} IAR R OW \S 3) 1 CTI ONAKY 
 OF 
 
 FACTS KNh KNOWLEDGE 
 
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HEWKE. 
 
 1830 . 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2017 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/populardictionarOOphil 
 
A 
 
 POPULAR 
 
 DICTIONARY 
 
 OF 
 
 FACTS AND KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 FOR THE USE OF 
 
 SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS, 
 
 WITH SEVERAL HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS IN WOOD . 
 
 BY THE REV. S. BARROW, 
 
 Author of Questions on the Old and New Testament , of the 
 School Bible , Sermons for Schools, Sfc. Sfc. 
 
 9 
 
 “ At present the entire circle of our juvenile Education is confined to words, 
 while all the knowledge useful in real life, and all manner of facts, for the treasuring 
 of which the youthful mind is so well adapted, have to be learnt after our nominal 
 education has been finished.” — Melmoth. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR POOLE AND EDWARDS, 
 
 (successors to scatcherd and letterman,) 
 
 12, AVE MARIA LANE. 
 
 1827. 
 
 Price 4s. Bound. 
 
- : 
 
 
 
 . 70 '.- • / 
 
 0 
 
 - 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 D. Sidnby, Printer, 
 
 Northumberland Street, Strands 
 
 • ■ \ 
 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Motto contains the sentiment of a preface to the volume 
 now presented to public approbation. If facts have not been 
 infused into the minds of Children, it was because there were, 
 till lately, but few books of Facts which were adapted in bulk 
 and price to the use of schools. Tutors cannot teach without 
 the aid of suitable books, more than artizans can produce works 
 of art without well* contrived tools 5 and price and bulk are fea- 
 tures of books for general instruction almost as important as the 
 subject matter itself. This Dictionary *will, therefore, be 
 found to unite all those desirable points of information and 
 accuracy, and of size and price, which will render it a treasure 
 in every school-room, and every place of study. Those several 
 objects were steadily in the view of the Author, and he hopes 
 he has succeeded in attaining them. 
 
 Of course, every Dictionary increases in the fulness of its 
 information with its size, and though verbal compression has 
 been much studied in this work, and every page is rich in 
 facts, yet, the Author is forced to yield the palm to his elder 
 brethren, from Watkins’s Portable Cyclopedia in a sixteen 
 shilling volume, up to Rees’s, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, 
 in thirty or forty quartos. His leading object, however, was to 
 produce a small volume at such a price as could be afforded in 
 schools, and if at a scholar’s price, he has published a useful 
 book, his design has been accomplished. 
 
iv 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The letter press, itself, might have been printed within even 
 less compass, but for the appendage of the engravings ; yet 
 the Author thought these essential to the popularity of the 
 plan, and he flatters himself that in this opinion the public will 
 agree with him. For their various merit and pretensions he 
 will offer no apology, because uniform perfection in human 
 works cannot be attained. 
 
 In regard to the substance of the volume, though, with 
 reference to large Dictionaries of Knowledge, it is like a land- 
 scape viewed through the wrong end of a telescope, yet it is 
 not abridged from any former w ork, and has been originally 
 written throughout, a circumstance which has, perhaps, 
 attended no other Dictionary for the last two hundred years j 
 for so much important information on every subject could not 
 otherwise have been compressed withiu the compass of so 
 small a volume. 
 
 Some errors must unavoidably have occurred in the printing, 
 all which may be corrected in future editions ; and with a 
 view to confer on the entire work every requisite perfection, so 
 as to render it worthy of the favour and preference of every 
 person engaged in the education of both sexes, the Author 
 earnestly invites the suggestions of intelligent teachers, address- 
 ed, as early as convenient, to the care of his publishers. 
 
 As this Dictionary includes all w'ords that require explana- 
 tion, and other words in a living language are not otherwise 
 important to natives than with regard to their true orthogra- 
 phy and pronunciation, the Author has, also, arranged a 
 cheap Pronouncing and Spelling Dictionary of all the 
 words in the English language, and he will speedily have the 
 pleasure of submitting this work to the scholastic world at the 
 low price of Eighteen-pence. 
 
A 
 
 DICTIONARY 
 
 OF 
 
 FACTS AND KNOWLEDGE, 
 
 ABE 
 
 \ BBATIS, trees felled and laid to de- 
 fend soldiery stationed behind them. 
 
 ABBEY, a cathedral church, or an edi- 
 fice occupied by religious persons, seclu- 
 ded under a superior, of which there werj 
 193 in England, before the reformation. 
 
 ABBOT, the superior of a monastery, 
 or abbey, for men ; called an Abbess, 
 when the establishment is appropriated to 
 women. 
 
 ABCISSA, the part of the diameter of 
 a curve, intercepted between the vertex 
 and the point where falls any perpendicu- 
 lar, or ordinate, or semi-ordinate to that 
 diameter. 
 
 ABDOMEN, the part of the body usu- 
 ally called the belly. 
 
 ABDOM INALES, the fourth order of 
 fishes, which have the ventral fin placed 
 behind the pectoral fin, in the belly; 
 as salmon, trout, herrings, gold fish, 
 carp, sprats, &c. 
 
 ABDUCTION, the crime of stealing 
 a man, woman, or child. 
 
 ABE RDEEN, an ancient city, and seat 
 of a distinguished university, in Scotland. 
 
 ABERRATION, an optical effect in 
 viewing the heavenly bodies. Light is a 
 certain time in passing from one star or 
 planet to another, during which the bo- 
 dies are moving, so that their real place 
 at the moment of observation, is not 
 their exact visible one. Thus the velocity 
 of light is 8' 8" in passing from the sun 
 to the earth, during which the earth 
 moves 20", which is the sun’s aberration. 
 
 ABS 
 
 ABLUTION, a ceremony of many re- 
 ligions ; still practised by theTurks, and 
 particularly by the Hindoos. 
 
 ABORIGINES, the earliest inhabi- 
 tants of a country. 
 
 ABRAHAM, a Jewish patriarch, who 
 flourished between the 18tli and 20th cen- 
 turies, B. C. 
 
 ABRIDGMENT, collecting in a small 
 compass the chief parts of a book. 
 
 ABSCESS, an inflammatory tumour, 
 filled with purulent matter. 
 
 ABSORBENT, a substance which im- 
 bibes moisture ; also, that which causes 
 acids to effervesce ; as quick-lime, soda, 
 and potass. 
 
 ABSORPTION OF THE EARTH, a 
 phrase applied to the swallowing up of 
 mountains and portions of land. The 
 B 
 
ACC 
 
 earth beneath the surface, has, doubtless, 
 many large caverns, which giving way, 
 from time to time, the upper parts are 
 absorbed. Ancient history records seve- 
 ral cases, and modern history some in 
 China, France, and Switzerland. 
 
 ABSTINENCE, spare or parsimoni- 
 ous diet, tending to increase longevity, of 
 which there are many instances. Ser- 
 pents live long without food, as do ani- 
 mals which sleep through the winter. 
 
 ABYSS, an unfathomed gulf, or part 
 of the ocean, but not bottomless, as is 
 vulgarly supposed. 
 
 ABYSSINIA, an extensive kingdom 
 in Africa, which, among other peculiari- 
 ties, contains cattle remarkable for the 
 size of their horns, as represented in the 
 engraving ; some of which are four feet 
 long, seven inches in diameter, near the 
 head, and hold ten quarts. 
 
 ACACIA, a fine shrub, a species of 
 mimosa. 
 
 « ACADEMY, the name of a college of 
 philosophy near Athens, and since be- 
 come a general name for societies and se- 
 minaries of learning. The first academy 
 of science, in modern times, was esta- 
 blished at Naples, by Baptista Porta, in 
 1560 ; and the Royal Academy of France, 
 in 1666. There are also Royal Academies 
 at Berlin, Petersburg, Stockholm, and 
 Copenhagen ; and in London we have the 
 Royal Academy of the Fine Arts, the 
 Royal Academy of Music, and the 
 Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. 
 
 ACCENT, the peculiar distinctive 
 action of speech, giving due force to 
 words. Also the stress on a certain syl- 
 lable, and the sign (') thereof ; also the 
 remarkable sound noticed when a native 
 or foreigner pronounces any word. 
 
 ACCELERATION, motion added to 
 motion, in consequence of the continu- 
 
 ACT 
 
 ance of force, whatever that force be. It is 
 commonly limited to falling bodies, but 
 it applies equally to atoms, and in them 
 produces many remarkable phenomena. 
 
 ACCEPTANCE, the acknowledgment 
 of a bill of exchange made in writing. 
 
 ACCESSORY, a participator in a fe- 
 lonious offence or act. 
 
 ACCIDENT, the peculiar and not 
 essential circumstances of a thing. 
 
 ACCIDENCE, a display of the varia- 
 tions of words according to their govern- 
 ment or sense. 
 
 ACCIPITRES, the first order of birds, 
 including four genera of birds of prey, 
 who have hooked bills, strong legs, and 
 sharp claws. These are vultures, fal- 
 cons, owls, and butcher birds. 
 
 ACCOMPANIMENT, something add- 
 ed to relieve a principal thing. 
 
 ACCOUNTANT, a person employed 
 to compute, adjust, and range in due 
 order, accounts in commerce. 
 
 ACCOUTREMENTS, the necessaries 
 of a soldier, as puffs, belts, pouches, car- 
 tridge-boxes, &c. 
 
 ACHROMATIC, want of colour; ap- 
 plied to telescopes, contrived to remedy 
 the abberrations of colour. 
 
 ACID, a compound of oxygen, and a 
 combustible substance or base. The 
 word was synonymous with sour, and 
 so applied to substances distinguished 
 by that taste; but is now applied to all 
 which will combine with alkalies and 
 oxides, so as to form compound salts. 
 
 ACORN, the fruit of the oak, for- 
 merly used instead of bread, and some- 
 times as a substitute; now used to fatten 
 hogs and poultry. 
 
 ACOUSTICS, the science which 
 teaches the physical laws and phenomena 
 of sounds and hearing. 
 
 ACRE, a port-town of Syria, famous 
 for several destructive sieges. 
 
 ACRE, four square roods, or 160 
 square poles, of 5$ yards, or 4840 square 
 yards. The French acre is to the Eng- 
 lish, as 54 to 43 ; and the Irish acre is 1* 
 English. 
 
 ACROSTIC, a short poem, whose 
 successive lines commence with the suc- 
 cessive letters, in a word or words given. 
 
 ACTION, the transfer of the motion 
 of one body to another ; the quantity of 
 motion parted with, being called the re- 
 action, and the receiver, the re-actor. 
 Thus, if a ball is moving at the rate of 
 ten feet per second, and after striking 
 against a second ball it moves but five 
 feet, and the second ball five feet, then 
 
ADM 
 
 the action is in the first ball, and the re- 
 action in the second; one is the actor, or 
 agent, the other the re-actor, or patient. 
 
 ACTS OF PARLIAMENT, laws made 
 by the two houses of the British legisla- 
 ture, and assented to by the king. 
 
 ACTUARY, the chief clerk, or per- 
 son, who compiles minutes of the pro- 
 ceedings of a company in business. 
 
 ACUMEN, mental sharpness, or great 
 intellectual talent. 
 
 ACUPUNCTURATION, an oriental 
 practice of puncturing diseased parts 
 of the body with fine needles, by which 
 the morbid galvanic action of the parts 
 isrestored, and painful disorders removed. 
 
 ADAGIO, a degree quicker than grave 
 time, in music, but with graceful and 
 elegant execution. 
 
 ADDER, the large-headed poisonous 
 serpent of Britain, and of a brown 
 colour : the light spotted snakes being 
 harmless. The best remedy is sweet oil. 
 
 ADDITION, that rule in arithmetic 
 which directs the connecting into a total 
 sum several small ones. When the num- 
 ber has only one kind of figures, it is 
 called simple addition ; when it has two 
 or several denominations, it is compound. 
 
 ADHESION (or Cohesion), the phe- 
 nomenon by which the particles of bo- 
 dies continue together; and without 
 which they would resolve into their pri- 
 mary component atoms. Adhesion de- 
 notes union to a certain point between 
 two bodies, and Cohesion retains together 
 the component particles of the same mass. 
 Both arise from accordance of forms. 
 
 AD INFINITUM, to infinity. 
 
 ADIT OF A MINE, the aperture 
 whereby it is entered, and the water and 
 ores carried away; it is distinguished 
 from the air-shaft, and usually made on 
 the side of a hill. 
 
 ADJECTIVE, the class of words em- 
 ployed to denote qualities of nouns. 
 
 ADJUTANT, an officer who assists 
 the major of a regiment. 
 
 ADJUTANT-GENERAL, an officer 
 of distinction, who assists the general, 
 by forming the several details of duty of 
 the army with the brigade majors. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION, power to enjoy 
 the property of a deceased person ; also 
 the executive government of a country. 
 
 ADMIRAL, the commander of a fleet 
 of ships of war ; having two subordi- 
 nate classes, as vice-admiral and rear 
 admiral; and distinguished into three 
 classes, by the colour of their flags, as 
 white, blue, and red. 
 
 3 
 
 AFF 
 
 ADONAI, the name by which the 
 Jews speak of Jehovah. 
 
 ADONIS, a beautiful youth with 
 whom, according to the heathen mytho- 
 logists, Venus, Proserpine, and Diana, 
 being in love, Jupiter turned him into an 
 anemone, to the grief of Venus. 
 
 ADORATION, in religion, performed 
 by kissing the hand, the feet, kneeling, 
 walking barefoot, kissing the ground, 
 the toe, &c. 
 
 ADRIATIC, a narrow sea which se- 
 parates Italy from Greece. 
 
 ADULT SCHOOLS, establishments 
 formed in Wales and Scotland, in 1811, 
 for teaching grown persons to read. 
 
 ADULTERATION, a crime of enor- 
 mous magnitude, practised by some 
 brewers, vintners, grocers, bakers, 
 to increase their profits. 
 
 ADVENT, the particular season no- 
 ticed by the church, to commemorate 
 the coming of Christ. 
 
 ADVERB, the class of words em- 
 ployed to denote qualities of actions, and 
 \ aried modes of operation. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT, a notice paid 
 for in the newspapers, on which a duty 
 exists of 3s. 6d. and the profit, which 
 averages about 5s. is the chief advantage 
 of the proprietors. 
 
 ADVOCATE, one who pleads for a 
 fee in a court of law, and in England 
 called a barrister or counsellor. 
 
 ADVOWSON, the right of presenta- 
 tion to a vacant church living, or benefice. 
 
 iEDILE, a Roman magistrate, who 
 had the care of certain buildings, the 
 markets, roads, and streets. 
 
 iENEID, the title of Virgil’s epic 
 poem, in which he celebrates the adven- 
 tures of Aeneas, as founder of Rome. 
 
 AEOLIAN HARP, an arrangement of 
 strings placed in a window and played 
 upon by the wind. 
 
 AEOLIPILE, ahollowmetal ball, with 
 a slender pipe; whence issues a blast, after 
 the vessel, filled with water, is heated. 
 
 AEROLITES, stones which fall in a 
 state of combustion from the atmosphere, 
 supposed to be generated in space, and 
 encountered by the earth in its orbit. 
 Many instances, in ancient and modern 
 times, are recorded of their fall. 
 
 AEROSTATION, the art of naviga- 
 ting the air, by employing air balloons, 
 or silken globes, filled with gas lighter 
 than atmospheric air. 
 
 AFFETTUOSO, part of a musical 
 composition, to be played or sung with 
 tender expression. 
 
AIR 
 
 AGR 
 
 AFFIDAVIT, a declaration of facts, 
 written and given on the faith of a per- 
 son’s oath. 
 
 AFFINITV, a word expressive of the 
 phenomena of union in chemical com- 
 binations, supposed to arise from simi- 
 larity of form in the atoms concerned, 
 assisted by the elastic pressure of the air. 
 Thus, there will be no affinity between 
 cubical and spherical atoms ; but a strong 
 affinity between all plane-sided atoms. 
 
 AFFIRMATION, the name of the 
 pledge of veracity, given by a Quaker on 
 refusing to take an oath in the usual form. 
 
 AFRICA, one of the quarters of the 
 world, crossed about its centre by the 
 equator, and lying chiefly between the 
 tropics, therefore extremely hot, and in- 
 habited by men either discoloured by the 
 sun, or entirely black. Large portions 
 of it consist of sandy deserts, and only 
 the northern coasts and the southern 
 promontory are well adapted to the en- 
 joyment of human life. It is 4000 miles 
 long, and 3000 broad, and the only coun- 
 try of note which it contains is Egypt. 
 
 rious substances, as chalcedony, corne- 
 lian, jasper, hornstone, quartz, &c. 
 
 AGENT, a person empowered to act 
 for another ; his employer being bound 
 by his actions. 
 
 AGENT, in philosophy, that which 
 acts or which causes phenomena by its 
 motion. 
 
 AGGREGATE, the48th Linnsean or- 
 der of plants, having compound flow- 
 ers, with separate anthers. 
 
 AGIO, the difference between bank 
 notes and sterling coin. 
 
 AGRICULTURE, a pursuit which 
 comprehends all the arts and sciences, by 
 which man cultivates the earth with the 
 4 
 
 greatest advantage. It is divided into 
 arable, or grain cultivation ; and pasture, 
 or the feeding of cattle. 
 
 AGUE, a disease with intermittent 
 fits of hot and cold. 
 
 AILANTHUS, a Chinese tree with a 
 straight trunk, forty or fifty feet high. 
 
 AIR, the fluid medium, or gas, which 
 constitutes the atmosphere. It is to be 
 considered as a condensation of a rarer 
 medium, that fills space, which conden- 
 sation is produced by the action of the 
 moving earth ; the force downward being 
 reflected by the earth’s surface, the ac- 
 tion or weight is consequently equal to 
 the re-action or elasticity, and both are 
 measured by the barometer. The com- 
 paratively small number of atoms by 
 which a space is as much filled with air 
 or gas, as with solid gold, arises from the 
 circumstance, that the excited atoms of 
 gas drive each other into circular orbits, 
 larger or smaller, in proportion to the 
 excitement. The gas of the air consists 
 of four parts of nitrogen or azote, and 
 one of oxygen. 
 
 AIR, in music, any melody whose pas- 
 sages lie within the province of vocal ex- 
 pression, which, when sung or played, 
 form the connected sounds we call tune. 
 
 AIR-PUMP, a machine which ope- 
 rates on the air just as a common pump 
 operates on water *, and by means of 
 which a considerable portion of the air 
 under a glass receiver may be extracted, 
 and a number of amusing and instructive 
 experiments performed, by which the 
 uses of atmospheric air are discovered, 
 and many phenomena shewn to arise 
 from its action and re-action. 
 
 AIR-GUN, an instrument by which 
 air, after it is condensed into an enclosed 
 cavity, like the ball near the trigger, 
 
ALC 
 
 may be let out in sufficient quantity to 
 discharge a bullet through the barrel of 
 the gun, with great force. Air may be 
 condensed into ten or fifty times smaller 
 space; its elastic force being thus ren- 
 dered equal to gunpowder, which itself 
 is merely concentrated air set at liberty 
 by heat. Steam confined in the like 
 manner is a less convenient variety of 
 the same power. 
 
 AIR-SHAFTS, in mining, holes or 
 shafts let down from the open air, to dis- 
 charge the foul air or gases. 
 
 A I R-V E S S E L S , certain canals or ducts 
 inthetrunks, stems, and leavesof plants, 
 which promote circulation, and chemical 
 changes of substance. 
 
 ALABASTER, a well-known sulphate 
 of lime, forming a soft, granular, imper- 
 fectly transparent, marble ; used for or- 
 naments in houses, and by statuaries. 
 
 ALBATROSS, a large and voracious 
 bird, which inhabits many countries be- 
 tween the tropics. 
 
 ALBINOS, a white negro race, with 
 flaxen air, blue rolling eyes/and a pale 
 livid whiteness. 
 
 ALBUMEN, a white or transparent 
 viscous fluid, without taste or smell, 
 which is the substance of the nerves ; the 
 serous part of the blood ; and the white 
 of eggs, and of milk. 
 
 ALBURNUM, the soft white substance 
 between the inner bark and the wood of 
 shrubs and trees. 
 
 ALCHEMY, the original name of che- 
 mistry ; but owing to the alchemists pre- 
 tending to transmute base into precious 
 metals, the name of their science fell into 
 disrepute. 
 
 ALCOHOL, or Spirit, a result of che- 
 mical decomposition, previously to which 
 the spirit was masked by combinations. 
 In a vegetable fluid an excitement is 
 caused by introducing a fermenting sub- 
 stance, and carbonic acid gas, or fixed 
 air, is separated from the mass, from 
 which, if excited by heat, the lighter gas, 
 called hydrogen, mingled with carbon , 
 rises, and being re-condensed by passing 
 through a worm placed in cold water, it 
 falls down as spirit or alcohol. The ob- 
 ject is to produce the greatest quantity of 
 fixed hydrogen with the smallest quan- 
 tity of carbon. Its weight is £ of water. 
 
 ALCORAN, or the Koran, the name 
 of the volume containing the revelations, 
 doctrines, and precepts, of Mahomet, in 
 which his followers place implicit confi- 
 dence, similar to that which Christians 
 possess in the New Testament. 
 
 A LI 
 
 ALDERMAN, a magistrate next in 
 authority to the mayor, in a city or bo- 
 rough. 
 
 ALE, a pleasant common liquor, 
 brewed by pouring hot water upon malt ; 
 this is strained off’, and again boiled with 
 hops ; which liquor is then fermented 
 with yeast, and stowed in vats or casks. 
 Porter is made from high-dried malt. 
 
 ALEXANDRINE, a verse in epic poe- 
 try, formed of six dissyllabic feet. 
 
 The reign | for ev | er lasts, | thy 
 own | Messi j ah reigns. 
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT, born 850, 
 died 900, A. D. 
 
 ALG.E, the 57th Linnaean natural or- 
 der of plants, containing flags, sea- 
 weeds, and other marine plants, whose 
 root, leaf, and stem, are one. 
 
 ALGEBRA, a species of abstract'arith- 
 metic, in which any letters are put for 
 any numbers, and any desired operations 
 performed in a short and simple manner. 
 The first letters of the alphabet are ge- 
 nerally adopted for known quantities, 
 and the last for unknown, and the ope- 
 rations are performed by characters, as 
 -}- for addition ; — for subtraction, 
 x for multiplication ; and -4- for divi- 
 sion ; with = for equality. By means 
 of these characters the letters are so 
 combined and transposed, as to produce 
 results which could not be obtained by 
 common arithmetic, or without immense 
 trouble. It is a very pleasing art, and a 
 key to all mathematical knowledge. 
 
 ALIBI, proof of a person being in ano- 
 ther place than that in which, at a speci- 
 fied time, he is charged with having per- 
 petrated a crime. 
 
 ALICOND A-TREE, anativeof Congo, 
 on the Coast of Africa, and supposed to 
 be the largest tree that grows. It bears 
 a melon-like fruit, which affords pulpy 
 nutritious food, and the bark yields a 
 coarse thread, with which the Africans 
 weave a kind of cloth. 
 
 ALIEN, the condition of a foreigner, 
 without allegiance to the king ; opposed 
 to a denizen, one of foreign birth but 
 naturalized ; and to a free born member 
 of the community. 
 
 ALIMONY, the sum allowed for a 
 wife’s sustenance, vrhen separated from 
 her husband. 
 
 ALIQUANT PARTS, numbers which 
 will not divide or measure a whole num- 
 ber exactly. Thus, seven is an aliquant 
 bart of 16. 
 
 ALIQUOT PARTS, numbers which 
 will divide and measure a whole number 
 b 2 
 
ALL 
 
 exactly, without any remainder. For 
 instance, two is an aliquot part of four, 
 three of nine, and four of 16. 
 
 ALKALI, or Kali, sometimes called 
 natron, or nitre, a very important salt in 
 soap and glass-making, of which potash 
 and soda are called fixed alkalis, and am- 
 monia, volatile alkali. 
 
 ALLAH, the Arabic name of God. 
 
 ALL SAINTS, a day in the calendar, 
 fixed upon by the Romish clergy, to cele- 
 brate the too numerous saints for parti- 
 cular days. It is on the 1st of Novem- 
 ber, and on the 2d is a similar comme- 
 moration for All Souls. 
 
 ALLEGHANY MOUNTAINS, a very 
 extensive range of hills in North Ame- 
 rica, between the Atlantic Ocean, the 
 Mississippi river, and the Lakes. 
 
 ALLLEUIAH, the Hebrew for praise 
 the Lord. 
 
 ALLEGIANCE, the duty of subjec- 
 tion to law, under which subjects lay 
 themselves in establishing their protec- 
 tion under the law. 
 
 ALLEGORY, a series of metaphors, 
 continued through a whole discourse. 
 Thus the prophet represents the Jews 
 under the allegory of a vine, planted, cul- 
 tivated, and watered by the hand of God. 
 
 ALLEGRO, in music, denotes the part 
 to be played in a sprightly, brisk, lively, 
 and gay manner, swifter in triple than in 
 common time. 
 
 ALLIGATOR, an amphibious animal, 
 which grows to the length of 18 feet, and 
 abounds in the torrid zone, in the fresh 
 and salt parts of rivers, on the banks of 
 which it watches for its prey ; seizing up- 
 on men, dogs, cattle, and other animals. 
 
 ALLIGATION ALTERNATE, so 
 mixes goods, of different prices, that the 
 mixture may be sold for any price pro- 
 posed. 
 
 ALM 
 
 ALLIGATION MEDIAL, shows the 
 rate or price of any mixture, when its se- 
 veral quantitiesand their rates areknown. 
 
 ALLITERATION, employing a suc- 
 cession of words, commencing with the 
 same letter. 
 
 ALLODIO, aterm applied to property, 
 held in a man’s own right. 
 
 ALLOY, a mixtureof different metals. 
 
 ALLSPICE, OR PIMENTO TREE, 
 a native of Mexico and the W est Indies. 
 The flavour and fruit have an highly aro- 
 matic fragrance, and the tree is about 30 
 feet in height, and two in circumference. 
 
 ALLUVIAL, the term applied to the 
 soil and parts of the earth’s surface, 
 which have been brought together or de- 
 posited by water; and applicable to 
 nearly the whole of the surface, because 
 every part is constantly subject to the 
 action of rain and water. 
 
 ALLUVION, the gradual increase of 
 land on the sea-shore, or banks of rivers. 
 
 ALMANAC, a register of the days 
 of the year; but as the first almanac 
 makers were astrologers, they introduced 
 the follies and superstitions of astrology, 
 and many almanacs, even to this day, 
 continue to be disgraced by them. 
 
 ALMOND, the kernel of a peach, 
 which grows in great abundance in the 
 southern parts of Europe. It contains 
 so much oil, that it yields one third 
 its weight. 
 
 ALMONER, the officer of a prince, 
 employed to disburse his gratuities and 
 alms. 
 
 6 
 
ALT 
 
 ALOES, a valuable and salutary me- 
 dicine, distinguished by its pungent bitter 
 flavour, and distilled from the leaves 
 of the aloe-tree. That which grows in 
 Socotora is used for the human constitu- 
 tion, and that which grows in Barbadoes 
 is used for horses. In the East the heart 
 of another species, called tambac, is a 
 perfume highly valued. 
 
 ALOE, AMERICAN, a plant which, 
 when vigorous, rises upwards of twenty 
 feet high, and branches out on every 
 side, forming a kind of pyramid, of 
 greenish, yellow flowers, erect, and in 
 thick clusters at every joint. 
 
 ALPHA, the first letter of the Greek 
 alphabet. 
 
 ALPHABET, the most important in- 
 vention of man, ascribed to a Phoeni- 
 cian, by means of which, sounds are 
 represented, and language made visible 
 to the eye by a few simple characters. 
 Previous to this invention, pictures, 
 or hieroglyphics, were used to record 
 events ; and letters were, probably, a ge- 
 neralization of these. At this day, the 
 Chinese have no letters, but have 214 
 keys to classes of words, distinguished 
 by the number of strokes combined in 
 each. The English language has 26 let- 
 ters; the French 23; Hebrew 22; Greek 
 24; the Latin 22; the Arabic 28. The 
 figures used in arithmetic are an univer- 
 sal character, and many attempts have 
 been made by the learned, to introduce 
 an universal character into language, 
 but at present there are 200 or 300 va- 
 rious alphabets. 
 
 ALPS, the highest range of European 
 mountains, extending from 600 to 700 
 miles, dividing Italy from the rest of Eu- 
 rope, and constituting Switzerland. 
 
 ALTAR, a small erection, on which 
 superstitious persons presented sacrifices 
 7 
 
 ALT 
 
 to God, or their gods, under the silly no- 
 tion, that things valuable to them, 
 were also valuable to God ; a sentiment 
 in which they were encouraged by the 
 priests, who thereby obtained the articles 
 for their own use. 
 
 ALTERNATION, a rule in arithmetic 
 by which the changes in any number of 
 things may be determined. It consists 
 of multiplying the numbers one into 
 another, and the product is the number 
 of possible changes. 
 
 ALTIMETRY, the art of taking 
 heights by means of a quadrant, and 
 founded on the principle that the sides 
 of triangles having equal angles, are in 
 exact proportion to one another. When 
 the object is accessible, its height is con- 
 sidered as one of the sides of the triangle ; 
 but when it is inaccessible, then two ob- 
 servations are made in a right line, and 
 the distance measured between them is 
 the basis of the calculation. 
 
 ALTITUDE OF THE SUN, means 
 the number of degrees which the sun is 
 above the horizon, it being 90 degrees 
 from the horizon to the zenith, or point 
 over head ; and this is easily effected by 
 means of a quadrant, sextant, or octant. 
 
 ALTITUDES OF MOUNTAINS, 
 may be determined either by trigono- 
 metry, or by the barometer ; for as the 
 weight and elasticity of the atmosphere 
 diminishes as we rise, so the fall of the 
 barometer determines the elevation 
 of any place. On Mount Blanc, which 
 is 15,000 feet high, the barometer falls 
 to twelve inches, and in balloons it has 
 fallen still lower. 
 
 ALTO, notes to be played an octave 
 higher than they are written. 
 
 ALTO RELIEVO, sculpture which 
 rises slightly above the ground of the 
 
AME 
 
 AMM 
 
 piece ; and used in friezes, cornices, and 
 monuments. 
 
 ALUM, a mineral salt, and a triple sul- 
 phate of the earth alumina and potass. 
 
 ALUMINA, an earth which is the ba- 
 sis of clay, basalt, slate, &c. 
 
 A. M. artium magister, or Master of 
 Arts in an university, obtained after be- 
 ing seven years on the books : used in 
 Chronology for anno mundi, or the year 
 dated from the creation ; and in Astrono- 
 my used for ante meridiem, or before 
 noon. 
 
 AMALGAM, a mixture of quicksilver 
 and tin. copper, &c. used in electricity. 
 
 AMANUENSIS, a person who writes 
 what another has composed. 
 
 AMARANTH, a plant cultivated in 
 the Indies and South America, and famed 
 for the beauty with which the colours 
 are elegantly mixed in its leaves. 
 
 AMATEUR, a person fond of a parti- 
 cular art, yet not professing, nor de- 
 pendent thereon. 
 
 AMAZONS, a fabulous nation of wo- 
 men, whose supposed exploits were to- 
 pics for the poets. 
 
 AMAZONS, a river of South America, 
 and the largest in the world, being above 
 3000 miles in length, and 2 or 300 feet 
 deep, at 15,000 miles from its mouth. 
 
 AMBASSADOR, a person who, among 
 civilized nations, represents his own na- 
 tion, at the seat of government of ano- 
 ther nation. 
 
 AMBER, a vegetable resinous sub- 
 stance, remarkable for its electrical pow- 
 er when rubbed. 
 
 AMBERGRIS, a grey drug used as a 
 perfume and a cordial, found on the sea- 
 shore; its origin is uncertain. 
 
 AMBIGUITY, employment of words 
 so as to admit either of two applications. 
 
 AMBOYNA, one of the Moluccas, or 
 Spice islands, famous for its cloves. 
 
 AMEN, a conclusion to prayer, sig- 
 nifying, so be it. 
 
 AMENTACEvE, the 50th Linnasan na- 
 tural order of plants bearing catkins, as 
 the poplar, hazel, beech, birch, &c- 
 
 AMERCEMENT, pecuniary punish- 
 ment of an offender by fine. 
 
 AMERICA, NORTH, an immense 
 portion of land on the surface of the 
 earth, extending from the Tropic of Can- 
 cer to the North Pole, and 3000 miles 
 broad. It is chiefly inhabited by colo- 
 nies of Europeans, who reside in 21 states, 
 under one government, of which the ca- 
 pital is Washington, and the chief towns 
 Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Balti- 
 8 
 
 more, and Charlestown. There are also 
 British colonies, of which Halifax and 
 Quebec are the capitals. Its magnificent 
 rivers are the Mississippi, the St. Law- 
 rence, the Chesapeake, and the Dela- 
 ware. 
 
 AMERICA, SOUTH, a vast division 
 of the world crossed by the Equator, and 
 watered by the Amazons, the Orinoco, 
 and the La Plata, which derive their 
 sources from the Andes, the most exten- 
 sive mountains on the globe. These 
 countries have been colonized by Euro- 
 peans, chiefly Spanish and Portuguese, 
 who have recently established the in- 
 dependent republics of Mexico, Colom- 
 bia, Peru, Chili, and Buenos Ayres. 
 
 AMETHYST, a stone of secondary 
 value, so named from a weak supposi- 
 tion, that wearing it was an antidote to 
 stupor. It is a violet-blue quartz crystal. 
 
 AMIANTHUS, or mineral flax, found 
 in serpentine rocks, capable of being 
 wove into cloth, and incombustible. 
 
 AMMON, the name of one of the hea- 
 then gods, to whom a temple was built 
 
 SOUTH>*W 
 
 Peru, £ 
 
 X \! f—* 
 
 B AMERICA# 
 
ANA - ANA 
 
 on an Oasis, or fertile island, in the sandy 
 desert south-west of Alexandria, the 
 ruins of which have recently been visited 
 by travellers. 
 
 AMMONIA, an extremely volatile 
 spirit, which, like other spirits, arises 
 from hydrogen fixed in combination 
 with some substance, which in this case 
 is nitre or alkali ; and as animals contain 
 much nitrogen, so ammonia is a spirit of 
 hartshorn, or urine, or camels’ dung. Its 
 effect on the nervous system, in fainting- 
 fits, is well known. Its combinations 
 with other substances, owing to its ac- 
 tivity, produce many curious compounds, 
 and enable chemists to amuse the vulgar. 
 
 AMMUNITION, all warlike stores, 
 and especially powder, ball, bombs, guns, 
 and all missiles and utensils for an army. 
 
 AMPHIBIA, animals which live 
 equally well in air or water, having cold 
 blood, and sleeping through the winter 
 season. They are remarkable for their 
 longevity, and for reproducing parts of 
 which they have been deprived. 
 
 AMPHISBCENA, a serpent which 
 moves with either end forward, a power 
 produced by an arrangement of 200 or 
 300 rings, through its length. It is per- 
 fectly harmless. 
 
 AMPHITHEATRE, a circular build- 
 ing erected by the ancients, consisting 
 of a central area for spectacles of various 
 kinds, with seats around for the specta- 
 tors, some of which, as the Coliseum at 
 Rome, were capable of containing from 
 50 to 80,000 spectators, who were bruta- 
 lized by contests between wild beasts, or 
 beasts and men as savage as themselves. 
 
 AMPLITUDE, a north or south arch 
 of the horizon, intercepted between the 
 east or west point; and the centre of 
 the sun, star, or planet, at its rising and 
 setting. 
 
 AMPUTATION, surgical ; cutting 
 off a limb, or part of the body. 
 
 AMSTERDAM, the splendid capital 
 of Holland, 9 miles round, and contain- 
 ing about 200,000 inhabitants. 
 
 AMULETS, stones or trifles worn by 
 superstitious and unenlightened persons, 
 as supposed preventives of disorders or 
 ill fortune, with which, as cause or 
 effect, they obviously have no connex- 
 ion. 
 
 ANA, amusing books which comprise 
 the facts and anecdotes connected with a 
 man or subject; such are the works 
 9 
 
 called Westminster Hall, Lambeth and 
 the Vatican , &c. 
 
 ANACHRONISM, an error in assign- 
 ing an event to a different time to that 
 in which it happened. 
 
 ANACREONTIC, poetic composition, 
 called the lesser ode, sweet, florid, and 
 peculiarly distinguished for softness and 
 tenderness. 
 
 ANAGRAM, a witty transposition of 
 the letters of a name. 
 
 ANALEMMA, an orthographical pro- 
 jection of the sphere on the plane of the 
 meridian at the solstice, the eye being 
 supposed at an infinite distance, in an 
 equinoctial point. 
 
 ANALOGY, an important process of 
 reasoning, by which we infer similar 
 effects and phenomena from similar 
 causes and events ; as, when an animal 
 who has tumbled into a pit and injured 
 himself, approaches another pit, he in- 
 fers, by analogy, that without care he 
 shall injure himself again. This same 
 principle constitutes all reasoning from 
 past experience, however complicated. 
 Many analogies are false, that is, simi- 
 larities are assumed or fancied, and then 
 false conclusions drawn. 
 
 ANALYSIS, the act of dividing an 
 entire thing or subject into its compo- 
 nent parts, and a contrary process to 
 Synthesis, which consists in uniting the 
 parts into a whole, 
 
 ANAMORPHOSIS, an amusing opti- 
 cal instrument, by which a reflected ob- 
 ject from a surface of one form is thrown 
 on a surface of another form, and there- 
 by distorted, but restored by replacing a 
 surface similar to the first. 
 
 ANAPEST, a poetic syllabic foot, of 
 two weak and one strong syllables : 
 
 “ But a wish | for to write | with the 
 speed | I indite, | will be cher- | ish’d 
 thro’ life’s | varied scene. 
 
 ANARCHY, a society without a chief ; 
 confusion and disorder in a state. 
 
 ANATHEMA, a religious curse, in- 
 vented by priests to terrify the ignorant. 
 
 ANATOMY, the art of dissecting a 
 body, and examining the parts of which 
 it is composed. It is generally applied 
 to the examination of animals, and it 
 has discovered the following circum- 
 stances of their structure. 1st. A system 
 of bones, displayed in the engraving, 
 which in the human subject amount to 
 240 ; 2d. of cartilages or gristles, which 
 unite the bones, and contribute to their 
 motion, assisted by ligaments, mem- 
 branes, and bundles of muscles, called 
 
ANA 
 
 flesh, all relating to the strength and 
 motion of the animal. Anatomy also 
 discovers nerves, or white threads, which 
 extend from the brain and the spinal 
 marrow through all the organs, and are 
 the means of sensation, and instruments 
 of the will. It appears, also, that the 
 body is sustained and warmed by means 
 of blood flowing from the heart through 
 the arteries, to every part of the body, 
 and brought back by veins. There is 
 also a stomach for digestion, and glands 
 for separating and assimilating the ele- 
 ment ; and intestines to carry off what 
 is not appropriated. The whole is a 
 wonderful system, and a most interest- 
 ing object of study. 
 
 1 The cranium. 
 
 2 The os frontis. 
 
 3 The orbits of the eyes. 
 
 4 The superior maxilla. 
 
 5 The inferior ditto. 
 
 6 The true ribs. 
 
 7 The false ribs. 
 
 8 The sternum. 
 
 9 The unciform cartilage. 
 
 10 The lumbar vertebrae. 
 
 11 The ilium. 
 
 12 The os pubis. 
 
 13 The os sacrum. 
 
 14 The symphysis pubis. 
 
 15 The femur. 
 
 10 The head of the femur. 
 
 17 The trochanter major. 
 
 18 The patella or knee pan. 
 
 19 The condyles of the femur. 
 
 20 The tibia. 
 
 21 The fibula. 
 
 22 The tarsus. 
 
 23 The metatarsus. 
 
 24 The foot. 
 
 25 The clavicle. 
 
 26 The scapula. 
 
 10 
 
 ANC 
 
 27 The humerus. 
 
 28 The radius. 
 
 29 Theulnus. 
 
 30 The carpus. 
 
 Below this lie the carpus and meta- 
 carpus. 
 
 ANCESTORS, or Forefathers, objects 
 of imitation, when they have distin- 
 guished themselves by wisdom or virtue, 
 and of personal rivalry when they have 
 not been so distinguished. Every one 
 should aim at being equal to the best 
 of his family, or at rendering himself 
 an example to his own posterity. 
 
 ANCESTRY, those from whom we 
 are descended, and who, owing to the 
 mixture of families, and to all parentage 
 being in pairs, consisted, in regard to 
 every individual, of the whole living 
 generation at a period sufficiently re- 
 mote; consequently, all men have com- 
 mon ancestry and common posterity. 
 
 ANCHOR, an instrument by means of 
 which ships are fixed to one place on the 
 water. It is made of iron, with a beam 
 of wood placed in an opposite direction 
 to that of the barbed iron flukes, so that 
 when the beam lies flat, a position which 
 it necessarily takes, the fluke points into 
 the ground and works deeper as the pull 
 increases. The weight of the heaviest 
 anchor is 96 cwt. 
 
 ANCHORETS, fanatics who, as an 
 assumed service to God, lived in caves, 
 and absurdly denied themselves the ne- 
 cessaries and comforts of life. 
 
 ANCHOVY, a small sea-fish, having 
 a peculiar flavour, and much used in 
 sauce. 
 
 ANCIENTS, a word commonly ap- 
 plied to persons and nations who flou- 
 rished before the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity, and specially applied to the 
 
ANG 
 
 ANI 
 
 Greeks, Romans, and their contempo- 
 raries. 
 
 ANDANTE, a musical performance 
 in a distinct, impressive, tender, and 
 gentle manner. 
 
 ANDES, a chain of mountains in 
 South America, above 4000 miles long, 
 of which Chimborazo is 21,000 feet high. 
 They contain 40 volcanoes, of which 
 Cotopaxi, near Quito, is one of the 
 highest and most destructive. See the 
 word Cotopaxi. 
 
 ANDREW, ST. the patron saint of 
 Scotland, supposed, like other national 
 saints, to have been instrumental in in- 
 troducing Christianity into that country. 
 
 ANDROMEDA, a small northern con- 
 stellation of 27 stars. 
 
 ANEMOMETER, an instrument va- 
 riously constructed, to measure the velo- 
 city of the wind ; as an anemoscope is one 
 to tell the changes of the wind. 
 
 ANEMONE, an eastern plant, now, by 
 cultivation, become a chief ornament to 
 the gardens of Britain in spring. 
 
 ANEURISM, the diseased swelling of 
 an artery. 
 
 ANGELS, personifications of the pow- 
 ers and virtues of the Deity, sometimes 
 used in a figurative, and at others in a li- 
 teral, sense. 
 
 ANGLE, the space which lies between 
 two lines which cross each other or meet 
 at a point. When they meet perpendi- 
 cularly, it is called a right angle, and is 90 
 degrees ; when less than a right angle, it 
 is called an acute angle ; and when larger 
 than a right angle, an obtuse angle ; and 
 when two circles cross each other, it is 
 called a spherical angle ; or two curves, a 
 trurvilinear angle ; and the angles made 
 by solids, are called solid angles. 
 
 ANGLICAN CHURCH, the establish- 
 ment of Christianity in England, when 
 the authority of the Pope was excluded 
 at the reformation, and the king of En- 
 gland declared the head of the church. 
 It consists of two archbishops, 24 bishops, 
 and about 20,000 clergy, under the 
 names of deacons, archdeacons, rectors, 
 vicars, and curates: and its faith is de- 
 veloped in the 39 articles, and in the 
 Church Catechism. This church de- 
 serves much praise for the rationality of 
 its doctrines, for the moderation and to- 
 lerance of its conduct, and for the exem- 
 plary character and superior learning of 
 the great majority of its ministers. 
 
 ANGLING, a treacherous and cruel 
 employment, chiefly practised by the idle 
 and unthinking. Dean Swift defines its 
 11 
 
 practice as “ a stick and a string, with a 
 fool at one end and a worm at the other.” 
 
 ANGLO SAXON, the name of the 
 people who flourished in England after 
 it was abandoned by the Romans, about 
 the year 400, who came from the German 
 coasts, and introduced their language, 
 government, and customs. 
 
 ANGORA CAT, a species of the felis 
 genus ; its form is given in the engra- 
 ving, but it is also remarkable as having 
 one eye blue and the other yellow. 
 
 ANIMA MUNDI, a phrase used by 
 superstitious philosophers, who ascribed 
 the fitness and harmony of things, and 
 the accordance of cause and effect, to a 
 peculiar soul of the world, different, at 
 the same time, from the first cause. 
 
 ANIMAL, a name which, initsgeneral 
 sense, is applied to all beings which move 
 about, but which is often restricted to 
 those who live on land. They possess 
 almost every possible variety of form, 
 and gradation of size and quality, with 
 senses and intellects, which are either 
 fitted, or are capable of fitting themselves 
 to their stations. They grow by assimi- 
 lating food, and derive their strength and 
 energy by inspiring the moving atoms of 
 the gaseous atmosphere, the motions of 
 which they receive and re-display in the 
 energy and motion of their muscular 
 parts. They consist, generally, of bones, 
 for strength, of muscles for motion, of 
 nerves for sensation, and of fluids for 
 distributing heat and food, within the 
 package of a skin, which evacuates su- 
 perfluities. 
 
 ANIMALCULE, animals so small as 
 not to be immediately perceptible to the 
 naked eye. Their origin is unknow n, for 
 they rise in substances which did not 
 
AM 
 
 Sea Flowers. 
 
 AM 
 
 previously contain them, and their num- 
 bers and varieties are infinite. Their 
 existence is generally, perhaps always, 
 preceded by that process of atoms, called 
 fermentation. Some have been disco- 
 vered, not the 10,000th part of an inch 
 long, so that a million of them might be 
 contained in a cubic inch, yet perfect in 
 their parts, and depending on air. 
 
 Vinegar Eels. 
 
 C. 
 
 Hay-tea Eels. 
 
 ANIMAL FLOWERS, sometimes cal- 
 led sea-nettles and sea-anemones, formed 
 by worms or polype, called mollusea, from 
 their softness, having no bones. 
 
 12 
 
 Drooping Vorticell. 
 
ANT 
 
 ANT 
 
 ANIMAL STRENGTH, the power or 
 re-aetion with which an animal acts with 
 his lower limbs against the ground. A 
 man can thus lift from four to five hun- 
 dred weight, and carry two hundred 
 weight. The strength of a horse is from 
 five to six times greater than that of man. 
 
 ANNO DOMINI, Latin words for in 
 the year of our Lord. 
 
 ANNOTTO, the pellicles of the seeds 
 of a foreign liliaceous shrub, pressed to- 
 gether, used to colour cheese. 
 
 ANNUITY, a yearly income; and as 
 the probability of the duration of life at 
 every age is known, so annuities may be 
 purchased for fixed sums during the life 
 of the party. 
 
 ANODYNE, a medicine employed to 
 assuage pain. 
 
 ANOMALY, any irregularity or pecu- 
 liar phenomena of motion. 
 
 ANSERES, the third order of birds, 
 web-footed, including swans, geese, &c. 
 
 ANT-EATER, a quadruped which 
 lives only on ants, in Guinea or Brazil. 
 
 ANTS, WHITE, inhabitants of East 
 India, Africa, and South America, far 
 exceeding in wisdom and policy, the bee, 
 the ant, or beaver. They build pyrami- 
 dal structures, divided into chambers, 
 magazines, &c. as represented in the an- 
 nexed engraving. These hills, or houses, 
 are so strong as to bear four men to stand 
 upon them, and in the plains of Senegal 
 they appear like villages. Their social 
 economy is of the most regular kind, 
 and large masses of them act as soldiers, 
 trained for offence and defence, and their 
 assault is so vigorous, that even men and 
 large quadrupeds, often become their 
 victims. 
 
 Nests of the Termites, or White Ants. 
 
 ANTECEDENT, a word or argument 
 that goes before. 
 
 ANTEDILUVIANS, inhabitants of 
 any tract of country before it was over- 
 whelmed by the sea. 
 
 ANTELOPE, an animal extremely 
 common in hot climates, remarkable for 
 swiftness and elegance ; and the roe of the 
 scriptures. They live in herds iivhilly 
 districts, on which they feed like goats. 
 
 ANTENNAS, the horns or feelers of 
 insects, by which they feel and see. 
 
 ANTHEM, a sacred composition, 
 sung in part of Christian worship. 
 
 ANTHER, that part of the stamen of 
 a flower which is at the top of the fila- 
 ment, opening and discharging the pol- 
 len when ripe 
 
 ANTHOLOGY, a collection of flow- 
 ers, or choice poems. 
 
 ANTHROPOPHAGI, or cannibals, 
 persons who eat the flesh of men as well as 
 animals. Whole nations have been ad- 
 C 
 
 13 
 
 *4 
 
APE 
 
 dieted to this practice, and it still pre- 
 vails in the South Seas. In some African 
 cities human flesh is exposed in the mar- 
 kets for sale, with that of animals, and is 
 regarded as a great delicacy. 
 
 ANTI-CLIMAX, when a writer or 
 speaker suddenly descends from the great 
 to the little. 
 
 ANTIDOTE, a dose to counteract the 
 effect of something injurious. 
 
 ANTIMONY, a whitish, brittle, and 
 very fusible, metal. 
 
 ANTIMONY, a metallic ore which in 
 its metallic state is called regulus of an- 
 timony ; it is of a silvery white colour, 
 very brittle, and of a plated or scaly 
 texture. 
 
 ANTINOMIANS, a sect who reject* 
 the moral law as a rule of conduct to be- 
 lievers, and hold it inconsistent for a be- 
 liever to pray for the forgiveness of sins. 
 
 ANTIOCH, a famous city of Syria, 
 called the Queen of the East, but now 
 much decayed. 
 
 ANTIPAROS, a small island in the 
 Mediterranean, famous for its large 
 grotto, 250 feet deep, and 300 broad. 
 
 ANTIPODES, persons who reside op- 
 posite each other on the globe, a phe- 
 nomenon which will excite no wonder, 
 when it is considered that the twofold 
 motions confer weight or a tendency to 
 fall to the centre on all sides, and of 
 course the sun and stars are above the 
 head every where. 
 
 ANTIQUARY, a person who studies 
 and searches after monuments and re- 
 mains of antiquity; and in England, we 
 have British, Roman, Saxon, and Nor- 
 man, antiquities, often highly curious. 
 
 ANTISEPTIC, substances which, 
 when combined with others, enable them 
 to resist putrefaction. 
 
 ANTITHESIS, designed employment 
 of words or sentences in opposition, to 
 exemplify their properties. There are 
 t two different degrees of curiosity : — the 
 one useful, the other ridifeulous. 
 
 ANVIL, a block of iron faced with 
 steel, made smooth at the top, and fixed in 
 a firm base, on which a smith works iron 
 after it has been rendered malleable in 
 his forge. 
 
 AORTA, (also arteria magtia,) a large 
 artery with a single trunk from the left 
 ventricle of the heart, above its valves, 
 to convey the mass of blood to all parts 
 of the body. 
 
 APE, the highest order of the class Si- 
 viia, or of four-handed animals, having 
 a separate thumb on each, capable of 
 14 
 
 APO 
 
 being opposed to the other Sngers. Their 
 hands, &c. nearly resemble those of men ; 
 they are destitute of tails, walk upright, 
 are mild and gentle, imitate human ac- 
 tions more closely, and are susceptible 
 of greater attainments, than any others 
 of the same tribe. 
 
 APERIENT, a medicine possessing 
 purgative power. 
 
 APHELION, that point of a planet’s 
 elliptical orbit, at which it is most distant 
 from the sun. 
 
 APHCERESIS, taking away a letter or 
 syllable from the beginning of a word. 
 
 APHTHA, the white spots in the 
 mouth of a babe, called thrush. 
 
 APHORISM, (or AXIOM,) a self-evi- 
 dent proposition or assertion. 
 
 APIS, one of the absurd deities of the 
 Egyptians, in the form of an ox. 
 
 APOCOPE, omission of a final letter 
 or syllable of a word. 
 
 APODES, the first order of fishes, 
 having no ventral fin, as eels. 
 
 APOGEE, that part of the elliptical 
 orbit of a planet in which it is farthest 
 from the sun 
 
 APOLLO, the god of music, poetry, 
 medicine, and the fine arts, in the hea- 
 then mythology, and the alleged son of 
 Jupiter and Latona, born in the island of 
 Delos, at the same birth with Diana. 
 Details of these absurd heathen gods, 
 are not otherwise valuable than with re- 
 ference to the understanding of the an- 
 cient poets. 
 
 APOLOGUE, a feigned relation, or 
 fable, to convey moral instruction. 
 
 APOPHTHEGM, ashort, sententious, 
 and instructive, remark. 
 
 APOPLEXY, a disorder of the brain, 
 which suddenly destroys all sensation. 
 
 APOSTATE, a person who quits the 
 faith of his connexions. 
 
 A POSTERIORI, a mode of reasoning 
 from the effect to the cause. 
 
AQU 
 
 APOSTLES, the twelve disciples of 
 Christ, who after his crucifixion preach- 
 ed the gospel. 
 
 APOSTROPHE, the mark (’) of con- 
 traction of a word ; also, in a speech, an 
 address on some other subject. 
 
 APOTHEOSIS, the deification of per- 
 sons after death, practised by the ancients, 
 and in the Popish church. 
 
 APANAGE, lands set apart by princes, 
 to support their younger children. 
 
 APPARATUS, a set of utensils for 
 studying art. 
 
 APPARITION, a term used for an ef- 
 fect by which the mind operates on the 
 sense, instead of the sense on the mind ; 
 or when the sense is diseased and trans- 
 mits false ideas to the mind ; two causes 
 which have been the fruitful source of 
 numberless superstitions and tales a- 
 mong the credulous and ignorant. 
 
 APPEAL, removal of a cause, from 
 an inferior to a superior court. 
 
 APPETITE, the grinding or irritation 
 of the coats of the stomach, when empty, 
 creating a desire of food. 
 
 APPLE, a well-known fruit, whose 
 juice, when fermented, makes cider. 
 
 APPRENTICESHIP, the duration of 
 employment under indenture, by an ap- 
 prentice, to a person who is to well in- 
 struct him in the secrets and practice of 
 a trade or profession. 
 
 APROXIMATION, a constant getting 
 nearer to a place or quantity. 
 
 APRICOT, a fine species of prune, 
 mostly grown against walls of gardens. 
 
 A PRIORI, a mode of reasoning from 
 the cause to the effect. 
 
 APSIDES, the two points of aplanet’s 
 orbit in which it is at its greatest and 
 least distance from the sun ; and the line 
 which joins them, is called the line of 
 apsides. 
 
 APTERA, the seventh order of in- 
 sects, without wings or transformation. 
 This includes spiders, fleas, bugs, ter- 
 mites, earwigs, &c. ; and, also, lobsters, 
 crabs, prawns, and shrimps. 
 
 AQUAFORTIS, the common name of 
 nitric acid. 
 
 AQUA REGIA, a combination of 
 nitric and muriatic acids, dissolving gold. 
 
 AQUA TINTA, a kind of engraving 
 resembling Indian ink drawings. 
 
 AQUA VITjE, (low wines,) ardent 
 spirit of the first distillation. 
 
 AQUARIUS, (the Water Bearer,) the 
 eleventh sign in the zodiac. 
 
 AQUEDUCT, the name of ancient 
 canals, constructed at a vast expense, 
 15 
 
 ARC 
 
 owing to ignorance of the fact that water 
 will rise again to its own level. 
 
 ARABIA, a large country in Asia, 
 of various fertility, and, owing to its 
 position between Asia and Africa, much 
 celebrated in history. 
 
 ARBITER, a judge nominated by the 
 rrfagistrate, or chosen voluntarily by two 
 parties, to decide their differences, con- 
 sisting of some honest neighbour, and 
 not of a lawyer. 
 
 ARCH, a contrivance by which bricks, 
 stones, or iron, by pressing against each 
 other, and against immoveable abut- 
 ments, maintain their form, and possess 
 sufficient strength for bridges and other 
 purposes. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP, the chief bishop of 
 a province, of which England is divided 
 into two, that of Canterbury, including 
 21 bishoprics, and that of York, includ- 
 ing 4 bishoprics. 
 
 ARCHDEACON, an officer in the 
 churchof England, 'who inspectschurches 
 and parsonages, and takes charge of the 
 goods and ornaments of the churches. 
 
 ARCHIPELAGO, a sea of small is- 
 lands, but commonly applied to the 
 Greek seas, which are particularly fa- 
 mous for the number of interesting is- 
 lands contained in them. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE, the art of pro- 
 portionally erecting buildings according 
 to plans and models supplied by rules of 
 science, uniting outward ornaments with 
 interior conveniences. It embraces erec- 
 tions for civil, military, and naval pur- 
 poses.. Civil architecture has the fol- 
 lowing methods, called orders : 
 
 1. The Tuscan (from Tuscany,) or 
 most simple. 
 
 2. The Doric (from Dorians, Greece,) 
 durable and noble. 
 
 3. The Ionic, (from Ionia,) a mean be- 
 tween the plainness of the Doric and 
 the elegance of the Corinthian. 
 
 4. The Corinthian, (from Corinth,) 
 most noble, rich, and delicate. 
 
 5. The Composite, (from compounded 
 of the other four,) is much like the Co- 
 rinthian, and called also Italian or Ro- 
 man. 
 
 6. The Gothic, differing from the 
 others ; and first adopted in the erection 
 of churches about the 10th or 12th cen- 
 tury, and distinguished by its pointed 
 arch. 
 
 ARCHIVES, historical records; also, 
 a place for depositing them. 
 
 ARCTIC, a space on the earth as far 
 round the North Pole as the tropics are 
 
ART 
 
 distant from the equator, 23i° within 
 which the sun does not rise or set for a 
 day or days within the year. The similar 
 •space round the South Pole is called 
 the Antarctic Circle. 
 
 AREA, the surface bounded; as the 
 surface of a garden or yard. 
 
 ARENA, the space for combatants in 
 a theatre. 
 
 AREOPAGUS, a tribunal at Athens. 
 
 ARGUMENT, a statement of things 
 calculated to instruct, persuade, or con- 
 vince, another. 
 
 ARIAN, an ancient sect who deny the 
 Deity of Jesus Christ. 
 
 ARIES, the first sign of the Zodiac, 
 containing 66 stars, and called the Ram. 
 
 ARISTOCRACY, a government form- 
 ed solely of the nobility. 
 
 ARITHMETIC, the useful art of cal- 
 culation, or counting by numbers ; called 
 whole, fractional, and decimal. 
 
 ARK, the large floating vessel with 
 which N oah escaped from the flood, re- 
 corded by Moses, 500 feet long, 90 broad, 
 and 50 high ; equal in contents to three 
 first-rate ships. 
 
 ARMINIANS, religious persons, who 
 regard all mankind as eligible to salva- 
 tion by the redemption through Christ. 
 
 ARMS, COATS OF, family insignia 
 or distinctions, which had their rise 
 from the painting of the shields used in 
 war before the invention of gunpowder. 
 
 ARMY, an assemblage of soldiers and 
 their officers, subject to the orders of a 
 chief, called a General. 
 
 AROMA, the odoriferous principle pe- 
 culiar to plants and flowers. 
 
 ARRACK, a spirit obtained by distil- 
 ling the pulp of palms or fermented rice. 
 
 ARREST, legal restraint of a person 
 charged with some debt to an indi- 
 vidual, or a crime against Government ; 
 also, a stay of judgment. 
 
 ARSENAL, a depository for stores. 
 
 ARSENIC, a brittle mettle, with gar- 
 lic odour : its white oxyd has latterly 
 been used in very small quantities in me- 
 dicine; but in larger quantities it is a 
 deadly poison. 
 
