soosoos, and an endless number of tribes, half
Mahometans, half Pagans, most of them of a treache¬
rous and inhuman disposition, very little advanced in the
arts, conveniencies, and manners of civilized life, and al¬
most constantly at war with each other. The country in¬
habited by this description of people brings us to the
commencement of the great desert of Zahara, the coast of
which is occasionally inhabited by prowling Arabs looking
out for shipwrecked vessels, which they plunder without
mercy. This barren coast extends northerly as far as
Suz, where the emperor of Morocco’s dominions may be
said to commence, though the Moors and Berbers on this
skirt of the desert are a lawless race, and scarcely pay al¬
legiance to any sovereign but of their own choosing.
Why this Barbary state should be dignified with the Mo:
name of Empire is by no means obvious, unless it be that
the title of Sultan has been translated into that of Em¬
peror. The present ruler is a Shirif, or descendant of
Mahomet. The country is of great extent, and very
varied in its productions; but owing to the bad system of
government, agriculture and commerce are both neglect¬
ed, and the population scanty, the highest estimate of
which cannot be considered to reach five millions, though
Jackson, the loosest of all writers on Africa, has swelled
it to fifteen millions, which is absurd. The Atlas Moun¬
tains, which occupy the central parts, send forth their
fertilizing streams in every direction ; and the perpe¬
tual snow which appears on one of the highest peaks,
behind the city of Morocco, tempers the summer heat,
and communicates a freshness to the climate, scarcely
known in other parts of the African continent. Grain of
every description may be raised in Morocco. All the
fruits of Europe, and most of those of Asia, thrive re- !
markably well. The shrubby and herbaceous plants are
rich and in great variety. The oaks of Atlas are of
good dimensions, but forest trees in general are rather
stunted in their growth. These are chiefly the quercus
suber, and ilex, thuia, mimosa, cedar, walnut, and chesnut.
The olive and argan (eleodendron) supply them with
abundance of oil. They have black-cattle and broad¬
tailed sheep in abundance, and bees producing the finest
honey and wax. But the late emperor Muley Soliman,
in one of his despotic mandates, prohibited the exporta¬
tion of oil, wheat, and wool, three of the most productive
articles, which at once impoverished the agriculturists,—
so much indeed, that wheat and barley have since been
imported from Europe; and the nephew, who usurped
the sovereign power, ruined the merchants and manu¬
facturers of Fez by his excesses and extortions. All the
foreign establishments at Mogadore have left the place,
except one single English house. Only twelve small
AFRICA.
Afri> vessels entered that port during the year 1828, which
amounted formerly to thirty or forty; and these twelve are
stated to have found a bad market, and not half cargoes in
return. The port of Santa Cruz has long been wholly
abandoned by European traders, and the town is now
little better than a heap of ruins. The trade from Tetuan,
Tangier, and Rabat is very trifling.
The present emperor Muley Abderahman, like some of
his predecessors, has been mostly employed, since his ac¬
cession in 1821, in efforts to bring into proper submission
his refractory subjects in the southern provinces, who have
felt themselves strong enough to refuse paying contribu¬
tions; and in levying additional taxes, taking off heads, and
confiscating the property of those who have any, parti¬
cularly that of Jews and Moorish merchants. Even the
slave-trade with Soudan by means of the caravans has
greatly diminished. There are very few Turks in Mo¬
rocco. The population consists chiefly of Moors, Arabs,
Berbers, Negroes, with all their varied mixtures, and Jews.
The last are subject to the worst treatment, but, as it has
been stated, “ no insult, indignity, or oppression, prevents
the Israelite from domiciliating himself wherever he hap¬
pens to fix his abode. He is a plant that seems to be
suited for every soil, and generally thrives best when the
pruning-knife is most applied. Among the Moors he is
made to suffer beyond what any nature but that of a Jew
could bear; yet such is the ignorance of the ruling powers
and their Moorish subjects, that the affairs of state could
hardly be carried on without him. Most of the trades
and professions are exercised by Jews; they farm the re¬
venues; act as commissaries and custom-house officers,
as secretaries and interpreters; they coin money; furnish
and fabricate all the jewellery and silver ornaments and
trappings for the sultans, beys, and bashaws, and their
respective harems; and in return for all this they are op¬
pressed by the higher ranks, and reviled and insulted by
the rabble.” Such is their situation in all the four Bar¬
bary states.
Hie chief cities of Morocco are, the capital of that name,
supposed to contain about 30,000 inhabitants ; Fez, about
the same number ; Mequinez, not quite so many; Tetuan,
on the coast, about 20,000; and Tangier, 16,000. The
buildings are flat-roofed, and the streets narrow and dirty.
On the south are Tafilet and Segilmessa, once populous cities,
but now depending mostly on the caravans to Soudan, which
resort to these places. Still farther south, and bordering
on the desert, is the Bled-el-Jereed, or country of dates.
Ihe manufactures are chiefly confined to cotton and
woollen cloths, silks, paper, and morocco leather.
' The Morocco territory is separated from that of Algiers
by the desert of Angara, on which the Arabs pursue lions,
ostriches, and antelopes, and plunder the defenceless
traveller. Ihe mountain chain of Atlas extends behind
it, and separates it from the great desert. In front of
these is a long tract of fertile country, productive of all
mds of grain and good fruits. Numerous rills pour down
tie sides of the mountains, some of which are frequently
covered with snow, giving a freshness to the temperature,
w inch is almost always agreeable. The southern parts of
ie range of mountains, and various places from the
ng lest Atlas to the Gulf of Sidra, or the Syrtis, are inha-
5 ’ by tnbes of Berbers, usually called Shillooks, who
'ery much resemble the Tuaricks of the desert.
1 he city of Algiers rises in the form of an amphitheatre
•>n the side of a hill, surrounded by a wall, and having its
■■ea- rout completely protected by strong batteries, which
■lave resisted every attempt against them save one—that
In 1 fei . x.rno.u*'b>—one °f the most daring, the most
u ul in its issue, and most brilliant exploits on record.
235
The city is said to contain 80,000 inhabitants. It is placed Africa,
in the midst of a country well clothed with all manner of'
fruit-trees, among which are scattered a great number of
villas or country seats, to which the inhabitants repair in
the hot season. The city of Constantine is said to contain
100,000 souls. Its site is entirely covered with broken
walls, cisterns, aqueducts, and other ruins. Shershell, the
ancient Caesarea, is covered with similar ruins of great ex¬
tent and grandeur. Indeed the whole of this part of
Africa exhibits the remains of temples, aqueducts, am¬
phitheatres, triumphal arches, and other ancient edifices of
extraordinary magnificence. Besides these, numerous
other cities and modern towns are found in the interior
and along the sea-coast, as Mascara, Oran, and Bona; near
the last of which is the great coral fishery. The army is
composed of Turks, who elect the dey, whose arbitrary
power is in some degree mitigated by the divan, composed
of the oldest and highest of the military officers. He ac¬
knowledges the sovereignty of the grand signior, and pays
him an annual tribute. One of the chief sources of re¬
venue is the monopoly of grain ; to which are added, con¬
fiscations, taxes on the Jews and other foreigners, and
the sale and ransom of prisoners, which has been greatly
diminished since the Barbary powers have been compell¬
ed, by the interference of England, to liberate all Christian
slaves.
Bordering on Algiers, and to the eastward of it, is Tunis.
Tunis, once the flourishing capital of the Carthaginian
power. The hereditary bey is neither Turk nor Moor,
but the descendant of a Greek renegado and a Genoese
slave. Christians and Jews are less subject in this state
to oppression and insult than in any of the other three ;
and the Tunisians are also less addicted to piracy. Their
great pursuit is agriculture and commerce, which are
mostly in the hands of the Moors; but a vast number of
Nomade Arabs are scattered over the interior of the coun¬
try. The cattle and horses are small, but the sheep are
of a large size. The southern side of the tail of the Atlas
range of mountains is sandy and barren, and a desert in¬
tervenes between it and the oasis of Ghadamis, which,
from its position, ought to belong to Tunis, but nominally
is under the dominion of the bashaw of Tripoli. The
crops of grain are very fine, and the Tunisians have all
the fruits that are common to the other states.
The city of Tunis, if we except Cairo, is the first in all
Africa, and possesses a well-fortified harbour. The Go-
letta, a strong fortress, commands the roadstead, and the
entrance of the lagoon or lake, which, however, is navi¬
gable only by boats. The ruins of ancient Carthage ap¬
pear a little to the north-west of it. The ruins of the
works that formed her harbour, and the remains of an
aqueduct, are still visible. In the interior is the Arabian
city of Cairoan, which for many centuries was reckoned
the capital of Africa, but of which little is known at pre¬
sent. Its principal mosque is reported by the Moors to
be supported by 500 columns of granite. Along the coast
are several towns and small harbours, as Sooza, Gabes,
and Porto-Farina, near which the ancient Utica was situ¬
ated, where the younger Cato underwent a voluntary death.
In all the towns of this state are considerable manufac¬
tories of silks, velvets, cloths, and morocco leather, and a
peculiar kind of red cloth cap, which is very much worn
by the seamen and peasantry of the coasts of the Medi¬
terranean.
The state of Tripoli may be said to expend from the Tripoli.
Lesser Syrtis or Gulf of Gabes to the eastern extremity
of Barca, on the confines of Egypt. On its deserts and
its arid mountains are numerous tribes of Nomade Arabs,
Moors, and Tuaricks or Berbers, who frequently threaten
236
AFRICA.
Africa, the bashaw in his capital. It has a tolerably good har-
hour, and a strong castle to command both it and the
town. To the eastward is Lebida, the ancient Leptis
Magna, where the remains of temples, triumphal arches,
and aqueducts, are still visible. The French carried off
a great number of large and beautiful columns; and Cap¬
tain Smyth of the British navy sent home several shafts
and capitals, which were lying for a long time in the
court-yard of the British Museum. Farther east is the
town and bay of Mesurata, and beyond it the Libyan
Pentapolis, the ruins of whose five cities, Cyrene, Barce,
Ptolemais, Berenice, and Taukera, still exist, under names
scarcely dissimilar from their ancient appellations, and
are still inhabited as towns' and villages, but with a very
different description of people. Cyrene was undoubtedly
the most ancient and splendid of the Greek colonies on the
coast of Africa, whose ruins and catacombs, scattered
along the summit of the third stage of hills, or last terrace
which overlooks the Mediterranean, are still magnificent.
The succession of terraces corresponds very accurately
with the description given of the face of the country by
Herodotus; and among the splendid ruins still flows the
limpid spring described by him, along whose verdant
banks the Arab now pitches his tent. Tolemata or Pto¬
lemais, in the port of Barca, preserves its ancient walls, co¬
vered with inscriptions 5 and the ruins of it£ temples and
arches are all to be traced. Flere, indeed, we are on
, classic ground; and modern travellers have fancied even
to have discovered the gardens of the Hesperides. At
Derne the country puts on a beautiful appearance, and
receives fertility from the rills descending from the moun¬
tains. It is governed by a bey appointed by the bashaw
of Tripoli, and so is Bengazi. These two towns are in¬
habited by Moors, Jews, and Arabs; but the greater part
of the country is in possession of the wandering tribes
of Arabs, who pasture their flocks as far as the oasis of
Audjela, and along the edge of the desert to Fezzan, both
of which are, nominally at least, dependent on the bashaw
of Tripoli. Of the sea-coast of this part of Africa, from
Tripoli round the Greater Syrtis, of the Cyrenaica, and
to the confines of Egypt, we have the best detailed in¬
formation as to its present state, its antiquities, and pro¬
ductions, from Della Celia and Mr Beechey.
Interior of It is quite true, as Major Rennell has observed, that
Northern “ nothing can evince the low state of African geography
Africa. more than M. D’Anville’s having had recourse to the
works of Ptolemy and Edrisi to compose the interior
part of his map of Africa in 1749.” This map, and indeed
all that have followed of the interior, are now (1829) ren¬
dered nearly worthless by the discoveries of modern tra¬
vellers. The first traveller who made much progress into
the interior was Mungo Park, who proceeded from Pisa-
nia, on the river Gambia, to Medina, Fatteconda, Kem-
moo, Jarra in Ludimar, the frontier town of the Moors,
who took him prisoner, and confined him at Benown for
two months. On being released, he travelled, chiefly by
the charity of negroes, through a wooded country to
Sego, where he fell in with the Niger, so named by Leo
Africanus, who supposed it to be the Niger of Pliny.
From Sego, continuing his journey along the banks of the
river, he reached Silla, from which place he deemed it
prudent to return, on account of the jealousy of the Moors,
whose ill treatment he had already experienced. Return¬
ing by a more southerly route, along the northern banks
of the great river thus discovered, as far as Bammakoo,
where it appears first to become navigable, and passing
through Manding, Konkodoo, Dentila, Neola, and Tenda,
he at length reached Medina on the Gambia, having add¬
ed greatly to our knowledge of this part of Africa. We
have no account of his proceeding farther in his second
journey than Sansanding, a little way beyond Sego ; and^
all account of his discoverieg from thence to Boussa, where
he was wrecked, has perished with him. That he did so
perish at that place, is rendered certain by the visit of
Clapperton, and subsequently by that of his servant
Lander.
To Mr Browne we owe whatever particulars he was able!)
to collect (and, being kept a prisoner, they were not many)
concerning Darfoor and the position of the oasis and
ruins of the temple of Jupiter Ammon; the latter of which
were afterwards corroborated by Florneman. From a
vocabulary of the language of the natives of this oasis,
Mr Marsden came to the conclusion that they were the
same people as the Tuaricks, who inhabit the western part
of the great desert from Morocco to Timbuctoo. In this
oasis, and that of Augela, the inhabitants grow a little
grain, and cultivate fruits and vegetables, chiefly dates.
The women are mostly employed in weaving a coarse
woollen cloth, the only covering they wear. The largest
of the several islands interspersed among the sands of the
desert, or rather a cluster of them, is Fezzan, the ancient
Garamantes, whose chief town is Mourzouk. This is the
intermediate station in the desert for the trade of Bornou
and Soudan with Egypt and Tripoli, receiving gold-dust,
slaves, and horses, in exchange for salt, fruit, and vege¬
tables, goats and sheep for the caravans. The population
of this oasis is stated to be from 70,000 to 80,000 souls.
They cultivate barley, maize, pulse, and dates; figs and
pomegranates grow in abundance. They have no water
but what they receive from partial springs or deep wells,
and it is generally brackish, from the salt and natron with
which the soil abounds.
The Zahara or Great Desert has also its oases, and 71
wadeys or valleys, in which springs of water are found,ra
and shrubby plants, chiefly stunted accacias, and tufts ot'^1
grass. For hundreds of miles, however, the surface is one
continued plain of sand, in some places blown up into high
ridges, in others in undulating lines, like the waves of the
sea. In parts of the desert, insulated hills of naked sand¬
stone rock, or ridges of hills, rise out of the sandy or
stony surface, appearing like so many islands in the ocean.
Many indeed have supposed that the Zahara must once
have been the bed of the ocean, judging from the springs
and pools of salt water, the flags of rock-salt, the beds of
natron, and the saline particles that abound in the sand,
and also from the shells and fragments of marine animals
that are found in the limestone of Augela and other parts
of the desert. On the eastern side is the Bohr Bellama,
or sea without water; and Riley describes an immense
ravine on the side of the Atlantic, running from the sea¬
shore more than 300 miles into the interior, full of salt
water springs, and the sandy surface incrusted with ma¬
rine salt, which “ crumbled,” he says, “ under the feet of
the camels like a crust of snow.” The banks of this
deep ravine were distant from each other eight or ten
miles, and were from 500 to 600 feet high. This valley
Riley calls the bed of an arm of the sea, and supposes it
to lie somewhere about the 20th parallel of latitude.
Other travellers describe ravines of the same kind between
the southern foot of the Atlas Mountains and the Zahara,
like so many deep beds of a formerly existing sea, with
incrustations of salt, rolled pebbles, and broken shells. It
would be very desirable to trace the levels somewhere
across the northern commencement of the Zahara, from
the bottom of the Gulf of Syrtis to the Atlantic. We
know nothing of the southern face of the Mauritanian
Atlas, and the plains of Segilmessa, and the Bled-el-
Jereed, or land of dates; and we cannot help thinking,
ria
/V
’alia.
,;eai
AFRICA.
237
f, t}jat while we are sending out travellers to perish in the
central parts of Africa, it would be as well, in the first
place, to obtain a knowledge of the emperor of Morocco’s
dominions; more especially of those parts to the southward
of Atlas, and contiguous to the Great Desert. It has been
suggested that the whole country between the Syrtis and
the Atlantic, over which the Atlas chain extends, may
have once been insulated, and in that state formed the
celebrated Atlantis. This, however, is not very probable,
but might easily be determined by a series of levels.
ny The Zahara, miserable as it is, is not wholly without
ants ■ inhabitants. On the western shore are scattered a few
lie I Moorish and Arab shepherds and goat-herds, usually
;rt. looking out for plunder of shipwrecks. Towards the cen¬
tre are the Tuaricks, traders in salt, and robbers of the
caravans; and to the eastward, chiefly in the neighbour¬
hood of the salt-water pools and marshes of Bilmah, are
the Tibboos, a less pure people than the Tuaricks, who also
collect-salt for the Bornou market, and feed a few sheep
and goats.
ouda The Desert ceases in about 15. north latitude, sloping
gradually down to the fertile and well-watered countries
of Bornou on the east, Houssa in the centre, and the re¬
gions already mentioned to the westward of Timbuctoo.
Houssa and Bornou collectively comprehend that region
of Africa known by the name of Soudan, or Land of the
Blacks: the former is under the rule of the Sultan Bello,
a descendant of the Foula tribe, called by the negroes
Foulatas or Fellatas; and the latter is governed by the Sheik
el Kanemy of some Arab tribe. These two chiefs, dividing
this fine country between them, are, or recently were, in a
state of hostility, by which the poor and peaceable negroes
are made to suffer greatly. The elite of the black troops of
Bornou are habited in coats of mail, composed of iron chains,
with helmets or skull-caps of the same metal. The heads
of their horses are also defended by plates of iron or brass,
sufficient room being left only for the eyes of the animal,
irnop There are 13 principal towns in Bornou. Kouka, the
modern capital, is situated on the eastern border of the
lake Tsad. Among the other principal towns are Mew
Birnie, Old Birnie, Affagy, Angola, Kabshary, Showy, and
Angornow; the last of which is said to be the largest town
in Bornou, and supposed to contain about 30,000 inha¬
bitants. The market held at this place every Wednesday,
is said by Denham to be attended sometimes by 80,000 or
100,000 persons. Bornou is intersected by two considerable
rivers which fall into the Tsad; the Yeou, which has its
rise in a ridge of hills about Katagum, and which divide
this country from that of the Fellatas; and the Shary, whose
source is unknown, but which falls into the lake from the
southward. Kanem, to the north of the lake, and Baghermi
to the westward, are dependent on Bornou; but the coun¬
try to the southward of it, and as far as the great range of
mountains, is in possession of the Fellatas. On all sides
of the lake are tribes of Arabs in great numbers, particular¬
ly those of the Shoua tribe of Beni Hassan, feeding their
numerous flocks and herds.
Ihe climate is far from being healthful. Though situated
between the 10th and 15th parallels of latitude, the cold
of winter is sometimes very severe, the thermometer rare¬
ly reaching 74° or 75°, while in the mornings it usually
stands at 58° or 60°. In summer it rises sometimes to
10o° and 107°, with suffocating and scorching winds from
the south and south-east. During the rains of summer,
from the extreme flatness of the country, tracts of many
miles in extent are converted into lakes. The soil is rich,
but the people are indolent, and cultivate little for food
but a species of millet, which they call gressub, and three
01 tour kinds of beans known by the name of gufooly, the
common food of slaves and the poorer class of people. Indian Africa,
corn, cotton and indigo, with a little senna, make up nearly
the catalogue of their husbandry. Indigo indeed grows
wild, and with it they dye their blue tobes or frocks. ^They
have domestic fowls in great numbers; and all the quad¬
rupeds and birds which have been already mentioned,
besides many others, are natives of the woods, the lakes,
and the plains of Bornou. They have little commerce
except with the people of Fezzan and Tripoli, chiefly sup¬
plying the Moors with slaves, horses, elephants’ tusks, and
ostrich feathers, receiving in return red caps, brass basins,
coral, fire-arms, powder and shot, swords, and salt.
The Soudan population consisted originally of negroes; Houssa.
but the Arabs, and the Moors, and the Berbers have con-the Fellata
verted it into a mixed race, in which not only the features country*
have been changed, but the native simplicity of the pure
Ethiopian destroyed, if we may judge from the character
and disposition of the unmixed negroes, whom Clapperton
met with to the southward, beyond the line to which the
Fellatas had carried their conquests. Corrupted as they
are within the limits subjected by these people, Clapper-
ton speaks of them in high terms of praise. In his way to
Soccatoo, the residence of Bello, the country not only im¬
proved in appearance, from the moment he crossed the
Bornou boundary, but the valleys were well peopled and
cultivated, and the plains were covered with herds of
cattle. Crowds of people were on the road from the
market of Kano, bearing their purchases on bullocks, on
asses, or on their heads. This city, the Ghana of the
Arabs, is the great emporium of Houssa, about 15 miles
in circumference, surrounded with a clay wall about 30 feet
high, having a dry ditch within and without. The space
within contains fields, orchards, and gardens. It is said
to contain from 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. The market
is well stocked with goods from every part of Northern
Africa, and with European articles, even to English um¬
brellas. From Kano to Soccatoo the country increased in
population, and town followed town in quick succession,
most of them surrounded with walls and ditches. Clap¬
perton says that this part of the country resembled one of
our English ornamented parks, clothed with woods and
clumps of trees..
Bello sent out 150 of his horsemen with drums and
trumpets to meet this traveller, and escort him to Soccatoo.
This city he considered to be the most populous of any
he had met with in Africa, though it was founded only in
1805 ; but the mud walls of an African town are soon run
up, and as soon demolished. It is situated in long. 6.
12. E. lat. 13. 5. N., near to a small river which, rising in
the hills between Kashna and Kano, and running to the
west, is said to fall into the Quorra (Niger) at four days’
journey to the westward of Soccatoo. There is one city
of considerable strength at no great distance from Socca¬
too, which Bello has not been able to conquer. It is
named Goober, and the people, by the sultan’s own ac¬
count, “are free-born, because their origin is from the
Copts of Egypt.” Clapperton, on his second visit, was
present at the siege of this place, of which he gives an
amusing account, not very creditable to the army of Bello.
By the second journey of this unfortunate traveller we Negro na-
are made acquainted with the manners and habits of a lions of
negro population in the interior, behind or to the north-in¬
ward of the range of mountains that are supposed to crossnor*
Northern Africa like a belt. From the Bight of Benin to
Soccatoo large and populous kingdoms follow each other,
containing towns and cities of mud houses, surrounded
with mud walls, peopled with 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, and
even 40,000 inhabitants ; the country well cultivated, and
the people employed in various manufactures for domestic
238
AFRICA.
Africa.
use; such as weaving, dying, tanning, working in iron and
other metals, and in pottery. In all the towns he found
them a good-humoured, but a vitious and licentious set,
both male and female ; fond of music, dancing, and drink¬
ing booza; extremely superstitious, and placing confidence
in the power of various charms. The chief or king of
Yourriba had as many wives, he told Clapperton, as, if
linked, hand in hand, would reach from one end of his
kingdom to the other; but these queens are less for luxury
than for use, being employed in all kinds of hard labour.
The emperor of China does not receive from his ministers
more humiliating submission than does the king of Your¬
riba from his black vassals, who fall flat on their bellies
before him, and cover themselves with dust.
Next to Yourriba is the kingdom of Borghoo, whose
capital is Kiama, famous for its horses. The sultan is at¬
tended by a body-guard of young females, when he makes
his appearance in public. He waited on Clapperton, at¬
tended by six naked young girls, from 15 to 17 years of
age, a white bandeau or fillet of white cloth round the
fore-head, and a string of beads round the waist, being
their only clothing. Each carried three light spears.
“ Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease
with which they appeared to fty over the ground, made
them appear something more than mortal, as they flew
alongside his horse.” The subjects of Borghoo had the
reputation of being great robbers, but Clapperton received
nothing but civility in passing through their country.
Kiama is said to contain 30,000 inhabitants. From hence
he proceeded to Wawa, a town with 18,000 inhabitants,
also belonging to Borghoo.
From Wawa our traveller proceeded to the northward
as far as Boussa, situated on the Quorra, for the purpose
of gaining information respecting the death of Mungo
Park, which happened at this spot of the river. The re¬
ports varied, though they all agreed in the main point,
that the boat upset over a ledge of rocks which here
crosses the river, and the few that were in her were un¬
fortunately drowned. It appears, too, that by a mistake
they were engaged in hostility at the moment with the
natives on shore. On Lander’s return, the sultan of
Boussa employed him in cleaning some muskets, six of
which had the Tower mark upon them. Clapperton got
some indirect information respecting Park’s papers, but
it appeared doubtful whether they were still in exist¬
ence. On his return to Wawa, he fell in with a coffle or
caravan, from Ashantee to Houssa, which occupied a long
line of march, consisting of bullocks, asses, horses, and wo¬
men and men to the amount of a thousand persons. From
Wawa he proceeded to the ferry of the river Quorra,
which was here about the width of the Thames at West¬
minster. Having crossed the river, the first town was
Koolfa, in Nyffe, a walled town, containing from twelve
to fifteen thousand inhabitants, Mussulmans and Pagans.
Here the whole night was spent in singing, dancing, and
drinking booza. Beyond this, towns and villages increas¬
ed in number, and the fields were better cultivated than
had hitherto been the case ; but every labourer was armed
to protect himself against the inroads of the Fellatas, who
were very numerous in this part of Africa.
Zaria, the capital of Zeg-zeg, is a large Fellata city, as
populous as Kano, and has several Mahometan mosques
with minarets; and the houses are flat-roofed. The en¬
virons are stated to be very beautiful and well cultivated,
which continues to be the character of the country the
whole way from thence to Kano. On the whole, it may be
collected from this interesting journey of Clapperton, that
though sobriety and chastity form no part of the character
of the native negroes, they are a happy, kind-hearted,
and sociable people, undergoing just as much labour as i?
necessary to procure them food, clothing,and booza; and v.
having accomplished this, preferring to bask in the sun'
or to sleep in the shade all day, and to commit all kinds I
of debauchery in the night; just like the booza-drinkers
of Berber and Shendi, as described by the late Mr
Burckhardt.
It would appear, from the journal of Clapperton’s ser¬
vant, on his return by a more easterly route, that the in¬
habitants are several degrees lower in the scale of civili-
sation than those more to the westward. In one place
men, women, and children exposed themselves without
any covering whatever; and a range of hills to the east¬
ward of his route was pointed out as being inhabited by
a ferocious tribe of people called Yam-yams, who were
declared by all to be cannibals. The Sultan Bello assur-
ed Clapperton that he had seen these people eat human
flesh. These, however, may be considered as exceptions.
The great mass of the people are gentle and docile; but
so long as the Fellatas send out their marauding parties
to carry off slaves and cattle, there is little reason to ex-
pect they will make any progress in civilisation. Domes¬
tic slavery has in all probability existed among them for
ages past, and even yet the slave appears to be treated
like any other member of the family; but the foreign
slave-trade, that greatest of all curses, leads to perpetual
wars among neighbouring tribes, it being well known that
a coffle of human beings is a species of traffic easiest to
be conveyed to the sea-coast, and fetches there the high¬
est prices, for which the venders are enabled to purchase
in return ardent spirits and other articles suited to their
depraved appetites. There is one way, and but one, of
putting an end to this infamous traffic, and that is by all the
maritime nations of Europe and America declaring it to
be piracy ; but there are too many interested in its con¬
tinuance to allow us to indulge a hope that this will ever
be done.
The discoveries of Clapperton and Denham have done In
much to reform the geography of Northern Africa, thege*
maps of which were disgraceful to that branch of know-of
ledge in the nineteenth century. All those gratuitous611
lakes, rivers, and mountains, put down at random to fill
up the vacant paper, may now be swept away, and those
cities or towns that do exist, be placed in their proper
situations; some of which, before the late expeditions,
were from 300 to 500 miles out of their true positions.
The Arab writers, from Edrisi downwards, appear to have
been wholly ignorant of the course of the Joliba or Quorra,
some making it run directly eastward, as far as the Nile
of Egypt, and others in a contrary direction. Some placed
the cities of Kashna, Kano, Nyffe, &c. along its banks, all
in an easterly series ; mistaking possibly, as they make no
use of river navigation, the Yeou for a continuation of the
said Quorra; a mistake that a very ingenious French writer
has fallen into, even subsequently to the publication of
Clapperton’s journal; and an English author has also done
the same, and carried its waters under ground through the
Great Desert, and into the Gulf of the Syrtis. We now
know that, at some distance beyond Timbuctoo, the Joliba
or Quorra, the Niger of modern days, turns off to the
southward, passes to the westward of Soccatoo, through
Boussa, where Park was wrecked, skirts the province of
Nyffe, and continues to flow southerly to at least the 9th
parallel of latitude; and here all information as to its
course ceases. But there can only be two alternatives,—
either that it penetrates the range of granite mountains,
whose width is somewhere about 80 miles, and height
from 2000 to 3000 feet, and falls into the Bight of Benin,
through the river Formosa,—or, that it turns off to the
%
'"V
Fwir
A F R A F R 239
eastward, joins the Shary, and falls into the lake Tsad. Tes- of the continuous low swampy country reported to extend Africa
1 timonies, such as they are, have been procured in favour easterly from Bornou, in which the lake Fittre and other - ||
(tfric of both suppositions ; and if those for the latter course lakes are said to be situated. African
ititu 'n.are tiie most strong, those for the former may perhaps be The Bahr-el-Azrek and the Nile may be considered as Institution.
^considered as the more probable. In what direction the one and the same river: they have the same character inV^v^N^
waters of the Tsad discharge themselves, is as yet mere all respects; the same high banks, with the same dark soil,
conjecture, as little is known for certain to the eastward of which gives a colour to the water: the same birds, the
that lake; but the water of the lake being at all times fresh, same fish, and the same plants, accompany both ; but the
which it could not be if discharged only by evaporation, Bahr-el-Abiad and the Nile are totally different. Low
there must be some outlet, and that outlet will probably meadow banks accompany the former, as far as it has been
be found on the yet unexamined eastern side, creeping traced; the birds, the fish, and the animals, are wholly
on in a connected chain of nearly stagnant pools to the distinct. The elephant, the hippopotamus, and the rhino-
“ dead-flowing” stream of the Bahr-el-Abiad. ceros, are here found in whole herds. They are unknown
The Bahr-el-Abiad, as far as it has yet been traced in the neighbourhood of the Nile. The water of the one
from its junction with the Nile, strongly favours this suppo- is black and turbid; of the other it is of a white opal
sition. It has been ascended as far as Aleis, by Monsieur colour. The only difficulty in exploring this interesting
Linant, in the employ of the African Association. It has river upwards seems to be the hostility of a tribe, at 150 or
been ascended by M. Rouppel; and Lord Prudhoe and 200 miles from its junction with the Nile, called Shillooks,
Major Felix ascended it to a considerable distance, and who are a large race of men, entirely black, and without
obtained some curious information of the country through clothing, and are represented by their lower neighbours,
which it passes, and the singular character of the river, not exactly as cannibals, for they never can want fish to
Foragreat part of the year it is very shallow, and the water eat, but as a very fierce and savage race. But the real
nearly stagnant; its width extends from two to twenty character of people living in a savage state is not to be
miles;and it is thickly studded with islands that are cover- procured from their neighbours, especially when in a state
edv/ith fine forest-trees. In this state it resembles an end- of warfare with each other. The Shillooks, however, may
less lake rather than a river; but when the freshes come easily be passed, by proceeding through the Denka coun¬
down, about the same time as the Nile begins to swell, try on the right bank, or to the southward between the
they are not gradual, like those of that river, but the tor- mountains and the Bahr-el-Abiad, where an intelligent
rent rises with great rapidity, sweeping all before it, and sheik of the name of Idrees Adelan resides; who, being
bringing down most extraordinary multitudes of fish, now subject to the pasha of Egypt, would readily conduct
These circumstances led the travellers to conclude that any traveller, recommended by the pasha, beyond the
it was supplied from some great reservoir far in the west, territory of these formidable blacks, whese would proba-
and that tliis reservoir is probably the lake Tsad. Some bly be met some of those pastoral tribes of Arabs that are
of the officers of the pasha of Egypt’s army had been known to feed their flocks along this prolonged valley of
nearly 400 miles up the river, still coming from the set- Soudan, even to the confines of Boraou. An expedition
ting sun; and in that direction not a mountain nor a hill of from the Nile to Bornou through this tract of country, the
any size was visible. It would seem, therefore, to form a most fertile probably in the whole interior, would afford
i sort of great drain to carry off the waters of Bornou, and materials to complete the geography of Northern Africa.
(m.)
AFRICAN COMPANY. See Company.
AFRICAN INSTITUTION. This institution was
formed in 1807. Its general objects, and the views which
influenced its formation, are clearly stated in the follow¬
ing resolutions, adopted at the constituent meeting, held
on the 14th of April 1807.
“ 1. That this meeting is deeply impressed with a sense
of the enormous wrongs which the natives of Africa have
suffered in their intercourse with Europe; and, from a
desire to repair those wrongs, as well as from general
feelings of benevolence, is anxious to adopt such mea¬
sures as are best calculated to promote their civilisation
and happiness.
“ 2. That the approaching cessation of the slave-trade,
hitherto carried on by Great Britain, America, and Den¬
mark, will, in a considerable degree, remove the barrier
j jvhich has so long obstructed the natural course of social
improvement in Africa; and that the way will be thereby
opened for introducing the comforts and arts of a more
civilized state of society.
,41 That the happiest effects may be reasonably anti¬
cipated from diffusing useful knowledge and exciting in¬
dustry among the inhabitants of Africa, and from obtain¬
ing and circulating throughout this country more ample
mul authentic information concerning the agricultural
mid commercial faculties of that vast continent; and that,
through the judicious prosecution of these benevolent en¬
deavours, we may ultimately look forward to the esta¬
blishment, in the room of that traffic by which Africa has
been so long degraded, of a legitimate and far more ex¬
tended commerce, beneficial alike to the natives of Africa
and to the manufacturers of Great Britain and Ireland.”
The particular means which this society proposes to
employ for promoting civilisation and improvement in
Africa, are of the following kind:—
“ L To collect and diffuse, throughout this country,
accurate information respecting the natural productions
of Africa, and, in general, respecting the agricultural and
commercial capacities of the African continent, and the
intellectual, moral, and political condition of its inha¬
bitants.
“ 2. To promote the instruction of the Africans in let¬
ters and in useful knowledge, and to cultivate a friendly
connection with the natives of that continent.
“ 3. To endeavour to enlighten the minds of the Afri¬
cans with respect to their true interests, and to diffuse
information amongst them respecting the means whereby
they may improve the present opportunity of substituting
a beneficial commerce in place of the slave-trade.
“ 4. To introduce amongst them such of the improve¬
ments and useful arts of Europe as ax-e suited to their
condition.
“ 5. To promote the cultivation of the African soil,
not only by exciting and directing the industry of the
i
240
A G A
A G A
African natives, but by furnishing, where it may appear advan-
Institution tageous to do so, useful seeds and plants, and implements
II of husbandry.
“ 6. To introduce amongst the inhabitants beneficial
medical discoveries.
“ 7. To obtain a knowledge of the principal languages
of Africa, and, as has already been found to be practi¬
cable, to reduce them to writing, with a view to facilitate
the diffusion of information among the natives of that
country.
“ 8. To employ suitable agents, and to establish corre¬
spondences as shall appear advisable, and to encourage
and revvard individual enterprise and exertion in promot¬
ing any of the purposes of the institution.”
The management of the affairs of this institution is
vested in a patron and president, 20 vice-presidents, a
treasurer, and a board of 36 directors. These offi¬
cers are chosen annually from among that class of the
subscribers who are called governors of the institution.
Those who subscribe 60 guineas at one time become he¬
reditary governors; but 30 guineas subscribed at one
time makes the subscriber a governor for life; or three
guineas annually, a governor during the continuance of
this annual subscription. Every subscriber of one guinea
becomes an ordinary member, and continues so during
the continuance of his subscription.
The proceedings of the society are fully detailed in its
annual reports, which are regularly published. These re¬
ports contain much valuable and interesting information
in regard to Africa, and the means of civilizing it.
AFRICANUS, Junius, an excellent historian of the
third century, the author of a chronicle which was great¬
ly esteemed, and in which he reckons 5500 years from
the creation of the world to Julius Csesar. This work, of
which we have now no more than what is to be found in
Eusebius, ended at the 221st year of the vulgar era.
Africanus also wrote a letter to Origen on the history of
Susanna, which he reckoned supposititious; and we have
still a letter of his to Aristides, in which he reconciles the
seeming contradictions in the two genealogies of Christ
recorded by St Matthew and St Luke.
AFSLAGERS, persons appointed by the burgomasters
of Amsterdam to preside over the public sales made in
that city. They must always have a clerk of the secre¬
tary’s office with them, to take an account of the sale.
They correspond to our brokers, or auctioneers.
AFT, in the sea language, the same with Abaft.
AFTERMATH, in Husbandry, signifies the grass which
springs or grows up after mowing.
AFTERNOON, the latter half of the artificial day, or
that space between noon and night.
AFWESTAD, a large copper-work belonging to the
crown of Sweden, which lies on the Dala, in the province
of Dalecarlia, in Sweden. It looks like a town, and has
its own church. Here they make copper-plates; and
have a mint for small silver coin, as well as a royal post-
house. Long. 14. 10. E. Lat. 58. 10. N.
AGA, in the Turkish language, signifies a great lord or
commander. Hence the aga of the janizaries is the com-
mander-in-chief of that corps; as the general of horse is
denominated spachiclar aga. The aga of the janizaries is
an officer of great importance. He is the only person
who is allowed to appear before the grand signior without
his arms across his breast in the posture of a slave. Eu¬
nuchs at Constantinople are in possession of most of the
principal posts of the seraglio: the title aga is given to
them all, whether in or out of employment. This title is
also given to all rich men without employ, and especially
to wealthy landholders.
We find also agas in other countries. The chief officers
under the khan of Tartary are called by this name; and
among the Algerines we read of agas chosen from amon?
the boluk bashis (the first rank of military officers), and''
sent to govern in the chief towns and garrisons of that
state. The aga of Algiers is the president of the divan
or senate. For some years the aga was the supreme
officer, and governed the state in place of the bashaw
whose power dwindled to a shadow. But the soldiery
rising against the boluk bashis or agas, massacred most of
them, and transferred the sovereign power to the caliph,
with the title of Dey or King.
AGADES, a kingdom and city of Negroland, in Africa.
It lies nearly under the tropic of Cancer, between Gubur
and Cano. The town stands on a river that falls into the
Niger; it is walled, and the king’s palace is in the midst
of it. The king has a retinue, who serve as a guard.
The inhabitants are not so black as other negroes, and
consist of merchants and artificers. Those that inhabit
the fields are shepherds or herdsmen, whose cottages are
made of boughs, and are carried about from place to place
on the backs of oxen. They are fixed on the spot of
ground where they intend to feed their cattle. The
houses in the city are stately, and built after the Barbary
fashion. This kingdom was, and may be still, tributary
to the king of Timbuctoo. It is well watered; and there
is great plenty of grass, cattle, senna, and manna. The
prevailing religion is the Mahometan, but it is not rigidly
practised. Long. 9. 19. E. Lat. 26. 10. N.
AGALMATA, in Antiquity, a term originally used to
signify any kind of ornaments in a temple, but afterwards
for the statues only, which were most conspicuous.
AGAMEMNON, the son of Atreus by Aerope, was
captain-general of the Trojan expedition. It was foretold
to him by Cassandra, that his wife Clytemnestra would
be his death: yet he returned to her; and accordingly
was slain by iEgisthus, who had gained upon his wife in
his absence,, and by her means got the government intol
his own hands.
AGAN, one of the Ladrone Islands. The circumnavi¬
gator Magellan was assassinated here in the year 1525.
AGANIPPE, in Antiquity, a fountain of Bceotia, at
Mount Helicon, on the borders between Phocis and Boeo-
tia, sacred to the Muses, and running into the river Per-
messus. Ovid seems to make Aganippe and Hippocrme
the same. Serenus more truly distinguishes them, and
ascribes the blending of them to poetical licence.
AGANIPPIDES, in ancient poetry, a designation given
to the Muses, from a fountain of Mount Helicon called
Aganippe. -
AGAPE, in Ecclesiastical History, the love-feast, or
feast of charity, in use among the primitive Christians,
when a liberal contribution was made by the rich to feed
the poor. The word is Greek, and signifies love. St
Chrysostom gives the following account of this feast,
which he derives from the apostolical practice. He says,
“ The first Christians had all things in common, as we
read in the Acts of the Apostles ; but when that equality
of possessions ceased, as it did even in the apostles’ time,
the agape or love-feast was substituted in the room of
it. Upon certain days, after partaking of the Lord’s
Supper, they met at a common feast; the rich bringing
provisions, and the poor who had nothing being invited.
It was always attended with receiving the holy sacrament;
but there is some difference between the ancient and mo¬
dern interpreters as to the circumstance of time, viz. whe¬
ther this feast was held before or after the communion.
St Chrysostom is of the latter opinion ; the learned Dr Cave
of the former. These love-feasts, during the first three
ape,
■A
A G A
centuries, were held in the church without scandal or
^ offence; but in aftertimes the heathens began to tax
Agf- them with impurity. This gave occasion to a reformation
^'^of these agapa. The kiss of charity, with which the cere¬
mony used to end, was no longer given between different
sexes; and it was expressly forbidden to have any beds
or couches for the conveniency of those who should be
disposed to eat more at their ease. Notwithstanding
these precautions, the abuses committed in them became
so notorious, that the holding of them (in churches at
least) was solemnly condemned, at the council of Carthage,
in the year 307.
AGAPET7E, in Ecclesiastical History, a name given to
certain virgins and widows, who, in the ancient church,
associated themselves with and attended on ecclesiastics,
out of a motive of piety and charity.
In the primitive days there were women instituted dea¬
conesses, who, devoting themselves to the service of the
church, took up their abode with the ministers, and assist¬
ed them in their functions. In the fervour of the primi¬
tive piety, there was nothing scandalous in these societies;
but they afterwards degenerated into libertinism; inso¬
much that St Jerome asks, with indignation, unde aga-
petarum pestis in ecclesias introiit ? This gave occasion
for councils to suppress them. St Athanasius mentions
a priest, named Leontius, who, to remove all occasion of
suspicion, offered to mutilate himself, to preserve his be¬
loved companion.
AGARD, Arthur, a learned English antiquary, born
at Foston, in Derbyshire, in the year 1540. His fondness
for English antiquities induced him to make many large
collections; and his office as deputy chamberlain of the
exchequer, which he held 45 years, gave him great oppor¬
tunities of acquiring skill in that study. Similarity of
taste brought him acquainted with Sir Robert Cotton
and other learned men, who associated themselves under
the name of The Society of Antiquaries, of which society
Mr Agard was a conspicuous member. He made the
Domesday book his peculiar study, and composed a work
purposely to explain it, under the title of Tractatus de
Usu et obscurioribus Verbis libri de Domesday. He also
compiled a book for the service of his successors in office,
which he deposited with the officers of the king’s receipt,
as a proper index for succeeding officers. All the rest
of his collections, containing at least 20 volumes, he be¬
queathed to Sir Robert Cotton; and died in 1615.
AGARIC Mineral, a marly earth, resembling the
vegetable of that name in colour and texture.
AGARO, an island of Sweden, in the province of West-
manland, on the same estuary on which Stockholm is si¬
tuated.
AGATE, or Achat (among the Greeks and Latins
Ayarjjf and Achates, from a river in Sicily, on the banks
of which it was first found), a very extensive genus of the
semipellucid gems.
These stones are variegated with veins and clouds, but
lave no zones like those of the onyx. They are com¬
posed of crystal debased by a large quantity of earth, and
neither formed by repeated incrustations round a cen-
ra nucleus, nor made up of plates laid evenly on one an-
0 ier, but are merely the effect of one simple concretion,
an variegated only by the disposition given by the fluid
ey were formed in to their differently coloured veins or
matters.
Agates are arranged according to the different colours
ieir ground. Of those with a white ground there are
iree species. 1. The dendrachtes, mocoa stone, or arbo-
uiii?*. seems to be the same with what some
vo^8 Ca ^16 ac^a^es wRh rosemary in the middle,
A G A
241
Agate.
and others achates wuh little branches of black leaves.
2. the dull milhy-loohing agate. This, though greatly in-'
fenor to the former, is yet a very beautiful stone. It is
common on the shores of rivers in the East Indies, and
also m Germany and some other parts of Europe. Our
lapidaiies cut it into counters for card-playing, and other
toys of small value. 3. The lead-coloured agate, called the
phassachates by the ancients.
. Of the agates with a reddish ground there are four spe¬
cies. 1. An impure one of a flesh-coloured white, which
is but of little beauty in comparison with other abates.
The admixture of flesh colour is but very slight; and it
is often found without any clouds, veins, or other varie¬
gations ; but sometimes it is prettily veined or variegated
with spots of irregular figures, having fimbriated edges.
It is found in Germany, Italy, and some other parts of
Europe, and is wrought into toys of small value, and
often into the German gunflints. It has been sometimes
found with evident specimens of the perfect mosses bedded
deep in it. 2. That of a pure blood colour, called hcema-
chates, or the bloody agate, by the ancients. 3. The
clouded and spotted agate, of a pale flesh colour, called
by the ancients the carnelian achates or sardachates.
4. The red-lead coloured one, variegated with yellow,
called the coral agate, or corolla achates, by the ancients!
Of the agates with a yellowish ground there are only
two known species; the one of the colour of yellow wax,
called cerachates by the ancients; the other a very elegant
stone, of a yellow ground, variegated with white, black,^and
green, called the leonina, and leonteseres, by the ancients.
Lastly, Of the agates with a greenish ground, there is
only one known species, called by the ancients jas-
pachates.
Of all these species there are a great many varieties,
some of them having upon them natural representations
of men and different kinds of animals, &c. Those repre¬
sentations are not confined to the agates whose ground is
of any particular colour, but are occasionally found on all
the different species. Velschius had in his custody a
flesh-coloured agate, on one side of which appeared a
half-moon in great perfection, represented by a milky
semicircle; on the other side, the phases of vesper, or the
evening star; whence he denominated it an aphrodisian
agate. An agate is mentioned by Kircher,1 on which i Ephav.
was the representation of a heroine armed; and one in German.
the church of St Mark in Venice has the representation dec-i-an. 1.
of a king’s head adorned with a diadem. On another, in0^* 151*
the museum of the prince of Gonzaga, was represented
the body of a man with all his clothes, in a running pos¬
ture. A still more curious one is mentioned by De
Boot,2 wherein appears a circle struck in brown, as ex-2 De Gem
actly as if done with a pair of compasses, and in the 1. ii. c. 95.'
middle of the circle the exact figure of a bishop with a
mitre on: but inverting the stone a little, another figure
appears; and if it is turned yet farther, two others ap¬
pear, the one of a man, and the other of a woman. But
the most celebrated agate of this kind was that of Pyrrhus,
wherein were represented the nine Muses, with their pro¬
per attributes, and Apollo in the middle playing on the
harp.3 We have also seen accounts of an oriental agate, 3 pih,
of such size as to be fashioned into a cup, whose dia-i. xxxvii.
meter is an ell abating two inches. In the cavity isc. 3.
found delineated in black specks, b. xristor. s. xxx.
Other agates have also been found, representing the num¬
bers 4191, 191; whence they were called arithmetical
agates, as those representing men or women have ob¬
tained the name of anthropomorphous.
Agates may be stained artificially with solution of silver
in spirit of nitre, and afterwards exposing the part to the
2 H
242
Agate
II
Asrathocles
A G A
sun ; and though these artificial colours disappear on laying
the stone for a night in aquafortis, yet a knowledge of the
practicability of thus staining agates must render these
curious figures above mentioned strongly suspected of
being the work, not of nature, but of art. Some account for
these phenomena from natural causes. Thus Kircher,
who had seen a stone of this kind in which were depicted
the four letters usually inscribed on crucifixes, I. N. R. I.
apprehends that some real crucifix had been buried under
ground, among stones and other rubbish, where the in¬
scription happening to be parted from the cross, and to be
received among a soft mould or clay susceptible of the
impression of the letters, came afterwards to be petrified.
In the same manner he supposes the agate of Pyrrhus to
have been formed. Others resolve much of the wonder
into fancy.
The agate is used for making cups, rings, seals, handles
for knives and forks, hilts for swords and hangers, beads
to pray with, smelling-boxes, patch-boxes, &c. being cut
or sawed with no great difficulty.
Agate, among Antiquaries, denotes a stone of this kind
engraven by art. In this sense, agates make a species of
antique gems, in the workmanship whereof we find emi¬
nent proofs of the great skill and dexterity of the sculp¬
tors. Several agates of exquisite beauty are preserved in
the cabinets of the curious ; but the facts or histories repre¬
sented on these antique agates, however well executed, are
now become so obscure, and their explications so difficult,
that several diverting mistakes and disputes have arisen
among those who undertook to give their true meaning.
Agate is also the name of an instrument used by gold-
wire drawers; so called from the agate in the middle of
it, which forms its principal part.
AGATHA, St, a market town on the Austrian princi¬
pality of the Siebenbirgen, situated on the river Hartbache,
with one Greek and one Lutheran church. The people
are employed as coopers, shoemakers, and hosiers.
Agatha, Santa, a town on the banks of a small
river in the province Calabria Ulteriore, in the kingdom
of Naples, with a castle, and 1127 inhabitants.
AGATHIAS, or, as he calls himself in his epigrams,
Agathius, distinguished by the title of Scholasticus, a
Greek historian in the sixth century, in the reign of Justi¬
nian. He was born at Myrina, a colony of the ancient
iEolians, in Asia the Less, at the mouth of the river Phy-
thicus. He was an advocate at Smyrna. Though he had
a taste for poetry, he was yet more famous for his history,
which begins with the 26th year of Justinian’s reign, where
Procopius ends. It was printed in Greek and Latin by
Vulcanius, at Leyden, 1594, in 4to ; and at Paris, at the
king’s printing house, 1660, in folio.
AGATHO, the Athenian, a tragic and comic poet, was
the disciple of Prodicus and Socrates, and applauded by
Plato, in his Dialogues, for his virtue and beauty. His first
tragedy obtained the prize; and he was crowned, in the
presence of upwards of 30,000 persons, in the fourth year
of the 90th Olympiad. There is nothing now extant of his
works, excepting a few quotations in Aristotle, Athengeus,
and others.
AGATHOCLES, the famous tyrant of Sicily, was the
son of a potter at Reggio. He was a thief, a common
soldier, a centurion, a general, and a pirate, all in regular
succession. He defeated the Carthaginians several times
in Sicily, and was once defeated himself. He first made
himself tyrant of Syracuse, and then of all Sicily; after
which he vanquished the Carthaginians again both in
Sicily and Africa. But at length having ill success, and
being in arrears with his soldiers, they mutinied, forced
him to fly his camp, and cut the throats of his children,
AGE
whom he left behind. Recovering himself, he relievedAgL
Corfu, besieged by Cassander; burnt the Macedonian *
fleet; and murdered the wives and children of those who
had murdered his. Afterwards meeting with the soldiers^
themselves, he put them all to the sword; and ravaging
the sea-coast of Italy, took the city of Hipponium. He
was at length poisoned by his grandson Archagathus, in
the 72d year of his age, 290 years before Christ, having
reigned 28 years.
AGATHYRNA or Agathyrnum, Agathyrsa or
Agathyrsum, in Ancient Geography, a town of Sicily,
now St Marco, as old as the war of Troy, having been
built by Agathyrnus, son of TEolus, on an eminence. The
gentilitious name is Agathynueus; or, according to the
Roman idiom, Agathyrnensis.
AGDE, a city of France, in the department of Herault
It is seated on the river Herault, a mile and a quarter
from its mouth, where it falls into the Gulf of Lyons, and
where there is a fort built to guard Its entrance. The
greater part of the inhabitants are merchants or seamen.
The city is extended along the river, where it forms a
little port wherein small craft may enter.
AGE, in the most general sense of the word, signifies
the duration of any being, from its first coming into ex¬
istence to the time of speaking of it,, if it still continues;
or to its destruction, if it has ceased to exist some time
before we happen to mention it.
Among the ancient poets this word was used for the
space of 30 years ; in which sense age amounts to much
the same with generation. Thus, Nestor is said to have
lived three ages when he was 90 years old. By ancient
Greek historians, the time elapsed since the beginning of
the world is divided into three periods, which they call
ages. The first reaches from the creation to the deluge
which happened in Greece during the reign of Ogyges:
this they call the obscure or uncertain age, because the
history of mankind is altogether uncertain during that
period. The second they call the fabulous or heroic age,
because it is the period in which the fabulous exploits ol
their gods and heroes are said to have been performed. It
began with the Ogygian deluge, and continued to the first
Olympiad, when the third or historical age commenced.
This division, however, it must be observed, holds good
only with regard to the Greeks and Romans, who had no
histories earlier than the first Olympiad. The Jews, Egyp¬
tians, Phoenicians, and Chaldees, not to mention the In¬
dians and Chinese, who pretend to much higher antiquity,
are not*included in it. ,,i cy- *
The interval since the first formation of man has been
divided by the poets into four ages, distinguished by the
epithets of golden, silver, brazen, and iron. During the
golden age, Saturn reigned in heaven, and justice and in¬
nocence in this lower world. The earth then yielded her
productions without culture ; men held all things in com¬
mon, and lived in perfect friendship. This period is sup¬
posed to have lasted till the expulsion of Saturn from his
kingdom. The silver age commenced when men began
to deviate from the paths of virtue, and, in consequence
of this deviation, their lives became less happy* l‘'e
brazen age commenced on a further deviation; and t ie
iron age took place in consequence of one still greater.
A late author, however, reflecting on the barbarism of tie
first ages, will have the order which the poets assign
the four ages inverted ; the first being a time of rudeness
and ignorance, more properly denominated an iron than a
golden age. When cities and states were founded,
silver age commenced; and since arts and sciences, navi
gation and commerce, have been cultivated, the golden age
has taken place. c.y vdl jr r c : li J *
AGE
Aji
In some ancient northern monuments, the rocky or stony
age corresponds to the brazen age of the Greeks. It is
AGE
Agefefth. caiied rocky, on account of Noah’s ark, which rested on
Mount Ararat; whence men were said to be descended
or sprung from mountains ; or from Deucalion and Pyrrha
restoring the race of mankind, by throwing stones over
their heads. The northern poets also style the fourth
age of the world the ashen age, from a Gothic king,
Madenis or Mannus, who, on account of his great strength,
was said to be made of ash, or because in his time people
began to make use of weapons made of that wood.
Among the Jews, the duration of the world is also divid¬
ed into three ages: 1. The seculum inane, or void age, was
the space of time from the creation to Moses; 2. The
present age denotes all the space of time from Moses to
the coming of the Messiah; and 3. The age to come de¬
notes the time from the coming of the Messiah to the end
of the world.
Various other divisions of the duration of the world
into ages have been made by historians. The Sibylline
oracles, written, according to some, by Jews acquainted
with the prophecies of the Old Testament, divide the du¬
ration of the world into ten ages ; and according to Jose¬
phus, each age contained six hundred years. It appears,
by Virgil’s fourth eclogue, and other testimonies, that the
age of Augustus was reputed the end of those ten ages,
consequently as the period of the world’s duration.
By some, the space of time commencing from Constan¬
tine, and ending with the taking of Constantinople by the
Turks in the fifteenth century, is called the middle age ;
but others choose rather to date the middle age from the
division of the'empire made by Theodosius at the close of
the fourth century, and extend it to the time of the em¬
peror Maximilian I. in the beginning of the sixteenth cen¬
tury, when the empire was first divided into circles. The
middle is by some denoted the barbarous age, and the lat¬
ter part of it the lowest age. Some divide it into the non-
acaxkmical and academical ages. The first includes the
space of time from the sixth to the ninth century, during
which schools or academies were lost in Europe ; the
second, from the ninth century, when schools were restored,
and universities established, chiefly by the care of Charle¬
magne. ‘ - r ■; 0
The several ages of the world may be reduced to three
grand epochs, viz. the age of the law of nature, called by
the Jews void age, from Adam to Moses ; the age of
the Jewish law, from Moses to Christ; and the age of
grace, from Christ to the present time.
Age is also frequently used in the same sense with cen¬
tury, to denominate a duration of 100 years.
Age likewise signifies a certain period of the duration
of human life; by some divided into four stages, namely,
infancy, youth, manhood, and old age; the first extending
to the 15th year, the second to the 25th, the third to the
50th, and the fourth to the end oflife; by others divided
mto infancy;'childhood, youth, manhood, and old age.
Age, m Law, Signifies a certain period of life when per¬
sons of both sbxes are enabled to do certain acts. Thus,
one at twelve years of age ought to take the oaths of alle¬
giance to the king in a leet; at fourteen he may marry,
ciioose his guardian, and claim his lands held in soccage.
wenty-one is called/«// age, a man or woman being then
capable of acting for themselves, of managing their affairs,
Ar ei disPosing of their estates, and the like.
AixhLNOTH, Egelnoth, or AEthelnoth, in Latin
Aehelnotus, ‘krchbishop of Canterbury in the reign of
vJ,U!ao!r ^e.at’ succeeded Livingus in that see in the
Furl a m ^ 118 P^utCv surnanied the Good, was son of
gilmer, and at the time of his election, dean of
Canterbury. After his promotion he went to Rome, and
received his pall from Pope Benedict VIII. On his way
thither as he passed through Pavia, he purchased, for a
hundred talents of silver and one of gold, St Augustin’s arm,
which was kept there as a relic, and sent it over to England
as a present to Leofric, earl of Coventry. Upon his re¬
turn, he is said to have raised the see of Canterbury to its
former lustre. He was much in favour with King Canute,
and employed his interest with that monarch to good pur¬
poses. It was by his advice that the king sent over large
sums of money for the support of the foreign churches ;
and Malmesbury observes, that this prince was prompted'
to acts of piety, and restrained from excesses, by the re¬
gard he had for the archbishop. Agelnoth, after he had
sat 17 years in the see of Canterbury, departed this life
on the 29th of October 1038, and was succeeded by
Eadsius, King Harold’s chaplain. This archbishop was an
author, having written, 1. A Panegyric on the blessed
Virgin Mary; 2. A Letter to Earl Leofric concerning St
Augustin ; 3. Letters to several persons.
AGEMA, in Macedonian Antiquity, was a body of sol¬
diers, not unlike the Roman legion.
AGEMOGLANS, Agiamoglans, or Azamoglans,
in the Turkish Polity, are children purchased from the
Tartars, or raised every third year, by way of tribute,
from the Christians tolerated in the Turkish empire.
These, after being circumcised and instructed in the re¬
ligion and language of their tyrannical masters, are taught
the exercises of war, till they are of a proper age for
carrying arms ; and from this corps the janizaries are re¬
cruited. With regard to those who are thought unfit for
the army, they are employed in the lowest offices of the
seraglio. Their appointments also are very small, not ex¬
ceeding seven aspers and a half per day, which amount to
about threepence halfpenny of our money.
AGEN, an arrondissement in the department of the Lot
and Garonne, in the south-west of France, extending over
406 square miles, or 259,840 acres, containing 9 cantons
and 93 communes, with 79,312 inhabitants. The chief
city, of the same name, is situated on the left bank of the
Garonne, and contains 10,800 inhabitants.
AGENDA, among philosophers and divines, signifies
the duties which a man lies under an obligation to per¬
form. Thus, we meet with the agenda of a Christian, or
the duties he ought to perform; in opposition to the cre-
denda, or things he is to believe.
Agenda, among merchants, a term sometimes used for
a memorandum-book, in which is set down all the busi¬
ness to be transacted during the day, either at home or
abroad.
_ Agenda, among ecclesiastical writers, denotes the ser¬
vice or office of the church. We meet with agenda ma-
tutina et vespertina, the morning and evening prayers;
agenda diei, the office of the day, whether feast or fast;
agenda mortuorum, called also simply agenda, the service
of the dead.
Agenda is also applied to certain church-books, com¬
piled by public authority, prescribing the order and man¬
ner to be observed by the ministers and people in the
principal ceremonies and devotions of the church; in
which sense agenda amounts to the same with what is
otherwise called ritual, liturgy, acalouthia, missal, formu¬
lary, directory, &c.
AGENHINE, in our old writers, signifies a guest that
has lodged at an inn for three nights, after which time he
was accounted one of the family; and if he offended the
king’s peace, his host was answerable for him. It is also
written Hogenhine and Hogenhyne.
AGENOIS, a country of France, in the department of
244
AGE
Agenoria the Garonne, formerly the province of Guienne. It con-
11 tains about one hundred and twenty square leagues, is
^Agesilaus.^ fer^je an(j healthful, and, according to Caesar, was inhabit¬
ed by the Nitiobriges. It constituted part of the king¬
dom of Aquitania ; was held by the counts Of Toulouse,
and successively by the English and French.
AGENORIA, in Mythology, the goddess of courage
and industry, as Vacuna was of indolence.
AGENT, in a general sense, denotes any active power
or cause. Agents are either natural or moral. Natural
agents are such inanimate bodies as have a power to act
upon other bodies in a certain and determinate manner;
as gravity, fire, &c. Moral agents, on the contrary, are
rational creatures, capable of regulating their actions by a
certain rule.
Agent is also used to denote a person intrusted with
the management of an affair, whether belonging to a so¬
ciety, company, or private person.
Agentes in Rebus, one of the ranks of officers in the
court of the Constantinopolitan emperors, whose business
was to collect and convey the corn both for the army and
household ; to carry letters and messages from court to all
parts of the empire; to regulate couriers and their ve¬
hicles ; to make frequent journeys and expeditions through
the provinces, in order to inspect any motions, distur¬
bances, or machinations tending that way, and to give early
notice thereof to the emperor.
The agentes in rebus are by some made synonymous
with our post-masters, but their functions were of great ex¬
tent. They correspond to what the Greeks call vrigoyogot,
and the Latins veredarii.
AGER, in Roman Antiquity, a certain portion of land
allowed to each citizen.
AGER Picenus, or Picenum, in Ancient Geography, a
territory of Italy, to the south-east of Umbria, reaching
from the Appennines to the Adriatic. The people are
called Picentes (Cicero, Livy), distinct from the Picentini
on the Tuscan Sea, though called by Greek writers
Tlaivrmi. This name is said to be derived from the bird
pious, under whose conduct they removed from the Sa¬
bines, of whom they were a colony.
AGESILAUS, king of the Lacedemonians, the son of
Archidamus, was raised to the throne in opposition to the
superior claim of his nephew Leotychides. As soon as he
came to the throne, he advised the Lacedemonians to an¬
ticipate the king of Persia, who was making great prepara¬
tions for war, and to attack him in his own dominions. He
was himself chosen for this expedition, and gained so
many advantages over the enemy, that if the league which
the Athenians and the Thebans formed against the Lace¬
demonians had not obliged him to return home, he would
have carried his victorious arms into the very heart of the
Persian empire. He gave up, however, all these triumphs
readily, to come to the succour of his country, which he
happily relieved by his victory over the allies in Bceotia.
He obtained another near Corinth ; but, to his great mor¬
tification, the Thebans afterwards gained several over the
Lacedemonians. These misfortunes at first raised a cla¬
mour against him. He had been sick during the first ad¬
vantages which the enemy gained ; but as soon as he was
able to act in person, his valour and prudence prevented
the Thebans from reaping the advantages of their victo¬
ries; so that it was generally believed, had he been in
health at the beginning, the Lacedemonians would have
sustained no losses, and that all would have been lost had
it not been for his assistance. It cannot be denied but he
loved war more than the interest of his country required;
for if he could have lived in peace, he would have saved
the Lacedemonians several losses, and they would not
A G G
have been engaged in many enterprises which in the end
contributed much to weaken their power. He died in the
third year of the 104th Olympiad, being the 84th year of
his age and 41st of his reign, and was succeeded by his 11 s'
son Archidamus. Agesilaus would never suffer any pic^
ture or sculpture to be made of him, and prohibited it also
by his will. This he is supposed to have done from a con¬
sciousness of his own deformity ; for he was of a short sta¬
ture, and lame of one foot, so that strangers used to despise
him at the first sight. Agesilaus was extremely fond of
his children, and would often amuse himself by joining in
their diversions. One day when he was surprised riding
upon a stick with them, he said to a person who had seen
him in this posture, “ Forbear talking of it till you are a
father.”
AGG A, or Aggonna, a British settlement on the Gold
Coast of Guinea. It is situated under the meridian of
London, in lat. 6. N.
AGGER, in the ancient military art, a work of fortifica¬
tion, used both for the defence and the attack of towns,
camps, &c.; in which sense it is the same with what was
otherwise called vallum, and in later times aggestum;
and, among the moderns, lines, sometimes cavaliers, ter-
rasses, &c. The agger was usually a bank or elevation of
earth or other matter, bound and supported with timber;
having sometimes turrets on the top, wherein the work¬
men, engineers, and soldiery, were placed. It was also
accompanied with a ditch, which served as its chief de¬
fence.
The height of the agger was frequently equal to that
of the wall of the place. Caesar tells us of one he made
which was 30 feet high and 330 feet broad. Besides the
use of aggers before towns, the generals used to fortify
their camps with such works.
Agger, in ancient writers, likewise denotes the middle
part of a military road, raised into a ridge, with a gentle
slope on either side, to make a drain for the water, and
keep the way dry.—The term is also used for the whole
road or military way. Where highways were to be made
in low grounds, as between two hills, the Romans used
to raise them above the adjacent land, so as to make
them of a level with the hills. These banks they call¬
ed aggeres. Bergier mentions several in Gallia Belgica,
which were thus raised, ten, fifteen, or twenty feet above
ground.
AGGERHUUS, one of the four provinces or sees into
which the kingdom of Norway is divided. It extends
over 32,790 square miles, with a population of no more
than 394,605 inhabitants. It is a very mountainous but
most romantic district, abounding in woods, rivers, cas¬
cades, and lakes, with some moderately fruitful spots in
the narrow valleys. The climate is raw and cold, and
the frosts usually continue till May. The corn is scarcely
sufficient for the consumption, though fish and potatoes
are extensively used as food. The chief trade is in deals,
pitch, and tar, with some iron, butter, tallow, and hides.
The inhabitants all speak the peculiar language of Nor¬
way, a dialect of the Teutonic mixed with the Celtic; and
are all of the Lutheran confession, and have 307 parish
churches and chapels.
Aggerhuus, a bailiwick in the see of the same name, m
Norway. It is in the middle of the see, near the lake
of Christiana, and comprehends 2 cities, 5 market towns,
22 parishes, and 67,808 inhabitants.
AGGERS-HERRED, a district of Christiansand and a
diocese of Norway. It consists of three juridical places;
namely, Ascher, West Barm, and Agger.
AGGLUTINANTS, in Pharmacy, a general name for
all medicines of a glutinous or viscid nature; which, by
A G I
_ acihering to the solids, were supposed to contribute to re-
tic pair their loss. _ > <
I 1 AGGREGATION, in Physics, a species of union,
igiiK nt. whereby several things which have no natural dependence
^ or connection with one another are collected together, so
as in some sense to constitute one. Thus, a heap of sand,
or a mass of ruins, is a body by aggregation.
AGHER, a town of Ireland, situated in the southern
part of Ulster, not far from Clogher.
aghrim, a town of Ireland, in the county of Wicklow
and province of Leinster, situated about 31 miles south¬
west of Wicklow.
Aghrim, in Galway, a small village, distant about 32
miles from Dublin, and rendered memorable by a decisive
battle fought there and at Kilcommodon-hill on the 12th of
July 1691, between General Ginkle and Monsieur St Ruth,
the commanders under King William III. and James II.;
when St Ruth, the general of the Irish army, with 7000
of his men, was slain, but of the English only 600. The
victory was the more considerable, as the English army
consisted of no more than 18,000 men ; whereas the Irish
were computed at 20,000 foot and 5000 horse and dra¬
goons. They lost likewise nine pieces of brass cannon;
all their ammunition, tents, and baggage ; and most of
their small arms, which they threw away to expedite
their flight; with 11 standards, and 32 pairs of colours.
AGILITY, an aptitude of the several parts of the body
to motion. The improving of agility was one of the chief
objects of the institution of games and exercises. The
athletae made particular profession of the science of culti¬
vating and improving agility. Agility of body is often
supposed peculiar to some people ; yet it seems less owing
to any thing peculiar in their frame and structure, than to
practice.
AGINCOURT, a village of the French Netherlands,
situated in N. lat. 50. 35. E. long. 2. 10. famous on ac¬
count of the victory obtained by Henry Y. of England
over the French.
On the morning of Friday the memorable 25th of Octo¬
ber, a. n. 1415, the day of Crispin and Crispianus, the
English and French armies were ranged in order of
battle, each in three lines, with bodies of cavalry on each
wing. The constable D’Albert, who commanded the
French army, fell into the snare that was laid for him, by
drawing up his army in the narrow plain between the two
woods. This deprived him, in a great measure, of the ad¬
vantage he should have derived from the prodigious supe¬
riority of his numbers; obliged him to make his lines un¬
necessarily deep, about 30 men in file ; to crowd his troops,
particularly his cavalry, so close together, that they could
hardly move or use their arms; and, in a word, was the
chief cause of all the disasters that followed. The French,
it is said, had a considerable number of cannon of differ¬
ent sizes in the field; but we do not hear that they did
any execution, probably for want of room. The first line
of the French army, which consisted of 8000 men-at-arms
on foot, mixed with 4000 archers, with 500 men-at-arms
mounted on each wing, was commanded by the constable
D Albert, the dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and many
other nobles; the dukes of Alen^on, Brabant, and Bar,
&c. conducted the second line; and the earls of Marie,
Damartine, Fauconberg, &c. were at the head of the third
line. The king of England employed various arts to sup¬
ply his defect of numbers. He placed 200 of his best
archers in ambush, in a low meadow, on the flank of the
first line of the French. His owm first line consisted
wholly of archers, four in file ; each of whom, besides his
bow and arrows, had a battle-axe, a sword, and a stake
pointed with iron at both ends, which he fixed before him
A G I
245
in the ground, the point inclining outwards, to protect him Agincourt
from cavalry. This was a new invention, and had a happy 11
effect. That he might not be encumbered, he dismissed ASis-
all his prisoners on their word of honour to surrender
themselves at Calais if he obtained the victory, and
lodged all his baggage in the village of Agincourt, in his
rear, under a slender guard. The command of the first
line was, at his earnest request, committed to Edward
duke of York, assisted by the lords Beaumont, Willough¬
by, and Fanhope ; the second was conducted by the king,
with his youngest brother Humphrey duke of Gloucester,
the earls of Oxford, Marshal, and Suffolk; and the third
was led by the duke of Exeter, the king’s uncle. The
lines being formed, the king, in shining armour, with a
crown of gold adorned with precious stones on his helmet,
mounted on a fine white horse, rode along them, and ad¬
dressed each corps with a cheerful countenance and ani¬
mating speeches. To inflame their resentment against
their enemies, he told them that the French hacl deter¬
mined to cut off three fingers of the right hand of every
prisoner; and to rouse their love of honour, he declar¬
ed, that every soldier in that army who behaved well
should from henceforth be deemed a gentleman, and en¬
titled to bear coat armour.
When the two armies were drawn up in this manner,
they stood a considerable time gazing at one another in
solemn silence. But the king, dreading that the French
would discover the danger of their situation, and decline
a battle, commanded the charge to be sounded, about ten
o’clock in the forenoon. At that instant the first line of
the English kneeled down and kissed the ground; and
then starting up, discharged a flight of arrows, which did
great execution among the crowded ranks of the French.
Immediately after, upon a signal being given, the archers
in ambush arose, and discharged their arrows on the flank
of the French line, and threw it into some disorder. The
battle now became general, and raged with uncommon
fury. The English archers, having expended all their ar¬
rows, threw away their bows, and rushing forward, made
dreadful havock with their swords and battle-axes. The
first line of the enemy was by these means defeated, its
leaders being either killed or taken prisoners. The second
line, commanded by the duke D’Alenin (who had made
a vow either to kill or take the king of England, or to
perish in the attempt), now advanced to the charge, and
was encountered by the second line of the English, con¬
ducted by the king. This conflict was more close and
furious than the former. The duke of Gloucester, wound¬
ed and unhorsed, was protected by his royal brother till
he was carried off the field. The duke D’Alen^on forced
his way to the king, and assaulted him with great fury;
but that prince brought him to the ground, where he was
instantly dispatched. Discouraged by this disaster, the
second line made no more resistance, and the third fled
without striking a blow ; yielding a complete and glorious
victory to the English, after a violent struggle of three
hours’ duration.
AGIO, in Commerce, is a term chiefly used in Holland,
and at Venice, to signify the difference between the
value of bank stock and the current coin.
AGIOSYMANDRUM, a wooden instrument used by
the Greek and other churches, under the dominion of the
Turks, to call together assemblies of the people. The
agiosymandrum was introduced in the place of bells, which
the Turks prohibited their Christian subjects the use of,
lest they should make them subservient to sedition.
AGIS, king of Lacedemon, was descended from Age-
silaus II. in a right line. He projected the reformation of
his kingdom, by the restoring of the laws of Lycurgus ;
246
A G I
A G L
Agis. but he fell under the weight of an enterprise that could
not but be disagreeable to all those who had great posses¬
sions, and had been long accustomed to the sweets of a
voluptuous life. Agis, being in the flower of his age, and
having a very refined desire of glory, practised the ancient
discipline first in his own person. His clothes and his table
were according to the manners of former times; which is
so much the more to be admired, because Agesistrata, his
mother, and Acchidamia,his grandmother,had brought him
up voluptuously. When he sounded the people’s minds, he
found that the younger sort opposed his project less than
those who had enjoyed a relaxation of discipline several
years. The greatest difficulty was expected to arise from
the women. They had at that time more credit than
ever; for their power is never greater than when luxury
is in fashion. Agis’s mother did not at all relish the
proposed reformation. She must have lost her riches,
which gave her a share in a thousand sorts of intrigues ;
so she opposed the design at once, and treated it as a
chimera. But her brother Agesilaus, whom Agis had en¬
gaged in his interests, knew how to manage her in such a
manner, that she promised to second the enterprise. She
endeavoured to gain the women ; but instead of suffering
themselves to be persuaded, they applied to Leonidas, the
other king of Lacedemon, and humbly besought him to
frustrate the designs of his colleague. Leonidas durst not
oppose it openly, for fear of irritating the people, to whom
the reformation was -agreeable, because they found their
account in it. He contented himself with countermining
it by intrigues, and sowing suspicions as if Agis had as¬
pired to tyranny, by pulling down the rich and raising the
poor. Agis did not fail to propose his new laws to the
senate, relating to the discharge of debts, and a new divi¬
sion of the lands. Leonidas, being supported by the rich,
opposed this project so strongly that there was one voice
more against it than for it. He paid dear for his success
in this affair. Lysander, one of the ephori, who had been
the grand promoter of the reformation, caused certain
accusations to be preferred against him ; using, at the
same time, some expedients to make him an object of
superstitious dislike. Leonidas, being frightened, took
refuge in the temple of Minerva. He was summoned,
and because he did not appear, he was degraded from his
dignity, which was conferred on his son-in-law Cleom-
brotus. He obtained leave to retire to Tegaea. The new
ephori had Lysander and Mandroclidas tried for innova¬
tion : these persuaded the two kings to unite and turn out
these ephori. The thing was brought about, but not
without a great tumult in the city. Agesilaus, one of the
ephori that succeeded those that were just turned out,
would have caused Leonidas to be killed on the way to
Tegasa, if Agis had not sent him a strong guard. The re¬
formation might then have been established, if Agesilaus
had not found means to elude the good intentions of the
two kings. Whilst this was transacting, the Achaians
asked assistance, which was given them; and Agis had
the command of the troops. He acquired a good deal of
reputation in this campaign. At his return, he found his
affairs so embroiled by the ill conduct of Agesilaus, that
it was impossible for him to maintain himself. Leonidas
was recalled to Lacedemon : Agis retired into one temple,
and Cleombrotus into another. The wife of the latter be¬
haved herself in such a manner that she became the ad¬
miration of every body. Leonidas was contented with
banishing his son-in-law; after which he applied himself
entirely to the ruin of Agis. One of the ephori, who had
no mind to return what Agesistrata, the mother of Agis,
had lent him, was the principal instrument of the misfor¬
tune of this family. Agis never went out of his sanctuary
i bathe. One day, as he was returning from thence a
temple, he was seized by that ephorus and carrier]A ^
but to
to the lempit:, nu was sciz-cu uy uiai epnorus and carried
to prison. Then he was brought to his trial, condemned to i
death* and delivered to the executioner. His mother andSX;
grandmother used all the entreaty and importunity ima- ^
ginable, that, as he was king of Lacedemon, he might at
least be permitted to plead his cause before the people
But they were apprehensive lest his words would make too
great an impression, and therefore they ordered him to be
strangled that very hour. The ephorus who was in debt to
Agesistrata permitted that princess to go into the prison -
which he granted likewise to Agis’s grandmother: but he
gave orders to strangle them one after another. Agesis¬
trata died in a manner that was extremely to her honour
The wife of Agis, who was a princess of great fortune
and prudence, was forced away from her apartment by
King Leonidas, and obliged to marry his son Cleomenes
who was then very young.
AGISTMENT, Agistage, or Agistation, in Law
the taking in of other people’s cattle to graze at so much
per week. The term is peculiarly used for the taking of
cattle to feed in the king’s forests, as well as for the profits
arising from that practice. It is also used, in a metapho¬
rical sense, for any tax, burden, or charge ; thus, the tax
levied for repairing the banks of Romney Marsh was call¬
ed agistamentum.
AGISTOR or Agistator, an officer belonging to
forests, who has the care of cattle taken in to be grazed,
and levies the moneys due on that account. They are
generally called quest-takers or gift-takers, and are created
by letters patent. Each royal forest has four agistors.
AGITATION, the act of shaking a body, or tossing it
backwards and forwards.
Agitation, in Physic, is often used for an intestine
‘commotion of the parts of a natural body. Fermentation
and effervescence are attended with a brisk agitation of
the particles.
Agitation is one of the chief causes or instruments of
mixtion ; by the agitation of the parts of the blood and
chyle, in their continual circulation, sanguification is in a
good measure effected. Butter is made out of milk by the
same means ; in which operation a separation is made of
the oleous parts from the serous, and a conjunction of the
oleous together. Digestion itself is only supposed to be
an insensible kind of agitation.
Agitation is reputed one of the symptoms of inspira¬
tion. Petit informs us,1 that in the last century there11 ft
arose in a church of Italy, for the space of a year, a
pour of an extraordinary kind, which put all the people
into trembling and agitations, and, unless they got away
betimes, set them a dancing, with strange contortions and
gesticulations. This seems to verify what has been re¬
lated of the temple of Delphi.
AGITATOR, in Antiquity, a term sometimes used for
a charioteer, especially those who drove in the circus at
the curule games.
Agitators, in English History, certain officers set up
in the army in 1647, to take care of its interests. Crom¬
well joined the agitators, only with a view to serve his own
ends ; which being once accomplished, he found means to
get them abolished.
AGLAIA, the name of the youngest of the three
Graces, espoused to Vulcan. , -
AGLAR or Aquileja, a city of Austria, in the govern¬
ment of Laybach and Trieste, in the district of Quino.
It was in ancient times of great extent and celebrity, but
now contains only 1420 inhabitants. It is situated in a
swampy spot on the banks of the river Anfora, and is very
unhealthful. Long. 13. 28. 32. E. Lat. 45. 32. N.
Le p
113,
%
A G N
. AGLIONBY, John, an English divine, chaplain in or-
A i ^dinary to King James I., was born in Cumberland, and ad-
A(rn,, mitted a student at Oxford in 1583. He was a man of
universal learning, and had a very considerable hand in
tlie translation of the New Testament appointed by King
James I. in 1604. He died in 1609.
AGMEN, in Antiquity, properly denotes a Roman army
in march; in which sense it stands contradistinguished
from acies, which denoted the army in battle array;
though, on some occasions, we find the two words used
indifferently for each other. The Roman armies, in their
inarches, were divided into primum ay men, answering to
our van-guard; medium agmen, our main-guard; and pos-
tremum agmen, the rear-guard. The order of their march
was thus: after the first signal with the trumpets, &c.
the tents were taken down, and the baggage packed up;
at the second signal the baggage was to be loaded on the
horses and carriages, and at the third signal they were
to begin their march. First came the extraordinarii ; then
the auxiliaries of the first wing, with their baggage ; and
these were followed by the legions. The cavalry marched
either on each side or behind
AGNATE, in Law, any male relation by the father’s
side.
AGNEL, an ancient French gold coin, first struck un¬
der the reign of St Louis, worth about twelve sols six de-
niers. The agnel is also called sometimes mouton dor,
and agnel dor. The denomination is supposed to have
arisen from the figure of a lamb (agnus) or sheep, struck
on one side.
AGNES, St, a large mining village in the county of
Cornwall, 168 miles from London, and five from Truro.
It is on a small rocky harbour, only accessible to fishing
boats, on the Bristol Channel. It contained, in 1801,
4161 inhabitants ; in 1811, 4960; and in 1821, 5762. It is
also the name of one of the Scilly Islands, on the coast of
Cornwall. The soil is fertile, and tolerably cultivated ; but
there is a great deficiency of water. A light-house on the
island, about 50 feet in height, built on one of the loftiest
hills, is an important object to seamen. Its exact posi¬
tion, as ascertained by the great trigonometrical survey,
is in long. 6. 19. 23. W. and lat. 49. 53. 38. N. from
Greenwich. The light is composed of Argand lamps,
with reflectors, moving in a circular revolution, and pre¬
senting a bright and conspicuous light in every direction
once a minute. To the westward of St Agnes is the
Gillstone rock, on which Sir Cloudesley Shovel was lost
in the Association ship of wrar in 1707.
AGNESI, Maria Gaetana, an Italian lady, who may
be justly pronounced one of the greatest wonders and
ornaments of her sex, was born at Milan, on the 16th of
May 1718. Our materials for an account of this celebrat¬
ed female are by no means so complete, nor in some in¬
teresting particulars so distinct, as we could have wished.
Not having been able to procure her Eloge by Frisi,1 we
have been obliged to content ourselves with some shorter
notices, the most detailed of which is that contained in
Mazzuchelli’s History of the Writers of Italy, a work pub¬
lished during the earlier but more brilliant period of her
life. The accounts which this writer and some others
have given of the intellectual capacities and endowments
which she displayed in early youth, call to mind the
wonders which have been related of Picus of Mirandula
and the Admirable Crichton; nor does there seem any
reason to doubt their authenticity. At nine years of age
A G N 247
she not only spoke the Latin language with precision, but Agnesi,
even composed and delivered an oration in that lano-ua^e
intended to prove that the cultivation of letters is not In¬
compatible with the female character. This singular
piece was published at Milan the same year in which it
was spoken, with the following title : Oratio, qua ostendi-
tur artium liberalium studia a foemineo sexu neutiquam cth-
horrere, hahita a Maria de Agnesiis, rhetoricce operam dante,
anno retatis suae nono nondum exacto, die 18 Augusti 1727.
At eleven years of age she spoke Greek with all the
fluency of her native tongue. When yet very young, she
had also acquired some of the languages of the East; and,
in a word, her acquisitions as a linguist were such as to
procure for her the appellation of a Walking Polyglot.
But her aptitude for acquiring languages, however great,
was by no means the only, or the most striking feature of
her intellectual character. We have seen how early she
essayed the discussion of a general question affecting the
mental capacities of her sex; and the vigour and acute¬
ness displayed in this aspiring essay were, ere long, exert¬
ed with ardour and success in scientific inquiries. Flaving
gone through the elementary branches of mathematics,
she proceeded with alacrity to the study of natural philo-
sophy; and she seems also to have carried her researches
into the obscurer regions of metaphysical speculation.
About the time when she reached her fifteenth year, her
father formed a select assembly of the learned of Milan ;
and at these meetings, which were held in his house, at
stated times, for several years, Agnesi maintained a suc¬
cession of Theses on various points of speculation and philo¬
sophy. The ability which she displayed on these occasions
seems to have been altogether surprising; and the effect
was not the less, that her person was agreeable, and her
whole deportment gentle and prepossessing. We are in¬
debted to the learned president De Brosses for the fol¬
lowing account of one of these conferences, at which he
assisted during his travels in Italy, through the introduc¬
tion of Count Belloni. “ I had conceived,” says he, “ when
I went to this conversazione, that it was only to talk with
this young lady in the usual way, though on learned sub¬
jects ; but to my surprise Belloni addressed her in a fine
Latin harangue, with all the formality of an academic ora¬
tion. She replied in the same language with promptness
and ability ; and they proceeded, still in Latin, to discuss
the origin of fountains, and the causes of the ebbings and
flowings observed in some of them. She spoke like an
angel on this subject, and I never heard it treated so much
to my satisfaction. We then discoursed with her concern¬
ing the manner in which the soul receives impressions
from outward objects, and their conveyance to the general
sensorium, the brain; and afterwards upon the propagation
of light, and the prismatic colours. The conversation
afterwards became general, every one speaking to her in
the language of his own country, and she answering in the
same.” (Lettres sur VItalic, tom. i. p. 243.) But Agnesi
seems to have taken but little delight in the glory which
she acquired as a philosophical disputant. Her temper
was retired and devout, and she appears to have acted
this part more to gratify her father than herself. About
her twentieth year she accordingly withdrew from these
assemblies, and for a long period devoted the greater part
of her time to mathematical studies. The Theses which
she had maintained with so much applause were published
in a quarto volume, under the following title: Proposi-
tiones Philosophicce,'quas crebris disputationibus domi hahi-
1 Tliis Eloge has been translated into French by Boulard, and published both separately and at the end of a work entitled Bieiu
foiti de la Religion Chretimnc, 1807, 2 vols. Ovo. See Biographic Univertelle, tom. i.
248 A G N
Agnesi, tis coi'am clarisshnis viris explicabat extempore, et ab objectis
vindicabat, Maria Gaetana de Agnesiis, Mediolanensis.
Med. 1738.
The first fruit of her mathematical studies was a Com¬
mentary on the Conic Sections ot the Marquis de I’Hopital;
but this piece she would never consent to publish, though
Mazzuchelli says that it was greatly praised by many who
had perused the manuscript. In the course of a few years,
however, she gave to the world a mathematical work,
which must ever secure her a high rank among the most
distinguished cultivators of abstract science. This work,
entitled Instituzioni Analitiche ad uso della Gioventu
Italiana, was published at Milan in 1748, in two volumes
quarto. The first volume treats of the analysis of finite
quantities; the second, of the analysis of infinitesimals.
These two volumes contain a full and satisfactory view
of this branch of mathematical science in the state at
which it had then arrived; and though improvements
have since that time been introduced, the treatise of
Agnesi, according to a very competent authority, may
still be regarded as perhaps the best introduction that is
to be found to the works of Euler and the other ma¬
thematicians of th.e Continent. (Edinb. Review, vol. iii.
p. 408.) An English translation of this work was long ago
executed by the late Professor Colson of Cambridge ; but
the manuscript lay buried in obscurity for many years, and
was only published in 1801, through the care and at the
expense of Baron Maseres.
Besides other literary honours which followed the pub¬
lication of the Analytical Institutions, Agnesi was, in
1750, appointed professor of mathematics and natural
philosophy in the university of Bologna. The appoint¬
ment of a young female, of thirty-two years of age, to such
a charge, must appear to many as not a little singular; but
the truth is, that female professors were by no means un¬
common in Italy; and Lalande mentions several as hav¬
ing been eminent in the same university, one of whom
was professor of anatomy. ( Voyage en Italic, tom. ii.)
Our scanty information does not enable us to state whether
Agnesi ever entered upon the active duties of the mathe¬
matical chair. Though her life was long, we can add but
little in regard to her after-history. She died, according
to the meagre notice contained in the Biographic Univer-
selle, in the year 1799. Her mistaken notions of religious
duty rendered the greater part of her existence but a blank
to the world. She had early expressed a wish to retire
into a convent, and seems to have carried this design into
effect not long after the period when her great work pro¬
cured for her the honour's to which we have just alluded.
We afterwards hear of her only as a devoted sister of the
austere order of Blue Nuns, repelling the approaches of
those of the learned who still desired to converse with her,
and thus exhibiting another melancholy instance of the
inconsistencies of our nature, and the darkening power of
superstition over the brightest minds. But she lived long
enough for the world to vindicate the intellectual capaci¬
ties of her sex,—to show that the female mind is not only
fitted for the lighter exercises of literature, but capable
also of fathoming the depths and unravelling the intricacies
of abstract science. If there are any, therefore, whose
speculations may have led them to more depreciating con¬
clusions, let them, to use the words of a profound and
eloquent writer already quoted in this article, “ peruse the
long series of demonstrations which the author of the
Analytical Institutions has contrived with so much skill,
and explained with such elegance and perspicuity: if they
are able to do so, they will probably retract their former
opinions ; if unable, they will not of course see the reasons
for admiring her genius that others do ; but they may at
AGO
least learn to think modestly of their own.” (Edinb, Her
vol. iii. p. 410.) ’
AGNO, a river of Naples, which, taking its rise in the a
mountains of Terra di Lavora, falls into the Mediterranean ^
about seven miles north of Puzzuoli.
AGNOETiE (from ayvoeu, to be ignorant of), in church
history, a sect of ancient heretics, who maintained that
Christ, considered as to his human nature, was ignorant
of certain things, and particularly of the time of the day
of judgment. Eulogius, patriarch of Alexandria, ascribes
this heresy to certain solitaries in the neighbourhood of
Jerusalem, who built their opinion upon the text, Mark
xiii. 32, “ Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not
the angels who are in heaven, neither the Son, but the
Father only.” The same passage was made use of by the
Arians ; and hence the orthodox divines of those days were
induced to give various explications thereof. Some allege
that our Saviour here had no regard to his divine nature
but only spoke of his human. Others understand it thus:
that the knowledge of the day of judgment does not con¬
cern our Saviour considered in his quality of Messiah
but of God.
AGNOMEN, in Roman Antiquity, a kind of fourth or
honorary name, given to a person on account of some
extraordinary action, virtue, or other accomplishments.
Thus the agnomen Africanus was bestowed upon Publius
Cornelius Scipio on account of his great achievements in
Africa.—The agnomen was the third in order of the three
Roman names : thus, in Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus is
the praenomen, Tullius the nomen, and Cicero the agnomen.
AGNONE, a city at the foot of Monte Capraro, in the
province Abruzzo Citeriore, in the kingdom of Naples,
with 6000 inhabitants, who prepare many copper wares.
AGNUS Dei, in the church of Rome, a cake of wax
stamped with the figure of a lamb supporting the banner
of the cross. These being consecrated by the pope with
great solemnity, and distributed among the people, are
supposed to have great virtues; as, to preserve those who
carry them worthily, and with faith, from all manner of
accidents; to expel evil spirits, &c. The name literally
signifies Lamb of God; this being supposed an image or
representation of the Lamb of God who took away the sins
of the world. They cover it up with a piece of stuff cut
in the form of a heart, and carry it very devoutly in their
processions.
Agnus Dei is also a popular name for that part of the
mass wherein the priest, striking his breast three times,
rehearses, with a loud voice, a prayer beginning with the
words Agnus Dei. It is said to have been first brought
into the missal by Pope Sergius I.
AGOGE, among ancient musicians, a species of modu¬
lation, wherein the notes proceed by continuous degrees.
AGON, a town of Sweden, in the province of Gefleborgs-
land, with a good harbour in the Gulf of Finland.
Agon, among the ancients, implied any dispute or con¬
test, whether it had regard to bodily exercises or the ac¬
complishments of the mind; and therefore poets, musicians,
painters, &c. had their agones, as well as the athletsc.
Games of this kind were celebrated at most of the heathen
festivals with great solemnity, either annually or at cer¬
tain periods of years. Among the latter were celebrated
at Athens, the agon gymnicus, the agon Nemeus instituted
by the Argives in the 53d Olympiad, and the agon Olym¬
pias instituted by Hercules 430 years before the first
Olympiad.—The Romans also, in imitation of the Greeks,
instituted contests of this kind. The emperor Aurelian
established one under the name of agon solis, the contest
of the sun ; Dioclesian another, which he called agon ca-
pitolinus, which was celebrated every fourth year, after the
A G R
Aji)1 manner of the Olympic games. Hence the years, instead
of lustra, are sometimes numbered by agones.
Apt- Agon also signified one of the ministers employed in
t-^'^the heathen sacrifices, and whose business it was to strike
the victim. The name is supposed to have been derived
from hence, that standing ready to give the stroke, he
asked, Agon ? or Agone ? Shall I strike ?
AGONALES, an epithet given to the Salii.
AGONALIA, in Roman Antiquity, festivals celebrated
in honour of Janus or the god Agonius, whom the Romans
invoked before undertaking any affair of importance.
AGONALIS Cmcus, now La Piazza Novona, a long,
large, beautiful street in the heart of Rome, adorned with
fountains, and the obelisk of Caracalla, still retaining the
form of that circus. The reason of the name Agonalis is
either unknown or doubtful. Ovid seems to derive it
from the agones, or solemn games, there celebrated, sup¬
posed to have been the Ludi Apollinares, or Actiaci, in¬
stituted by Augustus ; whence the circus was called Apol-
linaris; also Alexandrinus, from the emperor Alexander
Severus, who either inclosed or repaired it.
AGONISMA, in Antiquity, denotes the prize given to
the victor in any combat or dispute.
AGONISTARCHA, from ayw, combat, and a^og,
chief, in Antiquity, seems to have been much the same
with agonotheta ; though some suggest a difference, mak¬
ing it the office of the former to preside at and direct the
private exercises of the athletae, which they went through
by way of practice, before they made their appearance on
the public theatres or amphitheatres.
AGONISTICI, in Church History, a name given by
Donatus to such of his disciples as he sent to fairs, mar¬
kets, and other public places, to propagate his doctrine ;
for which reason they were also called Circutores, Cir-
cclliones, Catropitce, Coropitce, and at Rome Montenses.
They were called Agonistici, from the Greek ayuv, combat,
in regard they were sent as it were to fight and subdue
the people to their opinions.
AGONIUM, in Roman Antiquity, was used for the day
on which the rex sacrorum sacrificed a victim, as well as
for the place where the games were celebrated, otherwise
called agon.
AGONOTHETA, or Agonothetes, in Grecian Anti¬
quity, was the president or superintendent of the sacred
games; who not only defrayed the expense attending
them, but inspected the manners and discipline of the
athletae, and adjudged the prizes to the victors.
AGONYCLITfE, or Agonyclites, in Church History,
a sect of Christians, in the 7th century, who prayed always
standing, as thinking it unlawful to kneel.
AGOILEUS, in Heathen Antiquity, an appellation given
to such deities as had statues in the market-places ; par¬
ticularly Mercury, whose statue was to be seen in almost
every public place.
AGORANOMUS, in Grecian Antiquity, a magistrate
o Athens, who had the regulation of weights and measures,
t le prices of provisions, &c.—The agoranomi, at Athens,
were ten in number, five belonging to the city, and as
many to the Piraeus ; though others make them 15 in all,
o whom they assign 10 to the city. To these a certain
to or tribute was paid by all who brought any thing to
sell in the market. <= J 5
• a market town in the Austrian dominions,
lIl ,Aa with 1825 inhabitants. It is in the government
o emce, and in the delegation of Belluno, on the river
on evolo. In its vicinity are mines of copper, lead,
su P ur’. and vitriol, the preparation of which is the chief
occupation of the people.
AGRA, a province of Hindostan, chiefly situated be-
VOL. II. J
A G R
tween the 25th and 28th degrees of N. lat. On the north
1VLb<?Un?ed hy,the Province of Delhi, on the south by that1-
of Malwah, on the east by the provinces of Oude and Alla-
habad, and on the west by that of Ajmeer. It is estimated
\°an m lenSth> and in average breadth to be
~ j® foAowmg are the principal geographical and
political divisions:—1. Agra district; 2. the Doab; 3. the
district of Etaweh ; 4. the Furruckabad district; 5. Cal-
pee, Gohud, and Gualior; 6. the Bhurtpoor territories •
7. Alvar or Machery; 8. the Alighur district.
This province has an unequal surface. To the north-east
of the Jumna the country is flat and open, and rather bare
of tiees ; but to the south of the Chumbul, and also towards
the western frontier, it rises into hills, and is interspersed
with jungle. Owing to the elevation of the ground, it has
for the greater part of the year a temperate climate. In
summer, while the hot winds prevail, it is intensely hot,
and the climate is unhealthful, especially among the hills.
But these winds do not continue for any length of time;
and in the winter months it is actually cold, especially
during the night. The province is indifferently watered.
The chief rivers are the Jumna, the Chumbul, and the
Ganges, besides other streams of inferior note. Except
in the vicinity of the large rivers, water is scarce for the
purposes of irrigation. Rice, which requires an abundant
supply of moisture, is not cultivated. The soil is parti¬
cularly adapted to the cultivation of indigo, cotton, and
sugar, the production of which is annually increasing in
the country under the jurisdiction of the British : in that
which is still subject to the native chiefs, agriculture is in
a backward state. There are no remarkable mineral pro¬
ductions in the province of Agra. The animals differ in
no respect from those found in other parts of Hindostan;
and the breed of horses is much esteemed. The prin¬
cipal article manufactured is coarse cotton cloth ; but
no great quantity is exported. The most fertile part of
the province is the Doab, or the territory included be¬
tween the Ganges and the Jumna, which exports indigo,
sugar, and cotton. The country to the north-west of Agra,
which is under the dominion of the native chiefs, being
scantily supplied with water, is of a very inferior quality,
and comparatively unproductive. This province is not
nearly so populous as Bengal, Jaupore, and the more
flourishing parts of the British territory. It does not con¬
tain above six millions of inhabitants, of whom the greater
proportion live under the British jurisdiction ; the remain¬
der under Scindia and others of the native princes. The
chief towns, besides Agra, the capital, are Alvar or Aloor,
the capital of a native rajah; Bhurtpoor, one of the strongest
fortresses in India, which the British carried by storm in
1826 ; Deeg, another strong fortress ; Mathura, Kanoje,
Etaweh, Gualior, Gohud, Calpee, Narwar, and Furrucka¬
bad. The natives are in general a robust and handsome
race of people, and consist of a mixture of Hindoos and
Mahometans. The Hindoo religion and language are pre¬
dominant, although the country has been subject to the
Mahometans since the thirteenth century.
Agra, the capital of the preceding province, is situ¬
ated on the south-west side of the Jumna, from the banks
of which it extends upward in a vast semicircle. It is a
large, old, and ruinous city, with little to attract attention
beyond that picturesque confusion of houses, balconies, and
projecting roofs, common to all Indian towns. The houses
consist of several stories, and the streets are so narrow as
scarcely to admit a palanquin. The greater part of this
once flourishing city is now a heap of ruins, and uninhabit¬
ed. It is still, however, estimated to contain 60,000 in¬
habitants ; and as its commerce improves, which it is likely
to do, from the facilities which it affords to the trade of
2 I
249
Agra.
250
A G R
A G R
western Hindostan, its population is likely to increase also.
Since 1818, indeed, in consequence of the tranquillity of
the neighbouring province of Rajpootana or Ajmeer, the
produce of the customs has continued progressively to in¬
crease. It has a fort, which is very large and ancient, and
is surrounded with high walls and towers of red stone, of
the hardness and colour of jasper, which command some
noble views of the city, its neighbourhood, and the wind¬
ings of the Jumna. The fort has a ditch of great depth,
and a double rampart, the inner one being of an enormous
height, with bastions at regular distances. Agra is famed
for some beautiful edifices, the most remarkable of which is
the Jage-mahal, atomb erected by the emperor Shah Jehan,
to the memory of Begum Novr-jehan, his beloved wife.
Bishop Heber mentions, that after all he had heard of this
celebrated mausoleum, its beauty rather exceeded than
fell short of his expectations. It is of white marble, and
is placed on an elevated terrace of white and yellow mar¬
ble, with four tall minarets of the same material rising at
each of its angles. The interior, containing a central hall,
in which are the tombs of the emperor and his wife, is re¬
markable for its exquisite finish ; the pavement being laid
with alternate squares of marble, and the walls, screens,
and tombs, crowned with flowers and inscriptions execut¬
ed in beautiful Mosaic of cornelian, lapis lazuli, and jas¬
per. The general effect of the whole is solemn and im¬
pressive rather than gaudy. There is a tomb erected to
another of the emperors, now used as a court of justice,
which is a splendid edifice. Agra contains, besides, a
beautiful mosque of white marble, carved with exquisite
simplicity and elegance, and the palace, built by Acbar
chiefly of the same material, and now used as warehouses,
offices, and lodging-rooms for the garrison. At Secundra,
a ruinous village about six miles from Agra, is the magni¬
ficent tomb of the emperor Acbar, which, Bishop Heber
remarks, is the most splendid building in its way that he
had seen in India.
Agra was greatly enlarged and embellished by Acbar,
who made it his capital. The city, which was under
the rule of Scindia, surrendered to the British army
under Lord Lake in 1803. It was soon after made the
seat of the civil establishment for the collection of the re¬
venue and the administration of justice. The fortifications
have been lately strengthened and improved. 137 miles
travelling distance from Delhi. Long. 77. 53. E. Lat. 27.
11. N. {Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Pro¬
vinces of India, from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824, 1825 ; by
Reginald Heber, D. D. Bishop of Calcutta.—A Geographi¬
cal, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan
and the adjacent Countries; by Walter Hamilton, Esq.
1820.) _ _ (f.)
AGRAM, or Zagrab, a palatinate in the Austrian
province of Croatia. Its extent is 768 square miles, or
491,520 English acres. The inhabitants in 1816 were
71,357, all of the Catholic religion. It is subdivided into
tv/o circles, that of Agram and of St John; the latter of
which comprehends no town. In the whole palatinate
there are one city, two market towns, and 279 villages.
The country is undulating, but with a range of hills to¬
wards the Warasdin frontier. It is Watered by the Save
and its tributary streams. The chief productions are
corn, tobacco, wine, potashes, and cattle. It contains
much wood and pasture land.
Agram, one of the circles into which the palatinate
of the same name in Austrian Croatia is divided. It is
likewise the name of the capital of the whole. The city of
Agram, in long. 16. 10. 13. E. and lat. 45. 49. 2. N., con¬
tains 2000 houses and 17,266 inhabitants. It is the seat
of a bishop, of the courts of justice, and of the several
boards which direct the affairs of the province of Croatia. Ag
There is an academical institution with ten professors. It
has no manufactures; but the Save being navigable to A
the city, most of the commerce of Croatia centres in it. ^
AGRAMONT, a Spanish town in the province of Cata¬
lonia, with 3000 inhabitants.
AGRARIAN Laws, among the Romans, those relating
to the division and distribution of lands; of which there
were a great number ; but that called the Agrarian Law,
by way of eminence, was published by Spurius Cassius,
about the year of Rome 268, for dividing the conquered
lands equally among all the citizens, and limiting the
number of acres which each citizen might enjoy. For
some learned and ingenious inquiries on this subject, see
Niebuhr’s Roman History.
AGREDA, a Spanish town in the province of Soria,
containing six parish churches, four monasteries, 3200 in¬
habitants, 11 tanneries, and 26 potteries. Not far from
this place rises the mountain of Moncayo.
AGRIA, called by the Germans Eger, is a strong town
in Upper Hungary, situated on a river of the same name,
and has a citadel called Eriaw. It was besieged by the
Turks in 1552, with 70,000 men ; but they lost 8000 in
one day, and were obliged to raise the siege, though the
garrison consisted only of 2000 Hungarians, assisted by
the women, who performed wonders on this occasion.
However, it was afterwards taken by Mahomet III. in
1596, but was retaken by the emperor in 1687; since
which time it has continued under the dominion of the
house of Austria. It is 47 miles north-east of Buda, and
55 south-west of Cassovia. Long. 20. 10. E. Lat. 48.
10. N.
AGRICOLA, Cn^us Julius, born at Frejus, in Pro¬
vence, was in Vespasian’s time made lieutenant to Vet-
tius Bolanus in Britain; and upon his return was ranked
by that emperor among the patricians, and made governor
of Aquitania. This post he held for three years ; and upon
his return was chosen consul, and afterwards appointed
governor of Britain, where he greatly distinguished him¬
self. He reformed many abuses occasioned by the ava¬
rice or negligence of former governors, put a stop to ex¬
tortion, and caused justice to be impartially administered.
Vespasian dying about this time, his son Titus, knowing
the great merit of Agricola, continued him in the govern¬
ment. In the spring he marched towards the north,
where he made some new conquests, and ordered forts to
be built for the Romans to winter in. He spent the fol¬
lowing winter in concerting schemes to bring the Britons
to conform to the Roman customs. He thought the best
way of diverting them from rising and taking arms was to
soften their rough manners, by proposing to them new
kinds of pleasure, and inspiring them with a desire of imi¬
tating the Roman manners. Soon after this the country
was adorned with magnificent temples, porticoes, baths,
and many other fine buildings. The British nobles had
at length their sons educated in learning; and they who
before had the utmost aversion to the Roman language,
now began to study it with great assiduity. They wore
likewise the Roman habit; and, as Tacitus observes, they
were brought to consider those things as marks of polite¬
ness, which were only so many badges of slavery. Agri¬
cola, in his third campaign, advanced as far as the Tweed;
and in his fourth he subdued the nations betwixt the
Tweed and the friths of Edinburgh and Clyde, into which
the rivers Glotta and Bodotria discharge themselves ; and
here he built fortresses to shut up the nations yet uncon¬
quered. In his fifth he marched beyond the friths, where
he made some new acquisitions, and fixed garrisons along
the western coasts, over against Ireland. In his sixth
lout
Mia,
V
A G R
, ola campaign he passed the river Bodotria; ordering his fleet,
the first which the Romans ever had in those parts, to row
along the coasts, and take a view of the northern parts.
u1' jn the following spring, the Britons raised an army of
30,000 men; and the command was given to Galgacus,
who, according to Tacitus, made an excellent speech to
his countrymen on this occasion. Agricola likewise ad¬
dressed his men in very strong and eloquent terms. The
Romans gained the victory, and 10,000 of the Britons are
said to have been killed. This happened in the reign of
the emperor Domitian, who, growing jealous of the glory
of Agricola, recalled him, under pretence of making him
governor of Syria. Agricola died soon after; and his
death is suspected to have been occasioned by poison
given him by that emperor. Tacitus the historian married
his daughter, wrote his life, and laments his death in the
most pathetic manner.
Agricola, George, a German physician, famous for his
skill in metals. He was born at Glaucha, in Misnia, on the
24th of March 1494. The discoveries which he made in
the mountains of Bohemia gave him so great a desire of
examining accurately into every thing relating to metals,
that though he had engaged in the practice of physic at
Joachimstal by advice of his friends, he still prosecuted
his study of fossils with great assiduity, and at length re¬
moved to Chemnitz, where he entirely devoted himself to
this study. He spent in pursuit of it the pension he had
from Maurice duke of Saxony, and part of his own estate ;
so that he reaped more reputation than profit from his la-
A o R
hours. He wrote several pieces upon this and other sub¬
jects ; and died at Chemnitz on the 21st of November 1555
a very firm Papist. In his younger years he seemed not
averse to the Protestant doctrine; and he highly disap¬
proved of the scandalous traffic of indulgences, a^d seve¬
ral other things in the church of Rome. In the latter
part of his life, however, he attacked the Protestant reli¬
gion, which rendered him so odious to the Lutherans, that
they suffered his body to remain unburied for five days
It was then removed from Chemnitz to Zeitz, where it was
interred in the principal church.
, Ag*ict?la> J°hn, a Saxon divine, born at Eisleben in
14J2. He went as chaplain to Count Mansfeld, when
that nobleman attended the elector of Saxony to the diet
at Spire in 1526, and that of Augsburg in 1530. He was
of a restless, ambitious temper, rivalled and wrote against
Melanchthon, and gave Count Mansfeld occasion to re¬
proach him severely. He obtained a professorship at
Wittemberg, where he taught particular doctrines, and
became founder of the sect of Antinomians; which occa¬
sioned warm disputes between him and Luther, who had
before been his very good friend. But though he was
never able to recover the favour either of the elector of
Saxony or of Luther, he received some consolation from
the fame he acquired at Berlin, where he became preach¬
er at court; and was chosen, in 1548, in conjunction with
Julius Phlug and .Michael Heldingus, to compose the
famous Interim, which made so much noise in the world.
He died at Berlin in 1566.
251
Agricola
II
Agricul¬
ture.
AGRICULTURE.
TT is our principal object in this article to lay before our
*- readers a view of the present state of British agri¬
culture, particularly as the art is practised in our best
cultivated counties. Much of what we shall state is de¬
rived from our own experience and observation; but we
shall nevertheless be careful, on all matters of importance,
to refer to the most approved authorities.
It is sufficiently evident that the culture of the soil
must have somewhat preceded, and always kept pace
with, the increase of population. When we read of the
large armies brought into the field in the early ages, and
the great number of inhabitants which some of the ancient
cities are said to have contained, we must necessarily
conclude that the labours of agriculture were conducted
with skill, and that its produce was abundant. A con¬
siderable population may, no doubt, subsist upon a rich
soil, even in a very rude state of the art, drawing from it
only the supply of their own wants; but if much of the
cultivator s time be required in the service of the public,
and still more, if he has to provide for the subsistence and
t ic luxury of large cities, he can obtain the necessary
surplus produce only by successive improvements in his
art. Not only his gross produce, but his net disposable
produce, must be proportionally increased.
But of the rural economy even of the most civilized
nations of antiquity, we are almost wholly ignorant. From
t ie age of Moses, almost down to the commencement of
ie Christian era, though something may be gleaned from
incidental notices in the Scriptures, and in the writings of
a ew ancient authors, we are quite unacquainted with
ie means by which food was obtained from the soil to
support the rapid increase of mankind; especially when
" l nd it accumulated on spots which seem to have been
a ways naturally unproductive. We ought, perhaps, to
except the W orks and Days of Hesiod, who lived in the
tenth century before our era, and who has described at
some length the labours and the products of the agri¬
culture of Greece at that early period. His work contains
almost all the information we possess respecting the rural
economy of that celebrated people.
Among the Romans this art seems to have obtained a Am-icul-
high degree of improvement. It was practised by the ture of "the
rich and the great, and described by their poets and his-Romans,
torians, several of whose works have reached our own
times. These must be familiar to the classical scholar,
and have been rendered accessible to all by Dickson, in
his Husbandry of the Ancients, and other writers. We
need therefore only mention the names 6f Cato, Varro,
Virgil, Columella, Pliny, and Palladius, in the order in
which they wrote. The treatises De Re Rustica of Varro
and Columella are the most complete; but none of the
Roman writers enables us to trace the rise and progress of
agriculture, either in Italy or in any other country under
their dominion. The most useful lesson they convey to
the present age, perhaps, is the importance of attending
to minute details, which their greatest names did not consi¬
der beneath their notice in the best period of their history.
From the fall of the Roman empire till the revival ofAgricuI-
learning in the fifteenth century, little is known of theture °f the
state of agriculture in any part of Europe. The historians %U(lal
of the period were too much occupied in recording mili-tlmes*
tary achievements, and with the rude policy and intestine
broils of their respective countries, to give much atten¬
tion to the peaceful, and at that time degraded, labours
of the husbandman. The policy of the feudal system,
the distribution of society which it occasioned, and the
perpetual dissensions and petty hostilities which it en¬
gendered, furnish the best evidence of the low state of an
art which can flourish only under the protection of law,
and be carried on wdth success only by the energy of free
252
AGRICU
Agricul- men. But, during this long interval, the population of
ture. Europe was divided into two great classes, of which by
—far the larger one was composed of bondmen, without
property, or the power of acquiring it, and small tenants,
very little superior to bondmen; and the other class,
consisting chiefly of the great barons and their retainers,
was more frequently employed in laying waste the fields
of their rivals, than in improving their own. The super¬
stition of the times, which destined a large portion of the
country to the support of the church, and which, in some
measure, secured it from predatory incursions, was the
principal source of what little skill and industry were then
displayed in the cultivation of the soil. “ If we considei
the ancient state of Europe,” says Mr Hume,1 “ we shall
find, that the far greater part of society were everywhere
bereaved of their personal liberty, and lived entirely at
the will of their masters. Every one that was not noble
was a slave ; the peasants were not in a better condition;
even the gentry themselves were subjected to a long
train of subordination under the greater barons, or chief
vassals of the crown, who, though seemingly placed in a
high state of splendour, yet, having but a slender protec¬
tion from law, were exposed to every tempest of the
state, and, by the precarious condition on which they
lived, paid dearly for the power of oppressing and tyran¬
nizing over their inferiors.”—“ The villains were entirely
occupied in the cultivation of their master s land, and
paid their rents either in corn or cattle, and other pro¬
duce of the farm, or in servile offices, which they per¬
formed about the baron’s family, and upon farms which
he retained in his own possession. In proportion as agri¬
culture improved and money increased, it was found that
these services, though extremely burdensome to the vil¬
lain, were of little advantage to the master; and that the
produce of a large estate could be much more conveni¬
ently disposed of by the peasants themselves, who raised
it, than by the landlord or his bailiff, who were formerly
accustomed to receive it. A commutation was therefore
made of rents for services, and of money-rents for those
in kind; and as men in a subsequent age discovered that
farms were better cultivated where the farmer enjoyed
security in his possession, the practice of granting leases
to the peasant began to prevail, which entirely broke the
bonds of servitude, already much relaxed from the former
practices. The latest laws which we find in England for
enforcing or regulating this species of servitude were
enacted in the reign of Henry VII. And though the an¬
cient statutes on this subject remain still unrepealed by
Parliament, it appears, that before the end of Elizabeth, the
distinction between villain and freeman was totally, though
insensibly, abolished; and that no person remained in the
state to whom the former laws could be applied.”
Leases du- But, long before the fifteenth century, it is certain that
ring the there was a class of tenants holding on leases for lives, or
for a term of years, and paying a rent in land produce, in
services, or in money. Whether they gradually sprung
up from the class of bondmen, according to Lord Kames,2
or existed from the earliest period of the feudal constitu¬
tion, according to other writers,3 their number cannot be
supposed to have been considerable during the middle
ages. The stock which these tenants employed in culti¬
vation commonly belonged to the proprietor, who received
a proportion of the produce as rent; a system which still
exists in France and in other parts of the Continent, where
such tenants are called metayers, and some vestiges of
middle
ages.
L T U R E.
which may yet be traced in the steel-bow of the law of U
Scotland. Leases of the thirteenth century still remain n ’
and both the laws and chartularies3 clearly prove the^ j
existence in Scotland of a class of cultivators distinct from
the serfs or bondmen. Yet the condition of these tenants
seems to have been very different from that of the tenants
of the present day; and the lease approached nearer in its
form to a feu charter than to the mutual agreement now
in use. It was of the nature of a beneficiary grant by the
proprietor, under certain conditions, and for a limited pe-
riod: the consent of the tenant seems never to have been
doubted. In the common expression, “ granting a lease,”
we have retained an idea of the original character of the
deed, even to the present time.
The corn crops cultivated during this period seem to Crop
have been of the same species, though all of them pro-hvat
bably much inferior in quality to what they are in the
present day. Wheat, the most valuable grain, must have
borne a small proportion, at least in Britain, to that of
other crops ; the remarkable fluctuation of price, its ex¬
treme scarcity, indicated by the extravagant rate at which
it was sometimes sold, as well as the preparatory cultiva¬
tion required, may convince us that its consumption was
confined to the higher orders, and that its growth was by
no means extensive. Rye and oats furnished the bread
and drink of the great body of the people of Europe.
Cultivated herbage and roots were then unknown in the
agriculture of Britain. It was not till the end of the
reign of Henry VIII. that any sallads, carrots, or other
edible roots were produced in England. The little of
these vegetables that was used, was formerly imported
from Holland and Flanders. Queen Catharine, when she
wanted a sallad, was obliged to dispatch a messenger
thither on purpose.6
The ignorance and insecurity of those ages, which ne¬
cessarily confined the cultivation of corn to a compara¬
tively small portion of country, left all the rest of it in a
state of nature, to be depastured by the inferior animals,
then only occasionally subjected to the care and control
of man. Cultivators were crowded together in miserable
hamlets ; the ground contiguous was kept continually un¬
der tillage ; and beyond this, wastes and woodlands of a
much greater extent were appropriated to the mainten¬
ance of their flocks and herds, which pastured indiscrimin¬
ately, with little attention from their owners.
The low price of butcher-meat, though it was then the
food of the common people, when compared with the
price of corn, has been justly noticed by several writers
as a decisive proof of the small progress of civilisation and
industry.
According to the reports of a writer who has had ac-«P| f
cess to the best sources of information, in addition to his^ ,
own observations, the present state of the agriculture of the^j P,
greater part of the Continent of Europe is not very dif¬
ferent from what it was in Britain during the prevalence
of the feudal system. “ The greater part of France, he
says, “ a still much greater portion of Germany, and nearly
the whole of Prussia, Austria, Poland, and Russia, present
a wretched uniformity of system. It is called the three-
course husbandry, consisting of, 1st, one year’s clean fal¬
low ; 2d, winter corn, chiefly rye, with a proportion ot
wheat commensurate to the manure that can be applied ,
3d, summer corn, or barley and oats. There are occasiona
and small deviations from this system. In some few cases
potatoes, in others peas, are grown, in the fallow year,
1 History of England, chap, xxiii.
3 Bell’s Treatise on Leases.
* Chalmers’s Caledonia, book iv. c. 6.
2 Karnes’s Law Tracts. .
4 Sir John Cullum’s History and Antiquities of Hatestcd {Suffolk.)
6 Hume’s History of England, chap, xxiii.
AGRICULTURE.
253
^gy are only minute exceptions to the generally
uin" established system. It is not surprising that under such
^/^a system the produce should not be much more than
four times the quantity of seed, at which rate it is calcu¬
lated, as appears to be rightly, by Baron Alexander Hum-
k°« The fields are almost universally uninclosed, and ex¬
posed to the most injurious effects of a changeable and an
intemperate climate. The ancient feudal system of te¬
nure is still continued, modified indeed, and softened in
gome few parts, but not to a degree or an extent that de¬
serves to be taken into account in the view now under
consideration of the countries as a whole. The peasants,
for the most part, are adstricti glebce. ; and where, by re¬
cent laws, their condition has been changed, the practical
effect has yet hardly had time to exhibit any observable
improvement in their state. Labour, whether of men or
of cattle, is usually exchanged for the occupancy of land;
and hence the labour is performed in the most negligent
and imperfect manner, that the vigilance of an overseer,
who cannot be everywhere present, will allow.
u The lords of the soil, besides their demesnes, have the
mht of pasturage on the fields of their tenants from har¬
vest to the next seed-time: hence none of those interven¬
ing crops which tend to enrich the soil can be cultivated
without infringing on their rights.
“ Among the cultivators of the land little or no accu¬
mulation of capital has been formed; from the lord to the
lowest grade of the peasantry, all are alike destitute of
disposable funds. The lords are only rich in land, and
sufficiently at their ease, if that land be unencumbered
with mortgages or annuities. The peasants, whether own¬
ers of the live stock and of the implements, or having the
use of them with the land from its owners, are content to
live on, from year to year, eating their own produce,
growing their own wool and flax, and converting them
into garments. They are quite satisfied if they can dis¬
pose of as much surplus produce as will pay the small
share of money rent which becomes due to their lord.”
{Tracts relating to the Corn Trade and Corn Laws, by
William Jacob, Esq. 1828.)
It is certain, howrever, that an improved system has been
introduced, and is extending itself, though slowly, in many
parts of the countries which this writer has mentioned.
Public establishments have been formed, which afford ex¬
amples of correct management; and by these means know¬
ledge is diffused among the principal land-owners in the
first instance, and must ere long descend to the cultivator.
Since the peace, many of the former class have visited
other countries, and particularly Great Britain, with a
view to the improvement of their estates. Some of them
have held out encouragement to settlers from this coun¬
try ; others carried back our best implements, with farm-
bailiffs capable of instructing their people in the use of
them, and of introducing our system of management ge¬
nerally ; and not a few individuals of rank and influence
in most parts of the Continent of Europe are now well ac¬
quainted with our agriculture, by their own personal ob¬
servation. Prompted by interest, their active minds, no
longer occupied in war, seem to enter eagerly upon this
new field of employment. It is evident, indeed, from
the great increase which has taken place of late in the
population of these countries, as well as of our own, that
a corresponding increase of produce must now be drawn
from the soil. In all old peopled countries, the extension
of tillage to fresh lands, without any improvement in
the management, presents only a temporary and very
limited resource.
At present, however, we have certainly little to learn
from the agriculture of other countries ; at least very little
that can be beneficially introduced into our climate, which
forbids any attempt at cultivating the fruits of the south
of Europe. Even on a similar soil, and in the same lati¬
tude, the labours of the husbandman must be to a con¬
siderable extent directed and controlled by the local cir¬
cumstances in which he is placed. This, perhaps, is the
principal reason why the old system of successive crops
of corn still prevails so generally throughout the Continent.
The demand for butcher-meat, for instance, may not be
such as to afford a suitable return for the extended cul¬
ture of turnips and other ameliorating crops, which are
found so beneficial in this country.
We should except from this remark much of the Ne¬
therlands, and probably a part of Italy. Flanders has long
been celebrated for its agriculture; and the care and suc¬
cess with which its labours are conducted seem not un¬
worthy the attention of our best cultivators. The culture
of the Vale of Arno, in Italy, also presents an interesting
object, and has been warmly eulogized by Chateauvieux
and other travellers. But instead of going into details
here, we shall notice, under the heads to which they be¬
long, the practices that appear to us of most importance in
the agriculture of other countries, when we come to de¬
scribe our own.
Before entering upon this our main object, it may not be
without its interest to present a concise view of the progress
of our agriculture to its present state, from the rude condi¬
tion in which, in common with that of the rest of Europe,
it was found at the time when we first have authorities to
refer to on the subject. Such a view must necessarily in¬
clude notices of the principal laws affecting it, as well as
of our early writers, whose works are very little known;
and it may serve to convey some idea of the successive
changes that have occurred in the condition of the great
body of our people.
The subject of this article will thus be considered under
two divisions. In the first, we shall treat of the history of
British agriculture ; and in the second, of its present state ;
describing under the latter the crops, culture, and general
management adapted to different soils, agreeably to the
practice of our best cultivators.
Agricul¬
ture.
Part I.
History of British Agriculture.
Of the early agriculture of England, and of the condi- Agricul-
tion of its cultivators, we may form some conception by ture in
adverting to a few of the enactments, from the Conquest
down to the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. in 1485, tlie J
when the feudal system, which had been gradually falling century.
into decay, was almost dissolved in that country.
One of the earliest and greatest grievances was the
levying of Purveyance. This originally comprehended
the necessary provisions, carriages, &c. which the nearest
farmers were obliged to furnish to the king s armies at the
current prices, and to his houses and castles in time of
war. It was called the great purveyance, and the officers
who collected those necessaries were called purveyors.
The smaller purveyance included the necessary provisions
and carriages for the king’s household, when living at
home, or travelling through the kingdom, which the ten¬
ants on the king’s demesne lands were obliged to furnish
gratis ; and the practice came to be adopted by the ba¬
rons and great men, in every tour which they thought
proper to make in the country. These exactions were so
grievous, and levied in so licentious a manner, that the
farmers, when they heard of the court s approach, often
deserted their houses, as if the country had been invaded
254
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- by an enemy. “ Purveyance,” says Dirom,1 “ was per-
ture. haps for many centuries the chief obstruction to the ag-
riculture and improvement of Great Britain. Many laws
were made for the reformation and regulation of purvey¬
ance, but without effect; and the practice continued down
to so late a period as the reign of James the First.”
The home trade in corn was restrained by acts against
forestallers in 1360, and at several subsequent periods.
For many years after the Conquest, the greater part of
the trade of England was carried on in markets and fairs;
and a very considerable part of the revenue of the crown
arose from the duties payable to the king, upon the goods
brought to them for sale. The barons had also tolls at the
fairs within their respective jurisdictions. When farmers
v and merchants were bringing their corn and other neces¬
saries to be sold there, they were sometimes met on the
way by persons who purchased their commodities, in order
to retail them at a higher price. Thus the king and the
lords of the manor lost the several duties payable to them;
and the price, it was thought, was at the same time raised
to the inhabitants. Such were the original forestallers,
who were subjected by several statutes to severe penalties.
This crime of forestalling, and the kindred ones of regrat¬
ing and engrossing, were carefully defined, and the dif¬
ferent degrees of punishment specified, in a new statute
in 1552, to be afterwards noticed. An early law of 1266,
for regulating the assize of bread and ale, furnishes a
clear proof of the little intercourse that must have subsist¬
ed at that time between town and country. “ Brewers
in cities,” says the statute, “ may well afford to sell two
gallons of beer or ale for a penny, and out of cities three
or four gallons for a penny.”
Several laws were made in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, permitting the exportation of grain when the
price of wheat did not exceed six shillings and eightpence
a quarter; and in 1463 importation was prohibited when
the price was lower. The last statute, however, was little
attended to, and foreign grain was admitted as before;
while the state of the country, and the restrictions on in¬
ternal commerce, scarcely permitted any advantage to be
derived from the acts allowing exportation.
Husban- In Mr Chalmers’s Caledonia, a great many valuable
dry of notices are collected regarding the husbandry of Scotland
Scotland, during these ages. It is evident from his elaborate re¬
searches, that the progress of cultivation in the 13th cen¬
tury had been greater than we should have expected from
the turbulence of the times, and the comparatively rude
and uncivilized state of society. Purveyance, and other
obstructions to improvement, were nearly the same in
Scotland as in England; the laws regarding the corn
trade appear, in some instances, to have been copied from
those of England ; and in the northern, as in the southern
part of the island, the clergy were by far the most skilful
and industrious husbandmen.
Yet it is difficult to reconcile the idea of any consider¬
able improvement, particularly in so far as regards the
extensive cultivation of wheat (which Mr Chalmers infers
from the authorities he quotes), with an act passed in
1426, which ordained every husbandman tilling with a
plough of eight oxen to sow at least a firlot (little more
than a Winchester bushel) of wheat, and half a firlot of
peas, with a proportion of beans ; or with the state of the
districts only a few years ago, where wheat is said to have
been extensively grown at that early period.
By statute 1449, the tenant was for the first time se¬
cured in possession, during the term of his lease, against
a purchaser of the land; and in 1469 he was protected A
from having his property carried off for the landlord’s *
debts, beyond the amount of rent actually due; an en-
actment which proves his miserable condition before that
time.
Soon after the beginning of the 16th century, agri-tv
culture partook of the general improvement which fol-on
lowed the invention of printing, the revival of learning tur
and the more settled authority of government; and in'
stead of the occasional notices of historians, we can now
refer to regular treatises, written by men who engaged
eagerly in this neglected and hitherto degraded occupa¬
tion. We shall therefore give a short account of the prin¬
cipal works, as w^ell as of the laws and general policy of
Britain, in regard to agriculture, from the early part of
the sixteenth century to the Revolution in 1688, when a
new era commenced in the legislation of corn, and soon
after in the practice of the cultivator.
e.
'v
The first and by far the best of our early works is the Fit
Book of Husbandry, printed in 1534, commonly ascribed ber
to Fitzherbert, a judge of the common pleas in the reign
of Henry VIIL This was followed, in 1539, by the Book
of Surveying and Improvements, by the same author. In
the former treatise we have a clear and minute descrip¬
tion of the rural practices of that period, and from the
latter may be learned a good deal of the economy of the
feudal system in its decline. The Book of Husbandry
has scarcely been excelled by any later production, in as
far as concerns the subjects of which it treats; for at that
time cultivated herbage and edible roots were still un¬
known in England. The author writes from his own ex¬
perience of more than forty years ; and, with the excep¬
tion of passages denoting his belief in the superstition of
the Roman wu-iters, there is very little of this valuable
work that should be omitted, and not a great deal that
need be added, in so. far as regards the culture of corn, in
a manual of husbandry adapted even to the present time.
Fitzherbert touches on almost every department of the
art, and in about a hundred octavo pages has contrived
to condense more practical information than will be found
scattered through as many volumes of later times; and
yet he is, minute even to the extreme on points of real
utility. There is no reason to say, with Mr Harte, that
he had revived the husbandry of the Romans ; he merely
describes the practices of the age in which he lived;
and from his commentary on the old statute extenta ma-
nerii, in his Book of Surveying, in w hich he does not al¬
lude to any recent improvements, it is probable that the
management which he details had been long established.
But it may surprise some of the agriculturists of the pre¬
sent day to be told, that, after the lapse of almost three
centuries, Fitzherbert’s practice, in some rrfaterial branches,
has not been improved upon ; and that in several districts
abuses still exist, which were as clearly pointed out by
him at that early period as by any writer of the present
age.
The Book of Husbandry begins with the plough and
other instruments, which are concisely and yet minutely
described; and then about a third part of it is occupied
with the several operations as they succeed one another
throughout the year. Among other things in this part of
the work, the following deserve notice:—“ Somme (ploughs)
wyll tourn the sheld bredith at every landsende, and
plowe all one way;” the same kind of plough that is now
found so useful on hilly grounds. Of wheel-ploughs he
observes, that “ they be good on even grounde that lyeth
1 Inquiry into the Corn Laws, &c. p. 9.
AGRICULTURE.
V ml- lyghte;” an^ on suc^ ^an(^s they are still most commonly
’ t e. employed. Cart-wheels were sometimes bound with iron,
^ ^of which he greatly approves. On the much agitated
question about the employment of horses or oxen in la¬
bour, the most important arguments are distinctly stated.
“ In somme places,” he says, “ a horse plough is better,”
and in others an oxen plough, to which, upon the whole, he
gives the preference; and to this, considering the practices
of that period, they were probably entitled. Beans and
peas seem to have been common crops. He mentions
the different kinds of wheat, barley, and oats ; and after
describing the method of harrowing “all maner of cornnes,”
we find the roller employed. “ They use to role their
barley grounde after a showr of rayne, to make the grounde
even to mowe.” Under the article “ To falowe,” he ob¬
serves, “ the greater clottes (clods) the better wheate,
for the clotfes kepe the wheat warme all wynter; and at
March they will melte and breake and fal in manye small
peces, the whiche is a newe dongynge and refreshynge of
the corne.” This is agreeable to the present practice,
founded on the very same reasons. “ In May, the shepe
folde is to be set out;” but Fitzherbert does not much
approve of folding, and points out its disadvantages in a
very judicious manner. “ In thfe later end of May and
the begynnynge of June, is tyme to wede the corne ;” and
then we have an accurate description of the different
weeds, and the instruments and mode of weeding. Next
comes a second ploughing of the fallow ; and afterwards,
in the latter end of June, the mowing of the meadows
begins. Of this operation, and of the forks and rakes,
and the haymaking, there is a very good account. The
corn harvest naturally follows : rye and wheat were usu¬
ally shorn, and barley and oats cut with the scythe. This
intelligent writer does not approve of the practice, which
still prevails in some places, of cutting wheat high, and
then mowing the stubbles. “ In Somersetshire,” he says,
“ they do shere theyr wheat very lowe ; and the wheate
strawe that they purpose to make thacke of, they do not
threshe it, but cut off the ears, and bynd it in sheves, and
call it rede, and therewith they thacke theyr houses.” He
recommends the practice of setting up corn in shocks,
with two sheaves to cover eight, instead of ten sheaves,
as at present; probably owing to the straw being then
shorter. The corn was commonly housed ; but if there be
a want of room, he advises that the ricks be built on a
scaffold, and not upon the ground. Corn-stacks are now
beginning to be built on pillars and frames. The fallow
received a third ploughing in September, and was sown
about Michaelmas. “ Wheat is moost commonlye sowne
under the forowe, that is to say, cast it uppon the falowe,
and then plowe it under;” and this branch of his subject
is concluded with directions about threshing, winnowing,
and other kinds of barn-work.
Fitzherbert next proceeds to live stock. “ An hous-
bande, he says, “ can not well thryue by his corne with¬
out he have other cattell, nor by his cattell without corne.
And bycause that shepe, in myne opynyon, is the mooste
profytablest cattell that any man can haue, therefore I
pourpose to speake fyrst of shepe.” His remarks on this
subject are so accurate, that one might imagine they came
hom a storemaster of the present day; and the minutiae
w hich he details are exactly what the writer of this ar-
, c e has seen practised in the hilly parts of this country,
u some places, at present, “ they neuer seuer their
ambes from their dammes ;” “ and the poore of the peeke
( ugh) countreye, and such other places, where, as they
'so to milke theyr ewes, they vse to wayne theyr lambes
a. T've,, es olde, and to mylke their ewes fiue or syxe
'veekes; but that, he observes, “ is greate hurte to the
255
ewes, and wyll cause them that they wyll not take the A^ricul
ramme a the tyme of the yere fo/ pouertye, but goo
barreyne. “ In June is tyme to shere shepe ; and ere^v^
t1,ey muSt be verye well washen, the
which shall be to the owner greate profyte in the sale of
his wool, and also to the clothe-maker.” It appears that
hand washing was then a common practice;’ and vet in
the west and north of Scotland, at this day, sheep are
never washed at all. His remarks on horses, cattle &c
are not less interesting; and there is a very good account
of the diseases of each species, and some just observations
on the advantage of mixing different kinds on the same
pasture. Swine and bees conclude this branch of the work.
. I he author then points out the great advantages of
inclosures ; recommends “ quycksettynge, dychynge, and
hedgeyng;” and gives particular directions about the settes,
and the method of training a hedge, as well as concerning
the planting and management of trees. We have then a
short information “ for a yonge gentylman that intendeth
to thryue, and “ a prolouge for the wiues occupation,”
in some instances rather too homely for the present time.
Among other things, she is to “ make her husband and*
herself somme clothes;” and “ she maye haue the lockes
of the ^shepe eyther to make blankettes and courlettes, or
bothe.” This is not so much amiss ; but what follows will
bring our learned judge into disrepute even with our most
industrious housewives. “ It is a wyues occupation,” he
says, “ to wynowe all maner of cornes, to make malte, to
washe and wrynge, to make heye, shere corne, and, in
time of nede, to lielpe her husbande to fyll the mucke
wayne or dounge carte, dryue the ploughe, to loode heye,
corne, and suche other; and to go or ride to the market
to sel butter, chese, mylke, egges, chekyns, capons, hennes,
pygges, gese, and all maner of cornes.” The rest of the
book contains some useful advices about diligence and
economy; and concludes, after the manner of the age,
with many pious exhortations.
Such is Fitzherbert’s Book of Husbandry, and such was
the state of agriculture in England in the early part of
the sixteenth century, and probably for a long time be¬
fore; for he nowhere speaks of the practices which he
describes or recommends as of recent introduction.
The Book of Surveying adds considerably to our know¬
ledge of the rural economy of that age. “ Four maner of
commens” are described; several kinds of mills for corn
and other purposes, and also “ quernes that goo with
hand;” different orders of tenants, down to the “ bound-
men,” who “ in some places contynue as yet;” “ and many
tymes, by colour thereof, there be many freemen taken
as boundmen, and their lands and goods is taken from
them.” Lime and marl are mentioned as common ma¬
nures ; and the former was sometimes spread on the sur¬
face to destroy heath. Both draining and irrigation are
noticed, though the latter but slightly. And the work
concludes with an inquiry “ how to make a township that
is worth XX. marke a yere, worth XX. li. a year;” from
which we shall give a specimen of the author’s manner,
as well as of the economy of the age.
“ It is undoubted, that to every townshyppe that stand-
eth in tyllage in the playne countrey, there be errable
landes to plowe and sowe, and leyse to tye or tedder theyr
horses and mares upon, and common pasture to kepe and
pasture their catell, beestes, and shepe upon; and also
they have medowe grounde to get theyr hey upon. Than
to let it be known how many acres of errable lande euery
man hath in tyllage, and of the same acres in euery felde
to chaunge with his neyghbours, and to leye them toguy-
ther, and to make hym one seuerall close in euery felde
for his errable lands ; and his leyse in euery felde to leye
256 A G R I C U
Agricul- them togyther in one felde, and to make one seuerall close
ture. for them all. And also another seuerall close for his por-
tion of his common pasture, and also his porcion of his
medowe in a seuerall close by itselfe, and al kept in seue-
ral both in wynter and somer; and euery cottage shall
haue his portion assigned hym accordynge to his rent, and
than shall 'nat the ryche man ouerpresse the poore man
with his cattell; and euery man may eate his oun close at
his pleasure. And vndoubted, that hay and strawe that
will find one beest in the house wyll finde two beestes in
the close, and better they shall lyke. For those beestis
in the house have short heare and thynne, and towards
March they will pylle and be bare; and therefore they
may nat abyde in the fylde before the heerdmen in winter
tyme for colde. And those that lye in a close under a
hedge haue longe heare and thyck, and they will neuer
pylle nor be bare; and by this reason the husbande maye
kepe twyse so many catell as he did before.
“ This is the cause of this approwment. Nowe euery
husbande hath sixe seuerall closes, whereof iii. be for
corne, the fourthe for his leyse, the fyfte for his commen
pastures, and the sixte for his haye; and in wynter time
there is but one occupied with corne, and than hath the
husbande other fyue to occupy tyll lente come, and that
he hath his falowe felde, his ley felde, and his pasture
felde al sommer. And when he hath mowen his medowe,
than he hath his medowe grounde, soo that if he hath
any weyke catell that wold be amended, or dyvers maner
of catell, he may put them in any close he wyll, the which
is a great advantage; and if all shulde lye commen, than
wolde the edyche of the corne feldes and the aftermath of
all the medowes be eaten in X. or XII. dayes. And the
rych men that hath moche catell wold have the advantage,'
and the poore man can have no helpe nor relefe in wynter
when he hath moste nede; and if an acre of lande be worthe
sixe pens, or it be enclosed, it will be worth VIII. pens
whan it is enclosed, by reason of the compostying and
dongyng of the catell that shall go and lye upon it both day
and nighte ; and if any of his thre closes that he hath for
his corne be worne or ware bare, than he may breke and
plowe up his close that he hadde for his layse, or the close
that he hadde for his commen pasture, or bothe, and sowe
them with corne, and let the other lye for a time, and so
shall he have aiway reist grounde, the which will bear
moche corne with lytel donge; and also he shall have a
great profyte of the wod in the hedges whan it is growen ;
and not only these profytes and advantages beforesaid,
but he shall save moche more than al these, for by reason
of these closes he shall save meate, drinke, and wages of
a shepeherde, the wages of the heerdman, and the wages
of the swine herde, the which may fortune to be as charge¬
able as all his holle rent; and also his corne shall be bet¬
ter saved from eatinge or destroyeng with catel. For
dout ye nat but heerdemen with their catell, shepeherdes
with their shepe, and tieng of horses and mares, destroy-
eth moch corne, the which the hedges wold save. Par-
aduenture some men would say, that this shuld be against
the common weale, bicause the shepeherdes, heerdmen,
and swyneherdes, shuld than be put out of wages. To
that it may be answered, though these occupations be not
used, there be as many newe occupations that were not
used before; as getting of quickesettes, diching, hedging,
and plashing, the which the same men may use and oc-
cupye.”
Tusser. The next author who writes professedly on agriculture
is Tusser, whose Five Hundred Points of Husbandry,
L T U R E.
published in 1562, was formerly in such high repute as to A
be recommended by Lord Molesworth to be taught in
schools.1 The edition of 1604 is the one we make use of^i
here, in which the book of husbandry consists of 118
pages ; and then follows the Points of Housewifrie, occu¬
pying 42 pages more. It is written in verse. Amidst a
vast heap of rubbish, there are some useful notices con¬
cerning the state of agriculture at the time in different
parts of England. Hops, which had been introduced in
the early part of the sixteenth century, and on the culture
of which a treatise was published in 1574 by Reynolde
Scott, are mentioned as a well-known crop. Buckwheat
was sown after barley. It seems to have been the prac¬
tice then, in some places, to “ geld fillies’ as well as colts.
Hemp and flax are mentioned as common crops. Inclo¬
sures must have been numerous in several counties; and
there is a very good comparison between “ champion (open
fields) country, and several,” which Blythe afterwards
transcribed into his Improver Improved. Carrots, cab¬
bages, turnips, and rape, are mentioned among the herbs
and roots for the kitchen. There is nothing to be found
in Tusser about serfs or bondmen, as in Fitzherberfs
works. This author’s division of the crop is rather curious,
though probably quite inaccurate, if he means that the
whole rent might be paid by a tenth of the corn.
“ One part cast forth for rent due out of hand.
“ One other part for seed to sow thy land.
“ Another part leave parson for his tith.
“ Another part for harvest, sickle and sith.
“ One part for ploughwrite, cartwrite, knacker, and
smith.
“ One part to uphold thy teemes that draw therewith.
“ Another part for servant and workman’s wages laie.
“ One part likewise for filbellie daie by daie.
“ One part thy wife for needful things doth crave.
“ Thyself and thy child the last part would have.”
The next writer is Barnaby Googe, whose Whole ArtGi
of Husbandry was printed in 1578, and again by Markham
in 1614. The first edition is merely a translation of a
German work; and very little is said of English hus¬
bandry in the second, though Markham made some trifling
interpolations, in order, as it is alleged, to adapt the Ger¬
man husbandry to the English climate. It is for the most
part made up of gleanings from the ancient writers ot
Greece and Rome, whose errors are faithfully retained,
with here and there some description of the practices of
the age, in which there is little of novelty or importance.
Googe mentions a number of English writers who lived
about the time of Fitzherbert, whose works have not been
preserved.
For more than fifty years after this, or till near the mid¬
dle of the seventeenth century, there are no systematic
works on husbandry, though several treatises on particu¬
lar departments of it. From these it is evident, that all
the different operations of the farmer were performed with
more care and correctness than formerly; that the fal¬
lows were better worked, the fields kept freer of weeds,
and much more attention paid to manures of every kind.
A few of the writers of this period deserve to be shortly
noticed.
Sir Hugh Plat, in his Jewel House of Art and Nature, Y\
printed in 1594 (which Weston in his catalogue errone¬
ously gives to Gabriel Plattes), makes some useful obser¬
vations on manures, but chiefly collected from other wri¬
ters. His censure of the practice of leaving farm dung
lying scattered about is among the most valuable.
:ul.
e.
V
1 Some Considerations for the promoting of Agriculture and employing the Poor. Dublin, 1723.
Am ail* Sir John Norden’s Surveyor's Dialogue, printed in 1607, treated of at srmiP ™ i w '
L - and reprinted with additions in 1618, is a work of con- as an excellent cattle cron the^df8 are rcf?“™ended Agricul-
t^ ^siderable merit. The first three books of it relate to the be extended from the kSl,^ cu'ture “f '^'ch should, tore.
Korc.i- rights of the lord of the manor, and the various tenures Richard Weston must Wp t0 .the field* Slr^rv^,<'
by which landed property was then held, with the obliga- for Blythe says, that Sir Richard affirmeTtfhfmsIlfh
t,ons whtch they imposed. Among others we find the did feed his swine with them. They werefirst riven l5l a*
Singular custom so humorously described ,n the Spectator, but afterwards the swine came to eatThem raf Ind w ft
of the incontinent widow riding upon a ram. In the fifth run after the carts ami null thp™ ? fif ’ nd 7ould
book there are a good many judicious observations on the them ; an expression which convevsan hKafH g.atlvle-ed
“ different natures of grounds, how they may be employ- cultivated in the fidd7 7 a °f their bemg
when cattle have fed their fill, hogsfit is pretended, o are esLSmdS lyrite^
sappc of the grasse.- - Clouer jrasse, or the grasse —Te.d^nd “re^&d
honey suckle (white clover), is directed to be sown with it be of the best quality. His descrintion of tbp !
other hay seeds. ‘ Carrot rootes” were then raised in kinds of ploughs is interesting; and he uXrecommemk
several parts of England, and sometimes by farmers. Lon- such as were drawn by two horses fsome evenT off
don street and stable dung was carried to a distance by horse), in preference to the we mb tv nmlTl?, by one
wairr. inniigh ii apiaars from later writers to have bee?; which^equVed
the manures now used seem to have been then well
known; and he brought lime himself from a distance of
miles. He speaks of an instrument which ploughed
sowed, and harrowed at the same time ; and the setting of
corn was then a subject of much discussion. “ It was
not many years,” says Blythe, “ since the famous city of
.London petitioned the parliament of England against two
anusancies or offensive commodities, which were likely to
come into great use and esteem ; and that was Newcastle
coal, in regard of their stench, &c., and hops, in regard
Vesti
AGRICULTURE.
257
got for the trouble of removing. And leases of 21 years
are recommended for persons of small capital, as better
than employing it in purchasing land; an opinion that
prevails very generally among our present farmers.
Bees seem to have been great favourites with these
early writers; and among others, there is a treatise by
Butler, a gentleman of Oxford, called the Feminine Mo-
mrchie, or the History of Dees, printed in 1609, full of all
manner of quaintness and pedantry.
We shall pass over Markham, Mascall, Gabriel Plattes,
and several other authors of this period, the best part of they would snovle the toste nf 7’5°PVn re^d
their writings being preserved by Blythe and Harthb, of peopleT ^ the taSte °f drink> and endanger the
whom wp eVmll cmr q o* • i i 1 ^ V
whom we shall say a little immediately. In Sir Richard
Weston’s Discourse on the Husbandry of Brabant and Flan¬
ders, published by Hartlib in 1645, we may mark the dawn
of the vast improvements which have since been effected in
Britain. This gentleman was ambassador from England
to the elector palatine and king of Bohemia in 1619, and
Hartlib s Legacy is a very heterogeneous performance, Hartlib
containing, among some very judicious directions, a great
deal of rash speculation. Several of the deficiencies
which the writer complains of in English agriculture
must be placed to the account of our climate, and never
bad the merit of being the firsfwhol^^duc^V^ dation^arequTe uLZR theTtale of ^“oumrv
cbver, as it was then called, into English agriculture, about and display more of general knowledge and good inteir’
1645, and probably turnips also His directions for the tion, than of either the theory or practice of SricuTturP
It £77 i °Ler are better than WaS -0 be exPected* Among the subjects deserving notice may be mentioned
ariH Wr b6ft5 he S^yS’ ^hen y°U S°W 11 °n the worst the Practice of steeping and liming seed corn as a preven-
in Fmr].!'C1lCStTir°Und’ SU,Cb aS °1Ur WOrSt heath ground is tive of smut; changing every yea/the species of grain and
unslaokedVim 116 frKUndi ,1S ,t0 b? parfd and burnt’ and bringing seed corn from a distance ; ploughing down green
be ten n i T TStAhl addedt0 thc; asbes- Jt is next to crops as manure ; and feeding hors^with broken oatfand
clover seed mut he larr°Wed 5 and ?boat ponmls of chaff. This writer seems to differ a good deal from Blythe
nf Mo^i, TfvnbinteH T ^ ^ m 77 °r *7 end ab°Ut the advantage of interchanging tillage and pas fur e.
fLyL i . fdi° ?1r-serve seed’ ,then the se- “ were no losse to this island/’ he says, “ if that we
t be let stand till it enme in a Aiii sh0uld not plough at all, if so be that wetould certainly
have corn at a reasonable rate, and likewise vent for all our
of March.
cond crop must be let stand till it come to a full and dead
ripeness ; and you shall have at the least five bushels per
ar*rp_ ^ anan    • a •n i . /"• a
acre. Beinn- nnrp ° J10 fcl com at a reasonapie rate, and likewise vent for all our
being ploughed k wd7 vIpUI I aSt 76 yearS ; and tihen manufactures of wooland one reason for this is, that
m.lAP Ac . ’i 1 dA thr^e or four years together, pasture employeth more hands than tillage, instead of de-
rich“cmn^orwC^“1 nA^Z ?*’10Ur years together’ pasture employeth more hands than tillage, instead of de-
which clover seed t tr> \ d tC1 tbat ^ CrrP .of.oats’ ^lth populating the country, as was commonly imagined. The
. d is. ^bc soyn again. It is in itself an grout, which he mentions “ as coming over to us in Hol¬
land ships,” about which he desires information, was pro¬
bably the same with our present shelled barley ; and mills
Ithc.
11 . owvrxx again. XL IS III liseil ai
excellent manure, Sir Richard adds; and so it should be
o enable land to bear this treatment. In less than ten
years after its introduction, that is, before 1655, the cul¬
ture of clover, exactly according to the present method,
■ eems to have been well known in England, and it had
also made its way to Ireland.
for manufacturing it were introduced into Scotland from
Holland towards the beginning of the last century.
To the third edition, published in 1655, are subjoined
Dr Beatie’s Annotations, with the writer of the Legacy’s
A PTPflt ny,- ^ ,  . . neaues annotations, witn tne writer ot the Legacy s
time of the 1 ly w°r son agriculture appeared during the answers, both of them ingenious, and sometimes instruc-
Imnroved m° wblcb l%the’s Improver tive. But this cannot be said of Gabriel Plattes’s Mercu-
The firs! prPfi- *77 Sr. ^gwy, are the most valuable, rius Lcetijicans, also added to this edition, which is a most
of the latter 7717 Poj™er)wa® published in 1649, and extravagant production. There are also several commu-
subseouent pd,V U ’ and bodl tb.6?11 were enlarged in nications from Hartlib’s different correspondents, of which
Improved rm 1 107 •n tbGi ed*t*on oP fbe Improver the most interesting are those on the early cultivation and
of turn ins • kT-T" 18 /ya^6 c7ver’.nor in the second great value of clover. Hartlib himself does not appear
vol ii ’ U m t le tblrdj published in 1662, clover is much in this collection; but he seems to have been a
2 k
258
AGRICULTURE.
Agnail
ture.
Ray and
Evelyn.
Laws
against
very useful person in editing tlie works of others, and as
a collector of miscellaneous information on rural subjects.
It is strange that neither Blythe nor Hartlib, nor any of
Hartlib’s correspondents, seem ever to have heard of
Fitzherbert’s works. _
Among the other writers previous to the Revolution, we
shall only mention Ray the botanist and Evelyn, both men
of great talents and research, whose works are still in
high estimation. A new edition of Evelyn’s Silva and
Terra was published in 1777 by Dr Hunter, with large
notes and elegant engravings, and reprinted m 1812.
The preceding review commences with a period ot
feudal anarchy and despotism, and comes down to the
time when the exertions of individual interest were pro¬
tected and encouraged by the firm administration of equal
laws ; when the prosperity of Great Britain was no longer
retarded by internal commotions, nor endangered by hos¬
tile invasion.
The laws of this period, in so far as they relate to agri¬
culture and rural economy, display a similar progiess in
improvement. t
From the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. to the
laying ara- en^ of Elizabeth’s, a number of statutes were made for
hie land to the encouragement of tillage, though probably to little
pasture, pUrp0se. The great grievance of those days was the
practice of laying arable land to pasture, and suffering the
farm-houses to fall to ruin. “ Where in some towns,” says
the statute 4th Henry VII. (1488), “ two hundred persons
were occupied and lived of their lawful labours, now there
are occupied two or three herdsmen, and the residue fall
into idleness therefore it is ordained, that houses which
within three years have been let for farms, with twenty
acres of land lying in tillage or husbandry, shall be upheld,
under the penalty of half the profits, to be forfeited to the
king or the lord of the fee. Almost half a centuiy afto¬
wards, the practice had become still more alarming; and
in 1534 a new act was tried, apparently with as little suc¬
cess. “ Some have 24,000 sheep, some 20,000 sheep,
some 10,000, some 6000, some 4000, and some more and
some lessand yet it is alleged the price of wool had
nearly doubled, “ sheep being come to a few persons’
hands.” A penalty was therefore imposed on all who
kept above 2000 sheep; and no person was to take in
farm more than two tenements of husbandry. By the
39th Elizabeth (1597), arable land made pasture since the
1st Elizabeth shall be again converted into tillage, and
what is arable shall not be converted into pasture. ^
Many laws were enacted during this period against va¬
gabonds, as they were called ; and persons who could not
find employment seem to have been sometimes confound¬
ed with those who really preferred idleness and plunder.
The dissolution of the feudal system, and the suppression
of the monasteries, deprived a great part of the rural po¬
pulation of the means of support. They could not be em¬
ployed in cultivating the soil, for there was no middle
class of farmers possessed of capital to be vested in im¬
provements ; and what little disposable capital was in the
hands of great proprietors could not, in those rude times,
be so advantageously embarked in the expensive and pre¬
carious labours of growing corn, as in pasturage, which
required much less skill and superintendence. Besides,
there was a constant demand for wool on the Continent;
while the corn-market was not only confined by laws
against exportation, but fettered by restrictions on the in¬
ternal trade. The laws regarding the wages of labour
and the price of provisions are a further proof of the ig¬
norance of the age in regard to the proper subject of le- A
S1SBythe statute 1552 it is declared, that any person thatMxj
shall buy merchandise, victual, &c. coming to market,^*
or make any bargain for buying the same before they shall £
be in the market ready to be sold, or shall make any
motion for enhancing the price, or dissuade any person
from coming to market, or forbear to bring any of the
things to market, &c. shall be deemed a forestaller. Any
person who buys and sells again in the same market, or
within four miles thereof, shall be reputed a regrater. Any
person buying corn growing in the fields, or any other
corn, with intent to sell again, shall be reputed an unlaw¬
ful ingrosser. It was also declared, that no person shall
sell cattle within five weeks after he had bought them.
Licences, indeed, were to be granted in certain cases, and
particularly when the price of wheat was at or under 6s.
8d. a quarter, and other kinds of grain in that proportion.
The laws regarding the exportation and importation ofamrte.
corn during this period could have had little effect in en-guL
couraging agriculture, though towards the latter part of™
it they gradually approached that system which was finally
established at and soon after the Revolution. From the
time of the above-mentioned statute against forestallers,
which effectually prevented exportation, as well as the
freedom of the home trade, when corn was above the
price therein specified, down to 1688, there are at least
twelve statutes on this subject; and some of them are so
nearly the same, that it is probable they were not very
carefully observed. The price at which wheat was allowed
to be exported was raised from 6s. 8d. a quarter, the price
fixed by the 1st and 2d of Philip and Mary (1553), to 10s.
in 1562 ; to 20s. in 1593 ; to 26s. 8d. in 1604 ; to 32s. in
1623; to 40s. in 1660; to 48s. in 1663; and at last, in
1670, exportation was virtually permitted without limita¬
tion. Certain duties, however, were payable, which in
some cases seem to have amounted to a prohibition; and
until 1660 importation was not restrained even in years
of plenty and cheapness. In permitting exportation, the
object appears to have been revenue rather than the en¬
couragement of production.
The first statute for levying tolls at turnpikes, to make
or repair roads in England, passed in 1662.
Of the state of agriculture in Scotland in the 16th andAi
the greater part of the 17th century, very little is known ;^u
no professed treatise on the subject appeared till after the^
Revolution. The south-eastern counties were the earliestaD
improved, and yet in 1660 their condition seems to havece
been very wretched. Ray, who made a tour along t ic
eastern coast in that year, says, “ we observed little ox no
fallow grounds in Scotland; some ley ground we saw, which
they manured with sea wreck. The men seemed to be
very lazy, and may be frequently observed to plough m
their cloaks. It is the fashion of them to wear cloaks
when they go abroad, but especially on Sundays, they
have neither good bread, cheese, nor drink. They cannot
make them, nor will they learn. Their butter is very in¬
different, and one would wonder how they could contrive
to make it so bad. They use much pottage made of coal-
wort, which they call kail, sometimes broth of decorticate
barley. The ordinary country-houses are pitiful cots, bui
of stone and covered with turfs, having in them but one
room, many of them no chimneys, the windows very sma
holes, and not glazed. The ground. in the valleys an
plains bears very good corn, but especially bears bar ey
bigge, and oats, but rarely wheat and rye.”1
> nil
Select Remains of John Ray. Lond. 1760.
AGRICULTURE.
It‘s probable that no great change ban taken place in
t e. Scotland from the end of the 15th century, except that
tenants gradually became possessed of a little stock of
their own, instead of having their farm stocked by the
landlord. “ The minority of James V., the reign of Mary
Stuart, the infancy of her son, and the civil wars of her
grandson Charles L, were all periods of lasting waste.
The very laws which were made during successive reigns,
for protecting the tillers of the soil from spoil, are the
best proofs of the deplorable state of (die husbandman.”1
Yet in the 17th century were those laws made which
paved the way for the present improved system of agri¬
culture in Scotland; By statute 1633, landholders were en¬
abled to have their tithes valued, and to buy them either
at nine or six years’ purchase, according to the nature of
the property. The statute 1685j conferring on landlords
a power to entail their estates, was indeed of a very dif¬
ferent tendency in regard to its effects on agriculture.
But the two acts in 1695, for the division of commons,
and separation of intermixed properties, have facilitated
in an eminent degree the progress of improvement.
j>:og 5s of From the Revolution to the accession of George III. the
ipriqtureprogress of agriculture was by no means so considerable as
fromj)88 we fog }ec[ t0 imagine from the great exportation of
101 f corn. It is the opinion of well-informed writers,2 that
very little improvement had taken place, either in the
cultivation of the soil or in the management of live
stock, from the Restoration down to the middle of last
century. Even clover and turnips, the great support of
the present improved system of agriculture, were confined
to a few districts, and at the latter period were scarcely
cultivated at all by common farmers in the northern part
of the island. Of the writers of this period, therefore, we
shall notice only such as describe some improvement in
the modes of culture, or some extension of the practices
that were formerly little known.
In Houghton’s Collections on Husbandry and Trade, a
periodical work begun in 1681, we have the first notice
of turnips being eaten by sheep. “ Some in Essex have
their fallow after turnips, which feed their sheep in winter,
by which means the turnips are scooped, and so made
capable to hold dews and rain water, which, by corrupting,
imbibes the nitre of the air, and when the shell breaks it
runs about and fertilizes. By feeding the sheep, the land
is dunged as if it had been folded; and those turnips,
though few or none be carried off for human use, are a
very excellent improvement, nay, some reckon it so though
they only plough the turnips in without feeding.”3 This
was written in February 1694; but ten years before, Wor-
hdge, one of his correspondents, observes, “ sheep fatten
very well on turnips, which prove an excellent nourish¬
ment for them in hard winters, when fodder is scarce ; for
they will not only eat the greens, but feed on the roots in
the ground, and scoop them hollow even to the very skin,
len acres (he adds) sown with clover, turnips, &c. will
eed as many sheep as one hundred acres thereof would
before have done.”4
« Tk t^'S » Potatoes were beginning to attract notice.
e potato, says Houghton, “ is a bacciferous herb,
ww esculent roots, bearing winged leaves and a bell
259
“ This, I have been informed, was brought first out of
irgima by Sir Walter Raleigh ; and he stopping at Ire¬
land, some was planted there, where it thrived very well A-ricul
oIHIip g00d PurP°se ; for their succeeding warsfwhen ture.
all the corn above the ground was destroyed, this supported   
them; for the soldiers, unless they had dug up all the
ground where they grew, and almost sifted it, could not
extn pate them ; from whence they were brought to Lan-
cashire, where they are very numerous, and now they be"
gm to spread all the kingdom over. They are a pleasant
food boiled or roasted, and eaten with butter and sugar,
ihere is a sort brought from Spain, that are of a longer
xoi m? and are more luscious than ours ; they are much set
by, and sold for sixpence or eightpence the pound.”5
The next writer is Mortimer, whose Whole Art of Mortimer
Husbandry was published in 1706, and has since run
through several editions. It is a regular, systematic work,
of considerable merit; and it does not appear that much
improvement has been made since in the practices he de¬
scribes, in many parts of Britain. From the third edition
of Hartlib’s Legacy, we learn that clover was cut green,
and given to cattle; and it appears that this practice of
soiling, as it is now called, had become very common
about the beginning of last century, wherever clover was
cultivated. Ryegrass was now sown along with it. Tur¬
nips were hand-hoed, and extensively employed in feed¬
ing sheep and cattle, in the same manner as at present.
The first considerable improvement in the practice ofTull.
that period was introduced by Jethro Tull, a gentleman
of Berkshire, who began to drill wheat and other crops
about the year 1701, and whose Horse-hoeing Husbandry
was published in 1731. In giving a short account of the
innovations of this eccentric writer, it is not meant to en¬
ter into any discussion of their merits. It will not detract
much from his reputation to admit that, like most other
men who leave the beaten path, he was sometimes misled
by inexperience, and sometimes deceived by a too san¬
guine imagination. Had Tull confined his recommenda¬
tion of the drill husbandry to leguminous and bulbous-
rooted plants generally, and to the cereal gramina only in
particular circumstances; and had he, without puzzling
himself about the food of plants, been contented with
pointing out the great advantage of pulverizing the soil
in most cases, and extirpating weeds in every case, he
would certainly have deserved a high rank among the
benefactors of his country. A knowledge of his doctrines
and practice, however, will serve as a necessary introduc¬
tion to the present approved modes of culture.
Tull’s theory is promulgated with great confidence;
and in the controversy which he thought proper to main¬
tain in support of it, he scrupled not to employ ridicule
as well as reasoning. Besides the Roman writers De lie
Bustica, Virgil in particular, whom he treats with high
disdain, he is almost equally severe on Woodward, Brad¬
ley, and other writers of his own time.
As the distance between his rows appeared much
greater than was necessary for the range of the roots of
the plants, Tull begins by showing that these roots ex¬
tend much farther than is commonly believed, and then
proceeds to inquire into the nature of their food. After
examining several hypotheses, he decides this to be fine
particles of earth. The chief, and almost the only use of
dung, he thinks, is to divide the earth, to dissolve “ this
terrestrial matter, which affords nutriment to the mouths
of vegetable rootsand this can be done more complete-
1 Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 732.
1 Annals of Agriculture, No. 270. Harte’s Essays. Comber on National Subsistence, p. 1G1.
3 Houghton’s Collections on Husbandry and Trade, vol. i. p. 213. edit. 1728.
4 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 142-144. , s jud. vol. ii. p. 4G8.
260
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- ly by tillage. It is therefore necessary not only to pul-
ture. verize the soil by repeated ploughings before it be seed-
but, as it becomes gradually more and more com¬
pressed afterwards, recourse must be had to tillage while
the plants are growing, and this is hoeing, which also de¬
stroys the weeds that would deprive the plants of their
nourishment.
The leading features of Tull’s husbandry are his prac¬
tice of laying the land into narrow ridges of five or six
feet, and upon the middle of these drilling one, two, or
three rows, distant from one another about seven inches
when there were three, and ten inches when only two.
The distance of the plants on one ridge from those on the
contiguous one he called an interval; the distance be¬
tween the rows on the same ridge, a space or partition:
the former was stirred repeatedly by the horse-hoe, the
latter by the hand-hoe.
The extraordinary attention this ingenious person gave
to his mode of culture is perhaps without a parallel:—“ I
formerly was at much pains,” he says, “ and at some
charge in improving my drills for planting the rows at
very near distances, and had brought them to such per¬
fection, that one horse would draw a drill with eleven
shares, making the rows at three inches and a half dis¬
tance from one another; and at the same time sow in
them three very different sorts of seeds, which did not
mix; and these, too, at different depths. As the barley-
rows were seven inches asunder, the barley lay four inches
deep. A little more than three inches above that, in the
same channels, was clover; betwixt every two of these
rows was a row of St Foin, covered half an inch deep.
“ I had a good crop of barley the first year; the next
year two crops of broad clover, where that was sown;
and where hop-clover was sown, a mixed crop of that and
St Foin ; but I am since, by experience, so fully convinced
of the folly of these, or any other mixed crops, and more
especially of narrow spaces, that I have demolished these
instruments in their full perfection as a vain curiosity,
the drift and use of them being contrary to the true prin¬
ciples and practice of horse-hoeing.1”
In the culture of wheat, he began with ridges six feet
broad, or eleven on a breadth of 66 feet; but on this he
afterwards had fourteen ridges. After trying different
numbers of rows on a ridge, he at last preferred two, with
an intervening space of about ten inches. He allowed
only three pecks of seed for an acre. The first hoeing
was performed by turning a furrow from the row, as soon
as the plant had put forth four or five leaves; so that it
was done before or at the beginning of winter. The next
hoeing was in spring, by which the earth was returned to
the plants. The subsequent operations depended upon
the circumstances and condition of the land and the state
of the weather. The next year’s crop of wheat was sown
upon the intervals which had been unoccupied the former
year; but this he does not seem to think was a matter of
much consequence. “ My field,” he observes, “ whereon
is now the thirteenth crop of wheat, has shown that the
rows may successfully stand upon any part of the ground.
The ridges of this field were, for the twelfth crop,
changed from six feet to four feet six inches. In order
for this alteration the ridges were ploughed down, and
then the next ridges were laid out the same way as the
former, but one foot six inches narrower, and the double
rows drilled on their tops; whereby, of consequence,
there must be some rows standing on every part of the
ground, both on the former partitions, and on every part
of the intervals. Notwithstanding this, there was no Agi.
manner of difference in the goodness of the rows; and ti
the whole field was in every part of it equal, and the bcst^M
I believe that ever grew on it. It is now the thirteenth
crop, likely to be good, though the land was not ploughed
crossways.”2
It follows from this singular management, that Tull
thought a succession of crops of different species alto¬
gether unnecessary ; and he labours hard to prove against
Ur Woodward, that the advantages of such a change un¬
der his plan of tillage were quite chimerical; though he
seems to admit the benefit of a change of the seed itself.
But the best method of determining the question would
have been to have stated the amount of his crops per
acre, and the quality of the grain, instead of resting the
superiority of his management on the alleged saving of
expense, when compared with the common broad-cast
husbandry.
On the culture of turnip, both his principles and his
practice are much more correct. The ridges were of the
same breadth as for wheat, but only one row was drilled
on each. His management while the crop was growing
differs very little from the present practice. When drilled
on the level, it is impossible, he observes, to hoe-plough
them so well as when they are planted upon ridges.
But the seed was deposited at different depths, the half
about four inches deep, and the other half exactly over
that, at the depth of half an inch. “ Thus planted, let
the weather be never so dry, the deepest seed will come
up; but if it raineth immediately after planting, the shal¬
low will come up first. We also make it come up at four
times, by mixing our seed half new and half old, the new
coming up a day quicker than the old. These four
comings up give it so many chances for escaping the fly;
it being often seen that the seed sown over night will be
destroyed by the fly, when that sown the next morning
will escape, and vice versa : or you may hoe-plough them
when the fly is like to devour them; this will bury the
greatest part of these enemies: or else you may drill in
another toav without new-ploughing the land.”
Drilling and horse and hand-hoeing seem to have been
in use before the publication of Tull’s book. “ Hoeing,”
he says, “ may be divided into deep, which is our horse-
hoeing; and shallow, which is the English hand-hoeing;
and also the shallow horse-hoeing used in some places
betwixt rows, where the intervals are very narrow, as 16
or 18 inches. This is but an imitation of the hand-hoe,
or a succedaneum to it, and can neither supply the use of
dung nor fallow, and may be properly called scratch-
hoeing.” But in his mode of forming ridges his practice
seems to have been original; his implements display much
ingenuity; and his claim to the title of father of the pre¬
sent horse-hoeing husbandry'’ of Great Britain seems in¬
disputable. A translation of Tull’s book was undertaken
at one and the same time in France, by three different
persons of consideration, without the privity of each other.
Two of them afterwards put their papers into the hands
of the third, M. Du Hamel du Monceau of the Royal
Academy of Sciences at Paris, who published a treatise
on husbandry, on the principles of Mr Tull, a few years
after. But Tull seems to have had very few followers in
England for more than 30 years. The present method of
drilling and horse-hoeing turnips was not introduced into
Northumberland till about the year 1780 ;3 and it was
then borrowed from Scotland, the farmers of which had
the merit of first adopting Tull’s management in the cul-
1 Horse-hoeing Husbandry, p. 62. Lond. 1762.
8 Ibid. p. 424.
Northumberland Survey, p. 100.
AGRICULTURE.
Ac :ul- ture of this root about 1760, and from whom it has since
t'e. madeitsway, butslowly, into thesouthern partof theisland.
Among the English writers of this period may be men¬
tioned Bradley, Lawrence, Hales, Miller, Ellis, Smith,
Hill, Hitt, Lisle, and Home. Most of their works went
through several editions in a few years; at once a proof
of the estimation in which they were held, and of the di¬
rection of the public mind towards investigating the prin¬
ciples and practice of agriculture.
Wri rson Of the progress of the art in Scotland, till towards the
Scot i end of the 17th century, we are almost entirely ignorant.
Busbjdiy. ijpjjg first work, written by Donaldson, was printed in
D°n son,i697, under the title of Husbandry Anatomized; or,
an Inquiry into the Present Manner of Teiling and Ma¬
nuring the Ground in Scotland. It appears from this
treatise, that the state of the art was not more advanced
at that time in North Britain than it had been in Eng¬
land in the time of Fitzherbert. Farms were divided into
infield and outfield; corn crops followed one another
without the intervention of fallow, cultivated herbage, or
turnips, though something is said about fallowing the
outfield; inclosures were very rare; the tenantry had not
begun to emerge from a state of great poverty and de¬
pression; and the wages of labour, compared with the
price of corn, were much lower than at present; though
that price, at least in ordinary years, must appear ex¬
tremely moderate in our times. Leases for a term of
years, however, were not uncommon; but the want of
capital rendered it impossible for the tenantry to attempt
any spirited improvements.
Donaldson first points out the common management of
that period, which he shows to have been very unproduc¬
tive ; and afterwards recommends what he thinks would
be a more profitable course. “ Of the dale ground,” he
says, “ that is, such lands as are partly hills and partly
valleys, of which sorts may be comprehended the greatest
part of arable ground in this kingdom, I shall suppose a
farmer to have a lease or tack of three score acres, at
three hundred merks of rent per annum (L.16. 13s. 4d.
sterling). Perhaps some who are not acquainted with
rural affairs may think this cheap; but those who are the
possessors thereof think otherwise, and find difficulty
enough to get the same paid, according to their present
way of manuring thereof. But that I may proceed to the
comparison, I shall show how commonly this farm-room
is managed. It is commonly divided into two parts, viz.
one-third croft, and two-thirds outfield, as it is termed.
The croft is usually divided into three parts; to wit, one-
tliird barley, which is always dunged that year barley is
sown thereon ; another third oats ; and the last third peas.
The outside field is divided into two parts, to wit, the one
half oats, and the other half grass, two years successively.
Hie product which may be supposed to be on each acre
of croft, four bolls (three Winchester quarters), and that of
the outfield, three (2^- quarters) ; the quota is seven score
bolls, which we shall also reckon at five pounds (8s. 4d.)
per boll, cheap year and dear year one with another. This,
in all, is worth L.700 (L.58. 6s. 8d. sterling).
“ Then let us see what profit he can make of his cattle.
According to the division of his lands, there is 20 acres
of grass, which cannot be expected to be very good, be¬
cause it gets not leave to lie above two years, and there¬
fore cannot be well swarded. However, usually, besides
tour horses, which are kept for ploughing the said land,
ten or twelve nolt are also kept upon a farm-room of the
above-mentioned bounds; but, in respect of the badness
of the grass, as said is, little profit is had of them. Per¬
haps two or three stone of butter is the most that can be
made of the milk of his kine the whole summer, and not
261
above two heffers brought up each year. As to what Agricul-
profit may be made by bringing up young horses, I shall ture.
say nothing, supposing he keeps his stock good by those
of his own upbringing. The whole product, then, of his
cattle cannot be reykoned above fifty merks (L.2. 15s. 6d )
For, in respect his beasts are in a manner half-starved
they are generally small; so that scarce may a heffer be
sold at above twelve pounds (L.l sterling). The whole
product of this farm-room, therefore, exceeds not the value
of L.733 (L.61. Is. 8d. sterling), or thereabout.” The la¬
bourers employed on this farm were two men and one woman,
besides a herd in summer, and other servants in harvest.’
Donaldson then proceeds to point out a different mode
of management, which he calculates to be more profit¬
able ; but no notice is taken of either clover or turnips
as crops to be raised in his new course, though they are
incidentally noticed in other parts of the work.
“ I also recommend potatoes as a very profitable root
for husbandmen and others that have numerous families.
And because there is a peculiar way of planting this root,
not commonly known in this country, I shall here show
what way it is ordinarily planted or set. The ground
must be dry; and so much the better it is if it have a
good soard of grass. The beds or riggs are made about
eight foot broad, good store of dung being laid upon your
ground; horse or sheep dung is the proper manure for
them. Throw each potatoe or sett (for they were some¬
times cut into setts) into a knot of dung, and afterwards
dig earth out of the furrows, and cover them all over,
about some three or four inches deep; the furrows left
between your riggs must be about two foot broad, and
little less will they be in depth before your potatoes be
covered. You need not plant this root in your garden;
they are commonly set in the fields, and wildest of ground,
for enriching of it.” As to their consumption, they were
sometimes “ boiled and broken, and stirred with butter
and new milk; also roasted, and eaten with butter; yea,
some make bread of them, by mixing them with oat or
barley meal; others parboil them, and bake them with
apples, after the manner of tarts.”
There is a good deal in this little treatise about sheep,
and other branches of husbandry; and, if the writer was
well informed, as in most instances he appears to have
been, his account of prices, of wages, and generally of the
practices of that period, is very interesting.
The next work on the husbandry of Scotland is, ThejMX& Bei.
Countrymans Rudiments, or an advice to the Farmers haven.
in East Lothian, how to labour and improve their grounds ;
said to have been written by Lord Belhaven about the
time of the Union, and reprinted in 1723. In this we
have a deplorable picture of the state of agriculture in
what is now the most highly improved county in Scot¬
land. His lordship begins with a very high encomium
on his own performance. “ I dare be bold to say,
there was never such a good easy method of husbandry
as this, so succinct, extensive, and methodical in all
its parts, published before.” And he bespeaks the fa¬
vour of those to whom he addresses himself, by adding,
“ neither shall I affright you with hedging, ditch¬
ing, marling, chalking, paring and burning, draining,
watering, and Such like, which are all very good improve¬
ments indeed, and very agreeable with the soil and situ¬
ation of East Lothian ; but I know ye cannot bear as yet
a crowd of improvements, this being only intended to ini¬
tiate you in the true method and principles of husbandry.”
The farm-rooms in East Lothian, as in other districts,
were divided into infield and outfield. “ The infield
(where wheat is sown) is generally divided by the tenant
into four divisions, or breaks, as they call them, viz. one
262
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- of wheat, one of barley, one of pease, and one of oats; so
ture. that the wheat is sowed after the pease, the barley after
',-0!^v>,^/the wheat, and the oats after the barley. The outfield
land is ordinarily made use of promiscuously for feeding
of their cows, horse, sheep, and oxen; ’tis also dunged
by their sheep, who lay in earthen folds ; and sometimes,
when they have much of it, they fauch or fallow a part
of it yearly.” Under this management the produce seems
to have been three times the seed; and yet, says his
lordship, “ if in East Lothian they did not leave a higher
stubble than in other places of the kingdom, their grounds
would be in a much worse condition than at present they
are, though bad enough.”—“ A good crop of corn makes
a good stubble, and a good stubble is the equalest
mucking that is.” Among the advantages of inclosures,
he observes, “ you will gain much more labour from your
servants, a great part of whose time was taken up in ga¬
thering thistles and other garbage for their horses to feed
upon in their stables; and thereby the great trampling
and pulling up, and other destruction of the corns, while
they are yet tender, will be prevented.” Potatoes and
turnips are recommended to be sown in the yard (kitchen-
garden). Clover does not seem to have been in use.
Rents were paid in corn ; and, for the largest farm, which
he thinks should employ no more than two ploughs, the
rent wns about six chalders of victual “ when the ground
is very good, and four in that which is not so good. But
I am most fully convinced they should take long leases
or tacks, that they may not be straitened with time in the
improvement of their rooms; and this is profitable both
for master and tenant.”
Society of Such was the state of the husbandry of Scotland in the
Improvers, early part of last century. The first attempts at improve¬
ment cannot be traced farther back than 1723, when a
number of landholders formed themselves into a society,
under the title of the Society of Improvers in the Know¬
ledge of Agriculture in Scotland. The earl of Stair, one
of their most active members, is said to have been the
first who cultivated turnips in that country. The Select
Transactions of this society were collected and published
Maxwell, in 1743 by Mr Maxwnll, who took a large part in its
proceedings. It is evident from this book that the society
had exerted itself in a very laudable manner, and appa¬
rently with considerable success, in introducing culti¬
vated herbage and turnips, as well as in improving the
former methods of culture. But there is reason to believe
that the influence of the example of its numerous mem¬
bers did not extend to the common tenantry, who are al¬
ways unwilling to adopt the practices of those who are
placed in a higher rank, and supposed to cultivate land
for pleasure rather than profit. Though this society, the
earliest probably in the United Kingdom, soon counted
upwards of 300 members, it existed little more than 20
years. Maxwell delivered lectures on agriculture for one
or two sessions at Edinburgh, which, from the specimen
he has left, ought to have been encouraged.
In the introductory paper in Maxwell’s collection, we
are told, that “ the practice of draining, inclosing, summer
fallowing, sowing flax, hemp, rape, turnip and grass seeds,
planting cabbages after, and potatoes with, the plough, in
fields of great extent, is introduced ; and that, according
to the general opinion, more corn grows now yearly where
it was never known to grow before, these twenty years last
past, than perhaps a sixth of all that the kingdom was in
use to produce at any time before.”
Invention In this work we find the first notice of a threshing-ma-
of a _ chine ; it was invented by Mr Michael Menzies, advocate,
threshing- w]10 obtained a patent for it. Upon a representation made
mac me. t0 society that it was to be seen working in several
places, they appointed two of their number to inspect it; a
and in their report they say, that one man would be
sufficient to manage a machine which would do the work^
of six. One of the machines was “ moved by a great water¬
wheel and triddles,” and another “ by a little wheel of
three feet diameter, moved by a small quantity of water.”
This machine the society recommended to all gentlemen
and farmers.
The next work is by the same Mr Maxwell, printed in
1757, and entitled the Practical Husbandman; being a
collection of miscellaneous papers on Husbandry, &c. In
this book the greater part of the Select Transactions is re¬
published, with a number of new papers, among which, an
Essay on the Husbandry of Scotland, with a proposal for
the improvement of it, is the most valuable. In this he
lays it down as a rule, that it is bad husbandry to take
two crops of grain successively, which marks a consider¬
able progress in the knowledge of modern husbandry;
though he adds, that in Scotland the best husbandmeti
after a fallow take a crop of wheat; after the wheat, peas;
then barley, and then oats; and after that they fallow
again. The want of inclosures was still a matter of com¬
plaint. The ground continued to be cropped so long as it
produced twm seeds; the best farmers were contented
with four seeds, which was more than the general produce.
The first act of parliament for collecting tolls on the
highway in Scotland was passed in ITbO, for repairing
the road from Dunglass bridge to Haddington. In ten
years after, several acts followed for the counties of Edin¬
burgh and Lanark, and for making the roads between
Edinburgh and Glasgow. The benefit which agriculture
has derived from good roads, it would not be easy to esti¬
mate. The want of them was one great cause of the slow
progress of the art in former times.
The Revolution in 1688 was the epoch of that system of
corn laws to which very great influence has been ascribed,
both on the practice of agriculture and the general pro¬
sperity of the country. But for an account of these and
later statutes on the subject, we must refer to the article
Cohn Laws.
The exportation of wTool was prohibited in 1647, in
1660, and in 1688 ; and the prohibition strictly enforced
by subsequent statutes. The effect of this on its price,
and the state of the wool trade,’ from the earliest period
to the middle of last century, are distinctly exhibited by
the learned and laborious author of Memoirs on Wool,
printed in 1747.
The gradual advance in the price of land produce Prog
soon after the year 1760, occasioned by the increase ofdncc
population, and of wealth derived from manufactures and
commerce, has given a more powerful stimulus to rural
industry, augmented agricultural capital in a greater de¬
gree, and called forth a more skilful and enterprising race
of cultivators, than all the laws for regulating the corn
trade could ever have effected. Most of the inven¬
tions for increasing produce and economizing labour have
either been introduced, or improved and greatly extended,
since that time ; and by means of both, the free surplus
has been vastly increased for the supply of the general
consumption. The passing of more than 3000 bills of
inclosure, in the late reign, before which the whole num¬
ber was only 244, is a proof how much more rapidly the
cultivation of new land has proceeded than formerly; and
the garden-like appearance of the country, as well as
the striking improvement in the condition of all classes of
the rural population, display, in the most decided manner,
the skill and the success with which this great branch of
national industry is now followed throughout the greater
part of Britain.
'Ul.
!.
\
a
AGRICULTURE.
263
In a view of the progress of husbandry, any consider-
U" able improvements in the species of crops cultivated, and
s^^the order in which they succeed one another, in agricul¬
tural machinery, and in the kinds and varieties of live
stock, are entitled to hold a very prominent place. Our
limits do not permit us to do more than just to notice a
few of the most important here; but we shall have occasion
to describe them more fully in the second part of this ar¬
ticle, when treating on the practice and present state of
our agriculture. .
jUte ite The great line of distinction between the present and
huskdry. former courses of cropping, consists in the alternation
of what are called exhausting and ameliorating crops.
The best cultivators rarely take two corn crops in suc-
•cession; but corn is almost universally succeeded by a
leguminous crop, or one of herbage, cut or pastured, or
turnips, cabbages, rape, &c.; or, when the soil is not suited
to turnips, by a summer fallow, recurring at as distant an
interval as its condition will permit. In common lan¬
guage, a green or a pulse crop, or a plain fallow, is
interposed between every two white corn crops. These
green crops not only preserve the fertility of the soil,
but when sown in rows, as most of them usually are,
they afford an opportunity of extirpating weeds, by the
use of the horse and hand hoe ; and even when sown
broad-cast, by their taking complete possession of the
ground, if it is properly prepared, the growth of weeds is
effectually checked. In other respects, these interme¬
diate crops are of the utmost importance in every good
course of management. Whether they be eaten on the
ground or carried to the farm houses and straw yards,
much valuable manure is obtained from their consump¬
tion ; and on sandy or gravelly soils, when only a part of a
turnip crop is eaten by sheep on the ground, the greatest
defect of such land is removed by their treading, and in
many cases it is rendered capable of producing as valuable
a crop of wheat as soils of a closer texture. It is for
these reasons that, by the cultivation of clover, and
turnips in particular, in regular alternation with corn, the
soil is so much enriched as to yield as much corn on the
half of any given extent of land as the whole did under
the old course of successive crops of corn; and, unless
upon strong clays, an unproductive fallow is wholly dis¬
pensed with.
But these crops are not less valuable in another point
of view. Before the introduction of clover and turnips,
there was nothing for the maintenance of live stock but
natural herbage in summer, with the addition of hay and
straw in winter; and in the northern parts of the island
in particular, where the winters are long and severe, it
was seldom possible to do more, for about half the year,
than preserve cattle and sheep from starving. Even in
the most favourable situations, very little butcher-meat
could be brought to market from December to June, un¬
less at an expense wdiich the great body of consumers
were quite unable to reimburse. The more early matu¬
rity of cattle and sheep, and the regular supply of the
market throughout the year, are therefore chiefly owing
to turnips and clover, as well as the vast increase in the
number of the live stock kept on arable land, and the great
degree of perfection to which some breeds have been
brought by the skilful experiments of several eminent
agriculturists.
Among these, the first place is unquestionably due to
e'" Ilobert Bakewell of Dishley, in Leicestershire. By
his skilful selection at first, and constant care afterwards,
to breed from the best animals, he at last obtained a va¬
riety of sheep, which, for early maturity, and the property
of returning a great produce of mutton for the food they
consume, as well as for the small proportion which the Agricul-
weight of the offal bears to that of the four quarters, are ture.
altogether unequalled either in this or any other country,
The Dishley or new Leicester sheep, and their crosses, are
now spread oyer the principal corn districts of Britain;
and, from their quiet domesticated habits, are probably
still the most profitable of all the varieties of sheep, on
farms where the rearing and fattening of live stock are
combined with the best courses of tillage crops.
< The practice of Mr Bakewell and his followers fur¬
nishes an instance of the benefits of the division of labour,
in a department of business where it was little to be ex¬
pected. Their males were let out every year to breeders
from all parts of England; and thus, by judiciously cross¬
ing the old races, all the valuable properties of the Dish¬
ley variety descended, after three or four generations, to
their posterity. By no other means could this new breed
have spread so rapidly, or been made to accommodate it¬
self so easily to a change of climate and pasture. Another
recommendation of this plan was, that the ram-hirer had a
choice among a number of males of somewhat different
properties, and in a more or less advanced stage of im¬
provement, from which it was his business to select such
as suited his particular object. These were reared by ex¬
perienced men, who gave their principal attention to this
branch alone; and having the best females as well as
males, they were able to furnish the necessary supply of
young males in the greatest variety, to those farmers
whose time was occupied with other pursuits. The prices
at which Mr Bakewell’s rams were hired appear enor¬
mous. In 1789 he received twelve hundred guineas for
the hire of three brought at one birth; two thousand for
seven; and for his whole letting, at least three thousand
guineas.
Merino sheep were first brought into England in 1788, Merinos,
when his late Majesty procured a small flock by way of
Portugal. In 1791 another flock was imported from
Spain. In 1804, when the annual sales commenced, this
race began to attract much notice. Dr Parry of Bath
crossed the Ryeland or Herefordshire sheep with the
Merinos, and brought the wool of the fourth generation
to a degree of fineness not excelled, it is said, by that of
the pure Merino itself; while the carcass, in which the
great defect of the Merinos consists, has been much im¬
proved. Lord Somerville and many other gentlemen
have bestowed much attention on this valuable race, which,
however, has not spread itself over the country; and the
wool is understood to have deteriorated.
One of the most valuable plants introduced into culti-Swedish
vation since 1760 is the ruta baga or Swedish turnip, turnip,
which in a great degree supplies the great desideratum of
late spring food for live stock, after the common turnip is
generally much damaged, and sometimes almost wholly
destroyed, by the severity and changes of the weather.
The Scotish yellow turnip is for the same reason a most
useful variety, coming in between the white turnips and
the Swedish, in some situations supplying the place of the
latter, and yielding generally a larger produce. A new
variety of oats, called the potato oat, was accidentally
discovered in 1788. It comes early, and gives, a large pro¬
duce both in grain and in meal, on good soils; and was
soon cultivated over all the north of England and south of
Scotland. But it has already begun to degenerate. A
good many varieties of summer wheat have been intro¬
duced of late, but they are only partially cultivated.
Under the head of agricultural machinery, we need only Threshing
notice the improvement of the swing-plough by Small, machine,
and of the threshing-machine by Meikle ; though the lat¬
ter may rather claim the entire merit of the invention.
264
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
We shall have Occasion to notice in its proper place the
progress that has been made towards perfecting a ma¬
chine for reaping corn, still an important desideratum.
The agriculture of Scotland has been benefited by an
act in 1770, which relaxed the rigour of strict entails,
and extended the powers of proprietors, in so far as re¬
gards the improvement of their estates and the granting
of leases; but there is still much room for improvement
in this branch of our legal polity.
Agricultu- There is nothing that shows more clearly the rapid pro-
ral Socle- gress of agriculture in Britain, than the great number of
societies that have been lately formed, one or more in al¬
most every county, for the diffusion of knowledge, and
the encouragement of correct operations and beneficial
discoveries. We have already noticed the Society of
Improvers established in Scodand in 1723. Besides
those respectable associations which have for their object
the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce
generally, several large institutions have been formed,
whose chief purpose is the improvement of agriculture.
Among these the Bath and West of England Society, es¬
tablished in 1777, and the Highland Society of Scotland,
in 1784, hold a conspicuous rank; nor ought we to pass
over in silence the labours of the National Board of Agri¬
culture, formed in 1793, but since abolished, which by
means of the county-surveys has made us acquainted with
the rural affairs of every part of the kingdom.
A great many excellent works on agriculture, and rela¬
tive subjects, have been published since 1760; and among
these several periodical miscellanies have been favourably
received and widely circulated. But as they are com¬
paratively recent, and the best of them well known, it is
unnecessary to give any particular account either of their
merits or defects.
Sj
Soils.
Part II.
The Practice of British Agriculture.
We come now to our leading object, the present state of
British agriculture, especially as it is found in our best
cultivated counties. It is not our purpose to exhibit
general views of a statistical nature,—such as the extent
and produce of our territory, considered under the seve¬
ral divisions of corn-land, pastures, and wastes or tracts
still in a state of nature. The proportion which each of
these bears to the whole cannot perhaps be fixed with
tolerable accuracy at any time, and is continually varying;
and with regard to the aggregate produce, we have seen
nothing but conjectural estimates, which, as might be ex¬
pected, differ greatly from one another.
. The first thing which naturally calls for our attention
in a treatise on the practice of agriculture is the Soil,
which may be termed the raw material on which the cul¬
tivator has to operate, and according to the nature of
which his general management as well as his labour in
detail must in a great measure be regulated.
In penetrating the superficial stratum, the first circum¬
stance which presents itself is the different degree of re¬
sistance required to be overcome in different situations.
Its component parts are found to be more or less cohesive ;
in some places nearly all of the same consistency, and in
others mixed with decayed roots and small stones. The
colour is also different, without any perceptible difference
in other respects. These are the obvious varieties which
occur immediately beneath the surface, or in what is pro¬
perly called the soilj but upon going a little deeper, the
texture and. colour undergo further changes, even in the
same situation. A compact, impervious mass, often im¬
bedded with stones, sometimes succeeds to a superficial
stratum of the most incohesive materials: elsewhere th
solid and dense surface soil passes, though commonly h* '
slower gradations, into a substratum of an opposite de^
scription; and in many parts the rock itself, from which
the soil is supposed to have been formed, rises so near the
surface as to stop all further progress.
In addition to these obvious distinctions, it is soon ob¬
served that some soils are slow to admit moisture, and do
not speedily part with it, but when dried become so in-
durated as to be reduced to a pulverulent state with great
difficulty; while others are so porous as to allow water to
pass through them freely, and so open to the influence of
the atmosphere, that if it meets with any obstruction from
the subsoil, it is very soon carried off by evaporation.
In the classification of soils with a view to practical uti¬
lity, therefore, they may be all reduced under two general
divisions, according to their texture. The terms stiff
heavy, strong, cohesive, and others of the same import, all
denote soils of which the basis or principal ingredient is
clay ; as, on the other hand, those in which sand predo¬
minates are called loose, light, porous, friable. Under
each of these divisions, however, there are several varie¬
ties, such as gravel, loam, chalk, calcareous, alluvial,
peaty, &c.; to which are added the common epithets of
rich and poor, cold and hot, thin or shallow, and deep,
and various others.
Of the crops best suited to these several kinds of soil, Crop
it is only necessary to observe here, that wheat, beans,diffa
clovers, and fibrous-rooted plants generally, are most pro-soils.
ductive on clays; while barley, turnips, and all bulbous
and deep-rooted plants, thrive best in sandy soils. Loam,
which may partake of either character, is an artificial soil,
produced by cultivation and manure, and, when sufficient¬
ly deep, adapted to crops of every kind. Gravelly soils,
which are usually considered as forming a distinct class,
take their character from that of the rocky materials in
which they abound. When very loose and porous, they
are sometimes called hungry, the manure applied to them
being as it were devoured and lost, from the want of mate¬
rials in a state to be acted upon; but those of a better
quality are not only productive both in corn and pasture,
but their crops ripen very early. Calcareous matter, such
as lime, chalk, and marl, is a necessary ingredient in all
fertile soils, without which, indeed, it has been found im¬
practicable to bring most crops to perfection. The soils
formed by matters deposited by the tides and by rivers,
called alluvial, usually consist of a variety of ingredients,
and are for the most part very fertile. What is called a
mossy or peaty soil is distinguished by its dark colour
and spongy texture, and abounds in the roots of plants in a
state of decay, from which, indeed, it seems to have been
wholly formed. It is found in a great variety of situations,
on the summits of mountains as well as in plains and
hollows ; in some cases so saturated with water as not to
bear the weight of cattle, in others in so solid a form as
to be cut for fuel; sometimes of the depth of many feet,
and elsewhere of only a few inches; but in all situations
its produce of stunted heath, occasionally intermixed with
coarse herbage, is of little or no value. This description
of soil, if it deserves the name, is of comparatively recent
formation, having been found in several instances super¬
incumbent upon cultivated soils which themselves appear
to be alluvial, and consequently not of the earliest class.
The terms moor and moorish are applied generally to in¬
ferior soils in a state of nature, whatever may be their
distinctive character in other respects.
The quality of soils may sometimes be judged of with
tolerable accuracy, by attending to the species of plants
which they naturally produce, and observing whether they
AGRICULTURE.
. ui. grow close and vigorous, so as to cover the soil complete-
t > fy, or rise feeble and scattered, with unoccupied spaces
^ ^between. The clovers, for instance, grow freely on calca¬
reous soils, and the common ragwort (senecio Jacobcea)
and the corn-thistle (serratula Arvensis) usually indicate
a fertile soil, whatever be its texture. Science has sup¬
plied other tests, for which we may refer to Sir Humphry
Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry. One of the simplest
methods of ascertaining the presence of calcareous matter
in the soli, is to pour upon it any strong acid, with which,
if this ingredient abounds, it will effervesce freely. The
power of retaining moisture, and, when dry, of absorbing
it from the atmosphere, as well as the greater increase of
temperature, which under the same circumstances takes
place in some soils,—these and various other criteria may
be employed to determine their comparative fertility.
And, what is not unworthy of remark, it is known from
experience that the productiveness of the soil, under
similar circumstances in other respects, depends in some
measure on the dryness or humidity of the climate. In
the west of Scotland, for instance, where much more rain
falls than in the east, light sandy soils do not suffer so
much under a severe course of cropping as they are found
to do in the latter situation.
Lat,;. In describing the practice of agriculture, it may be
nent thought that the process by which lands in a state of
nature are first brought into cultivation would be entitled
to our earliest consideration, and that we should then pro¬
ceed to describe the successive operations by which our
fields have arrived at their present condition. But a
moment's reflection may convince us that such an arrange¬
ment would be inexpedient, if not impracticable, on the
present occasion. The original state of much of our cul¬
tivated land, which has long since passed away, must have
been very different in different situations, and would re¬
quire a corresponding variety of operations to prepare it
for growing corn ; and a number of implements, however
rude, must have been constructed, even before these
operations could be commenced. It is only in an ad¬
vanced stage of the art, and as a branch of general ma¬
nagement, that the culture of wastes can demand our at¬
tention; for it is then only that capital and science may en¬
able us to cultivate them with advantage.
But without pretending to scientific arrangement, we
shall content ourselves with bringing together those parts
of our subject that have a mutual relation and dependence
on one another in practice, and endeavour to present its
more important details under the four following chapters.
In first, we shall treat of what regards the cultiva¬
tion and products of arable land ; in the second, of the
management of grass lands, and the improvement of
wastes ; in the third, of agricultural live stock ; and in
fourth, which will be of a more general kind, we shall
endeavour to point out those circumstances which have
more particularly contributed to the improvement of agri¬
culture in this country, and those also which seem still to
obstruct its further advancement.
ihere are, besides the subjects which fall to be treated
under these divisions, some others, which certainly form
component parts of agricultural science, and to which it
will be necessary to advert in this work; but as these sub¬
jects are not of equal interest to husbandmen generally,
and as they are capable of being treated with advantage
m a separate form, we shall reserve them for distinct
265
articles, to be afterwards introduced under their respec- A~ri™l
ftve heads. Such are the subjects of the Da.kv? of tar™
Drainage, of Embankment, of Irrigation, and ofv
Woods and Plantations.
CHAP. I.
ARABLE LAND.
We shall endeavour to arrange all the most important
detads connected with this division of our subject un¬
der the following sections1. Of implements and ma¬
chinery : 2. Of farm-buildings; 3. Of fences: 4. Of
tillage : 5. Of fallowing: 6. Of the cultivation of the dif¬
ferent crops: 7. Of the order of their succession: 8. Of the
various substances used as manure, and the modes of apply¬
ing them. 1 J
Sect. I. Implements and Machinery.
The numerous implements of tillage husbandry may be
arranged under these six heads;—such as are employed,
1. in preparing land for semination; 2. in depositing the
seed; 3. during the growth of the plants ; 4. in reaping
and securing the crop ; 5. in preparing it for market; and,
6. in the general purposes of a farm. But as the same
implement is sometimes used for more than one purpose,
it would be of little consequence to adhere strictly to this
or any other arrangement. The implements required for
rendering land fit for tillage do not belong to this part of
the article, and several others that have not yet been
brought into general use, or are employed only for parti¬
cular purposes, shall be noticed under the sections to
which they respectively belong.
1. Ploughs.
Of ploughs there are a great many different sorts; and, Ploughs,
besides the variety of construction occasioned by the dif¬
ference of soils, and the different purposes for which they
are employed even on the same soil, there is a considerable
diversity in the form, in districts where both the soil and
the mode of culture are nearly alike. The most obvious
general distinction among ploughs is, their being con¬
structed with or without wheels : and each of these kinds
may be again distinguished by other circumstances ;—such
as the form of the mould-board and share; their operation
in making one or more furrows at a time; their size; and
the depth at which they are calculated to work, as in
trench-ploughing. It would neither be of much utility,
nor at all consistent with our limits, to describe all the
numerous varieties of form. The nature of the operation
to be performed, and the rules for constructing ploughs
that shall be adapted to the different purposes of the cul¬
tivator, have been fully described in a variety of works,
particularly in those noted below and all that is neces¬
sary here is to mention those ploughs that are in most ge¬
neral use in the best cultivated districts.
The Swing-plough, with a feathered sock or share, and Swing,
a curved mould-board, is almost the only one used in Scot-plough,
land, and throughout a considerable part of England. The
old Scotish plough with a spear sock has been laid aside,
except in a few of the least improved counties, where it
is still found useful when the soil is encumbered by roots
or stones. The swing-plough is drawn with less power than
wheel-ploughs, the friction not being so great; and it pro-
Small s Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel-Carriages, 178-1: Lord Karnes’s Gentleman Farmer; and Bailey on the Construction of the
Plough on Mathematical Principles.
yOL. II. 2 L
266
AGRICULTURE.
Rother¬
ham
plough.
Small’s
plough.
"Wheel-
ploughs.
bably admits of greater variations in regard to the breadth
and depth of the furrow slice. It is usually drawn by two
'horses abreast in common tillage; but for ploughing be¬
tween the rows of the drill culture, a smaller one, drawn
by one horse, is commonly employed. A plough of this
kind, having a mould-board on each side, is also used, both
in forming narrow ridges for turnips and potatoes, and in
laying up the earth to the roots of the plants, after the
intervals have been cleaned and pulverized by the hoise
and hand hoe. This plough is sometimes made in such a
manner that the mould-board may be shifted from one
side to the other when working on hilly grounds; by which
means the furrows are all laid in the same direction ; a
mode of construction as old as the days of Fitzherbert,
who wrote before the middle of the sixteenth century.
This is called a turn-wrest plough.
Swing-ploughs, similar to the present, have been long
known in England. In Blythe’s Improver Improved (edit.
1652), we have engravings of several ploughs; and what
he calls the “ plain plough” does not seem to differ much
in its principal parts from the one now in use. Amos, in
an Essay on Agricultural Machines, says that a person
named Lummis (whom he is mistaken in calling a Scotch¬
man, see Maxwell’s Practical Husbandman, y. 191.) “first
attempted its construction upon mathematical principles,
which he learned in Holland; but having obtained a patent
for the making and vending of this plough, he withheld
the knowledge of these principles from the public. How¬
ever, one Pashley, plough-wright to Sir Charles Turner of
Kirkleatham, having a knowledge of those principles, con¬
structed upon them a vast number of ploughs. After¬
wards his son established a manufactory for the making
of them at Rotherham. Hence they obtained the name
of the Rotherham plough ; but in Scotland they were
called the Dutch or patent plough.”—“ At length the
Americans, having obtained a knowledge of those prin¬
ciples, either from Britain or Holland, claimed the priority
of the invention; in consequence of which, Mr Jefferson,
president of the United States, presented the principles
for the construction of a mould-board, first to the Institute
of France, and next to the Board of Agriculture in Eng¬
land, as a wonderful discovery in mathematics.” (CW-
munications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vi. p. 437.)
According to another writer, the Rotherham plough was
first constructed in Yorkshire in 1720, about ten years
before Lummis’s improvements. (Survey of the West Rid¬
ing of Yorkshire.')
But the present improved swing-plough was little known
in Scotland till about the year 1764, when Small’s method
of constructing it began to excite attention. This ingeni¬
ous mechanic formed the mould-board upon distinct and
intelligible principles, and afterwards made it of cast-iron.
Flis appendage of a chain has been since laid aside. It
has been disputed whether he took the Rotherham or the
old Scotish plough for the basis of his improvements. The
swing-plough has been since varied a little from Small’s
form, for the purpose of adapting it more completely to
particular situations and circumstances. Of late it has
been made entirely of iron. See Plate V.
Wheel-ploughs, used in many parts of England, are
also constructed in a great variety of forms. Their chief
recommendation is, that they require less skill in the
ploughman; but it is admitted, that the friction caused
by the wheels adds to the resistance, and that they are
more expensive, and more liable to be put out of order,
as well as to be disturbed in their progress by clods,
stones, and other inequalities, than those of the swing
kind. Wheel-ploughs, says Dr Dickson (Practical Agri¬
culture, vol. i. p. 7.), should be seldom had recourse to
by the experienced ploughman, though they may be more ^
convenient and more manageable for those who are not ti'
perfectly informed in that important and useful art. ^
The Plertfordshire and Kentish turn-wrest wheel-plough,
as well as the swing-plough, are described by Blythe; and
they do not seem to have received much improvement
since his time. The former is thought most suitable for
general purposes on stiff tenacious soils, and the latter
where very deep ploughing is required.
On light, loamy, and friable soils, where deep ploughing
is not necessary, the Norfolk wheel-plough will be found
convenient and useful: it is compact and light in its form,
doing its work with neatness, and requiring only a small
power of draught.
To the improved common wheel-plough an iron earth-Skink
board, firmly screwed to the coulter, has been lately added, ter.
It is made use of when ploughing turf, which it takes off
by itself, and turns into the furrow, immediately covering
it with earth. It is observed that, by this management,
turf at one ploughing has the appearance of a fallow, and
harrows nearly as well; but more strength is required in
the team. A similar sort of skim coulter may be added
to any other plough, and may be useful in turning down
green crops and long dung, as well as in trench-plough¬
ing. But in most instances it is thought a preferable plan,
where the soil has to be stirred to an unusual depth, to
make two common swing-ploughs follow each other in the
same track ; the one before taking a shallow furrow, and
the other going deeper, and throwing up a new furrow
upon the former.
Two-furrow ploughs are used in a few places, but are Tm
not likely ever to become general. They are constructed row
either with or without wheels. A plough of this kind wasPlou
strongly recommended by Lord Somerville, and used by
his lordship and others, apparently with some advantages.
In Blythe’s Improver Improved, there is an engraving of
this plough also. But with all the improvements made
by Lord Somerville, it can never come into competition
for general purposeswith the present single furrow ploughs;
and he admits that it would be no object to invade the
system already established in well-cultivated counties;
though, where large teams are employed, with a driver
besides the ploughman, it would certainly be a matter of
importance to use this plough, at least on light friable soils.
“ Their horses,” he says, “ will not feel the difference
between their own single furrow working one acre, or the
well-constructed two-furrow plough with two acres per
day; here is no system deranged, and double work done.’
(Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. p*
4J8.)
Amos, already mentioned, has gone much beyond this. Tw
In his Essay in the Board’s Communications formerly re-^
ferred to, he gives a description, with an engraving, of
machine which combines “ two, three, or four ploughs^,
together, for ploughing furrows nine by five inches square.
On soils of a tenacity next to clay, “ six horses will draw
four ploughs, four horses three ploughs, and three horses
two ploughs, and every plough to plough an acre a day.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that such machines are
altogether unfit for agricultural operations; the nature
and condition of the soil and surface, varied in ways innu¬
merable, will never permit the general use of them; and
even in the few situations where they may be employed,
there is reason to believe that ploughing cannot be done
cheaper, and certainly not so well as by the two-horse
single furrow plough.
Various other implements under the name of ploughs ^
have been constructed for stirring the soil;—such as the
Miner, for following in the furrow of a common plough,
Mil
AGRICULTURE.
267
W- and loosening the ground to a greater depth, without shape, each containing twenty tines, five or six inches Aericul
u bringing up the subsoil; the Paring Plough, and the long beneath the hulls or bars in which they are inserted tore
^'^Mole and other sorts of ploughs for draining, some of It is still common for every harrow to work senaratelv-
which shall be afterwards noticed under their proper heads, and though always two, and sometimes three harrows are
Self -an- A plough has been recently constructed by Mr John placed together, each of them is drawn by its own horee
fog? igh. Finlayson, farmer at Muirkirk, which is found well adapt- The great objection to this method is, that it is scarcely
ed to coarse old swards. It is called the rid or self-clean- possible, especially upon rough ground, to prevent the
ing plough, from _ its clearing itself from obstructions harrows from starting out of their place, and riding on
without often requiring the aid of the ploughman ; and it one another. To obviate this inconvenience, the exterior
turns over the furrow in a complete and workman-like bulls of each are usually surmounted by a frame of wood
manner in situations where it falls back after the common raised so high as to protect it from the irregular motions
plough, notwithstanding the utmost exertions of the of its neighbour; but in many instances they are con-
ploughman. R has been tried in various situations both nected by chains, or hinges, or cross bars, which is a pre¬
in England and Scotland, and given much satisfaction to ferable plan. Another objection which has been made
very competent judges ; but it does not seem to possess to the common harrows is, that the ruts made by the tines
any advantages over the common plough upon land under are sometimes too near and sometimes too distant from
a regular course of cultivation. See Plate VI. one another; but this is probably not a great fault when
Several inventions are in use for ascertaining and com- the soil requires to be pulverized as well as the seed co¬
paring the power required to work the plough in different vered, especially when they are permitted to move irre-
situations. These are known by the name of dynamome- gularly in a lateral direction. Where the soil is already
ters, or draught machines; and they all agree in this, that fine, as it ought always to be before grass seeds are sown,
Dyna'O-
aete
the power is determined by a movable index pointing to
figures denoting hundredweights on a dial-plate. The
difference in the power necessary even upon the same soil,
according to the construction of the plough, is greater
than might be expected, varying upon cultivated land
free from obstructions from three to five hundredweights
and upwards. See Plate IX. (Prize Essays and Trans¬
actions of the Highland Society of Scotland, vol. iv.)
2. Cultivator and Grubber.
hiltinar. The plough, as is well known, covers the old and exposes
lighter harrows are used, which are so constructed, that
all the ruts are equidistant. See Plate V.
The brake, as commonly constructed, is nothing more Brake,
than a heavier harrow, sometimes in one, and sometimes
in two pieces joined together; the tines being in number
and length, and in the distance from one another at which
they are placed, suited to the nature of the soil on which
it is employed.
Within these few years, two harrows have been brought Itevolving
into use, which seem to be most efficient implements, harrow,
especially where the soil abounds in weed-roots. The
a new surface ; but as that is not always necessary, other first of them is the invention of Mr Samuel Morton, agri-
IrubJ
implements are in use for stirring and pulverizing the soil
without turning it over. Some of them are used in pre¬
paring it for the seed, and others, as horse-hoes, between
drilled crops. It were to no purpose to enumerate and
describe all these ; we shall here notice only such as we
know to be of practical utility. One of them, called a
grubber, from its efficiency in bringing weed-roots to the
surface, consists of two strong rectangular frames, the one
including the other, and nine bars mortised into the inner
one, with eleven qpulters or tines with triangular sharp-
edged dipping feet, four cast-iron wheels, two handles,
&c. See Plate V. All the coulters are fixed in these
bars except two, which are placed in the side beams of
cultural implement maker, Edinburgh, and is called the
Revolving Brake Harrow. When the soil has been suffi¬
ciently reduced, this is perhaps the best implement of any
for bringing the roots to the surface; and to a certain ex¬
tent it also acts in pulverizing the land when under fal¬
low, so as to save one or two ploughings. See Plate VI.
(Farmer s Magazine, vol. xviii. &c.)
The other has been constructed by Mr Finlayson, the Finlay,
inventor of the self-cleaning plough already mentioned; son’s har-
and is also a very powerful implement. See Plate VI. row*
4. Brill-Machines.
The purpose of these ingenious but often too compli-Drills.
hrrci.
the outer frame, and may be set to go more or less deep cated machines is, to deposit the seed in equidistant rows
by means of pins and wedges. It is useful in stirring land on a flat surface; on the top of a narrow ridge ; in the in-
on which potatoes or turnips have grown, or that has been terval between two ridges ; or in the bottom of a common
ploughed^ in autumn or during winter, so that a crop may furrow. Corn when drilled is usually sown in the first of
be sown in spring without further use of the plough. It these ways, turnips in the second, and peas and beans
works as deep as the plough has gone, and, by the reclin- in the third or fourth. One of the best for sowing all
ed position of the coulters, brings to the surface all the kinds of corn was invented by Mr Bailey of Chillingham,*
M eed-roots that lurk in the soil. Beans and peas have who has paid great attention to the construction of agri-
been sown in spring on the winter furrow, after being stir- cultural implements, and applied to their improvement
red by the grubber; and barley also, after turnip, without his knowledge both as a mathematician and agriculturist,
any ploughing at all. In working fallow it is used with The practice of drilling corn does not, however, seem to
good effect in saving one, two, or more ploughings. This be gaining ground; and even where it is found of advan-
implement is made of different sizes, and may be worked tage to have the plants rise in parallel rows, as must al-
either by four or by two horses.1 ways be the case where hand-hoeing is required, this is
ott : sometimes done by means of what is called ribbing, a pro-
arrows. cess which will be afterwards described, as more conve-
The harrows most generally used are of an oblong nient in many cases than sowing with a drill-machine.
| In a work recently published by General Beatson, a small kind of hoe has been much recommended, which produces the re-
^e«ect by successive operations, going at first shallow, and then deeper and deeper, as may be found necessary, or as the soil
See Lstay on the Construction of a Plough, deduced from Mathematical Principles ; and Northumberland Report, p. 48. edit. 1800.
208
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
In Scotland, turnips are universally sown with a drill-
machine, on ridges 27 or 30 inches broad, usually formed
' by one bout of a common plough. When turnips are ex¬
tensively grown, the machine is made to sow two of these
ridges at once, and two rollers are attached to it, one for
smoothing the tops of the ridges before the seed is depo¬
sited, and the other for compressing the soil and covering
the seed. The front roller is now made concave, which
leaves the ridges in a better form for the seed. It is
drawn by one horse walking between the ridges, and re-
ouiring no other driver than the person who guides the
machine, which is simple in its construction, and most
expeditious in its operation. See Plate VII.
Beans and peas, when sown in rows, are either depo¬
sited in the space between two ridgelets, which are after¬
wards reversed to cover them, or in the bottom of a fur¬
row made by a common plough,—in Scotland, usually in
that of every third furrow. The implement in most com¬
mon use for this purpose is extremely simple, and is either
wheeled forward by a man, or attached to the common
plough itself.
the seed falls, with small ridges between, the seed is bet- Api
ter covered than by harrowing alone. But rollers are tu
chiefly used for the purpose of smoothing and compressing
the soil and breaking down clods; and their weight is va¬
ried accordingly. See Plate VII.
7. Horse-Rakes.
In those districts where corn is cut with the scythe,Hors
the horse-rake is found to be a useful implement forrakea
saving manual labour; it is also used for hay. The teeth
are of iron, 14 or 15 inches in length, and set five or six
inches distant. Its construction is very simple. A man
and horse are said to be capable of clearing from 20 to 30
acres in a moderate day’s work, disposing the grain in
lines across the field, by lifting up the rake and dropping
it from the teeth, without stopping the horse. One of
these has been lately used in the neighbourhood of Edin¬
burgh for raking hay, and has given much satisfaction.
See Plate VI.
8. Threshing-Machines.
5. Horse-Hoes.
Horse- The interval between the rows of drilled turnips, pota-
hoes. toes, and beans and peas, being commonly from 2 to 2^
feet, admits the employment of a horse-hoe or hoeing-
plough. Of this kind of machine there are a great many
varieties. A very good one is described in the Isorthum-
berland Report, p. 43; the body is of a triangular form,
and contains three coulters and three hoes, or six hoes,
according to the state of the soil. A hoe of the same
kind is sometimes attached to a small roller, and employed
between rows of wheat and barley, from 9 to 12 inches
distant; it is also used in place of a cultivator, in pre¬
paring bean stubbles for wheat in autumn, and in pulve¬
rizing lands for barley in spring.
Small Another implement, which serves both as a double
plough and mould-board plough and a horse-hoe, is much approved
horse-hoe of in the culture of drilled crops; and with some slight
in one. alterations it may be also employed as a small plough for
taking the earth from the sides of the ridgelets. When
it is used as a horse-hoe, the mould-hoards are taken off,
and two curved cutters or coulters expand from the beam
on each side, to a less or greater distance, according to
the width of the interval between the plants, and approach
each other in the bottom of the furrow, where the share
supplies their place. This machine is well adapted for
light soils, and can be set to work very near the rows of
plants; it is particularly useful in cutting up annual
weeds preparatory to hand-hoeing, which it greatly faci¬
litates. When it is to be employed as a single or double
Universal mould-board plough, the cutters are withdrawn. A very
complete implement, answering these different purposes,
drill-
plough and is known under the name of Morton’s Universal Drill
harrow. Plough and Harrow, which is found very convenient in
the hands of skilful ploughmen, and seems well suited for
the use of small farms, or situations where a variety of
implements is not often required; so many of these being
combined in one, and admitting of being easily separated
and used each by itself. See Plate VII.
G. Rollers.
Rollers. These are constructed of wood, stone, or cast-iron, and
of different dimensions, according to the purposes for
which they are used. The spike-roller is employed in
some places when the soil rises in large masses, difficult
to be reduced. The Norfolk drill-roller, on which rings
of iron are fixed at small distances, is considered a
useful implement, as, by forming parallel ruts into which
Threshing-machines are now common in every part ofThre
Scotland, on farms where the extent of tillage land re-math
quires two or more ploughs; and they are every year
spreading more and more in England and Ireland. They
are worked by horses, water, wind, and of late by steam;
and their powers and dimensions are adapted to the vari¬
ous sizes of farms. Water is by far the best power; but
as a supply cannot be obtained in many situations, and
as wind and steam require too much expense for most
farms, horses are still employed more generally than any
other power. Where wind-mills are erected, it is found
necessary to add such machinery as may allow them to be
worked by horses occasionally, in very calm weather;
and the use of steam must be confined • for the most part
to the coal districts.
All the essential parts of this machine will be noticed
in describing the engraving (Plate IX.), though several
slight alterations are occasionally introduced. One of
the most useful of these, perhaps, is the method of deli¬
vering the straw, after it has been separated from the
corn by the circular rake, to wdiat is called a travelling-ln
shaker, which carries it to the straw-barn. This shaker,
which revolves like the endless web formerly used fors!ia‘
conveying the corn to the beaters, is composed of small
rods, placed so near as to prevent the straw from falling
through, while any threshed corn that may not have been
formerly separated drops from it in its progress, instead
of falling along with it, where it would be trodden down
and lost.
It is well known that the work of horses at threshing-
mills is unusually severe, if continued for any length ot
time; that they sometimes draw unequally; that they,
as well as the machine itself, are much injured by sudden
jerks and strains, which are almost unavoidable ; and that,
from this irregularity in the impelling power, it requires
much care in the man who presents the corn to the rol¬
lers, to prevent bad threshing. It is therefore highly de¬
sirable that the labour should be equalized among the
horses, and the movements of the machine rendered as
steady as possible. A method of yoking the horses in
such a manner as compels each of them to take his proper
share of the labour has accordingly been lately introduced,
and the necessary apparatus, which is neither complicated
nor expensive, can be added to any machine worked by
animal power. {Farmer s Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 279.)
See Plate IX.
All well-constructed threshing-mills have one winnow¬
ing-machine, which separates the chaff1 from the corn be-
AGRICULTURE.
269
fore it reaches the ground; and a second sometimes re-
‘ cejves it from the first, and gives it out ready for market,
✓Wor nearly so; the work done varying with the power and
the kind of grain from three to six or eight quarters in
the hour. If the height of the building does not admit
of this last addition, a separate winnowing-machine, when
the mill is of great power, is driven by a belt from it. In
either of these ways there is a considerable saving of
manual labour. And with a powerful water-mill, it can¬
not be doubted that corn is threshed and dressed at no
more expense than must be incurred for dressing alone
when threshed with the flail. Besides, the corn is more
completely detached from the straw; and, by being
threshed expeditiously, a good deal of it may be preserved
in a bad season which would have spoiled in a stack. The
great advantage of transferring forty or fifty quarters of
grain in a few hours, and under the eye of the owner,
from the yard to the granary or market, is of itself suf¬
ficient to recommend this invaluable machine, even though
there were no saving of expense.
I A machine of this kind, which is worked by one or two
hrcs! g- men, may probably be found useful on small farms. It
nill. is made for L.8 or L.10, and is said to thresh ten or
twelve bushels in an hour. (Id. p. 409.) In some parts
of England portable machines are in use, and carried from
one farm to another, like any common implement.
9. Winnowing-Machine.
rt"nr>. This is said to be of Chinese invention, and to have
np-m; been brought to Europe by the Dutch, from whom it
bine, reached Scotland in the early part of the last century.
They were first made by a person of the name of Rodgers,
near Hawick, in Roxburghshire, who happened to see one
in a granary at Leith in the year 1733, though it would
appear that one had been brought from Holland to East
Lothian, along with a barley-mill, twenty-two years be¬
fore. Yet it does not seem to have been then known to
farmers, nor did it come into general use till long after
1733; and in some parts of England and of the north of
Scotland it is not employed even at this day. Two men
and three women will dress and measure up into sacks, in
about ten hours, from twenty to twenty-five quarters of
corn, by means of this machine.
10. Chaff-Cutter, and similar Implements.
Chaffj ,t. Chaff-cutters may be either wrought separately by ma-
:er. nual labour, or by being attached to some other machine.
This implement, like the operation it performs, is sufficient¬
ly simple, though its construction is various. MacdougaTs
patent chaff-cutter is understood to be one of the most
useful of the kind, and may be easily repaired, when ne-
Fiim cessary, by any common mechanic. Another tool of a
‘her similar description is partially used for cutting turnips,
which is often an advantageous practice, especially in
feeding sheep of a year old in spring, after they have cast
Mitclifcs their first teeth. Various contrivances are also adopted
for ci ingby some farmers for cutting or bruising corn for horses,
^r1’l l!1f’which ought to become a more general practice, particu¬
larly for old horses, and such as swallow their coni with-
Stean) g out mastication. Akin to these inventions is the steaming
'1'iwr is. apparatus, which should be considered a necessary ap¬
pendage to every arable and dairy farm of a moderate
size. The advantages of preparing food for live stock by
means of steam begin now to be generally and justly ap¬
preciated.
11. Wheel- Carriages.
Waggons, though they may possess some advantages
over carts in long journeys, and when fully loaded, are
now admitted to be much less convenient for the general Agricul-
purposes of a farm, and particularly on occasions which ture.
require great dispatch, as in harvesting the crop. Ac-'^~v'“x“y
cording to Marshall, the waggons used in Gloucestershire
are the best in England. (Rural Economy of Gloucester¬
shire.') In some places the improved Irish car is employ¬
ed for light loads, while the waggon continues to be used
for other purposes.
Carts, drawn by one or two horses, are, however, the Carts,
only farm-carriages of some of the best cultivated coun¬
ties, and no other are ever used in Scotland. Their load
depends upon the strength of the horses and nature of
the roads; but in every case, it is asserted that a given
number of horses will draw a great deal more, according
to some one-third more, in single-horse carts than in wag¬
gons. Two-horse carts are still the most common among
farmers in Scotland; but those drawn by one horse, two
of which are always driven by one man, are unquestionably
preferable for most purposes. The carriers of the west of
Scotland usually load from a ton to a ton and a half on a
single-horse cart, and nowhere does it carry less than 12
cwts. if the roads are tolerable.
For corn in the straw, and hay, the farmers of the south Corn and
of Scotland and north of England use a sparred frame, hay cart,
which is made to fit the same wheels from which the close
body of the cart is removed. In other places the close
body is retained, and movable rails attached to it for
these loads. See Plate VI.
Carts are varied in their construction to suit different Coup-cart,
purposes. A very convenient carriage for home work,
called a coup-cart, discharges its load with great ease and
expedition ; the fore part of the close body being made to
rise up from the shafts on drawing out an iron pin, while
the other end sinks, and allows the load to fall to the
ground.
Broad wheels, with conical or convex rims, are common Broad
in England ; in Scotland the wheels are generally narrow, wheels,
though broader ones are beginning to be introduced.
Those used for the common or two-horse carts are usu¬
ally about 41 feet high, and mounted on iron axles. The
advantages of broad cylindrical wheels have been illus¬
trated with much force and ingenuity in several late pub¬
lications. ( Communications to the Board of Agriculture,
vol. ii. and vol. vii. Part i.)
12. Reaping-Machines.
An implement capable of performing the process ofReaping-
reaping corn is yet a desideratum in agricultural machi-machines,
nery, but which will probably be supplied, at least for fa¬
vourable situations, at no distant period. In all field ope¬
rations, dispatch, in such a climate as this, is a matter of
great importance; but in reaping corn at the precise pe¬
riod of its maturity, the advantages of dispatch are incab
culable, especially in those districts where the difficulty of
procuring hands, even at enormous wages, aggravates the
danger from the instability of the season. It cannot,
therefore, fail to be interesting, and we hope it may be
also useful, to record some of the more remarkable at¬
tempts that have been made towards an invention so emi¬
nently calculated to forward this most important operation.
The first attempt of this kind, so far as we have learn-Mr Boyce’s,
ed, was made by a Mr Boyce, who obtained a patent
for a reaping-machine about 30 years ago. This ma¬
chine was placed in a two-wheeled carriage, somewhat
resembling a common cart, but the wheels were fixed
upon the axle, so that it revolved along with them. A
co<>’-wheel within the carriage turned a smaller one at the
upper end of an inclined axis, and at the lower end of
this was a larger wheel, which gave a rapid motion to a
270
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- pinion fixed upon a vertical axis in the fore part of the
ture. carriage, and rather on one side, so that it went before
one of the wheels of the carriage. The vertical spindle
descended to within a few inches of the surface of the
ground, and had there a number of scythes fixed upon it
horizontally.
This machine, when wheeled along, would, by the rapid
revolution of its scythes, cut down a portion of the corn
growing upon the grdund over which it passed; but hav¬
ing no provision for gathering up the corn in parcels and
laying it in proper heaps, it was wholly unfit for the pur¬
pose.
Mr Pluck- An agr icultural implement maker of London, Mr Pluck-
net’s.
Mr Glad,
stones’s.
Mr Sal¬
mon’s.
Mr Smith's,
net, attempted some years afterwards to improve this ma¬
chine. The principal alteration he made was in substitut¬
ing for the scythes a circular steel plate, made very sharp
at the edge, and notched on the upper side like a sickle.
This plate acted in the same manner as a very fine-toothed
saw, and was found to cut the corn much better than the
scythes of the original machine.
A description and drawing of a machine, invented by
Mr Gladstones of Castle Douglas, in the stewartry of Kirk¬
cudbright, are given in the Farmer s Magazine, vol. vii.
p. 273. It operated upon nearly the same principles with
Mr Plucknet’s; but Mr Gladstones made it work much
better by introducing a circular table, with strong wooden
teeth notched below all around, which was fixed imme¬
diately over the cutter, and parallel to it. The use of
these teeth was to collect the corn and retain it till it was
operated on by the circular cutter. The corn when cut
was received upon this table, and, when a sufficient quan¬
tity was collected, taken away by a rake or sweeper, and
laid upon the ground beneath the machine, in separate
parcels. To this machine was added a small circular
wheel of wood covered with emery, which, being always
in contact with the great cutter at the back part, or op¬
posite side to that where the cutting was performed, kept
it constantly ground to a sharp edge.
The next attempt was made by Mr Robert Salmon of
Woburn, Bedfordshire, whose invention, it is said, pro¬
mised better than those we have mentioned. It was con¬
structed upon a totally different principle, as it cut the
corn by means of shears ; and it was provided with a very
complete apparatus for laying it down in parcels as it was
cut.
One of the most promising machines of this kind of
which we have received any account, was constructed by
Mr Smith, of the Deanston Cotton Works, Perthshire. He
made the first trial of it upon a small scale, during the har¬
vest of 1811. It was then wrought by two men. In 1812 he
constructed one upon a larger scale, to be wrought by a
horse; but though he cut down several acres of oats and
barley with considerable ease, it was found that, when met
by an acclivity, the horse could not move the machine
with proper effect. In 1813 he made a more successful
attempt with an improved machine, worked by one man
and two horses; and in 1814) it was still further improved
by an additional apparatus, tending to regulate the appli¬
cation of the cutter when working on an uneven surface.
The cutter of this machine is circular, and operates ho¬
rizontally ; it is appended to a drum connected with the
fore part of the machine, its blade projecting some inches
beyond the periphery of the lower end of the drum (See
Plate VIII.); and the machine is so constructed as to com¬
municate, in moving forward, a rapid rotatory motion to
this drum and cutter, by which the stalks are cut, and,
falling upon the drum, are carried round and thrown off
in regular rows. This ingenious piece of machinery will
cut about an English acre per hour, during which time
eaP
the cutter requires to be four times sharpened with a com- A*
mon scythe-stone. The expense is estimated at from t
L.30 to L.35. If properly managed, it may last for many^ sj
years, only requiring a new cutter every two or three
years; a repair which cannot cost much. But we are
sorry to learn that, after some not unsatisfactory trials,
Mr Smith has not found it convenient to prosecute his
invention.
A more recent attempt has been lately made by Bel
Mr Patrick Bell, A. M. His machine was tried at^
Gowrie, in the county of Forfar, in the month of Sep-cllil
tember 1829, in cutting down oats, barley, and wheat,
on ground of uneven surface and considerable declivity.
It is about five feet broad, and consequently cuts down
this breadth of corn as it moves onward. The stubble
left was from three to four inches high ; and the cut corn
was deposited as the machine advanced, in a very regular
manner. It was worked by one horse, and may cost
about L.30, the work done being at about the rate of an
imperial acre in the hour. In the opinion of the farmers
and others present at this trial, this machine will come
immediately into general use, and confer a signal benefit
on agriculture. {Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, &c.
No. III. p. 331.)
The Flemish or Hainault scythe has been tried at dif-Ha ft
ferent times, and recommended as a better implement forscj
reaping corn than the sickle or scythe in common use;
and it was lately brought fully before the public, under
the patronage of the Highland Society of Scotland. At
the request of this society, M. Masclet, late French con¬
sul at Edinburgh, brought over two young men from Flan¬
ders to show the use of this implement, and to instruct
our own labourers. The trials were made, after public
notice, in several parts of Scotland, with the different va¬
rieties of grain, and under different circumstances as to
the state of the crop at the time ; and the results seem to
be very much in its favour. The straw was cut nearly as
close as with the common scythe, taken up clean except
where the crop was very thin, and laid down regularly in
a proper state for binding and threshing. A man will cut
with this implement two roods or half an acre a day; and
the saving has been calculated as equal to about one-third
of what would be required to cut the same crop by the
sickle now in use. See Plate VI.
Still, however, the most common implement for reapingSic
is either the teethed hook or the smooth sickle, sometimesha
called the scythe-hook. It has been disputed which of
these is preferable. The sickle cuts the straw like a
scythe, and where the crops are strong, there can be no
doubt that the work is performed with much less labour,
and the crop taken up equally clean as by the teethed
hook. But where the crop is thin and straggling, some
of the stalks drop to the ground as they are cut, instead
of being gathered and taken up, as they would have been
by the teethed hook.
We have thus noticed all the most important imple¬
ments in general use, and shall have occasion, under the
proper heads, to advert to some others that are only em¬
ployed occasionally. Our limits require us to pass over
those of a more simple kind, which are well known, and
may be found fully described in a variety of publications.
(See Communications to the Board of Agriculture, the
County Reports, and the General Report of Scotland.)
Sect. II. Farm-Houses.
Suitable farm-buildings are scarcely less necessary toft
the husbandman than implements and machinery, and ho
might, without much impropriety, be classed along with
AGRICULTURE.
• . them, and considered as one great stationary machine,
ftur'" operating more or less on every branch of labour and pro-
tVyduce. There is nothing which marks more decidedly the
state of agriculture in any district than the plan and exe¬
cution of these buildings.
In erecting farm-houses, the first thing that deserves
notice is their situation, both in regard to the other parts
of the farm, and the convenience which they ought them¬
selves to possess. In general, it must be of importance on
arable farms, that the buildings should be set down at
nearly an equal distance from the extremities; or so si¬
tuate that the access from all the different fields should
be easy, and the distance from those most remote no
greater than the size of the farm renders unavoidable.
The advantages of such a position in saving labour are
too obvious to require illustration ; and yet this matter is
not nearly so much attended to as its importance deserves.
In some cases, however, it is advisable to depart from this
general rule, of which one of the most obvious is, when a
command of water for a threshing-mill and other pur¬
poses can be better secured in another quarter of the farm.
The form most generally approved for a set of offices is
that of a square, or rather a rectangular parallelogram, the
houses being arranged on the north, east, and west sides,
and the south side fenced by a stone wall, to which low
buildings for calves, pigs, &c. are sometimes attached.
The space thus inclosed is usually allotted to young cattle :
these have access to the sheds on one or two sides, and
are kept separate, according to their size or age, by one or
more partition-wqlls. The farmer’s dwelling-house stands
at a short distance from the offices, and frequently com¬
mands a view of the inside of the square ; and cottages
for servants and labourers are placed on some convenient
spot, not far from the other buildings.
The number and arrangement, as well as the size of
the different houses, must depend in some degree on the
extent of the farm and the general management. It is
therefore only necessary to notice particularly those which
are indispensable in every case on an arable farm, and the
degree of accommodation they should afford,
m. The barn is always set down so as to be as convenient
as possible for the stack-yard, wherever corn is put up in
stacks instead of being immediately carried from the field
to the barn itself. Relatively to the other buildings, its
situation may be varied according to circumstances ; but
two things should be-attended to ; first, its contiguity to
the granary ; and, second, its facility of access for furnish¬
ing straw to the cattle-houses. In the plan delineated in
Plate VL, it is placed in the middle of the north range,
with one end projecting into the stack-yard, and the
other, where the straw is lodged, on a line with stables on
one side, and cattle-houses on the other, and having a
door opening towards the straw-yards. As it is to be un¬
derstood throughout this description that a threshing-mill
is employed, a width of from 20 to 30 feet within walls, on
die length of this side of the square, will generally be suffi¬
cient for the straw-house. The height of the barn must
be such as to allow at least one winnowing-machine to be
attached to the mill, and its length is determined by the
size of the farm.
renat A granary is an indispensable accommodation on all to¬
lerably large farms, and is commonly, though in many
cases improperly, placed above the cart-sheds, to be after¬
wards noticed. From experience and observation, we
would recommend that the granary should be under the
roof of the barn, immediately above the floor on which the
271
machine works ; and that the com should be raised to it Agricul-
from the ground-floor either by the threshing-mill itself, tore,
or a common windlass, easily worked by one man. When'^'v^>f
it is to be taken out and carried to market, it may be
lowered down upon carts, v/ith the utmost facility and
dispatch. There is evidently no greater expense incur¬
red by this arrangement, for the same floor and height of
side-walls that must be added to the barn are required in
whatever situation the granary may be, and it possesses
several advantages. Owing to its being higher than the
adjacent buildings, there is a freer circulation of air, and
less danger of pilfering, or of destruction by vermin ; the
corn can be deposited in it as it is dressed, without being
exposed to the weather; while the saving of labour is in
most cases considerable. This plan has been lately re¬
commended by several agricultural writers,1 and has been
found exceedingly convenient in practice.
Stables are now constructed in such a manner that all Stables,
the horses stand in a line with their heads towards the
same side-wall, instead of standing in two lines, fronting
opposite walls, as formerly. Those lately erected are
at least sixteen feet wide within walls, and sometimes
eighteen, and the width of each stall upon the length of
the stable is commonly five feet. To save a little room,
stalls of nine feet are sometimes made to hold two horses ;
and in that case the manger and the width of the stall
are divided into equal parts by what is called a half-tre-
vice, or a partition about half the depth of that which se¬
parates one stall from another. By this contrivance, each
horse indeed eats his food by himself; but the expense of
single stalls is more than compensated by the greater
ease, security, and comfort of the horses. The trevices,
or partitions which divide the stalls, are of deals two inches
thick, and about five feet high; but at the heads of the
horses the partition rises to the height of seven feet, and
the length of the stall is usually from seven to eight feet.
The manger is generally continued the whole length of
the stable. It is about nine inches deep, twelve inches
wide at the top, and nine at the bottom, all inside mea¬
sure, and is placed about two feet four inches from the
ground. Staples or rings are fixed in the breast of the
manger, to which the horses are tied.
The rack for holding their hay or straw is also com¬
monly continued the whole length of the stable. It is
formed of upright spars, connected by cross rails at each
end, and from two to two and a half feet in height. The
rack is placed on the wall, about one foot and a half above
the manger, the bottom almost close to the wall, and the
top projecting outwards so as to form an angle with it of
twenty or twenty-five degrees. The spars are sometimes
made round, and sunk into the cross rails, and sometimes
square. In a few stables lately built, the round spars turn
on a pivot, which facilitates the horse’s access to the hay*
without requiring the interstices to be so wide as to per¬
mit him to draw it out in too large quantities.
Immediately above the racks is an opening in the hay¬
loft, through which the racks are filled. When it is
thought necessary, this may be closed by boards moving
on hinges.
Behind the horses, and about nine feet from the front
wall, is a gutter, having a gentle declivity to the straw-
yard or urine-pit. Allowing about a foot for this, there
will remain a width of eight feet to the back wall, if the
stable be eighteen feet wide; a part of which, close to
the wall, may be occupied with corn-chests and places
for harness.
1 Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, voL i. p. 43 ; and General Report of the Agricultural State of Scotland, vol. i. p. 141.
272
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Cattle-
houses.
Root-
house.
Cattle
and cart-
sheds.
In some of the best stables the racks occupy one of the
angles between the wall and trevices, and form the qua¬
drant of a circle. The spars are perpendicular, and wider
placed than in the hanging racks. The ha}r-seed falls
into a box below, instead of being dropped on the ground,
or incommoding the eyes and ears of the horses.
With a view to save both the hay and the seed, it is an
advantage to have the hay-stack so near the stable as to
admit of the hay being thrown at once upon the loft. In
some stables there is no loft, and the hay is stored in a
separate apartment. The floor is, for the most part,
paved with undressed stones ; but, in some instances, the
space from the gutter to the back wall is laid with flags
of freestone.
According to the plan we are describing, cattle-houses
are placed on the other side of the straw-house, and, with
a root-house, complete the north side of the square. The
extent of these, it is evident, depends not only on the size
of the farm, but on the general management, and must
vary according as rearing, fattening, or daily cattle, form the
principal object. To avoid prolixity, let it be understood
that this part of the range is allotted to fattening cattle.
There are three ways in which the cattle are placed ; first,
in a row towards one of the side walls; second, in two
rows, either fronting each other, with a passage between,
or with their heads towards both side walls; and, third,
across, or upon the width of the house, in successive rows,
with intervening passages for feeding and removing the
dung. In the first plan it is usual to have openings in
the walls, through which they are supplied with turnips,
otherwise they must necessarily be served from behind,
with much inconvenience both to the cattle-feeder and the
cattle themselves. The plan that is most approved of,
and which is now becoming general when new buildings are
erected, is to fix the stakes to which the cattle are tied about
two and a half or three feet from the wall; which allows the
cattleman, without going among them, to fill their troughs
successively from his wheelbarrow or basket with much
ease and expedition. It is also a considerable improve¬
ment to keep the cattle separate by partitions between
every two. This will in a great measure prevent acci¬
dents, and secure the quiet animals from being injured by
the vicious ; for, in these double stalls, each may be tied
up to a stake placed near the partition, so as to be at
some distance from his neighbour; and it is easy to lodge
together such as are alike in size and in temper. The
width of such stalls should not be less than 71 feet, and
the depth must be regulated by the size of the cattle.
Wherever a number of cattle are fed, an apartment is
required for containing turnips, potatoes, Arc. when brought
from the field, until they are dealt out into the troughs.
This apartment is placed either on the line of the cattle-
houses, or begins another side of the square, at the angle
of the junction of the two sides. The outer door ought
to be so large as to admit a loaded cart; and there is an
inner door that opens into the feeder’s walk along the
heads of the cattle. At the other end of this, a door
opens into the straw-house; so that their food and litter
are not exposed to the weather, and the labour of the
feeder is greatly diminished.
The east and west sides of the square consist chiefly of
sheds for the strawr-yard cattle, and cart-sheds. But
stables for young horses, riding-horses, and for separating
the sick from the others, may be placed upon that side
which connects with the common stable already described;
and, in like manner, a part of the opposite side, connect¬
ing with the cattle-houses, may be allotted to cows ; or,
ifi necessary, the feeding-houses may be continued. The
cattle-sheds are open towards the straw-yards, and the
cart-sheds outwards to the road. On one of these sides
there should be a close apartment for small tools, and an- ^
other for preparing corn and roots by steam, which maySA
also serve for other purposes. In some convenient place *
near the stables and cattle-houses, or immediately over
them, there should be sleeping-rooms for the servants
who have the charge of them, that they may be at hand
in case of accidents during the night.
Along the wall which completes the inclosure, such low j
buildings may be set down, particularly hog-styes andai %
poultry-houses, as may be thought desirable. These styes
should open behind into the straw-yards, to which thel! ^
hogs should have access for picking up corn left on the
straw, and such turnips, clover, &c. as are refused by the
cattle. When they are kept in great numbers, it may be
necessary to allot them a range of styes, with yards in
front, in another place, as is commonly done by gentle¬
men farmers; but it is absurd fastidiousness in a rent¬
paying farmer to exclude these profitable animals from
a place where a few of them will make themselves fat
without a shilling of expense, and without any real in¬
jury to the cattle among which they feed.
It will be seen from the engraving (Plate XL), that a
road, which should be always kept in good order, goes
along three sides of this square, from which there is access
to the houses, instead of entering through the^traw-yards
from the inclosed area. All the houses in which live
stock are kept have an opening behind towards the straw-
yards, for carrying out their dung.
This plan, which, with slight variations, required by
circumstances, is common in the north of England and
south of Scotland, is meant to combine convenience with
economy, and is well adapted to most arable farms in the
occupancy of tenants. Proprietors who farm, sometimes
choose to add several other buildings, and at the same
time to vary a little their distribution. Thus, it is com¬
mon to separate the straw-yards from the sides of the
square by a cart-way, towards which all the doors open,
and the hog-styes with yards are usually placed behind
one of the sides where they are least exposed to obser¬
vation.
In every case, it is absolutely necessary that there
should be water in or near the area. In the plan deline-tr
ated in Plate XI. a pump is placed at the end of the
wall which divides the area, and along this wall are fixed
troughs, to which the cattle on each side have access at
all times.
When a great number of cattle are fed at the stake, itU
is necessary to have a reservoir near the square to receive
their urine. The urine is either applied to the land in
its liquid state, or earth, peat-moss, &c. is thrown into
the pit in such quantities as may be necessary to absorb
it. Sometimes the reservoir is sunk below the area, and
the urine raised by a pump, and spread over the straw-
yard. But on those arable farms where no more cattle
are reared or fattened, and no more turnips consumed at
the homestead, than what are needed for converting the
straw into manure, a reservoir for urine is not required, the
whole of it being absorbed by the straw as it is dropped.
The practice of feeding cattle in small sheds and straw-fi
yards, or what are called hammels in Berwickshire, de¬
serves to be noticed with approbation, when saving of ex¬
pense is not a paramount object. Two cattle are usually
kept together, and go loose, in which way they are thought
by some to thrive better than when tied to a stake, and,
at the same time, feed more at their ease than when a
number are kept together, as in the common straw-yards.
All that is necessary is, to run partition-walls across the
sheds and yards already described; or if these are allotted
■pit
iwl:
.
AGRICULTURE.
273
Arr ul- to rearing stock, one side of the square, separated by a cart- profitable management of arable land. They are not only A^rV, 1
way from the straw-yards, is appropriated to these hammels. necessary to protect the crops from the live stock of the ture
On large farms, a smith’s and a wright’s shop are found farm, but often contribute, in no small degree by the'^v^s.
(mitiandexceedingly convenient, even though used only one or shelter they afford, to augment and improve the’produce
rrig.’S two days a week. Much time is lost in going to a distance itself. On all arable farms on which cattle and sheep are
bol,: to the residence of these necessary mechanics; and it is pastured, the ease, security, and comfort, which good
now not uncommon to have houses furnished with the fences give, both to the owner and the animals them-
necessary accommodations on farms of this description, selves, are too evident to require particular notice. And
where the smith attends at stated intervals, and the as there are few tracts so rich as to admit of crops being
wright when wanted. It is better to set down these carried off the land for a succession of years, without the
houses at a little distance, than to place them on the intervention of green crops consumed where they grow',
square, whence, among other inconveniences, the danger fences of some description or other can very rarely be
from fire is a sufficient reason for excluding them. dispensed with, even in the most fertile and highly im-
jotus. The cottages for farm-servants, which are usually set proved districts.
down in a line, at not an inconvenient distance from the There is no branch of husbandry so generally misma-
offices, ought to contain each of them at least two apart- naged as this. No district of any considerable extent,
ments with fire-places, though in some of the best culti- perhaps, can be named, in which one does not see the
vated counties there is only one chimney, and no other greater part of what are called fences, not only compara-
division than what is made by the furniture. _ But better tively useless, but wasteful to the possessor of the lands
accommodation for this useful and meritorious class is which they occupy, and injurious both to himself and his
now generally allowed in erecting new buildings. Every neighbours, by the weeds which they shelter. This is
cottage has a small kitchen-garden adjoining; and as particularly the case with thorn hedges, which are too
farm-servants in the southern counties of Scotland have often planted in soils Avhere they can never, by any ma-
each of them a cow, kept all the year on the farm as part nagement, become a sufficient fence; and which, even
of their wages, it is common to attach a byre for them to when planted on suitable soils, are in many cases so much
the range of cottages, and sometimes also hog-styes and neglected when young, as ever afterwards to be a nui-
apartments for fuel. _ sance, instead of an ornamental, permanent, and impene-
iwebg- It is unnecessary to say any thing of a farmer’s dwell- trable barrier, which, with proper training, they might
cush ing-house, as the size and accommodations are very little have formed in a few years.
different from those of other dwelling-houses possessed Until of late, inclosures have too often been made with-General
by people of the same property or income. It is only on out much regard to the size of the farm, the exposure, rules,
dairy farms that particular apartments are necessarily ap- the form of the fields, and the equability of the soil,
propriated to the business of a farm; and these shall be This is the more to be regretted in the case of live fences,
described under a separate article. See Dairy. which ought to endure for a long course of years, and
Most of the farm-buildings recently erected in the best which cannot be eradicated without considerable expense,
cultivated counties are covered with slate. A thatched It is impossible, indeed, to lay down any rules on this
roof is still common for cottages, though for these also subject that would be generally applicable; but upon a
slate is beginning to be preferred. One cause of the com- little reflection, it must be evident that the size of the
paratiye sterility of land in former times, was the great field should be suited not only to the extent of the farm,
quantity of straw that was withdrawn from the food or but also to the nature of the soil, which ought to prescribe
litter of cattle, and used as thatch, instead of being con- the course of management, whether in alternate white or
verted into manure. green crops, or with the intervention of several years’ pas-
ePa Tenants holding on leases for a term of years are usually turage; that the exposure of the land should be consid-
taken bound to keep all the houses on a farm in sufficient ered, in order that the fences may give the shelter that
repair during their occupancy, and to leave them so at is most required; that the form of the field should be
their removal, having received them in such a state at such as to render it most accessible from the farm-build-
their entry. It is common to have them inspected by ings, and that it may be cultivated at the least expense,
tradesmen, both at the beginning and expiration of a the lands or ridges not being too short, nor running out
lease, for the purpose of determining their condition, and into angles at the points where the fence takes a different
awarding such repairs as may be necessary. In some dis- direction; and that the soil of the inclosure should be as
tricts it is the practice to ascertain their value at the nearly alike throughout as possible, that the whole field
commencement of a lease, the tenant being bound at his may be always under the same kind of crop. It must,
removal, when a second valuation takes place, to pay or in general, be a matter of consequence to have water
to accept the difference. But the objections to this me- in every inclosure ; but this is too obvious to escape atten-
tbod are obvious. If no change has taken place during tion.
the currency of the lease in the price of materials and Notwithstanding the garden-like appearance which trees
wages of labour, the tenant suffers by being called upon to growing in hedges give to the landscape, it seems to be
make good the decay occasioned by the lapse of time, which agreed by the most intelligent agriculturists that they
ought to be considered as covered by his rent. If, on the are extremely hurtful to the fence, and, for some distance,
other hand, both materials and labour have advanced in to the crops on each side ; and it is evident that, in many
price, as was the case of late years, the proprietor may be instances, the highways, on the sides of which they often
obliged to make a large payment to the removing tenant, stand, suffer greatly from their shade. It has therefore
even though the houses are rendered of less real value, been doubted whether such trees be profitable to the pro-
oot only by time, but by carelessness or dilapidations. prietor, or beneficial to the public ;—to the farmer they
are almost in every case injurious to a degree beyond
Sect. III. Fences. what is commonly imagined.
;ncc > In the subdivisions of an arable farm, whatever may be
Aext to implements and machinery and suitable build- the kind of fence which it is thought advisable to adopt,
mgs, fences are in most situations indispensable to the we would recommend that particular attention be paid to
vol. ii. r 2 m
174
AGRICULTURE.
Agrieul- the course of crops which the quality of the soil points
ture. out as the most advantageous; and that, upon all farms
‘ not below a medium size, there should be twice the num¬
ber of inclosures that there are divisions or breaks in the
course. Thus, if a six years’ rotation be thought the most
profitable, there should be twelve inclosures, two of which
are always under the same crop. One very obvious ad¬
vantage in this arrangement is, that it tends greatly to
equalize labour, and, with a little attention, may contribute
much to equalize the produce also. On large farms, where
all the land under turnips and clover, for instance, is near
the extremity of the grounds, or at a considerable dis¬
tance from the buildings, supposed to be set down near
the centre, it is clear that the labour of supplying the
house and straw-yard stock with these crops, as well as
the carriage of the manure to the field, is much greater
than if the fields were so arranged as that the half of
each of these crops had been near the offices. But by
means of two fields for each crop in the rotation, it is
quite easy to connect together one field near the houses
with another at a distance, and thus to have a supply at
hand for the home stock, while the distant crops may be
consumed on the ground. The same equalization of la¬
bour must be preserved in the cultivation of the corn
fields and in harvesting the crops. The time lost in tra¬
velling to some of the fields, when working by the plough,
is of itself a matter of some consequence on large farms.
But the advantages of this arrangement are not confined
to the equalization and economy of labour ; it may also in
a great measure render the annual produce uniform and
equable, notwithstanding a considerable diversity in the
quality of the soil. A field of an inferior soil may be con¬
nected with one that is naturally rich; and in the con¬
sumption of the green crops, as well as in the allowance
of manure, the poor land may be gradually brought nearer,
in the quantity and quality of its produce, to the rich,
without any injury to the latter. Thus, a field under tur¬
nips may be so fertile that it would be destructive to the
succeeding corn crop to consume the whole or the greater
part on the grbund; while another may be naturally so
poor, or so deficient in tenacity, as to make it inexpedient
to spare any part for consumption elsewhere. By connect¬
ing these two under the same crop,—by carrying from the
one the turnips that are wanted for the feeding-houses
and straw-yards, and eating the whole crop of the other
on the ground with sheep, the ensuing crop of corn will
not be so luxuriant on the former as to be unproductive,
while the latter will seldom fail to yield abundantly. The
same plan will also be advantageous in the case of other
crops. Hay or green clover may be taken from the richer
field, and the poorer one depastured; and on the one
wheat may succeed both turnips and clover, while the
more gentle crops of barley and oats are appropriated to
the less fertile field.
These observations are particularly applicable to turnip
soils, of such a quality as not to require more than one
year’s pasturage, and which are therefore cultivated with
corn and green crops alternately; but the same principle
may be extended to clay lands, and such as require to be
depastured two or more years in succession.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that upon wet soils,
where hedges are employed as fences, it is of importance
that the ditches be drawn in such a direction as to serve
the purposes of drains, and also that they may receive the
water from the covered drains that may be required in
the fields contiguous. According as the line of the fence
is more or less convenient in this respect, the expense of
draining may be considerably diminished or increased.
The most common fences, of a permanent character,
are stone walls and white thorn hedges. Stone walls have a<-
the recommendation of being an immediate fence, but t
the disadvantage of going gradually to decay, and of re-^
quiring to be entirely rebuilt, in some cases every twenty
years, unless they are constructed with lime mortar,
which is in many districts much too expensive to be em¬
ployed in erecting common fences. White thorn hedges,
on the contrary, though they require several years to be¬
come a fence of themselves, may be preserved at very
little expense afterwards in full vigour for several gene¬
rations.
Having thus thrown out a few hints of a general nature
on this important subject, we shall only mention such of
the fences as are in common use, and of a permanent
character, without attempting to enumerate all the va¬
rieties and combinations which may be occasionally found
in practice, or such as are only meant to serve a tempo¬
rary purpose.
The two leading divisions, as just mentioned, are into Fen ii0
hedges and stone walls; to which are added in parti-comi,
cular situations fences of iron, though these last are foruse/
the most part confined to gentlemen’s parks, and partake
as much of ornament as utility.
With regard to hedges, the plant in most common use
is the white thorn, though we have seen very good hedges
composed of beech, holly, and other plants; and it is not
unusual to find a mixture of all these and others in many
parts of England. The best hedges, however, are com¬
posed exclusively of the white thorn, which, when pro¬
perly managed, makes the most effectual and durable of
all fences. Tire usual practice is to open a trench or
ditch, and with the earth to form a bank, on the face of
which thorns are planted almost in a horizontal direction,
and w ith their tops protruding a few inches outwards; the
bank being continued above the roots of the thorns to such
a height as may be deemed necessary. And as a further
protection, while the plants are young, a paling or a dead
hedge is carried along the top of the bank, which makes
an effectual fence at the very outset. When the thorns
have growrn up to form a sufficient fence of themselves,
the paling or dead hedge is no longer wanted. In some
instances whins or furze are sown upon the bank, for the
same purpose of protecting the young thorns, and render¬
ing the fence more complete. The dimensions of the
ditch and the height of the bank are in a great measure
arbitrary, depending upon the nature of the soil, and
whether the ditch is or is not required for the purpose of
draining the land. A double ditch is sometimes used,
with a bank in the middle, and a row of thorns on each
side; but in ordinary cases it is a great objection that
this fence occupies so much space, besides being more
expensive, both in forming and rearing, than the single
fence.
Stone walls are constructed of different dimensions,
according to the purposes for which they are intended.
The most common and generally useful for agricultural
purposes are about five feet high, built close, and finished
on the top with a coping of turf or long stones. Ihe
latter are laid on edge, and project a little over the
breadth of the wall, the interstices being filled up and
closely packed with small stones. In some parts of Scot¬
land, what is called the Galloway Dyke is found to form
a very cheap and useful fence on hilly grounds, where the
inclosures are large. It is built close or double for about
two feet from the ground, and then carried up to the
height of four or four and a half feet with stones so placed
as to admit of the light passing through the wall; and
when any part of it falls down, it is easily repaired. Sheep,
it is alleged, are deterred from leaping against such a
AGRICULTURE.
i\. fence, from its being thus open, more than they would be
Au!" if it were built solid and of greater height.
^ A fence which combines in some measure the advan¬
tages of both the quick hedge and the stone wall, has
been found to answer in situations where the soil is not
well adapted to the ditch and hedge alone, and particu¬
larly where land stones are abundant, and there is a scar¬
city of wood for rails or paling. This fence is executed
in the following manner: A ditch is formed, with one
side of it perpendicular, or nearly so, and a facing of stone
is then begun at the bottom and carried up regularly in
the manner that stone walls are usually built, the space
between the wall and the side of the bank being filled up
with the earth taken out of the ditch, which should be of
a good quality, and mixed with lime or compost. The
thorns are then laid down in such a manner as that four
inches or more of the root or stem shall rest upon the
earth, the top of the plant projecting beyond the wall.
They are then covered with earth, and the wall and the
bank behind carried upwards as far as may be thought
necessary. In this way the plants appear to grow from
the face of the wall which affords them protection, and
they are not so liable to be annoyed with weeds as if they
had been planted on a bank of earth. But this method
seems better adapted to an outside fence than to one for
separating fields on either side, unless the wall be carried
up by itself considerably above the height of the bank.
(General Report of Scotland, vol. i.)
We may add, that in many instances there seems to be
a radical error in the first construction and subsequent
management of hedge-fences in particular, which might
be easily removed under appropriate covenants of lease.
The expense of inclosing, and of course the direction and
construction of the fences, ought to be undertaken in al¬
most every case by the proprietor, not merely for the
sake of relieving the tenant from a burden which may be
incompatible with his circumstances and professional du¬
ties, but also from a principle of economy on the part of
the landlord. Whatever may be the tenant’s knowledge
and capital, it is not to be expected that his views should
extend much beyond his own accommodation during his
temporary occupation ; whereas the permanent interest of
the landlord requires, not so much a minute attention to
economy in the first instance, as that the amelioration
shall be as complete and as durable as possible. The
tenant’s outlay on fences must inevitably be returned by
a diminution of the yearly rent, and probably with a large
profit for the first advance of the money; while, at the
same time, that money may be expended in an improve¬
ment which is neither so complete nor so lasting as it
might have been rendered had it been done at the ex¬
pense and under the direction of the proprietor.
But another error of the same kind is probably still
more common, and by far more pernicious to landholders.
Ihe fences are to be kept in repair by the tenant; which,
in so far as regards stone walls, is a stipulation no way
objectionable. But it often happens that a landlord, even
though he runs a hedge-fence at his own expense, leaves
it to be trained up by the tenant without his interference;
and the consequence is, that in perhaps nine cases out of
ten, it never becomes a sufficient fence at all; that the
original cost is lost for ever; and that the land which it
occupies is not only unproductive, but actually a nuisance.
Besides, it is evidently improper to require of a tenant to
rcar up a good fence, commonly by a greater outlay than
was required for forming it, when the half of his lease
perhaps must elapse before he can derive much benefit
f!i°m u' on the part of proprietors is proba-
y the principal cause of the badness of hedge-fences;
275
for if they are neglected when the plants are young,—if Agricul-
cattle are allowed to make gaps,—water permitted to ture.
stagnate in the ditch,—or weeds to grow unmolested on
the face of the bank, no labour or attention afterwards
will ever make an equal and strong fence. As it is well
known how difficult or rather impossible it is to enforce
this care by any compulsory covenants, the best plan for
both parties is that which is adopted in some districts,
where hedges are reared at the mutual expense of land¬
lord and tenant,—the thorns, while they require it, being
protected by rails, or otherwise, so as to give the tenant
all the advantages of a complete fence in the mean time.
In this case he cannot justly complain that he pays a
share of the expense; and this payment furnishes the
strongest motive for preserving the young thorns from
damage, and for training them with such care as to be¬
come a complete fence in the shortest possible period.
The provisions of the law of Scotland in regard to in- Laws re¬
closing have greatly promoted this invaluable improve-garding
ment. It holds out the greatest facilities, both for fences,
straightening the boundaries of conterminous properties,
and for erecting march-fences, by obliging every proprie¬
tor, upon due notice from his neighbour, to defray half
the charges of such a fence as the nature of the soil and
surface may render most eligible. By an act in 1686,
cattle must bo constantly herded during the day, if the
pastures be not inclosed, and are ordered to be kept dur¬
ing the night in houses, folds, or inclosures; a fine is ex¬
igible from the owner if his cattle trespass on his neigh¬
bour’s lands,—so much for every animal,—over and above
the damage done, even where there are no fences; and,
by the statute 1695, heavy penalties are denounced against
such as destroy fences.
As connected with the subject of fences and other ru- Odometer,
ral works, though applicable to many other purposes, we
may notice an instrument called the Odometer, exhibited
a few years ago to the Highland Society of Scotland by
Mr Hunter of Thurston, of which figures will be found in
Plate IX. By merely walking from one end to the other
of any wall, road, hedge, ditch, &c. with this instrument,
which is not more troublesome than a walking-stick, the
length is found much more correctly than by a measuring
chain, and with much greater expedition. Mr Hunter
has one so constructed as to measure nearly 1300 miles,
which may be attached to the wheel of any carriage,
and will measure the road passed along at any rate of
travelling.
Sect. IV. Tillage.
As the operations connected with tillage must necessa- General
rily be regulated by the condition of the soil and surface, observa-
and the crops to be cultivated, as to which we shall tions.
have occasion to treat in a subsequent section, all that is
at present necessary is, to offer a few general observations,
premising that we here take it for granted, that all those
obstructions which fall to be considered under the chapter
on Natural Pastures and Wastes, have either never exist¬
ed, or been already removed.
It is well known to every husbandman, that clayey or
tenacious soils should never be ploughed when wet; and
that it is almost equally improper to allow them to be¬
come too dry, especially if a crop is to be sown without
a second ploughing. The state in which such lands should
be ploughed is that which is commonly indicated by the
phrase, “between the wet and the dry,”—while the ground
is slightly moist, mellow, and the least cohesive.
In ploughing the first time for fallow or green crops, \yinter
all good farmers begin immediately after harvest, or after ploughing.
276
AGRICULTURE.
Awricul-
ture.
Different
modes of
wheat sowing is finished; and when this land has been
gone over, the old tough swards, if there be any, are next
turned up. The reasons for ploughing so early are suf¬
ficiently obvious; as the frosts of winter render the soil
more friable for the spring operations, and assist in de¬
stroying the weed-roots. In some places, however, the
first ploughing for fallow is still delayed till after the
spring seed-time.
In the following remarks, the swing-plough, drawn by
two horses, is to be understood as the one employed, if no
other be mentioned; and we shall here confine ourselves
for the most part to the practice of the north of England
and the south-east of Scotland.
Three different points require particular attention in
ploughing: I. the breadth of the slice to be cut; 2. its
depth; and 3. the degree in which it is to be turned
over;—which last circumstance depends both upon the
construction of the plough, particularly the mould-board,
and the care of the ploughman.
The breadth and depth of the furrow-slice are regulat¬
ed by judiciously placing the dx*aught on the nozzle or
bridle of the plough; setting it so as to go more or less
deep, and to take more or less land or breadth of slice,
according as may be desired. In general, the plough is
so regulated that, if left to itself, and merely kept from
falling over, it would cut a little broader and a little deep¬
er than is required. The coulter is also placed with some
inclination towards the left or land side, and the point of
the sock or share has a slight tendency downwards.
The degree to which the furrow-slice turns over, is in
a great measure determined by the proportion between
ploughing. jts brea(Jth and depth, which for general purposes is usu¬
ally as three is to two; or when the furrow is nine inches
broad, it ought to be six inches in depth. When the slice
is cut in this proportion, it will be nearly half turned over,
or recline at an angle of 40 or 45 degrees; and a field so
ploughed will have its ridges longitudinally ribbed into
angular drills or ridgelets. But if the slice is much broad¬
er in proportion to its depth, it will be almost completely
overturned, or left nearly flat, with its original surface
downwards; and each successive slice will be somewhat
overlapped by that which was turned over immediately
before it. And finally, when the depth materially exceeds
the width each furrow-slice will fall over on its side,
leaving all the original surface bare, and only laid some¬
what obliquely to the horizon.
The first of these modes of ploughing, where the
breadth and depth are nearly in the proportion already
mentioned, is the best adapted for laving up stubble land
after harvest, when it is to remain during winter exposed
to the mellowing influence of frost, preparatory to fallow
or turnips. The second or shallow furrow, of considerable
width, as five inches in depth by eight or nine wide, is
understood to answer best for breaking up old leys, be¬
cause it covers up the grass turf, and does not bury the
manured soil. The third is a most unprofitable and use¬
lessly slow operation, which ought seldom or never to be
adopted. The most generally useful breadth of a furrow-
slice is from eight to ten inches, and the depth, which
ought to be seldom less than four inches, cannot often ex¬
ceed six or eight inches, except in soils uncommonly thick
and fertile. When it is necessary to go deeper, as for
carrots and some other deep-rooted plants, a trench-
ploughing may be given by means of a second plough fol¬
lowing in the same furrow. Shallow ploughing ought al¬
ways to be adopted after turnips are eaten on the ground,
that the manure may not be buried too deep; and also in
covering lime,—especially if the ground has been pulver¬
ized by fallowing, because it naturally tends to sink in the
o
soil. In ploughing down farm-yard dung, it is commonly Ag i
necessary to go rather deep, that no part of the manure t
may be left exposed to the atmosphere. In the first '*'
ploughing for fallow or green crops, it is advisable to
work as deep as possible ; and no great danger is to be
apprehended, though a small portion of the subsoil be at
that time brought to the surface.
The furrow-slices are generally distributed into beds,Lan
varying in breadth according to circumstances ; these areridg
called ridges or lands, and are divided from one another
by gutters or open furrows. These last serve as guides
to the hand and eye of the sower, to the reapers, and also
for the application of manures in a regular manner. In
soils of a strong or retentive nature, or which have wet,
close subsoils, these furrows serve likewise as drains for
carrying off the surface water; and being cleared out
after the land is sown and harrowed, have the name of
water-furrows.
Ridges are not only different in breadth, but are raised
more or less in the middle on different soils. On clayey,
retentive soils, the great point to be attended to is the
discharge of superfluous water. But narrow stitches of
from three to five feet are not approved of in some of
the best cultivated counties. In these a breadth of fifteen
or eighteen feet, the land raised by two gatherings of the
plough, is most commonly adopted for such soils; such a
ridge being thought more convenient for manuring, sow¬
ing, harrowing, and reaping, than a narrower one; and
the water is drained off quite as effectually.
On dry, porous turnip soils, ridges may be formed much
broader ; and were it not for their use in directing the la¬
bourers, may be, and sometimes are, dispensed with alto¬
gether. They are often thirty or thirty-six feet broad,
which in Scotland are called hand-win ridges, because
reaped by a band of shearers, commonly six, served by
one binder. If it be wished to obliterate the intermediate
furrows, this may be done by casting up a narrow ridgelet
or single-bout drill between the broad ridges, which is af¬
terwards levelled by the harrows.
With regard to the mode of forming these ridges
straight and of uniform breadth, let us suppose a field
perfectly level that is intended to be laid off' into ridges
of any determinate breadth. The best ploughman be¬
longing to the farm conducts the operation, with the aid
of three or more poles shod with iron, in the following
manner: the first thing is to mark off the head ridges, on
which the horses turn in ploughing, which should in gene¬
ral be of an equal breadth from the bounding lines of the
field, if these lines are not very crooked or irregular.
The next operation, assuming one straight side of the
field, or a line that has been made straight, as the proper
direction of the ridges, is to measure off from it with one
of the poles (all of them of a certain length, or expressing
specific measures) half the intended breadth of the ridge
if it is to be gathered, or one breadth and a half if to be
ploughed flat; and there the ploughman sets up a pole as
a direction for the plough to enter. On a line with this,
and at some distance, he plants a second pole, and then in
the same manner a third, fourth, &c. as the irregularity of
the surface may render necessary, though three must al¬
ways be employed,—the last of them at the end of the
intended ridge, and the whole in one straight line. He
then enters the plough at the first pole, keeping the line
of poles exactly between his horses, and ploughs down all
the poles successively; halting his horses at each, and re¬
placing it at as many feet distant as the ridges are to be
1 - -i ■ v , > 1 " ■* --J—* all
broad; so that when he reaches the end of the ridge,
his poles are again set up in a new line parallel to the
first. He returns, however, along his former track, cor-
AGRICULTURE.
277
.1- reeling any deviations, and throwing a shallow furrow on
M the side opposite to his former one. These furrows, when
✓v**'reversed, form the crown of the ridge, and direct the
ploughmen who are to follow. The same operations are
carried on until the whole field is marked out. This is
called/chYW# in Scotland, and striking ike farrows in Eng¬
land. It is surprising with what accuracy these lines are
drawn by skilful ploughmen.
Another method has been adopted for the same pur¬
pose, which promises to be useful with less experienced
workmen. A stout lath or pole, exactly equal in length to
the breadth of the intended ridge, is fixed to the plough at
right angles to the line of the draught, one end of which
is placed across the handles exactly opposite the coulter,
while the other end projects towards the left hand of the
ploughman, and is preserved in its place by a rope passing
from it to the collar of the near side horse. At the outer
end of the lath, a coulter or harrow tine is fixed perpen¬
dicularly, which makes a trace or mark on the ground, as
the plough moves onwards, exactly parallel to the line of
draught. By this device, when the plough is feiring the
crown of one ridge, the marker traces the line on which
the next ridge is to be feired. ( General Report of Scot¬
land, vol. i. p. 3oT)
With regard to the direction and the length of ridges,
these points must evidently be regulated by the nature of
the surface and the size of the field. Short angular
ridges, called butts, which are often necessary in a field
with irregular boundaries', are always attended with a con¬
siderable loss of time, and ought to be avoided as much as
possible.
In ploughing steep land it is advisable to give the ridges
an inclination towards the right hand at the top, by which
in going up the acclivity the furrow falls more readily
from the plough, and with less fatigue to the horses.
Another advantage of forming ridges in a slanting direc¬
tion on such land is, that the soil is not so apt to be wash¬
ed down from the higher ground, as if the ridges were laid
at right angles. Wherever circumstances will permit, how¬
ever, the best direction is due north and south, by which
the grain on both sides of the ridge derives nearly equal
advantages from the influence of the sun.
The land being thus formed into ridges, is afterwards
cultivated without marking out the ridges anew, until the
inter-furrows have been obliterated by a fallow or fallow
crop. This is done by one or other of the following modes
^rewind of ploughing:—1. If the soil be dry and the land has been
lu , P^^hed flat, the ridges are split out in such a way, that
01 the space which the crown of the old ridge occupied is
now allotted to the open furrow between the new ones,
lids is technically called crown-and-farrow ploughing.
2. When the soil is naturally rather wet, or if the ridges
have been raised a little by former ploughings, the form
of the old ridges, and the situation of the inter-furrows,
are preserved by what is called casting ; that is, the1 fur¬
rows of each ridge are all laid in one direction, while
those of the next adjoining ridge are turned the contrary
ng-way; two ridges being always ploughed together. 3. It
is commonly necessary to raise the ridges on soils very
tenacious of moisture, by what is called gathering, which
is done by the plough going round the ridge, beginning
at the crown and raising all the furrow-slices inwards,
■k I his last operation, when it is wished to give the land a
level surface, as in fallowing, is reversed by turning all the
furrow-slices outwards, beginning at the inter-furrows,
and leaving an open furrow on the crown of each ridge.
In order to bring the land into as level a state as possible,
the same mode of ploughing, or cleaving, as it is called,
may be repeated as often as necessary.
iasti:.
I' 1
Cleav v,
High crooked ridges are universally disapproved of, Agricul-
and are now very rare in the best cultivated districts. A ture.
machine employed in levelling such land is exhibited in'^v'^~/
Plate X.; and a reward was given by the Society of Arts LevellinR-
in London for the improvements made on it by Mr David
Charles in 1803,
On strong lands, a pair of good horses ought to plough Extent
three quarters of an acre in nine hours; but upon the ploughed
same land, after the first ploughing, or on friable soils, one^ two
acre or an acre and a quarter is a common day’s work.1101’868.
Throughout the year an acre a day may be considered as
a full average on soils of a medium consistency. The
whole series of furrows on an English statute acre, sup¬
posing each to be nine inches broad, would extend to
19,360 yards; and adding twelve yards to every 220 for
the ground travelled over in turning, the whole work of
one acre may be estimated as extending to 20,416 yards,
or eleven miles and nearly five furlongs.
A kind of ploughing known by the name of ribbing was Ribbing,
formerly common on land intended for barley, and was
executed soon after harvest, as a preparation for the
spring ploughings. A similar operation is still in use in
some places, after land has been pulverized by clean
ploughings, and is ready for receiving the seed. By this
method only half the land is stirred, the furrow being laid
over quite flat, and covering an equal space of the level
surface. But except in the latter instance, where corn
is meant to grow in parallel lines, and where it is used as
a substitute for a drill-machine, ribbing is highly objec¬
tionable, and has become almost obsolete.
Sect. V. Fallowing.
There is no branch of agricultural practice that has en-Opinions
gaged more attention of late than this; and after many pf fallow-
years’ controversy, in which some of the ablest cultivators in*>'
of the present day have entered the lists, and exhausted
perhaps all the legitimate arguments on both sides, the
practice does not appear to give way, but rather to extend,
on wet, tenacious clays; and it is only on such that any
one contends for the advantages of fallowing. The expe¬
diency or inexpediency of pulverizing and cleaning the soil
by a bare fallow, is a question that can be determined
only by experience, and not by argument. No reasons,
however ingenious, for the omission of this practice, can
bring conviction to the mind of a farmer who, in spite of
all his exertions, finds, at the end of six or eight years, that
his land is full of weeds, sour, and comparatively unpro¬
ductive. Drilled and horse-hoed green crops, though cul¬
tivated with advantage on almost every soil, are probably
in general unprofitable as a substitide for fallow, and after
a time altogether inefficient. It is not because turnips,
cabbages, &c. will not grow in such soils, that a fallow is
resorted to, but because, taking a course of years, the
value of the successive crops is found to be so much
greater, even though an unproductive year is interposed,
as to induce a preference to fallowing. Horse-hoed crops
of beans, in particular, postpone the recurrence of fallow,
but in few situations can they ever exclude it altogether.
On the other hand, the instances that have been ad¬
duced of a profitable succession of crops on soils of this
description, without the intervention of a fallow, are so well
authenticated, that it would be extremely rash to assert
that it can in no case be dispensed with on clay soils..
Instances of this kind are to be found in different parts of
Mr Young’s Annals of Agriculture ; and a very notable
one, on Mr Greg’s farm of Coles, in Hertfordshire, is ac¬
curately detailed in the sixth volume of the Communica¬
tions to the Board of Agriculture.
278
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
The principal causes of this extraordinary difference
(among men of great experience may probably be found in
the quality of the soil, or in the nature of the climate, or,
in both. Nothing is more vague than the names by which
soils are known in different districts. Mr Greg’s farm in
particular, though the soil is denominated “ heavy arable
land,” and “ very heavy land,” is found so suitable to tur¬
nips, that a sixth part of it is always under that crop, and
these are consumed on the ground by sheep—a system of
management which every farmer must know to be alto¬
gether impracticable on the wet, tenacious clays of other
districts. It may indeed be laid down as a criterion for
determining the question, that wherever this management
can be profitably adopted, fallow, as a regular branch of
the course, must be not less absurd than it is injurious
both to the cultivator and to the public. It is probable,
therefore, that in debating this point, the opposite parties
are not agreed about the quality of the soil, and in parti¬
cular about its property of absorbing and retaining mois¬
ture, so different in soils that in common language have
the same denomination.
Another cause of difference must be found in the cli¬
mate. It is well known that a great deal more rain falls
on the west than on the east coast of Britain, and that
between the southern and northern counties there is at
least a month or six weeks’ difference in the maturation of
the crops. Though the soil therefore be as nearly as pos¬
sible similar in quality and surface, the period in which it
is accessible to agricultural operations must vary accord¬
ingly. Thus, in the south-eastern counties of the island,
where the crops may be all cut down, and almost all car¬
ried home by the end of August, much may be done in
cleansing and pulverizing the soil during the months of
September and October, while the farmers of the north
are exclusively employed in harvest work, which is fre¬
quently not finished by the beginning of November. In
some districts in the south of England wheat is rarely
sown before December; whereas in the north, and still
more in Scotland, if it cannot be got completed by the end
of October, it must commonly be delayed till spring, or
oats or barley be taken in place of wheat.
It does not then seem of any utility to enter farther
into this controversy, which every skilful cultivator must
determine for himself. All the crops, and all the modes
of management which have been proposed as a substitute
for fallow, are well known to such men, and would un¬
questionably have been generally adopted long ago, if,
upon a careful consideration of the advantages and dis¬
advantages on both sides, a bare fallow was found to be
unprofitable in a course of years. The reader who wishes
to examine the question fully may consult, among many
others, the works noted below.1
However necessary the periodical recurrence of fallow
may be on retentive clays, its warmest advocates do not
recommend it on turnip soils, or on any friable loams in¬
cumbent on a porous subsoil; nor is it in any case neces¬
sary every third year, according to the practice of some
districts. On the best cultivated lands it seldom returns
oftener than once in six or eight years, and in favourable
situations for obtaining an extra-supply of manure, it
may be advantageously dispensed with for a still longer
period.
Fallows are in many instances so grossly mismanaged,
particularly where they recur so often as to make it an
object to derive some profit from them by means of sheep,
that it may be of use to describe the several operations A
according to the justly esteemed practice of East Lothian
and Berwickshire. ^
“ Invariably after harvest, the land intended for being f
summer-fallowed in the ensuing year gets an end-lontrde!
ploughing, which ought to be as deep as the soil will a£
mit, even though a little of the till or subsoil is brought
up. This both tends to deepen the cultivated or manured
soil, as the fresh accession of hitherto uncultivated earth
becomes afterward incorporated with the former manured
soil, and greatly facilitates the separation of the roots of
weeds during the ensuing fallow process, by detachino-
them completely from any connection with the fast sub¬
soil. This autumnal ploughing, usually called the win¬
ter furrow, promotes the rotting of stubble and weeds •
and if not accomplished towards the end of harvest, must
be given in the winter months, or as early in the sprint
as possible. In giving this first ploughing, the old ridges
should be gathered up, if practicable, as in that state they
are kept dry during the winter months; but it is not un¬
common to split them out or divide them, especially if
the land had been previously highly gathered, so that
each original ridge of land is divided into two half-ridges.
Sometimes, when the land is easily laid dry, the furrows
of the old ridges are made the crowns of the new ones,
or the land is ploughed in the way technically called
crown-and-fur. In other instances, two ridges are ploughed
together by what is called casting, which has been already
described. After the field is ploughed, all the inter¬
furrows, and those of the headlands, are carefully opened
up by the plough, and are afterwards gone over effectual¬
ly by a labourer with a spade, to remove all obstructions,
and to open up the water furrows into the fence ditches,
wherever that seems necessary, that all moisture may
have a ready exit. In every place where water is ex¬
pected to lodge, such as dishes or hollow places in the
field, cross or oblique furrows are drawn by the plough,
and their intersections carefully opened into each other
by the spade. Wherever it appears necessary, cross cuts
are also made through the head ridges into the ditches with
a spade, and every possible attention is exerted that no
water may stagnate in any part of the field.
“ As soon as the spring seed-time is over, the fallow
land is again ploughed end-long. If formerly split, it is
now ridged up; if formerly laid up in gathered ridges, it
is split or cloven down. It is then cross-ploughed; and
after lying till sufficiently dry to admit the harrows, it is
harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and every particle of the
vivacious roots of weeds brought up to view, carefully
gathered by hand into heaps, and either burnt on the field
or carted off to the compost midden. The fallow is then
ridged up, which places it in a safe condition in the event
of bad weather, and exposes a new surface to the harrows
and roller; after which the weeds are again gathered by
hand, but a previous harrowing is necessary. It is after¬
wards ploughed, harrowed, rolled, and gathered as often
as may be necessary to reduce it into fine tilth, and com¬
pletely to eradicate all root-weeds. Between these suc¬
cessive operations, repeated crops of seedling weeds are
brought into vegetation and destroyed. The larvae like¬
wise of various insects, together with an infinite variety
of the seeds of weeds, are exposed to be devoured by
birds, which are then the farmer’s best friends, though
often proscribed as his bitterest enemies.
Some writers on husbandry have condemned the use
:ul.
vlZTAfXuUnfal X A?r;CultnZ' an? ^ritings generally; Hunter’s Georgical Essays; Dickson’s Practical Agriculture; Sir H-
Davy s Agricultural Chemistry; Brown’s Treatise on Rural Affairs; The County Reports; and The General Report of Scotland.
agriculture.
279
am.!, of the harrow and roller in the fallow process, alleging peas, beans, tares, &c. but also to the different ,• , .
»- of herbage, as well as turnips, po" es and ™her Sre'
S01, «** «wo divisions
root-weeds, by the baking or drying of the clods in the
gun and wind; but experience has ascertained, that fre¬
quently turning over the ground, though absolutely ne¬
cessary while the fallow process is going on, can never
eradicate couchgrass or other root-weeds. In all clay
soils the ground turns up in lumps or clods* which the
severest drought will not penetrate so sufficiently as to
kill the included roots. When the land is again ploughed,
these lumps are simply turned over and no more, and the
action of the plough serves in no degree to reduce them,
or at least very imperceptibly. It may be added, that
these lumps likewise inclose innumerable seeds of weeds,
which cannot vegetate unless brought under the influence
of the sun and air near the surface. The diligent use,
therefore, of the harrow and roller, followed by careful
hand-picking, is indispensably necessary to the perfection
of the fallow process.” (General Report of Scotland,
vol. i. p. 419.)
When effectually reduced to fine tilth, and thoroughly
cleansed from roots and weeds, the fallow is ploughed
end-long into gathered ridges or lands, usually 15 or 18
feet broad, which are set out in the manner already de¬
scribed in treating of the striking of furrows, or feiring.
If the seed is to be drilled, the ridges are made of such
widths as may suit the construction of the particular drill-
machine that is to be employed. After the land has been
once gathered by a deep furrow, proportioned to the
depth of the cultivated soil, the manure is laid on, and
evenly spread over the surface, whether muck, lime, marl,
or compost. A second gathering is now given by the
plough; and this being generally the furrow upon which
the seed is sown, great care is used to plough as equally
as possible. After the seed is sown and the land tho¬
roughly harrowed, all the inter-furrows, furrows of the
headlands, and oblique or furrows, are carefully opened
up with the plough, and cleared out writh the spade, as
already mentioned respecting the first or winter ploughing.
The expense of fallowing must appear, from what has
been said, to be very considerable, when land has been
allowed to become stocked with weeds; but if it be kept
under regular management, corn alternating with drilled
pulse or green crops, the subsequent returns of fallow will
not require nearly so much labour. In common cases,
from four to six ploughings are generally given, with har¬
rowing and rolling between, as may be found necessary;
and, as we have already noticed, the cultivator may be
employed to diminish this heavy expense. But it must
he considered, that upon the manner in which the fallow
operations are conducted depends not only the ensuing
wheat crop, but in a great measure all the crops of the
rotation.
Sect. VI. Of THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CROPS.
^e. C1’°ps cultivated in Britain present every variety
of which the soil and climate will admit; and in an agri-
cu tural point of view may be considered under several
1 'visions, according to their nature, or the purposes for
",Hc 1 tllcy are intended. The most popular arrangement
p aces all sorts of farm crops under the two general heads
o corn and green crops ; the former applicable to the use
0 man> and fhe latter to that of cattle, sheep, and other
'aneties of live stock. The former include the different
eerealia, of which the most important are wheat, barley,
r}c, and oats. The latter, or green crops, comprise a still
eater variety, the words being, in common language,
aPP led not only to pulse or leguminous plants, such as
is, that corn or other culmiferous plants riplning1 their
seeds are held to be scourging crops, whereas those that
fall under the denomination of green crops are considered
to be of an ameliorating description, or at least as not
impairing the productive powers of the soil in the same
degree. As it is our object to treat only of matters of practi-
ca utility, we shall not attempt any scientific arrangement
but content ourselves with describing the principal crops’
with their mode of culture, produce, and application, in
popular language, confining our remarks at present chiefly
to such as are cultivated from year to year, as distin¬
guished from those which, like the pasture grasses, are
intended to occupy the soil permanently or for an inde¬
finite period. Of these by far the most important is,
1. Wheat.
The soil best adapted to this grain is a clay or strong Wheat,
loam, though its growth is by no means confined to such
soils. Before the introduction of turnips and clover, all
soils but little cohesive were thought quite unfit for wheat;
but, even on sandy soils, it is now grown extensively and
with much advantage after either of these crops. The
greater part of the wheat crop throughout Britain, how¬
ever, is probably still sown upon fallowed land. When it
succeeds turnips consumed on the ground, or clover cut
for hay or soiling, it is commonly sown after one plough¬
ing ; but, upon heavier soils, or after grass of two or more
years, the land is ploughed twice or three times, or re¬
ceives what is called a rag-falloiv.
The varieties of this grain are so numerous as not to Varieties,
admit of being enumerated here; but the most general
classification is according to colour, all the varieties being
divided into white and red, though with several shades
between; or according to the time which the grain re¬
quires to remain in the ground, being either sown before
winter, or in the spring months ; and hence the distinction
between winter and spring or summer wheat. But this
last variety must not be confounded with the winter wheats,
which are sometimes sown in spring. Several other dif¬
ferences in wheat are sufficiently obvious: thus, the true
summer wheat is usually bearded, and some of the winter
varieties are distinguished by being woolly-eared, or by
the thickness of the chaff; all which and other peculiarities
give rise to different names, which are sufficiently under¬
stood in particular districts, though not in general use.
The fine white wheats are considered more delicate
than the red; but the latter, though seldom sown on rich
warm soils, are found most profitable, from their hardiness
and early ripening, on inferior land, in an unfavourable
climate. A great many different sorts of summer wheat,
transmitted some years ago to the president of the Board
of Agriculture by the Agricultural Society of Paris, were
divided, for the purpose of experiment, among several
distinguished agriculturists ( Communications to the Board
of Agriculture, vol. vii. page 11); but their comparative
merits, or adaptation to the climate of Britain, do not
seem to have been satisfactorily ascertained. Summer,
or, as it is often called, spring wheat, has, however, been
long and extensively cultivated in some parts of England,
particularly in Lincolnshire, and may probably be found
a valuable crop in the southern counties; but the trials
that have been made of it in the north do not entitle it to
a preference over winter wheat sown in spring, or even to
oats or barley, in that climate. It is sometimes usefully
employed in filling up any blanks that appear in spring
among the winter-sown wheats
280
AGRICULTURE.
Prepara,
tion of
seed.
Agricul- Winter wheat is sown on early turnip soils, after clover
ture. or turnips, at almost every period from the beginning of
September till the middle of March; but the far greater
part is sown in September and October. For summer
wheat, in the southern districts, May is sufficiently early;
but in the north, the last fortnight of April is thought a
more eligible seed-time. In the cultivation of spring-
sown winter wheat, it is of importance to use the produce
of spring-sown grain as seed, as the crop of such grain
ripens about a fortnight earlier than when the produce of
the same wheat winter-sown is employed as spring seed.
Wheat, before being sown, is usually prepared with
pickles or steeps and quicklime, as a preventive of smut.
We shall only add a short account of a method of prepa¬
ration which has been followed with success in the south
of Scotland, and of the efficacy of which we can speak
from our own experience. Take four vessels, two of them
smaller than the other two, the former with wire bottoms,
and of a size to contain about a bushel, the latter large
enough to hold the smaller within them. Fill one of the
large tubs with water, and, putting the wheat in a small
one, immerse it in the water, and stir and skim off the
grains that float above; and renew the water as often as
is necessary, till it comes off almost quite clean. Then
raise the small vessel in which the wheat is contained,
and repeat the process with it in the other large tub,
which is to be filled with stale urine; and in the mean
time wash more wheat in the water tub. When abun¬
dance of water is at hand, this operation is by no means
tedious ; and the wheat is much more effectually cleansed
from all impurities, and freed more completely from weak
and unhealthy grains and the seeds of weeds, than can be
done by the winnowing-machine. When thoroughly washed
and skimmed, let it drain a little, then empty it on a clean
floor, or in the cart that is to take it to the field, and riddle
quicklime upon it, turning it over, and mixing it with a
shovel, till it be sufficiently dry for sowing.
Broad-cast Wheat is most commonly sown broad-cast, in a manner
and drill too well known to need any description. Drilling is, how-
sowing. ever, extensively practised in some districts, and is becom¬
ing more general on lands infested with the seeds of annual
weeds, especially when sown in spring. A machine which
sows at three different intervals, according to the judg¬
ment of the farmer, of 12, 101, 0r 9 inches, is much ap¬
proved of in Scotland. It deposits six, seven, or eight
rows at once, according as it is adjusted to one or other of
these intervals, and the work is done with ease and accuracy
when the ridges are previously laid out of such a breadth,
12^- feet, as to be sown by one bout; the machine going
along one side of such a ridge, and returning on the other,
and its direction being guided by one of its wheels, which
thus always runs in the open furrow between the ridges.
If the 101 incb interval be adopted, and it is the most
common one in that country, the machine sows seven rows
at once, or 14 rows on a ridge of 121 feet. But the space
between the rows varies in some parts still more than this
machine admits of; it ought not, however, to be so narrow
as to prevent hand-hoeing, even after the crop has made
considerable progress in growth ; and it cannot advantage¬
ously be so wide as to admit the use of any effective
horse-hoe.
Sowing on A third mode of sowing is common in some places, by
ribbs. which a drill-machine is dispensed with, though the same
purpose is nearly answered. This is by what is called
ribbing, which we have already adverted to in the section
on tillage. The seed is scattered with the hand in the
usual broad-cast manner, but as it necessarily falls for the
most part in the furrows between the ribbs, the crop rises
in straight parallel rows, as if it had been sown by a drill-
machine ; and the ribbs are afterwards levelled by bar.
rowing across them. This plan has nearly all the advan¬
tages of drilling, in so far as regards exposure to the rays1' A!
of the sun, and the circulation of air among the plants- ' *
but, as some plants must always rise between the rows it
is not quite so proper when hand-hoeing is required.
The dibbling of wheat is practised to some extent inp
the county of NoiTolk, and occasionally in other quarters
though it is perhaps too laborious and tedious a process in
our unsteady climate ever to come into general use. An
expert dibbler, with the assistance of three children to
drop the grains, goes over about half an acre a day; and
the seed, which is usually from one bushel to six pecks per
acre, is covered by means of a bush-harrow. The prin¬
cipal, if not the only advantage that attends this method
is the saving of seed. An attempt was made to employ a
machine for the purpose, but it has never come into use.
We have seen a field of which a part was sown broad-cast
and a part dibbled, for the purpose of comparison; and the
latter certainly appeared at the time more equal and luxu-
riant than the former, but it had no superiority in point
of produce, except perhaps that it contained a less propor¬
tion of small grains, or presented altogether a more equal
sample.
The quantity of seed necessary depends both on theQ
time of sowing and the state of the land; land sown early of ['
requiring less than the same land when sown in winterer
spring, and poor land being at all times allowed more seed
than the rich. The quantity accordingly varies from two
bushels or less to three, and sometimes even to four bushels
per imperial acre. Winter wheat, when sown in spring,
ought always to have a liberal allowance, as the plants
have not time to tiller much without unduly retarding their
maturation.
When wheat is sown broad-cast, the subsequent culture Ai
must generally be confined to harrowing, rolling, andtu
hand-hoeing. As grass-seeds are frequently sown in
spring on winter-sown wheat, the harrows and roller are
employed to loosen the soil and cover the seeds. But
these operations, to a certain extent, and at the pro¬
per season, are found beneficial to the wheat crop itself,
especially on strong clays, and are sometimes performed
even when grass-seeds are not to be sowm. One or two
courses of han'owing penetrate the crust which is formed
on tenacious soils, and operate like hand-hoeing in raising
a fresh mould to the stems of the young plants. Rolling
in spring ought never to be omitted on dry, porous soils,
which are frequently left in so loose a state by the winter
frosts, that the roots quit the soil and perish ; and if the
land be rough and cloddy, the roller has a still more bene¬
ficial effect than the harrows in pulverizing the inert
masses, and extending the pasture of the plants. Hand-
weeding, so far as to cut down thistles and other long
weeds, is never neglected by careful farmers; but the
previous culture ought to leave as little as possible of this
work to be done when the crop is growing. Annual weeds,
which are the most troublesome, can only be effectually
destroyed by hand-hoeing ; and to admit of this, the crop
should be made to rise in rows, by being sown either by a
drill-machine, or on ribbs. Where grass-seeds are to be
sown on drilled wheat, the hand-hoeing assists in covering
them. <
Wheat, which is almost universally reaped with theKi ?■
sickle, ought not to stand till it be what is called dead
ripe, when the loss is considerable, both upon the field and
in the stack-yard. When cut, it is usually tied up m
sheaves, which it is better to make so small as to be done
by bands the length of the straw, than so thick as to re¬
quire two lengths to be joined for bands. The sheaves
nil.
i _ri J. are set up in shocks or stocks, each containing in all twelve,
tui or, if the straw be long, fourteen sheaves. In the latter
yv^nase, two rows of six sheaves are made to stand in such a
hock
[ousi.
id sU
ireeh*'.
AGRICULTURE.
281
Agricul¬
ture.
   — —  ~
manner as to be in contact at the top, though, in order to
admit the circulation of air, at some distance below; and
along this line two sheaves more are placed as a covering,
the corn end of both being towards the extremities of the
line. In a few days of good weather the crop is ready for
■ the barn or stack-yard. In the stack-yard, which is com¬
monly contiguous to the farm-offices, having the barn on
one of its sides, it is built either in oblong or circular
stacks, sometimes on frames supported with pillars, to pre¬
vent the access of vermin, and to secure the bottom from
dampness; and as soon afterwards as possible the stacks
are neatly thatched. When the harvest weather is so wet
as to render it difficult to prevent the stacks from heating,
it has been the practice to make funnels through them, a
of a boy. The value of the work of eight horses for a
day may be stated at 30 shillings, and the wages of the
chivei may be called two shdhngs and sixpence. Hence
the total expense of threshing 250 bushels may amount
to about twopence per bushel, when the wages of the
attendants are added; still leaving a considerable differ-
ence in favour of threshing by the machine in preference
to the nail. W ere it even ascertained that the expense
of threshing by horses and by the flail is nearly the
same, horse-mills are to be recommended on other ac-
c®UI?,t® ;.sucl1 as better threshing, expedition, little risk
ot pilfering, &c.
1 he produce of this crop, like that of most others, ne-Produce
cessaruy depends mainly upon the nature of the soil and
season. In a rich clayey loam it has been known to yield
so much as eight quarters the imperial acre, weighing when
dressed about 60 lbs. the bushel; but the common return
: . 1 . , , :: r o . ''‘“J “ 111 coocu ms. me nusnei; but the common return
large one m a central and perpendicular direction, and has been estimated at less than half this quantfly, and the
small lateral ones to communicate with it. A nnrt en nr nvomn-o i , 4 y miy, ana me
small lateral ones to communicate with it. A particular
method of constructing pillars, frames, and bosses, as the
funnels are called, is described in a recent publication.
(Husbandry of Scotland, vol. i. p. 373.) In the best cul¬
tivated counties, the use of large barns for holding the crop
is disapproved of, not only on account of the expense, but
because corn keeps better, or is less exposed to damage
of any kind, in a well-built stack.
By means of the threshing-mill all sorts of corn are ex¬
peditiously separated from the straw and dressed for mar¬
ket. One man feeds the grain in the straw into the
machine, and is assisted by two half-grown lads, or young
women, one of whom pitches or carries the sheaves from
the bay close to the threshing-stage, while the other opens
the bands of every sheaf, and lays the sheaves successive¬
ly on a small table close by the feeder, who spreads them
evenly on the feeding-stage, that they may be drawn in
successively by the fluted rollers, to undergo the ope¬
ration of threshing. In the opposite end of the barn or
straw-house into which the rakes or shakers deliver the
clean threshed straw, one man forks up the straw from the
floor to the straw-mow, and two lads, or young women,
average cannot perhaps be safely stated higher through¬
out any one county than from 3 to 31 quarters, the weight
varying from 54 to 62 or 64 lbs. per bushel. The weight
of the straw, which may run from a ton to a ton and half
per acre, is used for thatch, packing, and, in the country,
chiefly for litter to the live stock.
The season best adapted for wheat is universally under¬
stood to be a summer in which there is much sunshine and
little rain. Both in regard to quantity and quality, the crop
is always best in a season rather too dry and hot for some
other crops, the produce being then usually much greater
than the bulk of the straw would lead one to expect.
heat is liable to a variety of diseases, particularly in Diseases
the more advanced stages of its growth. Of these the
most destructive are smut and mildew. The former appears Smut,
in the shape of a black or smut ball (lycoperdon globosuni),
which partially occupies the ear of the stalk, to the exclu¬
sion of the grain, and so far lessens the quantity of pro¬
duce. But its worst effect is, that when the ball crumbles
into powder in the threshing and dressing, this powder
contaminates more or less all the sound grain, and thus
build it md trppd It ~ ‘^'7^ ""‘“T’ Sreatly injures the quality of the whole, whether it be con-
u kt it and tread it down. _ In a threshing-machine work- verted into flour or used as seed. If it prevails to a great
labour Tn the^th^h- ^ ^t th/^hole exPense of1 hand extent> the wheat is rendered quite unfit for being sown,
PovverfuTmnVl! I lg ^ Tratlon ’ and as a aad ought never to be used in that way, to whatever pro!
hundred hush, knf 11 ^ 7 <7°.to /hree cess it may be previously subjected. We have already
thopYnpiv-18^ ^ ^ grain in a working day of nme hours, noticed a useful method of preparing the seed, which
bushPlsP?s excee<lingly small indeed. Assuming 250 answers the double purpose of clearing the grain from any
th • W01;ku f theT pe°Ple f°r re sliSht taint of smut’ and gating lighfgrains as well
not’amount t ,to. j30 mne *llllllnSs’tlle exPense d°es as noxious seeds, but we are aware that the same effect
not amount to one halfpenny for each bushel nf m-aln. may be obtained by various other means. The object in
all cases is to destroy the infection to which the grain is
liable from the powder of the smut ball, as it is a general
opinion among all intelligent agriculturists, that smut in
the seed will produce a smutted crop if sown without pre¬
paration. But the safest course is to select such grain for
seed as exhibits no appearance of smut at all.
Mildew is a disease of a very different nature from smut, Mildew,
and its ravages in the most aggravated cases are far more
destructive. It is generally thought to be produced by a
peculiar state of the atmosphere; and when it comes on
with the ne mm uuuuing or me straw, between the periods of flowering and ripening, it has been
more thn ° ^ P0.wer'11 water-mill, will scarcely cost known to destroy whole fields within a few days. In such
every reV 1 a one wpen t^le dad. employed, after cases nothing can be done either by way of prevention or
the tear'uid ^5'C-l k lf106 30r ,tae ^ntcrest °f money, and remedy. It has been found, however, that in all seasons
When1 err 'Ui-U ° i machjne- . mildew prevails more or less in particular situations; and
Worses thh> am 18 ,es led w‘dl a machine worked by there is reason to believe that the vicinity of the barberry
lanced |iexPensc !S necessarily and considerably en- bush, and probably several other shrubs, contributes to pro¬
work al'remlv^.TP 1 e i°P e^e.ct‘n» t!ie ^arger quantity of duce it, the same parasitical fungi being found on the
1*k1 a nnn t ) .cu ,ed on require eight good horses, straw of mildewed wheat which are known to abound on
vojl. ii ° C riVG t lem’ wdl0 ma7 perhaps require the aid the barberry and some other plants. The prevalence of
2 N
■'' nine oimiiiigs, uit; expense aoes
not amount to one halfpenny for each bushel of grain.
Lven reduemg the quantity of grain threshed to 150
ousnels, the easy work of , a good machine of inferior size
ami power, the expense does not exceed three farthings
t e.uushel. But the whole of this must not be charo-ed
against the threshing only, the grain being half-dressed at
.j . —^ £iaiu ueiny iitui-uresseci at
ie same time, by passing through one winnowing-machine,
winch is alwave   ii . A •
is always attached to a complete threshing-mill;
am where a second can be conveniently connected with
no aSi18 ?ommonIy case if the mill be of considerable
tlv'w’i11e.corn <comes d°wn nearly ready for market: so
with r thres!l!n&’ dressing, and building of the straw,
AGRICULTURE.
Eye.
Barley.
Varieties.
Prepara¬
tion.
heavy fogs or mist, drizzling rains, and sudden changes in
the temperature, have been assigned as the causes of mil¬
dew ; and as it has been found that open airy exposures
are much less affected than low sheltered lands, in years
when mildew prevails most generally, the disorder may
perhaps be somewhat diminished by drilling, which admits
a freer circulation of air. Spring or summer wheat is
less liable to mildew than the winter species, though it
does not always escape. (Sir Joseph Banks on Mildew,
and Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii.)
2. Rye.
The cultivation of this species of grain is more limited
than it was in former times, when rye, either by itself or
mixed with wheat, furnished the bread of the labouring
classes; and in most parts of Britain there is no steady
demand for it. It is nevertheless a profitable crop in
particular districts, and especially on sandy soils, that will
scarcely carry any other kind of grain. There are two
general varieties, the one sown before winter, and the
other in spring; and it is further distinguished by its black
or white colour. The winter sort, which is the most
plump and hardy grain, is sometimes cultivated as a green
crop, to be eaten in spring, where turnips are not raised,
or after they are consumed. There is nothing in its ha¬
bits or mode of culture that requires particular notice.
It is sometimes sown on the margins of fields, near farm¬
houses, as a protection to other crops against the depre¬
dations of poultry, which do not feed on it, and seldom
penetrate through it; and its straw is more valuable for
thatch, though useless as fodder, than that of any other
species of corn.
3. Barley.
This is a much less hardy grain than either of the for¬
mer, and succeeds best on a finely pulverized soil, not so
little cohesive as that which will carry rye, but much farther
removed, on the other hand, from the clays best adapted
to the growth of wheat. It is cultivated largely as a ro¬
tation crop in most parts of Britain, and generally sown
after turnips, though sometimes after beans or peas; and
even after a bare fallow, if the land be not thought fit for
wheat, or if the weather has prevented it from being sown
at the proper season. Spring-sown wheat, either of the
winter or summer species, and early oats, particularly the
potato variety, now occupy a portion of the land that was
formerly allotted to barley.
The most intelligible distinction among the different
kinds of barley is founded on the number of the rows on
the ear. Thus we have Hordeum distichon, two-rowed
barley, which is the kind most extensively cultivated, and
comprises several varieties; Hordeum tetrastichon, four-
rowed barley, often called bear or bigg, the culture of
which is, for the most part, confined to inferior soils, or to
situations where the climate is unfavourable to the former
species; and Hordeum hexastichon, or six-rowed barley,
which is but little known in Britain, though it is the pre¬
vailing kind in the north of Europe, and said to be the
hardiest of all.
To whatever crop barley succeeds, the harrow and rol¬
ler, when the plough alone is insufficient, should be em¬
ployed in reducing the soil to a considerable degree of
fineness. In most cases more than one earth is given ;
though, after a winter furrow, the cultivator may be used
in spring instead of the plough. After turnips, eaten on
the ground by sheep, the land, being consolidated by their
treading, sometimes receives two ploughings; but if only
one, it should be well harrowed and rolled; and it is often
finished by harrowing after the roller, especially if grass-
seeds be sown, which are covered by this last harrowing.
Barley is sometimes sown on the first ploughing, and co- ^
vered by a second shallow ploughing. As it is found oN V
great importance, with a view to speedy and equal vege¬
tation, that the ground should be fresh and moist, barley
is generally sown upon what is termed hot-fur; that is, as
soon as possible after it is turned up by the plough.
From the beginning of April to the middle of MayisSsL
considered the best season for sowing barley, though in«>
early situations it may be sown a fortnight later. Bear,
or bigg, is an earlier, as well as a hardier kind, than the
two-rowed barley, and may be sown later. Winter-sown
barley, which may be eaten in spring and afterwards stand
for a crop, is found to answer well in particular districts.
On land infested with annual weeds, the drilling of this
grain is an advantageous practice; but throughout the coun¬
try at large, this, and all other culmiferous crops, are more
generally sown broad-cast If the land be rich, a small
quantity of seed is sufficient; often so little as two bushels
per acre, and seldom more than three or three and aCL
half; and its produce varies from three to five quartersd
the acre, and may average four quarters. The chief con¬
sumption is in the distilleries and breweries; but in the
north of England, and in Scotland, it is partially used for
bread, either by itself, or mixed up with a small proportion
of beans or peas, though much less so now than formerly.
Part of it is made into what are called pot barley and
pearl barley, in which the husk is taken off at the mill;
and, in the latter case, so much of the kernel as to give it
a round form. It is also occasionally ground into flour by
taking out the bran, and in this state made into cakes,
which are much esteemed in some parts of Scotland.
Barley, like wheat, is most productive in a dry, warm
season. For this reason, what is grown in the south of
England is almost always superior to the produce of the
northern parts of the island. It is not, like wheat, liable
to any peculiar disease ; and is, of all the corn-crops,
the best nurse for clover, which, under good management,
is usually sown along with it. The straw of this grain,
which may' weigh upon an average about a ton per acre, is
used chiefly as litter for live stock.
Barley is cut down in some places with the sickle, and!
in others with the scythe; in England, very commonly
with the latter, and in Scotland, almost always with the
former. It is the most difficult of all the species of corn
to save in a precarious harvest, and usually requires more
labour in threshing and dressing, particularly in separat¬
ing the awns from the grain, for which an apparatus
called a hummellmg-vnuchine is sometimes added to the
threshing-mill.
4. Oats.
This hardy grain is sown, with little preparation, on al¬
most every kind of soil, and too often follows culmiferous
crops, as well as pulse, herbage, and bulbous-rooted plants.
Where a correct course of alternate white and green crops
prevails, oats usually succeed clover; and it is almost al¬
ways the first crop on land that has been several years in
grass. As it prospers best on a soil not too finely pulve¬
rized, it is commonly sown on one earth. ,
There are numerous varieties of this species, which are
distinguished by colour, form, and the period of ripening,
and by the names of the countries, such as the Polan
and the Dutch, from whence they are understood to have
been brought, or of the places where they were origma )
cultivated. The chief of these are the common white va¬
riety, so well known as to need no description; the re ,
and what is called the potato-oat. For land in good cu
tivation, the two latter are probably the best,—the re
Ctifi'
AGRICULTURE.
A?r il- for uplands exposed to high winds,—and the potato va¬
tu riety in lower situations. Both of these are early, and
V-z-v^yield more abundantly, in grain as well as meal, than most
others. The potato-oat is said to have been discovered
by accident in Cumberland in 1788. {Farmers Maga¬
zine, vol. xiv. p. 167.) But it is now very extensively
raised, on suitable soils, in the north of England, and
throughout the lowlands of Scotland. It usually brings a
higher price at Marklane than any other variety. The
red oat is so called from the colour of its husk : it has a
thinner and more flexible stem, and the grain is more
firmly attached to it, than in any of the early varieties ;
so that upon good soils, in high situations, as it is in less
danger of suffering from wind, and is at the same time
so much earlier than the common kinds, it is entitled to a
decided preference, particularly in a late climate. It is
understood to have originated in the county of Peebles,
and is sometimes called the Magbiehill-oat, from the name
of the estate where it was first cultivated.
283
Seasoi f Oats are sown, usually broad-cast, in the months of
suwini'i March and April, seldom earlier or later ; and from four
to six bushels are allowed to an acre. The produce,
which varies greatly, from this grain being sown on land
of every quality, may be stated generally at about five
quarters per acre. They are often carried to the barn
like hay, without being tied up in sheaves; but in the
north they are either managed in the way already de¬
scribed for wheat, or set up in single sheaves or gaits as
they are cut, and tied more tightly when ready to be car¬
ried, and then built in the stack-yard. Wherever a
threshing-mill is employed, as it is necessary, in order to
have the work done well, that corn should be presented
to the rollers in a regular, uniform manner, the practice
of mowing, and carrying it in a loose state, is highly im¬
proper; and, independently of this objection, the season
often occasions much damage to corn managed in this
slovenly manner, which it would have escaped in sheaves
and covered shocks.
stm ^le straw oats *s more va^UG as fodder than that
fodder - an^ ot*ler corn croP> and it is advantageously used as
a substitute for hay diming the winter months in some
ot the best cultivated districts, both for farm-horses and
cattle.
5. Peas and Beans.
Since the introduction of clover and turnips, the culture
of peas, which are almost everywhere a most precarious
ciop, has been greatly diminished. Their straw or haulm
is sometimes more valuable than the grain produce, which,
m a wet or late season, is frequently little more than the
*eed; and when the straw is not luxuriant, so much of
die land is left exposed to the growth of weeds, that it is
rendered unfit for carrying corn crops till cleansed by a
allow or fallow crop. Drilling is but an ineffectual reme-
/. r foose inconveniences, the stems falling over and co-
U'rmg the ground in so irregular a manner as in a great
measure to prevent either horse or hand-hoeing at the
ime when it would be most beneficial. Yet a luxuriant
crop of peas, by^completely covering the surface, keeping
e soa ln a moist and mellow state, and preventing the
orbarhWee^S’ a S00c^ PreParation for either wheat
ihe culture of beans is almost confined to clays and
iJ,0n k0am8 ^le be.st mana£ed districts, turnip soils
lnS y no means suited to this crop. Beans usually
tu0'^ " le‘V' or oa^» b'A sometimes also clover or pas-
e Sj?88, common horse-bean is the kind most
Cra ^ cuhivated; but large and small ticks are prefer
in some of the English counties.
Peas a
Deans.
Beans, though still sown broad-cast in several places, Agricul-
and sometimes dibbled, are for the most part drilled by ture.
judicious cultivators, or deposited after the plough inv-^“\^^
every furrow, or only in every second or third furrow. In Modes of
the latter method, the crop rises in rows, at regular in ter-sowinS*
vals of 9, 18, or 27 inches, and the hand-hoe ought inva¬
riably to be employed; but it is only where the widest
inteival is adopted that the horse-hoe can be used with
much effect in their subsequent culture.
In the preparation of the land, much depends on the
nature of the soil and the state of the weather; for as
beans must be sown early in the spring, it is sometimes
impossible to give it all the labour which a careful farmer
would wish to bestow. It must also be regulated in some
measure by the manner of sowing. But as we are de¬
cidedly of opinion that beans ought in general to be plant¬
ed with such a distance between the rows as to admit of
horse-hoeing, we shall confine ourselves to this mode of
culture, which we think should be generally known,
making use of the latest publication on the subject, which
contains an accurate account of the different operations.
{General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 515.)
In preparing ground for beans, it ought to be ploughed Prepara,
with a deep furrow after harvest or early in winter; andtory cul-
as two ploughings in spring are highly advantageous, theture for
winter furrow may be given in the direction of the formerbeans'
ridges, in which way the land is sooner dry in spring
than if it had been ploughed across. The second plough¬
ing is to be given across the ridges, as early in spring as
the ground is sufficiently dry ; and the third furrow either
forms the drills or receives the seed, as shall be mention¬
ed immediately.
Dung is often applied to the bean crop, especially if it
succeeds wheat. By some, dung is spread on the stubble
previous to the winter ploughing ; but this cannot always
be done in a satisfactory manner, at least in the northern
parts of the island, unless during frost, when it may lie
long exposed to the weather before it can be turned down
by the plough. The most desirable mode therefore is, to
lay the manure into drills immediately before the beans
are sown.
There are, as already hinted, two several modes of Sowing in
drilling beans. In one of these, the lands or ridges are rows-
divided by the plough into ridgelets or one-bout stitches,
at intervals of about 27 inches. If dung is to be applied,
the seed ought first to be deposited, as it is found incon¬
venient to run the drill-machine afterwards. The dung
may then be drawn out from the carts in small heaps, one
row of heaps serving for three or five ridgelets ; and it is
evenly spread, and equally divided among them, in a way
that will be more minutely described when treating of
the culture of turnips. The ridgelets are next split out
or reversed, either by means of the common plough or
one with two mould-boards, which covers both the seed
and the manure in the most perfect manner.
When beans are sown by the other method, in the
bottom of a common furrow, the dung must be previously
spread over the surface of the winter or spring ploughing.
Three ploughs then start in succession, one immediately
behind another, and a drill-barrow either follows the
third plough, or is attached to it, by which the beans are
sown in every third furrow, or at from 24 to 27 inches
asunder, according to the breadth of the furrow-slice.
Another approved way of sowing beans, when dung is
applied at seed-time, is to spread the dung, and to plough
it down with a strong furrow; after which shallow fur¬
rows are drawn, into which the seed is deposited by the
drill-machine. Whichever of these modes of sowing is
followed, the whole field must be carefully laid dry by
1
284
Agricul¬
ture.
Time of
sowing.
Quantity
of seed.
Beans and
peas mix¬
ed.
After-cul¬
ture.
Reaping.
AGRICULTURE.
means of channels formed by the plough, and when ne¬
cessary by the shovel; for neither then nor at any former
period should water be allowed to stagnate on the land.
The time of sowing beans is as early as possible alter
the severity of winter is over; in the south sometimes in
January, but never later than the end of March, as the
ripening of the crop and its safe harvesting would other¬
wise be very precarious in this climate.
The quantity of seed allowed is very different in the
southern and northern parts of Britain; in the former,
even when the rows are narrow, only two bushels or two
bushels and a half; but in Scotland seldom less than four
bushels to the English statute acre, even when sown in
ridgelets 27 inches distant, and a bushel more when sown
broad-cast.
Both in the broad-cast and drill husbandry it is com¬
mon to mix a small quantity of peas along with beans.
This mixture improves both the quantity and quality of
the straw for fodder; and the peas-straw is useful for
binding up the sheaves in harvest.
. The bean crop is generally harrowed to destroy annual
weeds; sometimes just before the plants make their ap¬
pearance, and sometimes after the beans have got their
first green leaves, and are fairly above ground, \\hen
so^n in rows in either of the modes already mentioned,
the harrows are employed about ten or twelve days after ;
and, being driven across the ridgelets, the land is laid
completely level for the subsequent operations.
; After the beans have made some growth, sooner or
later, according as the soil may happen to be encumbered
with or free from weeds, the horse-hoe is employed in the
interval between the rows, and followed by the hand-hoe
for the purpose Of cutting down such weeds as the horse-
hoe cannot reach : all the weeds that grow among the
beans beyond the reach of either hoe should be pulled up
with the hand. The same operations are repeated as
often as the condition of the land in regard to cleanness
The most approved mode of reaping beans is with the % j.
sickle, but they are sometimes mown, and in a few in- ti
stances even pulled up by the roots. They should be cut^r
as near the ground as possible, for the sake of the straw,
which is of considerable value as fodder, and because the
best pods are often placed on the stems near the roots.
They are then left for a few days to wither, and after-
wards bound and set up in the shock to dry, but without
any head-sheaves.
Beans are built in circular or oblong stacks, often in the
latter form ; and it is always proper, if the stack be large,
to construct one or more funnels, to allow a free circula¬
tion of air. They may be threshed by the mill, and dress¬
ed by the winnowing-machine, like any other grain.
The produce of beans, like that of other pulse crops, is Pro, ^
exceedingly precarious, and probably does not exceed and .
upon an average three quarters per acre. That of peas,s™t>n.
as we have observed, is still more uncertain. But the
haulm of both is valuable in the feeding of live stock;
and the bean crop comes in on clay soils as a preparative
for wheat, thus postponing the recurrence of a naked fal¬
low. The consumption of peas and beans is chiefly in
the feeding of horses and hogs; but the proportion in
which the former is grown in the best courses of husband¬
ry is comparatively inconsiderable.
In the neighbourhood of London and some other large
towns, varieties of the pea are cultivated for supplying
green peas at an early period of the season, which at
that time bring a very high price; but this belongs to
gardening rather than to agriculture.
6. Tares.
may require.
< Before the introduction of the horse-hoe, which merely
stirs the soil, and .cuts up the weeds, a common small
plough, drawn by one horse, was used in working between
the tows, and is still necessary where root-weeds abound.
This plough goes one bout, or up and down in each in¬
terval, turning the earth from the beans, and forming a
ridgelet in the middle: then hand-hoes are immediately
employed ; and after some time a second hand-hoeing
succeeds, to destroy any fresh growth of weeds. The
same plough, with an additional mould-board, finally splits
open the intermediate ridgelet, and lays up the earth to
the roots of the beans on each side. The benefit of lay¬
ing up the earth in this manner, however, is alleged to be
counterbalanced by the trouble which it occasions in har¬
vest, when it is difficult to get the reapers to cut low
enough, and may be properly dispensed with, unless the
soil be very wet and level.
In an early harvest, and when the straw is not immo¬
derately rank, the bean crop becomes ripe in good time,
and is easily prepared for the stack-yard. But in moist
warm seasons the grain hardly ever ripens effectually,
and it is exceedingly difficult to get the straw into a proper
condition for the stack. In such cases it has been found
of advantage to switch off the succulent tops with an old
scythe blade set in a wooden handle, with which one man
Can easily top-dress two acres a day. This operation, it is
said, will occasion the crop to be ready for reaping a fort¬
night earlier, and also perhaps a week sooner ready for
the stack-yard after being reaped. In order to have the
land prepared for a wheat crop, beans are sometimes re¬
moved from the ground, and set up to dry in another field.
The tare, though cultivated for its stems and leaves Ta
rather than for its fruit or seeds, is so similar to the pea
in its habits and mode of culture, that it seems proper to
mention it in this place.
The common tare is distinguished into two sorts, theta
winter and spring tare. It is the opinion of an eminent
botanist that they are the same plant (Walkers Hebrides,
vol. i. p. 228); but though this may have been true of
the tare in its natural state, there is reason to believe
that a material difference now exists, superinduced per¬
haps by cultivation. (Annals oj Agriculture, vol. ii.)
The winter tare, by the experiments detailed in the work
just referred to, escaped injury from frosts which destroy¬
ed the spring variety. The difference in the colour and
size of the seeds is, however, so inconsiderable as to be
scarcely distinguished; but “ the winter tare vegetates
with a seed leaf of a fresh green colour, whereas the
spring tare comes up with a grassy spear of a brown dusky
hue.” (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 889.)
The winter variety is sown in September and October, S<
and the first sowing in spring ought to be as early as the-0
season will permit. If they are to be cut green for sol ¬
ing throughout the summer and autumn, which is the most
advantageous method of consuming them, successive sow¬
ings should follow till the end of May. The quantity o
seed to an acre is from 2^ to 3^ bushels, accoi’ding to the
time of sowing, and as they are to be consumed green or
left to stand for a crop. M
Tares are in some places eaten on the ground by dx- J
ferent kinds of live stock, particularly by sheep; and as|
the winter-sown variety comes very early in spring, the
value of this rich food is then very considerable. The
waste, however, in this way, even though the sheep e
confined in hurdles, must be great; and still greater when
consumed by horses or cattle. But if the plants be cu
green, and given to live stock either on the held or in t
fold-yards, there is, perhaps, no green crop of greater
AGRIGULTURE.
285
Amul- value, nor any better calculated to give a succession of
ui’- herbage from May to November. The winter-sown tare, in
a favourable climate, is ready for cutting before clover;
the first spring crop comes in after the clover must be all
consumed or made into hay; and the successive spring
sowings give a produce more nourishing for the larger
animals than the aftermath of clover, and may afford
green food at least a month longer.
A little rye sown with winter tares, and a few oats with
the spring sort, not only serve to support the weak creep¬
ing stems of the tares, but add to the bulk of the crop by
growing up through the interstices.
There is little difference in the culture of tares and of
peas; they are often sown broad-cast, but sometimes in
rows, with intervals to admit of hand-hoeing. The land
ought to be rolled as a preparation for mowing; and they
should always be cut with the scythe rather than with a
sickle, which, by tearing up a number of the plants by the
roots, renders the second growth of little or no value.
When cut with the scythe, even an early spring-sown
crop sometimes yields a tolerable after-crop'.
In those districts where winter-sown tares are found to
succeed, which is not the case in the north, the ground
may be cleared in time for being sown with turnips, or
dressed like a fallow for wheat to be sown in autumn.
7. Potatoes.
Cult;:.
Vari es. The varieties of this root are so numerous, that it would
be hardly possible to give the names of them all. They
differ not only in quality, being more or less farinaceous,
but in the appearance of their leaves, haulm, and flowers,
and in their time of ripening, as well as in the colour of
the roots. Among those most commonly grown in the
fields, the latter is the most obvious distinction. They are
either of a white or of a purple colour approaching to
black; the former being in most repute during the early
months of winter, and the latter in the spring and sum¬
mer months. The kind most generally cultivated round
London is the early champion, which is very hardy, pro¬
lific, and farinaceous. The yam or Surinam potato, the
oxnoble, and the late champion, are grown exclusively for
live stock. New varieties may be easily obtained from the
seed contained in the apple. The earlier varieties, indeed,1
do not usually carry any flower; but by removing the
earth from the roots, and the small potatoes themselves
as they began to form, Mr Knight, the president of the
Horticultural Society, succeeded in forcing the plant into
blossom, and thus obtained seeds from the early as well
as the common kinds.
Hop i.
The potato is planted in almost every description of
soil, but thrives best in one that is somewhat loose and
porous. In many parts of-Ireland it is the practice to
plant them upon what are called lazy-beds, the sets being
placed upon the surface and covered with earth taken out
of a trench formed around them.
tllin | the ^n<^er the best management, the land is prepared for
toil.
the potato much in the same manner as for the turnip,
t is of much importance to free it as completely as possi-
e from weed-roots, which cannot be so well extirpated
a terwards, as in the culture of turnips and other drilled
crops, both because .the horse-hoe must be excluded alto-
get ler at a time when vegetation is still vigorous, and be¬
cause at no period of their growth is it safe to work so
near the plants, especially after they have made some
progress in growth. It is the earlier time of planting and
P finishing the after-culture that renders potatoes a very
i‘K merent substitute for fallow, and, in this respect, in no
cgree comparable to turnips. For this reason, as well as
on account of the great quantity of manure required, their
small value at a distance from large towns, and the great Agricul-
expense of transporting so bulky a commodity, the culture ture.
of potatoes is by no means extensive in the best-managed
districts. Unless in the immediate vicinity of such towns,
or in very populous manufacturing counties, potatoes do
not constitute a regular rotation crop, though they are
raised almost everywhere to the extent required for the
consumption of the farmer and his servants, and in some
cases for occasionally feeding horses and cattle, particu¬
larly late in spring.
The first ploughing is given soon after harvest, and a Planfiiw
second, and commonly a third, early in spring. The land and cul-
is then laid up into ridgelets from -37 to 30 inches broad,ture-
as for turnips, and manured in the same manner. The
usual season of planting potatoes in the fields is April, but
it frequently continues till the middle of May. A week
or two before the planting begins, the roots are cut into
pieces or sets, each having at least one eye ; what is call¬
ed the nose-end of the root being the most valuable for
this purpose. Under the drill system the sets are placed
in the bottom of the furrow, between the ridgelets, at from
four to eight inches distance, and the ridgelets then re¬
versed to cover them. But in some places they are still
planted after the plough, commonly in every third furrow;
by which means they rise in rows, at much the same dis¬
tance as in the former case, and admit of nearly the same
after-culture. In either case the land remains untouched
till the tops of the plants begin to rise, above the surface,
when it is usual to harrow slightly across the ridges; and
afterwards the horse-hoe or small hoeing-plough and the
hand-hoe are repeatedly employed in the' intervals and
between the plants, as long.as the progress of the crop
will permit, or the state of the soil may require. The
earth is then gathered once or oftener, from the middle of
the intervals towards the roots of the plants, after which
any weeds that may be left must be drawn out by hand;
for when the radicles have extended far in search of food,
and the young, roots begimto form, neither the horse nor
hand-hoe can be admitted without injury.
, Potatoes are usually taken up with the common plough, Gathering
but sometimes with three-pronged forks : the plough goes the crop,
twice along each ridgelet, in such a manner as not mate¬
rially to injure any of the roots with its share or coulter,
and the potatoes are gathered by women and children
placed along the line at proper distances. When the
land is somewhat moist, or of a tenacious quality, the fur¬
row-slice does not give out the roots freely, and a harrow,
which follows the plough, is commonly employed to break
it and. separate them from the mould. Various contri¬
vances have been resorted to for this purpose: a circu¬
lar harrow or brake to be attached to the plough (see
Plate VII.) has been found to answer the purpose well,
and to effect a considerable saving of labour.
Various suggestions have been offered for the purpose Improve-
of improving the cultivation of this root. Instead of cut- ments sug-
ting the roots to be planted into sets, some have recom-oeste<L
mended the planting of them whole, and others have
thought that a great saving of the root might be made
by scooping out the sets. See Plate X. Several experi¬
ments have been made to augment the produce and acce¬
lerate the ripening of potatoes, by plucking off the blos¬
soms from the shaws or haulm. But none of these in¬
novations has yet entered into general practice, and the
trials have not been so numerous nor so satisfactory as to
warrant any conclusions of real utility.
The potato crop is preserved through winter, some- Treserva-
times in houses, but more generally perhaps in some con- tion
venient place near the farm-buildings, in camps, pies, or through
pits, covered first with straw, and then with earth dug up wm eu
286
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Produce
and con-
around the heaps in the form of a trench, which dis¬
charges any water that might otherwise lodge about the
bottoms.
The produce per acre may vary from five or six to ten
or twelve tons ; but the average, perhaps, cannot be stated
sumption. more than six or seven. The potato is for the most
part consumed after no other preparation than boiling or
roasting, and unfortunately it is not fit for being stored up
and kept over from one year to another. To make it
more generally useful, it has been recommended to con¬
vert its farinaceous matter into flour, in which state, if
well dried and closely packed, it may be preserved for se¬
veral years. Its flour has been recommended for a va¬
riety of culinary preparations, and is said to be often used
in place of arrow-root in the medical treatment of patients
in the hospitals of the Continent. Ardent spirits have also
been obtained from potatoes, even after they had been so
injured by frost as to be useless for any other purpose.
{Farmers Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 325.)
The curl is the most destructive disease to which this
plant is liable ; and the only preventive hitherto known is
a change of seed or sets. It is a prevailing opinion that
it is occasioned by the over-ripeness of the plants used as
seed; and it is therefore the practice to take up what is
intended for seed some weeks before they are fully ripe.
Others prefer bringing their seed from a colder situation,
the success of the change probably depending upon the
circumstance of the roots not being fully ripened.
8. Turnips,
Soils.
Turnips. Turnips and clover are the two main pillars of the best
courses of British husbandry. They have contributed more
to preserve and augment tiie fertility of the soil for pro¬
ducing grain, to enlarge and improve our breeds of cattle
and sheep, and to furnish a regular supply of butcher-
meat all the year, than any other crops; and they will
probably be long found vastly superior, for extensive cul¬
tivation, to any of the rivals which have often been op¬
posed to them in particular situations.
Turnips cannot be advantageously cultivated on wet,
tenacious clays, but are grown on all comparatively dry
soils, under all the variations of our climate. On dry
loams, and all soils of a looser texture, managed accord¬
ing to the best courses of cropping, they enter into the
rotation to the extent of a fourth, a sixth, or an eighth part
of the land in tillage; and even on clayey soils they are
frequently cultivated, though on a smaller scale, to be
eaten by cattle, for the purpose of augmenting and en¬
riching the manure into which the straw of corn is con¬
verted.
It will be sufficient in this place to describe the practices
of the best managed counties of Scotland in regard to the
culture of turnips, which are universally raised in rows at
such a distance as to admit of horse-hoeing; and every
step of the process is conducted with much accuracy
and success.
The varieties commonly cultivated by the best farmers
are, the white globe, which comes early and gives a very
weighty crop, but often suffers much from the frosts of
winter; the yellow, which is more hardy, and answers
well for succeeding the globe in spring; and the rwta baga,
or Swedish, which may be preserved for consumption till
the end of May.
> The drill culture of turnips was first firmly established
in Scotland by the practice of Mr William Dawson, a
farmer at Frogden, in the county of Roxburgh, soon after
his entry to that farm in 1759. Turnips had .been sown
indeed on narrow ridges, according to the practice of Tull,
many years before that period; but chiefly by proprietors}
Drill cul¬
ture of
Scotland.
upon a very small scale; and the several operations were A| u[
neither so correct, so uniform, nor so much simplified as >.
to induce general imitation. The first person who ever^ lVJ
formed turnip ridges in Scotland with a two-horse plough
without a driver was instructed by Mr Dawson, and died
only a few years ago.
In the drill culture of turnips, the land is ploughed with Pk L
a deep furrow soon after harvest, usually in the direction tioi
of the former ridges, though, if the soil be dry, it is ofsoil
little consequence in what direction. As soon as the
spring seed-time is over, a second ploughing is given
across the former, and the harrows, and, if necessary, the
rollers, are then set to work to clean and pulverize the
soil. All the weed-roots that are brought to the surface
are carefully gathered into heaps, and either burnt on the
ground, or carried off to form a compost, usually with
lime. The land is then generally ploughed a third time,
again harrowed well, sometimes also rolled, and the weed-
roots picked out as before. Unless land is in a much
worse state, in regard to cleanness and pulverization, than
it usually is after turnips have been for some time a rotation
crop, no more ploughings are necessary. It is next laid
up in ridgelets from 27 to 30 inches wide, either with the
common swing-plough, or one with two mould-boards,
which forms two sides of a ridgelet at once. Well-rotted M
dung, at the rate of 12 or 15 tons per acre, is then carried
to the field, and dropt from the cart in the middle one of
three intervals, in such a quantity as may serve for that
and the interval on each side of it. The dung is then di¬
vided equally among the three by a person who goes be¬
fore the spreaders, one of whom for each interval spreads
it with a small three-pronged fork along the bottom. The
plough immediately follows, and, reversing the ridgelets,
forms new ones over the dung; and the drill-barrow, com¬
monly one that sows two drills at once, drawn by one
horse, deposits the seed as fast as the new drills are form- So s’,
ed. This drill machine is usually furnished with two
small rollers ; one that goes before the sowing apparatus,
and levels the pointed tops of the ridgelets, and another
that follows for the purpose of compressing the soil and
covering the seed. From the time the dung is carted to
the ground, until the seed is deposited, the several opera¬
tions should go on simultaneously : the dung is never al¬
lowed to lie uncovered to be dried by the sun and the
wind; and the new ridgelets are sown as soon as formed,
that the seed may find moisture to accelerate its vege¬
tation.
The time of sowing the several varieties is somewhat Ti
different; the Swedish should be put in the earliest, and80 ?'
then the yellow,—both of them in the month of May.
But as these kinds are much less extensively cultivated
than the globe, the month of June is the principal seed¬
time ; and after the first week of July a full crop is not
to be expected in the northern parts of the island. The
quantity of seed most commonly allowed is two pounds to
the acre, which, though much more than sufficient to stock
the ground with plants, is thought to be necessary for in¬
suring a regular crop on most soils. The supernumerary
plants are easily taken out with the hoe; but if any parts
are missed, they can be filled up only by inserting a few
Swedish plants: the other varieties seldom succeed after
transplantation.
As soon as the plants have put forth the rough leaf, orf
sooner if annual weeds have got the start of them, aj*
horse-hoe is run between the ridgelets, which cuts up the
weeds on each side, almost close to the rows of the turnip
plants, clearing out the bottom of the interval at the same
time. The hand-hoers are always set to work as soon
after as possible, and the plants are left about nine inches
AGRICULTURE.
287
• i. distant—the Swedish kind somewhat closer. If the ground
Aw " haVbeen well prepared, and the plants not allowed to get
large, three experienced hoers go over an acre a day.
A few days after this a small swing-plough, drawn by one
horse, enters the interval between the rows, and, taking
a furrow-slice off each side, forms a smaller ridgelet in the
middle. If the annuals still rise in great abundance, the
horse-hoe may be employed again, otherwise the next
operation is to go over them a second time with the hand-
lioe when the intermediate ridgelet is levelled. Some¬
times a third hoeing must be given ; but that is done very
expeditiously. When no more manual labour is required,
a small plough with two mould-boards is employed to lay
up the earth to the sides of the plants, leaving the ridge-
lets of the same form as when sown, which finishes the
process. Large fields, dressed in this manner through¬
out their whole extent, are left as clean and as pleasant
to the eye as the best cultivated garden. The horse and
hand-hoeing in ordinary cases may cost about fifteen shil-
Weic ‘ of
6roi>.:
Const p.
tiim. i
lings per acre.
Where the soil is perfectly dry, and has been well pre¬
pared, the small plough has of late been laid aside by
many farmers, and the space between the rows is kept
clean by the horse and hand-hoe alone ; but if the soil be
either wet from springs, or so flat as not easily to part
with surface water, it is still considered proper to earth
up the roots as the concluding part of the process; and
it is always useful to plough between the ridges when
couchgrass and other weeds have not been completely
picked out before the land was sown.
The gathering of the weeds, the spreading of the dung,
and the hand-hoeing, are almost always performed by wo¬
men and boys and girls.
A good crop of white globe turnips weighs from 25 to
30 tons per acre, the yellow and Swedish commonly a few
tons less. Of late there have been instances of much
heavier crops; and in Ayrshire it would appear that
above 60 tons have been raised on an English acre, the
leaves not included. (Farmers Magazine, vol. xv. and
xvi.) But such an extraordinary produce must have
been obtained by the application of more manure than can
be provided, without injustice to other crops, from the
home resources of a farm ; and where turnips form a re¬
gular crop in the rotation, no such produce is to be ex¬
pected under any mode of culture.
Turnips are consumed either on the spot where they
grow, on grass fields, in fold-yards, or in feeding-houses ;
the far greater part, wherever they are extensively culti¬
vated, hy sheep. The price per acre when sold depends
not only upon the weight of the crop, but also on the mode
of its consumption.
When eaten by sheep in the place of their growth, tur¬
nips are lotted off, by means of hurdles or nets, that they
may be regularly consumed. When the first allowance
is nearly eaten up, the bottoms or shells are picked out
of the ground by means of a two-pronged blunt hook
adapted to the purpose; and then another portion of the
field is taken in, by shifting the hurdles or nets ; and so on
regularly until the whole are finished ; the cleared part of
tlie field being usually left accessible as a drier bed for
the sheep, and that they may pick up the shells that re¬
mained when a new portion of the field was taken in.
Ihe turnips required for other modes of consumption
are usually drawn out at regular intervals before the
sheep are put upon the field; unless the soil be so poor
as to need all the benefit of their dung and treading, in
winch case the whole are consumed where they grow; or
so rich as to endanger the succeeding crops, by eating
part of the turnips on the ground. In the latter very
rare instance, the whole crop is carried to be consumed Agricul-
elsewhere, as must always be done if the soil be naturally ture.
too wet for sheep feeding. ^
In wet weather, when sheep ought not to be allowed to
lie on the turnip field, it becomes necessary to carry die
turnips to a grass field; and store sheep, not requiring to
be so highly fed, frequently eat their turnips on such
fields, as well as rearing cattle, and sometimes milch cows.
A grass field contiguous to the turnip one is always very
desirable, that the sheep, confined on other sides by
hurdles or nets, may always find a dry place to lie on.
In the distribution of turnips among young cattle, and
sheep in their first year, towards spring, when the loosen¬
ing and shedding of their teeth render them unable to
break the hard roots, it is usual to cut or slice the turnip,
either by means of a spade or chopping-knife, or by an
implement constructed for the purpose, called a turnip-
slicer, formerly mentioned; or they are crushed by means
of a heavy wooden mallet.
During severe frosts, turnips become so hard that no
animal is able to bite them. The best remedy in this case
is, to lay them for some time in running water, which
effectually thaws them; or, in close feeding-houses, the
turnips intended for next day’s use may be stored up
over night in one end of the building, and the warmth
of the animals will thaw them sufficiently before morn¬
ing. But in those months when frosts are usually most
severe, it is advisable to have always a few days’ con¬
sumption in the turnip-barn, formerly mentioned. When
a severe frost continues lung, or if the ground be covered
deep with snow, potatoes ought to be employed as a sub¬
stitute.
The advantages of eating turnips on the place of their
growth by sheep, both in manuring and consolidating the
ground, are sufficiently well known to every farmer. One
great defect of the inferior sort of turnip soils is the want
of tenacity; and it is found that valuable crops of wheat
may be obtained upon very light, porous soils, after turnips
so consumed.
The value or price by the acre is so various, from dif-Value,
ferences in soil and seasons, and fluctuates so much ac¬
cording to the degree of abundance and demand, that
nothing can be decisively stated on this subject. It like¬
wise varies according to the modes of application, as
above noticed. A farmer who has turnips to sell will de¬
mand more money per acre, if they are to be drawn and
consumed by the purchaser in the fold-yard, or on the
pastures of the farm, than if eaten by sheep where they
grow; and will require a much higher price if they are
to be carried off the farm. Indeed, hardly any price
will compensate for such abstraction of manure, and con¬
sequent loss of future fertility, unless where manure can
be readily purchased to supply the defalcation; and that
can only be done by those who are situated near towns
and large villages, where a few turnips may be sold in
that way for the cows of the inhabitants. Eight guineas
an acre is considered a good price, in seasons of uncom¬
mon demand, for a full crop; five guineas in ordinary
years; and down to thirty and forty shillings for inferior
crops. Upon an average of years, five guineas may be
reckoned a fair price for a good crop, eaten by sheep
where they grow. Near large towns, where turnips are
in demand by cowfeeders, they will sell in ordinary years
for double, and when in extraordinary demand, for three
or even four times these prices; but in these cases they
are always removed from the farm, and consequently the
manure which they produce is lost to the soil. _ *
It is not uncommon to let turnips at an agreed price, Price per
or board, for each sheep or beast weekly. This varies, week.
288
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- according to age and size and the state of the demand,
ture. from fourpence or less to eightpence or more for each
sheep weekly, and from two shillings to five for each
beast. An acre of good turnips, say 30 tons, with straw,
will fatten an ox of 60 stone, or 10 Leicester sheep.
Supposing the turnips worth six guineas, this may bring
the weekly keep of the ox to 6s. 3^d. and of the sheep to
about 7^d. a week. In this way of letting, however, dis¬
putes may arise, as the taker may not be careful to have
them eaten up clean.
The person who lets the turnips has to maintain a
herd for the taker; and when let for cattle, and conse¬
quently to be carried off, the taker finds a man and horse,
and the letter maintains both. The taker has to provide
hurdles or nets for fencing" the allotments to sheep, but
the letter must fence his own hedges if necessary. The
period at which the taker is to consume the whole is
usually fixed in the agreement, that the letter may be
enabled to plough and sow his land-in proper season.
Storing. Common turnips are seldom stored in any great quan¬
tity, though sometimes a portion is drawn and formed
into heaps like potato camps, and lightly covered with
straw, or preserved for some time under a shed. On
these occasions the shaws or leaves and the tap-roots
must be cut off and removed before storing up, to prevent
heating and rotting. The heaps must not be covered
with earth like potatoes, for in this case their complete
destruction is inevitable. This root contains too much
water to.be preserved for any length of time in a fresh
\ and palatable state after being removed from the ground;
and though the loss in seasons unusually severe, particu¬
larly in the white globe variety, is commonly very great,
it is probable that a regular system of storing the whole,
or the greater part of the crop every season, would upon
an average of years be attended with still greater loss;
besides, the labour and expense, where turnips are culti-
Placing. vated extensively, would be intolerable. Yet it has be¬
come a practice in some parts, particularly in Norfolk, to
preserve a portion of the turnip crop through the winter,
by what is called placing. They are removed from the
field where they grow, and the tap-roots being taken off',
the bulbs, with the haulm on, are placed close together
in the position in which they grew, upon some dry, shel¬
tered spot near the farm-houses, where they are ready
for use as wanted; and in this way, with little or no arti¬
ficial shelter, they are found to keep in a fresh state
longer than if they had been left in the field.
Diseases. Besides the damage sustained by a turnip crop from
beetles and other insects, a very destructive disease, for¬
merly confined to particular districts, has lately begun to
extend itself in an alarming manner; and there is reason
to fear, if some means of prevention be not soon disco¬
vered, that it may almost put an end to the cultivation of
this root, in some situations where it is of essential im¬
portance, both with a view to the produce of grain and
Fingers to the rearing and fattening of live stock. In Holderness
and toes, it is known by the quaint name of fingers and toes, from
the shapes into which the disease distorts either the bulb
or tap-root, or frequently both. An ingenious paper on
this subject was read to the Holderness Agricultural So¬
ciety in 1811, by Mr William Spence, their president,
from which we shall abstract some account of this hitherto
local disease.
In some plants the bulb itself is split into several fin¬
ger-diverging lobes. More frequently the bulb is, exter¬
nally, tolerably perfect, and the tap-root is the part prin-
cipally diseased, being either wholly metamorphosed into
a sort of mis-shapen secondary bulb, often larger than the
real bulb, and closely attached to it, or having excres-
icul.
irs.
cences of various shapes, frequently not unlike human
toes (whence the name of the disease), either springina
immediately from its sides or from the fibrous rootsffiaUA
issue from it. In this last case each fibre often swells
into several knobs, so as distantly to resemble the wire
and accompanying tubers of a potato; and not seldom
one turnip will exhibit a combination of all these different
forms of the disease. These distortions manifest them¬
selves at a very early stage of the turnip’s growth; and
plants scarcely in the rough leaf will exhibit excrescences
which differ in nothing else than size from those of the
full-grown root.
The leaves discover no unusual appearance, except
that in hot weather they become flaccid and droop; from
which symptom the presence of the disease may be sur¬
mised without examining the roots. These continue to
grow for some months, but without attaining any consid¬
erable size, the excrescences enlarging at the same time.
If divided at this period with a knife, both the bulb and
the excrescences are found to be perfectly solid, and in¬
ternally to differ little in appearance from a healthy root,
except that they are of a more mealy and less compact
consistence, and are interspersed with more numerous and
larger sap-vessels. The taste, too, is more acrid ; and on
this account sheep neglect the diseased plants. Towards
the approach of autumn, the roots, in proportion as they
are more or less diseased, become gangrenous and rot, and
are either broken (as frequently happens) by high winds,
or gradually dissolved by the rain. Some which have
been partially diseased survive the winter; but of the
rest at this period, no other vestige remains than the va¬
cant patches which they occupied at their first appear,
ance.
This disease, according to Mr Spence, is not owing to
the seed, nor to the time of sowing, nor to any quality oi
the soil, either original, or induced by any particular mode
of cropping or of tillage ; and he adds, “ that the most
attentive and unbiassed consideration of the facts has led
him to infer that the disease, though not produced by any
insect that has yet been discovered, is yet caused by some
unobserved species, which, either biting the turnip in the
earliest stage of its growth, or insinuating its egg into it,
infuses at the same time into the wound a liquid, which
communicates to the sap-vessels a morbid action, causing
them to form the excrescences in question.”
With regard to the prevention of this disease, marl has
been recommended by Sir Joseph Banks and others; and
where marl cannot be procured, it has been thought that
an addition of mould of any kind that has not borne tur¬
nips will be advantageous ; such as a dressing taken from
banks, headlands, ditches, &c. and mixed up with a good
dose of lime. But lime alone has been tried in vain; and
no great dependence can be placed upon fresh mould, as
this disease has been known to prevail upon lands that had
scarcely ever before borne a crop of turnips. {Farmers
Magazine, vol. xiii.)
9. Mangold Wurzel.
The mangold wurzel, or field-beet, is cultivated in much J
the same manner as turnip, and used in the same way in"1
the feeding of live stock. It has been long grown in Ger¬
many, Switzerland, and other parts of the Continent, but
has been but recently introduced into Britain, and is still
cultivated here only upon a small scale. Very heavy
crops have been raised upon clay; a circumstance which
is alleged to be in favour of introducing it into the gene¬
ral rotation ; but the same thing is true of turnip, the dif¬
ficulty consisting not in the productive power of such a
soil, but in its preparation and the carrying away of the
Car;:s.
Qui ity
of si.
Tim f
Hoe •.
AGRICULTURE.
289
Apcul-
ire.
L/\^-
Crop. As the sowing ofmangoldwurzel should not be defer- to hoe; and, upon an average of six years on a liaht a or’ i
red beyond the middle of April, it must rarely be practi- sandy loam, they have cost me L.l. 10s. 8d. per acre hoe- ture
’cable to have heavy land in a suitable condition so early, ing; usually performed three, and sometimes four times
LiketheSwedishturnip, however, it admits of being trans- or until the crop is perfectly clean. The first hoeing is
planted, which may be done in May, so as to give more with hoes four inches long, and two and a quarter inches
time for preparing the soil. _ wide; the second hoeing invariably takes place as soon
The produce in ordinary cases is much the same as that as the first is completed, and is performed with six-inch
of the Swedish turnip, but it is understood to contain a hoes, by two and a quarter inches wide. By this time the
greater proportion of nutritive matter. Near London it plants are set; the first time of hoeing nothino- was cut
is in much repute for the feeding of milch cows. The tops but the weeds. I endeavour to leave the carrots nine
are taken oft first and given by themselves; and after- inches apart from each other; sometimes they will be a
wards the roots, which are more liable to be injured by foot or even farther asunder.
frost than the Swedish turnip. “ No other expense now attends the crop until the time Time of
10. Carrots. of taking them up, which is usually about the last week taking up.
in October, as at that time I generally finish soiling my
This crop, it is well known, requires a deep soil, inclining horses with lucerne, and now solely depend upon my car-
to sand, and cannot therefore be so generally cultivated rots, with a proper allowance of hay, as winter food for
as turnips. But it has been too much neglected on lands my horses, until about the first week of June following,
where it would have yielded a more valuable product, when the lucerne is again ready for soiling. By reducing
this practice to a system, I have been enabled to feed ten
cart-horses throughout the winter months for these last
six years, without giving them any corn whatever, and
have at the same time effected a considerable saving of
conclusion. But in a communication to the Board of hay from what I found necessary to give to the same
Agriculture, from Mr Robert Burrows, an intelligent Nor- number of horses when, according to the usual custom of
folk farmer, who has cultivated carrots on a large scale the country, I fed my horses with corn and hay. I give
and with great success for several years, so accurate an them to my cart-horses, in the proportion of 70 lb. weight
account is presented of the culture, application, and ex- of carrots a horse per day upon an average, not allowing
traordinary value of this root, that carrots will probably them quite so many in the very short days, and some-
soon enter more largely into the rotation of crops on suit- thing more than that quantity in the spring months, or to
perhaps, than any bulbous or tap-rooted plant whatever,
Several contradictory experiments in its culture have been
detailed in a number of publications, from which the prac¬
tical husbandman will be at a loss to draw any definite
able soils. We shall give the substance of this communi¬
cation in his own words.
“ I usually sow seed of my own growth, from eight to
ten pounds per acre : if purchased, the price is in general
from one shilling to one shilling and sixpence per pound.
By sowing seed of my own growing, I am enabled to speak
both to the nature of its stock, and likewise its quality in
regard to newness. The latter circumstance is of parti-
the amount of what I withheld in the short winter days.
The men who tend the horses slice some of the carrots
in the cut chaff or hay, and barn-door refuse; the rest of
the carrots they give whole to the horses at night, with a
small quantity of hay in their racks: and with this food
my horses generally enjoy uninterrupted health. I mention
this, as I believe some persons think that carrots only,
given as food to horses, are injurious to their constitu-
cular consequence in obtaining a full and healthy plant, tions ; but most of the prejudices of mankind have no bet-
and not always to be guarded against if the seed is pur- ter foundation, and are taken up at random, or inherited
chased of the seedsman. Having weighed the quantity from their grandfathers.
of seed to be sown, and collected sand or fine mould in “ So successful have I been with carrots as a winter
the proportion of about two bushels to an acre, I mix the food for horses, that with the assistance of lucerne for soil-
seed with the sand or mould, eight or ten pounds to every ing in summer, I have been enabled to prove, by experi-
two bushels; and this is done about a fortnight or three ments conducted under my own personal inspection, that
weeks before the time I intend sowing, taking care to an able Norfolk team-horse, fully worked two journeys a
have the heaps turned over every day, sprinkling the out- day, winter and summer, may be kept the entire year
side of them with water each time of turning over, that round upon the produce of only one statute acre of land,
every part of the sand heaps may be equally moist, and I have likewise applied carrots with great profit to the
that vegetation may take place alike throughout. During feeding of hogs in winter, and by that means have made
tins time the land is preparing with a good dressing of my straw into a most excellent manure, without the aid
manure, of about sixteen cart-loads per acre of rotten of neat cattle: the hogs so fed are sold on Norwich hill to
iarm-yard manure or cottagers’ ashes; the load about as the London dealers as porkers. The profit of carrots so
much as three able horses can draw, and, if bought, costs applied I shall likewise show in my subsequent statement;
about lour shillings and sixpence per load, besides the together with an experiment of feeding four Galloway
carting on the land. I usually sow my wheat stubbles bullocks with carrots, against four others fed in the com-
alter clover; plough the first time in autumn, and once mon way with turnips and hay.
more in the early part of the month of February, if the “ The taking up of the crop is put out to a man, who Mode and
weather permits; setting on the manure at the time of engages women and children to assist him: the work is expense of
sowing, which is about the last week in March, or some- performed with three-pronged forks. The children cut ofFra's’n£
tunes as late as the second w'eek in April; but have gene- the tops, laying them and the roots in separate heaps,clops'
lally found early-sown crops the most productive. I have ready for the teams to take away. The expense alto-
peat advantage in preparing the seed so long before- gether L.L Is. per acre, of not less than seven or eight
land: it is by this means in a state of forward vegetation, hundred Winchester bushels. The carting away depends
t lerefore lies but a short time in the ground, and, by quick- upon the distance of the place where carried to: if not
| aPpearing above ground, is more able to contend with far, the expense will be 15s. to 18s. per acre. The value
are
numerous tribes of weeds in the soil whose seeds of carrot tops given to bullocks and sheep in the first
quicker vegetation. winter quarter more than repays the two last-mentioned
expenses. I take up in autumn a sufficient quantity to
^ ithin about five or six weeks the carrots are ready
VOL. ii. J
2 o
290
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Total ex¬
pense per
Average
produce.
Value.
Cultivated
in rows.
Parsnip.
have a store to last me out any considerable frost or snow
that may happen in the winter months; the rest of the
crop I leave in the ground, preferring them fresh out of
the earth for both horses and bullocks. For the former,
perhaps, it would be as well to wash the roots when they
are very wet and dirty, though I by no means think wash¬
ing generally necessary. The carrots keep best in the
ground, nor can the severest frosts do them any material
injury. The first week in March it is necessary to have
the remaining part of the crop taken up, and the land
cleared for barley. The carrots can either be laid in a
heap with a small quantity of straw covered over them,
or they may be laid into some empty outhouse or barn in
heaps of many hundred bushels, provided they are put
together dry. This latter circumstance it is indispensably
necessary to attend to ; for, if laid together in large heaps
when wet, they will certainly sustain much injury. Such
as I want to keep for the use of my horses until the
months of May and June, in drawing over the heaps
(which is necessary to be done the latter end of April,
when the carrots begin to sprout at the crown very fast)
I throw aside the healthy and most perfect roots, and
have their crowns cut completely off and laid by them¬
selves. By this means carrots may be kept the month of
June out in a high state of perfection.” (Communica¬
tions to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii. p. 72.)
Mr Burrows next proceeds to state the expense of his
crops for four years successively, in which he cultivated
forty-nine acres in all; the average of the first three years
being L.10. 13s. 2±d. and the expense of the last year,
when he had twenty-five acres, L.8. 8s. 4d. per acre. In
these sums, rent, interest of capital, and all other charges
are included. He then details at some length the appli¬
cation of the crops, averaging upwards of 800 bushels per
acre, to the feeding of cart-horses, hogs, and cattle—both
milch cows and fattening bullocks,—from which there ap¬
pears to result a clear profit on the first three crops of no
less than L.27. 18s. 3|d. per acre. The fourth crop of
twenty-five acres was sold to the tenant who succeeded
him in his farm at twenty guineas per acre, the price fixed
by neutral men, leaving him a profit of L.12. 11s. 8d. per
acre. Mr Burrows was so well convinced of the great
advantages of this management, that he began with six¬
teen acres of carrots on his new farm ; and we are told,
that the cultivation of this root is becoming more exten¬
sive, in consequence of his successful practice.
Carrots in many instances are sown by hand in rows,
at narrow intervals for hand-hoeing, the seeds not being
easily deposited in a regular manner by the use of the
drill-machine. The hand-hoeing is certainly performed
more correctly, and with much less labour, when the
plants are cultivated in rows..
11. Parsnip.
The parsnip has a root like the carrot; and the soil,
preparation, and manure, as well as the after-culture, are
nearly the same for both. The quantity of seed when
sown in drills is from 4 to 5 lbs. per acre, but in broad¬
cast 6 or 8 lbs. About the middle of February is the
usual sowing season, but sometimes September; and the
breadth of the drills when sown in this way is 15 or 18
inches. In the island of Jersey, where it is most exten¬
sively cultivated, beans are commonly grown along with
it, the beans being first dibbled in, and the parsnip seed
afterwards sown, broad-cast. For fattening cattle it is
considered equal, if not superior to the carrot, and gives
an exquisite flavour and a juicy quality to the meat.
About 30 lbs. of the root is the usual allowance to an ox
at each meal, with a little hay between. When milch
cows are fed with this root and hay in winter, the colour A u
and quality of the butter are said to be equal to what is
produced by the best pastures. Yet after all, both carrot^
and parsnip require so much labour, and are such uncer¬
tain crops in most parts of Britain, that they cannot be
said to enter into the general rotation.
12. Rape.
Rape is now grown to a considerable extent in somelta
districts, not only for the sake of the oil expressed from
its seed, but also for feeding sheep on land not well adapt¬
ed to turnips. It is cultivated on a variety of soils, as a
first crop after paring and burning, and when old grass
lands are brought into tillage; and it often yields a very
valuable crop. Upon lands kept under the plough it
comes into the rotation as a green crop; and the prepa¬
ration and after-culture are the same as for turnips; and
it is sown much about the same time, or a little later, but
may also be transplanted from a seed-bed so late as Sep¬
tember or October. A variety of this plant is largely
cultivated in Flanders, chiefly for the sake of the oil ob¬
tained from its seed. The husks, in the form of cake or dust,
after the oil is expressed, are a well known manure, which
we shall have occasion to notice under the proper head.
We shall give some remarks by the late Mr Culley of North¬
umberland, founded on his own excellent practice, in which
rape was substituted for fallow on a poor clayey soil.
“ Rape may be sown from the 24th of May to the 8th Ti
of June, but comes to the greatest growth if sown in May.80''
If sown earlier it is apt to run to seed. From two to three
pounds of seed is required per acre, sown by a common
turnip-seed drill. But as rape-seed is so much larger than
turnip-seed, the drill should be wider. When hoed, the
rape should be set out at the same distance as turnip
plants. The drills should be from 26 to 28 or 30 inches,
according to the quantity of dung given. As many plough-
ings, harrowings, and rollings, &c. should be given, as may
be necessary to make that kind of poor soil as fine as pos¬
sible, and cleared of twitch, &c.; the produce will be from
twenty-five to even fifty tons per acre, or upwards. But
it is not so much the value of the green crop (although
the better the green crop, the better will the wheat be),
as the great certainty of a valuable crop of wheat, that
merits attention. The sheep are put on from the begin¬
ning to the middle of August: they must have the rape
consumed by the middle, or at latest by the end of Sep¬
tember, so that the wheat may be got sown on such poor
damp soils, before the autumnal rains take place. The
number of sheep must depend upon the goodness or bad¬
ness of the crop. But as many sheep must be employed
as to eat the rape by the middle of September, or end of
that month at the latest, for the reasons formerly given.
The Burwell red wheat (so called from a village in Cam¬
bridgeshire) is always preferred. Poor clays will not
allow deep ploughing; consequently that operation must
be governed by the depth of the soil. The land must be
made as clean as any naked fallow. There is scarcely an
instance known of a crop of wheat, sown after rape and
eat off with sheep, being mildewed ; and the grain is ge¬
nerally well perfected. Mr Culley has known a crop of
wheat after rape, upon a poor moorish thin clay soil, worth
much more than the fee simple of the land that produced
it. He has frequently known land, both after rape and
after naked fallow, in the same field; and invariably the rape
wheat was better in every respect than that after naked
fallow.” (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii. appendix, p. 45.)
13. Cabbages.
The culture of cabbage in the fields is not carried onC
AGRICULTURE.
,ul. upon a great scale, though very profitable crops have been
t e- raised in particular situations. The variety cultivated for
VAOcattle is the large field cabbage, known by several names.
It prefers a strong loam, which is to be prepared in much
the same manner as for potatoes or turnips, the plants
being dibbled along the top of each ridgelet any time
from March to June, though the earliest crops are usually
the best. Plants to be used in March must be got from
seed sown in the month of August preceding; but those
planted out in May or June may be raised from a sowing
in February or March. The after-culture consists in horse
and hand hoeing and weeding, the produce being from 35
to 40 tons the acre, which is commonly used in the feed¬
ing of milch cows, but sometimes also in fattening sheep
and oxen. They are excellent food for ewes that have
newly dropt their lambs, as they produce abundance of
milk.
14. Clovers.
dovs. Clovers enter largely into the succession of crops on
all soils, and in every productive course of management.
Before they were introduced into cultivation, when land
was exhausted by grain crops, it was necessary to leave it
in a state of comparative sterility for several years before
it was either valuable as pasture, or again fit for carrying
corn. But at present clovers are not only indispensable
in the cultivation of white and green crops alternately
upon very rich soils, but are the foundation of convertible
husbandry on land that is not so rich as to permit of con¬
stant aration, and which therefore requires two or more
years’ pasturage at certain intervals. As the succession of
crops forms the subject of the following section, in which
we shall have occasion to notice the great value of clover
as a crop in the alternate and convertible systems of hus¬
bandry, we shall here consider it without any particular
reference to its general utility in that view.
Red clover, or, as it is sometimes called, broad clover,
is the kind most generally cultivated on land that carries
white and green crops alternately, as it yields a larger
produce for one crop than any of the other sorts. White
and yellow clover are seldom sown with it, unless when
several years’ pasturage is intended. As ryegrass is almost
invariably sown with clover, it will be necessary to notice
it also in this place.
Sow ,vith Clover and ryegrass are sown broad-cast along with or
corr upon growing culmiferous corn crops of every kind, and
are found to prosper almost equally well with spring-sown
wheat, barley, and the early varieties of oats. Being
most generally sown in spring, they are usually put in
immediately after the soil has been pulverized by harrow¬
ing in the corn seed, and are themselves covered by one
course more of the harrows ; or if the corn is drilled, they
are sown immediately before or after hand-hoeing, and
the land is then finished by a course of the harrows. A
lighter harrow is generally employed in covering grass-
seeds than that used for corn. When the land is under
an autumn-sown crop of wheat or other grain, though the
clovers and ryegrass are still sown in spring, the proper
period must depend both upon its condition and the pro¬
gress of the crop ; and it may be often advisable to
break the crust formed on the surface of tenacious soils,
by using the harrow before the clovers are sown, as well
as afterwards to cover them. Sometimes the roller only is
employed at this time; and there are instances of clover
and ryegrass succeeding when sown without either har¬
rowing or rolling. But it is commonly of advantage to
the wheat crop itself to use the harrows in spring ; and
the roller alone cannot be depended on, unless the season
e very favourable. In some cases grass-seeds are sown
291
by themselves, either in autumn or spring, but rarely on Agricui-
tillage land, the subject of the present chapter. ture.
The quantity of red clover and ryegrass sown on an
acre is exceedingly various, not only according as more or Q;uantlty
less white or yellow clover is sown along with them, asot see< ’
when pasturage is intended ; but even when they are the
only kinds sown, the quantity is varied by the quality of
the soil, and the different purposes of hay, soiling, or one
year’s pasture, to which the crop is to be applied. When
pasture is the object, more seed ought to be allowed than
is necessary when the crop is to be cut green for soiling;
and for hay, less may suffice than for either of the former.
Finely pulverized soils do not require so much seed as
clays on which clover and ryegrass are very frequently
sown among autumn or winter-sown wheat, when there is
more danger of a part of it perishing from being imper¬
fectly covered. In general, eight or ten pounds may be
taken as the minimum quantity, though there have been
instances of good crops from less; and from that to 14
lbs. or more per English statute acre. Ryegrass, com¬
monly at the rate of a bushel per acre, but in many cases
only half or two-thirds of a bushel, is mixed with this
weight of clover, and both are sown at the same time.
The ryegrass may be either of the perennial or annual
variety, as it is understood that the herbage is to be con¬
tinued for only one year; and the annual is sometimes
sown in preference, as producing a bulkier crop than the
perennial.
In the selection of clover and ryegrass seeds, particu¬
lar attention should be paid to their quality and cleanness.
The purple colour of the clover seed denotes that it has
been ripe and well saved, and the seeds of weeds may be
detected in it by narrow inspection if there be any; but
various noxious weeds are frequently mixed up with the
seeds of the ryegrass, which it is difficult either to dis¬
cover or to separate from them. Between the seeds of
the annual and perennial ryegrass the difference is hardly Annual
discernible ; and therefore, unless it is of his own growth, ryegrass,
the cultivator must depend in a great measure on the
character of the person from whom he purchases it. Red
clover from Holland or France has been found to die out
in the season immediately after it has been cut or pas¬
tured; while the English seed produces plants which
stand over the second, many of them the third year (Ge¬
neral Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 537), thus remaining in
the latter case four summers in the ground from the time
of sowing.
Clover and ryegrass, as has been already hinted, are
made into hay, cut green for being used in soiling, or de¬
pastured. As we shall have occasion to speak again of
hay-making, we shall here only notice the principal ope¬
rations.
This sort of herbage ought always to be cut as close to Hay.
the ground as possible; and the soil, having been previ¬
ously cleared of any stones that might impede the scythe,
and also levelled with a heavy roller, admits of mowing
being performed in a very uniform and perfect manner,
unless the crop be lodged or broken down by wind.
Whatever part of the stems is left by the scythe is not
only lost, but the after-growth is neither so vigorous nor
so weighty as when the first cutting is taken as low as
possible.
Clover and ryegrass are commonly all mown in June, Time of
though in the north sometimes not till near the end of cutting.
July.° The time of mowing must, indeed, be determined
by the growth of the plants; bufit is a common error to
allow them to stand too long. They should in every case
be cut down before the seeds are formed, that their juices
may be as much as possible retained in the hay. When
292
Agricul¬
ture.
Hay-mak¬
ing.
AGRICULTURE.
the stems become hard and sapless, by being allowed to
bring their seeds towards maturity, they are of little more
value as provender than an equal quantity of the finer sort
of straw of corn.
One of the best among the various modes of hay-mak¬
ing, at least for clover and ryegrass, may be described in
a few words. As soon as the swath is thoroughly dry
above, it is gently turned over (not tedded or scattered),
without breaking it. Sometimes this is done by the hand,
or by a small fork; and some farmers are so anxious to
prevent the swath from being broken, that they will not
permit the use of the rake-shaft. The grass, when turn¬
ed over in the morning of a dry day, is put into cocks in
the afternoon. The mode of performing this is very simple
and expeditious ; and none but women, boys, and girls,
under the eye of a confidential servant, are usually employ¬
ed. If the crop is heavy, a row of cocks is placed in the
middle ridge of three, and if light, of five ridges. A dis¬
tinct company of carriers and rakers is allotted to every
such number of ridges; and the separate companies pro¬
ceed each on its own ground, in the same manner as in
reaping grain, which occasions a degree of competition
among them for dispatch, clean raking, and neat well-built
cocks. The carriers gather the hay, and carry it to the
ridge where the cock is to be built, by one of the most
experienced hands. A raker follows the carrier, taking up
and bringing to the cocks the remains of the swath. There
may be in general about five people employed about each
row of cocks; a carrier and raker on each side of the ridge
on which the cocks are placed, and a person on the ridge,
who builds them. But when the crop is not weighty, more
rakers are required, as a greater space must be gone over.
As the cocks are thus placed in a line, it is easy to put
two or more into one afterwards; and the larger cocks
may be speedily drawn together, to be put into tramp-
ricks, by means of ropes thrown round their bottoms, and
dragged along by a horse. It is impossible to lay down
any rules for the management of hay after it is put into
cocks ; one thing is, however, always attended to, not to
shake out, scatter, or expose the hay oftener than is real¬
ly necessary for its preservation. Sometimes the cocks
have been put up so large, that they never required to go
to a tramp-rick, but were carted to the stack-yard, with¬
out ever being broken, and put up in alternate layers with
old hay. But where this is attempted, there must not be
much clover. The practice of mixing the new with the
old hay is, however, a good one, and saves a great deal of
time and labour, at the same time that the old hay is much
improved by the mixture.
The best managers disapprove of spreading out the
swaths of clover and ryegrass, though this is often neces¬
sary with natural grasses, which are cut and harvested
later in the season. The more the swath is kept unbroken,
the hay is the greener and the more fragrant.
Another mode of hay-making, said to have been original¬
ly practised in Lancashire, has been found to answer well
in the moist atmosphere of the west of Scotland. This is
called tippling or rippling ; and, if the grass be dry, the
operation begins as soon as it is mown. “ In making a
tipple, a person, with his right hand, rolls the swath in¬
wards, until he has a little bundle; then the same is done
by the left, until both meet, and form 8 to 12 pounds, or
nearly so. This bundle is then set up against the legs,
or between the feet; a rope is twisted off the grass, while
the bundle is supported in this manner, and tied round it,
near its top ; and from the top are drawn up a few strag¬
gling stems, which are twisted, to make the tipple taper to
a point, and give it as much a conical shape as possible.
If the crop is strong, there is a row of tipples placed on
each swath; if light, two of these are put into one row. a
After standing a few hours, they become so smooth on the
outside, that the heaviest rains seldom wet them through
and when wet, they are soon dried again in good weather!
As soon as ready, they are put into the summer-rick, or, if
very dry, even into the winter-stack, but are never opened
out or tedded to make them dry, as they never require it.
By this method not a blade is lost, and the hay is nearly
as green as a leaf dried in a book. In a moderate crop,
one woman will tipple to one mower, and a woman will
rake to two tipplers or two swathers. But where the crop
is strong, it may require three women to keep pace with
two mowers. After the hay is put up in this manner, the
crop may be considered as secure, though it may continue
wet weather for a considerable length of time.” ( General
Heport of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.)
Hay is commonly carried to the stack-yard, and built St
either in circular or oblong stacks (the latter form being
most generally approved of), and carefully thatched, as has
been already observed in regard to corn. It is never ad¬
visable to allow this kind of hay to become heated in any
considerable degree in the stack, though a slight exuda¬
tion, with a very gentle warmth, is usually perceptible,
both in the field ricks and in the stacks, for a few days
after they are built; but this is quite a different thing from
that intentional heating, carried so far, in many instances,
as to terminate in conflagration.
The weight of hay from clover and ryegrass varies, ac-Pi
cording to the soil and the season, from one to three tonspe
per English acre, as it is taken from the tramp-ricks; but
after being stacked and kept till spring, the weight is
found to be diminished 25 or 30 per cent. Its price per
ton depends entirely on situation : at a distance from towns
or large villages, in ordinary seasons, the price is usually
very low, and the whole of it is generally consumed on the
farm that produced it. Its intrinsic value as fodder, in
comparison with the straw of beans or peas, may be in the
proportion of three to two; and with the finest straw of
corn crops, in the proportion of two to one.
Many intelligent cultivators consider ryegrass as a very o
severe crop for the soil; and it is alleged that wheat does to
not succeed well after the herbage with which it is inter-gr
mixed in any considerable quantity. Other plants have
accordingly been recommended as a substitute for rye¬
grass, and cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) has been tried,
apparently with great success, by Mr Coke of Holkham,
in Norfolk, and others. But this is a very coarse grass
when allowed to rise to any height, and the use of it for
hay has not yet been fully ascertained.
When the hay crop is cut and removed, there is com¬
monly a vigorous after-growth, which may be either cut or
pastured. As this consists almost exclusively of red clover,
and is extremely succulent, it is seldom made into hay,
owing to the difficulty of getting it thoroughly dried at a
late period of summer, when other more urgent operations
usually employ all the labourers of a farm. If it be cut
for this purpose, the best method of saving it is, to mix it
up with straw, which will absorb a part of its juices. It is
often cut green, as a part of the soiling system; or, where
a sheep stock is kept, pastured by the old ewes, or other
sorts, that are to be fattened the ensuing winter on
turnips.
On all farms under correct management, a part of this S
crop is cut green for the working horses, often for milch
cows, and in some instances both for growing and fatten¬
ing cattle. This mode of consuming it is known by the
name of soiling. There can be no doubt of the advantages
of this practice in regard to horses and cows; but for
young and for fattening beasts, a sufficient number ol
ml
e.
ce
re.
!;d
AGRICULTURE.
293
i pxneriments are not known to have been yet made with
m anv ffreat degree of accuracy. Young animals require
✓v-'exercise in the open air, and probably will not be found to
thrive so well in houses or fold-yards, during summer, as
on pastures; and though in every case there is a great
saving of food, the long, woody, and comparatively naked
sterns of the plants, with leaves always more or less
withered, are perhaps not so valuable in the production of
beef on fattening stock, as a much smaller weight of herb¬
age taken in by pasturing. Milch cows, however, are so
impatient of heat and insects, that this way of feeding
them, at least for a part of the day, in warm weather,
ought to be more generally adopted ; and the convenience
of having working horses always at hand, besides that they
fill their stomachs speedily, is of no less importance than
economy.1 .
In feeding cattle with green clover, attention must be
paid to prevent swelling or having, which is very apt to
take place when they are first put on this food, especially
if it be wet with rain or dew ; and cattle are exposed to
this danger, whether they are sent to depasture the clover,
or have it cut and brought home to them ; though, if the
plants be somewhat luxuriant, the danger is greater in the
former case. After being accustomed to this rich food
for a few days, during which it should be given rather
sparingly, the danger is much diminished; but it is never
safe to allow milch cows, in particular, to eat large quanti¬
ties of wet clover.
Wuof We have hitherto spoken of red clover and ryegrass,
ed. as cultivated for the sake of the stems and leaves, and
shall now add a few words about the management requir¬
ed when the object is to save their seeds. Ryegrass seed
is gathered in almost every part of Britain, but clover seed
can seldom be saved in any profitable quantity in the
northern parts. In Scotland, red clover is never cultivat¬
ed for seed.
Ivefiss The common practice in regard to ryegrass is, to let
die mixed crop of that and clover stand till the seeds of
the former have attained a considerable degree of ripeness,
when it is cut down and made into hay in the usual man¬
ner ; and the seeds of the ryegrass are separated by the
use of the flail, commonly before the hay is put into the
field-ricks. Sometimes, when but a small quantity is
wanted, the hay is merely shaken well upon a cloth, when
it is building in the stack-yard; or afterwards, in the stable-
loft, before it is put into the horses’ racks. But in all of
these methods, in order to obtain good seed, the clover
must remain uncut beyond the proper season; and it is
thus materially injured in quality, while the value of the
ryegrass seed, in such a crop, is merely a secondary con¬
sideration.
When seed is the principal object of the culture of rye¬
grass, it ought not to be mixed with clover at all, though
it maybe sown along with any of the kinds of corn already
mentioned; and it is treated the year after in every respect
as a crop of corn; bound up in sheaves, built in stacks,
threshed with the flail, and dressed by the winnowing-
machine, in the same manner.
The difficulty of distinguishing between the annual and
perennial varieties of ryegrass has led to the practice, in
some places, of cutting or pasturing the first year’s crop,
and taking a crop for seed in the second year. If the
growth of the ryegrass plants be close and vigorous the
second year, there is reason to be satisfied that the seed
is of the perennial variety; and though red clover has
been sown with the ryegrass, a great part of it disappears Agricul-
by that time, and forms but a’small portion of the second lure.
year’s cutting.
The seed of red clover is saved with more labour and Clover
difficulty. As the plant does not perfect its seed early in seed,
summer, it is necessary to take off the first growth, either
by feeding or cutting. In the first case, it is eaten till
about the end of May, frequently by ewes and lambs; and
this is understood to be an advantageous practice, because
the land is less exhausted, and the green food is of great
value for stock in the spring months. It is not uncom¬
mon, however, to cut the first growth for a hay crop; and
this should be done earlier than usual.
The growth thus reserved for seed must be suffered to
remain till the husks become perfectly brown, when it is
cut and harvested in the usual manner, leaving it on the
field till it is very dry and crisp, that the seeds may be¬
come more fully hardened : it may then be laid up dry, to
be threshed out at the farmer’s convenience.
Much labour and expense are necessary in separating Seeds for
the seed from the capsule or seed-coat, especially when pasture,
it is effected by threshing, which seldom costs less than
from five to six or seven shillings per bushel. By the use
of mills the work may be done much cheaper.
The produce in seed may generally be from three to
four or five bushels per acre when perfectly clean, weigh¬
ing from two to three hundredweights. But there is great
uncertainty in the produce of clover seed, from the late¬
ness of the season at which it becomes ripe ; and the fer¬
tility of the soil is considerably impaired by such a crop.
Yet the high value of the seed is a great inducement to
the saving of it, in favourable situations. (Dickson’s
Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 863.)
When it is intended to retain the land in pasture for
several years, the quantity of red clover is diminished,
and several kinds of more permanent herbage are added,
the most common of which are, white and yellow clover,
and ribwort. No general rule can be laid down as to the
proper quantity of each of these kinds; in some cases red
and white clover are sown in equal proportions, and in
others the latter is made greatly to predominate. The
yellow clover and ribwort are not often sown at the
rate of more than two or three pounds per acre. It is
scarcely necessary to add, that in this case the ryegrass
should always be of the perennial sort.
When permanent pasture is the object, a still greater
variety of seeds has been recommended. But as cultiva¬
tors are by no means agreed on this point, and as the dif¬
ferent kinds and proportions which are thought best
adapted to different soils have none of them the sanction
of extensive experience, we shall refer the reader to the
third volume of Communications to the Board of Agricul¬
ture, which is wholly occupied with essays on the best
means of breaking up old grass-lands, and restoring them
after a few years to permanent pasture.
15. Lucerne.
This is a deep-rooting perennial plant, that sends up nu- Lucerne,
merous tall clover-like shoots, which bear blue or violet-co¬
loured flowers. It is much cultivated in the south ot Du*
rope, and has also been found to answer in some parts of
England, though the principal seat of its culture is Kent.
The Roman writers Be Be Bustica extol this plant beyond
all reasonable bounds, and are very minute in their direc¬
tions about its cultivation. Lucerne requires a very deep,
1 See Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii.
vol. ii. and iii.
Brown’S Treatise on Rural Affairs, vol. ii.; General Report of Scotland,
294
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- friable soil, inclining to sand, with a subsoil of a similar cha-
ture. racter. It is sown, either in drills or broad-cast, in March or
early in April, and sometimes along with barley; the quan¬
tity of seed being from 15 to 20 pounds if sown in the latter
way, and from 8 to 12 if in the former. It must always
be kept free from weeds, and should be top-dressed with
dung or other manure at least every five or six years. Some
prefer giving it a slight dressing every spring. It is con¬
sumed in much the same way .as clover, either in a green
state, or after being made into hay. In some very favour¬
able situations it admits of being cut five times in the
course of the summer. It is an excellent food in its green
state, both for horses and milch cows ; and if it be equal in
the quantity of its produce to a full crop of red clover,
and continue in a productive state for nine or ten years
with only the expense of occasional top-dressings, it
would appear to be entitled to a preference on all suitable
soils and situations. The failure of clover on lands where
it has been long or too frequently grown, a fact which
seems to be generally admitted, may induce our farmers
to make trials of lucerne in places where it is yet very
little known ; and it may possibly in time become so in¬
ured to our climate as to answer in parts of the island
where it is now thought unlikely to succeed. Though it
can never come into our rotations like red clover, on lands
kept under an alternate course of corn and green crops,
not attaining its most productive state in a single year,
yet it may be introduced upon those soils which require
to be kept from the plough, and in pasture for several
years, before they are restored to tillage.
16. Saintfoin.
Saintfoin. This is also a deep-rooting perennial plant, suited to
dry, warm, chalky soils. It is sown in February or March,
at the rate of about four bushels to the acre, sometimes
along with barley or other kinds of grain ; is ready for be¬
ing mown the second year, and may last from seven to
ten years, though in its greatest perfection in about three
years. The produce in hay is from ton to 2 tons per
acre. It is mown for soiling or hay, or pastured in the
same way as clover. If the crop is chiefly taken off1 by
mowing, it must be occasionally top-dressed with manure
or peat ashes.
17. Flax and Hemp.
The soil most proper for flax is one that is deep, friable,
and rather moist. It often succeeds well in lands taken
up from grass, or after only one crop of corn. In Ireland
it is usually sown by the small farmers after potatoes.
The land must be well pulverized before the seed is sown,
cleared of stones or roots, and rolled after the seed is put
in. The usual time of sowing is from the middle of March
to the end of April. Dutch seed is in the highest esti¬
mation, affording a greater produce than the American
seed, and a finer quality than the Riga. The after-cul¬
ture consists in taking up the weeds as they rise,—a very
tedious process if the land be at all foul, as it can only be
done by the hand,—and in some cases in the further use
of the roller. . The crop is raised by pulling up the plants
by the root: immediately after, they are put into a pool
to be steeped or watered; and, when taken out of the
pool, spread out upon grass-land to dry and bleach. The
time allowed for steeping and bleaching varies with the
condition of the plant and the state of the weather, but
need seldom exceed 10 or 12 days for each. But both these
processes may be dispensed with by the use of Hill and
undy s patent machines, by which the entire preparation
may be completed in six days. The produce in seed,
when that is the object, is from 6 to 8, and sometimes as
Flax.
high as 10 or 12 bushels per acre. The best of it is kept
for sowing again, the next quality is crushed for oil, and
the inferior is boiled or steamed for cattle. The cake it A
self, or the residuum after the oil has been expressed from
the seed, is alone a valuable article in the fattening of live
stock and in the rearing of calves. The produce of flax
in fibre may vary from 3 cwts. to half a ton the acre.
Hemp requires a deep, black, vegetable soil, somewhat!
inclined to moisture ; and the preparation and season for
sowing, and the after-culture and management, are all
nearly the same as for flax. . But the male plants are
usually taken up four or five weeks before the female, so
as to give the latter time to ripen their seeds.
Flax and hemp, when allowed to ripen their seeds, are
considered exhausting crops, even more so than corn;
and, in most parts of Britain, are so uncertain in their
produce, that their cultivation has hitherto been very li¬
mited. But a great deal of flax is raised in Ireland.
18. Hops.
The hop has been long cultivated extensively in seve-E
ral parts of England, and would probably answer in the
south of Ireland ; but it is not adapted to the climate of
Scotland. In the most favourable situations it is a most
precarious crop, sometimes yielding large profits, and at
others scarcely defraying the expenses of management.
The soils most favourable to the growth of hops are clays
and strong deep loams, with a dry, friable subsoil.
“ When it is intended to make a new plantation, the Pi
best method is to have cuttings from approved stock
planted out the year before they are wanted in the hop-
ground, as the use of plants instead of cuttings not only
gains a year, but they are more certain to flourish, as
many of the cuttings will not take root in a dry season,
unless they are watered, which is seldom resorted to. A
small piece of moist land is sufficient to raise plants for
many acres, and at little expense. If the ground be in
grass, some would pare and burn the surface, and take a
crop of grain, which is not so advisable as paring and
digging in the sods. The land is worked with a spade, and
set out into ridges of 3^ yards wide, and two yards be¬
tween each, having a strip of grass (called a pillar) next
every ridge, and an open drain between every two pillars,
the depth of which must vary according to the soil, some
being less than one foot, and others nearly four feet in
depth. Three rows of plants, or, as they are termed,
hills, are made upon each ridge, which should intersect
each other. They are generally nearly two yards distant
in the rows, so that about 1300 are the usual number of
hills in a statute acre ; but as some grounds, where only
two poles are set at each hill, are in narrower ridges, the
number of hills is consequently greater. Small sticks
are proper to tie the bines up to the first year, then small
poles for a year or two, the size of which should be gra¬
dually increased. Some set two poles to every hill, which
is proper for ground producing luxuriant bines; but on
clay land, three poles are set in a triangular form to the
hills on the two outside rows of each ridge, and only two
in the middle row. Many additional poles, longer than
the rest, called catch-poles, are also set to take the bines
as they run beyond the lesser poles. Where the bine is
weak, three heads are commonly trained up each pole;
though two are better, if strong. Their course round the
pole is the contrary to that of the kidney-bean. If the
ground intended for a new plantation is not clean from
couchgrass, a complete fallow is essential, whether it is
grass or stubble ; and a crop of turnips may be taken to
advantage if the land is proper for their growth, and can
be made clean, as hops are planted in March.
AGRICULTURE.
295
Man
„ ui. « The expense of taking up hop-ground is from five to
six pounds per acre, as the price of planting varies with
the mode pursued; and if the drains are required to be
Jeep, or the soil is particularly strong, a still greater sum
will be expended; to which may be added L.25 per acre
for poles, before the ground has its full quantity; and also
the rent, taxes, &c. and the working for three years, be¬
fore many hops can be expected. A substantial building
for an oast or kiln cannot be erected for L.100, if it has
store-rooms necessary for only five acres. The following
are termed the annual orders :—Digging the ground com¬
pletely over, hoeing the earth from the hills, and cutting
off the stock a little above the root, which are called
pickling and cutting; poling, which is carrying the poles
from the stacks, and setting them down to the hills with
a round implement shod with iron, and called a poy, hav¬
ing a crutch at the top, and a peg through the middle
to tread upon; tying the bines round the poles with
rushes, and pulling up the superfluous bines; hoeing the
ground all over with a hoe of large dimensions; wheeling
and laying manure upon every hill; covering the manure
with the soil, which is done by scraping the ground over
with a hoe, and is called hilling; and stacking, which is
carrying and setting up the poles into heaps or stacks,
after the crop has been taken. The annual expense of
these orders varies from L.2. 15s. to L.3, 5s. per acre.
“ As to the manure most proper for the hop-culture,
good stable dung is much used, and is preferred to the
manure made by cattle, as the latter encourages ants on
strong ground. Woollen rags are the best for forcing a
luxuriant bine, and, if used with judgment, are excellent
for clay ground ; but they are apt to make the hops small,
if too many are used. Malt culm and dove manure are
excellent; and one complete dressing with lime is very
serviceable for strong ground.
Taki the “ When the crop is ripe, a proper number of pickers are
procured, for whom are provided light wooden frames,
called binges: they are clothed with hop-bagging, into
which the hops are picked off the poles by women and
children, having them brought by men, who take them up
by cutting the bines about a foot above the ground, and
drawing up the poles by an instrument called a dragon.
Each binge has from four to six pickers, and a man at¬
tends to one or two binges, according to the crop ; he
strips the bines from the poles as they are picked, and
lays them in heaps ready for stacking ; he also carries the
hops to the kilns, if near, or to a cart as they are mea¬
sured from the binge. It is necessary to have a supply of
cokes in the kilns to dry the hops, which are spread on a
hair-cloth which is upon an upper open floor of wood,
above the fire or fires, every noon and midnight, whilst
the picking continues. They are stirred repeatedly^, and,
when cured, are turned off into the store-room, to be put
into bags and pockets (after they have been there about
a week), which is done by fixing each bag (being first le¬
gally marked with the grower’s name, &c.) in a frame,
and treading the hops in. The excise-officer, who at¬
tends during the season, then weighs them, and charges
~d. per pound for the duty, when they become marketable.
“ from the foregoing particulars, it will appear that
t lore is scarcely any hop ground but costs yearly upwards
or L.12 per acre (exclusive of the picking and duty, which
may exceed L.20 per acre, or be very little) ; and there
are other grounds in which upwards of L.20 per acre are
annually expended; so the average may be said to be
dutUt Per acre> without the picking, drying, and
If a good plantation produces 10 cwt. per acre in a
crop year, which are sold at L.5 per cwt., the annual ex¬
cropjn
hixli
Agricul¬
ture.
penses being L.20, and the picking, &c. and duty L.20,
the profit will be L.IO; and admitting that the same
ground pays all expenses in a blight year, and supposing''
that to be every third year, the profits would be nearly
L.7 per acre annually; but, as the foregoing crop cannot
be expected on any ground every other year, the produce
of the third year may be stated at 5 cwt. per acre, at 8
guineas per cwt., deducting the annual expenses, L.20,
and the picking and duty, L.12.
“ This plant, is extremely liable to disasters, from its Hops ex-
first putting up in the spring, until the time of picking the posed to
crop, which is in September. Snails or slugs, ants and Sreat risk
fleas, are formidable enemies in the first instance. Frostsfrom Sl;a'
are inimical to its growth; and the bines are frequently -°ge“d
blighted, even after they have reached the top of the
poles. Small green flies, and other insects, which make
their appearance in the months of May and June, when
the wind is about north-east, often greatly injure them;
and they are subject to take damage by high winds from
the south-west. The best situation for a plantation,
therefore, is a southern aspect, well shaded on three sides,
either by hills or planting, which is supposed to be the
chief protection that can be given them.” We have taken
these observations on hops from an able communication
by Mr Parkinson, himself a hop-grower, given in the Far¬
mers Magazine, vol. xvi.
On a suitable soil, a hop plantation may continue for
fifteen years or more, but commonly begins to fall off
about the tenth year. The expense of forming one has been
estimated in all at from L.70 to L.100 per acre. One ob¬
jection to the cultivation of hops is, that they require a
great deal of dung, which in most cases can only be pro¬
cured by abstracting it from the tillage-lands. On the
other hand, it is admitted, that upon suitable soils, and
under good management, they make a very profitable re¬
turn.
19. Crops occasionally cultivated.
Under this head we may notice a few plants, which, Crops oc-
though of some local importance, cannot be considered as casionally
forming an object to agriculturists generally. cultivated.
1. The Fuller s Thistle or Teazle, the heads of which Fuller’s
are used for raising the nap on woollen cloths. It is grown thistle,
in Essex and the west of England.
2. Woad. This is now chiefly cultivated in Lincoln- Woad.
shire. It is used in dyeing, as a basis for black and other
colours.
3. Weld or Dyers Weed is cultivated in some parts of Weld.
England, chiefly in Essex, and used for giving a yellow
colour to cotton, &c.
4. Spurry {spergula, arvensis), which is a diminutive Spurry.
annual weed, that grows on dry, sandy corn lands in most
parts of Europe. In Germany and the Netherlands it is
sown on corn stubbles, and fed off' with sheep; and is.
said to enrich the milk of cows, and improve the quality of
mutton. Some writers have recommended its cultivation
in England, where it probably would not pay the expense
of seed and labour.
5. Fiorin. This plant has been strongly recommended, Florin,
within these few years, by the late Dr Richardson of Ire¬
land, as suitable, not for meadows or hay ground only, but
also for arable land; and for this reason it is noticed here.
In consequence of that gentleman’s writings, trials were
made of it upon a variety of soils in different parts of Scot¬
land, particularly and upon a large scale at Dalswinton
in Dumfries-shire ; and the result seems to be, that though
a heavy crop of it may certainly be procured on mossy or
peaty soils, yet that upon all other descriptions of land
it is not by any means so valuable as the crops already in
296
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- use. It does not admit of being pastured, aifords only one
ture. cutting in the year, requires to be top-dressed with ashes
or other manure ; and after all, upon moderately dry soils,
the produce is of very little value. We have seen a crop
of it upon rather dry land, under the management pre¬
scribed by the doctor himself, which would scarcely pay
the expense of cutting and carrying to the farm-yard.
Still we think it deserves the notice of those wdio possess
moss lands, as there can be no doubt of its having yielded
a large produce under the doctor s own management, and
we believe also on a similar soil at Dalswinton. It is cer¬
tainly relished by horses and other live stock.
Buck 6. Buck Wheat. In this country buck wheat is chiefly
wheat. cultivated for feeding poultry, pigeons, and hogs ; though
it is also used in the distilleries, and occasionally the meal
is made into thin cakes for bread. It will grow on almost
any soil, and may produce on an average from 3 to 4
quarters the acre. The season of sowing is the last week
of April, or first week of May. When allowed to stand
for a crop, there is nothing worthy of particular notice in
its after-culture or management; but some think it of most
value when ploughed down green, as a preparation for
other crops.
Maize. 7. Maize or Indian Corn is now under trial in this coun¬
try by Mr William Cobbett, who is very sanguine of suc¬
cess. It has been hitherto considered as a crop quite un¬
suited to the climate of Britain.
Kelp. 8. Kelp. The plants from which this substance is made
can hardly be said to belong to agriculture, yet it is never¬
theless of too much importance in many parts of Scot¬
land and Ireland to be passed over without notice. It is
made from different varieties of the fuci, among which the
fucus vesiculosus is considered the most productive. The
plants which grow on the sea-coast are cut in the sum¬
mer months, and dried and burned in a rude sort of kiln
on the spot. It is of great importance to preserve them
from the rain when they have been laid out to dry. The
plants may be cut when two or three years old. There
are immense tracts on the coast of the mainland and
islands of Scotland, wdiere it is thought kelp might be
produced merely by putting down stones upon the vacant
spaces. During the late war, the best sorts of kelp some¬
times sold for L.20 per ton, and the land-owners derived
a very considerable profit from its manufacture; but since
the peace, barilla having come again into our market at a
reduced price, that of kelp has fallen so low as to yield
little or no profit, after defraying the necessary expenses.
The principal consumption of kelp is in the manufacture
of glass and soap. The barilla plant itself, it is believed,
might be tried in this country, with a reasonable prospect
of success. It has been introduced into France, where
the produce was found to be as good in quality as that
procured from Alicant. But the most important step,
perhaps, would be to improve the manufacture of our own
kelp ; a point to which the Highland Society of Scotland
has very properly given much of its attention of late, and
in whose publications a great deal of useful information
will be found upon the subject.
Kelp- The following account of the manufacture in the island
making, of Harris, one of the western isles of Scotland, is from the
6th volume of the Prize Essays and Transactions of that
Society, published in 1824.
“ !• The quantity of kelp manufactured on the farm of
Strond this season was 115 tons.
“ 2. All the kelp was made from cut-ware of two years’
growth.
“ 3. The plants used were, fucus nodosus, or lady-ware;
fucus vesiculosus, or bell-ware; and fucus serratus,
or black-ware.
“ It may not be superfluous to remark, that all the kelp
made of cut-ware is from these different plants, and that
they are always mixed together, as the different varietiesv-
grow on kelp-shores generally, and in the following or¬
der ;—The fucus nodosus grows on that part of the shore
between high-water spring-tides and high-water neap-
tides ; and mucous bell-ware, named grcepach by the ma¬
nufacturers, is interspersed with it. As these kinds of
ware are but seldom covered by the sea, they are short,
and only a little of them can be obtained. The fucus ve¬
siculosus, or bell-ware, grows on that part of the shore
between high-water neap-tides and low-water neap-tides.
From the circumstance of this ware being alternately
covered by the sea and exposed to the air for nearly the
same space of time, it grows stronger than any of the
other varieties; is consequently more plentiful, and most
productive. That part of it which grows near low-water¬
mark neap-tides is of a thinner texture, and is called
floating-wrare, or gleurach. The fucus serratus, or black-
ware, grows between low-water neap-tides and low-water
spring-tides; this variety of ware is plentiful on such
shores as are flat, and which only ebb with spring-tides.
Black-ware makes good kelp, but is not so productive,
from its thin texture.
“ Different varieties of tangle-ware appear lower down
than the black-ware at low-water spring-tides, but are not
cut for kelp-making in those parts, and are only used
when drifted ashore for making cast-ware kelp.
“ 4. The specimens of Strond kelp now sent to the So¬
ciety were taken without any pains of selection,
from about 60 tons of the kelp; each specimen
sent being taken from different kelp-kilns, contain¬
ing from 2 to 21 tons of kelp each. All the kelp
made on the farm was equal in quality to the spe¬
cimens sent, with the exception of about 6 tons,
which were made in a bay into which there is a
run of fresh water, and where the ware is only
covered with salt water with spring-tides. Kelp
made of such ware contains less of the alkaline
salts than when it is made from that which grows
on strong tide-ways.
“ 5. The kelp from which the specimens were taken was
sold by Messrs Macdonald and Ravenscroft, agents,
Liverpool, for L.10. 5s.
“ 6. The process of manufacturing this kelp is as follows,
and though similar, may be found to differ in some
respects from the general mode of kelp-making.
Wherein I consider this difference lies I will point
out, by underscoring that part of the description
of the process.
“ 1. The ware is cut off the rocks with a common
hook, similar to that used for shearing (reaping),
but stronger, and having a rougher edge.
“ 2. Care is taken to land the ware on clean
spreading ground; and if any sand or mud is found
to stick to the ware, it is always washed before
landing it.
“ 3. The ware is spread out every dry day, and
made into small cocks at night. When in this way
it is found to be pretty dry, it is made into larger
cocks, and left to heat in them for six or eight days;
but if the ware is of that description which I have
mentioned above as growing in bays into which
there is a run of water, such ware is always left in
large cocks for 15 or 20 days.
“ 4. The ware being thus secured, a dry day with
a good breeze of wind is watched for, in order to
burn it.
“ 5. The kelp-kilns are constructed of middle-
ieu
He.
r\
AGRICULTURE.
As.^L
te.
Sfa--
sized stones, of hard texture, and built up care¬
lessly ; the outsides of the kilns are covered with
J turf; the length of each kiln is from 15 to 18 feet,
breadth feet, height 2 feet. They are made on
the surface of the ground, and on the firmest sward
they can find.
“ 6. The process of burning is as follows:—
A small bundle of straw or heather is set on fire;
the dryest part of the ware is placed over this,
and gradually added, until the flames become ge¬
neral through the kiln; then the ware to be burnt
is thrown in, little by little, till the whole is re¬
duced to ashes. If, however, it happens that the
day is too calm, or that the ware is not sufficiently
dry, so that the ashes cool and cake into white
crusts, the manufacturer stops burning any more,
until he rakes all the ashes in the kiln ; then com¬
mences burning again, and goes on in this way
until he has the whole thoroughly burnt. Want
of attention to this method leaves kelp of a white
colour and porous texture.
“ 7. The last process is the raking or working
of the ashes with an iron with a wooden handle,
made for the purpose, until the whole is brought
into a solid semi-vitrified state. Most manufac¬
turers commence this process immediately after
the last part of the ware is put into the kiln, and
when a good deal of the ware is not sufficiently
burnt, and of a black colour. The Strond manu¬
facturers, however, do not commence raking the
ashes for at least half an hour after the last of the
ware is put on, so that the whole may be tho¬
roughly burnt. Want of attention to this particu¬
lar leaves kelp of an ugly black colour.
“ The raking of the ashes is simply done by
working the kelp-irons through it until the whole
becomes a semi-vitrified mass. Three ov four men
are employed at this process; if fewer, the ashes
will not be sufficiently worked, and consequently
a great part of them must be mixed in the next
burning.
“ Finally, The kelp is broken into pieces of about
2 cwt.; these are made into conical heaps, covered
with dry ware, and over that is placed a layer of
turf, which secures the kelp tolerably well, if
early shipped.”
9. Sea-grass {zostera marina) is a plant which abounds
in the Orkney Islands, and has lately come into use for
stuffing chairs, mattresses, and other sorts of furniture in
which horse-hair was formerly used. When properly
prepared, it is found to be elastic and durable, and is not
subject to the attacks of those insects which often infest
mattresses made of wool or cotton.
dhe following account of this plant is taken from the
Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society,
vol. vi. and was written in 1823.
“ The zostera generally grows at such depths as to be
left nearly dry by the ebbing of spring-tides.
“ The leaves remain attached to the stem until the
month of September, and during the autumn and begin¬
ning of winter are thrown ashore in large quantities.
“ As this plant floats near the surface of the water, it
18 always driven before the wind; unlike the other marine
297
either gathered into heaps with other marine plants, and Agricul-
allowed to ferment before being applied to the land, or ture.
formed into compost with earth, litter, &c.; in both of
which ways it is found to answer well.
“ It is also used by the poorer classes of labourers or
cottars as thatch for their houses, and in this way forms
a good defence against the violent winds and heavy rains
of their rude climate, for two years.
“ Its application as a substitute for horse-hair, in stuf- A substi-
fing mattresses and furniture, was unknown in these tute for
islands until the attention of a few individuals was de-{lorse-hair
voted to it by the offer of a premium by the Highland111 mat*'
Society of Scotland, for its preservation for that purpose,tresses-
and with a view to its introduction as a useful article of
manufacture.
“ The list of premiums offered by the society happen¬
ing to come into the hands of the writer of this brief and
imperfect sketch during last autumn, he conceived he
might employ some of his people profitably in collecting,
washing, and drying the grass for sale. The season being
unluckily too far advanced for procuring any large quan¬
tity, he prepared, by way of experiment, 1 ton 3 cwts.
14 lbs. which his agent has since sold to the manager of
the Asylum for the Industrious Blind at Edinburgh, at
the rate of 12s. 9d. per cwt. On this quantity, which
grossed L.14. 15s. his net profit did not exceed L.8; but
this partly arose from inexperience in the mode of pre¬
paring it. On a quantity amounting to nearly three tons,
which he has got ready for market within these few wreeks,
the expenses of washing, drying, and picking, have not
amounted to more than half of the charge on the smaller
quantity first noticed. The first was carefully washed
twice in vessels filled with fresh water, and dried quickly,
and then any sea-weed that had floated ashore with it
picked out when dry. The last was carted to a fresh¬
water lake, and steeped during a week, when it was taken
out, and picked by boys and young girls while spread wret
upon the ground. If properly steeped, exposure to drought
for one day will make it sufficiently dry for packing. When
dry, care must be taken, if the weather is windy, to ga¬
ther it into heaps or cocks, otherwise it may be blown
away, being then extremely light. The first quantity
prepared was sent to market in large bags of sacking, of
the size of wool-packages, very hard packed; yet that
small quantity required 14 bags to contain it. The last
has been twisted into ropes, of the thickness of a man's
waist, and then compactly made up in nets formed of
ropes made of bent-grass.
“ The zostera is a plant of a very imperishable nature,
and may be kept for any length of time in fresh or salt
water, without any apparent decay. Should a sufficient
demand arise for this grass, at a fair price, any quantity
could be collected in the Orkney Islands that the market
could require; and it would furnish a species of labour well
adapted to old people past hard work, and young people
not yet able for hard work. The wages generally given
for such sort of work at present is 6d. per day, which is
more than can be earned by plaiting straw, the staple
employment of young people in the Orkney Islands.”
Sect. VII. Succession of Crops.
There is no branch of husbandry that requires more Succession
plants of these islands, which (with the exception offucus judgment, nor any on which the profits of the farmer more0* crops.
resiculosus, whose air-vessels keep it afloat) remain near
t.'e Attorn, and are forced ashore, against the wind, by
t ie ground-swell or reflux of the waves.
’ l*4 sea1=rass ^ used hy the inhabitants of these
b anas as manure for their fields, for which purpose it is
VOL. II. 1 1
depend, than the order in which the several crops culti¬
vated are made to succeed one another. Ihe general First gene-
rule is, that culmiferous crops, ripening their seeds, should ral rule-
not be repeated, without the intervention of pulse, roots,
herbage, or fallow. This rule is recognised in the prac-
2 p
298
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- tice and writings of all judicious cultivators, more gene-
ture. rally, perhaps, than any other in the whole compass of
the art of agriculture.
Alternate With regard to the particular plants that enter into the
system. course of cropping, these, it is evident, must be such as
are suited to the soil and climate, though they will be
somewhat varied by local circumstances, such as the
proximity of towns and villages, where there is a greater
demand for turnips, potatoes, hay, &c. than in thinly
peopled districts. In general, beans, and clover with rye¬
grass, are interposed between corn crops on clayey soils,
and turnips, potatoes, and clover and ryegrass, on dry
loams and sands, or what are technically known by the
name of turnip soils. A variety of other plants, such as
peas, tares, cabbages, and carrots, occupy a part, though
commonly but a small part, of that division of a farm
which is allotted to green crops. This order of succession
is called the system of alternate husbandry; and on rich
soils, or such as have access to abundance of putrescent
manure, it is certainly the most productive of all, both
in food for man and for the inferior animals. One half
of a farm is, in this course, always under some of the
different species of Cereal gramma, and the other half
under pulse, roots, cultivated herbage, or plain fallow.
Convert!- But the greater part of the arable land of Britain can-
ble system, not be maintained in a fertile state under this manage¬
ment ; and sandy soils, even though highly manured, soon
become too incohesive under a course of constant tillage.
It therefore becomes necessary to leave that division, or
break, that carries cultivated herbage, to be pastured for
two years or more, according to the degree of its con¬
sistency and fertility; and all the fields of a farm are
treated thus in their turn, if they require it< This is called
the system of convertible husbandry; a regular change
being constantly going on from aration to pasturage, and
vice versa.
Second ge- Another rule with regard to the succession of crops, is
neral rule, not to repeat the same kind of crop at too short intervals.
Whatever may be the cause,—whether it is to be sought
for in the nature of the soil, or of the plants themselves,
experience clearly proves the advantages of introducing
a diversity of species into every course of cropping. When
land is pastured several years before it is brought again
under the plough, there may be less need for adhering
steadily to this rule; but the degeneracy of wheat and
other corn crops recurring upon the same land every
second year for a long period, has been very generally
acknowledged. It is the same with what are called green
crops; beans and peas, potatoes, turnips, and in an espe¬
cial manner red clover, become all of them much less
productive, and much more liable to disease, when they
come into the course, upon the same land, every second,
third, or fourth year. But what the interval ought to be
has not yet been determined, and (from the great num¬
ber of years that experiments must be continued to give
any certain result) probably cannot be determined, until
the component parts of soils, and particularly the sort of
vegetable nourishment which each species of plants ex¬
tracts from the soil, have been more fully investigated.
Third ge- A change of the variety, as well as of the species, and
neral rule, even of the plants of the same variety, is found to be at¬
tended with advantage; and in the latter case, or a change
of seed, the species and variety being the same, the prac¬
tice is almost universal. It is well known, that of two
parcels of wheat, for instance, as much alike in quality as
possible, the one, which had grown on a soil differing
much from that on which it is to be sown, will yield a
better produce than the other that grew in the same, or a
similar soil and climate. The farmers of Scotland, accord¬
ingly, find that wheat from the south, even though it be A
not, as it usually is, better than their own, is a very ad- !
vantageous change; and oats and other grain, brought^
from a clayey to a sandy soil, other things being equal,
are more productive than such as grew on the sandy soil
With these general remarks we proceed to mention the
most approved rotations on the two general classes of
soil, namely, what are called heavy and light, or clay and
turnip soils.
1. Rotations on Clay Soils.
We have already endeavoured to establish the neces-Rot
sity of a naked or summer fallow on land of this descrip-on i
tion; and beginning with this as the commencement ofsoil1
the course, one of the most approved rotations is,—-
1. Fallow with manure ;
2. Wheat with seeds ;
3. Red clover with ryegrass ;
4. Oats ;
5. Beans drilled and horse-hoed;
6. Wheat.
In this course, manure should be applied either to the
clover stubble before it is broken up for oats, or before the
beans are sown.
This rotation has been found to answer on clayey soils
generally, but upon those of a superior quality it may be
extended to eight years. In that case the order of the
crops is,—
1. Fallow;
2. Wheat;
3. Beans;
4. Barley;
5. Red clover and ryegrass ;
6. Oats;
7. Beans; and
8. Wheat.
Upon soils of an inferior description, or thin clays, a
four years course is,—
1. Fallow with manure ;
2. Wheat;
3. Red clover and ryegrass;
4. Oats;
and it is considered an improvement on this course to
let the clover and ryegrass division stand to be pastured
for two or three years. In that case the ryegrass should
be of the perennial description ; and white clover must be
added to the red in an equal or greater proportion.
In particular situations, where the soil is either very
rich or can be abundantly supplied with manure, it has
been found profitable to cultivate wheat and beans, and
wheat and potatoes, for several years in succession.
2. Turnip Soils.
On the best description of such soils as do not require On
a naked fallow, but which admit of turnips being grownS(J1
and consumed upon the ground, a favourite rotation is,—
1. Turnips, of which at least two-thirds should be eaten
by sheep where they grow;
2. Spring wheat or barley, sown from time to time as
the turnips are cleared away ;
3. Clover and ryegrass;
4. Wheat.
On land of a medium quality, and without an extra-
supply of manure, this has been found a very exhausting
course, and ought not to be persisted in. Instead of taking
two crops of wheat in the four years, it is better to take
only one of wheat and one of barley; and the greater part
of the clover and ryegrass should, as indeed is usually the
case, be pastured the first year, instead of being cut for hay-
AGRICULTURE.
299
1^ By much the greater proportion of turnip soils, how-
tu . ever, do not admit even of this modified course, but re-
O''' ^ nuire, after being sown with grass-seeds, to be retained in
pasture for two or more years. The most common period
we believe is three years, but upon sandy soils it is better
to continue the land in pasturage for five or six years;
and on land of this description wheat should not be at>
tempted at all. The rotation would then be,—
1. Turnips, to be nearly all consumed on the ground;
2. Barley;
3. Red and white clover, with perennial ryegrass, to
which is sometimes added ribwort (plantago lanceolata)
and other seeds suited to such soils ; the land to be conti¬
nued in pasture for at least three years, and broken up with,
4. Oats or rye ; the latter will often be found the more
profitable.
. The general rule in all these cases is, that culmiferous
crops ripening their seeds must never follow one another
without the intervention of a fallow, or a cleansing and
ameliorating crop.
Though these be the rotations most generally approved
by our best farmers, yet deviations from them may be
permitted in particular cases without injury either to the
soil or the cultivator. In the neighbourhood of large
towns, and in other situations where an abundant supply
of manure can be obtained, the crops are not only varied
in the order of succession, but others may be substituted
for some of those before mentioned. Thus, potatoes near
large towns are often found more profitable than turnip,
as they serve to prepare the land for wheat, which is
almost always the next crop. And it is to be understood
that peas, potatoes, cabbages, rape, and other green crops,
are not to be considered as excluded from the general
rotations; on the contrary, it is usual to sow a small pro¬
portion of peas along with the beans, and to allot part of
the division under turnips for potatoes, rape, &c. * but
those we have mentioned occupy the greater part of each
division.
Sect. VIII. Manures.
Mam % Under this head we shall notice the several substances
most extensively employed, with their management and
application, without going into detail as to the various ar¬
ticles of this kind that are to be procured only in small
quantities, or in particular situations, and which are there¬
fore used on a very limited scale.
1. Farm-yard Dung.
Farm ard
dung
This manure, composed chiefly of the straw of grain,
and the excrementitious substances of live stock, is the
principal, and in most instances the only fertilizer of the
soil to which farmers have access. Its use is so universal
and so well known, that a very few observations will suf¬
fice.
As straw is the basis of this compost, every judicious
farmer takes care to have his crops cut as low as possible,
as it is evident to every one that a few inches of straw
towards the root-end adds much to the weight of the
crop. From every ton of dry straw about three tons of
farm-yard dung may be obtained, if the after-management
be properly conducted; and as the weight of straw per
acre runs from 1 ton to IV about 4 tons of dung, on an
average of the different crops, may be produced from the
straw of every acre under corn. (Husbandry of Scotland,
vol. ii.)
The straw is served out to cattle and horses in the
houses and fold-yards, either as provender or litter, com-
monly for both" purposes; and turnips in winter, and
green clover in summer, on which food the animals pass a Agricul- *
great deal of urine, afford the means of converting the ture.
straw into a richer manure than if it were all eaten by itself,
All the dung from the houses, as they are cleaned out,
ought to be regularly spread over the yards, in which
young cattle are left loose, where litter is usually allowed
in great abundance ; or over the dunghill itself, if there be
one at hand. This renders the quality of the whole mass
more uniform; and the horse-dung, which is of a hot na¬
ture, promotes the decomposition of the woody fibres of
the straw.
At a convenient season, usually during the frosts of Manage-
winter, this mass of materials is carted out to the field toment.h
which it is to be applied, and neatly built in dunghills of
a square form, three or four feet high, and of such a length
and breadth as circumstances may require. What is laid
up in this manner early in winter is commonly sufficiently
prepared for turnips in June ; but if it be not carried from
the straw-yards till spring, it is necessary to turn it once
or oftener, for the purpose of accelerating the decomposi¬
tion of the strawy part of the mass. When dung is ap¬
plied to fallows in July or August, preparatory to autumn-
sown wheat, a much less degree of putrefaction will suf¬
fice than for turnips—a clay soil, on which alone fallows
should ever be resorted to, not requiring dung so much
rotted as a finely pulverized turnip soil; and besides, as
the wheat does not need all the benefit of the dung for
some time, the woody fibre is gradually broken down in
the course of the winter, and the nourishment of the plants
continued till spring or later, when its effects are most be¬
neficial.
In the application of dung to land under tillage, parti- Applica-
cular attention should be paid to the cleanness of the soil, tion.
and to use it at the time when, from the pulverization of
the ground, it may be most intimately mixed with it. The
most common time of manuring with farm-yard dung is,
therefore, either towards the conclusion of the fallowing
operations, or immediately before the sowing of fallow
crops. If no dung can be procured but what is made from
the produce of the farm, it will seldom be possible to al¬
low more than ten or twelve tons to every acre, when the
land is managed under a regular course of white and green
crops; and it is thought more advantageous to repeat this
dose at short intervals, than to give a larger quantity at
once, and at a more distant period in proportion. (Gene¬
ral Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 517.)
Farm-yard dung, it is well known, is greatly reduced in
value by being exposed to the atmosphere in small heaps
previous to being spread, and still more after being spread.
Its rich juices are exhaled by the sun, or washed away by
the rains, and the residuum is comparatively worthless.
This is in an especial manner the case with long fresh
dung, the far greater part of which consists of wet straw
in an entire state. All careful farmers, accordingly,
spread and cover in their dung with the plough as soon
as possible after it is brought on the land.
It has been urged by a celebrated chemist, that farm-Fresh
yard dung ought not to be allowed to ferment in any con-dung,
siderable degree, as during a violent fermentation a large
quantity not only of fluid but likewise of gaseous matter
is lost, which, if retained by the moisture in the soil,
would be capable of becoming a useful nourishment to
plants. He therefore recommends that it should be ap¬
plied after a slight incipient fermentation, which he admits
to be useful in "bringing on a disposition in the woody fibre
to decay and dissolve; and this is always, he adds, in
great excess in the refuse of a farm. (Davy s Agricultu¬
ral Chemistry, p. 302. 8vo.)
From a recent publication (Husbandry of Scotland,
300
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- vol. i. p. 174), the practice of the best farmers of turnip soils
ture. in Scotland appears to be decidedly adverse to the use of
fresh dung; and its inutility, or rather injurious effects,
from its opening the soil too much, is a matter of expe¬
rience with every one who cultivates drilled turnips on a
large scale. As the whole farm-yard dung on such land
is applied to the turnip crop, it must necessarily happen
that it should be laid on in different stages of putrefaction ;
and what is made very late in spring, often after a very
slight fermentation, or none at all. The experience of
the effects of recent dung is accordingly very general,
and the result in almost every case is, that the growth of
the young plants is slow,—that they remain long in a
feeble and doubtful state,—and that they seldom, in or¬
dinary seasons, become a full crop, even though twice the
quantity that is given of short muck has been allowed.
On the other hand, when the manure is considerably de¬
composed, the effects are immediate, the plants rise vigor¬
ously, and soon put forth their rough leaf, after which the
beetle or fly does not seize on them; and in a few weeks
the leaves become so large, that the plants probably draw
the greater part of their nourishment from the atmosphere.
Though it were true, therefore, that more nutritive
matter were given out by a certain quantity of dung ap¬
plied in a recent state, and allowed to decompose gra¬
dually in the soil, than if applied after undergoing fermen¬
tation and putrefaction, the objection arising from the
slowness of its operation would, in many instances, be an
insuperable one with farmers.
But there seems reason to doubt whether fresh strawy
manure would ferment much in the soil, after being spread
out in so small a quantity as has been already mentioned;
and also, whether in the warm dry weather of summer,
the shallow covering of earth given by the plough would
not permit the gaseous matters to escape to a much
greater amount than if fermentation had been completed
in a well-built covered dunghill.
Another great objection to the use of fresh farm-yard
dung is, that the seeds and roots of those plants with
which it commonly abounds spring up luxuriantly on the
land; and this evil nothing but a considerable degree of
fermentation can obviate. The mass of materials consists
of the straw of various crops, some of the grains of which,
after all the care that can be taken, will adhere to the
straw,—of the dung of different animals, voided, as is often
the case with horses fed on oats, with the grain in an en¬
tire state,—and of the roots, stems, and seeds of the
weeds that had grown among the straw, clover, and hay,
and such as had been brought to the houses and fold-
yards with the turnips and other roots given to live stock.
No rule of universal application can be laid down on
this subject; the degree of decomposition to which farm¬
yard dung should arrive before it can be deemed a profit¬
able manure, must depend on the texture of the soil, the
nature of the plants, and the time of its application. In
general, clayey soils, more tenacious of moisture, and
more benefited by being rendered incohesive and porous,
may receive manure less decomposed than well-pulverized
turnip soils require. Some plants, too, seem to thrive
better with fresh dung than others,—potatoes in particu¬
lar ; but all the small-seeded plants, such as turnips, clo¬
ver, carrots, &c. which are extremely tender in the early
stage of their growth, require to be pushed forward into
luxuriant vegetation with the least possible delay, by
means of short dung. The season when manure is applied
is also a material circumstance. In spring and summer,
whether it be used for com or green crops, the object is
to produce an immediate effect, and it should therefore
be more completely decomposed than may be necessary
when it is laid on in autumn for a crop whose condition A
will be almost stationary for several months.
2. Lime. ^
Next to farm-yard dung, lime is in most general use asljj
a manure, though it is one of a quite different character-
and when judiciously applied, and the land laid to pas¬
ture, or cultivated for white and green crops alternately,
with an adequate allowance of putrescent manure, its ef¬
fects are much more lasting, and in many instances still
more beneficial, than those of farm-yard dung. Fossil
manures “ must produce their effect, either by becoming
a constituent part of the plant, or by acting upon its more
essential food, so as to render it more fitted for the pur¬
poses of vegetable life.” (Davy's Agricultural Chemistry,
p. 314.) It is perhaps in the former of these ways that
wheat and some other plants are brought to perfection
after lime has been applied upon land that would not
bring them to maturity by the most liberal use of dung
alone.
“ The most common form in which lime is found on the
surface of the earth, is in a state of combination with car¬
bonic acid or fixed air. If a piece of limestone or chalk
be thrown into a fluid acid, there will be an effervescence.
This is owing to the escape of the carbonic acid gas. The
lime becomes dissolved in the liquor. When limestone is
strongly heated, the carbonic acid gas is expelled, and
then nothing remains but the pure alkaline earth ; in this
case there is a loss of weight, and if the fire has been
very high, it approaches to one-half the weight of the
stone; but in common cases, limestones, if well dried be¬
fore burning, do not lose much more than from 35 to40Lo
per cent., or from seven to eight parts out of twenty, we
When burned lime becomes mild, it regains its power of^ul S-
effervescing, and is the same chemical substance as chalk
or limestone.
“ When newly burned lime is exposed to air, it soonSla
falls into powder; in this case it is called slacked lime;!™
and the same effect is immediately produced by throwing
water upon it, when it heats violently and the water dis¬
appears. Slacked lime is merely a combination of lime
with about one-third of its weight of water, that is* 55
parts of lime absorb 17 parts of water.
“ When lime, whether freshly burned or slacked, is Op
mixed with any moist fibrous vegetable matter, there is a of
strong action between the lime and the vegetable matter,
and they form a kind of compost together, of which a part
is usually soluble in water. By this kind of operation,
lime renders matter which was before comparatively inert
nutritive; and as charcoal and oxygen abound in all vege¬
table matters, it becomes at the same time converted into
carbonate of lime.
“ Mild lime, powdered limestone, marls, or chalks,
have no action of this kind upon vegetable matter; by
their action they prevent the too rapid decomposition of
substances already dissolved, but they have no tendency
to form soluble matters.
“ It is obvious, from these circumstances, that the ope¬
ration of quicklime and marl or chalk depends upon prin¬
ciples altogether different. Quicklime, in being applied
to land, tends to bring any hard vegetable matter that it
contains into a state of more rapid decomposition and so¬
lution, so as to render it a proper food for plants. Chalk
and marl, or carbonate of lime, will only improve the tex¬
ture of the soil, or its relation to absorption ; it acts mere¬
ly as one of its earthy ingredients. Quicklime, when it
becomes mild, operates in the same manner as chalk;
but, in the act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble out
of insoluble matter.
AGRICULTURE.
u] << The solution of the question, whether quicklime
^ti * ought to be applied to a soil, depends upon the quantity
0f inert vegetable matters that it contains. The solution
of the question, whether marl, mild lime, or powdered
limestone, ought to be applied, depends upon the quanti¬
ty of calcareous matter already in the soil. All soils are
improved by mild lime, and ultimately by quicklime,
which do not effervesce with acids, and sands more than
clays.” (Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 315, et seq.')
From the mode in which lime operates, it necessarily
follows that quicklime should not be applied to lands that
contain much soluble matter, nor be mixed up in com¬
posts with animal manures.
Macisian “ It had been long known to farmers in the neighbour-
lime ne. hood of Doncaster, that lime made from a certain lime¬
stone, applied to the land, often injured the crops consider¬
ably. Mr Tennant, in making a series of experiments
upon this peculiar calcareous substance, found that it con¬
tained magnesia; and on mixing some calcined magnesia
with soil, in which he sowed different seeds, he found
that they either died, or vegetated in a very imperfect
manner, and the plants were never healthy. And, with
great justice and ingenuity, he referred the bad effects of
the peculiar limestone to the magnesian earth it contains.”
(Id. p. 322.) Yet it is advantageously employed in small
quantities, seldom more than 25 or 30 bushels to the acre.
A simple test of magnesia in the limestone is the circum¬
stance of its effervescing little when plunged into an acid,
and its rendering diluted nitric acid or aquafortis milky.
Stones of this kind are usually coloured brown or pale
yellow, and are found in several counties of England, and
in many parts of Ireland, particularly near Belfast.
With regard to the quantity of lime that ought to be
pplii to applied to different soils, it is much to be regretted that
Sir Humphry Davy did not enter fully into the sub¬
ject. Clays, it is well known, require a larger quantity
than sands or dry loams. It has been applied, accord¬
ingly, in almost every quantity from 100 to 500 bushels
or upwards per acre. About 160 bushels are generally
considered a full dressing for lighter soils, and 80 or 100
bushels more for heavy cohesive soils.
In the application of lime to arable land, there are some
general rules commonly attended to by diligent farmers,
of which we shall present an abstract.
1. As the effects of lime greatly depend on its intimate
admixture with the surface soil, it is essential to have it
in a powdery state at the time it is applied.
2. Lime having a tendency to sink in the soil, it should
be ploughed in with a shallow furrow.
3. Lime may either be applied to grass land, or to land
in preparation for green crops or summer fallow, with
almost equal advantage; but, in general, the latter mode
of application is to be preferred.
4. Lime ought not to be applied a second time to
moorish soils, unless mixed up as a compost; after which
the land should be immediately laid down to grass.
5. Upon fresh land, the effect of lime is much superior
to that of dung. The ground, likewise, more especially
.ere it is of a strong nature, is more easily cultivated;
m some instances, it is said, “ the saving of labour would
e efficient to induce a farmer to lime his land, were no
greater benefit derived from the application than the op¬
portunity thereby gained of working it in a more perfect
manner. ( General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 536.)
me i m_ In improving hilly land with a view to pasture, a much
novir srila er quantity of lime has been found to produce per-
''■'v td nianent and highly beneficial effects, when kept as much
»iil dll i as possible near the surface, by being merely harrowed in
We. With the seeds, after a fallow or green crop, instead of be¬
301
Agricul¬
ture-
Quality
differ! t
toil;.!
Gent1!
rules-;
Effect] f
iuie
ing buried by the plough. As this is a matter of much
importance to farmers of such land, especially when lime
must be brought from a great distance, as was the case in^^^
the instance to which we are about to allude, the success¬
ful practice of one of the most eminent farmers in Britain
cannot be too generally known.
“ A few years after 1754,” says Mr Dawson, « having
a considerable extent of outfield land in fallow, which I
wished to lime previous to its being laid down to pasture,
and finding that I could not obtain a sufficient quantity of
lime for the whole in proper time, I was induced, from
observing the effects of fine loam upon the surface of si¬
milar soil, even when covered with bent, to try a small
quantity of lime on the surface of this fallow, instead of a
larger quantity ploughed down in the usual manner. Ac¬
cordingly, in the autumn, about twenty acres of it were
well harrowed, and then about fifty-six Winchester bush¬
els only, of unslacked lime, were, after being slacked,
carefully spread upon each English acre, and immediate¬
ly well harrowed in. As many pieces of the lime, which
had not been fully slacked at first, were gradually reduced
to powder by the dews and moisture of the earth,—to
mix these with the soil, the land was again well harrowed
in three or four days thereafter. This land was sown in
the spring with oats, with white and red clover and rye¬
grass seeds, and well harrowed, without being ploughed
again. The crop of oats was good, the plants of grass
sufficiently numerous and healthy; and they formed a
very fine pasture, which continued good until ploughed
some years after for corn.
“ About twelve years afterwards I took a lease of the
hilly farm of Grubbet, many parts of which, though of
an earthy mould tolerably deep, were too steep and ele¬
vated to be kept in tillage. As these lands had been
much exhausted by cropping, and were full of couch-
grass, to destroy that and procure a cover of fine grass, I
fallowed them, and laid on the same quantity of lime per
acre, then harrowed and sowed oats and grass-seeds in
the spring, exactly as in the last mentioned experiment.
The oats were a full crop, and the plants of grass abund¬
ant. Several of these fields have been now above thirty
years in pasture, and are still producing white clover and
other fine grasses : no bent or fog has yet appeared upon
them. It deserves particular notice, that more than treble
the quantity of lime was laid upon fields adjoining of a si¬
milar soil, but which being fitter for occasional tillage,
upon them the lime was ploughed in. These fields were
also sown with oats and grass-seeds. The latter throve
well, and gave a fine pasture the first year; but after¬
wards the bent spread so fast, that in three years there
was more of it than of the finer grasses.”
The conclusions which Mr Dawson draws from his ex¬
tensive practice in the use of lime and dung, deserve the
attention of all cultivators of similar land.
“ 1. That animal dung dropt upon coarse benty pas-Condu-
tures produces little or no improvement upon them; and sions as to
that, even when sheep or cattle are confined to a small theeTects
space, as in the case of folding, their dung ceases to
duce any beneficial effect after a few years, whether the
land is continued in pasture or brought under the plough.
“ 2. That even when land of this description is well fal¬
lowed and dunged, but not limed, though the dung aug¬
ments the produce of the subsequent crop of grain, and of
grass also for two or three years, that thereafter its effects
are no longer discernible either upon the one or the other
“ 3. That when this land is limed, if the lime is kept
upon the surface of the soil, or well mixed with it, and
then laid down to pasture, the finer grasses continue in
possession of the soil, even in elevated and exposed situa-
302
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Quantity
of calcar¬
eous mat¬
ter in dif¬
ferent
limestones
tions, for a great many years, to the exclusion of bent and
fog. In the case of Grubbet-hills, it was observed, that
more than thirty years have now elapsed. Besides this,
the dung of the animals pastured upon such land adds
every year to the luxuriance, and improves the quality of
the pasture, and augments the productive powers of the
soil when afterwards ploughed for grain ; thus producing,
upon a benty outfield soil, effects similar to what are ex¬
perienced when rich infield lands have been long in pas¬
ture, and which are thereby more and more enriched.
“ 4. That when a large quantity of lime is laid on such
land, and ploughed down deep, the same effects will not
be produced, whether in respect to the permanent fine¬
ness of the pasture, its gradual amelioration by the dung of
the animals depastured on it, or its fertility when after¬
wards in tillage. On the contrary, unless the surface is
fully mixed with lime, the coarse grasses will in a few
years regain possession of the soil, and the dung thereafter
deposited by cattle will not enrich the land for subsequent
tillage.
“ Lastly, It also appears from what has been stated,
that the four-shift husbandry is only proper for very rich
land, or in situations where there is a full command of
dung; that by far the greatest part of the land of this
country requires to be continued in grass two, three, four,
or more years, according to its natural poverty; that
the objection made to this, viz. that the coarse grasses in
a few years usurp possession of the soil, must be owing to
the surface soil not being sufficiently mixed with lime, the
lime having been covered too deep by the plough.” {Far¬
mers Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 69.)
Limestones differ much in purity, or in the quantity of
calcareous matter which they contain. According to Mr
Headrick {Farmers Magazine, vol. v. p. 451) it is usual¬
ly from 60 to 85 per cent.; but he afterwards analyzed
some limestones from the county of Fife, which contained
99^ per cent, of carbonate of lime, the residuum being fine
clay. Farmers generally estimate the purity of lime¬
stones by the quantity of slacked lime produced from a
given quantity of burnt limestone, or shells as it is usually
called, the pulverized lime of the best shells being three
times the measure of the shells. But it is easy to ascer¬
tain the quantity of calcareous matter in the stone itself,
by the use of muriatic acid; that stone being the best
which leaves the least sediment, the lime itself dissolving
in the acid.
3. Marls.
Marls.
4. Sea,-Weed.
ceive it, otherwise it may be mixed up with fresh dung, or
used as a top-dressing to grass-lands.
5. Bones and Horns.
Marl, which was more extensively employed as a
manure in former times than it has been of late, since the
properties of lime have been better understood, is usually
divided into stone, clay, and shell marl, of which the last
is the most valuable. All marls contain a portion of cal¬
careous matter, and their operation is not materially differ¬
ent from that of mild lime, as has been formerly noticed;
but the greater quantity required, owing to the smaller
proportion of calcareous matter which they contain, confines
the use of them to a few miles around the places where
they are found. The effects of marl are slower than those
of quicklime, but, from the earthy substances combined
with the calcareous matter, and the larger quantity usual¬
ly applied, the staple of the soil is deepened, and the bene¬
fit is considered more durable.
Sea-weed. This is an excellent manure, though not lasting in its
effects, suited to all soils and crops, with the exception
perhaps of clovers of the first year's growth. It should be
applied fresh as it is gathered, if the land be ready to re-
Bones are a source of manure too little attended to in Bi
most places, though their value is well ascertained by a
pretty extensive experience of their effects in several dis¬
tricts. The following particulars were transmitted from
Yorkshire, in answer to some queries proposed by the
writer of this article.
“ 1. It is thought that all the bones of every animal are
not equally valuable; but all the bones of an animal suit¬
able for manure are equally good, and are much better
when fresh.
“ 2. The bones which are best filled with oil and mar¬
row are certainly the best manure; and the parts gene¬
rally used for buttons and knife-hafts are the thigh and
shank-bones.
“ 3. The powdered bones are dearer, and generally used
for hot-beds in gardens, being too expensive for the field,
and not so durable a manure as bruised bones, though for
a short time more productive.
“ 4. A dry, light or gentle soil, is best adapted for the
use of bone manure, as it is supposed that, in land which
retains wet, the nutritive part of the bone washes to the
surface of it, and does not incorporate sufficiently with the
soil.
“ 5. The autumn is the most proper time for the use
of this manure, which should then be laid on fallows fora
turnip crop. The powder only should be used on a green
crop, as the bruised bones would interrupt the progress of
the scythe.
“ 6. The effects produced on different crops are gene¬
rally good on such soil as named in No. 4.
“ 7. Bruised bones are better when mixed with ashes
or any other manure, as the juice of the bones is then more
equally spread over the field.
“ 8. Bone manure ought to be ploughed into the land
in tillage. On grass, the powder should be sown in by
the hand.
“ 9. This manure is used on land before described, to
the extent of several thousand acres, in the higher parts
of Nottinghamshire, and the wolds (or high land) in Lin¬
colnshire, and the East and West Riding of Yorkshire.
“ 10. The primary object of keeping a bone mill is the
bruising of bones, which pays better, than selecting and
selling such as are suitable for buttons, &c.
“ 11. In an agricultural district, where the generality 5:
of the land is of the nature before mentioned as best suit-^1
ed for bone manure, a mill for the purpose of bruising
bones would certainly indemnify the proprietors. The
cost of a mill is from L.100 to L.200. As to the number
of miles the manure may be carried, the proprietors of
the mill will be best able to judge of that.” See Plate X.
The use of bones as a manure has been only recently in¬
troduced into Scotland; but the experiments, as far as
they have gone, are highly satisfactory, and the practice is
rapidly extending.
The following account of some of these experiments, I -
extracted from the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, is n
given by the gentleman who made them, Mr Watson of
Keillor, near Cupar-Angus, in a communication dated in
February 1828. Mr Watson obtained bone manure for
two acres in 1821, the greatest quantity recommended
being 25 bushels for the Scotish acre. “ This,” says he, “ 1
applied, the following turnip-sowing season, to two acres
of a field of sharp black land on this farm, and on two ad¬
joining acres of the same field I applied 25 cart-loads per
acre of well-made farm-yard dung. The season, at time
AGRICULTURE.
303
of sowing, was rather wet, and not very favourable for the
tur first growth of turnips. Those with bones came above
SV'J ground on the third day very dark coloured and broad in
the leaf, and by the tenth day they were all in the rough
blade. At this time I examined the state of the manure,
and found it one mass of maggots; but two days after
they were all dead; and the weather being now dry and
warm, the most rapid vegetation I ever remarked took
place; so that by the fifteenth day from time of sowing,
the turnips were fully strong for being thinned out. This
operation I had performed by women, pulling out the
spare plants with their hands (being afraid to remove any
part of the manure from the roots of the plants) ; but I
have since found that the common turnip-hoe, carefully
used, does the work very well, and leaves the manure un¬
disturbed.
“ The plants where the farm-yard dung was applied
did not come up till the fifth day, and the turnips were
twenty days sown before they were fit for being thinned.
By this time the bone turnips were meeting on the top
of the drill, and they continued to maintain the advantage
of their first start until the month of September, which
set in rather dry. At this time I anticipated that the
bones would be exhausted, and the crop stop growing;
but such was not the case, for while the dunged crop be¬
gan to fade and stop growing, the bone turnip kept grow¬
ing vigorously. About the middle of October, when I
considered both crops at maturity, I had a comparative
trial of their weight carefully made, the result of which
was six tons per acre in favour of the bones,—they being
28 tons per acre of Aberdeenshire yellow turnip, and the
farm-yard dung only 22 tons per acre.
“ From this experiment, and the valuable information I
had now obtained through my friend Mr Healy of Lough-
ton, in Lincolnshire, I was induced to extend the use of
bones on my farms, growing annually from 70 to 100 acres
of turnips with this manure, which gives me a great com¬
mand of dung for my other crops. In 1823 I erected
machinery for grinding bones, my neighbours having now
all become convinced of their great utility; and the first
season I sold to the amount of L.1500 worth. This last
season, not less than L.10,000 has been paid for bones
used in this district of Strathmore, in the counties of
Angus and Perth, a great part of which was commissioned
from Hull. There are now machines erected for grind¬
ing bones in various parts of the country; so that the ex¬
pense of inland carriage is in many cases much lessened.
“ The general practice is, to use bones on dry light
soils, where the turnip can be eat off the ground with
sheep, in such proportion (not less than one half) as may
he reckoned necessary to manure the ground for an after-
crop of oats or barley. The quantity of bone manure may
be varied from 15 to 25 bushels of dust per acre, accord¬
ing to the state of the land. Some difficulty was at first
ound in depositing the bones so that the plants might
reap all the benefit of it; but this is now obviated by the
application of two additional hoppers and spouts to the
turnip sowing machine, which conduct the manure and
seed into the drill at the same time, and with the same
expedition as sowing the seed by the old machine. These
>airows are made by most carpenters in the country, and
cost about L.8. ^ ^ •r’
Doubts have been raised whether the succeeding
erop of oats or barley is in any degree benefited by the
sum quantity of bones used in growing a crop of turnips.
..can confidently state, that on my farms both the quan-
y and quality, of my barley particularly, have been im>-
proved, and the grass for the first year is a fortnight ear-
ler m its growth than after other manures.
ture.
in the crop of 18;.5 the bone manure was a great Agricul-
blessing to the breeders and feeders of cattle in this dis¬
trict, and in some instances saved the industrious tenantv
from rum. The severe drought even of that season did
not prevent a crop of turnips with bones, while all other
manures failed; and it was thus the means of bringing
through that disastrous winter, herds of cattle which must
have otherwise perished for want of fodder.”
Horn, says Sir H. Davy, is a still more powerful
manure than bone, as it contains a larger quantity of de¬
composable animal matter. The shavings or turnings of
horn, though they cannot be procured in great abundance,
are much esteemed as a manure, and have been lono-
known to the farmers in the west of Scotland, who some^
times bring them from Ireland. They are sown by the
hand as a top-dressing for wheat and other crops.
6. Burnt Clay.
This is a mode of preparation which was introduced Burnt
into the west of Scotland some years ago from Ireland, by clay.
Mr Craig at Cally, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright.
That its effects have been beneficial in many cases can¬
not well be doubted, and it is still in use by some very
intelligent cultivators. But, as frequently happens, it was
recommended too warmly and in too unqualified a manner
by its earliest promoters; and experience in many in¬
stances not having confirmed their statements, it has of
late fallen into disrepute, and is now but little employed.
It will therefore be sufficient to refer to the Farmer s
Magazine, vol. xvi., where the practice is treated at some
length by those who first brought it into notice.
7. Miscellaneous Articles.
We shall now mention some of those numerous vege¬
table, animal, and other substances, which, though not in
general use as manures, are sometimes employed for that
purpose, in particular situations.
It had been long known that moss or peat, made up Meadow-
in compost with farm-yard dung, affords a valuable ma- bank ma¬
nure; but it was first introduced to general notice bynure.
the late Lord Meadowbank. The usual proportions may
be about two-thirds of moss and one-third of farm-yard
dung, spread out in layers, one above another, in form¬
ing the dung heap, but the bottom and top should be of
moss. This heap in a few days acquires a considerable
degree of heat, indicating the progress of the process
of fermentation. It is then turned over, and made up
again with or without a further addition of moss and
dung. When this corppost has been properly managed,
the whole heap forms a homogeneous mass, moist, black,
friable, and excellently adapted to turnips, and all other
crops that require rotted dung. No lime or other calcare¬
ous matter should be admitted into the compost.
The same object of increasing the quantity of manure
may be obtained by carting the moss to the farm-yard in
which cattle are kept, where, without any further trouble,
it will become mixed up with their litter and dung, and
be carted out to the fields in one mass.
Some very interesting and successful experiments have Experi-
been made with oil mixed up with farm-yard dung and meats with
moss, by Mr William Bell, on his estate in Roxburghshire. 0'1in com-
We have entire confidence in the accuracy of this gentle-P^'^1
man’s statements, and present them in his own words in a^u0^ant
recent communication to the Highland Society of Scotland.
“ The object in view in the experiment now to be de¬
tailed, was to procure the means of converting moss, or
other decayed vegetable substance, into a rich top-dress¬
ing, in a situation so far inland, that the expense of car¬
riage from the sea-coast (L.2. 5s. per ton) precluded the
304
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- use, with any expectation of profit, of blubber, bone, rape-
ture. dust, or other similar substances. Attention had been
y drawn to oil as a manure, by the practice of the Flemings,
in forming their liquid dung-pits, and by the fact that,
in the use of blubber and rape-cake for this purpose, the
benefits following their application are in the precise pro¬
portion of the inefficacy of the means employed for ex¬
pressing the oil from them. It was also conceived, that,
to a certain extent at least, the nutritious matter contain¬
ed in bone-dust may be traced to the oleaginous particles
of the bony substance.
“ It was resolved to commence with one ton of oil, and
such a proportion of moss as, in all probability, that quan¬
tity of oil could easily convert by heating, into a more
profitable substance.
“ It was further resolved, that the process of heating
should be aided by a certain quantity of stable-dung, and
that 250 cubic yards of moss to the ton of oil should, in
the first instance, be tried with 25 cubic yards of dung,,
though it was expected that a much greater quantity of
moss might be fully converted into manure by that quan¬
tity of oil and dung.
“ A ton of “ dreg,” or coarse whale-oil, therefore, cost¬
ing L.16, was purchased at Leith, and sent out at the cost
of L.2. 10s. In the beginning of June 1825, a bed was
formed a foot thick of moss, which had been thrown out
some time before, but which still retained all its peaty
qualities, and which, though still moist, yet having lain
in a heap for some months, was substantially freed of
much of its superfluous moisture.
“ Twenty-five cubic yards of good stable-dung were
then laid in a thick layer upon this bed; above which,
another layer of moss was laid, fully a foot thick. On
this second layer of moss the whole quantity of oil was
poured, and the residue of the moss was laid above all,
and along the sides, so as completely to cover the whole
well up.
“ In ten days the whole mass came freely into heat.
It was turned after an interval of about eight weeks,
when it was found to have been greatly changed in its
texture and quality. After having been so treated, it
heated freely again, and, on inspection, was found to
have been altogether altered. It had now all the appear¬
ance of the richest possible black garden-mould, and was
quite full of large, fat earth-worms. It gave out a strong
oily smell, from which it was inferred that too little moss
had been used; and some apprehension was entertained
as to its fitness for being applied to its primary destina¬
tion,—a top-dressing fqr grass-land.
“ The costs were as follows :—
Oil and carriage, L. 18 10 0
Twenty-five cubic yards stable-dung, at 5s.,
the usual price of the country, 6 5 0
L.24 15 0
“ No charge for casting the peat is made, both because
in this instance it was desirable to consume the substance
which had been thrown out of the ditches, and because
the compound lay contiguous to the ground on which it
was to be used, while the cost of casting and turning was
deemed equivalent to the carriage afield of the manure
that would have been required.
260 cubic yards compound, at Is. ll^d., about L.25 3 9
“ The farm-steward was of opinion that the produce
was so rich as safely to admit of its being used in equal
quantities with ordinary farm-dung. Two several por¬
tions of land, each of half an acre, were accordingly de¬
voted to a trial of its powers on that principle 4 the one,
rich old turnip soil, worth 40s. of rent per English acre ;
the other, new turnip land, which had never been broken J
up. These portions were laid off in the centre of the two
several fields, and the manure was applied to the turnip'-
crop in the usual way. The other parts of both fields
were dunged with farm-yard manure,—equal quantities
of it and of the compound being given to the acre. The
summer 1826 was not favourable to turnip-crops gene¬
rally ; but it so happened that the crops on both these
fields were very, great.
“ On the old land, the turnips grown with the oil com-
pound sprung earlier than on the rest of the field, grew
larger, and were more luxuriant, and very decidedly kept
the lead, both in root and shaw, during the whole season;
but absence from the spot prevented a minute register of
weight and measure being kept.
“ On the new land, no difference could be distinguished
betwixt the crop from the two several manures: both
were so good, that better could scarce have grown.
“ In the next crop (oats on both fields), though mi¬
nutely inspected, no difference in produce could be de¬
tected ; but the same causes prevented the circumstances
of the case being duly attended to.
“ This year both fields are in grass, and both will be
hayed. At present (30th June) no difference can be
detected.
“ No inconvenience from the oily smell was felt when
the residue of the compost was applied to grass-land. It
was laid on early, and the ground was hayed. It was
given to the meadows last improved, and therefore the
least advanced; while rush-root compound, and other
substances, were given to the older portions. The crop
on each was very great; but the preference was rather
given to the oil.
“ These results were so far encouraging, that next
year, 1826, two tons of oil were purchased at the price of
L. 14 per ton, and used with rather less than 90 cubic
yards of manure, and fully 900 of moss. About 550 cu¬
bic yards were used in the first instance, in the same man¬
ner as on the former occasion, and the residue of 350
thrown in when the compound was turned. It is now be¬
lieved, however, that it would have been better to have
made up the whole at once, by adding to the thickness
of the several layers of moss, especially the centre one.
“ The cost on this occasion was as follows:—
Oil, two tons, and carriage, L.33 0 0
90 cubic yards manure, at 5s. per yard, 22 10 0
990 cubic yards compound, at Is. Ifd., about...56 13 9
“ The result again was very satisfactory; the moss
heated fully the first time, and freely the second, not¬
withstanding the error committed,—the result of which
was apparently to check the second fermentation a little,
and to leave lumps here and there not quite decomposed.
But the whole has been substantially and effectually
changed, and confirms, in every respect, the result of tne
former experiment.
“ On both occasions, moss thrown out at the same time
remained altogether unchanged : while the one was luxu¬
riantly covered with vegetable growth, the other contin¬
ued a sterile heap.
“ This year, five tons of oil have been bought at L.9 per
ton, and carriage 40s LJ>5 0
On the same principle as before, the dung will
cost, for 225 cubic yards, at 5s 56 5
To be used with 2250 cubic yards of moss,....Ill 5
2475 cubic yards produce, at 10|d., about...110 ^ ^
“ The effect of these operations is probably twofo (•
In the first place, the oil, thus divided, may be renderei
a fit element for the nutrition of plants; and, in the se¬
cond place, unquestionably much benefit is secured by die
AGRICULTURE.
a , ,1- change effected on the substance of the peaty matter,
fu • Fullyb the larger share of benefit is ascribed to this cir-
v^ ^cumstance ; but, at the same time, it is very probable that
it may be found by experiment that oil may with great
advantage be used with every other species of manure,
or even with compounds of purely earthy ingredients.”
Manure, in a liquid state, is used to a considerable ex¬
tent in Flanders, where the utmost attention is paid to
the collecting of every substance that can serve to enrich
the soil. This consists of urine in which rape-cake has
been dissolved, the former being collected in subterra¬
neous drains of brick-work, from which it is raised by a
temporary pump, and delivered into carts for being car¬
ried to the field, where it is spread by means of hollow
shovels or scoops. This is the manure almost universally
used for the flax crop, to which it is applied at the rate of
about 2500 gallons English beer measure the acre.
Sait.. Salt has been warmly recommended within these few
years as a valuable manure, and at the same time for its
property in destroying weeds. The recent repeal of the
duties on salt has rendered this substance accessible to
farmers in every part of the country; and it has been
subjected to a variety of experiments. These, as might
be expected, have not always given the same results ; but
the best attested experiments do not seem to have been
attended with such success as to justify the encomiums
that were at one time lavished upon this substance; and
the general impression among farmers is, that it is of
little or no value whatever as a manure. We are aware
that a difference of opinion still exists on this point; but
such is the opinion we have come to, on what we conceive
to be the best authorities.
Of the substances of vegetable or animal origin occa¬
sionally or locally applied in this way, the number is very
Sum nt great. All green succulent plants add to the fertility of
plant soii when ploughed into it; and it is by no means uncom¬
mon to cultivate buck-wheat and other plants expressly
for this purpose. Thistles, docks, and other noxious weeds,
which at any rate should be always cut down before form¬
ing their seeds, may be advantageously used as manure,
and are sometimes mixed with farm-yard dung when laid
llapc.ke.out f° ferment, in the manner already described. Rape-
cake is an excellent dressing for turnips, and is most eco¬
nomically applied when thrown into the soil at the same
’s time with the seed.1 By covering dead animals with five
d 1 1 or six times their bulk of soil, mixed with one part of
lime, and suffering them to remain for a few months, their
decomposition impregnates the soil with soluble matters,
so as to render the mass an excellent manure; and by
mixing a little fresh quicklime with it at the time of its
p removal, the disagreeable effluvia may be in a great mea¬
sure destroyed.2 3 Fish are well known to be a powerful ma¬
nure, though the quantity should be limited. A full crop
of turnips has been got from spoiled herrings laid on before
Clu1! ^le w‘nter ploughing, at the rate of twenty-five barrels to
an acre.0 Blubber has been used with great success by
Eord Somerville, mixed with clay, sand, or any common
sod, so as to expose a large surface to the air ;4 but it has
been found injurious in some instances,5 probably owing to
•ts having been applied too largely, as has happened in the
case of fish, or from not having been combined with a suf¬
ficient quantity of soil. The refuse of the different manu- Agricul-
factures of skin and leather affords very useful manures, ture.
such as the shavings of the currier, furriers’ clippings, and
the offals of the tan-yard and of the glue-maker. The value Curr.iers’
of urine is well known. According to Sir H. Davy, it^lavings’
should be used as fresh as possible, but not without being Urine,
diluted with water. Night-soil is a most powerful manure. Night-soil.
The disagreeable smell may be destroyed by mixing it
with quicklime. The Chinese mix it with one-third of its
weight of fat marl, make it into cakes, which are said to
be a common article of commerce, and dry it by exposure
to the sun.6 Next to this, in its fertilizing powers, is
pigeons' dung, commonly used in a dry state as a top- Pigeons’
dressing, at the rate of about twenty bushels to an acre.7 dung.
Manures of a mineral or fossil origin are also numerous. Lime-
Limestone gravel, which abounds in Ireland, chalk, pound- stone
ed limestone, sea-shells, and shelly sand, are all employed, gravel, &c.
some of them to a considerable extent, in much the same
manner as lime; but their effect, though durable, is not
so immediate. Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, is found in Gypsum,
several parts of England, but its value as a manure does
not yet appear to be clearly determined. It does not seem
to operate by accelerating putrefaction,8 but it is sup¬
posed that lands which have ceased to bear good crops of
clover or cultivated grasses may be restored by being
manured with gypsum, as it is found in considerable
quantities in their ashes.9 Soot is known to be a useful Soot,
top-dressing, either by itself or when mixed with earth
and lime, in the proportion of one part soot, five parts
earth, and one part lime ;10 but its effects are not lasting.
Sleech or sea-ooze, .containing animal and vegetable sub- Sleech.
stances, with a large proportion of calcareous matter,
affords a valuable dressing, increasing the staple of the
soil to which it is applied, as well as its fertility. Pond Mud.
and river-mud, mixed with lime, has been often applied
with good effect. Even coal-sill or schistus has been used Schistus.
with much advantage by Mr Curwen and others, after
being decomposed with lime, in the proportion of one part
of the latter to six of the former.11
The great quantity of valuable manure obtained from Town
large towns is a mixture of almost all these ingredients ;
and what was formerly a nuisance is now a source of re¬
venue to the inhabitants, and of fertility to the country
around them.
In several districts land is manured on the surface, by Folding,
cattle and sheep confined in temporary folds. See the
chapter on Live Stock, where the benefits of this practice
will be inquired into. Its expediency is a question that can¬
not be determined without a reference to its effects on the
animals themselves, as well as to the value of the manure.
Sect. IX. Warping.
This is a mode of fertilizing lands, by depositing a coat Warping,
of alluvial matter on their surface, and is practised on the
borders of large rivers and estuaries into which the tides
flow. It is said to have been first tried on the banks of
the Humber about a century ago, but was first brought
into notice by Marshall in 1788, and afterwards by the
Report of the West Riding of Yorkshire. A similar praC“
tice has been long known in Italy.
1 Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 281.
2 Ibul. p. 288.
3 Ibid, and General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 527-
4 Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 289.
s Farmer's Magazine, vol. xvi.
Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 298.
VOL. ii.
7 Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 299, and General Repoit
of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 545.
8 Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 331.
a Ibid. p. 332, 333.
I 0 Ibid. p. 341, and General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 543.
II Farmer's Magazine, vol. xiv. p. 28G.
2 Q
306
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- The waters of the tides that come up the Trent, the
ture. Ouse, the Don, and other rivers which empty themselves
into the great estuary of the Humber, are so loaded with
mud, that if a cylindrical glass twelve or fifteen inches
long be filled with them, there will presently be deposit¬
ed an inch or sometimes more of what is called warp.
But where this matter comes from has been the subject
of dispute; for the water of the Humber at its mouth is
clear, and in the very driest seasons the warp is most
plentiful. The improvement consists in nothing t more
than letting in the tide at high water, to deposit the warp,
and permitting it to run off again as the tide falls.
The effect of this practice is to cover the surface with
a new soil, which may be raised in the course of one sum¬
mer from 6 to 16 inches, so that it is immaterial what
may be the nature of the original soil; and the whole sur¬
face is left quite level, whatever hollows there may have
been before being now filled up.
The operation begins usually in the month of July,
and proceeds during the rest of the summer season. The
expense is said not to exceed L.12 or L.15 the acre; and
land has been known to rise in value by warping from
L.5 to L.40 or L.50 per acre. This new soil is so rich
that it will carry very large crops for several years after¬
wards without any manure; but it should be sown with
clover, and left in that state for two years, before it is
opened for corn: it will then bear any sort of crop suited
to the quality of the soil. In this respect there is a con¬
siderable difference even upon the same field, the warp in
some places being a strong loam, and in others light and
friable. For a more particular description of this process,
the reader is referred to the Agricultural Survey of the
West Riding of Yorkshire.
The Italian practice referred to is thus described by
an intelligent tourist:—
Colmata. “ In the Val di Chiana, fields that are too low are raised
and fertilized by the process called Colmata, which is
done in the following manner. The field is surrounded
by an embankment to confine the water. The dyke of
the rivulet is broken down so as to admit the muddy
water of the high floods. The Chiana itself is too power¬
ful a body of water to be used for this purpose ; it is only
the streams that flow into the Chiana that are used. This
water is allowed to settle and deposit its mud upon the
field. The water is then let off into the river at the lower
end of the field, by a discharging course called scolo,
and in French, canal d'ecoulement. The water-course
which conducts the water from a river, either to a field
for irrigation or to a mill, is called gara. In this manner
a field will be raised five and a half, and sometimes seven
and a half feet in ten years. If the dyke is broken down
to the bottom, the field will be raised the same height in
seven years; but then in this case gravel is also carried
in along with the mud. In a field of 25 acres, which had
been six years under the process of Colmata, in which the
dyke was broken down to within three feet of the bottom,
the process was seen to be so far advanced, that only an¬
other year was requisite for its completion. The floods
in this instance had been much charged with soil. The
water which comes off cultivated land completes the pro¬
cess sooner than that which comes off hill and woodland.
Almost the whole of the Val di Chiana has been raised
by the process of Colmata.” {Journey in Carniola, Italy,
and France; by W. A. Cadell, Esq. F. R. S.)
Sect. X. Farm Drains.
Farm Though we propose to treat of the important subject of
drains. drainage in a separate article, yet it seems proper here to
notice such drains as are usually executed by farmers t cu|
themselves, without the assistance of a professional man. rV
These may be divided into such as are best suited to soilsM "V
rather loose and incohesive, and such as are best adapted
to alluvial clays or soils of a uniform and close texture.
With regard to the first sort of drains, the practice istoOi ^
cut them in such a situation as to catch the spring beforesoi
it oozes out of the subsoil and spreads itself over the sur¬
face. In common language, the line of the drain com¬
mences between the “ wet and the dry,” and is of such a
depth as may be necessary to get down to the porous or
sandy subsoil from which the spring emerges. In gene¬
ral from two and a half feet to three and a half feet may
be a sufficient depth ; and where the spring is not found
at the latter depth, tapping or boring may be resorted to.
These drains are cut about the breadth of the spade at
bottom, and opened no wider at the surface than is ne¬
cessary to give room to the labourer to work, which may
be usually from fifteen to eighteen inches. The best ma¬
terial for filling them up with is small round stones, which
are usually to be got from the surface of the land itself;
but a variety of other materials are occasionally employ¬
ed, such as furze, broom, and even straw, in situations
where stones cannot be readily procured. If there be
reason to expect a constant current of water in the bot¬
tom of the drain, some care must be taken in laying the
stones at the bottom, by forming a sort of arch, or by
building up either side a few inches, and laying flat stones
as a coping above, leaving a clear space for the stream
below. But in most cases it is sufficient to select small
round stones for the bottom, which are thrown in promis¬
cuously, the interstices, as in the case of gravel, allowing
the water to percolate freely through them. When the
drain has been filled up to within ten or twelve inches of
the surface, the stones are covered with turf or sod, the
grassy side undermost, and then the earth that had come
out of the drain is thrown above until it comes to the level
of the surface. It is obvious, that to insure the free
working of these drains, they must never be disturbed by
the plough, and therefore the covering of earth should be
always somewhat deeper than the plough works.
On alluvial or clayey soils not infested w ith springs, theO: ay
evil is necessarily somewhat different, and requires a dif-so
ferent remedy. Here the soil is of itself tenacious of
moisture, and does not allow the rain water to pass freely
through it. On such soils it may be thought that covered
drains can be of little use; but long experience has proved
their efficacy, and the practice has within these few
years been introduced into Scotland from Essex and
other parts of England. It is thus described in a com¬
munication to the Highland Society of Scotland, and our
own observation can bear witness to the writer’s accuracy.
“ The work is performed by means of three spades of J |e
different sizes. The first may be a common spade of mo-11
derate breadth, with which the surface-clay may be taken
off to the depth of eight or ten inches, or not quite so
much if the clay be very strong. The breadth of the
drain at top may be from a foot to fifteen inches, but it
should never be less than a foot, as it is an advantage
that the sides should have a considerable slope,—and the
two sides should slope as equally as possible. Another
workman follows the first, with a spade six inches broad
at the top, and becoming narrower towards the point,
where it should not exceed four inches. The length of
the plate of this second spade should be fourteen inches,
and with it a foot or fourteen inches in depth can easily
be gained. A third workman, and he should be the most
expert, succeeds the second, and his spade should be foui
inches broad at the top, only two inches broad at the point,
AGRICULTURE,
■ul- and fourteen or fifteen inches in length. With this spade a
13. good workman can take out at least fifteen inches of clay.
sort of hoe or scoop, made of a plate of iron formed
nearly into the shape of a half-cylinder, of two inches dia¬
meter and a foot or fourteen inches long, and fastened at an
acute angle of perhaps 70° to a long wooden handle, is now
employed to scrape out the bottom of the drain, and re¬
move any small pieces of clay that may have fallen into it.
“ This completes the cutting of what is by the workmen
called a three stamp drain. Where circumstances may
render it necessary, they may be made of four, five, or
more stamps. I would in no case, unless perhaps where
the land is to remain permanently in sheep-pasture, and
is free from moles, recommend their being made less than
three feet deep; and I am inclined to think, that where
levels will admit of it, it would almost always be more
advantageous that the depth should be four feet. Where
the field is in summer fallow at the time, six inches of
depth can generally be gained by gathering the ridges
pretty high, and taking as deep a water-furrow as pos¬
sible, with a wide-set plough. Three stamps or spits
taken from the bottom of this water-furrow will give a
depth of at least three feet and a half when the ridges
are reduced to the proper shape, which is easily done in
the course of the subsequent ploughings. In all cases I
think it best to put a drain in every furrow, though some
people put only one in every second furrow.”
In filling these drains, turf matted with the roots of
coarse grasses is considered the best material, though
where this cannot be got, other articles, such as wood, peat,
clay, and even straw, have been found to answer. “ The
turfs should be cut into an oblong shape, about four inches
and a half broad (some make them narrower a little at
the grassy side than at the other, but this is not very easily
done, and I believe not very material), and from three to
five inches thick. They are generally made about fourteen
inches long. The grassy side of the turf being turned
undermost, they are put down into the drain, the work¬
man standing upon them after they are put in, and press¬
ing them down with his whole weight till they are firmly
wedged between the sloping sides of the drain. The ends
of the turfs being cut somewhat obliquely, they overlap
each other a little; and by this means, although there is
sufficient opening for the surface-water to get down, no¬
thing else can. The open space below the turf ought to
be about five or six inches in depth, three inches wide at
top, and one and a half or two inches at bottom. Some
people prefer making the turf a little broader, and by that
means leaving a larger space below, from the idea that it
will be less likely to choke; but when the open space is
much larger, the sides of the drain below the turf are
probably more apt to give way for want of support.
4 The operation may now be completed by turning in
as much earth, either with the spade or the plough, as to
up the drain to the proper level.”—“ I must remark,
tha,t the improvement has always appeared to me more
striking in the first two or three crops than afterwards;
and the reason, I apprehend, is, that although the drains
remain perfectly clear, the clay above them becoming
gradually more compact, the surface-water does not get
down into them - • ” ~ - ■ -• ’
307
first.
so quickly after a few years as it did at
p he price I now pay for cutting wedge-drains three
eet deep, including the cutting of the turf and putting it
> is 4d. per rood of 20 lineal feet; and I am at the ex¬
pense of carrying the turf from the place where it is cut,
aymg it down close to the drains in a regular line, so
a tie person employed by the contractor in putting it
can easily reach it without coming out of the drain.
“ The expense of draining per acre must, it is obvious, Agricul-
depend on the breadth of the ridges. Where these are of ture.
fifteen feet, the most common breadth in our carses itVw^v-Nk-
will cost about L.2. 17s. per acre ; but in wedge-drained
land, I think the ridges may be advantageously made
eighteen or twenty feet broad, which will of course be at¬
tended with a proportionate reduction of the expense of
draining.” {Prize Essays and Transactions of the High¬
land Society of Scotland, vol. vi.)
With respect to currents of water so considerable as
not to admit of covered drains, the drains must of course
be left open; but in this case it may usually be practicable
to carry the water, by means of covered drains, into the
fence-ditches, instead of leaving them open in the middle
of the field. It has been already observed that a ditch
forms a part of the fence, wherever the white thorn or
other live hedges are employed for that purpose.
CHAP. II.
OF LAND UNDER PERENNIAL HERBAGE,
AND IN A STATE OF NATURE.
There are few tracts of any extent throughout Great Natural
Britain, if we except the shifting sands on some parts ofherbage.
the coast, that do not bear plants of one kind or other;
and having treated, in the preceding chapter, of crops
raised by the labours of agriculture, it remains to consider
those parts of our territory which nature has clothed with
plants, the spontaneous products of soil and climate, and
to mention the purposes to which these tracts are applied,
and the improvements of which they are susceptible.
In the earlier stages of society, the cerealia used for the
food of man necessarily obtain the principal attention of
the cultivator. Little or no labour is required to provide
food for the few animals whose assistance he needs in his
rude operations; and herds and flocks, which propagate
around him without his care, find the means of subsistence
in those extensive wilds on which his feeble exertions
have not yet materially encroached. Though he is chiefly
indebted to these animals, at this period, both for his food
and clothing, agriculture must have made considerable
progress before he attempts to supply their occasional
wants by improving their pastures or cultivating plants
expressly for their maintenance. Until the middle of the
seventeenth century, neither roots nor herbage were cul¬
tivated for live stock in England, nor in Scotland till about
a hundred years after. The only provision for their sub¬
sistence, during the long winters of our latitude, was na¬
tural herbage in the state of hay, commonly the produce
of some marshy or humid soils, along with the straw of
corn; and during summer, the natural pastures, too ge¬
nerally occupied in common, were thought to require and
to admit of little or no improvement.
It is not till the increase of population, and the exten- Progress
sion of tillage to supply its wants, that, in consequence of towards
successive encroachments on the range of the inferior cultivated
animals, it becomes necessary at last to allot a part of the croPs'
cultivated land itself for raising their food. In most coun¬
tries of Europe it is not found profitable, even at this day,
to cultivate herbage and roots to any extent for {feeding
cattle; and the same course of successive crops of corn,
with which the earliest agriculturists everywhere began
their labours, still prevails almost universally in the north
of Europe; not because all the land is required for pro¬
ducing grain, but, on the contrary, because the demand
of the population for grain is so limited, compared with the
extent of the country, as to leave the far greater part in
the possession of the inferior animals, which in this case
308
AGRICULTURE.
can be brought to market at a much lower price than
would replace the charges of feeding them on crops rais¬
ed by means of aration.
Other causes than the scantiness of population have
produced a similar effect, though in a much smaller de¬
gree, in Great Britain; and by far the larger part of our
territory also is still appropriated to the maintenance of
live stock. A great portion of it, indeed, is incapable of
being cultivated with any advantage ; but meadows, pas¬
tures, and wastes, are spread over extensive tracts, that
would yield cultivated crops in abundance, both for man
and the inferior animals. Before concluding this article, we
shall have occasion to notice what seem to be the causes
of this state of things; but it is unquestionable that, in
the present circumstances of the country, a great deal of
the most fertile land is employed more profitably for its
owners and occupiers, under perennial herbage, than it
could be under our most approved courses of tillage. In
what respect the interest of the nation is concerned in
this arrangement, this is not the place to inquire.
To give a concise view of the agricultural state of the
land in Britain not subjected to aration, we shall offer
some observations on Meadows, on Natural Pastures, and
on Wastes, in separate sections.
Sect. I. Meadows.
By meadows, we understand all such land as is kept
under grass chiefly for the sake of a hay crop, though oc¬
casionally, and at particular seasons of the year, it may be
depastured by the domesticated animals ; and we usually
include under this term the notion of a greater degree of
moisture in the soil, than would be thought desirable
either for permanent pasture or lands in tillage. Where
hay is in great demand, as near large towns, and espe¬
cially if a good system of cropping be but little under¬
stood, a great deal of arable land, indeed, may be seen
appropriated to hay crops ; but the most valuable meadows
are such as are either naturally rather moist, or rendered
so by means of irrigation.
Very little As the alternate and convertible systems of husbandry,
meadow in before explained, prevail throughout all the lowlands of
Scotland. Scotland, there is little land that deserves the name
of meadow; though it is sometimes applied to marshy
spots, not worth improving for tillage, which yield a
quantity of coarse herbage to be made into hay, and are
called bog meadows. The only natural hay grounds of
much value in Scotland are to be found in the sheep-walks
of the southern counties, where one or two small inclo¬
sures near the farmer’s or shepherd’s dwelling-house are
commonly reserved for producing hay to feed the flocks
during a deep snow ; and as there is seldom much land in
tillage in such places, the manure made from a few horses
and cows is sometimes spread on the surface of these
fields, though by no means according to any regular plan.
To a very small extent, watered meadows have been tried
in Scotland; but, from a general conviction of the superior
advantages of cultivating herbage and roots on all soils
that can be made to produce them, and probably also
owing to the less fertilizing qualities of the waters, even
meadows of this kind are not likely ever to become of ge¬
neral importance there. The remarks which we mean to
offer on this subject must therefore be understood as ap¬
plicable to the practice of England only.
Plants. The indigenous plants of which meadow-grass consists
necessarily vary with the qualities of the soil. The most
Agricul¬
ture.
Greater
part of
Britain
still allot¬
ted to live
stock.
Meadows.
valuable are, the sweet-smelling vernal-grass (Anthoxm. a
ihum odoratum); perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) ■
foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis); common meadow-grass^
(Poa trivialis and Poa pratensis) ; and soft meadow-grass
(Holcus lanatus). The poas compose the greater part of
the celebrated Orcheston meadows near Salisbury, and of
the no less productive meadows near Edinburgh.
The period at which stock is excluded from meadows, Ti
in order that the grasses may rise for a hay crop, is dif-sh
ferent, according to the nature of the soil in regard touP
humidity, and the kind of stock with which the land isdm
depastured. In some instances the cattle are removed in
November, while the sheep are continued on the ground
till February. {Middlesex Report, p. 224.) In other places
the meadows are open to all kinds of stock from August
to April {Id. p. 219), and to sheep even till May. {Lin¬
colnshire Report, p. 196.)
In the judicious management of meadow lands, atten-M
tion must be paid to prevent the stagnation of water andm<
the growth of aquatic plants, and to extirpate fern, docks,
thistles, and other weeds. Moss, in particular, often es¬
tablishes itself on such lands, to the great injury of the
valuable grasses, and can with difficulty be removed, even
by the application of calcareous manures. Ant and mole¬
hills also abound in meadows, and are too often so much
neglected as to render a large portion of the surface near¬
ly unproductive. And in these, as in all other hay grounds,
the preparatory operations for the scythe should always
conclude with the use of a heavy roller.
The most important particulars in the management of
meadow lands are, their improvement by irrigation, and
by the application of manure. Of Irrigation we shall
treat in a separate article.
With regard to the time at which manure should be
applied, a great difference of opinion prevails among the
farmers in England. In the county of Middlesex, where
almost all the grass-lands are preserved for hay, the ma¬
nure is invariably laid on in October {Middlesex Report,
p. 224), while the land is sufficiently dry to bear the driv¬
ing of loaded carts w ithout injury, and when the heat of
the day is so moderated as not to exhale the volatile parts
of the dung. Others prefer applying it immediately after
the hay-time, from about the middle of July to the end of
August, which is said to be the “ good old time1 and
if that season be inconvenient, any time from the begin¬
ning of February to the beginning of April.2 It is, how¬
ever, too common a practice to carry out the manure
during frosty weather, when, though the ground is not
cut up by the carts, the fertilizing parts of the dung are
dissipated and washed away by the snow and rains before
they can penetrate the soil.