 ART, ability to perform acts not 
 taught by nature. The Fine Arts are — 
 painting, sculpture, engraving, archi- 
 tecture, poetry, music, and dancing. 
 
 ARTERY, one of the large canals in 
 the body, along which the blood passes 
 in its propulsion from the heart. 
 
 ARTICHOKE, a species of sun-flower 
 with esculent roots. Also, a plant with 
 16 
 
 ASP 
 
 leaves like a thistle, and a head much 
 like a pine-tree cone; 
 
 ARTICLE, that class of words which 
 are used to limit the application of nouns. 
 
 ARTICULATION, the junction of 
 two bones intended for motion ; also, the 
 pronunciation of words and letters. 
 
 ARTILLERY, cannon, mortars, how- 
 itzers, and other large pieces for dischar- 
 ging shot and shells. 
 
 ASBESTOS, a mineral consisting of 
 silex, magnesia, and iron, of which cloth 
 can be made, which is incombustible. 
 
 ASCARIDES, worms which inhabit 
 the entrails of animals. 
 
 ASCENT, the rising of fluids above 
 their own level, between the surfaces of 
 nearly contiguous bodies ; or in slender 
 capillary glass tubes, or vessels filled 
 with sand, ashes, or porous substances, 
 arising from the intercepted pressure of 
 the air, and not from any supposed pow- 
 er of attraction. 
 
 ASH, a well-known English tree* 
 whose wood is much used by wheel- 
 wrights, turners, &c. 
 
 ASHES, the remains of any substance 
 that has been burned ; and when of me- 
 tals, called dross, calces, or oxides. 
 
 ASHANTEE, thename of a populous 
 nation on the Gold Coast of Africa. 
 
 ASIA, in many respects the most im- 
 portant quarter of the world, containing 
 the populous empires of China and Ja- 
 pan, the East Indies, Persia, Arabia, 
 Turkey, Tartary and Siberia. It was 
 the parent of civilization, and the seat 
 of the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Persian, 
 empires ; besides being the locality of the 
 Jewish histories, contained in the Bible. 
 
 ASPARAGUS, one of the most valu- 
 
ASS 
 
 able esculent vegetables of the kitchen 
 garden. 
 
 ASPERIFOLIjE, the41stLinnjean na- 
 tural order of plants, with rough leaves. 
 
 ASPHALTUM, a bituminous or in- 
 flammable substance, found in abun- 
 dance in different countries, especially 
 near the Red Sea, and in Albania. 
 
 ASS, a patient and useful quadruped, 
 remarkable for its hardihood and length 
 of life ; and it may also be added for the 
 sufferings which it endures from the 
 brutal part of the human species. It is 
 generally employed in the lowest kinds 
 of work ; but some improved breeds are 
 used for the saddle, and for other pur- 
 poses of pleasure. 
 
 ASSAFCETIDA, a Persian plant, with 
 roots like parsnips, which affords the 
 nauseous gum so called. 
 
 ASSAY, the art by which a quantity 
 of gold or silver, in a metallic alloy, is 
 determined. 
 
 ASSEMBLY, GENERAL, an annual 
 ecclesiastical meeting in Scotland, to re- 
 gulate the Scottish church. 
 
 ASSETS, goods or property. 
 
 ASSIGNEE, a person appointed to 
 transact some business, or enjoy a par- 
 ticular privilege. 
 
 ASSIMILATION, that process in ani- 
 mal economy by which food becomes 
 blood, and blood becomes parts of the 
 various parts of the body. 
 
 ASSIZES, a meeting of the king’s 
 judges, the sheriff, and juries, for the 
 purpose of making gaol-deliveries, and 
 trying causes between individuals ; ge- 
 nerally held twice in the year. 
 
 ASSOCIATE, a person connected with 
 others in particular pursuits ; as, the mem- 
 bers of different philosophical societies. 
 
 ASSOCIATION (of Ideas), two or se- 
 veral ideas constantly and immediately 
 following each other ; so that the men- 
 17 
 
 ATL 
 
 tion of the one shall almost certainly 
 suggest the other. 
 
 ASSUMPSIT, a voluntary promise to 
 pay something to a person, for consi- 
 deration. 
 
 ASSURANCE, or Insurance, an en- 
 gagement by which a person is indemni- 
 fied from the loss he would sustain by 
 the happening of a particular event ; as 
 by the capture or wreck of a ship at sea, 
 the destruction of property by fire, or 
 by the death of the party. 
 
 ASSYRIAN EJMPIRE, founded by 
 Ninus, 2059; divided 820 B. C. 
 
 ASTERISK, the star (*) employed 
 for reference in printing. 
 
 ASTEROIDS, the four small planets, 
 Ceres, Juno, Pallas, and Vesta. 
 
 ASTHMA, a disease of the lungs, 
 causing painful, difficult, and laborious, 
 breathing, with a hissing cough. 
 
 ASTROLOGY, a science by which its 
 professors foretold public events, mete- 
 orological and personal. It w r as founded 
 in an error, because every event is within 
 a high or low probability ; and the vari- 
 ations in the positions of the stars merely 
 indicated events, the occurrence of 
 which depended on their probability. 
 
 ASTRONOMY, the truly sublime 
 science which treats of the heavenly 
 bodies, their motions, periods, eclipses, 
 magnitudes, &c. the laws which regulate 
 their motions, and the causes on which 
 they depend. It treats of the fixed stars, 
 or suns; of the visible planets which 
 move round our sun, and of the satel- 
 lites, or moons, which move round the 
 planets. 
 
 ASYMPTOTE, a right line which 
 continually approaches, yet never 
 touches, a given curve. 
 
 ATE, a chemical termination used to 
 designate that an alkali, earth, or metal, 
 has been oxygenated in the highest de- 
 gree, as nitrate, carbonate, sulphate, &c. 
 and the termination ite is adopted when 
 the acidification is lower, as sulphite, &c. 
 
 ATH ANAS IAN CREED, ascribed to 
 Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, and 
 also to Hilary, bishop of Arles. It was 
 used in France about the year 850, and 
 first sung in our churches about 950. 
 
 ATHEIST, a person who is charged 
 with denying the existence of God. 
 
 ATHENS, a celebrated city and state 
 of Greece, built by Cecrops, 1556, taken 
 by the Romans, 150 B. C. 
 
 ATLANTIC OCEAN, one of the 
 three great oceans, and that which di- 
 vides Europe and Africa from America, 
 c 2 
 
ATT 
 
 It is about 8000 miles long, 2000 broad, 
 and its depth various and uncertain. 
 
 ATLAS, a collection of maps, and the 
 name of a ridge of mountains in Africa. 
 
 ATMOSPHERE, the fluid or gas 
 which we feel on passing our hand 
 through it, and whose force is visible in 
 a high wind. It is 820 times less dense 
 than water, but its elastic pressure or re- 
 action is equal to lofts, to the square 
 inch, which is also the weight or action 
 downward ; and it is composed of about 
 one part oxygen, and four parts nitrogen 
 or azote. All space is filled with gas, 
 but the passage of the earth through it, 
 and its rotation at the same time, con- 
 denses the rare gas of space into an at- 
 mosphere, which at the surface of the 
 earth is such as we find it, but is rarer 
 and rarer as we ascend, till at the height 
 of forty-five miles, it no longer reflects 
 light ; nor is it capable of keeping clouds 
 in suspension above two or three miles. 
 The energy of the oxygenous part of 
 the atmosphere transferred, is the cause 
 of fire, combustion, animal heat, and life. 
 
 ATOM, a primary particle of matter 
 indefinitely small, and susceptible of no 
 further subdivision, bearing perhaps the 
 same relation to a grain of sand which 
 a grain of sand bears to the whole earth. 
 Philosophers have long disputed whether 
 these atoms are of one form, spherical 
 or cubical, or of several forms ; but be 
 this as it may, all solid matter is consi- 
 dered as their fixation, and all fluid and 
 gaseous matter as their motion, under 
 various circumstances of simplicity and 
 combination. 
 
 • ATROPA, or deadly Nightshade, a 
 genus of plants of which one species, the 
 Belladona, grows wild in England. 
 Children are often killed by eating its 
 berries, which are of a fine black colour, 
 and about the size of a small cherry. 
 The root is perennial, with stalks of a 
 purplish colour, and the flowers are bell- 
 shaped, dusky on the outside and pur- 
 plish within. The fruit has a nauseous 
 sweet taste. 
 
 ATROPHY, a disease wherein the 
 body, or some of its parts, not receiving 
 necessary nutriment, waste and decay. 
 
 ATTACHMENT, the taking of goods, 
 or body and goods, under legal process. 
 
 ATTAINDER, the name of a law by 
 which the estate and life of a traitor is 
 forfeited. 
 
 ATTORNEY, a person who executes 
 . certain business for others. Usually 
 one who practises the law. 
 
 18 
 
 ATT 
 
 ATTRACTION, a quality of the 
 mind by which it is drawn towards ob- 
 jects -of preference; but often impro- 
 perly used to indicate a similar prefer- 
 ence of inanimate objects, when the 
 cause of their going together is not un- 
 derstood. Thus, if one who had never 
 seen ships at sea, saw two ships approach 
 each other, he would, in this false sense, 
 conclude that they attracted one ano- 
 ther ; but another, acquainted with nau- 
 tical atfairs, would explain the manage^ 
 ment of the sails and rudder, by which 
 they were made to approach. In like 
 manner, every case and variety of sup- 
 posed attraction may be mechanically 
 explained. This assumed power or prin- 
 ciple is also manifestly absurd, because 
 every motion takes place only in the 
 direction in which bodies are propelled, 
 and any two bodies in approaching, re- 
 quire a propulsion from the opposite 
 side, where neither of them is situated, 
 2 nd consequently cannot cause their mu- 
 tual approach. The absurdity of the 
 doctrine of attraction of whatever kind 
 will be manifest by considering, that if 
 the bodies A and B meet at C, their mo- 
 tions from A to C, and from B to C, 
 must be produced by forces or impulses 
 at A and B : but A is not at B, to impel 
 B ; nor B at A, to impel A ; and as bo- 
 dies cannot act where they are not, the 
 notion that A and B move each other to 
 C is an absurdity, while, if they do go 
 together, some other cause must be 
 sought; — 
 
 AO C OB 
 
 ATTRACTION, ELECTRICAL, 3 
 term used to express the phenomena 
 by which light bodies leap towards an 
 electrified body ; and the principle has 
 been applied to effect the amusing expe- 
 riment represented in the engraving. 
 The upper plate has been electrified, and 
 two light figures have been placed be- 
 tween that plate and another plate ; and 
 for some time they jump and dance 
 from one plate to another in a very sur- 
 prising manner. The cause is not any 
 principle of attraction or repulsion, but 
 arises from the atoms of air which lie 
 between the two plates being disturbed, 
 by what was done, when the upper plate 
 was what was called electrified ; whereas, 
 in truth, it was the stratum of air lying 
 between the two plates which was then 
 disturbed, the plates themselves being 
 
AUG 
 
 mere boundaries of that stratum ; and 
 the effort of the atoms on the two sides 
 of the stratum to return to their regular 
 natural position, being greater than the 
 weight of the light bodies, the light 
 bodies yield to the force, and jump from 
 side to side of the stratum, till the ori- 
 ginal natural position of the atoms of 
 the stratum of air is restored. 
 
 6 
 
 ATTRIBUTES, qualities ascribed to 
 the Deity, as omnipotence, omnipre- 
 sence, omniscience, and eternity. 
 
 AVANT, a word used by the Hindoos, 
 to express an incarnation or descent of 
 Vishnu, their deity : nine of which are 
 believed to be passed, and the tenth yet 
 to come. 
 
 AVE MARIA, the name given to the 
 angel Gabriel’s salutation to the Virgin 
 Mary : the chaplets and rosaries of the 
 Romish church are divided into ave 
 marias and pater nosters. 
 
 AVERAGE, the results from equal 
 division of several sums added together, 
 
 AVIARY, a place set apart for feed- 
 ing and propagating birds. 
 
 AVOIRDUPOIS, a weight used in 
 England, the pound being sixteen ounces. 
 
 AUCTION, a public sale of goods to 
 the highest bidder 
 
 AUDIT, a settling of rents and ac- 
 counts, debits, and credits. 
 
 AUGU R , a carpenter’s tool to bore holes. 
 
 AUGURY, an absurd mode of pre- 
 tending to fdretel future events by the 
 entrails of birds, and one of the follies 
 cf the human mind. 
 
 AUGUST, the eight month of the 
 year, so called after Augustus Caesar, in 
 honour of his triumphs ; having previ- 
 ously been called Sexatilis. 
 
 AUGUSTINES, a religious order, so 
 called from St. Augustine their founder, 
 and vulgarly called Austin friars, or 
 19 
 
 AUT 
 
 Christian hermits. Before the refor- 
 mation they had 32 houses in England. 
 
 AUNT, the sister of a parent, or wife 
 of an uncle. 
 
 AURELIA, that intermediate state in 
 which many insects remain for some 
 time, between the caterpillar form, and 
 the period in which they are furnished 
 with wings, antennae, and other organs 
 appertaining to the perfect insect. 
 
 AURICLE, that part of the ear, pro- 
 minent from the head ; also two resem- 
 blant appendages of the heart, at its 
 base, distinguished as right and left. 
 
 AURORA BOREALIS, luminous 
 flashes which, in the artic and antartic 
 circles, always appear in the atmosphere 
 by night, and sometimes are so consider- 
 able as to be visible in the latitude of 
 London. There is no certain theory of 
 their cause ; but as the equatorial parts 
 of the earth, and the polar parts, are in 
 so different a state of heat and excite- 
 ment, it is believed that they arise from 
 some circulation, owing to a tendency to 
 equality between the gaseous principles, 
 of which there is an excess or deficiency 
 at the poles or equator. 
 
 AUSTRALIA, that portion of the 
 earth’s surface which includes New Hol- 
 land, New Britain, New Caledonia, and 
 other islands which do not properly be- 
 long to Asia. 
 
 AUSTRIA, an extensive and powerful 
 empire in Europe, containing 30 millions 
 of inhabitants, of which the capital is 
 Vienna. 
 
 AUTHOR, the Creator; the first pro- 
 ducer of a work or composition. 
 
 AUTO DA FE, or Act of Faith, the 
 ceremony of burning heretics by the in- 
 quisition, and an indelible disgrace to 
 the Romish religion. After every in- 
 sult of procession, dress, and mockery, 
 has been offered to the victims, they are 
 burnt alive, or roasted to death; and 
 many Catholic kings have made these 
 sacrifices in festivity. 
 
 AUTOGRAPH, a person’s hand writ- 
 ing. 
 
 AUTOMATON, (also ANDROIDES,) 
 a figure of an animal, to which motion 
 is given by wheels, springs, and weights, 
 internally placed, and causing apparent 
 animation ; as the mechanical chess 
 player, and flute player. 
 
 AUTUMN, the season between sum- 
 mer and winter, when the fruits of the 
 earth ripen, and the days and heat di- 
 minish. In the northern hemisphere, 
 August, September, and October, are the 
 
BAB 
 
 autumnal months, and in the southern 
 hemisphere, February, March, and April. 
 
 AXIS, the straight line about which a 
 plane figure revolves to generate a solid. 
 The axis of the world, is an imaginary 
 right line conceived to pass through the 
 earth’s centre, from one pole to the 
 other. The sun, with all planets, are 
 known to move about their respective 
 axes. That of the earth, during its 
 revolution round the sun, remains pa- 
 rallel to itself, inclined to the plane of 
 the ecliptic, in an angle of 66£ degrees. 
 
 AXLE, the centre whereon a wheel 
 turns in its revolutions. 
 
 AZIMUTH, an arch of the horizon, 
 intercepted between the meridian of the 
 place, or vertical circle passing through 
 the centre of the object. 
 
 AZIMUTH, (or VERTICAL CIR- 
 CLES,) imaginary great circles passing 
 
 B 
 
 BAC 
 
 through the zenith and the nadir, cutting 
 the horizon at right angles. The alti- 
 tudes of the heavenly bodies are mea- 
 sured on these circles, which circles may 
 be represented by screwing the quadrant 
 of altitude on the zenith of any place, 
 and making the other end move along 
 the wooden horizon of the globe. 
 
 AZORES, or Western Islands, situate 
 in the middle of the Atlantic, in a fine 
 climate, and very fertile. 
 
 AZOTE, the gas of which the atmos- 
 phere contains nearly 4-5ths in bulk, 
 and 3-4ths in weight ; the other fifth and 
 fourth being oxygen, without which the 
 air will support neither life nor combus- 
 tion. It is also called nitrogen , and is 
 generally considered as a compound. It 
 converts blues into greens, and in the 
 atmosphere may be regarded as a diluter 
 of oxygen. 
 
 BAAL, the name of God in the Chaldaic 
 language, whom the priests personified 
 in their temples, by a figure like that of 
 Mars. These statues, in different tem- 
 ples, were represented by the priests as 
 working local miracles, so local additions 
 were made to the name Baal, as Baal-Be- 
 rith, Baal-Peor, Baal-Zebub, or Belze- 
 bub, &e. 
 
 BABEL, Tower of, a square pyramidal 
 tower, half a mile round, and the eighth 
 of a mile high, with a winding passage on 
 the outside, broad enough to admit carri- 
 ages to pass, and at the top of it was an as- 
 tronomical observatory. Its remains are 
 still visible, and called the tower of Nim- 
 rod. 
 
 BABOON, a species of the ape tribe. 
 
 BABYROUSSA, the name of the Indi- 
 an pig. 
 
 BABYLON, a great city on the Tigris, 
 famous for its astronomical tower, for its 
 size, ita walks, and its gates. Its ruins 
 are visible, near Bagdad, and the remains 
 of the tower are still considerable. 
 
 BABYLONIAN EMPIRE commen- 
 ced 2640, and ended 555 B. C. 
 
 BACCHUS, in heathen mythology, the 
 God of wine, and the son of Jupiter and 
 Semele. 
 
 BACCIFEROUS, in botany, those 
 plants which bear berries. 
 
 BACHELOR OF ARTS, the first de- 
 gree taken at an university, called A.B. 
 or Artium Baccalarius. 
 
 BACK, that part of animals where the 
 
 20 
 
BAL 
 
 spine is situated, for distinction from the 
 
 belly. 
 
 BACON, ROGER, an English philoso- 
 pher, who flourished in the 13th century. 
 
 BACON, LORD, an English philo- 
 sopher, born 1560, died 1630. 
 
 BADGER, an inoffensive and ill-treat- 
 ed quadruped, found in wild .parts of 
 Britain, with small eyes, short ears, short 
 thick neck, and very short thick legs. It 
 feeds on roots, fruits, grass, insects, and 
 f rogs, and digs a deep hole for refuge. 
 
 BAGNIO, a house for bathing, sweat- 
 ing, and cleansing the body. 
 
 BAGPIPE, a musical instrument, con- 
 sisting of a leathern bag, and pipes for 
 admitting and ejecting the air. tt is an 
 instrument of great force, not pleasing 
 to those who are unused to it, but much 
 esteemed by the Scots and Irish. The 
 bass part never varies its tone, and, 
 therefore, is called the drone, and the 
 compass of the treble part, or chanter, 
 is very limited. 
 
 BAIL, security given for the appear- 
 ance, when required, of a person in cus- 
 tody, for debt, or for any criminal of- 
 fence. 
 
 BAL.ENA,or whale, a genus of ani- 
 mals of the class Mammalia. 
 
 21 
 
 BAL 
 
 BALANCE, the final settlement or 
 closing of books, by double entry. Also 
 one of the simple mechanical combina- 
 tions, to find the equality or difference of 
 weight in heavy bodies. 
 
 BALISTES, or file-fish, a genus of 
 animals, so called from the resemblance 
 of their back-bone to a file, remarkable 
 for the brilliancy of their colours. 
 
 BALLAST, worthless materials thrown 
 into a ship’s hold, to prevent sudden 
 gusts of wind blowing her on her beam- 
 ends, or over. 
 
 BALLET, a dramatic entertainment, 
 consisting of action and dancing only, 
 invented by the Italians. 
 
 BALLISTA, a military engine used by 
 the ancients, in battle, to throw stones, 
 darts, and javelins. 
 
 BALLOON, a globe madeof silk, and 
 rendered air-tight by gum, which, when 
 filled with hydrogen gas, from 10 to 13 
 times lighter than atmospherical air, as- 
 cends into the atmosphere, and will con- 
 vey heavy bodies suspended to it. The 
 ascent in a balloon is a magnificent spec- 
 tacle, but, owing to mismanagement, 
 they have often produced fatal accidents. 
 The first balloon ascended at Paris, in 
 1782; and in London, in 1/84. 
 
 BALLOT, the method of determining 
 an election by small balls, black or white, 
 put privately into a box. 
 
 BALM (also called balsam), an odo- 
 riferous, oily, useful juice, or resin, ob- 
 tained from certain shrubs. 
 
 BALTIC, the inland sea which sepa- 
 rates Sweden from Poland, Russia, Prus- 
 sia, and Denmark. It is entered by a 
 strait called the Sound, through which 
 from 3000 to 5000 British ships pass an- 
 nually. 
 
 BALTIMORE ORIOLE, a bird of 
 North America, which suspends its nest 
 
BAN 
 
 to the horizontal forks of the tulip and 
 poplar trees, formed of the filaments of 
 tough plants. It is of a pear shape, open 
 at top, with a hole on the side, through 
 which the young are fed, &c. Some other 
 birds build their nests in like manner, as 
 the botle-nested sparrow,' &c. 
 
 BAMBOO, an Indian reed or cane, 
 with a woody, hollow, round, straight 
 culm, 40 feet high and upwards, simple 
 and shining; growing naturally almost 
 every where in the tropical regions. 
 
 BANDA ISLANDS, five small is- 
 lands in the eastern seas, belonging to the 
 Dutch, and famous for their exclusive 
 production of nutmegs. 
 
 BANDANA HANDKERCHIEFS, 
 manufactured in India from silk and 
 cotton, but well imitated in Britain. 
 
 BANDITTI, outlawed robbers, united 
 for nefarious purposes. 
 
 BANISHMENT, public interdiction 
 or exile of a person. 
 
 BANGUE, the name of an opiate used 
 in the east, made from the leaf of wild 
 hemp. It is used, by the Mahometans, 
 for the same purpose as wine and spirits 
 by the Christians. 
 
 BANANA, or PLANTAIN, an inva- 
 luable tropical fruit-tree. It serves the 
 Indians for bread, and grows to theheight 
 of 15 or 20 feet. At the top of the stalk, 
 leaves expand from six to eight feet long, 
 and two to three feet broad, which grow 
 so quick that their expansion may be 
 discerned. The flower forms a spike in 
 the centre, often nearly four feet long, 
 and nodding on one side. The fruit, or 
 plaintains, are twelve inches long and 
 two inches in diameter, at first green, and 
 afterwards of a pale yellow The spikes 
 22 
 
 BAN 
 
 of fruit weigh from 30 to 40 pounds. 
 They are generally cut before ripe, the 
 green stud pulled off, and the heart roast- 
 ed, and served at table as bread. The 
 negroes almost live upon them, and they 
 serve, likewise, to fatten all domestic 
 animals. Every other part of the tree 
 is useful, and the leaves are used as nap- 
 kins and table-cloths. Of another sort, 
 the fruit is rounder and more luscious, 
 and, when ripe, eaten raw or fried in 
 slices, is relished by all ranks in the West 
 Indies* It is only perennial in its roots, 
 for the stalk dies down to the ground 
 every year ; but, by cutting them down, 
 suckers rise from the root, and there is a 
 constant succession of fruit all the year. 
 
 BANK, an establishment or shop, for 
 the negotiation and reception of money 
 and bills of exchange. The Bank of En- 
 gland is the greatest establishment of the 
 kind that ever existed. Its notes form 
 the currency of the kingdom, by com- 
 mon consent, and, for many years past, 
 have varied between 20 and 30 millions. 
 It is also the Bank of Government, and 
 pays the interest of the public debt. In 
 the united kingdom, there are about 1000 
 local banks, most of which issue their 
 own currency; and in London, 80 pri- 
 vate banking companies, which return 
 two and three millions per day, and as 
 the whole are banks of deposit, they pos- 
 sess and economize the entire circulation 
 of the empire, and constitute its finan- 
 cial strength. In France, and other 
 countries, there are no banks of deposit, 
 and nothing equivalent to an English 
 Bank, but traders of a similar kind are 
 mere negotiators of bills, and hence the 
 poverty of other countries, compared 
 
BAN 
 
 with England. The Bank of Amsterdam 
 is more like an English Bank, but it is an 
 awkward impracticable establishment. 
 
 BANIANS, a cast of the Hindoos, 
 whose profession is trade and merchan- 
 dise, and, in India and Asia, they are the 
 great factors and bankers, as the Jews are 
 in the West. They are the most bene- 
 violent and amiable class, never eat any 
 living creature, nor kill even noxious ani- 
 mals, but endeavour to release them from 
 the cruelty of others. In morals, they en- 
 join veracity in their words and dealings, 
 and avoid all circumvention in buying 
 and selling, and are so gentle, that they 
 cannot endure to see a fly or worm inju- 
 red, nor will they return a blow ; never- 
 theless, some of them are the richest indi- 
 viduals in the world. 
 
 BANIAN-TREE, one of the greatest 
 wonders of the vegetable kingdom. It 
 never dies, and continually extends itself ; 
 for every branch shoots downward, and, 
 striking into the ground, becomes itself 
 a parent tree, whose branches, in like 
 manner, spread. One of them, the Cub- 
 beer Burr, has 350 stems, equal to large 
 oaks, and more than 3000 smaller ones, 
 covering space sufficient to shelter 7000 
 persons. Its branches are crowded with 
 families of monkeys, and with birds of 
 every description, and also with enor- 
 mous bats, all of which find luxurious 
 subsistence on the rich scarlet figs that 
 grow upon it. The common fig-tree, 
 and the Sycamore of Scripture, is of the 
 same species, and the wood of the latter 
 is almost imperishable. 
 
 BANKRUPT, one who, being unable 
 to pay his debts, has committed some act 
 through which the law takes his property 
 out of his hands, for the benefit of his 
 creditors. 
 
 23 
 
 BAR 
 
 BANNER, a decorated piece of cloth 
 fastened to a pole or lance. 
 
 BANNOCKBURN, a rivulet near 
 Sterling, where, June 25,1314, the Scots, 
 under Bruce, defeated Edward II. with 
 a loss of 50,000 men. 
 
 BAPTISTS, a Christian sect who 
 practise the baptism of adults instead of 
 that of children. They are sometimes 
 called Anabaptists. 
 
 BAR, in music, a line which divides a 
 composition into equal times ; also used 
 for an impediment on entering a harbour. 
 
 BARB, any roughness that grows and 
 resembles a beard ; as the down with 
 which the surface of some plants are co- 
 vered ; the tuft of hairs at the point of 
 leaves ; the armour for horses in warfare ; 
 and the points which are backward at the 
 tip of an arrow. 
 
 BARBICAN, a fortification before 
 the walls of a city. 
 
 BARBADOES, a flourishing and po- 
 pulous island in the West Indies. 
 
 BARBADOES TAR, a nauseous, bit- 
 ter, strong, and disagreable, mineral fluid . 
 
 BARBARISM, a method of employ- 
 ing language different to that of accre- 
 dited writers. 
 
 BARB ARY, the northern coast of 
 Africa, 2000 miles long, and of indefinite 
 breadth, including Morocco, Algiers, 
 Tunis, Tripoli, and Barca. The inhabi- 
 ants being Mahometans, the climate 
 fine, and the country fertile, but termi- 
 nated inland by deserts of moving sand, 
 almost as fluid as water, and which are 
 constantly encroaching on the cultivated 
 tracts. 
 
 BARD, the name given to those indi- 
 viduals of semi-barbarous tribes, whose 
 genius or imaginations enabled them to 
 describe events in elevated or measured 
 language. Homer was one of these bards 
 among the early Greeks ; Ossian another 
 among the ancient Irish; and their rap- 
 sodies were the foundations of the art of 
 poetry, which has been cultivated with 
 success by all civilized nations. 
 
 BARILLA, carbonate of soda. 
 
 BARITONO, in music, a voice be- 
 tween tenor and bass. 
 
 BARIUM, the metallic base of the 
 earth Barvtes. 
 
 BARK, the exterior part of vegetable 
 bodies, separable from the others during 
 vegetation, but at other times requiring 
 maceration in water, or boiling; and 
 when detached, its fine connexions to the 
 wood are destroyed. Bark thus sepa- 
 rated, and viewed by the microscope, ex- 
 
BAR 
 
 hibits parts differing much in structure 
 and use. Thee Cinchona tre, which 
 .grows in Quito, on the high grounds, 
 when stripped of its bark soon dies. 
 There are three different kinds : red Pe- 
 ruvian bark, usually in large pieces, and 
 reducible to powder with more ease than 
 the preceding, with a slightly bitter taste 
 and much astringency ; yellow, differing 
 little from those of the red species. Pale 
 is the common variety of bark. 
 
 BARLEY, the grain from which malt 
 and beer are made, and sometimes bread 
 or cake. 
 
 BARM, or YEAST, the glutinous froth 
 which is disengaged from fermented li- 
 quor, while carbonic acid gas is escaping. 
 
 BARN, a large building on a farm, 
 in which the vegetable produce of all or 
 any kind is deposited. 
 
 BARON, a title of honour granted by 
 the king, and secured to the receiver’s 
 descendants ; the lowest rank of the peer- 
 age. His wife is a Baroness. 
 
 BARONS OF THE EXCHEQUER, 
 the four judges who officiate in the court 
 of Exchequer, at Westminister. 
 
 24 
 
 BAR 
 
 BAROMETER, an instrument which 
 proves and measures the elastic pressure 
 and weight of the atmosphere. If the air 
 be extracted from a tube, closed at one 
 end, and the open end be plunged in wa- 
 ter, it will rise from 30 to 33 feet; or, in 
 mercury, it will rise from 28 to 31 inches 
 by the pressure of the air on the surface of 
 the fluid, the pressure being unopposed 
 by any elastic force within the tube; 
 and as the power of the atmosphere to 
 retain water in solution depends, in some 
 degree, on its elasticity, so the rise or fall 
 of the barometer is commonly an indica- 
 tion of dry or wet weather. 
 
 BARRACKS, large buildings for the 
 security and accommodation of soldiers. 
 
 BARREL, a cask, containing 36 gal- 
 lons. 
 
 BARRISTER, a person qualified and 
 impowered to plead and defend the causes 
 of clients in courts of justice. The out- 
 ward, or outer, barristers, by their long 
 knowledge of the law, are called to public 
 practice, and always plead without the 
 bar. The inner barristers, because either 
 attorney, solicitor, sergeant, or counsel , 
 to the king, are allowed the privilege of 
 pleading within the bar. But at the Rolls, 
 and some other inferior courts, all bar- 
 risters are admitted within the bar. 
 
 BARROWS, a mound of earth raised 
 over the dead, of which graves are imi- 
 tations, and of which the pyramids of 
 Egypt were a magnificent variety. They 
 abound in many parts of England, par- 
 ticularly in Wiltshire, and near Marlbo- 
 rough; oneofthem, called Silbury Hill, 
 
BAT 
 
 is nearly as large as the smallest pyramid 
 of Geza. When opened, they are found 
 to contain hones and relics. 
 
 BARTER, the exchanging of one com- 
 modity for another, the trucking of 
 wares for wares, among merchants. Bar- 
 ter was the original and natural way of 
 commerce, there being no buying till 
 money was invented, and used in ex- 
 changing 
 
 BARYTES, a substance composed of 
 oxygen and barium, and generally of a 
 flesh colour. 
 
 BASALT, a stone, supposed to be of 
 volcanic origin, black or green in colour, 
 and found in pillars in the prismatic 
 form. Columns of basalt form the Gi- 
 ant’s Causeway, the Isle of Staffa, and 
 Fingal’s Cave, and are always found near 
 great volcanoes, as Etna, Hecla, &c. 
 
 BASE, in chemistry, the inert sub- 
 stance with which an active agent com- 
 bines, as the substances which combine 
 with oxygen and produce salts. 
 
 BASHAW, or Pacha, the title of a 
 Turkish governor, with two degrees of 
 military rank, the ensign of one being a 
 horse’s tail, and of the other two tails. 
 
 BASILISK, a harmless species of li- 
 zard, with piercing eyes. 
 
 BASS, the lowest or fundamental part 
 in music, and important as the foundation 
 of harmony. 
 
 BASSETING, the rising of a vein of 
 coal or other stratum, towards the sur- 
 face of the earth. 
 
 BASSO RELIEVO, in sculpture, when 
 the figures are concave, or sunk, as in 
 medals, friezes, &c. 
 
 BASSOON, a wind instrument, for 
 bass in music. 
 
 BASTILE, the name of a fortress once 
 used as a prison at Paris. 
 
 BASTION, the projecting work of a 
 fortification. 
 
 BASS-VIOL, a musical instrument 
 like a violin, but much larger. 
 
 BAT, a creature with the body of an 
 animal and the wings of a bird, which 
 flies only by night, and has an unknown 
 power of distinguishing distant objects 
 without light. It is unsightly, but per- 
 fectly harmless. 
 
 BATAVIA, the capital of the Dutch 
 settlements in the East Indies ; a large 
 city and famous commercial depot. 
 
 BATH, a beautiful city in Somerset- 
 shire, containing 36,811 inhabitants, and 
 famous for its medicinal baths. 
 
 BATHS, MEDICINAL, a preparation 
 of liquid, in which certain chemiealpre- 
 25 
 
 BAT 
 
 parations are mingled. The foundation of 
 their efficacy arises from the natural gal- 
 vanic action of the animal system, which 
 action may be increased or diminished 
 by suitable antagonists to the skin. 
 
 BATHS, VAPOUR, made by raising 
 water into steam, and in which the pa- 
 tient sits, and sometimes, by mixing 
 chemical agents with the steam, by 
 which its excitement of the system is 
 varied and increased. 
 
 BATHING, means of cleansing the 
 skin and opening the pores, improving 
 at the same time the chemical or galvanic 
 action of the system. 
 
 BATON, a truncheon, or marshal’s 
 staff, carried in the field of battle. 
 
 BATTALION, a certain portion of a 
 regiment, as the half or a third, and 
 about 500 or 600 men. 
 
 BATTERING-RAM, a machinemade 
 use of by the ancients to effect breaches 
 in fortifications. Sometimes they were 
 swung on ropes, and at others driven by 
 men, who were protected from the be- 
 sieged by suitable coverings. 
 
 BATTLE, a contest for victory, in 
 which vast bodies of men are often en- 
 gaged, with every means of mutual de- 
 struction, and in which millions have 
 died victims of the folly or ambition of 
 their leaders. The most decisive battles 
 recorded in history, are those at Mara- 
 thon, of the Athenians and Persians; at 
 Issus, of Alexander and Darius ; at Can- 
 na, of the Carthagenians and Romans ; 
 at Pharsalia, between Pompey and C ae- 
 sar ; at Chalons, between the French and 
 the Huns; at Hastings, between the 
 Normans and English ; at Bannockburn 
 and Floaden, of the Scots and English ; 
 at Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt, 
 of the French and English ; at Ascalon, 
 of Bajazet and Tamerlane ; at Pavia of 
 D 
 
BAY 
 
 the French and Germans ; at Blenheim, 
 the French and Allies ; at Fontenoy, of 
 the French and English ; at Luthen and 
 Riesbach, of the Prussians and French ; 
 at Marengo, of the French and Austrians ; 
 and at Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Leip- 
 sic, and Waterloo, of the French and 
 allied nations. 
 
 BATTERY, a wall or parapet of stone 
 or earth, with openings or embrasures, 
 through which cannon are fired. The 
 engraving represents the parapet, the 
 piece of cannon, the embrasure, and the 
 artillery-man protected by the parapet. 
 
 BATTLEMENT, a wall in which are 
 embrasures or openings, through which 
 to fire artillery. 
 
 BAVARIA, the name of an extensive 
 and flourishing kingdom on the Danube* 
 in Germany. 
 
 BAY, a wide opening of land that ad- 
 mits the sea. 
 
 BaY LYNX, an American animal 
 about twice the size of a large cat. 
 
 BAYONET, a short broad triangular 
 dagger, with a round handle to fit the 
 muzzle of a firelock. 
 
 26 
 
 BEA 
 
 BAZAAR, a market place, so called 
 in eastern countries ; and, latterly, a col- 
 lection of shops in England. 
 
 BEACH, the edge of land next the sea, 
 on which the tides rise and fall. 
 
 BEACON, something raised on an 
 eminence, as a public signal. 
 
 BEADLE, the messenger belonging to 
 a public body, or court of justice; also 
 the officer of a church or parish. 
 
 BEANS, this engraving is introduced 
 to show the seed of vegetables. The 
 left hand figure is the seed whole, and 
 the right hand is a section displaying 
 the germ of the future plant within the 
 seed. The substance of the seed is its 
 first means of nutriment, till it burst 
 through the skin or arillus, and finds 
 nourishment in the soil and air. The 
 black spot, or hilum, on a bean, is merely 
 the part by which it was attached to the 
 pericardium or pod. The germ is called 
 corctihtm, or heart; the side lobes are 
 the cotyledons, or first leaves. When the 
 the seed has a downy appendage it is 
 called the coronula. 
 
 BEAR, a quadruped, of which there 
 are ten species, and three of them well 
 known. 1. The Brown bear, which sub- 
 sists chiefly on fruit, vegetables, and 
 honey. 2. The American bear, which is 
 smaller than the other, and feeds in like 
 manner. 3. The Polar bear, white, and 
 from 8 to 12 feet long ; of great strength 
 and ferocity, devouring fish, seals, and 
 whales at sea; and on land, any animals 
 which it can catch: represented in the 
 engraving. 
 
BEE 
 
 BEARING, the situation in regard to 
 the points of the compass, easily deter- 
 mined, because the sun rising easterly, 
 makes it 12 o’clock when it is exactly 
 south, which is opposite to the north, and 
 it sets westerly. 
 
 BEAVER, an interesting and intelli- 
 gent animal, which builds substantial 
 dwellings on rivers, and is hunted and 
 destroyed by man for the down, of which 
 hats are made ; but silk and fine wool are 
 now substituted. The engraving repre- 
 sents a colony of these creatures in a sort 
 of council, before they begin any work. 
 
 BEAU MONDE, the gay or fashion- 
 able world, or world of triflers. 
 
 BEDFORDSHIRE, a county of En- 
 gland, containing 450 square miles, and 
 
 84.000 inhabitants. 
 
 BEDOUINS, the inhabitants of the 
 deserts adjoining Egypt, who live chiefly 
 in tents. 
 
 BEE or Apis, a genus of interesting 
 insects. A hive consists of a queen, se- 
 veral hundred drones, and many thou- 
 sand workers. The body of the queen is 
 considerably larger than that of the others. 
 The government is a regular monarchy, 
 and if there should be two queens, they 
 fight till one has killed the other. The 
 queen is an object of incessant solicitude 
 and attention to the other bees ; she lays 
 
 80.000 eggs in a season ; the drones do 
 nothing, but after living three months 
 they are killed by the workers. These 
 collect honey and wax from the nectaria 
 of flowers ; bread from the pollen ; and 
 rosin for their combs. They finish a 
 comb in 24 hours ; it is composed of six- 
 sided cells arranged in two layers with 
 opposite openings, so constructed as to 
 afford the greatest space with the least 
 material, and the whole is geometrically 
 perfect. It is a wonderful system ; and 
 
 27 
 
 BEE 
 
 every bee is so much engaged in its own 
 industrious pursuits, that it never attacks 
 or stings, except when assaulted or en- 
 dangered. An admirable system of pre- 
 serving them, instead of barbarously suf- 
 focating them with sulphur, has lately 
 been introduced, and cannot be too much 
 commended and encouraged. 
 
 BEE-HIVE, a receptacle for bees, 
 made of straw and other materials. The 
 bees in one hive are called a swarm, and 
 herein they form their cells and accumu- 
 late sufficient honey by September to last 
 them till June ; but as they pass the win- 
 ter chiefly in a lethargic state, the honey 
 may be taken by suitable means, and the 
 bees fed with honey, or with a mature 
 of brown sugar and strong beer, a system 
 now generally practised. 
 
 BEE, HUMBLE, a variety of bee 
 which reside in holes under ground. 
 
 BEER, a liquor made of malt and 
 hops, called small beer when weak, ale 
 when intoxicating, and porter when 
 made of high-dried and brown malt, of 
 which from 6 to 8 millions of barrels are 
 
BEN 
 
 BET 
 
 brewed in Great Britain annually, by 
 1586 public brewers, and sold by 60 
 thousand licensed victuallers. 
 
 BEET, a plant with a very nutriti- 
 ous root, when well boiled. 
 
 BEETLE, or Scharabacus, a genus 
 of insects furnished with shelly wing- 
 cases, and of which there are several spe- 
 cies, all perfectly harmless, and in gene- 
 ral very timid arid sagacious. 
 
 BEGUM, an Hindoo lady. 
 
 BEHRING’S STRAITS, the narrow 
 sea which lies between Asia and America, 
 the coasts of which are occupied by a 
 destitute and semi-barbarous race. 
 
 BELGiE, Scythians or Goths who in- 
 habited Holland and its vicinity. 
 
 BELLES LETTRES, the branches of 
 polite literature. 
 
 BELL METAL, an alloy of copper 
 and tin. 
 
 BELLONA, the sister and charioteer 
 of Mars. 
 
 BELLS, metallic instruments of sound, 
 used as notices in churches and houses. 
 They were introduced into English chur- 
 ches about the year 700, and used to be bap- 
 tised and named before they were hung. 
 The number of changes may be found by 
 multiplying the digits in the number into 
 one another; thus four bells will give 24 
 changes, and 6 bells 720, and 10 changes 
 may be rung in a minute. St. Peter’s 
 bell at Rome weighs 10,000 lbs.; Great 
 Tom, of Oxford, 17.000 lbs. ; Lincoln, 
 0900 lbs.; and St. Paul’s, 0400; St. 
 Ivan’s, of Moscow, weighs 128,000 lbs. 
 
 BELLUA, the sixth order of the class 
 Mammalia, with cutting teeth in both 
 jaws, feet hoofed, and living on vegeta- 
 bles; including the genera of the horse, 
 hippopotamus, and swine. 
 
 BENEFICE, an ecclesiastical living, 
 generally called a rectory or vicarage, of 
 28 
 
 which in England and Wales there arvr 
 11,59.3, to 10,693 parishes, and 9284 parish 
 churches. 
 
 BELLOWS, a very useful contrivance 
 for concentrating a body of air and ex- 
 pelling it on fire, so as to bring more 
 oxygen in contact, the increased fixation 
 of which, greatly augments the intensity 
 of the fire, but the consumption of fuel, 
 or evolution of hydrogen, is proportional. 
 
 BENGAL, an extensive and fertile 
 province of Hindostan, of which Calcut- 
 ta is the capital. It is 350 miles long, 
 and 300 broad, containing about 2,500,000 
 inhabitants, subject to the English go- 
 vernment. 
 
 BEN NEVIS and BEN LOMOND, 
 two mountains in Scotland, 4400 and 
 3300 feet high. 
 
 BEQUEST, property left to a person 
 by the will of one deceased. 
 
 BERGAMOT, a very excellent kind 
 of pear ; pronounced Bergamv. 
 
 BERGAMOTTE, a volatile oil ex- 
 tracted from the rind of oranges, &c. 
 
 BERKSHIRE, a flourishing county 
 in England, containing 460,000 acres, 
 chiefly arable, and 135,000 inhabitants. 
 
 BERLIN, the well-built capital of 
 Prussia, containing about 200,000 in- 
 habitants. 
 
 BERNARD, ST. a mountain in Swit- 
 zerland, 11,000 feet high. 
 
 BERNE, the principal of the cantons 
 or republics of Switzerland. 
 
 BERWICKSHIRE, a small Scots 
 county, containing 34,000 inhabitants. 
 
 BERYL, a very beautiful siliceous 
 gem, from green to honey-yellow and 
 sky-blue ; harder than the emerald. 
 
 BETEL-NUT, a species of pepper. 
 
 BETHLEHEM, a small town ofTa- 
 lestine, where Jesus Christ was .born ; 
 containing about 3000 inhabitants. 
 
BIR 
 
 BEVEL, an instrument to mark par- 
 ticular angles on wood or stone; much 
 used by joiners and masons. 
 
 BE Y, an officer of authority in Turkey. 
 
 BI, a chemical prefix for double. 
 
 BIBLE, the Old Testament, and some- 
 times including both New and Old. The 
 Old Testament consists of the five books 
 called the Pentateuch; the Historical, 
 Poetical, and Prophetic books ; the New, 
 of the four Gospels, the Acts, and the 
 Epistles. The earliest version of the Bi- 
 ble is a Greek translation called the Sep- 
 tuagint, and from this other translations 
 have been made. It was first printed in 
 English in 1535. A new translation has 
 lately been made by Bellamy from the 
 Hebrew. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHER, a person who is 
 well acquainted with Books. 
 
 BIBLIOMANIA, the rage of possess- 
 ing rare and useless books. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY, the knowledge of 
 books* the names of which are determin- 
 ed by the folding of the paper ; as folios, 
 the whole sheet ; quartos, or four leaves 
 to the sheet ; 8vos. duodecimos, (the size 
 of this book), octo-decimos, &c. 
 
 BICE, a blue or green colour. 
 
 BIGAMY, the crime of second marri- 
 age while husband and wife are living. 
 
 BIGOT, a person absurdly attached to 
 certain forms and opinions. 
 
 BILBOES, wooden stocks in ships. 
 
 BILE, a yellowish green fluid secreted 
 by the liver, accumulated in the gall-blad- 
 der, and thence conveyed through a ca- 
 nal into the duodenum, where it converts 
 the chyme into chyle and excrement. 
 
 BILL OF EXCHANGE, an order for 
 payment of money on account of the wri- 
 ter, called the drawer, and the accep- 
 tance of which by the person drawn upon, 
 is a legal obligation to pay, on him and 
 all the endorsers. 
 
 BILL OF LADING, an acknowledge- 
 ment of goods received by the captain of 
 a vessel. 
 
 BILLION, a million of millions. 
 
 BINNACLE, the box in which the 
 magnetic needle is placed on ship-board. 
 
 BINOMIAL, an algebraic expression 
 with only two members. 
 
 BIPED, an animal with two feet ; those 
 with four being called quadrupeds. 
 
 BIRDS, a class of vertebrated animals, 
 having an internal, bony, or cartilagi- 
 nous skeleton, a brain, a double heart, 
 and warm blood, and producing their 
 young by eggs. Their nests are at once 
 the most curious and beautiful objects in 
 29 
 
 BIT 
 
 nature, and merit respect and admiration, 
 instead of being torn down and plunder- 
 ed, as they are, by cruel and unthinking 
 boys. 
 
 BIRD-CATCHING, a cruel practice 
 by which birds are deprived of their li- 
 berty for the purpose of singing in cages. 
 In the western islands of Scotland it is 
 practised for the sake of the feathers 
 used in beds, and as the birds live in 
 rocks, the contrivances for catching them 
 are such as are represented in the en- 
 graving. 
 
 BIRMAN EMPIRE, an extensive but 
 uncivilized tract in India, east of the 
 bay of Bengal. 
 
 BIRDLIME, a glutinous substance 
 made of the bark of holly. 
 
 BIRMINGHAM, a large, populous, 
 and flourishing, manufacturing town in 
 Warwickshire, containing 85,000 inha- 
 bitants. 
 
 BISCUIT, potter’s earthenware when 
 first fixed or baked, before it is dipped into 
 the composition, which, by a second fir- 
 ing, forms the glaze or glassy coating seen 
 on all earthenware and porcelain. 
 
 BISHOP, the higher order of Chris- 
 tian clergy. 
 
 BISMUTH, a brittle and easily fusi- 
 ble metal. 
 
 BITTER, a variety of matter which 
 conveys to the palate a flavour so cal- 
 d 2 
 
BI,0 
 
 led, or one of the endless principles adopt- 
 ed by some chemists. In medicine, bit- 
 ter infusions are used to increase the 
 energy of the stomach. 
 
 BITUMEN, a combustible mineral, 
 which when most fluid, is called naptha ; 
 when viscid, petroleum ; and when hard, 
 asphaltum. Coals are supposed to be of 
 vegetable origin, and bitumen a com- 
 pound of vegetable and animal substances. 
 
 BIVALVES, testacea with two shells 
 joined with a hinge. 
 
 BLACK-LEAD, amineral, sometimes 
 called plumbago or graphite, found chief- 
 ly in Cumberland, and much used in 
 drawing. 
 
 BLACK SEA, a large inland basin, 
 between Turkey and Russia. 
 
 BLADDER, the membraneous bag, 
 which in animals holds the urine, and 
 also another which holds the bile or gall. 
 
 BLASTING-BELLOWS, instruments 
 used when greater heat is wanted than 
 could be obtained by the common acces- 
 sion of the air, fire and heat being nothing 
 more than atoms fixed, which were pre- 
 viously in motion, and the purpose of 
 bellows is to bring more of them into 
 contact with the fire. Sometimes they 
 have a wheel turned by water or steam, 
 and the shaft, being provided with pro- 
 jecting pieces, raises and lowers the up- 
 per sides of these enormous bellows which 
 discharge their volumes of air into the 
 furnace. 
 
 BLEACHING LIQUID, oxymuriatic 
 acid, or sulphuric acid combined with 
 chloride of lime. 
 
 BLEAK, a fresh-water fish, from 
 whose scales artificial pearls are made. 
 
 BLENDE, the ore of zinc. 
 
 BLINDNESS, loss of sight, sometimes 
 arising from an opacity of the humours 
 of the eye, and sometimes . from the 
 nerves losing their power by the action 
 of intense light, as from lightning. 
 
 BLISTER, a pustule in which the 
 skin rises into a bladder. 
 
 BLOCK, a piece of wood in which 
 wheels or sheaves are placed to facilitate 
 the passage of ropes. They are of many 
 various kinds. 
 
 BLOOD, the fluid which circulates in 
 the arteries and veins of a living body, 
 which consists of a fluid and a solid 
 part, called the serum and crassamen- 
 tum. The quantity in the human body 
 is about 30 pounds. 
 
 BLOODSTONE, a kind of calcedony, 
 of a dark green colour. 
 
 BLOWPIPE, a tube through which 
 30 
 
 BOI 
 
 air is blown, and more oxygen brought 
 in contact with flame : and, latterly, it 
 has been contrived to pass a jet of oxygen 
 and hydrogen through it, when it is called 
 the gas blow-pipe, the heat of which dis- 
 perses and melts the most refractory sub- 
 stances. 
 
 BLUBBER, the fat of whales and 
 other very large fish. 
 
 BLUE (or azure), one of the primi- 
 tive colours excited by light. 
 
 BLUE CAT, a variety of the wild cat, 
 but of blue colour. 
 
 BOA CANINA, a snake of South 
 America, of a beautiful make, about four 
 feet long : the head is large and resembles 
 that of a dog ; and the colour of the ani- 
 mal is an elegant green with white stripes. 
 
 BOHEA, black tea. 
 
 BOHEMIA, a large province of the 
 Austrian empire, containing three mil- 
 lions and a half of inhabitants. 
 
 BOILER, a vessel in which any fluid 
 is put, the sides of which being excited 
 
BOD 
 
 by heat or atomic motipn, the motion is 
 imparted to the atoms of the fluid, which 
 expand in steam or gas, and the -fluid 
 acquires boiling heat, which, if water, is 
 212 s , after which the evaporation pre- 
 vents any increase of heat. 
 
 BOA CONSTRICTOR, the largest of 
 the genus of serpents, 25 or 30 feet long, 
 very ferocious, and capable of swallow- 
 ing large animals whole. 
 
 BOLOGNA STONE, asulphate of ba- 
 rytes, which, after being heated, excites 
 the action called light. 
 
 BOMB, a shell filled with combusti- 
 bles, and discharged from a wide-mouth- 
 ed gun, called a mortar. 
 
 BOMBAY, an English town in India, 
 containing nearly 200,000 inhabitants. 
 
 BODIES, REGULAR, the name of 
 fivesolids, as the tetrahedron, or pyramid, 
 with four triangular faces ; the hexahe- 
 dron, or cube, with six square faces ; the 
 octahedron, with eight faces ; the dode- 
 cahedron, with 12 ; and the icosahedron, 
 with 20 faces. 
 
 The Hexahedron. 
 
 31 
 
 BOO 
 
 The Dodecahedron . 
 
 BOMBASIN, a very close and fine silk 
 and worsted fabric. 
 
 BONASSUS, the American bison, or 
 wild ox. 
 
 BOND, a legal obligation to perform 
 a certain condition under forfeiture. 
 
 BONES, the solid levers and props 
 within animals, partly organized and 
 partly a solid deposit of earthy salts. In 
 shell fish, &c. they are on the outside, 
 while mollusca have no bones. Man has 
 24G bones. The head and face 63, the 
 trunk 59, the arms 64, and the lower ex - 
 tremities 60. 
 
 BONZE, a Chinese devotee, who en- 
 deavours to extort money by every va- 
 riety of self-devotion, as carrying burn- 
 ing coals on his head, mangling his flesh, 
 dragging weights about, extending his 
 limbs for years in one position, and other 
 monstrous practices, serving to display 
 the mischiefs of superstition. 
 
 BOOBY, a very stupid sea-fowl, ra- 
 ther less than a goose. 
 
 BOOKBINDING, a very ingenious 
 art, by which printed sheets are folded, 
 gathered, pressed, sewn together, shielded 
 with mill boards, and covered with lea- 
 ther, which is variegated, lettered, and 
 ornamented. 
 
 BOOK-KEEPING, the art of register- 
 ing mercantile transactions for reference, 
 statement, and balance. 
 
BOT 
 
 BOOKSELLER, an intelligent person 
 who trades in books, whether printed by 
 himself, or by other persons. 
 
 BOOM, a long piece of timber with 
 which the clue of the studding sail of a 
 ship is spread out. 
 
 BOO R , a term applied to the uncivilized 
 peasants of Russia and other countries. 
 
 BOOTES, a constellation containing 
 Arcturus, and 50 other stars. 
 
 BORAX, a white salt used by, various 
 artists in soldering metals. 
 
 BORING MACHINE, an engine used 
 for boring or perfecting the bores of can- 
 non, cylinders for steam-engines, pipes, 
 &c. It is a machine of great power and 
 complexity. Boring the earth for water 
 is a successful modern discovery of great 
 importance. 
 
 BORNEO, an immense island in the 
 eastern seas, 900 miles long and 700 broad, 
 inhabited by semi-barbarous people. 
 
 BORNU, a large kingdom in the inte- 
 rior of Africa. 
 
 BOROUGH, a town, not a city, go- 
 verned by a corporation, often self-elect- 
 ed, and therefore very stupid. 
 
 BOROUGH-ENGLISH, when the 
 youngest son inherits instead of the eldest. 
 
 BOS, the name given by the Linnaean 
 system to the genus of animals which in- 
 cludes oxen of all kinds, as bisons, buf- 
 faloes, &c. 
 
 BOSTON, the name of a borough in 
 Lincolnshire, and of a large town in 
 New England. 
 
 BOTANY BAY, or New South 
 Wai.es, a port and district on the eastern 
 coast of New Holland, famous as a co- 
 lony of English convicts, but previously 
 inhabited by savages represented in the 
 engraving, who have retired from the 
 colony into the interior. 
 
 BOTANY, that science which treats 
 32 
 
 BRA 
 
 of the classification of plants, or that 
 systematic arrangement by which their 
 class, order, genus, and species, are as- 
 certained ; of which there are two sys- 
 tems, that of Linnaeus, in which the 
 arrangement is governed by the parts of 
 fructification, and that of Jussieu, some- 
 times called the natural system. 
 
 BOUTS RIME’S, (pronounced bo&ri - 
 mays) verses made by having the -rhymes 
 first given. 
 
 BOW and ARROW, a weapon of war 
 used by most nations before the inven- 
 tion of gunpowder. The English parti- 
 cularly excelled in its use, and they 
 were of various forms, but that which is 
 represented was the most common. 
 
 BOWELS, the canal of an animal bo- 
 dy, through which the part of the food 
 passes which has not been assimilated to 
 the system. 
 
 BOWSPRIT, amastwhich rests slope- 
 wise on the head of a ship, and carries the 
 sprit-sail, sprit-top-sail, and jack-staff. 
 
 BRAIN, a soft pulpy matter within 
 the skull, divided by membranes into 
 three parts, called the cerebrum, cere- 
 bellum, and medulla oblongata, the size 
 and form determining the faculties of 
 animals. The brain of a man weighs 
 nearly four pounds, and its superior 
 bulk gives rise to the greater powers of 
 the inner intellect. 
 
 BRAN, the skins or husks of grain, 
 especially wheat ground, separated from 
 the flour by a sieve or boulter. 
 
 BRANDY, a liquor consisting of wa- 
 ter, alcohol, and resin. 
 
 BRASS, an alloy of copper and zine. 
 
 BRAHMAN, or BRAMIN, the first 
 of the four tribes of the Hindoos, and 
 those devoted to learning and theology, 
 in which they practise many impos- 
 ture*, absurdities, and gross supersti- 
 
BRAZIL, a very extensive and valua- 
 ble Portuguese colony in South America, 
 lately created a separate empire. 
 
 BRAZILIAN PANTHER or Tyger, 
 the size of a wolf, and as sly and destruc- 
 tive as those of Asia and Africa. 
 
 BRAZIL-WOOD, valuable for the 
 33 
 
 BRE 
 
 beautiful orange and red colours, in va« 
 rious shades, which it furnishes to dyers. 
 
 BREAD, a preparation of flour mixed 
 with water, fermented with yeast, and 
 baked in an oven, brown or white ac- 
 cording to the quality of the flour ; water 
 gives flour consistency, but yeast sepa- 
 rates the parts, and makes it eatable. 
 
 BREAD-FRUIT-TREE, a native of 
 the South-Sea Islands. It grows to the 
 thickness of a man, and upwards of 40 
 feet high. The fruit is the size and shape 
 of a child’s head, the surface reticulated, 
 covered with a thin skin, with a core the 
 size of a small knife-handle ; the eatable 
 part is between the skin and core; as 
 white as snow, and of the consistence of 
 new bread. When perfectly ripe, it is 
 pulpy, sweetish, putrescent, and, by 
 some, thought to be too laxative; but 
 when green it is farinaceous, and esteem- 
 ed very wholesome food, either baked 
 under the coals, or roasted over them. 
 
 BREAKWATER, a fence of stone or 
 wood to break the force With which the 
 sea enters a harbour. A great one has 
 been formed in Plymouth Sound. 
 
 BRECCIA, fragments of rock re-com- 
 bined by a glutinous exudation from su- 
 perior^ strata. 
 
 BRECKNOCKSHIRE, a county in 
 Wales, containing 44,000 inhabitants. 
 
 BREVET, rank conferred in an army, 
 without corresponding pay or duty. 
 
 BREVIARY, the book of the daily- 
 service of the Popish church. 
 
 BREWING, the making malt into 
 beer, or apples into cider. 
 
 BRA 
 
 tions. One engraving represents their 
 god Brahma, as sculptured in their places 
 of worship ; the other represents some of 
 their devotees inflicting self-torments. 
 
BRO 
 
 BRIBERY, the dishonest and disho- 
 nourable receipt of money, to influence 
 the discharge of a duty. 
 
 BRICK, a piece of clay moulded 8J in- 
 ches long, four wide, and 2J thick, baked 
 in a kiln. The number made in Great 
 Britain is about a million of thousands 
 per annum ; but in 1823, &c. it was one 
 quarter more. 
 
 BRIDEWELL, a petty prison or house 
 of correction. 
 