“ There is scarcely any sort of manure that will not be
useful when laid on the surface of grass-lands; but in ge¬
neral those of the more rich dung kinds will be the most
suitable for the older sorts of sward-land, and dung in
composition with fresh vegetable earthy substances the
more useful in the new lays or grass-lands.”—“ In this
district it is the practice of the best farmers to prefer the
richest dung they can procure, and seldom to mix it with
any sort of earthy material, as they find it to answer the
best in regard to the quantity of produce, which is the
principal object in view ; the cultivators depending chief¬
ly on the sale of their hay in the London markets.”—“ h
is the practice to turn over the dung that is brought from
London in a tolerable state of rottenness, once chopping
it well down in the operation, so as to be in a middling
ml.
v.
of
a-
1 Com. to Board of Agriculture, vol. iv. p. 138.
2 Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 915*
AGRICULTURE.
1_ state of fineness when put upon the land. It is necessary,
t e. however, that it should be in a more rotten and reduced
state when applied in the spring, than when the autumn
is chosen for that purpose.” (Dickson’s Practical Agricul¬
ture, vol. ii. p* 915.)
Kxfi- Some very interesting experiments have been made
men wjth different kinds of •’manure, for the purpose of ascer¬
taining their effects, both in regard to the quantity and qua¬
lity of the produce on different kinds of land. Fourteen lots,
of half an acre of eight yards to the rod each, were thus
manured, and the grass was made into hay, all as nearly
alike as possible. The greatest weight of hay was taken
from the lot manured with horse, cow, and butchers’
dung, all mixed together, of each about an equal quantity.
It lay in that state about two months, and was then turn¬
ed over and allowed to lie eight or ten days more, after
which it was put on the land before it had done ferment¬
ing, and spread immediately. And to ascertain the qua¬
lity of the produce of the different lots, a small handful
from each was laid down on a dry, clean place, where
there was little or no grass, and six horses were turned
out to them, one after another. In selecting the lots,
there seems to have been little difference of taste among
the horses; and all of them agreed in rejecting two lots,
one of which had been manured with blubber mixed with
soil, and the other with soot,—in both instances laid on
in the month of April preceding. {Lancashire Report,
p. 130, et seq.)
“ The proportion of manure that is necessary must in
a great measure depend upon the circumstances of the
land, and the facility of procuring it. In this district
(near London), where the manure is of a very good and
enriching quality, from its being produced in stables and
other places where animals are highly fed, the quantity
is usually from four or five to six or seven loads on the
acre, such as are drawn by three or four horses in their
return from town on taking up the hay.” (Dickson’s
Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 916.)
Manure is laid on at intervals of time, more or less dis¬
tant, according to the same circumstances that determine
the quantity of it. Though there are some instances of
hay-grounds bearing fair crops every year during a length
of years without any manure, or any advantage from pas¬
turage, except what the after-grass has afforded,1 yet
in general manure must either be allowed every third or
fourth year, or the land depastured one year and mown
die other; “ or, what is better, depastured two years and
mown the third.” {Noi'thumberland Report, p. 111.) A
succession of hay crops, without manure or pasturage, on
meadows not irrigated, is justly condemned by all judi-
cious farmers, as a sure means of impoverishing the soil.
mode of converting this herbage into hay, being
somewhat different from that which has been described
in regard to clovers and ryegrass, requires to be mention¬
ed here. The farmers of Middlesex, who supply the me¬
tropolis with hay, are understood to manage this depart¬
ment of rural economy in a very perfect manner; and a
particular account of their practice is given in the Report
oy Middleton, to which we refer.
“ In the course of hay-making,” says this writer, “ the
"•ass should, as much as possible, be protected both day
and night against rain and dew, by cocking. Care should
a so be taken to proportion the number of hay-makers to
mt of the mowers, so that there may not be more grass
d fi any ^me ^ian oan be managed according to
le tlescribed process. This proportion is about twenty
hay-makers (of which number twelve may be women) to Amicul
four mowers : the latter are sometimes taken half a day ture.
to assist the former. But in hot, windy, or very drying
weather, a greater proportion of hay-makers will be re¬
quired than when the weather is cloudy and cool.
“ If ^ particularly necessary to guard against spreading
more hay than the number of hands can get into cock
the same day, or before rain. In showery and uncertain
weather the grass may sometimes be suffered to lie three,
four, or even five days in swath. But before it has lain
long enough for the under side of the swath to become
yellow (which if suffered to lie long would be the case),
particular care should be taken to turn the swaths with
the heads of the rakes. In this state it will cure so much
in about two days as only to require being tedded a few
hours, when the weather is fine, previous to its being put
together and carried. In this manner hay may be made
and stacked at a small expense and of a good colour,
but the tops and bottoms of the grass are insufficiently
separated by it.
“ There are no hay-stacks more neatly formed, or
better secured, than those of Middlesex. At every va¬
cant time, while the stack is carrying up, the men are
employed in pulling it with their hands into a proper
shape; and about a week after it is finished, the whole of
it is properly thatched, and then secured from receiving
any damage from the wind, by means of a straw-rope ex¬
tended along the eaves, up the ends, and near the ridge.
The ends of the thatch are afterwards cut evenly below
the eves of the stack, just of sufficient length for the rain¬
water to drip quite clear of the hay. When the stack
happens to be placed in a situation which may be suspect¬
ed of being too damp in the wunter, a trench of about six
or eight inches deep is dug round, and nearly close to it,
which serves to convey all the water from the spot, and
renders it perfectly dry and secure.” {Middlesex Report,
p. 238-241.)
When the grass has risen again after the hay crop, it is After-
usually depastured, as has been already mentioned when grass,
treating of clovers: to mow a second time is considered
a bad practice among the best hay farmers. {Middlesex
Report, p. 249.) But it is the usage of some to leave the
after-grass on the ground without being eaten till spring,
when it is said to be preferable, for ewes and lambs, to
turnips, cabbages, or any other species whatever of what
is termed spring-feed. This mode of management, which
is strongly recommended by Mr Young, and in some
cases by Mr Marshall also, is unknown in the north, where,
though it is in many cases found beneficial, with a view to
an early spring growth, not to eat the pastures too close
before winter, it would be attended with a much greater
loss of herbage than any advantage in spring could com¬
pensate, to leave the after-growth of mown grounds un¬
touched till that season. There has never been found any
deficiency of milk with ewes that are tolerably well sup¬
plied with turnips a little before and after they drop their
lambs.
The weight of the hay produced on meadows well ma¬
naged, being on an average about one ton and a half per
acre, holds out little encouragement to retain good arable
land in this condition ; and, unless near London and a few
other large towns, pasturage would probably give a much
more valuable return. In Lincolnshire, where there are
some of the richest grazing lands in England, it is ob¬
served that all lands that will feed cattle should be mown
as little as possible ; and nothing pays worse there than the
1 Marshall’s Review of Reports to the Board of Agriculture, p. 183, Western Department.
310
AGRICULTURE.
Aericul- scythe: “ it costs as much labour as a crop of corn, and respecting the management of this kind of land, on which
ture. more than in many counties, and is not of half the value, some difference of opinion does not prevail. Hie time of
' (Lincolnshire Report, p. 195.) stocking,—the number of the animals, and whether theyS
v l y oil nr nt nitrnmnt  tho ovfov^ «
icul.
re.
Sect. II. Pastures.
Ferma- We have already mentioned, in the preceding chapter,
nent pas- that pasturage for one, two, or more years, is frequently
tures. interposed in the course of cropping arable land, to pre¬
vent that exhaustion of the soil which is commonly the
consequence of incessant tillage crops. The pasture lands
to be treated of here are, therefore, such as are retained
permanently, or at least for an indefinite period, in this
state, merely for the sake of the herbage they yield, and
without any particular view to the amelioration of the
lands for bearing crops of grain. In this general ap¬
plication of the word, permanent pastures include not only
such land as might be cultivated by the plough, but also
all those uplands to which tillage operations could not be
extended with any prospect of remuneration, such as the
far greater part of the hilly and mountainous sheep grounds
throughout this kingdom. The nature of these pastures
is, however, so different, and the expediency of retaining
arable land in permanent pasture has been so keenly dis¬
cussed, that it will be proper to notice the two descrip¬
tions separately, under the general though not quite ac¬
curate appellations of feeding and hilly pastures. Under
the former we may comprehend all old rich pastures that
are capable of fattening cattle; and under the second,
such as are adapted to rearing them only, or are more
advantageously depastured by sheep.
1. Feeding-Pastures.
Feeding- Of these thei*e is a great extent in most of the counties of
pastures. England, but very few in Scotland, except near the houses
of great proprietors; and much useless controversy has
been carried on between the farmers of the two countries,
about the comparative advantages of preserving such pas¬
tures, or of bringing them under a regular system of alter¬
nate or convertible husbandry. That much of this land
in the south would be more productive, both to the pro¬
prietor and occupier, under a good course of cropping
than under pasture, it is impossible to deny; but it is no
less certain, that there are large tracts of rich grazing
land, which, in the present state of the demand for the
produce of grass-lands, and of the law of England with
regard to tithes, cannot be employed more profitably for
the parties concerned than in pasture. The interest which
the Board of Agriculture has taken in this question, with
a view to an abundant supply of corn for the wants of
a rapidly increasing population, seems, therefore, not to
have been well directed. Instead of devoting a large por¬
tion of their volumes to the instruction of farmers re¬
garding the best method of bringing grass-lands into til¬
lage, and restoring them again to meadow or pasture
without deterioration, the first thing required was to at¬
tempt removing the almost insuperable obstruction of
tithes, by proposing to the legislature an equitable plan
of commutation. If some beneficial arrangement were
adopted on this head, there is no reason to doubt that in¬
dividual interest would soon operate thewished-for change;
and that all grass-lands capable of yielding more rent and
profit under tillage than under pasture would be subject¬
ed to the plough as fast as the demands of the population
might require.
Different Except in regard to those necessary operations that
opinions as have been already noticed under the former section,—
inera na”e"suc^ as ^le exl’rPat*on °f weeds and noxious shrubs,
clearing away ant and mole-hills, &c.—there are few points
the inclosures,—and the propriety of eating the herbage
close, or leaving it always in a rather abundant state,-—are
all of them questions which it is- scarcely possible to de¬
cide in a satisfactory manner by the application of gene¬
ral rules. They can only be resolved, with any preten¬
sions to utility, "by a reference to the particular circum¬
stances of each case; for the practice of one district, in
regard to these and other points, will be found quite in¬
applicable to others, where the soil and climate, and the
purposes to which the pastures are applied, are materially
different.
It has been recommended to apply manure to grass¬
lands, even where, not being used as hay grounds, they
afford no means of supply. (Dickson’s Practical Agri¬
culture, vol. ii. p. 953.) But, excepting the dung dropped
by the pasturing animals, which should always be regu¬
larly spread from time to time, it may be laid down as a
rule of pretty extensive application, that if grass-lands do
not preserve their fertility under pasturage, it would be
much better to bring them under tillage for a time, than
to enrich them at the expense of land-carrying crops of
Another practice, which is scarcely less objectionable,
is that of stacking on the field, or carrying to be consumed
there during winter the provender that ought to have
furnished disposable manure for the use of the farm at
large. It is to no purpose that such a wasteful practice
is defended, on dry light soils, which are alleged to be
thus benefited by the treading of the cattle. (Marshall’s
Rural Economy of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 131.) During the
frequent and heavy falls of rain and snow in winter, there
is scarcely any land so dry as not to be injured by the
treading of heavy cattle ; and were there any thing gained
in this respect by this management, it would be much
more than counterbalanced by the loss of a great part of
the manure from the same cause. The able writer to
whom we have just referred very properly disapproves
of carting on manure in winter; and for the same rea¬
son,—namely, the loss of it which must necessarily be
the consequence,—he ought to have objected to fodder¬
ing on the land, or teathing, at that season. The practice,
however, is but too common in those districts, both in
South and North Britain, where the knowledge of correct
husbandry has made but little progress. It is equally ob¬
jectionable, whether the fodder be consumed on meadows
where it grew, or on other grass-lands. The fodder should
in almost every instance be eaten in houses or fold-yards,
instead of the dung being dropped irregularly over the
surface, or, as must be almost always the case, accumulat¬
ed in some spots sheltered by trees and hedges, to which
the animals necessarily resort during the storms of winter.
The time of opening pastures in spring must evidently c
be earlier or later, according to the climate, and in thep
same climate according to the season; and the state ofs]
growth which it is desirable that the grass should attain
before being stocked, must in some degree be determined
by the condition and description of the animals to be em¬
ployed in consuming it,—whether they are only in a grow¬
ing state, or approaching to fatness,—whether milch cows
or sheep, or a mixture of animals of different species. R
conveys no very precise idea respecting these points,
though the remark itself is just, to say that the herbage
should not be allowed to rise so high as to permit the
coarser plants to run to seed, and that it is bad manage¬
ment to suffer store stock to be turned upon a full bhe.
Tti
ires m
AGRICULTURE. 3n
ipJ- (MarsWl's Yorbhire, yol. ii. p. 129.) The great objects It is obviously impossible to estimate the number of Aericol.
tu to be aimed at are, that the stock, of whatever animals it animals that may be depastured on any o-iven extent of ture
✓Wmay consist, should be carried forward, faster or slower, ground, without reference to the particular spot in ernes
according to the purposes of their owner; and that no tion; and the same difference exists, with regard to1 then ,
part of the herbage should be allowed to run to waste, or propriety of feeding close or leaving the pastures rough rough*111
be unprofitably consumed. But nothing but careful in- that prevails in most other parts of this subject. Though feeding,
spection of the land and of the stock, from time to time, there be loss in stocking too sparingly, the more common
can enable any grazier to judge with certainty what are and dangerous error is in overstocking, by which the sum-
the best measures for attaining these objects. mer’s grass is not unfrequently entirely lost. There seems
“ Fatting cattle;’ says Mr Marshall, “ which are forward to us, however, to be a season, some time durino- the year
in flesh, and are intended to be finished with grass, may when grass-lands, particularly old turf, should be eaten
require a full bite at first turning out. But for coivs, very close, not merely for the sake of preventing waste
working oxen, and Tearing cattle, and lean cattle intended but also for the purpose of keeping down the coarser kinds
to be fatted on grass, a full bite at the first turning out is of plants, and giving to the pastures as equal and fine a
not requisite. Old Ladyday to the middle of April, ac- sward as possible. The most proper period must partly
cording to the progress of spring, appears to me at pre- depend upon the convenience of the grazier; but it can
sent as the best time for shutting up mowing grounds and hardly be either immediately before the drought of sum-
opening pastures.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii.p. 152-3.) mer or the frost of winter. Some time in autumn, when
In regard to the state of the growth of pastures when the ardent heat of the season is over, and when there is
still time for a new growth before winter, may be most
suitable for the land itself, and generally also for the
grazier, his fat stock being then mostly disposed of, or
carried to the after-grass of mown grounds. The sweeping
Itatej
rowtl
hen ;
ockes
lock.i
first stocked, some distinction should be made between
new leys and old close swards. To prevent the destruc¬
tion of the young plants, whether of clovers or other herb¬
age, on the former description of pasture, which would
with sheep, they should be allowed to rise higher than
would be necessary in the case of old turf; and to secure
their roots from the further injury of a hot summer, it is
advisable not to feed them close in the early part of the
season, and probably not at any time throughout the whole
of the first or second season, if the land is to be continued
in pasture. The roots of old and firm sward, on the other
hand, are not in so much danger, either from close feed¬
ing or from the heats of summer; and they are in much
less danger from the frosts and thaws of winter.
Another circumstance almost equally indeterminate
with the time of opening pastures, is the stock which
be the consequence of stocking them too early, especially of pastures with the scythe may be employed as a sub-
”’:+k ^ stitute for this close feeding; the waste and labour of
which, however, though they be but trifling, it does not
seem necessary to incur on rich grazing lands under cor¬
rect management.
The size of inclosures is a matter of considerable im- Size of
portance on grass-lands, both for the stock itself, and the inclosures,
mode of consuming the produce. In general, pastures
best adapted to sheep should be in large fields. The ani¬
mals are not only impatient of heat, and liable to be much
injured by flies, in small pastures often surrounded by
trees and high hedges, but they are naturally, with the
- „ . exception perhaps of the Leicester variety, much more
should be employed, and whether they should be all of restless and easily disturbed than the other species of live
one or of different kinds. stock. “ Sheep,” says a well-known writer, “ love a wider
W ith regard to the former, all soils rather moist, and of range, and ought to have it, because they delight in short
such a quality, as is the case with rich clays, as to pro- grass: give them eighty or ninety acres, and any fence
duce herbage suited to the fattening of cattle, will in will keep them in; confine them to a field of seven or
general be more advantageously stocked with them than eight acres, and it must be a very strong fence that keeps'
with sheep ; but there can be no other rule for the total them in.” (Karnes’s Gentleman Farmer, p. 203.) Though
exclusion of sheep than the danger of the rot, nor any fields so large as 80 or 90 acres can be advisable only in
other general rule for preferring one kind of stock to hilly districts, yet the general rule is nevertheless con-
unother than their comparative profits. sistent with experience in regard to all our least domes-
W ith regard to a mixed stock, the sentiments and prac- ticated varieties,
tice of the best graziers seem to be in its favour. “ It is The size of fields deserves attention on another account;
generally understood that horses and cattle intermixed for there are strong reasons for preferring pasture land
w i eat grass cleaner than either species will alone, not so in two or more inclosures, to the same extent in one large
nmch from their separately affecting different grasses, as field. Besides the advantages of shelter, both to the
iom the circumstance of both species disliking to feed animals and the herbage, such subdivisions enable the
near their own dung.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 154.) grazier either to separate his stock into small parcels, by
oome few graziers follow the old custom of keeping which means they feed more at their ease, or to give the
y one kind of stock upon the same ground, whilst best pastures to that portion of them which he wishes to
0 1.ers’ we think with more propriety, intermix with oxen come earliest to market. The advantages of moderate-
an cows a few sheep and two or three colts in each pas- sized inclosures are well known in the best grazing coun-
ure, which both turn to good account and do little injury ties; but the subdivisions are in some instances much
ne grazing cattle. In some cases sheep are a real more minute than is consistent with the value of the
enetit, by eating down and destroying the ragwort (Se- ground occupied with fences, or necessary to the improve-
which disgraces some of the best pastures ment of the stock.
/ /T;!>nty’ W^ere oxen onty are grazed-” {Northum- “ In all cases,” says Marshall, “where fatting cattle or Succession
r am Ueport, p. 126.) And in Lincolnshire, where dairy cows make a part of the stock, and where situa-°f stocks.
^ azing iS followed to a great extent, and with uncommon tion, soil, and water will permit, every suite of grazing
’ cess’ as well as in most other districts, the practice grounds ought, in my idea, to consist of three compartments ;
^ ems to be, almost invariably, to keep a mixed stock of one for head stock (as cows or fatting cattle), one for
aad cattle on the same pasture {Lincolnshire Re- followers (as rearing or other lean stock), and the third
s •, ’ P‘ 7‘*)» in proportions varying with the nature of the to be shut up to freshen, for the leading stock.” (Mar¬
aud the quality of the herbage. shall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 158.)
312
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- It is sufficiently obvious that every inclosure of pas¬
ture. ture land should be provided with abundance of water at
/ ■^'all times, though this is in some districts a matter of
considerable difficulty. Mr Marshall has given a full ac¬
count of the method of forming drinking pools in York¬
shire, but our limits oblige us to refer the reader to his
work. _ _ .
Trans- A practice has been introduced into Norfolk within
planting these few years, the object of which is to obtain a rich
*urk turf, with all the valuable qualities of old pasture, much
sooner than from seeds alone. This is called trans¬
planting turf, or inoculating land with grass. A field of
good old grass-land is stripped of part of its turf, which is
cut into pieces of about three inches square, and placed
in its new situation, about six inches apart, on land previ¬
ously prepared to receive it. In this way one acre of turf
will plant nine acres; but it is only a part of the old pas¬
ture that is taken off, and this is done in such a manner
as not materially to injure it. After being thus planted,
the roots are pressed down by means of heavy rollers,
which cause them to spread along the ground instead of
rising up in tufts ; and in a summer or two, during which
this transplanted pasture should be very lightly if at all
fed upon, the grasses shed their seeds and fill up the in¬
terstices, the whole being then formed into a compact and
uniform turf. (Blaikie on the Conversion of Arable Land
into Pasture.) Later writers, particularly Sinclair, the au¬
thor of Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, think this practice
has excited notice only by its novelty, and that it never
can become of extensive utility.
their continuance to neglect or mismanagement, and that
any exertions of human industry can ever render the
greater part of them, including all the mountainous tracts'--
of Great Britain, more valuable than they are at present,
without a much greater expenditure of capital than, under
almost any circumstances, they could possibly return.
Yet as this vague general term has been established by
use, we shall bring together, in the following section, a
few observations on the present condition of that part of
our territory which is still almost in a state of nature, and
the improvements of which it is susceptible.
2. Hilly Pastures.
Sect. III. Wastes.
hi.
re.
A,
idem.
as ti
im.
Hill pas- These include such low hills as produce fine short herb-
tures. age, and are with much advantage kept constantly in pas¬
ture, though they are not altogether inaccesible to the
plough; as well as such tracts as, from their acclivity and
elevation, must necessarily be exclusively appropriated to
live stock. The former description of grass-lands, though
different from the feeding pastures, of which we have just
treated, in respect of their being less convenient for til¬
lage management, are nevertheless in other circumstances
so nearly similar as not to require any separate discus¬
sion. These low hills are for the most part occupied with
sheep, a very few cattle being sometimes depastured to¬
wards their bases ; and they frequently comprise herbage
sufficiently rich for fattening sheep, together with coarser
pastures for breeding and rearing them. In many instances,
a small part of such tracts is cultivated chiefly for pro¬
viding green crops for the sheep in winter; but corn is
quite a subordinate object, and extensive aration is seldom
attempted, except for the purpose of laying down the land
to grass in an improved condition.
Improper- The more elevated pastures, from which the plough is
Iv called altogether excluded, have been commonly classed among
wastes. waste lands,—even such of them as bear herbage by no
means of inconsiderable value,—as well as heaths and
moors, with patches of which the green pastures are often
chequered. The general term ivastes is therefore a very
indefinite expression, and indeed is not unfrequently
made to comprehend all that extensive division of our
territory that neither produces corn nor rich herbage.
Yet it is on such tracts that by far the greater part of
our butcher-meat and wool is grown, and not a little of
tire former fully prepared for the market. Foreigners and
superficial readers at home must accordingly be greatly
mistaken if they imagine that what are called wastes by
the Board of Agriculture, and other' writers on rural
economy, are really altogether unproductive; and it would
be a still grosser error to believe that these wastes owe
That part of Britain which is still in a state of waste p ^
might be treated of under a number of heads, correspond-tV L
ing to the various causes of its infertility. Land is com¬
paratively unproductive, owing, Is#, to the surface being
covered with stones, or occupied with worthless shrubs
and other plants; 2dly, to the superabundance of wa¬
ter, as in the case of mosses and marshes; Mly, to an
original defect in the soil, as in loose sands, moors, and
compact sterile clays, sometimes called till; Uhly, to the
elevation and ruggedness of the surface, and the ungenial
character of the climate, as in our mountainous districts;
bthly, to the previous exhaustion of the vegetable matter
of the soil by injudicious cropping; and, bthly, to the mode
of tenure and occupancy, as in commons.
It is matter of regret that the subject of wastes has note
yet been treated in that distinct and scientific mannerh
which its importance deserves. It would be advisable to11
have it ascertained what portion of these divisions, or of1"
others under which our wastes may be arranged, is ca-11
pable of improvement, and how far such improvement is
eligible, on a fair estimate of the cost, and the probable
increase of produce. It should also be considered, as far
as precision is attainable on such points, how much farther
a proprietor might advantageously proceed in the expen¬
diture of capital, than one who is merely a temporary oc¬
cupier. For it is evident that an improvement will be
sufficiently profitable to the former if he draws for his
outlay 4 or 5 per cent, yearly; whereas a tenant, holding
on a lease of 20 years, must have an annuity for that pe¬
riod of at least three times the amount, in order that his
capital may be returned, with the ordinary profits of trade,
before its expiration.
The delusive prospects of profit from the improvement
of wastes, held out by speculative men, have an unhappy
tendency to produce disappointment in rash and sanguine
adventurers, and ultimately to discourage such attempts
as, with judicious attention to economy, would in all pro¬
bability be attended with great success. Those who are
conversant with the publications that have lately appeared
on this subject, must be aware with what caution the al¬
leged results of most of these writers ought to be exa¬
mined, and how different has been the experience or
those who have ventured to put their schemes in practice,
from what they had been led to anticipate.
There are few soils, however, so unfertile, and few
tracts of any extent so destitute of soil, as not to be sus¬
ceptible of profitable improvement, if the climate be not
altogether hostile to vegetation, or the surface so steep
or so rugged as not to admit of any other operations than
such as must be executed by manual labour. With this
exception, and the exception probably of what is callec
flow moss,—that innabilis unda, on which there is reason
to fear much capital has been employed to little purpose,—
wastes are certainly capable of considerable improvemen ■
by surface or underdraining; by top-dressing with calca-
AGRICULTURE.
r, ,1- reous manures; by paring and burning as a preparation
u . for tillage; by trenching, irrigation, and embankment.
We shall offer a few remarks on this subject, in the or¬
der first above mentioned.
Lanro- 1. When the surface of ground is much covered with
vcrevithstones, it is material to consider not only the expense
item which will attend the clearing of it, but whether the soil
and climate be such as to remunerate the cultivator after
it has been brought into a state of tillage, and to what
purpose the stones themselves may be applied. When
the stones that project from the surface are a part of the
rock continued beneath the soil, it may be doubted whe¬
ther, instead of incurring the expense of working away
the rock to such a depth as would allow the plough to
pass over it, it may not be advisable to let the land remain
in pasture, and improve it by top-dressings.
Very large blocks of stone are cleared away by means
of gunpowder; but if this is not necessary, they are raised
by levers, and rolled upon a sledge, or by the use of a
block and tackle attached to a triangle. In the latter
case, a hole is bored into the stone, and an iron bolt with
an eye driven into it; and this, though apparently inca¬
pable of bearing any great weight, serves to raise the stone
in a perpendicular direction, until it can be deposited
upon a cart or sledge placed below it, to be carried off
the field.
As soon as the stones are removed, the holes must of
course be filled up, and the surface rendered tolerably level.
Trer ing.The best method of doing this is by trenching, which an¬
swers the further purpose of deepening the soil, and remov¬
ing any remaining obstacle within the reach of the plough.
“ The greater part of the land in the vicinity of Aber¬
deen,” says the author of the Report of that county, “ has,
from the most barren and unproductive state, been tho¬
roughly improved by trenching. Not less than 3000 acres
have been trenched within three miles of Aberdeen; and
in all places of the county considerable additions have
been made to the arable, by trenching the barren lands.”
“ It is practised in barren land, which abounds in stones
of different dimensions, sometimes, where the soil is dry,
and in other cases, where it is wet, united with draining:
it is practised when the object is to deepen the soil, or to
mix a portion of the subsoil along with it: it is practised
when the subsoil is tilly or very tenacious, as well as when
that next the surface is unproductive, moory, or exhaust¬
ed by overcropping: and, lastly, it is practised when the
land is foul, and when stronger or cleaner soil can be
brought up to the surface.
“ The expense indeed could not have been borne in
many cases, if the first crop (for so it may be called, as it
covered the whole soil) that was raised by the spade and
mattock had not produced from L.30 to L.50 per acre.
Ibis was a crop of granite stones, which was sold for
paving the streets of London. But, after all, the ground
that was thus gained to the community would not have
been able to recompense the cultivator, if a mixture of
the spade and plough husbandry had not been introduced,
the rent of the land in the immediate vicinity of Aber¬
deen is extremely^ high, being now, on a lease for years,
>om L.5 to L.10 per acre, and in a few cases not less
than L.18; nay, when let for a single crop, sometimes as
mgh as L.20. Yet all this is necessary to remunerate the
improver, who trenched, dunged, limed, and cultivated
us thin soil, which must be frequently manured. It would
'a\ e yielded too little produce, if tilled only by the plough ;
and would have been cultivated at too great an expense,
u the soil had been constantly digged by the spade. A
medium between these two, viz. either the alternate use
1 1 ie plough and spade, or at least a mixture of plough
VOL. II.
313
and spaae husbandry, was thus introduced by necessity, Agricul-
and has been attended with the happiest effects.” (Aber- ture-
deenshire Report.)
2. In the case of mosses and marshes, the first thing igMossesand
to get rid of the superabundance of water, by opening
main drain, into which such smaller ones as may be ne¬
cessary will discharge themselves. On the subject of
improving moss land a great deal has been written within
these few years, and many experiments made with very
different results. In favourable circumstances, if the ope¬
ration is carefully and economically conducted, there can
be no doubt that land of this description may be improved
with ultimate benefit to the undertaker. But the great
object ought to be, not (at least for some years at first)
to convert the land into tillage, but merely to render it
productive in the state of meadow or pasture. With this
view, the first operation after draining should be to get
rid of the heath and coarse herbage on the surface, by
burning, levelling it where necessary at the same time,
and then to top-dress with calcareous matter, either by
itself or mixed up in compost with earth and other sub¬
stances, as a preparation for grass-seeds. If it be neces¬
sary to turn over the whole surface, this in many cases
may be done as cheaply by the spade as by the plough,
and to much better purpose. Timothy (jpbileum pratense)
will be found one of the most valuable grasses on such a
soil; but if the surface be sufficiently saturated with cal¬
careous matter, and not too wet, clovers, particularly white
clover, and the grasses usually sown upon arable land,
may be used with advantage. The after-management
must of course depend upon circumstances. Frequent
rolling must always be of use in compressing a soil which
is naturally spongy; thus preventing the roots of the plants
from being thrown out of the ground: and we should
think that in general it must be better to retain such land
for some years in the state of meadow, top-dressing it oc¬
casionally, than even in pasturage.
Among the various attempts that have been made upon
a large scale to reclaim moss land, we shall mention two
that seem worthy of particular notice.
The first cannot be considered as an improvement ofFloating
the mossy soil itself. On the contrary, the improvement0^ nK)SS-
consists in getting rid of it altogether. The practice may
be shortly described as follows:—
“ A stream of water is carried first upon the spongy
upper stratum of moss, which is by this means conveyed
away to the neighbouring frith or arm of the sea, the light
moss being thrown into a ditch, made as the temporary
bed of this artificial rivulet. The upper part, or spongy
moss, is thus carried off by successive ditches, to the ex¬
tent of 30 or 40 yards broad; then a second deeper ditch
is cut into the clay or bottom of the flat stratum of the
heavy moss, and a number of parallel ditches are made
for admitting the rivulet, into which the remaining moss
is thrown, till nearly the whole is carried off, excepting a
thin stratum, consisting partly of black peat-earth, and
partly of decayed wood found in the moss, which is burnt
for manure to the carse soil about to be cultivated. Much
ingenuity has been shown in constructing machinery to
supply water for removing the moss, previous to the im¬
provement of the carse or rich soil below. For some
years after being thus cleared both of peat-moss and the
remains of wood, successive crops of oats were formerly
too often repeated; but this was found to be injurious,
and a more regular mode of cropping is now introduced.
“ In 1766, the late Lord Kames became proprietor of Kincardine
the estate of Blair-Drummond, in the county of Perth,moss-
where he resolved to carry on with spirit this mode of
improvement on the moss of Kincardine. After trying
314
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- several experiments, he at last adopted the plan of giving
ture. profitable leases to small occupiers of land, to induce them
to remove the moss; and before his death in 1782, no
less a number than 336 acres were cleared of moss, and
brought into cultivation. His son and successor pursuing
the same plan, got 440 acres more let in three years, to
which additions were made periodically. In 1792 the
population had increased to 764 souls, who cultivated 444
acres. By a survey in 1805, 577 acres were cleared, in¬
cluding 12 acres occupied by roads. In 1814 considerably
above 800 acres were cleared, and the population amount¬
ed to upwards of 900 souls.
“ Thus an extensive tract of country, where formerly only
a few snipes and muirfowl could find subsistence, has been
converted, as if by magic, into a rich and fertile carse of
alluvial soil, worth from L.3 to L.5 per acre. ’
Mr lios- The other instance is that of the improvement of Chat
coe’s im- moss in the county of Lancaster, by Mr Roscoe of Liver-
prove- p00i. The length of this moss is about six miles, its
merits on greatest breadth about three miles, and its depth may be
Chat moss-estimated at from 10 to upwards of 30 feet. It is entirely
composed of the substance well known by the name of
peat, being an aggregate of vegetable matter, disorganized
and inert, but preserved by certain causes from putrefac¬
tion. On the surface it is light and fibrous, but becomes
more dense below. On cutting to a considerable depth,
it is found to be black, compact, and heavy, and in many
respects resembling coal. There is not throughout the
whole moss the least intermixture of sand, gravel, or other
material, the entire substance being a pure vegetable.
It is now upwards of 20 years since Mr Iloscoe, in
company with Mr Wakefield, began to improve Trafford
moss, a tract of 300 acres, lying two miles east of Chat
moss; and his operations on it seem to have been so suc¬
cessful as to encourage him to proceed with Chat moss.
But in the improvement of the latter, he found it unne¬
cessary to incur so heavy an expense for drainage. From
observing that, where the moss had been dug for peat, the
water had drawn towards it from a distance of 50 to 100
yards, he conceived that if each drain had to draw the
water only 25 yards, they would, within a reasonable time,
undoubtedly answer the purpose. The whole of the moss
was therefore laid out on the following plan.
Drainage. “ I first carried a main road,” says Mr Roscoe, in a re¬
cent communication to the Board of Agriculture, “ nearly
from east to west, through the whole extent of my por¬
tion of the moss. This road is about three miles long and
36 feet wide. It is bounded on each side by a main drain,
seven feet wide and six feet deep, from which the water
is conveyed, by a considerable fall, to the river. From
these two main drains other drains diverge, at 50 yards
distance from each other, and extend from each side of
the road to the utmost limits of the moss. Thus each
field contains 50 yards in front to the road, and is of an
indefinite length, according as the boundary of the moss
varies. These field-drains are four feet wide at the top, one
foot at the bottom, and four feet and a half deep. They
are kept carefully open, and, as far as my experience hi¬
therto goes, I believe they will sufficiently drain the moss,
without having recourse to underdraining, which I have
never made use of at Chat moss, except in a very few in¬
stances, where, from the lowness of the surface, the water
could not readily be gotten oft’ without open channels,
which might obstruct the plough.”
Cultiva- The cultivation of the moss then proceeds in the fol-
tion. lowing manner. “ After setting fire to the heath and
herbage on the moss, and burning it down as far as prac¬
ticable, I plough a thin sod or furrow with a very sharp
horse-plough, which I burn in small heaps, and dissipate;
considering it of little use but to destroy the tough sods
of the Eriophora, Nardus stricla, and other plants, whose
matted roots are almost imperishable. The moss being^
thus brought to a tolerably dry and level surface, I then
plough it in a regular furrow six inches deep; and as soon
as possible after it is thus turned up, I set upon it the ne¬
cessary quantity of marl, not less than 200 cubic yards to
the acre. As the marl begins to crumble and fall with}
the sun or frost, it is spread over the land with consider¬
able exactness; after which I put in a crop as early as
possible, sometimes by the plough, and at others with the
horse-scuffle or scarifier, according to the nature of the
crop; adding, for the first crop, a quantity of manure,
which I bring down the navigable river Irwell to the bor¬
ders of the moss, setting on about 20 tons to the acre.
Moss land thus treated may not only be advantageously
cropped the first year with green crops, as potatoes, tur¬
nips, &c. but with any kind of grain; and as wheat has
of late paid better to the farmer than any other, I have
hitherto chiefly relied upon it, as my first crop, for reim¬
bursing the expense.”
The expense of the several ploughings, with the burn-Ii
ing, sowing, and harrowing, and of the marl and manure,111
but exclusive of the seed, and also of the previous drain-1*
age and general charges, amounts to L.18. 5s. per acre;
and in 1812, on one piece of land thus improved, Mr
Roscoe had 20 bushels of wheat, then worth a guinea per
bushel, and on another piece 18 bushels; but these were
the best crops upon the moss.
“ Both lime and marl are generally to be found within
a reasonable distance ; and the preference given to either
of them will much depend upon the facility of obtaining
it. The quantity of lime necessary for the purpose is so
small in proportion to that of marl, that, where the dis¬
tance is great, and the carriage high, it is more advisable
to make use of it; but where marl is upon the spot, or
can be obtained in sufficient quantity at a reasonable ex¬
pense, it appears to be preferable.” Mr Roscoe is tho¬
roughly convinced, after a great many different trials, that
all temporizing expedients are fallacious ; and that “ the
best method of improving moss land is by the application
of a calcareous substance, in a sufficient quantity to convert
the moss into a soil, and by the occasional use of animal or
other extraneous manures, such as the course of cultivation
and the nature of the crops may be found to require.”
There seems to be little more that is peculiar to himself
in Mr Roscoe’s operations and course of cropping, except
his contrivance for setting on the marl. It would not be
practicable, he observes, to effect the marling at so cheap
a rate (L.10 per acre), were it not for the assistance of an
iron road or railway laid upon boards or sleepers, and]
movable at pleasure. Along this road the marl is con¬
veyed in waggons with small iron wheels, each drawn by
one man. These waggons, by taking out a pin, turn their
lading out on either side : they carry about 15 cwts. each,
being as much as could heretofore be conveyed over the
moss by a cart with a driver and two horses.
In the month of November 1805, Mr Roscoe began the ]
drainage by cutting out the main drains on each side oL
the road, throwing out the moss from the drains into the1;
middle of the road. In 1807 the smaller drains, at 50^
yards distance from each other, were begun, and about
1000 acres laid out in the manner already mentioned, hi
1808 part of the moss was sufficiently consolidated to be
worked with horses in pattens: this year a farm-house,
with out-buildings, cottages, &c. was erected, and man
was set upon the land prepared for that purpose. About
20 acres were cropped with turnips and potatoes m
1809; and in the year following, upwards of 80 acres, o
'Kill.
irv.
VA.
■;nse
ire.
way.
tssi
Ros-
inl¬
e¬
ts.
AGRICULTURE.
A?;"1-
tn-
Imp:^
dow..
which 20 were wheat. In 1811 Mr Roscoe had 100 acres
in crop, chiefly in wheat; and in 1812 marl and street
vX ^manure were applied in the quantities specified above.
The crops were wheat and beans, which much surpassed
those of any preceding year. “ In the course of the pre¬
sent year (1813) I shall have brought into cultivation
about 160 acres, which will be cropped with wheat, oats,
potatoes, and beans. A tract of 30 acres of clover ap¬
pears to be very promising.”
The depreciation of agricultural produce in 1815, and
the difficulty of combining a regular course of cropping
[nto lea- w|th the bringing in of additional waste land, induced Mr
Roscoe to lay down the whole of the improved part of
Chat moss into meadow land. So long as land of this
description continues productive in the state of meadow
or pasture, it does not appear advisable to attempt any
course of cropping whatever; and to lay it down for either
of these purposes ought perhaps to form the chief induce¬
ment to its improvement.
3. A third cause of sterility is found in the natural tex¬
ture of the soil, as in loose sands and coarse impermeable
clays. Moving or blowing sands occur on the sea-coast
of many parts of Scotland, and are not only worthless
themselves, but frequently inflict serious injury on the
lands within their reach, over which the sand spreads it¬
self. This is a matter to which the Highland Society of
Scotland have very properly turned their attention ; and
we shall extract from their communications some account
of an attempt that has been recently made to fix these
sands, and to render them in some measure productive.
The experiment to which we allude was made in 1819
315
Soils'a
hardx-
ture:
Blov’g
sand;
Exp-.
) and 1820, on a farm in the parish of Harris, and county of
' “ k Invprnps's. h\r thp nrnnriptnr. Alpvnnrlpr XT IVTnplpprl
then
Inverness, by the proprietor, Alexander N. Macleod,
Esq., “ who has completely succeeded in reclaiming and
bringing into useful permanent pasture above 100 Scotch
acres of useless blowing sand, by planting in it sea-bent
(Arundo arenaria), known in the Hebrides by the name
of bent-grass, and sowing rape-seed on it in a small pro¬
portion. The rape-seed requiring to be covered with
sea-weed or some other manure immediately after sowing,
is not considered so beneficial as the grass, as this requires
no manure, or any other cultivation or top-dressing what¬
ever, after being properly planted.
“ The operations commenced upon the above farm in
the month of September 1819, by cutting the Arundo
arenaria or bent-grass about two inches below the surface,
with a small thin-edged spade with a short handle, which
a man can use in his right hand, at the same time taking
hold of the grass in his left; other persons carrying it to
tlie blowing sand, to be planted in a hole, or rather a cut
made in the sand, about eight or nine inches deep (and
deeper where the sand is very open and much exposed),
by a large narrow-pointed spade. A handful of Arundo
arenaria or bent-grass was put into each of these cuts,
which wrere about twelve inches distant, more or less ac¬
cording to the exposure of the situation. When properly
fixed in the blowing sand, the roots begin to grow, and
spread under the surface, in the course of a month after
planting.
“ When Mr Macleod commenced the operations in re¬
claiming the tract of ground alluded to, it was altogether
covered with blowing sand in winter and spring, and nearly
so m summer. A great part of it consisted of high banks
ot sand, which did not produce grass or verdure of anv
kind whatever.
" The Arundo arenaria or bent-grass is relished by
cattle in summer, but it is of greater value by preserv¬
ing it on the ground for wintering cattle. It would be in¬
judicious to cut it, because it will stand the winter better
than any other grass, and is seldom covered with snow. Agricul-
Neither wind, rain, nor frost will destroy it; but the old ture-
grass naturally decays towards the latter end of spring
and the beginning of summer, as the new crop grows.
“ White and red clover will grow spontaneously among
this grass in the course of a few years, provided it is well
secured. It will produce seed in some instances within
twelve months after planting; but the seed does not, on
high exposed situations, come to the maturity that seed
requires for sowing. On this account, to propagate this
grass from the root is considered preferable to sowing.
“ The Arundo arenaria or bent-grass operations should
not commence in any season earlier than about the 20th
October, and should be given up about the beginning of
March, as this planting thrives much better in the wet
season.”
The other descriptions of soil, which owing to their tex- Coarse
ture are of little value in their natural state, are close, c^ys-
compact clays, imbedded with small stones, and incumbent
upon subsoils which do not allow the water to escape.
Such land is in general covered with stunted heath and
other coarse plants, and to the other causes of its infer¬
tility is often added a bad climate. The object in this
case, as in the former, should generally be to obtain better
herbage, rather than to convert it into arable land.
One of the most common and effectual practices in im-Paring and
proving this description of land is paring and burning; a burning,
practice which, in the case of old swards matted with the
roots of coarse herbage and heath, is acknowledged, both
by scientific and practical writers, to be highly advantage¬
ous as the next step to be taken after drainage. “ The
process of burning,” says Sir Humphry Davy, “ renders
the soil less compact, less tenacious and retentive of
moisture; and, properly applied, may convert a matter
that was stiff, damp, and in consequence cold, into one
powdery, dry, and warm, and much more proper as a bed
for vegetable life.
“ The great objection made by speculative chemists to
paring and burning is, that it destroys vegetable and ani¬
mal matter, or the manure in the soil; but in cases in
which the texture of its earthy ingredients is permanently
improved, there is more than a compensation for this tem¬
porary disadvantage. And in some soils, where there is
an excess of inert vegetable matter, the destruction of it
must be beneficial; and the carbonaceous matter remain¬
ing in the ashes may be more useful to the crop than the
vegetable fibre from which it was produced.
“ Many obscure causes have been referred to for the
purpose of explaining the effects of paring and burning;
but I believe they may be referred entirely to the dimi¬
nution of the coherence and tenacity of clays, and to the
destruction of inert and useless vegetable matter, and its
conversion into a manure.
“ All soils that contain too much dead vegetable fibre, For what
and which consequently lose from one-third to one-halflands pro¬
of their weight by incineration, and all such as contain
their earthy constituents in an impalpable state of divi¬
sion, i. e. the stiff clays and marls, are improved by burn¬
ing ; but in coarse sands, or rich soils containing a just
mixture of the earths, and in all cases in which the texture
is already sufficiently loose, or the organizable matter suffi¬
ciently soluble, the process of torrefaction cannot be useful.
“ All poor silicious sands must be injured by it; and
practice is found to accord with theory. Mr Young, in
his Essay on manures, states, ‘ that he found burning in¬
jure sand and the operation is never performed by good
agriculturists upon silicious sandy soils, after they have
once been brought into cultivation.” {Agricultural Che¬
mistry, p. 346.)
316
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- Some eminent cultivators, however, prefer using the
We. plough at the very first. They begin with a wide, shallow
furrow, laying over the surface as flat as possible ; and in
that state it remains to rot for fifteen or eighteen months.
It is then cross-pl°uWe(^’ usually about midsummer, and
well harrowed; dressed with lime, ridged up, and sown with
rye or oats the following spring. As soon as the crop is
removed, it is ploughed for turnips, to which dung is ap¬
plied ; and the turnips being eaten on the ground by sheep,
it is laid to grass the year after, the seeds being sown
along with oats or barley.
This mode of management, however, can only be adopt¬
ed on lands of rather a loose texture, suited to turnip. On
more compact soils, we should think paring and burning,
followed by top-dressings of lime and compost, a prefer¬
able practice. But if it be thought expedient to turn over
the turf or sod with the plough, a great number of plough-
ings and harrowings must be required to destroy the roots
and pulverize the soil sufficiently; and two summers at
least will be necessary to complete the operation. When
it is thus brought into a state to be sown with grass-seeds,
lime should be freely applied after the last ploughing, and
well harrowed in ; and then the grass-seeds sown with or
without a corn crop. Wherever the object is pasture, a
comparatively small quantity of lime will produce the
desired effect, if it be kept on the surface instead of being
turned down by the plough. It is unnecessary to mention,
that on soils of this description, tenacious of moisture, open
trenches will be necessary, to prevent any water from
stagnating, the furrows also being made so deep as to
draw off and discharge any excess of moisture in the soil
itself. This kind of land is evidently better suited to
pasturage than to meadow, and the pasture may be kept
from deterioration by repeated top-dressings.
Mountain- 4. Much of our mountainous districts is necessarily
ous tracts, left in a comparatively unproductive state, from the ele¬
vation and ruggedness of the surface, and ungenial cha¬
racter of the climate ; but such tracts present so great a
variety in their circumstances, that it would be idle to at¬
tempt laying down any rules of general application. The
leading improvement, we conceive, must be in carrying off
the surface-water in open drains, and providing shelter by
means of plantations.
Land ren- 5. A soil not naturally unproductive has in many cases
dered bar- been rendered sterile, at least for a time, by injudicious
ren by management. When lime and other calcareous manures
cromdno- were first applied to fresh soils, the corn crops produced
” were often so valuable as to lead to their repetition year
after year, without the intervention of ameliorating crops
or the application of manures. We have known three
successive crops of wheat taken from the same land, and
of corn altogether not less than ten crops in as many
years. Under this management the soil could not fail
to be reduced to a state of barrenness and waste, of which
there are still too many instances in many parts of Scot¬
land. The appropriate remedy here is the use of enrich¬
ing manures, and after a time lime or other calcareous
matters may be added. Such land has not only been
robbed of its nutritive powers, but the very texture of the
soil itself has experienced an unfavourable change. A few
years’ pasturage must always be useful on land that has
undergone so severe a course of tillage.
Commons 6. Much of the commons and common lands through-
and com- out the country may be considered as retained in a state
mon fields. 0f comparative waste, by reason of their tenure and mode
of occupancy. In Scotland there is now very little land
in this state, the law affording a ready means of dividing A
it, with a few exceptions, among the proprietors or oc¬
cupants, according to their respective rights and interests>
It is otherwise, however, in England, where a special act
of parliament seems to be necessary in almost every in.
stance ; and though much has been done there in the way
of allocating and improving such land under the authority
of inclosure acts, much still remains to be done. But
the improvement of such land is not so much an agricul¬
tural as a political question. When once it is brought into
the state of private property, the methods to be adopted
for rendering it more productive will necessarily depend
upon the nature of the soil and other circumstances.
nil.
■e.
CHAP. III.
LIVE STOCK.
In the observations which we have to offer on this grand
department of husbandry, which in some quarters of the
island enjoys a decided preference over tillage, we shall
treat, 1. Of Horses; 2. Of Cattle ; 3. Of Sheep; 4. Of
Swine ; and, 5. Of Miscellaneous Stock.
Sect. I. Horses.
The form of a horse peculiarly adapted to the labours ofll
agriculture, has been well described by a writer of great ex¬
perience, in the following words:—•
“ His head should be as small as the proportion of theF
animal will admit; his nostrils expanded, and muzzle fine;
his eyes cheerful and prominent; his ears small, upright,
and placed near together ; his neck, rising out from be¬
tween his shoulders with an easy tapering curve, must
join gracefully to the head; his shoulders, being well
thrown back, must also go into his neck (at what is called
the points) unperceived, which, perhaps, facilitates the
going much more than the narrow shoulder ; the arm or
fore thigh should be muscular, and, tapering from the
shoulder, meet with a fine, straight, sinewy, bony leg;
the hoof circular, and wide at the heel; his chest deep,
and full at the girth ; his loin or fillets broad and straight,
and body round ; his hips or hooks by no means wide,
but quarters long, and tail set on so as to be nearly in the
same right line as his back; his thighs strong and mus¬
cular ; his legs clean and fine-boned; his leg-bones not
round, but what is called lathy or flat.” (Gulley on Live
Stock, p. 21.)
1. Breeds.
1. The black cart-horse, bred in the midland counties!
of England (see Plate XII.), is better suited for drays and
waggons than for the common operations of a farm. The
present system of farming requires horses of more mettle
and activity, better adapted for travelling, and more cap¬
able of enduring fatigue, than those heavy, sluggish ani¬
mals. This variety is understood to have been formed,
or at least brought to its present state, by means oi
stallions and mares imported from the Low Countries;
though there appears to be some difference in the accounts
that have been preserved, in regard to the places whence
they were brought, and the persons who introduced them.
“ The breed of grey rats,” says Mr Marshall, “ with which
this island has of late years been overrun, is not a greater
pest in it than the breed of black fen horses; at least
while cattle remain scarce, as they are at present, anu
ks.
1 See Gulley on Live Stock, p. 32 ; and Marshall’s Economy of the Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 30(>.
AGRICULTURE.
317
Jflu|.
MP-
Clevmd
bays
Suffi?
I'uiii.
while the flesh of horses continues to be rejected as an 5. The Welsh horse bears a near resemblance, in point Agricul
article of human food.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. of size and hardiness, to the best of the native breed of ture. ’
'p. 164.) The present improved subvariety of this breed the Highlands of Scotland, and other hilly countries in the1^^^
is said to have taken its rise in six Zealand mares, sent north of Europe. It is too small for the present two-horseWelsh*
over from the Hague by Lord Chesterfield, during his ploughs, but few horses are equal to them for enduring
embassy at that court. fatigue on the road. “ I well remember one,” says Mr
2. The Cleveland bays, which owe some of their most Culley, “ that I rode for many years, which, to the last,
valuable properties to crosses with the race-horse, have, would have gone upon a pavement by choice, in preference
been long celebrated as one of the best breeds in the to a softer road.” (Observations on Live Stock, p. 35.)
island; but they are said to have degenerated of late. 6. A little horse, of much the same size with the for-Galloways.
They are reared to a great extent in Yorkshire, the far- mer, or rather larger, called a Galloway, from its being
mers of which county are remarkable for their knowledge found chiefly in that province of Scotland, has now become
in everything that relates to this species of live stock, very rare; the breed having been neglected, from its un-
In activity and hardiness these horses have perhaps no fitness for the present labours of agriculture. The true
superior. Some capital hunters have been produced by Galloways are said to resemble the Spanish horses ; and
putting full-bred stallions to mares of this sort; but the there is a tradition, that some of the latter, that had
chief object latterly has been to breed coach-horses, and escaped from one of the vessels of the Armada, wrecked on
such as have sufficient strength for a two-horse plough, the coast of Galloway, were allowed to intermix with the
Three of these horses carry a ton and a half of coals, tra- native race. Such of this breed as have been preserved
veiling sixty miles in twenty-four hours, without any in any degree of purity are of a light bay or brown colour,
other rest than two or three baits upon the road ; and they with black legs, and are easily distinguished by the smallness
frequently perform this labour four times a week. of their head and neck, and the cleanness of their bone.
3. A third variety is the Suffolk Punch, a very useful 7. The still smaller horses of the Highlands and Isles Highland
animal for rural labour. Their merit seems to consist of Scotland are distinguished from larger breeds by the ponies,
more in constitutional hardiness than true shape. See several appellations of Ponies, Skelties, and, in Gaelic, of
Plate XII. “ Their colour is mostly yellowish or sorrel, Garrons or Gearrons. They are reared in great numbers
with a white ratch or blaze on their faces ; the head large, in the Hebrides, or Western Isles, where they are found
ears wide, muzzle coarse, fore-end low, back long, but in the greatest purity. Different varieties of the same
very straight, sides flat, shoulders too far forward, hind race are spread over all the Highland district and the
quarters middling, but rather high about the hips, legs Northern Isles. This ancient breed is supposed to have
round and short in the pasterns, deep-bellied, and full in been introduced into Scotland from Scandinavia, when
ffie flank; here, perhaps, lies much of the merit of these the Norwegians and Danes first obtained a footing in
horses; for we know, from observation and experience, these parts. “ It is precisely the same breed that sub¬
sists at present in Norway, the Feroe Isles, and Iceland,
and is totally distinct from every thing of horse kind on
the continent of Europe south of the Baltic. In confir¬
mation of this, there is one peculiar variety of the horse
Suffolk and Norfolk farmers plough more land in a day in the Highlands that deserves to be noticed. It is there
than any other people in the island; and these are the called the eel-backed horse. (See Plate XIII.) He is of
kindof horses everywhere used in those districts.” (Culley different colours, light bay, dun, and sometimes cream-
m Live Stock, p. 27.) coloured ; but has always a blackish list that runs along
4. The Clydesdale horse has been long in high repute the ridge of the back, from the shoulder to the rump,
m Scotland and the north of England, and, for the pur- which has a resemblance to an eel stretched out. This
poses of the farmer, is probably equal to any other breed very singular character subsists also in many of the horses
in Britain. Of the origin of this race various accounts of Norway, and is nowhere else known.” (Walker’s He-
have been given, but none of them so clear or so well brides, vol. ii. p. 158.)
authenticated as to merit any notice. They have got this “ The Highland horse is sometimes only nine, and sel-
name, not because they are bred only in Clydesdale or dom twelve hands high, excepting in some of the south-
Lanarkshire,—for the same description of horses are reared ern of the Hebrides, where the size has been raised to
m the other western counties of Scotland, and over all thirteen or fourteen hands by selection and better feed-
that tract which lies between the Clyde and the Forth,— ing. The best of this breed are handsomely shaped, have
hut because the principal markets at which they are sold, small legs, large manes, little neat heads, and are ex-
Lanark, Carnwath, Rutherglen, and Glasgow, are situated tremely active and hardy. The common colours are grey,
in that district, where they are also preserved in a state bay, and black; the last is the favourite one.” (General
of greater purity than in most other parts. They are Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 176.)
wmml!^gr than Su?,lk ?u“he.s’ “ld 1116 neek is 2. Breeding and Bearing.
somewhat longer; their colour is black, brown, or grey, J
and a white spot on the face is esteemed a mark of beauty. The same attention to select the best males and females
Ihe breast is broad; shoulder thick, the blades nearly as for breeding, which has been productive of the most ad-
high as the chine, and not so much thrown backwards as vantageous results in the case of cattle and sheep, does
in road-horses ; the hoof round, usually of a black colour, not prevail very generally in the breeding of farm-horses:
“Hid the heels wide ; the back straight and broad, but not on the contrary, though every one exercises some degree
too long; the bucks visible, but not prominent, and the of judgment in regard to the stallion, there are few breed-
space between them and the ribs short; the tail heavy, ers, comparatively, who hesitate to employ very ill-formed
and well haired, the thighs meeting each other so near as and worthless mares,—and often solely because they are
to leave only a small groove for the tail to rest on. One unfit for any thing else than bringing a foal. All the best
most Vill  a  1  _ a. aL.      • ! a. —~ ^ A v*^'»r'vv»/-vV\ o i o oV%oni»/l onrl f —
that all deep-bellied horses carry their food long, and
consequently are enabled to stand longer and harder days’
works. However, certain it is that these horses do per¬
form surprising days’ works. It is well known that the
most valuable, property of this breed is, that they are re- writers on Agriculture reprobate this absurd and unprofit-
markably true pullers, a restive horse being rarely found able practice. “ In the midland
among them. See Plate XIII.
counties of England the
breeding of cart-horses is attended to with the same as-
J
318
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Inatten¬
tion to the
female in
breeding.
Stallions.
Age of
breeding.
Season.
Mares
worked.
siduity as that which has of late years been bestowed on
cattle and sheep, while the breeding of saddle-horses, hun¬
ters, and coach-horses, is almost entirely neglected ; is left
almost wholly to chance, even in Yorkshire,—I mean as to
females. A breeder here would not give five guineas for
the best brood-mare in the kingdom, unless she could
draw or carry him occasionally to market, nor a guinea
extraordinary for one which could do both. He would
sooner breed from a rip which he happens to have upon
his premises, though not worth a month s keep. But how
absurd ! The price of the leap, the keep of the mare, and
the care and keep of her progeny, from the time they drop
to the time of sale, are the same, whether they be
from ten to fifteen, or from forty to fifty pounds each.
(Marshall’s Economy of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 166.)
In those districts where the breeding of horses is car¬
ried on upon a large scale, and upon a regular plan, the
rearing of stallions forms in some degree a separate branch,
and is confined, as in the case of bulls and rams, to a few
eminent breeders. These stallions, which are shown at
the different towns in the vicinity,—sometimes sent to
be exhibited at a considerable distance,—are let out for
the whole season, or sold to stallion-men, or kept by the
breeder himself, for covering such mares as may be offer¬
ed, at a certain price per head ; and this varies according
to the estimation in which the horse is held, and some¬
times according as the mare has more or less of what is
called blood. For farm-mares, the charge for covering by
a stallion of the same kind is commonly about a guinea,
with half-a-crown to the groom ; and it is a common prac¬
tice in the north to agree for a lower rate if the mare
does not prove with foal; sometimes nothing more is paid
in that case than the allowance to the groom.
The age at which the animals should be allowed to
copulate is not determined by uniform practice, and is
made to depend in some measure on the degree of ma¬
turity, which, in animals of the same species, is more or
less early, according to breed and feeding. Yet it would
seem in general to be an improper practice to allow ani¬
mals to propagate while they are themselves in a raw, un¬
formed state, and require all the nutriment which their
food affords, for raising them to the ordinary size of the
variety to which they belong. It may, therefore, be sel¬
dom advisable to employ the stallion till he is about three
years old, or the mare till she is a year older. But the
greater number of mares kept for breeding are much
older than this, and are, in many cases, not allowed to
bring foals till they are in the decline of life, or otherwise
unable to bear their full share in rural labour.
In the breeding of horses, as in all other kinds of live
stock, it is of importance that, at the season of parturi¬
tion, there should be a suitable supply of food for the
young. The time of covering mares ought, therefore, to
be partly regulated by a due regard to this circumstance,
and may be earlier in the south than in the north, where
grass, the most desirable food both for the dam and foal,
does not come so early by a month or six weeks. In
Scotland it is not advantageous to have mares to drop
their foals sooner than the middle of April; and, as the
period of gestation is about eleven months, they ai'e usu¬
ally covered in May, or early in June. But if mares are
intended to bring a foal every year, they should be co¬
vered from the ninth to the eleventh day after foaling,
whatever may be the time; and the horse should be
brought to them again nine or eighteen days afterwards.
The mares are worked in summer as usual, and more
moderately in the ensuing winter, till near the time of
foaling, when, if the season be somewhat advanced, even
though the pasture be not fully sufficient for their main¬
eul.
s.
-v
tenance, they should be turned out to some grass field j
near the homestead, and receive such additional supply
of food as may be necessary, under sheds adjoining. It is^<
both inconvenient and dangerous to confine a mare about
to foal in a common stable, and still more so to leave her
loose in a close stable among other horses ; and confine¬
ment is not much less objectionable after dropping her
foal. Such sheds are also exceedingly convenient even
after grass has become abundant, as the weather is often
cold and rigorous during the month of May. When the
foal is a few weeks old, the mare is again put to light
work ; and she is separated from the foal altogether, after
having nursed it for about six months.
Breeding mares are evidently unable to endure the fa¬
tigue of constant labour for some months before and after
parturition. This has led a few farmers to rear foals upon
cow-milk; but the practice is neither common, nor likely
ever to become so. The greater number of horses, there¬
fore, are bred in situations where a small portion of arable
land is attached to farms chiefly occupied with cattle or
sheep, or where the farms are so small as not to afford
full and constant employment to the number of horses
that must nevertheless be kept for the labour of particu¬
lar seasons.
“ During the first winter, foals are fed on hay, with aFi
little corn, but should not be constantly confined to the
stable; for even when there is nothing to be got on the
fields, it is much in their favour to be allowed exercise
out of doors. A considerable proportion of succulent
food, such as potatoes, carrots, and Swedish turnips (oil¬
cake has been recommended), should be given them
through the first winter; and bean and peas meal has
been advantageously substituted for oats, which, if allowed
in a considerable quantity, are injurious to the thriving of
the young animal, from their heating and astringent na¬
ture. Their pasture, during the following summer, de¬
pends upon the circumstances of the farms on which they
are reared. In the second winter they are fed in much
the same manner as in the first, except that straw may be
given for some months instead of hay ; and in the third
winter they have a greater allowance of corn, as they are
frequently worked at the harrows in the ensuing spring,
when about three years old.” (General Report of Scot¬
land, vol. iii. p. 183.)
The rearing of horses is carried on in some places in so S; m
systematical a manner, as to combine the profit arisingre
from the advance in the age of the animals, with that of
a moderate degree of labour before they are fit for the
purposes to which they are ultimately destined. In the
ordinary practice of the midland counties, the breeders
sell them while yearlings, or perhaps when foals, namely,
at six or eighteen months old, but most generally the lat¬
ter. They are mostly bought up by the graziers of Lei¬
cestershire, and the other grazing parts of that district,
where they are grown among the grazing stock until the
autumn following. At two years and a half old they are
bought up by the arable farmers, or dealers of Bucking¬
hamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and other western coun¬
ties, where they are broken into harness, and worked till
they are five, or more generally six years old. At this
age the dealers buy them up again to be sent to Lon¬
don, where they are finally purchased for drays, carts,
waggons, coaches, the army, or any other purpose kr
which they are found fit. (Marshall’s Economy of the
Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 311.) ,
A similar mode of transferring young horses from ban
to hand is common in the west of Scotland. The farmers
of Ayrshire and the counties adjacent, who generally crop
not more than one-fourth, or at most one-third, of their
AGRICULTURE.
319
ul. arable land, and occupy the remainder with a dairy-stock,
purchase young horses at the fairs of Lanark and Carn-
^ ^ath before mentioned,—work them at the harrows in
the following spring when below two years old,—put them
to the plough next winter at the age of two years and a
half, and continue to work them gently till they are five
years old, when they are sold again at the Rutherglen
and Glasgow markets, at a great advance of price, to
dealers and farmers from the south-eastern counties. A
considerable number of horses, however, are now bred in
the Lothians, Berwickshire, and Roxburghshire, the very
high prices of late having rendered it profitable to breed
them, even upon good arable land. But many farmers of
these counties, instead of breeding, still prefer purchasing
two and a half or three and a half year old colts, at the
markets in the west country, or at Newcastle fair in the
month of October. They buy in a certain number yearly,
and sell an equal number of their work-horses before they
are so old as to lose much of their value; so that their
stock is kept up without any other loss than such as arises
from accidents; and the greater price received for the
horses they sell is often sufficient to cover any such loss.
[General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 182.)
Cast: ion. Castration is performed on the males commonly when
they are about a year old ; but a late writer strongly dis¬
approves of delaying this operation so long, and recom¬
mends twitching the colts (a practice well known to ram-
breeders) any time after they are a week old, or as soon
after as the testicles are come down ; and this method, he
says, he has followed himself with great success. (Par¬
kinson on Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 74.) Another writer sug¬
gests, for experiment, the sparging of mares, thinking they
would work better and have more wind than geldings.
(Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 169.) But he does not
appear to have been aware that this is by no means a new
experiment; for Tusser, who wrote in 1562, speaks of
gelding fillies as a common practice at that period. The
main objection to this operation is not that brood-mares
would become scarce, as he supposes, but that, by inca¬
pacitating them from breeding, in case of accidents and
in old age, the loss on this expensive species of live stock
would be greatly enhanced. An old or lame mare would
then be as worthless as an old or lame gelding is at present.
3. Feeding and Working.
Aged
world
Select
'Goij
torses. r
Kffere,'
wpot
The age at which horses are put to full work, in the
labours of a farm, is usually when four or five years old,
according to the nature of the soil and the numbers of
the team; but they are always understood to be able to
pay for their maintenance after they are three years old,
by occasional work in ploughing and harrowing.
it is not so common a practice as it should be to sub¬
ject young horses of this kind to any regular course of
training; but they are made familiar with their keeper
a.s S00I1 as they are weaned, led about in a halter, rubbed
down m the stable, and treated with gentleness ; and be-
()re being put to work, it is usual to place them under the
large of a steady, careful servant, who very soon learns
iem to drag a harrow alongside of an older horse, and
' Inwards to take their share of the labour at the plough,
an ’. y degrees, in all the other work of the farm.
’th regard to the mode of feeding and working them,
n t leir treatment in general, the practice is so various,
ccordmg t° the state of agriculture in different districts,
( he circumstances of their owners, that all that can
one .e *s to mention some leading points of ma-
gement, in which all good farmers are agreed,
is p Se , ct'on horses adapted to particular situations
vu entIy a matter of primary consideration. It has
been already hinted that the heavy, black cart-horses, so Agricul-
much valued in London and a few other great towns, are ture.
but ill adapted to the operations of modern husbandry
and the nature of the soil and surface, and the situation
of a farm in regard to markets, manure, and fuel, require
some difference in the strength, activity, and hardiness of
this instrument of labour. Accordingly, in the northern
counties of Britain, where economy in this department is
more attended to than in the south, we find horses of con¬
siderable strength, and a moderate share of activity, em¬
ployed on firm, cohesive soils ; and on light, friable soils,
such as are possessed of more activity, not apt from their
weight to be soon fatigued by working on an unequal sur¬
face, and able to endure travelling, with a moderate load,
for a considerable distance, without injury.
Whatever may be the description of horses employed, Kept in
it is always a rule with good managers never to allowg00^0011*!^
them to fall off in condition so much as to be incapable oftion-
going through their work without frequent applications
of the lash. There is nothing which more clearly marks
the unprosperous condition of a tenant, than the leanness
of his working cattle, and their reluctant movements un¬
der this severe stimulus. There are particular operations,
indeed, such as turnip-sowing, seeding fallows, harvest-
work, &c. which require to be executed with so great dis¬
patch in our variable climate, that unusual exertions are
often indispensable. At these times it is hardly possible,
by the richest food and the most careful treatment, to
prevent the animals from losing flesh, sometimes even
when their spirit and vigour are not perceptibly impaired.
Such labours, however, do not continue long, and should
always be followed by a corresponding period of indul¬
gence. It is particularly dangerous and unprofitable to
begin the spring labour with horses worn down by bad
treatment during winter.
Much has been said about the great expense of feeding Feeding,
horses on corn and hay, and various roots have been re¬
commended as advantageous substitutes. That these ani¬
mals can ever be made to perform their labour, according
to the present courses of husbandry, on carrots, turnips,
potatoes, or other roots alone, or as their chief food, our
own experience and observation lead us to consider as
very improbable. They will work and thrive on such
food; but they will work as much more, and thrive as
much better, with oats or beans in addition, as fully to re¬
pay the difference in expense. One of the three meals a
day which farm-horses usually receive may consist of
roots, and a few of them every twenty-four hours are
highly conducive to the health of the animals; but we
have never had occasion to see any horse work regularly
throughout the year, in the way they are usually worked
in the best cultivated districts, without an allowance of
at least an English peck of oats, or mixed oats and beans,
daily, less or more at particular periods, but rather more
than this quantity for at least nine months in the year.
It has been already observed, that machines are in some
places used for cutting hay and straw into chaff, for bruis¬
ing or breaking down corn, and for preparing roots and
other articles by means of steam. The advantages of
these practices, both in regard to the economy of food
and the health of the animals, are too evident to require
illustration. But the custom, which has been adopted by
a few individuals, and injudiciously recommended by
others, of cutting down oats with their straw into the
state of chaff, without being previously threshed, is waste¬
ful and slovenly in the extreme. The proportion, as to
quantity or quality, which the oats bear to the bulk of the
straw, being various in every season, and almost in every
field, the proper allowance of oats can be served out only
320
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- by first separating them from the straw, and then mixing
ture. them with the cut straw or chaff, in suitable proportions,
before being laid into the manger.
Work per- The work performed is evidently a question of circum-
formed
stances, which does not admit of any precise solution. It
has been observed in the section on tillage, that a two-
horse plough may, on an average, work about an English
acre a day throughout the year; and, in general, accoid-
ing to the nature of the soil, and the labour that has been
previously bestowed on it, a pair of horses, in ploughing,
may travel daily from ten to fifteen miles, overcoming a
degree of resistance equal to from four to ten hundred¬
weights. On a well-made road, the same horses will draw
about a ton in a two-wheeled cart for twenty or twenty-
five miles every day; and one of the better sort, in the
slow movement of the carrier or waggoner, commonly
draws this weight by himself on the best turnpike roads..
In some places horses are in the yoke, when the length of
the day permits, nine hours, and in others ten hours a
day ; but, for three or four months in winter, only from five
to eight hours. In the former season they are allowed to
feed and rest two hours from mid-day; and, in the latter,
they have a little corn on the field when working as long
as there is day-light, but none if they work only five or
six hours.
In the section on farm-buildings, we have described
with some minuteness the construction and interior ar¬
rangement of modern stables ; and it is only necessary to
add here, that the stable-management of horses has been
greatly improved of late years. It is not long since there
were instances, even in the Border counties, of horses
being turned loose into a stable, without racks or mangers,
and without any other litter than the straw intended for
their food, which they tossed about in all directions.
Even those farmers who found it necessary to confine
them to separate stances, did not see the advantage of se¬
parating them by partitions, but left them standing, as is
too generally the case at present with cattle, at liberty to
inflict, and exposed to endure, serious injuries and priva¬
tions. When at last they were confined in stalls, it was
common to place two in each, by way of saving room and
the expense of partitions; and with the same view they
were made to stand in double rows, one row on each gable
or side-wall, the hind legs of each row so near those of
the opposite one as to leave little room for carrying away
their dung without danger, and to afford little security
against the attacks from behind of vicious horses placed
on the opposite sides of the stable. That all these incon¬
veniences are avoided in the present stables, must be evi¬
dent from the description already given, and the engraving
there referred to.
Stable-ma- It is now well understood that the liberal use of the
nagement brush and the currycomb twice a day,—frequent but mo¬
derate meals, consisting of a due proportion of succulent
joined to more solid food,—abundance of fresh litter, and
great attention to method and cleanliness, are as indis¬
pensable in the stable of a farmer (as far as is consistent
with a just regard to economy) as they have always been
held to be in the treatment of horses kept for pleasure.
Good dressing, with all well-informed and attentive men,
is considered to be no less necessary to the thriving of
the horses than good feeding: according to a common ex¬
pression, it is equal to half their food. We shall conclude
this section with an extract from a recent publication,
for the purpose of explaining the minutiae of management
adopted in the most improved counties of Scotland.
“ For about four months in summer, horses are fed on
pastures, or on clover and ryegrass, and tares cut green
and brought home to the stable or fold-yard; the latter
method being by far the most economical and advantage- A
ous. For other eight months they are kept on the straw
of oats, beans, and peas, and on clover and ryegrass hay.^Jv;
As soon as the grass fails towards the end of autumn,
they have hay for a few weeks ; and when the days be¬
come so short as to allow of no more than from six to
eight hours’ work, they are very generally fed with differ¬
ent kinds of straw, according to the circumstances of the
farm. In the month of March they are again put to hay,
till the grass is ready for being cut. Throughout all the
year they are allowed more or less com when constantly
worked ; and during the time they are on dry fodder,
particularly when on straw, they have potatoes, yams, or
Swedish turnips, once a day, sometimes boiled barley,
and, in a few instances, carrots. A portion of some of
these roots is of great importance to the health of horses,
when succulent herbage is first exchanged for hay at the
end of autumn; and it is no less so towards the latter
end of spring, when hay has become sapless, and the la¬
bour is usually severe. At these two periods, therefore,
it is the practice of all careful managers to give an ample
allowance of some of these roots, even though they should
be withheld for a few weeks during the intermediate
period.
“ The quantity of these different articles of food must
depend on the size of the horses, and the labour they per¬
form ; and the value, upon the prices of different seasons,
and in every season, on the situation of the farm with re¬
spect to markets, particularly for hay and roots, which
bring a very different price near large towns, and at a
few miles distance. It is for these reasons that the year¬
ly expense of a horse’s maintenance has been estimated
at almost every sum from L.15 to L.40. But it is only
necessary to attend to the expense of feeding horses that
are capable of performing the labour required of them
under the most correct and spirited management. Such
horses are fed with oats, sometimes with beans, three
times a day, for about eight months ; and twice a day for
the other four, when at grass; and, at the rate of eight
feeds per bushel, each horse will eat fifteen quarters of
oats, or twenty bolls Linlithgow measure, in the year.
When on hay, he will require about one stone of twenty-
two pounds avoirdupois daily, and five pounds more if he
does not get roots. One English acre of clover and rye¬
grass, and tares, may be necessary for four months soil¬
ing ; and a quarter of an acre of potatoes, yams, or
Swedish turnips, during the eight months he is fed with
hay or straw. The use of these roots may admit ot a
small diminution of the quantity of corn in the winter
months, or a part of it may be, as it almost always is, of
an inferior quality.”
The expense of a horse-plough must be different ac- •
cording to the situation, but is in every case considerable.® ^
The feeding of the horses, with the interest of capital, de¬
cline in value, and loss by accidents or disease, and the
charges for harness, shoeing, and farriery, were calculated,
towards the latter end of the last war, when the prices
were high, at from L.90 to L.100 per annum, which, wit
the wages of the ploughman, would be equal to 40s. lor
every acre of the land which they cultivated; but with pre¬
sent prices an abatement may be made of 20 or 25 per cent.,
reducing the whole charges upon a plough, wages include!,
to about L.100 per annum, and the expense per acre to
30s. or 32s. It is no doubt true that the expense is in many
places considerably less than this; but we speak hereo
horses fully employed throughout the year, and in J e
improved system of husbandry. Farmers who keep their
accounts in a proper manner charge for every days wor
of a man and a pair of horses from 7s. 6d. to 10s.; an
General
manage¬
ment in
Scotland.
-{p- gr
AGRICULTURE.
A -jl- when land is in an ordinary state of cultivation, it is
1 tit • sometimes let out to plough at the rate of 6s. to 8s. per
L^^aCre.
Wieer It has been long alleged that oxen might be beneficial-
oxen (ay ]y substituted for horses, in the common operations of
be u; agriculture; and a great many calculations have been sub-
[llste: 01 mitted to the public on both sides of the question. Start-
1 ling as it may seem, however, these calculations prove
nothing. The first point is to show, that the two animals
are equally adapted to every sort of farm labour. There
are other elements which enter into this question than the
actual expenditure on either side; and with reference to
the present state of agriculture in this country, we hold
it as a fact ascertained by general experience, that oxen
cannot be employed with advantage, except in particular
sorts of labour which do not go on all the year round, but
are only performed occasionally or at certain seasons.
The constant employment of oxen, to the entire exclusion
of horses, is, we venture to assert, impracticable in this
country, and, if it were practicable, would not be profit¬
able. It is readily admitted, that oxen are well adapted
to the ploughing of coarse tough swards, .and other lands
so much occupied with stones or roots as to require a
slow and steady power. They have also been found use¬
ful for threshing-machines worked by animal power, for
the same reason. But in almost all the other kinds of
labour necessary upon an extensive farm, oxen, such at
least as are bred in this country, are troublesome, ineffi¬
cient, slow, and unprofitable labourers. They are not
suited to the cart or waggon, even on our fields, and far
less for travelling upon our public roads. They cannot
perform their work with the dispatch necessary in our
variable climate at seedtime and harvest; and in the pre¬
paring, manuring, and seeding of large fields of turnip, a
process which calls for so much exertion and dispatch in
Norfolk and other turnip counties, the employment of
oxen is entirely inadmissible. Within certain limits a
horse will work according as he is fed; but if an ox is
pushed beyond his natural step, he is soon rendered
useless.
On a practical question of this nature it is experience
alone that can decide ; and there is none as to which gene¬
ral experience is more conclusive. In the rude state of
agriculture which prevailed in this country before the in¬
troduction of clover and turnips, oxen were, as they still
continue to be in some parts of the Continent, more gene*
rally employed in the home work of a farm than horses;
but in the progress of improvement, oxen have been gra-
dually laid aside, till horses are now, with comparatively
few exceptions, universally employed in their stead. So
; much is this the case, that one might almost estimate be-
j forehand the state of agriculture in any district where
(,xen are in general use. But the change from oxen to
worses, in the labours of agriculture, is not confined to this
( uuntry. A similar change has been long going on on the
ontinent, particularly in France, where, according to
l r best agricultural writers, the horse is preferred for
, same reasons as in this country. The advocates for
le use pf oxen, in fact, are in general persons of little or
110 P'j^lkal knowledge, who look only to the original cost
. t le comparative expense of maintaining the animals,
j!1!/1 t"e accidents and diseases to which the horse is
e; but they do not take into view what that cost and
1-t expense of maintenance would be if oxen were to
^!ne ‘jdo general use, and how far this change would
ect the supply of our butcher market; nor do they con-
().er t le l°ss upon the ploughman's wages, when he goes
n!an aiCre a ^ay or more with the one species of ani-
a s, and not more than half as much with the other.
VOL. II.
321.
T iey might reflect too upon the necessity there is for the Acn-Icub
empJoyment of horses in dray^s and waggons in our public ture.
streets and in long journeys. To provide for the neces-^-^*^..
sary supply, these horses must be reared as a part of the
farmer s live stock; and as he begins to work them so early
as at three years old, they return to him much more than
the price of their food, before they come to the age of five
or six years, which is as soon as they are fit for the wag¬
goner or the drayman. With all these considerations in
view, the arguments drawn from the husbandry of the
Greeks and Romans, and the modern practice of other
countries, wifi have no more weight with the enlightened
farmers of Britain than if it were attempted to prove the
superiority of manual and animal labour over machinery
in threshing and other operations. Such men will always
continue to apply each species of animal to its proper use,
and seek for labour from the horse, and beef from the ox;
improving the breeds of both with a view to these distinct
objects, instead of vainly attempting to obtain meat and
labour from the latter animal. By this management, as
we shall see immediately, our cattle are now prepared for
the butcher at a much earlier period than formerly, and
afford an adequate return in their carcass alone.
Sect. II. Cattle.
The purposes for which cattle are kept being more Variety of
various, and cattle being also for the most part not so breeds of
completely domesticated as horses, this species includescattle-
a much greater number of breeds and varieties. The dif¬
ferent races have been distinguished generally by the
length of their horns, or by their having no horns at all;
and again subdivided, and more particularly described
under the names of the counties or districts where they
are supposed to have originated, where they most abound,
or where they exist in the greatest purity.
In Britain, as in most other countries, horses are useful
only for the labour they perform, though it is probable
that nothing but prejudice prevents them from enlarging,
at least occasionally, the supply of human food; and to
render them fit for labour, they must sooner or later in
their lives be entirely subjected to the care and control
of man. Cattle, on the other hand, except the few kept
for labour and for their milk, have not, till of late (and
even now only in particular countries), been the objects
of that discipline and those experiments which seek to
restrain habits acquired in a state of nature—to improve
forms and proportions, perpetuated and somewhat varied
by climate, surface, and herbage—and to cultivate and
bring to perfection, with the greatest possible economy,
all those valuable properties with which nature has en¬
dowed the inferior animals for the subsistence and the -
comfort of man. In most parts of the world cattle are
still merely the creatures of soil and climate; and it is a
striking evidence of the greater progress of social im¬
provement in Britain, that we possess races of cattle and
sheep, formed in a great measure by skill and industry,
which excel beyond all comparison those of every other
country.
The three great products of cattle—meat, milk, and la-Different
hour—have each of them engaged the attention of British products,
agriculturists; but experience has not hitherto justified
the expectation that has been entertained of combining all
these desirable properties, in an eminent degree, in the
same race. That form which indicates the property of
yielding the most milk, differs materially from that which
we know from experience to be combined with early ma¬
turity and the most valuable carcass; and the breeds
which are understood to give the greatest weight of meat
2 s
322
AGRICULTURE.
Affricul- for the food they consume, and to contain the least pro- vious improvement. The improved breed of Leicester- Ajp.
portion of offal, are not those which possess, in the high- shire is said to have been formed by Mr Webster of Can- H
'est degree, the strength and activity required in beasts of 'ey.-ar Cove^
ture.
labour.
Form of
the male.
Breeds.
Long-
horned.
As we propose to treat of the produce and manufacture
of milk in a separate article (see Dairy), we shall there
have occasion to notice those breeds of which the females
are most valuable for the dairy ; only referring at present
to Plate XIII. for an engraving of the Ayrshire cow, an ex¬
cellent race, spread over that and the counties adjacent.
And as cattle are seldom or never reared exclusively, or
even chiefly, for the purpose of labour, which is now in
most parts of Britain performed entirely by horses, it will
be sufficient to apply our remarks in an especial manner
to the races themselves, and the modes of treatment which
are best adapted to the production of beef.
“ Whatever be the breed,” says Mr Culley, <£ I pre¬
sume that, to arrive at excellence, there is one form or
shape essential to all, which form I shall attempt to give
in the following description of a bull.
“ The head of the bull should be rather long, and muz¬
zle fine ; his eyes lively and prominent; his ears long
and thin; his horns white; his neck rising with a gentle
curve from the shoulders, and small and fine where it
joins the head ; his shoulders moderately broad at the top,
joining full to his chine and chest backwards, and to the
neck-vein forwards; his bosom open; breast broad, and
projecting well before his legs; his arms or fore thighs
muscular, and tapering to his knee; his legs straight,
clean, and very fine boned; his chine and chest so full as
to leave no hollow behind the shoulders ; the plates strong,
to keep his belly from sinking below the level of his
breast; his back or loin broad, straight, and flat; his ribs
rising one above another, in such a manner that the last
rib shall be rather the highest, leaving only a small space
to the hips or hooks, the whole forming a round or barrel¬
like carcass; his hips should be wide placed, round or
globular, and a little higher than the back; the quarters
(from the hip to the rump) long, and instead of being
square, as recommended by some, they should taper gra¬
dually from the hips backward, and the turls or pottbones
not in the least protuberant; rump close to the tail; the
tail broad, well haired, and set on so high as to be in the
same horizontal line with his back.” (Culley on Live
Stock, p. 38.)
B.
)r«j
1. Breeds.
1. The Long-honied or Lancashire breed of cattle is dis¬
tinguished from others by the length of their horns, the
thickness and firm texture of their hides, the length and
closeness of their hair, the large size of their hoofs, and
coarse, leathery, thick necks : they are likewise deeper in
their fore quarters and lighter in their hind quarters than
most other breeds,—narrower in their shape, less in point
of weight, than the short-horns, though better weighers in
proportion to their size; and though they give consider¬
ably less milk, it is said to afford more cream in propor¬
tion to its quantity.
They are more varied in their colour than any of the
other breeds; but, whatever the colour be, they have in
general a white streak along their back, which the breed¬
ers term finched, and mostly a white spot on the inside of
the hough, (/rf. p. 53.)
In a general view, this race, notwithstanding the singu¬
lar efforts that have been made towards its improvement,
remains with little alteration ; for, excepting in Leices¬
tershire, none of the subvarieties (which differ a little in
almost every one of those counties where the long-horns
prevail (have undergone any radical change, nor any ob-
brought from the banks of the Trent about 90 years
which were crossed with bulls from Westmoreland andU rte
Lancashire. Mr Bakewell of Dishley, in Leicester¬
shire, afterwards got the lead as a breeder, by selecting
from the Canley stock; and the stocks of several other
eminent breeders have been traced to the same source.
(Marshall’s Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 318.) See Plate
XIV.
2. The Short-horned, sometimes called the Dutch breed,
is known by a variety of names, taken from the districtsh>k
where they form the principal cattle-stock, or where most
attention has been paid to their improvement. Thus, dif¬
ferent families of this race are distinguished by the names
of the Holderness, the Teeswater, the Yorkshire, Durham,
Northumberland, and other breeds. The Teeswater breed,
a variety of short-horns, established on the banks of the
Tees, at the head of the vale of York, is at present in the
highest estimation, and is alleged to be the true York¬
shire short-horned breed. Bulls and cows from this stock,
purchased at most extraordinary prices, are spread over
all the north of England and the border counties of Scot¬
land. The bone, head, and neck of these cattle are fine;
the hide is very thin, the chine full, the loin broad, and
the carcass throughout large and well fashioned; and the
flesh and fatting quality equal, or perhaps superior, to
those of any other large breed. The short-horns give a
greater quantity of milk than any other cattle; a cow
usually yielding 24 quarts of milk per day, making three
firkins of butter during the grass season. Their colours
are much varied, but they are generally red and white
mixed, or what the breeders call flecked. See Plate XIV.
“ The heaviest and largest oxen of the short-horned
breed, when properly fed, victual the East India ships, as
they produce the thickest beef, which, by retaining its
juices, is the best adapted for such long voyages. Our
royal navy should also be victualed from these; but, by
the jobs made by contractors, and other abuses, I am
afraid our honest tars are often fed with beef of an inferior
quality. However, the coal ships from Newcastle, Shields,
Sunderland, &c. are wholly supplied with the beef of these
valuable animals.
“ These oxen commonly weigh from 60 to 100 stone
(14 lb. to the stone), and they have several times been fed
to 120, 130, and some particular ones to upwards ol DO
stone, the four quarters only.” (Culley on Live Stock,
P* 48*)
3. The Middle-horned breeds comprehend in like manner j
several local varieties, of which the most noted are theh
Devons, the Sussexes, and the Herefords; the two last,
according to Mr Culley, being varieties of the first, though
of a greater size, the Herefords being the largest. These
cattle are the most esteemed of all our breeds for the
draught, on account of their activity and hardiness. They
do not milk so well as the short-horns, but are not de¬
ficient in the valuable property of feeding at an early age,
when not employed in labour.
The Devonshire cattle are “ of a high red colour (if an)!
white spots, they reckon the breed impure, particularly »
those spots run into one another), with a light dun ring
round the eye, and the muzzle of the same colour; fine
in the bone, clean in the neck, horns of a medium length
bent upwards, thin-faced and fine in the chops, wide m
the hips, a tolerable barrel, but rather flat on the sl^e®’
tail small and set on very high; they are thin-skinne'?
and silky in handling, feed at an early age, or arrive a
maturity sooner than most other breeds.” (Culley ^
e»
AGRICULTURE.
v cul- Live Stock, p. 51.) Another writer observes, that they
Iare a model for all persons who breed oxen for the yoke,
ty'^(Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 112.) The weight
of the cows is usually from 30 to 40 stone, and of the oxen
from 40 to 60. The North Devon variety, in particular,
from the fineness in the grain of the meat, is held in high
estimation in Smithfield. (Dickson’s Practical Agricul¬
ture, vol. ii. p. 120.)
Sus sand The Sussex and Herefordshire cattle are of a deep red
He ml colour, with fine hair and very thin hides; neck and head
clean; horns neither long nor short, rather turning up at
the points; in general they are well made in the hind
quarters, wide across the hips, rump, and sirloin, but nar¬
row in the chine ; tolerably straight along the back ; ribs
too flat; thin in the thigh ; and bone not large. An ox,
six years old, when fat, will weigh from 60 to 100 stone,
the fore quarters generally the heaviest. The oxen are
mostly worked from three to six years old, sometimes till
seven, when they are turned off for feeding. The Here¬
ford cattle are next in size to the Yorkshire short-horns.
Both this and the Gloucester variety are highly eligible
as dairy stock, and the females of the Herefords have been
found to fatten better at three years old than any other
kind of cattle except the spayed heifers of Norfolk. (Mar¬
shall’s Economy of Gloucestershire f
Pol: 4. The Polled or hornless breeds. The most numerous
tow and esteemed variety is the Galloway breed, so called
from the province of that name, in the south-west of Scot¬
land, where they most abound. The true Galloway bul¬
lock “ is straight and broad on the back, and nearly level
from the head to the rump; broad at the loins, not, how¬
ever, with hooked bones, or projecting knobs; so that when
viewed from above, the whole body appears beautifully
rounded, like the longitudinal section of a roller. He is
long in the quarters, but not broad in the twist. He is
deep in the chest, short in the leg, and moderately fine in
the bone, clean in the chop and in the neck. His head is
of a moderate size, with large, rough ears, and full but not
prominent eyes or heavy eye-brows, so that he has a calm,
though determined look. His well-proportioned form is
clothed with a loose and mellow skin, adorned with long,
soft, glossy hair.’’ ( Galloway Report, p. 236.) The pre¬
vailing coiour is black or dark brindled; and, though they
are occasionally found of every colour, the dark colours
are uniformly preferred, from a belief that they are con¬
nected with superior hardiness of constitution. The
(lalloways are rather under-sized, not very different from
the size of the Devons, but as much less than the long¬
horns as the long-horns are less than the short-horns.
On the best farms the average weight of bullocks three
years and a half old, when the greater part of them
are driven to the south, has been stated at about forty
stone avoirdupois. Some of them, fattened in England,
have been brought to nearly one hundred stone. See
Hate XV.
The general properties of this breed are well known in
almost every part of England, as well as in Scotland,
they are sometimes sent from their native pastures di¬
rectly to Smithfield, a distance of 400 miles, and sold at
once to the butcher ; and in spring they are often shown
•n JS/oriolk, immediately after their arrival, in as good con-
itmn, or even better than when they began their journey.
1. ‘HI feeding, there is perhaps no breed that sooner
a ams maturity, and their flesh is of the finest quality.
, r . ky was misinformed about the quantity of milk
ey yield, which, though rich, is by no means abundant.
323
It is alleged not to be more than seventy or eighty Agricul-
years since the Galloways were all horned, and very much ture.
the same, in external appearance and character, with the^-^V^^
breed of black-cattle which prevailed over the west of
Scotland at that period, and which still abound in perfec¬
tion, the largest sized ones in Argyllshire, and the smaller
in the Isle of Skye. The Galloway cattle, at the time al¬
luded to, were coupled with some hornless bulls, of a sort
which do not seem now to be accurately known, but which
were then brought from Cumberland ; the effects of which
crossing were thought to be the general loss of horns in
the former, and the enlargement of their size; the con¬
tinuance of a hornless sort being kept up by selecting only
such for breeding, or perhaps by other means, as by the
practice of eradicating with the knife the horns in their
very young state.” (Coventry on Live Stock, p. 28.)
The Galloway cattle, besides occupying almost exclu¬
sively the stewartry of Kirkcudbright and the shire of Wig-
ton, the two divisions of Galloway, are now spread over
the adjoining county of Dumfries, and are to be found
in smaller numbers in most of the other districts of Scot¬
land. The cattle of Angus or Forfarshire, on the east
coast, many of which are also without horns, resemble the
Galloways in their colour, size, and general properties.
The Suffolk Duns, according to Mr Culley, are nothing Suffolk
more than a variety of the Galloway breed. Fie supposes Duns,
them to have originated in the intercourse that has long
subsisted between the Scotish drovers of Galloway cattle,
and the Suffolk and Norfolk graziers who feed them. The
Suffolks are almost all light duns, thus differing from the
Galloways; and are considered a very useful kind of little
cattle, particularly for the dairy.1
5. The cattle of the Highlands of Scotland are divided High-
into a number of local varieties, some of which differ ma- lands,
terially from others, probably owing to a difference in the
climate and the quality of the herbage, rather than to
their being sprung from races originally distinct, or to any
great change effected either by selection or by crossing
with other breeds. It is only of late that much attention
has been paid to their improvement in any part of that
extensive district; and in the northern and central High¬
lands the cattle are yet, for the most part, in as rude a
state, and under management as defective, as they were
some centuries ago.
These cattle have almost exclusive possession of all
that division of Scotland, including the Hebrides, marked
off by a line from the Frith of Clyde on the west to the
Moray Frith on the north, and bending towards the east
till it approaches in some places very near to the German
Ocean. Along the eastern coast, north of the Frith of
Forth, the Highland cattle are intermixed with various
local breeds, of which they have probably been the basis.
There are more or less marked distinctions among tlie
cattle of the different Highland counties; and, in com¬
mon language, we speak of the Inverness-shire, the Banff¬
shire, &c. cattle, as if they were so many separate breeds;
but it is only necessary in this place to notice the two
more general varieties, now clearly distinguishable by
their form, size, and general properties.
The most valuable of these are the cattle of the Western West
Highlands and Isles, commonly called the Argyllshire breed, Highlands,
or the breed of the Isle of Skye, one of the islands attach-Argyll-
ed to the county of Inverness. The cattle of the Hebrides or
are called Kyloes, a name which is often applied in theb ^e"
south to all the varieties of the Highland cattle, not, as
a late writer (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii.
1 Culley o;i Live Stuck, p. G6; and Parkinson on Live Stuck, vol. i. p. 118.
j
324
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul
lure.
p. 1124)) has imagined, from the district in Ayrshire called
Kyle, where very few of them are kept, but from their
crossing, in their progress to the south, the kyloes or fer¬
ries in the mainland and Western Islands, where these
cattle are found in the greatest perfection. ( General Re¬
port of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 26.)
A bull of the Kyloe breed should be of a middle size,
capable of being fattened to fifty stone avoirdupois. His
colour should be black, or dark brown, or reddish brown,
without any white or yellow spots#- His head should be
rather small, his muzzle fine, his horns equable, not very
thick, of a clear green and waxy tinge; his general ap¬
pearance should combine agility, vivacity, and strength ;
and his hair should be glossy, thick, and vigorous, indi¬
cating a sound constitution and perfect health. See
Plate XV. .
For a bull of this description Mr Macneil of Colonsay
refused 200 guineas; and for one of an inferior sort he ac¬
tually received L.170 sterling. Mr Macdonald of Staffa^
bought one, nine years old, at 100 guineas. {Report oj
the Hebrides, p. 425.)
The lean weight of the best stock, from three to four
years old, when they are commonly sold to the south, is
from twenty-six to thirty stone the four quarters; but
when brought to good pastures, they can be easily raised
to fifty stone and upwards. There is perhaps no other
breed whose weight depends so much on feeding, nor any
that fattens and grows so much at the same time. They
are exceedingly hardy, easily maintained, speedily fatten¬
ed on pastures where large animals could scarcely sub¬
sist; the beef is fine in the grain, and well marbled or
intermixed with fat; and their milk is rich, but small in
quantity.
Norlands. The other variety of Highland cattle is the Norlands,
or North Highlanders, including the stocks of the counties
of Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, and parts adja¬
cent. Their hides are generally coarse, backs high and
narrow, ribs flat, bones large, and legs long and feeble
for the weight of the chest; and they are considered very
slow feeders. But though this description be but too ap¬
plicable to the cattle of the greater part of that remote
district, considerable improvement has been effected in
many parts of it, by crossing with the Skye or Argyll
breeds, within the last twenty years.
The cattle of the northern isles of Orkney and Zetland
are of a most diminutive size; an ox weighing about sixty
pounds a quarter, and a cow forty-five pounds. They are
of all colours, and their shapes are generally bad; yet
they give a quantity of excellent milk, fatten rapidly
when put on good pastures, and, in their own district, are
considered strong, hardy, and excellent workers, when
well trained to the yoke, and so plentifully fed as to en¬
able them to support labour.
6. It has been already observed, that all along the low¬
lands of the eastern coast of Scotland, to the north of the
Frith of Forth, there are varieties of cattle which, what¬
ever may have been their origin, differ as much from the
cattle of the western and northern Highlands as most of
those that have been described as separate breeds. Of
the Fifeshire cattle, Mr Culley observes, “ You would at
first imagine them a distinct breed, from their upright
white horns, being exceedingly light-lyered and thin-thigh¬
ed ; but I am pretty clear it is only from their being more
nearly allied to the kyloes, and consequently less of the
coarse kind of short-horns in them.” (Culley on Live
Stock, p. 69.) Notwithstanding this opinion, the cattle of
the north-eastern counties of Scotland require, for every
useful purpose, to be mentioned separately from the High¬
land breeds; and as all of them have a general resemblance,
Orkney
and Bet-
.and.
Fifesliire.
it will only be necessary, in this place, to notice the Fife As ^
cattle in particular. t‘
There are various traditions about the origin of this''-' v
variety. It is said to have been much improved by Eng¬
lish cows, sent by Henry VII. to his daughter, the consort
of James IV., who usually resided at the palace of Falkland
in that county ; and as there is some resemblance between
the cattle of Fife and Cambridgeshire, they are supposed
to have been brought originally from the latter county.
Others ascribe the origin of the present breed to bulls and
cows sent by James VI. (James I. of England), in payment
of the money which his obliging neighbours in Fife are
said to have advanced for his equipment, v/hen he went to
take possession of the English throne. {Report of Naim
and Moray, p. 305.)
The prevailing colour of the Fife cattle is black, though
sometimes spotted or streaked with white, and some of
them are altogether grey. The horns are small, white,
generally pretty erect, or at least turned up at the points,
bending rather forward, and not wide-spread like the Lan¬
cashire long-horned breed. The bone is small in propor¬
tion to the carcass, the limbs clean but short, and the skin
soft. They are wide between the hook-bones; the ribs
narrow, wide set, and having a great curvature. They
fatten quickly, and fill up well at all the choice points;
are hardy, fleet, and travel well, and are excellent for
labour, both at plough and cart. A good cow of this
breed gives from eighteen to twenty-four quarts of milk
per day, yielding from seven to nine pounds of butter, and
from ten to twelve pounds of cheese per week (twenty-
four ounces to the pound), for some months after calving.
{Fife Report, p. 251 and 253.)
The cattle of Aberdeenshire, the largest of which are Ait ms.
said to have been produced by crossing with Fife bulls,sLi
have been long highly esteemed in the southern markets.
It is observed, that every succeeding generation of them
has increased in size for the last 30 years, and that the
native breed has doubled its former weight since the in¬
troduction of turnips. {Aberdeenshire Report, p. 468.)
The colour is commonly black, but thei’e are many of a
red and brindled colour. They are thinner in the buttock
in proportion to their weight, and deeper in the belly in
proportion to their circumference, than the West High¬
landers, and they yield a much larger quantity of milk.
Many of them are brought to the south of Scotland, and
kept during winter in the straw-yards, for which they suit
better than smaller cattle, as they are not so impatient ot
confinement. The ordinary weight of middle-sized oxen,
at from three to five years old, is from forty to fifty stone;
but after being worked for some time, and thoroughly
fattened, they have been known to reach double this
weight.
7. Of the Welsh cattle “ there seem to be two distincty |>.
kinds. The large sort are of a brown colour, with some
white on the rump and shoulders, denoting a cross from the
long-horns, though in shape not the least resembling them.
They are long in the legs, stand high according to their
weight, are thin in the thigh, and rather narrow in the
chine ; their horns are white, and tui’ned upwards; they
are light in flesh, and, next to the Devons, well formed for
the yoke; have very good hoofs,. and walk light and
nimble. The other sort are much more valuable; colour
black, with very little white; of a good useful form, short
in the leg, with round, deep bodies ; the hide is rather thin,
with short hair; they have a lively look and a good eye;
and the bones, though not very small, are neither large
nor clumsy; and the cows are considered good milkeis-
(Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 135.) ,
8. The Alderney cattle are to be met with only abou A
AGRICULTURE.
At'rJl’
W’
Wild:
Lreet;
. the seats of a few great landholders, where they are kept
chiefly for the sake of their milk, which is very rich,
s though small in quantity. This race is considered by very
competent judges as too delicate and tender to be propa¬
gated to any extent in Britain, at least in its northern
parts. Their colour is mostly yellow or light red, with
white or mottled faces : they have short, crumpled horns,
are small in size, and very ill shaped ; yet they are fine¬
boned in general; and their beef, though high-coloured, is
very well flavoured. I have seen, says Mr Culley, some
very useful cattle bred from a cross between an Alderney
cow and a short-horned bull.
9. The last variety of cattle we shall mention is the
mid breed, which is found only in the parks of a few great
proprietors, who preserve the animals as a curiosity.
Those kept at Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, a
seat belonging to the earl of Tankerville, have been very
accurately described in the Northumberland Report, and
in Mr Gulley’s book on Live Stock, so often quoted in this
article.
“ Their colour is invariably of a creamy white; muzzle
black; the whole of the inside of the ear, and about one-
third of the outside, from the tips downward, red'; horns
white, with black tips, very fine, and bent upwards ; some
of the bulls have a thin upright mane, about an inch and
a half or two inches long. The weight of the oxen is from
35 to 45 stone, and the cows from 25 to 35 stone the four
quarters (14 pound to the stone). The beef is finely
marbled, and of excellent flavour.
“ From the nature of their pasture, and the frequent
agitation they are put into by the curiosity of strangers, it
is scarce to be expected they should get very fat; yet the
six-years-old oxen are generally very good beef, from
whence it may be fairly supposed that, in proper situa¬
tions, they would feed well.
“ At the first appearance of any person they set off in
lull gallop, and, at the distance of about 200 yards, make
a wheel round and come boldly up again, tossing their
heads in a menacing manner; on a sudden they make a
lull stop, at the distance of 40 or 50 yards, looking wildly
at the object of their surprise, but, upon the least motion
being made, they all again turn round, and fly off with
equal speed, but not to the same distance, forming a shorter
circle, and again returning with a bolder and more threaten¬
ing aspect than before ; they approach much nearer, pro¬
bably within 30 yards, when they again make another
stand, and again fly off: this they do several times, short¬
ening their distance, and advancing nearer and nearer, till
they come within such a short distance that most people
link it prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke
them further.
“ Ule mode of killing them was perhaps the only mo¬
dern remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting. On
notice being given that a wild bull would be killed on a
certain day, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood came
mounted and armed with guns, &c. sometimes to the
amount of 100 horse and 400 or 500 foot, who stood upon
|va s orS0f into trees, while the horsemen rode off the
mil from the rest of the herd, until he stood at bay, when
f ln^rksman dismounted and shot. At some of these
mntings, 20 or 30 shots have been fired before he was
s.u Ueti’ On such occasions the bleeding victim grew
desperately furious, from the smarting of his w'ounds, and
c shouts of savage joy that were echoing from every
t]U t i ^rom ti16 number of accidents that happened,
ui:> dangerous mode has been little practised of late years,
it paik-keeper alone generally shooting them with a
nfled gun at one shot. b ^ S
M hen the cows calve, they hide their calves for a
325
week or ten days m some sequestered situation, and go Aericul
and suckle them two or three times a day. If any per- ture
son come near the calves, they clap their heads close to'^-^
the ground, and lie like a hare in form, to hide them¬
selves. This is a proof of their native wildness, and is
corroborated by the following circumstance that happened
to the writer of this narrative (Mr Bailey of Ghillingham),
who found a hidden calf, two days old, very lean and very
weak. On stroking its head it got up, pawed two or three
times like an old bull, bellowed very loud, stepped back a
few steps, and bolted at his legs with all its force; it then
began to paw again, bellowed, stepped back, and bolted
as before; but knowing its intention, and stepping aside,
it missed him, fell, and was so very weak, that it could
not rise, though it made several efforts:—but it had done
enough;—the whole herd were alarmed, and, coming to
its rescue, obliged him to retire; for the dams will allow
no person to touch their calves, without attacking them
with impetuous ferocity.
“ When a calf is intended to be castrated, the park-
keeper marks the place where it is hid, and when the herd
are at a distance, takes an assistant with him on horse¬
back ; they tie a handkerchief round the calf’s mouth to
prevent its bellowing, and then perform the operation in
the usual way, with as much expedition as possible. 
When any one happens to be wounded, or is grown weak
and feeble through age or sickness, the rest "of the herd
set upon it and gore it to death.” (Culley on Live
Stock, p. 73.)
2,. Breeding and Rearing.
The pedigrees of the best cattle have been preserved Great at-
with no less care, in several parts of England, than those tention to
of race-horses ; and in the selection of breeders, the pro-breeding,
perties of the family from which they have descended
are matters of scarcely less importance than the form of
the young animals themselves. In rearing calves, the
blood and the colour seem to be more attended to by
breeders in general than the form. (Marshall’s York¬
shire, vol. ii. p. 203.) The extraordinary prices paid for
the best bred bulls and cows, show that this attention has
not been without its reward.
The best bulls are either let out for the season, or cows Bulls,
are brought to, them at a certain rate per head. The
practice of letting bulls is said to have originated with Mr
Bakewell (Marshall’s Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 334),
who, so far back as 1792, let a bull for 152 guineas, to be
used only four months (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii.
p. 469); and five guineas per cow were about that time
commonly paid to him and other eminent breeders.
The age at which bulls should begin to be employed, Age of
and the number of seasons they should be allowed to breeding
serve, as well as the age at which the females should be¬
gin to breed, are points regarding which practice is by
no means uniform. In the midland counties the bulls
are pretty commonly allowed to leap while yearlings,
and, if good stock-getters, are kept on as long as they
will serve, perhaps till they are 10 or 12 years old. In
other places they are employed only three seasons, for
the first time at two years old. The females in some in¬
stances bring their first calf at the age of two years, but
more commonly, perhaps, not till they are a year older;
and in some of the Highland districts, where, owing to a
want of proper nourishment in their infancy, they are
later in reaching their full growth, the females do not
often become mothers till they are about four years old.
The period of gestation with cows has been found, perio<] of
upon an average of a great number of experiments, to be gestation,
about 40 weeks; and they seldom bring more than one
326
AGRICULTURE.
Agncul- calf at a birth. When they produce twins, one of them
ture- a male and the other a female, the latter, which is called
a, free martin, is commonly considered to be incapable of
UniT mar* Procreati°n* Yet there seem to have been well-authenti¬
cated instances to the contrary. (Farmer s Magazine,
vol. vii. p. 462, and vol. viii. p. 466.)
Calves. Though calves are dropped at all seasons of the year,
the spring is the most common period; and, except in
those districts where the fatting of calves is an object of
importance, it is probably the most advantageous time,
as the calves, having all the grass season before them, be¬
come sufficiently strong for enduring the change to a less
agreeable food in the ensuing winter. A calf newly
weaned seldom thrives well during that period, unless it
is pampered with better food than usually falls to the
share of young animals.
Suckling. In Galloway and the Highlands of Scotland the almost
invariable practice is to allow the calves to suck the cows,
and this commonly as long as the cows give any milk;
most of them, indeed, will not give down their milk unless
the calf is put to one side of the udder, while the milk¬
maid draws the teats on the other side; and if the maid
gives the least interruption to her rival, the cow punishes
the fraud by a blow with her leg, often overturning both
the offender and the milking-pail. (General Report of
Scotland, vol. iii. p. 47.) Where there is not an inclosure
for confining the calves when they are put to grass, a
muzzle is made for the nose, with iron spikes fastened on
it, which prick the cow when the calf attempts to suck
at forbidden times, and obliges her to keep it off till the
muzzle be removed at the stated periods of milking. But
this is too troublesome where many of them are reared,
in which case they are kept apart from the cows till the
hours of milking.
This natural method of rearing calves is common, at
least for a short time, in other parts of Britain. Bull-
calves, and sometimes high-bred heifers, are suffered to
remain at the teat until they be six, nine, or perhaps
twelve months old; letting them run either with their
dams, or more frequently, especially when the dairy is
an object, with less valuable cows or heifers bought in
for the purpose, and, when the intention is fulfilled, sold
or fatted; each cow being generally allowed one male
calf or two females.
Hearing “ The best method of the dairymen is this :—The calves
calves. suck a week or a fortnight, according to their strength (a
good rule) ; new milk in the pail, a few meals ; next new
milk and skim-milk mixed, a few meals more ; then skim-
milk alone, or porridge made with milk, water, ground
oats, &c. and sometimes oil-cake, until cheese-making
commence; after which, whey porridge, or sweet whev,
in the field; being careful to house them in the night,
until warm weather be confirmed.” (Marshall’s Midland
Counties, vol. i. p. 338.)
Fed from This method of suckling is not, however, free from ob-
a pail. jection; and, in the ordinary practice of rearing calves, it
is held to be a preferable plan to begin at once to learn
them to drink from a pail. The calf that is fed from the
teat must depend upon the milk of its dam, however
scanty or irregular it may be; whereas, when fed from a
dish, the quantity can be regulated according to its age;
and various substitutes may be resorted to, by which a
part of the milk is saved for other purposes, or a greater
number of calves reared upon the same quantity. ( Gene¬
ral Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 51.) Yet it would seem
to be a good practice to allow calves to suck for a few
days at first, if there was no inconvenience to be appre¬
hended both to themselves and their dams from the se¬
paration afterwards.
When fed from the pail, the average allowance to a A
calf is about two imperial wine gallons of milk daily for
12 or 13 weeks ; at first fresh milk as it is drawn from the^
cow, and afterwards skim-milk. But after it is three or^u
four weeks old, a great variety of substitutes for milk are f1
used in different places, of which linseed, oil-cake, meal,0"
and turnips, are the most common. The practice, how¬
ever, varies so much, no particular substitute being in ge¬
neral use, nor the quantity, nor the time of giving it, ac¬
curately determined, that it would be of no use to go into
details here. For the feeding and treatment of fattening
calves, see Dairy.
It is a rule, applicable to all kinds of live stock, to per-Cas
form castration, where that is to be done, while the ani¬
mals are yet very young, and just so strong as to endure
this severe operation without any great danger of its
proving fatal. The males, accordingly, are cut commonly
when about a month old, and the females at the age of
from one to three months; but in Galloway, where more
heifers are spayed than perhaps in all the island besides,
this is seldom done till they are about a year old.
The treatment of young cattle from the time they are Yoi
separated from their dams, or able to subsist on the com-catt
mon food of the other stock, must entirely depend upon
the circumstances of the farm on which they are reared.
In summer their pasture is often coarse, but abundant;
and in winter all good breeders give them an allowance
of succulent food along with their dry fodder. The fol¬
lowing description is not less applicable to the best prac¬
tice in the rearing of all cattle bred on arable land, than
to the short-horns:—
“ The first winter they have hay and turnips; the fol¬
lowing summer, coarse pasture ; the second winter, straw
in the fold-yard, and a few turnips once a day, in an ad¬
joining field, just sufficient to prevent the straw from
binding them too much ; the next summer, tolerably good
pasture; and the third winter, as many turnips as they
can eat, and in every respect treated as fatting cattle.”
(Culley on Live Stock, p. 47.) The only difference is,
that, where straw is in great abundance, the cattle some¬
times do not eat their turnips on the fields, but in the
fold-yard. In those situations where turnips cannot be
extensively cultivated, or where cattle are sold for graz¬
ing instead of being fattened, a Smaller allowance of
turnips the third winter is made to suffice.
:ul.
e.
V
it?
3. Fatting.
Cattle are fatted on grass in summer, commonly onDif
pastures, but in a few instances on herbage cut and con-fin
sumed in feeding-houses or fold-yards; and in winter by!0i'j
far the greater number are fatted on turnips, along with^
hay or straw. Oil-cake, carrots, potatoes, and other
articles of food, are used occasionally, and in particular
districts; oil-cake chiefly for feeding the larger animals;
but few comparatively are fatted on any of these without
the addition of turnips of one or other of the varieties
formerly mentioned. See Sect. VI. A considerable num¬
ber of cattle are also fatted on the offals of distilleries,
when working from corn; a source of supply, the fre¬
quent interruption of which, till of late, was much felt in
those situations where the soil does not permit the exten¬
sive cultivation of turnips.
It is seldom or never the practice of the best managers Gi
to fatten cattle with roots or other winter food on the JJ
field during that season, but to confine them to houses
or fold-yards, where they are well littered, regulariy
fed, not liable to be disturbed, and sheltered from the
inclemency of the weather, and where the manure they
make is an object of very considerable importance, anc
nt
f
ed
:o
AGRICULTURE.
A^ul- of much greater value than if it were dropped at random
t • over a whole field.
The age at which cattle are fatted depends upon the
lSe ^at'manner in which they have been reared, upon the pro-
^ perties of the breed in regard to a propensity to fatten
earlier or later in life, and on the circumstances of their
being employed in breeding, in labour, for the dairy, or
reared solely for the butcher. In the latter case, the most
improved breeds are fit for the shambles when about
three years old, and very few of any large breed are kept
more than a year longer. As to cows and working oxen,
the age of fatting must necessarily be more indefinite ; in
most instances the latter are put up to feed after working
three years, or in the seventh or eighth year of their age.
In general it may be said that the small breeds of
cattle are fattened on pastures, though sometimes finished
off on a few weeks’ turnips ; and that large cattle, at least
in the north, are chiefly fatted in stalls or fold-yards, by
means of turnips and the other articles before mentioned,
all-pd- Stall-feeding is the most common, and, when judicious-
ly conducted, probably the most eligible method in regard
to the cattle themselves, the economy of food, and the
expense of farm-buildings. The small shed and fold-yard,
called a hammel, are used only for the larger breeds ; but
they do not seem well calculated for an extensive system
of fatting by those who do not breed, but purchase stock
every year from different parts. See Chap. I. Sect. II.
ttk Cattle, it is well known, have long been the staple pro-
^ duce of Scotland; and since the union of South and North
Britain, immense numbers have been carried every year
to the feeding pastures and markets of England. But be¬
sides this transportation, so beneficial to both parts of the
island, cattle often change their pastures and their owners
before leaving Scotland, according to arrangements which,
though not conducted with all the uniformity of system,
are found to be very advantageous to the individuals con¬
cerned, and ultimately to the public at large.
“ The Highland cattle often pass through three differ¬
ent hands, or more, before they come to the butcher.
They are improved at every stage by a greater quantity
and better quality of food, instead of being suddenly trans¬
ported from poor to rich feeding; and while each succes¬
sive owner applies his produce to the best advantage, and
receives a suitable return according to its value, from the
327
years old, having got a liberal allowance of turnips during Agricub
theprecedmg winter. ( General Report of Scotland, vol. hi. ture.
Notwithstanding the high degree of perfection to which Desido-
some breeds of cattle have been brought in England, and rata,
the great attention that is paid by the most eminent
breeders to every part of their management, several in¬
teresting points are not by any means clearly ascertained.
Much certainly remains to be known regarding the nutri¬
ment afforded by different kinds of herbage and roots,  
the quantity of food consumed by different breeds, in pro¬
portion as well to their weight at the time as to the ratio
of theii increase,—and the propriety of preferring large
or small animals in any given circumstances. Even with
regard to the degree of improvement made by fatting
cattle generally, from the consumption of a given weight
of roots or herbage, no great accuracy is commonly at¬
tempted; machines for weighing the cattle themselves
and their food, from time to time, not being yet in general
use in any part of Britain.
Sect. III. Sheep.
This species being still more than cattle exposed to all Varieties
the influences of soil and climate, displays a much greater °f sheep
variety in form, size, and general properties. In differentnunierous*
counties, though the breed be originally the same, a very
perceptible difference is found in all these respects; and
there are not unfrequently considerable variations among
the flocks of the same district, even those of contiguous
farms. Yet in other situations, where rich food is abund¬
antly supplied at all times of the year, sheep have been
more highly improved than any other animals; and the
breeds most esteemed for the arable land of Britain are
in a great measure the creatures of the industry and sa¬
gacity of man. Hardly any two animals are more unlike
than the small dun-faced sheep, supposed to be the most
ancient of the kind in Britain, and the Leicester or Dish-
ley male, whose every point must be exactly formed ac¬
cording to an established model of symmetry and use¬
fulness.
The various breeds of sheep, and the modes of manage¬
ment, almost as numerous as these varieties, would re¬
quire a much larger space for their description than it is
. - & — me a uiueii icugei spuce ioi meir uescnpuon
advance of price, the consumer at last purchases his beef possible to allot to it in a section of this article.
cheaper, and of a better quality, than if the cattle had
been sent to the shambles from any of the intermediate
stages.
“ The West Highland cattle make this progress oftener
Uuin the larger cattle of the north-eastern counties. Many
0 t/lem aru brought to Dumbartonshire and other places
at the age of two years and two years and a half, winter¬
ed on coarse pastures, with a small allowance of bog-hay
or s^aw> aad moved to lower grounds next summer. They
arc then driven farther south, where they get turnips in
straw-yards through the following winter, and in April are
condition for early grass, upon which they make
1 «n!5 ves ^ month of June.
“ the larger varieties of the north-eastern counties do
not eave the breeder at so early an age. They are seldom
iiougit to market till they are three or three years and
? a* 0 c > and then frequently in good condition for be-
nig rattened, either on grass or turnips. A great many
v ,!C p kerdeenshire cattle are bought for the straw-
According to one writer (Culley on Live Stock, p. 102), Mode of
there are fourteen different breeds of sheep in Great Bri- classifka-
tain, all of them sufficiently distinguished by their horns,
or by being hornless, by the colour of their faces and
legs, and by the length and quality of their wool. To
these a later writer adds two varieties more (Dickson’s
Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 1135); but a third work,
still more recent (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 249),
enumerates no fewer than thirty-seven breeds, to each of
which are assigned one or more characteristic peculiari¬
ties. This great diversity renders it necessary to decline
a particular description of each: perhaps the most eligible
mode of classification would be, to consider separately those
races which are best adapted to inclosed arable-land; those
which occupy green hills, downs, and other tracts of mo¬
derate elevation ; and, finally, such as inhabit the higher
hills and mountains. On the first description of land
every sort of practicable improvement may be’ effected,
varU f i—aic uuugm im uiu straw- though there the carcass has hitherto been the chief ob-
wintS ° i SOl^thern count‘es> get a few turnips through ject; on the second the carcass is smaller, but the wool
Anr’T aif W and are either driven to England in generally finer,—and it is probably with such sheep that
sun* * °r q^ienet^. a*' k°me th0 course of the ensuing the greatest improvements ought to be attempted on the
Pow?le^ ^ ie cattle, like the other breeds of the fleece; and on the last division the breeds are necessarily
' aucls, are generally sold to the graziers at three small and hardy, and, in regard to form and general pro-
9
328 AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- perties, still almost in a state of nature. The improve-
ture. ment of sheep must mainly depend on the circumstances
every district, in regard to the food and shelter it af¬
fords them; and it is only where these indispensable re¬
quisites are abundantly provided by nature, or by human
industry, that the most skilful management can be suc¬
cessful. The sheep of the rugged heathy mountains of
the Highlands of Scotland must ever retain the form, the
size, and the habits which the uncontrollable influence of
their situation has impressed on them.
But this mode of classification is more applicable to the
general management adopted on the several sorts of land,
than to the present breeds themselves, which are found
intermixed in every district, and often even on the same
field. We shall therefore in this, as in the two former
sections, describe the distinguishing characteristics of the
principal breeds as concisely as possible.
There is, however, in the case of sheep, as of all the
other kinds of live stock, a certain form,—a sort of stand¬
ard established by experience and observation of the best
individuals,-—to which it is wished that all the breeds of
this species should approach. Mr Culley, to whom we
have so often referred, as being by far the most skilful of
our writers on live stock, thus describes the best form of
a ram
Form of “ His head should be fine and small, his nostrils wide
the male, ond expanded, his eyes prominent and rather bold or
daring, ears thin, his collar full from his breast and shoul¬
ders, but tapering gradually all the way to where the
neck and head join, which should be very fine and grace¬
ful, being perfectly free from any coarse leather hanging
down; the shoulders broad and full, which must at the
same time join so easy to the collar forward, and chine
backward, as to leave not the least hollow in either place;
the mutton upon his arm, or fore thigh, must come quite
to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean, fine bone,
being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse hairy
wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast
broad and well forward, which wall keep his fore legs at a
proper wideness ; his girth or chest full and deep, and in¬
stead of a hollow behind the shoulders, that part by some
called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and
loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must
rise with a fine circular arch ; his belly straight, the quar¬
ters long and full, with the mutton quite down to the
hough, which should neither stand in nor out; his twist
deep, wride, and full, which, with the broad breast, will
keep his four legs open and upright; the whole body
covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, soft
wrool..
The nearer any breed of sheep comes up to the above
description, the nearer they approach towards excellence
of form.” (Culley on Live Stock., p. 103.)
1. Breeds.
Breeds. The sheep suited to arable land, in addition to such
properties as are common in some degree to all the dif¬
ferent breeds, must evidently be distinguished for their
quietness and docility,—habits which, though gradually
acquired and established by means of careful treatment,
are more obvious, and may be more certainly depended
on, in some Imeeds than in others. These properties are
not only valuable i'or the sake of the fences by which the
sheep are confined, but as a proof of the aptitude of the
animals to acquire flesh in proportion to the food they
consume.
1 he long-wroolled large breeds (the varieties usually pre¬
ferred on good grass-lands) differ much in form and size,
and in their fatting quality, as well as in the weight cf
their fleeces. The principal are, the Lincoln, the Tce$. .a, ,
water, and the Bishley or New Leicester'. 3 f
In some instances, with the Lincolns in particular, wool'll v
seems to be an object paramount even to the carcass; with
the breeders of the Leicesters, on the other hand, the
carcass has always engaged the greatest attention; but
neither form nor fleece separately is a legitimate ground
of preference, the most valuable sheep being that which
returns, for the food it consumes, the greatest marketable
value of produce.
The Lincolnshire breed have no horns; the face is white, Lin ISi
and the carcass long and thin, the ewes weighing from 14
to 20 lb., and the three-year-old wethers from 20 to 301b.
per quarter. They have thick, rough, white legs, bones
large, pelts thick, and wool long,—from 10 to 18 inches,—
weighing from 8 to 14 lb. per fleece, and covering a slow-
feeding, coarse-grained carcass of mutton.
This kind of sheep cannot be made fat at an early age,
except upon the richest land, such as Romney-marsh, and
the rich marshes of Lincolnshire; yet the prodigious
weight of wool which is shorn from them every year is an
inducement to the occupiers of the marsh-land to give
great prices to the breeders for their hogs or yearlings ;
and though the buyers must keep them two years more
before they get them fit for market, they have three clips
of wool in the mean time, which of itself pays them well in
those rich marshes. Not only the midland counties, but
also Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, can send
their long-woolled sheep to market at two years old, fatter
in general than Lincolnshire can at three. Yet this breed,
and its subvarieties, are spread through many of the Eng¬
lish counties.
The Teeswater breed differs from the Lincolnshire in Tee
their wool not being so long and heavy; in standing upon'vat
higher, though finer-boned legs, supporting a thicker,
firmer, heavier carcass, much wider upon their backs and
sides ; and in affording a fatter and finer-grained carcass
of mutton, the two-year-old wethers weighing from 25 to
35 lb. per quarter. Some particular ones, at four years
old, have been fed to 55 lb. and upwards.
There is little doubt that the Teeswater sheep were
originally bred from the same stock as the Lincolnshire,
but, by attending to size rather than to wool, and con¬
stantly pursuing that object, they have become a different
variety of the same original breed.
“ The present fashionable breed is smaller than the ori¬
ginal species, but they are still considerably larger and
fuller of bone than the Midland breed. They bear an ana¬
logy to the short-horned breed of cattle, as those of the
Midland counties do to the long-horned. They are not
so compact, nor so complete in their form, as the Leices¬
tershire sheep; nevertheless, the excellency of their flesh
and fatting quality is not doubted, and their wool still re¬
mains of a superior staple. For the banks of the Tees, or
any other rich fat-land country, they may be singularly
excellent.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 221.) Rams
of this kind have been employed of late in Northumbei-
land and Berwickshire, in crossing ewes of the Leicester
breed, but with what success there has not yet been time
to dctermiM.r>001fi q0 7qrjrr? n*W3| _n
The Diskley or New Leicester breed is distinguishedNe ^
from other long-woolled breeds by their clean heads,ce‘
straight, broad, flat backs, round, barrel-like bodies, very
fine small bones, thin pelts, and inclination to make fat
at an early age. This last property is most probably
owing to the before-specified qualities, and which, from
long experience and observation, there is reason to believe,
extends through every species of domestic animals. Tim
Dishley breed is not only peculiar for its mutton being
AGRICULTURE.
329
1- fat, but also for the fineness of the grain and superior
t flavour, above all other large long-woolled sheep, so as to
^ ^ fetch nearly as good a price, in many markets, as the
mutton of the small Highland and short-woolled breeds.
The weight of ewes three or four years old is from 18 to
261b. a quarter, and of wethers two years old from 20
to 30 lb. The wool, on an average, is from 6 to 8 lb. a
fleece. See Plate XVI.
A fourth hornless variety of long-woolled sheep is the
Devo )ire
S’ots.)
Exm«.
)orse
iVilta,
till'
S.
ottin;,
Devonshire Nots, having white faces and legs, thick necks,
narrow backs, and back-bone high; the sides good, legs
short, and the bones large; weight much the same as the
Leicesters, wool heavier, but coarser. In the same coun¬
ty there is a small breed of long-woolled sheep, known by
the name of the Exmoor sheep, from the place where they
are chiefly bred. They are horned, with white faces and
legs, and peculiarly delicate in bone, neck, and head; but
the form of the carcass is not good, being narrow and
flat-sided; the weight of the quarters and of the fleece
about two-thirds that of the former variety.
The shorter-woolled kinds, and such as, from their
size and form, seem well suited to hilly and inferior pas¬
tures, are also numerous. Generally speaking, they are
too restless for inclosed arable land on the one hand, and
not sufficiently hardy for heathy, mountainous districts on
the other. To this class belong the breeds of Dorset,
Hereford, Sussex, Norfolk, and Cheviot.
The Dorsetshire sheep are mostly horned, white-faced,
stand upon high, small, white legs, and are long and thin in
the carcass. The wethers, three years and a half old, weigh
from 16 to 20 lb. a quarter. ^The wool is fine and short,
from 3 to 4 lb. a fleece. The mutton is fine-grained and
well flavoured.
This breed has the peculiar property of producing lambs
at almost any period of the year, even so early as Septem¬
ber and October. They are particularly valued for sup¬
plying London and other great towns with house-lamb,
which is brought to market by Christmas, or sooner if
wanted; and after that a constant and regular supply is
kept up all the winter.
According to Mr Culley, the Wiltshire sheep are a
variety of this breed, which, by attention to size, have got
considerably more weight, viz. from 20 to 28 lb. a quarter.
These, in general, have no wool upon their bellies, which
gives them a very uncouth appearance.
“ The variations of this breed are spread through many
of the southern counties, as well as many in the west,
viz. Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, &c.
1 hough some of them are very different from the Dorset¬
shire, yet they are, I apprehend, only variations of this
breed, by crossing with different tups; and which varia¬
tions continue northward until they are lost amongst those
of the Lincolnshire breed.”
The Herefordshire sheep are known by their want of
horns, and their having white legs and faces, the wool
growing close to their eyes. The carcass is tolerably well
formed, weighing from 10 to 18 lb. a quarter, and bearing
very fine short wool, from H- to 2^ lb. a fleece : the mut¬
ton is excellent.
fhe store or keeping sheep of this breed are put into
cots at night, winter and summer, and in winter foddered
m racks with peas-straw, barley-straw, &c. and in very bad
weather with hay. These cots are low buildings, quite co-
'ered over, and made to contain from 100 to 500 sheep,
according to the size of the farm or flock kept. The true
Herefordshire breed are frequently called Ryeland sheep,
rom the land formerly being thought capable of producing
no better grain than rye, but which now yields every kind
gram.
VOL. II
See Plate XVI.
The South Down sheep are without horns ; they have Agricul-
grey faces and legs, fine bones, long small necks ; are low ture.
before, high on the shoulder, and light in the fore quarter;
the sides are good, and the loin tolerably broad, back- ?”uth
bone too high, the thigh full, and twist good. The fleece jL>owns’
is very short and fine, weighing from 21 to 3 lb. The
average weight of two-year old wethers is’about 18 lb. per
quarter, the mutton fine in the grain, and of an excellent
flavour. These sheep have been brought to a high state
of improvement by Mr Elman of Glynd, and other intelli¬
gent breeders. They prevail in Sussex, on very dry
chalky downs producing short fine herbage. See Plate XVI.
In the Norfolk sheep the face is black, horns large and
spiral; the carcass is very small, long, thin, and weak, with
narrow chines, weighing from 16 to 20 lb. per quarter ; and
they have very long dark or grey legs, and large bones.
The wool is short and fine, from If to 2 lb. per fleece.
This race have a voracious appetite, and a restless and Norfolks.
unquiet disposition, which makes it difficult to keep them
in any other than the largest sheep-walks or commons.
They prevail most in Norfolk and Suffolk, and seem to
have been retained solely for the purpose of folding; as it
does not appear they have any other good property to re¬
commend them besides being good travellers, for which
they seem well adapted, from their very long legs and
light lean carcasses.
The Cheviot breed are without horns, the head bare and Cheviots,
clean, with jaws of a good length, faces and legs white.
See Plate XIV. The body is long, but the fore quarters
generally want depth in the breast, and breadth both there
and on the chine, though in these respects great improve¬
ment has been made of late. They have fine, clean, small¬
boned legs, well covered with wool to the hough. The
weight of their carcass, when fat, is from 12 to 18 lb. per
quarter; their fleece, which is of a medium length and
fineness, weighs about 3 lb. on an average.
Though these are the general characters of the pure
Cheviot breed, many have grey or dun spots on their faces
and legs, especially on the borders of their native district,
where they have intermixed with their black-faced neigh¬
bours. On the lower hills, at the extremity of the Cheviot
range, they have been frequently crossed with the Leices¬
ters, of which several flocks, originally Cheviot, have now
a good deal both of the form and fleece.
The best kind of these sheep are certainly a very good
mountain stock, where the pasture is mostly green sward,
or contains a large portion of that kind of herbage, which
is the case with all the hills around Cheviot where those
sheep are bred. Large flocks of them have been sent to
the Highlands of Scotland, where they have succeeded so
well as to encourage the establishment of new colonies ;
yet they are by no means so hardy as the heath or black¬
faced kind, which they have in many instances sup¬
planted.
Of those races of sheep that range over the mountainous Heath
districts of Britain, the most numerous, and the one pro- breed,
bably best adapted to such situations, is the Heath breed,
distinguished by its large spiral horns, black faces and
legs, fierce, wild-looking eyes, and short, firm carcasses
covered with long, open, coarse wool. Their xveight is
from 10 to 16 lb. a quarter, and they carry from 3 to 41b.
of wool each. They are seldom fed until they are three,
four, or five years old, when they fatten well, and give
excellent mutton and highly flavoured gravy. Different
varieties of these sheep are to be found in all the western
counties of England and Scotland, from Yorkshire north¬
wards ; and they want nothing but a finer fleece to render
them the most valuable upland sheep in Britain. See
Plate XV.
2 T
330
AGRICULTURE.
Herd-
wicks.
Agricul- The Herdwick sheep are peculiar to that rocky, moun-
ture" tainous district, at the head of the Duddon and Esk rivers,
in the county of Cumberland. They are without horns,
have speckled faces and legs, wool short, weighing from
2 to 2^- lb. per sheep, which, though coarser than that of
any of the other short-woolled breeds, is yet much finer
than the wool of the heath sheep. The mountains upon
which the Herdwicks are bred, and also the stock itself,
have, time immemorial, been farmed out to herds, and
from this circumstance their name is derived.
Dun-faced. The Dun-faced breed, said to have been imported into
Scotland from Denmark or Norway at a very early period,
still exists in most of the counties to the north of the
Frith of Forth, though only in very small flocks. Of this
ancient race there are now several varieties, produced by
peculiarities of situation and dilferent modes of manage¬
ment, and by occasional intermixture with other breeds.
We may therefore distinguish the sheep of the mainland
of Scotland from those of the Hebrides and of the north¬
ern islands of Orkney and Zetland.
Hebrides. “ The Hebridean sheep is the smallest animal of its kind.
It is of a thin, lank shape, and has usually straight, short
horns. The face and legs are white, the tail very short,
and the wool of various colours, sometimes of a bluish
grey, brown, or deep russet, and sometimes all these co¬
lours meet in the fleece of one animal. Where the pas¬
ture and management are favourable, the wool is very
fine, resembling in softness that of Shetland; but in other
parts of the same islands the wool is stunted and coarse,
the animal sickly and puny, and frequently carries four,
or even six horns.”
“ The average weight of this poor breed, even when
fat, is only 5 or 5^ lb. per quarter, or nearly about 20 lb.
per sheep. It is often much less, only amounting to 15
or 16 lb.; and the price of the animal’s carcass, skin and
all, is from 10s. to 14s. We have seen fat wedders sold
in the Long Island at 7s. a head, and ewes at 5s. or 6s.
The quantity of wool which the fleece yields is equally
contemptible with the weight of the carcass. It rarely
exceeds 1 lb. weight, and is often short of even half that
quantity. The quality of the wool is dilferent on different
parts of the body; and inattention to separating the fine
from the coarse renders the cloth made in the Hebrides
very unequal and precarious in its texture. The average
value of a fleece of this aboriginal Hebridean breed is
from 8d. to Is. sterling. From this account it is plain
that the breed in question has every chance of being
speedily extirpated.” (Macdonald’s Deport of the He¬
brides, p. 447.)
Zetland. In the Zetland Isles it would appear that there are two
varieties; one of which is considered to be the native
race, and carries very fine wool; but the number of these
is much diminished, and in some places they have been
entirely supplanted by foreign breeds. The other variety
carries coarse wool above, and soft, fine wool below.
“ They have three different successions of wool yearly,
two of which resemble long hair more than wool, and are
termed by the common people fors and scudda. When
the wool begins to loosen in the roots, which generally
happens about the month of February, the hairs or scudda
spring up; and when the wool is carefully plucked off,
the tough hairs continue fast, until the new wool grows
up about a quarter of an inch in length, when they gra¬
dually wear off; and when the new fleece has acquired
about two months’ growth, the rough hairs, termed fors,
spring up, and keep root, until the proper season for
pulling it arrives, when it is plucked off along with the t
wool, and separated from it at dressing the fleece, by an^L
operation called forsing. The scuMa remains upon the
skin of the animal, as if it were a thick coat; a fence
against the inclemency of the seasons, which provident
nature has furnished for supplying the want of the fleece.
“ The wool is of various colours. The silver grey is
thought to be the finest; but the black, the white, the
mourat or brown, is very little inferior ; though the pure
white is certainly the most valuable for all the finer pur¬
poses in which combing wool can be used.”1
In the northern part of Kincardineshire, as well as in Mai 4
most other of the northern counties, there is still a rem¬
nant of this ancient race, distinguished by the yellow co¬
lour of the face and legs, and by the dishevelled texture
of the fleece, which consists in part of coarse, and in part
of remarkably fine wool. Their average weight in that
county is from 7 to 9 lb. a quarter, and the mutton is re¬
markably delicate and highly flavoured. {Kincardineshm
Deport, p. 385.) . -A :
The last variety we shall mention is the Spanish orMeijs,
Merino breed, bearing the finest wool of the sheep spe¬
cies. The males usually have horns of a middle size, but
the females are frequently without horns; the faces and
legs are white, the legs rather long, but the bones fine.
The average weight per quarter of a tolerably fat ram is
about 17 lb., and that of ewes about 11 lb. The shape of
this race is far from being perfect, according to the ideas
of English breeders, with whom symmetry of proportion
constitutes a principal criterion of excellence. The
throatiness, or pendulous skin beneath the throat, which
is usually accompanied with a sinking or hollow in the
neck, presents a most oflensive appearance, though it is
much esteemed in Spain, as denoting both a tendency to
fine wool and a heavy fleece. Yet the Spanish sheep are
level on the back and behind the shoulders; and Lord
Somerville has proved, that there is no reason to conclude
that deformity in shape is in any degree necessary to the
production of fine wool.
The fleece of the Merino sheep weighs upon an ave-Fk
rage from 3 to 5 lb. In colour it is unlike that of any
English breed. There is on the surface of the best
Spanish fleeces a dark brown tinge, approaching almost
to a black, which is formed by dust adhering to the
greasy properties of its pile; and the contrast between
this tinge and the rich white colour below, as well as that
rosy hue of the skin which denotes high proof, at first
sight excites much surprise. The harder the fleece is,
the more it resists any external pressure of the hand, the
more close and fine will be the wool. Here and there
indeed a fine pile may be found in an open fleece, though
this occurs but rarely. Nothing, however, has tended to
render the Merino sheep more unsightly to the English
eye than the large tuft of wool which covers the head:
it is of a very inferior quality, and classes with what is
produced on the hind legs; on which account it does not
sort with any of the three qualities, viz. Dejinos or prime,
Finos or second best, and Terceros, the inferior sort, and
consequently is never exported from Spain.
The Spanish flocks which yield fine wool are sometimes Tra ^
distinguished by the appellation of Trashurmnte, on ac-tk
count of their travelling from one end of the kingdom to
the other, though there are flocks that never travel, with
wool equally fine. They are wintered in Estremadura
1 Sir John Sinclair o« the Different Breeds of Sheep, &c—Appendix, No. 4. (Account of the Shetland Sheep, by Thomas Johnston,
p. 79.)
AGRICULTURE.
J. and other warm provinces in the south; and during the
summer months they graze on the northern mountains
of Castile, Leon, and Asturias.
Merinos were first brought into England in 1788, but
did not excite much interest before his Majesty’s sales,
which began in 1804 The desirable object of spreading
them widely over the country, and subjecting them to
the experiments of the most eminent professional breeders,
was greatly promoted by the institution of the Merino
Society in 1811; which soon comprehended some of the
greatest landholders and the most eminent breeders in
the kingdom. See Plate XVII.
It seems to be generally admitted, however, that the
wool is somewhat deteriorated since the sheep were
brought to this country, whatever improvement may have
been made on the carcass. Valuable as the fleece is, our
breeders still find that the carcass is the principal object;
and their management must therefore be conducted ra¬
ther with a view to the supply of the butcher than the
clothier. There may be something in our climate unfa¬
vourable to the growth of fine wool; but the principal
cause will probably be found in the mode of feeding,
which is in every respect so superior to what they expe¬
rience in Spain and other parts of the Continent. As a
means of improving the wool of our own breeds, it may
often be beneficial to cross with the Merinos; but as a
separate and distinct race, it is hardly to be expected
that they will ever establish themselves upon an exten¬
sive scale in this country.
2. Breeding and Rearing.
A greater degree of perfection has been attained in the
breeding of sheep than in any other species of live stock;
and in this branch, in particular, the breeders of England
stand higher than those of any other country.
We have therefore purposely deferred the observations
which it seems necessary to offer on the different systems
of breeding, to this part of our article; though they may
aPply generally to other species of animals as well as to
sheep.
The males and females possessed of the properties the
breeder wishes to acquire, may be, 1. of the same family;
•3. of the same race, but of different families; or, 3. of
different races.
The first method is called breeding in-and-in. This re¬
quires that animals of the nearest relationship should be
put together, and is supposed by many to produce a ten¬
der, diminutive, and unhealthy progeny. But if a male
and female, got by the same sire, were never to be put to-
k°wever excellent they might be, a stock that
should by any means have become better than others
could not be long preserved from deterioration by strangers,
nor could it be still further improved by selection. By
hreedmg in the same family for a great many years, Mr
nakewell succeeded in raising his sheep to a degree of
perfection which no other fattening animal ever attained
in any age or country.
It is certainly,” says Mr Gulley, one of the most emi¬
nent of hiS disciples, “ from the best males and females that
Uie best breeds can be obtained or preserved.”—“ When
} ou can no longer find better males than your own, then by
Hi means breed from them, whether horses, neat-cattle,
^ icep, &c.; for the same rule holds good through every
-pccms of domestic animals; but upon no account attempt
/Pj 0r cross from worse than your own; for that
enp1 e act'ng in contradiction to common sense, experi-
heartl*' ™at ^^-established rule, ‘ That best only can
nl r •0r’ which is a particular case of a more gene-
ral rule> ‘ That like begets like.' ”
331
This reasoning is opposed by others, who, however, Agricul-
rather deny the premises than dispute the conclusion, ture.
it has been contended that there never “did exist atV
animal without some defect m constitution, in form or in
some other essential qualitythat “ this defect, however
small it may be at first, will increase in every succeedimr
generation, and at last predominate to such a degree as
to render the breed of little value.”—“ Mr Bakewell very
properly considered a propensity to get fat as the first
quality in an animal destined to be the food of man. His
successors have carried his principle too far; their stock
are become small in size, and tender, produce little wool,
and are bad breeders.” (Sebright on improving the Breeds
of Domestic Animals, p. 11, 14)
It is admitted, however, that breeding in-and-in will
have the same effect in strengthening the good as the bad
properties, and may be beneficial if not carried too far,
particularly in fixing any variety that may be thought
valuable. And again, the same writer observes, “ There
may be families so nearly perfect as to go through several
generations without sustaining much injury from having
been bred in-and-in; but a good judge would upon ex¬
amination point out by what they must ultimately fail, as
a mechanic could discover the weakest part of a machine
before it gave way.” (Sebright on improving the Breeds
of Domestic Animals, p. 12.)
“ But one of the most conclusive arguments that cross¬
ing with a different stock is not necessary to secure size,
hardiness, &c., is the breed of wild cattle in Chillingham
park, in the county of Northumberland. It is well known
these cattle have been confined in this park for several
hundred years, without any intermixture, and are perhaps
Aid purest breed of cattle of any in the kingdom. From
their situation and uncontrolled state, they must indisput¬
ably have bred from the nearest affinities in every possi¬
ble degree; yet we find these cattle exceedingly hardy,
healthy, and well formed, and their size, as well as colour,
and many other particulars and peculiarities, the same as
they were five hundred years since.” (Gulley on Live
Stock, p. 10.)
Notwithstanding all this, it must be admitted that Crossing
there is a great diversity of opinion among intelligent men families of
respecting the expediency of this mode of breeding, andthe sarae
in most instances, perhaps, a pretty strong prejudicerace‘
against it. The most common practice therefore is, to
breed from different families of the same race. When
these have been for some time established in a variety of
situations, and have had some slight shades of difference
impressed upon them by the influence of different soils
and treatment, it is found advantageous to interchange
the males, for the purpose of strengthening the excellen¬
cies or remedying the defects of each family. Of this
advantage Mr Bakewell could not avail himself; but it
has been very generally attended to by his successors.
Mr Gulley for many years continued to hire his rams from
Mr Bakewell, at the very time that other breeders were
paying a liberal price for the use of his own; and the very
same practice is followed by the most skilful breeders at
present. In large concerns, two or more streams of blood
may be kept distinct for several generations, and occasion¬
ally intermixed with the happiest effects, by a judicious
breeder, without having recourse to other flocks.
The only other method is, by crossing two distinct Crossing
breeds or races, one of which possesses the properties different
which it is wished to acquire, or is free from the defects ^ree^s-
which it is desirable to remove. This measure can only
be recommended when neither of the former methods
will answer the purpose. The very distinction of breeds
implies a considerable difference among animals in seve-
332
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
General
rules.
Breeding
of males.
Letting.
Season of
breeding.
Manage¬
ment of
hill sheep
ral respects; and although the desirable property be ob¬
tained, it may be accompanied by such others as are by
no means advantageous to a race destined to occupy a
situation which had excluded that property from one of
its parents. To cross any mountain breed with Leicester
rams, for example, with a view to obtain a propensity to
fatten at an early age, would be attended with an enlarge¬
ment of size, which the mountain pasture could not sup¬
port ; and the progeny would be a mongrel race, not suit¬
ed to the pastures of either of the parent breeds. If the
object be to obtain an enlargement of size, as well as a
propensity to fatten, as is the case when Cheviot ewes
are crossed with Leicester rams, the progeny will not
prosper on the hilly pastures of their dams, and will be
equally unprofitable on the better pastures of their sires.
But the offspring of this cross succeeds well on those in¬
termediate situations on the skirts of the Cheviot hills,
where, though the summer pasture is not rich, there is a
portion of low land for producing clover and turnips.
In every case where the enlargement of the carcass is
the object, the cross breed must be better fed than its
smaller parent. The size of the parents should also be
but little disproportioned at first; and when some increase
has been produced, one or more crosses afterwards may
raise the breed to the required size. With these precau¬
tions, there is little reason to fear disappointment, provid¬
ed both parents are well formed. {General Report of
Scotland, vol. iii. p. 14—18.)
The breeding of males, still more in this species than
in cattle, has long been a separate pursuit; and there are
few flocks skilfully managed in which it is not still the
practice to have recourse occasionally to rams hired at a
high price from those men whose chief attention is de¬
voted to this branch of business. These rams are shown
for hire, at certain times and places during the summer,
where every one may select such as promise to maintain
or improve the particular state of his flock, and at such
prices as his means and experience may justify. Iwo or
more individuals frequently join together in the hire of one
ram, to which they put the best of their ewes, for the pur¬
pose of obtaining superior males for the future service
of the rest of their flocks; and in particular cases, when
the owner of the ram does not choose to part with him,
even for a season, ewes are sent to him to be covered at a
certain price per head, superior animals of this class being
very seldom sold altogether. Much as this mode of doing
business has been reprobated as a monopoly, and much as
there may sometimes be of deception in making up rams
for these shows, all intelligent practical men must agree
that there can be no better method of remunerating emi¬
nent breeders, and of spreading their improvements most
widely, in the shortest period, and at the least possible ex¬
pense. A single ram thus communicates its valuable pro¬
perties to a number of flocks, often in distant parts of the
country, without distracting the attention of ordinary
breeders from their other pursuits. It is a striking in¬
stance of the division of labour, which in this, as in other
branches, has been productive of the most beneficial re¬
sults to all concerned, and to the community at large.
Bams and ewes are allowed to copulate earlier or later,
according to the prospect of food for their young at the
period of parturition,—usually in October and the early
part of November; and as the time of gestation with sheep
is twenty-one weeks, the lambs are accordingly dropped in
March or April. The management of the Leicester
breed, equally applicable to all the varieties kept on low
arable land, having been detailed at some length in the
works already referred to, we shall here give a condensed
view of the best practices in regard to the stocks of hilly
or mountainous districts, chiefly collected from the skil- Ag i
ful management of the breeders of the Cheviot sheep ti
on the borders of South and North Britain.
1. In November the rams are put to the ewes a little Cop
earlier or later, according to the prospect of spring f'ood,ticii
but seldom before the 8th or 10th of that month. The
number of rams required is greater or less, according to
the extent of the pasture, and their own age and condition.
If the ewes are not spread over an extensive tract, one
ram to sixty ewes is generally sufficient. It is usually
thought advisable to separate the gimmers (sheep once
shorn) from the older ewes, and to send the rams to the
latter eight or ten days before they are admitted to the
former. Notwithstanding this precaution, which retards
their lambing season till the spring is farther advanced,
ewes which bring their first lamb when two years old, the
common period on the best hill farms,, are often very bad
nurses, and in a late spring lose a great many of their
lambs, unless they are put into good condition with turnip
before lambing, and get early grass afterwards. This se¬
paration, and difference in the time of admitting the rams
to the ewes and gimmers, should therefore be always at¬
tended to.
2. When a farm under this description of stock hastheSelt
convenience of a few good inclosures, still more minute of r
attention is paid by skilful managers. It is not sufficientan('
that the rams are carefully selected from perhaps doublemiU
the number; the ewes also are drawn out and assorted,
and such a ram appropriated to each lot as possesses the
properties in form or fleece in which the ewes are defi¬
cient. In other cases, the best ram and the best lot of
ewes are put together. When neither of these arrange¬
ments can be adopted, owing to the want of inclosures, it
is the practice to send the best rams to the ewes for a few
days at first, and those of an inferior description after¬
wards. In every case, when the farmer employs rams of
his own flock, he is careful to have a few of his best ewes
covered by a well-formed and fine-woolled ram, for the
purpose of obtaining a number of good ram-lambs, for
preserving or improving the character of his stock.
3. The stock through winter, in a mere breeding farm, Sq
consists of ewes and gimmers which should have lambs buff
spring, ewe-lambs or hogs, and a few young and old1-1
rams. All these are sometimes allowed to pasture pro¬
miscuously, but on the farms around Cheviot the ewes
and ewe-hogs are kept separate, and the latter are
either put on rough pastures which have been lightly
stocked in the latter end of summer, or get a few turnips
once a day, in addition to the femains of their summer
pasture. The most effectual preventive of the desolating
distempers to which sheep of this age are liable is
turnips; and though they should never taste them after¬
wards, a small quantity is frequently given them during
their first winter. After the rams have been separated
from the ewes, they are usually indulged with the same
feeding as the hogs.
4. The ewes, during winter, are seldom allowed any
other food than what their summer pasture affords, except
that a small part of it may sometimes be but lightly eaten,
and reserved as a resource against severe storms. When
these occur, however, as they often do in the Cheviot dis¬
trict, there is little dependence on any other food than
hay. When the snow is so deep as completely to cover
the herbage, about two stones avoirdupois of hay are allow¬
ed to a score of sheep daily, and it is laid down morning
and evening in small parcels on any sheltered spot neai
the houses, or under the shelter of stelh or clumps o
trees, on different parts of the farm. i
5. In March, the ewes, at least the gimmers or young
AGRICULTURE.
Agiml- ewes, are commonly allowed a few turnips once a day, on into a fold, and all the male lambs are castrated excent
v ;• farms on which there is any extent of arable land, which few of the best, reserved for rams. The ewe-lambs are new
\jr ^ are either carted to their pastures, or eaten on the ground
333
Udd*
lockii-
Laratig.
Agricul-
, - lambs are never ture-
spayed, it is advisable to perform this severe but necessary
operation when the lambs are but a few days old, if the
weather will permit, instead of delaying till the end of the
lambing season, as is still the case in some instances.
10. lowards the end of the lambing season the ewesLdBfe
that have not yet dropped lambs are separated from the Iambs,
flock and kept by themselves, that they may be more un¬
der the eye of the shepherd, than if scattered over all the
pasture. It is desirable to allow them finer grass for a few
weeks after lambing, that their lambs may come to be
nearly equal to the rest of the flock when weaned; or, if
they are too late for this, that they may get ready for the
butcher by the month of August, beyond which period the
ewes must be much injured by suckling them.
11. When the wool has risen sufficiently (and the pro- Washing,
per time is easily known by the appearance of a new
growth), the barren sheep are brought to the washing-
pool. Sometimes they are hand-washed by men, who
stand in the pool and have the sheep forced towards them
singly; but more commonly the Cheviot sheep, especially
if the flock be numerous, are compelled to leap into the
pool in a body for three or four times successively; and it
is desirable that they should have room to swim a little,
and come out on a green low bank on the opposite side.
After being washed, the sheep are preserved as far as
possible from rubbing against earthen dikes or banks,
and from lying down on any dirty spot which might soil
their wool. There are two methods of shearing; in the Shearing,
one, the operator sits on the floor or on the ground, lays
the sheep on its back between his knees, begins with the
belly, and afterwards, having tied the animal’s legs, pro¬
ceeds very expeditiously, at the rate of four or five sheep
in the hour, or from forty to fifty a day. This is the com¬
mon method of shearing Cheviot sheep. In the other,
which is a much more perfect method, the shearer raises
the animal on its buttocks, and, beginning at the neck,
clips in a circular direction from the belly to the back¬
bone, for some time with one hand, and then on the opposite
side with the other. The fleeces are neatly lapped up,
after any filthy spots have been cut off, the shorn side out¬
wards, beginning at the breech-wool, and using that of the
neck and shoulders as a bandage. Before the shorn sheep
are turned out to pasture, they are marked, commonly
with the owner’s initials, by a stamp, or boost in provincial
language, dipped in tar heated to a thin fluid state ; and it
is not unusual to place this mark on different parts of the
body, according to the sheep’s age.
12. The principal markets for Cheviot lambs in the Weaning
south of Scotland are held in the month of July, the first lambs,
on the fifth of July; so that the lambs may commonly be
weaned when about three months old, and sometimes
sooner. When the ewes are gathered to be washed or
shorn, the ewe-lambs to be kept for supplying the place
of the old ewes, annually sold, are stamped in the same
way as the ewes. The store-lambs are sent to some clean
by bringing the sheep to the turnip-field through the
night. A part of the field, in the latter case, is cut off by
nets or by hurdles, which inclose the sheep in the same
way as if they were intended for fattening. When they
are ready to drop their lambs, they are no longer kept on
the turnip-field, but get what turnips may be left, on their
pastures. It is seldom, however, that the turnips last so
long, though it is desirable to have a few remaining, to be
given to the weakest ewes, or to such as have twins, in a
separate inclosure.
6. A few days before the time of lambing, the ewes are
collected for the purpose of being udder-locked. The sheep
are raised upon their buttocks, their backs next to the
operator, who then bends forward and plucks off the locks
of wool growing on or near the udders, for the purpose of
giving free access to the expected lambs. At the same
time he ascertains the condition of the ewes, and marks
such as do not appear to be in lamb, which may then
be separated from the others. This operation is not with¬
out danger, and several premature births are usually the
consequence. It is therefore not so general a practice as
it was formerly, though still a common one on many, if
not on most farms.
7. On those farms where the hogs have been allowed
to pasture promiscuously with the ewes, which is seldom
permitted on the Cheviot hills, a separation should always
take place at the commencement of the lambing season ;
and the lowest and finest part of the pasture ought to be
exclusively appropriated to the nursing ewes.
8. The ewes begin to drop their lambs in the first or
second week of April, according to the time at which the
rams were admitted; and such as have twins generally
lamb among the first of the flock. At this season the
most constant attention is indispensable on the part of the
shepherds, both to the ewes in labour and to the newly
dropped lambs. Though the Cheviot ewes are not so
liable to losses in parturition as some larger breeds which
are in higher condition, and though they make good nurses,
unless they are very lean, and their food scanty, yet
among a large flock there are always a number that need
assistance in lambing, and in a late spring not a few that
have not milk sufficient for their lambs, particularly among
the gimmers or young ewes. A careful shepherd at this
time always carries a bottle of milk along with him, which
he drops from his own mouth into that of the lamb that
may need it,—brings the ewes that have little milk to a
better pasture, or to turnips,—and confines such as have
forsaken their lambs in a small pen, or barrack as it is
called, temporarily erected in some part of the farm-stead-
mg. The same confinement is necessary when it is wish¬
ed to make a ewe that has lost her own lamb nurse that
of another ewe that has had twins, or that has perished in
ambing, or is from any other cause incapable of rearing
her lamb. The ewe, after being shut up for a few hours        ...
"lt'1 stranger lamb, usually admits it to the teat, and grassy pasture for a few weeks ; and where the farm does
e\er af ter treats it as her own; though sometimes a little
deception is necessary, such as covering the stranger with
t ie skin of her own lamb. At this important season, an
inclosure early grass, near the shepherd’s cottage,
is of vast advantage. Thither he carries the ewes and
tw ins, such as have little milk,—those that have been
not afford this accommodation, they must be summered,
as it is called, at a distance. Several farms near Cheviot,
and on the Lammermuir hills in Berwickshire, are appro¬
priated to this purpose, the owner of the lambs paying
so much a head for six or eight weeks. In the mean time
the ewe-hogs, or gimmers, as they are denominated after
ktr:').
induced to adopt another’s offspring,—and, generally, all shearing, have joined the ewe stock; and the lambs, when
iat need to be frequently inspected, and are in want of brought home, go to the pasture which they had occupied,
etter treatment than the rest of the flock. Wherever they may be kept in winter, it is always desir-
• soon as the weather is favourable, after a consid- able to allow them a few turnips, along with a full bite of
erable number of the ewes have lambed, they are collected coarse herbage.
334
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Milking
ewes.
Drafting
out old
Salving.
13. When the lambs had been separated from the ewes,
it was formerly the practice to milk the ewes for six or
eight weeks or more; and this most objectionable manage¬
ment is still continued by several farmers. The most
skilful store-masters, however, have either laid aside milk¬
ing, unless for a few days, or have shortened the period
to two or three weeks. The value of the milk for eight
weeks will not exceed from one shilling to one shilling
and sixpence a head, and the sheep are injured to at least
three times that amount, independent of accidents at the
milking fold. The cream is separated from the ewe-milk,
and made into butter for smearing, and the milk itself
mixed with cow-milk, and converted into cheese.
14. The next object of attention is the drafting of the
old ewes to be sold in September or October. Their age,
on the lower hills, is usually four years and a half, or they
are disposed of after having reared lambs for three years.
In some situations they are kept on till a year older ; but
when they are purchased, as they usually are, to be kept
another year on lower grounds, it is commonly for the in¬
terest of the store-farmer to sell them when still in their
full vigour. Skilful managers do not content themselves
with drafting them merely according to age ; and as there
is no disadvantage in keeping a few of the best another
year, they take this opportunity of getting rid of such of
the flock of other ages as are not of good shapes, or are
otherwise objectionable. As soon as the ewes to be dis¬
posed of are drawn from the flock, they are kept by them¬
selves on better pasture, if the circumstances of the farm
will admit of it. Sometimes they are carried on till they
are fattened, and turnips are often purchased for them at
a distance. When this is the case, it is not thought ad¬
visable to keep them longer than till between Christmas
and Candlemas, as an old ewe does not improve like a
wether in the spring months.
15. The last operation of the season is salving or
smearing, which is usually performed towards the end of
October or beginning of November, before the rams are
sent to the ewes. The most common materials are butter
and tar, mixed in different proportions ; a greater propor¬
tion of tar being employed for the hogs or young sheep
than for the older ones. The butter is slowly melted and
poured upon the tar, and the mixture is constantly stirred
till it becomes cool enough for use. The wool is accurately
parted into rows from the head to the tail of the animal,
and the salve is carefully spread upon the skin with the
point of the finger, at the bottom of each row. The ob¬
ject of this operation is to destroy vermin, to prevent cu¬
taneous diseases, and to promote the warmth and comfort
of the animal during the storms of the ensuing winter.
It is not necessary with sheep kept on low grounds, and well
fed during winter ; and it may be occasionally omitted for
one season, particularly with old sheep, without material
injury; but notwithstanding the ridicule that speculative
writers have attempted to throw upon the practice, it is
almost universally considered necessary and beneficial, on
high exposed situations, by the store-farmers of the border
hills. ( General Report of Scotland, vol. iii.) Inconsequence
of the great depression of late in the price of tarred wool,
however, various attempts have been made to use in its
stead other mixtures, which are laid on the sheep either
in a liquid form, such as tobacco liquor and turpentine, or
of the consistency of a salve, which is composed of oil and
butter or tallow, with a mixture of turpentine. There has
not been sufficient experience to ascertain whether tar
can be altogether dispensed with in the case of the moun¬
tain flocks; but in general it is now used much more spar¬
ingly than formerly.
Besides those general rules of management which are
applicable, with slight modifications, to all the numerous A
breeds of sheep, there are practices more or less exten- i
sively followed in particular districts, or with particular^ v
breeds, the most important of which are cotting and fold¬
ing. In describing the Herefordshire sheep, the practice
of keeping them in cots through the night has been already
noticed ; and a similar one is followed in some parts of the
Highlands of Scotland with the small dun-faced flocks of
that district.
Folding is adopted as a regular part of the system off'ol
management in several counties of England, for the pur¬
pose of turning the dung of the animals to the best account
in promoting the fertility of their arable land. The same
thing has been done to a small extent in Scotland, but it
forms no part of general management there, and is con¬
fined to those situations where, from the want of inclosures,
it is necessary to the protection of the crops, and to small
patches of what is still in the ancient state of outfield, as
a preparation for corn.
The sheep best adapted to the fold are those of theFol
more active short-woolled varieties, such as the Norfolk, bra
Wiltshire, and South Down breeds ; the heavy long-wool-
led kinds being less hardy, and some of them, as the Lei-
cesters, much too valuable for a mode of treatment that
converts them into dung carriers. The following calcu¬
lation will show, that though in open lands the practice
may be in some cases tolerated on the ground of con-
veniency or expediency, it can possess no recommenda¬
tion as a profitable mode of management in other circum¬
stances; and the best farmers, indeed, from Bakewell,
who used to say that it was robbing Peter to pay Paul,
down to the present time, agree in reprobating sheep-fold¬
ing as a branch of general management.
“ This morning (September 22d, 1780) measured a
sheep-fold set out for 600 sheep, consisting of ewes, wed-
tiers, and grown lambs. It measures 8 by 5^ rods, which is
somewhat more than 7 rods to 100, or 2 yards to a sheep.”
“ August 29, 1781. Last autumn made an accurate
experiment, on a large scale, with different manures for
wheat, on a sandy loam, summer-fallowed.
“ Part of an 18 acre piece was manured with 15 or 16
loads of tolerably good farm-yard dung an acre, part with
three chaldrons of lime an acre; the rest folded upon with
sheep twice; the first time at the rate of 600 sheep to a
quarter of an acre (as in first Minute), the second time
thinner.
“ In winter and spring the dung kept the lead; and now,
at harvest, it has produced the greatest burden of straw.
“ The sheep-fold kept a steady pace from seedtime to
harvest, and is now evidently the best corned and the
cleanest crop.
“ The lime, in winter and spring, made a poor appear¬
ance ; but after some showers in summer, it flourished
much, and is now a tolerable crop, not less, I apprehend,
than three quarters an acre.
“ From these data, the value of a sheep-fold, in this case,
may be calculated.
“ It appears from the first Minute that 100 sheep ma¬
nured seven square rods daily. But the second folding
was thinner,—suppose nine rods; this is, on a par of the
two foldings, eight rods a day each folding.
“ The dung could not be worth less than half-a-crown
a load, and the carriage and spreading ten shillings an
acre ; together, fifty shillings an acre ; which quantity of
land the hundred sheep teathed twice over in forty days.
“ Supposing them to be folded the year round, they Va!
would at this rate fold nine acres annually; which, atma1
50s. an acre, is L.22. 10s. a hundred, or 4s. 6d. a head.
“ In some parts of the island the same quantity of
AGRICULTURE.
A jl. dung would be worth L.5 an acre, which would raise the
tu value of the teathe to nine shillings a head ; which, at two-
✓'mw'pence a ^ead a week, is more than the whole year’s keep
of the sheep.
“ It does not follow, however, that all lands would have
received equal benefit with the piece in consideration,
which perhaps had not been folded upon for many years,
perhaps never before; and sheep-fold, like other manures,
may become less efficacious the longer it is used on a given
piece of land.” (Marshall’s Rural Economy of Norfolk,
vol. ii. p. 29.)
It must readily occur, that to fold on land in tillage all
the year is nearly impracticable ; and that where it could
he done, the manure would be greatly diminished in value
from rain and snow, to say nothing of the injury to the
sheep themselves; so that the estimate of four shillings
and sixpence, or nine shillings a head, is evidently in the
extreme.
j ns According to the experience of Mr Arthur Young
folik- (Farmers Kalendar), the same land will maintain one-
fourth more stock when the animals are allowed to de¬
pasture at liberty, than when confined during the night
in folds. The injury to the stock themselves, though it is
not easy to mention its precise amount with any degree of
accuracy, cannot well be doubted, at least in thecase of the
larger and less active breeds, when it is considered that
they are driven twice a day, sometimes for a distance of
two or even three miles, and that their hours of feeding
and rest are in a great measure controlled by the shep¬
herd and his boy. “ When they are kept in numerous
parcels, it is not only driving to and from the fold that
affects them, but they are in fact driving about in a sort
of march all day long, when the strongest have too great
an advantage, and the flock divides into the head and tail
of it, by which means one part of them must trample the
food to be eaten by another. All this proves the very re¬
verse of their remaining perfectly quiet in small parcels.”
Another writer observes, that “ were the pasture sheep of
Lincolnshire to be got into a fold once a week, and only
caught one by one and put out again immediately, it
would prevent their becoming fat.” (Parkinson on Live
Stock, vol. i. p. 367.) The only sort of folding ever adopt¬
ed to any extent by the best breeders is on turnips, clovers,
tares, and other rich food, where the sheep feed at their
ease, and manure the land at the same time,
jp- Another mode of management somewhat akin to this
S' Practice, and which is similar to one that has been warm¬
ly recommended in a recent publication (Sir J. Sinclair’s
usbandry of Scotland), as if it had been formerly un¬
known, is described and commented on by Mr Young as
(mows:—“ This practice is, to confine them at night in a
sheep-yard, well and regularly littered with straw, stubble,
and fern ; by which means you keep your flock warm and
Healthy in bad seasons, and at the same time raise a sur-
pibmg quantity of dung,—so great a quantity, if you have
p enty of litter, that the profit will be better than folding
on the land. A great improvement in this method would
o, giving the sheep all their food (except their pasture)
■n such yard, viz. hay and turnips, for which purpose they
nay be brought up not only at night, but also at noon, to
e baited ; but if their pasture be at a distance, they should
len, instead of baiting at noon, come to the yard earlier
ie evening, and go out later in the morning. This is
piactice that cannot be too much recommended; for so
wilW a ,lodS,ng is a g^at matter to young lambs, and
ale k611] mu.c^ forward their growth : the sheep will
som 6 £.ood health ; and, what is a point of con-
vervtnCe t0 a^- faFms’ ^le quality of dung raised will be
y great. If this method is pursued through the months
335
nWe,CTrf.r’ Ja,nnTT’ Feb™ry> March, and April, with Agricl.
plenty ofhtter, 100 sheep will make a dunghill of at least lore.
60 loads of excellent stuff, which will amply manure twov^v'^->
acres of land ; whereas 100 sheep folded (supposing the
grass dry enough) will not in that time equally manure
an acre.”
That such a method may be advantageous in particular
cases, it would be rash to deny; but, generally, it is not
advisable, either on account of the sheep, or any alleged
advantage from the manure they make. As to the sheep,
this driving and confinement, especially in summer, would
be just as hurtful as folding them in the common way;
anti it has been found that their wool was much injured
by the broken litter mixing with the fleece, in a manner
not to be easily separated; besides, now that it is the
great object of every skilful breeder to accelerate the ma¬
turity of his sheep, as well as other live stock,—among
other means, by leaving them to feed at their ease, and,
if circumstances permit, in small parcels,—such a practice
as this can never be admissible in their management.
And with regard to manure, there can be no difficulty in
converting into it any quantity of straw, stubble, and fern,
by cattle fed in fold-yards, on green herbage in summer,
and turnips or other succulent food in winter; while the
soil, especially if it be of a light, porous quality, is great¬
ly benefited, both by the dung and treading of sheep al¬
lowed to consume the remainder of both sorts of food on
the ground. It is true that the dung of sheep has been
generally supposed to be more valuable than that of
cattle; but accurate experiments have not been made to
determine the difference in this respect among these and
other polygastric animals. The greater improvement of
pastures by sheep is probably owing as much to their mode
of feeding as to the richer quality of their dung.
On the subject of breeding and rearing sheep, it would Dr Parry’s
be improper to omit noticing the judicious and successful experi-
experiments of Dr Parry and others, in crossing our native ments'
breeds with the Merino race, having for their object to
improve the carcass without deteriorating the quality of
the wool.
The land on which Dr Parry began his experiments
was high, of a thin staple, dry, unsheltered, and conse¬
quently unproductive; and as his other avocations did
not permit him constantly to superintend its management,
he became impressed with the belief that its most profit¬
able application would be to a breed of sheep, the return
of which should chiefly depend on the fleece; and such a
breed he proposed to obtain by means of crossing with the
Merinos, some of which had then (1792) been recently
imported by the king. Accordingly he fixed, as the basis
of his experiments, on the Ryeland breed, which has long
been reputed as affording some of the finest wool in the
island.
Dr Parry objects to washing the wool on the sheep’s Lavatories,
back before shearing. The fleece is so thick, that when
thoroughly soaked with water it is very long in drying;
and if the weather prove wet and cold, the sheep are evi¬
dently much incommoded. He thei’efore recommends
public lavatories, as in Spain, for cleansing the wool after
being shorn. His sheep are shorn about the second week
of June ; and if the weather be then unfavourable, he thinks
it would be fit to house them for two or three nights or Housing,
days after the operation. The lambs have been always Shearing
shorn unwashed at the end of July or beginning of Au-lambs,
gust, without appearing to have suffered any injury. The
fleece of such lambs as are rather coarse, he thinks, should
be always shorn, as he has shown that the wool of many
of this race is comparatively coarse, even in those indivi¬
duals in which the fleeces afterwards acquire the finest
336
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
Successive
crosses.
quality. The finer-fleeced lambs may be left unshorn, as
it has been proved that no loss is sustained by delaying
shearing them till the usual period.
The effects of successive crosses, both on the form and
the fleece of the progeny, are ably illustrated by this ac¬
curate experimentalist. With regard to the former, Dr
Parry candidly declares that his only object, the improve¬
ment of the fleece, did not allow him to give attention to
the best forms in selecting his breeders; but, notwith¬
standing this, “ my sheep,” he observes, “ are in general
shorter in the legs and necks, have smaller bones, a
rounder barrel, a wider loin, and consequently a better
hind quarter, than any pure Merinos I have happened to
see, except one particular ram belonging to Lord Somer¬
ville.” This change he attributes to the female or Rye-
land blood, which, in forming the progeny, acts most on
the carcass, while that of the male or Merino chiefly af¬
fects the skin and fleece.
According to the general opinion of cultivators on the
Continent, any breed of ewes, however coarse and long in
the fleece, will, on the fourth cross of the Merino ram,
give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. Of
the truth of this proposition, however, Dr Parry justly ex¬
presses some doubts, derived from his own experience
and that of others. But it is certain, he adds, that one
cross more will, in most cases, effect the desired purpose.
“ If we suppose the result of the admixture of the
blood of the Merino ram to be always in an exact arith¬
metical proportion, and state the native blood in the ewe
as 64, then the first cross would give ff of the Merino ;
the second, ; the third, ; the fourth, ; the fifth, ;
the sixth, ||; and so on. In other words, the first cross
would leave 32 parts in 64, or half of the English qua¬
lity ; the second 16 parts, or one fourth ; the third 8 parts,
or one eighth ; the fourth 4 parts, or one sixteenth ; the
fifth 2 parts, or one thirty-second; the sixth 1 part, or
one sixty-fourth ; and so on.
“ Now, if the filament of the Wiltshire or any other
coarse wool be in diameter double that of the Ryeland,
it is obvious that, according to the above statement, it
would require exactly one cross more to bring the hybrid
wool of the former to the same fineness as that of the
latter. This, I believe, very exactly corresponds with the
fact. The difference between one eighth and one six¬
teenth is very considerable, and must certainly be easily
perceived, both by a good microscope, and in the cloth
which is manufactured from such wool. In the latter
method it certainly has been perceived; but I have hi¬
therto had no opportunity of trying the difference by the
former. The fifth cross, as I have before observed, brings
the Merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as the fourth
of the Merino-Ryeland.” (Communications to the Board
of Agriculture, vol. v. p. 438.)
Several other distinguished individuals have taken a
lead in improving the fleeces of our native short-woolled
breeds, by crossing them with the Merinos, and, while
their patriotic exertions deserve well of their country,
have considerably increased their own profits. At the
head of these, perhaps, we ought to place Lord Somer¬
ville, who undertook a voyage to Portugal for the sole
purpose of selecting from the best Spanish flocks such
sheep as united in the greatest degree the merit of a good
carcass to a superior fleece. Notwithstanding the difficul¬
ties he had to encounter, augmented by the war between
Great Britain and Spain, he brought home, in 1801, a
flock of the first quality, selected from the Trashumante
or travelling breeds of Merinos, which was the admiration
of the Spanish shepherds through whose flocks they pass¬
ed in their journey to England. Small flocks of Merinos
are now established in Ireland and Scotland; and the An
late Mr Malcolm Laing was very successful with a numer- t' '
ous one, so far north as the Orkney Isles. ^
We shall conclude our account of this valuable race andMei
its cross-breeds with an extract from a letter sent by Mr and
Birkbeck, a professional farmer of the highest class, to Drbov
Parry, and quoted by the doctor in the essay above re¬
ferred to. “ The fleeces of the first cross (between Me¬
rinos and South Downs), washed, are to the parent South
Downs as six to five in weight, and as three to two in
value per pound. Thus,
100 South Down fleeces, 2-| lb. each at 2s. L.25.
100 First cross  3 lb 3s. LAS.
« So much for wool; and were it not for the air of ex¬
travagance it might give my statement, I should add,
that there is an evident improvement, as to usefulness of
form and disposition to fatten, in a large proportion of in¬
dividuals. I had the courage to exhibit at Lord Somer¬
ville’s show, in March last, five ewe-hogs from your rams,
and the honour to bear away the prize from all competi¬
tors, by the merit of carcass and fleece jointly. On the
whole, I believe that the improvement of the w ool may go
on, without detriment to the carcass, until we shall attain
a breed of sheep with Spanish fleeces and English consti¬
tutions ; but I am also convinced that this must be the re¬
sult of careful and judicious selection.”
3. Fatting.
landAg
After what has been said in the chapter on arable
(see Turnips, page 286), and in the second chapter (seetin
Pastures, page 310), little remains to be added on this
point. The age at which sheep are fatted depends upon
the breed, some breeds, such as the Leicester, maturing
at an earlier age than others under the same circum¬
stances ; and also on the abundance and quality of the
food on which they are reared, a disposition to early obe¬
sity, as well as a gradual tendency towards that form
which indicates a propensity to fatten, being materially
promoted by rich food, while the young animals are yet
in a growing state. On good land, the Leicester wethers
are very generally brought to a profitable state of fatness
before they are eighteen months old, and are seldom kept
on for fatting beyond the age of two years. The High¬
land breeds, on the other hand, though prepared, by
means of turnips, a year at least sooner than they could
be in former times, usually go to the shambles when from
three to four years old. The ewes of the first description
are commonly fatted after having brought lambs for three
seasons, that is, after they have completed their fourth
year ; and those of the small breeds at from five to seven
years of age, according to circumstances.
Besides the numerous flocks fatted on pastures for they
supply of the market during summer, a very large propor¬
tion, especially of the sheep kept on arable land, is fatted
chiefly on turnips, the winter and spring consumption o
butcher-meat being now abundantly provided for by means
of this root, in all those districts where the best courses
of husbandry prevail. We have already mentioned the
weight of the different breeds in the description of them
—the mode of feeding, under the heads of Pastures an
Turnips—and shall now only add, that it is an invanab e (
rule with all good managers, never to allow this, or anyr
other animal reared solely for the shambles, ever to lose
flesh, from its earliest age till it is sent to the butcher,—
that it is found of much advantage, with a view to spec )
fattening, as well as to the economy of food, to separa e
a flock into divisions corresponding with its different ages
and the purpose of the owner as to the time of carryinr
them to market;—and that the change from the foo 0
AGRICULTURE.
337
1 store to fattening stock—from that which is barely ca-
* pable of supporting the condition which they have already
attained, to that which is adapted to their speedy im¬
provement in fatting—ought to be gradual and progres¬
sive. Thus, very lean sheep are never, in good manage¬
ment, put to full turnips in winter, nor to rich pastures in
summer; they are prepared for turnips on good grass¬
ed often on the aftergrass of mown grounds ; and kept
on second year’s leys, and afterwards a moderate allow¬
ance of turnips, if they are to be fatted on pastures. It
is a common practice, in the instance of the Leicesters,
to keep all that are not meant for breeding always in a
state of fatness ; and, after full feeding on turnips through
winter and spring, to finish them on the first year’s clovers
early in summer, when the prices of meat are usually the
Hour'
lamb:
highest.
The luxury of the age has called forth the ingenuity of
man to accelerate the course of nature, at an expense
which, in this species in particular, is in no degree com¬
pensated by the intrinsic value of the young animal as
human food. House-lambs are fed in such numbers as the
demand may require, in the vicinity of London and other
large towns, where they are sold in the early part of the
season, commonly at much higher prices than fat sheep of
full growth. The Dorsetshire breed, as we formerly ob¬
served, can be made to yean at almost any season of the
year, and they are therefore the only kind kept near Lon¬
don. But in the neighbourhood of those towns where
the rich are willing to dispense with lamb during the early
part of winter, other breeds are made to furnish the sup¬
ply at a more advanced period of the season.
The following account of the London practice may be
useful to those farmers who find it their interest to give
their attention to this branch of management:—
“ The sucklers, salesmen, and butchers of London are
aware that such lambs as have sharp barbs on the inside
of their lips are certainly of a deep colour after being
butchered; and all those whose barbs are naturally blunt
do as certainly produce fair meat.
“ This knowledge has been the occasion of many lambs
of the latter kind being kept for rams, and sent into Dorset¬
shire, expressly for the purpose of improving the colour of
the flesh of house-lambs.
“ The issue of such rams can generally be warranted
fair, and such meat always sells at a higher price ; hence
arose the mistaken notion, that Middlesex rams were ne¬
cessary to procure house-lambs.
“ The sheep, which begin to lamb about Michaelmas,
are kept in the close during the day, and in the house dur¬
ing the night, until they have produced twenty or thirty
lambs. These lambs are then put into a lamb-house, which
is kept constantly well littered with clean wheat-straw;
and chalk, both in lump and in powder, is provided for
them to lick, in order to prevent looseness, and thereby
preserve the lambs in health. As a prevention against
gnawing the boards, or eating each other’s wool, a litttle
wheat-straw is placed, with the ears downwards, in a rack
within their reach, with which they amuse themselves,
and of which they eat a small quantity. In this house
they are kept with great care and attention until fit for
the butcher.
“ ihe mothers of the lambs are turned, every night at
etght o’clock, into the lamb-house to their offspring. At
®lx 0 ^ofk in the morning these mothers are separated
rom their lambs and turned into the pastures; and, at
eight o clock, such ewes as have lost their own lambs, and
t lose ewes whose lambs are sold, are brought in and held
n the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean : they
are then turned into the pasture; and at twelve o’clock,
, VOL. II.
the mothers of the lambs are driven from the pasture into Agricul-
the lamb-house for an hour, in the course of which time ture.
each lamb is suckled by its mother. At four o’clock all
the ewes that have not lambs of their own are again
brought to the lamb-house, and held for the lambs to
suck ; and at eight the mothers of the lambs are brought
to them for the night.
“ This method of suckling is continued all the year.
The breeders select such of the lambs as become fat
enough, and of proper age (about eight weeks old), for
slaughter, and send them to market during December
and three or four succeeding months, at prices which
vary from one guinea to four, and the rest of the year at
about two guineas each. This is severe work for the
ewes, and some of them die under excess of exhaustion.
However, care is taken that they have plenty of food;
for when green food (viz. turnips, cole, rye, tares, clover,
&c.) begins to fail, brewers’ grains are given them in
troughs, and second-crop hay in racks, as well to support
the ewes as to supply the lambs with plenty of milk;
for if that should not be abundant, the lambs would be¬
come stunted, in which case no food could fatten them.
“ A lamb-house, to suckle from one hundred and sixty
to one hundred and eighty lambs at a time, should be se¬
venty feet long and eighteen feet broad, with three coops
of different sizes at each end, so constructed as to divide
the lambs according to their ages.” (Middlesex Report,
p. 355.)
Sect. IV. Swine.
Though there are manypnstances of this species of live Swine a
stock being kept in such numbers as to be a source ofsubordi-
very considerable emolument to their owners, yet, gene- n.ate sPe"
rally speaking, swine are viewed by farmers merely as a
subordinate concern ; and perhaps, in most cases, their 1
chief value is held to consist in their being maintained on
what would othemise be entirely lost. With millers,
brewers, distillers, and dairymen, they are an object of
more importance, and return, for the offals they consume,
a greater weight of meat (according to some, double the
weight) than could be obtained from cattle. In those
parts where potatoes are raised as a fallow crop, much be¬
yond the demand for them as human food, as is the case
in particular in Ireland and the west of Scotland, the rear¬
ing and feeding of swine, most of which are sent to a dis¬
tance in the state of bacon and pickled pork, is a branch
of management on which great dependence is placed for
the payment of their rents and other charges.
It has been made a question, whether swine will pay
for being wholly fed on crops raised for this purpose;
and various calculations have been offered, to show how
much they will return for a given quantity of corn and
roots; but the results are so discordant, that much more
accurate experiments must be made before any thing
certain can be stated on this point. Perhaps the prin¬
cipal consideration which affects the question is, the
extremely prolific nature of the animal, which renders
it easy, in a very short time, to supply them in too
great numbers for the demand. It is this circumstance,
probably, that has, more than any other, prevented the
farmers of arable land from employing any large portion
of their crops in feeding swine, the flesh of which varies
in price more than that of other butcher-meat, and
often at very short intervals. Yet if their food be herb¬
age and roots, with a small allowance of corn or pulse in
the last stage of fatting, and if the breeds are judicious¬
ly chosen and well managed, there seems no reason to
doubt that, in many situations, swine will yield as much,
338
AGRICULTURE,
Agricul- perhaps, on an average of years, a greater profit, for the
ture. food they consume, than any other species of live stock.
It is only in particular districts that so much attention
has been paid to this animal as to give rise to any accu¬
rate distinction of breeds; and nowhere has it received
any considerable portion of that care in breeding which
has been so advantageously employed on the other ani¬
mals of which we have treated. Yet among none of the
varieties of those is there so great a difference as among
the breeds of this species, in regard to the meat they re¬
turn for the consumption of a given quantity of food.
Some races can with difficulty be made fat, even at an ad¬
vanced age, though fed from the trough with abundance
of such food as would fatten any other animal; while
others contrive to raise a valuable carcass out of materials
on which no other creature could subsist.
Breeds. Mr Culley mentions only three breeds, viz. the Berk¬
shire, the Chinese, and the Highland or Irish; but other
writers have found a distinct breed in most of the coun¬
ties of England, which they have thought proper to de¬
scribe separately. The Chinese race has been subdivided
into seven varieties or more; and it would be easy to point
out twice the number of as prominent distinctions among
the sorts in the third class. But such an affectation of
accuracy is as useless as it would be tedious. One gene¬
ral form, approaching to that of other animals kept for
their carcass, ought certainly to be preferred; and the
size, which is the other distinguishing characteristic, must
be chosen with a view to the food provided for their main¬
tenance, and not because it is possible to raise the indi¬
viduals to a great and probably unprofitable weight. The
fineness of bone, and the broad though also deep form of
the chest, denote in this, as in the other species, a dispo¬
sition to make fat with a moderate consumption of food ;
and, while it may be advisable to prefer the larger breeds
in those places where bacon and flitches are in most de¬
mand, the smaller breeds are most esteemed for pickling,
and are, beyond all doubt, most profitable to those far¬
mers who allow them little else than the range of the
farm-yard and the offals of the kitchen.
The Berkshire pigs, now spread through almost every
part of England and several places of Scotland, are in
general of a reddish colour, with black spots, large ears
hanging over their eyes, short-legged, small-boned, and
inclined to make fat. The surprising weight that some
of these hogs have been fed to would be altogether in¬
credible, were not the facts w^ell attested. “ On Monday
the 24th of January 1774, a pig (fed by Mr Joseph Law-
ton of Cheshire) was killed, which measured, from the
nose to the end of the tail, three yards eight inches, and
in height four feet five inches and a half. When alive*'
it weighed 12 cwt. 2 qrs. 10 lb.; when killed and dressed,
it weighed 10 cwt. 3 qrs. 11 lb. or 86 stones 11 lb. avoir¬
dupois.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 173.)
The Hampshire breed of hogs is also very large, being
longer in the body and neck, but not of so compact a form,
as the Berkshire: they are mostly white, and well dis¬
posed to fatten.
The Sussex pig is distinguished by being black and
white, but not spotted, frequently black at both ends, and
white in the middle. Their general size, when full-grown,
is about 18 or 20 stone.
The Suffolk white pig stands high, is narrow on the
back, with a broad forehead ; the hair is short, with many
bristles; weight 16 to 19 stone.
The Cheshire breed is distinguished by their gigantic
size: in colour they are black and white, blue and white
(not spotted, but in large patches of black or blue), and
some all white. Their heads are large, with very long ears,
remarkably long in the body, very narrow in proportion to A,
their size, with large bones, long legs, and much loose skin. : l
The Shropshire pig is also a large, coarse animal, with ^ \
much bone and hair, and many bristles; their colour
mostly white, with black patches, some rather sandy.
They are said to be much liked by the distillers.
The largest breed of the island is supposed to be kept
about Rudgewick, on the borders of Sussex and Surrey.
They feed to an extraordinary size, and weigh, at two years
old, nearly double or triple the weight of most other sorts
at that age. {Middlesex Report.)
The Chinese breed is of different colours, white, black,
black and white in irregular patches, and of a sandy hue;
and their size is no less varied, though all of them smaller
than the breeds already mentioned. The larger sort, such
as weigh 10 or 12 stones when about a year old, or rather
perhaps a cross with some native breed, may be recom¬
mended as the most suitable kind for arable farms, when
their maintenance is to be got chiefly in the fold-yards. The
form of the Chinese pig is generally good, and their flesh
excellent; but it is ehsily made too fat for delicate stomachs.
The most numerous in the lowland counties of Scot¬
land were, and in many places still are, very unprofitable
animals. They are of a white colour; have light, narrow
carcasses, with bristles standing up from nose to tail;
long legs; and are very slow feeders, even at an ad¬
vanced age. In the Highlands and Hebrides the breed,
supposed by Dr Walker to be the aboriginal, is of “ the
smallest size, neither white nor yellow, hut of a uniform
grey colour, and shaggy, with long hair and bristles. They
graze on the hills like sheep; their sole food is herbage
and roots, and on these they live the whole year round,
without shelter, and without receiving any other suste¬
nance. In autumn, when they are in the best order,
their meat is excellent, and without any artificial feeding;
but when driven to the low country, they fatten readily,
and rise to a considerable bulk.” (Walker’s Hebrides,
vol. ii. p. 17.) In the Orkney Islands they are commonly
of a dark red, or nearly black colour, and have long
bristles, with a sort of coarse wool beneath them.
The mode of breeding, the food, and the general ma-M;
nagement of swine, are all of them so much dependent onnie
local circumstances, and are so much varied in conse¬
quence, that it is neither possible, nor would it be of any
utility, to describe the practice of different counties, or
rather of almost every different individual.
The period of gestation with swine is 16 weeks. The
pigs are commonly weaned when six weeks old; soon
after which the sow is again in season, so that two litters
are usually farrowed within the year ; sometimes, though
very rarely, five litters in two years. There are two
things of particular importance to be attended to in the
breeding of swine. They should not be allowed to farrow
in winter, as young pigs are exceedingly tender, and can
with difficulty be preserved in very cold weather; nor at
a time when food is scarce, as is generally the case upon
corn-farms in summer, if the stock of them is large. The
months of February and August have been recommended
as the best periods for parturition. (Henderson on Swine,
p. 27.) Twenty swine are estimated to bring at an ave¬
rage seven pigs and a half each for their first litter (Ibid.
p. 17); but the number varies much, and many young
pigs are lost soon after their birth by the unkindness of
their dam, and by casualties, to which they are more ex¬
posed than most other young animals.
A sow in pigs should be separated from the herd some
time before she is expected to farrow, carefully watched,
and littered with a small quantity of dry short straw. Too
much straw is improper, both at the time of farrowing
AGRICULTURE.
339
ul and for a week or two afterwards, as the pigs are apt to
An ■. * nestle beneath it unperceived by the sow, and are thus
^/- ^in danger of being smothered when she lies down. A
breeding sow should be well fed, particularly when nurs¬
ing ; and it is advantageous early to accustom the pigs to
feed from a low trough, on milk or other liquid food mixed
with meal or bran. Such of the pigs of both sexes as are
not to be kept for breeding are usually castrated or spayed
when about a month old, and the whole may be weaned
at the end of six or seven weeks. They should then be
fed regularly three times a day, with meal and water a
little warmed, until they are able to shift for themselves
among the rest of the stock.
The food allowed, whether to growing or fattening
swine, depends on the circumstances of their owners.
The cottager’s pig must be contented with the scanty
offals of his kitchen and of his dairy, the produce gene¬
rally of a single cow. Towards the end of autumn a few
potatoes are added, for the purpose of preparing it for
slaughter, and perhaps a little meal is mixed with boiled
potatoes for a week or two before. Such pigs, however,
often thrive amazingly, make themselves moderately fat,
and form a most valuable addition to the winter stores of
their owners. In the south-eastern counties of Scotland,
the hinds or married ploughmen are commonly allowed to
keep a pig each, which they feed in this manner, and from
which their families derive much benefit at very little ex¬
pense. On many corn-farms, the chief, and not unfre-
quently the only dependence of swine, is on the straw-
yards. The sweepings of the barn-floor, corn left upon
the straw, and oats found among the dung of horses, with
a share of the turnips given to the cattle in winter, and
of the clover in summer, afford ample subsistence to swine,
in the proportion, perhaps, of one to every five or six acres
under corn, clover, and turnips. The kitchen and dairy
give some assistance to pigs newly weaned, and also to
such as are soon to be slaughtered. A great many are
killed when about a year old that have never been fed at
any expense that can be estimated. A fbw pigs, if of
a good breed, will always be moderately fat at that age
with the run of the straw-yards, and their flesh is of an
excellent quality.
lee ig When farmers find it profitable to keep large swine that
1 r un- cannot be fattened for bacon, as is the practice in some
of the western counties, without a regular supply of food
being served up to them, the method is, to rear them
chiefly on raw potatoes and Swedish turnips, and to fatten
them on these roots boiled or prepared by steam, with a
mixture of oat, barley, or bean and peas meal. Their
troughs should be often replenished with a small quantity
of food at a time, and kept always clean ; and their food
changed occasionally, and seasoned with salt. “ If proper
care be taken,” says a late writer, “ a feeding pig should
not consume more than six Winchester bushels of oats
made into meal. It ought to be shelled before it is ground,
the same as for family use, but need not be sifted.”
(Henderson’s Treatise on Swine, p. 26.)
Swine, it is well known, are very apt to get into for¬
bidden ground: upon tillage farms they are seldom, for
this reason, permitted to go at large, unless sometimes for
a few weeks on the stubbles, or where the number is
so large as to afford the expense of constant herding. In
many cases they are almost always confined to the cattle-
Moi of yard, or a fold-yard beside their styes. Another bad pro-
J’^j j‘ngPerty in this animal is, the habit of digging into the
gin] S0'^ ’ ^or which the most effectual preventive is, to cut the
two strong tendons of their snout, by a slight incision
^ ith a sharp knife, about an inch and a half from the nose,
this may be done with little pain, and no prejudice to
the animal, when about two or three months old. The Agricul-
common practice of restraining them by rings fixed in the ture.
snout is painful and troublesome: they must be replaced
as often as they give way; and that happens so frequently,
that rings afford but little security against this nuisance.
Styes or swine-houses are set down in different situa-Styes,
tions, according to the numbers kept, and the manner of
feeding them. The cottager erects a little hut contigu¬
ous to his dwelling, and many small farmers also choose to
lodge them near the kitchen. If swine are kept chiefly in
the straw-yard, their houses are so situated as to give ready
access by a door which opens into it. See Plate XI.
The gentleman-farmer erects a range of low buildings on
that side of his farm-offices which is least exposed to view,
and incloses and subdivides a small yard for their use.
Where this branch of husbandry is carried on in all its
parts, there must be separate houses for sows heavy with
young, for such as are nursing, for pigs newly weaned,
and for rearing and for fattening stock. (General Re¬
port of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 217.)
In the pickling and kitting of pork, a branch of business
which is carried on to a considerable extent at many of
our seaports, the carcass is cut in pieces, and packed in
kits made for the purpose, containing from one to two cwt.
Salt is dissolved in water till the mixturb be strong enough
to swim an egg; it is then boiled, and, when cold, poured
upon the pork. When the end of the kit is fixed in, the
article is ready for being sent to market.
A late writer has given particular directions for the
curing of bacon, founded upon a long course of experience,
which therefore deserve to be more generally known. We
shall give them in his own words.
“ After the carcass has hung all night, lay it upon a Directions
strong table or bench, upon its back, cut off the head f°r curing
close by the ears, and cut the hinder feet so far below the^acon’
hough as will not disfigure the hams, and have plenty of
room to hang them by. Then take a cleaving knife, and,
if necessary, a hand-mallet, and divide the carcass up the
middle of the back-bone, laying it in two equal halves.
Then cut the ham from the side by the second joint of
the back-bone, which will appear on dividing the carcass ;
then dress the ham, by paring a little off the flank or
skinny part, so as to shape it with a half-round point, clear¬
ing off any top fat that may appear. The curer will next
take off the sharp edge along the back-bone with his knife
and mallet, and slice off the first rib next the shoulder,
where he will perceive a bloody vein, which he must take
out, for if it is left in, that part is apt to spoil. The cor¬
ners must be squared off where the ham was cut out.
“ In killing a number of swine, what sides you may have
dressed the first day lay upon some flags or boards, piling
them across each other, and giving each flitch a powder¬
ing of saltpetre, and then covering it with salt. Proceed
in the same manner with the hams by themselves, and do
not omit giving them a little saltpetre, as it opens the pores
of the flesh to receive the salt, and besides gives the ham
a pleasant flavour, and makes it more juicy.
“ Let them lie in this state about a week, then turn those
on the top undermost, giving them a fresh salting. After
lying two or three weeks longer, they may be hung up to
dry in some chimney or smoke-house. Or, if the curer
chooses, he may turn them over again, without giving
them any more salt; in which state they may lie for a
month or two without catching any harm, until he has
convenience for drying them. I practised for many years
the custom of carting my flitches and hams through the
country to farm-houses, and used to hang them in their
chimneys and other parts of the house to dry, some sea¬
sons to the amount of five hundred carcasses. This plan I
340
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- soon found was attended w5th a number of inconveniences,
ture. yet it is still common in Dumfries-shire.
“ About twenty years ago I contrived a small smoke¬
house. " h°use> of a very simple construction. It is about twelve
feet square, and the walls about seven feet high. One of
these huts requires six joists across, one close to each wall,
the other four laid asunder at proper distances. To re¬
ceive five rows of flitches, they must be laid on the top of
the wall. A piece of wood, strong enough to bear the
weight of one flitch of bacon, must be fixed across the
belly end of the flitch by two strings, as the neck end must
hang downwards. The piece of wood must be longer than
the flitch is wide, so that each end may rest upon a beam.
They may be put so near to each other as not to touch.
The width of it will hold 24 flitches in a row, and there
will be five rows, which will contain 120 flitches. As
many hams may be hung at the same time above the
flitches, contrived in the best manner one can. The lower
end of the flitches will be within 2^ or 3 feet of the floor,
which must be covered five or six inches thick with saw¬
dust, which must be kindled at two different sides. It will
burn, but not cause any flame to injure the bacon. The
door must be kept close, and the hut must have a small
hole in the roof, so that part of the smoke may ascend.
That lot of bacon and hams will be ready to pack up in a
hogshead to send off in eight or ten days, or a little longer,
if required, with very little loss of weight. After the bacon
is salted, it may lie in the salt-house as described, until
an order is received, then immediately hang it up to dry.
“ I found the smoke-house to be a great saving, not
only in the expense and trouble of employing men to cart
and hang it through the country, but it did not lose nearly
so much weight by this process.
“ It may be remarked, that whatever is shipped for the
London market, or any other, both bacon and hams, must
be knocked hard, and packed into a sugar hogshead, or
something similar, to hold about ten hundredweights.
Bacon can only be cured from the middle of September
until the middle of April.” (Henderson’s Treatise on Swine,
p. 39.)
Brawn. The treatment of boars for brawn, and the after-pre¬
paration of the article, is carried on in Kent and some other
parts of England ; but it is the object of those concerned
in this business to keep the process secret. According to
answers returned to queries transmitted by the Board of
Agriculture in 1804, the boars are put up for feeding at all
ages, and in an entire state; but they are preferred when
only two years old. They were usually kept apart, each
of them in a case so small as not to be able to turn round,
but sometimes eight together in larger pens. Their food
is beans, with sulphur given in their water. A large ani¬
mal is preferred, producing a collar of about 30 lb. weight,
which then brought 2s. per lb.; the lean parts being made
into sausage meat, and sold at 6d. per lb. {Farmer s Ma¬
gazine, vol. vi. p. 431.)
Sect. V. Miscellaneous Live Stock.
Under this title we would comprise Asses, Mules,
Goats, Rabbits, Pigeons, Poultry, and Bees.
The value of these animals, as agricultural live stock, is
comparatively inconsiderable in Britain, notwithstanding
their importance in some other countries; and, in an eco¬
nomical view, some of them are undoubtedly wasteful and
Asses and pernicious. Asses and mules are seldom or never employ-
n.ules. ed in field labour, though it was the opinion of Mr Bake-
well, and a few other eminent agriculturists, that there
would be some advantage in propagating the ass on ac¬
count of its hardiness, and the coarse food on which it may
be maintained. Trials have been made to improve our t\
present breeds, by crosses with males introduced from
foreign parts, without having had the effect, however, oT'
bringing them into use, either for the plough or the cart-
and wherever the services of a small animal are required*
we have horses of all sizes, from nine to eighteen hands
high, which seem better adapted to every purpose than
asses or mules. Goats are to be found only in small Go
numbers, except in some parts of the Highlands, and are
kept chiefly for the medicinal quality of their milk. Pi. Pi^
geons are justly considered as a nuisance by every respect¬
able writer on rural economy, and certainly by every far¬
mer who is within the reach of their depredations.
Rabbits axe a kind of stock about which some difference Ka
of opinion still exists among intelligent men, though there
are perhaps very few situations in which they can be con¬
sidered as more profitable than any other mode of occu¬
pancy. It is not merely that they in general return less
for their food than other stock, but that they are also very
difficult to confine, and most destructive to the crops and
fences in their vicinity. Their number, though still con¬
siderable, has accordingly decreased, and continues to de¬
crease, with the progress of improvement; and unless
their skins shall become of much greater value than at pre¬
sent, they can be an object of consideration only on such
tracts as must otherwise be left to the animals that are
still in a state of nature. In the present state of our agri¬
culture, however, if it be found advantageous to retain this
species, it is proper that the best breeds and the best mode
of management, as well as their value, should be known.
A deep, sandy, poor soil is the most suitable for rabbits,
though, under good management, as turnips must be pro¬
vided for winter, there should be parts of it capable of
bearing that and other crops; and the situation may be
either on the sides of hills or on a flat surface. Artificial
burrows are made with an auger, to reconcile them to the
ground, and to preserve them from vermin, until they have
time to make their own burrows; and on level warrens,
this implement may be usefully employed from time to
time afterwards. Warrens are commonly fenced with a
sod wall, capped with furze or black thorn, in all about six
feet high, and should always be kept in complete repair.
Besides the rabbits, a number of sheep are usually kept in
these grounds during the summer.
The silver-haired rabbit is now more esteemed than the
grey, though the latter is so much hardier, that if a war¬
ren be stocked with both, there will in a few years be
nothing but greys. {Lincolnshire Report, p. 382.) The
skin of the grey rabbit is cut, that is, the “ wool” is pared
off the pelt, as a material of hats; whereas that of the
silver-haired, which sells much higher, is dressed as fur,
and goes, it is said, principally to the East Indies. (Mar¬
shall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 265.)
One buck will serve one hundred does; the doe takes
the buck the day she brings forth, and goes thirty-one
days with young, which she suckles for about twenty-two
days, for the first half of which they are blind. But when
confined in warrens, rabbits seldom breed more than twice
a year, and some of them only once : in particularly wet,
cold seasons, few or none bring more than one litter.
(Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 299.) The skins are
in their best state from the middle of November till
Christmas, during which period all that are not to be
kept for breeding are slaughtered. Silver skins have been
sold of late at from 15s. to 21s. a dozen.
“ The best manner of taking rabbits is by folds, by
means of nets and cords. The day before the rabbits are
intended to be taken, the warrener, with his assistants, in¬
closes many acres of ground, the bank generally making
AGRICULTURE.
341
ul. one end, and sometimes part of a side : the fore part of the
, " f0ld is left entirely open. Rabbits form their colonies in
^some part all together, at a distance from their feeding
m ound, and nearly all leave their home or burrows at the
time of feeding, when the warrener fixes his nets, by two
men beginning at each end, who meet in the middle. Thus,
in fine dry weather they can nearly take all that is wanted
at once; but it is a general practice to fold at two sepa¬
rate times from each colony. Within the fold are formed
what are termed angles, in that part nearest to the bur¬
rows; as the rabbits, when they return, and find them¬
selves checked in getting home, will beat about by the
nets. These angles are therefore so contrived as to afford
them an opportunity of secreting themselves, and are made
thus:—an irregular groove or channel is cut, about twelve
or fourteen inches deep, and about twelve inches wide,
the sods being set up one against another over the groove,
so as to form a ridge like the roof of a house. These
channels are made of equal lengths, both ends being left
open, so that when the rabbits meet they are head to
head. When the rabbits find themselves prevented from
returning to their former homes, and the day-light appears,
hearing the warrener and his dogs enter the fold, they
quickly run into the angles, when the warrener puts a sod
against the open ends, to prevent their return. The few
straggling rabbits remaining in the fold are hunted by
boys with dogs; but the warreners have recourse to that
method as little as possible, the dogs being apt to tear the
skin, and injure the carcass.” (Parkinson on Live Stock,
vol. ii. p. 299.)
“ Turnips, clover, and sainfoin are the most proper kinds
of winter food for rabbits, as also threshed oats or barley,
when corn is tolerably cheap, may be given them with
great propriety. The two latter need only be allowed when
die ground is covered with snow, and when it does not
blow about so as to cover the corn when laid down; but
in severe storms, turnips are the most proper food, as they
can find them by their scent, and will scratch the snow
off when covered. Three large cart-loads of turnips a day'
will fodder one thousand or one thousand one hundred
couples of rabbits, which are about a proper quantity to be
left as breeding stock on 500 acres of inclosed warren
land. In heavy snows, a great deal of money must be ex¬
pended in clearing the snow from the warren walls, in
order to keep as much as possible the rabbits within their
bounds.” {Lincolnshire Report, p. 389.)
)e Among several calculations to show the expense and
'* produce, Mr Arthur Young seems to consider the follow¬
ing as the most accurate; and as he is a decided enemy
to this stock, there is no reason to suspect exaggeration.
“ Mr Holdgate states the expense of 1700 acres under
rabbits, the silver sort, thus :—
Labour, three regular warreners, with extra-assistance at
killing L.85 0 0
Fences    42 10 0
Winter food  42 10 0
Nets, traps, &c. &c    14 3 4
Delivery  21 5 0
Lent is said to be 7s. an acre 595 0 0
L.800 8 4
The capital employed is that sum, with the
addition of stock paid for; suppose this three
couples an acre, at 2s. 4d  595 0 0
L.1395 8 4
oterest of that sum one year, 5 per cent  69 5 0
L.1464 13 4
Annual Account.
Expenses as above   
Interest   
.L.800 8 4
... 69 5 0
Agricul¬
ture.
L.869 13 4
Produce.
10,000 couples at 2s. 4d L.1166 13 4
Expenses  869 13 4
Profit   L.297 0 0
or L.24 per cent, (the five per cent, included) on capital
employed. This is very great, reckoned on the capital,
but small reckoned by rent, as it amounts to only half a
rent. But suppose the gross produce L. 1500, which I
take to be nearer the fact, then the account would stand
thus:—
Produce ..L.1500 0 0
Expenses  869 0 O
Profit L.631 0 0
or L.47 per cent, on the capital.
“ Take it how you will, it explains the reason for so
many of these nuisances remaining. The investment of a -
small capital yields an interest that nothing else will; and
thus the occupier will be sure never to convert them to
better uses.” {Ibid. p. 391.)
Of Poultry, the most difficult to rear, and the most vo- Poultry,
racious and unprofitable, is the turkey. Geese, which live,
and even fatten on grass, are considered by some persons
as the most valuable, and in many parts of England the
number is considerable. Ducks are not only compara¬
tively harmless, but, from their feeding chiefly on perni¬
cious insects, are probably deserving of more attention
than has hitherto been paid to them. But common fowls
are by far the most numerous, and everywhere add some¬
thing not inconsiderable to the income of the inhabitants
of the country, and to the stock of food for the consump¬
tion of the people at large. The trade in eggs alone, be- Eggs,
tween the country and the towns, is a matter of some im¬
portance, as affording profitable employment to those wrho
collect them, and to others who afterwards send them in
large quantities to the principal towns. According to the
statistical account of Scotland, the people of Hawick, a
small town in the county of Roxburgh, more than twenty
years ago received L.50 weekly through the year, for eggs
collected in the neighbourhood, and sent to Berwick for
the London market; and in 1796 it was calculated that
the peasantry of Mid-Lothian drew L.8000 a year for
poultry and eggs. But in the way these fowls are com¬
monly managed by farmers, there is reason to doubt
whether they pay for the food they consume, and the
waste they are too often allowed to commit. The num¬
ber kept by any individual is commonly so small as to
obtain little of that attention that is given to other do- *
mesticated animals, and their ravages are accordingly
greater, and the returns smaller, than they would other¬
wise be.* Yet in the warm cottages of country labourers,
the common farm-yard hen makes a valuable return for
the food she requires, which is frequently potatoes, boiled
and mashed, with a little oat-meal porridge, a portion of
the daily meal of its owner. A comfortable degree of
warmth is so essential, that some gentlemen have had
stoves placed under their roosts. ^
The results of an experiment made with six hens and f^fpro?
a cock in 1807 and 1808 were, that they ate half a peck duceI of ’
of barley weekly, with very little other food, and laid 764COmmon
eggs in 52 weeks, the greatest number in the months offowls.
342
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- May and August, and the smallest in November and De-
tiirc. cember. The eggs were sold in the London market at
l^d. each, and the net profit, besides 11 chickens, was
L.2. 12s. 2d. They were confined in a small yard, well
sheltered and heated by the fires of the houses with which
it was surrounded, and prevented from sitting by means
of a feather thrust through the nostrils for a few days,
the pain of which is supposed to have induced the hen to
move about till the inclination to sit had passed away.
(Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii.)
CHAP. IV.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGRICUL¬
TURE OF BRITAIN.
Superio- The husbandry of a great part of Britain, both in re-
rity of spect to the cultivation of the soil and the breeding and
British management of live stock, is confessedly superior to that
lure: * any °^ler country in Europe; and the quantity and
value of its products, considering the character of the cli¬
mate, as well as the industry, wealth, and respectability of
its husbandmen, are without any parallel either in ancient
or modern times. We find from Columella, that, under
• the Romans, the produce of the greater part of Italy was
less than four times the seed (lib. iii. cap. 3); and this
notwithstanding an unproductive fallow every second
year, and apparently a much greater attention to minutiae
than would be compatible with the more extensive con¬
cerns of the British farmer. The average crops of Bri¬
tain have been stated so high as nine times the seed,
and certainly, wherever the management is tolerably cor¬
rect, cannot be less than double the proportion assigned
by Columella to the richer soil and more genial climate
of Italy. Of the agriculture of France before the Revo¬
lution a very full and accurate account has been furnished
by Mr Arthur Young, from which it is sufficiently evi¬
dent how much the general produce of that country, the
best cultivated perhaps next to Britain, was inferior to
that of even our middling lands; and the progress it has
made since has not, according to the latest and apparent¬
ly exaggerated accounts, been marked by any very great
improvement either in live stock or machinery, the two
most distinguishing parts of British husbandry.
It is natural to ask, to what causes this superiority is
owing; and why it is confined to a part of our territory,
instead of being extended, as our great demand of late
for foreign corn would have led us to expect, to all soils
that are capable of profitable improvement. On these
two points we now propose to offer a few very general re¬
marks ; and we shall submit them to the reader without
affecting that precision of arrangement which more ample
details would have required.
Division 1. The territory of Britain is not engrossed by a few
oflandad individuals, like the northern countries of Europe, nor
property, divided into such minute portions as that of some of the
small states of the Continent. The vast tracts of country
held by a Russian or Polish nobleman, and the diminutive
possessions of the Swiss, and more lately of the French
peasantry, are almost equally inconsistent with the more
Objections productive systems of rural economy. The former are
too large for the superintendence of one individual with
a view to profitable cultivation; and the existence of such
extensive properties implies the degradation and poverty
of the great body of the people, and the absence of a
middle class, possessed of disposable capital, or at least of
opportunities for its investment in the soil. The latter,
on the other hand, afford no room for the employment of
to very
large
estates;
capital, nor of those inventions by which the charges of &
cultivation are diminished, and its products augmented.
Such small landed properties return little more than the''-'
wages of the manual labour by which they must necessa-an
rily be cultivated. Their small surplus produce, which™’
every bad season annihilates, cannot afford subsistence to [Is
those other classes whose labours are necessary to na-pn
tional prosperity and individual comfort; and a part of
the families of the cultivators themselves, having neither
food nor employment at home, must either emigrate or
perish. To a certain extent these consequences have
been already experienced, both in Ireland and the High¬
lands of Scotland; for it would be idle to maintain that a
minute division of land in tenancy does not produce all
the unhappy effects which must result from the minute
division of land in absolute property.
Of two counties, in one of which estates are in general Ef
too large for the personal superintendence of the pro-to'
prietors, and, in the other, the land is parcelled out into801
shares little more than sufficient for the subsistence of8!”
their owners, the condition of the great body of theSai
people must be very much alike. In neither can there
exist that middle class from which all valuable improve¬
ments proceed, nor any of those inventions which multi¬
ply and augment the productive powers of human indus¬
try. Both of these states of property must appear de¬
cidedly unfavourable to national prosperity, when measured
by this unerring test—the quantity of the products of the
soil which remains after defraying the charges of obtain¬
ing them; for upon this net surplus depend all the en¬
joyments of mankind beyond the mere necessaries of life,
as well as the means of repelling foreign aggression, and
preserving internal tranquillity.
The distribution of the landed property of Britain is
equally distant from both these extremes. Though it is
necessary, perhaps, to the political constitution of the
country, that there should be a number of large estates,
yet their extent is seldom so great as to produce any of
the bad effects just mentioned, even within the bounds of
a single county. Over the rural economy of the nation
these large properties exert scarcely any influence at all,
excepting such of them as are held by entail, which is cer¬
tainly a mode of tenure greatly at variance with the full
improvement of the soil. Many instances might be point¬
ed out, of very extensive estates, fully as well cultivated,
and yielding as large a surplus for the general consump¬
tion, as our agriculture, in its present state, obtains from
any equal extent of similar land. It is true, that to in¬
crease the political influence of great proprietors, too
many of these estates are possessed by tenants at will;
but this grievance is not peculiar to such estates, the
largest estates of Scotland being occupied on leases.
This most serious obstacle to spirited cultivation must
therefore be ascribed to political causes, and not to the
engrossing of landed property.
2. Another arrangement, which may serve to account Bi
for the superiority of British agriculture, is somewhat™
akin to that division of labour by which all the arts have ^
been carried to so great a degree of perfection in this
country. Few great proprietors, comparatively, cultivate
their own lands beyond the demands of pleasure and
convenience. The far greater part of Britain is culti¬
vated by professional men, with their own capital, and for
their own profit. The price which they must pay for
their temporary rights in the soil, in the shape of rent,
instead of checking their exertions, has a powerful ten¬
dency to promote every profitable improvement, to dis¬
courage dangerous speculation, and to restrain wastelm
expenditure. And as it is clearly the interest of such
oil.
re.
>a
of
1
rtr,
sof
n
re.
the
o
iteil
lies-
men
AGRICULTURE.
A ui. men, still more than of proprietors themselves, to obtain
tip. the largest produce at the least possible expense, the in-
^termediate portion of the produce—that which is dis¬
posable for the general consumption—is consequently as
large as industry and economy, in the present state of
our agriculture, can make it. It is true almost to a pro¬
verb, that farming upon an extensive scale is never profit¬
able to a great landholder; and, with a view to the inte¬
rest of the nation, it ought to be discouraged, as both
wasteful and unproductive. In some countries this mode
of farming is a matter of necessity, as in the north of
Europe, where a class of free tenants does not exist; in
others the business of cultivation must be carried on as a
sort of partnership, or joint concern between the pro¬
prietor and tenant, as on the mctairies of France. For¬
tunately, the general distribution of wealth has long since
removed the necessity for either of these methods in Bri-
i! tain.
To give full effect to the professional system, it is ne¬
cessary that the rights of the landlord and tenant, re¬
spectively, should be clearly defined and well secured by
law and the private contract of the parties. The general
principle which should regulate the terms of this connec¬
tion seems to be, that while the farm ought to be restored
to the owner at the expiration of the tenant’s interest, at
least without deterioration, the tenant should be encou¬
raged to render it as productive as possible during his
possession. In both of these views a lease for a term of
years is scarcely less necessary for the interest of the
landlord than of the tenant; and so much is the public
interested in this measure, that it has been proposed by
intelligent men to impose a penal tax on the rent of lands
held by tenants at will.
I hat the value of the property is enhanced by the se¬
curity which such a lease confers on the tenant, will be
put beyond all doubt, if the rents of two estates for half
a century back are compared; the one occupied by ten¬
ants at will, and the other by tenants on leases for a mo¬
del ate term, and where the soil and situation are near¬
ly alike in every respect. If the comparison be made
343
Agricul¬
ture.
L'onn ■
tion 6-
;weei>
andl I
indti;int.
Wva
true that, under the security of the honour of an English
andlord, tenants at will have been continued in posses¬
sion from generation to generation, and acquired wealth
which he has never, like the landholders of some other
countries, attempted to wrest from them. But there are
few individuals in any rank of life who continue for a
length of time to sacrifice their just claims on the altar of
pure generosity. Something is almost always expected in
return. A portion of revenue in this case is exchanged
for power, and that power is displayed not only in the
habitual degradation of the tenantry, but in the control
over them, which the landlord never fails to exert at the
election of members of Parliament, and on all other poli¬
tical emergencies. No prudent man will ever invest his
fortune in the improvement of another person’s property,
unless, from the length of his lease, he has a reasonable
prospect of being reimbursed with profit; and the servi¬
lity which holding at will necessarily exacts is altogether
incompatible with that spirit of enterprise which belongs
to an enlightened and independent mind.
The people at large are evidently most deeply affected
by every measure which has a tendency to fetter the pro¬
ductive powers of the soil, and, at the same time, to de¬
press one of their largest and most valuable classes. It is
clearly' their interest that corn and other provisions should
be supplied in abundance; and the people of England
may justly complain of the want of leases as one of the
principal causes which check the improvement of their
own territory'.
What ought to be the term of a lease, can only be de-Duration
termined by a reference to the circumstances of each par-of leases,
ticular case. Lands naturally rich, or such as have al¬
ready been brought to a high degree of fertility, requiring
no great investment of capital, and returning all or nearly
all the necessary outlay within the year, may be advan¬
tageously held upon short leases—such perhaps as give
time for two or at most three of the rotations or courses
of crops to which the quality of the soil is best adapted.
The practice of England in this respect is extremely vari-
0USj—almost every term, from twenty years downwards,
^ ^ 1. . “ ~ “iauc uuo>—annus, l eveiy term, irom twenty years aownwartls,
I’1 b,ei"« found in diifere".t .of i'- I» Scotland, by far
value, the advantages of leases will be still more strik¬
ing. While that which is held by tenants at will re¬
mains nearly stationary, the other is gradually yet ef¬
fectually improved, under the security of leases, by the
tenant s capital; and, in no long period, the latter takes
tne lead of the former, both in the amount of the reve¬
nue which it yields to the proprietor, and in the quan-
ny of produce which it furnishes for the general con¬
sumption. The higher rents and greater produce of some
1 r s o Scotland, than of many of the English counties,
w mre the soil, climate, and markets are much more
ayourable, must be ascribed to the almost universal prac-
1Ce 0 homing on leases in the former country, in a much
grea er egree than to any of the causes which have been
requcntly assigned. Less than a century ago, what are
fa i j ^ cultivated districts of Scotland were very
ar behmd the greater part of England, and indeed had
ve,7 little progress from the time of the feudal
worp1^' 118 n°- ^ year.s since tlle farmers of Scotland
np.- . !n le Practice of going to learn from their southern
in tl 0UrS an art was then very imperfectly known
thereT T C°Untry- But in several parts of England
gnnt, las been .Httle or no improvement since, while the
and a^rn C0Unt‘es °f Scotland have uniformly advanced,
to f,:,PreSC;nt exhibit> very generally, a happy contrast
condition at the middle of last century,
sarv (r0S!)e.ct t0 tarRiers themselves, it cannot be neces-
j point out the advantages of leases. It may be
the most common period is nineteen years, to which it
was formerly the practice, in some places, to add the life
of the tenant. In that country, even when it is thought
expedient to agree for a much longer term, this is still ex¬
pressed in periods of nineteen years,—a sort of mysterious
cycle, which seems to be no less a favourite with the courts
of law than with landholders and farmers. Yet this term
is somewhat inconvenient, as it can never correspond with
any number of the recognised rotations of arable land.
It has been maintained by several writers, that a lease
for twenty years is not sufficient to reimburse a tenant for
any considerable improvements; and landholders have often
been urged to agree to a much longer term, which, it is al¬
leged, would be not less for their own interest than for that
of the tenant. This is a question which our limits do not
permit us to discuss; but after viewing it in different
lights, assisted by the experience of long leases in differ¬
ent parts of Scotland, we cannot help expressing some
doubts of their utility, even as regards the parties them¬
selves ; and we are decidedly of opinion, that a great¬
er produce will be brought to market, from any given
extent of land held on successive leases of twenty years,
for half a century, than if held on one lease of that
duration, whether the term be specified or indefinite, as
in the case of a lease for life. As a general mode of te¬
nure, leases for lives seem to us particularly objectionable.
The great advantages of a lease are so well known in
Scotland, that one of her best agricultural writers, himself
3-14
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul¬
ture.
a landed proprietor, has suggested a method of conferring
on it the character of perpetuity, to such an extent as, he
thinks, would give ample security to the tenant for every
profitable improvement, without preventing the landlord
from resuming possession upon equitable terms, at the ex¬
piration of every specified period. But the author of this
plan (Lord Karnes), in his ardent wishes for the advance¬
ment of agriculture, at that time in a very backward state
in his native country, seems to have overlooked the diffi¬
culties that stood in the way of its adoption; and the
great advance in the price of produce, and consequently
in the rate of rents, since his Lordship wrote, has long
since put an end to the discussion which his proposal ex¬
cited. For a form of a lease on his plan, the reader may
consult Bell’s Treatise on Leases; and the objections to
the plan itself are shortly stated in the supplement to the
sixth edition of Karnes’s Gentleman Farmer, published in
1815.
Long leases have been sometimes granted upon con¬
dition of receiving an advance of rent at the end of a
rents.
tinj
-rent
certain number of years ; but covenants of this kind, meant
to apply to the circumstances of a distant period, cannot
possibly be framed in such a manner as to do equal justice
to both parties; and it ought not to be concealed, that, in
every case of a very long lease, the chances are rather
more unfavourable to the landholder than to the farmer.
If the price of produce rise as it' has done for the last fifty
years, no improvements which a tenant can be expected
to execute will compensate the landlord’s loss; and if, on
the other hand, prices shall decline, the capital of most
tenants must be exhausted in a few years, and the lands
will necessarily revert to the proprietor, as has often been
the case of late. Hence a landholder, in agreeing to a
long lease, can hardly ever assure himself that the obliga¬
tions on the part of the tenant will be fully discharged
throughout its whole term, while the obligations he incurs
himself may always be easily enforced. He runs the risk
of great loss from a depreciation of money, but can look
forward to very little benefit from a depreciation of pro¬
duce, except for a few years at most. Of this advantage
a generous man would seldom avail himself; and, indeed,
in most instances, the advantage must be only imaginary,
for it would be overbalanced by the deterioration of his
property.
Objections Where the circumstances of a landholder, the state of
to corn- his property, and the wealth and enterprising character of
the tenantry, are such as to render long leases, or leases
for an indefinite period, expedient, the most equitable
mode, in regard to rent, would be to make it rise and fall
with the price of corn or other produce. A rent paid in
corn is, indeed, liable to serious objections, and can sel¬
dom be advisable in a commercial country. It necessarily
bears hardest on a tenant when he is least able to dis¬
charge it. In very bad seasons his crop may be so scanty
as scarcely to return seed and the expenses of cultivation;
and the share which he ought to receive himself, as the
profits of his'capital, as well as the quantity allotted to the
landlord, may not exist at all. Though, in this case, if he
pays a money rent, his loss may be considerable, it may be
twice or thrqe times greater if the rent is to be paid in
Corn, or according to the high price of such seasons.. In
less fatourable years, which often occur in the variable
climate of Britain, a corn-rent would, in numerous in¬
stances, absorb nearly the whole free or disposable pro¬
duce, as it is by no means uncommon to find the gross
produce of even good land reduced from twenty to fifty
per cent, below an average, in particular seasons. And it
ought to be considered, in regard to the landlord himself,
that his income would thus be doubled or trebled, at a
time when all other classes were suffering from scarcity A; tti
and consequent dearth; while, in times of plenty and U
cheapness, he might find it difficult to make his expenses^ V
correspond with the great diminution of his receipts. It
is of much importance to both parties that the amount of
the rent should vary as little as possible from any unfore¬
seen causes, though tenants in general would be perhaps
the most injured by such fluctuations.
To obviate these and other objections to a corn-rent,Pla
and to do equal justice at all times to both landlord andcon
tenant, a plan has been suggested for converting the cornaC(
into money, adopting for its price, not the price of theint
year for which the rent is payable, but the average pricemu
of a certain number of years. The rent, according to this
plan, may be calculated every year, by omitting the first
year of the series, and adding a new one ; or, it may con¬
tinue the same for a certain number of years, and then be
fixed according to a new average. Let us suppose the
lease to be for twenty-one years, the average agreed on
being seven years, and the first year’s rent, that is, the
price of so many quarters of corn, will be calculated from
the average price of the crop of that year, and of the six
years preceding. If it be meant to take a new average for
the second and every succeeding year’s rent, all that is
necessary is, to strike off the first of these seven years,
adding the year for which the rent is payable, and so on
during all the years of the lease. But this labour, slight
as it "is, may be dispensed with, by continuing the rent
without variation for the first seven years of the lease, ac¬
cording to the average price of the seven years imme¬
diately preceding its commencement, and, at the end of
this period, fixing a new rent, according to the average
price of the seven years just expired, to continue for the
next seven years. Thus, in the course of twenty-one
years, the rent would be calculated only three times; and
for whatever quantity of corn the parties had agreed, the
money payments would be equal to the average price of
fourteen years of the lease itself, and of the seven years
preceding it; and the price of the last seven years of the
old lease would determine the rent during the first seven
years of the new one.
The landlord and tenant, it has been thought, could
not suffer either from bad seasons or any change in the
value of the currency, should such a lease as this be ex¬
tended to several periods of twenty-one years. The quan¬
tity of corn to be taken as rent is the only point that
would require to be settled at the commencement of each
of these periods; and though this would no doubt be
greater or less, according to the state of the lands at the
time, yet it may be expected that, in the twent3r-one years
preceding, all the tenant’s judicious expenditure had been
fully replaced. Instead of the twofold difficulty in fixing
a rent for a long lease, arising from uncertainty as to the
quantity of produce, which must depend on the state of
improvement, and still more perhaps from the variations
in the price of that produce, the latter objection is entirely
removed by this plan ; and in all cases where land is a ■
ready brought to a high degree of fertility,1 the question
about the quantity of produce may likewise be dispense
with. . tore
Upon this plan we shall take leave to observe, that it r ^
be applied to leases of nineteen or twenty-one years, tie
inconvenience resulting from uncertainty as to the amoun ^
of rent, as well as other difficulties which must necessan \
attend it, would be as great perhaps as any a(|vantare:j0'jL
which it holds out to either of the parties. If it be san o
that a rent determined by a seven years’ average eon
not suddenly nor materially alter, this is at once to a nu
the inutility of the contrivance. The first thing w ie
AGRICULTURE.
, must strike every practical man is, that corn is not the
Aft! * only produce of a farm, and, in most parts of Britain, per-
ca ^haps not the principal source from which rent is paid;
and there is no authentic record of the prices of butcher-
meat, wool, cheese, butter, and other articles in every
county to refer to, a-s there is of corn. This is not the
place to inquire whether the price of corn regulates the
price of all the other products of land, in a country whose
statute-books are full of duties, bounties, drawbacks, &c.
to say nothing of its internal regulations ; but it is suffi¬
ciently evident, that, if corn does possess this power, its
price operates too slowly on that of other products, to
serve as a just criterion for determining rent on a lease of
this duration. Besides, in the progress of agriculture,
new species or varieties of the cerealia themselves are esta¬
blished even in so short a period as twenty-one years, the
price of which may be very different from that of the corn
specified in the lease. What security for a full rent, for
instance, would it give to a landlord, to make the rent
payable according to the price of barley, when the tenant
might find it more for his interest to cultivate some of the
varieties of summer wheat ? or according to the price of
a particular variety of oats, when, within a few years, we
have seen all the old varieties superseded, throughout
extensive districts, by the introduction of a new one, the
potato-oat, which may not be more permanent than those
that preceded it ? There may be no impropriety in
adopting this plan for ascertaining the rent of land kept
always in tillage, but it would be idle to expect any im¬
portant benefits from it during such a lease as we have
mentioned. In some instances it is the practice to agree
for a certain rent in money, which does not vary; and
another portion is determined from time to time by the
price of corn, the quantity and kinds of the corn only
being previously fixed by the lease. This, we think, is a
better plan than to make the whole rent vary with the
price of corn.
With regard to much longer leases, this plan will no
doubt diminish the evils which we think are inseparable
from them, but it cannot possibly reach some of the most
considerable. Its utmost effect is to secure to the land¬
holder a rent, which shall in all time to come be an ade¬
quate rent, according to the state of the lands and the
mode of cultivation known at the date of the lease. But
it can make no provision that will apply to the enlarge¬
ment of the gross produce from the future improvement
of the lands themselves, or of the disposable produce from
the invention of machinery and other plans for economiz¬
ing labour. Old corn-rents, therefore, though much higher
at present than old money-rents, are seldom or never so
high as the rents that could now be paid on a lease of
twenty-one years. But, independently of these consider¬
ations, which more immediately bear upon the interests of
the parties themselves, one insuperable objection to all
such leases is, that they partake too much of the nature
of entails, and depart too far from that commercial cha¬
racter which is most favourable to the investment of ca¬
pital, and consequently to the greatest increase of land
produce.
.nts A lease for a term of years is not, however, in all cases
a sufficient encouragement to spirited cultivation: its
covenants in respect to the management of the lands may
t>e injudicious; the tenant may be so strictly confined to
a particular mode of culture, or a particular course of crops,
as not to be able to avail himself of the beneficial dis¬
coveries which a progressive state of agriculture never
ai s to introduce. Or, on the other hand, though this is
oiuch more rare, the tenant may be left so entirely at
1 erty, that either the necessity of his circumstances dur-
VOL. II.
345
mg the currency of the lease, or his interest towards its Agricul-
expiration, may lead him to exhaust the soil, instead of ture*
rendering it more productive. When a lease therefore is'
either redundant or deficient in this respect—when it
either permits the lands to be deteriorated or prevents
their improvement—the connection between landlord and
tenant is formed upon other views, and regulated by some
other principle, than the general one on which we think
it should be founded.
Notwithstanding the high authority of Adam Smith-
restrictive covenants are always necessary to the security
of the landlord, and in some cases beneficial also to the
tenant. Their expediency cannot well be questioned in
those parts of the country where an improved system of
agriculture has made little progress. A landholder, as¬
sisted by the advice of experienced men in framing these
covenants, cannot adopt any easier or less offensive plan
for the improvement of his property, and the ultimate ad¬
vantages of his tenantry. Even in the best cultivated dis¬
tricts, while farms continue to be let to the highest re¬
sponsible offerers, a few restrictive covenants cannot be
dispensed with. The supposed interest of the tenant is
too feeble a security for correct management, even during
the eailier part of a lease; and in the latter part of it, it is
thought to be his interest, in most cases, to exhaust the
soil as much as possible, not only for the sake of immediate
profit, but frequently in order to deter competitors, and
thus to obtain a renewal of his lease at a rent somewhat
less than the lands would otherwise bring.
With tenants at will, and such as hold on short leases,
restrictive covenants are more necessary than with tenants
on leases of 19 or 20 years; but in many instances they
are too numerous and complicated, and sometimes even
inconsistent with the best courses of modern husbandry.
The great error lies in prescribing rules by which a ten¬
ant is positively required to act; not in prohibiting such
practices, and such crops, as experience has not sanction¬
ed. I he improved knowledge and the liberality of the
age have now expunged the most objectionable of these
covenants; and throughout whole counties, almost the
only restriction in reference to the course of crops is, that
the tenant shall not take two culmiferous crops, ripening
their seeds, in close succession. This single stipulation,
combined with the obligation to consume the straw upon
the farm, and to apply to it all the manure made from its
produce, is sufficient not only to protect the land from
exhaustion, but to insure, in a great measure, its regular
cultivation; for half the farm at least must in this case
be always under either fallow or green crops. The only
other necessary covenant, when the soil is naturally too
weak for carrying annual crops without intermission, is,
that a certain portion of the land shall be always in grass,
not to be cut for hay, but depastured. According to the
extent of this will be the interval between the succession
of corn crops on the same fields: if it is agreed that half
the farm, for instance, shall always be under grass, there
can be only two crops of corn from the same field in six
years. In this case, not more than two-sixths being in
corn, one-sixth in green crops or fallow, and three-sixths
in clovers or grasses, it becomes almost impossible to ex¬
haust any soil at all fitted for tillage. There are few in¬
deed that do not gradually become more fertile under
this course of cropping. It is sufficiently evident that
other covenants are necessary in particular circumstances,
such as permission to dispose of straw, hay, and other
crops from which manure is made, when a quantity of
manure equal to what they would have furnished is got
from other places, and a prohibition against converting
rich old grazing lands or meadows into corn-lands. In
2 x
346
AGRICULTURE.
Enlarge¬
ment of
tarms.
Agricul- this place we speak only of general rules, such as are ap-
ture. plicable to perhaps nine-tenths of all the arable land of
Britain, and such as are actually observed in our best cul¬
tivated counties.
For the last four years of a lease the same covenants
are generally sufficient, only they require to be applied
with more precision. Instead of taking it for granted that
the proportion of the farm that cannot be under corn will
be properly cultivated, from the tenant’s regard to his own
interest, it becomes necessary to take him bound to this
effect in express tex'ms ; the object generally being to en¬
able the tenant, upon a new lease, to carry on the culti¬
vation of the lands, as if the former lease had not termi¬
nated. What these additional stipulations should be, must
depend in part on the season of the year at which the
new lease commences, and in part on the course of crops
best adapted to the soil and the particular circumstances
of every farm.
3. The enlargement of farms to such a size as admits of
arrangements and machinery for saving labour, is the na¬
tural consequence of the progress of agriculture, and the
acquisition of capital by cultivators, and becomes, in its
turn, the cause of further improvements. We have not
room to examine here the various objections to large
farms which were urged by Dr Price, Lord Kames, and
most of the economical writers of the last century. Much
stronger reasons, certainly, than any that have been hither¬
to advanced must be required to justify the interference
of the legislature with the rights of the agricultural
classes,—with that of a landholder to draw the greatest
revenue from his property, and with that of a farmer to
extend his concerns as far as his capital and abilities will
permit. Even though it should be conceded to Dr Price,
that a given extent of land yields a greater produce in the
hands of several small farmers than of one great farmer,
it still remains to inquire, what part of that produce can
be spared for the general consumption,—and whether
the labour of these people might not be employed with
more advantage than on such minute portions of land as
yield, even in the best seasons, little more than food for
their own subsistence. In Britain, of which the families
employed in agriculture are to those of the whole popula¬
tion only as 1 to 3, and in which the proportion of lands
cultivated, or that may be cultivated, is not four acres to
every individual, the great object ought certainly to be, to
increase the disposable produce of the country for the sup¬
ply of the general population.
The grand objection to large farms, that they depopu¬
late the country, is not supported by facts. The popula¬
tion of the country has not only greatly increased since
the enlargement of farms, but this increase appears to have
been little less than that of the town population. The
fact is, the increase of the rural population has been in
a greater ratio than that of the towns, in those counties,
such as Northumberland, where very large farms abound,
and where, indeed, as is usually the case, this state of
things is combined with a spirited and productive system
of agriculture. Even in Lancashire, the ratio of increase
in the 10 years from 1801 to 1811 was only two per cent,
in favour of the towns; but no one will ascribe this to
the enlargement of farms. The truth seems to be, that
wherever agriculture has made the greatest progress,
whatever may be the size of farms, the increase of em¬
ployment has been attended with a corresponding increase
of population ; and that the ratio of increase has been kept
down below that of towns by no other causes than the
stationary condition or slow progress of agriculture in some
parts, and the, superior allurements of manufactures and
commerce in others.
It is further to be remarked, that, throughout the whole An
of the arable districts of Scotland, the number of people t
is proportionally greater on large than on small farms.^
The number of hands required on the former is too great
to be lodged in the farmer’s own house ; and therefore, on
all such farms, cottages are built for their residence. These Main
cottages are generally inhabited by married men, whose hro
families find employment in hoeing green crops, and othervanl
easy work, from a very early age. In the less-improved
counties, on the other hand, where small farms still pre¬
vail, unmarried servants are preferred, as, on such farms,
there is little or no employment for the families of mar¬
ried servants. Our limits do not permit us to inquire how
far the poor-laws of England operate against the employ¬
ment of married servants, living in cottages on every farm;
but the happy effects of this arrangement are manifest in
the south-eastern counties of Scotland, as we shall notice
immediately.
The possession of land is held by some writers to be soCott
important, with a view to the comforts of the labouring hnr
classes, as well as to the increase of the rural population,
that they have not been contented with objecting to large
farms, but have proceeded to recommend what are called
cottage-farms, for country labourers generally. Of this
plan we might say at once, that it must be limited every¬
where by the demand for labour; and that, wherever
such small allotments are required by the state of agri¬
culture, they will gradually be formed from motives of
interest, without the necessity of any higher control
They are at this time common in many parts of Britain;
and a different system has been established in other parts,
for no other reason than because of its superior advan¬
tages to all concerned. Yet as cottage-farms bear a very
plausible appearance in the eye of speculative men, it
seems necessary to offer some further remarks on a ques¬
tion which has been so often agitated.
If every labourer had a comfortable cottage and four
acres of land at a low rent, as recommended by some of
the correspondents of the Board of Agriculture, there is
reason to believe that his condition might be much im¬
proved for a few years, supposing the demand for labour
to continue the same as at present. Even the colonies
which this class would every year send forth in quest of
new cottages might be supplied for a time; and though
the wuges of labour would sink very fast, still this premium
might enable the labourers to multiply with little inter¬
ruption for several generations. At last, however, the
multiplication of cottage-farms must necessarily stop, and
a great proportion of the people, without land and without
the means of employment, would either sink into helpless
misery, or be driven by despair to the commission of
every species of enormity. Such was the state of England
at the breaking up of the feudal system, the policy of
which also was to increase the number of the people,
without regard to the means of their employment; and
such, though in a much less degree, is the present state
of those parts of the united kingdom in which cottage-
farms are the most prevalent.
The whole question, we think, is capable of being most
satisfactorily decided byr an appeal to the plain mercantile
criterion of rent. If a hundred labourers, each of them
possessing four acres, can pay a higher rent than one far¬
mer can pay for the whole four hundred, buildings, fences,
and repairs being estimated, we can see no reason why
they should not be preferred; but if this be not the case,
we are greatly at a loss to conceive with what justice
landholders can be called upon to submit to sacrifices
which no other class of the community is ever expected
to make. We might, with just as much reason and jus-
AGRICULTURE.
y. tice, require a manufacturer to employ a certain number
j:., 0f hands in proportion to the amount of his capital, how-
V>',“O'ever unprofitable to him might be their labour.
In all our best agricultural counties there are two sorts
(1^ of of cottages, occupied by two distinct classes of labourers,
cutu;rs. Of the first sort are the small agricultural villages, where
those mechanics and other labourers reside, who could
not find full employment on any one farm. To such
men small farms are advantageous, or otherwise, accord¬
ing to the nature and the constancy of their employment.
The other class of cottagers, to which we have already
alluded, are ploughmen and other servants employed
throughout the year on a particular farm. To these men
small possessions of land are almost as unsuitable as they
would be to a country gentleman’s domestics. But a small
garden is usually attached to each cottage ; and they are
often allowed to keep a cow as part of their wages, not
upon any particular spot of their own, but along with their
master’s cows. Their fuel is carried home by their mas¬
ter’s teams; and a part of his own field, ready dressed, is
assigned them for raising potatoes, flax, or other crops, for
their families. Thus, with little risk from the seasons or
markets, and without any other demand on their time
than a few leisure hours will satisfy, these people enjoy
all the advantages which the occupancy of land can con¬
fer on a labourer. And there is not a more useful, we
may also add, a more comfortable, body of men among
the industrious classes of society.
To give this class of labourers four acres of land along
with every cottage, would be to render them bad servants
and worse farmers, and either a nuisance to the person on
whose farm they reside, or his abject dependents for em¬
ployment. The only proper residence for men who do
not choose to engage, or are not wanted as constant la¬
bourers, is in such central agricultural villages as we have
just mentioned, and not on separate farms, where they are
excluded from the general market for labour.
Poonlo. But it has been lately suggested, that our poor soils
i might be cultivated by another description of cottagers,
' • with benefit to the public generally, by the improvement
of such lands and the diminution of the poor-rates, as well
as with profit to those who advance the necessary capital.
As far as there has yet been time to judge, some well-di¬
gested and economically executed plans of this kind have
been very successful in Holland. The leading points de¬
serving notice in these poor colonies are, the amount of
capital sufficient to purchase the land, and to defray the
necessary expense of buildings and stock ; its division into
farms of seven acres ; the vigilant superintendence exer¬
cised over the colonists, whose operations are almost all
performed by manual labour, and much of whose time is
employed in collecting manure; their moral and religious
instruction; and the surplus produce obtained to replace
the original outlay, and afford a permanent clear income
or rent in all time coming. The most considerable of
these colonies was established at Frederick’s Oord in 1818,
at an expense of L.22. 6s. 7d. for every individual; and
after a few years’ experience, the annual excess of produce
over subsistence for each family was found to be L.8. 2s. 4d.
after allowing for a rent of 12s. per acre. The whole out¬
lay, it was calculated, would be replaced in sixteen years.
Ihe crops raised are barley, clover, potatoes, rye; and
about one acre out of the seven is kept permanently in grass.
Ihe only sorts of live stock seem to be cows and pigs.
About the end of 1825 the number of colonists compos¬
ing this settlement was 6778, and the population of all the
other colonies of this description in Holland was then es-
tiirmted at more than 20,000.
The founders of one of these, formed near Antwerp in
347
1822, soon after made a contract with government to main- Agricul-
tain 1000 mendicants for sixteen years, at the rate of 35 ture.
guilders, or L.2. 18s. 4d., for each per annum; and more
recently an individual possessing a portion of heath land
near Bruges agreed to take another thousand on the same
terms. But for a particular account of these colonies we
must refer to Jacob’s Tracts on the Corn-Trade and Corn-
Laws, 1828.
But with regard to the size of farms in the agriculture
of this country, we may add, that of all the witnesses ex¬
amined before the committees of Parliament on the corn-
laws, there was only one whose sentiments were opposed
to the general feeling of all well-informed men, regarding
the advantages that have resulted from the enlargement
of farms. We shall therefore content ourselves with
noticing what appears to be the natural progress in the
size of farms,—the circumstances which prevent any pos¬
sible enlargement of them from ever becoming injurious
to the public,—and the influence which perfect liberty in
this respect has exerted in the improvement of our agri¬
culture.
During the feudal system, that part of an estate which Progress
was not cultivated under the direction of the proprietor in the size
himself, was let out in small allotments to his vassals, from farms*
whom he received military or other services, or a portion
of the produce, in return. In those times of turbulence
and insecurity, the power of the chief mainly depended on
the number of his tenants ; and it was therefore his policy
to increase them as much as possible, by dividing his land
into very small possessions. That they might assist one
another in their rural labours, and in repelling the incur¬
sions to which they were incessantly exposed, these tenants
were collected in a village near the castle of their lord.
A certain extent of arable land was appropriated to it, on
which they raised corn, and a much larger tract of waste
or wood land, where their live stock pastured in common.
Spirited cultivation could never be introduced into this
system of occupancy; nothing more than the means of
subsistence was sought by the tenantry; and power, not
revenue, was the great object of the landholder.
For a long time after the fall of the feudal system, this
arrangement continued to prevail with little alteration;
its vestiges are still to be traced in every part of Britain;
and it exists in several counties, though in a modified
form, even at the present time. The common fields and
commons of England, and the in/ield and outfield divi¬
sions of Scotland, did not originate in any regard for the
welfare of the lower classes, to whom the tenancy of land
is now thought to be so necessary, but in the anarchy
and oppression of those dark ages in which all the land¬
ed property of the island was engrossed by a few great
barons.
When these petty sovereigns were at last overthrown,
and when commerce and the arts held up to them new
objects of desire, and to their depressed tenantry new
modes of employment and subsistence, the bond which
had hitherto connected the landholder and cultivator be¬
came more and more feeble, and it was soon found neces¬
sary to establish it upon other foundations than those oi
feudal protection and dependence. The connection be¬
tween landlord and tenant came gradually and generally
to assume that commercial form, which is at once most
conducive to their own interests and to the general wel-
fare.
One great obstacle to this change was the want of ca¬
pital ready to be embarked in agricultural pursuits. Un¬
der the feudal system there could be little or no accumu¬
lation. Property in land was the only means of obtaining
the command of labour, and a share of the produce its
348
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- only recompense. Accordingly, upon the breaking up of
ture. the feudal system, large tracts were taken into the im-
mediate possession of landholders themselves, because no
suitable tenants could be found. The constant super¬
intendence required in cultivating corn-lands, as well as
the absurd restrictions of those times upon the corn-
trade, and the constant demand for British wool on the
Continent, occasioned these tracts to be laid to grass and
pastured with sheep. Hence the grievous complaints,
during two centuries, of the decay of husbandry and
farm-houses.
But this resource of land proprietors was effectual only
on soils of an inferior description: on good arable land,
the only method by which a part of the produce could
reach them in the shape of rent was to enlarge their
farms. The old occupiers were too numerous to spare any
considerable part of the produce, and generally too indo¬
lent and unskilful to make any great exertions to augment
it. In these circumstances the landholder must either
have virtually abandoned his property, or reduced the
number of its inhabitants, who were no longer permitted
by law to make him that return which had been the ori¬
ginal condition of their tenures. But the population of
the towns was now gradually increasing, and it was neces¬
sary, for the supply of their wants, as much as for the
benefit of the landholders, that a large disposable produce
should be obtained from the soil. The measure of enlarg¬
ing farms was, therefore, in every view, indispensable.
Even such of the tenants themselves as it was necessary
to displace might have felt but a slight and temporary
inconvenience had the change been gradual. Some of
them would have found employment in towns, and others
as hired labourers and artisans in the country. The dis¬
mission of the small tenants seems, however, to have been
the occasion of much misery; for, in the sixteenth cen¬
tury, manufactures and commerce had made comparatively
little progress in Britain. In the present times, any length
to which the private interest of landholders could operate
in this manner would, in a national point of view, be too
inconsiderable to deserve notice.
It is in this way that farms have been enlarged. The
most skilful and industrious of these small tenants were
naturally preferred, and their possessions afterwards ex¬
tended as their capital increased. The consequence every¬
where has been, a better system of cultivation, affording
a higher rent to the land proprietor, and a greater supply
of land produce for the general consumption.
But it is only for a time, and to a very limited extent,
that the enlargement of farms can proceed. The interest
of the landlord, which gave the first impulse, is ever
vigilant to check its progress, when it is attempted to
carry the measure beyond due bounds. It is in this that
the security of the public consists, if it were ever possible
that the public interest should be endangered by the en¬
largement of farms. Accordingly, in most of our counties, a
few tenants, of superior knowledge and capital, have been
seen to hold considerable tracts of land, which after a few
years were divided into a number of separate farms. The
practice of these men is a lesson to their neighbours; and
their success never fails to bring forward, at the expiration
of their leases, a number of competitors. Whenever skill
and capital come to be generally diffused, there can be
few instances of very large farms, if a fair competition be
permitted. No individual, whatever may be his fortune
and abilities, can then pay so high a rent for several farms,
each of them of such a size as to give full room for the use
of machinery and other economical arrangements, as can
be got from separate tenants. The impossibility of ex¬
ercising that vigilant superintendence which is so indis¬
pensable in agricultural concerns, cannot long be compen- At
sated by any advantages which a great farmer may pos- t
sess. His operations cannot be brought together to one^
spot, like those of the manufacturer; the materials on
which he works are seldom in the same state for a few
days; and his instruments, animated and mechanical, are
exposed to a great many accidents, which his judgment
and experience must be called forth instantly to repair.
It has been said, indeed, that a great farmer may pay
a higher rent, because he saves the family expenses of a
number of small tenants. But from what fund do these
tenants maintain their families ? It ought to be either from
the profits of their capital, or the wages of their labour, or
from both combined, and certainly not from the landlord’s
just share, in the shape of an abatement of rent. If they can¬
not pay so high a rent, it must be because their capital
and labour are less productive to the public tlran those of
the large farmer. Such men might, in most cases, be em¬
ployed with more advantage, even to themselves, in some
other profession.
The various other reasons assigned for the great en¬
largement of farms are equally nugatory. There is gene¬
rally no saving to the landlord in buildings and fences;
and a very small difference of rent will pay for the trouble
of keeping accounts, and settling with twenty tenants in¬
stead of one. The fact certainly is, that the orincipal, if
not the only reason, why farms have been enlarged, is, the
higher rent paid by their occupiers. To pay this rent,
they must bring to market more produce ; and this they
are enabled to do, by the distribution of their crops and
live stock to suitable soils and pastures; by an economical
arrangement and regular succession of labour throughout
the year; by the use of machinery; and, still more than
all, perhaps, by the investment of capital in those perma¬
nent improvements which augment both the quantity and
value of their products. Rent, in fact, is an almost un¬
erring measure of the amount of the free produce; and
there is no better criterion for determining whether a
tract of country be laid out in farms of a proper size, than
the amount of the rent paid to its proprietors. Their in¬
terest is, in this instance, completely identified with that
of the great body of the people.
If we examine the various sizes of farms in those dis-Siz
tricts where the most perfect freedom exists and the ^ari
best management prevails, we shall find them determined,^
with few exceptions, by the degree of superintendence^
which they require. Hence pastoral farms are the largest;0ft]
next, such as are composed both of grazing and tillage
lands ; then, such rich soils as carry cultivated crops every
year; and, finally, the farms near large towns, where the
grower of corn gradually gives way to the market-gar¬
dener, cultivating his little spot by manual labour. The
hills of the south of Scotland are distributed into farms
of the first class ; the counties of Berwick and Roxburgh
into those of the second; and the smaller farms of the
Lothians and of the Carse of Gowrie, where there seems
to be no want of capital for the management of large
farms, are a sufficient proof of the general principle which
determines the size of farms.
It must readily appear from these remarks, in what
manner the enlargement of farms, or rather the absence
of all restraint upon the transactions of the landholder and
farmer, has promoted the improvement of our agriculture.
To confine the practice of this important art to the man¬
ual labour of men in a state of poverty and dependence,
would be no less injudicious, and much more ruinous in a
national point of view, than to destroy all the extraor¬
dinary inventions for saving labour in our manufactures.
The effects of capital and machinery are the same in both
AGRICULTURE.
Atf ul- departments. But no man of education, and in circum-
u . stances much above the condition of a common labourer,
would ever engage in farming, if his concerns could be no
farther extended than to fifty or one hundred acres held
at rack-rent; and on such farms there is no room for the
most economical machinery,—for convertible husbandry,
by which land is preserved in its highest fertility,—or, in¬
deed* for any of those arrangements which approach in
their effects to the division of labour in other arts.
Besides those general causes of the improvement of the
agriculturexof Britain, arising from the division of landed
property,—the existence of a distinct class of professional
farmers, whose rights are secured by leases, and whose
exertions are stimulated by a rent settled by competi¬
tion,—and the opportunities held out for the investment
of capital as far as it promises to be profitable,—there are
several others of a more limited or temporary nature, but
which it is only necessary barely to mention. The most
important of these is the extent of the British market,
which for many years has required more corn than was
grown in the country. The gradual rise of price, which
was the necessary consequence of this, and still more the
enormous prices during the late war, in which foreign sup¬
plies were obtained with difficulty or altogether withheld,
have contributed in no small degree to the improvement
of our own ample resources. This has been further pro¬
moted by the facility and expedition with which com¬
modities of every kind are transported by means of canals,
roads, and railways. We may add, that the liberal accom¬
modations afforded by the banking establishments during
the suspension of cash payments enabled British farmers
to operate upon extensive wastes, of which the improve¬
ment must be advantageous in a national point of view,
though, in consequence of the change that has taken place
since the peace, it may not in many cases have been pro¬
fitable to individuals.
Hapn.ro. The progress of a correct system of agriculture is ge-
» vi Jre nerally -allowed to have been more rapid in Scotland than
in Sc *n England; the effects, at least, have been more conspi-
land. cuous- Not only the rents paid in Scotland, but the ac¬
tual produce per acre, and still more the disposable
produce, seem to be greater than in England, wherever
the comparison is made with land of a similar quality,
and with an allowance for the difference in climate and
markets. The remark naturally leads us to advert to
some circumstances which seem materially to impede the
agricultural improvement of the country, particularly the
southern part of it; and with one or two observations on
tins head we shall conclude this article.
The low state of agriculture in many parts of Britain,
with the advance in the price of corn, on the one hand,
and the abundance of capital displayed in the manufac¬
tures and commerce of the country, on the other, are cir¬
cumstances sufficient to convince every reflecting mind
iat there is no want either of means or of induce¬
ments to the improvement of our territory. It is im¬
possible, indeed, to travel through the country in any
section, without feeling a strong conviction that there
must be some serious obstacles to the investment of
349
capital in agriculture. The circumstances which seem Agricul-
to have the most weight in determining men of capital ture.
to engage in any particular profession, are, the security
and productiveness of that capital, the power of trans¬
ferring it, and the degree of estimation in which the
profession is held by the public. To the absence of these
essential requisites we must ascribe the backward state
of this art, notwithstanding all the other motives, both
of a public and private nature, which have long existed
for its advancement.
To the class of drawbacks upon agriculture, and impe¬
diments to its improvement, belong tithes, poor-rates,
payments in the shape of fines, and services exacted by
the lords of manors; entails ; tenancy at will, or on very-
short leases; unfair restrictions on the tenant as to the
disposal of his lease, and as to the management of the
lands during its currency ; the game-laws ; and the com¬
plicated regulations under which commons and common
fields are cultivated, and the great expense required to
place them in a state of severalty.
It appears that nearly three-fourths of the lands of
England and Wales are exposed to claims which wrest
from the husbandman one-tenth of the gross produce of
his labour and capital, and this whether the remainder of
the produce be or be not sufficient for his remuneration.
Though no rent were paid for poor soils, this burden alone
would effectually prohibit their correct cultivation; and
even in the case of rich soils, tithes diminish the rent so
considerably as to make it the interest of landholders, in
many parts of England, to restrain their tenants from con¬
verting grass-lands into tillage ; that is, from placing them
under the most productive management for the community,
both in regard to the supply of food and of employment.
To the enlightened inquirer it must appear abundantly Nothing
clear, that all plans for the extension and improvement of required
British agriculture must prove ineffectual so long as these but tbe re*
capital obstacles are left untouched; and that their re-11?0^1!0^
moval is all that need be done, and all that ought to be° s ac ^
done by a wise government, for securing an abundant
supply of the first necessaries of life. Let all land be
held and occupied in severalty; let it be exempted from
all indefinite exactions, particularly such as diminish or
altogether absorb the just returns of capital and indus¬
try; let the connection between the land proprietor and the
farmer be everywhere formed upon equitable principles,
to the exclusion of all remnants of feudal ideas, all notions
of favour and dependence, and all obligations that do not
appear in the lease itself, or are not imposed by the gene¬
ral principles of law; let the rights of a tenant be so
far enlarged as that he may be enabled to withdraw
his capital by a transference of his lease, and to regu¬
late the succession to it after his death; then there
can be little doubt that a large part of the disposable
capital of the nation, now embarked in much less pro¬
fitable pursuits, would of its own accord turn towards
the improvement of our lands, and thus furnish em¬
ployment and subsistence for our population, secure from
the caprice of fashion and the rivalry and jealousy of
other countries. (d.)
wind
loUffl
jniU
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.
p. Plate V. made to rise upon hinges, so as to keep the tines or coul-
m *urfV and 2 are different views of the Swing-plough, ters from the ground when it is removed from one field
1 e v iron j fig" the body in one entire piece to another, and supported by iron stays. Fig. 5, section
which is attached to a wooden beam with of the same, the fore wheel dragged in going down hill,
w-bolts. lug. 4, a plan of the Grubber, the inner frame Fig. 6, three different views of the coulters. Fig. 7 and 8,
350
AGRICULTURE.
Agnciil- a DriU-harrmv, to work between the rows of plants, and
ture. made to contract or expand according to the width of the
interval. Fig. 9, 10, Common Harrows, each drawn by its
own horse, though two and often three work together.
Fig. 11 and 12, Improved Harrows, in general use for co¬
vering grass-seeds, by which all the ruts or tracks are made
Improved equidistant,
harrows,
Plate VI.
Finlay-
son’s self-
cleaning
patent
plough.
The A me-
rican hay-
rake.
Finlay-
son’s self¬
cleaning
harrow.
Morton’s
revolving
harrow.
The Ilain.
ault scythe,
Finlayson s Self-cleaning Plough.—Fig. 1, a, the beam,
and h, the coulter, curved to form in their junction a seg¬
ment of a circle of about 18 inches diameter ; c, a share
of a new form for moss or meadow land; the feather or
cutting edge 26 to 30 inches Jong, and standing at an
angle of about 20 degrees with the land-side. A little fin,
as represented at c, is screwed into the end of this share:
its use is to cut the first two furrow-slices of each ridge
clean out; for if any part be left uncut in land of this de¬
scription, the furrow, from its elasticity, will fall back to its
original position. Fig. 2, a view of the plough reversed: a,
the coulter by itself, to show a piece of plate-iron welded
on it above the cutting surface, which slips up in front of
the beam, and prevents a niche being formed between
them when the coulter is let down, wherein root-weeds or
other substances would lodge as they are forced upwards:
h, a view of a share.
Fig. 3. The American Hay-Fake.—A, the head or beam;
B, the teeth inserted in the beam ; C, the frame to which
the horse is attached; D, catches to be loosened by the
person who guides the rake, so as to raise it when the
teeth are full, and allow the head and teeth to revolve,
passing the rest, F, freely ; after which the catches are re¬
placed, and the work proceeds without stopping the
horse; G, the connection road, which gives great lever
power in raising the rest, and regulates the height at
which the machine must revolve.
Fig. 4. Finlayson s Self-cleaning Harrow.—~a, the teeth
or tines, coming up by a circular sweep to h, and then
continued upwards, and afterwards turned down and in¬
serted horizontally into the frame-work; the part at h,
where all weeds or other matters fall off, being about 9 or
10 inches from any part of the frame-work: c, a lever, bent
back and jointed at e; d, the fore wheel, attached to the
lever by a swivel joint, whereby it plays round when the
harrow is turning. When the lever, c, is put down in the la¬
teral spring,^ this fore wheel is depressed, and the first row
of tines thrown out of the ground ; it is therefore used at
turning, being then put down to the lowest opening at i,
and it is also used to regulate the depth of the fore tines
when working, by being placed in any of the openings
above/*; g, the hind wheels, brought up or down by a male-
screw, h, passing through the axle, and thereby regulating
the depth of the hind tines. The tines can be readily
taken out when repairs are necessary.
Fig. 5. Mortons Fevolving Harrow.—-X, one of the
wheels (W) brought forward and placed upon the axle at
C, when the harrow is to be removed from one field to
another ; Y, a castor or truck-wheel placed at the back of
the harrow at B, to facilitate its removal from one field to
another. In putting this implement together, 1, 2, 3, 4,
denote the bolts of the iron frame, and 5 that of the
beam; the sword, R, connects the axle and beam, and at
D the frame is locked upon the axle. The rake behind
is attached to the frame by two iron rods, and secured by
a forelock.
The HainauU Scythe.—Fig. 6, the scythe ABE, the
handle about 26| inches long, of which the curved partis
5i inches, and the broad part at A 4 inches ; at a there is
a leathern loop through which the fore finger is passed.
The blade from E to F is 21 inches long, and 2fths broad, A
and the back |th of an inch thick. Fig. 7, the crotchet
or hook which the workman uses with his left hand to^
gather the quantity of corn he intends to cut, to support
it while he is cutting, and lay it afterwards behind him;
the handle, from G to H, is 3 feet 5 inches long, and the
iron hook, from H to L, near 11 inches.
Fig. 8, a close-bodied two-horse cart, with frames forCa
carrying hay and corn in the straw. The frames at other fra
times are withdrawn.
Plate VIL
•ill
Fig. 3. ABC, a Double Mould-hoard Plough, with its Do c
mould-boards taken off, and expanding arms applied with mo [
circular coulters, for paring the edges of the drills; DD,bos|
the expanding arms, which are remo'vedwhen the mould-1^'5
boards are put on ; E E, the circular coulters ; P, a back
view of a coulter; F, a scuffle, two of which are applied
at pleasure, in place of E E, the circular coulters. Fig.
1 and 2, G G, the mould-boards taken off. Fig. 4, a one-
horse Paring Plough, to which the beam and handles, A C Pa
(fig. 3), are applied when taken from the body B, and se-P*0
cured by three screwed bolts at 1, 2, 3; I, the coulter for
the paring plough. Fig. 5, a Drill-harrow, to which also Dr
the beam and handles, A C (fig. 3), are applied in there"
same manner ; K K K, scuffles or hoes, which maybe ap¬
plied to the harrow in place of tines. Fig. 6, part of a
common plough, with a wheel-brake attached ; A, the axle
screwed to the plough ; B B, the screws ; C, the wheel.
Fig. 7, a Poller to be worked by two horses abreast,
made of cast-iron.
Fig. 8. The Improved Turnip Sowing-Machine.—A, theTu
seed box; B, manure boxes, for crushed bones or others°v
matters ; C, two large concave diverging rollers, which ac-1
commodate themselves to different widths of the drills or
ridgelets, carrying along with them the seed and manure
boxes, which distribute their contents in regular succes¬
sion on the tops of the drills; D, two small rollers, also con¬
cave, for regulating the depth at which the seed and ma¬
nure are deposited in the ground; E, a coulter, for re¬
ceiving and discharging the manure conductor, and F, a
similar one for the seed.
Plate YIII.
Fig. 1 represents a profile of Mr Smith's Reaping-Machine, Sm
complete and in operation. It will be seen by this figurerea
and fig. 2 (which is a bird’s-eye view of the machine), thatma‘
the horses are yoked one on each side of a pole, which runs
back from the frame of the carriage. The person who
drives the horses and directs the machine walks behind,
having command of the horses by a set of common plough-
reins, and directing the machine by a hold of the end of
the pole. The horses draw from a cross bar at the end of
the pole by common plough chains, the back-weight of the
carriage resting on their common cart-saddles hy means
of an apparatus such as is used in curricles. On the fore
part of the carriage is hung a horizontal circular cutter,
surmounted by a drum, the blade of the cutter projecting
inches beyond the periphery of the lower end of the
drum. When the carriage is moving forward, a rapid ro¬
tatory motion is communicated to the cutter and drum,
from the motion of the carriage-wheels, by means of a
series of wheels, pinions, and shafts. The diameter of the
cutter projects beyond the carriage-wheels on each side,
so as to cut a breadth sufficient to. allow the carriage and
horses to pass along without risk of treading down the un¬
cut corn. The corn being cut by the rapid motion of the
cutter, the lower ends rest upon the blade of the cutter,
and the upper parts coming in contact with the drum, the
AGRICULTURE.
- .1. whole is carried round, and thrown off in a regular row at
wri the side of the machine. The lower ends taking the
./v-'Vround first, the heads fall outwards, the stalks lying pa¬
rallel to each other, and at nearly a right angle to the line
of motion of the machine. The corn lying thus in regular
rows, is easily gathered into sheaves by the hand, or by a
rake, fork, or other convenient instrument, and is bound in
the usual way.
Minute Description of the Plate.
Fig. 2. A, the frame of the carriage, made of oak or
other strong wood, and put firmly together by bed-bolts
screwed into the cross bars B. C, the pole, made fast to
the cross bars. D, a cross bar, at the extremity of the
pole, from which the horses pull; this bar is of iron, in
order to give sufficient weight on the horses’ backs. E,
the carriage-wheels, 5 feet in diameter, and 6 inches broad
in the tread. F, the cutter, 5 feet 4 inches in diameter,
composed of six segments bolted to an iron ring, inch
broad and £ inch thick, which ring is connected to the
foot of the upright spindle by the cross arms, G.—-Fig. 6
shows one of these segments on a larger scale: a is of
hard wood, 3^ inches broad and 1 inch thick ; bb axe of
German steel, and of a scythe temper, 3|- inches broad,
and inch thick at the back; they overlap the wood, to
which they are rivetted, inch, their upper side being
flush with the wood; d, holes through which the ring-bolts
pass. _ Fig. 5 is a transverse section of fig. 6 II,' fig, 2,
a conical drum of slight tin-plate or basket-work, whose
lower periphery is 5 inches within the edge of the cutter,
but whose upper periphery extends as far as that of the
cutter. This drum is two feet deep, connected to the
same ring with the cutter below, and to the spindle above
by another ring, with four arms. The drum is covered
on the outside with canvass, on which perpendicular strips
of soft rope are sewed, being one inch thick, and three or
four inches apart: these give sufficient friction to carry
round the cut corn, whilst, from their softness, they have
no tendency to shake or thresh it. The horses are yoked
to the cross bar, D, by common plough-chains. The
breeching-chains are linked to the draught-chains, and a
breast-chain, which passes through a ring made fast to the
names, is drawn up to an eye at N. Fig. 4 is an inside view
of the naves of the carriage-wheels; a, a tranverse section of
t ie axle; b, a ratch-wheel, made fast on the square of the
axle; c, catches, movable on pivots, made fast to the nave ;
«) slight springs to keep the catches in gear. By this
means the wheels carry the axle in revolution with them
" ien the carriage is moved forward, but move round
upon it when the carriage is drawn in a contrary direc¬
tum. lids construction is necessary to facilitate the
turning of the machine. The axle moves in two cast-iron
seats with caps, on which the frame of the carriage rests.
A wheel, o (fig. 2), 0f 24 teeth of inch pitch, works
m o an intermediate wheel of the same dimensions. This
" ieei is m gear of a pinion of 12 teeth, fast on the end
! , 7 If cross shaft Q. At the centre of this shaft, two
'|fve e wheels, 11, with long sockets, are fitted loose.
lose wheels have each 28 teeth of 1A inch pitch : in the
.ir °i . ese a double reversing catch, which will be
explained by reference to fig. 3, which is a longitudinal
ecion °t cross shaft with the wheels and catch;
kL 9e f . ; pinion; c, the bevelled wheels, 11, of
Jm'.w aVIni8 spekets fitted loose on the shaft; d, a
Jut i’G cat?h> which is movable longitudinally on the shaft,
thPr * carriectIn revolution with it, by means of the fea-
n th e> U^n , shaft, fitted into a corresponding groove
if tho CKtC V catch can be put into gear of either
wneels at pleasure, by means of the lever, s^fig. 2),
movable on a stool at T, and kept to its place when set,
by notches in an iron stand at U. Both of the wheels are
constantly in gear of a pinion of 14 teeth, V (fig. 2)
and/ (fig. 3). By thus reversing the gearing, the cutter
and drum can be made to revolve to the rio-ht or left
and consequently will throw the cut corn to°either side’
of the machine at pleasure. On the opposite end of
the shaft, W (fig. 2), on which the pinion V is fixed, is a
bevelled wheel X of 28 teeth, in gear of a pinion of
14 teeth on the upright axle, (fig. 7 and 8). The
velocity is so raised by these wheels and pinions, that
the. cutter makes 128 revolutions per minute when the
machine moves at the rate of 2f miles per hour, the
edge of the cutter passing through 32 feet per second.
The upright spindle, shown in fig. 1 and 8, has three
bearings, one in a brass bush fixed in an iron stay-frame,
b ; a second bearing in a wooden bush with a cap on the
front of the cross bar at c; and a third in a socket rest¬
ing on the small wheels, d. These wheels serve to keep
the cutter always at an equal height from the ground.
The particular construction of these wheels, with "that of
the frame and socket, will be better understood by refer-
ence. to fig. 7 and 8. Fig. 8, a perpendicular section of
the foot of the upright spindle and socket; a, the spindle;
b, the socket; c, a groove in the spindle, into which the
points of two screw pins, d, passing through the sides of
the socket, are fitted. These are necessary to keep the
spindle in its place, and to bear up the wheels when the
spindle is raised. Fig. 7 is a bird’s-eye view of the wheels
and carriage, with a transverse section of the socket and
spindle; a, the wheels, 14inches in diameter, and 3 inches
broad; b, the axle, to which is fastened an iron frame, c,
movable on a pivot on the point of the iron bar, f and in
a socket at e; the bar/is one inch square, having a long
ruff at p, which is turned and fitted to the eye, e, of the
socket, fig. 8. The bar is bent so as to pass close under
the cutter, and runs up to the pole. This bar is necessarv
to relieve the point of the upright spindle of the resistance
opposed to the wheels in moving along. The cutter can
be placed higher or lower on the spindle, so as to cut the
straw to any height, by means of a series of holes through
the spindle; pins passing through holes in the sockets of
the arms, and the most suitable of the series. The cutter
can also be screwed to any height from the ground, from
two to eighteen inches, by means of an iron lever, on the
point of which is a brass socket, in which the upright
spindle runs, and on which it rests. The lever is hung by
an iron chain passing over a pulley at / and joining two
iron rods at ft, which connect it with a screw box, I, which
is moved backwards and forwards, by turning round the
screw, m. To the end of this screw is connected an iron
rod, which runs along the upper side of the pole to a bear¬
ing at h. At the end of this rod is a winch, o, of 9
inches radius, by which the person who guides the machine
can turn round the screw, and so raise or lower the cut¬
ter at pleasure. This is principally of use to raise the
cutter when passing over a deep furrow, or in going from
one field to another. P is a hollow piece of wood put upon
the end of the rod, by which the man holds with one hand
when guiding the machine. In most cases the cutters
will cut ^ of an acre without requiring to be sharpened,
which can be done in two minutes by a common scythe-
stone, two of which are conveniently carried in two
leather pockets, q, fig. 2. When it is necessary to go with
the machine to a distance, the upright spindle, with the
drum and cutter, are taken from their place, and placed
on the top of the carriage; and the small wheels are
drawn close up to the cross bar. The draught bar, D, is
taken from the end of the pole and placed near the frame
351
Agricul¬
ture.
352
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- of the carriage. The horses are turned to draw from it,
ture. an(i can in this way travel any distance, and over any
roads.
Plate IX.
Threshing-Machine.
Threshing. Fig. 1. Plan of a Threshing-Machine, to be driven by
machine water, or by four horses occasionally when there is not a
worked by constant supply of water, with the new-invented appara-
wafer3 °r tUS f°r horSCS.
A, the perpendicular axle (see A, fig. 2), in which are
fixed the arms or levers D, that carry the great wheel
B ; and upon these arms are fixed the limbers, by which
the cattle pull the machine when threshing. No. 1 and
2 represent two frames fixed in the axle A, and support¬
ed by the arms D ; upon these frames are placed the two
shifting-blocks, as 3 4 and 5 6, which have liberty to move
or slide, either inwards to the axle or outwards from it.
In each of these shifting-blocks are placed two running
sheeves or whorles. F F, an endless chain or rope, which
passes over the two sheeves that are placed in the shift¬
ing-blocks at the ends 4 and 5. By this chain the two
blocks are so connected, that if the one is pulled outwards
from the axle A, the other is pulled inwards alternately.
15 and 15 are two sheeves, by which the chain F F is kept
clear of the axle A when turning round. Y Y are two
ropes that pass over the sheeves which are placed in the
shifting-blocks at their ends 3 and 6: upon each end of
these ropes is fastened a small block, in which are placed
the running sheeves 7, 8, 9, 10, and over these sheeves
pass the double ropes, by which the horses pull when
working this machine, a, h, c, d, e,f and g, h, represent
the limbers or ears, fixed by screw-bolts on the arms
D D D D (see D D D in fig. 2), and in each of these
ears are placed two running sheeves, by which the ropes
are conveyed to the line of draught (see 1 and 2 in fig. 2);
each horse is yoked to the ends of the chains or ropes,
as at 11, 12, 13, and 14, these ropes passing over the
sheeves 7, 8, 9, 10, which turn on their axis. By this
means the draught will always press the collars equally
upon the horses’ shoulders; and though they are walk¬
ing in a circle, yet the strains of the draught must press
fairly or equally on their shoulders, without twisting their
body to either side. This advantage cannot be obtain¬
ed in the common way of yoking horses in a threshing-
machine, unless the draught-chains on each side of the
horse be made in exact proportion in length to the dia¬
meter of the circle in which he walks, or the chain next
to the centre of the walk made a little shorter than the
one farthest from it, which is often neglected ; but in this
way of yoking the horses the strain of the draught will
naturally press equally on his shoulders when pulling,
which of course must be less severe on the animal when
walking in a circle.
Thus, the draught-chains, or ropes, being all connected
by means of the endless chain F F, and the shifting blocks,
with their sheeves, having liberty to move either inwards to
the axle A, or recede from it, it is apparent, that if one of the
horses relax, the other horse will immediately press the col¬
lar hard to his shoulders, and excite him to exertion. For
instance, if the horse hooked to the draught-chains at 12
were to relax, then the one yoked at 14 would instantly take
up his chain, and pull the collar close to his shoulders ; so
that the horse at 12 must either exert himself or be pulled
backward. And, supposing the horses at 12 and 14 were
both to relax, then the exertions of the horses at 11 and
13 would immediately pull the shifting block from 5 to¬
wards 3, and of course press the collars hard on the
horses at 12 and 14, which would tend to drag them back¬
ward, and by this means push them to exertion. Thus, j
the horses being all connected by the draught-chains and
shifting-blocks, their exertions are all united completelyv
round the circle, so as to form one power applied to the
machine, instead of as many independent powers as there
are horses employed when yoked in the common way.
It may sometimes be convenient to employ fewer horses
than the whole number of which the machine admits.
This is easily accomplished; for example, wrere the horse
at 12 to be left out, then the two chains must be fastened
or tied to the ears c d, and thus the horse at 12 is left out of
the circle, whilst the horses at 11, 13, and 14, are never-
theless still united, so as to make one combined power
act on the machine. This apparatus is the invention of
Walter Samuel, an ingenious blacksmith at Niddry, in
the county of Linlithgow. C C C C C C represent the pil¬
lars which support the large cross-beams V Y V V, and roof
of the course in which the horses walk when working this
machine. B B represent the great wheel, fastened on the
arms D D D D, that turns the pinion 16, which is fixed on
one end of the horizontal axle E E, its other end having
on it a toothed wheel near 21, that drives the pinion 18,
placed upon the axle Q, on which axle is also fixed the
wheel 19, to turn the pinion 20, which is fixed upon the
gudgeon or pivot of the threshing-drum: by this means
motion is conveyed from the great wheel to the drum.
21 represents a wheel fixed on the axle E, to drive the
wheel 22, placed on the iron spindle S, on which spindle
is fastened the wheel 23, to turn the wheel 24, placed
upon the axle of the straw-shaker P; and on the pivot of
the straw-shaker O is fixed the wheel 25, turned by the
wheel 22; in this way, both straw-shakers are driven
round when the machine is at work. 30 represents a
small wheel fixed on the gudgeons of the axle Q, to drive
the wheel 31, that turns the wheel 32, which wheel is
fixed on the iron spindle R, having on its end at L a
socket, that takes in a square on the gudgeon in one of
the feeding-rollers, by which means they are turned
round. These rollers are generally made of cast-metal,
the circumference of the one being smooth, and of the
other fluted, or having small teeth its whole length, in
order to keep hold of the unthreshed corn; and as they
revolve on their pivots, they feed the grain regularly for¬
ward, to receive the strokes from the threshers, by which
the corn is detached from the straw. T T represent the
axle on which is fixed the water-wheel 27; and upon
the circumference of this wheel are placed the segments
28, to drive the wheel 29, which is fastened on the axle
E E; by this means motion is conveyed from the water¬
wheel to the threshing part of the machine. M, the
board or platform on which the unthreshed corn is spread,
and introduced between the feeding-roller L L, which
conveys it to the threshers. N, the threshing-drum;
O, P, the two straw-shakers; and G G, H H, the frame
that supports the feeding-rollers, threshing-drum, and
straw-shakers. K K represent part of the barn walls or
mill-house; U U, the joists of the floor on which the
threshing part of the machine is placed. (See Q Q m
Fig. 2.) X X are windows in the side wall to light the
house.
Fig. 2. Elevation of the same Machine.—A A represent
the perpendicular axle or shaft, in which are fixed the
arms or levers D D D, that carry the great wheel, and b)
which the cattle draw when working in this machine.
Upon these arms are also fixed the ears or hanging
pieces, in each of which are placed two running sheeves,
as 3, 4, 6, 9, 10; and over these sheeves pass the ropes
or chains, having on their ends the eyes c c c c c,
which the collar chains of the cattle are hooked, l
Aer;,,. represent two frames, fixed’on the axle A, and arms D D ;
AGRICULTURE.
333
upon these frames are placed the two shifting blocks F F.
(See 3, 4, 5, 6, in fig. 1.) B B represent the great wheel,
fastened upon the arms D D D (see B B, in fig. 1) ; this
wheel turns the wheel 11, which is fixed upon the horizon¬
tal axle H; and on this axle is likewise fixed a wheel,
to turn the wheel 13, placed on the axle K; on which
axle is also fastened the wheel 14, to drive the pinion 15,
which is fixed at P on the pivot of the threshing-drum.
16 represents a wheel fastened on the gudgeon of the axle
K, to turn the intermediate wheel 17, that drives the wheel
18, which is fixed upon the iron spindle INI, connected
with the pivot in one of the feeding rollers, by which
means the rollers are driven round. R, the threshing-
drum ;S, the straw-shakers ; U, the Scarce, through which
the grain and chaff pass down the hopper V, into the fan¬
ners, by which the one is separated from the other, the
clean grain running down T, and the lighter sort at X,
wfrfw/Sf*3/* aSreyer or !ess Stance from the Agricul-
beaters of the drum. K represents a cover of thin ture.
boards, which inclose the threshing-drum above and be-'
low; L M are the covers that inclose the straw-shakers
n tTr ^df h^°m 1the shakers are placed the searces
O 1 R, that allow the grain and chaff to pass down through
the hopper O R, into the dinners U V, by which they are
separated ; the clean corn running out at the openino- X
and the chaff blown off at U, whilst the straw is thrown
out at R by the shaker G. ST represent the frames, in
which are placed cods or bushes of brass; and on these
cods the pivots of the threshing-drum and straw-shakers
revoive. T represents the course of the water, which,
falling into the wheel a little before the centre, turns it
round and falls off nearZ, where the float-boards begin to
ascend. Thus, the wheel is turned round by the weight
of the water in the buckets, on nearly one-half of its cir¬
cumference ; the ascending buckets, on the other half of
while the chaffis blown backward. Wrepresents the fans thb wh3( behfl; " "VT 0th?r half of
which are inclosed in a box of thin boards. (See V, in fig. 3.) its motion ° ^ G ^ glV6 ' ^ ltfc 6 resistance to
There is a sheeve or whorle fastened on the gudgeon P
of the threshing-drum R; from this sheeve passes the
belt or band 14, over the sheeve 24, which is fixed upon
the iron spindle Y, attached to the axle of the fans W:
by this means the fans are driven with such velocity as to
blow all the chaff and light refuse away from the grain.
19 represents the water-wheel, placed on the axle G G:
upon the circumference of this wheel are fixed the toothed
segments 20, that turn the wheel 21, which is fastened
on the axle H; so that motion is by this means carried
from the water-wheel to the threshing-drum; and when
there is not a sufficient quantity of water, then the horses
can be applied to drive the machine. In this case the
View of a Threshing-Machine worked by horses or wind. Threshing
rig. 4. Elevation of the tower, and machinery of the machine
wind power for turning a threshing-machine; with aworked by
nrnfilp nf tl-io i  -n , . horses or
profile of the machinery, with barn or mill-house andh°rsf
horse-course or shed, adjoining. A A represent the"'1™'
pei pendicular axle that supports the arms or levers
B B B B, to which the cattle are attached when work¬
ing the machine. F)F) d d are ears, or hanging pieces
of wood, fixed upon the arms B with screw-bolts. E
represents a frame fixed upon these arms. On this
frame are placed the shifting blocks Fand I, each of them
containing two running sheeves, over which passes the
dmpt r iiXdo^ If VtFf
Ew ttcMi’heelS tf™ ^ t0 ^ ^ ^ L^placjl S^ftlrTdd. LlkSSsITn fhe^hifV
water for turning the machinery then^he whee^nm^f in^block1F ^ PIaced a sl^eve’ and ov^ it goes the chain
be raised un clear of the wWl R i, i • a V V °r rope whlch Passes on the sheeves M M and N N. By
up clear of the wheel B, which is easily done hv this means all the chains by which the cattle pull are di-
rected to the line of draught. P P P P represent props
or supports, to prevent the arms B, and the great wheel
C C, from being pressed downwards by the strains to
- —  y, tneii me wneei ii must
no raised up clear of the wheel B, which is easily done by
turning round the screw-bolts 25, and raising the bearer
f„a ‘'ttle upwards, until the teeth of the wheel 11 be
(illy clear of the wheel B, so as it may revolve freely
when the wheel 21 is tumor y % h “i0111 Deing Passed downwards by the strains
20 nctinir unm its teeth Tims' |t j,l seSme"ts "']Vcl> t'lcy ar<' exposed wlien the machine is threshing,
carried ?,nThlm?, tm ' h- th?.tl,res’"’g ">“7 be Q ,s a bolster or block of wood,and into it is fixed a cod
HmcsVmrmi,1 „ >ntcrrupt,0n, either with water or of brass, in which the lower or foot gudgeon of the axle A
Ii W?er turns. R R R are pillars that support the large bea^T
^ 1 7^ ancl r0°f S ,S ** horse-eours^ C C reprfsent *e
baS-Lii. p ,-v l -i o hc ”bt“ine«- ° O, part of the great wheel, fixed upon the arms B B B B; and on this
me end ’of’the ax^'tohS" saP?0''ts ‘he frame, and wheel are fastened cast-metal segments, having teeth to
">e Mle. c“mes *I>e water-wheel, drive the wheel No. 8, which is fixed on the horizontS
7 7 y v tunica tuc waier-wneei.
t L ^present the pillars that support the great
earns arid roof of the circle in which the horses walk
when working the machine.
Fig. 8. Section of the same Machine.—A A represent
the water-wheel; and B, cast-metal segments fixed on its
bavin? teeth turn the wheel No. 2 (see
w^1’X2>;and uP°n the saTOe axle is fixed the
. .°-8’ that cb'ives the wheel No. 4, on the axle of
ch is fastened the wheel No. 5, that turns a pinion
U -fethea^ pf the threshing-drum. (See 14 and
iindn. 7*' . ropresents the board upon which the
};,f, iineshed cdrn 18 spread, and introduced between the
ers nvgir° CrS’ t0 teceivfe the strokes from the thresh-
throsbh >CaverS’ "d'icb are fixed uPon the arms of the
( S0(, O n "< ri™' rG rePresents the two straw-shakers.
HH are t-o screw-bolts, that,
fuedino- • u 10unct the slider in which the pivots of the
tlirpsblL0.} rcvolve’ are moved either inward to the
vol ii 1UlT1 °r ^t^'ard from it, and of course can
axle T T; and upon this axle is also fastened the wheel
No. 3, to turn the pinion No. 4, which is placed on the
pivot of the threshing-drum: 5 and 6 are wheels that turn
the feeding-rollers. U represents the threshing-drum,
W the straw-shaker, and X the hopper that conveys the
corn into the fanners No. 7, by which it is separated from
the refuse, the clean grain running out at Y, the light
or small at Z, whilst the chaff is blown backwards. No.
9, a sheeve. fixed upon the axle of the threshing-drum;
and over this sheeve goes a band or rope, that extends to
the sheeve No. 10, which is fixed on the axle of the fan¬
ners ; and by this means the fans are turned round with
such velocity as to separate the chaff from the grain. No.
12 represents a wheel fastened on the threshing-drum
axle, to turn the wheel No. 13, by which the straw-shak¬
ers are driven. 17 and 18 represent the side-walls of the
barn, and 19 the roof.
A A represent the arms of the vans, and X X the
frames in which the pivots of the cylinders turn when the
2 y
354
AGRICULTURE.
Agricul- sails are either spread out or rolled up; B the shaft or
ture. axle on which the arms of the vans are fixed; and upon
'this axle is also fastened the wheel No. 1, to turn the
wheel No. 2, which is fixed on the perpendicular axle C ;
and upon this axle is likewise placed the wheel No. 3, to
turn the wheel No. 4, which is fixed on the uxle D D,
having upon its gudgeon at E a coupling or shitting-box,
that connects it with the pivot of the threshing-drum
when the machine is driven by the wind; and by the box
having liberty to shift, the one axle can easily be detached
from the other when the horse-power is to be applied.
No. 5 represents a sheeve or whorle, placed on the axle
C; and over this sheeve goes the rope or band Y, that
passes over the sheeve No* 6, which is fixed upon the
iron spindle Z: by this means the balls in the frame
are driven round. This frame, having movable joints at
FEE, has liberty to yield; so that when the wind is very
strong, the vans of course must move with too great ve¬
locity, and be apt to break some part of the machine.
But by this quick motion the balls are thrown out¬
wards from the spindle Z, by which the teethed rod (x
is pulled downwards, and turns the wheel No. 8, upon the
axle of which is fixed a pinion, that drives the wheel No. 9;
and upon its axle is fixed the pinion No. 10. This pinion
acts on the teeth of an iron rod, that goes through a hole
in the centre of the axle B, to N; this rod having teeth
also at M, which act on the teeth of the segments PPM,
that have liberty to move on their pivots at K, so that
when the rod M is pushed by the pinion either outward
or inward, the segments PPM are likewise moved for¬
wards or backwards; and as one end of the iron rods P P
is hooked to these segments, and their other ends attach¬
ed to the frames X X, by this means the frames are moved
either inward to the axle B or outwards from it; and as
the pivots of the cylinders on which the sails are rolled
turn in these frames, of course they are either rolled on or
off, according to the strength of the wind or velocity of
the vans. H H represent a small van, which turns the
large ones to face the wind. No. 11 is a pinion, fixed on
the axle of the small vans, to drive the wheel No. 12,
which is placed upon one end of an iron spindle, having on
its other end the pinion No. 13, to turn the wheel No. 14,
fixed on an axle, upon which is also placed a pinion at 15,
that acts on the teeth of the segments, which are fixed on
the dead frame 16 and 16, which is placed on the top of
the tower. Q Q, the moving frame that carries the vans
and wheels; R represents friction-rollers, on which the
neck of the wind-shaft revolves; S S, walls of the tower;
T, a door; U U U U, windows to light the tower; V, the
upper floor; W, the middle floor, and bearer, in which the
lower gudgeon of the axle C turns when the machine is
at work.
Fig. 5. Section of the threshing part of the Machine.—
A represents the board upon which the unthreshed
grain is spread, and introduced between the feeding-
rollers B; C C represent one end of the drum, with
the threshers or beaters D D D D fixed upon the ex¬
tremity of its arms; E E E E the shaker that receives
the straw from the threshing-drum, and conveys it to the
shaker F F F F, by which it is thrown down the sloping
scarce Z, either on the low floor or upon a sparred rack,
which moves on rollers turned by the machine, and by
this means is conveyed into the straw-shed, or else into
the barn-yard. The scarce L is placed below the thresh¬
ing-drum, while its circular motion throws out the straw
at an opening G, into the straw-shaker E, which conveys
it to the shaker F; at the same time the chaff and grain
pass down through a scarce or sparred rack, P, into
the hopper Q, which conveys it into the fanners R S,
by which the corn is separated from the chaff, the clean Agi
grain running out at the opening V, and the chaff or any t
fio-ht refuse blown out at R by the rapid motion of the^^-
fans, which are driven by a band or rope, T U, from a
sheeve placed upon the axle of the threshing-drum, and
passing over the sheeve 7, fixed upon the pivot of the
fans. (See 9 and 10 in fig. 4.) X X is part of the side-
wall of the barn or mill-house; Y Y, the loft or floor
whereon the frame is placed; and m this frame aie fixed
cods or bushes of brass, in which the pivots of the thresh-
ino--drum and straw-shaker revolve; 8 and 8 are doors
in^the side-wall of the barn ; 9 and 9 are windows in the
side-wall, to light the house.
Figs. 6 and 7. The Odometer.
The wheel A is made of light iron, and measures two
yards in circumference, being divided by six spokes into
feet. One spoke must be painted white.
The handle B is divided at C like a fork, and embraces
each end of the axis by its elasticity. Through the axis
is a hole, into which the end H of the way-wiser fits, and
is held fast by a nut D. _ ^ i. • i. ,
The way-wiser consists of a frame F G, r being hol¬
low to receive a perpetual screw H, a part of which is
visible near the index M. At the other end of the screw
is a nut I, which keeps it in its place. The screw tuins
two brass concentric cogged wheels K and L; K conceals
the scale of L, except where a piece is cut out, leaving an
index at the beginning of the scale of K, and which, in
the drawung, points to 78 of L.
The scale of K is numbered towards the left, and that
of L to the right.
The wheel K has 100 cogs or teeth, and L 101; con¬
sequently, as the same endless screw turns both wheels,
it is evident that when K has made a complete revolution
of 100 teeth, L will also have made a revolution of 100
teeth ; and the index of K will point to 1 of L, because L
has 101 teeth. After a second revolution, it will point to
2, and so on ; the number it points to marking the num¬
ber of revolutions, each revolution showing 100 turns o
the iron wheel A. rr inn
Accordingly, A measures six feet, or 1 turn; is. 1W
times 6 feet, or 600 feet, or 1 revolution; and L 101 times
600 feet, or 60,600 feet, equal to nearly 11^ English miles,
the range of the instrument.
880 turns of this wheel make a mile.
It is advisable always to commence with the way-wiser
set at 0 or zero. To do this, take out the screw' * e
centre, when the brass wheels K and L can both be set
at zero, and the screw replaced. Set the wheel A upon
the ground, with the white spoke undermost, and fax tfae
way-wiser into the wheel by means of the nut D, alwajs
observing to put it on the left side, as shown in the p ate
At any period of measuring, you can tell exactly how
far you have gone, and proceed without again setting e
way-wiser at 0. vr o t the
Suppose, as in the drawing, the spoke No. 4 at
ground, the index M pointing at 26 of K, and the in
of K pointing at 78 of L; then the distance measureu
is 7826 turns of A and two feet; and as A measures
yards, 7826 X 2 = 15652 yards, to which add the tw
In reading off, particular care should be taken ahvaysto
read the large figures (viz. those on the wheel L) hrSt> ,
afterwards to add the small figures (viz. those on t ie w ^
K) ; and if the figures on K amount to less than >
must be prefixed, so that K shall always show two g
for instance, L being at 46, and K at 4, the sum,is/,g
The easiest way to guard against error, is to read
AGRICULTURE.
Agi^*
tf-
The ;na
uioni
add the word hundred; thus, forty-six hundred and four,
and not four thousand six hundred and four.
/ p,V g, Veitch’s Dynamometer. A B represent the two
•ends of the spring to which the plough and horses are
yoked, C is a small bar with one of its ends turning tight
on a round axis D, and the other end E pushes round the
index F, which points out the number of stones (of 14
lbs.) on the index plate G.
~ Plate X.
Hum jill- Fig- 1 and 2 are two elevations of a Bone-mill, the
first being taken in front, to show the water-wheel and the
length of the rollers, and fig. 2 at the end, to show the
bones passing through the rollers. The water-wheel, A A,
is represented as being of the over-shot kind; it is in¬
cluded between the two walls, B B, upon the top of which,
the pivots or gudgeons of its axis are supported in brass
bearings. A square formed on the end of one of the gud¬
geons is received into a square socket at the end of the
connecting axis, D, which communicates the motion to the
lowest, F, of the two rollers, the latter having a similar
square on the end of its axis, to be received into the
socket at the end of the connecting axis, D. The rollers
are supported by a wooden frame, G G. Two iron frames,
HH, are bolted down upon it, having grooves or open¬
ings in them, of nearly the whole length, to receive the
brasses for the pivots of the rollers, as shown in fig. 2.
At the upper ends of these grooves are screws, h h, by
which the rollers can be made to act at a greater or less
distance from each other, as the size of the bones which are
to pass through them may require. Two pinions, k l, are
placed upon the ends of the axles of the two rollers, and
by their teeth acting together, they compel the two rol¬
lers to accompany each other. The surfaces of the rol¬
lers are filled with indentations and strong teeth, which
penetrate and break the bones to pieces. This is accom¬
plished by employing separate cast-iron wheels, placed
side by side upon an axis, to compose the rollers; the
wheels have coarse teeth, similar to those of a saw or
ratchet-wheel; each wheel of the lower roller, F, is an
inch thick, and they are placed at distances of an inch
and a half asunder, having circles of hard wood or iron
placed between them, which are two inches less in diame¬
ter. Thus they leave grooves between the toothed wheels,
which have the effect of rendering the teeth upon the sur¬
face of the roller insulated. The wheels of the opposite
roller, E, are inch wide, and the spaces between them
only 1 inch; and the two are so situated with respect to
each other, that the teeth upon one are opposite to the
spaces between the teeth of the other, as is clearly ex¬
plained by the figure. A hopper, 11, is fixed above the
machine, over the rollers, and into this the bones are filled,
so that they rest upon the two rollers, and are drawn in
bv their motion, the teeth penetrating and breaking every
piece, however large or solid it may be. The bones should
be supplied rather gradually to the machine at first, to
avoid choking it, and the rollers should then be adjusted
to a considerable distance asunder ; but when the bones
have once passed through in this way, the rollers are
screwed closer by the screws, h h, and the fragments
ground a second time. This will generally be found suffi¬
cient, as it is not advisable to reduce the bones to a state
of extreme division. The pinions,must have deep cogs,
to enable them to take deep hold of each other, when the
rollers are set at only half an inch distance to grind fine,
mid without the cogs being liable to slip when the centres
me separated, so far as to leave a space of 1 inch, or 1^
inch, between the rollers, for the passage of the large
bones the first time. The rollers will act most effectually
if the different wheels are fixed upon their axles in such a Agrieul-
position that the teeth will not cori'espond, or form lines ture-
parallel to the axes, and then no piece of bone can escape
without being broken by some of the teeth. The bones
which have passed through the rollers slide down the in¬
clined board, R, and collect at the bottom in a large heap.
When all the stock of bones is thus coarsely broken, a
labourer takes them up in a shovel, and throws them again
to the hopper, to be ground a second time.
Fig. 3. A Machine for grinding Potato-flour.—A, a Machine
cylinder covered with tin-plates, pierced with holes, so asforSnnd-
to leave a rough surface, in the same manner as the gra-^^P^f*
ters used for nutmegs, &c. but the holes in this are larger.
This cylinder is situate beneath a hopper, B, into which
the potatoes are thrown, and thence admitted into a kind
of trough, C, where they are forced against the cylinder,
which, as it revolves, grinds the potatoes to a pulp. Mo¬
tion is given to the machine by a handle fixed upon the
end of the axis of the grating cylinder, A; and on the oppo¬
site extremity of this axis is a fly-wheel, D, to regulate
and equalize the movement. The potatoes, when put into
the hopper, press by their weight upon the top of the cy¬
linder ; and, as it revolves, they are in part grated away.
On one side of the lower part of the hopper is an opening,
closed or opened, more or less at pleasure, by a slider, d;
and the degree of opening which this has regulates the
passage of the potatoes from the hopper into the trough,
C. This is as wide as the length of the cylinder, and has
a concave board, R, fitted into it, which slides backwards
and forwards by the action of levers, a, fixed to an axis ex¬
tended across the frame of the machine; and a lever, N, is
fixed upon this axis, and carries a weight which acts upon
the board, R, by means of the levers, to force or press for¬
wards the potatoes contained in the trough C against the
cylinder, and complete the grating of them into a pulp.
The tin-plate covering the cylinder is of course pierced
from the inside outwards, and the bur or rough edge left
round each hole forms an excellent rasping surface.
Fig. 4. A Potato-Scoop.—A, the end of the handle, Patato-
having a round stem, which passes through a piece of me- SC00P-
tal, D, and has then a semicircular knife or cutter, E, fixed
to it. This is sharp on both edges, and turns upon a pi¬
vot, fitted in a similar piece of brass to D, which, as well
as the latter, is formed out of a piece of plate, B C.
This forms a shield to hold the instrument firm upon the
potato, by placing the thumb of the left hand upon the
shield, B C, and pressing the points of D into the root,
which is grasped in the hand; then, by turning the handle
half round with the right hand, the semicircular knife
makes a sweep, and cuts out a piece or set, which is a
segment of a small sphere. Fig. 5 is an end view of the
shield, B C, and the knife, E, also the piece of brass, D,
placed upon the surface of a potato, F, in which the dotted
line F G shows the piece the knife will cut out by its mo¬
tion. The only attention necessary in the use of this tool
is, that it be placed upon the potato, with the eye or
part from whence the shoot springs in the centre of the
semicircle of the knife, when it is laid flat upon the root.
The advantage of this scoop, besides that it is very quick
in its operation, is, that the pieces, being all of one exact
size, which is about one inch diameter, they can be planted,
by a bean-barrow or drill-machine, with much less la¬
bour and more accuracy than by the hand.
Fig. 6. AMachinefor levelling Land.—D, a pole to which Machine
the horses or oxen are harnessed, jointed to the axle-tree,
E, of a pair of low wheels, A A. Into this axle-tree are ^
mortised two long side-pieces, G G, terminating in handles,
B B. Somewhat inclined to these long or upper side-
pieces, shorter lower ones, H H, are jointed by cross pieces,
356
A G R
A G R
Agricul¬
ture
Agrigen-
tum.
and connected by strong side-boards. The machine has
no bottom ; its back part, F, is strongly attached to an axle
C ; to the bottom of this back-board, the back or scraper
part, d, of a strong iron frame, a, a, is firmly screwed, as
shown in fig. 7, and the front ends of the slide-iron, b b,
turning up, pass easily through mortises in the upper side-
pieces, G, where, by means of pins, the inclination of the
slide-irons and of the back-board can be adjusted within
narrow limits, according to the nature of the soil to be le¬
velled, and the mass of earth previously loosened by
ploughing, which the back-board is intended to collect
and force before it, until the machine arrives at the place l
where it is intended to be deposited. Here, by liftino' UD
the hinder part of the machine by means of its handles
the contents are left on the ground, and the machine pro- 4
ceeds to a fresh hillock.
Plate XL The names of the different figures, and ofp’
the divisions of fig. 5, being marked on the engraving itself, hoi
no further explanation can be necessary.
Plates XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. are sufficiently
explained in the chapter on Live Stock, from which the
necessary references are made to these plates.
AGRIGAN, or Island of St Francis Xavier, one of the
Ladrone or Marianne Islands. It is 50 miles in circum¬
ference, is very mountainous, and has a volcano in it; si¬
tuated in long. 146. E. lat. 19. 4. N.
AGRIGENTUM, in Ancient Geography, a city of Si¬
cily, part of the site of which is now occupied by a town
called Girgenti, from the old name. See Girgenti.
According to ancient authors, Daedalus, the most famous
mechanician of fabulous antiquity, fled to this spot for
protection against Minos, and built many wonderful edi¬
fices for Cocalus, king of the island. Long after his flight,
the people of Gela sent a colony hither 600 years before
the birth of Christ, and, from the name of a neighbour¬
ing stream, called the new city Acragas, whence the Ro¬
mans formed the word Agrigentum. These Greeks con¬
verted the ancient abode of the Siculi into a citadel to
guard the magnificent city which they erected on the
hillocks below. An advantageous situation, a free govern¬
ment with all its happy effects, and an active commercial
spirit, exalted their commonwealth to a degree of riches
and power unknown to the other Greek settlements, Sy¬
racuse alone excepted. But the prosperity of Agrigentum
appears to have been but of short duration, and tyranny
soon destroyed its liberties. Phalaris was the first who
reduced it to slavery. His name is familiar to most
readers on account of his cruelty, and the brazen bull in
which he tortured his enemies. See Phalaris. Pha¬
laris met with the common fate of tyrants, and after his
death the Agrigentines enjoyed their liberty for 150
years ; at the expiration of which term Thero usurped the
sovereign authority. The moderation, justice, and valour
of this prince preserved him from opposition while living,
and have rescued his memory from the obloquy of poste¬
rity. He joined his son-in-law Gelo, king of Syracuse, in
a war against the Carthaginians; in the course of which
victory attended all his steps, and Sicily saw herself for a
time delivered from her African oppressors. Soon after
his decease, his son Thrasydeus was deprived of the dia¬
dem, and Agrigentum restored to her old democratical
government. Ducetius next disturbed the general tran¬
quillity. He was a chief of the mountaineers, descen¬
dants of the Siculi; and was an overmatch for the Agri¬
gentines while they were unsupported by alliances, but
sunk under the weight of their union with the Syracusans.
Some trifling altercations dissolved this union, and pro¬
duced a war, in which the Agrigentines were worsted,
and compelled to submit to humiliating terms of peace.
Resentment led them to embrace Avith joy the proposals
of the Athenians, then meditating an attack upon Syracuse.
Their new friends soon made them feel that the sacrifice
of liberty and fortune would be the price of their protec¬
tion, and this consideration brought them speedily back to
their old connections. But, as if it had been decreed that
all friendship should be fatal to their repose, the recon¬
ciliation and its effects drew upon them the anger of the
Carthaginians. By this enemy their armies were routed,
their city taken, their race almost extirpated, and scarce
a vestige of magnificence was left. Agrigentum lay 50
years buried under its own ruins, when Timoleon, after
triumphing over the Carthaginians, and restoring liberty
to Sicily, collected the descendants of the Agrigentines,
and sent them to re-establish the dwellings of their fore¬
fathers. Their exertions were rewarded with astonishing
success; for Agrigentum rose from its ashes with such
a renewal of vigour, that in a very short time we find it
engaged in the bold scheme of seizing a lucky moment,
when Agathocles and Carthage had reduced Syracuse to
the lowest ebb, and arrogating to itself supremacy over
all the Sicilian republics. Xenodicus was appointed the
leader of this arduous enterprise ; and had his latter ope¬
rations been as fortunate as his first campaign, Agrigen¬
tum would have acquired such a preponderance of repu¬
tation and power, that the rival states would not have
even dared to attack it. But a few brilliant exploits were
succeeded by a severe overthrow; the Agrigentines lost
courage, disagreed in council, and humbly sued for peace
to Agathocles. This commonwealth afterwards took a
strong part with Pyrrhus, and, when he left Sicily to the
mercy of her enemies, threw herself into the arms of
Carthage. During the first Punic war Agrigentum was
the headquarters of the Carthaginians, and was besieged
by the Roman consuls, who, after eight months’ blockade,
took it by storm. It nevertheless changed masters seve¬
ral times during the contest between these rival states,
and in every instance suffered most cruel outrages. After
this period very little mention of it occurs in history, nor
do we know the precise time of the destruction of the old
city and the building of the new one. See Girgenti.
The hospitality and parade for which the Agrigentines
are celebrated in history were supported by an extensive
commerce; by means of which, the commonwealth was
able to resist many shocks of adversity, and always to rise
again with fresh splendour. It was, however, crushed by
the general fall of Grecian liberty; the feeble remnants
of its population, which had survived so many calamities,
were at length driven out of its walls by the Saracens, and
obliged to lock themselves up for safety among the bleak
and inaccessible rocks of the present city.
The principal part of the ancient city lay in the vale;
the present town, called Girgenti, occupies the mountain
on which the citadel of Cocalus stood. The whole space
comprehended within the walls of the ancient city abounds
with traces of antiquity, foundations, brick arches, and
little channels for the conveyance of water ; but in no part
are any ruins that can be presumed to have belonged to
places of public entertainment. This is the more extra¬
ordinary, as the Agrigentines were a sensual people, fond
of shows and dramatic performances, and the Romans
A G R
iia never dwelt in any place long without introducing their
savage games. Theatres and amphitheatres seem better
Apia, calculated than most buildings to resist the outrages of
^^time; and it is surprising that not even the vestiges of
their form should remain on the ground.
AGRIONIA, in Grecian Antiquity, festivals annually
celebrated by the Boeotians in honour of Bacchus. At
these festivals the women pretended to search after Bac-
dius as a fugitive, and, after some time, gave over their
inquiry, saying that he had fled to the Muses, and was
concealed among them.
AGRIOPHAGI, in Antiquity, a name given to those
who fed on wild beasts. The word is Greek, being com¬
pounded of ayyoi, wild, savage, and payw, I eat. The
name is given, by ancient writers, to certain people, real
or fabulous, said to have fed altogether on lions or pan¬
thers. Pliny and Solinus speak of Agriophagi in Ethi¬
opia, and Ptolemy of others in India on this side the
Ganges.
AGRIPPA, Cornelius, born at Cologne in 1486, a
man of considerable learning, and by common report a
great magician; for the monks at that time suspected
every thing of heresy or sorcery which they did not un¬
derstand. He composed his treatise of the Excellence of
Women to insinuate himself into the favour of Margaret
of Austria, governess of the Low Countries. He accept¬
ed of the charge of historiographer to the emperor, which
that princess gave him. The treatise of the Vanity of the
Sciences, which he published in 1530, enraged his enemies
extremely; as did that of Occult Philosophy, which he
printed soon after at Antwerp. He was imprisoned in
France for something he had written against Francis L’s
mother; but was liberated, and went to Grenoble, where
he died in 1534.
Agrippa, Herod, the son of Aristobulus and Mariam-
ne, and grandson to Herod the Great, was born in the
year of the world 3997, three years before the birth of
our Saviour, and seven years before the vulgar era. After
the death of Aristobulus his father, Josephus informs us
that Herod his grandfather took care of his education, and
sent him to Rome to make his court to Tiberius. The
emperor conceived a great affection for Agrippa, and
placed him near his son Drusus. Agrippa very soon won
the graces of Drusus, and of the empress Antonia. But
Brusus dying suddenly, all those who had been much
about him were commanded by Tiberius to withdraw from
Rome, lest the sight and presence of them should renew
his affliction. Agrippa, who had indulged his inclination
to liberality, was obliged to leave Rome, overwhelmed
with debt, and in a very poor condition. He did not
think it fit to go to Jerusalem, because he was not able
to make a figure there suitable to his birth. He retired
therefore to the castle of Massada, where he lived rather
hke a private person than a prince. Herod the tetrarch,
ms uncle, who had married Herodias, his sister, assisted
him for some time with great generosity. He made him
principal magistrate of Tiberias, and presented him with
a large sum of money; but all this was not sufficient to
answer the excessive expenses and profusion of Agrippa ;
M) tllat Herod growing weary of assisting him, and re¬
proaching him with his bad economy, Agrippa took a re¬
solution to quit Judea, and return to Rome. Upon his
ani'cil he was received into the good graces of Tiberius,
an commanded to attend Tiberius Nero, the son of Dru-
sus. Agrippa, however, having more inclination for Caius,
m son of Germanicus, and grandson of Antonia, chose
ra ier to attach himself to him; as if he had some pro-
P ic ic views of the future elevation of Caius, who at that
‘me was Reloved by all the world. The great assiduity
A G R
357
arid agreeable behaviour of Agrippa so far engaged this Agrippa.
prince, that he kept him continually about him:
Agrippa being one day overheard by Eutyches, a slave
whom he had made free, to express his wishes for Tibe¬
rius’s death and the advancement of Caius, the slave be¬
trayed him to the emperor ; whereupon Agrippa was loaded
with fetters, and committed to the custody of an officer.
Tiberius soon after dying, and Caius Caligula succeeding
him, the new emperor heaped many favours and much
wealth upon Agrippa, changed his iron fetters into a
chain of gold, set a royal diadem upon his head, and
gave him the tetrarchy which Philip the son of Herod the
Great had been possessed of, that is, Batanaea and Tra-
chonitis. To this he added that ofLysanias ; and Agrip¬
pa returned very soon into Judea to take possession of his
new kingdom.
Caius being soon after killed, Agrippa, who was then at
Rome, contributed much by his advice to maintain Clau¬
dius in possession of the imperial dignity, to which he had
been advanced by the army. But in this affair Agrippa
acted a part wherein he showed more cunning and address
than sincerity and honesty; for while he made a show of
being in the interest of the senate, he secretly advised
Claudius to be resolute, and not to abandon his good for¬
tune. The emperor, as an acknowledgement for his kind
offices, gave him all Judea and the kingdom of Chalcis,
which had been possessed by his brother Herod. Thus
Agrippa became of a sudden one of the greatest princes
of the East, and was possessed of as much, if not more
territories than had been held by Herod the Great, his
grandfather. He returned to Judea, and governed it to
the great satisfaction of the Jews. But the desire of
pleasing them, and a mistaken zeal for their religion, indu¬
ced him to commit an unjust action, the memory of which
is preserved in Scripture, Acts xii. 1, 2, <S:c.; for about the
feast of the passover, in the year of Jesus Christ 44, St
James major, the son of Zebedee and brother of St John
the Evangelist, was seized by his order and put to death.
He proceeded also to lay hands on St Peter, and imprison¬
ed him, waiting till the festival was over, that he might
then have him executed. But God having miraculously
delivered St Peter from the place of his confinement, the
designs of Agrippa were frustrated. After the passover
this prince went from Jerusalem to Caesarea, and there
had games performed in honour of Claudius. Here the
inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon waited on him to sue for
peace. Agrippa being come early in the morning to
the theatre, with a design to give them audience, seated
himself on his throne, dressed in a robe of silver tissue,
worked in the most admirable manner. The rising sun
darted on it with its rays, and gave it such a lustre as the
eyes of the spectators could not endure. When, therefore,
the king spoke to the Tyrians and Sidonians, the parasites
around him began to say that it was the voice of a god,
and not that of a man. Instead of rejecting these impious
flatteries, Agrippa received them with an air of compla¬
cency ; but at the same time observed an owl above him
on a cord. He had seen the same bird before, when he
was in bonds by order of Tiberius; and it was then told
him that he should be soon set at liberty, but that when¬
ever he saw the same thing a second time, he should not
live above five days afterwards. Pie was therefore ex¬
tremely terrified; and he died at the end of five days,
racked with tormenting pains in his bowels, and devoured
with worms. Such was the death of Herod Agrippa, after
a reign of seven years, in the year of Christ 44.
Agrippa II. son of the preceding Herod, was made
king of Chalcis; but three or four years after, he was de¬
prived of that kingdom by Claudius, who gave him in the
358 A G U
A G U
Agrippa place of it other provinces. In the war which Vespasian
II carried on against the Jews, Herod sent him a succour of
I) Agues- 2000 men . 0y which it appears, that though a Jew by re-
ligion, he was yet entirely devoted to the Romans, whose
assistance indeed he wanted to secure the peace of his own
kingdom. He lived to the third year of Trajan, and died
at Rome a. c. 100. He was the seventh and last king of
the family of Herod the Great. It was before him and
Berenice his sister that St Paul pleaded his cause at
Caesarea.
Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius, son-in-law to Augustus,
of mean birth, but one of the most considerable generals
among the Romans. Augustus’s victory over Pompey and
Mark Antony was owing to his counsel. He adorned the
city with the Pantheon, baths, aqueducts, &c.
AGRIPPINA, daughter of Germanicus, sister of Cali¬
gula, and mother of Nero ; a woman of wit, but excessively
lewd. She was thrice married, the last time to Claudius,
her own uncle, whom she poisoned to make way for Nero,
her son. Nero afterwards caused her to be murdered in
her chamber, when she bid the executioner stab her first
in the belly, that had brought forth such a monster.
Agrippina Colonia Ubiorum, in Ancient Geography,
now Cologne; so called from Agrippina, the daughter of
Germanicus and mother of Nero, who had a colony sent
thither at her request by the emperor Claudius, to honour
the place of her birth. See Cologne.
AGRIPPINIANS, in Church History, the followers of
Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage in the third century, who
first introduced and defended the practice of re-baptisa-
tion.
AGROM, a disease frequent in the East Indies, in
which the tongue is parched, chaps, and is sometimes
covered with white spots. The Indians attribute this dis¬
ease to extreme heat of the stomach.
AGROSTOGRAPHIA signifies the history or descrip¬
tion of grasses.
AGROUND, the situation of a ship whose bottom, or
any part of it, hangs or rests upon the ground, so as to
render her immovable till a greater quantity of water
floats her off, or till she is drawn out into the stream by
the application of mechanical powers.
AGRYPNIA, among Physicians, implies an inaptitude
to sleep; a troublesome symptom of feverish and other
disorders.
Agrypnia, in the Greek Church, implies the vigil of
any of the greater festivals.
AGUADA, a Spanish river in Salamanca. It rises in
the Sierra de Xalama, and empties itself, near San Mar¬
tino, into the Duero. It is 83 miles in length.
AGUAS-BELLAS, a town of Portugal, where a free
mart is held, in the district of Thomar, and province of
Estremadura.
AGUDA, a river in the province of Burgos, in Spain,
which discharges its water into the Ebro.
AGUE, a general name for all periodical fevers, which,
according to the different times of the returns of the
feverish paroxysm, are denominated tertian, quartan, and
quotidian.
Ague-Cake, the popular name for a hard tumour on the
left side of the belly, lower than the false ribs, said to be
the effect of intermittent fevers.
AGUESSEAU, Henry Francis d’, Chancellor of
France, illustrious for his virtues, learning, and talents,
was born at Limoges on the 27th of November 1668.
His father, at that time intendant of Languedoc, and after¬
wards a counsellor of state, was a man of great worth and
abilities. He seems to have taken the sole charge of his
son’s education; and having destined him for the bar, he
took uncommon pains to exercise him in every branch of d
knowledge which could contribute to his success in that
profession. His care was rewarded with the happiest sue-V
cess. Young D’Aguesseau gave early indications of un¬
common abilities ; and such was his thirst for knowledge,
and his habits of application, that he soon acquired the
reputation of an almost universal scholar. He had a par¬
ticular relish for poetry, which, he used to say, “ was the
only passion of his youthbut this passion was so far from
withdrawing him from severer studies, that it was allied
in his mind with a nearly equal taste for mathematics.
He studied law with the zeal of an antiquary, and the
spirit of a philosopher; and, in order to form his taste as
a pleader, he employed a. whole year in repeated perusals
of the most esteemed productions of ancient eloquence.
After this thorough course of preparation, he became an
advocate in 1690 ; and, by the interest of his father, who
then resided in Paris, he was soon furnished with opportu¬
nities of distinguishing himself, and of rising to the high¬
est honours of the profession. When little more than 21
years of age, he was appointed one of the three Advocates-
General,—an office which imposed the duty of assisting
in those causes where the king, the church, or the public
was concerned. The king, Louis XIV., in appointing
him, yet untried, to this situation, acted solely upon the
recommendation of the elder D’Aguesseau, “ who was in¬
capable,” said Louis, “ of deceiving him, even to advance
his own son.” D’Aguesseau’s first appearances as an advo¬
cate-general were such as amply to fulfil the expectations
of his father, and to warrant the appointment which he
had obtained from the king. Denis Talon, an old lawyer,
who had long officiated with great reputation in the same
capacity, was heard to say, that “ he should have been
glad to have finished his career as that young man had
begun.”
D’Aguesseau held this office for ten years, during which
period he greatly distinguished himself, both for learning
in his profession, and for a superior style of forensic elo¬
quence. He was, indeed, one of the first reformers of the
language of the French bar, which had not yet taken much
polish from the national improvements in taste and litera¬
ture. His diction, both in his pleadings and in his juridical
compositions, was that of a mind expanded by a liberal
course of study, and refined by a familiar acquaintance
with classical models. The society which he chiefly fre¬
quented was also well adapted to improve his taste; for
the chosen companions of his leisure hours were Racine
and Boileau, the latter of whom has frequently mentioned
him with praise in his writings.
It was D’Aguesseau’s opinion, that no one could rise to
distinguished eminence as an orator, who did not labour
to enlarge his mind, and to improve his taste, by the study
of philosophy and by exercises of literature; and he ac¬
cordingly employed several of those stated Discourses,
which the usages of France required from the advocates-
general at the opening of the Sessions, to impress these
views upon the minds of the younger members of the bar.
Such, in particular, was the object of the Discourse, pro¬
nounced in 1695, Sur T Union de la Philosophic et de l Elo¬
quence. The same subject is resumed at greater length,
and in a more systematic manner, in a treatise, written at
a later period, under the title of Instructions sur FEtude
et les Exercises qui peuvent prepater aux Fauctions aAxo-
cat du Roi. These Pieces ((Euvres, tom. i.) are written
in a clear, manly, and harmonious style, and are we
worthy the attention of the general scholar, for their
critical strictures on those authors whom he recommen s
to the students of law. ,
In the year 1700 he was appointed Procurator-Genera ,
u.
>
A G U
J-Arr; i. an office of higher dignity, and of more various and ex¬
seal tensive duties, than that of advocate-general. He filled
✓v-'this office for seventeen years with the most splendid re¬
putation ; adding, by his lenity in criminal cases, and by
his care of the public hospitals, the praise of humanity and
benevolence to his other claims to the respect and admira¬
tion of his countrymen. The political philosopher of the
present day will probably, however, be inclined to ques¬
tion the justness of the encomiums bestowed upon his
exertions during the severe scarcity of 1709; on which
occasion he appears to have instituted the most rigorous
proceedings against those who were held up as enemies of
their country and of mankind, under the names of fore-
stallers and monopolists. But, in alluding to this part of
his conduct, it may be proper to mention, that his opposi¬
tion, at an after-period, to the delusive projects of the
famous John Law, and his elaborate treatise upon the sub¬
ject of Monei/ ( (Euvres, tom. x.), afford undeniable proofs
of the soundness of his views in regard to some of the
most important doctrines of political economy.
It had been early predicted of D’Aguesseau, that he
would one day fill the place of Chancellor; and this pre¬
diction was at length realized in 1717, upon the death of
Voisin, who then held the seals. Though he was yet
only forty-eight years of age, his nomination to this
high dignity gave general satisfaction, and wTas, indeed,
intended as a popular measure by the duke of Orleans,
who had lately assumed the regency. His brother Val-
jouan, a man of abilities, but slothful and a humourist, was
the only person who refused to congratulate him on the
occasion. “ Rather you than I, brother,” was his remark
when the new chancellor hastened to him to announce
his appointment. In fact, D’Aguesseau soon began to ex-,
perience the difficulties and perils attendant upon his ele¬
vation ; for he had not been installed above a year, when
he was deprived of the seals, and exiled to his estate. His
steady opposition to the extravagant projects of Law, with
which the regent and his ministers were wholly intoxicated,
was the honourable cause of this first reverse of fortune.
In 1720, when the ruinous consequences of these schemes
had filled the nation with distress and alarm, the chancel¬
lor was recalled from banishment; and he contributed not
a little, by the firmness and sagacity of his counsels, to
calm the public discontents, and repair the mischiefs which
had been committed.
Law himself had acted as the messenger of his recall;
and it is said that D’Aguesseau’s consent to re-accept the
seals from the hand of this adventurer was much blamed
by the literary corps, with which he had hitherto stood in
high favour, as well as by the parliament. But his repu¬
tation appears to have sustained a much severer shock,
when he endeavoured to prevail with the latter body to
register the declaration of the late king in favour of the
bull Unigenitns,—a measure which they held in great
abhorrence, and which he had himself firmly opposed
during the life of Louis. The regent's favourite, Dubois,
then archbishop of Cambray, had moved his master to
insist upon this act of registration, in the hope that he
might thereby obtain a cardinal’s hat; and it seems
,to ‘Iave been thought that the chancellor had yielded
as better opinion in compliance with the wishes of this
woitaless minion. Be this as it may, it is certain that he
opposed the favourite with firmness, when he attempted,
u ter being made prime minister, to take precedence in
ie council; and he was in consequence, in 1722, sent a
second time into exile.
He now passed five years on his estate at Fresnes; and
io a ways spoke with delight of this tranquil period, when
e Was 'e^ free from the cares of professional duty, and
A G u 359
the distractions of public life, to cultivate his mind. The D’Acmes-
Scnptures, which he read and compared in various lan- seau.
guages, and the Jurisprudence of his own and other conn-
tiies, formed the subjects of his more serious studies i the
rest of his time was devoted to philosophy and literature,
and the impiovement of his park, where he was sometimes
to be seen employed with a spade.
From these noble and congenial occupations he was
again recalled, by the advice of Cardinal Fleury, in 1727;
but the seals were not restored to him till ten years there¬
after. During the intervening period he had endeavoured
to mediate in the new disputes which had arisen between
the court and the parliament; but his interference seems
to have given satisfaction to neither party,—the one re¬
proaching him with desertion from their cause, and the
other with too great a leaning towards it. When the seals
were at last restored to him, he completely withdrew from
all affairs of state, and devoted himself entirely to his
duties as chancellor, and to the introduction of those re¬
forms which had long occupied his inquiries and medita¬
tions.
Besides some important enactments regarding Dona¬
tions, Testaments, and Successions, he introduced various
regulations for improving the forms of procedure, for as¬
certaining the limits of Jurisdictions, and for effecting
a greater uniformity in the execution of the laws through¬
out the several provinces. These reforms constitute an
epoch in the history of the jurisprudence of France, and
have associated his name with those illustrious benefac¬
tors of her Civil Code, L’Hopital and Lamoignon. The
duke de Saint-Simon, however, alleges that the chancel¬
lor’s reforms did not go so far as they would have gone
had he had less affection for his own order. He once,
says this writer, confessed to a nobleman who spoke to
him as to the propriety of cutting off certain lucrative
abuses, that he could not bring his mind to a step which
would so grievously diminish the profits of the law.
In 1750, when upwards of eighty-two years of age, he
besought the king to accept his resignation; and he was
accordingly permitted to retire, the king continuing to
him the honours of his office as a special mark of his ap¬
probation. He died in the following year, and was in¬
terred, according to his own request, in the common bu¬
rial-place of the village of Auteuil, where the remains of
his wife, who died there in 1735, had been deposited.
The name of this lady, whom he married in 1691, and by
whom he had several children, was Anne Lefevre d’Or-
messon.
This great man has not, in all respects, been equally
praised by those who have attempted to transmit his cha¬
racter to posterity. Saint-Simon and others reproach him
with a degree of tardiness and indecision, which some¬
times greatly obstructed the course of justice. His own
answer to this charge has been recorded by Duclos, and
is worthy of notice : “ When I recollect,” said he, “ that
a decision of the chancellor makes a law, I think myself
warranted in taking a long time for consideration.” Saint-
Simon and D’Argenson also impute to him some defects
as a practical statesman; but his elevation of mind and
extensive knowledge, his piety, probity, and disinterest¬
edness, have been universally admitted and extolled. In
his magisterial capacity he was grave and dignified, with¬
out any approach to haughtiness; in private society his
manners were mild, equal, and even playful. He was par¬
ticularly remarkable for the tenaciousness of his memory,
and for the facility with which he could direct his atten¬
tion to the most diversified exercises of the intellectual
powers. At eighty years of age he has been heard to
repeat whole poems which he had never perused since
360 A G IT
AHA
"Aguilar
u
Aguirra.
the days of his early youth; and, when fatigued with
professional duties, he could turn with equal alacrity to
Euclid or to Racine. In summing up his character, all
must agree with Laharpe, that he was “ a man who did
honour to France, to the magistracy, and to letters, by
his virtues, his talents, his profound and various learning,
and his enlightened views in the science of jurisprudence.”
( Cours de Litterature, tom. xiv. c. 1.)
His published writings form a collection of thirteen
volumes quarto, of which the first was published at
Paris in 1759, and the last in 1789. The far greater part
of these volumes relates to matters connected with his
professional occupations and studies; but they also con¬
tain a variety of piecefe upon other subjects. We have
already mentioned his Discourses on the studies befitting
the students of law, and his treatise on Money. Besides
these, and some Theological Pieces, there is a Life of his
Father,—interesting from the view which it affords of his
own early education under that excellent person; and
Metaphysical Meditations, written in vindication of the
grand truth, that independently of all revelation, and all
positive law, there is that in the constitution of the human
mind which renders man a law to himself.
See—Histoire des Hommes Ulustrcs de Regnes de Louis
XIV. et de Louis XV. par le Due de Saint-Simon; Me-
moires Secretes, par Duclos; Les Loisirs d'un Ministre
dJEtat, par D’Argenson; Eloge deD'Aguesseau, par Thomas.
AGUILAR, a town in the arrondissement of Campena,
and province of Cordova, in Spain. It is situated on the
river Cabra, has 1600 inhabitants, and produces abundance
of oil.
Aguilar, a town of Spain, in the province of Na¬
varre, about 24 miles west from Estella.
Aguilar del Campo, a town of Old Castile, with the
title of marquisate, about 15 leagues north of the city of
Burgos.
AGUILLANEUF, or Augillaneuf, a form of rejoi¬
cing used among the ancient Franks on the first day of the
year. The word is compounded of the French A, to,
gui, misletoe, and Fan neuf, the new year. Its origin
is traced from a druid ceremony: the priests used to
go yearly in December, which with them was reputed
a sacred month, to gather misletoe of the oak, in great so¬
lemnity. The prophets marched in the front, singing
hymns in honour of their deities; after them came a
herald with a caduceus in his hand; these were followed
by three druids abreast, bearing the things necessary for
sacrifice; last of all came the chief or arch druid, accom¬
panied with the train of people. The chief druid, climb¬
ing the oak, cut off the misletoe with a golden sickle, and
the other druids received it in a white cloth. On the first
day of the year it was distributed among the people, after
having blessed and consecrated it by crying A gui Van
neuf, to proclaim the new year.
AGUILLON, or Aguillonius, Francis, a Jesuit,
born at Brussels. He was rector of the Jesuits college at
Antwerp, and eminent for his skill in mathematics. He
was the first who introduced that science among the Je¬
suits in the Low Countries. He wrote a book of Optics,
and was employed in finishing his Catoptrics and Diop¬
trics when he died in 1617.
AGUIRRA, Joseph Saenz de, a Benedictine, and one
of the most learned men of the 17th century, was born
March 24, 1630. He was censor and secretary of the su¬
preme council of the inquisition in Spain, and interpreter of
the Scriptures in the university of Salamanca. He print¬
ed three volumes in folio upon Philosophy, a commentary
upon Aristotle’s ten books of Ethics, and other pieces.
He died at Rome in 1699.
AGUR. The xxxth chapter of the Proverbs begins
with this title,—“ The wmrds of Agur, the son of Jakeli •”
which, according to the signification of the original terms,
may be translated, as the Vulgate has it, Verba congrl
gantis, filii vomentis ; which translation Le Clerc con¬
demns, supposing these to be proper names which ought
not to be translated. These words are rendered by Louis
de Dieu, “ the words of him who has recollected himself^
the son of obedience.” The generality of the fathers and
commentators will have it that Solomon describes him¬
self under the name of Agur the son of Jakeh ; others con¬
jecture that Agur, as well as Lemuel (in chap. xxxi. 1),
were wise men who lived in the time of Solomon, and
were his interlocutors in the book of Proverbs; an opinion
which F. Calmet thinks is without the least show of pro¬
bability, this book being nothing like a dialogue. This
last expositor thinks it probable that Agur was an in¬
spired author different from Solomon, whose sentences it
was thought fit to join with those of this prince, because
of the conformity of their matter.
AGURAH, in Jewish Antiquity, the name of a silver
coin, otherwise called gerah and keshita.
AGUSADURA, in ancient customs, a fee due from
vassals to their lord for the sharpening of their ploughing
tackle. Anciently the tenants in some manors were not
allowed to have their rural implements sharpened by any
but whom the lord appointed, for which an acknowledge¬
ment was to be paid, called agusadura, in some places
agusage ; which some take to be the same with what was
otherwise called reillage, from the ancient French redh, a
ploughshare.
AGYEI, in Antiquity, a kind of obelisks, sacred to Apol¬
lo, erected in the vestibules of houses, by way of security.
AGYNIANI, in Church History, a sect who condemned
all use of flesh, and marriage, as not instituted by God,
but introduced at the instigation of the devil. The word
is compounded of the privative a, and woman. They
are sometimes also called Agynensis, and Agynii; and are
said to have appeared about the year 694. It is no won¬
der they were of no long continuance. Their tenets coincide
in a great measure with those of the Abelians, Gnostics,
Cerdonians, and other preachers of chastity and abstinence.
AGYRTfE, in Antiquity, a kind of strolling impostors,
running about the country to pick up money, by telling
fortunes at rich men’s doors ; pretending to cure diseases
by charms, sacrifices, and other religious mysteries; also
to expiate the crimes of their deceased ancestors, by vir¬
tue of certain odours and fumigations ; to torment their
enemies, by the use of magical verses, and the like. The
word is Greek, Ayugra/, formed of the verb ayuou, I con¬
gregate ; alluding to the practice of charlatans or quacks,
who gather a crowd about them.
Agyrtce, among the Greeks, amount to the same with
AEruscatores among the Latins, and differ not much from
gypsies among us.
AHAB, son of Omri, king of Israel, succeeded his
father a. m. 3086, and surpassed all his predecessors in
impiety and wickedness. He married Jezebel, the daugh¬
ter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians, who introduced the
idols of Baal and Astarte among the Israelites, and en¬
gaged Ahab in the worship of these false deities. God,
being provoked by the sins of Ahab, sent the prophet
Elijah to him (1 Kings xvii. 1, seq.), who declared to him
that there would be a famine of three years’ continuance.
The dearth having lasted three years, the prophet desires
Ahab to gather all the people to Mount Carmel, and with
them the prophets of Baal: when they were thus as¬
sembled, Elijah caused fire to descend from heaven upon
his sacrifice; after which he obtained of God that it shouk
A H A
AHA
361
V i. rain, and then the earth recovered its former fertility.
r six years after this, Ben-hadad, king of Syria (chap, xx.),
laid siege to Jerusalem. But God, provoked at this proud
Syrian, sent a prophet to Ahab, not only to assure him of
victory, but to instruct him likewise in what manner he
was to obtain it. Ahab was ordered to review the princes
of the provinces, which he found to be a choice company,
consisting of 232 young men, who were to command the
people in Samaria, amounting to about 7000 men. With
this small army Ahab was directed to fall upon the great
host of the Syrians, and that at noon-day, while Ben-hadad
and the 32 kings that accompanied him were drinking
and making merry. Ben-hadad having notice that they
were marching out of the city, ordered them to be brought
before him alive, whatever their designs were; but the
oung men, followed by this small army, advanced, and
illed all that opposed them. Such a panic seized the
Syrian troops, that they began to fly, and even Ben-hadad
himself mounted his horse and fled with his cavalry;
which Ahab perceiving, pursued them, killed great num¬
bers of them, and took a considerable booty. After this
the prophet came to Ahab, to animate him with fresh
courage, and to caution him to keep upon his guard, as¬
suring him that Ben-hadad would return against him the
year following. According to this prediction, at the end
of the year he returned and encamped at Aphek, with a
resolution to give the Israelites battle. Both armies being
ranged in order of battle for seven days successively, at
length, upon the seventh day, a battle ensued, wherein the
Israelites killed 100,000 of the Syrians, and the rest fled
to Aphek; but as they were pressing to get into the city,
the walls of Aphek fell upon them, and killed 27,000 more.
Ben-hadad throwing himself upon the mercy of Ahab, this
prince received him into his own chariot, and made an
alliance with him. The year following, Ahab desiring to
make a kitchen-garden near his palace (chap xxi.), re¬
quested of one Naboth, a citizen of Jezreel, that he would
sell him his vineyard, because it lay conveniently for him.
But being refused, he returned in great discontentment
to his house, threw himself upon the bed, turned towards
the wall, and would eat nothing. Jezebel his wife coming
in, asked the reason of his great concern, of which being
informed, she procured the death of Naboth, and Ahab
took possession of his vineyard. As he returned from
Jezreel to Samaria, the prophet Elijah met him, and said,
“ Hast thou killed, and also taken possession ? Thus saith
the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of
Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. As for
Jezebel, of her the Lord spoke, saying, The dogs shall
eat Jezebel by the way of Jezreel.” Ahab, hearing these
and other denunciations, rent his clothes, put sackcloth
upon his flesh, and gave other indications of his sorrow
and repentance. But his repentance was neither sincere
nor persevering. Two years after these things, Jehosha-
phat, king of Judah, came to Samaria to visit Ahab (chap,
xxn.), at a time when he was preparing to attack Ramoth-
gnead, which Ben-hadad, king of Syria, unjustly withheld
iom him. The king of Israel invited Jehoshaphat to ac¬
company him in this expedition, which that prince agreed
to do, but desired that some prophet might first be consult¬
ed. Ahab therefore assembled the prophets of Baal, in
number about 400, who all concurred in exhorting the
^*ng to march resolutely against Ramoth-gilead. But
| icaiah, being also consulted at Jehoshaphat’s sugges-
°n, pi ophesied the ruin of Ahab. Upon this Ahab gave
or ers to his people to seize Micaiah, and to carry him
o Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the
'mgs son, telling him in his name, “ Put this fellow in
16 prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and
VOL. II.
with water of affliction, until I come in peace.” But
Micaiah said, “ If thou return at all in peace, the
Lord hath not spoken by me.” Ahab, therefore, and
Jehoshaphat, marched up to Ramoth-gilead; and the
king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, “ I will disguise
myself and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy
robes:” for he knew that the king of Syria had com¬
manded two-and-thirty captains that had" rule over his
chariots, saying, « Fight neither with small nor with
great, save only with the king of Israel.” These officers,
therefore, having observed that Jehoshaphat was dressed
in royal robes, took him for the king of Israel, and fell
upon him with great impetuosity : but this prince seeing
himself pressed so closely, cried out; and the mistake being
discovered, the captains of the king of Syria gave over
pursuing him. But one of the Syrian army shot a ran¬
dom arrow, which pierced the heart of Ahab. The battle
lasted the whole day, and Ahab continued in his chariot
with his face turned towards the Syrians. In the mean
time his blood was still issuing from his wound and fall¬
ing into his chariot, and towards the evening he died;
whereupon proclamation was made, by the sound of trum¬
pet, that every man should return to his own city and
country. The king of Israel being dead, was carried to
Samaria and buried ; but his chariot and the reins of his
horses were washed in the fish-pool of Samaria, and the
dogs licked his blood, according to the word of the pro¬
phet. Such was the end of Ahab. His son Ahaziah suc¬
ceeded him in the year of the world 3107.
AHASUERUS, or Artaxerxes, the husband of Esther,
and, according to Archbishop Usher and F. Calmet, the
Scripture name for Darius, the son of Hystaspes, king of
Persia; though Scaliger supposed Xerxes to have been
the husband of Esther, or the Ahasuerus of Scripture:
and Dr Prideaux believes him to be Artaxerxes Longi-
manus. See History of Persia.
AHAUS, a circle in the department of Munster, and
Prussian province of Westphalia, formed out of the old
lordships of Bocholt and Horstmar. It is 301 square
miles, or 192,640 acres, in extent, comprehending three
cities, six market towns, and 58 parishes, with 33,470
inhabitants. The soil is moderately fertile, and yields mo¬
derate crops of corn, buck-wheat, and flax. It is watered
by the Aa, the Berkel, the Bechta, the Dinkel, and several
smaller streams. The most valuable products are cattle,
and especially sheep. There is some little spinning and
weaving of linen; but the higher wages paid in Holland
induce the labourers to go to that country, in the seasons
of hay and corn harvest, to save the means of subsistence
for the winter.—The chief city of the circle, of the same
name, is the residence of the count, now mediatized; and
contains, besides his castle, 300 houses, and 1103 inha¬
bitants. Long. 7. 4. 34. E. Lat. 52. 4. 38. N.
AHAZ, king of Judah, the son of Jotham, remarkable
for his vices and impieties. One of his sons he conse¬
crated, by making him pass through and perish by the
fire, in honour of the false god Moloch; and he offered
sacrifices and incense upon the high places, upon hills,
and in groves. Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of
Israel, invaded Judah in the beginning of the reign of
Ahaz; and having defeated his army and pillaged the
country, they laid siege to Jerusalem. When they found
that they could not make themselves masters of that city,
they divided their army, plundered the country, and
made the inhabitants prisoners of war. Rezin and his
part of the confederate army marched with all their spoil
to Damascus; but Pekah, with his division of the army,
having attacked Ahaz, killed 120,000 men of his army in
one battle, and carried away men, women, and children,
2 z
Ahab
362
A H I
A H I
Ahaziah without distinction, to the number of 200,000. But as
Jj they were carrying those captives to Samaria, the prophet
Ahij ah. Qded, with the principal inhabitants of the city, came out
to meet them, and by their remonstrances prevailed with
them to set their prisoners at liberty. At the same time
the Philistines and Edomites invaded other parts of his
land, killed multitudes of the people, and carried off much
booty. In this distressed condition, Ahaz, finding no other
remedy for his affairs, sent ambassadors to Tiglath-pileser,
king of the Assyrians ; and to engage him to his interest,
he stripped the temple and city of all the gold which he
could meet with, and sent it as a present. Accordingly
Tiglath-pileser marched to the assistance of Ahaz, attacked
Rezin, and killed him, took his capital Damascus, de¬
stroyed it, and removed the inhabitants thereof to Gyrene.
The misfortunes of this prince had no influence to make
him better ; on the contrary, in the times of his greatest
affliction, he sacrificed to the Syrian deities, whom he
looked upon as the authors of his calamities, and endea¬
voured to render propitious to him, by honouring them in
this manner. Pie broke in pieces the vessels of the house
of God, shut up the gates of the temple, and erected al¬
tars in all parts of Jerusalem. He set up altars likewise
in all the cities of Judah, with a design to offer incense
on them. At length he died, and was buried in Jerusa¬
lem, but not in the sepulchres of the kings of Judah his
predecessors; which honour he was deprived of on ac¬
count of his iniquitous course of life. Hezekiah his son
succeeded him in the year of the world 3287, before Jesus
Christ 726.
AHAZIAH, the son and successor of Ahab, king of
Israel, reigned two years, part alone, and part with his
father Ahab, who ordained him associate in the kingdom
a year before his death. Ahaziah imitated his father’s
impieties (1 Kings xxii. 52, seq.), and paid his adoration
to Baal and Astarte, the worship of whom had been in¬
troduced into Israel by Jezebel, his mother. The Moabites,
who had been always obedient to the kings of the ten
tribes ever since their separation from the kingdom of
Judah, revolted after the death of Ahab, and refused to
pay the ordinary tribute. Ahaziah had not leisure or
power to reduce them (2 Kings i. 1, 2, &c.); for about
the same time, having fallen through a lattice from the
top of his house, he hurt himself considerably, and sent
messengers to Ekron, in order to consult Baalzebub, the
god of that place, whether he should recover of the in¬
disposition occasioned by this accident. But the prophet
Elijah went to Ahaziah, and declared that he should not
recover from his illness; and accordingly he died in the
year of the world 3108, and Jehoram his brother succeed¬
ed to the crown.
Ahaziah, king of Judah, the son of Jehoram and Atha-
liah, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Judah, in the
year of the world 3119. He walked in the ways of Ahab’s
house, to which he was allied. He reigned only one year.
He was slain by Jehu the son of Nimshi.
AHEAD, a sea-term, signifying farther onward than
the ship, or at any distance before her, lying immediately
on that point of the compass to which her stem is direct¬
ed. It is used in opposition to astern, which expresses
the situation of any object behind the ship.
AHIJAH, the prophet of Shiloh. He is thought to be
the person who spoke twice to Solomon from God; once
while he was building the temple (1 Kings vi. 11), at
which time he promised him his protection; and at an¬
other time (id. xi. 6) after his falling into all his irregu¬
larities, when God expressed his indignation with great
threatenings and reproaches. Ahyah was one of those
who wrote the annals or history of this prince (2Chr.ix.29).
The same prophet declared to Jeroboam that he would A!
usurp the kingdom (1 Kings xi. 29, &c.), and that two
heifers should alienate him from the Lord, meaning theAllit ^
golden calves erected by Jeroboam, one at Dan, the^
other at Bethel. About the end of Jeroboam’s reign, to¬
wards the year of the world 3046, Abijah, the son of that
prince, fell sick; upon which Jeroboam sent his wife to
this prophet to inquire what would become of the child.
The queen therefore went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh,
disguised; but the prophet, upon hearing the sound of
her feet, said, “ Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, why
feignest thou thyself to be another ? for I am sent to thee
with heavy tidings.” Then he commanded her to go and
tell Jeroboam all the evil that the Lord had declared he
would bring upon his house for his impieties; that so soon
as she should enter into the city her son Abijah should
die, and should be the only one of Jeroboam’s house that
should come to the grave or receive the honours of a
burial. Ahijah in all probability did. not long survive the
time of this last prophecy; but with the time and manner
of his death we are not acquainted.
AHJOLI, a city on the bay of Borgas, in the Black
Sea, surrounded with many wund-mills, and of commercial
consequence from the copious springs, from which salt is
made. It is in the Turkish province of Silistria, a part of
ancient Bulgaria.
AHITHOPHEL, a native of Gillo,wasfor some time the
counsellor of King David, whom he at length deserted by
joining in the rebellion of Absalom. This prince, upon his
being preferred to the crown by the greater part of the
Israelites, sent for Ahithophel from Gillo (2 Sam. xv. 12)
to assist him with his advice in the present state of his
affairs ; for at that time Ahithophel’s counsels were received
as the oracles of God himself (chap. xvi. idt(). Nothing
gave David more uneasiness than this event; and when
Hushai his friend came to wait on him and attend him in
his flight, he entreated him to return rather to Jerusalem,
make a show of offering his services to Absalom, and en¬
deavour to frustrate the prudent measures which should be
proposed by Ahithophel. When Absalom was come to Jeru¬
salem, he desired Ahithophel to deliberate with his other
counsellors upon the measures which wrere proper for him
to take. Ahithophel advised him, in the first place, to abuse
his father’s concubines; so that when his party should
understand that he had dishonoured his father in this
manner, they might conclude that there were no hopes of
a reconciliation, and therefore espouse his interest more
resolutely. A tent, therefore, being prepared for this pur¬
pose upon the terrace of the king’s palace, Absalom, in
the sight of all Israel, lay with his father’s concubines.
The next thing Ahithophel proposed was in the terms fol¬
lowing : “ Let me now choose out 12,000 men, and I will
arise and pursue after David this night; and I will come
upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will
make him afraid; and all the people that are with him shall
flee, and I will smite the king only; and I will bring back all
the people unto thee : the man whom thou seekest is as if
all returned; so all the people shall be in peace.” This
advice was very agreeable to Absalom and all the elders
of Israel. However, Absalom desired Hushai to be call¬
ed to have his opinion. Hushai being come, and hearing
what advice Ahithophel had given, said, “ The counsel
which Ahithophel has given is not good at this time; what,
for the present, in my opinion, may do better, is this: “ Let
all Israel be gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beer-
sheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and
put thyself in the midst of them; and wherever David is,
we will fall upon him, and overwhelm him with our num¬
bers, as the dew falleth upon the ground.” The last ad-
A I
Ai, ; Ji vice, being more agreeable to Absalom and all the elders
i 0f Israel, was preferred; upon which Ahithophel saddled
jl his ass, went to his house at Gillo, hanged himself, and
^"^was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. He foresaw,
without doubt, all that would happen in consequence of
Husbai’s advice, and was determined to prevent the death
which he had deserved, and which David would probably
have inflicted on him as soon as he should be resettled on
his throne.
AHOLIBAH and Aholah are two feigned names
made use of by Ezekiel (xxiii. 4) to denote the two king¬
doms of Judah and Samaria. Aholah and Aholibah are
represented as two sisters of Egyptian extraction. Aholah
stands for Samaria, and Aholibah for Jerusalem. The first
signifies a tent; and the second, my tent is in her. They
both prostituted themselves to the Egyptians and Assy¬
rians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; for
which reason they were abandoned to those very people
for whom they had shown so passionate and so impure an
affection. They were carried into captivity, and reduced
to the severest servitude.
AHRWEIL, a circle in the department of Coblentz,
and the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine. It extends
over 96 square miles, or 61,440 acres ; contains 24,745
inhabitants, all Catholics except 400 Protestants, in three
cities, two market towns, and 186 villages. The Rhine
washes its eastern border, and receives the water of the
Ahr, which issues out of a fertile valley, near Sinzig,
whence some good wine from the sides of the hills is pro¬
duced. The rest of the district is poor in agriculture,
and only somewhat better in breeding cattle, and furnish¬
ing fish, game, wood, and stone. The capital is a small
city of the same name. It is built on the banks of the
Ahr, containing 400 houses, and 2079 inhabitants, chiefly
tanners, curriers, and makers of wine.
AHULL, in the sea language, the situation of a ship
when all her sails are furled on account of the violence of
the storm, and when, having lashed her helm on the lee-
side, she lies nearly with her side to the wind and sea, her
head being somewhat inclined to the direction of the wind.
AHUN, a town of France, in the Upper Marche and
generality of Moulins, in the department of Creuse. It is
seated on the river Creuse, eight miles south-east of Gue-
ret, 30 north-east of Lomages, and 55 south-east of Mou¬
lins. Long. 1. 52. E. Lat. 49. 5. N.
AIIUYS, a town of Gothland, in Sweden. It is small,
but very strong by its situation, and has a good port. It
is in the principality of Gothland, in the territory of
Bleckingy, near the Baltic Sea, about 18 miles from Chris-
tianstadt. Long. 14. 10. E. Lat. 56. 20. N.
AI, in Ancient Geography, a town in Judea, to the north
of Jericho, called A/wz by Josephus, and the inhabitants
AinattB. Joshua having sent a detachment of 3000 men
against Ai, God permitted them to be repulsed on account
of Achan’s sin, who had violated the anathema pronoun¬
ced against the city of Jericho. But after the expiation of
this offence, God commanded Joshua (chap, viii.) to march
with the whole army of the Israelites against Ai, and treat
this city and the kingdom thereof as he had treated Jeri¬
cho, with this difference, that he gave the plunder of the
town to the people. Joshua sent by night 30,000 men to
lie in ambush behind Ai, having first well instructed those
who had the command of them in what they were to do;
and the next day, early in the morning, he marched against
the city with the remainder of his army. The king of
Ai perceiving them, sallied hastily out of the town with
all his people, and fell upon the forces of the Israelites,
who, upon the first onset, fled, as if they had been under
some great terror.
A j A 363
As soon as Joshua saw the enemy all out of the gates, Ajaccio
lie raised his shield upon the top of a pike, which was the II
signal given to the ambuscade; whereupon they immedi- Aichstadt.
ately entered the place, which they found without de-
fence, and set fire to it. The people of Ai perceiving the.
smoke ascending, were willing to return, but discovered
those who had set fire to the city in their rear; while
Joshua and those who were with him turning about, fell
upon them, and cut them in pieces. The king was taken
alive, and afterwards put to death.
AJACCIO, or Aj azzo, an arrondissement in the island
and department of Corsica, in the Mediterranean, con¬
taining 12 cantons and 72 communes, with 36,980 inha¬
bitants. The extent is 736 square miles, or 460,000 Eng¬
lish acres. The capital, which bears the same name, and
is the best built town in the island, is situated in a fer¬
tile territory, which produces excellent wines. It has a
small citadel and an excellent harbour, and contains 6840
inhabitants. It is celebrated as the birth-place of Napoleon
Buonaparte.
AJALON, in Ancient Geography, a town of the tribe
of Dan, one of the Levitical. Another in the tribe of
Benjamin, in whose valley Joshua commanded the moon
to stand still, being then in her decrease, and consequent¬
ly to be seen at the same time with the sun.
A JAN, a coast and country of Africa, has the river
Quilimanci on the south; the mountains from which the
river springs, on the west; Abyssinia or Ethiopia, and the
strait of Babelmandel, on the north; and the Eastern or
Indian Ocean on the east. The coast abounds with all
the necessaries of life, and has plenty of very good horses.
The whole sea-coast, from Zanguebar to the strait of Ba-
belmandel, is called the coast of Ajan; and a considerable
part of it is styled the Desert coast.
AJAX, the son of Oileus, was one of the principal gene¬
rals who went to the siege of Troy. He ravished Cas¬
sandra, the daughter of Priam, even in the temple of Mi¬
nerva, where she thought to have found sanctuary. It is
said he made a serpent of 15 feet long so familiar with
him, that it ate at his table, and followed him like a dog.
The Locrians had a singular veneration for his memory.
Ajax, the son of Telamon, was, next to Achilles, the
most valiant general among the Greeks at the siege of
Troy. He commanded the troops of Salamis, and per¬
formed many great actions, of which we have an account
in the Iliad, in Dictys Cretensis, and in the 23d book of
Ovid’s Metamorphoses. He was so enraged that the arms
of Achilles were adjudged to Ulysses, that he immediate¬
ly became mad. The Greeks paid great honour to him
after his death, and erected a magnificent monument to his
memory, upon the promontory of Rhetium.
Ajax, in Antiquity, a furious kind of dance, in use
among the Grecians ; intended to represent the madness
of that hero after his defeat by Ulysses, to whom the
Greeks had given the preference in his contest for Achil¬
les’s arms. Lucian, in his treatise of Dancing, speaks of
dancing the Ajax.—There was also an annual feast called
Ajantia, A/am/a, consecrated to that prince, and observed
with great solemnity in the island of Salamis, as well as in
Attica; where, in memory of the valour of Ajax, a bier
was exposed, set out with a complete set of armour.
Ajazzo, a seaport town of Natolia, in the province of
Caramania, anciently Cilicia, seated on the coast of the
Mediterranean, 30 miles north of Antioch, and 50 west of
Aleppo, where the city of Issus anciently stood, and near
which Alexander fought his second battle with Darius.
Long. 36. 10. E. Lat. 37. N.
AICHSTADT, a town of Germany, in Franconia, and
capital of a bishopric of the same name. It is remark-
364
Aid
II
Aiguillon.
A I G
able for a curious piece of workmanship, called the Sun
of the Holy Sacrament, which is in the church. It is of
massy gold, of great weight, and is enriched with 350 dia¬
monds, 1400 pearls, 250 rubies, and other precious stones.
This place is moderately large, and seated in a valley on
the river Altmuhl, 10 miles north of Nienburg, and 37
south of Nuremberg. Long. 11. 10. E. Lat. 49. N. The
bishopric is 45 miles in length and 17 in breadth ; and the
bishop is chancellor of the church of Mayence or Mentz.
AID, Auxilium, in ancient customs, a subsidy paid by
vassals to their lords on certain occasions.
AiD-de-Camp, in military affairs, an officer employed to
receive and carry the orders of a general.
AIDS, in the French customs, were certain duties paid
on all goods exported or imported into that kingdom.
Court of Aids, in France, a sovereign court formerly
established in several cities, which had cognizance of all
causes relating to the taxes, gabelles, and aids, imposed on
several sorts of commodities, especially wine.
AIDAN, a famous Scotish bishop of Lindisfarne, or
Holy Island, in the 7th century, was employed by Oswald,
king of Northumberland, in the conversion of the English,
in which he was very successful. He was a monk in the
monastery of Iona, one of the Hebrides. He died in 651.
AID ON A, a city of Sicily, on the river Gabelle, in the
Val di Notto, containing about 3700 inhabitants.
AJELLO, a town in the province of Abruzzo Ulte-
riore Second, in the kingdom of Naples, but belonging to
the duke of Modena. It contains 2195 inhabitants.
AIGHENDALE, the name of a liquid measure used in
Lancashire, containing seven quarts.
AIGLE, a bailiwick in the territory of Romand in
Switzerland, consists of mountains and valleys, the princi¬
pal of which are the Aigle and Bex. Through these is the
great road from Valais into Italy. When you pass by
Villeneuve, which is at the head of the lake of Geneva,
you enter into a deep valley three miles wide, bordered
on one side with the Alps of Switzerland, on the other
side with those of Savoy, and crossed by the river Rhone.
Six miles from thence you meet with Aigle, a town con¬
taining 2500 inhabitants, seated in a wide part of the val¬
ley, where there are vineyards, fields, and meadows. The
governor's castle is on an eminence that overlooks the
town, and has a lofty marble tower. This government has
nine large parishes; and is divided into four parts, Aigle,
Bex, Olon, and Ormont. This last is among the moun¬
tains, and joins to Rougemont. It is a double valley,
abounding in pasture lands. Ivorna, in the district of
Aigle, was in part buried by the fall of a mountain, occa¬
sioned by an earthquake, in 1584.
Aigle, a city in France, in the arrondissement of Mor-
tagne, and department of the Orne. It is situated on the
river Rille, which divides it into three parts; one on each
side of the river, and one in an island formed by two chan¬
nels of it. It contains 844 houses, and 5780 inhabitants.
It is an industrious place, with manufactures of linen, cot¬
ton, paper, leather, cutlery, needles, bottles, and other
wares.
AIGUES-PERSES (Aquce-Sparsce), a town of France,
situated in the Lyonnois, in the department of Puy-de-
Dome, about 15 miles north of Clermont.
Aigues-Perses, a town of France, in the district of
Ville Tranche, near to Lyons, with 1540 inhabitants. It
is the birth-place of the celebrated Chancellor L’Hopital.
Near to it is a well of poisonous quality, which is mortal to
all animals drinking it.
AIGUILLON, a town of the district of Agenois, in
Guienne, in France, at the conflux of the river Garonne
and Lot, containing 3540 inhabitants.
AIL
AIGUISCE, in Heraldry, denotes a cross with its four Ai
ends sharpened, but so as to terminate in obtuse angles.
It differs from the cross fitchee, inasmuch as the latter
tapers by degrees to a point, and the former only at the^
ends.
AIGUR ANDES, a town of France, in the arrondisse¬
ment of La Chatre, and department of the Indre. It is on
the river Bourdesoule, surrounded with walls and ditches'
containing 270 houses, and 1620 inhabitants, who carry
on a great trade in cattle.
AIKMAN, William, a painter of considerable emi¬
nence, was born in Scotland, October 24. 1682. He was
the son of William Aikman, Esq. of Cairney, and was in¬
tended by his father to follow his own profession, which
was that of an advocate at the Scotish bar. But the
genius of the son led him to other studies. He devoted
himself to the fine arts, especially that of painting; and
having for some time prosecuted his studies in Britain, in
the year 1707 he went to Italy, resided in Rome for three
years, afterwards travelled to Constantinople and Smyrna,
and in 1712 returned to his own country. About the
year 1723 he fixed his residence in London, where he fol¬
lowed the profession of painting, and had the good for¬
tune to be patronised by the duke of Argyle, the earl of
Burlington, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and other liberal en-
couragers of the arts. He painted many portraits of per¬
sons of the first rank in England and Scotland, and a
large picture of the royal family for the earl of Burling¬
ton, now in the possession of the duke of Devonshire,
which was unfinished at his death. Some of his portraits
painted in Scotland are in the possession of the duke of
Argyle, the duke of Hamilton, and others. Mr Aikman
died in London, June 4. 1731. Six months previous to his
death he had lost a son at the age of 17. The remains of
both were removed to Edinburgh, and were interred in
the Greyfriars church-yard on the same day. Mr Somer¬
ville, the author of the Chace, Mr Mallet, Mr Allan Ram¬
say the Scotish poet, and Mr Thomson, were among Mr
Aikman’s intimate acquaintance; and the muse of each,
in elegiac numbers, offered a warm tribute to the memory
of their departed friend. The following epitaph, from the
pen of Mr Mallet, was engraved on his tomb:
Dear to the good and wise, disprais’d by none,
Here sleep in peace the father and the son ;
By virtue, as by nature, close ally’d,
The painter’s genius, but without the pride ;
Worth unambitious, wit afraid to shine,
Honour’s clear light, and friendship’s warmth divine.
The son, fair rising, knew too short a date ;
But, oh ! how more severe the father’s fate!
He saw him torn untimely from his side,
Felt all a father’s anguish—wept, and died.
Mr Aikman’s style of painting was an imitation of the
pleasing simplicity of nature. It is distinguished by soft¬
ness of light, mellowness of shade, and mildness and har¬
mony of colouring. His compositions have more placid
tranquillity of ease than boldness of touch and brilliancy
of effect. His portraits are supposed to have some resem¬
blance to those of Kneller, not only in the imitation of
the dresses of the time, but in the similarity of tint and
manner of working.
AILANA, Ailath, or Aheloth, anciently a town of
Arabia Petraea, situated near the Sinus Elanites of the
Red Sea. It is also called Eliath, and Eloth (Stephanas,
Strabo, Moses). The same with Elana. ,
AILE, in Law, a writ which lies where a persons
grandfather or great-grandfather was seised of lands,
&c. in fee-simple, the day that he died, and a stranger
abates and enters the same day, and dispossesses the heir
of his inheritance.
A J M
A J M
365
b7 AILESBURY, or Aylesbury, a borough town in
II ' Buckinghamshire. In the middle of the market-place is
Ajmc • a convenient hall, where the sessions are held. It sends
J tw0 members to parliament; but being convicted of cor¬
ruption in 1804, the right of voting was extended to the
neighbouring hundreds. Long. 0. 40. W. Lat. 51. 40. N.
AILMER, or /Ethelmare, earl of Cornwall and De¬
vonshire in the reign of King Edgar. It is not known of
what family he was. His authority and riches were great,
and so also in appearance was his piety. He founded the
abbey of Cernel, in Dorsetshire; and had so great a vene¬
ration for Eadwald, the brother of St Edmund the Martyr,
who had lived a hermit in that country, near the Silver
Well, as it is called, that, with the assistance of Arch¬
bishop Dunstan, he translated his relics to the old church
of Cernel. In 1016, when Canute, the son of Sueno, in¬
vaded England, and found himself stoutly opposed by
that valiant Saxon prince Edmund Ironside, the son of
Athelred, this Earl Ailmer, with that arch-traitor Eadric
Streone, earl of Mercia, and Earl Algar, joined the Dane
against their natural prince, which was one great cause of
the Saxons’ ruin. He did not long survive this ; and we
find mentioned in history only one son of his, whose name
was Asthelward, earl of Cornwall, who followed his father’s
maxims, and was properly rewarded for it; for in 1018,
Canute, reaping the benefit of their treasons, and perceiv¬
ing that the traitors were no longer useful, caused the
infamous Eadric Streone and this Earl iEthelward to be
both put to death.
AILRED, or Ealred, abbot of Revesby, in Lincoln¬
shire, in the reigns of Stephen and Henry II. He was
born in 1109, of a noble family, and educated in Scotland
with Henry, the son of King David. On his return to Eng¬
land he became a monk of the Cistercian order in the
monastery of Revesby, of which he afterwards was made
abbot. He died on the 12th of January 1166, aged 57,
and was buried in hi§ monastery. “ He was,” says Leland,
“ in great esteem during his life, celebrated for the mi¬
racles wrought after his death; and admitted into the
catalogue of saints.” He was author of several works,
most of which were published by Gilbo the Jesuit at
Douay, 1631: part of them may be also found in the Bib-
Iwtheca Cisterciensis, and Bibliotheca Patrum. His prin¬
cipal work is the Speculum Charitatis. Leland, Bale, and
fits, mention several manuscripts which never were pub¬
lished.
AILSA, an insulated rock on the western coast of Scot¬
land, between the shores of Ayrshire and Cantyre. It is
two miles in circumference at the base, is accessible only
at one place, and rises in a pyramidical form to the height
of 940 feet. A few goats and rabbits pick up a subsistence
among the grass and furze; but it is frequented by immense
numbers of soland geese and other birds, which are valued
for their flesh or feathers. The depth of water around
me base is from 7 to 48 fathoms. On one part of the
rock are the remains of an old castle, which is said to have
been erected by Philip II. of Spain, about the time that
die Spanish armada invaded Britain.
AJMEER, or Rajpootana, a large province situated
in the centre of Hindostan, between the 24th and 31st
degrees of N. lat. It is bounded on the north by the pro¬
vinces of Moultan, Lahore, and Delhi; on the south by
Lujerat and Malwah ; on the east by Delhi and Agra, and
on the west by Moultan and the principality of Sinde.
rom north to south it extends 350 miles, and is 200 in
average breadth. The following are the modern divisions
of this province:—
1. The Bhatty country. 3. The Great Sandy Desert.
Bicanere. 4. Jesselmere.
5. Joudpoor. 10. Ajmeer district
6. Marwar. 11. Harowty.
7. Nagore. 12. Odeypoor.
8. Shekawutty. 13. Mewar.
9. Jeypoor. 14. Sarowy.
This province is generally of a barren and sandy soil,
in. many parts a good deal covered by thorny trees and
thickets of the cactus. The province of Marwar has a
superior soil, and is in a better state of cultivation than
the eastern provinces of Jeypoor and Ajmeer, or the south¬
western tract of Mewar, including Odeypoor. This part
of the country was laid waste to such a degree by the
ravages of the Pindarees, that it has yet scarcely recovered.
The soil, naturally arid, is in some of the southern pro¬
vinces rendered productive by streams which descend
from the mountains. The Chumbul, Calysina, and Banass
are the most considerable streams; and where they afford
supplies of moisture, the country presents something like
the appearance of verdure. The soil of the whole pro¬
vince is remarkably saline, containing many salt springs
and lakes, and producing salt and saltpetre spontaneously.
In other parts, in order to procure a supply of water, deep
wells are sunk, from which the country being partially
irrigated, yields wheat, barley, and other sorts of grain and
pulse common in India. In Marwar, where they derive
their supplies of water from these deep wells, Bishop Heber
mentions that he saw cotton growing of the finest quality,
and oxen and sheep which bore evidence, by their size
and fatness, of the luxuriance of the pasture. Other parts,
again, of the southern provinces are strangely desolate,
though the ruins with which they are covered, and the
numerous tombs, show that they have been inhabited at
no distant period, and that their present desolation has
been the work of violence.
Towards the east, and in the north, there is an exten¬
sive tract, which is a continued desert of the most dismal
appearance. Towards the south mountainous tracts occur,
and between Marwar and Mewar they rise to 2000 feet
above the level of the sea. The mountains of Aboo,
towards the western boundary, rise, it is supposed, to the
height of 6000 feet. Except in the mountains, trees are
seldom seen; and the consequence is, that timber for
building and other purposes is extremely scarce, and pro-
portionably dear. Such is the scarcity of wooden furni¬
ture, that at dinner parties it is the practice among the
British residents for ladies and gentlemen to send their
own chairs to the house where the entertainment is to
take place; and they have nothing better for their doors
and windows than pieces of matting. The Shekawultz
country on the west is sandy, badly watered and culti¬
vated, scattered over with rocky hills, and sprinkled with
tufts of long grass and bushes. Yet it contains several
lai’ge towns; and it seems to lose its title to be included in
the desert, when compared with the tract which extends
north-east as far as Bahawulpoor, a distance of 280 miles;
and even this tract is only for the last hundred miles ab¬
solutely destitute of inhabitants, water, or vegetation.
For 180 miles the country presents the appearance of
hills and valleys of loose and heavy sand from 20 to 100
feet in height. These hills shift their positions; and the
passage of the desert is rendered dangerous in summer by
clouds of moving sand. Among these sandy deserts
villages are occasionally met with, which consist merely
of a few round huts of straw, with low conical roofs like
stooks of corn. They are surrounded by hedges of dry
thorny branches, stuck in the sand. Around these miser¬
able abodes are to be seen a few fields, which depend for
water on the rains and dews, and which bear thin crops of
the poorest kinds of pulse, and a species of the holcus spi-
Ajmeer.
366
A J M
A J M
Ajmeer. catuSy which, though it flourishes in the most sterile
countries, grows here with difficulty, each stalk several
feet from its neighbour. In this arid waste is found in
profusion the most juicy of all fruits, the water-melon.
Some of these grow to the size of three or four feet in
<rircumference, from a stalk as slender as that of the com¬
mon melon. Agriculture depends on supplies of water
procured from wells thinly scattered over the country, and
sunk to the enormous depth of 300 and 345 feet, while
some of them are only three feet in diameter. The water
is drawn from these wells by water-wheels worked by
bullocks, in small quantities, and is brackish and unwhole¬
some. The wells are lined with masonry, and the natives
frequently cover them with boards heaped with sand,
which effectually conceals them from an enemy. The
rest of the desert for 100 miles, from Poogul toBahawul-
poor, is a flat hard clay, which sounds under the horses’
hoofs like a board. In some places small sand-hills are
formed over the clay, on which a few plants shoot up. But
the clay is destitute of all appearance of vegetation; and,
excepting at the fort and pool of Monjgur, and two wells
about sixteen miles from Bahawulpoor, the country is whol¬
ly destitute both of inhabitants and of water. In approach¬
ing the town of Bahawulpoor the desert and the cultivated
country are separated as if by a marked line. The edge
of the desert is skirted by a long row of trees ; and beyond
it are to be seen clumps of trees, green fields, and wells of
abundant and clear water, with houses and every sign of
fertility and cultivation. This great desert is 400 miles
in breadth, and extends far beyond the limits of Ajmeer.
Several tracts are within the limits of the periodical rains,
and might be recovered from desolation by industry; but
at present these rains are absorbed by the thirsty soil,
without any benefit whatever to the inhabitants.
The domestic animals are bullocks and camels. The
animals of the desert are, the antelope; the wild ass, re¬
markable for its shyness and for its speed; the fox; and
a curious species of rat, which is found in such numbers
that the ground is undermined by it in many parts, and
is rendered dangerous to horsemen. The lower classes
of the people are Jauts. They are of small stature, ill-
looking, and have every appearance of poverty and wretch¬
edness. The upper classes are Rhatore Rajpoots. They
are a stout and handsome race, with hooked noses and
Jewish features; of haughty manners, indolent in their
habits, and almost continually drunk with opium. The
inhabitants are estimated at 3,000,000, the Mahometans
being to the Hindoos as one to eight. The principal
towns are Jeypoor, Joudpoor, Odeypoor, Ajmeer, Kotah,
Bondee, Rantampoor, Chitore, Shahpoorah, Bicanere, and
Jesselmere. The three grand modern divisions of Raj-
pootana are, \st, Odeypoor, named also Mewar and the
Rana of Chitore ; 2d, Joudpoor, named also Marwar, and
its sovereign occasionally described as the Rhatore Rajah,
being of that tribe; 3t/, Jeypoor, Jynagur, or Ambeer,
three names of one state. From the dismemberment of
these, the original Rajpoot states, others have been formed,
and in later times the rajahs of Jesselmere and Bicanere,
and the petty chiefs of Kotah, Boondee, and Banswara.
The country is governed by numerous chiefs, who owe
allegiance and pay tribute to their liege lords; and who
occasionally, as opportunities occur, have thrown off their
dependence, and have set up as independent sovereigns
within their own territories. During the scenes of con¬
fusion and trouble which took place in Central India,
previously to the last war, and general pacification in
1818, Rajpootana was frequently laid waste by the in¬
roads of the Pindarees and other freebooters, who were
in many cases abetted by the native chiefs. At that time
no title was secure; power was the only rule of right; *•
and various portions of the province were possessed andCi
held by powerful invaders, such as Scindia and Holkar.
Such was the anarchy that prevailed in this province, as
well as generally in Central India, that every freebooter
who could collect a sufficient force extorted contributions
from the peaceable inhabitants. The petty chiefs were
also frequently involved in war with each other; and the
destruction inseparable from such contests added to the
mass of misery which already pressed on the country.
When the war undertaken by the British in 1817, against
the bands of plunderers who infested the country, and
spread confusion and misery wherever they appeared, was
brought to a successful termination, Ajmeer wras finally
rescued from the Mahratta influence, and placed under
Sir D. Ochterlony, as resident and commander; and a
large body of troops was cantoned near the city of Ajmeer,
by whose presence the turbulent were overawed, and the
public peace preserved. Since this period tranquillity and
good order have arisen out of confusion ; and the peaceable
inhabitants, delivered from rapine, and from the miseries of
continued pillage and oppression, have resumed their for¬
mer occupations of commerce and agriculture. The dif¬
ferent chiefs are allowed to regulate their own internal
policy; but they are no longer permitted to go to war with
each other, all their differences being now referred to the
supreme tribunal of British authority. (p.)
Ajmeer, a city of Hindostan, in the province of Aj¬
meer. It is situated on the slope of a hill, and was nearly
ruined in the long period of anarchy and misgovernment
which prevailed in Central India prior to 1819. It was
acquired by the British from Scindia in 1818, when it was
in a state of the utmost desolation and decay. After this
period it rapidly improved; and in 1823 commerce had
revived, and the population had been more than tripled.
Bishop Heber, who visited it in 1825, mentions, that it is
a wrell-built town, of moderate size. The buildings are chief¬
ly 'white-washed; and the surrounding rocks have some
thorny trees and brush-wood on them, which hide their
barrenness, and make a good back-ground to the little
ruinous mosques and Mussulman tombs which are scat¬
tered round the circuit of this holy city. Above, on the
mountain top, is a very remarkable fortress, called Tara-
ghur, nearly two miles in circuit, but, from its irregular
shape and surface, not capable of containing more than
1200 men. It consists of a plain stone-wall along the edge
of a mountain, strengthened with a few round bastions;
and it has an abundant supply of good water in all seasons,
from cisterns cut in the rock. The works of this fortress
are now going fast to decay, as it is not the policy of the
British government to rely, for their security, on fortresses.
The old palace and garden of Shah Jehan still exist, and
the former contains several habitable rooms. Ajmeer is
renowned as a place of pilgrimage, the great attraction
being the tomb of Khoja Mogen ud Deen, famed as a great
Mahometan saint, whose miracles are celebrated all over
India. The tomb is of white marble, but remarkable neither
for style nor beauty of architecture. To this place the
emperor Acbar made a pilgrimage on foot, to implore at
the sainted tomb the blessing of male offspring. The
emperors of Delhi formed a fine fresh-water lake just
above the city, which during the rains is six miles in cir¬
cumference. It supplies the means of irrigation to a large
district on its banks, is full of fish, and affords excellent
water to the inhabitants of the town. Ajmeer is 80 miles
W. S. W. from Jeypoor. Travelling distance from Delhi
230 miles; from Bombay, 650; and from Calcutta, 1030
miles. Long. 74. 28. E. Lat. 26. 31. N. (Bishop Heber s
Journey through the Upper Provinces of India; Harnn-
A I R
;Vi ton’s Description of Hindostan; Elphinstone’s Journey
f || into Afghanistan.) (f.)
Aii AIN, one of the departments in the south-west of
France, deriving its name from a river so called, a part of
the ancient province of Burgundy. It is bounded on the
north by the departments of Saone-Loire and Jura; on
the east by Switzerland and Savoy, from which the Rhone
divides it; on the south by the department of Isene, sepa¬
rated also by the Rhone ; and on the west by the depart¬
ments of the Rhone and the Saone-Loire, from both which
the Saone divides it. The extent is 2210 square miles, or
1,414,400 acres. The eastern part is very mountainous,
being a protraction of the Jura group. The western part
is hilly, but interspersed with marshes. Some tracts of
valuable land are found in the intervals. The chief products
are rye, maize, wheat, some wine, a little salt, and oil. The
dairy yields good butter and cheese. The department is
divided into five arrondissements, 35 cantons, and 448 com¬
munes ; and contains 22 cities, 403 market-towns and vil¬
lages, 1467 hamlets, and 6779 insulated houses. The po¬
pulation amounts to 322,060 persons, all Catholics, except
in the arrondissement of Gers, where the greater part are
reformed Protestants.
AINSA, a town of the province of Arragon, in Spain.
It is on the bank of the river Cinca, which descends from
the Pyrenees, and forms the northern boundary of Arragon.
It was the ancient residence of the kings of Arragon, when
that province formed a distinct kingdom. 500 inhabitants.
AINSWORTH, a township and chapelry in the parish
of Middleton and hundred of Salford, in the county of
Lancaster. Its population under the different censuses
was as follows: in 1801, 1240; in 1811, 1427; and in
1821, 1609.
Ainsworth, Dr Henry, an eminent non-conformist
divine, who about the year 1590 distinguished himself
among the Brownists, which drew upon him such troubles
that he was obliged to retire to Holland, and became mi¬
nister of a church at Amsterdam. His skill in the Hebrew
language, and his excellent Annotations on the Holy Scrip¬
tures, which are still highly esteemed, gained him great
reputation. He also wrote several pieces in defence of
the Brownists, and several other works.
Ainsworth, Robert, born at Woodyale in Lancashire
in 1660, was master of a boarding-school at Bethnal Green,
from whence he removed to Hackney, and to other places
in the neighbourhood of London. After acquiring a mo¬
derate fortune, he retired, and lived privately to the time
of his death, which happened in 1743. We are indebted
to his industry for a Latin and English Dictionary, which
las been much used in schools. It was first published in
Loo, and was, after the author’s death, enlarged by vari¬
ous lands to 2 vols. 4to, in which form it has been several
times reprinted.
AIR, in Physics. See Atmosphere, Meteorology,
and Pneumatics.
Air, in Mythology, was adored by the heathens under
ie names of Jupiter and Juno; the former representing
ic superior and finer part of the atmosphere, and the lat-
or the inferior and grosser part. The augurs also drew
I lesages from the clouds, thunder, &c.
r. I1.{’ *n Painting, &c. denotes the manner and very life
tli aCtl°n ’ °r it: I8 that which expresses the disposition of
e agent. It is sometimes also used in a synonymous
*nse with gesture or attitude.
IR, in Music, is taken in different senses. It is some-
ies contrasted with harmony, and in this sense it is
jj ®nymous with melody in general.—Its proper meaning
n ’ . un.e’ which is set to words, or to short pieces of
Poetry, that are called songs.
air
In operas we give the name of air to such pieces of
music as are formed with measures and cadences to dis¬
tinguish it from the recitative ; and, in general, every piece
of music is called an air which is formed for the voice or
even for instruments, and adapted to stanzas, whether it
forms a whole in itself, or whether it can be detached
from any whole of which it forms a part, and be executed
alone.
If the subject admits of harmony, and is set in parts, the
cur is, according to their number, denominated a duet, a
tno,a.quartetto, &c. We need not follow Rousseau and the
other philologists in their endeavours to investigate the
etymon of the word air. Its derivation, though found and
ascertained, would contribute little to illustrate its mean¬
ing in that remote sense to which, through a long con¬
tinuance of time, and the various vicissitudes of language,
it has now passed. The curious may consult the same
article in the Dictionnaire de Musique by M. Rousseau.
In modern music, there are several different kinds of
airs, each of which agrees to a certain kind of dancing; and
from these dances the airs themselves take their specific
The woids to which axrs are adapted are not always
rehearsed in regular succession, nor spoken in the same
manner with those of the recitative ; and though in gene¬
ral they are very short, yet they are interrupted, repeat¬
ed, transposed, at the pleasure of the artist. They do
not constitute a narrative, which once told is over; they
either delineate a picture which it is necessary to contem¬
plate in different points of view, or inspire a sentiment in
which the heart acquiesces with pleasure, and from which
it is neither able nor willing to be disengaged; and the
different phrases of the air are nothing else than different
manners of beholding the same image. This is the reason
why the subject of an air should be one. It is by these
repetitions properly placed, it is by these redoubled efforts,
that an impression, which at first was not able to move
you, at length shakes your soul, agitates you, transports
you out of yourself; and it is likewise upon the same prin¬
ciple that the runnings, as they are called, or those long,
mazy, and inarticulated inflections of the voice, in pathetic
airs, frequently seem, though they are not always so, im¬
properly placed; for whilst the heart is affected with a
sentiment exquisitely moving, it often expresses its emo¬
tions by inarticulate sounds, more strongly and sensibly
than it could do by words themselves.
The form of airs is of two kinds. The small airs are
often composed of two strains, which ought each of them
to be sung twice; but the important airs in operas are
frequently in the form of rondeaus.
Ain-Gun, a pneumatic machine for exploding bullets,
&c. with great violence. See Pneumatics.
Air-Jacket, a sort of jacket made of leather, in which
are several bags or bladders, composed of the same mate¬
rials, communicating with each other. These are filled
with air through a leather tube having a brass stop-cock
accurately ground at the extremity, by which means the
air blown in through the tube is confined in the bladders.
The jacket must be wet before the air be blown into the
bags, as otherwise it will immediately escape through the
pores of the leather. By the help of these bladders, which
are placed near the breast, the person is supported in the
water, without making the efforts used in swimming.
AiR-Pipes. See Ventilators.
AiR-Pump, a machine by which the air contained in a
proper vessel may be exhausted or drawn out. See
Pneumatics.
Ain-Shafts, among Miners, denote holes or shafts let
down from the open air to meet the adits and furnish fresh
367
Air
II
Air-shafts.
368 AIR
AIT
Air-
threads
Airing.
air. The damps, deficiency, and impurity of air which
occur, when adits are wrought 30 or 40 fathoms long, make
it necessary to let down air-shafts, in order to give the air
liberty to play through the whole work, and thus discharge
bad vapours, and furnish good air for respiration: the
expense of which shafts, in regard of their vast depths,
hardness of the rock, drawing of water, &c. sometimes
equals, nay exceeds, the ordinary charge of the whole adit.
Am-Threads, in Natural History, a name given to the
long filaments so frequently seen in autumn floating
about in the air.
These threads are the work of spiders, especially of that
species called the long-legged field spider, which, having
mounted to the summit of a bush or tree, darts from its
tail several of these threads, till one is produced capable
of supporting the creature in the air. On this it mounts in
quest of prey, and frequently rises to a very considerable
height.
Am-Trunk, the name of a contrivance by Dr Hales, to
prevent the stagnation of putrid effluvia in jails and other
places, where a great number of people are crowded
together in a small space. It consists only of a long square
trunk open at both ends, one of which is inserted into the
ceiling of the room, the air of which is required to be kept
pure, and the other extends a good way beyond the roof.
Through this trunk a continued circulation is carried on;
and the reason is, that the putrid effluvia which do so
much mischief when collected, being much lighter than
the pure atmosphere, arise to the top of the room, and, if
they there find a vent, will continually go out through it.
These effluvia arise in very considerable quantity, being
calculated by Dr Keil at no less than 39 ounces from one
man in 24 hours.
Air- Vessels are spiral ducts in the leaves, &c. of plants,
supposed to be analogous to the lungs of animals, in sup¬
plying the different parts of a plant with air.
AIRANI, in Church History, an obscure sect of Arians
in the fourth century, who denied the consubstantiality of
the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son. They are
otherwise called Airanists; and are said to have taken
their name from one Airos, who distinguished himself at
the head of this party in the reigns of Valentinian and
Gratian.
AIRE, a city of France, head of a canton of the same
name, in the circle of St Omer, and department of Pas
de Calais. It is situated on the river Lys. The popula¬
tion amounts to 8627 persons, who are chiefly employed
in making cotton and woollen goods, hardware, and large
quantities of oil from seeds. Long. 0.12. W. Lat. 50.38. N.
Aire, a town of France, in the department of Landes,
and circle of St Sever, on the left bank of the river Pau.
Its population is 3130.
AIRING, a term peculiarly used for the exercising of
horses in the open air'. It purifies the blood, purges the
body from gross humours, and, as the jockies express it,
teaches the horse how to make the wind rake equally, and
keep time with the other motions of his body. It also
sharpens the stomach, and keeps the creature hungry,
which is a thing of great consequence, as the stomach
of hunters and racers is very apt to fall off, either from
want of exercise, or from the too violent exercise which
they are often exposed to. If the horse be over-fat,
it is best to air him before sunrise and after sunsetting;
and in general it is allowed by all that nothing is more
beneficial to those creatures than early and late airings.
Some of our modern manegers, however, dispute this:
they say that the cold of these times is too great for the
creature; and that if, in particular, he is subject to ca¬
tarrhs, rheums, or the like complaints, the dews and cold
fogs, in these early and late airings, will be apt to increase
all those disorders. Nature, we see, also points out the
sun-beams as of great use to these animals, those which A:
are kept hardy and lie out all night always running to^
those places where the sunshine comes, as soon as it ap¬
pears in a morning. This should seem to recommend
those airings that are to be made before sunset, and a little
time after sunrise. As to the caution so earnestly incul¬
cated by Markham, of using these early and late airings
for fat horses, it is found unnecessary by many; for they
say that the same effect may be produced by airings at
warmer times, provided only that they are made longer;
and that, in general, it is from long airings that we are to
expect to bring a horse to a perfect wind and sound
courage.
AIRS, in the Manege, are the artificial motions of
taught horses, as the demivolt, curvet, capriole, &c.
AIRY, or Aery, among Sportsmen, a term expressing
the nest of a hawk or eagle.
Airy Triplicity, among Astrologers, denotes the three
signs, Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.
AISNE, a department in the north-east division of
France, on a river of the same name, formed out of divi¬
sions of the ancient provinces—Isle of France, Picardy, and
Champagne. It is bounded on the north by the depart¬
ment of the North and the kingdom of the Netherlands,
on the east by the departments of the Ardennes and
Marne, on the south by the Marne and Seine-Marne, and
on the west by the Oise and Somme. The extent is 2912
square miles, or 1,872,977 acres. I he whole department
is a plain, with few hills of much elevation. The soil is
generally calcareous, except in the northern part, where
it becomes clayey, and in some spots slaty. It is of va¬
rious degrees of fertility, but for the most part adapted to
the growth of corn. Wine, cider, flax, are the other agri¬
cultural products. The manufactures are of cotton, linen,
and hosiery. The department is divided into five arron-
dissements, 37 cantons, and 853 communes. Its popula¬
tion is 451,525. The chief city of the department is Laon,
with 6691 inhabitants.
AITOCZU, a considerable river of Lesser Asia, which
rises in Mount Taurus, and falls into the south part of the
Euxine Sea.
AITON, William, an eminent botanist and gardener,
was born at a village near Hamilton in Scotland in 1 /31.
Having been regularly trained to the profession of a
gardener, he came into England in the year 1754, and
soon obtained the notice of the celebrated Philip Miller>
then superintendent of the physic garden at Chelsea, who
engaged him as an assistant. His industry and abilities
recommended him to the princess-dowager of Wales as a
fit person to manage the botanical garden at Kew. in
1759 he was appointed to this office, in which he continued
during life, and which was the source of his fame an
fortune. The garden at Kew, under the auspices of is
present Majesty, was destined to be the grand repository
of all the vegetable riches which could be accumulate
by regal munificence, from researches through every
quarter of the globe. These treasures were fortunately
committed to the hands of Mr Aiton, whose care an s
in their cultivation, and intelligence in their arrangemen
acquired him high reputation among the lovers o
science, and the particular esteem of his royal P^r.°” *
Under his superintendence many improvements took p a
in the plan and edifices of Kew gardens, which r®n,^
them the principal scene of botanical culture in the §
dom. In 1783 his merit was properly rewarded with w
lucrative office of managing the pleasure and kitchen g‘
dens of Kew, which he was allowed to retain wit
A I X
A K E
Ain botanical department. In 1789 he published his//br^s west of Rochefort, and 11 south-south-west of Rochelle. Aix
[ || Keivmsis, or a Catalogue of the Plants cultivated in the Long. 1. 4. W. Lat. 46. 5. N. * ||
i Ai> Royal Botanical Garden at Kew, in 3 vols. 8vo, with 13 Aix, a river of France, in the department of the Lower Atensi(le.
^"plates; a work which had been the labour of many years. Loire, which joins the Ysable, and falls into the Loire
The number of species contained in this work amounted AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (or in German Aachen)’ a
to between five and six thousand, many of which had not circle in the government of Coblentz, in the Prussian pro-
before been described. ^ A new and curious article in it vince of the Lower Rhine. Its extent is 1452 square miles
relates to the first introduction of particular exotics into and it comprehends 21 cities, 14 market towns, 781 villa<>•es,
the English gardens. The system of arrangement adopted and 627 hamlets. The inhabitants amount to 310,620, of
is the Linnsean, with improvements, which the advanced whom 299,800 adhere to the Catholic religion, and the
state of botanical science required. Mr Aiton, with can- remainder, except 1500 Jews, are Lutherans. ?
dour and modesty, acknowledges the assistance he receiv- The chief city, of the same name, is very ancient, and
ed in this work from the two eminent Swedish natural- was formerly populous; but the present inhabitants amount
ists, Dr Solander and Mr Jonas Dryander. Indeed, his only to 34,400 persons. It was the seat of the govern-
character was such as secured him the friendship and ment of Charlemagne, and continued to be the place for
good offices of the most distinguished names in science of the coronation of the emperors of Germany till 1531.
his time. He was for many years peculiarly honoured by It is finely situated in a most fertile soil, and the envi-
the notice of Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal rons are pleasing; but the city itself bears all the marks
Society. The Hortus Kewensis was received with avidity of decline. The chief objects of attention are the ca-
by the botanic world, and a large impression was soon thedral, with its brazen gates brought back from Paris,
disposed of. _ _ _ _ and a number of relics, which are highly venerated by
Notwithstanding the singular activity and temperance Catholics; the town-house, built by Charlemagne, which
of Mr Aiton, he fell into that incurable malady, a schir- is still in good preservation ; and the baths, whose cura-
rous liver, of which he died in 1793, in his 62d year. His tive properties attract to them numerous visitors in the
eldest son, devoted to the same pursuits, was, by the autumn of each year. Every seven years, from the 11th
Kings own nomination, appointed to all his fathers em- to the 25th of July7', the holy relics are exhibited; and
ployments. Mr Aiton’s private character was highly es- this has commonly drawn to the city more than 50,000
timable for mildness, benevolence, piety, and every domes- votaries.
tic and social virtue. He was interred in the church-yard Of late years manufactories have been introduced,
of Kew, amidst a most respectable concourse of friends. which afford employment to a great number of workmen.
AIDS Locutius, the name of a deity to whom the The products are, linen and woollen goods, needles, pins,
Romans erected an altan The words are Latin, and sig- leather, snuff, Prussian blue, brass, soap, thimbles, and
mfy “ a speaking voice.” The following accident gave various small articles.
occasion to the Romans erecting an altar to Aius Locu- This place is remarkable as the theatre of diplomatic
tins. One M. Seditius, a plebeian, acquainted the tri- affairs, and for the treaties of 1668, 1748, and 1818.
bunes that, in walking the streets by night, he had heard Long. 6. 3. E. Lat. 50. 15. N.
a voice ovei the temple of Vesta, giving the Romans AIXETTE, a river in the department of Upper Vienne,
notice that the Gauls were coming against them. The in France, which empties itself into the Vienne,
intimation was, however, neglected; but after the truth AKENSIDE, Mark, a physician, who published in
was confirmed by the event, Camillus acknowledged this Latin a Treatise upon the Dysentery, in 1764, and a
voice to be a new deity, and erected an altar to it under few pieces in the first volume of the Medical Transac-
t ic iiame of Aius Loaitius. . tions of the College of Physicians, printed in 1768; but
"y 01 J^r>JUTAGE) a kind of tube fitted to the far better known, and to be distinguished chiefly hereafter,
niouth of the vessel through which the water of a fountain as a poet. He was born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, November
is to e played. Io the different form and structure of 9. 1721; and after being educated at the grammar-school
ajutages is owing the great variety of fountains. in Newcastle, was sent to the universities of Edinburgh
AIX, an ancient city of France, the chief place of the and Leyden, at which last he took his degree of doctor in
airondissement of the same name, in the department of physic. He was afterwards admitted by Mandamus to the
ie 1 louths of the Rhone. It was, before the revolution, same degree at Cambridge ; elected a fellow of the college
1 ^ 1 r‘chly endowed ecclesiastical establishments, of physicians, and one of the physicians at St Thomas’s
"nei have been secularized. It stands on a plain sur- Hospital; and, upon the establishment of the queen’s
rounded by hills, which produce abundance of most ex- household, appointed one of the physicians to her Majesty,
ce ent olives, which, with wine and fruits, form the most That Dr Akenside was able to acquire no other kind of
important branches of agricultural industry. There are celebrity than that of a scholar and a poet, is to be ac-
manu actories of various rich silk goods, of some linen, counted for by the following particulars in his life and
i11 ^. ware. 1 he ancient springs, known to the Romans, conduct, related by Sir John Hawkins. Mr Dyson and he
‘sused till again discovered in 1704, are slightly were fellow-students, the one of law and the other of
. riieir efficacy is not now highly valued. The physic, at Leyden, where, being of congenial tempers, a
hrN n'0n ,am?unts .to 21,960 persons. This city is cele- friendship commenced between them that lasted through
a u or having given birth to two famous naturalists, their lives. They left the university at the same time,
Tfi8011 an^ *1 ournefort, and to the painter Vanloo. and both settled at London. Mr Dyson took to the bar,
864 G arron^jssement the same name comprehends and being possessed of a handsome fortune, supported his
ja S(luare miles, or about 552,960 acres, and contains friend while he was endeavouring to make himself known
can ons, 59 communes, and 92,314 inhabitants. as a physician ; but in a short time, having purchased of
^ n X’,.a.tovrn M the continental dominions of the king Mr Flardinge his place of clerk of the house of commons,
Chamb*111^ 10 ^!e.^ucky of Savoy, about 12 miles from he quitted Westminster-hall, and, for the purpose of in-
a . er^’ containing 2038 inhabitants. troducing Akenside to acquaintance in an opulent neigh-
;s]e 3 ^,sma“ ‘riand on the coast of France, between the bourhood near the town, bought a house at North-End,
vol er°n Coorinent. It is 12 miles north- Hampstead, where they dwelt together during the summer
370
Akenside.
A K E
A K I
season, frequenting the long-room, and all clubs and as¬
semblies of the inhabitants.
At these meetings, which, as they were not select,
must be supposed to have consisted of such persons as
usually meet for the purpose of gossiping, men of wealth,
but of ordinary endowments, and able to talk of little else
than news and the occurrences of the day, Akenside was
for displaying those talents which had acquired him the
reputation he enjoyed in other companies; but here they
were of little use to him; on the contrary, they tended to
engage him in disputes that betrayed him into a contempt
of those who differed in opinion from him. It was found
out that he was a man of low birth, and a dependent on Mr
Dyson; circumstances that furnished those whom he offend¬
ed with a ground of reproach, which reduced him to the
necessity of asserting in terms that he was a gentleman.
Little could be done at Hampstead after matters had
proceeded to this extremity. Mr Dyson parted with his
villa at North-End, and settled his friend in a small house
in Bloomsbury-square, assigning for his support such a
part of his income as enabled him to keep a chariot. In
this new situation Akenside used every endeavour to be¬
come popular, but defeated them all by the high opinion
he everywhere manifested of himself, and the little con¬
descension he showed to men of inferior endowments ; by
his love of political controversy, his authoritative censure
of the public councils, and his peculiar notions respecting
government. In the winter evenings he frequented Tom’s
coffee-house in Devereux-court, then the resort of some
of the most eminent men for learning and ingenuity of the
time, with some of whom he was involved in disputes and
altercations, chiefly on subjects of literature and politics,
which fixed on his character the stamp of haughtiness and
self-conceit. Hence many, who admired him for his genius
and parts, were shy of his acquaintance. ,
The value of that precept which exhorts us to live
peaceably with all men, or, in other words, to avoid creat¬
ing enemies, can only be estimated by the reflection on
those many amiable qualities against which the neglect of
it will preponderate. Akenside was a man of religion and
strict virtue; a philosopher, a scholar, and a fine poet.
His conversation was of the most delightful kind; learned,
instructive, and, without any affectation of wit, cheerful
and entertaining.
Dr Akenside died of a putrid fever, June 23.1770; and
is buried in the parish-church of St James’s, Westminster.
His poems, published soon after his death in 4to and
8vo, consist of the Pleasures of Imagination, two books of
Odes, a Hymn to the Naiads, and some Inscriptions. The
Pleasures oflmagination, his capital work, was first pub¬
lished in 1744; and a very extraordinary production it
was, from a man who had not reached his 23d year. He
was afterwards sensible, however, that it wanted revision
and correction ; and he went on revising and correcting it
for several years; but finding this task to grow upon his
hands, and despairing of ever executing it to his own satis¬
faction, he abandoned the purpose of correcting, and re¬
solved to write the poem over anew upon a somewhat dif¬
ferent and enlarged plan. He finished two books of his
new poem, a few copies of which were printed for the use
of the author and certain friends; of the first book in 1 /,
of the second in 1765. He finished also a good part of a
third book, and an introduction to a fourth; but his most
munificent and excellent friend, conceiving all that is exe¬
cuted of the new work too inconsiderable to supply the
place and supersede the republication of the original
poem, and yet too valuable to be withheld from the public,
has caused them both to be inserted in the collection of
his poems.
rtnai
issai
AKERMAN, a circle in the Russian province of Bess- l
arabia, extending along the banks of the Black Sea, where
the Dneish forms an estuary. It is nearly destitute of
population, except the capital, of the same name, which ^
is built on a tongue of land projecting into the estu¬
ary. It is the ancient Roman colony of Alba Julia. It
is surrounded with strong walls and ditches, contains a
Greek and a beautiful Arminian church, several-mosques,
and a synagogue for Jews. The population, of various na¬
tions, religions, and languages, amounts to about 15,000.
It is a place, from its position, of considerable trade. It
is in long. 30. 10. 15. E. and lat. 46. 11. 45. N.
AKHMETSCHET, or Simferopol,one ofthe six circles
into which the Russian government or province of Taurien
is divided. It is the richest and most fruitful part ofthe
peninsula, extending from long. 32. 31. to 33. 46. E. and
from lat. 44. 30. to 45. 9. N. About two-thirds of the dis¬
trict is hilly, and gives rise to the rivers Katscha, Belbak,
and Alma, as well as many smaller streams, by whose water
fertility is dispersed in the valleys and plains. The circle
is estimated to contain about 50,000 inhabitants.
Akhmetschet, a city, the capital of the circle of the
same name, in the province of Taurien. It is composed of
two parts; the old town, a mere heap of Tartar booths ;and
the new, built on a regular plan, since the extinction of the
former government, with a few good public edifices. It
contains three mosques, a Russian, Arminian, and Greek
church, with 900 houses, and, according to Usewoloske,
20,000 inhabitants, of various nations and religions. A re
giment of Russians is constantly in garrison in the city,
It is in long. 34.1.
which is only moderately fortified,
and lat. 44. 59. N.
AKHTIAR, or Sevastopol, a city in the Russian go¬
vernment of Taurien, in the circle Akhmetschet. It lies in a
bay, the best harbour of the Taurida, where the Russians
have formed an arsenal for the construction and equipment
of a navy. The bay is sufficiently extensive to admit of a
large fleet, and the depth of water is from 10 to 12 fathoms.
There are neither shoals, rocks, nor sand-banks, and vessels
are secure from all winds. The inhabitants, exclusive of
the garrison, amount to 1500. It is considered rather an
unhealthful situation, and the water is not good. It is in
long. 33. 27. 40. E. and lat. 44. 41. 30. N.
AKIBA, a famous rabbin, flourished a little after the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. He kept the flocks
of a rich citizen of Jerusalem till the 40th year of his age,
and then devoted himself to study in the academies for
twenty-four years; and was afterwards one of the greatest
masters in Israel. According to the Jewush accounts, he
had 24,000 scholars. He declared for the impostor Bar-
cochebas, whom he owned for the Messiah; and not only
anointed him king, but took upon himself the office of Ins
master of the horse. The troops which the emperor Had¬
rian sent against the Jews, who under the conduct of this
false Messiah had committed horrid massacres, extermi¬
nated this faction, ^ikiba was taken, and put to death with
great cruelty. He lived 120 years, and was buried with his
wife in a cave upon a mountain not far from Tiberias, an
his 24,000 scholars were buried round about him upon the
same mountain. It is imagined he invented a suppositi¬
tious work under the name of the patriarch Abraham.
AKISSAR, the ancient Thyatira, a city of Natolia, m
Asia, situated in a plain 18 miles broad, which produces
plenty of cotton and grain. The inhabitants, who are rec¬
koned to be about 5000, are said to be all Mahometans.
The houses are built of nothing but earth or turf dried m
the sun, and are very low and ill contrived; but there are
six or seven mosques, which are all of marble. There are
remarkable inscriptions on marble in several parts of tie
ALA
town, which are part of the ruins of the ancient Thyatira.
A i] It is seated on the river Hermus, 50 miles from Pergamos.
AlabiA Long. 28. 30. E. Lat. 38. 50. N.
AKOND, an officer of justice in Persia, who takes cog¬
nizance of the causes of orphans and widows, of contracts,
and other civil concerns. He is the head of the school of
law, and gives lectures to all the subaltern officers. He
has his deputies in all the courts of the kingdom, who, with
the second sadra, make all contracts.
AL, an Arabic particle prefixed to words, and signify¬
ing much the same with the English particle the. Thus they
say, alkermes, alkoran, &c. i. e. the kermes, the koran, &c.
Ax, or Ald, a Saxon term, frequently prefixed to the
names of places, denoting their antiquity ; as, Aldborough,
Aldgate, &c.
ALA, a Latin term, properly signifying a wing; from a
resemblance to which several other things are called by
the same name. Thus,
Ala is a term used by botanists for the hollow of a
stalk, which either the leaf or the pedicle of the leaf
makes with it; or it is that hollow turning, or sinus, placed
between the stalk or branch of a plant and the leaf, whence
a new offspring usually issues. Sometimes it is used for
those parts of leaves otherwise called lobes or wings.
ALiE, the plural number, is used to signify those petals
or leaves of papilionaceous flowers placed between those
others which are called the vexillum and carina, and which
make the top and bottom of the flowers. Instances of
flowers of this structure are seen in those of peas and
beans, in which the top leaf or petal is the vexillum, the
bottom the carina, and the side ones the alae.
Ala; is also used for those extremely slender and mem¬
branaceous parts of some seeds which appear as wings
placed on them. It likewise signifies those membranaceous
expansions running along the stems of some plants, which
are therefore called alated stalks.
Ala, in Anatomy, a term applied to the lobes of the
liver, the cartilages of the nostrils, &c.
Ala, in the Roman Art of War, were the two wings
or extreme parts of the army drawn up in order of battle.
At A BA, one of the three smallest districts of Biscay,
in Spain, but pretty fertile in rye, barley, and fruits.
There are in it very good mines of iron, and it had for¬
merly the title of a kingdom.
ALABAMA, a state and constituent member of the
North American republic. It is bounded by Florida and
the Gdlf of Mexico on the south, the state of Mississippi
on the west, Tennessee on the north, and Georgia on the
east. Its length is 275 miles, breadth 185, and area
50,800 square miles. The country, to the extent of more
than 100 miles from the coast, consists of uneven lands,
of a poor sandy soil, bearing little except pines, but inter¬
spersed with marshes and alluvial tracts on the sides of
the streams, which are extremely fertile. Higher up, the
country becomes fertile and beautiful, and it bears that as¬
pect as far as the mountains occupying the northern part of
the state. These mountains are about 50 miles in breadth,
mid are supposed to exceed 1500 feet in height, but have
peaks rising much higher. They are covered with a stony
son, but on their southern side are many rich and beauti-
u Vaileys, clothed with forests 'of oak, hickery, walnut,
gum, and maple. Under the surface are mines of iron-
ore. Ihe climate is very hot in the parts below the lati-
tude of 32^, but comparatively temperate in the upper
districts. At Fort Stodart, in latitude 31. the mean heat
oy day was 84° or 86° in July, and from 43° to 79° in
ebfuary. The principal river in the state is the Alabama,
w uch is formed of two branches, the Tombeckbee, and
1 e Proper Alabama. The former rises in the state of
A JL A 371
Mississippi, and after being joined by several streams, Alabarcha
joins the Alabama at Fort Stodart. The Coosa and Tala- II
poosa rivers united, compose the proper Alabama, which, Alabaster,
after being joined by the Tombeckbee, falls into the Gulf"^^^*
of Mobile at the latitude of 30A. All these rivers are
navigable to a great distance from the sea. Steam-boats
ply on the Alabama as far up as Montgomery, which is
nearly 400 miles by water from Mobile Bay, but only 150
by land. The great employment of the people is agricul¬
ture. The soil yields wheat, maize, rye, barley, oats, and
rice, and sugar-canes; but the principal object of culture
is cotton, of which the state exports large quantities. The
imports in 1824 amounted to 91,000 dollars, and the ex¬
ports to 460,000. The number of inhabitants in 1820 was
127,901, of whom 41,859 were slavesj and 571 free blacks.
In January 1828 it was estimated at 254,000, including
93,000 slaves. This is exclusive of the Creek Indians,
who were estimated at 20,000 in 1818. A great portion
of the population consists of emigrants from Georgia.
Cahawba, a small place, is the seat of government; but the
only considerable town in the state is Mobile, which is
situated on the west side of the bay of the same name,
30 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and, in 1826, contained
5000 inhabitants. In 1816 some exiles from France re¬
ceived a grant of lands on the banks of the Tombeckbee,
in this state, with the view of introducing the culture of
the vine; but the project did not succeed, and the new
settlement, named Demopolis, was abandoned in a few
years. Alabama has very few made roads, and no canals,
but by means of its numerous rivers it enjoys a great ex¬
tent of inland navigation ; and Mobile, the great centre of
its trade, now communicates by steam-boats with all the
considerable places on the Tombeckbee and Alabama
rivers, and by sea with New Orleans. Alabama was ad¬
mitted to the rank of a state and member of the American
union in 1819. Its government is vested in a house of
representatives elected annually, a senate elected triennial-
ly and renewed by thirds, and a governor elected for two
years. The right of suffrage belongs to every white
citizen of full age. The judges in this state hold their
offices during good behaviour. Owing to the thinness of
the population, education is yet in a backward state; but
as a fund for its promotion, 640 acres of land are set apart
in each township. In 1827 the public revenue amounted
to 67,000 dollars, and the expenditure to 82,000. The
country is healthful, except in the neighbourhood of wet
grounds; and, upon the whole, Alabama possesses advan¬
tages over some of the other southern states, and is one of
the most prosperous and rapidly progressive in that part
of the union. (p.)
ALABARCHA, in Antiquity, a kind of magistrate
among the Jews of Alexandria, whom the emperor allow¬
ed them to elect, for the superintendency of their policy,
and to decide differences and disputes which arose among
them.
ALABASTER, William, an English divine, was born
at Hadley, in the county of Suffolk. He was one of the
doctors of Trinity College in Cambridge; and he attended
the earl of Essex as his chaplain in the expedition to Cadiz
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is said that his first
resolutions of changing his religion were occasioned by his
seeing the pomp of the churches of the Roman com¬
munion, and the respect with which the priests seemed to
be treated amongst them; and appearing thus to waver
in his mind, he soon found persons who took advantage of
this disposition of his, and of the complaints which he
made of not being advanced according to his deserts in
England, in such a manner, that he did not scruple to go
over to the Popish religion, as soon as he found that there
372 ALA ALA
Alabaster was no ground to hope for greater encouragement in his
jl own country. However that matter be, he joined himself
Ihssara" t0 ^ie ^orn^1 communion; but was disappointed in his
expectations. He was soon displeased at this; and he
could not reconcile himself to the discipline of that church,
which made no consideration of the degrees which he
had taken before. It is probable, too, that he could not
approve of the worship of creatures, which Protestants
are used to look upon with horror. Upon this he returned
to England in order to resume his former religion. Pie
obtained a prebend in the cathedral of St Paul, and after
that the rectory of Therfield in Hertfordshire. He was
well skilled in the Hebrew tongue; but he gave a wrong
turn to his genius by studying the Cabala, with which he
was strangely infatuated. He gave a proof of this in a
sermon which he preached upon taking his degree of doc¬
tor of divinity at Cambridge. He took for his text the
beginning of the first book of Chronicles, “ Adam, Seth,
Enos and having touched upon the literal sense, he turn¬
ed immediately to the mystical, asserting, that Adam sig¬
nified misfortune and misery, and so of the rest. His
verses were greatly esteemed. He wrote a Latin tragedy,
entitled Roxana, which, when it was acted in a college
at Cambridge, was attended with a very remarkable acci¬
dent. There was a lady who was so terrified at the last
word of the tragedy, Sequar, Sequar, which was pronoun¬
ced with a very shocking tone, that she lost her senses all
her lifetime after. He died in the year 1640. His Ap¬
paratus in Revelationem Jesu Christi was printed at Ant¬
werp in 1607. His Spiracuhtm Tubarum, seuFons Spiritua-
Imm Expositionum ex cequivocis Pentaglotti significationi-
bus, and his Ecce Sponsm venit, seu Tuba Pulchritudinis,
hoc est, Demonstratio quod non sit illicituin nec impossibile
computare durationem fnundi et tempus secundi adventus
Christi, were printed at London. From these titles we
may judge what were the taste and genius of the author.
Alabaster, in Natural History, a mineral substance
whose base is calcareous earth. It differs from marble in
being combined, not with the carbonic, but with the sul¬
phuric acid.
Alabaster, m. Antiquity, a term used for a vase where¬
in odoriferous liquors were anciently put. The reason of
the denomination is, that vessels for this purpose were
frequently made of the alabaster stone, which Pliny and
other ancients represent as peculiarly proper for this pur¬
pose. Several critics will have the box mentioned in the
Gospels as made of alabaster to have been of glass; and
though the texts say that the wnman broke it, yet the
pieces seem miraculously to have been united, since we
are told the entire box was purchased by the emperor Con¬
stantine, and preserved as a relic of great price. Others
will have it that the name alabaster denotes the form
rather than the matter of this box: in this view they de¬
fine alabaster by a box without a handle, deriving the word
from the privative a, and Xa/3?j, ansa, handle.
Alabaster is also said to have been used for an an¬
cient liquid measure, containing ten ounces of wine, or nine
of oil. In this sense the alabaster was equal to half the
sextary.
ALABASTRUM Dendroide, a kind of laminated ala¬
baster, beautifully variegated with the figures of shrubs,
trees, &c. found in great abundance in the province of
Hohenstein.
ALADINISTS, a sect among the Mahometans, answer¬
ing to freethinkers among us.
ALADSCHAHISSAR, a Turkish pachalic (Sand-
Sehah), part of the ancient Bulgaria, a mountainous dis¬
trict, in which the river Moravia rises in two branches,
and runs into the Danube. It extends from long. 21. 45.
to 22. 30. E. and from lat. 42.30. to 43.30. N. Thegreatroad }■ ju
from Belgrade passes through the northern part of the pro- '
vince. It is productive of wine, feeds much cattle, and A1n?ai
has some rivers near Camplina. The capital, of the same^ ^
name, sometimes called Kruschevarz, is the seat of a
Greek bishop, and has a castle; once the residence of the
predatory chief Von Serf, and conquered from him by the
Sultan Murad the Second. It is near the east bank of the
river Moravia.
ALADULIA, a considerable province of Turkey in
Asia, in that part called Natolia, between the mountains
of Antitaurus, which separate it from Amasia on the
north, and from Caramania on the west. It has the Me¬
diterranean Sea on the south ; and the Euphrates or Frat
on the east, which divides it from Diarbekir. It compre¬
hends the Lesser Armenia of the ancients, and the east
part of Cilicia. Formerly it had kings of its own; but the
head of the last king was cut olf by Selim I. emperor of
the Turks, who had conquered the country. It is now di¬
vided into two parts: the north, comprehended between
Taurus, Antitaurus, and the Euphrates, is a beglerbeglic,
which bears the name of Marash, the capital town; and
the south, seated between Mount Taurus and the Medi¬
terranean, is united to the beglerbeglic of Aleppo. The
country is rough, rugged, and mountainous ; yet there are
good pastures, and plenty of horses and camels. The peo¬
ple are hardy and thievish. The capital is Malatigah.
ALAIN, Chartier, secretary to Charles VII. king of
France, born in the year 1386. He was the author of
several works in prose and verse; but his most famous
performance was his Chronicle of King Charles VII. Ber¬
nard de Girard, in his preface to the History of France,
styles him “ an excellent historian, who has given an ac¬
count of all the affairs, particulars, ceremonies, speeches,
answers, and circumstances, at which he was present him¬
self, or had information of.” Giles Coroxet tells us that
Margaret, daughter to the king of Scotland, and wife to
the dauphin, passing once through a hall where Alain lay
asleep, she stopped and kissed him before all the company
who attended. Some of them telling her, that itwas strange
she should kiss a man wrho had so few charms in his per¬
son, she replied, “ I did not kiss the man, but the mouth
from whence proceed so many excellent sayings, so
many wise discourses, and so many elegant expressions.
Mr Fontenelle, among his Dialogues of the Dead, has one
upon this incident, between the princess Margaret and
Plato. Mr Pasquier compares Alain to Seneca, on account
of the great number of beautiful sentences interspersed
throughout his writings.
ALAJOR, a Spanish town, in the island of Minorca,
and the province of Majorca, the chief town of a district
containing 3950 inhabitants.
ALAIS, an arrondissement in the department of the
Gard, in France, extending over 480 square miles, or
307,200 acres. It is divided into nine cantons, and
ninety-nine communes, and contains 68,223 inhabitants.
Alais, a city, and chief of the arrondissement of the
same name. It is situated on the river Gardon, at the
foot of the Cavennes. It contains 9380 inhabitants, who
are employed in manufacturing ribbons, sewing-silk, silk-
hosiery, cotton-goods, glass, porcelain, and other articles.
Long. 3. 29. 40. E. Lat. 44. 7. N.
ALAMAGAN, one of the Ladrone or Marianne islands,
in the Indian Ocean, is situated in long. 146. 4/.
lat. 18. 5. N. It is of an irregular form, and about ~
miles in circumference. The land in some places of t as
island is pretty high, so that it may be seen at the
tance of 12 or 14 leagues. Near the north end or ie
island there is a volcano, which emitted an immense bo )
ALA
i m <lu9of smoke in the year 1799, when it was visited by Captain
A 2 ' Bass. The volcano is in a mountain close to the sea, rising
Ala above its level 1200 or 1500 feet. The high parts of the
^ ^island are rugged and sterile. In the lower parts there is
a profusion and luxuriance of vegetation. They abound
with cocoa-nut trees, several kinds of stone-fruit, and the
mellora or bread-tree of the Nicobar islands. Some small
sugar-canes, some banana trees, and one bread-fruit tree,
were discovered. Lizards, land-crabs, large partridges,
quails, pigeons, owls, thrushes, and bullfinches, are nume¬
rous. But no fresh water, which was the object of Captain
Bass’s visit, could be found.
ALAMANDUS, Lewis, in French Aleman^ archbishop
of Arles, and cardinal of St Cecilia, was one of the great¬
est men of the 15th century. The cardinal presided in
the council of Basil, which deposed Eugentus IV. and
elected the antipope Felix V. He is much commended
by iEneas Sylvius, as a man extremely well formed for
presiding in such assemblies,—firm and vigorous, illus¬
trious by his virtue, learned, and of an admirable memory
in recapitulating all that the orators and disputants had
said. At the request of the canons and Celestine monks
of Avignon, and the solicitation of the cardinal of Cler¬
mont, legate a latere of Clement VIL, he was beatified by
the pope in the year 1527.
ALAMANNI, Lewis, was born at Florence, of a noble
family, on the 28th of October 1495. He was obliged to
fly his country for a conspiracy against Julius de’ Medici,
who was soon after chosen pope under the name of Cle¬
ment VII. During this voluntary banishment he went into
France, where Francis I., from a love to his genius and
merit, became his patron. This prince employed him in
several important affairs, and honoured him with the
collar of the order of St Michael. After the death of
Francis, Henry, duke of Orleans, who succeeded him in
1537, showed no less favour to Alamanni, and in the
year 1551 sent him as his ambassador to Genoa. This
was his last journey to Italy; and being returned to
France, he died at Amboise on the 18th of April 1556,
being in the 61st year of his age. He left many beautiful
poems, and other valuable performances, in the Italian
language. We have also some notes of his upon Homer’s
Iliad and Odyssey : those upon the Iliad were printed in
the Cambridge edition of Homer in 1689, and Joshua
Barnes has also inserted them in his fine edition of Homer
in 1711.
ALAMODALITY, in a general sense, is the accom¬
modating of a person’s behaviour, dress, and actions, to the
prevailing taste of the country or times in which he lives.
. Alamodality of writing is defined, the accommoda¬
tion of mental productions, both as to the choice of subject
and the manner of treating it, to the genius or taste of
the times, in order to render them more acceptable to the
reader.
ALAMODE, a phrase originally French, importing a
tiung to be in the fashion or mode. The phrase has been
adopted not only into several of the living languages, as the
hnglish and High Dutch, but some have even taken it
mto the Latin. Hence we meet with Alamodicus and
Alamodalitas.
Alamode, in Commerce, a thin, glossy, black silk, chief-
^ at ^°r woniens h00ds and men’s mourning scarfs.
ALAMOS, Balthasar, a Spanish writer, born atMe-
ina del Campo, in Castile. After having studied the law
p Salamanca, he entered into the service of Anthony
t erez, secretary of state under Philip II. He was in
1]g i esteem and confidence with his master, upon which
account he was imprisoned after the disgrace of this
minister. Fie was kept in confinement 11 years, when
ala 373
Philip III. coming to the throne, set him at liberty, ac- Alan
cording to the orders given by his father in his will. Ala- II
mos continued in a private capacity till the duke of Oli- Alar-
varez, the favourite of Philip IV., called him to public em-'v^v^y
ployrrients. He was a man of wit as well as judgment, but
his pen was superior to his tongue. He died in the 88th
year of his age. His Spanish translation of Tacitus, and
the aphorisms which he added in the margin, gained him
great reputation. This work was published at Madrid in
1614, and was to have been followed, as mentioned in
the king’s privilege, with a commentary, which, however,
has never yet appeared. The author composed the whole
during his imprisonment.
ALAN, Cardinal William, was born at Rossal, in
Lancashire, in the year 1532. He went to Oxford at the
age of 15, and in 1550 was elected fellow of Oriel College.
In 1556, being then only 24 years old, he was chosen
principal of St Mary’s Hall, and one of the proctors of the
university. In 1558 he was made canon of York; but,
upon Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, he left
England, and settled at Louvaine, in an English college, of
which he became the chief support. In 1565 he visited
his native country; but on account of his extreme activity
in the propagation of the Homan Catholic religion, he was
obliged to fly the kingdom in 1568. He went first to
Mechlin, and then to Douay, where he was made doctor
of divinity. Soon after he was appointed canon of Cam-
bray, and then canon of Rheims. He was created car¬
dinal on the 28th of July 1587, by the title of St Mar¬
tin in Montibus, and obtained from the king of Spain a
rich abbey in the kingdom of Naples, and afterwards the
bishopric of Mechlin. It is supposed to have been by
the advice and instigation of this priest that Philip II.
attempted to invade England. Lie died on the 20th of
October 1594, aged 63, and was buried in the English
college at Rome. He was a man of considerable learning,
and an elegant writer. He wrote many books in defence
of the Romish religion. The most remarkable are, 1. A
Defence of the Twelve Martyrs in one .Year. Tho. Alfield
was hanged for bringing into England and publishing this
and others of Alan’s works, in the year 1584. 2. A De¬
claration of the Sentence of Sextus V. &c. ; a work intended
to explain the pope’s bull for the excommunication of
Queen Elizabeth, and to exhort the people of England to
take up arms in favour of the Spaniards. Many thousand
copies of this book, printed at Antwerp, were put on board
the Armada; but the enterprise failing, they were after¬
wards destroyed. 3. Of the Worship due to Saints and
their Relics, 1583. This treatise was answered by Lord
Burleigh, and is esteemed the most elegant of the cardi¬
nal’s writings.
ALAND, a barony comprehending the island of that
name, and the several other islands around it, at the point
where the Baltic Sea divides into the Gulf of Bothnia and
of Finland. The group consists of more than 80 inhabited
and 200 uninhabited islands. Although the principal
island is nearer to Sweden than to Finland, the whole were
included with the cession of the latter country to Russia.
The inhabitants are 13,340, without a city, and scarcely
any place deserving the description of a town.
Aland, the chief island of a group on the border of
Sweden, separated from it by the Straits of Alandshaf.
It is in part covered with wood, but has some arable and
more pasture land. On the hills goats are reared; in the
valleys sheep and cows. The shores are visited by shoals
of fish, the catching and preserving of which forms the
chief employment of the inhabitants. The island is about
40 miles long and 35 broad.
ALAR del Rey, a town of Spain, in the province of
374
ALA
ALA
\
Alaraf Burgos, in Old Castile. It is the commencement of the
I! canal of Castile, on the river Pisuerga, in a cold and barren
Alasco. district. Lat. 42. 51. N.
ALARAF, in the Mahometan Theology, the partition
wall that separates heaven from hell. The word is plural,
and properly written al araf; in the singular it is written
al arf. It is derived from the Arabic verb arafa, to dis¬
tinguish. Alaraf gives the denomination to the seventh
chapter of the Alcoran, wherein mention is made of this
wall. Mahomet seems to have copied his Alaraf either from
the great gulf of separation mentioned in the New Testa¬
ment, or from the Jewish writers, who also speak of a thin
wall dividing heaven from hell. Mahometan writers differ
extremely as to the persons who are to be found on Ala¬
raf. Some take it for a sort of limbus for the patriarchs,
prophets, &c.; others place here such whose good and
evil works so exactly balance each other that they deserve
neither reward nor punishment; others imagine this
intermediate space to be possessed by those who, going
to war without their parents’ leave, and suffering martyr¬
dom there, are excluded paradise for their disobedience,
yet escape hell because they are martyrs.
ALARBES, a name given to those Arabians who live
in tents, and distinguish themselves by their dress from
the others Who live in towns.
ALARES, in Roman Antiquity, an epithet given to the
cavalry on account of their being placed in the two wings
of the army.
ALARIC, a famous general of the Goths. He entered
Thrace at the head of 200,000 men, and laid waste all the
country through which he passed. He marched next to
Macedonia and Thessaly. The Thessalians met him near
the mouth of the river Peneus, and killed about 3000 of
his army; nevertheless he advanced into Greece, and after
having ravaged the whole country, returned to Epirus
loaded with immense spoils. After staying here five
years, he resolved to turn his arms to the west. He
marched through Pannonia, and, finding little resistance,
entered Italy, in the consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus,
a. d. 400. After various battles and treaties, he at last
took Rome by treachery, and permitted his soldiers to
plunder it: this happened a. d. 400. Alaric, having laid
waste a great part of Italy, intended to pass into Sicily;
but a storm obliging him to land again, he besieged the
city of Cosenza; and, having taken it, he died there in 411,
eleven years after he first entered Italy.
ALARM, in the militai-y art, denotes either the appre¬
hension of being suddenly attacked, or the notice thereof
signified by firing a cannon, firelock, or the like. False
alarms are frequently made use of to harass the enemy,
by keeping them constantly under arms. Sometimes also
this method is taken to try the vigilance of the picquet-
guard, and what might be expected from them in case of
real danger.
ALARM-Bell, that rung upon any sudden emergency, as
a fire, mutiny, or the like.
Alarm, in fencing, is the same with what is otherwise
called an appeal or challenge.
ALASC ANI, in Church History, a sect of Anti-Luther¬
ans, whose distinguishing tenet, besides their denying
baptism, is said to have been this, that the words, This is
my body, in the institution of the eucharist, are not to be
understood of the bread, but of the whole action or cele¬
bration of the Supper. They are said to have taken the
name from one Joannes Alasco, a Polish baron, superin¬
tendent of the church of that country in England. See
the next article.
ALASCO, John, a Polish nobleman of the 16th century,
who, imbibing the reformed opinions, was expelled his
SlO
country, and became preacher to a Protestant congrega¬
tion at Embden; but foreseeing persecution there, he
came to England about the year 1551, while the refomia- ^ iti
tionwas carrying on under Edward VI. The publication^^
of the Interim driving the Protestants to such places as
afforded them toleration, 380 were naturalized here, and
obtained a charter of incorporation, by which they were
erected into an ecclesiastical establishment, independent
on the church of England. The Augustine friars church
was granted them, with the revenues, for the maintenance
of Alasco as superintendent, with four assistant ministers,
who were to be approved of by the king; and this congreo-a-
tion lived undisturbed until the accession of Queen Mary,
when they were all sent away. They were kindly receiv-
ed, and permitted to settle at Embden; and Alasco at last,
after an absence of 20 years, by the favour of Sigismund,
returned to his own country, where he died in 1560.
Alasco was much esteemed by Erasmus, and the historians
of his time speak greatly in his praise. We have of his
writing, He Ccena Domini liber ; Epistola continens Sum-
mam controversies de Ccena Domini, fyc. He had some
particular tenets; and his followers are called Alascani in
church history.
ALASSIO, a seaport in the duchy of Genoa, in the
Sardinian kingdom, with 1420 inhabitants, who equip
several vessels annually to the coral fishery on the shores
of the island of Sardinia.
ALASSONA, a town in European Turkey, with 3000
inhabitants. It is in the ancient Thessaly, now in the
pachalic of Tirhala. A great fair is held here.
AL AT AM AH A, a large river of North America, which,
rising in the Apalachian mountains, runs south-east through
the province of Georgia, and falls into the Atlantic Ocean,
below the town of Frederica.
ALAVA, a province in the north of Spain, one of those
three usually denominated Provincias Vascongadas, which
enjoy privileges that distinguish them from the other do¬
minions of the Spanish monarchy, and speak a language
most remote from the Castilian, generally called by the
natives Vascuence, and by other people the Basque. This
province is of a triangular shape, bounded on the north by
Guipuscoa and Biscay, on the east by Navarre, on the
south and south-west by Rioja, from which it is divided
by the river Ebro, and on the west by the northern part
of Old Castile. The square extent of this province is 90|
leagues; and the population, by the census of 1803, amount¬
ed to 67,523 souls, giving a density of inhabitants some¬
what exceeding the general average of Spain.
The surface of the province is very mountainous, and
is abundantly clothed with woods and lofty trees. Its valleys
are fertile. The soil yields more corn than the subsistence
of its inhabitants requires, as well as flax, hemp, some oil,
and a kind of wine called chacoli, which, though it is
drunk when new, will not long retain its qualities. The
mountains abound in iron-ore, and there were once ex¬
tensive manufactories of iron goods, though they have of
late decreased, owing to the privileges of these provinces
exempting them from all taxation, in consequence ot
which their productions are charged with heavy imposts
on their introduction into Castile. There are numerous
weavers of coarse cloths and blankets over the whole
province. Shoes and hats are manufactured; but these
articles, like the iron ware, have experienced a sensible
declension of late years. The capital of the province is
Vittoria, situated on the river Zadora, which empties itsen
into the Ebro. The other rivers are the Ayuda, which
runs into the Zadora; and the Omecillo, which empties
itself into the Ebro.
ALAUTA, a considerable river of Turkey in Europe,
ALB
which, after watering the north-east part of Transylvania
■’ | ant[ part of Wallachia, falls into the Danube almost opposite
Alb,* to Nicopolis.
rs+s ALAY, signifying in the Turkish language “ The
Triumph,” a ceremony which accompanies the assembling
together the forces of that vast empire upon the breaking
out of a war. It consists of the most insipid buffoonery,
and is attended with acts of the most shocking barbarity.
ALAYOR, a town of Spain, in the district of the same
name, the former containing 900, the latter 3960 inhabit¬
ants. It is in the island of Minorca, belonging to the
ggpoiffocrown. i -*v u iqqfl ad of stem orfw
ALB, or Alee, in the Romish Church, a vestment of
white linen hanging down to the feet, and answering to
the surplice of the English clergy. In the ancient church
it was usual with those newly baptized to wear an alb,
or white vestment; and hence the Sunday after Easter
was called dominica in albis, on account of the albs worn
by the baptized on Easter-day.
Alb is also a name of a Turkish coin, otherwise call¬
ed asper.
ALBA, a province in the duchy of Piedmont, in the
continental Sardinian dominions. It is a fine plain of 366
square miles, or 234,240 acres, producing abundant harvests
of corn, wine, fruits, oil, and truffles, besides the best silk.
The cattle are not numerous. There are no mines, but
quarries of marble, slate, and rock-salt. The inhabitants
amount to 94,965, living in 2 cities and 75 towns and
villages. There is* scarcely any demand for labour, but
that which the agriculture requires.
Alba, a city of Italy, capital of the province of the
same name, in Piedmont. It is situated on the river Tanaro,
between Asti and Chevasco; is the seat of a bishop, and
contains, besides the cathedral, six churches and seven re¬
ligious establishments for the two sexes of ecclesiastics.
The population is 6990 persons. Long. 8. 3. E. Lat.
44. 36. N.
Alba Firma, or Album, in our old -customs, denoted
rent paid in silver, and not in corn, which was called black
mail.
Alba Terra, one of the numerous names for the philo¬
sopher’s stone. q ux)
Alba Longa, in Ancient Geography, a colony from La-
vinium, in Latium, 15 miles south-east from Rome, esta¬
blished by Ascanius, the son of iEneas, at the foot of the
Mons Albanus. It was called Alba, from a white sow
found by /Eneas, which farrowed 30 white pigs on that
spot; which circumstance was interpreted to portend the
building of a city there in 30 years after (Propertius).
I he epithet Longa was added on account of its length.
It was the royal residence till the building of Rome, as
was foretold by Anchises (Virgil) ; was destroyed by Tul-
lus Hostilius, all but the fane or temple ; and the inhabit¬
ants were transplanted to Rome (Strabo).
ALBACETE, a Spanish town in the province of Murcia.
It has 1 parish church, 5 monasteries, 1 hospital, and 5200
inhabitants. There are looms for weaving cloth, 28 ma¬
nufactories of cutlery, a famous fair held in September,
and excellent wine here. Long. 2. 2. W. Lat. 38. 51. N.
ALBAHURIM, Jigura sexdecim laterum, a figure of
jt^at importance, according to astrological physicians, who
built their prognostics on it.
ALB AID A, a Spanish town in the province of Valencia,
containing 3200 inhabitants. There are linen manufacto-
rios, bleaching, and soap-boiling carried on here.
ALBAN, a town of 3070 inhabitants, in the arrondisse-
ment of Alby, and department of Herault, in France, near
to which is a rich iron-mine.
ALBAN, St, is said to have been the first person who
ALB
375
suffered martyrdom for Christianity in Britain; he is Albanenses
therefore usually styled the protomartyr of this island. il
He was born at Verulam, and flourished towards the end Albani.
of the third century. In his youth he took a journey to
Rome, in company with Amphibalus, a monk of Caerleon,
and served seven years as a soldier under the emperor
Dioclesian. At his return home he settled at Verulam,
and, through the example and instructions of Amphibalqs^
renounced the errors of Paganism, in which he had been
educated, and became a convert to the Christian religion.
It is generally agreed that Alban suffered martyrdom
during the great persecution under the reign of Dioclesian;
but authors differ as to the year when it happened. Bede
and others fix it in 286; some refer it to the year 296;
but Usher reckons it amongst the events of 303. The
story and circumstances relating to his martyrdom, ac¬
cording to Bede, are as follows:—Being yet a Pagan (or
at least it not being known that he was a Christian), he
entertained Amphibalus in his house. The Roman go¬
vernor being informed thereof, sent a party of soldiers to
apprehend Amphibalus ; but Alban, putting on the habit
of his guest, presented himself in his stead, and was car¬
ried before that magistrate. The governor having asked
him of what family he was, Alban replied, “ To what
purpose do you inquire of my family ? if you would know
my religion, I am a Christian.” Then being asked his
name, he answered, “ My name is Alban, and I worship
the only true and living God, who created all things.”
The magistrate replied, “ If you would enjoy the happi¬
ness of eternal life, delay not to sacrifice to the great
gods.” Alban answered, “ The sacrifices you offer are
made to devils; neither can they help the needy, nor grant
the petitions of their votaries.” His behaviour so enraged
the governor, that he ordered him immediately to be be¬
headed. In his way to execution he was stopped by a
river, over which was a bridge so thronged with specta¬
tors that it was impossible to cross it. The saint, as we
are told, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and the stream was
miraculously divided, and afforded a passage for himself
and a thousand more persons. Bede does not indeed
give us the name of this river; but, notwithstanding this
omission, the miracle, we suppose, will not be the less be¬
lieved. This wonderful event converted the executioner
upon the spot, who threw away his drawn sword, and,
falling at St Alban’s feet, desired he might have the
honour to die with him. This sudden conversion of the
headsman occasioning a delay in the execution till another
person could be got to perform the office, St Alban walk¬
ed up to a neighbouring hill, where he prayed for water
to quench his thirst, and a fountain of water sprung up
under his feet: here he was beheaded on the 23d of
June. The executioner is said to have been a signal ex¬
ample of divine vengeance; for as soon as he gave the
fatal stroke, his eyes dropped out of his head. We may see
the opinion of Milton in regard to this narrative, in his
History of England. His words are these, speaking of
St Alban : “ The story of whose martyrdom, soiled and
worse martyred with the fabling zeal of some idle fancies,
more fond of miracles than apprehensive of the truth,
deserves no longer digression.” Between 400 and 500
years after St Alban’s death, Offa, king of the Mercians,
built a large and stately monastery to his memory; and
the town of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, takes its name
from our protomartyr.
ALBANENSES, in Church History, the same with
Albigenses. See Albigenses.
ALBANI, in Roman Antiquity, a college of the Salii,
or priests of Mars; so called from Mount Albanus, the
place of their residence.
ALB
Albani, Francis, a celebrated painter, born in Bologna,
March 17. 1578. His father was a silk merchant, and
intended to bring up his son to that business; but Albani,
having a strong inclination to painting, when his father
died, devoted himself entirely to that art, though then but
twelve years of age. He first studied under Denys Cal¬
vert, Guido Reni being at the same time under this mas¬
ter, with whom Albani contracted a very great friendship.
Calvert drew but one profile for Albani, and afterwards
left him entirely to the care of Guido, under whom he
made great improvement, his fellow-disciple instructing him
with the utmost humanity and good-humour. He follow¬
ed Guido to the school of the Caracci; but a little after,
their friendship for each other began to cool, which was
swing perhaps to the pride of Albani, who could not bear
to see Guido surpass him, or to the jealousy of Guido at
finding Albani make such rapid progress. They certainly
endeavoured to eclipse one another; for when Guido had
set up a beautiful altar-piece, Albani would oppose to it
some fine picture of his. Thus did they behave for some
time, and yet spoke of each other with the highest esteem.
Albani, after having greatly improved himself under the
Caracci, went to Rome, where he continued many years,
and married in that city; but his wife dying in childbed,
at the earnest request of his relations he returned to Bo¬
logna, where he entered again into the state of matrimony.
His second wife (Doralice) was well descended, but had
very little fortune; which he perfectly disregarded, so
-strongly was he captivated with her beauty and good sense.
Albani, besides the satisfaction of possessing an accom¬
plished wife, reaped likewise the advantage of having a
most beautiful model; so that he had now no occasion to
make use of any other woman to paint a Venus, the Graces,
Nymphs, and other deities, whom he took a particular de¬
light in representing. His wife answered this purpose ad¬
mirably well; for besides her bloom of youth, and the
beauty of her person, he discovered in her so much mo¬
desty, so many graces and perfections, so well adapted to
painting, that it was impossible for him to meet with a
more finished woman. She afterwards brought him seve¬
ral boys, all extremely beautiful and finely proportioned ;
so that she and her children were the originals of his most
agreeable and graceful compositions. Doralice was so
conformable to his intentions, that she took a pleasure
in setting the children in different attitudes, holding
them naked, and sometimes suspended by strings, when
Albani would draw them in a thousand different ways.
It was from them, too, that the famous sculptors Flamand
and Argaldi modelled their little Cupids.
Albani was of a happy temper and disposition; his
paintings, says Malvasia, breathing nothing but content
and joy. Happy in a force of mind that conquered every
uneasiness, his poetical pencil carried him through the
most agreeable gardens to Paphos and Cythera; those
delightful scenes brought him over the lofty Parnassus to
the delicious abodes of Apollo and the Muses: whence
what Du Fresnoy says of the famous Giulio Romano may
be justly applied to Albani:—
Taught from a child in the bright Muses’ grots,
He open’d all the treasures of Parnassus,
And in the lively poetry of painting
The myst’ries of Apollo has reveal’d.
He died the 4th of October 1660, to the great grief of
all his friends and the whole city of Bologna. Malvasia
has preserved some verses of Francisco de Lemene, in¬
tended for his monument; the sense whereof is, “ that the
mortal remains of the illustrious Albani, he who gave life
to shade, lie interred in this tomb. The earth never pro¬
duced so wonderful an artist, nor a hand equal to his im-
ALB
mortal one, which gave colour to the soul, and a soul to \
colours. Prometheus animated clay, and gave life bvC ^
means of the sun; but Albani animated merely by the
assistance of shade.” He was very famous in his lifetime
and had been visited by the greatest painters. Several
princes honoured him with letters; and amongst the rest
King Charles I., who invited him to England by a letter
signed with his own hand.
ALBANIA, a country of considerable extent, which
though frequently ruled by turbulent and nearly indepen¬
dent chiefs, ranks as one of the provinces of the Turkish
empire. It extends from the thirty-ninth to the forty,
third degree of north latitude, for the space of about
250 miles, along the Mediterranean and the Gulf of
Venice. The extent inland nowhere exceeds 100 miles,
and is in the southern part not more than 30. The chain
of Pindus, called now the mountains of Sagori, of Met-
zovo, and of Suli, separate it by an ill-defined line from
Macedonia and Thessaly. The Turks divided it into
pachalics, of which the principal are those of Scutari,
Ochrida,- Vallona, and Butrinto; but these distinctions,
amid late revolutions, have been in a gi’eat measure ob¬
literated. The divisions chiefly recognised are those
formed by the varieties of the native tribes. Major Leake,
who is allowed to be the best informed traveller on
this head, divides them into the Ngege, or Ghegides,
whose principal towns are Dulcigno, Scutari, and Durazzo;
the Toske or Toskides, who occupy Berat and Elbasan;
the Liape, a poor and predatory race, who inhabit the
mountains between the Toske and Delvino; and the
Tsami, who inhabit the most southerly district, and whose
principal towns are Suli and Paramithia. There are, be¬
sides, a great number of smaller divisions, too tedious to
enumerate. (Leake’s Researches in Greece.)
Albania nearly coincides with the country known to the
ancients under the name of Epirus. This country was
then, as now, distinguished by the rude valour of its in¬
habitants. Its remote situation, and the want of union
among its tribes, generally prevented it from acting any
conspicuous part in Grecian politics. The only remark¬
able exception occurs in the reign of Pyrrhus II., who was
justly ranked with the greatest captains of antiquity.
After his death the country was again split into a num¬
ber of petty states, which were unable to resist the united
strength of Macedon; and to that kingdom Epirus con¬
tinued subject, till both were alike subdued by the Ho¬
man arms.
It was during the time of the Greek empire that the
name of Albania was first given to this district. During
the decline of the empire the Albanians gradually rose to
distinction, and at last to independence. Their valour
enabled them to maintain their ground against the Bul¬
garians, who had occupied all the neighbouring districts
of Greece. Nor were they less successful against the
Turks, a more formidable enemy. Under the command
of the celebrated George Castriot, commonly called Scan-
derbeg, they baffled all the efforts of Mahomet II. the
conqueror of Constantinople. That powerful monarch
entered Albania only to experience a succession of defeats,
and was at length compelled to acknowledge its inde¬
pendence by a formal treaty. On the death of Scander-
beg the Turks redoubled their efforts against Albania,
which was at length reduced to a state of nominal sub¬
jection. The siege of Scutari, in 1478, formed the termi¬
nation of this memorable struggle. The subjection, how¬
ever, was always imperfect; revolts were frequent, and
the inhabitants of the mountainous districts still preserved
their independence. It was by the motives of pay and
plunder, rather than by compulsion, that these hardy sol-
ALBANIA.
Alba: • diers were allured into the Turkish ranks. In proportion
^Vv^as the Ottoman empire declined in vigour, its hold of Al¬
bania became less firm ; and the vigorous and enterprising
genius of Ali Pacha again converted this dependency into
what might almost be called a separate kingdom.
Ali was born at Tepellene, a small town in the interior
of Albania. His father held the rank of a pacha of two
tails, but was not possessed of any extensive power ; and
he died when Ali was only fifteen. In a district so tur¬
bulent, and filled with warlike and hostile leaders, the
young chief was necessarily placed in a very critical si¬
tuation. He was himself accustomed to boast, that he be-
ean his fortune with sixty paras and a musket; and an
Albanian who attended a late traveller (Mr Hobhouse)
declared, that he rememhered to have seen Ali with his
jacket out at elbows. Ali was ere long driven from Te-
pellene, his native place, and was abandoned by almost
every follower. A plan was next formed for his destruc¬
tion, by the inhabitants of Gardiki, a neighbouring town ;
and for this purpose they surrounded, in the night-time,
a village where he had taken refuge. Ali escaped through
a garden, but his mother and sister fell into the hands of
the Gardikiotes, and were treated with every species of
indignity; Wrongs for which he afterwards took a dread¬
ful vengeance. His address and activity enabled him
gradually to repair his fortunes. He insinuated himself
into the favour of Coul Pacha, then the principal chief of
Albania, whose daughter he at length married. Having
thus been enabled to collect some followers, he suc¬
ceeded in surprising Yanina, the capital, and in prevail¬
ing upon the Porte to recognise him as pacha of that im¬
portant district. From this time he took the lead among
the Albanian chiefs; employing sometimes force, some¬
times money, and sometimes treachery, to increase his
authority, and add to the extent of his dominions.
The most formidable adversaries with whom Ali had to
contend were the Suliotes, a people placed in the south¬
ern extremity of Albania. They inhabit an almost inac¬
cessible range of mountains, beneath whose gloomy shade
winds a river, which Dr Holland conjectures, on very
plausible grounds, to be the Acheron of the ancients.
(Travels in the Ionian Isles and Albania.') The strength
of their native bulwarks, their passion for war, and con¬
tempt of death, made them the terror of Albania, which
they frequently invaded; while no foreign power had ever
ventured to scale the tremendous barriers by which they
were guarded. Ali at length succeeded, partly by force
and partly by bribery, in gaining the passes which led
into their country; and the whole nation, after a furious re¬
sistance, was reduced to subjection, and partly extirpated.
In 1811 and 1812 Ali attacked and defeated the pachas
of Berat and Delvino ; by which means he gained posses¬
sion of some of the finest parts of Albania, and a popula¬
tion of between 200,000 and 300,000 souls. Tepellene,
ns native place, now fell into his power; and now also it
'vas that he obtained the means of inflicting signal ven¬
geance on Gardiki. With his accustomed duplicity he
pretended a complete oblivion of all grounds of resent-
.unt'l he had surrounded and inclosed the city
vith his troops; when upwards of 700 of those of the in¬
habitants who were supposed to have been most deeply
involved in the ancient guilt, were dragged into a large
ia.n ne£w the city, and bound together with cords. On
a signal given by Ali, the Albanian soldiery, who were
s ationed on the walls of the khan, began a discharge of
i etil’ "’hich continued until the destruction of the
whole 700 was completed.
1' • e dominions of Ali were not confined within the
1 s of Albania; he extended his sway over the moun-
vol. ii. J
377
tamous district of Macedonia, nearly the whole of Thes- Albania
saly, and great part of Livadia. He was kept in check
by Ismael Bey, possessing an authority nearly as inde¬
pendent over the plains of Macedonia. In Albania, his
power Was almost absolute; and while little regard'was
paid to the imperial firman, a letter with the signature of
Ali commanded implicit obedience. The Albanians were
enthusiastically attached to him; they viewed him as a
native sovereign; they admired the energy of his charac¬
ter, and, when they heard of any other chief, commonly
remarked, “ he has not a head like Ali.”
The natives estimated Ali’s military force so high as
50,000, 60,000, or even 100,000 men. This could only
apply to the case of a general levy en masse, in the event of
invasion. It does not appear that Ali ever brought into the
field a greater disposable force than 15,000. His standing
army was supposed to be about 10,000, of whom 4000 or
5000 were stationed round his capital Yanina. The amount
of his revenues was still more uncertain. They arose from
the following sources:—1. A land-tax, amounting gene¬
rally to about 10 per cent, of the produce; 2. a tax on
cities and towns, levied in the form of requisition; 3. the
customs, which he raised to six per cent.; 4. the inhe¬
ritance of all who died without male heirs.
_ Ali s figure was corpulent and unwieldy, his neck short,
his stature about five feet nine inches. The expression of
his countenance was striking and majestic; and his fea¬
tures gave no indications of those terrible qualities by
which he was characterized. His abilities were certainly
of no mean order. He displayed that union of deep
thought and contrivance with prompt and decisive action,
which indicate a mind equally formed for politics and for
war. He was remarkable for his address, both in gaining
friends, and in lulling asleep the suspicions of his bitterest
enemies. But, if his abilities were of a superior order,
his dispositions were of a kind which rendered him an ob¬
ject of fear and detestation. His cruelty rather resembled
that of an Indian savage, than of even the least civilized
European. Impaling and roasting alive were among the
common punishments reserved for those who had unhap¬
pily offended him. The fierceness of his cruelty was only
exceeded by the depth of his dissimulation. It was im¬
possible for the most skilful observer to conjecture, from
his outward deportment, the real sentiments with which
he regarded any individual. The only observable differ¬
ence consisted in a peculiar kindness of manner towards
those unfortunates whose cruel doom he had silently and
unrelentingly sealed.
Ali’s ordinary residence was near Yanina, in an im¬
mense building, which combines the characters of a pa¬
lace and a fortress. The outer courts were irregularly
crowded with Albanian soldiers, and with persons of all
descriptions, who attended upon him, or had petitions
to present. Each petitioner, in approaching, knelt and
kissed his garment. He exercised in person the whole
judicial authority; and his decisions, though necessarily
given too promptly, are, however, said to have been
guided by an apparent wish of arriving at the truth, and
of doing justice. He rose at six in the morning, and, with
the exception of an hour at dinner and an hour at supper,
spent the whole day in business. His habits at table were
extremely temperate, though he was not so strict a Mus¬
sulman as to decline the use of wine. His haram con¬
tained 390 females of various descriptions. It formed an
edifice entirely distinct from the rest of the seraglio, and
is said to have been furnished in a style of the most gor¬
geous magnificence; but no European ever found ad¬
mission into it.
Although the government of Ali was completely des-
3 B
378
ALBANIA.
Albania, potical, yet, viewed comparatively, it appears to have been
better for Albania than the terrible anarchy to which it
was formerly exposed. He freed that country from a race
of petty tyrants, and from perpetual scenes of internal
warfare. His vigorous administration nearly extirpated
those numerous predatory hordes who found shelter in
the mountainous districts, and spread terror and deso¬
lation over the plains.
In the relations between Ali and the court of Constanti¬
nople, mutual fear long preserved an outward good under¬
standing. The progress of this enterprising chief was
viewed with jealousy and alarm; but the Porte was never
in a condition to hazard driving him into open rebellion.
It was found prudent, therefore, to invest him, by its fir¬
man, with the government of those provinces which the
sword had already placed in his possession. Ali, on the
other hand, paid an outward deference to the Porte, and re¬
mitted to it some portion of the revenue which he collect¬
ed. He also uniformly supported that power with nearly
his whole force, against the foreign enemies with which it
has had to contend. He even marched against Paswun
Oglou, and was present at the siege of Widdin; and his
son Mouktar Pacha distinguished himself greatly against
the Russians. In all other respects, whether as to the
internal government of Albania, or its foreign relations,
he acted completely as an independent monarch. The
Porte omitted no means of inducing him to repair to Con¬
stantinople, and even proffered to him the dignity of grand
vizier; but Ali uniformly resisted every such invitation,
well knowing that his arrival at that capital would be the
immediate signal for striking off his head.
The Porte, however, has various resources, by which it
seldom fails to crush in the end those refractory pachas
who succeed in setting a tempoiary defiance to its au¬
thority. Ali was now past 60 years of age; and the dis¬
sensions among his sons afforded no prospect of a succes¬
sion sufficiently vigorous and firm to maintain itself amid
so many rivals, and against the whole power of the em¬
pire. Pacho Bey, who, from being one of the most fa¬
voured adherents of Ali, had incurred his displeasure,
and been driven out of Albania, insinuated himself into
favour at the court of Constantinople. He fomented all
the dissatisfaction then prevalent against his former mas¬
ter, and even laid down plans for his destruction, of which
Ali was not long in being apprized. All the surrounding
pachalics were bestowed upon his known enemies, who
soon hemmed him in on every side. In these circumstances
Ali determined to overawe his enemies by one of those
fierce and bloody deeds which were familiar to him. He
found among his devoted adherents two who undertook
to assassinate Pacho Bey. They made the attempt, ac¬
cordingly, in a public place at Constantinople; but Pacho
was only slightly wounded; and the assassins, being seized
and led to execution, acknowledged that they were hired
by the tyrant of Albania. Incensed by this daring out¬
rage, Mahmood, the present energetic ruler of Turkey,
determined no longer to keep any measures. He issued
afirmanley, placing Ali under the ban of the empire, and
calling upon all the surrounding pachas to march their
united forces against him as a common enemy. This
crisis showed the hollowness of that strength on which
Ali had so firmly relied, and by which he had inspired
such terror. All the tribes whom, in the zenith of his
power, fear or interest had attached to his standard, de¬
serted him in this hour of his terrible need. Pacho Bey
had boasted that he would march upon Yanina without
firing a gun; and this proud boast he actually fulfilled,
Ali being unable to collect any army which could make
head against the mass of force now brought to bear
upon him. Even his sons made only faint efforts to A!
rally round the falling fortunes of their family. Veli,
vested in Prevesa by the captain-pacha, surrendered with
all his troops and treasures, obtaining very favourable
terms. Mouktar, who defended Berat, was obliged to
take refuge with a small force in the citadel of that place.
The Turkish army was now before Yanina, yet Ali was
not yet vanquished. He now adopted a measure in en¬
tire accordance with his ferocious and desperate character.
He gave up that fine capital to indiscriminate pillage by
his bandit adherents, after which it was set on fire and
destroyed. Ali then retreated to a strong castle in the
lake, where he shut himself up with about ten thousand
of those who were still ready to follow him through life
and death. His position was almost impregnable. He
had still an immense treasure, was master of the naviga¬
tion of the lake, and could communicate with the moun¬
taineer tribes, among whom there yet prevailed an ex¬
tensive devotion to his cause. In this state of affairs the
operations of the besieging army were necessarily reduced
to an impotent blockade. In such circumstances an ir-
regular army, without magazines or resources, cannot be
long kept together. They began to disperse and return
to their homes ; and the Turkish ranks were soon so thin¬
ned, that the army was obliged to retreat upon Arta,
leaving all central Albania again in the possession of All
Mahmood felt of course highly dissatisfied with this re¬
sult of the extensive operations undertaken against his
rebellious viceroy. Chourschid, pacha of the Morea, an
officer of high distinction, and who had once held the
place of grand vizier, was invested with the supreme
command. Having assembled the forces of all the
surrounding pachalics, he soon made himself master of
the plain country of Albania, and again hemmed in Ali
within the precincts of his castle. He was again, however,
obliged to slacken the blockade, in consequence of the
grand insurrection of the Greeks; which Ali hoped, by
declaring loudly in its favour, to use as an instrument in
retrieving his fortunes. But his hands had been too deeply
dyed in the best blood of Greece; and that people, go¬
verned rather by passion than policy, repelled this strange
alliance with their mortal enemy. Chourschid, as soon
as circumstances admitted, renewed the siege, and press¬
ed it closer and closer ; yet there appeared little prospect
of success, till treason was resorted to. By immense bribes
and promises he gained over Tahir Abbas, an old and hi¬
therto one of the most faithful adherents of Ali. Through
this person the castle gates were opened, and the Turks
admitted. Yet Ali had still a resource in this last ex¬
tremity. With a hundred followers, who were personally
and entirely devoted to him, and with his wives and his
treasure, he retired into a solitary tower, entirely insulated
from the rest of the edifice. There he announced his de¬
termination, that the instant an enemy should set foot
within this last retreat, the whole should be instant y
blown into the air. He understood well, that so far as
regarded himself, this threat was quite nugatory; but is
treasure had long been an eager object of 'Turkish cup'-
dity, and much would be sacrificed in order to preserve
it. Chourschid now redoubled his arts, and bound himse
by every vow which the Moslem faith holds most sacre ,
that Ali, on surrendering, should have not only life’^ 3
secure and splendid retreat. It may be wondered °'v
the jealous old tyrant, so deeply versant in Turkish trea
sons, should have given in to this snare. He was new
closely beset with destruction, and thought perhaps a
compliance afforded almost the only hope of life,
came down into the citadel, leaving orders, however, v11
Selim, his most trusty officer, on a particular signal give 1
ALBANIA.
379
instantly to blow up the tower. Chourschid immediately tains of their native country, of Thessaly, and of Mace- Albania.
vWdispatched a messenger to the Porte, announcing that its donia. This profession carries with it no disgrace; it is'-^^v'’^-
arch-enemy was in his hands. He then, by persuasion common for the Albanian to mention circumstances which
or threats, obtained from Ali orders for the surrender of occurred “ when he was a robber.” In proportion as the
the tower and all its contents. Scarcely had this transac- trade of robbing becomes overstocked, part of those en-
tion been closed, when Mehemed Pacha arrived with a gaged in it seek employment in the service of the sultan,
firman from the Porte, decreeing the immediate death of and of the different pachas throughout the Turkish em-
Ali. The particulars of the last scene have been va- pire; by all of whom the Albanians are regarded as the
riously reported. According to some, Mehemed entered, most valuable of their troops.
saluted Ali as an old friend, and, amid the exchange of An Albanian military force, according to the descrip-
courtesies, stabbed him to the heart. Others report tion of Dr Holland, cannot so properly be Called an army,
that Ali made a desperate resistance, and that fifty of his as a tumultuous assemblage of armed men. There is no
followers fought and fell around him. He fell justly, co- regular distribution into corps; nor is rnuch regard paid
vered with crimes which cried for vengeance to heaven to the authority of any officer, with the single exception
and earth ; yet it may be doubted if any of the treasons of the pacha himself. Yet such is their activity and in-
which rendered him infamous equalled in atrocity that of trepidity, that they have sometimes proved formidable to
which he was the victim. His head was carried to Con- the best disciplined European armies. The main strength
stantinople, and shown to the exulting populace, with a of the Turkish infantry in the late Russian campaigns has
yufta, or inscription, expressing the crimes which had consisted of Albanians.
drawn upon him the just vengeance of the sublime Porte. This fierce and haughty race display a greater degree
The treasure found in the tower, chiefly in jewels, is said of contempt for the female sex than is usual even among
to have amounted to about L.800,000; a sum which fell the most barbarous nations. The females are literally
short of the sanguine anticipations which had been formed regarded as inferior animals, and treated as such ; but in
respecting it. the country districts they are not confined or veiled, as
The Albanians, accustomed to view with disdain the is customary in Mahometan countries.
Ottoman yoke, showed a considerable disposition to make The dress of the Albanian consists of a cotton shirt, a
common cause with the Greeks; and their co-operation jacket, a mantle, sandals, and a red cap; to which is
would have almost insured success. But the Greeks, added a large capote, or great coat, as a shelter from the
imprudently and unhappily, could not divest themselves weather. Every part except the shirt consists of wool-
of the feelings of enmity cherished during the long len. As they have usually only one suit, which they
series of wars which Ali had waged against them. At wear day and night, it soon exhibits a dreadful assem-
the siege of Tripolizza overtures were made to them by blage of dirt and vermin, and at length literally falls to
a corps of 3000 Albanians, who formed part of the garri- pieces. The dress of the females is more various, and
son; but the Greeks, having succeeded in entering the often fantastical. A singular custom prevails among the
place, began a dreadful and indiscriminate massacre, in girls, of stringing together the pieces of money which
which the Albanians were equally involved. At the siege they have collected for their portion, and wearing them
of Arta, although the capture was much facilitated by the upon their heads. Some of them have their hair hanging
coming over of a corps of Albanians, the Greeks treated down in braids to a great length, loaded with this species
them extremely ill. The Albanian nation was thus of ornament.
forcibly thrown into the arms of the Porte, to which it Yanina, the present capital, is beautifully situated on
has since continued attached. the banks of a small lake, inclosed within a circuit of
The inhabitants of Albania are estimated at 1,200,000, lofty mountains. The houses in general are not exter-
of which a considerable proportion are Turks and Greeks; nally either splendid or elegant; and they are built in the
but the basis of the population consists of the original most irregular manner, with scarcely any approach to the
race, called Arnauts. This remarkable people differ com- form of streets. The intermixture, however, of gardens
pletely from every other included within the limits of the and trees gives to the city a fine appearance from a dis-
lurkish empire. Their conversion to Mahometan tenets tance; particularly when combined with the magnificent
has been very imperfect, and chiefly induced by political mo- back-ground which everywhere crowns the landscape,
lives. In every family the males usually go to the mosque, There is a considerable number of Greeks at Yanina, who
the females to church ; and some members of a family are display an active and intelligent character, and cultivate
seen in the most amicable manner eating from the same with ardour the different branches of science and litera-
table, and even from the same plate, meats forbidden to ture. The total number of inhabitants is estimated at
the others. With the Turks, accordingly, infidel and Al- upwards of 35,000.
banian are terms nearly synonymous. Ali did not appear The commerce of Albania is chiefly carried on through
to make religion a ground of any the slightest distinction Arta, a small city situated on a gulf of the same name, in
between the different classes of his subjects. the most southern district of the country. The principal
The native Albanian is of a middle stature; his face is merchants, however, are Greeks residing at Yanina, among
ova], with high cheek-bones ; his neck long, his chest full whom a very active commercial spirit appears to prevail,
wd broad. His air is erect and majestic to a degree The mercantile houses of this city have often branches
" hieh never fails to surprise the traveller. He holds in in other countries, particularly Germany and Russia; and
utter contempt that dissimulation which is characteristic several ofthem suffered considerably by the conflagration of
oi the Greek, and piques himself upon giving utterance Moscow. Under the continental system of the late French
to every sentiment without the smallest reserve. Equally ruler, Malta became the great channel for the trade of
umiotc from the grave and sluggish deportment of the Albania, and, notwithstanding the subsequent political
urk, he is gay, lively, and active. Averse, however, to changes, probably retains it to a certain extent. The ex-
rogular industry, his whole delight is in arms and plunder, ports consist almost entirely of unmanufactured produce.
Re goes constantly armed; and there are few Albanians Notwithstanding its mountainous character, the fertility
who, in the prime of their life, have not belonged to some of its plains affords a surplus of grain, of which upwards
0 the numerous bands of robbers who infest the moun- of fifty cargoes are sent to Italy, the Ionian Isles, Malta,
380 ALB
ALB
Albania and other places. Wool is exported chiefly unmanufac*
ah tured, but partly also wrought into coarse cloth. Other
^Por^anl' articles of export are, oil, tobacco of good qua¬
lity, cotton and cotton yarn, chiefly from Thessaly. Some
cargoes of wood for building and fire are annually sent to
Malta. The chief imports consist of woollen cloths, used
for winter coverings. For this purpose the preference is
given to a coarser and cheaper species than any that is
usually manufactured in Great Britain. This is supplied
from Germany. Albania imports also guns, gunpowder,
hardware, coffee, and sugar. On the 8th of October an
annual fair is opened in the neighbourhood of Yanina, and
continues for fourteen days, when the imported articles
are exchanged for native commodities, which then pour
in from every quarter.
The reader will find much interesting information in
regard to this country, and its present ruler, in the Tra~
vels of Mr Hobhouse and of Dr Holland. The latter re¬
sided for some time at All’s court, where, in quality of
physician, he enjoyed the privilege of a familiar inter¬
course with that extraordinary personage; and the anec¬
dotes which he relates give no small share of interest to
his otherwise valuable and instructive publication, (e.)
Albania, a country of Asia, bounded on the west by
Iberia; on the east by the. Caspian Sea; on the north by
Sarmatia; on the south by Armenia and the river Cyrus,
now Kur, which, springing from the Moschian Mountains,
that separate Colchis from Armenia, falls into the Caspian
Sea within a small distance from the southern borders of
this country. The whole country, formerly called Alba¬
nia, now goes under the names of Daghistan, Schirwan,
and East Georgia, and is extremely fruitful and pleasant.
The ancient historians take notice of the Albanian men
being tall, strong-bodied, and, generally speaking, of a
very graceful appearance; far excelling all other nations
in comeliness as well as stature. Modern travellers ex¬
tol the beauty of the women. The Albanians were an¬
ciently an independent and pretty powerful people; but
we find no mention made of their kings till the reign of
Alexander the Great, to whom the king of Albania is said
to have presented a dog of an extraordinary fierceness and
size. It does not appear that the Albanians were ever
conquered by the Romans, even when their power was at
the greatest height; though, when they ventured to en¬
gage in war with that powerful empire, they were always
defeated, as might naturally be expected.
ALBANO, a city near the lake of the same natne, in
the Campagna di Roma, in the Papal territories. It is
much admired for the picturesque scenery around it. It
is well built, and the Roman aqueduct and other monu¬
ments of antiquity are in tolerable preservation. The city
contains a cathedral, four monasteries, a nunnery, and
2400 inhabitants. Long. 12. 43. 47. E. Lat. 41. 3. 50. N.
Albano is also a town in the kingdom of Naples, re¬
markable for the fertility of the surrounding territory, and
for the nobility of the inhabitants.
ALBANS, St, a large town of great antiquity, in the
hundred of Cashio, in the county of Hertford. It was the
ancient Verulam of the Romans and the Watlingcester of
the Saxons, and celebrated in more recent times by hav¬
ing conferred a title, by its ancient name, on the great
Lord Bacon. The abbey church, now parochial, is of a
remote date, built originally of Roman bricks, but since
covered with stone. It is 800 feet in length and 174 in
its greatest breadth, and contains statues, monuments,
and inscriptions of remote origin, which have engaged the
attention of artists and antiquaries. The town is finely
situated, in part on the declivity of a hill, at the foot of
which the river Yer runs through some pleasant meadows.
1 Ml)
It is surrounded by a district highly fruitful, especially in
wheat. The municipal government is in a mayor and bur¬
gesses. It returns two members to parliament, who are"A
chosen by the householders paying king’s and parochial^ a
taxes. The town is divided into four parishes, with
churches dedicated to St Alban, St Michael, St Peter
and St Stephen. The only manufacture now carried on is
that of plaiting straw for hats. The market, which is large
is on a Saturday. The population has been as follows; in
1801, 3038; in 1811, 3653; and in 1821, 4472. The great
increase may be attributed to its being the thoroughfare
to the northern parts of the kingdom. It is distant 22
miles from London.
ALB ANUS Mons, in Ancient Geography, now called
Mont Albano, 26 miles from Rome, near where Alba
Longa stood.
ALBANY, a fortress belonging to the British, seated on
the S. W. of Hudson’s Bay. Long. 82.10. W. Lat.59.20. N.
Albany, a town of North America, the capital of a
county of the same name, and the seat of government for
the state of New York. It is a well-built place, and con¬
tained 12,600 inhabitants in 1820. It is situated upon the
Hudson river, and though 165 miles from the sea, sloops
of 80 tons come up to it. Long. 74. 6. \V. Lat. 42. 30, N.
ALBAR AZIN, a strong town, and one of the most an¬
cient of the kingdom of Arragon, in Spain. It is seated on
an eminence near the river Guadalquivir, a little below its
source, and on the frontiers of Valencia and New Castile.
It is the seat of a bishop, and produces the best wool in all
Arragon. It is about 100 miles east of Madrid. Long.
1. 20. E. Lat. 40. 32. N.
ALBARII, in Antiquity, properly denoted those who
gave the whitening to earthen vessels, &c.; in which sense
they stood contradistinguished from Dealbatores, who
whitened walls. - _ ; -4' ,
ALBARIUM Opus, in the ancient building, the incrus¬
tation or covering of the roofs of houses with white plas¬
ter, made of mere lime. This is otherwise called opus
album. It differed from Tectorium, which is a common
name given to all roofing or ceiling, including even that
formed of lime and sand, or lime and marble; whereas
albarium was restrained to that made of lime alone.
A.LBATEGNI, an Arabic prince of Batan, in Mesopo¬
tamia, and a celebrated astronomer, who lived about the
year of Christ 880, as appears by his observations. He
is also called Muhammed ben Geber Albatani, Mahomet the
son of Geber, and Muhamedes Aractensis. He made as¬
tronomical observations at Antioch, and at Racah or Ar-
acta, a town of Chaldea. He is highly spoken of by Dr
Halley, as a man of admirable genius, and an excellent
observer.
Instead of the tables of Ptolemy, which were imperfect,
he computed new ones: these were adapted to the meri¬
dian of Aracta or Racah, and were long used as the best
among the Arabs. Albategni composed in Arabic a work
under the title of The Science of the Stars, comprising all
parts of astronomy, according to his own observations and
those of Ptolemy. This work was translated into Latin
by Plato of Tibur, and published at Nuremberg in 1537,
with some additions and demonstrations of Regiomontanus.
It was reprinted at Bologna in 1645, with this author’s
notes. Dr Halley detected many faults in these editions.
(Philosophical Transactions for 1693, No. 204.) In this
work Albategni gives the motion of the sun’s apogee since
Ptolemy’s time, as well as the motion of the stars, which
he makes one degree in 70 years. He makes the longitude
of the first star of Aries to be 18° 2', and the obliquity of
the ecliptic 23° 35'. Upon Albategni’s observations were
founded the Alphonsine tables of the moon’s motion.
ALB
a ALBATERRA, a town in the government of Orihuela,
^ t and province of Valencia, in Spain. It contains 2400 in-
Aibe • habitants, and produces abundance of figs.
ALB ATI Equi, an appellation given to such horses, in
the games of the ancient circus, as wore white furniture.
ALBATROSS. See Ornithology, Index.
ALBAZIN, a town of Greater Tartary, with a strong
castle. It is situated upon the river Amur or Yamour, and
belongs to the Russians. Long. 103. 30. E. Lat. 54. N.
ALBE, a small piece of money, current in Germany,
worth only a French sol and seven deniers.
ALBECK, or Alpeck, a bailiwick in the circle of Jaxt,
in Wirtemberg, extending over 114 square miles, or
72,960 acres. It contains one city, three market-towns,
and 13,953 inhabitants. The soil is fertile, and produces
good crops of corn, flax, hemp, rape-seed, and fruit. The
chief trade depends on spinning linen, and on making
various wares of wood.
ALBEMARLE, or Aumale, a town of France, in Up¬
per Normandy, now in the department of Seine Inferior,
from whence the noble family of Keppel takes the title
of Earl. It is seated on the declivity of a hill, on the con¬
fines of Picardy, 35 miles north-east of Rouen, and 70
north-west of Paris. Long. 1. 42. E. Lat. 49. 50. N.
ALBENGUA, a town of Italy, in the territory of
Genoa. It is the see of a bishop, and is a very ancient,
handsome town, but not well peopled, on account of the
insalubrity of the air. It is seated in a very beautiful
plain, which is well cultivated; and the outside of the
town is surrounded with olive-trees. It is a seaport, about
30 miles south-west of Genoa. Long. 8. 13. E. Lat. 44.
i N.
ALBERNUO, a kind of camlet, brought from the Le¬
vant by the way of Marseilles.
ALBERONI, Julius, the son of a poor gardener in the
suburbs of Placentia, born in 1664, who, by his great abi¬
lities and good fortune, rose from this low ^origin to the
employment of first minister of state at the court of Spain,
and to the dignity of cardinal. He roused that kingdom
out of the lethargy it had sunk into for a century past,
awakened the attention and raised the astonishment of all
Europe by his projects, one of which was to set the Pre¬
tender on the throne of Great Britain. He was at length
deprived of his employment, and banished to Rome. He
died in 1752, at the great age of 87. His Testament Po¬
litique, collected from his memoirs and letters, was pub¬
lished at Lausanne in 1753.
ALBERT, Margrave of Brandenburg, and the last
grand master of the Teutonic order, laid aside the habit
ot his order, embraced Lutheranism, and concluded a
peace at Cracow in 1525, by which he was acknowledged
duke ot the east part of Prussia (formerly called for that
reason Ducal Prussia), but to be held as a fief of Poland,
and to descend to his male heirs. See Prussia.