 BRIDGE, abuildingof wood, stone, or 
 iron, for crossing a river or canal. Its 
 strength depending on its own form, its 
 unyielding materials, and the perma- 
 nence of the abutments. 
 
 BRIGADE, a division of an army, 
 consisting of several battalions serving 
 together. 
 
 BRIGHTON, a large, populous, and 
 fashionable, watering place on the coast 
 of Sussex, containing 30,000 inhabitants, 
 and 10,000 visitors. 
 
 BRIEF, a client’s case given by an at- 
 torney to aid a barrister in pleading. 
 
 BRIG, a two-masted vessel. 
 
 BRIMSTONE, the name of sulphur. 
 
 BRINE, a solution of salt and water. 
 
 BRISTOL, an ancient, large, and po- 
 pulous city and sea-port in the west of 
 England, containing 88,000 inhabitants. 
 
 BRITAIN, the general name of the 
 island which includes England, Wales, 
 and Scotland, 580 miles long, and from 
 200 to 350 broad, containing nearly 15 
 millions of inhabitants. 
 
 BRITANNIA, the name given to Bri- 
 tain by the Romans, personified on our 
 coin as a female warrior. 
 
 BROKER, a name applied to persons 
 of several and very different professions, 
 the chief of which are exchange-brokers, 
 stock-brokers, pawn-brokers, and bro- 
 kers who sell household furniture. 
 
 BRONZE, an alloy of two-thirds cop- 
 per and one-third brass. 
 
 BRO WNISTS, a sect of religious fana- 
 tics who flourished in the age of Eliza- 
 34 
 
 BUL 
 
 beth, and whose tenets were modified by 
 the Independents. 
 
 BRUSSELS, the handsome capital of 
 the Netherlands. 
 
 BRUMAL, the winter quarter of the 
 year, beginning at the shortest day. 
 
 BRUT-dS, the second order of animals 
 of the Mammalia class, who have no fore- 
 teeth in either jaw, consisting of nine ge- 
 nera, the principal of which are the sloth, 
 rhinoceros, elephant, &c. 
 
 BUBBLE, the first pherfbmenon of or- 
 ganization, arising from the exhalation 
 of gas through a viscid fluid ; also the 
 name of any idle project. 
 
 BUCCANEERS, pirates or freeboot- 
 ers; a race of adventurers who com- 
 mitted great depredations in the ICth and 
 17th centuries. 
 
 BUCHARIA, an extensive country in 
 the centre of Asia. 
 
 BUCK, the male of the fallow deer, 
 hare, and rabbit, tribes. 
 
 BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, a midland 
 county of England, containing 137,000 
 inhabitants. 
 
 BUCOLICK, pastoral poetry. 
 
 BUDD’HA, the Hindoo name of the 
 Deity, in his last incarnation, when he 
 was miraculously conceived by Maya-de- 
 vi. After his birth he was worshipped 
 by sages, and in his youth astonished his 
 teachers. He then retired into a forest, 
 underwent various penances, and died 
 under a tree, at thirty years of age, about 
 the year 1000 before Christ, or 3000, as 
 others assert. He taught the unity of 
 God and the practice of benevolence, 
 which included the unlawfulness of kil- 
 ling animals, and the transmigration of 
 souls after death. 
 
 BUDGET, the name given to the an- 
 nual exposure made to the House of Com- 
 mons, of the public finances. 
 
 BULBOUS, the name of a round root, 
 as the turnip or the onion. 
 
 BULL, the, a British animal remark- 
 able for its courage, and, in various dis- 
 tricts, of different breeds ; as long-horned, 
 short-horned, &c. The engraving re- 
 presents one of the short-horned, and 
 one without horns. 
 
BUR 
 
 Galloway Bull . 
 
 BULL, the name of the seal which the 
 pope annexes to any instrument or edict, 
 sometimes of gold, silver, lead, or wax. 
 
 BULL-FIGHT, an atrocious diversion 
 still practised in Spain, and, till lately, 
 among the lowest people in England, un- 
 der the name of bull-baiting. 
 
 BULLION, the name of uncoined gold 
 or silver. 
 
 BUOY, a floating body serving to give 
 notice of danger on the sea-coast. 
 
 BURGAGE TENURE, the terms on 
 which tenements in ancient boroughs are 
 held, conferring a right of voting for 
 members of parliament. 
 
 BURGLARY, the crime of breaking 
 into an inhabited house in the night, and 
 stealing,' or intending to steal; and pu- 
 nishable with death. 
 
 BURIAL, the interment of the dead 
 with certain forms of prayer. In 1811, 
 the burials in England and Wales were 
 204 thousand, and in London, 20,726; 
 and in 1820, 227 thousand, and in Lon- 
 don, 24,367- 
 
 BURNING-GLASSES, convex lenses, 
 or concave mirrors, which concentrate 
 the action of light into a point, and pro- 
 duce an intense heat. They have been 
 made so powerful as to melt the most 
 refractory metals, and disperse them and 
 other substances into gas, often in a few 
 seconds. 
 
 BUT 
 
 BUTESHIRE, a small county of is- 
 lands on the west coast of Scotland. 
 
 BUTTER, the oily part of milk, used 
 in temperate and cold climates, instead 
 of oil, as an article of diet. 
 
 BUTTER-FLY, or PAPILIO, a ge- 
 nus of insects, of which there are many 
 hundred species. Curious and elegant as 
 they are, this is the last state of the varied 
 existence of the same creature ; first in 
 the grub, or caterpillar form, in which 
 it emerges from the eggs laid by a former 
 generation : the grub then passes into an 
 insensible state, called the chrysalis or 
 aurelia, in which it continues some weeks 
 or months, having neither legs, wings, 
 nor motion ; at length the case is burst, 
 and moths and butterflies emerge, which 
 pass a short and fluttering existence, du- 
 ring which they lay eggs for future suc- 
 cessions of the same kind. 
 
 Grub of the Butterfly. 
 
 Chrysalis of the Butterfly. 
 
 36 
 
CAL 
 
 CAM 
 
 c 
 
 CAABA, the temple of Mecca, towards 
 which Mahometans turn when they pray. 
 
 CABALA, a collection of the traditions 
 of the Hebrew priests, full of strange fan- 
 cies and superstitions, assembled in the 
 hot-bed of oriental imagination. 
 
 CABINET, the secret council of a go- 
 vernment. 
 
 CABLE, a thick rope from 100 to 120 
 fathoms long, used for confining a vessel 
 to its place, formerly made of hemp, but, 
 the largest sorts now, of cast-iron. 
 
 CACOPHONY, the harsh sound of two 
 letters or syllables. 
 
 CADENCE, the dropping of the voice 
 at the close of a period. 
 
 CADET, a studentinthe art of war. 
 
 CADI, or KADI, a Turkish judge. 
 
 CADIZ, an important commercial city 
 and sea-port, in the South of Spain. 
 
 CADUCEUS, the wand of Mercury, 
 encircled by serpents. 
 
 CAERMARTHENSHIRE, a county 
 of Wales, between 30 and 40 miles long, 
 and 20 broad, with 92,000 inhabitants. 
 
 CAERNARVONSHIRE, a moun- 
 tainous county of North Wales, con- 
 taining 544 square miles, and 59,000 in- 
 habitants. 
 
 CAESAR, the name of a Roman family, 
 of whom Caius Julius, born 100 B.C. 
 distinguished himself as a conqueror, 
 ■who having overthrown Pompey, and 
 the constitutional authorities of the re- 
 public, was assassinated, March 15, 44 
 B.C. He was succeeded as Emperor, by 
 his nephew, Augustus, and by an irregu- 
 lar succession for 500 years, the name of 
 Ca?sar being still retained by the Em- 
 peror of Austria, and by the Emperor of 
 Russia, as Czar. 
 
 CAIRO, thepopulous capital of Egypt. 
 
 CAISSON, the frame within which the . 
 foundations of a bridge are laid. 
 
 CAITHNESS, a county of Scotland, 
 and the northernmost part of Great Bri- 
 tain, containing about 30,000 inhabitants. 
 
 CAL AM ARIAS, the third Linnacan 
 natural order of plants, containing the 
 reeds, resembling grasses. 
 
 CALCAREOUS EARTH, or lime, as 
 marble, limestone, marie, and gypsum, 
 forming ranges of mountains, and con- 
 taining marine shells and bones of ani- 
 mals, of which it is supposed to be the 
 concentrated ruins. 
 
 CALCUTTA, the capital of Bengal, 
 36 
 
 and seat of the British government in In- 
 dia, containing half a million of whites 
 and blacks. 
 
 CALCINATION, the reduction of bo- 
 dies to a pulverizable state, by the motion 
 of fire. 
 
 CALCULI, stones in the bladder. 
 
 CALCULUS, Differential, a method 
 of finding a small quantity, which, taken 
 an infinity of times, is equal to a given 
 quantity ; or it is the arithmetic of in- 
 finitely small quantities, and similar to 
 fluxions, which considers momenta as 
 quantities. Differentials are distin- 
 guished by the letter d, as d x, differen- 
 tial of x ; and fluxions by a dot over it, 
 as x is the fluxion of x. The differential 
 calculus is now generally referred to the 
 method of fluxions. 
 
 CALEDONIA, the ancient name of 
 Scotland. 
 
 CALIF, or KALIF, the title of the eas- 
 tern princes who succeeded Mohammed. 
 
 CALORIC, the name of the cause of 
 the sensation called heat. It has been 
 whimsically considered as peculiar mat- 
 ter, the particles of which repel each 
 other, but are attracted by all other bo- 
 dies; a combination of absurd chimeras, 
 scarcely paralleled in the darkest ages ; 
 the true and obvious cause of heat being 
 the mere motion of the smallest atoms 
 of bodies ; and this view of its cause 
 exactly harmonizes with all the pheno- 
 mena of nature, while it is perfectly in- 
 telligible. 
 
 CALUMET, an Indian pipe. 
 
 CALVIN, JOHN, a native of Switzer- 
 land, where he effected the reformation, 
 and died in 1504. 
 
 CALX, a metallic oxide, or oxygen 
 fixed in the substance of the metal. 
 
 CALYCANTHEMA, the 17th practi- 
 cal Linnaean order of plants, the corolla 
 and stamina inserted in the calyx. 
 
 CALYCIFLORA5, the 16th Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, the stamina in- 
 serted in the calyx, as the wild olive, Ac. 
 
 CALYX, the green cup of a plant 
 which contains the flower. 
 
 CAMBRICK, a very fine white linen. 
 
 CAMBRIDGESHIRE, an inland 
 county of England, containing 858 square 
 miles, and about 124,500 inhabitants. Its 
 principal town, Cambridge, is celebrated 
 as being the scat of 17 flourishing Col- 
 leges, united in an University. 
 
CAN 
 
 CAMEL, the Asiatic beast of burden, 
 called Arabian, or Dromedary, when he 
 has a single bunch, and Bactrian, when 
 two bunches, on his back. 
 
 CAMELOPARD, a native of Africa, 
 usually 16 or 17 feet high, and named 
 from its resemblance to a camel and a 
 panther. 
 
 CAMEO, an onyx stone with figures 
 engraven upon it. 
 
 CAMERA OBSCURA, a box, atone 
 end of which, a convex lens is fixed, 
 which converges the picture before it, 
 so as, by the intervention of a mirror, 
 to fall on a plate of ground glass, and 
 produce a perfect representation of the 
 object. 
 
 CAMPANACEiE, the 29th Linnasan 
 natural order of plants, with bell-shaped 
 flowers, as the convolvulus. 
 
 CAMPHOR, a resinous gum extracted 
 from a bay-tree growing in Japan. 
 
 CANARY ISLANDS, a groupe in the 
 Atlantic ocean, celebrated for excellent 
 37 
 
 CAN 
 
 wine, and for the elevated mountain of 
 Teneriffe, 14,000 feet high. 
 
 CANARY-BIRD, an elegant yellow 
 bird much bred in England, brought, 
 originally, from the Canary Islands, 
 where it is of a white colour. 
 
 CANCER, the fourth sign of the Zo- 
 diac. 
 
 CANCER, TROPIC OF, that parallel 
 of latitude over which the sun passes at 
 the greatest declination, 23 s 28' north. 
 
 CANDIA, the ancient Crete, a large 
 and fertile island in the Mediterranean. 
 
 CANDLEMAS, a festival of the 
 Christian church. 
 
 CANDLE, a portable contrivance for 
 making light for domestic purposes, and, 
 from its extensive utility, worthy of being 
 understood. Light is an excitement of 
 the atoms which fill the space where it 
 spreads. This excitement is most con- 
 veniently effected by so exciting hydrogen 
 and carbon as that the oxygen present in 
 the space combines with them, becomes 
 fixed by the combination, and transfers 
 its energies to them, by which they radiate 
 the received force around, and this force 
 confers on the atoms the powers called 
 light and heat. The place of union is the 
 surface of the flame, and the union con- 
 stitutes the flame. The uncombined car- 
 bon is the smoke, which with the combined 
 carbon and oxygen form carbonic acid 
 gas, and the combined oxygen and hydro- 
 gen or aqueous gas. The excitement of 
 these processes is propagated from atom 
 to atom around, and causes the useful 
 phenomena of light. The tallow or oil 
 consists of carbon and hydrogen ; the air 
 contains the oxygen, the excitement is 
 commenced by some burning body, and 
 the wick serves to bring the heated tallow 
 into contact with a greater volume of 
 oxygen ; while the fixation of this keeps 
 up the flame as long as there is any 
 hydrogen and carbon to evolve. All light 
 is generated in the same way, whatever 
 are the circumstances, and therefore the 
 burning of a candle is an instructive ex- 
 periment. In gas lights, the excitement is 
 applied to the gas, which is compounded, 
 like tallow or oil, of hydrogen and car- 
 bon, and therefore called carburretted 
 hydrogen gas, and the fixation of oxygen 
 equally maintains the heat and light ; but 
 as in a candle, part of theenergy of the oxy- 
 gen is expended in melting the tallow and 
 making the gas, so when the gas is ready 
 made, the same oxygen makes a better 
 light. Candles pay a duty ; and it thence 
 appears that in 1823, no less than 97 mil- 
 E 
 
CAN 
 
 lions of pounds weight were made, in the 
 United Kingdom, of tallow, and nearly 
 one million pounds of wax. 
 
 CANADIAN LYNX, an animal twice 
 the size of a cat, of a bright bay colour, 
 with dusky spots. 
 
 CANNIBAL, one who eats human flesh 
 in addition to that of animals. 
 
 CANOE, a light boat formed of the 
 trunk of a tree. 
 
 CANON LAW, ecclesiastical constitu- 
 tions, decisions, and rules for regulating 
 the church. 
 
 CANONIZATION, an absurd process 
 in the Romish church, by which the 
 Pope enrolls deceased persons in the ca- 
 non or catalogue of pretended Saints. 
 
 CANNON, an arrangement of iron or 
 brass, with a hollow tube, at the bottom 
 of which gunpowder is lodged, and ex- 
 ploded by hot iron at a touch -hole ; and 
 the explosion being directed by the tube, 
 balls and missiles are carried to great dis- 
 tances with destructive force. According 
 to the sized ball which they will explode, 
 they are called C, 12, and 48, pounders. 
 
 38 
 
 CAR 
 
 In a field of battle they are dragged by 
 horses on light carriages, called field or 
 flying artillery ; and, in other ways, called 
 heavy ordnance. 
 
 CANTEEN, a public-house licensed, 
 in every barrack or fort, to sell liquors. 
 A vessel in which soldiers, on a march, 
 carry liquor. 
 
 CANTERBURY, a very ancient city 
 in Kent, celebrated for its beautiful go- 
 thic cathedral, and as the see of the Pri- 
 mate of all England. 
 
 CANTH ARY, or Spanish fly, a beauti- 
 ful insect, used for creating blisters. 
 
 CANTON, an important commercial 
 city, and the only port of China at which 
 foreigners are allowed to trade. 
 
 CANTUAR, the official name of the 
 archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 CAPILLARY TUBES, tubes of hair- 
 like fineness, in which fluids ascend, 
 owing to the pressure of the atmosphere 
 being intercepted within the tube, by its 
 sides, and being complete and uninter- 
 cepted on the outside of the tube. Others 
 suppose the rise to be owing to the con- 
 tinuity of the drops which assimilate. 
 
 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, an important 
 British colony at the southern extremity 
 of Africa. 
 
 CAPRICORN, the tenth sign of the 
 Zodiac, most southerly. 
 
 CAPRICORN, TROPIC OF, that pa- 
 rallel of the earth’s surface, over which 
 the sun passes at its greatest southern de- 
 clination, or 23° 28' south. 
 
 CAPSICUM, a pod-like Indian fruit, 
 the seeds of which produce Guinea and 
 Cayenne pepper. 
 
 CAPTAIN, the commander of a ship, 
 or of a division of a regiment called a 
 company; also, that industrious youth 
 who is at the head of the classes of a 
 public school. 
 
 CARBON, a simple substance, whose 
 most common form is purified charcoal, 
 but which combineswithoxygen, forming 
 carbonic acid gas ; with hydrogen, form- 
 ing carburetted hydrogen gas, used in gas- 
 lights ; and with nitrogen gas, forming 
 prussic gas. Charcoal is useful as an an- 
 tiseptic, and indestructible by age or fire. 
 
CAR 
 
 CAR 
 
 It is an ingredient of gunpowder, and 
 forms a large proportion of the substance 
 of coals, besides being the basis of vege- 
 tables, and, in connexion with hydrogen, 
 forming all combustible substances. Itself 
 not gas, it seems to serve as a general 
 fixer of gases. 
 
 CARBONIC ACID, a compound of 
 carbon and oxygen in its gaseous state, 
 called fixed air, or carbonic acid gas ; and 
 being one and a half times heavier than 
 atmospheric air, it will neither support 
 animal life nor combustion. It is the gas 
 which escapes from fermenting masses, 
 carrying with it the viscid substance 
 called yeast to the top. 
 
 CARBURETTED HYDROGEN, gas 
 formed of hydrogen and carbon, which, 
 on being duly excited, fixes oxygen, and 
 radiates light and heat, as in gas lights, 
 and all other lights. 
 
 CARDINAL, the highest order in the 
 Romish church, from which the pope is 
 elected. He wears a red hat, of the form 
 represented in the engraving. 
 
 CARDINAL POINTS, north, south, 
 east, and west ; subdivided into interme- 
 diate parts, as N. E. north east; N. W. 
 north west, &c. to the number of thirty, 
 two points of the compass, each 11£ de. 
 grees. 
 
 CARDINAL VIRTUES, Industry, 
 Perseverance, Benevolence, Temperance. 
 CARDS, toys with which many games 
 39 
 
 of chance are played, there being four 
 kinds, and 13 of each kind, so as to cause, 
 by shuffling and dealing, an infinite va- 
 riety of combinations, and afford inex- 
 haustible amusement ; which, if not 
 abused by large stakes, is, at least, an in- 
 nocent mode of passing time among idle 
 persons, and of relaxation among others 
 of serious pursuits. They were invented in 
 the age of Edward III. and their costume 
 and mode of manufacturing by block- 
 printing, are continued to this day. In 
 truth, the making of them must have 
 suggested the art of block-printing to 
 the first printers, the one being but a 
 slight variation of the other. 
 
 CARMINATIVES, medicines which 
 promote perspiration. 
 
 CARNIVOROUS, those men or ani- 
 mals which devour one another, as op- 
 posed to Herbivorous, or animals which 
 subsist on vegetables. 
 
 CART, a common vehicle on two 
 wheels, used for transporting goods. 
 
 CARTE BLANCHE, a phrase to de- 
 note unconditional or unqualified terms. 
 
 CARTHAGE, now Tunis, a famous 
 commercial city on the northern coast 
 of Africa, which contended for the do- 
 minion of the Mediterranean with the 
 Romans; but, after three wars, Cartharge 
 was taken and destroyed, in 251 B.C. 
 
 CARTILAGINII, or Nantes, an order 
 of fishes, whose bones are soft and yield- 
 ing, and have fins with cartilaginous rays. 
 They are now sub-divided into Bran- 
 chiostegi and Chondropterygii. 
 
 CARTOON, a drawing on strong pa- 
 per. preparatory to its transfer to the 
 plaster of a wall. The most famous are 
 the Cartoons of Raphael. 
 
 CARYOPHYLLEjE, the22dLinnaean 
 natural order of plants, containing the 
 pink, carnation, Sic. 
 
CAT 
 
 CARYATIDES, pillars of support in 
 the form of human figures. 
 
 CASPIAN, an inland Asiatic sea. 
 
 CASTANETS, small pieces of ivory 
 or hard wood, used in Spanish dances. 
 
 CASTE, the general name for the 
 tribes of various employment, into which 
 the Hindoos are divided in successive 
 generations, and generations of families. 
 
 CASTRIUM, in Latin, a castle or 
 camp, whence the terminations — cester, 
 caster, Chester, &c. in English towns. 
 
 CASSOWARY, a bird nearly equal to 
 the ostrich in size. 
 
 CAT 
 
 which Aristotle ascribed to every genus ; 
 as quantity, quality, relation, action, 
 passion, time, place, situation, form, and 
 habit. 
 
 CATENARIA, the curve which an 
 extended rope forms by its own weight. 
 
 CATHARTIC, purging medicines. 
 
 CATHERINE WHEEL, infire-works, 
 an arrangement of tubes in the periphery 
 of a circle, the re-action of the burning 
 of which, against the air, occasions the 
 wheel to revolve with a pleasing effect. 
 
 CATACOMBS, extensive excavations 
 made in Egypt, for the reception of 
 mummies of the dead. 
 
 CATARACT, an opacity of the crys- 
 talline lens of the eye, or an opaque pel- 
 licle which covers the pupil, causing 
 blindness. A fall of water. 
 
 CATEGORIES, the ten attributes 
 40 
 
 CAT, a well known domestic animal, 
 of the feline genus, but sometimes wild 
 in the woods, and large and ferocious. 
 
 CATHOLIC, the name assumed by 
 those who consider the Pope as the head 
 of the Christian church ; otherwise called 
 Papists, or Romists. The Bishop of 
 Rome asserts that his see was founded 
 by St. Peter, to whom the keys of heaven 
 and hell were given by Christ, and there- 
 fore takes upon himself the powers of 
 Christ’s vicegerent. This religion ex- 
 tended over Europe till it was assailed 
 by Wickliff, Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, 
 and others, in the 15th and ICth centuries ; 
 but it is still the prevailing religion of 
 Italy, Austria, Southern Germany, Bel- 
 gium, France, Spain, Portugal, and Ire- 
 land. 
 
 CATHOLIC PRIEST, a learned per- 
 son ordained to say mass, and pray and 
 preach in public. 
 
 
CEM 
 
 CATTLE, the name of oxen, bulb, 
 and cows, of which above 140,000 are sold 
 every year in Smithfield market. 
 
 CAVERN, a natural cavity in the 
 earth, arising either from arches acci- 
 dentally made, or from streams of water 
 flowing under ground. The most re- 
 markable is that in Kentucky, which 
 runs several miles, of great height; that 
 of Antiparos, that of Crete, and those of 
 the Peak in Derbyshire. 
 
 CAUL, a membrane which encom- 
 passes the head of many new-born chil- 
 dren, to which vulgar superstition ab- 
 surdly annexes the charm of preservation 
 from drowning. 
 
 CAUSE, that which produces any ef- 
 fect, sometimes remote, sometimes prox- 
 imate. 
 
 CAUSE, EFFICIENT, the operative 
 and sufficient cause of an effect. 
 
 CAUSE, FINAL, the purpose for 
 which an effect is alleged to be produced. 
 
 CAUSTIC, burning or corroding. 
 
 CAYMAN, the American alligator. 
 
 CETACEOUS, a class of fishes, whose 
 structure resembles that of quadrupeds ; 
 but to retain their heat in the water, they 
 are surrounded by a thick coat of fat or 
 blubber. 
 
 CELESTIAL, a term in the ancient 
 mythology, applied to the residence of 
 the Gods, supposed to be in the clouds 
 or stars, and hence the space in which 
 the stars are situated are commonly cal- 
 led the celestial spaces. 
 
 CELLULAR MEMBRANE, a net- 
 work of fine threads, the masses of which 
 are filled with thin plates of fat or fluid, 
 and which membrane surrounds every 
 muscle, artery, vein, nerve, and organ, 
 of the body, and are its fatty parts. 
 
 CEMENT, a plastic substance, which, 
 41 
 
 CEN 
 
 when dry or cold, so coheres as to join 
 surfaces of other bodies together. 
 
 CENOTAPH, a complimentary mo- 
 nument. 
 
 CENSUS, an enumeration of the peo- 
 ple, the last of which, in the United 
 Kingdom, proved the population to 
 amount to 21 millions. 
 
 CENTAUR, a creature of imagination, 
 between a man and a horse. 
 
 CENTRE of GRAVITY. As the re- 
 action of every body to every force is 
 directed from the centre of the masses, 
 so bodies subject to centripetal force 
 re-act from their centres, and, if these 
 are not supported, the body yields or 
 falls. Hence, as in the engraving, when 
 the centre of the mass is within the per- 
 pendicular of the wheels, it does not 
 yield; but if so inclined as that the per- 
 pendicular from the centre falls beyond 
 the wheels, then the centre falls, and the 
 carriage is overset. In cases of danger, 
 therefore, as in a boat or carriage, the 
 object should be to lower the centre of 
 the mass by lying down. 
 
 CENTRIFUGAL, the tendency with 
 which bodies restrained in circular mo- 
 tion, endeavour to move in tangents, 
 applicable only when the body is pal- 
 pably confined, or when the revolution 
 is continued in the same place. 
 
 CENTRIPETAL, the tendency with 
 which bodies move, or endeavour to 
 move, towards the centre of a system of 
 bodies ; applicable only when the system 
 of bodies is performing such other mo- 
 tions, as that the direction to the centre 
 is their necessary resultant. 
 
 CENTURY, a period of 100 years, 
 commencing with the year 1, and ending 
 with the decimal completion, Dec. 31, 
 1900, being the last day of the present, 
 or 19th century, since the birth of Christ. 
 
 E 2 
 
CER 
 
 CENTRE-BIT, a tool much used by 
 carpenters, &c. for drilling holes. 
 
 CERATE, wax combined with oil. 
 
 CEREBELLUM, the part of the brain 
 in the back of the skull, divided into 
 two lobes ; and the part which, when 
 taken away or injured, deprives the ani- 
 mal of the power of volition, and using 
 its limbs. 
 
 CEREBRUM, the large part of the 
 brain which occupies the front and top 
 of the skull, divided into three lobes, and 
 of two colours; and which, when re- 
 moved or injured, deprives the animal 
 of sensation, or of perception by the 
 organs of sense. 
 
 CERES, in heathen mythology, the 
 goddess of Corn, and daughter of Saturn 
 and Cybele. 
 
 CERES, a small planet, which revolves 
 round the Sun in four years, seven 
 months, and ten days, at the distance of 
 260,000,000 of miles. 
 
 CERTAINTY, the intellectual con- 
 viction that a proposition is true; as 
 mathematical, when demonstrated ; mo- 
 ral, when founded on the testimony of 
 42 
 
 cha 
 
 others ; physical, when derived from the 
 senses, or the regular course of nature ; 
 or theological, when founded on spiritual 
 faith, or religious doctrine. 
 
 CESSIO BONORUM, the obtaining 
 liberty on giving up effects to creditors. 
 
 CETERIS PARIBUS, other things 
 alike. 
 
 CHAINS, links of iron formed within 
 one another in different shapes, so as to 
 produce the greatest strength of tension. 
 
 CHALDRON, a coal measure of 36 
 bushels, weighing 52£ cwt. 
 
 CHALK, carbonate of lime, — 56Hme, 
 — 44 carbonic acid, when pure. 
 
 CHALYBEATE, a mineral water with 
 which iron is combined. 
 
 CHAMA, a bivalve shell, inhabited by 
 a polype, sometimes weighing 5001b. 
 
 CHAMELEON, an animal about 10 
 inches long, which feeds on insects, and 
 which, from the capacity of its lungs, is 
 enabled to expand its skin, and thereby 
 varying the angle of reflected light, chan- 
 ges its colour to a spectator, whose eye 
 i6 fixed. 
 
 CHANCE-MEDLEY, casual killing. 
 CHANCERY, THE COURT OF, the 
 highest in British Law, in which the 
 Lord Chancellor presides, assisted by the 
 Vice-Chancellor, and Master of the Rolls; 
 
CHE 
 
 also called a Court of Equity, but owing 
 to its delays and expenses, rendered too 
 often a Court of Iniquity. 
 
 CHANCES, a branch of mathematics, 
 %hich estimates ratios of probability. 
 
 CHANGE OF BODIES. By the as- 
 similation of food, and the elimination 
 of superfluities, an animal and plant are 
 in a constant state of change ; so that 
 the atoms composing a man, are sup- 
 posed to be changed in about 40 days, 
 though the bones, &c. may last longer. 
 
 CHANTRY, a place to say mass for 
 souls, or sing in divine worship. 
 
 CHAOS, matter in confusion. 
 
 CHAPLAIN, a person in holy orders 
 utfio does the duty of a chapel ; for his 
 own chapels, the king has 72 chaplains, 
 and by law, an archbishop may have 8 ; 
 duke or bishop 6 ; a marquis or earl 5 ; 
 a viscount 4 ; a baron 3 ; and a peeress 
 2 ; each of whom, as such, enjoys certain 
 clerical privileges. 
 
 CHARIOT, a carriage for 2 or 3 per- 
 sons, with glasses in the front, and a 
 coach box. 
 
 CHARLEMAGNE, emperorof France, 
 Italy, and Germany, born A.D. 740, died 
 820; cotemporary with the caliph Ha- 
 roun al Raschid. 
 
 CHARM, a pretended power of one 
 thing over another, without any probable 
 or possible connexion, of which supersti- 
 tion mankind, in all ages, have been the 
 dupes in various forms and circumstances. 
 
 CHART, a map of the sea, for the 
 guide of navigators. 
 
 CHARTER, a grant of privileges and 
 powers from the king, to a town or body 
 politic. 
 
 CHATEAU, a villa, or country seat, in 
 France. 
 
 CHATHAM, a large town and royal 
 dock-yard in England. 
 
 CHEESE, the coagulated part of milk, 
 made with rennet, and constituting a 
 hranch of agriculture, called Dairy 
 Farming, which is very extensive and 
 43 
 
 CHI 
 
 profitable in the counties bordering on 
 the Severn. 
 
 CHEF D’CEUVRE, the master-piece 
 of any artist. 
 
 CHEMISTRY, the science which 
 teaches the relative actions and re-actions 
 of atoms in motion, as distinguished 
 from physics, which treat of the actions 
 and re-actions of aggregates of fixed 
 atoms. It is a science of great utility, 
 but involved in much confusion, owing 
 to its phenomena having for several 
 ages been ascribed to imaginary qualities, 
 per se, instead of the mechanical actions 
 and re-actions of various atoms. 
 
 CHERUBIM, children with winged 
 heads, in the Hebrew mythology. 
 
 CHESHIRE, a fertile county, con- 
 taining 1052 square miles, and 270,098 in- 
 habitants. 
 
 CHESS, an ancient and interesting 
 game, calculated to teach the practice of 
 reasoning with acuteness. 
 
 CHEVIOT SHEEP, a breed of sheep 
 celebrated for their superior wool, which 
 flourish on the Cheviot Hills, between 
 England and Scotland. 
 
 CHIARO OSCURO, the art of dis- 
 tributing lights and shades in painting. 
 
 CHILDREN, the young and immature 
 of the human race, generally so called till 
 turned of 15, and it appears that they 
 constitute four-tenths of the whole popu- 
 lation, while others from 15 to 20, con- 
 stitute another tenth, or altogether, one 
 half. 
 
 CHILI, a republic of South America, 
 with the finest climate and richest soil in 
 the world. 
 
 CHILTERN HUNDREDS, certain 
 crown lands near Aylesbury, in Bucking- 
 hamshire, the acceptance of the stew- 
 ardship of which, enables a member in 
 the House of Commons to vacate his 
 seat; because no member can continue 
 to hold his seat after accepting an office 
 from the crown. 
 
 CHINESE, the inhabitants of an an- 
 cient, extensive, and populous, empire, in 
 
CUR 
 
 CIC 
 
 Asia, distinguished by their ingenuity and 
 industry, and known by the smallness of 
 their eyes, high cheek bones, sallow com- 
 plexion, and single tuft of hair. 
 
 CHIROMANCY, an absurd means 
 of superstitious prognostication, by the 
 lines of the hand. 
 
 CHIVALRY, a spirit of enthusiasm 
 which actuated romantic heroes in the 
 middle ages, particularly during the holy 
 wars. 
 
 CHLORINE, or Oxymuriatic acid 
 Gas, by some considered as a compound, 
 and by others, as a simple substance. It 
 combines with carburetted hydrogen, and 
 thereby exhibits the mechanical pheno- 
 mena of combustion ; but will not sup- 
 port animal life. As it discharges co- 
 lours, it is used as a bleaching liquid. Its 
 specific gravity is 2*4733. 
 
 CHOCOLATE, a cake made from the 
 cocoa-nut. 
 
 CHOKE-DAMP, carbonic acid gas. 
 
 CHOLERA MORBUS, violent evacu- 
 ation by vomiting and stool. 
 
 CHORD, a right line drawn from one 
 part of a circle to another, not through 
 the centre. 
 
 CHORUS, an union of voices in the 
 burden of a song. 
 
 CHOULTRY, an East Indian Inn. 
 
 CHOWRY, a whisk to drive away flies. 
 
 CHRISTIANS, the believers in Jesus 
 Christ, as distinguished from Mahome- 
 tans, Jews, &c. divided into Catholics, 
 Protestants, and Greek church ; and the 
 Protestants into Lutherans, Calvinists, 
 Arians, Armenians, Wesleyans, Baptists, 
 general and particular. Independents, 
 Presbyterians, Scotch and English, An- 
 tinomians, Quakers, Jumpers, Shakers, 
 Moravians, Swedenborgians, Unitarians, 
 and Freethinkers ; all of whom incul- 
 44 
 
 cate virtue, but differ on points of faith 
 and ceremony. 
 
 CHRISTENING, the ceremony by 
 which an infant is admitted into the 
 Christian church ; a form of service be- 
 ing read, accompanied by sprinkling of 
 water, and the sign of the cross marked 
 on the forehead ; adult persons, under the 
 names of god-father and god-mother, 
 becoming answerable for the Christian 
 education of the child. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY, the science which 
 determines the dates of events, and the 
 civil distinctions of time. 
 
 CHRONOMETER, the name of a 
 superior time-piece. 
 
 CHRYSALIS, the third, or pupa state 
 of insects before they fly. 
 
 CHURCHES, places of worship, of 
 which there are 9284 in England and 
 Wales to the 10,693 parishes. 
 
 CHURCHWARDENS, the keepers of 
 the church, chosen at Easter, by the mi- 
 nister and parishioners. 
 
 CHY LIFICATION, the conversion of 
 food into a nutritious milky fluid, in 
 the lower stomach, which, conveyed into 
 the blood, sustains the body. 
 
 CICERO, a Roman orator and philo- 
 sopher, born 107 B.C. and murdered by 
 the party of Marc Antony, 43 B.C. 
 
CIR 
 
 CIDER, a pleasant beverage made 
 from the juice of apples. 
 
 CI-DEVANT, formerly. 
 
 CINNAMON-TREE, a valuable bay- 
 tree of Ceylon. The leaves, fruit, and 
 root, yield oils, and the well-known 
 spice is the inner bark of the tree. 
 
 CINQUE PORTS, five ancient ports 
 of England, endowed with privileges, as 
 Dover, Hastings, Romney, Hythe, and 
 Sandwich, with Winchelsea and Rye. 
 
 CINQUE FOIL, five-leaved clover. 
 
 CIPHER, a mode of writing in con- 
 cealed characters ; applied also to the 
 practice of arithmetic. 
 
 CIRCAR, an East Indian county. 
 
 CIRCLE, a curve, all the points of 
 which are equi-distant from the centre, 
 the diameter being to the circumference 
 as 7 to 22. The areaf is determined by 
 multiplying the circumference by a 
 fourth of the diameter, or half the cir- 
 cumference by half the diameter. In 
 practical mathematics, every circle is 
 supposed to be divided into 360 parts or 
 degrees. A E and D B are diameters ; 
 A D and B E are arcs ; A C D is an acute 
 angle ; and D C E an obtuse angle. 
 
 CIRCUIT, the six jurisdictions into 
 which England is divided by the 12 
 judges, called Home, Norfolk, Midland, 
 Oxford, Western, and Northern. Wales 
 is also divided into North and South cir- 
 cuits; and Scotland, into South, West, 
 and North. 
 
 CIRCLE, ARCTIC, a circle of the earth, 
 2 3i degrees from the North Pole, within 
 which the sun never sets during our six 
 months of summer, and never rises du- 
 ring our six winter months; while the 
 contrary is the case in the Antartic Cir- 
 cle, or 23J degrees from the South Pole. 
 
 45 
 
 CLA. 
 
 The engraving represents the sun at mid- 
 night, near North Cape, in the Artie 
 Circle, on the 21st of June. 
 
 CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE, 
 evidence founded on presumptions and 
 high probabilities, which ought seldom 
 to be adopted by juries. 
 
 CITRIC ACID, the concrete juice of 
 lemons. 
 
 CITY, the see of a bishop, or a town 
 that was once a see. 
 
 CIVET CAT, a species of fox or wea- 
 sel, upon which grows a bag, containing 
 perfun^. 
 
 CIVIL LAW, the Roman Law, derived 
 from the Code of Justinian. 
 
 CLASS, a primary division of plants, 
 founded on the agreement of several 
 genera in certain particulars. 
 
 CLASSICS, an epithet bestowed on 
 the best Greek and Roman authors, 
 whose works, from being copied and 
 revised during many ages, when every 
 copy was an edition, acquired a certain 
 mechanical perfection ; and being the 
 only books when literature began to be 
 cultivated in Europe, their languages 
 were taught in schools founded at that 
 time, and have continued in fashion even 
 to this day. The chief poets of antiquity 
 were Homer, Virgil, Horace, and Lucre- 
 tius ; the dramatists, Aristophanes, 
 iEschylus, Euripides, Terence, and Plau- 
 tus ; orators, Demosthenes and Cicero ; 
 the historians, Herodotus, Xenophon, 
 Tacitus, Livy, Sallust, Plutarch, Caesar ; 
 in medicine, Hippocrates and Galen ; 
 and the chief philosophers, were Pytha- 
 goras, Thales, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, 
 Pliny, and Seneca; the mathematicians 
 were Euclid, Archimedes, Aristarchus, 
 Diophantus, and Ptolemy ; writers who 
 may be considered as the fathers of learn* 
 
CLO 
 
 iag, much of whose knowledge is, how- 
 ever, rendered obsolete by modern dis- 
 coveries and improvements. 
 
 CLAY, or Alumina, in general, a 
 mixture of silica and alumina. 
 
 CLERK, a person in holy orders, or a 
 keeper of accounts. 
 
 CLIMATE, an ancient division of the 
 earth’s surface into spaces, whose longest 
 day was half an hour longer than one 
 another. 
 
 CLOACA, an ancient common sewer. 
 
 CLOCK, a combination of wheels go- 
 verning external indexes, so as tomeasure 
 the progress of time. Pendulum clocks 
 were invented in 1657- The clock mea- 
 sures even 24 hours, but the solar day 
 is unequal, according to the situation of 
 the earth in its orbit, and to the declina- 
 tion of the sun. Hence, the equable 
 dock is sometimes a few minutes faster 
 or slower than the sun. 
 
 CLOISTERS, covered passages. 
 
 CLOVE-TREE, a native of the Mo- 
 luccas. The blossoms are first white, 
 then green, and at last red and hard, 
 when they are cloves. When dried, they 
 turn yellow, and then dark brown. In 
 1 823, about 200,000 pounds were imported 
 into Great Britain, at 2s. 5d. per pound. 
 
 CLOUDS, aqueous gas or vapour, 
 which, having transferred part of its mo- 
 tion, or being too dense to rise higher in 
 the gradually rarified atmosphere, accu- 
 mulates and floats at a level in which its 
 density, and that of the atmosphere, are 
 duly balanced. When the balance is 
 46 
 
 coc 
 
 further destroyed by the collision^ of 
 clouds, or by a cold stratum of air, which 
 receives motion from the aqueous gas, it 
 falls in rain. Massive round clouds are 
 called cumulus ; flat long clouds are cal- 
 led stratus ; feathery or hairy clouds, cir- 
 rhus ; and when the stratus intersects tire 
 cumulus, the combination is called nim- 
 bus, from its producing rain. When the 
 atmosphere is in a state of electrical dis- 
 turbance, a cloud forms one surface, and 
 the earth another surface, ‘and natural 
 electricity, or thunder and lightning, k: 
 the consequence ; but the cloud is merely 
 one side of the stratum of air, and con- 
 tains no electrical power more than the 
 opposed surface of earth, the disturbance 
 being in the intermediate stratum of air. 
 
 COACH, a well-known vehicle, in- 
 vented in Hungary in the 16th century, 
 and used by ladies only in England in 
 the age of Elizabeth ; since adopted as a 
 travelling vehicle, the roads being pre- 
 viously fit only for heavy carriages, about 
 the Restoration. 
 
 COADUNAT^E, the 52d Linnaean na- 
 tural order of plants, with numerous 
 seed vessels, as the tulip-tree, &c. 
 
 COAL-MINE, a subterraneous exca- 
 vation from which coal is obtained. It is 
 provided with tackle, windlasses, horse- 
 mills, and sometimes with steam-qngines, 
 by means of which, the workmen, horses, 
 &c. are let down and raised up, water 
 ejected, and the produce of the mine 
 brought to the surface. Many coal-mines 
 in the north of England are of vast ex- 
 tent. 
 
 COBALT, a grey metal used in por- 
 celain, 8£ times heavier than water. 
 
 COBRA DI CAPELLA, an East In- 
 dian serpent, 3 or 4 feet long, which ex- 
 pands the skin of its neck like a hood. It 
 is that species which is taught to dance. 
 
 COCHLEA, spiral univalve shells. 
 
 COCKET, a piece of parchment given 
 at the Custom-House, to merchants, on 
 entering goods. 
 
COF 
 
 C'OCKCHAFFER, a well-known in- 
 sect, in the generation of which nature 
 is so elaborate that it is six years in the 
 grub state, before it emerges from the 
 ground and flies. It is often treated 
 with culpable cruelty, by untaught chil- 
 dren. 
 
 COCOA -NUT -TREE, common in 
 Asia and the warm parts of America, 
 rising 50 feet, with leaves or branches 
 often 14 or 15 feet long, and producing 
 a shelly fruit, which hangs in clusters. 
 The natives draw from the tree a very 
 agreeable liquor ; the leaves are wrought 
 into sacks, hammocks, &c. and the fila- 
 ments of the outer coat of the nut are 
 made into cables. 
 
 COCOON, the fibrous or silken cone 
 which caterpillars weave around them- 
 selves when they become pupa or chry- 
 salis. 
 
 COCULUS INDICUS, a poisonous 
 berry used by knavish brewers to add to 
 the inebriating quality of their pernicious 
 malt liquor. 
 
 CODICIL, an addition to a will. 
 
 CCEUR DE LION, heart of a lion. 
 
 COFFEE-ROASTER, a hollow iron 
 vessel, into which coffee berries are put 
 with butter or oil, and turned about in a 
 strong heat, till they are fitted for grind- 
 ing in a mill. 
 
 COFFER-DAM, a circular double 
 range of piles rammed with clay, within 
 which the foundations of bridges are 
 laid. 
 
 COFFEE, an evergreen shrub, growing 
 in Arabia and the West Indies. It seldom 
 rises more than 16 or 18 feet high : the 
 flowers are of a pure white, and the ber- 
 ries grow in clusters, resembling cherries. 
 In 1823, no less than 400,000 hundred 
 47 
 
 COL 
 
 weight were imported into Great Britain, 
 and five-eighths re-exported. 
 
 COGNOVIT, a writ by which the de- 
 fendant admits the judgment against him. 
 
 COHESION, the phenomenon by 
 which atoms of fitting sides, acted upon 
 by the surrounding medium, adhere to- 
 gether. 
 
 COHORT, a body of 5000 soldiers. 
 
 COKE, the residuum of distilled coal. 
 
 COLD, a term relative to various de- 
 grees of heat ; for, as atoms in motion dif- 
 fuse their momenta, vhose unmoved re- 
 ceive the motion of others, and in de- 
 priving them of it, are called cold, with 
 reference to them; the atoms of a hot 
 body being in action, and the others in a 
 capability of reception; the diffusion in 
 one being called heat, and the reception 
 in the other being called cold. Any body 
 which takes heat from our skins, we call 
 cold. 
 
 COLLATION, the entering on a be- 
 nefice. 
 
 COLLEGE, and establishment for the 
 study of the sciences. 
 
 COLEOPTERA, the first order of 
 insects, having two crustaceous covers 
 above their wings; as cockchaffers, bee- 
 tles, glow-worms, &c. 
 
 COLOCYNTH, a species of gourd. 
 
 COLONEL, the commander of a regi- 
 ment. 
 
 COLONIES, distant possessions of a 
 kingdom, held for variety of production 
 and convenience of commerce, and a very 
 
COM 
 
 important part of the British Empire, 
 consisting of the Canadas, Nova Scotia, 
 and Newfoundland, of the Bermudas and 
 Bahamas, Jamaica, and twelve Islands in 
 the West Indies, Demerara, and Berbice, 
 the Cape of Good Hope, &c. in Africa, 
 Bengal, and Hindostan, East Indian Is- 
 lands, and new South Wales, besides 
 Gibraltar, Malta, &c. &c. 
 
 COLOSSUS, or Colossal, applied to 
 statues larger than life. 
 
 COLOURS, the varied affections of 
 different atoms of light when they reach 
 the optic nerve ; depending on the minute 
 forms of surfaces, and the mechanical 
 admission or reflection of certain parts 
 of a ray of light, the colour being in the 
 varied sensation. Oxygen, hydrogen, 
 and carbon, produce white light, oxygen 
 and hydrogen, blue light, and oxygen 
 and carbon, red light ; but solar or white 
 light, decomposed by a prism, exhibits 
 seven colours in fixed proportions. 
 
 COLUMNIFERAS, the 37th Linnsean 
 natural order of plants, whose stamina 
 and pistil resemble a pillar in the centre 
 of a flower. 
 
 COLURES, circles which pass through 
 the equinoctial and solstitial points, and 
 meet at the poles. 
 
 COMBINATION OF HYDROGEN 
 AND OXYGEN, the cause of flame and 
 fire, a very important process, arising 
 from an excitement of hydrogen atoms, 
 which, being rare, fill a large space, and 
 create a vacuum, which the oxygen flows 
 in to fill up, and, being fixed by the car- 
 bon, keeps up the heat and excitement 
 till one of the gases is exhausted, the ra- 
 diation causing light, and the new com- 
 binations producing carbonic acid and 
 water. 
 
 COMBUSTIBLE, any combination of 
 hydrogen and carbon, which, on separa- 
 tion by great excitement, fixes another 
 gas, which, in parting with its motion, 
 creates heat, while the local excitement 
 causes an atomic propulsion, called light. 
 
 COMBUSTION, the union of oxygen- 
 »us atoms, previously rotating as gas, 
 with hydrogen and carbon, separated by 
 excitement, by which great motion, or 
 heat and light, is imparted to the atoms 
 in the space, and the combustible body, 
 consisting of carbon and hydrogen, chang- 
 ed to carbonic acid, to an oxyde, and to 
 water. The process continues as long as 
 there are hydrogen or carbon to separate, 
 and oxygen to combine and fix. 
 
 COMEDY, a drama in five acts, in 
 which some foibles and incidents are re- 
 48 
 
 COM 
 
 presented for the diversion of the au- 
 dience. 
 
 COMET, a large body, which in 
 moving in a straight line through space, 
 becomes entangled in the vortex of the 
 solar system, and is by it carried round 
 the sun. Its dense and semi-transparent 
 atmosphere converges the rays of the sun 
 into luminous projections, in a direction 
 always opposite to the sun, and at va- 
 rious angles to the comet’s own course. 
 Some of these are as large as the earth, 
 and their luminous projections are many 
 millions of miles long. As the principle 
 of attraction is a superstitious absurdity, 
 so the apprehensions about a comet’s at- 
 traction of the earth, are utterly ground- 
 less, and no inconvenience can result 
 from a comet, except from re-action, 
 created by proximity, or by actual col- 
 lision. Many hundred comets have been 
 recorded. As they descend into the solar 
 vortex, from the hemispheres of space, 
 above and below the sun’s plane of action, 
 they probably are the exterior planets of 
 other systems, and defached from them. 
 
 COMMERCE, the intercourse of na- 
 tions in each other’s produce or manufac- 
 tures, in which the superfluities of one are 
 given for those of another, and then re- 
 exchanged with other nations for mutual 
 wants. The trading nations have been 
 the Phoenicians, the Jews, the Carthagi- 
 nians, the Venetians, the Genoese, the 
 Dutch, and finally the English and Ame- 
 ricans ; but for many years the trade of 
 England has exceeded all the rest of the 
 world, the imports being above 30 mil- 
 lions, and the exports above £0 millions, 
 per annum. 
 
 COMMODORE, the commander of a 
 fleet, who is not an admiral. 
 
 COMMON LAW, laws which are con- 
 stituted by ancient decisions and imme- 
 morial practice, founded on social neces- 
 sity, and on reason and justice; but 
 subordinate to positive enactments of the 
 legislature, called Statute Law. 
 
 COMMON PLEAS, a court of law at 
 Westminster, devoted to trials between 
 subject and subject. The president is the 
 Lord Chief Justice, assisted by three 
 puisne justices. 
 
 COMMONS, a word sometimes ap- 
 plied to an uncultivated tract of country ; 
 and at others to the body of the people, 
 and hence one branch of parliament is 
 called the House of Commons, its G58 
 members being elected, within every 
 seven years, by the people. 
 
 COMMON SENSE, that species of 
 
COM 
 
 reason which is not governed by the pre- 
 judices of classes of men, or under any 
 exterior influence. 
 
 COMMON SENSE PHILOSOPHY, 
 a definition which has been applied to 
 the system of causation, lately promul- 
 gated by Sir Richard Phillips, in papers 
 signed Common Sense. 
 
 COMMON-WEALTH, an expression 
 which applies to the social state of a 
 country, without regarding its form of 
 government. 
 
 COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, that 
 extension of the art of dissection which 
 anatomists have practised for the pur- 
 pose of comparing the structure of all 
 organized bodies with one another. The 
 number of its discoveries is highly curi- 
 ous and instructive. 
 
 COMPLEMENT, a term signifying 
 the number of degrees which any arc is 
 short of 90®. 
 
 COMPOSITES, the 49th Linnaean na- 
 tural order of plants, with compound 
 flowers, with combined anthers ; as dan- 
 delions, sun-flowers, &c. 
 
 COMPOSITE ORDER, a rich com- 
 bination of the other four orders of archi- 
 tecture, as represented. 
 
 COMPOSITOR, the person who ar- 
 ranges types into words and pages, in a 
 printing office. He usually stands at a 
 pair of wooden cases, in the divisions of 
 which the different letters are deposited, 
 and he ranges them in a small metal 
 frame, called a composing-stick, with 
 such rapidity, that a page of this work 
 may be composed in five or six hours. 
 The operation is not altogether mechani- 
 cal, for much intellectual skill, and gram- 
 matical knowledge, are requisite in the 
 introduction of proper stops and divisions 
 49 
 
 CON 
 
 of words, and in adjusting the lines. The 
 lower case contains the small letters, 
 and the upper one the capitals and 
 figures. The lines are transferred from 
 the composing-stick to a small frame, 
 which, in the engraving, lies on the up- 
 per case; and are afterwards made up 
 into pages, then into sheets, corrected, 
 and worked off at press. 
 
 CON AMORE, with love of a subject. 
 
 CONCAVE LENS. This operate', 
 contrarily to the convex lens, the obli- 
 quity of the surfaces from the centre 
 being in an entirely different direction : 
 hence, rays of light passing through it, 
 diverge, instead of converge; but it is 
 useful to diminish the too rapid conver- 
 gency of a convex lens, and therefore 
 serviceable in certain telescopes, and to 
 persons whose crystalline lens in the eye 
 is too convex. A is a plano-convex lens, 
 B, a double convex lens, C, a plano-con- 
 cave lens, D, a double concave lens. 
 
 ABC® 
 
 i 
 
 CONCENTRATION, such a separa- 
 tion of compounds as increases the pra- 
 F 
 
CON 
 
 portion of any intense property in the 
 separated parts. 
 
 CONCENTRIC, figures which have 
 one centre. 
 
 CONCERTO, music prepared for one 
 instrument, with the accompaniment of 
 a band. 
 
 CONCH OLOGY, the natural history 
 of shells and mollusca, or zoophytes. A 
 is a trochus, or top-shaped shell ; B is a 
 species of whelk. 
 
 A 
 
 CONCLAVE, a meeting of Cardinals 
 to elect a Pope. 
 
 CONCORDAT, a treaty withthePope. 
 
 CONDENSING PUMP, a machine 
 by which a volume of air may be reduced 
 into a much smaller space, in which 
 case, as motion is diminished in the space, 
 it diffuses around, and creates so much 
 heat, that a match may be lighted by the 
 escape of the air through any small 
 orifice. 
 
 CONDUCTOR OF ELECTRICITY, 
 called Non Electric, a surface which 
 admits of little or no electrical action, 
 and which therefore permits it to diffuse 
 itself within any adjoining electric; in 
 which sense, a conductor is like a water- 
 pipe made of lead, which receives none 
 of the water, but permits its passage 
 through the cavity. If a conductor re- 
 ceived or imbibed the electrical action, 
 it would be like a water-pipe made of 
 absorbing material ; but every surface is 
 a conductor, exactly in the proportion 
 in which its parts do not receive and ex- 
 haust the electrical action. A conductor 
 is as perfect when as thin as gold leaf, as 
 50 
 
 CON 
 
 of massive gold, and is in all cases mere* 
 ly a bounding surface to a disturbed 
 electric plate of air, glass, &c. 
 
 CONDUCTOR OF HEAT, or Atomic 
 Motion, a body whose atoms are in con- 
 tinuous contact, as metals, or which con- 
 tains no radiating atoms or fluids to dis- 
 sipate the progressive motion. 
 
 CONE, a solid, whose base is a eircle, 
 the sides approaching and terminating in 
 a point, by cutting which, in different 
 directions, the ellipsis, parabola, and hy- 
 perbola, are produced. 
 
 CONFESSION, a ceremony of the 
 Catholic church, by which all persons, 
 at least once a year, are expected to con- 
 fess their sins to the priest, and receive 
 absolution, or submit to such penance 
 as may be imposed. 
 
 CONGELATION, the abstraction of 
 atomic motion from a fluid, by placing 
 in contact with it another body in less 
 motion, whose atoms are capable of re- 
 ceiving the motions of the other ; as when 
 air, the atoms of which are in less motion 
 
CON 
 
 than they are susceptible of, is in con- 
 tact with water, when the water parts with 
 its motion to the air, and becomes fixed 
 or congealed. 
 
 CONFIRMATION, the admitting of 
 an educated Christian child into the 
 church, by the Bishop laying his hand 
 on the child’s head, and pronouncing a 
 short prayer. 
 
 CONFUCIUS, IDOL OF. A Chinese 
 philosopher, who lived about 1000 years 
 before Christ, is now worshipped by the 
 Chinese as a demi-god ; and to impress 
 the vulgar by means of a sensible image, 
 the following monstrous idol is set up. 
 
 CONGERIES, a mass of atoms. 
 
 CONGLOMERATE, to assemble to- 
 gether. 
 
 CONIFERS, the 51st Linnasan na- 
 tural order of plants, with cone-shaped 
 flowers, as the fir, juniper, &c. 
 
 CONJUGATE AXIS, the short axis 
 of an ellipse. 
 
 CONJUNCTION, a word used to con- 
 nect the members of a sentence. 
 
 51 
 
 CON 
 
 CONNOISSEUR, a critic in the arts. 
 
 CONQUEROR, an epithet applied to 
 successful kings and generals, who being 
 above responsibility to human law, com- 
 mit murders and robberies with impu- 
 nity, and have generally been lauded by 
 the majority of poets and historians. The 
 term was also applied two or three cen- 
 turies afterwards by some Monkish wri- 
 ters, to that Norman, William, who, 
 with adventurers from all parts of Europe, 
 in 1006, invaded the peaceful realm of 
 England, killed the sovereign, and de- 
 prived thepeople of their ancient liberties. 
 
 CONSCRIPT, a soldier drawn by lot. 
 
 CONSEQUENCE, that which follows 
 as an inference of truth and reason, from 
 admitted premises or arguments. 
 
 CONSIGNMENT, goods sent. 
 
 CONSISTORY, an ecclesiastical court. 
 
 CONSONANT, a letter which varies 
 the sound of a vowel. 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE, the splendid 
 capital of the Turkish empire; built 
 about 320, by the Roman Emperor, Con- 
 stantine, and taken by the Turks in 1453. 
 
 CONSTELLATION, a figure placed 
 by fancy or superstition, among the stars, 
 so as to groupe them, and refer to them ; 
 and a crude method adopted previously 
 to the distinctions of latitude and lon- 
 gitude. 
 
 CONSTITUENTS, the two, three, or 
 more varieties of atoms, essential to any 
 substance: in politics, the persons who 
 elect a representative or officer, to do 
 any duty. 
 
 CONSTITUTION, the powers of a 
 human body to maintain health and life; 
 or the arrangements of the authorities in 
 society, by which their respective powers 
 are determined. Thus, the English Con- 
 stitution assigns the making of laws to 
 the King, and the Houses of Lords and 
 Commons, the King being at the same 
 time the executive power and personal 
 representative of the nation ; the House 
 of Lords being a court of appeal from 
 the King’s Courts of Law; and the House 
 of Commons, the originator of all taxes 
 and financial grants, for the use of the 
 executive. These are the outlines of 
 the Constitution, to which it may be su- 
 peradded, as points of form, that all acts 
 of the King must be directed or sanction- 
 ed by Privy Counsellors, and that the 
 people are amenable to no law, unless 
 an accusation be made by twelve of a 
 grand Jury, and by the unanimous de- 
 cision of a Jury of twelve, in open Court. 
 
 CONTORT.®, the 30th Linnaean na- 
 
COP 
 
 tural order of plants, with a single twist- 
 ed petal, as the apocynum, asclepias, &c. 
 
 CONTOUR, an outline. 
 
 CONTRACTION, the art of shorten- 
 ing. 
 
 CONTRAVALLATION, Lines of, 
 thrown up to obstruct sallies of the be- 
 sieged. 
 
 CONVERGENCE, approaching a 
 point. 
 
 CONVEX LENS, a piece of glass 
 ground and polished, with one or both 
 sides convex ; and as light, when it falls 
 perpendicularly on glass, passes through 
 it in a straight line, and, when it passes 
 obliquely, is re-acted upon by the glass, 
 and deflected from its straight line, so a 
 convex surface presents a series of ob- 
 lique surfaces, all of which re-act with 
 a constant law on the light; and in con- 
 sequence, the whole of the light which 
 falls on such a surface, is converged and 
 collected into one point or focus, on the 
 other side of the glass ; and if several ob- 
 jects are presented to the same surface, 
 the rays from each converge in like 
 manner ; and hence a picture is present- 
 ed behind the glass, of the objects which 
 are before it. The rays, however, which 
 previously were parallel, are now con- 
 vergent, and are capable of being viewed 
 by another glass, which restores them to 
 their parallelism, and hence the telescope ; 
 and as one convex lens aids the con- 
 verging power of another, so a glass lens, 
 placed before the crystalline humour, 
 assists the sight of aged persons. 
 