ALBERTI, Leone Battista, was descended from a
noble family of Florence, and was perfectly acquainted
with painting, sculpture, and architecture. He wrote of
all three in Latin, but his studies did not permit him
to leave any thing considerable behind him in painting.
He was employed by Pope Nicholas V. in his buildings,
vhich he executed in a beautiful manner; and his work
on architecture, which consists of 10 books, is greatly es¬
teemed. He also wrote some treatises of morality, and a
piece of arithmetic. He died in 1485.
.TpBER FI, a market-town of Hungary, in the province
0 Hither Danube and the palatinate of Pest, on the line
uough which the canal intended to unite the Theiss and
[he Danube is to pass. It is in long. 19. 47. 58. E.
tat 47.15. N.
ALB 381
ALBERTISTS, a sect of scholastics, so named from Albertists
their leader Albertus Magnus.
ALBERTUS Magnus, a Dominican friar, and after- Albi.
wards bishop of Ratisbon, was one of the most learned
men and most famous doctors of the 13th century. He is
said to have acted as a man-midwife ; and some have been
highly offended that one of his profession should follow
such an employment. A book entitled De Natura Rerum,
of which he was reputed the author, gave rise to this re-
port. In this treatise there are several instructions for
midwives, and so much skill shown in their art, that one
would think the author could not have arrived at it with¬
out having himself practised; but the advocates for Al¬
bert say he was not the writer thereof, nor of that other
piece De Secretis Mulierum; in which there are many
phrases and expressions, unavoidable on such a subject,
which gave great offence, and raised a clamour against the
supposed author. It must be acknowledged, however,
that there are, in his Comment upon the Master of Sen¬
tences, some questions concerning the practice of conjugal
duty, in which he has used some words rather too gross
for chaste and delicate ears ^ but they allege, what he
himself used to say in his own vindication, that he came
to the knowledge of so many monstrous things at confes¬
sion, that it was impossible to avoid touching upon such
questions. Albert was certainly a man of a most curious
and inquisitive turn of mind, which gave rise to other ac¬
cusations brought against him. It is said that he labour¬
ed to find out the philosopher’s stone, that he was a ma¬
gician, and that he made a machine in the shape of a
man, which was an oracle to him, and explained all the
difficulties he proposed. He had great knowledge in the
mathematics, and by his skill in that science might pro¬
bably have formed a head with springs capable of articu¬
lating sounds, like to the machines of Boetius, of which
Cassiodorus has said, “ Metals lowe; the birds of Dio-
medes trumpet in brass; the brazen serpent hisses;
counterfeited swallows chatter, and such as have no pro¬
per note, from brass send forth harmonious music.” John
Matthseus de Luna, in his treatise De Rerum Inventoribus,
has attributed the invention of fire-arms to Albert; but in
this he is confuted by Naude in his Apologie des Grander
Hommes. Albert died at Cologne in 1280. His works
were printed at Lyons in 1651, in 21 volumes folio.
ALBERTUS, a gold coin, worth about fourteen French
livres. It was coined during the administration of Alber¬
tus, archduke of Austria.
ALBESIA, in Antiquity, a kind of shields, otherwise
called Decumana.
ALBI, a city of France, in the department of the Tarn,
the capital of the Albigeois, in Upper Languedoc. The
cathedral is dedicated to St Cecilia, and has one of the
finest choirs in the kingdom. Here is a very valuable sil¬
ver shrine, of exquisite workmanship, of the mosaic kind :
it contains the relics of St Clair, the first bishop of this
city. The chapel of this pretended saint is magnificent,
and adorned with paintings. La Lice is a fine large walk
without the city. What distinguishes this from all others
is a terrace above a deep mall, which serves instead of a
fosse: it is bordered with two rows of very fine trees,
which are kept in excellent order. There are four gates,
through which you may view all the beauties of a delight¬
ful plain. At one end of this is the convent of the Domi¬
nicans. The archbishop’s palace is very beautiful. The
river washes its walls, and serves both for an ornament
and defence. This city is seated on the river Tarn, 35
miles north-east of Toulouse, and contained 9860 inhabit¬
ants by the last census. . Long. 2. 9. E. Lat. 43. 56. N.
The Albigeois is a small territory, about twenty-seven
1
382
ALB
ALB
Albigenses. miles in length and twenty in breadth, abounding in corn,
~ ~ 'wood, grapes, saffron, plums, and sheep; and the inhabit¬
ants have a great trade in dried prunes, grapes, a coarse
sort of cloth, and wine of Gaillac. These wines are the
only sort hereabouts that are fit for exportation: they are
carried down to Bourdeaux, and generally sold to the
British. They have likewise several coal-mines.
ALBIGENSES, in Church History, a sect or party of
reformers, about Toulouse and Albigeois, in Languedoc,
who sprung up in the 12th century, and distinguished
themselves by their opposition to the discipline and cere¬
monies of the Romish church.
This sect had their name, it is supposed, either by reason
there were great numbers of them in the diocese of Albi,
or because they were condemned by a council held in that
city. In effect, it does not appear that they were known
by this name before the holding of that council. The
Albigenses were also called Albiani, Alhigesei, Albii, and
Albanenses, though some distinguish these last from them.
Other names given to them are Henricians, Abelardists,
Bulgarians, &:c. ; some on account of the qualities they
assumed ; others on that of the country from whence it is
pretended they were derived; and others on account of
persons of note who adopted their cause, as Peter de Brius,
Arnold de Bresse, Abelard, Henry, &c. Berengarius, if not
Wickliffe himself, is by some ranked in the number. The
Albigenses are frequently confounded with the Waldenses ;
from whom, however, they differ in many respects, both
as being prior to them in point of time, as having their
origin in a different country, and as being charged with
divers heresies, particularly Manicheism, from whence the
Waldenses are exempt. But several Protestant writers
have vindicated them from that imputation. Dr Allix
shows that a great number of Manichees did spread over
the western countries from Bulgaria, and settled in Italy,
Languedoc, and other places, where there were also Al¬
bigenses ; by which means, being both under the imputa¬
tion of heresy, they came, either by ignorance or malice,
to be confounded, and called by the same common name,
though in reality entirely different.
Other errors imputed to them by their opponents, the
monks of those days, were, that they admitted two Christs;
one evil, who appeared on earth; the other good, who has
not yet appeared: that they denied the resurrection of
the body, and maintained human souls to be demons im¬
prisoned in our bodies, by way of punishment for their
sins: that they condemned all the sacraments of the
church, rejected baptism as useless, held the eucharist in
abhorrence, excluded the use of confessions and penance,
maintained marriage unlawful, laughed at purgatory,
prayers for the dead, images, crucifixes, &c. There were
likewise said to be two classes of them, the Perfect and
the Believers. The perfect boasted of their living in con¬
tinence, of eating neither flesh, eggs, nor cheese. The
believers lived like other men, and were even loose in
their morals; but they were persuaded they should be
saved by the faith of the perfect, and that none were
damned who received imposition of hands from them. But
from these charges also they are generally acquitted by
Protestants, who consider them as the pious inventions of
the Romish church, whose members deem it meritorious
by any means to blacken heretics.
However this be, the Albigenses grew so formidable,
that the Catholics agreed upon a holy league or crusade
against them. They were at first supported by Raymond,
count of Toulouse. Pope Innocent III., desirous to put a
stop to their progress, sent a legate into their country;
which failing, he stirred up Philip Augustus, king of France,
end the other princes and great men of the kingdom, to
%
noi
make war upon them. Upon this the count of Toulouse, A1
who had sided with them, made his submission to the pope*
and went over to the Catholics; but soon after, finding
himself plundered by the crusaders, he declared war'^8-'
against them, and was joined by the king of Arragon.
His army was defeated at the siege of Muret, where he
himself was killed, and the defeat followed by the sur¬
render of the city of Toulouse, and the conquest of the
greater part of Languedoc and Provence. His son Ray.
mond succeeded him, who agreed with the king and the
pope to set up the inquisition in his estates, and to extir¬
pate the Albigenses. In an assembly held at Milan, the
archbishop of Toulouse drew up articles, agreeably to
which the count made a most ample declaration against
them, which he published at Toulouse in 1253. From this
time the Albigenses dwindled by little and little, till the
time of the Reformation, when such of them as were left
fell in with the Vaudois, and became conformable to the
doctrine of Zuinglius and the discipline of Geneva.
Albigenses is also a name sometimes given to the fol-
lowers of Peter Vaud or Waldo, and hence synonymous
with what we more properly call Waldenses, or Poor Men
of Lyons. In this sense the word is applied by Camera-
rius, Thuanus, and several other writers. The reason
seems to be, that the two parties agreed in their opposi¬
tion to the papal innovations and encroachments, though
in divers other respects said to be different enough. The
bishop of Meaux labours hard to support a distinction be¬
tween the two sects, alleging that the Albigenses were
heretics and Manichees ; whereas the Waldenses were only
schismatics, not heretics; being sound as to articles of
faith, and only separating from the church of Rome on
account of forms and discipline. Dr Allix endeavours
to set aside the distinction, and shows that both of them
held the same opinions, and were equally condemned and
held for heretics ; and this not for points of faith, but for
declaiming against the papal tyranny and idolatry, and
holding the pope to be the Antichrist; which last, accord¬
ing to M. de Meaux, constitutes nothing less than Mani¬
cheism. In this sense, the Lollards and Wickliffites in
England were not only Albigenses, but Manichees.
ALBINI, in Antiquity, the workmen employed in what
was called opus albariutn. They make a different pro¬
fession from the dealbatores or whiteners.
ALBINOS, the name by which the Portuguese call the
white Moors, who are looked upon by the negroes as mon¬
sters. They at a distance might be taken for Europeans;
but when you come near them, their white colour appears
like that of persons affected with a leprosy.
In Saussure’s Voyages dans les Alpes is the following
account of the two boys, at Chamouni, who have been
called Albinos. “ The elder, who was at the end of the
yrear 1785 about 20 or 21 years of age, had a dull look,
with lips somewhat thick, but nothing else in his features
to distinguish him from other people. The other, who is
two years younger, is rather a more agreeable figure; he
is gay and sprightly, and seems not to want wit. But
their eyes are not blue; the iris is of a very distinct rose
colour: the pupil, too, when viewed in the light, seems
decidedly red; which seems to demonstrate that the in¬
terior membranes are deprived of the uvea, and of that
black mucous matter that should line them. Their hair,
their eye-brows and eye-lashes, the down upon their skin,
were all in their infancy of the most perfect milk-white
colour, and very fine; but their hair is now of a reddish
cast, and has. grown pretty strong. Their sight, too, is
somewhat strengthened, though they exaggerate to
strangers their aversion for the light, and half shut the
eye-lids, to give themselves a more extraordinary appear-
ALB
, s ance. but those who, like me, have seen them in their
>v ^infancy, before they were tutored to this deceit, and when
too few people came to Chamouni to make this affectation
profitable to them, can attest that then they were not
very much offended with the light of day. At that time
they were so little desirous of exciting the curiosity of
strangers, that they hid themselves to avoid such; and
it was necessary to do a sort of violence to them before
they could be prevailed on to allow themselves to be in¬
spected. It is also well known at Chamouni, that when
they were of a proper age they were unable to tend the
cattle like the other children at the same age; and that
one of their uncles maintained them out of charity, at a
time of life when others were capable of gaining a subsis¬
tence by their labour.
“ I am therefore of opinion, that we may consider these
two lads as two albinos; for if they have not the thick
lips and flat noses of the white negroes, it is because they
are albinos of Europe, not of Africa. This infirmity affects
tlie eyes, the complexion, and the colour of the hair; it
even diminishes the strength, but does not alter the con¬
formation of the features. Besides, there are certainly in
this malady various degrees—some may have less strength,
and be less able to endure the light; but these circum¬
stances in those of Chamouni are marked with characters
sufficiently strong to entitle them to the unhappy advan¬
tage of being classed with that variety of the human spe¬
cies denominated albinos.
“ When nature presents the same appearance often, and
with circumstances varied, we may at last discover some
general law, or some relation which that appearance has
with known causes; but when a fact is so singular and
so rare as that of those albinos, it gives but little scope to
a conjecture; and it is very difficult to verify those by
which we attempt to explain it.
“ I at first imagined that this disease might be referred
to a particular sort of organic debility; that a relaxation
of the lymphatic vessels within the eye might suffer the
globules of the blood to enter too abundantly into the iris,
die uvea, and even into the retina, which might occasion
the redness of the iris and of the pupil. The same de¬
bility seemed also to account for the intolerance of the
light, and for the whiteness of the hair.
“ But a learned physiologist, M. Blumenbaeh, professor
in the university of Gottingen, who has made many pro¬
found observations on the organs of sight, and has consid¬
ered with great attention the albinos of Chamouni, attri¬
butes their infirmity to a different cause.
“ The study of comparative anatomy has furnished him
with frequent opportunities of observing this phenomenon;
he has found it in brutes, in white dogs, and in owls ; he
says it is generally to be seen in the warm-blooded ani¬
mals, but that he has never met with it in those with cold
blood.
“ From his observations, he is of opinion that the red¬
ness of the iris, and of the other internal parts of the eye,
as well as the extreme sensibility that accompanies this
redness, is owing to the total privation of that brown or
blackish mucus, which, about the fifth week after concep¬
tion, covers all the interior parts of the eye in its sound
state. He observes that Simon Pontius, in his treatise de
(oloribus Oculorum, long ago remarked, that in blue eyes
the interior membranes were less abundantly provided
with this black mucus, and were therefore more sensible
to the action of light. This sensibility of blue eyes agrees
very well, says M. Blumenbach, with northern people,
during their long twilight; w hile, on the contrary, the deep
black in the eyes of negroes enables them to support the
splendour of the sunbeams in the torrid zone.
alb 383
“ As to the connection between this red colour of their Albinos,
eyes and the whiteness of the skin and hair, the same^-^v^-^
learned physiologist says, that it is owing to a similarity
of structure, consensus ex similitudine fabricee. He asserts
that this black mucus is formed only in the delicate cellu¬
lar substance, which has numerous blood-vessels contigu¬
ous to it, but contains no fat, like the inside of the eye,
the skin of negroes, the spotted palate of several domestic
animals, &c. And, lastly, he says that the colour of the
hair generally corresponds with that of the iris. ( Gazette
Litt. de Gottingue, Oct. 1784.)
“ At the very time that M. Blumenbach was reading
this memoir to the Royal Society of Gottingen, M. Buzzi,
surgeon to the hospital at Milan, an eleve of the celebrated
anatomist Moscati, published in the Opuscoli Scelti de
Milan, 1784, tom. vii. p. 11, a very interesting memoir, in
which he demonstrates by dissection what Blumenbach
had only supposed.
“ A peasant of about 30 years of age died in the hospi¬
tal of Milan of a pulmonary disorder. His body being
exposed to view, was exceedingly remarkable by the un¬
common whiteness of the skin, of the hair of the beard,
and of all the other covered parts of the body. M. Buzzi,
who had long desired an opportunity of dissecting such a
subject, immediately seized upon this. He found the iris
of the eyes perfectly wdiite, and the pupil of a rose colour.
The eyes were dissected with the greatest possible care,
and were found entirely destitute of that black membrane
which anatomists call the uvea; it was not to be seen either
behind the iris or under the retina. Within the eye there
wyas only found the choroid coat, extremely thin, and
tinged of a pale red colour, by vessels covered with dis¬
coloured blood. WTiat was more extraordinary, the skin,
when detached from different parts of the body, seemed
almost entirely divested of the rete mucosum; maceration
did not discover the least vestige of this, not even in the
WTinkles of the abdomen, where it is most abundant and
most visible.
“ M. Buzzi likewise accounts for the whiteness of the
skin and of the hair, from the absence of the rete mucosum,
which, according to him, gives the colour to the cuticle,
and to the hairs that are scattered over it. Among other
proofs of this opinion, he alleges a well-known fact, that
if the skin of the blackest horse be accidentally destroyed
in any part of the body, the hairs that afterwards grow on
that part are always white, because the rete mucosum which
tinges those hairs are never regenerated with the skin.
“ The proximate cause of the whiteness of albinos, and
the colour of their eyes, seems therefore pretty evidently
to depend on the absence of the rete mucosum ; but what
is the remote cause ?
“ In the first place, it seems probable that men affected
with this infirmity form no distinct species, for they are
produced from parents that have dark skins and black eyes.
What is it then that destroys the rete mucosum in such
persons? M. Buzzi relates a singular fact, which seems
to throw some light on this subject.
“ A woman of Milan, called Calcagni, had seven sons.
The two oldest had brown hair and black eyes; the three
next had white skins, white hair, and red eyes; the two
last resembled the two eldest. It was said that this woman,
during the three pregnancies that produced the albinos,
had a continual and immoderate appetite for milk, which
she took in great quantities ; but that when she was with
child of the other four children, she had no such desire.
It is not, however, ascertained that this preternatural ap¬
petite was not itself the effect of a certain heat, or internal
disease, which destroyed the rete mucosum in the children
before they were born.
384 ALB
ALB
Albino- “ The albinos of Chamouni are also the offspring of pa-
vanus rents with dark skins and black eyes. They have three sisters
A1 bin us ^3r t^le same father and mother, who are also brunettes.
One of them that I saw had the eyes of a dark brown, and
the hair almost black. They are said, however, to be all
afflicted with a weakness of sight. When the lads are
married, it will be curious to observe how the eyes of their
children will be formed. The experiment would be par¬
ticularly decisive if they were married to women like
themselves. But this faulty conformation seems to be
more rare among women than among men; for the four
of Milan, the two of Chamouni, the one described by Mau-
pertuis, the one by Helvetius, and almost all the instances
of these singular productions, have been of our sex. It
is known, however, that there are races of men and wo¬
men affected with this disease, and that these races per¬
petuate themselves in Guinea, in Java, at Panama, &c.
“ Upon the whole, this degeneration does not seem to
be owing to the air of the mountains; for though I have
traversed the greatest part of the Alps, and the other
mountains of Europe, these are the only individuals of
that kind that I ever met with.”
ALBINOVANUS, a Latin poet, whom Ovid surnamed
the Divine. There is now nothing of his extant, except an
elegy on Drusus, and another on the death of Mecaenlir.
ALBINUS, Bernhard Siegfred, a celebrated phy¬
sician and anatomist, was born of an illustrious family at
Frankfort on the Oder in 1697. His father was then pro¬
fessor of the practice of medicine in the university of
Frankfort; but in the year 1702 he repaired to Leyden,
being nominated professor of anatomy and surgery in that
university. Here his son had an opportunity of studying
under the most eminent masters in Europe, who, from the
singular abilities which he then displayed, had no difficulty
in prognosticating his future eminence. But while he
was distinguished in every branch of literature, his atten¬
tion was particularly turned to anatomy and surgery. His
peculiar attachment to these branches of knowledge gain¬
ed him the intimate friendship of Buysch and Rau, who
at that time flourished in Leyden; and the latter, so justly
celebrated as a lithotomist, is said to have seldom perform¬
ed a capital operation without inviting him to be present.
Having finished his studies at Leyden, he went to Paris,
where he attended the lectures of Du Verney, Vaillant,
and other celebrated professors. But he had scarce spent
a year there when he was invited by the curators of the
university of Leyden to be a lecturer on anatomy and sur¬
gery at that place. Though contrary to his own inclina¬
tion, he complied with their request, and upon that occa¬
sion was created doctor of physic without any examination.
Soon after, upon the death of his father, he was appoint¬
ed to succeed him as professor of anatomy; and upon
being admitted into that office on the 9th of November
1721, he delivered an oration, De vera via ad fabricae hu-
mani corporis cognitionem ducente, which was heard with
universal approbation. In the capacity of a professor, he
not only bestowed the greatest attention upon the instruc¬
tion of the youth intrusted to his care, but on the improve¬
ment of the medical art. With this view he published
many important discoveries of his own, and by elegant
editions turned the attention of physicians to works of
merit, which might otherwise have been neglected. By
these means his fame was soon extended over Europe;
and the societies of London, Petersburg, and Haerlem,
cheerfully received him as an associate. In 1745 he was
appointed professor of the practice of medicine at Leyden,
and was succeeded in the anatomical chair by his brother
Frid. Bern. Albinus. He was twice rector of the univer¬
sity, and as often he refused that high honour when it was
voluntarily offered him. At length, worn o
vice and intense study, he died on the 9th
1770, in the 74th year of his age.
ALBION, the ancient name of Britain.
New Albion, a name given by Sir Francis Drake to
California, on the north-west coast of America, which he
discovered and took possession of in the year 1578. Can
tain Cook visited this coast in 1778, and landed in a place
situated in long. 235. 20. E. lat. 44. 33. N. In the year
1792 it was again visited by Captain Vancouver, who was
employed in surveying the western coast of North Ame¬
rica. The name is now applied to a country farther north
than California, but without any definite boundaries.
ALBIREO, in Astronomy, a star of the third or fourth
magnitude, in the constellation Cygnus.
ALBIS, in Ancient Geography, now the Elbe, which di¬
vided ancient Germany in the middle, and was the boun¬
dary of this country, so far as it was known to the Romans •
all beyond they owned to be uncertain, no Roman except
Drusus and Tiberius having penetrated so far as the Elbe.
ALBISOLA, a small town belonging to the republic of
Genoa. Here is a porcelain manufacture, and several
country-houses of the Genoese nobility. It was bombard¬
ed in 1745 by the English. Long. 8. 20. E. Lat. 44.15. N.
ALBLASSER-WAARD, a district in the circle of
Dordrecht and province of Holland, inclosed on two sides
by the Merwe, and on the third by the Lech. It receives
its name from the river that flows through it, and compre¬
hends sixteen villages, which yield abundance of good
hemp.
ALBOGALERUS, in Roman Antiquity, a white cap
worn by the fiamen Dialis, on the top of which was an or¬
nament of olive branches.
ALBORAK, amongst the Mahometan writers, the beast
on which Mahomet rode in his journeys to heaven. The
Arab commentators give many fables concerning this ex¬
traordinary mode of conveyance. It is represented as of
an intermediate shape and size between an ass and a mule.
A place, it seems, was secured for it in paradise at the in¬
tercession of Mahomet; which, however, was in some
measure extorted from the prophet, by Alborak’s refusing
to let him mount when the angel Gabriel was come to con¬
duct him.
ALBORO, in Zoology, a name by which the erythrinus,
a small red fish caught in the Mediterranean, is common¬
ly known in the markets of Rome and Venice.
ALBOURG, a town of Denmark, in North Jutland,
capital of the diocese of the same name, and a bishop's
see. It has this name, which signifies eel-town, on account
of the great number of eels taken here. It is seated on a
canal 10 miles from the sea, 30 north of Wiburg, and 50
north of Aarhuus. It has an exchange for merchants, and
a safe and deep harbour. They have a considerable trade
in herrings and corn, and a manufactory of guns, pistols,
saddles, and gloves. Long. 9. 50. E. Lat. 57. 2. N.
ALBRICIUS, born at London, was a great philosopher,
a learned and able physician, and well versed in all the
branches of polite literature. He lived in the 11th cen¬
tury, and wrote several works in Latin; particularly, !•
the Origin of the Gods ; 2. The Virtues of the Ancients;
3. The Nature of Poison.
ALBUERA, a town of Spain, in the province of Estre-
madura, which has been rendered celebrated by a victory
gained there on the 16th of May 1811, over a French army
marching from Seville to the relief of Badajos, which was
besieged by Marshal Beresford.
ALBUFEIRA, a Portuguese town, on a bay in the pro*
vince of Algarve, containing 1 parish church, 1 hospital,
1 poor-house, 962 houses, and 3181 inhabitants. Its
d by long ser-
of September
A L C
A L C 385
,,, t harbour is capable of containing large ships, and is well de-
' ‘ fended by a castle and battery. Lat. 37. 7. N.
h\a ■ ALBUM, in Antiquity, a kind of white table or register,
wherein the names of certain magistrates, public transac¬
tions, &c. were entered. Of these there were various
sorts • as the album decurionum, album senatorum, album
judicum, album prcetoris, &c.
Album Decurionum was the register wherein the names
of the decuriones were entered. This is otherwise called
mtriculatio decurionum.
Album Senatorum, the list of senators’ names, which was
first introduced by Augustus, and renewed yearly.
Album Judicum, that wherein the names of the persons
of those who judged at certain times were entered.
Album Prcetoris, that wherein the formulae of all ac¬
tions, and the names of such judges as the pretor had
chosen to decide causes, were written.
The high-priest entered the chief transactions of each
year into an album, or table, which was hung up in his
house for the public use.
Album is also used, in later times, to denote a kind of
table, or pocket-book, wherein the men of letters with
whom a person has conversed inscribed their names, with
some sentence or motto.
Album Graecum, the white dung of dogs, formerly pre¬
scribed for inflammations of the throat, &c. but now disused,
and chiefly employed by leather-dressers to soften leather
after the application of lime.
ALBUMAZAR, a learned Arabian astronomer in the
tenth century, who wrote a treatise Of the Devolution of
the Years.
ALBUMEN, a substance found both in animal and
vegetable matters, and in great abundance in the white
of eggs.
ALBUQUERQUE, a town of Spain, in the province of
Estremadura, is seated on an eminence, nine miles from
the frontiers of Portugal, and containing 5500 inhabitants.
It is commanded by an almost impregnable fortress, built
on a high mountain, and serving to defend the town. It
has some trade in wool and woollen manufactures. It
was taken by the allies of Charles king of Spain in 1705.
Long. 7. 0. W. Lat. 38. 52. N.
ALBURN, the English name of a compound colour,
being a mixture of white and redPbr reddish brown.
Skinner derives the word, in this sense, from the Latin
abm, and the Italian burno, from bruno, brown.
ALBURNUM, the soft white substance which in trees
is found between the liber or inner bark and the wood,
and in process of time acquiring solidity, becomes itself
the wood. From its colour and comparative softness, it
has been styled by some writers the fat of trees, adepts
arborum.
' an arrondissement in the south-west of France,
m, y16 department of the Tarn, comprehending an extent
•'t ,)(i6 square miles, or 362,240 acres. It is divided into
■cantons and 105 communes, and contains 70,054 inha¬
bitants.
ALCiEUS, a famous ancient lyric poet, born at Mity-
ene, in the island of Lesbos. Horace seems to think him
i it inventor of this kind of poesy.
Now the Homan muse inspire,
And warm the song with Grecian fire. Fravcis.
c flourished in the 44th Olympiad, at the same time with
‘' PP io, who was likewise of Mitylene. Alcaeus was a
f-' t at enemy to tyrants, but not a very brave soldier. He
a-S Present at an engagement wherein the Athenians
j gi* V^tory over the Lesbians ; and here, as he him-
. 18.s. to have confessed in one of his pieces, he threw
own "s arms, and saved himself by flight. Horace, who
of all the Latin poets most resembled Alcaeus, has made Ak-mis
the like confession : h
With thee I saw Philippi’s plain,
Its fatal rout, a fearful scene!
And dropp’d, alas ! th’ inglorious shield.
Where valour’s self was forc’d to yield ;
Where soil’d in dust the vanquish’d lay,
And breath’d th’ indignant soul away. .Francis.
Alcaics.
The poetical abilities of Alcaeus are indisputable; and
though his writings were chiefly in the lyric strain, yet his
muse was capable of treating the sublimest subjects with
a suitable dignity. Hence Horace says,
Alcaeus strikes the golden strings,
And seas, and war, and exile, sings.
Thus while they strike the various lyre,
The ghosts the sacred sounds admire;
But when Alcaeus lifts the strain
To deeds of war and tyrants slain.
In thicker'crowds the shadowy throng
Drink deeper down the martial song. Francis.
Alcaeus, an Athenian tragic poet, and, as some think,
the first composer of tragedies. He renounced his native
country Mitylene, and passed for an Athenian. He left
10 pieces, one of which was Pasiphae, that which he pro¬
duced when he disputed with Aristophanes, in the 4>th
year of the 97th Olympiad.
There is another Alcjeus mentioned in Plutarch, per¬
haps the same whom Porphyrius mentions as a composer
of satirical iambics and epigrams, and who wrote a poem
concerning the plagiarism of Euphorus the historian. He
lived in the 145th Olympiad.
We are told likewise of one Alcteus, a Messenian, who
lived in the reign of Vespasian and Titus. We know not
which of these it was who suffered for his lewdness a very
singular kind of death, which gave occasion to the follow¬
ing epitaph:
KKhuiov ratpos oirts, See.
This is Alcaeus’s tomb, who died by a radish,
The daughter of the earth, and punisher of adulterers.
This punishment, inflicted on adulterers, was thrusting one
of the largest radishes up the anus of the adulterer ; or,
for want of radishes, they made use of a fish with a very
large head, which Juvenal alludes to:
Quosdam machos ct mugilis intrat. Sat. x.
The mullet enters some behind.
Hence we may understand the menace of Catullus:
Ah ! turn te miserum, malique fati.
Quern attractis pedibus, patente porta,
Percurrent raphanique, mugilesque. Epig. xv.
Ah! wretched thou, and born to luckless fate,
Who art discover’d by the unshut gate !
If once, alas! the jealous husband come.
The radish or the sea-fish is thy doom.
ALCAICS, in Ancient Poetry, a denomination given to
several kinds of verse, from Alcaeus, their inventor.
The first kind consists of five feet, viz. a spondee or
iambic, an iambic, a long syllable, a dactyle, another dac-
tyle. Such is the following verse of Horace:
Omnes | eo\dem | coghnur, | omnium
Versa\tur ur\na ] serins, \ ocius,
Sors exitura.
The second kind consists of two dactyles and two tro¬
chees; as,
Exili\uni imposi\tura | cymbee.
Besides these two, which are called dactylic Alcaics,
there is another, simply styled Alcaic, consisting of an
3 c
386
A L C
A L C
Alcaic epitrite, a choriambus, another choriambus, and a bac-
II chins. The following is of this species :
Alcantara-
Cur timet Jla\vum Tiberim | tang ere, cur | olivum $
Alcaic Ode, a kind of manly ode, composed of several
strophes, each consisting of four verses; the first two of
which are always alcai'cs of the first kind ; the third verse
is a dimeter hypercatalectic, or consisting of four feet
and a long syllable; and the fourth verse is an alca’ic of
the second kind. The following strophe is of this species,
which Horace calls minaces Alccei camence.
Non possidentem multa •vocaveris
Recte beatum; rcctius occupat
Nomen beati, qui deorum
Muneribus sapienter uti, &C.
ALCAID, Alcayde, or Alcalde, in the polity of the
Moors, Spaniards, and Portuguese, a magistrate or officer
of justice, answering nearly to the French provost and the
British justice of peace. The alcaid among the Moors is
vested with supreme jurisdiction, both in civil and criminal
cases.
ALCALA de Guadeira, a small town of Spain, in
Andalusia, upon the river Guadeira. Here are abundance
of springs, from whence they convey water to Seville by
an aqueduct. Long. 6. 16. W. Lat. 37. 15. N.
Alcala de Henares, a city of Spain, in the province of
New Castile. It is celebrated for its university, which is
considered the best ecclesiastical school in the kingdom.
It was founded by Cardinal Ximenes; and one of its first
and best productions has been the Complutensian edition
of the Holy Scriptures, which was prepared here. The
river Henares runs by the city, and gives its distinguish¬
ing name. Here is also a military school for the artillery
and engineer corps; 1600 houses, 4760 inhabitants. Its
powder-mills produce 15 cwt. annually.
Alcala-HcoI, a small city of Spain, in Andalusia, with
a fine abbey. It is built on the top of a high mountain, in
a mountainous country, nine leagues from Jaen. It bears
the title of a city, and contains a rich abbey and a popu¬
lation of 8000 or 9000. Long. 4. 15. W. Lat. 37.18. N.
ALCALY, or Alcali, or Alkali. See Chemistry,
Index.
ALC AMO, a city of Sicily, on the river Freddo or St
Bartholomew, in the intendancy of Trapani. It is a par¬
liamentary city, in a district of peculiar fertility, which
produces some of the best wines of the island. It contains
a very strong castle, many churches and monasteries, and
13,000 inhabitants. Near to it are remains of the ancient
Segesta, with its temple and theatre in good preservation;
and near the sea are some celebrated warm baths.
ALC ANIZ, a Spanish town upon the Guadaloupe, in the
province of Arragon, with a college, three parish churches,
six monasteries, one hospital, and 4200 inhabitants. The
surrounding country is wild, but rich in olives, mulberry
trees, and alum.
ALCANNA, or Alkanna, in Commerce, a powder
prepared from the leaves of the Egyptian privet, in which
the people of Cairo drive a considerable trade. It is much
used by the Turkish women, to give a golden colour to
their nails and hair. In dyeing, it gives a yellow colour
when steeped with common water, and a red one when
infused in vinegar. There is also an oil extracted from
the berries of alcanna, which is sometimes used in medi-
. cine.
ALCANTARA, a town of Spain, in the province of
Estremadura, on the left bank of the Tagus, over which is
a magnificent bridge. It is in long. 6.10. W. lat. 39. 44. N.
It has two parish churches, five monasteries, and 3000
inhabitants.
Knights of Alcantara, a military order of Spain, which Ale
took its name from the above-mentioned city. They make
a very considerable figure in the history of the expeditions A1
against the Moors. The knights of Alcantara make the''"'’
same vows as those of Calatrava, and are only distinguished
from them by this, that the cross fleur de lis, which they
bear over a large white cloak, is of a green colour. They
possess 37 commanderies. By the terms of the surrender
of Alcantara to this order, it was stipulated that there
should be a confraternity between the two orders, with
the same practices and observances in both; and that the
order of Alcantara should be subject to be visited by the
grand master of Calatrava. But the former soon released
themselves from this engagement, on pretence that their
grand master had not been called to the election of that
of Calatrava, as had been likewise stipulated in the arti¬
cles. After the expulsion of the Moors, and the taking
of Granada, the sovereignty of the order of Alcantara and
that of Calatrava was settled in the crown of Castile by
Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1540 the knights of Alcantara
sued for leave to marry, which was granted them.
ALCARAZ, a small city of La Mancha, in Spain, de¬
fended by a pretty strong castle, and remarkable for an
ancient aqueduct. It stands near the river Guardamena,
and the soil about it is very fruitful. They have a breed
of little running horses, which are very fleet and strong.
It is 25 miles north of the confines of Andalusia, 108
south of Cuenqa, and 138 south by east of Madrid. Long.
2. 45. W. Lat. 38. 56. N.
ALCASSAR do Sal, a town of Portugal, in Estrema¬
dura, which has a castle said to be impregnable. It is
indeed very strong, both by art and nature, being built on
the top of a rock which is exceedingly steep on all sides.
Here is a salt-work, which produces very white salt, from
whence the town takes its name. The fields produce
large quantities of a sort of rushes, of which they make
mats, which are transported out of the kingdom. Long.
9. 10. W. Lat. 38. 18. N.
Alcassar, a city of Barbary, seated about two leagues
from Larache, in Asga, a province of the kingdom of
Fez. It was of great note, and the seat of the governor
of this part of the kingdom. It was built by Jacob Al-
manzor, king of Fez, about the year 1180, and designed
for a magazine and place of rendezvous for the great pre¬
parations he was making to enter Granada in Spain, and
to make good the footing which Joseph Almanzor had got
some time before. It is said his father first invaded Spain
with 300,000 men, most of whom he was obliged to bring
back to Africa to quell a rebellion that had broke out in
Morocco. This done, he returned to Spain again with an
army, as is said, of 200,000 horse and 300,000 foot. Ihe
city is now fallen greatly to decay, so that of fifteen
mosques there are only two that they make use of. Ihy
reason, probably, is the bad situation of the town; for it
stands so low, that it is excessively hot in summer, an
almost overflowed with water in the winter. Ibis they
affirm to be owing to the curse of one of their smnts.
Flere are a great number of storks, which live very familiar}
with the people, walking about the town, possessing t e
tops of the houses and mosques without molestation; ()1
they esteem them sacred birds, and account it sintu o
disturb them. At present the bashaw of I etuan appoin s
a governor to this town, which is the last of his dommwn
towards Mequinez. Near this city there is a Ugh rK 8®
of mountains running towards Tetuan, whose inhabi an^
were never brought entirely under subjection;
ever it was attempted, they revenged themselves by >
festing the roads and robbing and destroying the trave o •
When they were pursued, they retired into their wo )
ara
sar.
V
A L C
i c e mountains, where none could safely follow them. Not far
I from hence is the river Elmahassen, famous for the battle
Jcher • fought between Don Sebastian, king of Portugal, and the
✓vVMoors, in which the Portuguese were defeated, and their
king slain. Long. 12. 35. W. Lat. 35. 15. N.
ALCAUDETE, a town of Andalusia, in Spain, in the
province of Jaen, in a fertile territory, producing wine,
oil, corn, and abundance of fruits. It has a castle, two
parish churches, four monasteries, and 4000 inhabitants.
ALCAVALA, in the Spanish Finances, was at first a
tax of 10 per cent., afterwards of 14 per cent., and is
at present of only 6 per cent., upon the sale of every sort
of property, whether movable or immovable; and it is
repeated every time the property is sold. The levying of
this tax requires a multitude of revenue officers sufficient
to guard the transportation of goods, not only from one
province to another, but from one shop to another. It
subjects not only the dealers in some sort of goods, but
those in all sorts, every farmer, every manufacturer, every
merchant and shopkeeper, to the continual visits and ex¬
amination of the tax-gatherers. Through the greater part
of a country in which a tax of this kind is established,
nothing can be produced for distant sale. The produce of
every part of the country must be proportioned to the
consumption of the neighbourhood. It is to the Alcavala,
accordingly, that Ustaritz imputes the ruin of the manu¬
factures of Spain. He might have imputed to it likewise
the declension of agriculture, it being imposed not only
upon manufacturers, but upon the rude produce of the
land.
ALCAZAR de St Juan, a city on the border of a
small lake, in the province of Toledo, in Castile. It con¬
tains 2200 inhabitants. It has a saltpetre refinery, and
some gunpowder works.
Alcazar Leguer, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of
Fez, and in the province of Rabat. It was taken by Al-
phonso, king of Portugal, in 1468; but soon after that it
was abandoned to the Moors. It is seated on the coast of
the straits of Gibraltar. Long. 3. 50. W. Lat. 38. 0. N.
ALCHEMY, that branch of chemistry which had for
its principal objects the transmutation of metals into gold,
the panacea or universal remedy, an alkahest or univer¬
sal menstruum, an universal ferment, and many other
things equally ridiculous. —
Kircher, instructed in all the secrets of chemistry, has
fully exposed the artifices and impostures of alchemists.
An alchemist puts into a crucible the matter which is to
be converted into gold: this he sets on the fire, blows it,
''tus it with rods, and, after divers operations, gold is
ound at the bottom of the crucible, instead of the matter
first put in. This there are a thousand ways of effecting,
" ithout any transmutation. Sometimes it is done by dex¬
terously dropping in a piece of gold concealed between
t ic fingers; sometimes by casting in a little of the dust
u gold or silver, disguised under the appearance of some
e ixir, or other indifferent matter; sometimes a crucible
usec^ which has a double bottom, and gold put between
Uj two; sometimes the rod used to stir the matter is
10 <>w, and filled with the dust of the metal desired; at
°t ter times there is metal mixed with the charcoal, the
as ,es °/ j-he furnace, or the like. Mr Harris very pro-
tip f ^Ist'nSu'shes alchemy from chemistry, and defines
'u ormer to be ars sine arte, cujus principium est mentiri,
we mm laborare, et finis mendicare ; and the Italians have
*/ n°-W tifidiare al alchemista povero o medico ama-
• ‘ , le ru^n which has attended this delusion has occa-
ne several states to make severe laws against pre-
snp^8 t0 aichemy- The Romans formerly banished all
as professed it; and the sacred canons likewise di-
i
A L C 387
rected the thunder of their censure against them. Dio- Alciat
clestan and Caesar directed all books which treated of 11
this subject to be burnt. Rymer furnishes us with a Alcmaer.
licence^ for practising alchemy, with all kinds of metals
and minerals, granted to one Richard Carter in 1476.
(Rym. Feed. tom. xii.) Nevertheless we have had severe
laws against alchemy, and multiplying of metals, as much
so as against coining itself.
ALCIAF, or Alciate, Andrew, a great lawyer, who
flourished in the 10th century, was born at Milan. He
mixed much of polite learning in the explication of the
laws, and happily drove out the barbarity of language
which till then had reigned in the lectures and writings
of lawyers; for which Thuanus highly praises him. He
published a great many law-books, and some notes upon
Tacitus. His Emblems have been much admired, and
translated into French, Italian, and Spanish; and several
learned men have written commentaries on them.
ALCIBIADES, an Athenian general. It was the fate
of this great man to live at a time when his country was
a scene of confusion. The Greeks, grown insolent from
their conquests in Persia, turned their armies against each
other, and bandied together under the conduct of the two
most opulent states, Athens and Lacedemon. Alcibiades,
in the midst of an expedition he had planned against the
enemies of his country, was recalled home to answer some
charge of a private nature; but fearing the violence of
his enemy, instead of going to Athens, he offered his ser¬
vices at Sparta, where they were readily accepted. By
his advice the Lacedemonians made a league with Persia,
which gave a very favourable turn to their affairs. But
his credit in the republic raising jealousies against him,
he privately reconciled himself to his country, and took
again the command of the Athenian army. Here victory,
waiting as it were at his command, attended all his mo¬
tions. The loss of seven battles obliged the Spartans to
sue for peace. He enjoyed his triumphs, however, only
a short time at Athens. One unsuccessful event made
him again obnoxious to the malice of his citizens, and he
found it expedient to retire from Athens. In his absence
the Spartans again took the lead, and at the fatal battle of
iEgos entirely subdued the Athenian power. Alcibiades,
though an exile, endeavoured to restore the power of his
country; of which the Spartans having intelligence, pro¬
cured him to be assassinated. He was a man of admirable
accomplishments, but indifferently principled; of great
parts, and of an amazing versatility of genius.
ALCINOUS, king of the Phseacians, in the island now
called Corfu, was son of Nausithous, and grandson of
Neptune and Periboea. It is by his gardens that this king
has chiefly immortalized his memory. He received Ulysses
with much civility, when a storm had cast him on his
coast. The people here loved pleasure and good cheer,
yet were skilful seamen; and Alcinous was a good prince.
ALCIRA, a Spanish town upon an island in the river
Xucar, in the province of Valencia. It is surrounded
with walls, and has two parish churches, six monasteries,
one hospital, four poor-houses, and 9000 inhabitants.
ALCMAER, a city of the United Provinces, seated in
North Holland, about four miles from the sea, 15 from
Haerlem, and 18 from Amsterdam. The streets and
houses are extremely neat and regular, and the public
buildings very beautiful. It had formerly two parish
churches, dedicated to St Matthew and St Lawrence.
The latter had so high a tower, that it served for a sea¬
mark to the vessels that were in the open sea; but in
1464 it tumbled down, aud damaged the other church so
much that they were both demolished in 1670, and one
church was built in their stead, dedicated to the same
388 A L C
Aleman saints. The Spaniards, under the command of Frederick
I! of Toledo, son of the duke of Alva, came to besiege it,
Alcock. afj;er they had taken Haerlem in 1573 ; but were forced
to raise the siege after lying three months before it, as
well on account of the infection of the air, as the stout re¬
sistance of the inhabitants and soldiers; even the women
signalizing themselves bravely in its defence. It is re¬
corded in the register of this city, that, in the year 1637,
120 tulips, with the offsets, sold for 90,000 florins. The
town has a very great trade in butter and cheese. It was
taken by the British in 1799, but soon abandoned.
Long. 4. 26. E. Lat. 52. 28. N.
ALCMAN, a lyric poet, who flourished in the 27th
Olympiad, about 670 years before Christ. He was born
at Sparta, and composed several poems, of which only
some fragments are remaining, quoted by Athenaeus and
some other ancient writers. He was very amorous,
accounted the father of gallant poesy, and is said to have
been the first that introduced the custom of singing love-
songs in company. He is reported to have been one of the
greatest eaters of his age; upon which Mr Bayle remarks,
that such a quality would have been extremely inconve¬
nient, if poetry had been at that time upon such a footing
as it has been often since, not able to procure the poet
bread. He died of a strange disease, for he was eaten
up with lice.
ALCMANI AN, in ancient lyric poetry, a kind of verse,
consisting of two dactyles and two trochees: as,—
Virgini\bus pue\risque\canto.
The word is formed from Aleman, the name of an ancient
Greek poet in great esteem for his erotics or amorous
compositions.
ALCMENA, the daughter of Electryo, king of My¬
cenae, and wife of Amphitryon. Jupiter, putting on the
shape of her husband while he was abroad in the wars,
begot Hercules upon her: he made that night as long as
three ordinary ones.
ALCOBAZA, a town of Portugal, to the north of Lis¬
bon, in the province of Estremadura, at the mouth of the
two rivers Alcoa and Baza. It is celebrated for its mo¬
nastery, one of the richest and most splendid establish¬
ments in the kingdom. It contains 295 houses and 1500
inhabitants.
ALCOCK, John, doctor of laws, and bishop of Ely in
the reign of King Henry VII., was born at Beverley in
Yorkshire, and educated at Cambridge. He was first
made dean of Westminster, and afterwards appointed
master of the rolls. In 1471 he was consecrated bishop
of Rochester: in 1476 he was translated to the see
of Worcester; and in 1486 to that of Ely, in the room
of Dr John Morton, preferred to the see of Canterbury.
He was a prelate of great learning and piety, and so high¬
ly esteemed by King Henry, that he appointed him lord-
president of Wales, and afterwards lord-chancellor of
England. Alcock founded a school at Kingston-upon-
Hull, and built the spacious hall belonging to the epis¬
copal palace at Ely. He was also the founder of Jesus
College in Cambridge, for a master, six fellows, and as
many scholars. This house was formerly a nunnery, de¬
dicated to St Radigund; and, as Godwin tells us, the
building being greatly decayed, and the revenues reduced
almost to nothing, the nuns had all forsaken it, except
two; whereupon Bishop Alcock procured a grant from
the crown, and converted it into a college. But Camden
and others tell us, that the nuns of that house were so
notorious for their incontinence, that King Henry VII.
and Pope Julius II. consented to its dissolution: Bale ac¬
cordingly calls this nunnery spiritualium meretricum cceno-
A L C
Mum, a community of spiritual harlots. Bishop Alcock a
wrote several pieces, among which are the following:—
1. Mons Perfectionis; 2. In Psalmos Pcenitentiales • -
3. Homilias Vulgares; 4. Meditationes Pise. He died 0c>
tober 1. 1500, and was buried in the chapel he had built
at Kingston-upon-Hull.
ALCOENTRE, a town of Portugal, in the province of
Estremadura. It is within the lines of Torres Vedras, and
was occupied by the allied troops as cantonments during
the important period when those lines were the barrier
that secured the safety of the peninsula.
ALCOHOL, or Alkool, in Chemistry, spirits of wine
highly rectified. It is also used for any highly rectified
spirit.
Alcohol is also used for any fine impalpable powder.
ALCOHOLIZATION, the process of rectifying any
spirit. It is also used for pulverization.
ALCOOMETER, or Alkoometer, a name given by
Richter to the hydrometer with a graduated stalk. See
Areometer.
ALCOR, the name of a small star adjoining to the large
bright one in the middle of the tail of Ursa major. The
word is Arabic. It is a proverb among the Arabians, ap¬
plied to one who pr*etends to see small things, but overlooks
much greater: Thou canst see Alcor, and yet not see tliefull
moon.
ALCOR A, a town of Spain, in the province of Valencia.
It is situated on a small river that runs into the Mijares,
and is principally to be noted for its potteries, in which
earthenware of various kinds and china are extensively
manufactured. It contains 2400 inhabitants, and is situated
atrt
:raj,
in lat. 42. 2. N.
ALCORAN, or Al-koran, the scripture or bible of the
Mahometans. The word is compounded of the Arabic par¬
ticle al, and coran or horan, derived from the verb caraa
or haraa, to read. It therefore properly signifies the read¬
ing, or rather that which ought to be read. By this name
the Mahometans denote not only the entire book or volume
of the Koran, but also any particular chapter or section of
it; just as the Jews call either the whole Scripture, or any
part of it, by the name of Karah or Mikra, words of the
same origin and import.
Besides this peculiar name, the Koran is also honoured
with several appellations common to other books of Scrip¬
ture : as al Farkan, from the verb foraka, to divide or dis¬
tinguish ; not, as the Mahometan doctors say, because those
books are divided into chapters or sections, or distinguish
between good and evil, but in the same notion that the
Jews use the word Pereh or Pirka, from the same root, to
denote a section or portion of Scripture. It is also called
al Moshaf, the volume, and al Kitah, the book, by way of
eminence, which answers to the Piblia of the Greeks; and
al Dhikr, the admonition, which name is also given to the
Pentateuch and Gospel.
The Koran is divided into 114 larger portions of verj
unequal length, which we call chapters, but the Arabians
soicar, in the singular sura, a word rarely used on any other
occasion, and properly signifying a row, order, or a regular
series; as a course of bricks in a building, or a rank ox so -
diers in an army; and is the same in use and import wit i
the Sura or Tora of the Jews, who also call the fifty-three
sections of the Pentateuch Sedarim, a word of the same
signification. _ . f
These chapters are not distinguished in the manuscrip
copies by their numerical order, but by particular tit es,
which are taken sometimes from a particular matter trea
ed of, or person mentioned therein; but usually from
first word of note, exactly in the same manner as the e
have named their Sedarim; though the word from w u
I
ALCORAN.
389
i]COj.some chapters are denominated be vexy far distant, towards fess, has not been communicated to any mortal, their nro- Aicoran
the middle, or perhaps the end of the chapter; which phet only excepted. Notwithstanding which sonie willCA^^
seems ridiculous. But the occasion of this appears to have take the liberty of guessing at their meaning by that species
been, that the verse or passage wherein such word occurs of Cabala called by the Jews Notarikon, and suppose the
was, in point of time, revealed and committed to writ- letters to stand for as many words, expressing the names
ing before the other verses of the same chapter which pre- and attributes of God, his works, ordinances, and decrees •
cede it in order; and the title being given to the chapter and therefore these mysterious letters, as well as the verses
before it was completed, or the passages reduced to their themselves, seem in the Koran to be called signs. Others
present order, the verse from whence such title was taken explain the intent of these letters from their nature or
did not always happen to begin the chapter. Some chap- organ, or else from their value in numbers, according to
ters have two or more titles, occasioned by the difference another species of the Jewish Cabala, called Gematria ;
of the copies. _ the uncertainty of which conjectures sufficiently appears
Some of the chapteis having been ie\ealedat iVXecca, and from their disagreement. Jhus, for example, five chapters,
others at Medina, the noting of this difference makes a one of which is the second, begin with these letters, A. L. m!
part of the title: but the reader will observe that several of which some imagine to stand for Allah latiff magid, God
the chapters are said to have been revealed partly at Mecca is gracious and to he glorified ; or. Ana li minni, i. e. to me
and partly at Medina; and as to others, it is yet a dispute and from me, viz. belongs all perfection, and proceeds all
among the commentators to which of the two places they good; or else for Ana Allah alam, I am the most wise
belong* _ _ # God, taking the first letter to mark the beginning of the
Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions, of first word, the second the middle of the second word, and
very unequal length also, which we customarily call verses; the third the last of the third word; or for Allah, Gabriel,
but the Arabic word is ayat, the same with the Hebrew Mohammed, the author, revealer, and preacher of the Koran-
ototh, and signifies signs or wonders : such as are the se- Others say, that as the letter A belongs to the lower part
crets of God, his attributes, works, judgments, and ordi- of the throat, the first of the organs of speech; L to the
nances, delivered in those verses; many of which have palate, the middle organ; and M to the lips, which are
their particular titles also, imposed in the same manner as the last organ ; so these letters signify that God is the
those of the chapters. . # > beginning, middle, and end, or ought to be praised in the
Besides these unequal divisions of chapter and verse, beginning, middle, and end, of all our words and actions:
the Mahometans have also divided their Koran into six- or, as the total value of those three letters, in numbers, is
teen equal portions, which they call Ahzab, in the singular seventy-one, they signify, that, in the space of so manv
Hizh, each divided into four equal parts ; which is also an years, the religion preached in the Koran should be fully
imitation of the Jews, who have an ancient division of established. The conjecture of a learned Christian is at
their Mishna into sixty portions called Massictoth. But least as certain as any of the former, who supposes those
the Koran is more usually divided into thirty sections letters were set there by the amanuensis, for Amar li Mo-
only, named Ajza, from the singular Joz, each of twice the hunted, i. e. at the command of Mohammed, as the five letters
length of the former, and in like manner subdivided into prefixed to the nineteenth chapter seem to be there writ-
four parts, fhese divisions are for the use of the readers ten by a Jewish scribe, for Coh yaas, Thus he commanded.
of the Koran in the royal temples, or in the adjoining The Koran is universally allowed to be written with the
chapels, where the emperors and great men are interred, utmost elegance and purity of language, in the dialect of
1 here are thirty of these readers belonging to every chapel, the tribe of Koreish, the most noble and polite of all the
and each reads his section every day; so that the whole Arabians, but with some mixture, though very rarely, of
Koran is read over once a day. other dialects. It is confessedly the standard of the Ara-
Nextafter the title, at the head of every chapter, except bic tongue, and, as the more orthodox believe and are
only the ninth, is prefixed the following solemn form, by taught by the book itself, inimitable by any human pen
the Mahometans called the Sismalluh, In the name of (though some sectaries have been of another opinion),
mi. most merciful God ; which form they constantly and therefore insisted on as a permanent miracle, greater
place at the beginning of all their books and writings in than that of raising the dead, and alone sufficient to con-
general, as a peculiar mark or distinguishing characteristic vince the world of its divine original,
of their religion, it being counted a sort of impiety to omit And to this miracle did Mahomet himself chiefly appeal
it. 1 he Jews, for the same purpose, make use of the form, for the confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging
ti the name of the Lord, or, In the name of the great God; the most eloquent men in Arabia, which was at that time
a!]C *; ie eastern Christians that of In the name of the Fa- stocked with thousands whose sole study and ambition it
and oj the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But Maho- was to excel in elegance of style and composition, to pro-
inet probably took this form, as he did many other things, duce even a single chapter that might be compared with it.1
iom the Persian Magi, who used to begin their books in To the pomp and harmony of expression some ascribe
lose words, Benam Yezdan hakshaishgher dadar; that is, all the force and effect of the Alcoran, which they con-
n}ff name of the most merciful just God. sider as a sort of music, equally fitted with other species of
there are twenty-nine chapters of the Koran which have that art to ravish and amaze. In this Mahomet succeeded
ns peculiarity, that they begin with certain letters of the so well, and so strangely captivated the minds of his au-
ji p labet, some with a single one, others with more. These dience, that several of his opponents thought it the effect
i tiers the Mahometans believe to be the peculiar marks of of witchcraft and enchantment, as he himself complains,
t ie Koran, and to conceal several profound mysteries, the Others have attributed the effect of the Alcoran to the
ccitam understanding of which, the most intelligent con- frequent mention of rewards and punishments,—heaven
is th *1t ie com.PosKi°n and arrangement of words, however, admit of infinite varieties, it can never be absolutely said that any one
other ?°SS'^e‘ I11 fact, Hamzah Benahmed wrote a book against the Alcoran with at least equal elegance ; and Moselema an-
tr„ ’ 1 e„ven surpassed it, and occasioned a defection of a great part of the Mussulmans. [Juurn. de Scat. tom. xiii. p. 280.
dc Sf«v. Nov. 1708, p. 404.) & 1
J
390
ALCORAN.
Alcoran, and hell occurring almost in every page. Some suppose him who turns thee out, give to him who takes from thee, A1
that the sensual pleasures of paradise, so frequently set be- pardon him who injures thee; for God will have you plants
fore the imaginations of the readers of the Alcoran, were in your souls the roots of his chief perfections.” It is easy
what chiefly bewitched them; though, with regard to to see that this commentary is copied from the gospel,
these, there is a great dispute whether they are to be un- In reality,, the necessity of forgiving enemies, though fre-
derstood literally or spiritually. Several have even alle- quently inculcated in the Alcoran, is of a later date among
gorized the whole book. the Mahometans than among the Christians; among those
The general design of the Koran was to unite the pro- latter, than among the heathens; and to be traced origi-
fessors of the three different religions then followed in the nally among the Jews. (See Exodus xxiii. 4, 5.) But
populous country of Arabia (who for the most part lived it matters not so much who had it first, as who observes
promiscuously, and wandered without guides, the far it best. The caliph Hassan, son of Hali, being at table,
greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and a slave unfortunately let fall a dish of meat reeking hot,
Christians mostly of erroneous and heterodox belief) in the which scalded him severely. The slave fell on his knees,
knowledge and worship of one God, under the sanction of rehearsing these words of the Alcoran, “ Paradise is for
certain laws, and the outward signs of ceremonies partly those who restrain their anger.” “ I am not angry with
of ancient and partly of novel institution, enforced by the thee,” answered the caliph. “ And for those who forgive
consideration of rewards and punishments both temporal offences against them,” continues the slave. “ I forgive
and eternal, and to bring them all to the obedience of thee thine,” replies the caliph. “ But, above all, for those
Mahomet, as the prophet and ambassador of God, who, who return good for evil,” adds the slave. “ I set thee at
after the repeated admonitions, promises, and threats of liberty, rejoined the caliph ; and I give thee ten dinars.”
former ages, was at last to establish and propagate God’s There are also a great number of occasional passages in
religion on earth, and to be acknowledged chief pontiff the Alcoran, relating only to particular emergencies. For,
in spiritual matters, as well as supreme prince in temporal, in the piecemeal method of receiving his revelation, Maho-
The great doctrine, then, of the Koran is the unity of met had this advantage, that whenever he happened to be
God, to restore which point, Mahomet pretended, was the perplexed and gravelled with any thing, he had a certain
chief end of his mission ; it being laid down by him as a fun- resource in some new morsel of revelation. It was anad-
damental truth, that there never was, nor ever can be, more mirable contrivance of his to bring down the whole Al-
than one true orthodox religion. For, though the parti- coran at once only to the lowest heaven, not to earth;
cular laws or ceremonies are only temporary, and subject since, had the whole been published at once, innumerable
to alteration, according to the divine directions, yet the objections would have been made, which it would have
substance of it being eternal truth, is not liable to change, been impossible for him to solve; but as he received it by
but continues immutably the same. And he taught, that parcels, as God saw fit they should be published for the
whenever this religion became neglected, or corrupted in conversion and instruction of the people, he had a sure
essentials, God had the goodness to re-inform and re-ad- way to answer all emergencies, and to extricate himself
monish mankind thereof, by several prophets, of whom with honour from any difficulty which might occur.
Moses and Jesus were the most distinguished, till the ap- It is the general and orthodox belief among the Ma-
pearance of Mahomet, who is their seal, and no other to be hometans that the Koran is of divine original; nay, that it
expected after him. The more effectually to engage people is eternal and uncreated, remaining, as some express it,
to hearken to him, great part of the Koran is employed in the very essence of God; that the first transcript has
in relating examples of dreadful punishments formerly in- been from everlasting by God’s throne, written on a table
flicted by God on those who rejected and abused hismes- of vast bigness, called the preserved table, in which are
sengers; several of which stories, or some circumstances also recorded the divine decrees past and future; that a
of them, are taken from the Old and New Testaments, copy from this table, in one volume on paper, was by the
but many more from the apocryphal books and traditions ministry of the angel Gabriel sent down to the lowest
of the Jews and Christians of those ages, set up in the heaven, in the month of Ramadan, on the night oipower;
Koran as truths in opposition to the Scriptures, which the from whence Gabriel revealed it to Mahomet by parcels,
Jews and Christians are charged with having altered ; and some at Mecca, and some at Medina, at different times,
indeed few or none of the relations or circumstances in during the space of 23 years, as the exigency of affairs re¬
tire Koran were invented by Mahomet, as is generally quired; giving him, however, the consolation to show him
supposed, it being easy to trace the greater part of them the whole (which they tell us was bound in silk, and
much higher*, as the rest might be, were more of those adorned with gold and precious stones of paradise) once
books extant, and were it worth while to make the inquiry, a year ; but in the last year of his life he had the favour
The rest of the Alcoran is taken up in prescribing to see it twice. They say, that few chapters were de¬
necessary laws and directions, frequent admonitions to livered entire, the greater part being revealed piecemeal,
moral and divine virtues, the worship and reverence of the and written down from time to time by the prophets
Supreme Being, and resignation to his will. One of their amanuensis in such a part of such and such a chapter till
most learned commentators distinguishes the contents of they were completed, according to the directions of the
the Alcoran into allegorical and literal: under the former angel. The first parcel that was revealed is generally
are comprehended all the obscure, parabolical, and enig- agreed to have been the first five verses of the 46th
matical passages, with such as are repealed or abrogated ; chapter.
under the latter, such as are clear and in full force. After the new-revealed passages had been from the
The most excellent moral in the whole Alcoran, inter- prophet’s mouth taken down in writing by his scribe, they
preters say, is that in the chapter Al Alraf, viz. “ Show were published to his followers, several of whom took
mercy, do good to all, and dispute not with the ignorantcopies for their private use, but the far greater number
or, as Mr Sale renders it, “ Use indulgence, command that got them by heart. The originals, when returned, were
which is just, and withdraw far from the ignorant.” Ma- put promiscuously into a chest, observing no order of time;
hornet, according to the authors of the Keschaf, having for which reason it is uncertain when many passages were
begged of the angel Gabriel a more ample explication of revealed.
this passage, received it in the following terms: “ Seek When Mahomet died, he left his revelations in the
an.
A L C
\lc; n. same disorder, and not digested into the method, such as
is, in which we now find them. This was the work of
his successor Abu Beer, who, considering that a great
number of passages were committed to the memory of
Mahomet’s followers, many of whom were slain in their
wars, ordered the whole to be collected, not only from the
palm-leaves and skins on which they had been written,
and which were kept between two boards or covers, but
also from the mouths of such as had gotten them by heart.
And this transcript, when completed, he committed to the
custody of Hassa, the daughter of Omar, one of the pro¬
phet’s widows.
From this relation it is generally imagined that Abu
Becrwas really the compiler of the Koran, though, for aught
that appears to the contrary, Mahomet left the chapters
complete as we now have them, excepting such passages
as his successor might add or correct from those who had
gotten them by heart; what Abu Beer did else being
perhaps no more than to range the chapters in their pre¬
sent order, which he seems to have done without any re¬
gard to time, having generally placed the longest first.
However, in the 30th year of the Hegira, Othman being
then caliph, and observing the great disagreement in the
copies of the Koran in the several provinces of the empire,—
those of Irak, for example, following the reading of Abu
Musa al Ashari, and the Syrians that of Macdad Ebn
Aswad,—he, by the advice of the companions, ordered a
great number of copies to be transcribed from that of Abu
Beer, in Hassa’s care, under the inspection of Zeid Ebn
Thabet, Abdallah Ebn Zobair, Said Ebn al As, and Abd’al-
rahman Ebn al Hareth the Makhzumite ; whom he direct¬
ed, that wherever they disagreed about any word, they
should write it in the dialect of the Koreish, in which it
was at first delivered. These copies, when made, were
dispersed in the several provinces of the empire, and the
old ones burnt and suppressed. Though many things in
Hassa’s copy were corrected by the above-mentioned re¬
visers, yet some few various readings still occur.
“ The most prominent feature of the Koran, that point
of excellence in which the partiality of its admirers has
ever delighted to view it, is the sublime notion it general¬
ly impresses of the nature and attributes of God." If its
author had really derived these just conceptions from the
inspiration of that Being whom they "attempt to describe,
they would not have been surrounded, as they now are
on every side, with error and absurdity. But it might
easily be proved, that whatever it justly defines of the
Uiyine attributes, was borrowed from our Holy Scripture ;
winch even from its first promulgation, but especially from
the completion of the New Testament, has extended the
views and enlightened the understandings of mankind;
and thus furnished them with arms, which have too often,
though ineffectually, been turned against itself by its un¬
generous enemies.
In this instance particularly, the copy is far below the
great original, both in the propriety of its images and the
orce of its descriptions. Our Holy Scriptures are the only
compositions that can enable the dim sight of mortality to
penetrate into the invisible world, and to behold a glimpse
0 le hhvme perfections. Accordingly, when they would
represent to us the happiness of heaven, they describe it,
!! ! > ^,any thing minute and particular, but by something
general and great,—something that, without descending
o any determinate object, may at once by its beauty and
I'nensity excite our wishes and elevate our affections.
iov0^1 mv Pr°phetical and evangelical writings the
tion nttend us in a future state are often men-
hv'1 n 1 ar<^ent admiration, they are expressed rather
y a usion than similitude, rather by indefinite and figu-
A L C 391
rative terms than by any thing fixed and determinate. Alcoran
| Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered II
into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre- Alcoy.
pared for them that love him.’ (1 Cor. ii. 9.) What a re-V^%^^
verence and astonishment does this passage excite in
every hearer of taste and piety ! What energy, and at the
same time what simplicity, in the expression! How su¬
blime, and at the same time how obscure, is the imagery!
“ Different was the conduct of Mahomet in his descrip¬
tions of heaven and of paradise. Unassisted by the neces¬
sary influence of virtuous intentions and divine inspiration,
he was neither desirous, nor indeed able, to exalt the minds
of men to sublime conceptions or to rational expectations.
By attempting to explain what is inconceivable, to describe
what is ineffable, and to materialize what in itself is spirit¬
ual, he absurdly and impiously aimed to sensualize the
purity of the Divine essence. " Thus he fabricated a sys¬
tem of incoherence, a religion of depravity, totally repug¬
nant indeed to the nature of that Being who, as he pretend¬
ed, was its object; but therefore more likely to accord with
the appetites and conceptions of a corrupt and sensual age.
“ That we may not appear to exalt our Scriptures thus
far above the Koran by an unreasonable preference, we
shall produce a part of the second chapter of the latter,
which is deservedly admired by the Mahometans, who
wear it engraved on their ornaments, and recite it in their
prayers. ‘ God ! there is no God but he ; the living, the
self-subsisting: neither slumber nor sleep seizeth on him:
to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven and on earth.
Who is he that can intercede with him but through his
good pleasure ? He knoweth that which is past, and that
which is to come. His throne is extended over heaven
and earth, and the preservation of both is to him no burden.
He is the high, the mighty.’” {Sales Kor. ii. p. 30.4to edit.)
Alcoran is also figuratively applied to certain other
books full of impieties and impostures. In this sense we
meet with the Alcoran of the Cordeliers, which has made
a great noise; wherein St Francis is extravagantly mag¬
nified, and put on a level with Jesus Christ. The Alcoran
of the Cordeliers is properly an extract of a very scarce
book, entitled The Conformity of the Life of the seraphi*
father St Francis with the Life of Christ, published in 1510,
4to ; since at Bologna in folio. Erasmus Albertus, being
by the elector of Brandenburg appointed to visit a monas¬
tery of Franciscans, found this book; and being struck
with the extreme folly and absurdity of it, collected a
number of curiosities out of it, and published them under
the title of the Alcoran of the Franciscans, with a preface
by Martin Luther.
ALCORANISTS, among Mahometans, those who ad¬
here strictly to the letter or text of the Alcoran, from an
opinion of its ultimate sufficiency and perfection. The
Persians are generally Alcoranists, as admitting the Alco¬
ran alone for their rule of faith. The. Turks, Tartars, Arabs,
&c. besides the Alcoran, admit a multitude of traditions.
The Alcoranists, among Mahometans, amount to much
the same with the Textuaries among the Jews. The
Alcoranists can find nothing excellent out of the Alcoran;
are enemies of philosophers, metaphysicians, and scholas¬
tic writers. With them the Alcoran is every thing.
ALCOVE, in Architecture, a recess, or part of a cham¬
ber separated by an estrade or partition of columns, and
other corresponding ornaments, in which is placed a bed
of state, and sometimes seats to entertain company. These
alcoves are frequent in Spain, and the bed is raised two or
three ascents, with a rail at the foot.
ALCOY, a Spanish city on the sea-coast, in the pro¬
vince of Valencia. It has one parish church, three monas¬
teries, and 14,600 inhabitants. It has a manufactory for
392
A L C
A L D
Alcuinus. fine cloth, a soap-boiling house, and a very large manufac-
tory for paper, which employs 48 mills.
ALCUINUS, Flaccus, an ecclesiastic of the eighth
century. He was born, it is supposed, in \ orkshire. He
was educated, however, at York, under the direction of
Archbishop Egbert, as we learn from his own letters, in
which he frequently calls that great prelate his beloved
master, and the clergy of York the companions of his
youthful studies. As he survived Venerable Bede about
70 years, it is hardly possible that he could have received
any part of his education under him, as some writers of
literary histoiy have affirmed; and it is worthy of obser¬
vation, that he never calls that great man his master,
though he speaks of him with the highest veneration. It
is not well known to what preferments he had attained in
the church before he left England, though some say he
was abbot of Canterbury. The occasion of his leaving his
native country was his being sent on an embassy by Offa,
king of Mercia, to the emperor Charlemagne, who contract¬
ed so great an esteem and friendship for him, that he ear¬
nestly solicited, and at length prevailed upon him, to settle
in his court, and become his preceptor in the sciences.
Alcuinus accordingly instructed that great prince in rhe¬
toric, logic, mathematics, and divinity, which rendered
him one of his greatest favourites. “ He was treated with
so much kindness and familiarity,” says a contemporary
writer, “ by the emperor, that the other courtiers called
him, by way of eminence, the emperors delight!' Charle¬
magne employed his learned favourite to write several
books against the heretical opinions of Felix, bishop of
Urgel, in Catalonia, and to defend the orthodox faith
against that heresiarch, in the council of Frankfort, a. d.
794; which he performed to the entire satisfaction of the
emperor and council, and even to the conviction of Felix
and his followers, who abandoned their errors. The em¬
peror consulted chiefly with Alcuinus on all things relat¬
ing to religion and learning, and by his advice did many
great things for the advancement of both. An academy
was established in the imperial palace, over which Alcuinus
presided, and in which the princes and prime nobility were
educated; and other academies were established in the
chief towns of Italy and France, at his instigation, and
under his inspection. “ France,” says one of our best
writers of literary history, “ is indebted to Alcuinus for all
the polite learning it boasted of in that and the following
ages. The universities of Paris, Tours, Fulden, Soissons,
and many others, owe to him their origin and increase,
those of whom he was not the superior and founder being
at least enlightened by his doctrine and example, and
enriched by the benefits he procured for them from Charle¬
magne.” After Alcuinus had spent many years in the
most intimate familiarity with the greatest prince of his
age, he at length, with great difficulty, obtained leave to
retire from court to his abbey of St Martin, at Tours.
Here he kept up a constantcorrespondenceby letters with
Charlemagne, from which it appears that both the empe¬
ror and his learned friend were animated with the most
ardent love to learning and religion, and constantly em¬
ployed in contriving and executing the noblest designs for
their advancement. He composed many treatises on a
great variety of subjects, in a style much superior in purity
and elegance to that of the generality of writers in the age
in which he flourished. Charlemagne often solicited him,
with all the warmth of a most affectionate friend, to return
to court, and favour him with his company and advice;
but he still excused himself, and nothing could draw him
from his retirement in his abbey of St Martin in Tours,
where he died a. d. 804. His works were collected and
published by Andrew du Chesne, in one volume folio,
urn
speedily send you my treatise on Glory,” has the following
woc?c*orro volo + inrr fine nAPair • ^ T-T<=» mPQnC- ? RflVS llP- ^ hlS
of the constellation Taurus. Its longitude is 6. 32.
Gemini, and its latitude 5. 29. 40. south.
Paris, 1617. They consist of, 1. Tracts upon Scripture;AkJ
2. Tracts upon doctrine, discipline, and morality; 3. His- 1
torical treatises, letters, and poems.. Since that edition A14U
there has been published an incredible number of tracts,^
poems, &c. ascribed to this author, most of which, in all
probability, were not his.
ALCYONIUM, an obsolete name of a submarine plant.
It is also used for a kind of coral or astroites, frequently
found fossil in England.
ALcromuM Stagnum, in Ancient Geography, a lake in
the territory of Corinth, whose depth was unfathomable,
and in vain attempted to be discovered by Nero. Through
this lake Bacchus is said to have descended to hell to
bring back Semele. (Pausanias.)
ALCYONIUS, Peter, a learned Italian, who flourished
in the 16th century. He was well versed in the Greek
and Latin tongues, and wrote some pieces of eloquence
which met with great approbation. He was corrector of
the press a considerable time for Aldus Manutius, and is
entitled to a share in the praises given to the editions of
that learned printer. He published a treatise concerning
banishment, which contained so many fine passages inter¬
mixed with others quite the reverse, that it was thought
he had tacked to something of his own, several fragments
of a treatise of Cicero de Gloria; and that afterwards, in
order to save himself from being detected in this theft, he
burnt the manuscript of Cicero, the only one extant. Pau-
lus Manutius, in his commentary upon these words of
Cicero, Libram tihi celeriter mittam de gloria, “ I will
passage relating to this affair: “ He means,” says he,1
two books on Glory, which were handed down to the age
of our fathers; for Bernard Justinian, in the index of his
books, mentions Cicero de Gloria. This treatise, however,
when Bernard had left his whole library to a nunnery,
could not be found, though sought after with great care;
nobody doubted but Peter Alcyonius, who, being physi¬
cian to the nunnery, was intrusted with the library, had
basely stolen it. And, truly, in his treatise of Banishment,
some things are fount! interspersed here and there, which
seem not to savour of Alcyonius, but of some higher au¬
thor.” The two orations he made after the taking of
Rome, wherein he represented very strongly the injustice
of Charles V. and the barbarity of his soldiers, were ex¬
cellent pieces. There is also an oration ascribed to him,
on the knights who died at the siege of Rhodes.
ALDBOROUGH, a market-town in the hundred of
Plomsgate, of the county of Suffolk. It returns two mem¬
bers to parliament, who are nominally chosen by the own¬
ers of burgage houses, but in fact by the marquis of Hert¬
ford. It is a poor place, chiefly inhabited by fishermen.
The markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It
is distant 94 miles from London. The population has been
as follows: in 1801, 804; in 1811,1060; and in 1921,1212.
Aedborough, a small town in the wapentake ot
Clare, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is on the river
Ouse, and was formerly a Roman station, called Isunum
Brigantium : near it are some remains of a druidical
temple. It returns two members to parliament, who are
nominally chosen by the occupiers of burgage tenures, but
really by the owner of them, now the duke of Newcastle.
The population has been as follows: in 1801, 445;>u
1811, 464 ; and in 1821, 484. It is 208 miles from London.
ALDEA del Rio, a town of Spain, on the Guadalquivir,
in the province of Cordova, with 3000 inhabitants.
ALDEBARAN, in Astronomy, a star of the first magni¬
tude, called in English the bull's eye, as making the e}^
A L D
v.iolm ALDERHOLM, an island of Sweden, formed by the
three arms of a river running through Gefle, a town of
^Idhjjn. Nordland, in Sweden, 80 miles north from Stockholm.
^ ^Here is a wharf, a repository for planks and deals, two
packing-houses, a large custom-house for taking toll of the
ships, an arsenal for cannon, and a granary.
ALDERMAN, in the British policy, a magistrate sub¬
ordinate to the lord-mayor of a city or town corporate.
The number of these magistrates is not limited, but is
more or less, according to the magnitude of the place. In
London there are 26, each having one of the wards of the
city committed to his care. This office is for life, so that
when one of them dies or resigns, a wardmote is called,
who return two persons, one of whom the lord-mayor and
aldermen choose to supply the vacancy. All the aider-
men are justices of the peace, by a charter of 15 Geo. II.
The aldermen of London, &c. are exempted from serving
inferior offices; nor shall they be put upon assizes, or serve
on juries, so long as they continue to be aldermen.
Alderman, among our Saxon ancestors, was a degree
of nobility answering to earl or count at present.
Alderman was also used in the time of King Edgar
for a judge or justice. Thus we meet with the titles of
aldermannus totius Anglice, aldermannus regis, comitatis,
civitatis, burgi, castelli, hundredi sive wapentac/iii, et no-
vmdecinwrum. According to Spelman, the aldermannus
totim Anglice seems to have been the same officer who was
afterwards styled capitalis justiciarius Anglice, or chief jus¬
tice of England; the aldermannus regis seems to have
been an occasional magistrate, answering to our justice of
assize; and the aldermannus comitalus, a magistrate who
held a middle rank between what was afterwards called the
earl and the sheriff: he sat at the trial of causes with the
bishop; the latter proceeding according to ecclesiastical
law, and the former declaring and expounding the com¬
mon law of the land.
ALDERNEY, an island in the British channel, subject
to the crown of Great Britain. It is about eight miles in
compass, and is separated from Cape la Hogue, in Nor¬
mandy, by a narrow strait, called the Race of Alderney,
which is a very dangerous passage in stormy weather, when
the two currents meet; otherwise it is safe, and has depth
of water for the largest ships. Through this strait the
Irench fleet made their escape after their defeat at La
Hogue in 1692. It is a healthful island, has but one
church, is fruitful both in corn and pasture, and is remark¬
able for a fine breed of cows. The inhabitants live to¬
gether in a town of the same name. It has but one har¬
bour, called Crabby, which is at a good distance from the
town, and is only fit for small vessels. To the west lie
the range of rocks called the Caskets, so dangerous to
mariners. Long. 2. 7. W. Lat. 49. 45. N.
ALDHELM, or Adelm, St, bishop of Shireburn in
the time of the Saxon Heptarchy. He is said to have
been the son of Kenred, brother to Ina, king of the West
^axons; but in the opinion of William of Malmesbury, his
ather was no more than a distant relation to the king.
Having received the first part of his education in the
school which one Maldulph, a learned Scot, had set up in
p e P*ace where Malmesbury now stands, he travelled into
lance and Italy for his improvement. At his return
mine he studied some time under Adrian, abbot of St
Augustin s, in Canterbury, the most learned professor of
e sciences who had ever been in England. In these
i ^rent seminaries he acquired a very uncommon stock
o n°wledge, and became famous for his learning, not
n y in England, but in foreign countries; whence several
earned men sent him their writings for his perusal and
rrection; particularly Prince Arcivil, a son of the king
A L D 393
of Scotland, who wrote many pieces, which he sent to Aldhelm
Aldhelm, “ entreating him to give them the last polish, II
by rubbing off their Scotch rust.” He was the first English- Aldred.
man who wrote in the Latin language, both in prose and'^’~v^v"/
verse, and composed a book for the instruction of his
countrymen in the prosody of that language. Besides
this, he wrote several other treatises on various subjects,
some of which are lost, and others published by Martin
Delrio and Canisius. Venerable Bede, who flourished in
the end of this and the beginning of the next century,
gives the following character of Aldhelm: “ He was a
man of universal erudition, having an elegant style, and
being wonderfully well acquainted with books, both on
philosophical and religious subjects.” In fact, considering
the cloud of ignorance by which he was surrounded, and
the great difficulty of acquiring knowledge without prpper
instruction, Aldhelm was a very extraordinary man. From
one of his letters to Hedda, bishop of Winchester, concern¬
ing the nature of his studies whilst at Canterbury, he ap¬
pears to have been indefatigably determined to acquire
every species of learning in his power. For a copy of this
curious epistle, see Henry’s History, vol. ii. p. 320. King
Alfred the Great declared that Aldhelm was the best of
all the Saxon poets; and that a favourite song, which was
universally sung in his time, near 200 years after its author’s
death, was of his composition. When he was abbot of
Malmesbury, having a fine voice, and great skill in music
as well as poetry, and observing the backwardness of his
barbarous countrymen to listen to grave instructions, he
composed a number of little poems, which he sung to them
after mass in the sweetest manner, by which they were
gradually instructed and civilized. After this excellent
person had governed the monastery of Malmesbury, of
which he was the founder, about 30 years, he was made
bishop of Shireburn, where he died A. d. 709.—He wrote,
1. De octo Vitiis principalibus. This treatise is extant in
the Bibliotheca Patrum of Canisius. 2. iEnigmatum versus
mille. This, with several others of his poems, was publish¬
ed by Martin Delrio at Mentz, 1601, 8vo. 3. A book
addressed to a certain king of Northumberland, named
Alfrid, on various subjects. 4. De Vita Monachorum. 5.
De Laude Sanctorum. 6. De Arithmetica. 7. De Astrolo-
gia. 8. A book against the mistake of the Britons con¬
cerning the celebration of Easter; printed by Sonius, 1576.
9. De Laude Virginitatis; manuscript, in Bennet College,
Cambridge; published among Bede’s Opuscula. Besides
many sonnets, epistles, and homilies in the Saxon lan¬
guage.
ALDPORT, an ancient name for Manchester.
ALDRED, abbot of Tavistock, was promoted to the
bishopric of Worcester in the year 1046. He was so
much in favour with King Edward the Confessor, and had
so much power over his mind, that he obliged him to be
reconciled with the worst of his enemies, particularly with
Sweyn, son of Earl Godwin, who had revolted against
him, and came with an army to invade the kingdom.
Aldred also restored the union and friendship between
King Edward and Griffith, king of Wales. He took after¬
wards a journey to Rome, and being returned into England,
in the year 1054 he was sent ambassador to the emperor
Henry II. He staid a whole year in Germany, and was
very honourably entertained by Herman, archbishop of
Cologne, from whom he learned many things relating to
ecclesiastical discipline, which on his return he establish¬
ed in his own diocese. In the year 1058 he went to Je¬
rusalem, which no archbishop or bishop of England had
ever done before him. Two years after, he returned to
England; and Kinsius, archbishop of York, dying the 22d
of December 1060, Aldred was elected in his stead on
3 D
394
A L D
A L D
Aldred. Christmas-day following, and was permitted to retain the
see of Worcester with the archbishopric of York, as some
of his predecessors had done. Aldred went soon after to
Rome, in order to receive the pall from the pope : he
was attended by Toston, earl of Northumberland, Giso,
bishop of Wells, and Walter, bishop of Hereford. The
pope received Toston very honourably, and made him sit
by him in the synod which he held against the simonists.
He granted to Giso and Walter their request, because
they were tolerably well learned, and not accused of
simony. But Aldred being by his answers found ignorant,
and guilty of simony, the pope deprived him very severely
of all his honours and dignities, so that he was obliged to
return without the pall. On the way home he and his
three fellow-travellers were attacked by some robbers,
who took from them all that they had, though they did not
offer to kill them. This obliged them to return to Rome;
■and the pope, either out of compassion, or by the threat-
■enings of the earl of Northumberland, gave Aldred the
pallium; but he was obliged to resign his bishopric of
Worcester. However, as the archbishopric of York had
been almost entirely ruined by the many invasions of
foreigners, King Edward gave the new archbishop leave
to keep 12 villages or manors which belonged to the
bishopric of Worcester. Edward the Confessor dying jn
1066, Aldred crowned Harold, his successor. He also
crowned William the Conqueror, after he had made him
take the following oath, viz. that he would protect the
holy churches of God and their leaders ; that he would
establish and observe righteous laws ; that he would en¬
tirely prohibit and suppress all rapines and unjust judg¬
ments. He was so much in favour with the Conqueror,
that this prince looked upon him as a father ; and though
imperious in regard to every body else, he yet submitted
to obey this archbishop. John Brompton gives us an in¬
stance of the king’s submission, which at the same time
shows the prelate’s haughtiness. It happened one day
as the archbishop was at York, that the deputy-governor
or lord-lieutenant, going out of the city with a great num¬
ber of people, met the archbishop’s servants, who came to
town with several horses and carts loaded with provisions.
The governor asked them to whom they belonged ; and
they having answered they wrere Aldred’s servants, the
governor ordered that all these provisions should be car¬
ried to the king’s storehouse. The archbishop sent im¬
mediately some of his clergy to the governor, command¬
ing him to deliver the provisions, and to make satisfaction
to St Peter, and to him the saint's vicar, for the injury he
had done them ; adding, that if he refused to comply, the
archbishop would make use of his apostolic authority
against him (intimating thereby that he would excom¬
municate him). The governor, offended at this proud
message, used the persons whom the archbishop had sent
him very ill, and returned an answer as haughty as the
message was. Aldred thereupon went to London to
make his complaint to the king; but in this very com¬
plaint he acted with his wonted insolence; for meeting
the king in the church of St Peter at Westminster, he
spoke to him in these words: “ Hearken, O William:
when thou wast but a foreigner, and God, to punish the
sins of this nation, permitted thee to become master of
it, after having shed a great deal of blood, I consecrated
thee, and put the crown upon thy head with blessings;
but now, because thou hast deserved it, I pronounce a
curse over thee, instead of a blessing, since thou art be¬
come the persecutor of God’s church, and of his ministers,
and hast broken the promises and the oaths which thou
madest to me before St Peter’s altar.” The king, ter¬
rified at this discourse, fell upon his knees, and, humbly
begged the prelate to tell him by what crime he had de- A
served so severe a sentence. The noblemen who were
present were enraged against the archbishop, and loudly
cried out he deserved death, or at least banishment, for^
having offered such an injury to his sovereign; and they
pressed him with threatenings to raise the king from the
ground. But the prelate, unmoved at all this, answered
calmly, “ Good men, let him lie there, for he is not at
Aldred’s but at St Peter’s feet; he must feel St Peter’s
power, since he dared to injure his vicegerent.” Having
thus reproved the nobles by his episcopal authority, he
vouchsafed to take the king by the hand, and to tell him
the ground of his complaint. The king humbly excused
himself, by saying he had been ignorant of the whole
matter; and begged of the noblemen to entreat the pre¬
late that he might take off the curse he had pronounced,
and to change it into a blessing. Aldred was at last pre¬
vailed upon to favour the king thus far ; but not without
the promise of several presents and favours, and only
after the king had granted him to take such a revenge on
the governor as he thought fit. Since that time (adds
the historian) none of the noblemen ever dared to offer
the least injury. It may be questioned which was more
surprising here, whether the archbishop’s haughtiness,
who dared to treat his sovereign after so unbecoming a
manner, or the king’s stupidity, who suffered such inso¬
lence and audaciousness from a priest. The Danes having
made an invasion in the north of England in the year
1068, under the conduct of Harold and Canute, the sons
of King Sweyn, Aldred was so much afflicted at it, that
he died of grief the 11th of September in that same year,
having besought God that he might not see the desola¬
tion of his church and country.
ALDRICH, Robert, bishop of Carlisle, was born at
Burnham, in Buckinghamshire, about the year 1493, and
educated at Eaton school, from whence, in 1507, he was
elected scholar of King’s College, Cambridge, where he
took his degree in arts, and was afterwards proctor of the
university. In 1525 he was appointed master of Eaton
school, then became fellow of that college, and finally
provost. In 1529 he went to Oxford, where, being first
incorporated bachelor of divinity, in the following year
he proceeded doctor in that faculty. In 1531 he-was
made archdeacon of Colchester, in 1534 canon of W ind¬
sor, and the same year registrary of the order of the
Garter. He was consecrated bishop of Carlisle in the
year 1537, and died at Horncastle in Lincolnshire in 1556.
He wrote, 1. Epistola ad Gul. Hormanum, in Latin verse,
printed in Herman’s Antibossicon, Lond. 1521, of which
book Pitts erroneously makes Aldrich the author; 2. Epi-
grammata varia; 3. Latin verses, and another epistle to
Horman, prefixed to the Vulgaria Puerorum of that au¬
thor, Lond. 1519, 4to; 4. Answers to certain queries
concerning the abuses of the mass, also about receiving
the sacrament.
Aldrich, Dr Henry, an eminent English divine and
philosopher, born at London in 1647, was educated at
Westminster school under the famous Dr Busby, and ad¬
mitted of Christ-church College, Oxford. He had a great
share in the controversy with the Papists in the reign of
James II.; and Bishop Burnet ranks him among those who
examined all the points of Popery with a solidity of judg¬
ment, clearness of argument, depth of learning, and viva¬
city of writing, far beyond any who had before that time
written in our language. He rendered himself so conspi¬
cuous, that at the Revolution, when Massey the Popis
dean of Christ-church fled, his deanery was conferred on
him. In this station he behaved in an exemplary man¬
ner, and that fabric owes much of its beauty to his mge-
A L D
Ak ch. nuity: it was Aldrich who designed the beautiful square
called Peckwater Quadrangle, w'hich is esteemed an ex¬
cellent piece of architecture. In imitation of his prede¬
cessor Dr Fell, he published yearly a piece of some an¬
cient Greek author, as a present to the students of his
house. He published a System of Logic, with some other
pieces; and the revising of Clarendon’s History of the Re¬
bellion was intrusted to him and Bishop Sprat. Besides
his preferments above mentioned, Dr Aldrich was also
rector of Wem, in Shropshire. He was chosen prolocutor
of the convocation in 1702. This worthy person died at
Christ-church on the 14th of December 1710. As to his
character, he was a most universal scholar, and had a
taste for all sorts of learning, especially architecture. Sir
John Hawkins has favoured the public with several parti¬
culars relative to Dr Aldrich’s skill in music; and on ac¬
count of the Doctor’s eminence in this respect, Sir John
ha$ given his life, with his head prefixed. His abilities
as a musician rank him,- we are told, among the greatest
masters of the science. He composed many services for
the church, which are well known; as are also his anthems,
nearly to the number of 20. He adapted, with great skill
and judgment, English words to many of the notes of Pales¬
trina, Carissimi, \ ictoria, and other Italian composers for
the church, some of which are frequently sung in our ca¬
thedrals as anthems. By the happy talent which Dr
Aldrich possessed, of naturalizing the compositions of the
old Italian masters, and accommodating them to an Eng¬
lish ear, he increased the stores of our own church.
Though the Doctor chiefly applied himself to the culti¬
vation of sacred music, yet being a man of humour, he
could divert himself by producing pieces of a lighter
kind. There are two catches of his, the one, Hark the
bonny Christ-church Bells; the other, entitled A Smok¬
ing Catch, to be sung by four men smoking their pipes,
which is not more difficult to sing than diverting to hear.
His love of smoking was, it seems, so excessive, as to be
an entertaining topic of discourse in the university. Such
was Dr Aldrich’s regard for the advancement of music,
and the honour of its professors, that he had formed a
design of writing a history of the science ; and the mate-
nals from which he proposed to compile it are yet extant
in the library of his own college. It appears from these
materials that he had marked down ev©ry thing which
lie had met with concerning music and musicians, but
that he had brought no part of them into any kind of
ir^r A!drich’s some note as a Latin poet. In the
Musa Anglicanm we find two elegant copies of verses by
him; one on the accession of King William III., and the
other on the death of the duke of Gloucester. Sir John
Hawkins has preserved a humorous translation by him of
the well-known English ballad,
A soldier and a sailor,
A tinker and a tailor, &c.
'The following epigram, entitled “ Causm Bibendi,” is
likewise ascribed to Dr Aldrich
A L D
Indeed he is always spoken of as having been a man of Aldrov
395
Sx bene quid memini. Causae sunt quinque bibendi ;
Hospitis Adventus, praesens Sitis, ntquefutura,
• * ^ini Bonitas’ aut quasKbet altera Causa.
Ine epigram has been thus translated:—
H°n my theme I rightly think,
-there are five reasons why men drink;
Lood wine, a friend, because I’m dry,
Hr lest I should be by and by,
Or any other reason why.
dpJtH trans]at'on is not equal to the original. It is evi-'
rich ’!01Vhe verses cited and referred to, that Dr Ald-
s* o a veiy cheerful and pleasant turn of mind.
wit, and as one who' to his great talents and virtues
joined those amiable qualities which rendered him the
object of general affection, as well as of general esteem
and respect. Having never been married, he appropriated (
his income to works of hospitality and beneficence, and
encouraging learning to the utmost of his power, of which
he was a most magnificent patron, as well as one of the
greatest men in England, if considered as a Christian or a
gentleman. He had always the interest of his college at
heart, whereof he was an excellent governor. His mo¬
desty and humility prevented him from prefixing his name
to the learned tracts which he published during his life.
At his death he wished to be buried in the cathedral,"
without any memorial; which his thrifty nephew complied
with, depositing him on the south side of Bishop Fell’s
grave, December 22, eight days after his decease, which
happened in the 63d or 64th year of his age.
ALDROVANDUS, Ulysses, professor of philosophy
and physic at Bologna, the place of his nativity. He was
a most curious inquirer into natural history, and travelled
into the most distant countries on purpose to inform him¬
self of their natural productions. Minerals, metals, plants,
and animals, were the objects of his curious researches;
but he applied himself chiefly to birds, and was at a great
expense to have figures of them drawn from the life. Au-
bert le Mire says, that he gave a certain painter, famous
in that art, a yearly salary of 200 crowns, for 30 years and
upwards; and that he employed at his own expense Lo¬
renzo Bennini and Cornelius Swintus, as well as the fa¬
mous engraver Christopher Coriolanus. These expenses
ruined his fortune, and at length reduced him to the ut¬
most necessity; and it is said that he died blind in an
hospital at Bologna, at a great age, in 1605. Mr Bayle
observes, that antiquity does not furnish us with an in¬
stance of a design so extensive and so laborious as that of
Aldrovandus, with regard to natural history; that Pliny
has treated of more kinds of subjects, but only touches
lightly on them, saying but a little upon any thing, where¬
as Aldrovandus has collected all he could meet with.
His compilation, or that compiled upon his plan, consists
of 13 volumes in folio, several of which were printed after
his death. He himself published his Ornithology, or His¬
tory of Birds, in three folio volumes, in 1599; and his
seven books of Insects, which make another volume of the
same size. The volume of Serpents, three of Quadrupeds,
one of Fishes, that of exanguious Animals, the History of
Monsters, with the Supplement to that of Animals, the
Treatise of Metals, and the Dendrology or History of
Trees, were published at several times after the death of
Aldrovandus, by the care of different persons; and Al¬
drovandus is the sole author only of the first six volumes
of this work, the rest having been finished and compiled
by others, upon the plan of Aldrovandus,—a most exten¬
sive plan, wherein he not only relates what he has read in
naturalists, but remarks also what historians have written,
legislators ordained, and poets feigned. Fie explains also
the different uses which may be made of the things he
treats of, in common life, in medicine, architecture, and
other arts; in short, he speaks of morality, proverbs, de¬
vices, riddles, hieroglyphics, and many other things which
relate to his subject.
ALDSTON-MOOR, a market-town of the Ward of
Leath, in the county of Cumberland. It is on the banks
of the Tyne, in a picturesque district, abounding in
mines of lead, whose produce is shipped from Hexham.
It is 302 miles from London. The market is held on a
Saturday. The population has been as follows : in 1801.
3626; in 1811, 5079; and in 1821, 5699.
an-
dus
II
Aldston-
Moor.
ALE
ALE
ALE, a fermented liquor obtained from an infusion of
malt, and differing from beer chiefly in having a less pro¬
portion of hops. This liquor, the natural substitute of
wine in such countries as could not produce the grape,
is said to have originally been made in Egypt, the first
planted kingdom, on the dispersion from the East, that
was supposed unable to produce grapes. And, as the
Noachian colonies pierced further into the west, they
found, or thought they found, the same defect, and sup¬
plied it in the same manner. Thus the natives of Spain,
the inhabitants of France, and the aborigines of Britain,
all used an infusion of barley for their ordinary liquor;
and it was called by the various names of Calia and Ge-
ria in the first country, Cerevisia in the second, and Cur-
mi in the last; all literally importing only the strong
water.
“ All the several nations,” says Pliny, “ who inhabit the
west of Europe, have a liquor with which they intoxicate
themselves, made of corn and water. The manner of
making this liquor is sometimes different in Gaul, Spain,
and other countries, and is called by many various names ;
but its nature and properties are everywhere the same.
The people of Spain, in particular, brew the liquor so well
that it will keep good a long time. So exquisite is the
cunning of mankind in gratifying their vicious appetites,
that they have thus invented a method to make water it¬
self intoxicate.” The method in which the ancient Bri¬
tons and other Celtic nations made their ale is thus de¬
scribed by Isidorus and Orosius : “ The grain is steeped
in water and made to germinate, by which its spirits are
excited and set at liberty; it is then dried and grinded ;
after which it is infused in a certain quantity of water;
which, being fermented, becomes a pleasant, warming,
strengthening, and intoxicating liquor.” This ale was most
commonly made of barley, but sometimes of wheat, oats,
and millet.
Anciently the Welsh and Scots had also two kinds of
ale, called common ale and spiced ale ; and their value was
thus ascertained by law: “ If a farmer hath no mead, he
shall pay two casks of spiced ale, or four casks of common
ale, for one cask of mead.” By this law, a cask of spiced
ale, nine palms in height and eighteen palms in diameter,
was valued at a sum of money equal in efficacy to L.7. I Os.
of our present money; and a cask of common ale of the
same dimensions at a sum equal to L.3. 15s. This is a
sufficient proof that even common ale at that period was
an article of luxury among the Welsh, which could only
be obtained by the great and opulent. Wine seems to
have been quite unknown even to the kings of Wales at
that period, as it is not so much as once mentioned in their
laws; though Giraldus Cambrensis, who flourished about
a century after the Conquest, acquaints us that there was
a vineyard in his time at Maenarper, near Pembroke, in
South Wales.
Ale wTas the favourite liquor of the Anglo-Saxons and
Danes, as it had been of their ancestors the ancient Ger¬
mans. Before their conversion to Christianity, they believ¬
ed that drinking large and frequent draughts of ale was
one of the chief felicities which those heroes enjoyed who
were admitted into the hall of Odin. See Brewing, and
Licensing.
Medicated Ales, those wherein medicinal herbs havebeen
infused or added during the fermentation.
Gill Ale is that in which the dried leaves of gill or
ground-ivy have been infused. It is esteemed abstersive
and vulnerary, and consequently good in disorders of the
breast and obstructions of the viscera.
Ale-Conner, an officer in London, who inspects the
measures used in public houses. There are four ale-con-
ners, who are all chosen by the liverymen in common-hall Ale.! er
on Midsummer-day.
Ale-Silver, a tax paid annually to the lord-mayor of Ale
London by all who sell ale within the city. majL
ALE A, in Roman Antiquity, denotes in general all man-^ J
ner of games of chance, but, in a more restricted sense,
was used for a particular game played with dice and tables,
not unlike our backgammon.
ALEANDER, Jerome, cardinal and archbishop of
Brindisi, was born in 1480, and distinguished himself at
the beginning of the Reformation by the opposition he
made to Luther ; for being sent into Germany as the pope’s
nuncio in 1519, he acted, as occasion served, in the cha¬
racter of both ambassador and doctor, and declaimed
three hours together against Luther’s doctrine before the
diet at Worms, but could not prevent that celebrated re¬
former from being heard in that diet. He published seve¬
ral works, and died at Rome in 1542.
Aleander, Jerome, nephew of the former, a learned
man of the seventeenth century, born in the principality
of Friuli, of the same family with the preceding. When
he went to Rome, he was employed as secretary under
Cardinal Octavius Bandini, and discharged this office with
great honour for almost twenty years. He afterwards,
by the persuasion of Urban VIII., who had a great esteem
for him, became secretary to Cardinal Barberini, whom
he accompanied to Rome when he went thither in the cha¬
racter of legate a latere, and in whose service he died in
1631. He was one of the first members of the Academy
of Humorists, wrote a learned treatise in Italian on the
device of the society, and displayed his genius on many
different subjects. Barberini gave him a magnificent fu¬
neral at the academy of Humorists; the academists carried
his corpse to the grave, and Caspar de Simeonibus, one
of the members, made his funeral oration.
ALECTO, one of the Furies, daughter of Acheron and
Night, or, as others would have it, of Pluto and Proserpine.
ALECTORIA, a stone said to be formed in the gall¬
bladder of old cocks, to which the ancients ascribed many
fabulous virtues. This is otherwise called Alectorius lapis,
sometimes Alectorolithos, in English the cock-stone. Ihe
more modern naturalists hold the alectorius lapis to be ori¬
ginally swallowed down, not generated in, the stomach
and gizzards of cocks and capons. It is known that manv
of the fowl kind make a practice of swallowing pebbles,
wdiich are supposed to be of service in the business of tri¬
turation and digestion.
ALECTOROMANTIA, in Antiquity, a species of di¬
vination performed by means of a cock. This is otherwise
called Alectryomancy, of which there appear to havebeen
different species. But that most spoken of by authors was
in the following manner: a circle was described on the
ground, and divided into twenty-four equal portions; in
each of these species was written one of the letters of1
alphabet, and on each of the letters was laid a grain o
wheat; after which, a cock being turned loose jn ^ e
circle, particular notice was taken of the grains picked up
by the cock, because, the letters under them, being loim
ed into a word, made the answer desired. It was t us,
according to Zonaras, thatLibanius and Jamblicus sougi
who should succeed the emperor Valens; and the cocj
eating the grains answering to the spaces ©EGA, s^v^r‘^
whose names began with those letters, as Theo o us,
Theodistes, Theodulus, &c. were put to death ; whic _ 1
not hinder, but promote Theodosius, to the successio_.
But the story, however current, is but ill supporte •
has been called in question by some, and refuted by °^.e ’
from the silence of Marcellinus, Socrates, and other is
rians of that time.
ALE
ie ' ALEE, in the sea-language, a term only used when the
wind, crossing or flanking the line of a ship’s course,
D’im. presses upon the masts and sails so as to make her incline
b'' to one side, which is called the lee-side. Hence, when the
^ is moved over to this side, it is said to be alee, or
hard-(dee.
ALEGRETTE, a small town of Portugal, in Alentejo,
on the confines of Port Alegre, on the river Caja, which
falls into the Guadiana a little below Badajos, near the
frontiers of Spanish Estremadura. It is a very pretty
town, and finely situated ; seven miles south-east of Port
Alegre, and thirty north of Elvas. Long. 5. 20. W. Lat.
39. 6. N.
ALEUTS Campus, in Ancient Geography, a plain in
Cilicia, on this side the river Pyramus, near the mountain
Chimera, famous for Bellerophon’s wandering and perish¬
ing there, after being thrown off Pegasus; which is the
reason of the appellation.
ALEMANIA, or Allemania, in Ancient Geography,
a name of Germany, but not known before the time of
the Antonines, and then used only for a part. After the
Marcomanni and their allies had removed from the Rhine,
a rabble or collection of people from all parts of Gaul, as
the term Alemanni denotes, prompted either by levity or
poverty, occupied the lands, called Decumates by Tacitus,
because they held them on a tithe ; now supposed to be
the duchy of Wirtemberg. Such appear to have been the
small beginnings of Alemania, which was in after-times
greatly enlarged; but still it was considered as a distinct
part; for Caracalla, who conquered the Alemanni, assum¬
ed the surname both of Alemannicus and Germanicus.
ALEMBDAR, an officer in the court of the Grand
Signior, who bears the green standard of Mahomet when
the sultan appears in public on any solemn occasion.
ALEMBERT, Jean le Rond d’, an eminent French
philosopher, was born at Paris in 1717. He derived the
name of Jean le Rond from that of the church near which,
after his birth, he was exposed as a foundling. His
father, informed of this circumstance, listened to the voice
of nature and duty, took measures for the proper educa¬
tion of his child, and for his future subsistence in a state of
ease and independence.
He received his first education in the College of the
Four Nations, among the Jansenists, where he gave early
marks of capacity and genius. In the first year of his
philosophical studies he composed a Commentary on the
Epistle of St Paul to the Romans. The Jansenists con¬
sidered this production as an omen that portended to the
party of Port-Royal a restoration to some part of their
ancient splendour, and hoped to find one day in M. d’Alem¬
bert a second Pascal. To render this resemblance more
complete, they engaged their rising pupil in the study of
the mathematics; but they soon perceived that his grow¬
ing attachment to this science was likely to disappoint the
hopes they had formed with respect to his future destina¬
tion : they therefore endeavoured to divert him from this
hne; but their endeavours were fruitless.
On his leaving college, he found himself alone and un¬
connected with the world; and sought an asylum in the
house of his nurse. He comforted himself with the hope
that his fortune, though not ample, would better the con¬
dition and subsistence of that family, which was the only
one that he could consider as his own. Here, therefore,
ic took up his residence, resolving to apply himself entire-
y to the study of geometry; and here he lived, during the
space of forty years, with the greatest simplicity, discover¬
ing the augmentation of his means only by increasing dis¬
plays of his beneficence, concealing his growing reputation
nnd celebrity from these honest people, and making their
ALE
397
plain and uncouth manners the subject of good-natured D’Alem-
pleasantiy and philosophical observation. His good nurse bert.
perceived his ardent activity, heard him mentioned asthe^-^^^^
writer of many books, but never took it into her head that
he was a great man, and rather beheld him with a kind of
compassion. “ You will never,” said she to him one day,
he any thing hut a philosopher—and what is a philosopher ?
—a fool, who toils and plagues himself during his life, that
people may talk of him when he is no more.”
As M. d’Alembert’s fortune did not far exceed the de¬
mands of necessity, his friends advised him to think of a
profession that might enable him to augment it. He ac¬
cordingly turned his views to the law, and took his degrees
in that line ; but soon abandoned this plan, and applied to
the study of medicine. Geometry, however, was always
drawing him back to his former pursuits ; and after many
ineffectual efforts to resist its attractions, he renounced all
views of a lucrative profession, and give himself over en¬
tirely to mathematics and poverty.
In the year 1741 he was admitted member of the Aca¬
demy of Sciences; for which distinguished literary pro¬
motion, at such an early age, he had prepared the way by
correcting the errors of a celebrated work,1 which was i The
deemed classical in France in the line of geometry. He lyseDemon-
afterwards set himself to examine, with deep attention and tde of
assiduity, what must be the motion of a body which passes Beniau.
from one fluid into another more dense, in a direction not
perpendicular to the surface separating the two fluids.
Every one knows the phenomenon which happens in this
case, and which amuses children under the denomina¬
tion of Ducks and Drakes ; but M. d’Alembert was the
first who explained it in a satisfactory and philosophical
manner.
Two years after his election to a place in the academy
he published his treatise on Dynamics. The new prin¬
ciple developed in this treatise consisted in establishing
equality, at each instant, between the changes that the
motion of a body has undergone, and the forces or powers
which have been employed to produce them; or, to ex¬
press the thing otherwise, in separating into two parts the
action of the moving powers, and considering the one as
producing alone the motion of the body in the second in¬
stant, and the other as employed to destroy that which it
had in the first.
So early as the year 1744, M. d’Alembert had applied
this principle to the theory of the equilibrium, and the
motion of fluids; and all the problems before solved by
geometricians became in some measure its corollaries.
The discovery of this new principle was followed by that
of a new calculus, the first trials of which were published
in a Discourse on the General Theory of the Winds, to which
the prize-medal was adjudged by the academy of Berlin
in the year 1746, and which was a new and brilliant addi¬
tion to the fame of M. d’Alembert.
He availed himself of the favourable circumstance of the
king of Prussia having just terminated a glorious campaign
by an honourable peace, and in allusion to this, dedicated
his work to that prince in the three following Latin
verses:—
Hcec ego de ventis, dum ventorum ocyor alls
Palantes agit Austriacos Fredericus, et orM,
Jnsignis lauro, rarntim prcctendit vlivce.
Swifter than wind, while of the winds I write,
The foes of conquering Frederick speed their flight;
While laurel o’er the hero’s temple bends,
To the tir’d world the olive branch he sends.
This flattering dedication procured the philosopher a
polite letter from Frederick, and a place among his literary
friends.
398
ALE
ALE
D’Alem. In the year 1747 D’Alembert applied his new calculus
bert. of Partial Differences to the problem of vibrating chords,
the solution of which, as well as the theory of the oscil¬
lation of the air and the propagation of sound, had been
given but incompletely by the geometricians who preceded
him, and these were his masters or his rivals.
In the year 1749 he furnished a method of applying his
principles to the motion of any body of a given figure;
and he solved the problem of the precession of the equi¬
noxes, determined its quantity, and explained the pheno¬
menon of the nutation of the terrestrial axis, discovered by
Dr Bradley.
In 1752 M. d’Alembert published a treatise on the
Resistance of Fluids, to which he gave the modest title of
an Essay, but which contains a multitude of original ideas
and new observations. About the same time he published,
in the Memoirs of the Academy of V>ev\m, Researches con¬
cerning the Integral Calculus, which is greatly indebted to
him for the rapid progress it has made in the present cen¬
tury.
While the studies of M. d’Alembert were confined to
geometry, he was little known or celebrated in his native
country. His connections were limited to a small society
of select friends: he had never seen any man in high office
except Messrs d’Argenson. Satisfied with an income
which furnished him with the necessaries of life, he did
not aspire after opulence or honours, nor had they been
hitherto bestowed upon him, as it is easier to confer them
on those who solicit them, than to look out for men who
deserve them. His cheerful conversation, his smart and
lively sallies, a happy knack at telling a story, a singular
mixture of malice of speech with goodness of heart, and
of delicacy of wit with simplicity of manners, rendered
him a pleasing and interesting companion; and his com¬
pany, consequently, was much sought after in the fashion¬
able circles. His reputation at length made its way to
the throne, and rendered him the object of royal atten¬
tion and beneficence. He received also a pension from
government, which he owed to the friendship of Count
d’Argenson.
The tranquillity of M. d’Alembert was abated when his
fame grew more extensive, and when it was known be¬
yond the circle of his friends, that a fine and enlightened
taste for literature and philosophy accompanied his ma¬
thematical genius. Our author’s eulogist ascribes to envy,
detraction, and to other motives equally ungenerous, all
the disapprobation, opposition, and censure thatM. d’Alem¬
bert met with on account of the publication of the famous
Encyclopedical Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, in con¬
junction with Diderot. None surely will refuse the well-
deserved tribute of applause to the eminent displays of
genius, judgment, and true literary taste, with which M.
d’Alembert has enriched the great work now mentioned.
Among others, the Preliminary Discourse which he has
affixed to it, concerning the rise, progress, connections, and
affinities of all the branches of human knowledge, is perhaps
one of the first productions of which the philosophy of the
present age can boast, and will be regarded as a striking
specimen of just arrangement and sound criticism, and
also as a model of accurate thinking and elegant wx-iting.
Some time after this D’Alembert published his Philo¬
sophical, Historical, and Philological Miscellanies. These
were followed by the Memoirs of Christina, Queen of
Sweden, in which M. d’Alembert showed that he was ac¬
quainted with the natural rights of mankind, and was bold
enough to assert them. His Essay on the LUercourse of
Men of Letters with Persons high in Rank and Office
wounded the former to the quick, as it exposed to the
eyes of the public the ignominy of those servile chains
which they feared to shake off or were proud to wear. A D’ \
lady of the court hearing one day the author accused of be
having exaggerated the despotism of the great, and thev^s
submission they require, answered slyly, If he had consulted
me, I would have told him still more of the matter.
M. d’Alembert gave very elegant specimens of his li¬
terary abilities in his translations of some select pieces of
Tacitus. But these occupations did not divert him from
his mathematical studies; for about the same time he en¬
riched the Encyclopedic with a multitude of excellent
articles in that line, and composed his Researches on seve¬
ral important points of the System of the World, in which
he carried to a higher degree of perfection the solution of
the problem of the perturbations of the planets, that had
several years before been presented to the Academy.
In 1759 he published his Elements of Philosophy; a
work extolled as remarkable for its precision and perspi-
cuity; in which, however, are some tenets, relative both
to metaphysics and moral science, that are far from being
admissible.
The resentment that was kindled, and the disputes
that followed it, by the article Geneva, inserted in the
Encyclopedic, are well known. M. d’Alembert did not
leave this field of controversy with flying colours. Voltaire
was an auxiliary in the contest; but as, in point of can¬
dour and decency, he had no reputation to lose, and as he
weakened the blow of his enemies by throwing both them
and the spectators into fits of laughter, the issue of the
war gave him little uneasiness. It fell more heavily on
D’Alembert, and exposed him, even at home, to much
contradiction and opposition.
It was on this occasion that the late king of Prussia of¬
fered him an honourable asylum at his court, and the place
of president of his academy; and was not offended at his
refusal of these distinctions, but cultivated an intimate
friendship with him during the rest of his life. He had
refused, some time before this, a proposal made by the
empi*ess of Russia to intrust him with the education of the
grand duke ; a proposal accompanied with all the flatter¬
ing offers that could tempt a man ambitious of titles or
desirous of making an ample fortune; but the objects of
his ambition were tranquillity and study.
In the year 1765 he published his Dissertation on the
Destruction of the Jesuits. This piece drew upon him a
swarm of adversaries, who confirm the merit and credit of
his work by their manner of attacking it.
Besides the works already mentioned, he published nine
volumes of memoirs and treatises under the title of Opus¬
cules, in which he has solved a multitude of problems re¬
lative to astronomy, mathematics, and natural philosophy;
of which our panegyrist gives a particular account, more
especially of those whiclx exhibit new subjects, or new
methods of investigation.
He published also Elements of Music, and rendered at
length the system of Rameau intelligible; but he did not
think the mathematical theory of the sonorous body suffi¬
cient to account for the rules of that art. He was always
fond of music; which, on the one hand, is connected with
the most subtile and learned researches of rational me¬
chanics ; while, on the other, its power over the senses
and the soul exhibits to philosophers phenomena no less
singular, and still more inexplicable.
In the year 1772 he was chosen secretary to the
French academy. He formed, soon after this preferment,
the design of writing the lives of all the deceased acade¬
micians from 1700 to 1772; and in the space of three
years he executed this design, by composing 70 eulogies.
M. d’Alembert died on tlxe 29th of October 1783.
There were many amiable lines of candour, modesty, dis*
ALE
ALE
399
Aledc interestedness, and beneficence, in his moral character; Tagus. As this province presents a frontier to Snain it is
which are described, With a diffusive detail, in his eloge, by most abundantly provided with fortified places which if in vi-Si
Ale: jo. M. Condorcet, Hist, de VAcad. Royale des Sciences, 1783. a good state and well garrisoned, would become formidable
^ ^ ALEMBIC, a chemical vessel, usually made of glass or auxiliaries in either offensive or defensive warfare • but in
copper, formerly used for distillation. The bottom part, the late invasion by the armies of France, they were found
which contained the subject for distillation, is called, from to be of little practical benefit. This province is between
its shape, the cucurbit; the upper part, which receives and 37. 20. and 39. 34. north latitude.
condenses the steam, is called the head, the beak of which ALEPPO, or Halab, a town of Syria, the capital of a
is fitted into the neck of a receiver. Retorts, and the pachalic, of which the limits are not exactly defined, is si-
common worm still, are now more generally employed. tuated in the vast plain which extends from the Orontes
ALEMBROTH, in the writings of the alchemists, a to the Euphrates, and which towards the south terminates
word used for a sort of fixed alkaline salt, which had the in the desert. It is built on eight hills or eminences, and is
power of the famous alkahest, in dissolving bodies, open- intersected by the Kowick, which in winter swells into a
ing the pores of most or all known substances, and thence, large stream, overflowing its bridges, and the neighbouring
as well as by destroying sulphurs, promoting the separa- gardens which cover its banks. This river terminates 18
tion of metals from their ores. It is also used for a com- miles beyond Aleppo, in a morass which is haunted by
pound of corrosive mercury and sal ammoniac. wild boars and pelicans. The city itself is above 3i miles
ALENCON, an arrondissement in the department of in circumference, and is surrounded by an ancientWong
the Orne, in the north-west of France, comprehending an stone-wall and ditch. Including the suburbs, the city is
extent of 416 square miles, or 266,240 English acres. It about 7 or 8 miles in compass. The wall is’flanked by
is divided into six cantons, in which are 72,418 inhabitants, frequent towers ; but the ditch is partly filled up with
The capital bears the same name. It stands on the river rubbish or occupied by kitchen-gardens, and the city
Sarthe, and contains 13,230 inhabitants, who are employed being commanded by the adjacent heights, is entirely in-
in manufactures of iron, glass, leather, and some other goods, defensible. The town has nine gates, all known by different
It is in long. 0.10. E. lat. 48. 26. N. names. On one of the hills on which the city is built,
ALENIO, Julius, a Jesuit, born at Brescia, in the re- and on its north-east corner, is a castle seated on a mount,
public of Venice. He travelled into the eastern coun- This mount is of a conic form, which seems in a great
tries, and arrived at Macao in 1610, where he taught measure to be raised with the earth thrown up out of a
mathematics. From thence he went to the empire of deep broad ditch which surrounds it. The castle is entered
China, where he continued to propagate the Christian re- from the south by a bridge of seven lofty narrow arches
ligion for 36 years. He was the first who planted the thrown over the ditch, on which are two gates fortified
faith in the province of Xansi, and he built several churches by turrets, and two more still higher on the hill. Aleppo
in the province of Fokien. He died in August 1649, leav- is esteemed the fourth city of the Ottoman empire,
ing behind him several works in the Chinese language. only exceeded by Constantinople, Cairo, and Damascus!
ALENTEJO, one of the provinces into which the king- It appeared to Mr Buckingham, who visited it in 1816,
dom of Portugal is divided, deriving its name from its situ- to be one of the best built of all the cities in the
ation on the banks of the Tagus, in the Portuguese lan- East that he had seen. In the regularity of the streets,
guage Tejo. On the north it is bounded by the Portu- the aspect of the houses, and also in cleanliness, it was
guese Estremadura and Begra; on the east by Spanish decidedly superior to the generality of Turkish towns.
Estremadura and Andalusia; on the south by Algarve; The houses are large and commodious, having terraces
and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, except in that on their tops, on which the inhabitants sleep in sum-
part where the district of St Ubes, which is a port of mer, and generally sky-lights in form of a dome to let
lortuguese Estremadura, interposes betwixt it and the the light into the rooms, which, from their loftiness, the
sea. Its extent is 883 square leagues, and in 1798 the gilding on the window-shutters, cupboard doors, &c. have
number of its inhabitants was 380,480. It is the largest at first entrance a very grand and agreeable effect. They
province m the kingdom. Its surface is very unequal: are all so equal in height, that there are seldom any steps
towards Spanish Estremadura the soil is moderately fruit- to ascend or descend in going from one house to another;
ml, but towards Algarve the country is covered with ex- while several large vaulted streets increase the facility of
ensive forests of oak, cork, holm, and other trees, espe- communication, by affording a passage to every part of the
cia ly on the northern sides of the Sierras de Monchique city free from the embarrassment of the open streets. They
and Uldeiraon. The climate is considered unhealthful, are carefully paved, have two commodious footpaths, six
especially in the summer months, when the waters, which inches high on each side, and the middle of the street is
are a iindant, become stagnant. The province produces laid with brick, the small end upwards, for the conveni*
abundance of cattle; it yields more wheat than it con- ence of the horses.
sumes, and in part supplies Lisbon with that necessary. The mosques in Aleppo are numerous, and seven or
grows sufficient wine for its own consumption, but is eight of them are considered handsome, though none has
ccient in oil, which is occasionally supplied from Spanish more than a single minaret or steeple. They are built
s remadura and Andalusia. The natural boundary, on the of freestone, with a dome in the middle, which is covered
Q,.e 0 bpain, is the river Guadiana ; but the territory of with lead. The members of the Greek, Arminian, Syrian,
ivenza, extending over 110 square leagues, on the east- and Maronite communions have each a church ; and the
side of that river, has, ever since the thirteenth cen- Europeans formerly had four small convents ; but in 1807
uryj een a part of Portugal; and the possession of it has there was only one, containing nine Italian monks. Before
wn and still is an object of greater jealousy to the two each of them is an area, with a fountain in the middle,
ions, than its value to either will justify. The only designed for ablutions before prayers; and behind some of
vers of this province which empty themselves into the the larger there are little gardens. There are about twenty
near VR6 6 ^aSus the Odemira : the latter enters it large khans or caravansaries, consisting of a capacious
f r .1 a k°va de Milfontes, and is navigable five leagues square, on all sides of which are rooms, built on the ground-
oni its mouth to the town of its own name. The other floor, usedoccasionallyforchambers,warehouses, orstables.
cams run, some to the Guadiana, and the others to the Above stairs there is a colonnade or gallery on every side,
400 ALE
ALE
Aleppo, in which are the doors of a number of small rooms, where-
in the merchants, as well strangers as natives, transact
most of their business. Numerous coffee-houses are seen
in all parts, some large and handsome, with a fountain in
the middle, and a gallery for musicians. They are greatly
frequented, and by persons of the highest rank.
The bazars or market-places are long, covered, narrow
streets, on each side of which is a great number of small
shops, just sufficient to hold the tradesman and his goods,
the buyer being obliged to stand without. Each separate
branch of business has a particular bazar, which is locked
up, as well as the streets, an hour and a half after sunset.
This city is in itself one of the most agreeable in Syria, and
is a trading and bustling place; and, owing to the great re¬
sort of Europeans, is considered by Mr Buckingham to be
more than 100 years in advance of the other parts of Syria.
On whatever side it is approached, its numerous minarets
and domes present an agreeable prospect to the eye, fa¬
tigued with the continued sameness of the brown and parch¬
ed plains. In the centre is an artificial mountain surround¬
ed by a dry ditch, on which is a ruinous fortress. From
hence we have a fine prospect of the whole city. To the
north we discover the snowy mountains of Bailan, and on
the west those which separate the Orontes from the sea,
while to the south and east the eye can see as far as the
Euphrates. In the time of Omar this castle stopped the
progress of the Arabs for several months, and was at last
taken by treachery; but at present it would not be able to
resist the feeblest assault. Its slight wall, low and with¬
out a buttress, is in ruins; its little old towers are in no
better condition ; and it has not four cannons fit for service,
not excepting a culverine nine feet long, taken from the
Persians at the siege of Bassora. Three hundred and
fifty janizaries, who should form the garrison, are busy in
their shops. Within the walls of the castle is a well, which,
by means of a subterraneous communication, derives its
water from a spring a league and a quarter distant. In the
environs of the city we find a number of large square
stones, on the top of which is a turban of stone, which are
so many tombs. Aleppo may be considered the emporium
of Armenia and Diarbekir. Four caravans annually pro¬
ceed through Natolia to Constantinople, and others arrive
from Bagdad and Bassora with coffee from Mocha, and
with muslins, shawls, and other goods from India. Cara¬
vans are sent also to Medina and Mecca, with which
places a regular intercourse is maintained. The commerce
with Europe is principally carried on from Scanderoon and
Latakia, on the sea-coast. The chief commodities export¬
ed are, raw or spun cottons, clumsy linens fabricated in the
villages, silk stuffs manufactured in the city, copper, bourres
(coarse cloths) like those of Rouen, goats’ hair brought from
Natolia, the gall-nuts of the Kourdistan, the merchandise
of India, and pistachio-nuts of the growth of the neigh¬
bourhood. The articles supplied by Europe are cloths,
Lyonese stuffs, and bonnets after the fashion of Tunis from
France; merceries, indigo, tea, sugar, paper, soap, &c.;
and a great quantity of coral ornaments. The coffee of
America, though prohibited, is introduced, and serves to
mix with that of Mocha. British, French, Dutch, and
Italian houses are established at Aleppo, for the purposes
of trade ; and most of the European states have consuls re¬
sident here. Aleppo is not exceeded in extent by any city
in Turkey, except Constantinople and Cairo, and perhaps
Smyrna. It is difficult to make any estimate of its popu¬
lation, but it is said to be increasing, and, according to
the most authentic computation, does not probably contain
less than 250,000 inhabitants. Of these, 30,000 are Chris¬
tians, who enjoy the most perfect toleration, and are treat¬
ed with more respect than in any town of the East.
The air of Aleppo is dry and piercing, but at the A
same time salubrious for all who are not troubled with'^r
asthmatic complaints. The city, however, and the en¬
virons, are subject to a singular endemial disorder, which
is called the ringworm or pimple of Aleppo: it is in
fact a pimple which is at first inflammatory, and at length
becomes an ulcer of the size of the nail. The usual du¬
ration of this ulcer is one year: it commonly fixes on the
face, and leaves a scar, which disfigures almost all the in-
habitants. No reason is assigned for this malady; but
M. Volney suspects it proceeds from the quality of the
water, as it is likewise frequent in the neighbouring vil¬
lages, in some parts of Diarbekir, and even in certain dis¬
tricts near Damascus, where the soil and the water have
the same appearances. But the plague is a more destruc¬
tive malady, a visitation of which is anticipated by the
inhabitants every ten years. Its ravages are most fatal,
owing to the blind fatalism of the Turks, who cannot be
persuaded to take any precautions against the progress of
this dreadful disease. In the plague which immediately
preceded the year 1797, about 60,000 inhabitants were
swept off. Of the Christian inhabitants the greater num¬
ber are Greeks, next to them the Armenians, then the
Syrians, and lastly the Maronites; each of wdiom has a
church in the city called Judida; in which quarter,
and the parts adjacent, most of them reside. The com¬
mon language is the vulgar Arabic, but the Turks of
condition use the Turkish. Most of the Armenians can
speak the Armenian, some few Syrians understand Syriac,
and many of the Jews Hebrew ; but scarcely one of the
Greeks understands a word of Greek. The people in gene¬
ral are of a middle stature, and tolerably well proportion¬
ed ; but they seem neither vigorous nor active. Both
sexes are handsome when young ; but the women, as they
come early to maturity, also fade very soon. The people
of rank here are polite and affable, making allowances for
that superiority which the Mahometan religion instructs
its votaries to assume over all who hold a different faith.
All the inhabitants of both sexes smoke tobacco to great
excess; even the very servants have almost constantly a
pipe in their mouth. Coaches or carriages are not used
here ; therefore persons of quality ride on horseback in the
city, with a number of servants walking before them, ac¬
cording to their rank. Ladies of the first distinction are
even compelled to walk on foot in the city, or to any place
at a moderate distance : in longer journeys they are carried
by mules, in a kind of couch close covered up. There is
a number of public baths in this city, which are used by
people of all ranks, except those of the highest distinction,
who commonly have baths and every other convenience
in their own houses. The bath, being the only public
rendezvous of the female sex, is a great scene of amuse¬
ment as well as of display : the bathers continue for hours
conversing together, in their best apparel and most splendid
ornaments. The gaiety of the place is still further enliven¬
ed by refreshments and music. Aleppo is of great anti¬
quity, and is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient
Beroea. It was overwhelmed by the flood of Saracen in¬
vasion in 638, when it was taken from the emperor ^ra¬
dius. In 1260 it was taken possession of and wasted by
the Tartars, and in 1401 by Tamerlane, who defeatei
the Syrians, when it was given up to pillage. The ad¬
jacent country is fertile, and yields grain of all sorts, wit
which the city is plentifully supplied. All the fruits o
Europe, as well as those of the East, are cultivated in gar¬
dens. The pistachio-nut is regularly cultivated. Aleppo
is 70 miles east of Scanderoon, on the sea-coast,
north-east of Damascus. Long. 37. 4. E. Lat. 36.12.
Aleppo, The Pacholic of, one of the five govern-
pa
ALE
, ;s ments into which Syria is divided. It comprehends
the country extending from the Euphrates to the Medi-
Ak mi. terranean, between two lines, one drawn from Scanderoon
^ to Beer, along the mountains ; the other from Beles to the
sea, by Mara and the bridge of Shoger. This space prin¬
cipally consists of two plains, that of Antioch to the w^est,
and that of Aleppo to the east: the north and the sea-
coast are occupied by considerably high mountains, known
to the ancients by the names of Amanus and of Rhosus.
In general, the soil of this government is fat and loamy.
The lofty and vigorous plants which shoot up everywhere
after the winter rains, prove its fertility, but its actual
fruitfulness is but little. The greater part of the lands lies
waste; scarcely can we trace any marks of cultivation in
die environs of the towns and villages. Its principal pro¬
duce consists in wheat, barley, and cotton, which are found
especially in the flat country. In the mountains they
rather choose to cultivate the vine, mulberry, olive, and
fig trees. The sides of the hills towards the sea-coast are
appropriated to tobacco, and the territory of Aleppo to
pistachios. The pasturage is not to be reckoned, because
that is abandoned to the wandering hordes of the Turco¬
mans and Curds. The condition of the people depends
entirely on the character of the pacha, who, when he is a
tyrant, oppresses and plunders them without any restraint.
From the mild administration of some of the late pachas,
the people appear to be prosperous and happy. Mr
Buckingham mentions, that the pacha who ruled in Aleppo
at the time he visited this city acknowledged the influence
of public opinion, and generally consulted the happiness of
his subjects in the measures which he pursued.
„ AkESIj Alexander, a celebrated divine of the con¬
fession of Augsburg, was born at Edinburgh the 23d of
Apnl 150(h He soon made considerable progress in
school divinity, and entered the lists very early against
Luther, this being then the great controversy in fashion,
and the grand field wherein all authors, young and old,
used to display their abilities. Soon after, he had a share
in the dispute which Patrick Hamilton maintained against
me ecclesiastics, in favour of the new faith he had im-
bibed at Marburg. He endeavoured to bring him back
to the Catholic religion; but this he could not effect, and
eren began himself to doubt about his own religion, being
much affected by the discourse of this gentleman, and still
more by the constancy he showed at the stake, where David
neaton, archbishop of St Andrews, caused him to be burnt,
beginning thus to waver, he was himself persecuted with
so much violence, that he was obliged to retire into Ger¬
many, where he became at length a perfect convert to
e 1 rotestant religion. The change of religion which
appened m England after the marriage of Henry VIII.
ath Anne Bullen, induced Ales to go to London in 1535.
W r ph yesteemed by Cranmer archbishop of Canter-
tlm • am* TIlomas Cromwell, who were at that
favonrh i faV°Ur Sth the kinS- UP°n the of these
TT he7as obllged to return to Germany, where
divinitvCtrp°f ^andenburg appointed him professor of
this ? Frai?kfort on the 0der in 1540. But leaving
wherp h6 UPon.some ^gust, he returned to Leipsic,
March KrTS S10Sen Professor of divinity, and died in
the p • u wrote a commentary on St John, on
‘a? PQtr a at T mothy, on the Psalms, &c.
r^HAM, a smalI> neat town in Norfolk. It is 15
Aleutian
Islands.
ALE 401
miles north of Norwich, and 121 north-east by north of Alessan
London. Long. 0. 30. E. Lat. 52. 53. N. ^ 7^
AXESSANDRIA, a city of Italy, in the Sardinian do¬
minions, situated on the east bank of the Tanaro, capital
of the province of the same name. It is the see of a.
bishop, and, besides the cathedral, contains 12 churches
2 collegiate churches, with 17 monasteries and nunneries!
It has many fine public and private. buildings. It is
strongly fortified, and in the several successive hostilities
in Italy has been attacked and defended with great fury
In the year 1816 it contained 30,312 inhabitants. Two
great fairs are held here, when the city becomes a mart
resorted to by merchants from all parts of Italy. It is in
long. 8. 40. E. lat. 44. 57. N.
. Alessandria, a province of the duchy of Piedmont
in the dominions of the king of Sardinia, bounded on the
north by Casale, on the east by Mortara, Boghera, and
lortona, on the south-east by Genoa, on the south-west
by Aqui, and on the west by Asti. The extent is 314
square miles, or 200,960 acres. It comprehends two ci¬
ties,. 29 tovvns and villages, and 12 hamlets. The coun-
try 18 a Plain, with few elevations, and very fruitful; but
aufters from a deficiency of water, though the Po and the
lanaro, with some other rivers, pass through it. The
chief productions are wheat, maize, wine, and silk; but be¬
sides these, wood, madder, hemp, flax, and fruit, are raised
m abundance. The population is very dense, amount-
-g f° ^0?728 persons, mostly employed in agriculture,
W a t pf conducted on the system of garden cultivation.
ALET, a town of France, in the department of the
Aude and district of Limoux, at the foot of the Pyrenees.
It is remarkable for its baths, and for the grains of gold
and silvei found in the stream which runs from the Pyre¬
nean mountains, at the foot of which it stands. It is
seated on the river Aude, 15 miles south of Carcassone, and
37 north-west of Narbonne. Long. 2. 5. E. Lat. 42. 59. N.
ALEUROMANCY, the same with what was otherwise
calledalphitomantia, and critliomuntici^ and means an ancient
kind of divination performed by means of meal or flour.
ALEUTIAN, Aleutic, or Aleutsky Islands, so
called from the Russian word cs/ew#, signifying a bold rock,
is the name given by the Russian discoverers to a chain of
small islands situated in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and
extending in an easterly direction from the peninsula of
Kamtschatka, in Asiatic Russia, to the promontory of
Alaska, in North America. According to the practice of
the most recent Russian geographers, we have compre¬
hended the whole of this archipelago under one general
name, although it has been sometimes divided into three
several groups; those nearest to the eastern coast of
Kamtschatcha being properly called Aleutian, the cen¬
tral group the Andreanofskie or Andrenovian, and those
nearest to the American promontory the Fox Islands.
The Russian geographers usually separate Behring’s and
Copper Island, which are at the western extremity of this
chain, from the other parts of it, included by them under
the general name of Aleutian Islands j1 but as there
seems no good reason for this exception, it certainly
would be better to comprehend the whole under one ge¬
neral denomination.
The first voyage of discovery in this remote and dan- Progress of
gerous archipelago was projected by Peter the Great, discovery,
whose enterprising mind appears to have been strongly
Behnng’s and Coppe!-.” (Gcoa 3d edit^vS i n f w the nearest Aleutian Isles of the Russians are those which we term
above mentioned. That name was first U ed? notfm(].that the term Aleutian has ever been applied to the two islands,
fst of Behring’s Island • and the ?sfandsS™™ ^ th!,e.ar1^ Ilussian discoverers to the small group of islands situated to the south¬
ern the tn0re easteriy andremote nart^nTt^^T*^ tbl8 F0UP w<;re sometimes called the rarest Aleutian Isles, to distinguish them
vol. ii. ' a reraote P^ts of the chain. (See Coxe’s Russian Discoveries, chap, il) *
3 E
402
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
Aleutian excited by the question, then much agitated, relative to
Islands, the distance between the Asiatic and American conti-
^ nents ; the solution of which seemed to be facilitated by
the recent conquest of Kamtschatka. A short time pre¬
vious to the death of that monarch, which took place in
1725, he drew up instructions, with his own hand, for the
conduct of an expedition, which was to be intrusted to
the command of an officer named Behring, who had al¬
ready made several voyages in the sea of Kamtschatka
by order of the crown. In 1728 Behring set sail from the
mouth of the Kamtschatka River, and coasted the eastern
shores of Siberia, as far to the northward as lat. 67. 18.,
but made no discovery of the opposite continent. In
1729 he again set sail, for the purpose of prosecuting the
same enterprise, but with no better success. A third
voyage was undertaken by order of the empress Anna
in 1741, and Behring was again selected as chief of the
expedition, another vessel being intrusted to the com¬
mand of Tschirikoff. This enterprise proved more fortu¬
nate, and led the way to all the subsequent important
discoveries of the Russians in those seas; although the
immediate results of the voyage, upon the whole, were
not deemed commensurate with the time and expense
employed in fitting out the expedition. The principal
object of the undertaking, however, appears to have been
accomplished. Tschirikoff discovered the coast of Ame¬
rica in the 56th degree of latitude; and Behring, who
was separated from his companion in a storm, saw it in
lat. 58. 28. On his voyage back to Kamtschatka, Behring’s
ship was driven on the island which now bears his name,
where he soon afterwards died.
The two uninhabited islands, Behring’s and Copper
Island, now became known to the natives of Kamtschatka,
who frequently resorted thither for the purpose of hunt¬
ing sea-otters, and other animals affording valuable furs^
with which they carried on a lucrative traffic. Some of
the vessels which sailed upon these expeditions were
driven by stormy weather to the south-east, by which
means the group of Aleutian Islands came to be_ disco¬
vered. These islands seem to have been first visited in
the year 1745, and continued to be resorted to for some
time by private individuals, without attracting the atten¬
tion of the Russian government. In the above-mentioned
year a vessel called the Eudokia was fitted out at the ex¬
pense of some private adventurers, and the command
given to Michael Nevodtsikof, a native of Tobolsk. Hav¬
ing discovered three unknown islands, they ventured
upon one of them, in order to kill sea-otters, of which
they found a large quantity. These islands were un¬
doubtedly the nearest Aleutian Islands, and were found
well inhabited. The Russians continued upon this island
until the 14th September 1746, when, having incurred the
enmity of the natives by their arbitrary and hostile proceed¬
ings, they put to sea with the view of looking out for some
uninhabited islands. Being overtaken, however, by a vio¬
lent storm, they were driven about until the 30th October,
when their vessel was wrecked upon the rocky shore of
the island of Karaga, the inhabitants of which were of
the Koriac tribe, and tributary to the Russian empire.
From this period the zeal or avarice of individual adven¬
turers prompted them to undertake repeated voyages to the
new-discovered islands, in some of which thejr penetrated
as far eastward as the Fox Islands, where they collected
a quantity of valuable skins; but, in consequence of their
own rapacity and misconduct, they were frequently em¬
broiled in fatal quarrels with the natives. One of the Alei n
most remarkable of these voyages was that of the St An- Isla^-
drean and Natalia, fitted out by the merchant Andrean^
Tolstyk, which sailed from the mouth of the Kamtschatka
River on the 27th September 1760, and on the 29th
reached Behring’s Island. Having been driven on shore
by a violent autumnal storm, they were here obliged to
pass the winter; and after refitting, they put to sea again
on the 24th June 1761. They passed by Copper Island,
which lies about 150 versts from the former, and steered
south-east towards the Aleutian Isles, which they did not
reach before the 6th August. From thence they pro¬
ceeded on the 19th in quest of some more distant islands,
for the purpose of exacting tribute, steering their course
north-east and north-east by east, and were driven by a
gale of wind towards an island, where, on the 30th Au¬
gust, they anchored in a safe bay. This island they called
Ayagh or Kayaka, and another, which lay at the distance
of about 20 versts, Kanaga. The Russians persuaded the
inhabitants of these islands to become tributary to the
empress, to which they made no great objection. Four
other islands were discovered in the neighbourhood, and
the crew remained here in great tranquillity until the
year 1764, but met with no great success in their hunting
excursions. This group of islands, which lies somewhat
to the north-west of the Fox Islands, was denominated,
in honour of the vessel which made the discovery, the
Andreanofskie or Andrenovian Isles.
From the year 1758 to 1760 several vessels visited the
Fox Islands, and obtained considerable cargoes of sea-
otter and fox skins. But the crews appear to have be¬
haved with the most shameful inhumanity towards the
natives; and little information was derived from these
voyages, except a few particulars which transpired during
the course of a judicial investigation into their conduct.
In 1762 four vessels sailed for the Fox Islands, of which
only one returned safe to Kamtschatka. The first was
the Zacharias and Elizabeth, fitted out by Kulkof and
Company of Vologda, under the command of Drusimn,
with a crew of thirty-four Russians and three Kamtschadals.
This vessel touched at the Aleutian Islands, and in the
beginning of September 1763 arrived at Umnak, one of
the most considerable of the Fox Islands. On the 22d
September they proceeded to Unalashka, where the ves¬
sel was brought into a safe harbour. Here the crew
formed themselves into hunting parties, but were soon
afterwards attacked separately by the natives, and cut
off, with the exception of four individuals, who, after de¬
fending themselves with astonishing courage and
pidity, and suffering incredible hardships, succeeded in
making their escape from the island in a baidar, their own
vessel having been destroyed by the savages. One ot
these four died during the home voyage; but the other
three returned safe to Kamtschatka, and gave an accoun
of their adventures. .
The second vessel which sailed from Kamtschatka i
1762 was the Trinity, fitted out by the trading company
of Nikiphor Trapesnikof, a merchant ot Irkutsk, under e
command of Ivan Korovin, and manned with thirty-wg
Russians and six Kamtschadals. In the month °t k c °
they cast anchor before the south side of Behring s s an >
where they resolved to winter, on account of the late sea¬
son of the year. On the first of August 17®3
sailed from Behring’s Island, in company with ^
Medvedef, who commanded a vessel1 fitted out byJ
1 This was the fourth vessel which sailed in 1762 ; but, as the whole crew were massacred by the natives, we have no distinct ac
count of the voyage.
i
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
403
tian Protassof, merchant of Tiumen. On the 15th the former
Is ids. vessel made Unalashka, and Medvedef reached Umnak.
having reconnoitred the coast, and received host¬
ages from the Toigons or Chiefs, Korovin sent out several
hunting parties; but the natives soon began to exhibit
hostile intentions, and three Kamtschadals belonging to
ways suspicious, Glottof did not think it prudent to pro¬
long his stay; and accordingly, having taken on board all
the peltry and stores, he left Kadyak on the 24th May'
1764, and sailed for Umnak, where he arrived on the 3d
July. He remained here two years, sending out hunting
parties through the islands of Umnak and Unalashka, and
Aleutian
Islands.
Kulkofs ship arrived with accounts of the destruction of commenced his voyage homewards in the month of July
i .    1 v-wl /-» o c« co /■»■»*£* /"*■£* 4 Tv ot»rvt*r CT /-» 1 1 d T *-» ^ X* A -  z. U „  ’ _ _ 1 r* • t t
that vessel, and the massacre of the crew. On the 10th
December the savages assembled in large bodies, and
invested the hut which the Russians had constructed, and
continually annoyed them with their darts. Korovin find¬
ing himself thus harassed by the natives, ordered the hut
to be destroyed, and retired to his vessel, which was re¬
moved to the distance of a hundred yards from the beach,
where they lay at anchor from the 5th March to the 26th
April 1764. Here the natives attempted to surprise the
vessel; but Korovin, having been warned of their ap¬
proach, compelled them to retreat. On the 26th April
Korovin sailed from Unalashka, and, after being driven
about by contrary winds, the vessel was at length strand¬
ed on the 28th, in a bay of the island of Umnak. Having
got on shore, the crew attempted to secure themselves
between their baidar and some empty barrels, with the
sails spread over them in the form of a tent. Next morn¬
ing before the break of day they were surprised by a large
body of the natives, who attacked them with their darts,
and wounded every one of the crew. Korovin, however,
sallied out, in company with four Russians, and put the
savages to flight, although he and his party were so se¬
verely wounded, that they had scarcely sufficient strength
to return to the tent. During the night the vessel was
dashed to pieces by the storm. On the 30th of April
they were again attacked by the natives, who, however,
were soon put to flight by the fire of the Russians. On
the 21st of July, Korovin, with the remainder of his crew,
which was now reduced to the number of twelve persons,
including six Kamtschadals, put to sea in a baidar; and,
having landed upon another part of the same island, they
discovered the remains of a vessel which had been burnt,
and at a small distance, a deserted Russian dwelling, con¬
taining twenty dead bodies in their clothes ; among which
they recognised several of those individuals who had sail¬
ed in Protassof’s vessel, and distinguished, among the
rest, the commander Medvedef. Korovin afterwards join¬
ed Glottof’s vessel (of whose proceedings we shall imme¬
diately give some account), which he quitted in the
month of April 1765, and went over, with five other Rus¬
sians, to Soloviof, with whom he returned the following
year to Kamtschatka.
The third voyage from Kamtschatka in 1762, and the
most fortunate and most remarkable of the whole, was
that of the Andrean and Natalia, which was fitted
out by Terenty Tsebaeffskoi and Company, under the
command of Stephen Glottof, an experienced and skil¬
ful seaman of Yarensk. This vessel sailed on the 1st
October, with a crew of thirty-eight Russians and eight
Kamtschadals. Having wintered at Copper Island, they
set sail from thence on the 26th July 1763, and steered
lor the Fox Islands. Inconsequence of storms and contrary
winds, they were thirty days on the voyage to Umnak,
ijhere they arrived on the 24th August, and without
dropping anchor, sailed farther in quest of new islands, of
which they passed eight contiguous to each other, and
separated by straits from 20 to 100 versts broad. Glottof,
however, did not land until he reached the most eastward
of these islands, called by the inhabitants Kadyak. Here
and in the neighbouring islands they passed the winter,
and collected a considerable quantity of furs ; but as the
conduct of the natives, at first decidedly hostile, was al-
1766, In the month of August he arrived safe in Kamt¬
schatka River with a rich cargo.
Soloviof, to whose voyage we have already alluded,
sailed from Kamtschatka on the 25th of August 1764, in
a ship called the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, fitted out
by Jacob Ulednikof and Company, merchants of Irkutsk.
This vessel reached Unalashka on the 17th September,
where Soloviof passed two winters; and having succeed¬
ed, notwithstanding the continual hostility of the natives,
in collecting a considerable cargo of peltry, he returned to
Kamtschatka in the month of July 1766.
Having thus traced an outline of the gradual progress
of early discovery in this archipelago, it seems unneces¬
sary to proceed with an enumeration of the subsequent
voyages performed by private individuals. These were
undertaken merely for commercial purposes: the accounts
brought home by the adventurers were generally imperfect
and incorrect, and rather tended to excite than to gratify
the curiosity of those who might be desirous of obtaining
more accurate and more ample information. We shall
therefore now turn to the conduct of those expeditions
which were fitted out by the state for the express purpose
of discovery.
In the year 1768 Captain Krenitzin and Lieutenant
Levashef sailed from the mouth of the Kamtschatka River
by order of the empress Catharine, to examine the chain
of Aleutian Islands. This commission they accordingly exe¬
cuted very carefully, having surveyed the whole of this
archipelago, from Behring’s Island to the promontory of Al¬
aska; and, after spending the winter among the Fox Islands,
they returned to Kamtschatka in the autumn of 1769.
But our great navigator Captain Cook communicated
more accurate scientific information respecting these
islands, as well as the coasts of the two continents, than
all the previous voyages of the Russian discoverers had
afforded. During his third and last voyage, in the year
1778, he surveyed the eastern portion of this archipelago,
accurately determined the positions of some of the most
remarkable islands, and corrected many errors of former
navigators.
In the year 1785 a fresh expedition was set on foot by
the Russian government, the command of which was in¬
trusted to Captain Billings, an English naval officer in the
Russian service, who had accompanied Captain Cook in
his last celebrated voyage to the Pacific Ocean. This ex¬
pedition appears to have been suggested by Mr Coxe, who
was at that time at St Petersburg, and whose Account of
the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America had al¬
ready attracted the attention of the Russian government.
During this voyage, which was not completed until the
year 1796, Captains Billings and Sarytschef explored the
whole chain of the Aleutian Islands, particularly that part
of it which had been visited by Captain Cook, and some
parts of the adjacent western coast of America. Ample
details of the conduct of this expedition have been pub¬
lished in the narratives of Martin Sauer, who officiated as
secretary to Captain Billings, and of Admiral Sarytschef.
Some years after the termination of the expedition un¬
der Captain Billings, the attention of the Russian Ameri¬
can Company was turned towards the best means of sup¬
plying their settlements on the north-west coast of Ame-
404
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
Aleutian rica with provisions and stores of all kinds; and it was
Islands, resolved to try whether the conveyance by sea would not
answer the purpose better than the long and tedious
journey by land to Ochotsk. With the view of ascertain¬
ing the practicability of the project, Captain Krusenstern,
an experienced Russian naval officer, who had served for
a long period in the British navy, suggested the plan of
an expedition from Cronstadt, round Cape Horn, to the
Aleutian Islands and the north-west coast of America.
This plan was approved of by Count Romanzof, the mi¬
nister of commerce, and Admiral Mordwinof, minister of
the marine, and obtained the sanction of his Imperial
Majesty. Two vessels, called by the Russians the Na-
deshda and the Neva, were accordingly purchased in Lon¬
don for the voyage. The command of the expedition was
intrusted to Captain Krusenstern, the original author of
the plan, and Captain Lisiansky was appointed to the
Neva. These two vessels accordingly sailed in company
from Cronstadt, in the month of August 1803, and, after
a short stay at Falmouth, proceeded to the Brazils, from
whence they sailed round Cape Horn to the Sandwich
Islands. Here they separated, the Nadeshda being or¬
dered on a distinct mission to Japan and China, while
. Captain Lisiansky, in the Neva, proceeded to Kadyak and
the American settlements. Of this voyage very full and
interesting accounts have been lately published by Cap¬
tains Krusenstern and Lisiansky, and by Dr Langsdorff,
who accompanied the expedition in the quality of physi¬
cian.
Enumera- From the ample sources of information to which we have
tion and alluded in the foregoing narrative, we shall now proceed
descrip- t0 exhibit an enumeration and general description of the
Aleutian16 ^s^an(ls composing this singular chain, which appears to be
Islands/ a prolongation of either continent. We shall begin with
the more westerly part of the chain, consisting of those
islands which lie nearest to Kamtschatka, and proceed
eastwards to the American promontory. The first is
Commodore or Behring’s Island, situate, according to
Cook’s reckoning, in 55° of latitude and 6° of longitude
from the harbour of Petropaulowska in the bay of Awat-
ska. It is from 70 to 80 versts long, and stretches from
north-west to south-east. Ten leagues from the south-east
point of this island, in the direction of east by south, or
east-south-east, lies Mednoi Ostroff, or Copper Island, so
called from large masses of native copper being found
upon the beach. To the south-east of Copper Island lie
three small islands, Attak or Attoo, Semitshi, and Agattoo,
called by the Russians Plishnie Ostrova, or the nearest
Aleutian Islands. Of these Attak is the largest; it is
nearly of the same shape as Behring’s Island, but rather
more extensive, stretching from west to east to the length
of 18 leagues. These islands are situated between 54°
and 55° of north latitude. Attak has two harbours, one
of which lies on the southern coast. From the eastern
extremity of the Aleutian Islands properly so called, an¬
other group runs south-eastward, continuing the chain as
far as the western extremity of the Fox Islands. These
are called the Andreanofskie Islands; but we have less
accurate information respecting this central part of the
chain than regarding the eastern and western groups.
They are said to lie w ithin the 52d and 54th degrees of
north latitude, to be of inconsiderable extent or import¬
ance, and therefore seldom visited by recent navigators.
The most remarkable are, Takavangha, which has in its
centre, near the northern coast, a burning mountain;
Kanaghi or Kanaga, likewise with a high smoking moun¬
tain ; Ayag, which has a number of good bays and anchor¬
ing-places ; and Tshetchina, on which a high white moun¬
tain overtops the rest, which apparently is an extinct A1
volcano, as there are still hot springs on this island. At- Is
shak or Atchka, and Amlac, are also usually reckoned^
among the number of the Andrenovian Isles. The former
greatly resembles Copper Island, and is provided with a
commodious harbour.
By far the most important and best explored portion of
this archipelago is the most easterly group, called by the
Russians Lyssie Ostrova, or the Fox Islands. Of these
islands the most considerable are, Umnak, Unalashka or
Oonalashka, and Unimak, the last of which is separated by
a narrow strait from the promontory of Alaska. Beyond
these, to the north-east, lies the large island of Kadyak or
Kodiak, which is generally included among the group
called Schumagin’s Islands.
The whole of the islands composing this chain are bare
and mountainous; their coasts are rocky and surrounded
by breakers, which renders the navigation of those seas
exceedingly dangerous. The land rises immediately from
the coasts to steep bald mountains, gradually ascending
higher behind each other, and assuming the appearance of
chains of mountains, with a direction lengthwise of the
island. Springs take their rise at the bottom of the moun¬
tains, and either flow in broad and rapid streams into the
neighbouring sea, or, collecting in the rocky vales and
glens, form ample lakes, which send off their superfluous
waters by natural canals into the adjacent bays. These
islands bear evident marks of volcanic formation, and se¬
veral of them have still active volcanoes, which continually
emit smoke, and sometimes flames. No traces of metals
have been discovered on these islands, but carneoles and
sardonyxes are brought from thence. Their soil is said to
be similar to that of Kamtschatka, and affords the same
kinds of edible wild berries and roots, excepting some few
vegetables which seem to be of foreign origin. No wood
of any considerable growth has been perceived upon any
of these islands, except a very small quantity on Unalash¬
ka. The land animals are bears, wolves, river-otters,
river-beavers, and ermines. The sea-otter, so valuable on
account of its skin, is frequently caught; but the number
of these animals, it is believed, is much diminished of late.
On the Fox Islands they have a great variety of foxes,
black, grey, red, and brown. The sea abounds with all
sorts of seals, dolphins, and whales; sea-lions and porpoises
are rare, and sea-cov/s not at all to be seen. Salmon are
caught in great abundance and variety, and halibut of an
immense size are frequently taken. The winter upon these
islands is tolerably mild, but the summer is equally short
and unpleasant. The inhabitants are pretty numerous,
and tributary to Russia, from whence vessels are sent
out, and establishments formed upon these islands, on
account of the very profitable chace of sea-otters and
foxes.
Unalashka, one of the largest of the Fox Islands, was Ka
visited by Captain Cook during his last voyage, and seems
to merit particular notice. This island stretches from
north-east to south-west, and is from 70 to 80 versts m
length, but of very unequal breadth. On the north ant.
north-east sides there are many bays and creeks, in some
of which are very secure harbours for vessels. A part o
the south-west shore consists of very high, steep, inac¬
cessible cliffs, and another part has remained hitheito
wholly unexplored. The whole island consists of a mas>
of rocks, covered only with a very thin coat of earth; the
hills are of very unequal height, and are intersected b)
irregular valleys, the soil of which is commonly argilla¬
ceous, or an earth which appears washed down from t e
hills. In the lower valleys there is great abundance o
grass, which would furnish very good food for catt e,
an
(is.
of
bka.
.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
tivf
A itian indeed, Captain Cook was of opinion that cattle might
i nds. subsist at Unalashka all the year round, without being
^'''^housed; and the soil, in many places, appeared capable of
producing grain, roots, and vegetables. But the Russian
traders and the natives seem satisfied with what nature
brings forth. No wood grows on this and the neighbour-
big islands; only low bushes, and shrubs of dwarf birch,
willow, and alder. For all the timber used for the purposes
of building, &c. they are indebted to the sea, which wafts
it to their shores from the adjacent continent of America.
The inhabitants are rather low in stature, but plump and
well-shaped, with short necks, swarthy chubby faces, black
eyes, small beards, and long, straight, black hair, which the
men wear loose behind and cut before, but the women
Ch: cter tie up in a bunch. With regard to their character, Cap-
irft na- tain Cook describes them as, to all appearance, the most
inoffensive people he ever met with, and perfect patterns
of honesty. But according to the accounts of the first
discoverers, this does not seem to have been their original
disposition; and recent travellers have observed, that al¬
though generally kind-hearted and peaceable, yet, when
roused to anger, they become exceedingly malevolent,
and indifferent to all danger, even to death itself. The
clothing of the men and women is nearly the same, and
consists of a sort of frock or shirt, called parka, fastened
round the neck with a broad stiff collar, and descending
below the knee. These garments are made of the skins
of seals, prepared in a manner peculiar to themselves, and
sewed together very ingeniously. Though simple in their
form, they are ornamented in a variety of ways,—with
glass beads, beaks of sea-parrots, long white goats’ hair
brought from Siberia, or small red feathers. Over the
frock the men sometimes wear a kamleika or rain-gar¬
ment. This is made of gut, which is water-proof, and
has a hood to it, which draws over the head, and is
tied under the chin. When on shore, the men wear
boots made of seal-skin; and they all have a kind of
oval-snouted cap, made of wood, with a rim to admit
the head. These caps are dyed with green and other
colours, and are very fancifully ornamented with ivory
figures, carved from the teeth of the sea-cow, with glass or
amber beads, and with the bristles from the beard of the
sea-lion. They make use of no paint: tatooing was for¬
merly very much in use among them, particularly among
the women; but their intercourse with the Russians has
rather brought this practice into disrepute. Both men
and women, particularly the latter, bore the under lip, and
insert pieces of bone or other ornaments; but this practice
has also decreased of late. The women, for the most
part, go barefooted: they wear bracelets of glass beads
just above the wrists and ankle-joints, and are very fond
of rings upon their fingers. The principal food of these
islanders consists of fish, sea-animals, birds, roots, and
bemes. They dry large quantities of fish in summer,
W Ju .y % UP ^ small huts for winter use ; and roots
<md berries are also preserved for the same time of scarci-
) • Among the fish, the most common and most abundant
are several sorts of salmon, cod, herrings, and halibut.
no last is the most esteemed, and is sometimes caught
P an enormous size. The fat of the whale is also a favour-
| e species of food ; when it grows old and rancid, it serves
o ig t and warm their houses. They eat almost every
img raw; but of late they have learnt some simple modes
coo ery from the Russians. Vegetable food does not
appear to be held in much esteem by the Unalashkans.
ie sweet plant, the Siberian parsnip (Heracleum Siberi¬
an), ^ but little eaten, any more than the bulb of the
or Kamtschadale lily. Berries of an eatable
1 ‘ i y abound, such as bramble-berries, cran-berries,
405
hurtle-berries, heath-berries, and several others. Of late Aleutian
the Russians have begun to plant potatoes, which succeed Islands,
extremely well, and are much liked by the people. The01^-^
habitations of the Unalashkans are holes dug in the earth
covered with a wooden roof, over which they throw grass
and earth; so that a village has the appearance of a Euro¬
pean church-yard full of graves. The entrance into these
huts is from the roof; some of the largest, however, which
are inhabited by the Russians, have a low door in the side.
The light is also admitted by the roof, through an open¬
ing or window covered over with seals’ entrails, or dried
fish-skin. Several divisions are made within, by means of
seal-skins or straw-mats, which separate the apartments
of the different families that occupy the habitation. Their
household furniture consists of bowls, spoons, buckets,
piggins or cans, matted baskets, and perhaps a Russian
kettle or pot. The knife, and the hatchet, or rather a
small flat piece of iron, made like an adze by fitting it into
a crooked wooden handle, are the only iron tools found
amongst them. Yet all their instruments and utensils are
made with the greatest neatness and the most exact sym¬
metry. The needles with which they sew their clothes
and embroider are made of the wing-bone of the gull, with
a very nice cut round the thicker end instead of an eye,
to which they tie the thread so skilfully, that it follows the
needle without any obstruction. Their thread is made of
the sinews of the seal, the fibres of which they split to the
thickness which each sort of work requires. All sewing
is performed by the women : they are the tailors, shoe¬
makers, and boat-builders or boat-coverers. At their
leisure hours, particularly in long winter evenings, they
make fine mats, little baskets, and pocket-books of straw,
that are both beautiful and strong. Indeed, Captain Cook
observes, there is a neatness and perfection in most of
their work, that shows they neither want ingenuity nor
perseverance. Their houses have no fire-place, but are
heated as well as lighted by lamps. These are made of
a flat stone, hollowed on one side like a plate : in the hol¬
low part they put the oil, mixed with a little dry grass,
which serves the purpose of a wick. They produce fire
both by collision and by attrition; the former by striking
two stones one against another, one of them being previ¬
ously rubbed with brimstone. The latter method is with
two pieces of wood; one of which is a pointed stick, and
the other a flat piece. The pointed end of the stick they
press upon the other, whirling it nimbly round as a drill;
thus producing fire in a few minutes.
The principal occupations of the Aleutians are fishing Occupa-
and hunting, and preparing the implements necessary for tions.
both. Their baidars, baidarkas, or boats, resemble the
canoes of other savages. They consist of a skeleton of
wood, over which is stretched a leather covering made of
seal-skins. The boats of the Unalashkans are much su¬
perior in point of beauty to those of any of the other
islands: some of them appear so transparent that one
might trace the formation of the inside, and the manner in
which the rower sits. In their form they are long and
narrow, and commonly hold only one person; sometimes
they are made to hold two, and very rarely three; each
person sitting in a round hole just fitted to the size of the
body. The whole canoe is so extremely light, even when
sodden with water, that it may be carried with ease in one
hand. They are impelled by means of double paddles,
seven or eight feet long, which are managed with great
dexterity. Experienced navigators will sometimes venture
out a considerable way to sea in these boats, even in very
stormy weather. The darts, or javelins, with which they
kill their game, are formed with the same neatness as their
other instruments, and adapted with the greatest judgment
406
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS.
Aleutian
Islands.
Amuse¬
ments.
to the different objects of the chase. For land animals, a
single barbed point; for birds, three points of light bone,
spread and barbed; for seals, &c. they use a false point,
inserted in a socket at the end of the dart, which parts on
the least effort of the animal to dive, remaining in its body.
A string of considerable length is fastened to this barbed
point, and twisted round the wooden part of the javelin.
This serves as a float to direct them to the seal, which
having the stick to drag after it, soon tires, and becomes
an easy prey. These darts are not shot from a bow, but
slung from a small plank, about 18 inches long and two
inches broad. In order that the weapon may be held the
faster, they have a sort of handle at the lower end, and an
opening through which the fore-finger is thrust. At the
other end is a small channel, into which the javelin fits,
with a little knob which serves to retain it. When the
javelin is to be thrown, the plank is held horizontally, and
the aim being taken, the weapon is directed by the middle
finger and thumb. This is done with so much dexterity,
and the motion given to it is so powerful and so rapid,
that the object aimed at is rarely missed; even whales are
killed without any other weapon.
Their favourite amusement appears to be dancing, in
which, however, they do not seem to exhibit any parti¬
cular exertion of strength or expression of elegance, the
only motion being a sort of hop, the performer scarcely
moving from the place he first takes up. Their music is
exceedingly rude, consisting of a small drum or tambour,
and a rattle made of the bladder of a sea-dog, filled with
peas or small pebbles. In their leisure hours they amuse
themselves with making these little drums and rattles,
which are frequently ornamented with a good deal of in¬
genuity and elegance; and with cutting out from the
teeth of the sea-cow small figures of men, fish, sea-otters,
and other objects, in a manner that appears very extra¬
ordinary, considering that the sea-cow’s teeth are much
harder than ivory, and that they have no proper tools to
work with.
Religion. The religion of these islanders, like that of most unci¬
vilized nations, consists in superstitious observances and
a belief in charms. Many of them have been baptized,
and are nominally professors of the Greek faith ; of which,
however, they understand nothing more than making the
Marriages, sign of the cross. They have no marriage ceremony:
every man may have as many wives as he can convenient¬
ly maintain: if his means decrease, he sends first one, then
another, back to their parents; and these women become
perfectly at liberty to look out for other husbands. Some¬
times the same woman lives with two husbands; and it is
not uncommon for men to sell or exchange wives. Boys,
if they happen to be very handsome, are often brought up
entirely in the manner of girls, instructed in the arts of
female blandishment, and used as concubines. This
shocking, unnatural, and immoral practice has prevailed
here even from the remotest times. Such men are known
Burials, under the name of schopans. The bodies of the dead,
especially of the men, were formerly interred in places
set apart for the purpose, and with particular ceremonies.
Their best javelins and clothes, with a portion of train-
oil and other articles of food, were laid with them in the
grave; and sometimes even slaves of both sexes were
slaughtered upon the occasion. These customs are now,
however, entirely laid aside.
The population of Unalashka and the neighbouring
islands appears to have been considerable, amounting
to several thousands. In 1790 Sarytcheff reckoned it
at 1300. According to the most recent accounts, it
does not appear to amount to more than 300. This ra¬
pid depopulation is ascribed partly to the practice of
Popula¬
tion and
govern^
rnent.
sending the best hunters from hence to a distance, to A1
chace the large sea-otters, few of whom ever return Is
to their families; and partly to the state of oppres-''-"
sion under which the natives live, and the change which
has taken place in their modes of living. Captain Cook
seems to consider the natives of these islands as originally
of the same extraction with the Greenlanders and Esqui-
maux. When first discovered by the Russians they were
under the government of Toigons, or chiefs, who, however,
possessed little superior distinction or dignity, and had no
revenue. At present they are all subject to the govern¬
ment of the Russian settlers.
v/
Throughout the whole of the Aleutian Islands, on the Hu:
island of Kadyak, and the western coast of America, thesett
Russians have formed settlements, for the purpose ofmei
hunting and collecting furs, with which they carry on a ^
lucrative commerce, particularly with the Chinese. The
most valuable fur is that of the sea-otter; an animal which
has now become rare on these islands, in consequence of
the extreme eagerness with which they have been hunted
and killed. Besides the sea-otter, there are numbers of
foxes, especially on the Fox Islands. The black foxes
found on these islands are not so valuable as those of Si¬
beria. The Arctic or ice fox, called also the rock fox,
and the blue fox, from the natural colour of the fur, which
is of a bluish grey, is very common. From the first dis¬
covery of these islands by Behring and Tscherikoff, in
1741, the fur-trade was carried on for a long period entire¬
ly by private adventurers, and appears to have been pro¬
ductive of great abuses. The natives were frequently
treated in the most cruel and barbarous manner; and the
keenness displayed by these rapacious hunters threatened
to extirpate the race of animals upon which the trade de¬
pended. Convinced of the extreme necessity of putting
a stop to this destructive plan of proceeding, Schelikoff, an
intelligent Russian merchant, took considerable pains to
unite the different partakers of this trade into a company,
in order that it might be conducted with prudence and
precaution, npon some plan that might prove advantage¬
ous to all parties. In 1785 he succeeded in joining com¬
pany with the Golikoffs. They increased their capital,
and fitted out several ships, which the enterprising Sche-
likoff commanded in person. Factories, protected by
forts, were established in almost all the Aleutian Islands,
as far eastward as Kadyak; and during several years
they continued this lucrative trade in conjunction, by ^
which they acquired considerable wealth. The success^
of this connection induced several merchants to unite like ^
Schelikoff and the Golikoffs; and in this manner was s|ar
laid the foundation of the present Russian American Cm- rica
pany. The irregular manner, however, in which the trade par
was still carried on, and the cruelty which was frequently
exercised by the Russian merchants towards the natives
of the islands, drew upon them great and well-founded
censure ; insomuch that the emperor Paul determined to
put an end to the company and the trade at the same
time. This determination would have infallibly been car¬
ried into effect, but for the interference of M. von Resa-
noff, who had married Schelikoff’s daughter, and was per¬
sonally interested in the successful continuance of the
American Company. In consequence of his active inter¬
position, the new-established company was formally con¬
firmed in 1799, with considerable privileges.
See Muller’s Samlung Russischer Geschichte, particu¬
larly the third volume. Neue Nachrichten von denen neu-
entdeckten Insuln in der See zwischen Asia und America,
&c. veafasset von J. L. S.-—Hamburg and Leipsic,
Coxe’s Account of the Russian Discoveries. Tooke’s view
ALE
f\a. of the Russian Empire. The Voyages and Travels of Bil-
lines; Sarytcheff; Cooke; Meares ; Dixon ; Vancouver;
La° Perouse; Mackenzie; Krusenstern; Lisiansky; and
Dr LangsdorfF. _ # (k.) _
ALEXANDER the Great, king of Macedonia. His
father Philip laid the plan of that extensive empire which
his son afterwards completed. Philip, having made him¬
self master of Greece, began to cast his eyes upon Persia,
with a view to retaliate upon that haughty empire the in-
iuries of former times. It was the popular topic of the
day. But this prince was cut off in the midst of his en¬
terprise. Such, however, was the influence of Alexander
in the assembly of the Grecian states, that he was created
general of their combined forces, in the room of his father.
Having made every needful preparation, at the head of a
veteran army he invaded Asia. The lieutenants of Darius,
who was then king of Persia, opposed him at the river
Granicus, where Alexander obtained a complete victory,
after which he pursued his march through Asia. At Issus,
near Scanderoon, he was met by Darius in person, at the
head of a prodigious army. Here he obtained a second
victory, and took the camp of Darius, together with his
family, whom he treated with the utmost humanity. Con¬
trary to all the maxims of war, instead of pursuing Darius,
he made an excursion into Egypt, and, as far as appears,
through no better motives than those of vanity. Here he
was acknowledged to be the son of Jupiter Ammon. In
the mean time Darius recruited his strength, and got to¬
gether an army superior to what he brought into the plain
of Issus. Alexander, having finished his Egyptian expe¬
dition, traversed Asia, and passed the Euphrates. At
Arbela, a town in Assyria, he met Darius. Here a deci¬
sive battle was fought, which put all Persia into the hands
of Alexander. His ambition not being satisfied with the
conquest of that vast country, he projected an expedition
into India. Here he met with great opposition from Po¬
ms, a gallant prince, whom in the end he reduced. Be¬
yond the Ganges lay a country still unsubdued. He no¬
tified it to his army, that he proposed to pass the river.
But these veterans, harassed with their fatigues, and see¬
ing no end of their labour, mutinied, and refused to march
further. The disappointed chief was therefore obliged to
return. At Babylon he proposed to receive ambassadors,
appoint governors, and settle his vast monarchy; but his
excesses put an end to his life in the midst of his designs,
and in the flower of his age.
The character of this hero is so familiar to every body,
that it is almost needless labour to draw it. All the world
knows, says Mr Bayle, that it was equally composed of
very great virtues and very great vices. He had no me¬
diocrity in any thing but his stature: in his other proper¬
ties, whether good or bad, he was all extremes. His am¬
bition rose even to madness. His father was not at all
mistaken in supposing the bounds of Macedon too small
for his son; for how could Macedon bound the ambition
of a man who reckoned the whole world too small a do¬
minion ? He wept at hearing the philosopher Anaxarchus
say that there was an infinite number of worlds : his tears
were owing to his despair of conquering them all, since he
had not yet been able to conquer one. Livy, in a short
digression, has attempted to inquire into the events which
might have happened if Alexander, after the conquest of
Asia, had brought his arms into Italy. Doubtless, things
might have taken a very different turn with him ; and all
the grand projects which succeeded so well against an effe¬
minate Persian monarch might easily have miscarried if
he had had to do with rough, hardy, Roman armies. And
u yet the vast aims of this mighty conqueror, if seen under
another point of view, may appear to have been confined
ALE 407
in a very narrow compass; since, as we are told, the utmost Alexander,
wish of that great heart, for which the whole earth was
not big enough, was, after all, to be praised by the Athe¬
nians : for it is related, that the difficulties which he en¬
countered in order to pass the Hydaspes, forced him to
cry out, “ O Athenians, could you believe to what dangers
I expose myself for the sake of being celebrated by you ?”
But Bayle affirms that this was quite consistent with the
vast unbounded extent of his ambition, as he wanted to
make all future time his own, and be an object of admira¬
tion to the latest posterity; yet did not expect this from
the conquest of worlds, but from books. “ He was perfectly
in the right,” says Bayle ; “ for if Greece had not furnish¬
ed him with good writers, he would long ago have been
as much forgotten as the kings who reigned in Macedon
before Amphitryon.”
His excesses with regard to wine were notorious, and
he committed, when drunk, a thousand extravagancies.
It was owing to wine that he killed Clitus, who saved his
life, and burnt Persepolis, one of the most beautiful cities
of the East: he did this last, indeed, at the instigation of
the courtesan Thais; but this circumstance made it only
the more heinous. It is generally believed that he died
by drinking immoderately; and even Plutarch, who affects
to contradict it, owns that he did nothing but drink the
whole day he was taken ill. The reader who is desirous
of further information in regard to Alexander and his his¬
torians, may consult M. de St Croix’s Critical Inquiry con¬
cerning his Life, of which there is an English translation
by Clayton.
Alexander ab Alexandro, a Neapolitan lawyer, of
great learning, who flourished toward the end of the 15th
and beginning of the 16th century. He followed the pro¬
fession of the law, first at Naples, afterwards at Rome:
but he devoted all the time he could spare to the study
of polite literature; and at length he entirely left the bar,
that he might lead a more easy and agreeable life with the
Muses. The particulars of his life are to be gathered
from his work entitled Dies Geniales. We are there inform¬
ed that he lodged at Rome, in a house that was haunted;
and he relates many surprising particulars about the ghost.
He says also, that when he was very young, he went to
the lectures of Philelphus, who explained at Rome the
Tusculan Questions of Cicero. He was there also when
Nicholas Perot and Domitius Calderinus read their lec¬
tures upon Martial. The particular time when he died is
not known; but he was buried in the monastery of the
Olivets. Tiraqueau wrote a learned commentary upon his
work, which was printed at Lyons in 1587, and reprinted
at Leyden in 1673, with the notes of Dennis Godfrey,
Christopher Colerus, and Nicholas Mercerus.
Alexander, Noel, an indefatigable writer of the 17th
century, born at Rouen, in Normandy, 1639. After finish¬
ing his studies at Rouen, he entered into the order of
Dominican friars, and was professed there in 1655. Soon
after he went to Paris, to go through a course of philoso¬
phy and divinity in the great convent, where he distin¬
guished himself so, that he was appointed to teach philo¬
sophy there, which he did for twelve years. M. Colbert
showed him many marks of his esteem ; and being deter¬
mined to omit nothing to perfect the education of his son,
afterwards archbishop of Rouen, he formed an assembly of
the most learned persons, whose conferences upon eccle¬
siastical history might be of advantage to him. Father
Alexander was invited to this assembly, where he exerted
himself with so much genius and ability, that he gained
the particular friendship of young Colbert, who showed
him the utmost regard as long as he lived. These confe¬
rences gave rise to Alexander’s design of writing an ec-
408
ALE
ALE
Alexander, clesiastical history; for, being desired to reduce what was
material in these conferences to writing, he did it with so
much accuracy, that the learned men who composed this
assembly advised him to undertake a complete body of
church history. This he executed with great assiduity,
collecting and digesting the materials himself, and writing
even the tables with his own hand. He at last completed
his work in 1686. Towards the latter part of his life he
was afflicted with the loss of his sight; a most inexpres¬
sible misfortune to one whose whole pleasure was in study,
yet he bore it with great patience and resignation. He
died merely of a decay of nature, 1724, in the 86th year
of his age.
Alexander Severus, emperor of Rome, succeeded
Heliogabalus about a. d. 222, when but 16 years of age.
His mother’s name was Mammaea, and by her advice he
in a great measure regulated his conduct. He applied
himself to the reformation of abuses, the state having been
greatly disordered by the vicious conduct of his predeces¬
sor. He was a most strict lover of justice, an encourager
of learning and learned men, and favourable to the Christi¬
ans. He made a successful expedition against the Persians;
but endeavouring to reform his troops, who had grown
very licentious under the late bad government, they mur¬
dered him at the instigation of Maximinus, in the 29th
year of his age, together with his mother’, a. d. 235.
Alexander VI. Pope, had four bastards when he was
cardinal, for one of whom he had so great affection, that
he stuck at nothing to 1’aise him. Designing to poison
some cardinals, he was poisoned himself, a. d. 1503. See
Borgia.
Alexander VII. Pope. See Chigi.
Alexander, bishop of Lincoln in the reigns of Henry
I. and Stephen, was a Norman by birth, and nephew of
the famous Roger, bishop of Salisbury, who first made
him archdeacon of Salisbury, and afterwards, by his in¬
terest with the king, raised him to the mitre. Alexander
was consecrated at Canterbury, July 22. 1123. Having
received his education under his uncle the bishop of Salis¬
bury, and been accustomed to a splendid way of living, he
affected show and state, more than was suitable to his
character or consistent with his fortune. This failing ex¬
cepted, he was a man worthy of honour, and every way
qualified for his station. The year after his consecration,
his cathedral church at Lincoln having been accidentally
burnt down, he rebuilt it, and secured it against the like
accident for the future by a stone roof. This prelate in¬
creased the number of prebends in his church, and aug¬
mented its revenues with several manors and estates. In
imitation of the barons and some of the bishops, particu¬
larly his uncle the bishop of Salisbury, he built three
castles; one at Banbury, another at Sleaford, and a third
at Newark. He likewise founded two monasteries; one
at Haverholm, for regular canons and nuns together; the
other at Tame, for white friars. He went twice to Rome,
in the years 1142 and 1144. The first time, he came
back in quality of the pope’s legate for calling a synod,
in which he published several wholesome and necessary
canons. In August 1147 he took a third journey to the
pope, who was then in France, where he fell sick through
the excessive heat of the weather, and returned with great
difficulty to England, where he died, in the 24th year of
his prelacy.
Alexander, William, earl of Stirling, an eminent Scotish
statesman and poet in the reigns of James VI. and Charles
I.? who, after travelling with the duke of Argyll as his
tutor or companion, wrote a poetical work, with the view
of alleviating the sorrows of unsuccessful love, under the
title of Aurora. He then removed to the court of James
VI., where he applied to the more solid parts of poetry J
forming himself upon the plan of the Greek and Roman'
tragedians. In 1607 he published some dramatic perfor- A
mances, entitled Monarchic Tragedies, dedicated to Kin" d
James, who was so well pleased with them as to call hiin
his philosophical poet. After this, he is said to have
written A Supplement to complete the third part of Sir
Philip Sidney’s Arcadia. He also wrote a poetical piece
entitled A Parcenesis to the Prince ; and in 1614 he puN
lished his last poem, called Doomsday, or the Great Day of
Judgment. His poetical works were published by himself
in a folio volume, under the title of Recreations with th
Muses. He was made gentleman-usher to Prince Charles,
and master of the requests; was knighted; and obtained
a grant of Nova Scotia, where he projected the settlement
of a colony, but afterwards sold it to the French. In 1626
he was made secretary of state for Scotland, was created
first viscount and then earl of Stirling, and died in 1640.
Alexander I. St, whom St Irenaeus reckons the fifth
bishop of Rome, succeeded St Everistus in the year 109
and died in the year 119. There is no account of his
life, and the epistles which are attributed to him are sup¬
posititious.
Alexander II., king of Scotland, succeeded his father
William in 1213, at 16 years of age. He made an expe¬
dition into England, to oppose the tyranny of King John,
who returned the visit, and was offered battle by Alex¬
ander, but refused it. He took the city of Carlisle from
Henry III., which was afterwards exchanged for Berwick
Alexander died in 1249, in the 51st year of his age and
35th of his reign, and left for his successor his son,
Alexander III., who was crowned king of Scotland
in 1249. The Cummings, a powerful family, took arms
against him, and, taking him prisoner, confined him at Stir¬
ling ; but he was afterwards released by his subjects. He
married the daughter of Henry III., king of England and
■was at length killed by a fall from his horse, on the 10th
of April 1290, after having reigned 42, or, according to
others, 37 years.
ALEXANDRETTA, by the Turks called Scanderovry,
a town in Syria, at the extremity of the Mediterranean
Sea. It is the port of Aleppo, from which it is distant
28 or 30 leagues. It is now, properly speaking, nothing
but a village, without walls, in which the tombs are more
numerous than the houses, and which entirely owes its
existence to the road which it commands. This is the
only road in all Syria where vessels anchor on a solid
bottom, without their cables being liable to chafe; but in
other respects it has many inconveniences. It is infested
during winter by a peculiar wind, called by the French
sailors le Raguier, which, rushing from the snowy sum¬
mits of the mountains, frequently forces ships to drag their
anchors several leagues; and when the snow begins to
cover the mountains which surround the gulf, tempestuous
winds arise, which prevent vessels from entering for three
or four months together. The road also to Aleppo by the
plain is infested by Curd robbers, who conceal themselves
in the neighbouring rocks, and frequently attack and
plunder the strongest caravans. But the worst circum¬
stance is the extreme unwholesomeness of the air, occa¬
sioned here by stagnant waters and mephitic exhalations.
It may be affirmed that this every year carries off one-
third of the crews of the vessels which remain here during
the summer; nay, ships frequently lose all their men in
two months. The season for this epidemic disorder is
principally from May to the end of September: it is an
intermitting fever of the most malignant kind, and is ac¬
companied with obstructions of the liver, which terminate
in dropsy. To this baneful epidemic, Alexandretta, from
Oder
aa.
ti,
-v/
ALE
;an. its situation, seems to be irremediably condemned; for
',1. the plain on which the town is built is so low and flat,
c/v'^that the rivulets, finding no declivity, can never reach the
sea. When they are swelled by the winter rains, the sea,
likewise swelled by tempests, hinders their discharging
themselves into it; hence their waters, forced to spread
themselves, form lakes in the plain. On the approach of
the summer the waters become corrupted by the heat,
exhale vapours equally corrupt, and which cannot dis¬
perse, being confined by the mountains that encircle the
gulf. The entrance of the bay, besides, is to the west,
which in those countries is the most unhealthful exposure
when it lies open to the sea. The labour necessary to
remedy this would be immense, and after all insufficient;
and, indeed, such an undertaking would be absolutely im¬
possible under a government like that of the Turks. Mr
Volney informs us, that the merchants of Aleppo, disgust¬
ed with the numerous inconveniences of Alexandretta,
wished to abandon that port and carry the trade to Lata-
kia. They proposed to the pacha of Tripoli to repair the
harbour at their own expense, provided he would grant
them an exemption from all duties for ten years. To in¬
duce him to comply with their request, the agent then
employed talked much of the advantage which would in
time result to the whole country. “ But what signifies it
to me what may happen in time ?" replied the pacha ; “ I
was yesterday at Marach ; to-morrow, perhaps, I shall be
at Djedda. Why should I deprive myself of present ad¬
vantages, which are certain, for future benefits I cannot
hope to partake ?” The European factors were obliged
therefore to remain at Scanderoon.
ALEXANDRIA, now Scanderia, by Athenaeus called
Xgu<»!, a city of Lower Egypt, and for a long time its ca¬
pital. This city was built by Alexander the Great, soon
after the overthrow of Tyre, about 333 years before Christ.
It is situated on the Mediterranean, twelve miles west of
that mouth of the Nile anciently called Canopicurn, and
lies in long. 29. 54 E. lat. 31. 10. N.
Alexander is said to have been induced to build this city
on account of its affording a fine port, and being advantage¬
ously situated for trade. It realized his expectations ; for it
soon became the emporium, not only for merchandise, but
also for all the arts and sciences of the Greeks. Alexandria,
according to Strabo, was 30 stadia in length from east to
west, and 7 or 8 stadia in breadth where narrowest. The
circumference was about 70 stadia, or 9 miles ; but Pliny,
including no doubt the suburbs, reckons the circumference
15 miles. Lake Mareotis bathed its walls on the south,
and the Mediterranean on the north. It wms intersected
lengthwise by straight parallel streets. This direction
left a free passage to the northern wind, which alone
conveys coolness and salubrity into Egypt. A street of
2000 feet wide began at the gate of the sea, and termi¬
nated at the gate of Canopus. It was decorated with
magnificent houses, temples, and public buildings. In its
extensive range, the eye was never tired with admiring
the marble, the porphyry, and obelisks, which were des¬
tined at some future day to embellish Rome and Constan¬
tinople. The great street, the handsomest in the world,
was intersected by another of the same breadth, which
ormed a square at their junction of half a league in cir¬
cumference. From the middle of this great place the two
gates were to be seen at once, and vessels arriving under
ull sail from the north and from the south.
neck of land a mile in length (not an artificial mole,
as some imagine) stretched from the continent to the isle
0,. ‘^aros) and divided the great harbour into two. That
\V llc*1 *s t0 the northward preserved its name. A dike
rawn from the island to the rock whereon was built the
VOL. II.
ALE 409
Pharos secured it from the westerly winds. The other Alexan-
was called Eunostos, or the Safe Return. The former is dria.
called at present the new, the latter the old harbour: a
bridge that joins the mole to the city served for a com¬
munication between them. It was raised on lofty pillars
sunk into the sea, and left a free passage for ships. The
palace, which advanced beyond the promontory of Lochias,
extended as far as the dike, and occupied more than a
quarter of the city. Each of the Ptolemies added to its
magnificence. It contained within its inclosure, the mu¬
seum, an asylum for learned men, groves, and buildings
worthy of royal majesty, and a temple where the body of
Alexander was deposited in a golden coffin. The infamous
Seleucus Cibyofactes violated this monument, carried off
the golden coffin, and put a glass one in its place. In the
great harbour was the little island of Anti-Rhodes, where
stood a theatre and a royal place of residence. Within
the harbour of Eunostos was a smaller one called Kibotos,
dug by the hand of man, which communicated with Lake
Mareotis by a canal. Between this canal and the palace
was the admirable temple of Serapis, and that of Neptune
near the great place where the market was held. Alex¬
andria extended likewise along the northern banks of the
lake. Its eastern part presented to view the gymnasium,
with its porticoes of more than 600 feet long, supported
by several rows of marble pillars. Without the gate of
Canopus was a spacious circus for the chariot races. Be¬
yond that the suburb of Nicopolis ran along the sea-shore,
and seemed a second Alexandria. A superb amphitheatre
was built there, with a race-ground, for the celebration of
the quinquennalia.
Such is the description left us of Alexandria by the
ancients, and above all by Strabo.
The architect employed by Alexander in this under¬
taking was the celebrated Dinocrates, who had acquired
so much reputation by rebuilding the temple of Diana at
Ephesus. The city was first rendered populous by Pto¬
lemy Soter, one of Alexander’s captains, who, after the
death of the Macedonian monarch, being appointed gover¬
nor of Egypt, soon assumed the title of king, and took up
his residence at Alexandria, about 304 years before Christ.
In the 30th year of Ptolemy Soter’s reign, he took his
son Ptolemy Philadelphus partner with him in the em¬
pire ; and by this prince the city of Alexandria was much
embellished. In the first year of his reign the famous
watch-tower of Pharos was finished. It had been begun
several years before by Ptolemy Soter; and, when finish¬
ed, was looked upon as one of the wonders of the world.
The same year, the islet of Pharos itself, originally se¬
ven furlongs distant from the peninsula, was joined to it
bJ a causeway. This w*as the work of Dexiphanes, who
completed it at the same time that his son put the last
hand to the tower. The tower was a large square struc¬
ture of white marble, on the top of which fires were kept
constantly burning, for the direction of sailors. The
building cost 800 talents; which, if Attic, amounted to
L.165,000; if Alexandrian, to twice that sum.
The architect employed in this famous structure fell
upon the following contrivance to usurp the whole glory
to himself. Being ordered to engrave upon it the follow¬
ing inscription,—“ King Ptolemy to the Gods the Sa¬
viours, for the benefit of Sailors,”—instead of the king’s
name he substituted his own, and then filling up the hol¬
low of the marble with mortar, wrote upon it the above-
mentioned inscription. In process of time, the mortar
being worn off, the following inscription appeared: “ Sos-
tratus the Cnidian, the son of Dexiphanes, to the
Gods the Saviours, for the benefit of Sailors.”
This year also was remarkable for the bringing of the
3 F
410
ALEXANDRIA.
Alexan- image of Serapis from Pontus to Alexandria. It was set
dria. up in one of the suburbs of the city, called Rhacotis, where
a temple was afterwards erected to his honour, suitable to
the greatness of that stately metropolis, and called, from
the god worshipped there, Serapeum. This structure, ac¬
cording to Ammianus Marcellinus, surpassed in beauty
and magnificence all others in the world, except the
Capitol at Rome. Within the verge of this temple was
the famous Alexandrian library. It was founded by
Ptolemy Soter, for the use of an academy he instituted
in this city; and, by continual additions by his successors,
became at last the finest library in the world, containing
no fewer than 700,000 volumes. The method followed in
collecting books for this library was to seize all those
which were brought into Egypt by Greeks or other fo¬
reigners. The books were transcribed in the museum by
persons appointed for that purpose: the copies were then
delivered to the proprietors, .and the originals laid up in
the library. Ptolemy Euergetes, having borrowed from
the Athenians the works of Sophocles, Euripides, and
iEschylus, returned them only the copies, which he caused
to be transcribed in as beautiful a manner as possible;
presenting the Athenians at the same time with fifteen
talents (upwards of L.30,000 sterling) for the exchange.
As the museum was at first in that quarter of the city
called Bruchion, near the royal palace, the library was
placed there likewise; but when it came to contain
400,000 volumes, another library, within the Serapeum,
was erected by way of supplement to it, and on that ac¬
count called the daughter of the former. In this second
library 300,000 volumes, in process of time, were depo¬
sited; and the two together contained the 700,000 vo¬
lumes already mentioned. In the war carried on by Ju¬
lius Caesar against the inhabitants of this city, the library
in the Bruchion, with the 400,000 volumes it contained,
was reduced to ashes. The library in the Serapeum,
however, still remained; and here Cleopatra deposited
200,000 volumes of the Pergamean library, which Mark
Antony presented her with. These, and others added
from time to time, rendered the new library at Alexandria
more numerous and considerable than the former; and
though it was often plundered during the revolutions and
troubles of the Roman empire, yet it was again and again
repaired, and filled with the same number of books. For
293 years, Alexandria was held in subjection by the Pto¬
lemies.
This city, as we have already observed, soon became
extremely populous, and was embellished both by its own
princes and the Romans ; but, like most other noted cities
of antiquity, it has been the seat of terrible massacres.
About 141 years before Christ it was almost totally de¬
populated by Ptolemy Physcon. That barbarous monster,
without the least provocation, gave free liberty to his
guards to plunder his metropolis, and murder the inhabit¬
ants at their pleasure. The cruelties practised on this oc¬
casion cannot be expressed, and the few who escaped
were so terrified that they fled into other countries. Upon
this, Physcon, that he might not reign over empty houses,
invited thither strangers from the neighbouring countries ;
by whom the city was repeopled, and soon recovered its
former splendour. On this occasion many learned men,
having been obliged to fly, proved the means of reviving
learning in Greece, Asia Minor, and the islands of the
Archipelago and other places, where it was almost to¬
tally lost.
The new inhabitants were not treated with much more
kindness by Physcon than the old ones had been ; for, on
their complaining of his tyrannical behaviour, he resolved
on a general massacre of the young men. Accordingly,
when they were one day assembled in the gymnasium, or A1
place of their public exercises, he ordered it to be set on chi
fire ; so that they all perished, either in the flames, or by'^v
the swords of his mercenaries, whom the tyrant had placed
at all the avenues.
J
Though Julius Caesar was obliged to carry on a war for
some time against this city, it seems not to have suffered
much damage, except the burning of the library already
mentioned. Before Caesar left Alexandria, in acknow¬
ledgement of the assistance he had received from the Jews,
he confirmed all their privileges there, and even engraved
his decree on a pillar of brass. This, however, did not
prevent the massacre of 50,000 of them in this city, about
the year of Christ 67.
The city of Alexandria seems to have fallen into decay
soon after this, and to have forfeited many of its ancient
privileges, though for what offence is not known; but
when Adrian visited Egypt, about the year 141, it was al¬
most totally ruined. He repaired both the public and
private buildings, not only restoring the inhabitants to
iheir ancient privileges, but heaping new favours upon
them; for which they returned him their solemn thanks,
and conferred upon him what honours they could while
he was present; but as soon as he w'as gone, they pub¬
lished the most virulent and bitter lampoons against him.
The fickle and satirical humour of the Alexandrians was
highly disliked by Adrian, though he inflicted no punish¬
ment upon them for it; but when they lampooned Cara-
calla, he did not let them escape, so easily. That tyrant,
in the year 215, when he visited their city, having become
the subject of their foolish satires, ordered a general mas¬
sacre by his numerous troops, who were dispersed all
over the city. The inhuman order being given, all were
murdered, without distinction of age or sex; so that in
one night’s time the whole city floated in blood, and every
house was filled with carcasses. The monster who occa¬
sioned this had retired during the night to the temple of
Serapis, to implore the protection of that deity; and, not
yet satiated with slaughter, commanded the massacre to
be continued all the next day ; so that very few of the in¬
habitants remained. As if even this had not been suffi¬
cient, he stripped the city of all its ancient privileges;
suppressed the academy ; ordered all strangers who lived
there to depart; and that the few who remained might
not have the satisfaction of seeing one another, he cut off
all communication of one street with another, by walls
built for that purpose, and guarded by troops left there.
Notwithstanding this terrible disaster, Alexandria soon
recovered its former splendour, as Caracalla was murder¬
ed a short time after. It was long esteemed the first city
in the world, next to Rome; and we may judge of its
magnificence, and the multitude of people contained in
it, from the account of Diodorus Siculus, who relates,
that in his time (44 years before Christ) Alexandria had
on its rolls 300,000 free inhabitants. Mannert, a learned
German writer, thinks the slaves must have been at least
as numerous; and thus the city, in its flourishing periods,
had contained not less than 600,000 inhabitants. Towards
the middle of the sixth century, Amrou Ebn al Aas,
Omar’s general, took it by storm, after a siege of 14 months,
and with the loss of 23,000 men. Heraclius, then empe¬
ror of Constantinople, did not send a single ship to its assist¬
ance. This prince affords an example very rare in history:
he had displayed some vigour in the first year of his reign>
and then suffered himself to be lulled into idleness and
effeminacy. Awakened suddenly from his lethargy by
the noise of the conquests of Cosroes, that scourge of the
East, he put himself at the head of his armies, distinguish¬
ed himself as a great captain from his very first campaign;
ALEXANDRIA.
iii®-
laid waste Persia for seven years, and returned to his ca-
ci- pital covered with laurels: he then became a theologian
the throne, lost all his energy, and amused himself the
rest of his life with disputing upon monotheism, whilst
the Arabs were robbing him of the finest provinces of the
empire. Deaf to the cries of the unfortunate inhabitants
of Alexandria, as he had been to those of the people of
Jerusalem, who defended themselves for two years, he left
them a sacrifice to the rising fortune of the indefatigable
Amrou. All their intrepid youth perished with their
arms in their hands.
The victor, astonished at his conquest, wrote to the ca¬
liph, “ I have taken the city of the west. It is of an im¬
mense extent. I cannot describe to you how many won¬
ders it contains. There are 4000 palaces, 4000 baths,
that they should be called to an account by the Greeks
for their former perfidious conduct, had petitioned Oth-
man to send him again into Egypt.—Upon Amrou’s arri-'
val, therefore, at Alexandria, the Copts or natives, with
the traitor Al-Mokawkas (who had formerly betrayed to
Amrou the fortress of Mesr) at their head, not only joined
him, but supplied him with all kinds of provisions, excit¬
ing him to attack the Greeks without delay. This he did;
and, after a most obstinate dispute, which lasted several
days, drove them into the town, where, for some time,
they defended themselves with great bravery, and repel¬
led the utmost efforts of the besiegers. This so exaspe¬
rated Amrou, that he swore, if God enabled him to
conquer the Greeks, he would throw down the walls of
the city, and make it as easy of access as the house of a
12,000 dealers in fresh oil, 12,000 gardeners, 40,000 Jews* prostitute. Nor did he fail to execute his threat; for,
411
Alexan¬
dria.
who pay tribute, 400 theatres or places of amusement.”
At this time, according to the Arabian historians, Alex¬
andria consisted of three cities, viz. Menna, or the port,
which included Pharos and the neighbouring parts;
Alexandria, properly so called, where the modern Scan-
deria now stands ; and Nekita, probably the Necropolis of
Josephus and Strabo.
At that time John, surnamed the Grammarian, a fa¬
mous Peripatetic philosopher, being in the city, and in
high favour with Amrou Ebn al Aas, the Saracen general,
begged of him the royal library. Amrou replied that it
was not in his power to grant such a request; but that
he would write to the caliph on that head, since, without
knowing his pleasure, he dared not to dispose of a single
book. He accordingly wrote to Omar, who was then ca¬
liph, acquainting him with the request of his friend ; to
which the ignorant tyrant replied, That if those books
contained the same doctrine with the Koran, they could
be of no use, since the Koran contained all necessary
truths; but if they contained any thing contrary to that
book, they ought not to be suffered ; and, therefore, what¬
ever their contents were, he ordered them to be destroyed.
Pursuant to this order, they were distributed among the
public baths, where, for the space of six months, they
served to supply the fires of those places, of which there
was an incredible number in Alexandria.
After the city was taken, Amrou thought proper to
pursue the Greeks who had fled farther up the country;
and therefore marched out of Alexandria, leaving but a
very slender garrison in the place. The Greeks, who had
before fled on board their ships, being apprized of this, re¬
turned on a sudden, surprised the town, and put all the
Arabs they found therein to the sword; but Amrou, re¬
ceiving advice of what had happened, suddenly returned,
and drove them out of it with great slaughter: after
which the Greeks were so intimidated, that he had no¬
thing further to fear from them.—A few years after, how¬
ever, Amrou being deprived of his government by the ca¬
liph Othman, the Egyptians were so much displeased
with his dismission, that they inclined to a revolt; and
Constantine, the Greek emperor, having received intelli¬
gence of their disaffection, began to meditate the reduc¬
tion of Alexandria. For this purpose he sent one Ma¬
nuel, a eunuch, and his general, with a powerful army,
to retake that place; which, by the assistance of the
Creeks in the city, who kept a secret correspondence with
the imperial forces while at sea, and joined them as soon
as they had made a descent, he effected, without any con¬
siderable effusion of Christian blood. The caliph, now
perceiving his mistake, immediately restored Amrou to
his former dignit}\ This step was very agreeable to the
natives, who, having had experience of the military skill
and bravery of this renowned general, and apprehending
having taken the town by storm, he quite dismantled it,
entirely demolishing the walls and fortifications. The
lives of the citizens, however, were spared, at least as far
as lay in the general’s power; but many of them were put
to the sword by the soldiers on their first entrance. In
one quarter particularly, Amrou found them butchering
the Alexandrians with unrelenting barbarity; to which,
however, by his seasonable interposition, he put a stop,
and on that spot erected a mosque, which he called the
mosque of mercy.
From this time Alexandria never recovered its former
splendour. It continued under the dominion of the ca¬
liphs till the year 924, when it was taken by the Magre-
bians, two years after its great church had been destroyed
by fire. This church was called by the Arabs Al Kaisa-
ria, or Caesarea, and had formerly been a pagan temple,
erected in honour of Saturn by the famous Queen Cleo¬
patra.
The city was soon after abandoned by the Magrebians;
but in 928 they again made themselves masters of it.
Their fleet being afterwards defeated by that belonging
to the caliph, Abul Kasem the Magrebian general retired
from Alexandria, leaving there only a garrison of 300
men; of which Thmaal, the caliph’s admiral, being ap¬
prized, he in a few days appeared before the town, and
carried off the remainder of the inhabitants to an island
of the Nile called Abukair. This was done to prevent
Abul Kasem from meeting with any entertainment at
Alexandria, in case he should think proper to return.
According to Eutychius, above 200,000 of the miserable
inhabitants perished this year.
What contributed to raise Alexandria to the extra¬
ordinary height of splendour it enjoyed for a long time,
was its being the centre of commerce between the eastern
and western parts of the world. It was with the view of
becoming master of this lucrative trade that Alexander
built this city, after having extirpated the Tyrians, who
formerly engrossed all the East India traffic. Of the im¬
mense riches which that trade afforded, we may form an
idea, from considering that the Romans accounted it a
point of policy to oppress the Egyptians, especially the
Alexandrians ; and after the defeat of Zenobia, there was
a single merchant of Alexandria, who, it is said, under¬
took to raise and pay an army out of the profits of his
trade. The Greek emperors drew enormous tributes
from Egypt, and yet the caliphs found their subjects in
such good circumstances that they were able to screw up
their revenues to 300,000,000 of.crowns.
Though the revolutions which happened in the govern¬
ment of Egypt after it fell into the hands of the Maho¬
metans frequently affected this city to a very great de¬
gree, yet still the excellence of its port, and the innu¬
merable conveniences resulting from the East India trade,
412 ALEXANDRIA.
Alexan- to whomsoever were masters of Egypt, preserved it from
dria. total destruction, even when in the hands of the most bar-
^v^barous nations. Thus, in the 13th century, when the
European nations began to acquire a taste for the ele¬
gancies of life, the old mart of Alexandria began to re¬
vive ; and the port, though far from recovering its former
magnificence, grew once more famous by becoming the
centre of commerce: but having fallen under the domi¬
nion of the Turks, and the passage round the Cape of
Good Hope being discovered by the Portuguese in 1499, a
fatal blow was given to the Alexandrian commerce, and the
city thenceforward declined from its ancient greatness.
Alexandria, Modern. It now presents little more
than half-ruined houses and rubbish, with a few frag¬
ments of those magnificent edifices by which it was once
adorned. The estimates of its population have fluc¬
tuated remarkably, varying between 5000 and 20,000.
Mr Madden, to whom we owe the most recent account
(Travels in Turkey, 1829), states the number at 16,000,
of whom 9000 are Arabs, 2000 Greeks, 2000 Franks
(Europeans); the rest Jews, Copts, &c. The com¬
merce of Alexandria is still extensive, as almost all the
commodities imported into and exported from Egypt
pass through its port. Both the British and French na¬
tions maintain consuls at Alexandria, and of the former
nation there are nine considerable mercantile houses esta¬
blished there. The Jewish merchants are also numerous
and wealthy; for, though subject to heavier impositions,
they carry on their traffic with such economy, and have
such a friendly understanding with the collectors of the
customs, that they generally undersell Europeans. The
late extensive exportation of cotton from Egypt has
given an increased importance to Alexandria, and a
considerable stir has been created by the naval expedi¬
tions equipped there by the pacha.
The present city is a kind of peninsula situated between
the two ports. That to the westward was called by the
ancients the Portus Eunostos, now the old port, and is
by far the best; Turkish vessels only are allowed to an¬
chor there: the other, called the new port, is for the
Christians ; at the extremity of one of the arms of which
stood the famous Pharos. The new port, the only har¬
bour for Europeans, is clogged up with sand, insomuch
that in stormy weather ships are liable to bilge; and the
bottom being also rocky, the cables soon chafe and part;
so that one vessel driving against a second, and that
against a third, they are perhaps all lost. Of this there
was a fatal instance many years ago, when 42 vessels were
dashed to pieces on the mole in a gale of wind from the
north-west; and numbers have been since lost there at
different times. If it be asked in Europe, why do they
not repair the new port ? the answer is, that in Turkey
they destroy every thing, and repair nothing. The old
harbour will be destroyed likewise, as the ballast of ves¬
sels has been continually thrown into it for the last 200
years. The spirit of the Turkish government is to ruin
the labours of past ages, and destroy the hopes of future
times, because ignorant despotism never considers to¬
morrow.
The country round Alexandria is entirely destitute of
water. This must be brought from the Nile by the ka-
lidj, or canal of 12 leagues, which conveys it thither every
year at the time of the inundation. It fills the vaults or
reservoirs dug under the ancient city, and this provision
must serve till the next year. It is evident, therefore,
that were a foreign power to take possession, the canal
would be shut, and all supplies of water cut off. It is this
canal alone which connects Alexandria with Egypt; for,
from its situation without the Delta, and the nature of
the soil, it really belongs to the deserts of Africa. Its A1
environs are sandy, flat, and sterile, without trees and c ,n'
without houses; where we meet with nothing but the^ V
plant which yields the kali, and a row of palm-trees
which follows the course of the kalidj or canal. The fa¬
mous tower of Pharos has long since been demolished
and a castle, called Farillon, built in its place. The cause¬
way which joined the island to the continent is broken
down, and its place supplied by a strong bridge of several
arches.
Some parts of the old walls of the city are yet stand¬
ing, and present a fine specimen of ancient masonry.
They are flanked with large towers, about 200 paces
distant from each other, with small towers in the middle.
Below are magnificent casemates, which may serve for
galleries to walk in. In the lower part of the towers is
a large square hall, the roof of which is supported by thick
columns of Thebaic stone. Above are several rooms,
over which are platforms more than 20 paces square. The
ancient reservoirs, vaulted with so much art, which ex¬
tend under the whole town, remain almost entire at the
end of 2000 years.
Of Caesar’s palace there remain only a few porphyry
pillars, and the front, which is almost entire, and very
beautiful. The palace of Cleopatra was built upon the
walls facing the port, having a gallery on the outside,
supported by several fine columns. Not far from this pa¬
lace are two obelisks, vulgarly called Cleopatra’s Needles.
They are of Thebaic stone, and covered with hierogly¬
phics. One is overturned, broken, and lying under the
sand; the other is on its pedestal. These two obelisks,
each of which is a single stone, are about 60 feet high, by
seven feet square at the base. Denon, who went to
Egypt along with the French army in 1798, supposed that
these columns decorated the entrance of the palace of
the Ptolemies, the ruins of which still exist at no great
distance from the place of the obelisks. Towards the
gate of Rosetta are five columns of marble, on the place
formerly occupied by the porticoes of the gymnasium.
The rest of the colonnade, the design of which was dis¬
coverable 100 years ago by Maillet, has since been de¬
stroyed by the barbarism of the Turks.
But what most engages the attention of travellers is
the pillar of Pompey, as it is commonly called, situated
at a quarter of a league from the southern gate. It is
composed of red granite. The capital, which is Corinthian,
with palm leaves, and not indented, is nine feet high. The
shaft and the upper member of the base are of one piece
of nearly 90 feet long and nine in diameter. The base
is a square of about 15 feet on each side. This block of
marble, 60 feet in circumference, rests on twro layers ot
stone bound together with lead; which, however, has not
prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them, to
search for an imaginary treasure. The whole column has
been said to be 117 feet high, but the most recent and
careful estimates do not make it exceed 95. It is per¬
fectly well polished, and only a little shivered on the
eastern side. Nothing can equal the majesty of this mo¬
nument ; seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and
serves as a signal for vessels. On a nearer approach, it
produces an astonishment mixed with awe. One can
never be tired with admiring the beauty of the capital)
the length of the shaft, or the extraordinary simplicity
of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damage
by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to pos¬
sess a relic of this antiquity. The column was considerec
inaccessible, till it was scaled about half a century ago by
the wild frolic of a party of English sailors, who conceive
the project of emptying a bowl of punch on the top o
A L E X A
Ale, j. this celebrated monument. Dexterously availing them-
dr selves of the movements of a paper kite, they succeeded
fastening a rope to the summit, by which they ascend¬
ed, and performed this great achievement. They disco¬
vered a foot and ancle, the only remnant of a gigantic
statue which had originally adorned it. It has since been
rendered more accessible; and Mr Madden mentions an
English lady who breakfasted and wrote a letter from
this elevated position.
Learned men and travellers have made many fruitless
attempts to discover in honour of what prince it was
erected. The best informed have concluded that it could
not be in honour of Pompey, since neither Strabo nor
Diodorus Siculus has spoken of it. The Arabian Abul-
feda, in his Description of Egypt, calls it the Pillar of Se-
rerus. And history informs us that this emperor visited
the city of Alexandria. Denon, on this subject, expresses
himself as follows:—“ After having observed that the
column is very chaste both in style and execution; that
the pedestal and capital are not formed of the same
granite as the shaft; that their workmanship is heavy,
and appears to be merely a rough draught; and that the
foundations, made up of fragments, indicate a modern con¬
struction,—it may be concluded that this monument is
not antique, and that it may have been erected, either
in the time of the Greek emperors or of the caliphs;
since, if the capital and pedestal are of sufficiently good
workmanship to belong to the former of these periods,
they are not so perfect but that art may have reached so
far in the latter.”
On the south-west side of the city, at a mile’s distance,
are situated the catacombs, the ancient burial-place of
Alexandria; a remarkable object, although they cannot be
compared to those of the ancient Thebes. The Baron de
Tott, in describing these, observes “ that Nature not hav¬
ing furnished this part of Egypt with a ridge of rocks,
like that which runs parallel with the Nile above Delta,
the ancient inhabitants of Alexandria could only have an
imitation by digging into a bed of solid rock; and thus
they formed a Necropolis, or City of the Dead. The
excavation is from 30 to 40 feet wide, 200 long, and 25
deep, and is terminated by gentle declivities at each end.
The two sides, cut perpendicularly, contain several open¬
ings, about 10 or 12 feet in width and height, hollowed
horizontally; and which form, by their different branches,
subterranean streets. One of these, which curiosity has
disencumbered from the ruins and sands that render the
entrance of others difficult or impossible, contains no
mummies, but only the places they occupied. The order
m which they were ranged is still to be seen. Niches,
. 1”c"es square, sunk six feet horizontally, narrowed at
the bottom, and separated from each other by partitions
in the rock seven or eight inches thick, divided into
c ‘^k^rs the two walls of this subterranean vault. It is
natural to suppose, from this disposition, that each mummy
was introduced with the feet foremost into the cellintend-
n tor its reception; and that new streets were opened,
in proportion as these dead inhabitants of Necropolis in¬
creased.’ This observation, he adds, which throws a
'r. it on tlie catacombs of Memphis, may perhaps likewise
exp am the vast size and multitude, as well as the differ-
en e evations, of the pyramids in Upper and Lower Egypt,
bout 70 paces from Pompey’s pillar is the khalis, or
e can'd of the Nile, which was dug by the ancient
to convey the water of the Nile to Alexandria,
i. i c*storns under the city. This canal had ceas-
narl 0®et ler t0 navigable, till Mahmood, the present
it fla’ sPent immense labour and cost in restoring it.
ortunately, the Italian engineers whom he employed
N D R I A.
were entirely destitute of the skill necessary to conduct
so great and arduous an undertaking. They took no mea¬
sures to protect the canal against the fresh influx of mud
from the Nile, which accordingly has again choked it up
to so great an extent, that it can scarcely be navigat¬
ed, unless during the season of inundation.
Alexandria, in modern times, has never ranked as a
fortress, and is considered by Volney as incapable of any
defence. Accordingly, when attacked by Buonaparte m
1798,. it surrendered without a blow. The French were
very industrious in forming the place, if not into a regu¬
lar fortress, yet into a very strong entrenched position.
They appear to have succeeded. In 1801 Sir Ralph
Abercromby undertook his memorable expedition. On
the 13th and 21st March he gained, in the plain before
Alexandria, two successive victories, of which the last was
most complete and signal, though purchased by the life
of the distinguished commander. Yet it was still not con¬
sidered possible to carry Alexandria, unless by regular
siege; the conclusion of which, on the 2d September,
was accompanied by a general convention for the evacu¬
ation of Egypt by the French armies.
In 1806 a British force under General Frazer landed
and took possession of Alexandria without resistance; but
being repulsed in two successive attempts upon Rosetta,
they finally evacuated it on the 21st June 1807.
Alexandria is about 40 leagues north-west of Cairo.
Long. 30. 10. E. Lat. 31.12. N.
Alexandria, a circle in the western part of the go¬
vernment of Cherson. It is watered by the Dnieper, and
is fruitful in corn and cattle; but to the south it consists
chiefly of barren steppes. It contains one city and 165
villages, with 24 churches or parishes, and 21,000 inha¬
bitants.
Alexandria, a city of Russia, capital of the circle of
that name in the province of Cherson. It is situated on
the river Inguler, and contains 170 houses and 870 in¬
habitants. Great quantities of maize are grown in the
neighbourhood; and the sheep are of the broad-tailed
kind, like those of the Cape of Good Hope. Long. 33.3. E.
Lat. 48. 22. N.
Alexandria, in Ancient Geography, a city of Aracho-
sia, called also Alexandropolis, on the river Arachotus
(Stephanus, Isidorus Characenus.)—Another Alexandria
in Gedrosia, built by Leonatus by order of Alexander
(Pliny.)—A third Alexandria in Aria, situated at the lake
Arias (Ptolemy); but, according to Pliny, built by Alex¬
ander on the river Arius.—A fourth in Bactriana (Pliny.)
—A fifth Alexandria, an inland town of Caramania (Pliny,
Ptolemy, Ammian.)—A sixth Alexandria, or Alexandro¬
polis, in Sogdiana (Isidorus Characenus.)—A seventh in
India, at the confluence of the Acesines and Indus (Ar¬
rian.)—An eighth, called also Alexandretta, near the Sinus
Issicus, on the confines of Syria and Cilicia, now Scande-
roon (see Alexandretta), the port town to Aleppo.—A
ninth Alexandria of Margiana, which being demolished
by the barbarians, was rebuilt by Antiochus the son of
Seleucus, and called Antiochia of Syria (Pliny); watered
by the river Margus, which is divided into several chan¬
nels, for the purpose of watering the country which was
called Zotale. The city was seventy stadia in circuit, ac¬
cording to Pliny; who adds, that after the defeat of Cras-
sus, the captives were conveyed to this place by Orodes,
the king of the Parthians.—A tenth, of the Oxiana, built
on the Oxus by Alexander, on the confines of Bactria
(Pliny.)—An eleventh, built by Alexander at the foot of
Mount Paropamisus, which was called Caucasus (Pliny,
Arrian.)—A twelfth Alexandria in Troas, called also Troas
and Antigonia (Pliny.)—A thirteenth on the Jaxartes, the
413
Alexan¬
dria.
414 ALE
A L F
Alexan- boundary of Alexander's victories towards Scythia, and
drian the last that he built on that side.
II ^ ALEXANDRIAN, in a particular sense, is applied
drowsk* those who professed or taught the sciences in
the school of Alexandria. In this sense Clemens is de¬
nominated Alexandrinus, though born at Athens. The
same may be said of Apion, who was born at Oasis; and
Aristarchus, by birth a Samothracian. The chief Alex¬
andrian philosophers were, Ammonius, Plotinus, Origen,
Porphyry, Jamblicus, Sopater, Maximus, and Dexippus.
Alexandrian is more particularly understood of a col¬
lege of priests, consecrated to the service of Alexander
Severus after his deification. Lampridius relates, that
notwithstanding Severus was killed by Maximin, the se¬
nate prosecuted his apotheosis, and, for regularity of
worship, founded an order of priests or sodales, under the
denomination of Alexandrini.
Alexandrian Manuscript, a famous copy of the Scrip¬
tures, consisting of four volumes, in a large quarto size,
which contains the whole Bible in Greek, including the
Old and New Testament, with the Apocrypha and some
smaller pieces, but not quite complete. This manuscript
is now preserved in the British Museum. It was sent as
a present to King Charles I. from Cyrillus Lucaris, pat¬
riarch of Constantinople, by Sir Thomas Rowe, ambassa¬
dor from England to the grand signior, about the year
1628. Cyriilus brought it with him from Alexandria,
where probably it was written. In a schedule annexed to
it he gives this account,—that it was written, as tradition
informed them, by Thecla, a noble Egyptian lady, about
1300 years ago, not long after the council of Nice. But
this high antiquity, and the authority of the tradition to
which the patriarch refers, have been disputed; nor are
the most accurate Biblical writers agreed about its age.
Grabe thinks that it might have been written before the
end of the fourth century; others are of opinion that it
was not written till near the end of the fifth century, or
somewhat later.
Alexandrian, or Alexandrine, in Poetry, a kind of
verse consisting of 12, or of 12 and 13 syllables alternately;
so called from a poem on the life of Alexander, written in
this kind of verse by some French poet. Alexandrines
are peculiar to modern poetry, and seem well adapted to
epic poems. They are sometimes used by most nations
of Europe, but chiefly by the French, whose tragedies are
generally composed of Alexandrines.
ALEXANDROW, a circle in the Russian province of
Waldimir, to the west of the capital, watered by the Sera,
and the smaller stream that enters it. The capital of the
circle is the city of that name, in lat. 56. 25. N. and long.
38. 50. E. with 700 inhabitants. The circle contains also
three large parishes, and an institution for breeding horses,
where 300 brood-mares are supported by the government.
ALEXANDROWSK, a circle in the Russian province
of Jekaterinoslaw, on the east side of the Dnieper. It
was formerly a frontier district towards Turkey, and pro¬
tected by seven fortresses, which are neglected and fast
decaying. It is a poor, sandy, thinly peopled circle. The
capital of the circle bears the same name. It stands on
the river Dnieper, at the commencement of the ancient
line of demarcation. It is fortified, contains 500 houses
and 3000 inhabitants, and is a place of considerable transit
trade. It is situated in long. 34. 53. E. and lat. 47. 44. N.
Alexandrowsk, a market-town in the circle of Sophia,
in the government of St Petersburg, in Russia. It stands
on the Neva. In it are a sugar refinery, tanneries, and the
imperial china manufactory.
Alexandrowsk, a town in the circle of Petrosowodsk
and province of Olonez, in Russia. It is on the lake Ladoga,
Alt acu.
and has extensive iron-works and founderies of cannon, \]
with other branches of the manufacture of arms.
ALEX1CACUS, something that preserves the body AliL
from harm or mischief. The word amounts to much the^ v
same as alexiterial.
Alexicacus, in Antiquity, was an attribute of Neptune
whom the tunny-fishers used to invoke under this appella¬
tion, that their nets might be preserved from the
or sword-fish, which used to tear them ; and that he might
prevent the assistance which it was pretended the dolphins
used to give the tunnies on this occasion.
ALEXIN, a circle in the province of Tula, of Russia
in Europe, to the north of Moscow and east of Kaluga. It
is a level district, watered by the river Oka and its tributary
streams, of moderate fertility, and abundantly supplied
with wood. It comprehends one city and 74 parishes,
containing 241 villages and about 90,000 inhabitants. The
capital of the circle, of the same name, is built on the river
Oka, has three stone and one wooden church, with 1850
inhabitants, of whom some make hats, and others soap. It
is in long. 36. 30. E. and lat. 54. 42. N.
ALEXIPHARMICS, in Medicine, are properly reme¬
dies for expelling or preventing the ill effects of poison;
but some of the moderns having imagined that the animal
spirits in acute distempers were affected by a malignant
poison, the term has been understood to mean medicines
adapted to expel this poison by the cutaneous pores, in the
form of sweat. In this sense, alexipharmics are the same
as sudorifics.
ALEXIS, a Piedmontese. There is a book of Secrets,
which for a long time has gone under his name. It was
printed at Basil in 1536, in 8vo, and translated from Italian
into Latin by Wecher. It has also been translated into
French, and printed several times, with additions. There
is a preface to the piece, wherein Alexis informs us that
he was born of a noble family; that he had from his most
early years applied himself to study; that he had learned
many languages; that having an extreme curiosity to be
acquainted with the secrets of nature, he had collected as
much as he could during his travels for 57 years; that he
piqued himself upon not communicating his secrets to any
person; but that when he was 82 years of age, having seen
a poor man who had died of a sickness which might have
been cured had he communicated his secret to the surgeon
who took care of him, he was touched with such a remorse
of conscience, that he lived almost like a hermit; and it
was in this solitude that he arranged his secrets in such
order as to make them fit to be published. The hawkers
generally carry them, with other books, to the country
fairs. These, however, contain only his select remedies,
not his entire collection.
ALEXITERIAL, among physicians, a term of much
the same import with alexipharmic, though sometimes
used in a synonymous sense with amulet.
ALEYN, Charles, an English poet in the reign of
Charles I. In 1631 he published two poems, entitled
The Battailes of Cressy and Poictiers, under the fortunes
and valour of King Edward of that name, and his sonne
Edward prince of Wales, named the Black. He succeed¬
ed his father as clerk of the ordnance, and was commissary-
general of the artillery to the king at the battle of Edge-
hill. The next piece he wrote was a poem in honour of
tt ttty t.i • . .1 a • .1 I. * i.L^ 01
Henry VII. and the victory that gained him the crown o
England. In 1639, the year before he died, he translated
the history of Eurialis and Lucretian, from the Latin
epistles of .Tineas Sylvius.
ALFAQUES, a seaport in the province of Catalonia,
in Spain. It is on a peninsula formed by the river Ebro,
near its mouth. The government has expended vast sums
A L F
A L F
Al/aq s in the improvement of this navigation, but without corre-
principles of physics to correct the errors of musical the¬
orists, and to regulate the construction of musical instru¬
ments. {Biog. Universelle, tom. i.) Casiri gives a com¬
plete list of his writings, but it is too long to be copiedV
in this place. (See Bibl. Arabico-Hispana Bscurialensis,
tom. i.) Some of his pieces were published in the Latin
tongue at Paris in 1633, under the title of Opuscula Varia
Alfarabii.
ALFARO, a town of Spain, on the confluence of
. . Alhama with the Ebro, in the province of Soria. It is
studied for some time at Bagdad, then the chief seat of surrounded with walls, and has four gates, one church, and
learning; and afterwards travelled, in order to form an four monasteries, and 4800 inhabitants. It contains’four
houses for soap-boiling, which produce 256 cwts.; three
tanneries, and 28 looms for weaving linen.
ALFDOUCH, a name given by the Moors to a sort of
vermicelli, which they make of flour and water, and are
very fond of in their entertainments.
ALFERGAN, or Alfkagan, an Arabian astronomer,
who lived under the reign of the caliph Almamon, and
who, on account of his skill in calculation, was surnamed
spondent success, chiefly owing to the insalubrity of the
Alto;'5-situation. . ,, „ '
Alfaques, among, the Moors, the name generally used
for their clergy, or those who teach the Mahometan reli¬
gion ; in opposition to the Morabites, who answer to monks
among Christians.
ALFARABIUS, a celebrated eastern philosopher of
the tenth century, was born, in what year is not known,
at Farab, a city of Asia Minor, now called Othrar. He
acquaintance with the learned of other countries
A great revolution of sentiment in regard to letters had
taken place, in the preceding century, among the followers
of Mahomet. The commanders of the faithful had be¬
come the patrons and cultivators, instead of the scourgers
and contemners, of science and literature. Knowledge
found her only sanctuary under the successors of those
rulers who had sought to extinguish every ray of intellec¬
tual light by means of the destruction of the libraries of the Calculator. He wrote an Introduction to Astronomy,
A 1 /d o T r» o+rvo m /at tvv /a cj r» v i Ia i nr /Avr/Awr Ia/v/aH oo iio/aI/aoci ittIai/vIa ^a/ava 4-<a i va « 114-4-1.-* 4-1* i. *  * * 1 T • i • /i
Alexandria. Instead of proscribing every book as useless
but the Koran, some of these rulers carried their zeal in
the cause of learning so far as to make the acquisition of
Greek manuscripts an object of negotiation in their treaties
with the emperors of Constantinople. Under the caliphs
of the house of Abbas, men of learning were raised to a
degree of favour and consequence which has never been
enjoyed by that class, under the sovereigns of any other
country, in any age of the world. The munificence which
shone forth with so much lustre in the supreme deposita¬
ries of power was widely emulated among the inferior
rulers and governors; and “ this emulation,” to use the
which contains little that is original, being chiefly com¬
piled from the Almagest of Ptolemy. He was also the
author of a treatise on Bials, and of an account of the
construction and use of the Astrolabe. These two pieces
still remain in manuscript; but there have been three
different Latin translations published of his astronomical
work. The first, by Joannes Hispalensis, was published
at Ferrara in 1493. This translation was afterwards re¬
printed at Nuremberg in 1537, with a preface by Melanch-
thon. The second was the work of John Christman, and
was published at Frankfort in 1590. The third, and the
most esteemed of these translations, was by Golius, pro¬
words of Gibbon, “ diffused the taste and the rewards of fessor of mathematics and oriental languages at Leyden,
science,from Samarcand and Bochara, to Fez and Cordova.” T4- -*-i*i:*i*_ j a . *
Every little court had its circle of men of letters, who
were always admitted to the society of the prince, and for
die most part liberally supported by his bounty. Thus,
when Alfarabius, after he had finished his travels, came to
settle at Damas, he was received with open arms by its
sovereign, who bestowed upon him a pension, which he
continued to enjoy till his death,, in the year 950.
But to gain the notice of princes, or to acquire wealth,
formed none of the aims of this philosopher. He is said
to have led a very retired and ascetic life, rather contemn¬
ing than seeking after the good things of the world. “ He
constantly slept, even during winter, upon straw; his
countenance was always sorrowful, and he found no con¬
solation in any thing but philosophy.” (Enfield’s History
°J Philosophy, b. v. c. 1.) His works were numerous,
and very various in their subjects ; his speculations seem,
indeed, from the list of his writings, to have embraced
die whole circle of the sciences. He is particularly de¬
serving of notice, as having been perhaps the first com¬
piler of an Encyclopaedia. Such is the title of one of his
works, of which there is a copy in manuscript in the li¬
brary of the Escurial. It contains, according to the brief
notice of it given in Casiri’s valuable account of the Ara-
mc manuscripts in that collection, a clear and compre¬
hensive definition and compendium of all the arts and
sciences; and it appears to have been regarded in the
j t as the most valuable of Alfarabius’s compositions,
t would have been agreeable to the lovers of literary his¬
tory to have possessed some more detailed view of the
extent, plan, and contents of an Encyclopaedia written by
Arabian so many centuries before any work of that
escription was thought of in Europe.
^ext to this in estimation appears to have been his
catise on Music, in which he is said to have applied the
It was published at Amsterdam in 1669, accompanied
with the Arabic text, and with notes by Golius, which
are extremely curious. But these notes extend no far¬
ther than the ninth chapter, as the author did not live to
complete this part of his undertaking. The work itself
contains thirty chapters, all of which are very short.
ALFET, in our old customs, denotes a caldron full of
boiling water, wherein an accused person, by way of trial
or purgation, plunged his arm up to the elbow.
ALFIERI, Victor, chiefly celebrated as the author
who raised the Italian tragic drama from its previous state
of degradation, was born on the 17th January 1749, at the
town of Asti, in Piedmont. He lost his father in early in¬
fancy ; but he continued to reside with his mother, who
married a second time, till his tenth year, when he was
placed at the academy of Turin. After he had passed a
twelvemonth at the academy, he went on a short visit to
a relation who dwelt at Coni; and during his stay there
he made his first poetical attempt, in a sonnet chiefly bor¬
rowed from lines in Ariosto and Metastasio, the only poets
he had at that time read. When thirteen years of age,
he was induced to commence the study of civil and canon¬
ical law; but the attempt only served to disgust him with
every species of application, and to increase his relish for
the perusal of French romances.
By the death of his uncle, who had hitherto taken some
charge of his education and conduct, he was left, at the
age of fourteen, to enjoy without control his vast paternal
inheritance, augmented by the recent accession of his
uncle’s fortune. He now began to attend the riding-
school, where he acquired that rage for horses and eques¬
trian exercise which continued to be one of his strongest
passions till the close of his existence.
After some time spent in alternate fits of extravagant
dissipation and ill-directed study, he was seized with a
415
Alfaro
II
Alfieri.
416
A L F I E R I.
Alfieri. desire of travelling; and having obtained permission from
the king, he departed, in 1766, under the care of an
English preceptor. Restless and unquiet, he posted with
the utmost rapidity through the towns of Italy; and his
improvement was such as was to be expected from his
mode of travelling and his previous habits. Dissatisfied
with himself, he felt as little relish for spectacles or enter¬
tainments as for literature; and was as little amused by
the gaiety of a carnival at Naples, as he was impressed by
the remains of antiquity at Rome, or the exhibitions of
modern art at Florence and Bologna. This indifference
and insensibility did not, however, arise from defect of
talent or the natural powers of taste, but from the want
of some serious passion, or some ennobling or praiseworthy
pursuit. Hoping to find in foreign countries some relief
from the tedium and ennui with which he was oppressed,
and being anxious to become acquainted with the French
theatre, he proceeded to Paris; but his feelings were
only those of disgust or indifference for the dramas which
he saw represented in that capital. He seems, indeed, to
have been completely dissatisfied with every thing he
witnessed in France, and contracted a dislike to its people,
which his intercourse in future years rather contributed to
augment than diminish. In Holland he became deeply
enamoured of a married lady, who returned his attach¬
ment, but who was soon obliged to accompany her husband
to Switzerland. Alfieri, whose feelings were of the most
impetuous description, was in despair at this separation,
and returned to his own country in the utmost anguish
and despondency of mind. While under this depression
of spirits, he was induced to seek alleviation from works of
literature ; and the perusal of Plutarch’s Lives, which he
read with profound emotion, inspired him with an enthu¬
siastic passion for freedom and independence. Under the
influence of this rage for liberty he recommenced his
travels; and his only gratification, in the absence of free¬
dom among the Continental States, appears to have been
derived from contemplating the wild and sterile regions
of the north of Sweden, where gloomy forests, lakes, and
precipices conspired to excite those sublime and melan¬
choly ideas which were congenial to his disposition. Hu¬
man manners and human institutions he seems invariably
to have surveyed with an eye of passion or prejudice, in¬
stead of viewing them with the calmness of a philosopher,
who meditates how they may be rectified, or what lessons
may be drawn from them. In every country his soul felt
as if confined by the bonds of society: he everywhere
panted for something more free in governments, more ele-
\rated in sentiment, more devoted in love, and more per¬
fect in friendship. In search of this ideal world, he posted
through various countries, more with the rapidity of a
courier than of one who travels for amusement or instruc-
During a journey to London, he engaged in an in-
tion.
trigue with a married lady of high rank ; and having been
detected, the publicity of a rencounter with the injured
husband, and of a divorce, which followed, united to the
knowledge he now acquired of the infamous character of
the woman, to whom he was ardently attached, rendered
it expedient and desirable for him to quit England. He
then visited Spain and Portugal, where he became ac¬
quainted with the Abbe Caluso, who remained through
life the most attached and estimable friend he ever pos¬
sessed. In 1772 Alfieri returned to Tuvin, where he
again became enamoured of a lady, whom he loved with
his usual ardour, and who seems to have been as undeserv¬
ing of a sincere attachment as those he had hitherto
adored. In the course of a long attendance on his mis¬
tress, during a malady with which she was afflicted, he
one day wrote a dialogue, or scene of a drama, which he
left at this lady’s house. About a year after, on a differ- i
ence taking place between them, this piece was returned''* ^
to him. Having then retouched and extended it to five ^
acts, it was performed at Turin in 1775, under the title of
Cleopatra, whose amours had always been a favourite sub¬
ject with Italian dramatists.
From this moment Alfieri was seized with an immeasur-
able thirst of theatrical fame, and the remainder of his
life was devoted to its attainment. His first two tragedies,
Filippo and Polinice, were originally written in French
prose ; and when he came to versify them in Italian, he
found that, from his Lombard origin, and long intercourse
with foreigners, he expressed himself with feebleness and
inaccuracy. Accordingly, with the view of improving his
Italian style, he went to Tuscany, and, during an alternate
residence at Florence and Sienna, he completed his Filip,
po and Polinice, and conceived the plan of various other
dramas. While thus employed, he became acquainted
with the countess of Albany, who then resided with her
husband at Florence. For her he formed an attach¬
ment which, if less violent than his former loves, appears
to have been more permanent. With this motive to re¬
main at Florence, he could not endure the chains by which
his vast possessions bound him to Piedmont. He there¬
fore resigned his whole property to his sister, the countess
Cumiana, reserving an annuity, which scarcely amounted
to a half of his original revenues. At this period the
countess of Albany, urged by the ill treatment she received
from her husband, sought refuge in Rome, where she at
length received permission from the pope to live apart
from her tormentor. Alfieri followed the countess to
that capital, where he completed fourteen tragedies, four
of which were now for the first time printed at Sienna.
At length, however, it was thought proper, that, by
leaving Rome, he should remove the aspersions which had
been thrown on the object of his affections. During the
year 1783, he therefore travelled through different states
of Italy, and published six additional tragedies. The in¬
terests of his love and literary glory had not diminished
his rage for horses, which seems to have been at least the
third passion of his soul. He came to England solely for
the purpose of purchasing a number of these animals,
which he brought with him to Italy. On his return he
learned that the countess of Albany had gone to Colmar in
Alsace, wfflere he joined hei’, and resided with her under
the same roof during the rest of his life. They chiefly
passed their time between Alsace and Paris, but at length
took up their abode entirely in that metropolis. While
here, Alfieri made arrangements with Didot for an edition
of his tragedies; but was soon after forced to quit Paris
by the storms of the Revolution. He recrossed the Alps
with the countess, and finally settled at Florence. I he
last ten years of his life, which he spent in that city, seem
to have been the happiest of his existence. During that
long period his tranquillity was only interrupted by the
entrance of the revolutionary armies into Florence in
1799. Though an enemy of kings, the aristocratic feelings
of Alfieri rendered him also a decided foe to the principles
and leaders of the French Revolution; and he rejected,
with the utmost contempt, those advances which were
_ i -.i • . , • 1 , • - ./lThe
made with a view to bring him over to their cause,
concluding years of his life were laudably employed in the
study of Greek literature, and in perfecting a series o
comedies. His assiduous labour on this object, which he
pursued with his characteristic impetuosity, exhausted his
strength, and brought on a malady, for which he w ou
not adopt the prescriptions of hisphysicians, butobstinate >
persisted in employing remedies of his own. Under t ns
regimen his disorder rapidly increased, and at length ter-
A L F I
A ;ri. minated his life on the 8th October 1803, in the fifty-fifth
^ -^/year of his age.
The character of Alfieri may be best appreciated from
the portrait which he has drawn of himself in his own
Memoirs of his Life. He was evidently of an irritable,
impetuous, and almost ungovernable temper. Pride, which
seems to have been a ruling sentiment, may account for
many apparent inconsistencies of his character. While
it made him abhor kings, because superior to himself, it
led him to detest those republicans who, by too near an
approach, contaminated aristocratic dignity; and it in¬
duced him, while yet undistinguished himself, and pant¬
ing for literary fame, to decline a proffered introduction
to Metastasio and Rousseau. But as all his bad qualities
were greatly softened by the cultivation of literature, it
may be presumed, that a better education, and an earlier
employment of his faculties, would have rendered him a
much more perfect character. His application to study
gradually tranquillized his temper and softened his man¬
ners, leaving him at the same time in perfect possession
of those good qualities which he had inherited from na¬
ture,—a warm and disinterested attachment to his family
and friends, united to a generosity, vigour, and elevation of
character, which rendered him not unworthy to embody in
his dramas the actions and sentiments of Grecian heroes.
To these dramas Alfieri is chiefly indebted for the high
reputation to which he has attained. Before his time the
Italian language, so harmonious in the Sonnets of Petrarch,
and so energetic in the Commedia of Dante, had been in¬
variably languid and prosaic in dramatic dialogue. The
pedantic and inanimate tragedies of the sixteenth century
were followed, during the iron age of Italian literature, by
dramas, of which extravagance in the sentiments, and im¬
probability in the action, were the chief characteristics.
The prodigious success of the Merope of Maftei, which ap¬
peared in the commencement of the last century, may be
attributed more to a comparison with such productions,
than to intrinsic merit. In this degradation of tragic taste,
the appearance of the tragedies of Alfieri was perhaps
the most important literary event that had occurred in
Italy during the eighteenth century. On these tragedies
it is difficult to pronounce a judgment, as the taste and
system of the author underwent considerable change and
modification during the intervals which elapsed between
the three periods of their publication. An excessive harsh¬
ness of style, an asperity of sentiment, and total want of
poetical ornament, are the characteristics of his first four
tragedies, Filippo, Polinice, Antigone, and Virginia. These
faults were in some measure corrected in the six trage¬
dies which he gave to the world some years after, and in
those which he published along with Saul, the drama
which enjoyed the greatest success of all his productions;
a popularity which may be partly attributed to the severe
and unadorned manner of Alfieri being well adapted to
the patriarchal simplicity of the age in which the scene
ol the tragedy is placed. But though there be a consid¬
erable dift’erence in his dramas, there are certain obser¬
vations applicable to them all. None of the plots are of
his own invention. They are founded either on mytholo¬
gical fable or history ; most of them had been previously
treated by the Greek dramatists, or by Seneca. Pos-
munda, the only one which could be supposed of his own
contrivance, and which is certainly the least happy effu¬
sion of his genius, is partly founded on the eighteenth
novel of the third part of Bandello, and partly on Pre-
vosts Memoires d'un Homme de Qualite. But whatever
subjects he chooses, his dramas are always formed on the
Grecian model, and breathe a freedom and independence
"onhy of an Athenian poet. Indeed, his Agide and Bruto
VOL. ii. ■
ERL
may rather be considered oratorical declamations and
dialogues on liberty, than tragedies. The unities of time
and place are not so scrupulously observed in his as in
the ancient dramas; but he has rigidly adhered to a unity
of action and interest. He occupies his scene with one
great action and one ruling passion, and removes from it
every accessary event or feeling. In this excessive zeal
for the observance of unity, he seems to have forgotten
that its charm consists in producing a common relation
between multiplied feelings, and not in the bare exhibi¬
tion of one, divested of those various accompaniments
which give harmony to the whole. Consistently with
that austere and simple manner which he considered the
chief excellence of dramatic composition, he excluded
from his scene all coups de theatre, all philosophical reflec¬
tions, and that highly ornamented versification which had
been so assiduously cultivated by his predecessors. In his
anxiety, however, to avoid all superfluous ornament, he
has stripped his dramas of the embellishments of imagina¬
tion ; and for the harmony and flow of poetical language
he has substituted, even in his best performances, a style
which, though correct and pure, is generally harsh, ela¬
borate, and abrupt; often strained into unnatural ener¬
gy, or condensed into factitious conciseness. The chief
excellence of Alfieri consists in powerful delineation of
dramatic character. In his Philip II. he has represented,
almost with the masterly touches of Tacitus, the sombre
character, the dark mysterious counsels, the suspensa
semper et obscura verba, of the modern Tiberius. In
Polinice, the characters of the rival brothers are beauti¬
fully contrasted; in Maria Stuarda, that unfortunate
queen is represented unsuspicious, impatient of contra¬
diction, and violent in her attachments. In Mirra, the
character of Ciniro is perfect as a father and king, and
Cecri is a model of the virtues of a wife and mother.
In the representation of that species of mental alienation
where the judgment has perished, but traces of character
still remain, he is peculiarly happy. The insanity of Saul
is skilfully managed ; and the horrid joy of Orestes in
killing Egisthus rises finely and naturally to madness, in
finding that, at the same time, he had inadvertently slain
his mother.
Whatever may be the merits or defects of Alfieri, he
may be considered as the founder of a new school in the
Italian drama. His country hailed him as her sole tragic
poet; and his successors in the same path of literature
have regarded his bold, austere, and rapid manner, as the
genuine model of tragic composition.
Besides his tragedies, Alfieri published during his life
many sonnets, five odes on American independence, and
the poem of Etruria, founded on the assassination of
Alexander I. duke of Florence. Of his prose works, the
most distinguished for animation and eloquence is the
Panegyric on Trajan, composed in a transport of indig¬
nation at the supposed feebleness of Pliny’s eulogium.
The two books, entitled La Tirannide and the Essays on
Literature and Government, are remarkable for elegance
and vigour of style, but are too evidently imitations of the
manner of Machiavel. His Antigallican, which was writ¬
ten at the same time with his Defence of Louis XVI.,
comprehends an historical and satirical view of the Fr ench
Revolution. The posthumous works of Alfieri consist of
satires, six political comedies, and the Memoirs of his
Life a work which will always be read with interest, in
spite of the cold and languid gravity with which he de¬
lineates the most interesting adventures and the strongest
passions of his agitated life. See Mem. di Vit. Aljierx ;
Sismondi de la Lit. du Midi de l Lurope ; W alker s AA*
moir on Italian Tragedy; Giorn. de Pisa, tom. Iviii. (q.)
417
Alfieri.
418
Alford
II
Alfred.
A L F
ALFORD, a town of Lincolnshire, situated on a small
brook that runs through the town. A salt spring was
discovered here in 1670, from the pigeons which flew
thither in great numbers to drink the water, those birds
being known to be fond of salt. It is recommended as
cooling, cleansing, and attenuating ; as a good remedy in
the scurvy, jaundice, and other glandular obstructions. It
is six miles from the sea. The population in 1821 was
1506. Long. 0. 15. E. Lat. 53. 30. N.
ALFRED, or tElfred, the Great, king of England,
was the fifth and youngest son of iEthelwolf, king of the
West Saxons, and was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, in
849. He distinguished himself, during the reign of his
brother Ethelred, in several engagements against the
Danes, and upon his death succeeded to the crown, in the
year 871, and the 22d of his age. At his ascending the
throne he found himself involved in a dangerous war with
the Danes, and placed in such circumstances of distress
as called for the greatest valour, resolution, and all the
other virtues with which he was adorned. The Danes had
already penetrated into the heart of his kingdom; and
before he had been a month upon the throne, he was
obliged to take the field against those formidable enemies.
After many battles gained on both sides, he was at length
reduced to the greatest distress, and was entirely aban¬
doned by his subjects. In this situation Alfred, conceiv¬
ing himself no longer a king, laid aside all marks of roy¬
alty, and took shelter in the house of one who kept his
cattle. He retired afterwards to the isle of Aithelingey,
in Somersetshire, where he built a fort for the security of
himself, his family, and the few faithful servants who re¬
paired thither to him. When he had been about a year in
this retreat, having been informed that some of his sub¬
jects had routed a great army of the Danes, killed their
chief, and taken their magical standard,1 he issued his
letters, giving notice where he was, and inviting his nobi¬
lity to come and consult with him. Before they came to
a final determination, Alfred, putting on the habit of a
harper, went into the enemy’s camp, where, without sus¬
picion, he was everywhere admitted, and had the honour
to play before their princes. Having thereby acquired an
exact knowledge of their situation, he returned in great
secrecy to his nobility, whom he ordered to their respec¬
tive homes, there to draw together each man as great a
force as he could; and upon a day appointed there was to
be a general rendezvous at the great wood called Selwood,
in Wiltshire. This affair was transacted so secretly and
expeditiously, that, in a little time, the king, at the head
of an army, approached the Danes, before they had the
least intelligence of his design. Alfred, taking advantage
of the surprise and terror they were in, fell upon them,
and totally defeated them at fEthendune, now Eddington.
Those who escaped fled to a neighbouring castle, where
they were soon besieged, and obliged to surrender at dis¬
cretion. Alfred granted them better terms than they could
expect. He agreed to give up the whole kingdom of the
East Angles to such as would embrace the Christian reli-
A L F
gion, on condition that they would oblige the rest of their AH
countrymen to quit the island, and, as much as was in^s
their power, prevent the landing of any more foreigners.
For the performance thereof he took hostages; and when
in pursuance of the treaty, Guthrum the Danish captain
came, with thirty of his chief officers, to be baptized, Al¬
fred answered for him at the font, and gave him the name
of JEthelstane; and certain laws were drawn up betwixt
the king and Guthrum for the regulation and government
of the Danes settled in England. In 884 a fresh number
of Danes landed in Kent and laid siege to Rochester;
but the king coming to the relief of that city, they were
obliged to abandon their design. Alfred had now great
success, which was chiefly owing to his fleet, an advan¬
tage of his own creating. Having secured the sea-coasts,
he fortified the rest of the kingdom with castles and walled
towns; and he besieged and recovered from the Danes the
city of London, which he resolved to repair, and to keep
as a frontier.2
After some years’ respite, Alfred was again called into
the field; for a body of Danes, being worsted in the west
of France, came with a fleet of 250 sail on the coast of
Kent, and having landed, fixed themselves at Appletree.
Shortly after, another fleet of eighty vessels coming up the
Thames, the men landed, and built a fort at Middleton.
Before Alfred marched against the enemy, he obliged the
Danes settled in Northumberland and Essex to give him
hostages for their good behaviour. He then moved to¬
wards the invaders, and pitched his camp between their
armies, to prevent their junction. A great body, however,
moved off to Essex, and, crossing the river, came to Farn-
ham in Surrey, where they were defeated by the king’s
forces. Meanwhile the Danes settled in Northumberland,
in breach of treaty, and notwithstanding the hostages
given, equipped two fleets, and, after plundering the
northern and southern coasts, sailed to Exeter and be¬
sieged it. The king, as soon as he received intelligence,
marched against them; but before he reached Exeter
they had got possession of it. He kept them, however,
blocked up on all sides, and reduced them at last to such
extremities, that they were obliged to eat their horses,
and were even ready to devour each ether. Being at
length rendered desperate, they made a general sally on
the besiegers; but were defeated, though with great loss
on the king’s side. The remainder of this body of Danes
fled into Essex, to the fort they had built there, and to
their ships. Before Alfred had time to recruit himself,
another Danish leader, whose name was Laf, came with a
great army out of Northumberland, and destroyed all be¬
fore him, marching on to the city of Werheal in the west,
which is supposed to be Chester, where they remained
the rest of that year. The year following they invaded
North Wales; and after having plundered and destroyed
every thing, they divided, one body returning to Northum¬
berland, another into the territories of the East Angles,
from whence they proceeded to Essex, and took posses¬
sion of a small island called Meresig. Here they did not
1 “ This,” says Sir John Spelman, “ was a banner, with the image of a raven magically wrought by the three sisters of Hinguar
and Hubba, on purpose for their expedition, in revenge of their father Lodebroeh’s murder; made, they say, almost in an instant, be¬
ing by them at once begun and finished in a noontide, and believed by the Danes to have carried great fatality with it, for which it
was highly esteemed by them. It is pretended, that being carried in a battle, towards good success it would always seem to clap its
wings, and make as if it would fly ; but towards the approach of mishap, it would hang down and not move.” {Life of Alfred, p. ol-l
2 The Danes had possessed themselves of London in the time of his father, and had held it till now as a convenient place for them
to land at, and fortify themselves in ; neither was it taken from them but by a close siege. However, when it came into the kjng3
hands, it was in a miserable condition, scarcely habitable, and all its fortifications ruined. The king, moved by the importance ot t ic
place, and the desire of strengthening his frontier against the Danes, restored it to its ancient splendour. And observing, that throng
the confusion of the times, many, both Saxons and Danes, lived in a loose, disorderly manner, without owning any government, m
offered them now a comfortable establishment, if they would submit and become his subjects. This proposition was better receive
than he expected; for multitudes, growing weary of a vagabond kind of life, joyfully accepted such an offer. {Chron. Sax. p. 880
A L F
4-ed. long remain; for having separated, some sailed up the
river Thames, and others up the Lea road, where, draw¬
ing up their ships, they built a fort not far from London,
which proved a great check upon the citizens, who went
in a body and attacked it, but were repulsed with great
loss. At harvest-time the king himself was obliged to en¬
camp with a body of troops in the neighbourhood of the
city, in order to cover the reapers from the excursions of
the Danes. As he was one day riding by the side of the
river Lea, after some observations he began to think that
the Danish ships might be laid quite dry: this he at¬
tempted, and having succeeded, the Danes were forced to
desert their fort and ships, and march away to the banks
of the Severn where they built a fort, and wintered at a
place called Qmtbrig.x Such of the Danish ships as could
be got off, the Londoners carried into their own road; the
rest they burned and destroyed.
Alfred enjoyed a profound peace during the last three
years of his reign, which he chiefly employed in establish¬
ing and regulating his government, for the security of
himself and his successors, as well as the ease and benefit
of his subjects in general. After a troublesome reign of
28 years, he died on the 28th of October a. d. 900, and
was buried at Winchester, in Hyde-abbey, under a monu¬
ment of porphyry.
All our historians agree in distinguishing him as one of
the most valiant, wisest, and best of kings that ever reigned
in England; and it is also generally allow'ed, that he not only
digested several particular laws still in being, but that he
laid the first foundation of our present happy constitution.
There is great reason to believe that we are indebted to
this prince for trials by juries; and the Doomsday Book,
which is preserved in the Exchequer, is thought to be no
more than another edition of Alfred’s book of Winchester,
which contained a survey of the kingdom. It is said also
that he was the first who divided the kingdom into shires.
What is ascribed to him is not a bare division of the
country, but the settling of a new form of judicature ; for
after having divided his dominions into shires, he subdi¬
vided each shire into three parts, called trytlungs. There
are some remains of this ancient division in the ridings of
Yorkshire, the laths of Kent, and the three parts of Lin¬
colnshire. Each trything was divided into hundreds or
wapentakes; and these again into tythings or dwellings
of ten householders. Each of these householders stood
engaged to the king, as a pledge for the good behaviour
of his family, and all the ten were mutually pledges for
each other; so that if any one of the tythings was sus¬
pected of an offence, if the head-boroughs or chiefs of the
tythings would not be security for him, he was impri¬
soned; and, if he made his escape, the tything and hun¬
dred were fined to the king. Each shire was under the
government of an earl, under whom was the reive, his
deputy, since, from his office, called shire-reive, or she-
. -^nti so effectual were these regulations, That it is
said he caused bracelets of gold to be hung up in the
ighways, as a challenge to robbers; and they remained
untouched. ^
In private life Alfred was the most amiable man in his
omimons; of so equal a temper, that he never suffered
cit ier sadness or unbecoming gaiety to enter his mind;
u appeared always of a calm yet cheerful disposition,
ami iar to his friends, just even to his enemies, kind and
render to all. He was a remarkable economist of his
A L F
time; and Asserius has given us an account of the me-
lod he took for dividing and keeping an account of it.'
He caused six wax-candles to be made, each of 12 inches
long, and of as many ounces weight; on the candles the
inches were regularly marked, and having found that one
of them burned just four hours, he committed them to the
care of the keepers of his chapel, who from time to time
gave him notice how the hours went. But as in windy
weather the candles were wasted by the impression of the
air on the flame, to remedy this inconvenience he invent-
ed lanthorns, there being then no glass in his dominions.
Hus prince, we are told, was 12 years of age before a
master could be procured in the western kingdom to teach
him the alphabet; such was the state of learning when
Alfred began to reign. He had felt the misery of igno¬
rance, and determined even to rival his contemporary
Charlemagne in the encouragement of literature. He is
supposed to have appointed persons to read lectures at
Oxford, and is thence considered as the founder of that
university. By other proper establishments, and by a
general encouragement to men of abilities, he did every
thing in his power to diffuse knowledge throughout his
dominions. Nor was this end promoted more by his
countenance and encouragement than by his own example
and his writings; for notwithstanding the lateness of his
initiation, he had acquired extraordinary erudition; and,
had he not been illustrious as a king, he would have been
famous as an author. His works are, 1. Breviarium quod-
dam collectum ex Begibus Trojanorum, &c. lib. i.; a Bre¬
viary collected out of the Laws of the Trojans, Greeks,
Britons, Saxons, and Danes, in one book. Leland saw
this book in the Saxon tongue, at Christ-Church, in Hamp¬
shire. 2. Visi-Saxonum Leges, lib. i.; the Laws of the
West Saxons, in one book. Pitts tells us that it is in
Bennet-College library, at Cambridge. 3. Instituta qucedam,
lib. i.; certain Institutes, in one book. This is mentioned
by Pitts, and seems to be the second capitulation with
Guthrum. 4. Contra Judices Iniquos, lib. i.; an invec¬
tive against Unjust Judges, in one book. 5. Acta Magis-
tratuum suorum, lib. i.; Acts of his Magistrates, in one
book. This is supposed to be the Book of Judgments men¬
tioned by Horne, and was in all probability a kind of
Reports intended for the use of succeeding ages. 6. Re¬
gum Fortunes varies, lib. i.; the various Fortunes of Kings,
in one book. 7. Dicta Sapientum, lib. i.; the Sayings of
Wise Men, in one book. 8. Paraboles et Sales, lib. i.;
Parables and pleasant Sayings, in one book. 9. Collec-
tiones Chronicorum, Collection of Chronicles. 10. Epis-
toles ad Wulfsigium Episcopum, lib. i.; Epistles to Bishop
Wulfsig, in one book. 11. Manuals Meditationum, a
Manual of Meditations.—Besides those original works, he
translated many authors from the Latin, &c. into the
Saxon language, viz. 1. Bede’s History of England.
2. Paulinus Orosinus’s History of the Pagans. 3. St
Gregory’s Pastoral, &c. The first of these, with his pre¬
faces to the others, together with his laws, were printed
at Cambridge, 1644. His laws are likewise inserted in
Spelman’s Councils. 4. Boethius de Consolations, lib. v.;
Boethius’s Consolations of Philosophy, in five books. Dr
Plot tells us King Alfred translated it at Woodstock, as
he found in a MS. in the Cotton Library. 5. JEsopi Fa-
bulee, iEsop’s Fables; which he is said to have translated
from the Greek both into Latin and Saxon. 6. Psalte-
rium Davidicum, lib. i.; David’s Psalter, in one book.
419
Alfred.
fort contrivance is thought to have produced the meadow between Hertford and Bow; for at Hertford was the Danish
kin *an<* r°m dwnco they made frequent excursions on the inhabitants of London. Authors are not agreed as to the method the
don iiUrSUed m layinS dry the Danish ships. Dugdale supposes that he did it by straightening the channels; but Henry of Hunting-
eges that he cut several canals, which exhausted its water.
420
A L G
A L G
Algse This was the last work the king attempted, death sur-
II prising him before he had finished it. It was, howevef,
Algebra, completed by another hand, and published at London in
1640, in quarto, by Sir John Spelman. Several others
are mentioned by Malmsbury, and the old history of Ely
asserts that he translated the Old and New Testaments.
The life of this great king was written by Asserius Me-
nevensis, and published by Archbishop Parker, in the old
Saxon character, at the end of his edition of Hessing-
ham’s history, printed in 1674, folio.
ALGAL See Cryptogamia.
ALGAIOLA, a small seaport town in the island of
Corsica, fortified with walls and bastions. It was almost
destroyed by the malcontents in 1731, but has since been
repaired. Long. 9. 45. E. Lat. 42. 20. N.
ALGAROTH, in Chemistry, is a white oxyde of anti¬
mony, which is obtained by washing the butter or oxy-
muriate with pure water.
ALGAROTTI, Count, a celebrated Italian, was born
at Padua; but the year is not mentioned. Led by curi¬
osity, as well as a desire of improvement, he travelled
early into foreign countries; and was very young when
he arrived in France in 1736. Here he composed his
Newtonian Philosophy for the Ladies, as hontenelle
had done his Cartesian Astronomy, in the work entitled
The Plurality of Worlds. He was noticed by the king of
Prussia, who gave him marks of the esteem he had for
him. He died at Pisa the 23d of May 1764, and ordered
his own mausoleum, with this inscription to be fixed upon
it, Hie jacet Algarottus, sed non omnis. He is allowed
to have been a very great connoisseur in painting, sculp¬
ture, and architecture. He contributed much to the re¬
formation of the Italian opera. His works, which are nu¬
merous, and upon a variety of subjects, abound with viva¬
city, elegance, and wit. They were printed at Leghorn
in 1765, in 4 vols. 8vo.
ALGARVE, a province of Portugal, the most southern Alo¬
of the kingdom. It is divided from the Spanish province |
of Andalusia by the river Guadiana. On the north it is %
bounded by the province of Alentejo, and on the south'^
and west by the Atlantic Ocean. It is the smallest divi¬
sion of Portugal, and is very thinly peopled. Its extent
is 232 square leagues, and the number of inhabitants
127,615. On the northern part, towards Alentejo, the
Sierras de Caldeyraron and Monchique rise to a great
height. The roads are very bad, the soil unfruitful, and
the inhabitants few in those districts. Numerous flocks
of goats are bred, and some other cattle are pastured.
The country on the coast is more fruitful, and produces
abundant harvests of grapes, figs, oranges, lemons, olives,
and almonds, considerable quantities of which are shipped
from the seaport to the different countries in the north of
Europe. Very little wheat or other corn is grown in this
province, but the inhabitants draw their principal supply
from the adjoining provinces of Spain. On the coasts the
people derive their subsistence in a great measure from
the fisheries; and both the tunny and sardinias are caught
in very considerable quantities. The rivers are of short
course, running from north to south, and at their mouths ves¬
sels may enter at high tide; but the harbours on the whole
coast ax*e bad, though near Tavira, the principal city, some
islands afford shelter, and allow of good anchorage for
large vessels behind them. The wdiole of the foreign
trade from the various ports in Algarve is carried on in
the vessels of other countries, as there are scarcely any
other than fishing boats owned by the inhabitants of the
ports. The name Algarve is derived from an Arabic
word which signifies westward. The province is desig¬
nated by the name of kingdom, and gives one of the titles
to the Portuguese monarch. This province contains 4
cities, 14 towns, 63 villages, 71 parishes, and 25,503
hearths. It is situated between lat. 36.56. and 37.30. N.
ALGEBRA.
INTRODUCTION.
A LGEBRA is a branch of the mathematics, which has
for its object whatever can be expressed by num¬
ber, either exactly or by approximation.
In this respect, and also in its employing arbitrary signs
to denote the things of which it treats, it agrees with
arithmetic. The analogy between the two sciences in¬
duced Sir Isaac Newton to denominate it Universal Arith¬
metic ; but by the application of algebra to geometry, the
science has acquired a new character and new powers,
which render this appellation too limited, and not suffi¬
ciently descriptive of its nature. In its present state it
is nearly alike related to arithmetic and geometry. In
its application to both sciences, the reasoning is carried on
by general symbols: its true character consists in this,
that the results of its operations do not exhibit the indi¬
vidual values of the quantities which are the subject of in¬
vestigation, such as we obtain in arithmetical calculations
or geometrical constructions. They only indicate the
operations, whether arithmetical or geometrical, which
ought to be performed on the given quantities, to obtain
the value of the quantities sought.
It has been a question much agitated, at what period
and in what country was algebra invented ? Who were
the earliest writers on the subject ? What was the pro¬
gress of its improvement ? And lastly, by what means,
and at what period, was the science diffused over Europe?
It was a common opinion in the 17th century, that the
ancient Greek mathematicians must have possessed an
analysis of the nature of modern algebra, by which they
discovered the theorems and solutions of the problems
which we so much admire in their writings; but that they
carefully concealed their instruments of investigation, and
gave only the results, with synthetic demonstrations.
This opinion is, however, now exploded. A more inti¬
mate acquaintance with the writings of the ancient geo¬
meters has shown that they had an analysis, but that it
was purely geometrical, and essentially different from our
algebra.
Although there be no reason to suppose that the great
geometers of antiquity derived any aid in their discove¬
ries from the algebraic analysis, yet we find, that at a
considerably later period it was known to a certain ex¬
tent among the Greeks.
About the middle of the 4th century of the Christian
era, a period when the mathematical sciences were on the
decline, and their cultivators, instead of producing origi¬
nal works of genius, contented themselves with commen¬
taries on the works of their more illustrious predecessors,
there was a valuable addition made to the fabric of
ancient learning.
Al^.a.
x -
ALGEBRA.
This was the treatise of Diophantus on arithmetic,
j which originally consisted of thirteen books, but of which
only the first six, and an incomplete book on polygonal
numbers, supposed to be the thirteenth, have descended
to our times.
This precious fragment does not exhibit any thing like
a complete treatise on algebra. It rather is an applica¬
tion of its doctrines to a peculiar class of arithmetical
questions, which belong to what is now called the inde¬
terminate analysis.
Diophantus may have been the inventor of the Greek
algebra, but it is more likely that its principles were not
unknown before his time; and that, taking the science in
the state he found it as the basis of his labours, he en¬
riched it with new applications. The elegant solutions of
Diophantus show that he possessed great address in the
particular branch of which he treated, and that he was
able to resolve determinate equations of the second de¬
gree. Probably this was the greatest extent to which
the science had been carried among the Greeks. Indeed,
in no country did it pass this limit, until it had been trans¬
planted into Italy on the revival of learning.
The celebrated Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, com¬
posed a commentary on the work of Diophantus. This,
however, is now lost, as well as a similar labour of this
illustrious and ill-fated lady on the Conics of Apollonius.
It is commonly known that she fell a sacrifice to the fury
of a fanatical mob about the beginning of the 5th century.
About the middle of the 16th century, the work of
Diophantus, written in the Greek language, was disco¬
vered at Rome in the Vatican library, where probably it
had been carried from Greece when the Turks possessed
themselves of Constantinople. A Latin translation, with¬
out the original text, was given to the world by Xylander
in 1575; and a more complete translation, by Bachet de
Mezeriac (one of the oldest members of the French aca¬
demy), accompanied by a commentary, appeared in 1621.
Bachet was eminently skilful in the indeterminate analysis,
and therefore well qualified for the work he had under¬
taken; but the text of Diophantus wras so much injured,
that he was frequently obliged to divine the meaning of
the author, or supply the deficiency. At a later period,
the celebrated French mathematician Fermat, in addition
to the commentary of Bachet, added notes of his own on
the writings of the Greek algebraist. These are extremely
valuable, on account of Fermat’s profound knowledge of
this particular branch of analysis. This edition, the best
which exists, appeared in 1670.
Although the revival of the writings of Diophantus was
an important event in the history of the mathematics,
yet it was not from them that algebra became first
known in Europe. This important invention, as well as
the numeral characters and decimal arithmetic, was re¬
ceived from the Arabians. That ingenious people fully
approciated the value of the sciences; for at a period
when all Europe was enveloped in the darkness of igno¬
rance, they preserved from extinction the lamp of know¬
ledge. They carefully collected the writings of the Greek
mathematicians; they translated them into their language,
and illustrated them with commentaries. It was through
me medium of the Arabic tongue that the elements of
Euclid were first introduced into Europe ; and a part of
t ie writings of Apollonius are only known at the present
day by a translation from the Arabic, the Greek original
eing probably irrecoverably lost. The Arabians ascribe
e invention of their algebra to one of their mathemati-
c>ans, Mahommed-Ben-Musa, or Moses, called also Ma-
^uz^ana» who flourished about the middle of
le century, in the reign of the Caliph Almamon.
^ is certajn that this person composed a treatise on
this subject, because an Italian translation was known at
one time to have existed in Europe, although it be now
lost. Fortunately, however, a copy of the Arabic original
is preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, bearino-
a date of transcription corresponding to the year 1342.
The title-page identifies its author with the ancient Ara¬
bian. A marginal note concurs in this testimony, and
farther declares the work to be the first treatise composed
on algebra among the faithful; and the preface, besides
indicating the author, intimates that he was encouraged
by Almamon, commander of the faithful, to compile a
compendious treatise of calculation by algebra.
The circumstance of this treatise professing to be only
a compilation, and, moreover, the first Arabian work of the
kind, has led to an opinion that it was collected from
books in some other language. As the author was inti¬
mately acquainted with the astronomy and computations
of the Hindoos, he may have derived his knowledge of
algebra from the same quarter. Hence we may conclude,
with some probability, that the Arabian algebra was ori¬
ginally derived from India.
The algebraic analysis having been once introduced
among the Arabians, it was cultivated by their own wri¬
ters. One of these, Mahommed Abulwafa, who flourished
in the last forty years of the 10th century, composed
commentaries on the writers who had preceded him. He
also translated the writings of Diophantus. Probably this
was the first translation that was made of the Greek alge¬
braist into the Arabian tongue.
It is remarkable, that although the mathematical sci¬
ences were received with avidity, and sedulously culti¬
vated during a long period, by the Arabians, yet in their
hands they received hardly any improvement. It might
have been expected that an acquaintance with the writ¬
ings of Diophantus would have produced some change in
their algebra. This, however, did not happen : their al¬
gebra continued nearly in the same state, from their ear¬
liest writer on the subject, to one of their latest, Behau-
din, who lived between the years 953 and 1031.
Writers on the history of algebra were long under a mis¬
take as to the time and manner of its introduction into Eu¬
rope. It has now, however, been ascertained that the sci¬
ence was brought into Italy by Leonardo, a merchant of
Pisa. This ingenious man resided in his youth in Barbary,
and there learned the Indian method of accounting by the
nine numeral characters. Commercial affairs led him to
travel into Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Sicily, where we
may suppose he made himself acquainted with every
thing known respecting numbers. The Indian mode of
computation appeared to him to be by far the best. He
accordingly studied it carefully; and, with this knowledge,
and some additions of his own, and also taking some things
from Euclid’s Geometry, he composed a treatise on arith¬
metic. At that period algebra was regarded only as a
part of arithmetic. It was indeed the sublime doctrine of
that science; and under this view the two branches were
handled in Leonardo’s treatise, which was originally writ¬
ten in 1202, and again brought forward under a revised
form in 1228. When it is considered that this work was
composed two centuries before the invention of printing,
and that the subject was not such as generally to interest
mankind, we need not wonder that it was but little
known; hence it has always remained in manuscript, as
well as some others by the same author. Indeed it was
not known to exist from an early period until the middle
of the last century, when it was discovered in the Maglia-
becchian library at Horence.
The extent of Leonardo’s knowledge was pretty much.
422
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, the same as that of the preceding Arabian writers. He
Could resolve equations of the first and second degree, and
he was particularly skilful in the Diophantine analysis. He
was well acquainted with geometry, and he employed its
doctrines in demonstrating his algebraic rules. Like the
Arabian writers, his reasoning was expressed in words at
length ; a mode highly unfavourable to the progress of the
art. The use of symbols, and the method of combining
them so as to convey to the mind at a single glance a
long process of reasoning, was an invention considerably
later than Leonardo’s time.
Considerable attention was given to the cultivation of
algebra between the time of Leonardo and the invention
of printing. It was publicly taught by professors. Trea¬
tises were composed on the subject; and two works of
the oriental algebraists were translated from the Arabian
language into Italian. One was entitled the Rule of Al¬
gebra, and the other was the oldest of all the Arabian
treatises, that of Mahommed-Ben-Musa of Corasan.
The earliest printed book on algebra was composed by
Lucas Paciolus, or Lucas de Burgo, a minorite friar. It
was first printed in 1494, and again in 1523. The title is
Summa de Arithmetica, Geometria, Proportioni, et Propor-
tionalita.
This is a very complete treatise on arithmetic, alge¬
bra, and geometry, for the time in which it appeared.
The author followed close on the steps of Leonardo ; and,
indeed, it is from this work that one of his lost treatises
has been restored.
Lucas de Burgo’s work is interesting, inasmuch as it
shows the state of algebra in Europe about the year
1500: probably the state of the science was nearly the
same in Arabia and Africa, from which it had been re¬
ceived.
The power of algebra as an instrument of research
is in a very great degree derived from its notation, by
which all the quantities under consideration are kept con¬
stantly in view; but in respect of convenience and bre¬
vity of expression, the algebraic analysis in the days of
Lucas de Burgo was very imperfect: the only symbols
employed were a few abbreviations of the words or names
which occurred in the processes of calculation, a kind of
short-hand, which formed a very imperfect substitute for
that compactness of expression which has been attained by
the modern notation.
The application of algebra was also at this period very
limited; it was confined almost entirely to the resolution
of certain questions of no great interest about numbers.
No idea was then entertained of that extensive applica¬
tion which it has received in modern times.
The knowledge which the early algebraists had of their
science was also circumscribed; it extended only to the
resolution of equations of the first and second degree;
and they divided the last into cases, each of which was
resolved by its own particular rule. The important ana¬
lytical fact, that the resolution of all the cases of a pro¬
blem may be comprehended in a single formula, which
may be obtained from the solution of one of its cases,
merely by a change of the signs, was not then known : in¬
deed it was long before this principle was fully compre¬
hended. Dr Halley expresses surprise, that a formula in
optics which he had found, should by a mere change of the
signs give the focus of both converging and diverging rays,
whether reflected or refracted by convex or concave spe¬
cula or lenses ; and Molyneux speaks of the universality
of Halley’s formula as something that resembled magic.
The rules of algebra may be investigated by its own
principles, without any aid from geometry; and although
in some cases the two sciences may serve to illustrate the
doctrines of each other, there is now not the least neces- A1
sity in the more elementary parts to call in the aid ofthe1^ ^
latter to the former. It was otherwise in former times.
Lucas de Burgo found it to be convenient, after the ex¬
ample of Leonardo, to employ geometrical constructions
to prove the truth of his rules for resolving quadratic
equations, the nature of which he did not completely com¬
prehend ; and he was induced by the imperfect nature of
his notation to express his rules in Latin verses, which
will not now be read with the satisfaction we receive from
the perusal of the well-known poem, “ the Loves of the
Triangles.”
As it was in Italy that algebra became first known in
Europe, so it was there that it received its earliest im¬
provements. The science had been nearly stationary from
the days of Leonardo to the time of Paciolus, a period of
three centuries; but the invention of printing soon excited
a spirit of improvement in all the mathematical sciences.
Hitherto an imperfect theory of quadratic equations was
all the extent to which it had been carried. At last this
boundary was passed, and about the year 1505 a particu¬
lar case of equations of the third degree was resolved by
Scipio Ferreus, a professor of mathematics in Bononia.
This was an important step, because it showed that the
difficulty of resolving equations of the higher orders, at
least in the case of the third degree, was not insurmount¬
able, and a new field was opened for discovery. It was
then the practice among the cultivators of algebra, when
they advanced a step, to conceal it carefully from their
contemporaries, and to challenge them to resolve arithme¬
tical questions, so framed as to require for their solution a
knowledge of their own new-found rules. In this spirit
did Ferreus make a secret of his discovery: he com¬
municated it, however, to a favourite scholar, a Venetian
named Florido. About the year 1535 this person, having
taken up his residence at Venice, challenged Tartalea of
Brescia, a man of great ingenuity, to a trial of skill in the
resolution of problems by algebra. Florido framed his
questions so as to require for their solution a knowledge
of the rule which he had learned from his preceptor Fer¬
reus ; but Tartalea had, five years before this time, ad¬
vanced farther than Ferreus, and was more than a match
for Florido. He therefore accepted the challenge, and a
day was appointed when each was to propose to the other
thirty questions. Before the time came, Tartalea had re¬
sumed the study of cubic equations, and had discovered
the solution of two cases in addition to two which he
knew before. Florido’s questions were such as could be
resolved by the single rule of Ferreus; while, on the con¬
trary, those of Tartalea could only be resolved by one or
other of three rules, which he himself had found, but
which could not be resolved by the remaining rule, which
was also that known to Florido. The issue of the contest
is easily anticipated; Tartalea resolved all his adversarys
questions in two hours, without receiving one answer
from him in return.
The celebrated Cardan was a contemporary of Tartalea.
This remarkable person was a professor of mathematics at
Milan, and a physician. He had studied algebra with great
assiduity, and had nearly finished the printing of a book on
arithmetic, algebra, and geometry; but being desirous oi
enriching his work with the discoveries of Tartalea, which
at that period must have been the object of considerable
attention among literary men in Italy, he endeavoured to
draw from him a disclosure of his rules. Tartalea resist¬
ed for a time Cardan’s entreaties. At last, overcome by his
importunity, and his offer to swear on the holy Evange¬
lists, and by the honour of a gentleman, never to publish
them, and on his promising on the faith of a Christian to
ALGEBRA.
Al*ra. commit them to cypher, so that even after his death they
would be unintelligible to any one, he ventured with much
hesitation to reveal to him his practical rules, which, were
expressed by some very bad Italian verses, themselves in
no small degree enigmatical. He reserved, however, the
demonstrations. Cardan was not long in discovering the
reason of the rules, and he even greatly improved them, so
as to make them in a manner his own. From the imper¬
fect essays of Tartalea, he deduced an ingenious and sys¬
tematic method of resolving all cubic equations whatso¬
ever; but with a remarkable disregard for the principles
of honour, and the oath he had taken, he published, in
1545, Tartalea’s discoveries, combined with his own, as a
supplement to a treatise on arithmetic and algebra, which
he had published six years before. This work is remark¬
able for being the second printed book on algebra known
to have existed.
In the following year Tartalea also published a work on
algebra, which he dedicated to Henry VIII. king of Eng¬
land.
It is to be regretted that in many instances the authors
of important discoveries have been overlooked, while the
honours due to them have been transferred to others
having only secondary pretensions. The formula for the
resolution of cubic equations are now called Cardan’s rules,
notwithstanding the prior claim of Tartalea. It must be
confessed, however, that he evinced considerable selfish¬
ness in concealing his discovery; and although Cardan
cannot be absolved from the charge of bad faith, yet it
must be recollected that by his improvements in what
Tartalea communicated to him, he made the discovery in
some measure his own; and he had moreover the high
merit of being the first to publish this important improve¬
ment in algebra to the world.
The next step in the progress of algebra was the dis¬
covery of a method of resolving equations of the fourth
order. An Italian algebraist had proposed a question
which could not be resolved by the newly invented rules,
because it produced a biquadratic equation. Some sup¬
posed that it could not be at all resolved; but Cardan was
of a different opinion : he had a pupil named Lewis Fer¬
rari, a young man of great genius, and an ardent student
m the algebraic analysis: to him Cardan committed the
solution of this difficult question, and he was not disap¬
pointed. Ferrari not only resolved the question, but he
also found a general method of resolving equations of the
fourth degree, by making them depend on the solution of
Equations of the third degree.
Ibis was another great improvement; and although the
precise nature of an equation was not then fully under¬
stood, nor was it indeed until half a century later, yet, in
ie general resolution of equations, a point of progress was
ion reached which the utmost efforts of modern analyses
have never been able to pass.
There was another Italian mathematician of that period
^ 10 contributed somewhat to the improvement of algebra.
•is was Bombelli. He published a valuable work on the
suyect m 1572, in which he brought into one view what
'a( been done by his predecessors. He explained the
U^.e 0 ^e irreducible case of cubic equations, which had
^ T perplexed Cardan, who could not resolve it by his
L'c'.’ , showed that the rule would apply sometimes to
arWff1 T ®xainl^es’ and that all equations of this case
r 1 , a real solution; and he made the important
ar , that the algebraic problem to be resolved in this
se coi responds to the ancient problem of the trisection
ot an angle.
Th ^
wiffi pre^ere two German mathematicians contemporary
ardan and lartalea, viz. Stifelius and Scheubelius.
Their writings appeared about the middle of the IGth
century, before they knew what had been done by the
Italians. Their improvements were chiefly in the nota¬
tion. otifelms, m particular, introduced for the first time
the characters which indicate addition and subtraction
and the symbol for the square root. ’
The fiist treatise on algebra in the English language
was written by Robert Recorde, teacher of mathematics
and practitioner in physic at Cambridge. At this period
it was common for physicians to unite with the healing
art the studies of mathematics, astrology, alchemy, and
chemistry. This custom was derived from the Moors
who were equally celebrated for their skill in medicine
and calculation. In Spain, where algebra was early known,
the title of physician and algebraist were nearly synony-
mous. Accordingly, in the romance of Don Quixotte, when
the bachelor Samson Carasco was grievously wounded in
his rencounter with the knight, an algebrista was called in
to heal his bruises.
Recorde published a treatise on arithmetic, which was
dedicated to Edward VI.; and another on algebra, with
this title, “ The Whetstone of Wit,” Ac. Here, for the
first time, the modern sign for equality was introduced.
By such gradual steps did algebra advance in improve¬
ment from its first introduction by Leonardo, each suc¬
ceeding writer making some change for the better; but
with the exception of Tartalea, Cardan, and Ferrari, hardly
any one rose to the rank of an inventor. At length came
Vieta, to whom this branch of mathematical learning, as
well as others, is highly indebted. His improvements
in algebra were very considerable ; and some of his inven¬
tions, although not then fully developed, have yet been
the germs of later discoveries. He was the first that em¬
ployed general characters to represent known as well as
unknown quantities. Simple as this step may appear, it
has yet led to important consequences. He must also be
regarded as the first that applied algebra to the improve¬
ment of geometry. The older algebraists had indeed re¬
solved geometrical problems, but each solution was parti¬
cular; whereas Vieta, by introducing general symbols,
produced general formula?, which were applicable to all
problems of the same kind, without the trouble of going
over the same process of analysis for each.
This happy application of algebra to geometry has pro¬
duced great improvements: it led Vieta to the doctrine
of angular sections, one of the most important of his dis¬
coveries, which is now expanded into the arithmetic or
calculus of sines. He also improved the theory of alge¬
braic equations, and he was the first that gave a general
method of resolving them by approximation. As he lived
between the years 1540 and 1603, his writings belong
to the latter period of the 16th century. He printed
them at his own expense, and liberally bestowed them on
men of science.
The Flemish mathematician Albert Girard was one of
the improvers of algebra. He extended the theory of
equations somewhat farther than Vieta, but he did not
completely unfold their composition ; he was the first that
showed the use of the negative sign in the resolution of
geometrical problems, and he also first spoke of imaginary
quantities, a subject not yet completely cleared up; and
he inferred by induction that every equation has precisely
as many sorts as there are units in the number that ex¬
presses its degree. His algebra appeared in 1629.
The next great improver of algebra was Thomas Har¬
riot, an Englishman. As an inventor he has been the
boast of this country. The French mathematicians have
accused the British of giving discoveries to him which
were really due to Vieta. It is probable that some of
424
Algebra.
A L G E
these may be justly claimed for both, because each may
have made the discovery for himself, without knowing
what had been done by the other. Harriot’s principal
discovery, and indeed the most important ever made in
algebra, was, that every equation may be regarded as
formed by the product of as many simple equations as
there are units in the number expressing its order. This
important doctrine, now familiar to every student of alge¬
bra, was yet slowly developed: it was quite within the
reach of Vieta, who unfolded it in part, but left its com¬
plete discovery to Harriot. _
We have seen the very inartificial form in which alge¬
bra first appeared in Europe. The improvements of al¬
most 400 years had not given its notation that compact¬
ness and elegance of which it is susceptible. Harriot
made several changes in the notation, and added some
new signs: he thus gave to algebra greater symmetry o
form. Indeed, as it came from his hands, it diffeied but
little from its state at the present time.
Oughtreed, another early English algebraist, was a con¬
temporary with Harriot, but lived long after him. He wrote
a treatise on the subject, which was long taught in the
universities.
In tracing the history of algebra, we have seen, that in
the form under which it was received from the Arabs, it
was hardly distinguishable as a peculiar mode of leason-
ing, because of the want of a suitable notation ; and that,
poor in its resources, its applicability was limited to the
resolution of a small number of uninteresting numeral
questions. Wb have followed it through different stages
of improvement, and we are now arrived at a period when
it was to acquire additional power as an instrument of
analysis, and to admit of new and more extended applica¬
tions. Vieta saw the great advantage that might be de¬
rived from the application of algebra to geometry. The
essay he made in his theory of angular sections, and the
rich mine of discovery thus opened, proved the import¬
ance of his labours. He did not fully explore it, but it has
seldom happened that one man began and completed a
discovery. He had, however, an able and illustrious suc¬
cessor in Descartes, who, employing in the study of alge¬
bra that high power of intellect with which he was en¬
dowed, not only improved it as an abstract science, but,
more especially by its application to geometry, he laid the
foundation of the great discoveries which have since so
much engaged mathematicians, and made the last two
centuries ever memorable in the history of the progress
of the human mind.
Descartes’s grand improvement was the application of
algebra to the doctrine of curve lines. As in geography
we refer every place on the earth’s surface to the equator,
and to a determinate meridian, so he referred every point
of a curve to some line given by position. For example,
in a circle, every point in the circumference might be re¬
ferred to the diameter. The perpendicular from any point
in the curve, and the distance of that perpendicular from
the centre or from the extremity of a diameter, were lines
which, although varying with every change of position in
the point from which the perpendicular was drawn, yet
had a determinate relation to each othqr, which was the
same for all points in the curve, which depended on its
nature, and which, therefore, served as a characteristic to
distinguish it from all other curves.
The relations of lines drawn in this way could be readily
expressed in algebraic symbols; and the combination of
these constituted what is called the equation of the curve.
This might serve as its definition; and from the equa¬
tion by the processes of algebra, all the properties of the
curve could be investigated
bra.
Descartes’s geometry (or, as it might have been named, ai<
the application of algebra to geometry) appeared first inV^
1637. This was six years after the publication of Har¬
riot’s discoveries, which was a posthumous work. Des¬
cartes availed himself of some of Harriot’s views, particu¬
larly the manner of generating an equation without ac¬
knowledgement ; and on this account Dr Wallis, in his
algebra, has reflected with considerable severity on the
French algebraist.
This spirit has engendered a corresponding eagerness
in the French mathematicians to defend him. Montucla,
in his history of the mathematics, has evinced a strong
national prejudice in his favour; and, as usually happens,
in order to exalt him, he hardly does justice to Harriot,
the idol of his adversaries.
In treating of the claims of algebra and geometry to
be considered as kindred sciences, a question arises, why
was this relation not sooner perceived and appreciated?
The sciences of geometry and algebra have each had a
distinct origin. The former is the more ancient, and no
doubt for this reason, that its principles are less removed
from the ordinary affairs of men. The subjects of geo¬
metry, extension, and figure are continually presented to
attention ; and the elements of the science are to a cer¬
tain extent employed in the most ordinary arts of life.
We cannot sufficiently admire the ingenuity with which
the natural geometry of the early times had been wrought
up into a system more than two thousand years ago; but
when we consider that its assistance was wanted in the
partition of land, in the erection of houses and temples,
and numberless other cases, we need not wonder at the
early progress of the science among such an ingenious
people as the ancient Greeks.
Algebra, however, is a more refined speculation. Its
first object was number; but the properties of number are
more recondite than those of extension and figure.
In geometry, the objects of our attention are the very
figures themselves; but in algebra, the subjects of our
reasonings are represented by symbols, which have no re¬
semblance to the things they represent; hence it is not
wonderful that algebra should have a later origin, and
that it should have been slower in its progress towards
perfection. #
Notwithstanding the different origin of geometry and
algebra, and their long-continued separate existence, like
some chemical substances of different natures, they have
a strong affinity; and, when united, their new properties
are entirely different from those which belong to each
apart. By their union, a new science was created, and
new instruments of invention furnished, vastly more power¬
ful than any possessed by the sciences apart.
The new views which the labours of \ ieta, Harno,
and Descartes opened in geometry and algebra were
seized with avidity by the powerful minds of men eager
in the pursuit of real knowledge. Accordingly, we nnd
in the seventeenth century a whole host of writers on
algebra, or algebra combined with geometry.
Our limits will not allow us to enter minutely into e
claims which each has on the gratitude of posterity. n
deed, in pure algebra the new inventions were not so con¬
spicuous as the discoveries made by its applications
geometry, and the new theories which were suggested y
their union. The refined speculations of Kepler c0”?er"
ing the solids formed by the revolutions of cum me
figures, the Geometry of Indivisibles by Cavalenus,
Arithmetic of Infinites of Wallis, and, above all, tne
thod of Fluxions of Newton, and the Differential ancu -
tegral Calculus of Leibnitz, are fruits of the happy un ,
All these were agitated incessantly by their inventors
ALGEBRA.
\ibra. contemporaries; such men as Barrow, James Gregory,
^/WWren, Cotes, Taylor, Halley, De Moivre, Maclaurin,
425
Stirling, and others, in this country; and abroad by Ro
berval, Fermat, Huygens, the two Bernoullis, Herman,
Pascal, and many others.
It is at this period, then, that our sketch of the history
of algebra, at least in Europe, must terminate, because of
the great number of writers who have in one way or other
elucidated or improved different parts of the subject, either
directly, or when treating of collateral theories.
We have been as copious as our limits would permit on
the early history, because it presents the interesting spec¬
tacle of the progress of a science from an almost imper¬
ceptible beginning, until it has attained a magnitude too
great to be fully grasped by the human mind.
Of the Indian Algebra.
The attention of the learned has, within the last thirty
years, been called to a branch of the history of algebra, in
no small degree interesting; we mean the cultivation of the
science to a considerable extent, and at a remote period,
in India.
We are indebted, we believe, to Mr Reuben Burrow
for some of the earliest notices which reached Europe on
this very curious subject. His eagerness to illustrate the
history of the mathematical sciences led him to collect
oriental manuscripts, some of which, in the Persian lan¬
guage, with partial translations, were bequeathed to his
friend Mr Dalby of the Royal Military College, who com¬
municated them to such as took an interest in the subject,
about the year 1800.
In the year 1813 Mr Edward Strachey published in this
country a translation from the Persian of the Bija Gan-
nita (or Vija Ganita), a Hindoo treatise on algebra ; and in
1816 Dr John Taylor published at Bombay a translation
of Lilawati (or Lilavati), from the Sanscrit original. This
last is a treatise on arithmetic and geometry, and both are
the production of an oriental algebraist, Bhascara Acharya.
Lastly, in 1817 there came out a work entitled Algebra,
Arithmetic, and Mensuration, from the Sanscrit of Brahme-
gvpta and Bhascara, translated by Henry Thomas Cole-
brooke, Esq. This contains four different treatises, origi¬
nally written in Sanscrit verse, viz. the Vija Ganita and
Lilavati of Bhascara Acharya, and the Ganitad'haya and
Cuttacad hyaya of Brahmegupta. The first two form the
preliminary portion of Bhascara’s Course of Astronomy,
entitled Sidd'hanta Siromani, and the last two are the
twelfth and eighteenth chapters of a similar course of
astronomy, entitled Brahma-sidd'hanta.
, time when Bhascara wrote is fixed with great pre¬
cision, by his own testimony and other circumstances, to
a date that answers to about the year 1150 of the Chris¬
tian era. The works of Brahmegupta are extremely rare,
and the age in which he lived is less certain. Mr Davis,
an oriental scholar, who first gave the public a correct
view of the astronomical computations of the Hindoos, is
° opini°n that he lived in the 7th century; and Dr
illiam Hunter, another diligent inquirer into Indian
science, assigns the year 628 of the Christian era as about
time he flourished. From various arguments, Mr
o ebrooke concludes that the age of Brahmegupta was
antecedent to the earliest dawn of the culture of the
sciences among the Arabians, so that the Hindoos must
'ave possessed algebra before it was known to that nation.
rahmegupta’s treatise is not, however, the earliest
" °r. hnown to have been written on this subject. Ganessa,
a istinguished astronomer and mathematician, and the
os eminent scholiast of Bhascara, quotes a passage from
much older writer, Arya-Bhatta, specifying algebra
under the designation of Vija, and making separate men- Algebra,
tion of Luttaca, a problem subservient to the resolution of'
indeterminate problems of the first degree. He is under¬
stood by another of Bhascara’s commentators to be at the
head of the older writers. They appear to have been
able to resolve quadratic equations, by the process of com¬
pleting the square; and hence Mr Colebrooke presumes
that the treatise of Arya-Bhatta then extant extended
to quadratic equations in the determinate analysis, and to
indeterminate equations of the first degree, if not to those
of the second likewise, as most probably it did.
Considering the proficiency of Arya-Bhatta in astrono¬
mical science, and adverting to the fact of his having
written on algebra, and being placed at the head of alge¬
braists when the commentators of extant treatises have
occasion to mention the early and original writers on this
branch of science, he may be regarded as the great im¬
prover of the analytic art in India, and likely to have been
the person by whom it was carried to the pitch it was
found to have attained among the Hindoos, and at which
it was observed to be nearly stationary through the long
lapse of ages which have since passed; the later additions
being few and unessential in the writings of Brahmegupta,
of Bhascara, and of Jnyanaraja, though they lived at in¬
tervals of centuries from each other.
The exact period when Arya-Bhatta lived cannot be
determined with certainty; but Mr Colebrooke thinks it
probable that this earliest of known Hindoo algebraists
wrote as far back as the fifth century of the Christian
era, and perhaps earlier. He was therefore nearly as
ancient as the Grecian algebraist Diophantus, who is rec¬
koned to have flourished in the time of the emperor
Julian, or about a. d. 360. Supposing then the Hindoo
and Greek algebraists to be nearly of the same antiquity,
it must be conceded in favour of the former, that he was
farthest advanced in the science, since he knew how to
resolve equations containing several unknown quantities:
now it does not appear that Diophantus could do this.
He also had a general method for indeterminate equations,
of at least the first degree, to a knowledge of which the
Grecian algebraist had certainly not attained.
It appears from the Hindoo treatises on algebra, that
they understood well the arithmetic of surd roots; that
they were aware of the infinite quotient resulting from
the division of finite quantity by cypher ; that they knew
the general resolution of equations of the second degree,
and had touched on those of higher denomination, re¬
solving them in particular cases, and in those in which
the solution may be effected in the manner of quadratics;
that they had found a general solution of indeterminate
equations of the first degree, and a method for deriving a
multitude of answers to problems of the second degree,
when one solution was obtained by trials: now this is as
near an approach to a general solution of such problems
as was made until the time of Lagi'ange. The Hindoos had
also attempted to solve indeterminate equations of higher
orders, but, as might be expected, with very little success.
We have seen how long it was before algebra was ap¬
plied to geometry in Europe: but the Hindoos not only
applied algebra both to astronomy and geometry, but
conversely applied geometry to the demonstration of al¬
gebraic rules; and indeed they cultivated algebra much
more and with greater success than geometry, as appears
by the low state of their knowledge of the one, and the
high pitch of their attainments in the other.
Mr Colebrooke has instituted a comparison between the
Indian algebraist and Diophantus, and found reason to
conclude, that in the whole science the latter is very far
behind the former. He says, the points in which the
3 H
ALGEBRA.
ebra. Hindoo algebra appears particularly distinguished from the
Greek are, besides a better and more convenient algo¬
rithm, Is#, the management of equations of more than one
unknown quantity; 2rf, the resolution of equations of a
higher order, in which, if they achieved little, they had
at least the merit of the attempt, and anticipated a mo¬
dern discovery in the resolution of biquadratics; 3c?, ge¬
neral methods for the resolution of indeterminate problems
of the first and second degrees, in which they went far
indeed beyond Diophantus, and anticipated discoveries
of modern algebraists; 4#A, the application of algebra to
astronomical investigations and geometrical demonstra¬
tion, in which also they hit upon some matters which
have been re-invented in modern times.
When we consider that algebra made little or no
progress among the Arabians, a most ingenious people,
and particularly devoted to the study of the sciences, and
that centuries elapsed from its first introduction into Europe
until it reached any considerable degree of perfection, we
may reasonably conjecture, that it may have existed in
one shape or other in India long before the time of Arya-
Bhatta: indeed, from its close connection with their doc¬
trines of astronomy, it may be supposed to have descend¬
ed from a very remote period, along with that science.
The late learned Professor Playfair took a great interest
in this curious and interesting subject; and, adopting the
opinion of Bailly, the eloquent author of the Astronomie
Indienne, he with great ingenuity attempted to prove, in
a Memoir on the Astronomy of the Brahmins, that the ob¬
servations on which the Indian astronomy is founded
were of great antiquity, indeed more than 3000 years
before the Christian era. Again, in a later memoir, On
the Trigonometry of the Brahmins, he endeavoured to
establish, that the origin of the mathematical sciences in
Hindostan must be referred to an equally remote period.
The same judicious writer has further considered this
most curious subject in a Review of Strachey’s Transla¬
tion of Bija Gannita {Edinburgh Review, No. 42), and
again, in a Review of Colebrooke’s work on the Indian
algebra, to which we have so frequently adverted {Edin¬
burgh Review, No. 57). This last article, published in
1817, may be supposed to contain the matured opinions of
one of the most ardent, able, and we must say most candid,
inquirers into the history of Hindoo mathematical science.
There is here certainly an abatement of his first confi¬
dence in the opinions of Bailly on the Indian astronomy,
and a corresponding caution in his own opinion as to the
antiquity of the mathematical sciences. The very remote
origin of the Indian astronomy had been strongly ques¬
tioned by many in this country, and also on the Continent;
particularly by Laplace, also by Delambre in his His-
toire de l’Astronomie Ancienne, tome i. p. 400, &c., and
again in Histoire de lAstronomie du Moyen Age, Biscours
Preliminaire, p. 18, &c. where he speaks slightingly of
their algebra; and in this country, Professor Leslie, in
his vei'y learned work on The Philosophy of Arithmetic,
p. 225 and 226, calls the Lilavati “ a very poor perform¬
ance, containing merely a few scanty precepts couched
in obscure memorial verses.” We shall conclude this
slight sketch of the history of Indian algebra with the
last recorded sentiments of Professor Playfair on the ma¬
thematical science of India. “ Among many subjects of
wonder which the study of these ancient fragments can¬
not fail to suggest, it is not one of the least that algebra
has existed in India, and has been cultivated for more
than 1200 years, without any signal improvement, or the
addition of any material discovery. The works of the
ancient teachers of science have been commented on,
elucidated, and explained with skill and learning; but no
new methods have been invented, nor any new principle Alge
introduced. The method of resolving indeterminate pro-^-A 'j
blems, that constitute the highest merit of their analytical
science, were known to Brahmegupta hardly less accu¬
rately than to Bhascara; and they appear to have been
understood even by Arya-Bhatta, more ancient by seve-
ral centuries than either. A long series of scholiasts dis¬
play in their annotations great acuteness, intelligence,
and judgment; but they never pass far beyond the line
drawn by their predecessors, which probably seemed even
to those learned and intelligent men as the barrier within
which it was to be confined. In India, indeed, every thing
seems equally insurmountable, and truth and error are
equally assured of permanence in the stations they have
once occupied. The politics, the laws, the religion, the
science, and the manners, seem all nearly the same as at
the remotest period to which history extends. Is it be¬
cause the power which brought about a certain degree of
civilisation, and advanced science to a certain height, has
either ceased to act, or has met with such a resistance as
it is barely able to overcome ? or is it because the disco¬
veries which the Hindoos are in possession of are an in¬
heritance from some more inventive and more ancient
people, of whom no memorial remains but some of their
attainments in science ? ”
Writers on Algebra, with the years in which they wrote or
flourished.
Diophantus, ArithmeticorumLibri sex, flourished, A.c. 360
 First edition of his writings, 1575; the
best, 1670.
Leonardo Bonacci (his works described in Cossali)...1202
Lucas Paciolus, or De Burgo, Summa de Arithme-
tica,   1470
Rudolph, Algebra 1522
Stifelius, Arithmetica Integra, &c 1544
Cardan, Ars Magna quam vulgo Cossam vocant 1545
Ferreus 1545
Ferrari, (first resolved biquadratic equations) 1545
Tartalea, Quesiti et Invention! diversi 1546
Scheubelius, Algebra Compendiosa 1551
Recorde, Whetstone of Wit * 1557
Peletarius, De Occulta parte Numerorum 1558
Buteo, De Logistica 1559
Ramus, Arithmetics Libri duo et totidem Algebrse..l560
Pedro Nugnez or Nonius, Libro de Algebra, &c 1567
Jossalin, De Occulta parte Mathematicorum 1576
Bombelli 1^
Clavius     1^®
Bernard Solignac, Arith. Libri ii. et Algebrs totidem. 1580
Stevinus, Arithmetique, &c. aussi 1’Algebre 1585
Vieta, Opera Mathematica   1899
Folinus, Algebra, sive Liber de Rebus Occultis 1619
Van Ceulen   l6^
Bachet, Diophantus cum Commentariis 16-1
Albert Girard, Invention Nouvelle en Algebre 1629
Ghetaldus, De Resolutione et Compositione Mathe-
matica     J63
Harriot, Artis Analytics Praxis 
Oughtreed, Clavis Mathematics 168
Herigonius, Cursus Mathematicus |6
Cavalerius, Geometria Indivisibilibus Continuorum...l6
Descartes, Geometria 
Commentators onBescartes.—Franciscus a SchootenA
Florimond de Beaune, Erasmus Bertholinus, (
Joh. Hudde, F. Rabuel, James Bernoulli, John/
de Witt, &c. ' ^
Roberval, De Recognitione iEquationum, &c 
De Billy, Nova Geometris Clavis Algebra ....10
ALGEBRA.
427
Renaldinus, Opus Algebraicum flourished a. c. 1644
,^r ^Pascal, in his works........ 1654
Wallis, Arithmetica Infimtorum 1655
 Algebra .* 1685
Slusius, Mesolabum   1659
Rhonius, Algebra (translated into English) 1659
Kinckhausen, used as a text-book by Sir I.Newton....1661
Sir Isaac Newton, The Binomial Theorem 1666
Frenicle, Various papers in Mem. of F. Academy... 1666
Pell, translated and improved Rhonius’ Algebra 1668
James Gregory, Exercitationes Geometricae 1668
Mercator, Logarithmotechnia 1668
Brancker   1668
Barrow, in Lectiones Geometries 1669
Kersey, Elements of Algebra 1673
Prescot, Nouveaux Elemens de Mathematiques 1675
Leibnitz, in Leipsic Acts, &c 1677
Fermat, in Varia Opera Mathematica   1679
Bulliald, Opus Novum ad Arithmeticamlnfinitorum.1682
Tschirnhausen, in the Leipsic Acts 1683
Baker, Geometrical Key, &c 1684
Dr Halley, in Phil. Trans 1687 and 1694
Rolle, Une Methode pour la Resolution des Equa¬
tions Indeterminees 1690
Raphson, Analysis iEquationum Universalis 1690
Deschales, Cursus seu Mundus Mathematicus 1690
De Lagny, various pieces on Equations 1692
Alexander, Synopsis Algebraica 1693
Ward, Compendium of Algebra 1695
 Young Mathematician’s Guide 1706
De Moivre, various Memoirs in Phil. Trans 1697-1730
Sault, New Treatise of Algebra 1698
Christopher, De Constructione JEquationum.
Ozanam, Nouveaux Elemens d’Algebre 1702
Harris, Lexicon Technicum 1704
Guisnee, Application de 1’Algebre a la Geometrie. ...1705
Jones, Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos 1706
Newton, Arithmetica Universalis 1707
L’Hopital, Traite Analytique de Sections Coniques...l707
Reyneau, Analyse Demontree 1708
Brooke Taylor, Methodus Incrementorum 1715
Stirling, Linea Tertii Ordinis 1717
 Methodus Differentialis 1730
Nicole on Cubic Equations, in Mem. Acad, des
Sciences 1717
S’Gravesande, Algebra 1727
Wolfius, Algebra : Cursus Mathematicus 1732
Kirby, Arithmetic and Algebra 1735
James Gregory 1736
Simpson, Algebra and various works 1740, 1742
Saunders on Algebra, 2 vols. 4to 1740
La Caille, Algebra in Lecons de Mathematiques 1741
Be Gua on the Roots of Equations, in Mem. Acad.
des Sciences. 1741
Clairaut, Elemens d’Algebre 1746
Maclaurin, Algebra 1747
Fontaine, L’Art de Resoudre les Equations 1747
Donna Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Instituzioni Analitichi 1748
Boscovich, in Elementa Universs Matheseos 1754
Castillon, Arithmetica Universalis Newtoni cum Com-
mentario 1761
Emerson, Algebra, &c     1763
Eanden, Residual Analysis, &c 1764
Lagrange, Trait6 de la Resolution des Equations
Numeriques 1767
Euler, Algebra 1770
Waring, Meditationes Algebraicae, &c 1770, 1776
Soladini, Compendio d’Analisi 1775
laoli, Elementi d’Algebra.   1794
In addition to the preceding list of writers, which contains Algebra.
almost all of an early date, we shall add the following.
Arbogast, Calcul des Derivations.
The Bernoullis, Begnalt, Bertrand, Bezout, Bossuet, Burja,
Brunacci, Babbage, Bridges, Bland, Budan, Bonny castle,
Burdon, Barlow.
Cousin, Cauchy, Coignet, Carnot.
Degraave, Dodson, Ditton.
Frisius, Francceur, Frend.
Gauss, Disquisitiones Arithmetics.
Hemischius, Hales, Hirsch, Hutton, Holdred.
Kuhnius, Kramp, Kaestner.
Laloubre, Lorgna, Le Blond, Lee, Lacroix, Ludlam,
Legendre, L’Huillier, Leroy.
Mescher, Malebranche, Manfredi, Maseres.
Nicholson, Nieuwentiit Analysis Infinitorum.
Polled, Poignard (on Magic Squares), Playfair.
Rowning, Reimer.
Suremain-Missery (on Impossible Quantities), Schonerus,
Salignut.
Trail, Tedenat, Thacker.
Vilent, Vandermonde.
Wells, Wilson, Wood, Woodhouse, Warren.
Writers on the History of Algebra.
Wallis in his Algebra ; Montucla in Histoire des Mathe¬
matiques ; Bossuet, Histoire des Mathematiques; Cossali,
Origine, Trasporto in Italia, Primi Progressi in Essa
dell’ Algebra, 2 vols. printed in 1797; Hutton in his
Dictionary, and more diffusely in his Tracts, vol. ii.
For the titles of works on Algebra, consult Murhard,
Hibliotheca Mathematica ; and for memoirs on algebra, in
Academical Collections, see Reuss, Repertorium Commen-
tationum, tom. vii.
NOTATION AND EXPLANATION OF THE SIGNS.
1. In arithmetic there are ten characters, which being
variously combined, according to certain rules, serve to
denote all magnitudes whatever. But this method of ex¬
pressing quantities, although of the greatest utility in
every branch of the mathematics (for we must always
have recourse to it in the different applications of that
science to practical purposes), is yet found to be in¬
adequate, taken by itself, to the more difficult cases of
mathematical investigation ; and it is therefore necessary,
in many inquiries concerning the relations of magnitude,
to have recourse to that more general mode of notation,
and more extensive system of operations, which constitute
the science of algebra.
In algebra quantities of every kind may be denoted by
any characters whatever, but those commonly used are
the letters of the alphabet; and as in every mathematical
problem there are certain magnitudes given, in order to
determine other magnitudes which are unknown, the first
letters of the alphabet a, b, c, &c. are used to denote
known quantities, while those to be found are represented
by v, x, y, &c. the last letters of the alphabet.
2. The sign -j- (plus) denotes that the quantity before
which it is placed is to be added to some other quantity.
Thus, a-\-b denotes the sum of a and b ; 3-{-5 denotes the
sum of 3 and 5, or 8.
The sign — (minus) signifies that the quantity before
which it is placed is to be subtracted. 1 hus, a — b denotes
the excess of a above 6 ; 6—2 is the excess of 6 above 2,
or 4.
3. Quantities which have the sign 4- prefixed to them
are called positive or affirmative; and such as have the
sign — are called negative.
428
ALGEBRA.
Algebra. When quantities are considered abstractedly, the terms
positive and negative can only mean that such quantities
are to be added or subtracted; for as it is impossible to
conceive a number less than 0, it follows, that a negative
quantity by itself is unintelligible. But, in considering
the affections of magnitude, it appears, that in many cases
a certain opposition may exist in the nature of quantities.
Thus, a person’s property may be considered as a positive
quantity, and his debts as a negative quantity. Again,
any portion of a line drawn to the right hand may be con¬
sidered as positive, while a portion of the same line, con¬
tinued in the opposite direction, may be taken as nega¬
tive.
When no sign is prefixed to a quantity, + is always
understood, or the quantity is to be considered as positive.
Quantities which have the same sign, either -f- or —,
are said to have like signs. Thus, -J- a and + b have like
signs, but + a and — c have unlike signs.
4. A quantity which consists of one term, is said to be
simple ; but if it consist of several terms, connected by the
signs -f- or —, it is then said to be compound. Thus,
-f- a and — c are simple quantities ; and 6 -J- c, also a-{-b
— d, are compound quantities.
5. To denote the product arising from the multiplica¬
tion of quantities. If they be simple, they are either joined
together, as if intended to form a word, or else the quan¬
tities are connected together, with the sign X interposed
between every two of them. Thus, ab, or a y.b, denotes
the product of a and b; also abc, or ay. b Y,c, denotes the
product of a, b, and c: the latter method is used when
the quantities to be multiplied are numbers. If some of
the quantities to be multiplied be compound, each of
them has a line drawn over it called a vinculum, and the
tient arising from the division of 12 by 3, or 4; - denotes
This
tension of that science, ought not to be embarrassed bv Ai
the demonstration of its elementary rules. ^
Sect. I.—Fundamental Operations.
The primary operations in algebra are the same as in
common arithmetic; namely, addition, subtraction, multi¬
plication, and division; and from the various combinations
of these four, all the others are derived.
Problem I.—To Add Quantities.
10. In addition there may be three cases: the quantities
to be added may be like, and have like signs; or they may
be like, and have unlike signs; or, lastly, they may be un¬
like.
Case 1. To add quantities which are like, and have like
signs.
Rule. Add together the co-efficients of the quantities,
prefix the common sign to the sum, and annex the let¬
ter or letters common to each term.
Add together
{
Examples.
+ 7a
-j- 3a
-|- a
+ 2a
C— 2ax
Add together
12a*
sign x is interposed, as before. Thus, ayc-^-dy e—f de¬
notes that a is to be considered as one quantity, the sum
of c and c? as a second, and the difference between e and
/ as a third; and that these three quantities are to be
multiplied into one another. Instead of placing a line
over such compound quantities as enter a product, it is
now common among mathematical writers to inclose each
of them between two parentheses, so that the last product
may be otherwise expressed thus, a(c-±-d)(c—■/); or thus,
« X 0 + O X (e—/)•
6. A number prefixed to a letter is called a numerical
co-efficient, and denotes how often that quantity is to be
taken. Thus, 3a signifies that a is to be taken three
times. When no number is prefixed, the co-efficient is
understood to be unity.
7. The quotient arising from the division of one quantity
by another is expressed by placing the dividend above a
12
line, and the divisor below it. Thus, — denotes the quo-
Sum, + 13a Sum, — 20a*
Case 2. To add quantities which are like, but have unlike
signs.
Rule. Add the positive co-efficients into one sum, and the
negative ones into another; then subtract the least of
these sums from the greatest, prefix the sign of the
greatest to the remainder, and annex the common let¬
ter or letters as before.
Add together
{=
Examples.
2ax
ax
3ax
9aa?
Add together
!
-f 6a£>-(-
— 4o6 -[-
7
9
-f 5
+ lab—13
Sum of the pos.
Sum of the neg.
+1 lax Sum of the pos. -|-14a6-fl6
— 4a*; Sum of the neg. — 4a6—-18
Sum required, -f- lax Sum required, -j-10«6— 2
aa-\-2ax— xx —4aai
—2aa-\-3ax— 4txx
6aa— 5ax -f- llxx
4- aab
■\-3aab
Sum,
the quotient arising from the division of b by a.
expression of a quotient is also called a fraction.
8. The equality of two quantities is expressed by put¬
ting tbe sign = between them. Thus, a 4- bz=.c — d de¬
notes that the sum of a and b is equal to the excess of
c above d.
9. Simple quantities, or the terms of compound quanti¬
ties, are said to be like, which consist of the same letter
or letters. Thus, -\-ab and —bab are like quantities, but
4-a6 and -\-abb are unlike.
There are some other characters, which will be explained
when we have occasion to use them; and in what follows
we shall suppose that the operations of common arithme¬
tic are sufficiently understood; for algebra, being an ex-
baa 0 4- §xx Sum, 0
Case 3. To add unlike quantities.
Rule. Put down the quantities, one after another, in any
order, with their signs and co-efficients prefixed.
Examples.
2a
3b
—4c
ax-\-2ay
bb—3bz
Sum, ax-\-2ay-\-bb—3bz
Sum, 2a 4- 3b—4c
Pros. II.—To Subtract Quantities.
11. General Rule. Change the signs of the quantities to
be subtracted, or suppose them changed, and then add
them to the other quantities, agreeably to the rules of
addition. < 1
4
ALGEBRA.
Examples.
From 5a—126 From 6x— % -f 3
Subtract 2a— 56 Subtract 2a; + %—2
429
Remainder 4a;—17y+5
aa—ax—yy
66—by-\-zz
Remainder 3a— 76
bxy—2-f- 8a;— y
Sxy—8— 8a;—
2a;y4-6 + 16a;+2y aa—ax—yy—bb-\-by—zz
The reason of the rule for subtraction may be explained
thus. Let it be required to subtract 2p—2>q from m + n.
If we subtract 2p from m-\-n, there will remain m + n—2p;
but if we are to subtract 2p—3<y, which is less than 2p, it
is evident that the remainder will be greater by a quan¬
tity equal to 3q; that is, the remainder will be m-\-n
—hence the reason of the rule is evident.
Pros. III.—To Multiply Quantities.
12. General Rule for the Signs. If the quantities to be
multiplied have like signs, the sign of the product is + ;
but if they have unlike signs, the sign of the product
is —.
The examples of multiplication may be referred to two
cases; the first is when both the quantities are simple,
and the second when one or both of them are compound.
Case 1. To multiply simple quantities.
Rule. Find the sign of the product by the general rule,
and annex to it the product of the numeral co-efficients;
then set down all the letters, one after another, as in
one word.
Examples.
fMultiply -fa
1 )By +c
(Product -fac
I
— 3aa;
-f 7a6
-2laabx
taken as often as there are units m c_rf, and the sum will A]~bre.
be the product required. Now, if a—4 be taken as often' ‘
as there are units in c, the result will evidently exceed the
product required, and that by a quantity equal to a—b
taken as often as there are units in d. But, from the na¬
ture of addition, a—6 taken as often as there are units in
c, is ca—c6, and for the same reason, a—6 taken as often
as there are units in <?, is da—db ; therefore, to obtain the
product required, we must subtract da—db from ca—cb ;
but from what has been shown in subtraction, the remain¬
der will be ca—cb—da -f db ; therefore the product aris¬
ing from the multiplication of a—b by c—d is ca—cb da
-f db ; hence, the reason of the general rule for the signs,
as well as the other rules, is manifest.
When several quantities are multiplied together so as to
constitute a product, each of them is called a factor of
that product: thus a, 6, and c are factors of the product
abc; also, a-fa; and 6—x are factors of the product
(a -f a;) (b-—x).
The products arising from the continual multiplication
of the same quantity are called powers of that quantity,
which is called the root. Thus aa, aaa, aaaa, &c. are
powers of the root a. These powers are commonly ex¬
pressed by placing above the root, towards the right hand,
a figure, denoting how often the root is repeated. This
figure serves to denominate the power, and is called its
index or exponent. Thus, the quantity a being considered
as the root, or as the first power of a, we have aa or a2 for
its second power, aaa or a3 for its third power, aaaa or a4
for its fourth power, and so on.
The second and third powers of a quantity are gene¬
rally called its square and cube ; and the fourth, fifth, and
sixth powers are sometimes respectively called its biqua¬
drate, sursolid, and cubocube.
By considering the notation of powers, and the rules
for multiplication, it appears that powers of the same
root are multiplied by adding their exponents. Thus
X — a4, also x5 x a?4 = *7; and in general a"1
X a” = am*n.
Prob. IV.—To Divide Quantities.
Case 2. To multiply compound quantities.
Rule. Multiply every term of the multiplicand by all the
terms of the multiplier, one after another, by the pre¬
ceding rule, and collect their products into one sum,
which will be the product required.
Examples.
Multiply 4a—26 -f e 2a;-fy
By 3a x—2y
Product 12aa—6a6-f3ac 2xx -f xy
—4xy—2yy
aur—db Jf-bb
a+6
2xx—Sxy—2yy
a—6-f c
a -f 6 c
am aal>+a66 aa—ab -f ac
-f aa6—a66-f 666 -fa6 —66+6c
~ "     —ac + be—cc
(ma * *+666  
aa * * —66+26c—cc.
The reason of the ru^es for the multiplication of quan-
1 ies may be explained in the following manner:—Let it
t0 multiply a—6 by c—d; because multipli-
„ ,?n 18 a rppcated addition of the multiplicand as often
e multiplier contains unity; therefore, a—6 is to be
13. General Rule for the Signs. If the signs of the
divisor and dividend be like, the sign of the quotient is
+ ; but if they be unlike, the sign of the quotient is —.
This rule is easily derived from the general rule for the
signs in multiplication, by considering that the. quotient
must be such a quantity as, when multiplied by the divisor,
shall produce the dividend, with its proper sign.
The quotient arising from the division of one quantity
by another may be expressed by placing the dividend
above a line and the divisor below it (sect. 25); but it
may also be often expressed in a more simple manner by
the following rules.
Case 1. When the divisor is simple, and a factor of every
term of the dividend.
Rule. Divide the co-efficient of each term of the dividend
by the co-efficient of the divisor, and expunge out of
each term the letter or letters in the divisor: the result
is the quotient.
Ex. 1. Divide 12a6c by Sac.
From the method of notation, the quotient may be ex¬
pressed thus, ^~a^c; but the same quotient, by the rule
3oc
just given, is more simply expressed thus, 46.
Ex. 2. Divide \Qa5xy—28a2.cz2 + 4a2a;3 by 4a2.r.
The quotient is 4ay—lz‘2-\-x2.
If the divisor and dividend be powers of the same quan-
430
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, tity, the division will evidently be performed by subtract-
ing the exponent of the divisor from that of the dividend.
Thus a5, divided by «3, has for a quotient a5"3—a2.
Case 2. When the divisor is simple, but not a factor of
the dividend.
Rule. The quotient is expressed by a fraction, of which
the numerator is the dividend, and the denominator the
divisor.
Thus the quotient of 3«62, divided by 2mbc, is the frac-
It will sometimes happen that the quotient found thus
may be reduced to a more simple form, as shall be ex¬
plained when we come to treat of fractions.
Case 3. When the divisor is compound.
Rule 1. The terms of this dividend are to be arranged ac¬
cording to the powers of some one of its letters, and
those of the divisor according to the powers of the
same letter.
2. The first term of the dividend is to be divided by the
first term of the divisor, observing the general rule for
the signs; and this quotient, being set down for a part
of the quotient wanted, is to be multiplied by the whole
divisor, and the product subtracted from the dividend.
If nothing remain, the division is finished; but if there
be a remainder, it is to be taken for a new dividend.
3. The first term of the new dividend is next to be divid¬
ed by the first term of the dividend, as before, and the
quotient joined to the part already found, with its pro¬
per sign. The whole divisor is also to be multiplied by
this part of the quotient, and the product subtracted
from the new dividend; and thus the operation is to be
carried on till there be no remainder, or till it appear
that there will always be a remainder.
To illustrate this rule, let it be required to divide
8«2 -f 2ab—1562 by 2a+ 36, the operation will stand
thus:
2a+36)8a2 + 2ab—1562(4a—56
8a2 + 12a6
—10a6—1562
—10a6—1562
Here the terms of the divisor and dividend are arranged
according to the powers of the quantity a. We now di¬
vide 8a2, the first term of the dividend, by 2a the first
term of the divisor; and thus get 4a for the first term of
the quotient. We next multiply the divisor by 4a, and
subtract the product 8a2 +12a6 from the dividend; we
get— 10a6— 1562 for a new dividend.
By proceeding in all respects as before, we find — 56 for
the second term of the quotient, and no remainder: the
operation is therefore finished, and the whole quotient is
4o—56.
The following examples will also serve to illustrate the
manner of applying the rule.
Ex. 1.
3a—6)3a3— 12a2—a26 + 10a6—262(a2—4a+26
3a3 —a26
—12a2 +10a6
—12a2 + 4a6
+ 606—262
+ 6a6—262
Ex. 2.
a+6)a3 + 63(a2—ab +1^
a3 + a26
—a26 + 63
—a26—air
+ air + 63
+ 062 + 63
Ex. 3.
a3—63)a6—6fi(a3 + 63
a6—aPlP
+ a36-3—66
+ a363—6s
Ex. 4.
1 tf)l (l + £ + 4'2 + , &C.
1 X
A bra.
+ a:
+ £ *2
+ a?2
+ a?2—Xs
+ a;3.
14. Sometimes, as in this last example, the quotient will
never terminate: in such a case it may either be consid¬
ered as an infinite series, the law according to which the
terms are formed being in general sufficiently obvious; or
the quotient may be completed as in arithmetical divi¬
sion, by annexing to it a fraction, the numerator of
which is the remainder, and denominator the divisor.
Thus the quotient in last example may stand thus:
l+tf+^+X—..
The reason of the rule for division is sufficiently mani¬
fest. For, in the course of the operation, all the terms of
the quotient obtained by it are multiplied by all the terms
of the divisor, and the products successively subtracted
from the dividend, till nothing remain; that therefore
must evidently be the true quotient.
Sect. II.—Oe Fractions.
15. In the operation of division, the divisor may be
sometimes less than the dividend, or may not be contain¬
ed in it an exact number of times : in either case the quo¬
tient is expressed by means of a fraction. There can be
no difficulty, however, in estimating the magnitude of
such a quotient; if, for example, it were the fraction f,
we may consider it as denoting either that some unit is
divided into 7 equal parts, and that 5 of these are taken,
or that 5 times the same unit is divided into 7 equal parts,
and one of them taken.
16. In any fraction the upper number, or the dividend,
is called the numerator> and the lower number or divisor
a
is called the denominator. Thus, in the fraction « 15
the numerator, and 6 the denominator.
17. If the numerator be less than the denominator>
such a fraction is called a proper fraction; but if the nu¬
merator be either equal to, or greater than the denomina¬
tor, it is called an improper fraction; and if a quantity oe
i
ALGEBRA.
u Up of an integer and a fraction, it is called a mixed which divided by—2x is a—x)a?—^(a + x
* J d % n • d - CL -4- X
^ quantity. Thus, — is a proper fraction; also  
X I tix 
are both improper fractions ; and £-f- is a mixed quantity. ^
431
Algebra.
18. The reciprocal of a fraction is another fraction,
having its numerator and denominator respectively equal
to the denominator and numerator of the former.
Thus, - is the reciprocal of the fraction
19. The following proposition is the foundation of the
operations relating to fractions.
If the numerator and denominator of a fraction be
either both multiplied or both divided by the same quan¬
tity, the value of that fraction is the same as before.
For, let any fraction -pf=-cl then, because c is the quo¬
tient arising from the division of b by a, it follows that
and multiplying both by any quantity n, we have
nbzznac: let these equals be both divided by the same
quantity na, and the quotients will be equal, that is,
~—c=-; hence the truth of the proposition is manifest.
* *
Hence it appears that a—x is the greatest common mea¬
sure required.
■Ex. 2. Required the greatest common measure of
8a2b?—and 9a4b—9a3b?3a2b3—3ab4.
It is evident, from inspection, that & is a simple divisor
of both quantities; it will therefore be a factor of the
common measure required. Let the simple divisors be now
left out of each quantity, and they are reduced to 4a2—
Bab -j- ^ and 3a3—3a2b -(- ad1—Id; but as the second of
these is to be divided by the first, it must be multiplied
by 4 to make the division succeed, and the operation will
stand thus:
\a2—Bab+W) 12a3—\2a% + \ald—Ab\3a
12a3—XBcfib -f- Sat2
no, a
From this proposition, it is obvious that a fraction may
be very differently expressed, without changing its value,
and that any integer may be reduced to the form of a
fraction, by placing the product arising from its multipli¬
cation by any assumed quantity as the numerator, and the
assumed quantity as the denominator of the fraction. It
also appears that a fraction very complex in its form may
often be reduced to another of the same value, but more
simple, by finding a quantity which will divide both the
numerator and denominator, without leaving a remainder.
Such a common measure, or common divisor, may be
either simple or compound; if it be simple, it is readily
found by inspection, but if it be compound, it may be
found as in the following problem.
-f- 3cdb -f- aid—\b3.
This remainder is to be divided by b, and the new divi¬
dend multiplied by 3, to make the division again succeed,
and the work will stand thus:
3a2 + ab—W)l2d?—\Bab+ 3^(4
12a2-}- 4a£—16Z*2
—19a6-j-im
This remainder is to be divided by — \9b, which being
done, and the last divisor taken as a dividend as before,
the rest of the opei'ation will be as follows:
a—b)3a2-\- ab—462(3a-|-46
3a2—3ab
20. Prob. I.— To find the greatest common Measure of two
Quantities.
Rule 1. Range the quantities according to the power of
some one of the letters, as taught in division, leaving
out the simple divisors of each quantity.
2. Divide that quantity which is of most dimensions by
the other one, and if there be a remainder, divide it by
its greatest simple divisor; and then divide the last
compound divisor by the resulting quantity, and if any
thing yet remain, divide it also by its greatest simple
divisor, and the last compound divisor by the result¬
ing quantity. Proceed in this way till nothing remain,
and the last divisor shall be the common measure re¬
quired.
Nate. It will sometimes be necessary to multiply the di¬
vidends by simple quantities in order to make the divi¬
sions succeed.
Ex. 1. Required the greatest common measure of the
quantities a2#—x4 and a3—2d2x -(- ax2. The simple di¬
visor # being taken out of the former of these quantities,
‘ind a out of the latter, they are reduced to a2—x2, and
a fz-j-'X3; and as the quantity a rises to the same di-
inensions in both, we may take either of them as the first
1 lvlsor.i let us take that which consists of several terms,
aud tlie operation will stand thus:
a2—x3)a2—2a* -{- *2( 1
a2—x2
—2a* -j- 2*2 remainder,
-{- 4a&—
-}- 4a&—ild
* #
from which it appears that the compound divisor sought is
a—b, and remarking that the quantities proposed have
also a simple divisor b, the greatest common measure
which is required will be b (a—b).
21. The reason of the rule given in this problem maybe
deduced from the following considerations.
1. If two quantities have a compound divisor common
to both, and they be either multiplied or divided by any
simple quantities, the results will each have the same
compound divisor. Thus the quantities p(a—*) and
q (a—*) have the common divisor a—*, and the quantities
n p (a—*), r q (a—*) have each the very same divisor.
2. In the operation of division, whatever quantity mea¬
sures both the divisor and dividend, the same will also
measure the remainder. For let * be such a quantity,
then the divisor and dividend may be represented by ax
and bx; let q be the quotient, and the remainder will
evidently be bx—qax, which is evidently divisible by *.
3. Whatever quantity measures both the divisor and re¬
mainder, the same will also measure the dividend; for,
let the divisor be a*, and the remainder r*, then q, denot¬
ing the quotient, the dividend will be a^*+r*, which, as
well as the divisor and dividend, is divisible by *.
Let us apply these observations to the last example.
From the first observation, the reason for leaving out the
simple quantities in the course of the operation, as well as
432
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, for multiplying by certain other quantities, to make the
1 ^divisions succeed, is obvious; and from the second obser¬
vation it appears, that whatever quantity measures 4a2—
bab+tf, and 12a3—12«26 + 4«62—46s, the same must
measure Sa^ + oi2—463, the first remainder, as also—19a6
-|- lOaS2, the second remainder; but the only compound
divisor which this last quantity can have is a—b, which is
also found to be a divisor of 3a2 -j- a6—4&2, or of ‘ia~b -J-
al?—463. The first remainder, therefore, by the third ob¬
servation, a—b, must also be a divisor of 12a2—\bub 362,
or of 4a2—bab + fb, the first divisor, and therefore also it
must be a divisor of 12a3—12a26-|-4aJ2—4S3, the first
dividend; so that a—b is the greatest common measure,
as was required.
22. Pros. II.—To Reduce a Fraction to its lowest Terms.
Rule. Divide both numerator and denominator by their
greatest common measure, which may be found by
Prob. I.
Ex. 1. Reduce to its lowest terms.
24aac2
It appears from inspection, that the greatest common
measure is 8ac ; and dividing both numerator and denomi-
b6a2bc lab
nator by this quantity, we have ^dd^Mc
Ex. 2. Reduce
-vC3
to its lowest terms.
And x-
Ex. 2. Reduce a •
1 — a2-j-x2 _ 2X2 — a2
x
X2
, Ans.
a — ar-f
a2
xJt- (/j^x t0 an improper fraction.
(a-j-a:)(a — x)-\-oci _
a-\-x
a + a;
= —;—, Ans.
a+x
axJf-a2
=a+—, the answer required.
_ ^ ^ , ax-\-2x2 , x^-yi
Ex. 2. Reduce —-7 , also —, to whole or mix.,A
a-J-a:
ed quantities.
„ aa?4-2a?2 ,
First—-7- =x-\
a^-x a-^-x
x—y
, the answer.
x—y
—x+yz, whole quantity, which is the an-
And
swer.
25. Pros. V.—To Reduce Fractions of different Benmi.
nators to others of the same value which shall have a com¬
mon Denominator.
Rule. Multiply each numerator separately into all the
denominators except its own for the new numerators,
and all the denominators together for the common de¬
nominator.
CL C C
Ex. 1. Reduce -j, andy, to fractions of equal value
which have a common denominator.
axdxf=adf^
cx bxf=cbf > New numerators.
exbx d=ebd )
a3—2a2x-faxi
We have already found in the first example of Prob. I.
that the greatest common measure of the numerator and
denominator is a—x ; and dividing both by this quantity,
. d?x—x3 ax + x2
we have -r—jr-7—;  •
a3—2a2x -|- a:xr a2—ax
In like manner we find
9aAb~9a}W + 3«2^—3ai4 _ 9a3 + 3aJ2
Sa2*2—10c<Z»3-f-264 “ Sab—2V2 5
the common measure being b(a—b), as was shown in
Example 2. Problem I.
23. Prob. III.—To Reduce a mixed Quantity to an im¬
proper Fraction.
Rule. Multiply the integer by the denominator of the
fraction, and to the product add the numerator; and
the denominator being placed under this sum, the result
will be the improper fraction required.
__ gS. q2 i rp2i
Ex. 1. Let #-1 , and x be reduced to im-
1 a x
proper fractions.
ic2 ax-t-x? ,
hirst, x-\ =  —, the answer.
24. Prob. IV.— To Reduce an improper Fraction to a
whole or mixed Number.
Rule. Divide the numerator by the denominator for the
integral part, and place the remainder, if any, over the
denominator, and it will be the mixed quantity required.
Ex. 1. Reduce —^— to a whole or mixed quantity.
bxdxf= bdf Common denominator.
n . a adf c cbf . e ebd
Hence we find 7=7-77,3=7-7,, and -7= 777, where the
b bdf d bdf f bdf
new fractions have a common denominator, as was re¬
quired.
CLOC ofi —QC^
Ex. 2. Reduce and to fractions of equal
a—x a-\-x
value, and having a common denominator.
ax(a + *)—a x+ax~ „ ,1 New numerators.
(a2—x?)(a—x) = a3—a?x—a#2-}-#3)
a—x)(aJrx)=di—x2, the common denominator.
, T ax a2x 4- aod . a2—a?2 a3—a2x—(dx-t-x2
Hence =—9- ' ,, and —-—= 5——.
a—x a2—x2 aJf-x a2—x2
26. Prob. VI.—To Add or Subtract Fractions.
Rule. Reduce the fractions to a common denominator,
and add or subtract their numerators, and the sum or
difference placed over the common denominator, is the
sum or remainder required.
CL C B
Ex. 1. Add together p and j:.
a adf
b~bdf
c bcf
d~bdf
e bde
f~W
TT ace adf-t-bcf-t-bde . . ,
Hence ^ +^-fy=—— jfyy  j the sum required.
„ ^ „ a-\-x . a
Ex. 2. hrom—*— subtract .
a a-j-a;
a-\-x a2-\-2ax-\-o(?
a a2-\-ax
a a2
Hence
a-\-x'
a\-x
a“ + aa;
a 2ax^-ac2
a2-J-ax *
a + a;
Ex. 3. Add together —j? and
x ■— 5
a;4-2 x
3~ + 4 +
x — 5
4’  2
8a;-f 16 -f- 6 a? + 12 a;
24
r
Algt.3' — ~~
]2
ALGEBRA.
If it be required to add or subtract mixed thus: Let it be required to divide - bv
d y
quantities, they may either be reduced to the form of . . c
fractions by prob. 3, and then added or subtracted, or else divided by a, the quotient is — ; but if it
If -j is to be
d
fractions by prob. 3, and then added or subtracted, or else aiviaea the quotient is ~ ; but if it is to be divided
these operations may be performed first on the integer
quantities, and afterwards on the fractions.
27. Prob. VII.—To Multiply Fractions. ^ c _ a
EuU. Multiply the numerators of the fractions for the 6 ^ °r 'et i=
r„"bnhr;Srdthedenomina“rsfortte then n=j”an<i ^ ^
Ex. 1. Multiply - by ^
by then the last quotient must be multiplied by b ; thus
cb
ad
then a
a “ c
- X —? the product required.
a c ac y ^
be — bdn ; therefore ~ ~ — —
bdm m ad
-r, c nr 1 • 1 d + b . a — b
Ex. 2. Multiply —by —-—.
a + b a
—L- X
the product.
Sect. III.—Involution and Evolution.
29. In treating of multiplication, we have observed, that
when a quantity is multiplied by itself any number of
^ ^jjiuuuui,. times, the product is called & power of that quantity, while
If it be required to multiply an integer by a fraction, caLdThe'rooffsect.^). ''xhus'a^TnTrfTareTetm
lhc :nteger;ay b; c,on:d:r^ rrd’ f
nominator, thus, (a + ai) X—i—x— = — . 1 1 OTiri L 1
c 1c c a’ ~a?’ and ’a?’ denote the same powers of the root
Mixed quantities may be multiplied after being reduced r> ^ • r • ... a
/ bx\ a 'bUt betore considering more particularly what re-
to the form of fractions by prob. 3. Thus, ( 6 4—:) X - ^ates to powers and roots, it will be proper to observe, that
\ a J x 111
_ab+bx w a _d*b + abx ab + bx the quantities&c. admit of being expressed
—— X — HZ ■ • CL CL CL
TL a X e aXi r. nX V .• 1. under a different form ; for, like as the quantities a, d2, a?,
fhe reason of the rule for multiplication may be ex- &c. are expressed as positive powers of the root a, so the
plained thus. If | is to be multiplied by c, the product quantities K A, A &c. may be respectively expressed
CL CL CL
will evidently be but if it is only to be multiplied bv ^us, a-1, a-2, or2, &c. and considered as negative powers
b J ^ of the root a.
a c ac
’"or6Xt7=W
£ the former product must be divided by d, and it be- 30. This method of expressing the fractions -, —, —,
add
comes which is the product required. Or let ?= m, aS powers of ^ root n^ative .indices, is a
oa it b consequence of the rule which has been given for the
ail(l ^ then a—bm and c—dn and ac—bdmn; hence, division of powers ; for we may consider - as the quotient
arising from the division of any power of a by the next
higher power; for example, from the division of the 2d
1 d
28. Prob. VIII.—7b Divide Fractions. by the 3d> and so we have - = ; but since powers of
Rule. Multiply the denominator of the divisor by the fhe same quantity are divided by subtracting the exponent
numerator of the dividend for the numerator of the quo- oP tbe divisor from that of the dividend (sect. 30), it follows,
!heLStaaM that ^ ^; therefore the factioiiimayalso be
the quotient. 1 d
Or, multiply the dividend by the reciprocal of the divisor, exPressed thus> «“1- % considering - as equal to it
the nmiliipi- wUl Kn <-v.«   : j ^
will appear in the same manner that —?■= —j = a~2; and
1 r a2 a*
,. . , . 1 a
proceeding in this way, we get
  d   l   d
-,5 * / O
the product will be the quotient required.
Cix. 1. Divide ^ bv
° ■ a a d ad proceettmgmtn.Sway,weget^ = ^ = ur-,^ = -5
~d)b\bc dle (lu°dent required, or j X — — -j— ^ before. • = or4, &c. and so on, as far as we please. It also appears
c c that unity or 1 may be represented by ot0, where the ex-
Ex. 2. Divide - a^~ by . ponent is a cypher, for 1 = = et2-2 = a°.
« -\-ab /q3—at? — d—d . 31. The rules which have been given for the multiplica-
"—'V 2a; \ §dx ~ Qax ’ 116 <luotient' tion and division of powers with positive exponents will
. b either the divisor or dividend be an integer quantity, aPpIy *n every case, whether the exponents be positive or
it may be represented as a fraction, by placing unity for a negative ; and this must evidently take place; for the mode
‘ Nominator; or if it be a mixed quantity, it may be re- of notation, by which we represent fractional quantities as
uuced to a fraction by prob. 3, and the operation of divi- the powers of integers, but with negative exponents, has
divWon may be explained been derived fr°m th°Se rU'eS- ThUSl |><7> or ^ x 7=
'CL. II. J U 3i
434
Algebra.
algebra.
ar^ = a, also or ar2 X a^3 = =^5
— L, and x or aH x %+3 — ar-3^3 = ic° = 1.
ar ar1
From this method of notation it appears, that any quan¬
tity may be taken from the denominator of a fraction, and
placed in the numerator, by changing the sign of its ex¬
ponent ; and hence it follows, that every fraction may also
be represented as an integer quantity. Thus, -^r denotes
apfr-i , a2 _
the same thing as p- or as arb-'cr3; also may
be otherwise expressed thus, a2(x—l)-3.
Of Involution.
32. Involution is the method of finding any power of
any assigned quantity, whether it be simple or compound.
hence its rules are easily derived from the operation of
multiplication.
Case 1. When the quantity is simple.
Buie. Multiply the exponents of the letters by the index
of the power required, and raise the co-efficient to the
same power.
Note. If the sign of the quantity be +, all its powers will
be positive ; but if it be —, then all its powers whose
exponents are even numbers are positive, and all its
powers whose exponents are odd numbers are negative.
Ex. 1. Required the cube, or third power, of 2«2^
(2a2x):i=2 x 2 x 2a2x:ixlx3=Sar>x\ the answer.
Ex. 2. Required the fifth power of —Saftc3.
(—3d2x‘if——2i3a10*15, the answer.
Ex. 3. Required the fourth power of — .
f—2axl'\i 16a4*8
VW/
the answer.
a2-{-ax
+ ax q-*2
a2+2a*-f-*2 the square, or second power.
af-x
a3-j-2a2*-J-a*2
-f- a2*-|-2a*2+*3
a?q- 3a2* {- Sax2-j- x3 the cube, or third power.
a-{-x
a4 -[- 3a3* -f- 3a2*2 -{- a*3
-f- a3*+3a2*2 -{- 3a*-3 -f-
Hence it appears that the powers of a-}-* differ from the Al{ ra.
powers of a—* only in this respect, that in the former^
the signs of the terms are all positive, but in the latter
they are positive and negative alternately.
33. Besides the method of finding the powers of a
compound quantity by multiplication, which we have just
now explained, there is another more general, as well as
more expeditious, by which a quantity may be raised to
any power whatever without the trouble of finding any of
the inferior powers, namely, by means of what is com¬
monly called the binomial theorem. This theorem may be
expressed as follows: Let a—* be a binomial quantity,
which is to be raised to any power denoted by the num¬
ber «, then (a-f *)n=r
n n ^ . w(w"
'”-1* -f-
l + Ta
1 • 2
i>«-
-2^2
n(n—l)(w—2)
1 • 2
a’1-3*3
+ l)(w—2)Q—3)^^
2) Q-3) (n-Afan^
+1-2-3-4-5
This series will always terminate when n is any whole po¬
sitive number, by reason of some one of the factors n—l,
n—2, &c. becoming — 0; but if n be either a negative
or fractional number, the series will consist of an infinite
number of terms. As, however, we mean to treat in this
section only of the powers of quantities when their expo¬
nents are whole positive numbers, we shall make no fur¬
ther remarks upon any other: we shall afterwards give a
demonstration of the theorem, and show its application to
fractional and negative powers, in treating of infinite series.
The «th .power of a—* will not differ from the same
power of a + *, but in the signs of the terms which com-
7%
pose it, for it will stand thus: (a—*)Mzzan—-^an~lx
n (re—1)
81&Y’
Case 2. When the quantity is compound.
Rule. The powers must be found by a continual multipli¬
cation of the quantity by itself.
Ex. Required the first four powers of the binomial
quantity a-j-*.
a+* the root, or first power,
a-j-*
1 ■
re(re-
■1 )(re
■a"-2*2—
2)(re-
re(re—l)(re—2)
1 • 2
-3)
a’1-3*3
a”-4*4—, &c. where the signs are
+ 1-2 • 3 • 4
+ and — alternately.
Ex. 1. Let it be required to raise a -p * to the fifth
power. t u c .
Here re, the exponent of the power, being 5, the nrst
term an of the general theorem will be equal to a5, the
^-2*2:=
second rea”-1* = 5a4*, the third
1 . 2
a3 *2:
: 10a3 *2, the fourth ^ ^
<re — 1)i (re — 2) (re — 3) (n-f)
5x4
1X2
_ 5xf *3 a2 xs _ iQa2 *3, the fifth
1 X ^ X ^
re(w—l)(re—2)(re 3) ^ 4_5X^)<3X?a*4=5aa;4,
1 • 2 • " 3~^4 “ Xi-lx2x3x^
and the sixth and last
a" ~5 *
,5 _
1 • 2
5x4x3x2xl
a0*5 = x5
4 • 5
the remaining
a^q_4a3*-p6a2*2-p4a*3-p*4 the fourth power.
If it be required to find the same powers of a—*, it will
be found that
a—* being the root, or first power; then
a2—2a*-p*2 is the square, or second power;
a3—3a2*-p3a*2—at?, the cube, or third power;
a4—4a3*-p6a2*2—4a*3-p*4, the fourth power.
Ix2x3x4x5 ,
terms of the general theorem all vanish, by reason o
factor re — 5 = 0 by which each of them is multiplien.
so that we get (a -p *)5 = a5 -p 5a4* -p 10a3*2 -p a x
-p5a*4 -p x5.
Ex. 2. It is required to raise 2d — ^ to the third power.
z
In this case re = 3, so that if we put a zz 2d and ^ — 3’
  Qfp
we have the first term of the general theorem, 01 a — ’
4^2
the second - an~1 * = 3 X
X | = M2z, the third
ALGEBRA.
At bra- n(n — 0 flW_2 = 3 y.2d^
2dz<>
435
9
, and the fourth
“ 27’
- x are + and
■4:d2z
and since the
2dz2
■ alter-
an~* x2
•'l • 2
n(n— 1) (w — „ o
and last term 1\ 2 . 3 «n_3-
signs of the terms of any power of a ■
nately, we have [2d —— 8<7J ^ —  —.
34. If the quantity to be involved consists of more than
two terms, as if j» + <7—r were to be raised to the second
power, put = o and g — r = l>, then (p + y ■— r)2 —
= a2 + 2«i + i2 = p2 + 2p(g — ?’) + (§- — r)2,
but 2p (q — r)z= 2pq—2pr, and by the general theorem
(y — r)2 = (72 — 2qr-irrA, therefore we get (p + q — r)2
— pij^Zpq — 2pr-\-(f — 2qr-j-r2; and by a similar me¬
thod of proceeding a quantity consisting of four or more
terms may be raised to any power.
Of Evolution.
35. Evolution is the reverse of involution, or it is the
method of finding the root of any quantity, whether sim¬
ple or compound, which is considered as a power of that
root: hence it follows that its operations, generally speak¬
ing, must be the reverse of those of involution.
To denote that the root of any quantity is to be taken,
the sign */ (called the radical sign) is placed before it,
and a small number placed over the sign to express the
denomination of the root. Thus denotes the square
3 - . 4 - .
root of «, if a its cube root, if a its fourth root, and in ge¬
neral, fa its nth root. The number placed over the radi¬
cal sign is called the index or exponent of the root, and is
usually omitted in expressing the square root: thus, either
fa or fa denotes the square root of a.
Case 1. When roots of simple quantities are to be found.
Rule. Divide the exponents of the letters by the index
of the root required, and prefix the root of the numeral
co-efficient; the result will be the! root required.
Note 1. The root of any positive quantity may be either
positive or negative, if the index of the root be an even
number; but if it be an odd number, the root can be
positive only. 2xa-
2. The root of a negative quantity is also negative when X
the index of the root is an odd number.
3. But if the quantity be negative, and the index of the
root even, then no root can be assigned.
Ex. 1. Required the square root of Sfioftr4.
Here the index of the root is 2, and the root of the
co-efficient 6, therefore VSGaWzz+Gax2 or fSGaW
——■Sax2; for either of these quantities, when multiplied
by itself, produces 36o2a;4; so that the root required is
where the sign z±z denotes that the quantity to
which it is prefixed may be considered either as positive
°r negative.
is therefore said to be impossible, and may be expressed Algebra,
thus: f—a2.
The root of a fraction is found by extracting that root
out of both numerator and denominator. Thus the square
r 4a2x4 . 2a,x2
r00t0iWf1S3h?
Case 2. When the quantity of which the root is to be ex¬
tracted is compound.
36. I. To extract the square root.
Range the terms of the quantity according to the pow¬
ers of the letters, as in division.
Find the square root of the first term for the first part
of the root sought, subtract its square from the given
quantity, and divide the remainder by double the part al¬
ready found, and the quotient is the second term of the
root.
Add the second part to double the first, and multiply
their sum by the second part; subtract the product from
the remainder, and if nothing remain, the square root is
obtained. But if there is a remainder, it must be divided
by the double of the parts already found, and the quotient
will give the third term of the root, and so on.
Ex. 1. Required the square root of a2^-2ax-\-a?,
a- -j- 2ax -j- a:2(« -}- x, the root required.
2a-\-x\-f2ax-\-xi
y.x)-\-2ax-irx7l
Ex.
2. Required the square root of xf*—2^ -p -a?.
x 1
2^" 16*
"*+4
1—aA-
—x)-
-2^ -f- fx2
-2X3 -j- x2
2x3-
XI
-2x + 4)
x 1
_2+l6
x 1
2 + 16
To understand the reason of the rule for finding the
square root of a compound quantity, it is only necessary
to involve any quantity, as a-\-b-\- c, to the second power,
and observe the composition of its square; for we have
(a_p.6_pcl2=a2-j-2«Z»-f-62-f-2ac-|-2Jc-f-c2 ; but 2ab-trb2
—(2af.b)b and 2ac-f 2bcJrc2=i(2a-\-2b-\-c)c, therefore,
(a i _j_ c)2=a2-f-(2a + -f-(2a2S-{-c)c ;
and from this expression the manner of deriving the rule
125a6a:9 is found to is obvious.
T As an illustration of the common rule for extracting the
h it be required to extract the square root of—a2, it will square root of any proposed number, we shall suppose that
inunediately appear that no such root can be assigned; for the root of 59049 is required.
1 can neither be -(-a nor —a, seeing that each of these Accordingly we have (a-\-b-\-c)2-=z59049, and from
quantities, when squared, produces -}-a2: the root required hence we are to find the values of a, b, and c.
Ex. 2. Required the cube root of 125a%:9.
Here the index of the root is 3, and the root of the co¬
efficient 5, therefore f 125a6x9= 5a2*3, the root required;
unu in like manner the cube root of
be —5a2x3.
1
436
Algebra.
ALGEBRA.
59049(200=a)
'a2= 200x200= 40000 40=5 V
3=c )
2cf=400
5= 40
2a+5=440
Hence 243 is the root
required.
19049
17600= (2a+ 5)5
2a+25=480
c= 3
2a+25+c=483
1449
1449=(2a + 25 + c)c
The same example when wrought by the common rule
(see Arithmetic) will stand thus:
59049(243 the root required.
4
root sought; subtract its cube from the whole quantity, A},,
and divide the remainder by three times the square of the ^
part already found, and the quotient is the second part of
the root.
Add together three times the square of the part of the
root already found, three times the product of that part
and the second part of the root, and the square of the se¬
cond part; multiply the sum by the second part, and sub¬
tract the product from the first remainder, and if nothing
remain, the root is obtained; but if there is a remainder,
it must be divided by three times the square of the sum
of the parts already found, and the quotient is a third term
of the root, and so on, till the whole root is obtained.
Ex. Required the cube root of a3 + 3a%+Sax3-(-
a3 + 3a2a? + 3aa?2+a!3(a + a; the root required.
/y3
44)190
176
3a2 + 3ax + x?)3a2x + Sar2+x?
SaPx+BaxP+x*
* *~
The reason of the preceding rule is evident from the
composition of a cube ; for if any quantity, as a + 5+cbe
raised to the third power, we have (a + 5 + c)3=a3+(3a2
+ 3a5 + 52)5+3(a+5)2+3(a+5)c+c2)c, and by con-
■  , sidering in what manner the terms a, 5, and c are deduced
and by a comparison of the two operations, the reason of from expression for the cube of their sum, we also see
483)1449
1449
the common rule is obvious.
37. II. To extract the cube root.
Range the terms of the quantity according to the pow¬
ers of some one of the letters.
Find the root of the first term, for the first part of the
the reason for the common rule for extracting the cube
root in numbers. Let it be required to find the cube
root of 13312053, where the root will evidently consist of
three figures ; let us suppose it to be represented by a-f
b + c, and the operation for finding the numerical values
of these quantities may stand as follows.
13312053(200=a
a3= 8000000 30=5
7=c
3a2= 120000
3a5= 18000
52= 900
3a2+ 305 + 52= 138900
3(a+5)2= 158700
3(a + 5)c= 4830
c2= 49
5312053
237 the root required.
4167000=(3a2+3a5+52)5
1145053
3(a + 5)2 + 3(a + 5)c+^= 163579 1145053= [3(a + 5)2+3(a + 5)c+c2]^
The operation as performed by the common rule (see
Arithmetic) will stand thus:
13312053(237 the root required.
8
12..
18
1389
1587.
383
49
5312
4167
1145053
Involve the first member of the root to a power less by
unity than the number that denominates the root re¬
quired, and multiply the power that arises by the num¬
ber itself; divide the second term of the given quan¬
tity by the product, and the quotient shall give the
second member of the root required.
Find the remaining members of theroot in the same manner
by considering those already found as making one term.
Ex. Required the cube rootof a^ + fiar*—40r3+96a;—64
xG + 6a^—40a*5+96x—64(t2+2x—4
(«2)3=a^!
3xi)6x5
163579 1145053
38. III. To extract any other root.
Eule. Range the quantity of which the root is to be
found, according to the powers of its letters, and extract
the root of the first term, and that shall be the first
member of the root required.
(#2 + 2a;)3=;r6 + 6;r5+ ^a^ + S-r3
3a?4+ , &c.)—12a4
(a? + 2a:—4)3=a;G + Gx5—40ar3+96a?—64
*
ALGEBRA.
437
, u In this example, the cube root of x6, or x2, is the first
vvl'member of the root; and to find a second member, the first
is raised to the power next lower, or to the second power,
and also multiplied by 3, the index of the root required.
Thus we get 3a?4 for a divisor, by which the second term
6a^ being divided, we find 2a? for the second member of
the root. We must now consider a? + 2a? as forming one
term: accordingly, having subtracted its cube from the
quantity of which the root is sought, we have —12a?4—,
&c. for a new dividend ; and having also raised a^-|-2a? to
the second power, and multiplied the result by 3, we find
&c. for a divisor. (As it is only the terms which
contain the highest powers of the dividend and divisor
that we have occasion for, the remaining terms are ex¬
pressed by &c.) Having divided —12a?4 by Sad, we find
—4) for the third term of the root; and because it appears
that a?-f 2a:—4, when raised to the third power, gives a
result the very same with the proposed power, we conclude
^4-2a:—4 to be the root sought.
39. In the preceding examples, the quantities whose
roots were to be found have been all such as could have
their roots expressed by a finite number of terms ; but it
will frequently happen that the root cannot be otherwise
assigned than by a series consisting of an infinite number
of terms. The preceding rules, however, will serve to de¬
termine any number of terms of the series. Thus, the
square root of will be found to be a-|-   +
CjCc
ttt-;—&c., and the cube root of a3-f.a^ will
loo5 12oa7 1
staM to, ^ - M+ Si* - But
as the extraction of roots in the form of series can be
more easily performed by other methods, we shall refer
the reader to sect. 19, which treats of series, where this
subject is resumed.
Sect. IV.—Of Surds.
both to the power n, am — 6n, and further, raising both to Algebra,
the power c, we get ar—fr*: let the root cn be now taken,
and we find a™ ~b —
41. Pros. I.— To Reduce a Rational Quantity to the form
of a Surd of any given denomination.
Rule. Reduce the exponent of the quantity to the form
of a fraction of the same denomination as the uiven
surd. &
Ex. I. Reduce a2 to the form of the cube root.
Here the exponent 2 must be reduced to the form of a
fraction having 3 for a denominator, which will be the frac-
6 3  
tion |; therefore drz=a?—/fd\
Ex. 2. Reduce 5 to the form of the cube root, and
3a52 to the form of the square root.
First, 5r=53 z= fax 5x5=^125,
And Sali2 = 3%a%b$ = (32a2b4)i= V'Oa-b4.
42. Prob. II.— To Reduce Surds of different denominations
to others of the same value, and of the same denomina¬
tion.
Rule. Reduce the fractional exponents to others of the
same value, and having the same common denominator.
3 — 1 (2
Ex. 1. Reduce a and ora2 and b^ to other
equivalent surds of the same denomination.
The exponents §, when reduced to a common deno¬
minator, are § and 4-; therefore the surds required are
3:174 6  6 
a6 and W, or fa? and fb4.
Ex. 2. Reduce 32 and 23 to surds of the same denomi¬
nation.
40. It has been already observed (35), that the root of
any proposed quantity is found by dividing the exponent
of the quantity by the index of the root; and the rule has
been illustrated by suitable examples, in all which, how¬
ever, the quotient expressing the exponent of the result
is a whole number; but there may be cases in which the
quotient is a fraction. Thus, if the cube root of a2 were
required, it might be expressed, agreeably to the me¬
thod of notation already explained, either thus, fa2,
or thus, a3.
Quantities which have fractional exponents are called
surds, or imperfect powers, and are said to be irrational,
ln opposition to others with integral exponents, which are
called rational.
Surds may be denoted by means of the radical sign, but
a will be often more convenient to use the notation of
fractional exponents. The following exaipples will show
how they may be expressed either way.
f(i — a3, f ^ab2 — 2ba2, fcdb2 — a4ZA,
*/a2+V- (a2 _|_ £2)i
f dfb
f (a—b)2 = (a—bf5,
4. 4
Vab
= («-f ^)2 cr~2b~2.
The operations concerning surds depend on the follow-
'ng principle: If the numerator and denominator of a
lactional exponent be either both multiplied or both
('vu e(4 bJ the same quantity, the value of the power is
» rn cm m
ic same. Thus, an zz acn. For let anz:b, then raising
The new exponents are 4 and % therefore we have
X 3. 6   6   1 2 6   6  
32z=.36z=.f3iA-=. f21, and 23 = 2^z=:f22 =f4.
. J- l
And in the same way the surds Am, B”, are reduced
mn  mn 
to these two, fAn and fV>m.
43. Prob. III.— To Reduce Surds to their most simple
terms.
Rule. Reduce the surd into two factors, so that one of
them may be a complete power, having its exponent
divisible by the index of the surd. Extract the root of
that power, and place it before the remaining quantities,
with the proper radical sign between them.
Ex. 1. Reduce f4<8 to its most simple terms.
The number 48 may be resolved into the two factors
16 and 3, of which the first is a complete square; there¬
fore v/48=(42 X 3)2—4 x 32=4^/3.
  3    
Ex. 2. Reduce f98a4x, and f2^cdx + 40a3a?2, each
to its most simple terms.
First, v/98a4r = (7%4 x 2a?)2 = la2 x (2x)2 = 7a2f2x.
Also f2±a3x + dOa3*2 = (23a3 (3a? + bx2))*=:2af3x+bx?.
44. Prob. IV.— To Add and Subtract Surds.
Rule. If the surds are of different denominations, reduce
them to others of the same denomination, by prob. 2,
A L G E
and then reduce them to their simplest terms by last
problem. Then, if the surd part be the same in them
all, annex it to the sum or difference of the rational
parts, with the sign of multiplication, and it will give
the sum or difference required. But if the surd part be
not the same in all the quantities, they can only be
added or subtracted by placing the signs + or — be¬
tween them.
Ex. 1. Required the sum of V27 and a/48.  _
By prob. 3 we find ^27=3 A/3_and \/48=4 V'S,
therefore \/27-l~ \/48~3 a/3-{-4 \/3=7 a/3.
O    
Ex. 2. Required the sum of 3 -v/4 an(l 5 VS2- ^
3 = 3 -v/f = I a/2 and 5 a/^V — ^ ^A —
therefore 3 -f- 5 a/^V ^ f a/^ + f — V a/^*
Ex. 3. Required the difference between \/&0a4x and
a/ 20a2
•v/b0a4,r — (42a4 X 5^)2 = 4a2 a/5x, and A/gOa2^ =
(22a2^2 X 5^)2 = 2«,r a/5a;; therefore ^/SO a4 a; —
a/20a//3 — (4a2—2ax) V ox.
45. Prob. V.— To Multiply and Divide Surds.
under the common radical sign.
3 — 5 —
Ex. 1. Required the product of a/a2 and ^/a-K
3 _ 5   2 £ 2+3 J_9 ^/“TO
A/a2 X a/"3 = «'J X «■' = 5 ~ a15 — V a , Ans.
Ex. 2. Divide a/«2— ^ by ^/a-if-b.
These surds, when reduced to the same denomina-
V a?
# 2
tion, are (a2 — Z*2)37 and (a -f Z>)G. Hence
((cP—VyW _ /P + b)s(a — l>)3\k
\(a + byj ~ V P + P2 /
^ (a+Z»)p*—6)3^6 = a/(«-f Z»)p — Z»)3.
3 a/ a 4- Z*
Ex. 3. Required the product of 5 y'S and 3 a/5.
5 a/8x3 a/5=5_x3 X a/S X */5z=15 x a/40=:15x
^4x10= 30 a/10.
5 3 _
Ex. 4. Divide 8 a/56 by 4 a/2.
8^56 = 2V|=2^
4
x x 1 i + rn+n  
First, xm x %n = xm n = xmn —Vxm\n^
i
And (^—[ —— ran /^.
rn~\bn) ~ bn'
— 1
Ex. 5. Required the product of xm and xn; also the
l j_
quotient arising from the division of am by bn.
. , . -r>i -I-»
BRA.
46. Prob. VI.— To Involve and Evolve Surds.
Surds are involved or evolved in the same manner asV
any other quantities, namely, by multiplying or dividing
their exponents by the index of the power or root re^
3_ 2
quired. Thus, the square of 3 a/3 is 3 x 3 x (3)3=;
3 _ i -
9 */ 9. The wth power of xm is xm. The cube root
1 _ 1 A 6 _ _L 1
of -a/2 is ^(S)6 a/2 and the «th root of x™ is r>‘\
8 2 2 ’
47. If* a compound quantity involve one or more surds,
its powers may be found by multiplication. Thus, the
square of 3 + a/5 is found as follows :
3 + ^5
3 +a^5
ebra.
/x.
9 + 3a/5
+ 3a/5 + 5
9-}-6A/5 + 5r=144-6A/5, the square required.
48. The square root of a binomial or residual surd,
A + B, orA—B, may be found thus. Find D—a/A2—B2,
.v/a+b=«/
then
Ride. If they are surds of the same rational quantity, add
or subtract their exponents.
But if they are surds of different rational quantities, let
them be brought to others of the same denomination,
by prob. 2. Then, by multiplying or dividing these
rational quantities, their product or quotient may be set
and
• D
2 2
Thus the square root_©f is 1-{-a/7; and the
square root of 3 — a/8 is a/2— 1. With respect to the
extraction of the cube or any higher root, no general rule
can be given.
Note. If the surds have any rational co-efficients, their
product or quotient must be prefixed.
Sect. V.—Of Proportion.
Z*2
49. In comparing together any two quantities of the
same kind in respect of magnitude, we may consider how
much the one is greater than the other, or else how many
times the one contains either the whole or some part of
the other; or, which is the same thing, we may consider
either what is the difference between the quantities, or
what is the quotient arising from the division of the one
quantity by the other: the former of these is called their
arithmetical ratio, and the latter their geometrical ratio.
These denominations, however, have been assumed arbi¬
trarily, and have little or no connection with the relations
they are intended to express.
I. Of Arithmetical Proportion.
50. When of four quantities the difference between the
first and second is equal to the difference between the
third and fourth, the quantities are called arithmetical pro¬
portionals. Such, for example, are the numbers 2, 5, 9,12;
and, in general, the quantities a, a^-d, b, b-\-d. If the
two middle terms are equal, the quantities constitute an
arithmetical progression.
51. The principal property of four arithmetical propor¬
tionals is this :—If four quantities be arithmetically pro¬
portional, the sum of the extreme terms is equal to the
sum of the means. Let the quantities be a,a^-d, b, Z>-}-«»
where d is the difference between the first and second,
and also between the third and fourth, the sum of the ex¬
tremes is a-}-Z»4-<Z, and that of the means a-f-d-f-Z; so
that the truth of the proposition is evident. Hence it fo -
lows, that if any three quantities be arithmetically propor¬
tional, the sum of the two extremes is double the mean.
52. If any three terms of four arithmetical proportion¬
als be given, the fourth may be found from the preceding
«
ALGEBRA.
439
i proposition. Let a, b, c, be the first, second, and fourth
terms, and let x, the third term, be required; because
a+c ^-b+x, therefore x — a-\-c — b. In like manner
any two of three arithmetical proportionals being supposed
<riven, the remaining term may be readily found.
° 53. If a series of quantities be such, that the difference
between any two adjacent terms is always the same, these
terms form a continued arithmetical progression. Thus, the
numbers 2,4, 6, 8, 10, &c. form a series in continued arith¬
metical proportion, and, in general, such a series may be
represented thus:
d, a-f 2r7, a-f 3(7, a-j-4/i, a-\-bd, a + Qd, Src. where
a denotes the first term, and d the common difference.
By a little attention to this series, we readily discover
that it has the following properties :
1. The last term of the series is equal to the first term,
together with the common difference taken as often as
there are terms after the first. Thus, when the number
of terms is 7, the last term is a-\-Q>d ; and so on. Hence
if z denote the last term, n the number of terms, and a
and d express the first term and common difference, we
have z~a-\‘(n—~V) d.
2. The sum of the first and last term is equal to the
sum of any two terms at the same distance from them.
Thus, suppose the number of terms to be 7, then the last
term is a-f 6(/, and the sum of the first and last 2a^-Qd;
but the same is also the sum of the second and last but
one, of the third and last but two, and so on till we come
to the middle term, which, because it is equally distant
from the extremes, must be added to itself.
From the last-mentioned property we derive a rule for
finding the sum of all the terms of the series. For if the
sum of the first and last be taken, as also the sum of the
second and last but one, of the third and last but two, and
so on along the series till we come to the sum of the last
and first terms, it is evident that we shall have as many
sums as there are terms, and each equal to the sum of the
first and last terms ; but the aggregate of those sums is
equal to all the terms of the series taken twice, there¬
fore the sum of the first and last term, taken as often as
there are terms, is equal to twice the sum of all the terms ;
so that if s denote that sum, we have 2s—n(a^-z)y and
n. .
s=-(a+z).
Hence the sum of the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, &c.
continued to n terms, is equal to the square of the num¬
ber of terms. For in this case 1, d=2, z=z I -J- (n—1) d
— 2w—1, therefore X 2razrw2.
II. Of Geometrical Proportion.
54. When, of four quantities, the quotient arising from
the division of the first by the second is equal to that
arising from the division of the third by the fourth, these
quantities are said to be in geometrical proportion, or are
called simply proportionals. Thus, 12, 4, 15, 5, are four
numbers in geometrical proportion; and, in general, na,
a> nb> b, may express any four proportionals, for
, nb
also——
na ,
——n, and
a
To denote that any four quantities a, b, c, d, are pro¬
portionals, it is common to place them thus, a : b :: c: d;
or thus, a : b—c ; d; which notation, when expressed in
words, is read thus, a is to £ as c to d, or the ratio of a to
^ 'Le(lual t° the ratio of c to d.
Ihe first and third terms of a proportion are called the
•antecedents, and the second and fourth the consequents.
When the two middle terms of a proportion are the Algebra,
same, the remaining terms, and that quantity, constitute
three geometrical proportionals; such as 4, 6, 9, and in
general n a, a, -. In this case the middle quantity is called
a mean proportional between the other two.
55. The principal properties of four proportionals are
the following:
1. If four quantities be proportionals, the product of
the extremes is equal to the product of the means. Let
a, b, c, d, be four quantities, such that a -. b :: c : d; then,
from the nature of proportionals, |rrJ; let these equal
quotients be multiplied by b d, and we have or
ad zr be. Hence it follows, that when three quantities
are proportional, the product of the extremes is equal to
the square of the middle term. It also appears, that if
any three of four proportionals be given, the remaining
one may be found. Thus, let a, b, c, the first three, be
given, and let it be required to find x, the fourth term;
because a : b :: c '. x, ax —be, and dividing by a,xz=. —.
This conclusion may be considered as a demonstration of
what is called the rule of three in arithmetic.
2. If four quantities be such, that the product of two of
them is equal to the product of the other two, these quan¬
tities are proportionals.
Let a, b, c, d, be the quantities, which are such that
ad z=. be ; if these equals be divided by bd, then ^
hence, from the definition given of proportionals
(sect. 54), a \ b :x c '. d. From this property of pro¬
portionals it appears, that if three quantities be such that
the square of one of them is equal to the product of the
other two, these quantities are three proportionals.
If four quantities are proportional, that is, if « : 5 :: c : e?,
then will each of the following combinations or arrange¬
ments of the quantities be also four proportionals.
1a'£, By inversion, b : a :: d : c.
2d, By alternation, a : c :: b : d.
Note.—The quantities in the second case must be all
of the same kind.
3d, By composition, a-\-b : a :: c + d: c,
or, a-\-b : b :: c-\-d : d.
4^/i, By division, a—b: awe—d\c,
or, a—b :b w c—d: d.
bih, By mixing, a-\-b : a—b w cJ^-d '. c — d.
6th, By taking any equimultiples of the antecedents,
and also any equimultiples of the consequents,
na : pb w nc : pd.
Hth, Or, by taking any parts of the antecedents and con-
a b c d
sequents,
That the preceding combinations of the quantities
a, b, c, d, are proportionals, may be readily proved, by
taking the products of the extremes and means; for from
each of them we derive this conclusion, that ad — be,
which is known to be true, from the original assumption
of the quantities.
If four quantities be proportional, and also other four,
the product of the corresponding terms will be propor¬
tional.
Let a : b :: c id,
And e : fw g : h;
Then ae : bfi: eg: dh.
440
ALGEBRA.
Algebra. For ad = be, and eh — fg (sect. 55), therefore, multi-
plying together these equal quantities, adeh — befg, or
ae x dh = bf y. eg; therefore, by the second property
(sect. 55), ae :bf eg : dh.
Hence it follows, that if there be any number of pro¬
portions whatever, the products of the corresponding terms
will still be proportional.
56. If a series of quantities be so related to each other,
that the quotient arising from the division of any term by
that which follows it is always the same quantity, these
are said to be in continued geometrical proportion; such
are the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, &c. also yg-, &c.
and in general, a series of such quantities may be repre¬
sented thus, a, ar, ar2, aifi, ar^, ar>, &c. Here a is the first
term, and r the quotient of any two adjoining terms, which
is also called the common ratio.
By inspecting this series, we find that it has the fol¬
lowing properties:
1. The last term is equal to the first, multiplied by the
common ratio raised to a power, the index of which is one
less than the number of terms. Therefore, if z denote
the last term, and n the number of terms, 2? = arn^.
2. The product of the first and last term is equal to the
product of any two terms equally distant from them:
thus, supposing ar5 the last term, it is evident that
a x ar* z= ar y, ar* ■= aiP X ar3, &c.
The sum of n terms of a geometrical series may be
found thus:
Let s =. a + ar ar2 ar3...-!- arn~l,
Then rs — ar -j- ar2 -j- air3...-^- arn-1-|-ar”.
Subtract, rs — s — arn — a ;
That is, (r — 1) s = a(rn —- 1).
rn — 1
Hence s =  r a.
r — I
Sect. YI.—Of the Resolution of Equations involv¬
ing one Unknown Quantity.
57. The general object of algebraic investigation is to
discover certain unknown quantities, by comparing them
with other quantities which are given, or supposed to be
known. The relation between the known and unknown
quantities is either that of equality, or else such as may
be reduced to equality; and a proposition which affirms
that certain combinations of quantities are equal to one
another is called an equation. Such are the following:—
x x 2k
2+ 3 -
2x 3^ — xy.
The first of these equations expresses the relation between
an unknown quantity x and certain known numbers; and
the second expresses the relation which the two indefinite
quantities x and y have to each other.
58. When a quantity stands alone on one side of an
equation, the terms on the other side are said to be a value
of that quantity. Thus, in the equation x — ay + 5 —c,
the quantity x stands alone on one side, and ay-{-b — c is
its value.
The conditions of a problem may be such as to require
several equations and symbols of unknown quantities for
their complete expression. These, however, by rules here¬
after to be explained, may be reduced to one equation,
involving only one unknown quantity and its powers, be¬
sides the known quantities ; and the method of expressing
that quantity by means of the known quantities consti¬
tutes the theory of equations, one of the most important
as well as most intricate branches of algebraic analysis.
59. An equation is said to be resolved when the unknown
quantity is made to stand alone on one side, and only A
known quantities on the other side ; and the value of the ^
unknown quantity is called a root of the equation.
60. Equations containing only one unknown quantity
and its powers, are divided into different orders, according
to the highest power of that quantity contained in any
one of its terms. The equation, however, is supposed to
be reduced to such a form that the unknown quantity is
found only in the numerators of the terms, and that the
exponents of its powers are expressed by positive integers.
61. If an equation contains only the first power of the
unknown quantity, it is called a simple equation, or an
equation of the first order. Such is ax-\-b — c, where x
denotes an unknown, and a, b, c, known quantities.
If the equation contains the second power of the un¬
known quantity, it is said to be of the second degree,
or is called a quadratic equation; such is -f 3a; — 12,
and in general ax?-{-bx = c. If it contains the third power
of the unknown quantity, it is of the third degree, or
is a cubic equation; such are x? — 2^ + 4*= 10, and
aoP + bx2 -\-ca — d; and so on with respect to equations of
the higher orders. A simple equation is sometimes said
to be linear, or of one dimension. In like manner, quadratic
equations are said to be of two dimensions, and cubic
equations of three dimensions.
62. When in the course of an algebraic investigation
we arrive at an equation involving only one unknown
quantity, that quantity will often be so entangled in the
different terms as to render several previous reductions
necessary before the equation can be expressed under its
characteristic form, so as to be resolved by the rules
which belong to that form.
These reductions depend upon the operations which
have been explained in the former part of this treatise,
and the application of a few self-evident principles, name¬
ly, that if equal quantities be added to or subtracted from
equal quantities, the sums or remainders will be equal; if
equal quantities be multiplied or divided by the same
quantity, the products or quotients will be equal; and,
lastly, if equal quantities be raised to the same power, or
have the same root extracted out of each, the results will
still be equal.
From these considerations are derived the following
rules, which apply alike to equations of all orders, and are
alone sufficient for the resolution of simple equations.
63. Rule 1. Any quantity may be transposed from one
side of an equation to the other, by changing its signs.
Thus, if x — 3=5,
Then x=5-{-3,
Or a;=8.
And if 3# — 10=2a: + 5,
Then 3x — 2a:=5-f.l0,
Or *= 15.
Again, 'tfax^-b—cx — dx^-e.
Then ax — cx -f- dx=e — b,
Or (a — c-{-d)x=e — b.
The reason of this rule is evident, for the transposing ot
a quantity from one side of an equation to the other is
nothing more than adding the same quantity to each side
of the equation, if the sign of the quantity transpose!
was — ; or subtracting it, if the sign was +. ,
From this rule we may infer, that if any quantity be
found on each side of the equation with the same sign>1
may be left out of both. Also, that the signs of all t e
terms of an equation may be changed into the contrary,
without affecting the truth of the equation.
AlgO,
VX'Y'*'
Thus, if a-\-x=.b-±a — c,
Then x=b-\-c;
And if a — x—b — d,
Then x — a—d—b.
64. Rule 2. If the unknown quantity in an equation be
multiplied by any quantity, that quantity may be taken
away, by dividing all the other terms of the equation
by it.
If 3.r=24,
Then
If
24 Q
ir~8‘
ALGEBRA. 4_q
denoted by the index of the surd, and thus the unknown Algebra,
quantity shall be freed from the surd expression.
If / «-{-6=:10,
Then, by transposition, y/x = lO — 6=4;
And, squaring both sides, vA X V''a;=4 x 4,
Or #=16.
Also, if
By trans.
ax=b — c,
b — c
Then x=
Then #=35.
c + d,
V a2-}-#2 — b—x,
a/®2 -f- #2 = 6 -j- #,
And, squaring, a2-f-#2= (7>-f-#)2;
Hence «2= 62 2bx.
And if
Then
a2x — b-x~x,
a a a
Here equal quantities are divided by the same quan¬
tity, and therefore the quotients are equal.
65. Rule 3. If any term of an equation be a fraction,
its denominator may be taken away, by multiplying all
the other terms of the equation by that denominator.
jf
5- '>
If-=6
a
Then x—ab — ac-\-ad.
T, b
If a —c,
x
We have ax — b—cx.
In these examples, equal quantities are multiplied by
the same quantity, and therefore the products are equal.
66. The denominators may be taken away from several
terms of an equation by one operation, if we multiply all
the terms by any number which is a multiple of each of
these denominators.
Thus,if|+|+^=26;
let all the terms be multiplied by 12, which is a multiple
of 2, 3, and 4, and we have
12# 12# 12#_
~~2~+ir+"4-- ;
Or 6#4-4#-|-3#=312;
Hence 13#= 312.
TT * 11 . n X X X 7
Universally, if -r4--=« — e:
a b e
to take away the denominators a, b, c, let the whole
equation be multiplied by a b c, their product, and we
have
bex — acx-\-abx—abc (d—e),
Or {be — ac-\-ab) x=abc (d—e).
From the last two rules it appears, that if all the terms
of an equation be either multiplied or divided by the same
quantity, that quantity may be left out of all the terms.
If ax—ah — ac,
Then x—b — c ;
. , . # b e
And if -=—4-—,
a a ' a
Then xzzb-\-c.
f'h Rule 4. If the unknown quantity is found in any term
which is a surd, let that surd be made to stand alone
on one side of the equation, and the remaining terms
°o the opposite side ; then involve each side to a power
VOL II.
(fix— Ifix—x?.
68. Rule 5. If the side of the equation which contains the
unknown quantity be a perfect power, the equation may
be reduced to another of a lower order, by extracting
the root of that power out of each side of the equation.
Thus, if #3=64a3,
Then, by extracting the cube root, #=8a;
And if (a-^xy—lfi — «2,
Then a -f- #= Vlfi — a2.
69. The use of the preceding rules will be further illus¬
trated by the following examples :
Ex. 1. Let 20 — 3# — 8=60 — 7#,
By rule 1, 7# — 3#=60-J-8 — 20,
Or 4#=48,
Therefore, by rule 2, #=12.
Ex. 2. T. e t ax — b ex -\-d,
By rule 1, ax — cx—b-\-d,
Or (a — c)#=&-f-<f,
And by rule 2, x—^——.
n c\ x # -f- 1 . # -4- 2
Ex. 3. Let -—R- H—-L- = 16 ■
#+3
By rule 3,
#+!-f
2#-{-4
-=32-
2x-\-6
3#-{-3-4-2#-{-4=96 ■
4 ’
6#-{-18
4 7
12#+12 + 8#+16=384 —6#—18,
Or 20#+ 28=366 —6#,
Hence, by rule 1, „ 26#= 338,
And by rule 2, #=13.
In this example, instead of taking away the denomina¬
tors one after another, they might have been all taken
away at once, by multiplying the given equation by 12,
which is divisible by the numbers 2,3, and 4; thus we should
have got 6# + 6 + 4# + 8= 192 — 3# — 9, and hence, as
before, #=13.
Ex. 4. Let e#3 — 20#2=16#2 + 2#3 ;
Then, dividing by 2#2, 3#— 10=8 + #,
And transposing, 3# — # = 8+ 10,
2#= 18,
Or
And therefore
b2
Ex. 5. Let a ~e,
#
Then ax —lfi=cxt
And ax — cx—lfi,
V
Whence x—
2#=9.
Ex.S. Let# — 6=
Then
a—c
#?
a;+ 24’
(# — 6) (# + 24)=#2;
3 K
That is,
Therefore
And
18# — 144=r#J,
18#= 144,
#=8.
Ex, 7. Let^+6»=2^±^;
a-\-x
Then (ad-#)(«#-f-i2)=a#2 + «c2.
Or d?xalP-\-ax?-^IPxz^ax1-^-ac2.
Hence a2#4-62#=ac2 — afe2,
And
esc2 — aU1
tf + lf
■a;
1 X
Ex. 8. Letr——=a;
1 + a
Then 1—xzza-\-ax.
And —x—ax—a—1,
Or, changing the signs, x^-axzz\
Hence #= x——
1 -\-a
Ex. 9. Let \/l2 #=2+y/#,*
Then, by rule 4, 12d-^=4-|-4>v/#-j-;r>
And by transposition, 8=4^#,
And by division, 2=v^#,
And again, by rule 4, 4=#.
  2a2
Ex. 10. Let #+ Va2+x2 = ^ ;
Then, by rule 3, # q2-|-#2-j-fl!2-|-#2=2a2,
And by transposition, &c. #\/a2 + #2=«2—
Therefore, by rule 4, a2#2 + #4=cs4 — 2a2#2+ #4,
Whence 3a2#2=a4,
cs
And #2 = -g-, therefore, by rule 5, #= ^=>
Ex. 11. Let 1—_a
1 +/l—#2
-#2
Then 1 — “y/l—#2=a + cs\/l  
And 1—a—aV 1—#2 + y//l—#2 =(l-{-a)V/l—
1 — a
ALGEBRA.
second power of that quantity, has been made to stand AL
alone on one side of the equation, while the other con-v^
sisted only of known quantities ; but the same methods of
reduction serve to bring equations of all degrees to a pro-
per form for solution. Thus, if ~^~ ^ - = l—p—x^
—; by proper reduction, we have *3+/>#2+5'#=r, acubic
equation, which may be resolved by rules to be afterwards
explained.
Sect. VII.—Of the Reduction of Equations in¬
volving MORE THAN ONE UNKNOWN QUANTITY.
70. Having shown in the last section in what manner
an equation involving one unknown quantity may be re¬
solved, or at least fitted for a final solution, we are next to
explain the methods by which two or more equations, in¬
volving as many unknown quantities, may at last be re¬
duced to one equation and one unknown quantity.
As the unknown quantities may be combined together
in very different ways, so as to constitute an equation, the
methods most proper for their elimination must therefore
be various. The three following, however, are of general
application, and the last of them may be used with ad¬
vantage, not only when the unknown quantity to be eli¬
minated rises to the same power in all the equations, but
also when the equations contain different powers of that
quantity.
71. Method 1. Observe which of the unknown quanti¬
ties is the least involved, and let its value be found from
each equation, by the rules of last section.
Let the values thus found be put equal to each other,
and hence new equations will arise, from which that quan¬
tity is wholly excluded. Let this operation be now re¬
peated with these equations, thus eliminating the unknown
quantities one by one, till at last an equation be found
which contains only one unknown quantity.
Ex. Let it be required to determine # andy from these
two equations.
Whence
1 -j- a
=V/1 —#2 ;
And, taking the square of both sides, W——^ =1 —
Therefore, by transposition, #2=1 —
(1 -j- a)2—(1—a)2 _
(l+«)2
O—«)2>
(l + a)2
That is, #2 =
4a
(l + a)2
(l+«)2
Therefore x—
1 -j-G
Ex. 12. Let a-j-#=V/,«2-|-#y,i2-}-#2,
Then (a-{-#)2=a2-}-#V/62 + #2,
rs.
V/
2# + 3y=23,
5#—2y=10.
From the first equation,
And
From the second equation,
And
2#=23—3y,
23—3y
5#= 10-{-27/,
l°+>
#_—5 .
And we have
That is,«2-f- 2a#4-#2=a24-#V/i2-f-#2>
Therefore 2a# 4- #2 = #a/i2 4- #2,
And dividing by #, 2a 4-# = v^fi2 4- ^
Again, taking the squares of both sides, 4a2 4.4a# 4-#2=
6s 4. #2,
Whence 4a24-4a#=&2,
72 4y;2
And 4a#=&2—4a2 ; so that x——: .
4a
In all these examples we have been able to determine
the value of the unknown quantity by the rules already
delivered, because in every case the first, or at most the
Let these values of # be now put equal to each other,
104-2y_ 23—2y
5 ~ 2 ’
Or 204-4y=125—15y;
Therefore 19y=95,
And y=5:
And since x— or #=--~j~ ^, from either of
£ o
these values we find #=4.
72. Method 2. Let the value of the unknown quantity
which is to be eliminated be found from that equation
wherein it is least involved. Let this value and its
powers be substituted for that quantity, and its respec¬
tive powers in the other equations; and with the new
equations thus arising, let the operation be repeate
till there remain only one equation and one unknown
quantity.
Alg('a-
A L G E
Ex. Let the given equations, as in last method, be
2a?-(-3?/=: 23,
5x—2y=10.
23—3y
From the first equation, x= —-— ;
And hence x z=
z=4, as before.
Ex. 1. Given
(H= 4
BRA. 443
The value of y being substituted in either of the values Algebra.
of x, namely, 32 — ^, or 10+^, we find *=20.
57/
\nd this value of x being substituted in the second
, r 23—3y ^
equation, we have 5 X —^ 2^=10,
Or 115 — 15w — 4^=20;
Therefore 95=1%,
And 5=7/,
23-37/
73. Method 3. Let the given equations be multiplied or
divided by such numbers or quantities, whether known
or unknown, that the term which involved the highest
power of the unknown quantity may be the same in each
equation.
Then, by adding or subtracting the equations, as occa¬
sion may require, that term will vanish, and a new equa¬
tion emerge, wherein the number of dimensions of the un¬
known quantity in some cases, and in others the number
of unknown quantities, will be diminished ; and by a re¬
petition of the same or similar operations, a final equa¬
tion may be at last obtained, involving only one unknown
quantity.
Ex. Let the same example be taken, as in the illustra¬
tion of the former methods, namely,
2x -f- 3y=23,
5x—2//= 10 ;
and from these equations we are to determine x and 7/.
To eliminate x, let the first equation be multiplied by 5,
and the second by 2; thus we have
10* + 15y= 115,
10*— 4-t/= 20.
Here the term involving * is the same in both equations;
and it is obvious, that by subtracting the one from the
other, the resulting equation will contain only y, and known
numbers; for by such subtraction we find 19y=95, and
therefore y=5.
Having got the value of 7/, it is easy to see how * may
be found, from either of the given equations ; but it may
also be found in the same manner as we found y. For let
the first of the given equations be multiplied by 2, and the
second by 3, and we have
4*-j-6y=46,
15*—6y=30.
By adding these equations, we find
19*=76, and |/=4.
74. The following examples will serve further to illus¬
trate these different methods of eliminating the unknown
quantities from equations.
.By Method 2.
Having found from the first equation
*=32 —Si,
let this value of * be substituted in the second, and
I(32-|)-|=2,
°r
Hence 198= 1 \y and y= 18.
The value of y being now substituted in either of the
given equations, we thence find *=20, as before.
By Method 3.
The denominators of the two given equations being
taken away by rule 3 of last section, we have
3*+ 2y=96,
9*—5y=90.
From three times the first of these, or 9*-j-6y = 288,
let the second be subtracted, there remains
1 \y= 198 and y= 18.
The value of y being now substituted in either of the
equations 3*+% = 96, 9*—5y = 90, we readily find
* = 20.
75. Having shown in what way the different methods
of eliminating the unknown quantities may be applied, we
shall, in the remaining examples of this section, chiefly
make use of the last method, because it is the most easy
and expeditious in practice.
£?*. 2. Given
{
1-12 = 1+8,
2
x+y
- 2y—x
•27.
5 1 3 4
It is required to determine * and y.
From the 1st equation, 4*—96=2y-f-64;
From the 2d, 12*-J- \2y-\-20x—480=30y—15*+ 1620*
These equations, when abridged, become
4* — 2_y=160,
47*—18?/=2100.
To eliminate y; from this last equation let 9 times the
one preceding it be subtracted.
Thus we find 11*=660, and *=60 ;
And because 2y=Tx—160=80,
Therefore ?/=40.
required * and y. Ext 3. Given to determine * and y.
2y
By Method 1.
From the first equation, *=32 —
And from the second, *=10+^;
y
Therefore 10+^(-=32 —
y o
Or 90 + 5y = 288 — 6y ;
Hence lly=198 and ^=18.
To eliminate y, let the first equation be multiplied by
f, and the second by b, and we have
afx + bfy=cf’
bdx-\-bfy=by.
Taking now the difference between these equations,
afx — bdx=cf— bg,
Or (of— bd)x=cf— bg,
cf—bg
And therefore x= ^
In the same manner may 3/ be determined, by multiply-
444
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, ing the first of the given equations by d, and the second
' by a ; for we find
adx -f- bdy—cd,
adx-\-afy—ag.
And taking the difference as before, we get
bdy — afy—cd—ag,
» , , cd—ag
And therefore V-ti >
^ bd — aj
This last example may be considered as a general solu¬
tion of the following problem. Two equations expressing
the relation between the first powers of two unknown
quantities being given, to determine those quantities; for
whatever be the number of terms in each equation, it will
readily appear, as in example 2, that by proper reduction
they may be brought to the same form as those given in
the third example.
76. Let us next consider such equations as involve
three unknown quantities.
(x+y+z =29
J *-j-% + 3^=62
. y z
(2 + 3 + 4
We shall in this example proceed by the first method
for eliminating the unknown quantities.
From the first equation, x=29—y — z,
From the second, x—Q2 — 2y — 82,
2?/ z
From the third, x=20 ^ -.
Let these values of x be put equal to each other ; thus
we get the two following equations :
29 —y — z—62 — 2y — 3z,
.?/-z=20—3—
Tdx. 4. Given
:29)
:62 f
l0)
to find x, y, and z.
29-
Again, from these equations, by transposition, &c.
3/= 33—2z,
3z
Therefore
And
33 — 2z—21 ■
3z
' 2 '
And hence, by reduction, 2=12
Whence also, 3/=33 — 22=9,
£=29—y — 2=8.
Ex. 5. Given <
x V z
2 + 3 + 4-62
^-I-'-7 4--^=47 [> to find x, y, and 2.
3 4*5
X.L.y A.Z-^
4 + 5 + 6-38
Next, to eliminate y, let the first of these equations be a
multiplied by 3, and the second by 5; hence, ^
60£+153/= 2340,
50£-(-15y=2100.
Subtracting now the latter equation from the former,
10£=240 and £=24,
™ , 420—10£
Therefore yz=. 3 =60,
Here the given equations, when cleared from fractions,
become
12£-}- 83/-f- 62=1488,
20£+ 15?/-f-122=2820,
30£ -{- 243/ -f- 202=4560.
To eliminate 2 by the third method, let the first equa¬
tion be multiplied by 10, the second by 5, and the third
by 3, the results will be these:
120£ + 803/ + 602=14880,
100£ + 75y + 602= 14100,
90£ + 723/ + 602= 13680.
Let the second equation be now subtracted from the
first, and the third from the second, and we have
. 20£ + 53/=780,
10£-|-3y=420.
And
1448—12£ — 8?/
?= 3   = 120.
b
77. From the preceding examples, it is manifest in
what manner any number of unknown quantities may be
determined by an equal number of equations, which con¬
tain only the first power of those quantities, in the nume¬
rators of the terms. Such are the following:
ax + % + cz—n,
dx+cy+fzz=p,
gx + hy + kz=q ;
where a, b, c, &c. represent known, and £, y, z, unknown
quantities; and in every case the unknown quantities may
be directly found, for they will be always expressed by
whole numbers or rational fractions, provided that the
known quantities, a, b, c, &c. are also rational.
78. We shall now add a few examples, in which the
equations that result from the elimination of an unknown
quantity rise to some of the higher degrees; and there¬
fore their final solution must be referred to the sections
which treat of those degrees.
Ex. 6. Let£ — y=2, and xy + 5x — 63/=120; it is re¬
quired to eliminate x.
From the first equation x = y-\-2; which value being
substituted in the other equation according to the second
general method (sect. 72) it becomes
. (y+2)y+5(y+2) — 6y =120’
that is, y2-[-2y + 5 y-\-10 — 63/ = 120;
therefore the equation required is y2-\-y=110.
Ex. 7. There is given £ -J- 3/ = and aPifrzb, to
eliminate x.
From the first equation x=a — y, and —y)2,
And from the second £2=5 — y2 ;
Therefore (a — y)2—b — y2;
That is, a2 — 2ay ■\-y2—b — y2.
Hence 2y2 — 2ay — b — a2; an equation involving
only y.
Ex. 8. Given ^
From the first equation y =
And from the second y =
d — bx
ax -{-c7
k — gx
Therefore
d — bx
fx + h '
k — gx
Ex. 9. Given _ t?)
ax c fx -{- h 7
an equation in which the unknown quantity y is not found.
to elimi¬
nate y.
As the co-efficient of y2 is unity in both equations, if
their difference be taken, the highest power of y will va¬
nish ; but to give a general solution, let the terms of the
equations be all brought to one side and made equal to 0,
thus,
y2 — (3£ — d) y — = 0,
y2 — by + 2ax — 4£2-j-^2=0*
ALGEBRA.
and in the second, 1 = D, —6 = E, 2ax — 4;c2 + 62
sF; and the two become
A?f E/y + C=0,
D^+Ey+F=0.
To eliminate y2, let the first equation be multiplied by
D, and the second by A ; then
ADy2 + BDy+CD=0,
ADy2 + AEy + AF=: 0.
Therefore, taking the difference of these equations,
(BD —AE)y + CD —AF=0,
t J AF —CD
And y = BD-AE-
Again, to find another value of y, multiply the first
equation by F, and the second by C ; then
AFy2 + BFy + CF=0,
CDy2 + CEy+CF=0.
Therefore, subtracting as before,
(AF—CD)y2 + (BF—CE)y= 0,
And dividing by y, (AF — CD)y + BF — CE = 0.
CE —BF
Therefore y= •
Let this value of y be put equal to the former, then
AF —CD_ CE —BF
BD —AE~AF —CD 5
And therefore (AF — CD)2=(BD— AE) (CE — BF).
Now, as y does not enter this equation, if we restore
the values of A, B, C, &c. we have the following equa¬
tion, which involves only x and known quantities.
(i2 + 2(mi — S#2)2 = [a + 6 — [foe2 — (a — 3*)
(2ax—4^+^)]. This equation, when properly reduced,
will be of the fourth order, and therefore its final resolu¬
tion belongs not to this place.
Sect. VIII.—Questions producing Simple Equations.
79. When a problem is proposed to be resolved by the
algebraic method of analysis, its true meaning ought in
the first place to be perfectly understood, so that, if ne¬
cessary, it may be freed from all superfluous and ambi¬
guous expressions, and its conditions exhibited in the
clearest point of view possible. The several quantities
concerned in the problem are next to be denoted by pro¬
per symbols, and their relation to one another expressed
agreeably to the algebraic notation. Thus we shall ob¬
tain a series of equations, which, if the question be pro¬
perly limited, will enable us to determine all the unknown
quantities required by the rules already delivered in the
two preceding sections.
80. In reducing the conditions of a problem to equa¬
tions, the following rule will be of service. Suppose that
I the quantities to be determined are actually found, and
then consider by what operations the truth of the solution
may be verified; then let the same operations be per-
tonned upon the quantities, whether known or unknown,
and thus all the conditions of the problem will be reduced
to a series of equations, such as is required. For example,
suppose that it is required to find two numbers, such, that
t loir sum is 20, and the quotient arising from the division
o their difference by the lesser 3; then if we denote the
greater of the two numbers by x, and the lesser by y, and
proceed as if to prove the truth of the solution, we shall
lave a;-f y for the sum of the numbers, and a: — yfor
icir difference. Now, as the former must be equal to 20,
j*.n "j,6 latter divided by y equal to 3, the first condi-
■on of the problem will be expressed by this equation,
In the first equation put 1 = A, — (3# — a) = B, —x2
x + i/=z20, and the second by and from these,
the values of x and y may easily be found.
81. When the conditions of a problem have been ex¬
pressed by equations, or translated from the common
language into that of algebra, we must consider whether
the problem be properly limited; for in some cases the
conditions may be such as to admit of innumerable solu¬
tions, and in others they may involve an absurdity, and
thus render the problem altogether impossible.
Now, by considering the examples of last section, it
will appear, that to determine any number of unknown
quantities, there must be given as many equations as there
are unknown quantities. Thfese, however, must be such as
cannot be derived from each other, and they must not in¬
volve any contradiction ; for in the one case the problem
would admit of an unlimited number of answers, and in
the other case it would be impossible. For example, if it
were required to determine x and y from these two equa¬
tions, 2x — 3y — 13, 4or—6y=26; as the latter equation
is a consequence of the former (for each term of the one
is the half of the corresponding term of the other), it is
evident, that innumerable values of x and y might be found
to satisfy both equations. Again, if x and y were to be
determined from these equations, « + 2y—8, 3a: + 6yr=26,
it is easy to see that it is impossible to find such values of
x and y as will satisfy both ; for, from the first, we find
3#= 24 — 6y ; and from the second, 3a: rr 26 — 6y ; and
therefore 24—6y = 2G—6y, or 24 = 26, which is absurd;
and so also must have been the conditions from which
this conclusion is drawn.
82. But there is yet another case in which a problem
may be impossible; and that is, when there are more
equations than unknown quantities; for it appears, that
in this case, by the rules of last section, we would at last
find two equations, each involving the same unknown
quantity. Now, unless these happened to agree, the pro¬
blem would admit of no solution. On the whole there¬
fore it appears, that a problem is limited when the con¬
ditions furnish just as many independent equations as
there are known quantities to be determined: if there
be fewer, the problem is indeterminate; but if there be
more, the problem in general admits of no solution what¬
ever.
83. In expressing the conditions of a problem by equa¬
tions, it will sometimes be convenient to introduce as few
symbols of unknown quantities as possible. Therefore, if
two quantities be sought and their sum be given, suppose
it = s ; then if the one quantity be represented by x, the
other may be denoted by s — x. If, again, their difference
be given = d, the quantities may be denoted by x, and
d-\-x,ov by x, and # — d. If their product be given = p,
the quantities are x, and ^; and so on.
84. We shall now apply the preceding observations to
some examples, which are so chosen as to admit of being
resolved by simple equations.
Ex. 1. What is that number, to which if there be add¬
ed its half, its third, and its fourth parts, the sum will be
5° ?
Let x denote the number sought; then its half will
0C 3C •
be -, its third -, and its fourth - ;
. OC , 0C . 0C +>
Therefore a:-}- ^+ ^+^=50.
Hence 24a:-T 12a:-T8a:-F‘6a’=1200,
Or 50x= 1200;
Therefore #=24.
445
Algebra.
446
ALGEBRA.
Algebra.
Thus it appears, that the number sought is 24, which
upon trial will be found to answer the conditions of the
question.
Ex. 2. A post is ^ of its length in the mud, ^ in the
water, and 10 feet above the water; what is its whole
length ?
Let its length be x feet, then the part in the mud is
f, and that in the water |; therefore, from the nature of
4 o
the question,
i+ii+lO
From this equation we find 7#-f 120:= 12#, and #=24.
Ex. 3. Two travellers set out at the same time from
London and York, the distance between which places is
150 miles ; the one goes 8 miles a day, and the other 7:
in what time will they meet ?
Suppose that they meet after # days. _
Then the one traveller has gone 8# miles, and the other
7# miles ; now the sum of the distances they travel is, by
the question, equal to the distance from London to York.
Therefore 8# + 7#= 150,
That is, 15#= 150, and #=10 days.
Ex. 4. A labourer engaged to serve for 40 days, upon
these conditions; that for every day he worked he was
to receive 20d., but for every day he played or was absent,
he was to forfeit 8d.: now at the end of the time he had
to receive L.l. 11s. 8d. It is required to find how many
days he worked, and how many days he was idle.
Let # be the number of days he worked ;
Then will 40—# be the number of days he was idle,
Also 20 x #=20#= the sum he earned in pence,
And 8 x (40 — #)=320 — 8#= the sum he forfeited.
Now the difference of these two was L.L 11s. 8d. or 380d.;
Therefore 20# — (320 — 8#)=380;
That is, 28#= 700.
Hence #=25= the number of days he worked,
And 40 — #=15= the number of days he was idle.
Ex. 5. A market-woman bought a certain number of
eggs at 2 a penny, and as many at 3 a penny, and sold
them all out again at 5 for 2d.; but, instead of getting her
own money for them, as she expected, she lost 4d.: what
number of eggs did she buy ?
Let # be the number of eggs of each sort;
Then will ^ be the price of the first sort,
4W
X
And - = the price of the second sort.
Now, the whole number being 2#, we have
5 : 2# :: 2 : -^- = price of both sorts at 5 for 2d.;
X X ^x
Therefore „ +w 4, by the question.
Hence 15# 10# — 24#= 120,
And #= 120, the number of each sort.
Ex. 6. A bill of L.120 was paid in guineas andmoidores:
the number of pieces of both sorts used was 100; how
many were there of each ?
Let the number of guineas be #;
Then the number of moidores will be 100 — #;
Also the value of the guineas, reckoned in shillings, will
be 21#, and that of the moidores 27(100—#)=2700—27#;
Therefore, by the question, 21# +2700—27#=2400.
Hence 6#=300, and #=50 ;
So that the number of pieces of each sort was 50.
Ex. 7. A footman agreed to serve his master for L.8 h .fc
a year and livery, but was turned away at the end of 7O ^
months, and received only L.2. 13s. 4d. and his livery;
what was its value ?
Suppose # the value of the livery, in pence.
Then his wages for a year were to be #+1920 pence.
But for 7 months he received # + 640 pence.
Now he was paid in proportion to the time he served*
Therefore 12 : 7 :: #+1920 : # + 640.
And, taking the product of the extremes and means,
12#+ 7680=7#+ 13440.
Hence 5#=5760d. and #=1152d.=L.4. 16s.
Ex. 8. A person at play lost % of his money, and then
won 3s.; after which he lost ^ of what he then had, and
then won 2s.; lastly, he lost } of what he then had; and,
this done, found he had only 12s. left: what had he at first?
Suppose he began to play with # shillings.
x x 3#
He lost £ of his money, or -, and had left#—.
tt „ I,,, 3# 0 3#+12
He won 3s. and had then —+ 3=—^—.
He lost ^ of —> or and had left
3#+12 # + 4_2# + 8
4 4 ~ 4 '
tt ^ t 1 t 1 2#+8 _ 2#+16
He won 2s. and had then —  [-2=—-—.
He lost j- of or — —, and had left
■* .CO
2#+16 2#+16 12#+ 96
4 28"“ “ 28 *
And because he had now 12s. left, we have this equation,
1&+96
28 ~ '
Hence 12#=240, and #=20.
Ex. 9. Two tradesmen, A and B, are employed upon
a piece of work; A can perform it alone in 15 hours, and
B in 10 hours : in what time will they do it when work¬
ing together?
Suppose that they can do it in # hours, and let the
whole work be denoted by 1.
Then 15 : # :: 1 : ^ = the part of the work done by A.
15
And 10 : # :; 1 : the part done by B.
Now, by the question, they are to perform the whole
work between them;
Therefore ^+^=1.
Hence 25#= 150, and #=6 hours.
Ex. 10. The sum of any two quantities being given
= s, and their difference=c?, it is required to find each
of the quantities.
Let # denote the greater of the two quantities, and y
the lesser.
Then # + ■?/=$, and # — y—d.
Taking the sum of the equations, we get 2#=s+“>
And, subtracting the second from the first, 2y=s
Therefore #=^-i-^, and y = ~ ■ .
ALGEBRA.
.i,, a. Ex. 11. A gentleman distributing money among some
JrWpoor people, found he wanted 10s. to be able to give each
5S>; therefore he gave only 4s. to each, and had 5s. left.
Required the number of shillings and poor people.
Let the number of shillings be x, and that of the poor
people y; then, from the nature of the question, we have
these two equations,
by—x-^-\0 \y—x — 5.
From the first equation, x—by — 10,
And from the second, x=fy-\-5-.
Therefore 5?/ — 10=4;/-f-5 ;
Hence y=:15, and x~ty + 5=:65.
Ex. 12. A farmer kept a servant for every 40 acres of
ground he rented, and on taking a lease of 104 more
acres, he engaged 5 additional servants, after which he
had a servant for every 36 acres. Required the number
of servants and acres.
447
sum, difference, product, and quotient, shall be all equal Algebra,
to each other.
In this question there are four quantities to be deter¬
mined ; but instead of introducing several letters, having
put x to denote the first of them, we may find an expres¬
sion for each of the remaining ones, as follows :
Because a?-|-2=second quantity —2,
Therefore a;-j-4z= the second quantity;
And because #4-2= third x 2,
cc | 2
Therefore—g— = the third quantity.
And in like manner 2 (#4-2) = the fourth quantity.
Now, by the question, the sum of all the four = 90;
Therefore #4-#-j-44- —4-2(#4-2)=90.
Hence 9#=162, and #=18 ;
Therefore the numbers required are 18, 22, 10, and 40.
Suppose that he had at first # servants, and y acres.
From the first condition of the question, x-~-.
And from the second, #4-5=
By comparing the values of #, as found from these
equations, we have
y+I04j _ r,_iL
36 40*
Hence 40y4-4160 — 7200=36?/, so that 4?/=3040;
Therefore y = 760, and # = 19.
Ex. 13. Two persons, A and B, were talking of their
ages; says A to B, seven years ago I was just three times
as old as you were then, and seven years hence I shall be
just twice as old as you will be. What is their present
ages?
Let the ages of A and B be # and y respectively. Their
ages seven years ago were # — 7 and y — 7, and seven
years hence they will be #4-7 and 3/4-7.
Therefore by the question
*—7=3(3/—7) and x+ri=2(y + 7).
From the first equation, #=83/—14,
And from the second, #=23/4.7;
Therefore Sy—14=23/4-7 ; hence 3/=21.
And because x=2y-\-7, therefore #=49.
Ex. 14. A hare is 50 leaps before a greyhound, and
takes 4 leaps to the greyhound’s 3, but 2 of the grey¬
hound’s leaps are as much as 3 of the hare’s. How many
leaps must the greyhound take to catch the hare ?
In this example there is only one quantity required, it
will, however, be convenient to make use of two letters ;
therefore let # denote the number of leaps of the grey¬
hound, and y those of the hare ; then, by considering the
proportion between the number of leaps each takes in the
same time, we have
3 : 4:: #: 3/, hence 3y=ix.
Again, by considering the proportion between the number
0 ^aPs each must take to run the same distance, we find
*: SO-j-y;: 2:3, hence 100 4.23/=3#.
from the first equation we find 63/= 8#,
And from the second 63/= 9#—300.
Hence 9#—300=8#, and #=300.
if ^ divide the number 90 into 4 such parts, that
th 16i •iSt \nc.reased by 2, the second diminished by 2,
e t m'd multiplied by 2, and the fourth divided by 2, the
Ex. 16. A and B together can perform a piece of work
in 12 hours, A and C in 20, and B and C in 15 hours; in
what time will each be able to perform it when working
separately ?
That we may have a general solution, let us suppose A
and B can perform the work in a hours, A and C in i
hours, and B and C in c hours. Let #, 3/, and z, denote
the times in which A, B, and C, could perform it respec¬
tively, if each wrought alone; and let the whole work be
represented by 1.
H H
Then # : a : : 1 : ^ = the part done by
3/: a : : 1 : ^ = the part done by
Also # : 5 : : 1 : - = the part done by
z : Z> : : 1 : — = the part done by
And 3/: c : : 1 : - = the part done by
y
£
z : c : . 1 : - = the part done by
a hours.
b hours.
c hours.
The question gives the three following equations;
a a .
- 4--= 1,
# 3/
b b ,
# + z ~ 15
- 4- -= 1.
y z
Let the first equation be divided by a, the second
by b, and the third by c: thus we have
1 1 _ 1 1 1_ 1 1 1_1
x y a x z b y z c
If these be added, and their sum divided by 2, we find
1 1 1 _ J_ _1 i_
x"^ y^ z~ 2a ' 2b ' 2c
From this equation let each of the three preceding be
subtracted in its turn: thus we get
1
z
1
y
1
#
111 ^-ab^-ac—be
~ 2it ^ 2b ^ 2c ~~ 2abc ’
I 1 1 _ ab — ac-\-bc
~~ 2a 2b 2c ~ 2abc ’
II 1 -ab + CLC "t)C
~ 2a 2b 2c ~ 2abc
448
ALGEBRA.
Algebra.
Hence z—
y-
x —
2abc
+ + ac—be
2abc
-\-ab—ac + bc
2abc
— ab-\-ac-\-bc
7200
120
7200
360
7200
240
= 60,
= 20,
= 30.
Sect. IX.—Of Quadratic Equations.
85. We are next to explain the resolution of equations
of the second degree, or quadratic equations. These in¬
volve the second power of the unknown quantity, and
may be divided into two kinds, pure and adjected.
I. Pure quadratic equations are such as after proper
reduction have the square of the unknown quantity in
one term, while the remaining terms contain only known
quantities. Thus, x1 2 3=64, and aa?-\-bz=zc, are examples of
pure quadratics.
II. Adjected quadratic equations contain the square of
the unknown quantity in one term, and its first or simple
power in another ; the remaining terms consisting entire¬
ly of known quantities. Such are the following, +
=28, 2^=33 — bx, ax^-jbx — c-=.d.
The manner of resolving a pure quadratic equation is
sufficiently evident. If the unknown quantity be made to
stand alone on one side, with unity as a co-efficient, while
the other side consists entirely of known quantities, and
the square root of each side be taken, we immediately ob¬
tain the value of the simple power of the unknown quan¬
tity as directed by rule 5th of sect. VI.
86. In extracting the square root of any quantity, it is
necessary to observe, that the sign of the root may be
either q- or —. This is an evident consequence of the
rule for the signs in multiplication; for since by that rule
any quantity, whether positive or negative, if multiplied
by itself, will produce a positive quantity, and therefore
the square of -\-a, as well as that of — a, is + a2; so, on
the contrary, the square root of -f- a2 is to be considered
either as -f- « or as — a, and may accordingly be express¬
ed thus, z±za.
87. Having remarked that the square of any quantity,
whatever be its sign, is always positive, it evidently fol¬
lows that no real quantity whatever, when multiplied by
itself, can produce a negative quantity; therefore, if the
square root of a negative quantity be required, no such
root can be assigned. Hence it also follows, that if a pro¬
blem requires for its solution the extraction of the square
root of a negative quantity, some contradiction must ne¬
cessarily be involved, either in the condition of the pro¬
blem, or in the process of reasoning by which that solu¬
tion has been obtained.
88. When an adfected quadratic equation is to be re¬
solved, it may always, by proper reduction, be brought to
one or other of the three following forms :
1. x^ Jpx—q.
2. x?—px—q.
3. x?—px— —q.
But as the manner of resolving each of the three forms
is the very same, it Mull be sufficient if we consider any
one of them.
Resuming therefore the first equation, or x? Jpx—q,
let us compare the side of it Mffiich involves the unknown
quantity x with the square of a binomial #-{-«; that is,
let us compare with a^-J-Sa^+a^^-j-a)2, and
P
it will presently appear, that if we suppose jp= 2a, or^=«,
A
the quantities x?-\-px and a^-l-2aa; will be equal; and as A j,r
a^-|-2aa? is rendered a complete square, by adding to ita2,^
so also may x?-\-px be completed into a square by add¬
ing to it which is equal to a2; therefore, let^- be
added to both sides of the equation x?-\-px=. q, and we
have
4=4+^ °r (*+f)2=4+^‘
and, extracting the square root of each side, a: -p 2
=*= hence *= —f — d4 +?•
89. From these observations we derive the following
general rules for resolving adfective quadratic equations.
1. Bring all the terms involving the unknown quantity
to one side, and the known quantities to the other side,
and so that the term involving the square of the unknown
quantity may be positive.
2. If the square of the unknown quantity be multiplied
by a co-efficient, let the other terms be divided by it, so
that the co-efficient of the square of the unknown quantity
may be 1.
3. Add to both sides the square of half the co-efficient
of the unknown quantity itself, and the side of the equa¬
tion involving the unknown quantity will now be a com¬
plete square.
4. Extract the square root of both sides of the equa¬
tion, by which it becomes simple with respect to the un¬
known quantity; and by transposition, that quantity may
be made to stand alone on one side of the equation, while
the other side consists of known quantities; and therefore
the equation is resolved.
Note. The square root of the first side of the equation is
always equal to the sum or difference of the unknown
quantity, and half the co-efficient of the second term.
If,the sign of that term be -f-, it is equal to the sum,
but if it be —, then it is equal to the difference.
Ex. 1. Given a?22a:=35, to determine x.
Here the co-efficient of the second term is 2; therefore,
adding the square of its half to each side, we have
z2 + 2a:+1 = 35 +1=36, _
And, extracting the square root, # +1= V"36= 6.
Hence x — 6— 1, that is a: = + 5, or a: —7, and
either of these numbers will be found to satisfy the
equation, for 5 x^+2 X^ = 35, also — 7 X '
+ 2 x —7=35.
x2
Ex. 2. Given — 
6
12=a:, to find x.
This equation, when reduced, becomes x? — 6a:=72,
And, by completing the square, x? — 6a: + 9=72-j-9=81.
Hence, by extracting the square root, x — 3= 9, and
x = z±z 9 + 3 ;
Therefore a: = + 12, or a: = — 6; and upon trial we
find that each of these values satisfies the original equa¬
tion, for
12x 12
12 = 12, also
~6 * ZlQ —12 = —-ffi
Ex. 3. Given a^+28=lla:, to find x,
Then a?—lla:= — 28.
121 _121
And, by completing the square, x? — lla:+-+p-— ^
algebra.
^Alhri^ Therefore, by extracting the root, x —  i--
Hence x—-
11
=-; that is, x— + 7, or x= + 4.
In the first two examples, we found one positive value
for x in each, and also one negative value; but in this
example both the values of x are positive, and, upon
trial, each of them is found to satisfy the equation; for
7X7 + 28=11X7, also 4X4 + 28=11X4.
90. As at first sight it appears remarkable, that in
every quadratic equation the unknown quantity admits
always of two distinct values or roots, it will be proper to
consider a little further the circumstances upon which
this peculiarity depends. This is the more necessary, as
the property of the unknown quantity admitting of seve¬
ral values is not peculiar to quadratics, but takes place
also in equations of the higher degrees, where the cause
of the ambiguity requires an explanation somewhat dif¬
ferent from that which we have already given in the pre¬
sent case.
91. Let us again consider the equation ^+2^=35,
which forms the first of the three preceding examples.
By bringing all the terms to one side, the same equation
may be also expressed thus, x2-\-2x — 35=0 ; so that we
shall have determined x, when we have found such a
number as, when substituted for it in the quantity
ar!+2,z —35, will render the result equal to 0. But
^+2* —35 is the product of these two factors a: — 5
and *+7, as may be proved by actual multiplication;
therefore, to find x, we have (x — 5) (+ + 7)=0; and
as a product can only become =0 when one of its fac¬
tors is reduced to 0, it follows that either of the two
factors a: ■— 5 and a;+7 maybe assumed =0. If a;—5=0,
then a=5; but if a? + 7=0, then x= — 7; so that the two
values of x, or two roots of the equation ar2 + 2a=:35, are
+5 and — 7, as we have already found in a different
manner.
92. What has been shown in a particular case is true of
any quadratic equation whatever; that is, if a?+j»a:=^, or,
by bringing all the terms to one side, a^+joar — g=0, it
is always possible to find two factors x — a, and x-i-b,
such, that
a?+px+q=(x — a) (x + b),
w icre a and b are known quantities, which depend only
upon p and q, the given numbers in the equation; and
since that to have (a; — a) (a; + 6)=0, we may either as¬
sume a— «=0 or a; + 6=0, it evidently follows that the
conditions of the equation x?+px — o=0, or a?+»a?=7,
are alike satisfied by taking x— +a or a?= —b.
From these considerations it follows, that x can have
only two values in a quadratic equation ; for if it could be
supposed to have three or more values, then it would
De Posslble to resolve x?+px—q into as many factors,
j—c, x—d, &c.; but the product of more than two fac-
ors must necessarily contain the third or higher powers
o x, and as a2 -j- px — q contains no higher power
place ^ ^ Secon^’ therefore no such resolution can take
93. Since it appears thata2+joa — q maybe consider-
, as the product of the two factors x — a and a+ 6,
c us examine the nature of these factors. Accordingly,
akmg then- product, we find it x? + (b — a)x — ab; and
thafA 18 (luantlty must be equal to tf+px — q, it follows
a—p and ab—q, or, changing the signs of the
equations a — b_~p and —g-, we derive the fol- Algebra,
lowing proposition relating to the roots of any quadratic
equation. The sum of the roots of any quadratic equa¬
tion a2is equal to —p, that is, to the co-efficient
of the second term, having its sign changed; and their
product is equal to —q, or to the latter side of the equa¬
tion, having its sign also changed. n
This proposition enables us to resolve several import¬
ant questions concerning the roots of a quadratic equa¬
tion, without actually resolving that equation. Thus we
learn from it, that if q, the term w-hich does not involve
the unknown quantity (called sometimes the absolute
number), .be positive, the equation has one of its roots
positive and the other negative ; but if that term be ne¬
gative, the roots are either both positive or both negative.
It also follows, that in the former case the root which is
denoted by the least number will have the same sign with
the second term; and in the latter case, the common sign
of the roots will be the contrary to that of the second
term.
94. From this property of the roots we may also derive
a general solution to any quadratic equation x?-\-px=q ;
for we have only to determine two quantities whose sum
is ~~p and product —q, and these shall be the two values
of x, or the two roots of the equation.
Without considering the signs of the roots, let us call
them v and z; then
v-\-z=—p, and vz——q.
From the square of each side of the first equation let
four times the second be subtracted, and we have
v*— %vz + z2=/>2-f-4<7, or (v — z'fzz.j? + 4//
therefore, v — z= =±= Vpr + 4y.
From this equation, and from the equation
v-\-z——p, we readily obtain r=——~ ^ Jhiff
 —-y3=pVy+4^
2
; that is, if v— —TH^Fj+Ty
then z= -grW,++ and if *==£=^±1?,
then z-.
—y?+'V/j»2 + 4§’
- -
enns of both equations, a — b-—p, — ab-~<h Now,
pnmt-COnSo^er t^at and —^ are the roots of the
4 10n ^^rpn^q, it is evident that a — 6 is the sum
e roots, and —ab their product. So that from the
VOL. II. 1
But the value of v upon the one supposition is the same
as the value of z upon the other supposition, and vice
versa; therefore, in reality, the only two distinct values
of the roots wand z are —ff+^P* + and ~PZZ^1>_ .~t~ ^7
2 2
which agrees with the conclusion we have already found
(sect. 89).
95. It appears, from what has been already shown,
that the roots of a quadratic equation xt+px—q always
involve the quantity Vy>2+4<y/ hence it follows, that
y>2+4§' must be a positive quantity; for if it were nega¬
tive, as the square root of such a quantity could not be
found, the value of x could not possibly be obtained. If,
for example, the value of x were required from this
equation, a^+13=4a;, or a?2 — 4a? = — 13, we should
find x = 2 z±=. V — 9; and as this expression for the
roots requires us to extract the square root of — 9, the
equation from which it is derived must necessarily have
involved some contradiction. It is not difficult to see
wherein the absurdity consists; for since in this case
P = — 4, and q = — 13, the roots of the equation
ought to be both positive (sect. 93), and such that
3 L
450
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, their sum = 4, while their product = 13 (sect. 93),
which is impossible.
96. Although imaginary quantities serve no other pur¬
pose in the resolution of quadratic equations than to
show that a particular problem cannot be resolved, by
reason of some want of consistency in its data, yet they
are not upon that account to be rejected. By intro¬
ducing them into mathematical investigations, many cu¬
rious theories may be explained, and problems resolved,
in a more concise way than can be done without the use
of such quantities. This is particularly the case in the
higher parts of the mathematics.
The method which has been applied to the ‘resolution
of quadratic equations properly so called, namely, such
as are of this form, v?-\-px — q, will also apply to all
equations of this form,
oi?n-\-pxn — q,
where the unknown quantity x is found only in two terms,
and such that its exponent in the one term is double
that in the other; for let us assume xn = y, then x2" = y2,
and therefore the equation
3t?n -irpxn — q becomes
f^-py-q,
a quadratic equation, from which x may be found, and
thence x, by considering that x — Wy.
97. Although every quadratic equation admits of two
roots, yet it will frequently happen that only one of them
can be of use, the other being excluded by the conditions
of the question. This will often be the case with respect
to the negative root; as, for example, when the unknown
quantity denotes a number of men, a number of days,
&c. And hence, in reckoning the cases of quadratic
equations, it is common to neglect this one, a? -\-pxz=. q,
where the roots are both negative; for an equation of
this form can only be derived from a question which has
some fault in its enunciation, and which, by a proper
change in its form, will produce another equation having
both its roots positive.
98. The remainder of this section shall be employed
in solving some questions which produce quadratic equa¬
tions.
Ex. 1. It is required to divide the number 10 into two
such parts that the sum of their squares may be 58.
Let x be the one number ;
Then, since their sum is 10, we have 10 — x for the
other;
And by the question (10 — x)2z=58 ;
That is, ic2-)-100 — 20x-^-xPzz58,
Or 2x2—20x = 58— 100= — 42;
Hence 10a; = —21.
And completing the square, x2— 10a;-f 25=25 — 21 = 4 ;
Hence, by extracting the root, x — 5==±=V/4=rt:2
And a;=5r±z2, .
That is, .r=7,ora;=3.
If we take the greatest value of x, viz. 7, the other
number 10—x will be 3 ; and if we take the least value
of xt viz. 3, then the other number is 7. Thus it appears,
that the greatest value of the one number corresponds to
the least of the other; and indeed this must necessarily be
the case, seeing that both are alike concerned in the
question. Hence, upon the whole, the only numbers that
will answer the conditions of the question are 7 and 3.
Ex. 2, What two numbers are those whose product is
28; and such, that twice the greater, together with thrice
the lesser, is equal to 26 ?
Let a;be the greatest and y the least number; then, from Alg
the nature of the question, we have these two equations,
xy—28, 2a; + 3?/=26.
28
From the first equation we have y=. —,
26 — 2a;
And from the second y~ 5 •
26— 2x
28
' x
Hence
o u
And, reducing, 26.r — 2^=84,
Or 2a^ — 26x= 84,
Hence a? — 13*= — 42.
And comp, the sq. ot?— 13*-j-JA£ = — 42=£.
Hence,by extracting the root,*—J|-==±:V^=d=l,
Therefore *=1T—2 »
That is, *=7, or*=6.
28
And since y~ —> we have ?/=4, or y—^j-
Thus we have obtained two sets of numbers, which ful¬
fil the conditions required, viz.
x=7, y=4 : Or *=6, y=-y\
And besides these, there can be no other numbers.
Ex. 3. A company dining together at an inn, find their
bill amount to 175 shillings ; two of them were not allow¬
ed to pay, and the rest found that their shares amounted
to 10 shillings a man more than it they had all paid. How
many were in company ?
Suppose their number to be *.
Then, if all had paid, the share of each would have been
175
tJC
But because only *—2 paid, the share of each was
175
*—2
, . 175 175 1ft
Therefore, by the question, — —=1U>
And, by reduction, 175*—175*+350= 10*2 SOa1;
That is, 10*2—20*= 350,
Or *2—2x=35.
And comp, the sq. *2—2*+1=35 + 1=36;
Hence, by extracting the root, a;2 + l=^t=6*
Therefore *=+5, or x=—7. But from the nature
of the question, the negative root can be of no use;
therefore *=6.
Ex. 4. A mercer sold a piece of cloth for L.24, and
gained as much per cent, as the cloth cost him. a
was the price of the cloth ?
Suppose that it cost * pounds ;
Then the gain was 24 — *,
And, by the question, 100 : * u * : 24 — *•
Therefore, taking the product of the extremes ana
means, ~~ ^
2400—100*=*2,
Or x2 + 100a;=2400 ;
And comp, the sq. a:2 +100*+ 2500= 4900,
Hence, taking the root, a;+ 50==±=70,
And *=+20 or *
Here, as in the last question, the negative root cann
apply ; therefore *=20 pounds, the price requne
Ex. 5. A grazier bought as many sheep as cost him
L.60, out of which he reserved 15, and sold the re™
der for L.54, and gained 2s. each upon them. How hm )
sheep did he buy, and what did each cost him r
Al;)ra-
Suppose that he bought a? sheep;
rr 1200
Then each would cost him   shillings.
Therefore, after reserving 15, he sold each of the re¬
maining x—15 for 2 shillings.
Hence, he would receive for them (x— 15) 2)
shillings. And, because L.54= 1080 shillings, we have by
the question
1900
(a: — 15) (ifri + 2) =1080 ;
X
Which, by proper reduction, becomes a;2-f-45 #=9000;
And, completing the square, a^-f45 xq __ = —_—.
ALGEBRA.
Let x be the one number; then _ will be the other.
Therefore, extracting the root, &c. x — —  
216
Therefore, by the question, a^4--^- = 35;
Hence a:6-f 216=35a?,
Or a;6—3 5x3——216.
This equation, by putting x?z=y, becomes
y2—35y=—216;
Hence we find y—27, or y=8.
And since cc3=y, therefore a;=3, or x=2.
If x — 3, then the other number is 2, and if a: = 2, the
other number is 3; so that 2 and 3 are the numbers re¬
quired.
In general, if it be required to find two numbers which
are exactly alike concerned in a question that produces a
quadratic equation, they will be the roots of that equa¬
tion. A similar observation applies to any number of
195 45
2 _ 2*  
And, taking the positive root, x = 75, the number of quantities which require for their determination the reso
, 1200 . . lution of an equation of any degree whatever,
sheep; and consequently —- = 16 shillings, the price
/ o
0f eac]lf Sect. X.—Of Equations in general.
Ex. 6. What number is that which, when divided by
the product of its two digits, the quotient is 3 ; and if 18
be added to it, the digits are inverted ?
Let x and y denote the digits ; then the number itself
will be expressed bylO:r-f-y> and that number in which
the digits are inverted, by y-\-x. Thus the conditions
of the problem will be expressed by these two equations,
= 3, 10 x+y+18 = 10 y + x.
xy
From the first equation we have ?/=-^—j-,
And from the second, y—x-\-2 ;
Therefore x-\-2—~p
And Sx2 -f. 5x—2= 10a:.
Hence, a?—§x=§,
And comp. sq. x?—!a:+l4=-!-£-4-#=:!$ ;
Therefore, taking the root, x—§==±z%,
So that x=2, or x~—
Here it is evident that the negative root is useless;
hence, t/=x-j-2=4, and 24 is the number required.
Ex. 7. Find two numbers whose product is 100, and
the difference of their square roots 3.
Let a: be the one number; then is the other.
x
Now by the question, —V/x= 3 ;
Vx
Hence we have 10—a:=3v^=3x^.
Or a; + 3a:2 = 10;
And comp, the sq. a:-|-3a:2_j_£—10+£=^,
and taking the root, a:2 -f- ;
So that a:2= -|-5, or a:2——2,
and therefore x=z25, or a:=4.
If a=4, the other number is -L^= 25, and if a: = 25,
then the other number is 4; so that, in either case, the
two numbers which answer the conditions of the question
are 4 and 25.
Ex. 8. It is required to find two numbers, of which the
product shall be 6, and the sum of their cubes 35.
99. Before we proceed to the resolution of cubic and
the higher orders of equations, it will be proper to ex¬
plain some general properties which belong to equations
of every degree, and also certain operations which must
frequently be performed upon equations before they be
fitted for a final solution.
In treating of equations in general, we shall suppose all
the terms brought to one side, and put equal to 0; so that
an equation of the fourth degree will stand thus:
xi-\-px3+qx^-{-rx+s=0,
where x denotes an unknown quantity, and p, q, r, s,
known quantities, either positive or negative. Here the
co-efficient of the highest power of x is unity, but had it
been any other quantity, that quantity might have been
taken away, and the equation reduced to the above form,
by rules already explained (Sect. VI).
The terms being thus arranged, if such a quantity be
found as, when substituted for x, will render both sides
= 0, and therefore satisfy the equation, that quantity,
whether it be positive or negative, or even imaginary, is
to be considered as a root of the equation. But we have
seen that every quadratic equation has always two roots,
real or imaginary; we may therefore suppose that a simi¬
lar diversity will take place in all equations of a higher
degree; and this supposition appears to be well founded,
by the following proposition, which is of great importance
in the theory of equations.
If a root of any equation, as o^-\-pxs-\-qx-\-r—Q, be re¬
presented by a, the first side of that equation is divisible
by x—a; '*■
For since x^Jrp3^J^qociJ[-rx-\‘S'=zO,
And also a4 -f-pa3 -f- qa2 -|- -f- s= 0 ;
Therefore, by subtraction,
a:4—a4 -f-pC#3—a3) + q(x?—a2) -f r(x—a)=0.
But any quantity of this form xf1—an.y where n denotes
a whole positive number, is equal to
(x—a)(a:n-1 + ax*-2 + aV*-3 +... + an~2x+a”-1),
as may be proved by multiplication; therefore, putting
a:=:4, 3, and 2 successively, we have
ie4—a*—(x—a)(xP a?x 4- a3),
x3—a3=(x—a)(a^-j-a;K+a2)>
a?—a2= (x—a)(x 4- a),
x —a =(x—a) ;
and by substitution, and collecting into one term the co¬
efficients of the like powers of x, the equation becomes
452
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, (a;—a) [a^-f (a -\-p) (“2 -\-pa + y) a; -f a3 + pa2 + ^ +
—0; so that, putting/? —a -f-p, tf—cP+pa + q, P—cP + pcP
-\-qa-\-r, we have
xv -\-px? 4* qx1 -\-rx-\- s^z(x—o)(r3+//a2 + c/x + r').
Hence, if the proposed equation x^+potP + qxP-^rrx-^-s be
divided by x—a, the quotient will be x?-\-p'oc2q'x-\-r,
an integer quantity; and since the same mode of reason¬
ing will apply to any equation whatever, the truth of the
proposition is evident.
We have found that (x—a)(a*3-{-p'x2 + q'x-f-r’) =0; and
as a product becomes =0, when anyone of its factors=0,
therefore the equation will have its conditions fulfilled,
not only when x — a — 0, but also when xP-\-p x2-\-q’x
-\-P — Q.
Let us now suppose that & is a root of this equation;
then, by reasoning exactly as in last article, and putting
p' — b-\-p, q" — lr -\-pb -f- q\ we shall have
a3 -\-px? -f- ((x 4 P — (x — b) (x2 -j-p'x 4 q") = 0.
By proceeding in the same manner with the quadratic
equation x2~j-p' x-\-q" z= 0, we shall find that if c denote
one of its roots, then
a2 4//' a4y" = (x — c) (x-\-c-\-p)”).
So that if we put d — — (c4■i0,,)’ we
xpJf-px? Jf-qx?-\-rx-\-s — (a—a) (a —£)(a— c) (a — d);
and since each of the factors a — a, a — b, a — e, a — d
may be assumed = 0, it follows that there are four
different values of a, which will render the equation
a44/>a34-g'a24-/'a-j-s — 0, namely, x — a, x ■=. b, x — c,
x ~ d.
The mode of reasoning which has been just now em¬
ployed in a particular case, may be applied to an equa¬
tion of any order whatever; we may therefore conclude,
that every equation may be considered as the product of
as many simple factors as the number denoting its order
contains unity, and therefore, that the number of roots
in any equation is precisely equal to the exponent of the
highest power of the unknown quantity contained in that
equation.
100. By considering equations of all degrees as formed
from the products of factors x — a, x — b, x — c, &c.
we discover curious relations, which subsist between the
roots of any equation and its co-efficients. Thus, if we
limit the number of factors to four, and suppose that
a, b, c, d, are the roots of this equation of the fourth de¬
gree,
xP-\-px?-\-qx?-\-rx-\-s — 0,
we shall also have (* — a) (x — Z>)(# — q) (# — <?) = 0;
and therefore, by actual multiplication,
-\-aC
+ ad
+ bc
-\-bd
-\-cd .
x?
x 4 abed — 0.
If we compare together the co-efficients of the same
powers of x, we find the following series of equations :
a + b-\-c+d z=. —p,
ab-\-ac-\-ad-\-bc+bd-\-cd = 49'?
abc 4 abd 4 acd 4 bed — — r,
abed = 4$;
and as similar results will be obtained for equations of
all degrees, we hence derive the following propositions,
which are of great importance in the theory of equations.
1. The co-efficient of the second term of any equation,
taken with a contrary sign, is equal to the sum of all the
roots.
2. The co-efficient of the third term is equal to the
sum of the products of the roots multiplied together two A]
and two. ^
3. The co-efficient of the fourth term, taken with a
contrary sign, is equal to the sum of the roots multiplied
together three and three ; and so on in the remaining co¬
efficients, till we come to the last term of the equation
which is equal to the product of all the roots having their
signs changed.
Instead of supposing an equation to be produced by
multiplying together simple equations, we may consi¬
der it as formed by the product of equations of any der
gree, provided that the sum of their dimensions be equal
to that of the proposed equation. Thus, an equation of
the fourth degree may be formed either from a simple
and cubic equation, or from two quadratic equations.
101. If 71 denote the degree of an equation, we have
shown, that by considering it as the product of simple fac¬
tors, that equation will have w divisors of the first degree;
but if we suppose the simple factors to be combined two
and two, they will form quantities of the second degree,
which ai’e also factors of the equation; and since there
yi _ J ^
may be formed - j . such combinations, any equation
will admit of —|—~ divisors of the second degree.
For example, the equation a;4 4/>.'r3 4g'x24^4s~0,
which we have considered as equal to
{x—«) (a; — b) (x — c) (x — d) =0,
may be formed of the product of two factors of the second
degree, in these six different ways.
By the product of (x — a) (x — b) and (x — c) (x—d),
(x — a) ix — c) (x — b) ix — d),
(x — a) (x— d) (x — b) (x — c),
(x — b) (x — e) (x—a) (x—d),
(x — b) (x—d) (x — a) (x — e).
(x — e) (x —d) (x — a) (x—b).
4, X 3
Thus an equation of the fourth degree may have -—-
= 6 quadratic divisors.
By combining the simple factors three and three, we
shall have divisors of the third degree, of which the num¬
ber for an equation of the nth order will be
n(n — 1) — 2) ,
^—2~~—g—-; and so on.
102. When the roots of an equation are all positive, its
simple factors will have this form, x — a, x — b, x—cy
&c.; and if, for the sake of brevity, we take only these
three, the cubic equation which results from their product
wall have this form,
xz —px2 -{^qx — r— 0,
wTherejo=a4^ + c> q—ab 4 ac+bc, r—abci
and here it appears that the signs of the terms are 4 and
— alternately.
Hence we infer, that when the roots of an equation are
all positive, the signs of its terms are positive and nega¬
tive alternately.
If again the roots of the equation be all negative, and
therefore its factors x-\-a, x + b, x-\-c, then p, q, and r
being as before, the resulting equation will stand thus:
x5 4 Px‘z + ^ + r=: 0-
And hence we conclude, that when the roots are all ne¬
gative, there is no change whatever in the signs.
103. In general, if the roots of an equation be all real,
that equation will have as many positive roots as there
are changes of the signs from 4 to —> or from — 10 "h ’
and the remaining roots are negative. This rule, how¬
ever, does not apply when the equation has imaginary
1
ALGEBRA.
453
ljC ( rootS) unless such roots be considered as either positive
^/-y.w'or negative. > .
That the rule is true when applied to quadratic equa¬
tions will be evident from Sect. IX. With respect to
cubic equations, the rule also applies when the roots are
cither all positive, or all negative, as we have just now
shown. . .
When a Cubic equation has one positive root, and the
other two negative, its factors will be x — a, x-\-b, x-\-c,
and the equation itself
x?—a) —oil
+ ^ r x?—ac ^ x—abc— 0.
+ +bc)
Here there must always be one change of the signs,
since the first term is positive and the last negative ; and
there can be no more than one ; for if the second term is
negative, or b-\-c less than a, then (b-\-c)2 will be less
than (b-\-c) a; but (b-\-c)2 is always greater than be,
therefore be will be much less than a, or ab-\-ac,
so that the third term must also be negative, and there¬
fore, in this case there can be only one change of the
signs. If, again, the second term be positive, then, because
the sign of the last term is negative, whatever be the
sign of the third term, there can still be no more than
one change of the signs.
When the equation has two positive roots, and one
negative, its factors are x-—a, x—b, x-\-c, and the equa¬
tion
ar3—-{-abl
—b > x?—acV x+abczzO.
+ e) —be)
Here there must always be two changes of the signs ;
for if «-f 6 be greater than c, the second term is negative,
and the last term being always positive, there must be
two changes, whether the sign of the third term be posi¬
tive or negative. If, again, a-\-bbe less than c, and there¬
fore the second term positive, it may be shown as before,
that ai is much less than ac-\-bc; and hence the third
term will be negative ; so that in either case there must
he two changes of the signs. We may conclude, there¬
fore, upon the whole, that in cubic equations there are
always as many positive roots as changes of the signs
from -f to —, or from — to -f- ; and, by the same method
ot reasoning, the rule will be found to extend to all equa¬
tions whatever.
104. It appears, from the manner in which the co¬
efficients of an equation are formed from its roots, that
"hen the roots are all real, the co-efficients must consist
entirely of real quantities. But it does not follow, on the
contrary, that when the co-efficients are real, the roots are
also real; for we have already found, that in a quadratic
equation, a?-\-px-\-q=0, where p and q denote real quan¬
tities, the roots are sometimes both imaginary.
^ hen the roots of a quadratic equation are imaginary,
they have always this form, a-J-V—Z/2, a—V—U2, which
quantities may also be expressed thus, a b V —1,
a—b v'-—1; so that we have these two factors x — a
^ ^ 1) x—a-\-b V—1, and taking their product,
ir2—2ax + « + 0.
1 hus we see that two imaginary factors may be of such
a orm as to admit of their product being expressed by a
uu quantity; and hence the origin of imaginary roots in
quadratic equations.
h r* -' aPPea^s by induction, that no real equation can
L oi med from imaginary factors, unless those factors be
ta cu in pairs, and each pair have the form xz±za—bV—1,
xz+za-\-bV—1; for the product of three, or any odd num- Algebra,
ber of imaginary factors, whatever be their form, is still
an imaginary quantity. Thus, if we take the product of
any three of these four imaginary expressions, x+a+b
V—\, x + a — bV—\, x + c + dV—T, x + c — dV^—i,
we may form four different equations, each of which will
involve imaginary quantities. If, however, each equation
be multiplied by the remaining factor, which had not pre¬
viously entered into its composition, the product will be
found to be rational, and the same for all the four.
Hence we may deduce the three following inferences
respecting the roots of equations :
1. If an equation have imaginary roots, it must have
two, or four, or some even number of such roots.
2. If the degree of an equation be denoted by an odd
number, that equation must have at least one real root.
3. If the degree of an equation be denoted by an even
number, and that equation have one real root, it will also
have another real root.
106. We shall now explain some transformations which
are frequently necessary to prepare the higher orders of
equations for a solution.
Any equation may have its positive roots changed into
negative roots of the same value, and its negative roots
into such as are positive, by changing the signs of the
terms alternately, beginning with the second. The truth
of this remark will be evident, if we take two equations,
(x—a)(x—5)(a?-|-c)=:0,
(a; -f- «)(* -f- 6)(;r—c)=0,
(which are such, that the positive roots of the one have
the same values as the negative roots of the other), and
multiply together their respective factors; for these equa¬
tions will stand thus:
x?—a) -\-ab)
—b > a?2—ac > x-\-abe—0,
-|- c) - be)
oft
+n x?—ac /- x—abc=0 ;
-e) -be)
where it appears that the signs of the first and third
terms are the same in each, but the signs of the second
and fourth are just the opposite of each other. And this
will be found to hold true, not only of cubic equations,
but of all equations, to whatever order they belong.
107. It will sometimes be useful to transform an equa¬
tion into another that shall have each of its roots greater
or less than the corresponding roots of the other equation,
by some given quantity.
Let (x — a)(a? — Z»)(a; c)=0 be any proposed equation
which is to be transformed into another, having its roots
greater or less than those of the proposed equation by the
given quantity n; then, because the roots of the trans¬
formed equation are to be -\-azizin, z±zn, and —cz±zn,
the equation itself will be
(yz+zn — a)(yz+zn — b)(y=+zn -f- c)=0.
Hence the reason of the following rule is evident.
If the new equation is to have its roots greater than
those of the proposed equation ; instead of x and its powers,
substitute y — n and its powers : but if the roots are to be
less; then, instead of x substitute 3/-f-M; and in either
case, a new equation will be produced, the roots of which
shall have the property required.
108. By the preceding rule, an equation may'be chang¬
ed into another, which has its roots either all positive, or
all negative; but it is chiefly used in preparing cubic and
biquadratic equations for a solution, by transforming them
454
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, into others of the same degrees, but which want their
second term.
Let + ^ + be any cubic equation ; if we
substitute y-j-wfor x, the equation is changed into the
following:
ty3_j_3n) 2 + +»3 1|
+ p\ y -\-2pn\y+Pn2\-Q
+ <l) +<ln (
+ r)
Now, that this equation may want its second term, is
evident that we have only to suppose 2>n-\-p-=:Q, or nz=.
—^; for this assumption being made, and the value of n
suusuuiieu.
2Z3 * +(?-
^),/+5£!_H+r_o;
. P2 , ^o3 vq
or, putting—-g- +q=q', and + ~ +r = /, the
same equation may also stand thus,
tf+q'y+r^o-
109. In general, any equation whatever may be trans¬
formed into another, which shall want its second term, by
the following rule.
Divide the co-efficient of the second term of the propos¬
ed equation by the exponent of the first term, and add the
quotient, with its sign changed, to a new unknown quanti¬
ty ; the sum being substituted for the unknown quantity
in the proposed equation, a new equation will be produc¬
ed, which will want the second term, as required.
By this rule any adfected quadratic equation may be
readily resolved; for by transforming it into another equa¬
tion which wants the second term, we thus reduce its solu¬
tion to that of a pure quadratic. Thus, if the quadratic
equation a? — 5a;-j-6=:0 be proposed; by substituting
y + i f°r xi we
7/2 T 5yi 25^
-5y-f [=0,or/- l=0.
+ 6 J
Hence and since amy-f |, therefore
= + 3, or + 2.
110. It has been shown (sect. 100) that in any equa¬
tion, the co-efficient of the second term, having its sign
changed, is equal to the sum of all the roots; or, ab¬
stracting from their signs, it is equal to the difference be¬
tween the sum of the positive and the sum of the nega¬
tive roots : Therefore, if the second term be wanting, the
sum of the positive roots in the equation must necessarily
be equal to that of the negative roots.
111. Instead of taking away the second term from an
equation, any other term may be made to vanish, by an
assumption similar to that which has been employed to
take away the second term. Thus, if in sect. 108 we as¬
sume 3n2 + 2j»»-|-§'=:0, by resolving this quadratic equa¬
tion, a value of n will be found which, when substituted
in the equation, will cause the third term to vanish; and,
by the resolution of a cubic equation, the third term may
be taken away; and so on.
112. Another species of transformation, of use in the
resolution of equations, is that by which an equation,
having the co-efficients of some of its terms expressed by
fractional quantities, is changed into another, the co-effi¬
cients of which are all integers.
*0 Q V
Let a;3+“ a: +- = 0 denote an equation to be
so transformed, and let us assume y = abcx, and there¬
fore x = ; then, by substitution, our equation becomes^ el
y3
p
cPIPc*
+«62C 2/+c -0;
'bn
I "
and multiplying the whole equation by a^e3, we have
z/3 -j- bcpif -p dAb(?qy -j- c? d (?r — 0.
Thus we have an equation free from fractions, while at
the same time the co-efficient of the highest power of the
unknown quantity is unity, as before.
This transformation may always be performed by the
following rule : Instead of the unknown quantity, substi¬
tute a new unknown quantity divided by the product of
all the denominators ; then, by proper reduction, the equa¬
tion will be found to have the form required.
If, however, the equation have this form,
rr -p - — 0,
1 a 'a 1 a
it will be sufficient to assume y — ax, and therefore x =
- ; for then we have
a
a.!!- o
a3+a3r+a2 2/+a-°’
and y3 -pjoy2 -p aqy -p dr — 0;
which last equation has the form required.
Sect. XI.—Of Cubic Equations.
113. Cubic equations, as well as equations of every
higher degree, are,like quadratics,divided into two classes:
they are said to be pure when they contain only one
power of the unknown quantity ; and adfected when they
contain two or more powers of that quantity.
Pure cubic equations are therefore of this form,
ad= 125, or a^zr — 27, or, in general, a?3 = r ; and hence
it appears, that the value of the simple power of the un¬
known quantity may always be found without difficulty,
by extracting the cube root of each side of the equation;
thus, from the first of the three preceding examples we
find a:zr -p 5, from the second, xz=. — 3, and from the third,
3 _
X   ^
It would seem at first sight that the only value which
x can have in the cubic equation or putting r-=.<?,
rc3 — c3:= 0, is this one, x-=c ; but since ar3 —-Ic3 may be re¬
solved into these two factors, x — c and a^-pcaj+c2, it fol¬
lows, that besides the value of x already found, which re¬
sults from making the factor x — c=0, it has yet other
two values, which may be found by making the other fac¬
tor a^-pcaj-pc^zzO ; and accordingly, by resolving the qua¬
dratic equation a:2-pca:z= —c2, we find these values to be
-Zf+dEM and or + and
2   2 2
c. Thus it appears, that any cubic equa¬
tion of this form, a^zzc3, or af3 — c^zzO, has these three
roots,
_1_Pa/^3 _1 —a/—3 .
X—C, X— ~ C, X— “ q ’
the first of which is real, but the two last are imaginary-
If, however, each of the imaginary values of x be raised
to the third power, the same results will be obtained as
from the real value of x : the original equation a? c =
may also be reproduced, by multiplying together thejthree
factors x — c,x-
— l-p\/—3
c, and a:-
__1 —a/-;
ALGEBRA.
, 114, Let us now consider such cubic equations as have
yvv'all their terms, and which are therefore of this form,
+Ax2-|-Bx+C zz 0,
where A, B, and C, denote known quantities, either posi¬
tive or negative.
It has been shown (sect. 108) how an equation having
all its terms may be transformed into another which wants
the second term; therefore, assume xzzy — as direct¬
ed in that article; then, by proper substitution, the above
equation will be changed into another of this form,
tf+qy+r^,
where q and r denote known quantities, whether positive
or negative ; now the roots of this equation being found,
it is evident that those of the former may be readily ob-
A
tained by means of the assumed equation x—y 
Resuming, therefore, the equation if^qyJ^-rzr.O, let
us suppose y z= + and it becomes
^ -j- -p Svz^z3 )
•j-qv-hqz /- =0.
J
Thus we have a new equation, which, as it involves
two unknown quantities, v and z, may be resolved into
any two others, which will simplify the determination of
those quantities.
Now it appears, that the only way in which we can
divide that equation into two others, so as to simplify the
question, is the following :
Srfz -}- 3vz2 -\-qv-\- qzzz 0,
■u3 -(- 23 -j- r— 0.
The first of these may also be expressed thus,
(3 wz-{-2) zr 0.
Hence, we must either suppose that v-^zzzzO, or that
Srz-l-yrrO; but the former supposition cannot be ad¬
mitted without supposing also that y zz 0, which does not
agree with the hypothesis of the equation ^-f-^y + rizO;
therefore we must adopt the latter. So that to determine
v and z we have these two equations,
3vz-\-q=.Q, z>3-p.23-{-7,rz0.
From the first, we find vz — — and «^23 zz — ; and
from the second ^-f-23zz—r ; so that to determine the
quantities and 2s, we have given their sum and pro¬
duct: now this is a problem which we have already re¬
solved when treating of quadratic equations ; and by pro¬
ceeding in the same manner in the present case, we shall
find
23z= —ir—+ -|r2 ;
°      3
r='v/—+ + 2:
and y—v-\-z
3   _______ 5  
= '/—ir-fVs,773+ir2 -f-V—Lr^-V'zW + i7*-
Ihus we have at last obtained a value of the unknown
quantity y, in terms of the known quantities q and r;
therefore the equation is resolved.
115. But this is only one of three values which y may
have. Let us, for the sake of brevity, put
455
: V'—|r—V vW + lr2;
A = — ^+^y3-f-ir2, B:
and put
/3=
_1 + V—3
2  ’
_1_V—3
Then, from what has been shown (sect. 113), it is evident Algebra,
that v and 2 have each these three values,
3 _ 3 _ 3_
v=VA, vzzaVA, v—j3VA ;
3_ 3 _ 3 _
Z=VB, z~a VB, 2zz/3 VB.
To determine the corresponding values of v and 2, we
must consider that «2 = — |- Vab": Now if we observe
that a/3zz 1, it will immediately appear that v-J-2 has these
three values,
3_ 3 _
v+z= Va +Vb,
3 _ 3 _
v-{-z=aVA +/5 Vb,
3 - 3 _
z>4-2zz/3v/A -fa Vb-
Hence the three values of y are also these,
3__ 3_
yzzV'A-f-V'B,
3 _ 3 _
yzzaV A4-/5v'B,
3_ 3 _
_ ^ y=(3VA + aVB.
The first of these formulae is commonly known by the
name of Cardan’s rule ; but it is well known that Cardan
was not the inventor, and that it ought to be attributed
to Nicholas Tartalea and Scipio Ferreus, who discovered
it much about the same time, and independently of each
other. (See the Introduction^)
The formulae given above for the roots of a cubic equa¬
tion may be put under a different form, and better adapt¬
ed to the purposes of arithmetical calculation as follows.
“ therefore z— '— ? X =
Because vz—
3’
3?
hence v-\-z— Va
Va
„ - Va’
thus it appears that the three
values of y may also be expressed thus:
3
y=yA
/X
3?
Va
3<?£
y-^ J k
Va
-V- 3?a
Va
116. To show the manner of applying these formulae,
let it be required to detei’mine x from the cubic equation
^-{-3^4-9^— 13zz0:
And as this equation has all its terms, the first step to¬
wards its resolution is to transform it into another which
shall want the second term, by substituting y— 1 for x
as directed (sect. 109). The operation will stand thus :
xi=yi — 3y24-3y— 1
4- 3x2— + %2—^
4-9# = 4"9y— 9
— 13= -—13
The transformed equation is y3 + f>y — 20=0,
which being compared with the general equation,
y3+qy+r=0,
gives y=6, r— —20; hence
A:=y—|r4-v/2i7yJ + 4r2
therefore the second formula of last article
gives y=
-—; but as this expression
V10+Vi08 1
involves a radical quantity, let the square root of 108
be taken and added to 10, and the cube root of the sum
V^ + v'108-:
456
ALGEBRA.
found; thus we have 3jV/l0-|-V/108 = 2*732 nearly,
2 2
and therefore “ ,  =r — 0 — *732; hence we
3yiO+Vl08
at last find one of the values of y to be 2.732 — *732z=2.
In finding the cube root of the radical quantity
VlO + V108, we have taken only its approximate value,
so as to have the expression for the root under a rational
form, and in this way we can always find, as near as we
please, the cube root of any surd of the form a-^-'Vb,
where is a positive number. But it will sometimes hap¬
pen that the cube root of such a surd can be expressed
exactly by another surd of the same form; and accord¬
ingly, in the present case, it appears that the cube root of
lO-f-VlOS is 1 V3, as may be proved by actually
raising 1 V3 to the third power. Hence we find
2 2 _ 2(1—V 3)
V10+ VI08 “ 1+V3 ~ (1 — V3) (1 + V3) “
—^(1 — v'S); so that y = 1 V3 + 1 —V3 — 2, as be¬
fore.
The other two values of y will be had by substituting
    ~  ^(j
1 V3 and 1 — V3 for VA and 3^7^ in the second and
third formulae of last article, and restoring the values of a
and |8. We thus have
3, = =ii^=2x (1 + V3)+x (1_V3)
= -^1+
y= — ~ V/~- X (I + V3)+ -1+v'~3 x (1-V3)
= __ 1 _
So that the three values of y are
+ 2, _1+ a/^4), —1— V—if;
and since x—y— 1, the corresponding values of x are
+ 1, —2+ V—9, —2— V ^9.
Thus it appears that one of the roots of the proposed
equation is real, and the other two imaginary.
The two imaginary roots might have been found other¬
wise, by considering that since one root of the equation is
1, the equation must be divisible by a: — I (sect. 99).
Accordingly, the division being actually performed, and
the quotient put =: 0, we have this quadratic equation,
a^+Tr+lS — 0;
which, when resolved by the rule for quadratics, gives
x — — 2 rfc: V — 9, the same imaginary value as before.
117. In the application of the preceding formulae (sect.
114; and 115) to the resolution of the equation 'if-\rqy+
r — 0, it is necessary to find the square root of
now, when that quantity is positive, as in the equation
6<y — 20 = 0, which was resolved in last article, no
difficulty occurs, for its root may be found either exactly
or to as great a degree of accuracy as we please.
As, however, the co-efficients q and r are independent
of each other, it is evident that q may be negative, and
such, that 2y<73 is greater than \ri. In this case, the ex¬
pression J-f?3 Jlr\T‘2 ke negative, and therefore its
square root an imaginary quantity. Let us take as an
example, this equation, y5 — Gy + If = 0; here q~ — 6,
r =+ 4, =2,Jj<? = - 8, ^ = + 4, =
V— 4 = 2V— 1; hence, by recurring to the formulae
(sect. 115), we have A=2-f-2 V—1, B =2—. V-^band ;
therefore the three roots of the equation are ’
y = j2 + 2 V—[+j2 — 2V—\,
y-2+2 v— 1+/sy 2—2
V—fis/ 2 + 2 V— 1 2— 2 V— 1.
Here all the roots appear under an imaginary form-
but we are certain, from the theory of equations, as ex¬
plained in Section X. that every cubic equation must have
at least one real root. The truth is, as we shall show im¬
mediately, that in this case, so far from any of the roots
being imaginary, they are all real; for it appears by actual
involution, that the imaginary expression 2 + 2V^Tis the
cube of this other imaginary expression, — 1 + V^l; and
in like manner, that 2—2 V-— 1 is the cube of— 1 — V-^T,
so that we have
y - y2 + 2 V~i +y2 — 2V“1 = — 1 +V~i_
1—V—1 = 2.
— 1+V—3 . . , .—rr , — 1— V— 3
y — g X (—1+V—1)   x
(— 1 __V—1)=1 + V3.
y-
1 — V—3
X (— 1 + V—1) + -
1+V—3
(— 1 — V— 1) = 1 — V3.
118. We shall now prove, that as often as the roots of the
equation af3 + + r = 0 are real, q is negative, and
greater than ^r2; and, on the contrary, that if be
greater than ^t*2, the roots are all real.
Let us suppose a to be a real root of the proposed
equation;
Then x?-\-qx-\-r—0.
And a3+5'a+7*=:0.
And therefore, by subtraction, x? — a?-\-q(x — a) = 0;
hence, dividing by # — a, we have
;c2 + aa; + a2 + <7 = 0.
This quadratic equation is formed from the two re¬
maining roots «f the proposed equation, and by resolving
it we find
x = — V— fa2 — q.
And as, by hypothesis, all the roots are real, it is evi¬
dent that q must necessarily be negative, and greater
than fa2; for otherwise the expression V—fa2 — <7would
be imaginary. Let us change the sign ot q, and put
§'=|a2 + <i; thus the roots of the equation x? — qx-\-r-=.^
will be
a, —|a + .y 2 ^
and here c? is a positive quantity.
To find an expression for r in terms of a and d, let
|a2 + c? be substituted for q in the equation a3 qaJrr
= 0; we thence find /’= — fa3+ao?; so that to com¬
pare together the quantities q and r, we have these equa¬
tions,
2=fa2 + d, r =—£a3 + ad.
In order to make this comparison, let the cube of 3y )C
taken, also the square of +*, the results are
= G-y6++T2
|r2=^a«-K^+K^;
and therefore, by subtraction,
i7<? — K^+sV*3’
= 3d(-^TjfA —
= 3d(\a2 — ^df. ,
\
Xow the square of any real quantity being always posi-
/v'Aive, it follows that Sd^a? — ^d)2 will be positive when
^ d \s positive; hence it is evident that in this case
must be greater than ^r2, and that the contrary can¬
not be true, unless r?_be negative, that is, unless that
 — Vd, the two other roots of the equa¬
tion, are imaginary. If we suppose ^=0, then ^Tq3=±r2;
and the roots of the equations, which in this case are also
real, are a, —\u-
Upon the whole, therefore, we infer, that since a cubic
equation has always one real root, its roots will be all real
no n is nep-ative. and preater than Ar2 • and
ALGEBRA.
note an arch of a circle, the relation between the cosine
of the arch and the cosine of |, one-third of that arch, is
expressed by the following cubic equation :
Cos.3 | — f cos. | rr £ cos. a.
Let us assume cos. | ='^, then, by substitution, the
equation is transformed into the following:
as* often as q is negative, and greater than ^r2 ; and
consequently, that in this case the formulae for the roots
must express real quantities, notwithstanding their ima¬
ginary form.
119. Let y3 — ^y-frrrO denote any equation of the
form which has been considered in last article, namely,
that which has its roots all real; then, if we put az=.—\r,
— 4^ one °f the roots, as expressed by the first
formula, sect. 115, will be,
3 3
y=j«+^/—i+v c
%
3»2
£ cos. a,
90° — a
sin.
-bV — 1.
This expression, although under an imaginary form, must
(as we have shown in last article) represent a real quan¬
tity. It may happen, as in last example, sect. 117, that also n x cos.
the two surds which compose the root are perfect
cubes of the form (A -f- ¥>V — l)3> and (A — BV— l)3j
and then the value of y becomes
A + BV^I-f A — BV — 1=2A.
But the rules for determining when this is the case de¬
pend upon trials, and are, besides, troublesome in the ap¬
plication ; and if we attempt by a direct process to inves¬
tigate the numerical values of A and B, we are brought
to a cubic equation of the very same form as that whose
root is required.
This imaginary expression for a real quantity has
greatly perplexed mathematicians; and much pains has
been taken to obtain the root under another form, but
without success. Accordingly, the case of cubic equa¬
tions, in wdiich the roots are all real, is now called the ir¬
reducible case.
0r V5 -£-y = n3'Xk cos. a ;
and in this cubic equation, one of the roots is evidently
y z=n x cos. Now from the calculus of sines it ap¬
pears that cos. a, cos. (360° — a), and cos. (360°-p a),
are all expressed by the same quantity; therefore the
equation must have for a root not only n x cos. g,
but
360°
from the calculus of sines, cos.
and n x cos.
360° —
360° + a
But
and cos.
360° +a
3 >  3
therefore the roots of the equation are
a . 90° — a
-- — sin.
90° +a
n x cos. g,
n x sin.
3
• n x sin.
90° +a
Let us next suppose that y3 — qy — r\& o. cubic equa¬
tion whose roots are required, and let us compare it with
3w2
X £ cos. a ; then it is
120. It is remarkable that the expression
J a — 1-p^A—5 V— L
and in general,
*   n
J a— 1 a—5 V— 1,
where n is any power of 2, admits of being reduced to
another form, in which no impossible quantity is found.
Thus, y« -p vdl _p Ja —b =^a + SVa2^,
■ 5V—1 =
*)’
and Ja-p5 V—
J [j2a -p 2V«2+52+2Va2-p52,
3S is easily proved by first raising the imaginary formu¬
la to the second and fourth powers, and then taking the
S(luare and fourth root of each. But when n is 3, it does
“ot seem that such reduction can possibly take place.
u each of the surds be expanded into an infinite series,
and their sum be taken, the imaginary quantity V—1
vanish, and thus the root may be found by a direct
process. There are, however, other methods which seem
pieferable. The following, which is derived from the cal¬
culus of sines, seems the best.
'b It will be demonstrated in Sect. XXV., that if a de-
v'OL. If.
the former equation y3 -^-y=zr$
evident, that if we assume the quantities n and cos. a,
such, that
3rc2 .
—=w3 X i cos. a—r,
the two equations will become identical, and thus their
roots will be expressed by the very same quantities. But
from these two assumed equations we find
y\q 2Vq /27 r2 S^V3
-#=—7=> cos. a——r—)J . = t= ;
3 V 3 n ^j3 2qV q
and since the cosine of an arch cannot exceed unity,
27 r2
therefore — —- must be a proper fraction, that is, dy3
must exceed 27/’2, or -£j(f must exceed ^r2. If we now
recollect that ^ is a negative quantity, it,will immediately
appear that the proposed equation must necessarily be¬
long to the irreducible case.
The rule, therefore, which we derive from the preced¬
ing analysis for resolving that case is as follows:
Let y3 — qy=r be the proposed equation.
Find in the trigonometrical tables an arch a, whose natu-
, . 3rV3
ral cosine^r-^; = ;
tyVq
the roots of the equation are
~ /q a
^X cos.
y
3’
3 M
458
ALGEBRA.
Algebra.
90°—a
y— * — 3
90°+a
sin. ■
These formulae will apply, whether r be positive or nega¬
tive, by proper attention to the signs. If, however, r be
negative, or the equation have this form, y3 — qy——r,
the following will be more convenient:
3rVS
Find in the tables an arch a, whose sme =
Then the roots of the equation are
„ Fti .a
sin.-,
- 90°+<‘
2qVq
cos.
o R 90°-
= —V|X cos. —5-
y
The last formulae are derived from the equation
CL 3 , CL .
Sin. - — — sin. —— sm. a,
in the same manner as the former were found from the
first equation of last article.
Ex. 1. It is required to find the roots of the equation
tf3 — 3xz=. 1.
Here
3rV3 3 x V3
2qV q
=1= cos. 60°=: cos. a, and
6x^3
x-2 cos. -^1 = 2cos. 20°= 1*8793852,
x——2 sin. —2 sin. 50°=— 1 *5320888,
x——2 sin.
3
30°
- — 2 sin. 10° = *3472964.
Ex. 2. It is required to find the roots of the equation
.e3—3x— — 1.
TT 3W3 3V3 , • oao • i
Here -=—==i=sin.30°=:sin.a, and
2q\/q 6V3
Qfto
x = 2 sin. = 2 sin. 10° = *3472964,
120°
x= 2 cos. = 2 cos. 40° - 1*5320888,
x=—2cos. =—2 cos. 20°=—1*8793852.
Sect. XII.—Of Biquadratic Equations.
122. When a biquadratic equation contains all its terms,
it has this form,
x4 + Ax3+B^+Ca; + Dz= 0,
where A, B, C, D, denote any known quantities what¬
ever.
We shall first consider pure biquadratics, or such as
contain only the first and last terms, and therefore are of
this form, x* = 54. In this case it is evident that x may
be readily had by two extractions of the square root; by
the first we find x* = b?, and by the second x — b. This,
however, is only one of the values which x may have; for
since x^ — 54, therefore cc4 — 64 — 0; but ar4 — 64 may
be resolved into two factors x1 — 52 and a^-1-52, each of
which admits of a similar resolution; for a?2 — S2 rz
(x — b)(x-j-b) and x2 — b V—l) (x-\-bV—l)*
Hence it appears that the equation x4 — = 0 may also h
be expressed thus:
(a: — b) (x + b) (x — b V—l) =0;
so that x may have these four values,
ibra.
+5, —b, -\-bV—1, —bV—1,
two of which are real, and the others imaginary.
123. Next to pure biquadratic equations, in respect of
easiness of resolution, are such as want the second and
fourth terms, and therefore have this form,
a^1 + qx? + s m 0.
These may be resolved in the manner of quadratic equa¬
tions ; for if we put y2 — x?, we have
if+qy+s - 0, 
  Q ■ ^qI _ -
from which we find y — ———  , and therefore
= H-./—? — ^
124. When a biquadratic equation has all its terms,
the manner of resolving it is not so obvious as in the two
former cases, but its resolution may be always reduced
to that of a cubic equation. There are various methods
by which such a reduction may be effected. The follow¬
ing, which we select as one of the most ingenious, was
first given by Euler in the Petersburg Commentaries,
and afterwards explained more fully in his Elements of
Algebra.
We have already explained, sect. 109, how an equation
which is complete in its terms may be transformed into
another of the same degree, but which wants the second
term; therefore any biquadratic equation may be reduced
to this form,
where the second term is wanting, and where p, q, r, de¬
note any known quantities whatever.
That we may form an equation similar to the above, let
us assume Va-f- Vb+Vc, and also suppose that the
letters a, b, c, denote the roots of the cubic equation
P22-kQz—11=0 ;
then, from the theory of equations we have
a-j-5-j-c=—P, ab+ac+bc=zQ,, abc—R.
We square the assumed formula
y — Vc, and obtain
y2— a-k5-|-c-k2 (Va5-|- Vac-f- Vbcf,
or, substituting — P for a 6 + £, and transposing;
y2~tfYz=.2(yab-^-Vac^. Vbc).
Let this equation be also squared, and we have
y4 + 2Py2 + P2 = 4 (ab + ac+ be) + 8 + vW
-kVaic2); and since aS-kac-k&crrQ, and
Va2bc-\-Val/c-\-yabc2— Vabc (Va+V5+ V
the same equation may be expressed thus:
y4+2Py2+F=4Q+Sv'Ky.
Thus we have the biquadratic equation
y4 + 2Yif — 8 VRy+P2—4Q=0,
one of the roots of which isyzr Va-f-Vb -\-Vc, and
which a, b, c, are the roots of the cubic equation
-\-Qz — RzrO. .
125. In order to apply this resolution to the propose
equation yi-{-py2A'qy-{-r=Q> we noust express the as
sumed co-efficients P, Q, R, by means of p, q, r, the co
1
ALGEBRA.
AW*
_ efficients of that equation. For this purpose, let us com-
vv^pare the equations
?/4-f2P^2 — 8 VR y+P2 — 4Q=0,
and it immediately appears that 2P = j9,——
p —4Q = r; and from these three equations we find
f) o2—4?" (P1
P= Q = —rs-’ R = ET- Hence it follows that the
459
16
R -21.
“ 64
roots of the proposed equation are generally expressed by
the formula y = Va-F'V/6-j-V/e; where a, 6, c, denote the
roots of this cubic equation,
^2 ^ 16
4r
.£. = 0.
64
But to find each particular root, we must consider, that as
the square root of a number may be either positive or nega¬
tive, so each of the quantities Va, V/v, Vc, may have either
the sign + or— prefixed to it; and hence our formula will
give eight different expressions for the root. It is, however,
to be observed, that as the product of the three quantities
V«, s/\ Vc, must be equal to VR or to — 2, when q is
8 1
positive, their product must be a negative quantity ; and
this can only be effected by making either one or three of
them negative ; again, when q is negative, their product
must be a positive quantity; so that in this case they must
either be all positive, or two of them must be negative.
These considerations enable us to determine, that four of
the eight expressions for the root belong to the case in
which q is positive, and the other four to that in which it
is negative.
126. We shall now give the result of the preceding in¬
vestigation in the form of a practical rule ; and as the co¬
efficients of the cubic equation which has been found in¬
volve fractions, we shall transform it into another, in which
the co-efficients are integers, by supposing
Thus
the equation z2+
qp—4r
16
q2
■—=0 becomes, after
reduction, v3+2pP + (p2—4r>—; it also follows,
that since the roots of the former equation are a, b, c,
the roots of the latter are |, |, so that our rule may
now be expressed thus :
Let 3^-j-py2+be any biquadratic equation
wanting its second term. Form this cubic equation,
v3-j- 2pv2 (jo2—ir)v—y2—0,
and find its roots, which, let us denote by a, b, c.
are hen the 100tS the ProPose^ biquadratic equation
when^ is negative,
y=Kv'«+/v/6-f-Vc),
y~\ 0,—v b—v <?),
2/=H~V«+V'6—Vc),
2 (—Va—V b-i^V c).
when q is positive,
y~\ (—Vw—s/b—Vc),
y—\ (—-Va + V i + V c),
y=i~ (Va—Vb + Vc),
y=t(Va+Vb—Vc).
tl “ resoJut*on biquadratic equations suggests
ie tollowing general remarks upon the nature of their
roots.
L It is evident from the form of the roots, that if the
cubic equation
v3+2jdP+(p2—4/’)c—q2=0,
have all its roots real and positive, those of the biquadra-
tlc equation will be all real.
2. Since the last term of the cubic equation is negative ; Algebra,
when its three roots are real, they must either be all po-^v-^
sitive, or two of them must be negative and one positive;
for the last term is equal to the product of all the roots
taken with contrary signs, sect. 100; so that in this last
case, two of the three quantities a, b, c, must be negative,
and therefore all the four roots of the biquadratic equa¬
tion imaginary. If, however, the two negative roots be
equal, they will destroy each other in two of the roots of
the biquadratic equation, which will then become real and
equal. Let us suppose, for example, that b and c are ne¬
gative and equal; the first two values ofy in each column
become then imaginary, and the remaining values of y are
in the first set of roots, y = —^Va, y=—3- Va, and in the
second, y= +£V«, y=%Va.
3. When the cubic equation has only one real and two
imaginary roots, its real roots must necessarily be positive;
for the imaginary roots can only come from a quadratic
equation having its last term positive, Sect. IX. and there¬
fore are of this form, v2-f Av-j-Bz=0; hence the simple
factor which contains the remaining root must have this
form, V—y, otherwise the last term of the cubic equation
could not be negative.
By resolving the equation ^2-f-Av+B=0, we find
A . /a2
,=-y±Vt_b.
A2
Here, the roots being supposed imaginary,   B must
be a negative quantity. That we may simplify the form of
' a A2
the roots, let us put a, and-j B— —/32, then
v=:—a=tV—/32 =—az±:(3V—1,
and v——a-f-/3V—1, v——a—/3V—I.
Hence we have
«zra-f-/3V—1,
,, -7 b=a—(3V—1, c=y;
so that in two of the four values of y, we have a quantity
of this form,
\/cc-jf-f3v'—l 0
-v i,- T a—15
but this quantity, although it appears to be imaginary, is
indeed real; for if we first square it, and then take its
square root, it becomes
y2a-J-2Vc62+f2,
which is a real quantity. The other two roots involve this
other expression,
y a + /3V—1—y a—(3V
'V 1 ' I ’
which being treated in the same manner as the former,
becomes
y 2cs-
v —2Va2 + (32,
an imaginary quantity, and therefore the roots into which
it enters are imaginary.
4. We may discover from the co-efficients of the pro¬
posed biquadratic equation in what case the roots of the
cubic equation are all real. For this purpose, the latter is
to be transformed into another which shall want the second
• thus it becomes
8rp
~3~
term, by assuming
“-^’+?!=0;
and in this equation the three roots will be real when
2V (lj-+4r) is greater than i(~ —.
128. As an example of the method of resolving a bi¬
quadratic equation, let it be required to determine the
roots of the following,
x*—25xP-^60x—36=0.
460
ALGEBRA.
Algebra. By comparing this equation with the general formula, we
~*~v~**S have p=z — 25, q= -f- 60, r— — 36 ; hence
2jo= — 50, jo2—4r=769, ^=3600,
and the cubic equation to be resolved is
v3—50v2 + 769f—3600=0 ;
the roots of which are found, by the rules for cubics, to
be 9, 16, and 25, so that \^a=3, Vbz=.% Vc—b. Now in
this case q is positive, therefore
a;=i(—3 —4 —5)=—6,
—3 4 -{- 5)= -J- 3,
a;=^(-|-3 — 4 + 5)=-|-2,
^ -h 3 4 — 5)= +1.
129. We have now explained the particular rules by
which the roots of equations belonging to each of the first
four orders may be determined ; and this is the greatest
length mathematicians have been able to go in the direct
resolution of equations; for as to those of the fifth, and
all higher degrees, no general method has hitherto been
found, either for resolving them directly, or reducing
them to others of an inferior degree.
It even appears that the formulae which express the
roots of cubic equations are not of universal application ;
for in one case, that is, when the roots are all real, they
become illusory, so that no conclusion can be drawn
from them. The same observation will also apply to the
formulae for the roots of biquadratic equations, because,
before they can be applied, it is always necessary to find
the roots of a cubic equation. But in either cubics or
biquadratic equations, even when the formulae involve no
imaginary quantities, and therefore can be always applied,
it is more convenient in practice to employ some other
methods, which we are hereafter to explain.
Sect. XIII.—Of Reciprocal Equations.
130. Although no general resolution has hitherto been
found of equations belonging to the fifth or any higher
degree, yet there are particular equations of all orders,
which, by reason of certain peculiarities in the nature of
their roots, admit of being reduced to others of a lower
degree; and thus, in some cases, equations of the higher
orders may be resolved by the rules which have been
already explained for the I’esolution of equations belong¬
ing to the first four orders.
When the co-efficients of the terms of an equation form
the same numerical series, whether taken in a direct or an
inverted order, as in this example,
1=0,
it may always be transformed into another of a degree de¬
noted by half the exponent of the highest power of the
unknown quantity, if that exponent be an even number;
or half the exponent diminished by unity, if it be an odd
number.
The same observation will also apply to any equation of
this form,
a? -{-pax3 qa2x2 -{-pa3x + a4=0,
where the given quantity a and the unknown quantity
x are precisely alike concerned; for by substituting ay
for x, it becomes
aV4 +/)«V3+-{-pcfiy+<24—0;
and dividing by a4,
y4 +P1?+if +PV+1=o>
an equation of the same kind as the former.
131. That we may effect the proposed transformation
upon the equation
cX/ "I" “"i A __ \_fj ^
let every two terms which are equally distant from the^
extremes be collected into one, and the whole be divided
Vvtt m2 +rw"»v»
ton
I'V'
by x?, then
*2+^r+7?O+:|;)+7=0-
Let us assume #+-=z;
x
then ir2+2-j--^-=2;2, and x?-{--^=z2 — 2.
Thus the equation «2 + -^-+p(^ + ^) + g,=0,
becomes «2+p^+g' — 2=0;
and since z+-=z, therefore xs—sa;4-l=0.
1 x
Hence, to determine the roots of the biquadratic equa¬
tion
ofi^pxP + qoP-^-px-^-1=0,
we have the following rule :
Form this quadratic equation,
z2-{-pz-{-q — 2=0,
and find its roots, which, let us suppose denoted by ^ and
z? ; then the four roots of the proposed equation will be
found by resolving two quadratic equations, viz.
a? — z'a;-|-l=0, x? — s"#+l=0.
132. It maybe observed, respecting these two quadra¬
tic equations, that since the last term of each is unity, if
we put a, a' to denote the roots of the one, and b, U those
of the other, we have, from the theory of equations, a ci
= 1, and therefore a'=—; also b &'=!, and Uzz\: now a,
a o
a', b, b' are also the roots of the equation
^-{-pxP + qx2 -{-px-{-1=0.
Hence it appears that the proposed equation has this
peculiar property, that one half of its roots are the reci¬
procals of the other half; and to that circumstance we
are indebted for the simplicity of its resolution.
133. The following equation,
x6 -{-px^ qxx rx? -j- qx? -\-px -f 1=0,
which is of the sixth order, admits of a resolution in all
respects similar to the former; for, by putting it under
this form,
+* (*+j) +,'=0,
and putting also x so that x2—zx-^-l — 0, we
have x2 — %
^ — 3(x+ ^)=2r3 ^z'
Hence, by substitution, the proposed equation is trans¬
formed into the following cubic equation,
z?-{-pz2-{-(q — 3)z-{-7’ — 2p=0;
therefore, putting z', z", zf", to denote its roots, the six
roots of the proposed equation will be had by resolving
these three quadratics,
ic2 — z'a;-1-1=0, x? — z'rx-{-lzz0, x? —
and here it is evident, as in the former case, that the roots
of each quadratic equation are the reciprocals of eac
other, so that the one half of the roots of the propose
equation are the reciprocals of the other half.
The method of resolution we have employed in thetvio
preceding examples is general for all equations whate''er>
in which the terms placed at equal distances from the rs
ALGEBRA.
461
an(l iast have the same co-efficients, and which are called
reciprocal equations, because any such equation has the
same form when you substitute for x its reciprocal,
134. If the greatest exponent of the unknown quantity
in a reciprocal equation is an odd number, as in this
example, - .
x> qz? -if qx? ^.px lz=0,
the equation will always be satisfied by substituting — 1
for x; hence, — 1 must be a root of the equation, and
therefore the equation must be divisible by Ac¬
cordingly, if the division be actually performed, we shall
have in the present case
(p — l)^3 — ^1)^+(p — 1>+1=0,
another reciprocal equation, in which the greatest expon¬
ent of a; is an even number, and therefore resolvable in the
manner we have already explained.
135. As an application of the theory of reciprocal equa¬
tion, let it be proposed to find x from this equation,
m5-]-1
(i+Ty5-0'’
where a denotes a given number.
Every expression of the form xn + 1 is divisible by a?-|-1
when n is an odd number. In the present case, the nume¬
rator and denominator being divided by #+1, the equa¬
tion becomes .
tr4—ar3-}-#2 — m+1 _
6a^4-4«-f-\~a’
and this again, by proper reduction,
(a—l)a^+(4aq- —l)a^-j-(4a+ l)a;4-a—1=0;
. . +1 6® — 1
and, putting p = q =
1 = 0;
a reciprocal equation, resolvable into two quadratics.
Sect.XIV.—Of Equations which have Equal Roots.
136. When an equation has two or more equal roots,
these may always be discovered, and the equation reduc¬
ed to another of an inferior degree, by a method of resolu¬
tion which is peculiar to this class of equations.
Although the method of resolution we are to employ
will apply alike to equations of every degree, having equal
roots, yet, for the sake of brevity, we shall take a bi¬
quadratic equation,
a4 -fpar3 -f- qx2+ra? -f- s= 0,
the roots of which may be generally denoted by a, b, c,
and d. Thus we have, from the theory of equations,
{x—a)(x — &)(,r—c)(x — 6?)=x4 -{-pcfi qx2 -{- rx + 5=0.
Let us put
A = (x — a)(x — b)(x — c), A" = (x — a)(x — c) (x—d),
A—(x — a)(x — b)(x —d), Am=(x—b)(x — e)(x—d):
then, by actual multiplication, we have
A =ar3—aA -f-r/A4
—b > afi+acV x — abc,
-A +bc)
A' —a?—al }
—& f ofi-Jf-adp x — abd,
—d) +bd)
A"—x?—oA
—c V xt+adV x — acd,
—d} -\-bd)
A'"=d?—b'l +bc^
—cycp+bdyx — bed;
—d y -}■ Cflf j
and taking the sum of these four equations;
A + A' + A" + A'"=4«3—3a ^ +2ab'
v_ -f" 2o!c —abc
—3c f 4- I —abd
—3dj -j- 2bc x—acd
-j- ^J)d —bed.
\-2cd ^
But since a, b, c, d are the roots of the equation
x4 -f-px3 + qx2 4- xx 4- 5= 0,
we have —3{a-\-b-\.c-Jrd)z-3p,
2(a&4-ac 4-ac?4-ic4-ic?4-cc?)=25',
—(abc 4- abd 4- acd 4- bed)—r;
therefore, by substitution,
A 4- A' 4- A" 4- A'"—4X3 4- Bpx2 4- ~qx 4- x.
Algebra.
137. Let us now suppose that the proposed biquadratic
equation has two equal roots, or a—b; then x—a—x—b,
and since one or other of these equal factors enters each
of the four products A, A!, A!', A'", it is evident that
A4-A'4-A"4-A"', or 4x3 4- Spx3 4- 2qx 4. r must be divisi¬
ble by x—a, or x—b. Thus it appears that if the pro¬
posed equation
x4 4-px3 4-^x2 4-xx 4-0
have two equal roots, each of them must also be a root of
this equation,
4X3 4-Spx2 4-S^x 4-x=0;
for when the first of these equations is divisible by (x—of;
the latter is necessarily divisible by x- -a.
138. Let us next suppose that the proposed equation
has three equal roots, or a—b—c; then, two at least of the
three equal factors x—a, x—b, x—c, must enter each of
the four products A, A', A", A!"; so that in this case,
A4-A'4-A"4-A'", or 4x34-3x24-2§'x4-x, must be twice
divisible by x—a. Hence it follows, that as often as the
proposed equation has three equal roots, two of them must
also be equal roots of the equation
4x3 4- Spx2 4- 2<yx 4- x= 0.
139. Proceeding in the same manner, it maybe shown,
that whatever number of equal roots are in the proposed
equation
' x44-px34-5'x24-xx4-s=0,
they will remain, except one, in this equation,
4^ 4- Spx2 4- 2,qx 4- r=0,
which may be derived from the former, by multiplying
each of its terms by the exponent of x in that term, and
then diminishing the exponent by unity.
140. If we suppose that the proposed equation has two
equal roots, or a—b, and also two other equal roots, or c—d,
then, by reasoning as before, it will appear that the equa¬
tion derived from it must have one root equal to a or b,
and another equal to c or d; so that when the former is
divisible both by (x—a)2 and (x—c)2, the latter will be
divisible by (x—a) (x—c).
141. The same mode of reasoning may be extended to
all equations whatever; so that if we suppose
xm4-Pxm-14-Qxm-2 .... 4-Sx24-Tx4-U=0,
an equation of the m\h degree, to have a divisor of this
form,
(x—a)n (x—d)? (x—f)’... Ac.
the equation
(m — 1) Pxffl_2 4- (m — 2) Qx™-3 .... 4-2Sx
4-t=°,
which is of the next lower degree, will have for a divisor
(x—a)n-1 (x—d)r~l (x—fyi-1 . . . &c.
and as this last product must be a divisor of both equa-
\
462
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, tions, it may always be discovered by the rule which has
-^^■^been given (sect. 20) for finding the greatest common
divisor of two algebraic quantities.
142. Again, as this last equation must, in the case of
equal roots, have the same properties as the original
equation; therefore, if we multiply each of its terms by
the exponent of a?, and diminish that exponent by unity,
as before, we have
m{m—1) »m-2 + (m—1) (m — 2) Pa;”1-3 + (ni — 2)
(m—3) Qx™-4 .... +2S=0,
a new equation, which has for a divisor
(x—a)n~2 (x—d)p~2
where the exponents of the factors are one less than those
of the equation from which it was derived; and as this
last divisor is also a divisor of the original equation, it
may be discovered in the same manner as the former,
namely, by finding the greatest common measure of
both equations; and so on we may proceed, as far as we
please.
143. As a particular example, let us take this equation,
a^_13a^+67a?—17 Lc2 + 216*—108=0,
and apply to it the method we have explained, in order
to discover whether it has equal roots, and if so, what
they are. We must therefore seek the greatest common
measure of the proposed equation and this other equa¬
tion, which is formed agreeably to what has been shown,
sect. 139,
5xi—52a?+20 la?—342a;+216=0 ;
and the operation being performed, we find that they
have a common divisor, a?—8a?+ 2la;—18, which is of
the third degree, and consequently may have several fac¬
tors. Let us therefore try whether the last equation, and
the following,
20a’3—156a?+402a—342=0,
which is derived from it, as directed in sect. 139, have
any common divisor; and, by proceeding as before, we
find that they admit of this divisor, a—3, which is also a
factor of the last divisor, a?—8a?-f-21a—18 ; and therefore
the product of remaining factors is immediately found by
division to be a?—5a-[-6, which is evidently resolvable
into a—2 and a—3.
Thus it appears, upon the whole, that the common di¬
visor of the original equation, and that which is imme¬
diately derived from it, is (a—2) (a—3)2; and that the
common divisor of the second and third equations is a—3.
Hence it follows that the proposed equation has (a—2)2
for one factor, and (a—3)3 for another factor; so that the
equation itself may be expressed thus, (a—2)2 (a—3)3=0;
and the truth of this conclusion may be easily verified by
multiplication.
Sect. XV.—Resolution of Equations whose Roots
are Rational.
144. It has been shown in sect. 100, that the last term
of any equation is always the product of its roots taken
with contrary signs. Hence, when the roots are rational,
they may be discovered by the following rule:
Bring all the terms of the equation to one side; find
all the divisors of the last term, and substitute them suc¬
cessively for the unknown quantity. Then each divi¬
sor, which produces a result equal to 0, is a root of the
equation.
Ex. 1. Lets?—4a?—7a;-f-10=0.
The divisors of 10, the last term, are 1, 2, 5, 10, each
of which may be taken either positively or negatively a
and these being substituted successively for x, we obtainV-
the following results: ^
!bra.
-V
By putting 1 for x, 1— 4— 7 -f-10= 0
—1, —I— 4-f- 7-{-10= 12,
_p2, 8— 16—14+10=—12,
—2, —8— 16 + 14+10= 0,
+ 5, 125—100—35+10= 0.
Here the divisors which produce results equal to 0 are
+1, —2, and +5 ; therefore these are the three roots of
the proposed equation.
145. When the number of divisors to be tried is con¬
siderable, it will be convenient to transform the equation
into another, in which the last term has fewer divisors.
This may in general be done by forming an equation,
the roots of which are greater or less than those of the
proposed equation by some determinate quantity; as in the
following example:
Ex. 2. Let y4—fy3—8?/+32=0 be proposed.
Here the divisors to be tried are 1, 2, 4, 8,16, 82, each
taken either positively or negatively; but to prevent the
trouble of so many substitutions, transform the equation,
by putting x-\-l for y.
Then y1=a?+4a?+ 6a?+ 4a;+ 1,
—47/3= —4a?—12a?—12a;— 4,
—8?/ = — 8a;— 8,
+ 32 = +32.
Therefore a? — 6a?—16a;+21=0
is the transformed equation, and the divisors of the last
term are +1, —1, +3, —3, +7, —7. These being put
successively for x, we get +1 and + 3 for two roots of
the equation ; as to the two remaining roots, it is easy to
see that they must be imaginary. They may, however,
be readily exhibited by considering that the equation
a?—6a?—16a;+21 = 0 is divisible by the product of the
two factors x—1 and a?—3, and therefore may be reduced
to a quadratic. Accordingly, by performing the division,
and putting the quotient equal 0, we have this equation,
a?+4a;+7=0,
the roots of which are the imaginary quantities—2+v'—3
and —2—V—3; so that, since ?/=a;+1, the roots of the
equation y4—4;/3—8?/+ 32=0 are these, ^= + 2,y=+4,
?/=—l + V—3, y=—1—V—3.
If this literal equation were proposed,
a?—(3a + 5)a? + ( 2a2+3ab)x—2a2b—0,
by proceeding as before, we should find xzza,
x—b for the roots.
146. To avoid the trouble of trying all the divisors of
the last term, a rule may be investigated for restricting
the number to very narrow limits as follows:
Suppose that the cubic equation a?+jpa?+§tt;+7’=0 18
to be resolved. Let it be transformed into another, the
roots of which are less than those of the proposed equa¬
tion by unity. This may be done by assuming y~x b
and the last term of the transformed equation will be
l+jo + ^ + r. Again, by assuming y—x-\-\, another
equation will be formed whose roots exceed those of the
proposed equation by unity, and the last term of this
other transformed equation will be —1+yi—§'+r‘ -^n(
it is to be observed, that these two quantities l+7,+5'+r
and —l+jt>—<7+r are formed from the proposed equa¬
tion a?+joa?+5'a;+7’ by substituting successively -H
and —1 for x.
\1£rf a. Now the values of x are some of the divisors of r, which
is the term left in the proposed equation, when x is sup¬
posed = 0; and the values of y are some of the di¬
visors of l-\-p+q+r and —1 + —q-\-r respectively;
and these are in arithmetical progression, increasing by
the common difference, unity; because x—1, #, #+1, are
in that progression ; and it is obvious that the same rea¬
soning will apply to an equation of any degree whatever.
Hence the following rule :
Substitute in place of the unknown quantity, succes¬
sively, three or more terms of the progression 1, 0, —1,
&c. and find all the divisors of the sums that result; then
take out all the arithmetical progressions that can be
found among these divisors, whose common difference is
1, and the values of x will be among these terms of the
progressions, which are the divisors of the result arising
from the substitution of ^—0. When the series increases,
the roots will be positive; and when it decreases, they
will be negative.
Ex. 1. Let it be required to find a root of the equation
$—3?—Kte-f- 6=0.
ALGEBRA.
or UOy—384-0,
Substit.
Result.
x= + l (
x= 0*|
x=—1 (
a?—
—10a;-[-6
H
— 4
+ 6
+ 14
Divisors.
1. 2. 4.
1. 2. 3. 6.
1. 2. 7. 14.
Prog.
In this example there is only one progression, 4, 3, 2,
the term of which opposite to the supposition of a;=:0
being 3, and the series decreasing, we try if —3 substi¬
tuted for x makes the equation vanish; and as it succeeds,
it follows that —3 is one of its roots. To find the re¬
maining roots, if x3—x2—10a;+6 be divided by a;+3, and
the quotient a.12—4a;+2 put =0, they will appear to be
2+^/2, and 2—V2.
Ex. 2. Let the proposed equation be
a^ + ar3—29a?—9a;+180=0.
To find its roots.
I-
_ one root of which is y=3; hence a;=^=l
The proposed equation being now divided by a;—£ ;s rp_
duced to tins quadratic, a?—a:+ 8=0, the roots of’which
are both impossible.
148.. When the co-efficients of an equation are integers
and unity that of the highest power of the unknown quan¬
tity, if its roots are not found among the divisors of the
last term, we may be certain that, whether the equation
be pure or adfected, its roots cannot be exactly express¬
ed either by whole numbers or rational fractions. This
may be demonstrated by means of the following proposi¬
tion. If a prime number P be a divisor of the product of
two numbers A and B, it will also be a divisor of at least
one of the numbers.
Let us suppose that it does not divide B, and that B is
greater than P ; then, putting g for the greatest number
of times that P can be had in B, and B' for the remainder,
we have p^+p-, and therefore
AB AB'
P -?A + -p--
Hence it appears, that if P be a divisor of AB, it is
also a divisor of A B'. Now B' is less than P, for it is the
remainder which is found in dividing B by P ; therefore
seeing we cannot divide B' by P, let P be divided by B'’
and y put for the quotient, also B" for the remainder!
I3™,,1?1' p !'e by B", and g" put for the quotient,
and B for the remainder, and so on; and as P is sup¬
posed to be a prime number, it is evident that this se¬
nes of operations may be continued till a remainder be
found equal to unity, which will at last be the case ; for
the divisors are the successive remainders of the divisions,
and therefore each is less than the divisor which preceded
it. By performing these operations, we obtain the follow¬
ing series of equations;
Sub.
Res.
70
144
180
160
90
F=g' B' +B",
Divisors.
1. 2. 5. 7. 10. 14. 35. 70.
L 2. 3. 4. 6. 8. 9. 12, &c.
L 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 9. 10, &c.
1. 2. 4. 5. 8. 10. 16. 20, &c.
L 2. 3. 5. 6. 9. 10. 15, &c.
Progressions.
&c.
f B'=
P—B"
<i
P=7" B"+B'", j> and therefore < P—B
J
Hence we have AB'=
AP—AB"
4
B"
and
v
&c.
Here there are four progressions, two increasing and two
n2as!ng;,hence’by taking their terms’ which are °p-
posite to the supposition of a;=0, we have these four
+3> +4, —3, —5, to be tried as roots of the
^all of which are found to succeed.
be a frit,-n"7 °1the c°-?fficients of the proposed equation
Other b1- ’ ^he e(luatlon maybe transformed into an-
aml tbhaVmf ‘I16 c°-efficient of the highest power unity,
hose of the remaining terms integers by sect. 112
tho^e^ofTl018 0t the t.ransformed equation being found!
from them ^ pr0p0Sed e(luatlon may be easily derived
Tor example, if the proposed equation be x3 
^ 6—0, let us assume Thus the equation is
transformed to
64 64”*" 16 6~°’
^AB' AP—AB" A AB"
P - P -A p~-
Now, if AB be divisible by P, we have shown that AB',
and consequently y'AB', is divisible by P; therefore, from
the last equation, it appears that AB" must also be divi¬
sible by P.
Again, from the preceding series of equations, we have
AP—AB'" , , „
AB = — , and therefore
<7"AB" AP—AB'" . AB'"
~p~=—p—=A— -p-;
hence we conclude that AB'" is also divisible by P.
Proceeding in this manner, and observing that the
series of quantities B', B", B'", &c. continually decrease
till one of them =1, it is evident that we shall at last
come to a product of this form, A X 1, which must be di¬
visible by P, and hence the truth of the proposition is
manifest.
149. It follows from this proposition, that if the prime
number P, which we have supposed not to be a divisor of
464
Algebra.
ALGEBRA.
B, is at the same time not a divisor of A, it cannot be a
> divisor of AB, the product of A and B.
Let - be a fraction in its lowest terms, then the num-
a
bers a and b have no common divisor; but from what has
been just now shown, it appears, that if a prime number
be not a divisor of a, it cannot be a divisor of « X a or ^’
and in like manner, that if a prime number is not a divi¬
sor of 5, it cannot be a divisor of & X 6, or Z*2; therefore
it is evident that a2 and l? have no common divisor, and
thus the fraction —r is also in its lowest terms.
az
Hence it follows that the square of any fractional quan¬
tity is still a fraction, and cannot possibly be a whole num¬
ber; and, on the contrary, that the square root of a whole
number cannot possibly be a fraction; so that all such
whole numbers as are not perfect squares can neither have
their roots expressed by integers nor by fractions.
Seeing that if a prime number is not a divisor of «,
it is also not a divisor of «2; therefore, if it is not a di¬
visor of a, it cannot be a divisor of a x a2 or a3 ; and by
reasoning in this way, it is obvious that if a prime number
is not a divisor of a, it cannot be a divisor of an ; also, that
if it is not a divisor of Z», it cannot be a divisor of bn there-
h bn
fore if - is a fraction in its lowest terms, — is also a frac-
a a
tion in its lowest terms; so that any power whatever of a
fraction is also a fraction ; and on the contrary, any root
of a whole number is also a whole number. Hence it fol¬
lows, that if the root of a whole number is not expressible
by an integer, such root cannot be expressed by a fraction,
but is therefore irrational or incommensurable.
150. Let us next suppose that
xn _j. p^w-i Qxn-2 I- Ttf+U=0
is any equation whatever, in which P, Q, &c. denote integer
numbers ; then, if its roots are not integers, they cannot
possibly be rational fractions. For, if possible, let us sup¬
pose a fraction reduced to its lowest terms ; then, by
substitution,
nn /7«—1 nn~% ft,
£ + Pf=i+ai»- + T5+U=0;
and, reducing all the terms to a common denominator,
an + Van~lb + Qan~W... + Tabn~x + UZ»n=0;
which equation may also be expressed thus,
. an + b(Van~l + Qan-2b2... + Tabn-2 +
where the equation consists of two parts, one of which is
divisible by b. But by hypothesis a and b have no com¬
mon measure, therefore an is not divisible by b, sect. 149 ;
hence it is evident that the two parts of the equation can¬
not destroy each other as they ought to do; therefore x
cannot possibly be a fraction.
Let the proposed equation be A,
ot?—5a;2-}-Kte—15=0, 01)
which, by collecting the positive terms into one sum, and
the negative into another, may also be expressed thus,
^4- 10a; — (5a;2 +15)=0 ;
then, to determine a root of the equation, we must find
such a number as, when substituted for x, will render
ar5-!- 10a;=5a;2 -j-15.
Let us suppose x to increase and to have every degree
of magnitude, from 0 upwards in the scale of number;
then a-3-!- 10a? and 5a2+15 will both continually increase,
but with different degrees of quickness, as appears from
the following table.
Successive values of a?; 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, &c.
 of 10a;; 0, 11, 28, 57, 104, 175, 276, &c.
 of 5a?+15; 15, 20, 35, 60, 95, 140, 195, &c.
By inspecting this table, it appears that while x increases
from 0 to a certain numerical value, which exceeds 3, the
positive part of the equation, or a3+ 10a?, is always less than
the negative part, or 5x>+15; so that the expression
a?3+ 10a; — (Sa^+lS) or a? — 5a?+10a;—15
must necessarily be negative.
It also appears, that when x has increased beyond that
numerical value, and which is evidently less than 4, the
positive part of the equation, instead of being less than the
negative part, is now greater, and therefore the expression
a^— 5a?+ 10a:— 15
is changed from a negative to a positive quantity.
Hence we may conclude that there is some real and
determinate value of a?, which is greater than 3, but less
than 4, and which will render the positive and negative
parts of the equation equal to one another; therefore that
value of x must be a root of the proposed equation; and
as what has been just now shown in a particular case will
readily apply to any equation whatever, the truth of the
proposition is obvious.
152. Two limits, between which all the roots of any
equation are contained, may be determined by this other
proposition:
II. Let N be the greatest negative co-efficient in any
equation. Change the signs of the terms taken alternately,
beginning with the second, and let N' be the greatest ne¬
gative co-efficient after the signs are so changed. Ihe
positive roots of the equation are contained between 0 and
N + l, and the negative roots between 0 and —N' !•
Suppose the equation to be
—Jpx3+<73?2 — rx — 5=0,
which may be also expressed thus:
Then, whatever be the values of the co-efficients p, ty r>
&c. it is evident that x may be taken so great as to render
Sect. XVI.—Resolution of Equations by Approxi¬
mation.
151. When the roots of an equation cannot be accurate¬
ly expressed by rational numbers, it is necessary to have
recourse to methods of approximation; and by these we
can always determine the numerical values of the roots to
as great a degree of accuracy as we please.
The application of methods of approximation is rendered
easy by means of the following propositions :
I. If two numbers, either whole or fractional, be found,
which, when substituted for the unknown quantity in any
equation, produce results with contrary signs, we may
conclude that at least one root of the proposed equation
is between those numbers, and is consequently real.
■ as small as we please,
P, <1 __ I—i-, less
• • P Q
each of the quantities : ~
and therefore their sum, or —^+^ — ^
than 1; but in that case the quantity
K1 -
ora?4—jo^+^a?2—rx-\-s,
will be positive, and such, that the first term x is gre
than the sum of all the remaining terms; there oie a
a?4+5,a?2, the sum of the positive terms, will be
greater than jsa;3+ra?+5, the sum of the negative e
Hence it follow's, that if a number be found,
substituted for x, renders the expression J ery
— rx — s positive, and which is also such, tna
ALGEBRA.
, )ra. greater number has the same property, that number will
exceed the greatest positive root of the equation.
Now, if we suppose N to be the greatest negative co¬
efficient, it is evident that the positive part of the equa¬
tion, or ar*-}-^2, is greater than px5 +rx-\-s, provided
+ 26*087 + 46*172?/, &c.
— 4^=—46*172 —61*291/, &c.
— 3*=— 6*780— 3?/
+ 27 =+27
tion, or ar-f-yx , is greaier man px~ -\-rx-^-s, provided —  
thatar4 is greater than N a;3 + Na;2 + Na?+N, or N (3^+ 0 = *135  
i ‘ISS
^2+3;+1); but x3 + x'2 + x +1—J, therefore a Hence y=j^-^=*0075, and a;=2*26+y=2*2675. This
18*119y nearly.
positive result will be obtained, if for x there be substitut-
ed a number such that ^ 1*’ or ^
x4 — N. Now this last condition will evidently be fulfill¬
ed if we take x5—ai^Na?4, and from this equation we find
a=N+l; but it further appears that the same condition
will also be fulfilled as often as a?5 — a^^Nar4, or a? •— 1
-^N, that is, xz^N-\-1, therefore N+1 must be a limit
to the greatest positive root of the proposed equation, as
was to be shown.
If—y be substituted for +a?, the equation a4—px3 +ya2
— rx—s=0 will be transformed into ]^-\-py3 +ry
— s=0; which equation differs from the former only in
the signs of the second, fourth, &c. terms; and as the posi¬
tive roots of this last equation are the same as the nega¬
tive roots of the proposed equation, it is evident that their
limit must be such as has been assigned.
153. From the two preceding propositions it will not be
difficult to discover, by means of a few trials, the nearest
integers to the roots of any proposed numeral equation;
and those being found, we may approximate to the roots
continually, as in the following example :
a/ — 4a;3 * —3.r+27=Q.
Here the greatest negative co-efficient being 4, it follows,
sect. 152, that the greatest positive root is less than 5.
If — y be substituted for a?, the equation is transformed to
y4 + 4y3 * + 3y + 27=0,
an equation having all its terms positive; therefore it can
have no positive roots, and consequently the proposed
equation can have no negative roots : its real roots must
therefore be contained between 0 and + 5.
To determine the limits of each root in particular, let
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, be substituted successively for x ; thus we
obtain the following corresponding results :
Substitutions for x, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
Results, + 27, + 21, +5, — 9, +15.
Hence it appears that the equation has two real roots,
one between 2 and 3, and another between 3 and 4.
That we may approximate to the first root, let us sup¬
pose x=2+y, whereby is a fraction less than unity, and
therefore its second and higher powers but small in com¬
parison to its first power: hence, in finding an approxi¬
mate value ofy, they may be rejected. Thus we have
a4= +16 + 32y, &c.
— 4x,3=—32 — 48y, &c.
— 3x =— 6— 3y
+ 27 = + 27
value of x is true to the last figure, but a more accurate
value may be obtained by supposing #=2*2675+y", and
finding the value of y" in the same manner as we have
already found those of ?/ and y ; and thus the approxi¬
mation may be continued till any required degree of ac¬
curacy be obtained.
The second root of the equation, which we have^ al¬
ready found to be between 3 and 4, may be investigated
in the same manner as the first, and will appear to be
3*6797, the approximation being carried on to the fourth
figure of the decimal, in determining each root.
154. In the preceding example we have shown how to
approximate to the roots of an adfected equation; but the
same method will also apply to pure equations.
For example, let it be required to determine x from
this equation, #-3=2.
Because x is greater than 1 and less than 2, but nearer
to the former number than to the latter, let us assume
x= 1 +y S tlien> rejecting the powers of y which exceed
the first, we have #3=l+3y, and therefore 2=l + 3y,
and ?/=J-=*3 nearly; hence #=1*3 nearly.
Let us next assume #=1*3 + ?/, then, proceeding as
before, we find 2=2*197+ 5*07y, hence y= 
=—*039, and #=1*3 — *039=1*26 nearly.
To find a still nearer approximation, let us suppose
#= 1*26+y, then, from this assumption we find y =
—*000079, and therefore #=1*259921, which value is
true to the last figure.
155. By assuming an equation of any order with literal
co-efficients, a general formula may be investigated for
approximating to the roots of equations belonging to that
particular order.
Let us take for an example the cubic equation
#3+j»#2+y# + 7*= 0,
and suppose that #=a+y, where a is nearly equal to #,
and y is a small fraction. Then, by substituting «+y for
# in the proposed equation, and rejecting the powers of y
which exceed the first, on account of their smallness, we
have
d? +jpa2 + yr/ + r + (3a2 + 3y« + q)y— 0.
Hence y=- 5!+/^+7«+’'
and
^ Hence 0= 5—19y nearly,
and yr;—-..gQ. therefore, for a first approximation we
We «=2*26.
Let us next suppose #=2*26+y'; then, rejecting as be-
?re t*,e second and higher powers of y on account of
eir smafiness,and retaining three decimal places, we have
3a2 + 2j»a + g' ’
a3 + joa2 + + ?* 2a3 +y>«2 — r
3a2 + 2pa + q — 3a2 + *2y?o! + /
Let it be required to approximate to a root of the
cubic equation #3 + 2#2 + 3# — 50=0. Here/>=2, y=3,
and r— — 50; and by trials it appears that # is between
2 and 3, but nearest the latter number; therefore, for
the first approximation, a may be supposed =3, hence we
find
r 2«3+/>«2 r 122 r, i
— 3a2 + 2jt?a + $' ^ 21"
By substituting for a in the formula, and proceeding as
The
anS „ "" Sl^ denotes that the quantities between which it is placed are unequal.
•^L c, that a is less than c.
V0L. II.
Thus a 6 signifies that a is greater than b.
3 N
466
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, before, a value of x would be found more exact than the
'former, and so on we may go as far as we please.
156. The method we have hitherto employed for ap¬
proximating to the roots of equations is known by the
name of the method of successive substitutions, and was first
proposed by Newton. It has been since improved by
Lagrange, who has given it a form which has the advan¬
tage of showing the progress made in the approximation
by each operation. This improved form we now proceed
to explain.
Let a denote the whole number next less to the root
changes of the signs, it follows that the equation Ale
positive roots, one between 1*2 and 1-4, and an-^
1
sought, and - a fraction, which, when added to a, com-
V
pletes the root; then x—a-f-j If this value of x be sub¬
stituted in the proposed equation, a new equation involv¬
ing y will be had, which, when cleared of fractions, will
necessarily have a root greater than unity.
Let b be the whole number which is next less than
that root; then, for a first approximation, we have x—
here two
has two positive
other between L6 and 1'8.
Hence it appears, that to find either value of x, we may
assume a;=l4--; then, by substitution, we have
y
S'3 —%2+%+1=0-
The limit of the positive root of this last equation is 5,
and by substituting 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, successively for y, it will
be found to have two, one between 1 and 2, and the other
between 2 and 3. Therefore, for a first approximation,
we have
£=1+^, that is, x—% xz=\.
To approach nearer to the first value of y, let us take
yz=. 1 -j—and therefore
But b being only an approximate value of y, in the
same manner as a is an approximate value of x, we may
suppose then, by substituting £+- for y, we
shall have a new equation, involving only f, which must
be greater than unity. . Putting therefore bi to denote the
next whole number less than the root of the equation in¬
volving y, we have yz=.b-\--^-=.—and substituting this
value in that of x, the result is
b'
x—af-
bb'Jf 1
for a second approximate value of x.
To find a third value, we may take yt—b'-\- — \\hen if 5"
denote the next whole number less than we have
, 7, 1 b'b"+\ .
y =^+jr= ^ ■> whence
, b" bb'V'+b"+b .
2'=S+W4TL=-6^I-’ and
b'b"+\
x-a+bb'b"+b" Jf-V
and so on, to obtain more accurate approximations.
We shall apply this method to the following example:
a? —7*-}-7=0.
Here the positive roots must be between 0 and 8; let us
to 8, and
7,
8,
therefore substitute successively, 0, 1, 2,
we obtain the following results :
Substitutions.
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
Results.
+ 7, +1, +1, +13, +43, +97, +181, +301, +463.
But as these results have all the same sign, nothing can be
concluded respecting the magnitude of the roots from
that circumstance alone. It is however observable, that
while x increases from 0 to 1, the results decrease; but
that whatever successive magnitudes x has greater than
2, the results increase. We may therefore reasonably con¬
clude, that if the equation have any positive roots, they
must be between 1 and 2. Accordingly, by substituting
P2, P4, T6, and T8, successively for x, we find these re¬
sults, + *328, —-056, —T04, +*232; and as there are
ys _ sya _y+i-o.
This last equation will be found to have only one real
root between 2 and 3 ; from which it appears that y=
l+£=f, and a?=l + f=f.
Let us next suppose y=2 + —; hence we find
y"3 _ 3y"2 _ 4y' — 1=0,
and from this equation, y" is found to be between 4 and
5. Taking the least limit we have
y=2+£=f, y=l+$=^, x=l+fj=f§.
It is easy to continue this process, by assuming f=
4+p and so on, as far as may be judged necessary.
We return to the second value of x, which was found
= | by the first approximation, and which corresponds to
y=2. Putting y=2 +and substituting this value in
the equation y3 — 4<y2 + 3«/+1 = 0, which was formerly
found, we get
y3+y2_2y—1 = 0.
This, as well as the corresponding equation employed in
determining the other value of x, has only one root
greater than unity, which root being between 1 and 2,
let us take y'= 1, we thence find
y=3, and ;r=l + |= J.
Puty=l + -^7, and we thence find by substitution
y'3 _ sy'2 _ qy' —1=0,
an equation which gives y" between 4 and 5; hence, as
before,
y=f, y=1/, *=11-
That we may proceed in the approximation, we have
only to suppose and so on.
The equation x? — 7« + 7 has also a negative root be¬
tween — 3 and — 4; and to find a nearer value, put
xts.— 3 — -; hence,y3 — 20y2 — 9^—1=0, andyT7^
21; and therefore, for the first approximation, x~
V
—3—^ = —By putting y=20+-,&c. we may
ob¬
tain successive values of x, each of which will be more
exact than that which preceded it. (
157. The successive equations which involve y, f}]"1
&c. have never more than one root greater than uni y,
ALGEBRA.
Aibra. unless two or more roots of the proposed equation are
-^contained between the limits a and « + 1; but then, as in
the preceding example, some one of the equations involv¬
ing y> &c- ^ave rc101,6 one r<>ot greater than
unity, and from each root a series of equations may be
derived, by which we may approximate to the particular
roots of the proposed equation contained between the
limits a and a + 1.
Sect. XVII.—Of Intinite Series.
158. The resolving of any proposed quantity into a
series, is a problem of considerable importance in the
application of algebra to the higher branches of the ma¬
thematics; and there are various methods by which it
may be performed, suited to the particular forms of the
quantities.
Any rational fraction may be resolved into a series, by
the common operation of algebraic division, as in the fol¬
lowing examples :
ax
Ex, 1. To change   into an infinite series.
467
a — x
a — ;rj<
Operation.
/ , a?2 , a3 . ar4 „
(a+ b~ + ~3> &c*
V a or a6
■ 3?
r3
-t-*2 ——
a
+ 3?
a
3?
+ '
a4
a1
/yi3 ryA.
+^+—3+,&c,
a2 a3
Thus it appears that
ax 3?
 =#-] 
a — x a
Here the law of the series being evident, the terms
may be continued at pleasure.
Ex. 2. By a like process we find
a2 .-1 &c
(a+a)2
os4
the law of continuation being evident.
159. A second method by which algebraic quantities,
"hether rational or irrational, may be converted into
series, and which is also of very extensive use in the
uglier parts of the mathematics, consists in assuming a
senes with indeterminate co-efficients, and having its
terms arranged according to the powers of some quantity
contained in the proposed expression.
That we may explain this method, let us suppose that
the fraction ——— 
a,2 -t-ax-t-x'2
pioceeding by the powers of x.
assume
a2 hff 'ffoidw lo fbfiO lo goulnv -w:,, - ; .
= A + Bai+C^ + D^+Ear4-}-, &c.
where A denotes those terms of the series into which x
ocs not at enter, Bx the terms which contain only
the first power of *, Cx2 the terms which contain only Algebra,
the second power, and so on. Let both sides of the'
equation be multiplied by a2 + ax+x“, so as to take
away the denominator of the fraction, and let the nume¬
rator a2 be transposed to the other side, so that the
whole expression may be rr 0; then
is to be converted into a series
We are therefore to
a2 A + a2B 1
— a2+aAj
+a2C) +a2D) +«2E)
+ a B a2 +a C >- a2 -f « D >- a4, &c. = 0.
+ A)
+ c)
+ B)
Now the quantities A, B, C, D, &c. being supposed to
be entirely' independent of any particular value of x, it
follows that the whole expression can only be = 0, upon
the supposition that the terms which multiply the same
powers of x are separately = 0; for if that were not the
case, it would follow that x had a determinate relation to
the quantities A, B, C, &c. which is contrary to what we
have supposed. To determine the quantities A, B, C,
&c. therefore, we have this series of equations,
«2A — a2 =0, henceA^= 1;
a2B-j-«A — 0,
«2C + aB + A=0,
«2D + aC + B=:0,
B =
xoiijqe .
C =
D-
201
nova
E
a
JB
a
a
D
a
&c.
a2
_B
d2
n'£
■— 0
1
«2 E -j- dD C rr 0,
&c. ‘
Here the law of relation which takes place among the
quantities A, B, C, D, &c. is evident, viz. that if P, Q, R
denote any three co-efficients which immediately follow'
each other,
«2 R + aQ + P— 0;
and from this equation, by means of the co-efficients al¬
ready determined, we find F = 0, G z= -4-, H = —,
a6 o7’
K=0, &c.
Therefore, resuming the assumed equation, and sub¬
stituting for A, B, C, &c. their respective values, we
have
d2 ai * . x3 ic4 . x6
1 * +
/y>4
— * + ■
%1
* +,&c.
a2 + ax-\-x2
As a second example of the method of indeterminate
co-efficients, let it be required to express the square
root a2 —x2 by means of a series. For this purpose we
might assume •
Va2 — ^irA + Bic+C^+D^+Eir4-}-, &c.;
but as we would then find the co-efficients of the odd
powers of x to be each z= 0, let us rather assume
Va2 — x2 = A + Bx2 + Cdl + D3fi + , &c.
then, squaring both sides, and transposing, we have
' A2+2AB) +2AC) +2AD)
a
+
Hence A2 — a2
2AB+1
n&ftj B.Grf
2AC + B2
1> x2
) + B2) +2BC
rrO, and A—a ;
1
a?6-f-, &c.
‘J3V9\
=0,
:0,
vm
AD + BC =0, D=
&c.
&c,
1
"2A'
B2
2A :
BC
' A :
OgO*
c=
1_
2a
J_
8a3 ’
1
16a5’
468
ALGEBRA-
Algebra, and substituting for A, B, C, &c. their values;
Va2—x‘2—a— —
2a
a?4
8^
16a5
&c.
from these equations, and divide each term of the series Ala
by the denominator —-2;, we have
‘-fa
m—2-
-f UVm~2 -f T)7"—1
, , „ . . . . • £ M”-1 JL-Un-<2V. . . -f '«Vn“2 4-Vn '
This method of resolving a quantity into any inhmte - Ln/„3 .,0, , „ « , „
series will be found more expeditious than any other, as "J" 2^ jl
often as the operations of division and evolution are to be z . /"h’
performed at the same time, as in these expressions, Now, as this last equation must be true, whatever be
the values of y and z, we may suppose »/=z, but in that
-r
or
Vaq—-a;2
Va2 -f x'2 v a3-far5
case l-fyrrl+z, or unz=.vn, and therefore u=.v. Thus
the equation is reduced to
160. The binomial theorem affords a third method of ^ . 2By+3Cv2+4D?/+5E?/-f, &c.
resolving quantities into series; but we must first show nun~l
how the theorem itself may be investigated.
Let a-f a? be any binomial quantity which is to be rais-
nu
or to the following :
m
ed to a power denoted by —, where m and n are any
numbers either positive or negative.
11
u“
—un (A-f2 By-f scy-f 4 D^-fS Ey4-!-, &c.);
so that, putting for um and un their values (l-fy)n and
Because a+x—a fl-f-V if we put - rry, then (a-f #)»»
\ ' aj ‘■a ™
we have
— an x(l+y)n ; therefore, instead of a-frr, we may
consider 1-fy, which is somewhat more simple in its
form.
By considering some integer powers of 1 + #, as
(1-fa?) zrl-f x,
(1-fa?)2 = l-f 2a?-f a?2,
(1-f a?)3r=l-f 3a;4"3,c2+ ^
(1-f a:)4 =l-f 4a;-f 6^2-f ^,a;3 + a'4>
&c.
it may be inferred that all powers of 1 -fa: have this form,
1-f Aa:-f Ba:2-f Ca^-f Da^-f Ea^-f, &c.
where the co-efficients A, B, C, D, E, &c. are numbers
which are altogether independent of any particular value
of x. It also appears that the series cannot contain any
negative power of x; for if any of its terms had this
form, ^
(1-f y)n=(l-f 7/)(A+2B^+3C^2+4Dy3+5Ey4+,&c)
_ f A +2 B7/ +3 Ct/2 -f 4 D^-f 5 E^-f, &c.
— ( -f Ay -f 2 By2 -f 3 Cy3 -f 4 Dy4 -f, &c.
But from the equation originally assumed we have
vi  
—(i+y)”-
n
^+irAj'+^ %2+^cy,+^D^+'
Therefore
f+fAy-ffBy2 + fC^-f^+,&c;
(A-f 2B?/-f 3Ct/2 -f 4D^ + SE^-f, &c.
= \ + A7/-f 2B/2 -f SCy3 -f4Dy4+,&c.
And as the co-efficients of the terms have noi connection
with any particular value of y, it follows that the co-effi-
, then the supposition of a:=0 would render that cient of any power of y on the one side of the equation
~ . r, , 1 i -i • ,, must be equal to the co-efficient of the same power of y
term indefinitely great; whereas the whole series ought h ^ side> Therefore, to determine A, B, C, &c.
in that case to be reduced to unity.
Let us therefore assume
(l-f^)>T=l + A3/-fB?/2-f C^+D^-f, &c.
Then we have also
(1-fz)n = l-f Az-fBz2-f C^-f D^-f Ez5-f, &c.
1 A
Let us put (l-{-y)n=u, (l-fz)nrrv, and therefore
m m
(1 _f yy —um, (1 -f z)n =vm ; then, taking the difference
between the two series, we have
um — vm=A (y — z) -f B(?/2 — z2) -f C (j/2—z3) -fD
(y4 — z4) -f E (^ — z5) -f, &c.
Because ?<"=l-fy and vn— 1 -f z, by subtracting the
latter equation from the former, we have un — vn-=:y — z;
hence, and from the last series, it follows that
um — vm A (y — z) B (y‘2 — z2) C (^/5 —^ z3 )
we have the following series of equations;
A — ■
hence A = —;
n
un — vn
D^-z4)
y — z
ECy5 — «5)
y — z
&c.
y — z
+
2B-f A=—A,
3C-f2B=^-B,
4D-f3C=-^C,
5E-f4D=—D,
n
&c.
B=
C=
D=-
A(^-0
<ir!)
E-
\ n
5
&c.
A (m — n)
~ 2n 5
B(m-2»);
— 3a
C (m — 3«)?
4w
D (m— 4?»).
bn
y — Z y—Z
But every expression of the form um — vm is divisible
by a — v, when m is a whole number. Thus we have
Urn Vm—(u Vs) (um~l -f Um~lV . . . -f uvm~2 -fTj”1"-1)
Un   Vn — (u Vs) (un~l -f iln~<2V . . . -f UVn~<2 -f 7;™—
um VT'
Or, substituting for A, B, C, &c. their values as deter¬
mined from the preceding equations:
m
A--
B
n
m (m ■
n)
so that if we substitute for
its value as found
C =
1 2a2 ’
_m (m — n) (m — 2n)
uri — v1
L'Wh'.
^ m (tn — n) (m — 2n) (m — 3n)
h . o : a zr>
1
E=^
2*3 ’ 4 w*
m — n) (m — 2n) (m — 3n) (m — 4n)
ALGEBRA.
Because
1
&c.
2 r 3 . 4 . 5 n° ’
Itesuming now the assumed equation
(l+y)» = l + Ay+B^ + c^+5 &c.
x - — H
and observing that and (a+x)n = an (1 +^)n, we
m l \*3Ti? S /»  
have (a-j-^)” expressed by the series
A(m — n) x2 B (m — 2n) x3
therefore
r+z
i z
1 j—
r
itfS
«— 1, x—-, m—
r
3, w=l.
~f ^ . m x , .
an (1+ +-
\ n a
2n
C(w — 3?j) D(m —
4» a4 5»
where A, B, C, &c. denote the co-efficients of the pre¬
ceding terms, or
3w a3
4«) ar5 \
(''+1/j=1.
r
3z
1*2^ 1-2-Sr3
G^;2 lOz3 15z4
&c.
(a+x)n = an +
m m — n , \
- , m —- , — n)
i« _J n n V I \ /
+
n(m — n)(m — 2n)
a <r x*
m(m — n) (m — 2n) (m •
+ FT-2
3n)’^±. .
1 • 2 • 3 • 4
and either of these formulae may be considered as a ge¬
neral theorem for raising a binomial quantity a4-# to anv
power whatever.
161. In determining the value of the expression 11 ~vmf
m=l, w=3, and y'a+i
when tt=v, it has been assumed that — is positive; but
the same conclusion will be obtained when is negative.
For, changing -\-m into —m, and observing that
um
= “:r(1 + ^
=^0+1
\-b V2b* 1-2-5&5
b_
3a
3-6ct2
b2
3-6-9a3
563
1-2-5-Bi4
3-6
10A4
1 1 Vr‘
vr™—vrm— — = —
rm7,m l
we have
u~m—v~m
1 /Vm Mm\ 1 /Um Vm\
n—vn ~ umvm  vn J ~ UmVm\Un Vn /
9a2 ^ 81a3
Ex. 3. It is required to resolve
ries.
Because
J-5-86* „ \
^2^4+’ &c* j
+ , &c.^
243a4
into a se-
(r3 + z3)f
y 3 ^ x I = if we raise r3 + z3
V ”r z )
to the —| power, and multiply the resulting series
by r2, we shall have the series required. Or the given
Now we have already found, that when u—v, the frac- quantity may be reduced to a more simple form thus: be-
tion
~^r__vn becomes nun__x ; therefore, in the same case,
cause
vrm—vrm  1
un—~vn
— ..9m X ‘
~mzrJrn~1
rl+z’ = r3x(l+*l),
therefore (r3 -\-z3) ^z=r2 ^1 + >
and 3 =- =(1 + ^3)
if3 + *3P
/i*2
Hence
and from this last expression we derive the same value
—m t
for u~m or (1-f-y) n as before, regard being had to the
change of the sign of the exponent.
162. If we suppose m to be a positive integer, and n= 1,
the series given in last article for the powers of a-}-# will  
always terminate, as appears also from the operation of (r3_(_z3^
involution; but if m be negative, or — a fraction, the — 1 Sz3 2Az6 _
senes will consist of an indefinite number of terms. Ex- 9-3 kz6
anip es of the application of the theorem have been z= 1 0-3 —n 
a ready given upon the first supposition, when treating of r
Inyo ution ; we now proceed to show how it is to be ap- \/a2 a-x2
pned to the expansion of algebraic quantities into series ■£&?• 4. It is required to find a series equal to - -
upon either of the last two hypotheses. Va2 ~x2
2*3*8z9 2-3-8-llz12
+ 3-6-9-12r12
3*6-9r9
40z9
81r9
110z12
243r12
—, &c.
 . &c.
ijsei
It* •
• 1. It is required to express^—-—^ by means of a
ries. ^r+z)
By the binomial theorem, we have
Va2 4-.r2 =r (a2 -f-ae2)2 =a-{-
x*
2a
8a3 ~ 16a5
469
Algebra.
(i+|6
/ z\ “0 , m
Let (1 + -) be compared with (a+a:) », and we have
Hence, by substituting these values of a, x, in, n, in the
first general formula of sect. 160, we have
- 3z 3-4z2 3-4-5Z3
r3 N 9- 1.9*3 fT97q^3 + >
Ex. 2. It is required to express *Ja-\-b in the form of
a series.
Because a+izra^l-p-j,
^ 3 
therefore V^p=Vax J1+|=a^l
(b\- ™
1 with (a-\-x)n, we have a=l,
—, &c.
470
Algebra.
ALGEBRA.
Va*
1  i_ 1
L=r-(a^—x^) *=- +
— X* V 7 «
a;2 3a4
2a3+8^
IGa?
&c.
Therefore, by taking the product of the two series, and
proceeding in the operation only to such terms as involve
the 6th power of x, we find
~ a2 2a4 2a6’ C*
Sect. XVIII.—Of the Reversion of Series.
163. The method of indeterminate co-efficients, which
we have already employed when treating of infinite se¬
ries, may also be applied to what is called the reverting
of series; that is, having any quantity expressed by an
infinite series composed of the powers of another quan¬
tity, to express, on the contrary, the latter quantity by
means of an infinite series composed of the powers of the
former.
Let y—n-^-ax + bxP^-cxP-^dxt-^, &c.
Then, to revert the series, we must find the value of x
in terms of y. For this purpose, we transpose n, and put
z—y — n ; then
zz=ax-\-bx?-\-cxi-\-dxA-\-, &c.
Now, when x—Q, it is evident that z=0; therefore we may
assume for x a series of this form,
a;=A2r-pBz2-j-C«34-D«4-}-5 &c*
where the co-efficients A, B, C, D, &c. denote quantities
as yet unknown, but which are entirely independent of
the quantity x. To determine these, let the first, second,
third, &c. powers of the series
Az-j-B^-J-C^+Dz4-!-? Ac.
be found by multiplication, and substituted for x, x2, x3,
&c. respectively, in the equation
0——z-i-ax-t-bxP-f-cx3, &c.
thus we have
In this case we have
z=y, a=l, b=—i, c=l, d=~~ 1, Ac.
Therefore, substituting these values, we have
y3 . .V4
V-
= 0
-j-ax — aAz-{-aB z2«Cz3 -p aDz^-PjAc."
+ 6^= -piA2z2-p26ABz3 +2iACz4+,&c.
+ bWz*
-P cz3 — -p -p 3cA2Bz4 -p, Ac.
+^= + dKW -p, Ac.,.
Ac.
Hence, putting the co-efficients of z, z2, z3, Ac. each =0,
aA—1 = 0, aB-piA2=0, aC-p26AB-pcA3=0,
«D -p 2JAC -p bV>2 -p 3cA2B -p c?A4=0, Ac.
these equations give
A = i,
a
.=y+f+f+g+,fc
In the equation
ay + by2 -p +, Ac. = dx + b'x2 -p dx3 -p, Ac.
in which both sides are expressed by series, and it is re*
quired to find y in terms of <r, we must assume, as before
?/=Aa;+Ba?2-pCa;3+D«4, + , Ac.
and substitute this series and its powers for y and its
powers in the proposed equation; afterwards, by bring¬
ing all the terms to one side, and making the co-efficients
of each power of y = 0, a series of equations will be had
by which the quantities A, B, C, D, Ac. may be deter¬
mined.
Sect. XIX.—Of Logarithms and Exponential Quan¬
tities.
164. All positive numbers may be considered as powers
of any one given affirmative number. The powers of 2j
for instance, may become equal, either exactly, or nearer
than by any assignable difference, to all numbers what¬
ever, from 1 upwards. If the exponents be integers, we
shall have only the numbers which form the geometrical
progression, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, Ac.; but the intermediate
numbers tnay be expressed, at least nearly, by means of
fractional exponents. Thus, the numbers from 1 to 10
may be expressed by the powers of 2 as follows:
2° =1 g-2.5 85 __ 6
23 =2 22,807= 7
21.585-3 23* = 8
22 =4 23*170= 9
22.322-5 23*322=10
In like manner may fractions be expressed by the powers
of 2. Thus, .
.1 — ^ —9-3.3 22 .O— 1 —g-2.522
— 03.322 — ~ ’
• 22.3 22-
.Q I . — 0-1.5 3 7 ftp
01.337  ’
B =
C =
a-
2Z*2—ac
D = —
Ac.
Therefore x — -z-
a
5fr3 — habc -p a2d
«7 ’
2A2 — ac .
, ■ ■ ■■ — 'T*
— babe -p a2d ,
 -j-*—
As an example of the application of this formula, let it
be required to determine x from the equation
x2 x? x*
y=z—r + -r_T+,&c.
where it is observable that the exponents are now nega¬
tive.
In the same manner may all numbers be expressed by
the powers of 10.
10° =1 10-1 = -1
10.501 — 2 10-699 _ -2
10-4 7 7 — 3 10-V23 = *3
Ac. Ac.
Even a fraction might be taken in place of 2, or 10, in
the preceding examples; and such exponents might be
found as would give its powers equal to all numbers,
from 0 upwards. There are therefore no limitations with
respect to the magnitude of the number, by the powers
of which all other numbers may be expressed, except
that it must neither be unity nor a negative quantity.
If it were = 1, then all its powers would also be = L
and if it were negative, there are numbers to which none
of its powers could possibly be equal.
165. If therefore y denote any number whatever, and r
a given number, a number x may be found, such, tha
r'—y, and a?, that is, the exponent of r which gives a num¬
ber equal to y, is called the logarithm of y.
The given number r, by the powers of which all other
ALGEBRA.
numbers are expressed, is called the radical number of the
^logarithms, which are the indices of those powers.
K °166. From this definition of logarithms their properties
are easily deduced as follows :
1. The sum of two logarithms is equal to the logarithm
of their product. Let y and y' be two numbers, and a? and
v! their logarithms, so that rr=//, and r1'—}/ ; then r1 x ^
—yij, or ^^—yij ; hence, from the definition, is the
logarithm of yy1, that is, the sum of the logarithms of y
and y is the logarithm of yij.
2. The difference of the logarithms of two numbers is
equal to the logarithm of their quotient; for if r^—y and
rrf=y, then —— ~ or r*-*1—^, therefore, by the defini-
tion, x—is the logarithm of ; that is, the difference
rf the logarithms of y and y is the logarithm of .
3. Letn be any number whatever, then log. yn=nx
log. y. For yn is y multiplied into itself n times, therefore
the logarithm of yn is equal to the logarithm of y added
to itself n times, or to n x log. y.
167. From these properties of logarithms it follows, that
if we possess tables by which we can assign the logarithm
corresponding to any given number, and also the number
corresponding to any given logarithm, the operations of
multiplication and division of numbers may be reduced to
the addition and subtraction of their logarithms, and the
operations of involution and evolution, to the more simple
operations of multiplication and division. Thus, if two
numbers x and y are to be multiplied together, by taking
the sum of their logarithms, we obtain the logarithm of
their product, and, by inspecting the table, the product
itself. A similar observation applies to the quotient of
two numbers, and also to any power or to any root of a
number.
168. The general properties of logarithms are indepen¬
dent of any particular value of the radical number, and
hence there may be various systems of logarithms, accord¬
ing to the radical number employed in their construction,
d bus, if the radical number be 10, we shall have the com-
mon or Briggs’s system of logarithms; but if it were
2-7182818, we should have the logarithms first construct¬
ed by Lord Napier, which are sometimes called hyperbolic
logarithms.
We have already observed (sect. 165), that the relation
between any number and its logarithm is expressed by the
equation r—y, where y denotes a number, x its logarithm,
and r the radical number of the system ; and any two of
these three quantities being given, the remaining one may
he found. It either y or r were the quantity required, the
problem would involve no difficulty ; if, however, the ex¬
ponent x were considered as the unknown quantity, while
? an^ 1/ wcre supposed given, the equation to be resolved
and resolving both sides of the equation into series by
means of the binomial theorem, J
1 -j- nxa -f-
nx(nx-
—a2-
1-2 ~ 1 1
nx(nx —1) (nx — 2) (nx — 3)
T • 2 ■ 3 • 4
nxjnx— 1) (nx — 2)
l + , &c.
— \-\-nv-\-
n(n—l)r9 , H”—l)(rc — 2)
2
1
n(n — 1) (« — 2) (n —3)
l + , &c.
Therefore, subtracting unity from both sides, and dividing
by n, we have
x(nx— 1) (n#— 2)
x(nx— 1) „
Xa+1 i 2 ^
+
x(nx— 1) (nx-
• 2
• 2)(nx-
•3)
• 2
n— 1
v2.
3
(n-
a4-{-, &c.
1)(K_2)
(n— 1) (n-
2
2) (n-
v3
■3)
a4 + , &c.;
1 2 • 3 • 4
and by supposing the factors which constitute the terms
of each series to be actually multiplied, and the products
arranged according to the power of n, the last equation
will have this form,
xa+ (Prc—|)a2+ (p’n + Qtf+^a3
-j- ^V"n -j- Q!n2 -j- R w3 — ^ a4 -f., &e.
= v -\-(pn — )i-2-f (p'n + qn--j-^ )r3
-j- (p"n q'n~ -f- rn3 — Ac.
Here the co-efficients of the power n, viz. P, P', P", Ac.
Q, Q', Ac. R, &c, also p, p\ p", Ac. q, q’, Ac. r, Ac. are ex¬
pressions which denote certain combinations of the powers
of x in the first series, and certain numbers in the second;
but as they are all to vanish in the course of the investi¬
gation, it is not necessary that they should be expressed
in any other wray than by a single letter.
Now each side of this last equation may evidently be
resolved into two parts, one of which is entirely free from
the quantity «,and the other involves that quantity; hence
the same equation may also stand thus:
xxx, ■)
xa — g«2+— -«4+, Ac. f
-f- P?m2-j- (Y’n -f- Q/i2) «3 -j- (Y"n -f- Qrn2-f- Rw3)a4 -j-, Ac.3
_ f -f-v — — iv4 + >
( (p’n + qn-)v -f- (p"n -f- q'?i2 -j- w3)t’4 -f-, &c.
This equation must hold true, whatever be the value of n,
which is a quantity entirely arbitrary, and therefore ought
to vanish from the equation expressing the relation be-
hence it follows that the terms on each
«0U M be of a different kind from any we have hitherto t»een/, J ^"Ce ’P f°WS ,tha , , , a ,
considered. Equations of this form are called slde of the equation, which involve ought to destroy
equations. To resolve such an equation is evidently the eac 1 otl'er’ ,am *us thf.e W]U reml;'1" the P”* ol
tame thing as to determine the logarithm of a given each s,de whlch does not mvolve that ISl
number. ° xa2 xa? XjP
169. ft thftrpfifrft rsaciimm flic onuofirtn o. v.rlv O I ° '* ^
We therefore resume the equation rr—y, where
r> •), and y denote as before. We are now to find a value
of a:
3
v1 v3
4
—+
Ac.
. ur
or (ci—~2+Y
^ in terms of r and y. Let us suppose r—\^-a and
i -j-», then our equation will stand thus ;
(1 + 1 +*'•
So that, by raising both sides to a powrer », where n de-
c° es an indeterminate number, whicn is to disappear in the
°urse of the investigation, w'e have (1-|-«)"J =(l4-r)"; Let us now put A to denote tire constant multiplier
—+, Ac.)#
V2 V* V* V5
=v—Y+T~T+~5~~,&c'
ALGEBRA.
fit2 , a3
““T+r
o-1)!,
-j-, &c.
(r—iy (r—iy
&c.
thus we find
(y-i)4
X=z
+ , &c.
=(r_1> 2 3 - 4.
and substitute for v its value, y—1;
tog. y=L(y—\)—(y—l)l+4
and by this formula, the logarithm of any number a little
greater than unity may be readily found.
170. If y be nearly = 2, the series will converge too
slowly to be of use, and if it exceed 2, the series will di¬
verge, and therefore cannot be directly applied to the
finding of its logarithm. But a series which converges
faster, and is applicable to every case, may be investigat¬
ed as follows:
Because log. (l«f«) :=—(?; —-f-
&c*) >
4
&c.
2 ' 3
by substituting —v for -j-v, we have
1 / v2 v3 v*
log. T
Now, log. (l+v)—log. (1 —'’) — log- ^ 1 there-
fore, subtracting the latter series from the former, we have
2 / v3 v1
 * —■ I l   . 1- , -l- ———
Put
log- y
'“s- n;-aI”-1-'
I-——=y, then t) = -
1 V u
+ T +
&c
)
-1
y+l7
and the last series be-
“A \y+l
+ 3^+l) +30qn) +’&c-}
This series will always converge, whatever be the value
of y ; and by means of it the logarithms of small numbers
may be found with great facility.
171. When a number is composite, its logarithm will
most easily be found, by adding together the logarithms
of its factors ; but if it be a prime number, its logarithm
may be derived from that of some convenient composite
number, either greater or less, and an infinite series. Let
« be a number of which the logarithm is already found ;
then, substituting for y in the last formula, we have
n
tog.
n-\-z_ 1 /
2z
2z3
n A\2n-\-z~r 3 (2n-{-z)3^~ 5 (2n+z)5
nJr "—log. (n^f-z)—tog. n, therefore log.(w -f- z)=
2z*
&c.^
But tog.
by Napier. They have been called Hyperbolic Logarithms
because they serve to express the area of an hyperbola •
but this may be done by logarithms of any system. We
shall therefore distinguish them by calling them Napierian
Logarithms. The Napierian logarithm of any number y is
thprpfnrp
O —!) —10 — i)2 + i 0 — i)3—\(y—1)4+, &-c.
and that of r, the radical number of any system, is
(r_l)_L(r—1)2 +£ (r—l)3 —£(/■—l)* +,&c.
But this last series is the same as we have denoted by A;
hence it follows, that the modulus of any system is the
reciprocal of the Napierian logarithm of the radical num¬
ber of that system. Thus it appears that the logarithms
of numbers, according to any proposed system, may be
readily found from the Napierian logarithm of the same
numbers, and the Napierian logarithm of the radical num¬
ber of that system.
174. Let L denote the Nap. tog. of any number, ami
l, P the logarithms of the same number according to two
other systems whose modidi are m and m'; then
l=mL, P—mlL;
l P
therefore, — = —and mvwl w l \P.
m m
That is, the logarithms of the same number, according to
different systems, are directly proportional to the moduli
of these systems, and therefore have a given ratio to one
another.
175. We shall now apply the series here investigated
to the calculation of Napier's logarithm of 10, the reci¬
procal of which is the modulus of the common system
of logarithms ; and also to the calculation of the common
logarithm of 2. The Nap. tog. of 10 may be obtained by
substituting 10 for y in the formula
%—!) . 2(y—i\ , 2/>-a\
■sl5+U +51.
Nap. tog. y =
y+i
2-9 2-93
+
i i v "to ^c'»
2,95 , c
Ac. con-
but the resulting series ^ “r 3-I P ^ 5-115
verges too slowly to be of any practical utility: it will
therefore be better to derive the logarithm of 10 from
those of 2 and 5. By substituting 2 in the formula, we
have
1 . 1
Nap. log. 2=20
33+5.35+7.37+
&c.
Iog- n+x(2^+! + +, &C-)
This series gives the logarithm of «-j-z by means of the
logarithm of n, and converges very fast when n is con¬
siderable.
172. It appears, from the series which have been found
for tog. y, that the logarithm of a number is always the
product of two quantities: one of these is variable, and
depends upon the number itself; but the other, viz. —,
is constant, and depends entirely on the radical number
of the system. This quantity has been called by writers
on logarithms the modulus of the system.
173. The most simple system, in respect to facility of
computation, is that in which -r-=l or A=l. The toga-
rithms of this svstem are the same as those first invented
This series converges very fast, so that by reducing its
terms to decimal fractions, and taking the sum of the first
seven terms, we find the Nap. tog. of 2 to be -6931472.
The Nap. tog. of 5 may be found in the same manner,
but more easily from the formula given in sect. 171- l °r
the tog. of 2 being given, that of 4=22 is also given (sect.
166) ; therefore, substituting tog. 4 = 2 log. 2 for log.
and 1 for z, in the series
Nap. tog. (n+z)= Nap. tog. n
s3 _ . z5
G
2?i -p. z 3 (2n 4- z)3 J (2n-j-z)
+ +
; + ’ &c')
+ 2
we have" ^ a
Nap. tog. 5 =2 Nap. tog. 2+20+3^5+5^5+’ &C')
The first three terms of this series are sufficientt0 £‘u
the result true to the seventh decimal, so that vre ha^
Nap. tog. 5=1.6094379, and
Nap. tog. 10= Nap. tog. 2-f-Nap. tog. 5=2,30258ol-
Hence the modulus of the common system of logant nas,
or  7——, is found = ‘4342945. The same number,
Nap. log. 10 , /»
because of its great utility in the construction oftabic^ ‘j
A]g< a. logarithms, has b6en calculated to a much greater num
■w/ber of decimals. A celebrated calculator of the last cen
ALGEBRA.
x(xr—n)(x—2tt) .' ,
1 • 2 • ~3 (A + Bw+, &c.)3 -|-, &c.
tury, Mr A. Sharp, found it to be 1 • 2 • 3 v- ■ - r, crc
0-4342944819032^182765112891891660508229439700 Now n 18 here an arbitrary quantity, and oueht from tbo
5803666566114454. nature of the original equation, to disappear’from the
Having found the Nap. log. of 2 to be -6931472, the ^alue the terms of the equation which are multiplied
common logarithm of 2 is got immediately, bv mnltmW. by n ought therefore to destroy earh or,,i
common logarithm of 2 is got immediately, by multiply¬
ing the Nap. log. of 2 by the modulus of the system : thus,
we find
com. log. 2=4-342945 X •6931472=-3010300.
We have seen, sect. 169, that to determine the loga¬
rithm of a given number, is the same problem as to deter¬
mine the value of x in an equation of this form, ax=i,
where the unknown quantity is an exponent. But in or¬
der to resolve such an equation, it is not necessary to have
recourse to series; for a table of logarithms being once
supposed, constructed, the value of x may be determined
'thus: It appears, from sect. 166, that ax log.a=log. 6;
_ ^
by n ought therefore to destroy each other, and then
the equation is reduced to
rt=y=i+^+
a-2A2 . a?A3
1 ' 1-2
and since we have found
rj3
(r—l)2
1-2
3 + l
aM4
■2-3-4
+ , &c.
A~a-
a* , a? a4
=0—O-
(r—l)3 (V—-l)4
&c.
hence it follows, that x=
log. a'
The use of this formula
2 ' 3
it is evident, from sect. 173, that A is Napier’s logarithm
ot the radical number of the system.
177. If, in the equation r* — y, we suppose x = 1, the
value of y becomes
A3 ,
+, &c.
i i A , A2
T~ + 1 +l-2+ 1^3"
will appear in next Section, which treats of computations
relative to interest and annuities.
176. The theory of logarithms requires the solution of A
this other problem. Having given the radical number of w ., ... t .
a system, and a logarithm, to determine the correspond- *lere 1116 radlcal number is expressed by means of its
Napierian ^ifoppose«a then
shall express in terms of r and a. * ± 111 1
A’
For this purpose, let us suppose r=l-f-a, then our
equation becomes y=(l +o)*, which may also be express¬
ed thus: 1
»*a = 14--4--—4-
— ‘ I ' 1*2 ' 1*2*3
+
1-2-3-4
+ , &c.
* Thus it appears that the quantity r ^ is equal to a con-
5'=[(1+«)”]’'> stant number, which, by taking the sum of a suffi-
where n is an arbitrary quantity, which is to disappear in mS °T t.he sfries? be fbund =
the course of the investigation. 11 ./18^«1828459045 ... Let us denote this number by ey
By the binomial theorem we have _ A , . < a xt
n(n 1) n(n IV n ai]d hence r_e . Now, if we remark that
(1+«)n= 1 + na + A; ■ .A -A zla?+, &c thf Nap.‘log' of r’ n must be evident (sect. 165 and
Tf,. „ . , . l • 2 • 3 173), that e is the radical number of Napier’s system of
Tins equation, by multiplying together the factors which logarithms. ^
compose the terms of the series, and arranging the re-
2according to the powers of rc, may also be expressed
(14-a)'!=l + An+B«2+C»3+, &c.
where it will readily appear that
. a? a? a4
A-a~-f+T~T+’&c-
As to the values of B, C, &c. it is of no importance to
snow them, for they will all disappear in the course of the
investigation. Hence, by substituting for (l+a)n its
value, as expressed by this last series, we have
Again, since —e, therefore ~ X log. r= log. e, and
, iog. ‘/-
A — 1^-7 -Hore log. r and log. e denote logarithms taken
according to any system whatever.
178. If we now resume the equation
r*=y = l+*A • ^A2 • ^A3
1
2 +1-2-3
&c.
and substitute for A its value we shall have the fol
log. e
y=(l + Aw + Brc2+Cra3+, &c.)^"; ^wuig
and expanding the latter part of this equation by means wbatever :
*the blnomial theorem’ becomes _ ^ /W,
1 \log. e) l-2\log. e)
x(x—n)
y=1+-(A»+B«H,&c.)+p=
-2«)
(Aw-j-Bw2-f, &c.)2
lowing general expression for any exponential quantity
xrrV» . *■ 1 J
a? /log.
+ -
_^x(x—n)(x-
»(Aw + B«2 -f', &c.)3+, &c. ^
But Aw+Bw2+, &c. = w (A-f Bw-f-, &c.\
(Aw+Bw2+, &c \2_n8 (A-|-Bw4-, &c.)2,
(An+B^+, &c.)3= w3(A-f-Bw +, &c.)3 &c.;
n()wmrS by ie-auns out of each term of the series the
tiominot Vwhlch are common to the numerator and de-
aominator, the equation will stand thus:
log. ^miog.*; 1-2-3 Vlog
which, by supposing r=c, becomes
t"- l4.f4-fl_L-^!_
“ I ‘ 1-2 ' 1-2-3
• e)
&c.
•4-, &c.
Sect. XX.—Of Interest and Annuities.
179. The theory of logarithms admits of extensive
application to calculations relating to interest and an¬
nuities: these we now proceed to explain. There are
, <*—w) nuities: these we now proceed to explain. There are
TMA4-BW4-, 4-ftV-;/(A4-Bw4-, &c.)2 two hypotheses, according to either of which money put
vol. ii. I • 2 ' , out at interest may be supposed to be improved. We
3 o
474
algebra.
Algebra, may suppose that the interest, which is always propor-
' tional to the sum lent, or principal, is also proportional to
the time during which the principal is employed; and on
this hypothesis, the money is said to be improved at sim¬
ple interest. Or we may suppose that the interest which
ought to be paid to the lender at successive stated pe¬
riods is added to the principal, instead of being actually-
paid, and thus their amount converted into a new princi¬
pal. When money is lent according to this second hypo¬
thesis, it is said to be improved at compound interest.
180. In calculations relating to interest, the things to^
be considered are the principal, or sum lent; the rate of
interest, or sum paid for the use of L.100 for one year;
the time during which the principal is lent; and the
amount, or sum of the principal and interest, at the end
of that time.
Let p denote the principal, L.l being the unit;
r the interest of L.l for one year, at the given
rate ;
t the time, one year being the unit;
a the amount.
log. jprzlog. a — £ X log. R. log. R_
log, g—Ipg^p
■ in
log, a- — log, p
log. R. ’
Ex. 1. As an example of the use of these formulae, let it be
required to determine what sum improved at 5 per cent,
compound interest will amount to L.500 in 42 years. In
this case we have given «z=500, r=-05, R=1'05, <=42,
to findp.
From log. a=log. 500=
subtract < X log. R=42X log. 1*05= 0-8899506
We shall now examine the relations which subsist be¬
tween these quantities, according to each of the two hy¬
potheses of simple and compound interest.
remains log. p. 1*8090194
therefore jo=L.64-42=L.64. 8s. 5d. the sum required.
Ex. 2. In what time will a sum laid out at 4 per cent,
compound interest be doubled ?
Let any sum be expressed by unity; then we have given
p—\, r=-04, R=l-04, a=2, to find t.
„ , log. a — log. p log. 2
From the formula, t- 
•3010300
7, we find
t= —-=17*7 vears nearly.
•0170333 " J
Simple Interest.
181. Because the interest of L.l for one year is r,
the interest of L.l for £ years must be rt, and the interest
of p pounds for the same time prt; hence we have this
formula,
from which we find
pX-prt—a,
In treating of compound interest, we have supposed
the interest to be joined to the principal at the end of the
year. But we might have supposed it to be added at the
end of every half-year, or every quarter, or even every
instant; and suitable rules might have been found for
performing calculations, according to each hypothesis.
As such suppositions are, however, never made in actual
business, we shall not at present say any thing more of
them.
p-
r—
~P
t=
~P
\+rt pt pr
As the manner of applying these formulae to questions
relating to simple interest is sufficiently obvious, we pro¬
ceed to consider compound interest.
Compound Interest.
182. In addition to the symbols already assumed, let
R=l+7’ = amount of L.l in one year; then, from the
nature of compound interest, It is also the principal at the
beginning of the second year. Now, interest being al¬
ways proportional to the principal, we have
1 : r :: R : rR=: the interest of R for a year,
and R + rR = (l+r)R = R2= amount of R in a year;
therefore It2 is the amount of L.l in two years, which sum
being assumed as a new principal, we find, as before, its
interest for a year to be rlt2, and its amount R2-{-rR2
— (1 -J-t^R^R3 ; so that It3 is the amount of L.l in three
years. Proceeding in this manner, we find, in general,
that the amount of L.l in £ years is R', and of p pounds,
pR‘; hence we have this formula,
y?R'=a;
which, from the nature of logarithms, may also be express¬
ed thus:
log. p-J-fXlog. R=log. a.
We have also
P-
R‘
R
='fb
Annuities.
183. An annuity is a payment made annually for a terra
of years; and the chief problem relating to it is to deter¬
mine its present worth, that is, the sum a person ought to
pay immediately to another, upon condition of receiving
from the latter a certain sum annually for a given time.
In resolving this problem, it is supposed that the buyer
improves his annuity from the time he receives it, and
the seller the purchase-money, in a certain manner,
during the continuance of the annuity, so that at the end
of the time the amount of each may be the same. There
may be various suppositions as to the way in which t re
annuity and its purchase-money may be improved; but
the only one commonly applied to practice is the highest
improvement possible of both, viz. by compound inteiest.
As the taking of compound interest is, however, prohibited
by law, the realizing of this supposed improvement re¬
quires punctual payment of interest, and therefore 16
interest in such calculations is usually made low.
184. Let A denote the annuity,
P the present worth, or purchase-money,
t the time of its continuance;
let r and R denote as before. • . .
The seller, by improving the price P at compoun
terest during the time t, has PR'. .
The purchaser is supposed to receive the first annuj
A at the end of one year, which, being improved tor t
years, amounts to Alt'-1. He receives the secon y ‘
annuity at the end of the second year, which, bein»
proved for t—2 years, amounts to Alt'j2. In hke mann ,
the third year’s annuity becomes AR' 3, and so on, to the
1 .  d  „,1 • U o.-mr.Kr A. Therefor
P
or, by logarithms,
last year’s annuity, which is simply A. _ Theiefore, ^
whole amount of the improved annuities is the ge
cal series
ALGEBRA.
✓v^
. . 854 854
Agam, ^==;
887“~ 854+33
tuted as before, gives — —34- —
' O 1 /"ir*rvr\”■*“*-*
A+AR + AR2+AR3 ... +AR'-1,
j|< ^ -p* i
the sum of which, by sect. 56, is A -rr—-—A ;
Jlv—1 r
and since this sum must be equal to the amount of the
purchase-money, or PR', we have
Tp 1
PR'=A -—-;
T
and from this equation we find
p. A/i 1) A _ rPRi log. a—log. (A—rP)
l ' 7\ R7‘ R—1* log.R *
As to r, it can only be found by the resolution of an
equation of the t order.
185. To find the present value of an annuity in rever¬
sion, that is, an annuity which is to commence at the end
of n years, and continue during t years; first find its value stitution,
for n-\-t years, and then for n years, and subtract the 314159 1
latter from the former; we thus obtain the following for- Tnnnnn=3 + ;? . 1
mula: 1000()0 7+ 15 4.1
p— —(1 Ly
rlin\ R'/
186. If the annuity is to commence immediately, and
to continue for ever, then, because in this case R' is
1
1 +
475
3^-, which being substi-
854
100000'
15.
1 +
33
854’
By operations similar to the preceding, we find
1 29
29’ 33:
^ + 33
4
1
l+J’29" 7 I5
^29 '+4
33
854
therefore, by sub-
1+1 t
23+- 1
l+l 1
7+r
1 an operation in all respects the same as has been
infinitely great, and therefore ^—0, the formula P = just now performed, may any fraction whatever be re¬
duced to the form
-^1+ becomes simply Pz= —.
And if the annuity is to commence after n years, and
a + T 1
b+~ , 1
C + -
^ l 
continue for ever, the formula Pz=-rr- (1 M becomes . . . ^+’ &C'
rRn \ Ry and it is then called a continued fraction.
P=
rR»
iVofe. The subject of life annuities forms by itself a dis¬
tinct article.
Sect. XXI.—Of Continued Fractions.
188. It is easy to see in what manner the inverse of
the preceding operation is to be performed, or a continued
fraction reduced to a common fraction.
Thus, if the continued fraction be
1
a +■
'6.1 ,
+c+I,
187. Every quantity which admits of being expressed ... d
by a common fraction may also be expressed in the form ^ evidently be reduced to a common fraction by
of what is called a continued fraction. The nature of adding the reciprocal of d to c, and the reciprocal of that
such fractions will be easily understood by the followinsr sum t0 and again the reciprocal of this last sum to a :
example. b 1 2
now the reciprocal of d, or -, added to c, is c 4- -
t .I.    „ .. . 314159 V d’ ^ d
= --+—; again, the reciprocal of this sum, or
added to b, is b+— —^+^-+-, and the reciprocal
of this last quantity^, viz. --J^+ ^ when added to «,
gives
«5cc?+aZi+fl!(/+cc?+1
bcd-{-b-\-d
same, 3+
fore
14159
100000
14159 14159
100000’ ’ vvlut'11 tne
(. Since 100000=7 X 14159+887, there-
1
100000 7 X 14159 + 887
314159__
l00()00-3+'
7 +
887
and
14159
Now
887
7 +
887
887
14159’
14159 15 X 887 +854:
i5+®i
‘887
and substitut-
1
:“+*+i 1
c+s
”8 thls for 1H59in the vaiu<i of I555U5’ aIready found.
«llaveSH15?_ .
100000~^7
+
15 +
854
887’
189. This manner of expressing a fraction enables us
to find a series of other fractions, that approach in value
to any given one, and each of them expressed in the
314159
smallest numbers possible. Thus, in the example jppQQQ’
which has been resolved into a continued fraction, sect.
187, and which is known to express nearly the proportion
of the diameter of a circle to its circumference, if we take
only the first twm terms of the continued fraction, and
ALGEBRA.
314159 ’ ’ .
put v for '^QQQQQ, we have <r=3+|=272 nearly; and
this is the proportion which was found by Archimedes.
Again, by taking the first three terms, we have
1 . „ . 15 333
:3 + 7+i-
^15
=3 +
and hence we see in what way it may be continued to any A t>
degree of accuracy. ^ -v
t When the root of any equation is found by the method
explained in sect. 156, the value of the unknown quantity
is evidently expressed by a continued fraction.
106 ~ 106’
which is nearer the truth than the former.
And by taking the first four terms, we have
For if x be the root sought, we have a;=a4--,w=64.i
; ° ‘ y *
'=3+7+- 1
, + 15+i
355
: 113’
which is the proportion assigned by Metius, and is more
exact than either of the preceding. The results are al¬
ternately greater and less than the truth.
190. Among continued fractions, those have been par¬
ticularly distinguished in which the denominators, after a
certain number of changes, are continually repeated in
the same order. Such, for example, is the fraction
tf—b' + y,, &c. where a, B, W, V", &c. denote
the whole numbers, which are next less than the true
values of x, y, tf, y", &c. If, therefore, in the value of a: we
substitute f°r y> ^ becomes
x—a-\- ^
^ + .1.
y
Again, if in this second value of a: we substitute
i+!+a i
3+i ]
2+3+)
for y, it becomes
&c.
x—a-{-
b+-
The value of this fraction, though continued ad infini¬
tum, may be easily found ; for leaving out the first term,
which is an integer, let us suppose
1
V+
The next value of x is in like manner found to be
*~2+i+i J
3 + 2+13 + ,&c.
x=za-\-T-~l
i+r.
Then, since after the second, all the terms return in the and so on continually,
same order, it follows that their amount is also = x.
Thus we have
Sect. XXII.—Of Indeterminate Problems.
3:=2+1
3 + *’
3+#
, „ „ ~ , _3 + \/l5.
hence and a“-f-3a;=:^,and x— ^ 
— 1 + a/T5
2
therefore a?-f.l
In general, if xz=
or the sum of the series, =
1 ,
a+r 1
~b-\—
&c.
we find a;= — --±xj — +-.
Though the denominators
2 ' 4 • a
did not return in the same order till after a greater inter¬
val, the value of the fraction would still be expressed by
the root of a quadratic equation. And conversely^, the
roots of all quadratic equations may be expressed by pe¬
riodical continued fractions, and may often by that means
be very readily approximated in numbers, without the
trouble of extracting the square root.
191. The reduction of a decimal into the form of a con¬
tinued fraction sometimes renders the law of its continua¬
tion evident. Thus we know that a/2=T4121356... ; but
from the bare inspection of this decimal we discover no
rule for its further continuation. If, however, it be re¬
duced into a continued fraction, it becomes
192. When the conditions of a question are such that
the number of equations exceeds the number of unknown
quantities, that question will admit of innumerable solu¬
tions, and is therefore said to be indeterminate. Thus, if
it be required to find two numbers subject to no other li¬
mitation than that their sum be 10, we have two unknown
quantities x and y, and only one equation, viz.
which may evidently be satisfied by innumerable different
values of x and y, if fractional solutions be admitted. It
is, however, usual, in such questions as this, to restrict
values of the numbers sought to positive integers, and
therefore, in this case, we can have only these nine solu¬
tions,
x — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9;
y = 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1;
which indeed may be reduced to five; for the first four be¬
come the same as the last four, by simply changing x in
y, and the contrary.
193. Indeterminate problems are of different orders, ac¬
cording to the dimensions of the equation which is o -
tained after all the unknown quantities but two have
been exterminated by means of the given equations. 1l0iC
of the first order lead always to equations of this form,
=i+!+i i
2+2+,
&c.
ax-\-by=c,<s
where a, b, c, denote given whole numbers, and
numbers to be found, so that both may be integers,
this condition may be fulfilled, it is necessary that t e c
efficients a, b, have no common divisor which is no
a divisor of c; for if azzmd and bzzmey then ax-\-oy—'n
ALGEBRA.
477
Al£.fa* , my —Cj and dx ey =—; but d, e, x, y, are supposed
C 4
to be whole numbers, therefore — is a whole number;
hence in must be a divisor of c.
We proceed to illustrate the manner of resolving inde¬
terminate equations of the first order, by some numerical
examples.
Ex. 1. Given 2x to determine x and y in
whole positive numbers.
, . t. , 25—
From the given equation we nave x— 9 - =12
hence the only values which a and y can have in whole Algebra,
numbers, are ar=8, y=4.
' Ex* 3. It is required to find all the possible ways in
which L.60 can be paid in guineas and moidores only.
Let x be the number of guineas, and y the number of
moidores. Then the value of the guineas, expressed in
shillings, is 21#, and that of the moidores 27y; there¬
fore, from the nature of the question, 21# + 27y= 1200,
or, dividing the equation by 3, 7# + % = 400; hence
x—
400 — %
=57-2/+
1~%
so that
%
must be
a whole number.
-V*
1—y
Now, since x must be a whole number, it Assume
1
follows that — - must be a whole number. Let us — or V—
7
1—7*
then # = 57 — ?/ + and 2?/= 1
1 — *
3*,- therefore
1 —*
must
1 - - 7/
assume - — then 1 —y — 2* and y = 1 —2*; and
1 y
since x = 12—y + — 12 —y + *, therefore a; =
12 — 1 + 2* + *; hence we have
#= 11 + 3*, y = 1 — 2*,
where z might be any whole number whatever, if there
were no limitation as to the signs of x and y. But since
these quantities are required to be positive, it is evident,
from the value of y, that * must be either 0 or negative,
and from the value of #, that, abstracting from the sign,
it must be less than 4; hence * may have these three
values, 0, — 1, — 2, — 3.
If *= 0, *=—1, *=—2, *=—3;
2,
7.
Ex. 2. It is required to divide 100 into such parts that
the one may be divisible by 7 and the other by 11.
Let 7# be the first part, and lly the second; then, by
the question, 7#+lly=100, and
Then
[#=11, #= 8, #= 5, #=
\y- L y= 3, y= 5, y=
#=
100—lly
Hence it appears, that
= 14-
4y
■y-
2 —4y
must be a whole number.
Let us assume -—^ — *, then # = 14 — y + ^ and
4y=2 — 7*,ory=
7
2—7*
4 _ 4
must be a whole number. Assume -
2 — 4/
3* . „ 2 — 3*
 *; therefore
4
3*
= t, then y—
- — t; there-
t — z, and 3*=2 —4/, or *=-
,.2 — t
lore —g— must be a whole number.
Assume now -*=#, then z=v — t, and t=2 — Sv.
Here it is evident that v may be any whole number taken
at pleasure: so that to determine # and y we have the
following series of equations:
/ = 2 — 3v,
*= v — t = 4*— 2,
y= t — * =4 — 7v,
#=14 — y+2 =llv+8.
From the value of y, it appears that v must either be
= 0 or negative; but from the value of #, v cannot be a
negative whole number; therefore v can only be = 0;
be a whole number.
Assume
1 — *
—v, then y—v — 3*, and *=1 — 2v;
therefore v may be taken any whole number at pleasure,
and # and y may be determined by the following equa¬
tions :
*= 1 — 2v,
y—v — 3* =7# — 3,
#=57 — y+*=61 — 9v.
From the value of #, it appears that v cannot exceed
6, and from the value of y, that it cannot be less than 1.
Hence if v = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
we have # = 52, 43, 34, 25, 16, 7,
y = 4, 11, 18, 25, 32, 39.
194. In the foregoing examples the unknown quan¬
tities # and y have each a determinate number of posi¬
tive values; and this will evidently be the case as often
as the proposed equation is of this form, «#+5y=c. If,
however, b be negative, that is, if the equation be of this
form, ax — by—c, or ax=by-\-c, we shall have questions
of a different kind, admitting each of an infinite number
of solutions; these, however, may be resolved in the
same manner as the preceding, as will appear from the
following example.
Ex. 4. A person buys some horses and oxen: he pays
31 crowns for each horse, and 20 crowns for each ox,
and he finds that the oxen cost him seven crowns more
than the horses. How many did he buy of each ?
Let # be the number of horses, and y that of the
oxen; then, by the question, i
^ 01 „ j 31y+7 . lly + 7
20#=31y+7, and #=—|^-=y+—.
Therefore must be a whole number.
20
Let = v> x—y +w’anc* y—
20# — 7
11
= v
9v
11
hence
9# —7
11
must be a whole number.
Let
2/+7
9v — 7 , . llZ + 7
——— = t, theny=v + Z, and v=—^— = / +
11
therefore
2Z+7
is a whole number.
Let —= s> fh011 ® and Z =
9s
— 4s +
therefore
is a whole number.
478
ALGEBRA.
Put — then t—ks-\-r and s-=z2r~l.
Having now no longer any fractions, we return to the
values of x and y by the following series of equations ;
s=2r + 7,
t— 4s -j-r— 9r + 28,
v— ^+5 = ll7’d-35,
y— v-j-^ — 20r-j-63— number of oxen,
x— y4-^ = 31r-f 98= number of horses.
The least positive values of x and y will evidently be
obtained by making r— — 3, and innumerable other
values may be had by putting r— —2, r— — 1, r—0,
r-zz. + 1, &c. Thus we have
x=5, 36, 67, 98, 129, 160, 191, 222, &c.
y=3, 23, 43, 63, 83, 103, 123, 143, &c.
each series forming an arithmetical progression, the com¬
mon difference in the first being 31, and in the second
20.
195. If we consider the manner in which the numbers
x, y, in this example, are determined from the succeed¬
ing quantities v, t, etc. we shall immediately perceive that
the co-efficients of those quantities are the same as the
successive quotients which arise in the arithmetical ope¬
ration for finding the greatest common measure of 20 and
31, the co-efficients of the given equation 20a;=:31^-f-7.
The operation performed at length will stand thus :
20)31(1
20
11)20(1
11
9)11(1
9
2)9(4
8
1)2(2
2
0
Hence we may form a series of numeral equations
which, when compared with the series of literal equations
expressing the relations between x, y, v, &c. as put down
in the following table, will render the method of deter¬
mining the latter from the former sufficiently obvious.
31 = 1x20-{-11
20=1x11+ 9
ll = lX 9+ 2
9=4x 2+ 1
2=2x 2+ 0
x=\xy+v,
yzz\xv+t,
v~ 1 x * + s,
<=4 x s +7’,
s=2x/,+7.
And as every question of this kind may be analyzed in
the same manner, we may hence form the following gene¬
ral rule for resolving indeterminate problems of the first
order.
of equations from which another series maybe derived nc ai
in the following table :
a—Ab-\-c, hence we find x— Ay+v,
i=Bc + c? y=¥>v+t,
c= CrZ + e v—Ct +s,
d~T)e-\-f <=Ds-{-7',
e—W+9 s^Er+gr,
f— F<7 + 0 r= Yqztin.
And in the last equation of the second series any number
whatever may be put for q. It is also to be observed
that the given number n is to have the sign + prefixed
to it, if the number of equations be odd, but — if that
number be even. Having formed the second series of
equations, the values of x and y may be thence found as
in the foregoing examples. We proceed to show the ap¬
plication of the rule.
ira.
^ V
Ex. 5. Required a number which, being divided by II,
leaves the remainder 3, but being divided by 19, leaves
the remainder 5.
Let N be the number, and x, y, the quotients which
arise from the respective divisions ; then we have Nnlkc
+ 3, also N=19?/-{-5; hence lla? + 3=19^+5, and 1 la:
= 19^ + 2, an equation which furnishes the following ta¬
ble :
19=1x11 + 8
H = lX 8 + 3
8=2 x 3 + 2
3=1 X 2+1
2=2 x 1 + 0
Here r may be assumed of any
we have
X— 7/ + t?,
V— v + t,
vz=2t +5,
t= s+r,
s=2r+ 2.
value whatever.
Hence
s=2r +2,
t— 5 + /• = 3r + 2,
v—2t + 5= 87”+ 6,
yzz v + £=11t’+ 8,
xzz y+«= 197’+14;
and the number required, N=2097«+157, where it is evi¬
dent that the least number which can express N is 157.
Ex. 6. j3x-\- 5^+ 7z=560 1 To determine a:,y, 2,
Given |9a: + 25y + 49z=2920| in whole numbers.
From 7 times the first equation subtract the second; thus
we have 12a:+10y=1000, or 6a? + 5y=500; and from
this last equation, by proceeding as in the foregoing ex¬
ample, we find
a?=500 — 5v, y— 6v — 500.
Let these values of x and y be substituted in either of
the original equations ; in the first, for example, as being
the most simple, and we find 7z+15tj=1560. This last
equation being resolved in the same manner, we find
i’=1560 — 7/,
z=15£ —3120,
y=8860 — 42£,
yzz35t —7300;
and hence it appears that the only values which t can have,
so as to give whole positive numbers for x, y, z, are 209
and 210: thus we have
196. Let bx~ ay + n be the proposed equation, in
which a, b, n, are given integers, and x, y, numbers to be
found. Let a be the greatest of the two numbers a, b,
and let A denote the greatest multiple of b which is con¬
tained in a, and c the remainder; also let B denote the
greatest multiple of c contained in b, and d the remain¬
der ; and C the greatest multiple of d contained in c, and
e the remainder ; and so on, till one of the remainders be
found equal to 0. The numbers A, B, C, afford a series
x—15 t/=82 z= 15,
or a;=50 y=40 z=30.
197. If an equation were proposed involving three un¬
known quantities, as ax^-by-\-cz—d, by transposition we
have ax-\-by—d—cz, and, putting d— cz—d, ax\by^-
From this last equation we may find values of x and y of
this form,
x—mr-^-nd, y—nir^rid,
or x—mr-\-n(d — ex'), yzzmlr—cz);
where z and r may taken at pleasure, except in so far
w/as the values of y, z, may be required to be all positive;
for from such restriction the values of 2 and r may be con¬
fined within certain limits to be determined from the given
equation. .
198. We proceed to indeterminate problems of the
second degree. These produce equations of the three
following forms:
I v— —■> II. III. 7/:= Va + kr+cx2.
b + cx u c-\-dx u
In all these equations a, b, c, denote given numbers. In
the first two, x is to be determined so that y may be an
integer; and in the third, x is to be determined so that y
may be a rational quantity.
In the equation y— evident, b-\-cx must be
a divisor of a; let d be one of its divisors, then b-\-cx=.d,
and  : hence, to find x we must search among
the divisors of a for one such, that if b be subtracted from
it, the remainder may be divisible by c, and the quotient
will be such a value of x as is required.
CL I hjC . • •
When ?/— -'if ^ be a divisor of b, x will be taken
^ c-\-dx
out of the numerator if we divide it by c-\-dx, and this
form is then reduced to the preceding. But if d is not
a divisor of b, multiply both sides by d, then dy— da-\-dbx
ALGEBRA.
Here m, as before, may be taken at pleasure.
Case 3. When neither a nor c is a square number, yet
if the expression a + bx + cx? can be resolved into two
simple factors, as/+#x and h + kx, the irrationality may
be taken away as follows.
or dy—b-^
ad—be
c-\-dx
and so x is found by making c-\-dx
c-\-dx'
equal to a divisor of ad — be.
Example. Given x-J-y 4-2xy=:195, to determine x and
y in whole numbers.
195 x
From the given equation, y— —, . ^—, therefore
ty—
390 —2x
391
l-\-2x
= — l + i—Now 391—17 X 23, hence
1 -f 2x " nr 1 _j_ 2x'
we must assume l-}-2x=:17, or 1 -|-2x=23 ; the first sup¬
position gives us x=8, y=ll; and the second x=ll,
y=8, the same result in effect as the former.
199. We are next to consider the formula y —
Va-\-bx-{-cxP, where x is to be found, so that y may be a
rational quantity; but as the condition of having x and y
also integers would add greatly to the difficulty of the pro¬
blem, and produce researches of a very intricate nature,
we must be satisfied for the most part with fractional
values. The possibility of rendering the proposed formula
a square depends altogether upon the co-efficients a, b, c ;
and there are four cases of the problem, the solution of
each of which is connected with some peculiarity in its
nature.
Case 1. Let a be a square number ; then, putting y2 for
ff) we have y=V(f + bx -j- cx2. Suppose Vg2 -j- bx -f- ex2
~9 + mx; theng-^.bx-\-c:tr~g2 + 2gmx-f-m2x?,or bx-j-cx2
that is, b cx—2gm -{- m2x ; hence
__ 2gm — b
x~
c — m2
, y—\/'g2-[-bx-\-cx2 —
eg — bm gm2
Here m may be any rational quantity, either whole or
fractional.
Case 2, Let c be a square number —g2; then, putting
a-¥bx-\-g2a?-=zm+gx we find a +Jx+y2x2=»i2-j-2wyx
+/X2, or a+bx—m2-\-2mgx; hence we find
m* — a
bZZiX-g' V- J
bm — gw? — ag
2mg
Assume +« + bx + cx2— +(/+ gx)(h + kx)—w(/+yx),
tli en ( jf+ yx) (4 + Ax)—m2( f-\- yx)2, or A + /ix=m2( /+ gx);
hence we find
^ y=
and in these formulae m may be taken at pleasure.
Case 4. The expression a + bx + cx2 may be transform¬
ed into a square as often as it can be resolved into two
parts, one of which is a complete square, and the other
a product of two simple factors ; for then / it has this
form, where/>, q, and r are quantities which con¬
tain no power of x higher than the first. Let us assume
Vp2 4- qr—p -f wiq; thus we have jt>2 -f qr—p2 4- 2mpq 4- m2q2
and rz=.2mp-\-m2q, and as this equation involves only the
first power of x, we may by proper reduction obtain from
it rational values of x and y, as in the three foregoing
cases.
200. If we can by trials discover any one value of x
which renders the expression Va-^-bx-J^cx2 rational, we
may immediately reduce the quantity under the radical
sign to the above-mentioned form, and thence find a
general expression from which as many more values of x
may be determined as we please. Thus, let us suppose
that is a value of x which satisfies the condition requir¬
ed, and that q is the corresponding value of y ; then
y2—a -j- ^ +
<f—a-\-bq\- cp2.
Therefore, by subtraction,
y2 — (f—bigx—p)-\-c(p?—jo2)—(fi-j-fiP+c#) (#—P)
and y=V'g,24-(A4-cy4-cx) (x — p). The quantity under
the radical sign being now reduced to the prescribed
form, it may lie rendered rational by the substitution
pointed out in the last article.
The application of the preceding general methods of
resolution to any particular case is very easy; we shall
therefore conclude with a very few examples.
Ex. 1. It is required to find two square numbers whose
sum is a given square number.
Let a2 be the given square number, and x2, y2, the
numbers required; then, by the question, x?y2-=z a2,
and y—^/c? — x2. This equation is evidently of such a
form as to be resolvable by the method employed in
case 1. Accordingly, by comparing Va? — x2 with the
general expression +g2 4-bx 4- cx2, we have y = «, Z> 0,
e—— 1, and substituting these values in the formulae of
sect. 199, also —n for +»*, we find
2an a(r?—1)
x~W+Vy- w24-l ;
required are
4«%2
hence the numbers
If
>* + 1)
where
r
024-l)2
«2 + l, where n is any number whatever, the
square numbers x2 and y2 will both be integers, viz.
x2 = 4w2 and y~ = (n'2 — l)2. Let us suppose n—2, then
a — n2 \ — 5, and «2 = 25, hence x2 — 4»2 =r 16,
y—{n2 — l)2 = 9. Thus it appears that the square num¬
ber 25 may be resolved into two other square numbers, 9
and 16.
480
ALGEBRA.
Algebra. ^ Ex. 2. It is required to find two square numbers
whose difference shall be equal to a given square num¬
ber b*.
This question may be resolved in the same manner
as the last. Or, without referring to any former in¬
vestigation, let (tf-f-w)2 and #2 be the numbers sought,
then (a:-J-«)2 — x*2 — b‘2 ; that is, 2nx -f- w2 = b<2, hence
b2 — n2 , J2
and x-\-n-=i—1—
.t—-
2n
sought are
2n
So that the numbers
(b2+n2)2 (b2—n)2
4«2 ’ 4w2 ’
where n may be any number whatever. If, for example,
b2 = 25 and n= 1, then a;=:12 and «-}-n=13; so that the
numbers required are 144 and 169.
CC** I X
Ex. 3. It is required to determine x, so that ———
may be a rational square.
Let y be the side of the square required; then
x2 -\-x
—y2 and 4a:2-|-4a;=:8^2. Let the first part of this equa¬
tion be completed into a square by adding 1 to each
side, then 4a:2 -f- Lc 1 -- 1 + fry2 ; and taking the root,
2a:-f Izz-v/l + Sy2, so that we have to make l-f&y2 a
square. Assume
i+%2 = (i+^) = 1 + y y+j, then % = y
+^y’
Hence, by proper reduction, y =
_ ^7
&q‘2 —p2'
7
and
' 8^2 —p
since 2a:-}- 1—Vl -}-8iy2 — ^:/^~^„ therefore
a:2 4- a: 4»2 q2 . ,
and —^— rr —j-pyi' a ratl0na^ square, as was re¬
quired.
Sect. XXIII.—Of the Resolution of Geometrical
Problems.
201. When a geometrical problem is to be resolved
by algebra, the figure which is to be the subject of in¬
vestigation must be drawn, so as to exhibit as well the
known quantities connected with the problem, as the
unknown quantities which are to be found. The condi¬
tions of the problem are next to be attentively con¬
sidered, and such lines drawn, or produced, as may be
judged necessary to its resolution. This done, the known
quantities are to be denoted by symbols in the usual
manner, and also such unknown quantities as can most
easily be determined; which may be either those directly
required, or others from which they can be readily found.
We must next proceed to deduce from the known geo¬
metrical properties of the figure a series of equations,
expi’essing the relations between the known and un¬
known quantities; these equations must be independent
of each other, and as many in number as there are un¬
known quantities. Having obtained a suitable number of
equations, the unknown quantities are to be determined
in the same manner as in the resolution of numerical pro¬
blems.
No general rule can be given for drawing the lines,
and selecting the quantities most proper to be represent¬
ed by symbols, so as to bring out the simplest conclu¬
sion ; because different problems require different me¬
thods of solution. The best way to gain experience in
this matter, is to try the solution of the same problem in
different ways, and then apply that which succeeds best A]
to other cases of the same kind, when they afterwards^
occur. The following particular directions, however, may
be of some use. ’ ^
1. In preparing the figure by drawing lines, let them
be either parallel or perpendicular to other lines in the
figure, so as to form similar triangles. And if an angle
be given, it will be proper to let the perpendicular be op¬
posite to that angle, and to fall from one end of a given
line, if possible.
2. In selecting the quantities for which symbols are
to be substituted, those are to be chosen, whether re¬
quired or not, which lie nearest the known or given parts
of the figure, and by means of which the next adjacent
parts may be expressed by addition and subtraction only,
without the intervention of surds.
3. When two lines, or quantities, are alike related to
other parts of the figure, or problem, the best way is to
substitute for neither of them separately, but to substi¬
tute for their sum, or difference, or rectangle, or the sum
of their alternate quotients, or some line or lines in the
figure, to which they have both the same relation.
4. WTien the area or the perimeter of a figure is given,
or such like parts of it as have only a remote relation to
the parts required, it is sometimes of use to assume
another figure similar to the proposed one, having one
side equal to unity, or some other known quantity. For
thence the other parts of the figure may be found by the
known proportions of like sides or parts, and so an equa¬
tion will be obtained.
202. We shall now give the algebraical solutions of
some geometrical problems.
ira,
V
Prob. 1. In a right-angled triangle, having given the
base, and the sum of the hypothenuse and perpendicular,
to find both these sides.
Let ABC (Plate XVIII. fig. 1) represent the proposed
triangle, right-angled at B. Let AB, the given base, be
denoted by b, and AC + BC, the sum of the hypothenuse
and perpendicular, by s; then if x be put for BC the
perpendicular, the hypothenuse AC will be —s — x. But
from the nature of a right-angled triangle, AC2 = AB2
+ BC2, that is,
b?-{-x?= (s — x^zza? — 2sx-]-x2.
O 70
Hence b2 — s2 — 2sx, and x — —-— = BC.
is
AT &   V2 S2 A-b2 * r' 'TV.
Also s — x — s   = —A;— — AC. Thus the
2s 2s
perpendicular and hypothenuse are expressed by means
of the known quantities b and s, as required.
If a solution in numbers be required, we may suppose
AB=6=3, and AC + CB=5=9; then
BC = = 4, and AC = -
2s
2s
= 5.
Prob. 2. In a right-angled triangle, having given the
hypothenuse, also the sum of the base and perpendicular,
it is required to determine these two sides.
Let ABC (fig. 1) represent the proposed triangle,
right-angled at B. Put «=:AC the given hypothenuse,
and s=AB + BC the given sum of the sides; then, if a: be
put for AB the base, s — x will denote BC the perpen¬
dicular.
Now, from the nature of right-atigled triangles, AC*
= AB2 + BC2 ; therefore x2 (s — x)2 = a‘2, or x22r
s<2 — 2sx-\-x2zza2; hence we have this quadratic equa-
Alg.^tion, x2 —
ALGEBRA.
which being resolved, by com-
481
pleting the square, we find x =
sz±zV2a‘^ —s2
= AB, and
szizV2a2 — s2
s — z=-
either of the two quantities
s-\-V2a2—s2 s — V2a2—s2
2 ’ 2 ’
xy—af,
From the first equation we find y—^, and from the
px
second, y — ^X, therefore ^-r
o o
—— ; hence x? —
x
bx= —.
a2b
and from this quadratic equation, by complet¬
ing the square, &c. we find
2 * 1
'2 v T~7’andy
Hence it appears, that if
lit
- „ -2 v 4
x
(fib
~F
pa*
'T
blem possible, the given space a2 must not be greater than Algebra.
pb
that is, than half the area of the given triangle.
= BC. Thus it appears, that
may be taken for AB; but whichever of the two be
taken, the remaining one is necessarily equal to BC.
Prob. 3. It is required to inscribe a square in a given
triangle.
Let ABC (fig. 2) be the given triangle, and EFHG the
inscribed square. Draw the perpendicular AD, cutting
EF, the side of the square, in K ; then, because the tri¬
angle is given, the perpendicular AD may be considered
as given. Let BC=6, KD=.p, and considering AK as
the unknown quantity (because from it the square may
be readily determined), let AKrzx; thenKDrrEF=jo—x.
The triangles ABC, AEF, are similar; therefore
AD : BC : : AK : EF, that is, jo : 6 : : a?: jo — x. Hence,
by taking the product of the extremes and means, p2
—pxzzbx, and ^ z= AK. If the side of the square
be required, it may be immediately found by subtract¬
ing AK from AD the perpendicular. Thus we have
^ence appears that we
may either take AK, a third proportional to AD + BC and
AD, or take DK, a fourth proportional to AD + BC, AD
and BC; and the point K being found, the manner of de¬
scribing the square is sufficiently obvious.
Prob. 4*. Having given the area of a rectangle inscrib¬
ed in a given triangle ; it is required to determine the sides
of the rectangle.
Let ABC (fig. 3) be the given triangle, and EDGF the
rectangle whose sides are required. Draw the perpendi¬
cular Cl, cutting DG in H. Put AB=6, CI=j9, DG=EF
=x, DE=HI=3/; ^en CH=:/> — y. Let a2 denote the
given area.
The triangles CDG, CAB, are similar ; hence
CH : DG :: Cl: AB, ox p — y: x:: p i b.
So that to determine x and y, we have these two equa¬
tions,
„2 ip — by—px.
a?
x
Prob. 5. In a triangle, there are given the base, the
vertical angle, and the sum of the sides about that angle ;
to determine each of these sides.
Let us suppose that ABC (fig. 4) is the triangle, of
which there is given the base AC, the vertical angle
ABC, and the sum of the sides AB, BC. Put AC = a,
AB-|-BC=&, cosine of ^lABC—c; and let AB, BC, the
sides required, be denoted by x and y.
Let CD be drawn from either of the angles at the base
perpendicular to the opposite side AB; then, rad. : cos.
B :: CB : BD ; therefore BDzrcos. B X CBzzcy.
Now, from the principles of geometry, AC2rzAB3
-f- BC2 — 2AB X BD. Hence, and from the question, we
have these two equations,
xJ[-y=b, x3 — 2cxy+y2—a2.
From the square of the first of these equations, viz.
x2+2xy+3/2=^25 let the second be subtracted; thus we
. ^2
have 2(1 Jrc)xy—lfi — a2, and 2xy— ^ |—. Again, from
I -\-c
the square of the first equation let the double of this last
2(^2 a2\
equation, viz. 4xy— ■ |—be subtracted, and the re-
1 + c
suit is xfi — 2xy-\-y2z=.
+ <
1 2a2 — (1—c)lfi
1+c
so that by taking
the square root of this last equation, we obtain
—y-*J 1+c
c)b2
Thus we have found the difference between the sides, now
their sum is given —b; hence, by adding ^ the difference
to ^ the sum, we find
j ,c
and subtracting \ the difference from ^ the sum,
V 2
1 /2«2 —
2 V J
{\—c)V
—J— O
&
be less than —, that is, if
4
If the angle at B be a right angle, this problem becomes
the same as prob. 2.
Prob. 6. To draw a straight line through a given
point P (fig. 5), so as to form with AB, AC, two straight
lines given in position, a triangle DAE equal to a given
space.
Draw PF parallel to AC, one of the lines; and DH,
PG, perpendicular to AB, the other line: then PF will be
given in position; and AF, PG, will be given in mag¬
nitude.
Put the known magnitudes AF=a, PG=fi, and AE, a
side of the triangle which is to be determined, —x. Also,
let the given space to which the triangle ADE is to be
equal, be c2.
By similar triangles, FE : PG ;: AE : DH ;
that is, x — a\b'.\x\ DH;
hence DH = —^; and triangle ADE= —
x ■
bxfi
•2d
a~ be less than there are two different rectangles, Therefore ^=c2, and bxP= 2c2x — 2a<fi,
having the same area, which may be inscribed in the
given triangle. It also appears that, to render the pro-
vol. II.
2x — 2a'
. „ 2c2 2ad
and x2 — t-x— r-.
u o
3 p
482
Algebra.
ALGEBRA.
This is a quadratic equation, which, by completing the
' square, becomes
„ 2c9 c4 ^(c2—2«£)
* ~Tx+!?= P—*
Hence, by talcing the square root, and transposing,
(?z±icV c2 — 2ab
X~ ‘ b '
It appears, from this expression, that x will have two
values, viz.
c\/ c2 — 2ab c2 — cV c2 — 2ab
X- b , X- - ;
therefore there are two positions of the line DE, which
will satisfy^ the problem. It further appears, that the
problem will only be possible when cC2'Z^’^ab; for if
c(2^J2ab, then c-—2ub will be a negative quantity, and
can, have no real square root. Since, then, c2 cannot be
less than 2ab, it follows that the least triangle which can
be formed by drawing a line throughout P, a point in the
angle CAB, is equal to 2ah, that is, to 2AF X PG.
If the point P were in the angle DAB', adjacent to
DAE (fig. 6), the solution would be the same ; but in
this case, the same notation being employed,
(? r±: c-v/c2 + 2ab
X~ b '
Ihe quantity under the radical sign is always positive,
therefore there is no limitation to the problem.
Prob. 7. To find the area of a triangle whose sides are
given.
In the triangle ABC (fig. 7) draw the perpendicular
CD ; put BC—«, AC—b, ABrrC, CD=p.
By the elements of Geometry (see Geometry),
CB2=rBA2 + CA2 — 2AB-AD;
that is, a‘z—cq + b‘2 — 2c X AD ;v
hence AD ——^ ~a ; and since
2c
(C2 2
jo2=AC2—AD2iri2
(c2
A 2^ ) ’
therefore 4c2/A — 4c-A2 — (c2 -|-62 a2 )'2.
Ihe second side of this equation is the difference of
two squares; therefore it admits of being resolved into
the product of the sum and difference of the roots, thus,
[_c‘2 + 2cb + b'2—a'2] [a2— (c‘2 — 2cb + V2)]■;
or, [(c+6)2—a2] [a2 —(c — bY2!.
Again, (c + 6)2 — «2 = (a+A + c) (c-\-b — a) ;
and a'2 —(’ — b)2=(a+c — b)(a — c+b);
therefore,
4c'2pr2 = (a + b + c) (a + b — c)(a — b-{-c)(b + c — a).
If we put s=z±(a + b + c), th^n
a-fb-\-c=2s, a + b — c—2(s—c),
a — ^-fcz=2(5 — b), b + c — a=2(s — a).
We have now
c2//2
—s(s — a)(s — b) (s — c);
and hence, observing that area of triangle,
arearr y' [5(5 — «) (5 _ b) (s — c)].
20o. By a method of investigation in all respects similar
to that which has been employed in these examples, any
proposed geometrical problem may be reduced to an
algebraic equation, the roots of which will exhibit arith¬
metical values of that geometrical magnitude which con¬
stitutes the unknown quantity in the equation. But the
roots of algebraic equations may also be expressed by
geometrical magnitudes, and hence a geometrical con¬
struction of a problem may be derived from its algebraic Ai
solution. For example, quadratic equations, which all^
belong to one or other of these three forms,
x2-\-ax=bc, a?—ax—be, x?—ax——be,
or, x(x + a)=bc, x(x—a)=bc, x(a—x)—bc,
may be constructed as follows.
Construction of the first and second forms.—Let a circle
EABD (fig. 8) be described with a radius =±a, in which
from any point A in the circumference, apply a chord AB
=b—c, (b being supposed greater than c) and produce
AB so that BC—c ,• then AC=6.
Let H be the centre of the circle; join CH cutting the
circumference in D and E, then, in the first case, the po¬
sitive value of x will be represented by CD, and in the
second by CE ; for by construction DE=a; therefore, if
CD be called x, then CE—^+a; but if CEzra;, then CD
=x—a. Now, by the elements of geometry, EC X CD=
ACx CB; that is, x(xz±:a)=bc, or x2z±zax=bc, which
equation comprehends the first and second cases.
If the negative roots be required, that of the first case
will be CE and that of the second CD.
When b and c are equal, the construction will be rather
more simple; for then AB vanishing, AC will coincide with
the tangent CF. Therefore, if a right-angled triangle
FIFC be constructed, whose legs HF and FC are equal
respectively to ±a and b, then will CD, the value of a: in
the first case, be equal to CH—HF, and CE, the value of
x in the latter, =CH-}-HF.
Construction of the third form.—Let a circle EADB
(fig. 9) be described with a radius = \a as before, in
which apply a chord AB=Z.-f c, and take AC=6. Through
C draw the diameter DCE, then either DC or EC will be
positive roots of the equation. For since ED—a, if either
EC or CD=a?, the remaining part of the diameter will be
a—x ; now by the nature of the circle EC X CD = AC X
CB, that is, x (a—x)—bc, or x2—ax——be ; hence it is
evident that the roots are rightly determined.
If b and c are equal, the construction will be the same,
only it will then not be necessary to describe the whole
circle ; for since AC will be perpendicular to the diame¬
ter, if a right-angled triangle HC A be constructed, having
its hypothenuse HA—and base AC=5, the roots of the
equation will be expressed by AH + FIC and AH—HC.
If b and c be so unequal that b—c in the first two cases,
or 6-}-c in the third, is greater than a, then, instead of
these quantities, jf) and 2c, or in general - and nc (where
n is any number whatever) may be used. Or a mean pro¬
portional may be found between b and c, and the construc¬
tion performed as directed in each case when b and c are
equal.
It appears from this section, that every geometrical
problem which produces a quadratic equation may be
constructed by means of a straight line and a circle, or
is a plane problem; hence, on the contrary, if a problem
can be constructed by straight lines and circles, its alge¬
braic resolution will not produce an equation higher than
a quadratic. Cubic and biquadratic equations may be
constructed geometrically by means of any two conic sec¬
tions ; hence it follows that every geometrical problem
which requires for its construction two conic sections, will,
when resolved by algebra, produce a cubic or biquadratic
equation.
Sect. XXIV. Of the Loci of Equations.
204. When an equation contains two indeterminate
quantities x and y, then for each particular value of x
algebra.
Al bra.
there may be as many values of y as it has dimensions in
' that equation. So that if in an indefinite line AE (fig. 10)
there be taken a part AP to represent xy and a perpendi¬
cular PM be drawn to represent y, there will be as many
points M, M', &c. the extremities of these perpendiculars,
as there are dimensions of y in the proposed equation;
be drawn parallel to AN, then will DF be the W
quncd Where it is to be observed that AD and pv
to be taken on the same side of AE tfbx and d r,Q " f,
tra™ signs.bUt ^ °PI>0S!te SideS 0f AE if the3' have c0’!
Curves whose equations are of two dimensions
and the values of PM, PM', &c will be the roots' of the tnte the'^rZT^Lrand
equation, which are found by substituting for a; its value Their intersections with n S ? iVi- ^ * kmd of curv’es.
in any particular case. Hence it appears that in any par- two (sect. 204). t Elg lt me Can never exceed
ticular equation we may determine as many points M as fWvpa'wwl ^ .
we please; and a line which passes through all these ^  i„.. c i0nSv ^re 0 three ^mensions form
points is called the loctis of the equation. The line AP
which expresses any value of x, is called an absciss; and
PM, which expresses the corresponding value ofy, is called
an ordinate. Any two corresponding values of x and y
are also called co-ordinates.
205. When the equation that arises by substituting for
any particular value AP has all its roots positive, the
points M, M', &c. will lie all on one side of AE ; but if any
of them be negative, these must be set off on the other
side of AE towards m.
If x be supposed to become negative, then the line
Ap, which represents it, is to be taken in a direction the
opposite to that which represents the positive values ofx;
the points M, rn, are to be taken as before, and the locus
is only complete when it passes through all the points
M, m, so as to exhibit a value of y corresponding to every
possible value of x. J
If in any case one of the values of y vanish, then the
point M coincides with P, and the locus meets AE in that
point. If one of the values of y becomes infinite, then it
shows that the curve has an infinite arc, and in that case
the line PM becomes an asymptote to the curve, or touches
it at an infinite distance, if AP itself is finite.
If, when x is supposed infinitely great, a value of y
’ anish, then the curve approaches to AE as an asymptote.
If any values of y become impossible, then so many
points M vanish.
the third order of lines and the
their intersections with a straight line can never exceed
three; and after the same manner curves of the higher
orders are denominated. s ier
Some curves if they were completely described, would
cut a straight line in an infinite number of points; but
* -    J iese J,e!ong to none of the orders we have mentioned, for
* any particular value AP has all its roots positive, the the relation between their ordinates and abscisses rJnnf-
nnints M. M'. &c. will he all nn on. c,Vlo nf a 'P . t,..* be expressed by a finite equation, involving only ordinates
and abscisses with determinate quantities. Curves of this
kind are called mechanical or transcendental.
208. As the roots of an equation become impossible al¬
ways in pairs, so the intersections of a curve and its or-
tITp vanish in pairs, if any of them vanish.
J U cut the curve 111 tIle points M and m
and, by moving parallel to itself, come to touch it in the
point N, then the two points of intersection M and m ao
to form one point of contact N. If PM still move on,
parallel to itself, the points of intersection will, beyond N
become imaginary, as the two roots of an equation first
become equal, and then imaginary.
The curves of the 3d, 5th, 7th orders, and all whose di¬
mensions are odd numbers, have always one real root at
least; and consequently for every value ofx the equation
by which y is determined must have at least one real root;
so that as x or AP may be increased in infinitum on both
sides, it follows that M must go off on both sides without
limit.
206. From these observations, and the theory of equa¬
tions, it appears that when an equation is proposed in¬
volving two indeterminate quantities x and y, there may
be as many intersections of the curve which is the locus of
the equation, and of the line PM, as there are dimensions
ot y in the equation; and as many intersections of the
curve and the line AE as there are dimensions of x in the
equation.
~0g A curve line is called geometrical, or algebraic
when the equation which expresses the relation between
■r and y (any absciss and its corresponding ordinate), con¬
sists of a finite number of terms, and contains, besides these
quantities, only known quantities. Algebraic curves are
1V1 . ln^° orders, according to the dimensions of the
equations which express the relations between their ab¬
scisses and ordinates, or according to the number of points
in which they can intersect a straight line.
< tiaight lines themselves constitute the first order of
"ies; and when the equation expressing the relation be-
wccn x and y is only of one dimension, the points M, &c.
is )e all found in a straight line which contains with AE
given angle. Suppose, for example, that the given equa-
n is ay bx cd— 0, and that its locus is required.
Since yJ^±^Li it follows that APM (fig. 11) being
such H*' ^n^e’ if AN be drawn making the angle NAP
a cosine is to its sine as a to b, and drawing
parallel t0 the ordinates PM, and equal to —, if DF
In curves whose dimensions are even numbers, as the
roots of their equations may become all impossible, it fol¬
lows that the figure of the curve may be like a circle, or
oval, that is, limited within certain bounds, beyond which
it cannot extend.
209. When two roots of the equation by which y is de¬
termined become equal, either the ordinate PM touches
the curve, two points of intersection in that case going
into a point of contact; or the point M is apunctum du¬
plex in the curve, two of its arcs intersecting each other
there; or some oval that belongs to that kind of curve be¬
coming infinitely little in M, it vanishes into what is
called a punctum conjugatum.
If, in the equation, y be supposed =0, then the roots of
the equation by which x is determined will give the dis¬
tances of the points where the curve meets AE from A;
and if two of those roots be found equal, then either the
curve touches the line AE, or AE passes through a
punctum duplex in the curve. When y is supposed
= 0, if one of the values of x vanish, the curve in that
case passes through A ; if two vanish, then either AE
touches the curve in A, or A is a punctum duplex.
As a punctum duplex is determined from the equality of
two roots, so is a punctum triplex from the equality of
three roots.
210. To illustrate these observations, we shall take a few
examples.
Ex. 1. It is required to describe the line that is the
locus of this equation, y^—ax-^ab, or y- — ax — ab—0,
where a and b denote given quantities. Since tfi
484
ALGEBRA.
Algebra. _ ±*/ax + ab; if AP = z (fig. 13) be assumed of a
/ known value, and PM, Pm, set off on each side equal to
axab, the points M, m, will belong to the locus
required; and for every positive value of AP there
may thus be found a point of the locus on each side.
The greater that AP or x is taken, the greater does
Vax-\-ab become, and consequently PM and Pm the
greater; and if AP be supposed infinitely great, PM
and Pm will also become infinitely great; therefore the
locus has two infinite arcs, that go off to an infinite
distance from AE and from AD. If x be supposed to
vanish, then y— —1— ^cb, so that y does not vanish in
that case, but passes through D and d, taking AD and Ad
each — V ab.
infinite; so that if AK be taken =a+c, the ordinate KF
will be an asymptote to the curve.
If x be taken greater than a + c, or AP greater than
AK, then both c — x and a+c — x become negative,
and consequently y bY.    becomes a positive
A1g< i.
If P be supposed to move on the other side of A, then
x becomes negative,
and y = r±= Vab — ax, so that y
will have two values as before, while x is less than b;
but if AB = b, and the point P be supposed to come to
B, then ab—ax, and y — *</ab—ax — 0; that is, PM
and Pm vanish, and the curve there meets the line AE.
If P be supposed to move from A beyond B, then x
becomes greater than b, and ax greater than ab, so that
aft — ax being negative, Vab—ax becomes imaginary;
that is, beyond B there are no ordinates which meet the
curve, and consequently, on that side the curve is limited
at B.
All this agrees very well with what is known by other
methods, that the curve whose equation is y2 axab
is a parabola whose vertex is B, axis BE, and parameter
equal to a. For since b zAz x — BP, and y ~ PM, from
the equation ab z±=. ax — y2, or a(b r±= x) ~ y2, we have
« X BP = PM2, which is the well-known property of the
parabola.
Ex. 2. It is required to describe the line that is the
locus of the equation xy + ay -{-cy—bc-^r bx, or
bc + bx
y ~~ a + c+a;’
x—a—c
quantity; and since x—e is always greater than x—a—c,
it follows that y will be always greater than b or KG,
and consequently the rest of the curve lies in the angle
FGH. And as x increases, since the ratio of x—c to
x—a—c approaches still nearer to a ratio of equality,
it follows that PM approaches to an equality with PN,
therefore the curve approaches to its asymptote GH on
that side also.
The curve is the common hyperbola, for since b(c+x)
=y(a-{-c-\-x), by adding ab to both sides, &(a + c-}-x)
—y(a + c-\-x) + ab, and (b—*/) (a + c-j-;r)=d!>, that is,
NM X GN=GC X BC, which is the property of the com¬
mon hyperbola.
Ex. 3. It is required to describe the locus of the equa¬
tion ay2—xy2zzx?-\rbx2.
Here yqzz-
a—x
■, and therefore y
=W'
x5 w
hence PM and PM (fig. 15) are to be taken on each side,
and equal to -
! +&c2
a—x
This expression, by supposing
xzza, becomes infinite, because its denominator is then
— 0; therefore if AB be taken =a, and BK be drawn
perpendicular to AB, the line BK will be an asymptote
to the curve. If x be supposed greater than a, or AP
greater than AB, then a—x being negative, the fraction
x will become negative, and its square root impos-
a—*
sible ; so that no part of the locus can lie beyond B. If
x be supposed negative, or P taken on the other side of
Here it is evident (fig. 14) that the ordinate PM can
meet the curve in one point only, there being but one
value of y corresponding to each value of x. When xz=0,
be
A,then y
-u;3 + bx2
a-\-x
; hence the values of y will
then v = —; so that the curve does not pass through
^ a + c
be real and equal as long as x is less than b; but if x-b,
then y— —;
+ bx2
= J
—63+63
—0, and conse-
A.
If x be supposed to increase, then y will increase, but
will never become equal to b, since y—b X , _ , —, and
fc I | ?
a-TC-rx
a+c + x is always greater than c + a?. If a? be supposed
infinite, then the terms a and c vanish compared with x,
a + a; ^ a b
quently if AD be taken =b, the curve will pass through
D, and there touch the ordinate. T" 1
than b, then z±z —
If x be taken greater
bx2
a + x
becomes imaginary, so
£C
and consequently y =z bX~=zb; from which it appears,
that taking AD = b, and drawing GD parallel to AE, it
will be an asymptote, and touch the curve at an infinite
distance. If x be now supposed negative, and AP be
£ £
taken on the other side of A, then yzzbY —i ; and if
that no part of the curve is found beyond D. The por¬
tion between A and D is called a nodus. If ?/ be supposec
— 0, then will a?3 +&e2:=0 be an equation whose roots are
—b, 0, 0; from which it appears that .the curve passes
twice through A, and has in A a punctum duplex. 1118
locus is a line of the third order
> | ?
a + c—x
C r- Q
x be taken on that side —c, then y=.b X ———=0; so that
the curve must pass through B, if ABi=c. If x be sup¬
posed greater than c, then will c—x become negative, and
the ordinate will become negative, and lie on the other
side of AE, till x become equal to «+c, and then y
— 6-j-p, that is, because the denominator is 0, a; becomes
If b is supposed to vanish in the supposed equation, so
that ay2 — xy2—x?, then will A and D coincide (ng* /
and the nodus vanish, and the curve will have in the pom
A a cuspis, the two arcs AM and Am, in this case, tone i
ing one another in that point. This is the same curve
which the ancients called the Cissoid of Diodes.
If, instead of supposing 5 positive, or equal to
pose it negative, the equation will be ay2 — xy-zzx ^ ’
the curve will in this case pass through_ D as be o
(fig. 17), and taking AB=a, BK will be its asymP ° ’
It will have a punctual conjuyatum in A, because w e j
vanishes, two values of x vanish, and the third becomes — >
ALGEBRA.
or AD. The whole curve, except this point, lies between
and BK. These remarks are demonstrated after the
same manner as in the first case.
211. If an equation have this form,
y—axn -j- -j- cxn~2 , &c.
and n is an even number, then will the lodus of the equation
have two infinite arcs lying on the same side of AE (fig.
18); for if a; become infinite, whether positive or negative, a;n
will be positive and axn have the same sign in either case;
and as axn becomes infinitely greater than the other terms
bxn~l, &c. it follows that the infinite values of y will have
the same sign in these cases, and consequently the two
infinite arcs of the curve will lie on the same side of AE.
But if n be an odd number, then when x is negative, xn
will be negative, and will have the contrary sign to
what it has when x is positive ; and therefore the two in¬
finite arcs will in this case lie on different sides of AE, as
in fig. 19, and tend towards parts directly opposite.
212. If an equation have this form, yxnzzan+l, and n be
• • • ^
an odd number, then when x is positive, yzz  ; but
485
when ads negative,
so that this curve must
all lie in the vertically opposite angles KAE, FAe (fig.
20), as the common hyperbola, FK, Ec being asymptotes.
But if n be an even number, then y is always positive,
whether x be positive or negative, because xn in this case
is always positive; and therefore the curve must all lie in
the two adjacent angles KAE and KAe (fig. 21), and have
AK and AE for its asymptotes.
213. If an equation be such as can be reduced into two
other equations of lower dimensions, without affecting y
or x with any radical sign, then the locus will consist of
the two loci of those inferior equations. Thus, the locus
of the equation y2 — 2xy J^by+x2 — which may
be resolved into these two, x — y=0, y — ar-f-&=0, is
found to be two straight lines cutting the absciss AE
(fig. 22) in angles of 45° in the points A, B, whose dis¬
tance AB=b. In like manner some cubic equations can
be resolved into three simple equations, and then the locm
is three straight lines; or may be resolved into a quadra¬
tic and simple equation, and then the locus is a straight
line and a conic section. In general, curves of the supe¬
rior orders include all the curves of the inferior orders, and
what is demonstrated generally of any one order is also
true of the inferior orders. Thus, for example, any gene¬
ral property of the conic sections holds true of two straight
lines as well as a conic section, particularly, that the rect¬
angles of the segments of parallels bounded by them will
always be to one another in a given ratio.
214. From the analogy which subsists between algebraic
equations and geometrical curves, it is easy to see that
the properties of the former must suggest corresponding
properties of the latter. Hence the principles of algebra
admit of the most extensive application to the theory of
curve lines. It may be demonstrated, for example, that
the locus of every equation of the second order is a conic
section; and, on the contrary, the various properties of
me diameters, ordinates, tangents, &c. of the conic sec¬
tions may be readily deduced from the theory of equa-
Sect. XXV. Arithmetic of Sines.
th ^e- ca^cu^us sines is one of the mathematical
cones which have been produced by the application of
* gebra to geometry. It treats of the relations which
Smes’ cosbies, tangents, Sec. of angles have one to another.
216. The geometrical principles of this theory were Algebra,
known to the ancients. They may be deduced from thev^v^>
beautiful property of a quadrilateral inscribed in a circle
namely, that the rectangle contained by its diagonals is
equal to the sum of the rectangles contained by its oppo¬
site sides ; which we find in the writings of Ptolemy, and
which was employed in the trigonometry of the Greeks.
In comparatively modern times we find the same proposi¬
tions distinctly recognised in the Opus Palatinum, the
great work on triangles begun by Rhetius, and finished by
Otho, who published it in 1596; also in the trigonometry
of Pitiscus, first printed in 1599; and probably they may¬
be found in still earlier works. Montucla, in his Histoire
des Mathematiques, says, “ I do not see that any one be¬
fore the beginning of this century (the 18th) had thought
of seeking formulae proper to express the sines or cosines,
tangents or co-tangents, of the sum or difference of arcs of
a circle, or their powers, &c. It seems to me to have been
very natural; and that there must have been frequently
occasion to know what was the sine or cosine, the tangent
or co-tangent, of an arc, that was the sum or difference of
two arcs of which the sines or cosines, or tangents or co¬
tangents, were known. The first theorems on this subject
appear to be the work of Frederic-Christian Mayer, one
of the first members of the Petersburg Academy.” Mon¬
tucla, however, seems to have overlooked the trigonome¬
try of Pitiscus, who, in problems 8 and 9 of his second
book, gives rules for finding the sines and cosines of the
sum and difference of two arcs, when the sines and cosines
of the arcs are given. These are in the edition of 1612.
The formula which expresses the tangent of the sum of
several arcs by the tangent of the arcs themselves, wras
given, for the first time, we believe, by John Bernoulli, in the
Leipsic Acts for July 1722. Both these are prior to Mayer’s
Memoir, which is in the Petersburg Commentaries with
the date 1727. It was probably here, however, that the
first essay of analytical trigonometry was given. Euler,
who stands pre-eminent in every branch of the mathema¬
tics, has contributed more especially to this doctrine, as
in his Subsidium Calculi Sinuum, in the New Petersburg
Commentaries, vol. v. (for 1754 and 1755), and his Intro-
ductio in Analysin Infinitorum. The doctrine of spherical
trigonometry was given in an analytic form by the same
writer, in a memoir entitled Trigonometria Spherica uni-
versa ex primis principiis derivata, in the Petersburg Acts
for 1779; and also by De Gua in the volume of the
Academy of Sciences for 1783; and, lastly, by Lagrange in
a memoir of the Journal Polytechnique, vol. ii.
217. The calculus of sines is of great importance as a
branch of analysis. It enables us in a great measure to
dispense with the complicated diagrams which the earlier
writers on geometry, and on the physico-mathematical
theories, employed in their investigations and demonstra¬
tions. In geometry, when combined with the modern
analysis, it gives the power of expressing the most com¬
plicated relations of figure, and magnitude, and position,
almost without the help of graphic representations. As
an example, we may give the fine discovery b}r Gauss, of
formulae by which a regular polygon of seventeen sides may
be inscribed in a circle by a geometrical construction. In
algebra it has served to extend greatly the theory of
equations; in astronomy, when applied to the theories of
the planets and comets, it gives elegant and convenient
expressions for their angular motions, and compact for¬
mulae for computing the elements of their orbits, and their
true and apparent positions ; and in statics and dynamics,
it gives, without diagrams, the relations of forces which
produce rest or motion, and the laws of the motions. The
precious invention of logarithms abridged the irksome
486
ALGEBRA.
Algebra, labour of calculation, even in the simplest applications of
. geometry; but this, combined with the trigonometrical
tables, and the theory of the calculus of sines, affords a
still more powerful instrument for abridging labour; just
as two mechanical inventions, which apart can overcome
considerable resistance, yet are vastly more potent when
united.
218. In the calculus of sines, as well as in other appli¬
cations of algebra to geometry, all quantities, whether
lines or angles, are considered as expressed by numbers ;
some line or angle is assumed as a unit, and the number
of times that unit is contained in the line or angle is its
numerical value.
The magnitude of the unit is altogether arbitrary; and
since, in general, the magnitude to be expressed in num¬
bers may not contain the unit an exact number of times,
v it ought to be so small, that the remainders may, in re¬
spect of the wholes, be rejected.
219. The primary unit, by which angles are expressed
in numbers, is one ninetieth part of a right angle, that is,
one 360th part of four right angles. Each of these is
called a degree, and is conceived to contain 60 units of a
lower order, called minutes ; and each minute, again, 60
units of the next lower order, called seco7ids ; and so on
to thirds, &c.
The degrees, minutes, &c. in an angle, are usually writ¬
ten thus: 12° 15' 10" 25"'. This means an angle of 12
degrees, 15 minutes, 10 seconds, and 25 thirds. It is not
common to estimate angles to a greater degree of accu¬
racy than seconds and tenths of a second: thus 3-4"
means three seconds and four tenths of a second.
The French mathematicians attempted, in the time of
the Revolution, to introduce a new unit for angles. They
supposed a right angle to be divided into 100 equal parts,
called degrees; and each degree to be subdivided into
100 minutes ; and each minute into 100 seconds ; and so
on. This division, however, was not adopted out of
France. Unfortunately, Laplace had employed it in his
Mecanique Celeste, to the inconvenience of its readers;
but now the French mathematicians themselves have al¬
most all returned to the old sexagenary division.
220. Although an angle and a circle are not necessarily
related, because we can form a distinct notion of each
independently of the other ; yet there is such an analogy
between them, as to make it convenient to consider them
together. Therefore (Plate XVIII. fig. 23), let PO, QO,
be straight lines which contain an angle whose vertex is O.
Let OQ, one of the lines, be given in position, and let
OE, a segment of the other line adjacent to O, be an
invariable magnitude. Let us now suppose the line PO
to coincide at first with QO, and, departing from that
position, to turn about O as a centre: the line PO will
now generate an angle POQ, and E, the extremity of
the constant radius, will describe an arc AE. When
the line has made a complete revolution about the cen¬
tre O, it will have generated four right angles, and
the point E will have described a complete circle; and it
is manifest that any angle POQ will have the same ratio
to four right angles that the arc AE has to the whole cir¬
cumference. Flence it follows that the arc may conve¬
niently serve as a geometrical measure of the angle; and if
we suppose the circumference to be divided into 360
equal parts, called degrees, and each of these to be sub¬
divided into 60 minutes, and so on, then the angle and
arc will be expressed by the same number of degrees,
minutes, &c.
221. Let the diameters AC, BD, be perpendicular to
each other. These divide the circumference into four
quadrants, and the circle into four regions AOB, BOC,
COD, DOA. The difference between an angle and a Aid
right angle, or between an arc and a quadrant, is called^
the complement of the angle or arc; and the difference
between an angle and two right angles, or between an arc
and a semicircle, is called the supplement of the angle or
arc. Thus, the angle POB is the complement of POQ,
and POC is its supplement; and the arc BE is the com¬
plement of AE, and CE its supplement.
222. Assuming A as the origin of the variable arc AE,
a straight line EF, drawn from its extremity E, perpen¬
dicular to the diameter AC, is called the sine of the arc
AE ; and a straight line EG, drawn perpendicular to BD
(which is the sine of the arc EB, the complement of AE),
is called the cosine of the arc AE. Hence it appears that
the cosine of an arc is equal to the distance of the sine
from the centre of the circle.
223. Supposing now the arc AE to increase continual¬
ly by the revolving of the radius OE, departing from the
position OA, and moving in the direction ABCD, &c. the
sine EF, which at first is z=0, will increase until the arc
become a quadrant; afterwards, while the arc increases
from one to two quadrants, the sine E'P will decrease,
and at last again become =0. The arc continuing to in¬
crease, the sine will be reproduced; but its direction PE"
will now be the opposite to its first direction FE. It will
increase in magnitude, until the arc become three qua¬
drants ABCD ; and it will again decrease, while the arc is
increasing from three to four quadrants: and when the
radius has made a complete revolution, the sine will have
decreased to zero. We may, however, suppose the re¬
volving radius OE still to proceed : there will thus be ge¬
nerated an arc, ABCDAE, greater than a complete circum¬
ference, of which EF will be the sine; and, in the second
and every succeeding revolution, the sine will pass through
the same changes as in the first.
224. We may trace the changes in the magnitude and
direction of the cosine just in the same way. While the
arc AE increases from zero to a quadrant, the cosine OF,
at first equal to the radius OA, decreases, and at last va¬
nishes ; and while the arc continues to increase, and has
any value ABE' between one and two quadrants, the co¬
sine OF' is reproduced, with a direction the opposite to
the first. When the arc is exactly two quadrants, the co¬
sine becomes in magnitude OC, equal to OA, but oppo¬
site in direction. The arc still increasing to ACE", the
cosine decreases to OF"; and when the arc becomes
ABCD, three quadrants, the cosine again becomes =0:
between three and four quadrants the cosine OF'" re-ap-
pears in its original direction ; and when the revolution is
completed, the cosine acquires its first value OA. In a
second revolution the same changes are repeated, and so
on continually.
We may suppose the radius to turn round O in the con¬
trary direction ADC, and the very same changes will be
produced on the direction and magnitude of the sine and
cosine of the generated arc AE'".
225. In conformity to the principles of analytic geome¬
try, the contrary position of the arcs AE, AE', and the
sines EF, E'F', in respect of the position of the arcs AE ,
AE'", and the sines E"F", E'"F"', may be indicated by the
signs and —; and the same is true of the cosines OF,
04"'", which are opposed in direction to the cosines OF,
OF", the arcs and sines on opposite sides of the diame¬
ter AC being regarded as having opposite signs, and a
like contrariety being supposed in the cosines on opposite
sides of the diameter BD, which is perpendicular to AG
The arc AE being regarded as positive, it does not signi¬
fy whether we reckon the sines and cosines positive or ne¬
gative in the beginning, provided we change the signs,
ALGEBRA.
487
Au a. when, after having decreased to zero, they are reproduced capable of continual increase. In astronomy, the angular Algebra.
P — J * i A iron 4.V. ^    1   . _ • 1 i ^, 0
\>»..^with a contrary direction.
Let us suppose the sine and cosine of any positive arc
AE in the first quadrant to be positive; then, from what
has been explained, the sine will continue to be positive
in the second quadrant, but the cosine will have become
negative; in the third the sine and cosine will both be
negative; and in the fourth the sine will be negative,
but the cosine positive.
Again, if the radius OE turn about O in the contrary
direction, ADCB, &c. the arc AE'", &c. thus generated
will be negative; the sines will also be negative in the
first semicircle, but the cosines positive in the quadrant
AD, and negative in DC, and so on ; the changes from -f-
to —, and from — to +, following each other exactly as
in the generation of a positive arc.
226. Let a straight line AH, perpendicular to the dia¬
meter AC, meet the radius OE produced in H (fig. 24);
the line AH is called the tangent of the arc AE, and
the line OH the secant of that arc.
227. A line BK, perpendicular to OB (which is at right
angles to OA), and which meets OH in K, will be the
tangent of the complement of the arc AE ; and OK will
be its secant. The former is therefore called the co-tan-
gcnt of the arc AE, and the latter its co-secant.
228. The segment AF of the diameter, between the be¬
ginning of the arc and its sine, is called the versed sine of
the arc; and, similarly, the segment BG, the versed sine
of the complement, is its co-vcrsed sine.
229. Since the arc AE is assumed as a geometrical
measure of the angle POQ, we may regard the lines which
are the sine, tangent, secant, Sec. of the arc, as also the
sine, tangent, secant, &c. of the angle ; or, since all quan¬
tities in this calculus are to be expressed in numbers, we
may take any numbers proportional to these lines. Hence
arc AE
we may assume the fraction
rad.OA
EF
as the measure of
the angle POQ, and, similarly, as the sine of the an¬
gle POQ, its cosine, its tangent, and its
secant; then will be the co-tangent, and
HO
= will be the co-secant of the angle. These quanti¬
ties will have among themselves the same ratios as the
lines which bear the same designations; and it is evident,
fiom the nature of similar figures, that supposing the an¬
gle POQ to remain of the same magnitude, its sine, tan¬
gent, secant, &c. thus defined, are the same, whatever be
the magnitude of the circle, which now serves merely to
connect them as related quantities.
We may consider OA, the radius of the circle, as a
unit, and then the sines, tangents, &c. will be expressed
in parts of that unit, according to the decimal notation.
his is the common form in which they are given in
the trigonometrical tables.
230. Die power of algebra, as an instrument of inves¬
tigation, depends greatly on the proper employment of
conventional signs: it is common to express the sine of
un arc a by the abbreviation sin. a, its cosine by cos. a, its
ngent by tan. c, its secant by sec. a, its co-tangent by cot. a,
1 s co-secant by cosec. a, and its versed sine by ver. sin. a.
. 3h From the definition given of an angle by the an¬
cient geometers, its measure cannot exceed half the cir-
cum erence of a circle. When, however, we regard an
g e as generated by the rotation of a line about a fixed
P01nt, the arc, which is its measure, may be regarded as
motion of the sun and planets is reckoned from an angle'
or arc of 0° forward to 360°. We are thus led to con¬
sider the sines of arcs which exceed 180°, and even which
exceed a whole circumference, or any number of circum¬
ferences.
232. Let vr denote half the circumference of the circle
which is assumed as a scale for measuring angles. It is
easy, by induction, to infer from what has been explain¬
ed, that a being any arc,
Sin. ( — sin. a,
Sin. (2x-j-«)= + sin. a,
Sin. (3n-\-a)= — sin. a,
Sin. (4ff-{-«)=: sin. a,
&c.
sjl any vriAuic imiiiuci
r-f-o] = — cos. a,\
.... = + cos. a, f
r+a] = — sin. a, f
....=: + sin. a.)
(1)
Sin. ( <jr-
Sin. (2^-
Sin. (3^-
Sin. (4<r-
&c.
•«) = -}- sin.
a
sin.
a) =
fif) —|— SI * 1
) = — sin. a,
■ a
Cos. ( vr + a, \~ — cos. a,
Cos. (2v-\-a)= -J- cos. a,
Cos. (3fi--f-a)z= —cos. a,
Cos. (4ff-i-a)= -f- cos. a,
&c.
And in general, n being 0, or any whole number,
Cos. [(2n-f-l)-r+a] =
Cos. [ 2nv-\-a~\
Sin. [(2«-J- 1) <k
Sin. [ 2wvr-j-a]
It is also evident that
Cos. ( ft — a) — —cos. a,
Cos. (2ft — cl) — cos. a,
Cos. (3ft — a) — —cos. a,
Cos. (4^ — a) = -}- cos. a,
&c.
And in general that
Cos. [(2n-fl)^—a] = — cos. a,}
Cos. [ 2nrr — a] .... = -|- cos. a,(
Sin. [(2n-j-l) ft — a] —
Sin. [ 2nir — a] .
When the arc a=0, we have
Cos. (2n-f-1) «■ — — I, Sin. (2n-J-1) =0,
Cos. 2nrr = -f- 1, Sin. 2nft =0.
233. If a and a be arcs which differ by a quadrant,
that is, if a:=Acr-f.ay then it will appear by inspection of
figure 23, and a little consideration, that
Cos. a= — sin. a, Sin. cczr-j-cos. a.
Now, by changing a into a, formulae (1) oflast section
become
Cos. [(2ra-{-l)‘x~j-o&]= —cos. a,
Cos. [ 2nft-j-cc] cos. a,
Sin. [(2M-j-l)7r-{-aJzz—sin. a,
Sin. [ 2nft-j-aJ .. .. = -J- sin. a.
In these substitute for a, sin. a for cos. a, and
cos. a for sin. a, and they become
I—.. ■ I™ V/WO* Cc'j y
=: -i- sin. a, t
— — sin. a.)
(2)
(S)
Cos. [(4n-f-3) g-J-a] =r -|-sin. a,
Cos. [(4n-f-1) ^4-a]~ — sin. a,
Sin. [(4»-{-3) 54.0] = — cos. a,
Sin. [(4^4-1) 54.0]=: 4. cos. a.
If, again, there be two arcs a and a, whose sum is a qua¬
drant, that is, a—Lft—a, then
Cos. a=sin. a, Sin. a=cos. a.
If, in the above formulae, we now put — a for a, and
sin. a for cos. a, and cos. a for sin. a, we shall have
Cos. [(4rc4-3) g •
•a]:
• sin. a,
Cos. [(4»4-l) ^ — «]= 4-sin. a,
Sin. [(4n4-3)^
■ a] =r — cos. a,
Sin. [(4w4'0 g — aJ— + C03. a.
(4)
488
Algebra.
ALGEBRA.
234. The formulae investigated in the last two sections
'may be brought together in an abridged form, as in the
following table:
Cos. [(2n+ = — cos. a,
Cos. [ 2n‘7rr±ra] ...=-{- cos. a,
Sin. [(2n-t- ==+= sin. a,
Sin. [ 2n‘!r=±^aj .. . = r±r sin. a ;
(1
(2)
(3)
(4)
Cos. [(4n+l)|:
Cos. [(4» + 3)
Sin. [(4n+l)^:
=«] = =+= sin. a,
:a] = =±= sin. a,
ra] = + cos. a,
(5)
(6)
(b
Sin. [(4n + 3)^:
:a]=—cos. a.
(8)
Cos. a sec. a
Sin. a cosec. a
Tan. a cot. a
Tan. a cos. a
Cot. a sin. a
Sin. « sec. a
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
.(5)
(6)
(-
= 1 
= 1 
= 1 
=sin. a 
=cos. a 
=tan. a 
Cos. a cosec. a = cotan. a (10)
Tan. a cosec. a zrsec. a   (11)
Cotan. a sec. a =cosec. a (12)
It appears from formulae 7, 8, 4, 5, that
7)
(8)
X9)
V)
tan. a—
sm. a
sec. «=-
cos. a
1
cot. a—
cos. a
sm. a
1
cosec. a-=i- .
sin. a
tive in the fourth, and so on; and the secant will be po- Ah ra
sitive in the first, negative in the second and third, posi-1^ sj
tive in the fourth and fifth, and so on to any number of
quadrants.
236. We have seen that the sines and cosines, when
changing their sign from + to —, or from — to -f, in
the transition become =0. Now, since tan. a—
sm. a
cos. a
and sec. a— —7- ; when a is a quadrant, and therefore
235. The perfection of the modern analysis consists in
the employment of the fewest possible principles, and in
deducing from these all the truths which can be extract¬
ed by the power of the analysis itself. We have there¬
fore occasion for very few of the simplest propositions
in geometry, and these only at the outset.
By the nature of a right-angled triangle (fig. 24),
OP + FE2=:OE2; OA2+AH2=OH2; OB2+BK2=OK2.
The triangles OFE, OAH, OBK, being similar,
OF : FE :: O A : AH : : BK : BO;
FE : EO : : AH : HO :: BO : OK;
EO: OF :: HO : OA : : OK : KB.
Hence, observing that OA=OB=OE=l, and employ¬
ing our premised notation, we have
Cos. a : sin. a 1: 1 : tan. a :: cot. a : 1;
Sin. a : 1 :: tan. a : sec. a : : 1 : cosec. a;
1 : cos. a:: sec. a : 1 :: cosec. a : cot. a.
From these we obtain the following table of formulae,
exhibiting the relations among trigonometrical quantities,
where cos.2 a and sin.2 a denote the squares of the cosine
and sine of the arc or angle a. •
(A)
Cos.2 a -f- sin.2 a— 1  
Sec.2 a — tan.2 a=l..... 
Cosec.2 a — cot.2 a— 1 
cos. r/r=0, and sin. a—\, then both tan. a and sec. a
become infinite : and when a is between a quadrant and
a semicircumference, cos. a being then negative, both tan.
a and sec. a are negative. Hence it appears that the
tangent and secant become both infinite in changing their
sign from + to —. In passing from the second to the
third quadrant, the tangent, from being negative, becomes
positive, because the numerator of the fraction
sm. a
cos. a
changes from + to —. In this transition the tangent
becomes =0. The secant, however, continues negative;
and when the arc has attained a magnitude between three
and four quadrants, both tangent and secant change their
signs, after having become infinite, the tangent being now
negative, and the secant positive. When the circum¬
ference is completed, the tangent is reduced to 0, and the
secant to the radius; and the arc being supposed to in¬
crease, the same changes will be repeated.
237. Let the sides of any triangle ABC (Fig. 7.
Plate XVIII.) be   a, b, c,
and the opposite angles........   A, B, C.
From C, any one of the angles, draw C D perpendicu¬
lar to the opposite side c, dividing it into the two seg¬
ments AD, BD; then, by the definitions (sect. 229),
cos. B—and hence
BC a
BD=cr cos. B, and, similarly, AD=5 cos. A;
and c=AB=iBD +AD=:a cos. B+6 cos. A.
Hence we have this property of a triangle:
If each of any two of its sides be multiplied by the cosine
of the angle it makes with the third side, the sum of the pro-
duets is equal to that third side. This theorem, combined
with these formulae,
Cos.2 A + sin.2 A=l,
Cos. (w—A)— —cos. A,
Sin. (t—A)=sin. A,
is to serve as the basis of the whole calculus of sines.
From the preceding theorem, we obtain the following
system of formulae:
I.
1.
2.
3.
Hence it follows that the tangent and co-tangent must
be regarded as positive quantities when the sine and cosine
are both positive, or both negative quantities ; but as ne¬
gative when, of the sine and cosine, one is positive and
the other negative 7 and that the secant and cosine, also
the co-secant and sine, must always have the same sign.
Therefore the tangent will be positive in the first qua¬
drant, negative in the second, positive in the third, nega-
cos. C + c cos. B,
b=za cos. C+c cos. A,
c=za cos. B + 5 cos. A.
From the first of these we get
a cos. C=b cos.2 C+c cos. B cos. C,
a cos. Bzr5 cos. B cos. C+c cos.2 B;
and from these again, by transposing,
b cos.2 C=a cos. C — c cos. B cos. C,
c cos.2 B=a cos. B — b cos. B cos. C.
Subtract each side of the first of these two from the
ouuixtiuL eacn siue 01 tne nrst or inese iwu --
corresponding side of 2 of system L, and each side of the
^     __i. -  _? j _ „ o H in Tilt
second from the corresponding side of 3, and write in 1
ALGEBRA.
489
A bra. results sin.2 C for 1 — cos.2 C, and sin.2 B for 1 — cos.2 B;
^ rs^yiQ then get
b sin.2 C=c (cos. A + cos. B cos. C"),
c sin.2 B=& (cos. A + cos. B cos. C).
Take now the product of the sides of these equations,
and leave out the common factors b, c, of the result; we
thus obtain
Sin.2 B sin.2 C=(cos. A-f-cos. B cos. C)2.
Hence, taking the square roots,
Sin. B sin. C=cos. A-j-cos. B cos. C.
Here we have a property of the angles of any triangle,
which is independent of its sides ; this, by interchanging
the angles, gives the following system of formulae :
II.
Cos. A= — cos. B cos. C + sin. B sin. C, 1.
Cos. B = — cos. A cos. C -f- sin. A sin. C, 2.
Cos. C = — cos. A cos. B + sin. A sin. B. 3.
Again, from the first of these we have
Cos. A cos. C = — cos. B cos.2 C + sin. B sin. C cos. C ;
and hence, by transposition,
Cos. B cos.2 C = — cos. A cos. C + sin* B sin. C cos. C.
Subtract now the sides of this equation from the cor¬
responding sides of 2 ; the result is
Cos. B (1 — cos.2 C)= sin. C (sin. A — sin. B cos. C).
Substitute sin.2 C for 1 — cos.2 C, and divide by sin. C;
then,
Cos. B sin. C = sin. A — sin. B cos. C.
This gives us a third system of formulae, viz.
III.
Sin. Arrsin. B cos. C + cos. B sin. C, 1.
Sin. Bzrsin. A cos. C + cos. A sin. C, 2.
Sin. C=sin. A cos. B-j-cos. A sin. B. 3.
If it be now considered that A -j- B -f- C = two right
angles =cr, so that A-f-B^ff— C, and therefore
Sin. (A4-B)=rsin. C, cos. (A-j-B)rr — cos. C,
we obtain, from the third formulae of systems II. and III.,
Cos. (A-}-B)—cos. A cos. B — sin. A sin. B,
Sin. (A-j-B)=sin. A cos. B -|- cos. A sin. B.
238. In this investigation, we have supposed that A
and B are two angles of a triangle,—an hypothesis which
requires that their sum shall not exceed two right angles,
and that the sum of the arcs which measure them do not
exceed a semicircumference. The formulae, however,
hold true, whatever be the magnitude of the arcs: for,
let A, a, and B, (3, denote arcs, such, that a + A =w,
/3-f B=t; and therefore (a+/3)-f-(A4-B) =2<r: then,
A=t — a, BrrTT — /3, and (sect. 232)
Cos. Ar= — cos. a, Sin. A—sin. a,
Cos. B= — cos. (3, Sin. B=sin. /3.
Hence it follows, that
arcs a, /?, whose sum is greater than the half, but less than Algebra,
the whole circumference.
Again, if we suppose that a, a', and /3, /3', are such arcs,
that
a'-fa=2‘r, {3'-)-(3=2'T, and therefore (a'-f-j3') + (a-f/3)
~4w,
then we shall have a=2w— a', (3=2* — (3’,
Cos. azrcos. a’, Sin. a— — sin. a',
Cos. (3=cos. (31, Sin. (3= — sin. /S',
Cos. (a'+(3')= cos.(a + /3), Sin^a'+^zr — sin.(a-f/3).
Here, again, we shall have
Cos. (a' (3')=cos. a' cos. /S'-p sin. «' sin. /S',
Sin. (a'-j-/S')—sin. a' cos. /S'-p cos. a' sin. /S';
and because a-p/3 is greater than *, but less than 2*,
therefore a' _p /S' is an arc between two and three semicir¬
cumferences.
It is evident we may proceed in this way continually,
and thus be assured that the formulae are true, when A
and B are any arcs of a circle, even although they should
exceed a circumference, or any number of circumferences.
239. If, in these formulae, we substitute a — b for A,
and b for B, they become
Cos. azrcos. b cos. (a — b) — sin. b sin. (a — &),
Sin. arzsin. b cos. (a — 5)-pcos. b sin. (a — 6).
To abridge, let us put
P=zcos. (a—b), and Qrzsin. (a — b) ;
we have now, by transposition,
P cos. b — Q sin. b zrcos. a,
P sin. b + Q cos. b =sin. a.
From these equations, by the ordinary process of eli¬
mination, we can determine P and Q: thus, proceeding
by sect. 73, we get
P cos.2 b — Q sin. b cos. in cos. a cos. b, 1.
P sin.2 i -p Q sin. b cos. in sin. a sin. i, 2.
P cos. i sin. i — Q sin.2incos. a sin. i, 3.
P cos. i sin. i + Q cos.2 in sin. a cos. i. 4.
By adding equations (1) and (2), and substituting 1 for
cos.2 i + sin.2 i, we obtain
Pncos. (a— i)ncos. a cos. i + sin. a sin. i.
And again, by subtracting (3) from (4), we get
Qnsin. (a — i)n sin. a cos. i— cos. a sin. i.
For the sake of reference, and a uniform notation, we
shall now bring together the formulae of this and sect. 237
into one group.
(B)
Cos. (o!-pi)ncos. a cos. i—sin. a sin. i, (1)
Cos. (a—i)ncos. a cos. i -psm. a sin. i, (2)
Sin. (a-pi)zz:sin. a cos. i -j- cos. a sin. i, (3)
Sin. (a—i)zz:sin. a cos. i — cos. a sin. i. (4)
These constitute what we have termed the fundamental
theorems of this calculus.
Cos. A cos. B — sin. A sin. B
rz cos. a cos. /3 — sin. a sin. (3,
Sin. A cos. B~pcos. A sin. B
= — sin, a cos. /3 — cos. a sin. (3.
And since (sect. 232)
Cos. (a-p/3)zzcos. (A-pB)rzcos. Acos. B — sin. A sin. B,
om. (a-p/3)zz — sin. (A-pB)zz — sin. A cos. B
— cos. A sin. B ;
therefore, cos. (a-p/3)rzcos. a cos. (3 — sin. a sin. /3;
Sin. (a-p/3)=zsin. a cos. /3-pcos. a sin. (3.
Now, on the hypothesis that A + BZw; then, because
A-fB-pa-p/3:zz2w, it follows that a-p/3T’w. Hence it
appears that the formulae for the cosine and sine of the
sum of A, B, arcs less than a semicircle, apply equally to
240. By adding and subtracting these formulae, we ob¬
tain others equivalent to them, but under a different form,
viz. these:
(C)
Cos. a cos. cos. (a — 6)-p | cos. (a -p b),
Sin. a sin. b—^ cos. (a — b)—i cos. (a -p b),
Sin. a cos. b—g sin. (a -p i)-p|- sin. (a — b),
Cos. a sin. b=± sin. (a -|- b)—^ sin. (a — b).
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
If we now put a b= A, and a — b = B, so that a =
£(A -p B), b zz ^(A — B), and substitute these values of
a, b, a b, a — b, in the above formulae, and, for the
sake of uniformity, write the letters a and b instead of A
and B, we obtain
3 Q
ALGEBRA.
(D)
Cos. 6+ cos. a—2 cos. | (a-\-b) cos. £
Cos. b—cos. a=2 sin. J- (a-\-b) sin. |-
Sin. a+ sin. b—2 sin. -}2 (a-\-b) cos. ^
(a-b), (1)
\a—b), (2
(a — b), (3
- - • - hl’ ih
Sin. a— sin. i=2'cos. ^ (a-\-b) sin. ^ (a — b). (4)
In formulae (C), let nA be written instead of a, and A
instead of B; and consequently (n—1)A instead of
a — and (rc-f-1) A instead ofa + 6; the result, after put¬
ting a and b for A and B, will be
2 cos. a cos. wg!=cos.
2 sin. a sin. na—cos.
2 cos. a sin. na=sm.
2 sin. a cos. na=sm.
(E)
[n—. l^a-|-cos. (n-\-\)a,
(n — l)a—cos. (n-\- l)a,
[n q- l)a sin. (n—\)a,
[n + l)a- sin. (n—l)a.
0)
(2>
241. Resuming the first system of formulae, viz.
Sin. (« + &)=sin. a cos. ft + cos. a sin. b,
Cos. (« + &)=cos. a cos. 6 — sin. a sin. b,
let each side of the first be divided by the corresponding
side of the second ; then we have
Sin. (a-\-b) sin. a cos. i-|-cos. a sin. b
Cos. (a + £)— cos. a cos. b—sin. a sin. b
sin. a , sin. b
cos. a
cos. b
cos. b cos. b'
Hence, observing that tan. A— -in'—we obtain
Tan. (a-\-b)=
cos. A’
tan. 05+tan. b
1 — tan. a tan. b’
By a like process we obtain from the formulae for sin.
(« — b), and cos. (« — b), a formula for tan. (a — b).
The two, for the sake of reference, may be put together.
Tan. (« + &)=
Tan. (a — b)~
(F)
tan. a+tan. b
1 — tan. a tan. 6’
tan. a — tan. £
(1)
(2)
1 + tan. a tan. b'
242. The expressions which have been found for
tan. (a-^b), tan. (a — b), give like formulae for the co¬
tangent of the sum and difference of two arcs; we have
only to substitute in them
for tan. (az±zb), ^ for tan. a, and ^
cot. (az±zb)
for tan. b. The results are,
cot. a
cot. b
Cot. (a + b)—-
Cot. (a—b) — -
(G)
1 —cot. a cot. 5
cot. a + cot. b ’
1 + cot. a cot. b
(1)
(2)
cot. a — cot. b '
243. We have found, formulae (C), that
2 sin. a sin. b — cos. (a — b) — cos. (a + b\
2 cos. a cos. b — cos. (a — &) + cos. (a + b) ;
therefore s'n‘ a s^n- ^ _ cos- (a — — cos. (a+b)
’ cos. a cos. b~ cos. (a — 6) + cos. (a + b)‘
From these formulae we also obtain like expressions for
Sin. a cos, b cos. a sin. b cos. a cos. b
Cos. a sin. b’ sin. a cos. V sin. a sin. b ’
and from these, putting tan. a for -in‘ ^ and cot. a for t A!?e
cos. a sin. o’^
&c. we deduce this new set of formulae:
(H)
Tan. a tan. i = (a-S^cos. (n-B)
cos. (a — 6) + cos. (a+ 6)
Tan. a cot. b —
sin. (n + Z>) + sin. (a —b)
sin. (a-\-b) — sin. (a — 6)’
C„t. a tan. b = («+%=»£;(?.->)
sin. (a + o) + sm. (a — b)
Cot. n cot. b = c°s-fn-4)±.cos-(ffi + g.
cos. (a+o)
sm,
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
cos. (a — b)
244. Because, by formulae (B),
Sin. a cos. b + cos. a sin. b — sin. (a+ &);
therefore, ^
cos. a cos. b cos. a cos. b
By treating the remaining formulae in the same way,
and substituting the tangent and co-tangent for their va¬
lues, we obtain
(K)
Tan. a + tan. S =,
cos. a cos. b
Tan. a—• tan. b
Cot. a + cot. b
Cot. a — cot. b
Tan. a + cot. b
Cot. a — tan. b
sin. (a — b)
cos. a cos. V
_ sin. (a + *)
sin. a‘sin. b
_ sin. {a,— b)
~ sin. a sin. 6’
_ cos. (a — b)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
-*)>
-b).
cos. a sin. V
cos. (a -f- b)
sin. a cos. V
245. Because, by formulae (D),
Sin. c-fsin. b—2 sin. cos. ^(a —
Sin. a — sin. &=2 cos.l(a-f-i) sin. ^(a —
Hence, multiplying equals by equals, and considering that
by formula (3) of (B)
2 sin. j(a +£) cos. ±(a-{-b)=: sin. [|(G! + ^) + Ka + ^)]
sin. (a-\-b),
2 sin. ±(a — b) cos. i(a — b) = sin. [^(a — &) +
= sin. (a — b),
we find
(sin. a + sin. &)(sin. a — sin. b) — sin. (a + sin* (a — ^
If we write 90 — a for a, the formula becomes
(cos. aq-sin. b) (cos. a — sin. b)—cos. (aq-6)cos.(« —
The two may be written thus :
(L)
Sin.2 a — sin.2 b — sin. («q-i) sin. (a — b),
Cos.2 a — sin.2 £-rcos. (« -j-i) cos. (a — b).
246. We have found, formulae (D),
Sin. aq- sin. b—2 sin. ± (a-^-b) cos. ^ (a — b),
Sin. a — sin. b=2 cos. L (aq-6) sin. (a — b).
Therefore, dividing equals by equals, and putting
Tan. \(az±zb) for
-2 we obtain
cos. ±(a^±zby
Sin. a q. sin. 6 tan. ^(a + *>)
Sin. a ^— sin. 6 tan. ^(a—b)
By a similar process we may deduce other five formula
ALGEBRA.
t\j bra. of the same nature from formulae (D). The whole are
contained in this table.
(M)
Sin. a sin. b tan. i(« + *) /n
Sin. a — sin. b tan. \(a — 6)’ ^
Sin.a + sin. b , , , T.
Cos.« + cos. b ~ tan- ^ (a + h)’ (2)
Sin. a 4- sin. b . .
Cos.a —cos.6“COt’2 C01 —(3)
Sin. a — sin. b
CosTa^fcosTb = tan* ^(a b)> (4)
Sin.a — sin. b . . / /cX
Cos. a — cos. b ~ C°L 2 (a +
Cos. b + cos. a _ cot. \{a — V)
Cos.2 j,a 4- sin.2 |-arrl,
and 2 cos. sin. Aa:lsin> y
we have cos.2 £a+2 cos. Aasin. la +sin.2ia=l + sin.a,
and cos.2 %a—2 cos. J a sin. ±a + sin.2 |a= 1 __ sin. a ;
whence, taking the square roots,
Cos. + sin. — Vl + smTa,
Cos. — sin. ±a = Vl — sin. a ;
which, by addition and subtraction, give
Cos. [Vl-j-sin. aVl •
Sin. \a — \ [V1 -|- sin. a
sin.
Vl — sin. a].
Again, because sin. a —2 sin. cos. |<z, therefore
0. sin. la „
Sm. a= x 2 cos.2ia .•
but _
'cos.^a'
Cos. 6—cos. a tan. ^ (a
(6)
247. We have found (formulae K, No. 4) that
Sin. («—b) _
— = tan.ia, and 2 cos.2Aa = 1 + cos. a (by
No. 1 o/o),
therefore sin. a — tan.4« (1 + cos. a),
Sin. a sin. b
— cot. a
cot. b,
Sm. (b—c) ,
^;—- = cot. b — cot. c,
bin. b sm. c
Sin. (c—a)
, sin. a
tan.ta —  :
1 + cos. a
. , 14-cos. a
1—cos. a
sin. a ’
sin. a
Sin. c sin. a
Hence, by adding, we obtain
Sin. (a—b) sin. (b—c)
Sin. a sin. 6 sin. sin. c
= cot. c — cot. a.
Again, since
1—(
sm. a
1
1—cos. a'
cos. a
sin. a
sm. a
cosec. a
+ s!n- (c—a) _ 0-
— cot. a,
. 1+cos. a
and  : :
. cos. a
■ t —r:—= cosec. a+cot. a,
= 0.
sm. c sin. a
In like manner, it appears, from No. 2, that
Sin. (a—b) sin. (b—c) sin. (c—a)
Cos.acos. 6 sin. 6 sin. c sin. c sin. a
Therefore, taking away the denominators, and observing
that sin. (c—a) = — sin. («—c), we have
(N)
Sin. Jsin.(a—c) = sin. csin.(a—b) -f- sin. asin.(i—c), (14
Cos.6sin.(a—c) = cos.csin.(a—6) cos.asin.(&—c). (2)
These formulae are true, a, b, c being any arcs what¬
ever ; and they are sufficient to indicate how innumerable
others of the same kind may be obtained.
248. If in the formula for cos. (a-\-b) we suppose a=b,
it becomes cos. 2a = cos.2a— sin.2a; and, since cos.2a= 1
— sin.2 a, and sin.2 a =1 — cos.2 a, we have also
Cos. 2a — 1 — 2 sin.2a = 2 cos.2a — 1.
By assuming b = a, we get from the formulae for sin.
tan. (a-f-i), cot. (a-\-b), other formulae for the
sine, tangent, and co-tangent, of the double of an arc.
These, being frequently wanted, may be put together in
a table.
sm. a sm. a sm. a
therefore tan. J-a=cosec. a — cot. a,
and cot. |a=cosec. a + cot. a.
The formulae investigated in this article may now be
brought into one table, viz.
3.La —*/
i _ /l—*
. 2a — ^
(P)
1 + cos. a
Tan. |a—j-j-
Cot. |a — j
cos. a
sm. a
= iCv'l + sin.a-fV' 1—sin.a3,(l)
= -2-['v/l + sin.a—Vl—sin.a3(2)
=: cosec. a — cot. a, (3)
= cosec. a + cot. a. (4)
(0)
Cos. 2a = cos.2a— sin.2a = 2 cos.2a—1
Sin. 2a r: 2 sin. a cos. a,
Tan.2q=-^an’a =.
:1—2sin.2a, (1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
1 —tan.2a cot. a — tan. a
Cot. 2a=4 (cot. a — tan. a).
249. From the first formula we may get formulae for
the sine and cosine of the half of an arc in terms of the
cosine of the whole arc. But we may also express the
sine and cosine of the half arc by the sine of the whole
arc: thus,
-cos. a
250-We shall now investigate formulae for the cosines
and sines of the multiples of any arc.
By the second of formulae (E) we find that
Cos. (w+1) a=2 cos. a cos. na — cos. (n—1) a.
Let x denote cos. a ; then,
Cos. a— x,
Cos. 2ar:2a; cos. a — cos. Oa,
Cos. 3a=2x cos. 2a — cos. a,
Cos. 4:a—2x cos. 3a — cos. 2a,
&c.
Hence, by substituting successively for cos. a, cos. 2a,
&c. their values in the second members of these formulae,
(ft)
Cos. a=x,
Cos. 2a—2 a?—1,
Cos. 3a—4 3a?,
Cos. 4a=8 x*—Sa^-f-l,
Cos. 5a=:16^—20a^-|-5ar,
Cos. 6a=32x6—48^+18^—I,
Cos. 7a—64a’7—112a5-}-56a3—7a,
&c.
491
Algebra.
492
Algebra. The law of the series is 2 cos. na-=.
ALGEBRA.
(2x)n—?i(2x')n~2-j- 2x)n~4
n(n—4)(w—5)
(2a?)”-6+ , &c.
1 • 2-3
251. The third formula of (E) gives
Sin. (tt-f-l) a=2 cos. a sin. na — sin. (n—l)a.
Let x denote the cosine, and y the sine of a ; then
Sin. a—y,
Sin. 2a—2x sin. a — sin. Oct,
Sin. 3az=2a? sin. 2a — sin. a.
Sin. 4a=:2a; sin. 3a — sin. 2a,
Sec:
Therefore, proceeding as in last article,
m
Sin. a—y,
Sin. 2a—2yx,
Sin. 3a=y(4 a?—1),
Sin. 4ar=y(8 a^—4a?),
Sin. 5a—yflGa?4—12a^-j-l))
Sin. 6a=:y(32a?5—32a^-j-6a?),
Sin. 7a=ry(64a?6—80a?4-|-24a£—1),
&c.
Here the law of the series is sin. na—
y[(2a?)"-1—(«—2)(2x)n~3-\-(n ^ ^ ^(ga:)”-5
&c']'
252. The series for the cosines and sines of the multi¬
ples of an arc are arranged according to the descending
powers of the cosine of the arc ; but we may find others
which proceed according to the ascending powers. It is,
however, then necessary to distinguish between the even
and odd multiples of the arc.
Let n be even, and we have, from table (Q),
(S)
Cos. a —x,
Cos. 3a= — (3x — 4a?3),
Cos. 5a=5x — 20a^4- 16a^,
&c.
and in general, cos. naz=
—9)-’ —, &c. ].
.f
(T) *
Sin. a=y,
Sin. 3a— — y(l — 4a?2),
Sin. 5a=y(l — 12a?2-!- 16a?4),
&c.
and in general, sin. na—
Alge
■y
— l .j . (m8—9)
i
X*
-a?6 + , &c.| ;
Blunr
2 1 2
(W2_ l)(w2 _9)^2 25)
2 ' 3 * 4 • 5 6 '
the upper sign to be taken when n has the form 4n -{-1.
and the lower when it has the sign 4n-f-3.
Also we have
(2 T)
Sin. 2a=2xy,
Sin. 4a— —y(4a? — 8a?3),
Sin. 6a=y(6x — 32a?3 -{- 32a?5),
&c.
and in general, sin. na=z
the upper sign to be taken when n has the form 4n -p 2,
and the lower when it has the form 4ra.
254. Because a?=: 1 — y2, we have, from table (Q),
(V)
Cos. a—x,
Cos. 3a=:a?(l — 4y2),
Cos. 5a=a?(l — \2y2-\-\3yi'),
&c.
and in general, when n is an odd number, cos. nazz
f , n2 — 1 „ . (n2— l)(w2 — 9)^
-y~
0
2*3*4
V
l)(tt2-9)(tt2-25) 1
; • 3 • 4 * 5 • 6 ^ ,C,J'
2•3•4*5
The upper sign is to be taken when n is any number
in the series 1, 5, 9, &c. that is, when n has the form
4m-f-1; and the lower, when n is one of these, 3, 7, 11, &c.
or when it is of the form 4m-p-3.
Next, for the even multiples of the arc we find
(2S)
Cos. 2a— —(1 — 2a?2),
Cos. 4a= -f- 1 — Sa^-f-Sa?4,
Cos. 6a= —(1 — 18a? + 48a?4 — 32a?6),
f s&c.
and in general, cos. na—
— L + W 2*3*4
 n2(n2 — l)(n2—16) ~J
2 * 3 * 4 * 5 * 6 ^
Here the upper sign is to be taken when n has the form
4m-f-2, and the lower when it has the form 4m.
253. The corresponding expressions for the sines are
obtained from table (R), viz.
and when n is even,
(2 V)
Cos. 2a= 1 — 2y2,
Cos. 4a=l — 8 ^-j-Sy4,
Cos. 6a=: 1 — 18y2 + 48^ — 32/,
&c.
and in general, cos. naz=
n2 n2(n2 — 4) , n2(n2 — 4)(n2—16) « . cn
 V3-4-5-r+'to
255. In like manner, for the sines, when n is odd, we
find
(X)
Sin. a=y,
Sin. 3a—3y—.4/,
Sin. 5a=z5y— 20/+16/,
&c.
and in general, sin. wa=
<n2-l) n^—iXn2 —9K &
^ 2*3r+ 2 * 3 • 4 * 5 * ’
Again, when n is even,
(2 X)
aqi
Sin. 2a—2xy,
Sin. 4a:=a?(4y — 8/),
Sin. 6a=a?(6y — 32/+32/),
&c.
-ijMi *VM
nol x®
rfjod 19-
(
ALGEBRA.
Ak ,ra. And in general, sin. na—
( n(n? — 4) , n(n2 — 4)(w2— 16) . 1
W~V+ ^ 2 • 3 • 4'- 5 V-.&C.}.
256. We owe to Vieta the formulae in tables (Q), (R),
(2 V), and (X). He, however, enunciated them as pro¬
perties of the chords of arcs, to which they may be trans¬
formed, by considering that chord a= 2 sin. and
chord (v—a) = sup. chord a=2 cos. , he did not in¬
dicate the general law of the series, but merely showed
but, by the same formulae (E),
2 cos. a cos. 2a = cos. 3a-f.cos. a;
therefore, 4 cos.3a = cos. 3a-f 3 cos. a.
Again, multiplying both sides by 2 cos. a, we have
8 cos.4a = 2 cos. a cos. 3a+ 6 cos. a cos. a.
Now, 2 cos. a cos. 3a = cos. 4a-j-cos. 2a,
and 6 cos. a cos. a = 3 cos. 2a-f-3 ;
therefore, 8 cos.4a = cos. 4a-f 4 cos. 2a+3.
By proceeding in this way, multiplying both sides of each
how the cosines and sines of the multiple arcs might be new formula by 2 cos. a, and substituting cos. (rc-fl)a,
formed one from another. John Bernoulli gave, in the +cos.(w—l)a for 2 cos. a cos. 7m, there is obtained a se-
Leipsic Acts for 1701, a general formula for the chords of r^es °f formulas for the successive powers of the cosine of
multiple arcs, but without demonstration. This is equi- an arc> in terms of the cosines of the multiples of the arc.
 1 ^ 4-rv foKlr* /R ^ A-Tf-ArWQVrlc Torwoo I hPSP firp CTIVPn in tL C\ .
multiple   , vr ^
valent to table (R). Afterwards, James Bernoulli gave, in
the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1702, two
formulae for the chords of multiple arcs : these answer to
the general formulae of tables (2 V) and (X); but the
latter had previously been given by Newton in his first
letter to Oldenburg, the secretary of the Royal Society.
The general formulae of tables (Q), (R), (X), and (2 X),
and these only, are given in the Introductio in Analysin
Infinitorum of Euler; and the whole are given by La¬
grange, in his Lemons sur le Calcul des Fonctions, where
they are also strictly demonstrated by his calculus, which
is equivalent to the differential calculus.
257. If in the formula
, tan. a+ tan. h
tan.(a+6)=
we make b—na, it becomes
, . lX tan. na + tan.a
tan. (»+ 1) a= -—   .
v 1—tan. a tan. na
—»« •eoo KiraunuDorm t w m ant
Let us make tan. a — t, then, making n equal to the
numbers 2, 3, 4, &c. successively, and substituting for
tan. na its value in tan. (n-|-1) a, we get
w>
Tan. a —t,
„ 2f
Tan. 2a =
Tan. 3a =
Tan. 4a =
Tan. 5a —
1—t2’
3£—&
1—3i2’
At—
AP
-1 “tsS aoO
— 1 rrnl* .eoO
-1 .20O
1—6^ -f (A ’
bt—lO^-h^5
1-
&c.
Ingeneral, if we puta= j, /S= 7=
3= &c.; that is, if a, (3, y, d, i, &c.
denote the co-efficients of the second, third, fourth, and
following terms of a binomial raised to the wth power,
we have
at—yf + ttA—, &c.
Tan-’M=l=^+e?—
This formula was first given by John Bernoulli, in the
Leipsic Acts for 1722.
258. We shall next investigate formulae for the succes¬
sive integer powers of the cosine and sine of an arc.
By formula (1) of (E) we have, making n=l,
2 cos.2a zr cos. 2a-j-1.
Let both sides be multiplied by 2 cos. a, the result is
4 cos.3a = 2 cos. a cos. 2a -f 2 cos. a /
cos."a=
cos. (n — 4)a,
These are given in the following table :
(Z)
Cos. a — cos. a,
2 cos.2a = cos. 2a +1,
4 cos.3a = cos. 3a -j- 3 cos. a,
8 cos.4a zz cos. 4a-j-4 cos. 2a-J-3,
16 cos.5a zz cos. 5a + 5 cos. 3a+10 cos. a,
32 cos.6a zz cos. 6a-f 6 cos. 4a-f-15 cos. 2a-j- 10,
64 cosJa zz cos. 7a+ 7 cos. 5a 4-21 cos. 3a-f-35 cos. a,
&c.
The general law of the series is 2”-1
, n , .. n(n— 1)
cos. wa + y cos.(w — 2)a -j—L—_ ’
n(n—1)(« — 2) . .fri
+ -y-" g ♦ 3 ~ cos- (w —6) a + > &c.
The series is to be continued until we come to a nega¬
tive arc, and if n be an even number, the half of the co¬
efficient of the last term (viz. that in which the arc zz 0a)
is to be taken.
259. Next, for the powers of the sine; from (2) of (E),
we have 2 sin.2azz — cos. 2a -j- 1:
multiply both sides by 2 sin. a ; then,
4 sin.3 a zz — 2 sin. a cos. 2a+ 2 sin. a.
Now, by formula (4) of (E),
2 sin. a cos. 2a zz sin. 3a — sin. a;
therefore 4 sin.3 a zz — sin. 3a+ 3 sin. a.
Again, multiplying both sides by 2 sin. a,
’8 sin.4 a zz — 2 sin. a sin. 3a+ 6 sin. a sin. a.
But by formula (2) of (E),
2 sin. a sin. 3a zz — cos. 4a+cos. 2a,
and 6 sin. a sin. a zz — 3 cos. 2a + 3;
therefore 8 sin.4 a zz cos. 4a — 4 cos. 2a+3.
In this way we may form the following table;
(A 2)
Sin. a zz -f- sin. a,
2 sin.2 a zz — cos. 2a + 1,
4 sin.3 a zz — sin. 3a + 3 sin. a, ■')
8 sin.4 a zz 4- cos* 4a — 4 cos. 2a + 3,
16 sin.5 a zz sin. 5a — 5 sin. 3a + 10 sin. a,
32 sin.6 a zz — cos. 6a 4* 0 cos. 4a — 15 cos. 2a + 10,
64 sin.7 a zz — sin. 7a + 7 sin. 5a — 21 sin. 3a 4* 35 sin. a.
In general, when n is an odd number, ziz 2n -*1 sin." a
n . , , w(«—1)
zz sin. na — y sm. (n — 2) a 4-
n(n—1) (ft—2)
.an-.
sin. (» — 4) a
  sin. (ft —6) a 4-, &c.
t • 2 • o si da ol si ngia ioqqy odj 973I
The upper sign is to be taken when w is a number in
the series 1, 5, 9, &c.; that is, when n has the form
4»i +1; and the lower when » is one of the intermediate
494 ALGEBRA.
Algebra, odd numbers, 3, 7, 11, Ac. In either case the series ter-
'minates with a multiple of sin. a.
When n is an even number, then 2” 1 sin." a r=
cos. na — n cos. (n — 2) a + ^ cos' a
n(n— 1) (n — 2)
   cos. (n — 6) a+j
1 * * O
Here the upper sign applies when n is an even num¬
ber in the series 2, 6, 10, &c.; that is, when — is an odd
number; and the lower when n has the form 4m. In
either case the series is to be continued until a term
contain cos. (0a) (which is = 1), and then the numeral
co-efficient must be divided by 2.
260. The same formulae (E) serve to resolve any ex¬
pression of the form cos.”1 a sin." a into sines and cosines
of multiples of a : thus,
2 cos. a sin. o—sin. 2a ;
4 cos.2 a sin. air 2 cos. a sin. 2a,
irsin. 3a-j-sin. a ;
4 cos. a sin.2ar:2 sin. a sin. 2a,
— — cos. 3a-j-cos. a.
In like manner we find
8 cos. a sin.3 a z=. — sin. 4a2 sin. 2a,
8 cos.2 a sin.2 an — cos. 4a 4-1,
8 cos.3 a sin. a n -j- sin. 4a 4-2 sin. 2a.
16 cos. a sin.4 a n cos. 5a — 3 cos. 3a -}- 2 cos. a,
16 cos.2 a sin.3 a n —sin. 5a -{- sin. 3a + 2 sin. a,
16 cos.3 a sin.2 an — cos. 5a — cos. 3a -j- 2 cos. a,
16 cos.4 a sin. a n sin. 5a -{- 3 sin. 3a -}- 2 sin. a.
261. The introduction of the imaginary symbol —1
into analysis, has given great assistance in all investiga¬
tions connected with the calculus of sines. Let x denote
the cosine of any arc a, and y its sine; then, by formulae (B),
Cos. (n + l)a=x cos. na—y sin. na, fl)
Sin. (n+ l)any cos. 7ia-\-x sin. na. (2)
Let v denote a quantity at present indefinite, but to be
determined in the course of the investigation; then, from
formula (2),
v sin. (?i+ 1) a—vy cos. na-\-vx sin. na. (3)
The sum and difference of formula (1) and (3) give us
Cos. (w+1) a-j-v sin. (n+1) a— (x-\-vy') cos. na-\-
(x—ty) v sin. na,
Cos. (rc-bl) a—v sin. (»+!) azz^x—vy) cos. «a—•
(x-\— ?/) v sin. na.
Let us now assume that 1, so that v—V—1,
and v =. ; the two last formulae will become
The other equation gives us
Cos. a—v sin. a—x—vy,
Cos. 2a—v sin. 2a—(x—vyf,
Cos. 3a—v sin. %a—\x—vy)z ;
and in general,
Cos. ma—v sin. ma—(x—vy)m. (5)
Formulae (4) and (5), when the quantities denoted by
x, y, and v, have been restored, may stand thus;
  (B 2)
Cos. wa-j-V'-— 1 sin. wan (cos. a-fv'—1 sin. a)n,
Cos. 7ia—V— 1 sin. war=(cos. a—V—1 sin. a)”.
These have been investigated on the hypothesis that n is
a whole positive number, but they are also true when n
is a fraction, or negative; for we have manifestly
%
Cos. a +V—1 sin,
in. a < ^
(=<
—(cos. na +V-1 sin. na)n
:(cos. wza-j-V'— 1 sin. ma)”1:
therefore, raising these equal expressions to the power
m, we have
Cos. (w-j-1) a-\-v sin. (w-f-1) a
z=.(xj(-vy') (cos. «a + v sin. na),
Cos. (n+1) a — v sin. («+ 1) «
— {x — vy
vy) (cos. na — v sin. na).
By giving to n the values 0, 1, 2, 3, &c. in succession,
we obtain from the first of these,
Cos. a-\-v sin. a —x-)rvy,
Cos. 2a 4" v sin. 2a—(x-\-vyyi,
Cos. 3a+ ® sin. 3a=(a; + vyf,
and, in general, m being any whole number,
Cos. maJf-v sin. ma—^x+vy)™. (4)
Cos. ma-\-V— 1 sin. wan (cos. Tza-f v'— 1 sin. na)n\
Tfl
and, putting na—d, and therefore ma——d,
m
7Tt - wi ~ . I.,' _
Cos. —d+V—1 sin.—a'n(cos. a'-j-V— 1 sin. a')”.
n ny '
Exactly in the same way it may be proved that
w»
Cos. —d—V— 1 sin. —a'n(cos. d—V— 1 sin. a')n.
n n '
Thus it appears that formulae (B 2) are true, whether n be
whole or fractional.
Again, we have manifestly
— -==—: n(cos. a + v'—1 sin. a)-".
Cos. wa-f-V—1 sm. wa
Let the numerator and denominator of the first member
of this equation be multiplied by cos. na—V—1 sin. na;
then, observing that
(cos. «a-f-V—1 sin. na) (cos. na—V—1 sin. a)
ncos.2 wa-fsin.2 nazzl,
also, that cos. na n cos. (—na), and — sin. na n sin.
(— na), we have
Cos. ( — na) — sin. (— na) — (cos. a-j-'V/—1 sin. a)-".
Exactly in the same way it may be shown, that
Cos. (—na) — sin. (— na) rr (cos. a — V—1 sin.)-";
so that the formulae are universally true, n being
either a positive or negative whole number or fraction.
We may even extend the proof to the case of n, an irra¬
tional quantity; for every such quantity may be express¬
ed to any degree of nearness by numbers.
262. These very remarkable and important expressions
(B 2) were first found by Abraham de Moivre, and ap¬
peared in his Miscellanea Analytica, which was published
in 1730. He was led to them by considering the ana¬
logy between the circle and hyperbola; but we owe to
Euler their introduction into analysis as elementary for¬
mulae. By taking their sum and difference, we obtain
them in a different shape, as follows;
- (C 2) • v,
^ (cos.a+V—1 sin.a)"-|-(cos.a—V— 1 sin.a) .
Cos. na—- —  g     1
fcos. a-t-V' — Isin. d)n—(cos. a —— 1 s‘n,fl2-
fcin. na—-  —7= ——
2V —1
(4)
ALGEBRA.
ra. In either case, they are purely symbolical expressions
«J of the kind found by Cardan’s rule for the roots of a cu¬
bic equation belonging to the irreducible case. (Sect. XI.)
Like them, they cannot be immediately applied to calcu¬
lation ; but when treated by the rules of analysis, they re¬
veal some of the most elegant and recondite theorems in
geometry.
263. The formulae (C 2) admit of an immediate appli¬
cation to the determination of the cosine and sine of any
multiple of an arc. Let a?=cos. a, y=sin. a, so that
y)»+Q-
(E 2)
2 cos. na pn + qn p*
pn'
1
Sin. na:
(x+V — 1 y)n—(x — V — 1 ^)n
2/y/~
Now, by the binomial theorem,
(x-\-V— 1 y)n—xn-{-nzn~l yV — 1-
n(w—l)(n —2)
I • 2 • 3 ^
—- ) xn~
l - 2~X
V
— 1 -j-, &c.
n(n— 1)
1 • 2 3
-2^2
(x — V— ly)nz=.xn—naf1 ~1 yV— 1 -
n(n — l)(w — 2) , . .  
+ ~ 1 2 . 3—^n_3yV —1+, &c.
Hence, taking half the sum and difference of these series,
and in the latter case dividing by V— 1, we obtain
(D 2)
Cos. m=.xn — —* ^
1
+
n(n-
• 2
l)(n-
-xn
-2y
.2)(w —3)
1
Sin. m— -xn~ly ■
1
+ '
2 • 3 • 4
n(n— l)(w —
-.rn—t
Y —, &c.
2).
)W—3^3
4>.
r‘p' —, &c.
4)<z
1 • 2
n(n — 1 )(n — 2)(n — 3)(«
1 * 2 • 3 * 4 • 5
These series terminate as often as » is a wdiole positive
number. They were first given in 1701, by John Bernoulli,
in the Leipsic Acts, but without demonstration. They _ ^     ,  ,  o  D__
also appear in letter 129 of the Commercium Epistolicum in the expansion, must not be doubled; but when n is an
of Leibnitz and Bernoulli, and in the Sections Coniques of odd number, the cosines of the negative arcs are equal in
M. de I’Hopital. It is remarkable that John Bernoulli
should have fallen on these beautiful theorems, and yet
missed the formulae of De Moivre, which are easily de-
ducible from them, but which were not discovered until
twenty years later.
If it be observed that sin. a ~ tan. a cos. a, and sin. na
= tan. na cos. na ; and if, after substitution, the second
formula be divided by the first, the result, after due re¬
duction, will be the expression for the tangent which was
given in sect. 257.
264. The same powerful instrument of analysis might
enable us to investigate all the general expressions for the
cosines and sines of multiple arcs from (R) to (2 X) ; but
"e s^a]l rather reserve them to show the application of
the differential calculus, or method of fluxions. We shall,
mwever, now exemplify their use in the investigation of
general series for the powers of the cosine and sine of an
arc, in terms of the cosines and sines of its multiples.
Let us putcos. a -\-V— 1 sin. a, qz=.cos. a-—v'■
sin. a; * *
number to those of the positive arcs. Lastly, by con¬
sidering that the cosine of (n — n)a— 1, the truth of the
general formulae of table (Z) will be sufficiently obvious.
265. The general formulae of table (A 2) may be esta¬
blished by a process quite similar to the above, by the
expression 2 a/ — I sin. a—pn — qn ; but more easily by
substituting Ar — a’ instead of a, and remarking that
cos. —a')—sin. a: we have thus
(2 sin. a')n = 2 cos. w(-|-w — a') + 2c' cos. (n — — a')
+ 2 c" cos. (n — 4) (i w — &c.
The terms of this series being all of the form
w .
m- sin.
then
.Py^cosJa-j-sinAxz;!, and q=
Le Moivre s formulae may now be expressed thus :
cos. m [|w — a''] — cos. m - cos. md -J- sm,
will have the form r±r sin. ma!, when m is an odd number ;
and the form =±= cos. ma!, when m is an even number.
266. Before we proceed to other applications of De
Moivre’s formulae, it will be convenient to establish some
analytic principles of frequent application, regarding the
limits between which certain expressions involving arcs
and their sines, tangents, &c. are always contained.
It is an axiom in geometry, that any arc is less than its
tangent (as defined sect. 224), but greater than its sine;
2 V —1 sin. na — pn — r/n — nn  
Pn’
and since 2 cos. a = p q, therefore, putting e', c", c"',
&c. for the numeral co-efficients of the second, third*
fourth, &c. terms of a binomial, we have
(2 cos. a)n= dpn~lq + d!pn-2q2+ d"p^cf^, &c.
Because 2 cos. a = q p, we have also
(2 cos. a)ri = qn+ d qn~l p + c"qn~2p2 -j- d" qn^ p3 -j-, &c.
Taking now the sum of both series, and observing that
pq — 1, we obtain
2(2 cos.a)n=pn -\-qn + d(pn-2-\-qn ~ 2) -f d'(pn-*+^ “ 4)
+ d"(pn&c>
Now, pn-\-qn—2 cos. na,
pn — 2 qn. — 2_ g cos> (w 2)a,
pn — 4 qjn — 4_ 2 cos> (n 
pn-G-^.qn~6—2 cos. (n — 6)a,
&c.
Therefore, substituting and dividing by 2,
(2 cos. n)n = cos. na -{- d cos.(n — 2)a -{- c" cos. (n — 4)o
+ c"' cos. (w — 6)a-|-, &c.
By continuing the series, we come to the cosines of
negative arcs, which are exactly the same as the cosines
of positive arcs having the same co-efficient: Thus,
cos. (m — n)a = cos. (n — m)a, for each is equal to
cos. ma cos. na + sin. ma sin. a. Now, in the series which
is the expansion of (p-\-q)n, the terms at equal distances
from the first and last have the same co-efficient; there¬
fore the series for (2 cos. a)n must have the same proper¬
ty ; and further, the cosines of the arcs at equal distances
from the extremes are, as has been just proved, equal;
we may therefore omit the terms which are the cosines
of negative arcs, and in their stead take the doubles of
these, which are the cosines of positive arcs. The above
formula will then be abbreviated to
(2 cos. a)n=2 [cos. na-\-d cos. (n — 2)a-{-</'cos. (n-
+ , &c.].
When n is an even number, the series has a term at
equal distances from both extremes, which, being single
496
ALGEBRA.
therefore, - being any arc,
.. a a a
that sm. - = cos. - tan. -, we have
n n n
A]p
a a
tan. -7"-,
n n
. a , a
sin. -Z -.
n 11
Multiplying the first of these by «, and the second by
sec. and observing that sec. - sin. - = tan. -, we have
n n n n
n tan. - ~7 ay
n
a . a
n tan. — a sec. —.
n n
Cos.a+ V—1 sin. a = cos.n^l + V—1 /j"
Cos. a— V—1 sin. a= cos.n^l — V^—i tj*.
By the binomial theorem (l -j- V—1 t)n ~
Suppose now n to increase continually, while the arc a
is invariable, it is manifest, that since - will decrease, and
n
may become less than any assignable arc, sec. - will
continually approach to the radius =r 1, and may differ
from it by less than any assignable quantity. Hence it
follows that n being supposed to increase continually, the
expression n tan. - approaches continually to a, which is
its limit.
In like manner, because
+*=,{•*—0-;)(i-!)S+.*4
(Here we have resolved the whole expansion into two
parts; one entirely free from the imaginary sign, and the
other having that sign as a common factor of all its terms.)
Let us denote the first of these series by P,and the second,
setting aside its imaginary factor V—1, by Q; then
(1 + <)” = P + V—\ Q.
By a like process we find
(1 _V=I t)n= P—V—l Q;
and hence again
n sm. — Z. a,
. a a
n sm. - ~7 a cos. -;
n n
Cos. a+V—l sin. a = cos." - (P -f. V—1 Q);
Cos. a—V—1 sin. a = cos." - (P — V—1 Q).
and because, while n increases, cos. - approaches to ra-
and from these, by adding and subtracting,
dius =r 1, which is its limit; therefore the limit of n sin. -
n
Cos. a = cos.” - P,
n
is the arc a.
Hence, it appears that the arc a being supposed to de¬
crease continually,
limit of
= 1, and limit of
a
tan. a
= 1.
267. It is sufficiently evident that the limit of cos. -
is 1; but, in what is to follow', it will be necessary to find
the limit of cos." - when n increases indefinitely.
sin. a — cos." - Q;
n
or, substituting for P, Q, and t, their values,
^ 0 f i A 1\w2<2
Cos. a— cos." - < 1 — (1 )-r7r
n ( \ n) 1’2
Sm.a=cos.^{»* _ (l-i)(l-J)-gl
By a known formula, cos
•W
■sin.2-. Let us
n
put to — n sin. -; then u will be less than a, and
Cos." -=(l—4^.
n \ nJJ
By the binomial theorem, the second member of this
equation is
-.2 / 2' '-4
These formulae must hold true, whatever value we give
to n. But let us now suppose n indefinitely great; then,
from what was proved in last section,
Cos." - = 1, nt — n tan. - — a, - — 0, - — 0, &c.
n n n n
We have therefore, by substitution,
(F 2)
„ a2 a4
Cos.a = l—— + ,&c.
1-2 1 1-2-3-4
Sin. a = a-
+
-, &c.
w2 / 2\ u4 / 2\ / 4\ 1'2'3 1*2*3'4‘5
1 1 —~h: .--2— (1 )(1 .. „-4-,&c. These elegant theorems, discovered by Newton, were
\ nj\ n)\ w/2-4*6»3 1 ti ^ i i j
among the first fruits of his analytical methods.
269. It has been shown (sect. 177) that if e denote
the number 2*7182818, viz. that whose Napierian logar¬
ithm is 1, then
But since, by hypothesis, n may be greater than any as¬
signable number, and u is not greater than a, every term
of this series, except the first, will evidently be =r 0,
when n is indefinitely great; therefore, in that case, cos."
x1
is accurately = 1.
* , i
C=1+T' 1-2
ar5
ar4
a?5
+,&c.
268. Resuming now De Moivre’s formulae (261), we
have
Cos. a + V—1 sin. a = fcos. - 4- V—lsin.4 »
\ n ' n)
Cos. a— V —1 sin. a — (cos. — — V—1 sin. — ) .
V » nj
Let t denote the tangent of the arc -, then observing
1*2*3 ' 1-2-3-4 * 1*2*3*4*5
Now, a being any arc, let x — aV— 1; then, by substi¬
tuting and separating the real and imaginary terms, so
as to form two series, we have
a2 , a4
,&c.
,1
1 • 2 • 3 • 4
+ -V/—ifa— — 1   
• V 1 * 2 • 3 + l*2*3*4*o /
Again, putting x-=z — aV— 1, we obtain, in like man¬
ner,
algebra.
Aebra.
«4
497
W—1 —
1-2 * 1 • 2•3•4
&c.
' —V— 1 (a
But it was found that
Cos. a = 1 —
; +
1 * 2•3 1-2-3-4-5
&c
a4
1-2 1•2•3 • 4
&c.
Sin. a —a
1 * 2 • 3 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 * 5
&c.
Hence it follows that
e«V—1.
e ‘ = cos,
and consequently that
en^ + e-asJ~l
Cos. a =   ,
(G 2)
cos. a + V-1 sin. a,
a. — V — 1 sin. a
Sin. a —
0a \! —1
afj—l
sJIs'gheT SaPP0Se “t0 be “ arC 0f45°>the G«goriaa Algebra
^ + 3—f + i—iV+^&C.
for one eighth of the circumference. This, however, con¬
verges too slowly to be of any practical use. Newton found
a different series, vis.
r i  f + i+ jV  TJ + ’ &c*
for the length of the quadrantal arc of a circle of which
the chord _ 1. This converges somewhat faster than
Gregory s series; but Newton says that the addition of
no fewer than 5000,000,000 of the terms would be re¬
quired to give the length of the quadrant true to twenty
decimal places of figures; a labour which would require
about one thousand years.
272. The simplicity of Gregory’s series is a great re¬
commendation ; and as the determination of the ratio of
t ie alameter of a circle to the circumference is a problem
of primary importance, we shall investigate an auxiliary
formula, which will make it the fittest of any for the solu¬
tion.
Let n, x, y, be three whole numbers, such, that the arc
whose tangent is — is equal to the sum of the arcs whose
1
r , • * 2^— 1
Here the cosine and sine are expressed by imaginary
exponentials. Lagrange considered these formula? to be
the happiest analytical inventions of the age. The series
for the cosine and sine fiom which they have been here i
deduced had been given by Newton before the end of tangents are - and -; then, by formula (F),
the 17th century. They might therefore then have been X y
found, and a perfection given to this subject which it did
not attain until fifty years later, by the labours of Euler.
270. From formulae (G 2) we find
cos. a + v'— 1 sin. a 1
a\/—1
I_r+7 — x+y
i—
= 1:
hence we find y —
xy—V
nx-{-1
—n-\
m2+ 1
cos. a —V— 1 sin. a] e
or, putting, instead of sin. a, its equivalent tan. a cos. a,
and leaving out the common factor cos. a,
1+vCTI
tan. a
1— 1 tan. a
— e‘
“V—1
x—n ' x—n
Now as 7/ is a whole number, n3+l must be divisible by
x—n. Let p be any divisor of n2 + 1, and q the quotient,
so thatpq= n2+l; then x—?i may be assumed = p, and
x=zn-{-p, and therefore
ii2 -4- 1
y=n+^rJ—=n+P'
Now, observing that e is the base or radical number of Pence we hav6 the following theorem ;
Napier’s logarithms, it follows, from the theory of losra- ■ n be an^ whole number> andlet n2+lbe resolved
rithms (Sect. XIX.), that &
r+vm tan. a
ZaV—1 Nap. log.  
1 —V — 1 tan. a
But it was shown, sect. 167, that v being any number,
.og.^=2(,+|+i+|+J&c).
Put now_V—1 tan. a instead of v, and the result equal
to »,aV I, and divide both sides by ZV —], and we have
(H 2)
a_tan. a —A tan.3 «+£ tan.5 a—-f tan.7 a +, &c.
This elegant expression for an arc of a circle was first
tound by James Gregory, from whom it was received by
ollins, an eminent mathematician of that period, in the
beginning of 1671. It was sent to Leibnitz in 1675
fsee Cammercium Epistolicum, p. 98 and 120), and it ap¬
pears tlnit this celebrated person had communicated the
same senes to his friends on the Continent as his own dis-
^0ve7’and even sent it to England in 1676. (Com,
r'f' c' He was accused by the English mathemati-
i aPProPriating to himself the discovery of Gregory :
J!s’ 0 c°urse, he denied. (Com. Ep. Leibnitii etBer-
u <i’ “• P- B13.) We have been thus particular,
ecause Lagrange has given it to Leibnitz. (Calcul des
inn- v.' i John Bernoulli, however, in express-
aflmif8 n • tbat Bad found the series himself,
s that it was first discovered by Gregory.
into any two factors p and q, one of which may be unity.
The arc whose tangent is - is equal to the sum of the arcs
whose tangents are —and ——.
n-[-p n-\-q
As a convenient notation, let A- denote the arc whose
n
tangent is-, and similarly, A ^ and A the arcs
whose tangents are
then stand thus:
n-\-p
l 4 , L
——, and —r1-:
n -\-p n-\-q
n + q
our theorem will
1
A A
n n+P
(K 2)
r x
+ A
n + q
By giving to n different values, we form the following table :
(L2) I ::-!
= 1X 2, Aj=.-U+,H,
n=l, n2-\-1
n=2, n2+l
nz=3, ++1
4, n2 -\-1
wr=,5, w2-f-1
tt=r6, »2-j- 1
n—^l, w2-f-1
(&C.
= 1 X 5,
/ = 1 X 10,
( = 2 x 5,
= 1X17,
= 2 x 13,
= 1x37,
= 2X25,
Ayy
Ai—Ai + ArV»
A|=AJ-+Ai,
Ai=Al + AAT,
Aj—Af L-Arg,
A-.t = A4 4- A^y,
Ay—A-^ -j- A^,
  &c.
We may proceed with this series to any extent; and from
these formulas, by elimination, we obtain the following:
3 R
498
ALGEBRA.
Algebra.
From
A
2, A
(M 2)
— A^
:2A^-f"
1 and ,
4 and 9, Aj-~2Aj-j- Ay-f-^^-i’
6and 10, A}z=3A^4-2AA + 2A11ij,
Sand 11, A^=2A^-i-3J^^+^A'}"^J^aV»
&c.
By any one of these the circumference of a circle may
be found with great facility, particularly by the two last.
The first and simplest, but not the best, is Euler s formula ;
and it shows that ^ of the semi-circumference is the sum
of the arcs whose tangents are ^ and y.
By putting ^ and ^ in the general series instead of tan. a,
we get two series whose sum multiplied by 4) gives for half
the circumference,
r 1 1 1 1 1 _
) 2 3-23_t* 5-25 7-27 f 5^9 ’
^ ) 1 1 1 1 1
( + 3“ 3^+3^"“ 7&+fr39—’&C-
The arithmetical calculation being performed, the result
gives half the circumference to the radius 1, which we
have expressed by ft, or the whole circumference to the
diameter 1 equal to
3-14159,26535,89793,23846,26433,83279,50288.
We have put down this important datum true to 35
places of decimals, not because such accuracy can ever be
wanted, but as a memorial of the almost incredible patience
of Ludolph Van Ceulen, a Flemish mathematician, who
obtained this result by the most laborious but most obvious
of all methods, namely, the inscription and circumscrip¬
tion of polygons in and about a circle. He so highly es¬
timated this effort, that he directed the number to be in¬
scribed on his sepulchre, in imitation of the tomb of Ar¬
chimedes, which was inscribed with a sphere and cylin¬
der ; but, by methods which have been here explained, it
might have been accomplished with no great labour. De
Lagny, a Frenchman, carried the calculation, by an easier
method, to 128 figures; and Euler ascertained that his
result could be verified with 80 hours’ labour. It is said
that the same important number has even been carried as
far as 150 figures, and that this labour may be seen in
manuscript in the Radcliffe Library at Oxford.
273. The importance of the problem to determine the
ratio of the diameter to the circumference, which is called
the rectification of the circle, makes it desirable to have
an elementary solution; we shall therefore give another,
which is entirely independent of the binomial theorem, or
the doctrine of imaginary quantities.
Supposing A to be any arc of a circle, we found, sect.
257, that
2 tan. A . . „ 1 1
tan. 2A — > and therefore
n tan. - a
n
, , , \ a
+ tan. Jga + - tan. -.
Suppose now n to be increased indefinitely, the series
will then consist of an infinite number of terms; and since it
was proved in sect. 266 that n tan. — a—a, we have
(N 2)
. £ tan. la + ± tan. + i tan. la-f, &c.
a tan. a
This very simple and neat expression for the reciprocal
of an arc was found by Professor Wallace, and given
along with various others in the sixth volume ot the
Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, about the
year 1812. He believed it to be new, and indeed it was
not then known in this country; but it had been given
before by Euler, in his Opuscula Analytica, tom. i. p. 350.
This series converges pretty fast; for the tangent of
the half of an arc being less than half the tangent of the
whole arc, as is easily proved, each term is less than one
fourth of the term before it. As, however, the series
proceeds, the ratio of any two consecutive terms ap¬
proaches continually to that of 4 to 1 ; and hence any
term somewhat advanced in the series will be nearly three
times the sum of all that follow it; and, by this property,
as soon as a term is found to be nearly one fourth of that
before it, one third of that term will give the sum of all
that follow it, very near.
From the formula tan. ^a=cosec. a — cot. a (sect. 249),
we set
tan. ^ a —VT -f cot.2a — cot.«=cot. a^l-j-tan.2«—1).
But by the binomial theorem
V1 -j- tan.2«—: 1 -j~ ^ tan.2 a — ^ tan.4 «-f yjj tan.% —,&c.
therefore, tan.-t a— ^ tan. a — ^ tan.3 a -j-y1^ tan.Ja, &c.
By the first of these expressions we may compute the
terms of the series until the seventh or fifth power may
be neglected, and then the remaining terms may be more
readily computed by the second.
Let a be a quadrantsIn this case, =0-
tan. a
1—tan. 2A’
tan. 2A 2 tan. A
tan.
From this formula we deduce the following equations:
1 1 -l tan. la,
The calculation of the length of the arc will stand thus:
Tan.^a—-50000000000
Tan4a=-41421356237
T an.^an -19891236738
Tan.-Xa—-09849140336
Tan.^a--04912684977
Tan.02454862211
Tan.y^a—01227246238
Tan.^a=-00613600016
Tan.^a=-00306797120
tan. a
1
' 2 tan. 4a
1
2 tan.^ a
1
' 4 tan.
1
1 a
4 fan.
4 tan. \ a,
■ i- tan
la.
 4 '8 tan. 4 a
By adding both sides, and rejecting what is common to
the results, we find
1 1 1 1 ~ -1 tan. 4 a;
8 tan. 4 a
-1 tan. \a-
-1 tan. l a-
\ tan. 4 a=*50000000000
l tan.^a—*10355339059
1 tan.4a=-02486404592
i tan.^a—00615571271
-J* tan.J^a—-00153521406
'' tan.Xarr-00038357222
rh’ tan.Xa—00009587861
■g-J-g- tan.^Tja—-00002396875
tan.j4^a=-00000599213
tan. a
and hence, by transposing,
*4 tan. 4 g + j fan- i ^an- s a'
8 tan. '4 a tan. a
In general, n being any integer power of 2, we have
-=•63661977236
T
r= 3-1415926536.
ALGEBRA.
499
} ebra. 274. It appears from Sect. X. that the resolution of any for the cosine of m times any one of these is the very same Algebra,
equation depends on our being able to resolve it into its quantity ; we may therefore infer that the trinomial 1 ' ~
v2
factors, whether of the first or second degree. In one class v2m — cos.p + 1
of equations this can be effected by the calculus of sines, is divisible by each of these trinomial expressions of the
as will appear from the following analysis :
Since cos. (m-\-\)x=.2 cos. x cos. mx — cos. (m
1
let 2 cos. xzzvJr
v
then 2 cos. 2«=4 cos. x cos. x
2cos.3x=:4 cos. x cos. 2x — 2 cos.x zzzv3-}-
\)x,
2 cos.Oo;—^-f-A
'Ir
V3
2 cos. 4a?=:4 cos. x cos. 3#
&c.
2 cos. 2x=zvi-\-
1
,.4 ’
and in general, 2 cos. mx=:vm-] ;
vm
hence we get
— 2rm cos. mx-\-1=0.
The equation ?j + ^=:2 cos. x gives
v2 — 2v cos. 1—0.
Now, since the two equations
v2m — 2vm cos. mx 4-1 = 0,
v2 —2v cos. a;-{-1 = 0,
require to be both satisfied at the same time, they must
have at least one common root. Let a be that root, then
i will also be a root of both ; for putting them under the
a
form
vm4-— 2 cos. mxzzO,
‘vm
v +- — 2 cos. x=0,
V
the results will be the very same whether we substitute
a or - for v.
a
Now the quadratic equation
v2 — 2v cos. a; +1=0
can only have two roots, therefore these must also be roots
of the equation
v2m— 2vm cos. mx-\-1=0 ;
hence it follows that the trinomial
— 2vm cos. mx-\-1
must be divisible by this other expression,
v2 — 2v cos. a? 4-1 ;
a
or, putting mx = <p, and therefore xzz that
v2m — 2vm cos. p-f-1
must have for a divisor
v2 — 2vr'
cos. -4-1.
second degree, viz.
i? — 2v cos.A_j_ ]
m
v2 — 2v cosYA4_ 4.1
\ ni mj
v2 — 2v cosY—_j_ 4.1,
\m mj
v2 — 2v cos.
2{m— 1)
ff+
-1
m )
+ L
same as cos
It is needless to carry the series farther, because the
next divisor would involve cos. (— ft + —V which is the
\m mj
. ( 2cr 4- A J = cos. A a repetition of the first,
\ m) m
and so on. As the number of divisors which differ from
one another is m, and the trinomial is of the 2»itl‘ degree,
it follows from the theory of equations, that the trinomial
is the continual product of all the divisors.
This elegant theorem is due to De Moivre, as appears
from his Miscellanea Analytica.
275. If we suppose p = 0, then cos. £> = 1, and the
trinomial v1™ — 2vm cos. p 4* 1 becomes in this case
vhn — 2vm 4- 1 = — l)2j and the factors are
v2 — 2v 1 = (v — l)2,
2v
v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
m
v2 — 2v cos. -— +L
m
— 2v cos.
2{m— 1)
w -f L
If, again, <p — then cos. p = -— 1, and the trinomial
v2™ — 2vm cos. <p A ^ — v‘lm + 4- i = (ym 4* l)2 >
therefore the factors of this quantity are
v2 — 2v cos. — 4- L
m
„ ^ S'T . -
v2 — 2v cos. 1- 1,
m
o ^ 5or . f
v2 — 2v cos. — + L
m
v2 — 2v cos.
(2 m — l)^
+ L
276. The two last formulae are the analytic expressions
of a very remarkable property of the circle discovered by
Cotes, the friend and contemporary of Newton, and called
the CotesianTheorem. It consists of two parts, and may
be thus enunciated (see Plate XVIII. fig. 25 and 26):
Now we found, sect. 232, that cr being put for half the cir- Let the circumference of any circle be divided into 2m
cumference,
Cos. cos. (2/Mr4-p);
hence it follows, that instead of we may take any one
of this series of arcs,
equal parts (for example ten), at the points A0, Aj, A2
A3, A4,... A9 ; and let A0C be a diameter drawn through
A0, one of the points of division; and from any point P
' the diameter (fig. 25), or the diameter produced (fig. 26),
in
2ir <p \<ir <p
    1 ,
m ' m
'4-
m 1 m
6#
7T +
m
.to
{
2(m — l)1? <p
}
let straight lines PA^ PA3, PA5, PA7, PA9, be drawn to
the points in the circumference which are the first, third,
fifth, &c. from A0 ; and also straight lines PA2, PA^,
PAC, PAa, to the points which are the second, fourth,
. m
500
ALGEBRA.
277. If we consider that
II. The continual product of the lines drawn from
P to Aq, A2, A4, Ag, &c. (the points marked with even
Cos,
2(m
n) re . 2n
 -‘jr—cos.(2t n) ~ cos.—C!
m m J m
numbers), is equal to rm — vm, when the point is within it will readily appear that the factors of the quantity
the circle (fig. 25), or to vm—rm, when it is without
(fig. 26).
Join CAj, and, to simplify, let r = 1; because the
whole circumference is divided into 2m parts, the arcs
(w»«—1)2, which have been given in sect. 275, may be
written thus:
A0 A j = —, A0 Ao = —, A0 A, = —, and so on. Now
01 m 0 ^ m 0 3 m
v*-
r2-
2t? + l=(v—l)2,
O 2ir I 1
■ 2v cos. hi,
m
by the elements of Geometry,
v2-
■ 2v cos. [-1,
m
PAf = PC2 — 2PC x CA, cos.—+CAf=w2 —2vcos.
m
+ 1.
v2-
In like manner, it will appear that
■ 2v cos. -4-1,
m
2ir
PA2 — v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
V2-
2v cos. —4-1,
m
PAf — v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
3 m
where the second and last are identical; and the same is
true of the third and last but two, the fourth and last but
three, and so on, until, in the case of m an even number,
we come to two equal factors, one on each side of the
and so on, with respect to the lines drawn to the remain¬
ing points PA4, PA5.
Now, remarking that PA0 z=v — 1, from what has (|m-{-l)th factor, which being v2 — 2v cos. ^--fl,
been proved, it appears that the product ’
PA” x PAJ X PA- ...toPA°„_,
is equal to the product of the trinomials
will be ^+2v+lz=(??+l)2; but in the case of m an odd
number, we come to two adjoining equal factors, the first
v2 — 2v cos. f-1,
m
of which is v2
2v cos.— 1; therefore, taking the
S'T
v2 — 2v cos. hi,
v2
2v cos. — + 1,
m
v2 — 2v cos. ^ ^ + 1;
square root of (ym — l)2, and at the same time rejecting
one of each pair of equal factors, we find that when m is
an even number, vni — 1 is equal to the product of these
quantities,
17—1,
?7+l,
v2 — 2v cos. h
and that the product
PA* X PA* X PAf ... to PA* s
v2 •
m
4?r
. Lo ^ -*■ -1 xi-4 ••• i''-’xi.2m
is equal to the product of the trinomials,
(v — l)2 or (1 — v)2,
■ 2v cos. f-1,
m 1
2ff
v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
m
o o m—2
V2 2t7 COS. tf+l.
4^
v2 — 2v cos. hi,
m
But when m is an odd number, the factors are
t; — 1,
772.
TT2   277 COS.
2(m— 1)
0 2k
■ 2v cos. hi,
m 1
cr -p 1.
But we have proved that the first of these products is
equal to (77”*+1)2, and the second to (1—vm)2-=.(vm—l)2 ;
therefore, taking the square roots, we have
PAi x PA5 x PA5 x PA7, &c.=vm+1,
Or. 4lT -
v2 — 2v cos. h 1,
m
v2 — 2v cos.
L ,
-w-h 1.
PA0xPA2xPA4xPA6, &c.rr 1 — vm orz=77m —1.
Thus both parts of the theorem are demonstrated.
This elegant geometrical theorem was found among the
papers of Mr Cotes after his death. It had no demon¬
stration, but that was soon supplied by his contemporaries,
particularly De Moivre, who gave it the more general
form which is expressed analytically in last article. At
the time of its discovery, it was greatly esteemed; but
278. Next let us consider the expression (t7m-hl)2 and
its factors, as given sect. 275. We have for this case
2m — n . n .
Cos. -yzrcos. (2cr w):
m m '
n
cos.—*•
m
The factors are therefore
v2
2v cos. — + 1,
m
Algebra, sixth, &c.: then, putting 77 = CP, the distance of P from now, analytical formulae are found by experience more Alt,
k ythe centre, and r=. CA0, the radius. convenient than geometrical diagrams, and therefore areC^l
I. The continual product of the lines drawn from P to employed instead of them.
Aj, A5, A5, A7, &c. (the points marked with the odd
numbers), is equal to rm + v'
All"-1
V2
2v cos. — + 15
m
O 3,Zr_L 1
2v cos. HI,
m
algebra.
To resolve the equation xP+px = q,
find an angle v, such, that tan. v — x radius;
then the roots of the equation are,
^ = + tan* and x zr
2P
Vq
v2 — 2v cos. — + 1.
m
tan. ^ v’
(2.) In like manner we find that in the equation
T)CC — (J
Here it appears that the first and last factors are the angle v being found as before, the roots of the equa-
identical, also the second and last but one, and so on, tion are,
until in the case of m an even number, we come to
two adjoining equal factors, the first of which is
772 -1
v2—2v cos. it ~H 1. But if m be an odd number, there
x ~ -f-
■; and x — — q tan. 1 v.
tan. 1 v
(3.) When the equation is
x? —px ~ — q.
, , ^ jJd-' — ~ Yj
are two equal factors, and a single one between them, viz. which has two positive roots whose sum is p, and product
cos. — cr-J-l:=u2 + 2v+ l)2; there- ? (sect'93_)>expressed by tan-ir-Vj, and
m y ; cot. Vq. In this case,
fore, taking the square roots of (vm + l)2 and (v + l)2, Vq (cot. iv + tan. ±v)=p •
and rejecting one of each pair of equal factors, we obtain, but by (3) and /4) of ftrmxi]ge
in the case ot m an even number, vm + 1, equal to the v 7 v 7 2
product of these factors :
cot.^v + tan.— 2 cosec.v —
sin. v
v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
m
v2 — 2v cos. — + I,
m
v2
2v cos. — + 1,
m
v2 — 2v cos
m.
“T + 1.
But when m is an odd number, the factors are,
v + 1,
v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
m
v2 — 2v cos. — + 1,
m
therefore, sin. v ~ Hence, to resolve this case, find
an angle v, such, that
Q
Sin. v ■=. ~X radius;
%P
then x — -L- Vq tan. ^v, a; = -1 —
280. The second example is the resolution of a problem
in pure algebra, said to have been proposed by the late
Professor Person.
Find u, x, y, z, from these equations,
v2 — 2v cos.
m
“TT "H 1.
uxyz—a,
uz-\-xy—b,
uy-\-xz—c,
ux-\-yz—d
Solution.
Let p, q, r, bejsuch angles that
uz—Va\xm.p,
uy= Va tan. q,
ux—Va tan. r ;
These formulae, exhibiting the decomposition of the ex¬
pressions ^m—2vm cos. p+l and vm±\, are of great , „ Va tan. r; ^
importance in the Differential Calculus or doctrine of ™ien "'om t^ie equation (A),
Fluxions, and in the more recondite theories of Analysis.
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
279. In concluding the calculus of sines, we shall yet give
three other examples of its application: the first shall be
to the resolution of quadratic equations.
(b) Let the equation be
x?-\-px — q,
where p and q are both positive numbers. This equation
has two roots, a positive and a negative, of which —p is the
xyzzVa cot.p, . . 4
xz-=zVa cot. q, ... 5
yz —Va cot. r; . . 6
and hence by substitution in the other equations
Va(tan.j» + cot.p) — b,
V«(tan. q + cot. q~) = c,
vfo^tan. r + cot. r) — d;
w vwj L'V Oily! V CH1M. Ct lit ^0.1/1 V 111 til ' yy lo Lilt T LI ^ Lclll* / “-J” tut# / J —— n y
sum, and —. q the product. (Sect. 93.) Let tan. and from these again (because A being any arc,
be the positive root, where v is an angle to be determin- ^ A , CQt> A ^ 2 cosec< A = ^_1_5 sect. 250);
eu, then— cotan. will be the negative root, be¬
cause tan. \ v Vq x — cot. V q —
v> we have this equation,
• q. To determine
V7q (cot. — tan. —p :
but by (3) and (4) of(Q),
2
cot. — tan. -i- v — 2 cot. v — —7!—;
tan.w
therefore, tan. v — ’^Jl. Hence we have this rule:
\P
2 Va
sin. 2p
and sin. 2p =.
sin. 2q —
sin. 2r =r
2 Va
sin. 2q
2 Va
~~b~2
2 Va
c
2 Va
sin. 2A:
2 Va
sin. 2r
= d,
7
8
9
502
A L G
A L G
Algebra By these equations the angles/?, r are determined.
|| . By multiplying the corresponding sides of (1) (2) (3)
en’ we get
v?xyz — (Vay tan. p tan. q tan. r : 10
and, dividing this by Eq. (A),
m2z= Va tan. p tan. q tan. r. . .11
From this and equations 3, 2, and 1,
a?=.Va tan; T- = Va cot. p cot. q tan. r,
tan.p tan. q
ip—Va  an‘ - zzVa cot. p tan. q cot. r,
^ tan.p tan. r
„ tan. p
z2=Va    ~Va tan. p cot. q cot. r:
tan. q tan. r
so that, on the whole, to determine u, x, y, z, we first
find the angles p, q, r, from these formulae,
sin. 2 p=.
sin. 2 q —
b
2Va
and then
sin. 2 r —
2Va .
  >
d
u — Vtan. p tan. q tan. r,
4    
x — *ya Vcot. p cot. q tan. r,
4   
y — \/a Vcot. p tan. q cot. r,
z = y'a Vtan. p cot. q cot. r.
281. The last example shall be the manner of inscribing
a regular polygon of 17 sides in a circle,—a discovery due
to Mr Gauss of Brunswick, and one of the most remark¬
able that has been made in geometry. We take it as given
in the excellent Treatise on Geometry by Legendre,
cr
Let the arc in the first place we have this
equation,
Cos. p-J-cos. 3^-j-cos. 5p-j-cos. L
+ cos. 9p-j-cos. llp-j-cos' 13p-j-cos. 15p / —2’
For, putting P for the first member, and multiplying all
the terms by 2 cos. p, and transforming the results by
the formula 2 cos. a cos. 6= cos. (a-—b) -f- cos. (a-\-b)
(sect. 238), we shall have 2 P cos. p
_ fl_p2cos. 2/>+ 2 cos. 4p-f-2cos. 6p.f2cos.8p
\ -f 2cos*10p-i-2cos. 12p_j-2cos.14p_j-cos.16p.
But since 17p = ff, therefore cos. 2 p — cos. (<r—15p)
— — cos. 15 p ; cos. 4 p = cos. (v—13 p)— — cos. 13 p,
and so on, to cos. 16p=: — cos. p; therefore
All ,n,.
2 P cos. p= 1—2 cos. 15p—2 cos. 13p...—2 cos. 3p—cos.p;
or 2 P cos. p — 1 + cos' 9 — ^
or 2 P (1-f cos. p) =l-fcos. p, hence P=:£.
This being proved, Ave now divide the terms which com¬
pose P into two parts,
x=cos. 3p-f cos. 5p-f cos. 7p-f cos. lip,
y=cos. p-f cos. 9p-f cos. 13p-f cos. 15p.
We have therefore x-j-y — We next multiply the
four terms of x by the four terms of y, and changing the
products of cosines into the cosines of simple arcs, we
obtain, all reductions being made,
xy= 2 (cos. 2p-fcos. 4p-fcos. 6p...-f cos. 16p),
or xy— —2 (cos. 15p-f cos. 13p-f cos. llp...-|-cos. p),
or at last xy— — 1.
By these equations we obtain
x^i+ivn, y=i-iVl7.
Now, if we divide anew the sums x and y into two parts,
viz.
xz=s-\-t, y= u+z,
s =z cos. 3p-f cos. 5p, cos. p-f cos. 13p,
cos. 7p-f cos. lip, z= cos. 9p-f cos. 15p.
We obtain in like manner,
st=—uz=: —A;
so that we may now determine the four numbers s, t,
u, z, by means of two new equations of the second de¬
gree.
Lastly, knowing cos. p -f cos. 13 p 1= w, and cos. p cos. 13p
=|(cos. 12p-f cos. 14p)= — A(cos,3<p_|_cos. 5 p)——±s,
we may obtain by a fourth equation of the second degree
the value of cos. p, and thence the side of the polygon,
which is 2 sin. p = 2 \/l — cos.2 p.
As to the method which has guided us in forming these
equations, it depends on a very delicate theory, founded
on the Indeterminate Analysis. For this we must refer
to the work of Gauss, Disquisitiones Arithmetics; or the
French translation, Recherches Arithmetiques. (r.)
ALGENIB, or y Pegasi, a star of 2 • 3 magnitude, in
the wing of Pegasus: R. A. January 1.1830,4 m. 29’36 sec.;
Ann. Pre. + 3*1 sec.; N. Deck 14° 14/ 18’1"; Ann. Pre.
20".
ALGEZIRAS, a city of Spain, in the province of
Seville, in Andalusia. It is a fortified place, on the west¬
ern side of the bay of Gibraltar, and opposite to that for¬
tress. It is situated at the foot of a prodigious mountain
called the Trocha, over which there is only one road of
communication, which is excessively bad. It has become
a place of consideration as the rendezvous of a large force,
which it has been deemed politic to maintain there to
watch the movement of the English garrison on the oppo¬
site shore. The population amounts to about 4000. Long.
4. 55. 4. W. Lat. 36. 8. N.
ALGHERI, or Aghuer, a strongly fortified city on
the island of Sardinia, in the district called Capo di
Sassari. It is the see of a bishop, has a cathedral, seven
monasteries, and 4000 inhabitants, who speak the Catalon
language, and whose chief occupation is cultivating vine¬
yards. About a mile from the city is the fine roadstead
or open bay, Porto Conte, where a fleet can anchor securely
and be defended by a strong fort.
ALGIABARII, a Mahometan sect of predestinarians,
who attribute all the actions of men, good or evil, to the
agency or influence of God. The Algiabarii stand op¬
posed to the Alkadarii. They hold absolute decrees
and physical promotion. For the justice of God in punish¬
ing the evil he has caused, they resolve it wholly into his
absolute dominion over the creatures.
ALGIDUM, a town of Latium, in Italy, between Pre-
neste and Alba, near the mountains. On the top of one
of these mountains was erected a temple of Diana, to
which Horace refers, lib. i. ode 21, “ Quscunque au
gelido prominet Algido and lib. iii. ode 23, “ Qus nua 1
pascitur Algido,” &c.
ALGIERS. 503
ALGIERS, a kingdom of Africa, now one of the states
' of Barbary. According to the latest and best computa¬
tions, it extends 460 miles in length from east to west,
but is very unequal in breadth, some places being scarce¬
ly 40 miles broad, and others upwards of 100. It lies
between long. 0. 16. and 9. 16. W. and extends from
lat. 36. 55. to 44. 50. N. It is bounded on the north by the
Mediterranean, on the east by the river Zaine, the an¬
cient Tusca, which divides it from Tunis; on the west
by the Mulvya and the mountains of Trava, which sepa¬
rate it from Morocco; and on the south by the Sahara,
Zaara, or Numidian Desert.
j)jvjs; of The kingdom of Algiers is at present divided into three
the ki - provinces or districts, viz. the eastern, western, and south-
dom. ern. The eastern or Levantine government, which is by
far the most considerable of the three, contains the towns
of Bona, Constantina, Gigeri, Bujeiah, Stessa, Tebef, Za-
moura, Biscara, and Necanz, in all which the Turks have
garrisons: besides which, it includes the two ancient
kingdoms of Cuco and Labez, though independent of the
Algerine government, to whose forces their country is
inaccessible; so that they live under their own sheikhs,
chosen by each of their adowars or hordes. The western
government has the towns of Oran, Tremecen, Mostagan,
Tenez, and Secrelly with its castle and garrison. The
southern government has neither town, village, nor even
a house, all the inhabitants living in tents.
Inhalt The inhabitants along the sea-coast are a mixture of
different nations: a great proportion consists of Moors
and Morescos driven out of Catalonia, Arragon, and other
parts of Spain. Here are also great numbers of Turks,
who come from the Levant to seek their fortune; and
till lately there were multitudes of Jews and Christians,
taken by piracy, brought hither and sold as slaves.
The Berbers are the most ancient inhabitants of the
country: they are dispersed all over Barbary, and divided
into a multitude of tribes under their respective chiefs.
Most of them inhabit the mountainous tracts; some
range from place to place, and live in tents or portable
huts; others in scattered villages. They have neverthe¬
less kept themselves for the most part unmixed with
other nations. Many of the Berbers are rich, well
clothed, and carry on a large traffic in cattle, hides, wax,
honey, iron, and other commodities. They have also
some artificers in iron, and some manufacturers of cloth.
But the most numerous inhabitants are the Moors and
Arabians. The former are very stout and warlike, and
skilful in horsemanship, but so addicted to robbery, that
one cannot safely travel through the country at a distance
from the towns without a guard, or at least a marabout
or saint, for a protector; for as they look upon them¬
selves to be the original proprietors of the country, and
not only as dispossessed by the rest of the inhabitants,
but reduced by them to the lowest state of poverty, they
make no scruple to plunder all they meet, by way of re¬
prisal. The inhabitants in general have a pretty fair
complexion; they are robust and well proportioned.
Beople of distinction wear the beard; they have rich
clothes made of silk, embroidered with flowers of gold,
and turbans enriched with jewels. The Turks, who com¬
pose the military force, have great privileges, pay no
taxes, are never punished in public, and rarely in private.
Ihe lowest soldier domineers over the most distinguished
Moors at pleasure. If he finds them better mounted
than himself, he exchanges horses without ceremony,
the lurks alone have the privilege of carrying fire-arms.
Many good qualities, however, distinguish them, in spite
°t this excess of despotism. They never game, and never
profane the name of the Deity. They soon forget their
private quarrels; and after the first paroxysm of resent- Algiers,
ment is over, it is infamy for a lurk to keep m remcm--IIy*
brance the injuries he has received.
The climate of Algiers is in most places so temperate Climate
that a constant verdure is maintained, the leaves of the and soil,
trees being neither parched by heat in summer, nor
nipped by the winter’s cold. They begin to bud in Fe¬
bruary ; in April the fruit attains its full size, and is com¬
monly ripe in May. The soil, however, is excessively
various; some places being very hot, dry, and barren;
on which account they are generally suffered to lie un¬
cultivated by the inhabitants, who are very indolent.
These barren places, especially those in the south, and at
a distance from the sea, harbour vast numbers of wild
animals, as lions, tigers, buffaloes, wild boars, stags, por¬
cupines, monkeys, ostriches, &c. On account of their
barrenness they have but few towns, and those thinly
peopled; though some of them are advantageously si¬
tuated for trading with Biledulgerid and Negroland, and
drive a considerable traffic with those countries.
The most considerable rivers of Algiers are the Shel- Rivers,
liff, which passes through Lake Titterie, and falls into the
sea at Mostagan; the Ziz, which crosses the province of
Tremecen; the Mina, which falls into the sea near Ar-
zew ; and the Hued-al-quivir, which forms a good harbour
near Bujeiah.
The Algerine kingdom made formerly a considerable History,
part of the Mauritania Tingitana, which was reduced to
a Roman province by Julius Caesar, and from him also
called Mauritania Ccesariensis. The Romans were driven
out of that continent by the Vandals ; these by Belisarius,
the Greek emperor Justinian’s general; and the Greeks
in their turn by the Saracens. This last revolution hap¬
pened about the middle of the seventh century; and the
Arabs continued masters of the country, divided into a
great number of petty kingdoms or states, under chiefs
of their own choosing, till the year 1051. In this year
one Abubeker-ben-Omar, or, as the Spanish authors call
him, Abu-Texefien, an Arab of the Zinhagian tribe, ga¬
thered, by the help of his marabouts or saints, a most
powerful army of malcontents, in the southern provinces
of Numidia and Libya. His followers were named Ma-
rabites or Morabites, by the Spaniards Almoravides,
probably from their being assembled principally by the
saints, who were also called Morabites. The caliph’s
forces were at this time employed in quelling other re¬
volts in Syria, Mesopotamia, &c.; and the Arabs in Spain
were engaged in the most bloody wars; so that Texefien
having nothing to fear from them, had all the success he
could wish against the Arabian sheikhs or petty tyrants,
whom he defeated in many battles, and at last drove them
not only out of Numidia and Libya, but out of all the west¬
ern districts, reducing the whole province of Tingitania
under his dominion.
Texefien was succeeded by his son Yusef or Joseph,
a brave and warlike prince. He founded the city of
Morocco; and engaging in war with the Zeneti, a power¬
ful tribe who inhabited Tremecen, defeated them in re¬
peated engagements, and finally almost exterminated
them. He then extended his conquests over almost all
Barbary.
Thus was founded the empire of the Morabites, which,
however, was of no long duration, that race being in the
twelfth century driven out by Mohavedin, a marabout.
This race of priests was expelled by Abdulac, governor
of Fez; and he in the thirteenth century was stripped of
his new conquests by the sheriffs of Hascen, the descend¬
ants of those Arabian princes whom Abu-Texefien had
formerly expelled.
504
ALGIERS.
Algiers.' The better to secure their new dominions, the sherifs
divided them into several little kingdoms or provinces;
and among the rest, the present kingdom of Algiers was
divided into four, namely, Tremecen, Tenez, Algiers
Proper, and Bujeiah. The first four princes laid so good
a foundation for a lasting balance of power between their
little kingdoms, that they continued for some centuries
in mutual peace and amity; but at length the king of
Tremecen having ventured to violate some of their
articles, Abul-Farez, king of Tenez, declared war against
him, and obliged him to become his tributary. This king
dying soon after, and having divided his kingdom among
his three sons, new discords arose, which Spain taking
advantage of, sent a powerful fleet and army against
Barbary, under the count of Navarre, in 1505. This
commander soon made himself master of the important
cities of Oran, Bujeiah, and some others. Finally, he
landed a number of forces near Algiers, and obliged that
metropolis to become tributary to Spain.
Barba- To this galling yoke the Algerines were obliged to sub-
rossa. m;t j.;]i tjie year 1516, when, hearing of the death of Fer¬
dinand, king of Spain, they sent an embassy to Aruch Bar-
barossa, who was at that time no less dreaded for his va¬
lour than for his surprising success, and was then sent on a
cruise with a squadron of galleys and barks. The purport
of the embassy was, that he should come and free them
from the Spanish yoke ; for which they agreed to pay him
a gratuity answerable to so great a service. Upon this
Barbarossa immediately dispatched 18 galleys and 30
barks to the assistance of the Algerines, while he himself
advanced towards the city with 800 Turks, 3000 Jigelites,
and 2000 Moorish volunteers. Instead of taking the
nearest road to Algiers, he directed his course towards
Shershel, where Hassan, another famed corsair, had es¬
tablished himself. Him he surprised, and obliged to sur¬
render, not without a previous promise of friendship;
but no sooner had Barbarossa got him in his power, than
he beheaded him, and obliged all Hassan’s Turkish adhe¬
rents to follow him in his new expedition.
On Barbarossa’s approach to Algiers, he was wel¬
comed by all the people of that metropolis, who looked
for deliverance from this daring bandit, whom they ac¬
counted invincible. Elated beyond measure with this
kind reception, Barbarossa formed a design of becoming
king of Algiers; and fearing some opposition from the in¬
habitants, on account of the excesses he suffered his sol¬
diers to commit, he murdered their prince Eutemi, and
caused himself to be proclaimed king; his Turks and
Moors crying out as he rode along the streets, “ Long
live King Aruch Barbarossa, the invincible king of Al¬
giers, the chosen of God to deliver the people from the
oppression of the Christians; and destruction to all that
shall oppose or refuse to own him as their lawful sove¬
reign.” These threatening words so intimidated the in¬
habitants, already apprehensive of a general massacre,
that he was immediately acknowledged as king.
Barbarossa was no sooner seated on the throne, than
he treated his subjects with such cruelty, that they used
to shut up their houses and hide themselves when he ap¬
peared in public. In consequence of this, a plot was soon
formed against him ; but having discovered it, he caused
twenty of the principal conspirators to be beheaded, and
their bodies to be buried in a dunghill, and laid a heavy
fine on those who survived. This so terrified the Algerines,
that they never afterwards durst attempt any thing against
either Barbarossa or his successors.
In the mean time the son of Prince Eutemi, having fled
to Oran, and put himself under the protection of the mar¬
quis of Gomarez, laid before that nobleman a plan for put¬
ting the city of Algiers into the hands of the kino- 0f A,
Spain. Cardinal Ximenes, having approved of it, sent a ^
fleet with 10,000 land forces, under the command of Don
Francisco, or, as others call him, Don Diego de Vera to
drive out the Turks, and restore the young prince; but
the fleet no sooner came within sight of land than it was
dispersed by a storm, and the greater part of the ships
dashed against the rocks. Most of the Spaniards were
drowned, and the few who escaped to the shore were
either killed by the Turks or made slaves.
Though Barbarossa had nothing to boast on this oc¬
casion, his pride and insolence had now risen to such a
pitch, that he imagined himself invincible. He found
little difficulty in conquering the kingdoms of Tenez and
Tremecen. Abuchen Men, however, the exiled sovereign
of Tremecen, had recourse to Charles V. then lately ar¬
rived in Spain with a powerful fleet and army. That
monarch immediately ordered the young king a succour of
10,000 men, under the command of the governor of Oran,
who, under the guidance of Abuchen Men, began his
march towards Tremecen; and in their way they were
joined by Prince Selim, with a great number of Arabs and
Moors. The tyrant kept close in his capital, being em¬
barrassed by his fears of a revolt, and the politic delays of
the king of Fez, who had not sent the auxiliaries he pro¬
mised. Being now informed that Abuchen Men and his
Arabs, accompanied by the Spaniards, were in full march
to lay siege to Tremecen, he thought proper to come out
at the head of 1500 Turks and 5000 Moorish horse, bor¬
der to break his way through the enemy ; but he had not
proceeded far from the city before his council advised him
to return and fortify himself in it. This advice was now
too late, the inhabitants being resolved to shut him out,
and open their gates to their own lawful prince as soon as
he appeared. In this distress Barbarossa saw no resource
but to retire to the citadel. Here he defended himself
vigorously; but his provisions failing, he took advantage
of a subterraneous path, which he had caused to be dug,
and, taking his immense treasure with him, stole away as
secretly as possible. His flight, however, was soon dis¬
covered ; and he was so closely pursued, that to amuse,
as he hoped, the enemy, he caused a great part of his
money, plate, jewels, &c. to be scattered on the way,
thinking they would delay their pursuit in gathering it up.
This stratagem, however, failed through the vigilance of
the Spanish commander, who being himself at the head
of the pursuers, obliged them to march on, till he came
up close to him on the banks of the Huexda, about eight
leagues from Tremecen. Barbarossa had just cross¬
ed the river with his vanguard, when the Spaniards came
up with his rear on the other side, and cut them all off;
and then crossing the water, overtook him at a small dis¬
tance from it. Here a bloody engagement ensued, in
which the Turks fought like lions; but being at length
overpowered by numbers, they were all cut in pieces, and
Barbarossa among the rest, in the 44th year of his age,
and four years after he had raised himself to the royal title
of Jigel.
The news of Barbarossa’s death spread the utmost con-Suw
sternation among the Turks at Algiers; however, theyj^
caused his brother Hayradin to be immediately proclaim¬
ed king. The Spanish commander now sent back the
emperor’s forces, without making any attempt upon Al¬
giers, by which he lost the opportunity of driving the
Turks out of that country; while Hayradin, justly dread¬
ing the consequences of the tyranny of his officers, sought
the protection of the grand signior. This was readily
granted, and he himself appointed bashaw or viceroy of Al¬
giers ; by which means he received such considerable re-
ALGIERS.
A] !rs. inforcements, that the unhappy Algerines could attempt
resistance; and such numbers of Turks resorted to
him, that he. was able not only to keep the Moors and
Arabs in subjection at home, but to annoy the Christians
at sea.
Hayradin next undertook to build a strong mole for the
protection of his ships. In this he employed 30,000 Chris¬
tian slaves, whom he obliged to labour without intermission
for three years, in which time the work was completed.
Hayradin soon became dreaded, not only by the Arabs
and Moors, but also by the maritime Christian powers,
especially the Spaniards. The viceroy failed not to ac¬
quaint the grand signior with his success, and obtained
from him a fresh supply of money, by which he was en¬
abled to build a strong fort, and to erect batteries on all
places that might favour the landing of an enemy. All
these have since received greater improvements from
time to time.
Sucjded In the mean time the sultan, either out of a sense of
by bssan the great services Hayradin had rendered, or perhaps out
Agai of jealousy lest he should make himself independent, rais¬
ed him to the dignity of bashaw of the empire, and ap¬
pointed Hassan Aga, a Sardinian renegade, an intrepid
warrior, and an experienced officer, to succeed him as
bashaw of Algiers. Hassan had no sooner taken posses¬
sion of his new government, than he began to pursue his
ravages on the Spanish coast with greater fury than ever,
extending them to the Ecclesiastical State, and other parts
Chad of Italy. Pope Paul III. exhorted the emperor Charles
V.’s pe- V. to send a powerful fleet to suppress these frequent and
cruel piracies; and, that nothing might be wanting to
render the enterprise successful, a bull was published by
his holiness, in which a plenary absolution of sins, and the
crown of martyrdom, were promised to all those who either
fell in battle or were made slaves. The emperor accord¬
ingly set sail at the head of a powerful fleet, consisting of
120 ships and 20 galleys, having on board 30,000 chosen
troops, and an immense quantity of money, arms, am¬
munition, &c. In this expedition many young noblemen
and gentlemen ‘attended as volunteers, and among these
many knights of Malta, so remarkable for their valour
against the enemies of Christianity. Even ladies of birth
and character attended Charles in his expedition ; and the
wives and daughters of the officers and soldiers followed
them with a design to settle in Barbary after the conquest
should be completed.- The expedition meeting with a fa¬
vourable wind, soon appeared before Algiers ; every ship
displaying the Spanish colours on the stern, and another at
the head, with a crucifix to serve for a pilot.
By this prodigious armament the Algerines were thrown
mto the utmost consternation. The city'- was surrounded
only by a wall, with scarcely any outworks. The whole gar¬
rison consisted of 800 Turks and 6000 Moors, without fire¬
arms, and poorly disciplined and accoutred; the rest of their
forces being dispersed in the other provinces of the king¬
dom, to levy the usual tribute on the Arabs and Moors.
The Spaniards landed without opposition, and immediate¬
ly built a fort, under the cannon of which they encamped,
and diverted the course of a spring which supplied the
city with water. Being now reduced to the utmost dis¬
tress, Hassan received a summons to surrender at discre¬
tion, on pain of being put to the sword with all the garri¬
son. He was on the point of surrendering the city, when
advice was brought to him that the forces belonging to the
western government were in full march towards the place;
upon which it was resolved to defend it to the utmost.
Lnarles, in the mean time, resolving upon a general assault,
kept up a constant firing upon the town; which, from the
"eak defence made by the garrison, he looked upon as
VOL. II.
505
already in his hands. But while the douwan, or Algerine Algiers,
senate, were deliberating on the most proper means of ob-
taining an honourable capitulation, a mad prophet, attend¬
ed by a multitude of people, entered the assembly, and
foretold the speedy destruction of the Spaniards before
the end of the moon, exhorting the inhabitants to hold out
till that time. This prediction was soon accomplished in
a very surprising and unexpected manner ; for on the 28th
of October 1541 a dreadful storm of wind, rain, and hail,
arose from the north, accompanied with violent shocks of
earthquake, and a dismal and universal darkness both by
sea and jand; so that the sun, moon, and elements seemed
to combine together for the destruction of the Spaniards.
In that one night, some say in less than half an hour, 86 ships
and 15galleys were destroyed, with all their crews and mili¬
tary stores, by which the army on shore was deprived of
all means of subsistence. Their camp also, which spread
itself along the plain under the fort, was laid quite under
water by the torrents which descended from the neigh¬
bouring hills. Many of the troops, in endeavouring to re¬
move into some better situation, w'ere cut in pieces by the
Moors and Arabs ; while several galleys and other vessels,
seeking to gain some neighbouring creeks along the coasts,
were immediately plundered, and their crews massacred,
by the inhabitants.
The next morning Charles beheld the sea covered with
the fragments of his numerous ships, and the bodies of
men and horses floating on the waves. Seeing his affairs
desperate, he abandoned his tents, artillery, and all his
heavy baggage, and marched in no small disorder towards
Cape Malabux, in order to re-embark his troops in the few
vessels which had survived the tempest. But Hassan, who
had caused his motions to be watched, allowed him just
time to get to the shore, when he sallied out and attacked
the Spaniards in the midst of their confused and hasty em¬
barkation, killing great numbers, and bringing away a still
greater number of captives; after which he returned in
triumph to Algiers, where he celebrated with great re¬
joicings his happy deliverance.
Charles having reached the port of Bujeiah, remained Its failure
there no longer than till the 16 th of November, when he set
sail for Carthagena, which he reached on the 25th of the
same month. In this unfortunate expedition upwards of
120 ships and galleys were lost, with above 300 colonels and
other land and sea officers, 8000 soldiers and marines, be¬
sides those destroyed by the enemy on the re-embarkation,
or drowned in the last storm. The number of prisoners was
so great, that the Algerines sold some of them, by way of
contempt, for an onion per head.
Hassan, elated with this victory, in which he had very
little share, undertook an expedition against the king of
Tremecen, who, being now deprived of the assistance of
the Spaniards, was forced to procure a peace by paying a
large sum of money, and becoming tributary to him. The
bashaw returned to Algiers laden with riches, and soon
after died of a fever, in the 66th year of his age.
From this time the Spaniards were never able to annoy
the Algerines in any considerable degree. In 1555 they
lost the city of Bujeiah, which was taken by Salha Rais,
Hassan’s successor, who next year set out on a new ex¬
pedition, which was suspected to be intended against
Oran; but he had scarcely got four leagues from Algiers,
when the plague, which at that time raged violently in
the city, carried him off in 24 hours.
The dignity of bashaw passed through several hands, Bashaws,
when it was occupied by Hassan, the son of Hayradin.
Immediately on his arrival, he engaged in a war with
the Arabs, by whom he was defeated with great loss.
Next year the Spaniards undertook an expedition against
3 s
506
ALGIERS..
Algiers. Mostagan, under the command of the count d’Alcandela;
■^v^-^but were utterly defeated, the commander himself killed,
and 12,000 men taken prisoners.
Hassan engaged in the siege of Marsalquiver, situated
near the city Oran, which he designed to invest immediate¬
ly after. The army employed in tijis siege consisted of
26,000 foot and 10,000 horse, besides which he had a fleet
consisting of 32 galleys and galliots, together with three
French vessels laden with biscuit, oil, and other provisions.
The city was defended by Don Martin de Cordova, brother
of the count d’Alcandela, who had been taken prisoner in
the battle where that nobleman was killed, but had ob¬
tained his liberty from the Algerines with immense sums,
and now made a most gallant defence against the Turks.
The city was attacked with the utmost fury by sea and
land, so that several breaches were made in the walls.
The Turkish standards were several times planted on the
walls, and as often dislodged; but the place must have in
the end submitted, had not Hassan been obliged to raise
the siege in haste, on the news that the famed Genoese
admiral Doria was approaching with considerable succours
from Italy.
In 1567 Hassan was recalled to Constantinople, where
he died three years after. He was succeeded by Maho¬
met, who gained the love of the Algerines by several
public-spirited actions. He incorporated the janizaries
and Levantine Turks together, and by that means put an
end to their dissensions, which paved the way for making
Algiers independent on the Porte. He likewise added
some considerable fortifications to the city and castle,
which he designed to render impregnable. At this time
one John Gascon, a bold Spanish adventurer, formed a
design of surprising the whole piratical navy in the bay,
and setting them on fire in the night-time. For this he
had not only the permission of King Philip II., but was
furnished by him with proper vessels, mariners, and fire¬
works, for the execution of his plot. He came according¬
ly, unperceived by any, to the very mole-gate, and dis¬
persed his men with their fire-works ; but, to their great
, surprise, they found these so ill mixed, that all their art
could not make them take fire. In the mean time Gas¬
con took it into his head, by way of bravado, to go to the
mole-gate, and give three loud knocks with the pommel
of his dagger. This he had the good fortune to do with¬
out meeting with any disturbance or opposition; but it
was not so with his men ; for on finding their endeavours
unsuccessful, they made such a noise as quickly alarmed
the guard posted on the adjacent bastion, from which the
alarm quickly spread through the whole garrison. Gas¬
con now finding himself in the utmost danger, sailed off
with all possible haste ; but he was pursued, overtaken,
and brought back a prisoner to Mahomet, who no sooner
got him into his power than he immediately caused a
gibbet of considerable height to be erected on the spot
where Gascon had landed, ordering him to be hoisted up,
and hung by the feet to a hook, so that he died in exqui¬
site torture.
Mahomet, being soon after recalled, was succeeded by
the renegade Ochali, who reduced the kingdom of Tunis,
which, however, remained subject to the viceroy of
Algiers only till the year 1586, when a bashaw of Tunis
was appointed by the Porte.
The kingdom of Algiers continued to be governed, till
the beginning of the 17th century, by viceroys or bashaws
appointed by the Porte, whose avarice and tyranny were
intolerable both to the Algerines and the Turks them¬
selves. At last the Turkish janizaries and militia became
powerful enough to depose these petty tyrants, and set up
officers of their own. They sent a deputation of some of
their chief members to the rorte, to complain of the Ak
avarice and oppression of these bashaws, and represent1'-^
how much more honourable, as well as more economical,
it would be for the grand signior to permit them to choose
from among themselves their own dey or governor,
whose interest it would be to see that the revenue of the
kingdom was duly employed in keeping up its forces
complete, and in supplying all other exigencies of the
state, without any further charge or trouble to the Porte
than that of allowing them its protection. On their part,
they engaged always to acknowledge the grand signior as
their sovereign, to pay him their usual allegiance and tri¬
bute, to respect his bashaws, and to lodge and maintain
them and their retinue. All concerns which related to
the government of Algiers were to be left under the di¬
rection of the dey and his douwan.
These proposals having been accepted by the Porte, Alger
the deputies returned highly satisfied; and having noti-cll(msi
fied their new privileges, the great douwan immediately^®11
proceeded to the election of a dey from among themselves.'
Altercations, however, frequently happened between the
bashaws and deys, the one endeavouring to recover their
former power, and the other to reduce it.
In the year 1601 the Spaniards, under the command
of Doria, the Genoese admiral, made another attempt upon
Algiers, in which they were more fortunate than usual,
their fleet being only driven back by contrary winds, so
that they came off without loss. In 1609 the Moors,
being expelled from Spain, flocked in great numbers to
Algiers; and as many of them were very able sailors,
they undoubtedly contributed to raise the Algerine fleet
to that formidable condition which it soon after reached;
though it is probable the frequent attempts made on their
city would also induce them to increase their fleet. In 1616
it consisted of 40 sail of ships between 200 and 400 tons,
their flag-ship having 500 tons. It was divided into two
squadrons, one of 18 sail, stationed before the port of Ma¬
laga, and the other at the cape of Santa Maria, between
Lisbon and Seville, both of which attacked all Christian
ships, both English and French, with whom they pretend¬
ed to be in friendship, as well as Spaniards and Portu¬
guese, with whom they were at war.
The Algerines were now become very formidable to
the European powers. The Spaniards, who were most
in danger, and least able to cope with them, solicited the
assistance of England and other states, and of the pope.
The French, however, were the first who dared to show
their resentment of these outrages; and in 1617 M.
Beaulieu was sent against the Algerines with a fleet of 50
men of war, who defeated their fleet and took two of their
vessels, while their admiral sunk his own ship and crew
rather than fall into his enemies’ hands.
In 1620 a squadron of English men of war was sent
against Algiers, under the conduct of Sir Robert Mansel;
but of this expedition we have no other account than
that it returned without effecting any thing; and the Alge¬
rines, becoming more and more insolent, openly defied all
the European powers, the Dutch only excepted, to whom,
in 1625, they sent a proposal directed to the prince of
Orange, that in case they would fit out 20 sail of ships
the following year, upon any good service against the
Spaniards, they would join them with 60 sail of'their onn.
The next year the Coulolies or Cologlies (the children
of such Turks as had been permitted to marry at Algiers),
who were enrolled in the militia, having seized on tie
citadel, had nearly made themselves masters of the city,
but were attacked by the Turks and renegadoes, wio
defeated them with terrible slaughter. Many of them
were put to death, and their heads thrown in heaps
i.
IS
n
ALGIERS.
riers. upon the city-walls, without the eastern gate. Part of
^ /^the citadel was blown up; and the remaining Coulolies
were dismissed from the militia, to which they were not
again admitted till long after.
XI iw off In ^le year 1623 Algiers and the other states of Barbary
tii, de- threw off altogether their dependence on the Porte. No
pe once sooner was this resolution taken, than the Algerines began
507
onjfe
Pol!'
fails
tioir-j
to make prizes of several merchant ships belonging to
powers at peace with the Porte. Having seized a Dutch
ship and polacre at Scanderoon, they ventured on shore;
and finding the town abandoned by the Turkish aga and
inhabitants, they plundered all the magazines and ware¬
houses, and set them on fire. About this time Louis XIII.
undertook to build a fort on their coasts, in the room of
one formerly built by the Marsilians, which they had de¬
molished. This, after some difficulty, he accomplished,
and it was called the Bastion of France ; but the situation
being afterwards found inconvenient, the French pur¬
chased the port of La Calle, and obtained liberty to trade
with the Arabians and Moors. The Ottoman court, in
the mean time, was so much embarrassed with the Per¬
sian war, that there was no leisure to check the Algerine
piracies. This gave an opportunity to the vizier and
other courtiers to compound with the Algerines, and
to share their prizes, which were very considerable.
However, for form’s sake, a severe reprimand, accompa¬
nied with threats, was sent them; to which they replied,
that “ these depredations deserved to be indulged to
them, seeing they were the only bulwark against the
Christian powers, especially against the Spaniards, the
sworn enemies of the Moslem name adding, that “ if
they should pay a punctilious regard to all that could
purchase peace, or liberty to trade with the Ottoman em¬
pire, they would have nothing to do but set fire to all
their shipping, and turn camel-drivers for a livelihood.”
In the year 1G35 four younger brothers of a good fami¬
ly in France entered into an undertaking so desperate,
that perhaps the annals of knight-errantry can scarcely
furnish its equal. This was no less than to retort the
piracies of the Algerines upon themselves, and this with
a small frigate of ten guns! In this ridiculous under¬
taking 100 volunteers embarked : a Maltese commission
was procured, together with an able master and 36 mari¬
ners. They had the good fortune, on their first setting
out, to take a ship laden with wine on the Spanish coast,
with which they were so much elated, that three days
after they madly encountered two large Algerine corsairs,
one of 20 and the other of 24 guns, both well manned,
and commanded by able officers. These vessels attacked
the frigate so furiously that she soon lost her main-mast;
notwithstanding which, the French made so desperate a
resistance, that the pirates were not able to take them,
till the noise of their fire brought up five more Algerines,
when the French vessel, being almost torn in pieces, was
boarded and taken. The young knights-errant were pu¬
nished for their temerity by a dreadful captivity, from
’Khicli they redeemed themselves in 1642 at the price of
6000 dollars. 1
Ihe Algerines prosecuted their piracies with impunity,
ice 16 terror and disgrace of the Europeans, till the year
1652, when a French fleet being accidentally driven to
Algiers, the admiral took it into his head to demand a
release of all the captives of his nation, without excep-
hon. This being refused, the Frenchman without cere-
mony carried off the Turkish viceroy, and his cadi or
judge, who had just arrived from the Porte, with all their
eqmpage and retinue. The Algerines, by way of repri-
sa) surprised the Bastion of France already mentioned,
and carried off the inhabitants to the number of 600,
with all their effects; which so provoked the admiral, Algiers,
that he sent them word that he would pay them another'
visit the next year with his whole fleet.
The Algerines, undismayed by the threats of the French
admiral, fitted out a fleet of 16 galleys and galliots, well
manned and equipped, under the command of Admiral
Kali Pinchinin. The chief design of this armament was
to capture the treasure of Loretto, which, however, they
were prevented by contrary winds from reaching. They
then made a descent on Puglia, in the kingdom of Naples,
where they ravaged the whole territory of Necotra, car¬
rying off a vast number of captives. Thence steering to¬
wards Dalmatia, they scoured the Adriatic; and, having
collected immense plunder, left these coasts in the utmost
consternation and resentment.
At last the Venetians, alarmed at such terrible depre¬
dations, equipped a fleet of 28 sail, under the command
of Admiral Capello, with express orders to burn, sink, or
take, all the Barbary corsairs he should meet. An engage¬
ment ensued, in which the Algerines were defeated, and
five of their vessels disabled, with the loss of 1500 men,
lurks and Christian slaves, besides 1600 galley-slaves
who regained their liberty. Pinchinin, after this defeat,
returned to Valona, where he was again watched by Ca¬
pello ; but the latter had not lain long at his old anchor¬
age before he received a letter from the senate, desiring
him to make no further attempt on the pirates at that
time, for fear of a rupture with the" Porte. The brave
Venetian wTas forced to comply; but resolving to take
such a leave of the Algerines as he thought they de¬
served, attacked them with such bravery, that, without
any great loss, his men towed out their 16 galleys, with
all their cannon, stores, &c. To conceal this, Capello
was ordered to sink all the Algerine ships he had taken,
except the admiral’s, which was to be conducted to Venice,
and laid up as a trophy. Capello came off with a severe
reprimand; but the Venetians were obliged to purchase,
with 500,000 ducats, a peace from the Porte.
The news of this defeat and loss filled Algiers with the
utmost grief and confusion. The whole city was on the
point of a general insurrection, when the bashaw and
douwan issued a proclamation, forbidding complaints and
outcries, under the severest penalties. In the mean time
they applied to the Porte for an order that the Venetians
settled in the Levant should make up their loss. But
with this the grand signior refused to comply, and left
them to repair their losses, as well as build new ships, in
the best manner they could.
Our pirates did not long continue in their weak and de¬
fenceless state; being able, at the end of two years, to
appear at sea with a fleet of 65 sail. Admiral Pinchinin
equipped four galliots at his own expense, with which,
in conjunction with the chiayah, or secretary of the
bashaw of Tripoli, he made a second excursion. This small
squadron, consisting of five galleys and two brigantines,
fell in with an English ship of 40 guns, which, how¬
ever, Pinchinin’s captains refused to engage ; but being
afterwards reproached by him for their cowardice, they
swore to attack the next Christian ship that should come
in their way. This happened to be a Dutch merchant¬
man of 28 guns, which, however, beat them off with great
loss. But though Pinchinin thus returned in disgrace,
the rest of the fleet quickly returned with vast numbers
of slaves, and an immense quantity of rich spoils; inso¬
much that the English, French, and Dutch, were obliged
to court the mighty Algerines, who sometimes vouchsafed
to be at peace with them, but swore eternal war against
Spain, Portugal, and Italy^ whom they looked upon as
the greatest enemies to the Mahometan name. At Iasi
508
ALGIERS.
Algiers. Louis XIV., provoked by the grievous outrages committed
by the Algerines on the coasts of Provence and Langue¬
doc, ordered, in 1681, a considerable fleet to be fitted out
against them, under the marquis du Quesne, vice-admiral
of France. His first expedition was against a number of
Tripolitan corsairs, who had the good fortune to escape
him, and shelter themselves in the island of Scio, belong¬
ing to the Turks. This did not, however, prevent him
from pursuing them thither, and making such a terrible
fire upon them as quickly destroyed fourteen of their ves¬
sels, besides battering the walls of the. castle.
Algiers This severity seemed only to be designed as a check to
bombarded the piracies of the Algerines ; but, finding they still con-
and set on tinued their outrages on the French coast, he sailed to
fire by the Algiers jn August 1682, cannonading and bombarding it so
French. furjousiyj that the whole town was in flames in a very
short time. The great mosque was battered down,, and
most of the houses laid in ruins, insomuch that the inha¬
bitants were on the point of abandoning the place; when
on a sudden the wind changed, and obliged Du Quesne
to return to Toulon. The Algerines immediately made
> reprisals, by sending a number of galleys and galliots
to the coast of Provence, where they committed the
most dreadful ravages, and brought away a vast number
of captives ; upon which a new armament was ordered to
be prepared at Toulon and Marseilles against the next
year; and the Algerines, having received timely notice,
put themselves in as good a state of defence as the time
would allow.
In May 1683, Du Quesne, with his squadron, cast an¬
chor before Algiers; where, being joined by the marquis
d’Affranville at the head of five stout vessels, he resolv¬
ed to bombard the town next day. Accordingly, 100
bombs were thrown into it the first day, which did ter¬
rible execution ; while the besieged made some hundred
discharges of their cannon without doing any consid¬
erable damage. The following nights the bombs were
again thrown into the city in such numbers, that the
dey’s palace and other great edifices were almost de¬
stroyed; some of their batteries were dismounted, and
several vessels sunk in the port. The dey and Turkish
bashaw, as well as the whole soldiery, alarmed at this
dreadful devastation, sued for peace. As a prelimi¬
nary, the immediate surrender of all Christian captives
who had been taken fighting under the French flag
was demanded; which being granted, 142 of them were
immediately delivered up, with a promise of sending the
remainder as soon as they could be got from the different
quarters of the country. Accordingly Du Quesne sent his
commissary-general, and one of his engineers, into the
town; but with express orders to insist upon the delivery
of all the French captives without exception, together
with the effects taken fr6m the French; and that Mezo-
morto, the admiral, and Hali Rais, one of their captains,
should be given as hostages.
This last demand having embarrassed the dey, he as¬
sembled the douwan, and acquainted them with it; upon
which Mezomorto broke out into a violent passion, and told
the assembly that the cowardice of those who sat at the
helm had occasioned the ruin of Algiers; but that, for his
part, he would never consent toTleliver up any thing that
had been taken from the French. He immediately acquaint¬
ed the soldiery with what had passed; which so exaspe¬
rated them, that they murdered the dey that very night,
and next day chose Mezomorto in his place. The new
dey immediately cancelled all the articles of peace, and
hostilities were renewed with greater fury than ever.
The French admiral now kept pouring in such volleys
of bombs, that in less than three days the greater part of
the city was reduced to ashes; and the fire burnt with AW
such vehemence, that the sea was illumined by it for more
than two leagues around. Mezomorto, unmoved at all
these disasters, and the vast number of the slain, whose
blood ran in rivulets along the streets, or rather growing
furious and desperate, sought only revenge; and, not
content with causing all the French in the city to be
cruelly murdered, ordered their consul to be tied hand
and foot, and fastened alive to the mouth of a mortar,
whence he was shot away. By this piece of inhumanity
Du Quesne was so exasperated, that he did not leave Al¬
giers till he had utterly destroyed their fortifications,
shipping, almost all the lower, and above two-thirds of
the upper part of the city, by which means it became
little else than a heap of ruins.
The haughty Algerines were now thoroughly convinced Treat
that they were not invincible ; they therefore immediately "Ah
sent an embassy into France, begging in the most abjectlant5-
terms for peace, which Louis immediately granted, to
their inexpressible joy. They now began to pay some re¬
gard to other nations, and to be a little cautious how they
wantonly incurred their displeasure. The first bombard¬
ment by the French had so far humbled the Algerines,
that they condescended to enter into a treaty with Eng¬
land, which was renewed upon terms very advantageous
to the latter in 1686. It is not to be supposed, however,
that the rooted perfidy of the Algerines would at once
disappear. Notwithstanding this treaty, they lost no
opportunity of making prizes of the English ships which
they could conveniently reach. Upon some outrage of
this kind, Captain Beach drove ashore and burnt seven
of their frigates in 1695, which produced a renewal of
the treaty five years after ; but it was not till the taking
of Gibraltar and Port Mahon that Britain could have a
sufficient check upon them to enforce the observation of
treaties, and they have since paid a greater deference to
the English than to any other European power.
The eighteenth century furnishes no very remarkable
events with regard to Algiers, except the taking of the
city of Oran from the Spaniards in 1708 (which, however,
they regained in 1737), and the expulsion of the Turkish
bashaw, and uniting his office to that of dey, in 1710.
This introduced the form of government which still con¬
tinues in Algiers. _
The dey is now absolute monarch, and transmits to the Gove
Porte only some annual presents. His own income Pro‘™e”J
bably rises and falls according to the opportunities he has&c.'
of fleecing both natives and foreigners; whence it is va¬
riously computed by different authors. Dr Shaw com¬
puted the taxes of the whole kingdom to bring into the
treasury no more than 300,000 dollars; but he supposed that
the eighth part of the prizes, the effects of those persons
who die without children, joined to the yearly contribu¬
tions raised by the government, presents from foreigners,
fines and oppressions, may bring in about as much more.
Both the dey and officers under him enrich themselves by
the same methods of rapine and fraud.
The first deys were elected by the militia, who were
then called the douwan, or common council. This elective
body was at first composed of 800 militia officers, without
whose consent the dey could do nothing; and.upon some
urgent occasions all the officers residing in Algiers,
amounting to above 1500, were summoned to assist. But
since the deys have become more powerful, the douwan
is principally composed of thirty chiah bashaws or co o-
nels, with the mufti and cadi upon some emergencies,
and on the election of a dey, the whole soldiery am
allowed to give their votes. All the regulations or sta e
ought to be determined by that assembly before tiey
ALGIERS.
Ai rs. pass into a law, or the dey has power to put them in
V execution: but for many years back the douwan has been
of little account, and has been only convened for form’s
sake, to give assent to what the dey and his chief favou¬
rites have previously concerted. The method of gather¬
ing the votes in this august assembly is perfectly agree¬
able to the character of those who compose it. The aga
or general of the janizaries, or the president pro tempore,
first proposes the question, which is immediately re¬
peated with a loud voice by the chiah bashaws, and from
them echoed again by officers called bashaldalas. From
these the question is repeated from one member of the
douwan to another, with strange contortions and the
most hideous growlings if it does not meet their appro¬
bation. These assemblies seldom end without some
tumult or disorder. As the whole body of the militia is
concerned in the election of a new dey, it is seldom car¬
ried on without blows and bloodshed; but when once the
choice is made, the person elected is saluted with the
words Alla Barick, “ God bless and prosper you
and the new dey usually causes all the officers of the
douwan who had opposed his election to be strangled,
filling up their places with those who had been most
zealous in promoting it. From this account of the elec¬
tion of the deys, it cannot be expected that their govern¬
ment should be at all secure. As they arrive at the
throne by tumult, disorder, and bloodshed, they are
generally deprived of it by the same means, scarcely one
in ten having the good fortune to die a natural death.
The officer next in power to the dey is the aga of the
janizaries, who is one of the oldest officers in the army,
and holds his post only for two months. He is then suc¬
ceeded by the chiah, or next senior officer. During the
two months in which the aga enjoys his dignity, the keys
of the metropolis are in his hands, all military orders are
issued out in his name, and the sentence of the dey upon
any offending soldier, whether capital or not, can only be
executed in the court of his palace. As soon as he has
gone through this short office, he is considered as mazoul,
or superannuated; receives his pay regularly, like the rest
of the militia, every two months; is exempted from all fur¬
ther duties, except when called by the dey to assist at the
grand council, which he has, however, a right to attend
at all times, though he has no longer a vote.
Ihe religion of the Algerines is chiefly distinguished
from that of the Turks by a greater variety of supersti¬
tious rites. The Koran is their acknowledged rule of
faith and practice; but they are not very scrupulous in
the observance of it. The mufti or high-priest, the cadi
or_ chief judge, and the grand marabout, are the three
principal officers who preside in matters of religion.
; orsj i, The corsairs or pirates form a number of small republics,
”nir ce> °f each of which the rais or captain is the supreme bashaw,
who, and the officers under him, compose a kind of douwan,
jn which every question relating to the vessel is decided,
fhese corsairs carry on likewise the commerce of Algiers,
importing whatever commodities are brought into the
kingdom, either by way of merchandise or prizes. These
consist chiefly of gold and silver stuffs, damasks, cloths,
spices, tin, iron, plated brass, lead, quicksilver, cordage,
sail-cloth, bullets, cochineal, linen, tartar, alum, rice, sugar,
soap, cotton raw and spun, copperas, aloes, brazil and log¬
wood, vermilion, &c. Very few commodities, however,
are exported from this part of the world; the oil, wax,
odes, pulse, and corn produced, being but barely sufficient
.° suPply the country; though before the loss of Oran
f ie merchants have been known to ship off from one or
otier of the ports of Barbary several thousand tons of
corn. The consumption of oil, though produced in great
509
Relijk
abundance, is internally so considerable, that it is seldom Aimers,
permitted to be exported to Europe. The other exports
consist chiefly in ostrich feathers, copper, rugs, silk sashes,
embroidered handkerchiefs, dates, and Christian slaves
Some manufactures in silk, cotton, wool, leather, &c. are
carried on in this country, but mostly by the Spaniards
settled there, especially about the metropolis. Carpets
are also a manufacture of the country; and, though much
inferior to those of Turkey both in beauty and fineness, are
preferred by the people on account of their being both
cheaper and softer. There are also at Algiers looms for
velvet, taffetas, and other wrought silks ; and a coarse sort
of linen is likewise made in most parts of the kingdom.
The country furnishes no materials for ship-building.
They have neither ropes, tar, sails, anchors, nor even iron.
When they can procure enough of new wood to form the
main timbers of a ship, they supply the rest from the ma¬
terials of prizes which they have made, and thus produce
new and swift-sailing vessels from the ruins of the old.
The population of Algiers cannot be ascertained with
much accuracy; but the following estimate of its amount,
and the classes into which it is divided, has just appeared
in the Annales des Voyages:—
Moors and Arabs, husbandmen and artisans,... 1,200,000
Independent Arabs,   400,000
Berbers settled in villages, 200,000
Jews, 30,000
Turks and renegadoes composing the ruling power,.,20,000
Descendants of the above, but of an inferior class,..20,000
1,870,000
The Barbary corsairs, in the course of the eighteenth
century, had ceased to exercise their vocation on the same
extended scale*as formerly. Their strength, in conse¬
quence of the vast increase in the naval power of the
great European states, had been reduced to comparative
insignificance. They no longer domineered over the high
seas, nor attempted to annoy the vessels belonging to any
of the great powers; nor did the latter any longer deign
to purchase immunity by a disgraceful tribute. Yet there
were still within the circle of the Mediterranean several
populous and wealthy, yet feeble states, which lay an easy
prey to their ravages. These were particularly the king¬
doms of the Sicilies and Sardinia. Not content with cap¬
turing their vessels in the open sea, the corsairs made
descents upon their shores, sweeping off not only property,
but all persons of every age, sex, and rank, who could be
valuable in the market as slaves. Europe, engrossed by
the mightier evils in which it was involved during thirty
years of war, bestowed comparatively little attention on
this partial distress. At the Congress of Vienna, however,
when the peace of the Continent appeared to be esta¬
blished on a permanent basis, the attention of the sove¬
reigns was laudably drawn-to every quarter from which it
could suffer disturbance. That in question, by which
numerous individuals, often of a respectable place in so¬
ciety, were torn from their homes, immured in dungeons,
and exposed to every outrage which barbarous bigotry
and brutal licence might prompt, could not fail to appear
of the first magnitude. The Congress, having been unex¬
pectedly broken up, did not come to any final decision.
The subject, however, continued to be agitated in the
councils of Britain, and her gallant officers who had been
employed' in the Mediterranean strongly represented the
propriety of interference. The Dutch, at the same time,
her now friendly neighbours, cordially concurred in pro¬
moting this common interest of humanity.
The first step taken was to send squadrons under Lord
Exmouth to Algiers, and Sir Thomas Maitland to Tunis,
510
ALGIERS.
Algiers, with a demand for the general liberation of the slaves ac¬
tually in bondage, and the entire discontinuance, for the
future, of this detestable trade. Overawed by the immense
power with which they knew these demands to be support¬
ed, they returned a conciliatory answer. They dismissed
a number of slaves actually in thew hands, and engaged
that only the final sanction of the Porte should be wanting
to abolish for ever the system of Christian slavery. The
British commanders then returned to England with their
fleets, which were immediately laid up.
Tunis, which had imbibed some portion of European
humanity and civilisation, and was better aware of its real
interests and position, adhered very tolerably to the terms
stipulated. But Algiers, bred in rapine, furiously re¬
pelled a system which opened to its rovers the fearful
prospect of being obliged to earn a subsistence by honest
industry. So dreadful was the ferment, that a plan, it is
said, had been formed to assassinate Lord Exmouth on
his way to the ship. The dey, raised from the dregs of
the soldiery, and sharing all their barbarism, allowed full
scope to their violence, and sought only to secure himself
against its effects. He formed alliances with the Porte,
the emperor of Morocco, and other leading Mussulman
potentates ; he strengthened Algiers with new works, and
prepared to brave the utmost fury of the Christian powers.
Under these precautions, the system of Christian piracy
was commenced with redoubled activity, to compensate
for the late suspension, and to repair the loss of the slaves
who had been given up. The Algerine soldiery, in their
blind fury, had recourse to an outrage still more terrible.
A number of vessels, belonging to Naples and other Me¬
diterranean states, had been in the practice of assembling
at Bona to carry on the pearl fishery, in which, upon pay¬
ment of an annual tribute, they were protected by the Al¬
gerine state. Suddenly these peaceful and industrious
fishermen were surrounded by a band of Moors, who com¬
menced an indiscriminate massacre, which could not be
justified on any ground or pretence, and seems to have
had no object but to show their implacable hatred to
the Christian name.
As soon as the tidings of this dreadful outrage arrived
in England, they kindled at once a just indignation, and a
expedition, determination to follow up to the utmost the measures
projected against this common pest of the civilized world.
Lord Exmouth’s fleet was re-equipped with almost incre¬
dible dispatch. Early in July 1816 he sailed with five ships
of the line and eight smaller vessels, and arrived at Gib¬
raltar in the beginning of August, when he was joined by a
Dutch fleet of six frigates under Admiral Capellen. Hav¬
ing remained at Gibraltar a short time, to make some ne¬
cessary preparations, Lord Exmouth sent forward Captain
Dashwood, of the Prometheus, to bring away, if possible,
the consul and his family.. Captain Dashwood was strict¬
ly interrogated as to Lord Exmouth’s armament, of which
the dey had received information from a French vessel,
and from other quarters. He contrived to evade the
questions; and, though he found it impossible to obtain
the consul’s release, managed to bring off his wife and
daughter, disguised in the uniform of naval officers. An
attempt was also made to carry off his infant child in a
basket, but it betrayed itself by its cries; however, the dey,
with unusual humanity, allowed the child to follow its
mother. The consul himself was thrown into close confine¬
ment. The dey, meantime, was exerting himself in the
most extraordinary manner to put the place in a posture of
defence. The batteries on the mole, and all other points
commanding the harbour, were strengthened and enlarg¬
ed ; and armed men, to the number of forty thousand, were
brought in from the surrounding country.
Lord Ex¬
mouth’s
Lord Exmouth, being detained by calms and contrary Ah
winds, did not anchor in front of Algiers till the 26th, when^
he sent in a flag of truce under cover of the Severn gun-
brig, with a peremptory demand of certain conditions
which, however, were extremely moderate. They con¬
sisted in the final abolition of Christian slavery—tfie im¬
mediate liberation of all slaves now within the territory
of Algiers—the repayment of all ransoms obtained since
the commencement of the year—the liberation of the
consul and all British subjects now in confinement. On
the Severn arriving in front of the mole, the captain of
the port came out to meet the English, and invited them
to enter the city. Salame, the interpreter, declined, but
presented the conditions, demanding that an answer
should be sent within an hour. The captain, not without
some reason, replied that this was a period wholly inade¬
quate to decide on so important a demand. Hereupon
two or three hours were allowed; and two were declared
by the captain to be sufficient. Meantime, a favourable
breeze having sprung up, Lord Exmouth moved forward
his ships to within a mile of the harbour, where he held
himself ready for action. Salame waited three hours and
a half, when no boat appearing from the land, he steered
for the fleet, making signals of the failure of his mission;
after which, steps were immediately taken for commenc¬
ing operations.
Algiers was fortified in the strongest manner, and by
all the resources of nature and art. The mole, consider¬
ed a masterpiece of defensive architecture, was encircled
by four batteries, respectively of 44, 48, 66, and 60 guns.
All the range of steeps facing the sea, on which the city
was built, were covered with batteries, which could keep
up a united fire on an assailing fleet. Lord Exmouth,
undismayed, bore up into the centre of this mighty line
of defence, and placed the Queen Charlotte within fifty
yards of the mole,—a bold and happy position, where her
own fire wras more effective than elsewhere, and many of
the principal Turkish guns could not bear upon her. The
other ships took their stations in line; while the Dutch
squadron, which could not find room in front of the mole,
was detached to the flanks, to occupy the fire of batteries
which might otherwise have borne on the English. The
fleets were placed in this formidable array, yet all was
still silent, and the surrounding heights were crowded
with spectators, who came as to a show. Lord Exmouth
began to hope that the dey was yet to yield, when three
shots were fired from the batteries. They were instantly
returned, and a fire commenced, as animated and well
supported as was ever witnessed. The British navy,
pitched against these iron walls, underwent as hard and
doubtful a struggle as it had ever maintained against
the strongest array of hostile fleets. The atmosphere
was filled with so thick a smoke, as to render it im¬
possible for one ship to discern the position of another.
About sunset Admiral Milne communicated that his ves¬
sel, the Impregnable, had lost 150 killed and wounded, and
that he stood in urgent need of a frigate to divert some part
of the fire now directed against them. Soon, however, the
enemy’s efforts began to slacken; the principal batteries
were successively silenced; ship after ship caught fire,
till the flame spread over the whole fleet, and reached the
arsenal; the harbour and bay were illumined by one
mighty and united blaze. At ten o’clock, seven hours
after the commencement of this hard combat, the destruc¬
tion of the Algerine naval force was complete; but as
some distant batteries still kept up a harassing fire, Lord
Exmouth gave the signal to steer out into the bay, whic i
was speedily accomplished.
Next morning Lord Exmouth, confident that the dey
rs.
ALGIERS.
Alf:!
\jr\
r3. was now sufficiently humbled, sent a letter, in wdiich, after
enumerating the heavy wrongs which had called forth
this signal chastisement, he repeated the moderate terms
already offered; adding, that in the event of their being
now accepted, three guns should be fired as a signal.
This letter was sent in the same boat as the day be¬
fore, with instructions to wait three hours. As soon as
the English boat was seen, another came out having on
board the captain of a frigate, who received the letter, and
intimated that there was no doubt of its terms being com¬
plied with; pretending even that, had a little longer time
been allowed the day before, the conflict would have been
unnecessary. Accordingly, in an hour and a half three
shots were fired, and a boat immediately came out, on
board of which were the captain of the port and the
Swedish consul. All the demands were granted; and
the dey in vain attempted, on various pretexts, to evade
or delay their execution. The captives, to the number of
1083, were set at liberty ; ransoms amounting to 383,500
dollars were repaid to Sicily and Sardinia; the consul was
liberated, and received a compensation for the insults
he had endured: in fine, a treaty was signed, by which
the dey bound himself to discontinue the practice of Chris¬
tian slavery, and hereafter to treat prisoners of war ac¬
cording to the established practice of civilized nations.
In this desperate contest the English lost 128 killed
and 690 wounded, the Dutch 13 killed and 52 wounded.
Lord Exmouth received two slight hurts, and his clothes
were cut with several balls. The enemy lost four frigates,
five large corvettes, and 30 gun-boats. All their arsenals
were consumed, and their principal batteries reduced to a
state of ruin. The city also was greatly injured, Salame
having counted no less than thirty shots which had pass¬
ed through the walls of the consul’s house.
The Algerines, notwithstanding this severe and merit¬
ed chastisement, did not long adhere to sentiments of mo¬
deration. No time was lost and no effort spared to place
the city in a more formidable, state of defence than ever;
and they considered themselves again in a condition to set
even the great powers at defiance. Annoyances were begun
against the trench trade; and the consul having made
remonstrances on the subject, was grossly insulted. France
then declared war, and sent a fleet against Algiers; but
the fortifications on the sea-side were so strong, that for
more than a year her ships fcould only prolong an ineffec¬
tive blockade. At length war on a great scale was re¬
solved on. A large fleet under Admiral Duperre, and a
land force of upwards of 30,000 men under General Bour-
mont, then minister at war, sailed from Marseilles in the
end of May 1830, After some delay in the bay of Palma
m Majorca, this armament reached the coast of Africa,
and the troops began to land bn the morning of the 14th
June, upon the western side of the peninsula of Sidi Fer-
rueh, in the bay of Torre Chica. The disembarkation be¬
gan at a quarter past four, and continued till twelve. The
Algerines at first showed only flying parties of horse, which
retreated before the fire of tw o steam-vessels. Afterwards
they opened a somewhat brisk fire from several batteries,
winch having kept up for several hours, not without some
mss on the part of the French, they retreated.
I he army continued for some days landing their pro¬
visions and stores, with only slight annoyance from flying
froops of cavalry. On the 19th, however, the Turkish troops
in Algiers being reinforced by the contingents of the beys
o Umstantina, Oran, and Titterie, a general attack was
made with a force of 40,000 or 50,000 men. They advan-
ped, outflanking the French army, and charged with such
impetuosity as to penetrate the line at several points. Af-
er a very obstinate conflict they wTere compelled to re¬
treat, and their camp taken and plundered. The French
admit a loss of 60 killed and 450 wounded; and the son of
the commander-in-chief died of his wounds.
The Algerine troops renewed their attacks on the 24th
and 2oth, when, after hard combats, they were again re¬
pulsed. The French then advanced upon Algiers, on the
29th the trenches were opened, and at four in the morning
of the 4th July the batteries began their fire, which was
returned with much vigour. At ten the fort called Em¬
peror, being no longer defensible, was blown up by the
enemy, with a tremendous explosion. The French com¬
mander took possession of its ruins, wdiere he receiv¬
ed a flag of truce: before the close of the day a treaty
wtis concluded for the entire surrender of Algiers; and
next day, 5th July, the French flag waved on its forts.
Twelve ships of war, 1500 brass cannon, and a large
treasure, came into the hands of the conquerors. The
Turkish troops were permitted to go wherever they pleas¬
ed, provided they left Algiers; and the dey chose Naples
for his place of retirement, while most of the soldiers de¬
sired to be landed in Asia Minor. The bey of Titterie
submitted, but the French have not as yet (August
1830) made any attempt to penetrate into the interior.
Algiers, the capital of the above kingdom, is pro¬
bably the ancient Icosium; by the Arabians called Al-
gezair, or rather Al-Jezier or Al-Jezerah, i. e. the island,
because there was an island before the city, to which it
has since been joined by a mole. It is built of white
stone, on the declivity of a hill fronting the sea, in the form
of an amphitheatre, and from the sea resembles a ship
under sail. The houses rise above each other in such a
manner that each from its flat roof commands a view
of the sea. The streets are so narrow as scarcely to
admit two persons to walk abreast. There is no good
water in the city; and though there is a tank or cistern
in every house, yet a want of water is often felt, because
it rains but seldom. The chief supply is from a spring on
a hill, the water of which is conveyed by pipes to above a
hundred fountains. The dey’s palace and the seraglio form
the finest buildings, and are curiously adorned with marble
pillars. The houses are square, and built of stone and
brick, with a square court in the middle, and galleries all
around. There are said to be about 80,000 inhabitants in
the city, comprehending 5000 Jewish families, besides
Christians. The armed Turks amounted to above 6000,
who, with the Moorish troops, raised the garrison to 14,000
or 15,000 men, 2000 of whom were cavalry. Without the
city there is a great number of sepulchres, as also cells or
chapels dedicated to marabouts or reputed saints. Long.
3. 30. E. Lat. 36. 49. N.
ALGOA Bay, or Zwart-kops, in Southern Africa, is
situated in long. 26. 53. E. lat. 33. 56. S. and 500 miles
distant from the Cape of Good Hope. Mr Barrow, who
visited this place, found, in an adjoining valley, a species
of antelope called the riet-bok, or red-goat, previously un¬
known to naturalists. The land in its vicinity is more fer¬
tile than in most other parts of the Cape settlement, in
consequence of which an English colony has been formed
there ; but it has hitherto somewhat disappointed the ex¬
pectations formed from it. See Goon Hope, Cape of.
ALGOL, or (3 Persei, a variable fixed star of the second
or third magnitude, called Medusas Head. Its position,
according to the catalogue of the London Astronomical
Society, was, on January 1.1830, R. A. 2 h. 57 m. 7-7 sec.
An. Pr. + 3-9 sec.; N. Feel. 40° 17' 40*5"; An. Pr. +14-3".
ALGONQUINS, a nation in North America, who for¬
merly possessed great tracts of land along the north shore
of the river St Lawrence. For a long time they had no
rivals as hunters and warriors, and were long in alliance
511
Algiers
II
Algon-
quins.
512 A L H
Algor with the Iroquois, whom they agreed to protect from all
invaders, and to let them have a share of their venison.
Alhambra. Iroquois, on the other hand, were to pay a tribute to
their allies, out of the culture of the earth, and to perform
for them all the menial duties, such as flaying the game,
curing the flesh, and dressing the skins. By degrees,
however, the Iroquois associated in the hunting matches
and warlike expeditions of the Algonquins; so that they
soon began to fancy themselves as tvell qualified, either
for war or hunting, as their neighbours. One winter a
large detachment of both nations having gone out a hunt¬
ing, and secured, as they thought, a vast quantity of game,
six young Algonquins and as many Iroquois were sent out
to begin the slaughter. The Algonquins, probably becoiAe
a little jealous of their associates, upon seeing a few elks,
desired the Iroquois to return, on pretence that they
would have sufficient employment in flaying the game
they should kill ;• but after three days’ hunting, having
killed none, the Iroquois exulted, and in a day or two
privately set out to hunt for themselves. The Algonquins
were so exasperated at seeing their rivals return laden
with game, that they murdered all the hunters in the
night-time. The Iroquois dissembled their resentment;
but, in order to be revenged, applied themselves to study
the art of war as practised among those savage nations.
Being afraid of engaging with the Algonquins, at first
they tried their prowess on other inferior nations, and,
when they thought themselves sufficiently expert, attack¬
ed the Algonquins with such diabolical fury as showed
they could be satisfied with nothing less than the exter¬
mination of the whole race; which, had it not been for
the interposition of the French, they would have accom¬
plished.
ALGOR, with physicians, an unusual coldness in any
part of the body.
ALGORITHM, an Arabic word expressive of numeri¬
cal computation.
ALGUAZIL, in the Spanish polity, an officer whose
business it is to see the decrees of a judge executed.
. ALHAMA, a city of Spain, in the province of Granada,
in Andalusia. It is on an elevated plain, enjoys a most
salubrious climate, and is surrounded by fields most abun¬
dantly productive of wheat and barley. Near it are some
medicinal baths of great and ancient celebrity, to which
invalids still resort. It was a most important fortress
when the Moors ruled Granada, and its capture by the
Christians was the most decisive step in the reduction of
their power. It contains 4500 inhabitants, and is situated
in lat. 36. 42. N. long. 2. 46. W. *
ALHAMBRA, the ancient fortress and residence of
the Moorish monarchs of Granada. It derives its name
from the red colour of the materials with which it was
originally built, Alhambra signifying a red house. It ap¬
pears to a traveller a huge heap of as ugly buildings as can
well be seen, all huddled together, seemingly without the
least intention of forming one habitation out of them.
The walls are entirely unornamented, all gravel and peb¬
bles, daubed over with plaster by a very coarse hand;
yet this is the palace of the Moorish kings of Granada,
indisputably the most curious place within that exists in
Spain, perhaps in the world. In many countries may be
seen excellent modern as well as ancient architecture,
both entire and in ruins; but nothing to be met with any¬
where else can convey an idea of this edifice, except the
decorations of an opera, or the tales of the genii.
Passing round the corner of the emperor’s palace, one
is admitted at a plain, unornamented door in a corner. On
my first visit, says Mr Swinburne (Travels in Spain), I
confess I was struck with amazement, as I stept over the
ALH
threshold, to find myself on a sudden transported into aAlhai
species of fairy land. The first place you come to is the1^
court called the communa or del mesucar, that is, the com¬
mon baths ; an oblong square, with a deep basin of clear
water in the middle ; two flights of marble steps leading
down to the bottom; on each side a parterre of flowers,
and a row of orange trees. Round the court runs a peri¬
style paved with marble; the arches bear upon very slight
pillars, in proportions and style different from all the regu¬
lar orders of architecture. The ceilings and walls are in-
crustated with fretwork in stucco, so minute and intricate
that the most patient draughtsman would find it difficult
to follow it, unless he made himself master of the general
plan. This would facilitate the operation exceedingly * for
all this work is frequently and regularly repeated at cer¬
tain distances, and has been executed by means of square
moulds applied successively, and the parts joined together
with the utmost nicety. In every division are Arabic
sentences of different lengths, most of them expressive of
the following meanings: “ There is no conqueror but
God;” or, “ Obedience and honour to our lord Abouab-
doulah.” The ceilings are gilt or painted, and time has
caused no diminution in the freshness of their colours,
though constantly exposed to the air. The lower part of
the walls is Mosaic, disposed in fantastic knots and fes¬
toons. A work so novel, so exquisitely finished, and so
different from all that he has ever seen, must afford a
stranger the most agreeable sensations while he treads
this magic ground. The porches at the ends are more
like grotto-work than any thing else to which they can be
compared. That on the right hand opens into an octagon
vault, under the emperor’s palace, and forms a perfect
whispering gallery, meant to be a communication between
the offices of both houses.
Opposite to the door of the communa through which
you enter, is another leading into the quarto de los leones,
or apartment of the lions, which is an oblong court, 100
feet in length and 50 in breadth, environed with a colon¬
nade seven feet broad on the sides and 10 at the end.
Two porticoes or cabinets, about 15 feet square, project
into the court at the two extremities. The square is
paved with coloured tiles, the colonnade with white mar¬
ble. The walls are covered five feet up from the ground
with blue and yellow tiles, disposed chequerwise. Above
and below is a border of small escutcheons, enamelled blue
and gold, with an Arabic motto on a bend, signifying,
“ No conqueror but God.” The columns that support the
roof and gallery are of white marble, very slender, and
fantastically adorned. They are nine feet high, including
base and capital, and eight inches and a half in diameter.
They are very irregularly placed; sometimes singly, at
others in groups of three, but more frequently two to¬
gether. The width of the horse-shoe arches above them
is four feet two inches for the large ones, and three for the
smaller. The ceiling of the portico is finished in a much
finer and more complicated manner than that of the com¬
muna, and the stucco laid on the walls with inimitable de¬
licacy ; in the ceiling it is so artfully frosted and handled
as to exceed belief. The capitals are of various designs,
though each design is repeated several times in the cir¬
cumference of the court, but not the least attention has
been paid to placing them regularly or opposite toeaci
other. Not the smallest representation of animal life can
be discovered amidst the varieties of foliages, grotesques,
and strange ornaments. About each arch is a large squj>r^
of arabesques, surrounded with a rim of characters, t a
are generally quotations from the Koran. Over me pi -
lars is another square of delightful filligree work, thg e
up is a wooden rim, or kind of cornipe, as much enric e
C F
Alha^ra-
\s-
A L H
with carving as the stucco that covers the part underneath.
v^Over this projects a roof of red tiles, the only thing that
disfigures this beautiful square. This ugly covering is a
modern addition made by a late prime minister, who a few
years ago gave the Alhambra a thorough repair. In
Moorish times the building was covered with large paint¬
ed and glazed tiles, of which a few are still to be seen
In the centre of the court are twelve ill-made lions muz¬
zled, their fore parts smooth, their hind parts rough, which
bear upon their backs an enormous basin, out of which a
lesser rises. While the pipes were kept in good order, a
great volume of water was thrown up, that, falling down
into the basins, passed through the beasts, and issued out
of their mouths into a large reservoir, where it communi¬
cated by channels with the jets d'eau in the apartments.
This fountain is of white marble, embellished with many
festoons and Arabic distiches.
Passing along the colonnade, and keeping on the south
side, you come to a circular room occupied by the men as
a place for drinking coffee, &c. A fountain in the middle
refreshed the apartment in summer. The form of this
hall, the elegance of its cupola, the cheerful distribution
of light from above, and the exquisite manner in which
the stucco is designed, painted, and finished, exceed all
power of description. Every thing in it inspires the most
pleasing, voluptuous ideas; yet in this sweet retreat they
pretend that Abouabdoulah assembled the Abencerrages,
and caused their heads to be struck off into the foun¬
tain. Continuing your walk round, you are next brought
to a couple of rooms at the head ‘of the court, which
are supposed to have been tribunals, or audience-cham¬
bers.
Opposite to the scda de los Abencerrages is the entrance
into the torre de las dos hermanas, or the tow er of the two
sisters; so named from two very beautiful pieces of marble,
laid as flags in the pavement. This gate exceeds all the
rest in profusion of ornaments, and in beauty of prospect
which it affords through a range of apartments, where a
multitude of arches terminate in a large window open to
the country. In a gleam of sunshine, the variety of tints
and lights thrown upon this enfilade are uncommonly rich.
j he first hall is the concert room, where the women sat;
the musicians played above in four balconies. In the
middle is ayeA d’eati. The marble pavement is equal to the
finest existing, for the size of the flags and evenness of the
co,our. The two sisters, which give name to the room,
are slabs that measure 15 feet by seven and a half, with¬
out flaw or stain. The walls, up to a certain height, are
mosaic, and above are divided into very neat compartments
o stucco, all of one design, which is also followred in many
0 tlle adjacent halls and galleries. The ceiling is a fret¬
ted cove. To preserve this vaulted roof, as well as some
m the other principal cupolas, the outward walls of the
towers are raised ten feet above the top of the dome, and
support another roof over all, by which means no danger
can ever be caused by wet weather or excessive heat and
cold. From this hall you pass round the little myrtle
garden of Lindaraxa, into an additional building made to
>e east end by Charles V. The rooms are small and low.
is dear motto, Plus outre, appears on every beam. This
cads to a little tower projecting from the line of the north
'ail, called el tocador, or the dressing-room of the sultana.
[ 18 * sma11 square cabinet, in the middle of an open gal-
A L II
513
i „ '-rtijiucL, m me imuuie or an open gal-
}, trom which it receives light by a door and three win-
°"s. I he look-out is charming. In one corner is a
maj^e flag, drilled full of holes, through which the
i 10 e. . perfumes ascended from furnaces below; and
ere, it is presumed, the Moorish queen was wont to sit
v1-1^ and sweeten her person. The emperor caus-
ed this pretty room to be painted with representations of Alhambra
his wars, and a great variety of grotesques, which appear |]
to be copies, or at least imitations, of those in the Wme Alhazen.
of the \ atican. From hence you go through a long pas-v ^ —
sage to the hall of ambassadors, which is magnificently de¬
corated with innumerable varieties of mosaics, and the
mottoes of all the kings of Granada. This long narrow
anti-chamber opens into the communa on the left hand, and
on the right into the great audience-hall in the tower of
Comares; a noble apartment, 36 feet square, 36 high up
to the cornice, and 18 from thence to the centre of the
cupola. The walls on three sides are 15 feet thick, on
the other nine; the lower range of windows 13 feet high.
The whole wall is inlaid with mosaic of many colours, efis-
posed in intricate knots, stars, and other figures. In every
part various Arabic sentences are repeated.
Having thus completed the tour of the upper apart¬
ments, which are upon a level with the offices of the new
palace, you descend to the lower floor, which consisted of
bed-chambers and summer-rooms : the back stairs and pas¬
sages, that facilitated the intercourse between them, are
without number. The most remarkable room below is the
king s bed-chamber, which communicated by means of a
gallery with the upper story. The beds were placed in
two alcoves, upon a raised pavement of blue and white
tiles; but as it was repaired by Philip V. who passed some
time here, it cannot be said how it may have been in
former times. A fountain played in the middle, to refresh
the apartment in hot weather. Behind the alcoves are
small doors, that conduct you to the royal baths. These
consist of one small closet with marble cisterns for wash¬
ing children, two rooms for grown up persons, and vaults
for boilers and furnaces that supplied the baths with water
and the stoves with vapours. The troughs are formed of
large slabs of white marble; the walls are beautiful with
party-coloured earthen ware: light is admitted by holes
in the coved ceiling.
Hard by is a whispering gallery, and a kind of labyrinth,
said to have been made for the diversion of the women
and children. One of the passages of communication is
fenced off with a strong iron grate, and called the prison
of the Sultana; but it seems more probable that it was put
up to prevent any body from climbing into the division
allotted to the women.
Under the council-room is a long slip, called the kings
study ; and adjoining to it are several vaults, said to be the
place of burial of the royal family. In the year 1574
four sepulchres were opened; but as they contained no¬
thing but bones and ashes, they were immediately closed
again.
This description of the Alhambra may be finished by
observing how admirably every thing was planned and
calculated for rendering this palace the most voluptuous
of all retirements; what plentiful supplies of water were
brought to refresh it in the hot months of summer; what
a free circulation of air was contrived, by the judicious
disposition of doors and windows; what shady gardens
of aromatic trees; what noble views over the beautiful
hills and fertile plains. No wonder the Moors regretted
Granada! no wonder that they still offer up prayers to
God every Friday for the recovery of this city, which
they regard as a terrestrial paradise !
Alhambra, a town of 4000 inhabitants, in the de¬
partment of Infantes, and province of La Mancha, in
Spain.
ALHAZEN, an Arabian author of the 11th century,
who is better entitled to the appellation of philosopher
than most of those of his countrymen by whom it has
been obtained. The place of his birth was Bassora; the
3 T
514
A L I
A L I
Alhazen year uncertain; but his death took place at Cairo in 1038. ed who among them would undertake to be his companion,
\\ There was another author of the same name, who trans- Ali exclaimed, “ O prophet, I will be thy attendant; the^
Ali* lated the Almagest of Ptolemy; but that writer lived man who dares to rise against thee I will break his legs,
during the reign of the caliph Almamon. In some ac- pluck out his eyes, dash out his teeth, and even rip up his
counts of Alhazen we find it said that he lived chiefly in belly.” Mahomet accepted his services, and honoured
Spain ; but it appears from Casiri (Bibl. Arabico-Hispa- him with the titles of brother, vicegerent, and Aaron to a
na Escurialensis), that after he had left his native city, new Moses. He was remarkable both for eloquence and
Egypt was his place of residence. It also appears that valour; and the latter obtained him the surname of “ tfo
he was invited to that country by one of the Fatemite Lion of God, always victorious. He succeeded to the
caliphs, on account of some boasts which he had made chief dignity of the renowned house of Hashem, and was
of beino- able to obviate the evils attendant upon the also hereditary guardian of thetemple and city of Mecca,
alternate overflowing and decrease of the waters of the Mahomet gave him his daughter ratimah in marriage,
Nile. He surveyed the country with a view to this and the grandfather lived to embrace the. children of his
project to aid which, every thing that he asked was daughter. These advantages induced Ali to cast a wist*
liberally furnished by the caliph ; but finding that his ful eye towards the regal succession; however, Abubeker,
imagination had seduced him into a wild and impracti- Omar, and Othman, reigned before him. But after the
cable scheme, he feigned madness, thereby to avoid the death of the latter, he was saluted caliph by the chiefs of
punishment which he dreaded; and he continued to play the tribes and companions of the prophet, when he was
{his humiliating part till the caliph’s death relieved him repairing to the mosque of Medina at the hour of prayer,
from his apprehensions. A* e- 655, hegira 35.
But whatever figure he may have made as a projector, Ayesha, the widow of the prophet, strenuously op-
there can be no doubt that he was a skilful geometrician, posed his succession ; and under her influence twopower-
and that his name deserves a conspicuous place among ful chiefs soon raised the standard of rebellion. Ali greatly
the improvers of the science of optics. He was not a increased his difficulties by the imprudent removal of all
mere compiler from the ancients, or commentator upon the governors of provinces from their stations. Telha
their works; he followed the bent of his own genius ; and, and Zobeir, two chiefs of great influence, collected a nu-
striking into th£ right path of experiment and observa- merous army, and induced Ayesha to attend them to the
tion, his inquiries were productive of a real accession to field of battle; but Ali gained a complete victory, and
the stock of knowledge, in regard to some of the most in- took Ayesha prisoner. Telha fell in the field,.and Zobeir
teresting phenomena of nature. He refuted the error of was assassinated after surrendering upon promise of quar-
the ancient philosophers, that vision was produced by ter. This dastardly action was severely reprehended by
rays emitted from the eye. He gave the first sensible Ali. He likewise kindly treated the captive widow, and
explanation of the cause of the apparent increase of the sent her back to the tomb of the prophet,
sun and moon when seen near the horizon ; showing that Ali next attacked Moawiyah, who had been proclaimed
this is occasioned by their being then supposed, owing to caliph, and strongly supported by a powerful and nume-
the number of intermediate objects, to be at a greater rous party. When the two armies approached each other,
distance from the spectator. He was the first who ap- Ali proposed to decide the matter by single combat; but
plied the laws of refraction to show how the heavenly to this his opponent would not agree. Several skirmishes
bodies are sometimes seen as if above the horizon when were fought with considerable loss on both sides ; but at
still below it; and who, in the same way, explained the length a pious fraud produced a division of sentiment in
cause of the morning and evening twilight;—of that be- the army of Ali. They fixed to the points of lances a
neficent provision of nature, by which the glories of day number of copies of . the Koran, carried them before
are made gradually to approach, and gradually to with- the troops, and exclaimed, “ This is the book which
draw. These dioptrical discoveries of the Arabian philo- forbids Mussulmans to shed each other’s blood, and ought
sopher have furnished M. Badly with one of the many therefore to decide our disputes.” Ali was constrained
fine passages which embellish his celebrated work on the to yield, and umpires were mutually chosen; on the side
History of Astronomy. (Astron. Moderne, liv. vi. sect. 20.) of Ali, Abu Moussa ; Amru, the conqueror of Egypt, on
As a writer, Alhazen is censurable for unmeaning pro- the part of Moawiyah. The day of final decision arrived.
lixity, and scholastic subtilty. It appears from Casiri Abu Moussa ascended the pulpit, and cried, “ As I draw
that his works were numerous; but only twm of them this ring from my finger, so I depose both Ali and Moar
have been printed, namely, his treatise on Optics, and wiyah from the caliphate.” When Amru ascended, he
that on the Twilight. They were both published in Latin cried, “ As I put on this ring, so I invest Moawiyah with
in 1572, by Frederic Risner, under the title of Opticce the caliphate, and also depose Ali.” He also added, that
Thesaurus. Othman, the former caliph, had declared Moawiyah both
ALHI, a city of Sicily, in the intendancy of Messina, his successor and avenger. Thus began that memorable
at the mouth of the river of the same name, where are contest among the Mahometans, which was long agitated
some celebrated warm baths. It is a very healthy place, with considerable violence by both parties,
with 1400 inhabitants. Ali w^as highly enraged at this injustice ; but, constram-
ALHUMECAS, an island belonging to Spain, on the ed for the present to yield, he retired to Kufa. A sec
coast of Africa, near Ceuta. There is a town on it, near of enthusiasts, called the Kharejites, revolted against Ah,
which is good anchorage for small vessels. The place is but he quickly reduced them to subjection, and again o -
used as a receptacle for criminals ; and there are within tained possession of Arabia. But Syria, Persia, ant
it three capacious cisterns for preserving fresh water. Egypt fell to the share of his rival. _
Long. 3. 12. W. Lat. 35. 16. 30. N. An unexpected event terminated the existing disputes.
ALI, the son of Abu Taleb, is one of the most cele- Three Kharejites one day conversing together concern-
brated characters in Mahometan history. He was cousin ing the blood which had been shed, and the impending
to Mahomet, and at the age of fourteen engaged with calamities, resolved to assassinate Ali, Moawiyah, an
youthful ardour in his cause. When Mahomet first re- Amru, the three authors of the present disasters. 1 ey
vealed his prophetic character to his friends, and inquir- provided themselves with poisoned swords, and hasten
A L I
A to accomplish their purpose. Moawiyah was wounded,
V^-^but the wound did not prove fatal. A friend of Amru
fell in his stead. Ali was fatally wounded at the door
of the mosque; and, in the 63d year of his age, he ex¬
pired on the fifth day after his wound, a. d. 660, he-
gira 40.
Ali had eight wives besides Fatimah, and left a nu¬
merous family, who were very remarkable for their va¬
lour. He also rose to high eminence for learning and
wisdom; and of his works there are still extant a hun¬
dred maxims, a collection of verses, and a prophecy of
all the great events which are to happen to the end of
time.
The Mussulmans term Ali the heir of Mahomet, and
the accepted of God; and his particular followers have
possessed various states in Africa and Asia, and the Per¬
sian part of the Usbec Tartars ; and some sovereigns of
India are at present of the sect of Ali. A monument is
raised upon his tomb near Kufa, which the kings of Per¬
sia have successively decorated and religiously revered.
Near the ruins of Kufa, a city named Meshed Ali has
been built to his memory. Some of his deluded followers
imagine that he is still alive, and that he will revisit the
earth and fill the same with justice. A green turban
still continues to distinguish the descendants of Ali.
Ali Bey, an eastern adventurer, is said to have been
a native of Mount Caucasus, and about the age of
twelve or fourteen he was sold for a slave in Cairo. The
two Jews who became his masters presented him to Ibra¬
him, then one of the most respectable men in the king¬
dom. In the family of this powerful man he received
the rudiments of literature, and was also instructed in
the military art. Both in letters and military skill he
made rapid improvement. He gradually gained the
affection of his patron to such a degree, that he gave
him his freedom, permitted him to marry, promoted him
to the rank of governor of a district, and afterwards by
election he was raised to the elevated station of one of
the governors of provinces. Deprived of his protector
by death, and engaging in the dangerous intrigues that
pave the way to power in that unstable government, he
procured his own banishment to Upper Egypt. Here he
spent two years in maturing his schemes for future great¬
ness; and in 1766, returning to Cairo, he either slew or
expelled the beys, and seized the reins of government.
Emboldened by success, he rescued himself from the
power of the Porte, coined money in his own name, and
assumed the rank of sultan of Egypt. Occupied in
more important concerns, the Porte made no vigorous
opposition to his measures, and Ali Bey seized this fa¬
vourable opportunity to recover a part of the Said, or
Upper Egypt, which had been taken away by an Arab
sheik. Next he sent out a fleet from Suez, which seizing
upon Djedda, entered the port of Mecca; while a body
of cavalry, commanded by Mohammed Bey, his favourite,
took and plundered Mecca itself. A young Venetian
uierchant laid before him a plan of reviving the ancient
trade to the East Indies through the Mediterranean and
hed Sea. Having formed an alliance in 1770 with one
Sheik Daher, a rebel against the Porte in Syria, he
uimed at the conquest of all Syria and Palestine. He
rst endeavoured to secure Gaza; then his army, forming
a junction with that of Daher at a place called Acre, ad¬
vanced to Damascus. On the 6th of June 1771 a battle
was fought at this place with the Turkish pachas, and
A °hammed and Daher, the commanders of Ali Bey,
routed them with great slaughter. They instantly took
possession of Damascus, and the castle itself had also
capitulated, when all on a sudden Mohammed hastened
ALI
515
Alicante.
back to Egypt with all his Mamelukes. Some ascribe Aljameia
tins strange conduct to an impression made upon Mo- "
hammed by the Turkish agents, and others to a report of
the death of Ah Bey. ^
Although unsuccessful, Ali Bey never lost sight of his
favourite object; and Mohammed, losing his confidence
was forced to save his life by exile. Mohammed, how¬
ever, quickly returned with an army, and drove Ali Bey
from Cairo. In this unfortunate s.tate of affairs Ali Bey
fled to Daher, and, combining their forces, they attacked
the Turkish commander at Sidon, and came off victorious,
although the Turkish army was three times their num¬
ber. After a siege of eight months, they next took the
town of Jaffa. Deceived by letters from Cairo, which
were only intended to ensnare him, and stimulated with
recent victories, he returned to Cairo. Entering the de¬
serts which divide Gaza from Egypt, he was furiously
attacked by a thousand chosen Mamelukes led on by
Murad Bey, who \fas enamoured with the beauty of Ali’s
wife, and had obtained the promise of her, provided that
he could, take Ali Bey captive. Murad wounded and
made Ali Bey prisoner, and carried him up to Moham¬
med, who received him with affected respect; but in
three days, either in consequence of poison or the effects
of his wounds, Ali breathed his last.
ALJAMEIA is a name which the Moriscoes in Spain
give to the language of the Spaniards. Among other
articles agreed on by thejunta which was appointed by
the emperor Charles V. in* 1526, in favour of the Moris¬
coes, this was one, that the Moriscoes should no longer
speak Algavareia, i. e. Moorish, or Arabic; but should
all speak Aljamria, i. e. Spanish, as it was called by the
Moors, and all their writings and contracts should be in
that language.
ALIAS, in Law, a second or further writ issued from
the courts of Westminster, after a capias, &c. sued out
without effect.
ALIBI, in Law, denotes the absence of the accused
from the place where he is charged with having commit¬
ted a crime; or his being elsewhere, as the word imports,
at the time specified.
ALICANTE, a city of Spain, in the province of Valen¬
cia, with a port on the Mediterranean Sea. The city
forms a half-moon on the sea-shore, and is defended by
a castle 1000 feet in height, built on a rock; and the bay
in which vessels are anchored is well protected by various
batteries. The commerce of this port is very consider¬
able, and its exports are consigned to every port of the
north of Europe. Two lakes on the coast furnish a large
supply of salt made from evaporation, which is conveyed
by English and Swedish ships. A fertile plain called the
Luerta, near the city, which has been furnished with the
means of irrigation at a vast expense, is covered with
vines, which produce excellent wines; with mulberry
trees, which rear silk-worms; and with great quantities of
almonds, olives, figs, and raisins, that supply articles for
foreign commerce. On the coast near this city, the
island of Plana, a barren rock, supplies the most beautiful
marbles in great varieties. The coast furnishes large
quantities of barilla, which is one of the most important
branches of the commerce of the city. As the exportable
commodities engage the principal attention of the agri¬
culturists, the quantity of corn grown is insufficient for
the consumption of the city and its vicinity, though rice
might be raised to a vast extent; and the wheat is
brought partly from La Mancha, and partly by sea from
Africa and from Italy. The castle of Alicante is in
long. 0. 3. 51. E. and in lat. 38. 20. 41. N. This city
contains 1 cathedral, 3 parish churches, 6 hot springs, and
516
A L I
ALL
Aliquant.
Alicante- 17,345 inhabitants. It is the seat of a bishop, and there
rilla are here manufactories of linen and woollen cloths, and
of esparto. The harbour is one of the best in the Medi-
.terranean Sea.
ALICANTERILLA, a town of Spain, in the province
of Murcia, with 3000 inhabitants; nine miles south of
Murcia.
ALICATA, a city of Sicily, in the intendancy of Cala-
tanisera. It is a seaport and a parliamentary city, at the
mouth of the river Salso, from which corn, fruit, and sul¬
phur are exported. There is a roadstead, but no harbour.
It contains 11,000 inhabitants. Near it are the vestiges
of the ancient city of Gela.
Alicata, a mountain of Sicily, near the valleys Me-
zara and Noto, upon which was situated, as is generally
thought, the famous Dacdalion, where the tyrant Phalaris
kept his brazen bull.
ALIEN, in Law, implies a person born in a strange
country, not within the king’s allegiance; in contradis¬
tinction to a denizen or natural subject. An alien is in¬
capable of inheriting lands in Britain till naturalized by
an act of parliament. No alien is entitled to vote at the
election of members of parliament; nor can he enjoy any
office, or be returned on any jury, unless where an alien
is party in a cause, when the inquest is composed of an
equal number of.denizens and aliens.
The act 33 Geo. III. c. 4, commonly called the Alien
Bill, and which empowered the king to restrain aliens,
and send them out of the kingdom, was, by 41 Geo. III.
c. 24, appointed to be continued till six months after the
conclusion of a general peace.
ALiEn-Duty, an impost laid on all goods imported by
aliens, over and above the customs paid for such goods
imported by British subjects, and on British bottoms.
Alien Priories, a kind of inferior monasteries, formerly
very numerous in England, and so* called from their be¬
longing to foreign abbeys.
ALIENATION, in Law, denotes the act of making
over a man’s property in lands, &c. to another person.
Alienation in Mortmain, is the making over of lands,
&c. to a body politic, or to a religious house.
Alimentarii Pueri, &c. were certain children main¬
tained and educated by the munificence of the emperors,
in a sort of public places not unlike our hospitals. Tra¬
jan was the first who brought up any of these alimentary
boys. He was imitated by Adrian. Antoninus Pius did
the same for a number of maids, at the solicitation of
Faustina ; and hence, in some medals of that empress, we
read pvellae favstinianae.—Alexander Severus did
the like at the request of Mammasa; and the maids thus
educated werer called Mammceance.
Alimentary Duct or Canal, is a name given by Dr
Tyson and some others to that part of the body through
which the food passes from its reception into the mouth
to its exit at the anus ; including the gula, stomach, and
intestines. See Anatomy.
Alimentary Law, lex alimentaria, was an old law
among the Romans, whereby children were obliged to find
sustenance for their parents.
ALIMENTS. See Dietetics.
ALIPILARIUS, or Alipilus, in Roman Antiquity, a
servant belonging to the baths, whose business it was, by
means of waxen plasters, and an instrument called volsel-
la, to take off the hair from the arm-pits, and even arms,
legs, &c. this being deemed a point of cleanliness.
ALIPTERIUM, dkuvTri^o'j, in Antiquity, a place in the
ancient palestra;, where the athletce were anointed before
their exercises.
ALIQUANT Part, in Arithmetic, is that number which
cannot measure any other exactly without some remain- All
der. Thus, 7 is an aliquant part of 16 ; for twice 7 wants
two of 16, and three times 7 exceeds 16 by 5. All-jf
ALIQUOT Part, is that part of a number or quantity B
which will exactly measure it without any remainder.
Thus, 2 is an aliquot part of 4, 3 of 9, 4 of 16, &c.
ALISONTIA, or Alisuntia, in Ancient Geography, a
river of Belgic Gaul, now Alsitz ; which, rising on the
borders of Lorraine, and running through that duchy, wa¬
ters the city of Luxemburg, and, swelled by other rivu¬
lets, falls into the Sour.
ALITES, in Roman Antiquity, a designation given to
such birds as afforded matter of auguries by their flight.
ALKADARII, a sect among the Mahometans who
deny any eternal, fixed, divine decrees, and are assertors
of free-will: The word is formed from the Arabic alhidar,
which signifies “ decree.” The Alkadarii are a branch of
Motazalites, and stand opposed to the Algiabarii.
ALKAHEST, or Alcahest, among alchemists, deriv¬
ed from a word which signifies spirit of salt or all spirit,
was supposed to be a universal menstruum, capable of
resolving all bodies into their principles. Van Helmont
pretended he was possessed of such a menstruum. It is
likewise used by some authors for all fixed salts volati¬
lized.
ALKALI, in Chemistry, denotes a particular class of
salts. The word alkali is of Arabian origin, and was in¬
troduced into chemistry after it had been applied to a
plant which still retains the name of kali. When this
plant is burnt, the ashes washed in water, and the water
evaporated to dryness, a white substance remains, which
is called alkali. See Chemistry.
ALKALIMETER, a name given to a small instru¬
ment, invented by M. Descroizilles for ascertaining the
value of the alkalies in commerce. There is an account of
it in the 60th volume of the Annales de Chimie, which is
translated in the 28th volume of Tilloch’s Philosophical
Magazine.
ALKERMES, in Pharmacy, a compound cordial medi¬
cine, made in the form of a confection, deriving its name
from the kermes berries used in its composition.
ALKMAAR. See Alcmaer.
ALKORAN. See Alcoran.
ALL-Hallow, or All-Saints, a festival celebrated on
the first of November, in commemoration of all the saints
in general. The number of saints being so excessively
multiplied, it was found too burdensome to dedicate a
feast-day to each. In reality, there are not days enough,
scarce hours enough, in the year, for this purpose. Hence
an expedient was had recourse to, by commemorating
such in the lump as had not their own days. Boniface
IV., in the ninth century, introduced the feast of All-
Saints in Italy, which was soon after adopted in the other
churches.
Ahh-Saints, islands near Guadaloupe, in the West In¬
dies.
ALL-Saints, a parish in Georgetown district, South Ca¬
rolina, containing 2225 inhabitants, of whom 429 are
whites, and 1795 slaves. It sends a member to each
house of the state legislature.
ALL-Saints Bay, a spacious harbour near St Salvador
in Brazil, in South America, on the Atlantic Ocean. Long.
49. W. Lat. 12. S.
ALL-Saints Bay, a captainship in the middle division
of Brazil, so called from the harbour of that name; bound¬
ed on the north by the Rio Real, on the south by that ot
Ilheos, on the east by the ocean, and on the west by
three unconquered nations of Indians. It is reckoned one
of the richest and most fertile captainships in all Brazil,
ALL
41 ouls producing great quantities of cotton and sugar. The bay
itself is about two and a half leagues over, interspersed
All.abad. wjth a number of small but pleasant islands, and is of pro-
/"^digious advantage to the whole country. It has several
cities and towns, particularly St Salvador, which is its
capital. All-Saints’ Bay lies in lat. 12. 3. S. long. 40.
10. W.
Ait-Souls, in the Calendar, denotes a feast-day, held
on the second of November, in commemoration of all the
faithful deceased. The feast of All-Souls was first intro¬
duced in the eleventh century, by Odilon, abbot of Cluny,
who enjoined it on his own order ; but it was not long be¬
fore it became adopted by the neighbouring churches.
ALLA, or Allah, the name by which the professors
of Mahometanism call the Supreme Being. The term
Alla is Arabic, derived from the verb alah, to adore. It
is the same with the Hebrew Eloah, which signifies the
Adorable Being.
ALLAGNA, a town in the province of Val Sesia, in the
principality of Piedmont, in Italy. It has some rich cop¬
per mines, with gold mixed in the same ore. It is on the
river Sesia, and contains 1600 inhabitants.
ALLAHABAD, a large province of Hindostan, which
is situated between the 24th and 26th degrees of N. lat.
It is bounded on the north by the provinces of Oude and
Agra, on the south by the Hindoo- province of Gund-
wana, on the east by the provinces of Bahar and Gund-
wana, and on the west by the provinces of Malwah and
Agra. It may be estimated in length at 270 miles, by
129 the average breadth. The principal geographical
and political subdivisions of Allahabad are the following:
1st, The District of Allahabad ; 2d, Benares ; 3d, District
of Mirzapoor ; 4th, District of Juanpoor ; 5th, The Re-
wah Territory; 6th, District of Bundelcund; 7th, District
of Cawnpoor ; 8th, Manicpoor Territory.
The surface of this province is unequal. Along the
shores of the Ganges and Jumna the country is flat and
extremely fertile; but to the south-west, in the Bundel¬
cund territory, the land rises, and is diversified with high
hills, which abound in strongholds. This mountainous re¬
gion contains the famous diamond mines of Pannah. Its
climate is also more temperate than that of the lower plains,
which are extremely sultry, and subject to hot winds.
The province is in many parts well watered. The prin¬
cipal rivers in the north are the Ganges, the Jumna, the
Goomty, and the Caramnassa, besides other streams of
inferior note, which, supplying abundant moisture, diffuse
fertility over several of the subdivisions, especially those
of Benares and Allahabad. In the high country water
is scarce, and the principal rivers are the Kena and
Goggra. The husbandman consequently depends for
supplies of moisture on the periodical rains, or on wells,
which are often sunk to a great depth. On the whole,
however, Allahabad may be classed among the most pro¬
ductive provinces of India. The exports are, diamonds,
saltpetre, opium, sugar, indigo, cotton, cotton-cloths, &c.
The imports are various, consisting of European manu¬
factures, salt from the maritime ports of Bengal being
one of the staple articles in regular demand. The prin¬
cipal towns within this province are, Benares, Allahabad,
Gallinjer, Chatterpoor, Juanpoor, Mirzapoor, Chunar, and
Ghazipoor. The inhabitants are estimated at 7,000,000,
the proportion being one Mahometan to eight Hindoos. In
remote times this province held a high rank, as it contained
Allahabad and Benares, two of the most venerated places
°f Brahminical pilgrimage. The province is now com¬
prehended within the British jurisdiction, with the excep¬
tion of a small portion of the Bundelcund division, which
is held by petty chiefs under British protection.
A L L
517
It is mentioned by Abul Tazel, that the territory which Allahabad,
now forms the province of Allahabad was invaded inv-*~v-N^
the year 1020 by Sultan Mahmood of Ghizni. He re¬
turned in 1023, but made no permanent establishment.
It was afterwards subdued by the Patan emperors of
Delhi, and swallowed up in the Mogul empire, of which
it was formed into a distinct province by the emperor
Acbar, under the_ name of Allahabad, which it still re¬
tains. On the dissolution of the Mogul dynasty, the
northern quarter was taken possession of by the nabobs
of Oude. But in 1764, through the interference of Lord
Clive with the nabob of Oude, Korah and Allahabad
were ceded to Shah Allum, the nominal though fugitive
sovereign of Delhi. In 1772 they reverted to the nabob
of Oude; and in 1775 the Bengal government acquired
the Benares districts by treaty with Azoph-ud-Dowlah,
and Allahabad and the adjacent districts in 1801 by
cession, from his successor on the throne of Oude. The
south-eastern districts were received from the Mahratta
peshwa in 1803, in exchange for a tract of equal value
in the Carnatic, above the Ghauts and Gujerat. (Hamil¬
ton’s Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description
of Hindostan.') (*■.)
Allahabad, a fortified town of Hindostan, in the
province of Allahabad, most favourably situated in a dry
and healthy soil, on a triangle, at the junction of the two
mighty streams, the Ganges and the Jumna. It has been
occasionally the residence of royalty, and still contains
some fine ruins; but it never appears to have been a great
and magnificent city, and has now a desolate and ruinous
appearance, having obtained among the natives the name
of Fakeerabad, or Beggar abode. The city is small, with
very poor houses, and narrow, irregular streets, confined
to the banks of the Jumna. Nine-tenths of the present
native buildings are of mud, raised on the foundations of
more substantial brick edifices, which have long ago fallen
to decay. The port, which is placed at the distance of a
quarter of a mile, on a tongue of land washed by the Jumna
and the Ganges, is lofty and extensive, and completely com¬
mands the navigation of the two rivers. It is strong both
by nature and art, and has a noble castle. It has gained
as much in strength as it has lost in appearance by some
modern improvements which it has undergone, by which
its lofty towers have been lowered into bastions and
ravelins, and its high stone ramparts covered with turf
parapets, and obscured by a green sloping glacis. It is still,
however, according to Bishop Heber, a striking place, and
its principal gate, surmounted by a dome, with a wide hall
beneath, surrounded by arcades and galleries, and orna¬
mented with rude but glowing paintings, forms a noble
entrance to a place of arms. The barracks are handsome
and neat. On one side is a large range of buildings,
which are still in the oriental style, and contain some
noble vaulted rooms, chiefly occupied as officers’ quarters,
and overlooking from a considerable height the rapid
stream and craggy banks of the Jumna. The principal
mosque, which is still in good repair, is but little fre¬
quented. This building, which is solid and stately, but
without much ornament, is advantageously situated on the
banks of the Jumna, adjoining the city on one side, and an
esplanade before the glacis of the fort on the other. It
was at one time the residence of the general of the station,
but has since been restored to its original destination.
The finest buildings in the neighbourhood are the sultan’s
serai and garden. The former is a noble quadrangle,
with four fine Gothic gateways, surrounded within an
embattled wall by a range of cloisters for the accommo¬
dation of travellers, the whole now in a dilapidated con¬
dition. Adjoining the serai is a neglected garden, plant-
518 ALL
Allaire ed with fine old mangoe trees, in wdiich are three beauti-
II ful tombs, raised over two princes and a princess of the
Allan, imperial family. The houses of the civil servants of the
company are at some distance both from the fort and the
town.
Allahabad is one of the most noted resorts of Hindoo
pilgrimage. It owes its celebrity to the confluence of
three sacred rivers, the Ganges, the Jumna, and the Se-
reswati. This latter river is no longer to be seen; but
the Hindoos assert that it joins the other two under
ground, and that consequently the same religious merit
is acquired by bathing at this sacred confluence as by
bathing in all the three separate rivers. From this super¬
stition a shameful tax is collected by government, of three
rupees, for permission to bathe in the river; and crowds
of pilgrims collect for this purpose from all quarters.
They amounted in 1812—13 to 218,792; and by their
eagerness to rush into the river to bathe, they exposed
themselves to risks which were sometimes fatal. Ihe
gross amount of the receipts amounted in 1812—13 to
221,066 rupees. In 1815-16 they had fallen off to
79,779 rupees. Allahabad is now the permanent station
of the British court of justice, which makes an annual
circuit through the province for deciding suits between
the natives. Allahabad was taken in the year 1765 by
the British army under Sir II. Fletgjier. It is 820 miles
from the sea by the river. The travelling distance is
only 550 miles, from Benares 53, from Lucknow 57,
from Agra 296, and from Delhi 212 miles. In 1803 the
population, exclusive of the garrison, amounted to 20,000.
Long. 81. 50. E. Lat. 25. 27. N. (f.)
ALLAIRE, a town of 2190 inhabitants, in the arron-
dissement of Vannes, and department of Morbihan, in
France.
ALLAN, David, a Scotish historical painter of con¬
siderable celebrity, was born at Alloa, on the 13th Febru¬
ary 1744. At a very early age he showed such marks of
genius as attracted the notice of some gentlemen living
in the neighbourhood. In a remote part of the country,
and deprived of the ordinary means of indulging his pro¬
pensity to drawing, he betook himself, when a boy, to such
implements and materials as he could readily procure;
and the mechanical skill and taste which, in particular, he
displayed in using his knife, have been mentioned as re¬
markable for his years. Mr Stewart, then collector of
the Customs at Alloa, having mentioned these proofs of
natural talent to Mr Foulis the printer, who some time be¬
fore had instituted an academy in Glasgow for painting
and engraving, he invited young Allan to study under his
care. Here he remained about seven years, studying the
elementary principles of his art; and, by the proficiency
which he attained, justified the opinion of his talents
which had procured him admission to that ill-fated semi¬
nary. But although the public taste for the fine arts,
which then existed in Scotland, was so feeble as to leave
his preceptor without support, which his liberal and spirit¬
ed efforts justly claimed, Allan, on leaving the academy,
had the good fortune to gain the patronage of individuals
whose generosity enabled him to prosecute his views, and
to improve his taste, by studying the works of art abroad.
At the joint expense of several persons of fortune, parti¬
cularly Lord Cathcart and Mr Abercrombie of Tullibody,
he was enabled to go to Italy; and at Rome he devoted
himself with great zeal to his profession. Here he re¬
mained for no less a period than sixteen years, during
which time his subsistence chiefly depended on the co¬
pies which he made from the most celebrated pictures of
the ancient masters. Among the original works which he
then painted, there wras one which does the highest credit
ALL
to his talents, and which gained for him the gold' medal All
given by the Academy of St Luke, in the year 1773, for ||
the best specimen of historical composition. This picture Allaf
represents the Origin of Painting, and is well known by's^-v
the excellent engraving of it by Cunego. His design of
the Calabrian Shepherds is also a composition of great
merit; and his four views of the Carnivals at Rome,
etched by Paul Sandby, are said likewise to have been
very successful.
On his return to his native country, he took up his re¬
sidence in Edinburgh, and soon after, on the death of
Alexander Runciman, in 1786, was appointed director
and master of the academy established by the Board of
Trustees for Manufactures in Scotland. There he execut¬
ed a great variety of works, of various degrees of merit;
but perhaps none such as might have been expected from
the author of the Origin of Painting. Those, indeed, by
which he is most known, are of a cast altogether different,
being remarkable for the comic humour which they dis¬
play. The Scotch Wedding, the Highland Dance, the
Repentance Stool, with his Illustrations of the Gentle Shep¬
herd, are all of this class, and so generally known, from
his own spirited etchings in aqua-tinta, as to need no de¬
scription. Of his graver compositions, the Prodigal Son,
in possession of Lord Cathcart, and his Hercules and
Omphale, in the possession of Mr Erskine of Mar, are re¬
garded as works of great merit.
As an artist, Mr Allan possessed much facility of in¬
vention, with a keen discernment of those evanescent
circumstances in the outward form which mark the dif¬
ferent shades of passion and affection in the mind. With
the talent of artfully arranging the various parts of a
crowded and bustling scene, such as appears in some of
his comic productions, he possessed that feeling for sim¬
plicity which gives to his graver compositions a classical
and antique air of elegance. In his drawing he was often
hasty and incorrect. He executed a great variety of
etchings and drawings in water colours, which are valuable,
on account of their excellent humour, and the great
knowledge of national character which they express.
We do not know that Allan left any pupil who has follow¬
ed his particular line in painting; but among those who
received from him the rudiments of art while he conti¬
nued master of the academy, we may name the late Mr
Hugh W. Williams, whose genius, however, directed him
to a different course, which conducted him to high and
merited distinction as a landscape painter.
Mr Allan is remembered and spoken of as an excellent
private character. He died at Edinburgh on the 6th of
August 1796, in the 53d year of his age.
Allan, a river of Perthshire, in Scotland, which passes
by Dunblane, and falls into the Forth near Stirling.
ALLANCHES, a town of France, in the department
of the Mouths of the Rhone, and circle of Aix, six miles
from Marseilles, containing 2350 inhabitants.
ALLANTOIS, or Allantoides, a thin transparent
bag investing the foetus of quadrupeds, as cows, goats,
sheep, &c. filled with a urinous liquor conveyed to it from
the bladder of the young animals by means of the urachus.
ALLATIUS, Leo, keeper of the Vatican library, a
native of Scio, and a celebrated writer of the 17th cen¬
tury. He was of great service to the gentlemen of Port
Royal in the controversy they had with M. Claude touch¬
ing the belief of the Greeks with regard to the eucharist.
No Latin was ever more devoted to the see of Rome, or
more inveterate against the Greek schismatics, than Alla-
tius. He never was married, nor did he take orders; ant
Pope Alexander VII. having asked him one day why
he did not enter into orders, he answered, “ Because
ALL
tus I would be free to marry.” The pope rejoined, “ If so,
why do you not marry ?” “ Because,” replied Allatius,
Albany «i would be at liberty to take orders.” Thus, as Mr
Moftains-ga„ie observes, he passed his whole life, wavering be-
tween a parish and a wife ; sorry, perhaps, at his death,
for having chosen neither of them; when, if he had fixed
upon one, he might have repented his choice for 30 or
40 years. If we believe John Patricius, Allatius had a
very extraordinary pen, with which, and no other, he
wrote Greek for forty years; at the loss of which he was
so grieved as to lament it with tears. He published several
manuscripts, several translations of Greek authors, and
several pieces of his own composing. In his works he
discovers more erudition and industry than sound judg¬
ment. His manner of writing is diffuse and perplexed,
making frequent digressions from one subject to another.
He died at Rome in 1669, aged 83.
ALLECTUS, the prime minister and confidential
friend of Carausius, emperor of Britain. In order to avoid
the punishment due to the several enormous crimes with
which he was chargeable, he fell upon the desperate ex¬
pedient of murdering his master, and usurping the impe¬
rial dignity, which he maintained for three years. With
a design of recovering Britain, Constantius about this pe¬
riod fitted out a large squadron, which being assembled
in the mouth of the Seine, the command was devolved
upon the prefect Asclepiodotus. The fleet of Allectus
was stationed off the Isle of Wight to receive them ; but,
under the cover of a thick fog, the invaders escaped their
notice, and landed in safety on the western coast, and,
according to Gibbon, convinced the Britons, “ that a su¬
periority of naval strength will not always protect their
country from a foreign invasion.” No sooner had the in¬
trepid commander disembarked his forces, than he set fire
to his ships, and marched forward to meet the enemy. In
expectation of an attack from Constantius, who command¬
ed the fleet off Boulogne, the usurper had taken his sta¬
tion in the vicinity of London ; but informed of the de¬
scent of Asclepiodotus, he made forced marches to oppose
his progress. Allectus attacked the imperial troops, and
his army being reduced to a small number of fatigued and
dispirited men, he fell in the field, and his forces received
a total defeat. Thus, in one day, and by a single battle,
the fate of this great island was decided; and Britain,
after a separation of ten years, was restored to the Roman
empire, a. d. 297. Constantius, landing on the shores of
Kent, was saluted with the loud applauses and unanimous
acclamation of obedient subjects, and welcomed to the
British soil.
ALLEGANY Mountains, situated between the At¬
lantic Ocean, the Mississippi River, and the Lakes, are along
and broad range of mountains, composed of several ridges,
tending north-east and south-west, nearly parallel to the
sea-coast, about 1100 miles in length, and from 110 to 150
miles in breadth. The ridges which compose this im¬
mense range of mountains have different names in the
different states, viz. the Blue Ridge, the North Mountain
or North Ridge, Laurel Ridge, Jackson's Mountains, and
Kittatinny Mountains. All these different and immense
ridges are penetrated by rivers, which appear to have
forced their way through solid rocks. The principal ridge
is more immediately called Allegany, and is descriptively
named the Back Bone of the United States. The general
name of the whole range, taken collectively, is the Alle¬
gany Mountains. Mr Evans calls them the Endless Moun¬
tain ; others have called them the Appalachian Moun¬
tains, from a tribe of Indians who live on a river which
proceeds from this mountain, called the Appalachicola;
nut the most common name is the Allegany Mountains.
all 519
. Pass trough the states eastward of the Missis- Allegany
sippi like a spine or back-bone, and give rise to nearly all River
the rivers in that region. They approach the sea at the H
river Hudson, but take a direction inland from that point, Allegiance‘
and in Georgia are above 200 miles from the sea. They'^"^^^
are generally covered with natural wood, and capable of
cultivation, with some exceptions. The soil in the val¬
leys between the ridges is found to be superior to that
between the mountains and the sea, and is indeed among
the best in the United States. Towards the northern ex¬
tremity of the Alleganies, the primitive rocks cover a
great breadth of country; but southward of New York
they are chiefly confined to the eastern slope of the
mountains. A zone of transition rocks from 20 to 40
miles in breadth extends nearly the whole length of the
chain; and beyond this to the westward the country is
chiefly limestone. They are not confusedly scattered,
but run along in ridges generally of a uniform height,
estimated on an average at 3000 feet. The ground
rises to them from the sea so gradually that their height
does not strike the eye much. They contain a consider¬
able variety of minerals, and on the western side great
beds of coal.
Allegany River, in Pennsylvania, rises on the west¬
ern side of the Allegany Mountains, and after running
about 200 miles in a south-west direction, meets the
Monongahela at Pittsburg, and both united form the Ohio.
The lands on each side of this river, for 150 miles above
Pittsburg, consist of white oak and chesnut ridges, and in
many places of poor pitch pines, interspersed with tracts
of good land and low meadows.
ALLEGATA, a word anciently subscribed at the bot¬
tom of rescripts and constitutions of the emperors; as
signata, or testata, was under other instruments.
ALLEGEAS, or Allegias, a stuff manufactured in
the East Indies. There are two sorts of them; some are
of cotton, and others of several kinds of herbs, which are
spun like flax and hemp. Their length and breadth are
of eight ells, by five, six, or seven eighths ; and of twelve
ells, by three fourths or five eighths.
ALLEGIANCE, in Law, is the tie, or ligamen, which
binds the subject to the king, in return for that protection
which the king affords the subject. The thing itself, or
substantial part of it, is founded in reason and the nature
of government: the name and the form are derived to us
from our Gothic ancestors. Under the feudal system,
every owner of lands held them in subjection to some su¬
perior or lord, from whom or from whose ancestors the
tenant or vassal had received them ; and there was a mu¬
tual trust or confidence subsisting between the lord and
vassal, that the lord should protect the vassal in the en¬
joyment of the territory he had granted him ; and, on the
other hand, that the vassal should be faithful to the lord,
and defend him against all his enemies. This obligation
on the part of the vassal was called his fidelitas or fealty :
and an oath of fealty was required by the feudal law to be
taken by all tenants to their landlord, which is couched in
almost the same terms as our ancient oath of allegiance;
except that in the usual oath of fealty there was fre¬
quently a saving or exception of the faith due to a supe¬
rior lord by name, under whom the landlord himself was
perhaps only a tenant or vassal. But when the acknow¬
ledgement was made to the absolute superior himself, who
was vassal to no man, it was no longer called the oath of
fealty, but the oath of allegiance; and therein the tenant
swore to bear faith to his sovereign lord, in opposition to
all men, without any saving or exception. Land held by
this exalted species of fealty was called feudum legium, a
liege fee ; the vassals, homines legii, or liege men; and the
520
ALL
ALL
Allegiance, sovereign, their dominus legius, or liege lord. And when
sovereign princes did homage to each other for lands held
under their respective sovereignties, a distinction was al¬
ways made between simple homage, which was only an
acknowledgement of tenure, and liege homage, which in¬
cluded the fealty before mentioned, and the services con¬
sequent upon it. In Britain, it becoming a settled principle
of tenure that all lands in the kingdom are holden of the
king as their sovereign and lord paramount, no oath but
that of fealty could ever be taken to inferior lords; and
the oath of allegiance was necessarily confined to the per¬
son of the king alone. By an easy analogy, the term of
allegiance was soon brought to signify all other engage¬
ments which are due from subjects to their prince, as well
as those duties which were simply and merely territorial.
And the oath of allegiance, as administered in England
for upwards of 600 years, contained a promise “ to be
true and faithful to the king and his heirs, and truth and
faith to bear of life and limb and terrene honour, and not
to know or hear of any ill or damage intended him, with¬
out defending him therefrom.” But, at the Revolution,
the terms of this oath being thought perhaps to savour
too much of the notion of non-resistance, the present form
was introduced by the convention parliament; which is
more general and indeterminate than the former, the sub¬
ject only promising “ that he will be faithful and bear
true allegiance to the king,” without mentioning “ his
heirs,” or specifying in the least wherein that allegiance
consists. The oath of supremacy is principally calculated
as a renunciation of the pope’s pretended authority; and
the oath of abjuration, introduced in the reign of King
William, very amply supplies the loose and general tex¬
ture of the oath of allegiance ; it recognising the right of
his majesty, derived under the act of settlement engaging
to support him to the utmost of the juror’s power, pro¬
mising to disclose all traitorous conspiracies against him,
and expressly renouncing any claim on the descendants
of the late Pretender, in as clear and explicit terms as
the English language can furnish. This oath must be
taken by all persons in any office, trust, or employment,
and may be tendered by two justices of the peace to any
person whom they shall suspect of disaffection; and the
oath of allegiance may be tendered to all persons above
the age of twelve years, whether natives, denizens, or aliens.
But, besides these express engagements, the law also
holds that there is an implied, original, and virtual alle¬
giance, owing from every subject to his sovereign, antece¬
dently to any express promise, and although the subject
never swore any faith or allegiance in form. Thus, Sir
Edward Coke very justly observes that “ all subjects are
equally bounden to their allegiance as if they had taken
the oath, because it is written by the finger of the law in
their hearts, and the taking of the corporal oath is but an
outward declaration of the same.”
Allegiance, both express and implied, is, however, dis¬
tinguished by the law into two sorts or species, the one
natural, the other local; the former being also perpetual,
the latter temporary.
Natural allegiance is such as is due from all men born
within the king s dominions immediately upon their birth ;
for immediately upon their birth they are under the
king’s protection, at a time, too, when (during their in-
fancy) they are incapable of protecting themselves. Na¬
tural allegiance is, therefore, a debt of gratitude, -which
cannot be forfeited, cancelled, or altered, by any change
of time, place, or circumstance, nor by any thing but the
united concurrence of the legislature. A Briton who
removes to France or to China, owes the same allegiance
to the king of Britain there as at home, and 20 years
hence as well as now; for it is a principle of universal Alta
law, that the natural-born subject of one prince cannot'-'K
by any act of his own, no, not by swearing allegiance to
another, put off or discharge his natural allegiance to the
former; for this natural allegiance wras intrinsic and pri¬
mitive, and antecedent to the other, and cannot be di¬
vested without the concurrent act of that prince to whom
it was first due.
Local allegiance is such as is due from an alien, or
stranger born, for so long a time as he continues within
the king’s dominion and protection; and. it ceases the in¬
stant such stranger transfers himself from this kingdom to
another. Natural allegiance is, therefore, perpetual, and
local temporary only; and that for this reason, evidently
founded upon the nature of government, that allegiance
is a debt due from the subject, upon an implied contract
with the prince; that so long as the one affords protec¬
tion, so long the other will demean himself faithfully.
The oath of allegiance, or rather the allegiance itself, is
held to be applicable, not only to the political capacity of
the king, or regal office, but to his natural person and
blood royal. And, for the misapplication of their alle¬
giance, viz. to the regal capacity or crown, exclusive of
the person of the king, were the Spencers banished in the
reign of Edward II. And hence arose that principle of
personal attachment and affectionate loyalty which in¬
duced our forefathers (and, if occasion required, would
doubtless induce their sons) to hazard all that was dear
to them, life, fortune, and family, in defence and support
of their liege lord and sovereign.
It is to be observed, however, in explanation of this al¬
legiance, that it does not preclude resistance to the king,
when his misconduct or weakness is such as to make
resistance beneficial to the community. It seems fairly
presumable, that the convention parliament, which intro¬
duced the oath of allegiance in its present form, did not
intend to exclude all resistance ; since the very authority
by which the members sat together was itself the effect
of a successful opposition to an acknowledged sovereign.
Again, the allegiance above described can only be
understood to signify obedience to lawful commands. If,
therefore, the king should issue a proclamation, levying
money or imposing any service or restraint upon the sub¬
ject beyond what the law authorized, there would exist
no sort of obligation to obey such a proclamation in con¬
sequence of having taken the oath of allegiance.
Neither can allegiance be supposed to extend to the
king after he is actually and absolutely deposed, driven
into exile, or otherwise rendered incapable, of exercising
the regal office. The promise of allegiance implies, that
the person to whom the promise is made continues king;
that is, continues to exercise the power and afford the
protection which belong to the office of king ; for it is the
possession of these which makes such a particular person
the object of the oath. See Blackstone’s Commentaries, and
Paley’s Moral and Political Philosophy.
ALLEGORY, in Composition, consists in choosing a
secondary subject, having all its properties and circum¬
stances resembling those of the principal subject, and de¬
scribing the former in such a manner as to represent the
latter. The principal subject is thus kept out of view,
and we are left to discover it by reflection.
Nothing gives greater pleasure than an allegory, when
the representative subject bears a strong analogy, in all
its circumstances, to that which is represented, bat
most writers are unlucky in their choice, the analogy being
generally so faint and obscure, as rather to puzzle than to
please. Allegories, as well as metaphors and similes, are
unnatural in expressing any severe passion which totally
S’-
ALL
egri. occupies the mind. For this reason, the following speech
UV'"Oof Macbeth is justly condemned by the learned author
of the Elements of Criticism :
Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more !
Macbeth doth murder Sleep, the innocent sleep;
Sleep, that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
The birth of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great Nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast. Act ii. sc. 2.
But see this subject more fully treated under the article
Metaphor and Allegory.
ALLEGRI, Antonio, called Corregio, from the place
of his birth, an eminent historical painter, was bom in the
year 1494. Being descended of poor parents, and edu¬
cated in an obscure village, he enjoyed none of those
advantages which contributed to form the other great
\ painters of that illustrious age. He saw none of the
statues of ancient Greece or Rome, nor any of the
works of the established schools of Rome and Venice.
But Nature was his guide; and Corregio was one of her
favourite pupils. To express the facility with which he
painted, lie used to say that he always had his thoughts
ready at the end of his pencil.
The agreeable smile, and the profusion of graces, which
he gave to his madonas, saints, and children, have been
taxed with being sometimes unnatural; but still they are
amiable and seducing. An easy and flowing pencil, a
union and harmony of colours, and a perfect intelligence
of light and shade, give an astonishing relief to all his
pictures, and have been the admiration both of his contem¬
poraries and his successors. Annibal Caracci, who flourish¬
ed 50 years after him, studied and adopted his manner in
preference to that of any other master.. In a letter to his
cousin Louis, he expressed with great warmth the impres¬
sion which was made on him by the first sight of Corregio’s
paintings: “ Every thing which I see here,” says he, “ asto¬
nishes me; particularly the colouring and the beauty of
the children. They live, they breathe, they smile with
so much grace and so much reality, that it is impossible
to refrain from smiling and partaking of their enjoyment.
My heart is ready to break with grief when I think on the
unhappy fate of poor Corregio—that so wonderful a man
(if he ought not rather to be called an angel) should
nnish his days so miserably, in a country where his
talents were never known J”
From want of curiosity or of resolution, or from want of
patronage, Corregio never visited Rome, but remained his
whole life at Parma, where the art of painting was little
esteemed, and of consequence poorly rewarded. This oc¬
currence of unfavourable circumstances occasioned at last
his premature death at the age of 40. He was employed
to paint the cupola of the cathedral at Parma, the subject
of which is the Assumption of the Virgin; and having exe¬
cuted it in a manner that has long been the admiration of
every person of good taste, for the grandeur of design, and
especially for the boldness of the fore-shortenings (an art
which he first and at once brought to the utmost perfec-
Oon), he went to receive his payment. The canons of
tie church, either through ignorance or baseness, found
fault with his work; and although the price originally
agreed upon had been very moderate, they alleged that
u was far above the merit of the artist, and forced him to
accept of the paltry sum of 200 livres; which, to add to
me indignity, they paid him in copper money. To carry
iome this unworthy load to his indigent wife and children,
poor Lorregio had to travel six or eight miles from Parma.
e weight of his burden, the heat of the weather, and
' vol rm at v^anous treatment, immediately threw
ALL
him into a pleurisy, which in three days put an end to his
life and his misfortunes. <
For the preservation of this magnificent work the world
is indebted to Titian. As he passed through Parma, in
the suite of Charles V., he ran instantly to see the chef
d'ceuvre of Corregio. While he was attentively viewing it,
one of the principal canons of the church told him that
such a grotesque performance did not merit his notice,
and that they intended soon to have the whole defaced.
“ Have a care of what you do,” replied the other; “ if I
were not Titian, I should certainly wish to be Corregio.”
Corregio’s exclamation upon viewing a picture by
Raphael is well known. Having long been accustomed
to hear the most unbounded applause bestowed on the
works of that divine painter, he by degrees became less
desirous than afraid of seeing any of them. One, how¬
ever, he at last had occasion to see. He examined it
attentively for some minutes in profound silence ; and then
with an air of satisfaction exclaimed, I am still a painter.
Julio Romano, on seeing some of Corregio’s pictures at
Parma, declared they were superior to any thing in paint¬
ing he had yet beheld. One of these, no doubt, was the
famous Virgin and Child, with Mary Magdalen and St
Jerome; but whether our readers are to depend upon his
opinion, or upon that of Lady Millar, who in her Letters
from Italy gives a very unfavourable account of it, we
shall not presume to determine. This lady, however,
speaks in a very different style of the no less famous Notte
or Night of Corregio, of which she saw only a copy in the
duke’s palace at Modena, the original having been sold
for a great sum of money to the king of Poland. “ It
surprises me very much,” she says, “ to see how different
the characters are in this picture from that which I
already have described to you. The subject is a Nativity;
and the extraordinary beauty of this picture proceeds from
the clair obscure. There are two different lights introdu¬
ced, by means of which the personages are visible ; namely,
the light proceeding from the body of the child, and the
moonlight. These two are preserved distinct, and pro¬
duce a most wonderful effect. The child’s body is so lu¬
minous, that the superficies is nearly transparent, and the
rays of light emitted by it are verified in the effect they
produce upon the surrounding objects. They are not rays
distinct and separate, like those round the face of a sun
that indicates an insurance office; nor linear, like those
proceeding from the man in the almanack; but of dazz¬
ling brightness; by their light you see clearly the face,
neck, and hands, of the virgin (the rest of the person be¬
ing in strong shadow), the faces of the pastori who crowd
round the child, and particularly one woman, who holds
her hand before her face, lest her eyes should be so dazz¬
led as to prevent her from beholding the infant. This is
a beautiful natural action, and is most ingeniously intro¬
duced. The straw on which the child is laid appears gilt,
from the light of his body shining on it. The moon lights
up the back ground of the picture, which represents a
landscape. Every object is distinct, as in a bright moon¬
light night; and there cannot be two lights in nature more
different than those which appear in the same picture.
The virgin and the child are of the most perfect beauty.
There is a great variety of character in the different per¬
sons present, yet that uniformity common to all herdsmen
and peasants. In short, this copy is so admirable, that I
was quite sorry to be obliged to lose sight of it so soon;
but I never shall forget it. The duke of Modena, for
whom Corregio did the original picture, gave him only
600 livres of France for it,—a great sum in those days; but
at present what ought it to cost ?” This great painter’s
death happened in 1534.
3 u
521
Allegri.
522
ALL
ALL
Allegri Allegri, Gregorio, an ecclesiastic by profession, and a
II celebrated composer of music of the seventeenth century,
Allein. wag a native 0f Rome. He was the disciple of Nanini, the
,l"‘^~v^v“intimate friend and contemporary of Palestrina. His abi¬
lities as a singer were not remarkable, but he was deemed
an excellent master of harmony; and so much respected
by all the musical professors of his time, that the pope, in
the year 1629, appointed him to be one of the singers of
his chapel. To his uncommon merit as a composer of
church music he united an excellent moral character, ex¬
hibiting in his actions the devotion and benevolence of his
heart. The poor crowded daily to his door, whom he re¬
lieved to the utmost of his ability; and not content with
these beneficent actions, he daily visited the prisons of
Rome, in order to relieve the most deserving and afflicted
objects which were immured in these dreary mansions.
With such divine simplicity and purity of harmony did he
compose many parts of the church service, that his loss
was severely felt and sincerely lamented by the whole col¬
lege of singers in the papal service. He died on the 18th
February 1650, and was interred in the Chiesa Nuova, in
a vault destined for the reception of deceased singers in
the pope’s chapel, before the chapel of S. Filippo Neri,
near the altar of annunciation.
Among his other musical works preserved in the ponti¬
fical chapel, is the celebrated Miserere, which, for 170
years, has been annually performed at that chapel on
Wednesday and Good Friday, in Passion week, by the
choral band, and the best singers in Italy. It is, however,
generally believed that it owes its reputation more to the
manner in which it is performed, than to the composition
itself. The beauty and effect of the music is not discern¬
ible upon paper, but the singers have, by tradition, cer¬
tain customs, expressions, and graces of convention, which
produce wonderful effects. Some of the effects produced
may be justly attributed to the time, the place, and the
solemnity of the ceremonials observed during the per¬
formance. “ The pope and conclave are all prostrated on
the ground, the candles of the chapel and the torches of
the balustrade are extinguished one by one, and the last
verse of this psalm is terminated by two choirs ; the maestro
di cappella beating time slower and slower, and the singers
diminishing or rather extinguishing the harmony by little
and little, to a perfect point.” Padre Martini says, that
there was never more than three copies made by autho¬
rity, “ one of which was for the emperor Leopold, one for
the late king of Portugal, and the other for himself; but
a very complete one was presented by the pope himself
to King George III. as an inestimable curiosity.” (Gen.
Biog.)
ALLEGRO, in Music, an Italian word, denoting that
the part is to be played in a sprightly, brisk, lively, and
gay manner.
Piu Allegro signifies that the part it is joined to
should be sung or played quicker; as
Poco piu Allegro intimates that the part to which it
refers ought to be played or sung only a little more brisk¬
ly than allegro alone requires.
ALLEIN, Joseph, the son of Tobias Allein, was born
at Devizes, in Wiltshire, in 1633, and educated at Ox¬
ford. In 1655 he became assistant to Mr Newton, in
Taunton Magdalen, in Somersetshire; but was deprived
for nonconformity. Fie died in 1668, aged 35. He was
a man of great learning, and greater charity; preserving,
though a nonconformist, and a severe sufferer on that ac¬
count, great respect for the church, and loyalty to his
sovereign. He wrote several books of piety, which are
highly esteemed ; but his Alarm to Unconverted Sinners is
more famous than the rest. There have been many edi¬
tions of this little pious work, the sale of which has been Al]
very great; of the edition 1672 there were 20,000 sold;^ '
of that of 1675, with this title, A Sure Guide to Heaven,
50,000. There was also a large impression of it with its
first title in 1720.
Allein, Bichard, an English nonconformist divine, a
native of Ditchet, in Somersetshire, was born in the year
1611. His father was rector of Ditchet, and conducted
the education of his son until he was prepared for the uni¬
versity. There he soon obtained the degree of master of
arts; and after he entered into holy orders, first as an as¬
sistant to his father, and afterwards as rector of Batcomb,
in Somersetshire, he discharged the duties of a clergyman
with great industry and singular fidelity. From his edu¬
cation he conceived an early predilection for the senti¬
ments of the Puritans, and, consequently, in the contest
between Charles I. and the parliament he firmly adhered
to the latter. Having adopted these sentiments, he
sometimes received a little disturbance from the king’s
forces ; but he never carried his opposition to any undue
length. He, along with several others, signed a paper en¬
titled, “ The testimony of the Ministers of Somersetshire
to the truth of Christ,” in which their declared principles
and becoming candour were amply displayed. Along with
his father, he was employed by the commissioners ap¬
pointed by parliament for ejecting scandalous ministers;
a commission which was executed with rigour, and origi¬
nated in intolerance.
Upon the Restoration he manifested a disposition to
loyalty, but, unable with a good conscience to unite in the
act of conformity, he resigned his living after enjoying it
for 20 years, and ranked with the meritorious band of
sufferers, to the number of 2000, commonly denominated
the ejected ministers. In the house of Mr More, who had
been a member of the parliament, he exercised the duties
of his ministerial office under the penalty of that act, and
was consequently reprimanded by the magistrates and im¬
prisoned ; but his piety and exemplary conduct procured
him a mitigation of punishment. But no dangers could
deter him from duty ; for although constrained to remove
from that place in consequence of the “ five-mile act,” he
continued in the discharge of his ministerial office at Frome-
Selwood. Here he remained until he terminated his la¬
bours by death, in 1681.
Piety, boldness, activity, and candour, shone in the
character of Richard Allein. He was admired as a pa¬
thetic and practical preacher, and justly respected for the
diligence with which he discharged the public and private
duties of his profession. Mr Jenkins, the vicar of the
parish where he resided, preached his funeral sermon, and
bore an honourable testimony to his activity, moderation,
and piety. Richard Allein, similar to his nonconformist
brethren, chiefly confined his studies and publications to
subjects of religion. His works are strongly marked with
the peculiar features of the religious character then pre¬
valent among the nonconformists. They have been fre¬
quently reprinted, and very much perused. His most
celebrated work is Vindicice Pietatis, or a Vindication of
Godliness in its greatest Strictness and Spirituality; with
Directions for a Godly Life. This book was published in
1665 without a printer’s name; and being unlicensed, the
copies of it were seized and sent to the king’s kitchen for
waste paper. The other productions of his pen are,
Heaven Opened, or a brief and plain discovery of the riches
of God’s Covenant of Grace, printed in 1665; the Wor
Conquered, published in 8vo, in 1668; Godly Fear,
printed in 8vo, in 1674; a Rebuke to Backsliders, an a
Spur for Loiterers, printed in 8vo, in 1677 ; a Companion
for Prayer, in 12mo, 1680; a Brief Character of Mr Josepn
ALL
ALL
523
Aluiah Allein; and Instructions about Heart-work, what is to be the church. His death, which happened in July 1534 Allen
done on God’s part and ours for the cure and keeping of was very tragical; for being taken in a time of rebellion II
i-11, the heart,—a posthumous piece published in 8vo, by Dr by Thomas Fitzgerald, eldest son to the earl of Kildare Allenstein.
'-'^Annesley, in the year 1681. (Gen. Biog.) he was by his command most cruelly murdered, bein<rV^v^/
ALLELUIAH, or Halleluiah, a word signifying brained like an ox, at Tartaine in Ireland, in the 58th
Praise the Lord, to be met with either at the beginning or. year of his age. The place where the murder was com¬
end of some psalms; such as psalm cxlvi. and those that mitted was afterwards hedged in, overgrown, and unfre-
follow to the end. Alleluiah was sung upon solemn days quented, in detestation of the fact.
of rejoicing, Tobit xiii. 12. St John in the Revelation Allen, Thomas, a famous mathematician of the 16th
(xix. 1, 3, 4,6,) says, that he “ heard a great voice of much century, born at Utoxeter, in Staffordshire, on the 21st of
people in heaven, saying, Alleluiah :...and the four and December 1542. He was admitted scholar of Trinity Col-
twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped lege, Oxford, on the 4th of June 1561; and in 1567 took his
God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluiah.” degree of master of arts. In 1580 he quitted his college
This hymn of joy and praises Avas transferred from the and fellowship, and retired to Gloucester Hall; where he
synagogue to the church. So much energy has been ob- studied very closely, and became famous for his knowledge
served in this term, that the ancient church thought pro- in antiquity, philosophy, and mathematics. Having re-
per to preserve it, without translating it either into Greek ceived an invitation from Henry, earl of Northumbertand,
or Latin, for fear of impairing the genius and softness of a great friend and patron of the mathematicians, he spent
it. The fourth council of Toledo has prohibited the use some time at the earl’s house, where he became acquaint-
of it in time of Lent, or other days of fasting, and in the ed with those celebrated mathematicians, Thomas Harriot,
ceremonies of mourning; and, according to the present John Dee, Walter Warner, and Nathaniel Torporley.
practice of the Romish church, this word is never repeat- Robert, earl of Leicester, had a particular esteem for Mr
ed in Lent, nor in the obsequies of the dead; notwith- Allen, and would have conferred a bishopric upon him ;
standing which, it is used in the mass for the dead, ac- but his love of solitude and retirement made him decline
cording to the Mosarabic ritual, at the introit, when they the offer. His great skill in the mathematics made the
sing, Tu es portio mea, Domine, Alleluiah, in terra viven- ignorant and vulgar look upon him as a magician or con-
tium, Alleluiah, Alleluiah. The singing of Alleluiah was jurer: the author of a book entitled Leicester s Common-
oftentimes an invitatory or call to each other to praise the wealth has accordingly accused him of using the art of
Lord. ^ figuring, to procure the earl of Leicester’s unlawful de-
ALLEMAND, a sort of grave, solemn music, with good signs, and endeavouring by the black art to bring about a
measure, and a slow movement. It is also a brisk kind of match between him and Queen Elizabeth. But without
dance, very common in Germany and Switzerland. pretending to point out the absurdity of the charge, it is
Allemand, a river which falls into the Mississippi from certain that the earl placed such confidence in Alien, that
the south-east, about 43 miles south of the Natches. nothing material in the state was transacted without his
ALLEMANNIC, in a general sense, denotes anything knowledge; and the earl had constant information, by let-
belonging to the ancient Germans. Thus, we meet with ter from Mr Allen, of what passed in the university. Mr
Allemannic history, Allemannic language, Allemannic Allen was very curious and indefatigable in collecting
law, &c. scattered manuscripts relating to history, antiquity, astro-
ALLEMOND, a town of Upper Dauphiny, in the cir- nomy, philosophy, and mathematics ; these collections
cle of Grenoble, in France. In the mountains of Cha- have been quoted by several learned authors, &c. and
lanches, near it, is a lead mine, with silver, which is worked, mentioned to have been in the Bibliotheca Alleniana.
and by smelting has yielded, in somewhat less than the He published in Latin the second and third books of
last 20 years, upwards of 300,000 ounces of silver. Claudius Ptolemy of Pelusium, Concerning the Judgment
ALLEN, John, archbishop of Dublin in the reign of of the Stars, or, as it is commonly called, of the Quadri-
King Henry VIII., was educated in the university of Ox- partite Construction, with an exposition. He wrote also
ford; from whence removing to Cambridge, he there took notes on many of Lilly’s books, and some on John Bale’s
the degree of bachelor of laws. He was sent by Dr War- work De Scriptoribus M. Britannice. Having lived to a
ham, archbishop of Canterbury, to the pope, about certain great age, he died at Gloucester Hall on the 30th Septem-
fflatters relating to the church. He continued at Rome ber 1632.
nine years, and was created doctor of laws, either there ALLENDORF, a bailiwick in the grand duchy of
Or in some other university of Italy. After his return he Hesse-Darmstadt, containing one city and eight other
was appointed chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey, and was com- places, with 4332 inhabitants. The city, of the same name,
tnissary or judge of his court as legate a latere; in the stands on the river Lumbde, and contains 1179 inhabitants,
execution of which office he was suspected of great dis- The chief employment is husbandry, assisted by some
honesty, and even perjury. He assisted the cardinal in manufactures of hosiery. The bailiwick, though in the
visiting, and afterwards suppressing 40 of the smaller mo- dominions of Hesse-Darmstadt, is a patrimonial domain of
nasteries, for the erection of his college at Oxford and that the mediatised family Von Rabenau.
at Ipswich. The cardinal procured for him the living of Allendorf, a city, capital of the bailiwick of the same
Dalby in Leicestershire, though it belonged to the master name in Hesse-Cassel. It contains 1433 inhabitants. In
and brethren of the hospital of Burton-Lazars. About the the suburb is a salt spring of great strength, and proper
atter end of the year 1525 he was incorporated doctor of houses for granulating and drying the salt.
I^S 'n t^le unive™ty of Oxford. On the 13th of March ALLENSTEIN, a circle in the department of Kb-
m~8 he was consecrated archbishop of Dublin, in the nigsberg, and province of East Prussia, extending over
mom of Dr Hugh Inge, deceased; and about the same 522 square miles, or 333,080acres. It contains tAvo cities,
time was made chancellor of Ireland. He wrote, 1. 19 large parishes, and 21,635 inhabitants. The dis-
ma dr. Pallii significatione activa et passiva, penned by him trict is full of small lakes and extensive Avoods. The soil
at the time when he received the archiepiscopal pall; is bad, and yields little more than rye, oats, potatoes, and
’ consuetudinibus ac statutis in tutoriis causis obser- buckwheat, with some flax. The most extensive of the
iandis. He wrote also several other pieces relating to lakes are the Dadai and the Wadang. It is watered by
524 ALL
Aller the rivers Alle, Pisa, and some smaller streams. The ca¬
ll pital is a city on the Alle, of the same name. It contains
AlleBtry. ggg houses> and 1846 inhabitants, who have some trade
in glass, earthenware, yarn, tanned leather, and potash.
It is in long. 20. 13. 37. E. lat. 53. 45. 50. N.
ALLER, a river which runs through the duchy of Lune-
burg, and falls into the Weser a little below Verden.
ALLER-^roorf, in our ancient writers. The word aller
serves to make the expression of superlative signification.
So aller-good is the greatest good. Sometimes it is writ¬
ten alder.
ALLERION, or Alerion, in Heraldry, a sort of eagle
without beak or feet, having nothing perfect but the wings.
They differ from martlets by having their wings expand¬
ed, whereas those of the martlets are close; and denote
imperialists vanquished and disarmed: for which reason
they are more common in French than in German coats
of arms.
ALLESTRY, Richard, D.D. was born at Upping-
ton in Shropshire in 1619, and educated in the grammar
school of Coventry, and afterwards at Christ Church in
Oxford. His natural talents, which were uncommonly vi¬
gorous, he carefully improved by an unwearied applica¬
tion to study. Accordingly, his promotion was rapid.
First he obtained the degree of bachelor of arts ; next he
was chosen moderator in philosophy; then made a canon
of Christ Church, created doctor of divinity, appointed
chaplain in ordinary to the king, and afterwards regius
professor of divinity.
But in the early part of life his studies were interrupt¬
ed, and he was called to military service by hostile
occurrences of the times. In the year 1641 he and
many other students of Oxford entered the royal service,
and gave eminent proofs of their courage and loyal at¬
tachment. A short interval of hostilities permitted them
to return to their literary pursuits ; but a republican par¬
ty soon after disturbed their repose, and entering Oxford,
attempted to plunder the colleges. Having entered the
treasury, and finding nothing but fourpence and a halter,
they hastened to the deanery, and seizing many valuable
articles, they locked them in an apartment, intending next
day to carry them along with them. During the night,
however, Allestry having a key to that apartment, found
means to remove the whole of the articles. Informed
that he was the cause of their disappointment, they seiz¬
ed him; and had they not been unexpectedly called off
by an order of the earl of Essex, they would have se¬
verely wreaked their indignation upon him. In October
following he again took up arms, was present at the battle
of Keinton-field, and on his way to Oxford to prepare for
the reception of the king he was taken prisoner, but soon
afterwards released by the king’s forces.
A violent disease which then prevailed in the garrison
of Oxford brought Allestry to the brink of the grave ; but
recovering, he again joined a regiment of volunteers,
chiefly consisting of Oxford students. Here he seiwed as
a common soldier, and was often seen with the musket in
one hand and the book in the other. When the republi¬
can party prevailed, he returned at the termination of the
war to his favourite studies, but still continued true to
that side of politics which he had adopted. This conduct
occasioned his expulsion from the college ; but he was
rovided with a comfortable retreat in the families of the
onourable Francis Newport and Sir Anthony Cope.
Such was the confidence reposed in him, that when the
friends of Charles II. were secretly preparing the way for
his restoration, they intrusted him with personal messages
to the king. In returning from one of these interviews
he was seized at Dover, and upon examination committed
ALL
a prisoner to Lambeth-house. The earl of Shaftesbury Alle
obtained his release in a few weeks. Returning to visit
his friends, and among others the learned Dr Hammond, A11
he met his corpse at the gate of his house, carrying toV^
the grave. This deeply affected his mind, and added
much to his present distresses. The doctor left him his
valuable library, assigning as a reason that “ he well knew
that his books in his hands would be useful weapons for
the defence of that cause he had so vigorously supported.”
This valuable library, along with his own, Allestry be¬
queathed at his death to the university.
During his life he erected at his own private expense
the west side of the outward court of Eton College, the
grammar school in Christ Church College, and settled se¬
veral liberal pensions upon individual persons and families.
His original biographer gives him the following character.
“ Memory, fancy, judgment, elocution, great modesty, and
no less assurance, a comprehension of things, and a fluen¬
cy of words ; an aptness for the pleasant, and sufficiency
for the rugged parts of knowledge ; a courage to encoun¬
ter and an industry to master all things, make up the cha¬
racter of his happy genius. There was not in the world a
man of clearer honesty and courage ; no temptation could
bribe him to do a base thing, or terror affright him from
the doing a good one. This made his friendship as last¬
ing and inviolable as his life, without the mean considera¬
tions of profit, or sly reserves of craft; without the pa¬
geantry of ceremonious address, the cold civility of some,
and the servile falseness and obsequious flattery of others.”
He left a volume of sermons, printed at Oxford in 1684,
from the perusal of which posterity may judge of his li¬
terary abilities. Although his lectures gave universal sa¬
tisfaction, yet he prohibited their publication.
Allestry, Jacob, an English poet of the last century.
He was the son of James Allestry, a bookseller of Lon¬
don, who was ruined by the great fire in 1666. Jacob
was educated at Westminster School, entered at Christ
Church, Oxford, in the act-term 1671, at the age of 18,
and was elected student in 1672. He took the degree ot
arts ; was music reader in 1679, and terrae-filius in 1681;
both which offices he executed with great applause, being
esteemed a good philologist and poet. He had a chief
hand in the verses and pastorals spoken at the theatre at
Oxford, 21st May 1681, by Mr William Saville, second son
of the marquis of Halifax, and George Cholmondeley, se¬
cond son of Robert Viscount Kells (both of Christ Church),
before James duke of York, his duchess, and the lady
Anne ; which verses and pastorals were afterwards print¬
ed in the Examen Poeticum. He died on the 15th Octo¬
ber 1686, and was buried in St Thomas’s churchyard.
ALLE YARD, a town of Dauphiny in France, contain¬
ing 2160 inhabitants, in the vicinity of which are several
iron-mines extensively worked, some blast furnaces, and
also some mineral springs of curative power.
ALLEVEURE, a small brass Swedish coin, worth
about £d. English money.
ALLEY, William, bishop of Exeter in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, was born at Great Wycomb in Bucking¬
hamshire. From Eton School, in the year 1528, he re¬
moved to King’s College, Cambridge, where he took the
degree of bachelor of arts. He also studied some time at
Oxford; afterwards he married, was presented with a living,
and became a zealous reformer. Upon Queen Mary s ac¬
cession he left his cure and retired into the north of Eng¬
land, where he maintained his wife and himself by teaei-
ing a school, and practising physic. Queen Elizabeth as¬
cending the throne, he went to London, where he acquir¬
ed great reputation by reading the divinity lecture at
Paul’sj and in July 1560 was consecrated bishop of Exe-
ALL
. .y ter. He was created doctor of divinity at Oxford in No¬
vember 1561. He died on the 15th of April 1570, and
Aiyn. ffas buried at Exeter, in the cathedral. He wrote, 1. The
v ^poor Man’s Library, 2 vols. folio, Lond. 1571. These
volumes contain twelve lectures on the first epistle of St
peter, read at St Paul’s. 2. A Hebrew Grammar. Whe¬
ther it was ever published is uncertain. He translated
the Pentateuch, in the version of the Bible which was
undertaken by Queen Elizabeth’s command.
Alley, in Gardening, a straight parallel walk, bounded
on both sides by trees, shrubs, &c. and usually covered
with gravel or turf.
Alley, in Perspective, that which, in order to have a
greater appearance of length, is made wider at the en¬
trance than at the termination.
ALLEYN, Edward, a celebrated English actor in the
reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James, and founder
of the college of Dulwich in Surrey, was born at London, in
tlie parish of St Botolph, on the 1st of September 1566, as
appears from a memorandum of his own writing. Dr Fuller
says that he was bred a stage-player, and that his father
would have given him a liberal education, but that he wras
not turned for a serious course of life. He was, however, a
youth of an excellent capacity, a cheerful temper, a tena¬
cious memory, a sweet elocution, and in his person of a
stately port and aspect; all which advantages might well
induce a young man to take to the theatrical profession.
By several authorities we find he must have been on the
stage some time before 1592; for at that time he was in
high favour with the town, and greatly applauded by the
best judges, particularly by Ben Jonson.
Haywood, in his prologue to Marlow’s Jew of Malta,
calls him Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue.
He usually played the capital parts, and was one of the
original actors in Shakspeare’s plays; in some of Ben
Jonson’s he was also a principal performer: but what
characters he personated in any of their plays, it is dif¬
ficult now to determine. This is owing to the inaccu¬
racy of their editors,, who did not print the names of the
players opposite to the characters they performed, as the
modern custom is ; but gave one general list of actors to
the whole set of plays, as in the old folio edition of Shak-
speare ; or divided one from the other, setting the drama¬
tis personae before the plays, and the catalogue of per¬
formers after them, as in Jonson’s.
It may appear surprising how one of Mr Alleyn’s pro¬
fession should be enabled to erect such an edifice as Dul¬
wich College, and liberally endow it for the maintenance
of so many persons. But it must be observed that he
had some paternal fortune, which, though small, might
lay a foundation for his future affluence ; and it is to be
presumed, that the profits he received from acting, to one
of his provident and managing disposition, and one who
by his excellence in playing drew after him such crowds
of spectators, must have considerably improved his for¬
tune : besides, he was not only actor, but master of a play¬
house built at his own expense, by which he is said to
have amassed considerable wealth. He was also keeper
of the king’s wild beasts, or master of the royal bear-gar¬
den, which was frequented by vast crowds of spectators;
and the profits arising from these sports are said to have
amounted to L.500 per annum. He was thrice married;
and the portions of his first two wives, they leaving him
uo issue to inherit, might probably contribute to this
benefaction. Such donations have been frequently
thought to proceed more from vanity and ostentation than
real piety ; but this of Mr Alleyn has been ascribed to a
very singular cause, for the devil has been said to be the
first promoter of it. Mr Aubrey mentions a tradition,
all 525
“A8.1 ?Ir A1Ieyn playing a demon, with six others, in one Aheyn.
of Shakspeares plays, was in the midst of the play sur-'^-^v^v^
prised by an apparition of the devil; which so worked on
his fancy, that he made a vow, which he performed by
building Dulwich College. He began the foundation of
this college, under the direction of Inigo Jones, in 161T;
and the buildings, gardens, &c. were finished in 1617, in
which he is said to have expended about L.10,000. Af¬
ter the college was built, he met with some difficulty in
obtaining a charter for settling his lands in mortmain ; for
he proposed to endow it with L.800 per annum, for the
maintenance of one master, one warden, and four fellows,
three whereof were to be clergymen, and the fourth a
skilfid organist; also six poor men and as many women,
besides twelve poor boys to be educated till the age of
fourteen or sixteen, and then put out to some trade or
calling. The obstruction he met with arose from the lord
chancellor Bacon, who wished King James to settle part
of those lands for support of two academical lectures;
and he wrote a letter to the marquis of Buckingham, dat¬
ed August 18, 1618, entreating him to use his interest
with his majesty for that purpose. Mr Alleyn’s solicitation
was, however, at last complied with, and he obtained the
royal licence, giving him full power to lay his foundation,
by his majesty’s letters patent, bearing date the 21st of
June 1619; by virtue whereof he did, in the chapel at
the said new hospital at Dulwich, called The College of
God s Gift, on the 13th of September following, publicly
read and publish a quadripartite writing in parchment,
whereby he created and established the said college; he
then subscribed it with his name, and fixed his seal to
several parts thereof, in presence of several honourable
persons, and ordered copies of the writings to four differ¬
ent parishes. He was himself the first master of his col¬
lege ; so that, to make use of the words of Mr Haywood,
one of his contemporaries, £ He was so mingled with hu¬
mility and charity, that he became his own pensioner,
humbly submitting himself to that proportion of diet and
clothes which he had bestowed on others.’ We have no
reason to think he ever repented of this distribution of
his substance ; but, on the contrary, that he was entirely
satisfied, as appears from the following memorial in his
own writing, found amongst his papers.—May 26, 1620.
My wife and I acknowledged the fine at the common pleas
bar, of all our lands to the college : blessed be God that
he hath given us life to do it.’ ” His wife died in the year
1623 ; and about two years afterwards he married Con¬
stance Kinchtoe, who survived him, and received remark¬
able proofs of his affection, if at least we may judge of it
by his will, in which he left her considerable property. He
died on the 25th of November 1626, in the 61st year of his
age, and was buried in the chapel. of his new college,
where there is a tomb-stone over his grave, with an in¬
scription. His original diary is also there preserved.
The subjoining anecdote is entertaining in itself, and
shows the high esteem in which Mr Alleyn was held
as an actor:—“ Edward Alleyn, the Garrick of Shak¬
speare’s time, had been on the most friendly footing
with our poet, as well as Ben Jonson. They used fre¬
quently to spend their evenings together at the sign of
the Globe, somewhere near Blackfriars, where the play¬
house then was. The world need not be told, that the
convivial hours of such a triumvirate must be pleasing as
well as.profitable, and may be said to be such pleasures
as might bear the reflections of the morning. In conse¬
quence of one of these meetings, the following letter was
written by G. Peele, a student of Christ Church College,
Oxford, and a dramatic poet, who belonged to the Club,
to one Marie, an intimate of his-
ALL
526
ALL
Allia' * Friend Marie,
. II . ‘I must desyr that my syster hyr watch, and the
Alligation. Cookerie book you promysed, may be sente bye the man.
I never longed for thy company more than last night:
we were all very merrye at the Globe, when Ned Alleyn
did not scruple to affyrme pleasauntly to thy Friende Will,
that he had stolen his speech about thee Qualityes of art
actor’s excellencye in Hamlet hys Tragedye, from con¬
versations manyfold which had passed betweene them,
and opinyons given by Alleyn touching the subjecte.
Shakspeare did not take this talke in good sorte; but
Jonson put an ende to the strife with wittylye remark-
inge, This affaire needeth no Contentione ; you stole it from
Ned, no double; do not marvel: Have you not seen him
act tymes out of number ?—Believe me most syncerilie
yours, G. Peele.’ ”
ALLIA, a river, or rather rivulet, of Italy, in the Sa¬
bine territory, which joins the Tiber 11 miles from
Rome; famous for the great slaughter of the Romans
by the Gauls under Brennus, when 40,000 were killed or
put to flight; hence Alliensis dies, an unlucky day (Virgil,
Ovid, Lucan).
ALLIANCE, in the Civil and Canon Law, the rela¬
tion contracted between two persons or two families by
marriage.
Alliance is also used for a treaty entered into by so¬
vereign princes and states, for their mutual safety and
defence. In this sense, alliances may be distinguished
into such as are offensive, whereby the contracting parties
oblige themselves jointly to attack some other power;
and into defensive ones, whereby they bind themselves
to stand by and defend each other in case they are at¬
tacked by others. The forms or ceremonies of alliances
have been various in different ages and countries. An¬
ciently eating and drinking together, chiefly offering sa¬
crifices together, were the customary rite of ratifying an
alliance. Among the Jews and Chaldeans, heifers or
calves, among the Greeks bulls or goats, and among the
Romans hogs, were sacrificed on this occasion. Among
the ancient Arabs, alliances were confirmed by drawing
blood out of the palms of the hands of the two contract¬
ing princes with a sharp stone, dipping therein a piece of
their garments, and therewith smearing seven stones, at
the same time invoking the gods Vrotalt and Alilat, i. e.
according to Herodotus, Bacchus and Uranius. Among
the people of Colchis, the confirmation of alliances was
said to be effected by one of the princes offering his
wife s breasts to the other to suck, which he was obliged
to do till there issued blood.
ALLIER, a department of France, on a river of the
same name, which runs at the foot of a branch of the
Cevennes Mountains. It extends over 365 square leagues,
and contains a population of 254,550 persons. It is com¬
posed of a part of the ancient province of Bourbonnois,
and of that of Moulins. It is divided into four circles or
arrondissements, viz. Mount Lucon, Moulins, Gannat,
and Palise.
ALLIGATI, in Homan Antiquity, the basest kind of
slaves, who were usually kept fettered. The Romans
had three degrees or orders of slaves or servants; the
first employed in the management of their estates, the
second in the menial or lower functions of the family,
the third, called alligati, above mentioned.
ALLIGATION, the name of a method of solving all
questions that relate to the mixture of one ingredient
with another. Though writers on arithmetic generally
make alligation a branch of that science, yet, as it is
plainly nothing more than an application of the common
properties of numbers) in order to solve a few questions
that occur in particular branches of business, we choose Air
rather to keep it distinct from the science of arithmetic. C*-
Alligation is generally divided into medial and alternate.
Alligation Medial, from the rates and quantities of
the simples given, discovers the rate of the mixture.
Hule. As the total quantity of the simples,
To their price or value;
So any quantity of the mixture,
To the rate.
Example. A grocer mixes 30 lb. of currants, at 4d.
per lb. with 10 lb. of other currants, at 6d. per lb.: What
is the value of 1 lb. of the mixture ? Ans. 4M.
lb. d. d.
30 at 4 amounts to 120
10 at 6  60
40 180
lb. d. lb. d.
If40 : 180 :: 1 : 41.
Alligation Alternate, being the converse of alligation
medial, from the rates of the simples, and rate of the
mixture given, finds the quantities of the simples.
Rules. I. Place the rate of the mixture on the left
side of a brace, as the root; and on the right side of the
brace set the rates of the several simples, under one an¬
other, as the branches. II. Link or alligate the branches,
so as one greater and another less than the root may be
linked or yoked together. III. Set the difference between
the root and the several branches right against their re¬
spective yoke-fellows. These alternate differences are
the quantities required. Note 1. If any branch happen
to have two or more yoke-fellows, the difference between
the root and these yoke-fellows must be placed right
against the said branch, one after another, and added
into one sum. 2. In some questions the branches may
be alligated more ways than one; and a question will al¬
ways admit of so many answers as there are different
ways of linking the branches.
Alligation alternate admits of three varieties, viz.
1. The question may be unlimited, with respect both to
the quantity of the simples and that of the mixture.
2. The question may be limited to a certain quantity of
one or more of the simples. 3. The question may be li¬
mited to a certain quantity of the mixture.
Variety I. When the question is unlimited, with re¬
spect both to the quantity of the simples and that of the
mixture, this is called Alligation Simple.
Example. A grocer would mix sugars at 5d., 7d., and
lOd. per lb., so as to sell the mixture or compound at 8d.
per lb.: What quantity of each must he take ?
lb.
I 2
2
1 | 4.
i is placed on the left side
of the brace as the root; and on the right side of the same
brace are set the rates of the several simples, viz. 5, 7, 10,
under one another, as the branches; according to Rule I.
The branch 10 being greater than the root, is alligated
or linked with 7 and 5, both these being less than the
root, as directed in Rule II.
The difference between the root 8 and the branch 5,
viz. 3, is set right against this branch’s yoke-fellow 10;
the difference between 8 and 7 is likewise set right
against the yoke-fellow 10; and the difference between
8 and 10, viz. 2, is set right against the two yoke-fellows
7 and 5, as prescribed by Rule III.
As the branch 10 has two differences on the right, viz-
3 and 1, they are added; and the answer to the question
8
1S) ^
(loJc s,
Here the rate of the mixture f:
ALL
tion. is, that 2 lb. at 5d., 2 lb. at 7d., and 4 lb. at 10d., will make
the mixture required.
The truth and reason of the rules will appear by con¬
sidering, that whatever is lost upon any one branch is
gained upon its yoke-fellow. Thus, in the above example,
by selling 4 lb. of lOd. sugar at 8d. per lb. there is 8d.
lost: but the like sum is gained upon its two yoke-fellows ;
for by selling 2 lb. of 5d. sugar at 8d. per lb. there is 6d.
gained; and by selling 2 lb. of 7d. sugar at 8d. there is
2d. gained; and 6d. and 2d. make 8d.
Hence it follows, that the rate of the mixture must al¬
ways be mean or middle with respect to the rates of the
simples; that is, it must be less than the greatest, and
greater than the least; otherwise a solution would be im¬
possible. And the price of the total quantity mixed,
computed at the rate of the mixture, will always be equal
to the sum of the prices of the several quantities cast up
at the respective rates of the simples.
Variety II. When the question is limited to a certain
quantity of one or more of the simples, this is called Al¬
ligation Partial.
If the quantity of one of the simples only be limited,
alligate the branches, and take their dilferences, as if
there had been no such limitation; and then work by the
following proportion:—
As the difference right against the rate of the simple
whose quantity is given,
To the other differences respectively;
So the quantity given,
To the several quantities sought.
Example. A distiller would, with 40 gallons of brandy
at 12s. per gallon, mix rum at 7s. per gallon, and gin at
4s. per gallon: How much of the rum and gin must he
take, to sell the mixture at 8s. per gallon ?
Galls.
ALL
527
8
02^ 1
,4
40 of brandy, 1
32 of rum, > Ans.
32 of gin. j
The operation gives for answer, 5 gallons of brandy, 4
of rum, and 4 of gin. But the question limits the quan¬
tity of brandy to 40 gallons; therefore say,
If 5 ; 4 :: 40 : 32.
The quantity of gin, by the operation, being also 4, the
proportion needs not be repeated.
Variety III. When the question is limited to a certain
quantity of the mixture, this is called Alligation Total.
After linking the branches, and taking the differences,
work by the proportion following:—
As the sum of the differences,
To each particular difference ;
So the given total of the mixture,
To the respective quantities required.
Example. A vintner has wine at 3s. per gallon, and
would mix it with water, so as to make a composition of
144 gallons, worth 2s. 6d. per gallon: How much wine,
and how much water, must he take ?
Galls.
30
J 36
t o
\30
/ 6
120 of wine
24 of water,
a
Ans.
36 144 total.
120X36=4320
24 X 0= 0
Proof 144)4320(30
As 36 : 30 :: 144 : 120
As 36 : 6 :: 144 : 24.
fhere being here only two simples, and the total of the
mixture limited, the question admits but of one answer.
ALLIGATOR, or American crocodile, called Cayman Alligator
by the Indians. See Reptilia, Index. H
ALLIO TH, a star in the tail of the Greater Bear, much Allitera-
used for finding the latitude at sea. tion*
ALLITERATION, an ornament of language chiefly
used in poetry, and consisting in the repetition of the
same letter at certain intervals. We do not remember to
have ever seen any satisfactory account of alliteration in the
writings of the critics. They seem to have passed it over
in contemptuous silence, either as a false refinement or
as a mere trifle. It perhaps deserves a better fate.
We apprehend the principal operation of this ornament
to be quite mechaniqal. It is easier for the organs of
speech to resume, at short intervals, one certain confor¬
mation, than to throw themselves into a number of dif¬
ferent ones, unconnected and discordant. For example,
a succession of labials, interspersed at regular distances
with dentals and gutturals, will be more easily pronounced
than the succession of all the three at random. Sounds of
which the articulation is easiest are most completely in
the power of the speaker. He can pronounce them slow¬
ly or rapidly, softly or with force, at pleasure. In this, we
imagine, the power and advantage of alliteration are found¬
ed ; for we would not lay any stress on the pleasure which
can result to the ear from the repetition of the same let¬
ter. It has been compared to the frequent returns of the
key-note in a musical strain ; but that analogy is extreme¬
ly faint. The ear, we presume, can be pleased with al¬
literation only in so far as it contributes to the superior
easiness of recitation; for what is recited with ease must
be heard with pleasure.
These remarks might be confirmed and illustrated by
numberless passages from the best poets. Some few lines
will suffice, taken from Gray, who seems to have paid par¬
ticular attention to this grace. He professed to have
learned his versification from Dryden, as Dryden did from
Spenser ; and these three abound in alliteration above all
the English poets. We choose Gray for another reason,
that alliteration contributes not only to the sweetness, but
also to the energy, of versification ; for he uses it chiefly
when he aims at strength and boldness. In the Sister
Odes, as Dr Johnson styles them, almost every strophe
commences and concludes with an alliterative line. The
poet, we supposed, wished to begin with force, and end
writh dignity.
“ J?uin seize thee, ruthless king.”
“ To /ugh-born //oel’s Aarp, or soft Llewe/Iyn’s /ay.”
“ IVeave the warp, and weave the woof.”
“ Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.”
“ Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind’s sway.”
“ That hush’d in grim repose, expects his ev’ning prey.”
It must be observed here, that we hold a verse alliterative
which has a letter repeated on its accented parts, although
those parts do not begin words; the repeated letter bear¬
ing a strong analogy to the bars in a musical phrase.
Gray seems to have had a particular liking to those sorts
of balanced verses which divide equally, and of which the
opposite sides have an alliterative resemblance.
“ Eyes that .glow, and fangs that grin.”
“ Thoughts that ireathe, and words that /urn.”
“ .Hauberk crash, and Aeimet ring.”
All these lines appear to us to have a force and energy,
arising from alliteration, which renders them easy to be
recited ; or, if the reader pleases, mouthed. For the same
reason the following passage appears sad and solemn, by
the repetition of the labial liquid.
“ Mountains, ye mourn in vain.”
“ Modred, whose magic song”—&c.
528
ALL
ALL
Allix If alliteration thus contributes to enforce the expression
II of a poetical sentiment, its advantages in poetry must be
Alloa, considerable. It is not, therefore, unworthy of a poet’s re-
^>^"gard in the act of composition. If two words offer of equal
propriety, the one alliterative, the other not, we think the
first ought to be chosen. We would compare this to the
practice of fuguing in music. A composer who aims at
expression will not hunt after fugues; but if they offer, if
they seem to arise spontaneously from the subject, he will
not reject them. So a good poet ought not to select an
epithet merely for beginning with a certain letter, unless
it suit his purpose well in every other respect; for the
beauty of alliteration, when happy, is not greater than its
deformity when affected. A couplet from Pope will ex¬
emplify both; the first line being bad, and the second
good:
“ Eternal beauties grace the .shining scene,
“ Fields ever/resh, and groves for ever green.”
ALLIX, Peter, a French Protestant divine, was born
at Alenin in France, in the year 1641. He became a
learned divine of the English church, and a strenuous de¬
fender of the Protestant faith. At the time when the
edict of Nantes tolerated and protected the Protestants of
France, he entered upon his clerical profession, and re¬
mained minister of Rouen until the 35th year of his age.
In this period he wrote several pieces upon the controversy
between the Papists and the Protestants, which obtained
him great fame among his own party. He removed to
Charenton in the vicinity of Paris, which was the principal
church among the reformed, and frequented by persons
of the first rank in France who professed the Protestant
faith. Here Allix preached a course of excellent sermons
in defence of the Protestant religion, some of which were
afterwards printed in Holland, and added to his increasing
fame. The chief object of these sermons was to repel the
attack of the bishop of Meaux, the most ingenious and
able opponent of the Reformation at that time. The un¬
wise revocation of the edict of Nantes drove Allix and
many others to seek refuge in England. Three years after
his arrival in England, he had made himself so perfectly
master of the English language, as to be able to write
very correctly a Defence of the Christian Religion. This
work he dedicated to James II. in testimony of gratitude
for his kind reception of the distressed refugees of France.
Not long after his arrival in England he was honoured
with the title of doctor of divinity, and also received the
more substantial honour of being appointed treasurer of
the church of Salisbury. Allix still maintained the station
of a champion for the Protestant cause, and in opposition
to the bishop of Meaux proved that the charge of heresy
justly belonged to the Papists, and not to their opponents,
because they had introduced new doctrines into the
church.
After having with much industry and learning exercis¬
ed his talents in defence of Protestantism, he employed
his pen to support the doctrine of the Trinity against the
Unitarians, who contended that the idea of Christ’s divi¬
nity could be traced up no higher than the time of Justin
Martyr. With a great display of erudition, he attempted
to prove that the Trinitarian doctrine wus believed by the
Jewish church. But the reputation which he had acquir¬
ed for learning and ability was somewhat diminished, by
the ridicule which he brought upon himself in attempting
to fix the precise time of Christ’s second coming to the
year 1720, or, at the very latest, to the year 1736. He
died at London in the year 1717, after his studious life
had been protracted to the length of 76 years.
ALLOA, a sea-port town of Scotland, in the county of
Clackmannan. It is situated on the north shore of the Alii
Frith of Forth, 27 miles from Edinburgh, 5 from Stirling
by land and 19 by water, 32 from Perth, and 7 from A11(
Dollar. It has a safe and commodious harbour, having^
16 feet of water in neap, and 22 in spring tides. The
town is irregularly built. The chief public building is
the church, which was first opened in 1819. It is a fine
building, in the pointed style of architecture, with a hand¬
some spire. Alloa is noted for the extensive distilleries
which are carried on in the neighbourhood, from which
large quantities of spirits are shipped for England; also
for its breweries, wdiich manufacture great quantities of
ale that, for its fine quality, is in repute all over the coun¬
try. Among the principal manufactories of this place
are extensive brick and tile works; a copper work, at
which are made most of the implements or apparatus for
distilleries; the Devon iron works; and a glass work,
where, in addition to the ordinary green glass bottles,
they now manufacture all sorts of finer glass. There are
extensive collieries in the immediate vicinity, from which
abundant supplies of fuel are brought by a waggon-way,
direct to these works from the mouth of the pit. The
exports from Alloa consist of pig-iron, ale, spirits, glass,
and coals; and the imports are timber, oak, bark, hides,
and great quantities of grain for malting. Adjoining the
harbour is an excellent dry dock, capable of receiving
ships of the greatest burden ; and to the west is a ferry
aci'oss the Forth, which is there 500 yards broad, with
piers projecting down to low water-mark. A daily com¬
munication is maintained with Edinburgh and other
towns along the Forth by means of steam-boats. It has
a custom-house, which comprehends under the port of
Alloa the creeks on both sides of the Forth from Kincar¬
dine to Stirling inclusive. In the immediate vicinity of
the town there is an ancient tower 89 feet high, with
walls 11 feet in thickness, which was built about the year
1315. This was the residence of the Erskines, the de¬
scendants of the Earls of Mar, once a powerful family;
and here many of the Scotish princes received their edu¬
cation, having been for more than two centuries the wards
of the Lords Erskine and the Earls of Mar. The last
heir of the Scotish monarchy educated here was Henry
Prince of Wales, whose cradle, golf-clubs, and other
memorials were long preserved by the heir of the Earls
of Mar. They had also other royal memorials, which
were all destroyed in a fire which broke out in the ad¬
joining mansion. Alloa is supplied from the river with
water, which is filtered through a circular bed of sand.
Population in 1821, 5577. Long. 3. 46. W. Lat. 56. 7. N.
ALLOCATION denotes the admitting or allowing of
an article of an account, especially in the exchequer.
Hence
Allocatione Facienda is a writ directed to the lord
treasurer, or barons of the exchequer, commanding them
to allow an accountant such sums as he has lawfully ex¬
pended in the execution of his office.
ALLOCUTIO, an oration or speech of a general ad¬
dressed to his soldiers, to animate them to fight, to ap¬
pease seditidn, or to keep them to their duty. A mount
of earth was raised upon the occasion, as it were a kind
of a tribunal of turf. From this the general pronounced
his harangue to the army, which was ranged in several
squadrons around him, with their captains at their head.
When the time and circumstances would not admit of a
formal harangue, the general went through the ranks, and
called each by his name, putting them in mind of their
courage upon former occasions, mentioning the victories
they had won, and making a promise of plunder.
ALLODIUM, or Alleud, denotes lands which are the
tion
um.
A L M
A is absolute property of their owner, without being obliged to
pay any service or acknowledgement whatever to a supe-
Akvst. ,.jor lord.
^ ALLOS, a lake on the top of a lofty mountain in the
department of the Lower Alps, in France. It is near the
town of the same name, which contains 1400 inhabitants.
The lake is about a league in circumference, and abounds
in fish, especially in excellent trout.
ALLOY, or Allay, properly signifies a proportion of
a baser metal mixed with a finer one. The alloy of gold
is estimated by carats, that of silver by pennyweights. In
different nations different proportions of alloy are used ;
whence their moneys are said to be of different degrees of
fineness or baseness, and are valued accordingly in foreign
exchanges. The chief reasons alleged for the alloying of
coin are, 1. The mixture of the metals, which, when smelt¬
ed from the mine, are not perfectly pure ; 2. the saving of
the expense it must otherwise cost if they were to be re¬
fined ; 3. the necessity of rendering them harder, by mixing
some parts of other metals with them, to prevent the di¬
minution of weight by wearing in passing from hand to
hand; 4. the melting of foreign gold or coin which is
alloyed; 5. the charges of coinage, which must be made
good by the profit arising from the money coined ; 6. and
lastly, the duty belonging to the sovereign, on account
of the power he has to cause money to be coined in his
dominions.
ALLSTEDT, a bailiwick in the grand duchy of Saxe-
Weimar, containing one city and 12 smaller places, with
5859 inhabitants. A city of 1847 inhabitants, of the same
name, is the capital. It is situated on the Rhone, and has
a ducal palace. The trade of the place consists in weav¬
ing cloth) and in preparing potash and saltpetre.
ALLUM. See Alum.
ALLUMINOR, from the French allumer, to lighten,
is used for one who coloureth or painteth upon paper or
parchment; and the reason is, because he gives light and
ornament by his colours to the letters or other figures.
Such ornaments are styled illuminations. The word is
used in statute 1 Richard III. cap. 9. But now such a
person is called a limner.
ALLUSION, in Rhetoric, a figure by which something
is applied to, or understood of, another, on account of
some similitude between them.
ALLUVION, in Lato, denotes the gradual increase of
land along the sea-shore, or on banks of rivers.
ALMACANTARS. See Almucantars.
ALMADA,a Portuguese town upon the Tagus, opposite
Lisbon, in the province of Estremadura, with 1 monastery,
700 houses, and 3000 inhabitants. Not far from this place
is one of the entrances to the Tagus, defended by the
tower of St Sebastian. Lat. 38. 37. 20. N..
ALMADEN de AzogOe, a town in Spain, in the pro¬
vince of New Castile. It is distinguished by the rich mines
o| quicksilver in its vicinity, which are wrought on account
or the government, and furnish that indispensable mine-
fa to the silver mines of Mexico ; but from the decrease
Y ® Tuantity raised, a considerable deficiency has arisen,
winch is supplied from the dominions of Austria. It con-
ams 300 houses, and 1600 inhabitants,
f n, k^ADIE, a kind of canoe or small vessel, about four
atnoms long, commonly made of bark, and used by the
negroes of Africa.
Almadie is also the name of a kind of longboats, fitted
u at Calicut, which are 80 feet in length and six or
se\en in breadth. They are exceedingly swift, and are
lerwise called cdthuri.
n-rnat^ers °f literature, is particularly
a collection or book composed by Ptolemy, con-
A L M
taining various problems of the ancients both in eeometrv
and astronomy. ° ^
Almagest is also the title of other collections of this
, lus’ R'ccioh has published a book of astronomy,
which he ca s the New Almagest; and Plukenet, a book
which he calls Almagestum Botanicum.
ALMAGRA, a fine, deep red ochre, with some admix¬
ture of purple, very heavy, and of a dense yet friable
structure, and rough, dusty surface. It adheres very firm¬
ly to the tongue, melts freely and easily in the mouth, is
of an austere and strongly astringent taste, and stains the
skin in touching. It is the Sil Atticum of the ancients ;
it ferments very violently with acid menstruums, by which
single quality it is sufficiently distinguished from the Sil
Syricum, to which it has in many respects a great affinity.
It is found in immense quantities in many parts of Spain*
and in Andalusia there are in a manner whole mountains of
it. It is used in painting, and in medicine as an astringent.
ALMAGRO, a fortress of Spain, the capital of one of
the districts of La Mancha. It was built by the arch¬
bishop Roderic of Toledo, who finished it in 1214, and
put a considerable garrison into it to restrain the incursions
of the Moors. This was hardly done when the fortress
was besieged by an army of 5000 horse and foot, under
the command of a Moorish officer of great reputation;
but die prelate, its founder, took care to supply those5
within with such plenty of necessaries, that at length the
enemy found themselves obliged to raise the siege and
retire with great loss.
Almagro, Diego de, a Spanish commander, was of such
obscure birth and mean parentage, that he derived his name
from the village where he was born in 1463. Deprived of
the means of early instruction, he could neither read nor
write; but nevertheless, in consequence of his improvements
in the military art, he formed an association with Francisco
Pizarro and Hernando de Luque, for the purpose of disco¬
veries and conquest upon the Peruvian coast. The gover¬
nor of Panama having sanctioned their enterprise, they de¬
voted their united exertions to that undertaking. Pizarro
directed the conquest, and Almagro was appointed to con¬
duct the supplies of provisions and reinforcements. In the
first two unsuccessful attempts, he performed this office
with persevering fidelity and uncommon activity. His per¬
severance was followed with complete success; for they at
last discovered the coast of Peru, and landed at Tumbez,
situated about three degrees south of the line, and dis¬
tinguished by its temple, and a palace of the incas or so¬
vereigns. Pizzaro was sent over to Spain to solicit further
powers, after the three adventurers had previously adjust¬
ed their future preferments, and agreed that Pizarro
should be governor, Almagro lieutenant-governor, and
Luque bishop. In this negotiation Pizarro obtained the
clerical dignity for Luque; but, chiefly concerned about
his own interest, he neglected the preferment of Ahnagro.
On his return, Almagro was so enraged, that he refused
to act with such a perfidious companion, and resolved to
form a new association. Pizarro for the present artfully
endeavoured to avert the indignation of Almagro, and
gradually soothed the rage and disappointment of the
soldier. The union was renewed upon the former terms ;
and it was solemnly stipulated that a common expense and
a common advantage should take place.
In February 1531, leaving Almagro at Panama to sup¬
ply provisions and reinforcements, Pizarro set sail for
Peru. He attacked a principal settlement of the natives
in the province of Coaque, obtained immense spoil, and
made such ample remittances to Almagro as enabled him
to complete his reinforcement; and in the close of the
year 1532 Almagro arrived at St Michael with a body of
3 x
530
A L M
A L M
Almacro. men nearly double the number of those whom Pizarro
had along with him. The Spaniards about this time took
captive the unfortunate Inca Atahualpa; and after they
had received an immense sum for his ransom, they bai -
barously put him to death. Ferdinand Pizarro sailed for
Spain with the news of their success, and with remittances
to a great amount; and consequently Almagro gained that
elevated station he had so long and so eagerly desired. But
no sooner did he receive the intelligence of his promotion
by the royal grant, than he attempted to seize Cuzco, the
imperial residence of the incas, under pretence that it lay
within his destined territory. This produced a new quar¬
rel ; but peace was restored upon condition that Almagro
should attempt the conquest of Chili, and, it he did not find
in that province an establishment adequate to Ins merit,
that Pizarro should yield up to him a part of Pei u.
In 1535 he accordingly set out at the head of 5/0
Europeans, and in crossing the mountains he suffered
great hardships and losses by mistaking the route ; but at
length he descended into the plains of that devoted^ re¬
gion. Here he met with a more vigorous resistance from
the natives than the Spaniards had ever expeiienced in
other countries. He had, however, made some progress,
when he was recalled to Peru by the news of the natives
having risen in great numbers, and attacked Lima and
Cuzco. He pursued a new route, and marching through
the sandy plains on the coast, he suffered by heat and
drought calamities not inferior to those which he had en¬
dured from cold and famine on the summits of the Andes.
Arriving at a favourable moment, he resolved to hold the
place both against the Indians and his Spanish rivals. He
attacked the Peruvian army with great vigour, and mak¬
ing a great slaughter, he proceeded to the gates of Cuzco
without any further interruption. The open, affable, and
generous temper of Almagro gained over to his side
many of the adherents of the Pizarros, who were disgust¬
ed with their harsh and oppressive conduct. With the
aid of these he advanced towards the city by night, sur¬
prised the sentinels, and surrounded the house where the
two brothers Ferdinand and Gonzalo Pizarro resided,
who were compelled, after an obstinate defence, to sur¬
render at discretion. A form of government was settled
in the name of Almagro, and his jurisdiction over Cuzco
was universally acknowledged. This was the origin of a
civil war, the beginning of which was very advantageous
to Almagro, who by skilful manoeuvres entirely routed a
body of Spanish troops advancing to the relief of Cuzco,
and made Alvarado, their commander, prisoner. But in¬
stead of improving these advantages, he unwisely march¬
ed back to Cuzco, and there awaited the arrival of Pizarro,
who, convinced of his own feeble resources, proposed an
accommodation, and with his usual art protracted the
negotiation until he found himself in a condition to meet
his antagonist in the field of battle. Meanwhile Alvarado
and one of the Pizarros, by bribing their keepers, found
means to escape, and persuaded 60 of the men who guard¬
ed them to attend them in their flight; and the gover¬
nor released the other. WTren Pizarro thought himself
sufficiently prepared to settle the dominion of Peru, he
marched with an army of 500 men to Cuzco. Almagro,
previously to this, worn out with age and infirmity, resign¬
ed the command to Orgognez. A fierce and bloody battle
ensued, in which Almagro’s army was defeated, and the
commander wounded. About 140 soldiers fell in the field,
and Orgognez, along with several officers of distinction, was
massacred in cold blood. During that fatal day, Almagro,
placed in a litter, which was stationed on an eminence, be¬
held from thence the total discomfiture of his troops, and
felt all the indignation of a soldier who had seldom expe¬
rienced defeat. He was taken prisoner, remained several Aire ro
months in confinement, and was afterwards tried and con-C^ J
demned to death. In the view of an ignominious death, the
courage of the veteran forsook him, and he unsuccessfully
supplicated for life in a manner unworthy of his former
character. All the arguments he could employ were in¬
effectual. The Pizarros remained unmoved by all his en¬
treaties. As soon, however, as Almagro saw that his fate
was inevitable, he resumed his courage, and exhibited all
his usual dignity and fortitude. In the year 1538, and in
the 75th year of his age, he was strangled in prison, and
afterwards beheaded. He left one son by an Indian woman
of Panama; and, in consequence of a power which the em¬
peror had granted him, he declared his son his successor in
the government, although he was then a prisoner in Lima.
With the qualities of intrepid valour, indefatigable ac¬
tivity, and insurmountable constancy, he blended the
more amiable dispositions of frankness, generosity, and
candour. These qualities rendered him beloved by his
followers, and his misfortunes excited their sympathy
and pity ; so that his death was universally regretted, and
particularly by the poor Indians, who deemed him their
guardian and protector against the cruel and unfeeling
Pizarro. Upon the whole review of his character, it ap¬
pears just to conclude, that he was, although of inferior
abilities, a more amiable man than his rival.
Almagro, the Younger, by his courage, generosity,
and other accomplishments, was placed at the head of the
party after the death of his father. The father, conscious
of his own inferiority from the total want of education, used
every possible means to improve the mind and embellish
the manners of his son; so that he soon acquired those
accomplishments which rendered him respected by illite¬
rate adventurers, who cheerfully ranged round his stand¬
ard, and by his dexterity and skill sought deliverance
from the oppressions of Pizarro. Juan de Herrada, an
officer of great abilities, continued still to direct his coun¬
cils, and to regulate his enterprises; and, while Pizarro
confided in his own security, a conspiracy wa« formed
against him, which terminated in his death. The assassins,
exulting in their success, and waving their bloody swords,
hastened to the street, proclaimed the death of the tyrant,
and compelled the magistrates and principal citizens of
Lima to acknowledge Almagro as lawful successor of his
father. But his reign was of short duration; for, in 1541,
Yaca de Castro, arriving at Quito, produced the royal
commission, appointing him governor of Peru, together
with all the privileges and authority of Pizarro. Ihe ta¬
lents and influence of the new governor soon overpowered
the interest of Almagro, who, perceiving the rapid decline
of his influence, hastened with his troops to Cuzco, where
his opponents had erected the royal standard under t e
command of Pedro Alvarez Holguin. Herrada, the gun e
of his counsels, died during his march; and from t ia
time his measures were conspicuous for their yio ence,
concerted with little ingenuity, and executed with i e
address. At length, on September 16, 1542, the forces o
Almagro and Vaca de Castro met, and victory long re
mained doubtful, till at last it declared for the new g
vernor. Almagro conducted the military operations
that fatal day with a gallant spirit, worthy of a better
cause, and deserving of a better fate; and his to o
displayed uncommon valour. In proportion to the ®
her of combatants the carnage was very great.
men, 500 fell in the field, and many more were
, i • w snme of ms
ed. Almagro escaped, but being betrayed by some o
own officers, he was publicly beheaded at ^'uzc0^ 3 me
him the name and spirit of the party of Almagro e
extinct.
A L M A L M 531
,ra ALMAJORA, a Spanish town on the sea-shore, in
I the province of Valencia, with 4500 inhabitants. Lat.
Ain®®- 39. 53. N.
ALMAMON, or Mamon, also named Abdallah, caliph
of Bagdad, was born a. d. 785. His elder brother A1
Amin succeeded to the caliphate on the death of his
father, and Almamon at that time was governor of Cho-
rasan. As by the will of the father it was provided that
his three sons should succeed to the caliphate in order,
Almamon ordered his elder brother to be proclaimed
caliph throughout his government; but his brother re¬
paid his friendship and attachment to his interest with
open expressions of hatred, and unjust attempts to exclude
him from the destined succession. Almamon was thus
forced to consult measures for his own safety and promo¬
tion, by causing himself to be proclaimed caliph. After
various struggles, his general, Thaher, in the year 813,
took possession of Bagdad, pursued A1 Amin to his re¬
treat, and caused him to be assassinated, so that Alma¬
mon remained without a competitor. Various rebellions
disturbed the tranquillity of the first years of his reign;
but, by his prudent administration and vigorous exertions,
these were at length extinguished. Instigated by the ad¬
vice of his vizier, he soon after raised greater commotions,
and exposed his dignity to greater dangers, by counte¬
nancing the sect of Ali. He invited to court Iman Rizza,
gave him his daughter in marriage, and even declared
him his successor in the empire. He assumed the green
turban, the colour of the house of Ali, and obliged his
courtiers and soldiers to imitate his example. Alarmed
at these proceedings, the orthodox Mussulmans, and the
house of Abbas, excited a great revolt in Bagdad, and
proclaimed Ibrahim, Almamon’s uncle, caliph. A civil
war was just about to commence, when Fadel the vizier
was assassinated, and Rizza died. The people of Bagdad
then deposed Ibrahim, and returned to their former alle¬
giance. Taking the advantage of Almamon’s absence,
Thaher seized upon the government of Chorasan, where
he founded a dynasty which existed during a period of
sixteen years.
Almamon employed the period of tranquillity that fol¬
lowed, in introducing literature into his dominions, and
in its improvement; which constitutes the greatest glory
of his reign. During the days of his father he discover¬
ed an ardent thirst after knowledge, by forming a college
in Chorasan, adorned with the most eminent men of va¬
rious countries ; and appointed Mesue, a famous Christian
physician of Damascus, for their president. When his
lather remonstrated against conferring such an honour
upon a Christian, he reminded him that the most learn¬
ed men and the most skilful artists in his dominions were
Jews and Christians; and added, that he had chosen
Mesue as a preceptor in science and useful arts, and not
as a teacher of religion. Under his auspices Bagdad be¬
came the seat of literature, of private and academical in¬
struction, and the habitation of men of eminence from all
quarters. Many valuable books in the Greek, Persian,
Chaldean, and Coptic languages, among which were the
works of Aristotle and Galen, were translated into the
Arabic at his own expense. This caliph himself deemed
U an honour to set an example to others of the becoming
respect due to mental cultivation, by visiting the schools,
and treating the professors with great regard. In mathe¬
matics, astronomy, and philosophy, he made a rapid and
extensive progress. He was the author of astronomical
tables, which, on account of their accuracy, have been
much admired. By these various exertions the character
m the Saracens was suddenly changed from a rude and
ferocious to a polite and civilized people, while the most
powerful and extensive of the European states were in- Almanack,
volved in ignorance and barbarism. Literature has sus-v^^\^^/
tained some irreparable losses from his too great partiality
to the Arabic writers, which induced him to destroy the
originals of the translated manuscripts. He is represent¬
ed by the Sonnites, or orthodox Mahometans, as little
better than an infidel, because of his attention to philoso¬
phy and letters. His conduct, however, shows that he
was not sufficiently careful to preserve a philosophical
mean between the different religious parties during the
time of his administration, as he openly manifested a pre¬
dilection to the doctrines of the Motazeli, who asserted
the freewill of man, and denied the eternity of the Ko¬
ran. Some allege that, on account of the murmurs which
arose against him, he was induced to exhibit too great a
zeal, by establishing a kind of inquisition, to compel all
his subjects to profess Islamism. The experiment, how¬
ever, soon terminated in the better and juster expedient
of universal toleration ; and it is abundantly evident that
the Christians in his dominions never felt the power of
his inquisition.
The public transactions of his reign are in themselves
important. In the year 822 he sent a body of his troops
to the assistance of Thomas, a Greek, who made war on
Michael the Stammerer, the emperor of Constantinople,
and besieged his capital. This expedition, which on the
part of the caliph seems to have been founded in justice,
proved unsuccessful ; Thomas was taken prisoner, and
suffered death. In the years 829 and 830 he commenced
hostilities upon the Greeks, rendered himself master of
many places, and carried devastation into their territories.
He was successful in suppressing a revolt in Egypt in the
year 831. In this country he was led to discover a treasure
buried under two columns by Merwan, the last caliph of
the house of Ommijah. In repairing a decayed mikias or
measuring pillar, and erecting a new one for determining
the gradation of the increase of the Nile, Almamon display¬
ed his love of science. In the year 833 he again visited
Egypt: on his return he penetrated into the territories of
the Greek emperor, even into Cilicia. Returning home,
he encamped on the banks of a river, and, excited by
thirst, drank too freely of the water, and at the same time
indulged himself immoderately in eating a particular
kind of dates, which brought on a complaint in his
stomach, and reduced him to the most imminent danger.
Sensible of his approaching dissolution, he sent letters
into all the provinces, announcing his brother Motassem
his successor, and then patiently awaited the event. Af¬
ter a tedious struggle under the pressure of his disease,
and while uttering this ejaculation, “ O thou who never
diest, have mercy on me, a dying man !” he expired at the
age of 48 or 49 years. He reigned 27 years and some
months, and was buried at Tarsus, which some religious
zealots interpreted as a mark of reprobation.
ALMANACK, a book or table, containing a calendar
of days and months, the rising and setting of the sun, the
age of the moon, the eclipses of both luminaries, &c.—
Authors are divided with regard to the etymology of the
word; some deriving it from the Arabic particle al, and
manach, to count; some from almanack, new-year’s gifts,^
because the Arabian astrologers used at the beginning ot
the year to make presents of their ephemerides; and
others from the Teutonic almaen achte, observations on
all the months. Dr Johnson derives it from the Arabic
particle al, and the Greek /ir\v, a month. But the most
simple etymology appears from the common spelling ; the
word being composed of two Arabic ones, Al Manack,
which signify the Diary. All classes of the Arabs are
commonly much given to the study of astronomy and
532 A L M
A L M
Almanack, astrology; to both of which a pastoral life, and a sort of hus-
bandry, not only incline them, but afford time and oppor¬
tunity to cultivate them. They neither sow, reap, plant,
travel, buy or sell, nor undertake any expedition or busi¬
ness, without previously consulting the stars, or, in other
words, their almanacks, or some of the makers of them.
From these people, by their vicinity to Europe, this art,
no less useful in one sense than trifling and ridiculous in
another, has passed over hither; and those astronomical
compositions have still everywhere not only retained their
old Arabic name, but were, like theirs, for a long while,
and still are among many European nations, interspersed
with a great number of astrological rules for planting, sow¬
ing, bleeding, purging, &c. down to the cutting of the
hair and paring of the nails. Regiomontanus appears to
have been the first in Europe, however, who reduced al¬
manacks into their present form and method, gave the
characters of each year and month, foretold the eclipses
and other phases, calculated the motions ot the planets,
&c. His first almanack was published in 1474.
The essential part of an almanack is the calendar of
months and days, with the risings and settings of the
sun, age of the moon, &c. To these are added lists of
posts, offices, dignities, public institutions, with many
other articles, political as well as local, and differing in
different countries.
England has abounded in almanacks, some of them of
no very creditable description, though widely circulated
among the people for a long period of years. Such, in parti¬
cular, were Moores Almanack, and Poor Robins Almanack,
now happily, with several others of the same class, either
extinct or about to become so. This change has been
mainly owing to the publication of an entirely new al¬
manack by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know¬
ledge. The following statement is extracted from a curious
article upon English Almanacks, in the London Maga¬
zine, third series, vol. ii. p. 591. “ For a century and
a half, the twa universities and the Stationers’ Company
held the monopoly of them, by letters patent of James I.
During this period, according to the condition of the pa¬
tent, almanacks received the imprimatur of the arch¬
bishop of Canterbury and the bishops of London; and
yet it would be difficult to find, in so small a compass, an
equal quantity of ignorance, profligacy, and imposture, as
was condensed into these publications. By the persever¬
ing exertions of one individual, the monopoly was over¬
thrown about 1779; and the parties claiming the patent-
right then applied to parliament for an act to confirm it.
That bill was introduced by the minister of the day; but
Erskine, then first coming into repute, appeared at the
bar to oppose it,—and the monopoly was destroyed for
ever, by a solemn vote of the House of Commons. From
that time the Stationers’ Company proceeded upon a dif¬
ferent course. They secured their monopoly by buying
up all rival almanacks; and they rendered the attempts
of individuals to oppose them perfectly hopeless, by those
arts of trade which a powerful corporation knew how to
exercise. For the last fifty years they have rioted, as
of old, in every abomination that could delude the vulgar
to the purchase of their commodity. On a sudden a
new almanack started up, under the superintendence
and authority of a society distinguished for its great and
successful labours to improve the intellectual condition
of the people. For the first time in the memory of man,
an almanack at once rational and popular was produced.
From that hour the empire of astrology was at an end.
The public press, infinitely to their honour, took up the
cause. The blasphemy of Francis Moore, and the ob¬
scenity of Poor Robin, were denounced and ridiculed
through all quarters of the kingdom. In one little year Aim'
the obscene book was discontinued, the blasphemous book^
retreated into pure stupidity, and the publishers of the Aw
blasphemy and the obscenity applied themselves, in imi- ac
tation of the first powerful rival they had ever encoun-^
tered, to make a rational and useful almanack.” The al¬
manack of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know¬
ledge is entitled the British Almanack; the improved
one, published in imitation of it by the Stationers’ Com¬
pany, is called the Englishmans Almanack.
The French Almanack Royal is one of the most exten-
sive publications of this class, the volume for 1829 ex¬
tending to nearly a thousand octavo pages.
Almanack, Nautical. This, which in some respects
is a national almanack, is published under the sanction
of the Board of Longitude, and is designed chiefly to
facilitate the use of Mayer’s Lunar Tables, by supersed¬
ing the necessity of making calculations to determine the
longitude at sea. It commenced with the year 1767, and
has ever since been continued annually, but two or three
years in advance. The late Dr Maskelyne was the origi¬
nator of this very valuable publication. It is now publish¬
ed under the immediate superintendence of the secretary
to the Board. Similar to this almanack is the French
publication entitled Connoissance des Terns, directed by
the Bureau de Longitude, and which commenced so early
as the year 1698.
Almanacks, among Antiquaries, is also the name given
to a kind of instrument, usually of wood, inscribed with
various figures and Runic characters, and representing the
order of the feasts, dominical letters, days of the week,
and golden number, with other matters necessary to be
known throughout the year ; used by the ancient northern
nations in their computations of time, both civil and ec¬
clesiastical. Almanacks of this kind are known by various
names among the different nations in which they have been
used, as rimstocks, primstaries, runstocks, runstaffs, Sci-
piones Runici, Bacculi Annales, clogs, &c. They appear
to have been used only by the Swedes, Danes, and Nor¬
wegians. From the second of these people their use
was introduced into England, whence divers remains of
them in the counties. Dr Plot has given the description
and figure of one of these clogs, found in Staffordshire,
under the title of The Perpetual Staffordshire Almanack.
The external figure and matter of these calendars appear
to have been various. Sometimes they were cut on one
or more wooden leaves, bound together after the manner
of books ; sometimes on the scabbards of swords, or even
daggers; sometimes on tools and implements, as portable
steelyards, hammers, the helves of hatchets, flails, &c.
Sometimes they were made of brass or horn; sometimes
of the skins of eels, which being drawn over a stick pro¬
perly inscribed, retained the impressions of it. But the
most usual form was that of walking staves, or sticks,
which they carried about with them to church, market,
&c. Each of these staves is divided into three regions;
whereof the first indicates the signs, the second the days
of the week and year, and the third the golden number.
The characters engraven on them are, in some, the an¬
cient Runic; in others, the latter Gothic characters of
Ulfilas. The saints’ days are expressed in hieroglyphics,
significative either of some endowment of the saint, the
manner of his martyrdom, or the like. Thus, against the
notch for the first of March, or St David s day, is repre¬
sented a harp; against the 25th of October, or Crispin s
day, a pair of shoes; against the 10th of August, or ot
Lawrence’s day, a gridiron; and, lastly, against New-
year’s day, a horn, the symbol of liberal potations, whic
our ancestors indulged in at that period.
ck
A L M
1 . sa ALMANSA, a small city of Murcia, in Spain, to the
I north of the river Segura. A pyramid erected near it
Alm^or-commemorates the decisive battle fought here in 1707,
^0 French and Spaniards gained a complete victory
over the united forces of England and Portugal. It now
contains 4000 inhabitants. 15 miles north-north-west of
Villena, and 54 south-west of Valencia.
ALMANSOR the Victorious, the second caliph of the
house of Al Abbas, succeeded his brother Abul Abbas A1
Saffah in the year 753, of the Hegira 136, and in the fol¬
lowing year was inaugurated at Al Hashemiyah. Al¬
though Al Saffah had declared him presumptive heir of
the crown, and he had been proclaimed caliph in the im¬
perial city of Anbar, yet immediately upon his inaugura¬
tion his uncle Abdallah ebn Ali had sufficient interest to
cause himself to be proclaimed caliph at Damascus. In
Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, he collected a numerous
army, and arrived at the banks of the Masius, near Nisibis,
where he encamped, ready to dispute his royal accession
by arms. Almansor collected an immense army in Persia,
Chorasan, and Irak, and gave the command of it to Abu
Moslem, who harassed his uncle’s troops for five months,
and at last totally defeated him, a. d. 754. Notwithstand¬
ing the services which Abu Moslem had rendered to the
family of Al Abbas, after this victory he became an object
of jealousy, and was assassinated in the presence of Al¬
mansor himself, by his express order. After the death of
Abu Moslem, the standard of rebellion was raised by
Simon, a Magian, who seized on the treasures of the de¬
ceased governor of Chorasan, and excited the people of
that country to a general revolt; but this insurrection
was suddenly quelled by the general of Almansor, Jamhur
ebn Morad. The caliph avariciously seized the spoils of
this victory, which so incensed Jamhur that he imme¬
diately turned his arms against his royal master ; but he
was soon defeated by the caliph’s forces. The patriarch
of Antioch was about this time detected in an illicit corre¬
spondence with the Grecian emperor, and consequently
was banished into an obscure part of Palestine ; and in the
mean time the Christians in the dominions of the caliph
were prohibited from building or repairing any churches,
and also were laid under several other severe restraints.
Almansor sent a large army into Cappadocia in the
year 757, fortified the city of Malatia or Melitene, and
deposited in it a great part of his treasures. But in this
year he was attacked by a sect of believers in the metem¬
psychosis, called the Rawandians. This sect assembled
at Al Hashemiyah, the residence of the caliph, and, by
the ceremony of going in procession round his palace, in¬
timated their purpose of invoking him as a deity, and
paying him divine homage. Incensed by their impiety,
the caliph ordered several of these sectaries to be impri¬
soned, which roused their resentment, and led them to
form the design of his assassination. The generous inter¬
position of Maan ebn Zaidet, an Ommiyan chief, who had
been under the necessity of concealing himself from the
caliph’s resentment, however, defeated their intention.
This insult, received in his capital, induced him to build
the city of Bagdad, and to fix his residence there, a. d.
,762. In the preceding year a plan was formed to de¬
throne him ; but it being discovered, he severely punished
all who were either directly or indirectly concerned in it.
He set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca in the year 774, and
being seized on the road with a dangerous disease, he
sent for his son and intended successor Al Mohdi, and
gave him some salutary advice. “ I command you,” said
he, “ to treat publicly your relations with the greatest
marks of distinction, since this conduct will reflect no
small degree of honour and glory upon yourself. Increase
A L M 533
the number of your freedmen, and treat them with all Almaraz
kindness, as they will be of great service to you in your II
adversity; but neither this nor the other injunction will Alme'-
you fulfil. Enlarge not that part of your capital erected on'^~v~v^/
the eastern bank of the Tigris, as you will never be able
to finish it; but this work I know you will attempt. Never
permit any of your women to intermeddle in affairs of
state, or to have any influence over your councils; but
this advice I know you will not take. These are my last
commands; or, if you please, my dying advice; and to
God I now recommend you.” In parting they both gave
vent to their feelings in a flood of tears. He pursued his
journey to Bir-Maimun, i. e. the well of Maimun, where
he died in the 63d year of his age and 20th of his reign.
His remains were interred at Mecca.
ALMARAZ, a town of Spain, in the province of Old
Castile. It is on the north bank of the Tagus, where the
road from Badajos divides into two branches, the one pro¬
ceeding towards Madrid, the other towards Plasencia and
Ciudad Rodrigo. The destruction of the bridge over the
Tagus was one of the most brilliant actions of the late
war.
ALMARIC, the name of a tenet broached in France
by one Almaric, in the year 1209. It consisted in affirm¬
ing that every Christian was actually a member of Christ,
and that without this faith no one could be saved. His
followers went farther, and affirmed that the power of the
Father lasted only during the continuance of the Mosaic
law; that the coming of Christ introduced a new law;
that at the end of this began the reign of the Holy Ghost;
and that now confession and the sacraments were at an
end, and that every one is to be saved by the internal
operation of the Holy Spirit alone, without any external
act of religion. Their morals were as infamous as
their doctrine was absurd. Their tenets were condemned
by a public decree of the council of Sens, in the year 1209.
ALMAZAN, a Spanish town upon the Douro, in the
province of Soria. It contains four monasteries, one hos¬
pital, and 2000 inhabitants.
ALMAZARRON, a town of Murcia in Spain, on the
coast of the Mediterranean. In its vicinity is found a
fine red earth without any mixture of sand, called alma-
gri, which is very much valued by the polishers of mirrors,
and is mixed with all the snuff in the royal manufactory
of Seville. This production is supposed by Bowles to be
of volcanic origin.
ALME, or Alma, singing and dancing girls in Egypt,
who, like the Italian Improvisatori, can occasionally pour
forth “ unpremeditated verse.” They are called Alme,
from having received a better education than other wo¬
men. They form a celebrated society in that country.
To be received into it, according to M. Savary, it is ne¬
cessary to have a good voice, to understand the language
well, to know the rules of poetry, and be able to compose
and sing couplets on the spot, adapted to the circumstan¬
ces. The Alme know by heart all the new songs. Their
memory is furnished with the most beautiful tales. There
is no festival without them, no entertainment of which
they do not constitute the ornament. They are placed
in a rostrum, from whence they sing during the repast.
They then descend into the saloon, and form dances which
have no resemblance to ours. They are pantomime bal¬
lets, in which they represent the usual occurrences of
life. The mysteries of love, too, generally furnish them
with scenes. The suppleness of their bodies is incon¬
ceivable. One is astonished at the mobility of their fea¬
tures, to which they give at pleasure the impression suit¬
ed to the characters they play. The indecency of their
attitudes is often carried to excess.
534 A L M
Almehrab The common people have also their Alme. They are
li , girls of the second class, who try to imitate the former;
Almena. |jU|. they have neither their elegance, their graces, nor
their knowledge. They are everywhere to be met with.
The public places and the walks about Grand Cairo are
full of them. As the populace require allusions still more
strongly marked, decency forbids us to relate the licen¬
tiousness of their gestures and attitudes.
ALMEHRAB, in the Mahometan customs, a niche in
their mosques, pointing towards the kebla or temple of
Mecca, to which they are obliged to bow in praying.
ALMEIDA, a strong fortress of Portugal, in the pro¬
vince of Beira. It is situated between the rivers Coa and
the Duas Casas, which forms a branch of the Agueda.
The capture of it by the duke of Wellington, after it had
fallen into the hands of the French, was deemed one of
the most brilliant exploits of the peninsular war. It is
about four leagues from the Spanish fortress of Ciudad
Rodrigo. It is well fortified, though till the late war it
• was not considered so important as it was then deemed.
The Spanish engineers did not estimate it as a defence to
Lisbon, but merely covering the province of Beira, into
which, according to their judgment, a Spanish army ought
never to attempt to penetrate. This place contains 550
houses, 2750 inhabitants, an hospital, one monastery, one
church, and a poor-house.
ALMEISAR, a celebrated game among the ancient
Arabs, performed by a kind of casting of lots with arrows,
strictly forbidden by the law of Mahomet, on account of
the frequent quarrels occasioned by it. The manner of
the game was thus: A young camel being brought and
killed, was divided into a number of parts. The adven¬
turers, to the number of eleven, being met, eleven ar¬
rows were provided without heads or feathers; seven
of which were marked, the first with one notch, the se¬
cond with two, the third with three, &c.; the other four
had no marks. These arrows were put promiscuously into
a bag, and thus drawn by an indifferent person. Those
to whom the marked arrows fell, won shares in proportion
to their lot; the rest, to whom the blanks fell, were en¬
titled to no part of the camel, but obliged to pay the
whole price of it. Even the winners tasted not of the
flesh themselves more than the losers, but the whole was
distributed among the poor.
ALMELO, an arrondissement containing six cantons
and 57,241 inhabitants, in the province of Overyssel, in the
Netherlands.
Almelo, a city, the capital of the circle of the same
name in Holland. It contains 4662 inhabitants, subsisting
chiefly by different branches of the linen manufacture.
ALMENE, in Commerce, a weight of two pounds, used
to weigh saffron in several parts of the continent of the
East Indies.
ALMERIA, a city of Spain, in the province of Gra¬
nada, in Andalusia. It is situated on a rocky promontory
near Cape de Gat, and from the strength of the port was
deemed by the Moorish kings of Granada the most
valuable of their fortresses and commercial ports; from
whence their cruisers overawed the Catalans and Italians,
and the merchants conveyed their various merchandise
to Africa, Egypt, and Syria. In its vicinity are found
sapphires, cornelians, jaspers, agates, and other precious
stones. Near it is the Sierra de Gador, a most enormous
mass of marble, whose top rises above the level of the sea
to the height of more than 7500 feet, and is covered with
snow three quarters of the year. Almeria is the see
of a bishop, and has a splendid cathedral. This place
contains 7200 inhabitants. There are here manufactories
of tar and saltpetre. Long. 1. 44. 54. W. Lat. 36. 51. N.
A L M
ALMEYDA, Don Francis, was the son of the count Aim
d’Abrantes, a grandee of Portugal, who served with great I
distinction in the war of Ferdinand of Castile with Gra-
nada; and in consequence of his important services he he<
became highly esteemed in the court of his sovereign.'^
Without any solicitation on his part he was nominated
the first governor-general and viceroy of the newly con¬
quered countries in the East Indies, and set sail from Lis¬
bon in March 1505-6 with a powerful fleet. To give dig¬
nity and influence to his elevated station, a body of guards
was appointed to attend his person, several chaplains were
assigned to him, together with every other appendage of
grandeur. He touched at the Cape Verde islands, doubled
the cape at a considerable distance to the south, and ar¬
rived at Guiloa. From thence he proceeded to Mombaza,
a well-fortified city in an island, which he reduced, and
proceeded to the Angediva islands, not far from Goa,
where he built a fort: he likewise erected and garrisoned
another fort at Cananore, and arriving at Cochin, he se¬
cured it to the Portuguese interest. The island of Mada¬
gascar was discovered during his government; and his
son Don Lorenzo first surveyed the Maidive islands, and
about the same time discovered the fine island of Ceylon,
the principal sovereign of which he brought under sub¬
mission to the crown of Portugal. Returning from this
expedition, while employed in the fleet destined against
Calicut, he lost his life in a sea-fight against the Zamorin.
His father sustained his loss with an heroic firmness, saying
that “ Lorenzo could not die better than in the service of
his country.” On the arrival of Alphonso d’Albuquerque,
who was destined to be his successor, Almeyda yielded to
the impressions of jealousy; and under the pretence of
misconduct he confined him in the citadel of Cananore.
He engaged in 1508 the whole force of the Mahometans
in the port of Diu; and, gaining a complete victory, fa¬
cilitated the enterprises of Albuquerque his successor, by
contributing to break that formidable league by which the
Zamorin was in hopes of being able to compel the Portu¬
guese to abandon their Indian conquests. Returning
home with the great riches which he had acquired, he
unfortunately touched at Saldanha Point, on the coast of
Africa, where some of the sailors, in quest of water, quar¬
relled with the natives, who attacked and drove them to
their ships. With a view to revenge this pretended af¬
front, they persuaded Almeyda himself to go ashore, with
a body of 150 men, armed only with swords and lances.
While stepping into the boat, Almeyda exclaimed, “ Whi¬
ther do you carry my 60 years ?” The Portuguese fu¬
riously rushed on to attack the natives, whose numbers
were greatly augmented; and Almeyda, with fifty-seven
of his men, was killed in this rash and unprovoked at¬
tempt.
ALMIGGIM. See Almuggim.
ALMISSA, a small but strong town at the mouth of
the Cetina, in Dalmatia, famous for its piracies; 16 miles
east of Spalatro. Long. 18. 14. E. Lat. 43. 56. N.
ALMOHEDES, the name of a dynasty, which, in the
commencement of the twelfth century, succeeded that of
the Almoravides in Barbary. It derived its name from an
obscure founder called A1 Mohedi, or A1 Mohedes, and it
rose into public notice in the 25th year of the reign of A1
Abraham, or Brahem, who succeeded his father Ali, a. d.
1115. This person was a Bereber, and was a famous
preacher of the tribe of Muzamada, which was settled
along Mount Atlas. His scheme was formed with in¬
genuity, and executed with unremitting activity. In
order to obtain attention and success, he assumed the
title of Mohdi or Mohedi, and claimed the honour of
leader of the orthodox, or Unitarians; and by his preach-
A L M
ing they became so numerous, that he even dared to set
3. the royal power at defiance. Confident of security, and
^immersed in pleasure, Brahem looked with a contemptu¬
ous eye upon the insurrection of a party composed of
such persons. They increased in number and strength,
so that the king was at last roused from his indolence,
and prepared for his own security and their subjection.
In the first engagement he was defeated, being over¬
powered by superior numbers. The artful Abdallah took
possession of the capital, so that Brahem, pursued as
a fugitive by Abdolmumen, one of the party, sought re¬
fuge in the city of Fez. The gates were shut against him,
but they were opened to admit his pursuers. He next
took refuge in the city of Auran, or Oran; but he v/as
pursued by Abdolmumen, who threatened to destroy the
city with fire and sword; and the magistrates, unable to
defend themselves, urged him to leave the town, and pro¬
vide for his own safety. Concealed by the darkness of
the night, he escaped with his favourite wife on horse¬
back behind him; but being closely pursued by the ene¬
my, rather than fall into their hands he rushed over
a precipice, and, along with his wife, was dashed to
pieces. Such was the death of this prince, which put a
final period to the empire of the Almoravides. When the
death of Brahem was known, Abdolmumen was chosen by
the chiefs of that party his successor, and proclaimed
king of the Almohedes, under the title of A1 Emir Al
Mumin Abdallah Mohammed Abdal Mumin Ebn Ab¬
dallah Ibni Ali, i. e. Chief or Emperor of the true Be¬
lievers of the house of Mohammed Abdal Mumin, the
son of Abdal Mumin, the son of Abdallah, of the li¬
neage of Ali. Abdallah, during his reign, enacted pru¬
dential laws for the establishment of his new kingdom,
and the regulation of the conduct of his followers. He
appointed a council of forty of his disciples, all of whom
were preachers. Some of these were commissioned to re¬
gulate all public affairs; and at proper seasons they went
forth as itinerant preachers, for the purpose of strengthen¬
ing their party and spreading their doctrines, and sixteen
of their number acted as secretaries. As both the regal
and pontifical dignities were united in the same per¬
son, the king was chosen from both of these two classes.
The disciples of this sect were denominated Mohameddin,
or Ali Mohaddin; but the Arabian writers only style
them preachers, and the Spanish Al Mohedes. The de¬
scendants and successors of that tribe continued to retain
the appellation of Emir Al Mumenin, or chiefs of the
faithful believers, as long as their dynasty lasted; and
they became very powerful both in Africa and Spain. By
their invectives against the tyranny of the Almoravides,
and their loud clamours for liberty, they induced the
greater part of the kingdom to revolt, and to embrace
their religious doctrines. The chief thing in them was
their specious pretence to orthodoxy, and strict adherence
to the unity of the Godhead, which they inculcated with
the greatest zeal and diligence.
On his accession to power, the new sovereign extirpat¬
ed all the unhappy remains and steady adherents of this
race, by strangling Isaac the son of Brahem. The Almo¬
ravides governor, taking advantage of the general tumult
and distraction that prevailed, constituted their govern-
aients into independent principalities and petty king¬
doms ; and they who inhabited the mountainous parts
established, under their own sheiks, a variety of lordships.
The Libyans and Nubians took the lead; and the states
of Barbary, Tripoli, Kairwan, Tunis, Algiers, Tremecen,
and Bujeiah, followed their example. Abdolmumen,
however, successfully pursued his conquests; and in a
few years he reduced to his subjection the Numidians
A L M 535
and Galatians in the west, and the kingdoms of Tunis, ALmon-
Tremecen, and the greater part of Mauritania and Tin- bury
gitana. He expelled the Christians of Mohedia, the II
chief city of Africa, and some others on the same coast •
and likewise made conquests both in Spain and Portugal!
He died in the seventh year of his reign, and was suc¬
ceeded, a. d. 1156, by his son Yusef or Joseph. Yusef
proved a valiant and martial prince, and in his military
court he first established the kings of Tunis and Bujeiah
in their respective dominions, as his tributaries and vas¬
sals; and then by earnest solicitation he embarked for
Spain to assist the Moorish princes. Yakub or Jacob, or
the Conqueror, succeeding him, after providing for his
own safety against the revolted and plundering Arabs,
pursued his conquests with such success, that he soon
became master of the whole country lying between Nu-
midia and the entire length of the Barbary coasts, from
Tripoli to the boundaries of the kingdom of Morocco ; and
thus he was acknowledged as sovereign by most of the
Arabian Moorish princes in his Spanish dominions. He
also extended his territory above 1200 leagues in length,
and 480 in breadth. The remaining part of the history
of this prince is involved in obscurity. About the year
1206 he quelled a revolt in Morocco, but violated his
faith with the governor of the capital, which he reduced,
and in a cruel and perfidious manner extirpated all his
adherents. Touched, it is said, with remorse, he disap¬
peared, and, according to report, wandered about obscure
and unknown, until he died in the humble condition of a
baker at Alexandria. His son Mohammed, surnamed Al
Naker, succeeded his father ; and, on his accession to the
crown, he passed over into Spain with an immense army
of 120,000 horse and 300,000 foot, and engaging the
whole force of the Christians on the plains of Tolosa, re¬
ceived a total defeat, with the loss of above 150,000 foot,
30,000 horse, and 50,000 prisoners. According to Spanish
and other historians, this fiynous battle was fought in
617, a. d. 1220; but according to the Arabian writers, it
was in the year of the Hegira 609, a. d. 1212. Return¬
ing home to Africa, he was received with coldness and
disgust by his subjects, on account of his defeat; and
soon after died of vexation, having appointed his grandson
Zeyed Arrax his successor. A descendant of the Abdol-
wates, ancient monarchs of the kingdom, named Gama-
razan ebn Zeyen, of the tribe of the Zeneti, caused him
to be assassinated. With him terminated the dynasty or
government of the Almohedes, having possessed it for
about 170 years, which gave place to that of the Beni-
merini, another branch of the Zeneti. These having en¬
larged their conquests, and enriched themselves by fre¬
quent inroads, not only into the neighbouring kingdoms,
but even into Nubia, Libya, and Numidia, were at length
lost in the general prevalence of Mohammedism, after
having existed 117 years.
ALMONBURY, a township of the wapentake of Ay-
brig, in the west riding of the county of York. It is
situated on the river Calder, and had formerly a cathedral
and a strong castle. It is 186 miles distant from London,
in a manufacturing district near Huddersfield. The po¬
pulation in 1801 was 3751; in 1811, 4613; and in 1821,
5679. The whole parish of Almonbury, which includes
other townships, contained, in 1821, 23,171 inhabitants.
ALMOND, in Commerce, a measure by which the Por¬
tuguese sell their oil: 26 almonds make a pipe.
Almonds, in Anatomy, a name sometimes given to two
glands, generally called the tonsils.
Almonds, among lapidaries, signify pieces of rock-
crystal, used in adorning branch-candlesticks, &c., on ac-
countof the resemblance they bear to the fruitof that name.
536 A L M
Almond Almond Furnace, among refiners, that in which the
Furnace slags of litharge, left in refining silver, are reduced to
Almorah ^ea(^ aSa'n by the help of charcoal.
ALMONER, in its primitive sense, denotes an officer
in religious houses, to whom belonged the management
and distribution of the alms of the house. By the ancient
canons, all monasteries were to spend at least a tenth
part of their income in alms to the poor. The almoner of
St Paul’s is to dispose of the moneys left for charity, ac¬
cording to the appointment of the donors, to bury the
poor who die in the neighbourhood, and to breed up eight
boys to singing, for the use of the choir. By an ancient
canon, all bishops are required to keep almoners.
Lord Almoner, or Lord High Almoner of England,
is an ecclesiastical officer, generally a bishop, who has the
forfeiture of all deodands, and the goods offelos de se,
which he is to distribute among the poor. He has also,
by virtue of an ancient custom, the power of giving the
first disli from the king’s table to whatever poor person he
pleases, or, instead of it, an alms in money.
ALMORAH, a small but very curious and interesting
town of Hindostan, the modern capital of the province of
Kumaon. It is built on a ridge of the Himalaya Moun¬
tains, 5337 feet above the level of the sea, and consists
chiefly of a single street, about three fourths of a mile
long, and about 50 feet wide, which runs along the ridge
of the mountain, with scattered dwellings, chiefly inha¬
bited by Europeans, to the right and left hand on the de¬
scent of the hill. The main street has a gate at each
end; and Bishop Heber mentions that it reminded him,
on a small scale, of Chester. The houses all stand on a
lower story of stone, where the shops are. This is open
in front, while the upper stories are faced with a frame¬
work of wood, occasionally carved and painted, supported
on the projecting side-walls below, and surmounted by a
sloping roof of heavy grey slate, on which many of the
inhabitants pile up their hay in small stacks, as winter
provender for their cattle. The town is very neat, and
the street has a natural pavement of slaty rock, which
is kept beautifully clean. It is very strongly situated,
and is approached by a long, steep, and winding road,
which a handful of men might defend against an army.
From Almorah the vast range of the Himalaya Mountains
bounds the prospect to the north. Nundidevi, one of the
highest peaks in the world, being 25,689 feet above the
level of the sea, is within 40 miles from Almorah in a
direct line, though it is a nine days’ journey by the only
accessible road through the mountains. Almorah was
conquered in 1790 by the Ghorkhas, who were favoured
by the dissensions of the people. It was taken from
them by the British in 1815 ; and in this more recent
conquest the inhabitants were also aiding, owing to the
cruel treatment they had received from their former mas¬
ters, who were in the habit of selling, for arrears of rent,
the wives and children of the peasants into slavery.
There is an old Ghorkha citadel, which stands on a com¬
manding point of the ridge, at the eastern extremity ; and
several martello towers have been erected in peaks to the
eastward. A new citadel, named Fort Moira, has been
constructed on a small eminence at the western extremi¬
ty of the town. It is, according to Bishop Heber, very
ill contrived, and incapable of defence against a reso¬
lute enemy. The surrounding country is of a bleak and
desolate character, and there is scarcely a tree within a
circuit of four miles from the walls. The number of
houses is about 1000. Almorah is 90 miles north by
east froni the city of Bareilly, and about 106 miles tra¬
velling distance north-east from Moradabad, by the route
of the Bamoree Pass and Rampour. Long. 79. 44. E.
A L M
Lat. 29. 35. N. (Heber’s Narrative of a Journey through Aim
the Upper Provinces of India, fyc. ; Hamilton’s East In- vid['
dia Gazetteer!) rF\ j
ALMORAVIDES, the name of an Arab tribe, who
took possession of a district of Africa under the pretence
of living in retirement, that their minds might not be dis¬
tracted from the rigid observance of the precepts of the
Koran. Hence they assumed the name of Morabites
which was changed by the Spaniards into that of Almo-
ravides. Abubeker ben Omar, called by the Spanish
authors Abu Texefien, was the first chief of this tribe.
Supported by a powerful army of malcontents from the pro¬
vinces of Numidia and Libya, which was assembled by the
influence of the Morabites or Marabouts, he founded the
dynasty of the Almoravides in Barbary, in the year 1051.
Texefien was succeeded by his son Yusef or Joseph, who,
after having reduced to a state of vassalage the kingdoms
of Tremecen, Fez, and Tunis, passed over into Spain du¬
ring the time of the civil wars, vigorously repulsed the
Christians, and soon saw the greater part of the king¬
doms of Murcia, Granada, Cordova, Leon, and some parts
of Valencia, subjected to his power. He then returned
into Africa, and left his newly acquired dominions, with a
considerable army, under the government of his nephew
Mohammed. On his arrival in Africa, with a view to
prosecute and extend his conquest in Spain, he announ¬
ced, in a public declaration, a general gazie, or religious
war; assembled a numerous army, with which he em¬
barked at Ceuta; and rejoining his nephew in Andalusia,
soon laid waste that province with fire and sword.
In the year 1107, five years afterwards, he undertook
another invasion, penetrated into the kingdom of Portu¬
gal, and reduced the city of Lisbon, with a considerable
part of the kingdom. At this time he lost the cities of
Alguazir and Gibraltar, which he had formerly taken.
On his return to Barbary he was defeated at sea. This
induced him to propose a truce, which was agreed to only
on condition of his submitting to become the tributary of
the Spanish king. Indignant at these humiliating terms,
Yusef made a vow that he would never desist in his at¬
tempts till he had utterly rooted out the Christian religion
in Spain. Accordingly he made preparations for a fresh
invasion, embarked his army, and landing at Malaga,
marched into the enemy’s country. His progress was
rapid; but his measures were inconsiderately planned
and rashly executed. In the famous battle of the Seven
Counts he was indeed victorious, but after a terrible
slaughter, and the loss of a great part of his army. This
disastrous victory obliged him to return to Africa; and
he died soon after at his capital of Morocco. Ali, his
son, succeeded to the sovereignty in 1110. This prince,
who seems to have been of a less warlike disposition than
his father, neglecting his Spanish conquests, turned his
attention to the arts of peace, and erected many sumptu¬
ous buildings, and in particular the great mosque of Mo¬
rocco. Alphonso, then king of Arragon, retook from him
some considerable cities, which obliged him to undertake
an expedition to Spain in support of the Moorish princes.
But all his attempts proved unfortunate; and in his last
enterprise, though powerfully assisted by the Moorish
chiefs, with the loss of 30,000 men he was defeated and
slain by Alphonso, in the sixth year of his reign.
He was succeeded by his son A1 Abraham, who de¬
voted himself entirely to pleasure. His subjects were
harassed and oppressed with heavy taxes, which excited
discontent and open rebellion. A revolution was soon
effected, and, in the 25th year of his reign, the govern¬
ment was transferred from the tribe of the Almoravides to
the Almohedes. See Almohedes.
A li M
/ n3 ALMS, a general term for what is given out of charity
to the poor. In the early ages of Christianity, the alms
Al me- 0f the charitable were divided into four parts; one of
which was allotted to the bishop, another to the priests,
^ and a third to the deacons and subdeacons, which formed
their whole means of subsistence; the fourth part was em¬
ployed in relieving the poor, and in repairing the churches.
No religious system is more frequent or warm in its
exhortations to almsgiving than the Mahometan. The
Koran represents alms as a necessary means to make
prayer be heard. Hence that saying of one of their ca¬
liphs : “ Prayer carries us half-way to God, fasting brings
us to the door of his palace, and alms introduces us into
the presence-chamber.” Hence many illustrious examples
of this virtue among the Mahometans.
Alms also denotes lands or other effects left to churches
or religious houses, on condition of praying for the soul of
the donor. Hence
Free Alms, that which is liable to no rent or service.
Reasonable Alms, a certain portion of the estates of in¬
testate persons, allotted to the poor.
Alms Box or Chest, a small chest or coffer, called by
the Greeks K/Car/ov, wherein anciently the alms were col¬
lected, both at church and at private houses.
The alms-chest, in English churches, is a strong box,
with a hole in the upper part, having three keys, one to
be kept by the parson or curate, the other two by the
church-wardens. The erecting of such alms-chest in
every church is enjoined by the book of canons, as also
the manner of distributing what is thus collected among
the poor of the parish.
ALMUCANTARS, in Astronomy, an Arabic word, de¬
noting circles of the sphere passing through the centre of
the sun or a star, parallel to the horizon, being the same
as Parallels of Altitude.
Almucantar’s Staff is an instrument usually made of
pear-tree or box, having an arch of 15 degrees ; used to
take observations of the sun, about the time of its rising
and setting, in order to find the amplitude, and conse¬
quently the variation of the compass.
ALMUCIUM denotes a kind of cover for the head, worn
chiefly by monks and ecclesiastics. It was of a square
form, and seems to have given rise to the bonnets of the
same shape still retained in universities and cathedrals.
ALMUGGIM, Almiggim, or Almug Thee, a certain
kind of wood mentioned in the first book of Kings (x. 11),
which the Vulgate translates ligna ihyina, and the Sep-
tuagint wrought wood. The Rabbins generally render it
coral-, others, ebony, brazil, or pine. But it is observed,
that the almug tree can by no means be coral, because that
is not fit for the purposes for which the Scripture tells us
die almug tree was used, such as musical instruments,
staircases, &c. The word thyinum is a name for the citron
Jme, known to the ancients, and very much esteemed for
its sweet odour and great beauty. It came from Mauri¬
tania. The almug tree, or almuggim, or simply gummim,
taking al for a kind of article, is therefore, by the best
commentators, understood to be an oily and gummy sort
of wood, and particularly that sort of tree which pro¬
duces the gum ammoniac, which is also thought to be the
same with the shittim wood so frequently mentioned by
ALMUNECAR, a small city of the province of Grana-
a, in Spain. The soil around it is productive of all the
. epical vegetables. Sugar-canes grow as large and as
juicy as in the West Indies, the cotton is of excellent
quality, and the rum made here is deemed equal to that
o Jamaica. The harbour is good, and the entrance well
e ended; but during the long war, lately terminated, its
A L N
principal capital was employed in the productions which
Q, nnr-1C,a’ U- peace’ ^sually furnishes to Spain. It contains
H00 inhabitants. Long. 3. 54. W. Lat. 36. 42. N.
ALNAGE, or Auxnage, the measuring of woollen ma-'
nufactures with an ell. It was at first intended as a proof
of the goodness of that commodity; and accordingly a
seal was invented as a mark that the commodity was made
according to statute.
ALNAGER, Alneger, or Aulneger, signifies a
sworn public officer, who, by himself or deputy, was to
look to the assize of woollen cloth made throughout the
land, i. e. the length, width, and work thereof; and to the
seals for that purpose ordained. The office of king’s al-
nager seems to have been derived from the statute of
Richard I. a. p. 1197, which ordained that there should
be only one weight and one measure throughout the king¬
dom ; and that the custody of the assize or standard of
weights and measures should be committed to certain
persons in every city and borough. His business was, for
a certain fee, to measure all cloths made for sale, till the
office was abolished by statute 11 and 12 William III.
cap. 20.
ALNWICK, a thoroughfare town in Northumberland,
on the road to Scotland. Here Malcolm, king of Scot¬
land, making an inroad into Northumberland, was killed,
with Edward his son, and his army defeated, by Robert
Moubray, earl of this county, anno 1093. Likewise Wil¬
liam, king of Scotland, in 1174, invading England with an
army of 80,000 men, was here encountered, his army
routed, and himself made prisoner. The town is populous,
and in general well built; it has a large town-house, where
the quarter-sessions and county-courts are held, and mem¬
bers of parliament elected. It has a spacious square, in
which a market is held every Saturday. From the ves¬
tiges of a wall still visible in many parts, and three gates
which remain almost entire, Alnwick appears to have
been formerly fortified. It is governed by four chamber¬
lains, who are chosen once in two years out of a com¬
mon council, consisting of 24 members. It is ornament¬
ed by a stately old Gothic castle, the seat of the noble
family of Percy, earls of Northumberland. As the audits
for receipt of rents have ever been in the castle, it has al¬
ways been kept in tolerable repair; and not many years
ago it was repaired and beautified by the duke of North¬
umberland, who made very considerable alterations, upon
a most elegant plan, with a view to reside in it during a
part of the summer season. The manner of making free-r
men is peculiar to this place, and indeed is as ridiculous
as singular. The persons who are to be made free, or,
as the phrase is, leap the well, assemble in the market¬
place, very early in the morning, on the 25th of April,
being St Mark's day. They appear on horseback, with
every man his sword by his side, dressed in white, and
with white nightcaps, attended by the four chamberlains
and the castle bailiff, mounted and armed in the same
manner. From hence they proceed, with music playing
before them, to a large dirty pool called Freemans Well,
where they dismount, and draw up in a body, at some dis¬
tance from the water; and then rush into it all at once,
and scramble through the mud as fast as they can. As
the water is generally very foul, they come out in a dirty
condition ; but, taking a dram, they put on dry clothes, re¬
mount their horses, and ride at full gallop round the confines
of the district; then re-enter the town, sword in hand,
and are met by women dressed in ribbons, with bells and
garlands, dancing and singing. They are called timber-
wasts. The houses of the hew freemen are on this day
distinguished by a great holly bush, as a signal for their
friends to assemble and make merry with them after their
3 Y
53?
Alnage
il .
Alnwick.
1638 ALP
Aloa return. This ceremony is owing to King John, who was
II mired in this well, and who, as a punishment for not
Alp Arslan. men(jjng road, made this a part of their charter. Aln-
wick is 310 miles north by west from London, 33 north of
Newcastle, and 29 south of Berwick. Long. 1.10. W. Lat.
55. 24. N. In 1801 the population was 4719; in 1811,
5426; and in 1821, 5927.
ALOA, in Grecian Antiquity, a festival kept in honour
of Ceres by the husbandmen, and supposed to resemble
our harvest-home.
ALOGIANS, in Church History, a sect of ancient he¬
retics, who denied that Jesus Christ was the Logos, and
consequently rejected the gospel of St John. The word
is compounded of the privative a, and J-.oyoi, q. d. without
Logos or Word- Some ascribe the origin of the name, as
well as of the sect of Alogians, to Theodore of Byzantium,
by trade a currier; who having apostatized under the
persecution of the emperor Severus, to defend himself
against those who reproached him therewith, said, that it
was not God he denied, but only man. Whence his fol¬
lowers were called in Greek aXoyoi, because they rejected
the Word. But others, with more probability, suppose
the name to have been first given them by Epiphanius in
the way of reproach. They made their appearance to¬
ward the close of the second century.
ALOGOTROPHIA, among physicians, a term signi¬
fying the unequal growth or nourishment of any part of
the body, as in the rickets.
ALOOF has frequently been mentioned as a sea-term ;
but whether justly or not, we shall not presume to deter¬
mine. It is known in common discourse to imply at a dis¬
tance ; and the resemblance of the phrases keep aloof, and
keep a luff, or keep the luff, in all probability gave rise to
the conjecture. If it was really a sea-phrase originally, it
seems to have referred to the dangers of a lee-shore, in
which situation the pilot might naturally apply it in the
sense commonly understood, viz. keep all off, or quite off :
it is, however, never expressed in that manner by seamen
now.
ALOPECIA, a term used among physicians to denote
a total falling off of the hair from certain parts, occasion¬
ed either by the defect of nutritious juice, or by its vi-
tious quality corroding the roots of it, and leaving the
skin rough and colourless. The word is formed from
aXciKrrj?, vulpes, a fox, whose urine, it is said, will oc¬
casion baldness, or because it is a disease which is com¬
mon to that creature.
ALOST, a city on the river Dender, between Ghent
and Brussels, in the kingdom of the Netherlands. It con¬
tains 12,150 inhabitants, who carry on, by means of the
river, a great trade in corn, hops, and beer, and conduct
some linen and lace manufactories. Long. 0. 4. E. Lat.
50. 57. N.
ALP ARSLAN, the second sultan of the dynasty of
Seljuk, in Persia, and great-grandson of Seljuk, the founder
of the dynasty. He was born in the year 1030, of the
Hegira 421. In place of Israel, which was his original
name, he assumed that of Mohammed when he embraced
the Mussulman faith; and, on account of his military prow¬
ess, he obtained the surname Alp Arslan, which, in the
Turkish language, signifies a valiant lion. Having held the
chief command in Chorasan for ten years as lieutenant of
his uncle Togrul Beg, he succeeded him in the year 1063,
and, at the commencement of his reign, saw himself sole
monarch of Persia, from the river Amu to the Tigris.
When he assumed the reins of government, faction and
open rebellion prevailed in his dominions, in subduing
which he was ably assisted by Nadham al Molk, his vizier,
one of the most distinguished characters of his time,
ALP
whose prudence and integrity in the administration of theAlpAi
affairs of the kingdom proved of most essential service to'^v
this prince and to his successor. Peace and security being
established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of
the states; and having declared his son Malek Shah his
heir and successor, he seated him on a throne of gold, and
exacted an oath of fidelity to him from the principal offi¬
cers of the empire. With the hope of acquiring immense
booty in the rich temple of St Basil in Caesarea, the capi¬
tal of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the
Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates, and entered and
plundered that city. He then marched into Armenia
and Georgia, which, in the year 1065, he finally conquer¬
ed. In the former country the very name of a kingdom
and the spirit of a nation were totally extinguished; but
the native Georgians, who had retired to the woods and
valleys of Mount Caucasus, made a more vigorous resist¬
ance. They too, however, overpowered by the arms of
the sultan and his son Malek, were forced to submission,
and reduced to slavery. To punish them for the brave
defence which they had made, and as a badge of their hu¬
miliating condition, Alp Arslan obliged them to wear at
their ears horse-shoes of iron. Some, to escape this mark
of cruelty and ignominy, professed to embrace the religion
of Mahomet.