 CONVEYANCE, a deed transferring 
 property. 
 
 CONVOLVULUS, that genus of plants 
 which grows in spirals. 
 
 COOLY, an East Indian labourer. 
 
 COOPER, an artizan, whose business 
 is to form vessels for containing fluids, 
 &c. of staves or sections of wood, bound 
 together by hoops of wood or iron, so as 
 to be rendered air and water tight. 
 
 CO-ORDINATE, equal. 
 
 COPAL, an American rosin. 
 
 COPENHAGEN, the capital of Den- 
 mark. 
 
 COPERNICAN SYSTEM, so called 
 from Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, 
 who developed it in a book, which, from 
 fear of persecution, he did not allow to 
 be published till the day after his death, 
 in 1571. It is now universally adopted 
 under the name of the Solar System. 
 
 COPPERAS, vitriol, or sulphate of 
 copper, zinc, or iron, blue, white, and 
 green. 
 
 COR 
 
 COPPER-PLATE PRINTING, sn 
 art practised by means of what is called 
 a rolling-press. The engraved plate is 
 covered with ink, made of oil and lamp- 
 black, then cleanly wiped on the smooth 
 parts, and laid on wet soft paper, and on 
 being passed between two cylinders with 
 great force, the impression of the en- 
 graved part is perfectly transferred to the 
 paper. 
 
 COPPERSMITH, an artizan who 
 shapes, by means of proper tools, sheets 
 Of copper into various forms. 
 
 COPULA, the verb which joins words 
 in a sentence. 
 
 COPYHOLD, an estate held of the 
 lord of the manor, and subject to its cus- 
 toms. • 
 
 COPYRIGHT, the property which 
 exists in a literary production for twenty- 
 eight years, and by improvements ren- 
 dered perpetual. 
 
 CORALLINES, calcareous plants 
 made by polype, or insects, in various 
 forms. 
 
 CORAL, a genus of zoophytae found 
 in the sea, attached to stones, bones, 
 shells, &c. Corals were formerly be- 
 lieved to be vegetable substances, but 
 are now ascertained to consist of animals. 
 The islands in the South Seas are prin- 
 cipally coral rocks covered with earth, 
 which have been formed by them from 
 the bottom of the ocean. These sub- 
 marine works are still proceeding, which 
 renders it more than probable that new 
 islands may occasionally be produced. 
 The branch represented in the engraving, 
 contains several cells or apertures, each 
 of which is tenanted by insects, which 
 were long mistaken for flowers. Broken 
 branches of coral have been seen to 
 
 52 
 
COR 
 
 attach themselves to other branches, and 
 thus to continue to grow. The three 
 varieties are red, white, and black. 
 
 CORCULUM, the embryo of the seed 
 of a plant, containing the plant in minia- 
 ture. 
 
 CORDILLERA, the Spanish name for 
 a ridge of mountains. 
 
 CORINTHIAN ORDER, the third of 
 the five orders of architecture, the capi- 
 tal, as in the engraving, consisting of 
 two rows of leaves, with stalks between, 
 forming sixteen volutes, or ram’s horns. 
 
 CORK, the bark of a tree which flou- 
 rishes in the south of Europe, and which, 
 when stript, grows again ; and if not 
 stript, sheds itself. It is one-fourth the 
 weight of water, and therefore, as a cubic 
 foot of water weighs 1000 ounces, a cubic 
 foot of cork will in water sustain 750 
 ounces, and smaller weights in propor- 
 tion. 
 
 CORK, a fine sea-port in Ireland. 
 
 CORMORANT, birds the size of a 
 goose, who eat to such excess, that they 
 53 
 
 COR 
 
 are easily caught by nets, and trained 
 by the Chinese to catch fish, which they 
 are prevented swallowing, by a ring put 
 about their necks. 
 
 CORNEA, the transparent membrane 
 in front of the eye, like the glass of a 
 watch. 
 
 CORN-MILL, a combination of ma- 
 chinery for pulverizing wheat into flour, 
 worked by wind, water, or steam. The 
 wheat is put into the hopper, whence it 
 runs between the stones; while these 
 are turned by a combination of wheels. 
 
 CORNU AMMONIS, a shell like a 
 ram’s horn. 
 
 CORNUCOPIA, a large horn, intro- 
 duced in sculpture, filled with flowers 
 and fruits. 
 
 COROLLA, the leaves of a flower, 
 which, taken separately, are called petals. 
 
 COROLLARY, a plain inference. 
 
 CORONARLE, the tenth Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, containing 
 hyacinths, lilies, and other herbaceous 
 and perennial plants, 
 
 F 2 
 
COT 
 
 CORONER, the presiding officer in a 
 jury convened to enquire into the cause of 
 sudden deaths. 
 
 CORPUSCLE, a small atom. 
 
 CORRELATIVE, reciprocity, or ba- 
 lance of momentum, as in the two ends 
 of a steel-yard, or as in the two sides of 
 any system of atoms or bodies, where 
 the momentum of the definite mass is 
 equalized by the motion at the sides, 
 varying inversely as the matter. 
 
 CORRIDOR, a gallery. 
 
 CORRIGENDA, words to be altered. 
 
 CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE, oxymu- 
 riate of mercury. 
 
 CORTEX, the outer bark. 
 
 CORUNDUM, an important order of 
 gems, including sapphires, rubies, &c. 
 
 CORUSCATION, flashes of light. 
 
 CORYDALES, the 24th Linnaean na- 
 tural order of plants, with helmet-shaped 
 flowers. 
 
 CORYPHAEUS, a leader of a chorus. 
 
 CO-SECANT, the secant of the com- 
 plement. 
 
 CO-SINE, the sine of the complement. 
 
 COSMOGRAPHY, the description of 
 the phenomena of the earth. 
 
 COSMOPOLITE, a friend of all na- 
 tions. 
 
 COSS, an Indian measure of 2 miles. 
 
 COSSACKS, semi-barbarous and irre- 
 gular cavalry of Russia. 
 
 CO-TANGENT, the tangent of the 
 complement. 
 
 COTOPAXI, a mountain of the Andes, 
 20,000 feet high, covered with snow, but 
 a perpetual volcano, often very destruc- 
 tive. 
 
 COTTON, a fibrous material, which 
 grows in the pods of a tree within the 
 tropics, the manufactures of which, in 
 54 
 
 cov 
 
 Great Britain, are worth twenty millions 
 per annum, and employ half a million of 
 persons. 
 
 COTYLEDONES, the seed lobes of a 
 plant. 
 
 COUCHING, depressing, an opake 
 crystalline humour to restore vision. 
 
 COUNCIL, COMMON, the 230 annu- 
 ally-elected representatives of the wards 
 of the City of London, whose interests 
 they consider and direct. 
 
 COUNCIL, PRIVY, the council of 
 the King, composed of from 80 to 100 
 persons of high rank, 12 of whom, consist- 
 ing of ministers of state, form what is 
 called the Cabinet Council. They bear 
 the title of Right Honourable. 
 
 COUNTERMINE, a subterraneous 
 gallery, dug to blow up an enemy’s mines. 
 
 COUNTERSCARP, the side of a ditch 
 next the camp. 
 
 COUNTER-TENOR, the middle part 
 of music. 
 
 COUP DE GRACE, the finishing blow. 
 
 COUPDE MAIN, a sudden enterprize. 
 
 COUP D’CEIL, a glance of the eye. 
 
 COURT-PLASTER, a composition 
 of isinglass and balsam, spread on black 
 silk. 
 
 COURTS OF CONSCIENCE, courts 
 where small debts may be promptly re- 
 covered. 
 
 COVERTURE, the protection afforded 
 by law to a married woman. 
 
 COVERT WAY, the level ground in 
 front of fortifications. 
 
CRA 
 
 COW, one of the most useful of do- 
 mestic animals, which supplies milk, 
 butter, and cheese. The engraving re- 
 presents some of them in their favourite 
 summer position, in water, to which they 
 retire to escape from the attacks of in- 
 sects. There are numerous breeds, but 
 the Ilolderness and Alderney are pre- 
 ferred in South Britain, and the Ayr- 
 shire, represented in the engraving, is 
 the most esteemed in North Britain. 
 
 COW-POX, a pustule transferred from 
 the udder of a cow to the human body, 
 where it exhausts or neutralizes some 
 morbid action of the rete mucosum, 
 which prevents a disease of the same 
 membrane, called variola, or small pox. 
 
 COWRY, shell-money, of which 100 
 in the East Indies pass for a penny. 
 
 CRAB, or Cancer, a genus in zoology, 
 of which there are 204 species, which in 
 general have eight legs, besides two large 
 claws. The most remarkable are the 
 violet crabs of the Bahamas, which live 
 in the mountains, but once a year pro- 
 ceed to the sea in a body of many mil- 
 lions, a journey which employs them 
 some weeks. Here they cast their spawn, 
 and soon after millions of young crabs 
 travel into the mountains. Crabs are 
 often used as food, and in a merciless 
 manner put to death in boiling water. 
 Shrimps, prawns, and lobsters, are of 
 the same genus. The crabs which abound 
 on our coasts, are the locusta and mcenas 
 species, and some of them are considered 
 poisonous. 
 
 CRAMP, an involuntary contraction 
 of the muscles, during which they are 
 not obedient to the will. 
 
 CRANE, or Ardea, a genus of birds 
 with long straight sharp bills, and feet with 
 four toes, of which there are 96 species. 
 
 55 
 
 CRO 
 
 The common crane, or ardea has 
 black wing-feathers, with an ash-coloured 
 body, and flies in great flocks in many 
 countries. The Siberian crane is noted 
 for its sagacity, and the flocks keep a 
 sentinal to warn them of danger. 
 
 CRANE OF POWER, a simple con- 
 trivance, by which a pulley is projected 
 so as to be perpendicular to the weight 
 intended to be raised. 
 
 CRANIO LOGY, the science which 
 affects to discriminate character and pas- 
 sion by the form of the skull. 
 
 CRANIUM, the skull. 
 
 CRATER, the mouth of a volcano. 
 
 CRAYON, a soft mineral pencil. 
 
 CREAM OF TARTAR, supertartrate 
 of potass. 
 
 CREED, a summary of faith. 
 
 CREPUSCULUM, the twilight which 
 begins and ends when the sun is 18 de- 
 grees below the horizon, or illumines the 
 atmosphere within 45 miles of the sur- 
 face, above which it is too pure to reflect 
 rays of light. 
 
 CRESCENDO, swelling of notes i» 
 music. 
 
 CRTCKET, a harmless insect of the 
 grasshopper species, common near ovens 
 and fire-places. 
 
 CRIMES, offences against others con- 
 trary to law. 
 
 CRITICISM, an art which discrimi- 
 nates the merit or demerit of any pro- 
 duction, but much abused by speculations 
 of the press, which encourage unwor- 
 thy, malicious, and corrupt critics, who, 
 under the mask of this art, impose on 
 the misplaced confidence of the public. 
 
 CROCODILE, an amphibious animal 
 of great size and ferocity, anciently very 
 numerous on the Nile, but now almost 
 extinct. 
 
CRY 
 
 CROMLECH, flat stones set up by the 
 Druids, for superstitious purposes. 
 
 CROSS, an instrumentof cruel punish- 
 ment among the Romans, &c. to which 
 culprits were bound and suspended for a 
 time, or till dead ; among the Christians 
 it is a religious emblem ; and in the Sou- 
 thern Hemisphere it is a small constella- 
 tion of five stars, which discriminates the 
 South Pole. 
 
 CROTCHET, half a minim, and dou- 
 ble a quaver. 
 
 CROWN, the ornament worn by a 
 sovereign, of which the engraving repre- 
 sents that of the King of England. 
 
 CROZIER, an ornamented shepherd’s 
 crook, adopted by bishops, &c. as shep- 
 herds of the flock of Christ. 
 
 CRUCIBLE, an earthen melting-pot. 
 
 CRUOR, coagulated blood, the fluid 
 part being called serum. 
 
 CRUSADES, a name given to several 
 fanatical wars which the Christians car- 
 ried on against the Saracens and Turks, 
 to ..recover possession of Palestine, be- 
 tween the years 1100 and 1400, during 
 which millions were sacrificed. 
 
 CRUSTACEA, a class of invertebral 
 animals, shelly, with joints, having no 
 internal skeleton, and no brain. Their 
 shells consist of phosphate of lime. 
 
 CRYPT, the vault of a cathedral. 
 
 CRYSTAL, a regular solid, generated 
 when the moving cause of liquidity de- 
 parts, and permits the atoms to fix and 
 unite according to their natural forms, 
 which appear to be of three primitive, 
 or six compounded kinds ; the parallel- 
 opipedon, the octahedron, the tetrahe- 
 dron, the hexahedral prism, the rhom- 
 boidal dodecahedron, and triangular do- 
 decahedron. 
 
 56 
 
 cue 
 
 CRYPTOGAMIA, the 24th class of 
 the Linnsean system of plants, contain- 
 ing four orders, Filices, Musci, Algae, 
 and Fungi, with invisible flowers, or 
 secret fructification. 
 
 CRYSTALLINE HUMOUR, a trans- 
 parent lens, adapted like a glass lens, to 
 converge rays ©f light situated behind 
 the iris, in the vitreous humour of the 
 eye. 
 
 CRYSTALLIZATION, the form in 
 which salts solidify after having been in 
 solution, created by the forms of the 
 atoms, and the re-action of the medium. 
 The forms thus generated are extremely 
 various, very regular, and highly beau- 
 tiful, but in all cases, necessary mechani- 
 cal results of forms, and external pres- 
 sure. Aqueous gas, when frozen as 
 snow, exhibits beautiful specimens of 
 crystallized forms, when examined with 
 a microscope, and freezing water is ano- 
 ther specimen of crystallization. The 
 atoms fix in this manner whenever the 
 gaseous excitements in the interstices of 
 the fluid are withdrawn. 
 
 CUBE, a regular solid, with six equal 
 faces, joined at right angles, and of 
 which, afoot in English contains 12 x 
 12 x 12 — 1728 inches. 
 
 CUBE ROOT, the germ of a cube 
 number, as in the above, 12 is the root of 
 1728. 
 
 CUBIT, eighteen inches. 
 
 CUCURBITACE.®, the 33d Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, resembling a 
 gourd, and containing the cucumber, 
 melon, &c. 
 
 CUCKOO, or Cucunus, a genus of 
 birds, of which there are 4G species, the 
 common English bird weighing about 
 five ounces; the bill black, and the 
 feathers a dove-colour. They arrive in 
 
DAC 
 
 spring, and depart in July. They lay 
 their eggs in the nests of other birds, 
 chiefly in that of the hedge-sparrow, 
 from which the young cuckoos turn out 
 the young sparrows. 
 
 CUP, ELEVATION OF, a ceremony 
 of the Popish mass, in which the priest, 
 with reverence, exhibits the cup which 
 is used for the sacred wine. 
 
 CUIRASS, a metal breast plate. 
 CULM, hard coal. 
 
 CUMBERLAND, the north-west couh- 
 ty of England, containing 1178 square 
 miles, and 150,124 inhabitants. 
 
 DAC 
 
 CUM PRIVILEGIO, with privilege. 
 
 CUMULUS, a large cloud, flat at the 
 base, and rounded in its upper parts. 
 
 CUPOLA, the dome of a building. 
 
 CUPPING, extracting blood from a 
 wound, by a vacuum in a glass. 
 
 CURRY, a mixture of turmeric, co- 
 riander seed, gingef, and cayenne pepper. 
 
 CURTAIN, the wall which joins two 
 bastions of a fortification. 
 
 CUSTOS ROTULORUM, the keeper 
 of the rolls and records of the Court of 
 Sessions, generally the Lord Lieutenant 
 of the County. 
 
 CYANOGEN, the blue compound of 
 carbon and azotic gas. 
 
 CYBELE, in heathen mythology, the 
 wife of Saturn, and mother of the Gods, 
 
 CYCLE, a period of successive pheno- 
 mena, which may be repeated in the 
 same order. 
 
 CYCLE OF THE SUN AND MOON. 
 The first is a period of 28 years, in which 
 the Sunday or Dominical Letter recurs 
 in the same order; and the latter is a 
 period of 19 years, when the new and 
 full moons recur on the same days of the 
 month. 
 
 CYCLOID, a curve made by a point, 
 which revolves and moves forward. 
 
 CYCLOPAEDIA, a circle of the scien- 
 ces. 
 
 CYLINDER, an oblong circular solid, 
 
 CYRUS, founder of the Persian em- 
 pire, 559 B.C. 
 
 D, the fourth letter of the English al- 
 phabet, as a numeral, denoting 500 : also 
 D.D. doctor in divinity: M.D. doctor in 
 medicine: in music, D marks in thorough 
 bass descanto, or when the treble ought 
 to play alone. 
 
 DA CAPO, to be repeated. 
 
 57 
 
 D 
 
 DACTYL, a division, or part of a 
 poetical line, called a foot, which con- 
 sists of one long and two short syllables ; 
 and when combined with the foot called 
 a spondee, consisting of two long sylla- 
 bles, forms a line of hexameter, or six 
 feet poetry, in which the dactyls ami 
 
DEA 
 
 spondees are tastefully intermingled, by 
 the ancient poets. 
 
 DAEMON, a name given by barbarous 
 people, to the supposed powers to which 
 they ascribed any evil which befel them, 
 instead of referring it to natural causes : 
 hence, they had daemons, or devils, or 
 bad spirits, in all kinds of forms, and for 
 all sorts of purposes ; and these notions, 
 absurd as they are, continue to prevail 
 among the vulgar and uneducated. 
 James I. king of England, actually wrote 
 a folio volume, or scientific display of 
 Daemonology, and through the 17th cen- 
 tury, these notions disgraced all litera- 
 ture, and even the Universities and learn- 
 ed societies were the dupes of them. 
 
 DAMASK, silk or linen with raised 
 patterns. 
 
 DATE TREE, a species of palm which 
 flourishes in North Africa, and Western 
 Asia, growing 50, 60, and 100, feet high, 
 distinguishing the landscape of those 
 countries, and affording the inhabitants 
 food, clothing, &c. 
 
 DATUM, or Data, settled or deter- 
 mined point or points, from which any 
 calculation is made. 
 
 DAUPHIN, the title of the heir to 
 the French throne. 
 
 QAY, the time in which the sun ea-i 
 lightens a place, and the period from the 
 sun’s passage of the meridian or southing, 
 till the return, which averages 24 hours, 
 but owing to the obliquity of the meri- 
 dian to the ecliptic, and to the elliptical 
 form of the earth’s orbit, constantly 
 varying. There are three ways of reckon- 
 ing the day. Civil time begins the day 
 from 12 o’clock at night, and noon is its 
 middle, distinguished before by A.M. 
 and after by P.M. The astronomical 
 day commences at the noon of the civil 
 day, and reckons round to the following 
 noon ; and the nautical day ends at the 
 instant the astronomical day begins, so 
 that nautical time in days of the month, 
 is always 24 hours in advance of astrono- 
 mical time, and the civil day is midway 
 between both. 
 
 DEAD RECKONING, the difference 
 between the place of a ship by the log 
 and astronomical observation, owing to 
 currents, &c. 
 
 DEAF AND DUMB, persons who, 
 born deaf, and consequently not hearing 
 sounds, are incapable of imitating them, 
 and therefore dumb also. This calamity 
 has been remedied by excellent institu- 
 tions in Paris and London ; and, as the 
 understanding of such persons is gener- 
 58 
 
 DEA 
 
 ally good, so they readily acquire many 
 arts, and may be taught to read, write, 
 &c. They also learn to converse with 
 their fingers, and often with great rapidi- 
 ty ; and, as these signs are curious, and 
 even useful, they are given beneath. 
 
DEAF AND DUMB. 
 
DEC 
 
 DEAL, the wood of the fir-tree. 
 
 DEAN, a dignitary of the church of 
 England, next to a bishop, and head of 
 the chapter, in a cathedral or council. 
 
 DEATH WATCH, a small and harm- 
 less insect, the males of which knock 
 their trunks on the ground, the noise 
 from which is considered by the ignorant 
 vulgar as ominous of death. 
 
 DEBENTURE, a document certify- 
 ing a claim of the possessor. 
 
 DEBTOR, one who owes another, and 
 %vho, if unable to pay, must surrender 
 his effects to his creditors, and obtain a 
 release under forms of law. 
 
 DECADE, ten, or tenfold. 
 
 DECALOGUE, the ten command- 
 ments delivered by God from mount 
 Sinai to the Jews, which Jesus Christ de- 
 clared he came to establish, and not to 
 break or alter, and which are set up in 
 all churches, enjoining forbearance from 
 Idolatry, — reverence of God, — the keep- 
 ing of Saturday, or the Seventh Day, 
 Holy, — Duty to Parents, — abstaining 
 from Murder, Adultery, Theft, Perjury, 
 Calumny, and Covetousness. 
 
 DECANDRIA, the tenth class of the 
 Linnaean system of plants, containing six 
 classes, Monagynia, Digynia, Trigynia, 
 Tetragynia, Pentagynia, and Decagynia, 
 with ten stamens. 
 
 DEF 
 
 DECAMERON, ten days’ conversa* 
 tions. 
 
 DECEMBER, the last month of the 
 modern year, winter in the Northern, 
 and summer in the Southern hemisphere. 
 
 DECEMVIRATE, ten governors. 
 
 DECIDUOUS, plants whose leaves fall 
 annually. 
 
 DECIMAL FRACTION, a fraction 
 whose denominator is 10, 100, &e. or to 
 be made such, for ease of calculation, 
 each right-hand figure being, as in whole 
 numbers, a tenth less than its next left 
 hand one. The -5, or five-tenths, for 
 one half, and *25, or twenty-five hun- 
 dredths, for one quarter. The numerator 
 only is written with a dot or point before 
 it, *5, or *25. 
 
 DECK, the floor of a ship, from stem 
 to stern ; half-deck, from the main mast 
 to the stern ; and quarter-deck, that over 
 the cabin and steerage, to the stern. The 
 engraving represents the successive decks 
 of a large ship of war. 
 
 DECLARATION, in law, a statement 
 of the plaintiff’s complaint against the 
 defendant. 
 
 DECOCTION, boiling. 
 
 DECLENSION, the variations of a 
 noun in its different senses. 
 
 DECLINATION, the degrees of the 
 sun, &c. north or south from the equator, 
 or of the magnetic meridian of a place 
 from the solar meridian. 
 
 DECOMPOSITION, the separation of 
 the elementary atoms of bodies, which 
 naturally and necessarily combine, ac- 
 cording to certain fixed laws. 
 
 DECREMENT, diminishing quantity. 
 
 DEED, a contract, sealed, signed, and 
 delivered in presence of witnesses. 
 
 DE FACTO, in fact. 
 
 DEFAMATION, slanderous words 
 spoken or written. 
 
 60 
 
DEM 
 
 DEFAULT, neglect, or omission. 
 
 DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, a title 
 given by Pope Leo X. to Henry VIII. of 
 England, for writing against Luther, in 
 behalf of the church of Roipe, before he 
 himself quarrelled with the Pope. 
 
 DEFERENCE, yielding to another, 
 an essential attribute of politeness. 
 
 DEFINITE PROPORTIONS, a term 
 invented by Dalton, to express the even 
 multiples and regular proportions with 
 which elementary bodies always com- 
 bine. Thus, copper combines with oxy- 
 gen in 8ths and multiples of 8ths ; with 
 sulphur in halves ; and with lead in mul- 
 tiples of 7& ; and, in general, if 100 of a 
 metal combines with any proportion of 
 oxygen in the lowest state, all other com- 
 binations are 2, 3, 4, or 5, times that pro- 
 portion ; and the gases combine also in 
 regular proportions, 57 parts of oxygen 
 gas combining with 100 of nitrogen, and 
 its multiples by 2, 4, and 5, forming suc- 
 cessively nitrous oxide gas, 100 -f- 57 ; and 
 100 + 57 X 2 nitrous gas ; or 100+57X4 
 nitrous acid gas; and 100 + 57 X 5 nitric 
 acid gas. 
 
 DEFINITE SIZE. This, in vegeta- 
 bles and animals, is a mechanical and 
 arithmetical result of the balance of the 
 assimilating and the eliminating pro- 
 cesses. 
 
 DEFINITION, such a description of 
 a thing as will describe that thing only, 
 and no other ; generally effected by ad- 
 ding to a generic word the essential and 
 peculiar qualities or circumstances of the 
 thing to be defined. 
 
 DEFLAGRATION, burning. 
 
 DEFLECTION, turning aside from a 
 right line. 
 
 DEGREE, or Grade, in geometry, 
 the 360th part of a circle ; in universities, 
 the acquisition of rank, as bachelor, 
 master, and doctor; in geography, 69& 
 miles } also, an equal portion of any 
 scale or sub-division. 
 
 DEIST, a believer in God, but not a 
 believer in revealed religion. 
 
 DE JURE, of right. 
 
 DELE, take away. 
 
 DELETERIOUS, poisonous. 
 
 DELFT-WARE, white glazed earthen- 
 ware. 
 
 DELIQUIUM, absorbing moisture. 
 
 DELIVERY, a part of oratory, refer- 
 ring to the management of the voice, 
 which should be distinct and audible, and 
 not hurried or tedious, or boisterous and 
 noisy. 
 
 DEMI, half. 
 
 61 
 
 DER 
 
 DEMESNE, lands held of the lord of 
 a manor. 
 
 DEMOCRACY, a government by the 
 voice of the people. 
 
 DEMONSTRATION, a proof of a 
 proposition founded on axioms and in- 
 termediate proof; called a priori when 
 the effect is proved from the cause, and 
 a posteriori when the cause is proved 
 from the effect. 
 
 DEMOSTHENES, a Grecian orator, 
 contemporary with Plato, Aristotle, 
 Phocion, Diogenes, and Apelles, in the 
 fourth century B.C. 
 
 DEMURRER, a difficulty or question 
 to be adjusted in a court of law. 
 
 DEMY, customary printing paper. 
 
 DENIZEN, an alien naturalized. 
 
 DEN, a valley, dell, or cave. 
 
 DENBIGHSHIRE, a county in Wales, 
 in the Chester Circuit, and See of St. 
 Asaph, of 59 parishes; which, in 1821, 
 contained 76,511 inhabitants, in 14,772 
 houses. 
 
 DENOMINATOR, the parts into 
 which a whole is divided, the number of 
 which is expressed by the numerator of a 
 fraction; but in decimals, the demomina- 
 tor is understood to contain as many 
 ciphers as there are terms in the nume- 
 rator, and is not written. 
 
 DENOUEMENT, the developement 
 or winding up of any event. 
 
 DE NOVO, beginning again. 
 
 DENSITY, a relative term, expres- 
 sing the proportion of atoms of matter, 
 within given dimensions, generally de- 
 termined by the downward force. 
 
 DENTALIA, univalve shells, resem- 
 bling teeth. 
 
 DENTIST, a surgeon who operates in 
 diseases of the teeth. 
 
 DEOBSTRUENT, the rendering of 
 viscid fluids smooth. 
 
 DEODAND, a forfeiture of the thing 
 which killed any one. 
 
 DEPLOY, the spreading of troops. 
 
 DEPOSITION, the settlement of sub- 
 stances dissolved in fluids. 
 
 DEPOT, a store or magazine for de- 
 positing goods or merchandize. 
 
 DEPRIVATION, an ecclesiastical cen- 
 sure, by which a clergyman is deprived 
 of his dignity. 
 
 DERBYSHIRE, a county in the Mid- 
 land Circuit, and See of Litchfield, of 
 139 parishes, and 656,640 acres; which, in 
 1821, contained 213,333 inhabitants, in 
 40,054 houses. Derby, 126 miles from 
 London 
 
 DERMESTES, insects which feed on 
 G 
 
DEW 
 
 leather, destructive of the binding of 
 books. 
 
 DERNIER, the last. 
 
 DERVISE, a Mahomedan monk, ana- 
 logous to a Catholic monk. 
 
 DESCARTES, a French philosopher, 
 born 1596, died 1650. 
 
 DESCENT OF BODIES. Bodies fall 
 towards the earth owing to its two-fold 
 motions ; and this action being continu- 
 ous, the motion, during the fall, is con- 
 stantly accelerated, and peculiar laws of 
 velocity are thereby generated. Thus, 
 the velocity is as the length of the time, 
 and the spaces in different times are pro- 
 portional to the squares of the times. 
 Hence, it being found that a heavy body 
 descends 16 ft. I in. in a second of time, 
 the velocity at the end of the first se- 
 cond is double, or 32 ft. 2 in. and so on ; 
 and also, the space moved through in 4 
 seconds, is 4X 4 = 16 X 16. 1 in. = 257. 
 4 in. ; and in the quarter of a second, is 
 •25 X ‘25 = -0625 X 16. 1 in. = 1 ft. near- 
 ly, and so for any spaces or times. 
 
 DESICCATION, drying. 
 
 DESIDERATUM, a desirable thing. 
 
 DESIGN, the grouping and relative 
 positions of objects in a picture, in which 
 a due balance of parts should be pre- 
 served, so as to produce an harmonious 
 effect to the eye. 
 
 DESUNT C7ETERA, the rest are 
 wanting. 
 
 DETONATING POWDER, a com- 
 position of charcoal, sulphur, and oxy- 
 muriate of potass, which may be inflamed 
 by the heat generated by percussion. 
 
 DETRITUS, ruins of mountains form- 
 ing new strata, of which ruins the sur- 
 face of the earth is entirely composed. 
 The earth seems originally to have been 
 granite rock, out of which often pri- 
 mary rocks were formed by fire; 
 from the ruins of these came the secon- 
 dary formations, the strata, soils, plants, 
 animals, &c. ; air and water being the 
 active agents, or secondary causes in 
 these latter formations, and their re- 
 mains shewing their history and pro- 
 gress. 
 
 DEVONSHIRE, a county in the Wes- 
 tern Circuit, and See of Exeter, of 465 
 parishes, and 1,650,650 acres; which, in 
 1821, contained 439,040 inhabitants, in 
 71,486 houses. Exeter, 166 miles from 
 London. 
 
 DEW, a vapour which falls at sunset, 
 and during the night, particularly after 
 a hot day ; for the heat of the sun having 
 converted all the liquid matter on the 
 62 
 
 DIA 
 
 earth’s surface into aqueous gas, the at- 
 mosphere is completely saturated with 
 it, and this is made sensible if a decanter 
 be filled with cold spring water, when 
 the aqueous gas in the air becomes rapid- 
 ly condensed on the outside of the bot- 
 tle, even so as to run down it. The same 
 effect which is produced by the cold bot- 
 tle, is also produced by the departure 
 of the sun, and the consequent coolness 
 of the earth and atmosphere ; and every 
 body, particularly all absorbent substan- 
 ces, as linen and clothes, become covered 
 and saturated with the fixing and con- 
 centrating aqueous gas, just as in the 
 case of the cold bottle. This is dew. 
 
 DIADELPHIA, the 17th class of the 
 Linnasan system of plants, containing 
 four orders, Pentandria, Hexandria, 
 Octandria, and Decandria, with the sta- 
 mina united into two bodies, by the fila- 
 ments. 
 
 DliERESIS, the division of one sylla- 
 ble into two, thus denoted (••). 
 
 DIAGNOSTIC, a distinction of dis- 
 eases into genera and species. 
 
 DIAGONAL, a line which crosses a 
 superfices. 
 
 DIAGRAM, a geometrical delineation. 
 
 DIALECTICS, the arts of reasoning, 
 deservedly respected by the ancients, 
 but neglected by the moderns. 
 
 DIALLING, an ingenious art,~which 
 enables its practitioners to reduce to a 
 plane surface, in any direction, the me- 
 ridional circles of the earth’s surface, so 
 that the shadow of the sun, from a wire 
 or stile parallel to the earth’s axis, shall 
 correspond with the hours of the day. 
 Dials are horizontal or vertical, inclin- 
 ing or reclining, and declining inclining, 
 or declining reclining, with reference to 
 the direction of their faces. Their ac- 
 curate construction grows out of the art 
 of the projection of the sphere, effected 
 
DIA 
 
 by the scale of sines and tangents, in a 
 practice both amusing and instructive; 
 and the dialist merely requires as data, 
 the latitude of the place, and the hori- 
 zontal and meridional declension and in- 
 clination, in degrees, of the situation. 
 
 DIAMETER, a line which divides a 
 curvilinear surface into equal parts. The 
 diameter of a circle is to the circum- 
 ference, as 7 to 22. The square of the 
 diameter multiplied by *7854, is the area. 
 The cube of the diameter multiplied by 
 •5236, is the solid contents of a sphere. 
 
 DIAMOND BEETLE, Curculio Im- 
 perials, a most beautiful insect, de- 
 corated with golden, green, and black, 
 streaks. The abdomen is green, with 
 silvery rings. This rich and curious in- 
 sect forms a most splendid and dazzling 
 object under the microscope. 
 
 DIAMOND-WASHING. This engra- 
 ving represents the shed erected over 
 part of a river in Brazil, in which negroes 
 turn up the sand under the eye of an 
 overseer ; and any one who finds a dia- 
 mond of a certain weight, is entitled to 
 his freedom, and to rewards for other 
 sizes. 
 
 DIAMOND, a precious stone, the 
 hardest of all bodies, most brilliant, and 
 most valuable. Diamonds are found in 
 Brazil, in Golconda, and Borneo. They 
 63 
 
 DIA 
 
 consist of pure carbon, with a specific 
 gravity of 3'5; and the hardest tools ma- 
 king no impression on them, they are 
 cut and ground by the powder of their 
 own substance. A few large ones have 
 been found, for which incredible prices 
 have been given. The largest belongs to 
 the King of Portugal, but the Empress 
 of Russia gave for one which weighed 
 195 carats, or 6j ounces troy, £90,000, 
 besides a pension of £1000 per annum, 
 to the vendor; and Louis XIV. gave 
 £130,000 for the Pitt diamond, which 
 weighed but 136 carats. Diamonds of 
 one carat are worth about £6, and in es- 
 timating their value, it is usual to mul- 
 tiply the square of their number of carats 
 by the price per carat. 
 
 DIANA, in heathen mythology, the 
 daughter of Jupiter and Latona, sister of 
 Apollo, and goddess of Hunting. 
 
 DIANvE ARBOR, silver and quick- 
 silver dissolved in nitric acid, the crys- 
 tallizations resembling a tree. 
 
 DIANDRIA, the second class of the 
 Linnacan system of plants, containing 
 three orders, Monogynia, Digynia, and 
 Trygynia, with two stamina. 
 
 DIAPASON, the fundamental or 
 standard scale by which musical instru- 
 ments are made. 
 
DIF 
 
 DIAPHANOUS, the quality of some 
 bodies to transmit vision, arising from 
 the bodies themselves consisting of the 
 same atoms as those atoms which, when 
 excited, are called light; it being sup- 
 posed, that the identical atoms which 
 arrive at one side of a plate of glass do 
 not pass through the plate, but excite 
 atoms of the same kind within the plate, 
 which affect others of the same kind at 
 the other side of the plate. 
 
 DIAPHORETIC, exciting perspira- 
 tion. 
 
 DIAPHRAM, a fleshy partition situ- 
 ated between the chest or thorax, and the 
 intestines or abdomen. 
 
 DIARY, a daily journal. 
 
 DIATRIBE, a controversial discourse. 
 
 DIBBLING, planting the seed of 
 wheat instead of casting it with the hand ; 
 by which half the seed is saved, with 
 stronger plants. 
 
 DICE, cubical pieces of bone or ivory, 
 dotted on their face from one to six ; and 
 when played with, averaging either side 
 on a certain number of throws. 
 
 DICTUM, a positive opinion. 
 
 DIDACTIC, instructive, teaching. 
 
 DIDYNAMIA, the 14th class of the 
 Linnasan system of plants, containing 
 two orders, Gymnospermia and Angios- 
 permia, with two long and two short 
 stamina. 
 
 DIE, a stamp used in coining, by 
 which a piece of prepared metal is im- 
 pressed with due force. 
 
 DIES NON, days on which judges do 
 not sit. 
 
 DIET, a German parliament; and a 
 general name for aliment. 
 
 DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS, is 
 the method of determining the ratios of 
 the simultaneous increments of any quan- 
 64 
 
 DIO 
 
 tity, and the variable quantity on which 
 it depends. It differs from fluxions, 
 inasmuch as areas, solids, &c. are mot 
 supposed to be generated by motion, but 
 made up of indefinitely small parts, each 
 of which parts bears in each particular 
 case a given or ascertained ratio to the 
 whole ; and it is now generally preferred 
 to the method of fluxions. Its notation 
 is by prefixing a d to the variable quan- 
 tity, whose differential is meant to be re- 
 presented as d x, or d 2 x for the second 
 differential. 
 
 DIGESTION, that action of the sto- 
 mach by which food is converted into 
 chyme, before it passes into the intes- 
 tines, and is there separated by the chyle 
 into nutritive and excrementitious parts, 
 effected by trituration, and by the solvent 
 power of the gastric juice. 
 
 DIGIT, the figures used in arithmetic, 
 invented by the Arabs, previously to 
 which, arithmetic was performed very 
 awkwardly by the Roman numerals. 
 
 DILEMMA, a position involving dou- 
 ble choice, each presenting difficulties. 
 
 DILETTANTE, a lover of the arts. 
 
 DILUVIUM, collections of remains of 
 rocks deposited by water, and strata of 
 gravel, &c. apparently accumulated by 
 water. 
 
 DIOCESE, the district of a bishop. 
 
 DICECIA, the 22d class of the Lin- 
 nasan system of plants, containing 14 
 orders, Monandria, Diandria, Triandria, 
 Tetrandria, Pentandria, Hexandria, Oc- 
 tandria, Enneandria, Decandria, Dode- 
 candria, Polyandria, Monadelphia, Syn- 
 genesia, and Gynandria, with stamina 
 and pistilla in different plants of the same 
 species. 
 
 DION/EA MUSCIPULA, or Venus’s 
 Fly Tkap, a plant whose leaves are 
 beset with thorns, which secrete a sweet 
 
ms 
 
 liquor attractive to flies? but, on touch- 
 ing the surface, the two sides of the 
 leaf close, and the thorns pierce to death 
 the intruder. 
 
 DIOPTRICS, that branch of optics 
 which treats of the refraction of light, 
 when deflected at the surface of diaphan- 
 ous bodies. 
 
 DIP, the depression of a magnet be- 
 low the horizontal plane. 
 
 DIPHTHONG, two vowels pro- 
 nounced as one. 
 
 DIPLOMA, a certificate of a degree 
 obtained at an university. 
 
 DIPLOMACY 7 , the practice of public 
 business by an ambassador, either with 
 the court at which he resides, or in regard 
 to the natives of his own country. 
 
 DIPTERA, the sixth order of insects, 
 which have two wings with balancers, 
 as gnats, musquitoes, house-flies, &c. ; 
 this class and the five others undergoing 
 transformations from the egg to the grub, 
 the pupa, and finally to the perfect insect. 
 
 DISC, thesurfaceofapla.net. 
 
 DISCHARGING ROD, an instrument 
 used in electrical experiments, formed of 
 metal wire with balls at the end, a joint 
 in the middle, and a glass handle ; and 
 as the wire is a non-electric, or unex- 
 citable surface, the excitement of the air, 
 or of the two sides of an excited surface, 
 is restored by passing along it. 
 
 DISCORD, sounds which do not har- 
 monize with others. 
 
 DISCOUNT, the interest of a bill or 
 note, for which money is given before it 
 is at maturity. Five per cent, or 100 
 shillings per cent per annum, is one shil- 
 ling, or twelve pence, per pound, for 
 twelve months ; or one penny per pound 
 per month. 
 
 DISLOCATION, displacing a joint. 
 
 DISORGANIZATION, separation of 
 parts by trituration or decomposition. 
 
 DISPENSARY, a charitable establish- 
 ment where medicines are distributed 
 gratis. 65 
 
 DIV 
 
 DISPENSATORY, or Pharjiaco- 
 I’ficiA, a volume often authorized, con- 
 taining directions for compounding me- 
 dicines. 
 
 DISSECTION, the dividing an ani- 
 mal body into its substantial parts, and 
 the study of a surgeon, much practised 
 in the London hospitals, and accompanied 
 by suitable lectures. 
 
 DISSEISIN, unlawful ejectment. 
 
 DISSENTERS, religious persons who, 
 not approving of the reforms made by 
 the church establishment in the Romish 
 religion, formed communities of their 
 own, and are at present known as a nu- 
 merous body, under the names of Pres- 
 byterians, Independents, and Baptists ; 
 and they are to be distinguished from 
 modern separatists who use the Book of 
 Common Prayer, and differ from the 
 church only on some points of doctrine. 
 
 DISSOLUTION, the separation of a 
 body into its elementary atoms, or a 
 cessation of the powers by which it was 
 held together. 
 
 DISTICH, two lines of poetry making 
 a complete sense. 
 
 DISTILLATION, an art by which 
 the atomic motion of heat is transferred 
 to fluids compounded of atoms, variously 
 susceptible of affections of motion, the 
 application of which to the common 
 mass, separates the most susceptible, 
 which rise as gas, and, being passed 
 through a spiral tube or worm, immersed 
 in cold water, there re-condense as a fluid ; 
 proving themselves what is called the 
 spirituous part of the compound, which, 
 submitted again to the same process, 
 becomes pure or rectified spirit. In the 
 preparations of the original compound, 
 and in the management of the results, 
 consists the art of a distiller. 
 
 DISTRAIN, seizing goods for rent. 
 
 DISTURBANCE, change from repose. 
 
 DITHYRAMRIC, frenzied poetry. 
 
 DIVAN, a Turkish council of state. 
 
 DIVERGENCE, expanding from a 
 point, like light or heat, or like forcedn 
 a gazeous or fluid medium. 
 
 DIVIDEND, poundage upon a debt 
 to a creditor 
 
 DIVINATION, pretended foretelling 
 of events, by imposture or fanaticism, 
 often blasphemously ascribed to God, or, 
 by the ancients, to the gods. 
 
 DIVINE, a public teacher or preacher 
 of Christianity, sometimes licensed, at 
 others, ordained in deacons or priests 
 orders. 
 
 DIVING-BELL, a machine which 
 g 2 
 
DOC 
 
 depends on the principle, that air 
 maintains its own space as well as wa- 
 ter. Hence, if a bell, or other inverted 
 cavity, filled with air, be sunk in the 
 water, the air, by its elastic force, keeps 
 the water out of the vessel, and a person 
 or persons may live in the said cavity, 
 and perform any labotir at the bottom of 
 the water, provided they are supplied 
 with air through a tube or pipe, to re- 
 supply the oxygen which they fix by 
 breathing, or by their candles. The en- 
 graving represents such an apparatus 
 with men at work, and in this manner 
 much property lost in wrecks has been 
 recovered. 
 
 DIVISIBILITY, a word which, as 
 applicable to diminution downward in 
 small objects, is like vastness upwards in 
 the celestial spaces, for man and his sen- 
 ses seem to be a sort of middle term be- 
 tween the little and the great — we may 
 look as it were through both ends of a 
 telescope at nature — one diminishing, 
 the other magnifying, — and depths of 
 nature are not less obscure than heights. 
 In neither can the mind follow dimen- 
 sions a million times less than a grain of 
 sand, mere than in space a million of 
 times greater than the solar system ; yet, 
 nature includes both, and the million 
 may be multiplied by a million both 
 ways. The atoms which produce light, 
 and still enable us to discriminate their 
 actions in varied colours; those which 
 produce odours ; those of the gaseous ele- 
 ments ; and those of magnetic phenome- 
 na ; &c. baffle description, and leave us 
 in a state of indescribable astonishment. 
 
 DIVISION, a branch of arithmetic by 
 which to determine the number of times 
 which one quantity contains another. 
 
 DIURETIC, promoting urine. 
 
 DOCK, an artificial harbour for ships. 
 
 6G 
 
 DOM 
 
 DOCKET, a writ in law by which an 
 insolvent is declared bankrupt. 
 
 DOCTOR, the highest dignity in law, 
 physic, and divinity, and in foreign coun- 
 tries applied also to philosophy. 
 
 DODECAHEDRON, a solid of twelve 
 equal sides. 
 
 DODECANDRIA, the eleventh class 
 of the Linnaean system of plants, con- 
 taining five classes, Monogynia, Digynia, 
 Trigynia, Pentagynia, and Dodecagynia, 
 with twelve stamina. 
 
 DOG, a faithful, sensible, and useful 
 domestic animal, of which there are al- 
 most innumerable varieties : as the shep- 
 herd’s dog, the English bull dog, the 
 greyhound, the terrier, the spaniel, the 
 hound, the ladies’ lap dog, the poodle, 
 the Italian greyhound, the mastiff, the 
 Newfoundland dog, the Kamschadale, 
 for drawing sledges, the coach dog, 
 the turnspit, &c. &c. The wolf, the 
 hyama, and the fox, are of the same 
 genus. 
 
 DOG DAYS, certain days connected 
 with the relative position of the sun and 
 a large star called the dog star, and as 
 to which, astrologers have propagated 
 many vulgar notions beneath contempt. 
 
 DOGMA, a truism, or opinion. 
 
 DOG STAR, the largest of the fixed 
 stars, so called from being in the fanciful 
 constellation of Canis, but, from the 
 accident of its name, alleged by vulgar 
 superstition to have some connexion 
 with the diseases of dogs ! Like other 
 stars of the first magnitude, it is sup- 
 posed, from its superior brilliancy, to be 
 the nearest, but the nicest observations 
 have shewn that it cannot be within 32 
 millions of millions of miles. 
 
 DOMINICAL LETTER, one of the 
 first seven letters, printed in almanacks 
 in red ink, to distinguish the Sundays, 
 and serving as means for determining 
 the permutations of the days of the 
 
DOW 
 
 month, and days of the week, for any 
 time past or future. 
 
 DOLPHIN, a genus of fishes of the 
 order cete. Its usual length is from 12 
 to 18 feet, and swims with great rapidity. 
 
 DOMESDAY-BOOK, a record, still 
 existing, of the lands of the kingdom, 
 made by order of William the Norman. 
 
 DON, the Spanish for Mr. originally 
 signifying lord, as Mr. signified master. 
 
 DONEGAL, an Irish county, contain- 
 ing 46,000 houses, and 249,483 inhabi- 
 tants. , 
 
 DORIC, an order of architecture, in 
 imitation of a wooden structure, resem- 
 bling the trunks of trees in union. 
 
 DORSAL, behind, or backward. 
 
 DORSETSHIRE, a county in the 
 Western Circuit, and See of Bristol, of 
 271 parishes, and 643,200 acres ; con- 
 taining, in 1821, 144,499 inhabitants, in 
 25,925 houses. Dorchester, 120 miles 
 from London. 
 
 DOUBLE ENTENDRE, a term ap- 
 plied to any word that has a double mean- 
 ing, or will admit of more than one con- 
 struction. 
 
 DOUCEUR, a present or bribe for 
 the acquirement of any desired object. 
 
 DOVETAIL, uniting inseparably. 
 
 DOWN, an Irish county, containing 
 62,425 houses, and 329,348 inhabitants. 
 
 DOWNS, undulations of sand banks 
 in the sea, or of hills on the land, which 
 67 
 
 DRE 
 
 latter are supposed to have been downs 
 when the site was last covered by the sea. 
 
 DRACO VOLA*NS, a meteor in cold 
 marshy countries, consisting of phosphu- 
 retted or carburetted hydrogen, which, 
 in certain excitements and combinations, 
 becomes luminous. 
 
 DRAGON’S HEAD AND TAIL, the 
 formidable and whimsical name given 
 by astrologers to the points of the ecliptic 
 plane crossed by the moon in its orbit, 
 to the'former of tvhich they ascribe good 
 fortune, and to the latter, bad, as virtues 
 of mere imaginary points of space, but 
 assigned to them when it was supposed 
 that eclipses were caused by a dragon. 
 
 DRAINING, the art of clearing land 
 where the water does not run into the 
 sea, and if canals do not effect the pur- 
 pose, the sure way is to bore through the 
 strata to a bed of gravel, through which 
 it will escape. 
 
 DRAM, the eighth of an apothecary’s 
 ounce, or the 16th of a grocer’s ounce. 
 
 DRAMA, the name of all compositions 
 adapted to recitation on the stage, in- 
 cluding tragedy, comedy, opera, and 
 farce; in which are displayed, for instruc- 
 tion and amusement, all the passions, 
 feelings, errors, and virtues, of the hu- 
 man race in real life. 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAL, the charac- 
 ters represented in a drama. 
 
 DRAUGHTS, a game calculated to 
 exercise the understanding agreeably. 
 
 DRAW-BACK, an allowance made at 
 the Custom House on the exportation of 
 certain goods or manufactures, and some- 
 times called a bounty. 
 
 DRAWING, an elegant art, to be ac- 
 quired by practice from good examples, 
 and by copying nature. The best practi- 
 cal book in all branches, is by Hamilton. 
 
 DRAWING-ROOM, the room in gen- 
 teel families, to which the ladies with- 
 draw from dinner parties. 
 
 DREAM, the imperfect rest of part of 
 the brain, while the other parts, by being 
 at perfect rest, do not sympathize; or 
 often the imperfect thoughts which take 
 place between the repose and action of 
 the brain. They are a fertile source of 
 superstition among the weak and un- 
 educated, but of course utterly unworthy 
 of any notice. 
 
 DRESS, the covering of the human 
 body, for the professed purpose of ob- 
 structing the transfer of its atomic mo- 
 tion or heat, and equalizing the external 
 temperature ; but rendered a business of 
 fashion and taste, by which vanity and 
 
DRU 
 
 pride are indulged, and, in consequence, 
 is the leading concern of many lives. 
 
 DRILL-HUSBANDRY, a mode of 
 cultivating land by planting seed instead 
 of sowing it, effected by machines which 
 revolve, make the holes, and deposit the 
 seed in them, the plant being stronger, 
 and more productive, by which much 
 seed is saved. 
 
 DROMEDARY, the Arabian camel, 
 with a single bunch; a beast of burden 
 in Western Asia, docile, patient, and 
 hardy, but very uneasy to ride upon, 
 though generally used for that purpose 
 in long journeys. They are commonly 
 about six feet high, but nine feet to the 
 top of the head ; and they are taught to 
 kneel when they take up their load. 
 
 DROPSY, diseased action in the assi- 
 milating organs, which convert the ali- 
 ment into liquids, accumulating locally, 
 or distributing themselves in the mem- 
 branes of the skin. 
 
 DROWNING, suffocation by water, 
 from which the sufferer may be recovered 
 by being conveyed to a warm bed, rub- 
 bed dry and well, the head kept up, the 
 lungs inflated, by blowing with bellows 
 into one nostril, and stopping the other 
 and the mouth, and interchanging the 
 operation, by putting hot bottles or bricks 
 to the feet and stomach, by injecting to- 
 bacco fumes into the fundament, and by 
 rubbing the stomach, &c. with flannels 
 and brandy, for one, two, or three, hours. 
 
 DRUGGET, light woollen cloth. 
 
 DRUGGIST, a dealer in medicines. 
 
 DRUIDS, the priests of ancient Bri- 
 tain, who taught the existence, unity, 
 and other attributes, of God, and whose 
 doctrines, still preserved, inculcate the 
 purest morality and benevolence. Caesar, 
 who had made war on Britain, in the 
 malign spirit of a conqueror, grossly mis- 
 represented them. Their principal tem- 
 68 
 
 DUM 
 
 pie was at Abury, in Wiltshire ; and they 
 had another at Stonehenge, and others 
 in Anglesea. 
 
 DRUM, an instrument which produces 
 musical tones, by the vibrations of 
 stretched vellum or parchment. 
 
 DRUNKENNESS, an excitement of 
 the medullary system, by putting into 
 the stomach an hydrogenous or spirituous 
 liquid, which, by re-acting with increased 
 energy in the usual galvanic manner on 
 the oxygen of the lungs, creates a sense 
 of heat in the intermediate parts, and 
 increases the general excitement of the 
 system, so. as to disturb the cerebrum 
 and cerebellum, and derange the senses 
 and will. 
 
 I) R Y AD, a mythological wood nymph. 
 
 DRYING, the approximation of a 
 body in a high state of atomic motion, 
 or heat, to a body in a lower state, which 
 contains fluids, and these partaking of 
 the excitement of the other body and 
 raised in gas, leave the fixed parts dry. 
 
 DRY ROT, a fungus which grows in 
 timber, decomposes its fibres, and de- 
 stroys the cohesion of the mass. 
 
 DUBLIN, the capital of Ireland, Lat. 
 53° 23' W. Long. 6° 20'; containing 
 16,005 houses, and 186,276 inhabitants. 
 
 DUBLIN, COUNTY, containing 
 21,987 houses, and 160,274 inhabitants, 
 over and above the city. 
 
 DUCAT, a coin, value when silver, 
 4s. Gd. and when gold, 9s. 6d. 
 
 DUCT, a tube of fluid. 
 
 DUCTILE, the power of being drawn 
 out without breaking. 
 
 DUCTILITY, the property of some 
 metals, as gold, silver, copper, &c. &c. 
 of expanding by hammering ; thus a 
 grain of gold will gild 98 square yards. 
 
 DUELLING, a barbarous toleration 
 to decide a quarrel by fighting, often 
 about some trifling question, on which one 
 of the parties affords indubitable evidence 
 of insanity, by staking his life. It is 
 often justified as a means of insuring 
 good manners, as though there were no 
 other means. 
 
 DUET, a piece of music in two parts. 
 
 DUGONG, a large fish nine feet long, 
 which grazes on sea-weed. 
 
 DUMBNESS, the want of speech, 
 generally consequent on want of hearing, 
 and hence of the power of imitation ; 
 proving that speech is not a natural, but 
 an acquired faculty. In England and 
 France, the deaf and dumb have been 
 taught to read and write with great suc- 
 cess, and also to pronounce intelligibly. 
 
EAG 
 
 DUKE, the highest rank of a British 
 subject, with the title of lord, duke, and 
 grace. 
 
 DUMBARTON, a county in Scotland, 
 containing 27,217 inhabitants, in 12 
 parishes. 
 
 DUMFRIESHIRE, a county in Scot- 
 land, containing 70,878 inhabitants, in 
 43 parishes. 
 
 DUMOSiE, the 43d Linna;an natural 
 order of plants, containing shrubs and 
 bushes, as the elder, &c. 
 
 DUN, or Down, an eminence. 
 
 DUNG-HILL, a collection of sub- 
 stances composed of hydrogen and car- 
 bon, the food of plants. 
 
 DUODENUM, a small bowel lying be- 
 tween the stomach and the small intes- 
 tines, in which the food changes. 
 
 DUPLICATE PROPORTION, is the 
 proportion of the square of one number 
 to the square of another, and is the pro- 
 
 EAG 
 
 portion by which power is diffused in 
 fluids and gases. 
 
 DURA MATER, the membrane which 
 lies between the bones of the skull and 
 the parts of the brain, and also dividing 
 it into two parts. 
 
 DURANTE BENE PLACITO, du- 
 ring pleasure. 
 
 DURANTE VITA, during life. 
 
 DURBAR, an eastern placeofaudience. 
 
 DURHAM, a county in the Northern 
 Circuit, and See of Durham, of 75 
 parishes, and 679,040 acres ; containing, 
 in 1821, 207,673 inhabitants, in. 32,793 
 houses. Durham, 262 miles from Lon- 
 don. 
 
 DWARF, a man below the usual size, 
 of whom the most celebrated instances are 
 Jeffery Hudson, but eighteen inches at 
 seven years old, and forty-five inches at 
 thirty ; and Count Borowlaslci, but two 
 feet four inches, at twenty-two. 
 
 DYKE, a fissure running perpendicu- 
 lar through strata, occasioned by the 
 sinking of one division of them. 
 
 DYNAMICS, the science which treats 
 of momenta, or bodies in motion, and 
 investigates the laws which govern com- 
 plicated phenomena, as the motions of 
 the heavenly bodies, oscillating bodies, 
 revolving bodies, &c. under all circum- 
 stances. 
 
 DYNASTY, a family possessing so- 
 vereign power, in successive generations. 
 
 DYSPEPSIA, indigestion. 
 
 E 
 
 EAR, a mechanical structure for con- 
 veying undulations of air to the nerves 
 and brain of an animal. The external 
 cartilage collects the sound into the 
 concha, at the bottom of which is the 
 tympanum, like the skin of a drum, and 
 beneath the tympanum is a cavity, ter- 
 minated by a tube called the eustachian 
 tube ; and further on are several wind- 
 ing passages filled with a watery fluid, in 
 which the nerves are situated. 
 
 EAGLE, a bird of prey, of the genus 
 falco, of which there are several species ; 
 as the sea eagle, known in Scotland and 
 Ireland, which feeds on fish; the golden 
 eagle, three feet long, with wings extend- 
 ing above seven feet, which devours 
 faw'ns, lambs, kids, &c. and lives to a 
 great age; the cinereous eagle, common 
 in the mountains of Europe; the cry- 
 ing or plaintive eagle, of Siberia and 
 69 
 
 Asia ; and also the bald or white-headed 
 eagle, which preys on flesh and fish. The 
 talons and bills of all the species are 
 strong and terrible, and their sight is keen 
 and distant. 
 
EAR 
 
 EARL, a title of nobility, between a 
 marquis and a viscount, authorized to 
 wear and bear a coronet like that in the 
 engraving. 
 
 EARL-MARSHAL, the president of 
 Herald’s College, and the superintendant 
 of heraldic ceremonies. 
 
 EAR-RING, an ornament worn in 
 the ear by most savages, and by men and 
 women in many civilized nations ; but 
 for a century past, only by the women in 
 England. 
 
 EARTH, TERRA or TELLUS, the globe 
 or planet which, in the solar system, has 
 its orbit between Mars and Venus, at the 
 distance of about 95 millions of miles 
 from the Sun, being accompanied by the 
 satellite of the Moon, which makes its 
 own revolution round the Earth 13 times, 
 while both make one revolution round 
 the Sun. It is 7924 miles in diameter, 
 and its surface contains 150 millions of 
 square miles, in seas inhabited by fishes, 
 and 50 millions of land inhabited by ani- 
 mals and insects ; of which America is a 
 third, Africa and Asia a fourth each, 
 and Europe a sixth. Like the rest of 
 the planets, it maintains the aggregation 
 of its parts by its simultaneous two-fold 
 motions of 68,000 miles an hour in its 
 annual orbit, and 1000 miles in its diur- 
 nal rotation ; the two forces being so ex- 
 actly balanced, that the increased rotative 
 force at the centre diminishes the weight 
 of bodies only a 289th part, as compared 
 with the poles; the general velocity of 
 the fall being one foot in a quarter of a 
 second. The exterior surface of the land 
 consists of granitic and primary moun- 
 tains, which slope beneath the general 
 surface, while that surface consists of 
 rocks and strata of later formation, or of 
 mixed soil and ruins of rocks, which ap- 
 pear to have been often displaced by the 
 sea, the great accumulation of which, 
 in the southern hemisphere, lead to a 
 belief, that from general physical causes, 
 the seas alternately preponderate in each 
 hemisphere. As man is acquainted with 
 the substance of the earth to the depth 
 only of a mile out of 4000, and as the 
 70 
 
 ECC 
 
 air, wind, and water, are constantly 
 changing the surface, general theories, 
 such as those called Vulcanic and Plato- 
 nic, are contemptible, as are all those 
 which relate to the origin and end of 
 such a planet. 
 
 EARTHQUAKES, shakings or vibra- 
 tions of the ground, by which buildings 
 are overthrown, sometimes accompanied 
 by rents, and by shaking of the surface, 
 so as to swallow up towns and tracts of 
 country. They are ascribed to an elec- 
 trical action between the atmosphere and 
 some deep substrata, and the sinking to 
 their disturbing the roofs of subterra- 
 nean caverns which give way. Many 
 hot countries, where much electrical 
 disturbance takes place, are very subject 
 - to them. 
 