In the year 1068 Alp Arslan invaded the Roman em¬
pire, the seat of which was then at Constantinople. Eu-
docia, the reigning empress, saw and dreaded the progress
of his arms. To avert the threatened danger, she mar¬
ried Romanus Diogenes, a brave soldier, who was accord¬
ingly associated with her in the government, and raised to
the imperial dignity. The new emperor, during the ex¬
hausted state of their resources, sustained the Roman
power with surprising valour and invincible courage. His
spirit and success animated his soldiers in the field to act
with fortitude and firmness, inspired his subjects with
hope, and struck terror into his enemies. In three severe
campaigns his arms were victorious; and the Turks were
forced to retreat beyond the Euphrates. In the fourth he
advanced with an army of 100,000 men into the Armenian
territory, for the relief of that country. Here he was met
by Alp Arslan, with 40,000 cavalry, or, according to some
authors, a much smaller number ; and the sultan having
proposed terms of peace, which were insultingly rejected
by the emperor, a bloody and decisive engagement took
place. Alp Arslan, it is said, when he saw that a battle
was inevitable, wept at the thought that so many of his
faithful followers must fall in the struggle; and alter of¬
fering up a devout prayer, granted free permission to all
who chose it to retire from the field. Then with his own
hand he tied up his horse’s tail, exchanged his bow and
arrows for a mace and scimitar, and robing himself in a
white garment perfumed with musk, resolved to perish on
the spot unless he came off victorious. The skilful move¬
ments of the Turkish cavalry soon made an impression on
the superior numbers of the Greeks, who were thrown
into great disorder, and, after a terrible slaughter, were to¬
tally routed. Romanus, deserted by the main body of his
army, with unshaken courage kept his station, till he was
recognised by a slave, taken prisoner, and conducted into
the presence of Alp Arslan. In the T urkish divan t e
captive emperor wras commanded to kiss the ground, as a
degrading mark of submission to the power and authori V
of the sultan, who, it is said, leapt from his throne anc
set his foot on his neck. But this is scarcely probab e, o
consistent with the generous and respectful trea me
which he otherwise experienced; for the sultan mstan >
raised him from the ground, embraced him tenderly, an
assured him that his life and dignity should remain mv i
ALP
Aip rslanlate under the protection of a prince who had not forgot-
‘ ten the respect due to the majesty of his equals and the
Alpbet. vicissitudes of fortune. When the terms of his ransom
^ ^vvere about to be settled, Romanus was asked by Alp
Arslan what treatment he expected to receive. To this
question the emperor, with seeming indifference, replied,
“ If you are cruel, you will take my life ; if you follow the
dictates of pride, you will drag me at your chariot wheels ;
if you consult your interest, you will accept a ransom,
and restore me to my country.’' “ But what,” says the
sultan, “ would you have done in such circumstances ?”
“ Had I been victorious,” said the insolent Romanus, “ I
would have inflicted on thy body many a stripe.” The
conqueror smiled at the fierce and unsubdued spirit of his
captive; observed that the Christian precepts strongly
inculcated the love of enemies and the forgiveness of in¬
juries ; and, with a noble greatness of mind, declared that
he would never imitate an example which he disapproved.
A ransom of a million, an annual tribute of 3000 pieces of
gold, an intermarriage between the families, and the deli¬
verance of all the captive Mussulmans in the power of the
Greeks, were at last agreed to as the terms of peace and
the liberty of the emperor. Romanus was now dismissed
loaded with presents, and respectfully attended by a mi¬
litary guard. But the distracted state of his dominions,
the consequence of a revolt of his subjects, precluded him
from fulfilling the terms of the treaty, and remitting the
stipulated price of his ransom. The sultan seemed dis¬
posed to favour and support the declining fortunes of his
ally; but the defeat, imprisonment, and death of Roma¬
nus interrupted the accomplishment of his generous, or
rather ambitious, design.
At this time the dominion of Alp Arslan extended over
the fairest part of Asia; 1200 princes, or sons of princes,
surrounded his throne; and 200,000 soldiers were ready
to execute his commands. He now meditated a greater
enterprise, and declared his purpose of attempting the
conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of his ancestors.
After great preparations for the expedition, he marched
with a powerful army, and arrived at the banks of the
Oxus. Before he could pass the river with safety, it was
necessary to gain possession of some fortresses in its vici-
ALP
539
Alpha
nity, one of which was for several days vigorously de¬
fended by the governor, Joseph Cothual, a Carizmian. II
He was, however, obliged to surrender, and was carried a A1phabet
prisoner before the sultan, who, being enraged at his ob-^~v^x“
stinacy and presumption, addressed him in very reproach¬
ful terms. Joseph replied with so much spirit, that he
roused the resentment of Alp Arslan, and was command¬
ed instantly to be fastened by the hands and feet to four
stakes, to suffer a painful and cruel death. Joseph, on
hearing this sentence, became furious and desperate ; and
drawing a dagger which he had concealed in his boots,
rushed towards the throne to stab the sultan. The guards
raised their battle-axes, and moved forward to defend
their sovereign; but Alp Arslan, the most expert archer
of his age, checking their zeal, forbade them to advance,
and drew his bow: his foot slipped, and the arrow missed
Joseph, who rushed forward, and plunging his dagger in
the breast of the sultan, was himself instantly cut in
pieces. The wound proved mortal, and the sultan ex¬
pired a few hours after he received it, in the year 1072.
ALPHA, the name of the first letter of the Greek al¬
phabet, answering to our A. As a numeral, it stands for
one, or the first of any thing. It is particularly used
among ancient writers to denote the chief or first man of
his class or rank. In this sense the word stands contra¬
distinguished from beta, which denotes the second person.
Plato was called the Alpha of the wits. Eratosthenes,
keeper of the Alexandrian library, whom some called a
Second Plato, is frequently named Beta.
Alpha is also used to denote the beginning of any
thing; in which sense it stands opposed to omega, which
denotes the end. And these two letters were made the
symbol of Christianity, and accordingly were engraven on
the tombs of the ancient Christians, to distinguish them
from those of idolaters. Moralez, a Spanish writer, ima¬
gined that this custom only commenced since the rise of
Arianism, and that it was peculiar to the orthodox, who
hereby made confession of the eternity of Christ; but
there are tombs prior to the age of Constantine whereon
the two letters were found, besides that the emperor just
mentioned bore them on his labarum before Arius ap¬
peared.
ALPHABET.
1l\/rE have received the word Alphabet immediately from
' the Latin, alphabetum, for which substantive, how¬
ever, there is no better authority in that language than
the writings of Tertullian and St Jerome. The more
classical Juvenal writes, “ Hoe discunt omnes ante alpha et
Uta puellce” which is literally, “ girls learn this before
their A, B, C.” We do not find the word in Greek.
Athenoeus uses the adjective araX^>a/3)jrof to signify a man
who does not know the first tw'o letters; and it is from
these two letters that our word alphabet is evidently de¬
rived. Whatever the subsequent arrangement may be,
the letters A and B stand at the beginning of a great
number of alphabets. The ordinary definition of the
word is a table or list of characters, which are the signs
ot particular sounds. Mathematicians have amused them¬
selves by calculating the number of combinations which
way be made of these signs or sounds. Tacquet, accord-
lng to Harris, writes thus: “ Mille milliones scriptorum
mille annorum millionibus non scribent omnes 24 litterarum
olphabeti permutationes, licet singuli qaotidie absolverent 40
paginas, quorum unaqvueque contineret diversos ordines li-
terarum 24.” We may doubt, perhaps, whether this pomp
of numbers will give any very clear notion even to a mathe¬
matician ; but the passage shows, that for any practical pur¬
pose the combinations of elementary sounds, and conse¬
quently the number of words, may well be considered infi¬
nite. The consideration of the peculiar sets of combina¬
tions which constitute, at least in part, what is called the
genius of a language, would be a curious inquiry, that has
received but little attention; but it does not belong to this
head. It has been asserted that the words of no two lan¬
guages are respectively so unlike as the words in the same
language are to themselves, and to one another when
read backwards; but this consideration also, of whatever
value it be, rather appertains to language itself than to
the elements of which it is composed.
When we read the volumes of Lord Monboddo on the ori¬
gin of language, we know not whether to laugh more at his
countless absurdities and boundless credulity, or to wonder
at his ingenuity and learning. Many other works have been
composed on the same subject, less ridiculous and less ad¬
mirable, but equally unsuccessful in clearing up the diffi-
540
ALPHABET.
Alphabet, culties which they sought to solve. The attempt which is
sometimes made to illustrate the invention of writing by
that of language, proves invariably to be an impotent ef¬
fort to explain one unknown thing by another. The in¬
vention of alphabetic writing is in truth an inexplicable
mystery; we cannot touch it in any way, or approach it
on any side. As this opinion is contrary to the common¬
ly received notions, we will briefly state our reasons for
adopting it.
It is generally believed that certain steps may be ob¬
served, by means of which we are able to trace the
gradual progress of the invention. These are the songs
and rude drawings of savages, and some simple contriv¬
ances for preserving the memory of numbers by beads
and similar devices; but especially the Egyptian hierogly¬
phics, the Chinese characters, and certain alphabets that
are said to be syllabic. Learned men have thought fit to
assert that there once was a time when no nation was
able to write; but they are unable to bring any proof of
this assertion, and the evidence of history seems to con¬
tradict it. They tell us that men composed songs and
ballads to preserve the remembrance of past events, and
used paintings and knots to assist the memory. We
know that some nations who are unacquainted with
letters use these artifices; and we can readily believe
that five beads on a string may represent five men, or
five days, or five )rears, but such a memorial has no con¬
nection with writing. We know, moreover, that in times
when writing is universal, ballads are made and sung, and
paintings are produced; and a person who is unwilling to
forget an engagement sometimes ties a knot on his poc¬
ket-handkerchief. Those who can write often avail them¬
selves of other aids ; and those who cannot, have been ob¬
liged in all ages to do as well as they can without. It is
manifest that we shall not be able to find any firm ground
for placing the first step amongst the operations of sava¬
ges. In common with their civilized brethren, they have
the desire to remember certain events ; but they have not
done any thing to advance the peculiar means of which
we treat.
The learned president Goguet, in his instructive and
popular work, De l' Origine desLoix, des Arts, et des Sciences,
discourses at some length and with much ability of the
invention of writing. Having mentioned the substitutes
which are adopted by savages, he brings forward the
Egyptian hieroglyphics thus : “ We have been a long time
in error as to the first use of hieroglyphics : men believed
that the Egyptian priests invented them for the purpose
of hiding their knowledge from the vulgar, but it is through
want of attention that they have been thus deceived.
We may easily satisfy ourselves, that at the beginning
they only employed hieroglyphics to hand down and
make known their laws, their usages, and their history.
Nature and necessity, not choice, have produced the
different kinds of hieroglyphic writing. It is an im¬
perfect and defective invention, suitable to the igno¬
rance of the first ages: it was through want of the know¬
ledge of letters that the Egyptians had recourse to them.
If this nation had found out alphabetic writing before,
they would have been too sensible of its advantages to
employ any other. The mistake concerning hieroglyphics
has come from the Greeks. They were only acquainted
with the Egyptians in much later times. This people had
then the use of alphabetic characters. The ancient me¬
thod of writing in hieroglyphics had been neglected by
the mass of the nation ; but the Egyptian priests, who, ac¬
cording to the custom of all the learned men of antiquity,
were only concerned about the means of hiding their
learning, retained the hieroglyphic writing as a fit veil Alph
to hide the knowledge of what they did not choose to^*
divulge. It is thus that, after the discovery of alphabetic
writing, hieroglyphics became in Egypt a secret and
mysterious kind of writing.” It is plain that a sensible
and learned man here speaks too positively about matters
which no one can know. If the Greeks, who were ac¬
quainted with the Egyptians, although in later times, are
mistaken, how can we, who only know the Egyptians
through their report, venture to correct them ? “ But
how did they arrive at this discovery ?” The president
afterwards candidly asks, “ how did they pass from hiero¬
glyphics, and even from syllabic writing, to alphabetic
characters ?” (It would not have been difficult to have pass¬
ed from syllabic writing if it had ever existed.) “ This is
not easy to imagine. Hieroglyphics and syllabic writing
certainly have no connection with the letters of the alpha¬
bet.” (The latterundoubtedly has, for it represents sounds.)
“ It was necessary, then, to change entirely the nature of
the signs which were used. In vain shall we have recourse
to the writers of antiquity to clear up this question. They
do not show us in what manner these singular transitions
could have been made. We may conjecture that the
abridged marks of hieroglyphic writing, of which I have
spoken above, conducted to the still more abridged method
of alphabetic letters, which by their different combina¬
tions express all the articulations of the voice in a simple
and easy manner. This conjecture becomes very proba¬
ble. When we cast our eyes upon the alphabets of some
ancient nations, the letters which compose them appear,
both by their forms and their names, to have been taken
from hieroglyphic signs. If we compare with attention
what remains of the Egyptians with the hieroglyphic
figures engraved on the obelisks and other monuments,
we shall perceive that the Egyptian letters derive their
origin from the hieroglyphics.” “ The Ethiopic alphabet,
and the majuscule letters of the Armenians, also supply
proofs of wffiat I advance: we find there very distinct
traces of the ancient hieroglyphic character.” We know
not what he means by “ the ancient Egyptian characters,”
unless it be the Coptic alphabet, which is posterior to and
derived from the Greek, as Plate XXL demonstrates. It
showrs also the Ethiopic letters, and the ordinary Arme¬
nian, which are not ancient: still less are the majuscules
or capitals: the latter are undoubtedly formed in the
shape of animals, &c.; but they are like the illuminated
letters that were used as initials in the middle ages.
These certainly were not taken from hieroglyphics, but
were designed for ornament; and so is it likewise with
the majuscules of the Armenians, which were a very late
invention ; and it is matter of history, and not of conjec¬
ture, that they were taught them by the Greeks. It is
very doubtful whether the paintings of the Mexicans, of
which some writers have treated largely, had any connec¬
tion with writing, or w ere intended for any thing but pic¬
tures ; in truth nothing is known about them, and we may
at once dismiss them as having no relation to the subject.
The hieroglyphics appear to be related to the alpha¬
bet ; and as they are very extraordinary in themselves,
and have received much attention from the learned, we
must speak somewhat fully of them; although they will
not enable us to trace any transition or progress towards
alphabetic writing, which is perfect and complete wher¬
ever it exists, the instances usually adduced of imperfect
and incipient writing being in our opinion entirely un¬
founded ; and it is an unwarranted assumption, that the
Egyptian hieroglyphics preceded the use of the letters ot
the alphabet, of which there is no proof, whatever testi-
A L P H
■ | )6ti mony exists being to the contrary. In every generation
there have been a few gifted interpreters, who have pro¬
fessed that they were able to read the hieroglyphics; nor
have these been wanting in our own times. The expedition
of the French to Egypt, and especially the discovery of the
famous Rosetta stone, which, the late Dr Young declares,
was an ample compensation for all that the two armies suf¬
fered, gave a powerful impulse to these studies. It had
been observed on the Egyptian monuments, that clusters
of figures were often included in a ring, scroll, or cartouch;
and it was deemed expedient that these should represent
proper names. To meet the exigency of the case the
Phonetic system was devised, which is briefly this: if we
suppose that the scroll contains a dog, an ass, and a yew-
tree, the initials of the three words are taken, and they
form the word Day; and this by the hypothesis is a proper
name ; and we may infer, if we please, that Potiphar had
read Sandford and Merton, and was greatly delighted with
that excellent work. The language, however, in which
the objects that supply the initials are to be named, is not
English, but Coptic; but the results, we shall see, are pre¬
cisely the same. Let us assume that the figure of a bird
denotes A; since the engraving is not executed with the
exquisite accuracy of a Bewick, it may be an albatross, a
buzzard, a crow, a duck, an eagle—any bird, in short, in
the Coptic vocabulary, and any letter in the alphabet; and
so with the tree, which stands for B ; it may be an apple,
a beech, a cedar, or any arborescent vegetable whatever:
and, as if this were not loose enough, each letter has seve¬
ral visible objects, each of which may be made to run the
gauntlet of the alphabet. The number of figures contain¬
ed in the scroll, we should have imagined, would control
the length of the word, and indicate the number of the
letters; but they are relieved from that slight responsibi¬
lity thus: since every allowance ought to be made for a
scribe who writes upon granite, IITOAM. will stand for
HroAs/ia/os; or, if there be a redundancy of objects, the
superfluous letters are disposed of as symbolical, and are
classed with the goose and globe, or the goose and grid¬
iron, and some other favourite emblems. Although there
be figures enough to complete the name UToki^aiof, that
monarch, if it be not his turn, may be desired to stand
aside: any three may be chosen to spell Day, and the
other seven may be explained symbolically to signify the
author of Sandford and Merton, or any thing any body
pleases. Such is the Phonetic system, and its-results
are such also as might have been expected. Dr Young,
an ingenious and learned person, founding himself on
certain notions entertained by Warburton, proceeded with
singular zeal and activity to compass and imagine dis¬
coveries which we are not able to relate. We will only
observe briefly, that any conjecture of that prelate may
safely be presumed to be wrong; for although his energy,
learning, and acuteness, were undoubtedly great, experi¬
ence has shown, that from haste or some other cause his
views are commonly erroneous. Dr Young, being in that
vein, of course went on from discovery to discovery, being
guided by that warm fancy which usually attends real
talent; and, as is ever the case on such occasions, every
person who took the pains to investigate the matter found
precisely what he was looking for and most desired : no one
was ever disappointed. MM. Champollion-Figeac, Syl->
vestre de Sacy, D’Akerblad, and many other foreigners,
learned to read,—to run and read. The hieroglyphics
were as legible when they rode by the obelisks as the
names over our shops. Our own countrymen ran a
height career of glory. Mr W. J. Bankes, Mr Salt, and
nthers saw immediately strong confirmations. Even Mr
ABET. 54i
George Grey, a very estimable young gentleman, who Alphabet,
took a little trip to Egypt in the season, according to the^-^^'**^
fashion, crept into the great pyramid and out again, saw
every thing, bought a charming pair of mummies, a cock
and a hen, cut them open, and found, without knowing
it, the “ ring of Polycrates,” as Dr Young says, and pei>
haps also that of Hans Carvel. He found a Greek
translation, it is said, of a manuscript, which had re¬
cently been brought from Egypt to Paris. The origi¬
nal was in the Enchorial character, and the translation
showed that it was a sale of land. It was, moreover,
duly registered and probably stamped; but that we are
not told. That a landowner should go to bed with his
title-deeds in his stomach, that the muniments of the de¬
ceased should be buried with him, ought to astonish us,
even in an age of discovery. It shows, however, the per¬
fection of the enchorial registration in Egypt, that the
settlement was buried with the first tenant for life who
died; and it will be a wholesome example to our law-
commissioners, who are about to introduce registration in
England, and an admonition to make the public title so
complete, that all private securities may safely be dispen¬
sed with. The papyrus which Mr George Grey brought
from Egypt refers, however, not to the hieroglyphics,
but to the characters called enchorial, which are the
second in order of the three inscriptions on the Rosetta
stone. They seem to be alphabetic, although no one has
been able hitherto to make out the alphabet. It is hard
indeed to imagine, that there ever was any writing which
was not alphabetic. Efforts have been made to interpret
these also, but after turning over a few pages of the in¬
terpretation, the reader is disposed to say to the inter¬
preter, “ if you are permitted to read an inscription either
backwards or forwards, to consider the letters as imper¬
fectly formed, to select them from any alphabet that will
suit your purpose, to turn them round or invert them, to
supply, and amend, and reject at pleasure, to take any
form of any word in any language you choose, and to make
great allowances for barbarism, ignorance, foreign spell¬
ing, and so forth,—if you may do all these things, and
cannot find your own name, your mother’s, and mine, in
any writing whatever, you certainly are not fit to decipher
enchorial characters.” The hieroglyphics which the accom¬
plished Dr Young and his admiring disciples, whether
foreign or domestic, were unable to read or to reconcile
with their hypotheses, they boldly declared, after the
usage of interpreters, to be spurious, and said that they
had been negligently and unskilfully sculptured at Rome,
in imitation of the Egyptian manner. They speak with
as much confidence about a good and a bad style in
hieroglyphic inscriptions, as if they were critics writing
in the Egyptian Review, if we can fancy that such a
periodical existed under the Pharaohs or Ptolemies, and
deciding, in a summary manner and without appeal, on
the literary merits of the new obelisks and pyramids
as they appeared. So intolerant were they of the claims
of what Dr Young in his first zeal termed “ an exorbi¬
tant antiquity,” that they condemned as forgeries some
of the finest and most admired of the Egyptian monu¬
ments. But such aggressions upon the reverential feel¬
ings of mankind being likely to provoke retaliation, and
to endanger the theory, they devised an ingenious ex¬
pedient, and found, under the more modern scrolls, con¬
taining the names of Ptolemies or Roman emperors, the ves¬
tiges of more ancient scrolls comprehending those of older
and native princes which had been erased to make way for
the usurpers. Some of these, it is said, have been deci¬
phered. And since it has been the fashion to discover the
542
ALPHABET.
Alphabet.names of the ancient kings of Egypt, many buildings
have been restored to their original rank, and almost
every scroll decided to stand in the place of one that
had been obliterated. We would recommend some of
the most sharp-sighted of these antiquaries to look well
if there be not a third and older name under the second,
that even “ exorbitant antiquity” may once more be taken
into favour. Mr Salt, in his Essay on the Phonetic Sys¬
tem of Hieroglyphics, shows, that even in the symbolical
department, which of course must be the most lax, it is
necessary to humour the theory a good deal. This zealous
convert speaks thus of Horapollo : “ Having so often quot¬
ed this author, I may here state, that though I am con¬
vinced, for numerous reasons, that the first book and part
of the second are written by a person perfectly acquainted
with Egyptian hieroglyphics, yet so am I perfectly persuad¬
ed that the remainder is a vile interpolation, excepting per¬
haps the three or four last hieroglyphics, which seem to
have been reserved from the original work, and placed at
the end, more effectually to deceive the reader.” This is
very like choosing so much of a writer as will serve a fa¬
vourite purpose, and rejecting the rest. It is unnecessary,
however, to pursue this part of the subject farther. If we
admit that the discovery of the phonetic system was very
admirable ; that it is demonstrated clearly, it may be ma¬
thematically ; that the examples have been adduced with
perfect candour and fairness; that it will afford much
valuable illustration to the history of Egypt; and that it
is madness, or even a crime, to doubt its truth and import¬
ance : if we concede all this, and more, it will not assist
us in discovering the origin of the alphabet. The phone¬
tic system is essentially alphabetic; tbe bird, and the
tree, and the other figures within the scroll, are not hiero¬
glyphics, but letters : they represent sounds. It is not a
transition from hieroglyphics to letters: it is not a step
in advance ; but, if it be a step, it is assuredly a step back¬
wards ; for it is merely the substitution of clumsy and
ambiguous letters for others that were simple and certain.
The dog, the ass, and the yew-tree do not represent the
author of Sandford and Merton symbolically or hierogly-
phically. That ingenious person had not any of the pro¬
perties peculiar to these objects. The three figures are an
awkward manner of writing the three letters that com¬
pose his name, and any other object might be agreed up¬
on to denote the same letters without reference to the
initials, which could only have been chosen to assist the
memory. A man, a woman, and a child would of course
spell Day, if it were understood that a man was in the
place of d, and the other figures of the other letters.
Thus every one might compose at pleasure innumerable
phonetic systems.
There is no foundation for the assertion of the pre¬
sident Goguet, and of other learned men, that the Egyp¬
tian hieroglyphics preceded the invention of alphabetic
writing: whatever testimony exists is to the contrary.
It is vain to argue that it is improbable any persons
would use such cumbrous and inconvenient writing af¬
ter they had experienced the advantages of a simple
and convenient method ; for there is abundant evidence,
as the learned president admits, that it was practised
long after they had become acquainted with the ex¬
cellent alphabet of the Greeks. It is not easy to un¬
derstand and to reconcile the passages in which the vari¬
ous sorts of writing that prevailed in Egypt are mention¬
ed; the enchorial, the hieratic, the sacred, the demotic, the
Ethiopic, Ac. Our limits will not permit us to comment
upon, or even to extract, the statements of Herodotus,
Clemens Alexandrinus, Porphyry, Heliodorus, and others.
The first author tells us that, unlike the Greeks, they Alp] €t
wrote from the right to the left; and Clement and Por-'^-^vO
phyry affirm that the hieroglyphics were the invention of
the priests, for the purpose of mystery and religious se¬
crecy. Our physicians write their prescriptions in an un¬
couth character, and with barbarous abbreviations, not be¬
cause they are unacquainted with the ordinary writing, but
through quackery and for concealment; and for the same
reasons the record in a court of law is made up in the
form of a carpet, or the sail of a ship; and many similar
devices, not unworthy of Tartars or Laplanders, are prac¬
tised there, and in the composition of deeds, not through
ignorance, but of design. If the hieroglyphics be in
truth writing, and history seems to declare that they are,
it is most probable that they are alphabetic ; not only be¬
cause we are told that they were invented when letters were
in use, but because it is impossible to conceive any writing
which is not such. Whether we shall ever obtain the
alphabet, is very doubtful. It is easy to imagine many
systems, but it is perhaps impossible to fix upon any. An
animal or other object might represent a letter; and
the representations might be varied according to fixed
rules; or the parts of an animal might be the letters,
and the animal itself would then be a word. There is
no end of conjectures. It is not impossible, although the
supposition has never been hazarded, that the priests wrote
in initials only, like the Roman lawyers, who, partly for
the sake of brevity, and partly and principally for conceal¬
ment, entered their forms in that manner. A Roman no¬
tary would begin a will thus ; T. I. T. L. W. A. T. &c.
“ This is the last will and testament,” &c. Apuleius sup¬
plies a curious passage, which seems to imply that the
sacred books were partly secured against profane readers
by abbreviations. “ Et injecta dextera senex comissimus
ducit me protinus ad ipsas fores aedis amplissimae; rituque
solemni apertionis celebrate ministerio, ac matutino per-
acto sacrificio, de opertis adyti profert quosdam libros,
literis ignorabilibus praenotatos: partim figuris cujusce-
modi animalium, concepti sermonis compendiosa verba sug-
gerentes ; partim nodosis et in modum rotae tortuosis, ca-
preolatimque condensis apicibus, a curiosa profanorum
lectione munita.” {Metamorph. lib. 11.) We know not
whence the Roman lawyers derived this kind of cipher or
abbreviation, of which they made much use. It was a
favourite practice likewise of the Rabbins to compose me¬
morial words of initials. We are told that the hieroglyphics
were the invention of the priests, and were connected with
religion: it is probable therefore that they contain rituals,
perhaps in an abbreviated form. The frequent repetitions
of the same characters, and the perpetual recurrence of
the same sets of characters, favour this supposition. The
frequent repetitions of the services of the church of
Rome furnished cause of complaint at the Reformation.
In the liturgies of the Greek church they are far more
remarkable. If we open any book of Greek offices, we
shall find such directions as, “ here make 60 kyries, then 30
doxas, then 30 and then 60 more kyries.” The tedi¬
ous ceremonies are infinitely protracted by such wholesale
orders. The ancient Egyptians surpassed all people, even
the Hindoos, in their addiction to religious exercises. We
may read copious details of the prodigious exertions of
the early Egyptian monks, who brought, with the com¬
mon zeal of converts, the peculiar sentiments and habits oi
their nation, amongst whom all was prayer and rite, every
thing was sacred, the whole land swarmed with gods,
we could translate a hieroglyphic inscription, we shou
probably find that it comprehended the rites to be observ¬
ed in consecrating a punt. It would direct the faithiu
A L P H
^ waterman to find the day and hour for the ceremony by
certain rules, and to prepare himself and his boat for so
many days in such a manner. At the proper hour, hav¬
ing made all previous preparations, he would be enjoined
to turn his face to the north, and to say such and such
and such prayers so many times, making certain gesticu¬
lations ; and then to turn to the south, and to say the
same, and this, that, and another, ten times as often, with
the same gestures and some others. It is easy to ima¬
gine that the shortest epitome of the formula, although
the boat was not to be used for fishing, or in a part of the
Nile where crocodiles abounded, would cover the walls of
a building as large as Westminster Hall; for if such folly
be once permitted to begin, it is perfectly impossible to
assign a reason why it should ever terminate. If such be
the treasures which are locked up in the sacred charac¬
ters, as it is most likely they are, we need not repine if
we are never permitted to find the key; for it is plain
that an authentic and faithful report of the precise words
which have been uttered in all the masses that have been
said for the repose of the souls of the departed, would be
neither an amusing nor an instructive, although a very
voluminous, pile of writing.
We have shown, we trust, that no assistance can be
derived from the hieroglyphics towards discovering the
origin of the alphabet. We will next examine, more
briefly it is true than we would, the nature of the Chi¬
nese characters, which it is pretended afford much light,
and indeed are an infallible guide to the invention
of the alphabet. Let us suppose that the tradition as
to the sound of the Greek letters, and ah that has been
written on the subject, were lost, but that we retained
all the other materials for learning Greek which we still
possess: if it were deemed expedient to study that di¬
vide language, we might still acquire it with pain and dif¬
ficulty, as we learn the Chinese ; and considering the word
aXkiii as a symbol, we should call it another ; ficus,
frog, and vqtclims, would be regarded as pictures, and re¬
membered as such; and, without reference to their origi¬
nal sound, would be named many, an ox, life, and a river.
In copying these and other words, not as sounds composed
of simple elements, but as drawings of objects, they would
doubtless be much disfigured in the course of ages; it
would even be desirable to vary their forms designedly, and
to make them as grotesque and striking as possible, to as¬
sist the memory, which would surely deserve the aid of
the compassionate. They would, moreover, be divided
into classes, according to some clumsy calculation of the
number of strokes by which they are formed, like the
Chinese characters, that they might be arranged in dic¬
tionaries. Some mythic story of the invention of the
Greek symbols would be current in Europe, as similar fa¬
bles are received in China. The ingenious persons who
occupy themselves in finding reasons to account for every
thing just as it exists, or is supposed to exist, and lavish
their admiration upon it, would indulge in raptures at
contemplating the living, moving pictures which these
symbols present. Not Cuyp himself, they would declare,
could paint such a spirited ox as is sketched out by the
image fiou$; and if the sign itoray.cs were drawn large and
black, so that the memory might seize on it through the
eye and hold it fast, it would be refreshing, they would
swear, on a sultry day to sit beside it and gaze on it; for
no stream would be so lovely as that gentle Greek river,
Qui fluit illimis, nitidis argenteus undis.
. ^ Is no light matter to learn Greek now; what would
it be under the circumstances we have supposed! When
ABET.
mankind were at last quite weary of admiring the Greek Alphabet
symbols, and of weeping over myriads of schoolboys
who had been fairly flogged to death, some great man
would at last arise, who, considering that all written
language must of necessity be alphabetic, although the
alphabet may have been lost in some cases amidst na¬
tional convulsions, would proceed patiently to analyze the
characters, not as a logician to seek for genera and species,
nor as an artist to look for exquisite touches of art, but
simply as a grammarian, to make out the letters. He
would carefully dissect a character into parts, and assign
arbitrarily to each part its sound, taking due care to make
those parts or letters vowels which occur in words in
such a manner as to render it necessary or convenient so
to consider them for the purpose of articulation. He might,
for example, call atCkcs uttak, and mKus gatek ; the harmony
of the language would be deteriorated or improved by the
change, according to the taste of the age. But when the
supposed symbols were once more restored to an alphabe¬
tic form, although entirely different sounds might have
been substituted for the ancient, it would not be more dif¬
ficult to acquire the language, than if the original alphabet
had never been lost. “ The Chinese characters, taken in
general, are, as every body knows, images and symbols,
designed to represent directly material objects, by an
imitation more or less exact, and other objects by meta¬
phors more or less ingenious. They are consequently
entirely unconnected with pronunciation, and do not stand
for any sounds. As it is necessary, however, that books
should be read aloud, they attach by convention to each
character a simple or complex syllable, which brings to
the mind, in the spoken language, the same idea as the
character in writing; but nothing in the latter denotes the
sound or the syllable, and it is very possible to understand
the one without knowing the other, and vice versa." We
quote these words from the excellent work of M. Abel
Ilemusat, entitled Recherches sur les Langues Tartares. M.
Freret, who tells the strange tale in his sensible reflections
on the Chinese writing, in the sixth volume of the Memoirs
of the Academy of Inscriptions, makes this lively remark—
“ On diroit que cette ecriture cmroit ete inventee pour des
muets, qui ignorent I usage de la parole;" and we may add,
that when we believe that the whole population of China
are dumb, then will it seem worthy of belief, which is
utterly incredible, that any kind of writing was ever de¬
vised that was not alphabetic. A person who gives from
a Greek book, without naming the words in the original
tongue, a literal translation in English, is like the man
who reads aloud Chinese writing in the spoken language
of China. He renders one language by another, and of two
languages it is possible to know the one and not the other.
Some understand English who are ignorant of Greek, and
vice versa. “ It was necessary sometimes,” M. Abel Ile¬
musat continues, “ for the Chinese to represent in writing
the proper names of persons and of places, and of new
objects and ideas. When their knowledge extended, they
found that it was impossible to invent figures sufficiently
exact, or to compose symbols sufficiently characteristic, to
denote, in such a manner that they should be recognised,
different natural objects,—quadrupeds, birds, fishes, trees,
&c. Many expedients occurred, and were successively em¬
ployed. They might take a symbol which was already
known, and make it the sign of an individual. All proper
names in China are characters of this sort. Most com¬
monly there is nothing in these characters to mark this
kind of alteration. Sometimes, however, they add to the
symbol which has been thus stripped of its original mean¬
ing, the sign of the mouth, to show tire change it has
544
ALPHABET.
Alphabet, undergone.” The sign of the mouth is precisely equivalent
to the use of the capital letter, which with us marks a pro¬
per name, and shows that Mead signifies, not a liquor, but
a physician, and Rose a man, and not a flower. Why one
man should ever have been called Mead and another Rose,
is as much a mystery as any thing in Chinese literature,
although the question has not yet provoked an elaborate
disquisition concerning the first Mead or the origin of
Roses. “ The second method is of so much consequence
in Chinese writing, that from the most ancient times it
has been accounted one of the six rules for forming
characters. It consists in taking, as in the former case, a
simple or complex symbol, and adding another, which
denotes that it signifies a tree, a bird, <Src. Almost all the
names of natural objects are thus represented by two
characters, one of which represents the genus, and the
other the species.” There is nothing peculiar in this
method—it is common to all languages. We make com¬
pound words by the union of two simple, as tea-pot,
coffee-pot; the latter word denoting the genus pot, and
the former, or rather the two together, the species. These
and similar contrivances, therefore, do not prove that there
was a transition or gradual passage from symbolic to alpha¬
betic writing. It is urged that tradesmen and ignorant
persons in China frequently use those signs indifferently
which have the same names but a different significa¬
tion, for all the several purposes of the various characters;
but this is not a step. In like manner, a boy has been
known, in endeavouring to translate “ thou shalt till” into
Latin, to have found in his dictionary “ till, donee," and to
have written down “ donecabis.” If a foreigner arrives in
China, and it is necessary to give him a name in writing,
they usually assign to him some new combination of
characters, which has no reference to the sound of his
name. It is asserted, however, that they sometimes seek
to express by their characters the sound of his name. If it
be Har-ri-son, for instance, they take the three characters
the names of which most resemble in sound the three sylla¬
bles of the proper name. This would certainly be syllabic
writing; but there is no satisfactory proof that it was ever
devised by the Chinese themselves. It would occur very
naturally to a foreigner who was familiar with alphabetic
writing, and knew something of thelanguage of the country.
The spoken language of China consists entirely of mono¬
syllables; consequently the necessity for such an expedient
could never arise, except in conjunction with foreigners
who are used to the alphabet. They could have no idea
of a syllable, as distinct from and forming part of a word ;
and the name Harrison would not be to their ears one
word of three syllables, but three separate words, each a
monosyllable. We do not wonder if the Chinese have
picked up from strangers a little instruction in reading;
we are rather astonished that, in consequence of their ad¬
diction to old customs, they have not learned more. It has
been said that the Japanese have adopted an alphabet of
syllables of this kind, consisting of as many of the Chinese
characters as are necessary to furnish it. We must with¬
hold our assent to the existence of syllabic alphabets,
until we have actually examined one that is not manifest¬
ly composed of letters. We read also that some nations
of Tartars use an alphabet constructed of Chinese charac¬
ters, either entire or mutilated. If we were to select 26
of these characters, we might of course write our own
language in the same cipher; and the only consequence
would be, that we should adopt very incommodious letters.
Musical sounds, numbers, the signs of the Zodiac, and a
few other matters of peculiar simplicity, are marked by
arbitrary symbols, which have no reference to sound, and
are understood by many nations. These examples, how- Alp}
ever, do not prove that it is possible to contrive a univer-'^-
sal character, or to invent such a language, as the written
Chinese is alleged to be. It would no doubt be a work
of considerable difficulty, but not insuperable, to analyze
the Chinese characters, and to reduce them to an alpha¬
betic form. It would probably be necessary to assign se¬
veral figures to the same letter—but this is common in
other languages—and other expedients might be needed;
but the result would facilitate immensely the acquisition
of a language rich in a prodigious number of finely
printed books. Hyde and others maintained that the
language of the Manchou Tartars, in which there exist
translations of most of the Chinese books, was, like the
written language of China, symbolic ; yet by the labours of
MM. Amyot and Langles it has been dissected into very
comfortable and legible alphabetic letters. The spoken
language of China is a vulgar, barbarous, and most im¬
perfect jargon, that has never been reduced into writing,
and has essentially no more connection with the w'ritten
language than the Welsh or the Basque. If we must
concede, contrary to reason and probability, that the
Chinese characters contain a symbolic writing which is
not alphabetic, they do not afford any assistance towards
tracing the invention of the alphabet; for there is no
proof that the Chinese, by their own means, and without
foreign aid, have advanced a single step.
The uses of the alphabet are sweet and marvellous,
and its origin, like the signification of the Egyptian
hieroglyphics, undiscovered; but its structure is usually
imperfect. It is commonly at once deficient and redun¬
dant, and the arrangement immethodical. In our own
language, for example, although we have the sounds
of the long and short vowels, we have only one cha¬
racter for each vow^el; and it is left doubtful which
sound is intended, or it is pointed out by the addition of
other letters. In ben the e is short; in bean, been, bene,
it is long, and the syllable might be spelled thus, ben. The
Greeks have a distinct character for the long and the
short e, and two for o likewise; but their alphabet is as
deficient as our own with respect to the other three
vow'els. If the Romans had used ten signs for vowels in¬
stead of five, all that difficult department of grammar which
teaches the quantity of syllables would have been super¬
seded by a simple and mechanical contrivance. Our alpha¬
bet is said to be redundant, because the one sound of c is
expressed by k, and the other by s. It is true that ch is a
peculiar sound, differing from that of sh, as cherry differs
from sherry: it is true, however, that it might be represent¬
ed by kh, if our orthographers had thought fit to ordain
it. F is said to be redundant, because we might spell
fig, phig: for we write philosopher, whilst the Italians use
jUosofo ; and so with some other letters. As the Greek is
pronounced in England, the ^ is superfluous for the pur¬
poses of speech, and its place might always be supplied by
x. It distinguishes nevertheless many words to the eye,
and is useful in etymology, on account of which, letters
that would be redundant if they were to be tried by the
verdict of the ear alone, have been retained in many alpha¬
bets. If the number of our own letters be too small, the
deficiency is not very great. Those who affirm that there
is the largest amount of simple sounds in our language,
would not extend it beyond 32 or 33 characters, and their
opponents would cut it down to about half the number:
26, therefore, is a tolerably fair mean between these ex¬
tremes. ‘
The lovers of method complain grievously that the ar¬
rangement of the letters is most unphilosophical. There
ALPHABET.
A]ph et. is no reason, they truly affirm, why b should succeed to
c to bin the Latin and English, or g in the Greek and
Hebrew alphabets. The vowels, they maintain, ought
to walk first, and to be marshalled precisely according to
the aperture that each demands from the mouth to give
it due utterance ; and the consonants ought to be arranged
with reference to the organ to which they are chiefly
indebted,—the lips, the teeth, the tongue, the throat. If
we were about to compose an alphabet for the first time,
such precision might be permitted ; but this change, like
most others, would be attended with many inconveniences.
The next generation, for example, could not use our dic¬
tionaries and encyclopaedias ; and as the letters are sorted
on the next page of the primer, although not in the
alphabet itself, the advantage would be very trifling.
An extreme and rigid regularity does not suit mankind ;
men love anomalies, exceptions, and varieties. In some
languages, as in the Italian, and. very probably, if we
can judge of the pronunciation of the ancient Romans,
in the Latin, each letter performs its office with great
constancy and uniformity, and indicates the sound ac¬
cording to a few simple and well-observed rules; in
others, as in some of the Celtic tongues, the only use of
letters seems to be to mislead, and to show what is not
the true pronunciation. The English orthography tor¬
ments foreigners, and presents difficulties that appear at
first to be insuperable: by perseverance, however, they
find the clue to the labyrinth, and acknowledge that the
maze is not always without a plan. The mode of spelling
that was observed in the middle ages, especially in Eng¬
lish and French, was to admit into words every letter that
could possibly claim a shadow of right to be there. It re¬
sembles the style of law proceedings, the grand canon of
composition and construction therein being, so that all is
there that ought to be, it matters little how much is there
that ought not: the excess may help, but cannot hurt, and
may be rejected as surplusage. The French, after their
peculiar manner, by means of the Roman letters, have
cooked up strange kickshaws of words; their pronuncia¬
tion, however, whimsical as it is, being practically, and
especially amongst those who speak soberly and moder¬
ately, less absurd than the extraordinary persons who com¬
pose grammars of that language would have us believe.
The forms of letters in different systems are of course
very various. It is curious to contrast the complicated
characters of the Gothic, or of German text, or of some
languages that are less generally known, with more sim¬
ple alphabets, especially with those used in modern sys¬
tems of short-hand. These extremely simple letters,
however, are not so favourable to rapidity in reading as
m writing: plainness and distinctness, a certain form that
fills the eye, giving to each its proper individuality, are
essential to give facility to the reader’s office. If there
were no other books but manuscripts, it would certainly
be of great importance that such characters only should
be used as the transcriber could execute with the utmost
celerity: but as copies are now multiplied by printing,
^ders little whether the letters are simple or com-
pkx; for although it may be more difficult tojnake the
punches, and more troublesome to cast the types, these
considerations cannot greatly influence the price of books.
e manner of arranging letters and words is also va-
rious. The Chinese, and a few other people, dispose the
j'ords in perpendicular lines, one word below another;
ut most nations conform to the general practice of
P acing them in horizontal rows: and the world is nearly
equally divided on the question, whether it be expedient
0 begin to write at the right or the left side of the page.
vol. ii. 1 6
545
The people of the East usually adopt the former, and Alphabet,
those of the West the latter method. There are some ex-' ?
ceptions, however : the Sanscrit is written, like the Enc
lish, from the left to the right; and the Etruscans seem to
have committed a similar error in longitude, for they pro¬
ceeded, like the Arabs, from the right towards the left.
The one arrangement is quite as convenient as the other.
Persons who are prejudiced in favour of every thing to*
which they have been accustomed, have imagined reasons
in support of the superiority of our method : daily prac¬
tice convinces us that it is very excellent; but we must
acknowledge, notwithstanding, that the best writers are to
be found amongst the people who write from the right
hand to the left. The Chinese, it is said, in their peculiar
way, attain to great skill and excellence.
There is one kind of arrangement that was anciently
in use among the Greeks, which is very remarkable : the
letters proceed from the left to the right, and back again
from the right to the left, or vice versa, alternately, like the
course of an ox in ploughing, whence it has received the
name (Souargopqdov. We can imagine that a person writ¬
ing running-hand very rapidly might be tempted to adopt
this alternate path for the sake of dispatch—although such
perhaps would not be the result—in order to save the time
that is wasted in carrying the hand back from the end of
one line to the beginning of the next; but this could not
be the motive that suggested its use in the inscriptions
that are now in existence. It was probably esteemed
sacred from its connection with ploughing, which was al¬
ways a holy thing. A treaty written thus was more likely
therefore to be observed. If a bill of exchange had a
better chance of being accepted or paid were it sped like
the plough, the sacred arrangement would no doubt be
adopted by the drawers of these instruments.
The inconveniences of a diversity^ of characters have in¬
duced some speculative persons to endeavour to devise a
universal character, and even to remedy the curse of Babel
by a universal language. The great Leibnitz employed
himself much, it is said, on these speculations, but with¬
out success. John Wilkins, bishop of Chester, a less able
man, composed An Essay toivards a Real Character and
an Universal Language, which was printed by the Royal
Society in 1668. Whoever will open this thick folio, will
not be surprised that the husband of Oliver Cromwell’s
sister had but few disciples, or, whatever learning and in¬
genuity the book may display, that it has long been for¬
gotten. It has rarely happened that men of distinguished
ability have sought to introduce a severe uniformity into
any science. Speculators who propose to furnish characters
that will faithfully represent all the sounds of all the letters
of all languages, only show that they have not accurate
ears : sounds are infinite, and cannot be thus portrayed.
Men have vainly discoursed also concerning a natural
language: there is no language natural to man. It is not
natural to call a horse a horse, or by any other name;
but it is perfectly natural, for it is the universal prac¬
tice, to call that animal by some name or other which
is understood by those wdth whom we communicate.
If there were a universal character to represent words,
and it were generally received, so that the character
for a horse should be read by an Englishman horse,
by a Frenchman cheval, by a Spaniard caballo, and by
a German pferd, as has been recommended, it would
avail little. The syntax and construction of languages
are so various, that although the characters might be un¬
derstood, and every wrord intelligible by itself, the sense
of a whole passage that had been written by a Ger¬
man would be utterly unintelligible to a Frenchman.
3 z
54(5 ALPHABET.
Alphabet. The Chinese is said to be a language of which the struc- been, there was a great dissimilarity in sound also. That Alph
ture is remarkably easy and simple. As a proof that portion of the plate which is headed Greek is taken^N
it is not enough to know the meaning of the words, but from a plate inscribed Vance Alphabeti Gram per atatis
that it is necessary to be familiar with the collocation, ordinem forrrue, published in the Pceeilographia Gra>.
in order to comprehend the sense of the author, let us ca of Hodgkin, and in vol. ix. of the Classical Journal
take an example at hazard from the grammar of M. Abel The first column on the left consists of the ordinary
Remusat. The following is a literal translation : “ Situt letters, of which the number is increased to 27 by the
amat sicut scit aqit earn amat earn earn qui earn qui qui insertion of the Fau ect^/xov, which marks the number 6,
non qui non." Could Bishop Wilkins himself detect the after E, of <ram, 900, and of xo-ra, 90, after II. The
meaning which lurks in these few and very plain words ? second column is headed “ Cadmi a. c. 1500, and is
They are rendered thus, having been re-arranged accord- taken from Morton. ihe next column, standing im-
ing to the rules of a system which is far more artificial, mediately below “ Greek,” gives the various forms of
but with which, through habit, we are conversant: “ Ce- the Sigean inscription, as published by Chishull, and is
lui qui la connoit (la vertu) ne vaut pas celui qui Taime; headed “ Sigeum, circa 600 a. c. The third column is
celui qui Taime ne vaut pas celui qui la pratique." If we inscribed “ Simomdis, A. c. 500, and is also from Mor-
are unable to interpret a short and easy sentence in an ton. The remainder of the letters are of the date
inartificial language, with the forms of which we are un- 450, a. c., and are given on the authority of Wachter,
acquainted, is it not certain, that if one of the long and from W. Massey’s Essay on the Origin and Progress
rhetorical periods of Demosthenes, to say nothing of more of Letters. Mr Hodgkin has published in the same
obscure writers, were transcribed in the universal charac- work a large and valuable collection of abbieviations
ter, it would be as incomprehensible as a Babylonian and connections. The fac-similes of the Herculanean
brick covered with arrow-headed characters, to a person papyri present the Greek characters that were in or-
familiar with the universal writing, but wdio had not mas- dinary use at the time when they were written. M.
tered the majestic but abstruse idiom of the Greek d’Agincourt, in his valuable Histoire de TArt par les
tono-ue ? Nor is there a natural collocation of words. All Monumens, has given many curious examples of Greek
collocation is artificial; and that to which the reader is manuscripts of the middle ages, extracted from the un-
most accustomed seems to him to be the most natural, published treasures of the Vatican hbiary; and Mr Rose
He who speaks of the natural order of a sentence, and has collected, with much care and accuracy, the various
recommends that it should be observed in his projects for forms of letters from inscriptions at Athens and in Attica,
grammatical uniformity, commits the same error as the It would be easy to multiply references to other volumes,
sailor who condemned the Spaniards with many oaths, as Although the philologist may not accept all Mr Payne
a most unnatural race, for calling a hat sombrero, and not, Knight’s conclusions, as they are presented in his well¬
like men, by its natural name, a hat. known Analysis of the Greek Alphabet, he cannot refuse
Having spoken as largely as our limits will permit of the him credit for much learning and ingenuity, for novelty
alphabet in general, we will next call the attention of our sometimes amounting to paradox, and an energy often
readers to a few particular alphabets, not perhaps with so approaching to anger. The two learned dissertations
much minuteness as some might desire, nor certainly to all of M. I’abbe Renaudot, in the second volume of the
that are worthy of attention. The Greek alphabet is by far Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, are well known,
the most important to literature, not only because the most It is impossible not to remark, that, whenever a new in-
precious remains of antiquity have been preserved by scription is discovered, archaeologists instantly fly to it,
its means, but because it is the parent of the Latin, which and for a time, commonly until something else is turned
has been adopted by, and prevails amongst, the most ci- up, endeavour to solve every phenomenon by means of it.
vilized nations of the world. Plate XIX., which is the first This fickleness is undoubtedly suspicious, and resembles
of the three plates connected with this subject, is entirely the conduct of men who are ill at ease in their theories,
devoted to elucidate its origin and history. The plate The letters which we find on coins and marbles of the
has been taken, except that part on the right hand which earliest periods are only of certain peculiar forms; but
is headed “ Greek,” from Astle’s work on the Origin and it would be a rash deduction to infer, therefore, that
Progress of Writing, and was compiled from authorities they did not use letters of a different shape for other
which we regret that it would greatly exceed our limits purposes. These have remained, because the materials
to enumerate. It would be easy to extract the passages on which they were impressed or engraven were du-
which would explain it; but as the book is generally acces- rable; and the cursive writing, which probably existe
sible, we will content ourselves by referring to it; and as and was inscribed on perishable substances, and for tem-
that admirable treasure of alphabetic lore, the Nouveau poraiy purposes, has been lost. If all lettered monuments
Traite deDiplomatupie (6 tom.4to, Paris, 1750-65), whence of the 19th century had disappeared except our money,
Astle has chiefly derived his authorities and the forms of the inference would be most erroneous, that the inhabit-
the letters, may easily be consulted, we will not avail ants of Great Britain knew no other characters save the
ourselves of the assistance it would afford. Joseph Sea- Roman capitals, which are alone to be found on the so-
liger was the first who endeavoured to show systemati- vereign; and will seem ridiculous to all who are aware
cally, and with elaborate learning, the derivation of the that the bank-note that circulates with it presents, in
Greek letters from the Phoenician. He has had many fol- evidence of its mercantile origin, specimens of every kin
lowers and imitators. A cursory inspection of the nu- of hand which an ambitious schoolmaster, anxious to uis-
merous specimens of Phoenician letters which this plate play his penmanship, could devise,
affords will prove, that if their forms are sometimes like On the Greek alphabet, as on many others, the question
those of the ancient Greek characters, they are often very arises, What is properly to be considered a letter ? u we
dissimilar, at least if we may suppose that we have obtain- accept the ordinary definition, that it is a mark for a cor¬
ed from corns and inscriptions the true characters of the tain known sound, it is plain that h is entitled to the bonou -
Phoenicians; and if the powers of the letters were the able appellation. The Romans include it in the alpha et>
same as in the Hebrew, as the order appears to have and, except perhaps in prosody, grant to it all its rig i
ALPHABET.
Alp-jjet. By most of the nations of the west it is duly recognised,
by the orientals it is usually had in great honour.
The Greeks, however, have attenuated it into a spirit,
and translated it, as such, out of the alphabet, and ele¬
vated it above the heads of its fellows. The practice of
sending letters aloft, that were supposed to have a turn
for climbing, exists indeed in many other languages. The
two dots or lines, for instance, that sometimes hang over
the vowels in the German, are the remains of e: thus
pokel was formerly written poekel; and some grammarians
have recommended that the old orthography should be
resumed. It is unnecessary to multiply examples from
other tongues. This letter was anciently marked by the
sign H, as in the Latin and our own language. When that
sign was applied to denote the »j, it was cut in two, and
one half was suspended in the air to mark the spirittcs
asper, the rough breathing, or the h, which, according to
the definition, is a letter; the other half was hung up in
the same manner for a very peculiar purpose, not to de¬
signate any letter, not as the mark of any known sound,
but, under the name of the spiritus lenis, it signified the
absence of a letter—it became a negative sign in gram¬
matical algebra. Since the spiritus lenis merely imports
the absence of the spiritus asper, or h, if a sign be used to
show the absence of one letter, there ought equally to be
a sign to denote that of every other letter in the alpha¬
bet ; and on this principle there ought to be as many ne¬
gative as positive signs. If it be supposed that the reader
who sees the word all cannot understand that the word
does not begin with h, and is not hall, unless a spirit
tell him so, and a mark be prefixed to signify that the
word all does not begin with h, he must need the like
assistance to enable him to comprehend that every other
letter also is wanting. He ought to be told that the word
all does not begin with b, c, d, &c. and that it is not ball,
nor call, nor pall, nor tall. Since the initial is not more
intelligible than the remainder of the word, every other
letter of every word ought on the same principle to be pre¬
ceded by the negative signs of all the letters, to show that it
is nothing more than itself. To such absurdities must we
be reduced, if we abandon the plain rule, that the ab¬
sence of a letter alone is sufficient to show that it is want¬
ing. We should wonder the more that a people so intel¬
ligent as the Greeks should have fallen into such an error,
if, as far as we know, Lanzi had not been the first to no¬
tice it. His reductio ad absurdum of the spiritus lenis has
not hitherto received the attention which its acuteness
nierits. In Arabic, the mark gesma, unless we look upon
it as representing the hyphen, is also a negative sign, im¬
porting, however, a more extensive negation. It has been
conjectured that the Greek accentual marks were con¬
trived to assist persons in reading aloud, before the prac¬
tice of leaving a space at the end of each word was adopt¬
ed. They certainly would be extremely useful in this re¬
spect, and they afford great help in perusing a manuscript
written continuously. For this purpose the spirits are
more useful than the accents; for they show that the
vowels oyer which they are placed are initials,—ignorance
"hereof is a fertile source of ambiguity; and for this pur¬
pose the spiritus lenis is as necessary as the aspirate. The
alter is a letter, and an orthographical mark besides; the
ormer is only a mark that the E begins another word, as in
nie example KAIEm, which is equivalent to KAI Em,
e sign being equal to the space between the two
words. It was afterwards usual to place a period after
each word, as a spirit general affecting equally vowels
and consonants, thus, KAI.Em.AEm; and this expedient
is applicable to all words: and many manuscripts that were
547
written continuously have received the convenient addi- Alphabet,
turn at a time long subsequent to the date of the writing.'
It we consider the spiritus lenis in this point of view the
inventors of it will be exculpated from the absurdity of
which Lanzi sought to convict them, and it will attach to
those grammarians only who retained the mark after the
practice of leaving a space at the end of every word be-
came pievalent. We must esteem the Greek accents and
spirits, especially if we acquiesce in this theory of their in¬
vention, as venerable relics of antiquity—as contrivances
which have been superseded. On this account, and from
habit, it is difficult for a scholar to consent to abandon
them, or to rest satisfied with a work, however well print¬
ed it may be in other respects, in which they are omitted.
Orthographical expedients to facilitate reading are nu¬
merous and ingenious, as spaces, punctuation, capitals for
proper names and at the beginning of sentences, the apos¬
trophe, and many others. It would be an interesting pur¬
suit to trace their origin and history. Much attention
has always been paid to reading and writing by the Chris¬
tians, the Jews, the Mahometans, and, in short, by all na¬
tions whose religion is comprehended in ancient writings.
Among the Greeks and Romans, little of their worship had
been reduced into writing, nor did they profess to be in
possession of a code of divine laws, like the Koran and
similar volumes that are studied, transcribed, and vene¬
rated, by the orientals. The reverence that Alexander
the Great displayed for the poems of Homer, remarkable
as it appeared to his contemporaries, was but a faint sha¬
dow of the homage and adoration that the people of the
East lavish on their sacred volumes. The treatment which
the Sibylline books received at Rome was perhaps in
some respects similar; but they were not publicly read;
the grand object, indeed, of those in whose custody they
were placed being, although they were not wanting in
veneration for the prophetic volumes, to conceal, and not
to publish, their mysterious contents. We cheerfully
acknowledge that the religion of Greece and Rome, as a
political institution, had piany important advantages; but
it is not to be denied that it was less favourable to the
diffusion of reading and writing than Christianity and
some of the religions of the East. The translations of the
Scriptures have preserved for the philologer many curious
fragments of languages, of which there are no other re¬
mains. In pagan Rome, as in Greece, public recitation
and reading aloud were practised to a great extent; but
these exercises were always performed by persons of some
learning, and of considerable experience, who were com¬
paratively few in number. When the Christians increased,
public readers were greatly augmented: it became neces¬
sary to read the Scriptures, homilies, and other pious
compositions, not only to learned men in cities, but to
the poor and ignorant in the most obscure villages of
the most remote provinces; and this office was com¬
monly performed by men of extremely moderate at¬
tainments. It became expedient, therefore, to devise
every contrivance that could facilitate the task of reading
in public. The Biblical critic knows, that we owe to this
cause many orthographical advantages, which are now
commonly enjoyed, although the source of them is not
generally understood. We are unable, however, to pur¬
sue this part of the subject at present; nor can we find
leisure to trace our ordinary running-hand. It may be
followed step by step from the Greek cursive, in such
works as the Palceographia Grceca, sive de Ortu et
Progressu Literarum Grcecarum, of Bern, de Montfau-
con; in the curious publication of the Abate Marini,
the principal librarian of the Vatican, entitled / Pa-
548
ALPHABET.
Alphabet, pin Diplomatid raccolti ed illustrati; in the specimens
‘ 'of D’Agincourt, and in similar publications. The Ara¬
bic alphabet, which, especially in the hands of the Per¬
sians, seems expressly designed to favour rapid writers,
has six unconnectible letters; and when the Greek cha¬
racters are written in running-hand, there are several let¬
ters which may not be joined, some with those that pre¬
cede, others with those that follow. In our cux-sive every
letter in every word may be united; but as it was first
adapted to the Latin language, the school-boy who has
written even a theme in that tongue must have remarked
that the letters unite more easily and pleasantly than in
English.
The second plate (No. XX.) presents a comparative
table of hieroglyphic and alphabetic characters. We
cannot dwell upon this very singular assemblage of
signs and symbols, or point out in detail the absurdity
of the theories which would deduce alphabetic writing
from the Egyptian hieroglyphics ; but it will manifest
itself most strikingly and plainly, and without preju¬
dice, to an intelligent person who will examine atten¬
tively this table, which has been arranged expressly for
the purpose of presenting an untenable and unfounded
hypothesis in the least unfavourable light. The first co¬
lumn on the left, headed “ Chaldaic Letters,” contains an
alphabet which is so important in the history of literature,
that we must not pass it over without some notice. The
Chaldaic or Hebrew alphabet consists of 22 consonants,
of which the forms are given on the extreme left of the
comparative table, and their powers on the extreme right,
and of 14 vowel points, making a total of 36 letters, if we
may reckon the points, which are held to be less ancient
than the consonants, and are often omitted in manuscripts
and printed books, as letters. There are, besides, in a great
number, accentual and other marks, designed to facilitate
reading, and sometimes perhaps chanting or singing. Of
some of these, however, the use is not at present under¬
stood ; our business is with the 22 consonants only, and
with their forms. The third letter, g, is called Gimel,
which signifies the camel. Camelus suo nomine Syria-
co in Latium venit, as Yarro elegantly writes. There
can be no doubt about the derivation of the animal’s
name, but the letter is as much like any other creature as
a camel. Pe, the 17th letter, is called the mouth:
it resembles the nose or the eyes equally. And the let¬
ter that immediately precedes it, as its name implies, is
thought to be a picture of the eye; but it is as faithful a
representation of any other feature, or even of the whole
face. The ingenuity of the engraver could not humour
the appearance of the teeth so as to make it remind us, as
it ought, of the last letter but one—Shin. A very learned
Rabbi, from whom we formerly received some instruction
in Hebrew, gravely affirmed that the letter Pe, the mouth,
is the true image; of that organ; and that if it had not
been the Sabbath, he would have written it, and shown,
moreover, that there is a piece of pudding in it. Being of¬
fered a dry pen, that he might point it out in a book, he
refused to do even that act. Such a severe observance of
the day of rest appeared very surprising to persons unac¬
quainted with the strict literal interpretation that pre¬
vails in the East. He consented indeed to explain by words
that the piece of pudding is that mark which is inserted
in the 17th letter, Pe, and serves to distinguish it from
the 11th letter, Caph. The learned Jew, however, did
not regard consistency in his explanation, nor do these
ingenious people in general; for Caph is the palm of the
hand; and by placing a piece of pudding in it, although
it would probably be more welcome to the mouth, it
would not be made to resemble it in form. Jod, which Alpk L
immediately precedes Caph, is the hand also; and these
letters are equally unlike the hand and each other.
We will not speak longer, however, of this miserable
nonsense: the immense load of absurdity would soon
become intolerable, if, in passing through several lan¬
guages, we were to pick up in each some new extrava¬
gance. It is true that the names of the greater part, if
not all, of the Hebrew letters, signify visible objects; but
it does not follow that the letter ever resembled in form
the object of which it bears the name. Nouns are used
in the second intention without regard to shape; neither
the horse for drying clothes, nor the dogs on which wood
is burned, nor the cock of a barrel, nor a crow-bar, will re¬
mind us of any of the animals that lend them titles; nor
do we ever see a boot-tree or a saddle-tree flourishing,
like real trees, with leaves, flowers, and fruit. If we
were to teach that our letter B derives its form and name
from the insect, and that our alphabet, if considered in
the same manner, would furnish a key to the Egyptian
hieroglyphics, and would explain the origin of writing, we
should not trifle more egregiously than certain expositors
of the Hebrew characters.
Our third and last plate (No. XXL) comprehends spe¬
cimens of some remarkable alphabets. We will treat
them in the order in which they stand. In the Syriac,
the number and order of the letters are the same as
in the Hebrew, and their names and powers are nearly
the same also. The row of characters on the right is
that square writing which is called Estranghelo. The
letters in the next row are commonly termed Chaldee.
Many of them resemble the former, and some are dif¬
ferent. The open letters are the same as the first row,
except that they are formed with greater regularity,
and are more square. The remaining four columns con¬
sist of the ordinary Syriac letters, varying more or less in
form from the Estranghelo, and arranged from the right
to the left in order, as initial, medial, final, and solitary
letters. Of these alphabets, the Estranghelo is the most
ancient and solemn. Some maintain that the Hebrew
Scriptures were originally written in this hand. It corre¬
sponds in its origin and use 'with the Roman capitals,
which we esteem older than the small letters, and now
use only for titles, inscriptions, and the like. The se¬
cond column, or Chaldee, is called also the reformed
Syriac, being a medium between the Estranghelo and the
ordinary Syriac. Vowel points are added to these letters;
but it is acknowledged that the use of them, in this lan¬
guage at least, is entirely modern. The Illyrian and Ser¬
vian alphabets are evidently derived from the Greek:
Grceco fonte cad ant; we cannot add, however, parce
detorta: the order of the letters is the same, many
being inserted. The two rows of letters on the left, which
are usually very like the Greek originals, are the Servian,
and are commonly called the alphabet of St Cyril, being
ascribed to that saint. The other two rows of letters,
which are, as it were, double, and frequently of an extra¬
ordinary form, are the Illyrian, or Dalmatian, and are
named the alphabet of St Jerome. We are apt to wonder
why the good father should have taken so much trouble,
if he was indeed the inventor, to disfigure the elements o
speech. The appearance of the Illyrian, when we see an
entire passage in this character, is still more strange: it's
impossible indeed to judge of its effect from a mere tab e
of letters. We regret, therefore, that our space will no
suffer us to give a specimen of this whimsical and unusua
writing. The Russian alphabets, both ancient and mo
dem, are formed from the Greek by additions and altera
A L P H
1 lbet. t;ons, the order of the letters being nearly the same. The
v Ethiopia alphabet, which occupies the middle of the plate,
is extremely interesting, because it is said to be a great
and important step in the history of writing; and it is ex¬
pressly referred to by the very learned President Goguet,
as a specimen of a syllabic alphabet: “ rectius syllaba-
rium quam alphabetum.” Syllabic writing, if it ever exist¬
ed, would not be a step from hieroglyphic to alphabetic
writing: it would be a kind of alphabetic writing, in which
the alphabet would be very numerous, and the sounds
expressed by each letter complex; but it would have no
connection with hieroglyphics; the pretended link would
be united to the chain at one end, but not at the other.
If we suppose prosterner, the word chosen by Goguet, to
be represented by three letters only, each of which is a
syllable, as otV, the w, which stands for pro, would mark a
complex sound, but it would not be in any respect hiero¬
glyphic. It would not denote a sensible object or an idea,
and so of the other two syllabic letters a and v, and of all
the rest. The conjecture would appear probable in itself,
that syllabic characters are compounded of other and less
complex forms ; nor is the aspect of the alphabets that are
put forth as belonging to this class so simple as to exclude
the supposition. It is easy in the Ethiopia to trace the vowel
which is added with tolerable uniformity to the simple let¬
ter. There are a few anomalies, no doubt, as in the gram¬
matical arrangements of all languages. The first column on
the left, next to the name, shows the simple letter. It is not
combined with the vowel a, as it would seem at first sight;
for that union is effected in the fourth or middle column.
A moment’s inspection of this alphabet and table of syl¬
lables will satisfy any one that it is composed of 26 con¬
sonants—we must use the word in an eastern sense—com¬
bined with six vowels, preciselyr like the tables ba, be, bi,
bo, bu, by, &c., in our spelling-books; and that it does
not in any respect resemble the case which is put by Go¬
guet, of the word prosterner being spelled by three letters.
As the Sanscrit alphabet is not shown on our plates, we
will not analyze it to prove that it is not to be considered
as syllabic. The Persian is as much entitled to that ap¬
pellation, because the junction of the letters being often
difficult, they write, for the assistance of learners, books
full of syllables. It is not by steps built of such mate¬
rials as these that we can hope to ascend to the origin of
that most wonderful invention, the alphabet. The Ethio-
pic is derived from the Arabic: it is a dead language, like
the Latin, and it is called the language of study, or the
language of books: the Abyssinian, or Amharic, so called
from Amhar, the principal province of Abyssinia, and
termed the royal language, has taken its place as a living
speech; and seven letters have been added to the 26 of
the Ethiopic alphabet, which we have given. These two
languages may be studied in the grammars of Job Ludol-
phus, who tells us that they are of difficult acquisition,
and declares the words to be exceedingly unutterable—
“ maxime esse ineffabilia.” The aspect of the characters,
when arranged in words and sentences, is uncouth and
unsightly: they somewhat resemble the Tironian notes,
which, although their appearance is unpromising, were
written, as we are informed by positive testimony, with
great rapidity. Contractions, abbreviations, and connec¬
tions, far from indicating that writing is in an imperfect
condition, evince that penmanship is far advanced.
The Armenian alphabet consists of 38 letters. They
have several other kinds of writing. We have given that
which is called the round hand, and is used in printed
books. Like ourselves, they write from the left to the
right. The appearance of their printed books is neat and
agreeable. The leaning of the letters was perhaps learn-
ABET. 549
ed from the Italic, which was chiefly used by the Alphabet,
printers of Venice. The greatest benefactors to their
literature and typography have been the congregation of
Armenian monks, who resided at Methone in the Pelo¬
ponnesus, and afterwards removed to Venice. This lan¬
guage possesses a few- original works, but is chiefly rich in
translations from the writings of St Chrysostom and other
Greek fathers, which have improved and refined it. Those
who are curious on the subject may consult the disserta¬
tion of Schroder, De Antiquitate et Fatis Lingua Arme-
naica ; and the historian of a nation, to whom it is said we
owe the apricot, and who have always been renowned for
skill in the ancient, delightful, and honourable art of gar¬
dening, Moses Chorenensis. The Iberian or Georgian
letters, as expressed in types, are commonly somewhat
lighter than our engraved alphabet of 36 letters. The
Georgians write also from the left, and have several kinds
of writing. The plate represents the ordinary hand. The
Coptic language derives its name from Coptos, a city of
Upper Egypt, where it was chiefly spoken. It is said to
be a mixture of Greek with the ancient language of Egypt,
Ethiopic, and the old Persian. The alphabet, which is
borrowed from the Greek, superseded the use of the older
letters in Egypt, as the characters introduced by Cadmus
possibly took the place of those that were used by the
Greeks before his time. The names, figures, and order of
the letters, are the same as in Greek. Eight letters were
added to express sounds unknown to the Greeks. Seven
of these follow the omega; psi is put out of its place, being
the last letter; and r, under the name So, is duly in¬
serted after the epsilon. This tongue has attracted some
little attention, in consequence of the phonetic system, of
which we have spoken. A full and handsome grammar
was published at Rome in 1778, by the Society de pro¬
paganda Fide. The examples are given in Arabic, as wrell
as Coptic. The Gothic alphabet of the patriarch Ulphi-
las, which is the last of our specimens, was formed in part
from the Latin, and in part from the Greek: the letters
are arranged in the order of the former language. We
know not whether certain theorists will consider the
double letters at the end as syllabic characters. The Ru¬
nic alphabet is interesting from its connection with Scan¬
dinavian antiquities. It is nearly identical with the Ice¬
landic : the letters are copied from the Greek and Roman,
being a little varied for the sake of notching them more
conveniently on sticks or staves ; but the order of the six¬
teen letters is very different from both these alphabets.
There are many specimens in Hickes’s Thesaurus. These
letters have afforded much scope for controversy. Those
who are most favourable to the antiquity of the Runic in¬
scriptions assign to them nearly 2000 years. Olaus Rud-
bechius teaches that the Greeks used these letters before
the time of Cadmus. Those who are least so say that
they are not older than the third century of our era.
The best kind of Anglo-Saxon writing was very elegant;
the small round clraracters that we see in charters are neat
and extremely legible. Domesday book is written in a hand
less perfect, but’somewhat similar. After the Norman con¬
quest writing deteriorated in England, and became quaint,
affected, and illegible. In proportion as a nation js civilized
or barbarous, the pronunciation of its language, it has been
maintained, varies from the orthography. In the Celtic
languages the variation is prodigious; in our own tongue
it is very considerable; in the Anglo-Saxon, so far as we
are able to judge, it was much less. That language was
assiduously cultivated before the conquest, especially in
poetry; many poems were composed, and in extremely
difficult and complicated metres. After that event French
became the language of the aristocracy ; and the Saxon
550 A L P H
Alphabet or English was long neglected, and was spoken only by the
vulgar, for a long period, during which the foundations of
our present orthography were laid.
The Irish claim “ an exorbitant antiquity” for their
tree alphabet, in which the order of the letters is peculiar,
and the name of each of them is borrowed from some
tree. B, under the name Beith, which signifies a birch-
tree, is the first of them: it is fit that the tree of know¬
ledge should lead the band. This alphabet is commonly al¬
lowed to be a modern fabrication : a few antiquaries, how¬
ever, are ready to maintain that it is many centuries older
than the creation. In most languages words are pro¬
nounced in a manner somewhat different from that in
which they are written; but in the Irish the aberration of
the sound from the spelling is so great, that the only use
of letters seems to be, to show how words are not pro¬
nounced by omitting all that are really wanted, and insert¬
ing all but the right. As straight lines placed in differ¬
ent positions will form most of the letters of the Roman
alphabet, so the various arrangement of lines, shaped like
wedges or the heads of arrows, would make a sufficient
variety of characters not altogether dissimilar to the
Roman. Two of them inclining towards each other at
the bottom would be V, one wedge at right angles to
another might represent L, and three might be so placed
as to designate either F or H. It is not necessary to
pursue the subject farther. The structure of the arrow-
headed, cuneiform, or ancient Persian alphabet, must be
already sufficiently intelligible. Inscriptions in this cha¬
racter, which perhaps was also esteemed sacred, closely
resemble the Runic Ogham, represented in General Val-
lancey’s Irish Grammar.
The twenty-five instructive and excellent plates in the
second volume of the Collection of Plates, published
with the French Encyclopedic, contain many curious spe¬
cimens of alphabets. They are taken, however, almost
entirely and without acknowledgement, after the man¬
ner of the French literati, from the valuable publica¬
tions of the Society de propaganda Fide at Rome. M.
du Marsais, the writer of the article on the alphabet
in that Encyclopedic, evinces a passionate desire to
regenerate the world—such was the taste of the age
—and strenuously recommends a new alphabet: had it
been adopted, according to his advice, we should un¬
doubtedly be using the old one at the present day. The
numerous publications of the Society we have mentioned
well deserve attention; and many curious alphabets are
given in Niebuhr’s Travels, and in other works that we
need not enumerate. We have spoken already of the
advancement which the arts of reading and writing have
received from religion: we will mention a very remark¬
able and important alphabet, which derived its origin and
its general diffusion from the same source. The Arabic
letters are said to be the invention of the unfortunate
Vizier Moclah, who flourished at the beginning of the 10th
century, and lost at different times, for political offences,
his right hand, which had thrice copied the Koran, his
left hand, and his tongue; cruel privations for a man of
letters and an elegant penman. The Cuphic, a most grave
and goodly character, appears to stand in the same vene¬
rable relation of paternity to the Arabic, as the Estranghelo
to the vulgar Syriac. In the Arabian Nights, that faith¬
ful mirror of eastern manners, we find that the second
Calender, who was a king’s son, after describing his critical
knowledge of the Koran, and of the commentaries on “ that
blessed book,” boasts of his excellent penmanship thus:
“ But one thing, which I highly admired and succeeded in
to admiration, was to form the characters of our Arabian
language, wherein I surpassed all the writing-masters of
ABET.
our kingdom that had acquired the greatest reputation.” Alpha
The Arabic character, especially as it has been modified j
by the Persians, who have added to it much elegance,
with some affectation, is not only favourable to the most
daring flights of the pen, but in an eminent degree also
to rapid execution. Wherever the Koran penetrated
it was received, and it superseded the older and more
tedious modes of writing. This alphabet consists of
twenty-eight or twenty-nine letters, for it is a question
whether Lam-alif is to be accounted a letter; but it
has as much right to the title as 4/, and some others in
the Greek alphabet, and it can plead a proverb in its
favour, “ from alif to lam-alif” being exactly equivalent to
“ from alpha to omega.” For twenty-eight or twenty-nine
letters there are only seventeen primary figures, and
these perhaps may be reduced to fifteen ; and the letters
of which the figures are similar are distinguished by the
number and position of certain dots, which are called dia¬
critical or distinctive points. It is precisely as if a nume¬
ral were added, as a co-efficient, to a letter in order to
change its power entirely (we refer to this alphabet with¬
out a plate, as being generally known): thus, lb is b, but
2b perhaps is j, 3b is n, 4b is t, and fib is th; again, If is
f, but 2f is k, and so with the rest. It is impossible to
conceive a more clumsy device, or one more fruitful in
mistakes, especially as they are distinguished, not by nu¬
merals, but by dots, which are easily omitted or misap¬
plied. The Persians have added four more letters, by
means of additional dots, without introducing a new figure.
They content themselves, nevertheless, with a smaller
number than the Arabs, and the same as the Greeks, for
the purposes of their own tongue ; never using eight of the
letters except in words adopted from the Arabic. Thus,
with the Romans k, y, and z, held offices in the foreign
department only. The Persians vary the character in
many hands, some of which are very beautiful, others very
legible, and others very rapid. The Indians, when they
write in the Arabic character, increase the number by
three more letters, which they distinguish by additional
points. The order of the Arabic letters has been changed;
for their numerical value is the same as that of the
twenty-two equivalent letters in the Hebrew, the six let¬
ters that have been added differ in their points only, and
not in figure. It is a remarkable difference, that in the lan¬
guages of the East, at least in that family which is called
Semitic, the vowTels are not expressed, but only the conso¬
nants. On the contrary, in all the languages of the West,
the vowels and consonants enter equally into the compo¬
sition of the writing. Besides the twenty-eight or twenty-
nine letters, eleven other marks are used in the Arabic.
In the Semitic family the vowels are not of the essence
of the word, the radical meaning resides entirely in the
consonants, and so is it also in the Teutonic tongues. In
our ow n we have, for example, sang, sing, song, and sung,
and innumerable other instances. Whatever may have
been, therefore, the parent of the Greek, it is impossible
to agree with Colonel Vans Kennedy, who maintains in
his late work On the Origin of Languages, that the Teuto¬
nic tongues are the offspring of the Sanscrit, in which the
vowels are radicals.
It has been conjectured with some ingenuity, but
without foundation, that the Arabic characters in which
the vowels are not expressed were invented fof the
common use of several dialects, in which the conso¬
nants alone were determined in an invariable manner,
and the pronunciation of the vowels varied. They have
certainly been applied thus, but they were invented to
facilitate those who transcribed the pure Arabic of the
Koran, as the Hebrew letters were used without points to
ALP
a] bet copy the Jewish law. Abbreviations and simple charac-
f ters, that are of easy formation, are not merely advanta-
Aljrrj. ,reous to the reporter, but are useful also to the man of
^ ^fetters, for instantly catching the warm thought as it is¬
sues from the imagination; and perhaps also as a cipher,
that the rash surmise, the first hasty impression, may not
be exposed to the rude gaze of those who, never being origi¬
nal themselves, never give birth to errors, and accordingly
are intolerant of them in others. Short-hand, therefore,
independently of its ingenuity, is so useful, that it de¬
serves notice in an essay on the alphabet; but we re¬
fer to it only to illustrate the Arabic. The use of an
extremely simple character, which is very cursive, and
joins easily, and of many contractions, and the total omis¬
sion, in languages like our own, where they are not radi¬
cal, of all the vowels, are the means by which the short¬
hand writer attains to expedition. These are the wings on
which his pen flics; they are the characteristics also of
the Arabic alphabet. Let us suppose that all Great Britain
was smitten with an immense love of writing—printing
being still unknown—and that it was deemed the chief
good to copy as much as possible; that for this purpose
all men learned short-hand, and, finding that it increased
their powers, and the passion continuing, laid aside all
the ordinary hands, so that they were forgotten. Such
was the origin of the Arabic writing. When the short¬
hand writer would make his writing more legible, he adds
the more important vowels by dots, and by various dia¬
critical marks resolves ambiguities and clears up difficul¬
ties. If it were necessary to explain it to children and to
strangers, and to interpret the abbreviations of distant
times—and it would be were stenography universal—
many orthographical signs would be required, whereby
men would in truth return to the course which they had
formerly quitted. Such was the origin of the vowel points
and their adjuncts.
When we reflect that we have the very words of So¬
crates, as he spoke them, unless Plato and Xenophon have
deceived us, we cannot wonder, since the power of letters
is really so great, that men have sometimes attributed to
them a little more influence than they possess. Hence
originated the belief in magical spells, and charms, and
characters; and certain mysterious properties were as¬
signed to writing, not only amongst the Pagans, but by
ALPH-dSNIX, white barley-sugar, to which is given
an extraordinary name, to render it more valuable. This,
which is thought good for colds, is made of common
sugar, boiled until it becomes easy to crack, when it is
poured upon a marble table, greased with oil of sweet al¬
monds, and moulded into various figures with a brass
crotchet. It is easily falsified with starch.
ALPHERY, Mikipher, an English divine, was born
in Russia, and of the imperial line. When that country
was distracted by intestine commotions in the latter end
of the 16th century, this gentleman and his two brothers
were sent over to England, and recommended to the
care of Mr Joseph Bidell, a Russia merchant. Mr Bidell,
when they were of age fit for the university, sent them
to Oxford, where the small-pox unhappily prevailing, two
of them died of it. We know not whether this surviving
brother took any degrees or not, b,ut it is very probable
be did, since he entered into holy orders, and in the
year 1618 was presented to the rectory of Wooley in
Huntingdonshire, a living of no very considerable value,
being rated under L.10 in the king’s books. Here he did
his duty with great cheerfulness and alacrity; and al¬
ALP 551
many of the Christians. It is somewhat remarkable that Alphabet
it has always been the practice from the earliest times, II
and it still prevails in Catholic countries, for the bishop^
when he consecrates a church (the order of this ancient
and venerable rite maybe read in the Pontificale), to in¬
scribe twice on the pavement, in the form of a cross, all
the letters of the Roman alphabet. History assigns the
highest antiquity to the most precious art of alphabetic
writing. The author of the book of Job was familiar with
it. Moses speaks of it constantly in the Pentateuch, and
he acquired his human learning in Egypt, where it was
necessarily well known at that time. The better opinion
seems to be, that although Cadmus, the contemporary of
Joshua, introduced an alphabet into Greece, which was
accepted there, it was only taken in exchange for that
which had been previously in use. Josephus, it is true,
with his usual desire to exalt his own nation and its laws
at the expense of the Gentiles, asserts, without hesitation,
that letters were unknown in Greece even in the time of
Homer, and to Plomer himself; and some of the fathers
of the church, who piously but unfairly endeavoured to
degrade the learning of the Greeks, accepted the assertion
as well founded. The startling paradox of the Jew,
whose nationality has been less doubted than his vera¬
city, has been maintained, at different periods, with much
ingenuity: it is capable, however, of an easy refuta¬
tion. The more diligently we inquire, the more ample
and unequivocal shall we find the testimony of history
to be in favour of the antiquity of alphabetic writing,
and also, as reason alone teaches us, that no other ever
existed.
The Egyptian hieroglyphics, the Chinese characters,
and the supposed syllabic alphabets, have been examined,
and they do not afford, as is commonly asserted, any clue
to lead us to the invention of the alphabet. Since we are
unable, either in history or even in imagination, to trace the
origin of the alphabet, we must ascribe it, with the Rab¬
bins, who are prepared with authenticated copies of the
characters they used, and of those of Seth, Enoch, and
Noah, to the first man, Adam ; or we must say with Pliny,
“ ex quo apparet aeternus literarum ususor we must
admit that it was not a human, but a divine invention, and
that the artist who made men, Prometheus, says truly,
E^eugov auroi$ yoamiarm rs tfuWkffs/s. (u.)
though he was twice invited back to his native country
by some who would have ventured their utmost to have
set him on the throne of his ancestors, he chose rather
to remain with his flock, and to serve God in the humble
station of a parish priest. Yet in 1643 he underwent the
severest trials from the rage of the fanatics, who, not sa¬
tisfied with depriving him of his living, insulted him in
the most barbarous manner. Having left Huntingdon¬
shire, he came to Hammersmith, where he resided till
the Restoration put him in possession of his living again.
He returned on that occasion to Huntingdonshire, where
he did not stay long; for being upwards of 80, and withal
very infirm, he could not perform the duties of his func¬
tion. Having, therefore, settled a curate, he retired to
his eldest son’s house at Hammersmith, where soon
after he died, much honoured and respected, and afford¬
ing a remarkable instance of the vicissitudes of the world.
ALPHONSIN, in Surgery, an instrument for extract¬
ing bullets out of gunshot wounds. This instrument
derives its name from the inventor, Alphonso Ferri, a
physician of Naples. It consists of three ^ branches,
which are closed by a ring. When closed and introduced
552 ALP ALP
Alphonso. into the wound, the operator draws back the ring towards
''^N^^^'the handle, upon which the branches opening take hold
of the ball; and then the ring is pushed from the haft,
by which means the branches grasp the ball so firmly as
to extract it from the wound.
ALPHONSO I. king of Portugal, son of Henry of
Burgundy, count of Portugal, grandson of Don Alonso,
king of Leon and Castile, who, as the dowry of his wife
Theresa, received part of the kingdom of Portugal. One
Egas Munitz had the charge of his education from his
father, the duties of which he executed with fidelity and
success. In the year 1112 his father died, leaving him a
boy only three years of age, when the reins of govern¬
ment and the care of the infant son fell to his mother
Theresa. At the age of 18 he assumed the sovereign
authority by the advice of the nobles of Portugal, who
were highly offended at the growing partiality of his
mother for Don Ferdinand Perez, count of Trastemara;
for it was suspected that she intended to marry him.
But Theresa was little disposed to resign the reins of go¬
vernment. Her party raised an army, which took the
field to oppose the nobility who supported Alphonso ; but
her adherents were defeated, herself taken prisoner, and
kept in confinement during the remainder of her life.
Not long after his accession to the throne, his abilities
both to govern and to conquer received a severe trial,
in several arduous enterprises, as well against the king of
Leon and Castile, as against the Moorish princes, who
then possessed great part of Spain and Portugal. The
Moorish emperor in Barbary having sent a strong rein¬
forcement to the princes, they were enabled to take the
field with an army far superior to that of Alphonso; yet
he valiantly met them in the plains of Ourique, and to¬
tally defeated their forces. Thus Providence conferred
such a signal favour on the Christian arms as procured a
residence for Christianity in those parts. The ambitious
king of Leon and Castile assumed the title of empe¬
ror of the Spaniards, and entered Portugal to waste and
destroy; but after the emperor had received a temporary
check, the matter was accommodated, and he withdrew
his army. In consequence of the victory obtained on the
plains of Ourique, Alphonso was instantly proclaimed
king; but the form and constitution of the monarchy were
not settled until the nobility, prelates, and commons had
assembled at Lamago for that purpose in the year 1145.
The conquest of Santarem preceded this event, and was
sanctioned by the unanimous concurrence of the states.
The honour of crowning the king was conferred upon
the archbishop of Braga; and it was legally provided
that the crown should descend with an uninterrupted
succession to the heirs male of Alphonso. The pre¬
lates and nobility, with the concurrence of the people,
instituted a code of laws, consisting of 18 statutes, for the
government of the kingdom. It being proposed whether
it was their pleasure that the king should go to Leon
and do homage to that prince or to any other, every man,
drawing his sword, exclaimed, “ We are free, and our king
is free, and we owe our liberty to our courage; and if he
shall at any time submit to such an act, he deserves death,
and shall not either reign over us or among us.” The year
after his coronation he was married to Matilda, daughter of
Amadeus, count of Maurienne and Savoy; and he reco¬
vered Lisbon from the hands of the Moors in the year
1147. A multitude of adventurers being assembled at
the mouth of the Tagus in their progress to the Holy
Land, greatly assisted him in this conquest. After
having added six other provinces to his dominions, he
wisely began with industrious activity to regulate the
affairs of his kingdom. In all his great and benevolent
designs he was vigorously seconded by Matilda, a prin- Alph L
cess equally celebrated for her great beauty, mental vi-'wA ^
gour, and singular piety. He was no less provident in
peopling and improving, than enterprising in acquiring
territories. The conjugal felicity of this prince and
princess was greatly enhanced by a numerous offspring,
which enabled him, by great alliances, to strengthen his
interests. His second daughter was married to Don
Ferdinand, king of Leon, who, notwithstanding this al¬
liance, ungenerously made war on his father-in-law, and
took him prisoner in the field of battle ; but released him,
on the humiliating condition of coming in person to do
homage for his dominions at Leon. In the latter part of
his reign, his son Don Sancho, who inherited all his fa¬
ther’s military talents, took the lead on several occasions;
and in the year 1180, Joseph, king of Morocco, and em¬
peror of the Almohedes, advancing with an army as far
as Santarem, he there gained a glorious victory over him.
Such was the consternation of the infidels, in consequence
of this defeat, that they left the Portuguese at liberty to
improve the interior part of the country, and to fortify
their frontiers during the whole of next year. Worn
out with care and intense application, Alphonso retired
to Coimbra for repose, where, after a reign of 57 years,
and in the 76th year of his age, he died. In the
church of the holy cross at Coimbra his remains were
deposited with great funeral solemnity. He was no less
than seven feet high ; and his gigantic size and martial ar¬
dour have given occasion to many absurd and incredible
stories concerning his military achievements, so that, in
the annals of chivalry, as well as in the records of martial
exertions, he sustains a very high rank.
Alphonso II. distinguished by the surname of \heFat,
was the third king of Portugal, and succeeded his father,
at the age of 27 years, in 1212. He commenced his reign
with two very popular acts. The one was, sending a
body of infantry to the assistance of the king of Castile,
who fought with uncommon bravery in the renowned bat¬
tle of Navas de Tolosa; the other was, his donation of
the castle of Avis to the knights of that order, when the
grand-master removed from Evora, and took up his habi¬
tation in that castle. His father having discovered
that he disliked his brothers and sisters, endeavoured to
secure them from the effects of his resentment, by con¬
ferring upon them large sums of money and jewels, and
some of the best parts of the kingdom. After the
death of his father, Alphonso strenuously laboured to
convince them that it was not in the power of his father
to separate or give away any part of his dominions; but
all his urgent eloquence proving unsuccessful, he had re¬
course to arms. The two princesses, his sisters, who had
received by the grant of their father very extensive and
valuable property, upon being attacked by their brother,
implored the interference of the pope, and also applied to
the king of Leon to grant his protection, so that they
made a very vigorous defence. The pope granted the re¬
quest of the young princesses, and threatened to excom¬
municate Alphonso; and from Galicia Don Ferdinand
entered the dominions of Portugal to ravage and destroy;
but the king prepared to defend himself against the arms
of the king of Leon, and, by specious pretences, to evade
the excommunication of the pope.
Authors are not agreed with respect to the success of
this war, but it is generally supposed that, by the inter¬
ference of these two powerful persons, the domestic affairs
of that house were restored to a certain degree of tran¬
quillity. However, the departure of the infant Don Ferdi¬
nand to the court of Castile, and of Don Pedro to another
place, strongly indicate that the reconciliation was far
A L P
Alionso. from being perfect. The conduct of the king, however,
v^v-O produced much diversity of opinion among the common
people of Portugal. Some were induced, by his argu¬
ments, to conclude that it was not in the power of Don
Sancho, the late king, to dismember his kingdom; and
others very properly suspected the kindness of a prince
to his people, who displayed such uncommon and such
unjustifiable hatred to his own relations; at the same time,
■those nobles whom the father had solemnly sworn to carry
■his will into execution, were induced, by a regard for the
sacred nature of their oaths, to act against the reigning
A L P
553
prince.
The displeasure of the pope, however, was not to be en¬
dured. The mind of Alphonso seemed indeed to be of
that quality which little regarded the displeasure or
thunders of his holiness; but the effects of his threaten-
ings were very different upon the public mind, conse¬
quently the king was constrained to seek the favour of
the pope, that he might retain the obedience of his sub¬
jects. The king therefore sent deputies to Rome, who
argued, that the crown his father wore was the purchase
of the blood and valour of the Portuguese nation, and
therefore not at his disposal; that it was a dangerous pre¬
cedent, and obviously tended to subvert the sovereignty of
if state ; that the disuniting of the kingdom would tend to
promote the cause of the infidels; and, in fine, that his
disputes with his sisters had no connection with ecclesias¬
tical matters. The pope, however, was as well qualified
to discern the nature of these specious arguments as the
•prince was qualified to urge them, consequently he re¬
mained unmoved; and Alphonso, in order to have the
sentence of excommunication which had been pronoun¬
ced upon him removed, was reluctantly induced to be re¬
conciled to his sisters. His holiness, informed of the re¬
conciliation, with great ceremony revoked his curse and
excommunication from the king and his subjects.
But the reign of this prince was destined to troubles;
for no sooner was this domestic broil terminated than the
Moors rushed into the plain country in such prodigious
numbers, that the king found it very difficult to repel
them, or to drive them back to their own country. A
favourable occurrence, however, enabled him to complete
his object, by the taking of a fortress seated on a rock
which was deemed impregnable, in the following manner.
The Germans and Flemings had equipped an immense
fleet destined for the Holy Land, consisting of 300 sail,
with a numerous army on board. In consequence of
tempestuous weather, their fleet was so disabled that
they were forced to put into the harbour of Lisbon to re¬
fit, just at the time when Alphonso was preparing an army
to attack the Moors. The king instantly sent some of the
most respectable men of his court to solicit their aid against
the Moors, alleging, that it was perfectly consistent with
their vows to fight against the Moors in Portugal, as well
as in the Holy Land. William earl of Holland and many
other generals were convinced by this argument, and
cheerfully engaged to join him against the infidels; but
about a third part of the fleet refused to join, and pro¬
ceeded on their voyage. It happened, however, that they
were driven by a violent storm into Italy, where they
wintered. The greater part of the nobility and gentry
anded under the conduct of William earl of Holland ; and
jt was resolved that they should proceed by sea, and
UP Alca9ar-do-Sal, the fortress already mentioned,
w ue the army of Alphonso, reinforced by a considerable
number, should march by land; and thus attack the place
th by land and sea at once. The Moors, convinced of
« import Mice of this place, brought an army into the
e ^ consisting of 50,000 men; but the Christians raised
VOL. II.
the siege, gave them battle, and routed them with great Alphonse,
slaughter; and some of the chiefs of the Moors fell in the'
VoA ^ie fortress surrendered on the 21st of October
1217, and was conferred upon the order of St James • but
notwithstanding very urgent entreaties, the pope would
not permit the army to winter in Portugal. He was de¬
sirous of having these troops and their general removed
to a greater distance. The writers of that nation affirm
that the soldiers experienced supernatural aid in this bat¬
tle, and that the banner of the cross was actually display¬
ed by angels. J
But civil animosity succeeded to infidel war. The arch¬
bishop of Braga was highly offended that the clergy were
forced to pay money and furnish troops to carry on the
war against the infidels; and the people severely com¬
plained of the strictness of the laws. To chastise the re¬
bellious clergy, the king seized upon the revenues of the
bishop, and forced him to fly from his dominions. En¬
raged at this impious conduct, the pope excommunicated
the king, and laid his kingdom under an interdict. The
natural consequence was, that all things were thrown into
confusion, and consternation and perplexity universally
prevailed; so that Alphonso was obliged to consult mea¬
sures to quell the rising discontent. It happened, how¬
ever, that in the midst of these negotiations he was re¬
moved by death, and not only died under the papal male¬
diction, but left his kingdom under the same curse. He
was interred without royal honours, in the conventual
church of Alcoba^a.
Alphonso III. Don, king of Portugal, succeeded his
brother Don Sancho II. in the year 1248. In the course
of a war with the Moors, in which he engaged at the be¬
ginning of his reign, he considerably extended the Portu¬
guese dominions. He took possession of the city of Faro,
the capital of the Moorish kingdom, in the province of
Algarve. Louie, another Moorish town, which was car¬
ried by storm, also fell into his hands. His power Was thus
extended abroad by the success of his arms, and the ad¬
ministration of his affairs at home became prosperous and
popular by his wisdom and prudence. But the tranquil¬
lity and prosperity of the kingdom were somewhat dis¬
turbed by an interdict which it was put under by Pope
Alexander IV., whose displeasure he had incurred by
marrying Donna Beatrix, the natural daughter of Don
Alonso the Wise, king of Castile, while his first wife was
living. In 1262, when his first queen died, the interdict
was removed by Pope Urban, a dispensation was granted,
and the children of Donna Beatrix were legitimated.
Hitherto frequent disputes had occurred between the
kings of Portugal and Castile relating to the boundaries
of the two kingdoms. To terminate all differences on
this subject, and to prevent them in future, commissioners
were appointed to define and settle the limits of their
respective dominions; and these were agreed to and ac¬
knowledged by a solemn deed.
Encouraged by the prosperity of his kingdom, and by
the success which had attended his enterprises, Alphonso
made an attempt to extend the influence of the crown, by
obliging the clergy to contribute to the welfare of the
state. But this measure, as might have been expected,
was not quietly submitted to. It occasioned the revival
of old disputes, the pope interfered, and in 1268 the
kingdom was again laid under an interdict. Alphonso suc¬
ceeded, by the wisdom of his negotiations, in obtaining
from Castile an exemption from all claims upon the crown
of Portugal, and in procuring an acknowledgement that
its monarch s were entirely relieved from the perform¬
ance of every kind of homage. He died in 1279, in the
69th year of his age, and in the 31st of his reign. Before
4 A
554
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Alphonso.
his death he was reconciled to the pope and clergy,
' having made a full and ample submission.
Alphonso IV. king of Portugal, surnamed the Brave,
was the son of King Denis. Instigated, it is said, by the
queen dowager of Castile, and moved with jealousy against
his natural brother Alphonso Sanchez, he revolted against
his father, and commenced a civil war. In this unnatural
and base war he was justly unsuccessful; but although he
was reduced to subjection, yet his haughty and ungo¬
vernable temper broke out in many occurrences, until he
succeeded his father in 1324. He commenced his reign
with devising plans for the security of his family in the
government, and the good of the kingdom: he likewise
manifested a strong benevolence of heart, in his affection
for his consort Queen Beatrix, and his dutiful conduct
towards his mother. Not long after, he engaged in war
with Alonzo XI. king of Castile, which, after several
severe struggles, witl^ various success on both sides, ter¬
minated in an alliance, and in effectual assistance against
the Moors. The artful and cruel part which he acted
towards Donna Agnes de Castro, the mistress and con¬
cealed wife of his son, reflected the greatest disgrace upon
his character. It is proper, however, to remark, that he
was instigated to the murder of this princess by his cour¬
tiers. It was not therefore to be wondered at if his son
was induced by this act to rise up in open rebellion against
him ; but the arms of his father were too formidable ; and
after his submission his father treated him with particular
marks of attention. Instructed by the growing infirmities
of years, he saw the termination of his reign and life ap¬
proaching. He began to compensate for his past errors
and faults by redressing grievances, by restraining immo¬
rality through the establishment of pious laws, by dictat¬
ing salutary maxims for the government of the state, by
removing those from the seats of power who were the
most likely to become the objects of resentment after his
death: he thus laboured to efface from the remembrance
of his son the insult which he had received. While con¬
certing these conciliatory measures, he died in May 1357,
in the 32d year of his reign, and the 67th of his age. In
many respects he deserves the character of a great man
and a great king,—brave and fortunate in war, but artful
and indirect in his political measures, attached to his
subjects, strict in the administration of justice, attentive
to the public welfare, and assiduous in encouraging indus¬
try and enriching his people.
Alphonso V. Bon, king of Portugal, was born in 1432,
and on account of his heroic deeds obtained the surname
of the African. At the age of six years he succeeded his
father King Edward. The administration of the affairs of
the kingdom during his minority was intrusted to his
uncle Don Pedro, who, although his public conduct met
with general approbation, was persecuted as a traitor at
the expiration of his regency, and, with several persons
who were attached to his interest, and involved in his
misfortunes, was put to death. The young king had
married the daughter of the regent; but even his influ¬
ence, which was overpowered by the regent’s enemies,
could not save him from persecution. Afterwards indeed
he did justice to his memory, and discovered an unusual
mark of respect and attachment to his queen, by abstain¬
ing from all connection with the sex after her death, which
happened in 1455, and, it has been supposed, was occa¬
sioned by poison, administered by the enemies of her father.
Alphonso aspired to the acquisition of military glory.
In the year 1458 he made great preparations to attack
the Moors in Barbary. He assembled an army of 20,000
men, and equipped a fleet of 200 sail. He first directed
his arms against Alcazar, which soon fell into his hands ;
and, to maintain the footing which he had gained, he fur- Alph
nished this place with a strong garrison. For twelve yearsv-^\
he prosecuted the war in Barbary with various success, in
that time reduced Arzilla and Tangier, and in 1470 re¬
turned to Portugal loaded with honours. It was then that
he obtained the surname of African, and to the titles which
he derived from his ancestors, added that of lord of the
coasts of both seas; and, with a view to perpetuate the
memory of these exploits and conquests, he caused a re¬
presentation of them to be wrought in tapestry, a monu¬
ment surely constructed of very frail materials, but not
less durable than many which have been erected by am¬
bition and vanity. During the war in Africa, a military
order denominated the knights of the sword was founded.
Alphonso was less successful in supporting the claim of
his niece Donna Joanna to the crown of Castile against
Ferdinand and Isabella. Finding his own resources un¬
equal to the contest in which he was engaged, he took a
journey to France to solicit the aid of Louis XI. But
his solicitations proved fruitless; and the mortification
which he experienced from this faithless monarch filled
him with melancholy, and induced him to resign his
crown for the purpose of making a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land. The administration of affairs during his absence
was committed to the hands of his son Don Juan, who
governed the kingdom with great ability. When the
king returned he was joyfully received by the prince, and
reinstated in his authority. But the mind of Alphonso had
lost its wonted vigour, and was unfit to resume the arduous
duties of government. Oppressed still with a deep melan¬
choly, he determined at length to withdraw from the cares
of a kingdom, and to end his days in the repose and quiet
of a monastery. But, on his journey to the place of his
retirement, he was seized with the plague at Cintra, where
he died in 1481, in the 43d year of his reign, and the 49th
of his age. The moderation, the prudence and wisdom,
which this prince exhibited in his public conduct, were not
more powerful in conciliating the love and veneration of
his subjects, and of all good men, than were the amiable
virtues of his private character. He was distinguished
for his affability and condescension, his benignity and
bounty, and especially for his unbounded charity. In the
exercise of this latter virtue he was honoured with the
title of redeemer of the captives, in consequence of his
having procured the freedom of many prisoners, whose
ransom he cheerfully paid. Nor was he less eminent for
his chastity and temperance, his attachment to letters,
and his love and encouragement of learning. The first
library in the palace of the kings of Portugal was founded
in his time. He established and vindicated, against the
pretensions and hostile attempts of the Spaniards, a very
profitable trade on the coast of Guinea, which country
was discovered during his reign, under the auspices of his
uncle Don Henry, a celebrated character of that age.
Alphonso VI. Bon Enriquez, king of Portugal, as¬
cended the throne when only a child of thirteen years of
age. It is not easy to conceive a kingdom in a more peril¬
ous situation than this at the death of Don John. The
young king was remarkable for weakness of body and im¬
becility of mind ; the regency in the hands of a woman,
and that woman a Castilian ; the nation involved in war,
and this respecting the title to the crown ; many of the
nobility engaged in feuds and contentions with each other,
and some of them secretly disaffected to the reigning fa¬
mily ; so that the queen scarcely knew to whom she could
trust, or by whom she was to be obeyed. A very inde¬
cent joy was manifested by the people on the king’s death,
as if his death was the dissolution of government; but
the great abilities of the queen, and the vigorous mea-
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Al onso, sures which she adopted, soon changed the face of affaifs.
^ For her own safety, and the prosperity of the kingdom,
she appointed Don Francisco de Faro, count of Odemira,
of the house of Braganza, governor to the king, and one
of her principal ministers of state; and she made choice
of Don Antonio de Meneses, count de Castenheda, to be
his coadjutor. The former was a person in high repute
among the nobility, in great favour with the people, en¬
tirely devoted to the interests of the queen, possessed of
a large estate, and far advanced in years; the latter was
also an aged man of great talents, and equally capable to
preside in the cabinet and to command in the field. As
might naturally be expected, these men sometimes differ¬
ed in opinion ; but this difference never hurt the cause of
file queen. Seconded, protected, and counselled by such
able men, the nation began to feel the effects of the
queen’s firmness and superior talents.
The first important exertion of the queen was, to send
express orders to the count de San Lorenzo, who com¬
manded on the frontiers, to act offensively; but the mea¬
sure, though prudent in itself, was not attended with the
desired success. About this time, however, the duke de
St Germain, an Italian officer in the service of Spain, enter¬
ed Portugal, and besieged and took Olivenza and the castle
of Moran. In consequence of this, the general was dis¬
missed, and his place was filled by Juan Mendez Yascon-
celles, a man in great favour with the troops, and univer¬
sally popular. He engaged to act also upon the offensive ;
but being unsuccessful, he was only saved from punish¬
ment by his simple and candid defence, in which he
says, “ that he had undertaken the siege in obedience to
the order of the queen, and for the honour of the nation;
and that he had raised it without orders, for the preserva¬
tion of the army; that he knew the hazard he ran when
he did it, but that it gave him pleasure to think, that at the
hazard, or even the loss, of his reputation and life, the
troops of Portugal had been saved.” He was declared
innocent, and worthy of the queen’s favour, by the coun¬
cil of war who presided. Don Sancho Manuel, who com¬
manded in Elvas, and defended it with equal bravery and
conduct, showed himself to be an officer of considerable
judgment, by his hazarding nothing more when he had
performed his service, upon which the very being of the
state depended; but it was the count de Castanheda
who raised that siege, and forced the army of Spain in
their lines. After some other political measures, the
queen regent finished in a manner her administration
with the marriage of her only daughter, the princess Ca¬
tharine, once intended for Louis XIV., with Charles II.
king of Great Britain, one of the most fortunate events
that ever happened for Portugal, since it immediately
procured them the protection of the English fleets, be¬
sides adding much reputation to their affairs throughout
Furope; which was the reason that the Spanish court op¬
posed it with so much heat, or rather passion. By the
vigorous exertions and fortunate victories of Montesclaros,
me war was soon terminated to the honour of Portugal.
I he sixth and last victory in the course of 28 years was
obtained by the marquis de Marialva, which was chiefly
owmg to unforeseen accidents, to the determined cou¬
rage of foreign troops, and to the great abilities of Schom-
oerg. This victory determined the fate of the kingdom,
though not of the sovereign ; and it was easy to be seen
y he more intelligent people in Portugal, that the king
*ould sooner or later be deposed.
Alphonso being struck with the palsy while a child,
ocame necessary to treat him with indulgence, on ac-
^1S )vea^isfate °f health; consequently, as he
e haaturity, his want of parts, and the defects in his
ALP
555
an idea of preferring him ; but they universally declined
to make a breach in the succession, declaring it was diffi¬
cult to make an estimate of the powers of a king who was
then only a child. The queen yielded, and endeavoured
by every proper means to make him worthy of a crown
which, by birth, he was entitled to wear. The count de
Odemira, who was charged with his education, found it a
V6!J i Afr* t^k1t0 manage the young prince, who, for¬
getful of his birth and destination, was prone only to
those amusements which the youth of his age were ac¬
customed to. His guardian and preceptor struggled with
tins disposition, and even ventured to take some pretty
severe measures; but, to his great mortification, it proved
entirely abortive. A variety of facts that might be men¬
tioned are sufficient evidence that his natural dispositions
were weak, wild, refractory, and unteachable; and that
although he was born to reign, yet he was destitute of the
qualities absolutely necessary in a prince. The direful
consequences of this having "been for some time experi¬
enced by the nation, the nobles were at last driven to the
resolution of deposing the king, and exalting Don Pedro
to the regency. In the morning of the next day after the
determination, the marquis de Cascaes, at the head of the
council, went to the palace to propose the resignation to
the king. The king was in bed and fast asleep: the mar¬
quis ordered him to be awakened, and knocked violently
at the door for that purpose; and when he obtained ad¬
mission, he is said to have upbraided him in very coarse
terms for his laziness and inattention to public affairs at
so critical a conjuncture ; adding, that since he must be
sensible of his want of abilities to govern a kingdom, the
wisest method he could adopt was, to resign it in favour
of his brother. The king absolutely refused to consent;
but not long after, Don Pedro coming to the palace, or¬
dered him to be confined in his apartment, where one of
his favourites persuaded him, in the hope of being set at
liberty, to make a short renunciation of the crown in fa¬
vour of his brother Don Pedro and his lawful issue, re¬
serving the house of Braganza and its dependencies, to¬
gether with 100,000 crowns out of the revenue of the
crown. Nor was this deemed sufficient; for a paper was
presented to him, making him avow, that for want of con¬
summation his marriage was null. This he at first de¬
clined ; but, by the advice of some divines, he was pre¬
vailed on to subscribe the deed. The unfortunate Don
Alphonso died, after he had been a prisoner near fifteen
years, when he had borne the title of king almost twenty-
seven, and had lived about forty.
Alphonso III., surnamed the Great, king of Asturias,
was born in 847, and succeeded his father Ordogno in 865.
In consequence of the rebellion of Don Frolia, not long
after his accession to the throne, he was forced to leave
his kingdom; but that usurper being assassinated, with
universal applause he returned to his throne. In many
successful enterprises against the Moors, in which he
greatly enlarged his territories, he soon displayed the ta¬
lents of a warlike and able prince. He formed a power¬
ful alliance against the Moors, by marrying Ximene or
Chimene, descended from the house- of Navarre, which
paved the way for a long series of victories. The great
attention which he paid to the comfort and welfare of the
common people greatly disgusted his haughty nobles,
which excited them to revolt against him in the advanced
part of his life. Enjoying a small interval of tranquillity
from the distraction and tumults of war, he called a ge-
556
ALP
ALP
Alphonso. neral council of the clergy and nobility, enacted some
'useful regulations, and directed their attention to several
other subjects, which contributed to the honour and hap¬
piness of his kingdom. Whilst he was busily occupied in
repairing some of those towns which he had taken from
the Moors, he was suddenly interrupted by them, and was
under the necessity of defending himself with a consider¬
able army, which he did with such success, that they
were defeated with great loss. The unnatural rebellion
of his son Don Garcias, at this time, greatly disturbed his
government; but by the diligence of the lather, this un¬
natural rebellion was soon quelled. The confinement of
Garcias, and the new imposition of taxes, produced gene¬
ral murmurs among the people ; which induced Alphonso,
now worn out with years and incessant contentions, to. as¬
semble the states, and resign the reins of government into
the hands of his son Don Garcias. He gave other
son Don Ordogno the province of Galicia. The ambitious
and military spirit which Don Garcias discovered in his
father’s reign soon displayed itself in an attack on the
Moors. By the advice of his father, to which he prudent¬
ly listened, he was taught that these new conquests tend¬
ed more to enrich the soldiers than to promote the interest
of the crown. Alphonso, though far advanced in years,
took upon himself the command of the army raised for
new operations, and returned to Zamora loaded with
spoils, and with increased reputation and fame, in the year
91.2. He died on the 20th of December 912, two years after
his abdication, 46 years from the time of his being asso¬
ciated with his father in the government, and when he
was about 64 or 65 years of age. His great learning, and
the patronage he gave to literature, his distinguished piety
and virtue, and other princely qualities, raised this king
high in the estimation of mankind. Some writers affirm
that he composed a chronicle of the Spanish affairs, from
the death of Recesuintho to tiiat of his own father Don
Ordogno, which has been incorrectly published by Sandoval,
and the later editions have sustained considerable injury.
Alphonso X., surnamed the Wise, king of Leon and
Castile, succeeded his father Ferdinand in the year 1252.
He obtained the appellation of wise, not for his political
knowledge as a king, but his erudition as a philosopher.
In consequence of the general opinion of his princely
qualities, and his uncommon generosity, he ascended the
throne with universal approbation. The ill-concerted
projects of his ambition, however, disturbed the prosperity
of his reign. Pretending a better right than Henry III.
of England to that territory, he directed his first attempt
against Gascony. The arms of England, however, proved
too formidable ; and he was compelled to renounce his
claim, on condition that Henry’s son, afterwards King
Edward I., should marry his sister Eleonora. At an ex¬
pense which drained his treasures, and obliged him to
debase his coin, he prepared for an expedition against the
Moors in Barbary; but his maternal right to the duchy of
Suabia, which he was called to defend, diverted him
firom it. Thus he formed a connection with the German
princes, and became a competitor, with Richard earl of
Cornwall, for the imperial crown, in quest of which they
both expended immense sums of money. I he claims of
several of the princes of the blood gave exercise to his
military talents, and he was successful both in opposing,
and defeating them. He formed the romantic design of
visiting Italy in the year 1268; but the states firmly
remonstrating, he was obliged to relinquish it. But
although he abandoned the design, yet it produced such
discontents among the common people, and conspiracy
among the nobles, that it required considerable exertion be¬
fore the king could allay the ferment. Alphonso being still
desirous to ascend the imperial throne, attempted it after a
the death of Richard earl of Cornwall, and even after U
Rodolph of Hapsburg was actually elected emperor of
Germany; and for that purpose took a journey to Beau-
caire, to obtain an interview with the pope, in order to
prevent him from confirming the election. The Moors,
ever ready to draw the sword against him, took this op.
portunity of entering his dominions for the purpose of ra¬
vaging them. This ambitious journey, undertaken at so
vast an expense, and productive of so much confusion in
his kingdom, proved unsuccessful; for the pope would
not realize his claim, or alter the former election. But his
excessive ambition was soon punished by domestic cala¬
mity; for his eldest son died in this interval, and his
second son Don Sanchez, having obtained great reputa¬
tion in opposing the infidels, to the prejudice of his bro¬
ther’s children, laid claim to the crown. This claim was
admitted by the states of the kingdom; but Philip king
of France, supporting the cause of the children, whose
mother was his sister Blanche of France, involved Al¬
phonso in a war; and it occasioned the retreat of his own
queen Yolande or Yiolante to the court of her father, the
king of Arragon. While thus harassed with dissensions,
he proclaimed war against France, and by the authority
of the pope he renewed the war with the Moors, which
proved so unfortunate, that he reluctantly concluded a
truce with them, and engaged in a contest with the king
of Granada. These various measures exhausted his trea¬
sure ; taxes were multiplied, and the affairs of the kingdom
were in such confusion, that he was under the disagree¬
able necessity of calling an assembly of the states, which
was held at Seville in the year 1281, where, on the king’s
proposal, the states consented to give a currency to copper
money. In consequence of the intrigues of Don Sanchez,
his son, another assembly of the states was held at Valla¬
dolid, A. d. 1282, which deprived Alphonso of the regal
dignity, and appointed Sanchez regent. Reduced to
almost insurmountable difficulties, Alphonso solemnly
cursed and disinherited his son, and by his last will, in
the year 1283, confirmed the act of exclusion, and ap¬
pointed for the succession the infants de la Cerda, and,
upon the failure of their heirs, the kings of France ; and
at the same time supplicated the assistance of the king of
Morocco against the power of his son. At the commence¬
ment of the next year, when Alphonso received informa¬
tion from Salamanca that Sanchez was dangerously ill,
his heart relented. He pardoned his son, revoked his
curses, and then died, on the 4th of April 1284, in the
81st year of his age. His remains were interred in the
cathedral of Seville ; and he left behind him the character
of a learned man, but a weak king. Alphonso has been
charged with irreligion and impiety, chiefly on account o
a well-known but differently interpreted saying of his, viz.
“ if he had been of God’s privy council when he created
the world, he could have advised him better.
He was an eminent proficient in science, and a patron
of literature. He concluded that book of laws known y
the title of Xas Partidas, which his father had begun,
and in it displayed the abilities of a politician as we as
of a legislator. By obliging his subjects to use their own
language, he redressed the confusion in law proceedings
occasioned by intermixing Latin with the vulgar
Under his patronage a general history of Spain was co
posed, which he took great pains in polishing ; ie. a ^
corrected many errors in the statutes of the universi y
Salamanca. Astronomy being his favourite stu y,
chiefly directed his attention to the improvement o
science; so that, even during the life of his 1
sembled at Toledo a number of the most, celebrated
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tronomers of his time, Christians, Jews, and Arabians,
a/'-'from all parts of Europe, for the purpose of examining
the astronomical tables of Ptolemy, and correcting their
errors. These tables, after employing them about four
years, were completed in 1252, the first year of Alphonso’s
reio-n, and were called Alphonsine Tables, from the name
of this prince, who, by his unbounded liberality, encourag¬
ed the construction of them. It is reported that 400,000
ducats were expended on them, or, according to others,
40 000. A book entitled The Treasure is also ascribed to
him, containing treatises of rational philosophy, physics,
and ethics. He is likewise said to have been well acquaint¬
ed with astrology and chemistry, and in the latter science
to have compiled two volumes in cipher, which are still
extant, and to be found in his Catholic majesty’s library.
Alphonso V. king of Arragon and Naples, succeeded
his father in the year 1416. As the father had formerly
been honoured with the appellation of Just, so the son
was honoured with that of Magnanimous. The conspi¬
racy of some of his own nobles against his life, together
with the insolence of Pope Benedict XIII., greatly dis¬
turbed the tranquillity of his reign. Fortunately, this
conspiracy was discovered just when it was about to be
carried into execution; and, instead of proceeding with
rigour against the conspirators, he generously tore a paper
containing their names, without reading it, and added, that
“ he would at least force them to acknowledge that he had
a greater regard for their lives than they had for his.”
After quelling a disturbance in Sardinia, and while em¬
ployed in making preparations to advance to Sicily, Joan
of Naples offered, if he would assist her against the pope,
the duke of Anjou, and the constable Sforza, who had
formed a confederacy to depose her, to adopt him as her
son and heir. He readily accepted the proposal, and with
a powerful army soon raised the siege of Naples, and was
immediately declared heir apparent of her kingdom, and
duke of Calabria. The queen refusing to fulfil her en¬
gagements, Alphonso took possession of Naples, and ex¬
pelled her from it; but when the duke of Anjou again
entered her territories, and made himself master of great
part of them, she was obliged to renew her solicitations to
Alphonso, who, in the year 1434, involved himself in a
quarrel with the duke of Milan and the republic of Genoa,
by besieging Gaeta in a second attempt to conquer
Naples. In an engagement with the Genoese fleet, all
his ships were dispersed or destroyed, and himself taken
prisoner; but such was the address of this prince, that
when carried to Milan a prisoner, he there ingratiated
himself so much into the duke’s favour, that he became
his friend and ally, and soon rose to greater power than
ever.
He got possession of Naples in 1443; and in an assem¬
bly of the states held at Beneventum, and afterwards
transferred to Naples, his sovereignty was recognised, and
Ids son Don Ferdinand declared successor to the throne;
and, in consequence of this elevation, he was deemed the
sole arbiter of peace and war through all Italy. Naples
became the residence of Alphonso during the remainder
of bis life; but his declining years were much disquieted
by political dissensions and intrigues. Suspicion, the fre¬
quent attendant of old age, at last seized him; and, in con¬
sternation and dread, he was removed from one castle of
Naples to another, until he breathed his last on the 22d
or June 1468, bequeathing to his natural son Ferdinand
me kingdom of Naples, and to his brother Don Juan, king
of Navarre, the kingdoms of Arragon, Valencia, Majorca,
ardinia, Sicily, and the principality and dependencies of
atalonia. Alphonso was not only deemed the ablest
statesman and the most renowned military commander
ALP
in that age, but also the greatest prince that ever occu¬
pied the throne of Arragon.
ALPHONSUS TOSTATUS. See Tostatus.
ALPINI, Prospero, in Latin Prosper Alpinus, a
celebrated physician and botanist, was born at Marostica,
in the republic of Venice, in November 1553. In his
early years his inclination led him to the profession of
arms, and he served some time in the Milanese. By the
encouragement and persuasion of his father, who was a
physician, he retired from the army, and devoted his at¬
tention to literature. To prosecute his studies with more
advantage, he went to the university of Padua, where he
was soon after elected deputy to the rector, and syndic to
the students. But in the discharge of his official duties,
which was distinguished by prudence and address, he
was not prevented from pursuing the study of physic,
which he had chosen. He continued his medical studies
with zeal and success ; and after having acquired the ne¬
cessary qualifications, he was admitted to the degree of
doctor of physic in 1578. Soon after this he left the uni¬
versity, and settled as a physician in Campo San Pietro,
a small town in the Paduan territory, at the invitation of
its citizens.
In the course of his studies he had paid particular at¬
tention to plants, and had become an enthusiast in bota¬
nical science; but the sphere of his present practice was
too limited to afford him much opportunity of prosecuting
his favourite study. He wished particularly to extend
his knowledge of exotic plants; and considered that the
only means of attaining this was to study their economy
and habits in their native soil. To gratify this laudable
curiosity an opportunity soon presented itself. George
Emo, the consul for the Venetian republic in Egypt, ap¬
pointed Alpini his physician. They sailed from Venice
in September 1580, and, after experiencing a tedious and
dangerous voyage, arrived at Grand Cairo in the begin¬
ning of July the following year. Alpini spent three years
in Egypt, and, by his industry and assiduity, greatly im¬
proved his botanical knowledge, having travelled along
the banks of the Nile, visited every place, and consulted
every person from whom he expected any new informa¬
tion. From a practice in the management of date-trees,
which he observed in this country, Alpini seems to have
deduced the doctrine of the sexual difference of plants,
which was adopted as the foundation of the celebrated
system of Linnaeus. He says, that “ the female date-trees,
or palms, do not bear fruit unless the branches of the male
and female plants are mixed together; or, as is generally
done, unless the dust found in the male sheath, or male
flowers, is sprinkled over the female flowers.”
When Alpini returned to Venice in 1586, he was ap¬
pointed physician to Andrea Doria, prince of Melfi; and
during his residence at Genoa he acquired so great a name
as to be esteemed the first physician of his age. The
Venetians were unwilling that the Genoese state should
number among its citizens a person of such distinguished
mex’it and reputation, whose services might be essentially
beneficial, and whose fame might be highly honourable, to
his native country; and in the year 1593 he was recalled
to fill the botanical chair in the university of Padua, with
a salary of 200 florins, which was afterwards augmented
to 750. He discharged the duties of his professorship
for many years with great reputation, till his declining
health interrupted his labours. He died in 1617, in the
64th year of his age, and was succeeded as botanical pro¬
fessor by one of his sons. Alpini wrote the following
works in Latin:—1. De Medicina TEgyptiorum libri iv.
Venice, 1591, 4to; 2. De Plantis iEgypti liber, Venice*
1592, 4to; 3. De Balsamo Dialogus, Venice, 1592, 4to;
558 ALP
Alpiste 4. De Prsesagienda Vita et Morte iEgrotantium libri vii.
[| Venice, 1601, 4to; 5. De Medicina Methodica libri xiii.
Aips. paciua5 1611, folio ; 6. De Rhapontico Disputatio, Padua,
1612, 4to. Of all these works there have been various
editions given to the world; and, besides these, two post¬
humous treatises were published by his son : 1. De Plantis
Exoticis libri ii. Venice, 1627, 4to; 2. Historiae Naturalis
Egypti libri iv. Lugd. Bat. 1635, 4to. Several other works
of Alpini remain in manuscript.
ALPISTE, or Alpia, a sort of seed used to feed birds
with, especially when they are to be nourished for breed¬
ing. The alpiste seed is of an oval figure, of a pale yel¬
low, inclining to an isabel colour, bright and glossy. It
is an article of the corn-chandlers and seedmen s trade.
ALPS. On taking a general view of the continent of
Europe, we can distinguish two great mountain masses,
from which proceed the various chains of mountain
groups that characterize it. The first of these is the
mountain mass of St Gothard, in Switzerland, between
the sources of the Rhine, the Rhone, the Etch, and
the Aar: the second is the Wolchonshy-wald, in Rus¬
sia, between the Wolga and the sources of the Don,
Dnieper, and Dwina.
The mountains connected with St Gothard are the
Alps, which in their full extent reach from long. 4° 20'
to 19° E. from Paris, and from lat. 44° to 47° N. The
central point of the Alps is in Switzerland, the numerous
branches of it extending through Savoy, France, Italy,
Germany, Croatia, and Sclavonia. They are bounded on
the south-west by the Rhone, in southern France ; on the
north-east by the Danube, in Hungary; on the south
and south-east by the Mediterranean Sea, and the rivers
Kulpa and Sau; on the north and north-west by the Da¬
nube, in Germany; by the Rhine on the northern boundary
of Switzerland; and by the Doubs on the Jura. Hence it
appears that this great high land passes through France,
Savoy, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Croatia, and Sclavo¬
nia. The southern part of the chain in Croatia, in long.
35°, does not reach its extremity, but continues onwards
to the left bank of the Sau and Danube, fully ten de¬
grees of longitude farther.
Origin of In the Celtic language, the word alb, alp according to
the name, some authors, signifies white. As the highest peaks of
this Alpine land are perpetually covered with snow, they
were by the ancient inhabitants named Alps; by the
Greeks AXcrs/f, who, however, knew only the Maritime Alps;
by the Romans Alpes, and by modern writers Alps.1
History. The Romans, although they knew well that the Gauls
under Bellovesus (620 years before Christ) made an
irruption into Upper Italy across the Alps, were entirely
ignorant of the route he followed. It was not until
Hannibal had crossed the Alps (300 years after Bello¬
vesus) that the Romans thought of examining this grand
barrier. Polybius described the Alpine country tra¬
versed by the military host under Hannibal, fifty years
after that remarkable event; and Cincius Alimentus heard
Hannibal himself detail his passage of the Alps. Livy,
and other writers, both Latin and Greek, also speak
of the Alps. Fifty-two years after Hannibal’s irruption
into Italy (in the year of Rome 587, before Christ 178),
the Romans, under the consuls Claudius and Marcellus,
conquered the Cisalpine Gauls, who inhabited the coun¬
try between the Po and the Alps; and seven years after¬
wards, under Fulvius Nobilis, they for the first time
crossed the Alps to Nice and Antibes, in order to aid the
Marsilians against the Ligurians. For one hundred and
A L P
fifty years from this period, the Romans frequently tra- A1
versed this chain, partly with the view of subjugating the^\
various tribes inhabiting it, and partly in extending their
conquests into Spain, Gaul, and Germany. After the
death of Caesar, the whole Alpine population threw off
the Roman yoke. The emperor Augustus sent against
them (in the year of Rome 747, before Christ 18) his le¬
gions, under Drusus, Tiberius, Terentius Varro, and Lu¬
cius Silus. This long-continued warfare terminated in
the conquest of forty-six Alpine tribes or nations, whose
names were inscribed on the celebrated triumphal arch of
Augustus, erected near Nice. From this period until the
fifth century after Christ, the Romans continued in com¬
plete possession of the north and south sides of the Alps.
During the long domination of the Romans, the Alps
received the following names, which are still retained by
geographers, viz. Maritime, Cottian, Grecian, Pennine,
Leopontine, Rhaetian, Noric, Carnic, Julian, and Dinarian.
DIVISIONS OF THE ALPS.
1. Maritime Alps (Alpes Maritime).—These extend Divis
from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, between Onegliaoftlie
and Toulon, across the Cols Ardente and Tende, to Mont
Viso (Vesulus), separating Piedmont from Provence and
the Mediterranean Sea.
2. Cottian Alps (Alpes Cottiae) extend from Mont
Viso by Mont Genevre to Mont Cenis, a distance of
twenty-five leagues, thus separating Piedmont from Dau-
phiny. It is in this range that we first meet with heights
analogous to those of the central chains of the Alps.
The Po and the Durance rivers have their sources here.
The name is derived from Cottius, who, in the time of
Caesar and Augustus, had his chief place of residence
at Seguvium, the present Susa, and ruled as king or chief
of this part of the Alps.
3. Grecian or Grey Alps (Alpes Graiae) extend from
Mont Cenis, across the leran and the Little St Ber¬
nard, to the Col de Bonhomme, separating Piedmont
from Savoy. They were named Grey Alps from their
grey colour, owing to the partial cover of snow. The
Little St Bernard is considered as the Alpis Graia of the
ancients.
4. Pennine Alps (Alpes Penninae), also named by
Caesar Alpes Summae, extend from the Bonhomme across
Mont Blanc, the Great St Bernard, Combon, onwards
to Mont Cervin and Mont Rosa, separating Piedmont
from Savoy and the Lower Vallais. The Celts named
every high mountain a Penn; hence the loftiest sum¬
mits and the most exalted of their deities were named
Penn. In the time of the Romans, in one of the valleys,
a temple was built, and a statue erected in it, to one of
their gods, named Penn, by the Romans Deus Pen*
ninus, and afterwards Jupiter Penninus. Hence these
Alps were named Alpes Penninae. In this part of the
great Alpine range there occur Mont Blanc, the highest
mountain in Europe, and Mont Rosa, the next in elevation
to that monarch of European mountains.
5. Leopontine Alps, also named Alps of Switzerland, or
Aulae. They extend from Mont Rosa on both sides of
the Rhone, or valley of the Vallais, across St Gothard,
the Moschelhorn, and Bernardino in the Grisons, thus
separating Lombardy from Switzerland. The distance
from St Gothard to Bernardino is 15 leagues. . They
were named Leopontine after a people, the Leopontii, who
formerly inhabited the confines of Rhaetia, Helvetia, and
Italy.
1 Some authors derive Alp from dtb, a verdant height.
ALPS.
539
6. Rhatian Alps (Alpes Rhaeticae) extend from Ber-
i Onardino through the whole of the Grisons and the Tyrol,
to the Dreiherrn peak, on the borders of Saltzburg and
Carinthia, and more southerly to Mont Pelegrino; thus
separating Lombardy and a great part of the Venetian
terra firma from Northern Rhaetia and Germany.
7. Noric Alps (Alpes Noricae) extend from the Drei¬
herrn peak through the whole of Carinthia, on the left
bank of the Drau, through Saltzburg, Austria, and Styria,
to the Oedenburg plain in Hungary. They have their
name from the Roman town Noricum.
8. Carnic Alps (Alpes Carniae) extend from Pelegri¬
no, between the rivers Drau and Sau, to Terglou, at the
source of the Sau.
9. Julian Alps (Alpes Juliae) extend from Terglou,
between the right bank of the Sau, the Kulpa, and the
Adriatic Sea, to the rock Kleck, near Zenk in Dalmatia;
thus separating the Friaul from Idria, and in general the
whole of Upper Italy from Carinthia, Carniola, Croatia,
and Servia. The present Civita di Friuli occupies the
site where formerly stood the Forum Julii, which gave
name to this division of the Alps.
10. Dinarian Alps, so named from Mons Adrius, ex¬
tend from Kleck to Sophia, ranging along the right bank
of the Sau and Danube, and join the Haemus or Balkan,
on the Black Sea.
Dir ion The general direction of the Alps, excluding the Ma-
oftljUps.ritime Alps, which range nearly from south to north, is
Dir ion from west-south-west to east-north-east. The most con-
' eys. siderable valleys, those named longitudinal, run parallel
with the direction of the chain; and others, named trans-
verse, run from south and south-east to north and north¬
west, or from north and north-west to south and south¬
east.
Grajac- The great crest of the Alps, the watershed (divortia
chv Is of aquarum) 0f this vast high land has declining from it two
11 ^ acclivities, one towards the north, the other towards the
south. The north acclivity declines towards the ocean,
the North Sea, and the Baltic; the south acclivity towards
the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. The northern
acclivity has a gentle inclination, and is much more ex¬
tensive than the southern, which is comparatively abrupt
and steep. From the nature of these two acclivities or
inclined plains, we naturally expect to find the principal
and most numerous secondary chains on the northern, and
this is actually the case. Mont St Gothard, in some de¬
gree the central point of the whole chain, is distant in a
straight line from the Mediterranean about 52 leagues,
from the Adriatic 75 leagues, from the ocean 175 leagues,
from the North Sea 168 leagues, from the Baltic 185
leagues.
HeJ ;i
•S of
m()W tins.
heights of the moke remarkable mountains
IN THE ALPS.
III. Graian Alps.
English Feet. '
6. Mont Iseran    13,278 Welden.
7. Summit of the Little St Bernard.... 9,594
8. Col de Bonhomme  8,027
IV. Pennine Alps.
9. Mont Blanc  15,781
Alps.
Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe. The
Elbruz in the Caucasus, which is 16,411 feet, cannot be
reckoned a European mountain. Notwithstanding its vast
height, Mont Blanc is much inferior in elevation to some
mountains in the New World and in Asia; for, according
to late measurements, there are in Upper Peru mountains
25,250 feet above the sea; and in the Himalaya ridge
summits soaring to a height of 26,000 feet.
10. Great St Bernard  11,011
11. Mont Cervin  14,784
12. Mont Rosa  15,540 Welden.
Mont Rosa is the next in elevation to Mont Blanc, and
therefore the second highest mountain in Europe. By
some it is stated to be even higher than Mont Blanc, but
we do not know the authority for this statement.
13. Col de Geant  11,275
14. L’Alle Blanche  14,775
15. Breithorn  12,800
V. Leopontine Alps—Group of St Goihard.
16. Petchiroa (one of the summits)  10,529 Welden.
17^ Fienda, another summit  10,180
18. Furca   14,040
19. Piz Pisoc   12,792
20. Pettina  9,153
21. Finsteraarhorn  14,116
22. Schreckhorn  13,397
23. Jungfrau or Virgin  13,720
24. Diablerets  10,732
25. The SimplonI. 2 3 * 5 1  6,590
26. Ruffi or Rossberg  5,154
27. Rigi  6,050
VI. Rhcetian Alps—Great Rhcetian Chain.
Grisons and Tyrol.
28. Muschel Horn  10,948
29. Bernhardino  10,187
30. Orteles  12,859 Welden.
31. Greiner  9,380
32. Brenner , 6,463
Northern Rhcetian Chain.
Chain between Tyrol and Bavaria.
33. Watzmann   9,655
34. Breithorn  7,7'/2
I. Maritime Alps.
English Feet.
L Col de Tende  5,818
2. Mont Venteux  7,235
II. Cottian Alps.
3. Mont Viso  13,828 Zach.
L Mont Genevre  11,788
5. Mont Cenis    11,460
VII. Norican Alps.
35. The Great Glockner  
36. Hohenwart 
37. Hahe-varr..... 
13,713
11,076
11,334
VIII. Carnic and Julian Alps.
38. Kleck...
39. Terglou <
6,692
9,096
1 There is a great road over the Simplon, by which Buonaparte invaded Italy in 1800, prior to the battle of Marengo. I w -
proved by the emperor at an expense of nine millions of francs. It runs along the Savoy side of the lake o geneva, an connet
the ridge of the Jura with the Alps. At St Maurice it falls in with the road that traverses the Swiss margin ot the lake, passes up
the Yrallais beyond Sion, and conducts the traveller to the lakes Maggiore and Milan.
560
Snow line.
Glaciers.
ALPS.
Heights of Passes across the Alps.
English Feet.
1. Pass of Mont Cenis  6,773
2. Pass of the Little St Bernard  7,194
3. Pass of the Great St Bernard  7,966
Pass of the Cervin   10,100
Pass of St Gothard  6,800
Pass of Gemmi   7,378
Pass of Airolo  7,192
Pass of the Splugen  6,310
Pass of Mont Julien  7,280
Heights of Lakes in the Alps.
1. Lake of Mont Cenis  6,280
2. Lake of the Dead, on the Grimsel... 7,067
3. Lake Refen, in the Tyrol  6,151
Lake Zegern, Tyrol  2,480
Lake Lugano   936
Lake Como  636
Lake of Geneva  1,207
Lake of Neufchatel  1,370
Heights of Sources of Rivers in the Alps.
1. Sources of the Rhone  5,748
2. Sources of the Reuss  7,088
3. Sources of the Tagliamento  4,412
Elevated Habitations in the Alps.
Priory of Chamouni  3,354
Convent of St Gothard    6,796
Hospital of the Grand St Bernard (high¬
est habitation in Europe)  7,966
Hospital of the Grimsel  6,003
The cold of the atmosphere continually increases with
the elevation ; and at a certain height, depending on cli¬
mate or latitude, perpetual frost prevails. Where the
earth’s surface attains this height, it is, with the exception
of mural precipices, continually covered with snow. The
snow increases from season to season; for though it may
melt slowly from the heat of the ground on which it rests,
yet it sulfers little loss externally in the way of melting,
except what the air carries off by evaporation. If in the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh we had mountains 6000 feet
high, their summits would be always covered with snow,
and consequently we should here have perpetual snow
within a few hours’ walk. But in Great Britain none of the
mountains reach to the snow line of the latitude,—an ar¬
rangement very different from what prevails in the Alps,
where whole ranges are covered with eternal snow. When
motmtains are covered with perpetual snow, its lower limit,
or the snow line, descends in winter and rises again in
summer; so that in the Alps in winter the snow line
reaches the low country, while in summer it ascends, and
in the autumn, when the heat is greatest, it attains its
maximum of height.
The lower edge of the snow line differs much from that
above it, and might more properly be called the ice line,
because the snow, owing to the influence of rain, the heat
of the sun, and the heat of the earth, is there partially
melted every summer, and frozen again in the winter,
forming an icy boundary. This ice is named glacier ice, or
svcnfiy glacier. Above this zone, the region of the glaciers,
the snow is seldom moistened by rain or softened by the
rays of the sun. These glaciers or vast accumulations of
ice have received particular names in different parts of the
Alps. Those in Dauphiny and Savoy are named glacier; in
Switzerland, gletcher ; in the Grisons, wader ; in the Tyrol,
ferner; in Salzburg and Carinthia, has; and by the Italians
who inhabit the Alps, vedretto. They fill all the upper,
and principally the transverse valleys, from Dauphiny to ^ j,
the frontier of Salzburg: few of them are less than three^k'
miles, many 18 or 20 miles in length, from one to
two miles broad, and from 100 to 600 feet thick. They
frequently run into each other, and thus surround the
peaks on all sides, in such a manner that they appear
rising like islands through a sea of ice. Where the glaciers
are largest, they send down great arms or branches into
the cultivated country, and into the fruitful valleys, 3000
feet above the sea. The chain of Mont Blanc affords a
striking example of these descending arms; for there
are twenty-five glaciers, descending from it into the val¬
leys of Chamouny, Entreves, and Bionnay. The glaciers
are frequently traversed by rents, often of great width
and depth; so that when hid by a thin covering of snow
or ice they become extremely dangerous to travellers.
It is therefore proper to have experienced guides when
visiting the dreary and desolate scenes where they oc¬
cur. The unfortunate Mr Escher, mentioned by M. de
Luc, was cautioned by his guide not to separate from
his companions when they arrived at the glacier. Hur¬
ried on, however, by that indescribable sensation which
people sometimes experience when they reach lofty
summits, and observing at the top of the glacier, a little
distance before him, two chamois hunters, who were
resting themselves, he hastened to join them; but he
disappeared in a moment, and was precipitated to the
bottom of a frightful fissure. He met with an instantane¬
ous death, which was caused by the compression of his
body in the narrow part of the rent. Bodies of those de¬
stroyed in fissures are sometimes brought to light by the
glacier streams. Other adventurers have been even less
fortunate than Escher; for there are instances in the me¬
lancholy records of these dreary regions, of bodies having
been found uninjured, lying on projecting ledges in
the fissures, and even sometimes suspended in narrow
parts of these horribly dark gulfs ; thus showing that the
wretched sufferers had had a slow and awful death. All
around the lower edges of the glaciers there are vast
heaps of stones : these are partly masses which have fallen
from the mountains, on their surface, or which have been
thrown from under the glacier in its progress downwards.
The collection of earth and stones is termed by the inha-Mol
bitants of Switzerland, moraine.
The glaciers are not stationary, but occasionally move
downward, and with a motion more or less quick. The
movement of the glacier sometimes takes place unex¬
pectedly, as was experienced by the priest of the Grin-
denwald, who, along with a chamois hunter, felt the
glacier over which they were travelling moving under
them. The travellers were resting themselves, and
had lighted their pipes, when suddenly a frightful noise
resembling thunder was heard. Every thing around
them began to move: their fowling-pieces, which they
had laid on the ice, moved about. Masses of rock,
which a few moments before lay quietly on the surface
of the glacier, bounded about in all directions; fissures
closed with a loud noise, like that of cannon, and forced
the water contained in them several fathoms upwards.
New rents, from 10 to 12 feet, burst open with inde¬
scribably disagreeable noises. The whole mass of the
glacier moved forward several yards: a dreadful convul¬
sion appeared approaching; but in a few seconds all was
still again, and the dead silence was interrupted only by
the call of the marmot. The total number of glaciers in Njw _r
the whole range of the Alps may be between 500 andg
600, which together form an icy sea of enormous extent.
These are masses of snow separated from the general A^a
snowy cover, which in their course downwards carry-al
A L
; s. ing along with them fragments of rock, and branches and
trunks of trees, rapidly increase in size, and sometimes,
before reaching the bottom of the valleys, have accumu¬
lated to an enormous magnitude. They destroy houses
and villages, break down whole forests, and sometimes even
interrupt the course of rivers. Those who are unfortunately
enveloped in these avalanches have little chance of escape.
In 1478 sixty soldiers in the district of St Gothard were
destroyed by an avalanche. One hundred men were en¬
veloped in an avalanche in the Great St Bernard, in the
year 1500. In 1595 the course of the Rhine was so much
interrupted by the fall of a great avalanche across it,
that the water rose and drowned many men and cattle.
In 1624 three hundred soldiers were enveloped in an
avalanche in Italian Switzerland, but the greater num¬
ber were dug out alive. Many other details of a similar
description are to be found in the records of modern tra¬
vellers.
The snows and glaciers of the Alps already described
are the never-failing sources of water for the great rivers
which rise from them, as the Rhine, Po, Danube, and
Rhone.
Po ation The inhabitants, as is well known, are in many respects
oft Alps.highly interesting, more especially those inhabiting the
more remote and magnificent districts. The population
of the whole range may be between 6,000,000 and
7,000,000. Of these, from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 belong
to the Celto-Gallic stem, from 800,000 to 900,000 to the
Italian, about 1,000,000 to the Sclavonian, and nearly
5,000,000 to the German states. Among these there
may be at least 1,500,000 who lead a pastoral life, and who
occupy themselves exclusively with Alpine economy and
tlie rearing of cattle.
Dii bu- In the Alps the upper limit of vegetation ascends above
•>a: f the snow line; for we observe plants growing on mountains
voi iblcs. situated above that line, but which are so steep that snow
will not lie on their sides. Thus, an androsacea and a silene
were found growing at a height of 1590 toises, on the
mountains around Mont Blanc. At an elevation of 1728
toises, on the same group of mountains, there were found,
growing and in a healthy state, a cardamine, a draba, a gen¬
tian, and other plants that do not fear the glacier zone. At
elevations between 1282 and 1180 toises, where the snow
and glaciers cease, we find growing, not upon rock, but on a
fertile soil watered by the snow-water, dwarf willows in
the midst of Alpine herbaceous plants. This region pre¬
sents here and there islands or patches of snow, in places
screened from the sun’s rays. In the bare patches of
ground among these islands, excellent clover grows,
which, however, can only be reached by traversing these
snowy patches. Lowrer down we reach that Alpine region
so celebrated for the magnificent pasturages it contains;
and still lower, between 1180 and 770 toises, new plants
make their appearance; viz. the rhododendron ferrugi-
neum, the rhododendron hirsutum, and ericaea or heaths.
We find the alder at 1000 toises ; and here we enter into
the region of trees. The pirnis muglms appears at 870
toises; the pinus picea, or pitch pine, at 750; the birch at
750 and 700; the yew at 700. The region of great trees
does not ascend higher than 680 toises ; beech stops here.
Oaks do not pass beyond 550 toises. At this height the
cerealia cannot be advantageously cultivated. The cherry
ranges upwards as high as 500 toises; nut-tree and ches-
mjt to 400 toises. The vine is planted as high as 280.
The olive is cultivated at the foot of the Alps, and on the
coast of Italy; and there also we find the orange, the
citron, and other trees. Local circumstances occasion
changes in the limits of these vegetables: barley, oats, and
wheat range to 700, and even to 900 toises.
VOL. II.
P s.
The animal^ world exhibits similar distributions with the Alps,
vegetable. T bus, the ibex and the chamois occur among
the most elevated summits, amidst snow and ice; but ol'Bistribu-
these two quadrupeds, the chamois in general occupies a tio.n of
lower situation than the ibex. Lower down we meet withanimals*
the marmot and the white hare, the bear and the mole;
still nearer the low country, wolves, foxes, the lynx and the
wild cat.
Among the feathered creation the feathered vulture or
lammergeyer is the species which is observed at the great¬
est heights, being seen soaring above very lofty snow-
covered pinnacles. The ptarmigan wanders along the edge
of the snowline ; theheath-cock frequents pine forests; the
grey partridge and other birds occur in still lower regions.
Various aquatic birds frequent the lakes and rivers, and
have also their appropriate distribution. The distribution
of fishes is also interesting, as they occur at different
heights, whether in lakes or rivers. Where the water is
abundantly supplied from the glaciers, fishes do not thrive,
and are rarely to be found. Insects, too, as we shall
partially explain in our article on the geography of the
animal world, are met with in the Alps, from spots amidst
the snows of the loftiest peaks to the deepest valleys,
increasing in number, variety, and beauty, as we approach
the lower country. Even the testaceous molluscae, and
creatures lower in the animal scale, exhibit on the great
acclivities of the Alps a similar mode of distribution.
In this vast high land there are examples of all Geological
the different rock formations of which the crust of thecomposi-
earth is composed, from the deepest-seated primitive^011,
rock to the most superficial and newest alluvial depo-
site. The higher and also many of the deeper ranges
and valleys are composed of primitive rocks, viz. gra¬
nite, gneiss, mica slate, clay slate, limestone, trap, por¬
phyry, syenite, serpentine, and quartz rock. Resting upon
these, and frequently at a great height, rocks of the tran¬
sition class appear, as grey wacke, clay slate, quartz rock,
granite, gneiss, mica slate, limestone, syenite, trap and
serpentine. The secondary rocks, or those of the third
class, although frequently occurring at a great height, yet
more generally occupy lower situations than the primitive
and transition rocks. The following secondary deposites
are enumerated by authors as occurring in the Alps. We
enumerate them in their order of deposition, beginning
with the first or oldest.
1. First secondary sandstone, or coal formation.
2. First secondary limestone, or magnesian limestone.
3. Second secondary sandstone, or new red sandstone.
4. Second secondary limestone, or shell limestone.
5. Third secondary sandstone, or keuper sandstone and
marl.
6. Third secondary limestone, or Jura, and Lias, and Oo¬
lite limestones.
7. Fourth secondary sandstone, or green and iron sand,
and quader-sandstone formation.
8. Fourth secondary limestone, the chalk deposite of geo¬
logists.
Resting upon these secondary deposites, we find in many
parts vast accumulations of strata of newer rocks belonging
to the fourth or tertiary class. These tertiary deposites
consist of sand, sandstone, and conglomerate; of clays,
marls, and coals, and of various limestones ; all more or
less.abounding in fossil organic remains. The bottoms of
the valleys, even their sides to a considerable height,
are more or less covered with clays, sands, rolled masses,
&c., belonging to the diluvium of authors. And we find
in every situation, from the lofty peak to the bottom of
the deep valley, spread over the other deposites already
enumerated, a more or less deep cover of that alluvial de-
562
ALPS.
Alps, tritus which is daily forming, and which consists of broken
~ ‘ masses more or less angular, gravel, sand, clay, loam-clay,
shell-marl, peat, &c. The common vegetable soil rests
upon this alluvium, in beds varying in thickness from a
few inches to several feet.
These secondary and tertiary rocks are variously inter¬
mingled with trap and old volcanic rocks, and the dilu¬
vial and alluvial deposites with newer igneous or volcanic
rocks.
No fossil organic remains occur in the primitive rocks ;
few appear in those of the transition class ; whereas in the
various members of the secondary and tertiary classes fos¬
sil plants and animals are abundant, and so disposed as
to assist in characterizing the different deposites or for¬
mations. The diluvial and alluvial deposites also abound
in fossil organic remains; but for details we refer to the
article Geology.
Varieties of almost every species of the European simple
minerals are met with in the Alps or their connecting
chains; and in the long range of this high land we find
gold, and many different and valuable ores of silver, lead,
copper, iron, bismuth, nickel, cobalt, zinc, manganese,
mercury, antimony, arsenic, molybdena, uranium, tita¬
nium, and tungsten. These ores occur in veins, beds,
imbedded masses, or are disseminated in rocks of various
descriptions, particularly those of the primitive and transi¬
tion classes.
The loftiest and most interesting mountains are Mont
Blanc, Mont Rosa, the Great Glockner, and the Order,
mountains, -ppg ascent to the summits of these cole ^al masses exhibits
all those varied displays of scenery, of ch nate, and of distri¬
bution of animal, vegetable, and mineral production which
so much excite the curiosity of the traveller and the natu¬
ralist. The ascent to the summit of the Great Glockner
and the Order Spitze is described by Schultes and other
travellers ; that of Mont Rosa by Saussure, but more parti¬
cularly by Von Welden, in his account of that mountain.
Mont Blanc being more in the track of travellers, has ex¬
cited greater attention than any of the other great Alpine
mountains. To reach the summit of the highest moun¬
tain in Europe has always been an object of desire with
adventurous travellers; hence repeated attempts have
been made to reach the top of Mont Blanc. Some of
these have been successful, others have been the contrary.
The first attempt to reach the summit was made in the
year 1762, by Pierre Simon of Chamouny, who endeavour¬
ed to accomplish it by the Glacier du Buissons, and again
from the French side ; but failed in both. Another unsuc¬
cessful attempt was made by some villagers in 1773 ; and
again in 1783 by M. Bourrit of Geneva. Bourrit made a
second attempt in 1784, which was also unsuccessful. In
1785 M. de Saussure, M. Bourrit, and M. Bourrit junior,
with fifteen guides, left Bionassy in the beginning of Sep¬
tember, and ascended the glacier of the same name.
They slept near the base of the Arguille du Gout6, and
next day climbed to the summit of it; but the snow was
so soft that they could proceed no farther. They re¬
turned to the place where they had slept the night be¬
fore, and next day descended into the valley. In June
1786 six Chamouny guides next attempted it, but gave
it up through fatigue and fear: they were alarmed by the
black appearance of the sky. Jacques Balma, as they
were returning, strayed from the party, and lost his way
among the hills and blocks of ice on the glacier, and was
unable to regain his party. He remained all night in some
hole or cave which he found in the ice. Next morning
he wandered about, and discovered a route by which he
thought he could reach the summit, and then returned
to Chamouny with a determination to keep it a secret.
Fossil or-
ganic re¬
mains.
Minerals
and ores.
Most re¬
markable
Dr Packard, a native of Chamouny, had some suspicion A]
that Balma knew an accessible track leading to the summit,
and tried in vain to get this information from him; but
they agreed at last to go together and make the attempt.
Therefore, on the 7th of August 1786, they left the Priory,
and slept on the summit of the mountain of La Cote.
Thence they started next morning at four o’clock; and
after surmounting many difficulties, they attained the
summit at half-past six in the evening. They left it at
seven, and about midnight arrived at the spot where
they had slept the night before; and at eight o’clock on
the morning of the 9th returned to Chamouny. M. de
Saussure having heard of the success of this journey, hast¬
ened to the valley, and, with seventeen guides, immediately
attempted to follow the route of Jacques Balma; but from
the bad state of the weather he did not succeed. In July
1787 Saussure sent Balma to reconnoitre the glacier,
who reported that it was not in a fit state ; but on the 1st
of August this illustrious philosopher and indefatigable
traveller left Chamouny at seven A. m., wfith a servant
and eighteen guides. At two o’clock they arrived on the
summit of the mountain of La Cote. Next day they
crossed the glacier, and halted on the. second plateau at
four. Here they passed the night, and next day gained
the summit at eleven in the forenoon. They remained on
it for nearly four hours, leaving it at about three o'clock, and
descended to about 1100 yards below the summit, slept
there, and next day reached the Priory. M. Bourrit set
out on the enterprise on the day of their return, but bad
weather drove him back. On the 9th August of the same
year, Colonel Beaufoy, with ten guides, attained the sum¬
mit, having left Chamouny the day before, and returned
to it on the 10th. He was enabled to ascertain that the
latitude of the summit of Mont Blanc is 45° 49' 59" N.
At twelve o’clock the mercury in the thermometer stood
at 38° in the shade. At the same hour, in Chamouny,
and in the shade, it stood at 78°. In 1788 M. Bourrit,
his son, Mr Woodley, and Mr Camper, set out together;
but when at a great height, a severe storm separated
the party, of whom Mr Woodley was the only one who
reached the summit, which was on the 5th of August
He and his guides suffei’ed severely. M. Bourrit never
attempted the ascent again. In 1791 four Englishmen
made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the summit. On
the 10th of August 1802 a native of Lausanne and
a German, with seven guides, reached the summit.
They remained on it twenty minutes, and then de¬
scended part of the way, performing the remainder
and arriving at Chamouny on the 11th, having taken
three days to accomplish it. On the 10th of Septem¬
ber 1812 M. Rodalz of Hamburg got to the summit.*
On the 4th of August 1818 a Russian gentleman reach¬
ed the summit. On 12th July 1819 Dr Van Ranselaer
and Mr Howard, Americans, ascended the mountain and
reached the summit; and on the 13th of August of the
same year Captain Undrell, R. N. made a successful at¬
tempt. On the 19th August 1820 Dr Hamel, a Mosco-
vite, with three gentlemen and twelve guides, ascended
to the great plateau. In climbing from it up the side of
Mont Blanc, an avalanche swept away the whole party-
Some of them extricated themselves; but three guides
were driven into a crevice and perished. On the
August 1822 Mr Clissold, who has published an account
of his journey, reached the summit. On the 4th Sep¬
tember 1823 Mr Jackson arrived on the summit and dt'-
scended the same day to Chamouny, being, it is understooc,
the first who ever accomplished this arduous task in so
short a time, having been absent only thirty-six hours an a
half from Chamouny; but he remained on the summit on)
ALP
. g, three or four minutes. On the 26th August 1825 Dr E.
Clarke and Captain M. Shenvill made the ascent, em¬
ploying three days in the expedition. On the 25th July
1827 M. C. Fellowes and M. H. Hawes gained the sum¬
mit, having discovered a new route. Their journey occu¬
pied nearly three days. On the 9th of August the sum¬
mit was attained by Mr Auldjo of Cambridge, who has
published a highly interesting account of his journey.
He says, “ My ascent to the Grand Mulcts was on the
8th, and thence to the summit on the following day, pur¬
suing the route discovered in July. I remained on the
summit one hour, and descended to Chamouny the same day,
being absent thirty-seven hours.” There have, therefore,
been fourteen successful ascents, says Mr Auldjo; and,
not including guides, eighteen persons have gained this
great height. The majority of these are Englishmen, ten
being their number. Of the rest, two are Americans, two
Swiss, one Russian, one German, and one Savoyard. It
is remarkable that no Frenchman has ever been on the
summit. Some years ago a party of guides made the
ascent for pleasure, and Maria de Mont Blanc, a high-
spirited girl, accompanied them, being the only female who
has ever reached the summit. Napoleon also ordered a
party of guides to ascend, and plant a cross on the sum¬
mit, which was done; but it was blown down in a day or
two afterwards.
The most interesting accounts of the Alps are contain¬
ed in the following works:—Saussure, Voyages dans les
Alpes, 4 vols. 4to; 2. Ebel iiber den Baa der Erde in dem
Alpin-Gebirge, 2 vols. 1808; 3. Schultes, Reise durch Salz¬
burg, &c. 4 vols. 1804; 4. Alpina, 4 vols. 1806-9. (o.)
Alps, besides its proper signification, by which it de¬
notes a certain chain of mountains which separate Italy
from France and Germany, is frequently used as an ap¬
pellative to denote any mountains of extraordinary height
or extensive range. In this sense, Ausonius and others
call the Pyrenean Mountains Alps, and Gellius the
Spanish Alps, Alpini Hispani. Plence also we say, the
British Alps, meaning the Grampians, &c.; the Asiatic
Alps, meaning the Altaic chain, &c.; the American Alps,
meaning the Andes, &c.
Alps, Lower, Department of, in France. This depart¬
ment is bounded on the north by the department of the
Upper Alps, on the east by Piedmont and the depart¬
ment of the Maritime Alps, on the south by the depart¬
ment of the Var and the north-east extremity of that of
the Mouths of the Rhone, and on the west by the de¬
partments of Vaucluse and the Drome. Its superficies
is about 1,459,699 square acres, and its population about
149,500. It is divided into five communal districts. The
chief town is Digne.
Alps, Higher, Department of. This department makes
a part of Dauphine. It is bounded on the north by the
departments of Mont Blanc and Isere, on the east by
Piedmont, on the south by the department of the Lower
Alps, and on the west by that of the Drome and part of that
of Isere. The soil consists of enormous mountains and
narrow valleys. Two thirds of the surface are useless for
agricultural purposes. The north wind, which generally
prevails, renders the climate cold ; and the snow remains
m some of the valleys eight months of the year. The
principal river is the Durance, which is extremely rapid,
and commits great ravages by its inundations. The su¬
perficies of this department is about 1,084,614 square
acres, and its population 121,500. It is divided into three
communal districts. Embrun is the principal town.
Alps, Maritime, a department of France, formed of the
county of Nice and part of High Provence, and of which
Mce is the principal city. The chief products of this
A L S 563
mountainous country are wine and oil, and its population Alpuiarras
is about 131,000. y
ALPUJARRAS, a mountainous district in the province Alsace-
of Granada, in the south of Spain, to which the Moors ofV^v->^
the capital were banished after the destruction of their
kingdom under Ferdinand and Isabella. It is a range pa¬
rallel to the Sierra Nevada, but separated from it by the
river Grande, which runs to the Mediterranean by Mo-
tril. The mountains are composed of a clayey slate
highly favourable to the culture of the vine, and pro¬
duce the wine called Pedro-Ximenes, so highly prized
in Spain. The declivity of this range is very rapid to the
north, but on the south the descent towards the Medi¬
terranean Sea is very gradual, and the inclined planes
are highly prolific. The highest part of the range is the
Sierra de Luxar, which has an elevation of 6550 feet, and
is covered with snow eight months of the year.
ALQUIER, a liquid measure used in Portugal to mea¬
sure oil, two of which make an almond.
ALQUIFOU, or Arquifou, is a sort of lead ore, which,
when broken, looks like antimony. It is used by the pot¬
ters to give a green varnish to their works, and thence
is called potters ore. It is met with in Cornwall, &c.
The potters mix a small portion of manganese with the
alquifou, and then the varnish or glazing on their ware is
of a blackish hue.
ALREDUS, Alured, or Aluredus, of Beverley, one
of the most ancient English historians, was born at Be¬
verley, in Yorkshire. He wrote in the reign of Henry I.;
but no circumstance of his life is known with any de¬
gree of certainty. It is generally believed that he was
educated at Cambridge, and that he afterwards became
one of the canons and treasurer of St John’s at Beverley;
and we learn from a note of Bishop Tanner’s, that, for
the sake of improvement, he travelled through France and
Italy, and at Rome became domestic chaplain to Cardi¬
nal Othoboni. He died in the year 1128 or 1129, leaving
behind him the following works :—1. The Annals of Alu¬
red of Beverley, published at Oxford in 1716, by Mr
Hearne, from a manuscript which belonged to Thomas
Rawlinson, Esq. It contains an abridgement of our his¬
tory from Brutus to Henry I., written in Latin, and with
great accuracy, elegance, and perspicuity. 2. Libertates
Ecclesite S. Johannis de Beverlac, &c. a manuscript in the
Cottonian library. It is a collection of records relative to
the church of Beverley, translated from the Saxon lan¬
guage.
ALRESFORD, a market-town in the north division of
the county of Hants, 7 miles from Winchester, and 58
from London. It consists of two parishes, having been in
past ages a place of more consideration than of late years,
as the river Itchen, on whose banks it is built, has long
ceased to be navigable. In 1801 the population was
1132; in 1811, 1429; and in 1821, 1264.
ALSACE, before the Revolution, a province of France,
bounded on the east by the Rhine, on the south by
Switzerland, on the west by Lorraine, and on the north
by the palatinate of the Rhine. It was formerly a part
of Germany, but was given to France by the treaty
of Munster. It is one of the most fruitful provinces in
Europe, abounding in corn, wine, wood, flax, tobacco,
pulse, fruits, &c. The mountains which divide it from
Lorraine are very high, and generally covered with fir,
beech, oak, and hornbeam. Those on the side of Switzer¬
land are lower, and furnished with all sorts of wood,
as well for fuel as for building. The country itself is
diversified with rising hills and fertile vales, besides large
forests; but that between the rivers 111, Hart, and the
Rhine, as far as Strasburg, is inferior to the rest, on ac-«
564
A L S
A L S
Alsen count of the frequent overflowing of the Rhine. In High
II Alsace there are mines of silver, copper, and lead. . There
Alsop. are jron works in several parts of Alsace, and particularly
^v~x""/at Betford. At Sulzbach, near Munster, in High Al¬
sace, there is a mineral spring, which is in great reputa¬
tion for the palsy, gravel, and weakness of the nerves.
The original inhabitants of Alsace are honest and good-
natured, but wedded to their own manners and cus¬
toms. The fruitfulness of their country renders them in¬
dolent and inactive; for the Swiss make their hay and
reap their corn, as well as manage the vintage of High
Alsace. The common language is the German, but the
better sort of people in the towns speak French; and
even in the country they speak French well enough to
be understood. The number of inhabitants since the
peace in 1814 has been computed at 915,191. By the
late division of France, this province forms two depart¬
ments, viz. those of the Upper and Lower Rhine; the
capital of the former being Colmar, and that of the latter
Strasburg.
ALSEN, an island of Denmark, situated in the Little
Belt, or entrance into the Baltic Sea, between Sleswick
and Funen, 100 miles west of Copenhagen. It extends
in length six leagues, and about two in breadth. The soil
is fertile, producing abundance of fruit and variety of
grain, with large crops of aniseeds, a carminative much
used in seasoning food, and mixing with the bread,
over all the Danish dominions. Long. 9. 55. E. Lat. 55.
12. N.
ALSFELD, a bailiwick in the grand duchy of Hesse-
Darmstadt, containing two cities and 25 other towns and
villages, the inhabitants of which amount to 8700, in
1452 houses.
Alsfeld, a city, the capital of the bailiwick of the
same name. It is a manufacturing town, in which much
coarse woollen cloth is made. It stands on the river
Schwalm, has 500 houses, and 3019 inhabitants.
ALSHASH, a very beautiful city in Bukharia, sup¬
posed to be the same with that which is now called
Tashcant, the capital of the eastern part of Turkestan,
possessed by the Kassats. It is situated on the river
Sihon, now Sirr, and had a well-watered garden for every
house; but was ruined by Jenghis Khan, who took the
city, and caused a great number of its inhabitants to be
massacred.
ALSHEDA, a parish in the province of Smaland, in
Sweden, where a gold mine was discovered in 1738.
ALSIRAT, in the Mahometan Theology, denotes a
bridge laid over the middle of hell, finer than a hair, and
sharper than the edge of a sword, over which people are
to pass, after their trial, on the day of judgment. To add
to the difficulty of the passage, Mahomet affirms, that the
Alsirat, narrow as it is, is beset with briers and thorns;
none of which, however, will be any impediment to the
good, who shall fly over it like the wind, Mahomet and
his Mussulmans leading the way; whereas the wicked,
by the narrowness of the path, the entangling of the
thorns, and extinction of the light which directed the
former to paradise, shall soon miss their footing, and
tumble headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath to
receive them.
ALSO-KUBIN, a market-town in the palatinate of
Arva and province of Hither Danube, in Hungary, with
a Catholic and a Lutheran church, and a Jewish synaeoeue.
Long. 19. 24. 45. E. Lat. 49. 14. 30. N.
ALSOP, Anthony, an English divine and poet, was
educated at Westminster School, and from thence elected
to Christ Church, Oxford, where he took the degree of
M. A. in March 1696, and of B. D. in December 1706.
On his coming to the university, he was very soon dis- A1
tinguished by Dean Aldrich, and published Fabulanm^
JEsopicarum Delectus, Oxon. 1698, 8vo, with a poetical de¬
dication to Lord Viscount Scudamore, and a preface in
which he took part against Dr Bentley in the famous dis¬
pute with Mr Boyle. He passed through the usual offices
in his college to that of censor with considerable reputa¬
tion, and for some years had the principal noblemen and
gentlemen belonging to the society committed to his care.
In this employment he continued till his merit recommend¬
ed him to Sir Jonathan Trelawney, bishop of Winchester,
who appointed him his chaplain, and soon after gave him
a prebend in his own cathedral, together with the rectory
of Brightwell, in the county of Berks, which afforded him
ample provision for a learned retirement, from which he
could not be drawn by the repeated solicitations of those
who thought him qualified for a more public character and
a higher station. In 1717 an action was brought against
him by Mrs Elizabeth Astrey of Oxford, for the breach of a
marriage contract; and a verdict was obtained against him
for L.2000, which probably obliged him to leave the king¬
dom for some time. His death, which happened on the 10th
June 1726, was occasioned by his falling into a ditch that
led to his garden door. A quarto volume was published in
1752, under the title of Antonii Alsopi, JEdis Christi dim
Alumni, Odarum libri duo. Four English poems of his
are in Dodsley’s Collection, one in Pearch’s, several in the
early volumes of the Gentleman s Magazine, and some in
The Student. Mr Alsop is respectfully mentioned by
the facetious Dr King as having enriched the common¬
wealth of learning by Translations of Fables from Greek,
Hebrew, and Arabic; and not less detractingly by Dr
Bentley, under the name of “ Tony Alsop, a late editor of
the iEsopean Fables.”
Alsop, Vincent, an English nonconformist divine, was
born in Northamptonshire, and educated at St John’s Col¬
lege, Cambridge, where he took the degree of master of
arts. When he received deacon’s orders, he went to
Rutlandshire, and settled at Oakham, where he was an
assistant to the master of the free-school. As he was a
man of a sprightly turn, he fell into indifferent company;
but was reclaimed by the frequent admonitions of the
reverend Mr Benjamin King. He afterwards married
that gentleman’s daughter, and becoming a convert to his
principles, received ordination in the Presbyterian way,
not being satisfied with that which he had from the bishop.
He was settled at Wilbee, in the county of Northampton,
whence he was ejected in 1662 for nonconformity. After
this he ventured to preach sometimes at Oakham, and at
Wellingborough, where he lived, and was once six months in
prison for praying by a sick person. A book which he wrote
against Dr Sherlock, in a humorous style, made him well
known to the world, and induced Mr Cawton, an eminent
nonconformist in Westminster, to recommend him to his
congregation for his successor. On receiving this call he
quitted Northamptonshire, and came to London, where he
preached constantly, and w'rote several pieces which were
extremely well received by the public. Living in the
neighbourhood of the court, he was exposed to many incon¬
veniences ; but these ended with the reign of Charles II.
or at least in the beginning of the next reign, when Mr
Alsop’s'son engaging in treasonable practices, was freely
pardoned by King James. After this our divine went fre¬
quently to court, and is generally supposed to have been
the person who drew up the Presbyterians’ address to that
prince for his general indulgence. After the Revolution,
Mr Alsop gave public testimonies of his attachment to
government; yet upon all occasions he spoke very respect¬
fully of King James, and retained a very high sense of his
A L S
^ a. clemency in sparing his only son. The remainder of his
1 ,g iife he spent in the exercise of his ministry, preaching
once every Lord’s day ; besides which he had a Thursday
A tm' lecture, and was one of the lecturers at Pinners Hall. He
^ "^livedto agreat age, and, preserving his spirits to the last,
died in May 1703. On grave subjects he wrote with a
becoming seriousness; but where wit might properly be
shown, he displayed it to great advantage. His funeral
sermon was preached by Mr Slater, and his memory will
be always preserved by his own learned and elegant writ¬
ings. Of these the most remarkable, besides his sermons,
are, 1. Antisozzo ; in vindication of some great truths op¬
posed by Dr William Sherlock, 1675, 8vo ; 2. Melius In¬
quirendum ; in answer to Dr Goodman’s Compassionate
Inquiry, 1679, 8vo; 3. The Mischief of Impositions; in
answer to Dr Stillingfleet’s Mischief of Separation, 1680;
4. A Faithful Reproof to a False Report, with reference to
the Differences among the United Ministers in London,
8vo.
ALSTAHOUG, a city of Norway, the seat of a bishop,
containing 4990 inhabitants, on the island Alster, in the
bailiwick of Nordland and province of Drontheim, or, in
the Norwegian dialect, of Tronheim.
ALSTED, a barony in the bailiwick of Soroe and
diocese of Zealand, in Denmark. It comprehends 17
parishes, contains 6000 inhabitants, and extends over 95
square miles.
ALSTEDIUS, John Henry, a German Protestant
divine, and one of the most indefatigable and voluminous
writers of the 17th century. He was some time professor
of philosophy and divinity at Herborn, in the county of
Nassau. From thence he went into Transylvania, to be pro¬
fessor at Alba Julia, where he continued till his death,
which happened in 1638, in the 50th year of his age. His
Encyclopaedia, the most considerable of the earlier works
of that class, was long held in very high estimation. It
was published in 1630, in two large folio volumes. His
Thesaurus Chronologicus is by some considered as one of
his best works, and has gone through several editions. He
also wrote Triumphus Biblicus, to show that the principles
of all arts and sciences are to be found in the Scriptures.
He was a Millenarian, and published, in 1627, a treatise
Be Milk Atinis, in which he asserted that the reign of the
saints on earth was to begin in 1694.
ALSTON, Charles, M. D. a botanical and medical
writer, was born in the west of Scotland in the year 1683.
He began his studies at the university of Glasgow; and
about this time he had the good fortune to be taken under
the patronage of the duchess of Hamilton, which afforded
him an opportunity of pursuing the bent of his inclination,
by attaching himself to the study of physic. About the
age of 33, along with his friend and companion the cele¬
brated Alexander Monro, he went to Leyden, and studied
three years under Boerhaave. On their return to their
native country, they, in conjunction with Rutherford,
Sinclair, and Plummer, undertook departments in the col¬
lege of Edinburgh, and by their abilities and industry
laid the foundation of that school of physic. The branches
of botany and materia medica were long the favourite
studies of his life, consequently he undertook that depart¬
ment, and continued to lecture on them with increasing
reputation until his death, which happened in Novem¬
ber 1760, at the age of 77 years. His talents appear to
have been naturally strong, which he improved and
strengthened with great assiduity and industry, and
employed successfully in the service of science. In the
year 1753, his dissertation on the sexes of plants, in
which he combats the doctrine of Linnaeus, was published
ia the first volume of the Edinburgh Physical and Lite-
alt 565
rary Essays. The general plan of the work is conducted Alston-
with much ingenuity, supported by some strong experi- Moor
ments; and although, in the opinion of the learned, it has II
failed in its principal design, yet it must be acknowledged , r Altai.
to be one of the best argued pieces on that side of the,^^111#'
question. An asperity of language is sometimes used,
very unsuitable to a scientific topic; but it is proper
to remark, that Linnaeus had given some reasons for this
conduct, by the nature of some of his descriptions. In
the fifth volume of the Edinburgh Medical Essays, we
have a short paper by Dr Alston, on the efficacy of the
powder of tin to destroy or expel worms from the bowels.
He informs us that he received the prescription from an
empiric, who was renowned for his skill in curing persons
afflicted with that disease. The patient received, the first
morning, one ounce of tin reduced to powder, and half an
ounce each on the two following mornings, and was then
purged with the infusion of senna and manna. He speaks
with great confidence of the efficacy of this medicine,
which certainly has considerable power in these cases,
and may be given to the most delicate subjects with per¬
fect safety. Dr Alston also engaged in a chemical con¬
troversy respecting quicklime with Dr Whytt. But the
most valuable of all his works are his lectures on the
Materia Medica, which were published in the year 1770,
in two volumes 4to. The number of curious and useful
facts contained in this book will tend to secure its reputa¬
tion, although considerable additions and improvements
have been made since that period in this branch of
science.
ALSTON-MOOR. See Aldston-Moor.
ALT, in Music, a term applied to the high notes in the
scale.
ALTAI Mountains, an extensive range of mountains,
which forms the northern barrier of the great plateau or
central table-land of Asia, the southern barrier being
formed by the Himalaya Mountains. This immense
mountainous chain traverses, in a semicircular direction,
the whole breadth of the Asiatic continent, from 68°
E. longitude to East Cape in 170° of E. longitude. It
extends, under different names, about 5000 miles. The
Ural Mountains may be said to be its commencement on
the west, being the western boundary of Siberia. From
thence the chain passes above the head of the Irtysch,
when it takes a rugged and precipitous course, clothed
with snow, and rich in minerals, between the Irtysch and
Obi: it then proceeds by the lake Telezkoi, the rise of the
Obi; after which it retires, in order to comprehend the great
rivers which form the Yenesei, and are locked up in these
high mountains: finally, under the name of the Sainnes, it is
uninterruptedly continued to the lake of Baikal. A branch
insinuates itself between the sources of the rivers Onon
and Ingoda, and those of Ichikoi, accompanied with very
high mountains, running without interruption to the north¬
east, and dividing the river Amur, which discharges itself
into the east, in the Chinese dominions, from the river
Lena and Lake Baikal. Another branch stretches along
the Olecma, crosses the Lena below \akoutsk, and is con¬
tinued between the two rivers Tongouska to the Yenesei,
where it is lost in wooded and marshy plains. The prin¬
cipal chain, rugged with sharp-pointed rocks, approaches
and keeps near" the shores of the sea of Okhotsk, and,
passing by the sources of the rivers Outh, Aldan, and
Maia, is distributed in small branches, which range be¬
tween the eastern rivers which fall into the Icy Sea; be¬
sides two principal branches, one of which, turning south,
runs through all Kamtschatka, and is broken, from Cape
Lopatka, into the numerous Kurile Isles, and to the east
forms another marine chain, namely, the Aleutian Islands,
566 ALT
ALT
Altamont which range from Kamtschatka to America; most of
II which, as well as Kamtschatka itself, are distinguished by
^ Alt^ volcanoes, or the traces of volcanic fires. The last chain
forms chiefly the great Cape Tschutski, with its promon¬
tories and rocky broken shores.
The summits of the highest of the Altai Mountains are
covered with perpetual snow. The loftiest range of this
extensive chain is composed of granite. Another range
of inferior height consists of schistos, which lies on the
sides of the granite mountains. Besides these rocks,
there are strata of chalkstone, limestone, and marble.
The Altai Mountains abound in metallic ores. Gold, sil¬
ver, and lead mines, have been discovered in them, with
great abundance of copper and iron. The two latter have
been wrought to a considerable extent, and have been
found productive. The Altai Mountains form the south¬
ern boundary of Siberia, as far as longitude 130° E., when
they bend towards the north, and penetrate deeper into
the country.
ALTAMONT, a very handsome town of Italy, in the
kingdom of Naples, in Calabria Citerior, 15 miles north¬
west of Basigniano. Long. 16. 22. E. Lat. 39. 40. N.
ALTAMURA, a city of the kingdom of Naples, in the
province of Bari. It is the seat of a royal governor, and
confers the title of prince on a noble family. It contains
10,780 inhabitants, a great part of whom are Greeks.
ALTAR, a place upon which sacrifices were anciently
offered to some deity. The heathens at first made
their altars only of turf; afterwards they were made of
stone, of marble, of wood, and even of horn, as that of
Apollo in Delos. Altars differed in figure as well as
in materials: some were round, others square, and others
triangular. All of them were turned towards the east,
and stood lower than the statues of the gods; and they
were generally adorned with sculpture, representing
either the gods to whom they were erected, or their
symbols. The height of altars also differed according
to the (Tifferent gods to whom they sacrificed. Accord¬
ing to Servius, those altars set apart for the honour of
the celestial gods, and gods of the higher class, were
placed on some pretty tall pile of building, and for that
reason were called altaria, from the words alta and ara,
a high elevated altar. Those appointed for the terres¬
trial gods were laid on the surface of the earth, and called
ar<z. And, on the contrary, they dug into the earth and
opened a pit for those of the infernal gods, which they
called (3c9poi, Aaxxo/, scrobicvli. But this distinction is not
everywhere observed : the best authors frequently use ara
as a general word, under which are included the altars of
the celestial and infernal, as well as those of the terrestrial
gods. The Greeks also distinguished two sorts of altars :
that whereon they sacrificed to the gods was called (3u/xog,
and was a real altar, different from the other whereon
they sacrificed to the heroes, which was smaller, and
called ig^aea. Pollux makes this distinction of altars in
his Onomasticon : he adds, however, that some poets used
the word so'pxaga for the altar whereon sacrifice was offer¬
ed to the gods. The Septuagint version does sometimes
also use the word igyaoci for a sort of little low altar,
which may be expressed in Latin by craticula, being a
hearth rather than an altar.
Before temples were in use, altars were erected some¬
times in groves, sometimes in the highways, and some¬
times on the tops of mountains; and it was a custom to
engrave upon them the name, ensign, or character of the
deity to whom they were consecrated.
In the great temples of ancient Rome there were gene¬
rally three altars: the first was placed in the sanctuary,
at the foot of the statue of the divinity, upon which in-
A
cense was burnt and libations offered; the second was be¬
fore the gate of the temple, and upon it they sacrificed^
the victims; and the third was a portable altar, upon
which were placed the offering and the sacred vessels.
Besides these uses of altars, the ancients swore upon them"
and swore by them, in making alliances, confirming trea¬
ties of peace, and on other solemn occasions. Altars also
served as places of refuge for all those who fled to them.
Altars are doubtless as ancient as sacrifices themselves ■
consequently their origin is not much later than that of
the world. (Gen. chap, iv.) Some attribute their origin to
the Egyptians, others to the Jews, others to the pa¬
triarchs before the flood. Some carry them as far back
as Adam, whose altar is much spoken of by Jewish, and
even Christian writers ; others are contented to make the
patriarch Enoch the first who consecrated a public altar.
Be this as it may, the earliest altars of which we find any
express testimony are those erected by Abraham.
Altars, in the patriarchal times, were very rude. The
altar which Jacob set up at Bethel was nothing but a stone,
which served him instead of a bolster; that of Gideon, a
stone before his house: and the first which God com¬
manded Moses to erect was probably of earth or unpo¬
lished stones, without any iron ; for if any use was made
of that metal, the altar was declared impure.
The principal altars of the Jews were, the altar of i«-
cense, that of burnt-offering, and the altar or table for the
show-bread.
The altar of incense was a small table of shittim wood,
covered with plates of gold, of one cubit in length, an¬
other in width, and two in height. At the fou? comers
were four kinds of horns, and all round a little border or
crown over it. This was the altar hidden by Jeremiah
before the captivity; and upon it the officiating priest
every morning and evening offered incense of a particu¬
lar composition.
The altar of burnt-offerings was made of shittim wood,
and carried upon the shoulders of the priests by means of
staves of the same wood overlaid with brass. In the time of
Moses this altar was five cubits square and three high; but
in Solomon’s temple it was much larger, being twenty
cubits square and ten in height. It wras covered with brass;
and at each corner was a horn or spire, wrought out of
the same wood with the altar, to which the sacrifices were
tied. Within the hollow was a grate of brass, in which
the fire was placed; through it fell the ashes, which were
received in a pan below. At the four corners of the
grate were four rings and four chains, which kept it up at
the horns. This altar was placed in the open air, that
the smoke of the burnt-offerings might not sully the in¬
side of the tabernacle.
The altar or table for the show-bread was likewise of
shittim wood, covered with plates of gold, having a little
border round it adorned with sculpture. It was twro cu¬
bits long, one wide, and one and a half in height. Upon
this table, which stood in the holy of holies, were put,
every Sabbath day, twelve loaves, wdth salt and incense.
After the return of the Jews from the captivity, and the
building of the second temple, their altars were in some
respects different from those described above. That of
burnt-offerings was a large pile, built of unhewn stone,
32 cubits square at the bottom, and 24 square at the top.
The ascent was by a gentle rising, 32 cubits in length
and 16 in breadth.
Altar is also used among Christians for the commu¬
nion-table. In the primitive church the altars were only
of wood, it being frequently necessary to remove them
from place to place; but the council of Paris in 509 de¬
creed that no altar should be built but of stone. At
ALT
A ir first there was but one altar in each church, but the num¬
ber soon increased; and from the writings of Gregory the
Altind' great, who lived in the sixth century, we learn that there
^ were sometimes in the same church twelve or thirteen.
In the cathedral of Magdeburg there are no less than 49
altars.
The altar is sometimes sustained on a single column, as
in the subterraneous chapels of St Cecilia at Rome, &c.;
and sometimes on four columns, as the altar of St Sebas¬
tian of Crypta Arenaria; but the customary form is, a mas¬
sive frame of stone-work sustaining the altar table. These
altars bear a resemblance to tombs: consequently we read
in ecclesiastical history that the primitive Christians chief¬
ly held their meetings at the tombs of the martyrs, and
celebrated the mysteries of religion upon them; for which
reason it is a standing rule to this day in the church of
Rome, never to build an altar without inclosing the relics
of some saint in it.
ALTAR-THANE, or Altarist, in old law-books, an
appellation given to the priest or parson of a parish, to
whom the profits arising from the altar or altarage be¬
longed.
AL-TAYEFF. See Tayf.
ALTDAMM, a fortified city in the circle of Randow,
government of Stettin, and Prussian province of Po¬
merania. It is built in a strong situation at the point
where the river Plone discharges its waters into the lake
Damische; and contains 268 houses and 2177 inhabitants.
It is in long. 14. 58. 47. E. and lat. 53. 24. N.
ALTDORF, a bailiwick in the circle of Rezat, in the
kingdom of Bavaria. Its extent is 118 square miles, or
75,520 acres. It contains one city, oue market-town, 72
villages, and 11,493 inhabitants. The face of the country
is undulating. It is watered by the rivers Schwartzach
and Rottenbache, and produces hops and garden fruit
in great abundance. Some iron-stone is raised, and the
metal extracted.
Altdorf, a city and capital of the bailiwick of the
same name in Bavaria. It contains 205 houses, and 1800
inhabitants, among whom is a colony from Salzburg, who
make many curious articles of wood-ware. It is in long.
11. 27. 13. E. and lat. 49. 23. 22. N.
Altdorf, a town on the Schmeidebach, in the baili¬
wick of Ettenheim, and circle of Kenzig, in the duchy of
Baden. It contains 1127 houses, and a palace belonging
to the family of Von Turkheim, with a good library and
a botanical garden.
Altdorf, a large handsome town in Switzerland, and
the chief of the canton of Uri. It is situated below the
lake of the Four Cantons, in a plain, at the foot of a moun¬
tain whose passages are difficult, and serve instead of for¬
tifications. It has four churches and two convents: St
Martin’s church and that of the Holy Cross are the finest.
The town-house and the arsenal are also worth seeing.
Long. 8. 30. E. Lat. 46. 50. N.
AL TEA, a town of Spain, in the department of Denia,
and province of Valencia. It is situated on the shore of
the Mediterranean Sea, and contains 4800 inhabitants,
who follow the fisheries and cultivate some cotton.
AL 1 ELAND, a district in the province of Bremen, in
the kingdom of Hanover, denominated a royal justiceship,
koniglicfie Gerichte. It is situated on the baifks of the
Llbe, andis divided into three portions by the small rivers
bchwinge, Este, and Luhe, which cross it. The extent is
'9 square miles, or 50,560 acres. The soil is peculiarly
icrtde, and produces bountiful crops of corn, rapeseed,
i x> garden and orchard fruits ; and on the meadows large
herds of cattle are depastured. The inhabitants amount
fo 14,125, mostly living on separate farms, in prosperous
ALT
567
circumstances, and enjoy some peculiar privileges. By Altena
means of the rivers which cross this narrow strip of land II
there is a communication with the Elbe, which affords AItenbur£*
easy access to the large cities on that river.
ALTENA, or Altona, a sea-port town of Germany,
in the duchy of Holstein, in Lower Saxony. It is a mo¬
dern town, built by the king of Denmark, and was burnt
by the Swedes in 1712, but has since been beautifully
rebuilt. The number of inhabitants is about 30,000, and
it has a considerable trade. Long. 10. 0. E. Lat. 53. 51. N.
Altena, a circle in the government of Arenburg and
Prussian province of Westphalia. Its extent is 138 square
miles, or 88,320 acres. The chief rivers are the Lenne,
which receives the waters of the Nette and the Erse, and
the Wipper, both of which run to the Rhine. The agricul¬
ture is bad, and in many parts can scarcely produce oats.
It has some pasture land, and, besides, yields wood, game,
iron, marble, and good stones for building. Its popula¬
tion, which amounts to 27,996, depends almost wholly on
the several manufactures which are spread over the whole
circle. These comprehend almost every species of iron
goods, which, though clumsy in form, are very substan¬
tial, and find a ready sale.
Altena, a city, the chief of the circle of the same
name, in Prussia. It contains 598 houses, and 3420 inha¬
bitants, who trade in the several kinds of goods made in
the vicinity. It is situated on the Lenne. Long. 7. 41.23. E.
Lat. 51. 15. 36. N.
ALTENBERG, a bailiwick in the circle of Erzgebirg,
in Saxony. It is a lofty and woody district, in which no
corn but oats can be grown. It yields, however, toler¬
able crops of potatoes. The chief objects of labour are
the mines of tin. It has three small cities, a market-
town, and ten villages, with 3800 inhabitants.
Altenberg, a city, capital of the bailiwick of the same
name in the kingdom of Saxony. It contains 1390 inha¬
bitants, who depend on the mines, and on the passage
through it into Bohemia; whilst the females are employed
in making bone lace.
ALTENBRUCH, a market-town on the Werne, in the
principality of Verden, in the kingdom of Hanover.
It contains 366 houses and 2319 inhabitants ; and has a
small harbour, from whence it carries on trade in corn,
fruit, and cattle. It is in long. 8. 51. 3. E. and lat. 53.
50. 5. N.
ALTENBURG, a duchy forming a material portion of
the dominions of the duke of Saxe-Gotha, and which
gives him a part of his title. Some parcels of this duchy
are surrounded by the dominions of other sovereigns,
and some of their territories are encircled by this part
of the dominions of Saxe-Gotha. The extent is 544
square miles, or 358,160 acres. It is a well-cultivated
and productive district, and more than maintains its own
dense population from the fruits of its own soil. It con¬
tains nine cities, three market-towns, 566 villages and
hamlets, and 105,200 inhabitants. It is divided into
three bailiwicks or jurisdictions, in which are included
158 partrimonial circles of justiceship, where the heredi¬
tary judges administer the law to their peasantry accord¬
ing to the more ancient feudal system; a system in more
primitive force in this district than in any other of the
north of Germany.
Altenburg, a city, the capital of the duchy of the
same name, and the seat of a Lutheran superintendent,
and of the courts of revenue and justice. It is on the river
Pleisse, and has broad streets, though irregularly built,
from its hilly position. The ducal castle is an ancient
building, surrounded by picturesque scenery. The city
contains 1279 houses, and 10,160 inhabitants, who are in-
568 ALT
ALT
Altenburg dustrious and frugal, and who make some silk and more
it woollen goods, tapes, pottery, tobacco, brushes, starch,
Alteration. carrjagCS? and musical instruments. There are several
institutions for education, for the poor, and for the sick.
Long. 12. 18. 17. E. Lat. 51. 0. 11. N.
Altenburg, a small fortified town of Hungary, in the
territory of Moson, near the Danube, about fifty miles
from Vienna. Long. 17. 20. E. Lat. 48. 15. N.
Altenburg, or Owar, a small but strong town of
Hungary, seated in a marsh, with wide streets. It is
near the river Danube, and is surrounded by deep
ditches. It is 15 miles south of Presburg, 40 south¬
east of Vienna, and 65 south-west of Buda. Long. 17. 56. E.
Lat. 46. 50. N.
Altenburg, a town of Transylvania, 17 miles south¬
west of Weissenburg, and 35 south of Clausenburg. Long.
23. 5. E. Lat. 46. 25. N.
ALTENHEIM, a city near the Rhine, in the bailiwick
of Offenburg and circle of Kinzig, in the duchy of Baden.
It contains 280 houses and 1329 inhabitants.
ALTENKIRCH, a circle in the government of Co-
blentz, and the Prussian province of the Lower Rhine. Its
extent is 208 square miles, or 133,120 acres. It contains
two cities, two market-towns, 536 villages, and 26,654 in¬
habitants, of whom 12,709 are Catholics, 12,191 Luther¬
ans, 1604 reformed, and 150 Jews. The whole of the
circle is on the Westerwalde, and from its lofty position
the soil is unproductive. .Its mines of iron, lead, and
copper give the chief employment to the population, who
are industrious, and the females spin much linen yarn.
The circle is watered by the rivers Sieg, Niester, and
Wiedbach, on whose borders some cattle are depastured.
The whole district suffered severely from being the seat
of war in 1796.
ALTENKIRCHEN, the chief place of the circle of that
name, containing 104 houses and 790 inhabitants, all Pro¬
testants, except 56 Jews and 43 Catholics.
ALTENOTTING, a bailiwick in the province of the
Lower Danube, in Bavaria, extending over 134 square
miles, or 85,760 acres. The soil is fertile, and produces
good crops of rye, buck-wheat, flax, and potatoes, and feeds
many cattle. It comprehends one city, six market-towns,
and 96 villages. The number of inhabitants is 14,291.
Altenotting, a market-town of Bavaria, in the baili¬
wick of the same name. It contains 139 houses, and 1240
inhabitants, who depend chiefly on the numerous pilgrims
who repair for their devotions to an image of the Virgin
in a chapel which is the Loretto of Bavaria.
ALTERANTS, or Alterative Medicines, such as cor¬
rect the bad qualities of the blood, and other humours,
without occasioning any sensible evacuation.
ALTERATION, in Physics, the act of changing the
circumstances and manner of a thing, its general nature
and appearance remaining the same ; or it is an acciden¬
tal and partial change in a body, without proceeding so
far as to make the subject quite unknown, or to take a
new denomination thereupon; or it may be defined, the
acquisition or loss of such qualities as are not essential to
the form of the body. Thus, a piece of iron which before
was cold is said to be altered when it is made hot, since
it may still be perceived to be iron, is called by that
name, and has all the properties thereof. By this, altera¬
tion is distinguished from generation and corruption, those
terms expressing an acquisition or loss of the essential
qualities of a thing. The modern philosophers, after the
ancient chemists and corpuscularians, hold all alteration to
be effected by means of local motion. According to them,
it always consists either in the emission, accession, union,
separation, or transposition, of the component particles.
ALTERCATION, a debate or contest between twoAlterc,
friends or acquaintances. The word comes from altercari
which anciently signified to converse or hold discourse Alti •
together. Thus we say, They never come to an open'^v
quarrel, but there is continually some little altercation or
other.
ALTERN-BASE, in Trigonometry, a term used in con¬
tradistinction to the true base. Thus, in oblique triangles,
the true base is either the sum of the sides, and then the
difference of the sides is called the altern-base; or the
true base is the difference of the sides, and the sum of the
sides is called the altern-hase.
ALTERNATE, in a general sense, a term applied to
such persons or things as succeed each other by turns.
Thus, two who command each his day, are said to have an
alternate command, or to command alternately.
Alternate, in Heraldry, is said in respect of the
situation of the quarters.. Thus, the first and fourth quar¬
ters, and the second and third, are usually of the same
nature, and are called alternate quarters.
ALTERNATION, in its primary sense, denotes a suc¬
cession by turns.
Alternation is sometimes used to express the differ¬
ent changes or alterations of orders in any number of
things proposed. This is also called permutatim, &c. and
is easily found by a continual multiplication of all the
numbers, beginning at unity. Thus, if it be required to
know how many changes or alternations can be rung on
six bells, multiply the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4,' 5, 6, continually
into one another, and the last product gives the number
of changes.
ALTERNATIVE is particularly used for the choice of
two things proposed. In this sense we say, to take the
alternative of two propositions.
ALTGEORGESWALDE, a town in the circle of
Leitmeritz, in the Austrian kingdom of Bohemia. It
contains 508 houses and 3674 inhabitants. The whole
town belongs to Count Harrach; and under his patronage
considerable manufactures have been established, of linen,
hosiery, and cordage.
ALTIMETRY, the art of measuringaltitudes or heights,
whether accessible or inaccessible.
ALTIN, a money of account in Muscovy, worth three
copecs; 100 of which make a ruble, worth about 4s. 6d.
sterling.
Altin, a lake of Siberia, in the government of Koli-
van, from whence issues the river Ob or Obi, in long. 85.
55. E. lat. 52. 0. N. This lake is called by the Rus¬
sians Teloskoi Osero, from the Telessi, a Tartarian na¬
tion, who inhabit the borders of it, and who give it the
name of Altin-Kul. By the Calmucks it is called Al-
tinnor. It is 84 miles long and 56 broad, with a rocky
bottom. The north part of it is sometimes frozen so
hard as to be passable on foot, but the southern part
is never covered with ice. The water in the Altin lake,
as well as in the rivers which run through the adjacent
places, only rises in the middle of summer, when the
snows on the mountains are melted by the heat of the
sun.
ALTINCAR, among mineralists, a species offactitious
salt used in the fusion and purification of metals.
ALTlNG, Henry, a German divine, was bornatEmb-
den in 1583. His father was minister of the church oi
Embden, and early destined his son to the same profession.
In the year 1602, after a grammatical course, he was sent
to the university of Herborn: there he studied with so
much assiduity and success, that he soon had the honour
of being a preceptor. Qualified by the vigorous exertions
of his talents, he was appointed tutor to the three young
ALT
A>t?. counts of Nassau, Solms, and Isenburg, who studied with
vy-iv-' the elector prince palatine, first at Sedan, and afterwards
at Heidelberg. A proper discharge of the duties of a
lower station generally paves the way for a higher: thus
Alting, being appointed preceptor to the prince in 1G08,
so distinguished himself by his assiduity and success, that
he was chosen to accompany the elector into England.
Among the number of celebrated men to whose acquain¬
tance he was introduced in England, was the famous Dr
Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury. In 1613 Alting, re¬
turning to Heidelberg after the marriage of the elector
with the princess of England, received his degree of doc¬
tor of divinity, and was appointed director of the College
of Wisdom. His increased knowledge and invigorated
talents were always receiving renewed opportunities of
exertion ; and in the synod of Dort, to which he had been
deputed by the palatinate, along with other two divines,
his eloquence and learning obtained full scope.
From the avowed patronage of the elector it was but rea¬
sonable for Alting to expect high preferment and import¬
ant advantages; but in this he was greatly disappointed,
and he had only to participate in his misfortunes. In 1622
Count Tilly took the city of Heidelberg, and devoted it
to plunder. In order to escape the fury of the soldiers,
Alting endeavoured to pass by aback door into the chan¬
cellor’s house, which was put under a strong guard; but
as he was entering, the officer who guarded the house
said to him, “ With this battle-axe I have to-day killed
ten men, and Alting, if I knew where to find him, should
be the eleventh : who are you ?” Alting, with a singular
presence of mind, returned an evasive answer, which saved
his life. “I am,” said he, “ a teacher in the College of
Wisdom.” The officer took him under his protection; but
the Jesuits unfortunately taking possession of the house
the next day, left the generous officer no time, at his de¬
parture, to take care of the teacher of the College of Wis¬
dom. Alting evaded the hands of the Jesuits by hiding
himself in a garret; and a cook of the electoral court, who
happened to be employed by Count Tilly in the kitchen
occupied by him in the chancellor’s house, supplied him
with food. In this perilous situation he remained till an
opportunity offered of making his escape to Heilbron,
whither his family had been previously conducted.
But Alting was now as much harassed by ecclesiastical
intolerance as he had formerly been endangered by mili¬
tary hostility. With the permission of the duke of Wir-
temberg, he retired for a few months to Schorndorf, after
t ie desolation of the palatinate by the victorious forces of
fount filly. It was natural for one who had just escaped
t ie flames of a popish war, to expect a welcome and hos¬
pitable reception among Protestants; but whatever might
lave been their progress in the other doctrines of Chris¬
tianity, those of candour and mutual forbearance seem at
that period to have occupied little of their attention. The
palatinate being in the vicinity of the duchy of Wirtem-
j the professors of lubingen and Heidelberg frequent-
y attacked each other in polemic writings and theological
isputations. The natural consequence was, that a set-
JeaJousy and enmity arose between the two schools
an their respective vicinities. The injuries which Alting
a suttered from the common enemy were not sufficient
o secure for him a friendly reception among the Lutheran
inisters of Schorndorf, who were involved in these feuds,
n t lerefore murmured at the permission which the duke
given to a professor of Heidelberg to reside there,
e mischievous effects of religious dissensions have been
universally felt.
J* retired with his family to Embden, and
rwards followed to the Hague his late pupil, now king
ALT
of Bohemia. Such was the unfeigned attachment of his
master to him, that he still retained him as a preceptor to
his eldest son ; and prevented him from accepting the
charge of the church at Embden, and likewise of a pro¬
fessorship at the university of Franeker. In 1627, by his
importunity he obtained leave from his patron to remove
to Groningen, where he was appointed to the divinity
chair, and continued to lecture with increasing reputation
until the day of his death. The ardent desire and repeat¬
ed endeavours of several universities to appropriate to
themselves the honour and benefit of his services, is the
most unequivocal proof of the general esteem in which his
character wras held. The states of Groningen positively
refused to give their consent to his removal, when the
university of Leyden solicited him to come and labour
among them. But some time after, the prospect of ex¬
tensive usefulness in re-establishing the university of
Heidelberg, and restoring the churches of the palatinate,
determined him to accept the office of professor of divinity
and ecclesiastical senator, presented to him by Prince
Lewis Philip. In the year 1634, amidst numerous hard¬
ships, to which the existing war exposed him, he set out
for Heidelberg, and pursued his journey as far as Frank¬
fort ; when the battle of Norlingen, in which the imperial¬
ists were victorious, rendered his further progress imprac¬
ticable, and he therefore with great difficulty returned to
Groningen.
Domestic affliction and personal sufferings embittered
the remaining years of this excellent man’s life. The
death of his eldest daughter, for w hom he entertained an
ardent affection, brought on a deep melancholy, accom¬
panied with bodily disease, which was with great difficulty
removed ; but after an interval of four years, the loss of an
amiable and beloved wife occasioned the return of his ma¬
lady, which in a few months put a period to his useful
life, in the year 1644.
Alting was a man of eminent talents, extensive learning,
and amiable dispositions, and always more solicitous to
serve the public than to benefit himself. His character
and misfortunes cannot fail deeply to interest every reader.
He was averse to quarrels and disputes about trifles, al¬
though no friend to the innovations introduced at this
period by the Socinians; and, adhering to what he con¬
sidered the plain doctrine of Scripture, he was equally
desirous to avoid fanatical scrupulosity and sophistical
subtilty. The productions of his pen are, Notce in Be-
cndem Problematum Jacobi Behm, Heidelbergae, 1618,
Notes on a Decade of Jacob Boehmen’s Problems; Loci
Communes, Common Places ; Problemata, Problems ; Ex-
plicatio Catecheseos Palatines, Explanation of the Palatine
Catechism; Exegesis Augustance Confessionis, &c. Amst.
1647, Exposition of the Augsburg Confession; Methodus
Theologies Bidacticcs et Catecheticos, Amst. 1650, A Me¬
thod of Didactic and Catechetic Theology. The Medulla
Histories Profanes, Marrow of Profane History, published
under the name of Parasus, was written by Alting.
Alting, James, son of Henry Alting, was born at
Heidelberg in 1618. After the usual course of gramma¬
tical studies he became a student, and soon after professor
of divinity, in the university of Groningen. The oriental
languages were his favourite studies at an early period of
his life ; and in 1638 he put himself under the tuition of a
Jewish rabbi at Embden. Determining to take up his
residence in England, he arrived there in 1640, and was
admitted to clerical orders by Dr Prideaux, bishop of
Worcester. By an offer of the Hebrew professorship in
the university of Groningen, he was soon induced to alter
his plan of life, and consequently returned to Germany in
1643. His active assiduity in the study of these languages,
4 c
569
Alting.
570
ALT
ALT
Alting
and his knowledge in other sciences, procured him uni-
ii versal esteem and great reputation as a scholar. About
Altitude. ^js time he received many academic honours: he was
admitted doctor of philosophy, academic preacher, and at
last, in conjunction with a colleague, Samuel des Marets,
was chosen professor of divinity. These professors fol¬
lowed different methods of teaching, and adopted different
systems. Des Marets was an admirer and follower of the
subtilties of the scholastics, and, by the ingenuity with
which he pursued the scholastic plan of instruction, had
acquired great reputation and considerable influence.
Alting spent his time in the study of the Scriptures and
in the pursuit of rabbinical learning ; and he delivered
a course of lectures on divinity, which gained him great
popularity. As might naturally be expected, a. jealousy
aros- between the two professors; and their respec¬
tive partisans in the university carried their animosity
to an undue height. Established opinion and the weight
of authority marshalled on the side of Des Marets. By
the permission of the curators of the university he appear¬
ed as public accuser of Alting, and produced a long list of
erroneous propositions to the divines of Leyden, for their
opinion. The judgment of the divines upon the dispute
shows a great degree of moderation and good sense : they
pronounced Alting innocent of heresy, but imprudently
fond of innovation; and they declared Des Marets defi¬
cient in modesty and candour. If the superiors had not
prohibited the further discussion of these subjects in the
consistories, classes, and synods, they would have occa¬
sioned as much mischief as they had excited general at¬
tention. Such was the protection given to Alting, that
whenever any of the order of ecclesiastics proposed any
further measures against him, they were immediately re¬
jected by the civil power; nay, the penalty of deprivation
was decreed against those clergy who should revive the
Maresio-Altingian controversy. Whatever might be the
advantages resulting to Alting from this protection, the
magistrates certainly did wrong in proceeding so far in
prohibiting a discussion from the press, of the judgments
of the divines of Leyden. Although a kind of recon¬
ciliation was attempted by their common friends while
Des Marets lay upon his death-bed, yet the breach be¬
tween Des Marets and Alting was never perfectly healed.
Dr Alting died of a fever in 1679. The fondness which he
showed for rabbinical learning gave birth to the general
report that he was inclined to become a Jew. His opin¬
ions, which seem to have excited more general attention
than they deserve, may be seen at large in his writings,
which were collected a few years after his death, and pub¬
lished in five volumes folio, by his cousin Menso Alting,
who wrote a good description of the Low Countries, un¬
der the title of Notitia Germania Inferioris.
ALTITUDE, accessible and inaccessible. See Geo¬
metry.
Altitude of the Eye, in Perspective, is a right line let
fall from the eye, perpendicular to the geometrical plane.
Altitude, in Astronomy, is the distance of a star or
other point in the mundane sphere, from the horizon.
This altitude may be either true or apparent. If it be
taken from the rational or real horizon, the altitude is
said to be true or real; if from the apparent or sensi¬
ble horizon, the altitude is apparent: or rather, the appa¬
rent altitude is such as it appears to our observation, and
the true is that from which the refraction has been sub¬
tracted.
The true altitudes of the sun, fixed stars, and planets,
differ but very little from their apparent altitudes, because
of their great distance from the centre of the earth, and
the smallness of the earth’s semidiameter when compared
therewith. But the difference between the true and appa- All ide
rent altitude of the moon is about 52°.
Altitude Instrument, or Equal Altitude Instrument, is A rf.
that used to observe a celestial object when it has the’^’,v'
same altitude on the east and west sides of the meridian.
ALTKIRCH, an arrondissement in the department of
the Upper Rhine, in France. The extent is 444< square
miles, or 284,160 acres, and it contains seven cantons and
106 communes, with 99,013 inhabitants. The chief city
of the arrondissement is of the same name, and is situated
on a hill, whose base is washed by the river 111, about two
leagues from Mulhausen. It has 2400 inhabitants. Long.
7. 11. E. Lat. 47. 7. N.
ALTMORE, a town of Ireland, in the county of Ty¬
rone and province of Ulster, situated in long. 7. 2. W.
and lat. 54. 34. N.
ALTO Basso, or in Alto et in Basso, in Law, signi¬
fies the absolute reference of all differences, small and
great, high and low, to some arbitrator or disinterested per¬
son. Pateat universis per prasentes, quod Willielmus Ty-
lar de Yetton, et Thomas Gower de Almestre, posuerunt se
in Alto et in Basso, in arhitrio quatuor hominum; viz. de
quadam querela pendente inter eos in curia. Nos et terrain
nostrum alte et basse ipsius domini Regis supposuimus
voluntati.
Alto Relievo. See Relievo.
Alto Ripieno, in Music, the tenor of the great chorus,
which sings and plays only now and then in some parti¬
cular places.
ALTON, a market-town in the hundred of the same
name, in the county of Hants, 47 miles from London and
18 from Winchester. It stands on the river Wye, and is
a well-built place, with a good market on Saturday. Po¬
pulation in 1801, 2026 ; in 1811, 2316; and in 1821, 2499.
Alton, or Avelton, a village in Staffordshire, five
miles north of Utoxeter. There are the ruins of a castle
here, which is supposed by some to have been built be¬
fore the Norman conquest; but Dr Plot is of opinion
that it was erected by Theobald de Verdun in the be¬
ginning of the reign of Edward II. A great part of
the walls are still standing, but they are in a very ruinous
condition.
ALTONA, a city in the duchy of Holstein, a part of
Germany, but included within the dominions of Denmark.
It is situated on the banks of the Elbe, and only separated
from Hamburg by a ditch between the suburbs of the
two cities. It is on an ascent, very gradually rising from
the water edge, with streets well built, overlooking each
other. It is a trading city, carrying on considerable com¬
merce as well with the Baltic as with the West Indies,
and equipping vessels for the Greenland fishery. There
are several manufactories for silk and woollen goods, paper,
sail-cloth, white sugar, soap, starch, earthenware, and
many smaller articles. The language is wholly German.
The religion is Lutheran; but all other sects being equally
protected, the number of them is great, especially of Ger¬
man and Portuguese Jews, who are calculated^ at 24
persons. The population in 1803 was 23,086: it >s sup¬
posed to have since increased, and may amount to 24,
There is a naval arsenal, upon a small scale, belonging o
the government; and several establishments for bin in-,
merchant vessels. It is in long. 9. 57. 15. E. and at.
34. 30. N.
ALTORF, a town of the circle of Franconia, in Germany.
It has a botanical garden with a great variety of P—1!s> **
anatomical theatre, a handsome library, and in 18 c
tained 2070 inhabitants. It is subject to the house £
Bavaria, and is 15 miles from Nuremberg. Long.
Lat. 49. 25. N.
Al'.i
stt
aJ
A k ALU 57I
ALTRANSTADT, a town in Saxony, famous for the wise, by many experiments, that crystals of alum cannot Alum,
treaty between Charles XII king of Sweden and Augus- be obtained by dissolving alumina in sulphuric acid and^v^
tus elector of Saxony, in 1 /06, wherein the latter resign- evaporating the solutions. The crystals formed are alw
ed the kingdom of Poland. ~
ALTRINGHAM, a township and market-town in the
parish of Bowden and hundred of Bucklow, in the coun¬
ty of Chester, 180 miles from London. Owing to the
duke of Bridgewater’s canal passing the place, it enjoys
considerable trade. It is governed by a mayor and com¬
mon council-men. The market is on Tuesday. The
population in 1801 was 1692; in 1811, 2032; and in
1821, 2302.
ALTSOL, or Zwolen, an imperial free city on the
Gran, where that river falls into the Zalathna, in the lower
- . crystals formed are always
soft, and quite different in their appearance from alum
crystals. But. when a solution of potash or ammonia is
dropt into this liquid, it immediately deposits perfect
crystals of alum. {Sur la Regeneration de VAlun: Mar-
graaf s Opusc. ii. 86.) He mentions likewise, that manu¬
facturers of alum in general were unable to procure the
salt without a similar addition, and that at first it had
been customary to add a quantity of putrid urine, and
that afterwards a solution of carbonate of potash was sub¬
stituted in its place. But subsequent chemists do not
seem to have paid much attention to these important ob-
circle of the palatinate of Solor, in Hungary. It has servations of Margraaf: they still continued, without any
one church, and a castle belonging to Prince Esterhazy. rigid examination, to consider alum as a sulphate of
The inhabitants are 1506. It is in long. 19. 12. 47. E. alumina. 1
^kj^SrSl. 50. X. Bergman indeed had observed, that the addition of
ALIMKLLi 1Z, a bailiwick in the duchy of Meek- potash or ammonia made the alum crystallize, but that
lenburg Strehtz, in Germany. It comprehends 48 villages, the same effect was not produced by the addition of soda
besides the cities of Old and Xew fetielitz, the latter of or of lime. (De Confectione Aluminis: Bergman’s Opusc.
which, the capital, contains 280 houses and 3031 inhabi- i. 225.) He had observed likewise, that sulphate of potash
tants. It is .walled., and has several public buildings, is frequently found in alum. He decomposed the solution
There are in it fabrics of leather, linen, tobacco, paper, of alum by means of ammonia, evaporated the filtered
pottery, and also some breweries. . liquid to dryness, and exposed the residue to a red heat.
AL1ZEG, a town of Germany, in the Lower Palatin- A quantity of sulphate of potash often remained behind
ate, the capital of a territory of the same name, with an in the crucible. {Ibid. p. 326.) From these facts he drew
old castle. Long. t. 25. W. Lat. 49. 44. N. the conclusion that sulphate of potash readily combines
ALUDELS, in the older and more complicated che- with sulphate of alumina. Yet it is obvious, from the
niical apparatus, were earthen pots without bottoms, in- whole of his dissertation, that he had no conception that
sorted into each other, and used in sublimations. alum is a double salt. He ascribed the difficulty of crys-
ALLM, a .compound salt employed by dyers and other tallization to the excess of sulphuric acid present. He
artists in their different processes. It is soluble in water, thought that the only use of the potash was to saturate
bas an astringent, acid, and sweetish taste; reddens this excess ; and advises manufacturers to substitute clay
vegetable blues, and crystallizes in regular octahedrons, instead of potash, as a method which would not only sa-
When heated, it liquefies; and if the heat be continued, turate the excess of acid, but increase the quantity of
the water of crystallization.is driven off, the salt frothes alum. This very bad advice was not, we presume, fol-
and swells, and at last a white matter remains, known by lowed by any alum-makers. If they had tried it, they
the name of burnt alum. . would soon have been convinced of its injurious conse-
Its constituents are sulphuric acid, alumina, an alkali, quences. Instead of alum, they would have obtained an
insoluble, tasteless powder, well known by the name of
alum saturated with its earth.
After Klaproth had discovered the existence of potash
as an ingredient in leucite and lepidolite, it occurred to
Yauquelin, that it was probably an ingredient likewise in
many other minerals. He recollected that alum crystals
often make their appearance during the analysis of stony
and water. The alkali may be either potash, soda, or
ammonia. Hence there are three distinct species of
alum, depending upon the nature of the alkali which
each contains. Potash alum (in which the alkali is pot¬
ash) is the common alum of this country. In France
both potash and ammoniacal alum are manufactured;
while soda alum is met with native in different states,
and probably in considerable quantity, in South America ; bodies ; and, considering that alum cannot be obtained in
for it is curious that, on that continent, soda almost uni- crystals without the addition of potash, he began to sus-
ormly replaces potash. Instead of nitrate of potash, pect that this alkali constituted an essential ingredient in
which occurs in the old continent, there are great depo- the salt. A set of experiments, undertaken on purpose to
sites of nitrate of soda in South America. It is likely elucidate this important point, soon satisfied him that his
t lat albite will be found replacing felspar in the granite conjecture was well founded. Accordingly, in the year
° America. 1797 he published a dissertation, demonstrating that alum
The progress made by chemists in the discovery of the is a double salt, composed of sulphuric acid, alumina, and
constitution of alum was very slow. The species first in- potash. {Annales de Chimie, xxii. 258.) Soon after, Chaptal
vestigated was potash alum. That it contained sulphuric published the analysis of four different kinds of alum,
acid as a constituent, was known even to the alchemists, namely, Roman alum, Levant alum, British alum, and
ott and Margraaf demonstrated that alumina was another alum manufactured by himself. This analysis led to
constituent. Mr Pott, in his Lithogeognosia, showed that the same result as that of Vauquelin. {Ann. de Chim.
* e a^urn> or the precipitate obtained when xxii. 280.)
alkali is poured into a solution of alum, is quite dif- Since that time al«m has been admitted by chemists
orent from lime and chalk, w ith which it had been con- to be a triple salt; tmU various analyses of it have been
ounded by Stahl. Margraaf went much farther. He not made to determine its constituents. Vauquelin {Ann. de
°oly showed that alumina is one of the constituents of Chim. 1. 167), Thenard and Roard {ibid. tom. lix. 72),
hut that this earth possesses peculiar properties, is Curaudau {Journal de Physique, Ixvii. 1), and Berze-
itferent from every other substance, and is one of the in- lius {Ann. de Chim. Ixxxii. 258), successively published
gfedients in common clay. {Experiences faites sur la Terre the results of their experiments. These analyses gradually
dlun; Margraaf’s Opusc. ii. 111.) Margraaf showed like- led to an accurate knowledge of the composition of this
572
ALUM.
Alum. salt. The atomic weights of the constituents of alum are
as follows:—
Sulphuric acid 5
Alumina 2-25
Potash..   6
Soda   4
Ammonia  2-125
Water  P125
Potash alum is a compound of
4 atoms sulphuric acid  = 20
1 atom potash  = 6
3 atoms alumina  = 6*75
25 atoms water  zr 28’125
Hence the integrant particle of it weighs 60-875
Every atom of the sulphuric acid is combined with an
atom of base; so that potash alum is a compound of
sulphate of potash and sulphate of alumina, in the pro¬
portion of one atom of the former salt to three atoms of the
latter. We may therefore state the constituents of pot¬
ash alum as follows :—
3 atoms sulphate of alumina.... 21-75
1 atom sulphate of potash  — 11
25 atoms water  = 28-125
60-875
Soda alum differs from potash alum in containing sul¬
phate of soda instead of sulphate of potash. Its con¬
stituents are as follows :—
3 atoms sulphate of alumina  = 21-75
1 atom sulphate of soda  = 9
25 atoms water  = 28-125
58-875
The weight of an integrant particle of this alum is only
58-875; because the alum of soda weighs only 4, while
that of potash is 6.
The constituents of ammoniacal alum are as follows :—
3 atoms sulphate of alumina  — 21*75
1 atom sulphate of ammonia.... = 7-125
25 atoms water  — 28-125
57
The weight of the integrant particle is only 57, because
ammonia has an atomic weight of only 2-125.
One of the most remarkable differences between these
three species of alum is the solubility of each in w-ater.
At the temperature of 60°, 100 parts of water dissolve
9-37 parts of ammoniacal alum,
14-79 parts of potash alum,
327*6 parts of soda alum.
This great solubility of soda alum renders the manufac¬
ture of it very difficult. It does not easily crystallize;
indeed, when the weather is hot, crystals of it can hardly
be obtained. This great solubility, together with the in¬
ferior weight of its integrant particle, would render it
more convenient and more economical for dyers and cali¬
co printers, provided it could be furnished at the same
rate with common alum. But the greater difficulty at¬
tending the making of it would probably prevent it from
being saleable at a price sufficiently low to make it avail¬
able as a mordant.
Soda alum was first mentioned by Mr Winter in 1810,
in his account of the Whitby alum processes (Nicholson’s
Jour. xxv. p. 254, 255); but before that time it had been
made by Charles Macintosh, Esq. of Crossbasket. Mr \\
William Wilson, at Hurlet, near Glasgow, afterwards*^
made it in considerable quantities. Specimens of it have
been still more recently sent by Dr Gillies from the
neighbourhood of Mendoza, in South America, where it
occurs native in considerable quantity.
These three different species of alum differ also some¬
what from each other in their specific gravities, which are
as follows:—
Ammoniacal alum  1-56 Sp. Gr.
Potash alum  1-75
Soda alum  1-881
The word alumen, which we translate alum, occurs in
Pliny’s Natural History. In the 15th chapter of his 35th
book, he gives us a detailed description of it. By com¬
paring this with the account of CTunrrigia given by Diosco-
rides in the 123d chapter of his 5th book, it becomes quite
obvious that he alludes to the same substance. Hence it
follows, that aruirrrieiu, is the Greek name for alumen. Pliny
informs us that alumen was found naturally in the earth.
He calls it salsugo terrce. Different substances, he informs
us, were distinguished by the name of alumen; but they
were all characterized by a certain degree of astringency,
and were all employed in dyeing and in medicine. The
light-coloured alumen was useful in brilliant dyes, the
dark-coloured only in dyeing black or very dark colours.
One species of alumen was a liquid, which was apt-to
be adulterated; but, when pure, it had the property of
striking a black 'with the juice of the pomegranate. This
property seems to characterize a solution of sulphate of
iron in water. It is quite obvious that a solution of our
alum would possess no such property. Pliny says that
there is another kind of alum which the Greeks call
schistos. It forms in white threads upon the surface of
certain stones. From the name schistos, and the mode of
formation, there can be little doubt that this species was
the salt which forms spontaneously on certain slaty mine¬
rals, as alum slate and bituminous shale, and which con¬
sists chiefly of sulphate of iron and sulphate of alumina.
Possibly in certain places the sulphate of iron may have
been nearly wanting, and then the salt would be white,
and would answer, as Pliny says it did, for dyeing bright
colours. Several other species of alumen are described
by Pliny, but we are unable to make out to what minerals
he alludes.
The alumen of the ancients, then, was not the same
with the alum of the moderns. It was most commonly
a sulphate of iron, sometimes probably a sulphate of alu¬
mina, and usually a mixture of the two. But the ancients
were unacquainted with our alum. They were acquaint¬
ed with sulphate of iron in a crystallized state, and dis¬
tinguished it by the names of misy, sory, chalcanthum.
{Pliny, xxxiv. 12.) As alum and green vitriol were ap¬
plied to a variety of purposes in common, and as both are
distinguished by a sweetish and astringent taste, writers,
even after the discovery of alum, do not seem to have
discriminated the two salts accurately from each other.
In the writings of the alchemists we find the words misy,
sory, chalcanthum, applied to alum as well as to sulphate
of iron; and the name atramentum sutorium, which ought
to belong, one should suppose, exclusively to green vitno,
applied indifferently to both.
When our alum was discovered is entirely unknown.
Beckman devoted a good deal of time to trace the history
of this salt, and published a curious dissertation on the
\ The soda alum whose specific gravity is here given was the native, from the province of St Juan, on the north of Mendoza. B
contams less water, and therefore is probably heavier than common soda alum.
ALUM.
573
im> subject; but his attempts to trace its origin were unsuc-
^Ocessful. The manufacture of it was discovered in the
East, but at what time or place is totally unknown. It
would appear that, about four or five hundred years ago,
there was a manufactory of it at Edessa in Syria, at that
time called Rocca; hence, it is supposed, the origin of
the term Rock alum, commonly employed in Europe:
though there are others who pretend that the term ori¬
ginated at Civita Vecchia, where alum is made from a
yellow mineral in the state of a hard rock.
Different alum works existed in the neighbourhood of
Constantinople. About the time of the fall of the Grecian
empire, the art of making alum was transported into Italy,
at that period the richest and most manufacturing coun¬
try in Europe. Bartholomew Pernix, a Genoese mer¬
chant, discovered alum ore in the island of Ischia, about
the year 1459. Nearly at the same time John di Castro,
who was well acquainted with the alum works in the
neighbourhood of Constantinople, suspected that a mine¬
ral fit for yielding alum existed at Tolfa, because it was
covered with the same trees that grew on the alum mine¬
ral near Constantinople. His conjecture was verified by
trials, and the celebrated manufactory at Tolfa establish¬
ed. Another was begun in the neighbourhood of Genoa;
and the manufacture flourished in different parts of Italy.
To this country it was confined for the greater part of a
century. Various manufactories of it were established in
Germany by the year 1544. In the time of Agricola
there was a manufactory of it at Commotau, in Bohemia.
About the same time an alum work was established at
Alcmaron, near Carthagena, in Spain.
England possessed no alum works till the reign of
Charles I. Thomas Chaloner, Esq. son of Dr Chaloner,
who had been tutor to Charles, while hunting on a com¬
mon in Yorkshire took notice of the soil and herbage,
and tasted the water. He found them similar to what he
had seen in Germany, where alum works were establish¬
ed. In consequence of this, he got a patent from Charles
for an alum work. This manufactory was worth two
thousand a year, or perhaps more. But some of the
courtiers thinking this too much for him, prevailed with
the king, notwithstanding the patent, to grant a moiety of
it to another person. This was the reason why Mr Cha¬
loner was such a partisan of the parliament, and such an
enemy of the king, that, at the end of the civil war, he
was one of those who sat in judgment upon his majesty
and condemned him.1 Since that time various alum
works have been established in different parts of England
and Wales; but no one at present exists in Britain except
the Whitby works, originally established by Mr Chaloner,
and two works at Hurlet and Campsie, both in the neigh¬
bourhood of Glasgow.
Several alum works likewise exist in Sweden, particu¬
larly in West Gothland. There is one, for example, at
Haensaster, near the borders of the Wene Lake, on the
west side of the mountain called Kinnekulle. But, for a
description of the Swedish works, we refer to Bergman’s
Opuscula, vol. i. p. 284, or the English translation, vol. i.
p. 342. We do not know if any alum works exist in
Poland or Russia; but as the greater part of these ex¬
tensive countries consists of alluvial soil to a great
depth, it is probable that little alum ore will be found in
them.
Various minerals are employed in the manufacture of
alum, but by far the most important of them are the fol¬
lowing three: alum-stone, alum-slate, bituminous shale.
Alum-stone was first observed at Tolfa, in the neigh¬
bourhood of Rome; afterwards in Hungary; and Cordier
has shown that it is very common in volcanic rocks, but
that it never occurs anywhere else. (Annales des Mines,
tom. iv. p. 205, and tom. v. p. 303.)
The colour is white, greyish-white, or sometimes yel¬
lowish-white; most commonly amorphous; but it occurs
also crystallized in rhomboids approaching to cubes, the
angles being about 89° and 91°. In some crystals the
apex of the rhomboid is replaced by a tangent plane.
The size of these crystals varies from 0‘03937 to O’llSll
of an inch in length.
The specific gravity is 2*7517; but the amorphous
specimens, owing probably to cavities, are rather lighter.
Haiiy states the specific gravity to be 2*587; harder
than calcareous, but softer than fluor spar; fracture fo¬
liated in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the rhom¬
boid ; in all other directions the fracture is conchoidal;
fragments irregular, with blunt edges; easily pulverized ;
feels harsh, and does not stain; decrepitates before the
blowpipe; gives out sulphureous acid when heated on
platinum-foil; and tastes of alum when applied to the
tongue. In a strong heat it loses its acid, and becomes
tasteless.
The constituents of the pure crystals, according to the
analysis of Cordier, are—
Sulphuric acid 35*495
Alumina 39*654
Potash 10*021
Water and loss 14*830
100
This approaches very nearly to
3 atoms trisulphate2 of alumina... = 35*25
1 atom sulphate of potash = T1
7 atoms water = 7*875
54*125
We see from this constitution that alum-stone contains
in itself all the ingredients of alum. The absence of iron
accounts for the superior purity for which Roman alum
was so long celebrated.
In the alum manufactory at Campsie, near Glasgow,
the alum is made from a shale taken out of the old aban¬
doned coal-pits in the neighbourhood. At first this shale
furnished alum by simple lixiviation with water. This
process having been continued for a number of years, a
great quantity of washed shale gradually accumulated
in the neighbourhood of the works. This shale, when
burnt, was found to yield a new crop of alum. Now,
in this burnt shale thin bands of a greyish-white matter
occasionally make their appearance, intermixed with por¬
tions having a yellow colour, and which are unequally
distributed. The fracture is earthy; the matter is opaque,
friable,and has an astringent, acid, and sweetish taste. The
specific gravity is T887.
It occurred to the writer of this article, that this sub¬
stance bore a considerable analogy to alum-stone. This
induced him to subject it to chemical examination.
When digested in water it dissolves, with the excep¬
tion of a white powder, amounting to 15*31 per cent.,
which is a subsulphate of alumina.
Alum.
1 Letters 'written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, &c.; and Lives of Eminent Men, by John Aubrey, Esq.
VoL ii. p. 281. Lond. 1813. „ , , . m .
1 By trisulphate of alumina is meant a compound of three atoms of alumina and one atom of sulphuric acid. Persulphate indicates
a compound of three atoms of sulphuric acid and one atom of base.
574 A L
Alum. When heated it melts somewhat like alum, and gives out
pure water. Whei\ heated to redness it swells out like
alum, and finally leaves a yellowish-white, porous, taste¬
less matter, nearly similar to what wrould be left by alum
treated in the same manner, making allowance for the
difference of colour.
The constituents were found to be—
1. Insoluble portion, amounting to 15’31 per cent.
Alumina  5-ll
Sulphuric acid 1(>20
15-31
2. Soluble portion, amounting to 84-69 per cent.
Sulphuric acid 30-225
Alumina 5-372
Peroxide of iron   8-530
Potash 1-172
Water 36-295
Loss, chiefly water 3-09G
84-690
These constituents are equivalent to
24 atoms sulphate of alumina,
9 atoms bipersulphate of iron,
1 atom bisulphate of potash;
and each of these atoms is combined with about 5 atoms
of v-ater.
From this analysis we see that the substance which
appears after burning the Campsie shale is not the same
with alum-stone; but it constitutes an excellent article
for the manufacture of alum, being highly productive ;
and is consequently much valued by the manufacturers.
Alum-slate is a much more abundant mineral thqn
alum-stone. It is said to alternate wfith primitive clay-
slate. It occurs abundantly along with transition-slate;
and there can be little doubt that it occurs likewise in
the flcetz formations. In West Gothland in Sweden, it
constitutes a part of different hills, as Kinnekulle, Hunne-
berg, and Halleberg; in all of which it appears to alter¬
nate with flcetz trap rocks. It occurs likewise abundantly
at Whitby, in Yorkshire. We have never ourselves been
upon the spot;- but, from the general structure of York¬
shire and the neighbouring counties, indeed of the whole
east coast ot England, there can be very little doubt that,
in this position, it is also a floetz rock.
Alum-slate, as the name implies, is a slaty rock, though
sometimes it occurs in balls. The colour is bluish-black,
with a strong shade of grey; fracture straight slaty;
fragments tabular; its internal lustre is glimmering; it
retains its colour in the streak, but acquires more lustre;
soft; not particularly brittle ; when exposed to the air it
effloresces, and acquires an aluminous taste.
This mineral has never been accurately analyzed; but
there can be no doubt that it contains silica, alumina,
iron, sulphur, charcoal, and often likewise potash. Pro¬
bably this was the mineral upon which the alumen scissile
of the ancients was found.
Bituminous shale, the Brandschiefer of the Germans, is
a slaty mineral, which almost constantly accompanies beds
of coal, and accordingly is very common in Great Bri¬
tain. Its colour is brownish-black; its fracture is thin
slaty; fragments tabular ; internal lustre glimmering,
but the colour is not altered; very soft; rather sectile;
feels rather greasy; easily frangible. When heated it
burns with a pale flame and sulphureous odour, and be¬
comes white. It has never been accurately analyzed;
U M.
but it is probably nothing more than slate-clay, which oc- Alu
curs so abundantly in the independent coal formation
impregnated with the matter of coal. Its other principal
constituents must be silica, alumina, and iron pyrites.
Slate-clay itself, at least not sufficiently impregnated
with coaly matter to deserve the name of bituminous
shale, is frequently employed in the making of alum. This
is the case in the neighbourhood of Glasgow.
Several native varieties of sulphate of alumina and soda
alum occur in South America, some of the most remark¬
able of which it may be proper to specify.
1. Sulphate of alumina from Rio Saldana. It is said
to occur in nests in the transition-slate of the Andes.
The colour is white, here and there tinged yellow, obvi¬
ously from external impurities. It occurs in fine crystal¬
line needles ; lustre silky; taste that of alum, but strong¬
er ; specific gravity 1.6606; soft; before the blowpipe
behaves like alum. The writer of this article subjected
it to a chemical analysis, and found its constituents as fol¬
lows ;—
Water 46-375
Alumina 14-645
Peroxide of iron 0-500
Soda   2-262
Sulphuric acid 35-872
Mechanical impurity, consisting of
ferruginous silica 0-100
99*754
This is equivalent to
1 atom sulphate of alumina,
6 atoms water,
Yoo atom sulphate of soda,
■g1^ atom persulphate of iron.
So that if the sulphate of soda and persulphate of iron be
only accidental ingredients, the mineral is a compound of
1 atom sulphate of alumina  = 7-25
6 atoms water.   — 6*75
14
2. Polcura, or alum-earth, found near the summit of a
lofty ridge near El Paso de las Damas, in the Chilian
Andes, and used as a mordant by the inhabitants in dye¬
ing red. This mineral was brought over to Great Britain
by Dr Gillies, who was kind enough to favour the writer
of this article with a specimen. It occurs in hard masses,
partly earthy, partly fibrous. The fibres have a silky
lustre. The colour is white, and the taste that of alum.
When digested in water, a portion was dissolved, and a
portion remained in the form of a white insipid earth.
The quantity of insoluble matter differed very much in
different parts of the specimen. The least was 8*62, and
the greatest 34-65 per cent. This insoluble matter con¬
tained a little sulphur; for, when heated, it emitted a
blue flame with the smell of sulphureous acid. The rest
ot it was a mixture of alumina and silica, tinged yellow
by peroxide of iron. The portion dissolved in water, be¬
ing subjected to analysis, was found to consist of
1 atom disulphate1 of alumina = 9-5
1 atom sulphate of soda = 9
18-5
3. Soda-alum. It occurs native in the province of St
Juan, situated to the north of Mendoza, on the east side
of the Chilian Andes, at about lat. 30° S. The alum
is white, and composed of fibres adhering longitudinally*
By disu/phale of alumina is meant a compound of one atom of sulphuric acid and two atoms of alumina.
A L
and having a certain breadth, but very thin. It bears
^^/some resemblance to fibrous gypsum, but is harder, not
being scratched by the nail, though the knife scratches it
with great ease. It is sectile. The outer fibres are white
and only slightly translucent, as if they had lost a por¬
tion of their water; but the internal fibres are transpa¬
rent, and have a silky aspect.
It tastes precisely like alum, and is very soluble, wa¬
ter at the temperature of 62° dissolving 3-773 parts of it,
and boiling water dissolving any quantity whatever. When
exposed to heat, it behaves very nearly as common alum.
Its constituents were found to be—
Sulphuric acid 20-000
Alumina 6-360
Soda 4-000
Silica 0-012
Lime 0-136
Protoxide of iron 0-423
Peroxide of iron 0-110
Water 22-209
53-250
It will be observed that the sulphuric acid constitutes
just four atoms, the soda one atom, and the alumina just
0-29 less than three atoms. But the quantity of lime and
oxides of iron present is exactly equivalent to 0-29 atom
of alumina. Hence these substances appear to have dis¬
placed a small’quantity of alumina in the salt. The wa¬
ter amounts to very nearly twenty atoms. It is obvious
from all this, that the true constitution of the salt is—
3 atoms sulphate of alumina   2T75
1 atom sulphate of soda  = 9-00
20 atoms water  — 22-50
53-25
It contains five atoms less water than soda-alum artifi¬
cially crystallized.
4. There is a mineral called aluminite, which was ob¬
served in the environs of Halle many years ago, and which
was afterwards detected by Mr Webster in the chalk
rocks of Newhaven in Sussex, which, if it were suffi¬
ciently abundant, would constitute an excellent material
for the manufacture of alum.
Its colour is snow-white. It occurs in reniform pieces
of greater or smaller size ; fracture fine earthy; dull;
streak glistening ; opaque; adheres feebly to the tongue ;
soils very slightly; very soft; feels fine, but meagre;
specific gravity 1-7054. Its constituents, as determined
by three several analyses of Stromeyer, are—
1 atom sulphuric acid  r= 5
3 atoms alumina  — 6-75
9 atoms water  — 10-125
21-875
It is therefore a hydrous trisuljffiate of alumina.
Four different processes are employed in the manufac¬
ture of alum, according to the nature of the mineral from
which the alum is to be extracted.
The process employed at Tolfa is the simplest of all.
If the Tolfa stone be kept constantly moistened with
water for about two months, it falls to powder of itself,
and yields alum by lixiviation. But this is not the pro¬
cess employed by the manufacturers. The alum-stone is
broken into small pieces, and piled on the top of a perfo¬
rated dome, in which a wood fire is kindled. The smoke
and flame of the wood penetrate through the pieces of
alum-stone, and a sulphureous odour is disengaged, owing
to the decomposition of a portion of the sulphuric acid in
the stone. This roasting is twice performed; the pieces of
575
ore which, the first time, were at the edge of the dome, Alum,
being the second time put in the middle. The process
of roasting this stone requires considerable attention. If
the heat be too great, the quality of yielding alum is
destroyed: if the heat be too small, the stone does not
readily fall to powder. There can be little doubt that the
unroasted stone would yield more alum than the roasted;
but probably the additional labour requisite in the latter
case would more than swallow up the increase of product.
The roasted stone, which has now acquired a reddish
colour, is placed in rows between trenches filled with
water. This liquid is so frequently sprinkled on it, that
the stone is always moist. In two or three days it falls
to powder, like slacked quicklime; but the daily watering
is continued for a month. The success of this part of
the operation is said to depend very much on the weather.
When the weather is rainy, the alum is all washed out,
and little or nothing left for the manufacturer to extract.
In such cases, it is obvious that the alum-stone should be
protected from the rain by a shed.
When the stone has by this process been reduced to a
sufficiently fine powder, it is thrown into a leaden boiler
filled two thirds with water. During the boiling, the
powder is frequently stirred up, and the water that eva¬
porates is replaced. When the boiling has been conti¬
nued for a sufficient time, the fire is withdrawn, and time
allowed for the earthy matter to subside to the bottom.
A cock is then opened, which allows the clear liquor to
flow out into deep wooden square vessels, so made that
they can be easily taken to pieces. Here the alum gra¬
dually crystallizes, and attaches itself to the sides and bot¬
tom of the vessel. The mother liquid is now drawn off
into shallower wooden troughs, where more alum crystals
are deposited. The liquid has now a red colour, and is
muddy; and the last alum crystals are mixed with this red
matter. They are washed clean in the mother liquor,
which is finally pumped into a trough, and used in subse¬
quent processes.
The alum obtained at Tolfa is known by the name of
Roman alum, and is in very high estimation. It is always
mixed with a little reddish powdery matter, which is easily
separated from it. What this red matter is, has not been
ascertained; but it is not peroxide of iron. To the eye
it has very much the appearance of a vegetable matter.
We have some notion that it is added artificially by the
sellers of Roman alum. Probably Roman alum at first
had a red tinge, in consequence of the red matter in the
mother liquor remaining partially attached to it. The
goodness of the alum may have given the purchasers a
partiality to the red colour, and induced the sellers to add
a red powder artificially. We have never had an oppor¬
tunity ourselves of examining this matter, but have been
informed by those who have, that it contains no iron.
It is not improbable that this process would be improv¬
ed by grinding the Tolfa stone to a fine powder in a mill,
without any previous roasting, and then keeping the pow¬
der moistened with water for a considerable time. If the
residual earth, after the alum is extracted, be boiled with
sulphuric acid, the liquid yields alum crystals by evapo¬
ration. This is a demonstration that neither the alumina
nor the potash is exhausted, and that the sulphuric acid
driven off by the roasting is so much alum lost to the
manufacturer. Indeed the quantity of sulphuric acid in
the alum-stone is not sufficient to occupy the whole of the
potash in the formation of alum. It would be necessary
to add about one tenth of the weight of the alum-stone
of sulphuric acid, if it were wanted to employ the whole
potash present in the stone. The consequence of this ad¬
dition, supposing no loss, would be an additional quanti-
U M.
576
ALUM.
Alum, ty of alum, amounting to rather more than one fifth of the
weight of the alum-stone employed.
Alum-slate, being very different in its composition, re¬
quires a different treatment to fit it for yielding alum. If
the alum-slate contain a notable quantity of lime or mag¬
nesia, it does not answer the purposes of the manufac¬
turer so well. ' Indeed the proportion of lime present may
be conceived to be such that no alum whatever would be
obtained. As alum-slate has never been subjected to
accurate analysis, we do not know in what proportion
these two earths exist in it, or whether they may not, in
many cases, be absent altogether. The essential ingre¬
dients in alum-slate, for the alum-makers, are alumina and
iron pyrites.
The first process is to roast the ore. In Sweden, where
the fuel is wood, and consequently expensive, it is cus¬
tomary to use the alum-slate itself as fuel for roasting the
ore. For this purpose a small layer of brushwood is
covered with pieces of alum-slate, and set on fire ; and, as
the combustion proceeds, new layers of alum-slate are
added. It is usual to place alternate layers of roasted and
unroasted alum-slate. The combustion continues for a
month or six weeks. At Whitby, coal is employed for
roasting the alum-slate. Indeed the alum-slate of Whitby
is lighter coloured than that of Sweden, and probably
would not burn of itself. So great is the quantity of com¬
bustible matter in the Swedish alum-slate, that it is em¬
ployed as fuel for burning limestone. Great quantities of
limestone are burnt in this manner at Hunneberg, near
the south side of the lake Wener. The roasted ore has
usually a brown colour. When it is red, the quantity of
alum which it yields is considerably diminished.
By this roasting the pyrites is decomposed. The sul¬
phur is converted into sulphuric acid, while the iron is
oxidized. In what manner this change is produced it is
not easy to say. Indeed it does not seem certain that
pyrites is a constant ingredient in alum-slate. We have
never been able to detect any, by the eye, in any speci¬
mens of Whitby alum-slate which we have examined.
At Hsensaeter, in Sweden, no sulphate of iron crystallizes
when the liquid is evaporated; yet, if pyrites had been
present, it is difficult to see any reason that should pre¬
vent this salt from being formed. Hence it is probable,
that in alum-slate the sulphur is sometimes at least com¬
bined with other substances than iron. It must always
be in a state of combination; for, if it were in a loose
state, it would be driven off by the roasting. This point
deserves to be elucidated by analyzing different varieties
of alum-slate.
The roasted ore has an astringent taste, owing to the
sulphate of iron and sulphate of alumina which it con¬
tains. The next process is to lixiviate it with water, in
order to dissolve these salts. For this purpose it is put
into reservoirs made of wood or masonry, with a stop¬
cock at the bottom to draw off the water. The usual
method is to keep the water for twelve hours in contact
with ore that has been twice lixiviated; then to draw
it off, and allow it to remain for an equal period on ore
that has been once lixiviated. Lastly, it is run upon
fresh ore, and allowed to remain on it for twelve hours
longen If the specific gravity of the liquid thus treated
be 1*25 at the temperature of 55°, it may be considered
as saturated with sulphate of alumina and sulphate of
iron. But we presume that this specific gravity is not
often obtained.
The liquid, thus impregnated with salt, is now boiled
dovyn in leaden vessels to the proper consistency for crys¬
tallization. In Sweden, the fuel employed for this pur¬
pose is alum-slate. By this means a double effect is
produced; the liquid is evaporated, and the alum-slate Alur
is roasted. During the boiling, abundance of oxide of'^v
iron falls mixed with selenite, if lime be one of the con¬
stituents of the alum-slate. When the liquid is suffi¬
ciently concentrated, it is let into a square reservoir, in
order to crystallize. Great quantities of sulphate of iron
crystals are usually deposited in this vessel. These are
collected by drawing the liquid off into another reservoir.
When all the sulphate of iron that can be obtained has
been separated, a quantity of sulphate of potash, muriate
of potash, or putrid urine, is mixed with the liquid. The
sulphate of potash is procured from the sulphuric acid-
makers, and the muriate of potash from the soap-makers.
By this addition, alum is formed in the liquid, and it
gradually deposits itself in crystals on the sides of the
vessel. These crystals are collected, and dissolved in the
smallest quantity of boiling water that will take them up.
This solution is poured into large wooden casks. In a
fortnight or three weeks the alum crystallizes, and covers
the side’s and bottom of the cask. The hoops are now
taken off, and the staves of the cask removed. A mass
of alum crystals, having the shape of the cask, remains.
This mass is pierced, the mother liquor allowed to run
out, and preserved for a subsequent process. The alum,
being now broken in pieces, is fit for sale.
The manufacture of alum from bituminous shale and
slate-clay bears a considerable resemblance to the manu¬
facture from alum-slate, but differs in several particu¬
lars. There are two works of this kind in the neighbour¬
hood of Glasgow, managed with great skill, and excellent
in every respect. We shall give a sketch of the pro¬
cesses followed in these works. The bituminous shale
and slate-clay employed are obtained from old coal-pits,
which are very extensive in the neighbourhood of Glas¬
gow. The air in these coal-pits is moist, and its average
temperature about 62°. The shale, having been exposed
for many years, has gradually opened in the direction of
its slaty fracture, so as to resemble in some respects a
half-shut fan; and all the chinks in it are filled with a sa¬
line efflorescence in threads. This salt is white, with a
shade of green ; has a sweetish astringent taste; and con¬
sists of a mixture of sulphate of iron and sulphate of alu¬
mina. In order to obtain these salts in a state of solu¬
tion, nothing more is requisite than to lixiviate this shale
with water. The lixiviated ore being left exposed to the
weather, forms more salt, which is gradually washed out
of it by the rain-water, and this water is collected and
preserved for use.
The next step in the process is to boil down the liquid
to a sufficient state of concentration. At Campsie, all
these boilers are composed of stone, and the heat is applied
to the surface. This is a great saving, as leaden vessels
are not only much more expensive, but require more fre¬
quent renewal. When the liquid is raised to a sufficiently
high temperature in the stone reservoir, pounded sul¬
phate of potash, or muriate of potash, as they can be
procured, is mixed with it; and there is an agitator in the
vessel, by which it is continually stirred about. This ad¬
dition converts the sulphate of alumina into alum. The
liquid is now let into another trough, and allowed to re¬
main till it crystallizes. In this liquid there are two salts
contained in solution, viz. sulphate of iron and alum; and
it is an object of great consequence to separate them
completely from each other. The principal secret con¬
sists in drawing oft'the mother liquor at the proper time;
for the alum is much less soluble in water than the sul¬
phate of iron, and therefore crystallizes first, ft he first
crystals of alum formed are very impure, ft'hey have a
yellow colour, and seem to be partly impregnated with
Am
A L V
sulphate of iron. They are dissolved in hot water, and
the solution poured into troughs, and allowed to crystal¬
lize a second time. These second crystals, though much
purer, are not quite free from sulphate of iron; but the
separation is accomplished by washing them repeatedly
with cold water; for sulphate of iron is much more solu¬
ble in that liquid than alum. These second crystals are
now dissolved in as small a quantity of hot water as pos¬
sible, and the concentrated liquid poured while hot into
large casks, the surface of which is covered with two cross
beams. As the liquor cools, a vast number of alum crys¬
tals form on the sides and surface. The casks are allow¬
ed to remain till the liquid within is supposed to be
nearly of the temperature of the atmosphere. This, in
winter, requires eleven days; in summer, fourteen or
more. We have seen the liquid in a cask that had stood
eleven days in summer, still more than blood-hot. The
hoops are then removed, precisely as in the manufacture
of alum from alum-slate.
There always remains in the boilers a yellowisTi sub¬
stance, consisting chiefly of peroxide of iron. This is ex¬
posed to a strong heat in a reverberatory furnace, and it
becomes red. In this state it is washed, and yields more
alum. The red residue is ground to a fine powder, and
dried. It then answers all the purposes of Venetian red
as a pigment. By altering the temperature to which this
matter is exposed, a yellow ochre is obtained instead of
a red.
In France, where alum-ores are by no means abundant,
alum is manufactured from clay. This method of making
the salt was first put in practice by Chaptal, when pro¬
fessor of chemistry at Montpellier. His methods have
been since gradually improved, and brought to a state of
considerable perfection. The first process tried was this :
the clay was reduced to a fine powder in a mill, and then
mixed with sulphuric acid. After remaining some days,
it was exposed for twenty-four hours to a temperature of
about 130°. It was then lixiviated, and the liquid mixed
with urine or potash. This method being found inconve-
aient, was abandoned for the following: the clay being
well ground, was mixed with half its weight of the saline
residue from a mixture of sulphur and nitre. This resi¬
due is little else than sulphate of potash. The mixture
was formed into balls about five inches in diameter, which
were calcined in a potter’s furnace. They were then
placed on the floor of a chamber in which sulphuric acid
was made. The acid vapour caused them to swell, and
to open on all sides. In about a month they were suffi¬
ciently penetrated with the acid. They were then ex¬
posed to the air, under shades, that the saturation might
become more complete. Finally, they were lixiviated,
and the liquid being evaporated, yielded pure alum.
This process has been considerably improved by Berard,
the present proprietor of the Montpellier alum work. In¬
stead of exposing the calcined balls to the fumes of sul¬
phuric acid, he sprinkles them with a quantity of sulphuric
acid of the specific gravity 1*367, equal to the weight of
the clay employed : but it is obvious that the proportion
must vary with the nature of the clay. The solution takes
place with the greatest facility, and crystals of alum are
obtained by evaporating the liquid.
Another process was put in practice by Chaptal, in the
neighbourhood of Paris, and is still followed, or was at
mast followed some years ago, by M. Bouvier. A mixture
is made of 100 parts of clay, 50 parts of nitre, and 50 parts
o sulphuric acid of the specific gravity 1*367; and this
mixture is put into a retort, and distilled. Aquafortis
comes over, and the residue in the retort being lixiviated
with water, yields abundance of excellent alum.
vol. n.
A L V
We may mention another process described by Carau-
dau, and certainly practicable, and even easy, though we'
do not believe that it would be attended with profit He
forms 100 parts of clay into a paste with water, holding 5
parts of common salt in solution. This paste is formed
into cakes, and calcined in a reverberatory furnace. The
calcined mass is reduced to powder, and well mixed with
the fourth part of its weight of concentrated sulphuric
acid. When the muriatic acid vapours are dissipated, as
much water is added as there had been employed of acid,
and the mass is carefully kneaded. A strong heat is pro¬
duced ; the composition swells ; more water is added; and
at last a solution of potash, in which the alkali amounts to
one fourth of the acid employed. The liquor is now* drawn
off, and, on cooling, it yields a copious deposite of alum
crystals. (L.)
ALUNTIUM, or Alontium, in Ancient Geography, a
town in the north of Sicily, situated on a steep eminence
at the mouth of the Chydas; said to be as old as the war
of Troy. It is now in ruins; and from these has arisen
the hamlet St Philadelfo, in the Val di Demona. The
inhabitants were called Haluntini.
ALVA de Tokmes, a considerable town in Spain, in
the kingdom of Leon, and territory of Salamanca, with a
very handsome castle. It is seated on the north bank of
the river Tormes. Long. 6. 1. W. Lat. 4-1. 0. N.
Alva, Ferdinand Alvarez of Toledo, Duke of, w*as born
in 1508, and descended from one of the most illustrious
families in Spain. His grandfather, Frederick de Toledo,
was his preceptor in the military and political arts; and he
displayed his valour at the battle of Pavia and at the siege
of Tunis. The ambitious Charles V. selected Alva as a
proper instrument for conducting his military enterprises.
In 1538 he made him his general; and, after several
operations, in which he displayed both valour and mi¬
litary skill, in 1542 he successfully defended Perpignan
against the dauphin of France.
In 1546 Alva was made general in chief of the army
which marched against the German Protestants, who were
marshalled under the banners of the elector of Saxony.
Francis, the king of France, died at Rambouillet, and by
his death a considerable change was made in the state
of Europe. Charles therefore instantly began his march
from Egra on the borders of Bohemia, and entering the
southern frontier of Saxony, attacked Altorf upon the El-
ster. Incessantly pushing forward, he arrived on the even¬
ing of the 23d of April on the banks of the Elbe, oppo¬
site to Muhlberg. The river at that place was three
hundred paces in breadth and about four feet in depth, its
current rapid, and the bank possessed by the Saxons was
higher than that which he occupied. In opposition to the
opinion of the duke of Alva and his other oflicers, Charles,
with undaunted courage, though with inexpressible diffi¬
culty, led his army through the river and engaged the
Saxons. The elector displayed great personal courage
and military knowledge; but having received a wound in
the face, he at last surrendered himself prisoner. The
emperor proceeded towards Wittenberg, whither the re¬
mains of the Saxon army had fled, carrying along with
him the captive prince, as a spectacle of consternation
and amazement to his own subjects. But when he ap¬
proached the town, he found it defended by the vigorous
efforts of the elector’s wife, along with the inhabitants.
He summoned Sibylla once and a second time to open the
gates, informing her, that if she persisted in her obstinacy,
the elector should answer for it with his head. Accord¬
ingly he brought his prisoner to an immediate trial. The
proceedings against him were as irregular as the strata¬
gem was barbarous. Instead of consulting the states of
4 D
577
Alva.
578 A L V
A L V
Alva.
the empire, or remitting the cause to any court, which,
according to the German constitution, might have legall)r
taken cognizance of the elector’s crime, he subjected the
greatest prince in the empire to the jurisdiction of a court-
martial. The emperor selected the unrelenting duke of
Alva as a proper instrument to carry into effect any mea¬
sure of violence and oppression, and therefore made him
president of that court, composed of Spanish and Italian
officers. Moved more by the entreaties of his wife than
by a sense of his own danger, the elector, in order to save
his life, submitted to all the rigorous and unjust mea¬
sures that were proposed; but when it was added, that he
should also renounce the Protestant faith and become a
Roman Catbolic, he refused to act in opposition to his con¬
science, and bravely fell a sacrifice to the cause of truth.
In 1552 Alva was intrusted with the command of the
army intended to invade France, and was constrained by
the opinion and authority of the emperor to lay siege to
Mentz, in opposition to his own military knowledge; but
notwithstanding all his valour and abilities, the duke of
Guise successfully defended the place. In consequence
of the success of the French arms in Piedmont, he was
made commander in chief of all the emperor’s forces in
Italy, and at the same time invested with unlimited power.
Success did not, however, attend his first attempts, and
after several unfortunate attacks he was obliged to retire
into winter quarters. The next year he was sent into the
pope’s territories; and, had he not been restrained by his
master, he would have taken possession of all his fortified
places, and deterred Henry from entering into any new
connection with him, and have thereby prevented the re¬
newal of the war. Philip was strongly disposed to peace,
but Alva was inclined to severe measures: he, however,
yielded to the instructions of his master, until being de¬
luded, and sometimes haughtily answered, he at length
sent Pino de Loffredo with a letter to the college of car¬
dinals, and another to Paul, in which, after enumerating
the various injuries which his master had received, and
renewing his former offers of peace and friendship, he
concluded with protesting that, if his offers were again
rejected, the pope should be chargeable with all the cala¬
mities that might follow. The pope threw Loffredo into
prison; and, had not the college of cardinals interposed,
he would even have put him to death; and on account of
Philip’s failing to pay tribute for Naples, he deprived him
of the sovereignty of that kingdom. This violent conduct
of Paul gave great offence throughout all Europe, and
greatly lessened his influence in Italy; but Philip, though
a young, ambitious, and powerful monarch, and of a
temper impatient of injuries and affronts, moved with a
religious veneration, discovered an amazing reluctance
to proceed to extremities. After much time spent in ne¬
gotiation, Philip was at last forced to give orders for Alva
to take the field. He cheerfully obeyed, and began his
march in the beginning of September 1556, with a well-
disciplined army; and after reducing several towns in
the Campagna di Roma, he pursued his conquests to the
very gates of Rome. The circumstances, however, in
which Alva found his army, induced him to make a truce
of forty days, and after several negotiations he yielded
to peace. One of its terms was, that the duke of Alva
should in person ask forgiveness of the haughty pontiff
whom he had conquered. Proud as the duke was by na¬
ture, and accustomed to treat with persons of the highest
dignity, 3ret such was the superstitious veneration then
entertained for the papal character, that he confessed his
voice failed him at the interview, and his presence of
mind forsook him. Not long after this he was sent at the
head of a splendid embassy to Paris, to espouse, in the
name of his master, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry, king
of France.
Philip II., his new master, being strongly devoted to the
Roman see, and determined, by the most unrelenting se¬
verity and unbounded cruelty, to reclaim rebels to his
government and dissenters from his faith, pitched upon
Alva as the fittest person to carry this system into prac¬
tice. With this design, therefore, he was sent into the
Low Countries in 1567. Having received his orders, arm¬
ed with such power as left only the shadow of authority
to the natural governor, and provided with 10,000 vete¬
rans, he marched towards that devoted country. When he
arrived, he soon showed how much he merited the confi¬
dence which his master reposed in him, and instantly
erected a bloody tribunal to try all persons who had been
engaged in the late commotions which the civil and the
religious tyranny of Philip had excited. He imprisoned
the counts Egmont and Horn, the two popular leaders of
the Protestants, and soon brought them to an unjust trial,
and condemned them to death. In a little time he totally
annihilated every privilege of the people, and, with uncon¬
trolled fury and cruelty, put multitudes of them to death.
Beholding herself deprived of all authority, and her sub¬
jects devoted to destruction, the duchess of Parma re¬
signed her office, disdaining to hold the nominal, while
the actual reins of power were in the hands of Alva. This
event increased the general tide of wretchedness, and
every place was filled with scenes of horror and dismay.
Unable for the present to administer the least aid, the
prince of Orange saved his life by flight. This noble
prince suddenly collecting an army in Germany, return¬
ed to the relief of his countrymen; and at the same
time Prince Lewis, his brother, marched with an army
into Friesland. Although success at first attended Lewis,
yet the activity and experience of Alva prevailed, and he
was totally defeated. The prince of Orange proved a
more formidable foe; and it required the united talents
of Alva and his son Frederick of Toledo to prevent the
prince from making a descent upon the Netherlands. But
notwithstanding all the address and military skill of the
prince of Orange, the descent was prevented; and Alva
had the glory of baffling that great leader, and of com¬
pelling him, after great loss of men, to disband the re¬
mainder of his army. Alva could now indulge his cruelty
unrestrained. The executioner was instantly employed
in removing all those friends of freedom whom the sword
had spared. In most of the considerable towns Alva
built citadels. In the city of Antwerp he erected a statue
of himself, which was a monument no less of his vanity than
of his tyranny: he was figured trampling on the necks
of two smaller statues, representing the two estates of the
Low Countries. By his unusual and arbitrary demand
of new supplies from the states, he greatly aggravated
this haughty insult. The exiles from the Low Countries,
roused to action by his oppression, fitted out a kind of pira¬
tical fleet, and, after strengthening themselves by suc¬
cessful depredations, ventured upon the bold exploit of
seizing the town of Briel. Thus Alva, by his cruelty, be¬
came the unwitting instrument of the future independence
of the seven Dutch provinces. The fleet of the exiles
having met the Spanish fleet, totally defeated it, and re¬
duced North Holland and Mons. Many cities hastene
to throw off the yoke : while the states-general assembling
at Dordrecht, openly declared against Alva’s government,
and marshalled under the banners of the prince of Orange.
This situation of affairs convinced Alva of the insta i-
lity of a government upheld by terror and oppression,
he therefore began, when too late, to employ more e-
nient measures. His preparations to oppose the gathei-
A L V
va. ing storm were concerted with his usual vigour, and
succeeded in recovering Mons, Mechlin, and Zutphen,
under the conduct of his son Frederick, where his soldiers
more than retaliated upon the prince of Orange. With
the exception of Zealand and Holland, he regained all the
provinces; and at last his son stormed Waerden, and,
massacring its inhabitants with the most savage cruel¬
ty, proceeded to invest the city of Haerlem. Fully con¬
vinced of the miseries that awaited their surrender, this
city stood an obstinate siege; and nothing less than the
inflexible and persevering spirit of Alva could have over¬
come difficulties almost insurmountable. Despairing of
success, Frederick was at one time disposed to raise the
siege, but the stern reproaches of his father urged him
on; and at length the inhabitants, overcome with fatigue,
surrendered. The victorious Frederick gave tolerable
conditions to the town ; but his inhuman father arriving on
the third day after the surrender, sacrificed to his ven¬
geance many who had been flattered with a promise of
mercy. Their next attack was upon Alcmaar; but the
spirit of desperate resistance was raised to such a height
in the breasts of the Hollanders, that the Spanish ve¬
terans were repulsed with great loss, and Frederick con¬
strained reluctantly to retire. Alva now resolved to try
his fortune by sea, and with great labour and expense
fitted out a powerful fleet, with which he proceeded to
attack the Zealanders, but was entirely defeated, and the
commander taken prisoner. About the same period the
prince of Orange proceeded to attack the town of Ger-
truydenberg. Alva’s feeble state of health and continued
disasters induced him to solicit his recall from the govern¬
ment of the Low Countries; a measure which, in all pro¬
bability, was not displeasing to Philip, who was now re¬
solved to make trial of a milder administration. In De¬
cember 1573 that devoted country was relieved from the
presence and oppressions of the duke of Alva, who, re¬
turning home, accompanied by his son, made the inglo¬
rious boast that during the course of six years, besides
the multitudes destroyed in battle and massacred after
victory, he had consigned 18,000 persons to the execu¬
tioner.
Returning from this scene of oppression and blood, he
was treated for some time with great distinction by his
master. Justice, however, soon overtook the crimes of
Alva; for his son, having debauched one of the king’s at¬
tendants, under promise of marriage, was committed to
prison; and being aided in his escape by his father, and
married by him to a cousin of his own, Alva was banished
from court, and confined in the castle of Uzeda. In
this disgraceful situation he remained two years, when
the success of Don Antonio, in assuming the crown of
Portugal, determined Philip to turn his eyes towards a
person in whose fidelity and abilities he could on this oc¬
casion most confide. A secretary was instantly dispatched
to Alva, to ascertain whether his health was sufficiently vi¬
gorous to enable him to undertake the command of an army.
Phe aged chief returned an answer full of loyal zeal, and
was immediately appointed to the supreme command in
Portugal. It is a singular fact, however, that the enlarge¬
ment and elevation of Alva were not followed by forgive¬
ness. It is a characteristic mark of the unrelenting tem¬
per of Philip, and, at the same time, a noble testimony to
the honour and loyalty of Alva, that although placed in
this important trust, he did not procure his pardon. In
1581 Alva entered Portugal, defeated Antonio, drove him
h'om the kingdom, and soon reduced the whole under the
subjection of Philip. Entering Lisbon, he seized an im¬
mense treasure, and suffered his soldiers, with their ac¬
customed violence and rapacity, to sack the suburbs and
A l v
vicinity. It is reported, that Alva being requested to
give an account of the money expended on that occasion,
sternly replied, “ If the king asks me for an account, I
will make him a statement of kingdoms preserved or con¬
quered, of signal victories, of successful sieges, and of
sixty years’ service.” Philip deemed it proper to make no
further inquiries. Alva, however, did not enjoy the
honours and rewards of his last expedition, for he died in
1582, at the age of 75.
ALVAH, the wood with which Moses sweetened the
waters of Marah. (Exod. ch. xv. ver. 25.) The name of
this wood is not found in Scripture; but the Mahome¬
tans give it that of alvah, and pretend to trace its history
from the patriarchs before the flood. Josephus, on the
contrary, says that Moses used the wood which he found
lying next him.
ALVARES de Luna, treasurer and favourite of John
II. king of Castile, celebrated for the powerful ascendency
which he gained over this prince. He was a natural son of
Don Alvaro de Luna, lord of Canete in Arragon, and of a
woman of infamous character. He was born in 1388, and
named Peter; but Pope Benedict XIII. who was charm¬
ed with his wit though yet a child, changed Peter to
Alvares. He was introduced to court in 1408, and made
a gentleman of the bed-chamber to King John, in whose
service he acquired the most distinguished favour. In
1427 the hostility of the courtiers compelled him to retire
from court: they complained that a man of no military
skill, and without any virtue to recommend him, should
by mere artifice and dissimulation be advanced to the
highest honours; and, by the assistance of a few upstart
men, whom he had raised, and attached to his interest,
should rule as absolutely as if he were king. Their efforts
against him proving successful, Alvares was banished
from court a year and a half. His banishment was a
source of the utmost affliction to the king, who could now
speak or think of nothing but Alvares. He was therefore
recalled; and being invested with his former authority,
he revenged himself severely upon his enemies, by persuad¬
ing the king to banish them. He spent 45 years at court,
and during 30 of them maintained such an ascendency
over the king, that nothing could be done without his
concurrence: nay, it is related by Mariana, that the king
could not change an officer or servant, or even his clothes
or diet, without the approbation of Alvares. In short,
he wanted nothing to complete his grandeur but the
name of king: he had all the places in the kingdom at
his disposal; he was master of the treasury, and had so
gained the affections of the subjects by his profusion, that
the king, though his eyes were now opened, and his fa¬
vour withdrawn, was afraid to complain. A day of retri¬
bution however was at hand ; the popular favour, as well as
the affections of the monarch, declined, and Alvares was
thrown into prison. Being brought to trial and condemned,
he was removed to Valladolid, and there beheaded in the
market-place. He met his fate with the utmost intrepi¬
dity.
ALVAREZ, Francis, a Portuguese priest, and al¬
moner to Emanuel, king of Portugal, flourished about the
beginning of the 16th century. He was sent ambassador
from Portugal to David, prince of Abyssinia; and, after a
residence of six years in that country, returned with let¬
ters of friendship from David to Juan, Emanuel’s successor,
at the same time being charged with the Abyssinian mo¬
narch’s submission to Pope Clement VII. At Bologna,
in the year 1523, he gave a narrative of his expedition to
the pope, in the presence of the emperor Charles V.
In the year 1540 he published, in the Portuguese language,
the relation of his journey, in one volume folio. This
579
Alvah
II
Alvarez.
580 A L Y
i
Alvearium work was translated into Latin, under the title of De
II. Fide, Regione, et Moribus JEtkiojmm, by Damien Goez, a
Alypius. Portuguese gentleman; and has often been reprinted and
translated into other languages. The information it con¬
tains must, however, be received with caution, as the au¬
thor is prone to exaggerate, and does not confine his re¬
marks to his own observation.
ALVEARIUM, in Anatomy, the bottom of the concha,
or hollow of the outer ear.
Alvearium also signifies a bee-hive. The word is
formed of alveus, channel or cavity, in allusion to the
alveoli or cells in bee-hives. Some of the ancients also
used the word alvearium for a bee-house, more usually
called among us apiary.
Alvearium is sometimes also used figuratively to de¬
note a collection; in which sense alvearium amounts to
much the same with what wye otherwise call thesaurus,
cornucopia, or the like. Vine. Boreus has published an
alvearium of law.
ALVELADE, a town of Portugal, in the bailiwick of
Ourique, and province of Alentejo. It is situated at the
spot where the junction of the Campilhas and the St Ro-
mao forms the river Sado. It contains 216 houses and
1420 inhabitants.
ALVEOLI, in Anatomy, the sockets in the jaws, where¬
in the teeth are fixed. Some writers speak of teeth
growing without alveoli. Pliny mentions a person who
had a tooth in his palate. Eustachius relates that he
saw a man at 60 who had a tooth growing out of the
middle of his fauces. Haller gives an instance of a per¬
son whose teeth were of a piece with his jaws, without
any insertion into alveoli.
Alveolus, in Natural History, the name of the waxen
cells in bee-hives. Also the name of a sea-fossil of a
conical figure, composed of a number of cells like bee¬
hives, joined into each other with a pipe of communica¬
tion.
ALVINZ, a market-town on the Maros, and the capi¬
tal of the Croatian circle of the same name. It contains
a Catholic, a Greek, and a Reformed church, and a Fran¬
ciscan monastery. The inhabitants are chiefly Bulga¬
rians. Long. 23. 36. 32. E. Lat. 45. 59. 15. N.
ALVUS, in Anatomy, a term used for the belly in ge¬
neral, but more frequently applied to the bowels.
ALWAIDII, a sect of Mahometans who believe all
great crimes to be unpardonable. The Alwaidii stand
in opposition to the Morgii. They attribute less efficacy
to the true belief in the salvation of men than the rest of
the Mussulmans.
ALYPIUS of Antioch, a geographer of the fourth cen¬
tury. He was sent by the emperor Julian into Britain
as deputy-governor; and after remaining in this situation
for some time, he received orders from the emperor to
rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. Ammianus Marcellinus,
the Roman historian, informs us, that during the progress
of the work, while it was proceeding with great rapidity,
huge balls of fire issued forth in the vicinity of the foun¬
dations, which interrupted the men at their labour, and
even sometimes consumed them with its violence. The
place being thus rendered inaccessible, they were reluc¬
tantly constrained to desist from their undertaking. Dif¬
ferent sentiments have been entertained with respect to this
phenomenon ; but the reader, for his own satisfaction, may
consult what has been written concerning it by Lardner
and Gibbon. In the evening of his life, after he had re¬
tired from the service of the public, Alypius, in conjunc¬
tion with several other persons, was formally accused of
the crime of practising magic; in consequence of which,
he was banished, his property confiscated, and Hierocles
A L Y
his son condemned to capital punishment. Ammianus AWt
Marcellinus, while he mentions that the crime for which
they suffered was that of administering poison to others,
states at the same time as his opinion, that they were
the victims of the general injustice and oppression which
reigned at that period, and extended their sway even to
the most retired habitations. The emperor Julian him¬
self honoured Alypius with his confidence, and speaks of
him with great respect. “ As to your conduct in public
affairs,” says the emperor, “ it gives me pleasure to observe
the assiduity and humanity which appear in all your trans¬
actions; for so to temper lenity and moderation with
firmness and fortitude, that the good may experience the
benefit of the former, and that the bad may be corrected
by the latter, requires no small share of ability and virtue.”
Alypius composed a geographical work which is said to
have gained the approbation of the emperor; but this work
has shared the same fate as many other productions of
antiquity. Some have ascribed to Alypius the work which
Godfrey published under the title of A Description of
the Old World, printed in 4to at Geneva; but since the
author speaks of Britain, not merely from report, but from
his own observation, it is more probable that this Descrip¬
tion is an anonymous work published in the reigns of
Constantius and Constans.
Alypius, one of the seven Greek writers on music whose
works are collected and published, with a commentary and
explanatory notes, by Meibomius. The time in which he
flourished cannot be precisely ascertained. He is said to
have written before Euclid and Ptolemy ; and Cassiodorus
arranges his work, entitled Introduction to Music, between
that of Nicomachus and Gaudentius. In this work is to
be found the most complete nomenclature of all the sounds
of the different scales and modes of the ancient Greek
music which have escaped the wreck of time.
Alypius of Tagasta, a Christian divine, who flourished
in the fourth century. In quest of information and im¬
provement, he took a journey into Palestine; and return¬
ing home, he soon acquired such general esteem that he
w as appointed bishop of his native city. In the early part
of his life he had adopted the opinions of the Manichees;
but after acquiring more extensive information and ma¬
tured experience, he became a powerful advocate for the
Catholic faith. The Donatists flourished about this period,
and arrogantly claimed the exclusive honour of being the
true church ; but he, assisted by his friend Augustin, ex¬
erted himself in opposing the tenets of that sect. In the
council of Carthage in the year 403, the erudition and ta¬
lents of Alypius, along with several other eminent divines,
were unsuccessfully employed in endeavouring to reclaim
them, and to bring them again into the bosom ot the
church. In 411 Alypius was one of the seven who held
a friendly and theological conference with seven of the
Donatist bishops. But all the eloquence and strength ot
argument displayed by these divines, although second¬
ed by the penal decrees of the emperor Honorius, were
unsuccessful in producing a recantation of their errors, or
a peaceful union with their brethren. In support ot the
Catholic faith Alypius appears to have vigorously exert¬
ed his talents; and it is much to be regretted that the
means wrhich he employed for that purpose were not always
the most honourable; for in the violence of his zeal he
went as deputy from the churches of Africa to the em¬
peror Honorius, in order to obtain severe decrees against
the sect of the Pelagians. Although Alypius failed in
his attempts to reclaim the Donatists from error, yet he
was successful with the emperor in obtaining penal de¬
crees against the Pelagians; in consequence of
their ministers were banished, their churches demolisnef >
A M A
rci,a and their assemblies discontinued. Alypius died about the
year 430.
Anleus. ALYTARCHA, a priest of Antioch, in Syria, who, in
'V^/the games instituted in honour of the gods, presided over
the officers who carried rods to clear away the crowd and
keep order. In the Olympic games, the alytarchai had
the same command, and obliged every person to preserve
order and decency.
ALZENAU, a bailiwick in the circle of Lower Maine,
in the kingdom of Bavaria. Its extent is 40 square miles,
or 25,600 acres. The river Maine flows on its south bor¬
der, and the Kahl passes through it. The soil is excel¬
lent, and it abounds in corn, wine, and cattle. It contains
two market-towns, seven villages, and 4630 inhabitants.
The capital is a market-town of the same name, with 500
inhabitants.
ALZEY, a bailiwick in the grand duchy of Hesse-
Darmstadt, in Germany, on the borders of the Rhenish
circle of the kingdom of Bavaria. It contains two cities,
one market-town, 67 villages, and 16,680 inhabitants.
It is a district fruitful in corn, chiefly rye ; and the
sides of its hills yield some very good wine. The capi¬
tal is the city of the same name. It has three churches,
451 houses, and 3193 inhabitants. Near it are the pictu¬
resque ruins of the castle of the ancient Burgrave. It
is in long. 8. 18. E. and lat. 49. 47. N.
ALZIRA, a town of Spain, in the kingdom of Valen¬
cia, seated on the river Xucar. Long. 0. 20. E. Lat. 39.
10. N.
AMA, in ecclesiastical writers, denotes a vessel wherein
wine, water, or the like, was held for the service of the
eucharist. In this sense the word is also written amula;
sometimes also hama, and hamula.
Ama is sometimes also used for a wine-measure, as a
cask, pipe, or the like.
AMABYR, a barbarous custom which formerly prevail¬
ed in several parts of England and Wales, being a sum of
money paid to the lord when a maid was married within
his lordship. The word is old British, and signifies the
price of virginity.
AMACK. See Amak.
AMADAN. See HAMAD AN.
AMADANAGER, a town in the hither peninsula of
India, in the province of Deccan. It was taken by the Mo¬
guls in 1598, after a siege of six months, being at that
time defended by a.strong castle, situated on an emi¬
nence, and surrounded by deep ditches, into which several
springs discharged their waters. Long. 74. 15. E. Lat.
18.10. N.
AMADEUS V. count of Savoy, rose to that dignity
in the year 1285. In him it appeared that mental excel¬
lence can rise superior to riches or extent of territory;
for although his dominions were by no means extensive,
nor his riches great, yet, in consequence of his wisdom
and success, he obtained the surname of Great. The
cautious prudence of Amadeus, however, enabled him
greatly to increase his territory by means of marriage,
purchase, and donations. In this situation, with extend¬
ed dominion, and distinguished for wisdom and prudence,
lie rose to such eminence among the European powers,
that he was constituted their umpire to settle their differ¬
ences ; which office he performed with much reputation to
himself and advantage to them. In his character valour
and wisdom were combined ; for when the Turks attempt¬
ed to retake the isle of Rhodes from the knights of St
John of Jerusalem, he acquired great renown by the valour
nith which he defended it. A Maltese cross with the let¬
ters F. E. R. T. in future became the arms of Amadeus
and his successors, in memory of this signal victory. The
AMA 581
explanation of this motto is said to be, Fortitudo (jus Bho- Amadeus.
dum tenuit, his valour preserved Rhodes. For this import-
ant service the grand-master conferred on him the grant of
a palace at Lyons. Andronicus, the emperor of the East, had
married his daughter; and in order to promote the views
of his son-in-law, Amadeus took a journey to Avignon,
to persuade Pope John XXII. to preach a crusade in
favour of Andronicus. He died there in the year 1323.
Deep penetration, keen discernment, consummate pru¬
dence, great valour, together with no small portion of the
religious superstition of his time, appear the most striking
features in his character.
Amadeus VIII; count of Savoy, succeeded his father
Amadeus VII. in 1391. With the large sum of 45,000 flo¬
rins of gold he purchased the country of Genevois from
its last earl. Anxious to extend his territories, he pur¬
chased the city of Rumilli, upon the lake of Geneva,
from the widow of the count of Genevois; and thus the
house of Savoy became so powerful, that the emperor
Sigismund erected Savoy into a duchy in the year 1426.
Historians relate that he assisted John Paleologus against
the duke of Milan, who endeavoured to wrest from him*
the duchy of Montferrat. Deeply sensible of the ser¬
vices vrhich he had received, Paleologus not only resign¬
ed to the duke, Chivas, Brandis, and several other estates,
but submitted to hold all the marquisate of Montferrat as
a fief from the house of Savoy. These fortunate acqui¬
sitions of territory were not yet limited; for upon the
marriage of his daughter with Philip Maria, duke of Mi¬
lan, he received Vercelli; and about the same time the
count of Crescentino submitted to become his feodary.
In his ambitious pursuit he laid claim to the sovereignty
of the city of Geneva; but that claim, though enforced
by the pope, was rejected by the citizens with disdain;
and the emperor Sigismund, taking it under his protec¬
tion, declared it an imperial city. After such an exten¬
sive acquisition of dominion, and amassing such sums of
money, he formed the singular scheme of abandoning his
throne and family; and for that purpose retired to a reli¬
gious house at a place called Ripaille. But although he
resigned the dukedom of Savoy to his eldest son Lewis,
and made his youngest son Philip count of Genevois, yet
their honours were merely nominal; for he constrained
them to live on a very scanty allowance, while he in his
retirement received all the revenues, and collected such
sums of money, that he is said to have purchased the
papal honours. During the previous part of his life, hav¬
ing assumed great sanctity of manners, the motives for his
retirement were generally reckoned religious; but what
was the astonishment of mankind to behold the seat of
his hermitage become the scene of voluptuous pleasure
and the most refined luxury! The local situation of the
place was truly delightful, and it was enriched with every
thing that could afford gratification to the senses; his
retinue consisted of some of his most intimate friends,
along with twenty faithful servants, who were the guardians
of his voluptuous secrets. Instead of a religious habit, he
wore purple robes; and upon his mantle was embroidered
a golden cross. His table groaned under a weight of
dainties, and the softest music cheered his daily feast: in
short, such was the luxury of the place, that in the French
language the phrase fairs ripaille signifies to make exqui¬
sitely good cheer.
He instituted a secular knighthood in that place, under
the appellation of St Maurice. The brethren assumed
the name of hermits, wore beards, and excluded women
from their community; and in other respects exhibited
the character of decent epicures.
When he obtained the papal dignity, and was crowned
582 A M A
A M A
Amadeus by the cardinal of Arles at Basil, all Europe was filled
II with astonishment in consequence of his elevation; for
he had never entered into holy orders. But he had found
means to remove every objection, the council confirmed
his election, and with pretended reluctance he put on the
pontifical ornaments, and was consecrated in the church
of St Maurice, under the title of Felix V. The papal
dignity was severely contested between him and Euge-
nius; and, notwithstanding all the importunities of the
council, the emperor refused to acknowledge his elevation.
This religious dispute involved all Europe in contention.
Historians relate that Germany remained neutral, while
France, England, Italy, Spain, and Hungary, declared for
Eugenius ; but Arragon, Poland, and Bretagne, recognised
the council only; at the same time that Savoy, Switzer¬
land, Basil, Strasburg, Pomerania, and one of the duchies
of Bavaria, recognised Felix. The emperor Frederick III.
held a council at Frankfort, before which both the popes
urged their respective rights by means of deputies. This
attempt, however, to establish peace in Europe proving
unsuccessful, the emperor repaired to the vicinity of Basil,
•and had a personal interview with Felix. Amadeus,
that he might the more freely indulge his sensual appe¬
tite, again repaired to his favourite retreat; and after the
fathers of the council had frequently solicited him in
vain to reside at Basil, he prevailed upon them to re¬
move to Lyons, which was near the seat of his pleasures.
During the contest Eugenius had excommunicated Felix,
the council, and several of the German princes, so that
the whole church was then filled with confusion and dis¬
order. The struggle, however, was terminated by the
death of Eugenius, when the cardinals at Rome elected
Thomas de Sarzan, who assumed the name of Nicholas V.
In this state of affairs Amadeus deemed it prudent to
enter into a negotiation for the resignation of his papal
crown ; and such was the policy and address displayed
by him in this transaction, that Nicholas was induced
to annul all that Eugenius had done to his dishonour,
or that of his associates; to confirm the determination
of the council of Basil to appoint him perpetual apos¬
tolical legate in Savoy, Piedmont, and the other places
of his own dominions; and even added to these the
honour of being bishop of Basil, Lausanne, Strasburg,
and Constance. Nor did his vanity forsake him even
in this political transaction, for he provided that he
should continue to wear the pontifical dress, unless in
a very few particulars. In order to gratify the same
haughty disposition, he stipulated that he should not be
obliged to go to Rome to attend any general council; and
that when he had occasion to approach the pope, he
should rise to receive him, and instead of kissing his toe,
he should be permitted to kiss his cheek. Amadeus re¬
tired to Lausanne, and died there at the age of 60, in the
year 1451.
Amadeus IX. count of Savoy, succeeded his father
Lewis, in his dominion and honours. His bodily consti¬
tution was weak, and he was afflicted with the falling¬
sickness; yet, on account of his piety, virtue, benevo¬
lence, and justice, he was surnamed the Happy. The cle¬
mency of his temper was such that he readily pardoned
those wdio offended him, and in few instances was he in¬
duced to punish. In his character the virtue of benevo¬
lence shone with peculiar splendour among the other vir¬
tues of the Christian. In 1472, in the seventh year of
his reign, and the thirty-seventh of his life, he died uni¬
versally lamented by all his loyal subjects.
AMADIA, a trading town of Asia, in Curdistan, be¬
longing to the Turks; seated on a high mountain. Long.
43. 1. E. Lat. 36. 25. N.
AMADOW, a kind of black match, tinder, or tour’,, ^ma
wood, which comes from Germany. It is made o^ a sort |]"
of large mushrooms or spongy excrescences, which com- c.
monly grow on old trees, especially oaks, ash, and firs.'^~v
This substance being boiled in common water, and after¬
wards dried and well beaten, is then put into a strong ley
prepared with saltpetre, after which it is again put to dry
in an oven. The druggists sell this match wholesale in
France, and several hawkers retail it. Some give to the
amadow the name of pyrotechnical sponge, because of its
aptness to take fire.
AMADOWRY, a kind of cotton which comes from
Alexandria by the way of Marseilles.
AMAIN, in the sea language, a term importing to lower
something at once. Thus, to strike amain is to lower or
let fall the topsails; to wave amain is to make a signal,
by waving a drawn sword, or the like, as a demand that
the enemy strike their topsails.
AMAK, a small island in the Baltic Sea, near Copen¬
hagen, from which it is separated by a canal over which
there is a drawbridge. Amak is about four miles long
and two broad, and is chiefly peopled by the descendants
of a colony from East Friesland, to whom the island was
consigned by Christian II. at the request of his wife Eli¬
zabeth, sister of Charles V., for the purpose of supplying
her with vegetables, cheese, and butter. From the inter¬
marriages of these colonists with the Danes, the present
inhabitants are chiefly descended; but as they wear their
own dress, and enjoy peculiar privileges, they appear a
distinct race from the natives. The island contains about
4000 inhabitants. It has two churches, in which the mb
nisters preach occasionally in Dutch and Danish. The
inhabitants have their own inferior tribunals, but in capi¬
tal offences are amenable to the king’s court of justice at
Copenhagen. The old national habit, brought by the ori¬
ginal colony when they first migrated to the island, is still
in use amongst them. It resembles the habit of the
ancient Quakers, as represented in the pictures of the
Dutch and Flemish painters. The men wrear broad-brim¬
med hats, black jackets, full glazed breeches of the same
colour, loose at the knee, and tied round the waist. The
women are dressed chiefly in black jackets and petticoats,
with a piece of blue glazed cloth bound on their heads.
The island is laid out in gardens and pastures, and still,
according to the original design, supplies Copenhagen
with milk, butter, and vegetables. Long. 12. 35. E.
Lat. 55. 30. N.
AMAL, a town of Sweden, in the province of Daland,
seated on the river Weser. It has a good harbour, and
carries on a great trade, especially in timber, deals, and
tar. Long. 12. 40. E. Lat. 58. 50. N.
AMALARIC was the son of Alaric II. and king of
the Visigoths. Deprived of his father when an infant, he
would have been bereft of his crown, had not his grand¬
father Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, interposed in his
behalf. In defence of the royal infant, Theodoric expelled
from the throne his natural brother, who had usurped
the government; and, ruling the kingdom during his life,
preserved the crown to the natural heir. In 526 the
grandfather died, and Amalaric assumed the royal autho¬
rity. In 527 he married Clotilda, the daughter of Clovis,
an amiable lady, who inherited both the piety and ortho¬
doxy of her mother, who was of the same name. The
Catholic historians relate, that the king being violently at¬
tached to the Arian cause, used means indicative rather of
a cruel than of a pious disposition, to compel his queen to
embrace the same opinions. With all the firmness of a
great mind, and the amiable patience of a Christian, she
endured her wrongs for a considerable period; but at
A M A
^ason-length, worn out with injurious treatment, she was forced
‘ a. to apply to her brothers for assistance, and sent them a
handkerchief stained with her blood, in proof of her cruel
usage. In order to relieve their sister, one of them,
Childebert, king of Paris, entered the territories of A.ma-
laric, who then resided with his court at Narbonne; and
their forces having joined battle, the troops of Amalaric
were totally defeated, and the king himself forced to
save his life by flying into Spain, a. d. 531. It is report¬
ed that, when endeavouring to regain Narbonne, he was
either slain by an assassin employed by Theudis, his suc¬
cessor, or fell in battle. Some historians say that he died
in Barcelona.
AMALASONTHA, youngest daughter of Theodoric
the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, was born about the
year 498. The sister of Clovis was her mother; and in
515 she married Eutharic, the only remaining heir of the
legal race of the Amali. Her father having formed the
design of making him his successor, sent to bring him
from Spain for that purpose. But he never arrived at
the destined honour; for Eutharic died before his father-
in-law, leaving an only son, Athalaric. The well-known
abilities of Amalasontha induced Theodoric to place Atha¬
laric, to whom he had left the kingdom of Italy, under the
care of his mother. This princess inherited an ample share
of her father’s talents, which he had been exceedingly care¬
ful to improve by means of a liberal education. She
became a great proficient in the philosophy and morals
of that age, and with equal elegance and grace could
converse in the Greek, Latin, and Gothic languages. Nor
were her talents merely qualified to adorn private life:
she displayed them in the administration of public justice,
and in political discussion. Her first efforts were in be¬
half of the injured children of Boethius and Symmachus,
whom she reinstated in the possession of their inheritance.
When the chiefs of the Goths were strongly inclined to
treat the Romans as a conquered people, she mildly re¬
strained their violent oppression and their ungovernable
rapacity. She relieved her subjects from some of the
severer impositions of her father; but carefully retained
all his laws, magistrates, and political institutions. Having
herself tasted of the sweets of literature, and experienced
its advantages, she patronised learning with an assiduous
care, by regularly paying the salaries of public teachers,
and giving every encouragement to the improvement of
genius. Her peaceable deportment towards the neigh¬
bouring princes forms an amiable feature in her character.
With the imperial court, and with all the other powers,
she lived upon terms of friendship. Prompted by mater¬
nal affection and a highly cultivated mind, she exerted
all her ingenuity in the education of her son. Unfor¬
tunately, however, both for the mother and the son, nei¬
ther the general character of the Gothic nation, nor the
wayward inclinations of the hoy, seconded her laudable
endeavours. The Gothic nobles had just commenced their
murmurings against the soft effeminate manner in which
the education of their prince was conducted, when upon
a certain day the youth, having undergone some kind
maternal chastisement, rushed into the room where some
of the nobles were assembled, with the tears streaming
from his eyes. Informed of the cause of his distress, the
wrath of the nobles suddenly arose, and in a violent burst
of passion they insisted upon the immediate release of
their prince from the bondage of learning, and from the
restraints of a mother. The unfortunate youth was thus
I dragged from the habitation of learning, prudence, and
virtue; and, being plunged into all the extravagancies of
dissolute pleasure, his mind became inspired with con¬
tempt and aversion to his virtuous mother.
A M A 583
It was impossible for humanity to bear this insult and Amalek.
high injury without opposition; therefore, in the first ef-^V-^
fusions of her resentment she seized three of the principal
persons concerned in this transaction, and confined them
in one of the remotest parts of Italy. But, as the efforts
of one or of a few individuals are never adequate to the
task of counteracting the general efforts of a nation, so the
party whose sentiments were opposed to hers gradually ac¬
quired such power and influence, that Amalasontha formed
serious resolutions of sheltering herself under the protec¬
tion of Justinian. After a correspondence had been car¬
ried on to prepare for this event, before setting sail she de¬
termined to make one bold effort to regain her absolute
power. With this view she caused the three persons who
were in confinement to be secretly assassinated; a deed
which, although it re-established her authority, augmented
the public hatred. But another cause of disquiet soon arose.
At the early age of sixteen, her son fell a victim to his
debaucheries and follies, and she was left devoid of any
legal claim to the crown. The accomplished and ambi¬
tious Amalasontha spurned the idea of retiring to a pri¬
vate station, and formed the bold design of sharing the
throne with Theodotus her cousin. She had sufficient
penetration to perceive that the dispositions of that youth
were indolent and weak, and consequently she still hoped
to remain at the helm of government. But the future for¬
tune of that accomplished woman demonstrates to poste¬
rity the danger of confiding in human weakness, where
the principles of honour, justice, and virtue are want¬
ing. Theodotus issued an order for her confinement in
an island on the lake Bolsena; and in the year 535 she
was strangled in the bath. Some historians ascribe this
deed to the influence of the empress Theodora, whose
jealousy was excited by the respect paid to her by Justi¬
nian.
AMALEK, the son of Eliphaz, by Tirana his concu¬
bine, and the grandson of Esau. (Gen. xxxvi. 12, and
1 Chr. i. 36.) Amalek succeeded Gatam in the govern¬
ment of Edom. He was the father of the Amalekites,
a powerful people who dwelt in Arabia Petrsea, between
the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, or between Havila and
Shur (1 Sam. xv. 7), sometimes in one canton and some¬
times in another. It does not appear that they had
cities, for there is no mention of any but one in the Scrip¬
tures (1 Sam. xv. 5): they lived generally in hamlets,
caves, or tents.
The Israelites had scarcely passed the Red Sea on
their way to the wilderness, before the Amalekites came
to attack them in the deserts of Rephidim (Exod. xvii. 8,
&c.), and cruelly put to the sword those who were
obliged either through fatigue or weakness to remain be¬
hind. Moses, by divine command, directed Joshua to
fall upon this people,—to record in a book the act of in¬
humanity which they had committed, in order to have it
always before their eyes,—and to revenge it in the most
remarkable manner. Joshua therefore fell upon the Ama¬
lekites and defeated them, while Moses was upon the
mountain, with Aaron and Hur in company. Moses, du¬
ring the time of the engagement, held up his hands, to
which the success of the battle was owing; for as often
as be let them down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’
hands being tired, Aaron and Hur supported his arms,
and held them extended while the battle lasted, which
was from the morning till the approach of night, when
the Amalekites were cut in pieces. This happened in the
year of the world 2513, before Christ 1491.
The ground of the enmity of the Amalekites against
the Israelites is generally supposed to have been an innate
hatred, from the remembrance of Jacob’s depriving their
584
A M A
A M A
Amalek. progenitor both of his birthright and blessing. Their fall- ed with foreign nations. They further believe that
-'''V-v-Zing upon them, however, and that without any provoca- Goliath, who wras overcome by David, was king of the
tion, when they saw them reduced to so low a condition Amalekites; that the giants who inhabited Palestine in
by the fatigue of their march and an excessive drought, Joshua’s time were of the same race ; and that at last part
was an inhuman action, and justly deserved the severe of the Amalekites retired into Africa while Joshua was
punishment inflicted on them by Joshua. Under the yet living, and settled upon the coasts of Barbary, along
Judges (v. 3), we see the Amalekites united with the the Mediterranean Sea. The son of Amalek was Ad a
Midianites and Moabites in a design to oppress Israel; celebrated prince among the Arabians. Some make him
but Ehud delivered the Israelites from Eglon, king of the the son of Uz, and grandson of Aram the son of Shem.
Moabites (Judg. iii.), and Gideon (chap, viii.) delivered Be this as it may, the Mahometans say that Ad was
them from the Midianites and Amalekites. About the the father of an Arabian tribe called Adites, who were
year of the world 2930, Saul marched against the Ama- exterminated, as they tell us, for not hearkening to the
lekites, advanced as far as their capital, and put all the patriarch Eber, who preached to them the unity of God.
people of the country to the sword ; but he spared the best Ad had two sons, Schedad and Schedid.
of the cattle and movables, contrary to a divine com- AMALFI, an ancient city of Italy, situated in long. 14..
mand; which act of disobedience was the cause of his 20. E. lat. 40. 35. N. It is said to have derived its origin
future misfortunes. from a number of Roman families, who, about the middle
After this war the Amalekites scarcely appear any of the fourth century, either from private views of emolu-
more in history. However, about the year of the world ment, or in consequence of compulsory orders from the
2949, a troop of Amalekites came and pillaged Ziklag, emperor, had left Rome, and embarked for Constantinople;
which belonged to David (1 Sam. xxx.), where he had but meeting with storms on their passage, were cast away
left his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail; but he return- on the shores of Salerno, and deprived of the means of
ing from an expedition which he had made in the com- pursuing their voyage. In this state of perplexity they
pany of Achish into the valley of Jezreel, pursued them, long remained; but at last came to the resolution of
overtook and dispersed them, and recovered all the booty settling on the present site of Amalfi, where they expect-
which they had carried off from Ziklag. " ed to enjoy security, and sufficient plenty of the necessa-
The Arabians maintain that Amalek was the son of ries of life. The earliest notice of them in this settlement
Ham, and grandson of Noah; that he was the father of dates no higher than the latter end of the sixth century.
Ad, and grandfather of Schedad. Calmet thinks that this Impervious mountains and inaccessible coasts preserved
opinion is by no means to be rejected, as it is not very their infant state from the first fury of the Lombards, who
probable that Amalek, the son of Eliphaz, and grandson seldom attempted the conquest of a maritime people,
of Esau, should be the father of a people so powerful and In the year 825, when this little republic had, under
numerous as the Amalekites were when the Israelites de- the patronage of the eastern emperors, attained a degree
parted out of Egypt. Moses, in the book of Genesis of wealth and reputation sufficient to excite the ambition
(xiv. 7), relates, that in Abraham’s time, long before the of its neighbours, Sico, prince of Salerno, marched a body
birth of Amalek the son of Eliphaz, the five confederate of troops by night, surprised Amalfi, and carrying off the
kings carried the war into Amalek’s country, about Ka- greater part of the inhabitants, compelled them to fix at
desh; and into that of the Amorites, about Hazezon-ta- Salerno, which had lately suffered a great loss of people
mar. The same Moses (Num. xxiv. 20) relates, that the by an epidemical disorder. But before the fourth year of
diviner Balaam, observing at a distance the land of Ama- their captivity was expired, the Amalfitans took advantage
lek, said, in his prophetic style, “ Amalek is the first, the of the absence of the Salernitan chiefs, who were then
head, the original of the nations; but his latter end shall carrying on a war with the Beneventans; armed them-
be, that he perish for ever.” Our commentator observes, selves; and, after burning and plundering Salerno, march-
that this epithet of the first of nations cannot certainly ed back in triumph to their own country,
agree with the Amalekites descended from the son of Eli- Here they framed a better system of government, and
phaz, because the generation then living was but the third reformed many abuses in their former legislation ; adopting
from Amalek. Besides, Moses never reproaches the Ama- various measures that were likely to promote internal con-
lekites with attacking their brethren the Israelites; an ag- cord, and defeat the evil intentions of foreign enemies,
gravating circumstance which he would not have omitted Their first plan was to vest the supreme authority in a
had the Amalekites been descended from Esau, in which temporary prefect; but the experience of a few years
case they would have been the brethren of the Israelites, caused them to prefer lodging that power in the hands of
Lastly, we see the Amalekites almost always classed in a duke elected for the term of his natural life. Under
Scripture with the Canaanites and the Philistines, and these governors Amalfi attained the summit of its mili-
never with the Edomites; and when Saul made war upon tary and commercial glory. It extended its territory,
the Amalekites, and almost utterly destroyed them, we do which reached eastward from Vico Vecchio, and westward
not find that the Edomites made the least attempt to to the promontory of Minerva, including likewise the
assist them, or to avenge their cause afterwards. Thence it island of Caprem, and the two islands of the Galli. To-
is thought probable that the Amalekites who are so often wards the north, it comprehended the cities of Lettere,
mentioned in Scripture were a free people descended Gragnana, Pimontio, and Capule di Franchi; towards the
from Canaan, and devoted to the curse as w'ell as the south, those of Scala, Ravelli, Minori, Majuri, Atrani,
other Amorites, and very different from the descendants Tramonti, Agenda, Citara, Prajano, and Rosilano.
of Amalek, the grandson of Esau. Leo IV. found the Amalfitans a useful ally in his wars
.The accounts which the Arabians give us of the Ama- with the infidels, and honoured the commonwealth with
lekites destroyed by Saul are as follows: Amalek was the the title of Defender of the Faith. The Neapolitans, with
father of an ancient tribe in Arabia, exterminated in the whom, as Greek vassals, they were united in strict bonds
leign of Saul. I his tribe contained only the Arabians of friendship, experienced many signal favours at their
who are called .Pwrc, the remains whereof were mingled hands; and the Mussulmans themselves found it expedient
w ith the posterity of Joktan and Adnan, and so became to court their alliance, and to enter into treaty with them.
Mosaiabes or Mostaarabes ; that is to say, Arabians blend- Their situation had from the beginning given them a tunv
Air i..
A M A
^ ara for commerce, and by their attention to naval affairs they
had acquired such consequence in the eyes of their protec-
Aro.13ea-tor, the emperor of Constantinople, that by his orders a court
was established at Amalfi, for the decision of all controver¬
sies arising in maritime transactions. Its code and reports
became the general rule in those cases throughout this part
of Europe ; its precedents and decrees were allowed to be
good authority to found judgment upon even in foreign
tribunals. To crown the mercantile and naval glory of the
republic, it was reserved for an Amalfitan to make, or at
least to perfect, the most important discovery ever made
for the improvement of navigation. Pasitano, a village
which stands on the shore, a few miles west of Amalfi,
boasts of having given birth to Flavius Gioia, the inventor
of the mariner’s compass.
The merchants of this town engrossed the trade of the
Levant, and transacted the commercial business of the
world in a lucrative and exclusive manner. The Pisans,
Venetians, and Genoese rose upon their ruin; and, after
monopolizing the emoluments of trade for some ages, made
way for the more comprehensive and daring spirit of the
present maritime powers.
At present Amalfi is subject to Naples, and is the see
of an archbishop. It is but a shadow of what it was in its
flourishing state, when it extended over the stupendous
rocks that hang on each side, still crowned with battle-
mented walls and ruined towers. Its buildings, Mr Swin¬
burne says, are not remarkable for elegance or size, and
contain at most 4000 inhabitants, who seem to be in a
poor line of life. The cathedral is an uncouth building.
Under the choir is the chapel and tomb of the apostle St
Andrew, to whose honour the edifice was dedicated, when
Cardinal Capuano, in 1208, brought his body from Con¬
stantinople.
AMALGAM, mercury united with any other metal.
AMALGAMATION, the operation of making an amal¬
gam, or mixing mercury with any metal.
For the combination of one metal with another, it is
generally sufficient that one of them be in a state of flu¬
idity. Mercury being always fluid, is therefore capable of
amalgamation with other metals without heat; neverthe¬
less, heat considerably facilitates the operation.
lo amalgamate without heat requires nothing more than
rubbing the two metals together in a mortar; but the
metal to be united with the mercury should be previously
mded into very thin plates or grains. When heat is
used (which is always most effectual, and with some metals
inclispensably necessary), the mercury should be heated
till it begin to smoke, and the grains of metal made red-
not before they are thrown into it. If it be gold or silver,
it is sufficient to stir the fluid with an iron rod for a little
h me, and then to throw it into a vessel filled with water.
ns amalgam is used for gilding or silvering on copper,
*nich is afterwards exposed to a degree of heat sufficient
to evaporate the mercury.
Amalgamation with lead or tin is effected by pouring an
r of mercury into either of these metals in a
ate of fusion, and stirring with an iron rod. Copper
fetes with great difficulty, and iron not at all.
offfr i f iHyEA’ the name of the Cumaean Sibyl, who
hrmf i .r(lu*nms Superbus nine books containing the
th ’ ^. s^In*es’ and demanded 300 pieces of gold as
ffirm ro01^1"011 disregarding her demand, she
thp lree -0^ t!lem ^n*'° t^e ^re’ and returning, asked
denipn”1^ Pr,lce *or t^e remaining six; which being also
thp ’ S16 "urn^ three more, and returning, demanded
for the three that were feft. Tarquin,
advic i i • at her bellavmur, consulted the pontiffs, who
vol jj lm t0 kuy them. These books were so highly
A M A
585
esteemed, that two magistrates were created to consult A malth»a
them upon extraordinary occasions. J 86
m^a9an Mythology, daughter of Melissus, Ama11^
king of Crete, and nurse of Jupiter, whom she fed with '  
honey and goats milk. According to others, Amaltlnea
was a goat, which Jupiter translated into the sky, with
c uVT klds’ and gave one of her ll0rns to the daughters
of Mehssus, as a reward for their care over his infant
years. Ihis horn had the peculiar property of furnishing
them with whatever they wished for, and was thence called
tne cornu copice, or horn of plenty.
AMAL IHiEUS, Jerome, John Baptista, and Cor¬
neille, three celebrated Latin poets of Italy, who flour¬
ished in the 16th century. Their compositions were
printed at Amsterdam in 1685. One of the prettiest pieces
in that collection is an epigram on two children, of ex¬
traordinary beauty, though each of them was deprived of
an eye: r
Lumine Aeon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro :
Kt poterat forma vincere uterque Ifeos.
I m ye puer, lumen quod babes concede sorori;
Sic tu caecus Amor, sic erit ilia Venus.
. AMAMA, Sixtinus, professor of the Hebrew tongue
in the university of Franeker, a man of great learning,
was born m Friesland, and studied under Drusius. He
published a criticism upon the translation of the Penta¬
teuch ; collated the Dutch translation of the Bible with
the original and the most accurate translations; and wrote
a censure of the Vulgate translation of the historical books
of the Old Testament, Job, the Psalms, and Canticles. It
is impossible to answer the reasons whereby he shows the
necessity of consulting the originals. This he recommend-
ed so earnestly, that some synods, being influenced by his
reasons, decreed, that none should be admitted into the
ministry but such as had a competent knowledge of the
Hebrew and Greek text of the Scriptures. He died in
1629.
AMANCE, a town in the department of Upper Soane,
upon a rivulet of the same name. Long. 6. 10. E. Lat.
47. 48. N. b
AMAND, Mark Antony Gerard, Sieur de St, a
French poet, was born at Rouen, in Normandy, in 1594.
In the epistle dedicatory to the third part of his works, he
tells us that his father commanded a squadron of ships in
the service of Elizabeth, queen of England, for 22 years,
and was for three years a prisoner in the Black Tower at
Constantinople. He mentions also that two brothers of
his had been killed in an engagement with the Turks. His
own life was spent in a continual succession of travels,
which proved of no advantage to his fortune. The mis¬
cellaneous poems of this author are chiefly of the bur¬
lesque and the amorous kind; and though they abound
in blemishes, yet his manner of reading them was so agree¬
able, that they were universally admired. Amand wrote
also a very devout piece, entitled Stances d M. Corneille,
sur son Imitation de Jesus Christ, which was printed at
Paris in 1656. M. Brossette relates that he composed a
poem upon the moon, in which he paid a compliment to
Louis XIV. upon his skill in swimming, a favourite amuse¬
ment of that monarch in his youth. The king, however,
conceived such an antipathy to this production, that he
would not permit it to be read in his presence, a disappoint¬
ment which is reported to have hastened the death of its
author. He was admitted a member of the French aca¬
demy, when it was first founded by Cardinal Richelieu,
in the year 1633; and M. Pellisson informs us that, in
1637, at his own desire, he was relieved from the obliga¬
tion of making a speech, which each member was obliged
to make in rotation, on condition that he should collect
4 E
586
A M A
A M A
Amand
Amasis.
the burlesque terms, and compile the comic part of the
dictionary which the academy had undertaken. For this
task he was peculiarly adapted, his wnatings proving him
to be extremely conversant in these terms, which he seems
to have diligently collected from the market-places, and
other resorts of the populace. He died inl661, being 67
years of age.
Amand, Saint, a city of France, in the department of
Cher, formerly Bourbonnois, on the confines of Berri, seat¬
ed on the river Cher. It was built in 1410, on the ruins
of Orval. Long. 2. 30. E. Lat. 46. 40. N.
Amand, Saint, a city of France, in the department of
the North, seated on the river Scarpe. It contained by
the last enumeration 8039 inhabitants. The abbot of the
place is the temporal lord, and disposes of the magistracy.
It was given to France by the treaty of Utrecht. Long.
2. 25. E. Lat. 50. 27. N.
AM ANTE A, a seaport town and bishop’s see of the
kingdom of Naples, situated near the bay of Euphemia, in
the province of Calabria, in long. 16. 20. E. lat. 39.15. N.
AMANUS, a mountain of Syria, separating it from
Cilicia ; a branch of Mount Taurus (Cicero, Strabo, Pliny),
extending chiefly eastward, from the sea of Cilicia to the
Euphrates. It is now called Monte Negro, or rather Mon¬
tagna Neres, by the inhabitants; that is, the watery
mountain, as abounding in springs and rivulets.
AMARANTE, an order of knighthood instituted in
Sweden by Queen Christina in 1653, at the close of an
annual feast celebrated in that country called Wirtschaft.
This feast was solemnized with entertainments, balls, mas¬
querades, and similar diversions, and continued from
evening till the next morning. Christina considering the
name too vulgar, changed it into that of the feast of the
gods, because each of the party represented some heathen
deity. The queen herself assumed the name of Ama-
rante; that is, unfading, or immortal. The young no¬
bility, dressed in the habit of nymphs and shepherds,
served the gods at table. At the end of the feast the
queen threw off her habit, which was covered with
diamonds, leaving it to be pulled in pieces by the maskers ;
and, in memory of so gallant a feast, founded a military
order, called in Swedish Geschilschajft, into which all that
had been present at the feast were admitted, including 16
lords and as many ladies, besides the queen. Their device
was the cipher of Amarante, composed of two A’s, the one
erect, the other inverted, and interwoven together ; the
whole inclosed by a laurel crown, with this motto, Dolce
nella memoria.
Bulstrode Whitelock, the English ambassador from
Cromwell to the court of Sweden, was made a knight of
the order of Amarante; to which circumstance may be
attributed his being sometimes styled Sir Bulstrode
Whitelock.
AM ARGUR A, an island in the Southern Pacific Ocean,
discovered by Maurell in 1781. It is quite barren, and
inaccessible even to boats. Long. 175. 17. W. Lat. 17. 57. S.
Amasia, an ancient town of Turkey, in Natolia, and
birth-place of Strabo the geographer. It is the residence
of a bashaw, and gives its name to the province where it
is situated, which produces the best wines and fruits in
Natolia. It is seated near the river Iris or Casalmack, and
was anciently the residence of the king of Cappadocia.
Long. 36. 10. E. Lat. 39. 33. N.
AiVlASIS, king of Egypt, ascended the throne b. c.
569. From the rank of a common soldier he gradually
rose, to be one of the principal officers in the court ef
Apries. Being commissioned by his prince to pacify some
insurgents who had rebelled against the royal authority,
he attached the disaffected subjects to his own interest,
and took up arms against his master. Apries, apprized of ji
his treachery, sent another of his officers to bring the re-Wx,
bel before him ; but this messenger returning with an in- r
solent reply from Amasis, was barbarously mutilated by
the tyrannical monarch. The nobles who still remained
obedient to their prince, shocked by the barbarity with
which he treated his ambassador, immediately joined the
standard of the usurper. The tyrant, thus deserted by
his subjects, took the field with an army of mercenaries
and meeting Amasis in a field near Memphis, was defeat¬
ed and taken prisoner. The usurper treated the captive
prince with great lenity; but so violent was the popular
hatred, that he was compelled to deliver him into the
hands of his enraged countrymen, who instantly put him
to death by strangling.
The plebeian extraction of Amasis deprived him for
some time of that respect to-which he was entitled as a
prince ; to remedy which he contrived the following stra
tagem. He ordered a golden cistern, in which he was
accustomed to wash his feet, to be melted and cast in
the form of a god, and exposing it for public worship in
the most frequented part of the city, the inhabitants crowd¬
ed to do it homage. Having thus assembled the people,
he reminded them of the vile purpose which the present
object of their veneration had formerly served, and that
in the same manner the obscurity of his former rank should
not diminish the respect to which he was now entitled as
a king. The stratagem was successful, and his subjects
ever afterwards yielded him the respect due to his rank.
In the exercise of his public duties he displayed the
utmost assiduity, devoting the morning to business, and
the evening to social amusement. He is said to have been
the author of that law, afterwards adopted by Solon, by
which every individual in the kingdom was compelled to
appear before the governor of his province, and state by
what means he earned his subsistence. Under his pru¬
dent administration Egypt enjoyed the greatest prospe¬
rity. He adorned it with numerous and splendid build¬
ings, among which were a portico to the temple of Mi¬
nerva, at Sais, and the great temple of Isis, at Memphis.
He also erected a colossus before the temple of Vulcan,
75 feet in length, resting on its back; and on the basis
stood two statues, each 20 feet high, cut out of the same
stone. Besides these, he erected several monuments in
Greece.
The liberality and respect for science which Amasis
displayed, and the encouragement he gave to learned
strangers, particularly to the Greeks, to visit his country,
manifested an enlightened mind. To induce Grecian
strangers to remain in Egypt, he marked out settlements
for them on the sea-coast, permitting them to build tem¬
ples, and to observe all the rites of their religion unmolest¬
ed. Solon, the celebrated lawgiver, is reported to have
visited Amasis. Such was his generosity, that when the
temple of the Delphians wras burnt, he presented, them
with 1000 talents to assist them in rebuilding it. lo gra¬
tify the vanity, or secure the alliance of the Greeks, he
married a Grecian lady, named Laodice, the daughter ol
Battus. The evening of his reign was clouded by the
prospect of the invasion of Cambyses, king of Persia, who
shortly after subjugated his kingdom. In this emergency
Phanes, captain of the Greek auxiliaries in the service ol
Amasis, being offended at his master, deserted his cause,
and went over to the enemy. Polycrates also, tyrant o
Samos, who had long been a friend and ally of the FgyP'
tian monarch, now joined the standard of Cambyses.
Whether apprehensions of the impending storm tended to
impair his health, is not related; but about this time e
died, in 525 b. c., after a reign of 44 years.
A M A
^Diacrii AMATORII Musculi, in Anatomy, a term sometimes
JIujili used for the obliques superior and obliquus inferior mus¬
cles of the eye, as these muscles assist in oggling or
A M A
587
lim ra. jawing tiie eye sidewise.
^ AMATIIICE, a city of the kingdom of Naples, in
Abruzzo Ulteriore, upon the confines of the pope’s terri¬
tories, and the marquisate of Ancona.
AMATTA Foa, an island in the Southern Pacific
Ocean, which was discovered by Captain Cook in 1774.
It is about five leagues in circumference, and considerably
elevated. It is inhabited, but not very fertile; and lies
about twelve leagues distant, in a north-north-west direc¬
tion, from Anamooka.
AMAUROSIS, in Medicine, a deprivation of'sight, the
eye remaining fair and seemingly unaffected. A perfect
amaurosis is when the blindness is total. When there is
still a power of distinguishing light from darkness, the
disease is called by M. de St Ives an imperfect amaurosis.
There is a periodical sort, which comes on instantaneous¬
ly, continues for hours or days, and then disappears.
AMAZIAH, the eighth king of Judah, succeeded his
father Joash in the 25th year of his age. At the com¬
mencement of his reign he showed some reverence for the
divine authority, but, in the language of Scripture, “ not
with a perfect heart.” He speedily inflicted capital punish¬
ment on the murderers of his father; but from respect
to the law of Moses he spared their families, an extension
of clemency not very common in those times. He gave
early proof of his military spirit, by collecting a numerous
army to attack the Edomites. This force was composed
not only of all his own subjects capable of bearing arms,
but of a powerful body of auxiliaries hired from the child¬
ren of Israel. By the advice of a prophet, however, the
Israelites, amounting to 100,000 men, were dismissed, and
he prosecuted his enterprise with the remainder of his
army. Having engaged the Edomites in the valley of
Salt, he defeated them with a loss of 10,000 men, and
following up his victory, he made himself master of Selah,
their metropolis. He also possessed himself of the ene¬
my’s idols, and impiously made them the objects of his
adoration. Meanwhile the Israelites, whom he had dis¬
charged, either offended by their dismissal, or disappoint¬
ed of their hope of plunder, turned their arms against
the kingdom of Judah, and plundered many of the cities.
Amaziah, elated by his success, sent a hostile challenge
to Joash, king of Israel, to which Joash contemptuously
replied in a fable. (2 Kings, xiv. 9.) Indignant at the
insult, Amaziah immediately took the field, and encounter-
lng the Israelites at Bethshemesh, was defeated and
taken prisoner. After his victory, Joash proceeded to
Jerusalem, carrying along with him his vanquished ene¬
my; and having broken down part of the wall of the city,
and plundered the temple and palace, he returned with
the spoils to Samaria. This misfortune seems to have
damped the military ardour of Amaziah; for although he
reigned 15 years after his defeat, we are not informed of
ni fn£a&‘n» anJ hostility with his neighbours. He
tell by the hands of conspirators, in the 29th ydar of his
reign. (2 Kings, xiv.; 2 Chron. xxv.)
AMAZONIA, the name of a country in South Ame¬
rica, watered by the river Amazon, and forming part of
lazil. \\ ith respect to the Amazons said to have given
name to this territory, they have been represented as
governed and led to war only by their queen. No men
"cie suffered to live among them; though those of some
neighbouring nations were allowed to visit them at a cer-
nn season for the sake of procreation. The female children
vvere bred up with care, and instructed in what relates to
Hnr and government; as to the males, they were sent
away into the country of their fathers. But no such na- Amazon
tion is at present to be found, any more than the giants I!
mentioned by the first adventurers. Amazons.
AMAZON, Maranon, or Orellana, a river ofv^^^'^
bouth America, and the largest in the world. Its proper
and most remote source is the Ucayale, a branch of which
rises near La Paz, in 18° of south"latitude. The Mara¬
non, a more northern branch, rises in a lake north-east¬
ward of Lima, and, after a course of many miles to the
north, is joined by the Chinchipe at Jaen. From this point,
which is only about 200 miles from the Pacific Ocean, the
river continues navigable to its embouchure in the Atlantic,
a distance of 2100 miles in a direct line, or 3000 miles by
the course of the stream. Humboldt measured the height
of this spot by the barometer, and found it to be 194 toises,
or 1240 English feet; and hence it appears that the fall
in the bed ot the river is on an average about five inches
per mile: but the inclination is of course greater in the
upper than in the lower part of the stream. Condamine
found the width of the river at some distance below Jaen
to be 135 toises, or 860 feet, and the depth to exceed 180
feet. I he Maranon is joined by the Ucayale in west
longitude 73°, by the Napo at 711°, by the Japura at 65°.
The other most considerable branches are the Negro on
the north side, and the Juruay, the Madeira, and the Ta-
pajos, on the south. Many of the tributaries of the
Amazon greatly surpass in size the Rhine or the Danube ;
and their number is very great, but as yet unknown.
The country, watered by the river and all its branches,
embraces an area of 2,100,000 square English miles, and
includes one third part of South America. At a pass
called the Pongo, about 140 miles below Jaen, the bed
of the stream is suddenly contracted from 250 fathoms
to 25, the Amazon having here cut its way through a
rock, which rises perpendicularly like walls to a great
height. At the junction with the Napo, in longitude 71£°,
its breadth is 900 fathoms, and its depth was found to
exceed 100 fathoms. Between the Negro and the Ma¬
deira it has a breadth of a league, which extends to
two leagues at those parts where islands abound; but
during the annual swell of the water it covers a great
part of the adjoining country, and has then no determi¬
nate limits. At Pauxis, 200 miles from the sea, the
tides are sensibly felt every ten hours; and M. Conda¬
mine infers, from the time which the swell of the waters
requires to travel this distance, that there must be a suc¬
cession of tides in the river at all times, and that its sur¬
face of course presents an undulating line. This traveller
computes that the water passes from Jaen to the sea in
45 days, flowing about 66 miles per day, or 2f miles in
the hour. The Amazon traverses a region thickly co¬
vered with lofty forests, which are the haunts of the
jaguar, bear, panther, and many other wild animals, and
are inhabited by numerous small tribes of savages, among
whom the Spaniards and Portuguese have established
missionaries. The river abounds in fish, many of which
are of the most delicious kinds ; and turtles of an excellent
quality are numerous. Large alligators are seen stretch¬
ed motionless in the mud, like trunks of trees. Nearly
all the branches of this noble stream are navigable to a
great distance from their junction with the main trunk;
and collectively, the whole afford an extent of water com¬
munication unparalleled in any other part of the globe.
What adds to this advantage is, that as the wind and the
current are always opposed to each other, a vessel can
make her way either up or down with great facility, by
availing herself of her sails in the one case, and committing
herself to the force of the current in the other.
AMAZONS, in Antiquity, a nation of female warriors,
588
AMAZONS.
Amazons, who founded an empire in Asia Minor, upon the river
Thermodoon, along the coasts of the Black Sea. They
are said to have formed a state, out of which men were
excluded, their commerce with that sex being confined
to strangers. They killed all their male children, and
cut off the right breasts of their females, to make them
more fit for the combat. From the last circumstance they
are supposed to derive their name, viz. from the privative
a, and i^aZog, mamma, breast. But Bryant, in his Ana¬
lysis of Ancient Mythology, vol. iii. p. 463, rejects this ac¬
count as fabulous; and observes that they were in general
Cuthite colonies from Egypt and Syria, who formed settle¬
ments in different countries, and that they derived their
name from zon, the sun, which was the national object
of worship.
The Amazons are mentioned by the most ancient of
the Greek writers. In the third book of the Iliad, Homer
represents Priam speaking of himself as having been pre¬
sent, in the earlier part of his life, in a battle with the
Amazons; and some of them afterwards came to the as¬
sistance of that prince during the siege of Troy.
The Amazons are particularly mentioned by Herodotus.
That historian informs us that the Grecians fought a bat¬
tle with them on the river Thermodoon, and defeated them.
After this victory the Grecians carried off in three ships
all the Amazons they had taken prisoners. But while
they were out at sea, the Amazons conspired against the
men, and killed them all. Having, however, no knowledge
of navigation, nor any skill in the use of the rudder, sails,
or oars, they were driven by wind and tide till they ar¬
rived at the precipices of the lake Maeotis, in the terri¬
tories of the Scythians. Here the Amazons went ashore,
and marching into the country, seized and mounted the
first horses they met with, and began to plunder the in¬
habitants. The Scythians at first conceived them to be
men ; but after having several skirmishes with them, and
taking some prisoners, they discovered them to be women.
They were then unwilling to carry on hostilities against
them; and by degrees a number of the young Scythians
formed connections with them, and were desirous that
these gentle dames should live with them as wives, and be
incorporated with the rest of the Scythians. The Ama¬
zons agreed to continue their connection with their Scy¬
thian husbands, but refused to associate with the rest of
the inhabitants of the country, and especially with the
women. They afterwards prevailed upon their husbands to
retire to Sarmatia, where they settled. “ Hence,” says
Herodotus, “ the wives of the Sarmatians still continue
their ancient way of living. They hunt on horseback in
the company of their husbands, and sometimes alone.
They march with their armies, and wear the same dress
as the men. The Sarmatians use the Scythian lan¬
guage, but corrupted from the beginning, because the
Amazons never learned to speak correctly. Their mar¬
riages are attended with this circumstance: no virgin is
permitted to marry till she has killed an enemy in the
field; so that some always grow old before they can qualify
themselves as the law requires.”
Diodorus Siculus says, “ There was formerly a nation
who dwelt near the river Thermodoon, which was subject¬
ed to the government of women, and in which the women,
like men, managed all the military affairs. Among these
female warriors, it was said, was one who excelled the
rest in strength and valour. She assembled together an
army of women, whom she trained up in military disci¬
pline, and subdued some of the neighbouring nations.
Afterwards, having by her valour increased her fame, she
led her army against the rest; and being successful, she
was so puffed up, that she styled herself the daughter of
Mars, and ordered the men to spin wool, and do the work Am
of the women within doors. She also made laws, by which^
the women were enjoined to go to the wars, and the men
to be kept at home in a servile state, and employed in the
meanest offices. They also debilitated the arms and
thighs of those male children who were born of them
that they might be rendered unfit for war. They sear¬
ed the right breasts of their girls, that they might be no
interruption to them in fighting: whence they derived
the name of Amazons. Their queen, having become ex¬
tremely eminent for skill and knowledge in military affairs,
at length built a large city at the mouth of the river
Thermodoon, and adorned it with a magnificent palace.
In her enterprises she adhered strictly to military disci¬
pline and good order; and she added to her empire all the
adjoining nations, even to the river Tanais. Having per¬
formed these exploits, she at last ended her days like a
hero, falling in a battle, in which she had fought courage¬
ously. She was succeeded in the kingdom by her daugh¬
ter, who imitated the valour of her mother, and in some
exploits excelled her. She caused the girls from their
very infancy to be exercised in hunting, and to be daily
trained up in military exercises. She instituted solemn
festivals and sacrifices to Mars and Diana, which were
named Tauropoli. She afterwards carried her arms be¬
yond the river Tanais, and subdued all the people of those
regions, even unto Thrace. Returning then with a great
quantity of spoils into her own kingdom, she caused mag¬
nificent temples to be erected to the deities before men¬
tioned ; and she gained the love of her subjects by her
mild and gentle government. She afterwards undertook
an expedition against those who were on the other side of
the river, and subjected to her dominion a great part of
Asia, extending her arms as far as Syria.”
Diodorus also mentions another race of Amazons who
dwelt in Africa, and whom he speaks of as being of great¬
er antiquity than those who lived near the river Thermo¬
doon. “ In the western parts of Libya,” says he, “ upon
the borders of those tracts that are habitable, there was
anciently a nation under the government of women, and
whose manners and mode of living were altogether differ¬
ent from ours. It was the custom of those women to
manage all military affairs; and for a certain time, during
which they preserved their virginity, they went out as
soldiers into the field. After some years employed in this
manner, when the time appointed for this purpose was ex¬
pired, they associated themselves with men, in order to
obtain children. But the magistracy, and all public of¬
fices, they kept entirely in their own hands. The men, as
the women are with us, were employed in household af¬
fairs, submitting themselves wholly to the authority of
their wives. They were not permitted to take any part
in military affairs, or to have any command, or any public
authority, which might have any tendency to encourage
them to cast off the yoke of their wives. As soon as any
child was born, it was delivered to the father, to be fed
with milk, or such other food as was suitable to its age.
If females were born, they seared their breasts, that they
might not be burdensome to them when they grew up;
for they considered them as great obstacles in fighting.
Justin represents the Amazonian republic as having
taken its rise in Scythia. The Scythians had a great part o
Asia under their dominion upwards of 400 years, till they
were conquered by Ninus, the founder of the Assyr1^
empire. After his death, which happened about ID
years before the Christian era, and that of Semiramis an
their son Ninyas, Ilinus and Scolopites, princes ox e
royal blood of Scythia, were driven from their country y
other princes, who like them aspired to the crown. 1le)
AMAZONS. 589
l azons. departed with their wives, children, and friends; and being
v followed by a great number of young people of both sexes,
they passed into Asiatic Sarmatia, beyond Mount Cau¬
casus, where they formed an establishment, supplying them¬
selves with the riches they wanted, by making incursions
into the countries bordering on the Euxine Sea. The
people of those countries, exasperated by the incursions
of their new neighbours, having united, surprised and
massacred the men.
The women then resolving to revenge their death, and
at the same time to provide for their own security, resolv¬
ed to form a new kind of government, to choose a queen,
enact laws, and maintain themselves, without men, even
against the men themselves. This design was not so
very surprising as at first sight appears: for most of the
girls among the Scythians had been inured to the same
exercises as the boys ; to draw the bow, to throw the ja¬
velin, to manage other arms; to riding, hunting, and even
the painful labours that seem reserved for men; and
many of them among the Sarmatians accompanied the
men in war. No sooner had they formed their resolu¬
tion, than they prepared to execute it, and exercised
themselves in all military operations. They soon secured
the peaceable possession of the country; and, not content
with showing their neighbours that all their efforts to drive
them thence or subdue them were ineffectual, they made
war upon them, and extended their own frontiers. They
had hitherto made use of the instructions and assistance
of a few men that remained in the country; but finding
at length that they could stand their ground and aggran¬
dize themselves without them, they killed all those whom
flight or chance had saved from the fury of the Sarma¬
tians, and for ever renounced marriage, which they now
considered as an insupportable slavery. But as they could
only secure the duration of their new kingdom by propa¬
gation, they made a law to go every year to the frontiers,
to invite the men to come to them; to deliver themselves
up to their embraces, without choice on their part, or the
least attachment; and to leave them as soon as they were
pregnant. Those whom age rendered fit for propagation,
and who were willing to serve the state by breeding girls,
did not all go at the same time in search of men: for in
order to obtain a right to promote the multiplication of
the species, they must first have contributed to its de¬
struction ; nor was any one thought worthy of giving birth
to children till she had killed three men.
If from this commerce they brought forth girls, they
educated them; but with respect to the boys, if we may
believe Justin, they strangled them at the moment of
their birth. According to Diodorus Siculus, they twisted
their legs and arms, so as to render them unfit for mili¬
tary exercises; but Quintus Curtius, Philostratus, and
Jornandes say that the less savage sent them to their
fathers. It is probable, that at first, when their fury
against the men was carried to the greatest height, they
killed the boys ; that when this fury abated, and most of
the mothers were filled with horror at depriving the little
creatures of the lives they had just received from them,
they fulfilled the first duties of a mother; but, to prevent
their causing a revolution in the state, maimed them in
such a manner as to render them incapable of war, and
employed them in the mean offices which these warlike
women thought beneath them : in short, that when their
conquests had confirmed their power, their ferocity sub¬
siding, they entered into political engagements with their
neighbours; and the number of the males they had pre¬
served becoming burdensome, they, at the desire of those
who rendered them pregnant, sent them the boys, and
continued still to keep the girls.
As soon as the age of the girls permitted, they took Amazons,
away the right breast, that they might draw the bow withv-^v^-
greater force. The common opinion is, that they burnt
that breast, by applying to it, at eight years of age, a hot
brazen instrument, which insensibly dried up the fibres
and glands: some think that they did not make use of
so much ceremony, but that when the part was formed
they got rid of it by amputation: some again, with much
greater probability, assert that they employed no violent
measures, but, by a continual compression of that part
from infancy, prevented its growth, at least so far as to
hinder its ever being incommodious in war.
Plutarch, treating of the Amazons in his life of Theseus,
considers the accounts which had been preserved concern¬
ing them as partly fabulous and partly true. He gives
some account of a battle which had been fought between
the Athenians and the Amazons at Athens; and he relates
some particulars of this battle which had been recorded
by an ancient writer named Clidemus. He says that
“ the left wing of the Amazons moved towards the place
which is yet called Amazonium, and the right to a place
called Pnyx, near Chrysa ; upon which the Athenians, is¬
suing from behind the temple of the Muses, fell upon
them; and that this is true, the graves of those who were
slain, to be seen in the streets that lead to the gate Pira-
ica, by the temple of the hero Chalcodon, are a sufficient
proof. And here it was that the Athenians were routed,
and shamefully turned their backs to women, as far as to
the temple of the Furies. But fresh supplies coming in
from Palladium, Ardettus, and Lyceum, charged their
right wing, and beat them back into their very tents ; in
which action a great number of the Amazons were slain.”
In another place he says, “ It appears that the passage of
the Amazons through Thessaly was not without opposi¬
tion ; for there are yet to be seen many of their sepulchres
near Scotussaea and Cynoscephalae.” And in his life of
Pompey, speaking of the Amazons, Plutarch says, “ They
inhabit those parts of Mount Caucasus that look towards
the Hyrcanian Sea, not bordering upon the Albanians, for
Gelae and Leges lie between; and with these people do
they yearly, for two months only, accompany and cohabit,
bed and board, near the river Thermodon. After that
they retire to their own habitations, and live alone all the
rest of the year.”
Quintus Curtius says, “ The nation of the Amazons is
situated upon the borders of Hyrcania, inhabiting the
plains of Themiscyra, near the river Thermodon. Their
queen was named Thalestris, and she had under her sub¬
jection all the country that lies between Mount Caucasus
and the river Phasis. This queen came out of her do¬
minions in consequence of an ardent desire she had con¬
ceived to see Alexander; and being advanced near the
place where he was, she previously sent messengers to
acquaint him that the queen was come to have the satis¬
faction of seeing and conversing with him. Having ob¬
tained permission to visit him, she advanced with 300 of
her Amazons, leaving the rest of her troops behind. As
soon as she came within sight of tne king, she leaped
from her horse, holding two javelins in her right hand.
The apparel of the Amazons does not cover all the body,
for their left side is naked down to the stomach; nor do
the skirts of their garments, which they tie up in a knot,
reach below their knees. They preserve their left breast
entire, that they may be able to suckle their female off¬
spring ; and they cut off and sear their right, that they
may draw their bows and cast their darts with the greater
ease. Thalestris looked at the king with an undaunted
countenance, and narrowly examined his person, which
did not, according to her ideas, come up to the fame of
590
A M B
Amazons his great exploits; for the barbarians have a great vene-
. |! ration for a majestic person, esteeming those only to be
capable of performing great actions on whom nature has
conferred a dignified appearance. The king having asked
her whether she had any thing to desire of him, she re¬
plied, without scruple or hesitation, that she was come
with a view to have children by him, she being worthy to
bring him heirs to his dominions. Their offspring, if of
the female sex, she would retain herself; and if of the
male sex, it should be delivered to Alexander. He then
asked her, whether she would accompany him in his
wars. But this she declined, alleging that she had left
nobody to take care of her kingdom. She continued to
solicit Alexander that he would not send her back with¬
out conforming to her wishes ; but it was not till after a
delay of 13 days that he complied. She then returned to
her own kingdom.”
Justin also repeatedly mentions this visit of Thalestris
to Alexander; and in one place he says that she made a
march of 25 days in order to obtain this meeting with
him. The interview is likewise mentioned by Diodorus
Siculus.
The Amazons are represented as being armed with
bows and arrows, with javelins, and also with an axe of a
particular construction, which was denominated the axe
of the Amazons. According to the elder Pliny, this axe
was invented by Penthesilea, one of their queens. On
many ancient medals are representations of the Amazons
armed with these axes. They are also said to have had
bucklers in the shape of a half-moon.
That at any period there should have been women who,
without the assistance of men, built cities and governed
them, raised armies and commanded them, administered
public affairs, and extended their dominion by arms, is un¬
doubtedly so contrary to all that we have seen and known
of human affairs, as to appear in a very great degree in¬
credible ; but that women may have existed sufficiently
robust, and sufficiently courageous, to have engaged in
warlike enterprises, and even to have been successful in
them, is certainly not impossible, however contrary to the
usual course of things. That much of what is said of the
Amazons is fabulous, there can be no reasonable doubt;
but it does not therefore follow that the whole is without
foundation. The ancient medals and monuments on which
they are represented are very numerous, as are also the
testimonies of ancient writers. It seems not rational to
suppose that all this originated in fiction, though it be
much blended with it.
Amazonian Habit, in Antiquity, denotes a dress formed
in imitation of the Amazons. Marcia, the famous concu¬
bine of the emperor Commodus, had the appellation of
Amazonian, because she charmed him most in a habit of
this kind. Hence also that prince himself engaged in
combat in the amphitheatre in an Amazonian habit; and
of all titles the Amazonius was one of those in which he
most delighted. In honour either of the gallant or his
mistress, the month of December was also denominated
Amazonius. Some also apply Amazonian habit to the
hunting-dress worn by many ladies among us.
AMBACHT is a word which denotes a kind of juris¬
diction or territory, the possessor whereof has the admi¬
nistration of justice, both in alto and basso ; or of what is
called in the Scotish law, a power of pit and gallows, i. e. a
power of drowning and hanging. In some ancient writers,
ambacht is particularly used for the jurisdiction, govern¬
ment, or chief magistracy of a city. The word is very
ancient, though used originally in a sense somewhat dif¬
ferent. Ennius calls a mercenary, or slave hired for money,
ambactus ; and Caesar gives the same appellation to a kind
A M B
of dependents among the Gauls, who, without being slaves
were attached to the service of great lords. . ’ Amj!ail
AMB All VALIA, in Antiquity, a ceremony amonc the' II
Romans, when, in order to procure from the gods a happy Ambei
harvest, they conducted the victims thrice round the corn-'^V'
fields in procession before sacrificing them. Ambarvalia
were either of a private or public nature : the private were
performed by the master of a family, and the public by
the priests who officiated at the solemnity called fratres
arvales. The prayer preferred on this occasion, the for¬
mula of which we have in Cato de Re Rustica, cap. cxlii.
was called carmen ambarvale. At these feasts they sacri¬
ficed to Ceres a sow, a sheep, and a bull or heifer; whence
they took the name of suovetaurilia. The method of ce¬
lebrating them was, to lead a victim round the fields,
while the peasants accompanied it, and one of their num¬
ber, crowned with oak, hymned forth the praises of Ceres
in verses composed on purpose. This festival was cele¬
brated twice a year ; at the end of January, according to
some, or in April, according to others ; and, for the second
time, in the month of July.
AMBASSADOR, or Embassador, a public minister
sent from one sovereign prince, as a representative of his
person, to another.
Ambassadors are either ordinary or extraordinary.
Ambassador in ordinary is he who constantly resides in
the court of another prince, to maintain a good under¬
standing, and look to the interest of his master. Till about
two hundred years ago, ambassadors in ordinary were not
heard of: all, till then, were ambassadors extraordinary;
that is, such as are sent on some particular occasion, and
who retire as soon as the affair is dispatched.
At Athens ambassadors mounted the pulpit of the pub¬
lic orators, and there opened their commission, acquaint¬
ing the people with their errand. At Rome they were
introduced to the senate, and delivered their commissions
to the fathers.
By the civil law, the movable goods of an ambassador,
which are accounted an accession to his person, cannot be
seized, either as a pledge or for payment of a debt, or by
order or execution of judgment, or by the king’s leave or
that of the state where he resides, as some conceive: if,
therefore, he has contracted any debt, he is to be called
upon kindly; and if he refuses payment, then letters of re¬
quest are to be sent to his master. Ambassadors cannot
be defended when they commit any thing against that
state, or the person of the prince with whom they reside;
and if they are guilty of treason, felony, &c. or any other
crime against the law of nations, they lose the privilege of
an ambassador, and may be subject to punishment as pri¬
vate aliens.
In Vattel’s excellent treatise on the Law of Nations
(b. iv. c. 7), there is a clear and comprehensive exposi¬
tion of the rights and immunities of ambassadors and other
public ministers. Wicquefort’s learned work, entitled
L'Ambassadeur et ses fonctions, is replete with information
on the institution generally, and its effects in modern
times. This work was originally published in 1681, in two
vols. 4to, and has been often reprinted.
AMBE, in Surgery, the name of an instrument for re¬
ducing dislocated bones ; in Anatomy, a term for the su¬
perficial jutting out of a bone.
AMBER ( Succinum), in Natural History, a solid, hard,
semipellucid, bituminous substance, of a particular nature,
of use in medicine and in several of the arts. It has been
called ambra by the Arabians, and 7)\ix.rgov by the Greeks.
Amber has been of great repute in the world from the
earliest times. Many years before Christ it was in es¬
teem as a medicine; and Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus,
A M B
i iber. ^schylus, and others, have commended its virtues. In
v^/^the times of the Romans it was highly esteemed as a
gem; and in the luxurious reign of Nero immense quan¬
tities of it were brought to Rome, and used for ornament¬
ing works of various kinds.
The most remarkable property of this substance is, that
when rubbed it draws or attracts other bodies to it;
and this, it is observed, it does even to those substances
to which the ancients thought it had an antipathy; as
oily bodies, drops of water, human sweat, &c. Add, that
by the friction it is brought to yield light pretty copiously
in the dark ; whence it is reckoned among the native phos-
phori.
The property which amber possesses of attracting light
bodies was very anciently observed. Hence Thales of
Miletus, 600 years before Christ, concluded that it was
animated. But the first person who expressly mentions
this substance is Theophrastus, about the year 300 be¬
fore Christ. The attractive property of amber is like¬
wise occasionally taken notice of by Pliny and other later
naturalists, particularly by Gassendi, Sir Kenelm Digby,
and Sir I homas Browne; but it was generally apprehend¬
ed that this quality was peculiar to amber and jet, and
perhaps agate, till Gilbert published his treatise de Mag-
nete, in the year 1600. From rikaLT^ov, the Greek name
for amber, is derived the term electricity, which is now
very extensively applied, not only to the power of at¬
tracting light bodies inherent in amber, but to other si¬
milar powers, and their various effects, in whatever bodies
they reside, or to whatever bodies they may be commu¬
nicated.
In amber there have been said to be letters found very
well formed; and even Hebrew and Arabic characters.
Within some pieces, leaves, insects, &c. have likewise been
found included; which seems to indicate either that the
amber was originally in a fluid state, or that, having been
exposed to the sun, it was softened and rendered sus¬
ceptible of impressions from the leaves, insects, &c. with
which it came in contact. The latter of these supposi¬
tions seems the more agreeable to the phenomenon, be¬
cause insects, &c. are never found in the centre of pieces
of amber, but always near the surface. It is observed by
the inhabitants of places where amber is produced, that all
animals, whether terrestrial, aerial, or aquatic, are ex-
A M B
591
tremely fond of it, and that pieces of it are frequently
found in their excrements. The bodies of insects found
buried in amber are generally viewed with admiration ;
but many of the most remarkable are to be suspected
as counterfeit, the great price at which beautiful speci¬
mens of this kind sell having tempted ingenious cheats
to introduce animal bodies in such artful manners, into
seemingly whole pieces of amber, that it is not easy to
detect the fraud.
Of those insects which have been originally inclosed in
amber, some are plainly seen to have struggled hard for
their liberty, and even to have left their limbs behind
them in the attempt; it being no unusual thing to see, in
a mass of amber that contains a stout beetle, the animal
wanting one, or perhaps two of its legs, and those legs
left m different places, nearer that part of the mass from
w ich it has travelled. This also may account for the
common accident of finding legs or wings of flies, without
e rest of their bodies, in pieces of amber; the insects
laving, when entangled in the yet soft and viscid matter,
escaped, at the expense of leaving those limbs behind
tiem. Drops of clear water are sometimes also preserved
camber. Ihese have doubtless been received into it
while soft, and preserved by its hardening round them,
eautiful leaves of a pinnated structure, resembling some
of the forns, or maidenhairs, have been found in some Amber
pmces; but these are rare, and the specimens of great
value. Mineral substances are also found at times lodged
m masses of amber. Some of the pompous collections of
the German princes boast of specimens of native gold and
si ver m masses of amber; but as there are many sub¬
stances of the marcasite, and other kinds, that have all
the glittering appearance of gold and silver, it is not to be
too hastily concluded that these metals are really lodged
in these beds of amber. Iron is found in various shapes
immersed m amber; and as it is often seen eroded, and
sometimes in the state of vitriol, it is not impossible
that copper and the other metals may also be sometimes
immersed m it in the same state : hence the bluish and
greenish colours frequently found in the recent pieces of
amber may be owing, like the particles of the gem co¬
lours, to those metals; but as the gems, by their dense
texture, always retain their colours, this lighter and more
ax bitumen usually loses what it gets of this kind by
keeping some time. Small pebbles, grains of sand, and
fi agments of other stones, are also not unfrequently found
immersed in amber.
Naturalists have been greatly divided as to the origin
of this substance, and what class of bodies it belongs to;
some referring it to the vegetable, others to the mineral,’
and some even to the animal kingdom. Pliny describes
it as a resinous juice, oozing from aged pines and firs
(others say from poplars, whole forests of which line the
coasts of Sweden), and discharged thence into the sea,
where undergoing some alteration, it is thrown, in this form,
upon the shores of Prussia, which lie very low. He adds,
that it was hence the ancients gave it the denomination
succinum, from succus, juice.
Mr Brydone, in his Tour to Sicily and Malta, says that
the river Giaretta, formerly celebrated by the poets under
the name of Simaethus, throws up near its mouth great
quantities of amber. He mentions also a kind of artificial
amber, not uncommon there, made, as he was told, from
copal, but very different from the natural.
According to Hartmann, amber is formed of a bitumen,
mixed with vitriol and other salts. But though this were
conceded in regard to the fossil amber, many dispute
whether the sea amber be so produced. It is however
apparent, that all amber is of the same origin, and proba¬
bly that which is found in the spa has been washed thither
out of the cliffs; though Hartmann thinks it very possible
that some of it may be formed in the earth under the sea,
and be washed up thence. The sea amber is usually finer
to the eye than the fossil; but the reason is, that it is di¬
vested of the coarse coat with which the other is covered
while in the earth.
Upon the whole, it seems generally agreed that amber
is a true bitumen of a fossil origin. In the Journal de
Physique, however, we find it asserted by Girtanner to be
an animal product,—a sort of honey or wax formed by a
species of large ant called by Linnaeus formica rufa. These
ants, our author informs us, inhabit the old pine forests,
where they sometimes form hills about six feet in dia¬
meter ; and it is generally in these ancient forests, or in
places where they have been, that fossil amber is found.
This substance is not so hard as that which is taken up
on the shores of Prussia, and which is well known to natu¬
ralists. It has the consistence of honey, or of half-melted
wax, but is of a yellow colour, like common amber: it
gives the samd product by chemical analysis, and it har¬
dens like the other when it is suffered to remain some
time in a solution of common salt. This accounts for the
insects that are so often found inclosed in it. Among
these insects ants are always the most numerous; which
592
A M B
A M B
Amber tends further, Girtanner thinks, to the confirmation of his
II hypothesis. Amber, then, in his opinion, is nothing but a
Amberg. vegetable oil rendered concrete by the acid of ants, just
as wax is nothing but an oil hardened by the acid of bees ;
a fact incontestably proved, we are told, since M. Me-
therie has been able to make artificial wax by mixing oil
of olives with nitrous acid, and so perfect was the imitation
that it could not be distinguished from the natural.
Amber of the finest kind has been found in England.
It is frequently thrown on the shores of Yorkshire, and
many other places, and found even in our clay-pits. The
pits dug for tile-clay, between Tyburn and Kensington
gravel-pits, as well as that behind St George’s Hospital at
Hyde-park corner, have afforded fine specimens.
Poland, Silesia, and Bohemia are famous for the amber
which they produce. Considerable quantities of it are also
scattered along the shores of the German sea; and in
Germany itself it is found on the banks of the rivers as
well as in the bowels of the earth. Saxony, Sweden, and
many other places in this tract of Europe, abound with it.
But the countries lying on the Baltic afford fossil amber
in the greatest abundance of all; and of these the most
plentiful country is Prussia, and the next is Pomerania.
Junker describes, after Neumann, the Prussian amber
mines, which are the richest known. First, at the surface
of the earth is found a stratum of sand. Immediately
under this sand is a bed of clay, filled with small flints of
about an inch diameter each. Under this clay lies a stra¬
tum of black earth or turf, filled with fossil wood, half-de¬
composed and bituminous : this stratum is extended upon
a bank of minerals, containing little metal except iron,
which are consequently pyrites. Lastly, under this bed
the amber is found scattered about in pieces, or sometimes
accumulated in heaps.
Amber has a subacrid, resinous taste, and fragrant, aro¬
matic smell, especially when dissolved. When boiled in
water, it neither softens nor undergoes any sensible altern¬
ation. Exposed to the fire in an open vessel, it melts into
a black mass very like a bitumen. It is partly soluble
in spirit of wine, and likewise in some essential oils; but
it is with difficulty that the expressed oils are brought to
act upon it. The stronger sorts of fixed alkaline lixivia
almost totally dissolve it.
This substance is principally of two colours, white and
yellow. The white is the most esteemed for medicinal
purposes, as being the most odoriferous, and containing
the greatest quantity of volatile salt; though the yellow,
on account of its transparency, is most valued by those
who manufacture beads and other toys.
Amber is the basis of all varnishes, by solution in the
ways described under the article Varnish.
Amber Tree, the English name of a species of Anthos-
PERMUM.
AMBERG, a bailiwick in the circle of Rogen, in the
kingdom of Bavaria. It is 288 square miles, or 184,320
acres. It is a woody and hilly district, but intermixed
with a few strips of good soil which yields rye, flax, and
hemp. There are a few iron mines, and several forges.
It contains two cities, 20 towns, 240 villages, and 18,800
inhabitants.
Amberg, a city, the capital of the bailiwick of the same
name. It stands on the river Vils, surrounded by double
walls; and has 712 houses, and 6475 inhabitants. There
are a lyceum and some other institutions for education,
and a public library. There are some manufactures of
china, playing-cards, leather, and some iron; also a royal
manufactory for arms. Long. 11. 57. 27. E. Lat. 49. 26.
52. N.
Amberg, a lofty mountain of East Gothland, in Sweden.
On this mountain, near the Wetter lake, antimony has been Amber,
found. On its top is the burying-place of one of the an-^'V'
cient kings of the country. The spot is marked by a flat
stone.
AMBERGRIS, Ambergrease, or Grey-Amber, in
Natural History, is a solid, opaque, ash-coloured, fatty,
inflammable substance, variegated like marble, remarkably
light, rugged, and uneven in its surface, and of a fragrant
odour when heated. It does not effervesce with acids; it
melts freely over the fire into a kind of yellow rosin; and
is hardly soluble in spirit of wine.
Ambergris is found swimming upon the sea, on the sea-
coast, or in the sand near the sea-coast; especially in the
Atlantic Ocean, on the sea-coast of Brazil, and that of
Madagascar; on the coasts of Africa, of the East Indies,
China, Japan, and the Molucca Islands; but most of the
ambergris which is brought to England comes from the
Bahama Islands, from Providence, &c. where it is found
on the coast. It is also sometimes found in the abdomen
of whales by the whale-fishermen, always in lumps of va¬
rious shapes and sizes, weighing from half an ounce to a
hundred and more pounds. The piece which the Dutch
East India Company bought from the king of Tydore
weighed 182 pounds. An American fisherman from An¬
tigua found, about fifty-two leagues south-east from the
Windward Islands, a piece of ambergris in a whale, which
weighed about 130 pounds, and sold for L.500 sterling.
There have been many different opinions concerning the
origin of this substance. It has been supposed to be a
fossil bitumen or naphtha, exuding from the bowels of the
earth in a fluid form, and distilling into the sea, where it
hardens and floats on the surface. But having been fre¬
quently found in the bellies of whales, it has by others
been considered as entirely an animal production. The
most satisfactory account of the real origin of ambergris
is that given by Dr Swediaur in the 73d volume of the
Philosophical Transactions.
WTe are told by all writers on ambergris, that sometimes
claws and beaks of birds, feathers of birds, parts of vege¬
tables, shells, fish, and bones of fish, are found in the
middle of it, or variously mixed with it. Of a very con¬
siderable number of pieces, however, which Dr Swediaur
examined, he found none that contained any such thing;
though he allows that such substances may sometimes be
found in it: but in all the pieces of any great size, whether
found on the sea or in the whale, he constantly found a
considerable quantity of black spots, which, after the most
careful examination, appeared to be the beaks of the
Sepia Octopodia ; and these beaks, he thinks, might be
the substances which have hitherto been always mistaken
for claws or beaks of birds or shells. The presence of
these beaks in ambergris proves evidently that all amber¬
gris containing them is in its origin, or must once have
been, of a very soft or liquid nature, as otherwise those
beaks could not so constantly be intermixed with it
throughout its whole substance.
That ambergris is found either upon the sea and sea-
coast, or in the bowels of whales, is a fact universally cre¬
dited. But it has never been satisfactorily determined,
whether the ambergris found upon the sea and sea-coast
is the same as that found in the whale, or whether they
are different; whether that found on the sea or sea-coast
has some properties, or constituent parts, which that found
in the whale has not; and, lastly, whether that found m
the whale is superior or inferior in its qualities and value
to the former.
It is likewise of consequence to know, whether amber¬
gris is found in all kinds of whales, or only in a particular
species of them; whether it is uniformly to be met wit
A M B
AmVgriS'in t^086 animals; and if so, in what part of their body it
L^.^is to be found.
All these questions we find very fully discussed by Dr
Swediaur. According to the best information that he
could obtain from several of the most intelligent persons
employed in the spermaceti whale-fishery, and in pro¬
curing and selling ambergris, it appears that this sub¬
stance is sometimes found in the belly of the whale, but
in that particular species only which is called the sperma¬
ceti whale, and which, from its description and delineation,
appears to be the Physeter Macrocephalus of Linnaeus.
The New England fishermen, according to their ac¬
count, have long known that ambergris is to be found in
the spermaceti whale; and they are so convinced of this
fact, that whenever they hear of a place where ambergris
is found, they always conclude that the seas in that part
are frequented by that species of whale.
The persons who are employed in the spermaceti whale-
fishery confine their views to the physeter macrocepha¬
lus. They look for ambergris in all the spermaceti whales
they catch, but it seldom happens that they find any.
Whenever they hook a spermaceti whale, they observe
that it constantly not only vomits up whatever it has in
its stomach, but also generally discharges its feces at
the same time ; and if this latter circumstance takes place,
they are commonly disappointed in finding ambergris in
its belly. But whenever they discover a spermaceti whale,
male or female, which seems torpid and sickly, they are
always pretty sure to find ambergris, as the whale in this
state seldom voids its feces upon being hooked. They
likewise generally meet with it in the dead spermaceti
whales, which they sometimes find floating on the sea. It
is observed also, that the whale in which they find amber¬
gris often has a morbid protuberance, or, as they express
it, a kind of gathering in the lower part of its belly, in
which, if cut open, ambergris is found. It is remarkable
that all those whales in whose bowels ambergris is found,
seem not only torpid and sick, but are also constantly
leaner than others; so that, if we may judge from the
constant union of these two circumstances, it would seem
that a larger collection of ambergris in the belly of the
whale is a source of disease, and probably sometimes the
cause of its death. As soon as they hook a whale of this
description, torpid, sickly, emaciated, or one that does not
dung on being hooked, they immediately either cut up the
above-mentioned protuberance, if there be any, or they
np open its bowels from the orifice of the anus, and find
the ambergris sometimes in one, sometimes in different
lumps, of generally from three to twelve and more inches
m diameter, and from one pound to twenty or thirty
pounds in weight, at the distance of two, but most fre¬
quently of about six or seven feet from the anus, and
A M B
593
but it also loses its disagreeable smell, and, when kept for Ambergris,
a certain length of time, acquires the peculiar odour
which is so agreeable to most people.
The gentlemen the doctor conversed with confessed,
that if they knew not from experience that ambergris
thus found will in time acquire the above-mentioned qua¬
lities, they would by no means be able to distinguish am¬
bergris from hard indurated feces. This is so true, that
whenever a whale voids its feces upon being hooked, they
look carefully to see if they can discover among the
more liquid excrements (of which the whale discharges
several barrels) some pieces floating on the sea, of a more
compact substance than the rest. These they take up
and wash, knowing them to be ambergris.
In considering whether there be any material difference
between the ambergris found upon the sea or sea-coast,
and that found in the bowels or among the dung of the
whale, the doctor refutes the opinion that all ambergris
found in whales is of an inferior quality, and therefore
much lower in price. Ambergris, he observes, is only
valued for its purity, lightness, compactness, colour, and
smell. There are pieces of ambergris found on different
coasts, which are of a very inferior quality; whereas
there are often found in whales pieces of it of the first
value; nay, several pieces found in the same whale, ac¬
cording to the above-mentioned qualities, are more or less
valuable. All ambergris found in whales has at first,
when taken out of the intestines, very nearly the same
smell and blackish colour as the liquid excrements of
that animal; sometimes it is quite hard, sometimes soft-
ish, but never so liquid as the natural feces. By being
accumulated after a certain length of time in the in¬
testinal canal, it seems even there to become of a whiter
colour, and less ponderous, and to acquire its agreeable
smell. The only reason why ambergris found floating
on the sea generally possesses this agreeable smell and
hardness in a superior degree is, because it is commonly
older, and has been longer exposed to the air. It is
more frequently found in males than in females: the pieces
found in females are generally smaller than those found in
males, and inferior in quality. The disproportionately
high price obtained for the larger pieces, therefore, pro¬
ceeds from an intrinsic value in respect to quality, rather
than a fictitious value on account of their rarity.
It is known that the sepia octopodia, or cuttle-fish, is
the constant and natural food of the spermaceti whale, or
physeter macrocephalus. Of this the fishers are so well
persuaded, that whenever they discover any recent relics
of it swimming on the sea, they conclude that a whale of
this kind is, or has been, in that part. Another circum¬
stance which corroborates the fact is, that the spermaceti
whale, on being hooked, generally vomits up some re-
never higher up in the intestinal canal, which, according mains of the sepia. Hence it is easy to account for the
to their description, is in all probability the intestinum many beaks, or pieces of beaks, of the sepia, found in all
^11 ID it 1 b M 1 Cl 4" «■» 1T V* _ J „   —  1..  ~ ^ LI . 1 r* « /AT* VI •XT c
caecum, hitherto mistaken for a peculiar bag made by na¬
ture for the secretion and collection of this singular sub¬
stance. That the part cut open to come at the am¬
bergris is no other than the intestinal canal, is certain,
because they constantly begin their incision at the anus,
and find the cavity everywhere filled with the feces of
the whale, which, from their colour and smell, it is
impossible to mistake. The ambergris found in the
intestinal canal is not so hard as that which is found on
S6a 0r sea“coastj but soon grows hard in the air.
Vhen first taken out, it has nearly the same colour, and
the same disagreeable smell, though not so strong, as
ambergris. The beak of the sepia is a black horny sub¬
stance, and therefore passes undigested through the sto¬
mach into the intestinal canal, where it is mixed with
the feces; after which it is either evacuated with them,
or if these latter be preternaturally retained, forms concre¬
tions with them, which render the animal sick and torpid,
and produce an obstipation, which ends either in an ab¬
scess of the abdomen, or becomes fatal to the animal;
in either case, on the bursting of its belly, that hardened
substance known under the name of ambergris is found
swimming on the sea or thrown upon the coast.
From the preceding account, and his having constantly
the more liquid dung of the whale; but on exposing it found the above-mentioned beaks of the sepia in all pieces
to the air, it by degrees not only grows greyish, having its of ambergris of any considerable size, Dr Swediaur con-
surface covered with a greyish dust, like old chocolate, eludes, with great probability, that all ambergris is gene-
VOL. ii. • 4 ff
594
A M B
A M B
Ambergris rated in the bowels of the physeter macrocephalus or sper-
!l maceti whale, and there mixed with the beaks of the sepia
Ambert. octopodia, which is the principal food of that whale. He
therefore defines ambergris to be the preternaturally har¬
dened fasces of the physeter macrocephalus, mixed with
some indigestible relics of its food.
The opinion of Dr Swediaur, with regard to the origin
of ambergris, has been confirmed by the information of
Captain J. Coffin, master of a ship employed in the south¬
ern whale-fishery, given to a Committee of Privy Council
in the year 1791. According to Mr Coffin’s information,
American ships had sometimes found small quantities of
ambergris; but none, that he knew of, had ever been
found by British ships. The quantity which he had
brought home amounted to 362 ounces; and it was taken
from the body of a female spermaceti whale on the coast
of Guinea, which was lean, sickly, and old, and yielded
but a small proportion of oil. While the people were em¬
ployed in cutting up the blubber, ambergris was discover¬
ed coming from the fundament of the whale, and a piece
of it was seen floating on the surface of the sea. More
was observed in the same passage, and the rest was found
in a bag a little below the passage and communicating
Avith it. Mr Coffin supposes that the spermaceti whale
feeds almost wholly on the sepia or squid; for when the
whale is dying, a quantity of this fish, sometimes whole,
sometimes in pieces, is thrown up. The bills of the squid
were found, some on the outside adhering to it, and some
mixed with it. The ambergris of the whale taken by Mr
Coffin was mostly sold at 19s. 9d. per ounce; and a small
part of it, when it was scarce, at 25s. It was bought
partly for home consumption, and partly for exportation
to Turkey, Germany, and France. (Philosophical Trans¬
actions, vol. Ixxxi.)
The use of ambergris in Europe is now nearly confined
to perfumery, though it has formerly been recommended
in medicine by several eminent physicians. In Asia and
part of Africa ambergris is not only used as a medicine
and a perfume, but considerable use is also made of it in
cookery, by adding it to several dishes as a spice. A
great quantity of it is also constantly bought by the pil¬
grims who travel to Mecca, probably to offer it there, and
make use of it in fumigations, in the same manner as
frankincense is used in Catholic countries. The Turks
make use of it as an aphrodisiac. Our perfumers add it
to scented pillars, candles, balls, bottles, gloves, and hair-
powder ; and its essence is mixed with pomatums, for the
face and hands, either alone or united with musk, &c.
though its smell is to some persons extremely offensive.
Ambergris may be known to be genuine by its fragrant
scent when a hot needle or pin is thrust into it, and
its melting like fat of a uniform consistence; whereas the
counterfeit will not yield such a smell, nor prove of such
a fat texture. One thing, however, is very remarkable,
that a resemblance to the smell of this drug, which is the
most agreeable of all the perfumes, should be produced by a
preparation of one of the most odious of all substances. Mr
Homberg found that a vessel in which he had made a
long digestion of human faeces acquired a very strong
and perfect smell of ambergris, insomuch that any one
would have thought a great quantity of essence of amber¬
gris had been made in it. The perfume was so strong
and offensive, that the vessel had to be removed from the
laboratory.
AMBERT, an arrondissement in the department of
Puy de Dome, in France, extending over 486 square
miles, or 312,000 acres. It is divided into eight cantons,
and those into 52 communes, containing 79,135 inha¬
bitants.
AMBETTUWAY, a barbarous name of a tree, the
leaves of which, when boiled in wine, are said to create
an appetite, and are used by the people in Guinea with
that intention.
AMBIANI, or Ambianensis Civitas, now Amiens, a
city of Picardy. It is called Samarobriva by Caesar and
Cicero; which, according to Valesius, signifies the bridge
of the Samara or Somme. Ambiani is a later name, taken
from that of the people, after the usual manner of the
lower age. This people, according to Caesar, furnished
5000 men for the siege of Alesia.
AMBIDEXTER, a person who can use both hands
with the same facility, and for the same purposes, that
the generality of people use their right hand. As to the
natural cause of this faculty, some, as Hcefer, attribute it
to an extraordinary supply of blood and spirits from the
heart and brain, which furnishes both hands with the ne¬
cessary strength and agility; others, as Nicholas Massa,
to an erect situation of the heart, inclining neither to the
right hand nor the left; and others, to the right and left
subclavian arteries being of the same height and the
same distance from the. heart, by which the blood is pro¬
pelled with equal force" to both hands. But these are
only conjectures, or rather chimeras. Many think that,
were it not for education and habit, all mankind would
be ambidexters; and, in fact, we frequently find nurses
obliged to be at a good deal of pains before they can
bring children to forego the use of their left hand.
Ambidexter, among English Lawyers, a juror or em¬
bracer, who accepts money of both parties, for giving his
verdict; an offence for which he is liable to be impri¬
soned, for ever excluded from a jury, and to pay ten times
the sum he accepted.
AMBIENT, a term used for such bodies, especially
fluids, as encompass others on all sides. Thus, the air is
frequently called an ambient fluid, because it is diffused
round the earth.
AMBIERLE, a town of France, in the department of
the Rhone and Loire. It is the chief place of a canton
in the district of Roanne.
AMBIGENiE Oves, in the heathen sacrifices, an ap¬
pellation given to such ewes as, having brought forth
twins, were sacrificed, together with their two lambs, one
on each side. We find them mentioned among other sa¬
crifices to Juno.
AMBIGENAL Hyperbola, a name given by Sir Isaac
Newton to one of the triple hyperbolas of the second or¬
der, having one of its infinite legs falling within an angle
formed by the asymptotes, and the other without.
AMBIGUOUS, a term applied to a word or expression
which may be taken in different senses. An anonymous
writer has published a dictionary of ambiguous words,
Lexicon Philosophicum de Ambiguitate Vocabulorum, Fran-
cof. 1597, 4to.
AMBIT, in Geometry, is the same with what is other¬
wise called the perimeter of a figure.
Ambit was particularly used, in antiquity, to denote a
space of ground to be left vacant between one building
and another. By the laws of the twelve tables, houses^
were not to be built contiguous, but an ambit or space ox
21 feet was to be left about each for fear of fire. Ihe
ambitus of a tomb or monument denoted a certain num¬
ber of feet, in length and breadth, around the same,
within which the sanctity assigned to it was limited.
The whole ground wherein a tomb was erected was not
to be secreted from the common uses; for this reason, it
was frequent to inscribe the ambit on it, that it might be
known how far its sanctity extended: thus, in froute pew*
tot, in agrum pedes tot.
Amljtu.
w
An
A M B
Ail tion AMBITION (ambitio) is generally used, in a bad sense,
for an immoderate or illegal pursuit of power. In the
aV strict meaning of the word, however, it signifies the same
the ambitus of the Romans.
AMBITUS, in Roman Antiquity, the setting up for
some magistracy or office, and formally going round the
city to solicit the interest and votes of the people. Am¬
bitus differed from ambition, as the former lies in the act,
the latter in the mind. Ambitus was of two kinds; one
lawful, the other infamous. The first, called also ambitus
popularis, was when a person offered his service to the
republic frankly, leaving it to every body to judge of his
pretensions as they found reasonable. The means and
instruments here made use of were various: 1. Amici,
or friends, under different relations, including cognati, af-
jines, necessarii, familiares, vicini, tribules, clientes, muni-
types, sodales, collegce ; 2. Nomenclatura, or the calling and
saluting every person by his name; to which purpose, the
candidates were attended by an officer, under the denomi¬
nation of intcrpres, or nomenclator; S.Blanditia, or obliging
persons, by serving them or their friends, patrons, or the
like, with their vote and interest on other occasions;
4. Prensatio, the shaking every person by the hand, offer¬
ing him his service, friendship, &c. The second kind
was that wherein force, cajoling, money, or other extra¬
ordinary influence, was made use of. This was held in¬
famous, and severely punished as a source of corruption
and other mischiefs. Ambitus was practised not only at
Home and in the forum, but in the meetings and assem¬
blies of other towns in Italy, where numbers of citizens
were usually found, on account of trade and business.
The practice ceased in the city from the time of the em¬
perors, as offices were not then to be obtained by court¬
ing the people, but by favour of the prince. Persons who
had causes depending practised the same, going about
among the judges to implore their favour and mercy.
They who practised this were called Ambitiosi. Hence
we also meet with ambitiosa decreta, and arnbitiosa justa,
used for such sentences and decrees as were thus pro¬
cured from the judges, contrary to reason and equity,
either gratuitously or for money.
AMBLE, in Horsemanship, a peculiar pace by which
a horse’s two legs of the same side move at the same time.
AMBLESIDE, a market-town in Westmoreland, in
the parish of Grassmere and ward of Kendal, at the end
of the beautiful lake Windermere. It is 274* miles dis¬
tant from London, and 12 from Kendal. Here are some
manufactories of inferior woollen cloths. The population
in 1801 was 538; in 1811, 689; and in 1821, 838.
AMBLETEUSE, a seaport town of France, in the de¬
partment of the Straits of Calais, in the English Channel,
twelve miles south-west from Calais, and eight north from
Boulogne. At this port Caesar embarked his cavalry
when he invaded England; and at it James II. landed
when he abdicated the crown. It is defended by a bat¬
tery of cannon. Long. 1. 37. E. Lat. 50. 48. N.
AMBLYGON, in Geometry, denotes an obtuse-angled
triangle, or a triangle one of whose angles consists of
more than 90 degrees.
AMBLYOPY, among physicians, signifies an obscura¬
tion of the sight, so that objects at a distance cannot be
clearly distinguished.
AMBO, or Ambon, a kind of pulpit or desk, in the an¬
cient churches, •where the priests and deacons stood to
read or sing part of the service, and preach to the people ;
called also Analogium. The term is derived from ava-
£aim, to mount. The ambo was mounted upon two sides ;
whence some also derive the appellation from the Latin
umbo, both. The ambo was ascended by steps; which
A M B
595
occasioned that part of the office performed there to be Ambohits-
ca e re Gi adual. Besides the gospel, which was read mene
at the top of the ambo, and the epistle, which was read a II
step lower, they likewise published from this place the Amboise.
acts of the martyrs, the commemoration of departed
saints, and the letters of peace and communion sent by
one church to another. Here, too, converts made a public
professsion of their faith, and bishops their defence,
when accused: treaties also were sometimes concluded,
and the coronations of emperors and kings performed, in
the same place. The modern reading-desks and pulpits
have been generally substituted for the ancient ambos;
though in some churches remains of the ambos are still
seen. In that of St John de Lateran at Rome, there are
two movable ambos.
AMBOHITSMENE, or Vohitsanghombe, a province
of the island of Madagascar, so called from some red
mountains of the same name lying in lat. 20. S. These
mountains are very high, resembling the Tafelberg of the
Cape of Good Hope. On one side of this ridge the sea
extends into the country for fifteen leagues; on the other is
a flat country, abounding in ponds and marshes. Here is
also a lake of 15 leagues in length, and the same in
breadth, containing many small islands. The inhabitants
of the mountains are called Zaferahongs, and have plenty
of gold, iron, cattle, silk, &c.
AMBOISE, a town of France, in the former province
of Touraine, now the department of the Indre and Loire,
seated at the confluence of the rivers Loire and Masse.
The town is the capital of a district, and has been ren¬
dered famous in history by the conspiracy of the Pro¬
testants in 1560, which opened the fatal wars of religion
in France. The castle is situated on a craggy rock, ex¬
tremely difficult of access, and the sides of which are al¬
most perpendicular. At its foot flows the Loire, which
is divided into two streams by a small island. To this
fortress the duke of Guise, when he expected an insur¬
rection among the Huguenots, removed Francis II. as to
a place of perfect security. Only two detached parts of
the ancient castle now remain, one of which was con¬
structed by Charles VIII. and the other by Francis I.
The former of these princes was born and died at Am¬
boise. The town is situated in long. 0. 34. E. lat. 47. 25. N.
Amboise, Francis d', son of a surgeon to Charles IX.
of France. He very early obtained the patronage of that
prince, and was supported by his liberality in the prose¬
cution of his studies at the university of Navarre, where
he devoted his talents to rhetoric and philosophy with
great assiduity and success. His eloquence and exten¬
sive information raised him in 1572 to the place of soli¬
citor of the French nation. He afterwards applied to the
study of the law, and became one of the most accom¬
plished advocates of the parliament of Paris. He was next
advanced to be counsellor in the parliament of Bretagne,
and afterwards to be a master of requests and counsellor
of state. He visited different countries, and published
the history of his travels, with several poetical pieces.
He prefixed an apologetical preface to the edition of
Abelard’s works in 1616, and with much industry collect¬
ed many of his manuscripts. His brother Adrian rose
to considerable consequence in the church; and his bro¬
ther James was not less eminent as a physician.
Amboise, George d, a French cardinal and minister
of state, was born in the year 1460. His father was a
descendant of the renowned house of Amboise, and,
through the influence of his powerful connections, he be¬
held the path of church preferment open before his son;
therefore he destined him to the clerical order. In these
sanguine expectations he was not disappointed; for he
596 A M B
Araboise had sufficient influence to procure for him the bishopric
II of Montauban at the early age of fourteen. Louis XI.
Amboule. appointed him one of his almoners; and, in the course of
political events, he became strongly attached to the duke
of Orleans, and suffered imprisonment in his cause. When
this prince, however, had regained his favour at court, he
was elevated to the archbishopric of Narbonne. After
he had remained there for some time, he changed that
station for the archbishopric of Rouen. When the duke
of Orleans was governor of Normandy, he made him lieu¬
tenant-general ; and in that situation he was of essential
service to the province, in restoring justice and order.
When the duke of Orleans became Louis XII. Amboise
was suddenly raised to the elevated station of cardinal
and prime minister. The same regard to equity which
characterized his conduct when lieutenant-general, in¬
duced him to diminish the imposts, which rendered him
very popular as first minister of France. In 1499, by his
advice, the king undertook the conquest of the Milanese,
and, on their revolt, the prime minister was sent to quell
the rebellion. The great confidence which Louis had re¬
posed in him induced the pope to make him his legate
in France; and, in that station, he piously laboured to
reform the ecclesiastical orders. He enforced his doc¬
trine by precept, and not only set them an example
of holding only one benefice at a time, but also devoted
two thirds of its revenue to the poor, and to the repair
of religious edifices. According to his own account,
he was ambitious of the papal chair “ merely for the
purpose of effecting the reformation of abuses and the
correction of manners.” It is reported that, upon the
death of Pius III., he would have been elected pope had
he not been deceived by the Italian cardinals. Disap¬
pointed in his views with regard to the papal honours,
he persuaded his master to declare war against the
Venetians, to whose influence he attributed his failure.
But this imprudent undertaking was suddenly inter¬
rupted; for, in the prosecution of his journey for the
Venetian war, he was seized with an illness, and confined
in the city of Lyons. Affliction rouses the reflecting
powers of the mind, and calls to remembrance the past
actions of life. From the consciousness of his past ex-rors
and faults he was induced to express his contrition to a
brother of the infirmary who attended him at the convent
of the Celestines. In the year 1510, and in the 50th of
his age, he breathed his last in that place. Industry,
steadiness, and good intention, characterized his conduct
as a prime ministex*. He shone with peculiar brightness
as a man of litei'ature. By his liberality and patronage
the arts and sciences flourished under his administration.
It may be proper to add, that, assisted by some of the
ablest lawyers in the kingdom, he formed a code of laws
to reform the reigning abuses in the nation. Thus, by
steadily pursuing the general welfare, he obtained the
appellation of the “ father of the people.”
AMBOULE, a province of Madagascar, somewhat to
the northward of lat. 23. S. It is a fertile and agreeable
country, watered by the river Manampani, whose mouth
lies in lat. 23.30. S. The country produces plants and fruits
in plenty. Iron mines are also found here. The black-
cattle are extremely fat, and their flesh excellent. In
this province stands a large town of the same name, near
which is a fountain of hot water, within 20 feet of a small
river whose sand is almost burning. The water of the
fountain is said to boil an egg hard in two hours; and the
inhabitants affirm it to be a sovereign remedy against the
gout. The people here are employed in different pre¬
parations of iron and steel, and forge several instruments
with tolerable skill.
A M B
AMBOYNA, an island in the eastern seas, and theAmtx
chief of the Molucca Islands. It is between 50 and 60
miles in length, and is divided into two unequal parts by
two deep bays, which are separated only by a narrow
isthmus of one mile across. The bay on the west side
extends to about two thirds of the length of the island
and forms a commodious and safe harbour. That on the
east side is much smaller, and, as a harbour, very inse¬
cure, both on account of its bad anchorage and its rocky
shores. The larger division is called Hitoo, and the
smaller division Letymor. Although the larger bay is
more commodious for a settlement, it is in the Letymor
division that the Europeans have chosen to fix their resi¬
dence. Amboyna has long been the seat of the supreme
government of the Spice Islands; and under its jurisdic¬
tion ai*e comprehended ten other islands, namely, Ceram,
which is equal in size to all the rest, Ceram Laut, Bouro,
Amblaw, Manipa, Kelang, Bonoa, Harakau, Saparoua,
and Noossa Laut.
Amboyna is of a hot but salubrious climate. It is sub¬
ject to the monsoons; but they so far differ in this island
from those experienced in Java, Borneo, Celebes, 8zc. that
the southerly monsoon, which is accompanied with such
fine weather in these islands, occasions in Amboyna in¬
cessant rains, thunder, lightning, and hurricanes. This
tempestuous weather extends westward to the strait which
separates the islands of Salayer and Celebes, where it
ceases, and the sky assumes a serene appearance. Am¬
boyna is occasionally liable to earthquakes. The surface
is diversified with lofty ridges of mountains; and during
the rainy seasons the smallest rivulets are swelled into
torrents, which overflow their channels, and rush down
the steep sides of the mountains, carrying away the
strongest bridges, and every other obstacle which opposes
the impetuous current. The soil and climate of Amboyna
are adapted for a variety of vegetable products of great
value ; but it has been chiefly famed for the produce of
the nutmeg and the clove-tree. The cultivation of the
nutmeg has been for some years prohibited in Amboyna,
the industry of its inhabitants being chiefly directed to
the rearing of the clove-tree. It is only in Amboyna and
the three islands of Hai’akau, Saparoua, and Noossa Laut,
that cloves are now cultivated.
“ The clove-tree grows to the height of about forty or
fifty feet, its branches spread, and its leaves are long and
pointed. In a favourable soil it begins to bear at fifteen
years’ growth, is in perfection at twenty, and continues to
bear, without any apparent decay, till the age of forty or
fifty. Some trees yield thirty pounds of cloves ; but the
average quantity produced does not amount to more than
six pounds a tree. They grow to the greatest perfection
in deep valleys, well sheltered by hills and woods, and in
a soil of a rich black mould, quite dry, though they re¬
quire frequent rains for the greatest part of the year, and
very hot weather at the gathering season, which com¬
mences generally about the latter end of October or the
beginning of November, and continues until February.
In April and May there is an after-crop, but of a very in¬
ferior quality.” (Asiatic Annual Register for 1800.)
The Dutch East India Company appear to have been
actuated by the same sordid, narrow, and oppressive views
which have, in a greater or less degree, characterized al
the European governments established in the east. Cloves,
the great article of produce throughout the island, are
rigorously engrossed for the benefit of the Company.
And for the convenience of this monopoly, the province
and its dependencies are divided into several districts, over
which residents or governors are appointed, for the pur¬
pose of preventing all contraband trade, and to take care
A M B O Y N A.
AlIKyna. also that the whole produce of the country is strictly de-
•Slivered up at a fixed price. The governor has under his
immediate management seven great and twenty-four
small districts; and the subordinate residents have com¬
mitted to them from six to ten districts, with the excep¬
tion of the resident of Saparoua, who has under his su¬
perintendence twenty-four districts. These districts are
likewise called regencies; and the officers who govern
them are distinguished by the names of Regents, Rajahs,
Patties, and Orankaios. Several of these regencies are
hereditary, and are enjoyed by the lineal descendants of
the Portuguese families who first settled in the island;
all the others are appointed by the governor, although
in this respect he is obliged to regulate his choice by the
ancient customs and prejudices of the people, whose re¬
verence for the ties of consanguinity carries them so far
as to induce them to keep a regular pedigree of their fa¬
milies, which is registered in the secretary's office, and on
which the candidate for a vacant regency rests his pri¬
mary claim. The regents are the vassals of the com¬
pany, who not only claim the sovereignty of the island,
but the actual property of the soil; the whole of the lands
being in their immediate possession, except a few pieces
of ground belonging to burghers and private persons, who,
under the prohibition of cultivating the clove-tree, are
permitted to alienate them. But notwithstanding this
claim of a paramount right in the soil, they still so far ac¬
knowledge the rights of individuals to certain districts,
that they do not attempt to deprive them of their property
without compensation ; especially if their lands produce
clove-trees, which, being considered the peculiar inheri¬
tance of the planters, are held to be inviolable.
It is only in the districts marked out by the state that
the cultivation of cloves is permitted; and the grounds
which are appropriated for this purpose are portioned out
to the inhabitants. These grounds are called Daty-lands ;
a regular register of the produce of them is kept, the
clove-trees are numbered once a year, and their qualities
597
gulaily noted. But unless the cloves are thoroughly Ambovna.
dried, the full weight is not always admitted. There'  
must be an allowance for waste, which is entirely at the
discretion of the receiving officer; and under this pre¬
tence the unprotected inhabitants are exposed to numer¬
ous frauds. The price at which cloves are received by
the state is 4s. 8d. per pound; but this price is. merely
nominal, in consequence of large deductions being subse¬
quently made on various accounts. Of these the princi¬
pal is an allowance of 20 per cent, on the weight of the
cloves, for the benefit of the governor and the other ser¬
vants of the company; besides which, there are other
deductions for the regent and chief magistrates of the
district, and the labourer’s wages are also paid out of the
price allowed by the state. The annual produce of cloves
is estimated at 600,000 lbs., from which a deduction of
one fifth or twenty per cent, amounts to 120,000 lbs.; and
the tribute thus levied is portioned out among the resi¬
dents and members of the executive government, accord¬
ing to their respective ranks. The produce of cloves is
apt to vary, however, according as the season is favour¬
able or otherwise.
For six years, ending in 1791, the average quantity of
cloves imported into Holland amounted to 597,617 lbs.,
and were sold for a sum equal to L.155,129; besides
which, considerable quantities are annually sent to various
parts of India, Persia, Arabia, and China, the exact
amount of which it is impossible to ascertain. When the
island was taken possession of by the British in 1796,
there were in store 515,940 lbs. of cloves. The quantity
imported by the English East India Company, after the
conquest of the island by Britain, was, in the years 1803,
1804, 1805, respectively, 49,441, 127,866, 179,507 lbs.,
which were sold for L.8,789, L.19,994, L.27,912.
The despotism under which this fine island is oppress¬
ed, is sufficiently implied in the monopoly of its produce
for the state, and in the severe and sanguinary laws
which are found necessary to prevent contraband trade.
Ti-      *   r- • 1 1 •
' — j /      w 1. V' » V-x J l/i. ClhJCllX LA l/l CIVIC-
particularly noted. The people are bound, under pain of If the government were to deal fairly with its subjects
death, to flplivpr flip Pntirp nrnrlnno f4-^ 4-^ ’  
death, to deliver the entire produce of these trees an¬
nually into the company’s stores. Where clove-trees
flourish spontaneously without the limits of the lands ap¬
pointed for their cultivation, an account of them is im¬
mediately taken, and inserted in the register; and where
young trees shoot up, they are immediately transplanted
into Daty-lands, unless the number of trees in them is al¬
ready sufficient.
I o enforce the law for cutting down all the clove-trees,
which, from the spontaneous bounty of nature, may shoot
up in different parts of the island, an annual circuit is
made by the governor, accompanied by a detachment of
troops and such of the gentlemen of the settlement as
he may appoint to accompany him. As this expedition
is performed by water, it is escorted by a number of the
regents of the districts in their barges, which they are
obliged to equip at their own expense. The governor ge¬
nerally sets out in the middle of October, attended by all
the residents of those districts under the immediate man¬
agement of the supreme government. As he proceeds,
lie calls on the attendance of all the principal people of the
district through which he passes. In this manner he makes
a tour through his whole dominions, continuing to in¬
crease his train of attendants, until, having made the com¬
plete circuit of the island, he returns to his capital. His
annual cavalcade is much complained of, on account of
uie numerous exactions to which it gives rise.
In gathering the cloves, each labourer brings to a weigh-
louse the quantity which he gathers, where the name
°i the person, together with the quantity delivered, is re¬
tire temptation to resort to other countries with this pro¬
duce would be much diminished ; and, in proportion to the
severity of the laws established against such an inter¬
course, we may fairly estimate the extent of the fraud
practised upon the inhabitants by their mercantile despots.
Monopoly, besides being in itself an odious abuse, is an
impure source from which other abuses naturally spring;
and in Amboyna, accordingly, we find that, as the pro¬
duce of the inhabitants is engrossed by the state at an
undervalue, they are upon the same principle forced to
purchase, at prices proportionally exorbitant, whatever ne¬
cessaries they may require. A lucrative trade of this
nature is carried on by the residents of the respective
provinces, as well as by the military officers at the out¬
posts, with the peasantry under their authority. They
procure from the supply of stores which the Dutch Com¬
pany used to send annually from Batavia, such articles as
the natives require, particularly blue cloth, which they
oblige them to purchase at a price far above its value;
and, in order to furnish them with the means of satisfy¬
ing their wants, the residents lend them money at usuri¬
ous interest; so that these people are reduced to the mi¬
serable alternative of either submitting to the grossest
oppression and fraud, or of remaining destitute of those
things which nature and custom unite to render neces¬
sary. The accumulated debt in which the peasantry are
thus involved is a never-failing instrument of bondage
and oppression, as it places them entirely at the discre¬
tion of their taskmasters, to whose bounty they are in¬
debted for their miserable subsistence. An order in coun-
598
A M B O Y N A.
Amboyna. cil was published by the Dutch government, some time
before the island was conquered by the British, prohibit¬
ing the residents from withholding from the peasantry, for
debts due to themselves, more than two thirds of the
amount of their spice-money. But, while the residents
are necessarily vested with such extensive powers, in
order to enforce the system of monopoly, the peasan¬
try are at their mercy; and, under a government thus
tyrannical in its principle, pretexts will never be wanting
for evading the force of particular laws.
The maxims on which this country is governed are
well explained in a code of written regulations drawn up
by order of the Dutch Company some years before the
island came into the possession of the British. This code,
instead of containing mild and liberal regulations for the
general improvement of the community, is filled with all
the impolitic restrictions of avarice and despotism; the
general tendency of which is, by bending down and op¬
pressing the lower orders of the community, to strike at
the root of national prosperity, and, finally, to impoverish
and degrade the country. From a view of those regula¬
tions, it appears to have been the settled policy of the
government of Amboyna, for 150 years back, to dis¬
courage cultivation,—to check all attempts to establish
manufactures,—and, in short, to suppress every improve¬
ment which might enable the inhabitants to supply their
own wants, and might thus render them independent of
the monopolies established by their rulers. In this they
have been but too successful; and hence the people are
fettered down in a state of the most wretched poverty and
dependence,—destitute of the common necessaries of
life, in consequence of their progressive advance in price ;
while, in the mean time, the wages of labour have been
forcibly depressed, or rather indeed have been kept back
from the labourer by fraud, he being bound to the state
for a variety of severe duties and services, for which he
receives no remuneration. In consequence of these op¬
pressions the inhabitants are poor and indolent. Agricul¬
ture has made no progress. Not more than one tenth of
the island is under cultivation, and it is therefore depend¬
ent on Java for supplies of cattle and grain. The same
causes which have discouraged the cultivation of land and
the rearing of cattle, have prevented the improvement of
manufactures, or of the mechanical arts; of which the in¬
habitants are so ignorant, that they do not even manufac¬
ture the coarse cloth of which they make their own wear¬
ing apparel, but are furnished with it from Java or Ben¬
gal, and receive it in retail from the residents and men in
office, at such prices as they choose to fix on it.
All the natural productions of this island are in like
manner neglected by the policy of its rulers. It formerly
produced indigo of the finest quality and colour. But the
growth of this valuable commodity was discouraged by
the Dutch, chiefly with a view of protecting the indigo
trade carried on between the mother country and her
colonies in the West Indies, and from a jealousy, also,
that the natives, by acquiring wealth, might be enabled
to assert their independence. Sugar grows to great per¬
fection, but its cultivation is discouraged. Coffee is
produced in abundance in different parts of the island;
and, were the culture of it sufficiently attended to, it
would be equal in quality to the first Mocha coffee.
Wheat might be cultivated to great advantage on the
beautiful heights contiguous to the town of Amboyna,
the soil and climate being well adapted to it. Of maize
there is already a great abundance; and the dry as well
as mountain rice is known here, but neither has been much
cultivated. The bread-fruit tree grows spontaneously over
all the island, but is only made use of by the lowest orders
of the people. The cocoa-tree also grows here; but the Ambo
cultivation of it is almost entirely neglected. If the'^v
culture of vegetables were sufficiently attended to, this
island would produce a great variety, of the finest quality.
All sorts of roots are produced in abundance, particularly
yams and sweet potatoes; and the increased circulation
of specie, since the island has been in possession of the
English, has induced the farmers to bring ample and
regular supplies to the market. There is also great va¬
riety of fruits, of the finest quality and flavour. The ge¬
neral appearance of the island is extremely beautiful and
picturesque. Mountains everywhere covered with lofty
woods in perpetual foliage, and valleys clothed in ver¬
dure, interspersed with hamlets, and enriched by cultiva¬
tion, exhibit the most delightful variety that nature in
those tropical regions is capable of producing.
This island is inhabited by four distinct races of people;
by the Aborigines ; by the Amboynese properly so called,
who have been found there since the earliest visits of the
Europeans; by the Chinese; and, lastly, by the Euro¬
peans. The Aborigines have greatly decreased in num¬
bers. They are wild and savage in their habits, and
are chiefly confined to the interior mountains, having no
intercourse with the more civilized inhabitants. They
are described as being cruel, ferocious, and treacherous.
The native Amboynese are of an indolent and effeminate
character, which disposition is encouraged by the fertility
of the soil. The tyranny of the Dutch, by whom they
are severely oppressed, and who rob them of the due
reward of their labour, may have conduced, along with
the climate, to foster these habits. The Chinese are
here, as they are in all other parts, an industrious and
commercial people; but, from the oppressive nature of
the government, they are not numerous. They live in a
particular street of Amboyna, under the authority of a
chief of their own nation. The Europeans, who seem to
constitute the smallest portion of the inhabitants, have
rather decreased in numbers. They intermarry with the
natives and the other inhabitants; and hence a variety of
races has sprung up, distinguished by different appellations,
as they recede from the olive complexions of the Am¬
boynese and approach the European white.
Amboyna was first discovered by the Portuguese, who
took possession of it in 1564. The Dutch expelled the
Portuguese in 1605; and in 1615 the English made an
unsuccessful attempt to share the possession of the island
with them. They managed, however, to retain a factory
till the year 1622, when differences arose between the
English and Dutch settlers; and in the end the latter, by
the most unexampled treachery, seized on the English
factors, whom they accused of being traitors, put them to
death by the most cruel tortures, and expelled all the
English settlers. The Dutch having thus acquired so e
possession of the island, retained it till the year 1796, when
it was conquered by a British force under Admiral Rainier.
Amboyna was captured by the British in 1796, and
restored to the Dutch by the peace of Amiens. It was
again taken possession of in 1810, and restored to hs for¬
mer owners by the treaty of Paris concluded in lot .
(See Asiatic Annual Register for 1800, p. 200; and £ r
Milburn’s valuable work entitled Oriental Commerce, vo .
ii. p. 394.) (F‘'.
Amboyna, the capital of the island of Amboyna, is
situated in the peninsula of Letymor. It is finely situate
at the head of a deep bay, which penetrates 21 miles mlan ,
gradually becoming narrower: it is about six miles asun e
at the entrance; and near the bottom, where the
situated, it is two miles across, with deep water
On the
ox xi/ xo TT \J XXJXXV^O «*V/XVyoOJ *»*•/*-. ~ i T? n
south shore of the bay, and in front of Amboyna, the bur
A M B
Amb :ia- peans have erected the principal fortification of Victoria,
which is an irregular hexagon, with a ditch and covered way
on the land side, and a horn-work towards the sea. Being
commanded, however, by two ranges of heights, at the
distance of from 700 to 1200 yards, it could make no se¬
rious resistance to an invading force. The town of Am-
boyna is extremely clean, and both neatly and regularly
built in the form of an oblong square. The streets, which
are wide and improved, intersect each other at right
angles. They consist, for the most part, of houses of only
one story, constructed of wood, and covered with palm
leaves laced together, which is the mode of building
adopted, from the dread of earthquakes. They are pro¬
vided with frames of matted cane in place of glass win¬
dows, for the sake of coolness as well as of economy; and
in general they have small gardens behind them, with a
well of good water, which is here procured in abundance,
either by digging, or from the rivulets intersecting the
town, which swell into torrents during the rainy season.
The esplanade, which reaches from the covert-way of
the fort to the town, a space of 250 yards, is terminated
by a range of handsome dwelling-houses, with a double
row of nutmeg-trees in front of them. Here the princi¬
pal European inhabitants reside; and the west part of
the town is the appointed residence of the Chinese.
There are two well-built churches, one for Europeans, the
other for the Malay Christians, in which service is per¬
formed in the Malay language. All the other public
buildings are in the fort, except the town-house, which
fronts the esplanade, and is a neat building of two stories.
An earthquake took place in 1755, which greatly damaged
the two churches, one of which it was necessary to re¬
build. The heat is generally from 80° to 82°, and the low¬
est point of the thermometer is 72°. Long. 128. 15. E.
Lat. 3. 40. S. fp )
AMBRACIA, one of the most considerable cities of
ancient Epirus, situated on the river Aracthus, at a small
distance from the sea. At first it was a free city, but
was afterwards reduced by the AHacidae, kings of Epirus,
who chose it for the place of their residence. In process
of time the AEtolians made themselves masters of it, and
held it till the year before Christ 189, when it fell into
the hands of the Romans.
At this time Ambracia was a place of great strength.
It was defended on one side by the river Aracthus, and
on the other by steep and craggy hills; and surrounded
ith a high and thick wall, about three miles in compass.
Ihe Roman consul Fulvius began the siege by forming
two camps, separated by the river, but with a communi¬
cation between them; the Romans were posted in one,
and the Epirots, their allies, in the other. He then threw
up two lines, one of circumvallation, the other of contra-
vallation; and built a wooden tower in form of a castle,
over against the citadel, which stood on a hill. The AEto-
hans, however, before the lines were quite finished, found
means to throw about 1000 men into the place.
Ihe lines being completed, the city was attacked in
ve different places at once. The battering-rams shook
tie wall on all sides; and the Romans, from their mov¬
able towers, pulled down the battlements with a kind of
scythes, which they fastened to long beams. The be¬
sieged made a vigorous defence. They were night and
<|y on the walls, and indefatigable in preventing the
e ect® the rams and scythes. The strokes of the for¬
mer they deadened by letting down upon them beams,
urge stones, lumps of lead, &c. by means of pulleys, when
'ey were in motion; the others they rendered useless,
y pulling the beams to which they were fastened into
ic city, with hooks contrived for the purpose.
A M B
599
FuIfvius ™s .“"yiHg on the siege, Nicandeiythe Amtacia.
/fctohan pretor, found means to throw 500 men into the^v^-^
city, under the command of one Nicodamus, with whom
iVcander agreed to attack the Roman camp in the night¬
time; not doubting that, if the garrison from within and
the army from without fell upon them at the same time
they would be obliged to raise the siege. Nicodamus
narrowly watched the time at which he was ordered to
sally, and, though Nicander did not appear, marched out
at the head of the garrison, armed with firebrands and
torches. The Roman sentinels, surprised at this sight,
ran to awake the legionaries, and soon spread a gene¬
ral alarm over the camp. The legionaries marched in
small bodies as they happened to meet, to repulse the
enemy, whom they engaged in three different places.
Two parties of the garrison were driven back; but the
third, commanded by two AEtolian generals, made a great
slaughter of the Romans, and, not finding themselves se¬
conded by Nicander, retired in good order into the city.
Though the besieged were thus abandoned and had no
hopes of assistance, they continued to defend themselves
with incredible vigour and resolution. The Romans had
no sooner made a breach in the wall, than it was repaired,
and a new one built behind it. The consul, therefore,
altered his measures; and, instead of making breaches
with the ram, began to undermine the wall, in hopes of
throwing down a great part of it at once, and entering the
city before the besieged could have time to build a new
wall. The miners, being covered, were not observed by
the garrison, till the great quantities of earth brought out
of the mine gave the alarm. The AEtolians immediately
began to countermine; and having dug a trench of the
depth they supposed the mine to be, they carried it along
the wall where they heard the strokes of the pickaxes of the
Romans. When the two mines met, a battle ensued, first
with pickaxes and spades, and then with swords and spears:
but this attack did not last long, each party making
themselves a kind of rampart with the loose earth. The
AEtolians, in order to drive their enemies quite out of the
mine, invented a machine, which they brought to the
place where the two mines met. This was a hollow vessel
with an iron bottom, bored through in many places, and
armed with spikes at proper distances, to prevent the
enemy from approaching it. This vessel they filled with
feathers, which they set on fire, and with bellows driving
the smoke on the besiegers, obliged them to leave the
mine half-suffocated. This interval the AEtolians made
use of in repairing the foundations of the wall.
The vigorous resistance made by the Ambracians, how¬
ever, did not animate the courage of the nation in general,
who were determined on a peace with Rome at all events.
Fulvius, in the mean time, being desirous of getting pos¬
session of Ambracia before the conclusion of the peace,
employed Amynander, king of the Athamanes, to persuade
the inhabitants to surrender. As Amynander had great
interest in Ambracia, having long resided there, he easily
persuaded them to capitulate on the following terms, viz.
That the AEtolian garrison should have leave to march
out of the city; that the inhabitants should pay 500 ta¬
lents, 200 down, and the rest at six equal payments; and
that they should deliver to the consul all the prisoners
and deserters that were in the city. The gates were then
opened to Fulvius, and he was presented with a crown
of gold, together with many fine statues and pictures, of
which there were great numbers in the city, it having
been the capital of Pyrrhus, who had enriched it with
many valuable monuments.
From this time the city of Ambracia made no figure
in history. It is scarcely known at present where the
600 A M B A M B
Ambreadacity stood; but that called Arba, in Upper Albania,
seems best to agree with what is said of the ancient situ-
Ambrose. a^jon 0f this city. The river Aracthus, on which Am-
bracia was situated, is now called by the natives Spag-
magmurisi.
AMBREADA. Thus they call the false or fictitious
amber which the Europeans use in their trade with the
negroes on the coast of Africa, and particularly on the
river Senegal. There are some large and red pieces of
it, a thousand of which, making twenty ropes or strings,
weigh three pounds. There are others small, and also
red, which weigh but two pounds and a half.
AMBRESBURY, or Amesbury, a market-town in
Wiltshire, about six miles north of Salisbury, and situated
in long. 1. 40. W. and lat. 51. 20. N.
AMBRONES, a people of Gaul, who lived near the
foot of the Alps, between Switzerland and Provence.
They invaded the Roman territories in conjunction with
the Cimbri and Teutones; but were defeated with great
slaughter by Marius, about 101 years before Christ.
Their women, who during the engagement had staid in a
kind of fortification made with their carts, on seeing their
husbands flying, and the Romans at their heels, armed
themselves with axes, and, gnashing with their teeth, fell
with fury on the pursuers and the pursued. Their first
rage being spent, they desired to surrender themselves,
upon the single condition that their chastity should not
be violated; but this equitable request being denied, they
first killed their children, and then themselves, not one
remaining alive out of the whole multitude.
AMBROSE, of Alexandria, lived in the beginning of
the third century, and was the intimate friend of Origen.
Jerome and Eusebius differ in the account they give of
this man. The one denominates him a Marcionite, the
other a Valentinian; but they both agree that he was
converted to the orthodox faith by the preaching of
Origen. As is generally the case with new proselytes,
he became very zealous, and was appointed deacon either
at Alexandria, or at Caesarea, where Protectetus was
presbyter. Origen dedicated many of his works, and
among others his book on martyrdom, to Ambrose, at
whose desire and expense they were published. Ori¬
gen and Ambrose were alike indefatigable in their appli¬
cation to study, and lived on terms of the most intimate
friendship. Origen being poor, Ambrose assisted him, by
providing notaries and amanuenses to copy his works.
In that period of society, when the increase of copies
was a work of immense labour and great expense, these
were not only instances of private friendship, but of pub¬
lic utility. Ambrose is thus justly entitled to rank among
the patrons of learning. He has been blamed by some
for having made no provision at his death for the poor
infirm Origen. His friends plead in defence of his con¬
duct, that Origen chose to live poor, and daily depend¬
ent on a divine Providence. According to some his¬
torians, Ambrose died a martyr, along with his friend
Protectetus, in the persecution under Maximin, about
the year 236; but the dedication of Origen’s eight books
against Celsus proves, that though he died before Ori¬
gen, yet he lived to the year 250, or near that period.
Origen speaks of him as a man of sincere piety, and
much devoted to the study of the sacred Scriptures.
Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, was one of the
most eminent fathers of the church in the fourth century.
He was a citizen of Rome, and born in France ; according
to some historians, in the year 334, but, according to
others, in 340. The birth of Ambrose is said to have
been attended with a remarkable presage of his future
eloquence, by a swarm of bees settling upon his mouth as
he lay in his cradle. At the period of his birth his fa- Am ise
ther was pretorian prefect of Gallia Narbonensis;
upon his death, the widow repaired to Rome with her fa¬
mily. Ambrose received a religious education, and was
reared in habits of virtuous conduct by his mother, an
accomplished woman, and eminent for her piety. The
names of his instructors in the rudiments of Greek and
Roman literature have not been transmitted to posterity:
but in these branches he made early proficiency; and,
having directed his attention to the law, he employed his
eloquence with such reputation in the pretorian court of
Anicius Probus, that he was soon deemed worthy of a
place in the council. After he had continued in this
station for some time, Probus appointed him consular of
Liguria and Emilia, comprehending the territories of Milan,
Liguria, Turin, Genoa, and Bologna. Milan was chosen
for the place of his residence; and, by the prudent and
gentle use of his power, he conducted the affairs of the
province with general approbation and growing popularity.
In the year 374 Auxentius, the bishop of that city, died,
and his death gave sudden change to the fortune and
literary pursuits of Ambrose. At that period the tide of
religious contention ran high between the Catholics and the
Arians, and there ensued a violent contest concerning the
choice of a new bishop. When the people were assem¬
bled in the church to elect, Ambrose, in the character of
governor of the place, presented himself to the assembly,
and in a grave, eloquent, and pathetic address, admonished
the multitude to lay aside their contentions, and, in the
spiritof religious meekness, to proceed to the important work
of choosing a bishop. It is reported, that when Ambrose
had finished his address, a child cried out, “ Ambrose is
bishop.” The agitated multitude suddenly caught the
superstitious flame, and regarding this as a miraculous in¬
timation, they unanimously elected Ambrose bishop of
Milan. Some suppose that this was entirely a device of
Ambrose or his friends, and others ascribe it to mere ac¬
cident. Ambrose strongly affected reluctance, and even
pretended to fly from the city in order to avoid the in¬
tended honour. It is, however, unfortunate for the arti¬
fice of the governor, that the place of his concealment
was soon discovered, when the emperar’s confirmation of
his election was made known to him. Finding it incon¬
venient any longer to resist the public choice, he ex¬
changed the ensigns of civil for those of ecclesiastical
dignity ; and, after being baptized, he was ordained bishop
of Milan, about the end of the year 374. But what¬
ever may be the sentiments of mankind concerning the
singular conduct of Ambrose in accepting an office lor
which he was certainly unqualified in respect of previous
studies, habits, and employments, yet it must be admit¬
ted, that he immediately betook himself to the neces¬
sary studies, and acquitted himself in his new elevation
with ability, boldness, and integrity. Having appropri¬
ated his money to the poor, settled his lands upon t e
church, with the exception of making his sister tenan
during life, and having committed the care of his xami y
to his brother, he entered upon a regular course of t eo
logical study, under the care of Simplician, a presbyter o
Rome, and devoted himself to the labours of the c^ul V
Compelled by the irruption of the Goths and the nor
ern barbarians, who rushed down upon the e
pire, spreading terror and desolation all around, -^I1?.r0 ’
along with several others, fled to Illyricum; but 18 ^
ile was of short duration, for the northern invaders
ing been quickly defeated by the forces of the einP®
and driven back with considerable loss into their ^
nions, he and his companions returned to their resp
tive habitations.
A M B
A M B
601
,r,;< After his return to.the ecclesiastic station, his eloquence
t/v^and abilities found ample scope in the dispute between the
Ariansand Catholics. About this era the doctrine of Arius
concerning the person of Christ had been extensively re¬
ceived, and had many powerful defenders both among the
clergy and the common people. Ambrose espoused the
cause of the Catholics: Gratian, the son of the elder Valen-
tinian, marshalled on the same side ; but the younger Va-
lentinian, who was now become his colleague in the empire,
adopted the opinions of the Arians; and all the arguments
and eloquence of Ambrose were insufficient to reclaim
the young prince to the orthodox faith. Theodosius, the
emperor of the East, also professed the orthodox faith;
yet there were numerous adherents to Arius scattered
throughout his dominions. In this distracted state of re¬
ligious opinion, two leaders of the Arians, Palladius and
Secundianus, confident of numbers, prevailed upon Gratian
to call a general council from all parts of that empire. This
request appeared so equitable that he complied without
hesitation; but Ambrose, aware of the consequence, had
the eloquence to persuade the emperor that a general
council was improper, and that the matter could be de¬
termined by a council of the western bishops. The result
was, that a synod, composed of 32 bishops, was held at
Aquileia in the year 381. Ambrose was elected president;
and Palladius being called upon to defend his opinions,
declined, insisting that the meeting was a partial one,
and that the whole bishops of the empire not being present,
the sense of the Christian church concerning the question
in dispute could not be obtained. Ambrose mentioned
several precedents in favour of the authority of the court;
and added, that the oriental bishops, being acquainted
with the place and nature of the meeting, might have
been present, if they had deemed the matter in discussion
worthy of their attention; therefore the court, although
Palladius persisted in his refusal to plead his cause, put
the vote, and he, along with his associate Secundianus,
was ejected from the episcopal office. If Ambrose dis¬
played great ardour in opposing the errors of Arius, he
was equally zealous in combating the heathen super¬
stitions. Upon the accession of Valentinian II., many
of the senators who remained attached to the pagan ido¬
latry made a vigorous effort to restore the worship of the
heathen deities. Symmachus, a very opulent man and
a great orator, who was at that time prefect of the city,
was intrusted with the management of the pagan cause,
and drew up a petition, praying that the altar of Victory
might be restored to its ancient station in the hall of the
senate, and for the proper support of seven vestal virgins,
and the regular observance of the other pagan ceremonies.
Ereat eloquence and peculiar insinuation characterized the
petition. He argued that this form of religion had long
been profitable to the Roman state, reminded the empe¬
ror how much Rome had been indebted to Victory, and that
it had been the uniform custom of the senators to swear
tidelity to the government upon that altar. He likewise
produced many facts to prove the advantages derived to
the state from its ancient religious institutions, and insi¬
nuated that it was one divinity that all men worshipped
under different forms, so that ancient practice should not
be rashly laid aside. He even proceeded so far as to state
the injustice of increasing the public revenue by robbing
the church, and attributed the late famine which had over¬
taken the empire to the neglect of the ancient worship.
To this petition Ambrose replied in a letter to Valen-
timan, arguing that the devoted worshippers of idols had
otten been forsaken by their deities ; that the native valour
°i the Roman soldiers had gained their victories, and not
the pretended influence of pagan priests; that these
vol. n.
idolatrous worshippers requested for themselves what they Ambrose,
refused to Christians; that voluntary was more honour-
able than constrained virginity; that as the Christian
ministers declined receiving temporal emoluments, they
should also be denied to pagan priests ; that it was ab¬
surd to suppose that God would inflict a famine upon
the empire for neglecting to support a religious system
contrary to his revealed will in the Scriptures; that the
whole process of nature encouraged innovations, and that
all nations had permitted these, even in religion; that
heathen sacrifices were exceedingly offensive to Chris¬
tians ; and that every Christian prince should suppress
these pagan ceremonies.
In the epistles of Symmachus and of Ambrose both the
petition and the reply are preserved, in which sophistry,
superstition, sound sense, and solid argument, are strange¬
ly blended. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the peti¬
tion was unsuccessful.
The increasing strength of the Arians proved too for¬
midable for the zealous Ambrose. The young emperor
and Justina, along with a considerable number of clergy
and laity professing the Arian faith, requested from the
bishop the use of two churches, one in the city, the other
in the suburbs of Milan. The prelate believing the bishops
to be the guardians both of the temporal and spiritual
interests of the church, and that the religious edifices were
the unquestionable property of the church, positively re¬
fused to deliver up the temples of the Lord into the im¬
pious hands of the heretics. Filled with indignation, Justina
resolved to employ the imperial authority of her son in pro¬
curing by force what she could not procure by persuasion.
Ambrose was required to answer for his conduct before
the council. He went, attended by a numerous crowd of
people, whose impetuous zeal so overawed the ministers
of Valentinian, that he was permitted to retire without
making the surrender of the churches. The day follow¬
ing, when he was performing divine service in the Basilica,
the prefect of the city came to persuade him to give up
at least the Portian church in the suburbs. Still continu¬
ing obstinate, the court proceeded to violent measures:
the officers of the household were commanded to prepare
the Basilica and the Portian churches to celebrate divine
service upon the arrival of the emperor and his mother at
the ensuing festival of Easter. The order respecting one
of them was carried into effect; but the court, perceiving
the growing strength of the prelate’s interest, deemed it
prudent to use more lenient measures. But all measures
proved in vain ; the bishop boldly replied, “ If you demand
my person, I am ready to submit: carry me to prison or
to death, I will not resist; but I will never betray the
church of Christ. I will not call upon the people to suc¬
cour me; I will die at the foot of the altar, rather than
desert it. The tumult of the people I will not encou¬
rage ; but God alone can appease.” This strong declara¬
tion was followed by a torrent of eloquence from the pul¬
pit, pursuing his scheme with the most violent zeal. But
the court remained unconvinced, and another attempt
being made, under a strong guard of ferocious Goths, to
seize the church of Basilica, when they were about to
enter, Ambrose thundered the sentence of excommunica¬
tion against them, and so overawed them that they retired,
and he and his friends remained in possession of the
churches. About this time, also, an Arian bishop chal¬
lenged Ambrose to a dispute before the emperor; but he
declined, saying that matters of faith should be deter¬
mined by a council of bishops.
Many circumstances in the history of Ambrose are
strongly characteristic of the general spirit of the times.
The chief causes of his victory over his opponents were,
4 G
(502
A M B
A M B
Ambrose, his great popularity, and the superstitious reverence paid
to the episcopal character at that period of society. But
it must also be admitted, that he used several indirect
means to obtain and support his popular authority. Many
indigent persons were supported by his liberal bounty ; in
his explanations of Scripture he made constant and severe
allusions to existing and public characters; the alternate
mode of singing had no small effect upon the minds of
the vulgar. At a time when the influence of Ambrose re¬
quired vigorous support, he fortunately was admonished
in a dream to search for the remains of Gervasius and
Protasius, two martyrs who quietly reposed under the
pavement of the church. The skeletons were found
entire, stained with the blood, and the head of one of
them separated from the body. The vulgar crowded in
thousands to behold these venerable relics. According to
report, a blind man was restored to sight, several demons
were expelled, and sick persons healed, by touching these
bones. Ambrose exulted in these miracles, and appealed
to them in his eloquent sermons ; while the court derided
and called in question their existence. The bishop con¬
tinued firm in his opinions, the people believed, and the
existence of the miracles was established. And it is a very
singular fact that these and many other miracles obtain¬
ed current credit among the Christian historians of the
second, third, and fourth centuries. Dr Cave, in speaking
of them, says, “ I make no doubt but God suffered them to
be wrought, at this time, on purpose to confront the Arian
impieties.”
Although the court were displeased with the religious
principles and conduct of Ambrose, yet they respected his
great political talents ; and when necessity required, they
solicited his aid, which he generously granted. When
Maxentius usurped the supreme power in Gaul, and was
meditating a descent upon Italy, Valentinian sent Am¬
brose to him, who prevailed upon him to desist from the
undertaking. On a second attempt of the same kind Am¬
brose was employed; and although he was unsuccessful,
yet, if his advice had been followed upon his return, the
schemes of the usurper would have proved abortive; but,
indifferent to his counsels, the enemy was permitted to
enter Italy, and Milan was taken. Justina and her son
fled; but Ambrose remained in his station, and proved
beneficial to many of the sufferers, by causing the plate of
the church to be melted for their relief. Theodosius, the
emperor of the East, espoused the cause of Justina, and
by force of arms regained the kingdom.
In the year 390 a tumult happened at Thessalonica, in
which Botheric, one of the imperial officers, was slain.
At this Theodosius was so enraged, that he issued a
royal mandate for the promiscuous massacre of the inha¬
bitants of that place; and about seven thousand persons
were assassinated, without distinction or mercy.. The
courageous Ambrose, informed of this deed, wrote to the
emperor a severe reproof, and an earnest admonition,
charging him not to approach the holy communion with
his hands stained with innocent blood. When the em¬
peror was about to enter the church of Milan to attend
upon the service, the bishop met him, and with a stern
countenance prohibited him from approaching the temple
of God. The emperor reminded him that David had been
guilty of murder and of adultery. The bishop replied,
“ You have imitated David in his guilt; go and imitate
him in his repentance.” The prince obeyed the priest,
and, by a course of penitential sorrow, during the space of
eight months, he laboured to regain the favour of the
church. After the termination of this period he was ab¬
solved, but at the same time was made to sign an edict,
that an interval of thirty days should intervene before the
sentence of death or confiscation should be put in execu- \
tion. When the mind reflects upon the pernicious effects
of sudden and violent passion, this measure was certainly
fraught with policy and humanity. If the reader laments
the weakness which subjected the conscience to the cle¬
rical power, he must be gratified that so moderate a use
was made of that authority.
The undaunted courage of Ambrose received another
severe trial in the year 393, after the assassination of Va¬
lentinian, and the base Eugenio had usurped the empire
of the West. Rather than join the standard of the usurper,
he fled from Milan; but after the army of Theodosius
was victorious, he generously supplicated the emperor for
the pardon of those who had supported the cause of
Eugenio. Theodosius, soon after he had acquired the un¬
controlled possession of the Roman empire, died at Milan.
The bishop did not long survive the emperor, but died in
the year 397. In his last illness he preserved perfect
composure of mind, informing his friends that he had en¬
deavoured so to conduct himself that he might neither be
ashamed to live nor to die.
On many accounts the character of the bishop of Milan
stands high among the fathers of the ancient church.
With unvarying steadiness he delivered his religious sen¬
timents on all occasions; with unwearied assiduity he dis¬
charged the duties of his office; with unabated zeal and
boldness he defended the orthodox cause, in opposition to
the Arians; with a liberal hand he fed the numerous poor
who flocked to his dwelling; with uncommon generosity
he manifested kindness to his adversaries; and with Chris¬
tian affection he sought the happiness of all men. His
general habits were amiable and virtuous, and his powers
of mind were uncommonly vigorous and persevering.
Ambition and bigotry were the chief blemishes in his
character.
The writings of Ambrose are voluminous, although
little more than adulterated editions of Origen and other
Greek fathers. The great design of his waitings was to
defend and propagate the Catholic faith. In some of
these he recommends perpetual celibacy as the perfection
of Christian virtue. Modern judgment and taste may
perhaps induce some to esteem the writings of Ambrose
absurd, trivial, and even ludicrous; but there is a smart¬
ness and vigour in his style, and there are excellent sen¬
timents interspersed, which render the writings of the
bishop of Milan worthy of a perusal. With his usual se¬
verity and acrimony, Gibbon too severely censures this
prelate. “ Ambrose,” says he, “could act better than he
could write; his compositions are destitute of taste or
genius, without the spirit of Tertullian, the copious ele¬
gance of Lactantius, the lively wit of Jerome, or the grave
energy of Augustin.” The most accurate and complete
edition of his works is that published by the Benedictines,
printed at Paris in 1682, in two volumes folio.
Ambrose, Saint, an island in the South Pacific Ocean,
on the coast of Chili, four or five leagues due west from
St Felix Island. At first view it appears like two small
islands ; but, after a nearer approach, they are found to be
joined by a reef. It lies in long. 80. 55. W. and lat. 26.
13. S. from Greenwich. There is a large rock four miles
to the northward of the island, called from its appearance
Sail-rock. Captain Roberts, who was here in 1792, found
St Felix Island inaccessible. On St Ambrose Island his
crew in seven weeks killed 13,000 seals, and cured the
skins, which were of the best quality. The island has
little else to recommend it. Fish and crawfish abound.
The best season for sealing is from the first of April to
the first of August.
Ambrose, Isaac, an eminent Presbyterian minister,
!
A M B
Am ,sia Was educated at Brazen-nose College, Oxford, where he
took the degree of bachelor of arts, and became minister
An,0- 0f Preston, and afterwards of Garstang in Lancashire,
s' whence he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. It
was usual for him to retire every year for a month into a
little hut in a wood, where he shunned all society, and
devoted himself to religious contemplation. Dr Calamy
observes, that he had a very strong presentiment of the
approach of death, and took a formal leave of his friends
at their houses a little before bis departure; and on the
last night-of his life he sent his discourse concerning
angels to the press. The next day he shut himself up in
his parlour, where, to the great surprise and regret of all
who saw him, he was found just expiring. He died in
1663-4, in the 72d year of his age. He wrote several
other books, as the Prima, Media, et Ultima, or the First,
Middle, and Last Things; War with Devils; Looking
unto Jesus, &c.
AMBROSIA, in Heathen Antiquity, denotes the solid
food of the gods, in contradistinction to their drink, which
was called nectar. It had the appellation ambrosia, com¬
pounded of the particle a privative, and fyorog, mortal, as
being supposed to render those immortal who fed on it.
Ambrosia is also a splendid kind of title, given by
some physicians to certain alexipharmic compositions of
extraordinary virtue. The name was particularly given
to a famous antidote of Philip of Macedon against all poi¬
sons, bites, and stings of venomous creatures, as well as
many internal diseases.
AMBROSIAN Office or Rite, in Ecclesiastical His¬
tory, a particular formula of worship in the church of Mi¬
lan, which takes its name from St Ambrose, who instituted
that office in the fourth century. Each church originally
had its particular office; and when the pope, in after¬
times, took upon him to impose the Roman office upon all
the western churches, that of Milan sheltered itself under
the name and authority of St Ambrose; from which time
the Ambrosian ritual has prevailed.
AMBROSIN, in middle-age writers, denotes a coin
struck by the lords or dukes of Milan, whereon was re¬
presented St Ambrose on horseback, with a whip in his
right hand. The occasion of this coinage is said to have
been a vision of that saint, who appeared to the Milanese
general in 1339, during the time of a battle.
AMBROSIUS Aurelianus, or Aurelius Ambro-
sius, a famous general of the ancient Britons, of Roman
extraction. He was educated at the court of Aldroen of
Armorica, who, at the request of the Britons, sent him
over with 10,000 men to assist them against the Saxons,
whom Vortigern had invited into Britain. Ambrosius was
so successful against the Saxons, that the Britons chose
him for their king, and compelled Vortigern to surrender
to him all the western part of the kingdom, divided by the
Roman highway now called Wailing-street. Some time
after, the Britons being discontented with Vortigern, and
having withdrawn their allegiance from him, he retired
to a castle in Wales, where, being besieged by Ambrosius,
and the castle taking fire, he perished in the flames, and
left his rival sole monarch of Britain, who now assumed
the imperial purple, after the manner of the Roman em¬
perors. Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that Ambrosius
built Stonehenge, near Salisbury, in Wiltshire. Am¬
brosius, according to this historian, coming to a monas¬
tery near Caercaradoc, now Salisbury, where 300 British
lords, massacred by Hengist, lay buried, and resolving to
perpetuate the memory of this action, he ordered his
workmen to prepare a large quantity of stones and other
Materials. But having, at the instigation of Tremounus,
archbishop of Caerleon, consulted the famous Merlin,
A M B 603
this magician advised him to send over to Ireland for Ambry
certain great stones, called chorea gigantum, the giant's II
dance, placed in a circle on a hill called Killair, which Anibula-
were brought thither by giants from the farthest borders
of Africa. A body of forces was accordingly sent into^^^^^
Ireland, under Pendragon, Ambrosius’s brother, to fetch
these stones ; but they were opposed in their attempt by
Gilliomanus, king of the country, who derided the folly of
the Britons in undertaking so ridiculous an expedition.
Nevertheless the Britons, having vanquished this prince
in battle, brought away the stones; and by the direction
and assistance of Merlin, who had accompanied them,
these wonderful stones, by order of Ambrosius, were
placed over the graves of the British lords, and are now'
what is called Stonehenge. Alexander Mecham celebrates
this fable in his poem De Divince Sapientice Laudibus. Po-
lydore Virgil assigns another origin of Stonehenge: he tells
us that it was erected by the Britons as a monument to
their general Ambrosius, on the place where he fell in
battle, to perpetuate the memory of his glorious actions
and services done to his country. Both these stories are
rejected by our best antiquaries, who, however, are by no
means agreed as to the true origin of this famous piece
of antiquity. * ,
After the Britons had defeated the Saxons, and obliged
them to retire northward, Ambrosius is said to have con¬
vened the princes and great men at York, where he gave
orders for repairing the churches destroyed by the Saxons,
and restoring the exercise of religion to its former lustre.
This is confirmed by Matthew of Westminster, who
highly applauds the great zeal of Ambrosius in repairing
the churches, encouraging the clergy, and restoring the
honour of religion. The Monmouth historian gives this
prince a very high character. “ He was a man,” says he,
“ of such bravery and courage, that when he was in Gaul
no one durst enter the lists with him; for he was sure to
unhorse his antagonist, or to break his spear into shivers.
He was, moreover, generous in bestowing, careful in per¬
forming religious duties, moderate in all things, and more
especially abhorred a lie. He was strong on foot, stronger
on horseback, and perfectly qualified to command an army.”
The same author tells us that he was poisoned at Win¬
chester, by one Eopa, a Saxon, disguised as a physician,
and hired for that purpose by Pascentius, one of the sons
of Vortigern ; but the generally received opinion is, that
he was killed in a battle which he lost in the year 508,
against Cerdic, one of the Saxon generals.
AMBRY, a place in which are deposited all utensils
necessary for house-keeping. In the ancient abbeys and
priories there was an office under this denomination,
wherein were laid up all charities for the poor.
AMBUBAJ/E, in Homan Antiquity, were immodest
women, who came from Syria to Rome, where they lived
by prostitution, and by playing on the flute. The word
is derived from the Syriac abub, which signifies a flute;
although others make it to come from am and Hairs, be¬
cause these prostitutes often retired to Baise.
AMBULANT, or Ambulatory. They gave in France
the name of Ambulant Commissioners to those commission¬
ers or clerks of the king’s farms who had no settled office,
but visited all the offices within a certain district, to see
that nothing was done in them against the king’s right
and the interest of the farm.
Ambulant is also used to denote those brokers at
Amsterdam, or exchange agents, who have not been
sworn before the magistrates. They transact brokerage
business, but their testimony is not received in the courts
of justice.
AMBULATORY, a term anciently applied to such
604
A M E
A M E
Ambur- courts, &c. as were not fixed to any certain place, but
bium }ieid sometimes in one place and sometimes in another,
Amedabat 0PP0S^0n t° stationary courts. The court of parlia-
ment was anciently ambulatory; so also were the courts
of king’s bench, &c.
AMBURBIUM, in Homan Antiquity, a procession
made by the Romans round the city and pomcerium, in
which they led a victim, and afterwards sacrificed it, in
order to avert some calamity that threatened the city.
AMBURY, or Anbury, among Farriers, denotes a
tumour, wart, or swelling, which is soft to the touch, and
full of blood.
This disorder of horses is cured by tying a horse-hair
very tightly about its root; and when it has fallen off, which
commonly happens in about eight days, strewing some
powder of verdigris upon the part, to prevent the return
of the complaint. If the tumour be so low that nothing
can be tied about it, they cut it out with a knife, or else
burn it oft with a sharp hot iron ; and in sinewy parts,
where a hot iron is improper, they eat it away with oil of
vitriol, or white sublimate.
AMBUSCADE, or Ambush, in the military art, pro¬
perly denotes a place where soldiers may lie concealed till
they find an opportunity to surprise the enemy.
AMBY, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of
Limburg, situated opposite to Maestricht, on the east side
of the river Maese, in long. 5. 45. E. lat. 50. 57. N.
AMEDABAT, or more properly Ahmedabat, i. e.
Ahmed's City, an ancient and celebrated city of Hindos-
tan, in the province of Gujerat, of which it was formerly
the Mahometan capital. It is situated on the banks of the
river Sabermatty, which washes its western walls, and, after
a course of about 120 miles, falls into the Gulf of Cambay,
near the city of this name. It was built about the year
1426 by the Sultan Ahmed Shah, on the site of a town
still more ancient, and soon became a populous and splen¬
did city ; and in the early part of the 17th century it was
a noted emporium of eastern commerce, to which the
Dutch and other European merchants resorted for the
purchase of goods. Here were manufactories of rich
gold and silver flowered silks of every description; of
steel, gold, ivory, enamel, mother-of-pearl, and lackered
ware, as well as of silk and cotton goods, which were export¬
ed through Cambay. The city has entirely declined from
its ancient splendour; and its various manufactories,
with some trifling exceptions, have fallen into decay and
ruin. Its former grandeur is now only marked by the ruins
of minarets, palaces, aqueducts, and caravansaries, which
extend nearly 30 miles around. In 1780, from being one
of the largest capitals in the East, Ahmedabat was re¬
duced to a circumference of five miles and three quar¬
ters, surrounded by a high wall, with irregular towers
every 50 yards, and 12 principal, besides many other in¬
ferior gates. On the outside of the walls the country was
in a state of desolation, the resort of wild beasts and of
noxious reptiles. This city was still further reduced by
the oppressive exactions of the Mahrattas, who conquer¬
ed it in the early part of the last century, and who levied
a tax on every article, however trifling, whether of luxury
or of necessity, which was either brought within or sent
out beyond its walls. It was acquired by the British in
1818, who commuted all these extortions into an ad va¬
lorem duty of 2A per cent, on indigo, raw silk, &c.; ex¬
empting from duty necessary articles of consumption, but
augmenting, with their usual rapacious policy, the imposts
on opium and tobacco, articles of general consumption
throughout India. All restrictions on the transit of the
agricultural products of the British territories through the
district were removed. This city was afflicted by a pes-
. iaiis
tilence in 1812 ; and it suffered greatly by an earthquake An
in 1819, when its population was estimated at 100,000-
and it has probably not decreased since that period. Tra- At
veiling distance from Bombay 321 miles; from Poona 389 S'*
from Delhi 610 ; and from Calcutta by Oojein 1234 miles!
Long. 72. 42. E. Lat. 23. 1. N. (Hamilton’s Description of
Hindostan, East India Gazetteer.')
AMEDIANS, in Ecclesiastical History, an order of
monks in Italy, so called from their professing themselves
amantes Deum, lovers of God; or rather amati Deo, be¬
loved of God. They wore a grey habit and wooden shoes,
had no breeches, and girt themselves with a cord. They
had 28 convents, and were united by Pope Pius V. partly
with the Cistercian order, and partly with that of the
Soccolanti, or wooden-shoe wearers.
AMELAND, an island in the North Sea, being a part
of the province of Friesland, in the Netherlands, from
which it is separated by a strait called the Wat. It con¬
tains three villages, one hamlet, and 2970 inhabitants,
who chiefly subsist by fishing, by freight, by burning lime
from mussel-shells, and by some agricultural pursuits.
Some corn is grown, and the cows produce both butter
and cheese.
AMELIA, an episcopal city of Italy, in the State of
the Church, seated on a mountain in the duchy of Spo-
letto. Long. 12. 19. E. Lat. 42. 33. N.
Amelia, a county in Virginia, situated between the
Blue-ridge and the tide waters, having Cumberland coun¬
ty on the north, Prince George county on the east, and
Lunenburg county on the south and west. In 1810
Amelia contained 10,594 inhabitants, of whom a great
proportion were slaves.
Amelia Isle, on the coast of East Florida, lies about
seven leagues north of St Augustin, and very near Tal¬
bot Island on the south, at the mouth of St John’s river.
It is 13 miles long and two broad, is very fertile, and has
an excellent harbour. Its north end lies opposite to Cum¬
berland Island, between which and Amelia Isle is the entry
into St Mary’s river, in long. 67. 23. W. lat. 30. 52. N.
AMELOT de la Houssai, Nicholas, born at Orleans
in 1634, was much esteemed at the court of France, and
appointed secretary of an embassy which that court sent
to the commonwealth of Venice, as appears by the title
of his Translation of Father Paul’s Flistory of the Council
of Trent; but he afterwards published writings which
gave such offence that he was imprisoned in the Bastile.
The first works he printed were the History of the Go¬
vernment of Venice, and that of the Uscoks, a people of
Croatia. In 1683 he published his translations into French
of Machiavel’s Prince, and Father Paul’s Flistory of the
Council of Trent, and political Discourses of his own upon
Tacitus. These performances were well received by the
public. He did not prefix his own name to the two last-
mentioned works, but concealed himself under that ol La
Mothe Josseval. His translation of Father Paul was at¬
tacked by the partisans of the pope’s unbounded power and
authority. In France, however, it met with great success;
all the advocates for the liberty of the Gallican church
promoting the success of it to the utmost of their power,
though at the same time there were three memorials
presented to have it suppressed. When the second edi¬
tion of this translation was published, it was violently at¬
tacked by the Abbe St Real, in a letter which he wrote to
M .Bayle, dated October 17, 1685. Amelot defended him¬
self in a letter to the same gentleman. In 1684 he print¬
ed, at Paris, a French Translation of Balthasar Gracian s
Courtier, with the title of EHomme de Cour. In 1686 he
printed La Morale de Tacite de la Flatterie, in which
work he collected several particular facts and maxims,
A M E
,ielotte which represent in a strong light the artifices of court-
11 flatterers, and the mischievous effects of their poisonous
/‘erica, discourses. Frederick Leonard, a bookseller at Paris,
having proposed in the year 1692 to print a collection of
all the treaties of peace between the kings of France and
all the other princes of Europe, since the reign of Charles
VII. to the year 1690, Amelot published a small volume,
in duodecimo, containing a preliminary discourse upon
these treaties, wherein he endeavours to show, that most
princes, when they enter into a treaty, think more how to
evade than how to perform the terms to which they sub¬
scribe. He published also an edition of Cardinal d’Ossat’s
letters in 1697, with several observations of his own; which,
as he tells us in his advertisement, may serve as a supple¬
ment to the history of the reigns of Henry III. and Henry
IV., kings of France. He wrote several other works ; and
died at Paris in 1706, at the age of 73. Amelot was at
one time confined in the Bastile, probably on account of
his political writings.
AMELOTTE, Denis, a celebrated French writer, was
born at Saintonge in 1606. He maintained a close cor¬
respondence with the fathers of the Oratory, a congrega¬
tion of priests founded by Philip of Neri. He wrote the
life of Charles of Gendron, second superior of this congre¬
gation, and published it at Paris in 1643. In this work
he said something of the famous abbot of St Cyran which
greatly displeased the gentlemen of Port Iloyal, who, out
of revenge, published a libel against him, entitled Idee Ge-
nerak de VEsprit et de Livre de P. Amelotte. He was so
much provoked by this satire, that he did all in his power
to injure them. They had finished a translation of the
New Testament, and were desirous to have it published;
for which purpose they endeavoured to procure an appro¬
bation from the doctors of the Sorbonne, and a privilege
from the king. Amelotte, however, by his influence with
the chancellor, defeated their intention. In this he had
also a view to his own interest, being about to publish a
I translation of his own. Amelotte’s translation, with an¬
notations, in four volumes octavo, was printed in the years
1666, 1667, and 1668, and, according to F. Simon, con¬
tains some very gross blunders. Amelotte wrote also an
Abridgement of Divinity, a Catechism for the Jubilee,
and a kind of Christian Manual for every day. He en¬
tered into the congregation of the Oratory in 1650, and
continued amongst them till his death, which happened
in 1678.
AMEN, -px, signifies true, faithful, certain. It is made
use of likewise to affirm any thing, and was a sort of affir¬
mation used often by our Saviour: A^nv, A^v, Xeyu bfiiv,
'• e' Verily, verily, I say unto -you. Lastly, it is under¬
stood as expressing a wish: as, amen, so he it, Numb. v.
X; or an affirmation, amen; yes, I believe it, 1 Cor. xiv.
16. The Hebrews end the five books of Psalms, accord-
A M E
605
mg to their way of distributing them, with the words Amend
amen, amen / which the Septuagmt have translated ymiro, II
ynwro; and the Latins fiat, fiat. The Greek and Latin America,
churches have preserved this word in their prayers, as'
well as allelmah and hosannah; because they observed
more energy in them than in any terms which they could
use in their own languages. At the conclusion of the
public prayers, the people answered with a loud voice
Amen; and St Jerome says, that at Rome, when the people
answered amen, the sound of their voices was like a clap
of thunder: In similitudine ccelestis tonitrui amen reboat.
The Jews assert that the gates of heaven are opened to
him who answers amen with all his might.
AMEND, or Amende, in the French customs, a pecu¬
niary punishment imposed by a judge for any crime, false
prosecution, or groundless appeal.
. Amende Honorable, a species of punishment formerly
inflicted in France upon traitors, parricides, or sacrile¬
gious persons, in the following manner; The offender being
delivered into the hands of the hangman, his shirt is
stripped off, a rope put about his neck, and a taper placed
in his hand; he is then led into court, where he must be0-
pardon of God, the king, the court, and his country. ^
Amende Honorable is a term also used for making
recantation in open court, or in presence of the person
injured.
AMENDMENT, in a general sense, denotes some
alteration or change made in a thing for the better.
Amendment, in Law, the correction of an error com¬
mitted in a process, which may be amended after judg¬
ment, unless the error lies in giving judgment; for in that
case it is not amendable, but the party must bring a writ
of error. A bill may be amended on the file at any time
before the plea is pleaded; but not afterwards, without
motion and leave of the court.
AMENTUM, in Botany, the name of a species of calyx,
consisting of valves, and hanging down in different direc¬
tions from the caulis. Common oats afford a good ex¬
ample of the amentum.
Amentum, in Roman Antiquity, a thong tied about the
middle of a javelin or dart, and fastened to the fore-finger,
in order to recover the weapon as soon as it was dis¬
charged. The ancients made much use of the amentum,
thinking it helped to enforce the blow. It also denotes a
latchet that bound their sandals.
AMERADE, a kind of officers among the Saracens, an¬
swering to the governors of provinces among the Euro¬
peans. The name is originally the same with that of Emir.
AMERCEMENT, or Amerciament, in Law, a pecu¬
niary punishment imposed on offenders at the mercy of
the court. It differs from a fine, in being imposed arbi¬
trarily, in proportion to the fault; whereas a fine is a cer¬
tain punishment settled expressly by some statute.
AMERICA.
QLR object in this article is to take a comprehensive
survey of the American continent in its physical,
moral, and general relations. In attempting this, we do
*m intend to go much into detail upon those subjects
' neii will be more fully and appropriately discussed in
e distinct articles assigned in this work to the seve-
,a states included in the western world; but we shall
lwel at some length upon those great features, pecu-
arities, and classes of facts, which either belong to it as
a whole, or can be most advantageously considered or
described when all its parts are viewed in connection with
one another. Such are the climate and physical structure
of the country, the geographical distribution of its cultivat¬
ed plants, its indigenous population, its animal tribes, its
commercial and political capabilities, and its means of pro¬
gressive improvement. The new continent may be styled
emphatically, “ a land of promise.” The place it now oc¬
cupies in the civilized world is insignificant compared with
606 AMERICA.
America, what it must attain. The present there sinks into nothing
^-^^^in itself, and derives all its importance from the germs it
contains of a mighty future. The change must not only
be great, but rapid, beyond all which the past history of
mankind would lead us to expect. Even after we have
familiarized our minds with the principles upon which its
progress depends, we find it difficult to reconcile ourselves
to the consequences that inevitably result from them.
But time will do its work; and the great-grandsons of
those now in existence may live to see the new world
contain a greater mass of civilized men than the old. It
is this greatness in prospect which lends an interest to the
western continent, similar to that which the eastern de¬
rives from its historical recollections. The same circum¬
stance requires that we should dwell at some length on
the physical structure of America, and on those indige¬
nous tribes which, in the course of three centuries, will
only live in poetry and tradition. The future history of
the new world must be read by us in the configuration of
its surface, the distribution of its mountains and rivers,
the productions of its soil, its natural and political capabi¬
lities, and in the habits and character, rather than the num¬
bers or the actual progress of its civilized inhabitants.
The continental part of America extends from the 54th
degree of south to the 71st of north latitude, its extreme
length, from the Straits of Magellan to those of Behring,
being 10,500 English miles. The island of Terra del
Fuego reaches one degree beyond its south extremity into
the Antarctic Ocean; and Greenland, which is connected
by geographers with America, has been traced to the 78th
degree of north latitude, and probably is prolonged much
farther into the polar circle. The late discoveries of Cap¬
tains Parry and Franklin have given us much more exact
ideas than we formerly possessed of the northern regions
of America. The coast of the mainland has been traced
from 108° to 149° of west longitude, and is found to run
in a direction nearly east and west, in an uneven line
lying between the parallels of 67° and 71°. From the
strong current which sets eastward through the Straits of
the Fury and Hecla, there is little doubt that the arm of
the sea visited by Franklin extends from Point Turnagain,
in latitude 681°, towards these straits, in latitude 70°. On
the western side an interval of no more than 160 miles
separates the discoveries of Captain Franklin and Captain
Beechy; and as the coast at the two nearest points known
is almost precisely in the same latitude, there can be
little hazard in assuming that the intervening part does
not deviate far from the parallel of 71°. The bounds
of continental America may therefore be considered as
nearly determined on every side. The additional lights
furnished by Captain Parry’s voyages render it extremely
probable that a great archipelago of islands occupies all the
space between the northern coast of the continent and
the 80th parallel; and there is even some reason for be¬
lieving that the country known by the name of Greenland
is traversed from east to west by arms of the sea, like the
regions recently explored on the west side of Baffin’s
Bay.
The new continent, when compared with the old, enjoys
three important advantages. First, it is free from such vast
deserts as cover a large part of the surface of Asia and
Africa, and which not only withdraw a great proportion of
the soil from the use of man, but are obstacles to com¬
munication between the settled districts, and generate
that excessive heat which is often injurious to health, and
always destructive to industry. Secondly, no part of its
soil is so far from the ocean as the central regions of Asia
and Africa. Thirdly, the interior of America is penetrat¬
ed by majestic rivers, the Mississippi, Amazon, and Plata, Amerj.
greatly exceeding in magnitude those of the old continent, J
and surpassing them still more in the vast facilities they
present for enabling the remotest inland districts to com¬
municate with the sea.
According to the geographical system adopted in the
old world, America ought to be considered as two distinct
continents, connected by the isthmus of Darien. Its two
great divisions have evidently more of a defined and sepa¬
rate character than Africa and Asia, or than Asia and
Europe ; but though this arrangement may be very pro¬
perly adopted for the purpose of description, it is too
late now to think of assigning separate names to regions
which have so long been known by a common appellation.
In the physical arrangement of the parts of South and
North America there is a remarkable resemblance. Both
are very broad in the north, and gradually contract as
they proceed southward, till they end, the one in a narrow
isthmus, and the other in a narrow promontory. Each has a
lofty chain of mountains near its western coast, abounding
in volcanoes, with a lower ridge on the opposite side, des¬
titute of any trace of internal fire ; and each has one great
central plain declining to the south and the north, and
watered by two gigantic streams, the Mississippi, corre¬
sponding to the Plata, and the St Lawrence to the Ama¬
zon. In their climate, vegetable productions, and ani¬
mal tribes, however, the two regions are very dissimilar.
The extent of the American continent and the islands
connected with it is as follows :
Square English
miles.
North America,   7,400,000
South America, 6,500,000
Islands, 150,000
Greenland, and the islands connected with itl
lying north of Hudson’s Straits, may be h ....900,000
estimated at )
14,950,000.
The American continent, therefore, with its dependent
islands, is fully four times as large as Europe, about one
third larger than Africa, and almost one half less than
Asia, if we include with the latter Australia and Poly¬
nesia. It constitutes about three tenths of the dry land
on the surface of the globe. Of the continental part of
North America, a considerable part is condemned to
perpetual sterility by the rigour of the climate, as we
shall explain more fully by and by. At present it is
sufficient to state, that if we draw a line from the head of
Cook’s Inlet, in latitude 61°, on the west side, to the Straits
of Bellisle on the east, so as to pass through kort Churchill,
on Hudson’s Bay, we shall cut off a space rather exceed¬
ing one million and a half of square miles, which may be
considered as incapable of cultivation. At the south ex¬
tremity of America, a small tract, extending 200 miles
north of the Straits of Magellan, though far within the
limits of the temperate zone, is nearly in the same condi¬
tion. These and the summits of the Andes are the only
parts of the American continent which are rendered in¬
capable of cultivation by the severity of the climate.
The vast chain of the Andes is distinguished by severa
peculiar features from all other mountains in the '
It has its principal direction nearly north and south, win e
all the great ridges of the old continent run from east to
west; it is unparalleled in its prodigious length, in J" e
richness of its mineral treasures, and in the num er
and magnitude of its volcanoes. The Andes, n
connect with them the Mexican Cordillera and e
Rocky Moub tains, extend from the Straits of Magellan, m
AMERICA.
A) nca.
607
a line which may be considered as unbroken, to Point of which the most considprablp m-* rwi-u ^ ^ .
Brownlow on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in the lati- Hages, and the great lake of Titiaca. 20(W1° a’- P]ataip®’ ASou^h
.“de of 7°" ove. a space eqaa! ,o 10,000 miles in length, or Thfs ike, an! & Vl^G^ant^"Klv
two fifths Ofthe arcum ference of the globe. Them height, sheets of fresh water in South America whTch vie J
which attains its maximum within the tropics, declines magnitude with those singular reservoirs p7aced on the
towards both poles, but in such amanner that, with a few course of the St Lawrence. From the latitude of 6°
south to 2° north, the Andes contract their breadth, and
form^an elevated plateau. One part of this constitutes
^ ^ ^ ~ kj V-* V'T** ^ Cl lei 1,5 w 11/11 Cl lew
exceptions, its higher summits ascend to the line of per¬
petual snow from one extremity to the other. It may
thus be said to carry the temper of the pole over the the Paramo, or desert of Assuay, a plain at the height of
whole length of the American continent The chain of 13,000 feet above the sea, and embracing a surface of 50
the Andes is common to the two parts of America, and is square miles, where snow-storms are frequent, and only a
m thc ],nk wAhlch connects them and makes them few alpine plants grow. Farther north lies another rani!
one continent. As we propose, however, to describe of table-land, from 9000 to 9400 feet in height near the
North and South America separately, we shall reserve north extremity of which the towrn of Quito is situated On
the details for another part of this article. this elevated plain are placed two lines of lofty summhs
South America is a peninsula of a triangular form. Its standing detached from each other, and crowned with dia-
greatest length from north to south is 4550 miles; its dems of perpetual snow. Their symmetrical disposition
greatest breadth 3200 and it covers an area, as already led Bouguer to consider the space between the eastern and
mentioned, of 6,500,000 square English miles, about three western lines as a valley; but Humboldt remarks that it is
fourths of which lie between the tropics, and the other
fourth in the temperate zone. From the configuration, of
its surface, this peninsula may be divided into five dis¬
tinct physical regions, of which at present it will be suffi-
really the crest of the Cordillera, upon which, as a base,
the cones or masses of Pinchincha, Antisana, Atacazo,
Chimborazo, and others, rest. When we have lived in this
elevated spot for some time, “ we forget that every thino-
cient to sketch the outlines. 1. The low country skirting which surrounds the observer, those villages which proclaim
the shores of the I acific Ocean, from oO to 150 miles in the industry of a mountainous people, those pastures cover-
breadth, and 4000 in ength The two extremities of this ed with herds of lamas and flocks of European sheep, those
territory are fertile, the middle a sandy desert. 2. The orchards, those fields cultivated with care, and promising
basin of the Orinoco, surrounded by the Andes and their the richest harvests, hang as it were suspended in the lofty
branches, a country consisting of extensive plains or regions of the atmosphere, at a height exceeding that of
steppes called Llanos, either destitute of wood or merely the Pyrenees.” From Quito, a single chain extends to
dotted with trees, but covered with a very high herbage Popayan, where it parts into three parallel chains. The
during a part of the year. During the dry season the westmost of these ridges, which scarcely rises to an ele-
heat is intense here, and the parched soil opens into long vation of 5000 feet, divides the valley of the river Cauca
fissures, in which lizards and serpents lie in a state of from the Pacific Ocean; and a branch proceeding from it
torpor. 3. I he basin of the Amazon, a vast plain, em- passes through the isthmus of Panama, where it sinks to
bracing a surface of more than two 'millions of square
miles, possessing a rich soil and a humid climate. It is
covered almost everywhere with dense forests, which har¬
bour innumerable tribes of wild animals, and are thinly
inhabited by savages, who live by hunting and fishing.
4. The great southern plain, watered by the Plata and
the numerous streams descending from the eastern sum¬
mits of the Cordilleras. Open steppes, which are here
the small elevation of 600 or 800 feet above the sea. The
second or central ridge maintains nearly the general height
of the main trunk, and has summits which rise into the
regions of perpetual snow. It separates the valley of
the Cauca from that of the Magdalena. The pass of
Quindiu, described by Humboldt, is one of the Quebra-
das, or transverse ravines, which open a path through this
mountain. It is so narrow in some places as to have the
MoJ
tainj
'Pri¬
des.
-1 - - /   _— ^ au uaiiuw 1x1 suiue pxtices as iu nave me
called i anipas, occupy the greater proportion of this region, appearance of a gallery cut artificially and open to day.
wiici is and in some parts barren, but in general is It is steep and uneven, and is kept almost perpetually wet
covered with a strong growth of weeds and tall grass, which by the rains. Travellers are carried through this ravine
eeds prodigious herds of horses and cattle, and affords in chairs strapped on the backs of porters, who follow
sfielter to a few wild animals. 5. The high country of this mode of life voluntarily for the sake of gain, and
lazi, eastward of the Parana and Araguay, presenting think themselves sufficiently paid with twelve or fourteen
alternate ridges and valleys, thickly covered with wood on piasters, for a toilsome journey of fifteen or twenty days.
e S1^e _nexf the Atlantic, and opening into steppes or Even the bottom of this ravine, at its highest point, is
pastures in the interior. 11,400 feet above the sea, and of course exceeds the high-
6 Andes skirt the shores of the Pacific Ocean, like est summit of the Pyrenees in altitude. The third or
a vast rampart opposed to its encroachments, along the
" bole line of the western coast, from 12° of north to 53°
of south latitude. They derive their name from anti, a
1 eruvian word signifying copper. Except at some points
eastern ridge separates the valley of the Magdalena from
the plains of the Rio Meta, and has its northern termina¬
tion at Cape Vela, in longitude 72°. This chain, though
lower than the central one, has summits which reach to
" iere they have been examined by scientific men, their the height of 14,000 feet. Between the eastern and cen-
s ructure is yet but imperfectly known; and hence they tral chains is situated the capital of Colombia, Santa Fe,
aie often incorrectly exhibited in our maps. Though often in a large and beautiful plain 8700 feet above the sea,
(escribed as a single chain, they generally consist of a and which, from the perfect level of its surface, and the
succession of ridges, divided by high and narrow valleys; barrier of rocks that incloses it, appears to have been an
ut these ridges, instead of running in parallel lines, ge- ancient lake. The waters of this plain escape by a narrow
iierally ramify from central points in all directions, and outlet, and rushing down a cleft, leap at two bounds to a
«s present the appearance of a confused assemblage of depth of 573 feet, forming the celebrated fall of Tequen-
« chains. Between the latitudes of 33° and 6° they dama, which, in the attributes of beauty and sublimity, is
spread out their base to an extent of 300 miles, and even said not to be surpassed in the world. These three paral-
*>mch farther, if we take in the smaller subordinate chains, lei ridges are properly component parts of the main trunk,
n t le mter.vals between the ridges are situated many lakes, like the two ridges of Upper Peru.
608 - AMERICA.
South The mean height of the Andes in Peru, or that of the
America, continuous ridge, independent of projecting cones, is
estimated by Humboldt at 11,000 or 12,000 feet (1850
Height. t0jses). jn Chili, according to Mr Miers, the most ele¬
vated summits, at the latitude 33°, only reach the height
of 15,000 feet, and the mean height of the chain is in
some places as low as 8000; in Patagonia its height is
unknown. Till lately, the loftiest summits were suppos¬
ed to be in Quito, where Chimborazo attains the pro¬
digious altitude of 21,400 English feet, and the volca¬
nic caves of Antisana and Cotopaxi have the elevations
of 19,100 and 18,900 feet respectively; but Mr Pent-
land, an English gentleman attached to the Peruvian
embassy, has ascertained, by measurements performed
with care, that the mountains of Quito are greatly sur¬
passed in altitude by those of Upper Peru. The Andes
here form two chains, which are separated by a large dis¬
trict of table-land, the northern extremity of which is oc¬
cupied by the lake Titiaca. The eastern chain presents,
between the 14th and 17th parallels, a range of snow-co¬
vered peaks, of which several have an elevation exceeding
20,000 feet. Among these, towards the north, in the la¬
titude of 15° 30', is Sorate, 25,250, and farther south Il¬
limani, 24,300 feet in height. The former, therefore, is
nearly 4000 feet higher than Chimborazo, and only about
1000 feet lower than Mount Jahaver, the highest in the
chain of the Himalaya. The western chain is lower than
the eastern, but one of its summits has an altitude of
18,800 feet. Mr Pentland concludes, from astronomical
observations, that the eastern chain is 310 geographical
or 360 English miles from the coast. The mineral wealth
of the district has attracted a large population to this
table-land, which, with the single exception of Thibet, is
probably the highest inhabited soil on the face of the
globe. Here are flocks, gardens, cultivated fields, and po¬
pulous cities, suspended above the region of the clouds. La
Paz, with 20,000 inhabitants, and Potosi, which had once
150,000, are situated in this plain, at the height of 12,190
and 13,500 feet above the level of the sea; and there are
cottages near the mines at 15,700 feet, an elevation ex¬
ceeding that of Mont Blanc.1 This table-land, from Cus¬
co to Potosi, was the primitive seat of the empire of the
incas, and the centre of Peruvian civilisation.
Though nothing appears more capricious than the dis¬
tribution and elevation of mountains, they yet afford, on
the great scale, striking proofs of beneficent design, and
of adaptation to the wants of civilized man. Many chains
of mountains, for instance, enter within the regions of
eternal frost with one or more of their summits; but there
is not a single great chain in any of the fruitful and habit¬
able parts of the world which so far transcends this limit
as to present an unbroken line of snow along its whole
length. The height of the curve of congelation dimi¬
nishes as we approach the pole; and if there were not a
corresponding diminution in the elevation of the moun¬
tains, or if the principal chains in the different habitable
zones were raised a little higher, they would sever the
nations living on their opposite sides as effectually as a
wall of brass reaching above the clouds. The Andes, if
we disregard their projecting summits, form an unbroken
dike about 2^ miles high, and 4500 miles long. Were three
or four thousand feet added to their height, all access
across, from one side of the chain to the other, would be
denied to the foot of man. If great perils attend the
short journey to the summit of Mont Blanc, what human
skill or power could encounter the terrors of a snowy Soi
desert a hundred miles in breadth, beset with avalanches Ame
and visited with storms. In these circumstances, such^^
towns as Arica and La Paz, or Mendoza and Santiago,
which are separated only by a journey of three days,
would be as far asunder for the purposes of traffic or in¬
tercourse as England and Jamaica. But the line which
bounds the means of communication varies from clime to
clime. Were the Alps as elevated as the Andes, all the
passes across the former would be closed; and were the
Dofrines as high as the Alps, Sweden and Norway could
only communicate by sea. Though the altitude of the
Andes in Chili and Patagonia has never been measured,
various circumstances show that the chain descends as it
advances from the torrid zone to its southern termination.
In Quito and Peru, the back or crest of the ridge is free
from snow, which only rests upon isolated summits; and
with the aid of such arrangements as would be created by
a dense population, the means of passing from one side to
the other might perhaps be found wherever they were
deemed necessary. In Chili, beyond the latitude of 30°,
the highest point of the most frequented pass was found
by Mr Miers to be 11,920 feet above the sea; and the
courier travels through it even in winter. In Peru and
Quito the passes in many cases consist of deep fissures,
called quebradas, apparently produced by earthquakes,
extremely narrow, and often descending to the depth of
nearly a mile.2 In Patagonia, where the snow descends
much lower, the passes must be few; but there are some,
—and this circumstance authorizes the conclusion, that
the height of the chain is smaller here than in Chili.
Three branches or transverse chains proceed from the l™13
Andes, nearly at right angles to the direction of the prin-^j^
cipal chain, and pass eastward across the continent, about
the parallels of 18° of south, and 4° and 9° of north lati¬
tude. The most northern of these is the “ Cordillera of
the coast,” which parts from the main trunk near the
south extremity of the lake Maracaybo, reaches the sea
at Porto Cabello, and then passes eastward through Ca-
raccas to the Gulf of Paria. Its length is about 700 miles,
and its medium height from 4000 to 5000 feet; but the
Silla de Caraccas, one of its summits, has an elevation of
8400 feet; and its western part, which is at. some dis¬
tance from the sea, contains the Sierra of Merida, 15,000
feet in height. The second transverse chain is connected
with the Andes at the parallels of 3° and 4° north, and
passing eastward, terminates in French Guiana, at no great
distance from the mouth of the Amazon. It is sometimes
called the Cordillera of Parime, but is named by Hum¬
boldt the “ Cordillera of the Cataracts of the Orinoco,
because this river, which flows amidst its ridges in the up¬
per part of its course, forms the cataracts of Maypure at
the point where it descends into the plains. Its mean
height is estimated at 4000 feet above the level of the
sea; but only a small part of it has been visited by any
European. This chain divides the waters of the Orinoco
and the rivers of Guiana from the basin of the Amazon,
and is covered with magnificent forests. Its breadth is
supposed to be from 200 to 300 miles, and it incloses
amidst its ridges the great lake Parime, in longitude 60 ,
and several of smaller size. On a table-land forming
part of it, about the 67th degree of longitude, the Gasbi-
quiary forms an intermediate channel, which connects t e
rivers Orinoco and Amazon, so that during the ‘innu^1
floods a part of the waters of the former flow into the a
1 Bulletin des Sciences Geographiques, Mars 1829 ; Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, .April 1830, p. 353.
2 Humboldt’s Researches, vol. i. p. 53; Miers’ Travels in Chili and La Plata, vol. i. p. 319.
I
AMERICA.
609
Soh ter. This singular phenomenon was made known long all together, and probably resting generally on the sides
Am ta. ago by the Spanish missionaries, but was thought to be of the granite, without covering its summit' Above these
a fable, till the truth was ascertained by Humboldt. The sometimes in beds, but more frequently in amorphous
length of this chain is about 1500 miles. Ihe third trans- masses, rest immense deposits, first of an old porphyry
verse chain, which bears various names, and is little next of a newer porphyry rich in metals, then of basalt*
known, crosses the continent between the parallels of 12 clinkstone, and amygdaloids, with masses of trachyte and
and 18 degrees, connecting the Andes with the mountains sienite interspersed in various parts of the series. The
of Brazil, and dividing, the waters of the Amazon from order, however, must not be understood to be uniform, or
those of the Plata. It is a broad plateau of elevated land very perfectly determined. Trachyte, it may be neces-
rather than a distinct mountainous ridge, and consists of sary to mention, is the oldest rock recognised as a volcanic
low hills or uneven plains, with very little wood, present- product: but in the Andes, Humboldt thinks that it °Ta-
ing in some places extensive pastures, and in others tracts duates into the older porphyry ; and the two formations,
of a poor sandy soil. Its average height probably does with all the trap rocks resting above them, must therefore
not exceed 2000 or 3000 feet above the level of the sea.1 be held to be of igneous origin. Now these volcanic rocks,
The mountains of Brazil, which are of moderate height, which occupy but a trifling space in Europe, and never
and occupy a great breadth of country, form an irregular occur at great elevations, form almost everywhere the
plateau, bristled with sharp ridges and peaks. They ex- summits of the Andes, and exhibit at some places the
tend from the shores of the Plata to within a short dis- enormous thickness of 10,000 or 12,000 feet. Rocks,
tance of the Amazon, over a space of 2000 miles; and therefore, which are the acknowledged progeny of1 fire,*
their greatest breadth may be nearly equal to half their crown this gigantic chain, and constitute probably one
length. Itacolumi, about 250 miles north-west of Rio third of its bulk; a remarkable fact in geology, and one
Janeiro, which is celebrated for its auriferous sands and that associates naturally with the existence of so great a
gravel, and gives birth to three great rivers, the Parana, number of active volcanoes. On the flanks of the Andes
the St Francisco, and the Tocantin, is considered the most are found vast beds of sandstone and coal, of limestone
elevated summit, and the stem of the whole group. Ac- containing fossil shells, and of other secondary formations,
cording to the German miner Eschwege, it rises to the up to the quadersandstein, or Green Sand of the English
height of 5710 English feet2 above the level of the sea ; geologists. Fossil shells and coal have been discovered at
and the ordinary elevation of the numerous ridges which the height of 14,000 feet above the sea, and gypsum and
branch off from it is supposed to be 3000 or 4000 feet, rock-salt occur at various elevations. The third pecu-
fhe western parts of this chain, which are near the centre liarity in these mountains is the abundance of their mi-
of the continent, are supposed to be lower than those on neral treasures, which include extremely rich veins of
the coast; but they are probably as high, if Dr Spix is gold, silver, and copper, and all the other metals. Lastly,
correct in stating that the mean heat of the year is below the Andes are distinguished by having their sides invest-
G5° of Fahrenheit (15° or 16° of Reaumur). ed with a thick coat of clay, in which deep gullies have
GeoF. The geology of the South American mountains, parti- everywhere been worn by the streams. The great diffusion
cularly the Andes, is distinguished, like their physical of internal fire in this chain, the newness of some of the
form and arrangement, by some remarkable peculiarities, strata found in its interior valleys or on its flanks, the fre-
fhe chain of the Andes, as we have already stated, may quency of earthquakes in it, and the singular phenomenon
be considered as an immense dike, from two to three of part of its western margin in Chili, over an extent of
miles in height, and from one to two hundred in breadth, thirty leagues, having ascended three or four feet during
Ihe first and most peculiar feature of this chain is, that the subterranean concussions in 1822, have led geologists
it contains within its limits thirty active volcanoes,3 or to infer that the Andes, though surpassing in elevation
nearly one fifth of all that are known in the world. They all other mountains, with a single and doubtful exception,
are irregularly distributed over the whole line from Pasto are among the last which have been heaved up from the
to lerra del Fuego, but they are most numerous in Chili bottom of the ocean.4
and Colombia. Some of them throw out smoke merely, The transverse chain of the coast of Caraccas consists
some mud and water, and only a few produce eruptions partly of primitive and partly of secondary formations,
of lava. These must be viewed as the funnels of an-im- The Cordillera of Parime, so far as it has been examined,
mense laboratory of subterranean fire, extending along the is entirely composed of primitive rocks, viz. granite, gneiss,
whole chain, and producing, by its internal agitations, mica slate, and hornblende; the Cordillera of Chiquito,
those tremendous earthquakes, which have been more which divides the Plata from the Amazon, is only known
frequent and destructive here than in any equal range of at its eastern extremity, where it joins the mountains of
country elsewhere in the world. The second peculiarity Brazil. These last consist of a great number of ridges,
111 the structure of the Andes is closely connected with running in general south and north. Granite abounds in
the first; it is the prodigious space occupied by the ba- those nearest the Atlantic, but the prevailing rock every- .
salts, porphyries, and trachytes, that is, by rocks of igneous where else, as far westward as the mountains of Cujaba,
origin. It is foreign to our purpose to go minutely into in longitude 55°, is a quartzy mica slate, intermixed how-
geological details; but a general idea of the composition ever with granite, gneiss, and quartz rock, and having por-
°f these mountains may be communicated in a few sen- tions of secondary sandstone resting on its sides or in its
tences. The base of the chain consists of granite, which low valleys. This quartzy mica slate, in Brazil, is the ma- ,
way be conceived to form a long elevation, protruded trix of the gold and diamonds; and the former is general-
horn below, in the shape of a swoln ridge, from 5000 to ly accompanied with platinum and iron. The direction
11,000 feet in height. Incumbent on this are strata of of the strata approaches to north-east and south-west, and
gneiss, mica slate, clay slate, and graywacke, but seldom the dip, where observed, is from 50° to 70° to the south-
South
America.
3 Travels of Spix and Von Martins in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 144. Eng. edit. s Spix’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 269.
On some maps 40 are marked, but erroneously. See Memoir on Active Volcanoes, in the french Annuaire for 1824.
, Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, vol. iv. p. 308; Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 342; Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, January 1829;
. hers’ Travels in Chili and La Plata, vol. i. p. 394.
VOL. II. 4 H
%
610
AMERICA.
South east. These mountains, like the Andes, are in many
America, parts covered with a stratum of clay.1 The rocks of the
great plains have been but partially examined. Hum¬
boldt thinks that the northern Llanos of Caraccas are of
old red sandstone. Marls and clays, apparently of the
tertiary class, were found by Mr Caldcleugh in the Pam¬
pas of Buenos Ayres; and since deposits of rock-salt ex¬
ist on the east side of the Andes, it is probable that the
whole plain of the Plata is occupied by secondary and
tertiary formations.2
Climate. The latitude and elevation of the land in each country,
its position in reference to the sea, with the direction of
the prevailing winds, are the chief circumstances which
determine the nature of the climate. We have already
mentioned that three fourths of South America lie with¬
in the tropics, and the remaining fourth in the tem¬
perate zone ; but, in both divisions, it might be naturally
inferred that a huge wall like the Andes, rising into the
atmosphere to the height of two or three miles, and run¬
ning across the course of the tropical and extra-tropical
winds, would exert a powerful influence on the tempera¬
ture, humidity, and the distribution of the seasons. This
is actually the case ; and it is this vast chain of mountains,
with its prolongation in North America, which affords a
key to the most remarkable peculiarities in the climate of
the whole continent. The subject, we think, has not been
hitherto well understood, but admits of being explained
in a very simple manner.
The trade-winds blowing from the east occupy a zone
60 degrees in breadth, extending from 30° of south to 30°
of north latitude. Beyond these limits are variable winds;
but the prevailing direction in the open sea, where no ac¬
cidental causes operate, is well known by navigators to be
from the west. Now these winds are the agents which,
transport the equable temperature of the ocean, and the
moisture exhaled from its surface, to the interior of the
great continents, where it is precipitated in the shape of
rain, dew, or snow. Mountains attract the moisture which
floats in the atmosphere; they obstruct also the aerial cur¬
rents, and presenting great inequalities of temperature,
favour precipitation. Rain, accordingly, in all countries
falls most abundantly on the elevated land. Let us con¬
sider, then, what will be the effect of a mural ridge like
the Andes in the situation which it occupies. In the re¬
gion within the 30th parallel, the moisture swept up by the
trade-wind from the Atlantic will be precipitated in part
upon the mountains of Brazil, which are but low, and so
distributed as to extend far into the interior. The por¬
tion which remains will be borne westward, and, losing a
little as it proceeds, will be arrested by the Andes, and
fall down in showers on their summits. The aerial cur¬
rent will now be deprived of all the humidity which it
can part with, and arrive in a state of complete exsicca¬
tion at Peru, where no rain will consequently fall. That
even a much lower ridge than the Andes may intercept
the whole moisture of the atmosphere, is proved by a
well-known phenomenon in India, where the Ghauts, a
chain only 3000 or 4000 feet high, divide summer from
winter, as it is called ; that is, they have copious rains on
their windward side, while on the other the weather re¬
mains clear and dry; and the rains regularly change from
the west side to the east, and vice versa, with the mon¬
soons. In the region beyond the 30th parallel, this effect
will be reversed. The Andes will in this case serve as a
screen to intercept the moisture brought by the prevail¬
ing west winds from the Pacific Ocean; rains will be co- s0
pious on their summits, and in Chili on their western de- Am ^
clivities, but none will fall on the plains to the eastward, ^ tsj
except occasionally, when the winds blow from the Atlan¬
tic. The phenomena of the weather correspond in a re¬
markable manner with this hypothesis. On the shores of
the Pacific, from Coquimbo, at the 30th parallel, to Amo-
tape, at the 5th of south latitude, no rain falls; and the
whole of this tract is a sandy desert, except the narrow
strips of land skirting the streams that descend from
the Andes, where the soil is rendered productive by ir-
rigation. From the 30th parallel southward the scene
changes. Rains are frequent; vegetation appears on the
surface, and grows more vigorous as we advance south¬
ward. “ At Conception,” says Captain Hall, “ the eye was
delighted with the richest and most luxuriant foliage; at
Valparaiso the hills were poorly clad with a stunted
brushwood and a poor attempt at grass, the ground look¬
ing starved and naked ; at Coquimbo the brushwood was
gone, with nothing in its place but a vile sort 6f prickly
pear bush, and a thin sprinkling of grey wiry grass; at
Guasca (latitude 28^°) there was not a trace of vegetation,
and the hills were covered with bare sand.”3 It follows
from the principle we have laid down, that in this south¬
ern part of the continent the dry tract should be found
on the east side of the mountains, and such is the fact.
At Mendoza, in latitude 30°, rain scarcely ever falls, and the
district along the east foot of the Andes is known to con¬
sist chiefly of parched sands, on which a few stunted shrubs
grow, and in which many of the streams that descend from
the mountains are absorbed before they reach the sea.
The whole country, indeed, south of the Plata, suffers from
drought; but on the eastern side this is remedied to some
extent by winds from the east or south-east, which bring
occasional rains to refresh the soil. From Amotape north¬
ward, on the other hand, the west coast is well watered
and fruitful; and this is easily accounted for. The line
of the coast here changes its direction, and trends to the
north-east as far as the Isthmus of Panama, where the
mountains sink to a few hundred feet in height, and leave
a free passage to the trade-wkld, which here often
assumes a direction from the north-east, or even the
north. The exhalations of the Atlantic are thus brought
in abundance to the coast of Quito, which is in conse¬
quence well watered; while the neighbouring district of
Peru suffers from perpetual aridity.
Our principle applies equally to the explanation of
some peculiar facts connected with the climate of North
America. The western coast of Mexico, as far as St
Bias or Mazatlan, in latitude 23°, is well watered, because,
first, the continent here is narrow; secondly, the table¬
land of Mexico, which is much lower than the Andes ol
Chili, is not so effectual a screen to intercept the mois¬
ture ; and, thirdly, there is reason to believe that a branch
of the trade-wind, which crosses the low part of the con¬
tinent at Panama and Nicaragua, sweeps along the west
coast during part of the year, and transports humidity
with it. But beyond the point we have mentioned
drought prevails. Sonora, though visited occasionally by
rains, consists of sandy plains without herbage, where the
streams lose themselves in the parched soil without
reaching the sea; and even Old California, which has the
ocean on one side, and a broad gulf on the other, and
ought apparently to be excessively humid, is covered with
sterile rocks and sandy hills, where the vegetation is
1 Spix and Von Martins, vol. ii. p. 142, &c.
* Bulletin des Sciences Naturellcs et de Geologic, Fevrier 1829. Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, vol. iv. p. 384.
3 Hall’s Extracts from a Journal, vol. ii. p. 12.
AMERICA.
611
Soi scanty, and no timber is seen except brushwood.1 This
Ame a. dry region extends as far as 33° or 34° ; but immediately
beyond this we have another change of scene. New Ca¬
lifornia is described as in all respects a contrast to the
Old. It is rich, fertile, and humid, abounding in luxuriant
forests and fine pastures; and the American possessions
to the northward preserve the same character. How can
we account for this singular diversity of climate, except
upon the principle which has been explained, namely, that
in all regions where ranges of mountains intersect the
course of the constant or predominant winds, the country
on the windward side of the mountains will be moist, and
that on the leeward dry; and hence parched deserts will
generally be found on the west side of countries within the
tropics, and on the east side of those beyond them ? Our
hypothesis applies equally to the country east of the Rocky
Mountains. For the space of about 300 miles from the
foot of this chain the surface consists of dry sands or
gravel, sometimes covered with saline incrustations, al¬
most destitute of trees and herbage, and watered by streams
flowing from the mountains, which are sometimes entire¬
ly absorbed by the arid soil.2 The central and eastern
part of the basin of the Mississippi would in all proba¬
bility have been equally barren had the configuration of
the land been a little different in the south. A tract of
country extremely low and level extends along both sides
of this river; and a portion of the trade-wind blowing
from the Mexican Gulf, finding its motion westward ob¬
structed by the high table-land of the Cordillera, is de¬
flected to the right, and ascends the valley of the Missis¬
sippi and Ohio. This wind, whose course was first traced
by Volney, bears with it the humidity of the torrid zone,
and scatters fertility over a wide region that would other¬
wise be the abode of barrenness.
The views on the subject of climate we have been un¬
folding will enable us to throw some light on an interest¬
ing point—the distribution of forests. We are induced
to think, that in all countries having a summer heat ex¬
ceeding 70°, the presence or absence of natural woods,
and their greater or less luxuriance, may be taken as a
measure of the amount of humidity, and of the fertility of
the soil. Short and heavy rains in a warm country will
produce grass, which, having its roots near the surface,
springs up in a few days, and withers when the moisture
is exhausted; but transitory rains, however heavy, will
not nourish trees, because after the surface is saturated
with water, the rest runs off, and the moisture lodged in
the soil neither sinks deep enough, nor is in sufficient
quantity to furnish the giants of the forest with the
necessary sustenance. It may be assumed that 20
inches of rain falling moderately, or at intervals, will
leave a greater permanent supply in the soil than 40
inches falling, as it sometimes does in the torrid zone, in
as many hours. It is only necessary to qualify this con¬
clusion by stating, that something depends on the subsoil.
If that is gravel, or a rock full of fissures, the water im¬
bedded will soon drain off; if it is clay or a compact rock,
the water will remain in the soil. It must be remembered,
also, that both heat and moisture diminish as we ascend
in the atmosphere, while evaporation increases; and hence
that trees will not grow on very high ground, though its
position in reference to the sea and the prevailing winds
should be favourable in other respects. In speaking of
the region of forests, we neither restrict the term to those
districts where the natural woods present an unbroken
continuity, nor extend it to every place where a few trees
Forets
The small map of America prefixed will enable the
reader to follow our statements with ease. The long
hatched lines show the positions of the chains of moun¬
tains ; the shading represents the regions of forests ; the
dense forests being marked by the double shading, and
the thinner ones by the open lines. The white spaces re¬
present the lands on which little or no wood grows. The
equator and the parallel of 30° on each side are indicated
by the horziontal lines marked 0 and 30. The arrows show
the direction of the prevailing winds; but it must be remem¬
bered that, though the intertropicalwind is assumed to have
its course right from the east, this is only true at the equa¬
tor, its direction inclining to north-east as we approach
the northern tropic, and to the south-east as we approach
the southern. In North America A is the woody region
on the west coast, extending from latitude 35° to about 58°,
and of unknown breadth. B the region on the east side
of the Rocky Mountains, partly a bare desert, partly co¬
vered with grass and dotted with trees. C the forests
of the Allegany chain, thick on the east and south, and
thin on the west; bounded by a curved line passing from
St Luis, in Mexico, through lake Huron, to the mouth
of the St Lawrence, in latitude 50°. The arrow at M
points out the direction of the wind, which ascends the
valley of the Mississippi, and nourishes the western part
* Shelvocke’s Voyages, in Harris’s Collection, vol. i. p. 232; Hardy’s Travels in Mexico, p. 128, 163, 330.
2 James’s Expedition from Pittsburg to the Rocky Mountains; Supplement by Major Long, in vol. iii.
612
AMERICA.
South
America.
Climate.
of these forests; and the arrow at R that which blows across
the isthmus of Panama. D is the table-land of Mexico, gra¬
duating on the north-west into the dry plains of Sonora
and California, all bare, or nearly bare, of wood. E is the
Llanos or bare plains of Caraccas, nearly fenced round
with mountains. F G is the long strip of bare dry sands
on the west side of the Andes which constitutes Lower
Peru and the north part of Chili; and N is Amotape,
its northern boundary. H is the great region of forests
which constitutes the basin of the Amazon, and occu¬
pies all the rest of Brazil. Near the equator the mois¬
ture is so excessive, that after 150 or 200 inches of rain1
have fallen on the east coast, there is still sufficient hu¬
midity in the atmosphere to afford copious showers to
all the country up to the Andes. Here, therefore, the
woods reach from side to side of the continent. But as
we recede from the equator the humidity diminishes ra¬
pidly; and though the continent becomes narrower to¬
wards the south, the supply of rain falls off in a still great¬
er proportion, and the forests extend over a much smaller
space. At the foot of the Andes, the forests extend to
16° or 18° of south latitude; on the east coast to 25° or
probably 30°. K L are the Pampas or open lands of Buenos
Ayres, extending on the east side of the Andes, from
Cape Horn to the latitudes just mentioned. If we divide
this region into three parts, the eastmost, refreshed by oc¬
casional rains from the Atlantic, is covered with a strong
nutritive herbage ; the second, which is drier, displays a
thin coarse wiry grass; and the third portion, which ex¬
tends to the Andes, receiving little or no rain, is nearly
a desert: all the three are destitute of timber, but the
surface of the third is dotted with dwarfish shrubs.2
I is the southern part of Chili. Here the prevailing
winds, which are from the west, coming loaded with the
moisture of the Pacific Ocean, produce copious rains to
nourish the herbage and the forests. This applies, how¬
ever, chiefly to the country south of the 35th parallel.
From that to Coquimbo, in latitude 30°, the wood is
scanty. Beyond 50° on the east coast of North America,
and 55° or 58° on the wrest, very little wood grows, in
consequence of the rigour of the climate.
Great misapprehensions have arisen with regard to the
climate of America, from comparisons being drawn be¬
tween the east side of the new continent and the west
side of the old. We have already pointed out the influ¬
ence of winds blowing from the sea, in modifying the
state of the atmosphere over the land, both as to heat and
humidity. When this circumstance is attended to, and
when the east and west sides of the old and the new con¬
tinents are respectively compared with one another, the
difference is found to be small, and easily accounted
for. In the torrid zone, and on the sea-shore, the temper¬
ature of both continents is found to be the same, viz. 82° ;
but in the interior the difference is rather in favour of
America. There is no counterpart in the new world to
the burning heats felt in the plains of Arabia and Gedro-
sia. Even in the western and warmest part of the parch¬
ed steppes of Caraccas, the hottest known region in
America, the temperature of the air during the day is
only 98° in the shade, while it rises to 112° in the sandy
deserts which surround the Red Sea. At Calabozzo,
farther east in the Llanos, the common temperature of the
day is only from 88° to 90°; and at sunrise the thermometer
sinks to 80°.3 The basin of the Amazon is shaded with
lofty woods; and a cool breeze from the east, a minute h
branch of the trade-wind, ascends the channel of the An b.
stream, following all its windings, almost to the foot of the
Andes. Hence this region, though under the equator,
and visited with almost constant rains, is neither exces¬
sively hot nor unhealthful. Brazil, and the vast country
extending westward from it between the Plata and the
Amazon, is an uneven table-land, blest with an equable
climate. At Rio Janeiro, which stands low, and is ex¬
posed to a heat comparatively great, the temperature in
summer varies from 16° to 22° of Reaumur, and the mean is
only about 19° (74° Fahr.) Farther north, and in the inte¬
rior, the Indians find it necessary to keep fires in their
huts; and in the country near the sources of the Para¬
guay, hoar-frost is seen on the hills during the colder
months, and the mean temperature of the year falls
below 65° or 670.4 On the declivities of the Andes, and on
the high plains of Upper Peru, the heats are so moderate
that the plants of Italy, France, and Germany, come to
maturity. Lower Peru, though a sandy desert, enjoys a
wonderful degree of coolness, owing to the fogs which in¬
tercept the solar rays. At Lima, which is 540 feet above
the sea, the temperature varies from 53° to 82°, but the
mean for the whole year is only 72°. In the plains of La
Plata, the mean temperature of the year is very nearly
the same as at the corresponding north latitudes on the
east side of the Atlantic. At Buenos Ayres, for instance,
the mean annual heat is 19° 7' of the centigrade thermo¬
meter (68° Fahr.), while that of places on the same pa¬
rallel in the old world is 19° 8'. The range of temperature
is probably greater in the basin of the Plata; but as we
advance southwards, the diminishing breadth of the con¬
tinent makes the climate approximate to that of an island,
and the extremes of course approach each other. In the
Straits of Magellan the temperature of the warmest
month does not exceed 43° or 46°; and snow falls almost
daily in the middle of summer, though the latitude cor¬
responds with that of England. But the inference drawn
from this, that the climate is unmatched for severity, is
by no means just, for the winter at Staten Island is
milder than in London. In point of fact, the climate of
Patagonia is absolutely colder than that of places in the
same latitude in Europe ; but the difference lies chiefly in
the very low temperature of the summer. This peculia¬
rity no doubt results chiefly from the greater coldness of
the sea in the southern hemisphere; for beyond the pa¬
rallel of 48°, the difference of temperature in the north
and south Atlantic amounts, according to Humboldt, to
10 or 12 degrees of Fahrenheit’s scale.5 If we push our
researches a step farther, and inquire what is the cause
of the greater warmth of the northern sea, we shall be
forced to admit that a very satisfactory answer cannot be
given. Something may be due to the influence of the
gulf stream, a minute branch of which is supposed to
carry the waters of the torrid zone to the shores of Shet¬
land and Norway; but such an agent seems too trifling to
account for the phenomenon. The sum, then, of the pe*
culiar qualities which distinguish the climate of South
America may be briefly stated. Near the equator the
new continent is perhaps more humid than the old; and
within the tropics generally, owing to its vast forests, the
absence of sandy deserts, and the elevation of the soil, it
is cooler. Beyond the tropics the heat is nearly the same
in the southern temperate zone of America and the nort
1 Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, vol. vi. p. 277*
2 See Mr Miers’ Journey to Chili, in the first volume of his Travels, chap. i. and ii.; and Captain Head’s Rough Notes, p. 2.
3 Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, vol. iv. p. 315-325.
4 Spix s Travels, vol. ii. p. 145. 5 De Distributione Geographica Plantarum, p. 82; Vers. Nar. vol. ii. p> ^
AMERICA.
jjrth ern one of the old continent, till we ascend to the neigh-
A rica. bourhood of Cape Horn, where we have cold summers,
a very limited range of the thermometer in the west¬
ern hemisphere.
Nine tenths of North America lying under the tempe¬
rate zone, the climate follows a different law from what is
observed in the southern peninsula, and presents more
striking contrasts with that of the best known parts of the
old world. The long narrow region now denominated
Central America, which connects the two great divisions
of the continent, stretching from Panama to Tehuantepec,
has in general a very humid atmosphere ; but, for a tropi¬
cal country, it must be only moderately hot, as every part
of it is within a small distance of the sea. At Vera Paz
the rains fall during nine months of the year. Mexico is
hot, moist, and unhealthy on the low coasts; but two
thirds of its area, comprising all the populous districts,
consist of table-land, from 5000 to 9000 feet in height.
In consequence of this singular configuration of its sur¬
face, Mexico, though chiefly within the torrid zone, enjoys
a temperate and equable climate. The mean heat at the
capital, which is 7400 feet above the sea, is 621°, and
the difference between the warmest and coldest months,
which exceeds 30° at London, is here only about 12°;
but the atmosphere is deficient in moisture, and the coun¬
try suffers from drought. Beyond the parallel of 24°, the
western shores are hot and arid.
In the extensive region lying between the parallels of 30°
and 50°, which comprehends three fourths of the useful soil
of North America, we have three well-marked varieties of
climate, that of the east coast, the west coast, and the basin
of the Mississippi. On the east coast, from Georgia to Lower
Canada, the mean temperature of the year is lowrer than in
Europe by 9° at the latitude of 40°, and by 121° at the
latitude of 50°, according to Humboldt’s calculation. In
the next place, the range of the thermometer is much
greater than in Europe, the summer being much hotter
and the winter much colder. At Quebec the tempera¬
ture of the warmest month exceeds that of the coldest by
no less than 60^ degrees of Fahrenheit; while at Paris,
which is nearly under the same latitude, the difference is
only 31 degrees. In the third place, the climate undergoes
a more rapid change in America as we proceed from south
to north, a degree of latitude in the middle of the tem¬
perate zone producing a decrease of annual temperature
of 1T3° in Europe, and of P57° in America. The com¬
parison is greatly to the disadvantage of America when
made in this form; but when the east coasts of the two
continents are compared, the case is altered: the old
world is found to have no superiority over the new, for
Pekin has still colder winters and warmer summers than
Philadelphia, which is under the same latitude. It is the
west coast of the new continent which ought to exhibit
the climate of Europe; and from the few facts known, we
have reason to believe that it is quite as mild and equable.
At the mouth of Columbia River, in latitude 46^°, Cap¬
tains Lewis and Clarke found the rains to be copious and
frequent; but they had very little frost, and saw no ice
even in the depth of winter. From observations made in
1822-3-4, it appears that the mean heat of the warmest
month was about 62°, of the coldest about 36°, and of the
whole year 510.1 Now, the place is under the same latitude
with Quebec, where the snow lies five months, and the mean
temperature during the three winter months is 18° below
| tne freezing point. This single circumstance marks empha¬
613
tically the contrast in the climate of the east and west coasts North
of North America. But the mouth of Columbia River is also America,
under the same parallel with Nantes at the mouth of the
Loire, where snow and ice are no strangers in the cold season
of the year. We have, therefore, good grounds to conclude’
that the west coast of America, in the middle latitudes,
has fully as mild and equable a climate as the west coast
of Europe. The climate of the great central valley, or
basin of Mississippi, has a considerable affinity to that of
the east coast. It was long a matter of dispute in what
the difference between the two consists; but this seems at
last to have been clearly settled, by the meteorological
registers kept at the military posts of the United States.
From a comparison of four of these registers, from posts
near the centre of this great valley, with others kept on
the Atlantic coast in the same latitudes, it appears that
in the hottest month the temperature is from 5° to 6°
higher, and in the coldest month as much lower, in the
basin of the Mississippi, than on the coasts of New England.
The proportion of fair weather to cloudy is as 5 to 1 in
favour ot the east coast.2 The climate of the interior,
therefore, exhibits in still greater excess those extremes
of temperature which distinguish the eastern coast of
this continent from the western, and from the shores of
Europe. The fourth region of extra-tropical America in¬
cludes the parts beyond Mount St Elie on the west coast,
and, in the interior, the plains extending from the 50th
parallel to the Polar Seas. The intensity of the cold in
this tract of country is scarcely equalled by any thing
that is known under the same parallels in northern Asia.
The northmost spot in America where grain is raised is at
Lord Selkirk’s colony, on Red River, in latitude 50°. W heat,
and also maize, which requires a high summer heat, are
cultivated here.3 Barley would certainly grow as far north
as Fort Chippewyan, in latitude 58|°, where the heat of
the four summer months was found by Captain Franklin
to be 4 degrees higher than at Edinburgh. There is even
reason to believe, that both this species of grain and po¬
tatoes might thrive as far north as Slave Lake, since the
spruce fir attains the height of 50 feet three degrees far¬
ther north, at Fort Franklin, in latitude 65°. These, how¬
ever, were low and sheltered spots ; but in this dreary
waste generally, it will not be found practicable, we suspect,
to carry the arts of civilized life beyond the 60th parallel;
and the desirable country, capable of supporting a dense
population, and meriting the name of temperate, can
scarcely be said to extend beyond the 50th parallel. At
65° the snow covers the ground in winter to the depth
of only two feet, but small lakes continue frozen for eight
months. The sea is open only for a few weeks, fogs
darken the surface, and the thermometer in February de¬
scended, in one instance, to minus 58°, or 90° below the
freezing point. At Melville Island, under the 75th paral¬
lel, such is the frightful rigour of the climate, that the
temperature of the year falls 1° or 2° below the zero of
Fahrenheit’s scale. It is a peculiarity in the climate of
America, that beyond the parallel of 50° or 52°, it seems
to become suddenly severe at both extremities. At the
one, summer disappears from the circle of the seasons; at
the other, winter is armed with double terrors.
The mountains of North America will not detain us Moun-
long. The branch of the Andes which divides the seas tains,
at the isthmus of Panama is very low, the highest point
of the road which crosses it, from this city to the mouth
of the river Chagres, having been found, by levellings exe-
Edinburgh Journal of Science, April 1827-
Keating’s Account of Major Lmig*: Second Expedition, 1824, vol. ii. p. 417.
IMd. vol. ii. chap. ii.
614
AMERICA.
North cuted in 1829, to be only 633 feet above the Pacific.1
America. Of the height of the ground, from this point to the table-
'^v^>,land of La Puebla, 1400 miles to the westward, Hum¬
boldt remarks that nothing certain is known. The most
considerable elevations are on the south-west side; and
twenty-one volcanoes, scattered over this limited space,
afford proof that the sources of internal fire exist here in
unexampled abundance. From Puebla to Durango the
Mexican mountains no longer present the appearance
of a chain, but spread out to a table-land or elevated
plain, from 5000 to 9000 feet in height, and from 100 to
300 miles in breadth. Across this plain, exactly at the
19th parallel, five volcanoes are distributed, in a line run¬
ning east and west, as if a vast rent, extending from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, had opened a passage for the in¬
ternal fires of the globe at this spot. Two of these on the
east side of the continent, with a group of four or five
other cones lying between Jalapa and Cordoba, have an
elevation exceeding 17,000 feet, and are the only moun¬
tains in New Spain that rise to the region of perpetual
snow, which commences here at 15,000 feet above the
level of the sea. Jorullo, the lowest of the five volcanoes,
rose suddenly, in the middle of a plain, in September
1759, after fearful concussions of the ground, continued for
fifty or sixty days. It is 1600 feet high, and is surround¬
ed by a number of smaller cones or burning masses, all
resting on a portion of the plain four square miles in ex¬
tent, which was heaved up in the form of a tumefied dome.
Near the tropic the Mexican Cordillera divides into three
parts. One runs parallel to the eastern coast, at the dis¬
tance of thirty or forty leagues, and terminates in New
Leon. Another proceeds in a north-western direction,
and sinks gradually as it approaches the Californian Gulf,
in Sonora. The third or central Cordillera traverses
Durango and New Mexico, divides the sources of the Rio
Gila from the Rio Bravo del Norte, and forms the eastern
ridge or main trunk of the Rocky Mountains, which termi¬
nates at the Arctic Ocean, about 125° of west longitude.
From the southern point of California, a lower chain skirts
the coast as far as the volcano of Mount St Elie, in lati¬
tude 60° ; and between this chain and the eastern seve¬
ral intermediate ones occur, the whole forming apparent¬
ly an elevated plateau from 200 to 800 miles in breadth.
This extensive region is at present a terra incognita, but
the lower valleys included in it between the parallels of
34° and 50°, having neither the excessive humidity of the
west coast, nor the extreme heat and cold of the east, will
probably be found to present a fine soil, and the most de¬
sirable climate in North America. Many of the summits
of the Rocky Mountains are within the region of perpe¬
tual snow; and their height, where Lewis and Clarke cross¬
ed them, and farther south, has been estimated at 10,000
or 12,000 feet.2 A shorter route from the valley of the
Mississippi to the west coast has since been found, in the
direction of the Platte River, about latitude 41°, where an
opening in the chain presents a passage so easy of access,
that a waggon drawn by horses, it is said, might travel
through it.3
The Allegany Mountains are composed of three, four,
and in some places of five parallel chains, extending in a
north-east direction from Alabama to New Brunswick,
over a space 1100 miles in length, with a breadth varying
from 100 to 150 miles, and a mean height of 2000 or 3000
feet. They are almost everywhere clothed with forests,
and interspersed with delightful valleys. Between the Nor
Alleganies and the great western chain, the Ozark Amei
Mountains, from 1000 to 2000 feet in height, and
miles in length, extend along the middle of the great valley
of the Mississippi in a south and north direction. The
Arkansas and Red River are the only streams that have
cut a passage through these mountains, which, though low,
occupy a great breadth, and are covered with wood.
The Allegany Mountains present what must he con-Geoloc
sidered their scarp or steepest side to the east, where ^
granite, gneiss, and other primitive rocks are seen. Upon
these repose, first, a thin formation of transition rocks,
dipping to the westward; and next a series of secondary
rocks, including a very extensive coal formation, reaching
from Pittsburg, beyond the Mississippi. The Ozark
Mountains exhibit similar strata, from the granite to the
coal, in the same position and order, and therefore con¬
sist, in all probability, of a western portion of the same
beds, heaved to the surface by one of those slips or dislo¬
cations with which miners are familiar. In the Rocky
Mountains primitive rocks are found in the centre or axis
of the chain, with old red standstone, coal, and new red
sandstone, containing rock-salt leaning against its sides.
A great tract eastward of this chain is covered by granitic
sands, and near the bed of the Mississippi there is a deep
formation of alluvium. The geology of Mexico would re¬
quire a more ample development than we have room for.
Suffice it to say, that the table-land consists chiefly of
transition slaty rocks, having their direction south-east
and north-west, intermixed with which are two species
of limestone, and enormous masses of porphyry, trachyte,
sienite, phonolite, basalt, volcanic tuff, and other rocks of
igneous origin. The veins of silver and gold are found
chiefly in the older porphyry, the granular limestone, sie¬
nite, and transition slates.4
In no single circumstance is the superiority of America Itiver
over the old world so conspicuous, as in the number and
magnitude of its navigable rivers. The Amazon alone
discharges a greater quantity of water than the eight
principal rivers of Asia, the Euphrates, Indus, Ganges,
Oby, Lena, Amour, and the Yellow River and Kang-tse
of China.5 The Mississippi, with its branches, affords a
greater amount of inland navigation than all the streams,
great and small, which irrigate Europe; and the Plata, in
this respect, may probably claim a superiority over the
collective water of Africa. But the American rivers not
only surpass those of the old world in length and volume
of fluid, but they are so placed as to penetrate everywhere
to the very heart of the continent. By the Amazon, a
person living at the eastern foot of the Andes, 2000 miles
of direct distance from the Atlantic, may convey himself
or his property to the shores of that sea in forty-five
days, almost without effort, by confiding his bark to the
gliding current. If he wishes to return, he has but to
spread his sails to the eastern breeze, which blows peren¬
nially against the stream. The navigation is not inter¬
rupted by a single cataract or rapid, from the Atlantic
to Jaen, in west longitude 78°, where the surface of the
stream is only 1240 feet above the level of its estuary at
Para. The remotest and least accessible part of North
America is the great interior plain extending from the
Rocky Mountains to the Alleganies and the lakes, be¬
tween the parallels of 40° and 50°; but the Mississippi)
Missouri, and St Lawrence, with their branches, are so
1 Paper by Mr Lloyd, read at a meeting of the Royal Society of London in January 1830.
2 See Major Long’s Memoirs, and the sections in James’s Account of an Expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
3 Warden’s Account of the United States, vol. iii. p. 180. * Bulletin de Geologic, Fevrier 1829, p- 198.
‘ See article Physical Geography in this work.
AMERICA.
615
1-ers. wonderfully ramified over this region, that when it is filled
civilized inhabitants, two centuries hence, those who
dwell in its inmost recesses, at the falls of the Missouri,
for instance, 1700 miles from the Atlantic, will have a more
easy communication with the ocean than the population
of the interior of Spain and Hungary. It is only neces¬
sary to cast the eye over a map of South America, to see
that all the most sequestered parts of the interior are
visited by branches of the Plata and the Amazon. These
streams, having their courses in general remarkably level,
and seldom interrupted by cataracts, may be considered,
without a figure, as a vast system of natural canals, ter¬
minating in two main trunks, which communicate with
the ocean at the equator and the 35th degree of south
latitude. Since the invention of steam navigation, rivers
are, in the truest sense of the term, Nature’s highways,
especially for infant communities, where the people are
too poor, and live too widely dispersed, to bear the ex¬
pense of constructing roads. There is little risk in pre¬
dicting, that in two or three centuries the Mississippi, the
Amazon, and the Plata, will be the scenes of an active in¬
land commerce, far surpassing in magnitude any thing at
present known on the surface of the globe. The Missis¬
sippi is navigable for boats from the sea to the falls of its
principal branch the Missouri, 1700 miles from the Mexi¬
can Gulf in a direct line, or 3900 by the stream; and the
whole amount of boat navigation afforded by the system of
rivers, of which the Mississippi is the main trunk, has been
estimated as equal to 40,000 miles in length, spread over
a surface of 1,350,000 square miles. Perhaps this is
rather beyond the truth; but let us call the navigation
35,000 miles, and the following table will exhibit the
lengths, size of the basins, and probable extent of the na¬
vigable waters of the greater rivers of America.
Area of Navigable
Rivers.
Mississippi to source of
Missouri 
St Lawrence through the
lakes 
Orinoco 
Amazon, not including
Araguay 
Plata, including Uruguay
Length, basin,
miles, square miles.
waters,
miles.
4300 1,350,000 35,000
2200
1800
4000
2400
600,000
400,000
2,100,000
1,200,000
4,000
8,000
50,000
20,000
Among the branches of the Amazon, the Tunguragua,
or Upper Maranon, which rises in a lake 100 miles north
of Lima, has generally been considered as its source; but
this honour is rather due to the Beni, a branch of the
Ucayale, which has its origin in the table-land of Upper
Peru, near the town of La Paz, in south latitude 18°. The
Amazon contains many islands, is broad, and in the upper
part so deep, that on one occasion Condamine found no
bottom with a line 103 toises long. At its mouth, two
days before and after the full moon, the phenomenon
called a Bore occurs in a very formidable shape. It is a
wave of water rushing from the sea, with its front as steep
as a wall and as high as a house. No small vessel can
encounter it without certain destruction.
dhe estuaries of all these great American rivers open to
tbe eastward; and thus Providence seems to have plainly
•ndicated that the most intimate commercial relations of
me inhabitants of America should be with the western
shores of the old world. It should at the same time be
observed, that this position of the great rivers of America
is but one example of a physical arrangement which is
common to the whole globe; for it is remarkable that,
in the old world as well as the new, no river of the first'
class flows to the westward. Some, as the Nile, the Lena,
and the Oby, flow to the north; others, as the Indus and
the rivers of Ava, to the south; but the largest, as the
Wolga, Ganges, Great River and Yellow River of China,
the Euphrates, and the Amour, have their courses to the
east or south-east. This arrangement is not accidental,
but depends most probably on the inclination of the pri¬
mary roqks, which, in all cases where their direction ap¬
proaches to south and north, seem to have their steepest
sides to the west and their longest declivities to the east.
We have examples in the Scandinavian Alps, the moun¬
tains of Britain, the Ghauts of India, the Andes, and the
Rocky Mountains.
North America, like the southern peninsula, naturally Physical
divides itself into five physical regions: 1. The table-regions of
land of Mexico, with the strip of low country on itsNortb
eastern and western shores; 2. The Plateau lying be- America,
tween the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, a
country with a mild and humid atmosphere as far north
as the 55th parallel, but inhospitable and barren beyond this
boundary; 3. The great central valley of the Mississippi,
rich and well wooded on the east side, bare but not unfer¬
tile in the middle, dry, sandy, and almost a desert on the
west; 4. The eastern declivities of the Allegany Moun¬
tains, a region of natural forests, and of mixt but rather
poor soil; 5. The great northern plain beyond the 50th
parallel, four fifths of which is a bleak and bare waste,
overspread with innumerable lakes, and resembling Sibe¬
ria both in the physical character of its surface and the
rigour of its climate.
The indigenous population of America presents man Indigen-
under many aspects, and society in various stages, fromouspopu-
the regular but limited civilisation of Mexico and Peru,lation*
to savage life in its most brutal state of abasement. At
one extremity of the country we find the pigmy Esqui¬
maux of four feet and a half in height, and at the other
the Patagonian giants of seven feet. In complexion the
variety is great, and may be said to embrace almost every
hue known elsewhere on the face of the earth, except the
pitchy black of the negro. About one half of all the
known languages belong to America; and if we consider
every little wandering horde a distinct community, we
have a greater number of nations here than in all the rest
of the world. Amidst all this diversity, philosophers have
thought they were able to discover certain general cha¬
racters, sufficiently marked to distinguish the American
nations from those of the old continent. It is foreign
to our purpose to inquire whether the varieties of form,
stature, and complexion, in the human species, are modi¬
fications produced by external causes operating different¬
ly on distinct portions of the progeny of one primitive
pair, or whether several races were originally created, and
have given birth, by their mixture, to the amazing varie¬
ties we witness. We assume the former opinion as true,
because the probabilities seem to be in its favour; but the
phenomena present themselves to us in the same light in
whichever way they originate.
Physiologists are not at one in their accounts of the cha¬
racteristics of the aborigines of the new world, nor are they
agreed as to whether they should be considered one race or
several. Blumenb'ach places them all under one class, ex¬
cept the Esquimaux. Bory St Vincent, an ingenious but fan¬
ciful writer, in a recent work,1 divides them into four races,
or into five if we include the Esquimaux, under the follow-
1 L'Homme, Etsai Zoologique, vol. ii. Paris, 1827.
616 AMERICA.
Aborigines, ing designations:—1. The Colombian, which comprehends
the tribes formerly inhabiting the Allegany Mountains,
Canada, Florida, the eastern coasts of Mexico, and Cen¬
tral America; and the Caribs, who occupied the West In¬
dia Islands and Guiana. 2. The American, embracing the
tribes which occupy all the other parts of South America
east of the Andes, except Patagonia. 3. The Patagonian
race, inhabiting the south extremity of the continent.
4. The Neptunian, inhabiting the western coasts of both
divisions of the continent, from California to Cape Horn,
and which he considers as essentially the same with the
race spread over the Malay Peninsula and the Indian
Archipelago. With this race he classes the Mexicans
and Peruvians. By another writer1 the species are re¬
duced to two, the Colombian and the American; the former
including all the North American tribes, with the Caribs,
the Mexicans, and Peruvians, and other inhabitants of
the Cordillera; and the latter the Brazilian Indians and
Patagonians. None of these systems, when compared
with facts, is very satisfactory. Dr Prichard thinks that
the mutual resemblance among the American nations has
been exaggerated by some writers; yet it is certain that
there is more of a common family character in their or¬
ganization than in that of the indigenous population of
Asia or Africa. “ The Indians of New Spain,” says
Humboldt, “ bear a general resemblance to those who
inhabit Canada, Florida, Peru, and Brazil. We have the
same swarthy and copper colour, straight and smooth hair,
small beard, squat body, long eye, with the corner direct¬
ed upwards towards the temples, prominent cheek-bones,
thick lips, and expression of gentleness in the mouth,
strongly contrasted with a gloomy and severe look. Over a
j million and a half of square leagues, from Cape Horn to
the river St Lawrence and Behring’s Straits, we are struck
at the first glance with the general resemblance in the
features of the inhabitants. We think we perceive them
all to be descended from the same stock, notwithstanding
the prodigious diversity of their languages. In the por¬
trait drawn by Volney of the Canadian Indians, we re¬
cognise the tribes scattered over the Savannahs of the
Apure and the Carony. The same style of features exists
in both Americas.”
Form of The American race is distinguished by the form of the
skull. skull, which strongly resembles the Mongol type. The
forehead recedes more than in any other variety of the
human species; the cheek-bones are prominent, but not
so angular, as in the Mongol head; the occiput is rather
flat, the cavity for lodging the cerebellum small, the or¬
bits large and deep. The nose is generally aquiline, but
in some tribes flat; and the nasal cavities are large. Com¬
pared with the head of the Negro, that of the American
is much broader, and the teeth are less prominent: when
placed by the side of the Caucasian head, it is seen to be
smaller in size, less rounded and symmetrical, and less de¬
veloped in the part before the ear. The skull is gene¬
rally thin and light. There are, however, many devia¬
tions from this central form. The Carib skull, and the
Araucanian, are large; the Peruvian small, and singularly
flattened behind, so as to present a short line from the
forehead to the occiput.
Com- The colour of the Americans, though it includes a con-
plexion. siderable diversity of shade, is more uniform than that of
the inhabitants of Asia or Africa; and, what is more re¬
markable, its varieties do not bear any visible relation to
the temperature of the climate. A brownish yellow, or
copper colour, as it has been called, pervades nearly allAbork
the numerous tribes from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn,
but still with many different degrees of intensity. The
eastern nations of Chili have but a slight tinge of the
brown colour, and the Boroanes are said to be as white
as the northern Europeans. On the north-west coast, from
latitude 43° to 60°, there are tribes who, though embrown¬
ed with soot and mud, were found, when their skins were
washed, to have the brilliant white and red which is the
characteristic of the Caucasian race. But within the tropics,
the Malapoques in Brazil, the Guayanis in Paraguay, the
Guiacas of Guiana, the Scheries of La Plata, have tolerably
fair complexions, sometimes united with blue eyes and au¬
burn hair; and, in the hot country watered by the Orinoco
Humboldt found tribes of a dark, and others of a light hue,
living almost in juxtaposition. It is remarkable, too, that
the nations whose colour approaches nearest to black are
found in the temperate zone, namely, the Charruas of the
Banda Oriental, in latitude 33° south, and the Cochimies,
Pericus, and Guaycurus, spread over the peninsula of Ca¬
lifornia. These people have skins of a very deep hue,
but are not absolutely black; and they have neither the
woolly hair of the negroes, nor their social and good-hu¬
moured disposition. The Charruas especially are distin¬
guished by a high degree of that austerity and stern for¬
titude which are common to the American nations.2 The
Caribs and some Brazilian tribes have the yellowish hue
of the Chinese, and the same cast of features. Among
the nations dwelling on the west side of the Alleganies,
and near the northern lakes, there is also a considerable
variety of complexion ; but the brown or copper shade is
found more or less in them all. It may be said, then, of
the American nations, that, with the exception of two or
three tribes on the north-west coast, who probably ar¬
rived from Asia at a later period than the others, the two
extremes of complexion, the white of Northern Europe
and the black of Ethiopia, are unknown amongst them;
and that, when compared with the Moors, Abyssinians,
and other swarthy nations of the old world, their colour
inclines less to the yellow, and more to the reddish brown.
In stature the variety is great. The North American tribes
are generally above the middle size, and of a slender
shape. The Brazilian nations and the Peruvians are short
and squat. The Caribs of the Orinoco, and the Abipones,
Mocoby, and other tribes which rove over the Pampas
west of the Plata, are tall and strong; and the Patago¬
nians, a Chilian tribe, exceed in strength and stature all
the other races in the known world.
The origin, history, languages, and condition of the Numb
American natives, present ample materials for specula¬
tion ; but before touching on these subjects, there are two
interesting questions to which we must advert, namely,
what is the present amount of the indigenous population
of America ? and into how many tribes or independent
communities is it distributed? Humboldt, in a late
edition of his work on Mexico, estimates the whole num¬
ber of Indians in the new world as follows :—
Civilized or settled Indians of Spanish America 7,530,000
Ditto in Brazil  260,000
Independent Indians to the east and west of the
Rocky Mountains, on the frontiers of Mexico,
and in Central America  400,000
Independent Indians of South America  420,000
Total Indian population of America 8,610,000
1 Histoire Naturelle des Races Humaines, par A. Desmoulins. Paris, 1826.
a Mithridates Einleitung Amerikanhchen Sprachcn, p. 313 ; Prichard’s Researches, voL ii. p. 396, 492.
trr
AMERICA.
Al)0,ines. Though disposed to treat the authority of Humboldt
-^with great deference in all questions respecting the new
world, we are led to think that he has considerably un¬
derrated the number of savage or independent Indians.
In a late edition of Morse’s Geography the number of
Indians in the territories of the United States alone is
estimated at 470,000, of whom even those on the east
side of the Mississippi have only in part renounced the
chase as a means of subsistence. The independent part
of these must amount to fully 350,000, spread over a sur¬
face of 1,200,000 square miles, affording one inhabitant to
less than four square miles. British and Russian Ame¬
rica, under the 60th parallel, with the coasts and the
northern parts of Mexico, and the forests of Central
America, occupy about 3,000,000 square miles more. If
we suppose the southern portion of this space to be
peopled to the same density as the former, and the north¬
ern to have one inhabitant for 20 square miles, we have
about 300,000 in addition to those in the United States,
and 650,000 in all North America, without reckoning the
Esquimaux and Greenlanders, who may amount to 10,000
more. In South America, where the independent tribes
occupy three fourths of the interior, and touch the coast
in Brazil, Colombia, La Plata, and Chili, they may be
considered as the possessors of 4,000,000 of square miles.
As the fruits, fish, and wild animals on which these tribes
subsist are more abundant in the torrid zone than else¬
where, the savage population of this region was probably
at one time much more dense than that of North Ame¬
rica. We know, however, that sad havock has been made
among them by the small-pox and spiritous liquors; that
they have been destroyed in open war, intentionally
poisoned with infected clothes, kidnapped for slaves, or
hunted down like wild beasts. Still all the facts we have
been able to collect lead us to believe that their numbers
cannot be much thinner than on the great plain of the
Mississippi. In Colombia alone, an account professing
to be official makes the number of independent Indians
203,000. We are therefore disposed to think that
750,000 is a moderate estimate for all the countries south
of the isthmus of Panama. We shall thus have in both
Americas 1,400,000 Indians, instead of 820,000, as esti¬
mated by Humboldt. The next question regards the
number of the tribes or nations into which this mass of
savage population is divided. Two circumstances seem to
determine the size of these little communities—the nature
of the country, and the degree of rudeness or intelligence
possessed by the people. A tribe which has made some
advances in arts and military skill is enabled to increase
its numbers by gaining territory and means of subsistence
from its enemies, and sometimes by compelling weaker
tribes to court its protection, or incorporate themselves
with it. Conquests and acquisitions are facilitated when
tlie country is open; and they are rendered difficult
when it is hilly, or covered with thick woods, or intersect¬
ed by deep rivers. Hence it is that a single nation may
be found in the steppes of Mississippi, or the pampas of
La Plata, occupying a territory as large as a kingdom,
while Humboldt ascertained that two hundred tribes were
crowded into a space of 19,000 square leagues, amidst the
dense forests of the Upper Orinoco. In the province of
Quito alone there were, a century ago, 116 different
tnbes, speaking as many distinct dialects. We must at¬
tend also to the distinction which ought to exist between
nations and tribes, though the words are used indiscri-
617
minutely. A tribe includes those living under one chief, Aborigines,
or one government; a nation, those who speak one lan-^^V*^
guage, or are confederated for their common defence. A
nation may consist of many tribes. The Dacotas or Sioux,
one of the most powerful nations of North America, num¬
bers 20,000, some say 28,000 souls; but it is divided into
seven, if not fifteen or twenty tribes.1 The Powhattans of
Virginia, a celebrated nation in former times, were divid¬
ed into 33 tribes. The Iroquois, who are called “ the
Five Nations,” consisted of 15 tribes, and, though they
made so great a figure in the early history of New Eng¬
land, never counted more than 2600 warriors, or 11,000
or 12,000 souls. On the other hand, vast numbers of
tribes have become extinct; and many which are has¬
tening to this state may be found reduced to a dozen of
families, but still retaining an appearance of independence,
perhaps under the protection of others of greater strength.
In general, the tendency to subdivide is great ; and the
process seems to be carried as far as the necessity of
being strong enough for self-defence will admit. On a
general survey of the aborigines of both divisions of Ame¬
rica, we are satisfied that the average number in a tribe
(taking the word in the sense we have given to it) must
be estimated at less than 1000 souls, probably at 700 or
800. Following out our calculation, we infer that there
must be 1600 or 1800 independent communities of savages
in America, who are united probably into 400 or 500 con¬
federacies, of fluctuating extent and duration. Towards
the two extremities of the continent, the magnitude of
these primary communities is greater than in the basin
of the Orinoco and Amazon, where the savages are more
savage in their character and manners than elsewhere,
and where the nature of the country favours their propen¬
sity to split into very small societies. Before the arrival
of the Europeans, America probably contained three
times as many of these children of the woods, divided into
three times as many distinct hordes.
It is the absence of civilisation which has broken human Languages,
speech into such a countless variety of dialects; and the
lower any race of people have sunk in the abasement of
savage life, the more languages multiply amongst them.
Every unwritten tongue is subject to continual fluctua¬
tions, which will be numerous and rapid in proportion as
the tribe using it is exposed to frequent vicissitudes of
fortune, and the individuals composing it have little in¬
tercourse with one another. When the population of one
of these societies increases, it splits into several branches;
and if these have little intercourse, the original language
divides by degrees into as many dialects. These smaller
societies subdivide in their turn with the same effects;
and, in such continual subdivisions, the dialects of the ex¬
treme branches deviate farther and farther from one
another, and from the parent tongue, till time, aided by
migrations and wars, producing mixtures of different
hordes, obliterates all distinct traces of a common origin.
The cause of these changes becomes more obvious when
we reflect on the principles which give stability to a lan¬
guage. These are, 1. the abundant use of writing; 2.
the teaching of a language as a branch of education ; 3.
frequency of intercourse among all the people speaking
it; 4. the existence of an order of men, such as priests
or lawyers, who employ it for professional purposes; 5.
stability of condition in the people, or exemption from
vicissitudes and revolutions ; 6. a large stock of popular
poetry, which, if universally diffused, may almost become
1 Major Long’s Expedition to the Source of St Peter's River, vol. i. p. 378 ; a work which contains a great mass of valuable informa¬
tion respecting the Indian tribes. It was published in Philadelphia in 1824.
VOL. II. 4 I
618
AMERICA.
Aborigines, a substitute for writing. All these conditions were wanting
'(with some trifling exceptions) in the whole of the wan¬
dering tribes of America. The great multiplication of lan¬
guages, therefore, proves two things ; first, that the people
are in the lowest state of savage life; and, secondly, that
they have been for many ages in this condition; for time
is a necessary element in the process of splitting human
speech into so many varieties. Now, it is a remarkable
fact, that there were as many languages spoken among a
population of two or three millions of American savages, as
among the six hundred millions of human beings scatter¬
ed over the old continent! We call them two or three
millions, because we exclude the civilized inhabitants of
Mexico and Peru, and because a considerable number of
the facts collected by Hervasand Vater relate to a period
from 50 to 100 years back, since which, some of the tribes
they allude to have become extinct. Balbi, in his Ethno¬
graphical Atlas, has enumerated 423 languages, which are,
or at no distant period were, spoken in America by the
indigenous population. Of these, 211 belong to North, 44
to Central, and 168 to South America; but as the list
includes only those tongues of wrhose structure something
is known, it does not embrace more than one or two of
the 116 dialects noticed by the missionaries in Quito,
some of which have ceased to exist; and many others, un¬
known, or known imperfectly, are also left out. There
cannot be a doubt that the greater multiplicity of tribes in
South America is accompaniedwith a corresponding multi¬
plicity of languages, and that we may add at least 100 for
omissions in this section of the continent. Vater says ex¬
pressly that the number of languages in America “exceeds
five hundred.” As a general result, then, we may state, that
there are (or were within a century past) from 500 to 600
distinct dialects in the new world, without including in
our enumeration any which do not differ from one another
as widely as the Spanish from the Italian, or the German
from the Dutch.1
Under this prodigious diversity of dialects, a remark¬
able analogy of structure has been detected in all those
which are well known, and is believed to pervade the
whole. The American languages are extremely compli¬
cated and artificial, and have extraordinary powers of
combination. The verb, besides inflections applicable to
the varieties of time, has numerous moods, which maybe
described as reflected, transitive, compulsive, applicative,
meditative, communicative, reverential, frequentative ;
and forms which indicate by suffixes and affixes whether
the object be animate or inanimate, male or female, &c.2
“ From the country of the Esquimaux to the straits of Ma¬
gellan,” says Humboldt, “ mother tongues entirely differ¬
ent in their roots have, if we may use the expression, the
same physiognomy. Striking analogies of grammatical
construction are discovered, not only in the more perfect
languages, as that of the Incas, the Ayemara, the Gua¬
rani, the Mexican, and the Cora, but also in languages
extremely rude. It is in consequence of this similarity
of structure that the Indians of the missions could learn
the tongue of a different tribe much more easily than the
Spanish; and the monks had hence adopted the practice
of communicating with a great number of hordes through
the medium of one of the native languages.” The compli¬
cation of grammatical forms which these dialects display
has induced Mr Duponceau of Philadelphia to give them
the name of Polysynthic. Now the remarkable facts are,
first, that this characteristic should not be found in any
of the known languages of the old world, except in a
faint degree in the Basque, and the dialect of Congo ;Abori
and, next, that it should belong, not to one or two, but'^v
with slight exceptions, so far as is known, to all the lan¬
guages of America, so extremely numerous, and many of
which have nothing else in common. How is this diffu¬
sion of a peculiar and common character over materials so
dissimilar to be accounted for ? To us it seems to imply
a community of origin in the tribes, whether few or
many, which peopled the continent. As no person has
the full command of all the vocables in his native lan¬
guage, individual terms must be continually dropping out
of dialects preserved by oral communication; and new
ones will be introduced as new wants and new objects
solicit attention. But during the gradual change which
thus takes place, the new words will be combined and
modified according to the rules which belong to the
genius of the spoken dialect with which they are incorpo¬
rated; and thus it may happen that the grammatical forms
of an ancient language may live, while its materials
perish. The changes of structure which present them¬
selves in the history of European languages, it must be
remembered, took place in •progressive communities.
Among nations like the American Indians, whose bar¬
barism, we may suppose, remained almost stationary, the
forms of speech might be more permanent, though its sub¬
stance was in a state of slow but constant mutation. We
do not mean, however, that the community of origin alluded
to was entire and absolute among the American nations.
Since weak tribes are often incorporated wnth strong ones
in the present times, it might happen that small parties of
separate and dissimilar races might be blended by conquest
or treaty with the larger nations of the American stock,
and in a generation or two lose their distinctive character,
by adopting the language and manners of their new con¬
federates or masters. Neither must it be imagined that
there is an entire absence of mutual affinities among the
423 tongues enumerated by Balbi. On the contrary, six,
eight, or more, are sometimes united in one family by
analogies, in their roots and grammatical forms, as strong
as those which obtain among the languages of the Teu¬
tonic stem in Europe, the Icelandic, Swedish, Danish,
German, Dutch, and English. If philologists had complete
vocabularies of them all, it might probably be found that
the 500 or 600 American languages could be arranged
into eight or ten “ reigns,” to use Balbi’s term, or into
forty or fifty families, each characterized by affinities suf¬
ficiently clear to prove that its component members had
sprung from a common parent. On the other hand, the
complete absence, in so many instances, of common roots
in the dialects of contiguous tribes,—the fading and almost
obliterated traces of resemblance in languages which had
once been identical,—are very remarkable phenomena, and
prepare us for a result which could not have been antici¬
pated otherwise—that none of all the American tongues
has any distinct marks of a common origin with any one
of those of Asia, Africa, Europe, or Polynesia. The sole
exception is the Esquimaux idiom, which belongs to the
same family with that of the Tchutkis, a people having
the same physical aspect, who inhabit the extreme north¬
eastern parts of Asia. Upon a painful comparison of the
known languages of the new world with those of the
old, only 170 words have been found in the former which
have a distinct resemblance to words of the same signi¬
fication in the latter. These are derived from 83 Ameri¬
can tongues; three fifths of them have a resemblance to
words in the Mantchou, Tonguse, Mongol, and Samoiede
1 Mithridatcs Einlcitung Amerikamschcn SpracJien, p. 373. Balbi, Atlas Ethnographique du Globe. Paris, 1826.
2 See Prichard’s Researches, vol. ii- p. 341 ; and Tables 26, 27, and 29 of Balbi’s Atlas.
AMERICA.
619
nes.dialects, and two fifths to words in the Celtic, Tschoud,
^Biscayan, Coptic, and Congoese. This number is too
small to prove any thing by itself; but it is not entirely to
be disregarded when taken in connection with the analo¬
gies which have been traced in the physical character,
customs, superstitions, and monuments, of the people of
the two continents. And if we admit, on the ground of
their similarity of organization, that the greater number
of the American languages have had a common origin,
even in those cases where coincident terms are no longer
to be discovered, perhaps it ought to be acknowledged
that the affinity between the languages of the two conti¬
nents is as great as could be expected. In this, as in
many questions connected with geology, time is the ele¬
ment which solves the difficulty; and when a longer
course of observation has enabled us to detect the laws
which govern the changes of oral language among bar¬
barous and savage nations, the facts will probably speak
to us in clearer terms.1
Though any attempt to reduce the American popula¬
tion under a few general classes, either on physical or
ethnographical grounds, would be idle, a brief survey of
the most remarkable nations, or families of nations, will
enable us to form a more distinct idea of the whole.
All the northern coast of the new continent is tenanted
by the Esquimaux, a dwarfish race, rarely exceeding five
feet in height, and of the same stock with the Greenland¬
ers, the Tchutkis, the Samoiedes, and the Laplanders.
Near Mackenzie’s River their territories commence at
the 68th parallel, and extend to the Arctic Ocean. They
occupy all the northern Archipelago, the shores of Hud¬
son’s and Baffin’s Bays, of Labrador, and of Russian Ame¬
rica, round by Behring’s Straits, to the peninsula of Aly-
aska. They live entirely by fishing, the whale and the seal
being their most common food; they inhabit skin tents
during their short summer, and in winter caves or houses
built with snow in the shape of domes, within which a
single rude lamp is kept perpetually burning. They are
crafty and dirty, but appeared to Captain Franklin more
intelligent and provident than the northern Indians. There
is a wide diversity in their dialects, which still display
decided marks of identity in their roots. They are the
only American race whose Asiatic origin is indisputable.
The north-west coast of Russian America, from Cook’s
Inlet to the 48th parallel, is inhabited by four tribes,
of whom the Kaluschi are the most remarkable. These Aborigines,
people are distinguished from all the native races of Ame-
rica by having as fair a complexion when their skins are
washed as the inhabitants of Europe ; and this distinction,
accompanied sometimes with auburn hair, has been con¬
sidered as indicating an origin different from that of the
copper-coloured tribes who people all the rest of the con¬
tinent.
The Indians of the east coast belong almost entirely to Allegany
three stems ; and, before the arrival of the English colo- Indians,
nists, occupied both sides of the Allegany Mountains,
from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and New Brunswick.
1. The Delaware or Algonquin Indians, comprehending
the Ottogamies, Shawanese, Naragansets, Chippeways,
Knisteneaux, Delawares, and other nations, to the number
of thirty or forty, were spread over the space between the
Mississippi and the Atlantic, as far north as Hudson’s
Bay; and all spoke dialects of one language. They pre¬
served a tradition, to which some credit has been given,
that they had migrated from the west many centuries be¬
fore the white men crossed the Atlantic, and gained pos¬
session of their country by expelling the Allegewis (or
Alleganies), its former occupants. The latter nation, it
is said, lived in towns; and it has been conjectured that
they were the race who had constructed the long mounds
and walls, and the circular and polygonal inclosures, like
fortresses, which are scattered in great numbers over the
region between the Ohio and the lakes. 2. The Iroquois,
often called the “ Five Nations,” and the “ Six Nations,”
but comprehending 15 tribes or more, among whom were
the Mohawks, Oneidas, Hurons, and Senecas, all spoke
dialects of one language. They lived on the south side of
the great lakes, and finally obtained a complete ascend¬
ency over the Algonquin race. 3. The Florida Indians,
including the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Chickasaws,
Natches, and Mobiles. The Cherokees and Creeks, two
of these nations, who dwell in Alabama and Georgia, have
made greater advances in agriculture and the useful arts
than any of the other tribes within the territories of the
United States. They not only cultivate maize, potatoes,
and cotton, but raise cattle and hogs for the market. The
former, who have some hundreds of negro slaves, have es¬
tablished schools, set up a newspaper, and even adopted
a political constitution, modelled on those of the Anglo-
Americans. It has been recently discovered that the
Vater remarks, in the introduction to his account of the American languages, that they have, comparatively speaking, a consider¬
able number of words in common with the Finnish. He finds, however', only 51 similar words where the affinity should be most dis¬
tinct, namely, in all the languages of North America and Northern Asia. We subjoin a tabular view of the number of words he has
detected in the American languages agreeing in sound and sense with words in some of the principal tongues of the old continent and
its islands.
b words picked from ^ American languages, resemble the same number of words in the Coptic.
8 words
11 do.
4
2(1
8
18
do.
do.
do.
do.
8 American languages do Japanese.
8 do   do Malay.
1 do (Quichua) do Sanscrit.
in 18 do. (chiefly from eastern and tropical parts of America)....do in 13 languages of Western Afric.
0 do. (chiefly from the east side) do Basque.
in 10 do do Celtic.
Liter admits that many of these resemblances may be accidental; and some of them are evidently too fain.t to be of any value. We
must at the same time keep in view, that philologists have rarely the means of making a complete and satisfactory comparison. In
general they are furnished with only 40 or 50 words, significant of the roost common objects, out of some thousands constituting the
dialect of a tribe or people ; and these few words are taken down hastily by travellers, mariners, or missionaries, ot diflerent nations,
who are often betrayed into errors by imperfect means of communication, and must in their turn mislead the philologist by their
dissimilar systems of orthography. To enable the reader to judge of the sort of resemblances collected by Vater, we give his com¬
parison ol six Irish words with six Algonquin, remarking, however, that this is decidedly the most favourable specimen in his tables:—
Island
Falsehood
Water
Irish.
gai
uisce
Algonquin.
inis
ga
isca
Irish. Algonquin.
Soft bog boge
All cac-uile kak-eli
Each thing cac-eini kak-ina
(Einleitung Amerikanischen Sprachen, p. 332-351.)
620
AMERICA.
Aborigines. Osages, Missouris, Kanses, and some other tribes inhabit-
^*~v~**J ing the country beyond the Mississippi, as far as the Rocky
Mountains, speak dialects which are allied to those of the
Iroquois; a fact which tends strongly to confirm the opi¬
nion entertained by the latter, that their original resi¬
dence was far in the west. The Natches, near the Mis¬
sissippi, had a monarchical government, and a class of
nobles like the Mexicans. They had temples in which
the sun was worshipped, and a perpetual fire kept up.
Traces of this superstition existed also among the Gaspes,
in New Brunswick. Tribes belonging to these three fa¬
milies, with the Wocons and Katawbas, now almost ex¬
tinct, occupied nearly all the region east of the Mississip¬
pi, from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson’s Bay, comprising
more than a million of square miles. The Katawbas alone,
however, are said to have included 20 tribes, and nearly
as many dialects. The Powhattans were a confederacy of
33 tribes, comprehending 10,000 persons. It is probable
that when the English settlers landed in the country,
the region mentioned was inhabited by a quarter of a
million of Indians, divided into many tribes, and speak¬
ing dialects belonging to half a dozen of radically distinct
languages. These nations have furnished brilliant models
of the most shining qualities of savage life—a high sense
of honour, according to their perceptions of duty, mutual
fidelity among individuals, a fortitude that mocks at the
most cruel torments, and a devotion to their tribe which
makes self-immolation in its defence easy. On the other
hand, they treat their wives cruelly, and their children
with indifference. The apathy under the good and ill of
life which the Stoic affected, is the grand element of the
Indian’s character. Gloomy, stern, and severe, he is a
stranger to mirth and laughter. All outward expression
of pleasure or pain he regards as a weakness; and the
only feeling to which he ever yields, is the boisterous joy
which he manifests in the moment of victory, or under
the excitement of intoxication. He is capable of great
exertions in war or the chase, but has an unconquerable
aversion to regular labour. He is extremely improvident;
eats enormously while he has abundance of food, without
thinking of the famine which may follow; and, when li¬
quors are supplied to him, wallows in the most beastly in¬
toxication day after day. Most of the Indians believe in
the existence of a supreme being, whom they call the
Great Spirit; and of a subordinate one, whose nature is
evil and hostile to man. To the latter their worship is
principally addressed, the Good Spirit, in their opinion,
needing no prayers to induce him to aid and protect his
creatures. In some cases, however, as when influenced
by a dream, they offer sacrifices to the Good Spirit. These
consist generally of part of an animal taken in the chase,
which is stuck upon the head of a high pole set vertically
in the ground, and left in this situation to decay by the
action of the elements. The remainder of the carcass is
boiled and eaten; and the feast is accompanied with
prayers, dancing, and singing. Human sacrifices are not
unknown amongst them, but are rare. In their fasts,
which are long and severe, they smear the face and other
visible parts of the body with charcoal, and abstain from
food till the sun has gone down; and this is practised day
after day for one or two weeks. Some of them believe in
tutelar spirits; and in most of the tribes there are jug¬
glers or soothsayers, who pretend to discover lost property,
and foretell the issue of hunting or warlike expeditions.
By some tribes, deities are supposed to reside in the sun
and moon. They generally believe in a future state, in
which the souls of brave warriors and chaste wives enjoy
a tranquil and happy existence with their ancestors and
friends, spending their time in those exercises in which
they delighted when on the earth. The Dacotas believe Abe
that the road to these “ villages of the dead ” leads over^
a rock with an edge as sharp as a knife, on which only the
good are able to keep their footing. The wicked fall off
and descend to the region of the Evil Spirit, where they
are hard worked, and severely flogged by their relentless
master. Suicide is common among the women of this
tribe, in consequence of the cruel treatment they are ex¬
posed to; but the practice is viewed as immoral. It is
commonly effected by the woman hanging herself upon a
tree; and as the popular belief is, that she is doomed to
drag this tree after her for ever in the land of spirits, it
is said to be usual for a female in committing the act to
select as small a tree as will bear her weight.
Polygamy is allowed; and a number of wives is consi-Cust
dered as adding to a man’s consequence. When a young
man has formed an attachment to a girl, he throws a deeib
a gun, or some valuable article, into her father’s hut.
This is repeated for several days, till the father asks the
young man what his object is, and whether he wishes to
obtain his daughter. The young man having answered
in the affirmative, the relations of the girl, if they approve
of his suit, signify their consent by preparing a dress for
the youth, which they carry to his house, and put upon his
person. The young man’s friends then prepare presents
for the girl’s family, into which he goes to reside, serving
his father-in-law for a year, during which he gives him
all the produce of his hunting. At the end of this period
the youth takes his wife home to his own house, and
treats her as he pleases, his power over her being unli¬
mited. This is the custom of the Potowatomies. Other
tribes have modes of courting and marrying which are
very different; but among all the Indians, the presenting
of gifts to the girl’s father is an essential feature of the
transaction, and show’s that the wife is considered as pro¬
cured by purchase. Deformed children, and lame or de¬
crepit old persons, are sometimes destroyed; but the
practice is uncommon. Incest and unnatural vices are
practised in some tribes, but they are always viewed as
matters of reproach. The Indian funerals are conducted
with much decorum. The deceased is dressed in his
best clothes, and laid in a grave, in a vertical, horizontal,
or inclined position, according to his own previous direc¬
tions, with his mocassins, knife, money, and silver orna¬
ments beside him, and a small quantity of food near his
head. Some prefer having their bodies sewed up in a
blanket, and suspended from the branches of a tree. In
this position the corpse is frequently visited by the friends
of the deceased, until they observe that it is in a state of
decay. They then shake hands with it and bid it fare¬
well ; but this does not prevent them from paying a yearly
visit to the spot, and leaving some food at the place. It
is usual to mark the graves with a post, on which figures
are carved expressive of the nature of the pursuits and
achievements of the deceased.
Some nations of Indians wear little or no clothing; but Clot!
the general dress of the men in the temperate and cold
parts of the country, previous to the arrival of the Euro¬
peans, consisted of three articles: a cloak of buffalo-skin
hanging from the shoulders, a piece of skin used as an
apron, and a pair of mocassins or loose boots, made of un¬
dressed skin also. The women wore a long robe of the
same material, which was fastened round the waist; but
among the tribes living near the whites, coarse woollens
are now frequently substituted for the hides of wild ani¬
mals, except for the mocassins. The habitations of the In-Horn
dians are huts or cabins, generally of a circular form and
small size, but sometimes of 30 or 40 feet in diameter,
formed by stakes fixed in the ground, and covered with
(vy
IS.
AMERICA.
j^nes. the bark of trees. Sometimes the spaces between the
stakes are filled up with twigs, grass, and mud, and the
roof is covered nearly in the same way. A hole in the
top serves for the escape of the smoke, and the skins
of wild beasts form the beds and seats. When they go
to a distance to hunt, they erect for temporary use large
tents, which are covered with skins. On the west side
of the Mississippi, where the ground is open, many of
the tribes make use of horses, which are seldom em¬
ployed amidst the woods covering the territories east
of that river. The custom of painting their bodies is
nearly universal. They introduce the colours by making
punctures on their skin; and the extent of surface which
this ornament covers is proportioned to the exploits they
have performed. Some paint only their arms, others
both their arms and legs, others again their thighs;
while those who have attained the summit of warlike re¬
nown have their bodies painted from the waist upwards.
This is the heraldry of the Indians, the devices of which
are probably more exactly adjusted to the merits of the
persons who bear them than those of more civilized coun¬
tries. Besides these ornaments, the warriors also carry
plumes of feathers on their heads, their arms, or ancles.
Their arms are the tomahawk, the war-club, knife, the
bow and arrow; and, since they had intercourse with Eu¬
ropeans, many of them have muskets. Each tribe or
community is governed by a chief and council, who are
elective; but in matters of importance the whole warriors
are consulted; and Mr Keating informs us that questions
are not decided by the votes of a majority, but the reso¬
lution adopted must have the consent of every individual
warrior. Their assemblies are conducted with much for¬
mality and decorum. The eldest chief commences the
debate, which is often carried on by set speeches, abound¬
ing in bold figures and metaphors, and bursts of a rude but
impassioned eloquence. The young are permitted to be
present, and to express their approbation by cries, but
not to speak. In their wars the object commonly is, to
secure the right of hunting within particular limits, to
maintain the liberty of passing through their accustomed
tracts, and to guard from infringement those lands which
they consider as their own tenure. War is declared by
sending a slave with a hatchet, the handle of which is
painted red, to the nation they intend to break with.
They generally take the field in small numbers. Each
warrior, besides his weapons, carries a mat, and supports
himself till he is near the enemy by killing game. From
the time they enter the enemy’s country, no game is
killed, no fires lighted, or shouting heard, and their vigi¬
lance and caution are extreme. They are not even per¬
mitted to speak, but must communicate by signs and mo¬
tions. Having discovered the objects of their hostility,
they first reconnoitre them, then hold a council; and they
generally make their attack just before day-break, that
they may surprise their enemies while asleep. They will
lie the whole night flat on their faces without stirring,
and, at the fit moment for action, will creep on their hands
and feet till they have got within a bow-shot of those
they have doomed to destruction. On a signal given by
the chief warrior, which is answered by the yells of the
whole party, they start up, and, after discharging their
arrows, they rush upon their adversaries, without giving
them time to recover from their confusion, with their
war-clubs and tomahawks. If they succeed, the scene of
horror which follows baffles description. The savage fury
of the conquerors, the desperation of the conquered, the
621
horrid yells of both, and their grim figures besmeared Aborigines,
with paint and blood, form an assemblage of objects
worthy of pandemonium. When the victory is secured,
they select a certain number of their prisoners to carry
home: they kill the rest in cold blood, take their scalps,
and then march off with the spoil. The prisoners des¬
tined to death are soon led to the place of execution,
where they are stripped, have their bodies blackened, and
are bound to a stake. In this situation, while the burn¬
ing faggots embrace his limbs, and the knives of his
revengeful enemies are inflicting a thousand tortures, it
is common for the warrior to recount his exploits, boast
of the cruelties he has committed upon his enemies, and
to irritate and insult his tormentors in every way. Some¬
times it happens that this has the effect of provoking one
of the spectators to dispatch him with a club or toma¬
hawk. Sometimes the male adult prisoners are given as
slaves to women who have lost their husbands in the war,
and by whom they are often married. The women taken
are distributed among the warriors; the boys and girls
are considered as slaves.
Nearly all the Indian tribes raise maize, beans, andsubsist-
pumpkins, by the labour of their women, but only to aence.
small extent, and as a resource against famine, their chief
reliance being upon the chase. The buffaloes which wan¬
der over the prairies of the west, in herds of tens of thou¬
sands, are their great support; but deer, bears, and in
time of need otters, beavers, foxes, squirrels, and even
the most disgusting reptiles, are devoured. And last and
worst, there is the horrid banquet of human flesh, which
is still in use among some tribes, and to which, at one
period of their history or another, perhaps few or none of
them have been strangers. The fact has been doubt¬
ed ; but the decided testimony given by Major Long and
his party, who all started on their journey with a disin¬
clination to admit it, must be considered as setting the
question at rest. After alluding to the incredulity which
many felt on the subject, the narrator says,—“ With
such feelings the gentlemen of the expedition first heard
the reports of the anthropophagy of the Potowatomies,
and yielded but an unwilling ear to every thing that
could induce a belief in the existence of this disgusting
trait in the character of the North-West Indians. Truth
compels them, however, to assert, that the reports which
they have received on this subject were so frequent, so
circumstantial, and derived from such respectable sources,
that any concealment of it, or any apparent incredulity on
their part, would be a dereliction of duty. Even the most
incredulous of the party, or those disposed to entertain
the most favourable opinion of the Indians, were at last
compelled to acknowledge that all doubt on the subject
had been removed from their minds.”1 The practice
seems to have its origin sometimes in famine, which drives
the Indians to this resource, and sometimes in hatred or
revenge towards a hostile tribe; for it is only enemies
that are thus devoured; and the Indians have a super¬
stitious idea, that the flesh of a brave man, when eaten,
especially the heart, imparts a portion of his courage to
the individual who consumes it. We have described the
manners and dispositions of these nations at some length,
because the lights and shadows of savage life, its grand
features and marked peculiarities, in that state in which
a brutal ferocity has not obliterated every generous qua¬
lity, are more strongly depicted in their character than
in that of any other American race. For the sake of dis¬
tinction, they may be denominated the Allegany Indians.
1 Narrative of Major Long's Expedition to St Peter's River, vol. i. p. 101. Philadelphia, 1824.
A M ERIC A.
American
civilisa¬
tion.
Aborigines. The Caribs, who have been compared to them, had the
same courage and fierceness, but were more gross and
brutal; and the Araucanians, who surpassed all the inde¬
pendent tribes of America in intrepidity, intelligence,
and generosity, had a slight tincture of civilisation. In
speaking of those other nations which make the most
considerable figure in the new continent, our limited
space will not permit us to do more than to describe very
briefly the leading traits of their character.
It has been generally admitted by physiologists, that
the temperate regions of the globe are best fitted to de-
velope all the powers of our nature; and it is a fact in
accordance with this opinion, that among the aborigines
of America, civilisation followed very closely the chain of
the Andes, and was found either upon their sides or the
table-land of their summits, where the elevation of the
ground moderates the heat of the tropical sun, and pro¬
duces a climate analogous to that of Central and Southern
Europe. This civilisation did not exist merely at the two
distant and isolated points of Mexico and Peru, but pre¬
sented itself at intermediate places, and maybe said to have
formed a continuous line from lat. 35. N. to lat. 35. S., with
few interruptions, except at those parts where the moun¬
tainous chain disappears, or sinks dowm to a trifling eleva¬
tion. Some large buildings near the Rio Gila, in lat. 33. N.,
with fragments of porcelain, indicate the existence of a
people here who had some knowledge of the arts. These
were most probably a branch of the Aztecks or Toltecks,
who afterwards occupied Mexico, as the annals of this
country tell. Though some pursued their march south¬
ward, it may be reasonably supposed that a part remained
in the district; and the Indians living here, who culti¬
vate corn, weave cloth, and live in villages consisting of
houses built of solid materials, sometimes two stories in
height, may either be their descendants, or have bor¬
rowed from them the improvements they possess. Next
in order as we proceed southward, are the various nations
of Mexico, of whose condition we shall speak by and by.
In Chiapa were the Zapotecks, in \ucatan the Mayas, in
Guatemala the Quiches and Kachiquels, all nearly as
much advanced in civilisation as the Mexicans, and pro¬
bably of the same primitive stock. From this point, wfliere
the Andes lose their elevation, or break into isolated cones,
no distinct traces of civilisation appear till we enter the
southern continent. Here were found the Muyscas or
Moscas, on the table-land of Bogota, a nation consisting
of several tribes, who worshipped the sun and practised
some of the useful arts. To these succeeded the nations of
Peru, living under the Incas, whose dominion extended
from the equator to the 35th degree of south latitude.
Beyond this boundary were the Chilian tribes, who, though
inferior to the Peruvians, had made some advances beyond
the rudeness of the savage state. It is proper to mention
that some of the nations named were extinct before the
arrival of the Spaniards; but the degree of civilisation they
had attained is attested by the monuments they have left
behind them. There were no other tribes in the new
continent which had made any progress in social improve¬
ment. We would not except the Guaranis of Brazil, and a
few others, who derived their subsistence chiefly from
agriculture, but were in other respects savages. We place
among the exceptions, however, the extinct race of the
Allegewis, or whatever was the name of the people, who
erected the military works existing between the Ohio and
the northern lakes; but they also, it must be remembered,
inhabited a temperate climate, though not a mountainous
country. It may be affirmed, then, as a general proposi¬
tion, that from 35° of north to 35° of south latitude, the
sides and summits of the Andes were the exclusive seats
of American civilisation. We admit that some of the tribes Ab''
in Chiapa, Oaxaca, and Yucatan, inhabited low districts-vJ-
but they were still near the Cordillera, and may be fairly
considered as offsets from the nations dwelling upon it.
The fact is important, as marking the effect of climate on
the active energies of our species. There is no doubt
that, with the improved arts of modern times, civilisation
can subsist under the burning sky of the torrid zone, but not
in such vigour as in countries which enjoy a more moderate
temperature. Perhaps it will be found that the moral
and physical powers of man attain their highest perfection
in those regions where he is accompanied by wheat and
the vine. The zone occupied by the former extends
from the 30th to the 57th or 58th parallel; and within the
tropics the corresponding climate is found on the flanks
or summits of mountains, from 4500 to 10,000 feet above
the level of the sea.
It is remarkable that the Mexican annals reach to aMexi
more remote date than those of any of the nations of
northern Europe, though they were preserved merely by
an imperfect species of hieroglyphics, or picture-writing.
We do not pretend to enter into the question which may
be raised, both as to the authenticity of the records them¬
selves, and their susceptibility of a correct interpretation.
It is enough that they have received credit from Hum¬
boldt, Vater, and other men of learning and judgment
who have examined into their nature and origin. From
the annals thus preserved, we learn that several nations
belonging to one race migrated in succession from the
north-west, and settled in Anahuac or Mexico. The
Toltecks, the first of these, left their original seat, far to
the west, in 544 of our era, and after a long journey invad¬
ed Mexico, then occupied by wandering hordes, in 648.
This people, who peneti’ated to Nicaragua, if not to South
America, were nearly destroyed after the lapse of some
centuries ; but were followed by the Chichimeks, a half¬
savage tribe, about 1170, and these a few years afterwards
by the Anahuatlels, or seven tribes, including the Acol-
huans, Tlascalteks, and the Aztecks or proper Mexicans.
All these people spoke dialects of one language, and had
similar arts, customs, and institutions. The town of
Mexico or Tenochtitlan was founded in 1325, and the
series of Mexican kings which commenced in 1352 was
continued through eight monarchs to Montezuma. The
monarchy was small at first, and passed through many
vicissitudes ; but it was gradually enlarged, especially by
the policy and enterprise of the later princes of the line.
When Cortes arrived, it embraced what are now the pro¬
vinces of Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Puebla, Mexico, and part
of Valladolid, a surface of 130,000 square miles; but
within this were comprehended three small independent
states, Tlascala, Cholullan, and Zapeaca. The pastoral
state, which forms the intermediate stage between savage
and civilized life, had never existed in Mexico; for the
native wild ox had not been tamed, and the use of milk as
food was unknown. The Mexican nations derived their
subsistence from agriculture, which, however, was conduct¬
ed in the rudest manner, with very imperfect instruments.
They cultivated maize, potatoes, plantains, and various
other esculent vegetables. They raised cotton, and under¬
stood the art of spinning and weaving it into cloth, of a
texture which excited the admiration of the Spaniards.
They had no iron, but showed considerable skill in fashion¬
ing the gold, silver, and copper found in a native state,
into domestic utensils and ornamental articles. In some
of their buildings the stones were hewn into regular forms,
and accurately joined; and from the ruins of the palace of
Mitla, in Oaxaca, still existing, it appears that they had
the art of designing ornaments like arabesques, in paste,
mes.
A M T? T? r n a
. i . u j i ^ i . 7 —^7  7 woe wi jLiuiii uiu runioiesL anti-
night, speech, and also for numbers ; but it was essentially quity in Tartary, Thibet, and India. The calendar of the
a svstem o\picture-writing, in which objects were represent- Mexicans bespeaks a degree of scientific skill, and an ac-
ed by coloured figures having a resemblance more or less curacy of observation, which are not easily reconciled with
exact to themselves. With all its necessary imperfections, their semi-barbarous habits, their general ignorance iii
this instrument was familiarly employed to a prodigious ex- other things, and the recent date of their civilisation ac-
tent in deeds and instruments for effecting the transmission cording to their own accounts. It is here indeed and
and sale of property. The government kept couriers for not in their language, that we find distinct traces of their
conveying intelligence from all parts of the empire; and the connection with Asiatic nations. The character of the
capital was watched and cleaned by a sort of police esta- Mexicans is probably the same at this day as before the
bhshment. I his is the bright side of Mexican civilisation, conquest, which, we are disposed to think, made less
On the other hand, it must be kept in view, that the Mexi- change in the situation of the people than is often sup-
cans had no tame animals, no made roads, no money to posed, though it annihilated the rank and privileges of
serve as a universal medium of exchange in commercial the nobles. The Mexican Indian is grave, suspfcious
transactions. The government was originally a perfect and taciturn; quiet and placid in his external deportment’
feudal monarchy, in which all power was monopolized by but rancorous in his spirit; submissive to his superiors’
a numerous nobility and the priesthood. The great mass harsh and cruel to those beneath him. His intellect is
of the people were serfs, attached to the soil, and trans- limited, and chiefly developes itself in imitative labours
ferred with it from owner to owner by descent or purchase, and mechanical arts. Slow, cautious, and persevering, he
.e peasants or slaves of a nobleman were allowed a cer- loves, both in his acts and thoughts, to travel in a bea’teiT
tain portion of land, which they cultivated in common track. The people, though speaking many different lan-
fur their subsistence: the rest of their labour belonged guages, have nearly the same physical character. The
to their lord. The country swarmed with beggars, and Mexicans have olive complexions, narrow foreheads, black
thousands were swept off every few years by famine. As eyes, coarse glossy black hair, and thin beards. They
among the ancient Egyptians and the Chinese, immutable are of the middle size, and well-proportioned in their
custom, regulating every act of civil and common life, limbs. A person with any defect or deformity is rarely
chained up the course of improvement, and spread a seen amongst them. They are healthy, and live to an
languid monotony over society. The crown wms .elective, advanced age, when life is not shortened by drunkenness,
and the powers of the monarch small, till the privileges of The Tolteck and Azteck races, when they established
me nobles were destroyed by the policy and ambition of themselves in the country, diffused their own language
Montezuma. _ The religion of the Mexicans breathed partially from the lake of Nicaragua to the 37th parallel,
a savage spirit, which sinks them, in a moral point of They reclaimed, by degrees, many of the neighbouring
view, far below the hordes of wandering Indians. Their savage tribes to a settled mode of life, and spread a feeble
deities, represented by mis-shapen images of serpents degree of civilisation over a mixed mass of nations, speak-
aiul other hideous animals, were the creation of the ing, according to Clavigero, 35 languages, of which Hum-
darkest passions of the human breast, of terror, hatred, boldt tells us that 20 still exist. The Azteck language is one
cruelty, revenge. They delighted in blood, and thou- of the most copious and polished of the American tongues,
sands of human sacrifices were annually offered at their and abounds in words of the immoderate length of 12 or 15
s irines. 1 he places of worship, called Teocallis, were pyra- syllables. It is uncertain what was the number of sub-
nnds composed of terraces placed one above another, jects over whom Montezuma ruled. The ruins in the
e the temple of Belus at Babylon. They were built of valley of Tenochtitlan, on which the capital stands, show
cay or of alternate layers of clay and unburnt bricks, that it must have been more populous before the conquest
ut in some cases faced with slabs of polished stone, on than now; but the population at present is diffused over
^ acli figures of animals are sculptured in relief.1 One or an incomparably wider space ; and, upon the whole, there
."° sma^ chapels stood upon the summit, inclosing are no good grounds for believing that the number of ci-
nnages of the deity. The largest known, which is com- vilized Indians was much greater when Cortes landed,
posed of four stories or terraces, has a breadth of 480 than in 1803, when it amounted to 2,000,000.
tso,n lvas nnstaken in believing chat the Teocallis were in all eases mere masses of earth, without masonry. See Humboldt's
vol-n P-HE BngUsh translation.
624
AMERICA.
Aborigines. The civilisation of Mexico, as well as Peru, owed its
existence to one single cause,—the patient, submissive,
and superstitious character of the people, which fitted
them to be beasts of burden, under an aristocracy of
priests and nobles, who were led, perhaps, partly by lights
derived from abroad, partly by the instinct of self-interest,
to devise means for holding the mass of the commu¬
nity in subjection. Many of the nations which conti¬
nued savage, such as the Algonquins and Iroquois, were
probably equal to the Mexicans in intellect; but their
propensity to superstition was less, and their energy of
character was too great to permit of their being enslaved
by their chiefs. It is chiefly in the variety of their pri¬
mitive character that we must seek for the cause of the
diversity of manners and institutions we find among the
American nations.
Peru. The ancient empire of Peru, more extensive than that
of Mexico, embraced the whole sea-coast from Pastes to
the river Maule, a line of 2500 miles in length. Its
breadth is uncertain; but as it included both declivities
of the Andes, it must have extended in some cases to
500 miles, and the entire surface of the empire probably
exceeded 500,000 square miles. It is plain, however,
from the imperfect history of the Incas which has been
preserved, that within this space there were many dis¬
tricts where their authority was feeble, and others inhabit¬
ed by tribes which were entirely independent. One part
of the country, besides, consisted of a sandy desert, while
the most elevated tracts were uninhabitable from cold.
It must not therefore be supposed that the capacity of
the country to support population was commensurate
with the extent of its surface. Still the magnitude of the
Peruvian empire, in the midst of an immense multitude
of independent savage communities, so extremely minute,
that a hundred of them might have been planted with¬
out crowding, in one of its provinces, is an extraordinary
phenomenon. The creating and maintaining of such an
empire is a proof that the Peruvians had made no trifling
progress in the useful arts and in the science of government.
To keep in subjection so many remote provinces, there must
have been an efficient military force, rapid means of com¬
munication, considerable revenues, an organized magis¬
tracy capable of understanding and executing the plans
of rulers, who had sufficient political skill and knowledge
of human nature to adapt their institutions and arrange¬
ments to the wants, habits, and character of a great va¬
riety of dissimilar nations, spread over a territory reach¬
ing as far as from Lisbon to the banks of the Wolga. It
is clear that the ruling tribe, which was able to extend
its dominion, and to a considerable extent its language,
over a space of 2500 miles, must have possessed a marked
superiority of some kind over the hordes that surrounded
it. We must remember, besides, that the Peruvians lay
under the disadvantage of being destitute of even such an
imperfect instrument of communication as the hieroglyphi-
cal language of the Mexicans, and that they were extreme¬
ly deficient in military spirit. Indeed it is one of the most
singular facts connected with the history of America, that
by far the largest empire it contained was formed by the
most unwarlike people in it. The dominion of the Incas
was founded entirely on policy, superstition, and the arts.
It could only be by the intelligence and skill which civi¬
lisation developes, that the Peruvians conquered tribes
superior to themselves in courage; and it was by policy
and superstition that the Incas tamed the rudeness of sa¬
vage tribes, and held distant countries in subjection.
Robertson justly observes, that the Peruvians “ had ad-Abor
vanced far beyond the Mexicans, both in the necessary arts >
of life, and in such as had some title to the name of ele¬
gant.” In two points only were they inferior; in their
calendar or mode of computing time, and in their want
of such a substitute for writing as the Aztecks possessed
in their hieroglyphics.
Agriculture was conducted with greater care and sue-Arts
cess in Peru than in Mexico. The lands capable of cul-Peru
tivation were divided into three shares. One was conse¬
crated to the service of religion, the erection of temples,
and the maintenance of priests; the second was set apart
as a provision for the support of the government; and
the third and largest share, which was reserved for the
people, was parcelled out, not among individuals, but
among the hamlets and villages, according to the number
and rank of the inhabitants ; and a new division was made
every year to meet any change that might arise in the
circumstances of the parties. The members of each
little community went to the fields under overseers, and
cultivated the land by their joint labour. The produce
was distributed among the families and individuals accord¬
ing to their wants, while the evils of famine were pro¬
vided against by storing up the corn in granaries. The
Peruvians having no draught animals, and no ploughs,
turned up the earth with wooden mattocks; but their
skill and care were exemplified in irrigation, which they
practised extensively, and in their employing the dung
of sea birds as manure, of which great stores exist on
the islands near the coast. Their masonry was supe¬
rior to that of the Mexicans. Like the ancient Egyp¬
tians, they understood mechanics sufficiently to move
stones of vast size, even of 30 feet in length, of which
specimens are still existing in the walls of the fortress of
Cusco. The}' had the art of squaring and cutting blocks
for building with great accuracy; and they did not effect
their purpose, as Dr Robertson supposes, merely by
chipping the stones, or rubbing them together so as to
fit the surface of the one to that of the other, without re¬
gard to symmetry of form. It is now known that they
had hard chissels, made of copper, with a mixture of 6
per cent, of tin ; a proof of considerable skill in the work¬
ing of metals. With these they hewed the stones
into parallelepipeds, which were disposed in “ courses as
regular,” says Humboldt, “ as those of Roman workman¬
ship.” They are joined with such nicety, that the line
which divides the blocks can scarcely be perceived; and
the outer surface is in some cases covered with carving.
The palaces or lodges of the Incas, of which there are
many remains, had doors with slanting sides like the
Egyptian; sloping roofs, which, it is supposed, were cover¬
ed with rushes or stone slabs; no windows, but niches
symmetrically distributed.1 Ancient stone structures,
which are so rare in Mexico, are pretty abundant m
Peru; a fact for which we can only account by the dif¬
ficulty with which the Mexicans erected buildings, in
consequence of their inferiority in the art of masonry.
The architecture of the Peruvians, like every thing else
connected with their social state, displays a remarkable
uniformity, not only of style, but of plan. “ It is impos¬
sible,” says Humboldt, “ to examine a single edifice ol
the time of the Incas, without recognising the same type
in all the others which cover the ridge of the Andes,
along an extent of 450 leagues.” ,
The ancient public roads of Peru are justly considere c
as striking monuments of the political genius of the go-
1 See Humboldt’s account of the ancient buildings of Callo and Cunnar, vol. i. and ii. of his Researchet.
AMERICA.
625
Ai,0;,ine«.vernment. One of these extended along the sides of the
Andes from Quito to Cusco, a distance of 1500 miles. It
is about forty feet broad, and paved with the earth and
stones which were turned up from the soil; but in some
marshy places it is formed, like the old Roman roads, of a
compelling every one to labour. It is probable that the Aborigines
tythings and hundreds, as in England, would lose their
numerical signification in course of time, and become
mere local allotments. In the hamlets and villages, a
person mounted a tower every evening, and announced
compact body of solid masonry. A tolerably level line is where and how the inhabitants were to be employed next
preserved, by filling up hollows, cutting down small emi- day. The taxes were paid in the produce of the fields;
nences, and winding round the sides of large ones. At and magazines for receiving them were established in
proper distances zambos or storehouses were erected, for every district. Such is the account given by Acosta and
the accommodation of the Inca and his messengers. A si- Garcilasso of the civil institutions of Peru, which may be
milar road was made along the coast in the low country, correct with regard to the oldest possessions of the Incas
Drii «■
Fissures a few yards in breadth were passed by bridges
formed of beams laid horizontally; and an invention, at
once bold and ingenious, afforded the means of crossing
deep ravines, or the channels of rivers, which hap¬
pened to intersect the route. This consisted of a suspen-
near Cusco, where their power had been long established;
but it is not probable that such a complicated system was
ever fully in operation in the more distant parts of the
empire.
The government of Peru was a theocracy. The Inca Govern-
sion bridge, perfectly analogous in its principle to those was at once the temporal sovereign and the supreme ment.
recently introduced in Britain. It was formed of half a
dozen of cables of twisted osiers, passed over wooden
supports, and stretched from bank to bank; then bound
together with smaller ropes, and covered with bamboos.
Humboldt passed over one of these pendulous bridges, of
120 feet span ; and Mr Miers crossed one of 225 feet span,
over which loaded animals might travel.1 In low grounds
the rivers were crossed on rafts with a mast and sail, which,
by a particular contrivance, could be made to tack and
veer. In this respect the Peruvians were a stage in ad¬
vance of all the other American races, who had nothing
superior to the canoe with paddles. The Peruvians ma¬
nufactured a rude species of pottery : they understood the
art of spinning, and, in an imperfect degree, that of weav-
pontiff. He was regarded as the descendant and repre¬
sentative of the great deity the sun, who was supposed to
inspire his counsels, and speak through his orders and de¬
crees. Hence even slight offences were punished with
death, because they were regarded as insults offered to
the divinity. The race of the Incas was held sacred.
To support its pretentions, it was very desirable that it
should be kept pure and distinct from the people; but
human passions are often too strong for the dictates of
policy; and though the marriages of the family were con¬
fined to their own race, the emperor, as well as the other
males of the blood royal, kept large harems stocked with
beauties drawn from all parts of the empire, and multi¬
plied a spurious progeny, in whom the blood of the
ing. They procured native gold by washing the gravel of “ children of the sun” was blended with that of the “ chil-
b' lind
rivers, and silver, and perhaps copper, by working veins
downward from the outcrop. They knew how to smelt
and refine the silver ore ; and they possessed the secret
of giving great hardness and durability to copper by mix¬
ing it with tin. Their utensils and trinkets of gold and
silver are said to be fashioned with neatness and even
taste. On the other hand, they had no money, no know¬
ledge of iron or glass; and they were ignorant of the
mode of mortising or joining beams, and of casting arches.
They had no animals fitted for draught; but the llama, a
small species of camel, which they had tamed, was em¬
ployed to some extent as a beast of burden.
The political organization of Peru, which was artificial
dren of the earth.” Among a simple-minded and credulous
people, the claims of the Incas to a celestial origin seem
to have been implicitly believed. They were blindly
obeyed, and treated with a respect bordering on adora¬
tion, by the nobles as well as the common people. The
Peruvians worshipped the sun, the moon, the evening
star, the spirit of thunder, and the rainbow; and had
erected temples in Cusco to all these deities. That of
the sun, Avhich was the most magnificent, had its walls
covered with plates of gold. The sacrifices consisted of
the objects most prized by the people, of grain and fruits,
of a few animals, and of the productions of their own in¬
dustry. Sabeism, as it is the most rational of all the
b in in a high degree, reminds one, in some of its features, of forms of idolatry, so it is generally the most mild ; and
the old system of the Saxons in England, but bears a
more general resemblance to that of the ancient Egyp¬
tians. The mass of the people were in a state of servi¬
tude, except a small number, who were free ; above these
in rank were the Curacas, or chiefs of districts, who form
doubtless this results from the tendency which it has to
fix the thoughts on the marks of beneficence and wisdom
which are displayed in the works of nature. The Peru¬
vian temples were accordingly never polluted, like those
of Mexico, with the blood of human victims; and the
ed a sort of nobility; and above the whole, the family Incas even went farther, and signalized their zeal against
of the Incas, the members of which, by intermarrying such horrid rites, by suppressing them in all the countries
only with themselves, formed a numerous and distinct they conquered. Though their history exhibits some
caste. For the purposes of police and civil jurisdiction, bloody deeds, the general character of their government
the people were divided into parties of ten families, like was the reverse of cruel. The severe punishments pre-
the tythings of Alfred, over each of which was an officer, scribed by their laws were rarely inflicted, and rebellion
A second class of officers had control over five or ten was scarcely known in their dominions. The Inca not
tythings, a third class over fifty or a hundred. These only assumed the title of the father of his people, but the
last rendered account to the Incas, who exercised a vigi- vices as well as the merits of his government sprung
lant superintendence over the whole, and employed in¬
spectors to visit the provinces, as a check upon mal¬
administration. Each of these officers, down to the low¬
est, judged, without appeal, in all differences that arose
within his division, and enforced the laws of the em
partly from the attempt made to construct the govern¬
ment on the model of paternal authority, and partly from
the blending of moral and religious injunctions with civil
duties. Hence the idle pretension of the state to reward
virtuous conduct, as well as to punish crimes; hence
pire, among which were some for punishing idleness, and too the plan of labouring in common, the extinction of
4 K
VOL. II.
1 Humboldt’s Researches, vol. ii. p. 72. Miers’ Travels, vol. i. p. 334.
626 A M E R I C A.
Aborigines, individual property, the absurdities of eating, drinking,
sleeping, tilling, building, according to fixed universal
rules; in fine, that minute and vexatious regulation of all
the acts of ordinary life, which converted the people into
mere machines in the hands of an immense corps of civil
and religious officers. Such a system may have served
to reclaim some tribes from the savage state; but it must
have stifled the seeds of improvement, and left the mass
of the people more stupid and imbecile than it found
them. The government was as pure a despotism, pro¬
bably, as ever existed ; but its theocratical character, no
doubt, helped to mitigate the ferocity of its spirit. Su¬
perstition and force are the two bases on which tyranny
rests in all countries ; and in proportion as it is firmly
seated on the one, it stands less in need of the support of
the other. The Inca had so completely enslaved the
minds of his subjects, and the apparatus he wielded for
directing and controlling their acts was so perfect, that
he was able in a great measure to dispense with those ter¬
rific examples of cruelty and bloodshed, by which the pure
military despot operates on the fears of those who live
under his authority.
Origin of This system of the Peruvian monarchs, by which the
Peruvian people were kept in a state of perpetual tutelage, merits
laws. the greater attention, because it is precisely that which
the Jesuits employed, in Paraguay and other districts, to
reduce the natives to a settled mode of life ; and it seems
in fact to be the only method by which a semblance of
civilisation can be introduced amongst the American na¬
tions. Two things must be supposed to account for its
prevalence: first, a certain amount of timidity, passive¬
ness, and superstition, in the body of the people, implying
weak passions, but not necessarily smallness of intellect;
and, secondly, a few minds of a higher class, to give an
impulse to the rest, and to control and regulate their
acts. In the case of Peru did these ruling intellects
spring from the body of the people, and, after striking out
new lights in morals and legislation for themselves, devise
a complex and artificial system for establishing their power
over the minds of the rest, by the help of superstition and
force ? Or were they strangers from another country, and
imbued with the principles of a higher civilisation ? If
we may believe the Peruvian annals, the latter was the
case. About the year 1100 of our era, or perhaps a cen¬
tury later, Manco Capac, with his wife and sister Mama
Ocello, appeared as strangers on the banks of the lake
Titiaca. They were persons of majestic appearance, and
announced themselves as “ children of the sun,” sent by
their beneficent parent to reclaim the tribes living there
from the miseries of savage life. Their injunctions, ad¬
dressed to a people who probably worshipped the god of
day, were listened to by a few, who settled around them,
and founded Cusco. By degrees, other tribes were in¬
duced to renounce their wandering habits. Manco Capac
instructed the men in agriculture and the arts, and Mama
Ocello taught the women to spin and to weave. Laws,
institutions, and religious rites, were added. The form of
a civilized society arose, which was gradually extended
by persuasion or conquest; the Incas having always plant¬
ed their arts and religion wherever they established their
authority. Huana Capac, the twelfth in succession from
the founder of the dynasty, occupied the throne when the
first party of Spaniards visited Peru in 1527 ; and the em¬
pire was then still in a state of progress; for this prince
had conquered Quito at no distant date, and nearly doubled
the extent of his dominions.
Such is the account which the Peruvians give of the
origin of their civilisation, which we should be disposed to
reject as a fable, if there were not peculiar circumstances
which give it some credibility. First, their institutions, Abork,
taken in the mass, do not present what may be called the
American type. The mild and paternal character which
they display, the injunction to “ love one another” raised
to the rank of a positive precept, the preference of the
useful arts to war, all breathe a spirit, not only foreign to
the genius of the American tribes, but exactly opposed in
character to any thing which a native self-taught legisla¬
tor was likely to produce. Secondly, the artificial and
systematic form of the Peruvian institutions renders it
improbable that they were developed by the natural ac¬
tion of political causes, but strongly favours the idea, that
they were framed by a few designing heads, as an instru¬
ment to tame and govern a patient, feeble, and credulous
people, of rude or savage habits. A small number of Je¬
suits were led, by a sagacious study of the savage charac¬
ter, to devise a system extremely similar in its nature,
which worked admirably. These missionaries were the
Manco Capacs of Paraguay; and, like the Incas, might,
in the course of two or three centuries, have extended
their theocracy over as large a space as Peru, if their si¬
tuation had permitted them to employ force. Thirdly, a
million of native Peruvians yet survive, the living descen¬
dants of those who built the temples of Cusco; and their
extreme stolidity, apathy, and feebleness of character,
sufficiently testify that the chances were nearly as great
against a legislator like Manco Capac arising amongst
them, as against the Jews in the time of Augustus pro¬
ducing a being like Jesus Christ. They have the weak¬
ness and passiveness which fit them to receive an im¬
pression from superior directing minds; but they discover
no trace of the intelligence, energy, and originality which
must have been united in the persons who planned and
carried into effect the political system of the Incas. We
admit that oppression may have degraded their character;
but it cannot have entirely changed it. Look at the
Greeks of this day, who have been enslaved for a much
longer period.
If, then, the civilisation of Peru was exotic, whence was
it derived ? To us it appears most probable, that the le¬
gislators of Peru were either Chinese, or persons who had
received at second-hand a knowledge of the arts and in¬
stitutions of China; and our opinion is grounded on traits
of resemblance in the manners, laws, arts, and institutions
of the two nations, which, in our opinion, are too nume¬
rous, striking, and peculiar, to be the effect of chance.
We shall mention some of the most prominent.
1. The first and most obvious i*esemblance is in the Peruvij
singularly artificial frame of society in both countries. In311^1’
China, as in Peru, the legislation is directive as well as pu- " ^
nitive, and is distinguished by that minute and elaborate
system of regulation, inspection, and control, which inter¬
feres with the most trifling actions of ordinary life, and re¬
duces the mass of the people to the condition of automa¬
ta, moved and guided in every thing by the rulers. China,
says Mr Barrow, is a great school, in which the magis¬
trates are the masters, and the people the scholars. It
might be more correctly compared to a large monastic es¬
tablishment, in which each person has his place and his
duty assigned to him, and all his acts directed by supe¬
riors, whose wisdom and authority he is not permitted to
question. The Chinese have the same immense multitude
of civil officers which the Peruvians had, and the same
chain of subordination from the emperor down to the
petty constable. In China this system was undoubtedly
the growth of many centuries; but it was too artificial to
occur to the thoughts of a cazique, educated amongst a
tribe of savages on the sides of the Andes. 2. In China,
as in Peru, the emperor assumes the title of the “ father
AMERICA.
627
ibolines.of his people;” and his government is modelled upon
figure of speech. He affects to be sprung from pro¬
genitors who descended from heaven, like the children of
the sun; and he unites the character of supreme pontiff
with that of temporal prince. There are vestiges, too,
of the worship of the heavenly bodies in China.1 3. The
Chinese emperor extends an ostentatious patronage to
agriculture, by celebrating an annual festival in its ho¬
nour; on which occasion he proceeds to the field in
great pomp, and takes a part in the labour of cultivating
the ground with his own hands. This singular custom
existed in Peru, where the Incas went through an annual
ceremony perfectly similar. How foreign was such an
institution to the spirit of the American tribes! 4. In
China agriculture is in a rude state, and exhibits proofs
of intelligence and skill only in two things—the use
of manures, and a laborious system of irrigation. Pre¬
cisely the same circumstances characterized the agricul¬
ture of Peru. 5. The internal taxes of China, like
those of Peru, are paid in kind (maize, rice, silk, cotton,
&c.), and stored in public magazines or granaries. 6. The
Chinese government maintained public roads, even in
those provinces where neither carriages nor beasts of
burden were used, of course for the use of pedestrians;
and storehouses or places of refreshment were built upon
them at proper distances.2 The Peruvians constructed
roads on precisely the same plan, and for the same pur¬
poses ; and this was done by no other people in America.
7. The Chinese do not inter the bodies of the dead,
but lay them on the ground, and raise a tumulus or coni¬
cal heap of earth over them. Such was also the practice
in Peru. The only barbarously cruel rite practised in
Peru, that of immolating the Inca’s domestics at the ob¬
sequies of their master, was brought into China by the
Tartars.3 Its existence is an anomaly in each case; for
the genius of both nations was peaceful and mild. 8. The
architecture of the Chinese displays little taste, but is
distinguished by two peculiarities’—the power shown of
cutting and moving immense masses of stone,4 and the
uniformity of style which pervades their structures, of
every size and description. “ All the buildings,” says
Mr Barrow, “ from the meanest hut to the viceroy’s pa¬
lace, are upon one plan.” Humboldt remarks the same
adherence to a single model among the Peruvians; and
the walls of Cusco show that they were acquainted with
the method of moving stones of prodigious size. The
Chinese were fond of covering their walls with carving ;
and examples of the same practice occur in Peru. If
any of the Peruvian buildings had remained entire with
their roofs on, it would perhaps have been found, that
the type or primary architectural form employed in
the two countries was not very dissimilar; and some
allowance should be made for the circumstance, that
Peru must have borrowed her models from China 700
or perhaps 1000 years ago. 9. The Peruvians made
coarse pottery; and all the world knows that this is an
art in which the Chinese excel. The Peruvians were
the only American nation who had made any progress in
the art of fusing and alloying metals, in which the Chinese Aborigines,
have long been distinguished by their skill. 10. The
Peruvians had dramas and dramatic spectacles. Where
could a people so uninventive have caught the idea of such
entertainments, if not from China, where they have been
long familiar to the people ? There were mimics and buf¬
foons in Mexico, but nothing, we believe, to which the
term drama could be applied. 11. But perhaps the most
remarkable coincidence is found in an invention entirely
confined to the two countries. We have described the sus¬
pension bridges made of ropes, employed by the Peruvians
in crossing deep ravines. Now it is singular that bridges
of the very same description, some of chains, and some of
ropes, are found in the south of China, and nowhere else
except in Thibet, which has interchanged arts and cus¬
toms with China from time immemorial. This single fact
we would consider as a proof of communication between
the two countries. The Peruvians made their ropes of
twisted osiers, and the Chinese had ropes also of this de¬
scription.5 12. From what people nearer than the Chinese
could the Peruvians borrow the idea of rafts with a mast
and sail ? These rafts, supporting covered huts, may be
considered as literal copies of some that are used in China;
and the peculiar mechanism employed in lieu of a rudder
is no doubt borrowed from the paddles attached to the
Chinese boats, fore and aft.6 13. The Chinese in ancient
times made use of quippus or knotted cords to facilitate
calculation. Is it not probable that this invention had
passed from them to the Peruvians, the Mexicans, the
Kaluschi, and other American nations who employed it ?
It would be easy to trace similar analogies in many other
customs, laws, and institutions of the two nations. Both
had nunneries or religious societies of women, who lived
under a vow of celibacy; both had a class of literary men
(the Havaracs and Amantas, or poets and philosophers, in
Peru), patronised by the government; both divided the
year into twelve months, and placed the beginning of it in
January (a coincidence the more remarkable, as the year
of the Mexicans and other northern nations consisted
of 18 months); both were strangers to the use of milk,
cheese, and butter.7 8 These facts may suffice, for we have
not room for lengthened inquiries; neither are we anxious
to press our argument beyond its proper limits. Our po¬
sition is, not that the Peruvians are descended from the
Chinese, but simply that Peru had been inoculated with
civilisation by persons who derived their ideas from China.
If it is asked why these persons did not import from China
the use of letters, the method of casting arches, and many
other arts practised there, our answer is, that no individual,
and still less any casual assemblage of individuals such as
the purposes of trade or navigation might bring together,
possesses a knowledge of every art and science which
exists in his country. How many men are there in Eng¬
land at this day, who could not even carry the knowledge
of the alphabet to another country ? We must remember,
too, that all the arts existing in China do not exist in every
province of it, and have not always existed in those pro¬
vinces where we now find them.3 As to the means of
1 See account of the temples at Pekin dedicated to the heavens, the north star, the moon, the eart , c., an o i e i p
at the summer solstice, like the grand solar festival in Peru. {Hist. Gen. des Voyages, tom. vi. p. •>- ■)
1 Jlistoire Generate des Voyages, tom. vi. p. 170.
4 See the account of the bridges formed of huge blocks of stone, without arching, in Prevost s Hist. Gen. des Voyages, tom. vi. p. 170*
h Prevost, Hist. Gen. des Voyages, tom. vi. p. 179, and tom. vii. p. 339.
’ printed in the Supply, and incorporated with this edition rf the Encjciop^dia),
is our authority for this fact, which is the more remarkable, as the Mongols, the neighbours and conquerors of the Chinese, had the
use of all the three articles immemorially. ... , . , rru„ nf
8 The uniformity and unchangeableness of customs in China have evidently been much exaggera e . 1L i
628
AMERICA.
Aborigines, communication, it is evident that the trade-wind renders by a process known to them before the conquest, and atAbor
v-^v^>»^'Peru almost unapproachable from Eastern Asia, be- their festivals drink till their senses fail them, day after V-A
tween the parallels of 30° north and 30° south latitude, day. This bestial habit, however, is common to all the
But beyond these limits the west winds prevail, and hence American nations, and is confined to the men, for the
China, in point of facility of access, is nearer to Peru than women are in general strictly sober. The Peruvians are
the Society or Marquesas Islands. The Chinese have a gentle and mild people ; they are fond of their dogs, and
long exposed themselves to the casualties of a maritime breed up hogs, geese, and chickens, for which they have
life, in vessels of large size, provisioned for many months; so tender a regard, that they will often neither kill nor
and at this day they perform voyages of 3000 or 4000 sell them. Their huts, says Mr Stevenson, consist of
miles, to Ceylon and Polynesia. stones laid upon one another without any cement or mor-
The Quichua language, or that of Peru, was spread, by tar, thatched over with long grass or straw, affordinp- no
the care of the Incas, over all the countries which they defence either from the wind or the rain. One small
conquered, so far at least as to be understood, if not room contains the whole family; their bed a sheep-skin
spoken, by the great variety of tribes subject to their or two; their furniture one or two earthen pots. The
sway. It is understood at present as far as Santiago del principal food of the Peruvians is maize; but they raise also
Estero, 1200 miles of direct distance south-east from potatoes, wheat, beans, camates, yucas, pumpkins, and
Cusco. This single fact proves both the long duration of other vegetables. Christianity, imposed upon them in
their power, and the efficiency of their internal adminis- dogmas, by priests who take no pains to enlighten them
tration. It is said to be the most rich, polished, and har- has scarcely gained admission to their understandings,
monious of the South American languages, abounding in and has no hold on their affections. They attend divine
vowel sounds, but wanting those corresponding to the service from the dread of chastisement, and give an out-
Spanish consonants b, d, f, g, 1, x, v. Like all the other ward assent to whatever they are taught, but without any
American tongues, it wants terms for abstract and uni- real religious impression being made upon their minds,
versal ideas, such as time, space, being, substance, matter, They meet death with the same stupid indifference as
body, and even such as virtue, justice, liberty, gratitude, the ordinary accidents of life, and rather decline than seek
There are five dialects of the Quichua, which are spoken the assistance of a priest in their last hours. It ought not
in Peru proper, and in Quito, New Granada, and a con- to be forgotten, however, that the intellectual torpor which
siderable part of La Plata, and not only by the Aborigines, the Peruvians display may be attributed in part to the
but by many Spaniards of the higher classes. The Peru- deadening and debasing effects of three centuries of brutal
vians had no alphabetic writing. They possessed a very oppression. They still cherish in secret a strong venera-
rude species of hieroglyphics, of which little use was tion for their ancient faith and their native government,
made, and the quippus or knotted cords of various colours; which displays itself even in the large towns. The story
but whether these last were employed to record events, of Manco Capac (whom, since numbers of our countrymen
or were merely instruments of calculation, is a question appeared in Peru, they affect to call an Englishman) and
which we must confess our inability to solve, dhe his- Mama Ocello, the wealth, power, and beneficence of the
tory of Peru, as it has reached us, seems to have been pre- Incas, are still fresh in their memories, and are handed
served entirely by tradition, aided perhaps by popular down from father to son with a degree of fond admiration
Songs. which three centuries of humiliation and misfortune seem
Ihe Peruvians, according to Mr Stevenson, are of a only to have rendered more intense. The barbarous murder
copper colour, with a small forehead, the hair growing on of the Inca Atahualpa by Pizarro is annually represented
each side from the extremities of the eye-brows; they in the form of a tragedy. “ In this performance,” says
have small black eyes, a small nose, a moderately sized Mr Stevenson, “ the grief of the Indians is so natural,
mouth, with beautif ul teeth ; beardless chin (except in old though excessive, their songs so plaintive, and the whole is
age)> ar*d a round face. Their hair is black, coarse, and such a scene of distress, that I never witnessed it without
sleek, the body well proportioned, the feet small, the mingling my tears with theirs. The Spanish authorities
stature rather diminutive. Iheir intellectual qualities, have endeavoured to prevent this exhibition, but without
according to M. Ulloa, are of the lowest order. 1 he most effect. The Indians in the territory of Quito wear black
prominent trait in their character is an imperturbable and clothes, and affirm that it is mourning for their Incas, of
incurable apathy. Though half-naked, they are as con- whom they never speak but in a doleful tone.”
tented as the Spaniard^ in his most splendid raiment. The oppression of the mita, or forced labour in the
Gold and silver have so little influence over them, that the mines, with the introduction of the small-pox and the use
greatest recompense will not induce them to perform the of spiritous liquors, has destroyed prodigious multitudes
slightest service voluntarily. Neither power nor dignity of the Indians since the conquest. What their number
moves them ; and they receive with the same indifference was before that event it is impossible to tell; but, judging
the office of alcalde and that of executioner. "Ihey are from the extent of the Inca’s dominions, he probably had
habitually slow in their motions, and extremely indolent, not less than three or four millions of subjects. A pre-
When employed at any piece of labour, if the master with- tended Spanish account, assigning a population of eight
draw his eye for a moment, they cease to work. I hey millions to Peru shortly after the conquest, is known to
are timid, shy, secretive, and always grave, even in the be fictitious. According to General Miller, there were
dances, which are their favourite pastime. The love of 998,000 Indians in Peru about 1826 ; but he does not in-
intoxicating liquors is deeply rooted in their nature. They elude those in Quito or Bolivia.1
prepare a fermented beverage called chicha, from maize, In Chili there were several tribes who possessed near- Chili-
if*.
an assemblage of small states, conquered one after another, each of which must have had its peculiar laws, manners, and superstitions;
and common sense tells us, that to blend these into one perfectly homogeneous mass, must have required a much longer period than has
elapsed since the empire attained its present magnitude. It would be easy, too, to find instances of the Chinese having changed their
customs, both in matters of business and matters of domestic economy.
1 In this account of the Peruvians we have chiefly followed Garcilasso, Acosta, Frezier, and Ulloa, of whose statements a copious
digest is given by Irevost, in the 13th volume of his Histoire Gtntrale des Voyages* We have also taken some facts from Humboldts
AMERICA.
iboi nes-ly all the arts known to the Peruvians, but were dis-
tinguished from them by a finer physical constitution, and
an unconquerable spirit. When the Spaniards arrived,
Chili, according to Molina, was inhabited by fifteen tribes
independent of each other, who were spread over the
country on both sides of the Andes, from latitude 30° to
the Straits of Magellan. They all spoke dialects of one
language, which is described as rich, harmonious, abound¬
ing in compound words, and having, like the other Ameri¬
can tongues, very complicated grammatical forms. It has
no affinity to the Quichua or Peruvian. The inhabitants
of the plains are a stout people, of middle stature ; those
of the mountains are tall; and one tribe, the Tehuels or
Patagonians, surpass in size every other nation in the
world. All the tribes inhabiting the plains, except those
of the extreme south, now make use of horses. The com¬
plexion of the Chilian tribes is, like that of the other
American nations, a reddish brown ; but one tribe is said to
be of a clear red and white. They do not paint their
bodies. The Chilians lived partly by hunting, but chiefly
by agriculture, before they had any intercourse with
Europeans. They cultivated maize, magu, guegen, tuca,
quinoa, the potato, pumpkins, and some species of pulse;
and to these they added, as food,'the flesh of a small rab¬
bit, and of the Chilihueque or Araucanian camel, of whose
wool they are said to have manufactured cloth. Like
the Peruvians, they understood the use of manure, prac¬
tised irrigation with considerable skill, and turned up the
ground with a wooden spade or mattock. They boiled
their grain in earthen pots, or brayed it into meal after
roasting it in hot sand; of the meal they made puddings
or bread, which they knew how to leaven, and various
species of fermented drink. They had gold, silver, cop¬
per, tin, and lead, procured probably by washing; but
they had few or no edge-tools of metal, as those found
are almost alwa}rs of basalt. They made baskets and
mats, extracted salt from sea-water, and were able to give
various dyes to their cloths. They used quippus or knot¬
ted cords for calculation, and, according to Mr Steven¬
son, for the transmission of intelligence and for recording
events. They lived in villages formed of houses standing
at a distance from one another, under hereditary chiefs,
but whose power was limited. It is remarkable that
the Chinese mode of catching wild ducks on the rivers, by
covering the fisher’s head with a gourd, was practised in
Chili.
The Araucanians, the most intelligent, improved, and
warlike of the Chilian tribes, occupy about 200 miles of
the sea-coast, between the 37th and 39th parallels. They
are of ordinary stature, but vigorously formed; bold,
hardy, hospitable, faithful to their engagements, generous
to a fallen enemy, ardent, intrepid, and enthusiastic lovers
of liberty. Their vices are drunkenness, and a contempt
of other nations, springing from pride. Their govern¬
ment, in the regularity of its form, and its sub-division of
authority, has an outward resemblance to the Peruvian;
but the spirit of the two systems differs as widely as the
genius of the two nations. Araucania contains four
tetrarchies, under four toquis or princes, who are inde¬
pendent of one another, but confederated for their joint
security against foreign enemies. Each tetrarchy is
divided into five provinces, ruled by five chiefs called Apo-
Ulmen ; and each province into nine districts, governed by
as many Ulmen, who are subject, to the Apo-Ulmen, as
die latter are to the toquis. These various chiefs (who all
629
bear the title of ulmen, as our nobility of all orders are Aborigines,
barons) compose the aristocracy of the country. They1
hold their dignities by hereditary descent in the male
line, and in the order of primogeniture. The supreme
power of each tetrarchy resides in a diet or great coun¬
cil of the ulmen, who assemble annually in a large plain,
like the Poles and Germans in old times; but as the peo¬
ple are all armed, and have a high love of liberty, no re¬
solution of the diet is of any avail if it has not their hearty
concurrence. The chiefs, indeed, are little more than
leaders in war; for the right of private revenge, which is
fully admitted, limits their authority in judicial matters ;
and they receive no taxes. Their laws are merely pri¬
mordial usages. The Araucanians can raise altogether
6000 or 7000 men, besides a body of reserve. When war
is declared by the great council, messengers bearing “ ar¬
rows dipt in blood” are sent to all parts of the country, to
summon the men to arms. Unlike many barbarous na¬
tions, which are immovably attached to their ancient cus¬
toms, the Araucanians were not slow in copying the mili¬
tary arts and tactics of the Spaniards. Their troops now
consist of infantry and cavalry; the former armed with
pikes or clubs, the latter with swords and lances. The
infantry are formed into regiments of ten companies, each
company containing a hundred men. When they take the
field, they carry parched meal with them for provisions;
they station sentinels, send out scouts, and have advanced,
guards preceding their main body. When necessary for
their security, they dig ditches, and plant stakes along
their sides, and throw up mounds of earth. They advance
to battle in lines well formed, and fight with intrepidity.
Their history affords a brilliant example of what a brave
nation, animated by an enthusiastic love of liberty, can
accomplish under the greatest disadvantages. After re¬
sisting the best troops and the best generals of Spain for
two hundred years, they at last compelled their proud
enemies to acknowledge their independence. The Arau¬
canians were indebted for their success to a deliberate
species of courage, to which even the bravest of the North
American tribes are strangers; and they combined with it a
degree of sagacity and intelligence, which led them to adapt
their mode of fighting to the new circumstances in which
they were placed. Experience having taught them the
inefficiency of their old missiles when opposed to musket
balls, they soon laid aside their bows, and armed them¬
selves with spears, swords, or other weapons fitted for
close combat. Their practice was to advance rapidly
within such a distance of the Spaniards as would not leave
them time to reload after firing. Here they received
without shrinking a volley, which was certain to destroy
a number of them, and then rushing forward in a close
column, fought their enemies hand to hand. In this way
they gained many victories, and impressed the Spaniards
with such a respect for their courage, that an individual
of this nation made their achievements the subject of an
epic poem. Combining the moral, intellectual, and physi¬
cal qualities of the Araucanians, they were certainly the
finest native race in the new world. They had nearly
all the germs of civilisation which belonged to the Mexi¬
cans and Peruvians ; without the ferocity of the former, the
apathy of the latter, or the slavish habits common to both ;
and without having their minds stupified by that grovel¬
ling superstition which the rulers of these two nations
seem to have considered as the only secure foundation of
their authority. In true courage, in manliness and energy
Researches, Ealbi’s Ethnographical Atlas, and W. B. Stevenson’s Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America, a useful work,
kut in which the author has shown rather too great an anxiety to exalt the character of the Indians.
630
AMERICA.
Aborigines, of character, they take precedence of all the American
nations.
The Araucanians believe in a supreme being, and in
many subordinate spirits, good and bad. I hey believe
also in omens and divination, but they have neither
temples nor idols, nor religious rites; and discover upon
the whole so little aptitude for the reception of religious
ideas, that the Catholic missionaries who are settled
among them have had very little success in imbuing their
minds with a knowledge of Christianity. They believe in
a future state, and have a confused tradition respecting a
deluge, from which some persons were saved on a high
mountain. The}' divide the year into twelve months of
30 days, which have significant names, and add five days
by intercalation. They esteem poetry and eloquence, but
can scarcely be induced to learn reading or writing.
Chess, a game of Chinese origin, is said to have been
known among them from time immemorial and it may
be further observed, that the numbers 5 and 9, employed
in their geographical and civil divisions, are favourite num¬
bers in China.
The other Chilian tribes are all much behind the Arau¬
canians in civilisation; but some, as the Puelches and
the Tehuels, surpass them in strength and stature. Part
of them live on horse flesh, part by keeping sheep and
cattle, and part by hunting. Some of these tribes paint
Patago- their faces.2 With regard to the height of the Patago¬
nians. nians, M. Lesson, an eminent French naturalist, has col¬
lected the authorities on the subject, in a note published
by Balbi in his Ethnographical Atlas; and they appear to
us to remove every rational doubt as to the fact of a race
of men existing there, whose average stature is about six
feet, and among whom men seven feet high are perhaps
as common as men of six feet two or three inches in Eng¬
land. We cannot help regarding the scepticism in which
many writers have indulged upon this question, as unphi-
losophical. The diversities of size in the human race are
innumerable, and stature, like other physical qualities, is
hereditary. We form in our minds, indeed, an idea of a
standard size for man; but this is merely the mean of all
the varieties which come under our notice; and till we
know all these, our estimate cannot have any exactness.
There are scarcely two nations perhaps whose average
height is the same, and who can pretend to such a know¬
ledge of the causes producing these varieties as to fix their
precise limits ? That individuals seven feet high, free of
weakness or defect, have existed among ourselves, is a
proof that there is nothing in such stature inconsistent with
the physical laws on which human life depends. And
since nobody denies that the dwarfish size which we wit¬
ness occasionally in our own country, as a deviation from
the common type, becomes generic and universal among
the Laplanders and Esquimaux, why should the natural
causes which produce tall men at intervals among our¬
selves not be rendered equally fixed and permanent in
other cases? But the chief source of the incredulity of
many persons is obvious. Only one of the fifteen tribes
who inhabit the south extremity of the American con¬
tinent is distinguished by the very tall stature which is
ascribed to the Patagonians; and as these tribes probably
migrate from place to place, from the coast, for instance,
to the interior, and vice versa, a navigator touching at a
bay where some of his precursors profess to have met
with the giants, may find no inhabitants at all, or only
men of ordinary size, and in either case may attribute
is.
to false reports what is really the consequence of a change Abomes.
of habitation.
Of the numerous nations which inhabited Brazil, there Gua:
is only one to whom we can afford any special notice in
this article. The Guaranis had at one time formed a nu¬
merous people, which seems to have been spread over a
larger surface than any other now existing in America.
Tribes, or remnants of tribes, whose relationship to the
Guaranis is attested by the strong evidence of their lan¬
guage, are found diffused over the wide space between the
Orinoco and the embouchure of the Plata, over more than
the half of South America. They are met with among
the Andes of Peru, in the province of Chiquitos, in Mat-
togrosso, in Paraguay, in Minas Geraes ; and the Omaguas,
in the province of Quito, who, from their nautical habits, and
the influence they obtained on the upper part of the Ama¬
zon, have been called the Phoenicians of the newworld, are
believed to be of the same race. They constituted the bulk
of the native population of Brazil when the Portuguese
gained possession of it, but were divided into many dis¬
tinct tribes, quite independent of one another, and living,
not in contiguity, but mixed with other nations. They
are of low stature, two inches shorter than the Spaniards,
according to Azara, of a square form, fleshy, and ugly.
Their colour has a strong shade of the copper red, while
that of the other Brazilian tribes inclines generally to the
tawny or black. Their character, like their physical form,
resembles that of the Peruvians. They are patient, tor¬
pid, silent, downcast in their mien, mild, and passionless.
Nearly all the Indians whom the Portuguese have civi¬
lized or converted belong to this race. It is difficult to
account for their dissemination through the southern con¬
tinent, amidst nations much more brave and powerful than
themselves. May we suppose that, like the subjects of
the Incas, they had been at one time the dominant tribe
of an extensive empire, which derived its force from
union and civilisation ? But if such a state did exist, its
date cannot be very ancient; for the identity or close re¬
semblance of the dialects spoken by the scattered portions
of the Guaranis, shows that their dispersion from a com¬
mon point did not happen at a very remote period.3 Yet
no memorial of its existence survives, either in traditions
or monuments. The supposition, therefore, that the
Guarani tribes are the remnants of a once powerful and
united people, is scarcely admissible; and Azara thinks
it more probable that they have crept gradually from
north to south. Their dispersion is the more remarkable,
as they are not a wandering but an agricultural people.
They live in the woods, or in small open spaces in the
forests; cultivate maize, beans, gourds, yams, mandioc;
and eat also wild honey, and the flesh of monkeys and
various small quadrupeds.
The Indians whom the Jesuits civilized and collected Par
into communities in the celebrated settlements of Para- n
guay belonged chiefly to the nation of the Guaranis.
These missionaries are said to have borrowed the plan
of the theocracy which they established here from that
which the Incas had introduced into Peru. Ihere is
no doubt that the spirit of their system was the same,
and, considering that they were precluded from any other
means of extending and supporting their authority than
persuasion, their success was remarkable. The ®ett
ments were commenced about 1610, and were gradua y
extended over the country watered by the Parana an
Uruguay, between the 27th and 30th degrees of sou i
av
1 Molina’s History of Chili, vol. ii. p. 125.
2 Ibid. vol. ii. book i. and ii. Stevenson's South America, vol. i. chap. m»
Dr Prichard’s Researches, vol. ii. p. 437«
AMERICA.
631
^ines.latitude, till tne order oi tne Jesuits was suppressed in
1767. The plan of the government may be called paro¬
chial, for it was administered entirely by the parochial
clergy. The Indians were collected into villages. Each
village had its church, and its curate, who was assisted by
one, two, or more priests, according to the number of In¬
dians under his charge. The curate and assistant priests
were nominated, not by the Spanish authorities, but by
the father superior, also a Jesuit, who exercised a vigilant
superintendence over the whole. Indians were appoint¬
ed in each village with the titles of regidors and alcaldes ;
but they were merely instruments in the hands of the
curate and his assistants, in whom all power was lodged.
The curate gave his whole attention to religious offices,
saying mass in the church, and visiting the sick; while
the assistant priests managed all secular matters, direct¬
ing the labour of the Indians who cultivated the ground,
and training others to the crafts of the weaver, mason,
carpenter, goldsmith, painter, and sculptor; for the fine
arts were by no means neglected. Private property did
not exist. The produce of the labour of the community
was stored in magazines, from which each family was sup¬
plied according to its wants, special provision being made
for aged persons, widows, and orphans. The surplus was
sold by agents at Buenos Ayres, and the proceeds em¬
ployed in paying the taxes to the king, in procuring or¬
naments for the churches, and various articles which
the colonists could not manufacture for themselves. The
religious instruction was of the most simple kind ; but the
service of the church was conducted with a well-trained
choir, a pompous ceremonial, and every accessory calculat¬
ed to strike the senses. The punishments were mild, and
they were always accompanied with such admonitions as
a parent would address to a child whom he was chastising.
Crimes, in truth, were rare. The Indians, who regarded
their spiritual chiefs with the veneration due to beneficent
beings of a superior order, scarcely felt humbled in confess¬
ing their misdeeds; and offenders may have solicited correc¬
tion, as Raynal says, for the quieting of their consciences.
The incursions of the Portuguese compelled the Jesuits
to take means for repelling force by force. All the male
Indians of the proper age were accordingly armed with
muskets, and disciplined as a militia. In 1732, according
to Dobrizhoffer, the thirty villages or parishes under the
care of the missionaries contained a population of 141,000
souls. The Jesuits had another establishment of the
same kind among the Chiriguas, a branch of the Guara¬
nis, in the province of Chiquitos, containing 30,000 or
40,000 Indians; a third, of smaller size, in the province
of Moxos; a fourth in California; and probably others.
After the suppression of the order, all these were com¬
mitted to the care of friars of other descriptions; and we
believe they have universally fallen into a state of decay.
Ihe social system established in Paraguay was the most
effectual ever contrived for reclaiming the Indians from
t leir savage mode of life ; but even its success shows how
mpeless the attempt is to raise the American tribes to
tlie rank of thoroughly civilized nations. The Jesuits
were able to introduce settled habits and a slight know-
edge of religion and the arts among the Indians only by
means of the personal ascendency they acquired over
t em. It was a few' superior minds gaining the respect
mid confidence of a horde of savages, then employing the
m uence they acquired to lead them as children; giving
em such portions of instruction as taught them to trust
implicitly in their guides, working alternately on their
fears, their pride, their kind affections, but never fully Aborigines,
unveiling to them the springs of the machinery by which
they were governed. The incurable indolence of the
savages rendered it necessary to prescribe the labour
as task-work, and to carry it on under the constant in¬
spection of the missionaries. The plan of cultivating the
ground in common, and of storing the produce in maga¬
zines, out of which the wants of each family were supplied,
was resorted to as a check upon their improvident habits.
In short, the eye and the hand of the missionaries were
everywhere; and the social system was held together en¬
tirely by their knowledge and address. When these were
withdrawn, the fabric soon fell into ruins, and the Indians
relapsed into their idolatry and savage habits, just as boys
drop their tasks the moment they are liberated from school.
We have dwelt a little upon this topic, because we Conversion
think the experiment made by the Jesuits in Paraguay and and civili-
Chiquitos is almost an instantia crucis with regard to the saC'on °f
capacity of the American tribes for receiving Christianity t^eInc^^ans-
and civilisation. From the moment that the Europeans
landed in the new world, benevolence has been at work
tb instruct some portions of these tribes in religion and
the arts; and flattering accounts have been published
from time to time of the success of those humane persons
who dedicated their lives to the task. But, after three
centuries of incessant exertion, wdiat is the result? Is
there one tribe that exhibits the steady industry, the
provident habits, the spirit of improvement, and the ra¬
tional views of religion, which are to be found in any
parish of England ? We cannot find that there is. Many
tribes, living near the whites, have adopted their habits
and ideas to a certain extent, but merely under the influ¬
ence of imitation. While missionaries and teachers are
among them, every thing wears a favourable aspect; but
their civilisation is never self-sustained. It is created by
the agency of men of higher natural endowments; and
when this is removed it moulders away, because it has no
foundation in their character. Many parties of Indians,
remnants of tribes once powerful, have lived peaceably on
reserves of land, inclosed amidst the population of the
United States, for more than a century. No situation can
be imagined better fitted to promote their improvement;
but in no one instance, so far as we know, have they
melted into the mass of the white population, or risen to
any thing near their level in knowledge and the useful
arts. They live in huts in no material degree better than
the wigwams of their wandering brethren. They are ge¬
nerally honest, but drunken, indolent, and ignorant,
though teachers and missionaries are employed by the
government to instruct them. Basket-making is almost
the only trade they ply, and in their habits and character
they may be aptly compared to the gypsies of Europe,
who exist in the midst of civilisation, without partaking
of its spirit or its benefits. It should be observed that
there is not the same reluctance in the whites to mingle
their blood with the red men, as with the blacks.1 Much
has been recently said of the progress made by the Che-
rokees; but we suspect that what is witnessed there is
but a flimsy veil of improvement, spread over habits which
are essentially savage. We are convinced, in short, that
the Indian is truly the man of the woods; and that, like
the wild animals he lives upon, he is destined to disap¬
pear before the advancing tide of civilisation, which falls
upon him like a blight, because it supplies new food to
nourish his vices, while it demands intellectual and moral
faculties in which he is deficient, and renders useless
1 See, on the habits and character of the Indians, Cooper’s Notions of the Americans, vol. ii. letter 17«
632
AMERICA.
Aborigines, those qualities which predominate in his character. We
— ~ ' would not discourage the attempt to meliorate the lot of
the Indians ; but this will succeed best when it is ground¬
ed on a true knowledge of their natural capacities. Some
of them are much more susceptible of moral and religious
improvement than others; but, to instruct and reclaim
them effectually, our belief is, that the system of the Jesuits
is the only one that holds out a chance of success. They
must not merely be taught and preached to, but they must
be retained in a state of pupilage, trained to their duties,
controlled and directed in all their proceedings by intel¬
lects superior to their own ; and there are many tribes too
ferocious and intractable for even this method of tuition.
We do not maintain that the character of the Indian na¬
tions is indelible; but to effect any considerable change
in it, the lapse of a longer period would be required than
the existence of these tribes is likely to extend to. Nei¬
ther do we think that there is any thing in the extinction
of these people by natural means which humanity should
mourn over. In every state of life man has but a brief
span of existence allotted to him. Successive generations
fall like the leaves of the forest; and it should be remem¬
bered that the extinction of a race of men by natural
causes, means merely its non-renewal, or the suspension
of those circumstances which enabled it to continue its
existence.
To complete our general view of the aboriginal races, a
few particulars remain to be mentioned. Many of the
tribes who inhabit the Pampas of South America make
use of horses. Dobrizhoffer enumerates eight equestrian
tribes in the province of Chaco, on the west side of the
river Paraguay, who are generally distinguished by tall
and vigorous forms, and a bold and active character.
The Abipones and Mbayas are the most celebrated of
these. The woods of Brazil are too dense for eques¬
trians ; but horses are used by a few hordes in the great
plain of the Mississippi and in the north of Mexico.
The American tribes in general either kill their prisoners
or adopt them; but a few retain them as slaves, and
compel them to work. The Guaycurus of Brazil are an
example. The food of different tribes is extremely va¬
rious. Maize, beans, pumpkins, and mandioc, are raised
in small quantities by some; natural fruits, berries, bulb¬
ous roots, and bananas, are gathered by others. Those
who dwell on the sides of rivers live greatly on fish; in
the plains, buffaloes, horses, and sheep, are killed. In the
forests of Brazil, monkeys, pigs, armadillos, pacas, agoutis,
and tapirs, are the favourite food; but birds, turtles,
deer, and the coati, are also taken; and in an emergency
the Indians do not scruple to feed on serpents, toads, and
lizards, the larvae of insects, and other disgusting sub¬
stances.1 Salt is used where it can be easily obtained,
and some season their food with capsicum. Some roast
their meat, others boil it; and not only several savage
tribes, but even the civilized Peruvians, ate their flesh
raw. The Ottomaques, a tribe near the Orinoco, eat a
species of unctuous clay; and this strange diet, which no
doubt owed its introduction to the stern monitor, famine,
is probably not extremely rare ; for Drs Spix and Martius
noticed a similar practice in Brazil, and Captain Franklin
found the same food in use among an Indian tribe near
the Frozen Ocean. The clay is stated by this traveller
to have a milky and not disagreeable taste.2 A great
proportion of the tribes in Brazil and the basin of the
Orinoco, and some in all parts of America, indulge in the
horrid banquet of human flesh. Shame, in our sense of
the term, is nearly a stranger to the breasts of these sa-Abor
vages. In the warm regions of Brazil, men and women
go entirely naked, except in the neighbourhood of the
Portuguese settlements, where some wear a band of cloth
round the loins.3 In such situations, where the want of
shelter is little felt, their dwellings are often nothing
more than a sort of arbour formed by interlacing the open
space between tvro or three trees with twigs, and cover¬
ing it with leaves so as to form a screen on the windward
side, while it is left entirely open on the other. The
manufacture of bows and arrows, war-clubs, baskets,
mats (which, swung from a tree, serve them both as
seats and hammocks), and in some cases a coarse pottery,
comprises the sum of their practical skill in the arts. It
has long been the practice of bands of Portuguese, con¬
sisting chiefly of outlaws and vagabonds, to make maraud¬
ing expeditions among the Indians living near the great
rivers, and to carry them off and sell them clandestinely
for slaves. This infamous trade is carried on in despite
of the orders of the government, which has issued many
decrees for the protection of the Indians, and, besides
employing missionaries to convert them, enjoined the
governors of provinces to furnish them with hoes and
other agricultural implements. Wherever the negroes
are introduced in great numbers, as in the Capitanias
of Santa Paulo and Rio Janeiro, and in the whole of
the W'est India islands, the red men rapidly disappear, the
former being more intelligent, more tractable in their ha¬
bits, and more active and industrious. The negroes are in¬
deed a superior race to the Indians ; and the existence of
one or two hundred blacks, as slaves, among some thousands
of the Cherokees, does not detract from the accuracy of
this opinion. Missions for the conversion of the Indians
have been supported for more than two centuries by the
governments of Spain and Portugal. They are thinly spread
over those parts of Mexico, La Plata, Peru, Brazil, and Co¬
lombia, which are still occupied by the savages; but there
are extensive districts in all these provinces in which they
have never been established, owing to the fierce character
of the tribes, or the remote and inaccessible nature of the
country. A mission consists in general of one or two
friars or priests, who settle among the savages, learn their
language, and, besides teaching them the elements of
Christianity, always endeavour to instruct them in the
more simple and useful arts, and to train them to settled
habits. We have seen many scattered natives of these
establishments, but we have not met with any work that
gives a distinct account of them collectively to a recent
period. We believe, however, that many of them have
been abandoned, owing to the failure of the funds with
which they were supported; and that the success of the
others has been extremely trifling. The late revolutions
in these countries, by liberating the Indians from their
ancient state of tutelage under the whites, has in many
cases broken up the little settlements which the mission¬
aries had formed. This has been the result even in Brazil,
where the political changes have been least felt.4
The problem as to the source whence America derived Ori;
its population presents no difficulty now, when the conti-j ™
guity of the old and the new continent at Behring’s Straits^
is known. The breadth of the sea here (latitude 66°) is
only forty-five English miles ; the transit across is facili¬
tated by two islands placed almost exactly midway be¬
tween Asia and America; and in severe winters a firm
body of ice joins the two continents. The climate, thoug
rigorous, does not prevent the country on each side from
ies.
U
1 Spix’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 260.
2 Franklin’s Second Journey, p. 24.
3 Spix’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 220.
4 Ibid. vol. i. p. 302, vol. ii. p. 261.
AMERICA. 633
Aboiines. being inhabited. The Aleutian Isles, besides, at the lati- Easter Island. But from this latter well peopled island the Aborigines,
tude of 53°, which run in a line like the piers of an im- accessible coast of Peru subtends an angle of 60°, and thev-^v^>>^
mense bridge, from one continent to the other, present chances are so much higher in proportion. Easter Island
such easy means of communication, that few savage tribes is about 2800, and Gambier’s Island 3600 miles from the
a little familiar with sea-life could be long in Kamtschatka American coast; and the question is, whether, of many
without threading their way across the Pacific to the hundred canoes drifted off in this direction in’the lapse
peninsula of Alyaska. Indeed, if a doubt could exist, of ages, it is improbable that one or two carrying persons
we have positive proof that America received part of its of both sexes might reach America. We may allow an
population from the north-east extremity of Asia; for the unrigged boat to make 100 miles a day with a strong
Esquimaux, living on the east side of Behring’s Straits, wind. From 28 to 36 days, then, would suffice for the
speak a language which is radically the same with that of voyage; and though savages often go to sea with little
the Tchutkis on the opposite shores. Two other questions provisions, we must remember that they have a horrid re-
however present themselves. Did all the tribes which source in their cannibal habits. There are besides, we
inhabit America pass into it through this one channel? think, well-attested cases of the South Sea Islanders sur-
And from what nation or nations of the old world are viving a storm which has kept them a month at sea.
these tribes descended ? Now, it appears to us probable, Many of these islanders have boats capable of carrying
that inhabitants may have been conveyed to America by 20 or 30 persons; and their ferocious wars are continu-
other routes besides that of Behring’s Straits and the ally creating emergencies which compel crowds of males
Aleutian Isles. We may form some idea of the chances and females to take suddenly to the water to save their
of human beings from other climes being cast on the lives.
shores of America, from the countless accidents which We have referred to Easter Island merely as an example,
must have scattered inhabitants over the thousands of to illustrate causes which have been in operation in all
islands on the Pacific Ocean. Take the case, for instance, parts of the maritime world. Setting aside Behring’s
of Easter Island, which is within the zone of variable Straits and Greenland, there are four points from which,
winds for half of the year, and is 1500 miles from the according to the principles we have explained, there is a
nearest known land whence it could receive inhabitants, possibility that inhabitants might be transported to Ame-
This island is a mere speck in the ocean, 10 miles in dia- rica. These are, first, Gambier’s Isles and Easter Island,
meter; and supposing that it could be seen by an Indian of which we have already spoken. Secondly, Southern
in his canoe from a distance of 25 miles on each side, a Africa : from Congo, Benguela, and the Cape, to the coast
space of 60 miles in the circumference of a circle of 1500 of Brazil, the distance is from 3700 to 4100 miles ; and a
miles radius would thus represent the probability of a boat abandoned to itself, favoured at once by the tropical
canoe carried away by a storm coming within sight of it. current, which sets north-westward, and by the trade-wind,
If then we suppose the wind to blow from any westerly might perform the voyage in 30 or 40 days. Thirdly, the
point between north and south, we shall find that the pro- north-west coast of Africa, and the Canary and Cape Verd
bability of a drifted canoe reaching the island is only as Islands. From the latter (which were inhabited when
1 to 75. If we add the chances of the isle being passed discovered by the Portuguese) the distance to Brazil is
in the night-time, when it could not be seen, the proba- only about 2000 miles, and the motion of a boat would be
bility will be only as 1 to 150. But, further, to plant a aided both by the trade-wind and the returning great
breeding population on the isle, the canoe must have car- current of the North Atlantic. The voyage might occupy
ried women in it; and as the savages have not women from 20 to 30 days. The possibility of men being carried
with them in their canoes perhaps more than once in three to America is shown by the stern of a vessel, such as
or four of their voyages, the probability is thus diminished the American nations could not build, which Columbus
to 1 in 500. In other words, the peopling of an island in found on one of the Caribbean Islands on his second
such a situation as Easter Island may be considered as voyage.1 It is true that both Madeira and the Azores,
representing the result of 500 accidents, in which canoes though nearer the old world, were uninhabited when
were drifted to sea and wrecked. This single example discovered in the 15th century; but we must remember
may give us an idea of the myriads of casualties which that these isles are but specks in the wide ocean, compar-
must have been instrumental in dispersing the human ed with America; and, further, that the mariners acci-
species over the isles of Polynesia,—casualties so numerous dentally cast upon them might have no females with them,
and so various, that they may be compared to the chance and would find none there. The Azores had been the
sowing of the volatile seeds of plants by the winds. If we residence of some luckless shipwrecked Europeans, as the
neglect distance, it will be seen at once that the probabi- figures found carved on the rocks proved. The fourth
hty of a canoe reaching any land in such circumstances, is channel through which inhabitants might reach America
m proportion to the angle the land subtends on the horizon, is the Sandwich Islands. The distance is 3000 miles;
In the extra-tropical regions the prevailing winds are from and when the sun is at the southern tropic, it is probable
north-west to south-west. The part of South America ac- that the western winds may blow for a time in their vi-
cessible with such winds from Gambier’s Islands subtends cinity.
an angle of about 40°, or ten times as great as the angle sub- In a comprehensive view of all the causes which, in the
tended by a space of 25 miles on each side of Easter Island lapse of ages, have contributed to spread the human race
from the same station. If we throw distance out of view, over the new world, the conjectures we have hazarded
therefore, the chances of a boat drifted with any wind be- are not without value. There are, for instance, two parts
tween north-west and south-west reaching the coast of of the new continent in which nations almost black are
Peru or Chili, would be ten times as great as of its reaching found, namely, California and Paraguay. In the latter
Washington Irving’s abridged Life of Columbus, p. 130. Vater has discussed this subject in his Untersuchungen itber Americas
Bevolkerung aus dem alien Continent: Leipsic, 1810. We have not been able to procure a sight of the work; but we find, from the
introduction to the section on the American languages in the Mithridates, that he speaks in decided terms of the possibility, or rather
tee probability, of the western coasts of Europe and Africa contributing, as well as the east coast of Asia, to people the new continent.
VOL. II. 4 L
634
AMERICA.
Aborigines, the Charruas, Minuanes, Bohanes, and Yarns, are of this
complexion,1 and seated amidst tribes of a much lighter
hue. Is it unreasonable to suppose, that a few persons
belonging to a South African tribe had been cast ashore
at an early period on the north banks of the Plata, the
district to which the natural motion of the winds and
waves would most readily waft them, and had grown up
into a tribe before they mixed with any other race ? The
Californians may be descended from the Papuas or black
race inhabiting New Guinea, and who are supposed to
constitute the swarthy people of the Sandwich Isles.2 At
any rate it is remarkable that the only race of a very dark
complexion in North America should be found exactly at
the part of the coast nearest to these isles, and to which
the agency of the extra-tropical wind would conduct any
object left to its guidance. We admit, however, that they
might come from the Kurile Isles, where the same black
race is found. By the mixture of persons belonging to tribes
of this hue with others of the copper colour, the varieties
of complexion found among the American nations may be
accounted for. It affords a slight corroboration of this idea,
that among the scanty affinities traced between the lan¬
guages of the old and new world, there are some few which
connect certain American dialects with that of Congo.
The superior intelligence, great stature, light complexion,
and personal beauty of some of the Chilian tribes, on the
other hand, favour the supposition that they are of the
same race with the tall, fair, handsome people of the
Society and Marquesas Isles, who have displayed so great
an aptitude for civilisation.3 That individuals of Euro¬
pean birth also had been carried to America by the acci¬
dents of maritime life, is rendered probable by physical
causes; and it is singular that traditions, describing the
arrival of a white or bearded man from an unknown
country, and his teaching them to build houses and cul¬
tivate the ground, are preserved in three other parts of
America besides Peru. Such is the Quetzalcoatl of the
Mexicans, the Bochica of the Muyscas in New Grenada,
the Camararu of the Brazilians, who were all said to come
from the east.4 Manco Capac alone, the Peruvian le¬
gislator, made his appearance on the west coast of the
continent. The story of a sword with a legible Greek
inscription being found under the soil at Monte Video
in 1826, is, we fear, a fiction. (Bulletin Historique, Aout
.1828.)
Affinity of Attempts to trace the descent of the American tribes
Mexicans from any particular people of the old world have not
and Asia- sUCCeeded. We except the Esquimaux, who are distinct
from all the other nations of the new continent, and
clearly of the same race with the Tchutkis of north-east¬
ern Asia. Many analogies, however, in the physical
character of the people, their rites, monuments, and su¬
perstitions, establish a connection between the Mexicans
and some Asiatic nations. A general resemblance has
been observed between the American nations and some
tribes of Mongols and Mantchous, in the form of the
scull, the brown colour of the skin, the thinness of the
.beard, and the oblique position of the eye. Humboldt
has shown that the Mexican calendar is identical in its
principles, which are very artificial and complicated, with
that which was in use among the Chinese, Japanese,
Thibetians, Hindoos, and Tartars; and he has rendered
it probable that the names of their days are borrowed
from an extinct zodiac of 27 or 28 houses anciently fa- ..
miliar to the same nations. The cosmogony of theMexi-^Jl!
cans has too many analogies with that of the Jews to ad¬
mit of the coincidence being accidental. Their traditions
speak of the serpent woman or the mother of mankind
falling from a state of innocence, of a great inundation
from which a single family escaped, of a pyramid raised
by the pride of man, and destroyed by the anger of the
gods; they practised the ceremony of ablution upon
children at their birth; they had the rite of confession
for penitents; and religious societies like those of monks
existed among them. Now, we know that the Nestorians
about the seventh century carried the rites and doctrines
of Christianity into China and Tartary, where they were
found by Carpini, Rubruquis, and Marco Polo, in the
thirteenth, mixed with many strange corruptions. There
is little doubt that the traditions and customs alluded to
reached Mexico through this channel. Further, a species
of picture-writing like the Mexican was practised in
China about the year 1325. Vestiges of the same art are
found among the Kaluschi or Yucuatl, tribes inhabiting
the north-west coast between the latitudes of 50° and 60°,
and whose languages bear a resemblance to that of the
Mexicans. Finally, the records of this people speak dis¬
tinctly of their ancestors migrating from a distant country
in the north-west; and the traditions of the Muskogees,
Chickasas, Mohicans, Iroquois, and the tribes of Cinaloa,
point to the same region as their original seat.5 The
facts, taken collectively, leave no doubt that more than
one of the American nations were somehow connected
with the people of eastern Asia; but they scarcely
authorize the conclusion, that the one were a colony
directly sent off' from the other. The Chinese, Mon¬
gols, Tartars, and Mantchous, have cultivated the ce-
realia, employed horses, and tamed cattle, from very re¬
mote times. It was scarcely possible that such neces¬
sary arts should be entirely lost by a colony sprung
from any of these people; yet the Mexicans were un¬
acquainted with wheat, oats, and barley; they had no
horses (which a migrating Tartar tribe might probably
have carried across Behring’s Straits) ; and they had
never attempted to tame the native ox of America, nor to
use the milk of its female. There is perhaps only one
hypothesis by which these diverging facts can be recon¬
ciled. Tribes belonging to the races of eastern Asia had
separated from them while they were still living in the
state of hunters, and, crossing Behring’s Straits, had
spread themselves by degrees over America. Among
some of these tribes, dwelling probably north of Colum¬
bia River, a few emigrants from China, Japan, or Chinese
Tartary, at a comparatively late period, had been thrown
by some of the accidents to which a seafaring life is liable,
and bringing with them picture-writing, the art of build¬
ing and weaving, a few mystical rites and traditions, and
the calendar which was iff use in their native country, had
established their influence among the savages by address
or force, and sown the seeds of civilisation. After so¬
cial life had made a few advances, the increasing numbers
and power of the people would enable them to send off
several swarms in succession to the eastward, and dis¬
possess the earlier and ruder inhabitants of Anahuac and
the plains of the Mississippi. The Toltecks were perhaps
the first of these colonists; the Hurons, Iroquois, Chichi-
1 Prichard’s Researches, vol. ii. p. 495. 3 Ibid. p. 424. 3 Ibid. vol. i. p. 418, 422; vol ii. 471, 473.
4 Humboldt’s Researches, vol. i. p. 29-74. Stevenson’s Narrative, vol. i. p. 390.
4 Humboldt’s Researches, vol. i. p. 270, &lc. Prichard’s Researches, vol. i. p. 107-109, vol. ii. p. 378. Travels of Ibn Batuta, 1 ravels
of Marco Polo and Itubruquis, in tom. vii. Hist. Gen. dcs Voyages. Mithridates, Ein'.cit. Amcr. Sjnach. p. 35.7.
AMERICA.
A dca. mocks, and Aztecks (all of whom had hieroglyphics), must
U'^have been separated from the parent stock at a later pe¬
riod, probably two or three centuries after the Nestorians
had spread some knowledge of the Christian rites and
the Hebrew cosmogony among the people of eastern
Asia. To all appearance there was no race in America
anterior to the Toltecks who possessed any germs of ci¬
vilisation ; for the military works in Ohio can scarcely be
referred to a period farther back than 800 or 1000 years
from the present day. But for 2000 or 3000 years ante¬
rior to this the new continent had been overrun by tribes
of hunters. This, we think, is clear ; for while the analo¬
gies of physical character observed in the American na¬
tions, and in the structure of their dialects, show, on the
one hand, that nine tenths of them had sprung from one
tribe, or a few tribes of one stock; the existence of 500
of these varieties of speech proves, on the other hand,
that a very long period must have elapsed to admit of the
subdivision of one, two, or even half-a-dozen of mother
tongues into such a prodigious number of dialects. That
the original seat of Tolteck and Azteck civilisation was
not in Asia, but in the north-west parts of America, re¬
sults, we think, from the non-existence of the cerealia and
of tame cattle in the new world; and that the glimmering
of knowledge which these people possessed had been
kindled by the arrival of a few chance emigrants, perhaps
at different periods, from China, Japan, or Chinese Tar¬
tary, seems equally certain, from the resemblances for¬
merly noticed in the calendars, the superstitions, and the
cosmogonical traditions of the Asiatic and American
races.
At ica The discovery of a continent so large that it may be
J1*' j,ered said to have doubled the habitable world, is an event so
'"e‘much the more grand and interesting, that nothing paral¬
lel to it can ever occur again in the history of mankind.
America had of course been known to the barbarous
tribes of eastern Asia for thousands of years; but it is
singular that it should have been visited by one of the
most enterprising nations of Europe five centuries before
the time of Columbus, without awakening the attention
of either statesmen or philosophers. Iceland was discover¬
ed about 860, and colonized by the Norwegians in 874.
About 50, or, according to other accounts, 100 years later,
the same people planted colonies in Greenland. Into
the disputes respecting the situation of these colonies we
have not room to enter. Sir Charles Gieseke, a good au¬
thority, states that their ruins exist near the southern point
of the peninsula. It is obvious that the same adventurous
spirit which enabled these northern mariners to discover
the southern extremity of the country, would not permit
them to stop short without visiting what is now known to
be the most habitable part of it—the western coast; and
the fact has been established by an inscription in Runic
characters, found on a stone four miles beyond Uperna-
vik, at the 73d parallel, intimating that “ Erling, the son
of Sigvat, and Enride Oddsoen, had cleared that place and
raised a hillock on the Friday after Rogation day.” The
marking of the date is indistinct, but it is supposed by
Professor Rask, the translator, to be either 1135 or 1170;
and the Runic characters show at any rate that it was
anterior to the Reformation, when this mode of writing
was prohibited.1 Whoever looks at the map of Greenland,
and reflects on the fact that the Norwegians must have
been ascending through Davis’ Straits as high as the
635
latitude mentioned, annually, perhaps for two or three America,
centuries, will admit that, with half the spirit of enter-
prise which had carried them so far, the discovery of
some portion of the west coast of these straits was almost
unavoidable. Now, the position and direction of this
coast once known, it required no great effort to trace it
southward to Labrador and Newfoundland. We mention
these particulars, because Mr Murray, one of the few
who now deny the discovery of America by the Nor¬
wegians, grounds his disbelief chiefly on the hypothesis
that the colonies and the navigation of this people at the
period alluded to were confined to the east coast of
Greenland.
In 1001 an Icelander sailing to Greenland, wrs driven
away by a tempest far to the south-west, where he saw a
level country covered with wood. The wind abating, he
turned his course homeward, and on his arrival gave
such a flattering account of the country he had seen,
as induced Lief, the son of the founder of the Green¬
land colony, to undertake a voyage thither. Lief and
Biorn, who sailed together, first reached a rocky island,
to which they gave the name of Helleland; then a
low country, thickly wooded, which they called Mark-
land; and some days afterwards .they found trees loaded
with fruits on the banks of a river. They spent the
winter in the country; and one of them, who was a
German, having found wild vines growing, they called it
Vinland. They had some intercourse, and traded for furs,
with a people who came in leathern boats, and were called
Skrcdings, from their dwarfish size. A colony was plant¬
ed and remained for many years in the country, the situa¬
tion of which is indicated by a fact casually mentioned,
that the sun remained eight hours above the horizon at
the shortest day. It should of course have been under the
49th parallel; and this is the actual latitude of Newfound¬
land, the country which every collateral circumstance
would lead us to fix upon as the seat of the colony. The
Skraelings were of course the Esquimaux. Vines most
probably grow in Newfoundland, since they are found on
St John’s River, under the same latitude, on the neigh¬
bouring continent.2 Only a few unimportant particulars
respecting the settlement are preserved; but it was pro¬
bably abandoned or destroyed, like the Greenland colonies,
of which it was an offset. The account, though meagre, is
distinct and consistent. Its authenticity can scarcely be
disputed; and it is almost equally obvious that the coun¬
try it refers to under the name of Vinland is Newfound¬
land. A conclusion resting on such strong grounds
scarcely requires to be supported by the high authority
of Humboldt and Malte-Brun. That the colony disap¬
peared, and that the discoveries made were not prosecut¬
ed farther, are not circumstances which will shake the
credit of the narrative in the minds of those who know
the numerous reverses which befell the early colonies in
New England and other parts of America. The ex¬
treme rigour of the winter, the perpetual fogs which
obscure the sky, and the sterile aspect of the land,
might mislead these ignorant Norsemen, and the people
to whom their proceedings were reported, to confound
the island and adjacent parts of the continent with those
inhospitable polar regions which defy the industry of the
cultivator. Helleland, Markland, and Vinland, were no
doubt regarded as countries either connected with or si¬
milar to Greenland, the flattering descriptions of which.
1 Ferussac, Bulletin des Sciences Historiqucs, Juillet 1828.
2 Haliburton’s Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia. Halifax, 1829.
636 AMERICA.
America, given by the first discoverers, were sadly belied by later
experience.1 The interest excited by the obscure ac¬
counts of these countries was probably such as the an¬
nouncement of a new island eastward of Spitzbergen
would produce at the present day. No reasonable doubt
can exist, however, that the north-eastern portions of
America (considering Greenland as a distinct country)
were familiarly known to the Norwegians in the 11th
century.
The obscure allusions of Aristotle, Plato, and Seneca,
to a country hid in the Western Ocean, must have derived
fresh importance from the discovery of the Canary Isles,
Madeira, and the Azores, in the early part of the 15th
century. The love of maritime adventure was excited by
these events; and among the active spirits who were at¬
tracted to nautical life by the career of distinction which
was then opened up, was Christopher Columbus. Our
limits do not permit us to enter into details respecting
this great man, an outline of whose life will be found un¬
der the proper head. Having received a learned educa¬
tion, the study of the geographical systems then in vogue
impressed him with a strong conviction that a voyage to
India, by a course directly westward, was quite practicable,
with the degree of nautical science which his contempo¬
raries possessed. From the old and imperfect maps of
Ptolemy, he was led to believe that the parts of the globe
known to the ancients embraced 15 hours, or 225 degrees,
of longitude, which exceeds the truth by more than one
third. The discovery of the Azores on the west side had
lengthened the space by one hour; and the accounts
gleaned by Marco Polo in Asia, induced him to think
that the isles connected with this continent stretched out
so far to the eastward that their distance from Europe
could not be great. Columbus was, however, without the
fortune necessary to fit out ships; and when he attempt¬
ed to interest some of the princes of those times in his
project, he encountered neglects and difficulties which
would have exhausted the patience of any mind less ar¬
dent than his own. At length, after many delays and
discouragements, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain sup¬
plied him with three small vessels, two of them only half¬
decked; and in this little armament, accompanied by 120
men, he set sail from the port of Palos on the 3d of Au¬
gust 1492. He proceeded first to the Canary Isles, where
he was detained three weeks in repairing one of his ves¬
sels. On leaving these isles he entered on an unknown
sea, where all was chaos and mystery. The trade-wind,
however, bore him steadily along, and the labour of the
ships proceeded cheerfully, till the increasing length of
the voyage, the failure of prognostics which had from
time to time kept alive the hopes of the crew, and various
circumstances interpreted by their superstition as evil
omens, produced a mutinous spirit, which all the address
and authority of Columbus would not have been able to
quell, had the discovery of land happened one day later
than it did. It was on the 8th of October that the west¬
ern world revealed itself to the wondering eyes of Co¬
lumbus and his companions. What a triumph for this
extraordinary man, who had treasured in his breast for
twenty years, amidst neglect, discouragement, and ridi¬
cule, the grand truth, which his own incomparable skill,
wisdom, and firmness, had now demonstrated in the eyes Amei.
of an incredulous world ! The spot which he first touched^v J
was San Salvador, one of the Bahama Islands, 3650
English miles from Teneriffe. After spending nearly three
months in visiting Cuba, Hispaniola, and other isles, he
returned to Spain. He made three other voyages, and in
the second coasted along a part of South America, which
he rightly judged to be a continent, from the volume of
water poured into the sea by the Orinoco; but he died
ignorant of the real extent and grandeur of his discove¬
ries, still believing that the countries he had made known
to Europe belonged to that part of Eastern Asia which
the ancients called India. Hence the name of West
Indies, which the tropical islands and part of the conti¬
nent have ever since received. This distinguished man,
who had opened up sources of countless wealth to his so¬
vereign, languished out the last two years of his life in
neglect and poverty, and died in 1506, leaving scarcely
aught behind him but a name, which will survive that of
a thousand heroes and conquerors, and will ever be equally
dear to the lovers of virtue and honour, and to the admi¬
rers of genius.
We should extend this article to an unreasonable length Oiscoi ■
were we to describe in detail the discoveries and settle-ks an
ments made by the several nations of Europe in America.colom'
We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to a very brief
chronological notice of the more important events.
1495. The first place in which the Spaniards establish¬
ed their power was the large island of Hayti, or Hispan-
iola, which was inhabited by a numerous race of Indians,
of a mild and gentle character, a third part of whom are
said to have perished within two or three years after the
Spaniards conquered them.
1497. John Cabot, in the service of Henry VII. of
England, discovered Newfoundland, and coasted along
the shores of North America to Florida.
1500. Cabral, a Portuguese, visited the coast of Brazil,
and discovered the mouth of the Amazon. It was pro¬
bably colonized before 1515, as the first cargo of wood
was sent from it to Portugal in that year.
1508. Vincent Pinzon is said to have entered the Kio
de la Plata. It was in the same year that the Spaniards,
finding the aborigines too weak for the labour of the
mines in Hayti, first imported negroes from Guinea, and
thus laid the foundation of a traffic which continues to
this day to disgrace the civilisation of Europe.
1511. Diego Columbus conquered the island of Cuba
with 300 soldiers, of whom he did not lose one.
1513. Balboa crossed the isthmus of Darien with 290
men, and discovered the South Sea.
1519. Hernando Cortes sailed from Cuba with 11 ships
and 550 men, and landed on the coast of Mexico, which
had been discovered in the previous year. The conquest
of the empire was finished in 1521 by 950 Spaniards, as¬
sisted by a vast number of the Indians of Tlascala.
1531. Peru invaded by Pizarro, and conquered in little
more than one year, with a force of 1000 men.
1534. James Cartier, a Frenchman, discovers the Gulf
of St Lawrence. .
1535. Mendoza, a Spaniard, with 2000 followers, founds
Buenos Ayres, and conquers all the country as far as
1 M. Itafn, a Dane, who has been engaged in researches respecting these early voyages, announces that he has ascertainec,
original documents, various facts previously unknown ; among others, that America (first discovered in 985) was repeatedly vis ^ ^
by the Norwegians in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries; mat the embouchure of the St Lawrence, and in particular the aY ^
Gaspe, was their principal station; that they had penetrated along the coast as far south as Carolina; and that tiiey intro uc^
knowledge of Christianity among the natives. The announcement is contained in a letter addressed to a person in Washington,
published in Nile’s Register (Baltimore), in November 1828. M. Itafn is preparing a work on the subject.
AMERICA.
637
Loises. Potosi, at which silver mines were discovered nine years
after.
1537. Cortes discovers California.
1541. Chili conquered; Santiago founded; Orellana
sails down the Amazon to the Atlantic from the sources
of the Rio Napo.
1578. New Albion on the north-west coast of Ame¬
rica discovered by Sir Francis Drake.
1586. The Spaniards found St Thomas’s Island, in
Briti
mUi.
Guiana.
1587. Davis’ Straits and Cumberland Islands discover¬
ed by John Davis.
1604. De Monts, a Frenchman, founded the first set¬
tlement in Nova Scotia, then called Acadie.
1607. After many ineffectual attempts during more
than twenty years, the first permanent settlement of the
English in North America was made this year, on the
banks of James’ River, in Virginia.
1608. Quebec founded by the French, who had had a
small neglected colony in Canada since 1542.
1611. Newfoundland colonized by the English; a Dutch
colony established at Hudson’s River. New York was
founded in 1614.
1618. Baffins penetrates to the 78th degree of latitude,
in the bay which bears his name.
1620. The first English colony established in New
England at Plymouth. It was in this year that the first
negroes were imported into Virginia. They were brought
by a Dutch vessel.
1635. A French colony established in Guiana.
1655. Jamaica conquered by the English.
1664. The Dutch colonies on Hudson’s River capitu¬
late to the English.
1666. The Buccaneers begin their depredations on the
Spanish colonies.
1682. William Penn establishes a colony in Pennsyl¬
vania. La Salle takes possession of Louisiana, in the
name of the French king.
1698. A colony of 1200 Scots planted at Darien, and
ruined in the following year, in consequence of the mi¬
serable jealousy of the English.
1733. Georgia colonized by the English. -
1760. Canada, and all the other French settlements in
North America, conquered by the English.
We must pause at this point to give a very short ac¬
count of the colonial system introduced by the principal
European nations who occupied extensive tracts of the
new world. The English settlements extended from
the 31st to the 50th degree on the east coast, and were
divided into 15 or 16 provinces. The colonists had car¬
ried the love of liberty characteristic of their country¬
men with them ; and after many struggles with their Bri¬
tish rulers, all the provinces, with one or two exceptions,
were permitted to enjoy a form of government extremely
popular. The executive power was vested in a gover¬
nor appointed by the king. He was assisted by a council,
which sometimes conjoined the functions of a privy coun¬
cil and a house of peers. The people were represented by
a house of assembly, consisting of persons chosen by the
freeholders in the country parts, and the householders or
corporations of towns. The governor could levy no mo¬
ney without the consent of the house of assembly: the
British parliament, however, claimed, but scarcely ever ex¬
ercised, the privilege of imposing taxes upon the colonists,
without consulting them. Against this assumption of
power the local legislatures always protested as an in-
h ingement of their rights. The vessels of foreign states
were not permitted to trade with the colonies; but the
colonists were allowed to trade in their own ships with
one another, with the mother country, and, to a limited Colonies,
extent, with foreign states. Their taxes, which werev-^v^*->
always small, were all consumed in defraying internal ex¬
penses ; and, compared with any other people in the new
world, they enjoyed an unexampled degree of commer¬
cial and political liberty. It was the growing prosperity of
the colonies, and the increasing debt of the mother country,
which induced the British ministers, for the first time, in
1764, to attempt raising a revenue in America, for purposes
not colonial. The experiment was made by imposing a
stamp-duty on newspapers and commercial writings. The
sum was trifling; but the Americans, long-sighted and
jealous of their rights, saw in it the introduction of a
principle which deprived them of all security for their
property. The people declared themselves against it as
one man, in local assemblies, and by petitions and publi¬
cations of all kinds. The ministers became uneasy, and
repealed the tax; but, as a salvo to the pride of the mo¬
ther country, a declaratory act was passed, asserting her
right “ to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.”
The idea of raising a revenue in America was not re¬
nounced, but another mode was to be tried. Duties
were laid on glass, colours, paper, and tea, and were met
by an opposition in the colonies still more zealous and
determined. The British ministers, irritated, but waver¬
ing in their purpose, dropped all the taxes but that on
tea, and commenced at the same time a series of alarm¬
ing innovations. They closed the port of Boston, changed
the charter of the province, placed judges and juries on
a footing to render them more subservient to the views
of the government, and introduced a strong military force
to overawe the people. On the other side, the colonists
passed resolutions not to import or consume any British
goods, and hastened to supply themselves with powder
and arms. Blood was at length drawn in April 1775, at
the village of Lexington; and in the following year the
American congress published their celebrated declaration
of independence. We shall not enter into the details of
the war, which was closed in 1782. Suffice it to say,
that, on the part of the Americans, it rested on high
grounds; it was a war to vindicate a principle—for the
practical grievance was admitted to be slight; and it was
conducted with a regard to humanity, of which there are
few examples in history.
The Spanish possessions in America, before the revolu- Spanish
tion, formed nine distinct governments, all constructed col°nies*
on the same plan, and independent of one another. Four
of these, of the first rank, were vice-royalties, viz. Mexi¬
co, Peru, La Plata, and New Granada; and five were
captain-generalships, viz. Yucatan, Guatemala, Chili, Ve¬
nezuela, and the island of Cuba. The government was
vested in the viceroy or captain-general, who was held to
represent the king, and to enjoy all his prerogatives
within the colony. But in these countries, as in others
where the supreme power is apparently unlimited, it was
indirectly restrained by the influence of the courts of jus¬
tice, corporations, and other public bodies. Ihe royal
audiencias or supreme courts, consisting of Spaniards no¬
minated by the crown, had extensive judicial powers, and
were independent of the viceroys. Hie cabildos or mu¬
nicipalities, and the fueros or corporations (similar to our
guilds), also possessed considerable privileges, which de¬
rived security and importance from long prescription.
Lastly, the clergy, who were numerous and rich, neces¬
sarily possessed great influence among a superstitious
people. The vices inherent in the colonial system exist¬
ed in their utmost rankness in the Spanish American
dominions. There was tolerable security for all classes
except the miserable Indians, who were regarded and
63S AMERICA.
Colonies, treated precisely as beasts of burden, out of whose toil
and sufferings a provision as ample as possible was to be
extracted, first to supply the wants of the royal treasury,
and next to feed in idleness, and to satisfy the cupidity
of a countless shoal of public officers and priests. Edicts
were indeed issued for the protection of the Indians, and
persons appointed to enforce them; but these were feeble
correctives to the evils rooted in the system, and not un-
frequently increased their weight. The Indians, after the
conquest, were at first slaves; they paid a capitation
tax to the crown, and their labour was entirely at the
disposal of their lord. This system was modified from
time to time ; but all the changes introduced down to the
revolution did not release them from their state of vas¬
salage. They still continued subject, in a less or greater
degree, to the performance of compulsory labour, under
the orders of persons over whom they had no control.
This was an enormous grievance; but, what was equally
bad, being held incompetent in law to buy or sell, or en¬
ter into any pecuniary engagement beyond the value of a
few shillings, without the agency of white men, the swarm
of public functionaries had an unlimited power of inter¬
fering in their concerns, of vexing, harassing, and plunder¬
ing them, under the forms of law. The memoir of Ulloa,
long buried amidst the Spanish archives, with various
other documents published since the revolution, depicts
acts of extortion, perfidy, cruelty, and oppression prac¬
tised upon the Indians which have rarely been paralleled.
Men rose to affluence in offices without salaries; and the
priests rivalled the laymen in the art of extracting money
from those whom they ought to have protected. As the
sole aim of the Spaniards in the colonies was to enrich
themselves, so the government at home made all its acts
and regulations subordinate to the grand object of raising
a revenue. Spain retained in her hands the whole trade
of the colonies, and guarded her monopoly with the most
severe penalties. The price of all European commodities
was enhanced three, four, or six fold, in America. The
colonists were not allowed to manufacture or raise any
article which the mother country could supply; they
were compelled to root up their vines and olives; and for
a long period one colony was not even permitted to send
a ship to another. To support such a system it was ne¬
cessary to keep the people in profound ignorance, and to
cherish prejudices and superstition. The schools were ex¬
tremely few, and permission to establish them was often
refused, even in towns where the Spaniards and Creoles
were numerous. The importation of books, except books
of Catholic devotion, was rigorously prohibited. Even
the more grave and dry sciences, such as botany, che¬
mistry, and geometry, were objects of suspicion. And
the more effectually to crush all mental activity, natives
of America could rarely obtain leave to go abroad, to
seek in foreign countries what was denied them in their
own. On the other hand the priests, sharing in the spoil,
filled the minds of the people with childish superstitions,
as a means of confirming their own power; and employed
the terrors of religion to teach them patience under op¬
pression. To create a race of servants devoted to its
purposes, the court bestowed all offices, from the highest
to the lowest, on natives of the peninsula exclusively.
The wisdom of the plan seems questionable; but that it
was adhered to with wonderful pertinacity is certain. “ It
was the darling policy of Spain,” says Mr Ward, “ to dis¬
seminate through her American dominions a class of men
distinct from the people in feelings, habits, and interests,
taught to consider themselves as a privileged caste, and to Rev
regard their own existence as intimately connected with tio:
that of the system of which they were the principal sup-'^'v
port.” With all those means and appliances, it is extra¬
ordinary that Spain should have been able to uphold, for
three centuries, a system in which the interests of so
many millions of human beings were so habitually and un¬
relentingly sacrificed. It was the course of events, much
more than its own inherent weakness, which ultimately
caused its subversion.1
After the seizure of Ferdinand, and the elevation ofRevo
Joseph Buonaparte to the throne of Spain, orders were dis-hon i
patched to all the colonies with the view of securing their
obedience to the new dynasty. The men in office wereLa 1
generally disposed to submit, but the treacherous conduct
of the French excited a universal hatred of their cause
among the people ; and when the regency established in
Spain presented the semblance of a patriot government,
the loyalty of the Americans blazed forth, and poured
large contributions of money into the hands of Ferdi¬
nand’s adherents. The weak and suspicious conduct of
the regency, however, and its subserviency to the grasp¬
ing spirit of the merchants of Cadiz, at length alienated
the colonists, and roused them to take measures for their
own security. But the diversity of views and interests
among the colonists rendered the course to be adopted a
matter of some delicacy. Ferdinand, being a prisoner,
was, politically speaking, a nonentity. Napoleon’s brother
was clearly an usurper, odious to, and rejected by, the mass
of the Spanish people. The regency, shut up in Cadiz,
without troops or revenue, was but a phantom; and the
little power it had was so employed as to raise doubts
whether its members were not secretly in league with the
enemy. In these circumstances, when the only govern¬
ment to which the colonists owed allegiance had fallen
into abeyance, the wisest course they could have pursued
was to declare themselves independent. This would at
once put a stop to the machinations of France, which they
dreaded, and prevent the regency from compromising or
sacrificing their interests by its weakness or treachery.
The Spaniards, however, who occupied all public situa¬
tions, were averse to a change which they foresaw must
lead to the downfall of their power. This was perfectly
understood by the other classes ; and in the first move¬
ments which took place in the different colonies, nothing
was said derogatory to the supremacy of Spain, though
independence was clearly aimed at. By spontaneous ef¬
forts of the people “ juntas of government” were form¬
ed, at Caraccas in April 1809, at La Paz in Upper Peru
in July, at Quito in August, at Santa Fe and at Bue¬
nos Ayres in May 1810, and at Santiago in Chili in
September the same year. In 1810, also, the first insur¬
rection broke out in Mexico. The colonists unluckily had
been too long the slaves of superstition and tyranny to
be fit for conducting so bold an experiment; and after a
struggle, which was generally short, but almost every¬
where bloody, the juntas were all put down except in
Colombia and Buenos Ayres. But in the stir and tumult
of the contest, old prejudices had received a shock, and
the seeds of political change had struck their roots too
deep in the soil to be eradicated. A desultory war was
carried on for six years between Buenos Ayres and Up¬
per Peru, with little advantage on either side. At length,
in 1817, the former state, which had assumed the style o
an independent republic four years before, sent an army
across the Andes to Chili, under General San Martin, an
1 Mexico, by H. G. \Vardx Esq. vol. i. chap. i. 2d edition. Memoirs of General Miller, voL i. chap. i. 1828.
AMERICA.
639
Mu-
' tici-
Colo.iia-
Met
defeated the Spaniards at Chacabuco. A second victory, proclaimed emperor. His usurpation kindled a spiritofltevolu-
gained at Maipo in April 1818, led to the entire subver- resistance. He was exiled in 1823, made .a new at- tions.
'sion of the Spanish power in this colony. The war was tempt on the liberties of his country in 1824, was taken
now transferred to Peru, where the Spaniards continued prisoner, and expiated his crimes by a military death
to lose ground, till the decisive battle of Ayacucho put within a few weeks after he landed.1
an end to their power in December 1824. Rodil and Guatemala was the last portion of the American con- Guate-
Olaveta, with the obstinacy of their nation, held out for tinent which threw off the Spanish yoke. In 1821 themala. "
some months longer, when every chance of success was persons in office assembled and formed a junta. Divi-
gone; but after the surrender of Callao in January 1826, sions arose, which were fomented by the intrusion of a
the Spanish flag no longer waved on any spot in the land Mexican army sent by Iturbide. This force, however,
of the Incas. was beaten, and an elective assembly called, which de-
In New Granada and Venezuela the struggle was more dared the country independent, and established a consti-
bloody, variable, and protracted than in any other part tution in July 1823. Spain now retains none of her pos-
of South America. As this portion of the dominions of sessions in the new world but Cuba and Porto Rico.
Spain was comparatively easy of access, and from its cen- It is impossible for any one to read the narrative of the Cruelty of
tral position was in some measure the key to the whole, wars produced by these revolutions, without having a the Span-
she made immense efforts for its preservation. No less conviction forced upon him, that the Spaniards rank fariarcls-
than ten thousand troops were sent out to it within the below all the Christian nations of Europe, not except-
course of one year. The patriots, on the other hand, pos- ing the Russians, in those moral qualities which are the
sessed advantages here, in the greater intelligence of the surest tests of civilisation, a respect for human life, and
population, and the easy intercourse with the West In- a strict regard to engagements, whether binding on the
dies. From 1809, when juntas were established in Ca- honour or the conscience. The executions in cold blood,
raccas and Quito, to the surrender of Porto Cabello in the countless massacres, the treachery, perfidy, and con-
1823, the vicissitudes of the war were numerous and ex- tempt of the most solemn oaths and engagements, of
traordinary. The patriots were repeatedly on the eve of which they were guilty, in every colony, and almost in
a complete triumph, and as often the state of their affairs every district, are, we believe, without a parallel in the
seemed nearly hopeless. But the spirit of resistance never modern civilized world, and strongly remind one of the
was entirely subdued. The cause was rooted in the hearts barbarous and exterminating hostilities of the Jenghis
of the people, and was insensibly gaining ground even Khans and Tamerlanes of Asia. The Indians were de-
during its reverses. To attempt the faintest outline of stroyed by thousands on the slightest provocation; and
the military operations would lead us beyond our proper even the officers of European birth who fell into the
limits. It is enough to state, that the decisive victory of hands of the Spaniards, were either shot or brutally
Carabobo, gained by the patriots in 1819, gave them an treated, long after the period when any pretext existed
ascendency which they never afterwards lost; but the for disregarding the rules of civilized war. More blood,
Spaniards, according to their custom, continued to main- we are satisfied, was shed by Morillo alone in one year,
tain the contest as long as they had a foot of land in the in the single state of Venezuela, than in the thirteen
country, and were only finally expelled in 1823. North American states during the seven years of their
In Mexico the revolutionary movement began at Do- revolutionary struggle. The patriots, bred in the same
lores in 1810, and soon wore a very prosperous appear- school, were too often equally culpable. General Miller
ance ; but the weakness or false pride of the Creoles, who estimates the number of human beings destroyed by the
were cajoled into the ranks of their oppressors the old sword in Spanish America between 1810 and 1825 at one
Spaniards, armed against the patriots those who should million ! This is probably an exaggeration ; but it merits
have been their firmest supporters ; and by one or two attention, as showing the opinion formed by an observer,
mischances, the force of the independent party was ruin- who, though a partisan, is both candid and well inform¬
ed in November 1815, when Morelos, their able leader, ed.2
was taken prisoner and executed. For six years after The government of Brazil was conducted by the For- Brazil,
this period many guerilla bands maintained themselves in tuguese on a system extremely similar to that of the
the provinces, and greatly annoyed the Spaniards ; but Spanish colonies. The monopoly which the mother coun -
they did not act in concert, and no congress or junta try retained of the commerce of the colony was equally
professing to represent the Mexican people existed, rigorous; the restrictions on its internal industry as se-
Even during this interval the desire for independence was vere; and the same means were employed to keep the
making great progress among the population; but the people in a state of pupilage and ignoi’ance. Down to
establishment of a constitutional government in Spain in 1806 a single printing press had never existed in Brazil.
1820, and its extension to the colonies, gave a new aspect In 1807, when the emperor Napoleon had resolved to
to the affairs of Mexico. The viceroy Apodaca, while possess himself of Portugal, and if possible to get the
outwardly yielding obedience to the new system, was royal family into his power, the king, seeing no other
silently taking measures to effect its overthrow; but mis- means of escaping from the clutches of his enemy, em-
taking the character of the agent he employed, this per- barked with his suite in several ships, and sailed for Bra-
son, the celebrated Iturbide, turned his own arms against zil, where he arrived in January 1808. Fie was received
him, proclaimed a constitution, under the name of “ the with joy by the colonists, who anticipated great benefits
three guarantees,” and put an end to the dominion of from his residence, of which they were not disappointed.
Spain in 1821, almost without bloodshed. Iturbide, who One by one the fetters of colonial dependence fell off.
had nothing in view but his own aggrandizement, called a Within a few months printing presses and newspapers
congress, which he soon dissolved, after getting himself were established, the ports were open to the trade ol all
1 Ward’s Mexico, ,vol. .i. ,p. 93-210.
1 Memoirs of General Miller, 2 vols. 1828. Geographical, Statistical, Agricultural, $£C. Account of Colomoia, 2 vols. London, 182.2.
Iliers’ Travels in Chili and La Plata, 2 vols. 182(j.
640
AMERICA.
Revolu¬
tions.
New
States.
Brazil.
nations, and the people were invited and encouraged to
prosecute all those branches of internal industry from
^ which they had till now been interdicted. T-O crown and
secure these advantages, Brazil was declared an inde¬
pendent kingdom in 1815, subject to the crown of Portu¬
gal, but entitled to its separate administration and its own
laws. The revolutionary spirit pervading the Spanish
colonies now found its way into Brazil, and produced an
insux*rection at Peniambuco in 1817. It was soon sub¬
dued, but received a new impulse from the constitutional
systems suddenly introduced into Spain and Portugal in
1820. To quiet the popular feeling, it was announced
that the Portuguese constitution would be extended to
Brazil. Before this had been done, however, the old king
had sailed for Europe, leaving his son Don Pedro to rule
in his absence. The people now discovered, or believed,
that the object of the king was to degi'ade Brazil again to
the rank of a colony, and to restore the old system in all
its rigour. Meetings were held and resolutions adopted,
to maintain the independence of the country at all ha¬
zards ; and the patriots, gaining confidence by degrees,
called loudly for the establishment of a legislature, and
besought Don Pedro to put himself at the head of the
independent government. Ambition or policy induced
Pedro to listen to the solicitation: in 1822 he was pro¬
claimed emperor, and had his own title and the indepen¬
dence of Brazil acknowledged by his father three years
afterwards. A representative system was at the same
time introduced. An unlucky war now arose with Buenos
Ayres, which weakened both countries; but it was at
length terminated in 1828, by the recognition of the dis¬
puted territory as an independent state, under the title of
the Banda Oriental.
Having finished this brief notice of the series of revo¬
lutions which broke the fetters of America, we shall now
give a very short sketch of the new political order of
things which has arisen out of these changes, referring for
a detailed account of the several states to the articles ap¬
propriated to them in the different volumes of the present
work.
America, with its isles, embraces at present (1830)
twelve independent states, and various colonies belonging
to six European powers. The states are, 1. Brazil; 2. Co¬
lombia ; 3. Peru ; 4. Bolivia or Upper Peru ; 5. La Plata;
6. Chili; 7. Paraguay; 8. Banda Oriental; 9. Guatema¬
la; 10. Mexico; 11. the United States; 12. Hayti. The
colonies belong to Russia, Britain, Denmark, the Nether¬
lands, France, and Spain.
Brazil is the largest state in the new world, and enjoys
the greatest combination of natux*al advantages. It is
bounded on the south, west, and north, by La Plata, Para¬
guay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Guiana. Embracing
an area of 3,050,000 English miles, it is nearly as large as
Europe, and is capable of supporting a much greater po-
Eulation. Its climate is probably cooler and more salu-
rious than that of any other extensive tropical country;
and every part of its soil is rich and fruitful, as its mag¬
nificent forests and the exuberance and boundless variety
of its vegetable productions attest. Its commercial ad¬
vantages are admirable. No country in the new world
has the same facilities for carrying on intercourse with
Europe, and with all its neighbours. The Amazon, with
its numerous branches, the Parana, the Tocantin, the St
Francisco, and other streams, supply the most remote parts
of the interior with easy means of communication with
the sea. Brazil possesses iron, copper, and probably all
the other metals; but her mines of gold and diamonds are N
remarkably rich. Her most valuable productions for ex- Sta
portation are, cotton, sugar, coffee, hides, tobacco, vanilla,^
dyewoods, aromatic plants, timber, &c. We have seen
no detailed accounts of her commerce; but if her dealings
with Britain be taken as an index of its extent, as we
think it may, it is three times as great as that of all the
Spanish colonies put together. According to a parlia¬
mentary paper printed in 1830 (No. 292), the imports
into Britain from Brazil in 1829 were L.1,488,000 official
value, and the exports to the same country no less than
L.6,155,000. Now the British trade with the states of
Spanish America, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, La
Plata, Chili, and Peru, was only-—imports L.534,000, ex¬
ports L.3,286,000. Of the goods to the value of six mil¬
lions sent to Brazil, the whole except L.100,000 were
British produce or manufactures. The cultivation of cot¬
ton, sugar, mandioc, maize, and other raw produce, is the
staple branch of industry in Brazil; and manufactures,
though no longer prohibited, cannot be said yet to exist.
The Brazilians are lively, irritable, hospitable, but igno¬
rant, superstitious, and rather inclined to indolence. Their
recent acquisition of independence, however, has worked
like a charm, and produced an extraordinary change in
their industry, opinions, and modes of thinking. Lancas-
terian and other schools are spreading in all directions;
the press brings forth new publications; and 25 journals
existed in 1828, in a country where the art of printing
was unknown in 1807. According to the constitution
introduced by Don Pedro, the legislature consists of a
senate of 50 members, who hold their places for life, and
a house of representativ'es of 100 elected by the people for
three years; upon the acts of both of which bodies the em¬
peror has a negative. The members of the lower house
are chosen by elections of two stages. The householders
of a parish meet and appoint one elector for every hun¬
dred of their number, and the electors thus chosen meet
in districts and choose the deputies. The debates are
conducted with open doors, and with much boldness and
freedom, according to Mr Walsh. The budget for 1829
was as follows :—
Rees.
Customs and consulats 5,727,000,000
Tenths, subsidies, &c 2,653,000,000
Tax on land (Impost foncier) and duties of
mutation  687,000,000
Sundry duties 1,749,000,000
Diamonds and Brazil wood  nAn
Fifths of gold and produce of mint 1,872,000,000
Sums due to government     338,000,000
Extraordinary revenue, depots, and domains 443,000,000
I^SIOjOQOjOOO1
Mr Walsh, in 1829, found 800 rees equal to a Spanish
dollar; the above sum should therefore amount to
L.3,700,000. The expenditure for the same year was
estimated at 19,271,000,000 rees, or L.5,300,000.
The population of Bi’azil amounted to 3,6/1,500, ac¬
cording to returns published in 1818, and procured pro¬
bably for the purpose of taxation. This was exclusive o
the wandering Indians. In 1823 it was estimated a
4,000,000 by Humboldt. Judging by the trade of tne
country, and the consumption of British goods, we shou
think that it must have been greater then, and may now
amount to more than five millions. M. Schceffer, a er
man, carries it to 5,700,000; and M. Freyreiss, ano xe
1 Bulletin Geographi/iuc, Avril 1829.
AMERICA.
641
y, German who was long in the country, is persuaded that
it cannot be under seven or eight millions, including the
savage tribes.
In the first evaluation, the inhabitants are classed as
follows:—
Negro slaves    47 per cent.
Free negroes  4
Mulatto slaves  6
Mixed races (Mestizoes, Mamelucoes, &c.) 111-
Whites (one third native Portuguese, two
thirds Creoles)  24
Indians (settled)  7J-
According to this statement, the blacks in Brazil must
amount to 2,800,000 in a population of 5,000,000, and
must outnumber the whites in the proportion of 7 to 3.
This is a feature in the political and moral condition of
Brazil which augurs ill for its future repose and prosperity.
That the statement is near the truth we are inclined to
believe. Mr Walsh thinks that two thirds of the po¬
pulation of Rio Janeiro, which amounts to 150,000, are
black.1 In the province of Minas Geraes, which had
514,000 inhabitants in 1821, the proportions, according to
a work published by Baron Eschwege, were, whites 25 per
cent., blacks 41 per cent., mulattoes 34 per cent., blacks
and mulattoes together 75 per cent. Classed into free
persons and slaves, it stands thus: whites 25 per cent.,
free mulattoes 30 per cent., free blacks 10 per cent.,
black slaves 31 per cent., mulatto slaves 4 per cent.;
total free population 65 per cent., total slave population
35 per cent.2 In Maranham, Pernambuco, and other
northern provinces, we know that the slaves are still more
numerous. It is probable, therefore, that the black and
coloured inhabitants of Brazil fall little short of three
millions, which must be nearly equal to the number of
persons of African blood in all the other parts of conti¬
nental America. Brazil is divided into 19 provinces.
•olmia. Colombia is bounded on the south by Peru, on the
south-east and east by Brazil and Guiana, on the other
sides by the sea, and embraces an area of 1,020,000
square English miles. The soil is fruitful, and the climate
salubrious, except along the coast and in a few other low si¬
tuations. The eastern part consists chiefly of the llanos or
steppes of the Orinoco, which are very hot; the western,
of the mountain ridges of the Andes, which support tracts
of table-land where the blessings of a temperate climate
are enjoyed, and the cerealia of Europe can be success¬
fully cultivated. The tropical vegetation extends to the
height of 4000 feet; from 4000 to 9000 is the region
where wheat, barley, and leguminous plants thrive. Above
the level of 9000 feet the climate becomes severe ; and at
15,700 feet vegetation ceases. The situation of Colombia
is highly favourable for commerce. It has excellent ports
on both seas; and being mistress of the isthmus of Panama,
it has superior facilities for establishing a communication
from the one to the other, and engrossing the commerce
between the Atlantic and Pacific. The Orinoco, the
Magdalena, and the Amazon, afford its inmost districts
the advantages of water-carriage to the ocean. The Cas-
siquiari, an intermediate channel, by which the Orinoco
anastomoses or connects with the Amazon (a remarkable
hydrographical phenomenon), is within the limits of Co¬
lombia. Its greatest disadvantage, in a commercial point of
view, arises from the obstruction caused by the immense
wall of the Andes to the free communication of its east¬
ern and western provinces.
Colombia contains much gold and silver; the former in
alluvial deposits: it has mines of copper and mercury also,
with platinum, iron, and coal. Its tropical productions
are similar to those of Brazil, but it has as yet cultivated
few articles for foreign markets, and its exports areincon-v
siderable. The civilized population of this country is
chiefly located in the districts near the coast, and in the
high valleys or table-land of the Andes. Its amount, as
stated in the Gazette of Colombia of 30th September
1827, was,
Venezuela  659,633
New Granada 1,228,303
Quito  491,996
New
States.
Free population 2,379,932
Slaves    103,892
Independent Indians  203,835
2,687,659
Some fractional parts, however, must be omit-1
ted; for the actual number announced by a 2,857,347
the minister, in his report for 1827, was..... )
This population is distributed through 37 provinces,
which are subdivided into 326 districts. The cities amount
to 95, the towns to 154, the villages to 1340. It is al¬
ways of importance to know in what proportions the dif¬
ferent races are blended ; but on this subject we have
data only for New Granada, and for Guiana, which has
a very small civilized population. In New Granada,
containing 1,228,000 inhabitants, we find the different
races classed thus :—
Whites 13 per cent.
Mestizoes (from whites and Indians) 23
Indians (civilized) 26
Mulattoes 32
Negroes, free or slaves  5
The anomalous proportion between the blacks and mu¬
lattoes leads us to think that the terms have been inter¬
changed. The negroes, we suspect, should be 32, and
the mulattoes 5. In Guiana (a thinly inhabited pro¬
vince of the department of Maturin, distinct from the
English, Dutch, and French Guianas), the whites are
only 7 per cent., and the men of colour 8, while the
Indians are 84.3 Though slavery exists in Colombia, it
is hastening to its extinction; for, by a law passed in
1821, tbe children of all slaves born after that year are
free. The commerce of the republic is trifling at pre¬
sent ; but when her internal distractions are settled it
must increase greatly. The principal articles for ex¬
portation are, cocoa, coffee, cotton, indigo, sugar, tobac¬
co, and hides. We have not been able to lay our hands
on any recent and complete statement of the amount
of imports and exports. The custom-house valuation
of the imports into Caraccas in the first six months of
1828, was 969,000 dollars; the exports 627,000. But
a better criterion is afforded by the official value of the
goods sent from Britain to Colombia in 1829, which was
L.557,000: those sent from other countries may proba¬
bly be equal to twice this amount. Neither have we
seen any recent account of the revenue, on which w'e
can depend. The government is republican : the supreme
power is lodged in a senate, composed of 32 members
elected by the people for eight years, and a house of re¬
presentatives elected for four years. The number of the
latter, being fixed at one for each 30,000 inhabitants,
should be about 80. They are chosen by the indirect
mode, the parochial assemblies choosing ten electors for
each representative, and these ten electing the member.
1 Walsh’s Notices of Brazil, 1830, vol. i. p. 468.
3 Hid. Novembre 1828.
* Bulletin G'cographique, Janvier 1829.
4 M
VOL. II.
642
A M E R I C A.
New The president is elected for four years.1 But it is need-
States. ]ess f0 g0 jnt0 detail; for while we are writing this, we
learn that the constitution of 1821 has been abolished,
and that a new one is framing. The republic of Colombia
had a harder struggle than any of the other Spanish co¬
lonies for its independence ; and since it expelled the
Spaniards, it has been engaged in wars with its neigh¬
bours, and sadly shaken by internal dissensions. In De¬
cember 1829 the province of Caraccas resolved to sepa¬
rate from the others, and erect itself into an independent
state. The government, which sits at Bogota, determined
to resist this dismemberment; and Bolivar, as president,
has been authorized to employ force against the revolters.
The issue is not yet known.
Ca Plata. La Plata is, iii point of natural advantages, the third
state of importance in South America. It is bounded on
the west by Chili and Peru; on the north by Bolivia, Pa¬
raguay, and the Banda Oriental; on the east and south by
the sea. It embraces an area of 1,030,000 square miles,
if we include in its territories Tucuman, Salta, Santiago
del Estero, and Jujuy, which scarcely acknowledge its
authority ; and to this 250,000 should still be added for
the Patagonian country east of the Andes, which it will
no doubt claim in course of time, after the manner of the
other civilized states in the new world. Nearly the whole
territory of this republic consists of open plains destitute
of timber, called pampas, extending from the Atlantic and
the river Paraguay to the Andes. The eastern part of
these plains exhibits a vigorous growth of herbage, inter¬
mixed with a forest of gigantic plants9or lOfeet high, which
have been called thistles, but are now known to be arti¬
chokes : in the middle they are covered with grass ; and the
western division, which extends to the foot of the Andes,
consists of barren sandy plains, thinly sprinkled with shrubs
and thorny trees. The openness and dryness of the
country, however, render it healthy ; and by the Parana,
the Paraguay, and their branches, it possesses a great ex¬
tent of natural inland navigation. It has mines of gold,
silver, copper, lead, and probably iron ; but its mineral
riches have been greatly diminished by the separation of
Potosi, Cochabamba, La Paz, and other provinces, now
forming part of Bolivia. The force of this republic lies
almost entirely in the wealth, intelligence, and commer¬
cial spirit of its capital, Buenos Ayres, which contains
80,000 souls, and is the only city perhaps in the world
which has been found impregnable to the assaults of hos¬
tile armies, without fortifications, or any other defences
than the peculiar structure of its houses and the courage
of its inhabitants. The viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres
having few valuable mines, and depending chiefly on
commerce and agriculture, had fewer attractions for the
Spaniards than most of the other colonies, and is very
thinly peopled. Its capital contains a large proportion of
foreigners; and a small number of estancias, or grazing
farms, are sparingly diffused over its boundless plains,
the proprietors of which keep multitudes of horses and
mules, flocks of sheep, and vast herds of cattle, the latter
being chiefly valued for their skins. These people are a
bold, frank, hardy, half-civilized race, who live isolated
in the wilderness, and scarcely acknowledge any govern¬
ment. Owing to these circumstances, the smallness of
the towns, and their distance from one another, there is
little cohesion between the parts of this republic, which
may be said, in fact, to consist of a head without a body,
for its strength is concentrated in the capital. The re¬
public is, or rather was, divided into 14 provinces; and,
according to an imperfect censug taken in 1815, contained N<
523,000 inhabitants, exclusive of Indians, and without Sta
reckoning the Banda Oriental. Mr Miers, excluding''-'^
from the republic the provinces north of Cordova, and re¬
ducing the estimated numbers in the others to less than
one half, makes the wdiole population amount only to
152,000. This is unquestionably below the truth. In
what proportion the races are mixed we do not know; but
including the Sierra, or hilly region in the west, which
comprehends Upper Peru, Humboldt classes the popula¬
tion thus:—
Whites 14 per cent.
Mixed 33
Indians 53
Since the revolution, printing presses have been intro¬
duced, which issue many useful works; and several jour¬
nals are established. Education has made great advances
in the cities, especially in the capital, where it is rare to
find a boy who cannot read and write. La Plata had
never any nobility, and always much less inequality of
fortune than Mexico and Peru. Slavery, which prevailed
only to a small extent in former times, is now verging to
its extinction under a new law ; and the Indians are not
numerous, either in the capital or the provinces, except
in those adjacent to Upper Peru. There is less bigotry
too, and probably more intelligence and industry, in the
capital of La Plata, than in any town of Spanish America.
The trade and prosperity of the republic have been great¬
ly retarded by its internal dissensions, and the tedious,
indecisive war which it waged for some years with Brazil
about the Banda Oriental. Mr Rodney estimated the
exports in 1818 at 10,000,000 dollars, and the revenue at
3,000,000. The latter, in 1824, was officially announced
to be 2,588,000, and in 1825, 2,633,000 dollars. The ex¬
ports from Britain to Buenos Ayres in 1829 amounted to
L.484,000, and the imports from it to L.143,000. The
government of these vast provinces has for a long time
been in a state of extreme confusion. The two parties of
Unitarians and Federales have alternately chased each
other from power, and shed much blood. The former,
who wished to unite all the provinces under one legisla¬
ture, and were thence named Unitarians, comprise the
men most distinguished for talent and intelligence, and
the most zealous friends to education and general im¬
provement. They introduced a plan of government found¬
ed on their own views, in 1826, consisting of a president
and two chambers. Subsequently they were driven from
power, and their system annihilated, by the bederales,
who include in their ranks a great majority of the priests
and the most ignorant classes, and those who were an¬
ciently the partisans of the Spanish pow er. Under these
persons the ties that connected the several provinces
have been severed. Each now governs itself, and has
custom-houses on its frontiers ; so that the intercourse be¬
tween what are professedly parts of one community is
as difficult as that between distinct kingdoms. ’I he only
remaining vestige of the federal bond is, that the other
provinces leave to Buenos Ayres the arrangement of their
relations with foreign powers.2
The Banda Oriental is a small district on the north Bam
side of the bay of the Plata, extending from the Atlantic ne
to the river Uruguay. Its extent we have not seen cor¬
rectly stated, but it may amount to 80,000 square miles.
its population has been estimated at 175,000, but is pro¬
bably much less. Monte Video, with 16,000 inhabitants,
is the chief town. This province, after a long struggle
* Colonel Hall’s Present State of Colombia, 1824. • h d bv
2 Rodney and Graham’s Jieports to the North American Government, 1819; General Miller's Memoirs^ vol. i.; and MS. furms e .
a gentleman long resident in the country.
J
si1*-
Faraway.
AMERICA.
643
between Brazil and Buenos Ayres for its possession, was
erected into an independent state in 1829.
The country which bears the name of Paraguay at pre¬
sent is not, strictly speaking, that in which the Jesuits
had their celebrated missions, but a district lying between
the rivers Parana and Paraguay, and extending from the
23d to the 28th degree of south latitude. The govern¬
ment of Buenos Ayres sent an army in 1810 to overturn
the Spanish power in this district. The people rose in
arms under two leaders, who had probably laid their own
schemes already, and, after repelling the aggressors, quiet¬
ly put an end to the Spanish dominion, and asserted their
independence. One of the leaders, Dr Francia, soon as¬
sumed the whole power, and has proved one of the most
singular despots recorded in history. He is sober, ab¬
stinent, and unostentatious, economical of the public
money, and disinterested, but stern and capricious, em¬
ploying the arm of absolute power to correct the vices
and increase the industry of his subjects. He lives among
the people with the simplicity and familiarity of a pa¬
triarch, and yet is a tyrant in spirit, and carries his ty¬
ranny into the most ordinary acts of private life. He
seems to have borrowed his notions of social order from
the Jesuits, but employs naked force to effect what they
accomplished by persuasion. Fie directs one man how to
build his house, another how to till his ground, a third
how to fabricate the articles which he manufactures ; he
fixes the price of commodities, and enforces all his orders
with the most summary and rigorous penalties. Idleness is
punished as a crime. He keeps a small army to support
his authority and guard his frontiers ; and will neither per¬
mit any stranger to enter the country, nor any of his sub¬
jects to leave it. Being dissatisfied with the meanness
and irregularity of his capital, the small town of Assump¬
tion, he compelled the inhabitants to pull down their
houses, and rebuild them on a new plan. The church has
not escaped his reforming zeal. He prohibited nocturnal
processions as sources of profligacy, expelled the monks,
abolished the Inquisition, and diminished the number
of festivals. In fine, the writers to whom we are indebted
for these details inform us, that after having played the
despot to accomplish reforms, and trained his subjects to
habits of industry and order, be has latterly relaxed his
severity, and is now obeyed rather from respect and con¬
fidence than fear. He governs the country under the title
of dictator. The number of bis subjects is estimated by
Balbi at 250,000; and of these, probably one third are
whites, and two thirds Indians or Mestizoes.1
Chili extends along the coast of the Pacific, from 25° to
44° of south latitude : its length is 1300 miles; its breadth
varies from 30 to 120; and its surface, exclusive of Arau-
cania and the district beyond the 44>th parallel, is 66,960
square miles, according to Mr Miers. The country con¬
sists properly of the western slope or declivity of the
Andes; for the branches of the mountains, running out in
tortuous directions from the main trunk, reach to the sea¬
shore. It enjoys an excellent and healthful climate; se-
yere cold is unknown in the inhabited parts, and the heat
is seldom excessive. The useful soil bears a small pro¬
portion to the entire surface of the country, consisting
merely of the bottom of the valleys. It has rich mines of
gold, silver, and copper in the northern provinces; but
very few of them can be worked, in consequence of the
absolute sterility of the adjacent country. It is divided
into 13 provinces; and of these, the two northern, occupy¬
ing 450 miles of the coast, are nearly perfect deserts. The New
soil continues extremely dry, and yields nothing without States-
irrigation, till we reach the latitude of 35° ; and it is be-
lieved that not one fiftieth part of the country is fit for
cultivation. But south of the river Maule the land is co¬
vered with fine timber, and bears crops of wheat and other
grain, without the aid of any other moisture than what is
supplied by the atmosphere. This is in truth the fine and
fruitful part of Chili; and the project has already been
discussed of selecting its chief town, Conception, for the
seat of the government. Chili has no manufactures, and
is unfavourably situated for commerce. It has no navi¬
gable rivers, while its mountainous surface is an obstacle
to the formation of roads; and its communications with
all other parts of the world are circuitous and difficult. A
representative constitution, but of a strange character,
wyas established in Chili in 1823. A “ Supreme Directoi'”
was placed at the head of the executive, but who was to
perform no important act without the advice and consent
of a senate of nine members, who hold their seats for six
years. The house of representatives, consisting of not
more than 200 members, chosen for eight years, was to be
assembled only upon extraordinary occasions; but 25 of
its members, selected by ballot, and called together by an
order of the executive, was to be sufficient to sanction
any law or act which might be submitted to it by the exe¬
cutive. This constitution, and some others which succeed¬
ed it, remained mere empty forms. The people, ignorant
and widely scattered, have continued passive spectators of
political events, while different factions have alternately
chaced one another from power, and indulged in proscrip¬
tions and confiscations. The revenue in 1824, according
to Mr Miers, was 1,636,000 dollars, and the expenditure
was announced by the minister to be 2,497,000. The ex¬
ports from Britain to Chili in 1829 were L.l,182,000, and
the imports L.58,000, official value. The population is
usually estimated at 1,200,000, but is reduced by Mr
Miers to 560,000, which is probably under the truth.
With regard to its composition, our information is not
precise. The author just named says, that the race of
pure Indians, with their language, have disappeared from
all the country between Araucania and Peru; but among
the poorer settlers are men of all complexions, from the
mixture of the above genus with the Spaniards. Mr Ste¬
venson says that the population of the southern province
of Conception consists of “ a few Spaniards, some white
Creoles, Mestizoes, a few slaves of different colours, and
fewer Indiansand that the Mestizoes are scarcely to be
distinguished from the whites. From these and other no¬
tices we would infer that the part of the population in
which Indian blood is not distinctly perceptible is proba¬
bly less than one half.2
Peru is a continuation of the country which forms Chili, Peru,
consisting of the western declivities of the Andes, from
the 4th to the 25th degree of south latitude, with the ad¬
dition of a considerable tract on the east side of the
mountains, between the 4th and the 15th parallels. There
are few countries in the world which have a more singular
physical character than the western part of Peru. It is
a belt or zone of sands, 1700 miles in length, and from 7
to 50 in breadth, with inequalities of surface which might
be called mountains, if they were not seen in connection
with the stupendous back ground of the Andes. This
long line of desert is intersected by rivers and streams
which are seldom less than 20, or more than 80 miles
‘ Extrait de I'Essai Hhtorique sur la Involution de Paraguay, par MM. de Itengger et Longchamps, en Bulletin Giographique,
Juillet
s Mitts’ Travels in Chili and La Plata, 1826. Stevenson’s Narrative, 1825, vol. i.
644 AMERICA.
New apart, and on the sides of which narrow strips of produc-
States. tive soil are created by means of irrigation. These iso-
^'^"'iated valleys form the whole habitable country. Some of
the large rivers reach the sea; the smaller are either con¬
sumed in irrigating the patches of cultivated land, or ab¬
sorbed by the encompassing desert, where it never rains,
where neither beast nor bird lives, and a blade of vegeta¬
tion never grew. No stranger can travel from one of
these valleys to another without a guide, for the desert is
trackless ; and the only indications of a route are an occa¬
sional cluster of bones, the remains of beasts of burden
that have perished. Even experienced guides, who re¬
gulate their course by the stars, the sun, or the direction
of the wind, sometimes lose their path, and then they al¬
most inevitably perish. Of a party of 300 soldiers thrown
ashore by a shipwreck in 1823 on one of these desert
spaces, nearly a hundred expired before they reached
the nearest valley. Ignorance and wonder have been
busy with this singular region : legends are current, which
tell that descendants of the ancient Peruvians have lived
in some of these mysterious valleys, hid from the know¬
ledge of their merciless invaders, since the days of the
Incas.1 We have no reason to believe that more than one
acre in a hundred of maritime Peru will ever be available
for the sustenance of mankind. The country has two ad¬
vantages—its mines of the precious metals, and a tempe¬
rate and delightful climate, in consequence of the ab¬
sence of rain, and the fogs which intercept the solar heat.
It can never be rich in the proper sense of the term,
or make much progress in the improvements which de¬
pend upon a dense population. Like Chili, it has no na¬
vigable rivers—and nature has not only deprived it of the
means of forming good roads, but placed it in a situation
the most unfavourable for intercourse with the other parts
of the civilized world. Even its metallic wealth has been
greatly reduced by the separation of Bolivia. There are
indeed few countries in the world whose natural advan¬
tages have been so much overrated as Peru; and it re¬
quires little sagacity to discover that its future career
cannot correspond with its past celebrity. The districts
east of the Andes, which have a hot climate, accompanied
with a rich soil, will ultimately be the most valuable part
of the country; but their secluded situation, and want of
communication with other countries, must keep them long
in a backward state. The government of Peru is repub¬
lican and central, not federal; but the numerous altera¬
tions it has undergone render it hazardous to speak of its
particular provisions; and indeed the struggles of faction
have rendered it a dead letter. The revenue of Peru in
1826, according to an official statement, was 5,203,000
dollars, or L.l,140,000; but most of these accounts, put
forth by authority in the new American states, both re¬
specting money and population, are prepared with the
view of creating favourable impressions in Europe as to
their resources, and should be received with suspicion.
Peru is divided into eight departments, which compre¬
hend a surface of 350,000 square miles ; the capital, Lima,
contains 70,000 inhabitants; and the entire population of
the state is given as under by General Miller:—
Whites 240,819
Indians 998,846
Mestizoes 383,782
Free Mulattoes  69,848
Slaves  43,628
1,736,923
Bolivia, or Upper Peru, lies eastward of Lower Peru js
and is bounded on the south by the river Pilcomayo. It St
is of a triangular form, and comprehends a space of ^
480,000 square miles. The climate is pleasant andBoli
healthful, the soil is generally dry, and in the eastern
parts, as well as the elevated table-land, its aridity pro¬
duces barrenness. Nature, however, as a compensation
for its other disadvantages, has bestowed upon it some of
the richest mines in the world. This country was erected
into an independent state only in 1825, and named Boli¬
via in honour of its liberator Bolivar. It consists of five
departments, Charcas, Potosi, La Paz, Cochabamba, and
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, which were originally subject to
the viceroy of Peru, but, in the later times of the Spanish
rule, were joined to the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres.
Chuquisaca, a small town about 50 miles eastward of Po¬
tosi, is the capital. Bolivia has a small strip of barren
territory on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, between the
22d and 25th parallel; but it is, properly speaking, en¬
tirely an inland country, and more deficient in the means
of communicating with foreign nations than any other
state in America. This circumstance must greatly re¬
tard its improvement. It has a very complex political
constitution, planned and introduced by its founder in
1826. The government is vested in a tribunate, a senate,
a council of censors chosen for four years by electoral
colleges, and a president nominated by these bodies for
life. The electoral colleges consist of electors chosen
by all the male adults in each province, in the proportion
of one elector for every ten voters. The population of
Bolivia, according to General Miller, is 1,200,000, of
whom probably two thirds are Indians. Of the revenue
or trade of the new state we have not seen any ac¬
count.2
Guatemala or “ Central America” occupies the narrow Gual
part of the continent, from the 83d to the 94th degree ofraala
west longitude, extending 800 miles in length, and covering
a space of 130,000 square miles. The surface of the coun¬
try is hilly, and in some parts mountainous ; the climate
warm and very moist. The mineral wealth of the coun¬
try is not great; but this is compensated by the richness
of its soil, and its excellent commercial position. It is a
federal republic, consisting of five states, whose popula¬
tion, estimated at 1,600,000 by Humboldt, is, we suspect,
a little overrated in the following statement received from
the government by Mr Thomson, the British envoy:—
Guatemala, including La Paz 850,000
Honduras 280,000
San Salvador   330,000
N icaragua 330,000
Costa Eica 180,000
Certain towns omitted  30,000
2,000,000
The capital is said to have 50,000 inhabitants, San Sal¬
vador 38,000, Chiquimala 37,000; and in the whole re¬
public the different races are mixed in the following pro¬
portions, according to the two authorities we have men¬
tioned :—
Thomson. Humboldt.
Whites and Creoles 20 per cent. 20 percent.
Mixed classes 40 28
Indians...   40 52
The constitution, which was established in 1823, is
federal, and modelled on that of North America. Each ot
the five states has its own legislature; and the general
Memoirs of General Miller^ chap. xix.
2 Hid. and Appendix.
AMERICA.
645
]Mr government is vested in a congress, consisting of a senate
St ;s. of 10 members, and a house of representatives of 31, elect-
ed directly by the people; while the executive power is
confided to a president, chosen for a term of years. Sla¬
very has had no existence in Central America since the
revolution. In this state, as in Mexico, there is much
inequality of fortune: Mr Thompson enumerates seven
persons in the capital, whose property exceeds 500,000
dollars each, and eleven others whose property exceeds
100,000. The revenue, which was about 360,000 under
the Spanish regime, is now about 806,000. The imports
are estimated at L.2,000,000 sterling, which is certainly
an exaggeration. The articles shipped from Britain for
the republic in 1829 amounted only to L.10,000 official
value; but British goods probably reach the country indi¬
rectly through the West India islands. Its leading pro¬
ductions for exportation are, cochineal, indigo, cocoa, cot¬
ton, hides, and drugs.1
Me 3. Mexico is the most populous and powerful of all the
new states erected in America since the commencement
of the present century. If we include merely the 19 con¬
federated governments, the republic covers an extent of
605,000 square English miles; but if we add the country
still occupied by independent tribes over which it extends
a claim, the Mexican territory comprehends an area of
1,600,000 square miles. About three fourths of the sur¬
face consists either of mountains or table-land, raised from
5000 to 10,000 feet above the sea. Owing to this extra¬
ordinary elevation, even those parts of the country which
lie within the torrid zone, the low ground on the coast
excepted, enjoy a dry, cool, and salubrious atmosphere ;
but this advantage is counterbalanced by the insufficient
supply of moisture, and the rapid evaporation resulting
from the same cause, which render the soil generally
rather arid, and in many parts absolutely barren ; by the
smallness of the rivers, and the almost entire absence of
inland navigation; and by the obstacles which the steep
and rugged ascents from the coast present to land carriage.
The republic is besides almost destitute of ports on the
Atlantic side. Mexico is rich beyond every other coun¬
try in the world in the precious metals; and there are few
regions upon which nature has lavished so great a variety
of vegetable productions, or where plants fitted to the
coldest and the hottest climates may be seen so nearly in
juxtaposition. The low ground on the east coast is ad¬
mirably calculated for raising sugar, with which the state
of Vera Cruz alone could supply all Europe; and no
country is more favourably situated for growing the other
great articles of West India produce, cofifee, cotton, cocoa,
indigo, and tobacco. In drugs, gums, and balsams, it can
scarcely rival Brazil, Colombia, and Guatemala. Those
productions which belong chiefly to the belt of warm low
land along the eastern and western coast, and are yet
cultivated only to a small extent, together with the pre¬
cious metals, which come from the interior, must be the
great articles of exchange for Mexico with foreign coun¬
tries. The raising of bread stuffs, as they are termed by
the Anglo-Americans, wheat, maize, and barley, with
potatoes, the cassava root, beans, pumpkins, fruits, Sic. for
domestic consumption, will necessarily be the chief branch
ot industry on the table-lands. The mines have never
employed above 30,000 labourers; and their superior pro¬
ductiveness depends chiefly on two circumstances—the
great abundance of the ore, which is only of poor quality,
and the comparative facility with which they can be work¬
ed, owing to their being generally situated in fertile dis¬
tricts, where provisions, wood, and all materials can be easily New
procured. Many of the Peruvian mines are rendered use- States,
less by the sterility of the surrounding country. Mexico
has her full share of the ignorance and superstition
which belonged to Old Spain and all its foreign posses-
sions, and these evils, long cherished by a rapacious, im¬
moral, and intolerant clergy, are now the greatest obstacles
to her improvement. That excessive inequality of fortune
which corrupts both extremes of society was nowhere in
the world more prevalent than in Mexico. Individual
proprietors possessed immense tracts of land and boundless
wealth, while all the great towns swarmed with beggars, and
thousands fell a sacrifice to famine from time to time. The
Mexican constitution, which is federal, and almost a literal
copy of that of the United States, was established in 1824.
The republic consists of 19 states, each of which has its dis¬
tinct government; while a congress representing the whole
is intrusted with the management of those affairs which
concern the collective body. The house of representatives
is chosen for two years, by the inhabitants at large, in the
proportion of one member for 80,000 voters. The senate
is composed of 38 members, or two for each state, who are
elected by the state legislatures, for four years, and re¬
newed by halves. The president is elected for four years
by the state legislatures. The clergy before the revolu¬
tion consisted of about 10,000 persons, the one half secu¬
lar and the other regular. They enjoyed large revenues,
which were very unequally divided. The monks and
friars are now much reduced; the secular clergy, in 1827,
amounted to 3677 individuals, who are but poorly paid,
in consequence of the funds belonging to the order being
dilapidated in the course of the revolution. The Catho¬
lic church in Mexico has not relaxed in its intolerance.
The revenue of the country, which amounted to 20,000,000
of dollars in 1803, is estimated by Mr Ward at 14,000,000
of dollars for 1828, the two most productive items being
the duties of customs, and the monopoly of tobacco, which
has been recently revived. But the finances are in ex¬
treme disorder, in consequence of the frequent changes
in the government and the unsettled state of the country.
The exports were estimated by Humboldt in 1803 at
21,700,000 dollars, of which 17,000,000 was in gold and
silver; and the imports at 14,000,000. In 1824 the for¬
mer were valued at 4,500,000 dollars, and the latter at
12,000,000. The value of all foreign commodities, how¬
ever, has been completely changed by the suppression of
the old monopoly; and the amount of goods imported now
is greater than before the revolution. The distinction of
castes, which was maintained in the greatest rigour under
the colonial system, has now disappeared, and power and
office are open, not only legally, but practically, to men of
all colours. The African blacks formed an extremely
small proportion of the Mexican population at all times,
and since the revolution slavery has ceased. The num¬
ber of inhabitants, which Mr Ward thinks might amount
to 8,000,000 in 1827, is estimated at 6,800,000 by Hum¬
boldt in 1823, and classed as follows:—
Numbers. Proportions.
Whites 1,230,000 29 per cent.
Mixed races 1,860,000 27
Indians 3,710,000 54
Mr Ward states, however, that very few of the whites,
so called, are free of a mixture of Indian blood; and now,
when the odious distinctions founded on complexion are
abolished, they readily acknowledge it.
We have described the Spanish American states as
1 Thompson’s Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala. London. 829.
646
AMERICA.
New
States.
Mines.
they exist at the present moment; but the sudden revolu¬
tions continually taking place in their governments render
it too obvious that, owing to the ignorance and corruption
of the people, not one of them has a sufficient force of co¬
hesion to hold its parts together. In all probability, the
nine states which we have mentioned will soon be dis¬
membered into twenty or thirty, unless it happen, as it
probably may, that military leaders, erecting thrones to
themselves by the sword, apply the compressing force of
despotic power to hold together the heterogeneous mate¬
rials. The Spanish population of the new world are evi¬
dently unfit at present to conduct a government on the
broad principles of republican liberty exemplified in the
United States. They are yet in their political nonage,
and will probably pay dear, as other nations have done,
for the knowledge and experience of which they stand in
need. The Brazilians, with apparently less liberty, enjoy
more of the real advantages of good government; but the
country, from its great extent, is not likely to remain per¬
manently united. The lapse of a few years may be ex¬
pected to produce great changes in the political condition
of all Spanish and Portuguese America.
We have said nothing respecting the produce of the
gold and silver mines in the different parts of America,
because our object was to bring the information on this
subject into one short general statement. The following
table, given by Humboldt, exhibits the average produce of
all the gold and silver mines in the new world about 1803.
Mexico  
Peru 
Chili 
La Plata  
Colombia (New Granada)
Brazil  
Pure gold Pure silver
marks. marks
7,000
3,400
12,212
2,200
20,505
29,900
75,217 3,460,840 43,500,000
In English money L.9,500,000
2,338,220
611,090
29,700
481,830
Value of
both in
dollars.
23,000,000
6,240,000
2,060,000
4,850,000
2,990,000
4,360,000
The Spanish mark, in which the quantity is expressed in
the first two columns, is valued at 145,82 dollars in gold,
and at 9‘4 dollars in silver. Mr Ward concludes, from his
researches, that in the 15 years ending with 1810, the pro¬
duce of the Mexican mines exceeded Humboldt’s calcu¬
lation by 1,000,000 of dollars. This branch of industry
has been injured more deeply than any other during the
late wars. The great exertions required to retain the
mines free of water, the amount of capital necessary to
keep them working, and the facility with which violent
hands could be laid upon their produce, all rendered these
establishments extremely liable to suffer from domestic
convulsions. Mr Ward computes, that in the 15 years
between 1810 and 1825, the annual produce of the Mexican
mines did not exceed 10,000,000 of dollars, or about tivo
fifths of their average produce during the 15 years preced¬
ing. If we suppose that the reduction has been as great
in the other Spanish colonies, the entire produce of the
American mines will not exceed L.4,000,000. In Brazil
the washings have probably experienced no interruption;
but, according to the Edinburgh Review, Humboldt’s
estimate for the country is too high by a third. This
author computes that the whole produce of the American
HE I008.00S :')0dtEd <00
* Ward’s Mexico, vol. i. p. 452.
mines, from 1492 to 1803, w'as 5,706,000,000 dollars, or Nil
L.1,255,000,000, of which only 4^ per cent, was retained Sta
in America, and 5,445,000,000 dollars (L.l,197,900,000),'-^‘v
or 951 per cent., was remitted to Europe. If we add
L.l 10)000,000 for what has been remitted since 1803, the
whole value of the precious metals sent from America to
Europe will be L.l,307,900,000 sterling. There is no
reason to dread any falling off in the mineral treasures of
America for a long period of time. On the contrary,
were the country tranquil, and the skill and capital which
some years of good government will create, applied to the
development of this branch of industry, there is no doubt
that many rich veins yet unknown would be opened, and
the annual produce increased far beyond its utmost amount
while in the hands of the Spaniards. Owing to causes
which can no longer operate, it is believed that the richest
mines of Mexico have never yet been opened, while a
great number remain unknown; and this probably holds
true to a still greater extent in the other new states.1
Many millions of British capital were invested in the Ame¬
rican mines in 1825 and 1826. The money, if wisely ex¬
pended, might have yielded fair returns; but the spirit of
gambling and speculation predominant at the time was
incompatible with all sober mercantile views, and every
one of the companies has proved a source of loss to the
shareholders, while some have been dissolved after sacri¬
ficing all the capital embarked. More information on
this subject will be given in our articles on the different
states.2
The United States were colonized a century later than Unite
Spanish America; but their brilliant and rapid progress States
shows, in a striking light, how much more the prosperity
of nations depends on moral than on physical advantages.
The North Americans had no gold mines, and a territory
of only indifferent fertility, covered with impenetrable
woods; but they brought with them intelligence, indus¬
try, a love of freedom, habits of order, and a pure and se¬
vere morality. Armed with these gifts of the soul, they
have converted the wilderness into a land teeming with
life, and smiling with plenty; and they have built up a
social system so pre-eminently calculated to promote the
happiness and moral improvement of mankind, that it has
truly become the “ envy of nations.” The republic is bound¬
ed on the north by Canada, on the south-west by Mexico,
and on the other sides by the sea or the Indian lands. It
now consists of twenty-four sovereign states, and of three
territories, which will be converted into states as soon as
each acquires a population of 60,000 souls. 1 he extent
of the country, if we include merely the settled districts
marked off with defined boundaries as states or territo¬
ries, is 1,009,000 square English miles; but if we add the
Indian lands stretching west to the Pacific Ocean, over
which it claims a right of pre-emption, it embraces an
area of 2,300,000 square miles. The agriculture of the
United States partakes to some extent of a tropical cha¬
racter. The sugar-cane is cultivated in Louisiana, 1 0*
rida, and other states, as high as the latitude of 31^ •
Cotton is raised in all the southern states within the 3/tn
parallel, and tobacco in those within the 41st. \V heat suc¬
ceeds in the middle and northern states, and maize thrives
in every part of the union. Agriculture is conducte
with considerable skill; but the “ high farming practise
in England would not pay in America, where money is
of much value, and land of little. Scarcely any portion
of the soil is rented in the United States: the farmer
* Ibid.. Humboldt’s Political Essay on New Spain, vol HI
AMERICA.
647
Xr are almost universally proprietors; and when their pro-
SU'S* perty is extensive, which rarely happens, it is soon broken
into small occupancies, under the law of equal division.
The Americans are making considerable progress in ma¬
nufactures, particularly in those of cotton. The mecha¬
nical skill which has been developed in England, by cen¬
turies of progressive industry, is rapidly transplanted to
the United States by crowds of emigrants; while the in¬
creasing use of machinery is depriving England of the
superiority derived from her cheap labour. In the useful
arts generally America is on a level with France and
England; in the fine arts and the sciences she is much
behind. The internal commerce of the United States is
conducted with extraordinary spirit. The capital ex¬
pended on roads, canals, harbours, bridges, and other
public works, appears scarcely credible to those who
reflect on the short term of the republic’s existence.
Her foreign trade is nearly as great as that of France,
and her amount of shipping is half as great as that of the
British Isles. Her exports and imports in 1827 were,—
Dollars.
Imports  79,484,000
Exports, domestic produce 58,921,000) QO QQ. nnn
foreign ditto  23,403,000) b~^~4»OUO
Of the exports of domestic produce, cotton constitutes
exactly one half; and tobacco, the other leading article,
more than one tenth.
The population increases very nearly at the rate of
three per cent, per annum, and doubles itself in 24^ years.
It must now exceed twelve millions; but, according to
tables computed by Mr Waterston, it stood thus on the
1st of January 1828 :—
Whites, and free persons of colour 9,514,000
Slaves.. 1,838,000
11,352,000
In Louisiana and South Carolina the slaves are rather
more numerous than the whites, but they are less nume¬
rous in the other states. Slavery does not exist in the
nine states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Penn¬
sylvania, and Ohio; and it is verging to its extinction
in the four states of Delaware, Maryland, Indiana, and
Illinois. The slaves multiply as fast as the whites, a
proof that their treatment is incomparably more mild
than in the West Indies, where their numbers constantly
diminish.
The American government is a pure representative de¬
mocracy, in which the people are recognised as the foun¬
tain of all power; and the sole object of all its mechanism
!s to give effect to their deliberate opinions. The federal
and state governments are constituted on the same plan.
The legislature consists in every case of two bodies, a
house of representatives chosen for one or two years, and
a senate for a period varying from two years to six; but
both always by popular election, except in the case of
the federal senate, which is chosen by the legislatures
of the twenty-four states. The president holds his office
for four years, but is generally re-elected for four years
more. While the politicians of Europe, bred in the
schools of monarchy and aristocracy, have been predict¬
ing anarchy and confusion as the result of these repub¬
lican institutions, their solid excellence has been quietly
developing itself, in the cheering spectacle which the
hinted States present of perfect order, security, and
contentment, combined with growing intelligence, pros¬
perity, and unrivalled liberty. On an average of the
three years ending 1828, the expenditure of the United
States was,—
Dollars. New
Expenses of the federal government 12,500,000 States.
Ditto of the 24 state governments 8,100^000
Total expense of American governments,
equal to 187 dollars, or 8s. 6d. for each
individual in a population of eleven mil¬
lions, 
Paid annually towards interest and princi¬
pal of national debt,  
20,600,000
11,000,000
31,600,000
Amount of national debt in 1829 
Army in 1828 
Navy, 12 sail of the line, 17 frigates, 16
sloops, and 7 schooners, with 
55,000,000
5529 men.
6587 men.
There is no national church in America, and yet reli¬
gion is in a fiourishing condition in all the populous parts
of the country. The most numerous denominations are,
the presbyterians, independents, baptists, and methodists.
The characteristic facts in the condition of America are,
the non-existence of titles, of privileged classes, of corpo¬
rations in our sense of the term, of a landed aristocracy,
of mendicity except to a very limited extent, and of an en¬
dowed church ; the cheapness and efficiency of its govern¬
ment, the universality of education, the omnipresence of
its periodical press, the high feeling of self-respect which
exists in the very humblest classes, and the boundless
spirit of enterprise which pervades society from top to
bottom. The higher classes are less polished than in
England, the middle are perhaps less carefully instruct¬
ed ; but the American people, taken collectively, are better
educated, and have more intelligence and manliness of
character, than any other nation in the world. The mas¬
ter evils of the republic are three,—the complex, tedious,
and expensive law of England, which has been borrowed
wholesale; an insecure and ever fluctuating paper cur¬
rency ; and the negro slavery, which blackens and benumbs
all the southern states.
The portion of the American continent claimed by the British
British is bounded on the south by the territories of the-Americi.
United States, on the north by the Polar Sea, on the west
by the Russian territories, from which it is divided by the
meridian of 141° west. It contains an area of 2,600,000
square miles, of which about one half may be habitable, and
one seventh part tolerably fertile; but the districts which
have been marked out into counties or townships, and in
which settlements are begun, form a very small portion
of this immense region. We have measured the surface
of these districts with some care, on a map published in
the third report of the parliamentary committee on emi¬
gration in 1827; and have put the result into the first
column of the following table, which contains the popula¬
tion of each colony, with its imports and exports for 1825,
as given in the report.
Lower Canada
Upper Canada...
New Brunswick.
Nova Scotia 
Cape Briton 
Prince Edward’s
Island 
Newfoundland..
Area,
square
miles.
69,000
34,000
23,000
19,000
4,000
2,000
14,000
Popu¬
lation.
430,600
157,500
72,900
104,000
16,000
28,600
63,600
Imports
into
England.
L.731,800
319,000
44,500
6,800
9,200
200,800
Exports
from
England.
L.l,145,400
474,000
258,000
12,100
38,600
317,200
648
AMERICA.
New The entire population of these colonies was 873,000 in
States. 1825, and as it increases at the rate of about 3^ per cent,
per annum, it must amount to 1,020,000 in 1830. Cana¬
da is generally fertile, and is rapidly improving. The
Welland canal, to be opened in 1830, unites lakes Erie and
Ontario; and by a projected canal at the falls below the
latter, and the great Rideau canal, now executing, to con¬
nect the river Ottawa with Kingston, an unbroken line of
water-carriage of 1100 miles in length will be secured.
The long duration of the winter, and the closing of the
river navigation for five months by ice, is the greatest dis¬
advantage to which these colonies are exposed.
Russian Russian America comprises the north-west angle of the
America, continent, as far as the 141st meridian west from Lon¬
don, with a narrow strip of coast reaching as far south
as 551° of north latitude. It occupies a surface of about
500,000 square miles, of which the useful soil probably
does not constitute a tenth part. The Russians have
merely a number of posts or factories stationed along the
coast for conducting the trade in furs, which gives these
possessions their only value. New Archangel, in latitude
57-3°and longitude 135'20° west, is the head establishment.
It is a fortress, with a small garrison and 40 pieces of cannon.
Owing to the rigour of the climate, this portion of America
can never support more than a very limited population.
Hayti. Hayti, called formerly Hispaniola and St Domingo, was
a colony belonging partly to France and partly to Spain,
till 1791, when the blacks rose in arms, killed a number
of the whites, and expelled the rest. The attempt of
England in 1793, and of France in 1801, to conquer the
island, both failed, and Hayti has at length been acknow¬
ledged as an independent state by all the great powers, in¬
cluding France. The island, which contains about 26,000
square miles, is remarkably fertile; but its climate, like
that of the West Indies generally, is rather unhealthful.
The population, which before the revolution was estimat¬
ed at 600,000, now amounts, according to a late arti¬
cle in the Edinburgh Review, to t)35,000. It is entirely
composed of blacks and mulattoes, no white man being
allowed to become a citizen, or hold property in land.
Slavery is prohibited. The government is republican.
The president holds his office for life, and, with the con¬
sent of the senate, nominates his successor. The cham¬
ber of representatives consists of 72 members, chosen by
the males of adult age, for five years ; the senate of 24
members, elected for nine years by the house of repre¬
sentatives. The black republic has a code of laws com¬
piled for its own use, a national guard, regular courts of
justice, many schools on the Lancasterian plan, and one
or two superior seminaries, where logic, moral philosophy,
Latin, and mathematics, are taught. The army consists
of 33 regiments of infantry, and 5 of cavalry, constitut¬
ing a force of 24,800 men in 1827. The island is divided
into 66 communes, and 33 parishes or districts not yet
populous enough to rank as communes; and each of these
divisions has its Council of Notables, or municipality,
composed of three, four, or six persons, nominated for five
years. The blacks have disproved the assertions of those
who maintained that they could not support any regular
system of government. There is little doubt that life
and property are as well protected in Hayti as in Spain
or Naples. It has indeed been found necessary to enforce
the cultivation of the fields in the black republic by
penal enactments; and the provisions of what is called
the “ rural code” on this subject, have been triumphantly
referred to by the abettors of compulsory labour in the Cole >s
country. We must remember, however, that the bad^-«^\ t/
habits generated by ages of slavery cannot be eradicated
in the lapse of one generation. The small amount of the
exports and imports now, compared with what they were
in the colonial period, proves nothing against the blacks.
Formerly the population lived on imported corn, and
employed their labour in raising sugar and coffee for fo¬
reign countries ; but at present the Haytians subsist on the
produce of their own fields, and have of course fewer ar¬
ticles for exportation. The revenue arises from a land-
tax, customs, stamp-duties, and a patent tax or gradu¬
ated duty on trades and professions, similar to that which
exists in France.1
The multifarious nature of the subject prevents us from West
attempting any description of the West India colonies,!11^
insular and continental. The islands have been variously
denominated, but the most convenient division seems to
us the following :—1. The Great Antilles, comprehending
Cuba, Hayti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico; 2. The Small An¬
tilles, extending in a semicircle from Porto Rico to the
coast of Guiana ; 3. The Bahama Isles, about 500 in num¬
ber, but only a small number of which are inhabited.
The British colonies are 18 in number, viz. 15 insular,
Jamaica, Antigua, Barbadoes, Dominica, Grenada, Mont¬
serrat, Nevis, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincents, Tobago,
Tortola, Trinidad, Bahamas, Bermuda; and 3 continental,
Demerara, Berbice, Honduras. According to a parliamen¬
tary paper, these 18 colonies contained 713,000 slaves in
1824. The number of whites was probably about 70,000;
and, adding as many more for the free persons of colour,
the whole population may be estimated at 850,000 souls.
The Spanish possessions consist of the two islands of
Cuba and Porto Rico. According to a statement which ap¬
peared in the English newspapers in 1829, the population of
Cuba amounted to 259,000 whites, 154,000 free blacks, and
225,000 slaves ; total 638,000. We have seen no account
of the number of inhabitants in Porto Rico, but Humboldt
computed the collective population of the two Spanish
islands at 800,000 in 1823.
The French colonies in the West Indies consist of
French Guiana on the continent, containing 17,300 inha¬
bitants, of whom 13,600 are negro slaves; Guadaloupe,
with 109,700 inhabitants, including 90,300 negroes; and
Martinique, with 97,300 inhabitants, including 77,000 ne¬
groes. Total population of the French colonies, 224,300.2
The Dutch have Surinam on the continent, with the
islands of Cura9oa, St Eustatius, and St Martin. The col¬
lective population of these possessions was estimated by
Balbi, in 1828, at 114,000, of whom three fourths are slaves.
The Danes have the small islands of Santa Cruz, St
Thomas, and St Martin, containing a population probably
of 10,000, of whom five sixths are slaves. St Bartholomew,
another of the lesser Antilles, belongs to Sweden.
Humboldt gave the following estimate of the entire po¬
pulation of America in 1823 :—
Whites.
Indians,
f Slaves 5,000,000 j
(Free 1,433,000 J
Mixed races 
Negroes
Number.
13,471,000
8,610,000
6,433,000
.6,428,000
Proportion.
38 per cent.
25
19
18
34,942,000
If we assume the annual ratio of increase to be 2 per
1 Extrait de VAlmanack National de la Ripublique de Hayti pour 1827, en Bulletin Geographiqpe, Supplement de 1828. Barclay’s Prac¬
tical View of Slavery in the West Indies, p. 480.
2 Manuel Geographique de la France. Paris, 1828.
AMERICA.
649
1' ula- cent, per annum upon the whole, the entire population in
in. 1830 will Be about 40,000,000. This comes pretty near
v the aggregate of our estimates for the particular states and
colonies, which are as under:—
Brazil 
Colombia 
La Plata   
Peru 
Bolivia 
Chili 
Paraguay   
Banda Oriental 
Guatemala 
Mexico 
United States   
British America and islands 
Hayti 
Spanish islands 
French America   
Danish America (including Greenland)...
Dutch America 
Independent Indians 
5,000,000
. 2,860,000
550,000
. 1,740,000
, 1,200,000
1,200,000
• 250,000
100,000
, 2,000,000
8,000,000
12,000,000
1,870,000
935,000
800,000
224,000
40,000
114,000
1,400,000
40,283,000
Balbi’s estimate, published in his table in 1828, is
38,894,000.
The black population of America forms three groups,
the centres of which are in the southern parts of the
United States, in the West India islands, and in the
eastern parts of Brazil:—
In the United States 2,000,000
In the West Indies   2,400,000
In Brazil 2,800,000
7,200,000
The number of blacks in all the other parts of America
probably does not amount to 100,000. Slavery brings twro
evils with it, which strike at the roots of national pros¬
perity ; it produces an aversion to labour in the free-popu-
lation, and it renders person and property insecure. We
may therefore safely predict, that the countries where the
African race most abound will be the most unimproved and
backward part of the American continent a century hence.
In ase of One of the most interesting questions connected with
j!''America relates to the increase and probable amount, at
a future period, of its inhabitants. It was the astonishing
progress of the United States that first clearly unfolded
the principles on which the multiplication of human beings
depends. We now know with certainty that a prosperous
community, possessing abundance of unoccupied land,
will double its numbers in 25 years, without any aid from
emigration; and as the scale ascends in a geometrical ratio,
a short time necessarily produces a wonderful change. It
is to be observed, however, that the whites, possessing the
advantages of superior industry, order, and forethought,
naturally increase faster than the other classes. In the
United States this part of the population increases at the
rate of 3 per cent, per annum; and when the Spanish
American republics have settled down into a tranquil
state, there is no doubt that their white inhabitants will
multiply at the same rate. The Mexican Indians, and
probably the Peruvians, have been increasing also, but
slowly, while nearly all the independent tribes are mould¬
ering away. The black population does not maintain its
numbers in the West Indies; it is rather increasing in
Brazil; and in the United States it grows rapidly. Set-
ting aside the West Indies, where the negroes do not in¬
crease, and attending to the continent merely, let us take
the number of each class as it stands at present, and see
VOL. II.
what the result will be in a course of years, assuming the America,
rate of increase to be 3 per cent, for the whites, 11 per cent.
for the negroes, and 1 per cent, for the civilized Indians!
If the whole population is 40,000,000 at present, the con¬
tinental whites will be about 16,000,000, the Indians about
9,500,000, the negroes 5,000,000, and the mixed race
about 7,000,000.
In Spanish America, it may be assumed that the mixed
race, consisting almost entirely of mestizoes, will merge
into the white, and increase nearly in the same ratio.
We shall therefore add 5-7ths of the former to the latter,
which will raise the whites to 21,000,000.
Number of the whites in 1830, 21,000,000
Do. do. 1855, 42,000,000
Do. do. 1880, 84,000,000
Do. do. 1905, 168,000,000
Do. do. 1930, 336,000,000
As the difficulty of providing for the growing annual
increment of inhabitants must increase with the magnitude
of the population, let us assume that at the end of a cen¬
tury the rate of increase falls to 2 per cent. The period
of doubling will then be 36 years.
Number of the whites in 1966, 672,000,000
Do. do. 2002, 1,344,000,000
Do; do. 2030, 2,380,000,000
Thus, in the short period of two centuries, the whites
now in America would multiply by natural means to a
mass of people three times as great as are at present on
the whole surface of the globe. Let us see, however,
what would be the numbers of the other classes, suppos¬
ing the rate of increase to receive a similar check at the
end of a century, and adding two millions of the mixed
race to the Indians.
Number of the negroes in 1930, 40,000,000
Do. do. 2030, 160,000,000
Do. Indians 1930, 30,000,000
Do. do. 2030, 50,000,000
We have serious doubts, however, whether the civi¬
lized Indians will not follow the fate of the wandering
tribes, and disappear before the superior energy of the
European race, when increasing numbers bring the two
classes more into competition for employment and the
means of subsistence. Either this will happen, or the
red race will be gradually blended with the white before
it attains the magnitude which our calculations exhibit.
Much more difficulty will be felt in disposing of the
negroes, with whom, on account of the deeper dye of
their skins, and the taint which slavery has communicat¬
ed to their blood, the whites will always be much more
averse to contract alliances. Their increase, it is pro¬
bable, will receive a check long before it has reached the
number of 160 millions. The superior humanity deve¬
loped in a well-organized society may shelter the blacks
to some extent from cruelty; but in the long run, when
stern necessity presses, weakness and ignorance must
yield to intelligence and vigour. Another question, how¬
ever, remains, and that relates to the number of human
beings whom the new world could support. We seek, of
course, only approximate results; and, in this point of
view, the question is not incapable of solution.
Paradoxical as the fact may appear, we are satisfied Useful soil
that the new continent, though less than half the size ofin new and
the old, contains at least an equal quantity of useful soil,old ^ontl-
and much more than an equal amount of productivenents*
power. America is indebted for this advantage to its
comparatively small breadth, which brings nearly all its
interior within reach of the fertilizing exhalations of the
ocean. In the old continent, owing to its great extent from
east to west, the central parts, deprived of moisture, are
4 N
650
AMERICA.
America, almost everywhere deserts ; and a belt round the west-
ern, southern, and eastern shores, comprises nearly all that
contributes to the support of man. How much fruitful
land, for instance, is there in Continental Asia ? If we draw
a line from the Gulf of Cutch (near the Indus) to the
head of the Yellow Sea, we cut off India and China, with
the intervening Birman empire, and the southern valleys of
Thibet; and this space, which comprises about 3,500,000
square miles, if we take surface and fertility together, em¬
braces five sixths of the productive power of Asia, though
it covers 17,000,000 of square miles! Arabia, Persia,
Central Thibet, Western India, Chinese and Independent
Tartary, are deserts, with scattered patches of useful
soil not amounting to the twentieth part of their extent.
Siberia, or northern Asia, is little better, owing to aridity
and cold together. Anatolia, Armenia, the Punjab, and
a narrow strip along the western shores of the Pacific
Ocean, north as far as the 60th parallel, compose the only
valuable agricultural territory beyond India and China.
Europe, which is merely the western margin of Asia, is
all fruitful in the south; but on the north its fruitfulness
terminates at the 60th or 62d parallel. Africa has simply
a border of useful soil round three fourths of its sea-coast,
with some detached portions of tolerably good land in its
interior. Of the 31,000,000 of square miles which these
three continents occupy, we cannot find, after some cal¬
culation, that the productive soil constitutes so much as
one third, and of that third a part is but poor.
Now, in estimating the useful soil in America, we re¬
ject, 1. all the region northward of the latitude of 53°,
amounting to 2,600,000 square miles; 2. a belt of barren
land about 300 miles broad by 1000 in length, or 300,000
square miles, lying on the east side of the rocky moun¬
tains; 3. a belt of arid land of similar extent situated on
the east side of the Andes, between 24)° and 40° of south
latitude ; 4. the desert shore of Peru, equal to 100,000
square miles ; 5. an extent of 100,000 square miles for the
arid country of California and Sonora; and, 6. an extent
of 500,000 square miles for the summits of the Andes and
the south extremity of Patagonia. These make an aggre¬
gate of 3,900,000 square miles; and this, deducted from
13,900,000, leaves 10,000,000 square miles as the quantity
of useful soil in the new wyorld.
Ratio of Now, what relation does the fruitfulness of the ground
fertility to bear to the latitude of the place ? The productive powers
latitude. 0f the soil depend on two circumstances, heat and mois¬
ture; and these increase as we approach the equator. First,
the warm regions of the globe yield larger returns of those
plants which they have in common with the temperate
zones; and, next, they have peculiar plants which afford
a much greater portion of nourishment from the same ex¬
tent of surface. Thus, maize, which produces 40 or 50 for
one in France, produces 150 for one on an average in
Mexico; and Humboldt computes that an arpent (five
sixths of an acre), which will scarcely support two men
when sown in wheat, wall support fifty when planted with
bananas. From a consideration of these and other facts,
we infer that the productive, or rather nutritive powers
of the soil, will be pretty correctly indicated by combining
the ratios of the heat and the moisture, expressing the
former of these in degrees of the centigrade scale. Some¬
thing, we know, depends on the distribution of the heat
through the different seasons; but as we do not aim at
minute accuracy, this may be overlooked.
Latitude. AnnuaVi1 rain’
inches.
60 16
45 29
0 96
Product.
Mean an¬
nual heat.
7 112
14 406
28 2688
Itatio.
4
15
100
Thus, if the description of food were a matter of indif- Amor
ference, the same extent of ground which supports fourV-^v j
persons at the latitude of 60°, would support 15 at the
latitude of 45°, and 100 at the equator. But the food
preferred will not always be that which the land yields in
greatest abundance : and another most important qualify¬
ing circumstance must be considered,—it is labour which
renders the ground fruitful; and the power of the human
frame to sustain labour is greatly diminished in hot cli¬
mates. In the torrid zone, in low situations, we doubt if
it is possible for men to work regularly in the fields for
more than five hours a day, or half the daily period of
labour in England. On these grounds, and to avoid all
exaggeration, we shall consider the capacity of the land
to support population as proportional to the third power
of the cosine (or radius of gyration) for the latitude.
It will therefore stand thus in round numbers :—
Latitude, 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°.
Productiveness, 100, 90, 65, 35, 12^.
In England the density of population is about 230 per¬
sons per square mile; but England is in some measure
the workshop of the world, and supports, by her foreign
trade, a greater population than her soil can nourish.
In France the density of population is about 160; in
Germany it varies from 100 to 200. Assuming, on these
grounds, that the number of persons whom a square mile
can properly sustain, without generating the pressure of
a redundant population, is 150 at the latitude of 50°,
we have 26 as the sum which expresses the productive¬
ness of this parallel. Then taking, for the sake of sim¬
plicity, 35 as the index of the productiveness of the useful
soil beyond 30° in America, and 85 as that of the country
within the parallel of 30° on each side of the equator,
we have about 4,100,000 square miles, each capable of
supporting 200 persons, and 5,700,000 square miles, each
capable of supporting 490 persons. It follows, that if the
natural resources of America were fully developed, it
would afford sustenance to 3,600,000,000 of inhabitants,
a number five times as great as the entire mass of human
beings existing at present upon the globe! The no¬
velty of this result may create perplexity and doubt
on a first view; but we are satisfied that those who in¬
vestigate the subject for themselves will be satisfied that
our estimate is moderate. But, what is even more sur¬
prising,—there is every probability that this prodigious
population will be in existence within three or at most
four centuries. We are quite aware of the objections
which may be raised to this conclusion, but they all seem
to us to admit of an answer. In particular, we would
observe, that the expense and difficulty of transport¬
ing men from situations where they are redundant, to
others where vacant space exists, which is so much
felt in the old world, will be incredibly facilitated by
the employment of steam-navigation upon the innume¬
rable rivers which are ramified over four fifths of the new
continent.
The imagination is lost in contemplating a state of
things which will make so great and rapid a change in
the condition of the wrorld. We almost fancy that it is a
dream ; and yet the result is based on principles quite as
certain as those which govern the conduct of men in their
ordinary pursuits. There are many elements of disorder
now operating in Spanish America, but these are merely
the dregs left by the old Spanish despotism; and the
Anglo-American republic is a pole-star to guide the people
in their course towards freedom and prosperity. Nearly
all social improvements spring from the reciprocal in¬
fluence of condensed numbers and diffused intelligence.
What, then, will be the state of society in America two
AMERICA.
651
\n ica. centuries hence, when a thousand or two thousand mil-
lions of civilized men are crowded into a space compara¬
tively so narrow, and when this immense mass of human
beings speak only two languages ! We take for granted
that the Portuguese will merge into the Spanish ; and it is
clear to us that the Russian will never obtain a footing in
the new world. Such a state of things may be said to undo
the curse of Babel, and restore the great mass of mankind to
their pristine facility of intercourse ; for the languages spo¬
ken by the communities of Europe and Asia will be as un¬
important then, in the general scale of the globe, as the
dialects of Hungary, Finland, and Bohemia, are in Europe
at this day. History shows that wealth, power, science,
literature, all follow in the train of numbers, general intel¬
ligence, and freedom. The same causes which transferred
the sceptre of civilisation from the banks of the Euphrates
and the Nile to western Europe, must, in the course of
no long period, carry it from the latter to the plains of
the Mississippi and the Amazon. When we reflect on
these changes, which are not more extraordinary than
they are near and certain, the conviction is forced upon
us, that society, after all its advances, is yet but in its in¬
fancy; that the habitable world, when its productive
powers are regarded, may be said hitherto to have been
an untenanted waste; and that we have at present only
an imperfect glimpse of the state of things under which
the true destiny of man, and the grand scheme of provi¬
dence in this lower world, is to receive its full develop¬
ment. We are quite aware that some will smile at these
speculations; but if any one suspects us of drawing on
our fancy, we would just request him to examine tho¬
roughly the condition and past progress of the North
American republic. Let him look at its amazing strides
in wealth, intelligence, and social improvement; at its in¬
destructible liberty; and, above all, at the prodigious
growth of its population; and let him answer the question
to himself, “ what power can stop the tide of civilisation
which is pouring from this single source over an unoccu¬
pied world?” Let him trace the laws on which this pro¬
gress depends, and let him then apply them to unfold the
future history of society in the new continent.
Ca-of The project of joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
^Js' by a canal carried across the narrow part of the American
continent, has often excited the attention of statesmen
and commercial men. This canal, if executed upon a
scale sufficient to admit vessels of 300 or 400 tons, would
have a powerful influence upon the fate of America. For
all the purposes of commercial intercourse it would bring
the east and west sides of the continent within one third
part of their present distance from one another; and would
be of even more advantage to the new world than the dis¬
covery of the passage to India by the Cape has been to the
old. With regard to the practicability of the scheme, we
want precise data; but some rays of light have been thrown
upon it by Humboldt, whose mighty genius has so often
extracted valuable results from very imperfect materials.
There are five points which have been supposed to offer fa¬
cilities for the execution of the plan.
1. The isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Mexico, at 95° of
west longitude. The breadth of the continent here is 140
English miles; but the ground is low; and two streams,
the rivers del Passo and Chimalapa, flowing to the oppo¬
site seas, could be rendered navigable for small vessels so
far into the interior, that, according to the report of two
Spanish engineers, a canal of seven leagues would com¬
plete the navigation from the one sea to the other.
2. The lake of Nicaragua, at 85° west longitude,' is America,
connected with the Atlantic by the river San Juan, and'^-^v^*^'
is divided from the Pacific only by a narrow tract of
ground, the precise nature of which was unknown, till Mr
Thompson, British envoy to Guatemala, published the de¬
tails of a rude survey carried across it by a Spanish engi¬
neer.1 From this survey, it appears that the distance
between the lake and the South Sea, along the line con¬
sidered most suitable for a canal, is 32,687 Spanish yards,
or 17 English miles. The summit level, or the highest
part of the land which the canal would pass over, seems
to be 150 feet above the lake, or 270 above the sea.
The river San Juan, flowing from the lake to the At¬
lantic, is said by Mr Davis Robinson to be navigable for
sloops through its whole length; and in the lake there is
depth of water for vessels of any size. The execution of
the canal across the isthmus of 17 miles, into the gulf
of Papagayo, would apparently be attended with no serious
difficulty. This is, in short, the spot where nature, by
doing so much, seems to hold out to man the strongest
inducements to complete her work. Judging from the best
maps, the length of the inland navigation here would be,—
English Miles.
From the Atlantic to the lake through the river San |
Juan   j
Through the lake to the head of the canal  60
The canal    17
167
In 1824 three companies in England, Holland, and the
United States, were on terms with the government of
Guatemala for executing this canal; but the scheme fell
to the ground, like a multitude of others created during
the speculating mania of that period; and the unsettled
state of all the new republics must for the present dis¬
courage any private association from advancing money
upon the guarantee of their rulers.
3. The isthmus of Panama. Levels were carried across
this isthmus in 1828 and 1829 by Mr Lloyd and Mr Fal-
marc, under orders from Bolivar; and an account of the
result was read to the Royal Society of London in the
winter of 1829. The line of the survey extended from
Panama in a north-west direction, along the Rio Chagres
to its mouth, and the highest point of the ground crossed
was found to be 633^- English feet above the sea. The
mean difference of level between the Atlantic and Pacific
seas here was found to be very trifling, as Flumboldt con¬
jectured, the former being only 31 feet higher than the
latter. It is obvious, that though a railway with inclined
planes might be advantageous at this spot, a canal is out
of the question.
4. The river Atrato, which flows northward into the
gulf of Darien (long. 77. W.) affords two lines of com¬
munication with the Pacific. One of these is by the Naipi,
which rises six leagues or 20 miles from the port ot Cupica,
on the Pacific Ocean (lat. 7. 15. N.) Humboldt was
informed that the chain of hills almost disappears here,
and that, either by a tract of low country or a pass, an
easy communication exists between the shores of the
South Sea and the Atrato, which is navigable for boats
much farther south than the Naipi. Captain Cochrane,
however, learned from Major Alvarez ( Travels in Colom¬
bia), that the Naipi is full of bars, and that the isthmus
between the river and the coast is traversed by three
ranges of hills. The length of the line of communication
here would be at least 120 miles.
1 Thompson’s Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala, Appendix.
AMERICA.
652
America. 5. The second line of communication afforded by the
Atrato conducts to the Pacific Ocean by the river San
Juan, at 4° of north latitude. The upper branches of the
two rivers approach within a distance of 10 or 12 miles of
each other, at the 6th degree of north latitude. Being
both navigable for boats, and the intervening space form¬
ing a quebrada or ravine, the priest of the neighbouring
village of Novita induced his parishioners to dig a canal
connecting the one stream with the other. Through this
channel boats loaded with cocoa have occasionally passed
from sea to sea since 1788. The length of the line of
communication, however, would be about 350 miles. A
line of boat navigation could probably be established
at this place much more easily than at any other ; but, to
render a canal in Central America useful on a great scale,
it must be what Humboldt calls “ a canal of oceanic na¬
vigation.” It must admit ships large enough to carry on
trade advantageously in the main ocean—ships of 300 or
400 tons, drawing 16 or 17 feet of water. From the im¬
perfect accounts we possess of the different lines, our be¬
lief is, that the facilities for forming such a canal are
much greater at Nicaragua than any where else.
Animals. The opinion entertained in the infancy of natural his¬
tory, that all the larger animals had spread from one com¬
mon centre to the different countries where we find them,
is, we believe, now abandoned by all scientific writers. It
is found that every region of the globe, separated from
others by well-marked boundaries, or by contrasted cli¬
mates, has plants and animals peculiar to itself. The vast
multitude of facts now ascertained respecting the distri¬
bution of animals can be explained on no hypothesis but
one. We are forced to infer, that after the last catastrophe
which destroyed the living beings inhabiting the earth, a
great variety of new animal tribes were created; that each
was placed on the spot to which its powers and functions
were best adapted; and that from this as a centre, it was
left to spread by such means of locomotion as nature had
provided it with. Some birds, for instance, strong of
wing, and some few quadrupeds of migratory habits, are
diffused from the west coast of Europe to the east coast
of Asia ; while many others, which, from their mode of life
or their small size, were ill fitted for travelling, are con¬
fined within a very narrow space. Where wild animals,
resembling each other, exist in regions distant and en¬
tirely separated, it is found that they are not of the
same species, but are corresponding species belonging
to the same genus. The horse, the ox, the antelope,
the elephant, and the rhinoceros of Asia, are distinct
species from those of southern Africa, where the same
genera exist. This hypothesis, as Dr Prichard remarks,
does not contradict the testimony of the Scriptures; it
merely assumes that there were animals created subse¬
quent to the deluge in various parts of the earth, of which
it was not necessary for the sacred historian to speak.
Noah was shut up in the ark with the animals peculiar to
the region in which the antediluvian race of mankind re¬
sided, and what is recorded respecting them is no doubt
literally true; but it does not follow that other animals,
suited to the new condition of the various parts of the
globe, were not created, because Moses, who probably
was not informed of the fact, has not mentioned it.1
When this point is admitted, we are saved from the An*
difficulty of explaining how animals which can only live
in a warm climate should have wandered from Armenia
through the frozen regions of northern Asia and Ame¬
rica, and fixed themselves in the plains of the Amazon or
the Plata, without being found anywhere in the interme¬
diate space. No well-informed naturalist doubts now that
most of the animal tribes of the new world were created in
or near the spots where we find them, and never existed
in Armenia, or any other part of the old continent. This
conclusion is confirmed by the only fact which presents
an apparent exception to it, namely, that the few species
of quadrupeds common to the old and the new world be¬
long to the arctic region, and to tribes which are capable of
bearing such a degree of cold as exists at Behring’s Straits.
Buffon’s observation is substantially true, that America
wants the larger and the more perfect classes of animals.
There are no congeners there to the elephant, the rhino¬
ceros, the hippopotamus, the camelopard, the camel, and
the horse. The species corresponding to the lion, the
tiger, and the hyena of the old world, are much less
distinguished by their strength and ferocity. On the
other hand, most of those singular races which display
the widest deviation from the usual laws of organization,
are found in America, and some are peculiar to it; but
nothing can be more wild than the inference drawn from
these facts, that the inferior size or fierceness of the
American animals arose from some peculiarity in the soil
or climate.
The class Mammalia in North America, so far as it is
known, includes 118 quadrupeds and 28 cetacea, which
are arranged thus:—
Carnivora 60
Glires 37
Edentata  6
Pachydermata..  2
Ruminantia 13
Cetacea 28
146
Of these, 21 species (excluding those in the fossil state),
are said to be common to the two continents, viz. of the
mole 1 species, shrew 2, bear 1, glutton 1, otter 1, wolf 2,
fox 2, weasel 2, seal 2, beaver 1, field mouse 1, campagnol
1, squirrel 1, deer 1, sheep l.2 More careful inquiry,
however, will probably demonstrate that some of these
animals are merely congeners, and not strictly of the same
species. No complete enumeration of the animals of
South America, so far as we know, exists ; and even the
146 tribes in the above table do not include some species
which inhabit Mexico. It were much to be wished that
some learned naturalist would favour the world with a
systematic view of the whole zoology of the new world.
As we possess neither skill nor materials for the completion
of such a task, we shall content ourselves here with copy¬
ing the following table of American quadrupeds, compiled
from the works of Acosta, Buffon, and other older natu¬
ralists, though it is very defective, and not correct in some
of its denominations. In treating of the separate parts of
the new continent, we hope to be able to do more justice
to the subject of natural history.3
1 Prichard’s Researches, vol. i. p. 82.
2 Fauna Americana, by Richard Harlan. Philadelphia, 1825.
3 We refer those who wish for further information respecting the quadrupeds of America, to the Fauna Americana of Richard Har¬
lan ; to Acosta, s Historia Natural y Moral de las Indies ; to Buffon’s chapters on the subject; to Warden’s Account of the United States,
vol. i. chap. vi.; and to Azara’s valuable work on the Quadrupeds of Paraguay, of which a translation into French, in two volumes oc¬
tavo, was published in Paris in 1801, by Moreau St Mery, and may easily be procured. We mav expect great additions to the
natural history of La Plata, Patagonia, and Peru, from the labours of "a young Frenchman, M. Alcide d’Orbigny, who has been for
AMERICA.
653
Quadrupeds of America.
Arnica-
Buffalo. Bison.
White bear.
Bear.
Caribou.
Elk. Elan. Orignal.
Bed deer.
Fallow deer
Roe.
Wolf.
Tapir.
Puma.
Jaguar.
Cabiai.
Tamanoir.
Tamandua.
Cougar of North America.
Cougar of South America.
Ocelot.
Pecari.
Jaguaret.
Alco.
Lama.
Paco.
Paca.
Serval.
Glutton. Carcajou.
Wild cat.
Lynx.
Beaver.
Badger.
Red fox.
Grey fox.
Otter.
Monax or Marmotte.
Vison.
Hedgehog.
Martin.
Water rat.
Weasel.
Shrew mouse.
Sloth. Unau.
Saricovienne.
Kincajou.
Tatou Kabassou.
Urson. Urchin.
Raccoon. Raton.
Coati.
Coendou.
Sloth? AY.
Sapajou Ouarini.
Sapajou Coaita.
Tatou Encubert.
Tatou Apar.
Tatou Cachica.
Little Coendou.
Opossum. Sarigue.
Tapeti.
Margay.
Crabier.
Agouti.
Sapajou Sai.
Tatou Cirquincon.
Tatou Tatouate.
Mouffette Squash.
Mouffette Chiche.
Mouffette Conepate.
Mouffette. Zorilla.
Whabus. Hare. Rabbit.
Aperea.
Akouchi.
Ondatra. Musk rat.
Pilori.
Flying squirrel.
Great grey squirrel.
Fox squirrel of Virginia.
Surikate.
Mink.
Sapajou. Sajou.
Indian pig. Cochon dTnde.
Sapajou. Saimiri.
Phalanger.
Coquallin.
Lesser grey squirrel.
Black squirrel.
Red squirrel.
Sagoin Saki.
Sagoin Pinche.
Sagoin Tamarin.
Sagoin Ouistiti.
Sagoin Marikine.
Sagoin Mico.
Cayopollin.
.Fourmillier.
Marmose.
Sarigue of Cayenne.
Tucan.
Red mole.
Ground squirrel.
America affords one fossil species remarkable for size,
and common to it with the old continent, the mammoth or
mastodon giganteum. The bones of this animal, in a very
perfect state (and in the extreme north sometimes cover¬
ed with flesh), have been found in great quantities all over
North America and Siberia, and as far south and west as
Spain. According to Cuvier, it was fifteen or eighteen
feet high, and was covered with coarse red wool, and long
stiff black hairs which formed a mane along its back. Its
enormous tusks were implanted in alveolae longer than
those of the elephant of the present day, but in other
respects it was pretty similar to the Indian elephant. It
lived on vegetable food, chiefly, it is supposed, on the
leaves and tender branches of young trees. Remains of
this species are found in abundance beneath the surface America,
of dr red marshes along the banks of the great rivers the
Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Hudson, &c. It has not been
found in South America; but the bones of other species
belonging to the same genus, and of smaller size, have
been met with in the plains of La.Plata.
It is remarked by Azara, that single species of wild
animals are diffused over a much wider surface in the
new world than in the old. The cougar, jaguar, and ta¬
pir, for instance, are found from the banks of the Plata
to those of the Rio del Norte in Mexico. This circum¬
stance strengthens the conclusion, that America derived
its human inhabitants from the old continent, and remain¬
ed, of course for a much longer period, entirely in posses¬
sion of the animal tribes ; and further, that, in the former,
civilisation (such as it was) arose only at a late period.1
The European animals which have been naturalized in Changes in
America are the cow, horse, ass, hog, sheep, goat, dog; European
and these have multiplied to such a degree as to exceed animals.
the native quadrupeds greatly in numbers. The warm
climate of the tropical parts of America has produced
considerable changes in the habits and physical qualities
of most of these species. The hog, which generally wan¬
ders in the woods, and lives on the wild fruits and roots
found there, has lost in a great measure its domestic ha¬
bits, and assumed the character of the wild boar. The
black-cattle also, roaming at large in a country entirely
uninclosed, are found to fall off unless they receive a cer¬
tain quantity of salt in their food, which in some cases
they procure from plants, in others from brackish water. By
distributing salt to them at a certain regular hour, they are
taught to assemble at the owner’s residence, and are thus
kept from becoming wild. In Europe the constant prac¬
tice of milking cows has enlarged the udder greatly be¬
yond its natural size, and so changed the secretions, that
the supply does not cease when the calf is removed. In
Colombia, where circumstances are entirely different,
nature shows a strong tendency to resume its original
type. A cow gives milk there only while the calf is with
her. It must be allowed to suck during the day, and the
fluid is procured only by separating them during the
night, and milking the cow in the morning before the calf
visits her. The ass has undergone little alteration in
America, and it has nowhere become wild. It is other¬
wise with the horse. Numbers of these animals in a
wild state exist in Colombia, and many other parts of
America, both South and North, where they wander over
the plains and savannahs in troops. It is observed that
the colour of animals living in this state returns to that
bay chesnut which is considered as characteristic of the
natural wild horse. It is worthy of notice, that the
amble, the pace to which the domestic horse in Spanish
America is exclusively trained, becomes in the course
of some generations hereditary, and is assumed by the
young ones without teaching. The sheep thrives and
multiplies in the temperate parts of the new world, and
shows no tendency to withdraw from the protection ol
man; but in the warm regions it undergoes a remarkable
change. If the lamb is shorn at the usual time, its wool
is of the same description as in Europe, and it will grow
again in the same way; but if it is suffered to remain on
the animal’s body after the proper season for cutting, it
thickens, felts together, and detaches itself, and then is
succeeded by a short close shining hair, very like that of
the goat in the same climate. The goat in Colombia has
many years traversing these countries, and studying their zoology. A notice of some of his discoveries is given in the Bulletin (let
Sciences Naturelles for Nov. 1829.
1 Azara, French translation. Preface, p. 50.
654
A M E
A M E
Ames.
America the size of its udder contracted, and undergoes a change materials within our reach too imperfect, and the subject Am .
similar to that which is experienced by the cow.1 too complicated and difficult, to be treated in a ncoAil 11
We intended, before concluding, to give an account of
the cultivated vegetables of America, and of their distri¬
bution, according to the latitude or elevation of each rrv  j  
country. On examination, however, we have found the tions of the several states
us witnin our reacn too impenect, and the subject
too complicated and difficult, to be treated in a useful |
and satisfactory manner within the space which could be Ad
afforded to it in this article. We shall endeavour
supply the deficiency as far as practicable in our descrip¬
tions of the several states. (p.)
AMERICA, United States of. See United States.
AMERICUS Vespucius. See Vespucci.
AMERSFORT, a city in the Dutch province of
Utrecht, seated on the river Ems. The most remarkable
objects are, the town-house ; the grand palace, which is tri¬
angular ; the public walk, planted with trees; and the great
church, dedicated to St George. The land to the east
and south of this city is very fruitful; on the north there
is nothing but pasturage ground, and on the west it is
woody. Long. 5. 4. E. Eat. 52. 14. N.
AMERSHAM, or Agmondesham, a market and bo¬
rough town in the hundred of Burnham, in the county of
Buckingham. It consists of one long street, with very
few good buildings. It has a well-frequented market on
Tuesday. It is an ancient borough, and returns two
members to parliament, who are nominally chosen by the
householders paying taxes, but really by the Drake fami¬
ly, who are proprietors of a large majority of the houses.
There are some moderate establishments for manufactur¬
ing cotton goods. The population in 1801 was 2130; in
1811, 2370 ; and in 1821, 2612.
AMES (Fisher), a native of the United States, was
born April 9, 1758, at Dedham, a small town about nine
miles south of Boston. His father, Dr Nathaniel Ames,
who practised as a physician in Bridgewater, died in 1764,
leaving his mother wfith four sons and one daughter. Of
these Fisher was the youngest; and though his mother
was left in narrow circumstances, she determined to edu¬
cate him with the utmost care. He accordingly began
the study of Latin when he was six years of age ; and in
July 1770, soon after he was twelve years old, he was ad¬
mitted to Harvard College ; previous to which he was ex¬
amined by a gentleman accustomed to teach the lan¬
guages, who expressed surprise at his uncommon quick¬
ness and accuracy. At the university, the singular mo¬
desty and mildness of his character, joined to the plea¬
santness and vivacity of his manners, endeared him both
to his companions and to his instructors. He was scrupu¬
lous in his attention to his studies, and equally so in the
choice of his associates ; by which means he soon acquired
the character of shining parts, and of unblemished morals.
Among the students who attended this seminary, a so¬
ciety was formed for speculative discussion, and Mr Ames
here first displayed his talents for extemporaneous elo¬
quence. But though he wras resolved to embrace the
profession of the law, several years passed away before he
entered on a course of professional study. During this
period he appears to have maintained himself chiefly by
teaching a school; and his intervals of leisure were filled
up by a diligent perusal of the works of classical writers,
both ancient and modern.
He at length commenced his professional career at
Dedham, his native place, in the year 1781; and he soon
began to be distinguished by his eloquence as a pleader.
At this time, however, his attention was attracted to
public events, which began to be unusually interesting,
and to threaten the rupture which afterwards took place
between the colonies and the mother country. Mr Ames
espoused the cause of the former; and though he was
not of an age at the commencement of the contest to take
any active part, he watched its progress with all the
anxiety of a genuine patriot. In the course of this event¬
ful struggle, the provisional rulers of America were great¬
ly distressed for the means of paying the troops, and of
defraying the other necessary expenses of the state; and
they were therefore induced to have recourse to the most
exceptionable expedients. Among these, the issue of a
depreciated paper currency formed a standing resource,
and this measure was also accompanied by an arbitrary
regulation of prices. Of all these projects Mr Ames was
a zealous opposer. At a meeting of a convention of de¬
legates assembled at Concord, he pointed out the certain
mischiefs which would result from attempts of this na¬
ture ; expatiating, in strong terms, on the futility and in¬
justice of endeavouring to regulate by force the value of
that which must be fixed in the market by the voluntary
consent of the buyer and the seller.
In the convention for ratifying the federal constitution
in 1788, Mr Ames acted a conspicuous part. He was
chosen the same year a member of the House of Repre¬
sentatives, and for eight years he continued a firm sup¬
porter of Washington’s administration. In the contests
occasioned in Europe by the progress of the French revo¬
lution he appears to have been a keen partisan of the
powers combined against France ; and in the controversy
which took place between Britain and America respect¬
ing the privilege of the neutral powers during war, he es¬
poused the cause of the belligerent, pleading warmly for
the exercise of the maritime rights of Britain in their
fullest extent. In his zealous hostility against France, he
advised his countrymen, both in his political speeches and
writings, to submit to all the restrictions imposed by this
country on the commerce of the neutral powers.
In the year 1796 he retired from public business in
consequence of his declining health; but he still continu¬
ed a diligent writer of political essays. The purpose of
these publications was generally to support the declining
cause of the federalists, to vindicate the policy of Bri¬
tain, and to awaken the jealousy of his countrymen against
the hostile and ambitious views of France. His health,
however, which had been on the decline since the year
1795, was now broken; and though he was chosen pre¬
sident of Harvard College, he was obliged to decline the
office. He continued for two years in a state of extreme
debility, and on the 4th July 1804 he expired. When in¬
telligence of his death reached Boston, a meeting of the
citizens took place to testify their respect for his services
and character, and, at their request, his remains were
brought to the capital for interment.
In America the literary character of Fisher Ames ap¬
pears to be held in high estimation; and some of his
countrymen have even been absurd enough to compare
1 Sur les Changcmens survenus, &c. par M. Roulin, en Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles, Avril 1829.
A M E
A;s him to Burke. We perused his essays with a curiosity
greatly excited by so ambitious a comparison, but with-
Am;iyst.out being able to discover one trait of resemblance to that
^ great master of political philosophy and eloquent compo¬
sition ; without perceiving any thing much above medio¬
crity, either in thought or expression ; and with frequent
feelings of tedium and disgust, excited by abortive strains
after imagery and eloquence. Having said thus much,
we think it but right to add the opinion delivered by per¬
haps the ablest American writer of the present day, “ that
Ames, both as an orator and an author, would have re¬
flected lustre on any country; and may be considered as
the most perfect model for youthful emulation, which the
United States have produced.” {American Review, vol. i.
p. 89.)
His works, with an account of his life, were published
at Boston in 1809, in an octavo volume; and the writer
to whom we have just alluded pronounces this volume
“ not only a treasure of political wisdom, but a literary
monument, which every American should contemplate
with gratitude and patriotic pride.” (f.)
AMES, William, D. D. a learned independent divine,
celebrated for his controversial writings, was born in 1576,
and educated at Christ’s College, in Cambridge. In the
reign of King James I. he left the university, and soon
after the kingdom, on account of his being unwilling to
conform to the rules of the church; and retired to the
Hague, where he had not been long before he was in¬
vited to accept of the divinity chair in the university of
Franeker, in Friesland, which he filled with admirable
abilities for above twelve years. He from thence remov¬
ed to Rotterdam for a change of air, which his health re¬
quired ; and here he continued during the remainder of
his life. His controversial writings, which compose the
greater part of his works, are chiefly against Bellarmine
and the Arminians. He also wrote, 1. A fresh Suit
against the Ceremonies; 2. Lectiones in PsalmosDavidis;
3. Medulla Theologies; and several pieces relative to
the sciences. He died of an asthma, at Rotterdam, in
November 1633.
AMESBURY, a market-town in the hundred of the
same name, in the county of Wilts, 78 miles from London,
and 8 from Salisbury. It is situated in a narrow valley on
the river Avon, on Salisbury plain. It is an ill-built town,
hut there is in it the beautiful house built by Inigo Jones,
formerly belonging to the duke of Queensberry, but now
occupied as a nunnery by Catholic ladies. Near the town
stands that druidical assemblage of stones so familiar to
antiquaries by the name of Stonehenge. The population
in 1801 was 721; in 1811, 723 ; and in 1821, 810.
AMETHYST, a transparent gem of a purple colour,
which seems composed of a strong blue and a deep red ;
and, according as either of these prevails, affording dif¬
ferent tinges of purple, sometimes approaching to violet,
and sometimes even fading to a pale rose colour. Though
the amethyst is generally of a purple colour, it is never¬
theless sometimes found naturally colourless, and may at
any time be easily made so by putting it into the fire; in
which pellucid or colourless state it so resembles the
diamond, that its want of hardness seems the only way of
distinguishing it. Some derive the name amethyst from its
colour, which resembles wine mixed with water; while
others, with more probability, think it got its name from
lts supposed virtue of preventing drunkenness,—an opinion
" Inch, however imaginary, prevailed to that degree among
the ancients, that it was usual for great drinkers to wear
U about their necks. Be this as it may, the amethyst is
scarcely inferior to any of the gems in the beauty of its
colour, and in its purest state is of the same hardness,
A M H
655
and at least of equal value, with the ruby and sapphire. It Amethyst
is found of various sizes, from the bigness of a small vetch II
to an inch and a half in diameter, and often to much more Amhurst.
than that in length. Its shape is extremely various, some-^"^"^-^^
times roundish, sometimes oblong, and at others flatted,
at least on one side ; but its most common appearance is
in a crystalliform figure, consisting of a thick column
composed of four planes, and terminated by a flat and
short pyramid of the same number of sides; or else of a
thinner and longer hexangular column; and sometimes of
a long pyramid without any column. It makes the gayest
figure in the last of these states, but is hardest and most
valuable in the roundish and pebble-like form. The ame¬
thyst is found in the East and West Indies, and in several
parts of Europe; the oriental ones, at least some of the
finer specimens, being so hard and bright as to equal any
of the coloured gems in value. However, by far the
greater number of amethysts fall infinitely short of these;
as all the European ones, and not a few of those brought
from the East and West Indies, are very little harder than
common crystal.
Counterfeit or Factitious Amethyst. Spars and crystals
tinged red and yellow, &c. are sold for amethysts. The
false ones come from Germany, are tinged by vapours in
the mines, and contain lead.
Amethysts may be counterfeited by glass, to which the
proper colour or stain is given. There were fine ones
made in France about the year 1690, which may even
impose on connoisseurs, unless the stone be taken out of
the collet.
Amethyst, in Heraldry, a term for the purple colour
in the coat of a nobleman, in use with those who blazon
with precious stones instead of metals and colours. This,
in a gentleman’s escutcheon, is called Pur pure; and in
those of sovereign princes, Mercury.
AMETHYSTINE is applied, in Antiquity, to a kind of
purple garment dyed of the hue of amethyst. In this
sense amethystine differed from Tyrian as well as from
hyacinthine purple, being a kind of medium between them.
AMHAR, or Amhara, a province of Abyssinia, said
to extend 40 leagues from east to west. It is considered
as the most noble in the whole empire, both on account
of its being the usual residence of the Abyssinian mo-
narchs, and having a peculiar dialect, which is become
the language of the court. Here is the famed rock
Amba-geshen, where the young monarchs were formerly
confined.
AMHERST, a military post and commercial station
established by the East India Company in 1826. It is
situated on the eastern frontier of our Indian empire, in
the Gulf of Martaban; and was fixed upon as a proper
situation for a town in lieu of Martaban, which was re¬
stored by the treaty of 1826 to the Burmese. In January
1827 this new establishment contained 1600 inhabitants,
and a great increase both of trade and population is anti¬
cipated, from its convenient position as a depot of British
goods, from which they may be dispersed among the Bur¬
mese, Chinese, and the other nations beyond the Ganges.
It has a spacious and secure harbour, with a depth of 3
fathoms at low water neap tides; and ships may lie with¬
in 100 yards of the shore. Long. 97. 25. E. Lat. 16. 5. N.
(Hamilton’s East India Gazetteer?) (f.)
AMHURST, Nicholas, an English poet and political
writer of the 18th century, was born at Marden in Kent,
and entered of St John’s College, Oxford; from whence
he was expelled for irregularity of conduct and libertine
principles. Retaining great resentment against the uni¬
versity on this account, he abused its learning and disci¬
pline, and some of the most respectable characters in it,
656
AMI
AMI
Amianthus in a poem published in 1724, called Oculus Britannitx^
Jl and in a book entitled Terras Filius. He published a
^AmicaUeyjy[jsceijany 0f Poems, sacred and profane; and the Con-
vocation, a poem in five cantos, which was a satire on the
bishop of Bangor’s antagonists. But he is best known for
the share he had in the political paper called The Crafts¬
man ; though, after having been the drudge of his party
for nearly 20 years, he was as much forgotten in the fa¬
mous compromise of 1742 as if he had never been born ;
and, when he died in that year of a broken heart, was in¬
debted to the charity of his booksellers for a grave.
AMIANTHUS, or Earth-flax, in Mineralogy, a
fibrous, flexible, elastic, mineral substance, consisting of
short, abrupt, and interwoven filaments. It is found, in
Germany, in the strata of iron ore, sometimes forming
veins of an inch in diameter. Its fibres are so flexible
that cloth has been made of them, and the shorter fila¬
ments that separate in the washing of the stone may be
made into paper in the common manner.
Amianthus is classed by Mr Kirwan in the muriatic
genus of earth, because it contains about a fifth part of
magnesia. Its other constituents are, flint, mild calca¬
reous earth, barytes, clay, and a very small proportion of
iron. . It is fusible per se in a strong heat, and also with
the common fluxes.
AMICABLE, in a general sense, denotes any thing
done in a friendly manner, or to promote peace.
Amicable Benches, in Roman Antiquity, were, accord¬
ing to Pitiscus, lower and less honourable seats allotted
for \X\e judices pcdanei, or inferior judges, who, upon being
admitted of the emperor’s council, were dignified by him
with the title amici.
Amicable Numbers denote pairs of numbers, of which
each of them is mutually equal to the sum of all the ali¬
quot parts of the other. So the first or least pair of ami¬
cable numbers are 220 and 284; all the aliquot parts of
which, with their sums, are as follows, viz.
of 220, they are 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 20, 22, 44, 55, 110,
their sum being ------ 284;
of 284, they are 1, 2, 4, 71, 142, and their sum is 220.
The 2d pair of amicable numbers are 17296 and 18416,
which have also the same property as above.
And the third pair of amicable numbers are 9363584
and 9437056.
These three pairs of amicable numbers were found out
by F. Schooten (sect. 9 of his Exercitationes Mathematic as),
who, it is said, first gave the name of amicable to such
numbers, though such properties of numbers, it seems,
had before been treated of by Rudolphus, Descartes, and
others.
To find the first pair, Schooten puts 4a? and tyz, or cPx
and ctryz for the two numbers, where a—2 ; then making
each of these equal to the sum of the aliquot parts of
the other, gives two equations, from which are found the
values of x and z, and consequently assuming a proper
value for y, the two amicable numbers themselves \x and
fyz.
In like manner for the other pairs of such numbers;
in which he finds it necessary to assume 16a; and 16^2: or
ake and aAyz for the second pair, and 128a; and \2Syz, or
dJx and dlyz for the third pair.
Schooten then gives this practical rule, from Descartes,
for finding amicable numbers, viz. assume the number 2,
or some power of the number 2, such that if unity or 1
be subtracted from each of these three following quanti¬
ties, viz.
from 3 times the assumed number,
also from 6 times the assumed number,
and from 18 times the square of the assumed number,
the three remainders may be all prime numbers; then the An ■
last prime number being multiplied by double the assum- U
ed number, the product will be one of the amicable num- Am ar.
bers sought, and the sum of its aliquot parts will be thev^''|,,^
other. That is, if a be put=the number 2, and n some inte¬
ger number, such that 3an—1, and 6a"—1, and 18a2n 1,
be all three prime numbers; then is 18a2”—1 x 2an one
of the amicable numbers, and the sum of its aliquot parts
is the other. On this subject see Euleri Opuscula varii
Argumenti, tom. ii. p. 23—107.
AMICTUS, in Roman Antiquity, was any upper gar¬
ment worn over the tunica.
Amictus, among ecclesiastical writers, the uppermost
. garment anciently worn by the clergy; the other five be¬
ing the alba, cingulum, stola, manipulus, and planeta.
The amictus was a linen garment, of a square figure, co¬
vering the head, neck, and shoulders, and buckled or
clasped before the breast. It is still worn by the religi¬
ous abroad.
AMICULUM, in Roman Antiquity, a woman’s upper
garment, which differed from the palla. It was worn both
by matrons and courtesans.
AMICUS CuRiiE, a law term, to denote a by-stander
who informs the court of a matter in law that is doubtful
or mistaken.
AMID A, a god worshipped by the Japanese, who has
many temples erected to him in the Island of Japan, of
which the principal is at Jeddo. The Japanese have such
a confidence in their idol Amida, that they hope to at¬
tain eternal felicity by the frequent invocation of his
name. One of the figures of this idol is represented at
Rome.
AMIENS, an arrondissement in the department of the
Somme, in the north of France. Its extent is 652 square
miles, or about 423,280 English acres. It comprehends
thirteen cantons, viz. Amiens, Conti, Corbie, Hornoy,
Moliens-Bibame, Oisemont, Piquigny, Poix, Soins, and
Villers-Bocage, with 250 communes or parishes. It con¬
tains 161,275 inhabitants.
Amiens, a city, the capital as well of the department
of the Somme as of the circle of its own name. It is a
fortified place, with a strong citadel, on the Somme, which
receives here the water of the Seille, and passes through
the town in three branches. It has access to the sea, but
only for small craft. It is a well-built ancient town, con¬
taining a cathedral, fourteen churches, two hospitals, 5980
dwelling-houses, and 40,106 inhabitants. The cathedral
is a venerable object, both for its beauty and extent.
The town-house is a large, handsome stone building, and
contains a fine collection of pictures of the French school.
Amiens is the seat of the prefect, of a bishop, and oi the
departmental courts of justice. There is a commercial
board, a society of agriculture, a botanic garden, a lyceum,
and public library. Amiens was always a manufacturing
city. Though it suffered much during the revolution, it
has since revived ; and at present produces considerable
quantities of woollen cloths, cassimeres, and worsted
stuffs. There are also some moderate establishments for
making cotton goods, the yam of which, for all but the
finer kinds, is spun in the city. It has also trade in tan¬
neries and in making soap. This city is distinguished as
the birth-place of Peter the Flermit, the preacher of the
first crusade, and of Voiture the poet, as well as for the
treaty of peace of 1802. Long. 2. 23. E. Lat. 49. 53.
AMILCAR, the name of several Carthaginian cap¬
tains. The most celebrated of them is Amilcar Barcas,
the father of Hannibal, who during five years infeste
the coast of Italy; when the Romans sending out t eir
whole naval strength, defeated him near Trapani,
A M M
A licti years before Christ; and this put an end to the first
* | Punic war. Amilcar began the second, and landed in
Allan- Spain, where he subdued the most warlike nations: but
-i :— r— —  * t . i
A M M
657
as
he was preparing for an expedition against Italy, he
was killed in battle, 218 years before the Christian era.
He left three sons, whom he had educated, as he said,
like three lions, to tear Rome in pieces ; and made Han¬
nibal, his eldest son, swear an eternal enmity against the
Romans.
AMILICTI, in the Chaldaic theology, denote a kind of
intellectual powers, or persons in the divine hierarchy.
The amilicti are represented as three in number, and
constitute one of the triads in the third order of the hier¬
archy.
AMIRANTE, in the Spanish polity, a great officer of
state, answering to our lord high admiral.
AMISUS, in Ancient Geography, the chief city of the
ancient kingdom of Pontus. It was built by the Mile¬
sians, and peopled partly by them and partly by a colony
from Athens. It was at first a free city, like the other
Greek cities in Asia ; but afterwards subdued by Pharna-
ces, king of Pontus, who made it his metropolis. It was
taken by Lucullus in the Mithridatic war, who restored it
to its ancient liberty. Close by Amisus stood another
city, called Enpatoria, from Mithridates Eupator, its
founder. Amisus is now called Samsoon.
AMITTERE Legem Tehr^e, among lawyers, a phrase
importing the loss of liberty of swearing in any court:
the punishment of a champion overcome or yielding in
battle,—of jurors found guilty in a writ of attaint,—and
of a person outlawed.
AMLWICH, a sea-port town in the hundred of Twrce-
lyn, in the county of Anglesey, North Wales. It has a
harbour, cut out of the rocks with great labour and cost,
capable of containing 30 vessels of about 200 tons burden.
It has risen from a very low state in a few years, owing to
the extension of the great copper mines in its vicinity,
more especially of the Parys mine, which was opened in
1767. It is 275 miles from London, and 25 from Beau¬
maris. The population in 1801 was 4977; in 1811, 4629;
and in 1821, 5292.
AMMA, among ecclesiastical writers, a term used to
denote an abbess or spiritual mother.
AMMAN, John Conrad, a physician, and one of the
earliest writers on the instruction of the deaf and dumb,
was born at Schaffhausen, but in what year is uncertain.
In 1687 he graduated at Basle; and, his religious princi¬
ples not permitting him to settle in his native country, he
retired to Holland, where he appears to have devoted his
time and attention chiefly to the cure of the defects and
imperfections of speech. He first called the attention of
the public to his method, in a paper which was inserted
in the Philosophical Transactions ; and which appeared
in a separate form in the year 1692, under the title, Sur-
dus Loquens, sive Methodus qua qui surdus natus est loqui
possit; and afterwards, with much additional matter, in
1702 and 1728, under the title, Dissertatio de Loquela,
qua non solum vox humana et loquendi artijicium ex ori-
qinibus suis eruuntur, sed et traduntur media, quibus ii qui
(d> incunabidis surdi et muti fuerunt, loquelam adipisci,
quique dijf culter loquuntur, vitia sua emendare possint.
In this work, which Haller terms “ vere aureumf he de-
velopes, with great ability, the mechanism of language,
and describes the process which he employed in teaching
Us use to the unfortunate class of persons committed to his
Cn?" ^-S consiste(l principally in exciting the attention
ms pupils to the motions of his lips and larynx while he
spoke, and then inducing them by gentle means to imitate
these movements, till he brought them to repeat distinctly
vol. II.
letters, syllables, and words. As his method was excel- Amman
lent we may readily give him credit for the success to II
wmcn he lays claim. In a long course of practice he^-1111™311118*
says that he never failed in his endeavours but in two in-V '
stances ; one of which was that of a girl who was an idiot,
and the other that of a Jew, from whose father he foresaw
that he would not get any thanks for his trouble. The edi¬
tion of Ccdius Aurelianus, which was undertaken by the
Wetsteins in 1709, and which still ranks as one of the best
editions of that author, was superintended by Amman.
AMMAN, Paul, a physician and botanist, was born at
Breslau in 1634. In 1662 he received the degree of
doctor of physic from the university of Leipsic, and in
1664 was admitted a member of the society Naturce Curi-
osorum, under the name of Dryander. Shortly after¬
wards he was chosen extraordinary professor of medicine
in the above-mentioned university; and in 1674 he was
promoted to the botanical chair, which he again, in 1682,
exchanged for the physiological. He died in 1691. Paul
Amman seems to have been a man of an acute mind and
extensive learning ; but a restless and irritable disposition
led him to engage too much in controversy, and to in¬
dulge in a degree of raillery in his writings, which the
nature of the subjects hardly warranted. By his first
work, which was published in 1670, under the title Medi-
cina Critica, seu Centuria Casuum in Facultate Lipsiensi
resolutorum variis discursibus aucta, he drew down upon
himself the displeasure of the faculty, who had certainly
no cause to rejoice at this exposure of their decisions. In
the Paramesis ad docentes occupata circa Institutionum
medicarum Emendationem, which appeared three years
afterwards, and in the Irenicum Numce Pompilii cum Hip-
pocrate, which he published in 1689, he showed his inde¬
pendent turn of thinking, by boldly attacking the systems
of Galen and Hippocrates, and the abuses to which the
implicit adoption of them had given rise. But it is chiefly
on his botanical writings that his fame ought to rest. The
Supellex Botanica, et Manuductio ad Materiam Medicam,
which he committed to the press in 1675, contains a full
but somewhat prolix catalogue of the plants of the botanic
garden of Leipsic and its environs, with their synonyms ;
followed by a brief introduction to the study of the Ma¬
teria Medica, which proves an accurate knowledge of the
science he was then employed in teaching. His next publi¬
cation was entitled, Character Naturalis Plantarum; to the
second edition of which, in 1685, he prefixed a dissertation
on the true classification of plants. In this work he adopted
the arrangement of Morison, endeavouring to show, as
the title imports, that the genera of plants were only to
be distinguished by their parts of fructification, and il¬
lustrating his method by the description of 1476 different
genera and species, in alphabetical order. An enlarged
edition of this book was published by Daniel Nebel in
1700, with the addition of the characters of Tournefort
and Hermann. For the complete list of Paul Amman’s
writings, see Haller, Bibl. Med., and Eloy, Diet. Hist.
Amman, or Ammant, in the German and Belgic polity,
a judge who has the cognizance of civil causes. It is al¬
so used among the French for a public notary, or officer,
who draws up instruments and deeds.
AMMIANUS Marcellinus, a Roman historian of
the fourth century, was a native of Greece, born in the
city of Antioch. Having served several years in the early
part of his life in the army, he was afterwards promot¬
ed to the honourable station of protector domesticus. In
the year 350 he entered the service of Constantius, the
emperor of the East, and under the command of Ursi-
cinus, a general of the horse, he served during several
expeditions. According to his own modest relation, it
4 o
658
A M M
A M M
Ammirato appears that he acquired considerable military fame, and
II that he deserved well of his sovereign. He attended the
emperor Julian in his expedition into Persia, but his-
tory is silent respecting any higher military promotion than
that which has already been mentioned. He was either in
the city or the vicinity of Antioch when the conspiracy of
Theodorus was discovered, under the reign of Valens, and
was an eye-witness of the severe torments to which many
persons were exposed by the emperor on that account.
But his lasting reputation was not to be acquired from
military exertions. He left the army and retired to
Rome, where he employed his time and talents in writing
the history of that empire during the period of three cen¬
turies. Though a native of Greece, he wrote in the La¬
tin language; but, according to the remark of Vossius,
his Latin shows that he was a Greek, and also a soldier.
His history begins with the reign of Nerva, and continues
to the death of Valens; and the work was originally di¬
vided into thirty-one books. Of these the first thirteen
have perished, and the eighteen which remain commence
with the seventeenth year of the reign of Constantius,
and terminate at the year 375. But there are several
facts mentioned in the history which prove that the au¬
thor was alive in the year 390. Of this number are the
accession of Theodosius to the eastern empire, the cha¬
racter of Gratian, and the consulate of Neothorius. Simi¬
lar to the manner in which Herodotus, the father of Grecian
history, read his history, Marcellinus read his books in
public with general approbation. Some have reckoned the
style harsh and redundant, but this may easily be excused,
from his education and military life; and the valuable in¬
formation communicated abundantly compensates for that
defect. Candour and impartiality are leading features in
his history. The character given him by Mr Gibbon ap¬
pears to be accurate, when he says that he is “ an accurate
and faithful guide, who composed the history of his own
times without indulging the prejudices and passions which
usually affect the mind of a contemporary.”
A difference of opinion has obtained, whether or not
our historian was a Christian or a pagan. But the respect¬
ful manner in which he speaks of pagan deities, and of
the advantage of heathen auguries to foretell future
events, renders it abundantly evident that he was a hea¬
then. The favourable account which he gives of the re¬
ligion, manners, and fortitude of Christians, are the result
of his candour and impartiality as an historian. The
work of Marcellinus has passed through several editions,
of which the best are the Leyden edition of 1693, and
that of Leipsic, published in 1808.
AMMIRATO, Scipio, an eminent Italian historian,
born at Lecca in Naples in 1531. After travelling over
great part of Italy without settling to his satisfaction, he
was engaged by the great duke of Tuscany to write the
History of Florence, for which he was presented to a ca-
nonry in the cathedral there. He wrote other works
while in this station, and died in 1600.
AMMOCHRYSOS, from a/z,uoj sand, and gold, a
name given by authors to a stone very common in Ger¬
many, and apparently composed of a golden sand. It is
of a yellow gold-like colour, and its particles are very
glossy, being all fragments of a coloured talc. It is usually
so soft as to be easily rubbed to a powder in the hand,
sometimes it requires grinding to powder in a mortar,
or otherwise. It is used only as sand to strew over
writing. There is another kind of it less common, but
much more beautiful, consisting of the same sort of
glossy spangles; not however of a gold colour, but of a
bright red like vermilion.
AMMON, anciently a city of Marmarica. (Ptolemy.)
Arrian calls it aplace, not a city, in which stood the temple Amir
of Jupiter Ammon, entirely surrounded by sandy wastes.
Pliny states, that the oracle of Ammon was 12 days’ jour¬
ney from Memphis, and among the Nomi of Egypt he
reckons the Nomos Ammoniacus; Diodorus Siculus, that
the district where the temple stood, though surrounded
with deserts, was watered by dews which fell nowhere
else in all that country. It was agreeably adorned with
fruitful trees and springs, and full of villages. In the
middle stood the Acropolis or citadel, encompassed with
a triple wall; the first and inmost of which contained the
palace; the others the apartments of the women, the re¬
lations, and children, as also the temple of the god, and
the sacred fountains for lustrations. Without the Acro¬
polis stood, at no great distance, another temple of Am¬
mon, shaded by a number of tall trees; near which there
was a fountain, called that of the sun, or Solis Fans, be¬
cause subject to extraordinary changes according to the
time of the day; morning and evening warm, at noon
cold, at midnight extremely hot. A kind of fossil salt
was said to be naturally produced here. It was dug out
of the earth in large oblong pieces, transparent as crystal.
It was thought to be a present worthy of kings, and
used by the Egyptians in their sacrifices. From this our
sal-ammoniac has taken its name. The observations of
Brown and Hornemann prove that the oasis of Siwah is
the district in which this celebrated oracle was situated.
Pliny places it at 12 days’ journey from Memphis, and
Hornemann reached Siwah in 12 days from Cairo. These
travellers found an old building 32 feet long, 15 broad,
and 18 high, formed of large stones, and with some hiero¬
glyphics upon it. This is most probably the ancient
sanctuary of Jupiter, which was placed in an inclosure,
and surrounded by an outer wall. Near this old building
is a spring, which still preserves, in popular opinion, the
qualities attributed by the ancients to the Fountain of the
Sun, and which in fact belong to all deep-seated cold
springs : it is said to be warm in the night and cold in the
day. Our modern travellers found also the salt incrusta¬
tions, the numerous date-trees, and the sea-shells and
fossil wood in the neighbouring desert, which Strabo and
other old writers notice. Arrian and Diodorus describe
the district as having a breadth of 40 or 50 stadia, with
which Brown’s estimate of 4 to 6 English miles nearly
agrees. Hornemann makes the circumference 50 miles,
but he includes some patches of habitable land near it,
but not continuous with it. Siwah is inhabited by a con¬
siderable number of people, who are Mahometans.
Ammon, or Hammon, in Heathen Mythology, the name
of the Egyptian Jupiter, worshipped under the figure of
a ram. Bacchus having subdued Asia, and passing with
his army through the deserts of Africa, was in great want
of water; but Jupiter, his father, assuming the shape of
a ram, led him to a fountain, where he refreshed himselt
and his army; in gratitude for which favour, Bacchus
built there a temple to Jupiter, under the title of Ammon,
from the Greek aa/M{, which signifies sand, alluding to
the sandy desert where it was built. In this temple was
an oracle of great note, which Alexander the Great con¬
sulted, and which lasted till the time of Theodosius.
Ammon, or Ammonius, Andreas, an excellent Latin
poet, born at Lucca in Italy, was sent by Pope Leo X. to
England, in the characters of prothonotary of the aposto¬
lic see, and collector-general of that kingdom. He was
a man of singular genius and learning, and soon became
acquainted with the principal literati of those times,
particularly with Erasmus, Colet, and others, for the sa_ e
of whose company he resided some time at Oxford. 1 e
advice which Erasmus gives him, in regard to pushing
A M M
A M M 659
iiac.his fortune, has a good deal of humour in it, and was cer-
tainly intended as a satire on the artful methods general¬
ly practised by the selfish and ambitious part of mankind.
“ In the first place,” says he, “ throw off all sense of shame ;
thrust yourself into every one’s business, and elbow out
whomsoever you can; neither love nor hate any one;
measure every thing by your own advantage; let this be
the scope and drift of all your actions. Give nothing but
what is to be returned with usury, and be complaisant to
every body. Have always two strings to your bow. Feign
that you are solicited by many from abroad, and get
every thing ready for your departure. Show letters in¬
viting you elsewhere, with great promises.” Ammon was
Latin secretary to Henry YIIL, but at what time he was
appointed does not appear. In 1512 he was made canon
and prebendary of the collegiate chapel of St Stephen, in
the palace of Westminster. He was likewise prebendary
of Wells; and in 1514i was presented to the rectory of
Dychial in that diocese. About the same time, by the
king’s special recommendation, he was also made pre¬
bendary of Salisbury. He died in the year 1517, and was
buried in St Stephen’s chapel in the palace of Westmin¬
ster. He was esteemed an elegant Latin writer, and an
admirable poet. The epistles of Erasmus to Ammon
abound with encomiums on his genius and learning. His
works are, 1. Epistolae ad Erasmum, lib. i.; 2. Scotici
Conflictus Historia, lib. i.; 3. Bucolic® vel Eclogae, lib. i.
Basil, 1546, 8vo; 4. De Rebus Nihil, lib. i.; 5. Panegyri-
cus quidam, lib. i.; 6. Varii Generis Epigrammata, lib. i.;
7. Poemata Diversa, lib. i.
AMMONIAC, a concrete, gummy, resinous juice,
brought from the East Indies, usually in large masses,
composed of little lumps or tears, of a milky colour, but
soon changing, upon being exposed to the air, to a yel¬
lowish hue. We have no certain account of the plant
which affords this juice: the seeds usually found among
the tears resemble those of the umbelliferous class. It
has, however, been alleged, and not without some degree
of probability, that it is an exudation from a species of
the ferula, another species of which produces the assa-
fcetida. The plant producing it is said to grow in Nubia,
Abyssinia, and the interior parts of Egypt. It is brought
to the western parts of Europe from Egypt, and to Eng¬
land from the Red Sea, by some of the ships belonging
to the East India Company trading to those parts. Such
tears as are large, dry, free from little stones, seeds, or
other impurities, should be picked out, and preferred for
internal use: the coarser kind is purified by solution and
colature, and then carefully inspissating it; unless this
be artfully managed, the gum will lose a considerable
portion of its more volatile parts. There is often vended
in the shops, under the name of strained gum ammonia-
cum, a composition of ingredients much inferior in virtue.
Ammoniac has a nauseous, sweet taste, followed by a bit¬
ter one; and a peculiar smell, somewhat like that of gal-
banum, but more grateful; it softens in the mouth, and
grows of a whiter colour when chewed. Thrown upon
live coals, it burns away in flame. It is in some measure
soluble in water and in vinegar, with which it assumes
the appearance of milk; but the resinous part, amounting
to about one half, subsides on standing. It is of con¬
siderable use in the Materia Medica.
AMMONIAC, Sal, a saline substance, formerly much
used in dyeing and some other arts. At present not much
°i it is employed in this country, most of the sal-ammoniac
manufactured in Great Britain being sent to Russia.
Sal-ammoniac is usually in the form of a hard, white
cake, opaque, or only slightly translucent. Its taste is
cooling, saline, and rather disagreeable; though it has
been occasionally employed as a seasoner of food. Its Ammoniac,
specific gravity is L441, according to the mean of the ex-^V-W
periments of Wallerius, Watson, and Kirwan. It requires
rather more than three times its weight of cold water to
dissolve it. By proper evaporation the sal-ammoniac
may be obtained in crystals. The primary form is con¬
sidered to be the cube; but it crystallizes also in octa¬
hedrons, and in a figure bounded by 24 trapeziums, formed
by replacing the angles of the cube by three triangular
faces. These, when they increase very much, cause the
faces of the cube to disappear, and thus form a 24 sided
figure known in mineralogy by the name of leucite crys¬
tal. Sal-ammoniac often appears in the state of long
four-sided pyramids, or of thin plates, like sword blades.
It often assumes the form of plumose crystals, consisting
of long hexahedral pyramids attached to a stem. These
crystals contain a little water, and therefore dissolve in
somewhat less than three times their weight of cold water.
A hundred parts of alcohol, of the specific gravity 0-834,
dissolve 1^ part of this salt.
When exposed to a moist atmosphere, it gradually ab¬
sorbs water, and deliquesces, though very slowly. When
heated, it sublimes unaltered in a white smoke, having a
peculiar smell, very characteristic of sal-ammoniac. If a
cold body be presented to this smoke, the sal-ammoniac
condenses on it, and forms a white crust. When thus
sublimed, it has the property of carrying along with it
various bodies, which, when heated by themselves, are per¬
fectly fixed. Thus, if it be mixed with gold-leaf, filings
of iron, or oxide of copper, these substances rise along
with it, and tinge the sal-ammoniac purple, yellow, or red.
If quicklime or potash be triturated with sal-ammoniac,
a strong smell of ammonia exhales. If sulphuric acid be
poured upon it, vapours of muriatic acid are separated in
abundance. If equal bulks of muriatic acid gas and am-
moniacal gas be brought into contact, they immediately
combine and condense into sal-ammoniac. These facts,
which are well known, show us that sal-ammoniac is a
salt composed of muriatic acid and ammonia. The com¬
position of this salt seems to have been first discovered
by Tournefort in 1700. The experiments of Geoffrey
junior in 1716 and 1723 were still more decisive, and
those of Duhamel, in 1735, left no doubt upon the sub¬
ject. Various experiments have been made by modern
chemists, to determine the proportion of the constituents
of this salt; but its analysis is attended with peculiar
difficulties, on account of the volatility of the sal-ammo¬
niac, and the want of a simple method of determining the
proportion of ammonia. Dr Thomson first pointed out a
process by synthesis, which has the advantage of being
very simple, and at the same time rigidly accurate. He
observed, that when muriatic gas and ammoniacal gas,
both as dry as possible, are brought in contact with each
other, they always combine in equal volumes; therefore
sal-ammoniac is composed of 100 measures of muriatic
acid gas, united with 100 measures of ammoniacal gas.
Now, 100 inches of muriatic acid gas weigh 40-011 grains,
and 100 cubic inches of ammoniacal gas weigh 18-3837
grains. Hence sal-ammoniac is composed of
Muriatic acid 40-011 or 4*625
Ammonia 18-3837 or 2-125
But 4-625 is the weight of an atom of muriatic acid,
while 2-125 is the weight of an atom of ammonia. Hence
it is evident that sal-ammoniac is a compound of
1 atom muriatic acid 4-625
1 atom ammonia 2-125
6-750
and that an integrant particle of it weighs 6-750.
660
AMMONIAC, SAL.
Ammoniac. But there is another way in which the composition of
this salt may be viewed. Muriatic acid is a compound of
chlorine and hydrogen. It has been shown, that most of
the substances hitherto called muriates are in fact chlo¬
rides, or combinations of chlorine with the metallic bases
of the alkalies, earths, or metallic oxides respectively.
Thus, common salt is a chloride of sodium, or a compound
of chlorine and sodium; horn silver is a chloride of silver,
or a compound of chlorine and silver. If a hole be dug
in a piece of sal-ammoniac; if this hole be slightly moist¬
ened by breathing on it; if a globule of mercury be put
into it, and this globule be subjected to the action of a
tolerably powerful galvanic battery, the mercury speedily
acquires the consistence of butter, and swells up so as to
amount to nearly four times its original bulk. In short,
it is converted into an amalgam. Ammonia itself may be
substituted for sal-ammoniac; but the experiment, in that
case, is attended with greater difficulty. In this case
the ammonia is evidently altered by the galvanic energy,
and one of its constituents has combined with the mer¬
cury, and converted it into an amalgam. If the amalgam
be put under water, it is speedily reduced to the state of
pure mercury, while in the mean time ammonia and hy¬
drogen gas are evolved. The same thing happens if the
amalgam be put into a glass tube without any water. It
would appear from this, that, by the galvanic energy, am¬
monia has been united to hydrogen, and converted into a
substance which is capable of amalgamating with mercury.
Now, no instance can be produced of any substance
uniting with mercury, and forming an amalgam which re¬
tains the metallic lustre, except a metal. Hence we are
entitled to infer, that the mercury in the preceding expe¬
riment has united with a metal, and that the compound
of ammonia and hydrogen is a metal. This supposed
compound of ammonia and hydrogen has received the
name of ammonium.
Ammonia itself has been shown to be a compound of
1 atom azote T75
3 atoms hydrogen 0*375
2*125
while muriatic acid is a compound of
1 atom chlorine 4*5
1 atom hydrogen 0*125
4*625
Were the atom of hydrogen in the muriatic acid to com¬
bine with the ammonia and convert it into ammonium,
then ammonium would be a compound of
1 atom azote 1*75
4 atoms hydrogen .....0*50
2*25
The integrant particle of it would weigh 2*25. We might
conceive sal-ammoniac to be a compound of
1 atom chlorine 4*5
1 atom ammonium 2*25
6*75
According to this view, it would be a chloride of ammo¬
nium. The atomic constituents are the same according
to both views; the only difference lies in the way in
which these atoms are united. If sal-ammoniac be a mu¬
riate of ammonia, then one atom of hydrogen is united
with one atom of chlorine, constituting muriatic acid,
while three atoms of hydrogen are united with one atom
of azote, constituting ammonia. If it be a chloride of
ammonium, then four atoms of hydrogen are united to
one atom of azote, constituting ammonium, an integrant
particle of which is united to an atom of chlorine. It is Aim
impossible to determine, in the present state of chemical'
knowledge, which of these views is the true one. We
have no other evidence of the existence of ammonium
than the amalgam formed with mercury by means of sal-
ammoniac and the galvanic battery, and the resolution of
this amalgam into mercury, ammonia, and hydrogen.
But this curious experiment is not easily explained upon
any other supposition.
The name ammoniacus sal occurs in Pliny, lib. xxxi.
cap. vii. He tells us that it was applied to a kind of
fossil salt found below the sand, in a district of Cyrenaica,
from which circumstance its name was derived. It was
similar in appearance to the alumen scissile, had a dis.
agreeable taste, but was useful in medicine. The gene¬
ral opinion is, that the sal-ammoniac of the ancients was
the same as that of the moderns; but the imperfect de¬
scription of Pliny is far from being sufficient to decide
the point. The native sal-ammoniac of Bucharia, as de¬
scribed by Model and Karsten, and which was analyzed
by Klaproth, has no resemblance to the salt described by
Pliny. The same remark applies to the sal-ammoniac of
volcanoes. Dioscorides, in mentioning sal-ammoniac
(book v. chap, cxxvi.), makes use of a phrase quite irre¬
concilable with the description of Pliny, and rather appli¬
cable to rock-salt than to our sal-ammoniac. Sal-ammo¬
niac, he says, is peculiarly prized if it can be easily split
into rectangular fragments. Finally, we have no proof
whatever that sal-ammoniac occurs at present, either
near the temple of Jupiter Ammon, or in any part of Cy¬
renaica. These circumstances induce us to conclude
that the term sal-ammoniac was applied as indefinitely by
the ancients as most of their other chemical words. It may
have been given to the same salt which is known to the
moderns by that appellation, but was not confined to it.
The name sal-ammoniac is derived, according to some,
from the temple of Jupiter Ammon, in the neighbourhood
of which it was found; according to others, from a dis¬
trict of Cyrenaica called Ammonia; but according to
Pliny, from the sand in which it occurred,—the Greek
name for sand being a^/zog.
But whether our sal-ammoniac was known to the an¬
cients or not, there can be no doubt that it was well
known to the alchemists. Albertus Magnus, in his trea¬
tise De Alchymia, informs us, that there were two kinds
of sal-ammoniac, a natural and an artificial. The natu¬
ral was sometimes white, and sometimes red; the artifi¬
cial was more useful to the chemist. He does not tell us
how it was prepared, but he describes the method of su¬
bliming it, which can leave no doubt that it was real sal-
ammoniac. In the Opera Miner alia of Isaac Hollandus
the father, addressed to his son, there is likewise a de¬
scription of the mode of subliming sal-ammoniac. There
can be no doubt, then, that true sal-ammoniac was known
in the thirteenth century. Basil Valentine, in his Currus
Triumphalis Antimonii, describes some of the peculiar
properties of sal-ammoniac in a still less equivocal man¬
ner, if possible; but, after the two older writers already
quoted, his evidence is unnecessary.
Sal-ammoniac occurs native in Bucharia, and probably
in other parts of the world. It is found also in small
quantities near volcanoes, being formed during the extra¬
ordinary convulsions of these mountains. This fact seems
in corroboration of an opinion advanced by some minera¬
logists, that the principal fuel of volcanoes is pit-coal,
and that they are always moistened with sea-water; for
sal-ammoniac is sublimed in small quantities during the
burning of London bricks, the sand of which is brought
from the sea-shore, while the fuel is pit-coal.
AMMONIAC, SAL.
rtiac,
In the Latin, English, and French chemical books
I’w/published in the seventeenth and the beginning of the
eighteenth century, the name of this salt is usually writ¬
ten sal-armoniac. This we conceive to be an old German
word; for Agricola has given us an alphabetical catalogue
of all the Latin technical terms which he uses in his
works, with a German translation of each. Now, the
German translation which he gives of sal-ammoniacus is
sal-armoniac. The present German name for this salt is
salmiak.
Egypt is the country where sal-ammoniac was first ma¬
nufactured, and from which Europe for many years was
supplied with it. This commerce was first carried on by
the Venetians, and afterwards by the Dutch. Nothing
was known about the method employed by the Egyptians
till the year 1719. In 1716 Geoffroy junior read a pa¬
per to the French academy, showing that sal-ammoniac
must be formed by sublimation ; but his opinion was op¬
posed so violently by Homberg and Lemery, that the pa¬
per was not printed. In 1719 M. Lemaire, the French
consul at Cairo, sent the academy an account of the mode
of manufacturing sal-ammoniac in Egypt. The salt, it
appeared, was obtained by simple sublimation from soot.
In the year 1760 Linnaeus communicated to the Royal
Society a correct detail of the whole process, which he
had received from Dr Hasselquist, who had travelled in
that country as a naturalist. This account is published in
the 51st volume of the Philosophical Transactions, 1760,
p. 504. Almost the only fuel used in Egypt is the dung
of cattle. This is collected during the first four months
of the year, when the cattle feed on spring grass, which
in Egypt is a kind of clover. It is dried, and sold to the
common people as fuel. The soot from this fuel is care¬
fully collected and sold to the sal-ammoniac makers, who
only work during the months of March and April; for at
other periods of the year the dung of their cattle is not
fit for their purpose. An oblong oven is built of bricks
and moist dung, as long again as broad, and of such a size
that the outside or flat part of the top of the arch may
hold fifty glass vessels, ten in length, and five in breadth,
each vessel having a cavity left for it in the brick work of
the arch. These glass vessels are globular, with a neck
an inch long and two inches wide. In general they are
about eighteen inches in diameter. Each vessel is coated
oyer with a fine clay found in the Nile, and afterwards
with straw. They are filled two thirds with soot, and put
into their holes at the top of the oven. At first a gentle
hre is raised, and the temperature is gradually increased
to the highest degree, at which it is kept for three days.
A smoke with a sourish smell, not unpleasant, issues first
from the glasses, then the salt sublimes, and coats the
upper part of the vessel.
It was long supposed that camels’ urine and camels’
dung were essential for the success of the above process;
hut this is a mistake. The dung of black-cattle, horses,
sheep, goats, &c. are all used promiscuously. The dung
of these animals contains the sal-ammoniac ready formed.
Ihis depends upon the food which the animals live on,
and accordingly it is only fit for the purpose at one sea¬
son of the year. The soot contains the sal-ammoniac
likewise ready formed, and merely mixed with a quantity
of charcoal, oil, &c. from which it is freed by sublimation.
Chaptal informs us that he found sal-ammoniac in the
soot obtained by burning the dung of cattle that had fed
on tlie saline plants in the marshes near the Mediter¬
ranean. Thus the Egyptian method of obtaining sal-am-
ffloniac is the simplest possible.
The first attempt to manufacture sal-ammoniac in Eu¬
rope was made by a Mr Goodwin, a chemist of London,
661
about the beginning of the eighteenth century. We do Ammoniac,
not know his process accurately; but he appears to have
used the mother ley of common salt and putrid urine as
ingredients. Dossie, in his Institutes of Experimental
Chemistry, gives it as his opinion, that the salt obtained
by this process was not sal-ammoniac, but sulphate of am¬
monia, and even describes a process for subliming that
salt. But he must have been mistaken; for sulphate of
ammonia, as appears from the experiments of Hatchett,
is entirely decomposed when we attempt to sublime it.
Goodwin’s process, however, whatever it was, did not
succeed, and was speedily abandoned. In the year 1740
a patent was taken out for making sal-aijmioniac by a
London manufacturer. The process was nearly the same
as Goodwin’s, and was equally unsuccessful. The first
successful manufacture of sal-ammoniac in this country
was established in Edinburgh by Dr Hutton and Mr Davy.
We do not know in what year the manufactory was be¬
gun ; but as the plan was concerted while these gentle¬
men were students at the university of Edinburgh, the
establishment of the work cannot have been far from the
year 1760. From the university of Edinburgh, Dr Hut¬
ton went to Paris. During his absence Mr Davy began
the manufactory, and on his return admitted him as a
partner. This original manufactory existed in Edinburgh
till within these few years. The low price of sal-ammo¬
niac during the war with Russia induced the proprietors
to abandon it, as was the case with almost all the sal-am¬
moniac works in Bi'itain.
Sal-ammoniac was first manufactured in France by
Baume, who established a work about the year 1760; but
whether it was posterior or anterior to the work of Hut¬
ton and Davy, we do not know. Manufactories of it
were afterwards established in Germany, Holland, and
Flanders.
Various modes were followed in Europe to procure this
salt. But the theory (if we can apply the term here) of
most of the manufacturers was the same. They formed
a sulphate of ammonia, which they mixed with common
salt. A double decomposition took place. The sulphuric
acid of the sulphate united with the soda of the common
salt, and formed Glauber’s salt, which was obtained in
great abundance by crystallization, and sold as a medi¬
cine. The muriatic acid and ammonia, uniting together,
formed sal-ammoniac, which was sublimed. When the
British government imposed a heavy duty on Glauber
salts, the manufacture of sal-ammoniac in this country re¬
ceived so severe a blow, that it is not likely ever to recover
it. We shall give a short sketch of the processes followed
in different manufactories, in order to afford a more dis¬
tinct idea of the method of procuring this salt.
Before the French revolution, several manufactures of
sal-ammoniac existed in Flanders, which deserve to be
described; first, because they were in some measure an
imitation of the original Egyptian method. Bricks, or
rather balls, were formed of the following materials:
twenty-five parts of pounded pit-coal, five parts of soot,
two parts of clay, and as much of a saturated aqueous so¬
lution of common salt as was sufficient to convert the
whole into a paste.; this paste was moulded in an iron
mould, and the balls suffered to dry. These were burnt
in a brick furnace, along with a quantity of dry bones, the
proportion of which does not appear to have been accu¬
rately determined. The furnace communicated by an
aperture, two inches wide, into a vaulted brick chamber
above. From the top of this chamber there was a com¬
munication, likewise two inches wide, with a horizontal
gallery, which terminated in a perpendicular chimney.
The fire was kept up with these materials for five or six
662
AMMONIAC, SAL.
Ammoniac, months, and then allowed to go out. By the combustion
of the pit-coals, soot, and bones, a quantity of carbonate
of ammonia is formed. The common salt is decomposed
by the clay, and muriatic acid disengaged. This acid
coming in contact with the carbonate of ammonia, decom¬
poses it, and sal-ammoniac is formed. The sides and
roof of the vaulted chamber are found coated with this
impure sal-ammoniac, which is carefully removed. The
bottom of the chamber, and the horizontal gallery above,
contain likewise sal-ammoniac, but so much loaded with
bitumen, that it requires to be burnt a second time before
the sal-ammoniac can be extracted. The impure sal-am¬
moniac is put into egg-shaped clay vessels, twenty inches
long and sixteen in diameter. Each is filled to within
three inches of the top. The lower part of these vessels
is exposed to a graduated heat for forty-eight hours, while
the upper part, being left in the air, is comparatively cool.
The oily matter is first driven off, and then the sal-am¬
moniac is sublimed in a cake in the upper part of the ves¬
sel. The charcoal, and any other fixed matter present,
remains at the bottom. Finally, the clay vessels are
broken, and the cakes of sal-ammoniac taken out. There
is a small hole in the upper part of the clay vessels, and
care is taken to keep this hole open during the whole pro¬
cess, to prevent the vessels from bursting. Fifteen parts
of the sooty matter taken from the vaulted chambers
yield about five parts of sal-ammoniac. {Journal des
Mines, No. X. p. 3.)
The original process of Baume was to distil animal sub¬
stances, in order to procure from them carbonate of am¬
monia. With this salt he decomposed the muriate of
magnesia, which exists in considerable quantity in the
mother ley of common salt, when that substance is pro¬
cured from sea-water; the liquid containing the sal-am¬
moniac was evaporated, and the sal-ammoniac sublimed.
This process was speedily abandoned, and another sub¬
stituted in its place by MM. Leblanc and Dize. They
brought into contact, in a leaden chamber, vapours of
ammonia and of muriatic acid. The ammonia was pro¬
cured by distilling animal substances, and the muriatic
acid by decomposing common salt by means of sulphuric
acid. But this method, though it yielded a very pure
sal-ammoniac, was speedily abandoned on account of its
expense.
The process of Hutton and Davy was to procure am¬
monia, which they did chiefly from soot. This they con¬
verted into sulphate of ammonia. The sulphate was
mixed with common salt, and thus two salts were pro¬
cured ; Glauber’s salt, which they obtained by crystalli¬
zation, and sal-ammoniac, which was sublimed.
Almost all the manufactures of sal-ammoniac, whether
in Britain, France, or Germany, were similar in principle
to that of Hutton and Davy. The only difference con¬
sisted in the means employed to procure the sulphate of
ammonia. We shall describe a manufacture, formerly
existing in London, in which the methods employed were
both scientific and economical.
The material from which the ammonia was extracted
was bones. These were collected in the streets and
from dunghills, chiefly by old women. The bones were
bruised and boiled, in order to extract the fat which they
contained, which was sold to the soap-makers. They
were then put into iron cylinders eight feet long and
three feet in diameter, placed horizontally over a fire¬
place, so that they could be made red-hot. At one end
of the cylinder was a mouth, about fourteen inches in
diameter, by which the bones were introduced. This
mouth was accurately shut by a cover, and made air-tight
by means of lute. From the other end of the cylinder
proceeded a cast-iron pipe, from six to eight inches in
diameter, and twenty feet long, terminating in one
more oblong leaden receivers, which were kept cool by
water placed in a leaden vessel, the bottom of which
formed their cover, the juncture being secured by lute.
Of these receivers there were commonly two to each still*
or three to two stills. Every receiver was about twelve
feet long, one foot deep, and fourteen inches wide • and
the refrigeratory that covered it held about four inches in
depth of water. At the end most remote from the still
was a pipe, fitted with a wooden plug, for the purpose of
drawing off the condensed liquor; and above this was a
hole through which the gas and uncondensible vapour
passed off into the open air. r
A single charge of each still yielded about 36 pounds
of impure alkaline liquor, and about 30 pounds of black
fetid oil floating on its surface. This latter being skim¬
med off, the ammonia was saturated with sulphuric acid,
either by means of the mother liquor from the green vi¬
triol makers, or still more economically by means of cal¬
cined and pulverized gypsum. In this last case the ma¬
terials were mixed, and left in contact for some hours.
A double decomposition took place; the sulphuric acid
of the gypsum uniting with the ammonia, while the car¬
bonic acid of the carbonate combined with the lime of
the gypsum. The solution of sulphate of ammonia thus
produced was mixed with common salt, by which Glau¬
ber’s salt and sal-ammoniac were formed, and separated
from each other.
tor this purpose the liquid, clarified by subsidence and
decantation, was transferred into oblong leaden boilers,
about nine feet long, three wide, and nine inches deep.
Two thirds of the length of these boilers were set upon
iron plates heated by a fire beneath; the remaining part
was supported by flat tiles, and defended from the heat
by a solid brick work. As the water evaporates, the
Glauber’s salt begins to crystallize. It is swept from
time to time to the cool extremity of the boiler, whence
it is shovelled into baskets placed over the end of the
boiler, that the liquid which drains off may not be lost.
The evaporation is continued till feathered crystals of
sal-ammoniac begin to appear on the surface. The liquid
is then run into coolers, and deposits little else than sal-
ammoniac till the temperature sinks to 70°. The crys¬
tals must now be removed, that they may not be mixed
with the Glauber’s salt, which begins at that temperature
to be deposited. The sal-ammoniac thus obtained is first
drained in baskets, and then exposed to heat in a kind of
oven, till the water of crystallization is driven off. It be¬
comes spongy, friable, of an ash-colour, mixed with small
white filaments.
This salt is introduced, while still hot, into globular
grey earthen jars, fitted with a cover (with a hole of about
half an inch diameter in its centre), luted on with a mix¬
ture of clay and horse-dung. These are set in earthen
pots over a strong fire, in a furnace of either a circular or
oval form, and capable of containing from six to eighteen,
surrounded with sand up to the edge of the pot, and also
having about 2^ inches of sand on the cover, confined by
an iron ring about three inches deep, and two inches less
in diameter than the cover, in order that the luting,
should it give way, may be repaired without suffering the
covers to be cooled by the removal of the sand; for,
during the sublimation, their temperature should be about
320°. These earthen vessels may be filled with the dried
salt to within two inches of the top. It may be gently
pressed in, but not rammed close. The fire, which has
been lighted some time before, is now to be raised gradu¬
ally till the iron pots are of a pretty strong red heat all
A M M
Animr round. They are so placed in the furnace that the upper
ite: part is first heated, the bottoms resting on solid brick
work. At first a quantity of aqueous vapour, carrying
with it a portion of the salt, escapes through the hole in
the cover. The hole must be left open as long as any
moisture exhales. This is known by bringing a cold
smooth iron plate near the hole, in order to condense the
sublimate. When the water is gone, the salt attaches
itself to this plate in the form of a dry semi-transparent
crust. The hole is now to be stopped up with lute, and
more sand put upon the cover. The heat is to be kept
up till it is judged that most of the sal-ammoniac, but not
the whole, has sublimed. The time requisite for this, de¬
pending on the furnace, can only be learned by expe¬
rience. If the heat be continued too long, the cake of
sal-ammoniac acquires a yellow colour, and a scorched,
opaque, crackled appearance, which, injuring its saleabi¬
lity, ought to be avoided. When the lute gives way, and
requires repairing during the process, the appearance of
the cake of sal-ammoniac is injured. On this account
glass vessels would be preferable to those of clay. But
in this country the expense of glass is so great, on ac¬
count of the high duty laid upon it, that manufacturers
are scarcely able to use it in those cases where the ves¬
sels must be broken at the end of every process, as is the
case in the sublimation of sal-ammoniac. (Aikin’s Diction¬
ary of Chemistry, article Sal-Ammoniac.)
One process more deserves to be mentioned, on account
of its ingenuity and simplicity. It was the invention of
Mr Astley, who secured the exclusive privilege by a pa¬
tent, and had a manufactory at Borrowstowness on the
Frith of Forth, and another at Portobello, near Edin¬
burgh. He mixed together animal matters (chiefly woollen
rags) with what in Scotland is called spirit of salt. It is
the mother ley that remains after all the crystals of com¬
mon salt that can be got have been separated from sea¬
water. It consists chiefly of muriate of magnesia. This
mixture was burnt in furnaces, and the produce received
in small chambers placed over the furnaces. This pro¬
duce contained abundance of sal-ammoniac, which was
obtained pure by sublimation. We conceive the theory
of this process to be, that carbonate of ammonia is formed
by the combustion of the animal matter. This caibonate
immediately decomposes the muriate of magnesia, and
sal-ammoniac sublimes. In principle, therefore, it does
not differ from Baum6’s original process, though in point
of economy it is probably greatly superior to it. We
have little doubt that Baum6’s method yields a greater
return from the same quantity of materials; but this is
probably much more than counterbalanced by the much
greater expense attending his process. Nothing can de¬
monstrate this more plearly than the circumstance that
his method was abandoned in France as too expensive,
though labour be much cheaper in that country than in
fids, while Mr Astley manufactured his sal-ammoniac
with profit in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. (l.)
AMMONITES, a people descended from Ammon, the
son of Lot, and who dwelt on the east side of Judaea, be¬
yond Jordan. The Ammonites destroyed those giants
called Zamzummims (Deut. ii. 19-21), and seized upon
their country. God forbade Moses (ibid. 19) to attack
file Ammonites, because their lands were not to be
bestowed on the children of Israel. Justin Martyr says
j I fi)at in his time there were still many Ammonites re¬
maining, but Origen assures us that in his day they were
known only under the general name of Arabians. In this
manner was the prediction of Ezekiel (xxv. 10) accom¬
plished.
AMMONITIS, in Ancient Geography, a country of
A M M 663
Arabia Petrsa, occupied by the - children of Ammon, Ammo,
whence the appellation. It was a small district, situated nius.
among the upper branches of the river Jabbok, eastward
of the Dead Sea.
AMMONIUS, surnamed Saccas, was born in Alexan¬
dria, and flourished about the beginning of the third cen¬
tury. He was one of the most celebrated philosophers of
his age; and, adopting with alterations the Eclectic
philosophy, laid the foundation of that sect which was dis¬
tinguished by the name of the New Platonics.
This learned man was born of Christian parents, and
educated in their religion, the outward profession of
which, it is said, he never entirely deserted. As his ge¬
nius was vast and comprehensive, so were his projects
bold and singular: he attempted a general coalition of
all sects, whether philosophical or religious, by framing a
system of doctrines which he imagined calculated to
unite them all, the Christians not excepted, in the most
perfect harmony. In pursuance of this design, he main¬
tained that the great principles of all philosophical and
religious truth were to be found equally in all sects; that
they differed from each other only in their method of ex¬
pressing them, and in some opinions of little or no im¬
portance ; and that, by a proper interpretation of their
respective sentiments, they might easily be united into
one body. Accordingly all the Gentile religions, and
even the Christian, were to be illustrated and explained
by the principles of this universal philosophy; and the
fables of the priests were to be removed from Paganism,
and the comments and interpretations of the disciples of
Jesus from Christianity. In conformity to this plan, he
insisted that all the religious systems of all nations should
be restored to their original purity, and reduced to their
primitive standard, viz. the ancient philosophy of the east,
preserved uncorrupted by Plato: and he affirmed that
this project was agreeable to the intentions of Jesus
Christ, whose sole view in descending upon earth was to
set bounds to the reigning superstition, to remove the
errors that had blended themselves with the religions of
all nations, but not to abolish the ancient theology from
which they were derived. He therefore adopted the
doctrines which were received in Egypt concerning the
universe and the Deity, considered as constituting one
great whole; concerning the eternity of the world, the
nature of souls, the empire of Providence, and the go¬
vernment of the world by demons. He also established a
system of moral discipline, which allowed the people in
general to live according to the laws of their, country and
the dictates of nature, but required the wise to exalt
their minds by contemplation, and to mortify the body, so
that they might be capable of enjoying the presence and
assistance of the demons, and of ascending after death to
the presence of the Supreme Parent. In order to recon¬
cile the popular religion, and particularly the Christian,
with this new system, he made the whole history ot the
heathen gods an allegory; maintaining that they were
only celestial ministers, entitled to an inferior kina of
worship. And he acknowledged that Jesus Christ was an
excellent man, and the friend of God; but alleged that it
was not his design entirely to abolish the worship of de¬
mons, and that his only intention was to. purify the an¬
cient religion. This system, so plausible in its fiist lise,
but so comprehensive and complying in its progress, has
been the source of innumerable errors and corruptions in
the Christian church. At its first establishment it is said
to have had the approbation of Athenagoras Pantaenus,
and Clemens the Alexandrian, and all who had the care
of the public school belonging to the Christians at Alex¬
andria. It was afterwards adopted by Longinus, the
664
AMO
A M O
Ammuni- celebrated author of the treatise on the Sublime, Plotinus,
tion Herennius, Origen, Porphyry, Jamblichus the disciple of
Amontons ^>0rpkyiy’ Sopater, Edisius, Eustathius, Maximus of Ephe-
sus> Priscus, Chrysanthius the master of Julian, Julian the
Apostate, Hierocles, Proclus, and many others, both Pa¬
gans and Christians.
The opinions of Ammonius are collected from the writ¬
ings and disputations of his disciples, the modern Plato¬
nics ; for he himself left nothing in writing behind him:
nay, he imposed a law upon his disciples not to divulge
his doctrines among the multitude; which injunction, how¬
ever, they made no scruple to neglect and violate.
AMMUNITION, a general name for all warlike provi¬
sions, but more particularly powder, ball, &c.
AMNESTY, in matters of policy, denotes a pardon
granted by a prince to his rebellious subjects, usually with
some exceptions: such was that granted by Charles II.
at his restoration. The word is formed from the Greek
ufivzffrict, the name of an edict of this kind published
by Thrasybulus, on his expulsion of the tyrants out of
Athens.
AMNIOS, in Anatom?/, a thin pellucid membrane, which
surrounds the foetus in the womb.
AMOEBA2UM, in Ancient Poetry, a kind of poem re¬
presenting a dispute between two persons, who are made
to answer each other alternately: such are the third and
seventh of Virgil’s eclogues.
AMOL, a town of Asia, in the country of the Usbecks,
seated on the river Gihon. Long. 61. 30. E. Eat. 39.
20. N.
AMONEBURG, a bailiwick in the principality of
Hesse-Cassel, in Germany. It consists of several scattered
portions in different parts of the principality, and compre¬
hends one city or town, 12 villages, and 5509 inhabitants,
chiefly employed in agriculture.
Amoneburg, a town or city, capital of the bailiwick of
the same name in Hesse. It is situated on a hill overlook¬
ing the river Ohm; has two churches, one of them colle¬
giate, and 1007 inhabitants,
AMONTONS (Guillaume), a celebrated French ex¬
perimental philosopher, was the son of an advocate, who
had left his native province of Normandy, and established
himself at Paris, where the subject of this memoir was
born in 1663. The exertions of genius frequently take a
particular direction from accidental circumstances. A
severe illness, with which Amontons was afflicted in his
early youth, had the effect of rendering him almost en¬
tirely deaf, and consequently of secluding him in a great
measure from the ordinary commerce and amusements of
society. Being compelled by this accident to depend for
his enjoyments on the resources of his own mind, he be¬
gan to take great pleasure in the construction of machines
of various kinds, and in the study of the laws of mecha¬
nics ; a path of inquiry which he pursued through life
with unremitting ardour and distinguished success. One
of the first objects which engaged his attention was the
discovery of the perpetual motion. His attempts, though
necessarily unsuccessful, were productive of greater ad¬
vantage to him than they have usually been to those who
have pursued that vain chimera; for in the course of his
reflections on the subject he became convinced, that, in
order to make any progress in mechanics, it is necessary
to be acquainted with certain principles, the knowledge
of which can only be acquired through the medium of
geometry. He therefore assiduously applied himself to
the study of this latter science, and his progress in it pre¬
pared the way for his future mechanical discoveries. He
is said to have derived so much pleasure from the unin¬
terrupted pursuit of these interesting speculations, that
he refused to employ any remedy for his deafness, lest he Ankm
should be diverted from them by an increased facility of
tercourse with the world; resembling in this respect, says
Fontenelle, the ancient sage who put out his eyes that he
might enjoy his philosophic meditations without distraction.
Amontons directed his views in a particular manner to
the improvement of instruments employed in physical ex¬
periments ; a subject which requires the finest applications
of mechanical principles, and which till that time had not
met with a due share of attention. In 1687, before he
had attained his 24th year, he presented to the Academy of
Sciences an hygrometer of his own invention, which was
received with approbation by that learned body. In 1695
he published the only work which he has given to the
world. . It was dedicated to the academy, and entitled
Remarques et Experiences Physiques sur la Construction dun
nouvel Clepsydre, sur les Barometres, les Thermometres, dies
Hygrometres. After Huygens’ beautiful application of the
pendulum to the regulation of the motion of clocks, any
attempt to revive the clepsydra, an incommodious instru¬
ment, and not susceptible of much accuracy, might seem
to subject its author to the imputation of not sufficiently 1
appreciating the great importance of a discovery which
has so completely changed the face of astronomical
science; but the object of Amontons was to produce an
instrument capable of measuring time on board ship, in
circumstances where the motion of the vessel rendered such
timekeepers as were then known useless. The machine
which he constructed is said to have been extremely
ingenious, and probably differed entirely from those of the
ancients, among whom the clepsydra was in common use.
In 1669 Amontons was admitted into the Academy of
Sciences, the memoirs of which he enriched with many
important contributions. The first paper which he present¬
ed after his admission was one on the theory of Friction,
a subject then involved in great obscurity, and on which
his inquiries tended to throw considerable light. After
that appeared, in succession, an Account of a New Thermo¬
meter, and of numerous Experiments made with the Baro¬
meter, relative to the Nature and Properties of Air,—a de¬
tailed account of all which is given in the history of the
academy. By his countrymen he is generally regarded
as the inventor of the telegraph ; and he had the honour of
exhibiting the methods by which he proposed to accom¬
plish the object in view, before some members of the
royal family. It appears, however, from a paper read
by Dr Hooke to the Royal Society in 1684, that that
ingenious philosopher had brought the telegraph, in theory
at least, to a state of far greater maturity than Amontons,
and nearly 20 years earlier. The experiments of the lat¬
ter were made about the year 1702. It maybe regarded
as a curious fact in the history of inventions, that although
the great importance of telegraphic communication is
obvious, and the method of accomplishing it was clearly
explained by Flooke, and its practicability demonstrated
by Amontons, it continued to be regarded as a mere yew
desprit, and was not regularly applied to useful purposes
till nearly a century afterwards, at the time of the French
Revolution.
Although most of the instruments invented by Amontons
have been superseded by others more accurate and con¬
venient, yet they contributed to give a greater precision
than had been attained before his time, to experiments
and physical investigations, and consequently to accelerate
the progress of experimental philosophy, which from that
period began to make rapid advances. He possessed a
singular talent for contriving and conducting experiments,
and showed great address in obviating or eluding the dil-
ficulties which, even in the hands of the most skilful and
AMO
jkr/sans expert, so frequently occur to prevent their success. His
I industryand activity promised still more important services
“Vto science, when, to the great regret of his contemporaries,
°/^/hewas suddenly cut off by inflammation, at the age of 42
years. His manners are represented to have been simple
and unostentatious, his character candid and frank, en¬
tirely free from affectation or pretension of any sort; and
he lived in comparative obscurity, because, as his eulogist
ingeniously observes, he was unacquainted with the arts
of the courtier, and knew no other means of acquiring re¬
putation or fortune, than those of real merit and useful
services to mankind. See his Eloge by Fontenelle. (s.)
AMORiEANS, a sect or order of Gemaric doctors, or
commentators on the Jerusalem Talmud. The Amormans
succeeded the Mischnic doctors. They subsisted 250
years, and were succeeded by the Seburaeans.
AMORBACH, a city in the mediatised bailiwick of the
prince of Leiningen-Amorbach, in the circle of Lower
Maine, in the kingdom of Bavaria. It is situated at the
junction of the rivers Mudt and Billbachs, has two
churches, 520 houses, and 2415 inhabitants.
AMORGO, an island in the Archipelago, to the south¬
east of Naxos. The chief town has the same name. The
island, with some smaller ones adjoining, is about 430
square miles in extent, and the population amounts to about
2600, all Greeks, who raise good harvests of oil, wine, and
fruits. It is in long. 26. 41. E. and lat. 36. 48. N.
AMORITES, a people descended from Amorrhaeus, ac¬
cording to the Septuagintand Vulgate ; Emorasus, accord¬
ing to other expositors; Haemori, according to the Hebrew;
or Emorites, according to our version of the Bible, who
was the fourth son of Canaan. (Gen. x. 16.) The Amo-
rites first peopled the mountains lying to the west of the
Dead Sea. They had likewise establishments to the east of
the same sea, between the brooks of Jabbok and Arnon,
from whence they expelled the Ammonites and Moabites.
(Numb. xiii. 30, xvi. 29, Josh. v. 1, and Judges xi. 19, 20.)
Moses made a conquest of this country from their kings
Sihon and Og, in the year of the world 2553. The pro¬
phet Amos (ii. 9), speaking of the gigantic stature and
valour of the Amorites, compares their height to that of
cedars, and their strength to that of an oak. The name
Anwrite is often taken in Scripture for Canaanites in ge¬
neral. The lands which the Amorites possessed on this
side Jordan were given to the tribe of Judah, and those
which they had enjoyed beyond this river were divided
between the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
AMORTIZATION, in Law, the alienation of lands or
tenements to a corporation or fraternity and their succes¬
sors. See Mortmain.
AMOS, the fourth of the smaller prophets, who in his
youth had been a herdsman at Tekoa, a small town about
four leagues southward of Jerusalem, was sent to the king
of Bashan, that is, to the people of Samaria, or the king¬
dom of Israel, to call them to repentance and an amend-
ment of their lives ; whence it is thought probable that he
was born within the territories of Israel, and only retired
to Tekoa on his being driven from Bethel by Amaziah,
the priest of the golden calves at Bethel.
The prophet having returned to Tekoa, in the kingdom
of Judah, continued to prophesy. He frequently com¬
plains of the violent endeavours to force him to silence,
and boldly remonstrates against the prevailing sins of the
Israelites—idolatry, oppression, wantonness, and obstinacy.
He likewise reproves the inhabitants of Judah, for their
carnal security, sensuality, and injustice. He warns them
that their sins will at last end in the ruin of Judah and
Israel, which he illustrates by the visions of a plumb-line
and a basket of summer fruit. It is observable, that this
vol. ir.
A M P
665
prophecy begins with denunciation of judgment and de- Amour
struction against the Syrians, Philistines, Tyrians, and II
other enemies of the Jews, and concludes with comfortable AmPelites.
promises of restoring the tabernacle of David, and erect-
ing the kingdom of Christ. Amos was chosen to the pro¬
phetic office in the time of Uzziah, king of Judah, and
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before
the earthquake (Amos i. 1), which, according to the rab¬
bins and most of the modern commentators, happened in
the 24th or 25th year of Uzziah, or in the year of the
world 3219, when this prince usurped the priest’s office,
and attempted to offer incense to the Lord. The first of
the prophecies of Amos in order of time are those of the
7th chapter ; the rest he pronounced in the town of Tekoa,
whither he retired. He foretold the misfortunes which
should befall the kingdom of Israel after the death of
Rehoboam II., who was then living: he likewise predicted
the death of Zechariah ; the invasion of the lands belonp--
ing to Israel by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria;
and the captivity of the ten tribes. The time and manner
of this prophet’s death are not known.
AMOUR, or Amur, a great river of Chinese Tartary,
which has its rise in the central deserts of northern Asia,
among the mountains of Daouria, in about long. 109. E.,
and lat. 49. N. It has a winding course. It has first a
northerly course; it afterwards makes a long detour to¬
wards the east; and finally, turning to the north, falls into
the sea of Okhotsk, in about lat. 53. N., opposite to the
middle of the island or peninsula of Saghalien. This
river is called Amur by the Russians, after the confluence
of the Argun and the Schilka; and still higher up the
Schilka is formed by the union of the Onon and Ingoda.
It is called Schilka by the Tungoose; Saghalien Oula, or
Black Mountain River, by the Tartars; andGhelon Kiangh,
or the Dragon River, by the Chinese. It was first known
to the Russians in 1639, and they resolved to annex to
their empire the territory through which it flows, on ac¬
count of the valuable furs with which it was known to
abound. Many sanguinary conflicts, accordingly, took
place between them and the Chinese, which ended in a
treaty in 1689, by which- the Russians abandoned their
settlement on its banks, from which they were wholly ex¬
cluded. They have still establishments on some of its
head waters; but the stream, in its lower parts, and at
its mouth, is constantly watched by a guard of Chinese
armed boats, and all intruders are rigidly excluded. It
pours a large volume of water into the ocean; but we
have no precise information respecting its magnitude.
The length of its course cannot be less than 2000 miles.
AMOY, an island in the province of Fokien, in China,
where the English had a factory ; but they have abandon¬
ed it on account of the impositions of the inhabitants. It
has a fine port. Long. 118. 0. E. Lat. 24. 30. N.
AMPELITES, Cannel-coal, or Candle-coal, a
hard, opaque, fossil, inflammable substance, of a black
colour. It does not effervesce with acids. Ihe ampelites,
though much inferior to jet in many respects, is yet a very
beautiful fossil, and, for a body of so compact a structure,
remarkably light. Examined by the microscope, it ap¬
pears composed of innumerable very thin and small plates,
laid closely and firmly on one another, and full of very
small specks of a blacker and more shining matter than
the rest, which is evidently a purer bitumen than the
general mass. These specks are equally diffused over the
different parts of the masses. There is a large quarry of
it near Alen^on, in France. It is dug in many parts of
England, but the finest is in Lancashire and Cheshire: it
lies^usually at considerable depths. It makes a very brisk
fire, flaming violently for a short time, and after that con-
4 p
666
AMP
A M P
Ampheres tinning red and glowing hot a long while; and, finally, is
II. . reduced into a small portion of grey ashes, the greater
Amphibia. parj. 0p sukstance having flown oft' in the burning. It
is capable of a very high and elegant polish ; and, in the
countries where it is produced, is turned into a vast num¬
ber of toys, as snuff-boxes and the like, which bear all the
nicety of turning, and are made to pass for jet. Husband¬
men smear their vines with it, as it kills the vermin which
infests them.
AMPHERES, in Antiquity, a kind of vessels wherein
the rowers plied two oars at the same time, one with the
right hand and another with the left.
AMPHIARAUS, in Pagan Mythology, a celebrated
prophet, who possessed part of the kingdom of Argos. He
was believed to excel in divining by dreams, and is said
to have been the first who divined by fire. Amphiaraus,
knowing by the spirit of prophecy that he should lose
his life in the war against Thebes, hid himself in order to
avoid engaging in that expedition ; but his wife Eriphyle,
being prevailed upon by a present, discovered the place in
which he had concealed himself, so that he was obliged
to accompany the other princes who marched against
Thebes. This proved fatal to him; for the earth being
split asunder by a thunderbolt, both he and his chariot
were swallowed up in the opening. Amphiaraus, after
his death, was ranked among the gods ; temples were de¬
dicated to him; and his oracle, as well as the sports insti¬
tuted to his honour, was very famous.
AMPHIBIA, a term in Zoology bestowed on different
groups of animals, and with a considerable variety of signi¬
fication. When rigorously interpreted, it applies to very
few animals, as, with rare exceptions, naturalists know of
no species which are strictly amphibious ; that is to say,
possessed of the power of performing the vital act of re¬
spiration either in air or water. When intended, however,
merely to express the habit of existing alternately for a
time in either of these elements, the term amphibious
applies to various groups, which have little in common
with each other. Hence the artificial mode of arrange¬
ment adopted by Gesner and the older naturalists, who,
taking into consideration chiefly the habitations of ani¬
mals, bestowed the name of amphibia on beavers, otters,
frogs, and other incongruous genera. Linnaeus applied
the name, in his earlier works, to a class composed of
reptiles and chondropterygeous fishes ; but he afterwards
restricted it to reptiles alone possessed of cold red blood
and a simple circulation. The amphibia of Baron Cuvier,
again, are such of the mammalia or mammiferous quadru¬
peds as are enabled by their motive organs to dwell in
water as well as on the land; for example, seals, sea lions,
the walrus, &c. In his system they occupy an interme¬
diate station between the feline and marsupial or pouched
animals.- They pass the greater portion of their time at
sea, and seldom come ashore except to suckle their young,
or dry their moistened furs by exposure to sun and air.
Their power of sustaining without injury a long-continu¬
ed submersion does not, however, result from a continu¬
ance of the foramen ovale, by which it was supposed that
the blood of these creatures passed from one chamber of
the heart to another, without the necessity of being pro¬
pelled through the lungs. Seals do not differ in that re¬
spect from other animals.
Buffon was of opinion that the newly born young of all
mammiferous quadrupeds might be submerged in a nourish¬
ing fluid without depriving them of life, because their cir¬
culation at that early period was supposed to resemble
that of amphibious reptiles. Experiments, however, on
this subject would no doubt have accorded perfectly with
those of Le Gallois, instituted with a view to ascertain
the possibility of dividing the spinal marrow without the Amph
production of death. It is singular that Daubenton, his^v
skilful and laborious coadjutor, did not remind Buffon
that the foetus, while suspended in the liquid of the amnios,
receives oxygenated blood from the mother, whilst after
birth a necessity ensues for the vital act of respiration
being performed by the individual itself. It is also known
that the foramen ovale does not exist at the period of
birth, except in such species as are destined to enjoy a
continuance of that peculiarity of structure ; from which
we may infer that a primordial disposition of organs is of
greater importance, and less easily alterable, than many
modern physiologists are accustomed to suppose.
The principal characteristic of reptiles in general con¬
sists in this, that only a portion of the blood is transmit¬
ted through the lungs, the remainder being projected by
the heart directly to the other parts of the body, without
being specially subjected to the influence of the respira¬
tory organs; whereas in the higher classes, such as man,
the rest of the mammalia, and birds, the whole of the
blood must pass by the lungs before it is retransmitted to
the more distant parts of the circulating system. The
respiration of animals, or the process by which the blood
is oxygenated, becomes weaker and less frequent in pro¬
portion to the diminution which takes place in the quan¬
tity of blood transmitted to the lungs, compared with that
which passes directly from the heart; and as it is respi¬
ration which warms the blood, and produces in the fibres
their susceptibility of nervous irritation, it follows, as ob¬
served by Cuvier, that the blood of reptiles is cold, and
their muscular strength much less than that of birds or
quadrupeds. The seat of their sensations is also much
less centralized than in the last named classes; and hence
many of them exhibit life and motion long after their
heads have been severed from their bodies.
A truly amphibious animal, according to the proper
meaning of the term, ought to possess the power oi breath¬
ing under water like a fish, and of respiring the atmos¬
pheric air like a land animal. According to this interpre¬
tation, neither seals nor beavers, nor even whales, are
truly amphibious; for they cannot sustain their existence
under water except by aid of a certain portion of air
which they have inspired at the surface. In like manner,
neither the frog nor the tadpole is amphibious (unless it
may be for a short time at a certain intermediate period
of life) ; for the former only seeks the water as a place of
temporary resort, in which, however, it cannot breathe,
and the latter is entirely aquatic, being unprovided with
lungs, and consequently unable to respire, except through
the medium of water. A frog can therefore only be
said to be amphibious in as far as it possesses, at two dis¬
tinct periods of its life, the faculty of living first in the
water and then on the land; but its habit of life is by no
means optional, and the change of structure, both in the
respiratory and digestive system, as it passes from tie
immature to the adult state, is among the most extraor¬
dinary in the whole range of the animal economy. Born
with gills, and destitute of external members, its form an
functions are rather those of a fish than of a reptile; bu
as it advances in growth, the four limbs become deve op¬
ed, the tail decreases, and .finally disappears, the jaws are
formed, the gills are absorbed, and their uses are suppne
by lungs. It can no longer breathe under water. _
Among the many wonderful anomalies with which e
kingdom of nature presents us, there exist, however, cer
tain truly amphibious animals, classed under the gener
of Proteus and Siren, both of which are provided at on
and the same time with the gills of a fish and the ung
of a terrestrial creature; but their habits and pi open
AMP
Aniibo- ties are decidedly aquatic. The former inhabit the sub-
;y terranean waters of Carniola; the latter (of which there
are several species) occur among the marshes and rice-
A 'hic' fields of South Carolina. For an account of these singu-
‘I^ylar animals see the article Reptilia. (t.)
^ AMPHIBOLOGY, in Grammar and Rhetoric, a term
used to denote a phrase susceptible of two different inter¬
pretations. Amphibology arises from the order of the
phrase, rather than from the ambiguous meaning of a
word. Of this kind was that answer which Pyrrhus re¬
ceived from the oracle: Aio te, JEadda, Romanos vincere
posse; where the amphibology consists in this, that the
words te and Romanos may either of them precede, or
either of them follow, the words posse vincere, indiffer¬
ently.
AMPHIBRACHYS, in Greek and Latin poetry, the
name of a foot consisting of three syllables, whereof that
in the middle is long and the other two short; such are
the words ablre, amare.
AMPHICOME, in Natural History, a kind of figured
stone, of a round shape, but rugged, and beset with emi¬
nences, celebrated on account of its use in divination.
The word is originally Greek, a/Ap/xo/Ajj, q. d. utrinque co-
mata, or hairy on all sides. This stone is also called
Erotylus, EguruXog, Amatoria, probably on account of its
supposed power of creating love. The amphicome is men¬
tioned by Democritus and Pliny.
AMPHICTYONS, in Grecian Antiquity, an assembly
composed of deputies from the different states of Greece.
Some suppose the word Kfiymrimc, to be formed of ay^i,
about, and xr/s/v or xr/^e/v, in regard the inhabitants of
the country round about met here in council; others, with
more probability, from Amphictyon, son of Deucalion,
whom they suppose to have been the founder of this as¬
sembly; though others will have Acrisius, king of the
Argives, to have been the first who gave a form and laws
to it.
Authors differ in their accounts of the number of the
Amphictyons, as well as of the states who were entitled
to have their representatives in this council. According
to Strabo, Harpocration, and Suidas, they were twelve
from their first institution, sent by the following cities and
states: the lonians, Dorians, Perrhsebians, Boeotians,
Magnesians, Achaeans, Phthians, Malians, Dolopians,
iEnianians, Delphians, and Phocians. AEschines reckons
no more than eleven : instead of the Achaeans, iEnianians,
Delphians, and Dolopians, he only gives the Thessalians,
CEtians, and Locrians. Lastly, Pausanias’s list contains
only ten, viz. the lonians, Dolopians, Thessalians, AEnia-
nians, Magnesians, Malians, Phthians, Dorians, Phocians,
and Locrians.
In the time of Philip of Macedon the Phocians were
excluded the alliance for having plundered the Delphian
temple, and the Lacedaemonians were admitted in their
place; but the Phocians, 60 years after, having behaved
gallantly against Brennus and his Gauls, were restored to
their seat in the Amphictyonic council. Under Augustus
the city Nicopolis was admitted into the body; and to
make room for it, the Magnesians, Malians, Phthians, and
Ainianians, who till then had distinct voices, were order¬
ed to be numbered with the Thessalians, and to have only
one common representative. Strabo speaks as if this
council were extinct in the times of Augustus and Tibe¬
rius ; but Pausanias, who lived many years after, under
Antoninus Pius, assures us it remained entire in his time,
and that the number of Amphictyons was then 30.
The members were of two kinds. Each city sent
two deputies, under different denominations; one called
Rfo/ivjj/.iwv, whose business seems to have been more im*
AMP 667
mediately to inspect what related to sacrifices and cere- Amphi-
monies of religion; the other, Ylvl-ayooug, charged with dromia
hearing and deciding causes and differences between pri- H .
vate persons. Both had an equal right to deliberate and^^H^™”’
vote in all that related to the common interests of Greece.
The hieromnemon was elected by lot, the pylagoras by
plurality of voices.
Though the Amphictyons were first instituted at Ther¬
mopylae, M. de Valois maintains that their first place of
residence was at Delphi, where, for some ages, the tran¬
quillity of the times found them no other employment than
that of being, if we may so call it, church-wardens of the
temple of Apollo. In after-times the approach of hostile
armies frequently drove them to Thermopylae, where they
took their station, to be nearer at hand to oppose the ene¬
mies’ progress, and order timely succour to the cities in
danger. Their ordinary residence, however, was at Delphi.
Here they decided all public differences and disputes
between any of the cities of Greece; but before they
entered on business, they jointly sacrificed an ox cut into
small pieces, as a symbol of their union. Their determi¬
nations were received with the greatest veneration, and
were even held sacred and inviolable.
The Amphictyons, at their admission, took a solemn
oath never to divest any city of its right of deputation;
never to avert its running waters: and if any attempts
of this kind were made by others, to make mortal war
against them ; more particularly, in case of any attempt to
rob the temple of any of its ornaments, that they would
employ hands, feet, tongue, their whole power to revenge
it. This oath was backed with terrible imprecations
against such as should violate it; e. g. May they meet all
the vengeance of Apollo, Diana, Minerva, &c., their soil
produce no fruit, their wives bring forth nothing but mon¬
sters, &c.
The stated terms of their meeting were in spring and
autumn. The spring meeting was called Ea^n Hu'kaia,
that in autumn MeroTrwgAij. On extraordinary occasions,
however, they met at any time of the year, or even con¬
tinued sitting all the year round.
Philip of Macedon usurped the right of presiding in
the assembly of the Amphictyons, and of first consulting
the oracle, which was called TLoowamia,.
AMPHIDROMIA, a feast celebrated by the ancients
on the first day after the birth of a child.
AMPHIDRYON, in ecclesiastical writers, denotes the
veil or curtain which was drawn before the door of the
bema in ancient churches.
AMPHILOCHIUS, bishop of Iconium in the fourth
century, was the friend of St Gregory Nazianzen and St
Basil. He assisted at the first general council of Con¬
stantinople in 381, presided at the council of Sida, and
w7as a strenuous opposer of the Arians. He died in 394;
and his works were published in Greek and Latin at Paris,
1644, by Francis Combefis.
AMPHILOCHUS, son of Amphiaraus and Enphyle,
was a celebrated diviner. He had an altar erected to him
at Athens, and an oracle at Mallos in Cilicia, which city
was founded by him and Mopsus. The answers of this
oracle were given by dreams ; the party inquiring used to
pass a night in the temple, and that night’s dream was the
answer. . .
AMPHIMACER, in Ancient Poetry, a foot consisting
of three syllables, whereof the first and the last are long,
and that in the middle short; such is the word castitas.
AMPHION, son of Jupiter and Antiope, who, accord¬
ing to the poets, made the rocks follow his music; and at
his harp the stones of Thebes danced into walls and a re¬
gular city.
668
Amphi-
poles
I!
Amphi¬
theatre.
AMP
AMPHIPOLES, in Antiquity, the principal magistrates
of Syracuse. They were established by Timoleon in the
109th Olympiad, after the expulsion of the tyrant Diony¬
sius. They governed Syracuse for the space of 300 years:
j and Diodorus Siculus assures us that they subsisted in his
time.
AMPHIPPII, in Grecian Antiquity, soldiers who in
war used two horses without saddles, and were dexterous
enough to leap from one to the other.
AMPHIPRORiE, in the naval affairs of the ancients,
vessels with a prow at each end. They were used chiefly
in rapid rivers and narrow channels, where it was not easy
to tack about.
AMPHIPROSTYLES, in the architecture of the an¬
cients, a temple which had four columns in the front, and
as many in the aspect behind.
AMPHISCII, among geographers, a name applied to
the people who inhabit the torrid zone. The Amphiscii,
as the word imports, have their shadows one part of the
year towards the north, and the other towards the south,
according to the sun’s place in the ecliptic. They are
also called Ascii.
AMPHITHEATRE, in ancient architecture, a build¬
ing of an elliptic form, of two or more stories of open ar¬
cades, with a number of interior galleries and arched pas¬
sages, which served both as a communication and support
to several rows of seats which rose above each other, and
were arranged round a large space called the arena. The
derivation of the word amphitheatre indicates that it is a
place where the spectators, circuitously arranged, saw the
performance equally well on all sides.
The history of amphitheatres is of considerable import¬
ance, in consequence of its connection with ancient man¬
ners. These structures owed their origin to the barbarity
of the ancients, and their ruin to the humanity of the mo¬
derns. They are the production of Roman invention in
the last ages of the republic. The Romans were immo¬
derately fond of every amusement of a bloody and hor¬
rible nature. Their rulers improved this general feature
in the Roman character, to rouse and foster that martial
spirit which rendered them masters of the world. After
the Samnite war had extended the Roman sceptre over
Etruria and the whole peninsula of Italy, the first gladia-
tory conflicts were exhibited in Rome in the year of the
city 490. Lucius Metellus brought into the circus the
elephants which were part of the spoil of the Carthaginians,
in the year 502, and this proved the introduction of wild
beasts into the spectacles of Rome. This addition was
equally agreeable to the Roman taste; and those who
courted the popular favour vied with each other in enter¬
taining the people in this barbarous manner. This soon
gave birth to a profession of men denominated gladiators,
who were trained to the combat, and for reward slaugh¬
tered one another in the forum, whilst every devouring
animal which the wilds of Asia or Africa produced added
to the horrid scene.
In the days of Pompey and Caesar these barbarous
amusements were given with an astonishing profusion. In
these games given by Pompey, the elephants attempted
to break down the barrier between them and the people:
this circumstance, and the form of the circus not enabling
all the spectators to have a full view, induced Caesar to
alter the original form, and construct edifices where the
people might be entertained without danger or interrup¬
tion. Amphitheatres were suited to this purpose ; there¬
fore they were adopted, and became the common place
for the exhibitions both of gladiators and wild beasts.
It is supposed that the first amphitheatre was composed
of those singular machines, formed by Caius Curio, for the
AMP
games which Caesar presented among the funeral honours Am
of his father. In a semicircular form Caius made two thes
large theatres, and opposed their backs to each other
and having amused the people in these the one half of
the day, then they wheeled round, forming one spacious
theatre, where the gladiators contended during the re¬
mainder of the day. Pliny is the only one who makes
mention of this amphitheatre ; and from his account it is
difficult to ascertain whether this was the first idea of an
amphitheatre, or whether the previous sight of one had
suggested this huge and wonderful structure. It is re¬
ported that Julius Caesar, a few years after, formed a
hunting theatre of wood; and, in consequence of the cir¬
cular position of the seats, it obtained the name of anrra-
phitheatre. This appears to have been of a very superior
kind, and in great estimation.
In the reign of Augustus, Statilius Taurus erected one
of stone, but it seems to have been seldom used; and,
from its being consumed by fire in the time of Nero, it is
evident that it was not wholly of stone. These wooden
buildings appear to have been generally temporary, but a
few of them permanent, from the establishment conferred
upon them. The politic spirit of Augustus induced him to
erect several of these ; and Caligula began one, which he
left unfinished. Nero formed a large and spacious one,
which is said to have been a year in building. Herod of
Judaea erected amphitheatres both in Jerusalem and in
Caesarea. During the reign of Tiberius, one was built at
Fidenae, which Tacitus informs us fell while the games
were performing, and slew or hurt about 50,000 persons.
There was another at Placentia, reported to have been the
most spacious in Italy; but it was destroyed by fire in the
contest between Vitellius and Otho.
The unfortunate accidents which happened to these
wooden buildings led to the construction of others of a
more durable and stronger nature, where the crowd might
be entertained without danger. This honour was reserv¬
ed to Vespasian and Titus. In his eighth consulate the
former began the amphitheatre, which the latter finished
during his reign. It is said that the expense of this
building would have erected a capital city, and it is de¬
servedly esteemed one of the most celebrated edifices of
ancient times. Dio says, that 9000 wild beasts were de¬
stroyed at the dedication of this huge building, but Eu-
tropius restricts their number to 5000. After the hunt¬
ing of these ferocious animals wras ended, instantly the
arena was filled with water, and sea animals were made to
contend, and a sea-fight exhibited. This immense build¬
ing obtained the appellation of the Coliseum.
This amphitheatre became the model of other amphi¬
theatres throughout the empire. Compared with the ori¬
ginal model, these were natural valleys, with seats formed
in the surrounding heights similar to the amphitheatre at
Corinth. On the declivity of two hills seats of stones
were sometimes placed, and the extremes formed by re¬
gular works of stone. Of this kind was that of Gortyna
in Candia. One in the vicinity of Sandwich in Kent had
its benches formed of turf; and similar must have been
those amphitheatres which were formed along with the
camps and military stations of the Roman soldiers.
When Christianity became the religion of the empire, it
meliorated the dispositions of the Romans, and induced
them to lay aside this barbarous custom. Constantine the
Great terminated the gladiatory combats in the east dur¬
ing his reign; but they were not finally abolished at Rome
until the beginning of the fifth century, in the reign of
Honorius. The combats of wild beasts continued, how¬
ever, some time longer; but during the progress of the
fifth century these gradually declined, until they were
AMP
Ani;i- finally abolished, and the amphitheatres were abandoned
to the ravages of time and accident. During the middle
^'^ages they were sometimes employed for judicial conflicts,
tilts, and tournaments; but these practices having been
discontinued, the amphitheatres experienced universal
neglect and ruin.
It is scarcely possible to give a clear idea of the manner
in which such immense crowds of people were seated and
arranged, and how they had a convenient entrance and a
returning. It has already been mentioned, that these
buildings were circuitous, and that the exterior circuit was
composed of two or more stories of arcades; and it may
now be added, that the number of these stories varied ac¬
cording to the nature of the building. A corresponding
number of arched passages and staircases opened upon
the ground floor towards these stories, in the direction of
radii towards the arena. These communications were
again intersected by arched passages, which encircled the
whole structure, and afforded an uninterrupted entrance
to every part of the amphitheatre. Sometimes an inter¬
mediate gallery surrounded the whole in the centre of the
fabric, and served as a common place of resort to all the
stairs which led to the higher galleries. This was the
form of one at Nismes. Sometimes each staircase had its
distinct communication by itself. Such was the case with
one at Verona.
The four radiating entries on the diameter were usually
more capacious; and by the two principal of these the
emperor, the senate, and other persons of distinction,
were conducted to their seats on a place which was called
the podium. The other two led to the arena, and by these
the gladiators and beasts made their entrance. The vari¬
ous ranks of the people passed by the staircases, which
led to their respective seats. The doors which opened
from the staircases were called vomitories, and varied in
magnitude, according to the extent of the amphitheatre
and the number of exterior arches. The number of seats
between the several vomitories was unequal, and seems to
have been subject to no positive regulation. These benches
were about one foot and eight inches in height, and about
two feet four inches in breadth. A platform four feet
eight inches broad was formed of one of these benches,
which served as a circular communication to the whole
building. These obtained the name of precinctions, and
the boundaries on the side were called belts. The latter
were surrounded by balustrades, to protect the persons
from falling who occupied the benches in the vicinity.
The podium was more spacious than the precinctions, and
was a platform encircling the arena. From one precinc-
tion to the belt of another, a flight of stairs two feet six
inches in breadth descended opposite to every vomitory.
Small canals were cut in the tops of the benches, by which
the rain and urine were conducted from bench to bench,
until they reached the instruments prepared to convey
them to the drains below. These stairs radiated from the
highest bench to the podium; so that, with the precinc¬
tions, they separated the whole cavity into wedge-like
divisions, which the people occupied according to their
rank.
Ihe amphitheatre called the Coliseum was of an ellip¬
tical form, whose longest diameter was about 615 English
feet six inches, and the shortest 510. The length of the
diameter of the arena was about 281 feet, and the breadth
reserving a space for the seats and galleries of about
157 feet in breadth. The external circumference covered
a superficies of about five acres and a half, and could
scarcely be included in a parallelogram of seven acres.
Ihree stories of arcades, adorned with columns of the
hloric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders, and inclosed with a
A M P 669
pilastrade of the Corinthian order, composed the external Amphi-
elevation. The first story rose about four feet from the theatre,
ground, and the pavement supported the basis of the'^v^/
columns. The columns which supported the upper stories
were placed upon pedestals. A stylobata supported the
pilastrade, in which were the windows of an intermediate
gallery, and in every second interpilaster was a window
to illuminate the highest gallery. A cantaliver cornice,
perforated with square holes, through which the erect
pieces of wood passed that supported the awning to a
range of corbels, about the centre of the pilastrade, crown¬
ed the building. These various columns, pilasters, and
stories, appear to have been continued without interrup¬
tion around the whole edifice. The height of the first
story was about S3 feet six inches, the second about 39, and
the third about 38; the pilastrade about 46; and the
whole, including the blocking course and the steps, was
about 164 feet in height.
An ellipsis of 80 open arches formed the exterior circuit
of the ground plan ; the piers, with three-quarter columns
in front, of about two feet 10 inches diameter. The four
which corresponded to the four semi-diameters formerly
mentioned, were about 14 feet two inches, and 76 of the
arches were about 13 feet eight inches.- These arches led
to a large double corridor, that encircled the whole: this
corridor is a magnificent and distinguishing feature in the
Coliseum theatre. Square openings in the precinction
above, illuminated the interior corridor; and the corridor
which was united with the wall of the podium appears to
have been illuminated in a similar manner. A double
corridor was seen on the floor of the second story, direct¬
ly above the corridor of the lower floor, and an interior
corridor which sent forth stairs leading to a range of vo¬
mitories on the one hand, and on the other hand an inter¬
mediate corridor which formed a mezzanine floor above
the double corridor of the interior circuit. Here the
stairs began to ascend to the next story, and square holes
in the upper floor enlightened this gallery. A double
corridor formed the third story, and it appears that here
the stairs commenced that led to the galleries above.
There were also some windows in the interior wall, and
vomitories which opened to the uppermost cunei of benches.
In a similar manner were other three stories constructed
and filled above ; the whole composing a most magnificent
and spacious structure.
Justus Lipsius supposes that this amphitheatre was
capable of containing 87,000 spectators on the benches;
and Fontana adds 22,000 for the galleries and other pas¬
sages. Upon a fair calculation it appears, that if all was
crowded, it might contain about 80,000. This magnifi¬
cent structure certainly excelled the monuments both of
Grecian and Egyptian genius which have reached our
times. When this amphitheatre was in its glory, and
crowded with Romans, the sight must have been magni¬
ficent and striking. If the report is accurate that this
was completed in two years and nine months, it affords an
astonishing instance of Roman vigour and persevering in¬
dustry. Besides former depredations, Michael Angelo
removed near the one half of the external wall to build
the Palazzo Farnese. To prevent these depredations,
Pope Benedict XIV. consecrated these ruins, and erected
several altars, which were much frequented on the Sun¬
days and Fridays, before the revolution in France. To
guard these relics, a hermit was stationed in a small
dwelling near the centre.
The different kinds of amusement have already been Amuse-
mentioned during the progress of the history. Gladiators ments.
contended together, or entered the lists with wild beasts.
These wild animals were hunted or encountered, or left to
670 AMP
AMP
Amphi- devour each other, according to the humour of the times, or
trite the taste of him who gave the entertainment. It appears
. N also, that criminals were sometimes forced to fight with
these ferocious creatures, for the entertainment of the
people of Rome; and, in the dawn of Christianity, many
of the Christians suffered death in this brutal manner. It
is also reported, that artificial mountains were sometimes
constructed with caves below, from whence these devour¬
ing animals rushed forth to attack their prey.
Information concerning the laws that regulated the
amphitheatre is rather scanty; but the following are
among the number. In the centre of one side of the po¬
dium was the emperor’s seat, called the suggestion, and
highly adorned. The remainder of the podium was oc¬
cupied by senators; and when this space was not suffi¬
cient, several of the adjacent wedges were appropriated
to the other senators and to persons of distinction. The
equestrians, and the civil and military tribunes, had their
places next assigned them. From this order both the li-
berti and the legati were excluded. The married men
sat by themselves. The young men w'ere also arranged
by themselves, and their tutors sat near them to observe
their conduct. The attendants and servants occupied the
highest gallery. The vestals were seated, and frequently
the princesses and the ladies of distinguished rank sat
along with them. The front of the gallery was assigned
to the women, who were placed on chairs ; and the lowest
order of plebeians stood behind them. It appears also,
that for the better accommodation of the people, the dif¬
ferent tribes had particular wedges allotted to them. It
is also proper to remark, that the arrangement in the dif¬
ferent provinces was different from that of Rome, as cir¬
cumstances varied. The general direction of the amphi¬
theatre was under the care of an officer, named villicus
omphitheatri; and different officers, who were called lo-
carii, had the direction of the cunei. By carefully pre¬
venting any person from occupying a place to which he
was not entitled, all confusion was prevented, and strict
order maintained.
Itemains. The means used by Pope Benedict to preserve the Co¬
liseum at Rome have already been mentioned. Of one
which was erected at Verona, only four arches of the ex¬
ternal circuit remained at the commencement of the eigh¬
teenth century. These consist of three stories of about
90 English feet. The whole building was erected without
cement, and joined and secured by iron cramps, overlaid
with lead. The superficies is about four acres and near¬
ly one third. One erected at Nismes has suffered much
dilapidation ; but the remains are yet worthy of the at¬
tention of the traveller. At Pola in Istria, there are the
remains of an amphitheatre built on the declivity of a hill.
It was erected of stone, with cramps of iron; and all the
benches and other parts constructed of wood have been
destroyed.
AMPHITRITE (from a/xp/rgm, circumferendd), in the
heathen mythology, the wife of Neptune, and goddess of
the sea; sometimes taken for the sea.
AMPHITRYON, son of Alcaeus, and the father of
Hercules ; less known by his own exploits than from his
wife Alcmena’s adventure.
AMPHORA, in Antiquity, a liquid measure among the
Greeks and Romans. The Roman amphora contained 48
sextaries, equal to about seven gallons one pint English
wine measure; and the Grecian or Attic amphora con¬
tained one third more.
Amphora was also a dry measure used by the Ro¬
mans, and contained about three bushels.
Amphora, among the Venetians, is the largest measure
used for liquids, containing about 16 quarts.
AMPHORARIUM Vinum, in Antiquity, denotes that Amrt
which is drawn or poured into amphorae or pitchers; by *
way of distinction from vinum doliare, or cask wine. The
Romans had a method of keeping wine in amphorae for
many years to ripen, by fastening the lids tight down withal
pitch or gypsum, and placing them either in a situation
within reach of smoke, or under ground.
AMPHOTIDES, in Antiquity, a kind of armour or
covering for the ears, worn by the ancient pugiles, to pre¬
vent their adversaries from laying hold of that part.
AMPLIATION, in a general sense, denotes the act of
enlarging or extending the compass of a thing. On a
medal of the emperor Antoninus Pius, we find the title
Ampliator Civium given him, on account of his having
extended the jus civitatis, or right of citizenship, to many
states and people before excluded from that privilege.
Indeed it is generally supposed that this prince made the
famous constitution, whereby all the subjects of the empire
were made citizens of Rome.
Ampliation, in Homan Antiquity, was the deferring
to pass sentence in certain causes. This the judge did,
by pronouncing the word amplius ; or by writing the let¬
ters N. L. for non liquet; thereby signifying, that, as the
cause was not clear, it would be necessary to bring further
evidence.
AMPLITUDE, in Astronomy, an arch of the horizon
intercepted between the east or west point and the centre
of the sun or a planet at its rising or setting; and so is
either north and south, or ortive and occasive.
Magnetical Amplitude, the different rising or setting of
the sun from the east or west points of the compass. It
is found by observing the sun, at his rising and setting,
by an amplitude compass.
AMPSANCTI Vallis, or Ampsancti Lacus, a cave
or lake in the heart of the Hirpini, or Principato Ultra,
near the city Tricento. (Cicero, Virgil, Pliny.) It is now
called Moffeta, from Mephitis, the goddess of stench, who
had a temple there. The ancient poets imagined that this
gulf led to hell. The Moffeta is thus described by Mr
Swinburne: “ We were led into a narrow valley, extend¬
ing a considerable way to the south-west, and pressed in
on both sides by high ridges thickly covered with copses
of oak. The bottom of the dell is bare and arid: in the
lowest part, and close under one of the hills, is an oval
pond of muddy ash-coloured water, not above fifty feet in
diameter: it boils up in several places with great force in
irregular fits, which are always preceded by a hissing
sound. The water was several times spouted up as high
as our heads in a diagonal direction; a whirpool being
formed round the tube, like a bason, to receive it as it fell.
A large body of vapour is continually thrown out with a
loud rumbling noise. The stones on the rising ground that
hangs over the pool are quite yellow, being stained with
the fumes of sulphur and sal-ammoniac. A most nauseous
smell rising with the steam, obliged us to watch the wind,
and keep clear of it, to avoid suffocation. The water is
quite insipid, both as to taste and smell; the clay at the
edge is white, and carried into Puglia to rub upon scabby
sheep, on which account the lake is farmed out at 100
ducats a year. On a hill above this lake stood formerly
a temple dedicated to the goddess Mephitis; but I per'
ceived no remains of it.”
AMPTHILL, a market town in the hundred of Red-
bourne Stoke, in the county of Bedford. It is pleasantly
situated in a valley between two gentle elevations. A
Gothic cross in the centre of the town, to the memory of
Catherine of Arragon, queen of Henry VIII. who re¬
sided here, was erected in the year 1774, by the late earl
of Upper Ossory, the possessor of the house which she
r
AMR
Anlp,a inhabited, and who bequeathed it to Lord Holland. The
|| market is on Saturday. It is 43 miles from London.
Amm-ir-The population in 1801 was 1234; in 1811, 1277; and in
ak 1821, 1527.
AMPULLA, in Antiquity, a round big-bellied vessel
which the ancients used in their baths, to contain oil for
anointing their bodies; also the name of a cup for drink¬
ing out of at table.
Ampulla, among ecclesiastical writers, denotes one of
the sacred vessels used at the altars. Ampullae were also
used for holding the oil used in chrismation, consecration,
coronation, &c. Among the ornaments of churches we
find frequent mention made of ampuls or vials.
Knights of St Ampulla belong to an order instituted by
Clovis I. king of France. At the coronation they bear up
the canopy under which the ampulla is carried in procession.
AMPURI AS, the capital of the territory of Ampurdan,
in Catalonia, seated at the mouth of the river Fluvia, in
long. 2. 56. E. lat. 42. 5. N.
AMRAPHEL, the king of Shinar or Babylonia, confe¬
derated with Chedorlaomer, king of the Elamites, and two
other kings, to make war against the kings of Pentapolis;
that is to say, of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the three neigh¬
bouring cities. The kings who were in league with Am-
raphel worsted those of Pentapolis, plundered their city,
and carried off abundance of captives, among whom was
Lot, Abraham’s nephew ; but Abraham pursued them, re¬
took Lot, and recovered all the spoil.
AMRAS, a strong castle of Germany, seated in Tyrol;
by some German writers called Arx Ambrosiana, which
was a house of pleasure for the archdukes to retire to in
the heat of the summer.
AMRITSIR {the fountain of nectar), an open town of
Hindostan, the capital of the Seik nation, and the chief
place of their religious worship. It is eight miles in cir-
cuinference; has narrow streets, with lofty houses built of
burnt bricks; and is still the great commercial mart for
the shawls and. saffron of Cashmere, and various other
commodities from the Deccan and eastern parts of India.
Its manufactures are confined to a few coarse cloths and
inferior silks ; but from being still the resort of merchants
and the residence of bankers, it is a place of considerable
opulence. But the chief source of its opulence is the
pond or sacred basin, immersion in which is supposed by
the Seiks, and wives of the Hindoos, to purify them from
all sin. It is about 135 paces square, built of bricks, in
the centre of which stands a temple dedicated to Gooroo
Govind Singh, in which is lodged, under a silken canopy,
the book of laws written by this saint; and from 500 to
600 priests, who officiate at the temple, are supported by
the pious contributions of the devotees. Long. 74. 48. E.
Lat. 31. 33. N. 44 miles east from Lahore.
AMRU-EBN-AL-AS, one of the most famous of the
first race of Saracen leaders, was descended of Asia, of
the tribe of Koreish, by a notorious prostitute. In his
youth he indulged in poetry, and wrote satirical verses
against the person and doctrine of Mahomet. His zeal in
opposing the new religion prompted him to undertake an
embassy to the king of Ethiopia, to stimulate him against
the converts whom he had taken under his protection. It
ls_ uncertain by what arguments he was induced to change
his religious sentiments ; but he returned a convert to the
Mahometan faith, and, along with Caled, joined the fugi¬
tive prophet at Medina. The military talents of Amru
had begun to attract general attention, when Abubeker
resolved to make a new attack upon Syria, in which he
obtained the chief command. After several displays of
his military valour and address in some successful enter¬
prises, he rose to the elevated station of chief in Irak,
AMS 671
when Caled requested the attendance of all the Arabian Amrum
generals before Damascus. During the caliphate of Omar li
he also served in Palestine, under Abu Obeidah. While Amster-
besieging Caesarea, he held a memorable conference'with dam'
Constantine, the son of the emperor Heraclius. Historians
mention that their time was chiefly occupied in producing
genealogical arguments to prove the affinity of the Greeks
and Arabians, and the consequent rights of the latter as
their descendants.
After the death of Obeidah, Amru assumed the chief
command in Syria, in which he was confirmed by the caliph,
notwithstanding the opposition of Othman. An expedi¬
tion against Egypt having been resolved upon, Amru
wrote to the caliph, informing him that he would instantly
march into that country. During the progress of his march,
attended by only 4000 Arabs, a messenger from Omar
arrived with a letter, containing directions to return, if he
should receive this letter in the territories of Syria; but
if he should receive it in those of Egypt, he might advance,
and all needful assistance would be instantly sent him.
Anticipating the contents, he hastened on to the frontiers
of Egypt, and read the instructions of the caliph. Then
requesting some of the inhabitants to be brought before
him, and inquiring of them in what country they were,
and being informed that they were in Egypt, Amru re¬
plied, “ Let us, then, continue our march.” Having
taken Pharma, he advanced to Misrah, the ancient Mem¬
phis, and besieged it for seven months. Although nu¬
merous reinforcements arrived, he would have found it
very difficult to storm the place previous to the inunda¬
tion of the Nile, if Mokawkas had not treacherously lessen¬
ed the forces of the citadel, which was consequently taken
by storm ; and the Greeks who remained there were either
made prisoners or put to the sword. On the same spot
Amru erected a city named Fostat, the ruins of which are
now known by the name of Old Cairo. The Coptic Chris¬
tians, who composed the great majority of the Egyptian
natives, and who were enemies to the Catholic Greeks,
after this victory submitted to Amru, and engaged to pro¬
vide quarters and support for the Mussulman army.
Amru pursued the Greeks to Alexandria, and, after an
obstinate and bloody siege of 14 months, the city was
taken a. d. 640. He was disposed to preserve the famous
library, and to give it as a present to John the gram¬
marian ; but, by the command of the caliph, he was
obliged to commit it to the flames. If the relation is not
exaggerated, such was the number of books in that famous
library, that they afforded fuel to 5000 baths during the
space of six months.
In the year 663, of the Hegira 43, Amru died in his
government of Egypt, highly esteemed, and much regret¬
ted by his countrymen. In a pathetic oration to his
children on his death-bed, he bitterly lamented his youth¬
ful offence in satirizing the prophet, although Mahomet
had forgiven the offence, and had frequently affirmed
that “ there was no Mussulman more sincere and stedfast
in the faith than Amru.”
AMRUM, an island of Denmark, in the German Ocean,
between latitude 54. 38. and 54. 43. It contains about 15
square miles, with 1500 inhabitants. It is in the barony
of Westerlandfohr and Amrum, and the diocese of Ribe.
AMSBURY, or Ambersbury. See Ambresbury.
AMSDORFIANS, in Ecclesiastical History, a sect of
Protestants in the 16th century, who took their name from
Amsdorf, their leader. They maintained that good works
were not only unprofitable, but were obstacles to salvation.
AMSTERDAM, a city, formerly the capital of the seven
United Provinces, and though, since the formation of the
kingdom of the Netherlands, no longer the capital, is still
(572
AMS
Amster- by far the largest and most important place in that king-
dam. dom. It is the chief of the arrondissement of the same
name, the seat of the commanders of the naval and mili¬
tary departments, and of the courts of justice. It is built
in the shape of a half-moon, the two horns of which ter¬
minate in the river Y on the north side, while on the
other sides it is surrounded by meadows, gardens, and
country houses. The river Amstett, which supplies it with
fresh water, in part runs through the city, and is distribut¬
ed into several branches which terminate in the Y. The
ancient fortifications are neglected, and some parts of
them converted into public walks. A great number of
canals, mostly navigable for small craft, form 90 islands,
which are joined by no less than 280 bridges, part of stone
and part of wood. The borders of these canals are com¬
monly planted with trees, which, with the stagnant state
of much of the water, is thought to be prejudicial to health,
and, among other causes, produces a mortality greater in
proportion to the number of inhabitants than in any other
city of Europe. The foundation of all the houses and
public buildings is formed by driving piles from 50 to
60 feet in length, through the swampy ground, till they
rest firmly on a solid bank of sand below the morass: the
upper ends of the piles are then sawed to a level height,
and thick planks are nailed to them, on which the masonry
is constructed. This makes the foundation the most ex¬
pensive part of the edifice. The stadthouse, a most ponder¬
ous mass of building, is said to have required for its foun¬
dation not less than 11,000 of the piles above described.
The buildings arc, however, most firmly connected to¬
gether, insomuch that, though many of them have de¬
clined from the perpendicular, they are still considered to
be perfectly secured against falling, though they are not
secured against sinking, if the sand on which the piles rest
should give way, as was the case a few years ago, when a
stack of warehouses, heavily filled with corn, sunk and
totally disappeared.
The public buildings are neither numerous nor very
much distinguished by their beauty. The stadthouse,
formerly the bank, under Buonaparte the imperial palace,
and now occasionally a royal residence, is a very large,
lofty, heavy building, but the interior was magnificently
furnished with every thing new on the occasion of a short
visit made by Napoleon and his empress, when Holland
was united to France. The only other buildings worthy
of notice are, the exchange, the admiralty, the East India
house and warehouses, the barracks, the new Lutheran
church, the old church, the new church, and the west
church. The private buildings are lofty, narrow, with
large windows, and have cellars beneath them, which are
mostly occupied by the working classes as separate tene¬
ments.
The inhabitants of Amsterdam amount, by the latest
accounts, to about 235,000; of these about 48,000 are Ca¬
tholics, 24,000 Jews, and the rest Protestants of various
sects, all of which are alike protected, but the greater
part belong to the Calvinistic communion. The commerce
with all parts of the world is very extensive, but said to
be on the decline, owing to the more favourable circum¬
stances of the rival cities Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Ham¬
burg. About 2500 vessels, great and small, enter and de¬
part annually by the sea, and about 350 by the rivers
Rhine, Meuse, and the various canals. It is a great en¬
trepot for corn, tobacco, wine, and the tropical productions
both of the East and West Indies. It is also a great
theatre for money transactions in banking, in loans, and in
exchanges. The fisheries, especially that of whales, are
still objects of importance. No city in Europe, for its ex¬
tent, possesses so large a portion of disposable capital as
AMU
Amsterdam , and hence, in spite of its unfavourable situa- Ai|>r.
tion, it continues to be a place of the first commercial im¬
portance. This has been manifested within the last few
years, by the great operation of constructing a canal,
which is navigable for ships of the line from Amsterdam
to the Helder.
The manufactures here are very numerously produced.
Cottons are made and printed extensively. Woollen
goods of various kinds, sugar, snuff, tobacco, silver wire,
gold and silver leaf, copperplate, iron-work, lead and pew¬
ter work, painters’ colours, hair pencils and painters’
brushes, sealing-wax, wafers, soap, paper-hangings, porce¬
lain, gin, and numerous other commodities. The cutting
of diamonds and other precious stones has long been ex¬
tensively practised here. Ship-building is an important
branch of industry. The materials of iron, copper, sail¬
cloth, cordage, and the other requisites, are prepared in
the city. The theatres and other amusements are similar
to those in other cities of the same extent and opulence.
The police is remarkably well regulated, and the utmost
cleanliness is maintained both in the avenues, streets, and
approaches. Owing to the intense fogs in winter, ropes
are fastened along the paths by the sides of the canals, to
prevent passengers from walking into them. There are
some literary societies, but they seem more adapted to
encourage the fine arts than either science or literature.
Long. 4. 40. 6. E. Lat. 52. 22. 5. N. (g.)
Amsterdam, or Tongataboo, is also the name of an
island in the South Sea, said to have been discovered by
Tasman, a Dutch navigator. Its greatest extent from
east to west is about 21 miles, and from north to south
about 13. It is broad at the east end, and runs taper
towards the west, where it turns, and runs to a point due
north. It is about six leagues to the west of Middleburg.
The shore is surrounded by a coral rock, and its most ele¬
vated parts are not above six or eight yards above the
level of the sea. It is wholly laid out in plantations, in
which are cultivated some of the richest productions of
nature. Long. 175. W. Lat. 21. 11. S.
AMULET, a charm or preservative against mischief,
witchcraft, or diseases. Amulets have been made of stone,
metal, simples, animals, and, in a word, of every thing that
imagination could suggest. Sometimes they consisted of
words, characters, and sentences, ranged in a particular
order, and engraved upon wood, &c. and worn about the
neck, or some other part of the body. At other times
they were neither written nor. engraved, but prepared with
many superstitious ceremonies, great regard being usually
paid to the influence of the stars. The Arabians have
given to this species of amulet the name of Talisman.
All nations have been fond of amulets: the Jews were
extremely superstitious in the use of them to drive away
diseases; and the Mishna forbids them, unless received
from an approved man who had cured at least three per¬
sons before by the same means. Among the Christians of
the early times amulets were made of the wood of the
cross, or ribands with a text of Scripture written in them,
as preservatives against diseases.
AMURATH, or Amurat I. the fourth emperor of the
Turks, and one of the greatest princes of the Ottoman
empire, succeeded Solyman in 1390. He took from the
Greeks Gallipoli in Thrace, and Adrianople, which last he
chose for the place of his residence. He defeated the
prince of Bulgaria, conquered Misnia, chastised his rebel¬
lious bashaws, and is said to have gained 36 battles.
This prince, in order to form a body of devoted troops
that might serve as the immediate guards of his person
and dignity, appointed his officers to seize annually; as
the imperial property, the fifth part of the Christian youth
A M W
Anwith taken in war. These, after being instructed in the Ma-
' | hometan religion, inured to obedience by severe discipline,
Anil'll- an(j trained to warlike exercises, were formed into a body
'^ ’^ distinguished by the name of Janizaries or New Soldiers.
The Janizaries soon became the chief strength and pride
of the Ottoman armies, and were distinguished above all
the troops whose duty it was to attend on the person of
the sultan. The death of Lazarus, despot of Servia, who
had endeavoured in vain to stop the progress of Amurath’s
arms, touched Milo, one of his servants, in so sensible a
manner, that, in revenge, he stabbed the sultan in the
midst of his troops, and killed him upon the spot, A. d.
1389, after he had reigned 23 years.
Amurath II., the 10th emperor of the Turks, was the
eldest son of Mahomet L, and succeeded his father in
1121. He besieged Constantinople and Belgrade without
success; but he took Thessalonica from the Venetians,
and compelled the prince of Bosnia, and John Castriot,
prince of Albania, to pay him tribute. He obliged the
latter to send his three sons as hostages, among whom
was George, celebrated in history by the name of Scan-
derbeg. John Hunniades defeated Amurath’s troops, and
obliged him to make peace with the Christian princes in
1412. These princes afterwards breaking the peace,
Amurath defeated them in the famous battle of Varna,
November 10, 1444, which proved so fatal to the Chris¬
tians, and in which Ladislaus king of Hungary was killed.
He afterwards defeated Hunniades, and killed above
20,000 of -his men; but George Castriot, better known
by the name of Scanderbeg, being re-established in the
estates of his father, defeated the Turks several times, and
obliged Amurath to raise the siege of Croia, the capital
of Albania. Amurath died, chagrined with his ill success,
and infirm with age, February 11, 1451, at Adrianople. It
is observed to this prince’s honour, that he always kept
his treaties with the greatest fidelity.
Amurath IV., surnamed the Valiant, was the son of
Achmet I., and in the year 1622, at the age of 13, suc¬
ceeded his uncle Mustapha. Bagdad fell into the hands
of the Persians, and several other disastrous events cloud¬
ed the commencement of his reign. The recovery of
Bagdad being a favourite object, in the year 1637 he
marched against it; and after thirty days of unremitting
assault, with the expense of much blood, he took posses¬
sion cif the city. By pushing his men forward to the at¬
tack by the point of the scimitar, and by slaughtering
30,000 Persians in cold blood after their surrender, he
displayed the brutal ferocity of his disposition. One per¬
son alone is reported to have moved his obdurate heart
on the present occasion. A famous player upon the harp
entreated those who were sent to massacre him to allow
him to speak to the sultan previous to his death. Informed
who he was, the sultan requested him to give a specimen
of his skill in his profession : with this he readily complied,
and touched his harp so melodiously, and sung in such
pathetic strains the lamentations on the tragedy of Bag¬
dad, intermixed with the praises of Amurath, that the
hard heart of the cruel monarch being at length softened,
he melted into tears, and saved both the musician and the
remaining inhabitants.
The violence of Amurath soon enfeebled his constitu¬
tion; and the fruits of his debaucheries and excesses
were obvious even in the prime of life. At the age of 31
he fell a victim to an excess of revelling in the feast of
Bairam, in the year 1640.
AMWELL, a large village in the hundred of Hertford,
of the county of that name, 20 miles from London. It is
at the head of the New River, conducted to the metropo-
hs by Sir Hugh Middleton, between the years 1606 and
VOL. II.
ANA 673
1612. The population in 180F was 772; in 1811, 891; Amyla-
and in 1821, 1110. ’ ceous
AMYLACEOUS, from amylum, starch, a term ap- Ajia
plied to the fine flour of farinaceous seeds, in which con-
sists their nutritive part.
AMYNTA, in literary history, a beautiful pastoral
comedy composed by Tasso, the model of all dramatic
pieces wherein shepherds are actors. The Pastor Fido
and Filli de Sciro are only copies of this excellent piece.
AMYNTOR, aguvrcdg, formed of the verb agvvw, I de¬
fend or avenge, properly denotes a person who defends or
vindicates a cause.
AMYOT, James, bishop of Auxerre and grand almoner
of France, was born of an obscure family at Melun, the
30th of October 1514, and studied philosophy at Paris, in
the college of Cardinal le Moine. He was naturally dull
and heavy; but diligence and application made amends
for these natural defects. He left Paris at the age of 23,
and went to Bourges with the Sieur Colin, who had the
abbey of St Ambrose in that city. At the recommenda¬
tion of this abbot, a secretary of state took Amyot into
his house to be tutor to his children. The great improve¬
ments they made under his dh’ection induced the secre¬
tary to recommend him to the Princess Margaret, duchess
of Berry, only sister of Francis I.; and by means of this
recommendation Amyot was made public professor of
Greek and Latin in the university of Bourges. It was
during this time he translated into French the Amours
of Theagines and Chariclea, which Francis I. was so
pleased with, that he conferred upon him the abbey of
Bellosane. He also translated Plutarch’s Lives, which he
dedicated to the king; and afterwards undertook that of
Plutarch’s Morals, which he ended in the reign of Charles
IX. and dedicated to that prince. Charles conferred upon
him the abbey of St Cornelius de Compiegne, and made
him grand almoner of France and bishop of Auxerre.
He died in 1593, aged 79.
AMYRALDISM, a name given by some writers to the
doctrine of universal grace, as explained and asserted by
Amyraldus, or Moses Amyraut, and others, his followers,
among the reformed in France, towards the middle of the
17th century.
This doctrine principally consisted of the following par¬
ticulars, viz. that God desires the happiness of all men,
and none are excluded by a divine decree; that none
can obtain salvation without faith in Christ; that God re¬
fuses to none the power of believing, though he does not
grant to all his assistance, that they may improve this
power to saving purposes; and that many perish through
their own fault. Those who embraced this doctrine were
called Universalists; though it is evident they rendered
grace universal in words, but partial in reality, and are
chargeable with greater inconsistencies than the Supra-
lapsarians.
AMYRAUT, Moses, an eminent French Protestant
divine, born at Bourgueil in Touraine in 1596. He
studied at Saumur, where he was chosen professor of
divinity ; and his learned works gained him the esteem of
Catholics as well as Protestants, particularly of Cardinal
Richelieu, who consulted him on a plan of reuniting their
churches, which, however, as may well be supposed, came
to nothing. He published a piece, in which he attempt¬
ed to explain the mystery of predestination and grace,
which occasioned a controversy between him and some
other divines. He also wrote An Apology for the Pro¬
testants, A Paraphrase on the New Testament, and seve¬
ral other books. This eminent divine died in 1664.
ANA, a Latin plural termination, appropriated to va¬
rious collections of the observations and criticisms of
4 Q
ANA.
674
Ana. eminent characters delivered in conversation and re-
corded by their friends, or discovered among their papers
after their decease. Though the term Ana is but of
modern origin, the species of composition to which it has
been applied is not of such recent date as some persons
have imagined. It appears, from D’Herbelot’s Biblio-
iheque Orientals, that, since the earliest periods, the eastern
nations have been in the habit of preserving the maxims
of their sages. From them this practice passed to the
Greeks and Romans. Plato and Xenophon treasured up
and recorded the sayings of their master Socrates. From
their example Arrian, in the concluding books of his
Enchiridion, which have not descended to posterity, col¬
lected the casual observations which had dropped from
Epictetus. The numerous apophthegms scattered in Plu¬
tarch, Diogenes Laertius, and other writers, evince that
it had been customary in Greece to preserve the ideas
delivered by illustrious characters. It appears that Julius
Caesar compiled a book of apophthegms, in which he re¬
lated the bon-mots of Cicero; and Quintilian informs us,
that a freedman of that celebrated wit and orator com¬
posed three books of a work entitled De Jocis Ciceronis.
We are told by Suetonius, that Caius Melissus, originally
the slave, but afterwards the freedman and librarian, of
Maecenas, collected the sayings of his master; and Aulus
Gellius has filled his Nodes Atticee with anecdotes which
he heard from those distinguished characters whose so¬
ciety he frequented in Rome. Were the books compiled
by the freedmen of Cicero and Maecenas now extant,
they might be entitled Ana ; and it is certainly to be re¬
gretted that we possess no authentic record of the
conversational remarks or hints which dropped from the
sages, orators, or statesmen of Greece and Rome. How
interesting would be a Colloquia Mensalia of Atticus or
Caesar !
But though vestiges of this species of composition may
be traced in the classical ages, it is only in modern times
that it has attained to full popularity and perfection.
Literary anecdotes, critical reflections, and historical in¬
cidents, came to be mingled with the detail of bon-mots
and ludicrous tales; so that instruction and entertainment
were agreeably blended. The term Ana seems to have
been applied to such collections as far back as the begin¬
ning of the fifteenth century. Thus, Francesco Barbaro,
in a letter to Poggio, says, that the information and
anecdotes which Poggio and Barthelemi Montepolitiano
had picked up during a literary excursion through Ger¬
many, will be called Ana: “ Quemadmodum mala ab
Appio e Claudia gente Appiana, et pira a Mallio Malliana
cognominata sunt, sic haec literarum quee vestra ope et
opera Germania in Italiam deferetur, aliquando et Pog-
giana et Montepolitiana vocabuntur.”
Poggio Bracciolini, to whom this letter is addressed,
and to whom the world is indebted for the preservation of
so many classical remains, is the first eminent person of
modern times whose jests and opinions have been trans¬
mitted to posterity. Poggio was secretary to five succes¬
sive popes. During the pontificate of Martin V., who was
chosen in 1417, Poggio and other members of the Roman
chancery were in the habit of assembling in a common
hall adjoining the Vatican, in order to converse freely on
all subjects. Being more studious of wit than of truth,
they termed this apartment Bvggiale, a word signifying
a place of recreation where tales are related, and which
Poggio himself interprets Mendaciorum Officina. At
these meetings Poggio and his friends discussed the news
and scandal of the day, and communicated to each other
entertaining anecdotes ; they attacked what they did not
approve, and they approved of little ; they also indulged
in the utmost latitude of satiric remark, dealing out their A
sarcasms with such impartiality, that they did not spare
even the pope and cardinals. The pointed jests and hu¬
morous stories which occurred in these unrestrained con¬
versations were collected by Poggio, and formed the chief
materials of his Facetioe, first printed, according to De
Bure, in 1470. This celebrated collection, which forms a
principal part of the Poggiana, is chiefly valuable as re¬
cording interesting anecdotes of eminent men of the four¬
teenth and fifteenth centuries. It also contains a number of
quibbles ox jeux-de-mots, and a still greater number of idle
and licentious stories. Many of these, however, are not
original, some of them being taken from ancient authors,
and a still greater number from the Fabliaux of the Trou-
veurs. Thus, the Fabliau La, Cidotte des Cordeliers is the
Braccce Bivi Francisci of Poggio; Le Meunier d’Aleus
is Poggio’s Quinque Ova ; Du Vilain et de sa Femme is
his Mulier Demersa ; and Du Pre Tondu is the Pertinacia
Muliebris of the Facetiae. On the other hand, Poggio
has suggested much to succeeding writers. Hans Car¬
vel’s Ring is his Visio Francisci Filelji; and Fontaine’s
fables, Le Charlatan, Le Coq et le Benard, and that of the
Wolf and Fox pleading before the Ape, are from stories
originally related by Poggio. The Facetiae forms, upon
the whole, the most amusing and interesting part of the
Poggiana printed at Amsterdam in 1720; but this collec-Pogg
tion also comprehends some further anecdotes of his life,
and a few scattered maxims extracted from his graver
compositions.
Though Poggio was the first person whose remarks and
bon-mots were collected under the name of Ana, the *Sca-
ligerana, which contains the opinions of Joseph Scaliger,
was the first work published under that appellation; and,
accordingly, may be regarded as having led the way to
that class of publications.
There are two collections called Scaligerana—a prima Scali;
and secunda Scaligerana. The first was compiled by aana-
physician named Francis Vertunien, Sieur de Lavau, who
attended the family of the Messieurs Chateigner, in
whose house Joseph Scaliger resided. He, in conse¬
quence, had frequent opportunities of meeting that
celebrated critic, and was in the custooa of committing
to paper the learned or ingenious observations which
dropped from him in the course of conversation; to
which he occasionally added remarks of his own. ihis
collection, which was chiefly Latin, remained in manu¬
script many years after the death of the compiler. It
was at length purchased by M. de Sigogne, who publish¬
ed it in 1669, under the title of Prima Scaligerana, nus-
quam antehac edita; bestowing upon it the title prima,
in order to preserve its claim of priority over another
Scaligerana which had been published three years before,
but had been more recently compiled. This second work,
known by the name of Secunda Scaligerana, was collect¬
ed by two brothers of the name of Vassan, who went to
complete their studies at the university of Leyden, of which
Scaliger was at that time one of the professors. Being
particularly recommended to Scaliger, they were received
in his house, and daily enjoyed his conversation; in the
course of which, he gave them much information concern¬
ing various topics of history and criticism. 1 he Vassans
immediately wrote down what they had heard, and soon
made up a large manuscript volume, in which, however,
there was neither connection nor arrangement of any de¬
scription. In this state the manuscript was delivered by
one of the Vassans, on his retirement to a monastery, 0
M. de Puy ; and after passing through various hands, i
came into the possession of M. Daille, who for his own use
arranged in alphabetical order the articles which it con-
ANA. . 675
a. tained. Isaac Vossius having come to Paris on a visit to M.
^, -^DaiHe, obtained the loan of the manuscript, which he
transcribed, and afterwards published at the Hague, un¬
der the title of Scaligerana, sive Excerpta ex ore Josepld
Scaligeri. This edition was full of inaccuracies and blun¬
ders ; but a more correct impression was afterwards pub¬
lished by M. Daille, with a preface complaining of the use
that Vossius had made of the manuscript, which he de¬
clares was never intended for publication, and was not of
a nature to be given to the world. Indeed most literary
men in that age conceived that the Scaligerana, particu¬
larly the second, detracted considerably from the reputa¬
tion of the great scholar whose sentiments they recorded.
They are full of mistakes and contradictions ; and Bayle
has remarked, that the Vassans attribute to him observa¬
tions which it is almost impossible he could have uttered.
Joseph Scaliger, with more extensive erudition, but less
genius than his father Julius Caesar Scaliger, had inhe¬
rited his ridiculous vanity and dogmatical spirit. He
wished it to be thought that he knew every thing, and
that his opinions were infallible. Conversing with two
young students of a university, of which he formed the
principal ornament, he would probably be but little cau¬
tious in the opinions he expressed, as his literary errors
could not be detected or exposed. Unfortunately the
blind admiration of his pupils led them to regard even
his most absurd opinions as the responses of an oracle,
and his most unmerited censures as just condemnations.
The Scaligerana, accordingly, contains many falsehoods,
with much unworthy personal abuse, of the most distin¬
guished characters of the age. Thus, he calls Cardinal
Bellarmin a mere atheist (plane atheus), and compares the
duke of Sully to Sejanus. Indeed M. Daille, in his pre¬
face to the Secunda Scaligerana, confesses that it con¬
tains “ multa futilia, scurrilia, obscoena; quaedam mani-
feste falsa. Ubique de se suisque magnihce, ne dicam
thrasonice, loquitur ; laudum parcus, conviciorum largus,
in omnes contumeliosissime invehitur : denique, neminem
sibi de manibus elabi patitur, cujus non errata, vitia, nae-
vos etiam levissimos, acerrime insectetur, et plusquam
cynica licentia arrodat.”
In imitation of the Scaligerana, a prodigious number
of similar works appeared in France towards the end
of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth cen¬
tury. At first these collections were confined to what
had fallen from eminent men in conversation; but they
were afterwards made to embrace fragments found
among their papers, and even passages extracted from
their works and epistolary correspondence. Of those
which merely record the conversations of eminent men,
the best known, the fullest, and most valuable, is the
Memgiana. Menage was a person of good sense, of
various and extensive information, and of a most com¬
municative disposition. He lived during the greater part
of his life in the best society. An assembly of literary
characters met, during a long period of time, at his house
every Wednesday ; and, during his latter years, he daily
received persons of that description. Much of his time
was thus spent in conversation; and those of his friends
who habitually enjoyed it were at pains to record his
opinions, which were generally founded on a correct taste
ond judgment, and were always delivered in a manner
the most interesting and lively. A collection of his oral
opinions was published in L693, soon after his death; and
this collection, which was entitled Menagiana, was after¬
wards corrected and enlarged by M. la Monnoye, in an
edition published by him in 1715. Among the most cu¬
rious articles in the Menagiana may be numbered the
dissertation on Le Moyen de Parvenir, a work attributed
to Beroalde de Verreville; that on Le Songe de Poliphile ; Ana.
as also a letter of La Monnoye on the existence of
book supposed to have been entitled De Tribus Imposto-
ribus, concerning which there has been much discussion
and controversy.
The Perroniana, which exhibits the opinions of Car-Perroni-
dinal Perron, was composed from his familiar con versa-ac¬
tion by M. de Puy, and published by Vossius, by the
same contrivance which put him in possession of the Scali¬
gerana. Some parts of this collection are useful in illus¬
trating the literary and ecclesiastical history of the age in
which Perron lived; but it also contains many puerile,
imprudent, and absurd remarks, which it is generally sup¬
posed he never uttered, and many of which were proved
by M. Chevreau (Chevrceand) to have been the interpo¬
lations of his friends. Some of his assertions,—as that
Luther denied the immortality of the soul, and that every
English peasant drinks from a silver goblet,—are evi¬
dently false. Nor can much reliance be placed on the
judgment or taste of an author who has elsewhere declar¬
ed that a page of Quintus Curtius is worth thirty of Ta¬
citus, and that, next to Quintus Curtius, Florus is the
greatest Roman historian. The Thuana, or observations of Thuana.
the president De Thou, have usually been published along
with the Perroniana. This collection is not extensive,
and by no means of such value as might have been ex¬
pected from a man so able and distinguished.
The Valesiana is a collection of the literary opinions ofValesiana.
the historiographer Adrian Valois, published by his son.
M. Valois was a great student of history, and the Valesi¬
ana, accordingly, comprehends many valuable historical
observations, particularly on the works of Du Cange.
The Fureteriana contains the bon-mots of M. Furetiere, Fureteri-
of the French academy, the stories which he was in theana-
habit of telling, and a number of anecdotes and remarks
found among his papers after his decease. This produc¬
tion, however, consists chiefly of short stories, and com¬
prehends but few thoughts, opinions, or criticisms on
books. Furetiere, it is well known, had a violent quarrel
with the French Academy, of which he was a member,
concerning his Dictionnaire Universel de la Langue
Frangoise. Having published a preliminary discourse,
the further printing was interdicted by the French Aca¬
demy, which accused him of purloining materials they
had amassed for a similar work. This controversy sub¬
sisted during the rest of the life of Furetiere, who spent
his concluding years in writing and publishing libels on
his associates. The Fureteriana, accordingly, is replete
with allusions to a subject with which his thoughts were
so completely engrossed : in particular we find there the
plan and outline of an allegorical and burlesque poem,
entitled Les Couches de VAcademic ; in which he has sa¬
tirized different members of the academy, especially M.
Charpentier, one of his bitterest foes, whom lie has de¬
signated by the name of Marmentier.
The Chevrceana, so called from M. Chevreau, exhibits Chevrse-
more research than most works of a similar desciiption, ana.
and is probably more accurate, as it was published during
the life of the author, and revised by himself. Among
other interesting articles, it contains a learned and inge¬
nious commentary on the works of Malherbe, to whom
the French language and poetry were highly indebted for
the perfection to which they attained.
Parrhasiana is the work of Jean le Clerc, a professor Parrhasi-
of Amsterdam, who bestowed this appellation on his mis-a“a-
cellaneous productions with the view of discussing vari¬
ous topics of philosophy and politics with more freedom
than he could have employed under his own name. This
work is not of the light and unconnected description of
A N A.
676
Ana. most of the Ana which have been above enumerated,
as it contains much learned philological disquisition, and
a long dissertation on poetry and eloquence. In the first
volume there is a list of his published works, and a bitter
reply to all those who had censured them.
Huetiana. The Huetiana, which has always held a distinguished
place among the Ana, contains the detached thoughts
and criticisms of Huet, bishop of Avranches, which he
himself committed to writing during his life. This author
was well fitted to produce a valuable work in this depart¬
ment of literature. He enjoyed the friendship of a num¬
ber of distinguished characters, and his reading was va¬
rious and extensive. This collection, however, was not
begun by him till he was far advanced in life. Huet was
born in 1630, and in 1712 he was attacked by a malady
which impaired his memory, and rendered him incapable
of the sustained attention necessary for the completion of
a long or laborious work. In this situation he employed
himself during the concluding years of his life in throw¬
ing his detached observations on paper. These were pub¬
lished by the Abbe d’Olivet the year after his death, under
the name of Huetiana,—a work which is not, like some
other Ana, a succession of bon-mots or anecdotes, but
forms a series of thoughts and criticisms on various topics
of morals, philosophy, and literature, and also compre¬
hends pretty long dissertations on the origin of rhyme,
the comparative merit of the ancients and moderns, with
similar topics. One of the most instructive discussions
to a scholar, in this collection, is that on the Latinization
of names and surnames ; in which he points out and cri¬
ticises the different modes of this process. His critical
judgments on Montaigne, Rochefoucauld, and Tacitus,
seem also well founded; and if some of his opinions in
matters of taste betray singular or defective feelings,
there are others which appear equally just and refined.
But were there no other literary memorials of the bishop
of Avranches, he certainly would not derive high reputa¬
tion from the Huetiana. D’Alembert has treated this
collection with contempt; and has selected some articles
to show the bishop’s incompetent judgment and frivolous
taste. It may be suspected, indeed, from the circum¬
stances in which the articles contained in the Huetiana
were composed, that they do not always display that cor¬
rect judgment which distinguishes many of the other
works of this learned writer.
Casaubo- The Ca&auboniana presents us with the miscellaneous
niana. observations, chiefly philological, of the celebrated Isaac
Casaubon. During the course of a long life, that eminent
commentator was in the daily practice of committing to
paper any thing remarkable which he heard in conversa¬
tion with his friends, especially if it bore on the studies in
which he was engaged. He also made diurnal annota¬
tions on the works he was employed in reading, with
which he connected his judgments concerning the author
and his writings. This compilation, which was styled
Ephemerides, together with his Adversaria, and materials
amassed for a refutation of the Ecclesiastical Annals of
Baronins, came, at his death, into the possession of his
son Meric Casaubon, who bequeathed the whole to the
Bodleian library at Oxford. These were shown to Chris¬
topher Wolfius during, a visit which he paid to that uni¬
versity ; and having been transcribed by him, were pub¬
lished under the title of Casauboniana. This collection
consists of opinions concerning various eminent writers,
illustrations of passages in Scripture, and philological ob¬
servations and animadversions on the first thirty-four
years of the Annals of Baronius. The materials and in¬
formation which it contains are probably more accurate
than is usually the case in works of the same description,
as they were not communicated in Casual conversation An
and reported by others, but were daily committed to^v
writing by Casaubon himself, while the works from which
they were derived remained fresh in his recollection.
Besides the above, a great many works, under the title
of Ana, appeared in France about the same period. Thus
the opinions and conversation of Charpentier, Colomesius
and St Evremond, were recorded in the Carpenteriana,Czm?
Colomesiana, and St Evremoniana; and those of Segrais inriana.
the Segraisiana,—a collection formed by a person station-Colom
ed behind the tapestry in a house where Segrais was ac-a,na-
customed to visit, and of which Voltaire has declared,1;'™1
“ que de tous les Ana c’est celui qui merite le plus d’etre
mis au rang des mensonges imprimes, et surtout des men-ana. *
songes insipides.” The Ana, indeed, from the popularity
which they now enjoyed, were compiled in such num¬
bers, and with so little care, that they became almost
proverbial for inaccuracy. About the middle of the
eighteenth century they were sometimes made the
vehicles of political squibs, as in the Maupeouana, and ofMaupi
heretical opinions, as in the Longueruana. Thus the ana-
evil naturally began to cure itself, and by a re-action, Ij0nSu
which is very general in regard to all productions of liter-ana’
ature, the French Ana sunk in public esteem as much
below their intrinsic value as they had formerly been ex¬
alted above it.
Although these conections have been chiefly formed
from the oral opinions of eminent men on the Continent,
particularly in France, England has also produced one or
two examples of this species of composition, which are
not altogether undeserving of attention. Of these, per¬
haps the most curious is the Walpoliana, which is aWalpo
transcript of the literary conversation of Horace Walpole.ana*
That multifarious author was distinguished for his re¬
sources of anecdote, wit, and judicious remark, as well as
for his epistolary qualifications. From his father, Sir
Robert Walpole, he had learned many anecdotes concern¬
ing the political characters who figured during the period
of his administration. He was himself personally acquaint¬
ed with all the eminent literary characters of his own day
in England ; and his repeated visits to Paris, and constant
correspondence with friends in that capital, supplied him
with the most interesting information with regard to
France. A great part of his life was devoted to conver¬
sation. While residing at Strawberry-hill, he generally
rose from table about five o'clock, and taking his place on
his drawing-room sofa, to which his gout in a great mea¬
sure confined him, he passed the time, till two o’clock in
the morning, in miscellaneous chit-chat, full of singular
anecdotes, strokes of wit, and acute observations. As he
possessed, and was daily communicating, such stores of
instruction and amusement, it was suggested to him that
he ought to form a collection of these anecdotes and ob¬
servations. This he declined, but he furnished the editor
of the Walpoliana with many anecdotes in his own handr
writing. After his death, several specimens of this mis¬
cellany were published in the Monthly Magazine', and
being afterwards enlarged by anecdotes retained in the
memory of the editor, or communicated by others, were
published in two volumes, under the title of Walpoliana.
Most other works which, in this country, have been pub¬
lished under the name of Ana, as Baconiana, Atterbury-
ana, are rather extracts from the writings and corre¬
spondence of eminent men, than memorials of their con¬
versation.
There are some works which, though they do not bear
the title, belong more strictly to the class of Ana than
many of those collections which are known under that ap¬
pellation. Such are the Melange d’Histoire et de Litterar
ANA.
677
^. ture, published under the name of Vigneul Marvilld ; and
yy-'U the Locorum Communium Collectanea, ex Lectionibus Phi¬
lippi Melanchthonis,—a work which was published as far
back as the sixteenth century, and has obtained consider¬
able reputation on account of its theological learning, and
the information it communicates concerning the early
state of the reformed church. But of those productions
which belong to the class, though they do not bear the
jjl)t ->s name, of Ana, the most celebrated are the Colloquia Men-
Coll.jia salia of Luther, and Selden’s Table- Talk, both of which
Media. raerit particular notice. The first, which comprehends
the conversation of Luther with his friends and coadjutors
in the great work of the Reformation, was first published
in 1566. Captain Henry Bell, who translated it into Eng¬
lish in the time of the Commonwealth, informs us that,
at the instigation of the pope, the emperor of Germany
had promulgated an edict commanding the works of Lu¬
ther to be destroyed. It was for some time supposed
that all the copies of the Colloquia Mensalia had been
burned in consequence of this order; but at length, in
1626, a German called Van Sparr, having occasion to
build on the old foundation of a house in which his grand¬
father dwelt when the imperial edict was issued, he found
lying in a deep hole, and wrapped up in a linen cloth,
a printed copy of the Colloquia Mensalia. Captain Bell
having formerly become acquainted with Van Sparr dur¬
ing a long residence in Germany, his friend transmitted
the work to him in England, where he executed a trans¬
lation of it; an undertaking to which he pretends that
he was urged by the vision of an old man with a long
white beard, arrayed in white, who spoke these words:
“ Sirrah, will you not take time to translate that book ?”
The extraordinary book translated by Bell, at the in¬
stance of this vision, is said to have been originally col¬
lected by Dr Anthony Lauterbach, “ out of the holy
mouth of Luther and was afterwards digested into com¬
mon-places by Dr John Aurifaber. It chiefly contains
observations and discussions on idolatry, auricular con¬
fession, mass, excommunication, clerical jurisdiction,
general councils, and all the points agitated by the re¬
formed church in those early periods. With such topics
there is intermixed many diatribes against Antichrist and
the Cardinals, and much sarcasm on popish miracles and
relics. Occasionally, however, it must be confessed that
ouf great reformer expresses a belief in superstitions fully
as wild and monstrous as those which he derides, and
which he was called to overthrow. Thus, he asserted
that he was repeatedly kept from sleep by the devil
cracking nuts in his chamber; and he affirmed that there
was a child at Dessau, which had been substituted by
the arch-fiend instead of one he had stolen away, and
which child Luther earnestly advised the prince of An¬
halt to throw into the river Moldaw.
s If the collection of Selden’s apophthegms and sayings,
Tail ent‘^ed Table-Talk, be regarded of good authority, we
shall find in it a more genuine and undisguised expression
of the sentiments of that eminent man, than in his more
studied productions. This work was published, after the
death of Selden, by Richard Milward, his amanuensis,
who, in his dedication to Selden’s executors, affirms that,
for twenty years, he enjoyed the opportunity of daily
hearing his discourse, during which long period he made
it his practice, from time to time, faithfully to commit to
writing “ the excellent things that usually fell from him.”
Dr Wilkins, in his introductory discourse to the Works of
belden, has attempted to throw discredit on the genuine¬
ness of this compilation, asserting that it contains many
things derogatory from Selden’s erudition, and foreign
fmm his manners and principles. It is not improbable,
indeed, that the memory of the amanuensis may have Ana.
occasionally failed him, and that he may have recorded
sayings which inadvertently escaped his master in the
heat of conversation, and such as he probably would not
have deliberately maintained. But, on the whole, the
work has completely an air of genuineness ; and although
the familiarity of his illustrations and parallels may ap¬
pear to clash with the idea formed of so great a scholar,
they are characteristic of a man who had been conversant
with scenes of common life, no less than the speculations
of the closet. That such was the usual manner of Selden’s
conversation, the editor of the Table-Talk recalls to the
recollection of those friends of his patron to whom the
work is dedicated; and this appeal forms a presumption
of his veracity. The Table-Talk contains many curious
facts and opinions concerning the political and ecclesias¬
tical history of the interesting p^-iod during which Selden
lived, and in the important events of which he bore a
considerable share. To judge from this work, Selden had
great contempt for the theologians of his day; and seems
to have been of opinion that the state should invariably
keep a rein on the church. He was partial to the Epis¬
copal form of worship; but was evidently not very strict
in doctrinal points, as appears from what he is reported to
have said on the subject of heresy. In his political opinions
he seems to have entertained a high respect for the sa¬
credness of the social contract; and he justified the re¬
sistance to the Stewarts, on the ground that they had in¬
fringed and violated this compact between prince and
people. Besides religious and political opinions, the Table-
Talk contains much of a lighter description; in conse¬
quence of which, Selden has been accused of showing
more laxness, in point of moral principle, than might have
been expected from so grave and respectable a character.
Many of those sentiments, however, which have been
considered objectionable, may have been merely advanced
as plausible deductions from principles assumed for the
sake of argument. But whatever difference of opinion
may exist with regard to the matter of the Table-Talk,
the manner in which the sentiments are there expressed
must be universally admitted to be perspicuous and agree¬
able. The style of Selden, in most of the works published
under his own care, is harsh and obscure ; but Clarendon,
who differed from him so widely in political opinions, ac¬
knowledges that he was “ a clear discourser, and that he
possessed the faculty of making difficult things easy, and
presenting them clearly to the understanding.” Accord¬
ingly, this talent for elucidation shines chiefly in his
Table-Talk, which is filled with the stores of his exten¬
sive reading, delivered without any pretensions to that
order and method, the want of which has been attributed
to his other productions.
It thus appears that, although the compilations desig¬
nated by the name of Ana belong more particularly to
France, they have not been wholly unknown in this coun¬
try. In their Motti e Burle, and sometimes in their novels,
the Italians also have recorded the witticisms of their
distinguished poets and artists. The novels of Sacchetti
are full of repartees attributed to Dante and the painters
Giotto and Buffalmacco. Almost every Italian biographi¬
cal work of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, like
Boswell’s Life of Johnson, records at great length the
conversational remarks of the individual whose life is de¬
tailed. Thus, Manso has dedicated one of the books of
his life of Torquato Tasso to an account of the wise and
witty sayings of that illustrious poet, who, towards the
close of his days, had become the intimate friend of his
biographer. The conversation of the poet, however, was
neither gay nor brilliant. One of the characters in Gol-
678 ANA
Ana. doni’s drama of Torquato Tasso thus contrasts his writings
and conversation:
Ammiro il suo talento, gradisco i carmi suoi;
Ma piacer non trovo a conversar con lui.
It also unfortunately happens that the greater part of
the sayings recorded by Manso may be found in the
Apophthegms of Erasmus, which were published before
the birth of Tasso. Indeed Manso seems to have been
aware of the want of originality in the bon-mots of his
friend; for, after mentioning one, he says, “ questo mot-
'to fu da alcuni ad Epiteto attribuito.” It was usual, in¬
deed, among the biographers of those times to pillage Xeno¬
phon or Plutarch for good things to put into the mouths of
their heroes ; a practice from which Machiavel could not
abstain in his short account of the illiterate soldier Cas-
truccio Castracani. In those ages of pedantry, however, it
is not improbable that -many sayings of the old philoso¬
phers might have been repeated as their own by the
learned men of the times; and that the Italian literati
might occasionally attempt to make their hearers merry
with the jests of Socrates or Diogenes. The genius and
character of the people rendered any collection of this
nature less agreeable than the Ana of the neighbouring
nation. In Italy, gravity was numbered among the vir¬
tues, and, in the eulogy of an illustrious man, is always
mentioned as one of his most commendable qualities.
There seems, in that country, to have been no medium
between the most fantastic buffoonery and a certain tragic
solemnity. The Italians wanted that “ mobility of ima¬
gination,” that facility, rapidity, abandonment, and gaiety,
which seems almost peculiar to the French, and forms the
chief charm of social intercourse, as well as of those works
in which it is represented; though, no doubt, when re¬
duced into writing, much of its grace and spirit must eva¬
porate and disappear.
The existence of similar causes, and perhaps in a
stronger degree, prevented the popularity of Ana among
the Spaniards ; though they too have related the jests and
opinions of the duke d’Ossuna, and of some others. In¬
deed, whatever may be the genius or disposition of a peo¬
ple, traces of this mode of composition may in some shape
or other be discovered among them.
When presented in their most perfect form, which is
that of the French Ana, these collections are certainly
entertaining from their variety, and curious, as presenting
a lively image of the distinguished characters whose sen¬
timents they record. If men reason more correctly on
paper, they usually display their feelings and convictions
with more truth in unpremeditated conversation. Few
are so cautious or hypocritical that they do not sometimes
drop the mask in the society of their friends, and express
what they think or feel, when they no longer entertain
•apprehensions that their sentiments will be communicated
to the vulgar. In general, however, the Ana should
rather be regarded as affording a notion of the spirit and
turn of thinking of those whose conversation they detail,
than as authorities for particular opinions. A spirit of
contradiction, a wish to display ingenuity, to astonish
by paradoxes, or even to support conversation, may often
lead men to maintain opinions in colloquial intercourse
which they perhaps never seriously held, or at least would
be ready to disclaim on mature consideration. It also un¬
fortunately happens that, in many of the Ana, those who
collected the conversations which they presented to the
world interpolated their own opinions; which, of course,
greatly diminishes their authority as characteristical re¬
cords. It has also been objected to this species of com¬
position, that every subject is treated superficially; but
it should be recollected that the Ana do not profess to
ANA
contain profound dissertations; and in fact no one con- Anat
suits them with the view of being deeply informed on any tist
topic. A better founded objection is, that many subjects
are treated, not merely superficially, but inaccurately.
Such compositions are liable to a double risk of error;
first, of the person who delivers opinions in the heat of
discourse, or relates anecdotes from vague recollection;
and, secondly, of the person who records them, who must
be liable to mistake what he has only heard in the course
of conversation. From these causes, and from their wide
and general circulation, many of the most current literary
errors may be traced to the Ana. When read, however,
with discrimination, they may prove highly useful in il¬
lustrating various points of literary history, as they cer¬
tainly contain a great deal which is not to be found in the
formal compositions of the learned.
Wolfius has given a history of the Ana in a preliminaty
discourse to his edition of the Casavboniana, published in
1710. In the Repertoire de Bibliographies Speciales, Cu-
rieuses, et Instructives, by Peignot, there is a Notice Bi-
bliographique of these collections ; but many of the books
there enumerated consist of mere extracts from the writ¬
ings of popular authors, and do not, therefore, belong to
that class of literary works described in the preceding
article. . (o*)
ANABAPTISTS, a name which has been indiscrimi¬
nately applied to Christians of very different principles
and practices, though many of them object to the deno¬
mination, and hold nothing in common besides the opi¬
nion, that baptism ought always to be performed by im¬
mersion, and not administered before the age of discretion.
The word Anabaptist is compounded of ava, wew,
and fiavnffTris, a baptist; and in this sense the Nova-
tians, the Cataphrygians, and the Donatists, may be con¬
sidered as a kind of Anabaptists in the earlier ages, though
not then denoted by this name; for they contended that
those Christians of the Catholic church who joined them¬
selves to their respective parties should be rebaptized.
But we must not class under the same denomination those
bishops of Asia and Africa who, in the third century,
maintained that baptism administered by those whom they
called heretics was notvalid, and therefore thatsuch of them
as returned into their churches ought to be rebaptized.
Nor do the English and Dutch Baptists consider the de¬
nomination as at all applicable to their sect, by whom the
baptism appointed by Christ is held to be “ nothing short
of immersion upon a personal profession of faith ; of which
profession infants being incapable, and sprinkling being
no adequate symbol of the thing included, the baptizing
of proselytes to their communion, who in their infancy
had undergone the ceremony of sprinkling, cannot, it is
urged, be interpreted a repetition of the baptismal ordi¬
nance.
Anabaptists, in a strict and proper sense, appear to be
those who not only rebaptize, when they arrive at an adult
age, persons that were baptized in their infancy, but also,
as often as any person comes from one of their sects to
another, or as often as any one is excluded from their
communion and again received into the bosom of the
church, they baptize him. And such were many of the
German Baptists. But the single opinion common to al
the sects to which the name of Anabaptists has heen in¬
discriminately applied, is that of the invalidity of injan
baptism, in whatever way administered; and hence t e
general denomination of Antipcedobaptists, which incm e
Anabaptists, Baptists, Mennonites, Waterlandians, &c*>
distinguished by their respective peculiarities; thong
Anabaptists seems to have been adopted by most writers
as the general term.
ANA
Ana!> To the above peculiar notion concerning the baptismal
list: sacrament, the Anabaptists added principles of a different
/V*-'nature, depending upon certain ideas which they enter¬
tained concerning a perfect church establishment, pure in
its members, and free from the institutions of human po¬
licy.
The Anabaptists appear to have made little noise, or
to have been little noticed, before the time of the refor¬
mation in Germany. The most prudent and rational part
of them considered it possible, by human wisdom, indus¬
try, and vigilance, to purify the church from the contagion
of the wicked, provided the manners and spirit of the pri¬
mitive Christians could but recover their lost dignity and
lustre; and seeing the attempts of Luther, seconded by
several persons of eminent piety, prove so successful, they
hoped that the happy period was arrived in which the
restoration of the church to purity was to be accomplish¬
ed, under the divine protection, by the labours and coun¬
sels of pious and eminent men. Others, far from being
satisfied with the plan of reformation proposed by Luther,
looked upon it as much beneath the sublimity of their
views, and consequently undertook a more perfect refor¬
mation, or, to express more properly their visionary enter¬
prise, they proposed to found a new church, entirely spi¬
ritual, and truly divine.
This sect was soon joined by great numbers, and (as
usually happens in sudden revolutions of this nature) by
many persons whose characters and capacities were very
different, though their views seemed to turn upon the
same object. Their progress was rapid; for, in a very
short space of time, their discourses, visions, and predic¬
tions, excited commotions in a great part of Europe, and
drew into their communion a prodigious multitude, whose
ignorance rendered them easy victims to the illusions of
enthusiasm. The most pernicious faction of all those
which composed this motley multitude, was that which
pretended that the founders of the new and perfect church
already mentioned were under the direction of a divine
impulse, and were armed against all opposition by the
power of working miracles. It was this faction that, in
the year 1521, began their fanatical work, under the
guidance of Munzer, Stubner, Storck, &c.
These persons were disciples of Luther; but well know¬
ing that their opinions were such as would receive no
sanction from him, they availed themselves of his absence
to disseminate them in Wittenburg, and had the address
to overreach the piety of Melanchthon. Their principal
purpose was to gain over the populace, and to form a con¬
siderable party. To effect this, says Bayle, they were in¬
dustrious and active, each in his own way. Storck, want¬
ing knowledge, boasted of inspiration; and Stubner, who
had both genius and erudition, laboured at commodious
explications of Scripture. Not content with discrediting
die court of Rome, and decrying the authority of consis¬
tories, they taught, that among Christians, who had the
precepts of the gospel to direct, and the Spirit of God to
guide them, the office of magistracy was not only unne¬
cessary, but an unlawful encroachment on their spiritual
liberty; that the distinctions occasioned by birth, or rank,
or wealth, being contrary to the spirit of the gospel, which
considers all men as equal, should be entirely abolished;
that all Christians, throwing their possessions into one
common stock, should live together in that state of equality
which becomes members of the same family; that as nei¬
ther the laws of nature nor the precepts of the New Tes¬
tament had placed any restraint upon men with regard to
the number of wives which they might marry, they should
use that liberty which God himself had granted to the
patriarchs.
ANA 679
They employed at first the various arts of persuasion in Anabap.
order to propagate their doctrine. They preached, ex- tists.
horted, admonished, and reasoned, in a manner that seem-'^^v^>^
ed proper to impress the multitude; and related a great
number of visions and revelations with which they" pre¬
tended to have been favoured from above. But when
they saw that these methods of making proselytes were
not attended with such rapid success as they fondly ex¬
pected, and that the ministry of Luther and other emi¬
nent reformers was detrimental to their cause, they then
had recourse to more expeditious measures, and madly
attempted to propagate their fanatical doctrine by force
of arms. Munzer and his associates, in the year 1525>
put themselves at the head of a numerous army, compos¬
ed for the most part of the peasants of Suabia, Thuringia,
Franconia, and Saxony; and declared war against all laws,
government, and magistrates of every kind, under the
chimerical pretext that Christ was now to take the reins
of civil and ecclesiastical government into his own hands,
and to rule alone over the nations. But this seditious
crowd was routed and dispersed without much difficulty
by the elector of Saxony and other princes; and Munzer,
their ringleader, ignominiously put to death, and his fac¬
tious counsellors scattered abroad in different places.
Many of his followers, however, survived and propa¬
gated their opinions through Germany, Switzerland, and
Holland. In the year 1533 a party of them settled at
Munster under the direction of two Anabaptist prophets,
John Matthias, a baker of Haerlem, and John Bockholdt,
a journeyman tailor of Leyden. Having made themselves
masters of the city, they deposed the magistrates, confis¬
cated the estates of such as had escaped, and deposited
the wealth they amassed together in a public treasury
for common use. They made preparations of every kind
for the defence of the city; and sent out emissaries to the
Anabaptists in the Low Countries, inviting them to assem¬
ble at Munster, which was now dignified with the name
of Mount Sion, that from hence they might be deputed
to reduce all the nations of the earth under their domi¬
nion. Matthias, who was the first in command, was soon
cut off, in an act of frenzy, by the bishop of Munster’s
army, and was succeeded by Bockholdt, who was pro¬
claimed, by a special designation of Heaven, as he pre¬
tended, king of Sion, and invested with legislative powers
like those of Moses. The extravagancies of Bockholdt were
too numerous to be recited: it will be sufficient to add, that
the city of Munster was taken after a long siege and an
obstinate resistance; and Bockholdt, the mock monarch,
was punished with a most painful and ignominious death.
It must, however, be acknowledged, that the true rise,
of the numerous insurrections of this period ought not to
be attributed to religious opinions. The first insurgents
groaned under the most grievous oppressions—they took
up arms principally in defence of their civil liberties ; and
of the commotions that took place, the Anabaptist leaders
above mentioned seem rather to have availed themselves,,
than to have been the prime movers. That a great part
of the main body, indeed, consisted of Anabaptists, seems
indisputable ; and whatever fanaticism existed among them
would naturally be called forth or inflamed by particu¬
lar situations or circumstajices, and run riot in its wildest
shapes. At the same time it appears from history, that a
great part also consisted of Roman Catholics, and a still
greater of persons who had scarcely any religious princi¬
ples at all. Indeed, when we read of the vast numbers
that were concerned in those insurrections, of whom it is
reported that 100,000 fell by the sword, it appears reason¬
able to conclude that a great majority of them were not
Anabaptists.
680 ANA
Anabasii Before concluding this article, it must be remarked,
II that the Baptists or Mennonites in England and Holland
4nacharsis.are pg considered in a very different light from the en-
^usjasfg we have been describing; and it appears equally
uncandid and invidious to trace up their distinguishing
tenet, as some of their adversaries have done, to those ob¬
noxious characters, and there to stop, in order as it were
to associate with it the ideas of turbulence and fanaticism,
with which it certainly has no natural connection. Their
coincidence with some of those oppressed and infatuated
people in denying baptism to infants, is acknowledged by
the Baptists; but they disavow the practice which the
appellation of Anabaptists implies, and their doctrines
seem referable to a more ancient and respectable origin.
They appear supported by history in considering them¬
selves as the descendants of the Waldenses, who were so
grievously oppressed and persecuted by the despotic heads
of the Roman hierarchy ; and they profess an equal aver¬
sion to all principles of rebellion on the one hand, and to all
suggestions of fanaticism on the other.
ANABASII, in Antiquity, were couriers who were sent
on horseback or in chariots, with dispatches of importance.
ANABATHRA, in ancient writers, denotes a kind of
steps or ladder whereby to ascend to some eminence. In
this sense we read of the anabathra of theatres, pulpits,
&c. Anabathra appears to have been sometimes also ap¬
plied to ranges of seats rising gradually over each other.
Anabathka is more particularly applied to a kind of
stone blocks raised by the highway sides, to assist travel¬
lers in mounting or alighting, before the use of stirrups
was invented. The first author of this contrivance among
the Romans was C. Gracchus, brother of Tiberius.
ANABOA, a small island situated near the coast of
Loango, in Africa. Long. 9. E. Lat. 1. N.
ANABOLiEUM, or Anabole, in Antiquity, a kind of
great or upper coat, worn over the tunica.
ANABOLEUS, in Antiquity, an appellation given to
grooms of the stable, or equerries, who assisted their
masters in mounting their horses. As the ancients had
no stirrups, or instruments that are now in use for mount¬
ing a horse, they either jumped upon his back, or were
aided in mounting by anabolei.
• ANACALYPTERIA, according to Suidas, were pre¬
sents made to the bride by her husband’s relations and
friends, when she first uncovered her face and showed her¬
self to men. These presents were also called tnuv'kuia,;
for, among the Greeks, virgins before marriage were under
strict confinement, being rarely permitted to appear in
public, or converse with the other sex; and when allowed
that liberty, wore a veil over their faces, termed KaXvirrgov,
or KdXu-rrga, which was not left off in the presence of men
till the third day after marriage t whence, according to
Hesychius, this day was also called anaealypterion,
ANACAMPTERIA, in Ecclesiastical Antiquity, a kind
of little edifices adjacent to the churches, designed for
the entertainment of strangers and poor persons.
ANACAMPTIC, a name applied by the ancients to
that part of optics which treats of reflection, being the
same with what is now called Catoptrics.
ANACHARSIS, a Scythian philosopher, who lived
about 600 years before Christ. His father was one of the
chiefs of his nation, and married a woman of Greece. In¬
structed in the Greek language by his mother, he pre¬
vailed upon the king to intrust him with an embassy to
Athens. Arrived in that renowned city, he was intro¬
duced to Solon by one of his own countrymen, named
Foxaris. From such a well-qualified master Anacharsis
rapidly acquired a knowledge of the wisdom of Greece,
and the literature then in circulation. By the influence
ANA
of Solon he W'as introduced to the principal characters of Anach
Athens, and was the first stranger who was honoured with ||
the title of citizen by the Athenians. After he had re- Anacli
sided several years at Athens, he travelled through dif- ria
ferent countries in quest of knowledge, and then returned'^V
to his native country inflamed with the desire of instruct¬
ing them in the laws and the religion of the Greeks. But
his countrymen were not prepared to profit by his in¬
structions ; and while he was performing sacrifice to the
goddess Cybele, in fulfilment of a vow which he had
made on his way home, he was slain by an arrow, said to
have proceeded from the king’s own hand. Thus fell the
Scythian philosopher a victim to the folly and ignorance
of his countrymen, who wantonly rejected the wisdom
and learning of Greece. His energetic mode of express¬
ing himself gave birth to the proverbial saying, “ Scythian
eloquence.”
ANACHORET, in Ecclesiastical History, denotes a
hermit, or solitary monk, who retires from the society of
mankind into some desert, with a view to avoid the tempta¬
tions of the world, and to be more at leisure for medita¬
tion and prayer. Such were Paul, Anthony, and Hilarian,
the first founders of monastic life in Egypt and Palestine.
ANACHRONISM, in matters of literature, an error
with respect to chronology, whereby an event is placed
earlier than it really happened. The word is compounded
of am, higher, and yoovog, time. Such is that of Virgil,
who placed Dido in Africa at the time of iEneas, though
in reality she did not come thither till 300 years after the
taking of Troy. An error on the other side, whereby a
fact is placed later and lower than it should be, is called
a parachronism.
ANACLASTIC Glasses, a kind of sonorous phials or
glasses, chiefly made in Germany, which have the pro¬
perty of being flexible, and emitting a vehement noise by
the human breath. They are also called vexing glasses by
the Germans (vexier glaser), on account of the fright and
disturbance they occasion by their resilition. The ana-
clastic glasses are a low kind of phials with flat bellies, re¬
sembling inverted funnels, whose bottoms are very thin,
scarce surpassing the thickness of an onion peel. This
bottom is not quite flat, but a little convex ; but upon ap¬
plying the mouth to the orifice, and gently inspiring, or
as it were sucking out the air, the bottom gives way with
a prodigious crack, and the convex becomes concave. On
the contrary, upon expiring or breathing gently into the
orifice of the same glass, the bottom with no less noise
bends back to its former place, and becomes gibbous as
before.
ANACLASTICS, that part of optics which considers
the refraction of light, and is commonly called Dioptrics.
ANACLETERIA, in Antiquity, a solemn festival cele¬
brated by the ancients when their kings or princes came
of age, and assumed the reins of government. It is so,
called, because proclamation being made of this event to
the people, they went to salute their prince during the
anacleteria, and to congratulate him upon his new dignity.
ANACLETICUM, in the ancient art of war, a parti¬
cular blast of the trumpet, whereby the fearful and flying
soldiers were rallied, and recalled to combat.
ANACLINOPALE, AvaxAncwraAj;, in Antiquity, a kind
of wrestling, wherein the champions threw themselves vo¬
luntarily on the ground, and continued the combat by
pinching, biting, scratching, and other methods of offence.
The Anaclinopale was contradistinguished from the tn-
thapale, wherein the champions stood erect. In _ the
Anaclinopale the weaker combatants sometimes gamec
the victory.
ANACLINTERIA, in Antiquity, a kind of pillows on
ANA
too'mathe dining bed, whereon the guests used to lean. The
I ancient tricliniary beds had four pillows, one at the head,
Alibis- another at t}ie feet, a third at the back, and a fourth at
^'^the breast. That on which the head lay was properly
called by the Greeks uvux.kivrrigiov or ava,x\ivrgov; by the Ro¬
mans fulcrum, sometimes phiteus.
ANACOLLEMA, a composition of astringent powders,
applied by the ancients to the head, to prevent defluxions
on the eyes.
ANACONDA, in Natural History, is a name given in
the isle of Ceylon to a very large and terrible snake. It
is probably the Boa Constrictor.
ANACllEON, a Greek poet, born at Teos, a city of
Ionia, flourished about 532 years before the Christian
era. Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, invited him to his
court, and made him share with him in his business and
his pleasure. He had a delicate wit, as may be judged
from the inexpressible beauties and graces that shine in
his works; but he was fond of pleasure, was of an amo¬
rous disposition, and addicted to drunkenness: yet, not¬
withstanding his debaucheries, he lived to the age of 85,
when, we are told, he was choked by a grapestone which
stuck in his throat as he was regaling on some new wine.
It is but a small part of Anacreon’s works that remains ;
for, besides his odes and epigrams, he composed elegies,
hymns, and iambics. His poems which are extant were
rescued from oblivion by Henry Stephens, and are uni¬
versally admired. The verses of Anacreon are sweeter,
says Scaliger, than Indian sugar. His beauty and chief
excellence, says Madame Dacier, lay in imitating nature
and in following reason ; so that he presented to the mind
no images but what were noble and natural. The odes of
Anacreon, says Rapin, are flowers, beauties, and perpe¬
tual graces; it is familiar to him to write what is natural,
and to the life, he having an air so delicate, so easy and
graceful, that among all the ancients there is nothing
comparable to the method he took, nor to that kind of
writing he followed. He flows soft and easy, everywhere
diffusing the joy and indolence of his mind through his
verse, and tuning his harp to the smooth and pleasant
temper of his soul. But none has given a juster character
of his writings than the god of love, as taught to speak by
Mr Cowley:
All thy verse is softer far
Than the downy feathers are
Of my wings, or of my arrows,
Of my mother’s doves and sparrows:
Graceful, cleanly, smooth, or round,
All with Venus’ girdle bound.
ANACREONTIC Verse, in Ancient Poetry, a kind of
verse, so called from its being much used by the poet
Anacreon. It consists of three feet and a half, usually
spondees and iambuses, and sometimes anapaests.
ANACRISIS, among the ancient Greeks, was used for
a kind of trial or examination, which the archons or chief
magistrates of Athens were to undergo before their ad¬
mission into that office. The anacrisis stands distinguished
from the docimasia, which was a second examination in
the forum. The anacrisis was performed in the senate-
house. The questions here proposed to them were con¬
cerning their family, kindred, behaviour, estate, &c. Some
will have it that all magistrates underwent the anacrisis.
Anacrisis, among civilians, an investigation of truth,
interrogation of witnesses, and inquiry made into any fact,
especially by torture.
ANACROSIS, in Antiquity, denotes a part of the Py¬
thian song, wherein the combat of Apollo and Python is
described. The anacrosis was the first part, and contained
the preparation to the fight.
VOL. II.
, A TNT A 681
ANADEMA, among the ancients, denotes an orna- Anadema
ment of the head, wherewith victors at the sacred games II
had their temples bound. Anagram.
ANADIPLOSIS, in Rhetoric and Poetry, a repetition
of the last word of a line, or clause of a sentence, in the
beginning of the next: thus,
Pierides, vos hsec facietis maxima Gallo:
Galla, cujus amor, &e.
Et matutinis accredula vocibus instat,
Vocibus instat, et assiduas jacit ore querelas.
ANADROMUS, among ichthyologists, a name given
to such fishes as go from the sea to the fresh water
at stated seasons, and return back again; such as the sal¬
mon, &c.
ANADUOMENE Venus, in the Grecian Mythology,
answered to the Sea Venus in the Roman, and was the
appellation given to one of the chief deities of the sea.
The most celebrated picture in all antiquity was that of
this goddess by Apelles.
ANiEDEIA, in Antiquity, a denomination given to a
silver stool placed in the Areopagus, on which the de¬
fendant, or person accused, was seated for examination.
The word is Greek, Avaioua, which imports impudence;
but, according to Junius’s correction, it should rather be
Ava/r/a, q. d. innocence. The plaintiff or accuser was placed
on an opposite stool called hybris, or injury. Here he pro¬
posed three questions to the party accused, to which po¬
sitive answers were to be given; the first, Are you guilty
of this fact ? the second, How did you commit the fact ?
the third, Who were your accomplices ?
ANAGNOSTA, or Anagnostes, in Antiquity, a kind
of literary servant, retained in the families of persons of
distinction, whose chief business was to read to them dur¬
ing meals, or at any other time when they were at leisure.
Cornelius Nepos relates of Atticus, that he had always an
anagnostes at his meals.
ANAGOGICAL signifies mysterious, transporting, and
is used to express whatever elevates the mind, not only
to the knowledge of divine things, but of divine things
in the next life. This word is seldom used but with
regard to the different senses of the Scripture. The ana-
gogical sense is, when the sacred text is explained with
regard to eternal life, the point which Christians should
have in view : for example, the rest of the Sabbath, in the
anagogical sense, signifies the repose of everlasting happi¬
ness.
ANAGOGY, or Anagoge, among ecclesiastical wri¬
ters, the elevation of the mind to things celestial and
eternal. It is particularly used where words, in their na¬
tural or primary meanings, denote something sensible, but
have a further view to something spiritual or invisible.
Anagogy, in a more particular sense, denotes the ap¬
plication of the types and allegories of the Old Testament
to subjects of the New; thus called, because the veil
being here drawn, what before was hidden is exposed to
open sight.
ANAGRAM (from the Greek am, backwards, and
ygay/jja, letter}, in matters of literature, a transposition
of the letters of some name, whereby a new word is
formed, either to the advantage or disadvantage of the
person or thing to which the name belongs: thus the
anagram of Galenus is angelus; that of Logica, caligo ;
that of Alstedius, sedulitas. Calvin, in the title of his In-
stitutions, printed at Strasburg in 1539, calls himself Al-
cuinus, which is the anagram of Calvinus, and the name of
an eminently learned person in the time of Charlemagne,
who contributed greatly to the restoration of learning in
that age.
Those who adhere strictly to the definition of an ana-
4 R
682
ANA
ANA
Anagram- gram take no other liberty than that of omitting or re-
matist taining the letter h at pleasure; whereas others make no
ji scruple to use e for jE, v for w, s for z, and c for k ; and
vice versa. Besides anagrams formed as above, we meet
with another kind in ancient writers, made by dividing
a single word into several; thus, sus tinea mus are form¬
ed out of the word sustineamus. Anagrams are sometimes
also made out of several words; such as that on the
question put by Pilate to our Saviour, Quid est veritas ?
whereof we have this admirable anagram, viz. Est vir qui
adest.
The cabbalists among the Jews are professed anagram-
matists; the third part of their art, which they call the-
muru, i. e. changing, being nothing but the art of making
anagrams, or finding hidden and mystical meanings in
names; which they do by changing, transposing, and dif¬
ferently combining the letters of those names. Thus, of
rra, the letters of Noah’s name, they make P, grace; of n'trn,
the Messiah, they make rrnir', he shall rejoice.
ANAGRAMMATIST, a maker or composer of ana¬
grams. Thomas Billon, a Provenqal, was a celebrated ana-
grammatist, and retained by Louis XIII. with a pension
of 1200 livres, in quality of anagrammatist to the king.
ANAGROS, in Commerce, a measure for grain, used in
some cities in Spain, particularly at Seville.
ANAK, the father of the Anakims, was the son of
Arba, who gave his name to Kiijath-arba, or Hebron.
(Josh. xiv. 15.) Anak had three sons, Sheshai, Ahiman,
and Talmai (chap. xv. 14, and Numb. xiii. 22), all of gi¬
gantic size; their posterity were remarkable, not only for
their extraordinary stature, but for their fierceness, and
were called Anakims; in comparison of whom, the Hebrews
who were sent to view the land of Canaan reported that
they were but as grasshoppers, Numb. xiii. ult. Caleb,
assisted by the tribe of Judah, took Kirjath-arba, and de¬
stroyed the Anakims (Judges i. 20, and Joshua xv. 14),
in the year of the world 2559.
ANALECTA, or Analectes, in Antiquity, a servant
whose employment it was to gather up the offals at tables.
Analecta, Analects, in a literary sense, is used to de¬
note a collection of small pieces ; as essays, remarks, Sic.
ANALEMMA, in Geometry, a projection of the sphere
on the plane of the meridian, orthographically made by
a straight line and ellipses, the eye being supposed at an
infinite distance, and in the east or west point of the
horizon.
Analemma denotes likewise an instrument of brass or
wood, upon which this kind of projection is drawn, with an
horizon or cursor fitted to it, wherein the solstitial colure,
and all circles parallel to it, will be concentric circles; all
circles oblique to the eye will be ellipses ; and all circles
whose planes pass through the eye will be right lines.
The use of this instrument is to show the common astro¬
nomical problems; which it will do, though not very ex¬
actly, unless it be very large.
ANALEPSIS, the augmentation or nutrition of an
emaciated body.
ANALEPTICS, restorative or nourishing medicines.
ANALOGY, in Philosophy, a certain relation and
agreement between two or more things, which in other re¬
spects are entirely different. There is likewise an analogy
between things that have some conformity or resemblance
to one another; for example, between animals and plants;
but the analogy is still stronger between two different
species of certain animals. Analogy enters much into all
our reasoning, and serves to explain and illustrate. A
great part of our philosophy, indeed, has no other founda¬
tion than analogy.
“ It is natural to mankind,” says Dr Reid, “ to judge of
things less known, by some similitude, real or imaginary, Ana
between them and things more familiar or better known.
And where the things compared have really a great simi- Anai
litude in their nature, when there is reason to think that'^'
they are subject to the same laws, there may be a con¬
siderable degree of probability in conclusions drawn from
analogy. Thus, we may observe a very great similitude
between this earth which we inhabit, and the other planets,
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. They all
revolve round the sun, as the earth does, although at
different distances and in different periods. They borrow
all their light from the sun, as the earth does. Several of
them are known to revolve round their axis like the earth,
and, by that means, must have a like succession of day
and night. Some of them have moons, that serve to give
them light in the absence of the sun, as our moon does to
us. They are all, in their motions, subject to the same
law of gravitation as the earth is. From all this simili¬
tude, it is not unreasonable to think that those planets
may, like our earth, be the habitation of various orders of
living creatures. There is some probability in this con¬
clusion from analogy.”
“ But it ought to be observed, that as this kind of rea¬
soning can afford only probable evidence at best, so, un¬
less great caution be used, we are apt to be led into
error by it.”—“ No author has made a more just and a
more happy use of this mode of reasoning than Bishop
Butler, in his Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed,
to the Constitution and Course of Nature. In that excel¬
lent work, the author does not ground any of the truths
of religion upon analogy, as their proper evidence; he
only makes use of analogy to answer objections against
them. When objections are made against the truths of
religion, which may be made with equal strength against
what we know to be true in the course of nature, such
objections can have no weight.”
“ Analogical reasoning, therefore, may be of excellent
use in answering objections against truths which have
other evidence. It may likewise give a greater or a less
degree of probability in cases where we can find no other
evidence. But all arguments drawn from analogy are
still the weaker, the greater disparity there is between
the things compared; and therefore must be weakest of
all when we compare body with mind, because there are
no two things in nature more unlike.”
“ There is no subject in which men have always been
so prone to form their notions by analogies of this kind,
as in what relates to the mind. We form an early ac¬
quaintance with material things by means of our senses,
and are bred up in a constant familiarity with them.
Hence we are apt to measure all things by them, and to
ascribe to things most remote from matter the qualities
that belong to material things. It is for this reason that
mankind have, in all ages, been so prone to conceive the
mind itself to be some subtile kind of matter; that they
have been disposed to ascribe human figure and human
organs, not only to angels, but even to the Deity.
(Essays'on the Intellectual Powers.) There are some pro¬
found observations on the subject of analogy, and on the
difference between the evidence of experience and that
of analogy, in Stewart’s Philosophy of the Mind, vol. n*
chap. ii. sect. 4.
Analogy, in Grammar, is the correspondence which a
word or phrase bears to the genius and received forms o
any language.
ANALYSIS, in a general sense, implies the resolution
of something compounded into its original and constitu¬
ent parts. The word is Greek, and derived from
to resolve.
ANA ANA 683
^ni sis Analysis, in Mathematics, is properly the method of
resolving problems by means of algebraical equations;
Anapra. whence we often find that these two words, analysis and
algebra, are used as synonymous.
Analysis is divided, with regard to its object, into
that oijinites and infinites.
Analysis of Finite Quantities is what we otherwise call
specious arithmetic or algebra.
Analysis of Infinites, called also the New Analysis, is
particularly used for the method of fluxions, or the differ¬
ential calculus.
Analysis, in Metaphysics, or the Philosophy of the
Mind, signifies the process of decompounding our thoughts
into their simplest elements, or of resolving our intellec¬
tual operations into their primary principles.
Analysis, in Physics, and in Chemistry, also denotes
decomposition, that is, the separation of what is complex,
into its constitutent parts. The different meanings of the
term Analysis, as used in mathematics and the other
branches of science, are well explained in Stewart’s Phi¬
losophy of the Mind, vol. ii. chap. iv. sect. 3.
Analysis, in Rhetoric, is that which examines the con¬
nections, tropes, figures, and the like, inquiring into the
passions, arguments, and other apparatus of rhetoric.
ANALYTIC, or Analytical, something that belongs
to or partakes of the nature of analysis. The analytic
method stands opposed to the synthetic. See Logic.
ANAMABOA, or Annamaboe, a populous town on
the gold coast, in the kingdom of Fantin, in Guinea.
ANAMMELECH, an idol of the Sepharvaites, who are
said in Scripture to have burnt their children in honour
of Adrammelech and Anammelech. These idols probably
signified the sun and moon. Some of the rabbins repre¬
sent Anammelech under the figure of a mule, others under
that of a quail or pheasant.
ANAMIM, the second son of Mizraim. (Gen. x. 13.)
Anamim, if we may credit the paraphrast Jonathan the son
of Uzziel, peopled the Mareotis; or the Pentapolis of
Cyrene, according to the paraphrast of Jerusalem. Bo-
chart is of opinion that these Anamims were the people
that dwelt in the parts adjacent to the temple of Jupiter
Ammon, and in the Nasamonitis. Calmet thinks that
the Amanians and Garamantes are descended from Ana¬
mim.
ANAMORPHOSIS, in perspective drawings, is a de¬
formed or distorted portrait or figure, generally confused
and unintelligible to the common unassisted view; but
when seen at a certain distance and height, or as reflected
from a plain or curved mirror, will appear regular and in
right proportion.
ANANCITIS, in Antiquity, a kind of figured stone,
otherwise called synochitis, celebrated for its magical vir¬
tue of raising the shadov/s of the infernal gods.
ANANIAS, a Sadducee, high-priest of the Jews, who
put to death St James, the brother of our Lord, and was
deposed by Agrippa.
ANANISABTA, or Ananisapta, a magical word fre¬
quently found inscribed on coins and other amulets, sup¬
posed to have a virtue of preserving the wearer from the
plague.
ANAPJEST, in Ancient Poetry, a foot consisting of
two short syllables and one long: such is the word
scopixlos. It is just the reverse of the dactyl.
ANAP/ESTIC Verses, those consisting wholly or
chiefly of anapaests.
ANAPHORA, in Rhetoric, the repetition of the same
word or words in the beginning of a sentence or verse.
Anaphora, among physicians, the throwing off puru¬
lent matter by the mouth.
ANAPLASIS signifies the replacing or setting of a Anaplasis
fractured bone. II
ANAPLORETICS, medicines that promote the growth J^nastas*us‘
or granulation of the flesh in wounds, ulcers, &c.
ANARCHI (Amg%o/), in Antiquity, a name given by the
Athenians to four supernumerary days in their year, during
which they had no magistrates. The Attic year was divided
into 10 parts, according to the number of tribes, to whom
the presidency of the senate fell by turns. Each division
consisted of 35 days ; what remained after the expiration
of these, to make the lunar year complete, which accord¬
ing to their computation consisted of 354 days, were em¬
ployed in the creation of magistrates, and called avag^pi
ijysgai, and a^ougidoi.
ANARCHY, the want of government in a nation,
where no supreme authority is lodged either in the prince
or other rulers, but the people live at large,' and all
things are in confusion. The word is derived from the
Greek privative a, and aoyj/j, command, principality.
ANARROPIA, among physicians, a tendency of the
humours to the head or superior parts.
ANASTASIO, St, a city of Italy, with 5650 inhabitants.
It is in the province Terra di Lavora, not far from Capua,
in the kingdom of Naples.
ANASTASIS, a term among ancient physicians for a
rising up to go to stool. It also signifies the passage of
any humour, when expelled from one part, and obliged
to remove to another.
ANASTASIUS I. emperor of the East, succeeded
Zeno in the year 491, and was inaugurated that same
year on the 11th of April. Anastasius reigned 27 years
3 months and 3 days, and died July the 10th, a. c. 518,
in the 88th year of his age.
Anastasius II. whose proper name was Artemius, was
in the year 713 elevated to the throne of Constantinople,
from the low station of a secretary, by the free voice oi
the senate and Roman people. His natural talents, im¬
proved by education and daily exertion, enabled him to
manage with great prudence the affairs of the empire
during the time that he was secretary to his predecessor
Philippicus. The Saracens had made inroads upon Asia
Minor in the beginning of his reign; but he sent a strong
army to the frontiers of Syria for its protection, under
the command of Leo the Isaurian, a man of great military
experience. These enemies of the empire also meditated
the design of taking Constantinople; but the vigilance of
Anastasius defeated their purpose, by providing a formi¬
dable naval force, ■repairing and strengthening the walls
of the city, and by forcing all the inhabitants either
to provide themselves with provisions lor three years,
or instantly to depart from the city. Disappointed
in their design, the enemy’s fleet sailed to Phoenicia,
and the imperial fleet assembled at Rhodes to watch
the motions of the enemy. But the measures of the
emperor received a severe check from the conduct of
the sailors, who raised a mutiny, and slew their admiral
for no other cause than his honourable endeavours^ to
maintain proper discipline in the fleet. Justly dreading
severe punishment, the seamen raised the standard of re¬
bellion, declared Anastasius unworthy to reign, and con¬
ferred the purple upon one Theodosius, a person of mean
birth. Informed of this sedition, Anastasius fled from his
tottering throne to Nice. The new emperor hastened to
besiege Constantinople, which, after a feeble defence of
six months, he reduced to his subjection. The late em¬
peror being assured of his life, abandoned his claim to
the crown, assumed the character of a monk, and was
banished to Thessalonica, having worn the purple only
during the space of two years. Having, however, pre-
684
ANA
ANA
Anastasius vailed upon the Bulgarians to espouse his cause, he laid
II aside the habit of the monk for that of the warrior, and,
^^^^in the year 719, in the time of the emperor Leo, he re¬
sumed his claim to the throne. A numerous army of
these barbarians hastened to the capital; but being un¬
able to reduce it, they delivered up the unhappy Anasta¬
sius to the emperor, who put him to death, along with his
principal associates.
Anastasius, surnamed Bibliothecarius, a Roman ab¬
bot, library-keeper of the Vatican, and one of the most
learned men of the ninth century, assisted in 869 at the
fourth general council, the acts and canons of which he
translated from the Greek into Latin. He also composed
the lives of several popes, and other works; the best edi¬
tion of which is that of the Vatican.
ANASTOMATICS, medicines supposed to have the
power of opening the mouths of the vessels, and pro¬
moting the circulation; such as deobstruent, cathartic,
and sudorific medicines.
ANASTOMOSIS, in Anatomy, the opening of the
mouths of vessels, in order to discharge their contained
fluids. It is likewise used for the communication of two
vessels at their extremities; as the inosculation of a vein
with a vein, of an artery with an artery, or of an artery
with a vein.
ANASTROPHE, in Rhetoric and Grammar, denotes
the inversion of the natural order of the words: such is
saxa per et scopulos, for per saxa et scopulos.
ANATHEMA, among ecclesiastical writers, imports
whatever is set apart, separated, or divided ; but is most
usually meant to express the cutting off a person from the
privileges of society and communion with the faithful.
The anathema differs from excommunication in the cir¬
cumstances of being attended with curses and execrations.
It was practised in the primitive church against notorious
offenders. Several councils also have pronounced ana¬
themas against such as they thought corrupted the purity
of the faith. There are two kinds of anathemas, the one
judiciary and the other abjuratory. The former can only
be denounced by a council, a pope, or a bishop; the latter
makes a part of the ceremony of abjuration, the convert
being obliged to anathematize the heresy he abjures.
Anathema, in Heathen Antiquity, was an offering or
present made to some deity, and hung up in the temple.
Whenever a person left off his employment, it was usual
to dedicate the tools to the patron deity of the trade.
Persons, too, who had escaped from imminent danger, as
shipwreck and the like, or had met with any other re¬
markable instance of good fortune, seldom failed to testify
their gratitude by some present of this kind.
ANATOCISM, Anatocismus, an usurious contract,
wherein the interests arising from the principal sum are
added to the principal itself, and interest exacted upon
the whole. The word is originally Greek, but used by
Cicero in Latin; whence it has descended into most
other languages. It comes from the preposition ccva,
which in composition signifies repetition or duplication, and
ror.oi, usury. Anatocism is what we properly call interest
upon interest, or compound interest. This is the worst kind
of usury, and has been severely condemned by the Roman
law, as well as by the common laws of most other countries.
ANATOLIA. See Natouia.
Anatj in
Anal
ANATOMY.
ANATOMY (Amrofiri), signifying literally dissection,
or separation of parts by cutting, applied to organized
bodies, is used to denote the artificial separation of their
component parts in order to obtain an exact knowledge
of their situation, shape, and structure.
A more just idea of the nature and objects of anatomy
may be given by defining it as that science, the province
of which is to ascertain the structure of living and orga¬
nized bodies.
All the objects of the material world may be arranged
in two great divisions, according as they are organized or
void of organization. Inorganic bodies {corpora hrutd)
are distinguished by the homogeneous characters of their
internal structure, any one portion of which, in the same
mass, presents the same appearance and properties as
any other. Endowed also with the general properties of
matter, as weight, cohesion, impenetrability, and atomic
attraction, or that resident in the constituent parti¬
cles, they are subject to physical laws only. All the
changes which inorganic bodies undergo consist either
in mechanical changes of place or shape, or in change of
chemical constitution ; and the consideration of the mode
in which these changes take place, of the agents by which
they are effected, and the laws by which they are regu¬
lated, constitutes the sciences of Mechanics and Che¬
mistry.
In organic bodies {corpora organica, c. viva), on the con-
trary, we recognise a peculiar structure, in which the parts,
though arranged in a certain order, are heterogeneous,
or consist of different kinds of matter. In other words,
not only do organized bodies consist of different kinds of
substance, but these component substances may be again
resolved into material elements, differing from each other
in mechanical, chemical, and vital properties.
Observation further shows, that organic are distinguish¬
ed from inorganic bodies by the presence of a series and
combination of actions and processes, which are collectively
known under the abstract denomination of Life. Of this
term, however familiar it may appear, it has been found
difficult to give a satisfactory and unobjectionable defini¬
tion ; and physiological authors have found it requisite, in
order to avoid obscurity, to define it from its tendency,
its obvious effects, or, negatively, from what experience
shows to ensue upon its termination. Life is an attribute
of living bodies, and is known only as it manifests its
presence in these; and hence, instead of saying what it
is, we are compelled to specify only the circumstances
which denote its existence. Attentively considered, all
the varieties of organized and living bodies may be said
to be distinguished from those which are inorganic by
two great characters,—growth or the reproduction of the
individual, and generation or the reproduction of the spe¬
cies. Growth, or increase of size, includes the general
processes of assimilation and nutrition, with all the sub¬
ordinate actions of which these are composed; and since
it consists in the conversion of brute or inorganic into
living or organic matter, it constitutes one of the most
essential characters of life and organization. By virtue
of this, living bodies are the seat of an incessant change
in their interior structure; whereas inorganic bodies re¬
main in the same state, unless from the operation of chemi¬
cal laws. The formation of a new body similar to others
of the same class, order, and kind, however various in its
mode, is also a uniform attribute of all living and orga-
ANATOMY.
jaatii)’- nized bodies. To one or other of, these two general pur-
poses, then, all the actions and processes of living bodies,
however complex and multifarious they seem, may be ul¬
timately referred. To these two characters of living
bodies Cuvier adds a third,—death, or the termination of
life; but as this is a negative circumstance, and is in¬
cluded in the idea of life as a process having beginning
and end, it is superfluous in the general idea of the term.
The knowledge of the actions and processes of living and
organized bodies, and of the laws to which they are sub-
ject, constitutes the science of Physiology, or, as it has
been also denominated, Zoonomy and vo^og, laws of
life,) or Biology (/3/oj and Xoyog, doctrine of life).
Life supposes organization or the arrangement of mat¬
ter and material particles peculiar to living bodies; and,
reciprocally, organization, though not the cause of life
and living processes, invariably implies their existence,
either present or previous. In other words, every orga¬
nized body either is or must have been living ; and every
living body is endowed with the peculiar internal structure
termed organic. Though it is difficult to specify by defi¬
nition the characters of this structure, some idea of it may
be communicated by stating, that all living bodies pos¬
sess material organs of definite shape, substance, and
structure, consisting of certain parts, and placed in pro¬
per positions. While it is the province of Physiology to
study the actions and processes of living bodies, and to in¬
vestigate the laws by which they are regulated, the exclu¬
sive object of Anatomy is to distinguish and describe their
constituent parts,—to determine the shape, position, and
structure of their organs,—and, in short, to develope
their structure. The term is not free from objection,
since it literally denotes one only of the means employed
to acquire the information requisite. But the objection
is not obviated by the substitution of such terms as
morphology and organology, in so far as the study of ana¬
tomy is not confined either to the shapes of parts or the
knowledge of organs alone, but considers their position,
their intimate structure, and their organization ; in short,
all the circumstances relating to the material constitution
of living bodies.
All living and organized bodies, though agreeing in the
general character of possessing organs for assimilation and
nutrition, and organs of reproduction, differ nevertheless
in the possession or the want of organs for two other
functions, viz. those for recognising the presence of foreign
bodies, or organs oisensation, and those for changing place,
or organs of locomotion. The possession of these organs
distinguishes those living beings denominated animals ;
the want of them in like manner characterizes those
termed plants or vegetables. Upon this principle
anatomy, or the science of organic structures, resolves it¬
self into two great divisions,—-Animal Anatomy, or
Zootomy (fmv and royri), the object of which is the inves¬
tigation of the structure of animal bodies; and Veget¬
able Anatomy, or Phytotomy (<p\jrov and royf), the
object of which is to explain the structure peculiar to the
vegetable tribes.
Animal anatomy, again, naturally resolves itself into se¬
veral divisions, according as the object is to explain the
I structure of the animal kingdom at large, or that of cer¬
tain classes, orders, tribes, families, or genera only. The
most ordinary and convenient division, however, is into
that which treats of the anatomy of the known animal
tribes in general, and that which treats of the structure
peculiar to the human subject. The accidental circum¬
stance of the former being studied chiefly in comparison
with the latter, the organic forms of which are regarded
as the standard of reference, has given it the denomina¬
68f>
tion of Comparative Anatomy, though that of Ani- Anatomy.
mal Anatomy or Zootomy would be more appropriate.
The latter has generally been named Anatomy simply,
or the Anatomy of the Human Body, and occasionally
Anthropotomy or Human Anatomy.
The connection which subsists between the latter and
the several divisions of the art of healing, renders it inter¬
esting to the medical, the surgical, and the philosophical
reader generally, and invests it with the highest import¬
ance to all. Comparative Anatomy, nevertheless, possesses
the peculiar advantage of directing the mind of the in¬
quirer to general resemblances, to universal facts, and to
comprehensive analogies. Independent of the important
services which its knowledge renders to several of the
arts, it is of the greatest use in throwing light on some of
the obscurest parts of physiology; by the extensive chain
of analogical facts which it traces, it tends to explain dif¬
ficulties in organization and function, which could not
otherwise be intelligible; and by establishing the connec¬
tion between external characters and habits with pecu¬
liarities of internal structure, it affords the only rational
basis for the classifications and distinctions of zoology.
Comparative or Animal Anatomy constitutes the great
source of what may be termed the Philosophy of Animal
Life.
Of the present treatise, the greater part will be devoted
to the subject of Human Anatomy, or the explana¬
tion of the structure of the human frame in the healthy
state. In a smaller proportion, it is proposed to give a
view of the structure of animal bodies generally, with oc¬
casional observations on those peculiarities in configura¬
tion and structure which distinguish classes, orders, and
genera, from each other. This will constitute Compara¬
tive Anatomy.
In a separate article, devoted to Vegetable Anatomy,
the peculiarities of structure observed in plants will be
unfolded.
Previous to entering on the subject of Animal Anatomy,
hov/ever, and its two divisions, Human and Comparative
Anatomy, it is requisite to take an historical view of the
progress of the science from its origin to the present time.
In tracing the history of the origin of anatomy, it may History,
be justly said that more learning than judgment has been
displayed. Some writers claim for it the highest anti-B.C. 1957-
quity, and pretend to find its first rudiments alternately in 1537.
the animal sacrifices of the shepherd kings, the Jews, and
other ancient nations; and in the art of embalming, as
practised by the Egyptian priests. Even the descriptions 1184.
of wounds in the Iliad have been supposed adequate to
prove that, in the time of Homer, mankind had distinct
notions of the structure of the human body. Of the first,
it may be said that the rude information obtained by the
slaughter of animals for sacrifice does not imply profound
anatomical knowledge; and those who adduce the second
as evidence, are deceived by the language of the poet of
the Trojan war, which, distinguishing certain parts by
their ordinary Greek epithets, as afterwards used by Hip¬
pocrates, Galen, and all anatomists, has been rather too
easily supposed to prove that the poet had studied syste¬
matically the structure of the human frame.
With not much greater justice has the cultivation of
anatomical knowledge been ascribed to Hippocrates, who,
because he is universally allowed to be the father of me¬
dicine, has also been thought to be the creator of the
science of anatomy. Of the seven individuals of the fa- 460-377-
mily of the Heracleidte who bore this celebrated name,
the second, who was son of Heraclides and Phenarita, and
grandson of the first Hippocrates, wTas indeed distinguished
686
ANATOM Y.
History, as the author of medical observation and experience, and
the first who appreciated the value of studying accurately
the phenomena, effects, and terminations of disease. It
does not appear, however, notwithstanding the vague and
general panegyrics of Riolan, Bartholin, Le Clerc, and
Portal, that the anatomical knowledge of this illustrious
person was either accurate or profound. Of the works
ascribed to Hippocrates, five only are genuine. Most of
them were written either by subsequent authors of the
same name, or by one or other of the numerous impostors
who took advantage of the zealous munificence of the Pto¬
lemies, by fabricating works under that illustrious name.
Of the few which are genuine, there is none expressly
devoted to anatomy; and of his knowledge on this sub¬
ject, the only proofs are to be found in the exposition of
his physiological opinions, and his medical or surgical in¬
structions. From these it appears that he had some accu¬
rate notions on osteology ; but that of the structure of the
human body in general, his ideas were at once superficial
and erroneous. In his book on injuries of the head, and
in that on fractures, he shows that he knew the sutures of
the cranium, and the relative situation of the bones ; and
that he had some notion of the shape of the bones in ge¬
neral, and of their mutual connections. Of the muscles,
of the soft parts in general, and of the internal organs,
his ideas are confused, indistinct, and erroneous. The
term pXsS; he seems, in imitation of the colloquial Greek,
to have used generally to signify a blood-vessel, without
being aware of the distinction of vein and artery; and the
term a^r^ia, or air-holder, is restricted to the windpipe.
He appears to have been unaware of the existence of the
nervous chords; and the term is used by him, as by Gre¬
cian authors in general, to signify a sinew or tendon. On
other points his knowledge is so much combined with
peculiar physiological doctrines, that it is impossible to as¬
sign them the character of anatomical facts; and even
the works in which these doctrines are contained are
with little probability to be ascribed to the second Hip¬
pocrates. If, however, we overlook this difficulty, and ad¬
mit what is contained in the genuine Hippocratic writ¬
ings to represent at least the sum of knowledge possess¬
ed by Plippocrates and his immediate descendants, we
find that he represents the brain as a gland, from which
exudes a viscid fluid; that the heart is muscular and of
pyramidal shape, and has two ventricles separated by a
partition, the fountains of life—and two auricles, recepta¬
cles of air; that the lungs consist of five ash-coloured lobes,
the substance of which is cellular and spongy, naturally
dry, but refreshed by the air; and that the kidneys are
glands, but possess an attractive faculty, by virtue of
which the moisture of the drink is separated, and descends
into the bladder. He distinguishes the bowels into colon
and rectum (6 a^os).