 EARTHS, a class of bodies formerly 
 called an element, but now proved to be 
 combinations of many distinct bodies, 
 with which the atoms of air are intimate- 
 ly connected. The chief of them are 
 lime, silica, clay, with barytes, strontites, 
 magnesia, glucina, zirconia, yttria, tho- 
 rina, &c. all of which appear to be me- 
 tallic calxes or oxides, formed by the 
 action of air on metals. 
 
 EARWIG, an elegant insect, which 
 flies by night, and about which some vul- 
 gar prejudices exist, in regard to its 
 creeping into the ear, though no case of 
 the kind appears to be authenticated, 
 the cerumen or wax being a general de- 
 fence; but if it occurred, the insect 
 would be immediately destroyed by a 
 few drops of oil or brandy. 
 
 EAST, where the sun rises, much 
 reverenced by the ancient worshippers 
 of Baal or the Sun. 
 
 EASTER, a festival of the early Chris- 
 tian church, to celebrate Christ’s resur- 
 rection, kept on the Sunday which fol- 
 lows the full of that new moon which 
 falls nearest the 21st of March, or 20th 
 in leap years. 
 
 EATING, the re-supply of the sto- 
 mach, which contains the roots of the 
 animal system, with nutritive soil or 
 substances. 
 
 EBB, the retreat of the tide. 
 
 EBONY, a dense hard wood growing 
 in the Levant. 
 
 ECCENTRICITY, the departure of 
 a curve from the centre, measured by the 
 distance of the new centre from the com- 
 mon centre. Thus the orbits of the 
 planets are eccentric, being elliptical, 
 each of them causing its own eccentricity, 
 by a change in the re-action of its two 
 
ECL 
 
 hemispheres, because the action of the 
 sun is common and uniform. 
 
 ECCLESIASTIC, a clergyman. 
 
 ECHO, the reflection of sound from 
 an isolated surface, at a suitable distance; 
 and, when other surfaces combine, may 
 be repeated 40 or 50 times. 
 
 ECLAIRCISSEMENT, an explana- 
 tion or clearing up of any doubt. 
 
 ECLECTIC, select. 
 
 ECLIPSE, the shadow which an 
 opaque body throws on another body, on 
 passing between it and a centre of illu- 
 mination; consequently the moon, in 
 its orbit round the earth, falls within the 
 shadow of the earth, and suffers an 
 eclipse; the earth also falls within the 
 shadow of the moon, and then the sun 
 is obscured or eclipsed. An eclipse does 
 not, however, happen at every new or 
 full moon, because the orbit of the moon 
 is not exactly in the same level as the 
 ecliptic, but the moon’s orbit inclines 
 five degrees nine minutes, consequently, 
 the earth’s shadow commonly falls to the 
 north or south of the moon, as it may be; 
 and so it is with the shadow of the moon 
 in regard to the earth, while that shadow 
 is so small that it never covers but a 
 small portion of the earth. Eclipses, 
 therefore, only take place when the new 
 or full moon happens near the time at 
 which the moon in her orbit is crossing 
 the plane of the ecliptic, called her 
 nodes, either in ascending or descending, 
 and these times are indicated in the al- 
 manack. The angle under which the 
 moon appears to the earth, is 31' 26"; 
 but that of the earth to the moon, is 115' 
 8". The length of the earth’s shadow is 
 four times the distance of the moon from 
 the earth ; but the shadow of the moon 
 scarcely reaches the earth’s centre, and 
 therefore is very small at the surface; 
 whereas that of the eqrth is 2§ greater 
 than the diameter of the moon ; but to 
 suffer an eclipse, the moon must be within 
 8 and 13 degrees of her node. The sun 
 cannot be totally eclipsed more than four 
 minutes. As a mere shadow, it is ob- 
 vious that eclipses have no power or 
 signification, good or bad. 
 
 ECLIPTIC, that circle of stars in the 
 heavens, through which the earth would 
 appear to move, if it were seen from the 
 sun ; and with reference to appearances 
 on the earth, that circle through which 
 the sun appears to move, while the 
 earth is performing its orbit. The axis 
 of the earth is, however, not perpendi- 
 cular to the plane or level of the ecliptic, 
 71 
 
 EFF 
 
 but declines from the perpendicular 23 s 
 28', which position it maintains through- 
 out the orbit, causing the variations in 
 the length of the day, and the four sea- 
 sons. But this angle is supposed to be 
 diminishing at the rate of a minute in a 
 century. 
 
 ECLOGUE, a pastoral poem. 
 
 ECONOMY, the greatest effect with 
 the least means. 
 
 EDDA, the Scandinavian mythology. 
 
 EDGE, a fine wedge. 
 
 EDIBLE, fit to eat. 
 
 EDICT, a proclamation. 
 
 EDINBURGH, the capital of Scot- 
 land, in Lat. 55® 5?', and W. Long. 
 3 s 14' ; also the name of a county, con- 
 taining 230,400 acres, and all together 
 191,514 inhabitants, in 41 parishes, and 
 19,077 houses. 
 
 EDITION, the publication of a book. 
 
 EDUCATION, the training and in- 
 structing of young persons in arts, scien- 
 ces, and virtue; sometimes by private 
 tutors, but generally in public schools ; 
 the future man depending for his quali- 
 ties, powers, and success, on the nature 
 of the education which formed his mind. 
 There are various systems, as the Inter- 
 rogative, by answering Questions, and 
 that of Mutual Instruction, by which 
 senior pupils teach juniors. 
 
 EEL, a genus of fishes, of which the 
 common species are very long lived, vi- 
 viparous, prolific, and torpid in winter, 
 living on insects, worms, and eggs of 
 other fish. It is impossible to avoid re- 
 marking on the brutality practised by 
 skinning these creatures alive, and often 
 in frying the parts while they exhibit 
 sensibility. Nothing but famine can 
 justify such enormities. 
 
 EFFECT, the consequence of a cause, 
 sometimes simple and visible, sometimes 
 complicated and invisible, but always 
 simultaneous with the cause. 
 
 EFFERVESCENCE, fermentation, 
 during which gas is fixed, and heat 
 thereby elicited. 
 
 EFFETE, useless. 
 
 EFFICIENT, competent to, active, 
 and acting. 
 
 EFFLORESCENCE, the production 
 of flowers, and the white powder on the 
 surface of crystals. 
 
 EFFLUVIUM, the atoms which radi- 
 ate from bodies, caeteris paribus, excited 
 by motion in one body more than in other 
 adjacent bodies, owing to the economy 
 with which heat or motion is always 
 equally diffused. 
 
ELE 
 
 EFT, the water lizard. 
 
 EGG, the seed or germ of oviparous 
 animals, which, by continuance of heat, 
 is converted into the animal. The shell 
 consists of phosphate of lime and water ; 
 next is a thin membrane, then the white 
 or albumen, and then the yolk, which 
 consists of fat oil and serous matter. 
 
 EGYPT, a country famous in antiqui- 
 ty for its knowledge and fertility, but 
 now inhabited by semi-barbarians, and 
 reduced, by the encroachment of the 
 sands of the desert, to a slip of land on 
 the sides of the Nile. 
 
 EGYPTIAN MONARCHY, began 
 between 2000 and 3000 B.C. conquered 
 by Cambyses, 525 B.C. by the Macedo- 
 nians, 331 B.C. by the Romans, 46 B.C. 
 and by the Saracens, 630 A.D. 
 
 EIDOUR ANION, a picture of the 
 heavens. 
 
 EJECTMENT, putting out of pos- 
 session by legal process. 
 
 ELASTICITY, the power by which 
 bodies maintain their volume or dimen- 
 sions, and by which the same number of 
 atoms may be made to fill a larger space. 
 This important principle in nature, 
 arises from the invisible motion of atoms, 
 because, every space being already full, 
 all atoms newly excited radiate among 
 atoms which deflect them into orbits, 
 which orbits are as the relative excite- 
 ments, and of course the space occupied 
 by a given number of atoms thus revol- 
 ving, is as the size of the orbits of each ; 
 and hence the principle of elasticity , and 
 also of expansion, causing cold in sur- 
 rounding bodies, by the abstraction of 
 their motion, and of compressibility, 
 causing heat by parting with motion. 
 The above is the theory of Sir Richard 
 Phillips, but La Place ascribes elasticity 
 to “ three forces, to which each molecule 
 or atom is subject. 1. The attraction of 
 the surrounding molecules. 2. The at- 
 traction of the caloric of the same mole- 
 cules. 3. The repulsion of its caloric 
 by the caloric of the other molecules ; 
 the first two tending to make the par- 
 ticles approach, and the third to separate 
 them.” What a jargon of mystical and 
 incoherent words ! yet such is science as 
 gravely propagated in the French schools 
 of philosophy. 
 
 ELECTION, the act of choosing by a 
 majority of voices, applicable to the 
 choice of members of the legislature, 
 which takes place within every seven 
 years; to the choice of parish officers, 
 annually; and to the admission of mem- 
 72 
 
 ELE 
 
 bers into societies, sometimes practised 
 by show of hands, at others, by every 
 elector giving his vote separately, with 
 an oath in regard to his right and inte- 
 grity; at other times by balls put under 
 cover, into the right or left side of a box, 
 called a ballot ; and occasionally by fold- 
 ing pieces of paper with the name of the 
 candidate, and putting it into a large 
 glass. 
 
 ELECTRICAL BATTERY. This is 
 merely a combination of glass jars, which 
 serve as a continuation of the conductor, 
 the outside of them being in actual or 
 virtual contact with the rubber, and the 
 disturbed plate being separated only by 
 the thickness of the glass, on which ac- 
 count, its intensity is greatly increased. 
 The sudden restoration of the two sides 
 produces astonishing effects on any in- 
 terposed semi-conducting substances, 
 melting and dispersing them, and even 
 killing animals like lightning. 
 
 ELECTRICAL MACHINE. This 
 consists of an arrangement for rubbing a 
 glass cylinder with ease and velocity, so 
 as to produce a great excitement in the 
 glass and in the adjoining air, which are 
 electrics. The rubber then forms one 
 side of an electrical plate of air, and a 
 metal conductor provided with points, 
 another side; and the restorations fr^m 
 the insulated conductor produce curious 
 and amusing phenomena. 
 
 ELECTRICITY, disturbance in the 
 natural position of the elements of a 
 stratum of an electric, bounded by sur- 
 faces not electrics, by which one of the 
 elements is accumulated on one sur- 
 face, and another element on the other ; 
 these elements being respectively oxy- 
 genous and nitrogenous or hydrogenous. 
 The disturbance being produced by force, 
 the atoms seek to return to their natural 
 position with similar force, and hence 
 light bodies, moveable with less force, 
 are driven backward and forward in the 
 electric between the surfaces, by what 
 has been improperly called, attraction 
 and repulsion. In this condition, if the 
 
ELE 
 
 breadth of the stratum is narrowed at any 
 point, the disturbed sides will restore 
 themselves, through that point, with a 
 concentrated energy, which produces 
 light and heat, and which has been mis- 
 taken for a fluid. Of course, non-elec- 
 trics are insensible to the disturbance, 
 but merely give varied energy and 
 expansion to the disturbed electric. All 
 electrical phenomena are produced by 
 plates or strata of electrics, really or vir- 
 tually bounded by two surfaces of non- 
 electrics, and these two surfaces must be 
 in different states, or there can be no 
 electricity; for it is the different state 
 which constitutes the electricity, and 
 therefore the action is in the electric, 
 and the bounding surface, whether it be 
 gold leaf, or a body of gold a foot thick, 
 is equally operative; and that the whole 
 is a mechanical separation, or affection 
 of the chemical elements of any electric 
 stratum, is evident from the fact, that 
 what is called positive electricity con- 
 verts blue infusions into red, just like an 
 acid; and what is called negative elec- 
 tricity, changes blues into greens, like an 
 alkali; while the galvanic arrangement 
 is a mere corollary of these principles. 
 
 ELECTROMETER, an instrument 
 to measure, by a graduated circle, the 
 energy with which one side of an electric 
 acts on the other side, displayed by the 
 receding of a light body. 
 
 ELEGY, a plaintive poem. 
 
 ELEMENTS, those principles or bo- 
 dies, which, by human art, have hitherto 
 proved themselves incapable of decom- 
 position ; and in the present state of 
 chemistry, they are regarded as oxygen, 
 hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, about 40 
 metals, to which are added chlorine, (a 
 compounded result of sea water,) sul- 
 phur, phosphorus, and some productions 
 of chemical experiments, which, it is ex- 
 pected, will in due time reduce their 
 number ; for it may be supposed that the 
 metals, sulphur, and phosphorus, are not 
 simple bodies. The ancients believed 
 there were but four elements, earth, air, 
 fire, and water ; but earth is found to be 
 a compound of many earths ; air, a com- 
 pound of at least two gases ; fire, a mere 
 accident of atoms in motion ; and water, 
 a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. 
 
 ELEPHANT, the largest quadruped 
 now in existence, and very numerous in 
 Asia and Africa, where they are trained 
 to useful labour, and among the native 
 princes are still used in war. They live 
 3 or 400 years, and are scarcely at ma- 
 73 
 
 EMB 
 
 turity till 100. They are extremely sa- 
 gacious, and perform with their pro- 
 boscis almost every thing that man can 
 perform with his hands. They live on 
 vegetables, and are docile and friendly. 
 
 ELF, a mythological fairy. 
 
 ELGIN, or Morayshire, a county 
 in Scotland, containing 477>000 acres, and 
 31,102 inhabitants. 
 
 ELIMINATION, the ejection of su- 
 perfluous matter from organized bodies. 
 
 ELIXIR, a cordial medicine. 
 
 ELK, a large species of stag; once 
 common in Ireland, where its bones and 
 horns are often found in the bogs. 
 
 ELL, a yard and a quarter. 
 
 ELLIPSIS, acurvefigure produced by 
 
 cutting a cone obliquely through its 
 sides ; and the form of the planetary or- 
 bits, the sun being in one of the centres, 
 called foci. The distance from the foci 
 to the centre is called the excentricity. 
 
 ELM, a British tree. 
 
 ELOCUTION, the science which 
 
 teaches the art of speaking. 
 
 ELONGATION, lengthening. 
 
 ELOQUENCE, the art of speaking 
 with grace, effect, and fluency, only to 
 be acquired by practice. 
 
 ELYSIAN, pleasant scenes. 
 
 ELYSIUM, the mythological heaven. 
 
 EMANATE, proceeding from; used 
 with reference to atoms which radiate 
 from a body, because more excited by 
 motion than other surrounding bodies. 
 
 EMANCIPATION, a word applied to 
 the projects long entertained of redeem- 
 ing the African blacks from Christian 
 slavery ; and to the Catholic question. 
 
 EMBALMING, preserving dead bo- 
 dies by means of pyroligneous acid in 
 various forms. 
 
 EMBARGO, an injunction to stop in 
 port. 
 
 H 
 
ENC 
 
 EMBELLISHMENT, such a mixture 
 of colours, lines, and reflecting surfaces, 
 as produces an harmonious impression 
 on the mind. 
 
 EMBEZZLEMENT, clandestinely 
 stealing. 
 
 EMBLAZON, heraldic painting. 
 
 EMBLEM, a moral simile or analogy. 
 
 EMBOSS, raised ornamental work. 
 
 EMBRASURE, the opening for can- 
 non. 
 
 EMBROCATION, the application of 
 au exciting action to the skin, generally 
 of an hydrogenous or spirituous charac- 
 ter, to act correlatively with the oxygen 
 fixed in the lungs. 
 
 EMBROIDERY, tasteful needle-work. 
 
 EMBRYO, the first rudiments. 
 
 EMERALD, a green gem, of high 
 value, coloured by protoxide of chro- 
 mium. 
 
 EMERSION, a term applied to eclipses 
 of satellites, signifying their coming out 
 of the shadow : the going into it being 
 called Immersion. 
 
 E M E R Y, a compound of alumina, iron, 
 and silica, employed by lapidaries and 
 glass-cutters. 
 
 EMETIC, a medicine for emptying 
 the stomach by vomiting, generally 
 ipecacuanha, or tartarized antimony. 
 
 EMIGRANT, one who quits his na- 
 tive country. 
 
 . EMMET, a small ant. 
 
 EMOLLIENT, softening. 
 
 EMPALEMENT, a barbarous punish- 
 ment of eastern tyrants, by driving a stake 
 through the body. 
 
 EMPANNEL, making a list of a jury. 
 
 EMPEROR, a title assumed by the 
 chief of several kingdoms. 
 
 EMPIRICAL, practice without reason, 
 or inferences from facts without ascer- 
 taining causes and effects. 
 
 EMPORIUM, a resort of merchants. 
 
 EMPTY, a relative" term used to ex- 
 press a low degree of density within a 
 space. 
 
 EMPYRIUM, the regions of distant 
 space, where shoals of suns appear like 
 single fixed stars. 
 
 EMPYREUMATICAL, a burnt fla- 
 vour. 
 
 EMULSION, a milky medicine. 
 
 ENAMEL, a painting with materials 
 which admit of calcination, and the last 
 finish of superior pottery. The basis is 
 the white oxide of tin, combined with 
 sand and potash, and the colours are 
 various metallic oxides. 
 
 ENCAMPMENT, an arrangement of 
 
 74 
 
 ENG 
 
 tents made of canvas, suspended on 
 poles, for the temporary residence of 
 bodies of soldiery. 
 
 ENCHANTER, an impostor who, in 
 low stages of public intelligence, under- 
 takes to produce effects without proxi- 
 mate or connected mechanical causes ; of 
 the same nature as attraction, repulsion, 
 sympathy, &c. 
 
 ENCHIRIDION, a manual of morals. 
 
 ENCLOSING, that important prac- 
 tice, which chiefly prevails in England, 
 of sub-dividing the open land into small 
 fields, by which cattle are restrained, and 
 the cold winds intercepted. 
 
 ENCORE, pron. <mcore, over again. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT, the foundation 
 of all perfection and excellence; the 
 energies of the mind, and public and pri- 
 vate industry, being constantly directed 
 to subjects which receive the greatest 
 encouragement. 
 
 ENCYCLOPAEDIA, a circleof science. 
 
 ENDEMIC, a local affection. 
 
 ENDORSING, writing a name at the 
 back of a bill of exchange, by which re- 
 sponsibility for its amount is incurred, 
 if duly presented, not paid, and early 
 notice given. 
 
 ENDOWMENT, wealth or education. 
 
 ENEMY, one who considers his wel- 
 fare endangered by another. From mis- 
 take, prejudice, or calculation of per- 
 sonal interest, all things which tend to 
 diminish the duration or compass of life 
 are considered as enemies; and, being 
 personified by poetry, have by supersti- 
 tion been regarded as evil genii. 
 
 ENERGY, the momentum or power 
 which any simple or compound body ex- 
 hibits, by causes obvious or concealed. 
 
 ENERVATE, enfeebling the body. 
 
 ENFILADE, a narrow passage. 
 
 ENFRANCHISE, to remove restric- 
 tions. 
 
 ENGINE, an arrangement of wheels, 
 levers, and other mechanical contrivan- 
 ces, by which a desirable end is produced 
 by the application of general power. 
 
 ENGINEER, Civil or Military; 
 civil, when his labours are directed to 
 public improvements, as road and canal 
 making, embankments, construction of 
 harbours, docks, and bridges ; and mili- 
 tary, when engaged on fortifications, 
 and field-works for armies. 
 
 ENGLAND, the southern division of 
 the island of Great Britain, lying between 
 latitude 50° and 55°, and extending 
 over G 3 of longitude; divided into 40 
 shires, or counties, which contain above 
 
ENS 
 
 10 millions of inhabitants, remarkable 
 for their industry, personal vigour, ge- 
 neral beauty, and good intelligence. In 
 the middle of the temperate zone, its cli- 
 mate is best adapted to the human con- 
 stitution, and, though variable, little 
 subject to destructive commotions, while 
 it contributes to the multiplication of 
 all the substantial necessaries of life, 
 which the securities of trial by jury, and 
 the representative system, enable the 
 people to enjoy. 
 
 ENGLISH, theproduce, manufactures, 
 and people, of England, the name being a 
 corruption of the words Anglo-Saxon; 
 and to this day the English are called 
 Saxons by the Welch and the Scottish 
 Highlanders. 
 
 ENGLISH LANGUAGE, a compound 
 of Welsh, Latin, Saxon, French, and 
 Greek, and hence the most copious lan- 
 guage known, but owing to the ascend- 
 ancy of Latin after the revival of learn- 
 ing, very unsettled in its orthography 
 and syntax till the age of Dryden and 
 Addison. It is now the language of 
 North America, and of our vast colonies 
 in all parts of the world. 
 
 ENGRAVING, the art of producing 
 representations on hard surfaces of me- 
 tal or wood, which, when reversed, may, 
 by means of ink and a printing press, be 
 transferred in desirable numbers to pa- 
 per. For this purpose copper has gene- 
 rally been used, and is wrought or etched 
 with a tool, and the lines completed with 
 aqua fortis, or nitric acid. But latterly 
 mixed metals, not subject to the corrosion 
 of oil in printing, or steel, have been 
 introduced; and engravings on wood 
 have been revived with useful effect, 
 because capable of being incorporated 
 with types, and worked with them. 
 
 ENGROSSING, copying for legal use. 
 
 ENIGMA, an obscure problem. 
 
 ENJOYMENT, healthful feelings, 
 with contentment. 
 
 ENLISTING, becoming a soldier, 
 either for a term, as three or seven years, 
 or for life. 
 
 ENNUI, tiresomeness. 
 
 ENROLMENT, entering in a register. 
 
 ENSATiE, the sixth Linnsean natural 
 order of plants, containing the liliaceous 
 plants, as the saffron, iris, &c. 
 
 ENSIGN, the officer who carries the 
 colours at the head of a company of a 
 regiment ; and on board of ship the name 
 of the flag. 
 
 ENSLAVE, to render one man sub- 
 servient to the will of another, by de- 
 
 75 
 
 ENV 
 
 priving him of those powers which en- 
 abled him to be independent. 
 
 ENNEANDRIA, the ninth class of 
 the Linnacan system of plants, containing 
 three orders, Monogynia, Trigynia, and 
 Hexagynia, with nine stamens. 
 
 ENTABLATURE, the architrave, 
 frieze, and cornice, at the top of an 
 architectural column. 
 
 ENTAIL, the conditions on which an 
 estate was transferred. 
 
 ENTERTAINMENT, in a dramatic 
 sense, me rarce or pantomime wmcn 101 - 
 lows a tragedy or comedy; and in social 
 life, a dinner or supper of a party of 
 friends, followed by the amusements of 
 card-playing, dancing, music, &c. 
 
 ENTHUSIASM, zeal, energy of feel- 
 ing, and the foundation of all great and 
 successful exertions. 
 
 ENTITY, real or sensitive existence. 
 
 ENTOMOLOGY, that branch of na- 
 tural history which treats of the orders, 
 genus, species, varieties, structure, and 
 habits, of insects. Linnaeus divides them 
 into 1. Coleoptera, with crustaceous ely- 
 tra, or shells, as the beetle. 2. Hemip- 
 tera, with crustaceous and membranace- 
 ous wings, as the bug. 3. Lepidoptera, 
 with four wings, covered with fine scales, 
 as the butterfly. 4. Neuroptera, with 
 four membraneous transparent wings, 
 as the dragon fly. 5. Hymenoptera, 
 with four membraneous wings and sting, 
 as the tenthredo, or saw-fly. 6. Diptera, 
 with two wings and poisers, as the fly. 
 7. Aptera, insects with no wings, as spi- 
 ders, scorpions, &c. 
 
 ENTRAILS, the bowels or viscera. 
 
 ENVIRONS, neighbouring places. 
 
 ENVOY, an ambassador. 
 
 ENVY, the poison of society engen- 
 dered by the unworthy, and administered 
 to the worthy in detraction, slander, 
 
EPI 
 
 falsehood, and active mischief, serving 
 as the foundation of most of the bad 
 passions, by which men embitter the lives 
 of one another. 
 
 ENUNCIATION, articulation. 
 
 EPACT, the eleven days which the 
 earth’s revolution exceeds 12 lunar revo- 
 lutions. 
 
 EPAULETTE, the shoulder-knot of 
 an officer or a footman. 
 
 EPHEMERAL, daily. 
 
 EPHEMERA, the name of a species 
 of insects which are often produced in 
 great numbers, and die within the day. 
 
 EPHEMERIS, an astronomical al- 
 manac. 
 
 EPHOD, the linen girdle of the Le- 
 
 vites. 
 
 EPIC, an historical poem, the chief 
 of which are Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, 
 Virgil’s ^Eneid, Tasso’s Jerusalem De- 
 livered, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Vol- 
 taire’s Henriade, and Glover’s Leonidas. 
 
 EPICUREAN, a believer in the philo- 
 sophy of Epicurus, who taught that the 
 world was formed by the accidental con- 
 course of atoms, in an infinite period of 
 time, but who rendered his system ridi- 
 culous by gratuitous details ; and, as he 
 launht that hanniness consisted in plea- 
 sure, so all sensual gratifications are, by 
 an abuse of language, called Epicurean, 
 and a lover of delicacies in eating, an 
 Epicure. The best display of his sys- 
 tem is by Lucretius, a Latin poet. 
 
 EPIDEMIC, a disease arising from 
 local general causes, and affecting many 
 persons at the same time, and therefore 
 alleged to be contagious. 
 
 EPIDERMIS, the external thin skin 
 of the human body ; that which is raised 
 by a blister. 
 
 EPIGRAM, a short witty poem. 
 
 EPILEPSY, a disease of the medullary 
 system, which deprives the afflicted of 
 sensation and volition, accompanied by 
 involuntary contractions of the muscles. 
 
 EPILOGUE, an address after a play. 
 
 EPIPHANY, twelfth-day, when plum 
 cakes are divided in family parties, by 
 drawing lots for imaginary characters; 
 a popish custom continued for its good 
 cheer. In London above 50,000/. worth 
 of cake is sold on this day, and sipgle 
 cakes have been made which weighed 
 2 or 3 cwt. 
 
 EPISCOPACY, a church governed by 
 
 bishops. 
 
 EPISODE, a separate story introduc- 
 ed. 
 
 EPITAPH, an inscription for the dead. 
 
 EQU 
 
 EPITHALAMIUM, a poem on a mar- 
 riage. 
 
 EPITHET, thedefinition of a quality. 
 
 EPITOME, an abridgment. 
 
 EPOCH, a period serving as a standard 
 in chronology and history ; the principal 
 of which are the Creation, 4004 B. C. ; 
 the Flood, 2343 ; the birth of Abraham, 
 1996; conquest of Canaan; 1451, the 
 taking of Troy, 1184; the finishing of 
 Solomon’s Temple, 1104; the first Olym- 
 piad, 776 ; the building of Rome, 753 ; 
 the sera of Nabonassar, 747 5 the found- 
 ing of the Persian Empire, by Cyrus, 
 559 ; the death of Alexander, 323 ; the 
 death of Caesar, 44 B. C. ;. the birth of 
 Christ, 0, or commencement of the Chris- 
 tian aera; the Hegiraof Mahomet, 622 A.C. 
 
 EPOPiEIA, the subject of an epic. 
 
 EPSOM SALTS, sulphate of magnesia, 
 much used as an aperient. 
 
 EQUAL, that which has the same di- 
 mensions, number, momentum, or rank, 
 as another. 
 
 EQUATION, that disposition of 
 quantities in algebra, by which one 
 set is made equal to another, and then, 
 by varying the position of the terms, still 
 preserving the equality, the value of 
 
 particular terms is determined. It is also 
 used to express the difference bet ween the 
 sun’s real and mean motion. 
 
 EQUATOR, an imaginary line round 
 the earth, 90 ® from each pole, sometimes 
 called the equinoctial, because the nights 
 there are equal. 
 
 EQUERRY, a groom to a prince. 
 
 EQUESTRIAN, a rider on a horse. 
 
 EQUINOX, the two periods of the year 
 when the sun is perpendicular over the 
 equator, and as it enlightens half the 
 globe 90 ° every way, the rotative circles 
 are cut into equal halves from the north 
 pole to the south, and consequently, at 
 those times, the day and night is equal 
 all over the globe. 
 
 EQUIPAGE, a carriage and its appur- 
 tenances. 
 
 EQUILIBRIUM, a body, or bodies, 
 which have equal momenta with refer- 
 ence to their own forces, or to the mo- 
 mentum which they move towards the 
 centre of the earth. 
 
 EQUITY, equal justice, to attain 
 which a court of Chancery is established 
 in England, to modify the application of 
 laws inapplicable to ail cases; but the 
 public voice decides that it is so much 
 governed by precedents and forms, of 
 which litigants take advantage, that its 
 salutary intention is frustrated,, and the 
 
ESS 
 
 Court of Chancery has for many years 
 been proverbial for its delays, which are 
 equal to a denial of justice. 
 
 EQUIVOCAL, balance of meaning, a- 
 rising from words used in a double sense. 
 
 EQUIVOCATION, balancing between 
 two sides. 
 
 ERA, an epoch in chronology. 
 
 ERADICATE, to destroy, or remove 
 
 ERIOMETER, an instrumentfor mea- 
 suring the fibres of wool, silk, &c. 
 
 ERMINE, a species of weasel, whose 
 skin is used as an ornament of robes of 
 state. 
 
 ERRATA, errors of the press. 
 
 ERRATIC, an irregular course. 
 
 ERROR, the antagonist of truth, sus- 
 tained by self-interest, ignorance, super- 
 stition, and indolence. 
 
 ERUDITION, the attainment of pro- 
 found learning and extensive knowledge. 
 
 ERUPTION, the bursting forth of 
 excited matter, either from the animal 
 body, or from a volcano. 
 
 ESCALADE, a term applied to the 
 scaling of the walls of a fortification, by 
 filling up the ditches with bundles of 
 faggots, called fascines, and entering by 
 ladders ; a mode of attack much adopted 
 in the late wars, but accompanied, when 
 successful, with great mutual slaughter, 
 and, when unsuccessful, with the general 
 destruction of the assailants. 
 
 ESCAPEMENT, a contrivance for 
 transmitting the power of a time-piece 
 to the balance or pendulum, to restore 
 the loss of motion from friction. 
 
 ESCARP, the exterior slope facing 
 fortified works, the interior slope being 
 the counterscarp. 
 
 ESCHEAT, a forfeiture to the lord of 
 the manor. 
 
 ESCUTCHEON, an heraldic coat of 
 arms. 
 
 ESCULENT, any thing eatable. 
 
 ESPALIER, dwarf trees in hedge 
 rows. 
 
 ESPIONAGE, a system of spies, in- 
 sulting to the governed, and deceptive 
 to the government. 
 
 ESQUIRE, a title of compliment, but 
 claimed of right by certain offices and 
 elections, and by those who have £300 
 per year, if real property. 
 
 ESSAY, a composition of moderate 
 length, which treats about a subject with- 
 out affecting to exhaust it. The British 
 Essayists are an important class of wri- 
 ters ; and the chief have been Addison, 
 Steele, Swift, Johnson, Hawksworth, 
 Goldsmith, Blair, Knox and Mackenzie. 
 77 
 
 ETN 
 
 ESSENCE, the concentrated or dis- 
 tilled characteristic quality of any sub- 
 stance or fluid. 
 
 ESSENTIAL, the sensible quality or 
 property of one thing as distinguished 
 from another. 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT, the house, ser- 
 vants, and appurtenances of an indivi- 
 dual. 
 
 ESTATE, the right to the advantages 
 which accrue from land or houses. 
 
 ESTIMATE, a computation of proba- 
 ble value, or cost, generally prepared by 
 engineers, architects, and builders, pre- 
 vious to the commencement of any un- 
 dertaking. 
 
 ESTUARY, the expanded mouth of a 
 river. 
 
 ETC., or &c., meaning et cetera , or, in 
 English, and the rest. 
 
 ETERNAL, a property of time con- 
 ceived to be necessary, on account of the 
 impossibility of conceiving when time 
 was not, or will not be; hence it is con- 
 cluded that there has been an eternity of 
 past time, and must be an eternity of 
 future time. 
 
 ETHER, the lightest and most vola- 
 tile liquid, the product of the distillation 
 of equal measures of alcohol and sulphu- 
 ric acid. Its specific gravity is to water, 
 as 632 to 1000 ; it boils at 98. The name 
 of ether is also given to the gas which 
 fills space, supposed to be much less dense 
 than atmospheric air. 
 
 ETHICS, the science of morals. 
 
 ETNA, MOUNT. This famous burn- 
 ing mountain constitutes a large portion 
 of the surface of the fine island of Sicily, 
 is about 11,000 feet high, with an enor- 
 mous crater at its top, which vomits 
 burning lava 20 or 30 miles round, and 
 is seldom dormant. History records its 
 destructive eruptions during 3000 ye ars. 
 
 H 2 
 
EUC 
 
 ETIQUETTE, the ceremonies of gen- 
 teel life. 
 
 ETYMOLOGY, the enquiring into the 
 derivation of words, either from their 
 original tongues, or from their roots and 
 corruptions. 
 
 EVANESCENT, vanishing to a point. 
 
 EVANGELISTS, the biographers of 
 Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
 John. 
 
 EVAPORATION, the equalization or 
 transfer of motion, by atoms radiating 
 from masses in great motion among 
 others in less motion. Hence, the hu- 
 man body evaporates into the colder 
 atmosphere, and heated ground and 
 water evaporate; and a continued eva- 
 poration or evolution of atoms exists be- 
 tween bodies in different degrees of ato- 
 mic motion or heat, causing a great varie- 
 ty of constant phenomena. 
 
 EVENING, the period of the day when 
 the earth, in its rotation eastward, leaves 
 the sun in the west, but till removed 18 ® , 
 the sun continues to illumine elevated 
 objects, as the tops of hills, clouds, and 
 the upper atmosphere, which reflects a 
 diminishing light, called twilight. 
 
 EVERGREENS, certain vegetables 
 which continue their leaves through the 
 year, as palmae, holeracae, hesperideae, 
 coniferae, &c. 
 
 EVERLASTING, eternal. 
 
 EVIDENCE, proof of any fact, or 
 truth, divided into evidence of sense, 
 intuition, or self-evidence, reason, and 
 faith in others. 
 
 EVIL, a relative term applied by men 
 to whatever thwarts their convenience, 
 self-love, luxury, or ambition. Thus 
 the northern hemisphere desires perpetual 
 summer, without considering the south- 
 ern hemisphere ; men desire to live for 
 ever, though if their ancestors had done 
 so, there could have been no room for 
 them ; and they desire to riot in gluttony 
 without suffering the consequence of re- 
 pletion ; or to be allowed to overturn 
 society, without suffering the penalty of 
 treason. Evil, therefore, is a mere con- 
 sequence of the harmony of nature, and 
 exists chiefly in the inconsistency of 
 man’s expectations. 
 
 EVOLUTION, a term applied in ma- 
 thematics to the extraction of roots ; in 
 natural history, to the expansion of germs ; 
 •and in tactics, to the movements of bo- 
 dies of men. 
 
 EUCHARIST, the Lord’s Supper. 
 
 EUCHLORINE, a protoxide of chlo- 
 rine. 
 
 EXC 
 
 EUDIOMETER, an instrument to 
 measure the purity of air. 
 
 EUPHONY , an agreeable sound. 
 
 EUTHANASIA, a gentle death. 
 
 EUROPE, the smallest quarter of the 
 world, but the most important, because 
 the most enlightened, thus demonstrating 
 the adage that “ knowledge is power.” 
 It contains the important dominions of 
 Great Britain, Russia, France, Germa- 
 ny, Prussia, the Netherlands, Sweden, 
 Italy, Spain, and Portugal, with part of 
 Turkey; the three last proving, by their 
 degraded condition, the deleterious con- 
 sequences of despotic power and social 
 
 EWE, the female of a sheep. 
 
 EX, a prefix to denote late, as the ex- 
 minister, or late minister. 
 
 EXACERBATE, provoking, exaspe- 
 rating. 
 
 EXAMINATION, questions to a wit- 
 ness. 
 
 EXCERPTION, selection. 
 
 EXCHANGE, the act of bartering; 
 also the name given to the balance due 
 in money ; and the place at which mer- 
 chants meet to exchange goods for goods, 
 or for money, every commercial town 
 being provided with its exchange. 
 
 EXCHEQUER, the depository of the 
 public money ; and the name of a court 
 at Westminster, where all causes relative 
 to the revenue are tried, the public Ex- 
 chequer being under the control of the 
 Lords of the Treasury, and of a minis- 
 ter called Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 EXCISE, a direct tax laid upon com- 
 modities by an officer, called the excise- 
 man, under the control of a board of 
 commissioners. 
 
 EXCITEMENT, an increase of mo- 
 tion in the atoms of a body, created by 
 percussion, friction, or the concentration 
 
 78 
 
EXP 
 
 and fixation of adjacent atoms, whose 
 motions are transferred ; or it is a word 
 applied to the passions when aroused by 
 any circumstance. 
 
 EXCOMMUNICATION, a proscrip* 
 tion of the church. 
 
 EXECUTOR, a person nominated in 
 a will to perform the wishes of the de- 
 ceased, and when a female, called an 
 Executrix. 
 
 EXERCISE, the means of distributing 
 through the animal body, (in aid of the 
 circulation of the blood,) the heat con- 
 centrated in the lungs ; or that habit of 
 the muscles and the brain which leads to 
 the perfect performance of any act, and 
 to rapidity and accuracy of reasoning. 
 
 EXHALATION, evaporation. 
 
 EXHIBITION, a public display of 
 works of art or curiosities. In Lon- 
 don, there is an annual exhibition made 
 by the Royal Academy, of pictures re- 
 cently painted; another of pictures in 
 water-colours ; besides others of differ- 
 ent classes of artists. Liverpool, Edin- 
 burgh, Birmingham, and other places, 
 have their annual exhibitions. 
 
 EXILE, a person banished. 
 
 EXISTENCE, that which is sensible, 
 or which displays power or momentum. 
 
 EXIT, going off. 
 
 EX OFFICIO INFORMATION, pro- 
 secutions commenced at the suit of the 
 king, in cases of such great danger, as 
 that the safety of the state might be in- 
 volved by waiting for the usual course of 
 law. 
 
 EXORCIST, an impostor who pre- 
 tends to cast out spirits, which never 
 existed but in the imagination of priests. 
 
 EXORDIUM, the introduction to a 
 discourse. 
 
 EXOTERIC, popular doctrines, as op- 
 posed to Esoteric, or concealed doctrines. 
 
 EXOTIC, anything not native. 
 
 EXPANSIBILITY, the phenomenon 
 by which the same body fills a much 
 larger space, accompanied by force, cau- 
 sed by the atoms receiving motions, and 
 on radiating, being deflected into orbits, 
 " which assert spaces in proportion to their 
 excitement, and hence the same atoms 
 fill a larger space. 
 
 EX PARTE, on one side. 
 
 EXPECTATION, of life, a term used 
 to express the number of years, which, 
 according to the experience of bills of 
 mortality, persons at any age may be 
 expected to live. This probability is 
 greatest from 3 to 9 years of age, when 
 it is about 50 years ; at 20, it is 42 years; 
 79 
 
 EYE 
 
 at 30, — 34 years; at 40, — 23 years; at 
 50, — 21 years ; at 00, — 15 years ; at 70, 
 —■9 years; at 80,— 5 J years ; at 90, — 31- 
 years; and at 100, — 2 $ years. One half 
 of those born in England live to be 30,— 
 one fourth to be 70 , — one tenth to be 80, 
 — and one fourth die under 2 years of age. 
 
 EXPEDIENT, a temporary means of 
 effecting an object, without regard to ul- 
 terior consequences. 
 
 EXPERIENCE, the source of know- 
 ledge arising from the faculty of memory, 
 and the power of reasoning by analogy, 
 by which every old animal is wiser or 
 more cunning than a young one. 
 
 EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY,, 
 those branches, the deductions in which 
 are founded on experiment, as contrasted 
 with the moral, mathematical, and spe- 
 culative branches of knowledge ; and the 
 wider range of experiments made by the 
 moderns confer on them an ascendancy 
 over the ancients on all subjects of 
 this nature. The principal experimental 
 science is Chemistry ; the others are Op- 
 tics, Pneumatics, Hydrostatics, Electri- 
 city, and Magnetism. 
 
 EXPERIMENTUM CRUCIS, deci- 
 sive and conclusive. 
 
 EXPIRATION, air expelled in breath- 
 ing ; consisting of nitrogen and carbonic 
 acid gas. 
 
 EXPONENT, the small figure placed 
 over another, to express its power or 
 root, as 2 2 . 
 
 EXPORTS, the goods and manufac- 
 tures carried out of a country, which, in 
 Britain amount to fifty millions of 
 pounds worth annually, carried in 25,000 
 ships. 
 
 EX POST FACTO, the law of tyrants 
 made after the crime. 
 
 EXTEMPORE, speaking or writing 
 without previous study. 
 
 EXTENSION, the attribute of body, 
 by which it fills a finite space, space itself 
 being an infinite extension. 
 
 EXTENT, a writ granted to the 
 crown, in aid of the revenue, very expen- 
 sive, and very arbitrary in its operation. 
 
 EXUDATION, exhaling or perspiring. 
 
 EXUVIAE, the cast skins of animals. 
 
 EYE, an optical instrument for bring- 
 ing atoms excited by objects at a distance 
 into contact with the nerves and brain. 
 It is a natural camera-obscura, provided 
 with a lens, which, at the back of the 
 eye, forms a picture, on an expansion of 
 the nerves, called the retina. When the 
 lens is too convex, the picture falls short 
 of the nerve, and the person is short- 
 
FAL FAT 
 
 sighted : when the picture tends to form son is long-sighted. In the first case, a 
 beyond the nerve, owing to the lens not concave glass is required, and in the lat- 
 being sufficiently convex, then the per- ter a convex glass, as in aged persons. 
 
 F 
 
 FACADE, the front, or principal en- 
 trance of a building. 
 
 FAC SIMILE, a perfect copy or re- 
 semblance. 
 
 FACIAL ANGLE, the angle which 
 the facial line makes with another drawn 
 from the nostrils to the centre of the ear, 
 and intellect is believed to depend on its 
 size. In Greek statues it is 100 degrees, 
 in Roman 95, in Europeans generally, 85, 
 in Asiastics 75, in. Negroes 70, in Ourang 
 Outangs 60, in Sheep 30, and in Horses 
 but 23. 
 
 FACIAL LINE, a line drawn from the 
 nostril, and touching the forehead. 
 
 FACTITIOUS, artificial, or not pro- 
 duced by nature. 
 
 FACTOR, the multiplier or multipli- 
 cand in arithmetic; also an agent for 
 selling goods on commission. 
 
 FACULTY, a power by which an effect 
 is produced ; sometimes used to desig- 
 nate the medical profession. 
 
 FALCON, a bird of prey, once much 
 esteemed as an auxiliary of the savage 
 arts of man, in destroying the feathered 
 race. Falcons were formerly tamed and 
 trained, just as pointer-dogs are at pre- 
 sent trained ; and hawking, or falconry, 
 was, to a certain class of minds, as inter- 
 esting as shooting or hunting is to the 
 same class in our days. They are carni- 
 vorous, the beak hooked, the head co- 
 vered with feathers, and the legs and 
 feet scaly. 
 
 F7ECES, dregs, superfluous remains. 
 
 F.ECULA, the dried extract of vege- 
 tables, as starch. 
 
 FAITH, the influence of God’s grace 
 in religion, the evidence of things not 
 seen. 
 
 FAKEER, 3 Mahometan devotee pau- 
 per. 
 
 FALLACIA ACCIDENTIS, the name 
 of that too common error in reasoning, 
 when general inferences are drawn 
 from circumstances which are merely 
 temporary and accidental. 
 
 FALLOW, a term applied to land which 
 is left uncultivated for one or more years, 
 with a view to exterminate weeds, and to 
 enable it to fix those atmospherical ele- 
 ments which promote vegetable growth, 
 and which are exhausted by repeated crops 
 of the same kind, though the same effect 
 is produced by the rotation of a crop for 
 man, and a crop for beasts. 
 
 FALSETTO, an unnatural elevation of 
 tone in singing. 
 
 FAMILIES, or Genera, things which 
 possess common properties. 
 
 FARCE, a drama in two acts, in which 
 ridiculous characters and comic scenes 
 are introduced to stimulate mirth. 
 
 FARINA, the meal of corn ; and the 
 dust, or fructifying pollen, of plants on 
 the anthers. 
 
 FARRIERY, the art of curing the 
 diseases of horses and cattle. 
 
 F. A. S., Fraternitas Antiquariorum 
 Socius, or Fellow of the Antiquarian 
 Society of London, or with an E, signi- 
 fying of Edinburgh. 
 
 FASCES, axes, whose handles were 
 made of rods bound together, used in 
 Rome to behead culprits, and carried 
 before the magistrates. 
 
 FASCICULUS, a part of a book. 
 
 FASCINES, bundles of faggots used in 
 sieges. 
 
 FASCIOLA, the round worm found in 
 the intestines of animals. 
 
 F AT E , a word applied to signify that the 
 cause takes place for the sake of the end, 
 by which the end is absurdly made the 
 cause of the cause ; true with reference to 
 the course of inert nature, under immuta- 
 ble laws, but absurd as applied to events 
 
FER 
 
 governed by the variable wisdom and error 
 of human determinations ; and the error 
 is countenanced because something re- 
 sults from every train of events. The 
 senses, experience, and reason, of men 
 and animals would be utterly useless 
 if not intended to enable them, with 
 perfect freedom, to accommodate their 
 situations to their personal welfare. 
 
 FAULTS, a term applied by miners to 
 the fractures or interruptions in various 
 strata. 
 
 FAUNS, mythological demi-gods of 
 woods and forests, thence called sylvan 
 deities. 
 
 FEBRIFUGE, a medicine to remove 
 fever. 
 
 FEDERAL, the union of several states. 
 
 FEE, the title to an estate, called Fee 
 Simple, when unconditional. 
 
 FEELERS, the horns of insects, called 
 antenna;. 
 
 FEELING, the perceptive sense, by 
 means of which the external world is 
 made known to the brain. Its means are 
 the nerves, and their instruments are the 
 skin, the eye, the ear, the palate, and the 
 nose. 
 
 FELINE, the cat genus. 
 
 FELO DE SE, suicide, or self-murder. 
 
 FELONY, a crime punished with 
 dea tli or transportation, as denominated 
 capital or single. 
 
 FELSPAR, a mineral compound of 
 silica, alumina, and potash, one of the 
 constituents of granite, softer than quartz, 
 and harder than glass, generally white, 
 greyish, or reddish, and convertible into 
 clay. 
 
 FELTING, the method of working 
 hair or wool into a substance, like hats. 
 
 FELUCCA, a six-oared boat. 
 
 FEMME COVERT, a married woman. 
 
 FEMME SOLE, an unmarried woman. 
 
 FER.'E, the third order of Mammalia, 
 with cutting teeth, from 2 to 10, and 
 single tusks. It includes beasts of prey, 
 with kangaroos and hedge-hogs. 
 
 FERMENTATION, a process of ve- 
 getable solution, by which carbonic acid 
 is evolved, leaving the hydrogen and 
 other principles, and often generating 
 animalculse, in a manner apparently 
 spontaneous. 
 
 FERNS, plants of the cryptogamia 
 class, without flowers or apparent germs, 
 similar to lichens, mushrooms, and mos- 
 ses, to which a chemico-mechanical ori- 
 gin has been ascribed. 
 
 FERULA, an instrument of punish- 
 ment for school-boys. 
 
 81 
 
 FIG 
 
 FESTOON, a wreath or garland. 
 
 FETLOCK, a tuft of hair near a 
 horse’s foot. 
 
 FEUDAL, a system by which the so- 
 vereign, assuming the proprietorship of 
 all land, granted it, on conditions of ser- 
 vice, to favourites, who, on re-granting 
 it to other dependants, were called feudal 
 lords ; and this system prevailed in En- 
 gland till Henry VII. 
 
 FEVER, the accumulation of animal 
 heat, when perspiration is obstructed, 
 the non-dispersion occasioning accelera- 
 tion of atomic motion within, the bod)-, 
 which is variously affected, accordingly 
 as it is variously constituted, and hence 
 the various kinds of fevers. 
 
 FIAT, an arbitrary power. 
 
 FIBRE, vegetable or animal thread, 
 which in the blood is called fibrine. 
 
 FICTION, an imaginary fact, which, 
 in novels, and in poems, serves to amuse 
 literary triflers. 
 
 FIELD, an inclosed space; and in 
 heraldry, the surface of a shield, on which 
 are painted the hieroglyphics of that 
 science. 
 
 FIERI FACIAS?, the sheriff’s writ to 
 levy. 
 
 FIG-TREE, a tree which. In warm 
 climates, produces de’icious and nutri- 
 tive fruit, and succeeds in England in 
 warm situations, and against walls. 
 
 FIGURES OF RHETORIC, used to 
 illustrate and diversify composition; 
 consisting of simile, metaphor, allegory, 
 and personification; to which, by a figure. 
 

 FIS 
 
 some writers and irony, hyperbole, anti- 
 thesis. climax, apostrophe, interrogation, 
 and exclamation, which are rather mere 
 forms of expression. 
 
 . FILAMENT, a vegetable thread. 
 
 FILAGREE - WORK, work orna- 
 mented in threads, or filaments. 
 
 FILICES, the 55th Linnaean natural 
 order of plants, consisting of ferns, bear- 
 ing their flower or fruit on the back of 
 the leaf or stalk. 
 
 FILTRATION, the separation of fluids 
 from solids. 
 
 FIN, the membrane of a fish, of which 
 oars in boats are an imitation, and by 
 means of which they act against the wa- 
 ter, and traverse it with great velocity. 
 
 FINAL CAUSES, causes which are 
 supposed to exist for the sake of the 
 effects, or for the purpose of producing 
 some particular effect, and therefore op- 
 posed to the doctrine of necessary fitness 
 and harmony. 
 
 FINALE, the finish of a piece. 
 
 FINERY, the conversion of cast iron 
 into malleable iron, by percussion. 
 
 FIRE, the intense display or re-action 
 of atomic motion, whenever oxygen 
 atoms in gaseous rotation are fixed, by 
 union with carbon and hydrogen, first 
 duly excited ; the motion transferred being 
 radiated, and thereby producing the phe- 
 nomena of light and heat, called fire. 
 By the ancients it was considered as a 
 distinct element, but is now found to be 
 a mere result of gazeous combination. 
 
 FIRE DAMP, carburetted hydrogen 
 gas, which, by the excitement of flame, 
 combines with oxygen, and, as an enlarg- 
 ed flame, explodes in mines. 
 
 FIRMAN, an Eastern passport. 
 
 FIRST-FRUITS, the clerical income 
 of a parish, given to the crown. 
 
 FISCAL, a lerm applied to assessments 
 of public revenue. 
 
 FISHES, animals which cannot live 
 out of water, vertebrated, with fins, or 
 feet, naked or scaly, and a single heart, 
 cold blood. They constitute the fourth 
 class of the Lmnaean system, and are di- 
 vided into five orders, viz. Abdominales, 
 Apodes, Cartilaginii, Jugulares, andTho- 
 racici. They move with great velocity, 
 by means of fins, serving the purpose of 
 oars and rudders ; in general they have 
 two, called pectoral, behind the opening 
 of the gills; two, called ventral, under 
 the belly ; one, called dorsal, on the back ; 
 another called anal, near the tail ; and the 
 very operative one, at the end of the tail ; 
 the size depending on the form of the fish. 
 
 82 
 
 FLI 
 
 They are protected from cold by oily se- 
 cretions ; they live upon one another, and 
 also upon vegetables and insects ; and they 
 emigrate from one sea to another. They 
 breath by their gills, absorbing the air 
 contained in the water, soon dying, if air 
 is withheld, as under ice, or in a close 
 vessel. They appear to have the same 
 senses as land animals, but that of seeing 
 in greater perfection. Systems of Ichthy- 
 ology record 2500 known species. 
 
 FITNESS, or the necessary mutual ac- 
 cordance of causes and effects, and of 
 powers and phenomena, so equal, simulta- 
 neous, and corresponding, that, without 
 due consideration, the one is often mis- 
 taken for the other, and the end or the 
 effect imagined to generate the cause, in- 
 stead of the cause generating the effect. 
 Every thing is fit, which is in a state of 
 well-being, and whatever is not fit is inca- 
 pable of being. 
 
 FIXATION, or fixing, is a term applied 
 in philosophy to anybody or atom which 
 parts with its motion to another body or 
 atom, and remains fixed. An accumula- 
 tion of fixed atoms, with fitting sides, 
 constitutes a crystal, or solid. 
 
 FIXED AIR, oxygen combined with 
 so much carbon, as to become heavier 
 than atmospheric air as 46 to 30, or to 
 oxygen as 46 to 33, by which it suffo- 
 cates animals, and extinguishes flame, 
 but sustains vegetables. 
 
 FLAME OF A CANDLE is a curious 
 mechanical action and re-action of oxy- 
 gen, hydrogen, and carbon. Whenever 
 the light gas, called hydrogen, is excited, 
 oxygen combines with it, and produces 
 heat, and if carbon is combined with the 
 evolving hydrogen, light is the result. 
 A tallow candle, or the wick of a lamp 
 consists of hydrogen and carbon, and on 
 being evolved by great motion, as by 
 the touch of a match, or any other flame, 
 the oxygen flows in, and is fixed, and 
 causes heat, and at the distance from the 
 wick, where the efflux and influx cross 
 each other, the film of the flame is crea- 
 ted; less carbon, makes blue light, a due 
 proportion, white light, and an excess, 
 the smoke of a candle, an excess of hy- 
 drogen, makes the blue light, and an 
 excess of oxygen, red light. In truth, 
 a candle is a prism, arising from the 
 same principles differently exhibited. 
 
 FLANK, the side of an army. 
 
 FLAT, a note lowered one half. 
 
 FLEAM, used to bleed cattle. 
 
 FLINT, a stone found between chalk 
 strata, containing 98 hundredths of silex. 
 
FLU 
 
 often hollow, and apparently formed 
 during the ebullition of chalk, by its 
 siliceous parts being thrown up. When 
 struck against iron, the motion makes a 
 separated particle red hot, which falling 
 on any inflammable substance, as tinder, 
 or gunpowder, produces decomposition, 
 and hence it is much used in fire-arms. 
 
 FLOETZ, a term in geology, signify- 
 ing horizontal beds or strata, which lie 
 over the transition rocks, and of which 
 there are two formations, one called 
 floetz, or secondary, containing the re- 
 mains of animalculae, and vegetables, 
 now extinct; and the other, consisting 
 of similar formations, and the alluvial 
 soils lying upon them, containing the 
 remains of animals, similar to those now 
 in existence, and consisting of basalt, 
 wacke, greystone, porphyry, slate, and 
 trap tuff; also of rolled stones, gravel, 
 sand, loam, and fragments of ore, peat, 
 bog, breccia, stalactite, &c. 
 
 FLEUR DE LIS, a lily. 
 
 FLORA, the goddess of flowers, and 
 the name of a classification of plants. 
 
 FLORIN, a coin, value Is. 8d. 
 
 FLOWER, a developement of the 
 skins of a plant, by which, in contact 
 with the air, the germs of future plants 
 are engendered by the fruit and seed. 
 The instruments being the stamens and 
 pistils, and the parts of the flower con- 
 sisting of the calyx, out of which grow 
 the corolla, or coloured leaves, and the 
 nectarium in the centre, being the germ 
 of the fruit. 
 
 FLUIDITY, a disturbance of the 
 atoms of solids by intestine motion or 
 heat, or by gaseous action between them, 
 by which they move freely, either by 
 the force of gravity, or that of impulse, 
 so as, in various degrees, to have dimi- 
 nished resistance ; or, in other words, 
 taking off less of the motion of a bo- 
 dy moved through them than if the 
 atoms were fixed and unyielding ; dimi- 
 nished resistance and yielding parts are 
 therefore the characteristics of fluidity ; 
 but, when the motion or heat is taken 
 off, the atoms refix and crystallize, as 
 in the freezing.of liquids, and the cooling 
 of melted substances. Platinum becomes 
 fluid with 23,000 degrees of heat; iron 
 22,000 ; copper 4,500 ; lead 012 ; bees’ 
 wax 142 ; tallow 127 ; ice at 32. 
 
 FLUORIC ACID, foundin fluorspar, 
 and used for etching on glass. 
 
 FLUOR SPAR, or Derbyshire Spar, 
 a compound of lime and fluoric acid. 
 
 FLUTE, a wind instriftnent; and a 
 83 
 
 FLY 
 
 provision ship, partially equipped for 
 defence, is said to be armed en flute. 
 
 FLUX, a body which, susceptible of 
 atomic motion or heat, is diffused among 
 ores to promote their liquefaction. 
 
 FLUXIONS, a branch of analysis, 
 which notes the velocities of the incre- 
 ments and decrements of variable quan- 
 tities, or it is a method of determining, 
 by approximation, the prime or ultimate 
 ratios of variable quantities, by which, 
 for example, the areas of all rectilinear 
 and curvilinear figures may be deter- 
 mined by applying a fluxional formula, 
 previously investigated, to the particu- 
 lar case, as expressed in algebraic sym- 
 bols or numbers. The notation is by 
 placing one or more dots over the vari- 
 able quantity, whose fluxion is repre- 
 sented, as x ; or when it is the fluxion 
 of the fluxion. 
 
 FLYING-DRAGON, an amphibious 
 reptile, perfectly harmless, about 12 in- 
 ches long, found in America, and sub- 
 sisting on insects. A wing, or membrane, 
 between its fore and hind legs, enables it 
 to fly through short distances. 
 
 FLYING-FISH, a- species of fish, 
 common in the Mediterranean and At- 
 lantic seas, with very large fins, by which 
 they are enabled to spring from 200 to 
 300 feet, or until their fins become dry. 
 
 FLY, the musca tribe of insects, with 
 transparent wings, very harmless, but 
 
FOR 
 
 very numerous : also used as the name 
 of the regulator of a machine. 
 
 FLY-BLOW, the deposit of eggs by 
 flies, which afterwards become maggots, 
 as the grub state of future flies. 
 
 FOCUS, a converging point used with 
 reference to the point in which light 
 meets, after it has passed through a con- 
 vex lens. 
 
 FOLIAGE, leaves of trees. 
 
 FOOD, the soil or materials put into 
 the stomach of an animal, after being 
 masticated in the mouth. It passes 
 through the gullet, and in the stomach 
 it is reduced to a pulp, called chyme. 
 This passes into the pyloris and duode- 
 num, where it is separated into chyle, 
 which is absorbed by the lacteal vessels 
 of the animal, and the superfluous parts 
 are ejected through the colon and rectum. 
 
 FORCE, the energy or impulse with 
 which one body affects another, with re- 
 ference to the direction of motion, and 
 the centres of the masses. It consists in 
 the transfer of the motion of one body 
 to another. 
 
 FORCE, PROJECTILE, an hypothe- 
 tical power, invented to reconcile the 
 hypothesis of universal gravitation with 
 fact. 
 
 FORCER, a plate of iron without a 
 valve moved in a hollow cylinder. 
 
 FORCEPS, small pincers or tongs used 
 in surgery. 
 
 FORENSIC, an adjective character- 
 izing the practices of a court of law. 
 
 FORE-SHORTENING, therepresen- 
 tation of an object which is seen length- 
 wise on the flat surface of a picture, ef- 
 fected by skilful disposition of the lights 
 and shadows. 
 
 FORESTALLING, anticipating the 
 market 
 
 FORMA PAUPERIS, a proceeding in 
 law, when a plaintiff, on making oath 
 that he is not worth five pounds, has an 
 attorney and counsel assigned him. 
 
 FORMATIONS, the general name of 
 the various strata which compose the 
 surface of the earth, and supposed to be 
 formed at different remote periods. 
 