374. The knowledge possessed by the second Hippocrates
was transmitted in various degrees of purity to the de¬
scendants and pupils, chiefly of the family of the Hera-
cleidse, who succeeded him. Several of these, with feel¬
ings of grateful affection, appear to have studied to pre¬
serve the written memory of his instructions, and in this
manner to have contributed to form part of that collection
of treatises which have long been known to the learned
world under the general name of the Hippocratic writings.
Though composed, like the genuine remains of the physi¬
cian of Cos, in the Ionian dialect, all of them differ from
these in being more diffuse in style, more elaborate in
form, and in studying to invest their anatomical and me¬
dical matter with the fanciful ornaments of the Platonic Hi
philosophy. Hippocrates had the merit of early recog-^
nising the value of facts apart from opinions, and of those
facts especially which lead to general results; and in the
few genuine writings which are now extant, it is easy to
perceive that he has recourse to the simplest language,
expresses himself in terms which, though short and pithy’
are always precise and perspicuous, and is averse to the
introduction of philosophical dogmas. Of the greater part
of the writings collected under his name, on the contrary,
the general character is verboseness, prolixity, and a great
tendency to speculative opinions. For these reasons, as
well as for others derived from internal evidence, while
the Aphorisms, the Epidemics, and the works above men¬
tioned, bear distinct marks of being the genuine remains of
Flippocrates, it is impossible to regard the book nm
Av^wcrou as entirely the composition of that physician;
and it appears more reasonable to view it as the work of
some one of the numerous disciples to whom the author
had communicated the results of his observation, which
they unwisely attempted to combine with the philosophy
of the Platonic school and their own mysterious opinions.
Among those who aimed at this distinction, the most 3"4
fortunate in the preservation of his name is Polybus, the
son-in-law of the physician of Cos. This person, who
must not be confounded with the monarch of Corinth
immortalized by Sophocles in the tragic story of (Edipus,
is represented as a recluse, severed from the world and
its enjoyments, and devoting himself to the study of ana¬
tomy and physiology, and to the composition of works on
these subjects. To him has been ascribed the whole of
the book on the Nature of the Child, and most of that on
Man ; both physiological treatises, interspersed with ana¬
tomical sketches. His anatomical information, with which
at present is our chief concern, appears to have been rude
and inaccurate, like that of his preceptor. He represents
the large vessels of the body to consist of four pairs: the
first proceeding from the head by the back of the neck
and spinal chord to the hips, lower extremities, and outer
ankle; the second, consisting of the jugular vessels (a/tfpay/-
nbig), proceeding to the loins, thighs, hams, and inner
ankle; the third proceeding from the temples by the
neck to the scapula and lungs, and thence by mutual in¬
tercrossings to the spleen and left kidney, and the liver
and right kidney, and finally to the rectum; and the
fourth from the fore-part of the neck to the upper extre¬
mities, the fore-part of the trunk, and the organs of gene¬
ration.
This specimen of the anatomical knowledge of one of 3M.
the most illustrious of the Hippocratic disciples differs
not essentially from that of Syennesis, the physician of
Cyprus, and Diogenes, the philosopher of Apollonia, two
authors, for the preservation of whose opinions we are
indebted to Aristotle.1 They may be admitted as repre¬
senting the state of anatomical knowledge among the
most enlightened men at that time, and they only show
how rude and erroneous were their ideas on the structure
of the animal body. It may indeed, without injustice, be
said, that the anatomy of the Hippocratic school is not
only erroneous, but fanciful and imaginary, in often sub¬
stituting mere supposition and assertion for what ought
to be matter of fact. From this censure it is impossible
to exempt even the name of Plato himself, for whom some
notices in the Timaeus on the structure of the animal body,
as taught by Hippocrates and Polybus, have procured a
place in the history of the science.
1 XIsjj Zam 'hrrootx;, lib. iii. cap. ii.
ANATOMY.
687
gi;|-y. Amidst the general obscurity in which the early history no direct branches to the liver and spleen, he had ob- History,
of anatomy is involved, only two leading facts maybe ad- served the mesenteric, the renal, and the common iliac ar-'^'v^-
mitted with certainty. The first is, that previous to the teries. It is nevertheless singular, that thou-di he re¬
time of Aristotle there was no accurate knowledge of marks particularly that the renal branches of the aorta <m
anatomy; and the second, that all that was known was to the substance and not the pelvis (xo/X/a) of the kidney
derived from the dissection of the lower animals only, he appears to mistake the ureters for branches of the
By the appearance of Aristotle, this species of knowledge, aorta.
which was hitherto acquired in a desultory and irregular Of the nerves (wu^a) he appears to have the most con-
manner, began to be cultivated systematically and with a fused notions. Making them arise from the heart, which
definite object; and among the services which the philoso- he says has nerves (tendons) in its largest cavity, he re-
pher of Stagira rendered to mankind, one of the greatest presents the aorta to be a nervous or tendinous vein
and most substantial is, that he was the founder of Compa- (vsugudrie (pXiZg). By afterwards saying that all the articu-
rative Anatomy, and was the first to apply its facts to the lated bones are connected by nerves, he makes them the
elucidation of zoology. The works of this ardent and same as ligaments; while the character of divisibility in
original naturalist show that his zootomical knowledge was the long direction identifies them rather with tendons;
extensive, and often accurate; and from several of his and the assertion that no part destitute of them has sen-
descriptions it is impossible to doubt that they were de- sation, makes them approach to the nervous chords of the
rived from frequent personal dissection. modern anatomists. He distinguishes suet, fat, and mar-
-4. Aristotle, who was born 384 years before the Christian row, from each other; and though he admits the spinal
era, or in the first year of the 99th Olympiad, was, at the age chord to consist of the latter substance, he differs from
of39, requested by Philip to undertake the education of his those authors who regard the brain of the same nature,
son Alexander. During this period, it is said, he composed because while brain is cold, marrow is hot.
several works on anatomy, which however are now lost. He distinguishes the windpipe or air-holder (a^rr^ia)
The military expedition of his royal pupil into Asia, by from the oesophagus, because it is placed before the lat-
laying open the animal stores of that vast and little known ter, because food or drink passing into it causes distress-
continent, furnished Aristotle with the means of extending ing cough and suffocation, and because there is no passage
his knowledge, not only of the animal tribes, but of their from the lung to the stomach. He knew the situation
structure, and of communicating more accurate and dis- and use of the epiglottis, seems to have had some indis¬
tinct notions than were yet accessible to the world. A tinct notions of the larynx, represents the windpipe to be
sum of 800 talents, and the concurrent aid of numerous necessary to convey air to and from the lungs, and appears
331 7. intelligent assistants in Greece and Asia, were intended to have a tolerable understanding of the structure of the
to facilitate his researches in composing a system of lungs. He repeatedly represents the heart, the shape and
zoological knowledge ; but it has been observed, that the site of which he describes accurately, to be the origin of
number of instances in which he was thus compelled to the blood-vessels, in opposition to those who made them
trust to the testimony of other observers, led him to com- descend from the head ; yet, though he represents it as
mit errors in description, which personal observation full of blood, and the source and fountain of that fluid,
might have enabled him to avoid. and even speaks of the blood flowing from the heart to
The first three books of the History of Animals, a the veins,1 and thence to every part of the body,2 he says
treatise consisting of ten books, and the four books on the nothing of the circular motion of the blood.
Parts of Animals, constitute the great monument of the The diaphragm he distinguishes by the name o/a^w/xa,
Aristotelian Anatomy. From these we find that Aristotle and ■jmfyiya. With the liver and spleen, and the whole ali-
was the first who corrected the erroneous statements of mentarycanal, he seemswell acquainted. The several parts
Polybus, Syennesis, and Diogenes, regarding the blood- of the quadruple stomach of the ruminating animals are
vessels, which they made, as we have seen, to arise from the distinguished and named ; and he even traces the relations
head and brain. These he represents to be two in number, between the teeth and the several forms of stomach, and
placed before the spinal column, the larger on the right, the the length or brevity, the simplicity or complication, of
smaller on the left, which, he also remarks, is by some the intestinal tube. Upon the same principle he dis-
called«orta(aogr?j),thefirsttime,weobserve,which thisepi- tinguishes the jejunum (j vrjffr/i), or the empty portion of
thet occurs in the history. Both he represents to arise from the small intestines in animals (ro ivrsgov XsTrrov), the ccecum
the heart, the larger from the largest upper cavity, the (repXov r/xcc/oy/tcocisg), the colon (ro xwXov), and the sigmoid
smaller or aorta from the middle cavityq but in a different flexure (tfrsvcorspov ?£«/ iCktyihim'). The modern epithet of
manner, and forming a narrower canal. He also distin- rectum is the literal translation of his description of the
gmshes the thick, firm, and more tendinous structure of straight progress (sa^a) of the bowel to the anus (rrguxrog).
the aorta from the thin and membranous structure of the He knew the nasal cavities and the passage from the
vein. In describing the distribution of the latter, how- tympanal cavity of the ear to the palate, afterwards de-
ever, he confounds the vena cava and pulmonary artery, scribed by Eustachius.
and, as might be expected, he confounds the ramifica- Next to Aristotle occur the names of Diodes of Carys- 354.
fions of the former with those of the arterial tubes in ge- tus, and Praxagoras of Cos, the last of the family of the
neral. While he represents the lung to be liberally sup- Asclepiadae. The latter is remarkable for being the first 341
plied with blood, he describes the brain as an organ al- who distinguished the arteries from the veins, and the
most destitute of this fluid. His account of the distribu- author of the opinion that the former were air-vessels,
fion of the aorta is wonderfully correct. Though he does Hitherto anatomical inquiry was confined to the exami-
not notice the cceliac, and remarks that the aorta sends nation of the bodies of brute animals. We have, indeed,
1 X* Tjjf Kafiiat ya.p tx^ITtuira/ Uf <ras Aurxi ya(> sx ry; xafiiccs ro a'fia. (n*£/ Zamiv tAo^iuv, lib. iii. Cap. iv. V.)
'Sinntrra/ittyajy 5» ruv u:'/v 5* tvv ect/xoiro;, xsotaorto £.'/7V44‘v, iUAoyaj; y tojv <P/-sVMV pvat; Ci'L ora-vros rov truf^ooros tfityi/xi. Ss; yoo^ XXI to «iUX Site
vdVT9g KCCI CTiOi <TCiV UTIO r<yv jaoqi'jOv iKcctrrov s* rouTov au'jt<TTy,Kiv» ioiki d*tvtrvrif) sv T£ tois xyivroig oct v^^ccycoytoct cctto uias
Kai ns vroXkous o%iT0us x&i xXKoVg ouu ngo; ro vnzvrw ptradtlovccu (Ibid. lib. iii. cap. v.)
ANATOMY.
688
History, no testimony of the human body being submitted to ex-
amination previous to the time of Erasistratus and Hero-
philus; and it is vain to look for authentic facts on this point
before the foundation of the Ptolemaic dynasty of sove¬
reigns in Egypt. This event, which, as is generally known,
succeeded the death of Alexander, 320 years before the
Christian era, collected into one spot the scattered embers
of literature and science, which were beginning to lan¬
guish in Greece under a weak and distracted government,
and an unsettled state of society. The children of her
divided states, whom domestic discord and the uncer¬
tainties of war rendered unhappy at home, wandered into
Egypt, and found, under the fostering hand of the Alex¬
andrian monarchs, the means of cultivating the sciences,
and repaying with interest to the country of Thoth and
Osiris, the benefits which had been conferred on the in¬
fancy of Greece by Thales and Pythagoras. Alexandria
became in this manner the depository of all the learning
and knowledge of the civilized world; and while other
nations were sinking under the effects of internal animo¬
sities or mutual dissensions, or ravaging the earth with the
evils of war, the Egyptian Greeks kept alive the sacred
flame of science, and preserved mankind from relapsing
into their original barbarism.
These happy effects are to be ascribed in an eminent
degree to the enlightened government and liberal opinions
285. of Ptolemy Soter, and his immediate successors Philadel-
phus and Euergetes. The two latter princes, whose au¬
thority was equalled only by the zeal with which they pa¬
tronised science and their professors, were the first who
enabled physicians to dissect the human body, and pre¬
vented the prejudices of ignorance and superstition from
compromising the welfare of the human race. To this
happy circumstance Herophilus and Erasistratus are in¬
debted for the distinction of being known to posterity as
the first anatomists who dissected and described the parts
of the human body. Both of these physicians flourished
under Ptolemy Soter, and probably Ptolemy Philadelphus,
and were indeed the principal supports of what has been
named in medical history the Alexandrian School, to
which their reputation seems to have attracted numerous
pupils.
But though the concurrent testimony of antiquity assigns
to these physicians the merit of dissecting the human
body, time, which wages endless war with the vanity and
ambition of man, has dealt hardly with the monuments of
their labours. As the works of neither have been pre¬
served, great uncertainty prevails as to the respective
merits of these ancient anatomists; and all that is now
known of their anatomical researches is obtained from the
occasional notices of Galen, Oribasius, and some other wri-
304. ters. From these it appears that Erasistratus recognised
the valves of the heart, and distinguished them by the
names of tricuspid and sigmoid; that he studied particu¬
larly the shape and structure of the brain, and its divi¬
sions, and cavities, and membranes, and likened the con¬
volutions to the folds of the jejunum; that he first form¬
ed a distinct idea of the nature of the nerves, which he
made issue from the brain ; and that he discovered lympha¬
tic vessels in the mesentery, first in brute animals, and
afterwards, it is said, in man. It is not uninteresting to
observe, that he appears to have distinguished the nerves
into those of sensation and those of motion.
Of Herophilus it is said that he had extensive anatomi¬
cal knowledge, acquired by dissecting, not only brutes, but
human bodies. Of these he probably dissected more than
any of his predecessors or contemporaries. But it is His
almost superfluous to remind the classical reader, that thev-^‘
passage of Tertullian, in which he is said to have dissect¬
ed 600 corpses, is not to be understood literally, and
means only that he had dissected many; and that this
language is employed by an author who speaks of him in
terms of execration, and who evidently exaggerates in
order to prejudice the reader against the anatomist. De¬
voted to the assiduous cultivation of anatomy, he appears
to have studied with particular attention those parts which
were least understood. He recognised the nature of the
pulmonary artery, which he denominates arterious vein;
he knew the vessels of the mesentery, and showed that
they did not go to the vena portae, but to certain glandu¬
lar bodies; and he first applied the name of twelve-inch
or duodenum (SudwadaxTuhos) to that part of the alimen¬
tary canal which is next to the stomach. Like Erasis¬
tratus, he appears to have studied carefully the configura¬
tion of the brain; and we learn from Galen that he first
compared the linear furrow at the bottom of the fourth
ventricle to the cavity of a writing pen; and though like
him he distinguishes the nerves into those of sensation
and those of voluntary motion, he adds to them the liga¬
ments and tendons. A tolerable description of the liver
by this anatomist is preserved in the writings of Galen.1
He first applied the name of choroid or vascular mem¬
brane to that which is found in the cerebral ventricles;
he knew the fourth or straight sinus, which still bears
his name; he described the posterior end of the vault or
fornix as the principal seat of the sensations; and to him
the linear furrow at the bottom of the fourth ventricle is
indebted for its name of calamus scriptorius.
The celebrity of these two great anatomists appears to
have thrown into the shade, for a long period, the names
of all other inquirers; for among their numerous and
rather celebrated successors in the Alexandrian school, it
is impossible to recognise a name which is entitled to dis¬
tinction in the history of anatomy. In a chasm so wide
it is not uninteresting to find, in one who combined the cha¬
racter of the greatest orator and philosopher of antiquity,
the most distinct traces of attention to anatomical know¬
ledge. Cicero, in his treatise De Natura Deorum, in a 44.
short sketch of physiology, such as it was taught by Aris¬
totle and his disciples, introduces various anatomical
notices, from which the classical reader may form some
idea of the state of anatomy at that time. The Roman
orator appears to have formed a pretty distinct idea of
the shape and connections of the windpipe and lungs ;
and though he informs his readers that he knows the ali¬
mentary canal, he omits the details through motives of
delicacy. In imitation of Aristotle, he talks of the blood
being conveyed by the veins (venae), that is, blood-vessels,
through the body at large ; and, like Praxagoras, of the air
inhaled by the lungs being conveyed through the arteries.
Aretams, though chiefly known as a medical author,
makes some observations on the lung and the pleura,
maintains the glandular structure of the kidney, and de¬
scribes the anastomosis or communications of the capil¬
lary extremities of the vena cava with those of the portal
vein. D
The most valuable depository of the anatomical know-A-
ledge of these times is the work of Celsus, one of the
most judicious medical authors of antiquity. He left, in¬
deed, no express anatomical treatise ; but from the intro¬
ductions to his 4th and 8th books, De Medicina, with
incidental remarks in his 7th, the modern reader may
1 lit®/ AvaTiftiKuy Ey^tiorjTiuv, lib. vi.
ANATOM Y.
689
Hi'.ry- form very just ideas of the anatomical attainments of the
^ ^ Roman physician. From these it appears that Celsus was
well acquainted with the windpipe and lungs, and the
heart; with the difference between the windpipe and
oesophagus (stomachus), which leads to the stomach (yen-
triculus); and with the shape, situation, and relations of
the diaphragm. He enumerates also with accuracy the
principal facts relating to the situation of the liver, the
spleen, and the kidneys. His description of the situation
and connections of the stomach is interesting. He ap¬
pears, however, to have been unaware of the distinction
of duodenum or twelve-inch bowel, already admitted by
Herophilus, and represents the stomach as directly con¬
nected by means of the pylorus with the jejunum or up¬
per part of the small intestine. His account of the rest
of the alimentary canal, though brief and cursory, is ac¬
curate ; and his subsequent descriptions of diseases seat¬
ed in these parts show that he had formed ideas, upon the
whole very just, of the relative positions of these parts.
The 7th and 8th books, which are devoted to the con¬
sideration of those diseases which are treated by manual
operation, contain sundry anatomical notices necessary to
explain the nature of the diseases, or mode of treatment.
Of these, indeed, the merit is unequal; and it is not won¬
derful that the ignorance of the day prevented Celsus
from understanding rightly the mechanism of the patho¬
logy of hernia. He appears, however, to have formed a
tolerably just idea of the mode of cutting into the urinary
bladder; and even his obstetrical instructions show that
his knowledge of the uterus, vagina, and appendages was
not contemptible. It is in osteology, however, that the
information of Celsus is chiefly conspicuous. Fie enume¬
rates the sutures and several of the holes of the cranium,
and describes at great length the superior and inferior
maxillary bones and the teeth. With a good deal of
care he describes the vertebrae and the ribs, and gives
very briefly the situation and shape of the scapula, hume¬
rus, radius, and ulna, and even the carpal and metacarpal
bones, and then of the different bones of the pelvis and
lower extremities. He had formed a just idea of the ar¬
ticular connections, and is desirous to impress the fact,
that none is formed without cartilage. From his mention
of many minute holes (multa et tenuia foramina), in the re¬
cess of the nasal cavities, it is evident that he was ac¬
quainted with the perforated plate of the ethmoid bone;
and from saying that the straight part of the auditory canal
becomes flexuous, and terminates in numerous minute ca¬
vities (multa et tenuia foramina diducitur), it is inferred
by Portal that he knew the semicircular canals.
° ^ Though the writings of Celsus show that he cultivated
anatomical knowledge, it does not appear that the science
was much studied by the Romans ; and there is reason to
believe, that after the decay of the school of Alexandria
it languished in neglect and obscurity. It is at least cer¬
tain that the appearance of Marinus during the reign of
Nero is mentioned by authors as an era remarkable for
anatomical inquiry, and that this person is distinguished by
Galen as the restorer of a branch of knowledge which had
been before him suffered to fall into undeserved neglect.
Irom Galen also we learn that he gave an accurate ac¬
count of the muscles, that he studied particularly the glands,
that he discovered those of the mesentery, and that he
improved much the anatomical history of the nerves. The
number of the latter he fixed at seven; he observed the
palatine nerves, which he rated as the fourth pair; and
described as the fifth the auditory and facial, which he
regards as one pair; and the hypoglossal as the sixth
tached to physiology, and as a means of cultivating this History,
science studied Comparative Anatomy, and made sundry' — ‘
experiments on living animals. Of the anatomical writ-
ings of this author, there remains only a list or catalogue
of names of different regions and parts of the animal body.
He appears, however, to have directed the attention par¬
ticularly to the tortuous course of the uterine vessels, and
to have recognised even at this early period the Fallopian
tube. He distinguishes the nerves into those of sensation
and those of motion. He knew the recurrent nerve.
His name is further associated with the ancient experi¬
ment of compressing in the situation of the carotid arteries
the pneumogastric nerve, and thereby inducing insensibi¬
lity and loss of voice.
Of all the authors of antiquity, however, none possesses
so just a claim to the title of anatomist as Claudius Ga-
lenus, the celebrated physician of Pergamus. This person,
who was born about the 131st year of the Christian era,
and lived under the reigns of Trajan, Antoninus, Commo-
dus, and iElius, was trained by his father Nicon, whose
memory he embalms as an eminent mathematician, archi¬
tect, and astronomer, to all the learning of the day, and
initiated particularly into the mysteries of the Aristote¬
lian philosophy. In an order somewhat whimsical he after¬
wards studied philosophy successively in the schools of the
Stoics, the Academics, the Peripatetics, and the Epicu¬
reans. W hile at the age of 17, his father, he informs us,
was admonished by a dream to devote his son to the study
of medicine; but it was fully two years after, that Galen
entered on this pursuit, under the auspices of an instructor,
whose name he has thought proper to conceal. Shortly after,
he betook himself to the study of anatomy under Satyrus,
a pupil of Quintus, and of medicine under Stratonicus, a
Hippocratic physician, and iEschrion, an empiric. He had
scarcely attained the age of 20, when he had occasion to
deplore the loss of the first and most affectionate guide of
his studies ; and soon after he proceeded to Smyrna to ob¬
tain the anatomical instructions of Pelops, who, though
mystified by some of the errors of Hippocrates, is com¬
memorated by his pupil as a skilful anatomist. After
this he appears to have visited various cities, distinguish¬
ed for philosophical or medical teachers; and, finally, to
have gone to Alexandria with the view of cultivating
more accurately and intimately the study of anatomy
under Heraclianus. Flere he remained till his 28th year,
when he regarded himself as possessed of all the knowledge
then attainable through the medium of teachers. He
now returned to Pergamus, to exercise the art which he
had so anxiously studied, and received, in his 29th year, an
unequivocal testimony of the confidence which his fellow-
citizens reposed in his skill, by being intrusted with the
treatment of the wounded gladiators; and in this capacity
he is said to have treated with success several wounds which
used to be fatal. A seditious tumult appears to have
caused him to form the resolution of quitting Pergamus
and proceeding to Rome, at the age of 32. Here,
however, he remained only five years; and returning
once more to Pergamus, after travelling for some time,
finally settled in Rome as physician to the emperor Com-
modus.
The anatomical writings ascribed to Galen, which are
numerous, are to be viewed not merely as the result of
personal research and information, but as the common
depository of the anatomical knowledge of the day, and as
combining all that he had learnt from the several teachers
under whom he successively studied, with whatever per¬
sonal study had enabled him to acquire. It is on this ac-
Not long after Marinus, appeared Ruffus of Ephesus, a count not always easy to distinguish what Galen had
Greek physician, who in the reign of Trajan was much at- himself ascertained by personal research, from that which
VOL. ii. 4, s
690
ANATOMY.
History, was known by other anatomists. This, however, though
of moment to the history of Galen as an anatomist, is of
little consequence to the science itself; and, from the ana¬
tomical remains of this author, a pretty just idea may be
formed, both of the progress and of the actual state of the
science at that time.
The osteology of Galen is undoubtedly the most per¬
fect of the departments of the anatomy of the ancients.
He names and distinguishes the bones and sutures of the
cranium nearly in the same manner as at present. Thus
he notices the quadrilateral shape of the parietal bones; he
distinguishes the squamous, the styloid, and the mastoid
portions, and the lithoid or petrous portions of the tem¬
poral bones; and he remarks the peculiar situation and
shape of the wedge-like or sphenoid bone. Of the eth¬
moid, which he omits at first, he afterwards speaks more
at large in another treatise. The malar he notices under
the name of zygomatic bone; and he describes at length
the upper maxillary and nasal bones, and the connection
of the former with the sphenoid. He gives the first
clear account of the number and situation of the verte-
brae, which he divides into cervical, dorsal, and lumbar, and
distinguishes from the sacrum and coccyx. Under the
head Bones of the Thorax, he enumerates the sternum,
the ribs (od nXvogai), and the dorsal vertebras, the connec¬
tion of which with the former he designates as a variety
of diarthrosis. The description of the bones of the ex¬
tremities and their articulations concludes the treatise.
Though in myology Galen appears to less advantage
than in osteology, he nevertheless had carried this part
of anatomical knowledge to greater perfection than any of
his predecessors. He describes a frontal muscle, the six
muscles of the eye, and a seventh proper to animals; a
muscle to each ala nasi, four muscles of the lips, the thin
cutaneous muscle of the neck, which he first termed jo/a-
tysma myoides, or muscular expansion, two muscles of the
eyelids, and four pairs of muscles of the lower jaw, the tem¬
poral to raise, the masseter to draw to one side, and two
depressors, corresponding to the digastric and internal
pterygoid muscles. After speaking of the muscles which
move the head and the scapula, he adverts to those by
which the windpipe is opened and shut, and the intrinsic
or proper muscles of the larynx and hyoid bone. Then
follow those of the tongue, pharynx, and neck, those of the
upper extremities, the trunk, and the lower extremities
successively; and in the course of this description he
swerves so little from the actual facts, that most of the
names by which he distinguishes the principal muscles
have been retained by the best modern anatomists. It is
chiefly in the minute account of these organs, and espe¬
cially in reference to the minuter muscles, that he appears
inferior to the moderns.
The angiological knowledge of Galen, though vitiated
by the erroneous physiology of the times, and ignorance
of the separate uses of the arteries and veins, exhibits,
nevertheless, some accurate facts which show the dili¬
gence of the author in dissection. Though, in opposi¬
tion to the opinions of Praxagoras and Erasistratus, he
proved that the arteries in the living animal contain not
air, but blood, it does not appear to have occurred to
him to determine in what direction the blood flows, or
whether it was movable or stationary.1 * Representing the
left ventricle of the heart as the common origin of all the
arteries, though he is misled by the pulmonary artery, he
nevertheless traces the distribution of the branches of the
aorta with some accuracy. The vena azygos also, and the Hi
jugular veins, have contributed to add to the confusion of
his description, and to render his angiology the most im¬
perfect of his works.
In neurology we. find him to be the author of the dog¬
ma, that the brain is the origin of the nerves of sensation
and the spinal chord of those of motion; and he distin¬
guishes the former from the latter by their greater softness
or less consistence. Though he admits only seven cerebral
pairs, he has the merit of distinguishing and tracing the
distribution of the greater part of both classes of nerves
with great accuracy.
His description of the brain, though derived from dis¬
section of the lower animals, is accurate; and his distinc¬
tions of the several parts of the organ have been retained
by modern anatomists. His mode of demonstrating this
organ, which indeed is clearly described, consists of five
different steps. In the first the bisecting membrane, i. e.
the falx (gwr/i' dr^/orogovsci), and the connecting blood¬
vessels are removed; and the dissector, commencing at
the anterior extremity of the great fissure, separates the
hemispheres gently as far as the torcular, and exposes a
smooth surface yscogav rvXudrj vug oaffav), the mesolobe
of the moderns, or the middle band. In the second he
exposes by successive sections the ventricles, the choroid
plexus, and the middle partition. The third exhibits the
conoid body (cw/xa ‘/.uvoudzg) or conarium, concealed by a
membrane with numerous veins, meaning that part of the
plexus which is now known by the name of velum interpo-
situm, and a complete view of the ventricles. The fourth
unfolds the third ventricle (rig uXhr, rprr, jto/X/cc), the com¬
munication between the two latter ones, the psalloid or
arch-like body (suga, fa/.ibosibsg) fornix, and the passage
from the third to the fourth ventricle. In the fifth he gives
an accurate description of the relations of the third and
fourth ventricle, of the situation of the two pairs of emi¬
nences, nates (yXoura) and testes (didv/jua, vel o^yzig), the
scolecoid or worm-like process, anterior and posterior,
the tendons or processes, and lastly the linear furrow,
called by Herophilus calamus scriptorius? He appears
not to have known the inferior recesses. Morgagni how¬
ever concludes, from a passage of the 7th booksrsg/ Acy/ia-
ruv, that he did; but after accurately examining this and
others of his anatomical writings, I cannot see any good
reason for admitting the inference.
In the account of the thoracic organs equal accuracy may
be recognised. He distinguishes the pleura by the name of
inclosing membrane iiveguxug, membrana succingens),
and remarks its similitude in structure to that of the perito¬
neum, and the covering which it affords to all the organs.3
The pericardium also he describes as a membranous sac
with a circular basis corresponding to the base of the
heart, and a conical apex; and after an account of the
tunics of the arteries and veins, he speaks shortly of the
lung, and more at length of the heart, which, however, he
takes some pains to prove not to be muscular, because it
is harder, its fibres are differently arranged, and its action
is incessant, whereas that of muscle alternates with the
state of rest. In the particular description of the parts
of the organ he ascribes to the auricles a more cu-
ticular structure than to the other parts; he gives a good
account of the valves and of the vessels; and notices
especially the bony ring formed in the heart of the horse,
elephant, and other large animals.
1 he description of the abdominal organs, and of the
•v.
1 A; X-T.W T lib- Vii- - „ * nSf, Ava.rty.iKm EyXu^, lib- *•
s '' 0UTas 0irim'v,Ta' !ra<r' ro,< ™ oryxes, *} i Ttprcvcua ** rois /«</.
ANATOMY.
H.ory. kidneys and urinary apparatus, is still more minute, and
in general very accurate. Our limits, however, do not
permit us to give any abstract of them; and it is sufficient
in general to say, that Galen gives correct views of the
structure and distribution of the peritoneum and omentum,
and distinguishes accurately the several divisions of the
' alimentary canal, and the internal structure of its com¬
ponent tissues. In the liver, which he allows to receive
an envelope from the peritoneum, he admits, in imitation
of Erasistratus, a proper substance or parenchyma, inter¬
posed between the vessels, and capable of removal by suit¬
able dissection.
His description of the organs of generation is rather
brief, and is, like most of his anatomical sketches, too much
blended with physiological dogmas.
This short sketch may communicate some idea of
the condition of anatomical knowledge in the days of
Galen, who indeed is justly entitled to the character
of rectifying and digesting, if not of creating, the sci¬
ence of anatomy among the ancients. Though evi¬
dently confined, perhaps entirely, by the circumstances
of the times, to the dissection of brute animals, so inde¬
fatigable and judicious was he in the mode of acquiring
knowledge, that many of his names and distinctions are
still retained with advantage in the writings of the mo¬
derns. Galen was a practical anatomist, and not only
describes the organs of the animal body from actual dis¬
section, but gives ample instructions for the proper mode
of exposition. His language is in general clear, his style
as correct as in most of the authors of the same period,
and his manner is animated. It is indeed impossible to
imagine any thing so interesting as the description of the
process for demonstrating the brain and other internal
organs, which is given by this patient and enthusiastic ob¬
server of nature. To some it may appear absurd to speak
of any thing like good anatomical description in an author
who writes in the Greek language, or any thing like an
interesting and correct manner in a writer who flourished
at a period when taste was depraved or extinct, and lite¬
rature corrupted,—when the philosophy of Antoninus,
and the mild virtues of Aurelius, could do little to soften
the iron sway of Lucius Verus and Commodus; but the
habit of faithful observation in Galen seems to have been
so powerful, that, in the description of material objects,
his genius invariably rises above the circumstances of his
age. Though not so directly connected with this subject,
it is nevertheless proper to mention, that he appears to
have been the first anatomist who can be said, on authen¬
tic grounds, to have attempted to discover the uses of
organs by vivisection and experiments on living animals.
In this manner he ascertained the position and demon¬
strated the action of the heart; and he mentions two
instances in which, in qonsequence of disease or injury,
be had an opportunity of observing the motions of this
organ in the human body.1 In short, without eulogizing
an ancient author at the expense of critical justice, or
commending his anatomical descriptions as superior to
those of the moderns, it must be admitted that the ana¬
tomical writings of the physician of Pergamus form a re-
niarkable era in the history of the science; and that by
diligence in dissection, and accuracy in description, he gave
die science a degree of importance and stability which
it has retained through the lapse of many centuries.
The death of Galen, which took place at Pergamus in
the 90th year of his age, and the 193d of the Christian
era> may be regarded as the downfall of anatomy in an-
691
361-3C3.
387.
cient times. After this period we recognise only two History.
names of any celebrity in the history of the science, 
those of Soranus and Oribasius, with the more obscure
ones of Meletius and Theophilus, the latter the chief of
the imperial guard of Heraclius.
Soranus, who was an Ephesian, and flourished under
the emperors Trajan and Hadrian, distinguished himself
by his researches on the female organs of generation.
He appears to have dissected the human subject; and
this perhaps is one reason why his descriptions of these
parts are more copious and more accurate than those of
Galen, who derived his knowledge from the bodies of the
lower animals. He denies the existence of the hymen,
but describes accurately the clitoris. Soranus the ana¬
tomist must be distinguished from the physician of that
name, who was also a native of Ephesus.
Oribasius, who was born at Pergamus, is said to have
been at once the friend and physician of the emperor
Julian, and to have contributed to the elevation of that
apostate to the imperial throne. For this he appears to
have suffered the punishment of a temporary exile under
Valens and Valentinian; but was soon recalled, and lived
in great honour till the period of his death. By Le Clerc,
Oribasius is regarded as a compiler; and indeed his ana¬
tomical writings bear so close a correspondence with those
of Galen, that the character is not altogether groundless.
In various points, nevertheless, he has rendered the Ga-
lenian anatomy more accurate; and he has distinguished
himself by a good account of the salivary glands, which
were overlooked by Galen.
To the same period generally is referred the anatomi¬
cal introduction of an anonymous author, first published
in 1618 by Lauremberg, and more recently by Bernard.
It is to be regarded as a compilation formed on the mo¬
del of Galen and Oribasius. The same character is ap¬
plicable to the treatises of Meletius and Theophilus.
The decline indicated by these languid efforts soon
sunk into a state of total inactivity; and the unsettled
state of society during the latter ages of the Roman em¬
pire became extremely unfavourable to the successful
cultivation of science. The sanguinary conflicts in which
the southern countries of Europe were repeatedly en¬
gaged with their northern neighbours, between the second
and eighth centuries, tended gradually to estrange their
minds from scientific pursuits; and the hordes of barba¬
rians by which the Roman empire was latterly overrun,
while they urged them to the necessity of making hostile
resistance, and adopting means of self-defence, introduced
such habits of ignorance and barbarism, that science was
almost universally forgotten; and the art most essential
to the success of military operations was either neglected
or debased by the grossest ignorance. While the art of
healing was professed only by some few ecclesiastics, or
by itinerant practitioners, anatomy was utterly neglected ;
and no name of anatomical celebrity occurs to diversify
the long and uninteresting period commonly distinguished
as the middle ages.
Anatomical learning, thus neglected by European na¬
tions, is believed to have received a temporary cultiva¬
tion from the Asiatics. Of these, several nomadic tribes,
known to Europeans under the general denomination of
Arabs and Saracens, had gradually coalesced under va¬
rious leaders ; and by their habits of endurance, as well as
of enthusiastic valour, in successive expeditions against the
eastern division of the Roman empire, had acquired such
military reputation, as to render them formidable where-
1 n.*ji Avu,T0fJUH.uiv Ey^sistirsay, lib. Vll.
692
ANATOMY.
History, ever they appeared. After a century and a half of fo-
reign warfare or internal animosity, under the successive
dynasties of the Ommiades and Abassides, in which the
propagation of Islamism was the pretext for the extinc¬
tion of learning and civilisation, and the most remorseless
system of rapine and destruction, the Saracens began,
under the latter dynasty of princes, to recognise the va¬
lue of science, and especially of that which prolongs life,
heals disease, and alleviates the pain of wounds and inju¬
ries. The caliph Almansor combined with his official
knowledge of Moslem law, the successful cultivation of
astronomy; but to his grandson Almamon, the seventh
prince of the line of the Abassides, belongs the merit of
undertaking to render his subjects philosophers and phy¬
sicians. By the directions of this prince, the works of
the Greek and Roman authors were translated into Arabic ;
and the favour and munificence with which literature and its
professors were patronised, speedily raised a succession
of learned Arabians. The residue of the rival family
of the Ommiades, already settled in Spain, was prompted
by motives of rivalry or honourable ambition to adopt the
same course; and while the academy, hospitals, and li¬
brary of Bagdad bore testimony to the zeal and liberality
of the Abassides, the munificence of the Ommiades was
not less conspicuous in the literary institutions of Cordova,
Seville, and Toledo.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the Arabian princes,
however, and the diligence of the Arabian physicians,
little was done for anatomy, and the science made no
substantial acquisition. The Koran denounces as un¬
clean the person who touches a corpse; the rules of Is¬
lamism forbid dissection; and whatever their instructors
taught was borrowed from the Greeks. Abu Bekr Al-
Rasi, Abu-Ali Ibn-Sina, Abul-Casem, and Abu-Walid
Ibn-Roschd, the Razes, Avicenna, Albucasis, and Aver-
hoes of European authors, are their most celebrated
names in medicine; yet to none of these can the histo¬
rian with justice ascribe any anatomical merit. Al-Rasi
has indeed left descriptions of the eye, of the ear and
its meatus, and of the heart; and Ibn-Sina, Abul-Casem,
and Ebn-Roschd, give anatomical descriptions of the parts
of the human body. But of these the general character
is, that they are copies from Galen, sometimes not very
just, and in all instances mystified with a large proportion
of the fanciful and absurd imagery and inflated style of
the Arabian writers. The chief reason of their obtaining
a place in anatomical history is, that, by the influence
which their medical authority enabled them to exercise
in the European schools, the nomenclature which they
employed was adopted by European anatomists, and con¬
tinued till the revival of ancient learning restored the ori¬
ginal nomenclature of the Greek physicians. Thus, the
cervix, or nape of the neck, is nucha ; the oesophagus is
meri; the umbilical region is sumen, or sumac; the ab¬
domen is myrach; the peritoneum is siphac; and the
omentum, zirhus.
From the general character now given, justice requires
t>iat we except Abdollatiph, the annalist of Egyptian
affairs. This author, who maintains that it is impossible
to learn anatomy from books, and that the authority of
Galen must yield to personal inspection, informs us, that
the Moslem doctors did not neglect opportunities of
studying the bones of the human body in cemeteries; and
that he himself, by once examining a collection of bones
in this manner, ascertained that the lower jaw is formed
of one piece; that the sacrum, though sometimes com¬
posed of several, is most generally of one; and that
Galen is mistaken when he asserts that these bones are
not single.
The era of Saracen learning extends to the 13th cen- Hist
tury; and after this we begin to approach happier times,
The university of Bologna, which, as a school of litera¬
ture and law, was already celebrated in the twelfth cen¬
tury, became, in the course of the following one, not
less distinguished for its medical teachers. Though the 1222-
misgovernment of the municipal rulers of Bologna had
disgusted both teachers and students, and given rise to
the foundation of similar institutions in Padua and Naples,
—and though the school of Salerno, in the territory of
the latter, was still in high repute,— it appears, from the 1241.
testimony of Sarti, that medicine was in the highest esteem
in Bologna, and that it was in such perfection as to re¬
quire a division of its professors into physicians, surgeons,
physicians for wounds, barber-surgeons, oculists, and even
some others. Notwithstanding these indications of re¬
finement, however, anatomy was manifestly cultivated
rather as an appendage of surgery than a branch of
medical science; and, according to the testimony of Guy
de Chauliac, the cultivation of anatomical knowledge was
confined to Roger, Roland, Jamerio, Bruno, and Lan-
franc; and this they borrowed chiefly from Galen. For
this and similar reasons, physicians were not in all in¬
stances respected by the best informed men of the age;
and they fell, perhaps not altogether undeservedly, un¬
der the bitter lash of the satirical Petrarch.
In this state matters appear to have proceeded with
the medical school of Bologna till the commencement of
the fourteenth century, when the circumstance of pos¬
sessing a teacher of originality enabled this university to
be the agent of as great an improvement in medical
science as she had already effected in jurisprudence.
This era, indeed, is distinguished for the appearance of
Mondino, under whose zealous cultivation the science
first began to rise from the ashes in which it had been
buried. This father of modern anatomy, who taught in
Bologna about the year 1315, quickly drew the curiosity
of the medical profession, by well-ordered demonstrations
of the different parts of the human body. In 1315 he
dissected and demonstrated the parts of the human body
in two female subjects; and in the course of the follow¬
ing year he accomplished the same task on the person of
a single female. But while he seems to have had suffi¬
cient original force of intellect to direct his own route,
Riolan accuses him of copying Galen; and it is certain
that his descriptions are corrupted by the barbarous
leaven of the Arabian schools, and his Latin defaced by
the exotic nomenclature of Ebn-Sina, and Abu-Bekr Al-
Rasi. He died, according to Tiraboschi, in 1325.
Mondino divides the body into three cavities (ventres),
the upper containing the animal members, as the head,
the lower containing the natural members, and the middle
containing the spiritual'members. He first delivers the
anatomy of the lower cavity or the abdomen, then proceeds
to the middle or thoracic organs, and concludes with the
upper, comprising the head, and its contents and append¬
ages. His general manner is to notice shortly the situa¬
tion and shape or distribution of textures or membranes,
and then to mention the disorders to which they are
subject. The peritoneum he describes under the name
of siphac, in imitation of the Arabians, the omentum under
that of zirhus, and the mesentery or eucharus as distinct
from both. In speaking of the intestines, he treats first of
the rectum, then the colon, the left or sigmoid flexure
of which, as well as the transverse arch and its connec¬
tion with the stomach, he particularly remarks; then the
caecum or monoculus, after this the small intestines m
general under the heads of ileum and jejunum, and lattei-
ly the duodenum, making in all six bowels. The liver and
'i.
ANATOMY.
693
Hl;ry. its vessels are minutely, if not accurately examined; and known in the history of anatomical discoverv thp tt- f
the cava, under the name chilis, a corruntion from tlm who  i ery as the first History.
Ml^the cava, under the name chilis, a corruption from the
Greek xo/Xf], is treated at length, with the emulgents and
kidneys. His anatomy of the heart is wonderfully accu¬
rate; and it is a remarkable fact, which seems to be
omitted by all subsequent authors, that his description
contains the rudiments of the circulation of the blood.
“ Postea vero versus pulmonem est aliud orificium venm
arterialis, quas portal sanguinem ad pulmonem a corde;
quia cum pulmo deserviat cordi secundum modum die-
♦ .if ^   * 
who described the two tympanal bones, termed malleus'
and incus. In 1503 he showed that the tarsus consists of
seven bones; he re-discovered the fornix and the infun¬
dibulum ; and he was fortunate enough to observe the
course of the cerebral cavities into the inferior cornua,
and to remark peculiarities to which the anatomists of a
future age did not advert. He mentions the orifices of
the ducts afterwards described by Wharton. He knew
the ileo-caecal valve; and his description of the duode-
/ , # ~ mo oi me auoae-
turn ut ei recompenset, cor ei transmittit sangumem per num, ileum, and colon, shows that he was better acquaint-
hanc venam, quae vocatur vena arterialis, et vena quae ed with the site and disposition of these bowels than anv
portat sanguinem, et arterialis, quia habet duas tunicas ; of his predecessors or contemporaries,
et habet duas tunicas, primo quia vadit ad membrum Not long after, the science boasts of one of its most
quod existit in continuo motu, et secundo quia portat distinguished founders. James Bereno-er of Garni in the
sanguinem valde. subtilem et cholericum.” The merit Modenese territory, flourished at BoWna at the’beo-in-
of these distinctions, however, he afterwards destroys, ning of the 16th century. In the annals of medicine his
by repeating the old assertion, that the left ventricle name will be remembered not only as the most zealous
ought to contain spirit or air, which it generates from the and eminent in cultivating the anatomy of the human
tj- . i r ... body, but as the first physician who was fortunate enough
His osteology of the scull is erroneous. In his account to calm the alarms of Europe, suffering under the ravages
of the cerebral membranes, though short, he notices the of syphilis, then raging with uncontrollable virulence, "in
principal characters of the dura mater. He describes
shortly the lateral ventricles, with their anterior and pos¬
terior cornua, and the choroid plexus as a blood-red sub¬
stance, like a long worm. He then speaks of the third or
middle ventricle, and one posterior, which seems to cor¬
respond with the fourth ; and describes the infundibulum
under the names of lacuna and emboton. The inferior re¬
cesses he appears to have omitted. In the base of the
organ he remarks, first, two mammillary caruncles, the ori¬
gins of the olfactory nerves, which, however, he overlooks;
the optic nerves, which he reckons the first pair; the
oculo-muscular, which he accounts the second ; the third,
which appears to be the sixth of the moderns; the fourth;
the fifth, evidently the seventh; a sixth, the nervus
vagus ; and a seventh, which is the ninth of the moderns.
Notwithstanding the misrepresentations into which this
early anatomist was betrayed, his book is valuable, and
the former character he surpassed both predecessors and
contemporaries ; and it was long before the anatomists of
the following age could boast of equalling him. His as¬
siduity was indefatigable; and he declares that he dis¬
sected above 100 human bodies. He is the author of a
compendium, of several treatises which he names intro¬
ductions (IsagogeR), and of commentaries on the treatise
of Mondino. Like him, he is tinged with the mysticism
of the Arabian doctrines ; and though he employs the
Grecian nomenclature in general, he never forgets to give
the Arabian terms, and often uses them exclusively. In
his commentaries on Mondino, which constitute the most
perspicuous and complete of his works, he not only recti¬
fies the mistakes of that anatomist, but delivers minute
and in general accurate anatomical descriptions.
He is the first who undertakes a systematic view of
the several textures of which the human body is compos-
1fs. illustrated by the successive commentaries of ed; and in a preliminary commentary he treats succes-
Aclnlhm, Berenger, and Dryander. _ _ sively of the anatomical characters and properties of fat,
Matthew de Gradibus, a native of Gradi, a town in of membrane in general (panniculus), of flesh, of nerve,
Hmh, near Milan, distinguished himself by composing a o? villus or fibre Qilum), of ligament, of sinew or tendon,
senes of tieatises on the anatomy ot various parts of the and of muscle in general. He then proceeds to describe
Human body. He is the first who represents the ovaries with considerable precision the muscles of the abdomen,
ot the female in the correct light in which they were and illustrates their site and connections by wooden cuts,
subsequently regarded by Steno. _ _ which, though rude, are spirited, and show that anatomi-
oirmlar objections to those already urged in speaking cal drawing was in that early age beginning to be under-
o * ondmo apply to another eminent anatomist of those stood. In his account of the peritoneum, he admits only
imes. Gabiiel de Zerbis, who flourished at Verona to- the intestinal division of that membrane, and is at some
^ar s t le conclusion of the 15th century, is celebrated as pains to prove the error of Gentilis, who justly admits the
e author of a system, in which he is obviously more muscular division also. In his account of the intestines,
anxious to astonish his readers by the wonders of a ver- he is the first who mentions the vermiform process of the
°^e A , complicated style, than to instruct by precise caecum ; he remarks the yellow tint communicated to the
an aithful description. In the vanity of his heart he jejunum by the gall-bladder ; and he recognises the open-
assumed the title of Medicus Theoricus ; but though like ing of the common biliary duct into the duodenum (qui-
ondino he derived his information from the dissection dam porus portans choleram). In the account of the
, le fiuman subject, he is not entitled to the merit stomach he describes the several tissues of which that
ei er of describing truly or of adding to the knowledge organ is composed, and which, after Almansor, he repre-
previously acquired. He is superior to Mondino, however, sents to be three, and a fourth from the peritoneum; and
in knowing the olfacient nerves. afterwards notices the rugae efi its villous surface. He is at
nnnent in the history of the science, but more distin- considerable pains to explain the organs of generation in
guisned than any of this age in the history of cerebral both sexes, and gives a long account of the anatomy of
anatomy, Alexander Achillini of Bologna, the pupil and the foetus. He was the first who recognised the larger
commentator of Mondino, appeared at the close of the proportional size of the chest in the male than in the fe-
1 century. Though a follower of the Arabian school, male, and conversely the greater capacity of the female
ie assiduity with which he cultivated anatomy has res- than of the male pelvis. In the larynx he discovered the
cued his name from the inglorious obscurity in which the two arytenoid cartilages. He gives the first good de-
rabesque doctors have in general slumbered. He is scription of the thymus; distinguishes the oblique situa-
1518.
ANATOMY.
694
History, tion of the heart; describes the pericardium, and main-
tains the uniform pi*esence of pericardial liquor. He then
describes the cavities of the heart; but perplexes him¬
self, as all the anatomists of that age, about the spirit
supposed to be contained. The aorta he properly makes
to arise from the left ventricle ; but confuses himself with
the arteria venalis (pulmonary vein), and the vena ar-
terialis, the pulmonary artery. His account of the brain
is better. He gives a minute and clear account of the
ventricles, remarks the corpus striatum, and has the saga¬
city to perceive that the choroid plexus consists of veins
and arteries; he then describes the middle or third ven¬
tricle, the infundibulum or lacuna of Mondino, and the
pituitary gland; and, lastly, the passage to the fourth
ventricle, the conarium or pineal gland, and the fourth
or posterior ventricle itself, the relations of which he
had studied accurately. He rectifies the mistake of Mon¬
dino as to the olfactory or first pair of nerves, gives a good
account of the optic and others, and is entitled to the
praise of originality in being the first observer who con¬
tradicts the fiction of the wonderful net, and indicates the
principal divisions of the carotid arteries. He enumerates
the tunics and humours of the eye, and gives an account
of the internal ear, in which he notices the malleus and
incus.
It had been written in the book of the destinies, that
the science of anatomy was to be cultivated first in Italy ;
and that the country, already so illustrious in literature,
should be honoured in giving birth to the first eminent
anatomists in Europe. This distinction she long retained ;
and the glory she acquired in the names of Mondino,
Achillini, Carpi, and Massa, was destined to become more
conspicuous in the labours of Columbus, Fallopius, and
Eustachius. While Italy, however, was thus advancing
the progress of science, the other nations of Europe were
either in profound ignorance or in the most supine indif¬
ference to the brilliant career of their zealous neighbours.
The sixteenth century had commenced before France be¬
gan to acquire any anatomical distinction in the names of
Dubois, Fernel, and Etienne; and even these celebrated
teachers were less solicitous in the personal study of the
animal body, than in the faithful explanation of the ana¬
tomical writings of Galen. The infancy of the French
school had to contend with other difficulties. The small
portion of knowledge which had been hitherto diffused in
the country was so inadequate to eradicate the prejudices
of ignorance, that it was either difficult or absolutely im¬
possible to procure human bodies for the purposes of
science ; and we are assured, on the testimony of Vesa-
lius and other competent authorities, that the practical
part of anatomical instruction was obtained entirely from
the bodies of the lower animals. The works of the Ita¬
lian anatomists were unknown ; and it is a proof of the
tardy communication of knowledge, that while the struc¬
ture of the human body had been taught in Italy for more
than a century by Mondino and his followers, they are
never mentioned by Etienne, who flourished long after.
Such was the aspect of the times at the appearance of
Jacques Dubois, who, under the Romanized name of
Jacobus Sylvius, according to the fashion of the day, has
been fortunate in acquiring a reputation to which his re¬
searches do not entitle him. For the name of James
Uubois, the history of anatomy, it is said, is indebted to
his inordinate love of money. At the instance of his
brother hrancis, who was professor of eloquence in the
Go ege of lournay at Paris, he repaired to this university,
and devoted himself to the study of the learned languages
and mathematics; but discovering that these elegant ac¬
complishments do not invariably reward their cultivators
with the goods of fortune, Dubois betook himself to me- Hi ny.
dicine. After the acquisition of a medical degree in the^iv.
university of Montpellier, at the ripe age of fifty-one
Dubois returned to Paris to resume a course of anatomi¬
cal instructions which had been interrupted by the cano¬
nical interference of the medical faculty. Here he taught
anatomy to a numerous audience in the college of Trin-
quet; and, on the departure of Vidus Vidius for Italy,
was appointed to succeed that physician as professor of
surgery to the Royal College. His character is easily es¬
timated. With a greater portion of coarseness in his
manners and language than even the rude state of so¬
ciety can palliate, with much varied learning and consider¬
able eloquence, he was a blind, indiscriminate, and irra¬
tional admirer of Galen, and interpreted the anatomical
and physiological writings of that author, in preference to
giving demonstrations from the subject. Without talent
for original research or discovery himself, his envy and
jealousy made him detest every one who gave proofs of
either. We are assured by Vesalius, who was some time
his pupil, that his manner of teaching was calculated nei¬
ther to advance the science nor to rectify the mistakes of
his predecessors. A human body was never seen in the
theatre of Dubois; the carcasses of dogs and other ani¬
mals were the materials from which he taught; and so
difficult even was it to obtain human bones, that unless
Vesalius and his fellow-students had collected assiduously
from the Innocents and other cemeteries, they must have
committed numerous errors in acquiring the first princi¬
ples. This assertion, however, is contradicted by Riolan,
and more recently by Sprengel and Lauth, the last of
whom decidedly censures Vesalius for this ungrateful
treatment of his instructor. It is certain that opportuni¬
ties of inspecting the human body were by no means so
frequent as to facilitate the study of the science. Though
his mention of injections has made him be thought the
discoverer of that art, he appears to have made no sub¬
stantial addition to the information already acquired; and
the first acknowledged professor of anatomy to the uni¬
versity of Paris appears in history as one who lived with¬
out true honour, and died without just celebrity. He
must not be confounded with Franciscus Sylvius (De le
Boe), who is mentioned by Ruysch and Malacarne as
the author of a particular method of demonstrating the
brain.
Almost coeval may be placed Charles Etienne, a younger 1503- ■
brother of the celebrated printers, and son to Henry, who
Hellenized the family name by the classical appellation
of Stephen (Srspavo;). It is uncertain whether he
taught publicly. But his tranquillity was disturbed, and
his pursuits interrupted, by the oppressive persecutions in
which their religious opinions involved the family; and
Charles Etienne drew the last breath of a miserable life in
a dungeon in 1564. Etienne, though sprung of a family
whose classical taste has been their principal gloryj be¬
trays not the same servile imitation of the Galenian ana¬
tomy with which Dubois is charged, and is the first ana¬
tomical author who deviates from the beaten path. He ap¬
pears to have been the first to detect valves in the orifice
of the hepatic veins. He was ignorant, however, of the re¬
searches of the Italian anatomists ; and his description of
the brain is inferior to that given 60 years before by Achil¬
lini. His comparison of the cerebral cavities to the hu¬
man ear has persuaded Portal that he knew the inferior
cornua, and hippocampus, and its prolongations; but this
is no reason for giving him that honour, to the detriment
of the reputation of Achillini, to whom, so far as histori¬
cal testimony goes, the first knowledge of this fact is due.
The researches of Etienne into the structure of the ner-
ANATOMY.
Ui5 y. vous system are, however, neither useless nor inglorious ;
the circumstance of demonstrating a canal through
the entire length of the spinal chord, which had neither
been suspected by contemporaries nor noticed by succes¬
sors, till M. Senac made it known, is sufficient to place
him high among the class of anatomical discoverers.
The French anatomy of the sixteenth century was dis¬
tinguished by two circumstances unfavourable to the ad¬
vancement of the science,—extravagant admiration of an¬
tiquity, with excessive confidence in the writings of Galen,
and the general practice of dissecting principally the
bodies of the lower animals. Both of these errors were
much amended, if not entirely removed, by the exertions
of a young Fleming, whose appearance forms a conspicu-
i;. ous era in the history of cerebral anatomy. Andrew Ve-
salius, a native of Brussels, after acquiring at Louvain the
ordinary classical attainments of the day, began, at the
age of 14, to study anatomy under the auspices of Dubois.
Though the originality of his mind soon led him to aban¬
don the prejudices by which he was environed, and take
the most direct course for attaining a knowledge of the
structure of the human frame; yet he neither underrated
the Galenian anatomy, nor was he indolent in the dissec¬
tion of brute animals. The difficulties, however, with
which the practical pursuit of human anatomy was be¬
set in France, and the dangers with which he had to
contend, made him look to Italy as a suitable field for
the cultivation of the science ; and in 1536 we find him
at Venice, at once pursuing the study of human ana¬
tomy with the utmost zeal, and requested, ere he had at¬
tained his 22d year, to demonstrate publicly in the uni¬
versity of Padua. After remaining here about seven
years, he went by express invitation to Bologna, and
shortly afterwards to Pisa; and Vesalius, thus professor
in three universities, appears to have carried on his ana¬
tomical investigations and instructions alternately at Pa¬
dua, Bologna, and Pisa, in the course of the same win¬
ter. It is on this account that Vesalius, though a Flem¬
ing by birth, and trained originally in the French school,
belongs, as an anatomist, to the Italian, and may be view¬
ed as the first of an illustrious line of teachers by whom
the anatomical reputation of that country was in the
course of the sixteenth century raised to the greatest
eminence.
Vesalius is known as the first author of a comprehen¬
sive and systematic view of human anatomy. The know¬
ledge with which his dissections had furnished him, proved
how many errors were daily taught and learned under the
broad mantle of Galenian authority; and he perceived
the necessity of a new system of anatomical instruction,
divested of the omissions of ignorance and the misrepre¬
sentations of prejudice and fancy. The early age at
which he effected this object has been to his biogra¬
phers the theme of boundless commendations ; and we are
told that he began at the age of 25 to arrange the mate¬
rials he had collected, and accomplished his task ere he
l*ad completed his 28th year.
Soon after this period we find him invited as imperial
physician to the court of Charles V., where he was occu¬
pied in the duties of practice, and answering the various
charges which were unceasingly brought against him by
the Galenian disciples. After the abdication of Charles,
he continued at court in great favour with his son Philip
tk To this he seems to have been led principally by the
jroublesome controversies in which his anatomical writ-
•ngs had involved him. It is painful to think, however,
695
History-
barism of the times, and of the precarious tenure of the
safety even of a great physician. On the preliminary cir¬
cumstances authors are not agreed ; but the most gene¬
ral account states, that when Vesalius was inspecting, with
the consent of his kinsmen, the body of a Spanish^ gran¬
dee, it was observed that the heart still gave some feeble
palpitations when divided by the knife. ' The immediate
effects of this outrage to human feeling were to denounce
the anatomist to the inquisition; and Vesalius escaped
the merciful dispensations of this tribunal only by the in¬
fluence of the king, and by promising to perform a pil¬
grimage to the Holy Land. He forthwith proceeded to
Venice, from which he sailed with the Venetian fleet, un¬
der James Malatesta, for Cyprus. When he reached Je¬
rusalem, he received from the Venetian senate a message
requesting him again to accept the Paduan professorship,
which had become vacant by the death of his friend and
pupil Fallopius. His destiny, however, which pursued 15G4.
him fast, suffered him not again to breathe the Italian air.
After struggling for many days with adverse winds in the
Ionian Sea, he was wrecked on the island of Zante, where
he quickly breathed his last in such penury, that unless
a liberal goldsmith had defrayed the funeral charges, his
carcass must have been devoured by beasts of prey. At
the time of his death he was scarcely 50 years of age.
To form a correct estimate of the character and merits
of Vesalius, we must not compare him, in the spirit of mo¬
dern perfection, with the anatomical authors either of
later times or of the present day. Whoever would frame
a just idea of this anatomist, must imagine himself living
in the days of Charles V., when learning did not uniform¬
ly liberalize,—when the rekindling light of ancient times
shone on nothing but its own glories,—when education
consisted in the knowledge of ancient opinions, and the au¬
thority of Grecian and Roman names usurped in the tem¬
ple of science the legitimate worship of nature. He
must imagine, not a bold innovator without academical
learning,—not a genius coming from a foreign country,
unused to the forms and habits of Catholic Europe,—nor
a wild reformer, blaming indiscriminately every thing
which accorded not with his opinions ;—but a young stu¬
dent scarcely emancipated from the authority of instruc¬
tors, and whose intellect was still influenced by the doctrines
with which it had been originally imbued,—an individual
strictly trained in the opinions of the time, living amidst
men who venerated Galen as the oracle of anatomy and
the divinity of medicine,—exercising his reason to esti¬
mate the soundness of the instructions then in use, and
proceeding, in the way least likely to offend authority and
wound prejudice, to rectify errors, and to establish on the
solid basis of observation the true elements of anatomical
science. Vesalius has been denominated the founder of
human anatomy; and though we have seen that in this
career he was preceded with honour by Mondino and Be-
renger, still the small proportion of correct observation
which their reverence for Galen and Arabesque doctrines
allowed them to communicate, will not in a material de¬
gree impair the original merits of Vesalius. The errors
which he rectified, and the additions which he made, are
so numerous, that it is impossible, in such a sketch as the
present, to communicate a just idea of them.
Besides the first good description of the sphenoid bone,
he showed that the sternum consists of three portions,
and the sacrum of five or six; and described accurately
the vestibule in the interior of the temporal bone. He
not only verified the observation of Etienne on the valves
lat even imperial patronage bestowed on eminent talents of the hepatic veins, but he described well the vena azy-
Goes not insure immunity from popular prejudice; and gos, and discovered the canal which passes in the foetus
le fate of Vesalius will be a lasting example of the bar- between the umbilical vein and the vena cava, since nam*
696
ANATOMY.
History, ed ductus venosus. He described the omentum, and its
connections with the stomach, the spleen, and the colon;
gave the first correct views of the structure of the pylo¬
rus ; remarked the small size of the csecal appendix in
man ; gave the first good account of the mediastinum and
pleura, and the fullest description of the anatomy of the
brain yet advanced. He appears, however, not to have
understood well the inferior recesses; and his account of
the nerves is confused by regarding the optic as the first
pair, the third as the fifth, and the fifth as the seventh.
The labours of Vesalius were not limited to the imme¬
diate effect produced by his own writings. His instruc¬
tions and example produced a multitude of anatomical
inquirers of different characters and varied celebrity, but
by whom the science was extended and rectified. Of
these it belongs not to this place to speak in detail; but
historical justice requires us to notice shortly those towhose
exertions the science of anatomy has been most indebted.
1 ins or The first that claims attention on this account is Bar-
1500. tholomeo Eustachi of San Severino, near Salerno, who
though greatly less fortunate in reputation than Vesalius,
divides with him the merit of creating the science of
human anatomy. He extended the knowledge of the in¬
ternal ear, by re-discovering and describing correctly the
tube which bears his name; and if we admit that Ingras-
sias anticipated him in the knowledge of the third bone
of the tympanal cavity, the stapes, he is still the first who
described the internal and anterior muscles of the malleus,
as also the stapedius, and the complicated figure of the
cochlea. He is the first who studied accurately the ana¬
tomy of the teeth, and the phenomena of the first and
second dentition. The work, however, which demon¬
strates at once the great merit and the unhappy fate of
Eustachius, is his Anatomical Engravings, which, though
completed in 1552, nine years after the impression of
the work of Vesalius, the author was unable to publish.
First communicated to the world in 1714 by Lancisi, af¬
terwards in 1740 by Cajetan Petrioli, again in 1744 by
Albinus, and more recently at Bonn, in 1790, they show
that Eustachius had dissected with the greatest care and
diligence, and taken the utmost pains to give just views of
the shape, size, and relative position of the organs of the
human body.
The first seven plates illustrate the history of the kid¬
neys, and some of the facts relating to the structure of
the ear. The eighth represents the heart, the ramifica¬
tions of the vena azygos, and the valve of the vena cava,
named from the author. In the seven subsequent plates
is given a succession of different views of the viscera of
the chest and abdomen. The seventeenth contains the
brain and spinal chord; and the eighteenth more accurate
views of the origin, course, and distribution of the nerves
than were then given. Fourteen plates are devoted to the
muscles.
Eustachius did not confine his researches to the study
of relative anatomy. He investigated the intimate struc¬
ture of organs with assiduity and success. What was too
minute for unassisted vision he inspected by means of
glasses. Structure, which could not be understood in the
recent state, he unfolded by maceration in different fluids,
or rendered more distinct by injection and exsiccation.
The facts unfolded in these figures are so important, that
it is justly remarked by Lauth, that if the author himself
had been fortunate enough to publish them, anatomy
would have attained the perfection of the 18th century
two centuries earlier at least. Their seclusion for that
penod m the papal library has given celebrity to many
names, which would have been known only in the verifi¬
cation of the discoveries of Eustachius.
r
Eustachius was the contemporary of Vesalius. Colum* ipU-
bus and Fallopius were his pupils. The former, as his^-H/
immediate successor in Padua, and afterwards as profes¬
sor at Rome, distinguished himself by rectifying and im¬
proving the anatomy of the bones; by giving correct ac¬
counts of the shape and cavities of the heart, of the pul¬
monary artery and aorta, and their valves, and tracing the
course of the blood from the right to the left side of the
heart; by a good description of the brain and its vessels,
and by correct understanding of the internal ear, and the
first good account of the ventricles of the larynx. The
latter, who after being professor at Pisa in 1548, and at
Padua in 1551, died at the age of 40, studied the general
anatomy of the bones; described better than heretofore
the internal ear, especially the tympanum and its osseous
ring, the two fenestrce, and their communication with the
vestibule and cochlea; and gave the first good account of
the stylo-mastoid hole and canal, of the ethmoid hone and
cells, and of the lacrymal passages. In myology he recti¬
fied several mistakes of Vesalius. He made some curiou^
researches into the organs of generation in both sexes,
and discovered the utero-peritoneal canal which still bears
his name.
Osteology nearly at the same time found an assiduous 1511
cultivator in John Philip Ingrassias, a learned Sicilian 80.
physician, who, in a skilful commentary on the osteology
of Galen, corrected numerous mistakes. He gave the
first distinct account of the true configuration of the
sphenoid and ethmoid bones, and has the merit of first
describing the third bone of the tympanum, called stapes, 154(
though this is also claimed by Eustachius and Fallopius.
He appears also to have known the fenestrce, the chorda
tympani, the cochlea, the semi-circular canals, and the
mastoid cells.
The anatomical descriptions of Vesalius underwent thei53C
scrutiny of various inquirers, actuated, some by motives of
hostility to the individual, others by the more honourable
wish to ascertain if his representations accorded with
nature. Of the latter, Fallopius was one; but the most
distinguished by the importance and veracity of their re¬
searches, as well as the temperate tone of their observa¬
tions, were Julius Caesar Aranzi, anatomical professor for
32 years in the university of Bologna, and Constantio
Varoli, physician to Pope Gregory XJII. To the former
we are indebted for the first correct account of the ana¬
tomical peculiarities of the foetus, and for being the first
to show that the muscles of the eye do not, as was falsely
imagined, arise from the dura mater, but from the margin
of the optic hole. He also, after considering the anatomi¬
cal relations of the cavities of the heart, the valves, and
the great vessels, corroborates the views of Columbus re¬
garding the course which the blood follows in passing
from the right to the left side of the heart. I have al¬
ready mentioned Alexander Achillini as the reputed and
probable discoverer of the inferior recesses of the cerebral
cavities ; but whether he knew them or not, certain it is
that neither his contemporaries nor successors gave any
proof that they were acquainted with these regions of
the brain. Aranzi is the first anatomist who describes
them distinctly, who recognises the objects by which
they are distinguished, and who gives them the name by
which they are still known (bombyx, hippocampus); and
his account is more minute and perspicuous than that 0
the authors of the subsequent century. He speaks at
large of the choroid plexus, and gives a particular descrip¬
tion of the fourth ventricle under the name of cistern of
the cerebellum, as a discovery of his own. ,
Italy, though rich in anatomical talent, has producec 0 0
probably none greater than Constantio Varoli of Bologna-
ANATOMY.
Hi >ry. Though limited in the measure of his existence to the
short space of 32 years, he acquired reputation not inferior
to that of the most eminent of his contemporaries. He is
now known chiefly as the author of an Epistle, inscribed
to Hieronymo Mercuriali, on the optic nerves, in which he
describes a new method of dissecting the brain, and com¬
municates many interesting particulars relating to the ana¬
tomy of the organ. Overlooking the fanciful comparison
of the transverse eminence and the prolongations (crura)
of the brain and cerebellum to a bridge over the water of
an aqueduct, though he examines the lower surface of the
organ with tedious minuteness, he gives evidence that he
formed a more accurate and just idea of its configuration
than any of the best modern anatomists. He observes the
threefold division of the inferior surface or base, defines
the limits of the anterior, middle, and posterior eminences,
as marked by the compartments of the scull, and justly
remarks that the cerebral cavities are capacious, commu¬
nicate with each other, extending first backward and then
forward, near the angle of the pyramidal portion of the
temporal bone, and that they are folded on themselves,
and finally lost above the middle and inferior eminence of
the brain. He appears to have been aware that at this
point they communicate with the exterior or convoluted
surface. He recognised the impropriety of the term cor¬
pus callosum, seems to have known the communication,
called afterwards foramen Monroianum, and describes
the hippocampus more minutely than had been previously
done.
Among the anatomists of the Italian school, as a pupil
of Fallopius, Eustachius, and Aldrovandus, is generally
enumerated Volcher Goiter of Groningen. He dis¬
tinguished himself by accurate researches on the cartilages,
the bones, and the nerves, recognised the value of morbid
anatomy, and made some experiments on living animals
to ascertain the action of the heart and the influence of
the brain.
The Frutefull and Necessary Briefe Worhe of John Halle
(1565), and The Englishemans Treasure, by Master
Thomas Vicary (1586), both English works published
at this time, are tolerable compilations, partly from Be-
renger, partly from Vesalius, and much tinged by the
ualenian and Arabian distinctions. ' -
The celebrity of the anatomical school of Italy was
worthily maintained by Hieronymo Fabricio of Aqua-
pendente, who, in imitation of his master Fallopius,
laboured to render anatomical knowledge more precise
by repeated dissections, and to illustrate the obscure by
researches on the structure of animals in general. In this
manner he investigated the formation of the foetus, the
structure of the oesophagus, stomach, and bowels, and the
peculiarities of the eye, the ear, and the larynx. The dis-
697
mi
covery, however, on which his surest claims to eminence History,
rest, is. that of the membranous fbldsj which he names'1
valves, in the interior of veins. Several of these folds had
been observed by Femel, Sylvius, and Vesalius; and in
1547 Cannani observed those of the vena azygos ; but no
one appears to have offered any rational conjecture on
their use, or to have traced them through the venous sys¬
tem at large, until Fabricius in 1574, upon this hypothesis,
demonstrated the presence of these valvular folds in all
the veins of the extremities.
Fabricius, though succeeded by his pupil Julius Casserius
of Piacenza, may be regarded as the last of that illustrious
line of anatomical teachers by whom the science was so
successfully studied and taught in the universities of Italy.
The discoveries which each made, and the errors which
their successive labours rectified, tended gradually to give
anatomy the character of a useful as well as an accurate
science, and to pave the way for a discovery which, though
not anatomical, but physiological, is so intimately connect¬
ed with correct knowledge of the shape and situation of
parts, that it exercised the most powerful influence on
the future progress of anatomical inquiry. This was the
knowledge of the circular motion of the blood,—a fact
which, though obscurely conjectured by Aristotle, Mon-
dino, and Berenger, and partially taught by Servetus, Co¬
lumbus, Cassalpinus, and Fabricius, it^was nevertheless re¬
served to William Harvey fully and satisfactorily to de¬
monstrate.
I have already shown that Mondino believed that the
blood proceeds from the heart to the lungs, through
the vena arterialis or pulmonary artery, and that the
aorta conveys the spirit into the blood, through all parts
of the body. This doctrine was adopted with little mo¬
dification by Berenger, who further demonstrated the
existence and operation of the tricuspid valves in the
right ventricle, and of the sigmoid valves at the beginning
of the pulmonary artery and aorta, and that there were
only two ventricles separated by a solid impervious sep¬
tum. These were afterwards described in greater de¬
tail by Vesalius, who nevertheless appears not to have
been aware of the important use which might be made
of this knowledge. It was Michael Servet or Servetus,1
a Spanish monk, who in his treatise de Trinitatis Er-
rorihus, published at Basil in 1531, or, according to
Sprengel, in 1552, first maintained the imperviousness
of the septum, and the transition of the blood by what
he terms an unknown route, namely, from the right ven¬
tricle by the vena arteriosa (pulmonary artery) to the lungs,
and thence into the arteria venosa or pulmonary vein, and
left auricle and ventricle, from which, he adds afterwards,
it is conveyed by the aorta to all parts of the body.2
1 hough the leading outlines, not only of the pulmonary
1 Horn in 1509; burnt in 1553.
auJ1!6 P®ss?£® ‘'erv?tus 18 80 interesting, that our readers may feel some curiosity in perusing it in the language of the
the <1pb’v "'c \S •n.°t unimPortant to remark, that Servetus appears to have been led to think of the course of the blood, bv
ventr- ‘if 0 exP npnng the manner in which the animal spirits were supposed to be generated. “ Vitalis spiritus in sinistro cordis
tus fliv ° 811:1111 yiiginem habet, juvantibus maxime pulmonibus ad ipsius perfectionem. Est spiritus tenuis, caloris vi elabora-
ratur vff0r'e’ I^1jea l)°tentia5iut .sit quasi.ex puriore sanguine lucens, vapor substantiam continens aquae, aeris, et ignis. Gene-
Fit mif 'lC a 10 Pu. 0116 commixtione inspirati aeris cum elaborate subtili sanguine, quem dexter ventriculus sinistro communicat.
lonm rfm communicatio haec, non per parietem cordis medium, ut vulgo creditur, sed magno artificio a dextro cordis ventriculo,
venosir ^ ! c°nf-S <‘uctl1 agitatur sanguis subtilis; a pulmonibus praeparatur, flavus efficitur, et a vena arteriosa in arteriam
tandpi 1 ™n. nditur. Deinde in ipsa arteria venosa, inspirato aeri miscetur, et exspiratione a fuligine expurgatur; atque ita
per ni 1 ^ simsir<) cor(hs ventriculo totum mixtum per diastolen attrahitur, apta supellex, ut fiat spiritus vitalis. Quod ita
Pulnif •I)1°ne'S 5,at communicatio et prseparatio, docet conjunctio varia, et communicatio venae arteriosoe cum arteria venosa in
Purissf1 - US' . . .rmat h00 magnitude insignis venae arteriosae, quae nec tabs nec tanta esset facta, nec tantam a corde ipso vim
antea ‘ H sa)n&lllnLS 111 Pu rnones emitteret, ob solum eorum nutrimentum ; nec cor pulmonibus hac ratione serviret, cum pnesertim
docet r •vc’ne s°lerent jmlmones ipsi aliunde nutriri, ob meinbranulas illas seu valvulas cordis, usque ad horum nativitatem; ut
suneri 3 en^3’ ^taque file spiritus a sinistro cordis ventriculo arterias totius corporis deinde transfunditur, ita ut qui tenuior'est
nnarnff- 'v U • ma>?18 elaboratur, praecipue in plexu retiformi, sub basi cerebri sito, ubi ex vital! fieri incipit animalis, ad pro-
^ rauonahs animae rationem accedens.” (De Trinitate, lib. v.)
VOL. II. vi/
4 X
698
ANATOMY.
History, or small, but even of the great circulation, were sketched
thus early by one who, though a philosopher, was attached
to the church, it was only in his work De Re Anatomica,
published at Venice in 1559, that Columbus formally and
distinctly announced the circular course of the blood as a
discovery of his own; and maintained, in addition to the
imperviousness of the septum, the fact that the arteria ve-
nalis (pulmonary vein) contains not air, but blood mixed
with air brought from the lungs to the left ventricle of the
heart, to be distributed through the body at large.
1570-1593. Soon after, views still more complete of the small or
pulmonary circulation were given by Andrew Caesalpinus
of Arezzo, who not only maintained the analogy between
the structure of the arterious vein or pulmonary artery
and the aorta, and that between the venous artery or pul¬
monary veins, and veins in general, but was the first to
remark the swelling of veins below ligatures, and to infer
from it a refluent motion of blood in these vessels. The
discoveries of Aranzi and Eustachius in the vessels of the
foetus, tended at first to perplex, and afterwards to eluci¬
date some of these notions. At length it happened, that
between the years 1598 and 1600, a young Englishman,
pursuing his anatomical studies at Padua under Fabricius
of Aquapendente, learnt from that anatomist the existence
of the valves in the veins of the extremities, and under¬
took to ascertain the use of these valves by experimental
inquiry. It is uncertain whether he learnt from the writ¬
ings of Caesalpinus the fact observed by that author, of
the tumescence of a vein below the ligature; but he
could not fail to be aware, and indeed he shows that he
was aware, of the small circulation as taught by Servetus
and Columbus. Combining these facts already known, he,
by a series of well-executed experiments, demonstrated
clearly the existence, not only of the small, but of a gene¬
ral circulation from the left side of the heart by the aorta
and its subdivisions, to the right side by the veins. This
memorable truth was first announced in the year 1619.
It belongs not to this place, either to consider the argu¬
ments and facts by which Harvey defended his theory, or
to notice the numerous assaults to which he was exposed,
and the controversies in which his opponents wished to
involve him. It is sufficient to say, that after the temporary
ebullitions of spleen and envy had subsided, the doctrine
of the circular motion of the blood was admitted by all
enlightened and unprejudiced persons, and finally was
universally adopted, as affording the most satisfactory
explanation of many facts in anatomical structure which
were either misunderstood or entirely overlooked. The
inquiries to which the investigation of the doctrine gave
rise produced numerous researches on the shape and
structure of the heart and its divisions, of the lungs, and
of the blood-vessels and their distribution. Of this de¬
scription were the researches of Nicolas Steno on the struc¬
ture of the heart, the classical work of Richard Lower,
the dissertation of Pechlin, the treatise of Vieussens, the
work of Malpighi on the structure of the lungs, several
sketches in the writings of Mayow, and other treatises of
less moment. Systematic treatises of anatomy began to
assume a more instructive form, and to breathe a more
philosophical spirit. The great work of Adrian Spigelius,
which appeared in 1627, two years after the death of
the author, contains indeed no proof that he was aware
of the valuable generalization of Harvey; but in the in¬
stitutions of Caspar Bartholin, as republished and improv¬
ed by his son Thomas in 1651, the anatomical descriptions
and explanations are given with reference to the new doc¬
trine. A still more unequivocal proof of the progress of
correct anatomical knowledge was given in the lectures
delivered by Peter Dionis, at the Jardin Royal of Paris,
in 1673 and the seven following years, in which that in- f torr
telligent surgeon gave most accurate demonstrations oT-.Vn
all the parts composing the human frame, and especially
of the heart, its auricles, ventricles, and valves, and the
large vessels connected with it and the lungs. These
demonstrations, first published in 1690, were so much
esteemed, that they underwent in the space of 30 years
seven editions, were translated into English, and formed
for a long time the best and only anatomical system in
Europe.
The progress of anatomical discovery continued in the
mean time to advance. In the course of the 16th century,
Eustachius, in studying minutely the structure of the
vena azygos, had recognised in the horse a white vessel
full of watery fluid, connected with the internal jugular
vein, on the left side of the vertebral column, correspond¬
ing accurately with the vessel since named thoracic duct
Fallopius also described vessels belonging to the liver,
distinct from arteries and veins; and similar vessels ap¬
pear to have been noticed by Nicolaus Massa. The
nature and properties of these vessels were, however, en¬
tirely unknown. On the 23d July 1622 Gaspar Asellius,
professor of anatomy at Pavia, while engaged in demon¬
strating the recurrent nerves in a living dog, first observ¬
ed numerous white delicate filaments crossing the me¬
sentery in all directions ; and though he took them at first
for nerves, the opaque white fluid which they shed quick¬
ly convinced him that they were a new order of ves¬
sels. The repetition of the experiment the following day
showed that these vessels were best seen in animals re¬
cently fed; and as he traced them from the villous mem¬
brane of the intestines, and observed the valves with
which they were liberally supplied, he inferred that they
wTere genuine chyliferous vessels. By confounding them
with the lymphatics, he made them proceed to the pan¬
creas and liver,—a mistake which appears to have been
first rectified by Francis De le Boe. The discovery of
Asellius was announced in 1627 ; and the following year,
by means of the zealous efforts of Nicolas Peiresc, a li¬
beral senator of Aix, the vessels were seen in the person
of a felon who had eaten copiously before execution, and
whose body was inspected an hour and a half after. In
1629 they were publicly demonstrated at Copenhagen by
Simon Pauli, and the same year the thoracic duct was ob¬
served by Mentel for the first time since it was described
by Eustachi. Five years after (1634), John Wesling,
professor of anatomy and surgery at Venice, gave the
first delineation of the lacteals from the human subject,
and evinced more accurate knowledge than his predeces¬
sors, of the thoracic duct and the lymphatics. Highmore
in 1637 demonstrated unequivocally the difference be¬
tween the lacteals and the mesenteric veins; and though
some perplexity was occasioned by the discovery of the
pancreatic duct by Wirsung, yet this mistake was correct¬
ed by Thomas Bartholin; and the discovery by Pecquet
in 1647, of the common trunk of the lacteals and lympha¬
tics, and of the course which the chyle follows to reach
the blood, may be regarded as the last of the series of iso¬
lated facts by the generalization of which the extent, dis¬
tribution, and uses of the most important organs of the
animal body were at length developed. . .
To complete the history of this part of anatomica
science one step yet remained,—the distinction between
the lacteals and lymphatics, and the discovery of the ter
mination of the latter order of vessels. Ihe honour o
this discovery is divided between Jolyffe, an English ana
tomist, and Olaus Rudbeck, a young Swede. The former.
according to the testimony of Glisson and Wharton,^8
aware of the distinct existence of the lymphatics m
ANATOMY.
Histor and demonstrated them as such in 1652. It is neverthe-
/Y^less doubtful whether he knew them much before the
latter period; and it is certain that Rudbeck observed
the lymphatics of the large intestines, and traced them to
glands, on the 27th January 1651, after he had, in the
course of 1650, made various erroneous conjectures re¬
garding them, and, like others, attempted to trace them
to the liver. The following year he demonstrated them
in presence of Queen Christina, and traced them to the
thoracic duct, and the latter to the subclavian vein. Their
course and distribution were still more fully investigated
by Thomas Bartholin, Wharton, Swammerdam, and Blaes,
the two last of whom recognised the existence of valves ;
while Antony Nuck of Leyden, by rectifying various er¬
rors of his predecessors, and adding several new and va¬
luable observations, rendered this part of anatomy much
more precise than formerly.
After this period anatomists began to study more ac¬
curately organs and textures already known, and to obtain
more precise knowledge of the intimate structure and or-
1654, ganization of the human body. Francis Glisson distin¬
guished himself by a minute description of the liver,
and a clearer account of the stomach and intestines than
IG-ji; had yet been given. Thomas Wharton investigated the
structure of the glands with particular care ; and though
rather prone to indulge in fanciful generalization, he deve¬
loped some interesting views of these organs ; while Charle-
ton, who appears to have been a person of great genius,
though addicted to hypothesis, made some good remarks on
the communication of the arteries with the veins, the foe¬
tal circulation, and the course of the lymphatics. But
the circumstance which chiefly distinguished the history
of anatomy at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
was the appearance of Thomas Willis, who rendered him¬
self eminent not only by the first good researches on the
brain and nerves, but by many judicious observations on
the structure of the lungs, the intestines, the blood-ves¬
sels, and the glands. His anatomy of the brain and
nerves is so minute and elaborate, and abounds so much
in new information, that the reader is struck by the im¬
mense chasm between the vague and meagre notices of
his predecessors, and the ample and correct descrip¬
tions of Willis. This excellent work, however, is not the
result of his own personal and unaided exertions; and
the character of Willis derives additional lustre from the
candid avowal of his obligations to Wren and Millington,
and, above all, to the diligent researches of his fellow-
anatomist Richard Lowrer.
Willis was the first who correctly numbered the nerves,
and described their origins in the order in which they have
been generally named till the recent improvements of Soem-
menng. His observation of the connection of the eighth
pair with the slender nerve which issues from the beginning
of the spinal chord is known to all. He remarked the paral¬
lel lines of the mesolobe, afterwards minutely described by
\‘cq d’Azyr. He seems to have recognised the commu¬
nication of the convoluted and figurate surfaces of the
brain, and that between the lateral cavities beneath the
(<)rnix. He designates the objects of the central surface—
fhe anterior as the lentiform eminences, with the striated
appearance of their internal substance—the posterior as
6 optic chambers or thalami; the four orbicular emi¬
nences, with the bridge, which he first named annular
protuberance; and the white pisiform bodies, since called
mammillary eminences, behind the infundibulum. In
e cerebellum he remarks the arborescent arrangement
0 the white and grey matter, and gives a good account
“ the internal carotids, and the communications which
“^ymake with the branches of the basilar artery. Wep-
699
fer had already demonstrated the peculiar curvature of History,
the former vessels in the carotic canal, and refuted the
fiction of the rete mirabile.
About the same time the researches of Malpighi
tended greatly to improve the knowledge of minute struc-
ture. Fie gave the first distinct ideas on the organization
of the lung, and the mode in wLich the bronchial tubes
and vessels terminate in that organ. By the microscope
he traced the transition of the arteries into the veins.
He examined the omentum, and inquired into the manner
in which fat and marrow are secreted. He endeavoured
to unfold, by dissection and microscopic observation, the
minute structure of the brain. He demonstrated the or¬
ganization of the skin, and considered its constituents as
the organ of touch. He studied the structure of bone,
and rectified the errors of Gagliardi; he traced the for¬
mation and explained the structure of the teeth; and
he finally carried his researches into the substance of
the liver, the spleen, the kidneys, and the conglobate
glands. In these difficult inquiries the observations of
Malpighi are in general faithful, and his descriptions are
accurate. He may be regarded as the founder of that
part of anatomical science which treats of structure and
organization; and, even in the present day, his writings
are both interesting and instructive.
Nicolas Steno described with accuracy the lacrymal 1GG0.
gland and passages, and re-discovered the parotid duct.
Bellini studied the structure of the kidneys, and de¬
scribed the tongue and tonsils with some care; and
Drelincourt laboured to investigate the changes effect¬
ed on the uterus by impregnation, and to elucidate
the formation of the foetus. The science might have
derived still greater advantages from the genius of
Regnier de Graaf, who investigated with accuracy the
structure of the pancreas and of the organs of generation
in both sexes, had he not been cut off at the early age of
32. Lastly, Wepfer, though more devoted to morbid ana¬
tomy, made, nevertheless, some just observations on
the anatomical disposition of the cerebral vessels, the
glandular structure of the liver, and the termination of
the common duct in the duodenum.
The appearance of Frederic Ruysch, who was born in
1638, and became professor of anatomy at Amsterdam in
1665, gave a new impulse to anatomical research, and
tended not only to give the science greater precision, but
to extend its limits in every direction. The talents of
Ruysch are said to have been developed by accident. To
repel the audacious and calumnious aspersions with which
De Bils attacked De le Boe and Van Horne, Ruysch pub¬
lished his tract on the valves of the lymphatics, which com¬
pletely established his character as an anatomist of origin¬
ality and research. This, however, is the smallest of his
services to the science. The art of injecting, which had
been originally attempted by Eustachi and Varoli, and
was afterwards rudely practised by Glisson, Bellini, and
Willis, was at length carried to greater perfection by De
Graaf and Swammerdam, the former of whom injected
the spermatic vessels with mercury and variously colour¬
ed liquors, while the latter, by employing melted wax with
other ingredients, made the first approach to the refine¬
ments of modern anatomy. By improving this idea of
using substances, which, though solid, may be rendered
fluid at the period of injecting, Ruysch carried this art to
the highest perfection.
By the application of this happy contrivance, he was
enabled to obtain more correct views than his predeces¬
sors of the arrangement of minute vessels in the interior
of organs, and to demonstrate peculiarities of organization
which escaped the scrutiny of previous anatomists. Scarce-
ANATOMY.
700
History, ly a part of the human body eluded the penetration of his
syringe; and his discoveries were proportionally great.
His account of the valves of the lymphatics, of the vessels
of the lungs, and their minute structure; his researches
on the vascular structure of the skin, of the bones, and their
epiphyses, and their mode of growth and union; his ob¬
servations on the spleen, the glans penis, the clitoris, and
the womb impregnated and unimpregnated, were suffi¬
cient to give him the reputation of a skilful and accurate
anatomist. These, however, were but a limited part of
his anatomical labours. He studied the minute structure
of the brain; he demonstrated the organization of the
choroid plexus; he described the state of the hair when
affected with Polish plait; he proved the vascular struc¬
ture of the teeth ; he injected the dura mater, the pleura,
the pericardium, and peritoneum ; he unfolded the minute
structure of the conglomerate glands; he investigated
that of the synovial apparatus placed in the interior of
the joints ; and he discovered several curious particulars
relating to the lacteals, the lymphatics, and the lymphatic
glands. So assiduously, indeed, did Ruysch study by in¬
jection the tissue of the organs of the animal body, that
it is less easy to say what he did than what he neglected.
To him we are indebted for many of the facts of which
anatomy at the present day consists. The success of his
injections, however, though it enabled him to trace the
most delicate terminations of vessels in the substance of
organs, perhaps exercised an unfavourable bias in making
him look for vessels exclusively in the minute structure of
all the tissues.
1G70. Meanwhile, Meibomius re-discovered the palpebral
glands, which were known to Casserius; Swammerdam
studied the action of the lungs, described the structure
of the human uterus, and made numerous valuable obser¬
vations on the caeca and pancreatoid organs of fishes ; and
Kerckringius attempted to explain the process of ossifica¬
tion, and determine its different stages. John Conrad Brun-
1G87. ner, in the course of experiments on the pancreas, disco¬
vered the muciparous glands of the duodenum,—a fact to
1677-81. which Conrad Peyer gave a more generalized character
by his description of the muciparous glands of the intes¬
tinal canal at large. Leonard Tassin, distinguished for
original observation, rendered the anatomical history of
the brain more accurate than heretofore, and gave parti-
1G73. cular accounts of the intestinal tube, the pancreatic duct,
and the hepatic ligaments. About the same time much
light was thrown on the intimate constitution of several
of the tissues, and on the minute communications of the
arterial and venous tubes by the microscopical observations
of Leeuwenhoeck.
That France might not be without participation in the
glory of advancing the progress of anatomical knowledge,
the names of Duverney and Yieussens are commemorated
with distinction. The former, born in 1648, and first in¬
troduced into public life in 1676 in the Royal Academy
of Sciences, decorated with the honorary title of profes¬
sor of anatomy to the Dauphin, and appointed in 1679
professor at the Jardin Royal, distinguished himself by
the first accurate account of the organ of hearing, and
by his dissections of several animals at the academy,
supplied valuable materials for the anatomical details of
the natural history of animals published by that learned
body. He appears to have been the first who demonstrat¬
ed the fact, that the cerebral sinuses open into the jugu¬
lar veins, and to have been aware that the former receive
the veins of the brain, and are the venous receptacles of
the organ. He understood the cerebral cavities, and their
mode of communication; distinguishes the posterior pil¬
lars of the vault from the pedes hippocampi; recognises
the two plates of the septum lucidum; and, what is still storv
more remarkable, he first indicates distinctly the crossing's vx!
or plaiting of the cerebral chords in the linear furrow be¬
tween the right and left pyramidal bodies,—a fact after¬
wards verified by the researches of Mistichelli, Petit, and
Santorini. He studied the ganglions attentively, and
gives the first distinct account of the formation, con¬
nections, and distribution of the intercostal nerve. It
is interesting to remark, that his statement that the veins
or sinuses of the spinal chord terminate in the vena azygos
has been verified by the recent researches of Dupuytren
and Breschet, which show that the vertebral veins com¬
municate by means of the intercostal and superior lumbar
veins with the azygos and demi-azygos. His account of
the structure of bones, and of the progress of ossification,
is valuable. He recognised the vascular structure of the
spleen; and he gives a correct account of the excretory
ducts of the prostate gland, the verumontanum, and the
anteprostates.
One of the circumstances which the history of this
period of anatomical science shows tended considerably
to its improvement, is the attention with which Compara¬
tive Anatomy was beginning to be cultivated. In ancient
times, and at the revival of letters, the dissection of the
lower animals was substituted for that of the human body;
and the descriptions of the organs of the latter were too
often derived from the former. The obloquy and con¬
tempt in which this abuse involved the study of animal
anatomy made it be neglected, or pursued with indifference,
for more than two centuries, during which anatomists con¬
fined their descriptions, at least very much, to the parts
of the human body. At this period, however, the preju¬
dice against Comparative Anatomy began to subside; and
animal dissection, though not substituted for that of the
human body, was employed, as it ought always to have
been, to illustrate obscurities, to determine doubts, and to
explain difficulties, and, in short, to enlarge and rectify the
knowledge of the structure of animal bodies generally.
For this revolution in its favour, Comparative Anatomy
was in a great measure indebted to the learned societies
which were established about this time in the different
countries of Europe. Among these the Royal Society of
London, embodied by charter by Charles II. in 1660, and
the Academy of Sciences of Paris, founded in 1665 by
Colbert, are undoubtedly entitled to the first rank. Though
later in establishment,tlie latter institution was distinguish¬
ed by making the first great efforts in favour of Compara¬
tive Anatomy; and Perrault, Pecquet, Duverney,and Mery,
by the dissections of rare animals obtained from the royal
menagerie, speedily supplied valuable materials for the
anatomical naturalist. In England, Nehemiah Grew, hd-
ward Tyson, and Samuel Collins, cultivated the same de¬
partment with diligence and success. The first has left
an interesting account of the anatomical peculiarities o
the intestinal canal in various animals ; and the second, in
the dissection of a porpoise, an opossum, and an ourang
outang, adduces some valuable illustrations of the com¬
parative differences between the structure of the human
body and that of the lower animals. To the third be¬
longs the merit of conceiving, and executing on an en
larged plan, a comprehensive system, embodying al t e
information then extant. With the aid of Tyson an
his own researches, which were both extensive and accu^ ^ ^
rate, he composed a system of anatomical knowledge, i
which he not only delivers ample and accurate description
of the structure of the human body, and the var.1<?us
bid changes to which the organs are liable, butuhis ra
the whole by accurate and interesting sketches of t e p
culiarities of the lower animals. The matter of this w
ANATOMY.
Histors is so excellent, that it can only be ascribed to ignorance
/v* that it has received so little attention. Though regarded
as a compilation, and though indeed much of the human
anatomy is derived from Vesalius, it has the advantage of
the works published on the Continent at that time, that it
embodies most of the valuable facts derived from Mal¬
pighi, Willis, and Vieussens. The Comparative Anatomy
is almost all original, and acquired from personal research
and dissection ; and the pathological observations, though
occasionally tinged with the spirit of the times, show the
author to have been endowed with the powers of observa¬
tion and judicious reflection in no ordinary degree.
About this time also we recognise the first attempts to
study the minute atomic constitution of the tissues, by
the combination of the microscope and the effects of che¬
mical agents. Bone furnished the first instance in which
this method was put in use; and though Gagliardi, who
undertook the inquiry, had fallen into some mistakes which
it required the observation of Malpighi to rectify, this
did not deter Clopton Havers and Nesbitt, in England,
and Courtial, Du Hamel, and Delasone, and afterwards
Herissant, in France, from resuming the same train of in¬
vestigation. The mistakes into which these anatomists
fell belong to the imperfect method of inquiry. The facts
which they ascertained have been verified by recent ex¬
periment, and constitute no unessential part of our know¬
ledge of the structure of bone.
Ten years after the publication of the work of Collins,
Henry Ridley, another English anatomist, distinguished
himself by a monograph on the brain, which, though not
free from errors, contains nevertheless some valuable ob¬
servations. Ridley is the first who distinguishes by name
the restiform processes, or the posterior pyramidal emi¬
nences. He recognised the figure of the four eminences in
the human subject; he remarked the mammillary bodies ;
and he discovered the sinus which passes under his name.
Raymond Vieussens, by the publication of his great
work on neurography in 1684, threw new light on the
configuration and structure of the brain, the spinal chord,
and the nerves; and gave a description of the arrange¬
ment and distribution of the latter more precise than
heretofore. Of the formation and connections of the
sympathetic nerve especially he gave views which have
been generally adopted by subsequent anatomists. His
new arrangement of the vessels, published in 1705, con¬
tains several curious and some hypothetical opinions. His
observations on the structure of the heart, published in
BOG, and enlarged in 1715, exhibit the first correct views
of the intimate structure of an organ, which afterwards
IIBa.
was most fully developed by the labours of Lancisi and
ac. H:- " - ‘4 ■’ • • ^
Duverney.
Senac. His treatise on the ear is not superior to that of
lo the same period belong the rival publications of
Godfrey Bidloo and William Cowper, the last of whom,
wwever, stained a reputation otherwise good, by publish¬
ing as his own the engravings of the former. Cowper
urther distinguished himself by a minute account of the
urethral glands, already known to Columbus and Mery; a
description of the intestinal glands, discovered by
>rum\er and Peyer; and by demonstrating the communi-
ution of the arteries and veins of the mesentery.
, 1 he anatomical genius of Italy, which had slumbered
since the death of Malpighi, was destined once more to
?'.lvc,n Lancisi, Valsalva, and his illustrious'pupils Santo-
Morgagnj. Valsalva especially distinguished him-
by his description of the structure of the ear, which,
possessing still greater precision and minuteness than
r la|,0. Duverney, is valuable in setting the example of
oo enng anatomy altogether a science of description.
Santorini, who was professor at Venice, was no unworthy
friend of Valsalva and Morgagni. His anatomical observa¬
tions, which relate to the muscles of the face, the brain, and
several of the nerves, the ducts of the lacrymal gland, the
nose and its cavities, the larynx, the viscera of the chest
and belly, and the organs of generation in the two sexes,
furnish beautiful models of essays distinguished for per¬
spicuity, precision, and novelty, above any thing which
had then appeared. These observations, indeed, which
bear the impress of accurate observation and clear con¬
ception, may be safely compared with any anatomical
writings which have appeared since. Those on the brain
are particularly interesting. Morgagni, though chiefly
known as a pathological anatomist, did not neglect the
healthy structure. His Adversaria, which appeared be¬
tween 1706 and 1719, and his Epistles, published in 1728,
contain a series of observations to rectify the mistakes of
previous anatomists, and to determine the characters of
the healthy structure of many parts of the human body.
Many parts he describes anew, and indicates facts not
previously observed. All his remarks show how well he
knew what true anatomical description ought to be. In this
respect, indeed, the three anatomists now mentioned may
be said to have anticipated their contemporaries nearly a
century; for, while other authors were satisfied with giv¬
ing loose and inaccurate or meagre notices of parts, with
much fanciful supposition, Valsalva, Santorini, and Mor¬
gagni, laboured to determine with precision the anatomical
characters of the parts which they describe.
The same character is due to Winslow, a native of Den¬
mark, but, as pupil and successor of Duverney, as well as
a convert to Catholicism, naturalized in France, and finally
professor of anatomy at the Royal Garden. His exposi¬
tion of the structure of the human body is distinguished
for being not only the first treatise of descriptive anatomy,
divested of physiological details and hypothetical expla¬
nations foreign to the subject, but for being a close de¬
scription derived from actual objects, without reference
to the writings of previous anatomists. About the same
time Cheselden in London, the first Monro in Edinburgh,
and Albinus in Leyden, contributed by their several trea¬
tises to render anatomy still more precise as a descriptive
science. The Osteographia of the former was of much
use in directing attention to the study of the skeleton,
and the morbid changes to which it is liable. This
work, however, magnificent as it was, was excelled by
that of Albinus, who, in 1747, published engravings de¬
scriptive of the bones and muscles, which, perhaps, will
never be surpassed either in accuracy of outline or beauty
of execution. The several labours of this author, indeed,
constitute an important era in the history of the science.
He was the first who classified and exhibited the muscles
in a proper arrangement, and applied to them a nomencla¬
ture which is still retained by the consent of the best
anatomists. He gives a luminous account of the arteries
and veins of the intestines, represents with singular fide¬
lity and beauty the bones of the foetus, inquires into the
structure of the skin, and the cause of its colour in differ¬
ent races; represents the changes incident to the womb
in different periods of pregnancy, and describes the rela¬
tions of the thoracic duct and the vena azygos with the
contiguous parts. Besides these large and magnificent
works, illustrated by the most beautiful engravings, six
books of Academical Annotations were the fruits of his
long and assiduous cultivation of anatomy. These con¬
tain valuable remarks on the sound structure and morbid
deviations of numerous parts of the human body.
To render the knowledge of the skeleton more com¬
plete, Duhamel and Delasone studied the minute structure
1700.
1717.
1719.
1728.
1740.
1732.
1713-22.
1720-32.
1720-40.
1733.
1736.
1737.
17M.
1734-04.
1739-43.
702
ANATOMY.
1751-52.
1753.
History, of bone, and the process of ossification; William Hunter
and Herissant investigated the texture of the cartilages;
and Weitbrecht gave a copious and minute account of
the ligaments. M. Lieutaud also, who had already la¬
boured to rectify many errors in anatomy, described with
much accuracy the structure and relations of the heart
and its cavities, and rendered the anatomy of the bladder
very precise, by describing the triangular space and the
mammillary eminence at its neck.
Albinus found a worthy successor in his pupil Albert
Von Haller, who, with a mind imbued with every depart¬
ment of literature and science, directed his chief atten¬
tion, nevertheless, to the cultivation of anatomical and
physiological knowledge. Having undertaken at an early
age (21) to illustrate, with commentaries, the physiological
prelections of his preceptor Boerhaave, he devoted him¬
self assiduously to the perusal of every work which could
tend to facilitate his purpose; and as he found numerous
erroneous or imperfect statements, and many deficiencies
to supply, he undertook an extensive course of dissection
of human and animal bodies, to obtain the requisite infor¬
mation. For 17 years, during which he was professor at
Goettingen, he dissected 400 bodies,1 and inspected their
organs with the utmost care. The result of these assidu¬
ous labours appeared at intervals in the form of disserta¬
tions by himself, or under the name of some one of his
pupils, finally published in a collected shape, between
174G and 1751 (Disputationes Anatomicce Selectiores) ;
and in eight numbers of most accurate and beautiful en¬
gravings, representing the most important parts of the
human body, e. g. the diaphragm, the uterus, ovaries and
vagina, the arteries of the different regions and organs,
with learned and critical explanatory observations. Some
years after, when he had retired from his academical
duties at Goettingen, he published, between 1757 and
1765, the large and elaborate work which, with singular
modesty, he styled Elements of Physiology. This work,
though professedly devoted to the latter science, rendered
nevertheless the most essential services to the former.
Haller, drawing an accurate line of distinction between
the two, gave the most clear, precise, and complete de¬
scriptions of the situation, position, figure, component
parts, and minute structure of the different organs and
their appendages. The results of previous and coeval in¬
quiry, obtained by extensive reading, he sedulously veri¬
fied by personal observation ; and though he never rejected
facts stated on credible authorities, he in all cases labour¬
ed to ascertain their real value by experiment. The ana¬
tomical descriptions are on this account not only the most
valuable part of his work, but the most valuable that had
then or for a long time after appeared; and it is perhaps
a sufficient proof of their intrinsic merit, that they are
still resorted to by the anatomist as the most faithful
guide to many of his researches. It is painful, neverthe¬
less, to think, that the very form in which this work is com¬
posed, with copious and scrupulous reference to authori¬
ties, made it be regarded as a compilation only; and that
the author was compelled to show, by a list of his person¬
al researches, that the most learned work ever given to
the physiologist, was also the most abundant in original
information.2
With the researches of Haller, it is proper to notice
those of his contemporary, John Frederick Meckel, and
his pupil John Godfrey Zinn. The former, who was
professor of anatomy at Berlin, described with unrivalled
1748-51. accuracy the Gasserian ganglion, the first pair of nerves
and its distribution, and that of the facial nerves general- yf
ly, and discovered the spheno-palatine ganglion. HeW
made some original and judicious observations on the
tissue of the skin and the mucous net; and above all r
he recognised the connection of the lymphatic vessels
with the veins,—a doctrine which, though neglected, has
been lately revived by Fohmann and Lippi. He also
collected several valuable observations on the morbid
states of the heart and brain. At the same time Zinn,
who was professor of medicine at Goettingen, published on
the eye a classical treatise, which demonstrated at once r
the defects of previous inquiries, and how much it was
possible to elucidate, by accurate research and precise de¬
scription, the structure of one of the most important or¬
gans of the human frame. As a general proof of the ex¬
traordinary merit of this work, it is sufficient to say, that
in critical learning and descriptive accuracy it has not
been equalled, and probably will never be surpassed. It
was re-published after his death by Wrisberg. ]
General anatomy, and the study of the atomic consti¬
tution of the tissues which had originally been com¬
menced by Leeuwenhoeck, Malpighi, and Ruysch, began
at this period to attract more general attention. De
Bergen had already demonstrated the general distribution
of cellular membrane, and shown that it not only incloses
every part of the animal frame, but forms the basis of
every organ,—a doctrine which was adopted, and still
more fully expanded, by his friend Haller, in opposition to 17|
what was asserted by Albinus,3 who maintains that each
part has a proper tissue. William Hunter at the same
time gave a clear and ingenious statement of the difference
between cellular membrane and adipose tissue, in which
he maintained the general distribution of the former,
and represented it as forming the serous membranes, and
regulating their physiological and pathological properties,—
doctrines which were afterwards confirmed by his brother
John Hunter. A few years after, the department of ge¬
neral anatomy first assumed a substantial form, in the
systematic view of the membranes and their mutual con¬
nections traced by Andrew Bonn of Amsterdam. In his
inaugural dissertation De Continuationibus Membranarum,
published at Leyden in 1763, this author, after some pre- 17
liminary observations on membranes in general and their
structure, and an exposition of that of the skin, traces its
transition into the mucous membranes and their several
divisions. He then explains the distribution of the cellu¬
lar membrane and the aponeurotic expansions, and the
periosteum and perichondrium, by either of which, he
shows, every bone of the skeleton is invested and con¬
nected. He finally gives a very distinct view of the ar¬
rangement of the internal membranes of cavities, those
named serous and fibro-serous, and the manner of their
distribution over the contained organs. This essay, which
is a happy example of generalization, is remarkable for
the interesting general views of the structure of the ani¬
mal body which it exhibits; and to Bonn belongs the
merit of sketching the first outlines of that system which
it was reserved for the genius of Bichat to complete and
embellish. Lastly, Bordeu, in an elaborate essay on the
mucous tissue, or cellular organ, as he' terms it, brought
forward some interesting views of the constitution, nature,
and extent of the cellular membrane.
Though anatomy was hitherto cultivated with much
success as illustrating the natural history and morbid
states of the human body, yet little had been done for the
elucidation of local diseases, and the surgical means by
lory,
LK7
’ 1-57.
17
1 “ Pene quadringentis mea manu dissectis hominum cadaveribus.” (Praefatio ad tom. vi. Elementorum Physiologix-)
2 z Annot. Acad. lib. iii. p. 2.
ANATOMY.
i 1'18-
gist/. which they may be successfully treated. The idea of ap-
plying anatomical knowledge directly to this purpose ap¬
pears to have originated with Bernardin Genga, a Roman
surgeon, who published in 1672, at Rome, a work entitled
Surgical Anatomy, or the Anatomical History of the Bones
and Muscles of the Human Body, with the description of
the Blood-vessels. This work, which reached a second
edition in 1687, is highly creditable to the author, who
appears to have studied intimately the mutual relations
of different parts. It is not improbable that the example
of Genga led Palfyn, a surgeon at Ghent, to undertake a
similar task about 30 years after. For this, however,
he was by no means well qualified ; and the work of
Palfyn, though bearing the name of Surgical Anatomy, is a
miserable compilation, meagre in details, inaccurate in
description, and altogether unworthy of the honour of be¬
ing republished, as it afterwards was, by Antony Petit.
While these two authors, however, were usefully em¬
ployed in showing what was wanted for the surgeon,
others were occupied in the collection of new and more
accurate facts. Albinus, indeed, ever assiduous, had, in
his account of the operations of Rau, given some good
sketches of the relative anatomy of the bladder and ure¬
thra; and Cheselden had already, in his mode of cutting
into the urinary bladder, shown the necessity of exact
knowledge of the relations of contiguous parts. The first
decided application, however, of this species of anatomical
research it was reserved for a Dutch anatomist of the 18th
century to make. Peter Camper, professor of Anatomy at
Amsterdam, published in 1760 and 1762 his anatomico-
pathological demonstrations of the parts of the human
arm and pelvis, of the diseases incident to them, and the
mode of relieving them by operation. These observations
are of the utmost value. The situation of the blood-ves¬
sels, nerves, and important muscles, is explained with the
greatest clearness; and though the engravings are rather
bold and accurate than elegant, they constitute a wrork
indispensable to the anatomical reader. His remarks on
the lateral operation of lithotomy, which contain all that
was then known on the subject, are exceedingly inter¬
esting and valuable to the surgeon. It appears further
that he was the first who examined anatomically the me¬
chanism of ruptures, his delineations of which were pub¬
lished in 1801 by Soemmering.
It had been originally observed by Riolan, Severinus,
Rudbeck, Harvey, and De Graaf, that in the foetus the
testicles are situate in the abdomen; but this observa¬
tion, so pregnant with important results, appears to have
been overlooked, nay doubted, till verified by Haller, who
showed that their removal from this region is connected
with the formation of congenital hernia. The situation of
the testicles previous to birth, their gradual descent into the
scrotum, and the mode in which a portion of intestine may
slip down with them, was still more fully investigated by
William Hunter, by Camper, and finally by John Hunter ;
and the peculiarities of the inguinal canal, and the man¬
ner in which its persistence after birth, or its re-opening,
may occasion hernial protrusions, have been well explain-
ed by Sandifort, Scarpa, Sir Astley Cooper, Allan Burns,
and Lawrence, and more recently by Hesselbach and
Langenbeck.
The attention of anatomists was now directed to the
elucidation of the most obscure and least explored parts of
the human frame—the lymphatic vessels and the nerves.
Although, since the first discovery of the former by
Asellius, Rudbeck, and Pecquet, much had been done, es¬
pecially by Ruysch, Nuck, Meckel, and Haller, many
Points, notwithstanding, relating to their origin, and dis¬
tribution in particular organs, and in the several classes of
animals, were imperfectly ascertained or entirely un¬
known. William Hunter investigated their arrangement,
and proposed the doctrine that they are absorbents; and
John Hunter, who undertook to demonstrate the truth of
this hypothesis by experiment, discovered, in 1758, lym¬
phatics in birds in the neck. As this doctrine required
the existence of this order of vessels, not only in quadru¬
peds and birds, but in reptiles and fishes, the inquiry at¬
tracted attention among the pupils of Hunter; and Wil¬
liam Hewson at length communicated, in December 1768,
to the Royal Society of London, an account of the lac-
teals and lymphatics in birds, fishes, and reptiles, as he had
discovered and demonstrated them. The subject appears
about the same time to have been investigated by the se¬
cond Monro, who indeed claimed the merit of discovering
these vessels in the classes of animals now mentioned
But whatever researches this anatomist may have insti¬
tuted, Llewson, by communicating his observations to the
Royal Society, must be allowed to possess the strongest
as well as the clearest claim to discovery. The same au¬
thor, in 1774, gave the first complete account of the ana¬
tomical peculiarities of the lymphatic system in man and
other animals, and thereby supplied an important gap in
this department. Hewson is the first who distinguishes the
lymphatics into two orders, the superficial and the deep,
both in the extremities and in the internal organs. He also
studied the structure of the intestinal villi, in which he ve¬
rified the observations of Lieberkuhn ; and in inquiring into
the minute structure of the glands, he adopted the views
of Ruysch. He finally applied his anatomical discoveries
to explain many of the physiological and pathological phe¬
nomena of the animal body. Ten years after, John Sheldon,
another pupil of Hunter, gave a second history and descrip¬
tion of the lymphatics, which, though divested of the charm
of novelty, contains many interesting anatomical facts.
He also examined the structure of the villi. And, lastly,
Cruikshank, in 1786, published a very valuable history of
the anatomy of the lymphatic system, in which he main¬
tains the accuracy of the Hunterian doctrine, that the
lymphatics are the only absorbents; gave a more minute
account than heretofore of these vessels, of their coats
and valves; and supplied the defect left by Hewson, by
explaining the structure of the lymphatic glands. He
also injected the villi, and examined them microscopically,
verifying most of the observations of Lieberkuhn. The
origin of the lymphatics he maintains rather by inference
than direct demonstration. To these three works, though
in other respects very excellent, it is a considerable ob¬
jection that the anatomical descriptions are much mixed
with hypothetical speculation and reasonings on properties,
and that the facts are by no means always distinguished
from mere matters of opinion. At the same time Haase
published an account of the lymphatics of the skin and
intestines, and the plexiform nets of the pelvis.
To complete this sketch of the history of the anato¬
my of the lymphatic system, it may be added that JVIas-
cagni, who had been engaged from the year 1//7 to
1781 in the same train of investigation, first demonstrat¬
ed to his pupils several curious facts relating to the ana¬
tomy of the lymphatic system. When at blorence in 1 /82,
he made several preparations, at the request of Petei
Leopold, grand duke of Tuscany; and when the Royal
Academy of Sciences at Paris announced the anatomy of
this system for their prize essay appointed for March
1784, Mascagni resolved on communicating to the public
the results of his researches—the first part of his com¬
mentary, with four engravings. Anxiety, howevei, to
complete his preparations detained him at Florence till
the close of 1785; and from these causes his work did
1746-48-
51.
1782*
704
ANATOMY.
History, not appear till 1787. These delays, however, unfavourable
-^^^as they were to his claims of priority to Sheldon and
Cruikshank, were on the whole advantageous to the per¬
fection of his work, which is not only the most magnifi¬
cent, but also the most complete, that ever was published
on the lymphatics. In his account of the vessels and their
valves, he confirms some of Hewson’s observations, and
rectifies others. Their origins he proves by inference
much in the same manner as Cruikshank; but he antici¬
pates this author in the account of the glands, and he gives
the most minute description of the superficial and deep lym¬
phatics, both in the members and in the internal organs.
General accounts of the nerves had been given with
various degrees of accuracy by Willis, Vieussens, Winslow,
and the first Monro; and the subject had been much rec¬
tified and improved by the indefatigable Haller. The
first example of minute descriptive neurography was given
in 1748 by J. F. Meckel, whose account of the fifth pair,
and their connection with the intercostal, and of the
nerves of the face, will long remain a lasting proof of ac¬
curacy and research. The same subject was investigated
in 1765 by Hirsch, and in 1777 by Wrisberg. In 1766
Metzger examined the origin, distribution, and termina¬
tion of the first pair,—a point which was afterwards very
minutely treated by Scarpa in his anatomical disquisitions
published in 1780; and the internal nerves of the nostrils
were examined in 1791 by Haase. The optic nerve,
which had been studied originally by Varoli, and after¬
wards by Mery, Duverney, Henkel, Moeller, Hein, and
Kaldschmid, was examined with extreme accuracy, with
the other nerves of the organ of vision, by Zinn, in his
elaborate treatise. The phrenic nerves, and the oesopha¬
geal branches of the eighth pair, were studied by Haase;
the phrenic, the abdominal, and the pharyngeal nerves, by
Wrisberg; those of the heart most minutely by Andersch ;
and the origins, formation, and distribution of the intercos¬
tal nerve, by Iwanoff, Ludwig, and Girardi. The labours of
these anatomists, however, were eclipsed by the splendid
1783. works of Walter on the nerves of the chest and belly; and
!794. those of Scarpa on the distribution of the 8th pair, and
splanchnic nerves in general. In minuteness of descrip¬
tion, and in beauty of engraving, these works have not
yet been equalled, and will never perhaps be surpassed.
About the same time Scarpa, so distinguished in every
branch of anatomical research, investigated the minute
structure of the ganglions and plexuses.
1780. The brain was also studied with great attention by Ma-
lacarne, Vicq d’Azyr, and Soemmering; more recently
lleil examined the minute structure of the organ and its
component parts with unrivalled research and accuracy;
and Rolando studied the structure of the cerebellum.
Lastly, the anatomy of the gravid uterus, which had
been originally studied by Albinus, Roederer, and Smel-
lie, was again illustrated most completely by William
1774. Hunter, whose engravings will remain a lasting memorial
of scientific zeal and sculptorial talent.
The perfection which anatomical science has attained,
has been evinced during the last 30 years in the improved
character of the systems published by anatomists. The
first who gave a good modern system was Sabatier; but
his work was speedily eclipsed by the superior merits of
the treatises of Soemmering, Bichat, and Portal. To the
first belongs the character of being at once the most
learned and critical, and at the same time the most pre¬
cise, yet published. The General Anatomy of Bichat is a
monument of his philosophical genius, which will last as
long as the structure and functions of the human body
are objects of interest. His Descriptive Anatomy is dis¬
tinguished by clear and natural arrangement, precise and
accurate description, and the general ingenuity with which Hist
the subject is treated. The physiological observations
are in general correct, often novel, and always highly
interesting. It is unfortunate, however, that the inge¬
nious author was cut off prematurely during the pre¬
paration of the third volume. It must nevertheless be
acknowledged, that if the two last ones betray the want
of the genius of Bichat, they are pervaded with the
general spirit by which the others are impressed, and are
highly creditable to the learning, the judgment, and the
diligence of MM. Roux and Buisson. The system of
Portal is a valuable and correct digest of anatomical and
pathological knowledge, which, in exact literary informa¬
tion, is worthy of the author of the History of Anatomy
and Surgery, and, in accuracy of descriptive details,
shows that M. Portal trusts not to the labours of his
predecessors only. Since the appearance of these stand¬
ard works, Meckel published a Manual, which combines
the philosophical generalizations of Bichat with the pre¬
cise description and pathological knowledge of Portal.
This work has been recently translated into French.
Lastly, Cloquet formed, on the model of the Descriptive
Anatomy of Bichat, a system in which he avails himself
of the literature and precision of Soemmering, and the
details of Portal. The system of Gordon is imperfect, its
completion being interrupted by the death of the author;
but, so far as it goes, it gives a correct summary of Gene¬
ral Anatomy, and some accurate descriptive details of the
heart and brain. The work of Dr Monro is entitled to
mention in this place, as an elementary treatise, containing,
with anatomical description, a good deal of physiological
and pathological matter. These, however, must be con¬
sidered foreign to the subject.
Of treatises on particular departments, those of Blu-
menbach on the bones, Innes and Sandifort on the mus¬
cles, the several anatomical writings and engravings of
Charles Bell on the arteries, the nerves, and the brain,
Barclay on the arteries, Tiedemann on the nerves of the
uterus, and the same author’s engraved delineations of
the arteries, and Harrison’s excellent work on the arte¬
ries, deserve notice. The minute structure of bone which
had been examined by Scarpa, was again studied by
that indefatigable inquirer, and in this country by How-
ship. The structure of the lungs was investigated by
Reisseissen, by Magendie, and Sir E. Home. On the
anatomy of the nervous system numerous treatises have
lately appeared. Joseph and Charles Wenzel investigat- 1812
ed the minute structure of the brain in man and the
lower animals; Tiedemann traced the development of
the organ in the foetus, and rectified many errors on its
formation and minute structure; Sir Everard Home and
M. Bauer investigated its atomic constitution by the mi¬
croscope ; Lobstein investigated the structure and dis¬
tribution of the great sympathetic nerve ; Bellangeri pub¬
lished an accurate description of the spinal chord and its
nerves ; and, lastly, Charles Bell, in his great work on the
nervous system, developes and establishes the truth of
the ancient theory of the separate nature of the nerves
of motion and those of sensation. Comparative Anatomy
has been diligently cultivated by Daubenton, Pallas,
Haller, John Hunter, and the second Monro, and more
recently by Cuvier, Dumeril, Home, Tiedemann, and
Meckel.
In the foregoing account we have been anxious to trace
merely a general sketch of the progressive advancement
of anatomical discovery, from the first cultivation of the
art to the present time. To mention every circumstance is
impracticable, and would have extended this outline much
beyond its legitimate limits. Though no name of genuine
r-
k.
ANATOMY.
Hum importance, however, has been omitted, every one not
Anally, directly connected with strict anatomy has been excluded.
At the same time it has been found impossible to specify
every individual who has contributed at different periods
to the improvement of the science ; and these we shall in
general notice occasionally as we require to speak of them
in the account of particular parts. For more minute and
detailed information, we refer in general to the elaborate
705
History of Anatomy and Surgery by Portal, the Biblio- Human
theca Anaiomica of Haller, and the critical and learn- Anatomy
ed history of Lauth. It is unfortunate that the latter
work is not completed. But by combining its perusal
with that of the works already mentioned, and several of
the chapters of Sprengel’s History of Medicine, the anato¬
mical inquirer will form very just ideas of the literary his¬
tory of his science.1
HUMAN ANATOMY.
All animal bodies agree in the possession of certain ge- The faculty ascribed to the nerves is named nervous ac-
neral characters, by which they are distinguished equally tion, nervous energy, nervous power, nervous influence or
from inorganic bodies and from vegetables. simply innervation. J ’
Besides the round shape by which organic bodies are In chemical composition, animal bodies consist of
distinguished, most animals are, externally at least, symme- gelatine, albumen, fibrin, fat or oleaginous matter, a
trical, or present on each side of the mesial plane, lateral modification of mucus, and various saline substances,
halves mutually alike. The substances of which they Subjected to combustion, or spontaneous decomposition,'
consist are not entirely solid, but are soft, compressible, while vegetable substances furnish water, carbonic acid^
distensible, and elastic, and contain a proportion of liquid and carburetted hydrogen, animal matters furnish also
matter, which is generally in the ratio of majority to that ammonia,—a circumstance which shows that they con-
of the solid. These substances are enveloped in a thready tain azote. They furnish also sulphuretted hydroo-en,
or filamentous matter, named areolar or cellular, from the apparently from the decomposition of albuminous matters!
interstitial spaces which result from the intersection of I he fluids of animal bodies (liquores, latices, humores)
its filaments ; and the whole is inclosed in a general are contained in tubular canals or vessels. If these fluids
covering, which in several classes is soft, membranous, move through the vessels, they are denominated gene-
and elastic, but in others is hard, crustaceous, and even rally blood, whatever be their colour. All the fluids con-
horny. The body is perforated by an internal cavity sist either of this, or of some modification separated from
for the reception of food; and this cavity is lined by a it by means of glandular action; and of the fluids so
membranous covering, which is continuous with that by separated, some are destined for purposes within the
which the exterior is involved. In several classes of ani- economy, and are therefore secretions proper; others are
mals there are tubular canals, distributed in an arborescent intended to be eliminated immediately, and may there-
form, for conveying, in definite directions, the nutritious fore be regarded as excretions. Though it is impossible
matter to all parts of the frame. These are named blood- to estimate accurately the proportion of the fluids, some
vessels, or organs of circulation. One modification of idea of it may be formed by the fact, that an animal body
these, arranged in such manner that this matter is sub- may be reduced by desiccation to ^ or even of its pro¬
jected to the influence of the atmospheric air, forms vious weight. The proportion may be stated, in general
lungs, gills, or organs of respiration; and another, in which terms, to vary from 9 or 6 of fluid, to 1 of solid matter,
part of it is separated from the whole, constitutes secreting The various forms of animal bodies may be referred
organs or glands. The genital or reproductive organs to general divisions or classes, according to certain pe-
consist of a cavity, from which the germs or ova are de- culiarities in configuration and structure. These divi-
tached. For the purpose of motion, animals further pos- sions are, the Vertebrata, Mollusca, Articulata,
sess organs generally of a fibrous structure, and which and Radiata.
have the remarkable property of undergoing contraction In the first class the central portion of the nervous sys-
on the application of a stimulus or irritating agent. These tem, consisting of the brain and spinal chord, is inclosed
organs are denominated muscles (lacerti, tori); and their in a case of hard matter, containing much calcareous earth,
contractile property is termed irritability or contractility, and denominated bone. While one portion of this forms,
For receiving the impression of external objects, they are by the union of its pieces, a cavity named the scull or
provided with one or more organs of sensation, of structure cranium, the other is composed of separate pieces, which
more or less complex. And in almost all animal bodies, by their union constitute at once a continuous canal and
except the very lowest, there are found soft, gray, or a sort of internal pillar or column for attaching and sup-
whitish cords, inelastic, but marked in their course by porting the soft parts. These pieces are named vertebra
fusiform, spheroidal, or irregular-shaped swellings, and (Wov&Ao/); and their presence is so uniform, that they
connected at their further extremity with the muscles, with constitute the character of the class, which are therefore
the organs of sensation, or with the exterior or interior named Vertebrated Animals; (Animalia Verte-
coverings. It is remarkable that the purpose of these bris pr^dita, sive Vertebrata).
cords, which are named nerves, is not exactly known. The presence of vertebrae is accompanied with other
They neither communicate mobility to the muscles, nor peculiarities of structure. Thus the vertebrated animals
sensibility to the organs of sensation; but they render the have red blood and a muscular heart; a system of tubes
actions of the former steady, regular, and voluntary ; and for conveying blood from this to the different organs,—the
the impressions received by the latter they certainly distributory, or arteries; another system for returning
serve to convey to the centre of the nervous system, it,—the regredient, or veins; and a particular system of
1 Hutoire de VAnatomic et dc la Chirurgie, <|c. par M. Portal, Lecteur au Roi, &c. Paris, 1770-1773, 6 vols. Bibliotheca Anatomica,
qua Scrijjta ad Anatomen et Physiologiam facientia a rerum initiis rccenscntur. Auctore Alberto von Plaller Domino a Goumoens, &c.
figuri, 1774-1777, 2 vols. 4to. Histoire de VAnatomic, par Thomas Lauth, D. M. &c. &c. Strasbourg, 1815. Versuch ciner
pragmatischen Gcschichte dcr Arzneikunde von Kurt Sprengel. Halle, 1792-1803.
VOL. II. 4 u
706
ANATOMY.
Human vessels for exposing the latter blood to the influence of
Anatomy, the atmosphere. They have further a mouth with two
horizontal jaws ; distinct oi’gans of vision, hearing, smell,
and taste, lodged in the cavities of the face; never more
than four members; separate sexual organs; and con¬
siderable similarity in the arrangement of the central
masses and the ramified chords of the nervous system.
In all the vertebrated animals the blood which serves for
the secretion of bile is the venous, which has circulated
in the intestines, and which is afterwards made to un¬
dergo a ramifying distribution in the portal vein. In all
the vertebrated animals also a peculiar secretion is form¬
ed from the arterial blood by two large glands, denomi¬
nated kidneys.
In the second general division, which are destitute of
those firm pieces named bones, the central portion of the
nervous sj'stem, instead of being inclosed in portions of
the skeleton, is placed on the oesophagus, and, with the
other internal organs, is inclosed in a general soft en¬
velope, contractile, corresponding to the skin, to which the
muscles are attached, and in which stony patches named
shells are occasionally formed. Of the four proper organs
of sensation, those only of taste and sight are observed;
and the last are often wanting. One family only are provid¬
ed with organs of hearing. There is always a complete
system of circulation, and organs for respiration. Those
of digestion and secretion are almost as complicated as in
the vertebrated animals. The division of the animal world
thus distinguished have been named Molluscous Ani¬
mals ; (Animalia Mollusca).
In the third general division, the nervous system con¬
sists of two chords extending longitudinally along the
belly, and swelling at intervals into knots or ganglions.
The first of these, placed on the cesophagus, and distin¬
guished as the brain, is scarcely larger than the others.
The covering of the trunk is divided by transverse folds
into a number of rings, the integuments of which may be
hard or soft, but to the interior of which muscles are in
all cases attached. The sides of the trunk, though often
provided with, are nevertheless often without, articulated
members. The annular appearance of the trunk has given
these animals the character of Articulated; (Animalia
Articulata). They have been occasionally named
Annulosa.
This class of animal bodies is remarkable for present¬
ing the first transition from circulation in close tubes or
vessels, to nutrition by imbibition, and the corresponding
transition from respiration in circumscribed organs to
that which takes place in air-tubes distributed through
the whole body. The only distinct organs of sensation
are those of taste and sight.; and a single family have or¬
gans of hearing. The jaws, when present, are lateral.
In these three divisions of animals the organs of motion
and sensation are arranged symmetrically on both sides of
an axis or imaginary line. In a fourth class they are dis¬
tributed circularly round a centre. In these, which in
homogeneous structure approach the nature of plants,
neither distinct nervous system nor proper organs of sen¬
sation are observed. Scarcely do we recognise traces of
circulation. The organs for respiration are almost always
at the surface of the body. Most of them have for intes¬
tine a sac without vent; and some present only a homo¬
geneous pulp, movable and sensible. To this class,
which comprehends those beings denominated since the
time of Aristotle zoophytes fur a), or animal plants, the
name of Radiated Animals has been recently applied ;
(Animalia Radiata).
The vertebrated animals, however similar in general
characters, present certain peculiarities by which they are
naturally distinguished into classes. The first, and per- u
haps the most striking difference, is in the mode of birth, Anat v
one large division being separated from the body of the^v 7
female parent in a state of complete life, and therefore
denominated viviparous; the other being detached in
the form of an ovum or egg, which, though possessed
of the elements of life, is not yet endowed with it, and
requires for the full developement of that principle the
assiduous care of the parent. This difference, however
obvious, is more apparent than real. In viviparous birth
the foetus or new animal remains attached to the inner
surface of the womb by means of nutrient blood-vessels,
and is enveloped in membranes, which correspond very
accurately to the coverings of the ova of oviparous ani¬
mals. The rupture of these membranes at the moment
of birth or detachment from the body of the parent is the
only circumstance which constitutes a material difference
between viviparous and oviparous generation. The vivi¬
parous animals, nevertheless, are further distinguished by
nursing their offspring by means of teats or mammce, glands
destined for separating from the mass of blood the oleo-
albuminous fluid denominated milk.
A still more important source of distinction among the
vertebrated animals is found in the disposition of the vas¬
cular organs destined for respiration. The blood, which
proceeds from the heart by the distributing tubes or ar¬
teries to the different organs, thereby undergoes a certain
change, in consequence of which it is no longer capable of
answering the several purposes of nutrition, secretion, &c.
which are necessary to the maintenance of the animal
body in the healthy state. To fit it once more for these
purposes, the blood, in whole or in part, is, by means of
the veins, brought back to the heart, and thence conveyed
by means of a system of arborescent tubes to the surface
of an organ, where it is, through the interposition of a
thin membrane, exposed more or less freely to the atmo¬
spheric air. When it is exposed directly to this fluid in¬
troduced into the body by means of a single tube divided
into ramifying branches, the respiratory organ is denomi¬
nated lungs. When the blood, on the other hand, is ex¬
posed to atmospheric air by means of water, which passes
over a pectiniform organ, the latter is denominated gills.
Respiration varies, therefore, according as the structure
of the organ allows the whole or part of the blood to
be exposed to air, and according as this exposure is direct
or indirect.
Taken together, these circumstances may be viewed as
the integrant or constituent elements of the quantity, ex¬
tent, or degree of respiration, which conversely, indeed,
depends on two circumstances,—the quantity of blood
present in the respiratory organ at any given moment, and
the relative quantity of oxygen in the respired fluid.
The organs of circulation may be double, so that the
whole mass of blood which is brought by the veins from
the remote parts must circulate in the respiratory organ
before it is again distributed by the arteries;—or they may
be single, so that one portion only of the regredient blood
is made to pass through the respiratory organ, while the
residue is distributed by the arteries without undergoing
this circulation. Of this mode of respiration an example
is given by the class of animals denominated Reptiles;
(Reptilia ; Animalia Repentia) ; in which the heart
is so constructed that only part of the blood is conveyed
to the lungs, and in which, consequently, the amount or
degree of respiration, and the concomitant qualities, vary
according to the proportion of this fluid which goes to the
lungs at each pulsation.
In Fishes, on the other hand, though the circulation is
two-fold, that is, distributory by means of arteries, and
ANATOMY.
Hum regredient by means of veins, the respiratory organ is
Anattiy- formed for respiration through the medium of Water, and
v/v^the blood thus exposed to air receives the influence of
that only which is mingled or held in solution by the
water. Their extent of respiration is therefore supposed
to be less than that of reptiles, by reason of the imperfect
exposure to the operation of the air. Their respiration
may be termed hydro-aerial.
In mammiferous animals, again, though the circulation is
two-fold, or distributory and regredient, the respiration is
single, or confined to the lungs only. Their extent of
respiration is therefore superior to that of the reptiles, by
reason of the shape of their circulatory organs, and to
that of fishes by reason of the nature of the element in
which they live. Their respiration is aerial.
In another class of vertebrated animals, however, respi¬
ration assumes a form still more perfect and extensive,
since not only is the circulation two-fold, and the respira¬
tion aerial, as in the mammalia, but their structure is such
that the air of the trachea communicates with other cavi¬
ties, especially those of the bones, and surrounds the
branches of the aorta as completely as it does those of the
pulmonary artery. The effect of this arrangement with
regard to the ambient atmosphere is at once to render
these animals specifically lighter, and enable them to sup¬
port themselves in the air, and to restore and change the
regredient or venous blood so completely, that when again
distributed it may impart to the various organs the high¬
est degree of energy of which they are susceptible.
From these characters a division of vertebrated animals
may be formed in the following manner. ls£, Quadrupeds,
in which the extent of respiration is moderate, and which
are distinguished for walking or running, or other muscu¬
lar exertion with strength; 2c?, Birds, in which the extent
of respiration is the greatest possible, and is connected
with the levity of substance and energy of muscle requi¬
site for flight; 3c?, Reptiles, in which the small extent of
respiration is connected with languor of motion and occa¬
sional seasons of torpor ; and, 4?A, Fishes, in which the still
more limited form of the respiratory organ requires a
fluid of nearly equal specific weight to their own bodies
to enable them to move with facility. These characters
are necessarily general; but they are so essential, that
between them and the other circumstances of organization
proper to each class, and especially those relating to motion
and sensation, a necessary relation exists.
To the quadrupeds, mammiferous animals, or viviparous
vertebrated animals, which form the first of these great
classes, this place belongs, not only by the mode of gene¬
ration and respiration, but by the more perfect form of
the animal functions, and the higher degree of intelligence
which their habits and actions indicate. They are less
under the influence of that blind animal propensity deno¬
minated instinct, which, like the properties of inorganic
matter, seems to operate regularly and uniformly, inde¬
pendent either of sensation or volition.
This class of animals is distinguished by great unifor¬
mity and regularity of structure and organization. In all
of them the upper jaw forms part of the cranium; and upon
this the lower jaw, consisting of two pieces only, articulat¬
ed by a prominent condyle to the temporal bone, is made
to move. The neck consists of seven, and, in one species
only, of nine vertebrae; to the sternum are attached cer¬
tain of the ribs, therefore named sterno-vertebral; the
thoracic extremity is supported by a flat bone named
shoulderblade {scapula, (ti;jjO<nrkctrri), not articulated, but
s>mply suspended in the muscles, and in some species
supported on the sternum by an intermediate bone, named
collar-bone or clavicle (clavicula, xatj/j) ; in all excepting
707
the cetacea or whale-like animals, the first part of the Human
pelvic extremity is fixed to the vertebral column, and forms Anatomy,
a cincture or basin (pelvis), which in early life is divid-^^^^
ed into three pairs of bones, the os ilium, which is attach¬
ed to the spine, the os pubis, which constitutes the anterior
or abdominal part of the pelvis, and the os ischium, which
constitutes the most remote lateral portions of the pelvis.
At the point of junction of these three bones on each side
is a spherical cavity, in which the articular head of the
thigh-bone is lodged.
The scull, articulated by two prominent convex surfaces
with the first vertebra, denominated atlas, may be repre¬
sented as consisting of three annular portions, an anterior
formed by the frontal and ethmoid bones, a middle by the
parietal and sphenoid bones, and a posterior by the occipital
bone; the temporal bones, which are common to the face
and scull, being interposed between the sphenoid, the oc¬
cipital, and the parietal bones.
The face is formed essentially by the superior and in¬
ferior maxillary bones. Between the former is the cavity
of the nostrils above, separated by the azygos bone named
vomer ; before are the intermaxillary bones, and behind are
the two palate bones. The entrance of the nasal cavity is
bounded above by the proper nasal bones; and to a groove
in this cavity are attached the inferior turbinated bones,
so as to cover partially the entrance into the maxillary
sinus.
The brain consists of two similar hemispherical halves,
united by a white mass, fibrous, especially in the transverse
direction, named mesolobe, middle-band, or smooth body
(ffaj/za nK'koiiOzg, corpus callosum). Each hemisphere con¬
tains an interior cavity, formed into definite-shaped masses,
uniform and symmetrical. These cavities communicate
with each other, and with a third situate on the mesial
plane, and extending by a narrow canal to a fourth situate
between the cerebellum and medulla oblongata. The pro¬
per matter of the cerebral and cerebellic hemispheres
is united on the mesial plane in a mass named annular
protuberance or pons Varolii, the lower surface of which
is marked by transverse fibres, while the upper is mould¬
ed into four roundish eminences named nates and testes,
or corpora quadrigemina.
In the eye, lodged in a cavity of the cranium named
orbit, and provided with two eye-lids and the vestige of
a third, the crystalline lens is fixed by the ciliary processes;
and the sclerotic, though firm, is cellular. The ear con¬
sists of a cavity named tympanum, closed externally by a
membrane, and containing four minute but articulated
and movable bones; an oval cavity or vestibule, in the
orifice of which, one of these bones, the stapes, is fixed,
and which communicates with three semi-circular canals;
and, lastly, a spiral and tapering cavity, termed cochlea,
parted by a thin plate into two spiral canals, one of which
communicates with the tympanum, the other with the
vestibule. The tongue is fleshy, and is supported by a
joara&ofo-shaped bone, attached to the cranium by liga¬
ments, and to the larynx by membranes.
The lungs, in number two, consisting of numerous
tubular canals, proceeding from the windpipe, and termi¬
nating in an infinity of minute intersecting canals, named
cells or vesicles, are inclosed without attachment, in a
cavity formed by the ribs on each side, the diaphragm
abdominally, and on the mesial plane by a membranous
partition named mediastinum, and lined all over by a thin
transparent membrane ; (pleura). At the guttural extre¬
mity of the windpipe is placed a particular apparatus,
formed of cartilages put in motion by muscles, and which
serves at once to regulate the quantity of air admitted into
the tube, and to form the voice. This is named the
708
ANATOMY.
Human larynx. A membranous fleshy production, suspended from
Anatomy, the palate bones like a veil or valve, also moved at the
will of the animal, establishes a direct communication
between the larynx and the posterior nostrils.
The intestinal canal is suspended to a duplicature of
the peritoneum, named mesentery, between the folds of
which the blood-vessels, nerves, lymphatics, and lymphatic
glands pertaining to the canal, are lodged. The peritoneum,
after passing over the intestines, forms a similar duplica¬
ture, which in the manner of a prolongation hangs freely
before them.
The urine, after secretion by the kidneys, is retained for
a time shorter or longer in a distensible musculo-membra-
nous bladder, and is expelled at various periods by a
canal which opens, with few exceptions, in common with
that of the organs of generation.
The latter function is, in all the mammiferous animals,
essentially viviparous. The ovum, consisting of the foetus
and the enveloping membranes, immediately after con¬
ception is conveyed by appropriate tubes into the womb,
to the inner surface of which it is attached by one or
more plexiform clusters of vessels named placenta, and
which furnish the blood requisite to the nourishment of
the new body. In the earliest periods of uterine life,
however, the mammiferous animals present a bladder or
vesicula (vitellar membrane), analogous to that which con¬
tains the yolk of the oviparous animals, and receiving also
mesenteric vessels.
The peculiar mode in which viviparous animals nurse
their offspring has been already noticed as that which
distinguishes them particularly from the other three
divisions of vertebrated animals.
Another character peculiar to this class, are the hairs
with which their integuments are provided, and which,
though analogous to the feathers or quills of birds, are never¬
theless so characteristic, that they cannot be properly omit¬
ted in this enumeration. They are found in all mammi¬
ferous animals except the cetacea, in which marine re¬
sidence is supposed to render them less necessary. Last¬
ly, the blood of the mammalia is said to differ from that
of oviparous animals in the shape of the coloured particles.
In the former they are represented as lenticular, or of the
shape of flat or oblate spheroids ; in the latter they are
ovoidal, or like oblong spheroids.
The mammiferous animals may be subdivided into
subordinate groups or orders, according to certain natural
characters in organization, which imply again peculiarities
of habit and mode of life. These characters are derived
from the organs of touch or prehension, on which de¬
pends their degree of ability or address ; and from the
organs of mastication, which always bear a certain rela¬
tion to the nature of the food on which the individual
animal subsists.
The delicacy of the organ of touch depends on the
number and mobility of the toes, and on the extent to
which their tips are enveloped in nail or hoof. The lat¬
ter, enveloping entirely the part of the foot which touches
the ground, impairs sensation, and renders the foot or
paw incapable of prehension. When, on the contrary, a
single plate of nail covers one of the surfaces of the tip of
the toe, it not only leaves the other all its natural nicety
of touch, but gives each toe that free and unembarrassed
motion which enables the animal to seize and hold by the
claws.
The nature of the aliment used by animals bears a re¬
lation to . the teeth, with the form of which, again, the
articulation of the jaws corresponds. To divide flesh, in¬
cisive teeth, like a saw, and jaws mutually opposed, like
the blades of scissors, which simply open and shut, are
requisite. In order to break grains or roots, teeth with a Hu n
flat crown, and jaws admitting of horizontal motion, are re- Analiy,
quired. The crowns of these teeth must further be un ~
equal or tuberculated, like the surface of a mill-stone, and
their substance must be unequally firm, since certain parts
are more exposed to attrition than others.
All hoofed animals are necessarily herbivorous, or
have flat-crowned teeth, since their feet do not allow
them to seize living prey. Unguiculated animals, again,
are susceptible of greater variety in the shape of the
teeth, and their aliment depends on the mobility and de¬
licacy of their toes. One character of this description,
which exercises great influence on their address, and mul¬
tiplies their means of industry, is the faculty of opposing
the great toe to the others, or the thumb to the fingers,—
a circumstance which essentially constitutes what is term¬
ed the hand, and which is carried to its highest perfection
in the case of man, in whom the pectoral extremity is en¬
tirely free and susceptible of every mode of prehension.
The several combinations now mentioned furnish cha¬
racters for distinguishing the mammalia into the follow¬
ing orders.
Bim ana; hands on the thoracic extremity;
supported vertically by the pelvic ex¬
tremities.
Quad rumana; hands on the thoracic and
pelvic extremities.
Carnivora ; toes with¬
out free and opposable
thumb.
Rodentia ; no canine
teeth; gnawing incisors.
Edentata; no incisors;
occasionally no canine;
sometimes teeth want-
-tilidl iyt
Unguicu-
lata; animals
with separate
toes or claws.
ing.
Marsupia-
Unguuata;
hoofed ani¬
mals.
Cetacea ;
animals with
very short pel¬
vic extremi¬
ties, living in
the water.
Pachydermata ; dense, compact, cal¬
lous hide.
Solidipeda ; six incisors and six molars
in each jaw ; single stomach and large
caecum; one undivided hoof.
Fissipeda s. Ruminantia ; no incisors
in the upper jaw ; quadruple stomach;
cloven foot.
C. Herbivora.
C. Capitulata.
C. Capitones.
Of these subdivisions, the first three orders are known
by the common character of possessing all the three va¬
rieties of teeth, molar, canine, and incisive. They differ
from each other in the possession of complete hands on
the thoracic extremities, of imperfect hands on the four
extremities, and in the want of thumb or opposable toe on
the four extremities. The fourth order is peculiar in
wanting canine teeth, and having incisors constructed
for gnawing. In the fifth the toes are much constrained
in motion, being sunk in large claws; and the incisors are
wanting. Some genera want the canine teeth, and some
are void of teeth entirely.
This distribution of unguiculated animals would be
complete, and would form a regular series, were it not in¬
terrupted by a small lateral series from New Holland, the
native soil of the Marsupial animals. Of these, it is the
peculiar distinction, that while some of their genera cor¬
respond to the Carnivora, others to the Rodentia, and
a third set to the Edentata, in the form of teeth and na-
ANATOMY.
709
Hilan ture of food, all of them agree m the common character of other words, by the length to which the two jaws are pro- Human
Anartny. having a large sac or purse (marsupium) for retaining some longed. Even in the monkey tribe, the similitude of Anatomy,
time after birth their offspring, which are detached from which to the human face was remarked by the poet En-v^v^-'>
the body of the parent in a state of imperfection, corre- nius, this remarkable character is by no means lost; and
spending nearly to the foetus of other mammiferous ani- the upper and lower jaws make a much more conspicuous
mals shortly after conception. ■ projection than in the human skull.
In the series of hoofed animals, which are less numer- The great characteristic of the human race, however, is
ous, less irregularity is also observed. The order of Ru- articulate or oral speech, which, combined with the per-
minant animals is well distinguished by cloven feet, the feet developement of which the mental faculties are sus-
absence of incisors in the upper jaw, and the quadruple ceptible, constitutes a very wide distinction between man
stomach, or that with four compartments. I he other and the lower animals. The latter possess what may be
hoofed quadrupeds may be united in one order, distinguish- termed laryngeal voice, or that which is formed in the
ed by the absence of the ruminating stomach, and a pe- larynx. To man is superadded the faculty of articulate
culiar density of integuments, from which they are named speech by means of the lips, tongue, and teeth.
Pachydermata. The elephant alone constitutes a dis- All the known individuals of the human species, though
tinct family, and is allied, by the form and mechanism of agreeing in the possession of the general characters now
the teeth, with the family of Rodentia. A third family enumerated, and therefore to be regarded as unigenous,
of hoofed quadrupeds is distinguished by one apparent or of one general family, differ nevertheless by certain
toe and one hoof in each foot; though beneath the skin, peculiarities in external characters, which have been sup-
on each side of the metacarpus and metatarsus, are pro- posed sufficient to justify the separation into individual
minences corresponding to lateral toes. This small family races or breeds. Of these, three appear to be very distinct,
(Solidipeda) includes the horse, ass, zebra, and quagga. the White or Caucasan, the Tawny or Mongolian, and
Lastly, the Cetaceous or whale-like animals form a fa- the Negro or Ethiopian ; and to one or other of these
mily by themselves, so peculiar, that though viviparous and all the various forms which the human body assumes in
mammiferous, they might readily be regarded as belonging different climates and countries may be referred,
to the class of fishes. Their organization, however, im- The Caucasan race is distinguished by the oval shape
mediately shows their proper place in the classification; of the head, the softened aspect, and symmetrical har-
and even the fact observed by the ancients, that, though mony of the general person, and the high degree of cultiva-
pisciform, they have warm blood, demonstrates their title tion of which the intellectual faculties admit. The colour
to the character of Mammalia. of the skin and of the hair varies. In warm climates the for-
Man, who, as the most perfect specimen of mammife- mer is dark or olive-coloured, and the latter is black and
rous animal with which we are acquainted, is placed at glossy. In colder regions the skin is fair and light-coloured,
the head of this class, partakes of the general characters or ruddy, and the hair becomes chesnut, fair, or even red.
of structure and function belonging to the class, and The Mongolian or Altaic race is distinguished by
possesses also certain peculiarities by which he is distin- prominent cheek-bones, flat countenance, oblique eyes, part-
guished. The study of the facts of the former descrip- ed by a small interval, straight black hair, slender beard,
tion belongs properly to Comparative or Animal Anatomy, and olive, tawny, or copper-coloured complexion. This
That of the latter constitutes Human Anatomy proper. It race has formed great empires in China and Japan, and
is, however, expedient to waive this distinction, and trace has sometimes extended its conquests beyond the Great
the anatomical history of the human body, without sup- Desert; but its civilisation has remained stationary,
posing the reader already minutely acquainted with the The Negro or Ethiopian race is confined to the
structure of mammiferous animals in general. In the south of the Atlas. Black complexion, crisp woolly hair,
course of this description, however, it is requisite to recur compressed skull, and flat nose, prominent mouth, and
frequently to the lower animals, and to derive from them large thick or everted lips, form its distinguishing external
information more or less direct, tending to illustrate the characters. The tribes of which it consists have ever re¬
structure of the human subject. mained barbarous.
The first of these races, from which Europe, Asia, and
The external appearance of the human frame it is super- the north and east of Africa have been peopled, is deno-
fluous to describe minutely. Naturalists distinguish man minated Caucasan, because tradition and the natural af-
as a bimanous and biped animal, or as one possessing two finity of nations seem to justify the opinion that this race
complete hands, and supporting himself in the vertical po- had originally inhabited the mountainous range between
sition by the two pelvic extremities. These characters the Caspian and Black Seas, from which it has spread
are neither arbitrary nor unessential. Both depend on by radiation. In confirmation of this, it may be observed
invariable peculiarities of structure; and whatever at- that the tribes of the Caucasus, the Circassians, the
tempts have been made by men, more distinguished for Georgians, and the Armenians, afford at the present hour
ingenious paradox than accurate observation, to show that the most perfect and beautiful specimens of the human
man was naturally quadruped, are readily refuted by ap- form. This race may be distinguished, by the analogy
pealing to the anatomical configuration and disposition of of languages spoken by them, into three principal branches,
the four members, and their relation to the trunk. 1. The Aramaean or Syrian branch, proceeding to the
Another character of the human subject is the globular south, gave birth to the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the
or rather spheroidal shape of the skull, and its large size Arabs ever unsubdued, and who, after Mahomet, aspired
in proportion to the rest of the frame, with the general at the sovereignty of the world; the Phoenicians, the Jews,
tendency of the plane of the face to the vertical direction, the Abessins, colonies of the Arabs, and probably the
In no other mammiferous animal does the head make so Egyptian or Koptic race, from this first branch, ever
near an approach to the spheroidal shape ; and in no other prone to mysticism, the most extended forms of religious
is the plane of the face so nearly vertical. In the other Mam- belief have issued. Science and literature, occasionally
malia, the skull is angular-oblong, and the face acquires a flourishing among them, have, nevertheless, bee^ always
peculiar character, which is readily ascribed to the lower disguised or corrupted by fanciful ceremonials and a style
animals by the extreme projection of the mouth, or, in highly figurative.
710
ANATOMY.
Human 2. The Indian, German, and Pelasgic branch was
Anatomy, much earlier divided into tribes, and mucli more exten-
^'x”'v^x‘'/sively diffused. The most numerous affinities may never¬
theless be traced between its four principal languages,—
the Sanscrit, at present the sacred language of the Hin¬
doos, and the parent of all the dialects of Hindostan;
the ancient language of the Pelasgi, the common parent
of the Greek, the Latin, of many extinct languages, and
of all the present dialects of southern Europe ; the Gothic
or Tudesc, from which are derived the languages of the
north and north-west, for instance the German, Dutch,
Anglo-Saxon, and English, the Danish, Swedish, and their
dialects; lastly, the Sclavonian, from which are sprung
the languages of the north-east, the Russ, the Polish, the
Bohemian, and the Vend.
By this branch of the Caucasan race, philosophy, the
sciences, and the arts, have been carried to the highest
degree of perfection ; and of these they may be regarded
as the chief depositaries. In Europe this race is believed
to have been preceded by the Cdtce or Titano-Celtae, whose
tribes, proceeding by the north, and formerly very exten¬
sive, were nevertheless confined to the most western
points; and by the Cantabrians, who passed from Africa
to Spain, and who are now almost lost among the nume¬
rous nations, the posterity of which is mingled in the
European peninsula. The ancient Persians are derived
from the same source as the Indians; and their descend¬
ants still bear the most conspicuous marks of connection
with the European nations.
3. The Scythian and Tartar branch, bending first to the
north and north-east, always erratic in the immense
plains of these countries, have returned only to ravage
the happier establishments of their brethren. From this
branch issued the Scythians, who anciently distinguished
themselves by inroads into Upper Asia; the Parthians,
who destroyed the Greek and Roman dominions; the
Turks, who subverted that of the Arabs, and subdued in
Europe the last remnant of the Hellenic nation. The
Fins and Hungarians are tribes of the same family disse¬
minated among the Sclavonian and Judaic nations. The
north and east of the Caspian, their native soil, still main¬
tains tribes which have the same origin and speak similar
languages; but they are intermingled with numerous
other small septs of different origin and speech. The
Tartar tribes remained more unchanged in that tract from
which they long threatened Russia, which has at length
subdued them, from the mouths of the Danube to beyond
the Irtish. Their blood, nevertheless, has been mixed
with that of the Mongols, many traces of which may be
seen in the younger Tartars.
On the east of this Tartar branch of the Caucasan race be¬
gins the Mongolian, which thence extends to the shores
of the Eastern Ocean. Its branches, still nomadic, the
Calmucks and the Kalkas, roam the Great Desert. Three
times have their ancestors, under Attila, Gengis, and
Timour, spread the terror of their name among the set¬
tled inhabitants of Europe and Asia. The Chinese consti¬
tute the branch most early civilized, not only of this
race, but of known nations. The Mantchoux, a third
branch, who recently conquered, still retain, China. To
the same race in great part belong the Japanese and the
Coreans, and almost all the hordes which stretch to
the north of Siberia, under the sway of the Russians.
Excepting some learned Chinese, the whole Mongolian
race are attached to the sects addicted to the worship of Fo.
The origin of this great race appears to be in the
mountains of the Altaic range, as that of the Asio-Euro-
pean is in the elevation of Caucasus. It is impossible,
however, to trace the filiation of its branches with the
same accuracy. The history of these nomadic nations is Hur
as transitory as their establishments; and that of the Anat<
Chinese, confined to the bosom of their empire, furnishes
only short and unconnected views of the contiguous na¬
tions. The affinities of their modes of speech are further
too little known to guide us in this labyrinth.
The languages spoken in the north of the Ultra-Gan-
getic peninsula, as well as that of Thibet, present some
relations, at least in monosyllabic character, with the Chi¬
nese ; and the nations by whom they are spoken are not
void of features of physical resemblance to the other Mon¬
golian tribes. The south of this peninsula, however, is
inhabited by the Malays, a much handsomer race, whose
breed and language have spread to the coasts of all the
islands of the Indian Archipelago, and have occupied the
greater number of those of the South Sea. In the largest
of the former, especially in the wildest places, dwell other
tribes, with crisp hair, black complexion, and negro fea¬
tures, all extremely barbarous. The best known are de¬
nominated Papous, which may be applied to the whole.
Neither the Malays nor the Papous can be readily re¬
ferred to any one of the three great races. The former
it is difficult to distinguish from the neighbouring races
on each side the Caucasan Indians and the Mongolian
Chinese. The Papous may be negroes anciently cast
away in the Indian Seas ; but to determine this point we
require both accurate figures and descriptions.
The inhabitants of the north of the two continents, the
Samoieds, the Laplanders, and the Esquimaux, spring,
according to some, from the Mongolian breed ; according
to others, they are degenerate slips of the Scythian and
Tartar branch of the Caucasan breed.
The Americans have not yet been clearly traced either
to one or other of the races of the ancient continent; yet
they are void of character sufficiently precise and constant
to constitute a peculiar race : their copper-coloured skin
is inadequate : by the dark hair and slender beard they ap¬
proach to the Mongols; but from these again they are
distinguished by the well-marked features and the pro¬
minent nose. The modes of speech are as numerous as
their tribes; and neither between themselves nor with
those of the ancient world has any satisfactory analogy
been traced.
Of the various breeds now enumerated, the Caucasan
or Asio-European is supposed to furnish the most per¬
fect model of the human frame ; and from this, therefore,
anatomists derive their descriptions both of the body at
large and of individual parts and organs.
i
'/■
The structure of the human body may be studied in
two modes, either as an assemblage of organic substances
endowed with characteristic physical and vital proper¬
ties, or as an assemblage of organs destined to effect par¬
ticular and definite purposes.
The human body, like that of every other mammiferous
animal, consists of several kinds of animal organic sub¬
stances endowed with appropriate characters and pro¬
perties. The substances thus distinguished have been
named elementary textures, since into them, as into so
many elements or integrant principles, the human body is
supposed capable of being resolved. To enumerate these
elementary textures, to ascertain their minute structure
or organization, to investigate their distinctive properties,
and to determine the extent to which they enter into the
composition of particular organs, is the province of Gene¬
ral Anatomy. In this department the anatomist, ab¬
stracting from the shape, position, and mechanical configu¬
ration of parts, studies only their intimate and distinctive
characters as organic substances.
ANATOMY.
G eral The human body may further be regarded as an
Auamy. assemblage of organs, and sets of organs, destined to
effect certain purposes. These purposes may be re¬
ferred to two general heads; those which are common
to plants and animals, and those which are proper to
the latter. The first comprehends nutrition and ge¬
neration, and have been named vital, organic, or auto¬
matic functions; the second embraces muscular action,
sensation, and nervous influence or innervation, and are
distinguished as animal functions. Since these purposes
are effected by certain processes going on successively and
simultaneously by the action of one or more organs, they
are distinguished by the general name of functions, or or¬
ders of functions. Each function consists of several inte¬
grant and individual processes ; every process consists of
one or more actions; each action depends on certain pro¬
perties; and properties in living bodies, though mechanical,
chemical, or vital, are always connected either with the
intimate structure of parts or with the configuration of
organs. Thus nutrition is at once termed a function,
and is said to consist of the several functions of di¬
gestion, absorption, circulation, respiration, and secre¬
tion. Generation, on the other hand, is said to be a func¬
tion consisting of several processes—the formation of
germs or ova, the secretion of semen, impregnation, gesta¬
tion, and exclusion. Of the functions proper to animals,
muscular action, modified in various modes, produces lo¬
comotion, gesture, voice, and several motions necessary
to the performance of nutrition and generation. Sensa¬
tion may be said in all cases to depend on nervous action
and the mechanism peculiar to each species of sensation.
Nervous energy, again, may be said to consist of three pro¬
perties, those of receiving, transmitting, and recognising
impressions. Lastly, a form of faculties connected with the
immaterial or thinking part of the system peculiar to man
constitutes what are named the intellectual functions.
This division of the phenomena of living bodies into
certain assemblages or functions, has given rise to a simi¬
lar division of these bodies into organs. An organ may
be defined to be a part of a living body, of a definite
shape, consisting of certain parts, composed of various
elementary textures, the seat of one or more actions, and
placed in a certain position and region. It rarely happens
that one organ only is sufficient for the performance of a
function. Several are commonly required to concur to
the same general purpose; and hence the organs are ar¬
ranged in classes, sets, or assemblages, according to the
functions to which they are subservient. Thus the or¬
gans subservient to the function of digestion consist of
711
tte nW-nxXf’rf as, °rgans of masNation; General
t e pharynx and oesophagus as the tube of deglutition • Anatomy.
t xe stomach as the organ of chymification; the duodenum
and small intestines as that of chylification ; and the large
as ^ temporary receptacle of the excremend-
tial residue of food and drink. Such assemblages of or¬
gans have received, for want of better, the denomination
of apparatuses; and the anatomist, when he designates a
class of organs devoted to the performance of a specific
function, is compelled to distinguish them as the appara¬
tus of digestion, the apparatus of absorption, of circula¬
tion, of respiration, of secretion, and so forth. To this
method of distinction it may indeed be objected, that
scarcely m one instance are all the organs of any appara¬
tus exclusively directed to the performance of the func¬
tion of that apparatus; and an organ concerned in the
function of digestion may also contribute to that of circu¬
lation or respiration. Thus the larynx, though more par¬
ticularly the organ of voice, is also an organ of respira¬
tion ; the tongue and teeth, though belonging in one sense
to the organs of digestion, are not less important as those
of speech ; the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, though
organs of respiration, are also accessary agents of diges-
tion. These, however, are only to be regarded as examples
of the ingenuity with which one organ in the animal body
is made to answer several purposes ; and since all arrange¬
ments are ai tificial, or bear relation, not to the purpose
of construction, but to the mind of the observer, the best
course is to choose that which is least so, and which
makes the nearest approach to the apparent objects of nature.
To acquire a just knowledge of the organs of the hu¬
man body, with the views now stated, it is requisite to
study their external shape and configuration, their posi¬
tion and contiguous relations, their ordinary size and di¬
mensions, the mechanical divisions of which they con¬
sist, their external characters and physical properties,
their intimate structure and the elementary textures of
which they are composed, their chemical constitution,
their vital properties and consequent actions, and the
uses to which they are obviously applied. The history of
the organs, arranged upon these principles, constitutes the
business of Descriptive, Particular, or Special Ana¬
tomy. The term Topographical Anatomy, which has al¬
so been proposed, is inadequate, since it indicates one
class only of facts,—-those belonging to local relations.
That of Morphology is equally objectionable. The term
Organology, though preferable by reason of greater gene¬
rality, is not sufficiently appropriate to justify its adoption,
to the exclusion of the one already in general use.
GENERAL ANATOMY.
Ihe human body consists of solid and fluid substances,
the former of which are organized, and determine the
shape of the body and its parts. These organized solids
aie not in a strict physical sense solid and impenetrable,
tost of them are soft, compressible, and elastic, by rea¬
son of the fluid matter contained in their interstices; and
when deprived of this by desiccation, they shrink in va¬
rious degrees, and lose both bulk and weight. The ge¬
neral ratio of the fluid to the solid parts has been already
stated to vary from 7 to 1, to 9 to 1. An adult carcass
weighing perhaps from 9 to 10 stones, has been reduced
by desiccation to 7^ lbs. In short, a human body may
e reduced to nearly the weight of its skeleton, which
'aneB from 150 ounces =9| lbs. to 200 ounces =12^ lbs.
Ihese organized solids agree in the possession of cer¬
tain general characters. Their internal structure ap¬
pears to consist of a union of solid and liquid matter,
which is observed to exude in drops more or less abun¬
dant from the surface of sections. The solid parts are
generally arranged in the form of collateral lines, some¬
times oblique, sometimes perfectly parallel, sometimes
mutually intersecting. Such lines are denominated fibres,
and occasionally filaments. In other instances the solids
are observed to consist of minute globular or spheroidal
particles, connected generally by delicate filaments. Most
of these solids anatomists and miscroscopical observers
have attempted to resolve into what they conceive to be
an ultimate fibre or last element; but this inquiry leads
beyond the bounds of strict observation.
Most of the solids may be demonstrated to be pene-
712
ANATOMY.
General trated by minute ramifying tubes or blood-vessels, which
Anatomy, traverse their substance in every direction, and in which
'*^S/^',b^is contained the greater part, perhaps the whole, of the
fluid matter found in the solids. In a few in which rami¬
fying vessels cannot be positively demonstrated, their ex¬
istence is inferred by analogy from those in which they
can. The filamentous, fibrous, or globular arrangement,
with the distribution of arborescent vessels, constitutes
organization. The substances so constructed are named
organized tissues (telce, textus), or textures, or simply tis¬
sues.
The organized solids also resemble each other in che¬
mical constitution. They may be resolved into proximate
principles, either the same or very closely allied. The
proximate principles most generally found are albumen,
fibrin, and gelatine, one or other of which, sometimes more,
form the basis of every tissue of the human body. Next
to these are mucus, and oily or adipose matter. Osma-
zome or extractive matter is found in certain tissues. And
lastly, several saline substances, as phosphate of lime,
carbonate of lime, soda, hydrochlorate of soda, are found
in variable proportions in most of them. Of these prin¬
ciples albumen and fibrin, which are closely allied and
pass into each other, are the most common and abundant.
Osmazome, which is probably a modification of fibrin, is
less frequent. These also are contained in the blood, and
probably derived from that fluid. Gelatine, though not
found in the blood, is nevertheless a principle of exten¬
sive distribution, being found in skin, cellular tissue, ten¬
don, cartilage, and bone. These proximate principles are
resolved, in ultimate analysis, into carbon, oxygen, hydro¬
gen, azote, phosphorus, and sulphur. From the saline sub¬
stances, calcium, potassium, sodium, chlorine, iron, and
manganese may be obtained.
The organized solids which enter into the composition
of the human body, though agreeing in the characters
now mentioned, differ nevertheless in other respects. The
most remarkable differences of this kind consist in pecu¬
liarities in the arrangement of their constituent fibres,
peculiarities in the nature of these fibres, and different
proportions or modifications of their proximate chemical
principles. From one or other of these circumstances
the organized solids may be referred to the following 17
elementary tissues:—Filamentous or cellular tissue, includ¬
ing ordinary cellular membrane and adipose membrane ;
artery, vein, with their minute communications, termed
capillary vessels, and the erectile vessels; lymphatic ves¬
sel, and gland; nerve, plexus, and ganglion; brain, or
cerebral matter; muscle; white fibrous system, including
ligament, periosteum, and fascia; yellow fibrous system,
including the yellow ligaments, &c. bone and tooth;
gristle or cartilage; fibro-cartilage; skin; mucous mem¬
brane ; serous membrane; synovial membrane; and last¬
ly, glandular structure, or the peculiar matter which
forms the liver, the pancreas, the kidneys, the female
breast, the testicle, and other organs termed glands.
These tissues may be distinguished into orders, accord¬
ing to the mode of their distribution in the animal frame.
-Several, for instance filamentous tissue, artery and vein,
lymphatic vessel, and nerve, are most extensively distri¬
buted, and enter into the composition of all the other
simple tissues. To these, therefore, which are named
by Bichat general or generating systems, the character
of textures of distribution may be applied. A second or¬
der, consisting of substances confined to particular regions
and organs, and placed in determinate situations, viz.
brain, muscle, white fibrous system, yellow fibrous system,
bone, cartilage, fibro-cartilage, and gland, may be denomi¬
nated particular tissues. To a third order, consisting of
substances which assume the form of a thin membrane, Ger
expanded over many different tissues and organs, may be Ana<
referred skin, mucous membrane, serous membrane, and^^
synovial membrane, under the denomination of enveloping
tissues. It may indeed be objected, that the circumstance
of mechanical disposition is insufficient to communicate a
distinctive or appropriate character, and several of the
tissues referred to the second head, e. g. fascia, must, on
this principle, be referred to the third. The objection is
not unreasonable. But it may be answered, that it is al¬
most vain to expect an arrangement entirely faultless;
and the present is convenient in being on the whole more
natural, and therefore more easily remembered, than any
other. A distinct idea of it may be formed from the fol¬
lowing tabular view.
Filamentous Tissue.
Artery. I
Vein. /
Lymphatic Vessel.
Nerve.
General
or
Common
Tissues.
Capillary Vessel.
' Brain.
Muscle.
White Fibre.
Particular
Tissues.
Ligament.
Periosteum.
Fascia.
’Yellow Ligaments.
Ligamentum Nuchae.
Tooth.
Yellow Fibre. .
Bone.
Cartilage.
Fibro-Cartilage.
Gland,
f Skin.
Enveloping J Mucous Membrane.
Tissues. 1 Serous Membrane.
[ Synovial Membrane.
The fluids of the animal body are various, but may be
distinguished into three sorts; the circulating nutritious
fluid named the blood, the fluids which are incessantly
mixed with the blood for its renewal, and those which
are separated from it by secretion.
The blood is well known to be a viscid liquid, of red
colour, peculiar odour, and saline, something nauseous
taste. Its temperature in the living body is about 97°;
its specific gravity is about 105 to water as 100. Its
quantity is in the adult considerable, varying from 8 or
10 to 80 or 100 pounds.
According to the results of microscopic observation it
consists of red particles suspended in a serous fluid. On
the shape of these red particles various opinions have
been maintained. Generally represented as globular,
Hewson describes them as flattened spheroids, or lenticu¬
lar bodies, a view which is partly confirmed by the obser¬
vations of Prevost and Dumas, and also of Beclard. The
opinion of Home and Young, that the flattening of these
globules is a process posterior to the discharge of the
fluid, is not improbable. These particles have indeed
since the time of Hewson been almost universally repre¬
sented as consisting of a central transparent whitish glo¬
bule, inclosed in a red translucent vesicle, which gives
them the shape of an oblate spheroid. The diameter ot
these particles is estimated, by the subdivided scale ot
Kater, the micrometer of Wollaston, and the eriometerof
Young, at YoW, and by the common micrometer, at xTTJtr
of an inch. (Phil. Trans.) This description applies to
the blood circulating in the vessels.
Discharged from the vessels, it exhales, during the pro¬
cess of cooling, a thin watery vapour, consisting of water
suspending animal matter capable of impressing the sense
of smell, and undergoing decomposition. During the same
ANATOMY.
Ge;ra) space it is observed to be converted into a firm mass,
Amtmy- which, though still soft and elastic, is entirely void of
fluidity. As this process advances, a thin watery fluid,
straw-coloured, not perfectly transparent, is observed to
exude from every part of the solid mass, which also di¬
minishes in size, till at length it is found floating like a
tolerably thick cake in the thin watery fluid. The thick
solid mass is named the clot or coagulum; the watery
fluid is denominated serum; and the process of the se¬
paration, which is spontaneous, is termed coagulation.
The blood at the same time is said to discharge carbonic
acid.
The clot, if divided and washed in water often changed,
or in alcohol or aqua potassce, may be deprived of its red
colour, and made to assume a gray or bluish-white tint.
This gray mass, which is tough, coherent, opaque, and
more or less dense, homogeneous, but void of traces of
organic structure, consists chiefly of albumen or fibrin,
or a substance partaking of several of the characters of
both. To this substance the blood owes its viscidity and
its property of spontaneous coagulation; and from the
circumstance of its resemblance to the lymph or albumi¬
nous fluid which is effused from wounds and inflamed
surfaces, and to the fibrin of muscle, and the albumen
of many of the tissues, it may be regarded as the most
vital and nutritious part of that fluid. It is a mistake
nevertheless to assert, as is done by Beclard and others,
that this substance presents to the microscope the aspect
and structure of muscular fibre. Its aspect is by no
means so regular as this, nor can its particles be said to
present traces of organic structure or arrangement.
The red matter removed by washing is a mixture of
serum, of globules, and of a peculiar colouring matter. Mo¬
dern chemistry shows that the latter is a particular sub¬
stance, insoluble in water, but susceptible of suspen¬
sion in it to an extreme extent, and consisting of animal
matter combined with peroxide of iron. It is distinguish¬
ed by the name of zoohematine. Deprived of this, the
globules are estimated by Bauer at of an inch in
diameter.
The serum, with the taste and odour of the blood, ra¬
ther alkaline, coagulates at 162° F. or on the addition of
acids, nitrate of silver, or corrosive sublimate, and then
resembles boiled white of egg. The coagulated matter
is albumen; and a little water containing soda and salts
of soda may be separated. It is a remarkable difference
between this albumen, which is suspended in the serum,
and that which constitutes the clot, that while the former
requires heat as a re-agent, the latter assumes the solid
form spontaneously.
Blood also contains occasionally some oily matter, the
presence of which renders the serum opaque and milky.
The colour of the blood varies in different parts of the
system. In the left auricle, ventricle, and arterial trunks
generally, its colour is bright scarlet, a tint which it loses
in the capillary vessels. In the veins, venous trunks,
right auricle, right ventricle, and pulmonary artery, its
colour is a dark or purple-red, or modena. As it moves
from the trunk and branches through the minute divi¬
sions of the pulmonary artery, it gradually parts with this
tint; and in the branches of the pulmonary veins it is
found to have acquired the bright scarlet colour which it
has in : .e left auricle, ventricle, and aorta. Hence the
modena or dark-coloured blood is distinguished as venous,
or proper to the veins; and the bright red or scarlet-co¬
loured as proper to the arteries.
In the foetus, the blood contains little coagulable mat¬
ter ; and this principle is entirely wanting in the blood
of the menstrual discharge.
VOL. II.
713
The fluids received by the blood are chyle and lymph. General
Chyle is derived from chyme, a gray pulpy substance, Anatomy,
formed from the alimentary mass in the stomach and^-^^^
duodenum. Detached from this substance, and received
by the chyliferous tubes, it is whitish and scarcely coa¬
gulable. In the mesenteric glands it becomes more coa¬
gulable, and assumes a rose colour. Lastly, in the thoracic
duct, and before joining the mass of blood, it is distinctly
rose-coloured, coagulable, and globular in ils particles. In
the branches of the pulmonary artery it appears to become
perfect blood. Lymph is a colourless, viscid, albuminous
fluid, imperfectly known.
Of the fluids separated from the blood, all cannot
be said to belong to the animal body. Several, for in¬
stance the perspired fluid of the skin and lungs, the
fluid of the cutaneous and mucous follicles, and the urine,
become, after secretion, foreign to the body, and re¬
quire to be removed. Those belonging to the body are
such as are prepared for some purpose within it, and after
this are either re-absorbed, or, being decomposed, are ex¬
pelled. Of the former kind, fat, serum of serous mem¬
branes, and synovia, afford examples. To the latter de¬
scription belong tears, saliva, pancreatic fluid, bile, the
seminal fluid of the male, and the milk of the female, all
of which are the result of a distinct glandular secretion
for a specific purpose, after which they are expelled from
the economy. The urine, though also the result of glan¬
dular secretion, is nevertheless exempt from this rule, and
though separated from arterial blood, is forthwith eliminat¬
ed. Its chief purpose seems to be to afford a convenient
vehicle for ridding the system of superfluous azote, and
to maintain the due proportion between this and the
other ultimate principles, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
The fluids which fulfil a purpose in the economy are
regarded as secretory, and are remarkable for a predomi¬
nance of alkali; those which do not are excrementitial,
and are generally acid.
BOOK I.
CHAP. I.—THE COMMON TISSUES.
Filamentous or Cellular Tissue. ( Tela Cellulosa,— Tissu
Cettulaire,— Tissu Muqueux of Bordeu,— Corpus Cri-
brosum Hippocratis,— Corps Cribleux of Fouquet,—
Reticular Membrane of William Hunter.)
The general distribution of the filamentous or cellular
tissue was first maintained by Haller and Charles Augus¬
tus de Bergen, artd afterwards made the subject of
elaborate discussion by William Hunter and Bordeu. It
may be described as a substance consisting of very minute
thready lines, which follow no uniform or invariable direc¬
tion, but which, when gently raised by the forceps, pre¬
sent the appearance of a confused and irregular net-work.
As these minute lines cross each other, they form between
them spaces of a figure not easily determined, and perhaps
not uniform. By some authors these spaces or intervals
have been named cells; but, accurately speaking, the term
is not fortunately applied. The component lines, which
do not exceed the size of the silk-worm threads, are so
slender, that they do not form those distinct partitions
which the term cell implies; and though by forcible dis¬
tension, such as takes place in insufflation, or separation by
forceps, cavities appear to be formed, these, it will be
found, are artificial, and result from the separation of an
infinity of the slender filaments of which the part is com¬
posed. These interlinear spaces necessarily communicate
on every side with each other; and indeed the most dis-
4 x
ANATOMY.
714
General tinct way of forming a true idea of the structure of the
Anatomy, cellular tissue, is to suppose a certain space of the animal
body which is divided and intersected into an infinite mul¬
titude of minute spaces (areolce) by slender thready lines
crossing each other. This description, derived from per¬
sonal observation, renders the name of filamentous more
appropriate to this tissue than that of cellular, by which
it is generally known.
The interstitial spaces resulting from the interlacement
of these filaments do not exist as distinct cavities in the
healthy state, so that they cannot be said to contain any
substance solid or fluid. But when an incision is made
into this tissue in the living body, it is found, that if we
except those fluids which issue from divided vessels, no¬
thing is observed to escape but a thin exhalation or va¬
pour, which is evidently of an aqueous nature. This is
what some authors have termed, from its resemblance to
the serous part of the blood, the cellular serosity (Bichat),
and the quantity of which has been greatly exaggerated.
In the living body it appears not to exist as a distinct
fluid, but merely as a thin vapour, which communicates to
the tissue the moist appearance which it possesses.
This fluid is understood to be derived from the minute
colourless capillaries named exhalants ; and it is supposed
to be no sooner poured forth in an insensible manner,
than it is removed by the absorbing power of lymphatics,
minute veins, or both. It is further believed, that what¬
ever serous fluid is secreted into the interstitial spaces or
cells of the filamentous tissue, is in the healthy state
speedily removed; so that exhalation implies absorption ;
and the filamentous tissue is therefore represented as the
seat of incessant exhalation and absorption.
The serous fluid of the filamentous tissue varies in
quantity in different regions. In the cellular tissue of
those parts which are free from fat, as in the eyelids, the
prepuce, the nymphce and labia, and the scrotum, it is
said to be more abundant than in others. The peculiar
structure of those parts, which is cellular, may render
any excess of serous fluid more conspicuous; for it is
matter of observation, that in many persons otherwise
healthy these parts are net unfrequently distended with
serous fluid. On the other hand, it must be remarked
that the submucous cellular tissue, and that which sur¬
rounds arteries, veins, and excreting ducts, which is de¬
licate in substance and compact in structure, contains but
a small proportion of serous fluid, and does not readily
admit its presence.
This fluid has been generally said to be of an albumin¬
ous nature; and if it be identical with the serum of the
blood, from which it is believed to be secreted, this cha¬
racter is not unjustly given it. Bichat, who maintained
this opinion, injected alcohol into the filamentous tissue
of an animal previously rendered emphj^sematous, and
found in various parts whitish fiocculi, which he regarded
as coagulated albumen. He also obtained the same result
by immersing a portion of the scrotum in weak nitric acid;
and when a considerable quantity of this tissue was boiled,
it furnished much whitish foam, which Bichat regarded as
albuminous.1 These experiments, however, are liable to
this objection, that the effects in question may have arisen
from coagulation of part of the filamentous tissue itself,
which contains a considerable proportion of albuminous
matter. The best mode of determining the point is to ob¬
tain the fluid apart, and to try the effects of the usual tests
on it when isolated from the tissue in which it is lodged.
The description here given applies to the proper fila¬
mentous tissue. This substance was shown by Ruysch, Gene
and afterwards by William Hunter and Mascagni, to be Anatol •.
penetrated by arteries and veins. Exhalants, absorbents,Vs>rv ^
and nerves, it is also said to receive. The arteries cer¬
tainly belong in the healthy state to the order of colour¬
less capillaries, which are nearly the same with exhalants.
It does not appear that the nervous twigs observed to
pass through this tissue are lost in it; for in general they
have been traced to some contiguous part.
Such are the general properties of this tissue, considered
as an elementary organic substance extensively diffused
through the body. In particular regions it undergoes
some modifications, which may be referred to the follow¬
ing heads :—1. beneath the skin, or rather under the adi¬
pose membrane—the subcutaneous and intermuscular cel¬
lular tissue; 2. beneath the villous or mucous membranes
—the submucous cellular tissue; 3. beneath the serous
membranes—the subserous cellular tissue ; 4. round blood¬
vessels, excreting ducts, or rather organs—the inclosing
tissue, vascular sheaths, &c.; 5. in the substance of or¬
gans—the penetrating cellular tissue.
The situation of the subcutaneous filamentous tissue
deserves particular notice. Though generally represent¬
ed as below the skin, it is not immediately under this
membranous covering. The skin rests on the adipose
membrane, beneath which again is placed the filamentous
tissue, extending like a web over the muscles and blood¬
vessels, penetrating between the fibres and bundles of the
former, surrounding the tendons and ligaments, and con¬
nected by these productions with a deep-seated layer, on
which the muscles move, where they do not adhere to the
periosteum and to bones.
The extensive distribution of the subcutaneous filament¬
ous tissue, the mutual connection of its parts, and its
ready communication with the filamentous tissue of the
mucous and serous membranes, were demonstrated by
Haller, William Hunter, and Bordeu, and have been
clearly explained by Portal and Bichat. The principal
points worthy of attention may be stated in the following
manner.
The filamentous tissues of the head and face communi¬
cate freely with each other, and with that of the brain by
the cranial openings, and with the submucous tissue of
the eyelids, nostrils, lips, and the inner surface of the
mouth and cheeks. It communicates also with the sub¬
cutaneous tissue of the neck all round; and at the angle
of the jaw, in the vicinity of the parotid gland, is the com¬
mon point of re-union. To this anatomical fact is referred
the frequency of swellings and purulent collections in the
region of the parotid in the course of various diseases of
the head, face, and neck.
The filamentous tissue of the neck may be viewed as
the connecting medium between that of the head and
trunk. From the former region it may be traced down¬
wards along the back, loins, breast, sides, flanks, and
belly. At the cervical region, and between the shoulders,
it is dense and abundant; and, surrounding the dorsal
part of the vertebral column, it is connected with the me¬
diastinal tissue, the submucous tissue of the lungs, and
the subserous tissue of the costal pleura. At the fore
part of the neck it is in like manner connected with the
abundant tissue of the pectoral region, and by means of
that surrounding the larynx and trachea, ls£, with the
submucous tissue of the bronchi; and, 2d, with the ante¬
rior mediastinum. Passing downwards, the same com¬
munication may be traced with the intermuscular tissue
1 Anatomic Gemrale, tom. i. p. 50.
ANATOMY.
Ge ral of the loins and belly, the tissue surrounding the lumbar
Anamy- and sacral portion of the vertebral column, that connect-
^-■x^ing the mesentery and large vessels to the vertebrae, and
extending all round under the muscular peritoneum, and
into the pelvis, where, by means of the tissue at the pos¬
terior surface of the abdominal muscles, at the anterior
surface of the iliacus interims, and through the obturator
hole and ischiadic notch, it communicates with the fila¬
mentous tissue of the lower extremities. From the rec¬
tum and branches of the ischium it is continued along the
perineum by the urethra, and into the scrotum.
In the whole of this course, it is abundant in the space
before the vertebrae, round the psoce and iliacus internus
muscles, and round the bladder, rectum, prostate gland,
and womb. The tissue surrounding the vertebral column
communicates with that in the interior of the column by
the intervertebral holes.
The armpit may be considered as the point of union
between the filamentous tissue of the trunk and that of
the upper extremities, while the groin is the correspond¬
ing spot for the lower extremities. These facts should be
kept in mind in observing the phenomena of diseases of
this tissue.
Notwithstanding this general connection, however, cer¬
tain parts of the tissue are so dense and close as to dimi¬
nish greatly the facility of communication. Thus, along
the median line it is so firm, that air injected invariably
stops, unless impelled by a force adequate to tear open its
filaments; and water is rarely found effused in this situa¬
tion. In the neighbourhood of some parts of the skele¬
ton also, as at the crest of the ilium, over the great tro¬
chanter, and on the shin, the filamentous tissue is very
dense and coherent.
In chemical composition it consists principally of gela¬
tine, but contains some albuminous matter.
Adipose Tissue. (Tela Adiposa,— Tissu Adipeux,— Tissu
Graisseux.)
The separate existence of an adipose membrane was
suspected by Malpighi, maintained by De Bergen and
Morgagni, and demonstrated by William Hunter. It was,
however, confounded with the filamentous tissue, under
the general name of cellular membrane, adipose mem¬
brane, and cellular fat, by Winslow, Portal, Bichat, and
most of the continental anatomists, till distinguished and
described by M. Beclard.
According to the dissections of De Bergen and Mor¬
gagni, the demonstrations of Hunter, and the observa¬
tions of Beclard, its structure consists of rounded packets
or parcels (pelotons) separated from each other by furrows
of various depth, of a figure irregularly oval, or rather
spheroidal, varying in diameter from a line to half an inch,
according to the degree of corpulence and the part sub¬
mitted to examination. Each packet is composed of small
spheroidal particles, which may be easily separated by dis¬
section, and which are said to consist of a cluster of vesicles
stdl more minute, and agglomerated together by deli¬
cate cellular tissue. The appearance of these ultimate
vesicles is minutely described by Wolff in the subcutane¬
ous fat, and by Monro and Clopton Havers in the mar¬
row of bones, in which the last two authors compared
them to strings of minute pearls. If the fat with which
tliese vesicles are distended should disappear, as happens
m dropsy, the vesicles collapse, their cavity is obliterated,
and they are confounded with the contiguous cellular
tissue, without leaving any trace of their existence.
Hunter, however, asserts, that in such circumstances
the cellular tissue differs from the tissue of adipose vesi¬
cles, in containing no similar cavities ; and justly remarks
715
that the latter is much more fleshy and ligamentous than General
the filamentous tissue, and contends, that though the adi- Anatomy,
pose receptacles are empty and collapsed, they still exist.
When the skin is dissected from the adipose membrane it
is always possible to distinguish the latter from the fila¬
mentous tissue, even if it contain no fat, by the tough¬
ness of its fibres, and the coarseness of the web which
they make.
I he distinguishing characters between the cellular or
filamentous and the adipose tissue may be stated in the fol¬
lowing manner:—D#, The vesicles of the adipose membrane
are closed all round, and, unlike cellular tissue, they can¬
not be generally penetrated by fluids which are made to
enter them. If the temperature of a portion of adipose
membrane be raised by means of warm water to the li-
quefying point of the contents, they will remain unmoved
so long as the structure of the vesicles is not injured by
the heat. If, again, an adipose peloton be exposed to a
solar heat of + 40 centigr. though the fat be completely
liquefied, not a drop escapes until the vesicles are di¬
vided or otherwise opened, when it appears in abundance.
The adipose matter, therefore, though fluid or semifluid
in the living body, does not, like dropsical infiltration,
obey the impulse of gravity. 2c?, The adipose vesicles
do not form, like cellular tissue, a continuous whole, but
are simply in mutual contiguity. This arrangement is de¬
monstrated by actual inspection, but becomes more con¬
spicuous in the case of dropsical effusions, w'hen the fila¬
mentous tissue interposed between the adipose molecules
is completely infiltrated, while the latter are entirely un¬
affected. 3c?, The anatomical situation of the adipose
tissue is different from that of the filamentous tissue.
The former is found, ls£, in a considerable layer imme¬
diately beneath the skin; 2c?, between the peritoneal
folds which form the omentum and mesentery; 3rf, be¬
tween the serous and muscular tissues of the heart; and,
4?/«, round each kidney.
In each of these situations it varies in quantity and in
physical properties. In the least corpulent persons a
portion of fat is deposited in the adipose membrane of the
cheeks, orbits, palms of the hand, soles of the feet, pulp
of the fingers and toes, flexures of the joints, round the
kidney, beneath the cardiac serous membrane, and be¬
tween the layers of the mesentery and omentum. In the
more corpulent, and chiefly in females, it is found not
merely in these situations, but extended in a layer of
some thickness almost uniformly over the whole person;
and is very abundant in the neck, breasts, belly, mom ve¬
neris, and flexures of the joints.
Besides the delicate cellular tissue by which the pack¬
ets and vesicles are united, the adipose tissue receives ar¬
terial and venous branches, the arrangement of which has
been described by various authors, from Malpighi, who
gave the first accurate account, to Mascagni, to whom we
are indebted for the most recent. According to the latter,
who delineates these vessels, the furrow or space between
each packet contains an artery and vein, which, being sub¬
divided, penetrate between the minute grains or particles
of which the packet is composed, and furnish each with
a small artery and vein. The effect of this arrangement
is, that each individual grain or adipose particle is sup¬
ported by its artery and vein as by a foot-stalk or pedun¬
cle, and that those of the same packet are kept together,
not only by contact, but by the community of ramifica¬
tions from the same vessel. These grains are so closely
attached, that Mascagni, who examined them with a good
lens, compares them to a cluster of fish-spawn. Grutz-
macher found much the same arrangement in the grains
and vesicles of the marrow of bones.
716
ANATOMY.
General It has been supposed that the adipose tissue receives
Anatomy, nervous filaments; and Mascagni conceives-he has de¬
monstrated its lymphatics. Both points, however, are so
problematical, that of neither of these tissues is the dis¬
tribution known.
The substance contained in these vesicles is entirely
inorganic. Always solid in the dead body, it has been re¬
presented as fluid during life by Winslow, Haller, Portal,
Bichat, and most authors on anatomy. The last writer
indeed states, that under the skin it is more consistent,
and that in various living animals he never found it so
fluid as is represented. The truth is, that in the human
body, and in most mammiferous animals during life, the
fat is neither fluid nor semifluid. It is simply soft, yielding,
and compressible, with a slight degree of transparency or
rather translucence. This is easily established by observ¬
ing it during incisions through the adipose membrane,
either in the human body or in the lower animals.
The properties and composition of fat form a subject
for chemical rather than anatomical inquiry; and in this
respect its nature has been particularly investigated by
M. Chevreul. According to the researches of this che¬
mist, fat consists essentially of two proximate principles,
stearine (ersug, sebum, sapo), and dame (iham, oleum). The
former is a solid substance, colourless, tasteless, and al¬
most inodorous, soluble in alcohol, and preserving its soli¬
dity at a temperature of 138° centigrade. Elaine, on the
contrary, though colourless, or at most of a yellow tint,
and lighter than water, is fluid at a temperature of from
17° to 18° centigrade, and is greatly more soluble in al¬
cohol. Of this substance marrow appears to be merely
a modification; and the membranous cavities or medul¬
lary membrane in which it is contained may be viewed as
an intra-osseous adipose tissue.
Little doubt can be entertained that animal fat is the
result of a process of secretion ; but it is no easy matter
to determine the mode in which this is effected. Malpighi,
departing, however, from strict observation, imagined a set
of ducts issuing from glands, in which he conceived the
fat to be elaborated and prepared. To this he appears to
have been led by his study of the lymphatic glands, and
inability to comprehend how the process of secretion could
be performed by arteries only. This doctrine, however,
was overthrown by the strong arguments which Ruysch
derived from his injections; and Malpighi himself after¬
wards acknowledged its weakness and renounced it. In
short, neither the glands nor the ducts of the adipose
membrane have ever been seen.
Winslow, though willing to adopt the notion of Malpighi,
admits, however, that the particular organ by which the
fat is separated from the blood is unknown. Haller, on
the contrary, aware of the permeability of the arteries,
and their direct communication with the cells of the
adipose tissue, and trusting to the testimony of Malpighi,
Ruysch, Glisson, and Morgagni, that it existed in the ar¬
terial blood, saw no difficulty in the notion of secretion,
or rather of a process of separation; and upon much the
same grounds the opinion is adopted by Portal and others.
Bichat, again, contends that no fat can be recognised in
the arterial blood, and justly adduces the fact, that none
can be distinguished in blood drawn from the temporal
artery. 1 he accuracy of this fact is confirmed by subse¬
quent observation. This result is not at variance with the
fact observed by Dr Traill, who found oily matter in ven¬
ous blood in two instances. In wounds in the human body
during life, and in living animals, oily particles may be
seen floating on the surface of the blood ; but these pro¬
ceed from division of the adipose vesicles.
That fat does not exist in the arterial blood may be
therefore admitted as an established point. The idea that Gem
it is separated or strained from this fluid, therefore, must Anat! ?
also be gratuitous ; and as such it is viewed by Bichat, who ^
considers the deposition of fat as the effect of exhalation,
which is little more than a different name for the process
termed by Haller secretion. Lastly, an opinion has been
delivered by Mascagni, that while the arteries depositor
pour forth an imperfect or crude oily fluid, the lymphatics
absorb the thin parts, and leave the residue in a more
solid and perfect form. In conclusion, all that can be
affirmed regarding the formation of this substance is, that
it is deposited by the blood-vessels, but by what particu¬
lar process, or in what form, is entirely unknown. The
process by which the arteries of the adipose membrane
secrete fat appears to be equally mysterious as that by
which the vessels of muscle deposit fibrin, those of bone
deposit osseous matter, and those of cartilage form that
animal substance.
Artery, Arterial Tissue. {Arteria,— Tissu Arteriel.)
The structure of the arteries has been so much the sub¬
ject of examination at all periods of the history of ana¬
tomy, that to mention the authors by whom it has been
described would be much the same as to enumerate all
the anatomists who have ever written. To omit Galen,
and some of those who wrote shortly after the revival of
literature, descriptions of the structure of arteries have
been given with different degrees of minuteness and
accuracy by Willis, Yieussens, Verheyen, Lancisi, Bidloo,
the first Monro, Morgagni, Ludwig, Haller, Delasone,
Bichat, Gordon, Magendie, and by Mondini. Yet the
descriptions given by these observers are discordant, and,
with the exception of those given by the last four authors,
do not accord with the characters which this substapce
actually presents.
The following account is derived principally from re¬
peated examination of the arteries of the human subject,
occasionally compared with those of the more familiar
domestic animals.
Every arterial tube greater than one line in diameter is
visibly composed of one adventitious and two essential
substances: the first, the sheath, reputed to consist of
condensed filamentous tissue; the two last, the proper ar¬
terial and internal tissues. ( Tunica propria et membrana
intima.)
1. The inner surface of the arterial tube is formed by a
very thin semitransparent polished membrane, which is
said to extend not only in the one direction over the in¬
ner surface of the left ventricle, auricle, and pulmonary
veins, but in the other to form the minute vascular termi¬
nations which are distributed through the substance of
the different organs. This membrane is particularly de¬
scribed by Bichat under the name of common membrane of
the system of red blood, because he believed it to exist
wherever red blood was moving,—in the pulmonary veins,
in the left side of the heart, and over the entire arterial
system.
The inner membrane may be demonstrated by cutting
open or inverting any artery of moderate size, when it
may be peeled off in the form of thin slips by the forceps.
Or, if the tube be fitted on a glass rod, by removing the
layers of the proper membrane in successive portions, the
inner one at length comes into view in the form of a thin
translucent pellicle, of uniform, homogeneous aspect,
without fibres or other obvious traces of organization.
I his membrane is supposed to be prolonged to form those
minute vessels in which the proper coat cannot be traced.
It is very brittle, and is distinguished during life by a re¬
markable activity in forming the morbid states to which
ANATOMY.
Geis’al arteries are liable. In other respects it is deemed by
Anatny- Bichat peculiar, and, though similar to the proper mem-
^ '^brane, is to be considered as unlike any other tissue. Its
chemical composition is not known.
2. Exterior to this common or inner membrane is placed
a dense strong tissue of considerable thickness, of a dun
yellowish colour, which is found to consist of fibres dis¬
posed in concentric circles placed contiguous to each other
round the axis of the artery. If this substance be ex¬
amined either from without or in the opposite direction
it will be found that, by proper use of forceps, its fibres
can be separated to an indefinite degree of minuteness,
even to that of a hair, and that they uniformly separate
in the same direction. Longitudinal fibres are visible nei¬
ther in this nor in any other tissue of the arterial tube.
This is the proper arterial tissue; {tunica propria.) Its
uniform dun yellow colour is perceived through the semi¬
transparent inner membrane, and is most conspicuous
either when this is removed, or when the outer cellular
envelope is detached and the component threads separated
from each other; and if it be less distinct in the smaller
branches, it is because the tissue on which the colour de¬
pends is here considerably thinner. In this respect it va¬
ries in different regions. Though in general less dense
and abundant as the arteries recede from the heart, it is
thicker, ceeteris paribus, in those of the lower than in those
of the upper extremities. In the vertebral and internal
carotid arteries, and in those distributed in the substance
of the liver, spleen, &c., it is thinner than in vessels of
file same size in the muscular interstices.
The nature of this tissue has been the subject of much
controversy. It was long believed to be muscular, and to
possess the properties of muscular fibre. Bichat showed
that the arguments by which this opinion was supported
are inconclusive, and that the arterial tissue has very few
qualities in common with the muscular. The circum¬
stances from which he derived his proofs were its physi¬
cal and physiological properties.
The arguments derived from the physical properties of
this tissue are chiefly the following:—The arterial tissue
is close, elastic, fragile, and easily divided by ligature;
muscular fibre is more loose in structure, by no" means
elastic; and, instead of being divided or cut by ligature
as artery is, undergoes a sort of strangulation. The action
of alcohol, diluted acids, and caloric, by means of hot
fluids which are not corrosive, affords a proof of the che¬
mical difference of these animal substances. All of them
produce in the arterial tunic a species of shrivelling or
crispation, which seems to depend on more complete coa¬
gulation of one of the chemical principles; but no simi¬
lar effect takes place in muscular fibres. According to
Berzelius, the proper arterial tunic contains no fibrin.1
Bedard, however, asserts that he has ascertained that it
contains a portion of this principle; but nevertheless he¬
sitates to consider it as a muscular or fibrinous tissue, and
cxpi esses his opinion that it would be with greater pro¬
priety referred to that order of substances which he has
named yellow or tawny fibrous system.
The consideration of the physiological or organic pro¬
perties leads to similar results. Neither mechanical nor
chemical agents applied as stimulants produce any change
or motion in the living arterial membrane. 1. The arte¬
ries of an amputated limb, exposed the moment after am¬
putation, while the muscles are in active motion, do not
contract or move when punctured by the scalpel. 2. The
717
experiments of Bikker and Van-den-Bos with the electric General
spark, and those of Vassalh-Eandi, Giulio, and Rossi with Anatomy,
the galvanic pile, may be considered as disproved by the ‘
experiments of Nysten,2 who found no contraction in the
human aorta after violent death, while the heart and other
muscles could still be excited. In performing the same
experiment with the artery of the living dog, this physio¬
logist was equally disappointed. 3. The circular contrac-
j1.01? 01 the cahbre of an artery, either partially or wholly
divided, depends not on irritability, but either on its elas¬
ticity, or on that property which it possesses of contract¬
ing stiongly the instant the distending agent is removed.
I his power, which was rather happily named by Bichat
contractihte par defaut dextension, is quite different from
muscular contraction or irritability, and must not be con¬
founded with them; but it depends in a degree not much
less on the living state of the body and the individual ar-
tenal tube. 4. The contraction said to take place in liv¬
ing arteries after the application of alcohol, acids, or al-
kalies, is to be ascribed to the chemical crispation^ and not
to stimulant power. It does not relax. 5. These infe¬
rences are not inconsistent with the experiments of Thom¬
son, Philips, Hastings, and others, on minute arterial
tubes, which may be admitted to possess something like
irritability, or rather susceptibility of contraction, without
the necessity of supposing the same property in the laro-e
branches and trunks. 6. This is so much more probable, as
in these minute arteries the proper arterial tunic is either
wanting, or is so much thinner and so modified, that it is
impossible to conceive its presence capable of affecting
the result of experiments made to determine the degree
or kind of arterial contraction.
3. The outer surface of the proper arterial tissue is en¬
veloped, as above noticed, in a layer of dense filamen¬
tous or cellular membrane, which is very firmly attached
to it, and which was formerly considered as part of the
arterial tissue. It is adventitious ; a modification of fila¬
mentous or cellular texture, which establishes a communi¬
cation between the artery and the contiguous parts, and
is necessary to the nutrition and healthy state of the
vessel. It incloses and transmits the minute vessels an¬
ciently denominated vasa vasorum {arteriolce arteriarum,
Haller); and if detached even through a trifling extent,
the arterial portion thus divided is sure to become dead,
to be affected with inflammatory and sloughing action,
and ultimately to give way and discharge the contents of
the vessel. M. Beclard considers it a fibro-cellular mem¬
brane, which may in the larger arteries be divided into
two layers; one exterior, similar to the general filament¬
ous tissue; the other inside, between the outer layer and
the proper tissue, yellowish and firm, but still sufficiently
distinct from the proper tunic. In the cerebral arteries
it is wanting, and in most parts of the chest and belly its
absence is supplied by a portion of pericardium, pleura, or
peritoneum. Yet even there a thin layer of fine cellular
tissue appears to connect these membranes to the proper
tunic. In the extremities the cellular sheath is removed
in dissecting arterial preparations. ,
At different periods several anatomists have maintained
the existence of longitudinal fibres in arterial tissue; and
even at the present day this notion is not entirely aban¬
doned. Morgagni was the first who, trusting to mere
observation, the only sure guide in anatomical science,
doubted the existence of these fibres, and was not ashamed
to say he was unable to perceive them.3 Upon the same
A View of the Progress of Animal Chemistry, by J. J. Berzelius, M. D. &c. &c., p- 24, 25. London, 1813.
3 A'ouwe/fcsi^eWeraccsGa/i’arcigttes, &c.,parP. H. Nysten, &c.,l’an 11, p. 235-6. Paris. Rcchcrches de Physiologie, 1811, p. 307- Paris.
’ Adversaria Anatomica, tom. ii. p. 78.
718
ANATOMY.
General ground Haller would not admit their existence j1 and Bi-
Anatomy. chat and Meckel positively deny them. I have repeated-
examined almost every considerable artery of the hu¬
man body, and I have never been able to recognise any
longitudinal fibres, either in the middle or proper coat, or
in the thin internal membrane, as taught by Willis, Dou¬
glas, and Delasone.
Though arterial tissue does not appear to be very vas¬
cular, it is furnished with arteries and veins (vasa vaso-
rum, arteriolcc arteriarum), which do not come from the
artery or vein itself, but from the neighbouring vessels.2
Thus the aorta at its origin is supplied with minute arte¬
ries from the right and left coronary, and in some instances
with a proper vessel adjoining to the orifice of the right
coronary artery, which Haller regards as a third coronary.
The rest of the thoracic aorta derives its vessels from the
upper bronchials, from twigs of the internal mammary ar¬
teries, from the bronchials, from the cesophageals, and
from the phrenics. The abdominal portion is supplied
from the spermatics, the lumbar, and in some instances
the mesocolic artery. The same arrangement nearly is
observed with regard to the veins.
Few textures are more liberally supplied with nerves
than arteries are. Almost every considerable trunk or
vessel is surrounded by numerous plexiform filaments of
nerves, many of which may be traced into the tissue of
the artery. The anterior part of the arch of the aorta is
abundantly supplied with branches from the superficial
cardiac nerves, which Haller was unable to trace beyond
the artery. The coeliac, the mesenteric, and the mesoco¬
lic arteries are invested with numerous plexiform nervous
filaments derived from the large semilunar ganglion of the
splanchnic nerve. The renal arteries in like manner are
surrounded by numerous twigs of the renal plexus ; and
each of the intercostal arteries at its origin receives nerv¬
ous threads from the intercostal nerves. This arrange¬
ment, which is observed chiefly in the blood-vessels going
to the internal organs, led Bichat to announce it as a ge¬
neral fact, that the arteries derive their nerves almost
exclusively from the ganglions and the gangliar nerves.3
The inference does not rest upon strict observation, and
evidently owes its birth to the hypothetical opinions of
this ingenious physiologist. All the arteries going to the
extremities, the axillary, and iliac, and their branches, re¬
ceive nerves from the neighbouring nervous trunks, which
are formed chiefly from cerebral or spinal nerves, and have
no immediate connection with the system of the ganglions.
In the internal carotid and the vertebral arteries, and their
branches, nerves cannot be distinctly traced.4
Organized in the manner now described, it is requisite
to take a short view of the anatomical connections of the
arterial system, or to consider it in its origin, its course,
and its termination.
The arterial system of the animal body may be viewed
as one large trunk divided into several branches, which
again are subdivided and ramified to a degree of minute¬
ness which exceeds all calculation. It is requisite, there¬
fore, to consider the origin, Is#, of the aorta, the large
trunk; 2dlyf of the branches which arise from it; and,
Sdty, of the small vessels into which these are divided.
Every one knows that the aorta is connected at its
origin with the upper and anterior part of the left ventri¬
cle. The manner of this connection has been well exa- Go fai
mined by Laneisi, by Ludwig, and particularly by Bichat. Ana ny.j
It may be demonstrated by dissection, but is much more'^'^ '^
distinctly shown by boiling the heart with the blood-ves¬
sels attached. In a heart so treated, the thin internal
membrane may be traced passing from the interior of the
ventricle along the margin of its orifice to the inside of
the arterial tube. Exactly at the point of union it is
doubled into three semicircular folds, forming semilunar
valves, and thence is continued along the whole course of
the artery. This membrane is entirely distinct from the
proper or fibrous coat. Of the latter, the cardiac extre¬
mity or beginning is notched into three semicircular sec¬
tions, each of which corresponds to the base or attached
margin of a semilunar valve. These sections are attached
to the aortic orifice of the ventricle by delicate filamen¬
tous tissue, but are not connected with the fleshy fibres of
the heart; and at the angle or point of attachment the
thin inner membrane is folded in so as to fill up a space
or interval which is left between the margin of the orifice
and the circumference of the proper arterial tissue, where
it is notched or trisected.
The aorta is soon divided into branches, which again
are subdivided into small vessels. With the mathemati¬
cal physiologists it was a favourite problem to ascertain
the number of branches into which any vessel might be
subdivided. Keill made them from forty to fifty. Haller
states that, counting the minutest ramifications, he has
found scarcely twenty. The inquiry is vain, and cannot
be subjected to accurate calculation. In no two subjects
is the same artery found to be subdivided the same num¬
ber of times ; and in no two subjects are the same branches
found to arise from the same trunk.
A branch issuing from a trunk generally forms with it
a particular angle. Most generally, perhaps, these angles
are acute; but in particular situations they approach
nearly to a right angle. Thus the innominata, left caro¬
tid, and left subclavian, issue from the arch of the aorta
nearly at a right angle, at least to the tangent of the arch.
The intercostals form a right angle with the thoracic
aorta; the renal and lumbar arteries form a large acute
angle, approaching to right, with the abdominal; and the
cceliac comes off nearly in the same manner from the an¬
terior part of the vessel. The internal and external ca¬
rotids, again, the external and internal iliacs, the branches
of the humeral, and those of the femoral, form angles
more or less acute with each other. The angle which the
spermatics make is, generally speaking, the most acute
in the arterial system.
I have already alluded to the structure of the arterial
tissue at the divarications. These changes relate both to
the inner and to the proper membrane. In the inside of
the vessel the inner membrane is folded somewhat so as
to form a prominent or elevated point, the disposition of
which varies according to the angle of divarication.
When this is rectangular, the prominence of the inner
membrane is circular, and is equally distinct all round.
2d, WEen the angle is obtuse, as in the mesenteric artery,
the prominence is distinct, and resembles a semicircular
ridge between the continuation of the trunk and the
branch given off, but indistinct on the opposite side where
the angle is obtuse. 3c?, If the angle is acute, and that
* “ Verum anatome et microscopium omnino fibras longitudinem sequentes nunquam demonstravit, aut mihi, aut aliis ante m
scriptoribus, quorum auctoritate meam tueor.” (Elementa Physiologic?, lib. ii. sect. 1, § 7-)
* Hunter, sect. iv. p. 131.
3 “ Le grand arbre a sang rouge ou I’artdriel est presque exclusivement embrasse par la premiere classe des nerves.” {Aiurto^
Generate, tom. i. p. 302.)
4 II. A. Wrisberg, Be JVervis Arterias Venasque comitantibus, apud Haller, Disput. Anatom. Select, tom. Hi.
ANATOMY.
Get.al formed by the branch with the continuation of the trunk
Ana-ny- is obtuse, the beginning of the artery presents an oblique
circle, the elevated half of which is near the heart, the
other more remote.
The arrangement of the fibres of the proper tissue is
described by Ludwig from the divarication of the iliac
arteries, and may be seen in any part of the arterial sys¬
tem where the vessels are large. The circular fibres se¬
parating form on each side a half-ring, from which is pro¬
duced a complete ring, which incloses the smaller rings
formed by the circular fibres of the vessel given off.
These circular fibres proceed to the prominence of the
internal membrane already described, and are arranged
round it much in the same manner in which those of the
large vessel surround its inner membrane. In this, how¬
ever, no continuity between the rings of the large vessel
and those of the small one can be recognised. The latter
are inserted as it were into the former, and they are con¬
nected by the continuity of the inner membrane only.
In observing the course or transit of arterial tubes, the
principal point deserving notice is the sheltered situation
which they generally occupy, their tortuous course, and
their mutual communications. In the extremities they
are always found towards the interior or least exposed
part of the limb, generally deep between muscles, and
sometimes lying along bones. When they are minutely
subdivided, they enter into the interior of organs, without,
however, sinking at once into their intimate substance.
In the muscles they are lodged between the fibres; in
the brain, in the convolutions; in glands, between their
component lobes. In such situations they are generally
observed to be more or less tortuous in the course which
they follow. On the reasons of this much difference of
opinion still prevails. (Bichat and Magendie.)
In the course of the arteries, no circumstance is of
greater moment than their mutual communications or
inosculations (anastomoses). Of this there may be two
forms, the first when two equal trunks unite, the second
when a large vessel unites with a smaller one. Of the
first, three varieties have been mentioned. Is#, Two
equal trunks may unite at an acute angle to form one ves¬
sel. I bus, in the foetus, the ductus arteriosus and the
aorta are conjoined; and the two vertebral arteries unite
to form the basilar trunk. 2d, Two trunks may commu¬
nicate by a transverse branch, as the two anterior cere¬
bral arteries do in forming the anterior segment of the
circle of Willis. So?, Two trunks may, by mutual union,
form an arch, from the convexity of which the minute
vessels arise, as is seen in the branches of the mesenteric
arteries. (Plate XXIX. fig. 4.)
The second mode of inosculation is frequent in the
extremities, especially round the joints. The multiplied
communications of the arterial system in these regions,
though well known to anatomists, and enumerated by
Haller, were first clearly and systematically explained by
Scarpa, and afterwards by Cooper and Hodgson. The
importance of this arrangement, in facilitating the motions
«f the circulation,—in obviating the effects of local impe¬
diment in any vessel or set of vessels,—and in enabling the
surgeon to tie an arterial trunk when wounded, affected
with aneurism or any other disease,—has been clearly esta¬
blished by these authors. Their researches have shown,
that there is not a single vessel which may not be tied
with full confidence in the powers of the collateral circu¬
lation. Even the aorta has in four instances been found
obstructed in the human subject, and a ligature has been
put on its abdominal portion. (Cooper.)
To ascertain the several modes in which arteries termi¬
nate has been a problem of much interest to the physio-
719
lopt, and of no small difficulty to the anatomist. The General
alleged terminations, as believed to be established, are Anatomy,
minutely and elaborately enumerated by Haller, who
however, multiplied them too much according to the mo¬
dern acceptation of the term.
1. The first undoubted termination of arteries is imme¬
diately in veins. It is unnecessary to adduce in support
of this fact the long list of observers enumerated by Hal¬
ler. It is sufficient to say that it was clearly established
by the microscopical observations of Leeuwenhoeck, Cow-
per, and Baker, by Haller himself, and by Spallanzani in
his beautiful experiments on the circulation of the blood.
2. The second termination which may be mentioned
here is that into the colourless artery, (arteria non rubra).
This is sufficiently well established by the phenomena of
injections.
3. A third termination which is supposed to exist, but
of which no sensible proofs can be given, is that into
colourless vessels supposed to open by minute orifices on
various membranous surfaces, and therefore termed exha-
lants. The nature of these vessels shall be considered
afterwards.
Haller admits a termination in, or communication with,
lymphatic vessels, but allows that it is highly problemati¬
cal. Partial communications have been traced between
arteries and lymphatics by several anatomists; but the
point requires to be again submitted to accurate researches.
Another mode of termination, that namely into excret¬
ing ducts, admitted by Haller, scarcely requires particular
mention. So far as an artery can be said to terminate in
such a manner, it would come under the head of that into
exhalant vessels. Many of the proofs mentioned by Hal¬
ler, however, may be shown to be examples of a morbid
state of the mucous membranes of these ducts, in which
their capillary vessels are disorganized.
In considering the several terminations of arteries, it is
not unimportant to advert to the distribution of these
vessels. Injections show that they penetrate into every
texture and organ of the animal body, excepting one or
two substances in which they have never yet been traced.
But in different textures they are found in different de¬
grees ; and they may vary in extent even in the same
texture in two different conditions. The parts which re¬
ceive the largest and most numerous vascular ramifications
are the brain and spinal chord, the glandular organs, the
muscles voluntary and involuntary, the mucous mem¬
branes, and the skin. In bones, on the contrary, in the
fibrous membranes, and their modifications, tendons, and
ligaments, and in the serous membranes, few arteries are
seen to penetrate; and these are generally minute, some¬
times only colourless capillaries. In some textures arteries
cannot be traced, though their properties indicate that
they must receive vessels of some kind. Such are carti¬
lage and the arachnoid membrane. (Ruysch and Haller.)
Lastly, arteries are not found in the scarf-skin, in nails,
the enamel of the teeth, the hair, nor in the membranes
of the umbilical chord. In early life bones are much more
vascular than in adult age; and in the bones of young
subjects arteries may be traced going out through the
epiphyses into the cartilages, in which they cannot at a
later period of life be demonstrated. (Phil. Trans. No.
470.)
Vein, Venous Tissue.. (<l>Ac4',— Vena,— Tissu Veneux.)
The structure of the tubular canals, termed veins, has
been much less examined by anatomists than that of the
arteries. Some incidental observations in the writings of
Willis, Glass, and Clifton Wintringham, comprise all that
was published regarding them previous to the short ac-
720 ANATOMY.
General count of Haller. Since that time they have been described
Anatomy, with various degrees of minuteness and accuracy by John
Hunter, Bichat, Magendie, Gordon, Marx,1 and Meckel.
In the following account, the facts collected by these ob¬
servers have been compared with the appearance and
visible organization presented by veins in different parts
of the human body.
The veins are membranous tubes extending between
the right side or pulmonary division of the heart and the
different organs in which their minute branches are rami¬
fied.
Every venous tube greater than one line in diameter
consists of three kinds of distinct substance. The outer¬
most is a modification of the filamentous tissue (rnembra-
na cellulosd), and though less compact and less thick than
the arterial filamentous envelope, is in every other respect
quite similar, and is in general intimately connected with
it. The innermost (membrana intima) is a smooth very
thin membrane. Between these is found a tunic some-
Avhat thicker, which is termed the proper venous tissue
{tunica propria venae). The structure and aspect of this
proper membrane shall be first considered.
Is?, When the loose filamentous tissue in which the
blood-vessels are inclosed, and the more delicate and firm
layer immediately contiguous to the veins, are removed,
the observer recognises a red or brown-coloured mem¬
brane, not thick or strong, but somewhat tough, which is
the outer surface of the proper venous tunic. If dissected
clean it is tolerably smooth; but however much so it can
be made, a glass of moderate powers, or even a good eye,
will perceive numerous filaments adhering to it, which
appear to be the residue of the cellular envelope.
According to Bichat, parallel longitudinal fibres, form¬
ing a very thin layer, may be distinguished in the larger
veins; but he admits, although they are quite real, that
they are always difficult to be seen at the first glance. In
the trunk of the inferior great vein (vena cava inferior),
they are always seen, he observes, more distinctly than
in that of the superior; and they are always more obvious
in the divisions of the former than in those of the latter
vessel, and also in the superficial than in the deep-seated
veins. These longitudinal fibres, he asserts, are more
distinct in the saphena than in the crural vein, which ac¬
companies the artery. Lastly, he remarks, these fibres
are proportionally more conspicuous in branches than in
trunks. (Anatomic Generate, tom. i. p. 399.)
Notwithstanding the apparent correctness of this de¬
scription, Magendie informs us he has sought in vain for
the fibres of the proper venous membrane; and he re¬
marks that, though he has observed very numerous fila¬
ments interlacing in all directions, yet these assume the
longitudinal and parallel appearance only when the tube
. is folded longitudinally,—a disposition often seen in the
larger veins.
By Meckel, on the contrary, the accuracy of the obser¬
vation of Bichat is maintained. This anatomist states
that he has, by the most minute dissections, assured him¬
self that these fibres are longitudinal; but he admits that
they are not uniformly present in all parts of the venous
system, and that in degree and abundance they are liable
to great variation. He follows Bichat also in represent¬
ing these fibres as thicker and more distinct in the system
of the inferior than in that of the superior cava, and in
the superficial than in the deep veins.
In the inferior cava of the human subject, certainly,
filaments or fibres may be recognised. But instead of
being longitudinal, they may be made to assume any di- Ge
rection, according to the manner in which the filament¬
ous tissue is removed. For this reason probably these
fibres are to be viewed as part of the filamentous sheath.
In the saphena vein of the leg oblique fibres may be seen
decussating each other; but it is doubtful whether these
belong to the proper venous tissue or to the filamentous
covering.
The nature of this proper membrane, or venous fibre, as
it is sometimes named (Bichat), is not at all known. Its
great extensibility, its softness, its want of elasticity in
the circular direction, or fragility, its colour and general
aspect, distinguish it from the arterial tunic. It possesses
some elasticity in the longitudinal direction, and is re¬
tracted vigorously when stretched. It possesses consider¬
able resistance, or in common language is tough. The
experiments of Clifton Wintringham show that it sustains
a considerable weight without breaking, and that this
toughness is greater in early life, or in the veins of the
young subject, than at a later period.2 In short, it may
be stated as a general fact, that venous tissue, though
thinner, possesses greater elasticity and tenacity than ar¬
terial tissue. According to the experiments of the same
inquirer, this property depends on that of the superior
density of the venous tissue; the specific gravity of the
matter of the vena cava being invariably greater than that
of the aorta in the same subject, both in man and in brute
animals.
From some experiments Magendie is disposed to con¬
sider it of a fibrinous character. But it exhibits in the
living body no proof of muscular structure or irritable
power. When punctured by a sharp instrument, or ex¬
posed to the electric or galvanic action, it undergoes no
change or sensible motion.
This tunic is wanting in those divisions of the venous
system termed sinuses, in which its place is supplied by
portions of the hard membrane (dura meninx).
2dly, The inner surface of any vein which has been laid
open and well washed is found to be smooth, highly po¬
lished, and .of a bluish or blue-white colour. This is the
inner or free surface of the inner venous membrane
(membrana intima). It is exceedingly thin, much more
so than the corresponding arterial membrane, much more
distensible and less fragile. It bears a very tight ligature
without giving way as the arterial does; but it also sus¬
tains considerable weight, which shows that it is tough
and resisting. This is the membrane termed by Bichat
common membrane of dark or modena blood. According
to the views of this anatomist, it forms the inner or free
surface, not only of all the venous twigs, branches, and
trunks composing this system of vessels, but it is extend¬
ed from the superior and inferior great veins over the in¬
ner surface of the right auricle and ventricle, and thence
over that of the pulmonary artery and its divisions; and
through this whole tract it is the same in structure and
properties.
This doctrine has not yet been controverted. But
perhaps it may be doubted, both with regard to the inner
arterial membrane, that the inner tunic of the aorta and
of the pulmonary veins is quite the same; and in regard
to this inner venous membrane, whether that of the veins
in general is quite the same with that of the pulmonary
artery. The subject demands further research. Mean¬
while strong confirmation is found in the interesting re¬
mark of Bichat, that the osseous or calcareous depositions
which are common in various spots of the inner arterial
1 Diatribe Anatomico-physiologica de Slructura atque Vita Venarum. Caroliruhae, 1819.
* Experimental Inquiry on some parts of the Animal Structure. London, 1740.
Yg?-
ANATOMY
genjil membrane, and especially at the mitral and aortic valves,
inatfj- are never found in the inner venous membrane, or at the
✓v-'7 tricuspid valve, or in the semilunar valves of the pulmo-
V£ nary artery. Have these depositions been found inside
the pulmonary veins, and not inside the pulmonary artery ?
This fact is still wanting to complete even their pathologi¬
cal similarity.
The inner or common venous membrane is, however,
the most extensive and the most uniform of all the venous
tissues. It is the only one which is found in the substance
of organs, and is present where the cellular and proper
membranes are wanting. This is the case not only with
venous branches and minute canals as they issue from the
substance of muscles, bones, and such organs as the liver,
kidneys, spleen, &c., but is also very remarkably observed
with regard to the venous canals of the brain. I have al¬
ready noticed the absence of the cellular and proper tis¬
sues in these tubes; and I have now to remark, that the
cerebral veins consist solely of the inner membrane while
in the brain or membranes, and when in the sinuses, of
this inner membrane, placed between two folds of the
dura mater. When the jugular vein reaches the temporo-
occipital sinuosity, it loses its proper membrane, while its
common or inner membrane passes into the hollow of the
dura mater, called sinus, and thus forms the venous canal.
This fact is readily demonstrated by slitting open either
the lateral or the superior longitudinal sinus, when a thin
delicate membrane, quite distinct from the fibrous appear¬
ance of the dura mater, will be found to line the interior
of these canals.
The inner surface of many veins presents membranous
folds projecting obliquely into the cavity of the vessel.
These folds, which, from their mechanical office, have been
named valves (valvulce), are parabolic in shape, have two
margins, an attached and free,—and two surfaces, a con¬
cave turned to the cardiac end of the vein, and a convex
turned in the opposite direction. The attached margin
is not straight, as may be imagined, but circular, and ad¬
heres to the inner surface of the vessel. The free margin
resembles in shape an oblong parabola; and the direction
of the valve is such, that a force applied to its convex sur¬
face would urge it more closely to the vein, whereas a
force applied to the concave surface would either oblite¬
rate the circular area of the vessel, tear the valve from
the vein, or otherwise meet with resistance.
The size of the valves is variable. In some instances
they are sufficiently large to fill the canal of the vessel,
and in others they are too small to produce this effect.
The obliteration of the circular area of the vessel is most
perfect when there are two or three at the same point.
Bichat ascribed the variable state of this quality to the
dilated or contracted condition of the veins at the moment
of death. This, however, is denied by Magendie.
In structure these valvular or parabolic folds are said
to consist of a doubling, or two-fold layer of the inner
membrane; and with this statement no fact of which we
are aware is at variance. A hard prominent line, which
generally marks the attachment of their fixed margin to
the vein, is asserted by Bichat to consist of the proper ven¬
ous tissue, the fibres of which, he says, alter their direc¬
tion for this purpose; and when the common or inner
membrane reaches this line, it doubles or folds itself to
I form the valve, which thus consists of two layers of the
inner or common membrane. This, however, is denied by
Hunter,1 who considers them of a tendinous nature, and
by Gordon, who made several unsuccessful attempts to
split these two layers.2
Valves are not uniformly present in all veins. They are
found, 1st, in the following branches of the superior o-reat
vem—the interna! jugular, the azygos, the facial veins,
those of the arms, &c.; 2d, in the following branches of
the inferior great vein—the divisions of the posterior iliac,
of the femoral, tibial, internal and external saphena, and
m the spermatic veins of the male.
They are wanting in the trunk of the inferior great vein
(cava inferior), in the renal, mesenteric, and other abdo¬
minal veins, in the portal vein, in the cerebral sinuses, in
the veins of the brain and spinal chord, in the veins of the
heart, of the womb generally, and of the ovaries, and per¬
haps in all other veins less than a line in diameter.3 In
the cerebral sinuses the transverse chords are supposed to
supply their place.
In the lungs they were supposed to be wanting, till their
presence was established by Mayer of Bonn.
In situation the valves vary considerably. In general
they are found in those parts of venous canals at which a
small vein opens into a larger. But even from this ar¬
rangement there are deviations. The only valve which is
definite and invariable in its situation is the Eustachian
(valvula Eustachiana, valvula nobilis), which is always
placed at the cardiac end or beginning of the inferior
cava, where that vessel is attached to the sinus of the
right auricle. Shaped in general like a crescent, the at¬
tached margin of which is the arch of a large circle, and
the free that of a small one, it proceeds from the left ex¬
tremity of the sinus downwards, forwards, and towards
the left side, where it is insensibly lost on the membrane
of the auricular septum. At its lower end it generally
covers the orifice of the large coronary vein. This mem¬
branous production is always larger, more perfect, and
more distinct in the foetus and in the infant, than in the
adult. In the latter it is almost always reticulated; and
sometimes the only vestige of its existence is a thin chord
or two representing its anterior margin. I have seen it
reticulated even at the age of sixteen or seventeen, and
almost destroyed beyond thirty. Haller was much per¬
plexed to account for the use of this membranous fold.4
The conjecture of Bichat, that it is connected with some
purpose in the foetal circulation, is entitled to regard.
Dr Gordon mentions a third partial substance, which
is occasionally found in local patches at various parts
of veins. I have never met with this, and believe it to be
accidental, or not connected with healthy structure.
Besides the cellular or filamentous envelope, veins re¬
ceive capillary arteries, to which there are corresponding
veins. The arteries rise from the nearest small ramifying
arteries ; and the corresponding veins do not terminate in
the cavity of the vein to which they belong, but pass off
from its body, and join some others from different parts;
and at last terminate in the common trunk somewhere
higher.5 Nervous branches, or rather filaments, are ob¬
served in the pulmonary artery and great veins only. Are
they derived from the great sympathetic, as is generally
said ?
In the veins, as in the arteries, the anatomist recog¬
nises two extremities, the cardiac or collected, and the
organic or the ramified. Examined physiologically, how¬
ever, the terms origin and termination are not of the same
import as when applied to the arteries. In reference to
the veins, they become convertible terms; and it is the
721
General
Anatomy.
Vein.
1 x. Of Veins, p. 182. 2 Anatomy, p. 66, 67- 3 Haller, lib. ii. sect. 2.
4 Haller de Valvula Eustachii. Extat in Disput. Anatomic. Select, tom. ii. p. 189. 4 Hunter, x. Of Veins, p. 181.
VOL. II. 4 Y
r1
722
A N A T O M Y.
General usage even of writers on anatomy to represent the veins
Anatomy. as arising where the arteries terminate, and terminating
Ve:n a.^ ^le orSan from which the latter arise. This distinc¬
tion must be kept in view in the following observations.
The cardiac extremity or termination of the veins is so
well known as to render any minute explanation unne¬
cessary.
The organic extremity or origin of the venous system
is more obscure and difficult to be understood. It is in¬
deed impossible to trace the origin of the small venous ves¬
sels, unless in the manner in which Leeuwenhoeck,1 Wil¬
liam Cowper,2 Henry Baker,3 Haller, and Spallanzani,4 did
in their observations on the transparent parts of animals
■ in general cold-blooded. From the experiments of these
observers, we know that a very small vessel, evidently
tending and conveying blood towards a larger, connected
with a venous branch, may be seen passing directly from
a similar small vessel, as evidently conveying blood//'om
a larger, which is connected with the arterial system. All
that we know from this, however, is, that a vein contain¬
ing red blood may rise from an artery conveying red
blood. This is matter of pure observation ; and all beyond
is little more than conjectural.
Haller, indeed, admits origins of veins as manifold as
the terminations of the arterial system, a view in which he
has been followed by almost all subsequent authors ; and
Bichat states it as a leading proposition, that the veins
arise from the general capillary system. Neither conclu¬
sion is founded on strict observation; and while that of
the former physiologist is derived chiefly from uncertain
facts and loose analogies, the statement of the latter is too
hypothetical and general to be either entirely true or
wholly false.
Of one fact only are we certain. The blood which is
conveyed into the small vessels and the substance of the
tissues and organs is brought back by the veins. We have
seen that the only origin which is strictly susceptible of
demonstration is that of the red vein from the red artery.
The point then to be ascertained is, whether colourless
veins and absorbent veins arise from the several textures,
as colourless and exhalant arteries terminate in them.
The proper place for the further examination of this ques¬
tion is the subsequent section.
I must not omit to mention, nevertheless, that the
veins have been shown to be connected at their ramified
extremities with the lymphatics.
When the veins become distinct vessels, branches, and
trunks, they become once more objects of sensible exami¬
nation. In their course from their organic to their cardiac
extremities they present various circumstances which
merit attention.
1. In general every artery is accompanied by a venous
tube, which is divided in the same manner, and furnishes
or receives an equal number of branches. Thus the de¬
scending aorta is accompanied by the vena cava inferior ;
the common iliac arteries by common iliac veins ; the an¬
terior iliac, femoral, and popliteal, by anterior iliac, femoral
and popliteal veins. These veins are deep-seated, and are
generally named the concomitant veins (vents comites vel
vena: satellites). In some situations an artery may be ac¬
companied either in its trunk or in its branches by two
veins ot equal size. Thus in general the brachial artery,
and its branches the radial and ulnar, are each accom- Gem
panied by two veins. The only situations in which the Anau r.
number of veins can be said to be exactly equal to that ofv-^v ■>
the arteries, are in the stomach, in the intestinal canal, Vei
in the spleen, in the kidneys, in the testicles, and in the
ovaries.
2. In the extremities and in the external regions of the
trunk we find, in addition to the concomitant veins, an
external layer of venous tubes immediately beneath the
skin, (vena: subter cutem disperses, Pliny). These subcuta¬
neous or superficial veins do not correspond to any ar¬
tery; but as they are chiefly destined to convey the
blood from the skin and other superficial parts, they open
into the deep-seated veins. Thus in the case of the ba¬
silic and cephalic, two superficial veins of the arm, the
former, after passing the bicipital fascia, forms in the
sheath the brachial vein; and becoming the axillary in
the axilla, receives the latter vessel. In the same manner
the saphena ffapjjwjj, vena manifesto), or superfi¬
cial vein of the leg, passes through the falciform process
of the fascia lata to join the femoral vein.
From this it results that the venous canals are on the
whole more numerous than the arterial. In a few situa¬
tions only a single vein corresponds to two arteries, as in
the penis, the clitoris, the gall-bladder, and the umbilical
chord. Often also in the renal capsules and the kidneys
two or more arteries have only one corresponding vein.
In such circumstances the vein is always large and capa¬
cious.
It has been generally stated that the calibre and area
of the venous tubes are much larger than those of the
corresponding arteries, and consequently that the capaci¬
ty of the venous system is much greater than that of the
arterial. I acknowledge that I know not on what exact
evidence the former of these propositions, the only one
with which the anatomist is concerned, is made to rest.
If it be mere inspection in the dead subject, or the effects
of injection, little doubt can be entertained that the al¬
leged greater calibre depends chiefly on the laxityand dis¬
tensible nature of the venous fibre. The arterial tubes ap¬
pear small in consequence of annular contraction, or the ten¬
dency which they have to collapse, when the distending
force has ceased to operate. The venous canals appear
large by reason of their distension and distensibility dur¬
ing life, from the tendency to accumulation in their
branches in most kinds of death, except that by hemor¬
rhage, and from a smaller degree of the physical property
of shrinking and annular contraction when empty.
When a vascular sheath is exposed in the human sub¬
ject, as in the operation for aneurism, or in the lower ani¬
mals in the way of experiment, the vein generally ap¬
pears larger than the corresponding*artery. This, how¬
ever, is never so considerable as it is represented by
most authors, and certainly cannot afford grounds for
the estimates which Keill, Jurin, and other mathematical
physiologists have assigned to the relative capacity of the
arteries and veins. It is also to be observed that some¬
thing of this greater size depends on the increase ot dila¬
tation resulting from removing the pressure of incumbent
parts. In young animals also the difference between the
size of the veins and their corresponding arteries is so
trifling as to be scarcely discernible. This shows that
1 Arcana Naturae Detecta: Opera Omnia, tom. ii. p. 1G0, 1G8.
1 hilusophical Transactions, No. 280, p. 1170. Cowper saw this communication of arteries and veins not only in cold-blooded ani¬
mals, as the lizard, tadpole, and fishes, but in the omentum of a young cat and a dog.
3 On Microscopes, and the discoveries made thereby. London, 1785, 2 vols. 8vo.
* Experiments on the Circu’.aticn of the Blood, by Lazaro Spallanzani; translated by W. Hall. London, 1801.
ANATOMY. 793
Jentn something is to be ascribed to the incessant operation communication between the basilic and cephalic by the General
jjaton - of a dilating force increasing uniformly with the duration median veins, that between them and the deep brachial Anatomy.
/Y'of life. , , . . vessel, and that between the saphena and its branches
Upon the whole, it is chiefly on the ground of their and the femoral vein, are sufficiently well known. TheCapillaries’
larger numerical arrangement that the veins collectively application of these anatomical facts to the ready motion
can be said to be more capacious than the arteries. On of the venous blood is obvious.
this subject some observations of Bichat are entitled to But of all the communications between the branches
attention.1 . ' or large vessels of the venous system, the most important,
3. The veins in general accompany the arteries. The both anatomically and physiologically, is that maintained
venous trunk placed contiguous to the arterial in the same by means of the vena azygos between the superior and
sheath, is divided into branches at the same points, and is inferior cavee. The azygos itself is connected at its up-
distributed into the substance of organs much in the same per or bronchial extremity with the superior cava, and at
manner. From this arrangement, however, certain devi- its lower extremity it is in some subjects connected di-
ations are observed in particular regions. Thus, in the rectly with the inferior cava, in others by means of the
brain, neither the internal carotid, nor the basilar artery, right renal vein, and in most by the first lumbar veins,
nor their large branches, are accompanied with veins. By means of the demiazygos, again, it is connected with
The small branches only have corresponding veins, which, the left renal vein, or the lumbars of the same side, and
as they unite to form large ones, pour their blood into the in some instances directly with the inferior cava. To the
venous canals termed sinuses, the arrangement of which azygos and demiazygos, therefore, belongs the remarkable
is unlike any other part of the venous system. In the property of connecting not only the venous canals of the
chest also a different disposition of the venous from the upper and lower divisions, but those of the right and left
arterial tubes is observed. The vence cavce, though con- halves of the body.
veying the blood to the pulmonic division of the heart, as
the aorta conveys it from it, do not, however, correspond System of Capillary Vessels, Terminations of Arteries,—
with the latter either in situation or in dependent branch- Origins of Veins.
es. The azygos and the demiazygos veins, in like manner, Though we can scarcely, with propriety, speak of the
which receive the intercostal veins, have no concomitant capillary tissue, or the tissue of capillary vessels, we find
artery, but open into the superior cava, to which they it requisite to introduce in this place the general facts of
may be viewed as appendages. Lastly, The portal vein, the anatomical peculiarities of this important part of the
which is formed of the united trunks of the splenic, su- human body.
perior mesenteric and inferior mesenteric veins, corre- The term capillary system, though much spoken of in
spends to no individual arterial trunk, and forms of itself physiological and pathological writings, is perhaps not al-
a peculiar arrangement in the venous system. ways precisely defined or distinctly understood. Accord-
Some anatomists have dwelt much on the more super- ing to Bichat, it is not only the common intermediate
ficial and less sheltered situation of the veins than of system between the arteries and veins, but the origin of
the arteries. On this point no positive inferences can all the exhalant and excreting vessels.2 If we consider
be established. In the extremities the former are in ge- the modes in which arteries have been said to terminate,
neral most superficial; but in the interior of the body, and veins to take their origin, we find, that in this view
especially in the chest, the venous trunks are quite as of the capillary system there are some things which are
deep-seated as the arterial. doubtful, and some which are inconsistent with the rest.
The course of the venous canals is in general more rec- Haller, and most of the physiological authorities since
tilineal and less tortuous than that of the arteries. In no his time, concluded, chiefly from the phenomena of in¬
part of the venous system is such an inflection presented jections, sometimes from microscopical observation, and,
as that which the internal carotid makes in the carotic where these failed, from the obscure and uncertain
canal. The general result of this is, that a set of venous evidence of analogy, that an artery traced to its last or
tubes is shorter than a corresponding set of arterial ones, minute divisions will be found to terminate in one or other
The trunks also are less inflected than the branches. of the following modes. IsJ, Either directly in a red
4. The mutual communications of the venous system vein or veins; 2d, in excreting ducts, as in the lacrymal
(anastomoses, inosculationes,) are more numerous and fre- and salivary glands, the kidney, liver, and pancreas, the
quent than those of the arterial. 1. The minute veins female breast, and the testicle of the male; 3d, in exha-
communicate so freely as to form a perfect net-work. 2. lants, as in the skin, in the membranes of cavities (serous
In the twigs, though more xare, these communications are membranes), the cavities of the brain, the chambers of
still frequent. 3. In the branches, though less numerous, the eye, the filamentous tissue, the adipose cells, the pul-
they are nevertheless observed ; and in this respect alone monary vesicles, and mucous surfaces and their follicular
the venous must be greatly more numerous than the arte- glands ; 4tA, in smaller vessels, for instance lymphatics;
rial inosculations, which are confined chiefly to the small- and, 5t/i, in the colourless artery (arteria non rubra)?
er and more remote parts of the system. These inoscu- A similar application of the same facts has assigned
lations, indeed, between the venous branches constitute to the veins a mode of origin not unlike. If, therefoie,
one of the most peculiar and important characters of we admit the definition given by Bichat, it follows that
their arrangement, in so far as by their means the com- the capillary system consists, ls^, of minute arteries com¬
munication is maintained between the superficial and municating with veins; 2d, of excreting ducts; 3d, oi
deep-seated vessels of the system. Thus the emissary exhalants; and, 4th, of minute arteries or veins con tain-
veins are the channel of communication between the cere- ing a colourless portion of the blood. It is obuous, how-
bral sinuses and the temporal, occipital, and other exter- ever, that it is absurd to say that the system of capillary
nal veins. The external and internal jugulars communi- vessels at once comprehends and gives origin to the ex-
cate by one or two considerable vessels; and the free cretories and exhalants. In other respects the whole of
> Anatomie Gtnirale, tome i. p. 370. . * voi. i. p. 47!. Sysdmc CapUkurc, article 1.
3 Ekmenta Physiologic, lib. i. sect. 1, p* -—a.
724
ANATOMY.
General this theory, for little of it is matter of strict observation,
Anatomy. rests on very hypothetical grounds.
Of the different kinds of terminations assigned to
api anes'ar^erjeSj anci 0f origins assigned to veins, one only ad¬
mits of sensible demonstration.. Arteries, when they have
so much diminished as to become capillary, are seen by
the microscope, in some instances by the naked eye,
to pass directly into corresponding capillary veins, or to
end abruptly in some organ or membrane unconnected
with any other vessel.1 It is likewise certain that the
microscope shows every capillary vein to arise from a
capillary artery; and if there be any other mode of
origin, it has not yet been demonstrated.2 Only one
other circumstance requires to be taken into account
in this inquiry. This is, that the capillary artery and
vein may contain either red or colourless blood; for, ac¬
cording to the size of the vessels, and the nature of the
organs or tissues in which they are distributed, the blood
which flows through them will be coloured or colourless.
This view of the communication of minute arteries and
veins, which is perfectly consistent with the known facts,
affords the only explanation which it is possible to give,
of the singular division of the capillary system which
Bichat has chosen.
This author considers the capillary system under three
general heads: Is#, In organs in which it contains blood
only, for instance, in the muscles, the spleen, some parts
of the mucous membranes ; 2c#, in organs in which it con¬
tains blood and other fluids, for example, in bone, cellu¬
lar tissue, serous membrane, part of the fibrous system,
the skin, the vascular parietes, glands, &c.; and, 3c#, in
organs in which it contains no blood, the instances of
which are, tendon, cartilage, ligament, hair, &c.
Now, it is of little consequence to say that the tissues
of the two last divisions contain other fluids than blood,
when we are also told that the phenomena of injections,
which prove that their capillaries communicate directly
with arteries conveying red blood, the effect of irritating
applications mechanical or chemical, and the phenomena
of acute or chronic inflammation, show that they may
receive and convey red blood. The conclusion of this in
common language is, that the capillary arteries and veins
of the second order of tissues do not all contain red blood,
but that many of them contain a colourless part of that
fluid; and that all the capillary arteries and veins of the
third order of tissues convey in the natural state colour¬
less blood only. What then is the precise idea which
ought to be formed of the intermediate system which
Bichat conceived to exist between the minute arteries and
veins, or what have been termed the venous radiculcc, ?
From the present state of facts it results that nothing
more can be admitted to constitute the capillary system
than those minute vessels, whether conveying coloured or
colourless blood, in which inspection, microscopic observa¬
tion, and injections show that arterial branches at once
terminate, and minute veins (radiculce venosce) have their
origin. It is clear that, physiologically speaking, these
vessels can neither be regarded as arteries nor as veins
strictly; for the characters on which this distinction is
founded are necessarily obliterated in this system of ves¬
sels. There is no precise point at which the arterial tissue
can be said to terminate, and none at which the venous
structure can be said to commence. Here inspection or
microscopic observation affords little or no aid; for the
vessels are too small to allow their structure to be ex¬
amined correctly. If, however, we adopt the doctrines of
Bichat with regard to the inner arterial and venous tunics G,eral
my
forming the ultimate tube of small arteries and small M*'
veins, we must conclude that the arterial membrane is^
lost in the venous, and that the common membraneCa»rtie
of red blood is identified with the common membrane
of dark or modena blood. This conclusion involves no¬
thing absurd or improbable, and, though not founded on
observation, it is more natural than many similar ideas
which have been formed on the nature of this system
of vessels. It may be added, that it is not at variance
with what is observed in these vessels in the living body.
It is found that the blood in a minute artery is not of the
bright red colour which it possesses in the trunk and
large branch from which the minute artery derives its
blood, but is gradually acquiring the dark hue which be¬
longs to the blood of the venous branches and trunks.
By some, however, this direct communication of minute
arteries and veins is denied. Thus, according to Doellin-
ger, the arteries at their last ramifications are void of
proper membranous walls; the blood moves in immediate
contact with the solid matter of the body, which is in
truth the fundamental or penetrating filamentous tissue;
and from this it passes into the venous tubes and lympha¬
tics, which also arise from this substance.
According to Wilbrand, again, who equally denies this
direct communication of arteries and veins, all the blood
is converted into organic fibres and secretions; and these
organic fibres, becoming gradually fluid, are converted into
blood and lymph, which continue the circulation.
These notions are too fanciful and too incapable of de¬
monstration to become the object of serious attention to the
anatomist. It is of little moment whether the vessels in
the ultimate ramifications possess tunics or not. When they
cease to possess tunics they cease to be vessels; and to
carry observation beyond this point is either impracticable
or useless. In other respects the investigation of this
point belongs to the subject of the exhalant vessels.
Bichat describes two great capillary systems in the
human body: Is#, The general one, or that which con¬
sists of the minute terminations of the aortic divisions,
and the origins of the superior and inferior great veins;
and, 2d, the pulmonary capillary system, or that which
consists of the minute terminations of the pulmonary ar¬
tery, and the origins of the pulmonary veins. It is evi¬
dent that the manner in which the first of these systems
is here represented communicates a very incorrect idea
of its true character, and that there is in truth an indi¬
vidual capillary system, not only for every organ, but in
some instances for every tissue. The brain possesses an
individual capillary system; and that of the membranes
is evidently distinct from that belonging to the organ it¬
self. The heart and the kidneys possess each an indivi¬
dual capillary system; and the liver may be said to have
two, one formed by the communication of the hepatic ar¬
tery and veins, and another consisting of the divisions of
the portal vein, with the branches of the hepatic hollow
vein ; ( Vena cava hepatica).
The organic properties of the capillary vessels are as
little known as their structure. Many physiological and
pathological writers, especially experimentalists, have
ascribed to them a power which has at different times
been called muscular, tonic, irritable, contractile; and
have asserted that, because the larger arteries are pro¬
vided with a fibrous membrane, which they have called
muscular, and to which they have ascribed irritability, or
the power of contraction when stimulated, their minute or
1 Gordon, p. 5G.
51 Ibid, p 26.
725
A N A r
Gi ral capillary terminations must have the same property. This
Ani.ray- conclusion is completely unfounded for two reasons. 1st,
vr >~/1 have already shown that the proper arterial tunic is not
Cap.nes-muscular in structure, and, according to the best experi¬
ments, possesses no property of contraction when stimu¬
lated. 2d, Although it be admitted that the proper arte¬
rial tissue is muscular and irritable, it is quite certain that
observation has not hitherto shown that this tunic can be
recognised in arteries smaller than a line in diameter;
and in the capillaries properly so called, that is, in vessels
which partake of the nature of artery and vein, no such
structure has yet been observed.
It is not improbable, however, that the capillaries pos¬
sess certain organic or vital properties; but all that has
been taught on this subject is either hypothetical or de¬
rived from an insufficient and imperfect collection of facts.
It is certain that the blood which moves through them is
beyond the direct influence of the action of the heart,
and can be affected by this only so far as it keeps the
larger vessels constantly distended with a column of blood
which cannot retrograde, and must therefore move forward
in the only direction left to it. It has been therefore
argued that the capillaries must have an inherent power
of contraction, by which this motion is favoured. Is it not
sufficient to say that they act merely as resisting canals,
to prevent their contents from escaping, and to minister
to the various tissues and organs those supplies of blood
which the several processes of nutrition, secretion, &c. re¬
quire ?
The effects which the application of mechanical irri¬
tants, or chemical substances, as alcohol, acids, and alka¬
lies, produced in the experiments of Hunter, Wilson Philip,
Thomson, and Hastings, have been supposed to demon¬
strate the irritable nature of the capillary vessels. The
conclusion is illegitimate, in so far as the results of these
experiments are open to several sources of fallacy. In
some instances these effects are to be ascribed to incipient
inflammation, in others to shrivelling of the capillary struc¬
ture, or crispation by chemical action, in others to actual
coagulation of the blood of the capillaries; but none of
them prove satisfactorily any peculiar properties in the
vessels of which the capillary system is composed.
While the views of Reuss, and the recent experiments
of Dutrochet and Wedemeyer, render it probable that the
capillaries possess some contractile power, they by no
means prove that this is adequate to impel the blood
through them, independently of the impulse of the heart.
According to the hypothesis of Reuss, the arterial system
is in a state of positive, and the venous in that of negative,
electricity; and by the operation of this agent the blood
is made to move from the former class of vessels through
the capillaries into the latter. From the experiments of
Dutrochet, again, on the transmission of fluids through
organic membranes, that author infers that, by means of
the inward and outward impulse, or that property which
he denominates Endosmose and Exosmose, the blood flows
through the capillaries into the veins. Lastly, Wedemeyer,
who further maintains that the impulsive force of the
mart is propagated to the capillary system, concludes,
trom the effects of injecting fluids, both mild and irrita-
tive, and from microscopic observation, combined with the
effects of mechanical and chemical irritants, that the ca¬
pillaries possess considerable contractile power, the ope-
r O M Y.
ration of which is under the influence of galvanism, or General
nervous energy, or both; but that this, instead of pro- Anatomy,
motmg, ought to resist the motion of the blood through
them. &
Erectile Tissue. ( Vasa Erigentia,— Vascula Erectilia,—
Tissu Erectile?)
The system of capillary arteries and veins does not pre-Erectile
sent the same arrangement in all situations and in all thevessels-
tissues of the human body. A peculiar arrangement of these
vessels was early recognised by our countryman William
Cowper, who states that he demonstrated the direct com¬
munication of arterial and venous canals, not only in the
lungs, but in the spleen and penis, “ in which,” says he,
“ I have found these communications more open than in
other parts.”1 This fact, however, was long overlooked
by subsequent anatomists.
Among the terminations of arteries enumerated by Hal¬
ler, one which he referred to the head of exhalants was
that of a red artery or arteries pouring their blood into
the spongy or cellular structure of the cavernous bodies
of the nipple, the clitoris, and the penis, that of the wat¬
tles of the turkey, and the comb of the cock.2 His detail¬
ed examination of those parts shows, that, with a correct
knowledge of their anatomical structure, he had not a
very distinct conception of the manner in which their ves¬
sels are disposed. It was afterwards pbserved, however,
by John Hunter, that the spongy structure of the urethra
and glans consists of a plexus of veins.
Bichat remarked that the spleen, and the cavernous
body of the penis, instead of presenting, as the serous
surfaces, a vascular or capillary net-work, in which the
blood oscillates in different directions according to the im¬
pulse which it receives, exhibit only spongy or lamellar
tissues, still little known in their structure, in which the
blood appears often to stagnate instead of moving. As
this peculiar structure was known in the cavernous body
to be the seat of a motion long known by the name of
erection, MM. Dupuytren and Richerand distinguished
this arrangement of arteries and veins as a peculiar tissue,
under the name of erectile,—a distinction which, though
partly understood before, has only now been admitted as
well founded in the writings of anatomical authors. Ac¬
cording to the recent arrangements of M. Beclard this
tissue comprehends not only the structure of the cavernous
body, but that of the spongy substance (corpus spongiosum?),
which incloses the urethra, and forms its two extremities,
the bulb and gland, the clitoris, the nymphoe, and the nip¬
ple of the female, the structure of the spleen in both
sexes, and even that of the lips.3 4
It is unfortunate that the researches of anatomists on
this erectile tissue have been restricted chiefly to the
spongy body of the urethra and the cavernous body of the
penis; and it is rather by analogy than direct proof that
similarity of structure between them and the other parts
referred to the same head is maintained. I shall here
state what is ascertained.
The cavernous body of the urethra, or what is now
termed its spongy body? is represented by Haller to con¬
sist of fibres and plates issuing from the inner surface of
the containing membrane, and mutually interlacing, so as
to form a series of communicating cells,5 into which the
3 Philotophical Transactions, No* 285, p. 1386. 2 Elementa Physiologice, lib. ii. sect. 1, § 24.
4 ^<P^wns “ 1'Anatomic Generate de Xav. Bichat, par P. A. Beclard, p. 118.
im Haller applies the name of cavernous body not only to the structure of the penis, but to that of the urethra. (Elementa Physiolo'nic.
• xxvn. sect. 1.) s ibid. lib. xxvii. sect. 1, § 33.
726
ANATOMY.
Erectile
vessels.
General proper urethral arteries pour their blood directly during
Anatomy, the state of erection.1
The cavernous body of the penis is in like manner re¬
presented to be a part of a spongy nature, or to consist of
innumerable sacs or cells separated by plates and fibres,
which at the moment of erection are distended with blood
poured from the arteries, and which is afterwards removed
by some absorbing power of the veins.
This opinion, which was that of many subsequent ana¬
tomists, even Bichat himself,2 was derived apparently from
the facility with which the blood so deposited escapes,
not, as it was believed, from divided vessels, but from
areolce, or interlaminar spaces. It appears, however, to
have been at variance with what had been anciently
taught by Vesalius, Ingrassias, and Malpighi, and posi¬
tively stated regarding these vessels by Hunter; and
modern researches have shown it to be completely erro¬
neous. Cuvier and Ribes in France, Mascagni, Paul
Farnese, Moreschi in Italy, and Tiedemann in Germany,
have shown that there are no cells or spongiform structure
in the erectile tissue of the cavernous body.
The first correct view of the structure of parts of this
description in the human subject was given by Mascagni
in his account of the arterial and venous communications
in the spongy body of the urethra. In 1787 he announced
in his work on the Lymphatics, that the parts called ca¬
vernous bodies, both in the penis and in the clitoris, are
s\m\Ay fasciculi, or accumulations of arterial and venous
vessels without interruption of canal; but that between
the arteries and veins of the spongy bodies a dilated ca¬
vity or minute cell is interposed. In 1795 repeated
minute injections led him to doubt the existence of this
sort of cell; and about the close of 1805 he publicly de¬
monstrated the fact, that many veins of considerable cali¬
bre, collected in the manner of a plexus, with correspond¬
ing arteries, but small and less numerous, really form the
outer and inner membranes of the urethra, the whole of
the glans penis, and the whole substance of the spongy
body. In each of these parts, and also in the spongy
structure inclosing the orifice of the vagina, he ascertain¬
ed by repeated injections that there are no cells, as was
imagined, and that the arteries, reflected as it were, give
origin to numerous veins,3 which, forming an intimate
plexiform net-work, constitute the whole glans, and the
entire vascular body which surrounds the urethra and the
entrance of the vagina.
In the cavernous bodies of the penis and clitoris he
had not sufficient facts to ascertain the existence of the
same structure, as he had never succeeded in injecting
these parts so completely as the glans and the spongy part
of the urethra. Eventually, however, he succeeded, es¬
pecially in children, in injecting fully these cavernous
bodies of the penis and clitoris. He found in their inte¬
rior nothing hwt fasciculi of veins, with corresponding arte¬
ries, but rather smaller. He inferred, therefore, that these
vessels, collected and ramified in various directions, consti¬
tute a vascular texture capable of expanding and shrink¬
ing, according to the quantity of blood conveyed to it.4
The general accuracy of this description has been since Ge: al
confirmed by the researches of Paul Farnese and Mores- Ana 1y.
chi. The latter, especially, has shown, Is#, that the glans
consists of arteries and a very great number of minute^rec
veins, which pour their blood into the cutaneous dorsalVess£
vein; 2d, that the urethra, and especially its posterior
part, may in like manner be shown to consist of numerous
minute veins, which terminate in a posterior branch of
the dorsal vein, and communicate with the veins of the
bulbous portion of the urethra; and, 3d, that in the ca¬
vernous bodies, though also receiving blood-vessels, these
are much less numerous, and are chiefly derived from the
urethral vessels.5
The same arrangement was recognised by Cuvier in the
penis of the elephant, by Tiedemann in that of the horse,
by Shaw in the human subject and in the horse,6 and by
Mr Houston in the tongue of the chameleon.7
Upon the whole, the facts collected by different anato¬
mists on this subject furnish the following results.
If the arteries, on the one hand, be injected, they are
found to terminate in very fine ramifications, the disposi¬
tion of which is exactly the same as in other parts. If,
on the other, the veins be injected, it is easy to perceive
the two following circumstances: Is#, That they are much
dilated at their origin, that is, that the venous rad/cw/re are
really more dilated than might be anticipated from the
other characters of these vessels; 2d, That the tubular
dilatations to which they are accessory form very nu¬
merous inosculations or anastomoses, precisely as the
capillary system of which they constitute a part. The
effect of this arrangement is to give these vessels the
appearance of being penetrated with sieve-like open¬
ings, resembling areolce, or interlaminar spaces mutually
communicating. As the whole difference, therefore, be¬
tween the capillary vessels of this and other parts of the
human frame consists in. the minute veins {radiculce veno-
sce) being dilated or distended in a peculiar manner, Be¬
dard concludes that the erectile tissue of the cavernous
body consists simply of minute arteries and dilatable veins
interwoven in the manner of capillary nets. These dis¬
tended venous cavities are indeed so remote from being
cells, that they are truly continuous with veins, the inner
membrane of which may be easily recognised among them.8
During erection the blood accumulates in this tissue;
but the cause and mechanism of this accumulation are
completely unknown.
The spleen, M. Beclard thinks, may be said to resem¬
ble the cavernous body both in structure and phenomena;
and he considers it as at once consisting of erectile tissue,
and to be the seat of a species of erection more or less si¬
milar to that of the cavernous body. This organ, he
argues, becomes the occasional seat of a motion of expan¬
sion and contraction; and he adduces the three following
conditions in which it takes place. D#, In experiments;
when in a living animal the course of the blood in the
splenic vein is arrested, the spleen swells, but returns to
its former dimensions as soon as the circulation is restored.
2d, In diseases ; the paroxysms of intermittent fever are
1 “ Sed et in pene, et m clitoride, etin papilla mammae, et in collo galli indici, nimis manifestum est, verum sanguinem
neque unquam ejus color totus de iis partibus evanescit, quae ab effuso sanguine turgere solent.” (Elcmcnta, lib. xxvii. sect. 3, § 10-j
2 Systems Alsorbant, sect. 3, p. 5f)8.
3 “ Le arterie vi si ritorcono, e danno origine alle vene, e queste formano in seguito alcuni plessi, i quali accumulati in varia nia-
niera, costituiscono tutto il glande, e tutta quella massa vascolare, che trovasi intorno al canale dell’ uretra, e all’ ingresso della va¬
gina.” (Prodromo della Grande Anatomra di Paolo Mascagni, capitolo ii. p. 61. Firenze, 1819, folio.)
* Prodromo del Paolo Mascagni, loco citato, p. 61.
s Commentarium de Urethrae Corporis Glandisque Structura Gto idas Decembris 1810 detecta, Alexandri Moreschii, Eq. Coron. lei-
reae, in Ticinensi primum, turn Bononiensi Archigymnasio Anatomes Professoris. Mediolani, 1817.
6 Medko-Chirurg. Trans, vol. x. p. 338, 353. Loudon, 1819.
* Trans, of Royal Irish Academy, 1828.
8 Additions, p. 119.
ANATOMY.
727
G( ral accompanied with obvious enlargement of this organ,
Anapy- which subsides at the conclusion of the paroxysm. 3e?, It
appears that the same phenomenon takes place during di¬
gestion.
Sir Everard Home, with the assistance of the microsco¬
pic inspection of M. Bauer, has made many observations
on the structure of this organ. But his purpose appears
to have been more particularly directed to ascertain the
phenomena of its function and uses; and I cannot dis¬
cover that his ideas on its intimate structure, and the
arrangement of its capillary system, are precise or dis¬
tinct.
The most distinct examples, in short, of erectile tissue
are to be found, according to Beclard, in the spongy tex¬
ture which surrounds the urethra, in the cavernous body
of the clitoris, the vascular structure of the nymphce, and
in the nipple of the female. The structure of the lips in
both sexes is not unlike. The veins of these parts may
be shown to be well marked and largely dilated at their
origin, so as to give the appearance of cellular net-work.
The same disposition is observed in the pulp of the
fingers. It has been attempted to explain the motions of
the iris by supposing it to be formed of this erectile tis¬
sue ; but the justice of this conjecture seems doubtful.
In the tissue now described it is manifest that the phy¬
siologist ought to place the phenomena of the process dis¬
tinguished by the name of vital turgescence (turgor vitalis)
by Hebenstreit,1 Reil,2 Ackermann,3 and Schlosser.4
Though these authors suppose vital turgescence in differ¬
ent degrees in almost all the textures of the animal body,
their most distinct examples are taken from those parts
which consist of erectile vessels. After the explanation
of the anatomical structure above given, it is superfluous
to seek for any other cause except the arrangement of
the minute vessels, and especially that of the veins.
System of Exhalants, Exhalant System. ( Vasa Exhalan-
tia,—Systeme Exhalant.')
“Muts. Are there such vessels as the exhalants described by
physiological authors ? Is their existence proved by ob¬
servation or inspection ? If not, what are the proofs from
which their existence has been inferred ?
The existence of minute arteries, the open extremities
of which are believed to pour out various fluids in different
tissues of the human body, has long been a favourite spe¬
culation with physiological anatomists. The decreasing
vessels (yasculorum continuo decrescentium multi sibique
succedentes ordines5), and exhalant orifices of Boerhaave,
must be known to almost all. Haller ascribes to the
skin membranes of cavities (serous membranes), ven¬
tricles of the brain, the chambers of the eye, the cells of
the adipose membrane, the vesicles of the lung, the cavity
of the stomach and intestines, an abundant supply of these
exhalant arteries or canals, which, according to him, pour
out a thin, aqueous, jelly-like fluid, which in disease, or
after death, is converted into a watery fluid susceptible
of coagulation. The existence of these vessels, he con¬
ceives, is established by the watery exudation which ap¬
pears in these several parts after a good injection of the
arteries.6
As these minute canals, however, through which this General
injected fluid is believed to percolate, have never been Anatomy,
seen, or rendered capable of actual inspection, their exist-
ence was denied by Mascagni, who ascribed the pheno-■Exhalants'
mena of exhalation to the presence of inorganic pores
in the arterial parietes, through which, he imagined, the
fluids transuded to the membranes or organs in which they
were found. This mechanism, which was equally invisible
with the Hallerian, was, for obvious reasons, denied by
Bichat, who resolved to reject every opinion not founded
on anatomical observation, and to determine the existence
of the exhalants by this evidence alone. Obliged, how¬
ever, to avow the difficulty of forming a distinct idea of
a system of vessels, the extreme tenuity of which prevents
them from being seen, he undertook to attain his object by
what he terms a rigorous train of reasoning.
This consists in the effects observed to result from suc¬
cessful injections of watery fluids, or of spirit of turpentine
containing some finely levigated colouring matter; from
the phenomena of active hemorrhage, which Bichat consi¬
ders merely as exhalation of blood instead of serous fluid;
and from numerous considerations unfolded in the further
prosecution of the subject. In this manner he concludes,
that the only points ascertained are, ls£, the existence of
exhalants; 2t?, their origin in the capillary system of
the part in which they are distributed; and, 2>d, their
termination on the surfaces of serous and mucous mem¬
branes, and the outer surface of the corion or true skin.
The exhalant vessels, the existence, origin, and termi¬
nation of which he thus proved, he distinguished into
three classes. The first contains those exhalants which
are concerned in the production of the fluids which are
immediately removed from the body,—the cutaneous and
the mucous exhalants ; the second contains those exhal¬
ants which are employed in the formation of fluids which,
continuing a given time on various membranous surfaces,
are believed to be finally taken again into the circulation
by means of absorption; and the third class consists of
the exhalants concerned in the process of depositing nu¬
tritious matter in the different tissues and organs of the
human frame. This arrangement is more distinctly seen
in the following table.
T. Exterior, opening on natural surfaces or / Cutaneous,
canals... f Mucous.
f Serous.
2. Interior, opening on membranes, or within J Synovial.
cellular textures    j Cellular.
t Medullary.
,3. Nutritious.
Each organic tissue is in this system supposed to have
its appropriate exhalant arteries, from which it derives the
material requisite for its nutrition.
The clearness and regularity of this arrangement would
render it desirable that the existence of these vessels
were demonstrated with certainty. It is evident, how¬
ever, that the regularity of arrangement is the only ad¬
vantage which it possesses over the views of those authors
whose method and opinions Bichat professed not to
follow. The existence of exhalants is as little proved
1 Brevis Expositio Doetrinas Physiologicce de Turgore Vitali, 1795. Ab Ernesto B. G. Hebenstreit, M.D. &c. Extat in Brera Sylloge
Opusculorutn, vol. ii. opusc. vi.
2 Archiv. fur die Physiologic, i. band, 2. heft, s. 172.
3 Ackermann, Physischc DarsteUung dcr Lebenscraft, 1797? i> band, s. 11.
4 Georgii Eduardi Schlosser Dissertatio dc Turgore Vitali. Extat in Brera Sylloge, vol. vii. opusc. ii.
5 Haller, Elementa, lib. ii. sect. 1, and his notes on Boerhaave, Prcclectiones, tom. ii. p. 245.
6 “ Aqueum humorem de arteriis perinde exhalare, olei terebinthinae aliorumve pigmentorum, et vivi argenti iter persuadet, quod
anatomica manu impulsum, aut omnino vivo in homine a consuetis naturae viribus eo deductum, in ejus humoris, quam vocant, came-
ram depluit.” (Elementa, lib. vii. sect. 2, § 1.)
728
ANATOMY.
General in the rigorous reasoning of Bichat as in the fanciful
Anatomy, theories of Boerhaave, the generalizing conclusions of
Haller, or the bold supposition of lateral porosities by
' Mascagni. This defect in his system has therefore been
recognised recently both by Magendie and Beclard, the
first of whom, though he admits the existence of exhala¬
tion as a process of the living body, allows that no expla¬
nation of its mechanism or material cause has been given,
and asserts that Bichat has created the system of vessels
termed exhalants; while the second thinks that anato¬
mical observation furnishes no evidence of their existence.
The colourless capillaries, he observes, which are admit¬
ted by all, and the existence of which is satisfactorily esta¬
blished by the well-known experiment of Bleuland, proves
nothing whatever concerning the existence of exhalant
vessels; for these colourless arteries are observed to ter¬
minate in colourless veins, and there is no proof hitherto
adduced of their proceeding further, or terminating by
open mouths. He admits that the fact of exhalations in
the living body, of nutrition, of transudation by arterial
extremities, shows that these extremities possess openings
through which the fluids of exhalation, the materials of
nutrition, and the matter of injection, escape. But whe¬
ther these openings are found at the point at which the
capillary arteries are continuous with veins, or belong to
a distinct order of vessels continued beyond these arte¬
ries, is a question which observation has not yet deter¬
mined, and which it perhaps is unable to determine.
Such is the present state of knowledge in relation to the
existence of exhalant arteries. While the process of ex¬
halation is admitted, we must avow, as Cruikshank did
long ago, that we are unable to prove satisfactorily the
existence of any set of vessels, or any mechanism by
which it might be accomplished.
Lymphatic System. ( Vasa Lymphatica, Vasa Lymphifera,
Lymphce-Ductus of Glisson and Jolyffe,—Systeme Ab-
sorbant,—Die Saugadern.)
Lympha- in most situations of the human body, and especially
in the vicinity of arterial and venous trunks, there are
found long, slender, hollow tubes, pellucid or reddish,
which present numerous knots, joints, or swellings in their
course, and to which the name of lymphatics or absorb¬
ents has been given. It is most expedient to employ the
former appellation only, as the latter implies the perform¬
ance of a function, the reality of which has been much
questioned of late years.
Though Eustachius had seen the thoracic duct in the
horse, and some slight traces of a knowledge of vascular
tubes, different either from arteries or veins, are found in
the writings of Nicolaus Massa, Fallopius, and Veslin-
gius, the merit of establishing their existence is generally
ascribed to Caspar Asellius, a physician of Pavia. This
anatomist, who had in 1622 seen the white-coloured
tubes, then first named lacteals, issuing from the intestines
of the dog, observed also a cluster of vessels less opaque
near the portal eminences of the liver,—an observation
which he afterwards repeated in the horse and other
quadrupeds. The same vessels were also described and
delineated by Highmore.
Passing over the uncertain and obscure hints given by
Francisci Glissonii Anatomia Hcpatis, cap. xxxi.; Thomse Wharton Adenographia, cap. ii. p. 98.
2 Experimental Inquiries, Part the Second ; by William Hewson, F. R. S. London, 1774, 8vo.
3 History of the Absorbent System, &c. by John Sheldon, surgeon, F. R. S. &c. London, 1784, folio.
1 The Anatomy of the Absorbing Vessels of the Human Body, by William Cruikshank. London, 1786, 4to.
. ”au. Mascagni Vasorum Lymphuticorum Corporis Humani Historia et Ichnographia. Paris, 1787, folio.
nv.
r
Walaeus and Van Horne, the first exact information after Ge w
Asellius is that which relates to Olaus Rudbeck, who, in AnaLy.
1650, is said to have seen them in a calf, and to have de-^i
monstrated the thoracic duct, and the dilated sac, after-^'Vn
wards termed receptacidum chyli.
Glisson informs us that Jolyffe had in 1652 imparted
to him the knowledge of a set of vessels different from
arteries and veins; and it appears, from the testimony of
Wharton, that Jolyffe had demonstrated these vessels in
1650.1 In short, the discovery of lymphatics, and the
correction of some errors of Asellius, are ascribed to the
English anatomist, not only by Wharton and Glisson, but
by Charleton, Plott, Wotton, and Boyle.
The existence of these vessels, thus partially demon¬
strated, was afterwards more fully established by the re¬
searches of Bartholin, Pecquet, Bilsius, Nuck, the second
Monro, and Haller. It is chiefly to the exertions of
William Hunter, and his pupils Hewson,2 Sheldon,3 and
Cruikshank,4 in this country, and to those of Mascagni5 in
Italy, that the anatomical world are indebted for the com¬
plete examination and history of this system of vessels.
The lymphatic vessels consist, in the members, of two
layers, a superficial and a deep-seated one. The first is
situate in the subcutaneous cellular tissue, between the
skin and the aponeurotic sheaths, and accompanies the
subcutaneous veins, or creeps in the intervals between
them. A successful injection of these superficial lym¬
phatics will show an extensive net-work of mercurial tubes
surrounding the whole limb.
The deep-seated layer of lymphatics is found chiefly
in the intervals between the muscles, and along the
course of the arterial and venous trunks. In tracing both
layers of lymphatics to the upper, fixed, or attached end of
the members, we find they increase in volume and diminish
in number. At the connection of the members with the
trunk, they are observed to pass through certain spheroidal
or spherical bodies, termed lymphatic glands or ganglions.
The lymphatics of the upper extremity, after passing
through the glands of the armpit, terminate in trunks,
which open into the subclavio-jugular veins, one on each
side of the neck. Those of the lower extremity, after
passing through the glands of the groin, proceed with the
common iliac vein into the abdomen, where they unite
with other lymphatics.
The lymphatics of the trunk consist in like manner
of two layers, a subcutaneous and deeper seated one, dis¬
tributed in the chest between the muscles and pleura,
and in the abdomen between the muscles and peritoneum.
In the chest and belly, each organ possesses a superficial
layer of lymphatics distributed over its surface, and per¬
taining to its membranous envelope; the other ramifying
through its surface, and pertaining to the peculiar tissue
of the organ. This twofold arrangement is most easily
seen in the lungs, the heart, the liver, spleen, and kidneys.
In a similar manner are arranged the lymphatics in the
external parts of the scull; on the face, where they are
very numerous; in the spaces between the muscles; and
on the neck, in which they pass through numerous glands.
No lymphatics, however, have been found in the brain,
the spinal chord, their membranous envelopes, the eye,
or the ear.
See also Prodromo, Sec-
ANATOMY.
729
gc al All the lymphatics hitherto known terminate in two
^nainy- principal trunks. One of these, termed from its site
thoracic duct (ductus thoracicus, die Milchbrustrdhre, le ca-
tF1* ml thoracique), is situate on the left side of the dorsal
^ vertebrae. It receives the lymphatics of the lower extre¬
mities, of the belly, and the parts contained in it; those
of great part of the chest, and those of the left side of
the head, neck, and trunk, and left upper extremity.
The other lymphatic trunk, which is situate on the right
side of the upper dorsal vertebrae, is formed by the union
of the lymphatics of the right side of the head, neck, right
upper extremity, and some of those of the chest. Both
of these trunks open into the subclavio-jugular vein of
each side.
That lymphatics terminate in branches of the venous
system, has been asserted on the authority of various ob¬
servers. Steno, for instance, states that he traced the
lymphatics from the right side of the head, the chest, and
pectoral extremity, in animals, into the right axillary vein ;
and he gives delineations of anastomotic connections of
several lymphatics with the axillary and jugular veins.
Similar facts have been reported by Nuck, Richard Hale,
Bartholin, and Hartmann. Ruysch traced the lymphatics
of the lung into the subclavian and axillary veins; Dre-
lincourt those of the thymus gland in animals into the
subclavians; and Hebenstreit saw those of the loins pass
into the vena azygos.
Haller, though unwilling to deny the testimony of these
observers, considers it liable to various sources of fallacy,
and doubts the direct communication of the lymphatic and
venous systems. By John F. Meckel the grandfather*,
nevertheless, this communication was maintained, from
the circumstance that he found mercury injected into the
lymphatics pass into the veins without any traces of ex¬
travasation. From injecting the lymphatics also he found
the inferior cava full of mercury, not a particle of which had
passed by the thoracic duct into the superior cava. In¬
jecting afterwards an indurated lumbar gland from a pel¬
vic lymphatic, when he found its lower half only was
filled, he increased the pressure, with the view of filling
the minute vessels of the gland. When this was con¬
tinued a little, he observed the fluid metal pass into the
inferior cava, and thus traced the minute lymphatics into
tire venous system.1
These facts have received too little attention, from the
circumstance that Hewson, though not doubting them as
stated by the author, regarded them as liable to consi¬
derable fallacy, and, along with William Hunter, imputed
the effect in question entirely to extravasation. Both
Hunter and Hewson, indeed, appear to have injected veins
from lymphatics in the same manner in which Meckel
did; but both saw reason to infer that extravasation had
taken place. Cruikshank, again, states that he never
saw a lymphatic vessel inserted into any other red veins
than the subclavians and jugulars. The termination re¬
marked by Steno and his successors constitutes in truth
the common trunk or lymphatic vein admitted by Cruik¬
shank,—a thoracic duct of the right side.
Recently this mode of termination has been revived by
Tiedemann and Fohmann,2 who state that, in the seal, the
lactiferous vessels communicate with veins arising from
the mesenteric glands, and pass thence into the venous
trunks without proceeding through the thoracic duct. General
M. Lauth junior, of Strasburg, again, conceives that he Anatomy,
has demonstrated that lymphatics communicate with veins
within the substance of organs, and in the interior of the Hympha-
lymphatic glands;3 an inference which at present requirestlC3'
further verification. The statements of Lippi of Florence,4
that every lymphatic almost communicates freely with ve¬
nous tubes, is still more improbable, and has been rendered
exceedingly doubtful by the recent researches of Rossi.5
The connections of the ends of lymphatics with the or¬
gans and tissues from which they arise, termed their ori-
gins, are completely unknown. In some favourable in¬
stances the lymphatics of the intestinal canal are so filled
with a reddish or whitish fluid after the process of diges¬
tion has continued for some time, that not only are their
larger branches easily seen, but by the aid of the micro¬
scope some of the smaller may be traced to their com¬
mencement. This, which was ascertained by Cruikshank
(p. 55 and 58), and confirmed by Hewson, Bleuland, and
Hedwig, has been contradicted by the observations of Ru-
dolphi and Albert Meckel. In all other parts, however,
though a successful injection may show the course and
distribution of many of the smallest lymphatics, yet no ori¬
fices are perceptible at the point at which they seem to stop,
and we are uncertain whether these points are their ori¬
gins. (Cruikshank.) Mere observation is here as un¬
availing as in regard to the termination of exhalants.
The continuation of lymphatics with arteries, unless in
the case of those which arise from the interior of arterial
tubes (Lauth), is not satisfactorily established. It has been
conjectured, however, that their ends or imperceptible
origins are connected to the tissues to which they are
traced, and that the lymphatics arise in this manner from
these tissues.
The lymphatics are distinguished by being in general
cylindrical in figure, and by varying in calibre at short
spaces. In this respect they differ from the arteries and
veins. It has been further justly remarked by Gordon,
that the middle-sized lymphatics are remarkably distin¬
guished from the corresponding parts of the arterial and
venous system by three peculiarities: ls£, When two
lymphatics unite to form a third, the trunk thus formed is
seldom or never larger than either of them separately;
2dly, their anastomoses with each other are continual;
and, 3dly, they seldom go a great space without first di¬
viding into branches, and then reuniting into trunks.
The outer surface of a lymphatic is filamentous and
rough, the inner smooth and polished, like that of small
veins. It is impossible to observe the structure of these
tubes in the middle-sized, or even in the large lympha¬
tics ; and anatomists have generally been satisfied with
supposing that the structure of all of them is similar to
that of the thoracic duct, or some other large vessels
equally susceptible of examination. According to the ob¬
servations of Cruikshank (chap, xii.), which have been
verified by Bichat, the thoracic duct presents, ls£, a layer
of dense, firm, filamentous or cellular tissue, exactly simi¬
lar to that found inclosing arterial and venous tubes,
which the latter regards as foreign to the vessel, but giv¬
ing it a great degree of support and protection; 2dly, a
proper membrane, delicate, transparent, and moistened
inside by an unctuous fluid, which he seems inclined to
1 Nova Experimenta et Obscrvationcs dr finibus Venarum ac Vasorum Lymphaticorum, sect. 1, p. 4. Lugd. Bat. 1772^
Anatomische Untersuchungen uber die Verbindung der Savgadern unit den Ventn. Heidelberg, 1821.
1 Essai sur les Vaisseaux Lymphaiiques. Strasbourg, 1824.
4 Illustrazioni Fisiologiche e Patologiche del Sistcma Linfalico-Chilifero mediante la scoperta di un gran numero di communicazioni di esso col
wnoso del Professore liegolo Lippi. Firenze, 1825.
* Cenni sulla communicazione dei vasi linfatici colle vene, di Giovanni Rossi, Doctore, &c.: Annali Universal di Medicina, anno
182G, vol. xxx.vii. p. 52.
VOL. II. 4 z
730
ANATOM Y.
General ascribe to transudation. Muscular fibres, of which Shel-
Anatomy. (lon speaks positively, Cruikshank represents, though
seen in some instances (chap, xih), yet to be more gene¬
tics™^ ia" rally not demonstrable. Their existence, though admit¬
ted by Schreger and Soemmering, is denied by Mascagni,
Rudolphi, and J. F. Meckel, and, I may add, by Bichat
and Beclard. This account differs not much from that of
Dr Gordon, who could not recognise distinctly more than
one coat, similar to the inner coat of veins. The fila¬
mentous layer noticed by Bichat, and considered by Mas¬
cagni as an external coat, is of course excluded.
The knotted or jointed appearance of lymphatics is oc¬
casioned chiefly by short membranous folds in their ca¬
vity, called valves. These folds are thinner than the ve¬
nous valves; but they are equally strong, and have the
same shape and mode of attachment to the inside of the
vessel. They are generally found in pairs, but never
three at the same point. A single valve is sometimes
found at the junction of a large branch with a trunk, or of
a trunk with a vein. According to Cruikshank, there is
considerable variety in the distribution of valves; but in
general a pair of valves will be found at every one-twentieth
of an inch in lymphatics of middling size. In the larger
lymphatics they are less numerous than in the small.
The structure of these valvular folds is as little known as
that of the inner membrane, of which they appear to be
prolongations. According to Mascagni, they sometimes
contain a small portion of fine adipose substance.
The tissue which forms the lymphatic tubes is strong,
dense, and resisting; and from the weight of mercury
which they bear without rupture, it has been generally
concluded that they are stronger in proportion to their
size than veins. This tissue also possesses considerable
elasticity.
The opposite states of lymphatics during digestion and
after long fasting, and the phenomena of mercurial injec¬
tions, prove that the tissue of which they consist is dis¬
tensible and contractile. Though it does not exhibit ap¬
pearances of muscular structure, it has been long sup¬
posed to be endowed with a property analogous to irrita¬
bility. Such is the inference which Hunter, Hewson,
Cruikshank, and others, have derived from various phe¬
nomena in the living and recently dead tissue.
Though Bichat doubts what he terms organic sen¬
sible contractility, yet he admits insensible contractility
as necessary to the functions ascribed to lymphatics.
Previous to his time Schreger, in different experiments,
observed the first of these qualities, in consequence of
the application not only of acids, butter of antimony, and
alcohol, but even of hot water and cold air. Similar con¬
tractions and relaxations have been induced by mechani¬
cal irritation. Such phenomena are observed not only
during life, but even after death; and if to this we add,
that the thoracic duct is often after death large and
flaccid, though empty, but in the living body is almost
always contracted and scarcely visible, and that a por¬
tion of it included between two ligatures, and punctured,
quickly expels its contents, it may be inferred that the
lymphatic tissue possesses a considerable degree of this
organic property.
Lymphatic Gland or Ganglion, Kernel. ( Glandules Lym¬
phatics,— Glandules Conglohata:,—Die Saugader-Drii-
sen.)
Lymphatic This is the proper place to consider the structure of those
glands. bodies which are in common language termed kernels, to
which anatomists have applied the name of lymphatic
glands, and the French anatomists have more recently
given that of lymphatic ganglions. The usual appear¬
ance, figure, and situation of these bodies are well known, q er
In general they are spheroidal, seldom quite globular, and Ai A
most commonly their shape is that of a flattened spheroid.
In different subjects, and in subjects at different agesA’W
they vary from two or three lines to an inch in diameter.gla|i'I
The medium rate is about half an inch. Their surface is
smooth; their colour grayish-pink, sometimes pale red,
bluish, or of a peach-blossom tinge,—varieties which seem
to depend on degrees of bloody transudation; for, when
washed and slightly macerated, they assume the gray or
whitish-blue colour. In a few instances they are jet
black,—a peculiarity which seems to depend on a degree
of black infiltration, or on the incipient stage of that
change which has been termed melanosis, or melanotic de¬
position. The idea that it may be derived from the car¬
bonaceous matter suspended in the atmosphere of great
cities, has been shown by Cruikshank to be absurd. Its
anatomical possibility may be justly questioned.
They are always situate in the celluloso-adipose tissue
found in the flexures of the joints. They are found in
small number at the bend of the ham, and that of the el¬
bow; in the armpit and groin they are more numerous;
in considerable number in the cellular tissue of the lum¬
bar region, before the psoas and iliacus muscles; and they
are most abundant round the neck. The posterior me¬
diastinum, and the cellular tissue between the mesentery
and vertebral column, abound with lymphatic glands mu¬
tually connected in clusters.
Each gland may be said to consist of a peculiar sub¬
stance, inclosed in a thin membrane like a capsule. The
capsule is a thin, pellucid, colourless substance, which is
resolved by maceration into fine whitish fibres. It is very
vascular; and Mascagni appears to have detected absorb¬
ents in it. It is connected to the proper substance by
fine filamentous or cellular tissue. The capsule is consi¬
dered by Beclard as a fibro-cellular membrane. The pro¬
per substance of lymphatic glands consists of a homoge¬
neous pulp, in which injections have shown numerous ra¬
mifications of minute vessels. As these vessels are in¬
jected from the lymphatics which are seen to enter the
body of the gland, they are believed to be continuous with
them, and to be lymphatics arranged in a peculiar man¬
ner. These vessels are of two kinds, one entering the
gland, called vasa afferentia or inferentia, entrant lympha¬
tics ; the other quitting, are called vasa efferenlia, egredient
lymphatics. This distinction is founded on the direction
of the valves. In the vasa inferentia the free margins of
the valves are turned towards the gland; in the vasa effe¬
renlia they are turned from it.
The number of entrant lymphatics varies from one to
thirty, and, what is more remarkable, very rarely corre¬
sponds with that of the egredient lymphatics, which are
in general much fewer. Cruikshank states that he has in¬
jected fourteen entrant lymphatics to one gland, to which
only one egredient vessel corresponded. When the entrant
lymphatic reaches the gland, it splits into many radiated
branches, which immediately sink into its substance.
The egredient lymphatics are generally larger than the
entrants. j
The arrangement of these vessels in the interior of the
glands is best described by Mascagni, whose observations
are confirmed by Gordon. To see this well, it is requisite
to inject the entrant lymphatics of two glands in two dif¬
ferent modes; one with mercury, the other with wax,
glue, or gypsum. After a successful mercurial injection,
the entrants are seen, before sinking in the gland, to di¬
vide into two orders of branches. One of them, which
belongs chiefly to the surface or circumference of the
gland, consists of large vessels, bent, convoluted, and in-
ANATOMY. 731
i (eral terwoven in every direction, communicating with each every part and texture almnsf' nf tha UnJ u u tu i ^
. Al.,omy. other and swelling out into dilated cells at certain parts ; Prochaska, has led the latter to conclude that [hfs^pbfon AnZmv
h r” leSK^"’ ,f0rraa™raUt?net-Workon “"derstood in the ordinary mode, is no tennble Pro’' - - '
^ m the CeUS °r f f3- 7^ this’subject Stich at
distenuea pans ot me larger vessels. tendon, thinks he is justihed in dividing all the substanees
From these distended parts or cells, again, arise many of the animal frame into two.-those which mav bt in
minute vessels, which, after winding about on the surface jected, and those which cannot. In this manteY he Je-
of the g and, unite gradually, and form the egredientves- gards skin, especially its outer surface, muscle, various
scis 01 t m g ana. .... , , Parts of the mucous membranes, the pia mater, the lunes
The wax, glue, or gypsum injection is employed to the muscular part of the heart, the spleen, the liver, kfd-
show the deep-seated or central vessels of the gland, neys, and other glands, as very injectibi;; but tendon
d!.st"butlon 5)f.tllese 18 found to be quite the same as ligament, cartilage, &c. as not injectible.4 Without en-
Thf IT p -i i it , TinF minutelJ int0 the merits' of this distinction, or
The cells delineated by Cruikshank I am disposed to the inferences which Prochaska deduces from it it is
regard as mere dilated parts of the lymphatic vessels sufficient, so far as all useful knowledge is concerned to
which constitute the intimate structure of the gland. infer that blood-vessels are an essential constituent of
Ihese minute tubes are connected by delicate filament- every organic texture, however different; and if there be
ous tissue, which is more abundant in early life than af¬
terwards.
Injections show the existence of blood-vessels which
any other matter inherent in such textures, it must be
derived from these as a secretion. Nerve, brain, muscle,
osseous matter, and cartilage, are depositions or the pro-
.1 ... ’  anu cue ueposiuons or tne pro-
accompany the convolutions of tne lymphatics in the duct of nutritious secretion from the respective arteries
glands, but no neives have been found either in the of these organized substances.
glands or their capsules
The white matter described by Haller and Bichat is
not contained in the cellular substance, but in the cells of
the lymphatic vessels themselves.
The three orders of tubes or canals, the anatomical
characters of which have now been completed, constitute
what has been termed the Vascular System; (Vasa;
Systema Vasorum; Das Gefass System; Le Systeme
Vasculaire.) The great extent of its distribution, and the
part which it performs in all the processes of the living
body, both in health and during disease, must be easily
understood. In every texture and organ arteries and
veins are found; and in all, except a few, the art of the
anatomist has demonstrated those colourless valvular tubes
denominated lymphatics. The arrangement of the former,
especially in the substance of the several textures, essen¬
tially constitutes what is termed the organization of these
textures. Many anatomists have imagined that each tex¬
ture has a proper matter, or parenchyma, by which it was
supposed to be particularly distinguished, and which was
conceived to consist of minute, inorganic, solid atoms.
ie lei t ns opinion be well founded or not, it is perhaps or threads mutually connected, and running in various
o itt e moment to inquire. At present it is certain that directions through the body in the mode of ramification.
jf-rntirm rT,~ *       , i it *1
Nerve, Nervous Tissue. (Nsogoi/,—Nervus,— Tissu Ner-
veux,—Systeme Nerveax.')
I am unwilling to adopt here the denomination of rami-Nerves.
ous system, because it is not my intention, under this
head, to treat of the brain and spinal chord. I deviate
from this practice, 1st, because I do not conceive it de¬
monstrated that the brain is the same organic substance
as the nerves; 2d, because, although it were, this would
not contribute to the knowledge of the minute structure
of the nervous chords; 3d, because the arrangement of
these chords in the animal body is inconsistent with this,
and will be best understood when described separately.
The nervous system of the animal body includes two
general divisions. The first of these, named brain and
spinal chord, is collected in a single and indivisible mass,
and contained in a peculiar cavity, formed by part of the
osseous system of the animal,—the vertebral column, and
cranium, in the vertebrated animals generally. The second
division of the nervous system, with which alone we are
at present concerned, is found in the form of long chords
in
it is not susceptible of demonstration.
The phenomena of injections, in which he . was emi¬
nently successful, led Ruysch to entertain the opinion,
that every substance of the animal frame consists of
nothing but vessels. This idea, though opposed by Al-
To these the name of nervous trunks or chords, or simply
nerves, has been long applied.
The structure of the nerves has been examined with
different degrees of accuracy and minuteness by a great
number of anatomists. The more ancient authors, who
t • j i # o ^ ^ ^j -Txi*" xiuiiiuc/i ui ciiidLuiiiifei/b* x lie IT1OF0 ancieiiL autiiors, wiio
inus, on t ie same grounds on which it was advanced, wrote at a period when observation was much corrupted by
was nevertheless revived by William Hunter, who believed fancy, and most of those who give descriptions in general
a tie inorganic parts of animal bodies are too minute systems, may be without much injustice passed over in si-
or sensible, oi even microscopical examination. In every lence. It is sufficient to say that some good facts are given
,0^evei mir|uteJ always excepting nails, hair, tooth in the works of Wfillis, Vieussens, Morgagni, and Mayer;
enamel, &c. vessels may be traced; and even a cicatrix,
he demonstrated, is vascular to its centre.2
By the aid of the microscope the researches of Lieber-
kulm tended still more powerfully to favour this opinion.3
-   *    7 T    y 0—0 '  J *
that Prochaska, Pfeffinger, the second Monro, and Fontana,
are the first who professedly wrote on the structure of the
nerves; that the works of Reil,5 Bichat, and Gordon, con¬
tain the most accurate information on the nervous,chords
~ ^ cv/ XC4VV7IAI Lino upuiiUil* UUU 1110 IHUbl cl00Ul(lt0 1111U1 Hid L1U11 Ull 1110 1101 V U lib* CilUlUS
ut repeated observation of the effects of injection in in general; and that the treatises of Scarpa6 and Whitzer7
4 -Annotationum Acadcmicarum lib. iii. 2 Medical Observations and Inquiries, vol. ii. 3 De Villis Intestinormn.
t yeorgii Prochaska Disquisitio Anatomico-Physiologica Organismi Corporis Ilumani ejusque Processus Vitalis. Vienna:, 1812, 4to.
c P- lieil, Exercitationes An atomic cr de Structurn Nervorum. II ala:, 1787"
_ ^naiomicarum Annotalionum liber primus dc Nervorum Gangliis ct Plexibus. Auctore Antonio Scarpa. Ticini, 1792.
■ De Corporis Humani Gangliorum Fabrica atque Usu Monographia. Auctore Carolo Gulielmo Wutzer, Med. Chirurg. Doct. &c.
732
ANATOMY.
General contain the best descriptions of the arrangement of those
Anatomy. parts named ganglions and plexuses.
Each nerve forms connections in three different ways.
Nerves. ^ A nerve must be connected to some part of the cen¬
tral mass by one of its extremities,—the cerebral or spi¬
nal end; 2d, it must be connected to some texture or or¬
gan, or part of an organ, by the other extremity, the
organic end; and, 3c?, it may be connected to other nerves
by a species of junction called anastomosis (ansa), anas¬
tomosing or uniting point. By means of the first two
connections, it is supposed to maintain a communication
between the central mass and the several organs; and by
the latter it is understood to be subservient to a more
general and extensive intercourse, which is believed to
be necessary in various functions and actions of the ani¬
mal system.
Every nerve consists essentially of two parts; one ex¬
terior, protecting, and containing; the other interior, con¬
tained, and dynamic,1 forming the indispensable part of
the nervous structure.
The first of these, which has been known since the
time at least of Red by the name neurilema (vjvgov e'lXsu,
tiXrifia, nervi involucrum), or nerve-coat (Nervenhaut,
Red; Nervenhulle, Meckel), has the form and nature of
a dense membrane, not quite transparent, which is found
on the outside of the nervous chord or filament, and in¬
vests the proper nervous substance. It must not, how¬
ever, be imagined that the neurilema forms a cylindrical
tube, in the interior of which the nervous matter is con¬
tained. This latter disposition, if it actually exists, ap¬
plies to the smaller nerves only, and to some of those
which go to the organs of sensation,—a peculiarity which
we shall notice subsequently.
Any large nervous trunk, for example the spiral or
median of the arm, or the sciatic nerve of the thigh, is
found to be composed of several small nervous chords
placed in juxtaposition, and each of which, consisting of
appropriate neurilema and nervous substance, is connected
to the other by delicate filamentous tissue. These, how¬
ever, do not through their entire course maintain the
parallel disposition in respect to each other, but are ob¬
served to cross and penetrate each other, so as to form
an intimate interlacement of nervous chords and fila¬
ments, each of which, however minute, is accompanied
with its investing neurilema. The neurilema, in short,
may be represented as a cylindrical membranous tube,
giving from its inner surface many productions forming
smaller tubes (canaliculi ; die Nervenrohre ; primitive cy¬
linders of Fontana2), in which the proper nervous matter
is contained.
Of this arrangement the consequence is, that each nerve
or nervous trunk, enveloped in its general neurilema, is
composed, nevertheless, of a number, more or less con¬
siderable, of smaller chord-like nervous threads {funiculi
nervei, Prochaska; chordce, fanes, Nervenstrdnge, Reil),
into which the nerve, by maceration and suitable prepa¬
ration, may be resolved. Each chord, again, or nerve¬
string, as Reil terms it, though invested with a proper
neurilem, may be further resolved into an infinite number
of minute filiform or capillary filaments {Jila, Jibrillce,
Nervenfasern, Reil), which, invested in a delicate cover¬
ing, are understood to constitute the ultimate texture of
the nerve.
This threefold division may be easily observed in the Get d
brachial and spiral nerves of the arm, and still more dis- Anat.iy.
tinctly in the sciatic in the thigh. The utility of under-
standing the internal arrangement from which it results ^er *•
will appear forthwith, when the structure of those parts
termed ganglions and plexuses comes under examination.
Of this arrangement in different nerves, and in different
regions, this membrane undergoes great modification ; and
all opinions on its nature derived from thickness or trans¬
parency are liable to considerable fallacy. Scarpa seems
to view it as connected, in anatomical origin and charac¬
ter, with the hard membrane {meninx dura, dura mater).
Reil, who devoted more care and time to the examination
of its nature and structure than any other inquirer, repre¬
sents it as consisting of cellular substance, many blood¬
vessels, and some lymphatics.3 Bichat thinks it re¬
sembles the soft membrane of the brain {pia meninx, pia
mater), and is derived from it.4 Gordon considers the
neurilema of the cerebral nerves as consisting of soft mem¬
brane {pia mater) at their origin, but in all other situations
as a species of cellular membrane.
By Mayer the neurilema is accounted a fibrous tissue,
for the following reasons. Is?, It consists almost entirely
of tendinous fibres, and is cellular only where it is very
thin. 2c?, The transverse folds presented by most of the
nerves, and which give them a denticulated form, are de¬
rived from the neurilema, are of fibrous character, and are
similar to those observed in tendinous sheaths. 3c?, Seve¬
ral nervous productions are actually converted into tern
dinous or fibrous filaments ; for example, the brain of the
snail tribe, and the spinal chord both in these and other
animals at the cauda equina. 4?A, The neurilema is either
a continuation of the proper cerebral membrane {pia
mater), or very similar to it; and this membrane is fibrous
and aponeurotic at the spinal chord, and even at its upper
end, and, according to Mayer, forms the denticulated
ligament, which is a fibrous tissue.
These views, which are the result, not of observation,
but of hypothesis, it is impossible to adopt. Its connection
with the pia mater was disproved by Reil; and though its
analogy with the denticulated ligament were established,
it would prove nothing regarding the neurilema. Upon
the whole, the idea of Reil is the most probable. Accord¬
ing to the observations of this anatomist, who examined
the neurilema after fine and successful injection, it is libe¬
rally supplied with blood-vessels. These proceeding from
the neighbouring arteries penetrate the filamentous sheath
of the nerve ; and, immediately on reaching the neurilema,
divaricating at right angles, generally run along the nerv¬
ous threads {funes), parallel to them, forming numerous
anastomotic communications, and divide into innumerable
minute vessels, which penetrate between them into the
minute neurilematic canals. So manifold is the ramifica¬
tion, and so minute the distribution, that in these canals
not a particle of nervous substance is found which is not
supplied with a vessel.5 The arrangement of the veins is
analogous. . ,
It appears, therefore, that the neurilema is a tissue of
membranous form, with a multiplied mechanical surface,
liberally supplied with blood-vessels, from which the
nervous matter is secreted and nourished. It is impos¬
sible, indeed, to doubt that, of the two parts which com¬
pose the nervous chord, it is the most perfectly organiz-
1 The term dynamic is used to denote in a general sense the properties of animal substances.
2 Observations sur la Structure des Nerfs, &c. apud Traite. stir le Vcntn, &c. par M. Felix Fontana. Florence, 1731. ^ ,
3 Reil, Exercitationcs Anatomiccc de Structura Nervorum, cap. i. p. 3. 4 Anatomic Generate, p. 1. 7?
4 De Structura Nervorum, cap. v. p. 19.
ANATOMY.
G ?ral ed ; and that, though it may not be similar in structure to
An my. the pia mater, it is (juite analogous in the use to which it
^/."^is subservient. Like that membrane, it sustains the
N«*• vessels of the nerve ; it presents a multiplied surface,
over which the vessels are distributed; and, by penetrating
deep into the body of the nerve, it conveys the nutritious
vessels in the most capillary form to the inmost recesses
of the nervous substance.1
The arrangement which has been above described is
the only one which can be regarded as general. It varies
in particular regions; and these varieties in the neurile-
matic disposition occur principally in the nerves which are
distributed to the proper organs of sensation.2 ls£, The
olfactory nerve is soft, pulpy, and destitute of neurilema,
from its origin in the Sylvian fissure, to the gray bulbous
enlargement which terminates its passage in the cranium ;
but as soon as it reaches the canaliculi or grooves of the
ethmoid bone, and begins to be distributed through the
nasal anfractuosities, it is distinctly neurilematic. 2d,
The optic nerve is still more peculiar in this respect. The
instant it quits the optic commissure (commissura trac-
tuum), it begins to be invested by a firm general neurile¬
ma, which sends into the interior substance of the nerve
various membranous septa or partitions, forming separate
canals, in which the nervous matter is contained. These
partitions, however, are so thin, that at first sight the optic
nerve seems to consist merely of one exterior membranous
cylinder inclosing the proper membranous substance.
3d, Lastly, we may remark, that the auditory nerve, or
the soft portion of the seventh pair of most anatomical
writers, is the only nerve in which this covering cannot
be traced.
The neurilema is much thinner and more delicate in the
nerves which are distributed to the internal organs, as the
lungs, heart, stomach, &c. (nerves of the organic life,
great sympathetic and pneumogastric nerves, par vagum),
than in those belonging to the muscular system.
The second component part of the nervous chord or
filament is the proper nervous matter which occupies the
cavity of the neurilematic canals. Little is known con¬
cerning the nature or organization of this substance. It
is whitish, somewhat soft, and pulpy; but whether it con¬
sists of aggregated globules, as was attempted to be esta¬
blished by Della Torre and Sir Everard Home, or of linear
tracts disposed in a situation parallel to each other, as
appears to be the result of the inquiries of Monro, Reil,
and others, or of capillary cylinders containing a transpa¬
rent gelatinous fluid, as Fontana represents, seems quite
uncertain. It has been presumed, rather than demonstrat¬
ed, that it resembles cerebral substance. But this analo¬
gy, though admitted, would throw little light on the sub¬
ject ; for at present it is almost impossible to find two
anatomical observers who have the same views of the in¬
timate nature of cerebral substance itself. Whatever be
its intimate arrangement, it appears to be a secretion
from the neurilematic vessels. (Reil.)
The structure of the nervous chord may be demon¬
strated in the following manner. When a portion of
nerve is placed in an alkaline solution, the whole, or near¬
ly the whole, of the nervous matter is softened and dis¬
solved, or may be washed out of the neurilematic canals,
733
which are not affected by this agent, and the disposition General
of which may be then examined and demonstrated.3 Anatomy.
Aqueous maceration may likewise be advantageously em-
ployed to unfold this structure; for it separates and de- Nerves*
composes the cellular tissue by which the neurilematic
canals are united, and subsequently occasions decomposi¬
tion of the nervous substance, while it leaves, at least for
some time, the neurilema not much affected. When,
however, the maceration is too long continued, it is se¬
parated and detached like other macerated textures.
Lastly, If a large nerve be placed in diluted acid for
the space of one or two weeks, the neurilema is gradu¬
ally dissolved, and the nervous matter becomes so much
indurated and consolidated that it may be separated from
the contiguous chords in filaments with great facility.4
In undergoing this change, the portion of nerve becomes
much shorter and considerably contracted,—is subjected,
in short, to the process of crispation ; so that unless a
large nerve like the sciatic be employed for the experi¬
ment, it may be impossible to obtain the result in the
most satisfactory form. These experiments, with many
others of the same nature, were first performed by Pro¬
fessor Reil, and afterwards repeated and varied by Bichat
and Gordon. Personal repetition of them enables me
to assert, that, when correctly conducted, they never
failed to give the results as described by these authors.
Nervous tissue, like all others, receives a proportion of
what may be denominated the systems of distribution,—
cellular tissue and blood-vessels. In the substance of the
former, the disposition of which we have already remark¬
ed, we find the more conspicuous branches of the latter
distributed. In a more minute and divided form they
penetrate the neurilema and nervous substance. Reil,
who derived his conclusions from the result of delicate
and successful injections, perhaps over-rated the quantity
of blood which in the sound state they convey; for it is
quite certain that, in the healthy state, hardly any red
blood enters the nervous tissue, as may be easily shown
by exposing the sciatic nerve of a dog or rabbit.
No good chemical analysis of nervous matter has yet
been published. Every chemical examination of it has
been conducted on the assumption that it is analogous to
cerebral matter. Of this, however, there is no direct
proof. In the analysis by Vauquelin, the neurilematic co¬
vering appears not to have been detached,—a proceeding
always necessary to obtain correct results in this inquiry.
The effects of acids and alcohol show that it contains al¬
buminous matter ; but beyond this it is impossible at pre¬
sent to make any precise statements.
This description may communicate an idea of the struc¬
ture of the nervous chord in general. In particular situ¬
ations this structure is considerably modified. The modi¬
fications to which we allude occur under two forms—gang¬
lions (die Knoten), and plexuses (die Nervengeflechte).
Every ganglion consists essentially ot three parts,—1^, Nervous
an exterior covering; 2d, a collection of minute nervousgangfi°ns’
filament; and, 3d, a quantity of peculiar cellular or fila¬
mentous texture, by which these filaments are connected,
and which constitutes the great mass of the ganglion.
The ganglions are of two kinds, the spinal or simple,
and the non-spinal or compound. Ihese two kinds of
Iteil, Exercitationes Anatomicce de Structura Nervorum, cap. i.
2 By the term “ proper organs of sensation” are understood those of sight, hearing, smell, and taste, which are confined to a fixed
spot in the system.
3 Iteil de Structura Nervorum, cap. i. p. 3 and 5. . .
4 According to the experiments of Reil, nitrous acid diluted with water answers best. Muriatic acid, though equal or even supe¬
rior in effecting solution of the neurilema, softens the nervous matter too much, and separates the component filaments too com¬
pletely. (De Structura Nervorum, cap. iii. p. 16.)
734
ANATOMY.
General bodies differ from each other,—Ltf, in the situation which
Anatomy, they respectively occupy; 2c?, in the kind of envelope
with which they are invested; 3d, in the mode in which the
N™s nervous filaments pass through them and from them. By
ganft ions, w}10 considers the ganglion of Gasserius, the cili¬
ary and the maxillary of Meckel, as cerebral ganglions,
they are divided into three sets, those of the cerebral sys¬
tem, the spinal system, and the vegetative, or those con¬
nected with the organs of involuntary motion.1
Void of the dense strong coat with which the others
are invested, the cerebral ganglions consist of soft second¬
ary matter, connected to the filaments of one, or at most
two branches, and are arranged with less complexity.
(Wutzer.)
The spinal ganglions are said to possess two coverings,
one of which resembles the hard -cerebral membrane
(meninx dura), the other the soft cerebral membrane
(meninx tenuis, pia mater). The non-spinal or compound
ganglions have also two coverings, which are merely dif¬
ferent modifications of filamentous tissue, less dense and
compact than in the former. Both these sets of ganglions
being by maceration stripped of their tunics, and depriv¬
ed of the soft, pulpy, cellular matter, are resolved into an
innumerable series of nervous threads, most of which are
minute and scarcely perceptible : all are continuous with
the nerve or nerves above and below the ganglion. It
appears that the nervous chord, when it enters the one
apex of the ganglion, begins to be separated into its com¬
ponent threads, which diverge and form intervals, between
which the delicate cellular tissue is interposed; and that
these filaments are subsequently collected at the opposite
extremity of the ganglion, where they are connected with
the other nerve or nerves. Scarpa, to whom we are in¬
debted for most of the knowledge we possess on this sub¬
ject,2 compares the arrangement to a rope, the component
cords of which are untwisted and teased out at a certain
part. Lastly, In the simple ganglions, the filaments of
which they consist invariably follow the axis of the gang¬
lion ; but in the compound ones they are found to rise
towards the sides and emerge from them; and upon this
variety in the direction and course of these filaments de¬
pends the variety of figure for which these two orders of
ganglions are remarkable. These nervous threads (sta-
mina s. fila nerved), described by Scarpa, correspond to
the medullary filaments {fila medullaria) of Wutzer. Ac¬
cording to this anatomist, these filaments, when about to
enter the ganglion, lay aside their neurilem ; yet they are
sufficiently tough to resist a certain degree of tension.
Wutzer mentions a cluster of vesicles or cells {cancelli)
in the filamentous tissue of the ganglion ; but he was not
enabled by any means, mechanical or chemical, to ascer¬
tain their exact nature.
The ganglions are well supplied with blood-vessels, de¬
rived in general from the neighbouring arteries. The in¬
timate distribution is represented by Wutzer to be the
following. The artery proceeding to a ganglion gives
vessels to the filamentous tissue, and, perforating the pro¬
per coat, is immediately ramified into innumerable minute
canals, the first order of which forms vascular nets on the
inner surface of the tunic, while the residual twigs pene¬
trate the flocculent texture, and the individual vesicles of
the secondary or filamentous matter of the ganglion.3
This short exposition of the structure of the ganglions
shows the mistaken notions of Johnstone, Unzer, Bichat,
and others, on the structure and uses of these bodies. Gefa]
ls£, The idea, first advanced by Johnstone and Unzer, Ansjn
adopted by Metzger, Hufeland, Prochaska, Sue, and^K
Harless, and afterwards applied with so much ingenuity ,Us
by Bichat, that the ganglions are so many n-ervous cen-gan: ns’'
tres or minute brains, is disproved by strict anatomical
observation. 2c?, That they are connected with the order
of involuntary actions, and influence these actions, is a
gratuitous hypothesis, and may be true or false without
being necessarily the case. 3c?, Lastly, we remark, as a
circumstance of some importance, that the only difference
between a ganglion and any other part of a nervous chord
is, that in the former the minute nervous filaments appear
to be uncovered with neurilema, and lodged in a mass
of cellular tissue, which is inclosed in the neurilematic
capsule; while in the latter each nervous filament has
its appropriate neurilema, and the cellular tissue, instead
of being within, is on its exterior, and connects it to the
contiguous filaments.
In various situations two, three, or more nervous trunksNer
or chords mutually unite by means of some of their com-pkx
ponent threads, and after proceeding in this manner for
a short space, again separate, but not in the same number
of original trunks, or preserving the same appearance.
In general, the number of chords into which they finally
separate is greater than that of which they consisted be¬
fore union. Three or four nervous trunks, for example,
after uniting in this manner, will form on their final sepa¬
ration five or six nerves or nervous chords; and it is
quite impossible to determine which of the latter order
was derived from any one or two of the former, or what
number of individual chords it has received from each.
Between the two points, also, the first point of union and
the last of separation, many of the more component threads
are detached from two or more of their trunks, and, after
first uniting with each other in an indistinct net-work, are
again united to two or more of the nervous chords near
the point at which they finally separate from the further
end of union. This arrangement has been termed a
plexus, plait, or weaving, in consequence of the manner in
which the nervous chords are interlaced or plaited toge¬
ther. The arrangement which we have noticed as con¬
sisting of the more minute nervous threads has been call¬
ed a smaller plexus {plexus minor). It is a subordinate
plexus within a larger one.
The best and most distinct example of a plexus is that
commonly named the brachial or axillary. This, as is
well known, is situate in the space contained between the
broad dorsal muscle {latissimus dorsi) behind, and the
great pectoral muscle before, and is formed in the follow¬
ing manner. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth cervi¬
cal nerves, and the first dorsal, after forming the usual
connections {ansae), pass downwards from the vicinity of
the vertebrae between the middle and anterior scaleni
muscles, and, nearly opposite the lower margin of the
seventh cervical vertebra, or about the level of the first
rib, begin to be united by the component threads of each
nerve. Threads of the fifth and sixth cervical unite,
sometimes to form a single chord, in other instances to
be connected a short space onward with threads of the
seventh cervical in a similar manner. The seventh and
eighth form two kinds of union. When the seventh is
large, it divides almost equally into two chords or branches,
one of which is connected first with the fifth and sixth,
1 Dc Corporis Humani Gangliorum Fabrica, See. cap. i. ii. sect. 41, p. 52.
2 Anatomicarum Annotationum liber primus dc Nervorum Gangliis et Plexibus. Auct. Ant. Scarpa.
3 De Corporis Humani Gangliorum Fabrica, See. cap. ii. sect. 41.
ANATOMY.
^#1 afterwards with the eighth, and with the first dorsal by
iiiatjiy- interlacement of minute nervous threads. The other
either passes downward to form one of the separate bra-
Mus chial nerves, or is also connected with the eighth cervical
and first dorsal in a plexiform manner.
From this arrangement immediately arise the individual
nervous branches which form the nerves of the arm, and
which are named brachial nerves. The interlacement of
minute nervous threads between the seventh and eighth
cervical and the first dorsal, is what Scarpa has termed
the plexus minor. He says it is peculiar, in being quite
uniform, and in connecting those nervous branches which,
from their subsequent destination, are called median and
ulnar.
This description, though not generally applicable, will
communicate some faint idea of the nervous unions and
interlacements termed plexus or webs. For more minute
information on the distribution, arrangement, and confi¬
guration of this part of the nervous system, we refer to
the work of Scarpa already quoted.1
Plexiform arrangements are not confined to the exte¬
rior regions of the body. They are more numerous inter¬
nally; and almost all the organs of the chest and belly
have each a plexus, sometimes two, from which they de¬
rive their nervous chords.
Plexiform arrangements are generally situate in the
neighbourhood of blood-vessels, and in some instances in¬
closing considerable arterial trunks more or less accurate¬
ly. Thus the axillary plexus surrounds the axillary ar¬
tery. The cceliac artery is surrounded with the solar
plexus; and the coronary, hepatic, splenic, superior me¬
senteric, and renal, are also surrounded with plexiform
nervous filaments. In some instances these nervous fila¬
ments are so intimately connected with the arterial tubes
as to lead some anatomists to consider them as forming a
peculiar net-work surrounding the vessel, and to exercise
great influence on the circulation. (Wrisberg, Ludwig,
and Haase.)
It is remarkable that the structure of the nervous chords
which form a plexus has either appeared so simple as not
to demand particular attention, or is so obscure as to be
never noticed. Have the nervous chords and threads in
such situations their usual envelope ? Is the nervous
matter in the chords quite the same as in other situations ?
Are there any other means of union, save the nervous sub¬
stance itself? We believe there is no doubt that every
chord in a plexus is provided with its neurilema, as in
other places ; but this neurilema is generally thinner and
more delicate, and the general neurilema seems to be
wanting. Its mechanical properties of cohesion and re¬
sistance have not been examined.
The view now given of the structure and arrangement
of the nervous plexus leads Scarpa to consider them as
nearly allied to ganglions. The same separation of the
component threads or filaments of the nerve or nerves,
the same interlacement, and the same or similar formation
of new chords, appear to take place in both orders of
structure. A ganglion, indeed, he conceives, is a con¬
densed or contracted plexus; and a plexus is an expand¬
ed or unfolded ganglion. The anatomical purpose of both
appears to be simply a new arrangement or disposition of
^ervous branches, previous to their ultimate distribution
|n the tissues or organs to which they are destined. This
is nothing but the expression of a fact,—the interpreta¬
tion in intelligible terms of an arrangement of organized
parts, without reference to any supposed uses.
735
I have already shown what is meant by the organic General
end or termination of a nerve. Although the nervous Anatomy,
trunks are distributed in every direction through the ani-'^^^'
mal body, they do not terminate in all the tissues or or- ^erve3-
gans indiscriminately, and have been observed to be lost
in the following only: 1st, The proper organs of sensa¬
tion, the eye, ear, nose, palate, and tongue; 2dly, the
muscles, whether subservient to voluntary or to involun¬
tary motion, as the heart, stomach, intestines, &c.; Sdly,
the mucous surfaces; kthly, the skin; 5thly, glands, sa¬
livary, liver, kidneys, &c.; Sthly, bones.
_ Nerves, therefore, are not organs of general distribu¬
tion. According to Bichat, they have never been traced
to the following tissues:—the cartilages, both articular
and of the cavities; fibrous textures, \\z. periosteum, dura
meninx, capsular ligaments, aponeurotic sheaths, aponeu¬
rosis in general, tendon, and ligament; fibro-cartilaginous
textures—those of the external ear, nose, trachea, and
eyelids (cartilages of other authors) ; the semilunar carti¬
lages of the knee-joint; those of the temporo-maxillary
articulation ; those of the intervertebral spaces ; marrow;
the lymphatic glands.
To this we may add the testimony of Walter of Berlin,
who, after several laborious researches, came to the con¬
clusion that the pleura, the pericardium, the thoracic
duct, and the peritoneum, receive no nerves, and that,
contrary to the opinions of the most eminent recent ana¬
tomists, no nerves terminate in the lymphatic or conglo¬
bate glands. Sometimes, indeed, these organs are perfo¬
rated by one or two twigs, as he often had occasion to
observe; but they instantly proceed to the next place as¬
signed to them, and in which they are finally lost.2 If,
after this conclusion of Walter, personal testimony can ba
of any use, I may add, that I have examined the dura
mater, the periosteum, and most of the synovial mem¬
branes repeatedly, to discover nervous filaments in them,
and always without success; and I may say the same re¬
garding the absence or non-appearance of nerves in the
peritoneum and pleura.
The nerves have different uses in the different organs
and tissues to which they are distributed. 1. In the or¬
gans of sensation they receive the material impressions
made on the mechanical part of the organ. In the mu¬
cous membrane of the nasal passages, the filaments of
the olfactory nerve are affected by aromatic particles, dis¬
solved or suspended in the air. In the eye the retina re¬
ceives the last image formed by the transmitting powers
of the transparent parts. In the ear the terminations of
the auditory nerve are affected by the oscillations or
minute changes in the fluid of the labyrinth, occasioned
by the motions of the tympanal bones. In the palate,
tongue, and throat, the gustatory nerves are affected by
sapid bodies dissolved in the mouth, or applied in a fluid
state to the mucous membrane of that cavity. 2. In the
system of voluntary muscles, the nerves retain the action
of the muscular fibres in a state of uniformity and equality;
and keep them obedient to the will. In the involuntary
muscles they appear merely to keep their action equable,
regular, and uniform; and in both they maintain a com¬
munication, consent, or harmony of action between dif¬
ferent parts of the same system of organs, or even between
organs concurring to the same function. 3. In the glan¬
dular organs the nerves certainly exercise some influence
over the process of secretion; but what is the exact na¬
ture of this influence, or in what degree it takes place, is
quite uncertain. This may be said to comprehend all that
1 Annotation. Anatom, cap. iii. sect. 9, p- 94, 95.
* PrceJ'at. Tab. Nero. Thoracis et Abdominis, J. G. Walter. Berolini, 1783.
736
ANATOMY.
General is accurately known regarding the uses of the nerves.
Anatomy. Every other doctrine relating to sensibility, sympathy, ir-
ritability, &c. is either unfounded, not proved, or altoge-
erves. i1Tiaginary and hypothetical.
In the foetus the nerves are developed with remarkable
perfection. I cannot speak from personal observation
much earlier than the sixth month, when I have found the
nerves of the extremities and voluntary muscles large
and distinct. At the eighth month they are still more
conspicuous. The anterior crural nerves are in the form
of flat white cords, one and a half line broad, and their
branches like good-sized threads. The sciatic is still
more distinct. In the form of a thick cylindrical cord,
fully a line in diameter, and not unlike a piece of whip¬
cord, it is tough, stringy, and resists tension ; and its con¬
stituent threads are well marked. I immersed a portion
of this nerve three and a half inches long in aquapotassa,
when it first became much firmer and denser than before,
assumed in two days the satin fibrous appearance first
described by Fontana, and at length by solution of the
nervous matter was separated into chords and neurilema-
tic canals. In this state, preserved in spirit of turpentine,
it conveys a tolerably correct idea of the arrangement of
the neurilematic canals.
The nerves of the involuntary muscles are equally dis¬
tinct in proportion. Those of the lung, heart, and splanch¬
nic system are distinct and manifest at the eighth month.
The neurilem is much more vascular in the foetus than
in the adult. In the same foetus of about eight months I
found the neurilem of the sciatic nerve, from the ischiatic
notch to its divarication in the ham, covered with a thick
net-work of minute vessels, all injected with dark blood.
CHAP. II. THE PARTICULAR TISSUES.
Cerebral Substance,—Brain. ( Cerebrum.)
Brain. The brain or central part of the nervous system may be
regarded as a continuous organ, consisting of three divi¬
sions,—the convoluted, the laminated, and the smooth or
funicular portions. Of these divisions, which are distin¬
guished according to the peculiar external configuration
of each, the first part corresponds to what is named the
brain proper {cerebrum); the second to the small brain
{cerebellum) ; and the third to the oblong production con¬
tained in the vertebral column, and known under the
name of the spinal chord.
The convoluted portion presents two surfaces, an outer
or convoluted, and an inner or figurate. The laminated
portion in like manner presents two surfaces, an outer or
laminated, and an inner or central. The third has only
one surface, which is exterior. These different surfaces,
and their mutual relations, will be more minutely explain¬
ed afterwards. At present we shall examine its physical
and anatomical characters as an organic substance.
’ The three divisions of the central part of the nervous
system are composed of a peculiar substance, which may be
denominated cerebral matter, inclosed in delicate vascular
membranes. To exhibit the external characters of this
substance, these membranes must be removed by careful
dissection. When this is done, and the brain is inspected
on its surface, and after sections, the cerebral matter is
observed to vary in colour, consistence, and intimate
structure in different parts of the organ. These varieties
of cerebral matter are most easily distinguished, according
to their colour, into white and gray or cinereous.
The white cerebral matter is of different shades in dif¬
ferent parts of the brain. Its most usual hue is orange-
white, or orange-wdnte inclining to reddish white, or pur-
if n.
ral
plish white. This is most distinctly recognised in the G<
mesolobe {corpus callosum), and in the body named hippo- An ny
campus major. The consistence of the white cerebral
matter is considerable. It is in general more tenacious T
and cohesive than the gray matter, and when indurated is
less brittle.
A section made by a sharp scalpel appears smooth
and of a uniform colour, traversed by reddish points and
streaks. It presents nevertheless different appearances in
different directions. In certain parts, for example the
mesolobe, it presents the appearance of minute capillary
lines, arranged in parallel juxtaposition, and giving what
is named a fibrous appearance. In other regions, however,
as in the white matter of the optic chambers, this cannot
be recognised.
White cerebral matter has been examined microscopi¬
cally by Della Torre, Prochaska, the Wenzels, Sir Everard
Home, and M. Bauer.
If we trust the observations of Father Della Torre, the
white and gray substance of the brain, cerebellum, medulla
oblongata, and spinal chord, consist of an aggregation of
infinite transparent globules, floating in a pellucid, crys¬
talline and somewhat viscid fluid. The only difference
which he admits among the matter of these several parts
is, that he represents the globules to be largest in the
brain, smaller in the cerebellum, and still more minute in
the medulla oblongata and spinal chord. The arrangement
of these globules in the central portion of the nervous
system he further represents to be promiscuous.
Prochaska placed on a thin plate of glass minute slices
of cerebral matter, so thin that they were translucent;
and in this state he found it consist of innumerable
globular particles, united by delicate, pellucid, flocculent
matter, like filamentous tissue. These globules varied in
size even in the same part of the brain. In general, how¬
ever, he found them both in the brain and cerebellum to
be rather more than eight times smaller than the globules
of the blood. He was unable to ascertain any thing re¬
garding their intimate structure.
The Wenzels found the white cerebral matter to consist
of very minute globules, or roundish atoms, resembling
spherical cells containing proper medullary or white cere¬
bral substance. The dimensions of these globules they
did not attempt to estimate; but represent them in gene¬
ral as exceedingly minute, and all of the same size. They
could not recognise any connecting medium. The globu¬
lar appearance was retained in portions of brain exposed to
the action of alcohol and muriatic acid, and in those even
which had been dried after induration in alcohol.
M. Bauer placed a thin slice of white cerebral matter on
a plate of glass previously moistened, and allowing a drop
of water to fall on it, held obliquely, and thereby to dimi¬
nish its cohesion, brought into distinct view innumerable
loose globules, many fragments of fibres of single rows of
globules, and bundles of fibres, some of considerable
length.
The use of the water in this mode of examination is to
dissolve and removeaviscid, gelatinous, semifluid substance,
on which the adhesive properties of the white matter seem
to depend. If the water is not used, the brain adheres to
the glass, and the globular appearance cannot be recog¬
nised.
These globules vary in size from t0 TGWU an
inch in diameter ; the general or average size being
Those of the white matter are largest, that is ^Too"
are translucent, whitish, and arranged in lines or rows of
single globules, which are attached to each other by the vis¬
cid semifluid mucus. The strings or rows of globules are
connected into bundles or fasciculi by the same medium.
ANATOM Y. 737
Ga.al There is reason to believe that the translucency of the
U«ny< globules depends on an albuminous fluid, which on immer-
sion in alcohol or acids is coagulated, and thereby render-
ed opaque.
When a portion of white cerebral matter is immersed
in boiling oil, or is steeped for a few days in alcohol, di¬
lute nitric or muriatic acid, or in a solution of corrosive
sublimate, it acquires great firmness and solidity, and
may be torn or broken like a piece of cheese, which it
could not be before, in consequence of its tenacity. Cer¬
tain parts, for example the mesolobe, appear then to be
distinctly fibrous, or to consist of long capillary lines
placed in close juxtaposition. On the length of these
filaments or fibrils, however, nothing is ascertained. It is
also undetermined whether the white cerebral matter is
in all parts arranged in the fibrous manner.
White cerebral matter is well supplied with blood¬
vessels. These, indeed, are minute; but they consist both
of vessels containing red and colourless blood. The di¬
vision of these vessels gives rise to the appearance of red
points (jpunctula) and streaks, which are exhibited on the
surface of sections. It is believed to be less vascular than
file gray cerebral matter.
On the chemical constitution of white cerebral matter
we possess no accurate information ; all the chemical
analyses hitherto made having been directed to brain,
without distinction of its different varieties. From the
circumstance, however, of its becoming indurated on im¬
mersion in alcohol, acids, and solutions of corrosive subli¬
mate, it is manifest that it contains much albumen. It is
rendered yellow by nitric acid. If a portion of indurated
brain be placed in the sun, or in a warm atmosphere, an
oily or unctuous fluid exudes from its surface, which
shows that it contains fatty matter; and if brain be im¬
mersed in ether, this fatty matter is partially removed.
From the analysis of Vauquelin, it may be inferred that
the white cerebral matter contains the 4-43 per cent, of
white adipose substance found by that chemist in his ana¬
lysis. It is also believed to contain phosphorus.
The gray or cinereous cerebral matter, though variable
in colour like the white, is in general a mixture of ash-
gray and wood-brown, darker than the former, but lighter
than the latter. The colour varies at different ages. It is
light in early life, and deeper as life advances.
The gray cerebral matter is softer and less viscid and
tenacious than white cerebral matter. It is distinctly
granular, both in the external surface and when torn or
broken. This appearance, however, is most distinctly
recognised after induration in alcohol or acidulous li¬
quors. In the convoluted part of the brain, where it is
most abundant, it does not present the fibrous or parallel
linear arrangement, and is merely an aggregated mass of
numerous minute granules. It is uncertain whether it
presents the fibrous arrangement in other parts of the
brain. An appearance of this kind is recognised in the
unciform bundle at the inner end of the fissure of Syl¬
vius, and also in the streaked bodies and the annular
protuberance. But the appearance alluded to seems
to depend not on the genuine fibrous arrangement of
the granules of the gray matter, but merely on the gray
Matter being deposited in streaks and lines between the
white. Meckel nevertheless maintains that the gray
matter is also fibrous.
According to the observations of Sir Everard Home and
M. Bauer, the gray cerebral matter consists of minute
globular atoms, smaller than those of the wdiite matter,
or varying from to of an inch in diameter.
Fhese globules appear to be united, though more loosely,
hy a sero-albuminous fluid of a yellower tint than that of
Vol. II.
the white matter. Home supposes this albuminous fluid General
to be less abundant in the gray matter. Anatomy.
Gray cerebral matter is well supplied with blood-ves-
sels, which are large and numerous. It must not be •Braia*
imagined, however, that all the vessels which are observ¬
ed to enter this substance are therefore distributed to it.
These large vessels necessarily penetrate the gray matter
of the convoluted surface before they reach the white
matter in the centre; and though they send branches to
the former, they are ultimately distributed to the latter.
The gray cerebral matter has been supposed to be more
vascular than the white ; but the circumstance now stat¬
ed renders this doubtful. The statement of Sir Everard
Home, that “ the finest and most delicate branches of
the arteries and veins are only found in the cortical, i. e.
the gray substance,” is contradicted by observation; for
the vessels are certainly in general larger and more dis¬
tinct in this than in the white matter. But if they are
larger in the former, they are more numerous in the
latter. On the whole, perhaps, there is little difference
between the vascularity of the white and gray substance
of the brain.
The chemical constitution of gray cerebral substance
has not been accurately examined. The results of ana¬
lysis show, nevertheless, that it contains albuminous
matter to the amount of about 7 per cent., with O70 of a
peculiar red adipose matter, which is probably the cause
of the peculiar colour.
These two varieties of cerebral matter are combined in
various modes and proportions in the brain. In general
the gray matter is found on the exterior, for instance on
the convoluted surface of the brain, and on the laminated
surface of the cerebellum ; while the white matter is ar¬
ranged in the central parts. Gray matter, nevertheless, is
found in the interior, in the streaked bodies and optic
thalamus, and in the moriform bodies (corpora dentata) of
the cerebellum and olivary eminences.
Besides the two varieties of substances now mention¬
ed, a third, of a deeper shade, is found in the brain. Thus,
in the centre of the cerebral limbs is a quantity of cere¬
bral matter of a dark or ink-spotted tint, which Vicq
d’Azyr therefore named the black spot (locus niger) of
the limbs of the brain. The nature of this black spot,
which is quite uniform, is entirely unknown. It appears
merely to be a modification of the gray matter.
A yellow-coloured substance has also been supposed to
exist in the centrum semicirculare geminum, a narrow band
between the striated body and optic thalamus. This sub¬
stance is certainly firmer than the adjoining white and gray
matter, and it is further peculiar in possessing a sort of tint
between wax-yellow and wine-yellow. It is highly vascular.
Of its other peculiarities, however, we know nothing; and
we must be satisfied with regarding it as an anomalous
species of animal substance, approaching to gray cere¬
bral matter in colour, but infinitely firmer and more te¬
nacious.
The parts named pituitary and pineal glands present
several peculiarities deserving attention; but these more
properly come under the head of Special than of General
Anatomy.
Flesh, Muscle. (Mug,—Muss,—Musculus,—Lacertus,—
Tori?) Muscular Tissue. (Tissu Musculaire.)
The ordinary appearance of the substance named flesh Muscle,
or muscle is familiar; and it is unnecessary to enumerate
those obvious characters which are easily recognised by
the most careless observer. A portion of muscle, when
carefully examined, is found to consist of several ani-
5 A
738
ANATOM Y.
Muscle.
General mal substances. It is traversed by arteries and veins of
Anatomy, various size; nervous twigs are observed to pass into it;
it is often covered by dense whitish membranous folds
(fasciae), or by serous or mucous membranes, all which
shall be examined afterwards; and it is found to contain a
large proportion of filamentous tissue. But it is distin¬
guished by consisting of numei’ous fibres disposed pa¬
rallel to each other, and which may be separated in the
same manner by proper means. The appearance, arrange¬
ment, and characters of these fibres demand particular
notice.
According to Prochaska, muscle in all parts of the body
may be resolved, by careful dissection, into fibres of great
delicacy, as minute as silk filaments, but pretty uniform in
shape, general appearance, and dimensions. Their dia¬
meter appears not to exceed the 40^00 Par^ an
whatever be their length. They seem all more or less
flattened or angular, and appear to be solid diaphanous
filaments. Prochaska, not doubting that these muscular
threads (JHa earned) are incapable of further division,
terms them primary muscular fibres.
The microscopical examination of the atomic constitu¬
tion of the muscular filament, which was first attempted by
Leeuwenhoeck, and afterwards prosecuted by Della Torre,
Fontana, Monro, and Prochaska, has been recently reviv¬
ed by M. Bauer, the indefatigable assistant of Sir E.
Home. From the observations of this accurate inquirer,
each muscular filament appears to consist of a series of
globular or oblong spheroidal atoms, disposed in a linear
direction, and connected by a transparent, elastic, jelly-like
matter. (Phil. Trans. 1818, 1826.)
The primary muscular fibres are placed close and pa¬
rallel to each other, and are united in every species of
muscle into bundles (fasciculi, lacerti) of different but
determinate size; and according as these bundles are
large or small, the appearance of the muscle is coarse or
delicate. In the deltoid the bundles are the largest. In
the vasti, glutcei, and large pectoral muscles the bundles
are greatly larger than in the psoce. In the muscles of
the face, of the ball of the eye, of the hyoid bone, and
especially in those of the perineum, these bundles are
very minute, and almost incapable of being distinguished.
The number of ultimate filaments which compose a bundle
varies in different muscles, and probably in different ani¬
mals. In a muscular fibre of moderate size in the human
subject, Prochaska estimates them to vary from 100 to
200; and, in animals with larger fibres, at double, triple, or
even four times that number. There is reason to con¬
clude, from correct microscopic observation, that the
largest do not exceed the ^ of an inch, and that the small¬
est are not less than ^
By cutting a muscle across, these bundles are observed
to differ, not only in size, but in shape. Some are oblong
and rhomboidal, others present a triangular or quadran¬
gular section, and in some even the irregular pentagon or
polygon may be recognised.
These bundles are united by filamentous tissue of vari¬
ous degrees of delicacy, as may be shown by the effects of
boiling; and the muscle thus formed is penetrated by ar¬
teries, veins, and nervous twigs, and is inclosed by fila¬
mentous tissue, which often contains fat.
This fascicular arrangement appears to be confined to
the muscles of voluntary motion. It is not very distinct
in the heart or diaphragm; and in the urinary bladder
and intestinal canal it is not recognised. Nor is the pa¬
rallel arrangement of the ultimate filaments always strict¬
ly observed in the involuntary muscles. The component
fibres of this order of muscles are often observed to change
direction, and unite at angles with each other. This fact,
which was observed by Leeuwenhoeck, has been verified by Ge w
Prochaska.
The colour of muscle varies. In man and the mammiA
ferous animals, at least adult, it is more or less red; in
many birds and fishes it is known to be whitish; in young
animals it is grayish or cream-coloured ; and the slender
fibres which form the middle coat of the intestines in all
animals are almost colourless. The colour of the muscles
of voluntary motion in man is red or fawn ; but repeated
washing or maceration in alcohol or alkaline fluids renders
them much paler.
The examination of the physical properties of muscle
has occupied the industry of Muschenbroek, Croone,
Browne Langrish, Wintringham, and others of the iatro-
mathematical school. I cannot perceive that minute
knowledge of these properties is of much moment to the
elucidation either of its sound or its morbid states. Amidst
the variable results obtained in such an inquiry, the only
certain point is, that muscular fibre has less tenacity and
mutual aggregation than most other tissues. It sustains
much less weight and force of tension without giving
way.
Chemical analysis has not yet furnished any satisfac¬
tory results on the nature of muscular tissue ; but the gene¬
ral results of the numerous experiments already instituted
show that muscle contains fibrin, albumen, gelatine, ex¬
tractive matter (osmazome), and saline substances. It is
difficult to say how far the gelatine is to be regarded as
proper to muscle, or derived from the filamentous tissue
in which it certainly exists. The saline matters are com¬
mon to muscle with most other organic substances. There
is reason to believe that fibrin in considerable quantity,
and albumen and osmazome in smaller proportion, are the
proper proximate principles of muscle. Though the vari¬
ous proportions of these principles have been stated in
numbers by chemists, it is impossible in the present con¬
dition of animal chemistry to place any reliance on them.
It is also to be remembered that the relative proportion
of the proximate principles varies at different periods of
life. In early life the muscular fibre contains a large pro¬
portion of gelatine, and very little albumen, fibrin, or os¬
mazome. In adult age, however, the gelatine is very
scanty, and the fibrin is abundant. The albumen and
gelatine found in muscle seem to be derived chiefly from
the filamentous tissue and the aponeurotic intersections.
During life the muscular fibre possesses the property of
shortening itself or contracting under certain conditions.
These may be referred to the following heads: dhe
will in the voluntary muscles; 2d, proper fluids in the
involuntary muscles, as the blood to the heart, articles of
food or drink in the stomach, chyme in the small intes¬
tines, excrement in the large intestines, urine in the blad¬
der, &c.; 3J, mechanical irritants in all muscles; kth,
chemical irritants; and, bth, morbid products generated
in the course of disease.
This property of contracting has received various names:
contractility, vis contractilis of L. Bellini; irritability of
Glisson; vis vitalis of De Gorter and Gaubius; excita¬
bility, mobility, vis insita, vis propria of Haller; and the
organic contractility of Bichat. It is peculiar to muscular
fibre, and is found in no other living tissue.
The inquiry into the properties peculiar to muscles, and
the influence of the brain and nerves over muscular con¬
traction, form an interesting subject of investigation, on
which many facts have been communicated since the time
of Haller and Whytt, and especially within the last ten
years by Nysten, Le Gallois, Wilson Philip, Bell, Magen-
die, Flourens, Fodera, and Rolando. But it is too exten¬
sive to be considered in this place; and, for information
Ana
Mi e.
ANATOMY.
Genal on the subject, I refer to the ordinary physiological
tnatiiy. works, and to those journals in which these researches are
s~ detailed.1
Mule. musc]es have been divided, according to the man¬
ner in which the phenomena of contraction take place,
into, ls£, muscles obedient to the will, or voluntary; 2o?,
muscles not under the influence of the will, or involuntary;
and, 3</, muscles of a mixed character, the motions of
which are neither entirely dependent nor independent on
the will.
The first order comprehends all the muscles of the
skeleton; the second includes the hollow muscles, as the
heart, stomach, and intestinal canal; and in the third
are contained such muscular organs as the diaphragm, in¬
tercostal muscles, bladder, rectum, &e.
The muscles have also been distinguished, according to
their mechanical shapes, into long muscles (musculi longi,
vel teretes), broad muscles (musculi lati), and irregular
muscles, or those of mixed form. The long muscles are
found chiefly in the extremities; the broad muscles in
the trunk; and those of irregular shape either in the trunk,
or passing from this to the extremities. From the direc¬
tion of their fibres, several of them are distinguished into
penniform and semipenniform.
/Sinew, Tendon. (Tendo.')
W; Sinew or tendon was united by Bichat with ligament,
fascia, aponeurosis, and periosteum, under the general
name of fibrous system ; and the substance of this arrange¬
ment has been adopted by Gordon, Meckel, and Beclard.
From personal observation, however, I am inclined to re¬
gard tendon as essentially distinct, at least in the present
state of knowledge, from these substances. Examined ana¬
tomically, it does not bear a very close resemblance to any
of them; and in its known chemical properties it is con¬
siderably different.
The appearance of this substance must be familiar.
Almost cylindrical in shape, but flattened at the muscular
end, and tapering where inserted, a tendon consists of
numerous white .lines as minute as hairs, of satin-like
glistening appearance, placed parallel and close to each
other. A tendon is easily divided, and torn into longitu¬
dinal or parallel portions ; and by the forceps very minute
fibres may be detached and removed with ease, its whole
length. These facts show the great tenacity of this tissue,
and the regular parallelism with which the component
fibres are united. The last circumstance distinguishes
them completely from ligaments and periosteum, in which
the fibres cross in all directions, and in consequence of
which these tissues cannot be so easily split or separated.
These fibres are united by filamentous tissue.
Tendon is softened and more easily separable by ma¬
ceration in water or alkaline fluids ; it is crisped by acid
fluids, and rendered translucent by immersion in oil of tur¬
pentine. It has not been injected, but it is presumed to
have blood-vessels and absorbents. No nerves have been
traced into it.
Tendon when boiled becomes soft and large, assumes
the appearance of a transparent gelatinous substance, and
finally, if the boiling be continued, is dissolved and con¬
verted into gelatine. This fact, which is well known to
cooks, who prepare jellies from tendinous parts of young
animals, shows that tendon consists principally of gelatine,
disposed in an organized form.
A species of flattened tendons, to which the name of
739
aponeurosis has been given, may justly be united with this General
tissue. The best examples are in the aponeurotic or ten- Anatomy,
dinous expansion of the external oblique muscle of the
abdomen, the aponeurotic part of the occipito-frontal Tendon-
muscle of the head, and the upper or broad end of the
tendo Achillis. The anatomical structure and the chemi¬
cal properties of each of these varieties of animal substance
are quite similar, and somewhat different from that which
has been termed fascia.
White Fibrous System. Ligament. (Aicyog, o) Aeffgoi.)
Periosteum,—Dura Mater,—Fascia.
Against the formation of this order of tissues fewer ob- Ligament;
jections can be urged, though ligament and periosteum periosteum,
undoubtedly furnish its most perfect examples; and it
may be doubted whether fascia ought to be referred to it,
or arranged with tendon and aponeurosis. The dura
mater, the tunica albuginea, and the fibro-synovial sheaths,
are to be regarded as compound membranes.
Ligament and periosteum are easily shown to consist of
strong whitish or gray fibres, as minute as threads or hairs,
interwoven together in various directions, and thus form¬
ing an animal substance which is not to be split or torn
asunder as tendon ; but when ruptured by extreme force
presents an irregular ragged surface or margin. Macera¬
tion in water or alkaline fluids separates the component
fibres, and shows their irregular disposition more distinct¬
ly. They are crisped by affusion of boiling water, or im¬
mersion in acids; and they become translucent by immer¬
sion in oil of turpentine.
The properties of this tissue are chiefly physical.
Those which are vital are referable to its organization and
nutrition. That it is powerfully resisting, and is one of
the toughest and strongest tissues in the animal body, is
evinced not only by the numerous experiments recorded
in the writings of the iatro-mathematical physiologists,
but by the barbarous mode of punishment by rending the
limbs asunder by horses. It is supposed to possess the
exhaling ends of arteries and colourless veins. No nerves
have been recognised; and Bichat expresses his ignorance
of absorbents being traced into it.
Ligament when boiled yields a small portion of gelatine,
but obstinately resists the action of boiling water, and re¬
tains both its shape and tenacity or cohesion. The cris-
pation which it undergoes in boiling water, alcohol, and
diluted acids, seems to indicate that albuminous matter
forms its chief chemical principle.
As to their mechanical shape, the ligaments are divided
by Bichat into two sorts; those in regular and those in
irregular bundles. The former comprehends all the dis¬
tinct clusters of ligamentous structure, which, sometimes
in a cylindrical, sometimes in a flattened shape, connect
the articulating ends of bones, and form the lateral liga¬
ments of the various articulations. The latter consists of
those loose parcels of ligamentous fibres which are found
in various regions of the skeleton, not in regular cylindri¬
cal or longitudinal bands, but irregularly connecting bones
not admitting of articular motion; for instance, at the
symphysis pubis and the sacro-iliacjunction. The division
of Beclard into articular, non-articular, and mixed, is more
comprehensive and more natural. The first are those which
connect the articular extremities of different bones. The
second are those which, attached to different parts of the
same bone, convert notches into foramina, as in the orbitar
arch and the supra-scapular hollow, or close openings, and
1 Elemcnta Physiologic, tom. iv. lib. xi. sect. 2 ; Whytt on the Vital and Involuntary Motions: Journal de Physiologic, tom. i. ii. &c.;
Archives Generalcs, passim.
740
ANATOMY.
General
Anatomy.
Ligament;
periosteum
Fascia.
give attachment to muscles, as the obturator ligament.
The last are those which, like the sacro-ischiatic or the
interosseous ligaments of the fore-arm and leg, connect
bones susceptible of little or no motion, and especially
give attachment to muscles. The two latter species of
ligaments approach closely in their characters, physical
and anatomical, to periosteum, and are probably to be re¬
garded as modifications of this membrane.
The articular or perfect ligaments are naturally divisible
into two subgenera,—the capsular and the funicular.
The capsular ligaments, or the fibrous capsules (Bichat),
consist of cylindrical ligamentous sheaths attached all
round to the ends of the articulating bones, and intimate¬
ly interwoven with the periosteal tissue. Consisting
essentially of fibro-albuminous matter strongly compacted,
they are srurroundedby cellular tissue, or rather celluloso-
adipose tissue, and are lined internally by synovial mem¬
brane. Though the most perfect examples of the capsu¬
lar form of ligament are presented in the scapulo-humeral
and coxo-femoral articulations, less complete ones, never¬
theless, are seen in the other joints. In those of the knee
and elbow, an arrangement of this kind may be demon¬
strated ; and minute capsules may be shown to connect
the oblique articular surfaces of the vertebrae with each
other.
The funicular ligaments, which consist of round chords
or fiat bands, are employed in connecting the articular
ends of bones either without or within the cavity of the
joint. Of those of the former description, the best ex¬
amples are seen in the elbow and knee joints, and in the
wrist and ankle, where they are termed lateral ligaments
(/. lateralia, accessoria). Of the latter instances are the
round ligaments (ligamenta teretid) of the shoulder and hip
joints, and the crucial ligaments of the knee-joint. These
receive an investment of synovial membrane.
Of the white fibrous tissues, one of the most important
is that denominated /bsezo. Consisting in intimate struc¬
ture of long fibrous threads placed in parallel juxtaposi¬
tion, sometimes obliquely interwoven and closely connect¬
ed by filamentous tissue, it forms a whitish membranous
web, variable in breadth, of some thickness and great
strength. Fascia is perhaps, not excepting the skin, the
most extensively distributed texture of membranous form
in the animal body. It not only covers, if not the whole,
at least by far the greatest part of the muscles of the
trunk and each limb, but it sends round each muscle pro¬
ductions by which it is invested and supported, and even
penetrates by minute slips into the substance of individual
muscles. Of several of the large muscles it connects the
component parts, as is seen in the recti abdominis ; to many
it affords points of origin or insertion; and to all it fur¬
nishes more or less investment and support. Most of the
tendons, especially the flexor arid extensor tendons, are
inclosed by it; and their synovial sheaths derive from it
their exterior covering. At the extremities of the bones
it is connected with the ligaments and periosteum, with
which it is closely interwoven; and it forms a genei'al in¬
vestment to the articular apparatus.
Though fascia may thus be viewed as one membranous
web consisting of many parts all directly connected with
each other, it is the practice of anatomists to distinguish
its divisions according to the region which they occupy.
Thus, in the fore-part of the neck and chest is found a
fascia, the relations and uses of which have been well de¬
scribed by Mr Allan Burns. In the cervical region we
find a firm fascia descending from the occipital bone along
the vertebras, covering and connecting the muscles of each
side till it reaches the loins, where, in the form of a thick
strong membrane, it forms the lumbar fascia (fascia lum-
borum). It may further be traced over and between the
glutcei muscles, connected afterwards with the broad fe¬
moral fascia (fascia lata), and thence over the knee and
leg to the foot. Much in the same manner a membranous
web, thinner and more delicate, but of the same structure^
may be traced from the chest along the upper extremity,
till at the wrist it is identified with the annular ligament,
and in the hand with the palmar fascia. In all these si¬
tuations the general fascial envelope sends slips or pro¬
ductions (fasciee intermusculares) between the muscles,
and into their substance.
Yellow Fibrous System. Elastic Ligaments of John Blunter.
(Ligamenta Flava,—Ligamentum Nuchce,—Tissu Fi~
breux Jaune, Beclard.)
The yellow ligaments (ligamenta flava) which connect Elas
the spinous processes of the vertebrae to each other differ
considerably from the articular ligaments and the perios¬
teum, and suggested to Beclard the necessity of establish¬
ing a particular order of fibrous tissues, to which he ap¬
plies the denomination of yellow or tawny fibrous system.
Under this he includes also the proper membrane of the
arteries; that of the veins and of the lymphatic vessels;
the membranes which form excretory ducts; that of the
air-passages; the fibrous covering of the cavernous body
of the urethra, and perhaps that of the spleen. The ac¬
tions and occasional distensions of which these parts are
the seat require, it is said, a tissue, the resistance and
elasticity of which may at once counteract any extraordi¬
nary effort, and cause them to resume their original state,
when the distending cause ceases to operate. In the
lower animals this purpose is more conspicuous than in
the human subject. The posterior cervical ligament (li¬
gamentum nucha, Arab.; cervicis, Lat.) in the camel,
giraffe, deer, and ox, counteracts the tendency to incli¬
nation of the head; and a similar membrane strengthens
the abdominal parietes, and resists the weight and dis¬
tending power of the viscera. In the feline tribe an elas¬
tic ligament inserted into the unguinal phalanges retains
them extended so long as the muscles do not alter their
direction. The shells of the bivalve molluscous animals,
as oysters, mussels, &c., are opened by a similar fibrous
tissue as soon as the muscles which close them are relaxed.
The disposition of the component fibx*es is the same in
the elastic as in the common white fibrous system. Iheir
colour, which is yellow or tawny, is generally more dis¬
tinct in the dead subject. They are said to be less tena¬
cious, but more elastic, than those of any other tissue. In
respect to chemical composition, they appear to contain
a considerable quantity of fibi’in in a peculiar condition,
combined with some albumen and a little gelatine, dheir
other properties are not very conspicuous.
Bone. (Osnov,— Ossa,— Tissu Osseux,—Die Knochen.)
Bone, which is the hardest and most durable of the h01
animal solids, may be defined to be an organized sub¬
stance, consisting of a combination of animal and calca¬
reous matter, and constituting by its solidity the chief
its.
support of the soft parts generally.
In the vertebi’ated animals it is moulded into pieces ot
definite shape and size, which are connected either by li¬
gaments, cartilage, or fibro-cartilage, and which constitute
the skeleton of the animal. In the mammalia and bads
these pieces appear in their most perfect characters, as
to solidity, mechanical shape, and numerical extent. n
the human subject, though in these respects they partake
of the characters common to the bones of the mamma ia,
in several senses these characters are more conspicuous
than in the lower animals.
ANATOMY. 741
jral 1. The bones of the human skeleton are distinguished,
fny. according to the varieties of mechanical figure, into long
^ and cylindrical bones (ossa longa sive cylindrica), flat bones
(ossa lata sive plana), and short or irregular bones (ossa
■ brevia sive mixta).
The long bones are confined to the extremities, where
they are subservient to the locomotive apparatus, by act¬
ing alternately as points of support and as levers movable
by the muscles in different directions. Placed in the
centre, they are surrounded almost entirely by muscles;
and are observed to diminish in length, but increase in
number, the farther they recede from their attachment to
the trunk. From this inverse arrangement it results that
near the trunk the members are distinguished for extent,
and remote from it for variety and multiplicity of mo¬
tion.
The long bones agree in presenting cylindrical or pris¬
matic shafts (diaphyses) terminated by large, bulky, and
extensive extremities (epiphyses). The former are gene¬
rally small and slender compared with the latter and with
the size of the limb, and thus afford room for the bellies
of muscles attached to them. The large size of the lat¬
ter is well suited for the extent of the articular surfaces ;
and being covered by slender tendons and the taper ex¬
tremities of muscles, they do not in general add to the
bulk of the member.
The shafts of the long bones are in general marked by
longitudinal rough lines, to which muscles or fascice are
attached, and between which are found plane or hollow
surfaces for lodging the bellies of the muscles. These
lines are rarely straight; and the slight obliquity which
they observe gives the bone the appearance of being
twisted. This is well seen in the humerus and tibia.
The extremities of the long bones are marked in gene¬
ral by eminences and hollows, or processes (apophyses) and
depressions (fovece ; fossa). These inequalities, if tipped
with cartilage and synovial membrane, are for the pur¬
pose of articulation with other bones. When they are
simply formed of bone, they are for the attachment either
of ligaments or tendons.
The shafts of the long bones consist chiefly of dense com¬
pact bone, containing in the adult a longitudinal cavity,
which is easily exposed by a longitudinal section of the
bone. This cavity is not cylindrical, but tapers considerably
at each end; nor is it in all instances equally complete.
Largest and most capacious about the middle, where it is
bounded by the solid, compact, bony walls of the diaphy-
sis, as the latter diminish in density they increase in bulk
by the formation of numerous minute intersecting columns
of bone, which progressively increasing in number towards
the end of the shaft, contract the cavity, until at length it
is obliterated in the lattice-work and cells (cancelli) formed
by their mutual intersection. This cavity is the medullary
canal. It is seen in its most perfect form in the humerus
and femur, in the tibia and fibula, and in the radius and
ulna. In the phalanges it can scarcely be said to exist,
fhe two forms of bony structure demonstrated in such a
section are distinguished as the dense or compact, and the
loose, reticular, or cancellated.
The medullary cavity is lined by a vascular filamentous
membrane, with numerous cells, containing the variety of
animal fat denominated marrow. The effect of this ar¬
rangement is to render the bone lighter than if perfectly
solid, without any diminution of strength. This cavity is
wanting in the original formation of the bone; and it be¬
gins to be formed when the matter of the diaphyses be¬
comes dense and compact. It is again obliterated in con¬
sequence of fracture or other injuries, succeeded by ad¬
hesive or depository inflammation, when it is filled by ge¬
latinous animal matter; and it is once more excavated as General
the vralls of the diaphysis acquire solidity. Anatomy.
The flat bones are in general less connected with the
locomotive apparatus than with the protecting part of the5one*
skeleton. By mechanical configuration they serve to formT™1
contain various organs essential to the economy; and
when they admit of motion, this is rarely locomotive, but
connected with the purposes of the contained organs.
The bones of the cranium and pelvis furnish the best ex¬
amples of bones destined solely to protect, and as loco¬
motive agents affording only points of support. The ribs,
again, which are to be viewed as flat bones, not only form
the protecting walls of the chest, and furnish support to
the muscles of the upper extremities, but further under¬
go a slight motion, by means of which the dimensions of
the chest are alternately enlarged and diminished. The
vertebrae combine the characters of flat bones and irre¬
gular bones, approaching by their spinal plates to the for¬
mer class, and by their bodies to the latter.
In number the flat bones vary according to the purpose
to which they are applied, and the nature of the cavities
which they form. In the cranium and pelvis their nume¬
rical extent appears to bear relation chiefly to the facility
of ossification,—a process which advances with equal
rapidity in each individual piece. In the chest, again, this
property is regulated by the kind of motion which the
ribs are destined to undergo. The vital organs of circu¬
lation and respiration would no doubt have been more se¬
curely protected had they been inclosed, like the brain,
in a continuous and complete osseous case ; but by this
arrangement the motions of inspiration and expiration
must have been very limited.
The flat bones agree in being convex and concave in
opposite directions ; in possessing two surfaces, an exter¬
nal and an internal, and a circumference; and in con¬
sisting of an external and internal table or thin plate of
bone, with loose cancellated structure interposed. This
arrangement is most conspicuous in those of the cranium,
in which the cancellated structure is distinguished by the
name of diploe. It is nevertheless equally distinct in the
ribs, the scapula, and the pelvic bones. In some instan¬
ces in the latter, the diploe is obliterated, and the two
tables approach each other so closely, that they form one
bone; and occasionally this is destroyed, and the bone
appears perforated. These effects are the result of long-
continued muscular action.
The cancellated structure of the flat bones is lined by a
vascular filamentous membrane, containing a small pro¬
portion of marrow, less oleaginous than that of the long
bones, and entirely resembling those of the cancellated
structure of their epiphyses.
The short bones are situate in parts requiring the com¬
bination of mobility and solidity; for example, the verte¬
bral column, the carpus and metacarpus, the tarsus and
metatarsus. Considerable extent of surface, numerous arti¬
cular and ligamentous connections, with few muscular or
tendinous insertions, are their leading external charac¬
ters.
They consist of a single thin external plate of bone,
inclosing a large proportion of cancellated structure,
lined by vascular filamentous tissue, containing semifluid
marrow, without much oil. While this arrangement com¬
bines very small specific gravity with sufficient firmness
and solidity, it renders them more liable to derangements
of organization than other parts of the osseous system.
Though the bones are thus distinguished according to
general characters, it is often impossible to apply them
accurately. The same bone may unite the characters of
long and short bone, or flat and short bone, or long and
742
General
Anatomy.
Bone.
External
forms.
ANATOMY.
Internal
structure.
flat bone. All the long bones indeed are in their epiphy¬
ses similar to the short bones.
In external figure the bones present certain eminences or
processes (apophyses), and pits or cavities (fovea; fossce).
The eminences are either articular or non-articular. The
former, which are covered with cartilage or fibro-cartilage,
belong to the subject of the connections of bones. The
latter may be referred to three heads: 1st, eminences of
insertion for ligaments, tendons, or aponeuroses ; 2d, emi¬
nences of reflection for the transit of tendons round a
pulley; and, M, eminences of impression, or those which
correspond to various soft parts in contact with the bones.
The eminences of insertion appear in various shapes,
and are distinguished into tuberosities and tubercles
(tubera), spines (spina) or spinous processes, styloid pro¬
cesses (styli), crests (crista), and lines (linea), which are
generally rough and elevated. These impressions are al¬
ways more conspicuous in the male than in the female, in
the old than in the young, in the robust and muscular
than in the delicate and feeble, and in carnivorous than
in herbivorous animals. In some instances, as in the case of
the ischial tuberosity, the great trochanter and anterior tu¬
berosity of the humerus, the eminences present individual
facettes for the attachment of each tendon or muscle.
Of the eminences of reflection, the best examples are
in the unciform process of the pterygoid process of the
sphenoid bone, and the lower extremity of the fibula.
The depressions are either articular or non-articular.
The latter consist of cavities of insertion, reception,
transmission and motion, impression and nutrition.
The first, which give attachment to ligaments, tendons,
or aponeuroses, are useful in augmenting the extent
without increasing the size of bones. The pterygoid ca¬
vities, the digastric/ossa, and that at the base of the great
trochanter, afford examples of these cavities.
Of the cavities of reception, examples are seen in the
cerebral and cerebellic fossa, and in the grooves for arteries
or nerves; for instance, that at the lower margin of the
ribs, and the various openings in the cranium for the
transit of vessels and nerves.
Cavities of motion are those over which tendons play
in the contraction of muscles; the bicipital groove, the
hollow between the ischial spine and tuberosity, and that
in the fibula for the peronai, are examples.
The cavities of impression alternate with the eminences,
and are to be regarded as in general the cause of these emi¬
nences.
The cavities of nutrition are those minute orifices through
which vessels convey to the substance of the bone, or the
medullary membrane, the materials of its nutrition. Each
long bone has one considerable hole of this kind in its
shaft, and numerous minute ones in its extremities. The
former is the orifice of a canal to the medullary cavity.
The latter are supposed to belong chiefly to the cancellat¬
ed structure.
2. Several attempts have at different times been made to
ascertain the atomic constitution of bone, but without
much success. Malpighi, though he corrected the extra¬
vagant fiction of Gagliardi regarding the osseous plates
and nails, fancied bones to be composed of filaments,
which Leeuwenhoeck represented as minute tubes (tu-
buli). By Clopton Havers, again, the ultimate parti¬
cles of bones were imagined to be fibres aggregated into Gen< 1
plates (lamina) placed on each other, and traversed by Anatc
longitudinal and transverse pores (pori)} This view'-'^Vp
was adopted by Courtial, Winslow, Palfyn, Monro, and^0116,
Reichel, who was at some pains to demonstrate this ar-
rangement of plates and minute tubes by microscopical ’
observation. These notions were first questioned by
Scarpa, who, in 1799, undertook to show by examinations
of bone deprived of its earth by acid, and long macerated
in pure water, that it consists, both externally and inter¬
nally, of reticular or cellular structure. So far as I un¬
derstand what idea this eminent anatomist attaches to the
terms reticular and cellular, I doubt whether this opinion
is better founded than any of the previous ones. After
repeating his experiment of immersing in oil of turpen¬
tine bone macerated in acid, I cannot perceive the reti¬
cular arrangement which Scarpa describes. Recently bone
has been submitted to microscopic examination by Mr
Howship, who revives the opinion of the existence of mi¬
nute longitudinal canals, as taught by Leeuwenhoeck,
Havers, and Reichel, but with Scarpa maintains the ulti¬
mate texture not to be laminated, but reticulated. Lastly,
the existence of fibres and plates, which is admitted by
Blumenbach, Bichat, and Meckel, apparently on insuffi¬
cient grounds, is to be viewed as an appearance produced
by the physical, and perhaps the chemical qualities of the
proper animal-organic matter of which bone consists.
Though it does not demonstrate, it depends on, the inti¬
mate structure of this body.
The minute structure or atomic constitution of bone is
probably the same in all the pieces of the skeleton, and is
varied only in mechanical arrangement. When a cylin¬
drical bone is broken, and its surfaces are examined with
a good magnifying glass, or when minute splinters are in¬
spected in a powerful microscope, it appears to be a uni¬
form substance without fibres, plates, or cells, penetrated
everywhere by minute blood-vessels. Its fracture is un¬
even, passing to splintery. In the recent state its colour
is bluish-white; but in advanced age the blue tinge dis¬
appears. Delicate injection, or feeding an animal with
madder, shows the vascularity of this substance.
To have a clearer and more accurate idea of the minute
structure of bone, it is requisite to break transversely a
long bone, and examine its fractured surface by a good
glass, or to examine in the same manner the transverse
fracture of a long bone which has been burnt white in a
charcoal fire. The broken surface presents a multitude
of minute holes, generally round or oval, which are larger
towards the medullary cavity, but become exceedingly
minute towards the outer surface of the bone. Of these
minute holes no part of the bone, however compact in ap¬
pearance, is destitute; and the only difference is, that
they are more minute, and more regularly circular towards
the outer than towards the medullary surface. Ihese
circular holes are transverse sections of the tubuli or
Leeuwenhoeck, the longitudinal pores of Havers ( Osteolo-
gia, p. 43 and 46), the pores and tubuli of Reichel, and the
longitudinal canals of Howship. They communicate with
each other by means of their great multiplicity and slight
obliquity and tortuosity. They contain not blood-vessels
exclusively, but divisions of the vascular filamentous tis¬
sue, which secretes the marrow. They are seen very dis¬
tinctly in bones which have been burnt. After many care-
1 The principal authors on the structure of bone are, Dominici Gagliardi Anatome Ossium, novis inventis illustrata. Romse, 1689.
Malpighi, De Ossium Structura : Op. Post. Clopton Havers, Osteologia Nova. London, 1691. Dejasone, Mtrmire sur rOrganisation des
Gs: Mtm. de l'Academic, 1751. G. C. Iteichel, Dc Ossium Ortu atque Strnctura. Lips. 1760. Ext. in Sandifort Thesaur. vol. ii-p- 17}‘
Antonii Scarpa de Penitiori Ossium Structi/ra Comment. Lips. 1799. Republished in De Anatome el Pathologia Ossium Commentarn,
Auctore A. Scarpa. Ticini, 1827- Papers by Mr Howship in the 6th and 7th volumes of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions.
ANATOMY.
743
gen-al ful examinations, I have never been able to observe holes
jnatfiy. in longitudinal fractures of bones; and I therefore infer
an'*-' that there are no transverse pores.
lone These capillary pores are seen in the flat bones of the
"ter 1 scull. I find them in the compact matter of the outer and
truc e inner tables of the occipital bone when well burnt, in
which they seem to pass gradually from the lattice-work
of the diploe to the distinct pores of the tables. I doubt,
however, whether these pores can be said, as in the long
bones, to indicate canals. They seem rather to belong to
a very delicate cancellated structure. The pores are most
numerous and distinct in the bones of young subjects.
Though these circular pores are most distinct in cal¬
cined bones, and might therefore be thought to be the re¬
sult of the burning, yet that they are not, I infer from the
circumstance that they are seen by a good glass in the
transverse fracture of splinters of the femur and other
large bones.
If a portion of bone be immersed in sulphuric, nitric,
muriatic, or acetic acid properly diluted, it becomes soft
and pliable, and when dried, is found to be lighter than
before; yet it is impossible to discover that any particle
of its substance has been removed, or that its mechanical
shape and appearance are changed.
If a portion of bone be placed in a charcoal fire, and the
heat be gradually raised to whiteness, it burns first with
flame, and at length becomes quite red. If then it be re¬
moved carefully and slowly cooled, it appears as white as
chalk, is found to be very brittle, and to have lost some¬
thing of its weight. Yet neither in this case does any
part of its substance appear to be removed, nor is its me¬
chanical figure or appearance altered.
Chemical examination, however, informs us that in the
first case a portion of earthy matter (phosphate of lime) is
removed by the agency of the acid, and held suspended in
the fluid, while the pliant but otherwise identical piece of
bone consists chiefly, if not entirely, of animal matter;
and that, in the second case, this animal matter is removed
by destructive decomposition, while the earthy matter is
left little changed by the action of fire. Every particle of
bone, therefore, however minute, consists of animal or or¬
ganic, and earthy or inorganic matter, intimately united;
and it is impossible to touch, with the point of the smallest
needle, any part of bone wrhich is not thus constituted.
A piece of bone consists not of cartilaginous fibres var¬
nished over, as Herissant imagined, with earthy matter,
but of a substance in which every atom consists of animal
and earthy matter intimately combined.
There is therefore no ground for dividing osseous tissue
into compact and spongy, as the old anatomists did; for
though the middle parts of long bones are denser and
heavier than their ends, or the bodies of the vertebrae, the
difference consists not in chemical composition, but in
mechanical arrangement. On dividing the head of a long
bone, the lattice-work, or cancelli, as they are named, are
formed by many minute threads of bone, crossing and
interlacing with each other. But each thread is equally
dense, and consists of the same quantity of animal and
earthy matter, as the most solid part of the centre of the
same bone. These threads, however, instead of being dis¬
posed compactly so as to take a small space, are so arranged
that they occupy a large one, and present considerable
[ I bulk.
Though bone has been submitted to analysis by many
eminent chemists, the results hitherto obtained cannot be
said to be quite satisfactory. The most recent is that of
Berzelius, who, in 100 parts of bone from the thigh of an
adult, gives the following proportions: of gelatine 32*17,
blood-vessels BIS, phosphate of lime 51*04, carbonate of
lime 11*30, fluate of lime 2*00, phosphate of magnesia General
1*16, hydrochlorate of soda and water 1*20. Anatomy.
These results by no means agree with those obtained
by Fourcroy and Vauquelin, who found neither fluoric®0116'
acid nor phosphate of magnesia, but discovered oxides ofT.16!?13'1
iron and manganese, silica, and alumina, in bone. Sul-8 iucture*
phate of lime, which was found in the experiments of
Hatchett, was shown by Berzelius to be formed during
calcination. It is, however, obvious that a little more
than a third part of bone consists of animal matter, which
appears to be either gelatine, or a modification of that prin¬
ciple ; and that the remainder, nearly equal to two thirds,
consists of earthy matter, which is chiefly phosphoric acid
combined with lime. The carbonic acid said to be united
with lime may result from the decomposition of the animal
matter. The other saline substances are not peculiar to
bone, but, being common to it and the other animal tissues,
and even the fluids, may be supposed to be derived from the
blood left in the bone at the moment of death.
The animal matter of bones was at one time presumed
to be cartilage; but this appears to be an assumption,
derived from the superficial resemblance which it bears
to this substance. It does not appear to be mere gelatine;
for though this principle is obtained from bone, and bones
are economically used in manufacturing glue, they do not
furnish the same proportion of jelly as tendon, nor are they
so useful in making soups, as was once paradoxically
maintained by some chemists. It is probable that the gela¬
tine is under a peculiar modification, or combined with
some principle which is not well understood. The sulphur
formed during calcination seems to show that this animal
matter contains albumen. There is no fat in bones; and
in the experiments in which this substance was found,
it is evident that marrow had been mingled with the bones
employed.
Though bones were arranged by the ancients among the Organiza-
bloodless organic substances, they receive a considerable tion.
proportion of this fluid, and injection shows them to be
highly vascular. In early life especially these vessels are
numerous ; and even in the grown adult, when death takes
place by strangulation or by di'owning, the bones are found
to be naturally well injected. In old age the vessels are
less numerous, but they are larger. From the capillary
vessels distributed through their substance, bones derive
the pale blue or light pink colour by which the healthy
bone is characterized. When this tint becomes intense,
it indicates inflammation or some morbid state of the ves¬
sels of the bone. When it is lost, and the bone assumes
a white or yellow colour, the part so changed is dead.
Anatomists distinguish three orders of vessels which
enter the substance of bones; the first, those which pene¬
trate the bodies of long bones to the medullary cavity
(arteries nutrit 'us, arteries medullares); the second, those
which go to the cellular structure of the bone; and the
third, those which go to the compact or dense matter of
the bone. The view is only partially correct. The large
vessels termed nutritious certainly proceed chiefly to the
cavity of the bone, and are distributed in the medullary
membrane. These, however, are not the only vessels
which proceed to this part of the bone. First, I have
often traced several large vessels, entering not by the
middle, but the ends of the long bones, into the loose can¬
cellated texture, and actually distributed on the medulla
in this part of the bone. In dried bones also the canals
of these vessels may be demonstrated, extending from the
surface to the body of the bone. Secondly, the nutritious
vessels are not constant; and when they are wanting,
those of the ends of the bone, or of the cancelli, are much
larger and more numerous than in ordinary circumstances.
744
ANATOMY.
General
Anatomy.
Bone.
Organiza¬
tion.
Marrow.
Medullary
membrane.
The communication between these and the branches of
the nutritious vessels, which is admitted by Bichat, may
be easily demonstrated. The third order of vessels are
those which may be termed periosteal, in so far as they
consist of an infinite number of minute capillaries, some
red, some colourless, proceeding from the periosteum to
the bone, and contributing to maintain the connection
between the two. The short bones and the flat bones,
which are destitute of nutritious arteries, receive blood
from the two latter orders, but principally from the pe¬
riosteal vessels. In the scull these vessels are often
highly injected in apoplectic subjects, and in persons
killed by drowning or strangulation.
The veins of bones are peculiar in their arrangement.
The nutritious artery is accompanied by a social vein ; the
articular and periosteal vessels are said to be destitute of
corresponding venous vessels. According to Dupuytren,
however, minute venous capillaries arise from the substance
of the osseous tissue, precisely as in other tissues, and,
uniting in the same manner, form twigs, branches, and
trunks, which finally terminate in the neighbouring veins.
Lymphatics are not found in bones, nor have nerves been
traced into their substance.
To complete the anatomical history of bone, it is requi¬
site to examine shortly the marrow. The interior of the
long bones contains a quantity of fat, oleaginous matter,
which has been long known under the name of marrow
(fivikoc, osnrris, medulla) ; and a similar substance, though
in smaller quantity, is found in the loose cancellated tissue
of the flat and short bones. It is in the first situation only
that it is possible to examine the anatomical characters of
this substance. It is sufficiently similar to fat or animal oil
in other parts of the body, to lead us to refer it to that head.
In other respects its chemical qualities have not been much
examined ; but an analysis by Berzelius shows that it con¬
sists chiefly of an oily matter, not unlike butter in general
properties. The filaments, blood-vessels, albumen, gela¬
tine, and osmazome found by this chemist in marrow, and
which did not exceed 4 parts in the 100, are derived from
the filamentous tissue, in which the medullary particles
are deposited.
The medullary membrane, which has been considered as
an internal periosteum, is imperfectly known. There can
be no doubt, however, of its existence, which is demon¬
strated by opening transversely or longitudinally the
medullary canal of a long bone, and boiling it for about
two hours. The marrow then drops out; and it will be
found to be deposited in the interstices of a filamentous
net-work of animal matter, like fine cellular tissue, which
may be traced not only into the lattice-work of the ex¬
tremities, but into the longitudinal canals of the cylindrical
bones. It is traversed by blood-vessels, which are observ¬
ed to bleed during amputation. No nerves have been found
in it. The medullary membrane, in short, may be regarded
as an extensive net-work of very minute capillaries united
by delicate filamentous tissue. From these capillaries
the marrow is deposited as a secretion. (Mascagni,
Howship.)
Develope-
ment.
3. The progressive formation of the osseous system has
given rise to many researches by Kerckringius, Vater,
Baster, Duhamel, Nesbitt, Haller, Dethleef, Reichel,
Albinus, John Hunter, Scarpa, Senff, Troja, Meckel,
Howship, Medici, Serres, Lebel, Schultze, Beclard, and
Dutrochet; and it is a proof of the complicated nature of
the subject, that it continues to give rise to fresh investi¬
gation. The inquiry resolves itself into two parts,—the
history of the process of ossification as it takes place ori¬
ginally in the foetus and infant, and the history of its pro¬
men
ray
I vn>
'
gress as a process of repair when bones are divided,broken, Ge
or otherwise destroyed or removed. AnatbJ
From the first formation of the embryo to the termina¬
tion of foetal existence, and thenceforth to the completion?0111
of growth, the bones undergo changes in which various ev
stages may be distinguished. In the first weeks of foetal
existence it is impossible to recognise any thing like bone;
and the points in which the bones are afterwards to be
developed consist of a soft homogeneous mass of animal
matter, which has been designated under the general name
of mucus. Some time between the fifth and the seventh
week, in the situation of the extremities, may be recog¬
nised dark opaque spots, which are firmer and more solid
than the surrounding animal matter. About the eighth
week, the extremities may be seen to consist of their com¬
ponent parts, in the centre of each of which is a cylindrical
piece of bony matter. Dark solid specks are also seen in the
spine, corresponding to the bodies of the vertebrae; and even
the rudiments of spinous processes are observed in the
shape of minute dark points. In the hands and feet rings of
bone are seen in the site of the metacarpal and metatarsal
bones. All the joints consist of a semi-consistent jelly-
like matter, liberally supplied by blood-vessels. At ten
weeks the cylinders and rings are increased in length,
and are observed to approach the jelly-like extremities,
which are acquiring the consistence of cartilage, and when
divided present irregular cavities. At the same time the
parts forming the head are highly vascular; and between
the membranes are deposited minute points of bony matter,
proceeding in rays from a centre, which, however, is thin¬
ner and more transparent than the margin. (Howship.)
Between thirteen weeks and four months the cavities
in the jelly-like cartilaginous matter receive injection.
The membranes of the head are highly vascular, transmit¬
ting their vessels through the intervals of the osseous rays,
which are occupied abundantly by stiff, glairy, colourless,
mucilaginous fluid.
In the seventh month the bony cylinder of the thigh¬
bone and its epiphyses contain canals perceptible to the
microscope. In the head the bones are proceeding to
completion; the pericranium and dura mater are highly
vascular; and a quantity of reddish semitransparent jelly
between the scalp and the scull, which contain nume¬
rous minute vessels, Mr Flowship regards as the loose cel¬
lular state of the foetal pericranium. This is, however,
doubtful. The cylindrical bones have at this period no
medullary cavity, but present in their interior a loose
bony texture.
Between the seventh and eighth months, in a foetus
ten inches long, the humerus consists of a cylinder of bone
placed between two brownish, firm, jelly-like masses, which
correspond to the epiphyses, inclosed by periosteum,
which adheres loosely by means of filamentous and vascu¬
lar productions. The radiusisa thin bony rod, also between
two jelly-like epiphyses. The ulna is still thinner, more
slender and flexible, and even compressible. The interos¬
seous ligament is a continuous duplicature of the perios¬
teum. The metacarpal bones are much as before, only
larger. The hands and fingers are complete; but the
phalanges consist of minute semi-hard grains, inclosed in
periosteum, which forms a general sac to them, and to the
intermediate connecting parts. The middle and unguinal
phalanges can scarcely be called osseous. The femur, like
the humerus, is an osseous cylinder between two jelly-like
epiphyses, enveloped in loosely adhering periosteum. I he
tibia andfibula are like the radius and ulna. The metatarsal
bones are cylindrical pieces, firm, but not very hard. The
first phalanx of the toes is complete; the other two,
though the toes are fully formed, are much of the consist-
ANATOMY.
ence of cartilage. The carpal and tarsal bones are in the
state of the epiphyses, but of a gray colour.
In this state of the osseous system, the periosteum,
ane: which is continuous, and appears to make one membrane
eve!'e' with the capsular ligaments and the deep-seated portions
Ien of the fascia, adheres to the bone chiefly by arteries and
filamentous productions; and so loose is this connection,
that a probe may be inserted beneath it, and carried round
or inwards, unless where these connections are situate.
Another point where the periosteum adheres firmly is at
muscular insertions, to the humerus at the insertion of the
deltoid, and to \X\q femur at that of the glutceus.
In the vertebral column the bodies of the vertebrae and
the spinous plates are formed; and minute specks are be¬
ginning in the site of the transverse processes.
In the scull the parietal bones are well-formed shells
of bone, though very deficient at the mesial plane, the an¬
terior margin, and the upper anterior angle. The peri¬
cranium is distinctly membranous and vascular; and the
red jelly-like fluid noticed by Mr Howship is exterior to
this membrane.
At the period of birth the cylindrical bones contain
tubular canals filled with a colourless glairy fluid, and ter¬
minating in the surface of ossification. As the bones
previous to this period are homogeneous, and contain no
distinct medullary cavity, but present in their interior a
soft or loose bony texture, it is reasonable to suppose that
the developement of the longitudinal canals is connected
with the formation of the medullary cavity. At birth in
ihe femur may be distinguished a medullary cavity begin¬
ning to be formed, about half a line broad, but still very
imperfect.
After birth the two processes of the formation of tubu¬
lar canals and medullary cavity go on simultaneously;
and at the same rate nearly the outer part of the cylin¬
drical bones acquires a more dense and compact appear¬
ance. The epiphyses, also, which are in the shape of
grayish jelly-like masses, begin to present grains and
points of bone. Previously to this, Mr Howship repre¬
sents them, while still cartilaginous, as penetrated by canals
or tubes, which gradually disappear as ossification pro¬
ceeds. The carpal and tarsal bones appear to observe
the same course in the process of ossification.
In the bones of the scull, however, a different law is
observed. The osseous matter is originally deposited in
linear tracts or fibres, radiating or diverging from certain
points termed centres of ossification. Each bone is com-
f ’ pleted in one shell without diploe or distinguishable table.
Afterwards, when they are completed laterally, or in the
p radiating direction, the cancellated arrangement of the
diphe begins to take place apparently in the same manner
in which the medullary cavity and compact parts of the
long bones are formed.
In the process now described, it is important to observe
that the bony matter is deposited round the soft parts,
and that the cavities, holes, and canals of bones are
merely parts in which the previous existence of vessels,
nerves, ligaments or tendons, prevents the subsequent
formation of bone.
It has been generally supposed that the formation of
cartilage is a preliminary step to that of bone. This,
however, seems to be a mistake, arising from the circum¬
stance that cartilage is often observed to be converted in
the living body into bone. Neither in the long nor in the
fat bones is any thing like cartilage at any time observed,
fhe epiphyses, indeed, present something of the consist¬
ence of cartilage, but it has neither the firmness nor the
elasticity of that substance. It is a concrete jelly, after¬
wards to be penetrated by calcareous matter. The flat
VOL II.
45
bones are from the first osseous; and though their mar- General
gins are soft and flexible, in consequence of their recent Anatomy,
formation and moist state, they have still a distinct osse-^^^-7
ous appearance and arrangement, and bear no resemblance ;Bone‘
to cartilage. In short, true bone seems never at any pe- I)ev^loPe*
riod of its growth to be cartilaginous. ment.
The progressive growth of bones is effected by accre¬
tion of new matter to their extremities. The cylindrical
bones elongate by the addition of new matter to the ex¬
tremities of their diajihyses, and the flat bones by the en¬
largement of their margins. The latter fact is establish¬
ed by simple inspection during the process of ossification
of the cranial bones. In proof of the former, the expe¬
riment of John Hunter is decisive. In the tibia of a pig
he bored two holes, one near the upper, the other near
the lower end, with an interval of two inches exactly, and
inserted into each hole a small leaden shot. After some
time, when the animal had grown, and the length of the
bone was increased, on killing it, the space between the
leaden shots was found, as at first, to be exactly two inch¬
es,—thereby showing that no elongation had taken place
between the perforations. The experiment was often re¬
peated with the same result.
The period at which ossification is completed varies in
different individuals. It may be said to be indicated by
the completion of the medullary canal, by the ossification
of the epiphyses, and their perfect union with the osseous
cylinder (diaphysis). The first circumstance is indefinite.
The two latter, though more fixed, are still liable to great
variation. The epiphyses are rarely united before the age
of 14 or 15 ; and they may continue detached to the 20th
or 21st year. In general, however, they begin to unite or
to be knit, as is said, between the 15th and 20th years.
That the main agents of original ossification are the pe¬
riosteum and its arteries, the proofs are manifest. The
formation of bone can be ascribed to the vessels of two
agents only,—the periosteum and the medullary mem¬
brane. That the latter is not concerned in the pro¬
duction of bone in the foetus, must be inferred from the
fact that at that period it cannot be said to exist. To
the periosteum, therefore, and its vessels must be as¬
cribed the process of foetal ossification. Of this a cu¬
mulative proof is found in the circumstance, that the pe¬
riosteum adheres more firmly at the ends than the mid¬
dle of the bones; and that the pericranium and. dura mater,
which perform the part of periosteum to the bones of the
scull, are visibly concerned in the formation and succes¬
sive enlargement of these bones. But though the peri¬
osteal vessels are the main agents of ossification original¬
ly, there is reason to believe that the medullary vessels
contribute to its growth and nutrition after it is formed.
This may be inferred from the phenomena of fractures,
of diseases of the bones, and of those experiments in
which the medullary membrane is injured. Ihe perios¬
teum, however, does not act by ossification of its inner
layers, as Duhamel, misled by a false analogy between
the growth of trees and bones, laboured to establish.
A peculiar form of the osseous system requiring notice
are the sesamoid bones. These, which derive their name
from their minuteness, a grain), most of them,
excepting the knee-pan, being ot the size of a grain
or pea, are confined to the extremities, and are situate
chiefly in positions in which they give points of sup¬
port to the tendons of the flexor muscles. (Tendons
of the gemelli, tibialis posticus, peronoeus long us, &c.)
The peculiarity of these bones is, that they are formed
invariably in the substance of fibrous organs, as tendons in
the case of the knee-pan and the sesamoid bones of the
gemelii, tibialis posticus, and pevonccus longus ; or ligaments
746
ANATOMY.
General in the case of those situate between the chiro-phalan-
goal and podo-phalangeal articulations. With this pe-
Bone culiarity their mode of ossification corresponds. At
Develope- albuminous or fibro-albuminous, in process of time
ment.
Junctions.
they are penetrated by calcareous matter, and present an
osseous texture, which, however, is much less firm than
that of genuine bone. The period at which this deposi¬
tion commences and is completed varies in different in¬
dividuals ; and hence scarcely in any two persons of the
same age is the number of sesamoid bones the same.
Though the patella may be ossified at the 20th year, the
minute sesamoid bones are sometimes not formed before
the 30th or even the 40th. In the patella, when ossified,
we find a medullary organ ; but it is uncertain whether
the others acquire this mark of osseous character. These
bones resemble the epiphyses in uniting, when divided, by
fibro-albuminous matter.
4. The bones of which the skeleton consists are united
in two modes ; l,s£, by movable junction (diarthrosis) ;
ral
tween the bifid margin of another, as the azygos pro- Ge
cess of the sphenoid bone is received by the plates of Ana ^v.
the vomer ; (schindylesis.) The third mode of immov- ^ ~
able union is by implantation or insertion (gomphosis), asBon'
the teeth are inserted into the alveolar cavities of the su-Jun!)ns'
perior and inferior maxillary bones.
The following table exhibits a view of these modes of
junction, with their appropriate appellations.
2dly, by immovable junction (synarthrosis). Both modes
of union bear the general name of articulation, though
this term would with greater propriety be confined to the
first or movable union. By . this are connected all the
bones concerned in locomotion, and some of those devot¬
ed to the organic functions, as the ribs and the lower jaw.
The second is employed in the union of bones forming the
walls of cavities.
In the movable union, the articular surfaces are unit¬
ed in two modes. In the first, in which one bone moves
on the other with different degrees of freedom, the arti¬
cular surfaces are covered by cartilage and synovial mem¬
brane, and the bones are united by ligaments and tendons.
In the second (amphiarthrosis), in which the motion is
confined to a species of torsion or imperfect rotation, the
bones are united without articular surface by fibro-carti-
lage. The first is exemplified in the articulations of the
extremities ; the second is seen in the union of the bodies
of the vertebrae and the bones of the pelvis.
The several forms of movable union with free motion,
or articulations proper, may be referred to four heads, ac¬
cording to the nature of the motions performed. The first is
the motion of radio-central opposition, or pivot-motion in
every direction, in which the bone moves in its articular
cavity, not only backwards and forwards, or by flexion and
extension, but by abduction and adduction, and, by the
succession of these motions, may describe a cone with the
apex at the joint, or what is termed circumduction. This
most extensive form of motion is found in the scapulo¬
humeral and coxo-femoral articulations only. The second
form of articular motion is antero-posterior opposition, or
cardinal motion (cardo, a hinge), in which the bones
move on each other by flexion and extension, as a gate
on its hinges. This, which is sometimes named limited
opposition, is found in the femoro-tibial and humero-cu-
bital joints, and all those which undergo flexion and ex¬
tension. The third form of motion is that of rotation, in
which the bone revolves on its axis,—an infrequent vari¬
ety, confined chiefly to the humerus and femur. The
fourth, which is the gliding motion, though common to all
articular surfaces, is nevertheless the peculiar motion of
the carpal and tarsal bones.
In the immovable union the surfaces are united in
three modes. The first is by mutual indentation, or what
is named suture (sutura vera,), in which the margin of
one bone is dovetailed by alternate serrated teeth and
notches, into that of another. The second is by juxta¬
position (harmonia), in which the margin of one bone is
simply fitted to that of another. A peculiar variety of
this is, when the acute margin of one bone is received be-
JUNCTIONS OF BONES.
I. IMMOVABLE ; (sYNABTHROSIS.)
Continuous Bony Surfaces, united by Bone and Membrane.
aS. Scrrata, sive \ Coronal, Sagittal, and
Dentata. S Lambdoidal Sutures.
jS Sutura Lim-
bosa.
Mutual In¬
dentation. ]" Sutioo-
Juxtaposition.
Implantation.
| Spheno-parietal Suture.
y Sutura Sana* ) m , n
mosa. £ Temporo-panetal Suture.
Harmonia.
Gomphosis.
H. Simplex. H. Schindylesis.
The Teeth in the alveoli.
II. SEMIMOVABLE ; (aMPHIARTHROSIS.)
Continuous Surfaces, united by Fibro-Cartilage.
Rotation and
Torsion ] ^0tat‘10' The Bodies of the Vertebra.
Cardinal
Opposition.
A. Lateralis.
{Symphysis.
Synchondro.
Synnettrosis,
■■ )
Synchondrosis. >
is. )
Bones of the
Tel vis.
III. MOVABLE
(diarthrosis.)
Contiguous, Cartilaginous Surfaces, united by Ligaments,
fl. Unlimited Opposition, f(Arthrodia) T:heScapulo-humeral
Rotetbm 1 (Enarthrosis); Cup and BaU-joint.
2. Unlimited Opposition,
and Circumduction.
3. Limited Opposition, f
Flexion, and Extension. (
4. Rotation.
5. Gliding.
The Uio-femoral.
f [Arthrodia). Temporo-maxillary,
and Sterno-clavicular.
(Enarthrosis). Cup and Ball-joint.
Radio-carpal, Chiro-phalan-
geal, &c-
(Ginglymus). Cardinal Joint. Fe¬
moro-tibial, Phalangeal.
[Diarthrosis Trochoides). (Lateral
Ginglymus). Radius and Ulna,
Atlas and Axis.
([Diarthrosis Planiformis). Amphi¬
arthrosis of some authors. The
Carnal and Tarsal Bones; the
Oblique Processes of the Ver¬
tebrae.
Teeth. (Dentes.)
Every tooth consists of two hard parts; one external, Lx
white, uniform, somewhat like ivory; the other internal,
similar to the compact structure of bone.
The first, which is named enamel, is seen only at the
crown of the tooth, the upper and outer part of which
consists of this substance. It is white, very close in tex¬
ture, perfectly uniform and homogeneous, yet presenting
a fibrous arrangement. Extending across the summit of
the tooth in the manner of an incrustation, it is thick
above, and diminishes gradually to the root, where it dis¬
appears. This fact is demonstrated by macerating a tooth
in dilute nitric acid, when the bony root becomes yellow,
while the crown remains white. .
The enamel is not injectible, and is therefore believed
to be inorganic. It is also filed and broken without being
reproduced; nor does it present any of the usual proper¬
ties which distinguish organized bodies. The piercing
sensation which is communicated through the tooth from
the impression of acids seems to depend on the mere che¬
mical operation, and not on the physiological effect. Gn
ANATOMY.
Ger al the whole, the enamel is to be viewed as the inorganic
Anaijny- result of a process of secretion or deposition.
The bony part of the tooth is the root and that internal
Tt h’ part which is covered on the sides and above by the ena¬
mel. It consists of close-grained bony matter, as dense
as the compact walls of the long bones, or the petrous
portion of the temporal bone. The fibres which are said
to be seen in it are exactly of the same nature as those
in bone.
In the interior of the bony part of each tooth is a ca¬
vity which descends into the root, and communicates at
its extremity with the outer surface by openings corre¬
sponding with the number of branches into which the root
is divided. This cavity, which is large in young or new¬
ly formed teeth, and small in those which are old, contains
a delicate vascular membrane, which has been named the
pulp of the tooth. It is best seen by breaking a recent
tooth by a smart blow with a hammer, when the soft
pulpy membrane may be picked out of the fragments by
the forceps. It then appears to be a membranous web
with two surfaces, an exterior adhering to the bony sur¬
face of the dental cavity by minute vessels; the other in¬
terior, free, and, so far as can be determined of a body so
minute, resembling a closed sac.
The developement and growth of the teeth is a process
of much interest.
At what time the first rudiments of teeth appear seems
not to be determined with accuracy. In the foetus, be¬
tween the seventh and eighth month, I can merely dis¬
tinguish in the centre of the vascular membrane of the al¬
veolar cavity a minute firm body like a seed. I have,
hovyever, seen the crowns of teeth formed in foetuses
which, I have reason to believe, had not attained the
seventh month. But whatever may be the exact period,
the process is nearly as follows,
i While the bones of the upper and lower jaw are in
the process of formation between the third and fourth
months, (fourth and fifth, Bichat, tom. iii. p. 93,) a series
of soft, membranous, vascular sacs inclosed within the
general cavity of the periosteum, may be recognised at
their lower and upper margins, which are still without
those osseous plates which afterwards constitute the al¬
veoli. Each of the sacs now mentioned consists, like a
serous membrane, of two divisions,—one external, attached
to the periosteum, the other folded within it, and forming
a closed cavity. The outer or periosteal deposits in the in¬
tervals between each sac, bone, which eventually consti¬
tutes the transverse septa of the alveoli. From the inside
of the inflected portion the process of dentition commences
some time between the fifth and seventh month, by the de¬
position of matter from the vessels at the lowest point of
the alveolar division of the sac. This matter is to consti¬
tute the crown of the tooth, which is invariably formed
first. After the deposition of the first portions, these are
pushed upwards by the addition of successive layers below
them, and necessarily carry the inflected part of the sac
before them. As this process of deposition advances, the
tooth gradually fills the sac, and rises till it reaches the
level of the alveolar margins. If a tooth be examined in
situ, near the period of birth, it is found to consist of the
crown, with portions of enamel descending on every side,
and forming a cavity in which a cluster of blood-vessels
proceeding from the sac is lodged. In the mean time,
bone is deposited from the periosteal division all round
each sac, so as to form the alveoli.
After the enamel has been deposited the bone begins
to be formed; and as this process advances, the tooth is
still forcibly thrust upwards by the addition of matter to
Jts r°ot. When the latter is well completed, the vessels
747
become smaller and less abundant, until, when the tooth General
is perfect, they shrink to a mere membrane, which lines Anatomy,
the cavity of the tooth, and still maintains its original
connection with the alveolar membrane, by the minute Teeth-
vascular production which enters the orifice or orifices of
the root.
Physiological authors have thought it important to
mark the period at which the teeth appear at the gums;
and in general this takes place about the sixth or seventh
month after birth. This mode of viewing the process of
dentition, however, gives rise to numberless mistakes on
the period of teething. The process, as we see, commences
in the early period of foetal existence; and the time at
which they appear above the gums varies according to the
progress made in the womb. In some the process is ra¬
pid, in others it is tardy; and even the stories of Richard
III. and Louis XIV. receive confirmation from the fact of
19 examples cited by Haller, of infants born with one or
more teeth above the gum. Generally speaking, the
crown is completed at the period of birth ; and, according
as the formation of the root advances with rapidity or slow¬
ly, dentition is early or late.
What is here described is the process of the formation
of the first or temporary set of teeth, which consist, it is
well known, of twenty. In that of the second set the
same course is observed. In the same manner is observed
a row of follicular sacs, though not exactly in the original
alveoli, yet attached to the sacs of the temporary teeth
by vascular membranes; in the same manner deposition
begins at the bottom of the free surface of the sac by the
formation of the crown ; and in the same manner the crown
is forcibly raised by the successive accretion of new matter
to its base. The moment this process commences, a new
train of phenomena takes place with the primary teeth. The
follicular sacs of the new or permanent teeth are liberally
supplied with vessels for the purpose of nutrition; and as
these blood-vessels increase in size, those of the tempo¬
rary teeth diminish; and the supply of blood being thus
cut off, the latter undergo a sort of natural death. The
roots which, as being last formed, are not unfrequently
incomplete, now undergo a process of absorption ; and the
tooth drops out in consequence of the destruction of its
nutritious vessels. Some authors have ascribed this ex¬
pulsion to pressure, exercised by the new tooth. They
forget, however, that before the new tooth can exert any
pressure, it must be in some degree formed; and to this a
vascular system is indispensable.
The increased number of the teeth when permanent,
the enlargement of the jaws, and the consequent expansion
of the face, though interesting, are foreign to the present
inquiry.
Gristle, Cartilage. ( Cartilago,— Tissu Cartilagineux.)
The cartilaginous system or tissue is found at least in Cartilage,
three different situations of the human body; Is#, on the
articular extremities of the movable bones; 2c?, on the
connecting surfaces or margins of immovable bones ; 3c/.
in the parietes of certain cavities, the motions and uses of
which require bodies of this elastic substance.
The organization of gristle is obscure and indistinct.
On examination by the microscope, its surface is pearl-
white, uniform and homogeneous, firm and glistening,
with numerous minute pores. William Hunter represents
the articular cartilages as consisting of longitudinal and
transverse fibres. (Phil. Trans, vol. xlii.) Herissant re¬
presents those of the ribs as composed of minute fibres
mutually aggregated into bundles connected by short slips,
and twisted in a spiral or serpentine direction. (Mem.
de TAcad. 1748.) By Delasone, the articular cartilages
74S
ANATOMY.
General are said to consist of a multitude of minute threads,
Anatomy. mutually connected and placed at right angles to the
plane of the bone, but so as to radiate from the centre to
Caiti age. circumference. (Ibid. 1752.) The general fact of
fibrous structure is confirmed by Bichat, who states that
it is possible to recognise longitudinal fibres, which
are intersected by others, oblique or transverse, but
without determinate order. In its purest form no blood¬
vessels are seen in it, nor can they be demonstrated by
the finest injections. In the margins of those pieces
of gristle, however, which are attached to the extre¬
mities of growing bones, blood-vessels of considerable
size may often be seen, even without the aid of. injection.
In young subjects a net-work of arteries and veins, which
is described by Hunter under the name of ciTculus avticuli
vasculosus, may be demonstrated all round, the margin of
the cartilage at the line between the epiphysis and it.
They terminate so abruptly, however, that they cannot be
traced into the substance of the latter. The most certain
proofs, however, of the organic structure of this substance
are the serous exudation which appears in a few seconds
on the surface of a piece of cartilage after division by the
knife; and the fact that it becomes yellow during, jaun¬
dice, and derives colour from substances found in the
blood. Neither absorbents nor nerves have been found
in it. The cellular texture said by Bichat to form the
mould for the proper cartilaginous matter appears to be
imaginary. *
The articular cartilages adhere to the epiphyses by one
surface, which consists of short perpendicular fibres placed
parallel to each other, and forming a structure like the pile
of velvet. This is easily demonstrated by maceration,
first in nitric acid, and then in water. The free or smooth
surface is covered by a thin fold of synovial membrane,
which comes off in pieces during maceration. The exist¬
ence of this, though recently denied by Gordon, was ad¬
mitted by William Hunter, and may be demonstrated
either by boiling, maceration, or the phenomena of inflam¬
mation, under which it is sensibly thickened. All other
cartilages are enveloped, unless where they are attached
to bones, by a fibrous membrane, which has been there¬
fore named perichondrium. The existence of this may be
demonstrated by dissection, and also by boiling, which
makes it peel off in crisped flakes.
The chemical properties of cartilage have not been ac¬
curately examined. Boiling shows that it contains gela¬
tine ; but as much of the matter is undissolved, it may be
inferred that it is under some modification, or united with
some other principle, perhaps albumen. Immersion in
nitric acid or boiling fluids induces crispation, and it dries
hard and semitransparent like horn.
Fibro-Cartilage, Chondro-Desmoid Texture. (Cartilago
Fibrosa,— Tissu Fibro- Cartilagineux.)
Fibro-car- Intermediate between the cartilaginous and the fibrous
tiiage. tissues, Bichat ranks that of the fibro-cartilages, which
comprehends three subdivisions: ls£, the membranous
fibro-cartilages, as those of the ears, nose, windpipe, eye¬
lids, &c.; 2c?, the inter-articular fibro-cartilages, as those
found in the temporo-maxillary and femoro-tibial articula¬
tions, the intervertebral substances, and the cartilaginous
bodies uniting the bones of the pelvis ; 3c?, certain portions
of the periosteum, in which, when a tendinous sheath is
formed, the peculiar nature of the fibrous system disap¬
pears, and is succeeded by a substance belonging to the
order of fibro-cartilages.
Beclard follows Meckel in rejecting the first subdivi¬
sion, the individuals of which are quite similar to ordinary
cartilage, in wanting the distinct fibrous structure, and being
covered by perichondrium, the fibres of which have caused Gei
them to be regarded as fibro-cartilages. On this principle Ana1
Beclard gives the following view of the fibro-cartilages.
\st, Fibro-cartilages free at both surfaces; those in the^ltr'
form of menisci, which are placed between the articularU a°
surfaces of two bones (Jibro-cartilagines inter-articulares).
These are seen in the temporo-maxillary, sterno-clavicular,
and femoro-tibial articulations, and occasionally in the
acromio-clavicular and the ulno-carpal joints. These liga¬
ments are attached either by their margins or their ex¬
tremities, and are enveloped in a thin fold of synovial
membrane. 2d, Fibro-cartilages attached by one surface.
Of this description are those employed as pulleys or
grooves for the easy motion of tendons; for instance, the
chondro-desmoid eminences attached to the margin of the
glenoid cavity for the long head of the biceps, and at the
sinuosity of the ischium for the tendons of the obturatores.
3d, Fibro-cartilages, which establish a connection between
bones susceptible of little individual motion, as the inter¬
vertebral bodies; or which unite bones intended to remain
fixed, unless under very peculiar circumstances, as those
which form the junction of the pelvic bones. (Symphysis
pubis ; sacro-iliac synchondrosis.)
The peculiarities of these substances consist in their
partaking in different proportions of the nature of carti¬
lage and white fibrous tissue, and, consequently, in possess¬
ing the toughness and resistance of the latter with the
elasticity and flexibility of the former. The structure of
the fibro-cartilaginous tissue is easily seen in the interver¬
tebral bodies, and in the cartilages uniting the pelvic bones.
In the former, white concentric layers, consisting of cir¬
cular fibres placed in juxtaposition, constitute the outer
part, while the interior contains a semifluid jelly. The
concentric fibrous layers are cartilage in a fibrous shape.
In the latter situation the fibrous structure is equally dis¬
tinct, while the cartilaginous consistence shows the con¬
nection with that organic substance. A similar arrange¬
ment is remarked in the inter-articular cartilage of the
temporo-maxillary articulation, and in the semilunar car¬
tilages of the knee-joint. In all, the fibrous is said to pre¬
dominate over the cartilaginous structure. Their physical
properties are distensibility and elasticity. Though they
are at all times subjected to considerable pressure, they
speedily recover their former size. Though their chemi¬
cal composition is not exactly known, they evidently con¬
tain much gelatine.
Gland. Glandular System. (Glandulce.)
The name gland, though rather vaguely used, may be Gla
properly restricted to designate organs of a definite
structure, consisting of arteries, veins, and excretory
tubes, arranged in a peculiar manner, and destined to
separate from the blood a fluid of peculiar chemical an
physiological properties. The organs of this description
may be arranged in two general divisions,—the follicular
glands, or those which occur in an isolated form; and the
conglomerate glands, or those which, being of larger
volume, are understood to consist of numerous small
glands combined in one general organ. The former em¬
braces the sebaceous glands of the skin and the muci
parous glands of mucous membranes; in the latter are
comprehended the lacrymal and salivary glands, vvi
the tonsils, the pancreas, the liver, the kidneys, the tes¬
ticles of the male, and mammce of the female, and per
haps the prostate gland. To a third head, denomina
ed that of imperfect glands, Meckel refers such 05Ta.,
as the thymus, the suprarenal capsules, the thyra1 >
and the spleen. But since the term imperfect imp
here a contradiction, and since it is by no means asc
ANATOMY.
749
geii-al tained, either that these organs secrete, or that their
isaviy- secretions are removed by the lymphatics, it is manifest
that they cannot be justly associated with the organs above
defined as examples of glands.
The follicular glands, though most minute, are never¬
theless distinguished by the most simple and intelligible
structure. They consist of small hollow spherical sacs, or
minute membranes moulded into the saccular form, in
the attached surface of which are distributed numerous
minute arteries and veins, and the free surface of which
is smooth and covered with the fluid secreted. The
quantity of vascular substance with filamentous tissue
surrounding the attached surface of these glands, makes
them occasionally project from the surface of the mem¬
brane to which they are attached. In ordinary circum¬
stances, however, they cause no elevation, and appear
in the form of simple sacs with a narrow orifice. These
glands belong to two textures only of the animal body,—
the skin and the mucous membrane. In the former they
are named sebaceous glands, from the fluid which they se¬
crete containing a small portion of fatty matter. In the
latter they are named follicles, crypts, or muciparous glands.
In certain regions of the mucous membranes, for in¬
stance in the male urethra, the crypts are arranged in
such a manner that they constitute large sinuous cavities,
the free surface of which secretes serous mucus copious¬
ly. These cavities, which have the further effect of in¬
creasing much the superficial extent of the membrane,
are denominated lacunae. The peculiarity of this form of
mucous gland appears to consist in its membranous sac
having unusual extent, and consequently in the glandular
vessels being more expanded than in the ordinary glands.
The structure of the conglomerate glands is more com¬
plicated. Each gland consists of numerous minute por¬
tions of definite figure, named lobules; and each lobule
may be resolved into granules, also of definite shape, in¬
timately connected by filamentous tissue. These granules,
which have since the time of Malpighi been denominated
acini, are found to consist of clusters of minute arteries
and veins aggregated together, with minute tubes for con¬
veying away the secreted fluid. On these points anato¬
mists are agreed. They are seen most distinctly in the
liver and kidney, and may be demonstrated in the pan¬
creas, testicles, and female breast, by injection. Every
acinus, in short, may be said to consist of two parts, a vas¬
cular or supplying, and a tubular or excreting.
On the manner in which these two parts of the acinus
communicate, however, there is less certainty and preci¬
sion. In this difficulty, as the point is scarcely a matter
of observation, conjecture has been resorted to; and the
opinions of anatomists have been divided between two
parties. According to one, at the head of which may be
placed Ruysch, Haller, William Hunter, and Hewson, the
minute arteries terminate directly in the excretory ducts,
without intermediate substance. According to the other
opinion, which is that of Malpighi, between the arteries
and the excretory tubes there are placed minute mem¬
branous vesiculce or pouches, in the substance of which
the arteries, still more minutely divided, are distributed,
and from the free surface of which the process of secre¬
tion goes on. In short, each acinus, according to Mal¬
pighi, is a separate follicle, and the conglomerate glands
consist merely of numerous follicles, combined so as to
form a large general secreting organ.
Between these two views of the intimate nature of the
glandular tissue there is less difference than at first sight
might be imagined. The chief difference is in the ulti¬
mate arrangement of the glandular capillaries. According
to the view of Malpighi, these capillaries are arranged in
clusters, as it were, round the beginning of the excretory General
pore, so that even in this condition the termination of the Anatomy,
former class of vessels is the commencement of the latter.
Conversely, it may be said, that since the delicate mem- Gland*
brane in which the secreted fluid first appears neces¬
sarily receives the capillary terminations, the latter can¬
not be said to communicate directly with the excretory
tubes. The correct view of the matter is, that by the
term vesicles are not to be understood large sacs, but
merely the rounded recess of the membrane which forms
the excretory tubes. Further, since the researches of
Hewson and Monro show that in the kidney and the tes¬
ticle the arteries are convoluted, it may be inferred that
this is the character of the capillary arrangement of
the glands; and that it is requisite to the performance of
the process of secretion that the vessels be disposed in
such a tortuous manner as to prevent too rapid motion
of the blood.
The conglomerate glands, we have seen, consist chiefly
of minute vascular ramifications infinitely subdivided. In
all the glands, excepting the liver, these vessels consist of
arteries to convey blood to the organ, and veins to re¬
turn it to the system ; and in all the glands, excepting the
liver, it is a peculiar circumstance that the same arterial
trunk conveys blood for nourishing the gland, and for sup¬
plying the materials of the secretion. All the secretions,
therefore, excepting that of the liver, are derived from
arterial blood. The liver alone, besides receiving a con¬
siderable artery, derived from the coeliac trunk, is remark¬
able for being chiefly supplied with blood from a large
venous trunk, formed by the union of the veins of the
stomach and spleen, and the mesenteric and mesocolic
branches, and which after this union is again subdivided
into ramifications in the substance of the gland. Injection
shows that the branches and twigs of this vein anastomose
freely with those of the hepatic artery; and though it
might be imagined that the latter is intended chiefly to
nourish the gland, and the former to supply the materials
for secretion, this circumstance, with the fact that in some
rare instances the vena portae is not distributed in the
liver, shows that at present this opinion must be adopted
with caution.
Besides arteries, veins, and excretory tubes, glands are
supplied with lymphatic vessels, which are arranged in two
sets, superficial and deep. The former are confined to
the surface of the organ, over which they may be seen
creeping in every direction, and belong chiefly to the
membranous coverings of the glands. The deep-seated
lymphatics are those which penetrate the substance of
the glands, and in general accompany the large blood¬
vessels.
Every gland receives a proportion of nervous branches,
generally from the nerves of the sympathetic system.
These branches accompany the blood-vessels in penetrat¬
ing the substance of the glands, and are distributed much
in the same manner as the arteries before their ultimate
division. They exercise some influence over the process
of secretion ; but the nature and extent of this influence
are still undetermined.
Each gland contains a quantity of filamentous tissue,
which envelopes the blood-vessels, tubes, lymphatics, and
nerves, and constitutes a large proportion of the mass of
the gland. The simple tissues, thus united, are inclosed
in a general membranous covering, which also partly con¬
tributes with these tissues to retain it in its situation.
These membranous coverings vary in different glands. In
the liver and pancreas it is the peritoneum ; the kidneys
are inclosed in a peculiar tunic; the testes are contain¬
ed in a fibrous membrane; and the acini of the lacrymal
750
ANA T O M Y.
General and mammary glands appear to be covered by a form of
condensed filamentous tissue.
CHAP. III. ENVELOPING TISSUES.
Skin. (Cutis, Pellis.) Cutaneous Tissue, Dermal Tissue.
(La Peau, Tissu Dermoide,—Die Haut, Das Fell.)
Pell, old English; with its appendages, Scarf-skin or
Cuticle, Nail, Hair. ( Cuticula, Epidermis,— Tissu Epi¬
dermoids et Tissu Pileux.')
Skin. Skin has been said to consist of three parts, true skin
(cutis verd), mucous net (rete mucosum), and scarf-skin or
cuticle. Haller, Camper, and Blumenbach, are inclined
to deny the existence of the mucous net in the skin of the
white, and to admit it in that of the negro only; and in
point of fact, indeed, its existence has been demonstrated
in the negro race only, and inferred by analogy to exist
in the white. “ When a blister has been applied to the
skin of a negro,” says Cruikshank, “ if it has not been
very stimulating, in twelve hours after a thin transparent
grayish membrane is raised, under which we find a fluid.
This membrane is the cuticle or scarf-skin. When this
with the fluid is removed, the surface under these appears
black; but if the blister had been very stimulating,
another membrane, in which this black colour resides,
would also have been raised with the cuticle. This is
rete mucosum, which is itself double, consisting of another
gray transparent membrane, and of a black web very much
resembling the pigmentum nigrum of the eye. When this
membrane is removed, the surface of the true skin, as has
been hitherto believed, comes in view, and is white like
that of a European. The rete mucosum gives the colour
to the skin; is black in the negro; white, brown, or yel¬
lowish in the European.” (Experiments on the Insensible
Perspiration, &c. London, 1795.)
Bichat denies the existence of a mucous varnish (corpus
mucosum) such as Malpighi describes it, and regards the
vascular surface of the corion as the only mucous net.
According to Chaussier the skin consists of two parts
only, the derma (fo^iu, cutis vera) or corion, and the epi¬
dermis, cuticle, or scarf-skin; the first embracing the or¬
ganic elements of this tissue; the second being an inorganic
substance prepared by the organic, and deposited on its
surface. This opinion is adopted by Gordon, according
to whom the skin consists of two substances placed above
each other, like layers or plates (lamince), the inner of
which is the true skin, the outer the cuticle or scarf-skin.
Beclard, on the contrary, thinks that a peculiar matter,
which occasions the colour by which the several races are
distinguished, is found between the outer surface of the
corion and the cuticle; and that no fair race is destitute
of it except the albino, the peculiar appearance of whom
he ascribes to the absence of the mucous net of the skin.
The corion of the human skin (pellis, corium, derma,
cutis vera) seems to consist chiefly of very small dense
fibres, not unlike those of the proper arterial coat, closely
interwoven with each other, and more firmly compacted
the nearer they are to its outer or cuticular surface. The
inner surface of the corion is of a gray colour; and in al¬
most all parts of the body presents a number of depres¬
sions varying in size from ygth to y^th of an inch, and
consequently forming spaces or intervals between them.
These depressions, which correspond to eminences in the
subjacent adipose tissue, have been termed areolce. They
are wanting in the corion of the back of the hand and foot
only.
The outer or cuticular surface of the corion is smooth,
of a pale or flesh-red tinge, and is much more vascular
than its inner surface. It presents further a number of
minute conical eminences (papillae), which, according to Gem i
the recent observations of Gaultier and Dutrochet, are Anatc y.
liberally supplied with blood-vessels, and are the most vas-^^X
cular part of this membrane. In the ordinary state of cir-
culation and temperature during life these eminences are
on a level with the surrounding corion ; but when the sur¬
face is chilled, this membrane shrinks, while the papillae
either continue unchanged or shrink less proportionally,
and give rise to the appearance described under the name
of goose skin (cutis anserina). This surface was said by the
older anatomists to present numerous orifices or pores;
but according to Gordon, if we trust to observation, no
openings of this kind can be recognised, either by the eye
or the microscope, except those of the sebaceous follicles.
The hairs, indeed, are found to issue from holes in the
corion, but they fill them completely.
In certain situations, for instance at the entrance of
the external auditory hole, at the tip of the nose, on the
margins of the eyelids, in the armpits, at the nipple, at
the skin of the pubes, round the anus and the female pu¬
dendum, are placed minute orifices, from which exudes
an oleaginous fluid, which is quickly indurated. These
openings lead into the cavities of small sacs called follicles
(folliculi) or sebaceous glands (glandules sebacece). These
sacs, the structure of which is noticed above, consist of
hollow surfaces secreting an oleaginous fluid, which is
progressively propelled to the orifice, where it soon un¬
dergoes that partial inspissation which gives it the seba¬
ceous or suet-like aspect and consistence.
The corion is liberally supplied with blood-vessels,
nerves, and absorbents. After a successful injection, its
outer surface appears to consist of a uniform net-work of
minute vessels, subdivided to an infinite degree of deli¬
cacy, and containing during life blood coloured and co¬
lourless. It can scarcely be doubted that this vascular
net-work (rete vasculosum) is the only texture correspond¬
ing to the reticular body of the older anatomists.
It is well known that this membrane, when boiled suf¬
ficiently long, is converted into a viscid glutinous liquor,
which consists chiefly of gelatine (Chaptal, Seguin, Hat¬
chett, Vauquelin, &c.), and that glue is obtained from it
for the purposes of art. As, however, in these operations
a portion of matter is left undissolved, and as glue is com¬
pletely soluble in water, while skin resists it for an inde¬
finite time, it may be concluded, that though the chief
constituent of the corion is gelatine, it is under some pe¬
culiar modification not perfectly understood. The union
of this organized gelatine with the vegetable principle
denominated tannin forms leather, which is insoluble in
water. _ • J
Cuticle or scarf-skin (epidermis, cuticula) is a semi-Cutic
transparent, or rather translucent layer of thin light-
coloured matter, extended continuously over the outer
surface of the corion. Its thickness varies, being thinnest
in those parts least exposed to pressure and friction, but
thickest in the palms and soles. It is destitute of blood¬
vessels, nerves, and absorbents; and there is reason to
believe, from observing the phenomena of its reproduc¬
tion, that it is originally secreted in the form of a semi¬
fluid viscid matter by the outer surface of the corion ; and
that, as it is successively worn or removed by attrition,
it is in like manner replaced by a constant process of
secretory deposition. This semifluid viscid matter, which
in truth is found between the outer surface of the corion
and the firm cuticle, is the substance mentioned by Mal¬
pighi, and so often spoken of as the mucous net (corpus
mucosum). It is inorganic; and it is impossible to ex¬
plain its production otherwise than by ascribing it to the
outer vascular surface of the corion, .
ANATOMY. 751
Gieral Cuticle is rendered yellow and finally dissolved by im-
Aitomy. mersion in nitric acid. It is also dissolved by sulphuric
^.^^acid in the form of a deep brown pulp. These, and some
i n> other experiments performed by Hatchett, show that it
consists chiefly of modified albuminous matter.
This description shows, that if strict observation he
trusted, the mucous net has no existence, at least in the
European. In the Negro, Caffre, and Malay, however, a
black membrane is said to be interposed between the co-
rion and cuticle, and to be the cause of the dark com¬
plexion of these races. On this subject I refer to the de¬
scription given by Cruikshank, which is the best (Ex¬
periments, &c. p. 31, 41, and 43) ; the Essay of M. Gaul¬
tier, already quoted; and the observations of Beclard.
What is found in the skin of the mixed or half-caste races,
i. e. the offspring of an African and a European, or of a
mulatto and European ? and how is the transition be¬
tween this colouring layer and its insensible diminution
effected ?
Na. Nail is a substance familiarly known. On its nature
and structure we find many conjectures, but few or no
facts, in the writings of anatomists; and almost all that
has been written is the result of analogical inference ra¬
ther than of direct observation. It is known that the nails
drop off with the scarf-skin in the dead body; that they
are diseased or destroyed by causes which act on the
outer surface of the corion, and produce disease of the
cuticle; and that, if forcibly torn out, the surface of the
corion to which they were attached bleeds profusely and
inflames. In other respects they are inorganic ; but these
facts warrant the conclusion that the root of the nail is
connected with the organic substance of the corion, and
that the whole substance is the result of a process of se¬
cretion similar to that by which the cuticle is formed.
According to the experiments of Hatchett, they con¬
sist of a substance which possesses the properties of coa¬
gulated albumen, with a small trace of phosphate of lime.
Ha The root of a hair is not only that part which is con¬
tained in the bulb, but the portion which is lodged in the
skin. The middle part and the point are those which
project beyond the surface of the skin. The bidb is a
small sac fixed in the inner surface of the corion, in the
contiguous filamentous tissue, and in which the root is
implanted.
Every hair is cylindrical, tapering regularly from the
root to the point, and solid, but containing its proper co¬
louring matter in its substance. The colour varies, but
the root is always whitish and transparent, and softer
than the rest; the fixed or adhering part of the root is
almost fluid. When hair is decolorized, it becomes trans¬
parent and brittle, and presents a peculiar silvery-white
colour; and as hairs of this kind are few or abundant, it
gives the aspect of gray, hoary, or white hair.
The bulb, though visible in a hair plucked out by the
root, is too small in human hair to be minutely examined ;
and Chirac, Gaultier, and Gordon, have therefore de¬
scribed its structure and appearances from the bulbs of
the whiskers of large animals, the seal for example, in
which it is much more distinct. According to researches
of this kind, every bulb forms a sort of sac or follicle,
which consists of two tunics, an inner one, tender, vascu¬
lar, and embracing closely the root of the hair; and an
outer, which is firmer and less vascular, and surrounds
Are inner one, while it adheres to the filamentous tissue
and the inner surface of the corion. When the hair is¬
sues from the bulb, it passes through an appropriate canal
of the corion, which is always more or less oblique, but
which, as has been already said, it fills completely; and General
it afterwards passes in a similar manner through the scarf- Anatomy,
skin. Nervous filaments have been traced into the bulbs
of the whiskers of the seal by Rudolphi and the younger Hain
Andral. The bulb or follicle, in short, is organic, and
forms by secretion the inorganic hair.
The structure of hair appears to be either so simple,
or so incapable of being further elucidated, that anato¬
mists have not given any facts of consequence regarding
it. Its outer surface is believed to be covered with im¬
bricated scales, because in moving a single hair between
the finger and thumb it follows one direction only.
Hair is believed to be utterly inorganic, though the
phenomena of its growth, decoloration, and especially of
the disease termed Polish plait (plica Polonica), have led
various authors to regard it as possessed of some degree
of vitality. These phenomena, however, may be explain¬
ed by the occurrence of disease in the bulbs or generat¬
ing follicles. Hair is insoluble in boiling water ; but Vau-
quelin succeeded in dissolving it by the aid of Papin’s
digester. From the experiments of this chemist, and
those of Hatchett, it may be inferred that hair consists
of an animal matter, which appears to be a modification
of albumen, a colouring oil, and some saline substances.
Mucous Membrane, Villous Membrane. (Membrana 3Iu-
cosa, M. Mucipara, M. Villosa,— Tissu Muqueux, Bi¬
chat.)
The organic tissue or membrane to which the name of Mucous
mucous or villous has been applied, consists of two greatniemt>rane.
divisions, the gastro-pulmonary and genito-urinary.
The first or gastro-pulmonary division comprehends
that membranous surface which commences at the vari¬
ous orifices of the face at which it is contiguous with
the skin, and is continued through the lacrymal and na¬
sal passages, and even the Eustachian tube, by the larynx
on the one hand to the windpipe and bronchial mem¬
brane, and by the oesophagus on the other through the
entire tract of the alimentary canal, at the opposite ex¬
tremity of which it is again identified with the skin.
The distribution of the second division, or the genito¬
urinary mucous membrane, is slightly varied according to
the differences of sex. In the male it is connected with
the skin at the orifice of the urethra, from which it pro¬
ceeds inwards toward the bladder, sending previously
small prolongations through ducts on each side of the
veru montanum, from which it is believed to be continued
through the vasa deferentia, to the vasa efferentia of the
testicle. Continued over the inner surface of the urinary
bladder, it is prolonged through the ureters to the pelvis
and infundibula of the kidney. In the female, besides
passing in this direction, it ascends into the womb, and
passes through the Fallopian or uterine tubes, at the up¬
per extremity of which it terminates in an abrupt opening
into the sac of the peritoneum—the only instance in the
whole body in which a mucous and serous surface com¬
municate freely and directly.
These two orders of membranous tissue have each two
surfaces, an attached or adherent, and a free one. I he
adherent surface is attached, \st, to muscles, as in the
tongue, most of the mouth and fauces, oesophagus, and
whole alimentary canal, and the bladder; 2d, to fibrous
membranes, as in the nasal cavities and part of the la¬
rynx, in which it is attached to periosteum or perichon¬
drium, the palate, ureter, and pelvis of the kidney; 3c?, to
fibro-cartilages, as in the windpipe (trachea), and bronchial
tubes.
The free surface is not uniform or similar throughout.
The appearance of the pituitary or Schneiderian mem-
7o2
ANATOMY.
General brane is different from that of the stomach or intestines; tribe, in which the stomach is also quadruple, the epider- Genet
Anatomy, tbe surface of the tongue and mouth is different from that mis is confined to the fiist cavity. In birds of the graz- Anatot
0f tjie trachea ; and the free surface of the urethra is un- ing tribe, the mucous epidermis is continued over the giz-^^
Mucous ]ike tjiat of the bladder. These variations depend on zard, but terminates at the opening into 'die stomach.lMucons
membrane. jjfperence 0f structure, and are connected with a differ- This conclusion as to the human subject is confirmed bymembn
ence in properties; yet anatomists have improperly ap- lleclard, who further adds, that in the genito-urinary sys-
plied to the whole what was peculiar to certain parts only, tern it cannot be traced beyond the neck of the womb
and have thus created a system in which some truth is and that of the bladder.
blended with much misrepresentation. In most mucous membranes are found minute oval or
Mucous membrane consists, like skin, of a corion or spheroidal bodies, slightly elevated, and presenting an
derma, and an epidermis or cuticle. orifice leading to a blind or shut cavity. As they are be-
The mucous corion is a firm, dense, gray substance, lieved to secrete a fluid analogous to or identical with
which forms the ground-work of the membrane in most mucus, they are named mucous glands; and from their
regions of the body, but which is evidently represented shape and situation they are also denominated follicles
by the fibrous system, e. g. the periosteum or perichon- (folliculi) and cryptee. Though more or less abundant in
drium, in some other situations. It is most distinctly all the mucous membranes, they have been most fre-
seen in the mouth and throat, and in various parts of the quently examined in those of the alimentary canal, where
alimentary canal. In the first situation it is more vascu- they were first accurately described by Brunner and Pey-
lar, less gray and dense, than in the intestinal mucous er. {Glandules Peyerianm.) In this situation they are
membrane. situate in the substance of the mucous corion. Their
It possesses two surfaces, an inner, adherent to the structure is simple. The orifice leads into a saccular
submucous filamentous tissue, and an outer or proper mu- cavity, with a smooth, uniform surface, which secretes
cous surface. In the stomach, the mucous corion is in the fluid which oozes from them. This membranous
the form of a soft but firm membranous substance, about sac is lodged in a reddish-coloured, dense, anormal mat-
1th or £th of a line thick, tough, of a dun-gray or fawn ter, which is probably filamentous tissue enveloping mi-
colour (intermediate between Sienna-yellow and ochre- nute blood-vessels; but of the minute structure of which
yellow, Syme), slightly translucent, and sinking in water, nothing is accurately known. In the state of health
The attached or inner surface is flocculent and tomentose, these bodies are so minute that it is very difficult to re-
and a shade lighter than the outer, which presents a sort cognise them. I have seen them, nevertheless, in the
of shag or velvet, consisting of very minute piles. This, tracheo-bronchial membrane by the eye and by a lens,
when examined by a good lens at oblique light, appears When the membranes are inflamed they become larger
to consist of an infinite number of very minute roundish and more distinct. In the bladder, the womb, the gall-
bodies closely set, but separated by equally minute linear bladder, and the seminal vesicles, they are not distinctly
pits, and occasionally circular depressions. In the ileum seen, and cannot be satisfactorily demonstrated. It is
it presents much the same characters; but the minute unnecessary, however, to follow the example of Bichat
bodies of its shaggy surface are still larger and more dis- in trusting to analogy to prove their existence; for they
tinct, and may be seen by the naked eye. In the wind- are not necessary to the secretion of mucous fluid, as he
pipe, again, it is rather thinner and lighter coloured; and seems to imagine. Those in the urethra, first well de¬
while its outer surface presents numerous minute pores, scribed by William Cowper, are distinct examples of fol-
it is much smoother than in the alimentary canal, and en- licles in the genito-urinary surface. The sinuosities
tirely destitute of those minute bodies seen in the latter. {Jacuncs), first accurately described, if not discovered, by
It nowhere presents any appearance of fibres. Morgagni {Adversaria Anatomica, iv. 8, 9, &c.), though
The mucous corion rests on a layer of filamentous tis- not exactly the same in conformation and structure, seem
sue, firm and dense, and of a bluish-white colour,—a cha- to be very slightly different.
racter by which it is distinguished from the soft fawn- In certain regions of the mucous membranes, espe-
coloured mucous membrane. This submucous filamentous cially at their connections with the skin, are found mi-
tissue is what is erroneously termed the nervous coat by nute conical eminences denominated papillce. They are
Ruysch, Albinus, and some of the older anatomists. distinctly seen in the mucous membrane of the tongue,
In certain -parts the mucous corion is covered by a thin where they vary in size and shape, and in the body named
transparent membrane, named the epidermis or cuticle, clitoris. They are elevations belonging to the mucous co-
which is most easily shown by boiling or scalding a por- rion, covered by epidermis, and they are liberally supplied
tion of mucous membrane, and then peeling off with care by blood-vessels, the veins of which present an erectile
the outer pellicle. This experiment succeeds best in the arrangement, and with minute nervous filaments,
mucous membrane of the mouth and palate, in which, In the stomach, duodenum, and ileum, this membrane
therefore, the existence of mucous epidermis cannot be is collected into folds or plaits, which have received in the
doubted. The observations of Wepfer, Haller, and Ni- former situation the name of rugce, or wrinkles; and m
cholls, and especially of Bleuland (Observationes Anato- the latter the name of plica, or folds, and valvules conni-
mico-Medicee ele Sana et Morbosa (Esophagi Structura, rentes, or winking valves. In the vagina also are trans-
Lug. Bat. 1785), are sufficient to prove its existence in verse ruges, which in like manner are folds or duplicatures
the oesophagus. Bichat admits that, though it may be of its mucous membrane. Those of the cesophagus, which
demonstrated at the cutaneous junctions of the mucous have been described by Bleuland, are longitudinal. In
surfaces, it cannot be recognised in the stomach, intes- the tracheo-bronchial membrane, and in the membranous
tines, bladder, &c. From the numerous dissections of and spongy portions of the urethra, we find them in tim
Home {Phil. Trans. 1807, 1810, 1813), it results that the shape of minute plaits or wrinkles in the long direction or
mucous epidermis, both in the human subject and in most their respective tubes, but rarely of much length. The
mammalia and birds, terminates abruptly at the cardiac object of these folds, which are peculiar to the mucous
orifice of the stomach. In ruminant animals the mucous membranes, appears to be to increase the extent of sur-
epidermis is continued over the first two stomachs, but face, and to allow the membrane to undergo consider-
cannot be traced in the third and fourth. In the whale able occasional distension.
ANATOMY.
Sen'll In certain points, where a communication is observed
naUiy- between the general mucous surface and the cavities or
recesses of particular regions, anatomists, unable to de-
[uc° monstrate a mucous membrane, have inferred its exist-
em 11 'ence as a continuation of the general surface. In the
tympanal cavity, to which the Eustachian tube leads, the
existence of a mucous or fibro-mucous membrane is
rather presumed from analogy than proved by obser¬
vation. We know that, where the biliary and pancreatic
ducts enter the duodenum, and for a considerable space
towards the liver, the interior appearance is that of a fine
mucous surface provided with lacuna and villosities; but
it is impossible to say at what point of the hepatic duct,
or of the smaller canals of which it is formed, the mucous
membrane terminates. The tracheal membrane, when
traced to the bronchial divisions, presents no arrange¬
ment, either of papilla, piles, or villosities; and nothing
is perceived except a smooth uniform surface, of a colour
between gray, dun, and red or purple, which is moistened
with a viscid semi-transparent fluid, and which is as
like the peritoneum as the intestinal mucous membrane.
Lastly, the situation where the existence of the mucous
system, though believed, is most uncertain, is in the
interior of the vasa deferentia, where they take their ori¬
gin from the vasa efferentia of the testis. Regarding the
organization of these tubes, no sensible evidence can be
obtained, and whatever is stated concerning it is the re¬
sult of analogical inference.
Though these membranes have been designated by the
general name of mucous, the action of their surface is not
in every situation the same. It is not easy to limit the
signification of the term mucus ; for this fluid varies in the
nasal passages, in the trachea and bronchial membrane, in
the oesophagus, stomach, and intestines, and in the urin¬
ary bladder and ureters. But it may be stated that many
parts of the two mucous surfaces never in the healthy
state secrete any modification of this animal matter; and
in others the membrane is almost always moistened by a
different fluid. The mucous or villous membrane of the
eyelids is never in the healthy state occupied by mucus,
but is uniformly moistened with the tears ; the membrane
of the mouth and throat is moistened with saliva only;
the urethra presents a peculiar viscid fluid, which seems
to exude from many minute vessels opening along its sur¬
face, as in the lacuna, but which is widely different from
mucus. All those parts, in short, which are not in per¬
petual, but only occasional, contact with foreign or se¬
creted substances, seem to present no mucus in the healthy
state; whereas the surfaces of the stomach, intestines,
gall-bladder, and urinary bladder, are constantly covered
with a quantity, more or less considerable, of this animal
secretion.
The chemical properties of mucous membranes are com¬
pletely unknown. The analysis of the fluid secreted by
them has been executed by Fourcroy, Berzelius, and
others, but is foreign to the subject of this article.
That the mucous membranes are liberally supplied with
blood by vessels both large and numerous, is proved not
only by the phenomena of injections, but by the red co¬
lour of which many of their divisions are the seat. This
coloration, as well as the injectibility, is not indeed uni¬
form ; for in certain regions mucous surfaces are pale or
hght blue, in others their redness is considerable.
dims, in those regions in which the mucous membranes
coalesce with the periosteum, forming fibro-mucous mem-
branes, e. g. in the facial sinuses, the tympanal cavity and
the mastoid cells, the colour is pale blue, or approaching
to light lilac. In the bladder, in the large intestines, in
the excretory ducts in general, though pale, this colour-
VOL. II.
ing becomes more vivid. In the pulmonic mucous mem- General
brane it is slate-blue, verging to pale pink. In the sto- Anatomy,
mach, duodenum, small intestines, and the vagina, it be-
comes still more marked. In the uterus it varies accord-Mucous
ing to the period or the intervals of menstruation. membrane.
Examined in the gastro-enteric mucous membrane, in
which they are most numerous, these vessels are found
to consist of an extensive net-work of capillaries divided
to an infinite degree of minuteness, mutually intersecting
and spreading over the upper or outer surface of the
mucous corion. This vascular net-work, though demon¬
strated by Ruysch, Albinus, Haller, and Bichat, has been
beautifully represented in the delineations of Bleuland,
who thinks he has traced their minute ramifications into
the villi. These minute vessels are derived from larger
ones, which creep through the submucous cellular tissue,
and penetrate the mucous corion, the substance of which
receives few or no vessels, to be finally distributed at its
exterior surface.
The arrangement of the vessels which supply the mu¬
cous surfaces is peculiar. Penetrating, in the form of
considerable trunks, between the folds of the serous mem¬
branes, they divide in the subserous cellular tissue into
branches of considerable size; and here they form those
numerous anastomotic communications which constitute
the arches so distinctly seen in the ileum. From the con¬
vexity of these arches are sent off most of the small ves¬
sels, which are then fitted, after passing through the
muscular layer and the submucous tissue, to enter the
mucous corion.
The capillary terminations, then, of these arteries, and
their corresponding veins, constitute the physical cause of
the coloration of the mucous membranes. This colora¬
tion, however, is not at all times of the same intensity in
the same membrane, and varies chiefly according to the
state of the organ which the membrane covers. The co¬
loration of the gastro-enteric mucous membrane under¬
goes, even within the limits of health, many variations.
Thus, according to the absence or presence of such fo¬
reign substances as are taken at meals, the mucous mem¬
brane is pale, or presents various shades of redness. At
the period of menstruation the uterine mucous membrane
becomes red and injected. Pressure on any of the venous
vessels renders the mucous membranes blue, purple, or
livid, as is seen in prolapsus, and more distinctly in as¬
phyxia, in which all the mucous membranes assume a livid
tint. (Bichat.) The varieties of red colour observed in
the gastric mucous membrane by Dr Yellowly are to be
ascribed partly to the latter cause, partly to the vascular
redness which the presence of foreign bodies occasions.
(Medico-Chirurg. Trans, vol. iv. p.371.) The pulmonary di¬
vision of this membrane is of an ash-gray or dun colour,
inclining to pale blue or light red. These colours vary,
nevertheless, according to the facility or the difficulty
with which the blood moves through the pulmonary ca¬
pillary system. It is also freely supplied with blood-ves¬
sels derived chiefly from the bronchial arteries. These
vessels, after accompanying the bronchial tubes and their
successive subdivisions, divide into minute branches which
penetrate the mucous corion, which here is white, dense,
and fibrous, and after anastomosing with the capillaries of
the pulmonary artery and veins, form a minute delicate
net-work on the outer surface of the pulmonary mucous
membrane. According to Reisseissen, to whom we are
indebted for a careful examination of these vessels, a suc¬
cessful injection of them from the bronchial arteries ren¬
ders the whole mucous membrane of the bronchi entirely
red to the unassisted eye. ( Ueber den Bau der Lungen,
u. s. w. Berlin, 1822.)
5 c
ANATOMY.
754
General The termination of arteries at the mucous surfaces has
Anatomy. at all times occupied the attention of anatomists and phy-
siologists; but it is not a matter of sensible demonstration.
Mucous •j'hg serous or sero-mucous fluid with which they
membrane. are mojstene(j iias ]e(i every author almost, and among the
rest Haller and Bichat, to infer the existence of arteries
with orifices, or what are termed exhalant vessels. It has
been admitted, nevertheless, more on analogical than di¬
rect proofs. The injections of Bleuland, the only experi¬
ments, after those of Kawe Boerhaave, which tend to con¬
firm the conclusion, require nevertheless to be repeated
and varied.1
That lymphatics are distributed to mucous membranes,
is a point well established. Cruikshank saw the lympha¬
tics proceeding from the pulmonic mucous membrane
loaded with blood in persons and animals dying of hae-
moptoe. Their existence in the gastro-enteric mucous
membrane has been long established.
The mucous surfaces are also freely supplied by nervous
twigs and filaments, derived in general from the nerves of
automatic life. It is a mistake, nevertheless, to ascribe
to these filaments the sensibility and other properties of
the mucous membranes, which possess intrinsically certain
vital properties independently of the nervous filaments
with which they are supplied; and the principal use of
these filaments appears to be to regulate these properties,
especially that of secretion.
The connection between the mucous membranes and
the skin was first demonstrated by Bonn, who traces their
mutual approximation and reciprocal transition into each
other, and represents the former as an interior production
of the latter, enveloping the internal as the skin incloses
the external organs. This view has been adopted by
Meckel and Bedard, to whom I refer for the proofs of its
accuracy. I cannot conclude the subject, however, with¬
out observing that one of the most conclusive arguments
in its favour is derived from the circumstances of the de-
velopement of the intestinal canal during the first months
of uterine life. The history of this curious process, which
has been investigated by Wolff, Oken, and Meckel, shows
that at this period the gastro-enteric mucous membrane,
which is previously formed by the vitellar membrane of
the ovum, and the allantois or vesical membrane, which
afterwards forms the genito-urinary mucous surface, are in
direct communication on the median line, and afterwards
at the navel, with the skin or exterior integument.
Serous Membrane, Transparent Membrane. (Membrana
Pellucida, M. Serosa.— Tissu Sereux.)
Serous The pleura and peritoneum are the best examples of
membrane, the tissue which has been named serous, from the fluid
with which it is moistened, and which may be termed
transparent or diaphanous as its distinctive character.
The distribution or mechanical arrangement of these
membranes is peculiar, and though not well understood by
anatomists, till Douglas, by his description of the perito¬
neum, rendered it clearer, may now be said, by the la¬
bours of Hunter, Carmichael Smyth, and Bichat, to be
quite intelligible. In this, nevertheless, there are certain
peculiarities which may perplex the beginner, and prevent
him from obtaining at first a clear idea of the distribution
and configuration of the pellucid membranes. Thus they
have neither beginning nor termination; they have neither
orifice nor egredient canal; and they are not continuous Get al
with any other membrane or texture. Anat iy.
Every serous membrane consists of a hollow sac every-^
where closed, and to the cavity or interior surface ofSerni
which there is no natural entrance; a circumstance frommem'ne’
which they have been denominated shut sacs (sacci occlusi;
sacs sans ouverture). In every serous membrane one part
is inverted or inflected, or reflected, as is commonly said,
within the other, so that the inner surface of the former
part is applied with more or less accuracy to the inner or
like surface of the latter. This mode of disposition has
suggested the homely and trite, but not inappropriate
comparison of a serous membrane to a night-cap, one half
of which is folded or doubled within the other, so that
while one half of the inner surface is applied to the re¬
maining half, no communication exists between the inner
and the outer surface. Every serous membrane, in short,
is a single sac, one half of which is doubled within the
other.
In every serous membrane the outer surface of the un-
reflected portion is applied over the walls of the region
which the serous membrane lines, while the outer surface
of the inflected portion is applied over the organ or organs
contained in that region. From this arrangement it re¬
sults that each organ covered by serous membrane is not
contained in that membrane, but is on its exterior surface,
and that of every organ so situate, one part at least, viz.
that at which its vessels and nerves enter, is always un¬
covered. Thus the lungs are on the outer surface of the
pleura; the heart is on the outside of the pericardium;
the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, and pancreas, are
on the outside of the peritoneum; and the testicles are
on the outside of the perididymis. In the same manner
the lungs, though invested by pleura before and behind,
at their apex and their base, are uncovered at their roots,
or the points where the bronchial tubes and great blood¬
vessels enter their substance; the heart is uncovered by
pericardium at the upper part of the auricular cavities;
and the intestinal canal is uncovered along the whole ol
that longitudinal but tortuous line by which the mesentery
is attached, and at which its proper vessels and nerves are
transmitted.
To comprehend more distinctly the arrangement of
the pellucid membranes, it is expedient, by an effort ol
abstraction, to trace the course of any one of them,
having previously thrown out of the question the means
by which their interior free surface is exposed. In this
mental process it is requisite to remember that there is
no initial point save what is arbitrarily made. If, for
example, the course of the pleura be traced, the mem¬
brane presents no natural boundary from which the ana¬
tomist is to commence his demonstration; and he must
fix artificially on any point which he finds most con¬
venient for the purpose. Commencing with this under¬
standing, from the circumference of the spot termed root
of the lungs, the membrane may be traced first along the
internal surface of the chest formed by the ribs and in¬
tercostal muscles, forwards to the sternum, upwards to
the first rib and apex of the thoracic cavity, downwards
to the diaphragmatic insertions, and over the surface ot
that muscle, and the outer surface of the pericardium
again to the circumference of the root or connection ol
the lungs. From this point again it may be traced over
the surface and between the lobes of these organs, both o
1 Experimcntum Anatomicum, quo Artcriolarum Lymphaticarum existentia probabiliter aistruitur, &c. a Jano Bleuland, M. D. Lug(‘
Bat. 17«14. Item, Jani Bleuland, M. B. &c. Vasculorum Intestinorum tenuium Tunicis subtilioris Anatumcs Opera Detegr.ndorum Descrip 10
Iconibus Wustrata. Trajecti, 1797*
ANATOMY.
755
W which, as already stated, are thus situate on the outside
natny- of the pleura. The course first described is that of the
r/^ unreflected or exterior division of the pleura. The second,
«u - or that over the organ covered, is the course of the inflect-
;nll; iC' ed or doubled portion of the membrane, which is thus ne¬
cessarily smaller, and less extensive, than the former.
The arrangement thus sketched, which may be easily
shown to be applicable to all the serous membranes, de¬
monstrates their twofold character of lining the walls of a
cavity and covering the organs contained. From an idea
of this property, the old anatomists applied to them the
epithet of membrance succingentes.
In tracing the course of the serous membranes, the
anatomist observes that they present productions which
float with more or less freedom in the cavity formed by
the free surface, and which may be generally shown to
consist of two folds of the single membrane produced
beyond the inclosed organ, but still maintaining the unity
of the membrane. Of these prolongations, the most dis¬
tinct examples are the epiploon and the appendices epiploicce
of the peritoneum. Less manifest instances are the adi¬
pose folds of the pleura near the mediastinum, and the
bladder-like appearance at the base of the heart, within the
pericardium. The synovial fringes in the interior of the
synovial membranes, which belong to a subsequent head,
are nevertheless of the same general character. Between
the folds of these productions there is invariably more or
less adipose substance, which indeed is observed in some
quantity in various parts of the filamentous tissue on the
outer surface of the serous membranes in general.
Every serous membrane I have above represented as a
hollow sac everywhere continuous, and the outer surface
of which has no communication with the inner. To this
character the only exception is the peritoneum in the
female, which is perforated at two points, corresponding
to the upper extremity or orifice of the Fallopian or ovi-
ferous tubes. This has been already mentioned as the
only spot at which the mucous and serous surfaces com¬
municate directly with each other.
Every serous membrane consists of a thin, colourless,
transparent web or pellicle, through which the tissue of
the subjacent organ or parts may be easily (recognised;
and every serous membrane presents two surfaces, an at¬
tached or adherent, and a free or unadherent.
The attached surface, which is also termed its outer
one, is that by which it is connected to the tissue or organ
which it covers; it is somewhat irregular, flocculent or
tomentose, and is evidently connected by fine filamentous
tissue. The degree of attachment is very variable in dif¬
ferent membranes, and in different points of the same
membrane. In general, serous membranes adhere much
less firmly to the walls of cavities than to the surface
of the contained organs. Thus, the abdominal peri¬
toneum and the costal pleura are more easily removed
than the intestinal peritoneum and the pulmonic pleura.
The peritoneum adheres feebly to the bladder, to the
liver, and to the pancreas—more intimately to the different
regions of the intestinal tube, and seems to be almost
identified with the substance of the female organs of
generation. From the interior of the capsular
and from the vaginal coat, it is almost impossible to detach
the serous pellicle. The former, however, is peculiar in
having between the serous surface and the fibrous mem¬
brane no filamentous tissue, upon the abundance or de¬
ficiency of which the degree of adhesion depends.
The free or unadherent or inner surface is very smooth,
polished, and uniform; moistened with a watery fluid,
from which it derives its shining appearance; and des¬
titute of fibres or any other trace of organic structure.
From this smooth, polished aspect, which is a peculiar attri- General
bute of the free surface of serous membrane, all the organs Anatomy,
covered by it derive their glistening appearance. Thus the
exterior surface of the lungs derives its appearance from Serous
the pleura, the heart from the pericardium, and the livermembrane'
and intestinal canal from the peritoneum. A successful
injection of size or turpentine, coloured with vermilion,
brings into view, so many capillary blood-vessels in this
membrane, that it might be supposed at first sight to con¬
sist entirely of minute arteries and veins. Further, by
proper management, lymphatics may be injected in it
with quicksilver to a degree equally minute and delicate.
From these experiments, therefore, it may be concluded
that serous membrane is chiefly composed of minute arte¬
ries and veins conveying colourless fluids, and of vessels
connected with the general trunks of the lymphatic system.
Whether it contains any thing else but vessels of this kind,
or has a proper, substance or tissue, remains to be ascer¬
tained. Though nerves are often seen passing along their
outer or attached surface to the neighbouring tissues,
none have hitherto been traced either into the pleura or
peritoneum.
By most of the older anatomists, and among others by
Flaller, serous membrane is considered as of the nature
of filamentous tissue or cellular membrane, more or less
closely condensed {tela cellulose?, stipatd) ; and this view
is adopted and maintained by Bordeu, Bichat, Meckel,
and Beclard, the last of whom, however, thinks they par¬
take of ligamentous characters. Macerated, they become
soft, thick, and pulpy; and are finally resolved into floc¬
culent filamentous matter. In the course of decomposi¬
tion in the dead subject they first lose their glistening
aspect, then become covered by a foul, dirty coating of
viscid matter, which appears to exude from their surface ;
and eventually they are dissolved into shreds. Immer¬
sion in boiling water renders them thick, firm, and some¬
what crisp. When dried they become thin, clear, and
transparent, and, if preserved from humidity or the attacks
of animals, may remain long unchanged. The experiments
of Hatchett, Fourcroy, and Vauquelin, show that they
contain gelatine and a little albumen; but no precise in¬
formation on their chemical composition has yet been
given.
The principal character of the serous membranes is that
of isolating the organs which they cover, and to the struc¬
ture of which they are adventitious, and forming shut ca¬
vities, in which there is incessant exhalation and absorp¬
tion. In some instances they evidently contribute to fa¬
cilitate the mutual motions of contiguous and corre¬
sponding surfaces. From their free surfaces is secreted
a fluid containing a small portion of albumen (Hewson,
Experimented Inquiries, vol. ii. chap. vii.; Bostock, Ni¬
cholson’s Journal, vol. xiv. p. 147, and Medico-Chirurgi-
cal Transactions, vol. iv.), which is greatly augmented du¬
ring the state of disease.
The mode of developement of the pellucid membranes
is not well ascertained. The investigations regarding
organogenesy by Oken, Meckel, and Tiedemann, disclose
facts which induce Meckel to hazard the opinion that some
of them are not at all times shut sacs. I doubt, however,
whether the fact which he adduces for this purpose im¬
plies the open condition of the pericardium and the peri¬
toneum. In the case of the former the developement of
the heart proceeds from the basis generally, without affect¬
ing the integrity of the investing membrane. In the case
of the latter there is more reason to believe that, at the
navel, at least, the peritoneum is either open, or is con¬
tinuous with the vitellar membrane.
In the foetus the serous membranes are so thin, that
756
ANATOMY.
General
Anatomy.
Serous
membrane
they are much more transparent than in the adult. In
small animals also, they are more transparent than in
large, and in cold-blooded animals than in the mammifer-
ous. Of some also the disposition varies at different pe¬
riods. Thus the descent of the testicle,—a process which
has been well explained by Albinus, Haller, Wrisberg,
and Langenbeck,—is attended with a remarkable change
in the arrangement of that portion of peritoneum which
the gland impels before it.
Synovial
membrane.
Synovial Membrane. (Membrana Synovialis; Bursa
Mucosae.')
Bichat enumerates several circumstances in which he
conceives that serous and synovial membranes differ from
each other. Gordon, who doubts how far the distinctions
are well founded as the basis of anatomical arrangement,
admits, however, the following peculiarities.
Synovial membrane resembles serous membrane in being
a thin, transparent substance, having one smooth free sur¬
face turned towards certain cavities of the body, and an¬
other connected by delicate cellular tissue to the sides of
these cavities, or to the parts contained in them. But
it differs from serous membrane in the following circum¬
stances. Is*, It possesses little vascularity in the healthy
state; no blood-vessels are almost ever seen in it after
death, nor can they be made to receive the finest injec¬
tion. 2d, Its lymphatics are quite incapable of demon¬
stration. 2>d, Very delicate fibres, like those of cellular
substance, or like the finest filaments of tendon, are dis¬
tinctly seen in it after slight maceration, kth, It is con¬
siderably less strong than serous membrane. On these
grounds, therefore, synovial membrane is to be anatomi¬
cally distinguished from serous membrane.
The synovial membrane, as described above, is found
not only in each of the movable articulations, but in those
sheaths in which tendons are lodged, and in which they
undergo considerable extent of motion, and in certain
situations in the subcutaneous filamentous tissue.
The distribution of the synovial membranes is much
the same in all these situations. They are known to line
the ligamentous apparatus of each joint, capsular and
funicular; and they are also continued over the cartila¬
ginous extremities of the bones of which the articulation
consists. This continuation, which was originally main¬
tained by Nesbitt, Bonn, and William Hunter, and was
demonstrated by various facts by Bichat, has been lately
questioned by Gordon and Magendie, the former of whom
especially thinks it unsusceptible of anatomical proof.
The cartilaginous synovial membrane is certainly not so
easily demonstrable as the capsular, for the same reason
which I have already assigned regarding the difficulty of
isolating the capsular pericardium, the ovarian peritoneum,
and the serous covering of the tunica albuginea,—the want
of filamentous tissue.
The presence of synovial membrane in the articular
watches and chronometers.
BOOK II.
DESCRIPTIVE, PARTICULAR, OR SPECIAL ANATOMY.
Special Anatomy may be defined to be that science,
the province of which is to determine the shape, situation,
and component parts of the several textures and organs
of which the human body consists. In the course of this,
however, it is requisite to premise some observations on the
external shape of the body, and the different regions into
which it has, for the sake of greater precision, been divided.
cartilages is nevertheless established by sundry facts. 1^, Get a|
If a portion of articular cartilage be divided obliquely, Anai iv.
and examined by a good glass, it is not difficult to recog-O
nise at one extremity of the section a thin pellicle, differ- S'Vno'1
ing widely in aspect, colour, ancUstructure, from the blu-mem nc'
ish-white appearance of the cartilage. 2d, If the free
surface of the cartilage be scraped gently, it is possible to
detach thin shavings, which are also distinct from carti¬
lage in their appearance. The free surface of the
cartilage is totally different from the attached surface, or
from a section of its substance, and derives its peculiar
smooth polished appearance from a very thin transparent
pellicle uniformly spread over it. Uh, If articular carti¬
lage be immersed in boiling water, this thin pellicle be¬
comes opaque, while the cartilage is little changed. 5^,
Immersion in nitric or muriatic acid, which detaches the
cartilage from the bone, gives this surface a cracked ap¬
pearance, which is not seen in the attached surface, and
which is probably to be ascribed to irregular contraction
of two different animal substances. &th, The existence of
this cartilaginous synovial membrane is demonstrated by
the morbid process with which the tissue is liable to be
affected. On the whole, therefore, little doubt can be en¬
tertained that the representation of their course, as given
originally by Nesbitt, Bonn, and Hunter, is well founded.
The same views may be applied to the synovial linings
of the tendinous sheaths, which are equally to be regarded
as shut sacs.
Attached to the free surface of each synovial mem¬
brane is a peculiar fringe-like substance, which was long
supposed to be an apparatus of glands (glands of Havers)
for secreting synovial fluid. It is now known that these
fringes are merely puckered folds of synovial membrane,
and that, although synovia is abundantly secreted by them,
this depends merely on the great extent of surface which is
the necessary consequence of their puckered arrangement
This arrangement is easily demonstrated by immersing an
articulation containing the fringed processes in clear water,
when they are unfolded and made to float, and show their
connections, figure, and terminations. They are analogous
to the free processes of serous membranes, and like them
are double, and contain adipose matter.
The synovial sheaths (bursae mucosae) are very nume¬
rous, and are generally found in every tendon which is
exposed to frequent or extensive motion.
Though the fluid prepared by these membranes has
been examined by Margueron, Fourcroy, John Davy,
Orfila, and other chemists, it cannot be said that its che¬
mical composition is accurately determined. It is said to
contain water, albumen, incoagulable matter regarded as
mucilaginous gelatine, a ropy matter, and salts ot. soda,
lime, and some uric acid. On the presence of the incoa¬
gulable gelatine depends its utility in diminishing friction
in the finer kinds of metallic machinery employed m
The external shape of the human body is so well known,
that it is superfluous to describe it. Besides its division
into right and left halves, anterior and posterior surfaces,
it is divided into head, trunk, and extremities. Hie trun '
is subdivided into neck (collum), chest (thorax,
and belly (abdomen). The extremities are subdivide
.into thoracic or upper, and pelvic, abdominal, or low er.
ANATOMY.
757
S ;ial The shape of the head is ellipsoidal, or oblong sphe-
Anp"1/’ roidal; the greater diameter being antero-posterior, and
the transverse smallest. The neck is cylindrical, spreading
out above and below. The shape of the trunk is that of
an irregular cylinder, flattened before and behind, broad
above, and tapering below tbe chest, but expanding again
at the pelvis. The extremities affect the cylindrical form,
inclining to the conical.
Db:«c- These several parts may be still further subdivided,
tiouito The head is distinguished into two great divisions, the
^£S,|S• head proper, and the face. The former corresponds to the
scalp, and may be divided into coronal, temporal, parietal,
and occipital regions. The coronal or syncipital may be
reckoned from the anterior margin of the scalp to the site of
the anterior fontanelle, or the line named the coronal suture.
Behind this to the crown (vertex), and downwards on each
side, are the parietal or lateral regions; from the parietal
and frontal is the temporal; from the crown to the flex¬
ure of the neck is the hind-head or occipital (occiput);
from the last point to the level of the shoulders is the
cervix ; on eacn side are the lateral regions of the neck;
and before is the laryngeal, jugular, or anterior (jugulum).
The face consists of the brow, front or forehead (from),
with the glabella or mesophryon at its base, in the mid¬
dle, and the eyebrows (supercilia) on each side; the
nose (nasus), the upper lip (supralabium), the lower lip
(infralabium), the chin (mentum), the cheeks (gence),
the chops (buccce), and the upper jaw (malce), and lower
jaw (maxilla).
The chest, besides its distinction into right and left
halves, anterior and posterior surfaces, and upper and
lower boundaries, may be distinguished into a sternal re¬
gion in the middle (sternum), a mammary region on each
side, an axillary region, a costal region, a hypochondriac
region, a scapular region, and a vertebral region.
The abdomen may be distinguished into regions in the
i following manner. The triangular space between the false
ribs and navel, commonly named the pit of the sto¬
mach, is the epigastric region (scrobiculus cordis, epi¬
gastrium). Below this, in the centre, is the umbilical
(umbilicus), with the iliac region or flanks (ilia) on each
side, and the hypogastric (hypogastrium) below. Behind,
on each side of the vertebral column, are the loins (lumbi).
Next to the abdomen is the pelvis, the posterior lateral
parts of which are the buttocks (nates), the anterior the
pubes, and the inferior the hips or ischiatic regions (ischia),
with the perinceum in the middle between them.
In each pectoral extremity are recognised the following
divisions; the shoulder (humerus), the armpit (axilla),
the arm (brachium), the elbow (cubitus), the fore-arm
(antebrachium), the wrist (carpus), and the hand (manus).
The latter is subdivided into the fore-wrist (metacarpus),
the fingers (digiti), the palm (vola), and the back-hand
(thenar).
Each abdominal extremity presents the following sepa¬
rate regions; the haunch (coxa), the thigh (femur), the
knee (genu), the ham (poples), the leg (tibia), of which
there is the muscular part or calf (sura), the ankle exter¬
nal and internal (malleolus externus et internus), the foot
(pes), subdivided into the ankle-joint (tarsus), the foot-
joint (^metatarsus), the toes (digiti pedis), with dorsal or
upper surface, and palmar surface or sole (solea).
These divisions, though not so numerous as they have
been made by some, are sufficiently so for the purpose of
general anatomical description. Where more minute dis¬
tinction is requisite, it shall be introduced as we proceed.
The stature of the body varies in the t\Vo sexes, in
individuals, in families, in tribes, and in nations. The
Romans, when they first visited Gaul, remarked the Special
gigantic stature of the ancient inhabitants of that coun- Anatomy,
try compared with themselves; and, generally speak-
mg, the modern Italians, though by no means a pure
or unmixed breed from the ancient stock, are a di-
minutive race. The Germans, and most of the English
and Irish, are rather tall. The inhabitants of Finland
are distinguished for their great stature, amidst the dwarf¬
ish tribes by which they are surrounded. In general, the
Europeans are taller than the Asiatics.
The average height of the adult male varies from 5 feet Height or
8 inches to 5 feet 10 or 11 inches, or even to 6 feet.length-
The dimensions of different parts vary according to those
of the whole body; but the following measurements of a
male of 5 feet 8 inches, and one of 5 feet 11 inches, may
communicate some idea of the length of different regions
of the body.
Inches. Inches.
Total height...   68-00 71-00
Between the tips of the middle fingers,
with the arms extended  68-00 72-75
From the crown to the pubes 34-00 35-00
From the crown to the lower tip of the chin 9-75 9-00
From the tip of the chin to the top of
the breast  3-85 3-25
From the top of the breast to the pit of
the stomach. ...i  6-08 9-75
Between the pit of the stomach and the
navel  6-08 7-00
Between the navel and top of the pubes... 6-08 6-75
Between the top of the shoulder and the
bend of the elbow. 12-06 12-00
From the bend of the elbow to the top of
the hand   10-02 10-5
The hand, from the wrist to tip of middle
finger  7-75 7-375
Between the top of the thigh inside and the
knee inside 14*06 17-00
From the knee inside to the sole 18-05 20*00
The foot, from the heel to the point of the
great toe  9-75 10-00
The average height of the female varies from 5 feet
3 inches to 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 7 or 8 inches. A
woman of 5 feet 10 inches is unusually tall. The length of
the different regions is proportionally less than in the
male.
The length of the body previous to adult age varies
with the period of life. The length of an embryo of three
weeks,, represented by Soemmering, is about ^ of an inch ;
one of eight weeks is about 1 inch ; and one at the end
of the fifth month is about 10 inches. According to
Burns, however, the length of the foetus in the fifth month
does not exceed 6 or 7 inches; in the sixth it is about 8
or 9, in the seventh about 12, and in the eighth about 15
inches. At the period of birth, the average length, ac¬
cording to Roederer, is about 20^ inches.
The only part of the foetus of "which it is important to
determine the average dimensions at the period of birth
is the head. Its largest diameter, which is that from the
crown to the chin, is in general about 5 inches. The
transverse diameter between the parietal protuberances
is at the same time about 31 inches. Of 60 male and 60
female infants born at the full time, whose heads were
measured by Dr Clarke, the circumference passing through
the occipital process and the middle of the brow was at
an average 13-8 inches, while the arch from ear to ear
over the crown was 7-32 inches. One measured 15 inches
in circumference, and one 81 inches from ear to ear; but
758
ANATOMY.
Special none were under 12 inches in the one direction, or 6^
Anatomy, inches in the other.
it is wen established that there is a difference in the
average dimensions of the male and female, even in the
foetal state. Roederer found the mean length of 16 male
children born at the full time to be 20|f inches, and
of 8 females only 20^; and of the 60 male and 60 fe¬
male infants measured by Dr Clarke, the average circum¬
ference was 14 inches in the former, and only 13^ in the
latter; and the parietal arch was 7J inches in the former,
and 7£ in the latter. Of 120 infants, in 6 only, which
were males, did the circumference of the head exceed
14| inches.
Weight. The weight of the adult male varies from 9 stone to 11
or 12. Ten stones, or 140 lbs., may be stated as the average.
The female weighs about 8 stone, and rarely more than
10. After the age of 35 or 40, when fat begins to be de¬
posited, the weight rises considerably; and the average
weight at this age is from 13 to 14 stones. In some ex¬
traordinary examples of corpulence, combined with large
stature, the weight of the body amounts to 20 and 25
stones.
The average weight of the fcetus in the early months is
uncertain. According to Mr Burns, it weighs about 2 oz.
in the 12th week; about 1 lb. in the 6th month; and
about 4 or 5 lbs. troy in the 8th month. At the period of
birth the mean weight is about 7 lbs. avoirdupois. Dr
William Hunter states, that of .several thousand new-born
perfect infants weighed at the British Hospital in London
by Dr Macaulay, the smallest was about 4 lbs., the largest
about 11 lbs. 2 oz., and the greater number varied from 5
to 8 lbs. avoirdupois. He knew no instance of a new¬
born infant weighing 12 lbs. Of 60 male and 60 female
infants weighed by Clarke, the lightest was 4 lbs., the
heaviest 10 lbs., and the average 7 lbs. 13 dr. avoirdupois.
The average weight of 26 children at the natural period,
weighed by lloederer, was about 6^ lbs.; the lightest
about 51 lbs., and the heaviest about 8 lbs.
The difference between the weight of the male and fe¬
male infant at birth is estimated by Dr Clarke at about
9 oz. avoirdupois, which agrees with the results obtained
by Roederer.
In the case of twins, the average weight of each twin
is in general less than that of children born at single
births; but the combined weight of both is greater. Dr
Clarke found the average weight of 12 twins to be 11 lbs.
avoirdupois each pair; the heaviest being 13 lbs., and
the lightest 8^ lbs. Mr Burns, however, states that he
has known instances in which each twin was rather above
than below the usual weight of a single-birth child.
Special Anatomy has been divided, according to the
classes of textures of which the human body is composed,
into different parts, with appropriate denominations. Thus
the anatomy of the bones has been named osteology, oste¬
ography, and skeletology ; while that of the soft parts in
general has been denominated sarcology. Where more
minuteness is attempted, the anatomy of the soft parts
has been still further subdivided into that of the ligaments,
syndesmology; the muscles, myology; the vessels, an-
giology; the nerves, neurography and neurology; the
membranes, hymenology; the glands, adenography and
adenol'ogy ; and the internal organs, splanchnology.
Though these are convenient terms to designate the
several divisions of Special Anatomy, they afford little as¬
sistance in the general arrangement of the subject. It is
justly observed by Bichat, that this arrangement, if such
it can be named, is objectionable, by separating different
organs which ought to be united. It is indeed remarkable
only for connecting organs by arbitrary, and often unna- Spa
tural principles; and though it may answer in a subor- Anatc
dinate manner, it is unfit to furnish the principles of a^^^
general and natural mode of arrangement.
The most eligible method is that which arranges the
organs according to their physiological purposes,—a me¬
thod adopted by Haller and Soemmering, but which re¬
quired the hand of Bichat to give it its full and perfect
developement, and which has since been adopted from
this author by Cloquet.
According to this method, the organs of the human
body may be arranged in three great classes: first, those
pertaining to the animal functions, or which establish the
connection between the individual and the objects of the
external world—the organs of relation; secondly, those
pertaining to the organic functions, or which tend to the
continuance of the individual—the organs of nutrition;
and, thirdly, the organs relating to the continuance of the
species—the organs of reproduction. The first class con¬
tains the organs of locomotion, speech, and sensation ; the
second those of digestion, circulation and absorption, respi¬
ration, and secretion ; and to the third are referred the
organs of generation.
This method may not be altogether free from objec¬
tions ; several of which are anticipated by Bichat. It is
sufficient, however, to observe that it is less objection¬
able than any other ; and one of its advantages is, that it
furnishes a clearer and more precise idea of the connec¬
tion of the different classes of organs of the animal body
than any other yet proposed.
This method of arrangement may be conveniently ex¬
hibited in the following table.
I. Organs pertaining to the Animal, Voluntary, or Relative Functions.
{Instruments—Bones, Cartilages, Ligaments,
and Fibro-cartilages.
Agents—Muscles, Tendons, and their appen¬
dages.
f The Organs of Proper Sensation—Smell, Sight,
J Hearing, and Taste.
I The Organs of Common Sensation—Touch,
f Tact, &c.
( Laryngeal Voice—the Larynx.
-< Oral Voice or Speech—the Lips, Tongue, and
( Teeth.
( Central Organs—Brain, Cerebellum, and Spi-
Energy, or In- < nal Chord,
nervation. (Distributed Organs—the Nerves.
2. Sensation.
3. Voice.
4. Nervous
II, Organs pertaining to the Organic or Nutritive Functions.
1. Alimentary or
Limitrophic
Function.
2. Circulation.
Mastication—Mouth, Tongue, and
Teeth.
Deglutition—Pharynx and (Eso¬
phagus.
Digestion. Chymification—Stomach.
' Chylification—Duodenum and Ile¬
um.
Defecation and Excretion—Colon
L and Rectum.
Lacteal Absorption—Lacteals and Thoracic
Duct.
Nutritive Circulation—Heart and Blood-ves¬
sels.
Aerating Circulation, or Respiration—Lungs,
&c.
Secretory Circulation, or Secretion—Glands.
III. Organs pertaining to the Reproductive Function.
Generation.
' Male or Impregnating
Organs.
Female or Ootrophic
Organs.
Product—the Fcetas.
PART I.
ANATOMY.
759
Sji'ial
hnmy-
ANATOMY OF THE ORGANS OF THE ANIMAL, VOLUNTARY,
OR RELATIVE FUNCTIONS.
The organs belonging to the functions of animal life
are those of locomotion, sensation, voice, and innervation.
These organs are distinguished by two general characters,
symmetry of form and harmony of action. By the first
is meant that each organ possesses similar parts on each
side of the mesial plane. By the second is meant that
the action of that part which is on the right side of the
mesial plane corresponds with that on the left.
CHAP. I. THE ORGANS OF LOCOMOTION.
The organs of locomotion may be arranged in two orders,
active and passive. The first are the agents of motion,
or the organic substances which produce motion: the se¬
cond are the bodies moved, or the instruments of motion.
The muscles, strictly speaking, are the former, though to
these are added certain appendages. The bones and their
appendages constitute the second.
With the latter order of parts it is usual to begin the
business of special anatomy, for obvious reasons. The
bones are at once the most durable and regular in shape
of all the organic solids; and as an intimate relation sub¬
sists between their mechanical figure and the soft parts
connected with them, the knowledge of the former con¬
stitutes the best introduction to that of the latter species
of organs.
SECT. I. OSTEOLOGY, SKELETOLOGY.
The assemblage of bones composing the human body
constitutes the skeleton, which, like the body, is divided
j into head, trunk, and extremities. The length of the
skeleton is about an inch less than that of the body; that
is, the skeleton of an individual 5 feet 8 inches in height is
about 5 feet 7 inches long, and of one 6 feet, about 5 feet
11 inches long. The weight of the skeleton varies at dif¬
ferent periods of life. That of a middle-sized adult ranges
between 160 and 200 ounces. A male skeleton, measur¬
ing 5 feet 6 inches long, I found to weigh 168 ounces,
or 101 ibStj avoirdupois.
The number of separate pieces amounts to 254, of which
56 belong to the trunk, 60 to the head, 72 to the pecto¬
ral extremities, and 66 to the pelvic. Of these several
parts, the trunk is the most important, because, ls£, it is
developed before the head or extremities; and, 2dly, be¬
cause if we look to its place in the animal kingdom ge¬
nerally, it is the most essential and constant, and pre¬
sents the general modulus or type according to which the
osseous pieces composing the head are constructed.
The Trunk.
Th 1
unk. The trunk of the skeleton consists of three parts, the
spine or vertebral column, the chest or thorax, and the
pelvis.
§. 1. The Spinal or Vertebral Column. (Spina Torsi;
Vertebrce.)
Tlie vertebral column, situate in the posterior part of
the trunk, the length of which it determines, unites the
head to the pelvis, supports the former, and is supported
by the latter. When completely developed, it consists of
29, and rarely of 30 pieces, named vertebrce (spondyli,
anmdu'hoi), from the circumstance that each admits of a
slight*degree of rotatory motion. Twenty-four of these
bones, which are in the healthy adult separate, are de- Special
nominated true vertebrae (vertebra: verce). The 25th, Anatomy,
named the sacrum, though in adult life forming a single
bone, consists in early life of four separate pieces, which Theverte"
become consolidated, and are therefore named false ver- br£e“
tebr<E, (vertebrce spuria:). The four last constitute what is
named the coccyx. The column thus formed, though
straight at birth, assumes afterwards several curvatures
in the antero-posterior direction, giving it the aspect of
the Italian f. It may be divided into four regions, the
cervical, dorsal, lumbar, and sacral. In the first it is al¬
most straight, but begins to bend backward in the second,
so as to form a considerable curvature with the convex
surface posteriorly. A little below the middle of the
dorsal portion it bends forward, and continues to do so to
the lower part of the lumbar region, where it once more
bends backward, and forms the sacrum into a concave
hollow. At the lower end of the sacrum it again in¬
clines forward, and the coccyx is in general considerably
incurvated anteriorly. (Plate XXVI. fig. 1.)
Besides the antero-posterior curvatures, there is in ge¬
neral a lateral one near the lower part of the dorsal re¬
gion, on the left side, to which its concavity is directed.
This has been observed by anatomists, from Cheselden,
who first represented it, to Soemmering, Bichat, and
Meckel.
In length the vertebral column does not vary much ;
and differences in stature depend more on the dimensions
of the members than of it. In thickness it augments
progressively from the cervical to the sacral portions, af¬
ter which it once more tapers to a point. It may be com¬
pared to two cones united by their base, the superior of
which is truncated.
The vertebrae, true and false, possess certain common
characters. Of these the most general is the annular
shape, or a ring of bone, the opening of which, in conti¬
nuity with those of the whole column, constitutes a lon¬
gitudinal cylindrical cavity for lodging the spinal chord
and its envelopes. It is therefore denominated the hole
of the spinal marrow (foramen medullce spinalis, Soem.),
or simply the vertebral hole (Bichat). Anterior to this is
a mass of bone, generally the largest of the vertebra, and
therefore named its body (corpus vertebra:). The ante¬
rior surface is flat, sometimes slightly convex; the poste¬
rior is always concave; the upper and lower surfaces are
slightly concave, and correspond with the intervertebral
fibro-cartilages.
Behind the hole the vertebra is moulded into an arch
or annular segment, the outer surface of which forms
seven processes. The first at the back of the vertebra
on the median line is the spinous process, which may be
said to be formed by the union of the spinal plates in the
middle. On each side-ure two, which, from their situation
with respect to the column, are named transverse pro¬
cesses. Other four, two on the upper and two on the
lower surface of each vertebra, near the base of each
transverse process, are named oblique, from their direction,
and articular (processus articulares), because the inferior
ones of the superior vertebra are articulated with the su¬
perior ones of the lower vertebra. These processes are
easily distinguished by being covered with cartilage and
synovial membrane. They constitute true capsular joints.
Each vertebra presents four notches or depressions,
two at the upper and two at the lower surface, between
the body and the oblique processes. Each of these, with
corresponding notches on the vertebra above and below,
forms a hole (foramen conjunctionis, vel intervertebrale),
for the exit of the spinal nerves and the entrance of
blood-vessels.
760 ANATOMY,
Special All the vertebrae, excepting the atlas and vertebra den- ing an irregular hole, approaching to the shape of the Sped
Anatomy, tata, are united in the same manner, and at the same ancient lyre. Instead of the body, which is wanting, is Anatoi,
points. The bodies are united bv the intervertebral fibre- a mere arch of dense bone, with an obtuse tubercle before'
The verte-£artii g, which consist of white concentric annular lay- for the longus colli muscle, and behind an articular facette ‘
bKe' ers of "fibrous matter, placed in juxtaposition, and con- which applies to a corresponding one of the tooth-like
taining internally semifluid jelly. In adults this sub- process of the second vertebra. From the extremities of
stance becomes firm and consolidated; but in the young this arch the vertebial hoop acquires considerable thick-
subject it is so soft and compressible, that young persons ness, for the formation of the oblique and transverse pro-
are found to be one or two inches taller in the morning, cesses. The superior oblique process is seen above on
or after they have been some time in the recumbent po- each side in the form of an elliptical cartilaginous surface,
sition, than in the evening, or after the spinal column has slightly concave, consisting of two parts, the anterior
sustained for some hours the weight of the person. In large, the posterior small, and terminating m a point
advanced life these fibro-cartilages become still more so- which overhangs the sinuosity of the vertebral artery,
lid and shrivelled; and in some instances they are con- The cavity of this superior oblique process receives the
verted into bone, so as to unite two or more vertebrae in condyloid process of the occipital bone, with which it is
a single mass. This change is one reason of the greater connected by a capsular ligament, lined by synovial mem-
stiffness and incurvation of the spine in the old and de- brane. Below is seen the articular facette of the inferior
crepid, than in those in early life. oblique process, rounder, shorter, less concave, but cover-
Besides the connection by the intervertebral cartilages, ed also by cartilage and synovial membrane, and articu-
the vertebrae are united at their articular processes by means lated with the superior processes of the second vertebra,
of capsular ligaments, so as to allow slight flexion and Between these two, on the lateral regions of the vertebral
extension on each other; and at the basis of the spinous ring, is the transverse process, in the shape of a triangle,
processes, by means of short, firm, and inelastic yellow the base of which is formed by the bone of the oblique
chords (ligamenta Jlavd), named yellow ligaments. These, processes, and the sides by the production of the anterior
with a thick fibrous fascia extending along the anterior and posterior arch. The latter, being the segment of a
surface of the bodies (ligamentum anterius, fascia longitu- smaller circle, is more distinctly circular than the former,
dinalis anterior), a similar fibrous fascia behind, lining and may be described as a strong, dense, semiannular
the vertebral canal, a ligament connecting mutually the piece of bone, with a tubercle on its posterior margin at
apices of the spinous processes, and the incumbent mus- the median line, to which the rectus capitis posticus minor \$
cles, retain the vertebrae firmly in their places, and pre- attached. On the inside of the atlas, at the lower margin
vent them from being dislodged, unless by a force ade- of the superior oblique process, is a rough surface with a
quate to break the bones and rend the ligaments. depressed cavity, which marks the insertion of the trans-
The vertebra) vary in structure. The bodies consist verse ligament. The space anterior to this is occupied
chiefly of loose cancellated tissue, without solid bone. The by the tooth-like process of the second vertebra; that pos*
spinal rings and the processes are much more firm and terior to it, which is the proper vertebral hole, by the be-
Jense. ginning of the spinal chord.
In the foetus and infant each vertebra consists of three The atlas is connected above to the occipital bone by
portions, a thick, loose mass, corresponding to the body, the capsular ligament, which surrounds the margins of the
and two lateral arches corresponding to the spinal rings, superior oblique processes; below, to the vertebra dentata
without spinous process, and scarcely meeting. In the in the same manner ; and behind its anterior arch to the
feetus, indeed, the posterior wall of the vertebral canal tooth-like process. To its anterior tubercle are attached
may be said to be incomplete. Soon after birth, however, the longus colli and rectus capitis internus minor ; to the
the spinal plates enlarging, mutually coalesce on the me- transverse process the rectus lateralis, the superior and
dian line ; and from this point of union, by successive accre- inferior oblique muscles, the levator anguli scapula, the
tion, the spinous processes are gradually formed. These transversi, the scalenus anticus, and the. transfersvs colli.
facts may serve in some degree to explain the facility To its posterior arch the rectus posticus is. attached,
with which tumblers and rope-dancers may be habituated By the condyloid processes of the occipital bone moving
in infancy to the most extraordinary inflexions of the trunk, on the superior oblique processes, the head is bent and
The vertebrae, agreeing in the characters now enume- extended, or moved backwards and forwards on the atlas,
rated, differ from each other according to the regions The atlas ossifies by two points. , I
which they occupy, and the parts with which they are The second vertebra, named axis and epistropheus, from ie |
connected. On this principle the twenty-four true ver- its motions, is distinguished by a large prominent body
tebrae are arranged in three classes; the cervical (v. cer- like a tooth (jprocessus odontoides) issuing vertically from
vicis), the dorsal (y. dorsi), and the lumbar (v. lumborum). its body, a circumstance from which it is also named rer-
The cervical vertebrae are in number generally seven, tebra dentata. This process, which is a four-sided prism,
rarely six or eight; the dorsal are twelve ; and the lum- with the top obliquely acuminated,' presents on its ante-
bar are five. (Plate XXIV. and XXV. fig. 1.) rior surface an articular facette, corresponding to that o
The eervi- The cervical vertebrae are distinguished by their bodies the atlas. The posterior surface is rough, and corresponc s
cal verte- being small, with flat anterior surfaces; by the articular to the transverse ligament. From the odontoid process
bra'. processes being short and flat, as well as less oblique than the body descends somewhat below the level of the ver-
those of the others ; by their transverse processes being tebral hoop, and presents at its lower margin, on the me-
short, of a triangular shape, hollowed above, and perfo- dian line, a tubercle, with excavations on each sic e.
rated at the base by a hole for the transit of the vertebral Above, on each side of the odontoid process, are the su-
artery; by the spinous processes being short, nearly hori- perior oblique processes, in the shape of oval facettes,
zontal, and generally bifid; and by the vertebral hole be- covered by cartilage and synovial membrane, and articu
ing large and of an oval shape. lated with the inferior oblique processes of the at as.
The atlas. The first and second of these vertebrae are still further Below, and a little behind, is the inferior articular process,
distinguished by peculiarities of configuration. The first, more oblique in direction, and articulating with that of t e
which is named atlas, consists of a large bony ring, inclos- third vertebra. Between the two is the transverse pio
ANATOM Y.
761
Spec cess, with the vertebral hole in its base; and from the
Jitfly. game point the spinal plates converge backwards so as to
the spinous process, which is distinct and bifid in
hev-e*this vertebra. Between the superior oblique process is
b!: ^e upper notch, which is rather a rounding of the spinal
plates than a distinct depression ; and between the inferior
oblique process and the transverse process is the lower
notch, which, with the upper one of the third vertebra,
forms a complete hole for the exit of the fifth pair of
spinal nerves.
The vertebral hole in this vertebra is heart-shaped, the
basis before and the apex behind.
By the odontoid process it is articulated with the occipital
bone and the atlas ; by the upper oblique process with the
atlas; and by the lower oblique process with the third
cervical vertebra.
To the transverse process are attached the splenius ca¬
pitis, levator anguli scapulce, scalenus, transversus cervicis,
longus colli, intertransversalis secundus anterior et posterior.
To the spinous process are attached the rectus capitis pos¬
ticus major, obliquus inferior, spinalis cervicis, interspinalis
cervicis, and multifidus spince.
The axis ossifies from four points, one for each side,
one for the body, and one for the odontoid process.
The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth cervical vertebrae are
very similar. The bodies gradually increase in size to the
seventh, which is generally the largest. The articular
processes are also more oblique in the lower ones than in
those above. The spinous processes also increase in size
in the lower cervical vertebrae, and in the sixth and
seventh are particularly large and prominent; and in the
last are not bifid, but merely tubercular. The vertebral
holes in the second and third are heart-shaped, and the
lower ones triangular, with the apex towards the spinous
processes. The body of the seventh also presents at its
lower margin a depression, which, with a corresponding
one in the first dorsal, receives the head of the first rib.
The seventh, in short, may be regarded as indicating the
transition from the cervical to the dorsal vertebrae.
Besides the muscles already mentioned as attached to
the axis, to the cervical vertebrae are attached the lumbo-
costalis, the serratus posticus superior, the rhomboideus
minor, the cucullaris, the splenius capitis, the upper part
of the large complexus, and part of the rhomboideus major.
Ike sal The dorsal or thoracic vertebrae (y. dorsi vel thoracis),
wu e. which are twelve in number, are distinguished by articu¬
lar notches on their superior and inferior margins, which,
with the intervertebral cartilage and the contiguous ver¬
tebrae, form depressions for lodging the heads of the ribs,
and cartilaginous facettes on their transverse processes for
articulating with similar facettes on the tubercles of the
ribs. The tenth dorsal vertebra has often only one fa-
cette above, and the eleventh and twelfth have only a
single facette for each of the two last ribs.
The bodies of the dorsal vertebrae are more convex and
somewhat rounder before than those of the cervical and
lumbar. The hole, which is smaller, is also rounder, ap¬
proaching to the oval shape.
The spinal plates are broad and strong, and meet be¬
hind in long prismatic spinous processes, which are direct¬
ed obliquely downwards, so that they are imbricated over
each other, especially in the middle of the back. The
three last are less pblique. The oblique direction and
imbricated arrangement of the spinous processes are con¬
nected with the peculiar flexuous bend which the column
undergoes from the lower part of the cervical to the upper
end of the lumbar region.
The twelfth dorsal vertebra approaches the first lum¬
bar in the large size of its body, in the shortness of its
VOL. II.
transverse processes, in the straight direction and smaller Special
extent of the spinous process, and in the articular processes Anatomy,
becoming almost vertical.
To the dorsal vertebrae the following muscles are at_The verte-
tached: the splenius capitis et colli, trachelo-mastoideus, br8e'
the part of the complexus called biventer cervicis, the com¬
plexus, longus colli, transversus colli, spinalis colli, semispi-
nalis dorsi, multifidus spince, the inner part of the lumbo-
costalis, the levatores costarum, the inner layer of the ten¬
don of the internal oblique and transverse muscles of the
belly, the latissimus dorsi, rhomboideus major, cucullaris,
and serratus posticus superior et inferior.
The five lumbar vertebrae are distinguished by the size The lum-
of their bodies and their processes, and by the direction bar verte-
of the spinous and articular processes. Each body is bothbrse*
broader and thicker, but less convex, than those of the
dorsal vertebrae. The vertebral hole also is larger, and it
resumes the triangular shape as in the neck. The trans¬
verse processes are broad, flat, and large, without articu¬
lar facette like the dorsal, or arterial hole like the cervical,
and are rough by the attachment of the sacro-lumbalis.
Of the articular processes, which are large and have a
vertical direction, the upper is concave, oval, and turned
towards the median plane; the lower is convex, oval, and
directed towards the lateral regions. The spinous pro¬
cesses are large, flattened, almost square, with thick obtuse
margins, and directed straight backwards. The vertebral
notches are large, and form holes much larger than at any
other part of the spine.
The attached muscles are the spinalis dorsi, mulifidus
spince, quadratus lumborum, the inner layer of the internal
oblique and transverse, and the outer layer of the latter,
the external and internal parts of the lumbo-costalis, the
latissimus dorsi, serratus posticus inferior, the diaphragm,
and the psoce.
The sacrum, composed in early life of five pieces, which The sa-
are afterwards consolidated into one, may be regarded ascrum-
a series of imperfect vertebrae conjoined into a single
mass. It is a symmetrical bone, of a triangular shape,
with the base attached to the last lumbar vertebra, the
apex, which is obtuse, adhering to the os coccygis, and the
sides wedged between the bones of the pelvis.
The anterior or pelvic surface is concave, with the base,
sometimes named the promontory,prominent and overhang¬
ing, the apex and the lateral margins incurvated forwards,
and corresponds to the rectum. It presents in general four,
sometimes five pairs of oval holes, which communicate with
the spinal cavity, and between each of which may be seen
a transverse ridge marking the lines of junction of the se¬
veral bones; and in some instances the inner is so imper¬
fect that a deep line is left. These holes, therefore,
through which the nerves pass from the spinal chord, are
quite analogous to those formed by the union of the ver¬
tebral notches. The posterior surface of the sacrum is
much more irregular. At the top are two articular pro¬
cesses, concave and cartilaginous, for receiving the convex
surface of the inferior articular processes of the last lum¬
bar vertebra. Outside of these is a deep notch, which,
with that of the same vertebra, forms the posterior ver¬
tebral hole; and outside of this is a tubercle, which cor¬
responds to the transverse processes of the true vertebrae.
Below the notch on each side is a series of four holes,
which, like those of the anterior surface, communicate
with the cavity of the bone, and allow the posterior nerves
to issue from the chord. On the median line, between,
there is an irregular bony ridge, or rather a series of
three spinous processes, short, obtuse, and separated by-
shallow depressions. The third of these diminishes gra¬
dually in the longitudinal direction till it is entirely lost
5 D
762
ANATOMY.
Special opposite the fourth pair of sacral holes, leaving between
Anatomy, two ridges a triangular opening, which often communi-
cates with the interior of the spinal cavity, and, when it
^ brac'd068 not> marks the lower termination of that cavity. In
the former case it is closed by the posterior sacro-coccy-
geal ligament.
The sides of the sacrum, which are rough, and of an ir¬
regular cuneiform shape, present two surfaces,—one ante-
The os
coccygis.
rior, something cartilaginous, for articulating with the
ilia'c bones,—the other posterior, marked by two deep sinu¬
osities, in which are lodged the sacro-iliac ligaments. The
inferior termination of the sides tapers towards the apex
or coccygeal end. The surface is rough for the insertion
of the sacro-ischiadic ligament, and it is terminated by a
notch for the exit of the fifth pair of posterior sacral nerves.
The structure of the sacrum, like that of the vertebrae,
is cancellated, and most loose in the site of the spinal plates
and processes. Its mode of ossification is analogous to
that of the vertebrae generally. On the middle plane ap¬
pear five points, which correspond to the bodies of the
false vertebrae, or the individual bodies of the sacrum ;
and on each side of these are formed two others, which
become eventually the ridges of bone between the ante¬
rior and posterior sacral holes and the spinal plates. As
these enlarge, they coalesce; and consolidating, leave
only on the pelvic and dorsal surfaces the rows of holes
through which issue the sacral nerves. It hence results
that the sacrum is ossified from fifteen separate portions
of bone.
Besides the muscles connected with the lumbar verte¬
brae, the sacrum gives attachment to part of the glutceus
maximus and the pyriformis.
The sacrum is attached above to the last lumbar ver¬
tebra by the intervertebral fibro-cartilage, the capsule of
the two articular processes, and the yellow ligament of
the spinous processes; to the iliac bones by the sacro¬
iliac synchondrosis, and to the coccyx by a similar fibro-
cartilage. (Plate XXIV. fig. 1, S.)
The coccyx is a symmetrical bone, triangular, occupying
the posterior and inferior parts of the pelvis, attached by
its base to the sacrum, and with the apex free and slightly
incurvated forwards, so as to terminate in a hooked point,
which has been supposed to resemble the bill of the
cuckoo, (xoxxvj', cuculus.)
The anterior or pelvic surface is concave, marked with
transverse grooves covered by periosteum, and supporting
the lower extremity of the rectum. The posterior or
outer surface is convex, gibbous, and unequal, for the in¬
sertion of the sacro-coccygeal ligament and some fibres
of the large glutceus, and, like the anterior, is also marked
by transverse grooves.
^ The base or upper end of the coccyx is concave be¬
fore for articulation with the sacrum, and presents behind
two tubercles continuous with those of the spinal region,
and on the sides two notches, which, with those of the
sacrum, form holes for the fifth pair of sacral nerves.
The margins of the bone are rough, for the attachment of
the small sciatic ligament, and meet below at an angle,
which is sometimes bifid, sometimes obtuse, and to which
the levator ani is attached.
The coccyx is generally cellular, with little densit}’’.
The transverse grooves by which it is marked indicate its
original separation into five portions, two of which be¬
coming united, leave four and occasionally three portions,
an upper, a middle, and a lower. These portions, indeed,
are so long in consolidating, that they are often separate
in the adult. The first is the largest, and resembles a di¬
minutive vertebra without hole, and with truncated or un¬
developed processes. A lateral portion on each side pro¬
jects like a wing, the rudiments of the transverse pro¬
cesses ; and the two tubercles above noticed, rising like An
horns, are imperfect articular processes, meeting those of^
the os sacrum. The bony ridge which descends from-111
these are imperfect spinal plates; and as these do not
meet, they leave between them a groove corresponding
to the anterior half of the vertebral hole; and the spinous
processes are wanting. In the second coccygeal bone,
which is rounder than the first, the aliform portions cor¬
responding to the transverse processes are also smaller
than in the first; and in the third and fourth they are
diminished so much that they are scarcely cognizable.
Tin pi
The series of bones now described form by their union
what is called the backbone, chine, spine {spina dorsi), orgei.
vertebral column. Viewed in connection, it may be dis¬
tinguished into an anterior and a posterior region, two late¬
ral surfaces, a base, and an apex.
The anterior region is large in the neck, narrow in the
back, and broad in the loins and pelvis. A series of trans¬
verse grooves of variable depth marks the bodies of the
vertebrae ; and a series of transverse elevated ridges dis¬
tinguishes in like manner their upper and lower margins.
These grooves, which in the cervical vertebrae are confined
to the front, extend in the dorsal and lumbar to the sides.
This anterior region is covered by the anterior vertebral
ligament. On the sides it answers in the neck to the ante¬
rior or great recti, and the longi colli muscles ; in the
chest to the latter, to the vena azygos on the right, and the
thoracic aorta on the left; in the abdomen to the abdo¬
minal aorta and the inferior cava; and in the pelvis to
the rectum.
In the posterior region are seen, on the mesial plane, the
row of spinous processes, horizontal above and below, and
imbricated in the middle. The intervals, which are con¬
siderable in the neck and loins, are much contracted in
the back, in which extension brings the processes in con¬
tact. The apices of all are in general in the same
straight line; but this may be disturbed, either from the
wrong direction of a process, or an unnatural position of a
vertebra.
On each side are seen the intervertebral grooves {fissura
interspinales), which commence at the occipital bone, and
are continued with those of the sacrum. Broad and hori¬
zontal above, smaller and more oblique in the middle, very
narrow below, these grooves are formed by the series of
spinal plates, between which are left spaces varying in
size according to the obliquity of the plates. These
spaces are occupied within by the yellow ligaments, which
being inserted at their inner surface, are something broader
than the spaces, and without by the transversus spina
muscle.
On each side also is recognised a longitudinal hollow,
extending from the atlas to the lower end of the sacrum.
This hollow, which is formed by the spinous processes and
the transverse processes with the spinal plates below, is
superficial at the neck, narrow and deep in the back, and
narrow and superficial at the loins and sacrum. In this
longitudinal groove is lodged the muscle named multifidus
spince. (Plate XXV. fig. 1.)
The lateral regions present first the row of transverse
processes, which vary in direction in different regions,^
chiefly in consequence of the spinal curvatures. Thus, it
a vertical plane pass down along the sides of the column,
the transverse processes of the neck and loins will be an¬
terior to it, while those of the back will be behind it. In
the first region these processes are distinguished for form¬
ing, by the series of holes in the base of each, a bony
canal traversed by the vertebral artery, and which is com-
i illy
ANATOMY. 763
j pleted in the intertransverse spaces by the intertransver-
ny. sales colli. To these transverse processes numerous
^muscles are attached. Between them in the neck, and
ne- anterior to them in the back and loins, is a series of holes
formed by the union of the vertebral notches. Through
these, which are the intervertebral holes {foramina inter-
vertebralia), and which increase in size from the neck to
the loins, where they are considerable, the anterior
branches of the spinal nerves pass. Their shape is ellip¬
tical and their transit short. Anterior to these processes
in the dorsal vertebrae are the depressed facettes, in which,
with those of the fibro-cartilages, the heads of the ribs are
lodged.
The base of this column, which is supposed to be the
last lumbar vertebra, is articulated with the sacrum in
such a manner as to form an anterior convexity and a cavity
behind. The base, however, may with greater justice
be placed in the upper half of the sacrum, which, being
firmly wedged between the thick posterior margins of the
iliac bones, transmits to them, and thereby to the bones
of the pelvic extremities, the weight of the trunk. The
mechanism of this is similar to that of the keystone of an
arch, which the sacrum truly represents. The perpen¬
dicular pressure on this bone is counteracted and balanced
by the lateral pressure of the iliac bones ; and this lateral
pressure is sustained, partly by their mutual pressure on
each other before at the pubis, but chiefly by the oblique
pressure of the neck of the thigh-bone, and the perpen¬
dicular pressure of the cylinder of the latter and those of
the leg-bones.
The upper extremity of the column, which is formed
by the atlas and axis, receives the weight of the scull and
its contents, which are exactly balanced on the articular
cavities of the former bone. On this also the head is
bent or extended by its proper muscles. Rotation is per¬
formed by the motion of the atlas with the head on the
articular cavities of the second vertebra, and round its
odontoid process.
The holes of each vertebra form, by union, the verte¬
bral canal, in which are lodged the spinal chord, the origins
of its nerves, and its membranous coverings. This canal,
which is continuous with the cavity of the scull by means
of the occipital hole above, and is completed by the sacral
canal below, is not in the centre of the spine, nor is every¬
where of the same dimensions. Situate behind the
vertebral bodies, and before the spinal plates, it is nearer
the posterior than the anterior region of the column.
Large at the neck and upper part of the back, it di¬
minishes below, and again enlarges in the loins. Its area
is triangular in the cervical region, oval in the dorsal, and
triangular again in the lumbar and sacral regions. It fol¬
lows the different curvatures of the spinal column. In the
rece%t state, it is formed not by the bones only, but be¬
fore by the intervertebral cartilages, and behind by the
yellow ligaments and the interspinales and intertransver-
sales muscles. Lined by periosteum, by the posterior
vertebral ligament, and by a quantity of loose cellular tis¬
sue, it is further covered by a cylindrical fibrous mem¬
brane, similar to the dura mater, the outer investment of
the spinal chord; and within this are contained the liga-
mentum denticulatum, the spinal arachnoid, and the spinal
chord itself, with its anterior and posterior nervous roots
on each side, and its appropriate blood-vessels. In early
life the soft parts predominate; and the canal and its
component bones are then susceptible of much freer and
more extensive motion than afterwards, when ossification
is complete, and the fibro-cartilages acquire firmness.
In the human subject it may be viewed as a firm but
flexible bony cylinder, which performs several functions
at once. Resting on the sacrum, which is wedged im- Special
movably between the iliac bones, it supports the trunk in Anatomy,
the erect position, and transfers to the sacrum, on which
it rests, the weight of the head, the chest, and great part116 sPine'
of the abdomen. In the vertebrated animals in general
it incloses the spinal chord, one of the most essential and
constant parts of the nervous system. In the several re¬
gions it forms a sort of posterior protecting wall to seve¬
ral important vital organs. Thus, in the neck it forms a
posterior barrier to the oesophagus, the windpipe, and the
great sympathetic. In the back it constitutes the poste¬
rior wall of the chest; and in the loins and pelvis it is
the posterior wall of the abdominal viscera and the large
vessels.
In answering these ends, it is important to remark, that
the firmness and mechanical arrangement of the spinous
processes are of essential service. Their imbricated ar¬
rangement renders it impossible for any foreign body to
enter the vertebral cavity and injure the spinal chord,
unless between the occipital bone and atlas, or between
the atlas and axis; and even at these points much preci¬
sion is requisite to enter the cavity. Between the axis
and the third vertebra it is more difficult, and below this
next to impossible, without breaking the spinous processes.
With this character of security and support, the verte¬
bral column unites a high degree of flexibility. _ Though
the degree of motion between each vertebra is trifling, yet #
between several it is considerable, and between the whole
twenty-four it is multiplied to a great amount. The motions
of which the vertebral articulations admit are those of
flexion and extension, rotation, and lateral flexion. Of
these, flexion is that which is most extensive; for in the
anterior direction there is less impediment to the motion
of the vertebrae than behind, where the spinous processes
allow no great extent of motion, unless where the habit has
been acquired in early life, before ossification is completed.
The rotatory motion of one vertebra on another is small;
but by combining the motion of several or of the whole
column, it becomes so extensive that some individuals
can turn the head and neck more than half round. That
these motions are the passive result chiefly of the inter¬
vertebral cartilages and the articulations of the oblique
processes, may be inferred from the fact, that when the
former are ossified, or the latter ankylosed, the motions
are much impaired generally, and wholly destroyed in the
vertebrae affected.
The motions of the head on the atlas have been already
shortly noticed. Those of the atlas and occipital bone
on the axis are, though simple in effect, complex in me¬
chanism. The motion, indeed, is limited to that of lota-
tion; but this rotation is extensive. This is favoured by
the horizontal position, and the large extent of the infe¬
rior articular processes of the atlas, and the superior ones
of the axis, the looseness of the articular capsule, and the
absence of spinous process in the atlas. The axis and its
odontoid process becoming the fixed point, the atlas, and
with it the occipital bone and scull, turn on the ellipii-
cal flat articular surfaces, and on the odontoid process.
On the first they glide extensively, and in opposite direc¬
tions, while the capsular ligaments are stretched. On the
odontoid process the motion is more limited, and ironi
right to left, and conversely; and in the latter variety ot
motion, the arch of the atlas before, and the transverse
ligament behind, move on the anterior and posterior fa¬
cettes of the odontoid process. _ ... .
The anatomical construction of this articulation, how¬
ever, which is so favourable to extensive motion, is at¬
tended with the disadvantage of facilitating the luxation
of the atlas on the axis. Luxation, indeed, may be re-
/o4
ANATOMY.
Special gardetl as produced by too extensive motion of these
Anatomy, bones, in which the articular processes of the former ver-
tebra abandon those of the latter, and instead of resting
I he spine. on are p]aced on the same plane, while the spinous
processes are separated at least half an inch. It may be
further observed, that the want of fibro-cartilages between
these bones before, and of yellow ligaments behind, is
favourable to displacement. The effect of this change of
position on the spinal chord is" obvious. While the one
side of the atlas is thrust off the axis, the other is forced
so near its body and articular process, that it compresses
the spinal chord, and may occasion palsy or immediate
death, by injuring the chord above the origins of the
phrenic and intercostal nerves. The vertebral arteries at
the same time undergo so much stretching, that the blood
cannot move through them with the natural facility.
It is nevertheless probable that displacement rarely oc¬
curs without such injury to the ligaments as to allow more
extensive luxation than that now noticed. The odon¬
toid ligaments, or the transverse, may be ruptured; and
in either case the odontoid process is allowed to slip
backwards, and plunges into the chord, and destroys its
texture almost instantly. These ligaments may be rup¬
tured either immediately by sudden violence, or in conse¬
quence of previous disease. In such circumstances, the
injury done to the spinal chord is followed by almost im-
, mediate death, in consequence of the influence of the
phrenic and intercostal nerves being suddenly suspended.
In the same manner, the insertion of a cutting instrument
between the occipital bone and atlas, or between the lat¬
ter and the axis, so as to divide partially or completely
the spinal chord above the origin of these nerves, an ope¬
ration known by the name of pithing, is followed by im¬
mediate death.
§ 2. The Chest. (Pectus, Sr^og, Thorax.)
The chest may be defined as an osteo-cartilaginous in¬
closure, of an irregular conoidal shape, flattened before,
concave behind, and convex on the sides. Its upper ex¬
tremity is truncated. Its basis is irregularly oblique. It
consists of the sternum before, the twelve dorsal vertebrcc
behind, twelve ribs on each side, and twelve cartilages
connecting the ribs and sternum.
The ster- The sternum (sternum, aregvov, os pectoris) is a symmetri-
num or cal, oblong, flattened bone, broad above, narrow in the
breast- middle, broad below, and terminating in a point placed
perpendicularly on the anterior of the chest. It presents
two surfaces, an anterior and posterior, two extremities,
an upper and lower, and two margins. (Plate XXIV. fig. 1.)
The anterior or cutaneous surface, covered by skin,
the aponeurosis of the sterno-mastoid and large pectoral
muscles,and periosteum, is marked by four transverse ridges
at intervals of an inch, indicating the lines at which the
separate portions of the bone were united. The posterior,
internal, or mediastinal surface, is a little concave, occa¬
sionally marked by a longitudinal depression in its mid¬
dle; also presents transverse lines, but rather indistinct;
is covered in the middle by the mediastinal cellular tis¬
sue, above by the sterno-hyoid and sterno-thyroid mus¬
cles, and on the sides by the triangulares sterni.
The superior or clavicular extremity of the sternum
presents three crescentic sinuosities; one on the middle,
bounded on each side by an elevated peak, hollowed be¬
fore and behind, and one on each side, incrusted with
cartilage and synovial membrane. The first of these cor¬
responds with the trachea on the inside, and has the
sterno-mastoid muscle inserted on each outside. With
the two lateral cartilaginous surfaces the sternal extremi¬
ties of the clavicles are articulated. Between the two is
bone.
the interclavicular ligament, and all round are the liga- Spe i
mentous fibres of the sterno-clavicular articulation. This Anat v.
upper extremity is about double the breadth of the bone^^ J
at its middle. Below, the bone becomes narrow, and be- s w.
low the fourth ridge it seldom exceeds half an inch in
breadth. Here it terminates in an appendage, which is
generally named the pointed or ensiform cartilage (carti-
lago mucronata, c. ensiformis). The shape of this is by no
means always the same. In some subjects it is a flat, thin,
and pointed process, not always very firm, but more solid
than cartilage ; in others it is a flat thin bone, terminat¬
ing in two thin hooked points. In some it is obtuse and
perforated. In some it is thrust forwards, in others it is
bent inwards, or towards the one side. To this process
the aponeuroses of the recti abdominis are attached.
The margins of the sternum, which are generally about
half an inch thick, present seven articular depressions crust¬
ed by cartilage. The first of these, in which the sternal
extremity of the first rib is lodged, is, immediately below
the clavicular depression, superficial and rounded. The
others, which are situate at the ends of the transverse
ridges, and receive the cartilages of the next six ribs, are
deeper, angular, and surrounded by elevated margins, to
which, in the recent state, the circumference of a capsular
ligament is attached. In general, the seventh depression
is formed partly on the sternum, partly on the ensiform
cartilage; and the intervals between the depressions are
smaller below than above.
The sternum is chiefly cancellated, light, and loose, with
little density, and a thin crust of compact bone. In the
foetus and infant it consists of eight or nine square pieces,
separated by transverse furrows, which, by the union of
two, are easily reduced to seven, and afterwards to five.
By the further union of two of these portions they are
afterwards reduced to three; and in this state they re¬
main so long in some subjects that Soemmering describes
the sternum not as one bone, but as three. The first of
these portions, which is uppermost, is irregularly heart-
shaped, or rather octagonal, with the tracheal depression
and the clavicular articulations above, the depression for
the cartilage of the first rib on the side, and half of that for
the second at its lower margin, where it unites with the
second. The latter is merely the middle and longest portion
of the bone, and is occasionally in three portions, sepa¬
rated at the costal depressions. The third or lower por¬
tion is the ensiform cartilage, the ossification of which
renders the bone complete.
The ribs may be defined to be long, flat, irregular 1C
bones, with an irregular semicircular curvature, placed on
each side of the chest, at intervals of an inch or less, be¬
tween the dorsal vertebrae and the sternum. In general
their number is twelve on each side, rarely eleven of
thirteen. Of these, seven are connected with the sternum
before by individual cartilages, and five are connected in¬
directly to the cartilage of the seventh, without attach¬
ment to the sternum. The former are denominated true
or sterno-vertebral ribs (costce verce) ; the latter are styled
false or vertebral (costce spurice, vel nothce).
Each rib varies in length, breadth, and the direction of
its curvature. The upper ribs are the shortest, and most
incurvated in proportion to their length. The middle
ribs, or the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, are the longest,
and form curves of the largest circle. The false ribs,
which diminish in length from the eighth to the twelfth,
are the least incurvated, or form curves of the largest
circle. It is chiefly from the middle set that the common
characters of these bones should be derived.
Proceeding on this principle, we find that each rib ma)
be defined as a broad, flat, longitudinal bone, not only in-
ANATOMY. 765
Spexl curvated, but twisted from the direction of its original
Anawy- curvature. Each rib has a vertebral extremity, a cartila-
ginous extremity, and a body. The vertebral extremity
Theps. consists of a tuberculated angular head {caput), with two
cartilaginous facettes united at an angular line for inser¬
tion in the intervertebral depressions with which they are
articulated. In the first and twelfth, and sometimes in the
eleventh, there is one facette only corresponding to the
single vertebra with which these bones are connected.
Immediately before the head the rib is contracted and
rounded, so as to form a neck {collum), which varies from
five to six or seven lines in length; and before the neck
is a tubercle or process {tuberculum) divided into two por¬
tions, one internal, smooth, cartilaginous, and uneven, ar¬
ticulated with the transverse processes of the dorsal ver¬
tebra? ; the other external, rough, giving attachment to
the middle costo-transverse ligament. Anterior to the
tubercle the rib is straight for about one inch, and rough
by the insertion of the sacrolumbalis and longissimus dorsi
muscles. Beyond this point, which is therefore named
the angle {angulus), the rib begins to be incurvated cir¬
cularly, and bent downwards, so that the surfaces, which
were external and internal, become obliquely superior
and inferior. To prevent confusion, however, they must
still be .distinguished in the same manner.
The outer surface of the rib, therefore, is convex, and
forms the outer bend of the circle. Behind, it is covered
by the latissimus dorsi muscle. The internal, which
forms the inner bend of the circle, is convex above, and
forms a concave hollow below, bounded by two sharp
margins ; one proceeding straight from the head forwards,
till it is lost about three inches from the cartilaginous ex¬
tremity ; the other, more acute, from the tubercle, and
following the curvature of the rib to about two inches
from the same point. In this groove are lodged the in¬
tercostal artery, vein, and nerve. The internal intercos-
tals are attached to the inner lip of the margin; the exter¬
nal to the outer. The upper margin of the rib is obtuse
behind, where the external intercostals are inserted; but
becomes acute and rough before, where the internal in¬
tercostals are inserted. The anterior or sternal extremi¬
ty of the rib is broad and large, and terminates in an oval
hollow, in which the cartilage is inserted. In advanced
life, when the union between the rib and cartilage is in¬
timate, this hollow becomes less distinct.
Besides these common characters of the ribs, several pre¬
sent peculiarities deserving notice.
The first rib is short, almost semicircular, and its direc¬
tion is such that its broad surfaces are superior and inferior,
not external and internal, as in the others. The head of
this rib possesses only one large articular facette, corre¬
sponding with the first dorsal vertebra, sometimes one
large one, and a minute one corresponding with a small
space of the last cervical vertebra. Its neck is short and
round, and its tubercle is identified with the angle which
is wanting. The superior surface of this rib is highly im¬
portant. From the head and tubercle extends a rough
surface, in which are inserted part of the scalenus posticus,
part of the serratus magnus, and the scalenus medius. Next
to this is a smooth, deep depression, over which the sub¬
clavian artery passes; then is an eminence, to which the
scalenus anticus is attached; afterwards a superficial
hollow, in which the subclavian vein is lodged; and, lastly,
a rough surface at the sternal or anterior end, for the sub¬
clavian muscle. The lower surface of the first rib is un¬
even and slightly rough, but without groove at its outer
margin.
The second rib resembles the first in direction, hav¬
ing rather an upper and lower, than an external and in¬
ternal surface. The head is angular and acuminated, and Specip.l
the neck contracted; and the upper surface is rough by the Anatomy.
serratus magnus ; but the lower surface, from the tubercle,
begins to present an angle in the shape of an oblique sur- Tlie rib3,
face, bounded below by a rough ridge, within which is
the groove for the intercostal vessels and nerves. Ante¬
rior to this flat oblique surface the rib is twisted, and
undergoes a change in direction. In the third the angle
is not more distinct, and it is only in the fourth that
this part is well marked. This character continues to the
eleventh, when it becomes indistinct, and in which the
tuberosity disappears, or at least is identified with the
head, which has only one facette. The groove also is so
short as scarcely to be observed. Lastly, the twelfth rib,
which is often unconnected with the others by cartilage,
is without tuberosity, groove, or angle, and has, like the
first, only one facette at the head.
The true ribs are connected to the sternum by means The costal
of broad rounded pieces of cartilage, variable in length cartilages,
and direction in different ribs. That of the first rib is very
short, rather broad, and its direction, though oblique from
above downwards, is more horizontal than that of the in¬
ferior ones. The angle at which it unites with the ster¬
num is acute above, and obtuse below. It is often ossi¬
fied in the adult. The second is nearly horizontal, and
follows the direction of the rib to which it is attached.
The next five are more oblique from above downwards,
as the lower end of the sternum inclines forwards, and the
corresponding ribs bulge towards the base of the chest.
Each of these cartilages, invested by perichondrium,
is attached by a rough surface to the anterior end of the
rib; while the other extremity, which is rounded and
covered by synovial membrane, is lodged in one of the
articular depressions of the lateral margin of the sternum,
and secured in this situation by a capsular ligament,
strengthened by anterior and posterior fibrous bands.
The anterior or outer surface of the thoracic cartilages
is slightly convex, the internal or posterior surface flat,
inclining to concave, lined by pleura and covered by the
triangularis sterni muscle. The upper margin is concave,
the lower convex, giving attachment to the internal inter¬
costal muscles, which in this region fill the intercartilagi-
nous spaces.
The cartilages of the five false ribs differ from those of
the true, in not being articulated directly with the sternum.
The cartilage of the eighth rib, after bending forwards and
upwards, is attached to the seventh by a tapering point
with a minute articular surface. The ninth cartilage is
attached in a similar manner to the eighth, the tenth to
the ninth, the eleventh to the tenth, and the twelfth is
either attached in the same manner to the eleventh, or
hangs free, though attached to muscles connected with
the others. Hence the twelfth, and not unfrequently tlm
eleventh, are denominated floating ribs. The whole of
them are mutually connected by ligamentous fibres inserted
into their perichondrial covering. The outer surface of
these cartilages is covered by the recti and external ob¬
lique, the inner surface by the diaphragm and transversus.
Connected with the ribs in the same manner in which
those of the true ribs are, these cartilages differ, however,
in taking a direction, first of descent, then of ascent 01 of
curvature. Ihe spaces which they leave between them,
instead of being rhomboidal, as those of the true ribs, are
irregularly triangular.
In structure the costal cartilages belong to those of
the cavities. Analogous to those of the larynx, they are
dense, firm, elastic, whitish substances, without distinct
traces of organization, and seem to consist chiefly of modi¬
fied gelatine, to which they are with difficulty reduced by
ANATOMY.
766
Special long boiling. Their tendency to ossification is consider-
Anatomy. able. In few persons above 45 or 50 are they quite free
from bony points; and in many they are at this period
converted into firm bone. The cartilage of the first rib,
especially, is often firmly ossified before 35. When they
undergo this change, certain points in their substance are
observed to assume an orange or tawny colour, and to ex¬
hibit a porous arrangement, with great hardness, turning
the edge of the knife.
By long maceration the costal cartilages become soft
and gelatinous, and are finally resolved into oval patches,
separated by circular or spiral lines, with numerous per¬
forations. It was perhaps on this account that Herissant
described them as consisting of spiral fibres.
The chest The bones and cartilages now described, with the twelve
in general, dorsal vertebrae behind, constitute the bony skeleton of
the chest, bearing a remote resemblance to a cone, with
truncated apex and oblique base, or, more accurately, to
the frustum of a cone. To form a just idea of this assem¬
blage of parts, it is necessary to consider its surface ex¬
ternal and internal, its circumference above and below,
its transverse diameter, and its longitudinal extent. _
The anterior region of the external surface, consisting
of the sternum in the middle, and the cartilages on each
side, is flattened, contracted above, wider and more promi¬
nent below. The intercostal spaces are filled between the
sternum and the ribs by the internal intercostals, behind
this by the external and internal, and covered by the
anterior part of the large pectoral muscle. Behind, the
chest presents the vertebrae with their processes, the
transverse processes articulated with the tubercles, the
angles forming a line obliquely receding from the spine,
the transverse grooves, the longitudinal groove on each
side filled by the multifidus spince, and the space be¬
tween the processes and the angles of the ribs occupied
by the spinalis dorsi, the longissimus dorsi, and the sacro-
lumbalis. The intercostal spaces, from the spine to the
angles, are filled by the external intercostals; and anterior
to this are the two layers of muscles.
The lateral regions of the chest are convex, making a
larger sweep below than above. They present on each side
eleven intercostal spaces, the superior of which are shorter
and broader than the inferior. These spaces, which fol¬
low the curved direction of the ribs, cannot be accurately
defined in shape. Between the angles and the cartilages,
where the curvature is greatest, they are occupied by the
double layer of the external and internal intercostal
muscles, which, lying inclined in opposite directions, mu¬
tually decussate in this tract. The lateral region of the
chest is covered above by the serratus magnus behind,
and the two pectorals before; below by the external ob¬
lique on the side, and the recti before. The inferior lateral
region, which is formed by the cartilages of the ribs, is
therefore named the hypochondres {hypochondria).
The inner surface of the chest is, before, correspond¬
ent to the outer surface, unless below, where the anterior
inclination of the sternum makes the antero-posterior dia¬
meter greater. The posterior region is marked by the
row of vertebral bodies, the prominence of which forms an
imperfect partition, which separates the right and left
halves of the thorax; and which, notwithstanding the
posterior bend which the spine undergoes between the
second and eighth vertebrae, diminishes the antero-poste¬
rior diameter of the chest. On each side is a large con¬
cave hollow, narrow above, wide below, and swelling most
capaciously in the middle, the walls of which, formed by
the ribs and intercostal muscles, are lined by the pleura,
and the cavity of which contains the lungs.
The upper circumference of the chest, or its apex, is Spe 1
small, oval, transversely oblique from above downwards, AnatL y.
and from behind forwards. Bounded before by the ster-1^^ ^
num, behind by the first dorsal vertebra, and on the side
by the first rib, it is diminished by the clavicles; and while
its antero-posterior diameter is occupied by the wind¬
pipe, tesophagus, and the large vessels connected with
the heart, its lateral portions are so much contracted, that
each thoracic half (demithorax) has here almost a coni¬
cal termination. Its dimensions in the male skeleton of
average size are about 16 inches. As the first rib has
little or no motion, the upper circumference remains un¬
changed.
The lower circumference of the chest, which is much
more extensive, is said to be nearly four times larger
than the upper. This, However, is exaggerated; and I
find its greatest dimensions in the male to be 32 inches,
exactly double the small circumference. It is suscep¬
tible of enlargement from the revolving motion of the
ribs. The first rib remains fixed, while the lower ones
are capable of being rolled outwards on their heads,
tubercles and cartilages, so that the transverse diameter
of the chest is enlarged. The lower circumference of the
chest presents anteriorly a*large triangular notch (inci-
sara trigona), with the apex at the ensiform cartilage, the
sides at the margins of the cartilage, and the base repre¬
sented by a transverse line uniting the tips of the twelfth
rib on each side. This notch, which, in the recent state,
is occupied by the heads of the recti muscles, with their
fasciae in the middle, and the anterior margins of the ex¬
ternal oblique at the sides, constitutes what is called the
pit of the stomach {scrobiculus cordis), or the epigastric
region {epigastrium).
The transverse diameter of the chest is small above,
but gradually enlarges to the ninth or tenth rib. The
average diameter measured between the inner margins of
the first ribs on each side in the male skeleton is four and
a half inches; the average diameter measured between
the tips of the eleventh rib on each side is nine inches,
which is also nearly the diameter between the inner mar¬
gins of the fifth ribs; and the average diameter measur¬
ed across the upper margin of the ninth rib, which is
about the widest part, amounts to eleven inches. These
diameters, it has been already said, are susceptible of
slight enlargement, by reason of the lateral revolution of
the ribs ; and this motion is most extensive between the
sixth and tenth ribs. Above the sixth and below the tenth
it is trifling.
The longitudinal extent or altitude of the chest varies;
but in the same male skeleton it amounts to twelve inches
measured between the lower margin of the first rib and the
upper margin of the eleventh, which may be regarded
as the inferior limit of the osseous part of the chest.
From the top of the sternum to the plane of the ensiform
cartilage the distance is five inches and a half. If from the
lower margin of a mesial plane representing the medias¬
tinum, another plane be drawn on each side to the margins
of the false ribs, the space inclosed on each side above
this oblique plane will give some idea of the capacity of
the thoracic cavities.
The dimensions above stated apply chiefly to the adult
male, from about thirty to thirty-five years, and of average
size. In the female the chest is generally smaller in every
direction, rounder, and more taper towards its inferior
region. Above, as far as to the fourth rib, it is said to
be larger and more uneven before, so that it has less
of the conoidal shape than the male chest. It is also
shorter.
The pectoral cavity is in general symmetrical, that is»
ANATOMY.
jlpjal of similar shape and dimensions on each side of the me-
Ana-ny- gial plane. Sometimes, however, without the interven-
tion of disease, the greater convexity of two or three ribs
on one side gives it a more ample appearance than on the
other.
§ 3. The Pelvis.
This is the name given to the irregular-shaped bony
cincture which terminates the lower extremity of the
trunk, and which is connected to the spinal column by
means of the sacrum. It consists in the adult of four
bones, two lateral portions {ossa coxarum), and two on the
mesial plane, the sacrum and os coccygis. The latter two
have been already described. The lateral and anterior
divisions now come under examination.
These consist of two bones, one on each side, united
with each other before by means of fibro-cartilage, and
receiving between them behind, the sacrum, to which they
are in like manner united by fibro-cartilage. These
bones, which are denominated ossa innominata, coxal or
haunch-bones {ossa coxarum), are of a very irregular
shape, and may be divided into three regions, the supe¬
rior or iliac, the anterior or_ pubal, and the inferior or
ischial. These regions it is not easy to define accurately;
but they will appear in the course of description, and
they correspond to the original divisions of the bone in
the foetal state.
Thakal The coxal bone presents two surfaces, an external or
femoral, and an internal or pelvic; and a circumference,
divided into superior margin, anterior margin, inferior
margin, and posterior margin.
The external or femoral surface {dorsum), which is alter¬
nately concave and convex, presents behind a rough sur¬
face, to which the glutceus maximus is attached ; between
this and a semicircular rough linea lunated hollow, in which
the origin of the glutceus medius is lodged; and between the
upper semicircular line and the lower a convex and con¬
cave area, for the attachment of the glutceus minimus, and
one or two inequalities, to which one of the tendons of the
rectusfemoris is attached. About an inch below is a large
hemi-spherical cavity, with elevated circular margins, inter¬
rupted at the anterior and inferior corner, named the aceta¬
bulum,ox cotyloid cavity, for receiving the head of the thigh¬
bone. Its inner surface is covered by cartilage, unless at
the centre, where is a depression for the attachment of
the triangular ligament of the thigh-bone. The lower
part of the margin is marked by a deep notch, over which,
in the recent state, is stretched a ligament, thus forming
a hole for the transit of the vessels and nerves of the
articular cavity. The surface behind the acetabulum is
slightly convex, indicating its union with the upper edge of
apart of the coxal bone, distinguished by the name of hip¬
bone (os ischii), and may be denominated the post-acetabu-
Ilar or ilio-ischial eminence ; below, it is concave and sinuous,
for the tendon of the obturator externus, and terminating in
a sharp spine {spina ischii), to which the small sacro-sciatic
ligament is attached. Anterior to the acetabulum is a large
opening, named the thyroid or obturator hole, oval in the
male, and triangular in the female, closed by a ligament at¬
tached to its circumference, unless at the upper part, where
there is an oblique groove forthe oi<Mmtorvesselsand nerve.
The outer surface of the thyroid ligament supports the obtu-
Tator extemus muscle, the inner surface the obturator inter-
nus. The upper margin of the thyroid hole is overhung by a
convex ridge of bone, which is named the pubal or the hori¬
zontal branch of the pubal bone {ospubis, pecten, ospectinis)
from supporting the parts of generation, and which termi¬
nates at its inner or mesial margin in a spine or tubercle,
to which the outer portion of the tendon of the external
767
oblique muscle is attached. The inner or anterior margin Special
of the thyroid hole is bounded by a broad flat bone, irre- Anatomy,
gularly rough on the surface, broad above, where it is con-^'~v''v-r/
nected with the os pubis, narrow at the middle and lower coxal
part,' where it joins the ischial bone. To the upper part bones‘
of this, which is named the descending branch {ramus) of
the pubis are fixed the gracilis, the head of the adductores
longus et brevis, part of the adductor magnus, and part of
the obturator externus. The lower part, which is named
the ascending branch {ramus) of the ischium, gives origin
to the adductor magnus.
The inner or pelvic surface {venter) of the coxal bone
may be divided into three parts. The first is posterior,
rough, and irregular, for articulation by fibro-cartilage with
the lateral margin of the sacrum. The second, which is ab¬
dominal, concave, and is named the iliac pit {fossa iliaca),
contains the belly of the iliacus internus, bounded above by
the circumference or crest of the bone ; behind by a rough
line which separates it from the sacral surface; before by
a concave irregular bend formed above by the iliac, below
by the pubal bone ; and below by a sharp line {linea ilio-
pectinea), which is insensibly lost on the spine of the pubis,
and to the inner end of which is attached a reflected por¬
tion of Poupart’s ligament, named the ligament of Gim-
bernat. The third or pelvic surface, which is below, pre¬
sents behind a flat, irregular-shaped, concave space, occu¬
pied by the levator ani and part of the obturator internus,
the inner opening of the thyroid hole, the inner surface of
the rami of the pubal and ischial bones, with inequalities
for the origin of the obturator internus, and a sinuosity
below the ischial spine for the motion of its tendon.
The circumference of the coxal bone is very irregular.
The upper or iliac portion, which is semicircular, and is
named the crest {crista ilium ossis), is rough for muscular
and tendinous attachments, varying in breadth from half
an inch to a whole one, and is distinguished into an exter¬
nal arjd internal lip, and an intermediate space. To the
former are attached the external oblique, the latissimus
dorsi, and the tensor vagince femoris; to the latter are
attached the transversus and the quadratus lumborum;
and in the middle space between the two is the internal
oblique. The posterior end of the crest terminates in the
posterior superior spinous process, to which part of the
glutceus maximus and the ilio-lumbar ligament are at¬
tached, and below the posterior inferior spinous process
forming the upper extremity of the ischiatic notch. The
crest terminates before in the anterior superior spinous
process, to which are attached the fascia lata, the sartorius,
and the upper end of the tendon of the external oblique,
or ligament of Poupart, or what is named the crural arch.
The anterior portion presents, first a small sinuosity, which
separates the superior from the inferior spinous process, to
which is attached the upper tendon of the rectus cruris.
Between this and an eminence in the upper or horizontal
portion of the os pubis, marking its junction with the iliac
bone, and which may be denominated the ilio-pubal, is a
large sinuosity, in which are lodged the tapering ends of
the iliacus internus and psoas magnus. 1 o the ilio-pubal
eminence th e psoas pa rvus is attached; and within thepubal
eminence, and anterior to the linea ilio-pectinea, is a trian¬
gular space, to which the origin of the pectineus is fixed.
This part of the circumference is terminated by the spine
of the pubal bone, to which the first insertion of Poupart’s
ligament, or the outer pillar of the inguinal ring, is fixed.
On the mesial side of this is a rough tubercular surface,
which by means of fibro-cartilage is united with a similar
surface on the opposite side. To this, which is named
the symphysis pubis, the second insertion of the ligament
of Poupart, the pyramidcdes and the recti, are fixed*
768
ANATOMY.
Special
Anatomy.
The coxal
bones.
The posterior-inferior margin is most irregular. Com- By the cotyloid cavity it is articulated with the head of Spd ii
mencing with the posterior spinous processes, which are the thigh-bone. Ami
parted by a small notch, the margin is, immediately anterior 8T
to the lower process, formed into a large hollow, named The coxal bones on each side, with the sacrum wedged 11,6
the ischiadic notch (incisura ischii), bounded before by between them behind, and the os coccygis attached to its
the spine of the ischium, to which is attached the ante- extremity, constitute an irregular-shaped osseous cinc-mens
rior sacro-ischiadic ligament, with the superior head of ture, something conical, with the base above, and the
the gemellus without, and the coccygeus within. A pretty truncated apex below. This shape, with the manner in
which it supports the abdominal viscera and several of the
urinary and genital organs, has given it the name of basin
(7e bassin, das becken, pelvis) or pelvis. In this it is requi¬
site to consider the external and internal surface, the up-
large hollow, in which play the belly and tendon of the
obturator externus, separates the spine from the tuberosity
of the ischium, a large broad rough surface, the external
surface of which gives support to the quadratus and ad-
Structure
ductor magnus, the inner surface to the lower head of the per and lower circumference, the transverse diameters,
gemellus and the external or inferior sacro-ischiadic liga- the direction, the outlets and their dimensions,
ment, while in the middle are fixed the long head of the The external surface comprehends four regions, the an-
biceps flexor, the semitendinosus, and the semimembranosus, terior or pubal, the posterior or sacral, and two lateral.
From the tuberosity the margin of the bone along the The anterior region presents the pubal articulation
ascendino- branch of the ischium, and the descending (symphysis) on the median line, and on each side the
branch of the pubis, becomes narrow till it reaches the pubo-ischial rami, the thyroid hole and its margins, and
symphysis, when it aeain becomes broad and more irregu- the acetabulum or articular cavity. The posterior region
lar. To the former margin are attached the gracilis, presents on the median line the sacral spinous processes
the transversus perincei, the erector, and the corpus ca- or spinous ridge, the triangular depression which termi-
vernosum. The latter uniting with the opposite bone by nates the spinal canal, the suture uniting the sacrum to
means of the interpubal fibro-cartilage, constitutes the the coccyx and the posterior convex surface of the latter;
sijmphysis pubis. and on each side are the sacral grooves and posterior
The iliac or coxal bones consist of cancellated matter, holes ; the processes by which they are bounded without;
covered by a thin layer of compact bone. In early life, a deep depression corresponding to the sacro-iliac syn-
and in delicate subjects, this cellular matter is loose, abun- chondrosis, and which is filled by a thick bundle of liga-
dant, and rather thick. At a more advanced period, when
ossification is completed, and in strong muscular spb-
mentous fibres; and lastly, the posterior tuberosity of
the ilium, which projects much behind. The lateral re-
Pevelope-
ment.
jects, the proportion of this cancellated matter diminishes gions are formed by the dorsa or external fossce of the
and sometimes disappears, so that the bone consists of two iliac bones, bounded below by the ischiadic notches,
layers of dense, compact bone; and in some, even this, The internal surface of the pelvis consists of two por-
in the iliac fossa, is destroyed entirely, so that the bone tions,—the one above, wide, capacious, and tapering
appears perforated. ' downwards, forming the large pelvis; the other narrower,
The coxal bone is formed originally of three pieces, one with walls nearly cylindrical, and forming a canal named
for the large upper portion (os ilium), a second for the an- the small pelvis.
terior or pubal (os pubis), and a third for the inferior or The large pelvis presents, behind, the sacro-vertebral
ischial (os ischium). In the foetus, infant, and young sub- articulation and the sacral promontory, and on the sides
ject, these three bones are seen quite distinctly separate, the internal iliac fossce. Before, where osseous parietes
but adhering, by means of fibrous or fibro-cartilaginous are wanting, the space is occupied by the abdominal
tissue, along a line drawn by the ilio-pubal eminence muscles. This constitutes the abdominal division of the
through the acetabulum, and over its posterior convexity pelvis, and supports in the erect position part of the ileum
into the ischial notch. At the same time the crest and and colon. Its transverse diameter, measured between
margins of the ilium are covered by a cartilaginous epi- the crests of each iliac bone, amounts to nine inches in the
physis; the pubal bones are mutually attached by the male, and eleven in the female.
same substance ; the branches (rami) of the pubal and The large or abdominal division of the pelvis is bound-
ischial bones are soft and membranous; the thyroid hole ed below by the ilio-pubal line on the sides and front,
is merely a ligamentous notch; and the acetabulum is a and behind by a line drawn between the posterior extre-
broad, irregular, superficial depression, with fibro-cartila- mities of each side, but following the surface of the sa-
ginous margin. The connections of these three bones crum. The outline of this, which is elliptical, with the
continue soft and cartilaginous for several years after birth, transverse diameter longest, and its plane inclined oblique-
generally to the tenth, twelfth, or fourteenth, sometimes ly forwards, is named the superior outlet or aperture (am-
later; and this is the reason why the os innominatum has bitus superior) of the pelvis, and it constitutes at once the
been described as consisting of three bones, the os ilium, lower termination of the great and the upper boundary of
os pubis, and ischium. After the last-mentioned period, the small pelvis. Its importance in the practice of rmd-
however, these bones are firmly consolidated into one wifery renders it necessary to distinguish its calibre, wmcn
• • I • 1.  ..1_ - 1    xl. AM* maM rxl VV-a /aF* n /~v * r« 1 V» 4"V» /A -fV\ VV» r» 1 4"1aOTA 1W 4" Tv O YYV 01 O UltO dlls’1"
piece, in which, nevertheless, the original marks of se- is larger in the female than in the male,
paration may be recognised in the ilio-pubal and post- meters. The first, antero-posterior,. from the pubal sym-
acetabular eminences above, and the meeting of the pubal physis to the sacral promontory, is. from four to five
and ischial rami below. The coxal bone, therefore, which inches in the male, and four inches nine lines in the fe-
thus becomes a single solid piece in the adult, ought tc male. The second, transverse, measured between t e
be always described as such ; and the distinction into three iliac bones, is four inches six lines, sometimes five inches, m
component parts, which is confined to the foetal and early the male, and five inches six lines in the female. wp
period of life, belongs to the history of its ossification. others, drawn obliquely from the sacro-iliac synchondrosis
The coxal bone is united to its fellow' of the opposite to the ileo-pubal eminence, are about four and a halt
side by the symphysis pubis, and behind to the sacrum by inches in the male, and five inches in the female,
the sacro-iliac fibro-cartilage (synchondrosis). Both of The small or proper pelvis, which is below this aperture,
these junctions are occasionally ossified in advanced life, forms a sort of cylindrical osseous canal, more capacious,
sr^r-
ANATOMY.
'69
cm,] however, at its middle than at the extremities, the lower
outlet of which is diminished by the anterior incurvation of
LrvO the sacrum and coccyx, while the sides are bounded by
Ike i^s tjje jschio-pubal branches. Before are the inner surfaces of
the pubal symphysis and branches, corresponding to the
j,,1-1 s urinary bladder ; behind, the pelvic surface of the sacrum,
116 corresponding to the rectum ; laterally, the thyroid holes,
the inner surface of the ischial-bone and ilio-ischial junc¬
tion, and the ischiatic notch, completed by the anterior
and posterior sacro-ischiatic ligaments.
The upper circumference is very irregular, with its
plane slightly inclined forwards ; larger in the female than
in the male. It presents, behind, the sacro-vertebral ar¬
ticulation, bounded by a depression indicating the upper
edge of the sacro-iliac synchondrosis; laterally, the two
iliac crests terminating before in the anterior superior
spinous processes ; before, the hollow of the iliacus inter-
nus and psoas magnus, the ilio-pubal eminence, the hori¬
zontal branch of the pubal bone, its spine, and lastly its
symphysis.
The lower circumference, which corresponds with the
inferior aperture or ano-perineal outlet of the pelvis {am¬
bitus inferior), is directed downwards and backwards.
Bounded behind by the coccygeal bone, and on the sides
by the ischial tuberosities, this outlet is thus distinguished
for three eminences, separated by an equal number of
notches. The situation of these eminences indicates the
limits of the lower pelvic aperture. The size and dispo¬
sition of the notches is inversely to that of the eminences ;
and their arrangement is such that an eminence is oppo¬
site to a notch, and conversely. Thus the anterior notch,
which is formed by the pubal arch, is opposite to the
sacro-coccygeal eminence behind; and though the ischial
tuberosities appear opposite to each other in one sense,
strictly speaking their plane is each accurately opposed to
the opposite sacro-ischial notch. The anterior notch is
terminated above by an acute angle in the male, in con¬
sequence of the proximity of the pubo-ischial branches
which form its sides, but by a rounded arch in the female,
by reason of the separation of these branches on each
side. In this notch are situate the generative organs of
both sexes. The lateral notches, which are bounded be¬
hind by the sacrum and coccyx, before by the spine and
tuberosity of the ischium, are irregular in shape, and are
each subdivided into three portions by the sacro-sciatic
ligaments, which secure the articulation of the sacrum
and coxal bones. The first of these ligaments, the poste¬
rior or external, arising from the posterior extremity of
the iliac crest, from the sides and transverse processes of
the sacrum and coccyx by a broad, firm web of fibres,
becoming small and thick at the middle, again expands,
and is inserted into the ischial tuberosity. This ligament
corresponds behind to the glutoeus maximus, which is part¬
ly attached to it, before and mesially to the small or an¬
terior ligament to which it is united. The small or ante¬
rior sacro-sciatic ligament rises, in common with the large
one, from the transverse processes of the sacrum and coc¬
cyx, and adhering to it for half an inch, passes more ho¬
rizontally outwards to the ischial spine, in which it is im¬
planted by a broad, thick, fibrous web. Behind, it corre¬
sponds at its sacral end, and for an inch from this to the
posterior ligament, and laterally to the pudic vessels and
nerve; before, it serves with the posterior to complete
the lower circumference of the pelvis.
By these two ligaments the ischiadic notch is in this
manner converted into two apertures and a notch. The
first of these is superior, and is bounded above by the ilio-
ischial arch, and below by the small ligament and part of
the posterior or large ligament. Through this hole pass
VOL. II.
thepyriformis, the sciatic nerve and artery, the gluteal ar- Special
tery, and the internal pudic artery. The second is an ir- Anatomy,
regular triangular hole, smaller than the upper one, bound-
ed above by the anterior ligament, below by the posterior1116 p!lvis
one, and laterally by the sinuous hollow between the is-fndTtsdi!
chial spine and tuberosity. Through this aperture the mansions."
tendon of the obturator internus passes out of the pelvis ;
and the external pudic artery and nerve, after bending
round the upper ligament, re-enter the pelvis. The third
space is a superficial notch, bounded on the outer or
lateral side by the posterior ligament, and on the mesial
side by the sacro-coccygeal bone. It is chiefly occupied
by cellular tissue.
The dimensions of this inferior aperture are nearly the
following. The antero-posterior diameter, from the coc¬
cygeal apex to the lower margin of the pubal symphy¬
sis, is 3 inches in the male, and 4 inches 6 lines in the
female. The transverse diameter between the ischial tu¬
berosities of each side is 3 inches 2 lines in the male, and
4 inches in the female. The oblique diameter, measured
from the middle of one of the great sacro-sciatic ligaments
to the opposite ischial tuberosit}', is about 4 inches in the
male, and from 4^ to 5 in the female. Of these diame¬
ters the antero-posterior is most liable to vary, by reason
of the mobility of the os coccygis; but independent of this,
it is always larger in the female than in the male, in con¬
sequence of the sacrum being less incurvated, and de¬
scending more in a straight line. It further appears, that
in females who have born children the incurvation of the
sacrum is much less than in those who have not.
The direction of the pelvis is not horizontal, nor does it
correspond with that of the trunk. Articulated behind with
the lumbar portion of the spinal column, the axis of which
is inclined considerably forward from the vertical plane,
the pelvis partakes of the same inclination. A horizontal
line drawn from the pubis towards the sacrum passes in
general an inch below the tip of the coccyx; and with
this a line drawn from the pelvis to the upper margin of
the sacrum, representing the plane of the pelvis, makes
an angle of between 80° and 85°. The sacrum inclines
from the vertical plane about 35°; but the inclination of
the superior and inferior pelvic apertures varies. An
imaginary line drawn from the tip of the coccyx to the
centre of the small pelvis, to represent the axis, cuts the
line of inclination at an angle of 75°. The most accurate
axis of the pelvis is a line drawn at right angles to the
plane of the pelvis as above found.
The dimensions given above are sufficient to show that
the female pelvis is much more capacious and ample la¬
terally than the male. In the female, indeed, it is im¬
portant to remark that the upper region of the coxal
bones is more prominent laterally, and hence renders the
haunches prominent and rounded, and the outline of the
abdominal aperture more extensive; the sacro-vertebral
angle is less prominent, and the sacrum is broader and
less incurvated; the arch of the pubis is wider and less an¬
gular ; the ischial tuberosities are more apart, and the
cotyloid cavities even are at more distance from each
other,—a circumstance which determines the peculiar gait
of the female. The male pelvis, on the contrary, is
deeper than the female.
In the infant the pelvis is small compared with the size
of other bones, and of the parts which it is to contain.
The dimensions of this part, in early life, are indeed so
limited, that not even the urinary bladder can be said to
be contained within it. As puberty approaches, the dis¬
tinctive characters of the male and female pelvis begin to
appear. While in both sexes the bones become larger
and the cavity more capacious, in the female the addi-
5 E
770
Special
Anatomy.
The head.
ANATOMY.
The fron
tal bone.
tional amplitude appears in the width of the haunches,
and their remarkable projection beyond the flanks.
The Head.
The upper or atlantal extremity of the vertebral column
supports the head, a complicated assemblage of bones, the
general shape of which is spheroidal above and behind,
and irregularly cubical before and below. It is naturally
divided into two parts, which are distinguished by their
mechanism, their use, and the mode of their develope-
ment. The first of these, the scull or cranium (xgav/oi/,
calvaria), forms a spheroidal bony case, occupying the
superior and posterior region chiefly of the head. The
second, which is the face, is formed above by an irregular
pile of bones, articulated immovably to the anterior infe¬
rior part of the scull, and below by a single symmetrical
bone, articulated movably to the middle of the lower part
of the scull.
§ 4. The Scull. (Cranium, Calvaria.)
The scull. The scull consists of eight bones, four of which are
symmetrical and arranged on the mesial plane, and four
arranged in pairs on each side. The four symmetrical
bones are the frontal, the ethmoid, the sphenoid, and the
occipital; the four lateral are the two parietal and two
temporal bones.
The frontal bone {os fronds, os coronce, synciput) is a
symmetrical bone occupying the anterior part of the
scull, and forming the anterior part of the scalp and the
part of the face distinguished as the brow (from). It
may be divided into three surfaces, the external or fron¬
tal, the inferior or orbito-ethmoidal, and the internal or
the cerebral, and a circumference. The external surface
is frontal and temporal.
‘ The frontal surface, which is convex and regularly
arched, presents on the median line a ridge, indicating
the original separation of the bone in two halves, the na¬
sal protuberance, more convex in age than in youth, and
corresponding to the smooth interval between the eye¬
brows (glabella), a serrated margin articulated in the
middle with the nasal bones, on the sides with the ascend¬
ing processes of the superior maxillary bones, and, lastly,
the nasal spine, which supports the nasal bones. (Plate
XXV. fig. 2. n.)
On each side of the median line are the large smooth
surface of the upper part of the frontal bone, the frontal
protuberances (tubera fronds), large in youth, small in
advanced age; the superciliary arch (supercilium), an
irregular convexity extending transversely about an inch
on each side of the mesial line, most prominent v/ithin,
where the corrugator supercilii is fixed; and, lastly, the
orbitar arch, large and prominent at its temporal angle,
smaller and more rounded at its nasal, and presenting
either a hole, or a notch covered by a ligament (c. c.),
and through which pass the frontal artery and nerve. The
nasal end of the orbitar arch, sometimes named the
internal angular process, is insensibly lost in the serrat¬
ed surface, where it joins the superior maxillary bone.
The temporal process, which is prominent, terminates
in a serrated surface, which is articulated with the ma¬
lar bone. Exterior to the frontal protuberance is a curvi¬
linear ridge (d.), which gives attachment to the fascia of
the temporal muscle, denotes the anterior boundary of
the space in which that muscle is lodged, and separates
the proper frontal from the temporal surface of the frontal
bone. This ridge, descending in a circular direction,
terminates in the temporal process at the opposite side to
that of the orbital arch (a. a.) The triangular segment
cut off by it is convex above and concave below.
The orbito-ethmoid surface is irregular. It presents Spe i
first on the median line a quadrilateral notch with serrated AnatU
margins, in which the ethmoid bone is articulated. These
margins consist in adult subjects of two plates, between1^*18 'n
which are seen segments of the frontal and ethmoidalta bc'
sinuses. In the outer of these tables are generally one or
two holes, or notches, which, with the ethmoid bone, form
holes ( foramen orbitarium internum anterius et posterius).
Through the former pass the ethmoidal twig of the nasal
branch of the ophthalmic nerve ; through the latter the
posterior ethmoidal artery and vein. On each side of the
ethmoidal groove is a triangular concave surface, which
forms the vault of the orbit, near the outer margin of
which, and within the external angular process, is a super¬
ficial pit for the lacrymal gland, and towards the nasal
side a depression for the reflected tendon of the superior
oblique muscle.
The internal or cerebral surface, which is concave,
covered by the dura mater, presents on the median line a
groove, the beginning of the sagittal, in which the supe¬
rior longitudinal sinus is lodged, and the margins of which,
converging below, form a crest corresponding to the up¬
per margin of the falx. Below this is the foramen ccecum,
which in the bone communicates with the two canals be¬
longing to the nasal bones, but in the recent state allows
some veins to pass from the nose to the longitudinal
sinus. It is sometimes common to the frontal and eth¬
moid bones. (Plate XXV. fig. 3. c.)
On each side the frontal bone presents the large cavities,
in which are contained the anterior extremities of the
hemispheres of the brain ; and above these the bones rise
in the manner of a vaulted arch. The whole inner sur¬
face is moulded into alternate pits and eminences, called
digital and mammillary respectively, and which corre¬
spond to the eminences and depressions of the cerebral
convolutions. These are most conspicuous at the lower
part, where the surface is traversed by minute vascular
grooves.
The circumference of the bone is serrated all round, for
articulation with the contiguous bones. The posterior
margin is nearly of an elliptical outline, straight, and in¬
terrupted below by the quadrilateral notch. Above, where
the frontal is articulated with the parietal bones, the ser¬
rated processes proceeding from the outer table are
largest and longest. Below, where the frontal is articu¬
lated with the lower angle of the parietal and wing of the
sphenoid bone, the internal table is most prominent, so
that the spheno-parietal suture is imbricated. Between
the temporal and orbitar fossae this separation of the tables
forms a triangular rough surface, which is articulated with
a similar one, the triarcual surface of the sphenoid bone;
and between this and the quadrilateral notch the margin
is articulated in the same manner with the anterior mar¬
gin of the sphenoid bone. Lastly, the serrated and ce-
lular margins of the quadrilateral notch are connected
with the ethmoid bone. . ,
Besides these cranial bones, the frontal is articulated
with the following bones of the face,—the nasal bones y
the middle of the nasal suture, the superior maxillary
bones by its sides, the lacrymal bones by the anterior
end of the ethmoidal groove, and with the malar bones
by the external angular processes.
The frontal bone, which is thick at the nasal protube¬
rance and the external processes, and thin at the ^b1 r
regions, is ossified by two points, which, appearing at re
frontal protuberances, proceed by radiation as from ^cen¬
tre towards the circumference of the bone. In the u
and early infancy the bone thus consists of two a er
portions placed between the pericranium and dura mater,
ANATOMY. 771
gpejil with a longitudinal interval on the mesial plane, r trans-
Anatiiy- verse one on the site of the coronal suture, and a trian-
y" "Aguiar chasm at the angle between the two. This chasm,
n*6';11- with a similar one between the frontal bones, forms a
quadrilateral lozenge-shaped space, at which the motion
of the brain is distinctly felt both at birth and for months
after, and which is therefore named the fontanelle, or the
anterior fontanelle (fons pulsatilis ; bregma), or the open of
the head. As the ossific process advances, the lateral
margins of the bone extend, and the mesial margins ex¬
tending mutually, at length coalesce, first at the nasal
protuberance and along the forehead, afterwards above, un¬
til the fontanelle is progressively diminished and at length
obliterated. This junction is effected by the formation
of serrated processes, which are mutually dove-tailed into
each other; and for some years after birth the frontal
bone consists of two similar halves articulated by a middle
suture. In some few instances, especially in the female,
this continues for many years; and the individual is
found after death to have the frontal bone in two halves,
with a middle suture. More frequently, however, the
suture is obliterated by the consolidation of its serrated
margins, and the frontal bone consists of one piece. The
points of ossification remain long distinct in the form of
the frontal protuberances. But eventually, from the uni¬
form elevation of the margins of the bone, they become
less conspicuous ; and in old age they disappear more or
less completely, leaving a surface uniformly uneven.
The i- The ethmoid or sieve-like bone (ps cribriforme), which
“tone, ib symmetrical, and occupies the quadrilateral notch
of the frontal bone, consists of several bony plates ar¬
ranged at right angles, and parallel with each other, so
as to give the whole a cubical shape. It consists of four
parts, a horizontal plate, occupying both sides of the
mesial plane; a vertical plate at right angles to it, and
corresponding with the mesial plane; and a lateral plate
on each side, also vertical and parallel to the middle plate.
In the bone thus formed the following circumstances de¬
serve attention. (Fig. 5.)
The superior surface, cerebral, covered by dura mater,
is formed by the horizontal plate, perforated by numerous
holes {lamina cribrosa), through which pass the fibrils of
the olfacient or first pair of nerves depressed longitu¬
dinally on each side, but surmounted in the middle to¬
wards its anterior half by a strong process of a triangular
shape, named the cock’s comb {crista galli), and to which
is attached the anterior inferior extremity of the falx, or
dichotomous membrane. The anterior margin of this
process is generally marked by a groove which, with that
of the frontal bone, forms a passage for the nasal vein into
the longitudinal sinus. The posterior margin of the per¬
forated plate is marked by an angular notch between two
horns, for articulation with a salient angle of the sphenoid
bone. The crista galli may be regarded as the upper di¬
vision of the vertical plate, which occupies the mesial
plane, and which is thick and sometimes bifid before, but
thin and rough behind, where it acts as a partition to the
lateral halves of the ethmoidal cavities. The sides of this
middle vertical plate are furrowed by minute canals {ca-
naliculi), traced from the foramina above, in which the
nervous fibres are lodged. This plate, and indeed the
lower surface of the perforated plate, are covered by a
fibro-mucous membrane, which has been named the pitui¬
tary or the Schneiderian. The vertical ethmoid plate is
articulated at its lower margin with the vomer and the tri¬
angular cartilage of the nose, before with the nasal spine
of the frontal bone, and behind with the median crest
{processus azygos) of the sphenoid bone.
The lateral portions of the ethmoid bone consist exter¬
nally of a smooth flat bone {os planum of the ancients), Special
which forms the inner or nasal wall of the orbit, internal- Anatomy,
ly of two bones convoluted on themselves, and which are)^^^*^
distinguished as the superior and middle turbinated bones Tllf1e]th'
{conchce, ossa turbinata superiora et media, ossa spongi-mul one‘
osa). These bones are seen most distinctly behind; but
to form a correct notion of their figure, it is requisite to
detach the lateral portions and examine them separately,
when the following peculiarities may be recognised. The
ossa plana on each side terminate in concave oblong
quadrilateral plates, diverging outwards from the vertical
plane. At the internal edge of these quadrilateral plates
is seen above a convex bone, with numerous minute per¬
forations, the orifices of short canals. This is the su¬
perior turbinated or spongy bone. Below, and a little to
the external side, is a small groove, separated by a thin
plate from a larger cavity, which is the superior meatus,
leading into the posterior ethmoid cells. Below this,
again, is the osseous plate, with perforated edges turned
on itself from within outwards, so that its convex side is
towards its fellow, and its concavity is below and laterally,
and separated by another thin plate from the lower mar¬
gin of the ossa plana. This is the middle turbinated
bone, the longitudinal cavity of which communicates with
the lower or nasal surface of the bone, and is bounded on
its outer margin by the lower margins of the ossa plana,
where they are articulated with the inner margin of the
orbitar plate of the maxillary bone. The anterior defi¬
ciency of the ossa plana is occupied by the lacrymal
bones.
The internal surface of these bones generally is cover¬
ed by a thin fibro-mucous membrane, partaking of the
characters of periosteum at its attached, and of mucous
membrane at its free surface.
The ethmoid is articulated with the frontal bone, the
sphenoid, the superior maxillary bones, the nasal, the
lacrymal, the palate bones, the inferior turbinated bones,
and the vomer, at the parts already indicated.
In structure the component plates are compact, unless
at the crista galli, which contains some cancellated tissue,
and the middle and superior turbinated bones, which seem
less dense than the horizontal plate.
The ethmoid bone consists in the fcetus of loose, soft,
brown-coloured substance, contained in a thick vascular
membrane, and disposed in the cubical shape, but with¬
out the complicated arrangement of convoluted plates by
which it is afterwards distinguished. Into this the ner¬
vous fibrils penetrate, and are observed to be ramified.
This continues at least four or five months after birth,
when these fibrils become surrounded with compact bone
deposited in their interstices, and in this manner the per¬
forated plate is formed by deposition round the nerves.
About the same time, on the mesial plane is observed a
vertical plate, which gradually becomes condensed into
solid bone, in the shape of the crista galli and middle par¬
tition. Soon after, as the bone increases in size, excava¬
tions are formed, and the soft uniform substance is remov¬
ed, while plates of thin but solid bone interposed between
thick vascular membranes are observed to be formed.
The plates, which are slightly convoluted, become'thinner
and more solid, and are at length moulded into the supe¬
rior and middle turbinated bones. The ethmoid is gene¬
rally complete about eighteen months after birth; and
about the second year its different component parts may be
recognised. The holes of the perforated plate are, how¬
ever, larger and more numerous at this age than after¬
wards. The minute grooves {canaliculi,) described by Scar¬
pa, in the lateral portions, are also more distinct and larger
than subsequently. It ossifies therefore in four points;
ANATOMY.
772
Special one for the horizontal plate, one for the vertical, and one
Anatomy, for each lateral mass.
The sphenoid, wedge-like or cuneiform bone (os cunei-
miid boi'ie f0rme'’. os sphenoides, —a symmetrical bone, of a
noi wne. very j1TegU]ar an(j complicated shape, wedged as it were
between the bones of the scull, may be distinguished into
cerebral or superior, and anterior-inferior or external sur¬
faces. By the ancient anatomists it was compared to a
bat with the wings expanded, and is by them distinguish¬
ed into a body and wings, great and small. (Fig. 4.)
The cerebral surface, covered by the dura mater, is su¬
perior, and forms part of the internal base of the scull.
It may be distinguished into four parts; the middle, the
upper anterior, and two lateral. The middle consists of
a smooth surface, on which lie the olfacient or first pair;
a transverse groove for the commissure of the optic nerves ;
a transverse eminence named the olivary (processus oliva-
riss); a deep quadrilateral pit in which is contained the
pituitary gland, named the Turkish saddle (sella Tur¬
cica, ephippium, fossa pituitaria), with a slight groove on
each side for the transit of the sixth pair of nerves, and
bounded behind by an elevated eminence, with two pro¬
cesses, named the posterior clinoid or couch-like process¬
es. The sides of the sella Turcica, especially before and.
behind, present generally a pit, in which is lodged part of
the carotid artery. The anterior serrated margin of this
surface is articulated with the ethmoid bone; the poste¬
rior with the cuneiform process of the occipital bone.
The upper anterior portions consist of two triangular
spaces, united to the middle by their base. This surface,
which corresponds to the anterior lobes, is bounded before
by a serrated margin articulated with the frontal bone,
behind by a smooth curved margin, which corresponds to
the Sylvian fissure, and marks the separation of the ante¬
rior and posterior cerebral lobes. This arch, which may
be named the sphenoidal, terminates before in a sharp
process, named the ensiform, articulated with the frontal
bone, and behind in a similar though smooth process
named the anterior clinoid. Anterior to this, and between
it and the olivary process, is the optic hole (foramen op-
ticum), for the transmission of the optic nerves on each
side. Behind this hole, and on each side of the olivary
process, is the groove in which the internal carotid is lodg¬
ed. The triangular surfaces now described are commonly
named the small wings (alee minores sive superiores), or
the wings of Ingrassias. (Fig. 4, a, a.)
The lateral surfaces are concave, marked with cerebral
depressions and vascular grooves, four-sided, low behind,
but rising to an angular peak before, and are commonly
named the large wings (alee majores, alee mediae, Soemm.)
(A, A.) From the small wing of Ingrassias it is separated
by a longitudinal fissure, extending obliquely from the sides
of the sella Turcica upwards and laterally. Through this
opening, which is large below and narrow above, and is va¬
riously named the superior orbitar fissure, the sphenoidal
fissure (foramen lacerum superius etanterius, 1,1), pass the
third pair or oculo-muscular nerves, the fourth or pathetic,
the first or ophthalmic branch of the fifth, and the sixth
or abductor nerves, the optic vein, and a branch of the
lacrymal artery. Behind, and a little to the outside of the
sphenoidal fissure, is the round or superior maxillary hole
(foramen rotundum, r, r), for the transmission of the second
or superior maxillary branch of the fifth pair; and still more
posterior and laterally the elliptical hole (foramen ovale'),
for the transmission of the third or inferior maxillary
branch of the fifth pair. This part of the large wing ter¬
minates behind in an angular process named the spinous,
articulated with the petrous portion of the temporal bone,
and in which is seen the spinous hole (foramen spinosum),
through which a branch of the external carotid, the middle Sjk a
meningeal artery (arteria duree matris media, maxima), Anal
enters the cranium to be distributed on the dura mater.
The lateral surfaces terminate before in an elevated re-^e
curved peak, surmounted by a triangular surface mostlynoul
serrated, but smooth behind, articulated with a similar
surface of the frontal bone ; laterally in a concave serrated
margin articulated with the convex serrated margin of
the temporal bone; and behind in a smooth margin, which,
with a similar one of the pyramidal portion of the tempo¬
ral bone, forms the anterior fissure of the base of the
cranium (foramen lacerum enteritis in hasi cranii.)
The anterior inferior surface presents several distinct
regions. On the mesial plane, at right angles to the ser¬
rated margin, is a vertical crest or spine, which terminates
below in a process denominated therefore the azygos or
rostrum, (a.) The upper crest is articulated with the ver¬
tical plate of the ethmoid bone, the lower with the fissure
of the vomer. On each side the bone is convex, from the
swelling of the sphenoidal sinuses, into which may be seen
a small opening, which, however, is nearly closed by an
osseous plate, variable in shape, named by Bertin the
sphenoidal turbinated bone. The interior of the sinuses
is parted into two halves by a middle plate, corresponding
to the external crest. On each side of this middle portion
is the outer surface of the small wings, forming part of
the orbit penetrated by the optic hole, to the circum¬
ference of which are attached the levator palpehrce stiperi-
oris and levator oculi above, the depressor oculi below, the
adductor within, the abductor without, and the superiorobli-
que (trochlearis) between the two last. Between the mar¬
gins of the small and great wings is the outer orifice of
the sphenoidal fissure ; and on the other side of this is the
orbitar surface, hollow, bounded above by the serrated
margin of the triangular area, without by that of the
malar process, and below by a smooth ridge, which, with
the posterior one of the superior maxillary bone, forms the
spheno-maxillary fissure. Immediately between this is
the external orifice of the superior maxillary hole. Ex¬
ternal to the malar serrated edge is the zygomato-tempo-
ral surface, hollow, inclosed within three curvilinear serrat¬
ed margins and two rounded ones, and parted into two por¬
tions, the temporal and zygomatic, by an elevated ridge,
to which are attached aponeurotic slips of the temporal
muscle. Below this transverse crest is a concave surface,
lost in the external pterygoid process, and forming part
of the zygomatic fossa, terminating, like the similar part
of the large wing, in the spinous process, and presenting
first the elliptical, and then the spinous hole.
The rest of the outer surface of the sphenoid bone
terminates in two prominent bony plates, the one exter¬
nal, thin, and flat, the other internal, thicker, and more
pointed, named the pterygoid or wing-like. These pro¬
cesses rise almost at right angles to the plane of the
posterior part of the lateral wings by a thick prismatic
piece of bone, common at first to both. Soon, however, they
become distinct, especially behind. The external plate,
which is thin, broad, and sharp, rises from the lateral por¬
tion between the round and oval hole, and, with its plane
turned obliquely outwards, terminates in an end round
below and before, sharp behind, (b, b.) To the outside oi
this plate, which is irregularly rough, with part of the zygo*
matic fossa, is attached the external pterygoid muscle. Ihe
inside of the external plate is concave, and forms, with the
internal, part of the pterygoid fossa, in which are lodged
the internal pterygoid muscle and the external peristaphy-
linus. The internal pterygoid process, rising on the inside,
narrower and more curved, terminates in a bent point nam¬
ed the unciform or hook-like process (c, c), over wdiich m a
ANATOMY.
Sj-ial peculiar groove moves the tendon of the external peristaphy-
jafny- linus. The base of the external process generally presents
longitudinal superficial depression named the navicular.
Hit ihe- Between the external and internal is left a triangular space,
6”,ne' which is completed by the pyramidal portion of the palate
bone. The base of the internal pterygoid process is pene¬
trated by the Vidian canal (canalis Vidianus), larger be¬
fore than behind, through which is reflected the posterior
twig of the spheno-palatine ganglion, sometimes named
the Vidian nerve (Plate X. fig. 2), to join the sixth at its
connection with the great sympathetic, with some blood¬
vessels.
The posterior part of the body of the sphenoid bone
presents a quadrilateral surface of some extent, rough,
cartilaginous, and sometimes excavated into small cells,
for articulations with the cuneiform or basilar process of
the occipital bone. In the young subject this surface is
soft and cartilaginous; but as age advances it becomes
more solid, and is at length inseparably ossified with the
occipital bone. From this circumstance Soemmering de¬
scribes the sphenoid and occipital as one bone, under the
name of spheno-occipital; a method in which he has been
followed by Meckel. The bone, however, is so compli¬
cated in shape and the arrangement of its parts, that it is
perhaps more intelligible to describe it separately.
The sphenoid bone is articulated with all the bones of
the scull at the points already indicated, and with the
following bones of the face—the malar, the palate bones,
and the vomer, sometimes with the superior maxillary.
It consists, when fully formed, chiefly of compact bone;
for the plates even of its cells, though thin, are compact
and firm bone, and its general density is considerable.
In the foetus the sphenoid bone, after remaining carti¬
laginous till the third month, begins to ossify in the lateral
portion, near the roots of the pterygoid processes. Two
other points of ossification appear on the large wings, and,
coalescing with those already formed, constitute a single
mass on each side for each lateral portion. About the
same time the body in the sella Turcica begins to be
formed ; and shortly after the small wings are formed se¬
parately, and coalesce, first with each other, and then with
the body. In the fifth month the. bone has the same
figure which it retains through life, but the extremities
of the wings are soft and cartilaginous; the body of the
bone is uniform, loose, bony matter ; the holes are large and
imperfect; the optic hole is triangular; the inferior maxil¬
lary hole and the spinous are incomplete behind—some¬
times the latter is not formed; and the Vidian canal is a
mere fissure between the base of the external and internal
pterygoid processes. The bone at this time consists of
five portions, one for each small wing, one for each large
wing, and one for the body of the bone. At the period of
birth, though these parts are still separable, in general the
small wings become united with the body, and the bone
thus consists of three pieces. Eventually, by the union
of the two large wings with the sides of the body, the
bone is consolidated into one portion, the optic foramen is
rounded, the oval hole completed, and the Vidian fissure
is at the same time converted into a canal. In this state
the sphenoid continues for several years, growing in every
direction, and diminishing the size of its several apertures ;
till, about the age of puberty, the body becomes excavat¬
ed into two lateral cavities with compact walls, separated
by middle partitions. These are the sphenoidal sinuses,
the formation of which is generally simultaneous with the
t completion of the bone in all its parts.
LJfpi- The occipital bone (ps occipitis, os prorce), symmetri-
| " cal, of a rhomboidal or trapezoidal shape, placed on the
median line, occupying the posterior inferior region of the
scull, may be distinguished into three parts, the occipital Special
bone proper, the condyloid processes, and its cuneiform or Anatomy,
basilar process. It presents two surfaces, an external or
occipital, and an internal or cerebral. The occi-
The external surface is convex and smooth above thepital bone*
middle, where it is covered by pericranium and the tendi¬
nous fascia of the occipito-frontal muscle. Nearly in the
middle the bone is elevated into an irregularly triangular
eminence named the occipital protuberance (tuber occipi¬
tis), the size and shape of which vary according to the
energy of the muscles connected with the strong fibrous
fascia named the cervical ligament. When most strongly
marked, the apex of the protuberance to which the trape¬
zius, by means of the ligament now mentioned, is fixed, is
prominent downwards, and occasionally incurvated or
unciform. From this prominence a line may be traced,
obscurely at first, distinctly below, descending to the great
aperture (foramen magnum), for the transmission of the
spinal chord. To this ridge or crest (crista occipitis),
which is not always exactly in the middle, a fibrous fascia
of great strength is attached, from the protuberance to the
aperture, giving support and attachment to the muscles
on each side, and named the posterior cervical ligament
(ligamentum cervicis, ligamentum nuchce). On each side
of this ridge the surface is marked by various irregulari¬
ties, the effect of muscular impressions.
A semicircular ridge, extending from the protuberance
on each side to the margins, where it joins a similar
ridge on the temporal bone, and named the superior semi¬
circular, gives attachment above to the occipital part of
the epicranius, the lateral parts of the trapezius below,
and at its marginal end to that of the sterno-mastoid.
When the crest begins to be distinct, a similar ridge pro¬
ceeds in a semicircular direction to the margins of the
bone, where it becomes more elevated, and occasionally
changes its direction by a slight bend downwards and for¬
wards. To the space between these two lines, which is
rough and irregular, the complexus, and part of the rectus
capitis posticus major, are attached within, and the sple-
nius capitis without; while the rectus capitis posticus ma¬
jor and minor, and the obliquus capitis superior, are in¬
serted by a strong fascia into the superior semicircular
line. (Plate XXIV. fig. 6.)
The lower region of the bone presents the verte¬
bral aperture, generally oval, with the large diameter an-
tero-posterior, sometimes circular, occasionally rhomboidal
or lozenge-shaped. At its anterior half are the condyloid
processes, tipped with cartilage and synovial membrane,
elliptical in shape, converging forwards, and parted by a
sinuosity in the posterior part of the cuneiform process.
By this opening the spinal chord with its membranes, and
the spinal nerves, pass outwards, and the vertebral arteries
enter the cranium. The posterior extremity of the condy¬
loid processes is bounded by a depression, containing
generally a small hole, sometimes two, for the transit of
vessels not constant; externally is a rough surface, for the
attachment of the rectus capitis lateralis ; and above is
the anterior condyloid hole, for the transmission of the
twelfth cerebral or hypoglossal nerve.
The portion of bone anterior to the great aperture is
the cuneiform process, the outer surface of which is de¬
pressed behind for the insertion of the recti capitis interni
majores and minores ; but smooth before, where it is co¬
vered by the mucous membrane of the pharynx.
The internal or cerebral surface, which is concave, is
divided more or less regularly into four compartments, in
the following manner. From the apex descends a groove
nearly in the median line, though generally inclining a
little to the right, to near the middle between the apex
774
ANATOMY.
Special and upper margin of the great aperture, where it makes a
Anatomy, rectangular turn to the right, leaving in the middle an
eievated eminence, on the other side of which a simi-
rhe occi- jar groove? though always smaller, proceeds to the op-
pua one. pOSjf.e margin of the bone, while from the same point
descends an elevated ridge, more or less acuminated, to
within half an inch of the great aperture. 1 his arrange¬
ment produces in the inner surface of the occipital bone
a cruciform appearance, which is occasionally named the
spina crwiata, while the compartments are distinguished
as superior and inferior right and left occipital fossce.
The rectangular groove, which is the continuation of the
sagittal, formed in the inner surface of the parietal bones,
contains first the lower part of the superior longitudinal
sinus, then the lateral sinus, the plates of the dura mater
being fixed to the lateral ridges on each side. The groove
on the left side contains the left lateral sinus; and to the
central tubercle and ridge the falx of the cerebellum is at¬
tached. In the two upper compartments, which are much
marked by cerebral eminences and depressions, the pos¬
terior cerebral lobes are lodged, while the cerebellic lobes
are contained in the inferior compartments. (Fig. 7.)
On each side of the large aperture is seen a short seg¬
ment of a broad circular furrow, which terminates on the
margin of the bone in a smooth sinuous depression. The
first part is the termination of the lateral groove, contain¬
ing the end of the lateral sinus; the second, the sigmoid
notch, forms, with a similar one on the temporal bone, the
jugular hole {foramen lacerum posterius in basi cranii, fora¬
men jugulare, incisura jugularis), for the commencement of
the jugular vein, the glosso-pharyngeal nerve, the nervus
vagus, and the accessory nerve. Occasionally there is a
proper notch for the nervus vagus in the anterior part, and
occasionally one for the glosso-pharyngeal.
Anterior to the large aperture is the inner surface of
the cuneiform process, concave transversely for lodging
the medulla oblongata before it quits the cavity of the cra¬
nium {fossa basilaris), marked by a groove at the sides
for the inferior petrous sinuses, and terminating abruptly
in a broad quadrilateral surface incrusted with cartilage,
for articulation with the posterior part of the sphenoid
bone.
The margins of the occipital bone posterior to the in¬
ferior lateral groove are serrated for articulation by su¬
ture with the parietal and temporal bones. The upper
margins form a salient angle, nearly rectangular, for articu¬
lation with the re-entrant angle formed by the two pa¬
rietal bones. The sides of this angle, however, vary in
direction from the presence or absence of Wormian bones
{ossa Wormiana, triquetrd). Another salient angle, but al¬
ways obtuse, is formed opposite the superior lateral grooves,
for articulation with the re-entrant angle formed by the
parietal and temporal bones ot each side. A third angle
is formed by the jugular eminence, an elevated process
placed between the inferior lateral groove and the jugular
notch, and which is tipped with cartilage for articulation
A with a corresponding surface of the pyramidal portion of
i •; the temporal bone. Anterior to the jugular notch the
margin of the bone is smooth, but articulates by fibro-
cartilage with the posterior surface of the temporal pyra¬
mid, leaving a small space unarticulated between the an¬
terior extremities of both bones, which form a common
aperture.
The occipital bone is thick along the crucial spine, the
tubercles, and at the condyloid process; but thin in the
centre of the four occipital fossae, at which the external
and internal tables are united with little or no diploe, and
are not unfrequently translucent. The cuneiform process
is cancellated.
In the fcetus it consists of four pieces, one for the occi- Spec
pital bone proper, one for each condyloid portion, and one Anatc
for the basilar process. The ossification of the occipital
portion commences near its middle, corresponding to
point above the occipital protuberance, and extends by a
radiating fibres all round to the margins of the bone. At
this time the occipital portion has the shape of a cardium;
and the apex not being formed, a space is left through
which the brain is felt pulsating, named the posterior fon-
tanelle. About the same time ossification appears in two
quadrilateral portions on each side of the large aperture,
and in an oblong parallelogram anterior to it. Though
these enlarge and approach each other, at the period of
birth the apex is still incomplete, and the posterior fonta-
nelle is open; and even at the inferior angles of the oc¬
cipital portion, where it joins the condyloid portions, a
space of the same kind is left on each side. After birth,
as ossification advances rapidly, the apex of the occipital
portion is gradually enlarged, the Wormian bones on each
side are formed, and the condyloid and basilar portions
uniting with the occipital, the bone is consolidated about
the third or fourth year. The traces of the lines of union
may sometimes be recognised so late as the seventh year.
The occipital bone is articulated immovably by its mar¬
gins with the sphenoid bone, the two parietal, and the two
temporal bones ; movably by its condyles with the atlas.
It is also connected with the second vertebra by means
of a ligament, which passes from the odontoid process to
the inner margins of the condyloid processes.
The parietal bones {ossa verticis, ossa bregmatis, ossa The p
parietalia), two bones united with each other on thetalbo;
mesial line, are quadrilateral, quadrangular, convex exter¬
nally, concave internally, occupying the upper, middle,
and lateral parts of the cranium. (Plate XXVI. fig. 4i
and 5.)
The external convex surface, which is covered by
the epicranius above and temporal muscle below, pre¬
sents above and behind a hole for an artery and vein, va¬
riable however in position and existence; in the middle
the parietal eminence, prominent in youth, indistinct in
advanced age ; and somewhere between its middle and
lower margin a curvilinear ridge, the continuation of that
on the frontal bone, and terminating near the lower angle
of the parietal for the attachment of the temporal fascia,
below which the bone is covered by the temporal muscle.
The internal concave surface, lined by the dura mater,
is marked by digital eminences and depressions corre¬
sponding to those of the cerebral convolutions. The su¬
perior edge is marked by a half-groove, which, with that of
the opposite bone, constitutes the sagittal for lodging the
superior longitudinal sinus ; within this, depressions more
or less deep, corresponding to the granules of Pacchioni;
towards the centre the parietal pit, corresponding to the
eminence of the external surface ; and ascending from the
inferior anterior angle arborescent grooves, in which the
large meningeal artery is lodged, (m, m.) Parts of these
grooves are occasionally converted into canals by the
growth of bone over their margins.
The parietal bone is bounded by four margins. By the
superior, which is serrated, it unites on the mesial plane
with the opposite bone, forming the sagittal suture; by
the anterior or coronal, also serrated, it is articulated firm¬
ly with the frontal bone, forming the coronal suture ; and
the posterior, also serrated, forms with the posterior mar¬
gin of the corresponding bone a re-entrant angle, in which
the occipital, occasionally with Wormian bones, is articu¬
lated. The lower margin alone, which is a concave cur¬
vature, is obliquely acuminated before, acuminated an
serrated in the middle for imbrication with the tempora
ANATOMY.
775
rhe»ne
jiblas.
Tlie n-
pota i mes.
bone, and serrated behind for articulation with the upper
margin of the mastoid process.
These margins form by union four angles, an anterior
and posterior superior, and an anterior and posterior infe¬
rior, of which the most important is the anterior inferior,
by reason of its presenting the origin of the meningeal
groove on its internal surface. The parietal bone, consist¬
ing of an external and internal table, with interposed di~
ploe, is thin, especially below its middle; and the diploe is
small, and in some points obliterated. It is ossified from
one point, commencing at the protuberance, and radiating
all round to the margins. Previous, and some time subse¬
quent to birth, its mesial margin and anterior and supe¬
rior angle are not formed; and the brain is here covered by
dura mater, pericranium, and integuments only, forming,
as already mentioned, the bregma, or anterior fontanelle.
By the completion of the bones, however, the margins
and angles meet, and the fontanelle is closed. This is
generally effected in the course of the second year.
The temporal bones {ossa temporum), rather irregular
■ in shape, are placed on each side at the lateral and infe¬
rior parts of the cranium.
Each bone presents an external or auricular surface,
an internal or cerebral, and a circumference.
The external or auricular surface presents, above and
before, a large convex surface, part of the temporal fossa
lodging part of the temporal muscle; before, the zygomatic
process, long, pointed, and terminating in a serrated ex¬
tremity, where it is united with the malar bone to form
the zrjgoma (fig. 2, z), to the upper surface of which the
temporal fascia is attached, to the lower the masseter mus¬
cle ; behind, a flat surface of an irregularly rounded shape,
terminating before in the mastoid process {processus mam-
millaris, mastoideus, m), and behind in a serrated margin,
which unites with the occipital bone. Between the mas¬
toid process and the serrated margin behind is a rough
surface for the splenius, small complexus, and sterno-mas-
toid ; and below is a pit, in which the origin of the digas¬
tric muscle {biventer maxillae) is lodged.
The zygomatic process is connected to the temporal
bone by two roots, one of wdiich, anterior, inferior, and
transverse {processus transversus), forms the anterior brim
of the glenoid or articular cavity, in which the condyle of
the inferior jaw is lodged; the other, superior and poste¬
rior, forms first the external and then the posterior brim of
the same cavity. Behind this posterior brim is an irregu¬
lar fissure termed the glenoid {Jissura Glasseri), which in¬
dicates the original line of separation between the superior
or squamous and the inferior or pyramidal portion of the
bone, and through which pass the tendon of the anterior
muscle of the malleus, some vessels, and a nervous twig
named chorda tympani.
In the angle between the mastoid and zygomatic process
is an elliptical opening from five to six lines in diameter,
leading into a cylindrical cavity, the direction of which is
obliquely forwards. This orifice, which is the external ear-
hole {^meatus externus, o), leads into the tympanal cavity,
from wdiich it is separated, in the recent subject, by a thin
membrane only {membrana tympani). The three lower
thirds of this orifice are formed by a distinct bony ring,
which is rough, and perforated by holes for the insertion
of the cartilages of the external ear. On the outside of
the lower part of this bony ring is a strong process, vary¬
ing from half an inch to 12 lines in length, nearly round,
but terminating in a sharp point, and therefore, from its
resemblance to the style of the ancients, named the sty¬
loid process. (tf.) Behind its base, and between it and the
mastoid process, is a small hole, the stylo-mastoid, for the
exit of the facial nerve. (Plate XXVI. fig. 2.)
The inner or cerebral surface, marked by cerebral im- Special
pressions and arterial furrows, is distinguished particu- Anatomy,
larly by a pyramidal eminence of bone rising obliquely
from it, and a deep sinuous groove, making part of the The‘em-
lateral, in which is lodged part of the lateral sinus. poral bones.
The pyramidal portion {pyramis, fig. 3, p), named also
the petrous {pars petrosa), from its hardness in several of
the lower animals, may be distinguished as a truncated py¬
ramid, bounded by four planes, one of which, the external,
has been already described. Of the other three, one su¬
perior, marked by cerebral impressions, presents a semi¬
lunar depression for the Gasserian or trigeminal ganglion,
the upper orifice of the carotic canal, a slight furrow, the
extremity of the opening through which a branch of the
Vidian nerve passes, and an eminence which indicates the
situation of the superior semicircular canal. Another poste¬
rior, separated from the last by a sharp margin, traversed
anteriorly by the groove of the superior petrous sinus,
presents, first, an eminence indicating the posterior semi¬
circular canal; and, secondly, an orifice, the internal audi¬
tory hole {meatus internus), parted by a septum into an up¬
per orifice communicating with the Fallopian aqueduct for
the facial nerve, and a lower pit containing minute holes
communicating with the labyrinth, and transmitting the
filaments of the eighth or auditory nerve.
The lower or third plane surface of the pyramidal process,
which is external and connected with the occipital bone,
presents, first, at the lower end of the external depression
a cartilaginous, rough surface, where it adheres to that
bone; then a large sinuous cavity, the jugular notch, form¬
ing, with that on the occipital bone, the hole for the exit
of the jugular vein, often separated by a bony process into
two, the first of which is for the nervus vagus, the second
for the jugular vein ; a sharp ridge {processus vaginalis) at
the base of the styloid process, separating the jugular
notch from the glenoid cavity; a circular hole, the exter¬
nal orifice of the carotic canal {canalis caroticus), for the
entrance of the internal carotid and the exit of the sixth
nerve; a small hole terminating the aqueduct of the coch¬
lea ; and, lastly, a rough surface for the attachment of the
internal peristaphylinus, and the external muscle of the
malleus. At the line of junction between this plane and
the posterior is generally seen part of the groove for the
inferior petrous sinus. (Plate XXVI. fig. 3.)
The circumference is united behind by a serrated mar¬
gin with the occipital bone; above by a margin, partly ser¬
rated, partly imbricated, with the parietal bone and poste¬
rior part of the large wing of the sphenoid; and before
and below by a serrated margin with the lower part of
the same wing. This part, named generally the squamous,
forms with the pyramid a re-entrant angle, in which is
received the spinous process of the sphenoid bone; and
close beside which is the orifice of the Eustachian tube
{iter a palato ad aurem), the canal which leads from the
throat to the tympanal cavity. The truncated extremity
of the pyramid, which is received by the re-entrant
angle formed by the sphenoid and occipital bones,^ pre¬
sents the upper opening of the carotic canal, which is im¬
perfect above, and in the recent body is completed by the
dura mater.
The temporal bone is thin before and above, where it
consists of two tables with intermediate diploe. The
mastoid process in the adult consists of numerous com¬
municating cells, lined by very delicate periosteal mucous
membrane, continued from the tympanal cavity, with which
they communicate. The pyramidal portion is compact 9
and hard, and contains with other parts the labyrinth or
internal ear.
Nothing is more interesting than the developement ot
776
ANATOMY.
Special the temporal bone. It is ossified in three portions,—the
Anatomy, large, flat, or squamous ; the tympanal ring; the pyramidal,
ThTtem**^mastoid, and the styloid process,
poral bones. ^ an earty period the pyramidal portion is perfectly
formed round the several soft parts, and though porous
and spongy, dense bone is seen in the site of the semi¬
circular canals. The different orifices are large and dis¬
tinct. The tympanal cavity, however, is quite incom¬
plete ; and though the carotic canal is formed, the Eusta¬
chian tube is in the shape of a mere groove. The size of
the pyramid is greater than subsequently in proportion;
and the part behind the open tympanal cavity, which is
bulky, is to constitute the mastoid process, which however
is still a shapeless mass. The squamous portion is thin
and almost scaly at birth, with the zygomatic process
well marked, and a ring of bone, incomplete at the upper
margin, attached to its inferior and posterior part. By
this, which afterwards constitutes the ring of the external
ear-hole, it is fixed to the pyramidal portion in such man¬
ner that the part behind the ring is rather larger and
longer than the part before ; and the pyramid, instead of
projecting, as afterwards, is short and thick. At this
period also the flat portion uniting with the occipital
bone is not formed, and there is therefore an opening or
fontanelle at this point of the cranium. Soon, however,
the squamous becomes united with the pyramidal portion;
the tympanal ring is fixed to both; the Eustachian tube is
completed; and, at the posterior end of the pyramid, bone
is deposited and extended in a tabular layer of some
thickness. The mastoid process, however, cannot be re¬
cognised; and it is only some years after birth (about
seven) that a small oblong elevation begins to be visible
behind the posterior limb of the auditory ring. If at this
time the process is divided, cells of the kind afterwards seen
in this part are not distinct; but as its enlargement pro¬
ceeds, cells begin to be formed about the same time, and
at the same rate, as the frontal, ethmoidal, and sphenoidal
cells are formed. The figure of the bone also is altered,
in consequence of the change which the component parts
undergo in relation to each other. The squamous portion
expands, the anterior part of the pyramidal portion is
elongated and tapers, the posterior and the mastoid parts
enlarge, and at a later period the styloid process begins to
appear amidst the muscles attached to it.
The temporal bone is united immovably with the sphe¬
noid, parietal, occipital, and malar bones; and the inferior
maxillary is connected to it by articulation. In the tym¬
panal cavity, also, are contained the four tympanal bones,
to be considered afterwards.
Besides these uniform bones of the cranium, there are
occasionally found one or more supernumerary bones, which
vary much in number, size, and situation. Most usually
they are found in the line between the occipital and pa¬
rietal bones, causing the lambdoidal suture to vary much
in regularity; and occasionally, instead of the apex of
the occipital bone, is found a single supernumerary bone.
They are observed less frequently at the inferior ante¬
rior angle of these bones, and at the temporo-parietal su¬
tures, and still more rarely at the base of the cranium.
These bones, to which attention was originally drawn by
Wormius, by whose name they are still distinguished
(ossa Wormiana), may be regarded as effects of the aberra¬
tion of the ossific process. Though they have been also
named triangular (ossa triquetra), their shape is extremely
variable. They are similar in structure and mode of union
to the parietal and occipital bones; and though they are
not entitled to the epithet of cranial keys (claves cranii),
often given them, they may be viewed as appendages
to the cranial bones, which are then to be regarded as in¬
complete. The most important fact in their history is, Spe<
that they are most frequent in young subjects, and in Anatij
those in whom ossification is imperfect. As they areVs^vi
rarely found in advanced age, it may be inferred that
they eventually become consolidated with one or other of
the bones to which they adhere.
Wormian
bones.
§ 5. The Face. (Ossa Faciei.)
The face, situate before and below the cranium, isThefK
bounded above by that cavity, on the sides by the zygo¬
matic arches, and behind by a space corresponding to the
upper region of the pharynx. Symmetrical in disposition,
its anterior surface is trapezoidal, the largest side being
above, its vertical section triangular, and each side irre¬
gular. The bones of which it consists are those of
the upper jaw, comprehending thirteen separate pieces,
two superior maxillary bones, two malar bones, two nasal
bones, two lacrymal bones, two inferior turbinated bones,
two palate bones, and one vomer; and the single lower jaw.
(Plate XXVI. fig. 8.)
The superior maxillary bone (os mala, maxilla superior) The u
is the basis of those of the upper jaw, and forms a centre,Jaw-W
with which the others are connected. Though in shape
irregular, it may be distinguished into zygomato-facial,
orbitar, and naso-palatine surfaces. (Fig. 6.)
The zygomato-facial surface, irregularly convex and
concave, consists of two divisions, the facial and zygo¬
matic. The first presents the nasal or ascending process,
terminating above in a serrated margin, articulated with
the frontal bone; behind in a groove concurring with a
similar one in the lacrymal bone to form the lacrymal
canal; before by a similar margin joining with the nasal
bone ; and below, a pit for the insertion of the levator of
the upper lip and nose (levator labii superioris alceque
nasi). The facial surface below this, bounded on the
mesial side by a sinuous hollow, the nasal, and a spine
forming with that of the opposite side the nasal spine, pre¬
sents above, the superior maxillary hole for the exit of
the second branch of the trigeminal nerve, the canine
fossa for lodging the levator anguli oris, separated by an
elevation from the incisive fossa for lodging the myrtiform
muscle (depressor alee nasi). The facial region is sepa¬
rated from the zygomatic by a rounded margin, the upper
extremity of which is rough and hollowed for articula¬
tion with the malar bone (os gence, os jugale); while the
posterior forms part of the temporal fossa before, and a
distinct protuberance behind corresponding to the pos¬
terior part of a large cavity denominated the maxillary
(antrum maxillare, sinus maxillaris). This cavity, indeed,
corresponds also to the canine fossa and the external pro¬
tuberance.
The orbitar surface, which is flat, and slightly oblique
in direction, forming the inner half of the lower wall of
the orbit, is bounded within by a sharp line for articula¬
tion with the ethmoid bone, without by the rough malar
surface, and traversed through its posterior half by a
groove for the maxillary vessels and nerve, terminating
partly in the sinus, partly in the superior maxillary hole.
The posterior margin of this surface, which is obtusely
rounded, forms with the sphenoid bone the spheno-maxil-
lary fissure; and its internal or mesial angle is articulat¬
ed with the ascending process of the palate bone.
The naso-palatine or mesial surface of the bone is com¬
plicated. Before and above is seen the inner surface of
the nasal or ascending process, traversed by vascular
and nervous grooves, and covered by the pituitary mem¬
brane. Behind this is the lacrymal groove, terminating
in the nasal, which is converted into a canal by the infe¬
rior turbinated bone, below which it opens; and the open-
ANATOMY.
777
Spe,! ing into the maxillary sinus, large in the detached bone,
iiawy* but contracted below by the inferior turbinated, and behind
•^■^by the palate-bone. This sinus, which is of an irregular
‘iefie' tetrahedral shape, corresponds before to the canine fossa,
behind to the zygomatic tuberosity, above to the orbi-
^ tar plate, and below to the alveolar arch. Below this
is the palatine plate {apophysis palatina), quadrilateral
and horizontal, concave and smooth above, where it
forms the lower wall of the nostrils, concave and marked by
vascular orifices below, where it forms the anterior part of
the hard palate. (Fig. 7.) The anterior part of the process
is elevated into the nasal spine ; its mesial margin, which
is thick and marked by numerous grooves, one unusually
large for the naso-palatine nerves and vessels {canalis in-
cisivus vel iStenonianus), is joined to that of the opposite
side, forming a groove in which the lower margin of the
vomer is received; and the posterior, which is thin, is
attached to the square plate of the palate-bone, which
thus completes the palatine vault.
The palatine is separated from the zygomato-facial
region by a semiparabolic arch, perforated in the adult by
eight honeycomb-like pits (alveoli), in which the roots of
the teeth are implanted, and therefore named the alveolar
arch. Of these pits the first two are the smallest, the
next three larger, and the last three very large,—an
arrangement which renders the alveolar arch narrow be¬
fore, and broad on the sides and behind.
The superiof maxillary bone is united, at the points
indicated, to that of the opposite side, to the frontal bone, to
the ethmoid, to the nasal, to the lacrymal, to the palatine,
to the malar, to the inferior turbinated bone, and to the
vomer.
It is ossified in one piece. In the foetus its divisions
are completely formed, except the orbitar plate, the sinus,
and the alveoli. In the former, the superior maxillary
canal is a slit; and the latter is a mere depression on the
nasal surface of the bone. This, however, becomes larger
and more capacious, not by excavation, but by the exten¬
sion of its walls by bony deposition. The alveolar arch
in general consists of two parabolic plates united by trans¬
verse septa, so imperfect, that the whole intermediate groove
communicates freely. These osseous plates are not uni¬
form in number. In some maxillary bones there are four,
and a fifth like a mere line at the bottom of the groove ;
in others six alveoli, viz. four temporary, and two perma¬
nent alveoli. These plates are formed by deposition
round the dentiferous sacs.
hr The malar bone (os jugale, os gence) is a quadrilateral
bone, approaching the rhomboidal shape, but bounded by
curved lines. It presents three surfaces, a facial, an or¬
bitar, and a zygomatic; and four angles, a frontal, a tem¬
poral, a zygomatic, a superior maxillary, and an inferior
maxillary. (Fig. 7 and 8, g.)
The facial surface is convex and smooth, marked by
one or two holes (foramen jugale) for vessels and nerves,
and, with the zygomatic process gives attachment below
to the zygomatic muscles.
The orbitar surface, which is concave, directed oblique¬
ly upwards, projects backwards from the facial plate, and
forms the outer wall of the orbit between the frontal and
sphenoid bone above, and the superior maxillary below.
It presents the internal malar hole, or the inner orifice of
that seen in the facial surface. The posterior edge is rough
and serrated for conjunction with the sphenoid bone.
The zygomatic surface is a sort of angular concave re¬
cess between the orbitar plate above and the facial be¬
fore, and is chiefly important in forming the anterior part
of the temporal fossa. In the angle between the orbitar
and facial plates is seen a small hole, which communicates
VOL. II.
with the internal malar above, and the external malar be- Special
fore. The anterior part of this surface is rough, and Anatomy,
unites with the external or malar process of the superior
maxillary bone. Thecheek-
The superior or frontal angle is serrated for uniting bone'
with the external angular process of the frontal bone.
The temporal is long and pointed, and rough above, where
it joins the temporal bone to form the zygoma, to which
the temporal fascia above and the masseter below are at¬
tached. The superior maxillary or orbitar is also point¬
ed, and joins the rounded ridge at the base of the ascend¬
ing process of the superior maxillary bone. The inferior
maxillary is obtuse-angled, and joins the lower angle of
the malar process.
Wedged between the bones of the scull and face, the
malar bone is connected to the frontal, the temporal, the
sphenoid, and the superior maxillary. It is ossified from
a single point.
Each nasal bone (os nasi) is quadrilateral and trape- The nasal
zoidal. Of its two surfaces, the external, smooth and bone,
slightly convex, is covered by the periosteum and the
pyramidal muscle (compressor narium) and part of the
frontal (epicranius). The inner, rather concave and
somewhat irregular, with grooves for vessels and nerves,
is covered with the pituitary membrane. (Fig. 8, n.)
The upper margin of the nasal bone, which is some¬
what thick, is serrated for union with the frontal bone, on
the nasal spine of which it is firmly supported. By the
mesial margin, which also is thick, plain, and prolonged
backwards, it is joined to that of the opposite side ; while
its thin external margin being imbricated beneath the
mesial one of the maxillary, the central pressure is thus
opposed on each side. In this manner the two nasal
bones, supported above by the frontal spine, are firmly
wedged between the superior maxillary, much on the
same principle as the key-stone is wedged between the
lateral parts of the arch. (Plate XXIV. 2 and 3, n.) To
the lower margin the nasal cartilages are attached. Each
nasal bone is formed from a single centre of ossification.
Each lacrymal bone (os lacrymale, os unguis) is about The lacry-
the size of a nail, situate at the inner wall of the orbit, mal bone,
occupying the space between the frontal bone above, the
ethmoid behind, and the superior maxillary before. Its
shape is irregularly quadrilateral, and it presents two sur¬
faces, an orbitar and nasal, and four margins.
The orbitar surface consists of two regions, one orbitar
proper, flat, and smooth, situate behind, and connected
with the lateral smooth bone (os planum) of the ethmoid,
with which it completes the inner wall of the orbit; the
other, which is anterior, is at right angles to this, and is
moulded into a cylindrical groove, which, with that of the
superior maxillary bone, constitutes the lacrymal canal,
in which is lodged the membranous tube which conveys
the tears and mucus from the eye to the nose. These
two surfaces are parted by a sharp longitudinal crest, to
which is attached the aponeurosis of the orbicular muscle
of the eyelids (orbicularis palpebrarum).
The nasal surface is irregular, covered by the fibro-
mucous membrane of the ethmoid cells, and of which it
makes part. It presents distinctly the angle of union be¬
tween the orbitar and lacrymal portion of the bone.
This bone, which is compact, is developed from a single
point, and is early formed in the foetus.
The inferior turbinated bones, which are irregular inTheinferi-
shape, are attached to the nasal surface of the superior or turkrcw
maxillary by an oblique line near the lower margin of the101 k01168-
antrum, with the convex surfaces turned to each other.
Each turbinated bone presents a nasal surface, uneven
and marked by rough lines, with intermediate cellular
5 F
778
ANATOMY.
nated
bones,
The palal
bones.
Special grooves; and a maxillary one, concave, and constituting
Anatomy. part of the inferior nasal passage. Both are invested by
fibro-mucous membrane continued from the pituitary,
the turbi- ^ch turbinated bone is bounded by two margins,—a
superior, which is fixed,—an inferior, free. Of the for¬
mer, the anterior part is a thin border, joining with the
superior maxillary bone at the base of the ascending pro¬
cess, and with the lacrymal bone by an angular slip. The
middle is a short spinous part, uniting with the lateral
mass of the ethmoid, and diminishing the opening of the
maxillary sinus ; and the posterior part, which is rounded
and inclining, is attached to the crest of the palate-bone.
The lower margin, which is free, is slightly convoluted
on itself, so as to separate the middle from the inferior
nasal passage.
The inferior spongy bone, which is formed in one piece,
though perforated by vascular and nervous holes, and
moulded into cells at its lower convoluted margin, con¬
sists, however, chiefly of compact bone. It is covered
through its whole extent by the fibro-mucous membrane
of the nasal passages.
Each palate-bone (ossapalati), attached to the posterior
part of the superior maxillary bones, to which they may
be regarded as appendages, consists of three parts, a base
or palatine portion, a nasal ascending or vertical portion,
and an orbitar part.
The base consists of a quadrangular and quadrila¬
teral plate of bone, placed horizontally, and attached
before to the posterior margin of the horizontal or pala¬
tine plate of the superior maxillary bone, and on the in¬
ner or mesial side to the corresponding margin of the
opposite bone (Plate XXVI. fig. 7, p, p), with which it
forms a groove, in which is lodged the posterior part of
the lower margin of the vomer. The upper surface is
concave, and, with that of the superior maxillary bone,
completes the lower wall of the nasal passages. The
lower is almost straight, but presents a slight concavity,
bounded behind by a transverse crest of bone, to which
the uvula or soft and movable palate is attached. Behind
this is a surface bounded by the posterior margin, which
is sinuous and lunated, and terminates within in a pointed
eminence, which, with that of the opposite side, forms on
the mesial plane the palatine spine. The external margin,
which rises into the nasal or ascending portion, is rounded
without into a sinuous depression, which forms, with the
pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone, the pterygo-pala-
tine canal, and which occasionally, at least at its lower
extremity, is entirely formed in the palate-bone.
The nasal portion, which is irregular in shape, presents
on the nasal surface a hollow, rising from the square plate,
and forming the posterior part of the lower nasal passage ;
a transverse ridge (linea aspera) continuous with that of
the superior maxillary bone, and to which the inferior turbi¬
nated bone is attached; and then another hollow, forming
the posterior end of the middle nasal passage, and with
the former contracting the orifice of the maxillary sinus.
Immediately above this the vertical portion is parted by a
notch into two unequal parts, a posterior articulated with
the base of the external pterygoid process, and an ante¬
rior articulated before with the superior maxillary bone,
and within presenting cells, which unite with those of the
ethmoid bone. The outer part of this cellular portion is
bounded by three surfaces, one external, forming part of
the zygomatic fossa ; another anterior, resting on a corre¬
sponding surface of the superior maxillary bone ; a third
superior, forming part of the inner wall of the orbit. The
notch between the anterior and posterior divisions forms
with the sphenoid bone the spheno-palatine, for transmit¬
ting the spheno-palatine twig of the superior maxillary
nerve, with some veins, and the internal branch of the Spe<
spheno-palatine ganglion. Anat< \
The posterior margin of this vertical portion is acuteJ
above, where it is simply conjoined with the base of theThePte
pterygoid processes; but below it is moulded into a thick, ^on
strong, triangular process, projecting backwards, and
marked by three grooves, one in the middle, and one on
each side. In the two latter the external and internal
pterygoid processes are adapted; and the middle space,
being prominent, and firmly wedged between the ptery¬
goid processes, completes the pterygoid
Each palate-bone is connected with six bones, two of
the cranium and four of the face; the ethmoid and sphe¬
noid, the superior maxillary, the inferior turbinated bone,
the palate-bone of the opposite side, and the vovier.
The palate-bone, so far as is hitherto observed, is form¬
ed in one portion. In the foetus, at the seventh month,
it is completely formed; but the square or horizontal part
is larger in proportion than the vertical, and remains so
till the face begins to alter its shape.
The vomer or plough-share bone is symmetrical, placed The v|
on the mesial plane between the sphenoid and ethmoid,mer- j
bones above, and the palate and superior maxillary bones
below, and forming the posterior part of the nasal partition.
In shape it is irregular, though it affects the rhomboi-
dal. It consists of two thin plates of compact bone unit¬
ed at an angular line below, but separated above so as to
form a deep longitudinal groove, in which the cartilaginous
partition before, and the vertical plate of the ethmoid be¬
hind, are inserted. At the posterior end these plates
spread out into lateral wings with intermediate grooves, in
which the azygos process of the sphenoid bone is accu¬
rately fitted. These two parts form the upper and poste¬
rior margins. The lower consists of a single thin plate,
which is received into the linear groove formed by the
middle crest of the palate and superior maxillary bones.
The anterior part of this margin rises more directly, to fit
the nasal spine of the latter bones.
The surfaces of the vomer are smooth, occasionally
concave and convex in opposite directions, and, being
covered by the fibro-mucous pituitary membrane, consti¬
tute the bony partition between the right and left nasal
passages. The bone is formed in a single piece, and is
generally completed in the seventh and eighth month.
The lower jaw-bone (mandibula, maxilla inferior),The 1
symmetrical, placed at the base of the face, is of a shapeJ2"--
nearly parabolic, with an elevated branch at each extre¬
mity. It consists of two parts, a maxillary arch, and a
ramus at each end, each of which has two surfaces, an
external or facial, and an internal or oral, an alveolar or
upper margin, and a mental or lower margin. (Fig. 8 and 9.)
The external surface of the parabolic or arched portion
of the lower jaw presents first on the mesial plane the
symphysis or chin (mentum), indicating the original separa¬
tion of the bone into two parts,—a vertical line diverging
into two, so as to form a triangular eminence (tuber viax-
illare of Soemmering). (Fig. 8 and 9, x.) On each side of
this is a depression for the tuft or levator of the chin, the
anterior mental hole (foramen menti anterius, f), or inferior
maxillary for the exit of the third branch of the fifth pair,
and the external maxillary line (m) for the insertion of the
platysma, depressor awjuli oris, and depressor labii inferio-
ris. Behind this the ascending ramus presents a quadrila¬
teral surface, corresponding to the masseter (r), bounded
before by a sharp line terminating in the coronoid process
(b, b), behind by an obtuse one, the posterior margin
terminating in the condyloid or articular process (c, c),
and above by the sigmoid notch (incisura semilunaris vet
sigmoidea) between them.
ANATOMY.
gpjal The internal or oral surface of the lower jaw presents
Amuny- in the middle a spine or crest {spina menti interna'), con-
sisting in general of three eminences, the two superior of
The i^er w]1jcj^ give attachment to the genio glossi, and the lower
J: to the genio-hyoidei. On each side of this is a superficial
hollow for the sublingual gland, and a pit for the digastric
muscle; and extending outward on each side is the in¬
ternal oblique line, to which the mylo-hyoideus and the
superior constrictor of the pharynx are attached. Below
this is a depression for the submaxillary gland; behind, at
the margin of the ramus, the surface is rough for the
insertion of the external pterygoid; between this and the
top of the oblique line is the internal mental hole, or the
inner orifice of the maxillary canal; and above and round
the orifice the surface is rough for the insertion of the in¬
ternal ligament of the lower jaw. By this orifice the in¬
ferior maxillary nerve, or third branch of the fifth pair,
with its concomitant vessels, enters the canal; and after
sending branches to the alveolar arch and membranes, re¬
appears at the external mental hole.
The upper margin of the parabolic part of the bone is
moulded into a series of alveolar or honeycomb-like cavities,
bounded by external and internal plates, and separated by
septa more or less complete. These cavities are in the adult
16 in number, but are sometimes imperfect, sometimes
obliterated by the removal of the teeth. This margin,
which, like the corresponding one of the superior jaw, is
named the alveolar arch, is, like it, narrow anteriorly, and
wide on the sides and behind. At the posterior end
of each alveolar arch the external and internal oblique
lines form between them a superficial depression, in which
part of the buccinator is lodged; and then converging as
they ascend, terminate in the pointed coronoid process, to
which the tendon of the temporal muscle is fixed, unless
at its outer surface, which is covered by the masseter. The
condyloid process, separated from this by the sigmoid
notch, is broad transversely, and is contracted below so as
to form a neck, which is concave within for the insertion of
the external pterygoid muscle.
The inferior margin, which is obtusely rounded, and
forms a more pointed curve than the upper, gives attach¬
ment only to the cutaneous muscle (platysma myoides). The
posterior margin, also obtuse, is free, but corresponds to the
parotid gland, and is therefore occasionally named the paro¬
tid margin. To this the stylo-maxillary ligament is attached.
The posterior part of the bone, named the ramus, forms
with its body an obtuse angle of about 100°, which di¬
minishes as life advances. (Fig. 8, a, r.)
The inferior maxillary bone is connected movably with
the temporal bone by its condyloid process being lodged
in the glenoid cavity of the latter. In this situation it is
retained by means of three ligaments, while its motions
are facilitated by an interarticular fibro-cartilage.
The erfemonigament, composed of parallel fibres attach¬
ed to the tubercle at the bifurcation of the zygomatic
process, descends obliquely backwards, and is fixed to the
outside of the neck of the condyle of the lower jaw. It is
covered by skin and the parotid gland, and is lined by
synovial membrane, to part of which the interarticular
cartilage is attached. The internal ligament, attached to
the spinous process of the sphenoid bone and its vicinity,
proceeds obliquely downwards and forwards, between the
two pterygoid muscles, expanding, to the orifice of the
internal maxillary hole, round which it is attached.
The stylo-maxillary ligament is an aponeurotic chord,
belonging rather to the stylo-glossus muscle, stretching
between the styloid process and the tip of the angle of the
lower jaw, where it is inserted between the masseter
muscle without, and the internal pterygoid within.
779
This articulation is so constructed that it possesses two Special
synovial membranes, or at least a double one, the parts 0f Anatom7*
which are separated by the interarticular cartilage. The
latter body, which is of an oval shape, convex and con- 1 . °rwer
cave above, to fit at once the glenoid cavity and the trans- ’
verse process, but concave below for the maxillary con¬
dyle, adheres externally to the external ligament, while
its inner margin is free. The upper division of the syno¬
vial membrane, therefore, adhering all round to the mar¬
gins of the glenoid cavity and transverse process, after
covering these parts, is reflected from the external late¬
ral ligament over the upper surface of the interarticular
fibro-cartilage. A minute slip may be then traced over
the free margin of this fibro-cartilage, covering its lower
surface, and thence continued over the inside of the ex¬
ternal lateral ligament, and from it over the condyle of
the lower jaw. In this manner the temporo-maxillary
synovial membrane is rather composed of two parts, a su¬
perior and inferior, than absolutely double.
The inferior maxillary bone is formed in two pieces;
and perhaps no bone in the human body undergoes from
first to last greater changes in shape and extent than it
does. In the foetus, when first formed, it consists of two
slightly incurvated portions, united on the mesial plane by
cartilage, with the coronoid and condyloid process, and
the intermediate sigmoid notch, rising from the posterior
extremity of each. The ramus, however, cannot be said
to be formed; and it is only some time after birth that the
quadrilateral surface by which it is defined can be recog¬
nised. At birth, also, the alveolar arch consists only of
two thin plates of bone, with scarcely perceptible traces
oi'septa; and the periosteal coverings of the dentiferous
sacs are in immediate contact with each other. After
birth, bone is deposited between them, so as to form the
transverse partitions of the alveoli, which afterwards in¬
crease in size and thickness with the bone itself, which en¬
larges in all its dimensions chiefly by extending backwards.
Coalescing by the progress of ossification on the mesial
plane, it is afew weeks after birth consolidated into one bone;
and after the process of primary dentition commences, it
loses the angular and acquires the parabolic shape. About
the age of seven, sometimes previously, the body becomes
more incurvated, and the posterior extremities enlarge
backwards still more rapidly. As the process of second¬
ary dentition advances, these extremities enlarge still
more rapidly; and the angle of the jaw acquires a more
prominent situation by becoming more depressed. At the
time at which the facial and maxillary sinuses are formed,
and the superior maxillary bone extends backwards to
form its tuberosity, the posterior extremity gradually
rises in the form of the ramus, till this part a year or two
after puberty is fully an inch above the plane of the alveo¬
lar arch. During adolescence and middle life this is
the condition of the jaw-bone. Towards the decline,
however, the teeth drop out, and the alveolar processes are
absorbed; and in old age the lower jaw consists often of a
single cylindrical arch of bone placed between its two rami,
which, retaining their original breadth and height, neces¬
sarily throw the body of the bone forwards beyond the
upper alveolar arch.
The lower jaw-bone consists of two plates of compact
bone, with cancellated tissue interposed, and traversed
by the inferior dental canal, the walls of which, like the
surface of the bone, are compact. This canal is subdi¬
vided into two parts,—one inferior, which terminates in
the anterior mental hole, transmitting the mental branch
of the inferior maxillary nerve; the other superior, which
is parted into numerous minute passages into the cancelli
of the bone and alveolar processes. These, it must also
u
780
ANATOMY.
Special be observed, consist of a peculiar form of cancellated
Anatomy, structure. Externally their bony walls are perforated by
numerous minute well-defined holes, into which, in the
jaw"61 recent state, the vessels and filaments of the alveolar pe¬
riosteum penetrate. These orifices are so numerous in
both maxillary bones, that a portion of alveolar process
held between the eye and the light seems entirely per¬
forated, and, if injected, becomes completely red. This
character applies chiefly to the period of youth and ado¬
lescence. After this the alveolar processes become more
solid, and eventually present much fewer orifices. This
structure is the result of the manner in which the bony
matter is deposited round the vessels and filaments of the
periosteum, which may in this and similar bones be said
to communicate in this manner with those of the medul¬
lary membrane.
The Teeth. (Dentes?)
The teeth. The teeth, which are implanted in the alveolar cavi¬
ties, though belonging properly to the digestive apparatus
as organs of mastication, are nevertheless more conve¬
niently considered in this place. (Plate XXVI. fig. 7, 8,
and 9.)
In every tooth are recognised three parts,—the crown
(corona), the neck or collar (collum), and the root (radix).
The first is the portion which appears above the gum and
alveolar process, and consists of a layer of enamel, thick
above and round the top, but gradually extenuated below,
inclosing a small portion of compact bone. The crown
may be distinguished into the crown proper, or the sum¬
mit or apex of the tooth, and the fillet or annular portion
of enamel (annulus) by which the sides are surrounded.
The root, which consists of compact bone, is the part
which is implanted in the alveolar cavity, and the outer
surface of which adheres to the inner or dental surface of
the alveolar periosteum, and above that to the soft part
of the gum. The neck is the narrow ring where the ena¬
mel ceases and the bone begins, and to which the gum
adheres all round. This part, in short, belongs neither
to the crown nor to the root, and perhaps is not justly
entitled to any separate consideration, unless as the por¬
tion to which the gum adheres. The crown and root, on
the contrary, are important, as furnishing the characters
by which the teeth are distinguished into classes.
The incisor These are three,—the incisor or cutting teeth (dentes
teeth. tomici, incisores, primores, risorii, acuti, adversi); the ca¬
nine or tearing teeth (dentes canini, laniarii, cuspidati);
and the molar or grinding teeth (dentes molares).
The incisors are in number eight, four in each jaw, and
two on each side of the mesial plane. All of them agree
in having the crown or apex wedge-shaped, or like a car¬
penter’s adze, convex before, and slightly concave be¬
hind, with the cutting edge crenated or notched. From
the edge, also, which is broad, the fillet, which is quadri¬
lateral, contracts much to the neck, and the root is be¬
velled in the opposite direction to that of the crown, so
as to form a quadrilateral prism, and slightly acuminated.
It is always simple and elongated. Its extremity presents
an orifice communicating with the interior of the tooth,
and admitting the vessels by which it is nourished. The
crown is separated from the root by a narrow line, vary¬
ing in position in the different kinds of incisors.
The incisors of the upper jaw are broader, thicker,
longer, and in general more powerful, than those of the
lower, and their axes are directed downwards and for¬
wards so as to overlap in the motions of the lower jaw
those of the inferior row, and leave a triangular interval
with the base upwards. Their cutting edge also is ob¬
lique, so that its mesial angle is longer than its external;
th.
and their roots are larger and rounder. The central or Spc [\
middle incisors are larger, broader, and stronger, than the Anat j.
lateral ones. j
The incisors of the lower jaw are smaller than those of .Tlu f**,
the upper, and their axes are directed upwards and back-nme
wards, so that they are within the superior incisors. The
central incisors also are larger than the lateral ones.
The canine or pointed teeth (dentes cuspidati) are four
in number, one in each half of each alveolar arch, imme¬
diately next to the lateral incisors. These teeth are
distinguished by prominent, thick crowns, with rounded
convex fillets and pointed apices. The root also, which,
like that of the incisors, is simple, is larger and thicker
than in the latter. The upper canine teeth, which occa¬
sionally are named eye-teeth (ocxdarii dentes), are the
longest and most prominent of all. During the elevation
of the lower jaw, each inferior canine tooth is interior to
the superior one, and is interposed between it and the
lateral incisor.
Of the molar or grinders there are 20 altogether, being
five in each half of each alveolar arch. They are sub¬
divided into two orders, small molar or bicuspid teeth
(dentes hicuspidati), and large molar or multicuspid teeth
(dentes midticuspidati).
The molar teeth agree in having large, broad crowns, The i
with tubercular summits, and roots, which, though occa-or -ri[
sionally single, are much more frequently two-fold, three-tet^'
fold, or four-fold. The coronal tubercles are generally
parted by a deep furrow, which gradually becomes shallow
as the summits wear in the progress of years. When the
roots are single, which is most frequent in the bicuspid
order, each lateral surface is marked by a longitudinal
furrow. When two-fold or manifold, they are parted by a
fissure of variable width; and sometimes they diverge
considerably. The annular furrow between the crown
and root is very distinct.
The axes of the upper molar teeth are directed out¬
wards, while those of the lower order, especially the most
posterior, are directed inwards. More anteriorly they
are occasionally vertical.
The two molar teeth next to the canine, which have The s h
smaller crowns and roots, and are less in all their di-™0^
mensions than the three posterior ones, are therefore dis-^jj
tinguished as small molars. From the circumstance of
their crowns being provided with two conical apices, one
anterior, large, and the other posterior, parted by a trans¬
verse furrow, not dissimilar to the summits of two canine
teeth conjoined in one, they were denominated by John
Hunter bicuspid teeth (hicuspidati). These teeth are
smaller than the canine, especially when their roots are
single. The roots, however, are often bifid, and some¬
times trifid. In the first case they are bevelled on the
sides, and terminate in a point. In the second and third
case they are conical. The internal surface of the bicus¬
pid teeth is very generally narrower than the external, so
that a transverse section would be trapezoidal, with the
narrow margin posterior. _ Lg
The third molar tooth, or the first large molar, is gene- ( p
rally very large and strong, with the crown broad and <3ua'grjn(]
drilateral, surmounted by four, five, or more tubercles, and
the root trifid or quadrifid and divergent in the upper
tooth, more frequently bifid only and divergent in the
lower. The second large molar tooth, though rarely so
large as the first, has the same general shape; the crown
rhomboidal in the upper jaw, with four apices, and the
root bifid or trifid and divergent.
The third large molar, named also wisdom-tooth (den*
sapientice), from its late appearance, is smaller than the
second, generally has a narrower crown, rounded, oblong,
ANATOMY.
781
Spe^l quadrilateral, or rhomboidal, with two or three apices,
liiattT* and a narrow root generally single and conical, often in-
^ complete. Its axis is strongly directed inwards, especially
n>e,tll,in the upper jaw.
[heist- The orders of teeth now enumerated constitute arches
of a parabolic or semielliptical shape, larger in general
in the upper jaw than in the lower. In the upper arch
especially, the curvature is more rounded or elliptical;
in the lower it is more angular and parabolic,—a cir¬
cumstance which, with the different directions of the
axes of the incisor and molar teeth respectively, causes
the upper incisors to overlap, and thereby cut upon the
lower ones, while the molars are fitted to each other so
as to move on mutual surfaces in the lateral motion of
die jaw.
Faria'S. The teeth vary in number, shape, and position.
Though the general number of the adult or perma¬
nent teeth is 16 in each jaw, or 32 in all, it may happen
that, in consequence of all the wisdom-teeth not coming
through the gum, there are only 28 or 30. Occasionally
also the lateral incisors are wanting. In some rare in¬
stances there is a supernumerary incisor or molar tooth ;
and Soemmering mentions an instance in which, by the
addition of four molar teeth, the total number was aug¬
mented to 36. The union of two or more teeth into one
is occasionally observed.
The most usual variations in shape are observed in the
incisors being excessively large and broad, in the canine
being very thick and long, ascending into the antrum, and
in some rare instances extremely small. In females the
canine teeth are occasionally so small and rounded, that
they have the appearance rather of rudiments than of
perfect teeth. The cleft roots of the molar teeth are
liable to very great varieties in shape.
The most usual variety in position is when the inci¬
sors are placed obliquely, with their margins not lateral
but antero-posterior. This is in general the result of the
teeth being too much crowded in a small alveolar arch;
and the malposition is always greatest as the jaw is nar¬
row, or imperfectly formed. One or two incisors even in
such circumstances may be entirely behind or before the
rest, so as to give the appearance of a double row. The
canine teeth are liable to the same change of position;
but one greatly more frequent with them is, to be placed
so much before the line of the arch as to project consi¬
derably forwards, like the tusks of some animals. Ano-
ther form of this variety is, when teeth appear in unusual
situations, for instance the palate or pharynx, or even in
the orbit.
w m The teeth are not at all periods of life the same in num-
“ ’ ber. Generally speaking, at birth, when the teeth have not
appeared above the gum, the rudiments of five teeth are
found in each half alveolar arch. These, which are to con¬
stitute the milk-teeth, the deciduous or temporary, appear
above the gum nearly in the following order: the central
incisors of the lower jaw about the end of the sixth or
beginning of the seventh month; a few weeks after, the
central incisors of the upper jaw ; after these, the lateral
incisors above or below, without determinate order; and
between the 12th and 18th months the first pair of molars,
either above or below. These are followed by the lower
canine teeth, and about the second year by the upper
Canine teeth. About the end of the second year, or in the
course of the third, the second pair of molar teeth cut the
gum; and about the fourth or fifth year in general, the
third pair of molar teeth appear. The following table of
tile periods at which the different classes of temporary
teeth appear, given by Mr Thomas Bell, may communi¬
cate a general idea of the succession.
Special
Anatomy.
The teeth.
From 5 to 8 months, the 4 central incisors.
From 7 to 10 the 4 lateral incisors.
From 12 to 16 the 4 anterior molars.
From 14 to 20 the 4 canine.
From 18 to 36 the 4 posterior molars.
From these periods, however, there are extensive ex¬
ceptions ; and in no two individuals even of the same fa¬
mily does the same tooth appear at the same period.
About the seventh month the milk-teeth begin to ap- Dentition
pear above the gum; and about the seventh year theyPermaiient
begin to be shed and succeeded by the permanent set.
This process begins also in the lower jaw, and advances
nearly in the same order: the lower central incisors;
the upper, and the lateral above and below; the first
pair of molar upper and lower; the second pair of molar
above and below ; the canine above and below ; the third
pair of molar; the fourth pair of molar in the eighteenth
year; and the fifth pair, or wisdom-teeth, in the eighteenth,
twentieth, or thirtieth years.
The average periods of eruption in the lower jaw are
given in the tabular form by Mr Thomas Bell, in the fol¬
lowing order.
The anterior larger molars  6^ years.
The central incisors  7
The lateral incisors  8
The anterior bicuspids  9
The posterior bicuspids 10
The canine or cuspidati 11—12
The second large molars 12—13
The third large molars, or wisdom-teeth 17—19
Those of the upper jaw are understood to follow these at
an interval of two or three months.
In structure the teeth of the human subject belong to
the order of simple teeth, that is, consist of bone, invest¬
ed at the crown by enamel.
The hyoid bone {os hyoides, v, ossa lingualid), though The hyoid
entirely unconnected with the skeleton, yet as a bone to ^^lsual
which are attached various muscles of the throat, must00
be noticed in this place. It is a bone, or rather a bony
apparatus, consisting of five separate pieces, arranged in
the parabolic form, and articulated movably with each
other. These five pieces are, one middle, two lateral, and
two pisiform bones.
The middle {os medium linguce), named also the body, is
large, broad, and square, with the anterior surface in ge¬
neral convex and rough, divided by a middle ridge into
right and left halves, and by a horizontal line into upper
and lower parts, and giving attachment on each side of
the middle crest to the digastric, the stylo-hyoid, the
mylo-hyoid, the genio-hyoid, and the hyoglossal muscles.
The posterior surface is concave and smooth, and covered
by cellular tissue, connecting it to the epiglottis. To its
inferior margin, which is more extensive and irregular
than the superior, are attached externally the sterno¬
hyoid, the omo-hyoid, and the thyro-hyoid muscles; and
in the middle the thyro-hyoid membrane. To its upper
margin the fibres of the hyoglossus are attached. Each
of the lateral margins is moulded into a convex cartilagi¬
nous surface, articulated with the lateral bones.
The lateral bones {ossa lateralia, cornua), though longer,
are less thick than the body. Broad and thick before,
with the upper surface concave and the lowei convex,
narrow behind, they terminate in a round head, tipped
with cartilage, to which the thyro-hyoid ligament is at¬
tached. At the anterior junction nearly of these with the
middle portion, there is attached to the latter on each
side a small elongated bone, somewhat hooked. These
bones, which seldom exceed the size of a grain of wheat,
or rye rather, and which they somewhat resemble in
782
ANATOM Y.
Special shape, are articulated to the other two by a true capsu-
Anatomy. lar ligament. To their outer surface are attached some
fibres of the genio-glossus, and to their upper is fixed the
stylo-hyoid ligament.
The hyoid bone consists externally of compact, and in¬
ternally of cancellated tissue, the latter being most abun¬
dant in the middle piece. Though composed in the in¬
fant and young subject of five portions, the articulations
are invariably obliterated by ankylosis in adult life, and
they are converted into a single bone. The junction of
the middle and lateral portions is effected first, and that
of the pisiform bones afterwards.
tures.
The era- The bones now described, excepting the lower jaw and
nium in hyoid, are united immovably, or by synarthrosis. The
general. external shape of the cranium is that of an oblong sphe¬
roid, or an ovoid, with the small diameter before. Con¬
vex in general, it is flattened laterally in the temporal
regions, and below in the base. The external surface,
smooth and regular above, is marked below by muscular
impressions, and penetrated by numerous holes.
The su- The first objects deserving attention are the serrated
lines of junction, or what are named the sutures {sutures),
which are in general more conspicuous externally than in¬
ternally, where indeed they are effaced at an earlier period
of life than on the outer surface of the scull. The sutures
may be most easily understood by tracing them from the
sphenoid bone, which may be regarded as the central
point of the cranium.
The first line is that which passes transversely across
at the junction of the sphenoid with the ethmoid and su¬
perior turbinated bones in the middle, and the frontal
bone on each side. Concave in the middle, this line bends
backward at each extremity, where it follows the outline
of the small wings of Ingrassias. It constitutes the trans¬
verse or sphenoidal suture.
The posterior margin of the body of the sphenoid bone
is marked by another transverse suture, extremely short,
and uniting it with the cuneiform process of the occipital
bone. This, which is early obliterated by the indissoluble
union of the sphenoid and occipital bones, is a cartilagi¬
nous junction, afterwards ossified, and, though scarcely en¬
titled to the epithet, is named nevertheless the basilar
suture.
A more distinct one is found in the line between the
exterior concave margin of the large wing of Ingrassias
and the squamous portion of the temporal bone in the
spheno-temporal suture. It terminates below at the gle¬
noid fissure, forming an acute angle with a short line
between the pyramid and the posterior margin of the
spinous process of the sphenoid, named the petro-sphe-
noidal. Above, where it terminates on the parietal bone,
a short line, between the outer margin of the large wing
of Ingrassias and short spaces of the parietal and frontal
bones, is distinguished as the lateral sphenoidal or the
spheno-parietal suture.
This line, produced backwards between the upper
margin of the temporal and the lower margin of the pa¬
rietal bone, constitutes a peculiar form of junction, named
the squamous suture {sutura squamosa), the temporal, or
the temporo-parietal, in which the edge of the former bone
is imbricated over that of the latter. In this mode of junc¬
tion, which is confined to the superior part of the tem¬
poral bone, and in which the union of the bones is not se¬
cured by dove-tail ossification, but simple imposition, the
lateral pressure is effected chiefly by the force propagat¬
ed from the zygoma and the malar bone.
The posterior part, which is united to the posterior-
inferior angle of the parietal, and the anterior-inferior
margin of the occipital, presents a serrated line, with al- Sj|
ternate indentations, which are well marked, but irregu- Anl
lar in size. This, which occasionally presents Wormian ^
bones, may be named the posterior-temporal suture. The^i
descending portion has been distinguished by the name ofin t
mastoid suture. Anteriorly, in the base of the cranium,
where it passes the jugular notch, the line of junction,
which is cartilaginous, is termed, the petro-occipital suture.
The sutures now enumerated agree in being found
chiefly at the lower region of the cranium, and in secur¬
ing the junctions of its base. The others to be yet enu¬
merated belong to its superior region, and agree in con¬
solidating and securing the several arches which consti¬
tute what may be named the vault of the cranium.
From the point at which the posterior, temporal, and
mastoid sutures unite, a serrated line of junction ascends
on each side to the common point at which the occipital
and parietal bones meet. From the angular junction
formed by the two limbs of this suture, it is known under
the name of lambdoidal (A, sutura lambdoidalis); and from
its situation it is termed the occipital and occipito-pa-
rietal suture. By mutual indentations, which are always
distinct, it joins firmly the parietal and occipital bones; and
it is the most frequent seat of Wormian bones.
From the angle of the lambdoidal suture a similar ser¬
rated line proceeds, uniting the two parietal bones on the
mesial plane, with equally distinct indentations. The
mode in which this stretches between the lambdoidal and
coronal sutures, bearing some remote resemblance to
an arrow on the drawn bow-string, has procured it the
name of the sagittal {sutura sagittalis). In youth and in
early life these two sutures are distinct; but in advanced
age they are more or less, sometimes entirely, obliterated.
In some craniums the sagittal suture is continued along
the frontal bone to the nasal spine, thus parting the bone
in two lateral halves. This, which constitutes the proper
frontal or median suture, is the remains of the original se¬
paration of the bone.
Lastly, Between the frontal bone before, and the parie¬
tal bones behind, is seen a serrated line crossing the cra¬
nium transversely, the whole breadth between the two
sphenoid bones. This, which is named the coronal suture,
presents large indentations on each side and small ones
in the middle, on the external table, and a converse ar¬
rangement on the internal.
By these sutures the bones forming the vault of the
cranium are firmly secured; and each bone is made to
press against the other so as to augment rather than di¬
minish strength.
The external surface of the cranium may be distin-Thej
guished into four regions, a superior, an inferior, and twonalspci
lateral ones.
The superior region, or the vault, is bounded before and
behind by the nasal and occipital protuberances, and on
each side by the temporal arches. It presents, besides
the coronal, sagittal, and lambdoidal sutures, the superci¬
liary arches, the frontal, parietal, and occipital protube¬
rances, and the parietal holes. It is covered by the epi¬
cranial muscle and its aponeurosis.
The inferior region or base, which may be defined from
the occipital protuberance behind to the nasal spine be¬
fore, is free as far as the pterygoid processes of the sphe¬
noid bone, anterior to which it is joined to the bones of
the face.
In the posterior portion are seen the occipital spine and
muscular impressions, the occipital hole {foramen mag¬
num), the condyloid processes, the anterior and posterior
condyloid holes, and the basilar process. Laterally are the
digastric groove, the mastoid, styloid, and vaginal pro-
ter
ANATOMY.
S j:ial cesses, and the stylo-mastoid hole, the glenoid cavity and
fissure; the jugular hole {foramen lacerum in basi cranii),
Vseparated by a bony process into an internal part for the
nervus vagus and the accessory nerve, and an external for
' the jugular vein; the pyramid, with the carotic canal, and
the anterior lacerated hole between its extremity, the
basilar process, and the sphenoid bone, closed by fibro-
cartilage in the recent subject. Before these objects,
and nearly in the same transverse line, are seen the ante¬
rior half of the glenoid cavity of the temporal bone, the
guttural orifice of the Eustachian tube, the spinous and
J elliptical holes of the sphenoid (Plate XXIV. fig. 5), and
the pterj'goid processes.
• The anterior portion presents the crest or azygos pro¬
cess united with the vomer and ethmoidal plate, the
sphenoidal- sinuses, the ethmoidal bone itself, and the
nasal spine of the frontal bone ; laterally, the anterior sur¬
face of the pterygoid processes, the Vidian canal, the
round or superior maxillary hole, the temporal and orbitar
surfaces of the large wings of the sphenoid bone, the sphe¬
noidal fissure {foramen lacerum), the optic holes, and the
small wings of Ingrassias; and, lastly, the vault and inter¬
nal wall of the orbit, the former by the frontal bone, the
latter by the os planum and lacrymal bone.
The lateral regions of the cranium are nearly of an el¬
liptical shape. Each region may be circumscribed by a
line drawn from the mastoid process backwards to the
union of the temporal and mastoid sutures, then following
the semicircular arch of the parietal bone, and the angu¬
lar arch of the frontal to the zygoma, ear-hole, and mastoid
process. The objects inclosed in this region are the pos¬
terior mastoid hole, the mastoid process, the ear-hole,
and the zygoma, with a large space, defined by the ele¬
vated line extending from the posterior extremity of
the zygoma upwards to the semicircular arch of the pa¬
rietal bone, where it is obtuse, and the external angu¬
lar ridge of the frontal bone, where it becomes acute.
To this line, the zygoma, and the malar bone, the fascia
of the temporal muscle is firmly attached; the muscular
fibres adhere to the bone below as far as the line of the
sphenoid bone, and pass downwards under the zygoma.
The whole region, though convex in early life, becomes
less so in adolescence, and in manhood and advanced age
it is flattened and even hollowed.
■ yer. The internal surface of the cranium, lined by the dura
mater, and marked by cerebral and vascular impressions,
is distinguished into the superior region or vault, and the
inferior or base.
In the former, which is a regular spheroidal concave,
the chief peculiarities are, on the mesial plane, the frontal
crest, the sagittal groove for the superior longitudinal
sinus, pits for the granules of Pacchioni, and the inside
of the sagittal suture,, more distinct than the outside;
laterally, the upper cerebral regions of the frontal and
parietal bones, with their fossce, the coronal suture, and
the superior occipital fossae.
The base is more complicated, and is generally distin¬
guished not only into lateral halves, but into anterior,
middle, and posterior regions.
On the median line from before backwards, the objects
arej—the blind hole {foramen caecum), for the naso-frontal
vessels; the ethmoidal crest {crista galli), and vertical
plate, with the perforated plate (e); the spheno-ethmoi-
dal suture ; the transverse groove and olivary process,
and optic holes (11); the pituitary fossa {ephippium)
(3) ; the posterior clinoid processes (4 4) ; the spheno-oc-
cipital junction ; the basilar groove for the medulla ob-
knigata (6); the occipital hole; and the internal occi¬
pital spine and protuberance. (Plate XXIV. fig. 6.)
783
m a#
Of the lateral halves, the anterior or frontal region is Special
bounded beroie by an indistinct curved line, formed by Anatomy,
the vertical with the horizontal table of the frontal bone,
and behind by the sphenoidal arch. In this, which ispranium
named the frontal fossa, the anterior lobe of the brainm Seneral-
is lodged; while the sphenoidal arch enters the fissure of
Sylvius.
Between the sphenoidal arch before, and the posterior
margin of the temporal pyramid behind, is contained a
cavity shaped like a spherical segment. In this, which
may be named the spheno-temporal hollow {fossa spheno-
temporalis), the anterior part of the posterior lobe of the
brain is lodged. In this cavity also are seen the sphe¬
noidal fissure ; the round or superior maxillary hole ; the
oval or inferior maxillary hole; the spinous or meningeal
hole, with the meningeal groove; the anterior or spheno-
temporal fissure {foramen lacerum anterius basis cranii) ;
the inner end of the carotic canal; the pyramidal groove ;
and the semilunar fossa for the Gasserian ganglion. (Plate
XXIV. fig. 6.)
Between the temporal pyramid and the internal occipi¬
tal spine is contained the posterior or temporo-occipital
hollow {fossa temporo-occipitalis), which is further subdi¬
vided into two cavities, the cerebral above, and the cere-
bellic below. From the posterior margin of the pyramid
to the transverse occipital ridge, a fold of the dura mater,
stretched horizontally, separates the temporo-occipital ca¬
vity into a superior for lodging the posterior lobe of the
brain, and an inferior or cerebellic for lodging the lobes of
the cerebellum. In the anterior or cerebellic division is
seen the posterior surface of the pyramid, with the inter¬
nal auditory hole, the orifice of the cochlear aqueduct,
the groove for the lateral sinus terminating in the jugular
opening, the groove of the inferior petrous sinus, and the
mastoid hole and suture. The only object behind is the
posterior cerebral/ossa, traversed by the lambdoidal suture.
In the foetus the cranial bones inclosed between theDevelope-
pericranium and dura mater, which are thick, soft, and ment and
vascular, are incomplete shells not in contact with each dimensions
other, with prominent and rather thick ossific centres,
from which the osseous radii diverge, and terminate in thin,penoc b'
ciliated margins. At birth, and for some weeks after, though
ossification is far advanced, the margins of the bones are
incomplete, so as to form the open spaces denominated fon-
tanelles. Of these there are six at the period of birth ; the
anterior or rhomboidal between the frontal and parietal
bones; the posterior or triangular between the occipi¬
tal and parietal bones; two lateral anterior between the
parietal, sphenoidal, and temporal bones; and two pos¬
terior lateral between the parietal, temporal, and occipital
bones, both of irregular shape. At these points the mo¬
tions of the brain are distinctly felt.
At the same time the bones have not yet acquired
their serrated margins, so that the places of the sutures,
which are not yet formed, are occupied by narrow grooves
between the cranial bones. As ossification advances, how¬
ever, their fimbriated margins extend, and mutually meet¬
ing, are prolonged so as to be indented into each other
by alternate notches and processes. At the same time
the bones acquire thickness, so that a distinct space is
perceived between the external and internal surface of
each. The alternate processes and notches thus acquire
firmness, and are immovably dovetailed into each other.
In this manner the anterior angles of the parietal bones
unite with the frontal, and between the posterior ones
the apex of the occipital bone is gradually mortised.
In some instances, however, where the ossific centre of
the original bone appears deficient in energy, or tardy in
progress, a new centre may be developed in the line of
784 A N A T
Special junction, while the bones are still much apart. Thus, be-
Anatomy. tween the occipital and parietal bones, or between the oc-
cipital and temporal bones, maybe developed new cen-
Cranium tres? frorn which ossification advances, as from the prin-
m gener . cjpa| p0jntSj towards the circumference; and by the suc¬
cessive deposition of bony matter, the margins begin to
meet those of the primary bones. The process of mutual
indentation takes place exactly in the same manner as
with the primary bones; and by this means secondary
bones are formed in the lines of the sutures.
The period at which the cranium is entirely ossified
varies in different individuals. In general the anterior or
fronto-parietal fontanelle, which is the largest, is ossified
at the end of the 18th or 20th month, while the anterior
and posterior lateral are closed at an earlier period. In
some instances, however, between the parietal and frontal
bones a small space is left till the 6th or 7th year; and
in many persons the part continues depressed and tender
for the greater part of life. The sutures are completed
at the same time, and are always distinctly formed by the
10th or 11th year. A few years after, they become more
consolidated, and, as the bones acquire thickness and den¬
sity by the compactness of the external and internal
tables, are firmly wedged into each other. The spheno-
basilar junction generally remains soft and separable till
adult age, when by its union the sphenoid and occipital
bones are converted into a single piece. Some time after¬
wards the sphenoid is united with the ethmoid, the two
parietals are converted into one, and occasionally one or
both are united to the frontal bone. In advanced age many
of the sutures disappear entirely, at least in one surface
of the cranium, generally the internal first; and the cra¬
nium would be converted into a single bone if life were
continued sufficiently long.
In shape and dimensions the cranium varies at different
periods of life. After ossification is completed in the
child, the prominence of the ossific points, which continue
more or less conspicuous till manhood and the formation
of the frontal sinuses, gives it a cubo-spheroidal shape. Its
section is an oval or two hemispheroidal segments, the
anterior being the smallest. At this period the parietal
tuberosities and the occipital eminence are prominent,
the frontal bone is vaulted, and the high open fore¬
head communicates to the countenance an expression of
beauty and simplicity which are always associated with
the early and middle periods of life. In the progress of
years, however, these prominences become less distinct,
partly by the operation of muscular action, partly by the
uniform rising and swelling of the margins of all the bones ;
and the anterior upper and posterior part acquires a uni¬
form spheroidal or vaulted appearance, while the lateral
regions are flattened by the action of the temporal muscle.
The occipital region also below the spine is flattened, and
occasionally excavated; so that while the spine is prominent
and unciform, the base is excavated, and overhung by the
mastoid processes and the semilunar ridges. The aged
scull is thus distinguished by a general rotundity or ovoi-
dal character, unless in the temples, which are flat and hol¬
low ; and the convex but occasionally depressed forehead
indicates in some degree the transition from youth to age.
The dimensions of the cranium are estimated from its
diameters, longitudinal, transverse, and vertical. The first,
which extends from the foramen caecum of the frontal
bone, is about five inches at an average. The largest
transverse diameter, which extends between the bases of
the temporal pyramids, is about 4*i inches; and a smaller
one between the extremities of the two small sphenoidal
wings is about 3 inches and 9 lines. The longest vertical
diameter, which is between the anterior margin of the
O M Y.
occipital hole and the middle of the sagittal suture, varies Spcii
from 4 inches to 4 inches and 3 lines. From these mea- Anal
surements it results, that the most capacious part of the
scull is nearly at the union of the two anterior thirds with Pran
the posterior, viz. the level of the occipital hole and basi¬
lar groove; and that the ovoidal or oblong-spheroidal is
the most general shape. The variations from this shape are
found chiefly in the vault, which may be flattened, ob¬
long, cuboidal, or conical.
The Asio-European maybe regarded as the best and Varies,
most symmetrical shape, and to this most of the European
crania belong. According to Soemmering, the Belgic scull
is the most oblong-globular, the German and Italian sphe¬
rical, and the Turkish the most spherical of the Euro¬
pean. In this country the most usual shape is the oblong-
spheroidal, especially among the inhabitants of England.
Among an extensive collection of sculls preserved in the
Museum of the University of Edinburgh, and believed to
be chiefly Parisian, the prevalent shape is the oblong-sphe¬
roidal, and the globular, or the general spherical shape, with
large transverse diameter approaching to the longitudinal
From the delineations given by Sandifort {Museum Am-
tomicum, tom. ii.), the English appears most prominent in
the occipital region, the French the most vertical forehead,
and the Italian most elevated in the vertical region, and
most prominent between the parietal tuberosities. The
scull of the Swede approaches the cubo-spheroidal, and
that of the Russ is distinguished chiefly for the verti¬
cal front, considerable transverse width, and large cheek¬
bones. The latter appear not to be peculiar to the Scotish
cranium.
Of the Asiatic craniums, the Tartar has the forehead
large, not much arched, the occipital region large, the
nasal bones descending straight from the frontal, the upper
maxillary bone slightly overhanging the lower, and the
chin prominent. That of the Calmuc has the vertical,
occipital, and parietal regions prominent, the frontal bone
and face flattened, the cheek-bones large, and the alveolar
arches and jaws broad and prominent. The Mongolian is
distinguished by the narrow forehead, flattened and ra¬
ther depressed glabellar and nasal regions, great facial
width between the cheek-bones, and prominent upper jaw.
From the observations of Blumenbach and Soemmering
it results, that the ancient Egyptian or Coptic head, as ex¬
emplified in mummies,belongs to the European class of cra¬
niums. The negro head, on the contrary, is distinguished
for its oblique forehead, compressed sides, prominent jaws,
general wedged shape, and large size compared with the
rest of the skeleton. For more minute information on
these varieties, the reader will consult with advantage the
work of Soemmering (tom. i.), and the Decades Craniorum
of Blumenbach.
In shape the face forms an irregular hexahedron, with The j’t'
a large excavation at its lower region for the mouth andgea ?•
pharynx. Its anterior surface is trapezoidal, with the
short side below; its sides trapezoidal, with the short side
formed by the posterior margin of the maxillary ramus ;
and its upper surface is an oblique parallelogram.
The greatest transverse diameter is between the zygo¬
matic angles of the cheek-bones, varying from 4J to 5
inches; its smallest at the symphysis of the lower jaw,
from 1^ to 2 or 2A inches; and on the extent and promi¬
nence of which depends the general oval shape of the
countenance. The height, measured from the glabella to
the triangular process of the lower jaw, varies from 42
to 4 inches 9 lines.
The direction of the face varies according to the posi¬
tion of the lower jaw. When this is horizontal, the facial
plane forms with it an angle of 60°, or deviates 30° from
ANATOMY.
785
gpeo the vertical plane; and in some tribes, as the negro, this
pitcip deviation is still greater. A more important character,
however, is believed to be found by determining the direc-
ra® tion of the face in relation to that of the cranium, or ascer-
|8en,l‘ taining what Camper denominates the facial angle. This
he proposes to fix by drawing one line from the fronto¬
nasal protuberance to the spine of the upper maxillary
bone,—the facial (linea facialis) •, another transversely be¬
tween the external ear-holes; and from the latter a third
line {linea, horizontalis), drawn at right angles to meet the
first. The angle thus formed by the facial and horizontal
lines, which is termed the facial, indicates the compara¬
tive prominence of the cranium and face. In European
heads generally it is about 80°; in the negro it is not
above 70°; and in the Mongolian, which is intermediate,
it is about 75°. The effect of this angle in giving the
countenance intellectual expression, the nearer it ap¬
proaches to the rectangle, was known to the ancients. In
many of the busts of heroes it is almost 90°, and in those
of divinities 100° ; and as we know that this is much more
rectangular than any specimen of the human scull fur¬
nishes, it may be inferred that it is imaginary.
It may be further observed, that in the infant the fa¬
cial angle approaches to 90°, in consequence of the small
relative developement of the face. Towards boyhood and
puberty, when the face acquires greater size and promi¬
nence, it diminishes to 85° aqd 80° successively. (Cu¬
vier, Bichat.)
The face is subdivided into cranial, facial, zygomatic,
and palato-maxillary regions. It is unnecessary to enu¬
merate again the objects found in these several regions;
but it is requisite to consider shortly the cavities which
are formed by the cranio-facial bones. They consist of
the nasal cavities, the orbits, the tympanal cavity, and
the palato-maxillary region. These cavities are distin¬
guished by the following circumstances. All of them com¬
municate mutually, and are covered by fibro-mucous mem¬
brane, also continuous. In each of them is lodged one
of the organs of special sensation; and each communicates
with the cranial cavity by openings, through which nerves
always, and sometimes vessels, are transmitted. Lastly,
these cavities may be regarded as the points by which
the cutaneous surface communicates directly with the
mucous membrane of the gastro-puhnonary organs.
The nasal cavities {cavum nasale, nares), of an irregular
quadrilateral shape, consist of four regions; the upper,
the lower, and two lateral. The first is bounded before
by the nasal bones, behind by the sphenoidal cells, with
which it communicates, and above by the cribriform plate ;
while its lower limit is a line uniting the inferior margins
of the lateral portions of the ethmoid bone. This is
parted by the vertical plate of the ethmoid bone into
two halves, which are the two superior passages {meatus
superior). The lower region is bounded below by the pa¬
lato-maxillary plate; on the sides by the maxillary, palate,
and inferior turbinated bones; above by a plane uniting
the lower margins of these bones, and is parted into two
by the vomer, which opens before at the nasal notch of
the maxillary bones, and behind at the posterior margin
of the palate bones. This constitutes the lower passage
{meatus inferior), at the anterior extremity of which the
nasal canal opens. The anterior part of the region pre¬
sents on the mesial plane a vertical triangular notch be¬
tween the middle ethmoid plate above and the vomer below,
occupied in the recent subject by the cartilaginous septum
of the nose. The middle and lateral regions, which com¬
municate before by this notch, are separated behind by the
ethmoid plate and vomer, and are bounded above by the
ethmoidal turbinated bone, and below by the maxillary
VOL. II.
turbinated bone. This constitutes the middle canal {men- Special
tus medius), in which the frontal and maxillary sinuses open. Anatomy.
These cavities communicate freely with each other;
and their parietes are covered by continuations of the?ramum
same general fibro-mucous membrane. Their use appears111 Senerab
to be to increase the extent without adding to the weight
of the facial bones, to afford great superficial extent to the
nasal membrane as an organ of smell, and to afford a so¬
norous vault to the organ of voice.
These cavities, and their appendages, do not exist in
the foetus, nor for some time after birth. The ethmoidal
and sphenoidal are early formed; and the maxillary sinus
begins to be manifest some months after birth. After the
primary dentition they enlarge, and rapidly after the se¬
cond ; and towards the approach of puberty, when the
maxillary tuberosity is formed, they increase, and speedily
attain their natural capacity.
The orbits are two cavities, one on each side of the me¬
sial plane, of the shape of a quadrilateral pyramid, with
the apex towards the cranial cavity, and the base ante¬
riorly. Each orbit presents a vault formed by the fron¬
tal bone, a floor formed by the superior maxillary, an
internal wall formed by the palate bone, ethmoid, and
lacrymal, and an external wall formed by the malar and
sphenoid bones. The two internal walls are nearly pa¬
rallel,—an arrangement which renders the axes of the or¬
bits convergent backwards, and indefinitely divergent be¬
fore. The vault of the orbit is so thin, that a pointed
instrument easily penetrates; and a thrust in the eye
is invariably attended with severe, generally fatal, in¬
jury to the base of the brain. The base of the orbits is
oblique, with the temporal margin behind the plane of the
nasal, making the eye more exposed without than on the
mesial side. The inner or nasal margin presents the up¬
per orifice of the nasal canal. At the posterior extremity
of the inner wall is the optic hole; at the apex is the
sphenoidal fissure, which forms nearly a right angle with
the spheno-maxillary fissure below; and the floor is tra¬
versed by the superior maxillary fissure and canal. The
apex of the orbit is occupied by the optic nerve, the third
and fourth pair, the ophthalmic branch of the fifth, and the
sixth; and the origins of the six muscles of the eyeball,
with interposed fat. The base is occupied by the eyeball,
surrounded with the tendinous extremities of the muscles,
the lacrymal gland at the external region of the vault, and
the lacrymal sac in the anterior depression of the nasal
margin. To its margins are attached the palpebral and
the orbicular muscle. Each orbit communicates with the
nasal cavities by means of the nasal duct.
The tympanal cavity, formed in the temporal bone, com¬
municates by the Eustachian tube with the posterior part
of the nasal and palato-maxillary cavities. Its further
examination belongs to a subsequent head.
The palato-maxillary cavity is formed by the palatine
vault above, the alveolar arches and teeth before, by the
lower jaw before and laterally, and behind by the basilar
process of the occipital bone and the pterygoid processes.
It is very irregular in shape, and consists ot two regions,
the palato-maxillary proper and the pharyngeal. Ihe
principal objects deserving notice are the incisive duct in
the palatine vault, for the naso-palatine nerves ; the ptery-
go-palatine canal at its posterior angles, for the pterygo¬
palatine branches; and the posterior opening of the nasal
cavities. The vault is covered by periosteum and mucous
membrane, with the uvula or soft palate suspended at its
posterior margin; and the space inclosed by the lower jaw
contains the tongue, attached to the hyoid bone, sublin¬
gual and submaxillary glands, and is completed by mem¬
brane, muscles, and integuments.
O G
786
ANATOMY.
Special
Anatomy.
The sea.
pula.
§ 6. The Thoracic Extremities.
The superior or thoracic extremities consist of the
shoulder, the arm, the fore-arm, the wrist, and the hand.
The shoulder consists of two bones,—the scapula or
shoulder-blade, and the clavicle or collar-bone.
’ The scapula is a triangular bone occupying the posterior
part of the chest, having a dorsal and a costal surface,
and a superior, a vertebral, and an axillary margin.
The dorsal or posterior surface {dorsum) is divided by
a transverse elevated spine into two parts, \he fossa supra-
spinata for the supraspinatus muscle, and the fossa infra-
spinata for the infraspinatus muscle. The latter is con¬
cave above, convex in the middle, and concave towards
the axillary or external margin {costa), from which it is se¬
parated by a round line or crest for the attachment of
the fascia which separates the infraspinatus from the teres
major and minor. Between this crest and the axillary
margin above is a convex surface, of a triangular shape,
with the apex above, for the attachment of the teres mi¬
nor, and below a flat quadrilateral surface for the teres
major.
The spine is a triangular-shaped eminence, rising
obliquely from the upper fourth of the dorsal surface ; low
at the vertebral, elevated at the axillary margin, where it
terminates in a broad, flat surface, also triangular, named
the acromion or shoulder-top. In the posterior margin of
the spine may generally be distinguished two surfaces
separated by a ridge. Above the ridge the cucullaris
is fixed; below, part of the deltoid is attached; and be¬
tween is a common aponeurosis. The ridge is hiparted
towards the acromion, leaving an interval covered by pe¬
riosteum and integuments only. The anterior part of the
acromion presents a cartilaginous facette, for articulation
with the acromial end of the clavicle. To its posterior
and external margin the deltoid is attached, and to its tip
the acromio-coracoid ligament is fixed.
The costal or anterior surface is of a triangular shape,
with the apex below, generally concave, but subdivided
into smaller spaces by two or more oblique ridges, to
which intermuscular fascice are attached. This surface,
which is the subscapidar fossa {venter), lodges the belly of
the subscapular muscle, the fasciculi of which are inter¬
posed between the aponeurotic ridges. Near the verte¬
bral margin is an irregular surface, to which, and also to
the margin, the serratus magnus is attached.
The superior margin {costa superior) is thin and point¬
ed behind, where the levator and omohyoid muscles are
attached, and becomes sinuous externally, with a notch
converted by a ligament into a hole for the transit of the
suprascapular vessels and nerves. The inner or axillary
extremity terminates in an elevated hooked process, the
coracoid, to the tip of which are fixed the coraco-clavicu-
lar ligament, and the united origin of the short head of
the biceps flexor and the coraco-brachialis, to the anterior
margin the small pectoral, and to the posterior the acro¬
mio-coracoid ligament.
The vertebral or posterior margin {costa posterior, basis
of some authors) is thin, and ascends straight to the
spine, giving attachment to the rhomboideus ; then bends
forward, and forms with the superior an angle, to which,
as also to the edge now mentioned, the levator is fixed.
The axillary margin {costa axillaris, sometimes inferior)
is round and broad above, and narrow below. It presents
above, first the glenoid cavity, round at its lower margin,
angular above, hollow, covered by cartilage and synovial
membrane for receiving the head of the humerus. At
the angular point above is a surface for the attachment
of the long head of the biceps flexor, and the lower
margin presents two tubercular eminences for that of the skj
long head of the triceps extensor. Below this are fixed the A no mi
teres minor, the subscapularis, and the teres major. The
pvt i
tissimus dorsi, passing over its lower angle, binds it down.
The scapula consists chiefly of compact bone, with^g
little cancellated matter interposed. In the subscapular
fossa this becomes completely absorbed, rendering the
bone thin and translucent, sometimes perforated. The
spine, processes, and angles contain cancellated matter.
It is formed from one part for the body of the bone,
with epiphyses for the coracoid process and the margins.
Nutritious holes are generally found in the angle formed
by the spine with the body, and in the axillary margin.
The collar bone or clavicle is a cylindrical bone, alter-Clave
nately incurvated like an f placed at the upper part of thec°k
chest, between the sternum and acromion of the scapula.
It has therefore two extremities, a sternal and acromial,
with intermediate body.
The sternal end is triangular, cartilaginous, concave and
convex in opposite directions, surrounded by ligamentous
insertions. The acromial end is flattened and recurved,
presenting a lunated surface for articulation with the
acromion.
The body, with the shape of a triangular prism at the
sternal end, is rounded above for the attachment of the cla¬
vicular portion of the sterno-mastoid muscle, and presents
below a rough surface for the costo-clavicular ligament,
and a sinuated line for the subclavian muscle. Towards
the acromial end, where it is flattened above and below,
it presents before, a surface for the attachment of the
large pectoral and deltoid muscles; behind, another for
the cucullaris; and below, a prominent oblique crest for
the coraco-clavicular ligaments.
Compact in the middle, and cancellated at its extremi¬
ties, the clavicle is developed from a single point.
The arm-bone or humerus {os brachii) is a long cylin- '• *1C
drical bone, divided into head or scapular’ end, cubital or x,1‘l
lower end, and shaft or body.
The head presents three eminences, the articular head,
the anterior tuberosity, and the external tuberosity. The
first, which is hemispherical, incrusted by cartilage and sy¬
novial membrane, with the axis oblique to that of the
bone, and articulating with the glenoid cavity of the sca¬
pula, is separated from the bone by a narrow depressed line
named the neck {collum), in which is fixed the margin of the
scapulo-humeral capsular ligament. The second is a small,
pointed, sometimes bifid eminence, to which the tendon
of the subscapularis is attached. In the external tuberosity
are distinguished three facettes, to the upper of which the
tendon of the supraspinatus, to the middle that of the infra¬
spinatus, and to the posterior the tendon of the teres minor,
are inserted. Betwreen the anterior and the external tube¬
rosity is a longitudinal groove named the bicipital, for the
transit of the long head of the biceps flexor.
The cubital or lower extremity is flattened transversely,
and moulded into different eminences and depressions.
Internally is the inner or ulnar condyle, large and pro¬
minent, for the attachment of the internal lateral liga¬
ment, and a tendon common to the pronator teres, pahnans
longus, flexor sublimis, radialis internus, and ulnaris inter-
Externally is the outer or radial condyle, to which
are attached the external lateral ligament, and the ten¬
don common to the supinators and extensors, viz. supina¬
tor longus and brevis, anconeus, radialis externus, ulnans
externus, and extensor communis. Between these is an
articular surface covered by cartilage, moulded into the
small head which moves in the cavity of the radius,—f
groove corresponding to the margin of the latter; the
semicircular crestinterposed between the radius snAulna,—
rSHial
/<>
lli-. >ic
[tipi-
ps]
ANATOMY.
787
another groove rather larger, in which the prominence of the fibro-cartilage of the joint; and behind and without Special
the sigmoid cavity is ^lodged ; and the trochlear or pulley- the styloid process is a longitudinal groove for the motion Anatomy.
y like eminence, which is received in the internal part of the
sigmoid cavity, and the size of which renders the inner side
of the humerus larger than the outer, and gives it the ob¬
lique direction when placed on the horizontal plane. Be¬
fore is a superficial pit for the coronoid process of the
ulna during flexion of the fore-arm, and behind is a deep
one for receiving the olecranon during extension.
The shaft is not cylindrical, but prismatic, consisting of
three surfaces, bounded by an equal number of lines. The
first line, which descends from the anterior tuberosity,
and, winding to the side, terminates on the ulnar condyle,
is anterior above, where the tendons of the latissimus dorsi
and teres major, and the short head of the triceps, are at¬
tached, but becomes internal-lateral below, where an in¬
termuscular aponeurosis is fixed. The second, which de¬
scends from the fore-part of the large tuberosity to the
anterior articular pit, is anterior throughout, and gives at¬
tachment above to the large pectoral muscle, at the mid¬
dle to the deltoid, and below to the brachialis externus.
The third line, which descends from the back of the great
tuberosity to the external or radial condyle, is posterior
above, where the triceps is fixed, but external below, where
the intermuscular aponeurosis and the supinator longus are
attached.
Of the three surfaces, the first, which is anterior and in¬
ternal, presents above, the bicipital groove, covered by pe¬
riosteum and synovial membrane for the long head of the
biceps; in the middle, the medullary hole and insertion of
the coraco-brachialis ; and below, a surface covered by part
of the brachialis internus. The second, which is external,
is covered above by the deltoid, below by the rest of the
brachialis, and in the middle presents the deltoid tube¬
rosity for the insertion of its tendon, and below this an
oblique sinuosity traversed by the radial nerve. The third,
which is posterior, gives attachment above to the triceps,
and below is merely covered by that muscle.
The humerus, cancellated at its extremities, and com¬
pact in the shaft, is ossified in three parts; one for the
latter, and one for each of the former.
The ulna or cubit (cubitus) is a long bone placed at the
inside of the fore-arm, articulated above with the humerus,
below with the carpus or wrist, and laterally with the
radius. Its superior or humeral extremity consists of two
eminences, and an intermediate semilunar or crescentic
cavity. The first is a large head named the olecranon
(uXevris xoum, ulnce caput, or elbow; processus anconeus,
anxon) ; irregular above, with a small space behind, where
the tendon of the triceps extensor is fixed; concave and
cartilaginous before, where it forms part of the sigmoid
cavity. The second is a broad, thin-edged process,
prominent before, about half an inch below the olecra¬
non, the upper surface of which is cartilaginous, and
completes the sigmoid cavity; the lower surface is rough
for the brachialis internus, some fibres of tXxepronator teres,
the jlexor sublimis, and the internal ligament of the hu-
mero-cubital articulation. At the outside, and continuous
with the sigmoid cavity, is a small semicircular cartila¬
ginous surface—the small semilunar—for articulating with
the head of the radius.
The lower or carpal extremity presents a cartilaginous
surface, shaped like a circular sector, the circular margin
being bent upwards, so as to form a circular surface for
the inner articular surface of the radius, while from the
centre of its radii arises a pointed process named the sty¬
loid, to the tip of which the external ligament of the ra¬
dio-carpal articulation is fixed. Between the styloid pro¬
cess and sectorial surface is a depression, to which is fixed
of the tendon of the ulnaris externus.
The shaft has the shape of a trilateral prism, except
at the lower extremity, where it becomes cylindrical. Of^161111"
the three lines by which the surfaces are bounded, the ieS’
external or radial, which is strongly marked, and sharp at
the middle, extends from the posterior tip of the small
sigmoid cavity to about two inches above the lower end,
and gives attachment to the interosseous ligament. The
second, internal or ulnar, which is obtuse, descends from
the inner edge of the coronoid process to the inside of the
styloid, and gives attachment above and in the middle to
the flexor profundus, and below to the pronator quadratus.
The third, posterior, obtuse above and below, sharp in the
middle, extends from the olecranon to the outside of the
styloid process, and gives attachment to an aponeurosis.
Of the surfaces inclosed by these lines, to the anterior,
which is concave, and contains the medullary hole, the
flexor sublimis is attached above, and the pronator quadra¬
tus below. The inner is covered above, where it is broad,
by (he flexor profundus, and below by the integuments.
The posterior or radial is parted by a line into two
spaces, to the larger of which are fixed the anconeus and
ulnaris externus, and to the smaller the supinator brevis,
extensores pollicis longus et brevis, the abductor pollicis, and
extensor indicis.
The radius is a long bone, rather shorter than the uhui, The ra-
forming the outer bone of the fore-arm, articulated above dius.
with the humerus, below with the carpus, and at the in¬
side with the ulna.
The upper extremity consists of a circular cartilaginous
head, concave for receiving the small head of the humerus,
with a cartilaginous surface on its inner or ulnar side for
articulating with the small sigmoid cavity of the ulna, and
a rough one for the annular ligament on the outside. Be¬
low this the bone is contracted and forms the neck of the
radius, and again swells before into a large rough promi¬
nent tubercle, to which the tendon of the biceps flexor is
fixed, and which is therefore named the bicipital tube¬
rosity.
The lower extremity, which is double the size, forms
an extensive surface for articulation with the scaphoid and
semilunar bones of the carpus, continuous on the ulnar
side with a small cartilaginous surface for articulation with
that of the ulna, bounded without by the styloid process,
a rough triangular eminence, to which is fixed the exter¬
nal ligament, and bounded elsewhere by a rough margin
for ligamentous insertions. The posterior part of this end
presents two eminences inclosing a wide hollow, separat¬
ed by a small eminence into two grooves,—an inner or
ulnar, large for the tendons of the extensor communis and
the extensor proprius indicis, and an outer or radial tor the
extensor longus pollicis. Between the middle eminence
and the styloid process are two other grooves,—the an¬
terior for the abductor magnus and the extensor brevis of
the thumb, and the posterior for those of the radiales
externi.
The shaft or body, which is thin and round above,
prismatic in the middle and below, presents three surfaces
inclosed by an equal number of lines. Of the latter, the
inner or ulnar descends from the inner margin of the
bicipital tuberosity, sharp and prominent, to the small
inner articular surface, and gives attachment to the inter¬
osseous ligament. To the outer, which descends from
the outer margin of the tuberosity, obtuse, to the base
of the styloid process, the flexor sublimis, pronator quad¬
ratus, and supinator longus are attached. The third, also
obtuse, is indistinct to the second third of the bone.
788
ANATOMY.
Special whence it proceeds to the middle tubercle of the carpal
Anatomy. ^ extremity.
The anterior surface, which is hollow above, presents
the medullary hole and the attachment of the flexor
longus pollicis below that of the pronator quadratus. The
posterior, hollowed in the middle, corresponds to the
supinator brevis, the extensors, and abductor pollicis, which
are attached to it; and the common extensors, extensor
proprius indicis, and extensor pollicis, by which it is sim¬
ply covered. The external surface, which is rounded, is
covered above by the supinator brevis, in the middle by
the pronator teres, which are attached to it; and below by
the radial extensors (radiates externi), which merely glide
over it.
The ulna and radius consist of cancellated structure
in the epiphyses, and compact inclosing cancelli in the
diaphyses, and are each ossified in three points.
These two bones are mutually connected by a broad
web of periosteum continued from that of the bones, and
named the interosseous ligament, the principal use of
which is to enable the radius to roll laterally in the mo¬
tions of pronation and supination on the idna, and to give
attachment to muscles without adding to the weight of
the fore-arm by intermediate bone.
bones.
The bones of the hand consist of those of the carpus,
the metacarpus, and the phalanges.
The carpal The carpus consists of eight short and irregular-shaped
bones, arranged in two rows. Those of the first are the
scaphoid or navicular (os scaphoides, os naviculare), the
semilunar (os lunatmn), the cuneiform or trilateral (os
triquetrum), and the pisiform or lenticular (os arbiculare,
os pisifor me). Those of the second row are the trapezal
(trapezium), the trapezoidal (os trapezoides), the large
bone (os magnum, os capitatum), and the unciform bone
(os unciforme, os hamatum).
Of these bones, which it would be tedious to describe
minutely, it is enough to say, that their names are intend¬
ed to indicate their shape; that they are connected mu¬
tually by cartilaginous surfaces, so as to allow the gliding
motion only; and that, besides periosteum, they are in¬
vested by ligaments which maintain them in their posi¬
tion, and tend to strengthen and consolidate the wrist, as
the basis of support for the hand and fingers.
By the upper articular surface of the scaphoid and
semilunar bones, the carpus is connected to the lower
extremity of the radius; while the upper surface of the
trilateral bone is contiguous to the fibro-cartilage of the
radio-carpal articulation, and the upper surface of which
is in contact with the lower articular surface of the ulna.
The pisiform bone, which is attached to the anterior sur¬
face of the latter, and thus projects before the plane of
the other bones into the hand, may be regarded as a
sesamoid bone, which serves as a point of insertion to the
tendons of the flexor carpi ulnaris above, the fibres of
the adductor of the little finger below, and those of the
anterior carpal ligament before.
The inferior surface of the navicular bone is articulat¬
ed at once to the superior surfaces of the trapezium and
trapezoides. The palmar or anterior surface of the for¬
mer presents a small groove, in which moves the tendon
of the flexor carpi radialis, bounded on the outside by the
pyramidal process, to which the annular ligament is at¬
tached. The os magnum, which is articulated above with
the semilunar bone, on the radial side with the scaphoid
and trapezoidal, below with two metacarpal bones, and on
the ulnar side with the unciform bone, is thus wedged
firmly like a central base between the others, and contri¬
butes much to the solidity of the carpal articulations. The
unciform, which is placed at the inside of the range, and Spin]
is articulated above with the lunar and cuneiform, later- Ani n
ally with the scaphoid, and below with the two inner me-^l'
tacarpal bones, is distinguished by the unciform processTho ic
rising from its palmar surface, to which part of the abduc- [^‘if'
tor and flexor brevis minimi digiti and the annular liga
ment are attached, and which, stretched between this and
the pyramidal process of the trapezium, form a species of
arch over the flexor tendons.
The carpal bones consist of cancellated tissue, invested
by a thin pellicle of compact bone. In the foetus and in¬
fant they are composed chiefly of brown-coloured, callous
substance, homogeneous, but without the smallest trace
of bone. Their penetration with this substance takes
place about eighteen months or two years after birth.
The metacarpus is usually said to consist of five bones. The
This is correct so far as situation goes; but one of thesecarPE
bears little resemblance either in shape, connection, ort)one
purpose with the other four. It appears, therefore, more
natural to restrict the name of metacarpal to the four
bones which support the digital phalanges, than to extend
it to the thumb, the first bone of which is to be regarded
as phalanx only.
The four metacarpal bones agree in having trapezoidal
heads, cylindrical bodies with an elevated longitudinal
line before, and rounded convex lower ends for moving on
the concave articular surfaces of the phalanges.
Besides the upper trapezoidal surfaces for articulating
with the trapezoidal, large, and unciform bones, the lateral
margins are provided with facettes, the first and fourth on
one side only, the mutual, the second and third, on both,
for articulation with each other. In this manner the me¬
tacarpal bone of the index finger is articulated above to
the trapezoidal and large bone, and on the inside to the
metacarpal bone of the middle finger; the latter is arti¬
culated above to the large bone, and on the one side to
the index metacarpal bone, on the other to that of the
ring finger; while the latter and the metacarpal bone of
the little finger are articulated above to the unciform
bone and to each other.
The bodies of the metacarpal bones are slightly incur-
vated before, and form a hollow which corresponds with
the palm. In their intervals are contained the interossei
muscles, the internal at the volar, the external at the
dorsal surface. The anterior surface is covered by the
flexor tendons, the lumbricales, and the palmar fascia.
The dorsal surface, which is convex in general, is covered
by the extensor tendons.
The index metacarpal bone has attached to its radial
margin the first dorsal interosseus, to its ulnar, before, the
first palmar interosseus, and behind the second dorsal in,'
terosseus; while to its upper anterior extremity the radicdis
internus is inserted, and to the same extremity behind the
extensor radialis longior.
To the second or middle metacarpal bone, besides the
pdmax fascia and the second and third interossei, the ad¬
ductor polticis and. flexor brevis are attached to the palmar
surface ; and the extensor radialis brevior is inserted into
its dorsal surface.
The fourth or small metacarpal bone, besides the pal¬
mar fascia and the third palmar and fourth dorsal interos-
seus, gives insertion by its dorsal surface to the extensor
carpi ulnaris. .
The phalanges or bones of the fingers are fifteen small
longitudinal bones placed vertically on each other, three
to each finger; or forming ranges distinguished into meta¬
carpal, middle, and unguinal, the first row being the long¬
est, the second shorter, and the third or unguinal the
shortest.
ANATOMY.
tool The metacarpal phalanges agree in having the upper
inatiiy- extremities shaped like rounded cubes, with concave car-
tilaginous surfaces for receiving the lower extremities of
tel?1' the metacarpal bones, and tubercular sides for the attach-
I1^: ment of the lateral ligaments. The upper ends of the
middle and unguinal are moulded into two cartilaginous
cavities with an intermediate ridge, with lateral tubercles
for the lateral ligaments. The lower extremities of the me¬
tacarpal and middle phalanges^ which are smaller than the
upper, are rounded and separated by a small groove into
two condyles, which are received into the cavities of the up¬
per ends. The lower extremities of the unguinal phalanges,
which terminate the fingers, are flattened antero-posterior-
ly, and moulded into crescentic tips (lunulce) transversely.
The bodies of the metacarpal and middle phalanges are
convex behind, and have a surface flat before, bounded on
each side by a sharp marginal line, and taper gradually from
above downwards. Those of the unguinal phalanges, except¬
ing that of the thumb, are convex before as well as behind.
The palmar surface of the metacarpal phalanges is covered
by the flexor tendons, which in the superficial muscle are
inserted into the anterior and upper part of the middle
phalanx, while those of the deep-seated flexor are inserted
into the upper anterior part of the unguinal phalanx. The
first phalanx of the thumb, which is generally considered
as a metacarpal bone, has the abductor magnus inserted
into its upper extremity, and the opponens suuS. flexor brevis
into its body. The dorsal surfaces are covered by the ex¬
tensor tendons, which, with those of the lumbricales and
interossei, are inserted into the middle phalanges.
The metacarpal and phalangeal bones are compact, with
cancellated extremities, and are ossified in three points.
or The bones now enumerated are connected so as to ad-
,ons mit of motion to various extents. The humerus, articulat-
;:|!j r’ ed with the glenoid cavity of the scapula by a capsular
ligament, while the long head of the biceps serves the
purpose of a round ligament, admits of motion in every
direction,—flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, cir-
Iho cumduction, and rotation. The humero-cubital articulation,
* which is secured by two lateral ligaments, admits of ex¬
tension and flexion only; but in any position of the ulna in
relation to the humerus, the radius rolls on the former, so
as to produce those motions of the wrist and hand which
are denominated pronation or internal rotation, and supi¬
nation or external rotation.
lr's id The carpal bones are articulated chiefly with the radius,
? so as to admit of flexion and extension, adduction and ab¬
duction, and even some degree of circumduction and ro¬
tation. The metacarpal bones are limited in motion. The
metacarpal phalanges admit of flexion and extension, ab¬
duction and adduction, circumduction and rotation ; while
those of the middle and unguinal range are confined to
flexion and extension. The precision, nevertheless, ot
which these motions are susceptible, with the numerous
modifications which they undergo in combination with the
opposable powers of the thumb, and the nicety and deli¬
cacy of tact inherent in the skin of the fingers, are the
means from which the human hand derives its remarkable
aptitude for all the mechanical arts, and all operations
requiring manual dexterity. By the combination almost
endless of a number of simple motions, so many complex
motions are produced, that it is difficult to set limits to the
degree of perfection which the hand and fingers, as an
organ of prehension, may attain.
^OS S 7. The Bones of the Pelvic Extremities.
■the+l.' 3
- The bones proper to the lower or pelvic extremities
e are, the thigh-bone {femur), the shin-bone {tibia), and
789
leg-bone {fibula); with the knee-pan {rotula,patella), seven Special
tarsal bones, four metatarsal bones, and 15 phalanges. Anatomy.
The thigh-bone (femur, osfemoris) is the largest, thick-
est, strongest, and heaviest bone of the skeleton. The thiSh-
The upper or iliac extremity consists of a head, neck,bone'
and two tuberosities named trochanters. The head is
globular, incrusted by cartilage and synovial membrane,
unless at its internal point, where there is an irregular de¬
pression for the insertion of the round ligament, and is
lodged in the cotyloid cavity (acetabulum). It is situate
internally in relation to the shaft; and its axis, which forms
with that of the latter an obtuse angle, variable in extent
according to age and sex, is represented by that of the
neck, a contracted cylinder of bone, varying in length ac¬
cording to the same circumstances, flattened before and
behind, presenting numerous vascular holes, and covered
by fibrous slips and synovial membrane. The junction of
the neck with the bone is marked by a large prominent
body named the trochanter major (x), in which four surfaces
may be recognised ; an external lateral, for the insertion
of the glutceus medius, and the motion of the tendon of
the glutceus maximus; an internal with a pit, for the in¬
sertion of the tendon of the pyriformis, of the gemelli, and
of the obturators; an anterior for the insertion of the ten¬
don of the glutceus minimus ; and a posterior for that of
the quadratus femoris. At the union of the neck with
the diaphysis below, and externally, is a conical eminence
named the small trochanter (t), to which the united tendon
of the psoas magnus and iliacus internus is fixed. The spaces
between the trochanters before and behind are united by
oblique rough lines, to which the femoral margin of the
capsular ligament is attached, and the entire space within
which is continuous with the articular cavity.
The lower or tibial extremity, which is large, is moulded
into two rounded eminences named condyles f-MvbuXoi)
(1, 2; a, b); the one internal, deeper, and larger than
the external, separated by an antero-posterior depres¬
sion (fossa intercondylaris), and prominent and convex
behind. Each condyle has an external and internal sur¬
face, while the articular one, which is incrusted by carti¬
lage and synovial membrane, is shaped something like a
horse-shoe, incurvated upwards in the middle before, and
behind on each side, with elevated irregular margins for
the attachment of the articular capsule. The intercondylar
depression before receives the upper part of the knee-pan
(patella), while in the intercondylar cavity behind are
lodged the fimbriated margins of the synovial membrane,
with the femoral ends of the cross ligaments, the anterior
of which is inserted into the inner surface of the external
condyle, and the posterior into that of the internal con¬
dyle. The outer or fibular surface of the external condyle
presents an eminence for the attachment ot the external
lateral ligament, and a depression below for that of the
poplitceus. The outer or tibial surface of the internal
condyle has a prominent tubercle, to which are fixed the
internal lateral ligament and the tendon of the adductor
magnus. In a pit above each condyle the heads of the
gemellus (gastrocnemius externus) are fixed.
The shaft or body, which approaches the cylindrical
shape, is incurvated, with the convexity before, and the
concavity behind (F, f). The anterior surface is uni¬
formly round, and covered by the crurceus, which is fixed
above to the interval between the trochanters. The pos¬
terior surface presents a rough elevated line, descend¬
ing from the base of the large trochanter, meeting a simi¬
lar line descending from the small trochanter, and in¬
closing a triangular rough space, forming about the middle
third of the bone a rough elevated line (lima aspera) (1),
which again is parted into two, less distinct; one termi-
790
ANATOMY.
Special nating on the external, the other very faint on the inter-
Anatomy. nal condyle. To the upper part of the external line,
where it is most prominent, the tendon of the glutceus
maximus is inserted ; next is the short head of the biceps ;
and to the rest are fixed the fibres of the vastus externus.
To the inner line the pectinceus and adductor brevis are
inserted above, and the vastus internus is attached below;
while the adductor longus and magnus are fixed to its
whole length, unless at one point, where it is interrupted
about three inches above the condyle by a smooth sur¬
face, on which the femoral artery passes under the tendon
of the adductor magnus, to continue its course between
the condyles, where it becomes the popliteal artery.
The femur, which is one of the most perfect examples
of a long cylindrical bone, is compact in the diaphysis,
with distinct medullary canal, and cancellated in the epi¬
physes. It is ossified in four portions; one for the dia-
v physis and neck, one for the two condyles, one for the
head, and in general one for the trochanter major. The
neck, which is short in early life, becomes long in adult
age, and the body acquires its peculiar incurvation appa¬
rently from muscular action. In the female this incurva¬
tion is greater than in the male, and the neck forms a
greater angle with the body.
The knee- The knee-pan (rotula,patella) (p) is a short bone, shaped
Pan- like a heart, with the apex downward, convex and fibrous
before, where it is covered by tendinous matter; flat
above, where the rectus, the two vasti, and the crurceus, are
inserted; plane and concave behind, where it is covered
by cartilage and synovial membrane, and separated into
two unequal divisions by a middle ridge, forming the an¬
terior wall of the knee-joint, and applied by its superior
half over the anterior intercondylar fossa. The lower
apex is rough for the attachment of the inferior ligament;
and to the margins are fixed those of the fibro-tendinous
capsular, by which it is connected to the femur and tibia.
The knee-pan, which has a peculiar cancellated struc¬
ture, invested by a thin plate of compact bone, is to be
regarded partly as a sesamoid bone for the insertion of
the common tendon of the four extensors of the leg, partly
as an appendage or epiphysis to the superior part of the
tibia, performing to that bone the same function which
the olecranon does to the ulna.
The shin- The tibia is a prismatic-shaped long bone, situate at the
bone. inner and anterior region of the leg, with the femoral
condyles above, the astragalus below, and the Jibida on
the external side.
The head, upper or femoral end, is large., and of an ir¬
regular oval shape. It presents two slightly concave
elliptical cartilaginous surfaces, with the long diameter
antero-posterior, separated by a rough vascular space,
large before and narrow behind. Of these elliptical sur¬
faces the external margin is most regular, and presents a
crescentic or lunated mark for the attachment of the semi¬
lunar fibro-cartilages, which thus increase the concavity of
the articular surfaces for the reception of the condyles.
The inner or mesial margin of each is elevated into a
curved peak, mutually separated by a depression. These
eminences, which are jointly named the spine of the tibia,
correspond in flexion and extension to the intercondylar
fossa. Before is a triarcual surface, rough for the insertion
of the anterior crucial ligament, and behind a notch for
that of the posterior. The lateral circumference of the
head, which is rough, and marked by vascular holes, pre¬
sents before a triangular surface, the upper half of which
corresponds to the inner surface of the knee-pan, and is
■ contained within the cavity of the joint; while the lower
angular portion is convex for the insertion of the inferior
patellar ligament, or the last insertion of the tendon of the
rectus and vastus externus. The sides, which are rounded Sj ia
and prominent, are named respectively the external and in- An; m
ternal tuberosities, and give attachment to the external and'^H >
internal lateral ligaments. To the back part of the inter¬
nal also the tendon of the semimembranosus is fixed (d),
while that of the external presents a cartilaginous facette
for the articulation of the head of the fibula (c).
The lower or tarsal extremity, which is much smaller,
is nearly quadrilateral, with a cartilaginous surface con¬
cave transversely, with elevated anterior and posterior
borders, and the internal raised into a vertical eminence
named the inner ankle {malleolus internus') (f), to the apex
of which the internal lateral ligament is fixed. This carti¬
laginous surface, which receives the head of the astragalus,
is surrounded by a furrow, very distinct before, in which
ligamentous fibres are inserted; while the external margin,
which is broader than the internal, presents between two
prominences a trilateral hollow, in which the tarsal end
of the fibula is lodged. The anterior surface is covered
by the tendons of the tibialis anticus and extensor pro-
prius hallucis; and the posterior, behind the internal ankle,
is marked by a groove for the tibialis posticus and flexor
longus digitorum, and another for the flexor longus hallucis.
The body or diaphysis, which is thick above, is prisma¬
tic, and presents three surfaces, bounded by the same
number of lines. The first, which is anterior {crista),
descends sharp and prominent from the anterior margin
of the external tuberosity to the fore part of the internal
ankle, and, though subcutaneous, gives attachment to the
tibial aponeurosis and the tibialis anticus. To the ex¬
ternal, which is sharp, and descends from the posterior
margin of the same tuberosity to the anterior tubercle of
the lower end, the interosseous ligament is fixed. To
the internal, which is obtuse, and rather rounded, and
descends from the posterior part of the internal tuberosity
to that of the inner ankle, the poplitceus above, and the
second or inner head of the solceus, with the flexor longus
digitorum, are attached.
The surfaces bounded by these lines are intenml, ex¬
ternal, and posterior. The first, which is convex, gives
insertion above to the sartorius, gracilis, and semitendi-
nosus, and is elsewhere covered by integuments only.
The external is concave above, where the tibialis anticus
is fixed; convex below, where it is covered by the tendons
of this muscle, and of the extensor communis and proprim.
The posterior is crossed by an oblique line (T, 1, Plate
XXV.) descending from the fibular articular surface to
the internal line, and forming two spaces, the superior of
which, triangular, is covered by the poplitceus inserted
into the oblique line, while the lower, occupied by the
tibialis posticus and flexor longus, presents also the medul¬
lary holes.
The tibia, compact in the diaphysis, with medullary
canal, cancellated in the epiphyses, is ossified in three por¬
tions, one for the former part, and one for each of the
latter.
The fibula, which is the most slender bone of the skele-The
ton of equal length, is situate at the outer side of the^one‘
tibia, with its lower extremity anterior to the plane of
the upper, articulated above with the latter bone only,
below with the tibia and astragalus at once.
The head or tibial end, which is of an irregular cuboi-
dal shape, presents above an oblique, trilateral, cartilagi¬
nous surface, articulated with that behind the external
tibial tuberosity, by which also it is overhung. Before is
a triangular surface, slightly convex, for part of the femo-
ro-tibial ligament; behind, a tubercular surface for liga¬
mentous insertions; and externally, between the two, is
an extensive pentagonal surface for the insertion of the
ANATOMY.
! filial bicipital tendon, terniinating above in an angular point, to
P which is fixed the peroneo-tibial ligament.
The lower or tarsal end consists of a pointed trilateral
pyramid, the external surface of which, somewhat convex,
is subcutaneous, and forms the external or fibular ankle
{malleolus externus) (e). Within is a trapezoidal cartilagi¬
nous surface, which is articulated with the astragalus; and
behind and below is a rough triangular surface, with a cavi¬
ty for the insertion of the fibulo-tarsal ligament, while the
external ligament is fixed to its angular tip. The poste¬
rior surface presents a groove, sometimes two, incrusted
by fibro-cartilage for the motion of the peroncei longus
et brevis.
The body is marked by several lines inclosing sur¬
faces rather irregular in shape and extent. Among the
former the following may be recognised :—An anterior,
commencing about 21 inches below the head, distinct in
the middle, where the aponeurosis common to the exten¬
sor longus digitorum and peronceus tertius before, and the
peronceus longus et brevis behind, is attached, and bifur¬
cating about 21 inches above the lower end into an ante¬
rior and posterior, terminating on the anterior and posterior
margins respectively of the malleolus externus, inclosing a
triangular space, which is covered by integuments only.
The internal, descending from about an inch below the
head to the anterior edge of the internal malleolus, coin¬
cides there with the anterior part of the anterior line. To
this, above and in the middle, the tibialis posticus and flexor
proprius pollicis, and below the interosseous ligament, are
attached. The external or posterior descends from the pos-
| terior part of the head, obtuse, and winds round below to
the posterior part of the tarsal end, giving attachment to
an aponeurosis intermediate between the lateral
without, and the flexor proprius and solceus behind. Be¬
tween the external and the anterior is an oblique line, to
which the interosseous ligament is fixed.
The external surface between the anterior and posterior
lines, narrow above, convex and broad in the middle, and
winding spirally round the axis of the bone, is covered by
the perorueus longus and brevis. An anterior, plane, is
covered by the extensor longus and peronceus tertius. The
internal or tibial is divided by the oblique line into two;
an anterior for the extensor proprius, and a posterior for
the tibialis posticus. To the posterior surface above, which
is convex, the solceus is attached; and in the middle and
below the flexor longus pollicis ; while, by the rough trian¬
gular surface below, the bone is articulated with the tri¬
lateral cavity of the tibia.
The flbula, which is ossified in three portions, partakes
of the general characters of structure common to the long
bones.
| jus.-' The tarsus consists of seven short irregular-shaped
bones, the astragalus, the heel-bone {calcaneum, os calcis),
the scaphoid, cuboid, and three cuneiform bones.
The first {talus, astragalus) has a convex cartilaginous
surface above for articulation with the lower end of the
tibia, continuous with a similar trilateral concave surface
on the inside for articulating with the malleolar process,
and with a smaller triarcual surface on the outside for the
fibula; two cartilaginous surfaces, separated by a deep
pit below, for articulating with the calcaneum; and an
anterior eminence, with a convex cartilaginous surface, for
articulating with the scaphoid bone before. The calca¬
neum, which is the largest, consists of the posterior tube-
791
internal lateral sinuosity for the passage of the flexor Special
en ons, that or the tibialis posticus, and the posterior Anatomy,
tibial artery and nerves; and, lastly, an external lateral
sunace, covered by integuments and the tendons of the
lateral peroncei.
The scaphoid bone is connected by its posterior con¬
cave surface with the anterior convex one of the astra¬
galus, and presents before a cartilaginous surface with
three facettes for the three cuneiform bones, and on the
outside a small facette for the cuboid. On the inside is
a prominent tuberosity for the attachment of the tibialis
posticus. The cuboid bone, which constitutes the outer
margin of the tarsus, and is articulated with the trilateral
surface of the calcaneum, and by a minute facette with the
scaphoid bone, is chiefly distinguished by an oblique or
diagonal groove, for the tendon of the peronceus longus.
The third and fourth metatarsal bones are articulated to
its anterior surface.
I he three cuneiform bones agree in having posterior car¬
tilaginous surfaces for articulation with the scaphoid
bone, and anterior ones for that with the first phalanx of
the great toe, and the metatarsal bones of the second and
third toes. The internal surface of the large cuneiform
bone is convex, covered by integuments ; the external or
fibular cartilaginous, with two facettes for articulation with
the second cuboid bone and the first metatarsal. Its
lower surface is irregular for the insertion of the tibialis
anticus, and part of the tibialis posticus. The second cunei¬
form bone, which is the smallest of the three, and the most
like its name, is wedged between the scaphoid behind, the
first and third on each side, and supports the first metatar¬
sal bone before. The third, which also is not unlike its
denomination, is wedged between the scaphoid behind, and
the second cuneiform and the cuboid bone, and sustains
the second metatarsal bone; while the third and fourth
are articulated with the anterior surface of the cuboid.
Of the metatarsal bones there are four; the first three The meta¬
similar to each other; the fourth, which sustains the pha-tarsal
langes of the small toe, distinguished by a large oblique h01163,
angular head for the insertion of the tendon of the pe¬
ronceus brevis, while that of the jmemceus tertius is fixed
above. Of the other three the heads are trilateral or
wedge-shaped with the base upwards, with cartilaginous
facettes on the sides for mutual articulation. The bodies
are cylindrical, and, tapering, terminate in round heads
flattened laterally. The dorsal or upper surface is covered
by the extensor tendons, the extensor brevis digitorum, and
the dorsal vessels and nerves derived from the anterior tibial
artery and nerve. The surface of these bones is so con¬
structed that it forms an arched or convex inclined plane,
descending from the tibial to the fibular side of the foot.
In the anterior or plantar surface, which is concave, are
lodged the abductor hallucis, abductor minimi digiti, flexor
brevis, the flexor tendons, the accessory flexor, the lumbri-
cales pedis, flexor brevis hallucis, abductor hallucis, flexor
brevis minimi digiti, transversalis, and the external and
internal ranges of the interossei.
The phalanges of the toes, in number 15, bear a gener The pha-
ral resemblance to those of the fingers; but are consider!- langes.
ably shorter, unless in the instance of the great toe. Like
these also, they are disposed in three ranges,—metatarsal,
middle, and unguinal.
The bones now described are united so as to admit of The pelvic
_       different degrees and forms of motion. The head of thee.xtr.emi-
rosity {talus) {c), for the insertion of the united tendons of femur, lodged in the acetabulum, is retained in that cavity neraj_
the gastrocnemius and solceus, and that of the plantaris; not only by the capsular and round ligaments, but bj ^pjie hip.
two upper cartilaginous surfaces, separated by a ligament- the numerous strong muscles with which the hip-joint
ous pit, for articulating with the astragalus; an anterior is surrounded. The length of the neck, which is peculiar
cartilaginous trilateral surface for the cuboid bone; an to the human subject, throws the supporting column o
792
ANATOMY.
Special the bone to a greater distance, not only from the pelvis,
Anatomy, but from the mesial plane and centre of gravity; and this
character, with the great proportional length of the bone,
and the extent and direction of the pelvis, constitutes the
most decisive argument in favour of the doctrine, that man
must support himself in the erect position on the two pel¬
vic extremities. In most quadrupeds the neck of the
femur is short; the cylinder is shorter than the tibia, and
not arched; and the pelvis, both by its vertical direction
and peculiar dimensions, is calculated for the quadruped
motion only. The femur admits of motion in every direc¬
tion,—flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, circum¬
duction, and rotation.
The knee- The tibia, with its appendage the knee-pan, is articu-
joint. lated to the condyles of the femur by means of an exter¬
nal and internal lateral ligament, strengthened by an an¬
terior or patellar ligament, posterior fibres, and an anterior
and posterior cross ligament, contained within the synovial
membrane. The effect of this arrangement, with the ana¬
tomical configuration of the articular ends, is to allow car¬
dinal opposition, or flexion and extension only. A small
degree of rotation, nevertheless, may be effected.
The fibula is articulated to the tibia above by a genu¬
ine capsular joint, and below by fibrous matter, and con¬
nected at its internal side by a duplicature of periosteum
forming the interosseous ligament. These connections ad¬
mit of little motion, and the chief use of the fibula is to
give attachment to several muscles which bend or evert
the foot. The chief weight of the person, divided as it
is between each lower extremity, is communicated from
The ankle- the pelvis to the femur, thence to the tibia, and finally to
jomt
the astragalus and calcaneum behind, and the metatarsal
bones before. The motion of opposition is confined to
the former, which rolls backwards and forwards in the ca¬
vity formed by the lower extremity of the tibia and the
fibula in the flexion and extension of the foot. In this,
therefore, which forms the ankle-joint, all the motions of
the foot as a whole are executed. It appears further to be
susceptible of a slight degree of lateral rotation, so as to
contribute to the eversion and inversion of the foot.
The tarsal bones are mutually connected by cartilagi¬
nous surfaces, and secured by numerous fibrous bands, so
as to admit of the gliding motion only. This motion is
further between each individual articulation very limited,
and its general amount is inconsiderable. The great use
of the tarsal articulations is evidently stability and solidity
as a base of support, not mobility.
The arches The bones of the foot form two distinct and separate
ot the foot. arches,—an antero-posterior and a transverse. The first
is constituted by the posterior part of the heel-bone be¬
hind and the metatarso-phalangeal articulations before;
and its chief use is to distribute the weight of the extre¬
mity from the astragalus, which may be regarded as the
centre, to the os calcis and extremities of the metatarsal
bones on each side. In standing, for example, either on
one foot or both, the weight of each extremity is distri¬
buted before to the metatarso-phalangeal joints, and be¬
hind to the tuberosity of the os calcis, while the anterior
part of the latter bone and the whole second range of tar¬
sal bones do not touch the ground. The second arch re¬
sults first from the arrangement of the cuneiform bones
with the scaphoid, and that of the cuboid with the os calcis;
and next from the arrangement of the metatarsal bones.
These arches, which are indistinct in early life, become
conspicuous as the bones are completed, and acquire their
complete developement in adult age. These arches are of
great use in the alternate elevation of each half of the
person in progression, in ascending an inclined plane or a
series of steps, and especially in springing and leaping.
lihephalanges are articulated with the metatarsal bones Spec
and with each other, so as to admit of flexion and exten- AnatoLj
sion chiefly, with a very limited extent of abduction and''"x~v' ^
adduction. The articulation of the great toe, also des¬
titute of the power of opposition, abridges much its ex¬
tent of motion. < While these circumstances, with the
great brevity of the phalanges, render the foot much less
perfect than the hand as an organ of prehension, they
extend its sphere of support, and enlarge its powers as a
locomotive agent.
The pelvic and thoracic extremities present several Paralli
points of resemblance which have been well traced bybet'vee
Soemmering. The head, neck, and tuberosities of the1!161,1!1
humerus resemble the head, neck, and trochanters of the^3^
femur; and if the lower end of the former bone is arti-m"itie“
culated both with the ulna and radius, while that of the
latter is connected to the tibia only, there is still sufficient
analogy between the lower ends of both bones. The
tibia resembles the ulna above, with the knee-pan corre¬
sponding to the olecranon ; but the lower extremity of the
tibia is represented by that of the radius, in consequence
of the extensive connection of the latter bone with the
carpus for the purpose of pronation and supination. The
navicular and lunar bones of the carpus are represented
by the single astragalus,—an arrangement which appears
to be allied in the latter case to the purpose of stability
and solidity. The calcaneum may be regarded as an en¬
larged os magnum, fitted for the same purpose; and even
in the shape and position of the scaphoid bone the same
object may be recognised. This comparison, however, it
is superfluous to pursue farther. The general conclusion
is, that the thoracic extremities are intended to combine
with strength great extent and precision of motion, while
the purpose of the pelvic is stability, solidity, and strength.
SECT. II. MYOLOGY ; THE ANATOMY OF THE MUSCLES.
The muscles, with their appendages the fasciae, tendons, The it
and synovial sheaths, constitute the second division of theses.
locomotive organs. By the term muscle, indeed, in Spe¬
cial Anatomy, is meant not only a mass of flesh adequate
to effect motion, but an organ consisting of fascia, muscu¬
lar flesh, and tendon, connected by the first and last sub¬
stances to the parts, fixed or movable, to be approximated.
While the middle portion is denominated belly (venter),
the two extremities are most properly named attachments;
though by others they have been termed respectively head
or origin (caput, origo), and insertion (insitio) or termi¬
nation (finis), according as the one or the other end has
been imagined to be most fixed.
By the contraction of the middle portion or belly the
two extremities are approximated; and according as the
one is connected with a bone or soft part more movable
than the other, that movable portion is approximated to
the fixed. This, which is the general effect of muscular
action, is well exemplified in the primary bones of the
extremities, the muscles of which have their fixed end
in general in the trunk, and their movable end attached to
the bones of the extremities. Thus in the case of ihepecto-
ralis major (p), Plate XXVII., and latissimus dorsi (l, l),
Plate XXVIII., the fixed ends are in the trunk, and the
movable or insertions are in the humerus; and the effect of
the contraction of the belly is to carry the humerus for¬
ward over the chest in the one case, and backward on the
trunk in the other. This is easily applied to other muscles,
as to those of the face.
The converse of this arrangement nevertheless may
take place. The extremity, which in ordinary circum¬
stances is the most movable, may be converted into the
ANATOMY.
fixed; while that which is fixed becomes movable. Thus,
itiwny- in the case of the two muscles already mentioned, the
humerus may become the fixed point; and the effect will
1' be to elevate and approximate the trunk to the part to
1111LS' which the extremity is fixed.
Though all the muscles are agents of motion, all are
not of locomotion ; and it is chiefly the muscles connected
by both ends with the skeleton, and especially those of
the extremities, which are entitled to this distinction.
The muscles of the face are connected always by one end,
often by both, with the skin, and hence are cutaneous
muscles. Those of the lower jaw and pharynx are organs
of motion simply to move the parts with which they are
connected in the acts of mastication and deglutition.
Those of the larynx are of two orders, the common or ex¬
trinsic, connected to some of the bones of the head and
chest; and the proper or intrinsic, pertaining to the laryn¬
geal cartilages only. Those of the eye and ear, external
and internal, are equally unconnected with the locomotive
faculty.
These circumstances have induced several authors,
especially the ancient anatomists, and among the moderns
Winslow, to arrange the muscles according to the parts
which they move. By others, however, especially Dou¬
glas and Albinus, they have been classified according to
the regions which they occupy; and this method, which
is certainly more strictly anatomical, has been more or
less adopted by Innes, Sabatier, Bichat, and Boyer. To
the first method the principal objection is, that the same
muscle may pertain to different classes of organs, and
may effect different purposes in each; while of the se¬
cond it must be admitted, that it communicates no in¬
formation regarding the remarkable part which the muscles
perform in the complicated processes of the animal ma¬
chine. This consideration it was which induced Albi¬
nas, after a minute description of the situation, connec¬
tions, and separate actions of each muscle of the human
body, to construct a table representing the various classes
into which they may be divided, according to the parts on
which they act; for the same reason, doubtless, Soem¬
mering arranged them according to the organs to which
they belong; and for the same reason Portal, after a de¬
scription equally minute with that of Albinus, gives a se¬
cond account of the muscles as they are observed to act
in the living body.
In the following tabular view, modified from that given
by Albinus in the fourth book of his Historia Musculorum,
the muscles are arranged according to their regions.
Muscles of the Head, Neck, and Vertebral Column.
Rectus capitis posticus ma-
Latissimus colli, (n.)
Sterno-mastoideus. (<rr.)
Splenius capitis, (s.)
Splenius cervicis.
Biventer cervicis.
Complexus. (c. c.)
Trachelo-mastoideus.
Transversus cervicis.
Cervicis descendens.
(Longissimus dorsi
jor.
Rectus
-fSacro-lumbalis, and
(Spinalis dorsi. (s.)
Spinalis cervicis.
Semi-spinalis dorsi.
Multifidus spinae.
JInterspinales cervicis.
—  dorsi.
  lumborum.
VOL. II.
capitis posticus mi¬
nor.
Obliquus capitis superior.
Obliquus capitis inferior.
Rectus lateralis.
Rectus capitis anticus major.
Rectus capitis anticus minor.
(lo.) Longus colli. (1.)
Scalenus anticus.
 medius. (sc.)
  posticus.
Intertransversi colli priores.
Intertransversi colli posteri-
ores.
Intertransversi dorsi.
Intertransversi lumborum.
793
Muscles of the Chest. Special
Levatores costarum brevi- )
Sterno-costalis.
Serratus posticus superior. ores.
Serratus posticus inferior. Intercostales externi.
Leratores costarumlongiores. Intercostales interni.
Common to the Chest and Abdomen.
Septum transversum, sive Diaphragma.
Muscles of the Abdomen and Loins.
Obliquus externus. (o.) Quadratus lumborum.
Obliquus internus. Psoas parvus.
Rectus, (r. r.) Psoas magnus.
Pyramidalis. Iliacus internus.
Transversus. (t.)
Muscles of the Thoracic Extremities.
The Shoulder.
The
muscles.
Isf Order.
Subclavius.
2c? Order.
Serratus magnus. (s.)
Cucullaris. (c. c.)
Rhomboideus major, (p.)
Rhomboideus minor.
Levator scapulae, (l. s.)
3c? Order.
Deltoides. A.
Supraspinatus. (s. s.)
Infraspinatus, (i. s.)
Teres minor, (t.)
Teres major, (t.)
Subscapularis.
\th Order.
Latissimus dorsi. (l.)
Pectoralis major, (p.)
Pectoralis minor, (p.)
Muscles of the Arm.
Coraco-brachialis. Triceps brachii. (Tr.)
Biceps brachii. (b. b.) Anconeus.
Brachialis internus. (Br.)
Muscles of the Fore-Arm and Wrist.
Supinator longus. (s.) Ulnaris internus.
Radialis externus longior. Radialis internus.
(f.)
 brevior.
Pronator teres. (Pr.)
Pronator quadratus.
Supinator brevis.
Ulnaris externus.
Muscles of the Hand and Fingers.
Extensor communis. Abductor brevis pollicis.
Extensor proprius auricularis.Opponens pollicis
Abductor longus pollicis.
Extensor minor pollicis.
Extensor major pollicis.
Indicator.
Palmaris longus. (p.)
Sublimis. (f. s.)
Profundus, (f.)
Flexor longus pollicis.
Extensor brevis indicis.
Lumbricales.
Flexor brevis pollicis.
Adductor pollicis.
Palmaris brevis.
Abductor digiti minimi.
Flexor parvus digiti minimi.
Adductor ossis metacarpi
digiti minimi.
Interossei interni.
Interossei externi.
Abductor indicis.
Muscles of the Pelvic Extremities.
The Hip.
Glutaeus magnus. (gl.)
Glutaeus medius. (g. i.)
Glutaeus minor.
Pyriformis.
Gemini, (g. g.)
Muscles of the Thigh.
Biceps cruris, (b.) Vastus externus. (v.)
Semitendinosus. (s. t.) Vastus internus. (v.)
Semimembranosus, (s. m.) Cruralis.
Tensor vaginae femoris. (t.) Pectinaeus
(ob.)
Obturator internus.
Obturator externus.
Quadratus femoris. (q.)
Psoas magnus.
Iliacus internus.
Sartorius. (s.)
Gracilis, (g.)
Rectus.
Adductor longus. a.
Adductor brevis.
Adductor magnus. a.
5 H
94
ANATOMY.
The
muscles.
Special
Anatomy.
, ^ ^ y Cjemellus.
Plantaris.
.Solajus.
Poplitaeus.
Flexor longus digitorum
pedis.
Flexor longus hallucis.
Tibialis posticus.
3Tuscles of the Leg and Tarsus.
Peronaeus longus. (p.) Its ten¬
don in the groove of the
cuboid bone.
Peronaeus brevis.
Extensor 1. digitorum pedis.
Peronaeus tertius.
Tibialis anticus.
Extensor proprius hallucis.
digiti minimi
Muscles of the Foot and Toes.
Extensor brevis digitorum Abductor digiti minimi pedis,
pedis. Flexor brevis
Flexor brevis digitorum pedis, (f.)
pedis. Transversus pedis, (tr.)
Abductor hallucis. Lumbricales pedis.
Flexor brevis hallucis. (f. 4.) Interossei interni pedis.
Adductor hallucis. (a. d.) Interossei externi pedis.
Muscles of the Lower Jaw.
Biventer maxillae. Pterygoideus externus.
Masseter. Pterygoideus internus.
Temporalis.
3Iuscles common to the Hyoid Bone, Tongue, and Larynx.
Omohyoideus. Styloglossus.
Sternohyoideus. Mylohyoideus.
Sternothyroideus. Geniohyoideus.
Hyothyroideus. Hyoglossus.
Thyroideus. Genioglossus.
Stylohyoideus. Lingualis.
Muscles of the Palate and Pharynx.
Levator palati. Palato-pharyngeus.
Azygos uvulae. Stylo-pharyngeus.
Circumflexus palati. Salpingo-pharyngeus.
Constrictor isthmi faucium. Constrictores pharyngis.
Proper Muscles of the Larynx.
Crico-thyroideus. Arytaenoideus transversus.
Crico-arytaenoideus posticus. Tbyro-arytaenoidei.
Crico-arytaenoideus lateralis. Thyro-epiglottici.
Arytaenoideus obliquus.
3Iuscle of the Scalp.
Epicranius. (e, be, bE, e.)
Muscles of the Nose.
Compressor narium. (c.) Nasalis labii superioris. (N.)
Levator labii sup, ioris alae- Depressor alae nasi, (d.)
que nasi, (l.)
Muscles of the Lips.
Levator labii superioris. • Depressor labii inferioris.
Zygomaticus minor, (z.)
Zygomaticus major. (Z.)
Levator anguli oris.
Depressor anguli oris.
Buccinator, (t.)
Orbicularis oris. (o. o.)
Anomalus maxillae superioris.
Levator menti.
3Iuscles common to the Ear and Scalp.
Attollens auriculam. Minor helicis.
Prior auriculae.
Retrabens auriculam.
Major helicis.
Tragicus.
Antitragicus.
Transversus auriculae.
Proper 3Iuscles of the Eye.
Attollens. (a.) Plate Adductor. Ad.
XXXIII. fig. 6. Obliquus superior. Tr.
Depressor, (d.) Obliquus inferior.
Abductor. (Ab.)
.SI
An; m;
[S
p
mjei
ill
Proper Muscles of the Ear.
Laxator tympani major. Tensor tympani.
Laxator tympani minor. Stapedius.
Muscles of the Anus and Perinceum.
:—: Levator ani.
Transversus perinaei.
Transversus perinsei alter,
Sphincter ani externus.
Sphincter ani internus.
Coccygeus.
Curvator coccygis.
3Iuscles proper to the Male Generative Organs.
Cremaster. Bulbo-cavernosus.
Ischio-cavernosus. Compressor prostatae.
Muscles proper to the Female Generative Organs.
Ischio-clitoridaeus. Depressor urethrae.
Constrictor vulvae.
3Iuscles common to the Face and Eye.
Orbicularis palpebrarum, (o.o.) Levator palpebrae superioris.
Corrugator supercilii.
The limits assigned to the present treatise preclude
particular details on the situation and relations of this nu¬
merous list of muscular organs. Any description suffi¬
ciently minute for the purpose of explaining the situa¬
tion, attachments, relations, and actions of the muscles
of the different regions, would be tedious in the ex¬
treme, and would not be intelligible without dissection;
and no descriptiop according to their actions only would
be intelligible, without a previous account of their anato¬
mical relations. For these reasons it seems most expe¬
dient to direct the attention of the reader to a few gene¬
ral circumstances only. For descriptive details the reader
will study with advantage the third book of the elaborate
and accurate Historia Musculorum of Albinus, or the
more recent treatise of Sandifort. The descriptions of
Innes are clear, short, and sufficiently minute ; and a good
account of the muscles, as they appear on exposition, is
given in the London Dissector. Of systematic treatises,
the second volumes of those of Soemmering, Portal, and
Bichat are the best.
This section, therefore, we shall conclude with such a
general view of the muscles as agents in the attitudes
and motions of the trunk and extremities, as, with the
occasional remarks on their situation and connections
in describing the bones, may be easily intelligible. It is
further proper to advert briefly to those of the flexor
muscles of the fingers, partly with the view of illustrating
the general effects of muscular action, partly to show
the mechanism by which the hand and fingers are en¬
abled to execute such a variety of nice and delicate mot ions.
The muscles of the trunk are employed not only as Mu'
agents of motion and sustentation, but as the protecting the
walls of the large cavities. Thus the external and inter¬
nal ranges of intercostals, the two pectorals, and the ser-
ratus magnus, operate not only in moving the ribs and
shoulder respectively, but in contributing to complete the
walls of the thorax, and to protect the internal organs.
The diaphragm is not only an agent in enlarging the chest
downwards, but constitutes an essential partition between
the thoracic and abdominal viscera, prevents the lungs and
heart from descending into the abdomen, and the stomach
and bowels from being thrust upwards into the chest.
These characters are still more conspicuously displayed
in the recti abdominis, obliqui externi et interni, and trans-
(S i
nk
A \ A T O M Y.
. 11 i i i A • i • i . —~ w^aoiuiituiy oi me interior
opposing but equally balanced powers, are retained in the extremities. Familiar examples of this are afforded in the
cavity, and prevented from being protruded upwards or act of climbing walls, trees, and occasionally rocks in as-
downwards, while they are subjected to the alternate mo- cending the rigging of a ship, and still more forcibly in the
tions of inspiiation and expiration. manner in which the active seaman ascends a single rope
The muscles of the trunk are employed in retaining that Constriction consists in the forcible and continued in-Constric
part of the skeleton in the erect attitude, in balancing it flection either of a single hand or of the whole of bothtion.
j ( properly on the pelvic extremities, in occasionally inflect- members. In the first case the agents are the superficial
ing and extending it, in bending it to one side, or in pro- and deep flexors, and the flexors of the thumb and little
ducing lotation. I hose of the spine and back are parti- finger ; and in the second, with the action of these muscles,
Jculaily the agents of the erect attitude, and of extension ; that of the biceps, brachialis internus, and coraco-brachialis
and those of the anterior region are employed in inflect- is combined. This motion can neither be so sudden as
ing the person. _ that of prepulsion, nor, like it, can it be aided by the weight
1)[ les of The muscles of the superior extremities taken together of the person.
ora- are the agents of numerous varied motions. Though the Diduction, which consists in the forcible separation ofDiduetion
r trc- principal object of the thoracic extremities is prehension, the upper extremities from each other, as in swimming,
I ' or embracing any object or objects firmly either by one is effected partly by the latissimus dorsi and teres major,
or both hands, this may be modified in various ways, so as partly by the posterior fasciculi of the deltoid moving the
to give rise to prepulsion, traction, and constriction; whole extremity in the scapulo-humeral articulation,
while diduction and circumduction are the result of the Circumduction, which also is exclusively confined toCircum.
combinations of the simple movements,—abduction, ad- the scapulo-humeral articulation, is effected principallyduction.
duction, flexion, and extension. by the deltoid, large pectoral, latissimus dorsi, teres major,
r 1" Prepulsion may be either instantaneous or continued. &c.; while rotation is performed by the supraspinatus,
,l() The first takes place in the act of inflicting a blow or i’e- infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis, &c.
pelling an object. All the flexors are previously put in Besides these general classes of motion executed by Gesture,
action to shorten the member, which is then at once for- the thoracic extremities, to them also belongs the power
cibly extended, and communicates a violent shock to the of assuming many of those attitudes and all the varieties
part of the object to which its extremity is applied. Of of gesture which man employs for the purpose either of
this motion, in which the extension takes place in the expressing his feelings or giving significance and ani-
scapulo-humeral and humero-cubital articulations, the mation to the language which he adopts for that purpose,
deltoid and brachialis externus, or third head of the How much these gestures, when well chosen and properly
triceps, are the chief agents. The wrist and fingers introduced, aid both the expression of the countenance
are almost passive. But an analogous motion is exe- and the language of the lips, is well known to the public
cuted by the latter in giving a fillip. In continuous speaker and the dramatic performer.
prepulsion, for instance, or the act of impelling an Besides the ordinary flexors of the wrist (radialis e#-Motions of
object, the mechanism is of two kinds. In the first case, ternus et internus, ulnaris interims), there are two common hand and
the member being previously extended and supported on flexors of the fingers, one superficial (sublimis), the other^n8ers'
the object, the individual inclines the trunk, and avails deep-seated (profundus); the thumb has a long and short
himself of its weight; while the member, remaining pas- flexor, and the little finger has a short flexor. The flexor
sive, becomes a lever moved by gravity. In the second muscles, therefore, may be distinguished into four orders ;
case, the continued action of the extensors retaining the those common to the wrist and hand, those common to
member forcibly extended, impels the object without in- the hand and fingers, those proper to the fingers, and
terruption. When, for example, a man pushes a wheel- those proper only to some of the fingers. Though the
carriage before him, the superior extremities are extend- radialis internus and ulnaris internus chiefly bend the wrist
ed and communicate motion to the carriage, while the and hand, yet both the superficial and deep flexors, by
trunk approaching it immediately, the extremities are passing beneath the annular ligament, co-operate in the
again inflected* and so forth successively. In most in- same motion, and necessarily bend the hand previous to
stances this twofold mechanism is combined. When in their final action on the digital phalanges. In this they
prepulsion the body impelled is fixed, the impulse is are considerably aided by the action of the palmaris lon-
thrown back on the person of the propelling agent. Ex- gus and the palmaris brevis, which render the palmar apo-
amples of this effect of prepulsion are observed in the act neurosis tense, and enable it to afford the necessary resist-
of rising from a seat by the occasional use of the thoracic ance to the subjacent flexor tendons,
extremities, and in pushing a vessel from the shore by The superficial flexor, the tendons of which are insert-
means of an oar or pole. ed into the anterior and citerior part of the second row of
r n* Traction, which consists in a general action of the phalanges, has the effect of bending that part of the fingers;
flexors of the thoracic extremities, is directly the reverse and further, by being bound down by a ligamentous sheath
of prepulsion. Its effect is to diminish the space between to the first phalanx, inflects them at the same time into
the agent and the object drawn, which takes place by the palm. The slits in each tendon allow those of the deep
shortening the member; while in prepulsion this space is flexor to pass forward on the median line of each phalanx,
enlarged by elongating or extending the member. In the to be inserted in the unguinal phalanges, and thereby to
case of a very great effort, for instance that of detach- operate most directly and perfectly in inflecting them on
ing a piece of wood strongly fixed in a wall, the action of the palm; and, by being confined also in the same sheath
the flexors is aided by the weight of the trunk, which is by strong ligamentous bands, aid in inflecting the second
instinctively inclined in the opposite direction; and if the and first range of phalanges. (Plate XX\ III. fig. 2 and 3.}
796
ANATOMY.
Special These actions are further facilitated and modified by
Anatomy, another class of muscles. The lumbricales, which, situate in
the palm, are attached above to the tendons of the flexor
flexion6andProfun(^us^ an(l inserted sometimes into the extensor ten-
extension* d°ns’ sometimes into the lateral regions of the phalanges,
may either concur with the profundus in bending the first
phalanges, or they may adduct or abduct the fingers, ac¬
cording to the separate or conjunct motion ; and hence are
of the utmost importance in all nice and minute motions of
the fingers. Without the lumbricales, which are peculiar
to man, it would be impossible for the human fingers to
execute those minute and rapid movements which are
necessary in performing on musical instruments ; and the
great advantage which one individual possesses over an¬
other in what is denominated execution, consists chiefly in
the perfect use of these little muscles. In playing on the
piano-forte especially, the lumbricales are of the most es¬
sential service; and though the superficial flexor enables
a lady to strike the keys, the former must be employed
in the more minute and delicate motions requisite in the
transition through numerous chords.
In this action the internodii at the same time appear to
be auxiliary; and their connections are calculated to mo¬
dify the action of the flexors.
Opposition Another peculiarity in the human hand consists in the
of thumb four muscles with which the thumb is provided, and the
two connected with the little finger. By means of its
short abductor, short flexor, and adductor, the thumb may
be separated, inflected, and approximated to the hand
quite independently of the fingers, and with the utmost
precision. But from the opponens it derives the remark¬
able property of being accurately and precisely applied to
the tip of any one of the fingers, and thus made to grasp
minute objects, which could not without this be effected.
From this muscle, in short, the human hand derives its
power of appliance to all the arts requiring nice manual
operation. Without the opponens there is no penmanship,
and fin¬
gers
no painting, no drawing, no tracing, no needlework, no
General
move¬
ments of
engraving ; in short, none of those operations requiring the
obedience of the hand to the conceptions of the mind and
the guidance of the eye.
Tlie movements of the lower extremities are less dis¬
tinguished for precision and delicacy than those of the
superior; and though the foot has both lumbricales andmfer-
extremi *C osse^ ^ie brevity of the phalanges compared with the length
tjes ' of the metatarsal bones, and the close connection of the
toes, form insurmountable impediments to the rapidity and
nicety of motion which is observed in the inflections of the
fingers. The circumstance, however, which places the foot
at an immeasurable distance behind the hand as an organ
of prehension, is the want of the opponens. Void of this,
the human foot is little more than the foot of the quad¬
ruped, constituting chiefly a base of support, and suscep¬
tible of such motions only as are requisite to progression.
It is expedient, therefore, to consider shortly the agents
by which these functions are performed.
Station on Station, or that attitude in which man supports himself
both legs, in the erect position on a horizontal plane, is effected by
the foot being planted firmly on the ground by means of
the gemellus, soleeus, tibialis anticus, peronceus longus et
brevis, flexor longus communis digitorum pedis, flexor
hallucis proprius, flexor hallucis brevis, flexor brevis digiti
minimi et digiti medii, the lumbricales, and interossei. At
the same time the leg is fixed to the ground by numerous
muscles,—before by the extensors of the great toe and
toes generally, by the peronceus tertius, partly by the
tibialis anticus ; externally by the peroncei longus et brevis ;
within by the tibialis anticus and posticus; and behind
by the gemellus, solaeus, semitendinosus, and long flexors of
the toes. The knee is at the same time stretched by the SpU
four extensors, aided by the tensor vaginae femoris. Ana [a
The equilibrium of the trunk and pelvis on the heads
of the thigh-bones is maintained by several powerful rnus-
cles, connecting the former to the latter. Before, for in¬
stance, this action is performed by the sartorius, rectus, the
two psoce, and the iliacus interims ; behind by the biceps,
semitendinosus, and semimembranosus ; without by the glu-
tceus and tensor vaginae femoris; and within by the pec-
tinceus, the adductors, and the gracilis. By these muscles
the pelvis is impelled on the axis of the two femora only,
and is prevented from inclining in any other direction. To
maintain the trunk above the pelvis in the same steady
position, numerous other muscles concur. Behind are
the various extensors of the vertebral column and trunk;
the lovgissimus dorsi and sacro-lumbalis on each side, the
cervicis descendens, splenius and biventer cervicis ; the trans-
versi cervicis, and spinalis cervicis et dorsi ; the semispinalis,
multfidus, and interspinales on each side. Before are the
sterno-mastoid, the great and small anterior recti, the
longi colli, and anterior scaleni; and on each side are the
trachelo-mastoid, the lateral scaleni, the intertransversi,
and the lateral recti. In this enumeration it is manifest
that the muscles of the posterior surface of the trunk and
spine are at once more numerous and more powerful than
those on the anterior,—an arrangement which is rendered
necessary to counteract the effect of the weight of the
thoracic and abdominal viscera on the anterior side of
the vertebral column, which is thus rendered liable to
anterior incurvation, and which becomes so in old age,
notwithstanding the agents now mentioned.
This circumstance is further illustrated in the number
and size of the muscles by which the head is retained in
the erect position, and prevented from inclining forwards.
These are the cucidlares, the splenii capitis, biventres cer¬
vicis, and posterior recti on each side—all powerful, and
several of them large.
Station on both pelvic extremities, therefore, requires
the co-operation of a very considerable number of power¬
ful muscles ; and it is a mistake to imagine, as some authors
appear to do, that a small degree of muscular energy is
requisite for this purpose, and that the skeleton is the
chief means of maintaining the erect position. Without
the skeleton, as points of support, the muscles cannot
act; but without the muscles the bones are passive brute
matter.
In station on one extremity only, a different and cer-StaU
tainly a less degree of muscular action is requisite. All0111'
the external muscles of the fixed member are at first
strongly contracted, to prevent it from gliding inwards, in
which direction the trunk, not supported by the opposite
limb, tends to impel it. Proceeding from below upwards,
we find the lateral peronaci, the vastus externus, and even
the rectus, draw the limb outwards ; while the tensor vagina,
femoris, the glutceus medius and minor, carry the pelvis,
and with it the trunk, in the same lateral direction. In
this case the weight of the person is employed in an¬
tagonizing the muscles of the side thrown into action;
and the person is balanced between these two forces.
Elevation on the tip of the foot is effected chiefly by
the action of the muscles, which extend the phalanges on
the metatarsal bones, viz. the tibialis anticus, extensor hal¬
lucis, extensor longus digitorum, and even the extensor
brevis; all of which must fix the leg before, and the tarsal
and metatarsal part of the foot on its phalangeal region,
before the latter can be employed to elevate the person.
These extensors, therefore, perform in the tip-toe atti¬
tude the duty which the gastrocnemius and solans exe¬
cute behind in ordinary station; and the smaller power
r
ANATOMY. 797
, kial of the former readily explains the difficulty of maintaining
atomy, this attitude for a long time.
Progression or gait (incessus) consists in the anterior
Mres' propulsion of the person by the alternate propulsion of
each pelvic extremity. In this, therefore, not only are
the muscles necessary to maintain the erect position put
in action, but those which bend the lower extremity on
the trunk operate on one side, while the extensors of the
other maintain that extremity for the instant fixed. Pro-
| gression consists of a series of steps (passus); and each
step consists in the antero-posterior separation of the pel¬
vic extremities by the propulsion of one, while the other
j | remains fixed. Supposing the left foot to be the fixed
one, the right foot is elevated, and the leg is propelled by
the contraction of the gemellus, solceus, semitendinosus,
tibialis anticus et posticus ; while at the same time the ex¬
tensors of the knee raise the leg, and the psoas, iliacus,
pectinaius, triceps adductor, sartorius and gracilis, with
the tensor vaginae femoris, raise and stretch the whole
limb. When this is accomplished, the right foot, with the
knee extended, the elevating muscles being relaxed, and
the trunk, are inclined forwards, and the foot is planted at
some distance before the left.
In this motion, however, in which the trunk is carried
I i forward by the recti and obliqui abdominis, and downward
by the psoce and iliaci interni, and the leg by the long
| flexor and the anterior peronceus, a fall would be the im¬
mediate result, unless the knee, to preserve equilibrium,
I were somewhat bent, and the other foot at the same time
began to assume the same action. While the toes, there¬
fore, are forcibly impelled by their flexors to the ground,
the two gastrocnemii, the anterior and posterior tibiales,
and the peroncei, elevate the foot with the sole backward,
* and bend the knee, and the psoas and iliacus raise and
extend the whole member.
Ni'ing- Running differs from progression, not only in velocity,
but in the mode of its accomplishment. Not only are the
pelvic extremities more inflected and moved than in
mere walking, but they remain inflected. Thus, while
the trunk is inclined forward on the pelvic extremities
by the recti cruris, the psoce and iliaci, the two latter
with the pectinaeus longus, the adductor longus and brevis,
iand the tensor, are employed to inflect the thigh, the semi¬
tendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps to inflect the leg,
and the anterior tibialis, great and small extensors of the
toes, and extensor of the great toe, are employed to bend
the foot and the phalanges on the metatarsal bones. rlhe
last action is essential to running, which is always most
perfect on the tip of the foot. In this movement also the
centre of gravity is constantly undergoing change, and is
not only carried forward, but makes a sort of undulating
motion on each side, and above and below the plane of
motion. This is the effect of the pectoral extremities
being employed to balance the person.
rfng- In leaping, the pelvic extremities are much inflected,
and the sole of the foot rendered tense, by the gastrocne¬
mius, solceus, tibiales, and peroncei, while the extensors are
employed to raise the phalangeal part of the foot; when
the person is forcibly impelled forward by the gastrocne¬
mius, solceus, the leg suddenly contracting on the crurceus
in the thigh, and the glutceus, semitendinosus, semimem¬
branosus, and biceps in the pelvis.
‘'’S- In dancing, the muscles are made to co-operate in pro¬
ducing a number of complicated motions. In most of the
motions composing the dances practised in ordinary socie¬
ty, while the muscles of the pectoral extremities are em¬
ployed in balancing the person, and those of the trunk in
maintaining it in the erect attitude, the flexors and ex-
tensprs are employed to diduct, inflect, or extend; to
cross the extremities with more or less rapidity; and, Special
while the extensors and tibialis anticus elevate the person Anatomy,
on tip-toe, the lateral peroncei are employed to evert the '^^v^;/
foot and point the toes.
CHAP. II.—THE ORGANS OF SENSATION.
The organs of sensation may be distinguished into two
orders, according as their province is to recognise general or
peculiar affections and qualities in external objects. Thus,
while it is the purpose of touch to recognise the consis¬
tency, shape, and resistance of bodies, it communicates
no information regarding their colour, smell, or taste, or
the effects which their collision produces in the vibra¬
tions of the atmosphere. With these affections of the ma¬
terial world man becomes acquainted by means of organs
of a peculiar construction, and adapted to receive the
impressions occasioned by these qualities. These organs
are, for smell, the nostrils and their appendages ; for colour
and the general purposes of sight, the eye; for taste, the
palate and mouth; and for sound, the ear. For the pur¬
poses of common sensation the skin is the agent; but on
the structure of this membrane it is unnecessary to add any
thing to what has been already said in the General Ana¬
tomy, unless that in certain regions, for instance the tips
of the fingers, the erectile arrangement of the capillaries,
with a minute distribution of nerves, and great thinness
of cuticle, communicates the delicacy necessary to the re¬
fined purposes of tact.
SECT. I. THE ORGAN OF SMELL ; THE NASAL CAVITIES.
The organ of smell consists of an external part for re¬
ceiving and transmitting substances capable of producing
the sensation of smell; and an internal part, in which this
sensation takes place.
The nose (nasus), which constitutes the external part, The nose,
is a pyramidal eminence, bounded above by the forehead,
below by the upper lip, and on the sides by the orbits and
cheeks. It has two anterior-inferior oval-shaped lateral
openings named the nostrils (flares'), separated by a par¬
tition. It consists above of the nasal bones and the nasal
processes of the superior maxillary bones, covered by
periosteum, cellular tissue, part of the compressor narium,
and skin. Below, it consists of membranous fibro-carti-
lages, attached to the nasal bone and superior maxillary
above and behind, and supported by a middle cartilage
(septum narium), which rests on the fissure of the vomer
below, and is fixed to the vertical plate of the ethmoid
bone above, and to which is attached a slip of fibro-
cartilage before, named columna nasi. The lateral fibro-
cartilages, which are occasionally named wings (alee nasi,
pinnae nasi), covered by cellular tissue, muscles, and
skin, liberally supplied by blood-vessels and sebaceous
follicles, are moved by the levator, compressor, and two de¬
pressors. These parts, with the middle septum and co¬
lumna, are lined by a form of mucous membrane named
the pituitary or Schneiderian.
To what was already said of the nasal cavities under
the head of Osteology it is superfluous to add any thing,
unless what relates to the lining membrane, the distribu¬
tion of which is exactly according to the extent of the
bony walls of these cavities and theii subdivisions.
This membrane consists of two layers; & fibrous, which is Narine
the periosteum or perichondrium of the nasal cavities; and membrane,
a mucous, resembling the other forms of this tissue. It
is soft, spongy, red, and more or less vascular, with an at¬
tached and 'a free surface, the latter secreting the thin
mucus necessary to preserve the membrane in a proper
state for receiving odorous impressions. In this mem-
798
ANATOMY.
Special brane mucous glands are indistinct; but we recognise mi-
Anatomy nute orifices of pores, which may be the follicular cavities
on a small scale, or the orifices into which the mucous
fluid is poured after secretion by the arteries.
This mucous membrane is supplied from the internal
maxillary artery with blood-vessels, which are at once
abundant and superficial. These anastomose with the in¬
fra-orbital and ethmoidal branches of the ophthalmic ar¬
tery and some others of the internal carotid. On these
circumstances depends the frequency of hemorrhages
from this membrane in early life, while the capillary sys¬
tem is energetically employed in the enlargement of the
cranio-facial region; and in advanced life, when venous
plethora is most conspicuously evident in the vessels of
the head.
The nerves which supply the nasal cavities are the first
or olfacient nerves principally, the internal nasal of the
ophthalmic, and several branches derived from the spheno¬
palatine ganglion, the frontal, the great palatine, and the
vidian. The distribution of these nerves has been beau¬
tifully represented by Scarpa (Annot. Acad.), from whom
fig. 1 and 2 of Plate XXXIII. are imitated.
SECT. II. THE ORGAN OF VISION ; THE EYES.
The eyes, placed in the orbits, are distinguished into the
globes of the eyes, and their appendages.
The globe or ball of the eye, situate at the base of the
orbit, has a spheroidal shape, with the antero-posterior
diameter longest, and varying in the adult from 10 to 11
lines. The direction of the eye differs from that of the
orbit, the axis of which is oblique and convergent behind,
while that of the two eyes is parallel.
The eye-ball (bulbm oculi) consists of several mem¬
branes, containing fluid or semifluid substances, denomi¬
nated humours. The external and strongest is the sclerotic,
with the cornea enchased in its anterior aperture ; next is
the choroid and retina; and the iris, a circular membrane,
with an annular aperture, is placed transversely across,
dividing the cavity into anterior and posterior chambers.
The humours are the vitreous, the crystalline lens, and the
aqueous humour.
'I he sde- f he sclerotic, sometimes named cornea opaca, in contra-
rotie. distinction to the clear cornea, is shaped like a spherical
shell, truncated before, and is estimated to occupy about
four fifths of the globe. Its exterior surface is covered by
the adipose matter of the orbit behind, and by the tendons
of the muscles of the eye and the ophthalmic conjunctiva
before. Its inner concave surface is lined by the choroid
coat. In its anterior opening, which is about six or seven
lines diameter, the cornea is enchased by imbrication of
the sclerotic; and in a posterior opening about one and
a half line in diameter, the ophthalmic end of the optic
nerve is fixed. It is fibrous in structure, becoming trans¬
lucent when immersed in oil of turpentine. Its vessels are
generally colourless, and it appears void of nerves.
The cor- The cornea, often named the clear or transparent cornea
l!CU- {cornea lucida), to distinguish it from the opaque cornea or
sclerotic, which was supposed by the old anatomists to be
of the same nature, is a segment of a smaller sphere than
that of the sclerotic, attached to its anterior aperture, and
occupying the anterior fifth of the eyeball. Before it is
covered by a thin pellicle continued from the conjunctiva,
behind by the anterior part of the membrane of the aque¬
ous humour; and its circumference is inseparably enchas¬
ed within that of the anterior aperture of the sclerotic.
The cornea consists of several concentric layers of transpa¬
rent homogeneous matter, void of vessels or nerves, closely
united, but separating and becoming opaque after death.
The choroid coat {tunica choroides) lines the inner sur- Spe ,1
face of the sclerotic, to which it adheres loosely, except at AnatU,
the insertion of the optic nerve, where it has a posterior
opening, yet may be easily detached. The marein of its The c *
—  • i • i • i .. . roid q
anterior opening, which is large, adheres to the ciliary cir¬
cle and processes, and appears to be continuous with the
iris. The outer surface is covered by a brownish-black
viscid matter, which partly adheres to the inner surface
of the sclerotic. The inner surface, over which the retina
is extended without adhesion, is covered by the same
brownish-black matter; but of this the retina receives none,
as the sclerotic. The choroid is a thin membrane, of a
grayish colour when deprived of its brown pigment, trans¬
lucent, homogeneous, and, so far as observation goes,
void of fibres, but liberally supplied by minute blood-ves¬
sels, partly from the long, chiefly from the posterior cilia-
ries, which, dividing on its outer surface into numerous
ramifications, mutually approximate, and anastomosing,
form a network of quadrilateral and trapezoidal meshes.
The tunica Ruyschiana is imaginary, unless this arrange¬
ment of capillary vessels be such.
From these vessels is derived the brownish-black mat- Pigme
ter (pigmentum nigrum) with which the retinal surface of turn n
the choroid is covered. Its appearance on the convex ororum'
sclerotic surface is the effect of cadaveric transudation.
The nature of this colouring matter is imperfectly known.
W hen first secreted it is brown, but becomes black succes¬
sively as it continues. It is not affected by the action of
light or caloric, and undergoes no change from the opera¬
tion of the mineral acids, aqua potassce, ammonia, and al¬
cohol. It appears to consist chiefly of carbonaceous mat¬
ter. Menghini asserts that he has obtained from it minute
particles of iron attracted by the magnet.
The anterior orifice of the choroid is firmly connected Cillarj
to a thick ring of grayish pulpy substance, and forming ck*
the point at which the sclerotic and cornea without, and
the iris within, are united. This ring, named the ciliary
circle (jigamentum ciliare), is readily detached from the
sclerotic. Its structure is unknown.
Posterior to this is a range of prominent minute bodies, Ciliar
with free extremities, lying over the crystalline lens, va-Proces
rying in number from seventy to eighty. These are the
ciliary processes (processus ciliares). They are trilateral-
prismatic in shape, about a line and a half long, more dis¬
tinct and longer in the human eye than in those of most
brute animals. Their intimate structure is not very well
known ; but they are highly vascular, and their vessels ap¬
pear to be capable of occasional erection. (Plate XXX.
fig. 4.)
Anterior to the ciliary circle is the iris, a circular mem-The i
brane, placed in the transverse vertical position, with an¬
terior and posterior surfaces, and a circular opening in
the centre. The exterior ciliary margin (annulus major)
is attached, as already stated, to the ciliary circle. The
inner or pupillar (annulus minor) is free, and forms what
is named the pupil of the eye. The anterior surface is
marked by a variety of colours, blue, gray, or black,
brown, or that peculiar brownish-black named hazel, and
which are not unfrequently allied with the tints of the
skin and hair. The same surface presents radiating lines,
which pass from the small to the large circle diverging.
Both appearances are produced by vascular arrangement.
The posterior surface of the iris, which has been distin¬
guished as a separate membrane under the name of uvea,
is covered by the same dark-coloured matter secreted by
the choroid, generally more abundant, and of a deeper
tint, than the pigment of that membrane. When this is
removed by washing, the observer recognises the radiated
streaks impressed by the ciliary processes. (Fig. 4.)
(i e iris.
ecial The different characters of these two surfaces have in-
Aj:omy. duced some anatomists to distinguish the iris into anterior
^v^w/and posterior membranes. Though it has some thickness,
' ture this is perhaps a fanciful refinement. The anterior sur¬
face, which is continuous with the membrane of the
aqueous humour, is different from the posterior, which is
continuous with the ciliary circle and choroid. The struc¬
ture of the iris is chiefly vascular, and its vessels have an
rectile erectile arrangement. The long ciliaries, from which
ANATOMY.
from the central artery to the lens
799
It is transparent, and Special
consists of two parts, an investing membrane, the hyaloid Anatomy.
(membrane, hyaloidea), and inclosed fluid. This membrane'  
is not single, but, sending numerous partitions from its in-Hyaloid
ner surface, forms an assemblage of cells in which the flyjj membrane*
is contained. These facts may be demonstrated by inci-
smn, brmsing the humour, by congelation, or by boiling
it. Lefore, at the outline of the lens, this membrane di-
vales into two folds, one of which is stretched before the
capsule, and the other behind.
these vessels are derived, divide each at the ciliary body capsule, and the other behind. The trilateral-prismatic
into two branches, which divaricating at obtuse angles, space resulting from this separation is completed by the
unite with several of he anterior diaries, and form with capsule, and forms the circular canal of Petit, wWch is
them, beyond the chary ligament at the large circum- without fluid, and which is demonstrated by inflation? On
ference of the ins, an arterial circle. From this arise ^—:—/>-11 ■1 ' —
smaller branches, which, crossing, unite and form within
this a second smaller arterial circle, midway between the
ciliary and central margin ; and from the concavity of this
proceed very minute vessels, which radiate in a flexuous
the anterior fold the ciliary processes are stretched. The
structure of the hyaloid membrane is little known ; but
it is believed to consist of exhalant arteries and colour¬
less veins.
manner, and converge towards the pupil, where, anasto- brane either by incisions or compressing it between two fluid
The hyaloid fluid may be separated from the mem- Hyaloid
P .lary
tnac-
ti; ami
ti true
mosing most minutely, they form a third circle—.the mar¬
ginal ring of that aperture.
It is chiefly in the middle and inner anastomosing cir¬
cles that the vessels assume the erectile arrangement; and
on this circumstance, and not on that of muscular fibres,
so often, so positively, so inconsistently, and so erroneous¬
ly maintained to exist in the iris, does the mobility of that
singular membrane depend. On exposure to direct or
bright light, on the application of vinegar, alcohol, or any
folds of linen. It then has the appearance of a clear but
somewhat viscid fluid, like gum diluted with water. Though
rendered slightly turbid by boiling water, acids, and al¬
cohol, it does not coagulate,—a phenomenon which is to
be ascribed to the small proportion of albumen which it
contains. According to the analysis of Berzelius, 100
parts contain 98,4i of water, ’16 of albumen, l-42 of mu¬
riates and lactates, and only y^th of a part of soda.
The crystalline lens, which is transparent and shaped Crystalline
stirnulatmg substance to the eye, and during the presence like an oblate spheroid, is situate in the posterior chamber, lens,
of inflammation, the erectile capillaries, distended with and in the anterior depression of the vitreous humour, to
blood, are elongated, and necessarily contract the pupillary which the convexity of its posterior surface corresponds,
aperture. In the dark, under the influence of henbane Before also it is prominent and convex ; and it is partial-
(hyoscya/nms niger j, deadly night-shade (atropa belladon- ly covered by the free extremities of the ciliary processes.
It consists of two parts, an inclosing capsule and a lens
no), and some other narcotics, and when the retina is in¬
sensible, these vessels seem to lose their faculty of dis¬
tension, and, perfectly empty and shrunk, allow the pu-
pillar margin to approach the ciliary,
etina. The retina, which is the third and internal tunic, is of
the same shape as the choroid, thin, like cobweb, whit¬
ish, translucent, inclining to transparent, and very deli¬
cate. Its extreme tenuity and looseness from the choroid
causes it to collapse unless inspected under water, when
it may be unfolded and expanded for examination. Its
outer surface is covered by a very delicate membrane,
visible only in a very recent eye, discovered by Mr Ja¬
cob of Dublin. It is almost void of red vessels, unless at
the part where the optic nerve enters, where one or two
from the central artery may be seen. The others are
colourless. The assertion that this membrane is an ex¬
pansion or production from the optic nerve, seems to be
gratuitous; for it bears no resemblance to nervous mat¬
ter, or to the appearance of the optic nerve. It appears to
be simply a peculiarly delicate transparent web, fitted to
receive the impressions of luminous rays, and to communi-
^ cate them to the optic nerve, with which it is continuous,
j fSo- On this membrane, about two lines on the temporal side
inS- °f the optic nerve, and in the axis of the ball, is a circular
yellow spot (^macula luted), from about a line to a line and
a half in diameter, with a minute point or hole in its centre
{foramen centrale). At this part the retina is much
thinner than at any other; and even in the most recent
eyes it presents loose folds, which Bichat regards as ca¬
daveric. The yellow spot and its central hole are seen
m none of the mammalia except man and the monkeys.
115 The vitreous humour, occupying about three posterior
r> fourths of the eye, is spherical and convex behind and on
its lateral circumference, but concave before for receiving
the posterior part of the crystalline lens. Contiguous only
to the retina, it is attached to the coats by the branch sent
proper.
The capsule is usually distinguished into anterior and Capsule,
posterior walls, both covered by hyaloid membrane, both
transparent, and both firm and resisting. By boiling wa¬
ter, alcohol, or the acids, it is rendered opaque, whitish,
and horny ; and it becomes yellow by contact with the air.
The lens, which is perfectly transparent, consists of two
portions ; an exterior, peripheral, thick, soft, adhesive, and
easily removed ; an interior, central, solid, and consisting
of concentric plates. Both are indurated and rendered
opaque by boiling water, alcohol, and dilute acids; but
the central nucleus is the firmest. When dried in the
air it becomes yellowish, but retains its transparency, and
may be preserved for years. These phenomena are to be
ascribed to the presence of a peculiar form of albumen.
According to the analysis of Berzelius, 100 parts of the
substance of the lens consist of 58' of water 35-9 of pe¬
culiar matter, chiefly albuminous, 2'4 of muriates, lactates,
and animal matter soluble in alcohol, 1‘3 of animal matter
soluble in water, and 2*4' of membrane.
The lens possesses a high refracting power; and its
chief use is to concentrate the luminous rays within the
eye, so as to represent distinctly the image of visible ob¬
jects on the retina. Spherical and transparent in early
life, it is flattened and acquires a yellowish tint in old age.
Between the capsule and lens is found occasionally a
fluid which has been named liquor Morgagni. It appears
to be the effect of transudation.
On the structure of the lens, whether organic or not,
anatomists vary. Vessels have not been recognised in it;
and the most rational view is, that it is the product of an
organic action probably in the capsule.
The aqueous humour is contained in the anterior cham-Aqueou*
ber, and in that part of the posterior which surrounds thebumour-
anterior surface of the lens and vitreous humour. It con-
800
Special
Anatomy.
ANATOMY.
Ocular
muscles.
I.acryrnal
gland.
Eyelids.
sists of 98-10 parts in the 100 of water, a trace of albumen,
and about 2 parts of muriates and lactates of soda. It is
contained in a membrane, which lines the posterior sur¬
face of the cornea, and is supposed to cover the anterior
surface of the iris. This, however, is questionable. In
1768 a membrane of this kind was described by Demours
and Descemet, both of whom claimed the discovery with
great eagerness and some animosity. These rival anato¬
mists appear to have forgotten that the aqueous humour
may be secreted as well by the cornea and iris as by a
proper membrane.
The relation of the coats and humours of the eye to
each other may be understood by the diagram (tig. 3,
Plate XXX.), where A is the anterior chamber, P the pos¬
terior, L the lens, and c, c the ciliary processes. The
other parts are easily understood from the foregoing de¬
scription.
The eye is supplied with blood chiefly by the ophthalmic
artery.
The eyeball, thus constituted, is moved in different
directions by six muscles, is moistened externally by fluid
secreted from a particular gland, and is protected from ex¬
ternal bodies by the eyelids and their appendages.
Of the muscles, four are straight and two oblique. The
former (attollens, depressor, adductor, abductor), attached to
the margin of the optic hole, and terminating in tendons
inserted into the superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal
parts of the eyeball, raise, depress, adduct and abduct
the organ. Of the two latter, the superior oblique (troch-
ledris), which is attached to the margin of the same hole,
passes through a pulley-like cartilage at the inner margin ot
the vault of the orbit, and is inserted into the internal region
of the ball, rolls the eye forward and inward, and turns the
pupil outwards and downwards ; while the inferior oblique,
attached to the orbitar process of the superior maxillary
bone, and inserted between the adductor and the optic
nerve, rolls it forwards and turns the pupil upwards. These
muscles, which occupy the apex of the orbit, are sur¬
rounded by a thick cushion of fat, on which the eyeball
rolls in its movements. (Plate XXXIII. fig. 6.)
In the hollow, at the outer temporal region of the or¬
bitar vault, is placed the lacrymal gland, a granular gray¬
ish body, about the size of a bean, consisting of lobules,
with arteries in the intermediate furrows, derived from a
branch of the ophthalmic, and accompanying veins. (Plate
XXXIII. fig. 5 and 7, G, g.) These constituent lobules
have been represented, on the authority of Steno in the
ox, and the elder Monro in the human subject, to ter¬
minate in 7 or 8 minute excretory ducts, opening on the
conjunctiva. In man, however, they were sought in vain
by Duverney, Morgagni, Haller, and Zinn ; and neither
Portal nor Bichat have been able to satisfy themselves of
the existence of these ducts. It is nevertheless certain
that the lacrymal gland secretes the tears, and that the
latter issue from its lobules.
The eyes are covered anteriorly by two musculo-mem-
branous folds named the eyelids (palpebrce), attached to
the margins of the orbit, and forming by their free mar¬
gin the palpebral opening, with commissures at each angle
(canthus nasalis, et canthus temporalis).
The upper eyelid, which is large, is bounded above by
the eyebrow (supercilium), a cutaneous eminence, arched
transversely, covered with hairs, and with the corrugator
supercilii attached to its nasal end. Between each eye¬
brow is a smooth space, named the glabella or mesophryon.
Into the upper eyelid the levator (fig. 5, L) is inserted.
Each eyelid consists of skin externally, mucous mem¬
brane within (conjunctiva), intermediate cellular tissue,
muscle, and a fibrous membrane, attached by one margin
to the base of the orbit, and terminating by the other in
the tarsal fibro-cartilages. These are crescentic bodies Sp
placed in the free margin of the eyelids, and by their Ana
firmness and elasticity giving the requisite tension to the^^
eyelids when the orbicular muscle acts, or the levator is 1.ars|
relaxed. The cutaneous border of the tarsi is occupiedglant
by a range of short, firm hairs, named the eyelashes (ci¬
lia). In the mucous borders are the orifices of the tarsal
or Meibomian follicles, of the same character as the mu¬
ciparous follicles generally. These are placed in the sub¬
stance of the eyelid, beneath the conjunctiva, and behind
the tarsal fibro-cartilages. From the inner surface of the
eyelids the palpebral conjunctiva is continued over the
anterior part of the sclerotic and cornea, forming the oph¬
thalmic conjunctiva.
In the nasal angle is lodged a minute red body, named Cam e.
the caruncle (caruncula lacrymalis), chiefly consisting of
filamentous tissue and vessels covered by mucous mem¬
brane ; and behind this is a fold of tEe membrane, which
has been named membrana nictitans, large in the lower
animals, but often so imperfect in man as to be merely
rudimentary.
At the nasal end of each eyelid is a minute capillary Lacr, at
orifice which leads into a horizontal canal, terminating inorific
a membranous sac lodged in the depression of the lacrymal
bone. These orifices, which are named the puncta lacry-
malia (p, p, fig. 5), are the superior or palpebral openings of
the lacrymal sac and passages, the lower aperture of which
is found in the inferior nasal meatus. The tears effused
from the lacrymal gland at the temporal region of the orbit
are carried, by the frequent action of the orbicular muscle,
over the ball, till they reach the nasal angle, where they are
gradually absorbed by the capillary orifices of the puncta,
and conveyed into the sac, and eventually to the nose.
The eye derives nerves from six different sources, allOcul
of which, however, maybe distinguished into three classes,nern
the sensitive, motive, and entrophic nerves. The first
consists of the second, optic or the proper visual nerves.
The second class comprehends the third, fourth, and sixth
nerves, of which the third or oculo-muscular are distributed
to the levator palpebrce superioris, the attollens, the adduc¬
tor, the depressor, and the obliquus inferior; the fourth
is entirely distributed to the obliquus superior ; while the
sixth pair are confined to the abductor. I he third class
of nerves is derived from the ophthalmic or quadrilateral
ganglion, which is formed chiefly from the junction of a
sub-branch of the naso-ocular branch of the first or oph¬
thalmic division of the fifth pair, with a small branch of
the third nerve. From this arise a small superior cluster
of three nerves adhering to the optic, and a large inferior
cluster of eight or ten nerves, which quickly join the
ciliary arteries, and are with them distributed in the
ciliary circle and posterior part of the iris. (Plate XXXIII.
fig. 7.) From the other branch of the naso-ocular nerve,
the caruncle and lacrymal canal, with the orbicular muscle
and epicranius on the one hand, and the lacrymal gland
on the other, receive nervous filaments.
SECT. III. THE ORGAN OF HEARING ; THE EAR.
The organ of hearing consists of the auricle or external
ear, with the ear-hole ; the middle ear, including the tym¬
panal cavity and its appendages; and the internal ear or
labyrinth. .
The auricle is a fibro-cartilaginous substance, moulded
into a conchoidal shape, covered by skin, attached to the
cranium by ligaments, and susceptible of motion by
muscles. It is common to distinguish in it the following
parts. The helix, a semicircular eminence above the ear-
hole ; the groove of the helix below it; the antihelix, an
eminence commencing in the groove by a superior, broad,
ANATOMY.
I icial oblique portion, and an inferior, narrow, horizontal one;
: A "ray* the fossa navicularis; the tragus, an anterior eminence
below; the antitragus, a smaller eminence behind; the
lobule, a pendulous body at the base behind; and, lastly,
the concha, a deep conoidal cavity leading to the ear-hole.
The latter is a canal about 10 or 12 lines long in the
adult. Twisted at first obliquely forward and upward,
it bends slightly backwards and downwards, forming a
convexity of incurvation above, and a concavity below.
Though the extremities are large, the middle is contract¬
ed ; and it cannot be termed cylindrical, for its section is
elliptical or oval. The structure of this tube is fibro-car-
tilaginous externally where it adheres to the bone, lined
by skin passing into mucous membrane, and occupied by
minute follicles (glandulce ceruminosce), which secrete the
wax {cerumen) formed in this canal. The nature of this
secretion is imperfectly known. Though, like oil, it stains
paper, it is partly soluble in tepid water, and forms with
it a yellow emulsion. It is secreted at first fluid, and
acquires consistence by exposure to air and admixture
with dust. Alcohol has little influence on it. The in¬
ternal extremity of the auditory canal is bounded by the
vertical membrane of the tympanum.
Within this is the tympanal cavit}*, a space of an irre¬
gular cylindrical shape, directed obliquely, nearly in the
axis of the pyramidal portion, in the base of which it is
contained. This cavity is shut up externally by the ver¬
tical tympanal membrane {memhrana tympani), and is
bounded within by the bony partition which separates it
from the labyrinth. The memhrana, which is oval-shaped,
or nearly round, and attached to the margin of the mea¬
tus externus, is directed obliquely downwards and inwards,
and is so delicate that it is difficult to determine its struc¬
ture in the human subject. In the elephant, however, and
Other large animals, it presents radiating fibres, which are
believed to be muscular (Plate XXXVII. fig. 14) ; and Sir
E. Home represents it as such not only in the elephant
and whale, but in the human subject. The outer part is
evidently a sort of epidermis, continuous with that of the
canal; the inner is a mucous epidermis, continuous with
that of the tympanal cavity; and between these the mus¬
cular fibres are interposed.
The tympanal cavity communicates behind with the
801
[T banal
stay
^ bhian
1 mastoid cells, and before and internally by the Eus¬
tachian tube, with the pharynx. This tube is estimated
to be two inches in length, of which one and a half
is in the bone of the pyramid, and about half an inch at
its extremity, with the upper side completed by carti¬
lage. Narrow at the tympanal end, it becomes wide and
capacious towards the pharyngeal, and presents at length
a free open extremity, forming a fissure at the upper and
lateral part of the pharynx. The cartilaginous end is
covered by mucous membrane continuous with the pha¬
ryngeal, and is surrounded by the peristaphylini, the action
of which is believed to separate the walls of the aperture.
Within the tube, and towards the tympanal end, this mem¬
brane parts with its pharyngeal spongy character, and be¬
comes thin and semitransparent where it lines the bone.
The same kind of membrane, partaking of the characters
of periosteum and mucous, is continued over the tympanal
cavity, and into the mastoid cells.
‘ - of Above the Eustachian tube is a thin osseous plate, which
Jeiisseparates it from a small canal, convex below, concave
We,above, and which, commencing in the fissure between the
squamous and pyramidal portions, terminates in the tym¬
panal cavity. In this canal is lodged the internal muscle
of the malleus, one of the tympanal bones,
pal These are four in number, very minute, and denomi¬
nated, from their mechanical figures, the hammer (maU
VOL. II.
leus), the anvil (incus), the lenticular or round bone (os Special
orbiculare), and the stirrup (stapes). Of these the malleus is Anatomy,
attached to the vertical membrane by its handle, while its
head is articulated with the body of the incus. The latter
presents two limbs or branches, to the larger of which the
stapes is articulated by the interposition of the lenticular
bone; while the base of the former rests on the membrane of
the foramen ovale. These articulations are secured by cap¬
sules, which allow the bones to move freely on each other ;
and for this purpose the stapes is provided with one muscle,
and the malleus with two, an internal already mentioned,
and an external passing from the spinous process of the
sphenoid bone to the slender process of the malleus. On
the motions of these, however, and their part in the pro¬
cess of hearing, we have only conjectural statements.
The internal bony wall of the tympanal cavity presents Foramen
two apertures and a convex intermediate eminence. Of ovale,
the apertures, the first, which is named the oval or vesti-fenestra
bular aperture (foramen ovale, fenestra ovalis), is situate ova^s’
above, oval transversely, with its great diameter horizontal
antero-posterior. It communicates with the vestibule, but
is closed by a fine membrane, to which the base of the
stapes is fixed, and for the insertion of which its margin is
grooved. The oval aperture is bounded above by a round Promon¬
prominence, corresponding within to the Fallopian aque-tory.
duct, and below by a large convex eminence named the
promontory (promontorium), which indicates the situa¬
tion of the cavity named the vestibule. Before and above
the promontory is the extremity of the thin osseous plate
which separates the Eustachian tube from the canal of the
internal muscle of the malleus; and behind is an oblique
cavity, which is placed between the lower entrance of the
mastoid cells and the pyramid. Below the promontory is
the round or cochlear aperture (foramen rotundum, fenestra
rotunda), trilateral in early life rather than round, and
still preserving in the adult the tendency to this shape;
smaller than the oval, and directed backwards and out¬
wards. The round aperture is shut by a membrane, the
direction of which is oblique to that of the tympanum, and
one side of which is towards that cavity, while the other
forms part of the cochlea.
At the upper part of the tympanum is a triangular-Mastoid
shaped opening, which leads into a rough short canal, cells,
terminating in the mastoid cells. These are analogous
to the cells of the ethmoid, sphenoid, and occipital bones.
They are lined by fibro-mucous membrane, and their use
is to afford a posterior sonorous apartment for the vibra¬
tions produced in the tympanal cavity.
Near this triangular opening is a small bony process
named the pyramidal, in which is a canal for the fleshy
part of the stapedius, while the tendon issues from its
orifice. Near the base of the pyramidal process is the hole
by which the nerve of the tympanum (chorda tympani)
passes through the glenoid fissure.
The labyrinth consists of the vestibule, three semicircu- Labyrinth,
lar canals, and the cochlea.
By removing the stages and stapedial membrane the Vestibule,
oval aperture is opened, and communicates with the vesti¬
bule. This cavity, which is irregular in shape, about the
size of a grain of barley, is bounded without by the tym¬
panum, within by the internal auditory canal, before by
the cochlea, behind by the semicircular canals, and above
and below by the solid bone of the pyramid. It is lined
by a membrane common to the whole labyrinth. Besides
the oval aperture by which it is separated from the tympa¬
num, it has, above, the two anterior openings (ampullulai)
of the superior vertical and horizontal canals ; behind, the
two openings (ampidlulce) proper to the posterior verti¬
cal and horizontal canals, and the common opening of the
5 i
802
ANATOMY.
Cochlea.
Special two vertical canals; and before and below, the orifice of the
Anatomy, external scala cochleae.
There is still another aperture, which leads into a canal
of1 the "es discovered by Cotugno, named the aqueduct of the ves¬
tibule and' tibule* This, which, though distinct in some subjects, is
aperture, almost imperceptible in others, is near the common orifice
of the vertical canals ; and from it the aqueduct proceeds
first upwards, where it is narrow, then backwards and
downwards, widening, and terminates in the fissure on
the posterior surface of the pyramidal portion.
Semicircu- The semicircular canals, situate behind the vestibule,
hr canals, are three in number, two vertical and one horizontal. Of
the former, one is superior, inclosing by its curvature the
substance of the pyramid, and forming a convexity in the
adult, very distinct in the fcetus ; while the other, which is
posterior but inferior, is placed with its plane correspond¬
ing to that of the posterior surface of the pyramid. The
third is placed horizontally between the other two, form¬
ing a curvature with the convexitv towards the base of the
pyramid. (Plate XXXIII. fig. 8/9, and 10.)
Though denominated semicircular, these canals are
larger than semicircular, and may be compared to hollow
cylinders, incurvated so as to form large circular segments.
Each canal has an enlarged extremity named ampullula ;
and as these two vertical canals have one in common, there
are five ampullulae. They are lined by the common la¬
byrinthine membrane, and contain a pellucid fluid.
The cochlea, which forms the third part of the labyrinth,
is a conical canal turned spirally within itself, so that its
base is at the lower part of the vestibule, and its apex at
the anterior side of the pyramid, with the orifices for the
auditory nerve inclosed in the centre of its turns, while
the convexity is directed towards the lower margin of the
pyramid. The cochlear canal is divided longitudinally by
a thin sharp-edged plate, half bony half membranous, into
two independent cavities, the superior of which communi¬
cates with the vestibule, while the inferior is bounded by
the membrane of the round aperture. These cavities are
distinguished as the vestibular and tympanal {scala vestihuli
and scala tympani) respectively. At the top they termi¬
nate in a common cavity named the funnel {infundibulum).
Both are lined by a delicate membrane, in which are con¬
tained the ramified filaments of the eighth or auditory
nerve. (Plate XXXIII. fig. 10.)
In the tympanal scala, near the round hole, is a minute
aperture leading to a narrow canal, which gradually en¬
larges as it ascends, till it terminates by a slit on the pos¬
terior surface of the pyramidal portion, as formerly men¬
tioned. ' This is the aqueduct of the cochlea, first describ¬
ed, like that of the vestibule, by Cotugno.
These different cavities are supplied with blood chiefly
sels of the from minute branches of the auditory, a vessel generally
ear. derived from the basilar trunk or the vertebral arteries.
From the meningeal artery also minute branches enter the
auditory canal, and anastomose with those of the auditory
artery; and the internal carotid sends to the membrane
of the tympanal cavity a branch, the capillary ramifica¬
tions of which anastomose with those derived from the
pharyngeal, transmitted by the walls of the Eustachian
tube.
The eighth or the proper auditory nerve enters the coch¬
lea by several minute apertures in the internal meatus,
and is divided into two fasciculi, of which the posterior and
largest is expanded in the form of soft pulpy brush-like
filaments, like a hair-pencil, in a pellucid fluid, in the coch¬
lea ; while the smallest, which is anterior, is distributed
partly to the bottom of the hemispherical cavity of the
vestibule, partly to the beginning of the spiral lamina.
(Fig. 10.)
Aqueduct
of the
cochlea.
Blood-ves-
Auditory
nerve.
The tympanal cavity is chiefly for the purpose of con- Spe< [
veying and augmenting the intensity of sonorous vibra- Anati ^
tions, while the shape of the auricle is supposed to collect
them. But of the mechanism of its operation we know
nothing satisfactory. The essential part of the organ of
hearing is the labyrinth.
SECT. IV. THE ORGAN OF TASTE.
It is impossible to define the exact limits of the sense
of taste. More or less diffused over the cavity of the
mouth, it is particularly confined to the tongue and palate.
The former, nevertheless, is remarkable for being a mus¬
cular organ, which combines with the faculty of taste
the power of prehension and transmission of the alimen¬
tary articles both during and after mastication, and is
further an essential agent in the faculty of articulation.
It is requisite, therefore, to give a short account of the
mouth, the palate, and the tongue.
a. The mouth is the cavity formed by the lips before, the The
pharynx and isthmus faucium behind, the palatine vaultmoutl
above, the intramaxillary membrane and muscles below,
and on the sides by the cheeks. Its horizontal direction
may be regarded as one among other proofs of the neces¬
sity of the erect biped attitude.
The mouth is lined by a mucous membrane, soft, spongy,
red, and vascular. It may be traced from the inner or
alveolar surface of the lips to the inner surface of the
cheeks on each side over the gums, where it is continuous
with that of the aheolox folliculi, over the inner surface of
each maxillary ramus, and the attached muscles and glands
below, until it is identified with that of the tongue, and
above over the palatine vault back to the uvula. In these
several points, though its organization is the same, its
mechanical arrangement varies considerably as the parts
are fixed or movable. Thus, on the palatine vault and at
the gums it is tense, and adheres pretty firmly to the fibrous
layers forming the periosteum of these parts. In the
angular space between the lips and gums, however, in
that between the inner surface of the alveolar arch, and
all over the lower part of the mouth, where it is connect¬
ed to the inferior surface of the tongue, it is extensive,
loose, moves easily over an abundant layer of filamentous
tissue, and is generally disposed in irregular folds. Ad¬
hering to the internal spine of the lower jaw, a fold or du-
plicature containing condensedfilamentous tissue is reflect¬
ed, to be attached to the median line of the tongue, and
forms the frenum of that organ. In all points it abounds
with muciparous follicles. It also presents on each side
of the tongue the orifices of the sublingual glands.
The mouth has two outlets, an anterior or facial formed Oiitli
by the lips {labia), and a posterior or pharyngeal formed* em
by the velum palatinum and its appendages.
The lips are musculo-membranous folds, attached all Eie
round to the superior and inferior jaw-bones, above and
below the alveolar arches, and parted by a transverse
opening or fissure into upper and lower, with right and
left commissures or angles {canthi). In the Negro race
they are particularly bulky and flaccid, with their free
margins {prolabia) much everted; but in the Asio-Euro-
pean they are thinner, and more constricted.
Each lip consists externally of skin continuous with
that of the face, internally of mucous membrane continu¬
ous with that of the mouth, with interposed filamentous
tissue and muscles, well supplied by blood-vessels and
nerves.
The point of union between the skin and oral mucous
membrane is marked by a rounded edge, covered by a thin,
vermilion-red, soft and delicate pellicle, extending between
of
til.
ANATOMY.
Uiecial each canihus. This, which is sometimes named the lips of the posterior nr nW^nrrDal ™ c ^ ,
^.proper (labiola), is the prolabium The blood-vessels dfs- while the upper surface of the base of fhelongueTrms AnEy.
tnbuted to this pait of the bps have an erectile arrange- the lower boundary. The size of this opening, which
ment. The marginal region of the lips between the skin usually named the isthmus of the throat (isthmus faucium)
and mucous membrane is occupied by the orbicular muscle, varies according to the state of the velum and its
Above are the labial ends of the common levators (levator In the act of deglutition the velum and uvula are raised
tobn superions alceque nasi), the proper levators (levator by the peristaphylinus interims and azygos uvulce, and the
hbn supemons), the small zygomatics (zygomaticus minor), whole curtain is constricted by the constrictor isthmi fau-
and the naso-labial (nasahs labii superioris). Below are cium and pharyngo-staphylinus. In the act of vomitine it
the two depressors of the lower lip. At the angles are is forcibly drawn up against the posterior nasal opening's
placed the buccinators, the depressors of the angles, the by these muscles ; but notwithstanding this, matters from
canine muscle (levator anguli oris), and the large zygo- the stomach are occasionally projected through the nostrils.
In singing on false notes the uvula is progressively ele¬
vated, as the voice ascends.
In the space between the anterior and posterior pillars
are contained the tonsils (tonsillce, amygdala), bounded
above by the commissure of the pillars ; below by the la-
matics.
The lips are supplied with blood from the branches of
the external carotid. The external maxillary sends a
large branch over the angle of the inferior jaw, upwards
and forwards to the labial commissures on each side.
This vessel, which is generally named the labial, sends oft' teral part of the base of the tongue,”where the/are'con-
two, a superior and inferior labial, which are subdivided tinuous with the muciparous glands of that organ; before
into numerous minute branches, anastomosing freely with by part of the constrictor isthmi faucium ; and behind by
each other, and with the submental and inferior dental the pharyngo-staphylinus. The shape varies in different
branches. I hey open freely into the capillary veins, con- individuals, though their pendulous attachment gives them
stituting a species of erectile tissue. the oblong spheroidal or almond-like shape. They consist
The lips derive their nerves partly from the superior of several lobules, grayish, soft, and of structure similar to
maxillary, partly from the anterior or mental division of that of the muciparous glands of the tongue. The lobules
the inferior maxillary, with anastomotic communications present minute cavities, isolated or mutually communi-
! palate,
from the 8th or facial nerve.
, b. The posterior or pharyngeal outlet of the mouth (isth¬
mus faucium) is formed by the movable or soft palate (velum
palatinum), a membranous fold attached to the posterior
margin of the palatine quadrilateral bones, and hanging with
its free margin downwards. This curtain, which has two
surfaces, an anterior or oral and a posterior or pharygneal,
is shaped like a double arch, meeting on the mesial plane,
where it terminates in an elongated conical prominence, sup¬
posed to resemble a grape suspended by its stalk, and de¬
nominated therefore uvula (craptAjj), but which, with the
lateral arches, bears a closer resemblance to the descending
cusp of a Gothic window. From this central process the
arch rises on each side; and when it passes to the outer
edge of the palate-bone on each side, it is supported by
eating, in the recess of which are minute pores, the ori¬
fices of the excretory ducts, and from which a watery but
viscid liquor may be expressed. In short, each tonsil
may be regarded as an assemblage of muciparous glands,
destined to secrete fluid for lubricating the throat during
the process of deglutition, when it is most abundant.
The chops (huccce) or lateral walls of the mouth con¬
sist externally of skin, internally of mucous membrane
and of an intermediate layer of muscles imbedded in
abundant filamentous and adipose tissue.
The cutaneous covering is in general thin, soft, and pe¬
culiarly smooth, with a minutely distributed and abun¬
dant capillary system, which approaches in its characters
to the erectile.
Beneath the cutaneous covering is the zygomaticus ma-
two musculo-membranous vertical columns, united at the for, the only muscle proper to the cheek, resting on a
top, but separating and forming an intermediate cavity, in
which the tonsil on each side (amygdala) is contained.
The palatine curtain consists of two folds of mucous
membrane, with interposed filamentous tissue and muscu¬
lar fibres. The anterior mucous membrane is of the same
character with that of the mouth, with which it is con¬
tinuous. The posterior, which is continuous with the
nasal mucous membrane, partakes of the charac ters of that
tissue, and is redder and more vascular. These two meet
in the lower margin of the velum, and pass into each other.
Both are well supplied with mucous follicles, but the
anterior or oral division most copiously.
These mucous membranes rest on filamentous tissue;
and beneath this we find, in the middle, the levator or azy¬
gos uvulce, and on the sides the levator of the soft palate
thick layer of fat; below this is the buccinator, perforated
by the parotid duct; and to the filamentous tissue inside,
the buccal mucous membrane, furnished with numerous
muciparous follicles, adheres. The orifice of the parotid
duct is seen opposite the second molar tooth of the supe¬
rior jaw.
c. The tongue is a longitudinal muscular organ, invested The
by a mucous membrane provided with numerous papilla, tongue,
attached behind to the hyoid bone, below to the mu¬
cous membrane of the mouth, and free above and before.
It is shaped like a flattened cone, and is distinguished
into a base and tip (apex), an upper and a lower surface,
and two sides.
The base is somewhat thick and broad, but becomes
thin and narrow near the hyoid bone. I rom about 1 inch
(peristaphylinus internus), which are expanded in the ve- anterior to this, however, to near 1,] from the tip, the thick
lum. The anterior pillar consists of mucous membrane ness and breadth are nearly uniform. 1 he tip (apex) is
enveloping the fibres of the constrictor isthmi faucium;
the posterior incloses those of the pharyngo-staphylinus ;
and both expanding into the velum, augment its thickness
and regulate its motions.
Between the internal peristaphylini, which are imme
flat and rounded or paraboloid in ordinary circumstances,
but may be made by muscular action to taper to an angu¬
lar point. The upper surface, which is free, presents the
lingual mucous membrane divided into right and left halves
by a superficial furrow. On this, near its posterior end,
diately below the pituitary or posterior mucous membrane is a depression, variable in size, named the foramen cacum,
of the velum and the anterior, is an aponeurotic web, in which are contained the orifices of muciparous follicles,
connected with the circumilexi, which, fixed to the margin From this on each side proceeds an oblique line div erging
of the palatine vault, tends to consolidate the velum. forward, and forming with that of the opposite side an
The free margin of the velum forms the upper boundary acute angle, with the angular point behind.
These an-
ANATOMY.
804
Special gular lines, which are variable in shape and disposition,
Anatomy, depend on the elevation resulting from the mucous glands
at the base of the organ. The rest of the surface pre¬
sents the minute conical eminences named, papillce, which
belong to the mucous membrane. The lateral margins,
which are smooth and void of papillce, form the transition
from the upper free papillated surface to the lower, which
is chiefly attached by folds of the oral membrane to the
lower region of the mouth.
The tongue consists of various muscles, connected by
filamentous tissue, some adipose tissue, and invested by
mucous membrane.
Muscles. The muscles are of two orders, those common to the
tongue and contiguous parts, and those proper to the
tongue. The common or extrinsic muscles are, the stylo¬
glossi, between the styloid process and margins of the
tongue ; the hyoglossi, between the branches of the hyoid
bone and the margins of the tongue; and the genioglossi,
from the upper internal mental tuberosities to the lower
part of the organ. The proper or intrinsic muscle (lin-
gualis) consists of two parallel layers of muscular fibres
running along the lower surface of the organ, and a mass
of fleshy fibres irregularly arranged and mutually crossing
in all directions, and intermixed with a considerable quan¬
tity of soft but elastic oleo-adipose matter.
Of the lingual mucous membrane the most important
circumstances are, the leathery thickness and distinctness
of its corion and epidermis on the superior surface of
the organ, and the papillary eminences with which it is
marked.
Lingual These papillce. may be distinguished into three orders;
papilke. the irregular or granular at the base, the tubercular or
rounded about the middle third, and the conical or point¬
ed at the apex.
The granular which vary in number from 10 to 15
or 16, are of a spheroidal or ovoidal shape, and are arrang¬
ed on each side of the median furrow, obliquely behind
the sides of the angle already mentioned. These bodies
are evidently muciparous follicles; and it is in general
easy to distinguish the orifice of the excretory duct by
the eye or a moderate lens. They seem to receive fila¬
ments from the glosso-pharyngeal nerves, which enter the
tongue immediately beneath these granular glands.
The tubercular papillce, which are much more nume¬
rous, have rounded truncated summits, and occasionally
pedunculated stalks. They are irregularly distributed
towards the middle, margins, and apex of the tongue,
promiscuously with the conical; and their nature is un¬
known.
The conical or acuminated papillce, though occupying
the two anterior thirds of the lingual surface, are never¬
theless most numerous towards its apex, where they are
also smallest, and somewhat inclined forward. These
papillce are asserted by the older anatomists to be the
terminations of nervous twigs; and Cloquet allows them
to be the expansion of the filaments of the lingual nerve.
This, however, is an evident relic of the fanciful represen¬
tations of the older anatomists, and is not supported by
inspection. I have examined the structure of the lingual
papillce in many instances, and in none have I seen any
ground for the assertion that they consist of nervous fila¬
ments. They do not even receive a larger proportion
than other parts of the lingual membrane. The papillce
consist chiefly of numerous minute blood-vessels, rather
tortuous, and communicating directly with veins envelop¬
ed in fine filamentous tissue; and from this they derive
their property of erection, while their mucous surface se¬
cretes mucus copiously. These papillce are further the
seat of the white fur with which the tongue is liable to
be coated in affections of the stomach. The yellow fur Spe 1
seems to be produced from the mucous surface generally. Anally
The tongue is supplied with blood by the lingual ar-^^-<-
teries, branches of the external carotids, and by the pala-Arter ■
tine and tonsillary of the external maxillary. The blood
is returned by the superficial vein, the ranine, the lingual,
and submental.
The nerves of the tongue are derived from three differ-NervJ
ent sources; the inferior maxillary, or third branch of the
fifth pair; the glosso-pharyngeal ; and the hypoglossal.
From the first it receives the lingual nerve, which, after
sending filaments to the sublingual gland, the styloglossus,
genioglossus, and proper muscle of the tongue, is distri¬
buted chiefly to the upper surface, sides, and apex of the
organ. This is believed to be the proper gustatory nerve.
From the second it receives a lingual branch, which, pass¬
ing between the styloglossus and hyoglossus, gives fila¬
ments to these, the proper muscle, and the posterior part
of the genioglossus, and to the granular papillce. By
means of this nerve the motions of the tongue and pharynx
are made to associate. The third, which is distributed
chiefly to the muscles attached to the hyoid bone, sends
filaments also to the hyoglossus, styloglossus, and chiefly
to the genioglossus. The hypoglossal is believed chiefly
to preside over the motions of the tongue, and probably
those destined for articulation.
The tongue is one of the best examples in the human Uses,
body, of the felicity with which a single organ may be
adapted to a great variety of useful purposes. Endowed
with the common sensation of tact, diffused over the body
at large, its mucous investment is so organized that it re¬
cognises readily the peculiar impressions communicated by
sapid bodies. To render it more serviceable in this respect,
its muscles make it an organ of prehension, and elongate,
contract, inflect, incurvate, or extend it, so as to apply
objects placed on its tip to the palate or any part of the
mouth. By the same means it becomes an important agent
in the prehension of food, and in deglutition, by transmitting
the masticated food to the pharynx. Lastly, it is a most
essential and necessary organ of speech, and, by the nice
motions which it undergoes, enables the human race to
pronounce literal sounds and articulate consonants, which
without its aid would be unutterable. Of this the letters
1 and r are examples.
d. Connected with the organs of taste are the salivary Saliva|
glands, of which there are three pairs, one on each side ofS^anil:
the mesial plane ; the parotid, submaxillary, and sublingual.
The parotid, so named from its situation before the ear, Parol
is the largest of all the salivary glands. It consists of two
parts, the parotid proper, a large oblong mass placed in
the deep angular cavity formed by the maxillary ramus
and the mastoid process; and the soda parotidis, a large
flat irregularly oval mass extending beneath the skin of
the face. Partaking of the general characters of glandu¬
lar structure, it is supplied with blood from the external
carotid, by the temporal and transverse facial; its veins
open into the external jugular; and it receives numerous
nervous filaments from thefacial and the ascending branches
of the cervical plexus.
It has an excretory duct, named also the duct of Steno
(ductus Stenonianus), which, quitting the surface of the
gland a little above the middle of the upper margin of
the masseter, proceeds horizontally over the tendinous part
of that muscle, and, sinking into the filamentous adipose
tissue of the cheek, perforates the buccinator, and termi¬
nates in the mouth at the level of the second superior
molar tooth.
The submaxillary or intramaxillary is smaller than the Sub-n
parotid. Oblong in shape, it is placed on the internal pitilhny
f
ANATOMY.
Ik
| (jcial of the lower jaw, bounded by the internal pterygoid and
|4ijomy. mylo-hyoid above, the lingual nerve, the stylo-glossus and
hyo-glossus, and the external maxillary artery behind, and
below by the latissimus colli and integuments. Blood it
derives from the lingual and external maxillary arteries,
and nerves from the lingual and the myloid branch of the
inferior dental. Its excretory duct, named, from its dis¬
coverer, the duct of Wharton, terminates on the side of the
frenum, in a narrow tuberculated orifice,
ub. The sublingual gland is the smallest of the three. Pa¬
il rallel to that of the opposite side, it is separated from it
by the base of the two genio-glossi, and rests on the mylo-
hyoideus, which separates it from the intramaxillary. Oc¬
casionally, however, these two glands communicate by a
slip from the intramaxillary below the muscle. It is sup¬
plied with blood by the sublingual, ranine, and submental
arteries; and its nerves proceed from the lingual and hy¬
poglossal. Its excretory ducts are manifold, and terminate
either in several orifices on the sides of the frenum, or
unite in a single tube, opening in the same region.
The use of these glands is to separate from the blood a
watery but somewhat saline and sapid fluid, which has
the twofold office of preserving the gustatory membrane
in its necessary moisture, and of mixing with the food
during mastication.
The saliva consists chiefly of water, holding in solution
hydrochlorate of soda, sulpho-cyanic acid, and a minute
portion of animal matter intermediate between albumen
and osmazome. The presence of sulpho-cyanic acid, an
active poison, is remarkable ; nor is the purpose of such an
agent known. From the saline matters in this fluid the
tartar of the teeth is deposited; and occasionally minute
concretions are formed in the glands or their ducts. That
appearing in the ducts of the sublingual forms one variety
of the affection named ranula.
CHAP. III. THE ORGANS OF VOICE.
Voice is of two kinds, according as it consists in the mere
voluntary utterance of sound, or what is named, in refer¬
ence to the animal world, cry, or in the utterance of certain
peculiar modifications of this, denominated therefore arti¬
culate voice, or simply speech. Inarticulate voice is com¬
mon to all the Mammalia and Birds. By the posses¬
sion of articulate speech, however, man (/Asgo-^) is parti¬
cularly distinguished from the animal world in general.
These two forms of voice have two distinct organs. For
inarticulate voice the larynx is placed at the superior ex¬
tremity of the windpipe; and for that of speech, to the
larynx are superadded the articulating powers of the teeth,
lips, and tongue.
The larynx is a tubular organ, consisting of cartilages
invested by membranes, connected by ligaments, and
moved by muscles.
The cartilages are five in number, the thyroid, cricoid,
two arytenoid, and the epiglottis.
The thyroid cartilage, which forms the anterior and
lateral region, consists of two lateral halves united on the
mesial plane, where they form an acute salient angle, dis¬
tinct beneath the integuments, and forming what is named
thepomum Adami. The anterior surface is slightly concave,
covered by the thyro-hyoideus, with an oblique line, to which
the muscle now mentioned, the sterno-thyroideus, and infe¬
rior constrictor, are attached, and a posterior space covered
by the two latter muscles. The posterior surface of the
thyroid has in the middle a re-entrant angle, to which are
attached the ligaments of the glottis and the thyro-aryt(enoi~
dei; on the sides two plane surfaces, corresponding above
to tiie cellular tissue of the thyro-arytcenoidei, and below
805
to the lateral crico-arytcenoidei, and some fibres of the Special
cnco-thyroidei attached to this part. Anatomy.
Each lateral half is quadrilateral and quadrangular.
the upper margin, which is obliquely sinuated like an f,
the thyro-hyoid membrane is attached. To the lower,
which though shorter is also sinuated, the crico-thyroid
membrane and the crico-thyroidei are attached.
The posterior margins, which are oblique and give at¬
tachment to several fibres of the stylo-pharyngei and pa-
lato-pharyngei, terminate above in an elevated pointed
process incurvated inwards and forwards, connected by a
ligament to the hyoid bone, and below in a similar process,
shorter however and triangular in shape, and articulated
by its tip with the lateral process of the cricoid cartilage.
The cricoid or annular cartilage (xgaog, annulus'), which Cricoid
occupies the lower part of the larynx, is a complete ring cartilage,
of cartilage, narrow before, and broad and elevated be¬
hind, where chiefly it constitutes the laryngeal cavity.
Convex in the middle, where it is subcutaneous, it widens
laterally where the crico-thyroidei are attached; and far¬
ther back, where it is covered by the thyroid cartilage, it
presents the lateral process covered by synovial mem¬
brane for articulation with the triangular process of the
thyroid. Its posterior region is broad and quadrilateral,
with a ridge on the median line covered by the pharyngeal
membrane only, and two depressions on each side, to
which the posterior crico-arytcenoidei are attached. The
inner surface, which is concave, narrow before and broad
behind, is covered by the laryngeal mucous membrane.
The superior margin presents before a large notch, to
which the crico-thyroid membrane is fixed, laterally the
insertion of the lateral crico-arytcenoidei, and behind two
convex surfaces, oblique in direction, covered by synovial
membrane for articulation with the arytenoid cartilages,
and between which this margin is covered by the aryte¬
noid muscle. The lower margin, less irregular, descend¬
ing before, sinuated on the sides and notched behind, is
united by a fibro-mucous membrane to the first ring of the
windpipe.
The arytenoid cartilages are two small bodies, triangu- Arytenoid
lar and pyramidal in shape, placed at the posterior part cartilages,
of the larynx, in the upper margin of the cricoid cartilage.
In each arytenoid cartilage may be recognised a concave
anterior surface for the arytenoid gland, a concave posterior
surface for the arytenoid muscle, an internal surface covered
by laryngeal mucous membrane, a base concave and oval,
covered by synovial membrane for articulation with the cri¬
coid, and a thin, convex summit, supporting a small carti¬
lage (cornicula laryngis), invested by mucous membrane.
These bodies, which are named the tubercles of Santo- The tu-
rini (capitula arytcenoidum) by whom they were discover- bercles of
ed, are conical in shape, with a concave base for articulat- Santorini,
ing with the summit of each arytenoid cartilage, and a
pointed apex incurvated inwards and backwards. To their
surface, with part of the arytenoid, the thyro-arytenoid
ligament is fixed, and forms the beginning of the glottis.
These bodies partake of the general characters of car¬
tilage, and are invested by perichondrium. I he thyroid
and cricoid have a great tendency to ossification; and it
is rare to find them unossified in advanced life.
The epiglottis is a thin slip of fibro-cartilage, of a para- The epi-
boloid shape, covered by mucous membrane, attached at glottis,
its base by cellular tissue to the inner surface of the
hyoid bone and the upper margin of the thyroid carti¬
lage, and by duplicatures of mucous membrane to the
summits of the arytenoid cartilages. In this duplicature, The cunei-
on each side, is suspended a minute wedge-like cartilagi- f°rm cartl-
nous tubercle, with the base upward, named the cuneiform. iaSe:,‘
These cartilages are articulated so as to admit of mo-
800 ANATOMY.
Special tlon at the points already indicated. The articulations
Anatomy. are secured by ligamentous capsules; but the most im-
portant ligament is the thyro-arytenoid, which passes
from the base of each arytenoid cartilage to the re-entrant
angle of the thyroid, where the fibres are mutually mixed
with that of the opposite side. The thyroid moves on
the cricoid, which may be regarded as the base of the or¬
gan ; and the two arytenoid move on the upper margin of
the cricoid. The epiglottis is depressed over the laryngeal
opening by the motion of the tongue in deglutition.
The agents of motion in the larynx are of two kinds;
ls£, those which move the whole organ in relation to the
neighbouring parts; and, ildly, those which move the com¬
ponent parts of the larynx in relation to each other. To
the former class belong the sterno-thyroid, thyro-hyoid,
and inferior constrictor muscles, with those attached to
the hyoid bone, the elevation and depression of which
the larynx follows. The second comprehends the crico¬
thyroid, the posterior crico-arytenoid, the lateral crico¬
arytenoid, the thyro-arytenoid, and the arytenoid. The
connections and relations of these muscles it is super¬
fluous to detail more minutely than may be understood
from the description already given of the cartilages. It is
sufficient to say, that while the crico-thyroid causes the
thyroid cartilage to perform a swinging motion on the cri¬
coid, the posterior crico-arytenoid draws the arytenoid
cartilages back, the thyro-arytenoid draws them forwards,
the lateral crico-arytenoid separates them from each other,
and the arytenoid, sometimes distinguished into trans¬
verse and oblique arytenoid muscles, approximates these
cartilages in different degrees, according to the act in
which they are used.
The several parts now mentioned are invested on the
inside by mucous membrane, continuous above with that
of the pharynx and tongue, and below with that of the
trachea. Proceeding from the former boundary, it may
be traced over the epiglottis and its gland, on the mesial
v plane and the thyro-arytcenoidei, and on the sides from the
inner surface of the thyroid cartilage before to the outer
margin and base of the arytenoid cartilages behind. At this
part it rises to form two folds with rounded margins, extend¬
ing from before backwards, and forming on the outsides a
cavity with the arytenoid cartilage. These folds, though
occasionally named the superior ligaments of the glottis,
are truly mucous membrane doubled, with interposed
filamentous tissue. They form an intermediate triangular
space, with the base before and the apex behind. The
inner surface of this membrane, directed to that of the op¬
posite side, is concave, and forms a sort of pouch called
the ventricles of the larynx (sacculi laryngis). The mem¬
brane here covers the thyro-arytenoid ligaments, over
which it is tensely stretched, so as to form inferior folds,
much tenser and firmer than the superior ones. These
lower folds, which form a triangular interval with the base
behind and the apex before, are the proper ligaments of
the larynx, or vocal chords (chordoe. vocales); and the in¬
termediate fissure is named the glottis, or rim a glottidis.
Though this opening is triangular in the dead body, its
shape varies much in the living. By the joint action of
the posterior crico-arytanioidei and the arytcenoidei trans-
versi, the thyro-arytenoid ligaments maybe rendered'tense,
the arytenoid cartilages approximated, and the fissure of
the glottis become a mere slit.
Though it is impossible to adopt all the views of Do-
dart regarding the powers of the thyro-arytenoid ligaments,
it is certain that their tension and relaxation, with the
mutual approximation of the arytenoid cartilages, are the
essential agents of voice. Without the air passing through
the glottis there is no voice. The glottis is also the organ
by which the quantity of air admitted into the trachea is Spt™
regulated. By means of its muscles it may be shut, and Anat)rr,
the breath retained, so as to fix the chest during any great
effort. By contracting it, also, during coughing or forcible
expiration, the air is forcibly expelled from the lungs, and
necessarily carries at the same time foreign bodies.
At the base of the epiglottis, in the angle between it
and the thyroid, the laryngeal membrane presents several
orifices, which may be traced to a cluster of follicles im¬
bedded in the submucous tissue at this part. This clus¬
ter has been named the epiglottic gland.
A similar glandular body, in the anterior depression of
each arytenoid cartilage, is named the arytenoid glands.
Of the body named thyroid gland, situate on the sides
of the upper end of the trachea, and generally referred
to the appendages of the larynx, nothing is known. With
the larynx it has certainly no relation.
The blood-vessels of the larynx are the superior thy¬
roid or laryngeal, the first branch of the external carotid,
and the inferior laryngeal branch of the inferior thyroid,
the second branch of the subclavian artery.
The nerves are derived from the pneumogastric or ner-
vus vagus, and may be referred to three divisions; the
internal laryngeal, distributed to the proper muscles of the
larynx; the external laryngeal, distributed to the thyro-pha-
ryngeus, the sterno-thyroid, hyothyroid, and crico-thyroid;
and the recurrent, distributed to the laryngeal membrane,
the thyro-arytenoid, and posterior crico-thyroid muscles.
The division of these nerves, or of the pneumogastric, from
which they proceed, is followed by palsy of the muscles,
and inability to open the glottis at will, or retain it open;
and the result is dyspnoea, terminating in asphyxia
CHAP. IV. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
The nervous system includes two general divisions, a
central and a distributed. The first is collected in a
single and indivisible mass, contained in the cavities of
the cranium and vertebral column, and may be designated
by the general appellation of brain {cerebrum). The
second consists of long chords connected with some
of the central portion and with each other, and distri¬
buted in every direction through the body in the mode of
ramification. These are distinguished by the name of
nervous chords or nerves {nervi).
SECT. I. THE BRAIN AND ITS MEMBRANES.
§ 1. the brain. Plate XXX.
The brain may be considered as a continuous organ, con¬
sisting of three divisions;—the convoluted, the laminated,
and the smooth or funicular portions. Of these divisions,
which are framed according to the peculiar external con¬
figuration of each, the first part corresponds to what is
called the brain proper {cerebrum); the second to the
small brain {cerebellum) ; and the third to the oblong body
contained in the vertebral column, and known under the
name of spinal chord.
The convoluted portion presents two surfaces, an outer
or convoluted, and an inner or figurate. I he laminated
portion in like manner presents two surfaces, an outer or
laminated, and an inner or central. The third has only
one exterior surface.
The shape of the first two divisions is like that of the
cranial cavity in which they are contained, oblong sphe¬
roidal or ovoidal, with the small extremity of the ovoid be¬
fore, and the large one behind.
The human brain is larger and heavier in proportion
than that of any other animal. The three parts, the brain,
cerebellum, and spinal chord, after being washed and
ANATOMY.
ial emptied of blood, weigh in the adult from two pounds
my.^five ounces to three pounds three ounces, and at an ave¬
rage about three pounds; and of this the brain alone
weighs two pounds. The statement of Haller, that the
brain weighs five pounds, is incredible, unless it be under¬
stood of Troy weight, in which case even it seems exag¬
gerated, since of more than 200 brains weighed by Soem¬
mering, not one amounted to four pounds. The statement,
that the brain of Cromwell weighed six pounds and one
fourth, seems equally incredible. The specific gravity of
the adult brain is to water as 1031 to 1000. This, how¬
ever, varies with age. The cerebellum weighs about five
or six ounces, and is therefore about the seventh part only
of the weight of the brain.
The brain (cerebrum) is divided above and before into
(^' two lateral halves, named hemispheres (hemisphceria),
1 right and left, separated by a deep furrow, in which the
vertical, crescentic, or dichotomous portion (falx) of the
hard membrane is received. Each hemisphere is bounded
by a superior or convex, an inner or plane, and an inferior
convex and concave surface. The lower surface of each
hemisphere, also, anatomists distinguish into three lobes,
an anterior, posterior, and middle.
The cerebellum is also divided into two hemispheres,
separated by a middle furrow of less depth, receiving, as
that of the brain, a crescentic production, smaller in size,
from the hard membrane.
The exterior surface of the convoluted division is form-
:e ed into eminences longitudinal and rounded, but directed
in various ways, named convolutions or circumvolutions
(gyri, Soemmering, Wenzel), and separated from each
other by deep hollows (sulci). To see this surface, which
is termed the convoluted, the vascular membrane termed
•pia mater (meninx tenuis) must be removed.
The convoluted surface of each hemisphere may be
divided into five regions : 1. The commutual or dichoto¬
mous ; 2. the lateral-superior or convex; 3. the antero¬
inferior or frontal; 4. the medio-inferior or spheno-tem-
poral; and 5. the posterior or cerebellic region.
1. The commutual, plane, of a shape nearly semicircular,
forms the mesial boundary of each hemisphere, and cor¬
responds to the falciform or dichotomous portion of the
hard membrane (iirpiy^ meninx dura), by which it
is separated from the similar surface of the opposite he¬
misphere. Before and behind it extends from the supe¬
rior to the inferior surface of the brain; but a consider¬
able portion of its middle is terminated by the upper sur¬
face of the middle band (mesolobe, corpus callosum), which
lies between the two hemispheres. It is contained be¬
tween the semicircular and the rectilinear margins.
2. The convex region occupies the anterior, upper,
lateral, and posterior parts of the hemisphere, from their
anterior to their posterior extremity, and from the semi¬
circular margin to a line which extends between these
extremities along the lateral borders of the organ.
3. The antero-inferior ox frontal rests on the horizontal
part of the frontal and ethmoid bones, commencing before
with a curved outline, bounded behind by the curvilinear
hollow named the fissure of Sylvius, and at its inner or
mesial margin by the great fissure which separates the
hemispheres. This inner margin presents one convolution,
consisting of a longitudinal eminence, extending in the
adult brain about 1^ inch from the posterior towards the
anterior end of the notch. The outer furrow contains the
cerebral portion of the first pair or olfacient nerves. (1,1.)
4. The medio-inferior or spheno-temporal is situate im¬
mediately behind this region, from which it is separated
by the curvilinear hollow (fossa Sylvii). In the ordi¬
nary descriptions this forms the middle lobe; while the
807
posterior part, corresponding to the cerebellum, though dis- Special
tinguished by no evident limit, is with equal impropriety Anatomy,
named tY\c posterior lobe. I he whole region, from the cur-
vilinear hollow to the posterior tip of the hemisphere,
may, however, be subdivided into two, the medio-inferior
and postero-inferior regions of the convoluted surface, ac¬
cording as they correspond to different containing parts.
5. The posterior cerebellic region of the convoluted sur¬
face, which is plane, corresponds to the horizontal or ce¬
rebellic part of the hard membrane.
The convoluted surface is formed of cerebral matter, of
a gray or dirty wax colour, the surface of which is smooth
and polished where it has not been rent by the removal
of the membranes and their attachments. In the fur¬
rows are many minute orifices, into which the soft mem¬
brane (Xsrnj yrpiyZ, meninx tenuis, pia mater) transmits
filamentous bodies, containing minute blood-vessels.
Neither the eminences nor the hollows are uniform in
number or distribution ; and in no two brains is it possible
to trace any similarity in their figure, presence, or direc¬
tion, in the upper, lateral, and posterior part of the con¬
voluted surface, unless where it approaches the central
or figurate surface, where a number of important objects
are presented.
The convoluted surface communicates with another
interior surface at two parts; ls£, on the middle plane,
under the posterior end of the middle band or mesolobe
(corpus callosum) ; 2c?, on each side of the middle plane,
at the outer margin of the fluted masses termed limbs of
the brain (crura cerebri), between these limbs and the
posterior end of the optic chamber or couch (thalamus
opticus). This surface of the organ may be termed the
central or figurate.
The exterior surface of the cerebellum consists of thin Laminated
portions of cerebral substance named plates (lamince), or surface of
leaves (folia), placed contiguously, either parallel or con-d10 cere-
centric, and separated by furrows of various depth. Thisbel um‘
surface, which may be named the laminar ox foliated sur¬
face of the small brain, communicates also with the figu¬
rate surface,—ls£, above on the middle plane, between
the semilunar notch behind, and the white cerebral plate
termed Vieussenian valve before; 2d, at its inferior sur¬
face, between the almonds or spinal lobules above, and the
upper end (medulla oblongata) of the spinal chord below.
The outline of each hemispherical surface of the cerebel¬
lum describes three fourths of a circle; and as the seg¬
ments mutually meet towards the mesial plane, the mode of
union varies according to the figure of the objects to which
they are adapted. ls£, The hemispherical border, ap¬
proaching the anterior part of the organ, is suddenly in¬
terrupted where the cerebellic peduncles (crura cei'ebelli)
are connected with the protuberance; and, pursuing a
retrograde direction on each side towards the mesial plane,
forms a re-entrant curvature or notch—the semilunar—Semilunar
corresponding to the lower pair of the bigeminous bodies, notch.
2d, The hemispherical borders, approaching the posterior
part of the cerebellum, proceed, near the mesial plane,
by an acute circular turn, almost straight backwards,
and form, at the posterior edge of the organ, a deep rect¬
angular notch, H, not unlike the figure of the ancient Purse-like
lyre, named the perpendicular fissure of Malacarne, or notch.
the purse-like fissure of Reil, and containing the cerebellic
vertical portion of the hard membrane (falx cerebelli).
Between these two boundaries the cerebellic plates, of
which the hemispheres consist, are united in the middle
by an interlacement, named suture (raphe), of the cere¬
bellum. A large hollow between the hemispheres, ex¬
tending backwards from the semilunar to the purse-like
fissure, is the small valley (vallecida) of Haller.
808
ANATOMY.
Special
Anatomy,
Cerebellic
lobes.
The ton¬
sils.
The flock,
The pyra¬
mid, uvu¬
la, and
nodule.
Central
surface.
Central
band; cor¬
pus callo¬
sum.
Each hemispherical surface consists of five lobes; 1.
the anterior-upper or quadrilateral; 2. the posterior-
upper ; 3. the posterior-lower; 4. the slender,v rarely ex¬
ceeding three lines in breadth ; 5. the two-bellied or
biventral; and 6. the central lobe. The first two belong
to the upper or flat hemispherical surface ; the next three
to the lower or convex hemispherical surface; and the
sixth, common to the two hemispheres, is situate on the
mesial plane of the upper surface, between the anterior end
of the middle line (raphe) and the middle or apex of the
semilunar fissure.
The biventral lobe is pointed, and its margin concave;
and between this margin and the parts of which the valley
consists is placed a group of plates, convex and rounded,
named the tonsil or tonsils (tonsillce; amygdalce; the spinal
lobule of Gordon).
In the angular hollow between the biventral lobe and
the peduncle (crus) of the small brain, is the flock, a mi¬
nute body, of irregular shape. Each flock consists of six
or seven plates (lamince), starting directly from the begin¬
ning of the peduncle, and with the concave margins di¬
rected towards the protuberance.
The valley is distinguished into three bodies, the pyra¬
mid, uvula, and nodidus. The first is a group of 20 parallel
plates, with a triangular apex, bounded behind by the
purse-shaped notch, and before by another cluster of plates
called the uvula. The uvula, which is anterior, consists of
twelve laminated leaves, is six lines long and four broad,
and is smaller than the pyramid, and conical, with its base
turned to that body. Lastly, anterior to the uvida, and
separated from it by a furrow, is the laminar tubercle
(tuberculo laminoso) or nodule, consisting of about ten
thin transverse plates, the smallest in the row.
The second surface of the brain, in situation interior or
central, may be named the Jigurate or symmetrical. In¬
stead of presenting the uniform eminences and hollows
which distinguish the convoluted surface, it is moulded
into definite shapes, which correspond with each other, as
they are situate on opposite sides of the middle plane,—
or the parts of which, when situate on this plane, are ex¬
actly symmetrical. The surface formed by these figured
objects bounds what are termed the ventricles or cavities
of the brain. They cannot justly be termed cavities any
more than the hollows between the convolutions, but
ought to be viewed as continuations of the exterior or
convoluted surface.
The central or figurate surface of the brain presents
the following objects. The central band, beam, or meso-
lobe, a mass of white cerebral matter, uniting both hemi¬
spheres on the mesial plane, with the twainband or vault
below ; the hippocampus major on each side; the anterior
pyriform eminence or striated body on each side ; the
posterior pyriform eminence or optic chamber on each
side; the semicircular band on each side; the ergot on
each side; the conarium on the mesial plane; the bige-
minous eminences on the mesial plane; the valve on the
mesial plane; and its pillars on each side.
The commutual or dichotomous region of the convo¬
luted surface is terminated below by the upper surface of
a white band uniting the two hemispheres. This, which
was named by the ancient anatomists the smooth or po¬
lished body (augu riKkoeidis, corpus Iceve), to distinguish it
from surfaces formed by a cutting instrument, appears in
the form of white fibrous matter, passing transversely be¬
tween the hemispheres, and marked by three longitudinal
lines, one on the mesial plane, and one on each side. This
is the middle or central band (mesolobe of Chaussier).
Near its middle is a bundle of gray lines, which may be
traced to the central portion of the hippocampus major.
The posterior extremity of this body is rounded, and Spell
communicates with the chamber named third or middle Anatibf,
ventricle. This surface is continued forward, and forms''-'’^*-
the vault or cieling (fornix, Die Zwillingsbinde, the twain-
band, Reil). The names of callous body and vault are
used, as if they were denominations of different bodies.
If they are still retained, it ought to be stated that they are
names applied to opposite surfaces of the same object.
The relations of the posterior end of the middle band The Un.
are as follow. The handle of a scalpel inserted beneath gular
it is found to be in the middle ventricle, with the vaultvaul("
above, the conarium or pineal body, and four eminences
of the upper surface of the protuberance (corpora bige-
mina) below, and a part of each optic chamber on each
side. The vault or inferior surface of the band has the
shape of an isosceles triangle, with the base behind. Be¬
fore it is incurvated downward as it becomes narrow; and
the space between the band and it is occupied by a thin
double plate of cerebral matter, separating the two ven¬
tricles, and named the diaphanous partition (septum luci-
dum). (s, s, s.) The fornix terminates before, in two bodies
named anterior pillars. (Fig. 3, f, f.)
The posterior end of the middle band penetrates intoTheh
the substance of the hemispheres; but the gray chordscampif
already noticed, pursuing their lateral course, are imme-maj°r-
diately enveloped in white plates derived from the sides
of the vault, and assuming a cylindrical appearance,
form, opposite the cerebral limbs, a body with a free Super
rounded surface, which bends in a curvilinear direction lateral
laterally and downwards, and is the great hippocampus orc™im
cylindroid process. (Chaussier.) In observing this cur-catlon
vilinear course, it rests on and corresponds, but without
adhesion, to the upper margin of the cerebral limb as it
issues from the optic chamber; and the surfaces of both
parts, though kept in apposition by vascular membrane,
are free and unadherent. It forms the great cerebral fis¬
sure of Bichat.
The hippocampus, therefore, consists of two parts. The
first, which is the gray indented band (le corps godronnee,
Vicq-d’Azyr), is an inner or central portion, as thick as
a large crow-quill, gray in colour, indented at the free
edge, adhering to the cerebral substance by its opposite
margin, and connected with the upper surface of the cen¬
tral band. The outer or second part, which is a broad
thin plate of white cerebral matter folded over the gray
indented band, as a map is rolled over a cylinder of wood,
known under the name of the tape or fringe of the hippo¬
campus, is connected with the lower surface of the same
central band, or the vault (fornix) of the brain.
At the inferior region the communication is effected Inferii
by the curvilinear hollow. (Fig. 1, s, s.) This presents, ]s/,latera!
cerebral substance, penetrated by numerous holes of
ous size, named the white perforated substance (lamina per¬
forata) ; ‘idly, the unconvoluted space; 3c%, the long cere¬
bral band termed the optic tract; and, \thly, the limb of
the brain. This body, with that of the opposite side, is
covered by a portion of the convoluted surface, the in¬
ner and prominent surface of the medio-inferior or sphe-
no-temporal region.
The convoluted surface, which covers the anterior end
and outer margin of the cerebral limb, when everted,
presents the thin white body named the tape or fringe
(tcenia) of the hippocampus; and if the portion of con¬
voluted brain next the curvilinear hollow be raised and
everted in the same manner, the anterior end of this ob¬
ject, termed the foot (pes hippocampi), comes into view.
The fringe of the hippocampus forms, in the natural
position of the organ, the outer and lower border of the
opening; while the limb of the brain, and the outer
fl]
tk^er.
‘:cial and lower surface of the optic chamber, form its inner
Aifomy. border.
When the central surface is exposed by removing the
ppm1-central band and the vault and deling of the ventricles,
* two pyriforin eminences, an anterior and posterior, 00016'
into view. The anterior is ash-coloured or gray, inclin¬
ing to wood-brown, with the round convex extremity be¬
fore, and the small end tapering backwards and outwards,
so as to inclose the round end of the posterior eminence.
The surface is smooth and convex, consisting of a thin co¬
vering of gray cerebral matter. The interior consists of
an admixture of white and gray, so as to form alternate
streaks,—a circumstance from which these eminences on
each side have been named the striated bodies (corpora
striata). At their anterior mesial extremity are two round¬
ed vertical bodies of white cerebral matter, descending
from the anterior end of the vault. These are the ante¬
rior pillars, which are thus interposed between the inte¬
rior front of the striated bodies.
Sf 'ircu- The posterior and internal margin of the striated bo-
111 ni1, dies is bounded by a gray, hard eminence, about a line
broad, stretching with a sinuous or winding direction
from its mesial and anterior to its external lateral and
posterior margin. This is the semicircular fillet or band
(taenia semicircularis, centrum semicirculare geminum).
Always firmer than the neighbouring parts, it appears to
be the external margin of a gray-coloured stratum or wall
of cerebral matter between the anterior and posterior py¬
riform bodies.
Connected before and on the outside to the striated
body by means of the double semicircular chord (centrum
semicirculare geminum, Vieussens), each optic eminence
presents four free surfaces—the upper, the inner, the pos¬
terior, and the lower. The upper is gently rounded,
convex, and white in colour; its limits are not easily de¬
fined. The outer margin is bounded by the circular band,
which even passes anterior to it, so as to form its bound¬
ary in that direction also. Behind, it is less distinctly
limited, unless by the appearance of a considerable pro¬
minence, named the posterior tubercle of the optic couch.
The inner margin of the upper surface is distinctly mark¬
ed by a small, sharp, gray line, which, beginning insensibly
at the anterior part of the body, becomes more distinct as
it extends backwards, and ultimately bends towards the
median plane. There it unites with a similar elevated
line of the opposite optic eminence; and to the point of
union is attached a small conical body with a minute
point, of a gray colour, and of a shape like that of the
pine-apple. Tins is the pineal gland (glandula pinealis,
conarium); and the minute linear eminences which form
the inner edge of the upper optic surface have been
named peduncles of the pineal gland.
The inner surface of the optic couch or chamber pre¬
sents the small portion of soft cerebral matter (commissura
mollis) which unites it to the similar surface of the oppo¬
site body; and the intermediate space between the inner
surfaces of these bodies on each side constitutes the third
or middle ventricle (ventriculus tertius). Its posterior
edge, however, is terminated by the cerebral limb of that
side; and the lower edge meets that of the opposite one,
and is connected to it by a portion of brain which forms
the lower part of the middle ventricle, and corresponds
on the outside to the bridge of Turin (pons Tarini).
yi“'ate The posterior surface of the optic chamber is convex
eSl and continuous with the unconvoluted space. Its most con¬
vex part presents two oblong roundish eminences, sepa¬
rated by a linear depression, which may be traced down¬
wards with an outward curvature, and forwards about five
or six lines, in a broad white band, crossing two fluted
masses mutually converging behind at an angle. These
VOL. II.
Pil
and
Nicies.
S01 om-
t; re
uiiiird
Veficle.
SE:
ANATOMY. 80i;)
eminences are the geniculate bodies (corpus geniculatum Special
externum et internum), the outer the largest of the two Anatomy,
(fig. 1, g, g); the white bands are the optic tracts or ori-1^^^^'^
gins of the optic nerve, issuing from the geniculate tu¬
bercles (0, t); and the fluted converging masses are the
limbs of the brain (crura cerebri).
On the inner or mesial side of the geniculate bodies, Bigemi-
and separated only by a linear furrow, are the bigemi- nous omi¬
nous eminences, four orbicular elevations, two above and11611068,
two below; two on each side of the mesial plane, with an
intermediate cruciform furrow. By the ancients, who ex¬
amined chiefly brute animals, the superior and larger pair
were named nates (yXovroi), the inferior testes (ruougoi).
These eminences occupy the upper surface of the protu¬
berance, and partly that of the limbs of the brain; and
while the eminences are situate between the posterior ends
of the optic chambers above, the limbs appear to issue
from the centre of these chambers below, and the linear
furrow marks the point of junction.
These bigeminal eminences, however, though occupy-Cerebral
ing the superior surface of the protuberance, adhere not valve,
everywhere to its substance. (Fig. 3.) The mesial furrow is
formed on the upper surface of a thin plate of white cere¬
bral matter, which extends from the level of the pineal
peduncles above, to the upper margin of the cerebellum
below, like a veil, and is named the cerebral valve (valvula
Vieussenii). The lower surface of this is free for about
two or three lines broad; and, though applied to a similar
surface on the mesial line of the upper region of the protu¬
berance, does not adhere, but forms a canal with the third
ventricle above and the fourth below, named the aque¬
duct of Sylvius (iter a tertio ad quartum ventriculum) (i).
While the outer halves, therefore, of the eminences ad¬
here to the matter of the protuberance, the inner are at¬
tached to that of the valve, (n, t.)
The lower or cerebellic margin of the valve is free, and Pillars of
overhangs as it were the fourth or cerebellic ventricle, the valve.
On each side, however, is a longitudinal rounded body of
white matter, which passes from the lower pair of bigemi-
nous eminences (testes) to the cerebellum. These are
named the pillars of the valve (columnce valvula; Vieus¬
senii, processus a cerebello ad testes). The fourth or pathe¬
tic nerve (trochlearis) rises partly from the valve, partly
from its lateral pillars, and is seen issuing on the sides of
the protuberance not larger than a thread.
The lower surface of the optic chambers presents with¬
in the convoluted space the limbs of the brain (crura
cerebri), two fluted semicylindrical masses, converging
backwards, and inclosing by their junction a triangular
space, with the apex behind—the intercrural hollow. The
inner margin of the limbs presents the origin of the third
or oculo-muscular nerves (oculo-motorii) ; about half an
inch anterior on the intercrural hollow are the lenticular
or pisiform bodies (tubera, v. corpora candicantia), two he¬
mispherical tubercles of white matter; and immediately
anterior is the hypophysis or pituitary gland, a broad quad¬
rilateral reddish-gray prominence, with the anterior mar¬
gin rounded, the posterior concave, inclosed before and on
the sides by the converging optic tracts and commissure.
(p-)
The limbs are obliquely crossed at their outer anterior
end by the broad part of the optic tracts as they descend
from the geniculate bodies. Their posterior convergent
extremities are lost in the substance of the annular pro¬
tuberance (pons Varolii, nodus cerebri), a convex rounded
white body, with transverse fasciculi separated by linear
furrows, (n.) Connected before with the crura or limbs,
from which it is separated by transverse sinuous furrows,
it is connected on the sides with the cerebellum by short
semicylindrical stalks or peduncles (crura cerebelli), and
5 K
810
ANATOMY.
Special
Anatomy.
Head of
the chord.
Pyramidal
bodies.
Olivary
bodies.
llestiform
bodies and
their
groove.
The spinal
chord.
behind with the beginning of the spinal chord {medulla
oblongata). It is marked on the middle by a longitudinal
furrow, in which is placed the basilar artery, the united
trunk of the vertebrals. Its convexity corresponds to the
concavity of the basilar groove of the occipital bone, on
which it rests. This eminence may be regarded as the
general central point of the cerebral nervous system, with
which all the other parts are connected,—with the cere¬
bral hemispheres by the crura cerebri, with the cerebellic
hemispheres by the crura cerebelli, with the upper in¬
ternal part of the optic chambers by the bigeminous emi¬
nences, and with the spinal chord by the medulla oblon¬
gata. From its anterior lateral margin the tergeminal or
fifth nerve arises ; from the posterior furrow the abducent
or sixth nerve ; and from the upper anterior margin of
the cerebellic peduncle the eighth or lateral facial.
Continuous with and behind the protuberance is the be¬
ginning or bulb of the spinal chord, a part distinguished on
the ground of an obsolete hypothesis by the name of me¬
dulla oblongata. Thick and prominent, its surface is mould¬
ed into six oblong-ovoidal eminences, three on each side of
the mesial plane ; the pyriform or pyramidal eminences
before, the restiform bodies behind, and the olivary emi¬
nences on each side.
The pyriform eminences {corpora pyramidalid) are two
oblong-oval bodies, broad above, tapering below, sepa¬
rated by a mesial line, and bounded laterally by a furrow
separating them from the olivary bodies, occupying the
anterior-inferior part of the bulb of the chord, and rest¬
ing on the lower third of the basilar groove. The mesial
line terminates above in the foramen caecum of the poste¬
rior furrow of the protuberance, (p.)
The olivary {corpora ovata), placed on the outside of
the pyramidal bodies, occupying partly the front, partly
the side of the bulb, give it a lateral and transverse pro¬
jection. In the intermediate furrow are the initial fila¬
ments of the hypoglossal or middle lingual nerve ; and in
the external furrow and sides those of the glosso-pharyn-
geal and pneumogastric nerves, (o, o.)
The posterior-upper part of the medulla oblongata con¬
sists of two longitudinal cylindrical bodies, stretching
between the cerebellic peduncles above and the spinal
chord below. These are the chordal processes of Ridley,
the restiform or rope-like processes of Morgagni, the py¬
ramidal bodies of Haller, Malacarne, and Reil, and the
posterior pyramidal bodies of Ruysch, Prochaska, and
Soemmering. Above, where they are connected with the
cerebellic peduncles, they are separated by a triangular
space with the apex downward, but below by a deep fur¬
row, the calamus scriptorius of the ancients, at the bottom
of which, when separated, may be observed white chords
proceeding from the process of one side, plaited with
those of the other. These decussating fibres, which are
confined entirely to the mesial margin of the restiform
processes, are believed to establish a crossing connection
between the right and left sides of the peduncles and the
protuberance. The intermediate cavity is named the
fourth ventricle. From the inner surface of the restiform
process issue several of the initial filaments of the
seventh or auditory nerve.
The spinal chord or funicular brain is a cylindrical
body occupying the interior of the vertebral canal, from
the margin of the occipital hole to the first lumbar verte¬
bra ; large and round on the cervical region, broad on the
dorsal, and terminating in a brush-like expansion, deno¬
minated the cauda equina. On its dorsal surface may be
seen a slightly depressed line continued from the middle
furrow of the restiform bodies, but becoming faint and
indistinct in the region of the back.
The central or figurate surface is smooth, polished,
and possesses a degree of closeness of texture which pre- Spec
vents it from being readily abraded. These qualities are Anatc d
ascribed by Reil to a thin pellicle, which he terms epithe-K~*~v J
lia. Though there is no proof of the existence of the
covering, the term may be used to designate the smooth
surface of the organ.
Of the central surface not only does every division mu¬
tually communicate, but the central surface of the con¬
voluted communicates with that of the laminated part of
the organ. The lateral divisions, named ventricles, com¬
municate directly with each other below the vault, the
surface of which lies over the thalami; both communicate
with the third ventricle, which by the Sylvian aqueduct
communicates with the fourth; and the posterior part of
the lateral ventricle communicates with the digital cavity
and inferior recess.
The central surface is covered by a vascular membrane
{plexus choroides), continued from the pia mater of the
convoluted surface.
Between the two surfaces now described is placed the
proper matter of the brain, white and brown, which in dif¬
ferent regions of the organ is differently arranged.
The convoluted surface consists of a stratum of gray Struct
cerebral matter, arranged in the granular form. When
indurated by immersion in alcohol or dilute nitric acid, it
breaks with a small conchoidal fracture, occasionally un¬
even, and with an uneven granular surface, void of lustre
and without fibrous arrangement. The only part of the
convoluted surface presenting the latter appearance is
the unciform band* uniting the anterior and posterior
lobes. (Fig. 5, v.)
Within the convoluted surface is contained a large quan¬
tity of white matter, surrounding the figurate surface and
its divisions. The section of this, usually named the oval
centre of Yieussenius {centrum ovale), shows merely the
extent which this occupies in the upper part of the brain,
but communicates no information on the intimate struc¬
ture of the organ.
In intimate organization the brain may be distinguish¬
ed into four parts; ls£, the brain, containing the striated
nucleus; 2d, the cerebellum, containing the moriform
body; Sc?, the head or bulb of the chord, containing the
moriform body ; and, bth, the annular protuberance as a
central point of the whole.
The white fibrous matter of the central band, passing
into the hemispheres on each side, diverges like the rods
of a fan or the rays of a luminous body, and forms an ar¬
rangement denominated by Reil the radiating crown, and
which may be regarded as the exterior investment of the
striated nucleus, which constitutes the internal substance
of the striated bodies and optic chambers. (Fig. 5, c.)
The arrangement of white and gray matter in this part is
so peculiar, that within the limits of this sketch it is im¬
possible to convey a distinct idea of it. It may be stat¬
ed in general that the fibrous matter of the limbs ex¬
tends from the protuberance through the substance ot
the thalamus and part of the striated body; and while
in this manner it maintains a connection between the
protuberance and the brain above, by means of the ce¬
rebellic peduncles on the sides, and the head of the
chord below, it communicates with the cerebellum and
spinal chord behind and below. The moriform bodies
{corpora dentata, corjpora ciliata, corpora rhomboidea),
which consist of white matter inclosed in a brown capsule,
and the cerebellic and olivary eminences, are analogous to
the striated nucleus of the brain ; and the three may be
regarded as the respective centres of each. The annular
protuberance, consisting internally of transverse fibres
closely interwoven with longitudinal ones, is the general
or common centre of the three.
ANATOMY.
Sjjial The substance of the funicular or vertebral portion con-
inijmy- sists almost entirely of white fibrous matter, extending
longitudinally from the cranial to the sacral extremity,
but bending off laterally at the origins of the spinal nerves
in the form of arches.
L|ves- The brain is supplied with blood by the internal ca-
rotid arteries and the two vertebral arteries, derived
from the subclavian. The former, entering the cra¬
nium by the carotic canals, sends a posterior commu¬
nicating branch, inosculating with the principal division
of the basilar, and an anterior communicating, which
joins the vessel of the opposite side. By these communi¬
cations, the branches of the basilar artery behind, and the
carotids before, form an arterial hexagon round the sella
Turcica, from which arise two anterior vessels (anteriores
cerebri), distributed to the central band, and two lateral
(mediae) or Sylvian arteries, distributed to the perforated
spot, the Sylvian fissure and striated nucleus. The verte¬
bral, entering by the occipital hole, send branches to the
head of the spinal chord, and uniting to form the basilar,
supply the protuberance and cerebellum ; then divaricating
into posterior cerebral, finally inosculate with the internal
carotid to form the arterial hexagon as mentioned. The
blood is returned by triangular canals named sinuses, of
which there are the superior longitudinal, the inferior
longitudinal, the cerebellic (torcular Herophili), the lateral,
the circular, the superior petrous, the inferior petrous, and
the cavernous. The four latter pairs are small sinuses
opening into the lateral, where it emerges from the
cranium by the temporo-occipital fissure (foramen lace-
rum in base cranii posterius).
§ 2. THE CEREBRAL INVESTMENTS OR MEMBRANES.
The brain is said to be surrounded by three membra¬
nous envelopes, the hard membrane (meninx dura, dura
mater), the web-like membrane (tunica arachnoidea), and
the soft or thin membrane (meninx tenuis, pia mater).
To this arrangement, which has been adopted by almost
all writers, there is perhaps no great objection. But
it simplifies the subject, without misrepresenting, to refer
them to two only; one of which, the hard membrane
(meninx dura, <rxX?;g>], dura mater), is common to
the brain with the inner surface of the scull; the other,
the thin membrane (meninx tenuis, griviyt, pia ma¬
ter), is proper to the brain only. They may be distin¬
guished, therefore, by the terms common membrane of the
brain and proper membrane of the brain. The arachnoid,
again, is a pellucid web common to the cerebral mem¬
branes.
^ ira The first of these, the common or hard cerebral mem-
1111 brane (meninx dura, dura mater), presents two surfaces,
an outer or cranial and an inner or cerebral. The outer
surface is irregular, filamentous, and vascular, and the
substance of which it consists is distinctly fibrous. The
fibres, however, do not follow any uniform direction, but
are interwoven irregularly. Maceration causes this mem¬
brane to swell and become separated into fibrous threads.
It is liberally supplied with blood-vessels, by which it is
connected to the inner surface of the scull. No nerves or
absorbents have been discovered in it. This outer or cra¬
nial surface of the dura mater is of the nature of perios¬
teum. Its vessels may be traced into the inner table; it
contributes to the formation of the cranial bones in the
foetus, and their nutrition during life.
The inner or cerebral surface of this membrane is
smooth, polished, and shining; and, when examined in
water, it appears to be formed by a very thin, transpa¬
rent membrane, through which the cranial or outer sur¬
face and the fibrous structure of the hard membrane may
811
be recognised. This pellucid inner membrime, generally Special
termed the inner lamina, is the exterior division of the Anatomy,
arachnoid membrane.
The dura mater is an extensive membrane, lining Vertebral
not only the interior surface of the scull, but, in a modi-sheath,
fied form, that of the whole vertebral column. The inner
surface of each vertebra has a proper periosteum conti¬
nuous with the periosteum of the outer surface ; and
from this issues a quantity of filamentous tissue, which
penetrates directly a membranous canal, evidently of
fibrous structure (theca vertebralis), tough and firm, but
more delicate than the cranial dura mater. The dura
mater in its course forms sundry prolongations; for in¬
stance, the large crescentic one named the falx, the hori¬
zontal one termed tentorium, and the small crescentic one
named falx minor or cerebelli.
The thin, soft, or immediate and proper cerebral mem- The pia
brane (pia mater, meninx tenuis) presents in like manner mater,
two surfaces, a smooth or cranial, which is exterior, and a
filamentous or cerebral, which is interior and central.
The outer or smooth surface of the thin membrane
(pia mater) has a glistening appearance, and is formed
by a very thin transparent membrane, exactly similar to
that which forms the cerebral surface of the dura mater.
This surface, named in the ordinary works the web-like
membrane (tunica arachnoidea), is believed to be a sepa¬
rate membrane from the pia mater ; but that which forms
the inner or cerebral surface of the dura mater has a
claim equally strong to this distinction.
The inner or cerebral surface of the proper membrane
is filamentous, flocculent, and sends out many angular fila¬
mentous processes, which, by numerous minute arteries
and veins, communicate with the convoluted surface of the
brain. These processes (tomenta) correspond to the fur¬
rows of the convoluted surface in which they are lodged.
In detaching the membrane from this part of the brain,
numerous vessels are drawn out of its substance ; and when
the membrane is injected these vessels may be seen dis¬
tinctly filled, and communicating with the gray matter of
the convoluted surface. The veins of this membrane may
be traced to the sinuses. Neither nerves nor absorbents
have yet been recognised in it. Bichat considers it to
contain much cellular tissue, which, however, is denied by
Gordon, who could not recognise it. The difference, how¬
ever, consists merely in name. The pia mateY, indeed,
possesses no cellular tissue like the subcutaneous, the
submucous, or the subserous. If, however, a portion of
the arachnoid be peeled from it by careful management
of the forceps and blowpipe, there is found a quantity of
loose filamentous matter uniting this tissue to the fine
web of the former. The existence of this tissue betw een
the pia mater and arachnoid is further demonstrated by
the phenomena of serous infiltration. _ ...
The pia mater, or proper membrane of the brain, consists DistribA-
of two parts, an outer, covering the convoluted surface of tion an
the brain, and an inner or central, entering the cavities
formed by the inner, central, or figurate surface, and
spread over this surface in the form of what has been
termed the vascular or choroid web (plexus choroides; tela
choroidea). . .... c
The continuity of the pia mater or exterior division ot
the proper cerebral membrane, with the choroid plexus or
interior division, may be demonstrated in the following
manner. First, The pia mater may be traced behind and
below the posterior extremity of the middle band (eugM.
nWouhn, corpus callosum, der balken), where it is continu¬
ous with the transverse web called velum interpositum, and
which may be regarded as the first part of the central
division. Secondly, From the situation of the velum in-
terpositum, it may be traced forwards on both sides of the
812
ANATOMY.
Special mesial plane into the lateral ventricles, spread over the
Anatomy, surface of the optic thalamus and striated eminence in the
form of the vascular web called choroid plexus, the right
half of which communicates with the left by means of a
similar slip of vascular membrane lying beneath the vault
{fornix), and behind the anterior pillars of that body at the
spot termed foramen Monroianum. Thirdly, It may be
traced over the geniculate bodies and thalami into the pos¬
terior-inferior cornu, or sinuosity of the lateral ventricle,
where it covers the great hippocampus. Fourthly, It may be
traced at the angle between the cerebellum and medulla ob¬
longata, or what is named the bottom of the fourth ven¬
tricle, where it forms a very minute choroid plexus, seldom
noticed by anatomists, but not less distinct, and which may
be traced up the fourth ventricle to be connected with the
velum interpositum in the middle ventricle, and with the
lateral portions of the hippocampus on each side. Each of
the divisions of the choroid plexus now enumerated may
be shown to be mutually connected, and to form parts of
one general membrane, which again constitutes the inner
or central division of the membrane of which the pia mater
forms the exterior. Each division of the choroid plexus,
in like manner, is connected, by means of minute blood¬
vessels, to the portion of the figurate cerebral surface on
which it rests; and it appears to sustain vessels as the pia
mater does to the convoluted surface.
In clear water the choroid plexus may be spread out,
like the pia mater, in the shape of a thin semitransparent
web, one surface of which is smooth, the other somewhat
flocculent, and the substance of which is traversed by nu¬
merous minute vessels. The transparent web, which forms
the basis of this membrane, is filamento-vascular; and its
smooth free surface, a continuation of the arachnoid mem¬
brane, is smooth, polished, and thin, like silver paper.
The arachnoid membrane is common to the dura mater,
pia mater, and choroid plexus. It covers the inner surface
of the first membrane, to which it communicates its shin¬
ing polished appearance, though the want of subjacent
filamentous tissue causes it to adhere so firmly, that it
• cannot be readily demonstrated. After covering the free
surface of the pia mater, it follows the course of that
membrane into the central surface of the brain, and covers
the upper or unadherent surface of the several divisions
of the choroid plexus. For the demonstration of this fact
we must be permitted to refer to Dr Craigie’s Elements of
General Anatomy (chap, xxiii. seet. 1), where the reader
will find proofs, which the limits of this sketch do not
allow us to adduce here.
From these it results that the arachnoid membrane pos¬
sesses in arrangement and distribution a great resem¬
blance to the serous membranes. It differs, nevertheless,
in its extreme tenuity, in the closeness with which it ad¬
heres to the collateral tissues, and in its slight disposition
to albuminous exudation. It appears to contain in its
structure less filamentous tissue than the pure serous
membranes.
The brain is developed from the branches of the internal
carotid and vertebral arteries ramified through the vascu¬
lar membrane {pia mater). Formation commences in two
orders of vessels mutually directed to each other,—those of
the convoluted surface (pia mater), and those of the cen¬
tral {plexus choroides). The central substance of each part
is first deposited; and from these points deposition and
moulding proceed to the two circumferences of the organ.
The surfaces ar6 therefore formed last; and the vessels
gradually shrink as the process approaches to completion.
SECT. II. THE DISTRIBUTED CHORDS ; THE NERVES.
The nerves may be distinguished into classes according
to the parts of the brain with which their cerebral ends
are connected. On this principle they may be arranged Spe a
in the following order.
The brain,
The limbs,
{Olfactory, 1st pair.
Optic, 2d pair.
Oculo-muscular, 3d pair.
'Trochlear {nervuspatheticus), 4th pair.
(Ophthalmic branch.
Ana,,
Protuberance
or its parts,
Head of the
chord,
Spinal chord,
Trifacial, 5th pair,
Abducent,
Auditory,
Lateral-facial,
' Glosso-pharyngeal,
Pneumogastric,
Accessory,
Hypoglossal,
1 Sub-occipital.
7 Cervical nerves.
12 Dorsal.
5 Lumbar.
< Superior maxillary.
(Inferior maxillary.
6th pair.
7 th pair (portio mcUu).
8th pair ( portio dura).
9th pair.
10th pair (nervus vogtis).
11th pair.
12th pair. ,
The spinal nerves are derived from anterior and poste¬
rior roots separated by the ligamentum denticulatum, a
fibrous notched ligament, covered by arachnoid membrane.
According to the researches of Charles Bell and Magendie,
the anterior roots furnish motive filaments, and the poste¬
rior sensitive. The central connections of most of these
nerves have been already mentioned; and their distribut¬
ed connections have been, and will continue to be, inci¬
dentally noticed under the heads of the several organs. It
is requisite, however, to notice shortly the relations and
general distribution of several nervous chords which per¬
form an important part in the functions of the animal body.
These are the pneumogastric, the phrenic, and the great
sympathetic or intercostal nerves.
The pneumogastric or nervus vagus, the 8th pair of thePneui
old nomenclature, the 10th in correct enumeration of thegastn
cerebral nerves, rising by various filaments from the fur-nerve|
row between the olivary bodies and the restiform, and
from the posterior upper surface of the latter, emerges
from the cranium with the jugular vein by the temporo-
occipital hole. Here, closely united by filamentous tissue
to the hypoglossal, spinal, and glosso-pharyngeal, it de¬
scends before the rectus anticus and longus colli on the out¬
side of the carotid artery, though in the sheath with it,
and before the subclavian artery on the right side, on the
left before the carotid, enters the chest, where it enlarges
in size considerably. (Plate XXXI. v, v.) In the chest
it passes behind the bronchi in the posterior fold of the
pleura, and is closely connected to the oesophagus in the
shape of a thin cord. Both trunks, on reaching the car¬
diac end of this tube, pass with it through the diaphrag¬
matic aperture, and are distributed to the stomach. In
this course the pneumogastric nerve is divided into five
orders of filaments.
1. In the neck it gives branches to the pharynx, and,
communicating with the glosso-pharyngeal, forms the pha¬
ryngeal plexus, and furnishes a superior laryngeal branch,
an external laryngeal, and an internal laryngeal, the latter
chiefly to the intrinsic muscles of the larynx.
2. In the chest it sends off branches, which, communi¬
cating with those of the superior cervical ganglion, are
distributed to the heart.
3. In the chest also it gives off the inferior laryngeal
or recurrent nerve (r), which on the right side winding
round the subclavian, on the left the arch of the aorta, re¬
ascends in the lateral furrow between the windpipe and
oesophagus, and giving off cardiac, pulmonary, oesophageal,
thyroid, and tracheal filaments, is finally distributed to the
intrinsic muscles of the laryngeal cartilages. These multi¬
plied connections tend to associate the motions of the glottis
with the lungs, and to maintain a general consent between
the pharynx, larynx, oesophagus, trachea, lungs, and heart.
ANATOMY.
813
phre-
niiirve.
Threat
ijt athe.
tii.
ikial 4. The pneumogastrlc trunk forms with the filaments of
A omy. the inferior cervical ganglion the anterior pulmonary plex-
^ us, and alone it forms the posterior pulmonary plexus,
which sends filaments to the lower part of the windpipe,
the bronchi, the pulmonary artery and veins, and the oeso¬
phagus.
5. After passing the diaphragmatic aperture, the right
pneumogastric trunk forms at the cardiac orifice of the
stomach a plexus, from which filaments proceed to the
pylorus, the gastro-hepatic artery, the right cceliac gang¬
lion, the duodenum, the pancreas, the gall-bladder, and
the liver, where it communicates freely with the cceliac
ganglions. The pneumogastric of the left side is distri¬
buted chiefly to the pylorus and its arteries, and commu¬
nicates freely with those of the right.
The phrenic or diaphragmatic nerve, connected above
with filaments of the pneumogastric, hypoglossal, second
and third cervical nerves, and some branches of the bra¬
chial plexus, and occasionally with those of the great sym¬
pathetic, descends on the anterior and lateral part of the
neck, between the rectus anticus and scalenus anticus, and
enters the chest between the subclavian artery and vein.
The right passes down on the surface of the right lung,
beneath the pleura (p, p, Plate XXXI.); the left over the
pericardium; and both are distributed chiefly to the dia¬
phragm.
The great sympathetic is much more complicated than
either of these nerves. It cannot be said to originate
sj chnic ^rom 0116 Part more ^lan from another. Though connected
with the brain by means of a communicating filament of
the sixth pair, it certainly does not arise from that nerve :
nor can it be said to arise from the spinal nerves, though
connected with them on each side of the dorsal vertebrae.
It appears more rational to regard it as a general and ex¬
tensive network of nervous filaments, which establish a
communication between different important organs. Con¬
nected above with three ganglions of the neck, the supe¬
rior, inferior, and middle cervical, and by minute filaments
with the lateral-facial, or eighth cerebral, pneumogas¬
tric, and glosso-pharyngeal, with which it contributes to
form the pharyngeal plexus, it sends off the nervi molles or
superficial cardiac nerve. Below the inferior cervical gang¬
lion, generally regarded as a cardiac, the trunk enlarges,
and furnishes filaments to the pulmonary and cardiac
plexus, the former divided into right or anterior and left
or posterior, and the latter into superior and inferior.
About the seventh dorsal vertebra, after being connected
with all the intercostal nerves and inferior thoracic gang¬
lions, it forms the splanchnic, which, though only the abdo¬
minal part of the great sympathetic, may be regarded as a
separate nerve. The constituent filaments of this nerve, af¬
ter being united into two ganglions, the coeliac or semilunar,
are resolved into plexiform arrangements, which surround
all the principal arteries, and with them are lost in the sub¬
stance of the organs. Thus the cceliac artery is inclosed
by the cceliac plexus; and each of its divisions, the coro¬
nary or proper gastric and the gastro-hepatic and gastro-
splenic, are inclosed in similar plexiform networks. In the
same manner, the superior mesenteric, inferior mesente¬
ric, and renal arteries, have each an appropriate plexus ;
and those of the colon, bladder, and uterus have small
plexiform arrangements, which constitute parts of the
same general system. In short, the great sympathetic or
intercostal forms an independent nervous system of its
own, and though not derived from the dorsal nerves, is
intimately connected with them; and its distribution to
the organs of digestion, of circulation, respiration, and se¬
cretion, is connected chiefly with the associated actions of
these organs.
Our limits do not, however, admit of details; and the
reader who wishes to understand the minute anatomical Special
relations of these chords, will find tiie most accurate in- Anatomy,
formation in the fourth volume of the treatise of Soem-^v^^
(. CorporisHumani Fabrica, Trajecti ad Mcenum
1798) ; in the third of the Descriptive System of Bichat?
and in the magnificent illustrations of Walter (Tabula
Nervorum Thoracis et Abdominis, fol. Berolini, 1783) and
Scarpa ( Tabulae Neurologicae, fol. Ticini, 1794).
PART II.
ANATOMY OF THE ORGANS PERTAINING TO THE ENTRO-
PHIC OR NUTRITIVE FUNCTIONS.
The growth of the animal body is effected, and its size
and strength maintained, by a class of organs which may
be named the Entrophic or Nutritive. These organs
agree in the possession of certain common characters, by
which they are distinguished from those of the functions
of Relation.
The first common character is the want of symmetry
in arrangement and harmony in action. Instead of being
arranged on the median line, or with similar parts on each
of its sides, the organ, or part of the organ, which is on one
side, bears no resemblance to that which is on the other.
Even in the case of the lungs, though there is a general
resemblance, the left differs from the right not only in
size and shape, but in the number of its lobes.
It must not be understood, nevertheless, that the or¬
gans of this class are altogether void of symmetrical figure.
A plane may be made to divide the stomach even into
similar halves, so as to leave on each side similar parts of
the cardia, of the pylorus, and of the intermediate parts.
This plane, however, corresponds not with the mesial
plane, but passes transversely from left to right. Nearly
the same rule is applicable to other organs.
The second general character of the entrophic organs
is, that in action they are not under the influence of the
will. The contractions of the muscular tissue of the
stomach, and the secretion of its mucous surface, the pe¬
ristaltic motion of the intestinal tube, the beats of the
heart, and the action of the liver, are equally independent
of volition. This character Bichat attempted in every
instance to trace to independence on the influence of the
brain and the cerebral nerves. In one sense this is a
truism, in so far as it merely implies that the organs of
the entrophic functions do not belong to those of relation.
In another sense it is a gratuitous, if not a hypothetical
assumption. Though the brain is evidently very inti¬
mately associated with the organs of the animal functions,
it is not yet determined that it is entirely unconnected
with those of the entrophic order. Serious lesion or in¬
jury of the brain or the protuberance operates as forcibly
on the action of the heart as on that of the muscles of
the extremities. On the whole, the safest mode of de¬
fining this character is merely to state the independence
of the entrophic organs on the will.
Several of the organs of the entrophic function are
nevertheless in some degree under the influence of the
will. The lungs, for example, by being dilated only by
the dilating agents of the chest, are within certain limits
under the voluntary power. To this, however, a limit is
fixed. Though inspiration or expiration may be effected
at the will of the individual, or suspended for a little,
very soon the accomplishment of these actions is no longer
arbitrary. In like manner, though the bladder is evacu¬
ated by the voluntary effort of the individual, the stimu¬
lus by which the action is induced is involuntary alto¬
gether.
A third anatomical character common to the entrophic
organs is, that all of them are situate in the interior of the
814
ANATOMY.
Special trunk, protected by those of the locomotive system ; and
Anatomy, that they are lined on one side by mucous membrane,
continuous with the external integuments. By means of
this arrangement, which is necessarily allied with their
property of converting foreign into proper matter, all the
entrophic organs, with the exception of the heart, com¬
municate with the surface of the body.
A fourth anatomical character common to these organs
is, that though continuous by their mucous investment
with the outer surface of the body, their opposite, placed
on the outside of the serous membranes, forms shut cavi¬
ties, not communicating, unless in one instance—the peri¬
toneal end of the oviduct in the female—with the external
surface. Whatever be the intermediate substance, these
organs are placed between the mucous and serous mem¬
branes.
The entrophic organs may be distinguished into two
orders, according to the degree of the process performed
by each. The nutritive function consists of two subor¬
dinate functions, the Umitrophic or alimentary, and the
hcematrophic or circulatory; the first the preparation of the
materials destined to be employed in nutrition ; the second
the distribution of these, after preparation, to the different
regions and organs of the system. The organs by which
the first process is accomplished constitute the first order;
those by which the second is effected constitute the
second order.
CHAP. I. THE LIMITROPHIC ORGAN'S.
The limitrophic organs consist of two divisions ; those
for digestion of the food, or the chylopoietic, and those
for absorption of its nutritious part. The former is ef¬
fected in successive processes in the divisions of the ali¬
mentary canal, a tubular musculo-membranous apparatus,
extending from the mouth to the anus. The second is
accomplished by an assemblage of minute valvular tubes,
the lacteals, terminating in the thoracic duct.
SECT. I. THE ORGANS OF DIGESTION; THE CHYLOPOIETIC
ORGANS.
The organs of mastication have been described already
in the fourth section of the second chapter of Part First.
The pha- The pharynx, placed on the median line, symmetrical
rvnx. and regular, occupying the upper part of the neck, makes
a close approach to the organs of relation, and marks the
transition from these to those of the entrophic function.
Attached above to the cuneiform process of the occipital
bone, behind to the cervical vertebra;, and with the nostrils,
mouth, and larynx before, it forms an irregular vaulted
apartment about four inches long and two broad at its
widest part, and contracting below, where it is continuous
with the oesophagus. Besides the opening into this tube,
the pharynx presents six apertures; the pharyngeal aper¬
tures of the nostrils, the pharyngeal orifice of the mouth,
the upper end of the larynx, and the pharyngeal aper¬
tures of the Eustachian tube.
It consists of a mucous membrane stretched over loose
filamentous tissue inclosed by three muscles, the superior,
inferior, and middle constrictor, and attached to the cunei¬
form process, the cervical vertebrae, and the lateral regions
of the neck, by filamentous tissue.
By the superior laryngeal, the pharyngeal, the thyroid,
the lingual, and palatine arteries, it receives blood, which
is returned by a still greater number of veins to the exter¬
nal and internal jugular trunks. The nerves of the pharynx
come from the glosso-pharyngeal, the hypoglossal, the
pneumogastric, and the great sympathetic.
The ceso- The (esophagus(gula) is a cylindrical musculo-membran-
phagus. ous tube, communicating above with the pharynx, and
below with the stomach. Placed above between the Spetlj
cervical vertebrae behind and the windpipe before, at the Anati jy,
lower end of the larynx it inclines to the left, returns to^^^ ^
the median line at the sternum, bends again to the left at
the bifurcation of the trachea, and continues on the left
side of the line, passing the aperture of the diaphragm,
near the ninth dorsal vertebra, to its junction with the
stomach. With the vertebral column behind, at its first
inclination it covers the longus colli in the chest, crosses
the vena azygos above, and covers the thoracic duct in the
middle, and the aorta below. With the jugular veins and
carotids on each side in the neck, below it has the trachea
on the right, and the recurrent nerve and common carotid
on the left; and in the chest it has the aorta on the left
and behind. (Plate XXIX. fig. 2, c.)
Lined on the inside by a follicular mucous membrane
which assumes longitudinal folds (plicae), the oesopha¬
gus consists of two ranges of muscular fibres, the one
transverse, the other longitudinal. The first are most
distinct at the pharyngeal end. The second form a mani¬
fest thick layer through the whole extent of the tube.
Externally is a quantity of filamentous tissue, connecting
the tube to that of the mediastinum and adjoining parts.
The oesophagus is supplied with blood from the inferior
thyroid, thymic, laryngeal, pharyngeal; the aorta by pro¬
per oesophageal arteries, the superior intercostals and
bronchials, the pericardial, mediastinal, diaphragmatics,
and even the coronary of the stomach. The blood is
returned by veins equally numerous. The oesophageal
nerves proceed from three different sources. Above, it
receives filaments from the glosso-pharyngeal and pneu¬
mogastric, in the middle from the latter, and below from
the pneumogastric and the great sympathetic.
The stomach (ventriculus) is a large pyriform musculo-The s
membranous sac, incurvated on itself (Plate XXIX. fig. 2, mach.
and Plate XXXVI. fig. 4), situate in the epigastric and left
hypochondriac regions, communicating above with theceso-
phagus, and below with the duodenum. Bounded above
by the diaphragm, and the liver, which covers it, it has the
spleen attached to its left great extremity, the transverse
arch of the colon to the inferior large arch; and its posterior
surface corresponds to the duodenum, pancreas, mesoco¬
lon, and large abdominal vessels.
The pyriform sac of the stomach is distinguished into
a large end or sac (fundus), and a small extremity named
the pyloric ; while a particular incurvation of its direction
gives it a large inferior arch (arcus major), and a small
superior arch (arcus minor). At the left extremity of
the latter is the cardia, the orifice by which the (Esopha¬
gus enters the stomach (osteum cesophageum) ; and from
this round the fundus is the large arch. A vertical plane
drawn from the cardia divides the stomach into two por¬
tions,—-the cardiac (fundus, saccus ccecus), and pyloric,
terminating in an annular contracted opening, about an
inch broad (pylorus, ostium duodenale sive pyloricum).
Between the two arches is the superior-anterior surface,
covered partly by the left lobe of the liver, partly by the
left rectus and hypochondre, and the inferior-posterior sur¬
face behind.
The stomach consists of peritoneum externally, mucous Strut
membrane internally, and an intermediate muscular layer
with filamentous tissue.
The peritoneal covering is arranged in a peculiar man¬
ner. The anterior fold, meeting the posterior at the
small arch, joins it, and forms a membranous production
(omentum gastro-hepaticum), connecting the organ to thi
inferior surface of the liver, where they again separate tc
invest the upper and lower divisions of that organ. I best
folds, meeting in like manner along the large arch, when
they form similar duplicatures, are again separated to in
•e.
ANATOMY.
815
i I'cial close the spleen at the large end, and the colon along the
4 omy. lower division. In the triangular spaces formed by these
^''-^duplicatures the gastric blood-vessels are lodged.
The mucous membrane, void of epidermis, is covered
with minute piles (villi) from the cardiac, where they
commence at the fringed termination of the oesophageal
epidermis, to the pyloric, where they are continuous with
i those of the duodenum. It is further puckered into
wrinkles (rugai) or folds (plica), intersecting each other
i irregularly, and inclosing irregular quadrilateral spaces,—
an effect produced by the contraction of the muscular
coat, and connected with the great extent of the gastric
villous membrane. In this also are contained follicular
glands, especially at the pyloric end and along the two
curvatures.
The muscular coat consists of two ranges of fibres, one
longitudinal, following the great diameter from the cardia
to the pyloric end; the other circular internal, inclosing
the circumference of the organ, and most distinct when the
organ is empty. On the latter depends the contracted in¬
curvation of the stomach between the cardiac and pyloric
divisions. (Plate XXXVI. fig. 4.) Besides these, there
are on the left side of the cardia muscular slips expanded
on the two surfaces.
(lie The stomach derives its blood from the cceliac artery,
war the branches of which are arranged in a peculiar and
MP' beautiful manner. The cceliac divides into three vessels ;
one gastric proper, the coronary; one common to it and
the liver, the gastro-hepatic; and one common to it and
the spleen, the gastro-splenic. The first, the coronary,
is distributed to the cardiac end, and, lodged in the peri¬
toneal fold of the small arch, proceeds towards the pylo¬
rus, distributing branches before and behind. The se¬
cond, after sending a large vessel to the liver, the hepatic,
sends a small one (arteria pylorica), from the pyloric end,
towards the gastric, by the superior peritoneal fold, to meet
the terminal branches of the coronary; and a large one
i (gastro-epiploica dextra), by that of the large curvature,
to meet the terminal branches of the left gastro-epiploic.
The third or spleno-gastric artery, after transmitting a
large vessel to the spleen, and various small vessels (vasa
brevia) to the large fundus, sends a large vessel (gastro-
epiploica sinistra), in the peritoneal fold of the large arch,
to inosculate with the terminal branches of the right
gastro-epiploic. The stomach is in this manner em¬
braced, as it were, by arterial canals above and below.
It is further remarkable, that while only one proper gas¬
tric artery, of inconsiderable size and limited distribution,
proceeds from the coeliac trunk, the gastro-hepatic and
gastro-splenic, each not much less than the coeliac itself,
send their largest branches to the stomach, and proceed¬
ing from opposite ends of that organ, inclose it, meeting by
inosculation in the middle of its great and small curvatures.
From the capillaries at the fundus, chiefly the vasa brevia,
the gastric fluid appears to be secreted. The blood, re¬
turned by corresponding veins, is poured into the portal.
The stomach receives nerves from the pneumogastric
and the great sympathetic. In the stomach the aliment-
J. ary mass is converted into the pulp named chyme.
^u°- The duodenum (ventriculus succenturiatus), about twelve
1 '■ inches long in the human subject, is distinguished by being
the most fixed part of the tube in situation. Placed
on the vertebral column, and on each side in the cavity
of the •mesocolon, behind the stomach, and concealed by
that organ, it is bounded above by the liver and gall¬
bladder, below by the pancreas and lower part ot the
mesocolon, and maintains the communication with the
pyloric end of the stomach and the ileum. The duodenum
is divided by two curvatures into three portions. I he
first, which is covered by peritoneum, extending from the
pylorus to the site of the neck of the gall-bladder, hori- Special
zontally backwards and a little to the right, descends Anatomy,
about two inches almost perpendicularly. With this the^-^^^
second portion, forming an angle, ascends obliquely to
the left, and terminates opposite the third lumbar vertebra.
The third, forming an angle rather more than right, ex¬
tends about two or three inches, and terminates at the
peritoneal ring, about one inch on the left of the spine,
where the ileum commences. The aperture of the com¬
mon biliary duct, inclosed in a nipple-like process, and the
pancreatic, are in the first portion. These curvatures are
firmly connected by filamentous tissue; and the bowel
retains them even after removal from the body.
The duodenum, void of peritoneal covering, consists
externally of cellular tissue, inclosing a range of circular
muscular fibres, and lined by villo-mucous membrane, ar¬
ranged in numerous folds, or valvulce conniventes. The
duodenal arteries are derived chiefly from the gastro-he¬
patic, and are very generally pyloric twigs. This mem¬
brane is provided with follicles, first well described by
Brunner.
In the duodenum, by admixture of the biliary and pan¬
creatic fluids with the chyme, the latter is prepared for the
separation of chyle, which, though more proper to the ileum,
is begun nevertheless in this bowel. The comparative im¬
mobility of the bowel is requisite, both in consequence of
the admixture now mentioned, and also of the fixed situa¬
tion of the two glands by which the fluids are supplied.
The ileum (u'Km) or small intestine (intestinum tenue). The ileum,
the longest part of the intestinal tube, extending generally
from 28 to 30 feet, commences at the annular process
above mentioned, and extends to the head of the colon,
in which it opens in the right iliac region. It consists of
a cylindrical musculo-membranous tube, surrounded by
peritoneum, the two folds of which, meeting behind, at¬
tach it for the space of three or four inches to the ver¬
tebral column, and are again reflected laterally, as de¬
scribed in the first book of this treatise. This attaching
membrane is named the mesentery. The great length of
the tube, with the small extent of the mesentery, causes
it to hang suspended in numerous turns or convolutions.
By the ancients this intestine was distinguished into two
parts, jejunum or the empty, and the ileum proper; and
Winslow idly undertook to fix the limits of this division
by referring the two upper thirds to the former, and the
two lower to the latter. This distinction, however, for
which there is no anatomical foundation, must be rejected
as at once arbitrary and useless.
The muscular tunic consists of circular fibres entirely.
The villo-mucous membrane presents numerous valvulce Structure.
conniventes, which increase its surface to at least double
that of its proper area. These duplicatures are most nu¬
merous in the upper part of the tube, and diminish as they
descend.
The mucous surface of the ileum is peculiar in pre-The villi,
senting the piles or villosities in their most perfect form.
When a portion of ileum is inverted, inflated, and immers¬
ed in pure water, an infinite number ot minute processes
are seen waving amidst the fluid; but a powerful glass
does not enable the observer to determine whether they
are round or flat, solid or hollow, obtuse or pointed. Of
their shape and structure various accounts are given.
They were first represented, in 1721, by Helvetius, as
cylindrical prominences in quadrupeds, but conical in the
human subject. According to the microscopical observa¬
tions of Lieberkuhn, each villus receives a minute lac¬
teal tube, arterial branches, a vein, and a nerve; and in
each the lacteal is expanded into a minute sac or blad¬
der (arnpullula, vesicula) like an egg, in the apex of
which may be seen by the microscope a minute opening.
816
ANATOMY.
The villi.
Special On this sac the arterial branches are ramified to great
Anatomy, delicacy, and terminate in minute veins, which then unite
into one trunk; while its inner surface he represents as
spongy and cellular. The space between the villi, which
do not touch each other, he further represents to be oc¬
cupied by the open orifices of follicles, so numerous that
he counted eighty of them where were eighteen villi;
and both, he asserts, are covered by a thin but tenacious
membrane similar to epidermis.
Hewson, while he admits in each villus the ramification
of minute arteries and veins, denies the saccular expan¬
sion, and infers that the lacteals are ramified in the same
manner as the blood-vessels, and that the whole consti¬
tute a broad flat body, the spongy appearance of which
he ascribes to the mutual ramification of the latter. With
this in general Cruikshank agrees; while Sheldon, who
found the villi not only round and cylindrical as Hewson,
but bulbous as Lieberkuhn, and even sabre-shaped, rather
confirms the statements of that anatomist. Mascagni
and Soemmering, agreeing in the general fact of vascular
and lacteal structure, seem to represent the shape of the
villus as that of a mushroom, consisting of a stalk and a
pileus.
Some of these discordant statements Hedwig attempts
with equal ingenuity and industry to reconcile. The dif¬
ferences in shape he refers to differences in the animals
examined; and in one class finds them cylindrical (e. g.
in man and the horse) ; in another conical (the dog) ; in
a third club-shaped (the pheasant); and in a fourth
pointed or pyramidal (e. g. the mouse). The interior
structure he also represents as spongy in all the animals
which he examined; and invariably also he found at the
apex the orifice of the duct, which, after the example of
Lieberkuhn, he conceives constitutes the ampullula.
These conclusions are not exactly confirmed by the re¬
searches of Rudolphi, who examined the villi in man and
a considerable number of animals. This anatomist never
found the orifice seen by Hedwig, notwithstanding every
care taken to distinguish it. He maintains that the villi are
not alike in all parts of the intestinal canal of the same
animal, as represented by Hedwig, but may be cylindri¬
cal in one part, club-shaped in another, and acuminated
in a third. Admitting their vascular structure, which he
thinks may be demonstrated, he regards the ampullular
expansion as doubtful, and denies its cellular arrangement.
About the same time Bleuland, who had previously ex¬
amined the intestinal mucous membrane, after successful
injection of its capillaries, undertook to revive the leading
circumstances of the description of Lieberkuhn. By ex¬
amining microscopically well-injected portions of intes¬
tine, he shows that the villi are composed of a system of
very minute arterial and venous capillaries, inclosing a
lacteal, which constitutes the ampulla, and in the interior
of which a certain order of these capillaries terminates.
He also revives the statement of the absorbing orifice at
the extremity of each villus.
According to the observations of Beclard, the intestinal
villi appear neither conical, nor cylindrical, nor tubular,
nor expanded at top, as described by several authors, but
in the shape of leaflets or minute plates, so closely set
that they form an abundant tufted pile. Their shape va¬
ries according to the manner in which they are examined,
and according to the part. Those of the pyloric half of
the stomach and duodenum are broader than long, and
form minute plates; those of the jejunum are long and
narrow, constituting piles; at the end of the ileum they
become laminar, and in the colon are scarcely prominent.
They are semitranslucent; their surface is smooth; and
neither openings at their surface, in their cavity, or in
their interior, nor vascular structure can be recognised.
on
The villo-mucous membrane of the ileum is provided Sp|;
with mucous follicles of two orders, the glandulce solita- An
rice and the glandules agminatce; the former, like gran-^
ules, disseminated over the attached surface of the muAe^'
cous membrane; the latter clustered in bodies at the an- ant
terior exterior part. They partake of the general charac¬
ters of follicular structure.
The ileum is liberally supplied with blood by the supe¬
rior mesenteric artery, the arrangement and distribution
of which may be understood from fig. 4, Plate XXIX.
The nerves are derived from the solar plexus.
The colon, or large intestine (jntestinum crassum), be-The
ginning in the right iliac region, extends round the folds
of the abdominal cavity, inclosing the Ileum, to the left
iliac and pelvic, where it terminates in the rectum. Its
length is from six to seven feet. The beginning (caput
ccecum) is a round obtuse bowel, with a minute tubular
process, varying in length, named the vermiform. The
lower end of the ileum is inserted into the beginning
of the colon laterally; and to the part below the inser¬
tion the name of caecum or blind gut is restricted. From
the ccecum the colon descends to the right hypochondre
(colon dextrum), where it is connected at the hepatic
flexure to the liver by the hepato-colic ligament, two
folds of peritoneum, with intermediate filamentous tis¬
sue ; between the right or hepatic flexure and the left or
splenic it is distinguished as the transverse arch (colon
transversum), attached to the large arch of the stomach
by the gastro-colic margin of the omentum; an angular
bend in the left hypochondre forms the splenic flexure;
and, finally, after making a long sinuous alternating bend
in the left iliac and pelvic regions, named the sigmoid
flexure, it terminates in a portion comparatively straight
(ro rectum), and following only the antero-posterior
incurvation of the inner surface of the sacrum, on which
it is placed.
The colon is about two inches in diameter at an average.
The appearance of this intestine is intimately connected
with its structure. Inclosed in peritoneum, by the poste¬
rior junction of which it is connected to the adjoining or¬
gans, it consists of a layer of circular fibres, intersected
by three bands of longitudinal fibres. Both are asserted
to be muscular; but perhaps the latter are more of the
nature of aponeurosis, to give support and resistance to
the action of the former. Whatever be their nature, how¬
ever, they give the colon the appearance of being divided
into transverse cells, separated by superficial partitions.
The mucous membrane of the colon possesses the villous
character in the caecum and right part, but loses it towards
the lower part of the intestine. It is formed into large
transverse folds or duplicatures, which separate the inter¬
nal cells or compartments of the bowel.
At the insertion of the ileum into the colon the mucous The jo-
membrane of each is prolonged with the submucous tis-^j^
sue, and they mutually meet in two crescentic processes,
one superior, small (plica superior, labium superius), the
other inferior, large (plica inferior, labium inferius), and
approaching, by its greater prolongation, the paraboloid
shape. The ileal side of both folds is concave, the caecal
or colic convex; and between their free margins, which
are rounded, is an intermediate fissure, maintaining the
communication between the two intestines. This arrange¬
ment, which is named the ileo-caecal valve (valvula Bau-
hini, from its supposed discoverer), is supposed to allow
the transit of alimentary and excremental matter from the
ileum to the colon, but not in the converse direction.
The organization of the rectum is the same as that of
the colon generally; but it is uncovered by peritoneum
behind. Its lower extremity is surrounded by two circu¬
lar ranges of muscular fibres, named the internal and ex-
ANATOMY.
rial ternal sphincters.. The lower fibres of the levator ani are
omy. inserted into its sides.
^ The caecum and right and transverse portions of the co-
llar Ion are supplied with blood from the superior mesenteric,
n' by means of the colic arteries. The left iliac or sigmoid
flexure receives vessels from the inferior mesenteric.
The splenic part is supplied by vessels derived from the
great anastomotic communication between the superior
and inferior mesenteries. (Plate XXIX. fig. 4.) The rec¬
tum is copiously supplied with blood from three different
sources. The first is the termination of the inferior me¬
senteric, which is contained between the folds of the me-
sorectum, under the name of superior hemorrhoidal. The
second is the middle hemorrhoidal, or proper artery, derived
from the hypogastric or posterior iliac. The third is the
internalpudic, the lower or perineal branch of which sup¬
plies the sphincter with several branches on each side, dis¬
tinguished by the name of inferior hemorrhoidal arteries.
The nerves are derived partly from the hypogastric
plexus, partly from the sacral branches.
The rectum, like the pharynx, placed between the two
classes of organs, entrophic and animal, belongs in some
degree to both. As the termination of the alimentary ca¬
nal, it belongs to the former; but by its sphincters and
kvator it pertains to the latter.
The appendages of the alimentary canal are two glands,
the liver and pancreas, and a cellulo-vascular organ, the
spleen.
ver. The liver (Jiepar,jecur) is a large glandular organ, weigh¬
ing from two to three pounds, situate in the right hypo¬
chondriac and epigastric regions, with the diaphragm above,
and the hepatic flexure of the colon and the stomach be¬
low. It has a convex upper surface, a concave lower one,
a posterior obtuse margin attached to the diaphragm by
cellular tissue, and an anterior inferior acute one which
is free. The lower surface is distinguished into right
and left lobes by a middle pit {sulcus umbilicalis, v. hori-
zontalis'), in which the round ligament, the residue of the
umbilical vein, is contained, and which is occasionally a
canal by an arch of hepatic substance. The inferior sur¬
face of the left lobe is divided into anterior and posterior
parts by a transverse furrow (sidcus transversus, fossa
transversa), in which the trunk of the hepatic arteries,
and the portal vein, and the hepatic ends of the biliary
ducts, are contained. The margins of this furrow, which
are elevated in the lower animals, were named gates by
the ancients (nvXai, portce), from an erroneous theory.
The posterior, which is most prominent, is distinguished
by the name of small lobe of Spigelius (lobulus Spigelii).
The other distinctions of this surface into lobulus qua-
dratus and lobulus caudatus are immaterial. Between
the anterior portal eminence and the umbilical fossa is an
oval depression (fovea cystica), containing the gall bladder.
The liver is invested by peritoneum, the folds of which
connect it to the neighbouring organs, and retain it in its
place. Of these, the most important are the broad and
coronary above, the lower or falciform below, and the gas-
tro-hepatic duplicature between the liver and stomach.
This forms the investment named capsule of Glisson, in
which the portal veins are inclosed.
j|re The structure of the liver is glandular. Two classes of
ani.vessels and a system of tubes are distributed in it; one
ramifying into branches and minute tubes, the hepatic
artery and portal vein; another, the hepatic veins, con¬
verging to a trunk, the vena cava hepatica ; the third, the
pori bUiarii, converging into ducts terminating in the he¬
patic duct. From the researches of numerous anatomists,
it appears that the hepatic artery, which is derived from
the cceliac, and the portal vein, formed from the veins of
the stomach, intestines, spleen, and pancreas, terminate
VOL. II.
in minute vessels mutually communicating,
further, that these capillaries
817
It appears Special
, . communicate with those Anatomy,
ot the hepatic veins, and even the origins of the biliary
pores; and Soemmering especially infers, that every he¬
patic acinus consists of hepatic artery, portal vein, hepatic
vein, bile-pore, and lymphatic. From this, however, it
does not altogether result that bile is secreted from the
hepatic arterial blood. Each acinus may require a minute
artery for nutrition, a portal venule for furnishing the
materials of secretion, a duct for receiving the secreted
product, and a vein for returning the residual blood.
The hepatic duct unites at an angle with the cystic, and
forming the common duct, terminates in the duodenum.
The gall bladder, which is a pyriform bag, with X\\^ fundus
below and before, and a neck above and behind, acts as a
receptacle for the bile when it is not required in the
duodenum. The fundus, placed between the concave sur¬
face of the liver above, and the convex one of the pyloric
division of the stomach below, may be compressed by
that part of the organ when distended, so as to expel the
bile from its cavity.
The pancreas is a flat, oblong, glandular body, measur-Tlie pan-
ing from five to six inches in length, and weighing fromcreas.
three to five ounces, contained in the posterior epiploic
cavity below the duodenum. It consists of lobules similar
to those of the salivary glands. It has a proper artery, from
which the pancreatic fluid, very similar to the salivary, is
secreted, and conveyed into a small duct. The residual
blood is conveyed by a proper vein to the portal.
The spleen (lien) is an oblong hemispheroidal organ, ofThespleen.
a deep blue venous blood colour, varying in weight from 6
to 12 or 15 ounces, placed in the left hypochondre, between
the fundus of the stomach and the left side of the dia¬
phragm, with a plane surface applied to the former, and a
convex to the latter part. The spleen is covered by peri¬
toneum, which, doubling before, forms along the middle of
the organ a gastro-splenic omentum, by which it is attach¬
ed to the stomach. It is generally connected to the colon
by a short peritoneal slip.
The intimate structure of the spleen is peculiar. It
consists of a number of minute communicating compart¬
ments, separated by septa, with white granules intermixed.
These cells contain dark-coloured blood; and the organ
is indeed more abundantly filled with this fluid than any
other in the body. These cells appear to be of the na¬
ture of erectile vessels. The splenic artery is very large
in proportion to the organ, and apparently communicates
by minute terminations with veins, in which the blood is
occasionally accumulated.
The principal use of the spleen appears to be, that it
serves as a receptacle for a large quantity of blood, which
accumulates in the splenic vessels, or flows into those of
the stomach, as the latter organ requires. When the
stomach is empty, it shrinks ; and its blood-vessels, folded
on themselves, neither require nor transmit so much of
this fluid as they do when the organ is distended. In
the latter case the vessels are stretched, their canals are
rectified, and the blood flows freely through them. At
this period the additional supply seems chiefly to be de¬
rived from the spleen. The splenic vessels also appear
to contribute chiefly to the secretion of the gastric fluid,
which is most abundant at the fundus of the organ.
SECT. II. THE CHYLOPHOROUS VESSELS.
On the lacteals or intestinal lymphatics it is superfluous
to add any thing to what is stated in Book I.
These vessels arise from the villous surface of the ileum,
and proceeding between the folds of the mesentery, unite
at the vertebral margin of that membranous duplicature,
somewhere between the third lumbar vertebra and the aor-
5 L
818
ANATOM Y.
Special tic opening of the diaphragm. Here they terminate in a
Anatomy, jointed irregular tube situate behind the aorta, and which,
passing through the aortic opening of the diaphragm, pro¬
ceeds through the chest between the artery and vena azy¬
gos, as high as the sixth, fifth, or fourth dorsal vertebra.
Here it inclines to the left, and, passing behind the aortic
arch and the left subclavian artery, winds to the left of the
latter vessel, and, before the longus colli, ascends as high
as the seventh or sixth cervical vertebra, where it termi¬
nates in the angle between the internal jugular and sub¬
clavian veins, in the trunk of these vessels. This is the
thoracic duct. A similar vessel, though smaller, is found on
the right side.
CHAP. II. THE HEMATROPHIC ORGANS.
The organs of the hematrophic or circulating function
consist of the heart as a central propelling agent, and of
arteries and veins as distributing and redycent ^channels.
The hematrophic organs may be distinguished into three
orders; first, those of the general or nutritive circulat¬
ing system; secondly, those of the aerating circulating
system; and, thirdly, those of the secreting system. Of
these the heart is the central agent; but in the mammalia
and man it consists of two divisions, one pertaining to the
general arterial, the other to the pulmonary or aerating
system.
SECT. I. THE ORGANS OF NUTRITIVE CIRCULATION.
§ 1. THE HEART AND HEART-PURSE.
The heart is a conical muscular organ, containing four
communicating chambers, inclosed in a membranous sac,
and situate in the anterior middle region of the thorax.
The peri- The inclosing sac, named heart-purse, or capsule of the
cardium. heart (pericardium), consists of two portions or layers, an
outer or proper capsular, and an inner or lining division.
The outer or proper capsular part of the pericardium pos¬
sesses the characters of a fibrous membrane, of some den¬
sity and considerable strength. When washed, its colour
is gray or grayish-white, and it appears to consist of
minute fibrous threads, arranged without definite order.
These fibres are most distinct at its lower margin, where it
is connected to the circumference of the tendinous part
of the diaphragm. In the young subject it is generally
thin and translucent; in adult age or advanced life it is
thicker and more opaque. This part of the pericardium
is a mere investing membrane, which bounds the region
containing the heart, but which extends no further. It
embraces the origins of the large vessels above, adheres to
the margins of the tendinous centre below, and is on each
side connected with the pleura.
The inner surface of the pericardium has the appearance
of a transparent or serous membrane, through which the
fibres of the outer or capsular part may be seen, and which
has the usual glistening aspect of such membranes. It is
difficult, however, to insulate it from the outer layer, un¬
less by boiling, when it may be peeled off in minute shreds.
Like the transparent membranes, this inner layer has
neither beginning nor end, neither origin nor termination.
After lining the inner surface of the proper capsule, it
may be traced from the angle at which this capsule ad¬
heres to the large arteries and veins, over the auricles,
and finally, over the outer surface of the ventricles to the
apex of the heart.
In this course it preserves the characters of a thin
transparent membrane, with a free surface, smooth, glis¬
tening, and moistened by a watery fluid; and an attached
one, adhering on the one hand to the inner surface of the
capsule, and on the other to the outer surface of the heart
by means of fine filamentous tissue.
Injection shows that the pericardium consists chiefly of Spei i
minute arteries and veins. The former are derived from AnatIJy.
the thymic, phrenic, bronchial, oesophageal, and coronaries
of the heart. The substance of the capsular part is pro¬
bably a modification of the white fibrous system. Nerves
have not been traced to any part of this membrane; nor
is it ascertained that it contains lymphatics.
Of a general conical shape, the heart (cor) is situate The h k
obliquely beneath and behind the sternum, with the base
(basis) above and towards the right, and the tip (apex)
pointing downwards, forwards, and towards the left. The
axis of the cardiac cone lies at once obliquely from right
to left and from behind forwards. (Plate XXXI.) The
surface may be distinguished into two parts,—the ante¬
rior convex, appearing in the space between the right
margin of the sternum and the sinuosity of the left lung;
the posterior plane, resting chiefly on the oblique surface
of the diaphragmatic tendinous centre. These two surfaces
are united by a sharp anterior-inferior margin (inargo acu¬
ta), and an obtuse posterior-superior one (margo obtusa).
It generally corresponds in size with the fist of the indivi¬
dual ; its average weight in the adult is about ten ounces;
and its length from the middle of the base to the tip is
about five inches.
The base of the heart is circular, flattened behind, and
presents an oblique groove, which indicates the limits be¬
tween the auricles and the ventricles.
Each auricle is of a tetrahedral shape, and is distinguish¬
ed into the basilar or membranous part (sinus venosus), and
the tip or proper auricle (auricula), a pyramidal angular
process, the structure of which is muscular. The right
auricle is the largest, the left smaller.
The ventricles constitute the great part of the cardiac
cone. Their anterior and posterior surfaces present each
a longitudinal depression (sulcus longitudinalis superior et
inferior), proceeding from the base to the tip, containing
the anterior and posterior coronary vessels, and indicating
the situation of the fleshy partition (septum ventriculorum)
common to both ventricles.
The interior of the right auricle behind presents above
the opening of the superior cava (ostium venosum superius),
below that of the inferior cava (ostium venosum inferius),
larger, directed obliquely inward, with an intermediate
eminence (tuberculum Loweri), denominated after Lower,
and the Eustachian valve below (p. 721). Below and an¬
teriorly is the opening into the ventricle, bounded by a
round margin (ostium inferius) ; above is the tip presenting
muscular bands (musculi pectinati); and within is the par¬
tition common to both auricles (septum auricularum), with
an oval depression (fossa ovalis), the residue of the fora¬
men ovale, occasionally bounded before by a crescentic slip
of membrane.
The right ventricle (ventriculus dexter velpulmonalis) is
trilateral pyramidal in shape, with its base above corre¬
sponding to the inferior auricular aperture, its apex to that
of the heart, the anterior-external wall corresponding with
the anterior convex surface of the heart, and the pos¬
terior-internal with the common partition (septum cordis).
It has two apertures—a right superior, communicating
with the auricle ; and a left superior, communicating with
the pulmonary artery.
To the margin of the superior right aperture (ostium
auriculo-ventriculare dextrum), which is round and thick,
are attached several membranous triangular folds
with two, or occasionally three apices, to which are fixed
tendinous chords (chordce tendinece), with their opposite
extremities terminating in muscular cylinders (muscuh
papillares, m. teretes), connected with the fleshy walls ot
the ventricle. This membranous fold, though often com¬
posed of two triangular slips only, is denominated the
ANATOMY.
819
Sp:al three-pointed or tricuspid valve (valvula triglochin, v. tri-
Anaimy. cuspidalis). Its apices hang into the ventricular cavity,
and are prevented by the tendinous chords and their mus¬
cular bands from being forced back into the auricle.
The left superior aperture (ostium arteries pulmonalis'),
corresponding to the beginning of the pulmonary artery
which is attached to it, is placed behind the inner slip of
the tricuspid valve, by which also it is covered. The in¬
ner margin of the pulmonary artery presents three cres¬
centic or semilunar slips, named the sigmoid valves (val¬
vules sigmoideee), with their convex surface towards the
ventricle, and the concave one towards the artery, and mi¬
nute bodies at the middle (noduli Morgagnii), correspond¬
ing to the axis of the artery.
The interior of the left or posterior auricle presents on
the right the two openings of the right pulmonary veins,
on the left those of the left pulmonary veins, occasionally
uniting in a single aperture, to the right and anteriorly
the left surface of the septum, bounded before by a small
semilunar slip, and below the aperture into the left or aor¬
tic ventricle.
The left ventricle has the shape of an obtuse cone,
with its base above and behind, and its rounded apex
behind and to the left. It is rather larger than the right.
The basis has two apertures, a large posterior one, com¬
municating with the auricle (ostium auriculo-ventricidare
sinistrum); and a smaller anterior, opening into the aorta
(ostium aorticum). To the ventricular margin of the for¬
mer is attached an irregular membranous slip, not dissi¬
milar to that of the right auriculo-ventricular opening,
but always terminating in two apices, to which tendinous
chords, connected with tapering muscular bands, are also
attached. This has been denominated the bicuspid or mi¬
tral valve (valvula mitralis). Like the tricuspid, its apices
hang into the ventricle, and are prevented from being re-
truded into the auricle by the tendinous chords and papil¬
lary muscles.
The aortic aperture, anterior and smaller, corresponds
with the commencement of the aorta. Like the pulmo¬
nary aperture of the right auricle, it presents three semi¬
lunar valves, with the convex surface to the ventricle and
the concave to the artery, and with central granules (cor-
pxiscula Arantii). These valves are occasionally distin¬
guished into anterior, posterior, and inferior or lateral,
according to their relation to the plane of the body. In
their aortic side are generally small hollows, chiefly occa¬
sioned by distension of the aorta, named aortic sinuses.
The heart consists chiefly of muscular fibres, closely
united by filamentous tissue, covered externally by the
reflected or cardiac portion of the pericardium, and inter¬
nally by a proper membrane.
Each auricle consists of two parts,—a membranous-
muscular, arranged in the stratified mode (fascia:), distin¬
guished as the sinus; and a fasciculo-muscular, distin¬
guished as the tip of the auricle, arranged in short parallel
bundles (funes). The muscular Walls of the left ventricle
are more than double the thickness of the right; and while
those of the latter collapse on division, those of the for¬
mer retain their original disposition. The fleshy pillars of
the interior of the right are small and slender compared
with those .of the left, which are thick and strong.
The arrangement of the muscular fibres of the heart,
which has been studied by Senac, Wolff, Duncan, and
Gerdy, is peculiar. Though mutually interlacing, like all
the muscles of the entrophic order, the external are ar¬
ranged in layers (strata), while the internal affect the fasci¬
culated form. At the base they are incurvated round the
basilar border, and wind obliquely towards the apex; but
as they approach the latter region, more especially in the
septum, they observe the longitudinal direction. The as¬
sertion of Soemmering, that they are distinguished as be- Special
ing connected without filamentous tissue, is inaccurate. Anatomy
I he adipose tissue at the surface, and towards the basev'->,“v~v—■
and apex of the heart, appears to be useful in facilitating
motion in an organ in incessant action, and forms a soft
cushion for the cardiac arteries.
The inner membrane of the heart is thin and transpa¬
rent. In the right auricle and ventricle, where it is conti¬
nuous on the one hand with the inner venous membrane,
on the other with the inner membrane of the pulmonary
artery, it is evidently different from that in the left cavi¬
ties. It is thinner, and more delicate and transparent.
Covering every recess, it is doubled to form the different
valvular productions. By Bichat it is believed to be iden¬
tical with the inner venous membrane ; but this is mere
supposition. In the left cavities the inner membrane is
thicker and more opaque than the right; and its valvular
duplicatures, which are much thicker, approach to the fibro¬
cartilaginous character. This is particularly the case in
the aortic sigmoid valves, which often in the healthy adult
are firm and elastic,not unlike the palpebralfibro-cartilages.
The supposition of Bichat, that it is identical with the
inner arterial membrane, with which it is continuous, is, in
regard to the ventricle, not improbable.
The heart is supplied with blood from the aorta by
means of the right anterior or inferior, and the left su¬
perior or posterior coronary or cardiac arteries (arteries
cardiacce), both issuing from the aortic sinus immediate¬
ly above the anterior and lateral sigmoid valves. The
right or anterior coronary artery, lodged in the superior
furrow, after sending several large branches to the septum
and left ventricle, inosculates at the apex with a large
branch of the left or posterior coronary. The latter, which
is the largest of the two, after winding round the base of
the heart towards the right, is recurvated at the thin mar¬
gin to the posterior surface, where it runs in the posterior
furrow, and is divided into two considerable branches, the
larger of which is distributed to the apex; while the
smaller, running transversely between the left auricle and
ventricle, winds round to the obtuse border, and terminates
at the apex, where all the three vessels inosculate freely.
The blood is returned by corresponding veins to the coro¬
nary, which terminate by one aperture in the right auricle.
Its nerves are derived from the pneumogastnc and sym¬
pathetic.
The four chambers of the heart (atria, atriola) are dis¬
tinguished into pairs,—a right auricle and ventricle com¬
municating mutually and with the pulmonary artery, and
a left auricle and ventricle communicating with the aorta.
The auricles, separated by the common septum, do not
communicate in the natural state; and though in many
hearts an oblique opening exists at the anterior margin of
the oval depression passing into the left, the crescentic
membranous slip by which it is covered prevents the
blood of the right auricle from communicating with that
of the left. The ventricles are separated also by a thick,
fleshy, common partition, through which there is no direct
communication, though it was a favourite subject of in¬
quiry before the time of Harvey, to discover communicat¬
ing apertures.
The capacity of these chambers varies. The right au- Capacity of
ricle is always more capacious than the left. The two the cardiac
ventricles are, as near as may be, of equal capacity; and chambers,
the discordant results obtained on this point by numerous
inquirers show merely that any variation is accidental or
dependent on the state of the organ during the close of
life. The blood found in the right ventricle after death
varies from 1^ ounce to 3 ounces. The capacity of the
left, which is generally empty, is estimated by Meckel to
vary from 8 to 20 drachms.
820
ANATOMY.
Special The blood contained in the right chambers is modena-
Anatomy. coloured or venous; that of the left chambers is scarlet-
red or arterial. The former is derived from the venee
Course of caV(B> which open into the right auricle; the latter from
through t^ie pulmonary veins, which open into the left. The di-
the cardiac section in which the blood flows on both sides is from the
chambers, venous apertures into the auricles, thence to the ventricles,
and thence to the respective arteries. The venous blood,
on reaching the auricle, distends it, and impels its muscles
to contraction ; and the cavity thus diminished expels the
blood in the only direction in which it can proceed,—by
the aurico-ventricular aperture into the ventricle. This
chamber being distended, its muscular walls all round,
especially at the base, contract and diminish its cavity,
when the blood, extruded, quits the ventricle in the only
direction in which it can, viz. by the aperture of the pul¬
monary artery. The blood from the pulmonary veins fol¬
lows the same course in the chambers of the left side.
The blood of the ventricles is prevented from returning
into the auricles partly by the tricuspid and mitral valves,
but chiefly by the annular contraction of the auriculo-ven-
tricular apertures, which are drawn from the margins to¬
wards the septum; while the latter is shortened, and the
apex is made to approach the base.
S 1
W
The distribution of the branches of the aorta may be Spec:
understood from the following tabular view. Anatoljr.
‘ Superior thyroid.
Pharyngeal.
Lingual.
External maxillary.
Occipital.
Post-auricular.
Temporal.
. Internal maxillary.
{Ophthalmic.
Posterior communicating.
Anterior cerebral.
Middle cerebral.
'Vertebral.
Inferior thyroid.
Suprascapular.
Transverse cervical.
_ 0 Ascending cervical.
'd ^ Deep cervical.
5/2 Internal mammary.
Superior intercostal.
§ 2. THE ARTERIES AND VEINS.
Connected with each ventricle is a large tube, in which
the blood flows from the trunk to the branches. The
pulmonary artery, the first of these, divaricates into a
right and left branch, subdivided and distributed respec¬
tively to the right and left lung.
The aorta, which is the second, is the large artery
which distributes the blood after aeration in the lungs to
the system at large.
The aorta, rising from the left ventricle, after giving off
the cardiac arteries, makes an antero-posterior incurva¬
tion with the convexity upwards, denominated the arch
or curvature (arcus aortce). (Plate XXXI. A, A.) From
the upper side of this arch arise three large vessels, the
innominata or subclavio-carotid, the common trunk of the
right subclavian and carotid arteries (i), the left carotid
(i), and the left subclavian. The aortic trunk, after
this curvature, proceeds downward on the left margin
of the dorsal vertebrae, giving oesophageal, bronchial, and
superior intercostal arteries, thymic, pericardial, and in¬
ferior intercostal arteries successively. From the level of
this arch to the parabolic opening of the diaphragm at the
tenth dorsal vertebra, it is distinguished by the name of
thoracic aorta ; and below this, to the fourth lumbar verte¬
bra, it is the abdominal aorta. At its transit through the
parabolic aperture it sends off the diaphragmatic arteries.
The vessels issuing from the abdominal aorta may be dis¬
tinguished into two orders, those which issue from its sides
in pairs, and those which issue from its anterior surface sing¬
ly only. The former consists of the capsular, distributed to
the renal capsules; the renal or emulgent, to the kidneys ;
the spermatic, to the testes ;' and the lumbar, to the lumbar
muscles, and that region generally. The latter are three
in number only, the cceliac, superior mesenteric, and inferior
mesenteric. Opposite the fifth lumbar vertebra, or the fibro-
cartilage uniting the fourth and fifth, the aorta terminates
by divaricating into two large lateral trunks, the common or
primary iliacs (iliacce communes'); while from its middle be¬
hind proceeds a small azygos artery, distinguished as the
sacro-median, along the median line of the sacrum. In
this course the aorta is placed in the posterior angle of the
thoracic and abdominal serous membranes, and, inclosed
by the anterior vertebral filamentous tissue, sends from
its posterior surface numerous arteries to the vertebral
column and spinal chord.
% g f External thoracic.
S ■-£ -? Infrascapular.
Circumflex humeral.
Deep humeral.
Anastomotics,
or
Articulars.
Xi
o
cS
s—
o
O
o
•r o
2 £
Radial recurrent.
Superficial volar.
Dorso-radial of the thumb.
Dorso-radial of the fore finger.
_ Annular—deep arch.
f Ulnar recurrents.
c3 J Interosseal.
^ 1 Nutritious.
^ L Volar or palmar—superficial arch.
Ileo-lumbar.
Sacral-lateral.
Obturator.
Gluteal.
Ischiatic.
Internal pudic.
Umbilical.
Vesical.
Middle hemorrhoidal.
Uterine.
, Vaginal.
Inguinal (Epigastric,
portion. \ Circumflex iliac.
Deep J Circumflex femoral,
femoral. (Perforating.
Superior articular.
Inferior articular.
Internal inferior circumflex.
External inferior circumflex.
“r } Dorsal of the foot.U,eaenP,r
,, . (Internal plantar. , arch.
Postenor \ Exter„al‘piaI1tar_superfic.al
tlblaL ( arch.
Peroneal.
<! 2
q- O
Cm
CD
CL,
3
A N A 1
facial In general the denominations of these arteries indicate
Aitomy. the parts to which they are distributed. In the ultimate
^./''^distribution of the arterial system, however, there is great
variety; and it is often impossible to determine the exact
origin, course, and distribution of the smaller terminations.
The trunks alone are constant in position. In distribution,
the following general rules are observed:—ls£, The arterial
trunks send small lateral branches to the parts between
which they run. ^dhj, The majority of individual organs
are supplied, not by one proper vessel, but either by one
principal artery and two or more subordinate ones, or by
several subordinate ones. 2>dly, A trunk, after giving
off several lateral branches, may either terminate in one
vessel, which is ultimately distributed to the organs to
which it is destined; or it may divaricate into several,
none of which may be considerable enough in size, or di¬
rect enough in course, to be regarded as the proper termi¬
nal vessel. Thus it is often difficult to determine whether
the temporal artery or the internal maxillary is the con¬
tinuation of the external carotid, which of the palmo-digital
arteries is the continuation of the radial, whether the an¬
terior or the posterior tibial artery is the continuation of
the popliteal, and whether the dorsal of the foot is the
termination of the former, \thly. In the terminal vessels,
where inosculation is frequent, it is impossible to deter¬
mine whether an artery arises from one trunk or another.
Thus in the arterial arches of the hand and foot, in which
the digital vessels issue from the convexity of the arch, it
is impossible to say whether these arteries arise from the
radial or the ulnar in the one case, or the anterior or the
posterior tibial in the other.
The arteries are accompanied by veins, which in gene¬
ral correspond, for the purpose of conveying the residual
blood, after distribution, to the right chambers of the
heart, to be transmitted by the pulmonary artery to the
lungs for renovation. The veins of the head, chest, and
superior extremities, open into the superior cava ; those
of the lower part of the trunk, the pelvis and pelvic ex¬
tremities, terminate in the inferior cava ; the veins of the
stomach, intestinal canal, spleen, and pancreas, terminate
in the portal vein; and the regredient hepatic veins are
united in one vessel, which terminates in the upper end of
the inferior cava.
SECT. II. THE ORGANS OP AERATING CIRCULATION, OR
RESPIRATION.
The lungs are two soft, spongy, vascular bodies, con¬
tained in the cavity of the chest, one on each side, and
imitating in shape the internal figure of that region. Each
lung, resembling somewhat a cone, with one side truncated,
and the base obliquely cut, is distinguished into a convex
external surface, corresponding to the concave internal one
of the thorax ; a flat inner or mesial surface, corresponding
to the mediastinum ; a rounded obtuse apex, corresponding
to that of the demithorax; and a concave base directed
obliquely from the mesial plane to the hypochondres, cor¬
responding to the convex surface of the diaphragm.
Each lung is distinguished into lobes (lobi) separated
by fissures (incisurce). The right, which is the largest,
consists in general of three lobes, the superior, middle,
and lower; the left of two only, an upper and lower. The
mesial margin of the left is distinguished from that of
the right by a sinuous notch, indicating the situation of
the heart (fovea cardiacd).
The intimate structure of these bodies, which has been
the subject of much research, depends on the nature of
the tubes which are distributed to them, and of which
chiefly they consist. These are the bronchial or breath-
tubes (bronchi), the continuations of the windpipe, and
the branches of the pulmonary artery and veins.
’ O M Y. 821
The windpipe (trachea) is a cylindrical tube, about four Special
or five inches long, extending from the cricoid cartilasre, to Anatomy,
which it is attached by a fibro-mucous membrane behind
the sternum, to the level of the third dorsal vertebra, or the
fibro-cartilage between it and the second. (Plate XXXI.
t.) It consists of from 17 to 18 or 20 cartilaginous rings
(annuli), truncated behind, united by a fibrous membrane
without, continuous, but particularly firm in the interannu-
lar spaces, and along the whole posterior part of the canal.
These fibres are white, firm, longitudinal, and closely set.
Within is the mucous membrane, continued from the la¬
rynx to the bronchi, resting on filamentous tissue, in which
are embedded the mucous follicles. By many, muscular
fibres have been represented to exist between the rings ;
according to Soemmering transversely and longitudinally;
and Reisseissen has recently maintained their reality at the
posterior part of the tube. Their fibrous disposition is
undeniable, but their muscular character maybe doubted.
The windpipe, covered before by the thyroid gland,
and corresponding to the sigmoid pit of the sternum, is at¬
tached to the oesophagus behind by filamentous tissue.
Opposite the third dorsal vertebra the trachea is bifur¬
cated into two tubes named air-tubes (bronchi), which are
directed obliquely to each lung with a mutual intermediate
angle of about 35°. The right is about one fourth larger
and one fifth longer than the left. Both are cylindrical, but
divaricate at their lower end, where they sink into the
substance of the lungs, into several smaller tubes (Srowc/«'a),
which again ramify and subdivide into tubes still smaller,
and successively. The interbronchial angle is occupied by
lymphatic glands, which are also arranged round the tubes.
The bronchi consist of cartilaginous rings, complete
above, but parted into three annular segments between
the middle and lower ends, united by whitish fibrous tissue,
longitudinal externally, transverse within, and lined by
mucous folliculated membrane. As they advance into the
substance of the lungs, and are still more minutely divid¬
ed, the cartilages diminish in size and firmness, and their
place is supplied by fibrous tissue of transverse circular
fibres, which at length also disappear, and mucous mem¬
brane alone is left.
These transverse annular fibres have been supposed by
Haller, Soemmering, and recently Reisseissen, to be mus¬
cular. It is not improbable that they are so; but no posi¬
tive proof of this fact has yet been adduced, and they ap¬
pear rather to belong to the elastic fibrous system.
The larger bronchial tubes are accompanied each by an
artery derived from the aorta or the subclavian, and fol¬
lowing their ramifications into the pulmonic substance.
The blood conveyed by these vessels is returned either to
the vena azygos or the superior cava.
The pulmonic or final divisions of the bronchial tubes
terminate in blind sacs covered by mucous membrane,
and communicate with each other, forming an appearance
of intersecting compartments, which have been distinguish¬
ed by the name of air-cells (cellulce aerece), or pulmonic
vesicles (vesiculce pulmonis). Lhey are represented as
polygonal and irregular, and about one eighth or one tenth
part of a line in diameter. (Haller and Soemmering.) On
the whole, these air-cells appear to be merely the termi¬
nations of the bronchial tubes mutually communicating,
lined by a very delicate mucous membrane.
The pulmonary artery, ramified and subdivided to a
great degree of minuteness, communicates most freely
with a number of vessels, which may be traced into
trunks terminating in the pulmonary veins. This capil¬
lary system, enveloped in filamentous tissue, is distributed
beneath the mucous membrane of the terminal bronchial
tubes or communicating cells. The exterior surface of
this filamentous tissue is covered by the pleura. From
ANATOMY.
822
Special these facts it results that the lung consists of cartilaginous
Anatomy. an(j fibrous tubes mutually intersecting, and the capillary
communications of the pulmonary artery and veins, inve-
loped in filamentous tissue, lined on one side by mucous
membrane, covered on the other by transparent serous
membranes. The air-cells, lined by mucous membrane,
have no communication with those of the filamentous
tissue, as some have absurdly imagined. Except this fila¬
mentous tissue, the lung has no proper substance or paren¬
chyma ; and its structure is entirely filamento-vascular.
In the capillary vessels of the pulmonary artery and
veins, the venous or modena blood, exposed to the in¬
fluence of the inspired air through the thin bronchial
membrane, parts with its dark, and gradually acquires a
bright red tint. This may be styled the aerating or ar-
terializing capillary system.
The lung, however, receives other vessels, the bron-
chials, by which its mucous aerating membrane and sub¬
mucous tissue are nourished. Entering with the bron¬
chial tubes between the folds of their pleura, these ves¬
sels are subdivided as they proceed, and at length form a
minute network on the attached surface of the bronchial
mucous membrane.
The lung derives its nerves from the eighth pair chiefly,
and a few filaments from the great sympathetic. The
lung is well supplied with lymphatics, both superficial and
deep.
SECT. III.—THE ORGANS OF SECRETORY CIRCULATION, OR
SECRETION.
Of the organs of secretory circulation, several, as the
lacrymal gland, the salivary glands, the liver, and pan¬
creas, have been already considered ; and others, for ex¬
ample the testes, will fall under subsequent heads. This,
however, is the proper place to notice the organs of the
urinary secretion, which consist of two glands, the kidneys,
and two excretory ducts, the ureters, terminating in a
common receptacle, the bladder.
The kid- The kidneys (renes) are two glandular bodies situate
neys. jn ^fie posterior or lumbar part of the abdominal region,
one on each side of the lumbar vertebrae, behind the pe¬
ritoneum, and before the psoas muscle and part of the
diaphragm, with the quadratus lumborum behind and la¬
terally, and enveloped in a thick layer of adipose tissue.
The right kidney is below the liver, above the caecum,
behind part of the duodenum, colon, and the right extre¬
mity of the pancreas. The left is bounded above by the
spleen, by the transverse arch of the colon before, and it
has the sigmoid flexure below. The right kidney is about
two inches from the outer margin of the vena cava, and
the left at about the same distance from the outer margin
of the aorta.
The situation of the right kidney is generally lower
than that of the left, so that part of its lower extremity is
in the iliac/ossa, while the lower extremity of the left is
quite above the margin of the ilium.
Resembling in general shape the large French bean,
named from it, each kidney may be described as an ob¬
long body, convex externally and at both ends, and with
a sinuosity at its inner margin, named the renal fissure
(fovea renis'), in which the vessels and excretory duct are
contained. Each kidney is between four and five inches
long, and two broad; and the weight of each varies from
three to four ounces. The anterior surface, correspond¬
ing but not attached to the outer surface of the peri¬
toneum, it convex, but becomes hollow at the inner mar¬
gin, where it terminates in the renal fissure. The pos¬
terior surface, which is less convex, is separated from the
internal aponeurosis of the transverse abdominal muscle,
the diaphragm, and the psoas magnus, by a thick layer Speck
of adipose tissue. Anaton
The kidney consists of glandular structure, invested by'^’~v''1
a firm membrane, somewhat fibrous in appearance.
In the glandular structure the anatomist recognises theStructu I
most distinct example of this form of tissue. It consists
of two parts, a granular external, and a tubular internal.
The former, which occupies the exterior of the kidney, is a
homogeneous substance, of a yellow fawn colour, and con¬
sists of minute spherical or spheroidal granules (granuld),
aggregated together by filamentous tissue, and forming at
their exterior calycoid or cup-like cavities, in which the
round fundi of the tubular conoids are lodged. In these
the capillary vessels of the kidney are ramified with great
minuteness. The tubular part consists of very minute
capillary tubes (tubuli uriniferi, tubidi Belliniani), varying
in length, united by filamentous tissue, and arranged in
parallel juxtaposition, so as to form conoids with globu¬
lar bases, which are lodged in the cup-like cavities of the
granular portion, and rounded apices directed to the renal
fissure. The number of these tubular cones varies from
10 or 12 to 18 or 20. Their apices form an equal num¬
ber of nipple-like processes (papillae), covered by a thin
membrane almost transparent, in which are numerous
minute holes, apertures of the tubes of which the cones
are composed. These apertures, however, are much less
numerous than the tubes, several of which are united in
one common orifice. The renal papillae thus constituted
project into a series of conical cavities, formed within of
the papillary membrane, without of fibrous strata and fila¬
mentous tissue. These cavities, which from their shape
are denominated funnels (infundibula, calyces), uniting
into three or four larger ones, terminate in a considerable
membranous sac named the basin (pelvis) of the kidney.
These two parts of the kidney are distinguished not
only in structure but in colour and consistence. While
the granular part is fawn-coloured, and somewhat soft and
flabby, the tubular is pink-red, fleshy and firm; and the
boundary line is distinct. The tubular cones are separated
from each other by partitions, which appear to be fila¬
mentous tissue.
There is no doubt that the granular is the secreting
part of the gland; and the tubes are merely conduits of
the urine, which indeed may be expressed from their
apertures. It is important, however, to determine the
mode in which the two portions communicate. The as¬
sertion of Ferrein and Eysenhardt, that the tubes are blind
canals, is inaccurate in this respect, that the terminal
tubes evidently communicate with others in the interior
of the cones, which again are immediately connected with
the granular part. It further appears, that in the granu¬
lar part there are very minute white tortuous canals,
which appear to communicate with the straight tubes of
the cones. All beyond this is entirely conjectural.
The kidney, therefore, cannot be said to possess paren¬
chyma or proper substance. The idle distinctions into
cortical and medullary ought to be rejected as remnants
of an exploded theory.
The kidneys are supplied with blood from the aorta by Blood-v,
the renal arteries. Issuing at right angles from the late-seh-
ral regions of the abdominal aorta, below the superior me¬
senteries, these vessels pass directly into the fissure at its
superior and anterior part, the left behind, the right occa¬
sionally before the renal vein, but crossing its direction.
The calibre of these vessels is considerable, about three
lines at least; and they have been estimated to convey
the sixth part of the blood of the abdominal aorta. The
left artery is about one inch long, the right is the whole
breadth of the vertebral column longer. In the renal
fissure each artery divaricates into three or four consider-
ANATOMY.
pecial
atom v.
basin
I t'/w.
un.
blad.
^iture.
able branches, which enter the kidney a little above the
(attachment of the basin (pelvis'). These vessels are a^ain
subdivided into an anterior series before, and a posterior
cluster behind the ifij^unclibulct^ which they accompany to
the papilla!. Dividing more minutely, they form anasto¬
motic arches, fiom the convexity of which proceed minute
vessels, radiating into the granular substance of the gland.
These vessels are distributed principally to the granular
matter at its calycoid surfaces, in which the tubular cones
are lodged.
The veins are arranged exactly in the same manner, and
connected with the renal trunk, much as the arterial
branches are connected with it.
The kidney is supplied with nerves, accompanying the
arteries, derived from a plexus inclosing the renal trunk,
and which is originally formed from filaments of the solar
of the great sympathetic.
The pelvis consists externally of a prolongation of the
renal investment, a proper middle membrane, white,
opaque, and fibrous, and an inner lining, which, though
thin and semitransparent, presents the character of mu¬
cous membrane.
I he upper extremity of each kidney is covered by the
renal capsule, a substance of no peculiar structure, and
the nature of which is unknown.
The basin forms the common termination of the renal
funnels, and the commencement of the ureter. This is a
membranous tube, of the diameter of a moderate-sized
quill, passing between the renal basin, behind the perito¬
neum, to the posterior and inferior part of the bladder, in
which the lower extremity opens. Each ureter is inclin¬
ed to the mesial plane below. The right ureter is on the
outside, and nearly parallel with the inferior cavity. Both
cross the psoas at an acute angle, and below the common
iliac arteries and veins. In the pelvis they cross the vas
deferens in the male, and on reaching the bladder pass ob¬
liquely, from eight lines to an inch, through its coats, and
open in the posterior margin of the lower fundus of that
organ.
These tubes consist of fibrous membrane, lined by mu¬
cous and covered by filamentous tissue. It contains no
muscular fibres, notwithstanding the assertions of some.
The ureters are supplied with blood derived from the
renals, occasionally from the lumbars and spermatics, but
more especially from the aorta by two ureteric arteries.
The urinary bladder is a muscular membranous bag,
spherical above and cubo-spherical below, placed on the
lower region of the pelvis, behind the pubal symphysis,
and before tbe rectum in the male, and the uterus in the
female. From the peculiarity of its figure and relations,
it is distinguished into a superior/hncfos, spheroidal, direct¬
ed to the abdominal cavity; an vafeviovfundus, cubo-sphe-
roidal, between the ureters and urethral opening; a neck
(cervix), pyriform at the latter point; an anterior surface,
corresponding to the posterior of the pubal symphysis; a
posterior, corresponding to the rectum in the male and the
uterus in the female; and lateral regions, corresponding
to the ilio-ischial inner surface, and those of the obturator
interims and levator ani.
In females generally the transverse extent of the blad¬
der is greater than in the male, and in females after child¬
bearing than in the virgin. In infancy its superior fundus
is pointed and conical rather than globular,—a peculiarity
derived from its foetal shape, which is pointed, with the
urachus, a ligamentous chord proceeding to the navel, at¬
tached.
The bladder consists of a muscular coat, covered above,
behind, and laterally by peritoneum, and lined by mucous
membrane.
The peritoneal covering is continued from the anterior
823
surface of the rectum, and the lateral regions of the pelvis Special
over the posterior and lateral and part of the superior sur- Anatomy,
faces of the bladder, all of which are free ; while the infe-
nor fundus, the neck, and the anterior, are covered by fila¬
mentous tissue, connecting the organ to the neighbouring
parts. This filamentous tissue is abundant, especially below.
1 he muscular coat, always distinct, varies in thickness
in different individuals. In females, so far as we have ob¬
served, it is rather thicker than in males. The fibres run
in all directions, but are strong at the superior surface,
where some anatomists have arbitrarily distinguished them
by the name of detrusor urince. There are no fleshy pillars,
mentioned by some, in the healthy state.
The neck is surrounded by a thick range of circular
fibres, which has been denominated the sphincter of the
bladder.
I he mucous membrane, without villi or epidermis, is ex¬
tended over the whole inner surface of the organ, and is
continuous behind with that of the ureters, and before with
that of the urethra. The space inclosed between these
three orifices is named the vesical triangle (trigonus vesicce);
and a minute duplicature of the mucous membrane at the
urethral orifice is denominated the vesicce uvula.
The bladder is supplied with blood chiefly from the
posterior iliac or hypogastric trunk, by means of the com¬
mon pudic, the obturator, the ischiatic, and the hemor¬
rhoidal. Of these, one vesical artery proceeds from the
hemorrhoidal; another often comes off' directly from the
hypogastric as an inferior vesical; and in some instances
they issue from the umbilical. The vesical nerves are
partly from the sympathetic, partly from the sacral.
The capacity of the bladder varies in different indivi¬
duals. In the female it is generally more capacious than
in the male. In the healthy state it may contain a pound
of urine, without extreme distension ; and it is often ca¬
pable of containing two, three, or four pounds. Its situa¬
tion varies at different periods of life, and in different de¬
grees of distension. In the foetus and infant, when the
pelvis is small, the bladder is contained in the abdomen.
In the adult in the ordinary state it is within the limits of
the pelvis ; but when much distended, its superior fundus,
rising above the pubis, is in the abdomen. During preg¬
nancy, also, it is thrust forwards and upwards by the
gravid womb.
Urine, the fluid secreted by the kidneys, is particularly
distinguished by containing, with various saline substances,
urea, an animal principle containing 46 per cent, of azote.
As the saline ingredients also abound in principles con¬
taining this element, it may be inferred that the chief pur¬
pose of the kidneys is to remove from the system a con¬
siderable proportion of nitrogen, which would either be
injurious by its presence, or disturb the due proportion of
the other elements.
The urethra, which terminates the urinary apparatus, is
nevertheless common to it with the reproductive organs.
The male urethra especially is more connected with the
reproductive than the secretory organs. In the female, in
whom alone this canal is proper to the latter, it is a short
muco-membranous tube, terminating in a papillated ori¬
fice in the superior anterior wall of the vagina.
PART III.
ANATOMY OF THE ORGANS PERTAINING TO THE REPRO¬
DUCTIVE FUNCTIONS.
These organs, by the possession of which the indivi¬
duals of the human race are distinguished into two sexes,
male and female, consist in the former of impregnating,
and in the latter of the impregnable organs. The former
may be again distinguished into preparing and transmitting
824
ANATOMY.
Special organs; and the latter into receiving and ootrophic organs,
Anatomy. 0r those which nourish the product of generation.
CHAP. I. THE MALE OR IMPREGNATING ORGANS.
The scro¬
tum.
The vagi¬
nal coat.
The albu¬
gineous
coat.
The tes¬
ticle.
The semi
niferous
tubes.
The male organs consist of two glandular organs, named
testicles with excretory ducts, for secreting the impreg¬
nating fluid, and an organ for transmitting it to those of
the female.
The testicles (testes) are two ovoidal bodies contained
on each side of the mesial plane in a cutaneo-cellular sac
named the scrotum, attached to the anterior inferior part
of the pubal symphysis.
The scrotum consists of skin with very thin corion, rest¬
ing on loose filamentous tissue, which forms on the mesial
plane a thick wall, separating the right half of the scrotal
bag from the left. On the median line is a superficial
groove, named suture (raphe), at which the corion and
filamentous tissue, elsewhere loose, are united into a solid
and firm substance. Most of the old anatomists mention
a muscular layer known by the name of dartos, and to
which they ascribe the contraction of the scrotum on ex¬
posure to cold; but the existence of this muscular layer
is not supported by inspection. The scrotal skin is well
Supplied with arteries, and especially veins connected
with those of the epigastric, external iliac, femoral, obtu¬
rator, and external pudic, the branches of which anasto¬
mose freely. The nerves are from the lumbar, obturator,
and crural.
The scrotal filamentous tissue incloses on each side a
thin membranous sac of a pyriform shape, with the base
below, and tapering to a neck above. Adherent on the
outside to the filamentous substance, this membranous sac
is free and smooth within, except at the neck, where it
embraces a part distinguished by the name of spermatic
chord. This, which is the sheath-like or vaginal coat
(tunica vaginalis), is distinguished into two parts, an in¬
ferior pyriform, forming a cavity for the testicle, and a su¬
perior cylindrical, covering the spermatic chord, and ad¬
hering to it. This membrane is said to be fibrous exter¬
nally ; but it appears to be merely condensed filamentous
tissue. Within it is evidently a transparent serous mem¬
brane, both in qualities and distribution. It is continued
from the adherent part of the chord downward, and over
the testicle.
Within the cavity of the former are contained the tes¬
ticles, both suspended by the spermatic chord, with the
epididymis behind. Their substance is inclosed in a firm,
opaque, white, fibrous investment, covered by a thin trans¬
parent membrane, reflected from the vaginal coat. The
former is the tunica albuginea, or proper tissue of the
gland; the latter is the vaginal coat of the testicle (tunica
vaginalis testis).
The testicle consists of minute irregular-shaped gra¬
nules, of a white or gray-white colour, soft, closely com¬
pacted, and with numerous capillaries distributed through
them. More minutely examined, these are found to be
capillary tubes of extraordinary length, folded on them¬
selves, and contorted so as to occupy a small space, and
when unfolded extending, according to some anatomists,
. 16 feet, according to others to 25 or even 100 ells. These
long tortuous tubes, which are named the seminiferous
(ductus seminiferi), are estimated at about 300 in num¬
ber. They communicate by one extremity with the blood¬
vessels and lymphatics of the testicle, and by the other,
after several unite into one common duct, terminate in
about 20 larger tubes, denominated egredient ducts (vasa
efferentia), which, united in a cluster by means of fila¬
mentous tissue, and invested by part of the tunica albugi¬
nea, form at the upper part of the gland a whitish cylin¬
drical body, about six lines long and two broad, distin- Specif;
guished by the name of the process of Highmore (corpus Anatoir
Highmori). These efferent vessels unite and form a singlev^v>
tube of great length, which, folded on itself by innumer-The Prc
able turns, connected by filamentous tissue, and invested VJ
by tunica albuginea, constitutes the epididymis, attached The epil
by its head to the testicle, and by an incurvated extremity didymis,
named tail, continuous with the common excretory duct
(vas deferens).
The latter is a long fibro-cartilaginous tube, ascending The vas
upwards from the tail of the epididymis, and making deferen:
part of the spermatic chord, with which it enters the®^1™^
abdomen at the inguinal aperture. At the inner margin duct 01
of this it separates from the chord, and descends into
the pelvis, first by the side, then at the posterior and
mlerior fundus of the bladder; and, approaching that of
the opposite side with the vesicula seminalis on the outer
margin, each vas deferens is in contact with the other at
the base of the prostate gland. Here each receiving a
tube from the corresponding vesicida, forms a common
duct (ductus ejaculans), which traverses the prostate, and
terminates in the urethra about one inch and a half from
its vesical end, on each side of the eminence named veru-
montanum.
The spermatic chord, by which the testicle is suspended, SpermatS
consists of the spermatic artery or its divisions, derived incho^J•
general from the aorta, two or three spermatic veins, seve¬
ral lymphatics, and the vas deferens, inclosed in filamentous
tissue, and covered by a slip of muscular fibres denomi¬
nated the suspensory muscle (cremaster, tunica erythroides),
detached partly from the internal oblique and transverse
of the belly, fixed partly at the inner surface of the liga¬
ment of Poupart and the tuberosity of the pubis.
The spermatic artery divaricates into several branches,
which are distributed, after a few sent to the epididy¬
mis, among the seminiferous ducts. They communicate
with numerous tortuous veins, which are collected into a
cluster known by the name of \X\epampiniform body, situ¬
ate immediately below the tunica albuginea.
Below the mferior fundus of the bladder, on the outside Seminal
of that organ, are placed two bodies, oblong, flattened,vesic es'
pyriform, with the base behind, composed at first sight of
a series of cells separated by septa. Each of these bo¬
dies, which have been named the seminal vesicles (vesicu-
Ice seminales), consists of a long tortuous membranous
tube, convoluted on itself, and with the folds aggregated
by bridles of filamentous tissue, which convert it into
communicating sacs. The cavity of this canal, which
communicates with the urethra by a tube, common to the
vesicles and the vasa deferentia, has been supposed to
serve as a reservoir for the seminal fluid after secretion
by the testicles ; but this supposition is by no means ve¬
rified, and is open to several objections.
The transmitting organs consist of the penis with the
urethra and prostate gland.
The penis, the shape of which is well known, consists, ofTlm ca\
two parts, the cavernous body (corpus cavernosum), and thenoUs
spongy body (corpus spongiosum) containing the urethra.
The cavernous body, single before, bifurcated behind,
may be described as two cylindrical bodies, inclosed in a
fibrous investment, which, uniting them on the mesial
plane, forms a partition (septum medium), perforated
nevertheless with orifices for vessels. The divaricating
posterior extremities (crura) are firmly attached to the
ischio-pubal rand on each side. The intermediate trian¬
gular interval is occupied by the perineal filamentous
tissue, fat, the perineal muscles, and the spongy body in
the middle. Above and before, both are connected to the
pubal symphysis by a triangular, flat, fibrous substance,
named the triangular or suspensory ligament.
ANATOMY.
cial TTie spongy body is a cylindrical cellulo-vascular tube,
Afomy. inclosing the urethra, and occupying the middle depres-
sjon> aiong the lower surface of the cavernous body, from
Tl|p°ngyits anterior extremity, where it constitutes the glam, to
the angular bifurcation of the cavernous body, where it is
expanded into a substance denominated the bulb of the
urethra. The spongy body is invested on the side and
below by integuments only.
Both these parts, but especially the cavernous body,
consist of numerous minute arteries, communicating di¬
rectly with elongated and dilatable veins, and constitute
the best example of erectile arrangement in the body.
The injection of these vessels constitutes the erection of the
penis, and induces the contraction of the urethra necessary
to expel the seminal fluid. The two extremities of the
spongy body, the glam before and the bulb behind, form
the limits of the erectile tissue round the urethra. The
anterior extremity is covered by loose skin, which forms
the foreskin (prceputium), and, in the shape of a thin semi-
mucous corion, provided with epidermis, is continued over
the glans, from which it passes insensibly into the mucous
membrane of the urethra.
With the penis several muscular organs are connected.
The ischio-cavernosm and tramversus perincei on each side
connect the cavernous body to the ischium; and the
bulbo-cavernosus connects it to the bulb of the urethra.
Mr Houston of Dublin has lately discovered a packet of
muscular fibres situate between the pubal arch and the
penis on each side, which, by compressing the dorsal vein,
may, he imagines, contribute to erect the organ.
The cavernous and spongy bodies are supplied with
blood from the terminal end of the internal pudic artery, by
means of two vessels, the cavernous and the dorsal. The
bulb receives branches from the transverse perineal artery.
The prostate gland is a body cordiform or flat conoidal
m bid. in shape, with the base behind and the apex before, cor¬
responding to the vesical end of the urethra, situate behind
the pubal symphysis before, and below the neck of the
bladder, in the angle between it and the rectum, and be¬
tween the levator ani of each side.
It is distinguished into three lobes,—two lateral, united
on the mesial plane,—and a small cellulo-vascular slip in
the angle between them, towards the base. In structure
it is composed chiefly of minute arteries and veins rami¬
fied in a firm, fleshy, filamentous tissue, amidst which are
placed follicles with minute ducts, which terminate in
larger tubes, varying in number from seven to twelve, the
apertures of which are on the sides and the surface of the
urethra. These follicles secrete a viscid liquor, the use
of which is unknown. From the fact, however, that, when
the prostate gland is diseased or injured, the sexual ap¬
petite is languid or extinguished, it may be inferred that
the prostate is essential to the generative functions in the
male. It is analogous to the uterus in the female.
With the prostate may be mentioned the accessory
glands of Cowper, two small bodies, oblong-round, placed
on each side of the urethra, before the prostate. They
appear to be mucous follicles on the large scale.
The urethra is a membranous canal, extending from
the neck of the bladder in the pelvis to the extremity of
the glans, where it terminates on the surface by an aper¬
ture (orijicium urethra), consisting of two lateral seg¬
ments. Its length and width vary in the erect and
unerected state of the penis. In the latter it is about
seven or eight inches long, and its calibre is about three
lines, but admitting of distension beyond this. Accord¬
ing to the parts with which it is connected, it is distin¬
guished into four different portions ; ls£, the prostatic,
about one inch ; 2d, the membranous, from one to one inch
and a half; ‘M, the bulbous, scarcely one inch; and, ith,
VOL. II.
825
«;r’s
!ri
the spongy portion, occupying the anterior part of the Special
canal, inclosed by the spongy body. Anatomy.
.The surface of the urethra is a mucous membrane sup-'^^~v^^
plied with follicles, and moulded into blind sacs named
lacuna, which appear to contain mucous ducts. Its
capacity varies in different parts. Wide at the middle of
the prostate, it is contracted in the membranous part,
which is indeed the narrowest of the canal; it enlarges
again in the bulb; and from this it preserves the same
diameter to immediately behind the glans, where it forms
a dilatation distinguished by the name of the navicular
(fossa navicularis). The apertures in this canal have
been already mentioned to be, besides that of the bladder,
one ejaculatory on each side of the veru-montanum, from
seven to ten excretory apertures from the prostatic ducts,
and one aperture from each accessory gland. The mu¬
cous membrane of the membranous and spongy portions
presents longitudinal folds, which appear to be connected
with the occasional distensions of the tube for the expul¬
sion of the urine.
The urethra, straight in direction on the mesial plane,
is incurvated within the pelvis from behind forwards, so
that its concave incurvation incloses the pubal arch,
while its convexity is turned to the perinaeum. The pen¬
dulous state of the penis, when unerected, causes it to ac¬
quire another incurvation without the pelvis, with the con¬
vexity directed upward. These curvatures are consider¬
ably exaggerated in engravings. The first round the arch
of the pubis is much less angular than it is delineated.
CHAP. II.—THE FEMALE OR OOTROPHIC ORGANS.
The female generative organs consist of the ovaries,
the uterine or Fallopian tubes, the womb, and the vagina.
These organs are contained in the pelvis.
From the time of Steno, anatomists have given the name The ova-
of ovaries or eggbeds (ovaria) to two ovoidal bodies, about ries.
the size of a pigeon’s egg, placed one on each side of the
womb in the pelvis, in a duplicature of peritoneum termed
the broad ligament (ligamentum latum) of the uterus. Con¬
vex and free on their anterior and posterior surfaces, and
tapering towards each extremity, their lower margin is
straight or slightly concave, with a vascular sinuosity.
The external extremity is contiguous to a round solid
chord (ligamentum teres), forming the anterior margin of
the broad ligament, and proceeding from the womb to the
internal orifice of the inguinal canal and the pubal extre¬
mity of the ligament of Poupart, and by which the uterus
is retained in the pelvis. Each ovary weighs about one
drachm and a half.
Covered externally by peritoneum, stretched over a Ovarian
fibrous membrane of some firmness, the ovaries consist of vesicles or
a pulpy brownish-gray substance, very vascular, in which germs*
are embedded minute bodies of vesicular appearance and
oval shape, varying in number from 15 to 20. These bo¬
dies, which, from the time of De Graaf at least, have been
regarded as ova or embryal atoms or germs (ova Graaji-
ana, ovarii vesicula), consist of a thin membrane contain¬
ing a viscid, reddish, or yellow fluid.
The ovary is supplied with blood from arteries analo¬
gous to the spermatic of the male.
Previous to puberty the ovaries are smooth in surface
and entire. After this period, both in females who have
had children, and even in virgins, they are marked on the
surface by minute depressions, which have been denomi¬
nated cicatrices, and which are believed to be the conse¬
quence of minute breaches of the ovarian tunics, occasion¬
ed by the escape of the vesicles from the surface of the
ovary. There is no proof that these cicatrices are the
invariable result of sexual intercourse. Small before pu¬
berty, at that period they acquire considerable size, and
5 M
826
ANATOMY.
Uterine
tubes.
Special retain them till the age of 45 or 48, after which they the spermatic, partly from the hypogastric. The former, Spei
Anatomy, shrivel and shrink to a very small size. after passing between the folds of the broad ligaments, Anat<
The Fallopian or uterine tubes are the excretory ducts and giving branches to the tubes, enter the uterine sub-'^v'^
of the ovaries. They are cylindrical tubes about four or stance by its lateral regions. The second, named the ute-
five inches long, contained in the anterior fold of the su- rine, after sending branches to the vagina and neighbour-
perior margin of the broad ligament, between the round ing parts, ascend along the margins of the organ, and are
ligament and the ovary, and connected by their lower ex- distributed to iis fundus.
tremity with the superior angles of the womb. Their supe- The uterine veins correspond to the arteries in course
rior extremity, which is loose, is surrounded by a fringed and connections. In the walls of the organ they form
or laciniated slip of peritoneum, in the centre of which is large sinuses, very distinct after parturition,
seen the upper or peritoneal aperture (arificium superius), The uterine lymphatics are connected with those of
larger than the calibre of the canal, which admits a hog’s the pelvis and hypogastric region. The nerves, which
bristle, but contracts at the lower or uterine extremity are numerous, proceed from the lower extremity of the
(orijicium uterinum), which is situate in the upper angle of great sympathetic, from the renal plexus, the spermatics,
the inner surface of the womb. the last lumbar nerves, and the sacral.
Covered by serous membrane externally, lined by thin The womb is the proper ootrophic organ, to the inner
mucous membrane with follicular glands, the Fallopian
tubes consist of fibrous tissue interposed between these
two. Below, however, at their junction with the womb,
they seem to partake of the structure of that body.
The womb {uterus, matrix) is a hollow organ with
The womb.
thick walls, shaped like a conoid, flattened before and
behind, situate on the mesial plane in the pelvic cavity,
between the bladder before and the rectum behind.
Small before puberty, at that period it is about 2\ inches
long, broad at its widest part, and weighs from 7
drachms to ounce. It is distinguished into \he fundus,
body {corpus), and neck {cervix); the first free, directed
surface of which the ovum is attached by a vascular body
denominated ihe placenta or after-birth.
The vagina is a membranous vascular tube, situate onThevi
the mesial plane, behind the pubal arch, and before theg™-
rectum and urethra, and extending from the neck of the
womb in the pelvic cavity to the external outlet {vulva),
where it is continuous with the surface. Not exactly
cylindrical, but flattened before and behind, its length
is about four inches, its breadth one, but very distensible.
It is generally distinguished into the upper vaginal recess
{vagince fundus), inclosing the neck of the womb behind
the os tincce, the lower vagina {vagina propria), and the
upwards; the second also free, between the bladder and vaginal opening {vulva)
rectum; and the third connected within and below to The vagina consists of mucous membrane surround-
the vagina. At each side of the fundus is a corner or ed by filamentous tissue, a vascular network, and some
angular part, which communicates with the uterine ex- muscular fibres. The mucous membrane, wiiich is red
tremity of the Fallopian tube. The neck of the womb below, gray above, and not unfrequently marbled, soft
may be distinguished into the external or peritoneal, and and spongy, is disposed in numerous large transverse
the internal or mucous neck, which terminates in an ellip- and semicircular folds {rugce) on the anterior and poste-
tical opening, with rounded, thick, firm margins, not unlike rior surfaces. In the recesses of these folds are numerous
the mouth of the tench, and named therefore os tincce, pores, evidently the source of the mucous viscid secretion
as well as os uteri. These lips become rough and irregu¬
lar in women after child-bearing, in consequence of the
distension during parturition.
The cavity of the womb is small compared with the
volume of the organ, in consequence of the thickness of
its containing walls. It is triangular in shape, with the
base at the fundus, and the apex at the neck. The su¬
perior angles are small recesses, in which the uterine ex¬
tremity of the Fallopian tube of each side opens. The
cavity is much contracted at the neck, forming a short
which is so abundant on this membrane, during sexual
excitation, at the period of parturition, and morbidly in
gonorrhoea in the female. On the lateral regions it pre¬
sents pyramidal eminences (papillce).
The mucous membrane is connected by filamentous
tissue to another, which in the vicinity of the uterus is
compact, firm, and elastic, and below, towards the ori¬
fice, is thinner, and contains a network of numerous com¬
municating vessels, in which the blood is occasionally ac¬
cumulated in the manner of erection. The lower extre-
Structure.
cylindrical canal, the lower aperture of which is the os mity is inclosed laterally by some muscular fibres {con-
uteri, communicating with the vagina. stricter' vulvce), which are believed to have the effect of
Covered externally by peritoneum, the womb consists contracting the vagina voluntarily, and by which, when
of a peculiar thick, firm, whitish substance, lined by
mucous membrane. This intermediate matter’, though
neither red nor distinctly fibrous, has been very general¬
ly regarded as muscular. Its contractile powers during
parturition it is impossible to doubt. But while it is dif-
continued, as they occasionally are, to the base of the labia
magna, women, according to Soemmering, may move these
parts. The vaginal membrane is provided with lympha¬
tics connected with those of the pelvis. The nerves,
which are numerous, and some of which appear to termi-
ficult to reconcile this phenomenon with the absence of nate in the pyramidal eminences, are derived partly from
muscular tissue, it must be allowed that it is much more the sacral, partly from the crural trunks,
easy to maintain than demonstrate the unequivocal ap- The vagina terminates in the vulva, an opening formed
pearance of muscular fibres. On this topic the reader may within by the clitoris before, the hymen behind, and the
consult a paper by Mr Charles Bell, in the 4th volume nymphce or labia parva on each side; externally by the
of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions ; and an elaborate mons veneris before, the frenum and navicular fossa be-
account of the different ranges of muscular fibres in theute- hind, and the labia magna on each side.
rus, by Madame Boivin, an eminent Parisian accoucheuse, in
her Memorial de lArt des Accouchemens, Paris, 1824.
The uterine mucous membrane is thin, but reddish-
gray, villous, and marked by numerous pores, the aper¬
tures of blood-vessels, most probably those which secrete
The clitoris is a small, oblong, conical process, consist¬
ing of erectile vessels, covered by mucous membrane,
attached to the lower margin of the pubal symphysis. The
hymen is a crescentic fold of mucous membrane, surround¬
ing the sides and posterior part of the vagina. The small
the menstrual fluid. At the neck it is provided with lips or nymphce {labia parva) are two crescentic bodies,
muciparous glands, which are the seat of several of the consisting chiefly of erectile vessels, contained within a
forms of leucorrhoea. duplicature of semimucous membrane. With these the
The blood-vessels of the uterus are derived partly from inner surface of the labia is continuous; and they consist
ANATOMY.
Spual chiefly of filamentous tissue, placed between semimucous
jiaifiy- membrane and skin.
Connected with the female ootrophic organs are the
breasts or mamnue.
The female of the human species has only two breasts;
827
its external surface to the inner of the chorion, and in- Special
closing a watery fluid, variable in quantity, in which the Anatomy,
foetus, suspended by the umbilical chord, floats.
The umbilical chord (funis umbilicalis) consists of, ls£, The umbi-
one vein and two arteries, inclosed in—2d, a soft, semifluid, hcal chord.
and their position on the anterior and superior part of gelatinous substance, named from Wharton Whar-
^flal
«ni
»0f/
the thorax, on each side of the mesial plane, is a character
which, with those of the locomotive apparatus, indicates
distinctly the erect biped attitude.
Of a hemispherical or conical shape, the female breast
consists of a glandular organ, named the mammary, sur¬
rounded by adipose tissue, and covered by integuments.
It is distinguished into the breast (mamma'), the nipple
(papilla, mammilla), and a coloured ring of skin (areola).
The gland is of a flat, rounded figure, and consists of
lobes of white pulpy substance, separated from each
other by filamentous tissue, and which may be resolved
into granules or acini about the size of millet seeds, which
again are composed of minute oblong vesicles disposed in
a radiating manner. From the granules or acini proceed
minute tubes named the lactiferous (ductus lactiferi, tubuli
galactophori), which uniting into larger tubes, varying in
number from 20 to 30, terminate in the centre of the
mammary gland, behind the areola in conical dilated sacs
(sinus), varying from one or two to three lines in diame¬
ter. These galactophorous ducts, which are larger than
in any other gland, are formed of mucous membrane,
which extends into the sinuosities, and is at the nipple
identified with the skin. Several of the lactiferous tubes
are said to originate from the adipose tissue of the breast;
but this seems merely to indicate that they communicate
with the vessels of this substance. The lactiferous tubes
are indistinct before puberty, small in the virgin, and in
general in the sterile, and during the intervals of preg¬
nancy, and large only at the close of that period, and du¬
ring the process of suckling.
The nipple of the female breast is a flat, conical process,
the shape of which is well known, consisting externally of
skin, with thin delicate corion and epidermis, internally of
mucous membrane, and an intermediate network of dilata¬
ble arteries and veins mutually and freely communicating.
These parts are united by filamentous tissue, which varies
in quantity at different periods. But from the vessels now
mentioned the nipple derives its property of occasional erec¬
tion, especially under the influence of mental emotions.
The breast derives its blood from the internal mamma¬
ries, the intercostals, and the thoracics or external mam¬
maries, the branches of which penetrate between the lo¬
bules of the gland. It has lymphatics, though not more
abundantly than any other organ. The nerves are chiefly
cutaneous.
The mammary gland is separated from the pectoral
muscle by a thick cushion of adipose substance, on which
it rests ; and it derives a gentle conical elevation from the
subcutaneous adipose tissue. The mammary skin is re¬
markable for the delicacy and softness of the corion.
CHAP. III. THE PRODUCT OF GENERATION.
The ovum or impregnated germ, the result of the union
of the sexes, consists of an embryo or new animal, inclosed
in several membranes, and attached to the inner surface
of the uterus by a vascular mass.
Of the membranes, one, the decidua (epichorion), be¬
longs to the uterine surface; the other two, the chorion
and amnion, belong to the foetus or embryo. The decidua
consists of two parts, an external (decidua vera), and an
internal (decidua reflexa) ; both modifications of albumi¬
nous secretion. The chorion, the outer covering of the
foetus, is a thin transparent membrane, covered with vil-
losities on both surfaces, but especially the external. The
amnion is a thin transparent membrane, adhering feebly by
toniana ; 2>d, the urachus, a ligamentous chord proceed¬
ing to the superior fundus of the bladder; and, kth, the
umbilical sheath (vagina umbilicalis). In the early period
of uterine life, it also contains part of the intestinal canal,
the vesicida umbilicalis either partly or wholly, and the
omphalo-mesenteric vessels. Of these parts the umbilical
veins and arteries, by their connection with the placenta,
are the most important. The others our limits allow us
merely to indicate.
The placenta is a round or orbicular, thick, cake-shaped The pla-
mass, with two surfaces, a filamento-vascular, attached to centa.
the inner surface of the womb, and a smooth membranous
one, to which the umbilical chord is fixed. It consists of
lobular portions (cotyledones), separable from each other,
and each of which receives a small artery derived from the
uterine trunks, which are much enlarged during pregnancy.
The average weight of the placenta is 1 pound 2 ounces.
The placenta, according to Dr Hunter (Anatomical
Description of the Human Gravid Uterus, edit, by Dr
Baillie, Lond. 1794), consists of two portions ; a foetal or
umbilical, and a maternal or uterine part.
The fcetal part is composed entirely of ramifications of
the umbilical arteries and umbilical vein. These, divid¬
ing with extreme minuteness, are distributed to all parts
of the placenta. The branches of the umbilical arteries
finally terminate in the umbilical vein, and have no other
termination: all the branches of the umbilical vein arise from
the umbilical arteries, and have no other commencement.
The maternal part consists of a whitish-coloured sub¬
stance, which is spread over the outer surface of the pla¬
centa in the form of a membrane, and sends off innumer¬
able irregular processes, which pervade its substance as
deep as its inner surface. These are everywhere so
blended and entangled with the ramifications of the um¬
bilical system, that it is impossible to discover the nature
of their union. They are interwoven in such a manner,
however, as to leave innumerable small vacuities or cells
between them, which communicate freely with each other
through the whole mass. The maternal part is full of
large and small arteries and veins, none of which are de¬
rived from the vessels of the fcetal part, but all from the
arteries and veins of the uterus. All the arteries are
serpentine, and much convoluted; the larger, when in¬
jected, are almost of the size of crow-quills; and, after
little or no ramification, they terminate abruptly in the
cells already described. This is their only termination.
The veins have frequent anastomoses, pass in a very
slanting direction, and generally appear flattened; some
of them are as large as a goose-quill, but many of them
very small; and all arise abruptly from the cells of the
placenta. This is their only commencement.
The umbilical arteries, which are branches of the hypo-Umbilical
gastric, ascend beside the bladder and before the rectum, arteries,
approach each other, pass over the fundus of the bladder,
and reach the navel with the urachus. There they alter
their direction, and are wound round the umbilical vein,
which proceeds from the placenta by the same aperture
(the navel) by which the arteries escape. These arte¬
ries, which are almost equal in diameter to the hypogas¬
tric or posterior iliac, of which they appear to be the con¬
tinuation, diminish in size after birth, and appear then to be
mere branches. Eventually they are obliterated and con¬
verted into solid chords, about 1£ inch from their origin.
The umbilical vein, which is larger than both arteries Umbilical
taken together, is the common trunk of the veins of the vein.
828
ANATOMY.
ties of the
foetus.
Special placenta, from which it proceeds through the umbilical
Anatomy, opening or navel, in the folds of the falciform ligament, to
the umbilical fossa of the liver, where it divides into two
branches, one large, proceeding to the venaportce and liver,
another small, into the vena cava, known by the name of
venous duct or canal {ductus venosus). The umbilical vein
is distributed chiefly to the left lobe of the liver.
Anatomical The structure of the foetus differs in many respects
P.eculiyri- from that of the adult; and these differences depend on
the stage which the process of developement has attained.
As it is impossible to trace the history of this interesting
process within the limits of this sketch, we shall merely
specify the principal anatomical peculiarities by which
the foetus is distinguished from the full-grown subject.
A large vascular body, denominated the thymus gland,
is found to occupy the anterior mediastinum. The kid¬
neys are covered by triangular filamento-vascular bodies,
named renal capsules, larger than the glands themselves,
and supplied with large blood-vessels. The liver is very
large, especially its left lobe, and occupies not only the
right hypochondriac and epigastric, but the left hypo¬
chondriac region. The lungs are compact and of a
deep red colour, and sink in water; and the bronchial
tubes are collapsed and void of air. In the heart the
right and left auricle communicate freely by an oval
aperture in the septum. The pulmonary artery, rising
from the right ventricle, divides, not into two, as in the
adult, but into three branches; one on each side, going
to each lung, small, and conveying little blood; and one
in the middle, proceeding to the aorta, about 9 lines
long, named the arterial canal {ductus vel canalis arteri¬
osus'). The umbilical vein, proceeding to the liver, is
distributed by about 15 or 20 branches to the left lobe of
that organ. In the horizontal furrow it divides into two
branches, one of which goes to the portal vein, the other,
apparently the continuation of the trunk, opens into the
vena cava, under the name of venous duct {ductus vel
canalis venosus), forming with it an angle acute above,
and provided with a valve. The kidneys consist of lobules
as numerous as their tubular cones, which indeed these
lobules are, separate from each other. The urinary bladder
is not within the pelvis, but in the abdominal part of that
cavity; and it terminates above in a point, to which a liga¬
mentous process {urachus), connecting it to the navel, is
attached. In the male, the testicles are contained in the
abdomen, often immediately behind the internal aperture.
Lastly, till the seventh month the pupillary aperture is
closed by a peculiar membrane.
In the foregoing account of the anatomy of the human
body, many points have been treated in a manner too
short and cursory, considering their importance; and in the
attempt to restrain it within due limits, the heads of several
have been only indicated. For those who wish to study
the subject more minutely, besides the works occasionally
mentioned, we refer to the following general systems.
1. S. Th. Soemmering De Corporis Humani Fahrica ;
Latio donata, ab ipso auctore aucta et emendata. Tom. i.
De Ossihus, Trajecti ad Mcenum, 1794. Tom. ii. De Li-
gamentis Ossium, 1794. Tom. iii. De Musculis, Tendini-
bus, et Bursis Mucosis, 1796. Tom. iv. De Cerebro et
Nervis, 1798. Tom. v. De Angiologia, 1800. Tom. vi.
De Splanchnologia, 1801. This work, which is excellent
so far as it goes, and is particularly distinguished for clear
arrangement, and distinctness, precision, and accuracy of
description, is incomplete. It wants the anatomical de¬
scription of the eye, the ear, and the generative organs
in the two sexes. The first two defects, however, are Special
ably supplied by the author in his Abbildungen des Mensch- Anatomy.
lichen Auges, fol. Frankfort, 1801; and Abbildungen desK^'/^sJ
Menschlichen Hoerorganes, fol. Frank. 1806.
2. Trade d'Anatomic Descriptive; par Xav. Bichat,
Medicin du Grand Flospice d’Humanite de Paris, Pro-
fesseur d’Anatomie et de Physiologic. Tome i. a Paris,
1801; tome ii. et iii. 1802; tome iv. par M. F. R. Buisson,
1803 ; tome v. par Philib. Jos. Roux, Prof. d’Anatomie,
1803. The death of the author interrupted the publica¬
tion of this work in the middle of the third volume, the
first part of which only is by Bichat; while the sequel of
that volume is compiled from the materials left at his
death. This constitutes the most accurate descriptive
system yet extant; and the strongest proof of its supe¬
riority is, that its descriptive portion has been very closely
copied in the work of Cloquet.
3. Cours dAnatomic Medicale, ou Siemens de bAna¬
tomic de VHomme, avec des Remarques Physiologiques et
Pathologiques, et les Resultats de V Observation sur le Siege
et la Nature des Maladies, dapres V Ouverture des Corps;
par Antoine Portal, Prof, de Med. &c. &c. Paris, 1803,
tomes cinq. A complete and accurate work.
4. Grundriss der Anatomic des Menschlichen Kbrpers,
von J. C. Rosenmiiller. Jena, 1806.
5. Handbuch der Menschlichen Anatomie, von J. F. Meckel,
band i. ii. and iii. Halle und Berlin, 1815. This has been
translated into French by MM. Jourdan and Breschet.
6. Trade dAnatomie Descriptive, redige d'apres I'ordre
adopte d la Faculte de Medicine de Paris; par Hippol.
Cloquet, Docteur en Medicine, &c. This is a very good
system of descriptive anatomy. In arrangement, M. Clo¬
quet follows that of Bichat; and in description the first
volume, and a great part of the second, are copied al¬
most literally from the first, second, and part of the third
of that author. It would have been quite as well had
this been avowed; for it deprives Bichat of much of his
most unquestionable merit, and gives an unfavourable
impression of the candour of M. Cloquet. In the sequel
of the second, on the vascular system, and the organs of
respiration and digestion, the author has availed himself
of the materials of Soemmering.
7. Elements of the Anatomy of the Human Body in its
sound state, with occasional remarks on Physiology, Patho¬
logy, and Surgery, by Alexander Monro, M. D. &c. 2 vols.
Edinburgh, 1825.
On the subject of General Anatomy, and several details
on the anatomical divisions and peculiarities of the brain,
we here beg to refer in general to a work already men¬
tioned, viz.
8. Elements of General and Pathological Anatomy, adapt¬
ed to the present state of knowledge in that science, by David
Craigie, M. D. Edinburgh, 1828.
The engravings with which the foregoing article is illus¬
trated have been sufficiently explained by literal or nume¬
ral references, in the course of description. We have on¬
ly to add, that fig. 1 and 2 of Plate XXX., from Soemmer¬
ing, are intended to show the important parts at the lower
surface of the brain ; fig. 3, from the same, the relations ot
the middle band, vault, and septum; and the other two,
from Reil, the internal arrangement of the nucleus. Plate
XXXI., from Scarpa, shows the phrenic nerve, and the
thoracic part of the pneumogastric and sympathetic, wit
the cardiac plexus and nerves. Plate XXXII., from Crui -
shank, gives a general view of the arrangement of t ie
lymphatics. (v*'
END OF VOLUME SECOND.
828
Sped*! rlacenta, from .**h
»ther sn iU
vei us dut ■
Anatomies] f, t.
tm*-- *&■ ’«•
. t- ^ ■:*
free!' by ag oval
into two, as in the
• . r.ii each side, 'ciny;
h, ■ C1- , itth br'-od; and one
■ e, . w 'do tin , iout 9 lines
- ■ : 11 ■' : ■.:■ ■ ■■ a, ■
o* i : : fid Vf '. ■: procei'. >.o ti ■ liwr- is
•'u tin ft !ob<-oi
: ’ ria * em. t c <v. ■.
: -t •• ■ •; onjrh -:y cu, ul >;**,
'603.
: BtO
• w > t fh Udaev? ' ■ o-isi oi Jubuos
n - ! hi it in the abdomina: part of that
;• y , ■’ ■ .vt •:> a jioiut, to •. hicii aiiga-
ci * ( ■ o*‘••ncirting it to the navel, s
■ ides are contained in the
' . 'id the int ual aperture.
t ■ ‘
•xe?-. The first ■■■ > c-
the author h.. < t
. ioh Frahkfort, 16 l .
//of oTgane$t fol. FranL lh
f 'Anatoinip Jjw; . }* par
Mv ;c v? Grand Hospice dhluic initf
\o touiie et d< Ph opie. T<
tome v. ■ .;r PhiHh^Jos* Roux, Prof <
h he of t author u . rupu . .
: ou of ■; - ■-o', in t!' i ,iddi« of • c
frst irt is or i.- 1 Ip- iiat;"dihe tS
' ’ ‘ i ‘ : 1 - " 1 :
r oitute ilu. most ua ;r,
system yet ext - at; and the strongt t proui w
Hf i that its desc pi've pertio i has be.vn v» •
copied in the work of Cloquet.
■ * Court dAmton s fecKcak, on Elem* '
torn/: ik lHoi >nc, avec drs Tiemarques Pkqsiok
‘ t a Natirre kc;i Makuii s, daprits rOiu rtio> h t
par Antoine Portal, Prof, de . It . »Cc. kc. i ••
t oes duo. \ complete and accurate work.
*' -O/VAS <-• /" -h '.tor).’ A • . :<-Y '
5. HandJb ch derMenschlichcnA r utomie, von J. 1
I nd i. i. ud i i. Halle uod Berlin, 1815. This i
tram ■ ted nto IVench by 'iC Jourdan and Bros.
6. Traik i ■•■ttomie Der.cnpliw, T&fye d'aprf-
Cloqio i ’octeur en Medicine, &c." This is a \ »
y to ©f dei- riptive anatomy. In arrangement,
(. t >'>!;o«s tiif of Bichat and in deserr . a u
( >arf he ■ -
-i . . ■■ hi ■ ; -i’s
. • . ■ ’ :,i'. ; '■ - ’-h! da ..a.:.- a re
liiis been avowed.; for H depi res Bichat of muc
nc . unques ic ai d gives an unfa--
impression oi . candour tv M. Cloquet. In th=
of the second, on the vascular system, and the
?.‘t i vy of the h isrnan
A • tUci tOO
: c - d in the
;y
hot! , I ■ ■
.■ 1. --- imiif
s -ioei ii ire- rHer to the foienvc ,
: ; ab ip.-- - :n . ; U* - < e -
i d for . v. De Angie ■ < l -;0O.
- ; - n<- i' .rticulariv fist-
nr- h -ie-. tness, precision. oA
to. It wants’the ana to;'.-
respira'or- and dig stion, the author has avail*-!-
of the materials of Soemmering.
7. Elements of the Anatom:! of th< J !man Z' ■
sorndstet te -it occasional r* narks on Ehysii/Iogg,
logy, and A rgeryA&y A :x oder Monro, h.; I .
Edinburgh, 1825.
On the subject of General Anat wy, and sever-
on the anatomical d ions and peculkodti; . of • - i
we here beg to r.in general to a work ah ■ .
8. Elements of ( r-.ral and Ityholoyit iAnei
to the present u f: ■ mdedge m iiiOt ■ ■.< ■ ! -
( ralgie, M. D. Edinburgh, 1828.
The er . ngs v. ,th jvhich the foregoing an ’.
•«x; • . , m the course of description. -
' y to dtl i ha fig. 1 and 2 of Plate X XX., fro;
a. a iv. ided to show the important part *,
urfkdieor ; sprain; fig. 3, from the same, th
mi R i einternal arrangenieic c the fc. .. u
tiin-m. i'_ -r-.r uf the pnenmognstrie and dym} : - wpoj
" ; i and nervtH; Pfati XX \! i . fjori -|
if ■ -re.-j a t ...'ieral vk of : n •;«
^V0m, ii
PLATE l
Fig. 11.
B
Fixj. 10.
Fig. 13.
Fig. 12.
Eruf^ bv cLA ikrrum Jjiiin V
AEROSTATION
PLATE U.
MONTGOLFIER'S BALLOON.
BLANCHARD’S BALLOON.
0.08716
0,17363
0.2388?
0.34202
0.37338
0.64279
0.70711
0.76604
0.81913
0.8660
0.93969
0.96393
0.93481 1
0.99619
Eng £ by GAikmanJ^.clin?
GARUTCHlir's PARACHUTE
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GARNERIN’S PARACHUTE
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CHARLES * ROBERTS'BALLOON.
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PLATE V.
PLATE VI.
AGRICULTURE
FIN LAYS OX’S PATKNT SLIY-CLKANINO PLOUGH.
 '
p-—
AGRICULTURE
PLATE VII
ROLLER
TURNIP DRILL
M!' MORTON’S UNIVERSAL DRIIX, PLOUGH AND HARROW
///.
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AGRICULTURE
PLATE 1/1/.
M® SMITH’S REAPING MACHINE .
Fit). 2.
nr.
Q
Drawn <tE7w thy
AGRICULTURE
THRASHING MILLS.
PLATE IX.
‘
.
ELK NATION or a MILL for CRUSHING BONES FOB. MANURE
1
MACHINE for GRINDING POTATOE FLOUR
 i
POTATOE SCOOP
MACHINE for LEVELLING
UNEVEN LAND
J-Fareu, Delt
agriculture.
PLATE JT.
AGRICULTURE.
PLATE XI.
Poultry. Calf-Houses &c
  - ' '^3
SOtTTM
60 FEET.
Cart
Shed
4-0 Feet
Eruilty GLEiXman.
AGRICULTURE.
PLATE AV.
big. 1.
Cattle
«, STJtJW YAJtTO
40 Feet
24 Feet
I House
16 Feet
PERSPECTIVE "VTEW OF FARM OFFICES.
Fig .3
tig.2.
ELEVATIP/ST
GROUND PLAN
Bai
Fig. 3
3 O Feet by
23 Feet
STACK YARD
STACK YARD
jsroR TH
\sAblV Ac Feet
i i tti r
Tui’n ip
Bam
'e-eging 6S j
Straw House
30 Feet
Feet
Stable
20 Feet
Fig. 4-
'
PLATE XII.
PLATE Mil.
AGRICULTURE
*
• I
PLATE Xm.
XTV.
PLATE XIV
plate .n:
Argyleslrire Bull.
Black: faced Ra.m .
? J77.
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AGRICULTURE
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