 FORMER WORLD. The recentdis- 
 coverles of geologists, and the science of 
 comparative anatomy, prove that the 
 world was once inhabited by species of 
 animals and vegetables, no longer in ex- 
 istence, or now found in distant regions, 
 and the museums of the curious are filled 
 with specimens of them. Ancient 
 beaches, too, are discovered under moun- 
 tains, reliques of the sea at the top of 
 84 
 
 FOR 
 
 them, and vast beds of sea-shells in the 
 centre of all countries, with alternate 
 strata of land and marine remains. All 
 these phenomena have been ascribedto 
 the revolution of the line of Apsides, in 
 20,900 years, which changes the declina- 
 tion of the perihelion, and causes the 
 ocean to preponderate alternately in 
 both hemispheres. 
 
 FORMS OF MATTER, strictly of 
 crystalline matter; a curious subject, 
 for it appears that all solids are compo- 
 sed of atomic tetrahedrons, cubes, rhom- 
 boids, rectangular prisms, right rhom- 
 boidal prisms, oblique rhomboidal 
 prisms, octahedrons, hexagon, prisms, 
 and dodecahedrons, with triangular and 
 rhomboidal faces, all capable of being 
 formed by additions and subtractions of 
 the cube, or by combinations of the 
 sphere. 
 
 FORMULA, an algebraic expression. 
 
 FORTIFICATION, theartof defence, 
 invented and perfected when mankind 
 enjoyed no protection, but in opposing 
 force to force. Hence, every consider- 
 able house was anciently a castle, in 
 which alone a chief and his vassals en- 
 joyed security against free-booters, and 
 others of their own class. In modern 
 times, it has been reduced to a science, 
 by Pagan, Vauban, Cohorn, and Carnot. 
 The engraving represents one section, 
 of which a complete fortification con- 
 sists of a continuation and combination. 
 A projecting work, terminating in a 
 point, or salientangle, is called a bastion, 
 and the different sides, faces, flanks, 
 curtains, and gorges. The parapet, or 
 wall, is generally from 10 to 18 feet thick, 
 with a slope, called the glacis, and behind 
 it is a rampart for the guns, &c., of 50 
 or GO feet, raised according to circum- 
 stances. Before the invention of gun- 
 powder, fortifications were much eleva- 
 ted, like ancient castles, but they are 
 now almost level with the adjoining 
 country, but separated by wet and dry 
 ditches. 
 
FOX 
 
 FORTUNE-TELLER, one who tells 
 a number of probable events, determin- 
 ed by some arbitrary arrangements and 
 fortuitous permutations, which have no 
 connexion with the parties or the events ; 
 and, therefore, a practice of error, igno- 
 rance, or imposture. 
 
 FORUM, a public place among the 
 Romans. 
 
 FOSSIL REMAINS. The oldest 
 rocks of the secondary formation con- 
 tain aquatic plants and reeds, and adjoin- 
 ing these are madrepores, encrinites, 
 and various zoophites, little removed 
 above vegetation ; in the next series are 
 ammonites, and various mollusca, very 
 different from any existing animals : 
 above these are found fishes, bamboos, 
 and ferns, all of extinct species. Be- 
 tween the old and the newest floetz for- 
 mations, shells and fish increase in num- 
 ber, with amphibia, as lacerta, testudo, 
 and some serpents. In the newest floetz 
 formations are found remains of seals, 
 whales, birds, monstrous land animals, 
 and fresh-water shells; and in the allu- 
 vial and modern soils, in peat bogs, and 
 low beds, bones of the elephant, rhino- 
 ceros, hippopotamus, &c., appear; still, 
 however, not of the present species. 
 None but the latest depositions, as peat 
 beds, banks of rivers, &c., at small 
 depths, contain any of the species now 
 flourishing. The whole appears to be a 
 progression from the simplest forms to 
 the present complex ones. 
 
 FOUNTAIN, water ejected from a 
 pipe, either by being raised to a higher 
 level than the top of the pipe, or by be- 
 ing compressed by an engine. 
 
 FOX, a species of the dog genus, 
 known in all countries, but larger in 
 Europe than in Asia. They are carni- 
 vorous, and prey on poultry and water- 
 fowl ; but very timid, fleet, and, when 
 old, sagacious in evading their enemies. 
 They emit an odour which enables do^s 
 to scent, and follow them. 
 
 FRE 
 
 F. R. S., Vratcrnitas Regia: Soeietatis, 
 the title of a member of the Royal So- 
 ciety. 
 
 FRACTURE, a broken bone, or mi- 
 neral ; and in minerals, the fracture is a 
 test, and is either compact or smooth, 
 foliated or lamillar, conchoidal or nodu- 
 lar, or earthy. 
 
 FRANCHISE, a privilege, right. 
 
 FRANGIBLE, broken easily. 
 
 FRAUD, some act by which a man’s 
 property or his understanding suffers, 
 though, in regard to the latter, there 
 are no penal laws. 
 
 FREEHOLD, the complete property 
 in a house or land. 
 
 FREEHOLDER, the possessor of a 
 freehold estate, or of a lease for life, 
 worth 40s. per annum, who is thereby 
 qualified to vote for a knight of the shire, 
 or representative of the county in par- 
 liament. 
 
 FREESTONE, stone easily wrought. 
 
 FREEZING, the solidification of a 
 fluid. Most solids becoming fluid, when 
 sufficient motion is applied to them, by 
 which their mobile constituents form 
 gases in their interstices. But when a 
 body less moved, or colder, is brought 
 into contact, the motion is equalized and 
 transferred; and when sufficient excite- 
 ment does not remain, the atoms refix, 
 in forms determined by their polarity, 
 and crystallization, solidification, or 
 freezing, takes place. Melting is a differ- 
 ent process. Water freezes when the 
 airisat32°; wax solidifies at 150 s ; lead 
 at 000 s ; mercury at 39° below zero. 
 
 FRENCH CHALK, a magnesian mi- 
 neral which combines with grease, and 
 useful in drawing. 
 
 FRENCH HORN, a musical instru- 
 ment made of copper, of great sweetness, 
 and possessed of a range of three octaves. 
 
 85 
 
 I 
 
FUL 
 
 FRESCO, paintings in water colours 
 on stuccoed walls. 
 
 FRICTION, the obstruction of a body 
 in motion arising from its parting with 
 its motion to another body which it 
 touches ; and augmented in bodies rolling 
 horizontally, by their tendency to move 
 towards the centre, at the rate of one 
 foot in a quarter of a second. 
 
 FROG, the hard protuberance in the 
 middle of a horse’s foot. 
 
 FROG, an amphibious animal, per- 
 fectly harmless, which continues grow- 
 ing for five years, and is very tenacious 
 of life. Frogs are formed from tad- 
 poles ; the feet grow, and the tail is 
 absorbed when they leave the ponds, 
 after rain. They subsist on worms and 
 insects; and certain parts of a green 
 frog are eaten in France as a delicacy. 
 Spallanzani kept some torpid in an ice 
 house for 3£ years, and they revived in 
 the sun. 
 
 FRONTISPIECE, the chief front of 
 an architectural erection; or the en- 
 graving facing a title page. 
 
 FRUCTIFICATION, the name of all 
 those parts of a plant which produce the 
 the seed. 
 
 FRUIT, the pulpy pericarps which 
 cover and nourish the seeds of various 
 trees, as apples, pears, &c., but often 
 applied to the seed itself, when the pe- 
 ricarp is hard, or not edible, as nuts, 
 peas, &c. 
 
 FULCRUM, the centre of motion in 
 mechanical combinations, commonly 
 used in regard to the prop on which a 
 lever works ; but every mechanical ar- 
 rangement has such a centre, whether 
 visible or not. Thus, the sun and pla- 
 nets have a centre of momentum, or ful- 
 crum, round which they move. The 
 earth and moon, also, move round a 
 common centre, or fulcrum ; but in 
 machines and solid levers, the arms are 
 as the simple distances, but in gases, as 
 the squares of the distances. 
 
 86 
 
 FUS 
 
 FULCRA, the projecting appendages 
 of plants, as thorns, prickles, hair, &c. 
 
 FULLER’S EARTH, a substance de- 
 rived from the felspar of broken granite, 
 and readily combining with grease. 
 
 FULMINATING GOLD AND SIL- 
 VER, volatile alkalies, combined with 
 oxides of the metals, or nitric acid with 
 the metals, which excited by the motion 
 of percussion or friction, explode with 
 violence. 
 
 FUNCTION, one quantity is said to 
 be a function of another, when the alge- 
 braic value of the latter involves the 
 former in any shape whatever; thus, in 
 
 y = /\Z« 2 x*> x is said to be a function 
 
 of y. 
 
 FUNDAMENTAL, from the basis. 
 
 FUNGI, plants of the class Cryptoga- 
 mia, and 58th natural order of Linnzeus. 
 They consist of mushrooms, truffles, 
 &c., and it has been disputed whether 
 they are vegetable or animal substances ; 
 for their generation is effected in gar- 
 dens by particular composts, without 
 any apparent germs. The term Fungus 
 is also applied to the proud flesh of 
 wounds, or to excrescences from trees. 
 
 FURLONG, the eighth of a mile. 
 
 FURNACE, an arrangement for trans- 
 ferring great heat to bodies, consisting 
 of a suitable fire-place, and receptacles 
 to contain the articles to be operated 
 upon ; and sometimes supplied with a 
 dome, so as to reverberate the heat and 
 flame, as in the engraving. 
 
 FUSEE, a hollow tube, sometimes ap- 
 plied to a musket, at others to the wooden 
 pipe placed in the touch hole of bombs ; 
 and, also, the cylinder round which the 
 chain of a clock, watch, or jack, is 
 wound. 
 
 FUSION, th.s liquefaction of a solid 
 by heat, or atomic motion, effected in 
 
GAL GAS 
 
 crucibles, and sometimes by addition of FUSTIAN, cotton cloth with a nap. 
 other substances, to increase the diffu- FUSTIC, a yellow dyewood. 
 sion of the motion of the atoms. FUTILE, trifling or silly. 
 
 G 
 
 G A BI ON, baskets or packages of earth* 
 used to disperse the motion of cannon- 
 balls, by the diffusion. 
 
 GALAXY, the name of the space ren- 
 dered luminous by the multitude of 
 stars, and called the milky way. 
 
 GALL, or Bile, a secretion of the 
 gland, called the liver, useful in sepa- 
 rating the nutritive from the excre- 
 mentitious part of the food. 
 
 GALLICISM, a French idiom. 
 
 GALLIN.<E, the fifth order of birds, 
 having convex bills, feet without a back 
 toe, and rough underneath ; including 
 poultry, peacocks, pheasants, grouse, 
 and partridges. 
 
 GALLON, ten pounds of water, sub- 
 divided into 4 quarts, and each quart 
 into 2 pints, each 34*56 cubic inches. 
 
 GALVANISM, the experimentum 
 crucis of the new theory of Electricity ; 
 dilute nitric acid, in imitation of the at- 
 mospheric air, being placed between 
 metal plates, of different re-actions, as 
 copper and zinc, thereby producing 
 different actions in the intervening fluid, 
 which separates the nitrous and acid 
 principles, and their re-union through 
 a point produces an energy which has 
 been mistaken for a peculiar fluid. 
 
 GALVANIC BATTERY, a multipli- 
 cation of plates and troughs. That of 
 the Royal Institution, which enabled the 
 operator to oxydate the alkalies, con- 
 sisted of 2000 double plates of copper 
 and zinc, each 4 square inches : but the 
 intensity increases more with the size of 
 the plates than with the number, and 
 Children’s battery of plates of 32 square 
 inches was far more potent than the 
 former. 
 
 07 
 
 GAMBOGE, a gum resin from an East 
 Indian Tree. 
 
 GAME LAWS, peculiar to England, 
 to secure to certain privileged classes 
 the right of hunting and shooting wild 
 birds and animals, and preventing their 
 being destroyed, or sold in the market, 
 the penalties being so heavy, and the 
 punishments so severe, that half the 
 prisoners in gaols have for years been 
 offenders against these laws. 
 
 GAMUT, MUSICAL, the first sylla- 
 bles of a Latin hymn, composed by Gui- 
 do Aretino : 
 
 Ut queant laxis 
 Jtesonare fibris 
 Mira, gestorum 
 Famuli tuorum 
 Solve pollutis 
 Labiis reatum 
 
 Sante Joannes. 
 
 GANGLIONS, accumulations, or 
 knots of nerves, considered as accesso- 
 ries of the brain. 
 
 GANGRENE, the putrefaction of a 
 wound, chiefly owing to the air not being 
 excluded. 
 
 GANGUEor MATRIX, the substance 
 upon which minerals are imbedded. 
 
 GAOL DELIVERY, the trial of com- 
 mitted persons, and their immediate dis- 
 charge, if not guilty. 
 
 GARLIC, the root of the allium, re- 
 markable for its stimulating qualities 
 and powerful odour. 
 
 GARNET, a red gem. 
 
 GAS, a condition of atoms, by which 
 a small solid expands and fills a much 
 larger space, a cubic inch of water filling 
 1800 inches, as gas equal to one atmos- 
 phere. This phenomenon is occasioned 
 by great motions being imparted to the 
 atoms, by which they radiate in right 
 lines ; but, every space being full of 
 atoms, they are deflected continually, 
 and turned into circular orbits, till they 
 fill the space with their power, which is 
 greater or less, according to the degree 
 of excitement. Their creation, there- 
 fore, appropriates motion, and causes 
 cold in surrounding bodies ; and their 
 condensation, or fixation, transfers their 
 motion, and causes heat; the fixation of 
 
GAS 
 
 oxygen in combustion and respiration 
 causing the heat of fire and animal heat. 
 100 cubic inches of atmospheric gas 
 weighs 30*2 grains ; of aqueous gas 19*8 ; 
 of oxygen gas 33*75 ; of nitrogen gas 
 29*25 ; of hydrogen gas 2*25 ; of carbo- 
 nic acid gas 46*575 ; and of chlorine gas 
 75*375 grains. 
 
 GASOMETER, the capacious recep- 
 tacle of gas, after it has been evolved in 
 the retorts, and whence it is pressed into 
 pipes for consumption. It consists of a 
 vessel inverted in water, and the gas 
 passes under it, and raises it up by its 
 elasticity or momenta, till it is full, and 
 when wanted, weights are placed upon it. 
 D is the pipe from the retort, or furnace, 
 A ; F is the tank filled with water ; G is 
 the gasometer or vessel inverted ; and 
 V the pulleys by which the weight, W, 
 regulates the gasometer in ascent and 
 descent. 
 
 GAS LIGHTS, produced by gas ge- 
 nerated by distilling coal in retorts, and 
 passed through pipes, and then burnt at 
 a distance. In candles, and lamps, and 
 coal fires, the gas is created and burnt 
 on the spot ; but in what is called gas 
 light, the gas is carried away by pipes, 
 and burnt at the orifice of escape. The 
 gas consists of hydrogen and carbon, 
 and the oxygen of the air in combining 
 with the hydrogen, when excited by 
 flame, parts with its motion, which mo- 
 tion radiates an action of the whole, and 
 causes light as long as hydrogen and oxy- 
 gen are present and combining. A chal- 
 dron of Newcastle coals yields 10,000 
 cubic feet of gas, and street lamps con- 
 sume five feet per hour, and large ar- 
 gand lamps four feet. An attempt has 
 been made to introduce oil gas instead 
 of coal, but it costs nearly four times as 
 88 . 
 
 GEN 
 
 much ; every ten cubic feet of coal gas 
 costing but one penny, and oil gas 3Jd., 
 while the illuminating power is but one 
 half more, with a noisome smell. 
 
 GASTRIC JUICE, a fluid secreted 
 within the stomach, and serving as a ge- 
 neral solvent of food. 
 
 GAVEL KIND, a salutary Kentish 
 custom, by which estates are equally di- 
 vided among all the sons. 
 
 GAZETTE, the name of a Venetian 
 coin, about a half-penny in England, or 
 a sous in France, and transferred to the 
 first printed newspaper, because sold at 
 that price, and from this origin Gazettes 
 spread over Europe, and newspapers 
 have now become almost necessaries of 
 life, and as useful as agreeable. The 
 original London Gazette continues a mere 
 official and authenticated advertizing 
 paper ; published twice a week. 
 
 GELATIN, an animal substance, of 
 which glue and isinglass are examples. 
 
 GEM, any precious stone. 
 
 GEMINI, (n) the twins, a constella- 
 tion in the Zodiac, in which are two 
 large stars, called Castor and Pollux. 
 
 GENEALOGY, the remote parentage 
 of a person, and, taken in its true geo- 
 metrical expansion, the whole human 
 race at a period sufficiently remote. 
 
 GENERAL, the highest rank in the 
 British army, in which they are suc- 
 cessively Major Generals, Lieutenant 
 Generals, and Generals, according to se- 
 niority, when promotions are made. 
 
 GENERAL ISSUE, a plea to a writ 
 which denies the whole declaration. 
 
 GENEVA, or GIN, a distillation of 
 malt, flavoured by juniper berries. 
 
 GENITIVE CASE, sometimes called 
 possessive, and indicated by the preposi- 
 tion of, and the only inflection of the 
 noun in English, distinguished by an ’s 
 after the word, or by ’ when ending in s. 
 
 GENIUS, an aptitude for a particular 
 pursuit, founded on some stimulus in 
 youth, by which the mind and faculties 
 are directed to excellence. It is also 
 used in an absurd or figurative sense to 
 express a supposed invisible spirit which 
 directs a course of events. 
 
 GENTIAN, a bitter tonic root, 
 
 GENTILES, not Jews. 
 
 GENTLEMAN, a man of probity, 
 good manners, and intelligence ; but, in 
 law, a man of small freehold, descended 
 from freeholders, and having no pub- 
 lic occupation. 
 
 GEN TOO, or GENTILE, applied by 
 Europeans to natives of Hindostan. 
 
GIA 
 
 GENUS, plural genera, different spe- 
 cies which have common properties. 
 
 GEOCENTRIC, the aspects of the 
 planets at the earth. 
 
 GEOD-dSSIA, land-surveying. 
 
 GEOGNOSY, Mineralogy and Geo- 
 logy. 
 
 GEOGRAPHY, the branch of know- 
 ledge which describes the Earth, and its 
 inhabitants and productions. 
 
 GEOLOGY, a science which has be- 
 come popular in the nineteenth century, 
 and whose researches enable us to read, 
 in the unerring language of nature, the 
 changes which have taken place on the 
 earth’s surface, or in the materials and 
 strata which lie above the granite and 
 other primitive masses, and which ap- 
 pear to have been formed by successive 
 depositions, at remote intervals of time, 
 and during progressive states' of vege- 
 table and animal organization. 
 
 GEOMETRY, TRANSCENDEN- 
 TAL, the geometry of figures, the rela- 
 tion of whose ordinate and abscissa can- 
 not be expressed algebraically. 
 
 GEOMETRICAL PROGRESSION, 
 a series in which every term is a multiple 
 of the preceding, as 3, 6, 12, 24, &c. 
 
 GEORGE IV., Sovereign of the Uni- 
 ted Kingdom, and of the British Empire, 
 son of George III., whom he succeeded 
 January 29th, 1320, being then in his 
 58th year. He is the fourth king of the 
 House of Hanover, surnamed Guelph, 
 George I. having succeeded Anne Stuart, 
 in 1714. Having no children, his heir 
 presumptive is Frederic, Duke of York, 
 born Aug. 16th, 1763. 
 
 GIAN T’S CAUSEWAY, a vast assem- 
 blage of basaltic crystallized rocks, on 
 the northern coast of Ireland, so exten- 
 sive and regular as to constitute a won- 
 der of nature. 
 
 GLA 
 
 GEORGICS, the name of poems by 
 Virgil, on rural life. 
 
 GERM, the seed, rudiments, or em- 
 bryo, of a plant, or animal. 
 
 GESTURE, the bodily action of an 
 orator, who is expected to stand grace- 
 fully, to hold up his head, and look 
 at his auditors; to avoid violent contor- 
 tions, and vulgar grimaces, and to ac- 
 commodate the motions of his arms and 
 hands to the feelings excited by his words 
 and arguments. 
 
 GIBBOUS, a term applied to the 
 crescent form of the Moon, or Venus. 
 
 GIG, the name of a light chaise, with 
 two wheels, drawn by one horse, to 
 which whim and fashion have annexed 
 various names, as tilburies, dennets, 
 cabriolets, &c., as they slightly vary. 
 
 GINGER, the root of a plant, growing 
 in the East and West Indies. 
 
 GLACIERS, those extensive masses 
 of ice which accumulate in the valleys 
 between high mountains, from the melt- 
 ing of the snows at their top, and which, 
 owing to their elevation, generally re- 
 main solid. 
 
 GLACIS, the sloping bank of a fortifi- 
 cation. 
 
 GLADIATOR, a man who fought in 
 public for recompence, and an exhibi- 
 tion very common among the ancients. 
 The practice was suppressed by the 
 Christian Emperors, but it has been re- 
 vived in England, by the practices of 
 Prize Fighters. 
 
 GLANDS, important substances dis- 
 tributed through organised bodies, to 
 secrete or prepare fluids which pass 
 through them, bearing different names, 
 according to their purpose or locality. 
 
 GLASS-BLOWER. The materials 
 of glass when fluid, are so perfectly duc- 
 tile and plastic, that the glass is blown 
 into shapes with the breath of the work- 
 man, through an iron pipe, about three 
 feet long, assisted by a few very trifling 
 tools. He dips the end of his blowing- 
 pipe into the melting pot, through 
 the hole in the furnace, and the fluid 
 which sticks to the iron is blown with 
 1 2 
 
GOA 
 
 some management, and with the aid of 
 a boy, who, while it is still red hot, 
 joins to the blown vessel any peculiar 
 parts. When finished, it is placed in an 
 upper furnace, and kept in a red heat 
 for some hours. Window glass is first 
 rolled with the pipe, and then unrolled 
 on a flat surface. 
 
 GLASS-HOUSE, a manufactory in 
 which silex or flint dust, and fixed alka- 
 lis are melted, so as to produce a fluid, 
 which, when cold, constitutes glass, but 
 which, while liquid, may be moulded, 
 blown, or drawn into any shape. The 
 principal implement is an iron blowing- 
 pipe, by means of which, with a dexte- 
 rity acquired by practice, all kinds of 
 glass vessels are rapidly fashioned. 
 
 GLAUBER SALTS, sulphate of soda. 
 
 GLAZING, the smooth crust of pot- 
 tery, made of white lead, ground flint, 
 and glass, in which it is dipped, and 
 baked a second time. 
 
 GLEANING, the right of the poor to 
 glean after rakers, under a wise law of 
 Moses. 
 
 GLEBE, the land belonging to a pa- 
 rish, cultivated by the incumbent. 
 
 GLEE, a composition for three or 
 more voices. 
 
 GLIRES, the fourth order of Mam- 
 malia, with two cutting, or gnawing, 
 teeth, including the porcupines, squir- 
 rels, hares, rats, &c. 
 
 GLOBE, a solid, of which every part 
 is equi-distant from the centre ; the su- 
 perfices of which is determined by mul- 
 tiplying the square of the diameter by 
 *7854, and the contents by multiplying 
 the cube of the diameter by '5236. 
 
 GLOSSARY, a dictionary of terms. 
 
 GLOTTIS, theopening of theLarynx, 
 or wind-pipe, next the tongue. 
 
 GLOW-WORM, an insect of the ge- 
 nus Lampyris, of which the female dis- 
 plays a vivid phosphorous light, by a 
 decomposition of the air which affects 
 its atoms so as to diffuse the mechanical 
 action called light. 
 
 GLUE, a glutinous adhesive sub- 
 stance, made from skins. 
 
 GNEISS, a primary rock, differing 
 from granite, in containing more mica, 
 abounding specially in metals, and hav- 
 ing a slaty structure, created by the mi- 
 ca lying between the union of felspar 
 and quartz. 
 
 GNOMON, the index of a dial, al- 
 ways parallel to the axis of the earth. 
 
 GOAT, a well-known animal, which 
 delights in hilly countries, and in many 
 90 
 
 GOS 
 
 of them supplies the inhabitants with 
 flesh and milk. It is a vulgar error, 
 to suppose that they are more common 
 in Wales than in England. 
 
 GOD, the name in the English lan- 
 guage of the first cause, or creator, con- 
 tinuator, and preserver, of all things, to 
 whom is ascribed the attributes of om- 
 nipotence, omniscience, and eternal du- 
 ration. 
 
 GOITRE, a name given to the inha- 
 bitants of many districts, who have such 
 enlargements ofthe glands of the throat, 
 as render them hideous and idiotic. 
 
 GOLCONDA, akingdomonthebay of 
 Bengal, celebrated for its diamond mines. 
 
 GOLD, a precious metal, 19 times 
 heavier than water, very malleable and 
 ductile, and soluble only in oxymuriatie 
 acid. It is found in the sands of rivers, 
 where it is washed from the mountains ; 
 and in mines in Peru, and other parts. 
 It is made into wire not bigger than 
 hair, and twisted with silk into gold 
 thread, and when beat into leaves is the 
 thinnest substance known, a single grain 
 covering 50 square inches. One million 
 of ounces are supposed to be produced 
 annually. 
 
 GOLD BEATER’S SKIN, the gut of 
 the ox, used to prepare gold leaf, and 
 an excellent material to keep the air 
 from wounds and sores. 
 
 GOLDEN NUMBER, a term applied 
 to the lunar cycle of 19 years, when the 
 moon’s changes recur exactly as ID years 
 before. 
 
 GOLD FISH, elegant fish, originally 
 brought from China, now naturalized in 
 England, and called Cyprinus auratus. 
 
 GONG, a Chinese musical instrument, 
 made of tin and copper, which vibrates 
 on being struck with leather. 
 
 GORGE, the open entrance of a bas- 
 tion, or work, from within. 
 
 GOSPEL, the histories of Christ. 
 
 GOSSAMER, fine down; and a term 
 
GRA 
 
 applied to the sheets of fine web which 
 spiders create to entangle flies at certain 
 seasons. 
 
 GOTHIC, a term applied to the Scan- 
 dinavians ; and to the style of Architec- 
 ture distinguished by pointed arches and 
 fluted columns, used In edifices of reli- 
 gion, and introduced by the Normans 
 about the 12th century. 
 
 GOVERNMENT, the persons in au- 
 thority over a people ; constitutional, 
 when subject to the laws, but despotic, 
 when without restraint; usually directed 
 by a King, Emperor, Sultan, or Presi- 
 dent, with ministers for various duties. 
 In England the government is in the 
 King, and his ministers, who are respon- 
 sible for breaches of the laws. 
 
 GRADUATE, one who has obtained 
 a degree of honour at an University, 
 after a due course of study, and suitable 
 examination; either B.A.,M.A., D.D., 
 or LL.D. 
 
 GRAFTING, the insertion of a twig 
 or shoot of one tree into the wood of 
 another, thereby making the grafted 
 tree bear the fruit of the twig. The 
 Engraving represents the parts thus 
 prepared, and after the graft has been 
 inserted, and the barks closely united, 
 they are tied together, and covered with 
 a lump of clay till they unite. 
 
 GRAIN, the generic name of the seeds 
 of wheat, barley, oats, rice, &c. 
 
 GRAINS OF PARADISE, a narco- 
 tic pepper, brought from Guinea, and 
 too much used by brewers. 
 
 GRALLjE, the fourth order of birds, 
 with obtuse bills and long legs, as cranes, 
 snipes, bustards, storks, and ostriches. 
 
 GRAMINA, or Grasses, the most nu- 
 merous family of plants, common to all 
 countries, but varied in species by soil 
 SI 
 
 GRA 
 
 and elevation. An English meadow in 
 natural grass often exhibits a hundred 
 several species. But the most produc- 
 tive grasses have been specially cultiva- 
 ted, and we now have fields sown with 
 ray-grass, red clover, trefoil, sanfoin, 
 lucern, &c. &c., called artificial grasses. 
 
 GRAMMAR, the art which analyses 
 and classes the words in a language, 
 which details its peculiarities, and fur- 
 nishes rules, recognized by the best au- 
 thorities, for its construction. The best 
 for learners is that by Blair. 
 
 GRAMME, a French measure of 
 weight, equal to 22*9GG grains English. 
 
 GRAND JURY, a body of 23 persons, 
 convened by the Sheriff to decide on the 
 validity of indictments, 12 of whom must 
 agree, when the bill is declared true. 
 
 GRANITE, a primary rock, of uni- 
 form structure, composed of particles of 
 quartz, mica, and felspar, crystallized, 
 and cohering without cement. It is the 
 foundation rock of the earth, on which 
 others lie, but raised in mountains, 
 whose lofty peaks are formed of it. 
 
 GRANULAR, formed of small grains. 
 
 GRASSHOPPER, a species of the 
 genus Gryllus, to which belongs the lo- 
 cust and cricket. The grasshopper of 
 our fields is innocent and harmless. 
 
 GRATUITOUS, a term applied to 
 principles or things assumed and not 
 proved to exist, as caloric, attraction, 
 magic, repulsion, fluids suigeneris, and 
 the like, the admission of which into 
 philosophy has led men into endless 
 labyrinths of error and mystification. 
 
 GRAVEL, fragments of rocks and 
 flints, worn by the action of the sea, and 
 by their mutual attritions into rounded 
 and other forms. Its red colour is occa- 
 sioned by the oxide of iron, and, when 
 found, it affords evidence of a sea-beach 
 having once been on the spot. Sometimes 
 the whole is imbedded in solid cement, 
 which has drained from the superior 
 
GRE 
 
 strata, and it is then called pudding- 
 stone. 
 
 GRAVITY, or Weight, the force with 
 which bodies fall towards the centre of 
 the earth or any planet, and an effect of 
 the great motions in the orbit, and of 
 the smaller motions round the axis, 
 which produces re-actions in the parts 
 proportioned to their density ; and the 
 actions and re-actions are of course di- 
 rected to the centre of motion. The 
 whole is a sublime law of aggregation, 
 by which, by the simple contrivance of 
 a two-fold motion, planetary masses are 
 held together. Either motion stopt, 
 the masses would disperse. Gravity is, 
 therefore, a local result in each planet, 
 and affects only its own parts, as patients 
 of the common motions ; and of course 
 being only a local result, there is no uni- 
 versal gravity, or weight of the planets 
 to the sun, or of the satellites to the pri- 
 maries, and their ascertained affections 
 may be explained by other causes. 
 
 G RAY -WACKE, the Wernerian name 
 for a secondary formation of coarse slate, 
 consisting of quartz and felspar, imbed- 
 ded in a cement of clay-slate, and a- 
 bounding in metals. 
 
 GREAT GEYSER, a fountain of hot 
 water in Iceland, supposed to arise from 
 a stream of water passing over a large 
 bed of pyrites, and thereby heated, ex- 
 panded in steam, and pressed upward. 
 
 GREECE, a small country, famous 
 for the genius and energy of its ancient 
 inhabitants, is situated between latitude 
 92 
 
 GRO 
 
 37 s — and 42 s — and E. longitude 21 9 
 and 25 ° ; consequently, about 350 miles 
 long, and 150 broad. Its chief towns 
 are Athens, Larissa, Patras, Argos, and 
 Corinth; but many of its ancient cities 
 have disappeared, and the names of 
 others changed by the Turks. 
 
 GREEK, the language of the ancient 
 Greeks, who, having excelled in every 
 branch of literature, rendered their lan- 
 guage that of learning among the Ro- 
 mans, and not less desirable to all subse- 
 quent nations, even to our own time. 
 
 GREEK ALPHABET, used in En- 
 glish books to distinguish the stars, in 
 the constellations, the first eight of 
 which it may be useful to know, as 
 
 а, Alpha. e, Epsilon. 
 
 б, Beta. £, Zeta. 
 
 y f Gamma. Eta. 
 
 8, Delta. or 0, Theta. 
 
 GREEKS, Modern, the present inha- 
 bitants of Greece, chiefly Christians. 
 
 GREGARIOUS, animals which herd 
 together. 
 
 GROTTO, a cavern or hollow place 
 under ground, often formed by running 
 waters, and distinguished by oosings or 
 drippings of silicious and calcareous 
 fluids and cements, which form glitter- 
 ing spiracles called stalactites, and this 
 
GUN 
 
 operation has sometime* been so long 
 in progress, that the parts which fall ac- 
 cumulate on the ground, and meet the 
 top in pillars. 
 
 GREYHOUND, an elegant English 
 dog, remarkable for its fleetness ; and 
 there is an Italian breed, smaller, and 
 more delicate. 
 
 GROUPING, in designing, the art of 
 balancing the parts so as to produce an 
 harmonious effect. 
 
 GROWTH, of animals and vegeta- 
 bles from germs to certain definite sizes, 
 arising from the assimilating powers ex- 
 ceeding the constant eliminating till 
 they balance; and then, one diminishing 
 while the other is constant in decay, the 
 balance determines the definite size of 
 species. The largest known quadruped 
 is the Elephant; bird, the Ostrich; and 
 fish, the Whale; while of the smallest 
 insects, hundreds would stand on the 
 point of a needle. 
 
 GRUB, the name of maggots which 
 afterwards change into winged insects. 
 
 GRUINALES, the fourteenth Lin- 
 n«an natural order of plants, containing 
 geraniums, &c. 
 
 GUAIACUM, a South American tree, 
 whose hard wood is called lignum vitce. 
 
 GUARDIAN, a person appointed by 
 will, or otherwise, to superintend the 
 education and property of a minor, to 
 whom the guardian is bound to account, 
 after the child is of age, under responsi- 
 bility to the Lord Chancellor for the 
 just performance of the trust. 
 
 GUEBRES, a Persian sect who still 
 worship fire as an emanation or emblem 
 of the Deity. 
 
 GULF, a part of the sea, nearly sur- 
 rounded by land. 
 
 GUNPOWDER, a composition of 
 sulphur, nitre, and charcoal, invented 
 early in the 14th century, by Schwartz, 
 a chemical monk, if not earlier. Its 
 
 . 93 
 
 GUN 
 
 principle is that of atoms, which are 
 easily turned into gas, being combined 
 with other atoms capable of propagat- 
 ing any intense motion applied. The 
 proportions of the dry materials are 
 75 parts of nitre, 1G of charcoal, and 
 9 of sulphur, which are combined 
 with water, vinegar, urine, or spirit of 
 wine ; and the velocity of a musket ball 
 is, on an average, 1600 feet per second, 
 and its range half a mile. The greatest 
 velocity with which a cannon ball is 
 projected, is 2000 feet per second. The 
 range of the Congreve rockets is nearly 
 two miles, and large mortars have thrown 
 bomb-shells three miles. 
 
 GUINEA-PIG, or Cavy, a very pretty 
 animal, which forms a link between the 
 mouse and the rabbit. 
 
 GUNNERY, a science which directs 
 the elevation in which a piece of cannon 
 should be placed, so as to strike a cer- 
 tain object. The gun is elevated to a 
 certain fixed angle, given in tables accu- 
 rately calculated, and then the ball pas- 
 ses through a curve, and reaches the 
 proposed spot. 
 
IIAI 
 
 plest form of a quadrant, provided with 
 two sight-holes, and a string and bob of 
 lead ; by which vertical angles may, for 
 ordinary purposes, be determined. The 
 face of the quadrant is also provided 
 with scales and tables, useful in dialling, 
 surveying, &c. 
 
 GUTTA SERENA, loss of sensibility 
 in the optic nerves. 
 
 GYMNASTIC, the name of all those 
 exercises which contribute to the health, 
 grace, and vigour of the body, and which 
 has been properly introduced as a branch 
 of education into our public schools. 
 
 GYMNOTUS, the name of an eel, 
 remarkable for its power of affecting 
 the nervous system, in the manner of 
 electricity. This animal and the torpe- 
 do, on dissection, appear to have an ar- 
 rangement of muscular plates not unlike 
 a galvanic trough, and well adapted to 
 produce the effect. 
 
 GYNANDRIA, the 20th class of the 
 
 HAN 
 
 Linnsean system of plants, containing 
 nine orders ; Diandria, Triandria, Te- 
 trandria, Pentandria, Hexandria, Octan- 
 dria, Decandria, Dodecandria, and Po- 
 lyandria, with the stamina growing on 
 the pistilla. 
 
 GYPSUM, a combination of 42 parts 
 of lime, and 50 of sulphuric acid. 
 
 H 
 
 HABEAS CORPUS, a writ which may 
 be obtained from the Court of King’s 
 Bench, to remove a prisoner into that 
 Court for due hearing if unlawfully de- 
 tained ; and this law is the bulwark of 
 personal liberty in England. 
 
 HABITAT, a term used by botanists 
 to express the localities of plants. 
 
 HADLEY’S QUADRANT, or, more 
 properly, octant, or sextant, for taking 
 angles between distant objects, made on 
 the principle that in reduction, the an- 
 gle of incidence is equal to the angle of 
 reflection. It is provided with a move- 
 able, or index radius, at the arc end of 
 which is a vernier for sub-dividing into 
 tenths the divisions on the arc ; and also 
 with a plain object mirror, moveable 
 with the index. Other mirrors for fore 
 and back observation are then fixed on 
 the left hand limb, and sights on the 
 right limb, to determine at what angle 
 the moveable and fixed mirrors become 
 parallel. 
 
 H.4SMORRAGE, a discharge of blood. 
 
 HAIR, filaments issuing from the 
 skins of animals, depending on the skin 
 and not on the nutriment for support. 
 The microscope shews them to be trian- 
 gular and square, depending on the 
 form of the pores whence they issue, 
 and the ends, when long, split into two 
 or three branches. A mass of hair ana- 
 94 
 
 lyzed was found to contain a thirteenth 
 of carbonate of ammonia, a seventh of 
 water, a fourth of oil, a fourth of gases, 
 and one third of coaly matter. The 
 measure called a hair’s breadth is the 
 48th of an inch. Red hair differs from 
 black, in containing red oil, instead of 
 blackish green oil; and in white hair 
 the oil is colourless, and it also contains 
 some phosphate of magnesia. 
 
 HALLIARDS, ropes for sails. 
 
 HALLUCINATION, an error of the 
 senses, arising from fear or disease, as 
 when a man fancies he sees or hears 
 something supernatural. 
 
 HALO, a coloured ring round the sun, 
 moon, or any luminous body, arising 
 from the intervention of a mist, from 
 the atoms of which the atoms of light 
 are unequally refracted and reflected. 
 Superstitious painters have placed them 
 round the heads of saints, and other ab- 
 surd mythological personages. 
 
 HAND. The numerous bones of the 
 hand prove the wonderful structure of 
 the animal frame. It is joined to the 
 radius and ulnus of the arm by the car- 
 pus, or wrist, which consists of eight 
 small bones, in two rows ; to these are 
 attached four bones within the palm, 
 called metacarpus, and each of the fin- 
 gers and the thumb contains three bones, 
 connected by cartilages ; hence the hand 
 
HAR 
 
 IIAR 
 
 contains twenty-seven bones. It is so im- 
 portant an instrument to man, that with- 
 out it his reason and speech would not 
 have availed him against other animals. 
 
 HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK, 
 a distinguished composer of music, and 
 native of Hanover, whose genius enabled 
 him to produce an entire revolution in 
 that art. He lived chiefly in England, 
 and died in 1759. 
 
 HANNIBAL, a Carthaginian general, 
 contemporary with Judas Maccabasus, 
 Archimedes, and Cato the censor, from 
 260 to 170 B.C. 
 
 HANSE TOWNS, towns in Germany, 
 as Hambro’, Bremen, &c., in which, 
 in the infancy of trade, merchants en- 
 joyed certain protections and privileges. 
 
 HARE, a timid animal, about two 
 feet long, which subsists on vegetables, 
 produces about nine young ones every 
 year, and lives about seven years. It is 
 the prey of dogs, foxes, wild cats, men, 
 and wolves, and often seized by eagles 
 and hawks. Its fears prevent its leaving 
 its seat during the day, and when taken, 
 its cries resemble those of a child, which 
 leads Thomson to remark, “Poor is the 
 triumph o'er the timid hare.” 
 
 HAPPINESS, ease of mind, the re- 
 sult of bodily health, contentment, and 
 self-satisfaction ; — the one acquired by 
 equal degrees of sufficient excitement, 
 which leaves no exhaustion, the second 
 from a due estimate of the necessary 
 inequalities of society, and the last from 
 doing good; 
 
 HARMONY, as applied to nature, 
 the necessary reciprocal accordance of 
 causes and effects, by which the exist- 
 ence of one thing is dependent on that 
 of another, singular or plural, definite 
 in time and space, or indefinite. 
 
 HARP, a musical instrument of great 
 antiquity, in which the strings are made 
 of lengths corresponding with the dia- 
 tonic and prismatic scales, because sound 
 and light are but different affections of 
 the same media, generally made now 
 with a range of five octaves, with pedals 
 for flats, sharps, and modulations. 
 
 HARPIES, mythological monsters ; 
 or, in modern language, agents of law 
 or power, who prey on the fears and 
 credulity of others. 
 
 HARROW, the name of a very useful 
 instrument of agriculture, employed to 
 prepare ploughed land for the seed, and 
 to mix the seed with the soil after it has 
 been sown. The latter kind is expressed 
 in the engraving, but their structure is 
 different, according to their purpose. 
 
 95 
 
IIEA 
 
 HARTSHORN, volatile alkali. 
 
 HARVEST MOON, an epithet ap- 
 plied to those moons which, in the au- 
 tumnal months, rise on successive 
 nights, soon after sunset, owing to the 
 oblique ascension of the signs of the 
 Zodiac, through which the moon is then 
 passing, which signs, in turning the 
 globe, ascend almost horizontally. 
 
 HATCHMENT, or Achievement, 
 the heraldic history of a deceased per- 
 son, placed in the front of the house, 
 generally for a year. 
 
 HAUTBOIS, the treble to a bassoon, 
 played through a reed. 
 
 HAWK, a species of the falco genus, 
 called Gos Hawk in Scotland, and Spar- 
 row Hawk in England, where it preys on 
 rabbits, mice, pigeons, sparrows, and 
 other tame animals and birds. The 
 Gos Hawk used to be trained for the 
 diversion of the more barbarous men, 
 who could be diverted by the sufferings 
 of its victims. 
 
 HAY-MAKER, a man, or woman, 
 who turns mowed grass, till it dries into 
 hay, for keeping as winter food for cattle. 
 
 HEAD, the receptacle of the brain, 
 and the senses of animals, with which 
 perceptions are received, reasoning per- 
 formed, and volitions directed as conse- 
 quences. The senses are either exposed 
 nerves, as the smell and taste, or instru- 
 ments for economizing certain delicate 
 external actions, as the eye for light, 
 and the ear for sound, which, by the 
 most ingenious and wonderful con- 
 trivances, convey the actions of air in 
 sound and light to nerves connected with 
 the large part of the brain, called the 
 cerebrum, by which all sensation appears 
 to be received. Another part, called 
 the cerebellum, then directs the will of 
 the animal, and this again directs the 
 96 
 
 HED 
 
 nerves branching from the medulla ob- 
 longata, which runs through the spine. 
 Thehead, as containing the tender brain, 
 or seat of perception, thought, and will 
 of an animal, is, therefore, protected 
 by various bones. 
 
 HEALTH, the state of well-being, 
 the result of temperance, moderation, 
 and regularity. 
 
 HEARING, that sense of feeling, by 
 means of a curious mechanism, the ear, 
 which appropriates undulations of the 
 air, and communicates their action to 
 the nerves in sound. 
 
 HEART, the main spring, or centre 
 of circulation in an animal body. It is 
 divided in the middle by a strong par- 
 tition, and on each side by two cavities, 
 called ventricles, one the right, or pul- 
 monic, and the other, the left, or syste- 
 mic. Attached to each is a cavity, cal- 
 led the auricle, and from each proceeds 
 a large tube, called an artery, one called 
 pulmonic, and the other aorta ; the first 
 conveying blood to the lungs, and the 
 other expelling it through the system. 
 It may be regarded as an enlargement 
 of the veins. 
 
 HEAT, the phenomenon, or pheno- 
 mena which take place, or the percep- 
 tion acquired, whenever one set of atoms 
 in great motion, part with their motions, 
 or momenta, to another set of atoms. 
 It is universally the act of transferring 
 momenta, something being always fixed 
 which was previously in motion, when- 
 ever heat is felt or displayed. The notion 
 that is a fluid per se, which is called ca- 
 loric, is a mere chimera, and its adop- 
 tion has greatly obstructed the progress 
 of knowledge. In all cases it is genera- 
 ted by motion, as percussion, or friction, 
 or by reduction of volume by which 
 motion is transferred, and its application 
 always produces motion by the expan- 
 sion of evaporation, mechanical force, 
 &c. while in combustion, the supporter, 
 oxygen, is fixed. From these causes it 
 is the universal agent of chenygl ac- 
 tion, and natural operation. The An- 
 cients considered it an element, Lord 
 Bacon ascribed it to vibrations. Black 
 and Lavoisiere to an element, Davy to 
 vibrations, but the above theory is that 
 of Phillips. 
 
 HEBDOMADAL, every seven days. 
 
 HECATOMB, a sacrifice of 100 oxen. 
 
 HECTIC, a slow fever. 
 
 HEDERACE^E, the 46th Linnacan 
 natural order cf plants, shrubby, with 
 creeping branches, as the vine, ivy, &c. 
 
HEM 
 
 HEBREW PRIEST, a Levite in the 
 usual costume. 
 
 HEDGEHOG, a small animal which 
 feeds on worms, insects, and the roots 
 of vegetables, remarkable for the sharp 
 prickles which enclose it, and for its 
 power of rolling itself into a globe of its 
 own prickles, when jn danger ; but it 
 unfolds on being put into water. 
 
 HEGIRA, the epoch of the flight of 
 Mahomed from Mecca, July 16, 622, 
 whence Eastern nations date the year of 
 354 days, and it is found by subtracting 
 622 from our year, and then multiplying 
 by 365*52, and dividing by 354. 
 
 HEIR-LOOM, an article annexed to 
 a freehold by will, but not a necessary 
 part of it. 
 
 HELIOCENTRIC, phenomena with 
 reference to the sun. 
 
 HELIX, a spiral line or wire. 
 
 HELMINTHOLOGY, the science of 
 worms. 
 
 HEMIPTERA, the second order of 
 insects, which have the wings half erus- 
 taceous, and half membraneous, as 
 cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, &c. 
 
 HEMISPHERE, half a globe, distin- 
 guished on the earth into northern and 
 southern ; and also into enlightened and 
 unenlightened, with reference to the 
 sun, which always enlightens an equal 
 half, or 90° every way. 
 
 HEMLOCK, a genus of plants called 
 
 97 
 
 HER 
 
 conium, of which the species maculatum, 
 or greater hemlock, is one of our few poi- 
 sonous plants, but now used in medicine. 
 
 HENBANE, a poisonous plant, com- 
 mon in hedges, and bearing yellow and 
 purple flowers, with a dark grey seed. 
 
 HEPTARCHY, the name given to 
 the Seven Saxon kingdoms, into which 
 England was divided for about 300 years. 
 
 HEPTANDRIA, the seventh class of 
 the Linnaean system of plants, contain- 
 ing four orders, Monogynia, Digynia, 
 Tetragynia, and Heptagynia, with seven 
 stamina. 
 
 HERALD, an officer of Herald’s Col- 
 lege, subject to the Earl Marshal of 
 England, whose business it is to make 
 out coats of arms, register genealogies, 
 and direct regal processions. 
 
 HERALDRY, a science which, by 
 certain divisions, characters, and hiero- 
 glyphics, designates descents and fami- 
 lies in a pictorial manner, and in much 
 request when shields were carried in 
 battle, and when banners distinguished 
 clans and followers. 
 
 HERB, an annual plant. 
 
 HERCULANEUM, a large city in 
 the time of the Romans, but overwhelm- 
 ed by an eruption of Vesuvius. Its re- 
 mains were discovered in 1740, and ex- 
 hibited in perfection the domestic arts 
 of the Romans. 
 
 HERESY, an opinion of the mino- 
 rity, whether it be true or false; thus, 
 in 1600, it was heretical to believe that 
 the earth turned round the sun ; and, 
 in 1825, it is heretical to believe that 
 bodies fall towards the centre of a pla- 
 net, as the local result of its two-fold 
 motions. 
 
 HERCULES, a hero of antiquity, of 
 extraordinary strength, the traditions 
 
 K 
 
HER 
 
 relative to whose exploits furnished to- 
 pics to the ancient poets and fabulists. 
 The importance of superior strength 
 among uncivilized tribes still confers the 
 distinction of Hercules on men remark- 
 able for their bulk and strength. 
 
 HERIOT, the fine paid to the Lord 
 of the Manor, by copy -holders, on the 
 death of the tenant. 
 
 HERMIT, a religious devotee, or re- 
 cluse, who, in warm countries, retires 
 from the world. 
 
 HERRING, a prolific fish, common 
 in most seas, where they are found in 
 immense shoals. The grand shoal of 
 many paillions, divided into columns of 
 five or six miles in length, and about 
 four in breadth, appears at the Shetland 
 Isles in June, where they divide, and 
 branch off in all directions. 
 
 HERSCHEL, or Uranus, a planet, 
 whose diameter is 35,112 miles, and dis- 
 tance from the sun 1800 millions of 
 miles, its revolution being 80 of our 
 years, and attended by six satellites. 
 
 98 
 
 HIE 
 
 HERSCHEL’S TELESCOPE, a co- 
 lossal instrument, whose weight destroy- 
 ed its utility, 45 feet long, and 4 feet in 
 diameter, the speculum of which weigh- 
 ed above 21001bs. and it magnified 6400 
 times. 
 
 HESPERIDiE, the 19th Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, containing the 
 myrtle tribe, &c. 
 
 HETERODOX, an opinion not re- 
 ceived by the majority. 
 
 HETEROGENEOUS, mixed, not of 
 one kind, or not homogeneous. 
 
 HEXAGON, a figure of six equal 
 sides, capable of being packed without 
 interstices, like the cells of a bee-hive. 
 
 HEXAMETER, the epic versifica- 
 tion, consisting of six feet, of which the 
 first four are spondees, or dactyls, the 
 fifth a dactyle, or one long and two short 
 syllables, and the sixth, a spondee or 
 two long syllables. 
 
 HEXANDRIA, the sixth class of the 
 Linnaean system of plants, containing 
 five orders, Monogynia, Digynia, Tri- 
 gynia, Tetragynia, and Poligynia, with 
 
 HIATUS, an unpleasant opening of 
 the mouth, when vowels end and begin 
 words; or a blank left in a MS. 
 
 HICCUP, a convulsion of the mysen- 
 teric glands, or stomach. 
 
 HIERARCHY, the members of a 
 church establishment, as the bishops, &c. 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS, paintings of ob- 
 jects, sometimes identical, and some- 
 times analogical and abbreviated, adopt- 
 ed by the Egyptians to repord events ; 
 but the analogies being fanciful, or 
 forgotten, the inscriptions are no longer 
 intelligible. The symbols used for 
 the planets are hieroglyphic symbols, 
 in which 8 designates Mercury, by re- 
 
HIS 
 
 presenting his caduceus, or wand; and 
 Venus, from her mirror; <3* Mars, 
 from the shield and spear; 2(. Jupiter, 
 from a throne and a man; Jp Saturn, 
 from the sickle. Q the Sun, and Q 
 Moon, being true pictures ; so also with 
 Y' for Aries, being the horns of a ram; 
 find for Taurus, being the head of a 
 bull; and II for Gemini, the simplest 
 representation of twins. Such were 
 hieroglyphics in general. 
 
 HIMALAYAS, a chain of mountains 
 north of Hindostan, Sucanda, the high- 
 est of them, being nearly 26,000 feet, or 
 5000 feet higher than the Andes. 
 
 HIPPOCRATES, the Greek father of 
 medicine, born 460 B. C., and died 361 
 B. C., contemporary with Euripides, 
 Herodotus, Socrates, Alcibiades, and 
 Camillus. 
 
 HIPPOPOTAMUS, a monstrous qua- 
 druped, from 12 to 20 feet long, suppos- 
 ed to be the Behemoth of Job, and called 
 the river horse ; the head very large, 
 the body fat, and the legs short and 
 thick, the teeth large, and with tusks 
 harder and whiter than those of the 
 Elephant. It lives chiefly in water, and 
 walks at the bottom, raising its head oc- 
 casionally for respiration. It feeds on 
 grain and vegetables, and unless attack- 
 ed, or ill used, is perfectly harmless; 
 but its skin, for the most part, resists a 
 bullet. 
 
 HISTORY, a narrative of the public 
 events and progress of a nation, divided 
 into ancient, as referring to periods an- 
 terior to the formation of the modern 
 nations ; and modern, as applicable to 
 the history of those nations. It is a stu- 
 dy of great interest and value, and ought 
 to be preferred to the imaginary histo- 
 ries of novel and romantic writers. 
 
 99 
 
 HOR 
 
 HISTRIONIC, relating to the stage. 
 
 HOG, a well-known domestic animal, 
 a variety of the wild boar; very prolific, 
 and, except when wild, or in defending 
 their young, not ferocious; but raven- 
 ous and carnivorous with reference to 
 their teeth, and ruminating in their clo- 
 ven feet. There are various breeds, 
 but the Chinese is the most preferred in 
 England. 
 
 HOLE RACEME, the twelfth Linnaean 
 order of plants, containing trees, shrubs, 
 perennial and annual herbs, as rhubarb, 
 beet, &c. 
 
 HOLOGRAPH, a man’s own writing. 
 
 HOMER, author of the Iliad and 
 Odyssey, who flourished in the 11th cen- 
 tury, B. C. contemporary with David. 
 
 HOMOGENEOUS, of like kind. 
 
 HONG, the Chinese name for an Eu- 
 ropean Factory. 
 
 HOOPOE, a beautiful crested bird, 
 seldom seen in England, but common 
 in Gibraltar, where it is called the 
 Marsh-cock. 
 
 HORIZON, the circle where the 
 earth and heavens meet ; called sensible, 
 and apparent, as depending on the height 
 of the eye, and distance of the object : 
 
HOR 
 
 but real, when extended to the fixed stars, 
 whose great distance brings the two ho- 
 rizons together ; but in regard to nearer 
 bodies, the difference is the angle which 
 the earth’s semidiameter makes at the 
 body, called the horizontal parallax, 
 and determined by the distance from the 
 zenith of the true and apparent horizon. 
 
 HORNBLENDE, a primitive rock, 
 of a dark green or black colour ; the 
 basis of basalt, and compound of silica, 
 alumina, lime, and oxide of iron. 
 
 HORNED SNAKE, or Coluber Ceras- 
 tes, a native of Africa and Arabia, with 
 a pair of horns above the eyes, and the 
 species used by Egyptian conjurors, in 
 performing their tricks. 
 
 HORNWORK, the advance of a for- 
 tification. 
 
 HORTICULTURE, the cultivation 
 of fruit-trees, for which many useful 
 Societies have been instituted. 
 
 HORTUS SICCUS, a book of dried 
 plants. 
 
 HORSE, an animal, whose generic 
 character is six front teeth in each jaw, 
 with canine teeth on each side, remote 
 from the rest, with undivided hoofs. 
 There are six species, among which, be- 
 sides the common horse, is a native of 
 the middle regions of Asia, wild, and 
 uncommonly swift. The other species 
 are the ass, the zebra, the quagga, and 
 the cloven-footed horse of South America. 
 In England, we have many breeds, and 
 the best in the world ; but Arabian and 
 Barbary horses are deservedly esteemed 
 for their beauty and swiftness. English 
 race-horses run two miles in three mi- 
 nutes ; hunters are another class, com- 
 bining strength with swiftness. Seve- 
 ral counties have their breeds of draught 
 horses, and the black Bakewell breed 
 will draw three tons, or double the regu- 
 lar draught. The age of a horse is de- 
 termined by the corner front teeth, ad- 
 joining the tushes; at 4£ years these 
 teeth are just visible above the gum ; at 
 five, the remaining colts’ teeth are shed, 
 and the tushes appear ; at six, the tushes 
 are u*p, white, and sharp, with a small 
 100 
 
 HUM 
 
 circle of young growing flesh, the mouth 
 being then complete. 
 
 HOSPITAL, an establishment where 
 the sick or afflicted poor are nursed, and 
 obtain medical relief gratis. 
 
 HOST, ELEVATION OF, partof the 
 celebration of the Mass in the Romish 
 church, in the manner represented in 
 the engraving, where the priest, kneeling 
 at the altar, is holding up the sacred 
 symbol to the view of the adoring con- 
 gregation. 
 
 HO WARD, JOHN, an English gentle- 
 man, who distinguished himself by his 
 philanthropy, in visiting, first, the pri- 
 sons of England, and, afterwards, those 
 of different countries, by which he ef- 
 fected many salutary reforms in recep- 
 tacles of misery, too often neglected by 
 the authorities appointed to superintend 
 them ; but, visiting Turkey, he died of 
 the plague in 1790. 
 
 HULKS, prison-ships, to which felons 
 are sent, and kept to hard labour. 
 
 HUMIDITY, moisture. 
 
 HUMMING-BIRD, a beautiful tro- 
 pic bird, the smallest species of which 
 is scarcely a quarter of an inch in length. 
 Its chief food is the nectar of flowers, 
 which it extracts like the bee, and it 
 
IIYD 
 
 suspends its nest from an orange or ci- 
 tron tree, laying two white eggs, the size 
 of a pea. 
 
 HOTTE, a basket of wicker work, 
 much used in France, for carrying bur- 
 thens on the back. It is slung over the 
 arms by means of straps, and great 
 weights are thus carried with much 
 facility. 
 
 HUNDRED, a subdivision of a coun- 
 ty, which anciently constituted a special 
 jurisdiction, and is still recognized in 
 many legal processes. 
 
 HYADNA, a species of the dog genus, 
 the size of a large dog, of a tawney 
 brown colour, the body marked with 
 black bands. It is very ferocious, and 
 has seldom been tamed, gnawing even 
 its own feet and legs. 
 
 HYDATID, a bladder, possessed of 
 feeling, which grows in the viscera of 
 animals, and in the brain of sheep. 
 
 H YDRA, a polypus, capable of living 
 after being turned inside out. 
 
 HYDRATE, a solid which contains 
 water in a fixed state, as slaked lime, 
 soda, &c. 
 
 HYDRAULIC PRESS, a machine of 
 great power created by perpendicular 
 action on a confined mass of water, 
 which, when materials of great strength 
 are used, produces an enormous force. 
 
 HYDROCHLORIC, the same as mu- 
 riatic acid gas. 
 
 HYDROGEN, aconstituentof water, 
 and a rare gas, 16 times lighter than 
 atmospheric air, and on that account 
 used to fill ballooiis. But its most im- 
 portant function is that of absorbing 
 oxygen from surrounding parts, when 
 excited by any accession of heat or un- 
 due motion. Combined with carbon, 
 it thus fixes or condenses the oxygen, 
 forming aqueous vapour and smoke, 
 101 
 
 HYD 
 
 thereby locating great heat, while the 
 re action of the excited parts causes a 
 diffused action which is the important 
 effect called Light. With oxygen only 
 it creates a yellowish light, but with a 
 suitable proportion of carbon it makes 
 all the colours of the prism, when the 
 resulting light is mechanically decom- 
 posed by it. Of course, coals, bitumens, 
 oils, tallow, spirits, and all bodies that 
 burn, abound in it, for burning means 
 nothing more than its power of absorbing 
 oxygen when duly excited, and this 
 absorption creates by re-action in the 
 space, heat, flame, and light, universally. 
 The carburetted vapour of Hydrogen 
 evolved by subterranean heat from coal 
 in the cavities of mines, is exploded by 
 oxygen, with destructive effects when 
 first excited by the similar process of a can 
 die. When the same gas is made by dis- 
 tillation, and sent through pipes, it gra- 
 dually explodes at the orifice, forming 
 what are called Gaslights. Andwhengra- 
 dually evolved at the wick of a candle 
 or lamp from the compound of carbon 
 and hydrogen in the tallow and oil, the 
 explosion accompanying the evolution 
 of the gas creates our domestic lights. 
 So also with the flame of a coal fire. 
 
 HYDRODYNAMICS, the science 
 which treats of the motion of fluids. 
 
 HYDROGRAPHY, a description of 
 water. 
 
 HYDROMETER, a measure of rela- 
 tive weights, or specific gravities. 
 
 HYDROPHOBIA, a disease of dogs, 
 and persons bitten by them, whose ex- 
 istence is doubted. 
 
 HYDROSTATICS, thescience which 
 treats of the equilibrium of fluids. 
 
 HYDROGEN GAS, a variety of 
 atoms in motion, which fill a space, 
 and which space, when filled with them, 
 is from 15 to 16 times lighter than if the 
 space were filled with common atmos- 
 pheric air. The engraving represents 
 its manufactory in large quantities for 
 the purpose of filling a balloon. The 
 casks placed round are partly filled with 
 water, from which hydrogen is extract- 
 ed, by putting pieces of zinc into it, and 
 two-fifths of sulphuric acid, or vitriol. 
 This producing an effervescence, the 
 light gas passes out of the casks through 
 the bent tubes which pass through a 
 vessel of cold water under the cask 
 placed in the centre, from which it pas- 
 ses through the bent tube into the bal- 
 loon, and being so much lighter than 
 atmospheric air, it rises with great force, 
 k 2 
 
IDI 
 
 and carries the balloon with it into the 
 upper regions of the atmosphere. 
 
 HYDROSTATIC PARADOX, an 
 experiment founded on the principle 
 that fluids press perpendicularly as their 
 heights, and not as their bulks, and 
 hence a tube of half an inch will sup- 
 port as great a weight as a cylinder 
 
 IDI 
 
 of any dimensions. This arises from 
 the intestine motions of fluids contrary 
 to the direction of gravity, which causes 
 them to act against the sides with a 
 force equal to half the height. 
 
 HYMENOPTERA, the fifth order of 
 insects, having four transparent wings, 
 with stings, as bees, wasps, ants, &e. 
 
 HYPERBOLA, the curve which 
 bounds the surface produced by cutting 
 the cone obliquely to the sides and axis. 
 
 HYPERCRITIC, a reviewer of a 
 book, not the property of the proprietor 
 of the review, or adverse to the interest 
 of some book, in which the reviewer, or 
 review-proprietor is concerned, and 
 who, therefore, sees no merits, and 
 magnifies all faults. 
 
 HYPOCHONDRIASIS, low spirits. 
 
 HYPOTENUSE, the oblique side of 
 a triangle opposite the right angle. 
 
 HYPOTHESIS, an induction by 
 analogy, like that by which Newton in- 
 ferred universal gravitation, because an 
 apple fell to the ground. 
 
 I 
 
 IBIDEM, in the same place. 
 
 IC and ITE, terminations in atomic 
 philosophy, to distinguish high acidity ; 
 ous and ite, lower degrees ; and ide, 
 its absence. 
 
 ICEBERGS, masses of ice carried by 
 the winds through the Polar Seas, often 
 of enormous size and height, as 300 or 
 400 feet above the water, and five or six 
 times as much below it. 
 
 ICE HOUSE, a building contrived to 
 preserve ice in hot weather; the ice 
 being rammed as close as possible, and 
 at the bottom is a well to drain off the 
 water from any part that melts. 
 
 ICH DIEN, I serve. 
 
 ICHNEUMON, an African weasel. 
 
 ICHNEUMON FLY, an insect which 
 deposits its eggs in the body of the cater- 
 pillar, whence the larvae emerge by pierc- 
 ing the victim’s skin. 
 
 ICHNOGRAPHY, a ground plan. 
 
 ICTHYOLOGY, the natural history 
 of fishes, divided into five orders, and 
 2500 species. 
 
 IDEALISTS, men who follow ideas 
 instead of facts, and perceptions of their 
 senses, who reason upon facts, draw ab- 
 stract inferences, and then found ideal 
 systems upon these inferences which 
 depend merely on the accuracy of their 
 first reasoning, and not upon indubita- 
 102 
 
 ble facts, perceived by themselves, or 
 by others on whose sound judgment and 
 disinterested testimony they can rely. 
 
 ICOSANDRIA, the twelfth class of 
 the Linnaean system of plants, contain- 
 ing five classes, Monogynia, Digynia, 
 Trigynia, Pentagynia, and Polyginia, 
 with 20 or more stamina. 
 
 IDENTITY, a consciousness of being, 
 a result of habitual perception, pain, 
 and gratification, which centering in an 
 animal, constitute a selfish sense of per- 
 sonality. 
 
 IDIOM, an arbitrary phrase. 
 
IMP 
 
 IDIOSYNCRACY, liability todisease. 
 
 IGNIS FATUUS, an ascent from the 
 ground of phosphuretted hydrogen gas, 
 decomposed from animal and vegetable 
 remains, whose own motions ignite it 
 in the air, and, therefore, the source of 
 many vulgar superstitions. 
 
 IGNORAMUS, the indorsement on a 
 bill of indictment, ignored, or not found 
 by a grand jury. 
 
 IGNANADON, the name given by 
 Mantell, to an enormous fossil amphi- 
 bious animal, 50 or 60 feet long, disco- 
 vered by him in Tilgate Forest, Sussex, 
 amid numerous other remains, animal 
 and vegetable, of species not existing. 
 
 I. H. S., letters placed in Popish 
 churches for Jesus Hominum Salvator. 
 
 ILLUMINATION, tinting print* with 
 gold and silver; and also used in the 
 sense of enlightening. 
 
 IMAGE, OPTICAL, formed by the 
 conveyance by refraction of the radia- 
 tions from an illuminated object behind 
 a glass lens, or by reflection in front of 
 a concave mirror, or in a dark room 
 where no light passes but that from the 
 object, and as the lines cross in the cen- 
 tres, the image is reversed. 
 
 I MAUN, a Mahomedan dignitary. 
 
 IMMATERIAL, a word used to de- 
 scribe effects and results of material ac- 
 tion and re-action, when the mechani- 
 cal causes are not simple and obvious, 
 as the affections of the mind, of atoms, 
 &c. Our senses are affected solely by 
 matter, and through those inlets of our 
 knowledge we know nothing but what 
 is material. 
 
 IMMEMORIAL, time before the 
 reign of Edward II. 
 
 IMMUTABLE, an attribute ascribed 
 to God, and result of omniscience. 
 
 IMPALEMENT, the frightful punish- 
 ment, practised by tyrants, of driving a 
 stake upwards through an object of their 
 vengeance ; and many naturalists amuse 
 their unthinking minds by impaling in- 
 sects. 
 
 IMPEACHMENT, a prosecution of 
 a state criminal before the I-Iouse of 
 Lords, under articles of accusation voted 
 by the House of Commons, which con- 
 ducts the proceeding. 
 
 IMPENETRABILITY, the power of 
 any assemblage of atoms, whether solid 
 or fluid, of maintaining their dimensions. 
 
 IMPERSONAL VERBS, a kind of 
 verbs expressing effects, ascribed to 
 the course of nature as their cause, as 
 it rains, it burns, &c. 
 
 103 
 
 INC 
 
 IMPETUS, force, momentum. 
 
 IMPINGING, striking against. 
 
 IMPONDERABLE, atoms which are 
 not subject to the centripetal force of 
 the earth, owing to their having greater 
 motions in other directions. 
 
 IMPORT, the foreign goods and ma- 
 nufactures brought into a country, which 
 in England amount to £40,000,000 worth 
 annually, employing 26,000 ships. 
 
 IMPOSTURE, pretending to sanc- 
 tity, or wisdom, for the purpose of pro- 
 fiting by credulity, like the fabulous 
 assumptions of the Eastern Priests ; the 
 expounding nature by absurd principles 
 of attraction and repulsion, and the 
 pretended transformations of conjurers. 
 
 IMPRESS, the arbitrary seizure of 
 sailors to man the royal navy, at inferior 
 wages, instead of giving them bounties 
 and pay, to encdurage them to prefer 
 the service and its discipline. 
 
 IMPRIMATUR, a license to print a 
 book in countries where the mind is en- 
 slaved by power. 
 
 IMPRIMIS, in the first place. 
 
 IMPRISONMENT, a privation of 
 liberty, and of social intercourse and 
 advantages, as a punishment for some 
 crime or misdemeanour, after the form 
 of trial by jury, but, from the influence 
 of habit, no punishment after a certain 
 time. 
 
 IMPROBABILITY, any circum- 
 stance contrary tQ the course of nature 
 and general experience, uncorroborated 
 by various correct testimony, or con- 
 nected with any passion, prejudice, or 
 interest of the relater. 
 
 IMPROPRIATOR, the lay proprietor 
 of the tithes of a parish. 
 
 IMPROVISATORE, one who has the 
 faculty of reciting extemporaneous ver- 
 ses, of whom there are many in Italy. 
 
 IMPULSE, a continuation of motion 
 after the cause is withdrawn ; thus the 
 finger moved against a ball carries the 
 ball a short distance with the finger's 
 velocity, and when the finger is taken 
 away, the motion of the ball continues 
 till the motion is imparted by rubbing 
 or resistance. It matters not whether 
 the atmosphere of the finger push the 
 atmosphere of the ball, or whether a 
 rod or gas intervenes, for the principle 
 is equally plain, clear, and simple ; the 
 finger either puts the ball in velocity, or 
 it puts the intervening things into velo- 
 city, which affect the ball. 
 
 INCANDESCENCE, the high tem- 
 perature of a body. 
 
IND 
 
 INCIDENCE, the angle formed by 
 the perpendicular to any surface, and 
 the direction with which any elastic 
 body or atom strikes the surface ; and it 
 is generally equal to the angle of reflec- 
 tion, because the surface is the common 
 side of two similar squares through 
 which the body moves as in the diago- 
 nals by its own action, and the re-action 
 of the surface. 
 
 INCLINED PLANE, a natural me- 
 chanical power, which deflects a body 
 aside, when moving perpendicularly to- 
 wards the centre of the earth, by which 
 the force towards the centre is modified. 
 Its common application is to elevate 
 bodies, which are raised perpendicularly 
 while they are moved up the plane, and 
 the force gained is as the increased dis- 
 tance moved over, that is, as the length 
 of the inclined plane is to the perpendi- 
 cular height gained. 
 
 INCOGNITO, or IN COG., disguise. 
 
 INCOMBUSTIBLE, a body which is 
 not decomposed, or combined during 
 the mechanical action which takes place 
 between hydrogen and oxygen, or their 
 compounds in the process called com- 
 bustion. 
 
 IN COMMENDAM, for a time. 
 
 INCOMMENSURABLES, numbers, 
 or bodies which are not equal parts of 
 one another. 
 
 INCORPORAL, a mental creation. 
 
 INCREMENTS, additions to bodies, 
 and when supposed indefinitely small, 
 used as a means of mathematical inves- 
 tigation in the differential calculus. 
 
 INCRUSTATION, a deposit of 
 earthy particles from water, on the sur- 
 face of bodies. 
 
 INCUBATION, the period for hatch- 
 ing eggs at 104° of Fahrenheit; in hens 
 three weeks ; in geese and ducks a 
 month ; in pigeons eighteen days ; and 
 jn swans six weeks. Pigeons are so 
 prolific, that in four years a pair would 
 be multiplied 7000 times. 
 
 INCUMBENT, the possessor of a 
 clerical benefice. 
 
 INDECLINABLE, a term applied to 
 prepositions, conjunctions, and adverbs. 
 
 104 
 
 JNE 
 
 INDENTURE, an old form of deed, 
 or a parchment tally, the two being 
 scolloped together. 
 
 INDEPENDENTS, an extensive re- 
 ligious sect, in which each congregation 
 governs itself. 
 
 INDETERMINATE, uncertain. 
 
 INDEX, the contents of a book, use- 
 fully displayed in alphabetical order. 
 
 INDICATIVE, simple affirmation. 
 
 INDIAN RUBBER, or Caoutchouc, 
 ti gum obtained from the siphonia tree, 
 in South America, and of which the In- 
 dians make boots, bottles, and cloth. 
 
 INDICTMENT, a legal charge, cer- 
 tified by the decision of a jury, prepara- 
 tory to a public investigation in an open 
 court of law. 
 
 INDIES, the ancient name of the 
 countries in the South of Asia, so called 
 from the Indus, which separates them 
 from Persia; and always famous for 
 their productions and manufactures. 
 Columbus sailed westward to reach 
 them, and his discoveries were at first 
 named the Indies, but when the great 
 ocean was found to lie between his dis- 
 coveries and the real Indies, then these 
 were called the West Indies, and the 
 ancient Indies the East Indies. The 
 East Indies contain the Mogul and Bir- 
 man Empires, with innumerable Is- 
 lands; and the West Indies innumera- 
 ble Islands, and the coasts of Colombia 
 and Mexico. 
 
 INDIGENOUS, the native produc- 
 tions of a country, in harmony with 
 its climate, soil, and other productions. 
 
 INDIGESTION, a disease from ex- 
 cess, improper food, or old age. 
 
 INDIGO, a plant cultivated in warm 
 climates, for the beautiful blue dye ob- 
 tained from its leaves. 
 
 INDORSER, he who writes his name 
 at the back of a Bill of Exchange. 
 
 INDUCTION, aprocess of reasoning, 
 by which we draw a general reference 
 from a number of facts; contrasted 
 with Deduction, which applies to an in- 
 ference from a single fact. 
 
 INERTIA, the quantity of motion 
 which a body at rest would take from a 
 body in motion, previous to its being 
 moved ; and generally applied to the 
 power of deflecting a body in motion, 
 or under impulse, as in the case of bo- 
 dies on the earth, which have a given 
 momentum towards the centre. The 
 true inertia can only be known in regard 
 to bodies under no existing impulse, 
 and we have, perhaps, no experience ef 
 
INF 
 
 such. The inertia of a whole planet is 
 very different from the inertia of its 
 parts, probably as different as the force 
 which would roll a ball of iron, and one 
 which would break its parts asunder. 
 
 INFANCY, the period, physically 
 considered, from birth to seven years, 
 and, legally, till 21, previously to which 
 no one can inherit or execute any obli- 
 gation, or incur any responsibility ex- 
 cept for necessaries. 
 
 INFANTRY, foot soldiers. 
 
 INFECTION, the morbid effluvia of 
 one body affecting the similar organs of 
 another body, as small pox, putridity, 
 &c. ; but it has been questioned whether 
 this effect can be carried from place to 
 place, and whether most diseases, called 
 infectious, are not occasioned by local 
 circumstances which affect certain sub- 
 jects in the population. 
 
 INFINITESIMAL, a part less than 
 any assigned or assignable size. 
 
 INFINITIVE, an abstract expression 
 of action or passion, as to write. 
 
 INFINITY, a term applied to the 
 vast and the minute, to distances and 
 spaces too great to be expressed in any 
 numbers of measures, or too small to 
 be expressed by any fraction; and one of 
 the incomprehensible, but necessarily 
 existing wonders of the universe; for 
 we can imagine no space, however dis- 
 tant, which there must not be space be- 
 yond, nor any atom, however small, which 
 has not an upper and under side. But 
 being located in a definite portion of 
 space, we are more interested, affected, 
 and wrought upon, by the infinitely 
 little through which nature works up- 
 wards, as it were, than by the infinitely 
 great, for the perfect conception of which 
 we are ourselves too small. Such consi- 
 derations serve more than any others to 
 exalt our conceptions of the Creator of 
 the universe. 
 
 INFIRMARY, a charitable establish- 
 ment where the poor may receive medi- 
 cal advice and medicines gratis. 
 
 INFLAMMABILITY, the effect by 
 which excited hydrogen combines with 
 oxygen, or other gases of contrasted 
 nature, the excitement of hydrogen, or 
 the evolution of excited hydrogen, being 
 a necessary preliminary of the process ; 
 the accompanying heat arising from the 
 fixation of the other gas, called the sup- 
 porter ; and the light arising from the dif- 
 fusion of the greataction concentrated at 
 the spot, by the fixation of the supporter. 
 All bodies, therefore, which inflame 
 105 
 
 INO 
 
 must contain hydrogen, and this, there- 
 fore, is the principle of inflammability ; 
 but to support it, oxygen, &c. must be 
 present. The combination is supposed 
 to arise from the excited hydrogen form- 
 ing a local vacuum, into which the 
 other gases rush naturally, except when 
 aided by bellows. 
 
 INFLAMMATION, heat accumulat- 
 ed without due circulation. 
 
 INFLORESCENCE, the flowering 
 of plants. 
 
 IN FORMA PAUPERIS, as a pauper, 
 or poor person. 
 
 INFORMATION, a legal process 
 under statutes, to recover penalties, and 
 a power often abused, but asserted by 
 the Attorney General of bringing parties 
 to trial, at the suit of the King, without 
 presentment by a Grand Jury, accord- 
 ing to law. 
 
 INFUSIBLE, not to be made fluid. 
 
 INFUSION, dividing in water. 
 
 INFUSORIA, the fifth order of the 
 class vermes, consisting of insects too 
 small to be seen by the naked eye, and 
 found in fermenting liquids, as vinegar, 
 stagnant water, &c. 
 
 INGLEBOROUGH, and WARN- 
 SIDE, mountains in Yorkshire, 3700 
 and 3800 feet high, or one-seventh that 
 of the Himalayas, and AndeS. 
 
 INGOT, a bar of cast metal. 
 
 INHERENT, an inseparable power, 
 distinguished from the accidental and ac- 
 quired. 
 
 INJUNCTION, a power exercised 
 by the Court of Chancery, by which 
 litigious persons often annoy each other. 
 
 INK, the coloured liquid employed to 
 write with, and, when black, made of half 
 galls, and half green vitriol, log-wood, 
 and gum arabic, and five times its weight 
 in water ; and, when red, of Brazil wood, 
 boiled in eight times its weight in water, 
 with gum and alum. 
 
 INN, a house for the entertainment 
 of travellers, for whom the keeper is 
 obliged to provide without extortion. 
 
 INNATE IDEAS, or powers ascribed 
 by obsolete philosophy to animals and 
 bodies, it being now understood that all 
 ideas and powers are acquired by expe- 
 rience and juxtaposition. 
 
 INNS of COURT, Lincoln’s Inn, the 
 Inner and Middle Temple, and Gray’s 
 Inn, the members of which, after dining 
 for twelve terms, may be admitted as 
 advocates in courts of law. 
 
 INUENDO, the latent meaning. 
 
 INOCULATION, the transfer of a 
 
INS 
 
 disease after the preparation of the 
 patient. 
 
 INQUEST, a jury who decides on the 
 guilt of an accused person, according to 
 fact and law ; who examines the weights 
 and measures used by shopkeepers ; who 
 decides on the cause of any violent or 
 sudden death; or who examines into 
 accusations before trial. 
 
 INQUISITION, a court of priests, 
 and others, in Spain and Portugal, ap- 
 pointed to compel men, by the terror of 
 burning, and other infernal punish- 
 ments, to become Christians and Catho- 
 lics. H av ing themselves obviously no opi- 
 nion of the force of the arguments in fa- 
 vour of their professed religion, they seek 
 to make converts, and subjugate men’s 
 minds by tortures of every kind. Many 
 thousands of unbelievers have been 
 burnt within four centuries, and Spain, 
 Portugal, and France, have thus degraded 
 the high pretensions of religious truth, 
 which, as flowing from God, cannot re- 
 quire the aid of man. In England, the 
 courts of common law perform the office 
 of the Inquisition, but the trial is by 
 jury, and open. In the United States 
 there are no such trials, and unbelievers 
 are never heard of. 
 
 INROLMENT, the recordof a deed 
 or sale of lands in the courts of law. 
 
 INSANITY, a derangement of the 
 powers of reasoning, sometimes general, 
 and melancholy, or frantic, and some- 
 times limited to single objects, as ava- 
 rice, love, ambition, gluttony, inebriety, 
 religious fear, hatred, and the like. 
 
 INSECTS, those organised living 
 beings, which are not either quadrupeds 
 or birds, which have generally six legs, 
 with bodies of joints and segments, with 
 a head distinct from the body, and two 
 antennas. They are produced from 
 eggs, and many of them pass through 
 three distinct states. A few have four, 
 and several have eight eyes, and the res- 
 piration is effected through the pores of 
 their coats and skins. The number of 
 species exceed 40,000, divided into seven 
 orders ; the coleoptera, with four sheathed 
 wings, containing above 4000 species; 
 the lepidoptera, with scaled wings, as 
 moths, &c., nearly 3000 species; the 
 hemiptera, or half winged, as bugs, &c., 
 nearly 2000 species; the bymenoptera , 
 with membraceous wings, and a sting, 
 nearly 1500 species; the neiiroptera, 
 with membranaceous wings, but no 
 sting; the diptera, with two wings only ; 
 and the aptera, with no wings. The 
 106 
 
 INT 
 
 changes of certain species are from the 
 egg to the caterpillar, the caterpillar to 
 the chrysalis, or pupa, and thence into 
 the winged form. 
 
 INSOLVENT, one whose assets are 
 not equal to his debts. 
 
 INSPIRATION, the alleged excite- 
 ment of God, often assumed by zealots, 
 for crafty purposes. 
 
 INSTALLATION, the admission of 
 a knight, and of other persons, to any 
 dignity, accompanied by ceremonies. 
 
 INSTANT, the smallest perceptible 
 portion of time ; but time, like space, 
 appears to be infinitely divisible, and 
 the moments of men may be the hours 
 of insects. 
 
 IN STATU QUO, the state in which 
 things were ; a term used in diplomacy, 
 when after a bloody war, the parties 
 usually agree to return to the statu quo. 
 
 INSTINCT, the passions and habits 
 of animals, resulting from their forms, 
 wants, and capabilities, generally direct- 
 ed by their parents ; but, when not di- 
 rected, calves do not peck or fly like 
 birds, nor birds graze and walk like 
 calves, but the habits of each are deter- 
 mined by their own forms and wants. 
 
 INSTITUTE, or INSTITUTION, 
 an association of inquisitive or learned 
 men, to promote Literature, and the 
 Arts and Sciences, of which we have 
 every kind in England, and many of 
 them, as the Mechanics’ Institutes, emi- 
 nently useful. 
 
 INSULATED, standing alone, like 
 an island, or like the electrified surface 
 of a non-electric, sustained by an elec- 
 tric excited only at the end. 
 
 INSURANCE, a premium paid to a 
 company by numbers to secure each 
 against loss by fire, shipwreck, death, 
 &c. London abounds in Insurance 
 Offices for every purpose ; and casual- 
 ties for fire, according to risk, are pro- 
 tected by paying from 2s. to 7s. 6d. per 
 £ 100. per annum; from wrecks, &c., 
 £l. to £5. per cent, per voyage; and 
 for payments to survivors on death, 
 from £2. to £6. per cent., per annum, 
 according to age. 
 
 INTEGER, a whole. 
 
 INTEGUMENT, the coats covering 
 an animal or vegetable body. 
 
 INTENSITY, the degree of foree 
 with which bodies or atoms affect one 
 another; if by direct contact, as their 
 respective masses ; if by the intervention 
 of gases, inversely as the squares of the 
 distances ; and if by acceleration, as the 
 
INV 
 
 squares of the times ; all affections being 
 strictly mechanical and arithmetical. 
 
 INTERDICT, the popish punishment 
 of a kingdom, or district, by excommu- 
 nication of the people, and the prohibi- 
 tion of religious ceremonies, put in 
 force against England in 1170, till king 
 John made submission. 
 
 INTEREST of MONEY, a gratuity 
 for its use, conceded in return for the 
 advantages which money confers; but 
 in England very properly fixed at a 
 maximum of 5 per cent., to restrain the 
 avarice of lenders, and the necessitous 
 concessions of borrowers. 
 
 INTEREST, COMPOUND, is when 
 the interest for one year is added to the 
 principal, and the interest calculated in 
 the following year on that accumulation. 
 In this manner the principal nearly dou- 
 bles every 14 years, and in 100 years 
 £100 would be 2 7 X 100 = £12,800. In 
 this way it was attempted to pay off the 
 national debt by taxes, forgetting that 
 the tax-payers would make more than 
 & per cent of the sum$ drawn from them. 
 
 INTERCALARY DAY, the 29th of 
 February in leap year. 
 
 INTERPOLATION, an insertion. 
 
 INTERJECTION, a genus of words, 
 or part of speech which expresses sudden 
 feeling. 
 
 INTER REGNUM, intervals of 
 kingly power, extinct or suspended. 
 
 INTERROGATIVE SYSTEM, the 
 system adopted by skilful teachers, of 
 instructing youth by means of questions 
 and exercises, to which they are requir- 
 ed to compose correct answers. It was 
 invented and generally applied by Sir 
 Richard Phillips, between 1798 and 1827- 
 
 IN TERROREM, as a warning. 
 
 INTESTATE, dying without a will. 
 
 INTESTINA, the first order of 
 worms, including earth-worms and 
 leeches. 
 
 INTESTINES, the bowels of an ani- 
 mal, consisting of small ones disposed 
 in convolutions, four or five times as 
 long as the animal, ana of large ones 
 called the colon and the rectum; the 
 whole having a motion backwards and 
 forwards, called the peristaltic motion. 
 
 INTOLERANCE, a resort to personal 
 injury in support of an opinion owing 
 to the conscious weakness of argument. 
 
 IN TRANSITU, passage from place 
 to place. 
 
 INTUITION, simple perception, or 
 familiar experience and close analogy. 
 
 IN VACUO, imaginary emptiness, 
 
 107 
 
 1RO 
 
 but in all known cases only relative, as 
 a cubic foot of water relatively to gold, 
 or air relatively to water, and of rarified 
 gas and effluvium of surfaces and mate- 
 rials, by reference to the air extracted 
 by an air pump. 
 
 INVENTORY, a list of goods. 
 
 INVENTION, a new application of 
 materials or mechanical power by which 
 the ascendancy and comforts of civilized 
 man are promoted ; and inventors, 
 though too often neglected, are the true 
 benefactors of the human race. 
 
 INVERSE RATIO, contrarywise, as 
 one increasing exactly as the other is 
 diminishing. 
 
 INVERTEBRAL, without a back- 
 bone and skull for the medullary sys- 
 tem, but provided otherwise. 
 
 INVOICE, a bill, or account. 
 
 INVOLUTION, continued multipli- 
 cation of the same number. 
 
 INUNDATiE, the fifteenth Linnacan 
 natural order of plants, containing aqua- 
 tic plants. 
 
 IODINE, a product of kelp, violet in 
 colour, and converting blues into greens, 
 similar in its powers to chlorine. 
 
 IONIC ORDER, invented by the Io- 
 nians, and applied to the temple of 
 Diana, at Ephesus, and the height of 
 its column is nine times the diameter. 
 Its capital is adorned with volutes, or 
 ram’s horns, but it has no leaves of the 
 acanthus, like the Composite. 
 
 IPSO FACTO, in the fact. 
 
 IRIS, the coloured part of the eye, 
 arising from a powder easily washed out; 
 and also a name of the rainbow. 
 
 IRIDIUM, a component of platinum. 
 
 IRON, one of the most useful and 
 universal metals, compounded in nature 
 with stone, from which it is separated 
 
JAC 
 
 by great heat in furnaces, constituting 
 what is called cast iron, which by further 
 heat and hammering is rendered mallea- 
 ble iron, and this, combined with car- 
 bon, becomes steel. It is 7*7 times hea- 
 vier than water, and is the chief cause of 
 colour in vegetables and earths. It con- 
 stitutes the substance of the meteors 
 which fall from the atmosphere, and 
 masses of it are found in all countries, 
 supposed to have so fallen. It is the 
 only metal susceptible of a high magnet- 
 ism, which it readily acquires, and if 
 meteors are concentrations of the me- 
 dium of space, and the magnetic sphere 
 arises from that medium, we approxi- 
 mate the cause. Iron in solution forms 
 a compoment part of all chalybeate wa- 
 ters. Three and a half parts combined 
 with two of oxygen, form black oxide, 
 and with three, red oxide. The sub- 
 stance called black lead, is a carburet of 
 iron ; green vitriol is a sulphate of iron ; 
 and the loadstone is an oxide of iron. 
 
 IRON SMELTING, one of the most 
 formidable of the manufacturing pro- 
 cesses of man. The iron-stone is exposed 
 in a suitable receptacle to the action of 
 an intense furnace beneath, raised to the 
 highest degree by means of enormous 
 blasting-bellows, the roar of which, as the 
 air is driven into and fixed in the fire, is 
 deafening. The iron then runs out in a 
 liquid stream, and being received in a 
 channel formed of sand, is easily cast by 
 the workmen into any desirable shapes. 
 
 IRRATIONAL, a quality of animals 
 or men, when not governed by expe- 
 rience, analogy, and justice, and becom- 
 ing actual madness, when the actions 
 cease to be under restraint. 
 
 IRRITABILITY, a term applied to 
 the contractible or sensitive power of 
 the muscles of an animal. 
 
 ISINGLASS, the dried sound, or air- 
 bladder of the sturgeon and other fishes. 
 
 ISLAMISM, orthodox Mahomedan- 
 ism. 
 
 JAC 
 
 ISIS, the mythological wife and sister 
 of Osiris, drawn as beneath. 
 
 ISLAND, a portion of the earth pro- 
 jecting above the water by which it k 
 surrounded. In this sense the two con- 
 tinents are islands, but the nomencla- 
 ture of Geography was invented before 
 the earth had been surveyed. 
 
 ISOCHRONOUS, equal in duration. 
 
 ISOSCELES, a triangle with two 
 equal sides. 
 
 ISTHMUS, the neck of land which 
 joins two larger portions. 
 
 ITALY, a beautful peninsula in Eu- 
 rope, the site of the Roman people, 
 but gradually ruined by local tyrannies, 
 and debasing superstitions. 
 
 ITCH INSECT. It appears that the 
 loathsome disorder called the itch, is 
 occasioned by a small insect, which 
 burrows in the skin, and may be trans- 
 ferred from the skin of one to another. 
 
 ITINERARY, a record of successive 
 places. 
 
 IVORY, the tusk of an Elephant, be- 
 tween the bone and horn, and sometimes 
 weighing 200 pounds, much used in va- 
 rious manufactures, and its coal form- 
 ing ivory black. In decomposition, 100 
 parts contain 24 of gelatin, and 64 of 
 phosphate of lime. 
 
 J 
 
 JACK, a very useful implement, in 
 kitchens, sometimes turned by the 
 force with which smoke and rarified air 
 ascend in a chimney. The smoke-jack 
 consists of a horizontal wheel, the radii of 
 which are placed obliquely, so as to per- 
 mit the smoke to pass through them ; 
 the axle then turns a small crank wheel, 
 which works into another at right an- 
 108 
 
 gles, and at the end is a pully with a 
 chain to turn a spit set before the fire, 
 with any article intended to be turned 
 and roasted. Many jacks are, however, 
 turned by means of a weight, which 
 pulls round a cylinder, and thereby, 
 with the intervention of a chain, rotates 
 the spit. 
 
 JACK, in MECHANICS, a very pow- 
 
JAP 
 
 erful engine, by which great weights are 
 lifted in building, &c. 
 
 JACOBITE, and JACOBIN, party 
 names, the first applied to the partizans 
 of the Stuart family, or king James; 
 and the other to the partizans of Repub- 
 lican France, during the Revolution, 
 after a club held in the Monastery of 
 the Jacobins, at Paris. 
 
 JAGUAR, the tiger of the Brazils, 
 about the size of a Wolf, brownish yel- 
 low, with black spots ; very fierce and 
 detructive in the woods of that country. 
 
 J AGGERNAUT, the chief temple of 
 the Bramins, where priestcraft practises 
 the most revolting Superstitions. 
 
 JAPANNING, painting and varnish- 
 ing. 
 
 JAR, ELECTRICAL, a convenient 
 form of glass, for experiments, but less 
 powerful in its action than the same sur- 
 face of flat glass. 
 
 JASPER, a species of precious stones, 
 of which there are Egyptian, striped, 
 porcelain, common, and opal varieties. 
 
 JAPANESE IDOL. In Japan, and 
 China, they still practise the ancient 
 Egyptian, Grecian, and Oriental, system 
 of representing the powers of nature, 
 the virtues and vices, by images, often 
 monstrous and fantastical, the worship 
 109 
 
 JOY 
 
 of which is enjoined by the priests, and 
 enforced by the faith of the people. 
 The Engraving represents one of these 
 hideous idols. 
 
 JELLY, the gelatine substance of 
 fruits, and animal integuments. 
 
 JESUITS, or Society of Jesus, an 
 order in the Romish Church, political 
 and religious, corresponding with a chief 
 at Rome, and acting as spies in all coun- 
 tries where they are tolerated. In 1773, 
 they were abolished as dangerous to the 
 peace of nations, but restored in 1820. 
 
 JEU D’ESPRIT, a witticism, or un- 
 expected association of ideas. 
 
 JEWS, the descendants of Abraham, 
 once an independent tribe in Palestine, 
 but dispersed by the Romans ; yet still 
 distinguished by their religion, peculiar 
 pursuits, and primitive customs. They 
 are the negotiators of money between all 
 nations, and every where distinguished 
 for their successful enterprize, and ac- 
 cumulations of wealth. They have, 
 however, lost the distinction of twelve 
 tribes, though perhaps more numerous 
 than at any period. 
 
 JOINT STOCK COMPANY, parties 
 who unite an agreed capital to effect 
 certain trading purposes, for their com- 
 mon benefit; but each party is liable for 
 all the debts of concerns, if not incorpo- 
 rated by an act of Parliament. 
 
 JOINTURE, the wife’s separate es- 
 tate, secured by will, or by marriage 
 settlement, and in other cases the wife 
 inherits one third. 
 
 JONK, or JUNK, a small Eastern 
 ship. 
 
 JOSEPHUS, the Jewish historian, 
 contemporary with Agricola, Quintilian, 
 Pliny, and Tacitus, from 40 to 90 A. D. 
 
 JOURNAL, a daily register. 
 
 JOY, sudden satisfaction. 
 
 L 
 
JUP 
 
 JUBILEE, every fiftieth year under 
 the Jews, when society was reformed, 
 and growing evils removed; still re- 
 spected by he Papists, in regard to cer- 
 tain superstitions, but rendered unne- 
 cessary under a system of active legisla- 
 ture which corrects evils as they arise. 
 
 JUDGE, one learned in the law, ap- 
 pointed to preside in a court of justice, 
 and explain the actual bearings of the 
 law on a case before a jury. 
 
 JUDGMENT, the end of a law-suit, 
 and obtained on the verdict of a jury, or 
 by want of defence; and in criminal 
 cases pronounced in presence of the con- 
 victed, sometimes according to statute, 
 but sometimes on the discretion of an 
 impassioned court, or capricious judge. 
 
 JUGULARES, an order of fishes, in 
 which the ventral fin is placed before the 
 pectoral fin, as cods, haddocks, whitings. 
 
 JUNO, the sister and wife of Jupiter, 
 according to the Greek mythology. 
 
 JURISPRUDENCE, ENGLISH, the 
 common and statute law of England 
 as administered by twelve judges, the 
 lord chancellor, and vice chancellor, the 
 recorders of corporate towns, and jfbout 
 4000 county magistrates ; besides mayors 
 and aldermen in corporate towns. 
 
 JURY, GRAND, twenty-three men 
 sworn to investigate fully and truly any 
 charge against another, preparatory to 
 an open trial. 
 
 JURY, PETIT, twelve men sworn 
 to make, severally, a true decision in re- 
 gard to any question at issue, according 
 to the evidence, and in accordance 
 with the law. 
 
 JUR\ r , CORONER’S, twelve men 
 sworn to make a true declaration in re- 
 gard to the cause of sudden death. 
 
 JUPITER, the chief of the gods, wor- 
 shipped under that and other names, by 
 110 
 
 JUS 
 
 all the nations of antiquity. The temple 
 and statue of Jupiter at Athens was one 
 of the wonders of Greece, and he was 
 worshipped under the names of Jupiter 
 Olympus, and Jupiter Tonans, or the 
 Thunderer. He was the Osiris of the 
 Egyptians, the Bramah of the Hindoos, 
 the Ammon of Ethiopia, the Woden of 
 the Scandinavians; and some ascribe 
 the Greek model to the Jehovah of the 
 Jews. 
 
 JUPITER, the largest planet of the 
 solar system, being 91,522 miles in dia- 
 meter, or 1400 times larger than the 
 earth. It revolves round the sun in 
 4332 days, 14 hours of our time, and on 
 its own axis in 9 hours, 56 minutes, in- _ 
 dined to the eliptic 36° 54'£. It is at- 
 tended by four satellites. 
 
 JUSTICE, a magistrate appointed in 
 a district or county to hear criminal 
 charges, and decide in minor cases under 
 the law. The presiding judges in the 
 King’s Bench and Common Pleas are 
 called chief justices, and the three others 
 justices. 
 
KAN 
 
 KIN 
 
 K 
 
 KALE, a species of cabbage. 
 
 KALI, a genus of marine plants, burnt 
 to procure the alkali of commerce, and 
 called kelp. 
 
 KAMSIN, or Samiel, hot and dry 
 winds from the deserts of Africa, im- 
 pregnated with dust instead of moisture. 
 
 KAMSCHATDALES. In Kamsehat- 
 ka, which is covered with frozen snow 
 during the greater part of the year, tra- 
 velling is performed on sledges drawn 
 by teams of dogs ; and the engraving re- 
 presents a traveller in his sledge, holding 
 the reins of his dogs. 
 
 KANGAROO, an animal of New 
 South Wales, four or five feet long, with 
 a tail three feet, weighing 150 lbs. whose 
 usual position is standing on its hind 
 feet, its fore feet being employed like 
 those of the squirrel. It lives on vege- 
 tables, and, instead of walking, leaps 
 fifteen feet at a time. 
 
 Ill 
 
 KEBLAII, the direction of Mecca, 
 equivalent among Mahommedans to the 
 direction of Jerusalem among Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 KEEL, the lowest part or fulcrum of 
 a ship’s hull, sometimes preserved by a 
 false keel. 
 
 KEEPING, in painting, is the ma- 
 nagement of lights, and precisitn ac- 
 cording to distance. 
 
 KEPLER, a profound German spe- 
 culator in philosophy, who, between 
 1610 and 1630, discovered those laws 
 of nature which Newton illustrated by 
 diagrams in the next age. Kepler found 
 that the squares of the periods of the 
 planets are as the cubes of their distan- 
 ces, and that in their orbits they describe 
 equal areas of space in equal times, 
 both necessary consequences of the sun’s 
 force being diminished as the squares of 
 the distances, this latter law arising 
 from the sun’s force being transmitted, 
 and radiated through a gaseous medium 
 which fills the space between the sun 
 and planets as well as all space. 
 
 KETCHUP, the liquor of mushrooms 
 combined with salt, boiled with spices. 
 
 KEY, the bent lever by which the 
 bolt of a lock is turned, with subdivi- 
 sions according with the wards of the 
 lock ; also the name of the fundamental 
 note in a piece of music. 
 
 KIDNEY, the gland by which the 
 urine is secreted, 
 
 KILKENNY MARBLE, black in co- 
 lour, and composed of shells and corals 
 in hard cement. 
 
 KILOGRAMME, a netf French 
 weight, equal to nearly 2i lbs. English. 
 
 KING, the chief magistrate of a na- 
 tion, generally hereditary, and restricted 
 in his powers by .the laws; useful in 
 subduing the ambition of aspiring citi- 
 zens, and maintaining stability in govern- 
 ment, but mischievous when deficient 
 in education or strength of mind, and 
 the dupe of low ambition which stoops 
 to flatter his vices and follies. 
 
 KING’S BENCH, the name of the su- 
 preme court of criminal and civil law 
 at Westminster; and also of a prison 
 connected with that court and its pro- 
 ceedings. The president of the court 
 is the Lord Chief Justice, and he is as- 
 sisted by three other justices. 
 
LAB 
 
 KING’S EVIL, a disease of the glands, 
 so called because by a climax of impos- 
 ture sustained by priests, physicians, 
 and flatterers, the kings of England, 
 down to the last of the Stuarts, pretend- 
 ed to cure it by touching the patients. 
 
 KITE, one of the few birds of prey 
 in the British islands, of thefalco genus. 
 
 KLOPSTOCK, a celebrated German 
 poet, the most able who has appeared 
 since Milton. He died in 1760. 
 
 KNOWLEDGE, a familiar acquaint- 
 ance with the practical and abstract 
 sciences, as opposed to superficial read- 
 ing, or to a mere general taste for the 
 belles lettres and works of fancy. The 
 branches of knowledge are the mathe- 
 matical sciences, natural philosophy in 
 its varieties, natural history of the three 
 kingdoms of nature, moral philosophy, 
 grammar, logic, and metaphysics, juris- 
 prudence, political economy, history, 
 and geography ; while the belles lettres 
 include poetry, romances, essay-writing, 
 and works of fancy. 
 
 KNEE PAN, a round bone which 
 perfects the motion of the leg. 
 
 KORAN, the holy testament of the 
 Mahomedans, brought leaf by leaf to 
 the Prophet, who himself could not 
 write, containing doctrines of pure 
 morality, and many sublime passages 
 relative to the Deity, but supposed to be 
 written by a Monk. 
 
 KNIGHT BACHELOR, originally 
 a military dignitary, but now a civil 
 distinction, conferred by the sovereign 
 on magistrates and others, as a special 
 mark of royal favour, by laying, in due 
 form, a sword of state on the shoulder of 
 the party. 
 
 KNIGHT OF THE SHIRE, a mem- 
 ber of Parliament, chosen by freeholders. 
 
 KNIGHTS of the Garter, Bath, This- 
 tle, and St, Patrick, are installed mem- 
 bers of those orders, entitled to wear 
 stars and ribbands, and limited in num- 
 ber. All Knights Bachelors, or Knights 
 of Foreign orders recognized in the Lon- 
 don Gazette, bear the title of Sir, and 
 their wives that of Lady, The engrav- 
 
 LAC 
 
 ing represents an ancient Knight in his 
 armour. 
 
 KREMLIN, the palace of the Czars 
 of Muscovy, at Moscow, famous for 
 its splendour inside and outside. In 
 the dreadful conflagration dhat so 
 quickly followed the entry of the French 
 army into Moscow, on the 14th of Sep- 
 tember, 1812, the Kremlin suffered 
 very little. It stands in the central 
 and highest part of the city; is of a 
 triangular form, and about two miles in 
 circumference; and is surrounded by 
 high walls of stone and brick ; which 
 were constructed in the year 1491, under 
 the reign of Ivan Yassilievitch I. It 
 contains, besides the ancient palace of 
 the Czars, several churches, two con- 
 vents, the '’patriarchal palace, the arse- 
 nal, now in ruins, and one private house, 
 which belonged to Boris Godun of before 
 he was raised to the throne. 
 
 L 
 
 LABORATORY, a chemical work- 
 shop, containing crucibles, furnaces, 
 tests, &c. &c. 
 
 LABYRINTH, burial places in 
 112 
 
 Egypt, and stone quarries in Crete ; by 
 modern gardeners called mazes, of which 
 there are many in Holland and England. 
 LAC, called stick-lac, shell-lac, and 
 
LAM 
 
 seed-lac, in its natural and prepared 
 state. It is the product of an insect, 
 and designed to protect and nourish 
 their eggs. 
 
 LACE, an ornament of dress, made 
 of gilt and silver thread, silk, cotton, 
 and flax. The most celebrated and 
 costly is made in French Flanders, and 
 much used to be made in Buckingham- 
 shire; but the machine lace of England 
 is now equal to any, and much cheaper. 
 
 LACEDAEMON, or Sparta, a famous 
 district of Greece, noted for its love of 
 liberty and its distinguished citizens. 
 
 LACERTA, the lizard tribe, an ex- 
 tensive genus of amphibia, but more 
 numerous in former states of the earth. 
 
 LACK, 100,000 rupees, at 2s. 6d. 
 
 LACQUER, a coating of brass and 
 other metals, made of spirits and seed- 
 lac, and coloured with gamboge or ar- 
 uotta. 
 
 LACTEALS, the vessels which con- 
 vey chyle, or prepared food, to the 
 blood, serving as roots to the animal 
 system. 
 
 LADING, a term applied to the 
 goods in a ship, whose quantity is limit- 
 ed by her own tonnage, when the spe- 
 cific gravity of the goods is greater than 
 water. 
 
 LADY-DAY, the 25th of March, so 
 called as the supposed anniversary of 
 the day when the angel Gabriel visited 
 Mary, the betrothed wife of Joseph. 
 
 LAITY, the people not clerical. 
 
 LAKE, the name of an inland piece 
 of water, rendered interesting by its 
 coasts, and by the facility of communi- 
 cation. The largest on the old conti- 
 nent is the Caspian, 700 miles long, and 
 200 broad, often called a sea; and in 
 North America, a series of magnificent 
 lakes run into each other, the largest of 
 which. Lake Superior, is 540 miles long, 
 and 150 broad. 
 
 LAMA, a pretended delegate of hea- 
 ven, or Pontiff of Tartary and Thibet, 
 whom the people are persuaded never 
 dies, for nothing is too absurd for faith. 
 
 113 
 
 LAN 
 
 LAMB OF GOD, a name of Christ. 
 
 LAMINaE, thin parallel plates. 
 
 LAMELLATED, scaly. 
 
 LAMP, an arrangement, by which an 
 increased surface of excited oil is ex- 
 posed to the re-action of air or its oxy- 
 gen. This increase is effected by a cot- 
 ton wick raised above the surface of the 
 oil, which rises in the wick by con- 
 tinuity in the tubes between the threads, 
 assisted by atmospheric pressure, which 
 is augmented by the rarefaction at the 
 top. The hydrogen and carbon in the 
 oil are first excited by a flame, and the 
 adjoining oxygen flowing in becomes 
 fixed, and thereby, according to Sir R. 
 Phillips, keeps up the heat as long as 
 either lasts ; the flame being the max- 
 imum or seat of the cross action, the 
 heat the radiation of the atoms, ami 
 the light an excitement by propulsion 
 of the trains of various atoms in the 
 space around, .and proportioned to the 
 oxygen fixed, or to that exciting cause. 
 
 LAMP-BLACK, the soot of lamps. 
 
 LAMPYRIS, a genus, containing 60 
 species of fire flies, which excite atoms 
 to the condition of light without flame, 
 and are a feature of tropical nights. 
 
 LANCASTRIAN SCHOOL, a se- 
 minary where, under a master, children 
 teach one another, according to a sys- 
 tem adopted by Dr. Bell from the Hin- 
 doos. 
 
 LANCET, a bleeding-instrument. 
 
 LAND, the part of the earth too far 
 from the centre to be covered with 
 water, being one-fourth of the surface, 
 and the habitation of such organized 
 bodies as could not live in water. 
 
 La\ND REMAINS, a term applied to 
 remains of animals and vegetables, 
 found everywhere on digging in the 
 earth, mostly interchanged with strata 
 of marine remains. They consist of 
 bones of animals, or vegetables whose 
 species chiefly are extinct, or whose 
 genera now flourish in warmer climates, 
 the bones being often of animals of 
 enormous size, either because such were 
 common, or because they have endured 
 longer. Vegetables in particular, are 
 often found imbedded in coals, and 
 coal seams are in general considered as 
 consolidations of ancient forests. In 
 Iceland a forest w*as lately found with 
 the trees erect, 50 or 60 feet below the 
 surface of the earth, and prostrate 
 forests have been found in Lancashire 
 and Lincolnshire. 
 
 LANGUAGE, the sounds and words 
 
 L 2 
 
LAT 
 
 LAP 
 
 by which men convey their thoughts to 
 one another ; and languages are as nu- 
 merous as nations, and often are differ- 
 ent in tribes of nations, being in all not 
 fewer than 800. N ouns, or the names of 
 things, are the germs of every language ; 
 verbs, or the names of actions, followed 
 them ; prepositions, or the relations of 
 things to one another, were the next 
 improvement ; after which followed 
 adjectives to qualify nouns, and adverbs 
 to modify verbs; the pronoun, as a 
 substitute for nouns, was a refinement ; 
 the conjunction, to combine and se- 
 parate the sentences ; and the article to 
 generalize or particularize the noun, 
 were further refinements. The 27 
 languages and dialects of Europe are 
 derived from Latin, German, Welsh, 
 and Sclavonian. 
 
 LANTERN FLY, a beautiful insect 
 of South America, emitting a strong 
 phosphoric light from its head or lan- 
 tern, and filling the air in an evening. 
 
 LAPIDARY, an artist whose business 
 it is to cut, shape, and polish, precious 
 stones, by means of motion or friction, 
 produced by wheels of various metal, 
 according to the nature of the stone to 
 be worked. Thus diamonds require 
 wheels of soft steel ; rubies, sapphires, 
 and topazes, copper wheels ; emeralds, 
 amethysts, &c. leaden wheels ; worked 
 with oil and various powders. 
 
 LAPIS INFERNALIS, nitrate of 
 silver. 
 
 LAPLAND BAPTISM. This cere- 
 mony of admitting an infant to the 
 Christian Church is performed by im- 
 mersion in water, which is represented 
 in the engraving, with the costume pf 
 the country. 
 
 114 
 
 LARBORD, the left side in sailing, 
 and Starboard is the right side. 
 
 LARCENY, stealing property, or 
 theft ; an act punished by the law's of all 
 civilized countries for the protection of 
 industry, and under semi-barbarous laws 
 by death, but now commuted in Eng- 
 land into transportation or imprison- 
 ment, with hard labour, except when 
 the larceny is accompanied by outrage. 
 
 LARCH, a very productive tree. 
 
 LARGO, a medium movement. 
 
 LARVA, grubs, caterpillars, &o. 
 hatched from eggs, and converted into 
 chrysalis. 
 
 LARYNX, an organ of the voice, 
 being a cavity connected with the wind- 
 pipe, and on the size and flexibility of 
 which depend the powers and tones of 
 the human voice. 
 
 LASCAR, an Hindoo seaman. 
 
 LAST, 10 quarters, or 20 sacks of 
 corn ; and various numbers of barrels 
 of commodities. 
 
 LATENT HEAT, a term founded on 
 the erroneous and absurd assumption, 
 that heat is a property per se of certain 
 atoms which sometimes lie concealed as 
 it were, or latent. Heat, however, 
 being nothing more than the motion of 
 atoms, or one of many accidents of 
 which atoms are susceptible, the term 
 latent heat is evidently absurd. 
 
 LATH, a strip of wood 3 feet and 5 
 feet long, 1J inch broad, and half an 
 inch thick, cleaved from prepared wood 
 by wedges. 
 
 LATHE, a very useful and pleasant 
 implement used for turning, by which, 
 at different velocities, woods and metals 
 are cut into forms by sharp tools. 
 
 LATIN, the language of the Romans, 
 which, by their conquests, they spread 
 over Europe, and, being adopted by the 
 
LAW 
 
 authorities, became the language of 
 ambition, anil used in law, physic, and 
 divinity; hence it became the language 
 of the learned, which it still continues. 
 
 LATITAT, the Sheriff’s writ to ar- 
 rest a person for debt, called in London, 
 a bill of Middlesex. 
 
 LATITUDE, the number of degrees 
 measured in the heavens, which a place 
 is distant from the equator, towards 
 either pole, the whole distance being 90 
 degrees, and every degree divisible into 
 60 minutes, each 60 seconds, the degree 
 measured on the earth’s surface being 
 about 69, or 69*(>7» miles, and according 
 to others 68J. To assist the memory, it 
 will be proper to recollect that the 
 latitude of London is 51" 31'; of Edin- 
 burgh, 55" 58' ; of Petersburg, 59" 56' ; 
 of Constantinople, 41° 1' ; of Philadel- 
 phia, 39" 57' N. of Calcutta, 22° 35' ; of 
 Mexico, 19" 26'; of the Cape of Good 
 Hope, 33" 56' S. ; of Port Jackson, 33° 
 52' S. ; of Lima, 12° 2' S. ; of Buenos 
 Ayres, 34" 25' S. ; and of Cape Horn, 
 55" 58' S. 
 
 LAUDANUM, preparation of opium. 
 
 LAVA, the melted compound that 
 flows from burning volcanoes. 
 
 LAW, the regulations of the personal 
 and commercial intercourse of men in a 
 society ; sometimes, in England, a prece- 
 dent, or custom from time immemorial, 
 called common law, or lex non scripta, and 
 at others a special statute, or enactment 
 in point, called statute law, or lex scripta, 
 subject to the interpretation of the 
 judges. The expense, intricacy, and 
 confusion, of the laws of England, have 
 for ages been the subject of complaint, 
 and wrongs are daily endured to avoid 
 the greater wrongs suffered by appeals to 
 them, while all their uncertainty is ag- 
 gravated by the bad faith and cupidity 
 of the agents. The only security is the 
 independence of the judges and the 
 good sense of juries, added to the 
 chance of the exposure of knavish 
 litigants through the public press. In 
 France Napoleon embodied the laws in 
 systematic and intelligible codes, and a 
 similar duty is expected from the parlia- 
 ment of England. 
 
 LAW OF NATIONS, the treaties, 
 conventions, &c. of civilized nations, 
 governed by their equity, but often by 
 their power. 
 
 LAWS OF NATURE, those numer- 
 ical actions which invariably result in 
 certain changes and motions of matter, 
 resulting from radiation, which diffuses 
 115 
 
 LEE 
 
 forces Inversely as the squares of the 
 distances, with acceleration from con- 
 tinuity, which converts a small initial 
 force into a great resultant force. Thus 
 the planets diffuse their forces by the 
 above law, and thereby afford evidence 
 of a medium in space as its necessary 
 cause, and a falling body whose initial 
 velocity in a third of time is the 1.9th 
 of an inch, becomes 3$ inches in 60 
 thirds, acquiring a velocity or force 3600 
 greater in 60 thirds, or a second, so that 
 the slightest force is the initial and con- 
 stant velocity. Hence these laws of na- 
 ture produce many complicated results, 
 which often mislead vulgar observation. 
 
 LAY-BROTHERS, illiterate fanatics 
 who, to avoid labour, devote themselves 
 to the service of a religious house. Lay- 
 men in society are persons not clerical, 
 and formerly meant all the illiterate. 
 
 LEAD, a well known metal, whose 
 specific gravity is 11*35, generally found 
 in contact with silver, and in an ore 
 which is a sulphuret of lead, called galena. 
 
 LEAF, the part of a plant which acts 
 on the air, and energizes like lungs, and 
 of various shapes, with a foot-stalk 
 sometimes single, and at others extended 
 by a rib through the leaf, with expan- 
 sions, and called compound. 
 
 LEAGUE, a marine measure of 
 three miles. 
 
 LEAKAGE, an allowance made by 
 the customs and excise for waste. 
 
 LEAP YEAR, every fourth yeaT, 
 when February is accounted 29 instead 
 of 28 days, owing to the year being 5 
 hours and 49 minutes longer than the 
 usual 365 days, and the 11 minutes are 
 recovered by not accounting the cente- 
 narian year as leap year. Every other 
 year divisible by 4 without a remainder, 
 is a leap year. 
 
 LEASE, a contract for a term of 
 years with covenants to be performed. 
 
 LEATHER, the skin of animals, 
 prepared by the fell-monger, tanner, and 
 dyer, and used for various purposes of 
 clothing and furniture. The first 
 takes off the hair, &e ; the second expels 
 the unctuous parts and substitutes oak 
 bark, and the tanning principle in the 
 pores ; and the latter furnishes and 
 dresses it for use. 
 
 LEDGER, an alphabetical classifica- 
 tion of accounts, posted into it from the 
 day-book or waste-book. 
 
 LEE-SHORE, that towards which the 
 wind blows. 
 
 LEECH, a worm found in clear run- 
 
LEO 
 
 ning waters, two or three inches long, 
 blackish brown, marked on the back 
 with six yellow spots, and a yellow line 
 on each side, with the head smaller than 
 the tail. In the mouth is a sharp instru- 
 ment which makes three wounds, 
 through which it sucks blood, and is, 
 therefore, very useful in topical inflam- 
 mations. The leech has no intestinal 
 canal, but retains the blood for a consi- 
 derable time, appearing to thrive upon 
 it. If frozen, it revives by warmth. 
 The horse-leech is found in stagnant 
 waters, and is from 4 to 6 inches long, 
 and olive black. 
 
 LEGACY, a bequest by will to be 
 paid, under regulations of law, by an 
 executor. 
 
 LEGATE, a papal ambassador. 
 
 LEGERDEMAIN, amusing practices 
 which obtain credence with believers in 
 enchantments, attractions, repulsions, 
 chemical action, charms, and other ef- 
 fects, without the necessity of mechani- 
 cal action and substantial connexion. 
 
 LEGION, a Roman body of 10 bat- 
 talions, or 3600 men, with 300 horse. 
 
 LEGUMEN, a pod like that of a pea. 
 
 LEICESTERSHIRE SHEEP, re- 
 markable for the smallness of their 
 bone, and the bulk of their carcase, 
 qualities conferred by Bakewell, of 
 Dishley, who adopted the principle, 
 that by breeding animals from parents 
 of particular forms, he could increase 
 those peculiarities, and make any part 
 large or small, or confer on it any par- 
 ticular quantity at pleasure; and on this 
 principle he varied and improved the 
 breed of sheep, oxen, horses, and pigs. 
 His Leicestershire sheep were, however, 
 too fat for general consumption. 
 
 LENTIL, green fodder for cattle. 
 
 LEO, the fifth sign of the zodiac, con- 
 taining 95 stars, and Regulus of the first 
 magnitude. 
 
 LEONARDI DA VINCI, the reviver 
 of the arts in Europe. All his produc- 
 tions in painting and sculpture remain 
 masterpieces to this day. Hediedl517, 
 at the age of 90. 
 
 116 
 
 LEN 
 
 LEMON, a fruit, the product of the 
 south of Europe, of the genus citrus, 
 from which citricacid, lemonade, punch, 
 &c. are made. The engraving repre- 
 sents a branch of the Lemon-Tree. 
 
 LENS, the engravings represent the 
 four forms of lenses : double convex, B, 
 which converges light into a focus, 
 which is the centre of the circle, of 
 which the surface of the lens is a part ; 
 plano-convex, or convex on one side, A , 
 little used, which converges rays to the 
 opposite side of the circle of convexity ; 
 double concave, D, which disperses rays 
 as though they proceeded through the 
 lens from a point on the other side, at 
 the centre of the concavity; and the 
 plano-concave, C, which effects the same 
 as from the distance of the diameter of 
 concavity. The axis of a lens is the 
 line which passes through its centre. 
 
LEV 
 
 LEOPARD, an animal of the felis 
 genus, four or five feet long, of a yellow 
 colour, and elegantly spotted, so as to 
 render its skin an ornament of luxury. 
 It is chiefly found in Senegal ; its habits 
 are those of the tiger, but it is not dan- 
 gerous to man. In India there is a 
 smaller species tamed for hunting, some- 
 thing like an English greyhound. 
 
 LEPIDOPTERA, the third order of 
 insects, whose wings are covered with 
 fine scales, as butterflies, moths, &c. 
 
 LETHE, a mythological river, whose 
 waters produced forgetfulness. 
 
 LETHARGY, a disease of indolence 
 and gluttony. 
 
 LETTER, a character in the alpha- 
 bet, distinguished into vowels and con- 
 sonants, and forming the words of a lan- 
 guage. Also the name of a written com- 
 munication from one person to another. 
 
 LETTER OF CREDIT, a letter 
 which a traveller carries from one coun- 
 try to another, from one banker or mer- 
 chant to another. 
 
 LETTERS OF MARQUE, authori- 
 ties granted to merchants to seize, under 
 pretence of reprisal and indemnity, the 
 ships of a contending nation. 
 
 LEVEL, equal distance from the 
 earth’s centre, where the equal rotation 
 confers equal momenta on fluids, and to 
 which equal distance they therefore 
 flow in exact levels parallel to the hori- 
 zon, and according with the earth’s cur- 
 vature ; but an exact straight line deter- 
 mined by the eye differs from the true 
 curve 1 inch in 625 yards, 2 inches in 
 half a mile, 8 inches in a mile, 6 feet in 
 3 miles, (so that a man could not be vi- 
 sible,) 42 feet in 8 miles, (so that a house 
 would be invisible,) 80 feet in 11 miles, 
 100 feet in 12£ miles, and 130 feet in 14 
 miles ; and water would not flow in such 
 straight line. 
 
 LEVER, the foundation of all the me- 
 chanic powers, acting on the principle 
 
 U7 
 
 LIB 
 
 that power consists of a multiple of 
 matter and motion, which therefore 
 vary as each other. Two forms are 
 given in the-engraving : one, when the 
 fulcrum, C, is between the power, B, 
 and the weight, A ; and the other in 
 which the fulcrum is on the side oppo- 
 site the power and the weight; the 
 first bearing down and the other lifting. 
 It is obvious that while B moves through 
 five inches, A moves through but one 
 inch, consequently 1X5 = 5 Xl> and, 
 therefore, the two ends have equal 
 power, and are in equilibrium. 
 
 5 4 3 2 / 0 I . 
 
 B l'p "• ' 
 
 * 3 f l o 
 
 b r r 7\a 
 
 , A® 
 
 0 ^ 
 
 LEVIGATION. grinding to powder. 
 
 LEXICOGRAPHER, a dictionary- 
 maker. 
 
 LEYDEN JAR, a mere plate of glass., 
 in the jar form, for the convenience of 
 handling; an electrical excitement is 
 produced on one side, and this operates 
 on the chemical elements within the 
 substance of the glass, just as though it 
 were a plate of air, or a plate of fluid in 
 a galvanic combination ; and the oppo- 
 site side has a similarly opposite excite- 
 ment, as acid and alkaline, called posi- 
 tive and negative; and the excitement 
 continued by a metal surface, from side 
 to side, produces, when within a small 
 distance, an explosive restoration of the 
 two disturbed sides, considered either as 
 acid and alkaline, oxygen and hydro- 
 gen, or supporter and combustible. 
 
 LIAR, one who fears the truth, and 
 who combines meanness with cowardice. 
 LIBEL, an abuse of the liberty of 
 
LIG 
 
 the press, by the malicious writing of 
 any falsehood regarding another, calcu- 
 lated to injure his character or proper- 
 ty ; or the wilful and knowing publica- 
 tion of such malicious production; but 
 the offence does not include fair criti- 
 cisms on works, actions, or conduct, in 
 which the public taste or interest is con- 
 cerned. The criminal mind in this case, 
 as in all others, constituting the legal 
 offence, and being to be proved by the 
 prosecutor, to the satisfaction of a jury. 
 
 LIBERTY, permission to act, or the 
 power of acting, applied to societies of 
 men in their relations to the govern- 
 ment, in regard to the influence of the 
 people, in making the laws, and in su- 
 perintending and guarding their execu- 
 tion; also to the press, as implying 
 the right to publish without previous 
 restraint, but subject to responsibility 
 for slander ; and sometimes opposed to 
 necessity, which by an error is applied 
 to the capricious and erring will of ani- 
 mals, as well as to immutable physical 
 causes and effects. 
 
 LIBRA, the seventh sign of the Zo- 
 diac, containing 51 stars. 
 
 LIBRARY, a collection of books, 
 distinguished in its name by their sub- 
 ject, or by its design, as circulating, 
 when the books are lent to subscribers, 
 or public when established by funds, for 
 the use and reference of subscribers, or 
 privileged persons. In England almost 
 every house has a library, and every 
 town has many public and circulating 
 libraries. 
 
 LIB RATION, oscillation, applied to 
 the appearances of the moon, whose op- 
 posite side, generally invisible, is some- 
 times visible, as the earth is above or 
 under the moon. 
 
 LICHENS, the vegetable crustswhich 
 grow on rocks, trees, &c. by some con- 
 sidered as spontaneous productions, and 
 the germs of more complex vegetation. 
 
 LIEUTENANT, sometimes the re- 
 presentative of a king in the govern- 
 ment of a distant province. On board of 
 ship, and in a regiment, the representa- 
 tive of the captain. 
 
 LIFE, the evolution of a vegetable or 
 animal germ derived from parents; and 
 the phenomena of growth, maturity, 
 and decay, resulting from transferred 
 gaseous momenta by respiration, from 
 assimilation by secretions of food from 
 roots, and from elimination by perspi- 
 ration and other evacuations. 
 
 LIGAMENTS, fibrous membranes, 
 118 
 
 LIG 
 
 extending from bone to bone, which keep 
 them in their places, and yield to their 
 motion. 
 
 LIGATURE, a bandage, the garter. 
 
 LIGHT, an effect, (not an element, 
 or a principle) created in the air, when- 
 ever oxygen gas or any other antago- 
 nist gas is concentrated, fixed, and com- 
 bined with hydrogen and carbon, which 
 have been highly rarefied or excited by 
 heat or motion. The first is called a 
 supporter, and the latter a combustible. 
 The great motion which by this combi- 
 nation is concentrated at the spot, as at 
 the wick of a candle is, of course, not lost 
 there, but instantly re-diffused, and this 
 diffusion of atomic action, says Sir R. 
 Phillips, is Light. The concentration 
 of the volume of oxygen gas, condensed 
 at the spot by the hydrogen into aqueous 
 vapour, and by the carbon into smoke, 
 is the cause of the local heat ; and the 
 crossing of the action and re-action in- 
 ward and outward, defines and consti- 
 tutes the film of the flame. Chemists 
 who consider light and heat as elements, 
 conceive that combustibles contain light, 
 and supporters caloric, the combination 
 making the flame and the basis of both 
 the resulting products. The same wri- 
 ter considers its passage through solid 
 diaphanous bodies, and the rapid trans- 
 mission of its effect at the rate of 12 mil- 
 lions of miles in a minute, to be incom- 
 patible with the travelling of identical 
 atoms, and therefore conceives that, as 
 all space is full of gaseous atoms, they 
 protrude or propel one another, and 
 hence the effect is diffused from atom 
 to atom, consequently the effect is almost 
 as rapid as the protrusion of a solid rod. 
 
 LIGHTHOUSE, a lofty building,, 
 erected on sea-coasts to warn and guide 
 ships by night. They are very curious 
 structures, consisting of an intense body 
 of light, radiated by concave reflectors 
 and convex lenses, sometimes coloured 
 for distinction’s sake, and made to 
 change and revolve as further means of 
 distinction. 
 
 LIGHTNING, the partial restoration 
 of a disturbed plate of air or stratum 
 of the atmosphere, one side of which, 
 says Sir R. Phillips, is coated by a cloud, 
 and the other by the surface of the 
 earth ; one side of the stratum possessing 
 an excess of oxygen, and the other of 
 nitrogen and hydrogen, and the rush of 
 the two through any conducting point 
 of the earth, or any descending cloud 
 which narrows the stratum, causes the 
 
LIN 
 
 light and heat called lightning, while 
 the created vacuum causes the report 
 and echoes of thunder. If the conduc- 
 tor is imperfect, the elements seek the 
 conducting parts, and separate with 
 violence the non-conducting parts, so as 
 to destroy the structure ; the surfaces 
 of the entire stratum sympathises too in 
 every stroke, and a.\V insulated conductors 
 become affected and dangerous, inde- 
 pendently of the danger of the direct 
 stroke. The difference between light- 
 ning and electricity arises from the dif- 
 ference in the extent of the surfaces, 
 the one containing 100 or 1000 square 
 miles, while the latter is seldom as many 
 square inches. 
 
 LIGHTS, the lungs. 
 
 LIGHTS, NORTHERN, the Aurora 
 Borealis. 
 
 LIGNUM VIT^E, the hard wood of 
 a large tree in the West Indies and 
 America. 
 
 LIME, a very useful earth which ab- 
 sorbs moisture and carbonic acid, and 
 exists as limestone, and in marble and 
 chalk, which, when burnt, become lime. 
 It consists of oxygen, and a metallic 
 base called calcium. It fixes the gase- 
 ous constituents of water, which in lo- 
 sing their motion, transfer it in great 
 heat to surrounding bodies. In its na- 
 tive state it is called carbonate of lime, 
 and burnt to disengage the carbonic 
 acid. When made into a paste of one 
 part water and three parts lime, it is 
 called hydrate of lime, and being mixed 
 with silica, alumina, and oxide of iron, 
 it forms plastic cements and mortars, 
 and afterwards imbibing carbonic acid 
 from the atmosphere, it becomes again a 
 carbonate of lime, as hard as at first, 
 and hence its use in building. 
 
 LIMITATION, two years on a penal 
 statute, six years on a debt undemanded, 
 and twenty years on a bond, 
 
 LINCII PIN, the pin which holds a 
 wheel on the axle, of metal or wood. 
 
 LINE, the junction of two points, 
 and a measure, the twelfth of an inch. 
 
 LINE, Ship of the, 64 guns and up- 
 wards. 
 
 LINEN, cloth made of flax, the ma- 
 nufactures of which in Great Britain are 
 worth three millions per annum. 
 
 LINIMENT, an hydrogenous sub- 
 stance applied to bruises, &c. 
 
 LINNiEAN SYSTEM, the system of 
 Nature invented by Sir Charles Linn£, 
 a Swede, in which he classes the three 
 119 
 
 LIO 
 
 kingdoms into classes, orders, genera, 
 species, and varieties, and distinguishes 
 plants by their parts of fructification. 
 
 LINSEED, the seed of the flax-plant, 
 which yields much oil by pressure, and 
 when purified forms the very best lamp- 
 oil, and abundance of carburetted hy- 
 drogen gas for gas lights. 
 
 LION, sometimes called the king of 
 beasts for his combined activity, 
 strength, and majesty of deportment. 
 Lions are now found only in unfre- 
 quented parts of Asia and Africa. They 
 measure about eight feet from the nose 
 to the rump, with a tail about four feet; 
 the colour being a pale brown, and the 
 male having a bushy mane, which the 
 lioness is without. Their muscular 
 strength is prodigious, and their war 
 and assault terrible; but, when brought 
 up tame, and unused to attack and de- 
 fence, they allow their keepers to play 
 with them, and are kind to small ani- 
 mals placed in their dens ; indeed, as 
 appears by a late atrocious attempt to 
 exhibit a fight between a lion and dogs, 
 the lion by nature proved himself to 
 possess none of that ferocity which ap- 
 pears to be engendered by the inter- 
 course of one animal with another. 
 
LOA 
 
 LIQUID, an intermediate state be- 
 tween the solid and gaseous, produced 
 by motion from solids, but not sufficient 
 to convert them into gases, though all 
 liquids, perhaps, owe their liquidity to 
 gases in their interstices. Motion ab- 
 stracted reconverts them into solids, as 
 water into ice, &c. 
 
 , LIQUORICE, a sweet root used to 
 allay coughs. 
 
 LISBON, the finely situated, but 
 dirty, capital of Portugal. 
 
 LITANY, the supplicatory prayers 
 of the English Church. 
 
 LITERATURE, a word sometimes 
 applied to books on all subjects, but ge- 
 nerally restricted to tasteful composi- 
 tions, and works of fancy, denominated 
 the Belles Lettres. 
 
 LITHOGRAPHY, the art of drawing 
 on stone, and taking impressions on 
 paper, lately used with much success. 
 
 LITMUS, a violet purple infusion, 
 which acids changeto red, and which al- 
 kalis restore into blue, or the original 
 colour. 
 
 LITRE, a French measure of capaci- 
 ty, 61*083 inches English, carried down- 
 wards by the prefix, deci, centi, and 
 milli, and upwards by the prefixes, deca, 
 hecato, chilio, and myrio. 
 
 LITURGY, in the church of Rome, 
 the mass, and in the church of England, 
 the church service. 
 
 LIVER, a gland which secretes bile, 
 and transmits it to the duodenum and 
 gall-bladder. It weighs 3£lb. in man. 
 
 LIVERYMAN, a citizen of London, 
 admitted member of some company, by 
 which he enjoys certain powers and pri- 
 vileges. 
 
 LIXIVIATION, dissolving a salt, and 
 restoring it by evapoiation. 
 
 LOAF, a composition of flour, wa- 
 ter, yeast, and salt, of which 348 lbs. 
 or 80 quartern loaves, are made from 
 2801b, or a sack of flour. 
 
 LOAM, a compound of clay and sand. 
 
 LOAN, a sum of money confided to 
 another, generally on the security of 
 a promissory note or bond, the 
 guarantee of a third party, or the pos- 
 session or assignment of property. 
 Sometimes it is effected by governments 
 on the pledge of certain taxes to pay 
 the interest. In England this has been 
 carried to a frightful extent, and the 
 debt amounts to a larger sum than 
 could be paid by all the money in ex- 
 istence, certain heavy taxes, called the 
 consolidated fund, being appropriated 
 
 120 
 
 LOC 
 
 to pay an annual interest, nominally 
 about 3 per cent., and which amounts to 
 above 30 millions. 
 
 LOBE, a similar part, a double. 
 
 LOBSTER, a shelly fish inhabiting 
 the rocky shores of Great Britain. 
 Their eggs are hatched in the sands, 
 and 12,444 have been counted under the 
 tail of one animal. They are barbar- 
 ously and unthinkingly boiled to death. 
 
 LOCAL ATMOSPHERES, those ga- 
 seous compounds which are accumu- 
 lated on the outer surfaces of all bodies 
 by the action of the surrounding gas on 
 the constituent atoms of the bodies, caus- 
 ing many phenomena, and particularly 
 obstructing the actual contact of bodies, 
 while they are powerful enough to make 
 needles, corks, &c. swim on water and 
 other fluids, without actual contact, and 
 create sufficient friction to prevent the 
 approach of the bodies by the usual 
 pressure of the surrounding air. 
 
 LOCK, a complicated contrivance by 
 which the difficulty of moving back a 
 bolt is increased. This is effected by 
 making divisions or wards, among 
 which nothing but a key, cut to match, 
 will pass. Bramah has made locks with 
 nearly two million of changes, and in- 
 creased the difficulty of picking them 
 in that proportion. 
 
 LOCKE, an English metaphysician, 
 born 1632, died 1704. 
 
 LOCK-UP-HOUSE, a temporary re- 
 ceptacle for persons arrested for debt by 
 a sheriff’s officer, the charges in which 
 are regulated by law. 
 
 LOCOMOTION, the power which 
 animals possess, of moving about, as 
 distinguished from the fixed state of 
 Vegetables. 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE STEAM-ENGINE, 
 the engraving represents one of these 
 engines as used at the collieries in the 
 northern counties. C represents the 
 boiler, and F F the pistons, which al- 
 ternately work up and down a frame, 
 to which the rods, A and B, are fixed, 
 which turns two small wheels at bottom, 
 and revolve with force the wheel, C, 
 which again revolves the outer wheel, 
 and this works in iron teeth fixed in the 
 ground, by which the machine is pro- 
 pelled. The other wheels run on an 
 interior smooth iron rail, and are adapt- 
 ed to support the carriage : the chain in 
 the rear drags waggons or other car- 
 riages; the front chimney carries off 
 the smoke, and the centre one the steam 
 from the pistons. The other side is 
 
LOG 
 
 exactly like it, the frame, A and B, 
 working the rods on each side. Engines 
 of this kind appear likely to become 
 very general. 
 
 LOCUM TENENS, a deputy, or 
 substitute. 
 
 LOCUST, a voracious insect resem- 
 bling the grasshopper, which in tropical 
 regions darkens the air by its numbers, 
 and eats all vegetation, perishing in 
 masses, and serving then as food for the 
 destitute inhabitants. 
 
 LOG, a piece of wood, thrown over a 
 ship’s side, and surrendered to the free 
 action of the water, to measure either 
 the current, or the ship’s rate of sailing. 
 They count by knots in the rope, and a 
 half-minute glass, and every knot is in 
 the ratio of a mile to an hour. 
 
 LOGARITHMS, numbers in arith- 
 metical progression corresponding with 
 numbers in geometrical progression, so 
 that the sum of one is the multiple of 
 the other. Thus, 
 
 Ar. P. 0, 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, &c. 
 
 Geo. P. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, &c. 
 
 So that if 1 and 3 be added together, 4 
 corresponds with 16, which is the same 
 as the multiple of 2 and 8, which stand 
 under the 1 and 3. The upper line, 
 therefore, are the logarithms of the 
 lower, and logarithmic tables furnish 
 the intermediate fractions correspond- 
 ing with the intermediate numbers in 
 the lower line, in the same proportions. 
 
 LOG-BOOK, is a journal of the log 
 and of the ship’s course, &c. 
 
 LOGIC, the useful science which 
 analyzes the art of thinking, and teaches 
 the practice of reasoning, the terms and 
 classifications in which are essential to 
 every finished writer. Its first step is 
 to develope the faculties of the mind, — 
 121 
 
 LON 
 
 the next to consider propositions and 
 arrangements, — the third to illustrate 
 syllogisms and their forms, by which 
 from two terms, a major and minor, a 
 just conclusion is drawn, — the fourth, 
 to detect error by sophistry, — and the 
 last is method and arrangement. 
 
 LOGWOOD, a flourishing tree of 
 South America, whose wood affords a 
 beautiful purple dye. 
 
 LOMBARDY, the finest country in 
 Europe, in the northern part of Italy, 
 but ruined by an arbitrary Austrian 
 government. 
 
 LONDON, the metropolis of the 
 British empire in latitude 51° 32', con- 
 sidered as the largest city in the worl ', 
 being about 8 miles long, and 3 miles 
 broad, with populous suburbs, and, in 
 1821, containing, with the suburbs, 
 1,274,800 inhabitants, or ten times the 
 number in Manchester, or Liverpool, or 
 Birmingham, or Edinburgh ; nine times 
 the number of Glasgow ; and eight 
 times that of Dublin ; and twice that 
 of Paris. About three fourths lie 
 north of the Thames, and the houses 
 altogether are nearly 200,000. 
 
 LONGEVITY, length of life, often 
 prolonged to 100, and occasionally to 
 150, but in decrepitude, imperfection, 
 and non-enjoyment, the faculties, health, 
 memory, and judgment, gradually 
 abating between 70 and 80. Even after 
 GO, prejudice takes place of reason, and 
 mental and bodily efficiency abates. 
 
 LONGITUDE, the distance in de- 
 grees, measured in the heavens, of any- 
 place from a first meridian, as that of 
 Greenwich, taken east or west. On the 
 earth these degrees diminish in actual 
 length as the pole is approached, a de- 
 gree of longitude at the equator being 
 60-1 as a degree of latitude, but at 
 latitude 10 being but 67’95, at 20 but 
 64*84, at 40 but 52*85, at 50 but 43*42, 
 and at 60, 34*5. 
 
 LONG SIGHT, this is a djsease of 
 age, when the eye becomes too flat to 
 converge rays of light to the distance 
 of the optic nerve ; but the light, as is 
 shewn in the engraving, arrives at a 
 focus beyond the nerve, and gives a 
 confused picture at the nerve: never- 
 theless, if the object is carried further 
 off, the convergency is then perfect, but 
 the object at the increased distance be- 
 comes too small to be discerned dis- 
 tinctly, as for reading, &c. and hence, 
 such persons are called long-sighted. 
 
 M 
 
LOR 
 
 The defect is, however, corrected by 
 means of a convex lens, by which the 
 rays are made convergent before they 
 reach the eye, and the eye, therefore, 
 has less to perform. Fig. 1 explains 
 long sight, and the use of a convex lens ; 
 and fig. 2 short sight, and the use of a 
 concave lens. 
 
 ! 
 
 LONGIMETRY, the art of measur- 
 ing the distances of objects by means of 
 a triangle, and trigonometry. A base 
 line is measured, and the angle which 
 the object makes with the base is taken 
 with a theodolite at each end of the 
 base, and we thus have one side of a 
 triangle, and its angles to determine the 
 other sides. 
 
 LOOM, a frame, by which threads arc 
 crossed in making linen, and every kind 
 of cloth ; very complicated when used 
 for peculiar fabrics, and implying much 
 ingenuity in the contriver and weaver. 
 
 LOOMING, is also a phrase applied 
 to states of the atmosphere when, by in- 
 creased refraction, distant objects are 
 elevated above the level of the earth’s 
 curvature. 
 
 LOTION, a wash for the skin. 
 
 LOTTERY, a sum deposited, for 
 which many adventure by tickets or 
 numbers; and, as these bear a higher 
 price than their exact proportion, 
 governments have availed themselves of 
 public feeling, and by selling lotteries 
 to contractors, made them sources of 
 revenue. But the moral mischiefs were 
 so great that it is now abandoned. 
 
 LORD, an epithet of respect applied 
 to peers, as my lord, and your lordship, 
 or, in addressing a duke, my lord duke, 
 and your grace. 
 
 LORD’S DAY, or Sunday, the first 
 day of the week, supposed to be kept 
 by the carl / Christians to celebrate the 
 122 
 
 LUT 
 
 day of the week on which Christ rose 
 from the dead, and still kept by Chris- 
 tians ; by the Catholics as a festival, but 
 by many Protestant sects as a fast, and 
 also as a day of rest, or substitute for 
 the seventh day of appointed rest. 
 
 LOUSE, an insect of the human body, 
 remarkable for the transparency of its 
 skin, and highly curious in its structure. 
 
 LUCK, an ideal phantom of supersti- 
 tious gamesters, founded on want of know- 
 ledge in arithmetic and in the doctrine 
 of chances, because dice average their 
 numbers in a certain number of throws, 
 and cards their variety in a certain num- 
 ber of deals ; and the error, or the luck 
 and ill-luck, consists in making stakes 
 on less numbers of throws or deals than 
 the numerical average, and has no corn 
 nexion with any perverse or benign 
 genius, or invisible power, which 
 gamesters imagine is connected with 
 their operations, and founded on which 
 they practise various absurd charms. 
 
 LUCUBRATION, meditation, night 
 thoughts. 
 
 LUMBAGO, rheumatism of the loins. 
 
 LUNATIC, a madman, so called 
 from an absurd notion, that Luna, the 
 moon, has an influence on madmen; 
 this and the notion that the moon in- 
 fluences the weather, are remains of 
 belief in astrology. 
 
 LUNATION, the period from new 
 moon to new moon, or 29 days, 12 hours, 
 44 minutes, 3 seconds, and 11 thirds. 
 
 LUNGS, large spongy substances, 
 which fill the cavity of the chest, and 
 whose entire surface is equal to that 
 of the external body. They constitute 
 the main spring of animal life, fixing 
 part of the gas which they inspire, and 
 deriving from the transfer of its mo- 
 menta, the heat and energy of the ani- 
 mal. Their action is chemical and 
 galvanic, while that of the heart is 
 purely mechanical. 
 
 LURID^E, the 28th Linnasan natural 
 order of plants, poisonous ; as digitalis, 
 atropa, hyoscyamus, &c. 
 
 LUSTRE, a quality of minerals, and 
 distinguished into splendent, shining, 
 glistening, glimmering, and dull. 
 
 LUSUS NATURAE, something out 
 of the ordinary course of nature. 
 
 LUTE, a stringed musical instru- 
 ment : also the name of the cement used 
 in chemical experiments. 
 
 LUTHER, MARTIN, a German 
 divine, who, by his talents and courage. 
 
MAC 
 
 brought about the reformation in Ger- 
 many, and extended its principles into 
 other countries. He died in 1546. 
 
 LYCOPODIUM, a moss, whose pow- 
 dered seeds take fire, and, for flashes of 
 light, are used by the absurd monsters, or 
 superstitious genii, which the avarice of 
 proprietors often introduce on the stage. 
 
 LYMPHATICS, vessels which absorb 
 the superfluous moisture or lymph in 
 the animal system, and convey it to the 
 chyle. 
 
 LYRICAL, the name of music and 
 poetry adapted to be played on the lyre 
 with the accompaniment of the voice, 
 and the name is retained though other 
 instruments are now preferred. 
 
 LYTHOPHYTES, the name of those 
 
 MAC 
 
 stony substances which are formed by 
 polype in a great variety of forms. 
 
 LYNX, an animal of the felis genus, 
 of which there are three species. They 
 are the size of a large cat, in Asia are 
 tamed for hunting, and are proverbial 
 for the keenness of their sight. 
 
 M 
 
 M, the twelfth letter of the English 
 alphabet ; as a numeral, it denotes one 
 thousand; M. A. master of arts; M. D. 
 doctor of medicine: Mus. D. doctor of 
 music : MS. manuscript, and in the 
 plural, MSS. or manuscripts. 
 
 MACARONI, a burlesque character. 
 
 MACARONIC, burlesque poetry. 
 
 MACAW, an elegant tropical bird, of 
 the order of pica?, or parrot tribe. 
 
 MACE, the second husk of the ker- 
 nel of the nutmeg. 
 
 MACEDONIA, a country in the 
 north of Greece, whose king, Philip, 
 overran Greece, and his son, Alexan- 
 der, Asia and Egypt. 
 
 MACEDONIAN EMPIRE, founded 
 by Alexander 331 B. C., conquered by 
 the Romans 175 B. C. 
 
 MACERATION, the process of ob- 
 taining the virtues of bodies, by soaking 
 them in fluids. 
 
 MACHINE, ELECTRICAL, an ar- 
 rangement of glass for rubbing it, so a 3 
 • to excite the action in the air called elec- 
 trical. It consists of a cylinder and a 
 rubber, with a conductor, or neutral 
 surface, to extend the excited plate of 
 air; and, of course, the conductor 
 ought to be flat, though commonly 
 round. 
 
 123 
 
 MACKAREL, a prolific fish, inhabit- 
 ing the European and American seas. 
 
 MACROCOSM, the visible world. 
 
 MACULAE, dark spots in the sun, 
 moon, and planets, as seen through te- 
 lescopes. 
 
 MADDER, a vegetable substance, ex- 
 tensively used in dying red colours. 
 
 MADNESS, a disturbed connexion 
 between the organs of perception and 
 those of memory, or a disease of the 
 organs of memory and association, by 
 which erroneous, irrelevant, and false, 
 conclusions are drawn. 
 
 MADREPORES, a genus of zoophyte 
 worms, or coral, inhabited by polypes. 
 
 MADRIGAL, an elegant amorous 
 poem in Italian, Spanish, and French. 
 
 MAGAZINE, a depository for arms, 
 ammunition, &c.; also a literary mis- 
 cellany. 
 
 MAGGOT, the larva of the common 
 blow-fly, hatched from the eggs in a few 
 hours. On its changing to a pupa, the 
 skin dries round it, and in ten days the 
 fly emerges. 
 
 MAGI, or Magians, an ancient sect 
 of fanatics in Persia, who maintained 
 that there were two principles, the cause 
 of good and evil ; and who worshipped 
 fire, as an emanation of the Deity. 
 
 MAGIC, an assumed production of ef- 
 fects without connected causes, as trans- 
 formation, attraction, repulsion, raising 
 spirits, and other absurdities of the 
 dark ages. 
 
 MAGIC SQUARE, a square made up 
 of a series of numbers so disposed, that 
 
MAG 
 
 the sums of each row, taken either way, 
 are equal. 
 
 MAGIC LANTERN, an optical toy, 
 by which light is diverged on a wall by a 
 lens, and intercepted by coloured figures. 
 
 MAGISTRATE, a person having 
 authority to enforce the laws, generally 
 called a justice of the peace, and a cha- 
 racter who may be very useful. 
 
 MAGNA CHARTA, the great charter 
 of the laws and liberties of England, 
 obtained from king John, and ratified 
 ' by subsequent sovereigns, bounding the 
 powers of the sovereign, and defining 
 some rights of the people. 
 
 MAGNESIA, a soft, white, light, 
 earth, consisting of oxygen and a me- 
 tallic base called magnesium. 
 
 MAGNETIC MERIDIAN, a circle 
 in the heavens which corresponds with 
 the line of direction of the magnetic 
 needle. 
 
 MAGNETIC NEEDLE, a small bar 
 of iron, to which, by artificial means, 
 the peculiar arrangement of the magnet 
 has been transferred, by which it points 
 in the magnetic meridian ; and, the di- 
 rection of this meridian being known, 
 the course of ships at sea is thereby de- 
 termined, It also dips or inclines from 
 the plane of the horizon, pointing 
 towards the apparent centre of a mag- 
 netic sphere, existing, as it were, with 
 the sphere of the earth, the varying 
 poles of which seem to be at right an- 
 gles to the plane of the ecliptic. 
 
 MAGNETISM, a phenomenon of the 
 action and reaction of the gases which 
 fill space, and to which the surface of 
 iron presents a peculiar reaction. The 
 plate represents the curved forms in 
 which particles .of steel dust range 
 themselves when sifted on paper laid 
 
 m 
 
 MAtl 
 
 over a magnet. There is no mystery in 
 it, nor any fluid circulating, because 
 every particle of the steel is to be re- 
 garded as a magnet with two poles ; and 
 it is found that if a considerable num- 
 ber of magnetised needles were placed 
 round the same magnet, they would be 
 directed into curves just like those of 
 the steel dust. The whole is a mere 
 mechanical affection. 
 
 MAGNETISM, ANIMAL, a science 
 which pretends to cure diseases by an 
 alleged sympathy between the body and 
 a magnet. 
 
 MAGNIFYING POWER, the en- 
 largement of the angle under which an 
 object can be seen, effected in telescopes 
 and microscopes by producing an image 
 of the object, and then viewing the 
 image, by another glass, very close, 
 thereby enlarging the angle, and of 
 course magnifying the object. 
 
 MAGNOLIA, or laurel-leaved tulip- 
 tree, a beautiful evergreen. 
 
 MAGOT, or Barbary ape, the species 
 of ape usually trained for public exhi- 
 bitions, for which purpose it is often 
 treated with great cruelty. 
 
 MAGPIE, or pica, a crafty bird, re- 
 sembling the crow, and which, instructed 
 young, may be made to sp^eak. 
 
 MAHOGANY-TREE, a native of 
 America and the West Indies, growing 
 upwards of 60 feet high, and 4 feet in 
 diameter. It has a beautiful deep-green 
 foliage, flowers of a reddish or saffron 
 colour, and fruit of an egg form. The 
 wood varies with the soil ; that growing 
 on rocks being hard and close, and that 
 on richer lands light and porous. 
 
 MAHOMET, an enthusiast, born 570, 
 flight or hegira 622, died 631. 
 
 MAHOMETANS, religious followers 
 of Mahomet, the w'arrior and prophet 
 of Arabia, whose creed maintains that 
 there is but one God, and that Mahomet 
 is his prophet, and teaches ceremonies 
 by prayer, with washings, &c. alms- 
 giving, fasting, sobriety, pilgrimage tQ 
 
MAL 
 
 Mecca, and circumcision. The engrav- 
 ing represents a Mahometan Priest. 
 
 MAIL COACH, the elegant and ex- 
 peditious vehicle by which, since 1784, 
 letters have been conveyed through the 
 British islands. They carry four pas- 
 sengers inside, and three outside, be- 
 sides the coachman and guard, and 
 travel from eight to nine miles an hour. 
 They are so arranged, that the greater 
 part of them reach the general post-office, 
 London, at six in the morning, and 
 leave at eight in the evening. 
 
 MAINPRIZE, the delivery of a 
 person to his friends to be answerable for 
 his appearance. 
 
 MAIZE, or Indian corn, cultivated 
 in North and South America, where it 
 is the chief bread corn. 
 
 MAJESTY, an epithet assumed by 
 Henry VIII., previously called Highness, 
 and since adopted and retained by the 
 kings of Europe. 
 
 MAJOR, the name of several military 
 officers, as major-general, major of a 
 brigade, major of a regiment, town- 
 major, &c. 
 
 MAJOR, the first proposition of a 
 syllogism. 
 
 MAL APROPOS, unseasonably, or 
 not in proper time. 
 
 MAL ARIA, bad air. 
 
 MALIC ACID, obtained from various 
 fruit, but in greatest abundance from 
 the apple. 
 
 MALLEABILITY, the ductile pro- 
 perty of metals, whereby they are capable 
 of extension by the hammer, and of being 
 worked into forms. 
 
 MALLET, a wooden hammer used 
 by various artizans. 
 
 MALT, barley steeped in water, fer- 
 mented, and re-dried ; which, when 
 ground, with the addition of hot water, 
 forms wort for beer. 
 
 MALT KILNS, an arrangement of 
 hot chambers in which barley, after 
 being steeped, is dried in various degrees. 
 
 125 
 
 MAN 
 
 MAMALUIiES, the name of an an- 
 cient dynasty, who ruled in Egypt for 
 many centuries, and still applied to the 
 soldiers represented in the engraving. 
 
 MAMMALIA, vertebrated animals, 
 having an internal, bony, cartilaginous, 
 skeleton, and a brain, with a double 
 heart, and warm blood, and suckling 
 their young. This first Linnaean class is 
 divided into seven orders, viz. primate- 
 bruta, ferae, glires, pecora, belluae, and 
 cete ; including notonly"all the viviparous 
 quadrupeds, but also the bat tribe, and 
 seals and whales. 
 
 MAMMOTH, an antediluvian ani- 
 final, whose remains have been disco- 
 vered in various countries, and are sup- 
 posed to be those of an immense species 
 of elephant, now extinct. 
 
 MAN, the most subtle and powerful 
 of animals, who, by his arts, overcomes 
 and directs the whole to his own pur- 
 poses. Naturalists divide the human 
 race into seven species, the white and 
 red Europeans; the black Africans, with 
 woolly heads; the black Asiatics, with 
 long black hair; the copper-coloured 
 North Americans ; the white small-eyed 
 Tartars ; the diminutive Lapland and 
 Esquimaux race; and the Patagonian, 
 or gigantic race. Man is the only ani- 
 mal which possesses, in the same degree, 
 fiexible powers of speech, by which he 
 is enabled to communicate his thoughts ; 
 and this has led, in different tribes, to 
 the invention of several hundred lan- 
 guages. He is, also, the only animal 
 w'hich possesses the muscles of laughter, 
 and he enjoys, above all others, the 
 nicest powers of reasoning by analogy, 
 from his past experience; and, by the 
 perfection of his hands, is enabled to 
 appropriate most things to his wants. 
 
 MAN OF WAR, a ship provided with 
 m 2 
 
MAN 
 
 cannon, from 120 downwards, and from 
 1000 men to 500. They are a species of 
 floating castles, and called the wooden 
 walls of Britain. 
 
 MANDAMUS, a writ issued from a 
 court of law, commanding the per- 
 formance of some special thing. 
 
 MANDIBLE, in anatomy, the jaw ; 
 and in ornithology, the upper and under 
 bill of birds. 
 
 MANDREL, akind of wooden pulley, 
 forming part of a turner’s lathe. 
 
 MANGANESE, a greyish metal, 
 which oxidizes on exposure to the air, 
 and its black oxide is valuable in pre- 
 paring bleaching-liquor, and in the 
 manufacture of glass, earthenware, &c. 
 By the application of heat, it re-pro- 
 duces its oxygen gas in great abundance. 
 
 MANGEL WURZEL, a variety of 
 l»eet-root. 
 
 ' MANGLE, an instrument by which 
 linen, placed upon rollers, is subjected to 
 great pressure, till its surface is rendered 
 smooth and glossy. 
 
 MANGROVE, a tree which forms 
 dense woods on the African rivers. * 
 
 MANICHEES, or MANICHfEANS, 
 the followers of Manes, a fanatic in the 
 3d century, who taught that there were 
 two Gods, independent of each other, 
 evil and good. 
 
 MANIS, an animal inhabiting India. 
 They are nearly covered with large 
 horny scales, and feed on insects, by 
 protruding their tongues into their nests. 
 
 MANNA, the concrete juice of a spe- 
 cies of ash, growing in Calabria and Si- 
 cily. By distillation it affords water, 
 acid, oil, and ammonia. 
 
 MANNERS, that exterior grace of 
 address and personal demeanour which 
 distinguishes a vulgar man from a man of 
 the world, and a clown from a gentleman, 
 126 
 
 MAR 
 
 deemed so important by Archbishop 
 Wickham, that the motto “ Manner * 
 makes the man” is placed in large charac- 
 ters in Winchester School. Attention 
 to others and deference to their wants 
 and pleasures, real and imaginary, are 
 the cardinal rules. 
 
 MANOMETER, or Manoscope, a 
 meteorological instrument for ascertain- 
 ing the rarity or density of the air. 
 
 MANOR, a district granted by the 
 crown, over which the lord possesses 
 certain jurisdiction. 
 
 MANSLAUGHTER, killing without 
 malice, but not without fault. 
 
 MANTIS, a genus of insects, of which 
 there are upwards of sixty species, the 
 chief of which is the praying Mantis, or 
 soothsayer, so called from its holding up 
 the two fore legs, in its general sitting 
 posture, as if in the act of devotion. 
 
 MANUFACTURES, articles of use, 
 made from raw materials, as from wool, 
 cotton, flax, or metals ; the whole of 
 which are in Great Britain worth 30 mil- 
 lions per annum, and employ two mil- 
 lions ofartizans. 
 
 MAP, a delineation of a country, ac- 
 cording to a scale, in which the propor- 
 tion, shape, and position, of places are 
 exactly preserved. The top is usually 
 the north, and the right-hand the east, 
 and, when otherwise, distinguished by a 
 Jieur de lis pointing to the North. The 
 entire use and study of maps is to be 
 found in Goldsmith’s School Atlas, and 
 the copying of maps, by his copy-books, 
 is the only key to the knowledge of 
 Geography. 
 
 MAPLE, or Sycamore, the name of a 
 tree, of which there are 20 varieties. 
 The American sugar-maple has been 
 known to yield tw enty-three gallons of 
 sap in one day, affording nearly five 
 pounds of sugar. 
 
 MARBLE, crystals of carbonate of 
 lime, found in great masses, and dug 
 out of pits and quarries in the mountain- 
 ous parts of Europe, of which, that ob- 
 tained in Italy is the most valuable. 
 English marble is found most abun- 
 dantly in Derbyshire and Anglesea, and 
 much marble is composed of palpable 
 sea-shells cemented together by exuda- 
 tions from superior strata. 
 
 MARINE REMAINS, the shells of 
 sea-fish, found on digging below the 
 earth’s surface, in nearly all situations 
 and countries, and in some in solid beds 
 of great depth, and covering very exten- 
 sive tracts. In truth, many naturalists 
 
MAR 
 
 have supposed that rocks of phosphate 
 and carbonate of lime are composed en- 
 tirely of their remains. They are found 
 at various depths with intervening land 
 remains, generally in three strata, one 
 above the other, serving to prove that 
 the bed of the sea had been at three dis- 
 tinct remote times in those positions, 
 and for long periods. The species of 
 remains thus discovered are of animals 
 which either do not exist at present, or 
 are only found in remote seas. 
 
 MARINES, soldiers raised for naval 
 service, and trained to fight either on 
 shipboard, or in an action on land. 
 
 MARIUS; a Roman leader of the 
 Plebeians against Sylla, a leader of the 
 Nobles, whose contests for ascendancy 
 were barbarous and destructive. 
 
 MARLE, a mixture of carbonate of 
 lime and clay, used in agriculture for 
 enriching barren land, and valuable ac- 
 cording t6 the proportion of lime which 
 it contains. There are stone, slate, and 
 shell, marie. 
 
 MARQUESS, a peer, in rank between 
 an earl and a duke, and wearing a coro- 
 net on state-occasions as beneath. 
 
 MARROW, an oily substance, con- 
 tained in the cavity of the bones. 
 
 MARS, in the heathen my thology, the 
 god of war, son of Jupiter and Juno, 
 and brother to Bellona, goddess of war. 
 
 MARS, a planet 4000 miles in diame- 
 ter, 145 millions of miles distant from 
 the sun, round which it revolves in 687 
 127 
 
 MAS 
 
 days. It is distinguished by its red co- 
 lour. 
 
 MARSHAL, FIELD, the highest 
 military rank ; also applied to the head 
 of the Herald’s ofiice, as Karl Marshal. 
 
 MARTIN, a bird of passage which 
 visits England in May, and departs in 
 October, and well known for the ingeni- 
 ous and interesting nests which they 
 build in the corners of houses. 
 
 MASHING, the stirring of malt after 
 water has been put to it, at 180 or 190 
 degrees. 
 
 MASON, an artisan who shapes stones 
 and arranges them in building structures. 
 
 MASONS, FREE, a fraternity of per- 
 sons who are sworn to keep secret cer- 
 tain signs, and to render each other ser- 
 vice as brethren, 
 
 MASS, GRAND, the daily ceremony 
 of the Romish church, the form of the 
 altar and the dress of the priest being as 
 in the engraving. 
 
 MAST, an elevated pole in a ship, to 
 which are attached the sails to catch the 
 wind. It is supported by an ingenious 
 combination of ropes, adapted to ascend 
 for the purpose of adjusting the sails. 
 Masts are divided into fore, middle, and 
 
MEC 
 
 mizen, and the middle or main mast in 
 large ships is divided into lower, top, 
 and top-gallant. 
 
 MASTERS of CHANCERY, twelve 
 assistants to the Lord Chancellor. 
 
 MASTIC, a resinous gum, used in 
 medicine, in fumigations, and by paint- 
 ers and artists in varnishes. 
 
 MATE, an assistant officer to the cap- 
 tain of a merchant vessel, or to a surgeon 
 on shipboard. 
 
 MATERIA MEDICA, terms used to 
 denote all those substances which are 
 employed in the restoration of health. 
 
 MATHEMATICS, the sciences of 
 algebra, geometry, and their varieties, 
 of which the best general system for 
 study is by Peter Nicholson. 
 
 MATRASS, or Cucurbit> a chemical 
 glass vessel of the shape of a gourd, uged 
 for digestion and distillation. 
 
 MATRIX, the substance in which 
 any mineral is found imbedded ; and, in 
 type-founding, the mould in which the 
 letters are cast. 
 
 MATTER, that which in motion pro- 
 duces power, whether solid, fluid, or ga- 
 seous. The power when the matter is 
 the same, being as the velocity, and 
 when the velocity is the same, being as 
 the matter. 
 
 MAXILLA, in anatomy, the jaw-bone. 
 
 MAXIMUM and MINIMUM, the 
 greatest and the least. 
 
 MEAD, a pleasant liquor made of ho- 
 ney and water, boiled and fermented. 
 
 MEAN, a middle state; called arith- 
 metical, when it is half the sum of two 
 extremes ; geometrical, when it is the 
 square root of the product of two ex- 
 tremes; and harmonical, when it is 
 proportional to the sum of the two ex- 
 tremes. 
 
 MEASURE, the determination of di- 
 mensions, as a line in inches, feet, &c. ; 
 of a surface, in squareinches, feet, &c. ; 
 and of a solid, in cubical inches, feet, 
 &c. 
 
 MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 that system which ascribes the pheno- 
 mena of nature to simple mechanical 
 causes, arid traces them ; and pretended 
 to be generally taught for the last two 
 centuries; yet, till within these few 
 years, mingled with various occult and 
 superstitious principles of power, called 
 attraction, repulsion, universal gravita- 
 tion, caloric, fluids, sui generis. See., all 
 which have been engrafted on philoso- 
 phy by the same absence of reasoning 
 which led the first mechanical philoso- 
 128 
 
 MEN 
 
 phers to believe in witchcraft, magic, 
 and astrology. 
 
 MECHANICAL POWERS, those ar- 
 rangements by which the velocity of the 
 power is varied, so as to accommodate 
 the means to the position and circum- 
 stances of the agent and patient. These 
 contrivances are the simple lever, the 
 pulley, the wheel and axis, the inclined 
 plane, the wedge, and the screw ; all are 
 founded on the simple principle that 
 equal multiples of matter and motion 
 produce an equilibrium power. 
 
 MECHANICS, the science which in- 
 vestigates the laws and forces of bodies 
 in motion and combination. 
 
 MEDICINE, the very useful science 
 by which the structure of the animal 
 body is studied, and remedies skilfully 
 applied to the cure of various diseases. 
 
 MEDITERRANEAN, the inland sea 
 which divides Europe from Africa and 
 Asia; and in the countries bordering 
 which, resided the nations famous in 
 antiquity. It has no tides. 
 
 MEDIUM, the gaseous or fluid matter 
 which, though invisible, fills any space, 
 and through which forces diverge in- 
 versely as the square of the distance. 
 All space is filled with a medium for 
 their transmitting forces. 
 
 MEDULLA OBLONGATA, an im- 
 portant portion of the brain, which, sends 
 forth nine pair of nerves, and extends 
 itself down the spine, whence it sends 
 thirty pair of nerves. 
 
 MEDUSA, a genus of worms of 
 the order mollusca, or animals con- 
 sisting of tender gelatinous masses, with 
 arms extending from the lower surface. 
 The largest are called sea-nettles, from 
 their causing a slight and tingling red- 
 ness when touched. 
 
 MEGATHERIUM, an extinct animal, 
 the bones of which are found in a fossil 
 state in all parts of the world. 
 
 MELOE, a genus of insects, consisting 
 of thirty-five species, the most beautiful 
 of which is the cantharis, or blister-fly. 
 
 MELON, a delicious fruit of the cu- 
 cumber tribe. 
 
 MEMBRANE, a web of fibres enve- 
 loping many parts of the body, particu- 
 larly the brain and viscera. 
 
 MEMORY, ARTIFICIAL, the asso- 
 ciation of ideas to be remembered with 
 other things in well-recollected order ; 
 and, in regard to numbers, the conver- 
 sion of figures into syllables. 
 
 MENSTRUUM, in chemistry, the 
 fluid in which a solid body is dissolved. 
 
MER 
 
 MENSURATION, the art of deter- 
 mining the square and cubic dimensions 
 of superfices and solids, effected in su- 
 perfices by multiplying the length by 
 the breadth, and in solids by the further 
 multiplication of the depth ; figures 
 when irregular being reduced to regular 
 ones. Thus 4 dimensions one way, and 
 3 another, give 12 squares, or 4 multi- 
 plied by 3. 
 
 MEPHITIC AIR, carbonic acid gas. 
 
 MERCHANT, one who exports the 
 produce of one country, and imports 
 the produce of another ; or any trader 
 who deals wholesale. 
 
 MERCURY, the planet nearestto the 
 sun, in diameter 3200 miles, distance 
 37 millions, and period of revolution 
 88 days. 1 1 is seldom visible. 
 
 MERCURY, in the heathen mytho- 
 logy, the inventor of letters, and the 
 god of eloquence, and son of Jupiter 
 and Maia, the daughter of Atlas. He 
 was the messenger of Jupiter and the 
 gods, and was furnished with a winged 
 hat, and with wings to his feet. 
 
 MERCURY, or fluid of Silver, a 
 white fluid metal, the heaviest, except 
 platina and gold. It freezes at 39 s below 
 the zero of Fahrenheit, when it is mal- 
 leable, and boils at 6G0°. It readily 
 129 
 
 MET 
 
 combines with nearly all other metal?, 
 and is used in water-gilding, the manu- 
 facture of vermilion, the silvering of 
 looking-glasses, the making of barome- 
 ters and thermometers, and the prepara- 
 tion of several powerful medicines, some 
 of which are a deadly poison. 
 
 MERIDIAN, a circle supposed to be 
 drawn in the heavens, from the north 
 to the south, overhead. 
 
 METALS, very useful substances, 
 distinguished by their weight, tenacity, 
 hardness, opacity, colour, and brilliancy. 
 All earths are believed to be combina- 
 tions of some metal with oxygen. For- 
 merly only seven were known, or only 
 seven had been decomposed from the ma- 
 terials with which they were mixed, and 
 these had been discovered owing to their 
 being sometimes found in a pure state. 
 Chemical science has, however, decom- 
 posed other earths, and added thirty to 
 the number of metals, some of them* 
 more curious than useful. The heavi- 
 est metal, platinum, is 21 times heavier 
 than water, but some of the new metals 
 are lighter than water. 
 
 METALLURGY, the art of working 
 metals from their ores, comprising the 
 processes of assaying, refining, smelting. 
 
 METAMORPHOSIS of INSECTS, 
 the successive changes through which 
 they pass from the egg to the caterpillar, 
 or larva state, to the chrysalis, pupa, or 
 aurelia state, and lastly to the moth, or 
 butterfly form, when, having laid their 
 eggs, they die. 
 
 METAPHYSICS, abstract philoso- 
 phy, or the examination of the general 
 causes and relations of existing things. 
 
 METEMPSYCHOSIS, an absurd 
 doctrine taught by the Hindoo priests, 
 about the transmigration of souls from 
 one body to another. 
 
 METEOR, one of the most extraor- 
 dinary phenomena of nature. They 
 pass at the height of 50 or GO miles, 
 with such rapidity as to scan over dis- 
 tances of several hundred miles at the 
 same instant, leave a x report behind 
 them, and illumine the entire atmos- 
 phere. Their most common appear- 
 ances are shewn in the engravings. 
 There are many theories about them ; 
 but Sir Richard Phillips considers them 
 as bodies floating in space, which the 
 earth encounters in its annual motion, 
 and in passing through the atmosphere, 
 he considers that their light, heat, &c. 
 
 &c, are engendered. When they fall 
 in with the direct course of the earth, 
 
MET 
 
 they appear to fall as meteoric stones, 
 but when they only pass through the 
 atmosphere, they are mere luminous 
 meteors. 
 
 Great Meteor of Nov. 13, 1803, as seen at 
 Soho Square. 
 
 Great Meteor of 1803, as seen at Greenwich . 
 
 METEOROLOGY, the science which 
 illustrates the phenomena of the atmos- 
 phere in wind, clouds, rain, hail, snow, 
 &c; the instruments for studying which 
 are the barometer and thermometer. 
 
 METHODIST, a term originally ap- 
 plied to the founder of a sect of physi- 
 cians at Rome ; next to a religious sect, 
 who, in the 17th century, defended the 
 church of Rome from the attacks of the 
 Protestants ; and now used to designate 
 the followers of Wesley and Whitfield, 
 the former professing the doctrines of 
 Arminius, and the latter of Calvin. 
 
 METRE, in poetry, the order of com- 
 bining quantities or syllables to produce 
 different verses, as pentameter, hexa- 
 meter, heroic, anapaestic, or alexandrine, 
 accordingly, as it consists of 4, 5, 6, 8, 
 10, or 12, syllables. 
 
 METRE, a French measure equal to 
 39*3702 inches English, or the ten mil- 
 lionth part of the distance from the 
 equator to the North Pole. It is divided 
 downwards into decimetres, centimetres, 
 130 
 
 MIL 
 
 and millemetres, and upwards multiply* 
 ing into decametres, hecatometres, &c. 
 
 MEZZOTINTO, a particular kind 
 of engraving. 
 
 MIASMATA, the noxious gases which 
 arise from swamps and putrifying masses. 
 
 MICA, or Muscovy Glass, a stone form- 
 ing an essential part of many mountains, 
 and used as a substitute for glass. 
 
 MICROCOSM, the world contained 
 in a man. 
 
 MICROMETER, an instrument for 
 accurately measuring small angles in 
 the heavens. 
 
 MICROSCOPE, an arrangement of 
 lenses which enables the observer to 
 see an object, or its true image, nearer 
 than with the naked eye, and magnified 
 accordingly. The simplest microscope 
 is a small hole made with a needle in 
 a sheet of paper. The engraving re- 
 presents a section of a tree as viewed 
 through a microscope. 
 
 MIDDLESEX, a small county, north 
 of the Thames, remarkable as contain- 
 ing London, the metropolis of the Bri- 
 tish empire, with nearly 200,000 houses, 
 and 1,200,000 inhabitants. 
 
 MIDSHIPMAN, the name of a junior 
 officer in a ship of war, from his quar- 
 ters being in the middle of the ship. 
 
 MIGRATION OF BIRDS, the an- 
 nual passage of birds from one country 
 to another in quest of provisions and 
 mild climate. Thus, the swallow and 
 many other species migrate into southern 
 climates during our winter, and return 
 in the spring. 
 
 MILE, an English measure, of which 
 about 69 make a degree of latitude, 
 and it is divided into 8 furlongs, 1/60 
 yards, 5280 feet, and 63,360 inches. 
 
 MILK, the fluid destined for the nou- 
 rishment of young animals, from the 
 unctuous parts of which butter is formed, 
 by churning, and from the other parts 
 cheese, by coagulation with rennet. 
 
 MILKY WAY, that extensive shoal 
 
MIN 
 
 of innumerable fixed stars, of which the 
 sun is one, and of which all visible single 
 stars are parts, other visible stars, being, 
 in reality, clusters similar to the milky 
 way. Taken lengthways in direction, our 
 cluster contains 100,000 stars, each dis- 
 tant from the other at least 30 billions 
 of miles, and the entire cluster consists 
 of many millions of stars. 
 
 MILL, a combination of machinery to 
 effect purposes which require great force. 
 The force employed is sometimes water, 
 sometimes wind, and at others steam, 
 or horses. The principle is always the 
 same; a main shaft enters the works, to 
 which wheels with cogs are affixed, and 
 the power being the contrary of the ve- 
 locity, small wheels give great power, 
 and large wheels less power ; other 
 wheels are then connected with these in 
 various directions, and the resulting 
 force applied to any desirable object. 
 When corn is to be ground, large stones, 
 cut in grooves, are made to work one 
 against the other in such manner as to 
 break or pulverize the grain. There 
 are also bark mills, paper mills, and oil 
 mills, which operate by the force of per- 
 cussion; also, silk, cotton, and flax 
 mills, which perform sundry operations; 
 and saw mills, which revolve circular 
 saws with great energy and precision. 
 
 MILLENNIUM, a whimsical fancy of 
 many religious fanatics that during 1000 
 years Christ is to reign on earth. The 
 notion originated in the monkish ages 
 of Roman superstition. 
 
 MILIARY GLANDS, apertures 
 through which the perspiration passes. 
 
 MILLION, ten hundred thousand; 
 a million of millions being a billion, and 
 so on for trillions, quadrillions, &c. 
 
 MIMOSA, an interesting genus of 
 plants, called sensitive, on account of 
 their leaves receding from the touch, 
 and running up close together. There 
 are 85 species, natives of warm climates. 
 The effect is supposed to be mechanical, 
 or electrical. 
 
 MIND, the result of animal experi- 
 ence, generated by perception through 
 the senses, and formed by association or 
 sympathy of ideas, and by reasoning, 
 by comparison, or analogy. The per- 
 fection of which powers depends on edu- 
 cation and practice. 
 
 MINE, a cavity underground, formed 
 for the purpose of obtaining minerals, 
 often very deep and extensive. The 
 descent into them is by a pit, called a 
 shaft, and the excavations which follow 
 
 131 
 
 MIN 
 
 the mineral sought are called the work - 
 ings. The enemies of miners are fixed 
 or inflammable air, and water ; and 
 to ventilate them, and to pump out 
 the water, are principal operations. 
 There are mines of gold, silver, copper, 
 iron, diamonds, salt, alum, antimony, 
 &c. The clues by which mines are dis- 
 covered, are mineral waters, the disco- 
 louration of vegetables, the appear- 
 ance of pieces of ore, or metallic sand, 
 or various exhalations from the soil. 
 
 MINERALS, the general name for 
 all metals and metallic substances, whe- 
 ther pure or ore, or oxide, in which 
 latter sense it includes all earthy sub- 
 stances, because they are considered 
 as oxides of metals. The valuable mi- 
 neral products of Britain lie in the 
 northern and western sides, the other 
 sides consisting of secondary formations 
 and alluvial soil. 
 
 MINERAL WATERS, waters whieh 
 are impregnated with certain chemical a- 
 gentsand re-agents, which, when drunk, 
 act and re-acton the chemical principles 
 of the animal body, and produce effects 
 determined by experience. 
 
 MINERVA, the goddess of wisdom, 
 and patroness of invention and the 
 useful arts. 
 
MIT 
 
 MINIATURE, the art of painting by 
 dots, or points instead of lines, distin- 
 guished by the delicacy of the colouring. 
 
 MINIM, two crotchets or half a semi- 
 breve. 
 
 MINIUM, the chemical name of red 
 lead, or oxide of lead, which by heat 
 may be again reduced to lead. 
 MINARET, the spire of a mosque. 
 MINORITY, the period under twen- 
 ty-one years of age. 
 
 MINSTRELS, certain persons who, 
 in ancient times, wandered about sing- 
 ing panegyrics on their benefactors, and 
 accompanying them with music. 
 
 MINT, or MENTHiE, a genus of 
 plants, whose roots are perennial, used 
 for culinary and medicinal purposes. 
 There are 19 species, all of which con- 
 tain much essential oil. 
 
 MINUTE, the sixtieth part of the de- 
 gree of a circle, and denoted thus (') ; as 
 the second or sixtieth part of a minute, 
 is by (") ; also, the sixtieth part of an 
 hour. 
 
 MINUTENESS, a relative term ap- 
 plied to bodies too small for sense, but 
 large when compared with others. 
 
 MIRACLES, effects contrary to the 
 laws and course of nature, wrought by 
 supernatural means to accomplish ex- 
 traordinary purposes. 
 
 MIRAGE, an optical deception by 
 which objects are raised in the atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 MIRROR, a surface so equal as to 
 reflect rays of light, which fall on it 
 with certain obliquity, and which, when 
 insensible to the action of light, deflect 
 it however it falls. They are flat, as 
 looking-glasses ; or concave, when they 
 converge rays into images ; or convex, 
 when they diverge rays about. 
 
 MISCELLANEA, the 54th Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, consisting of 
 such genera as are not connected by nu- 
 merous relations. 
 
 MISSAL, a mass book. 
 
 MITE, an insect without wings, with 
 eight legs, two eyes, and two large joints. 
 It is very prolific, and will live many 
 months without food. 
 
 MOL 
 
 MISDEMEANOR, a crime less than 
 felony, as perjury, libel, assault, &c. 
 
 MISLETOE, a plant propagated by 
 seed, sown upon other trees. 
 
 MITRE, a sacerdotal crown, formerly 
 worn on the head by bishops. 
 
 MOAT, or DITCH, in fortification, 
 a deep trench dug round a rampart- 
 
 MOCKING-BIRD, common in the 
 woods of South America, and capable of 
 counterfeiting the notes of other birds. 
 
 MODERNS, an epithet applied to 
 those writers who have distinguished 
 themselves in modern Europe, since 
 the revival of learning ; but whose ver- 
 bal and logical errors have been perpe- 
 tuated by large printed editions, by 
 which the authors themselves, as well 
 as the multipliers of their works, have 
 been disabled from conferring on them 
 the perfections which successivecopyists 
 had the power of conferring on the 
 Greek and Latin Classics. In poetry 
 they consist of Tasso, Chaucer, Milton, 
 Pope, and Klopstock ; in the drama, 
 Shakspeare, Moliere, Lopez de Vega, 
 Voltaire, Richardson, Fielding, Wie- 
 land, and Schiller ; in morals, Addison, 
 Pascal, Montesquieu, and Johnson; in 
 oratory, Chatham, Mirabeau, Fox, 
 Burke, Pitt, and Sheridan; in philoso- 
 phy, Copernicus, Bacon, Kepler, Des- 
 cartes, Locke, Leibnitz, Hume, Priest- 
 ley, and Kant ; in mathematics, Newton, 
 Euclid, d’Alembert, La Grange, and La 
 Place; besides such men as Columbus, 
 and Cooke, in navigation ; Harvey, 
 Boerhaave, Haller, Bichat, and Jenner, 
 in medicine; and Buffon and Linnaeus, 
 in natural history. 
 
 MODUS OPERANDI, the actual me- 
 thod by which an operation is performed. 
 
 MOLASSES, the thick fluid matter 
 remaining after sugar is made. 
 
 MOLE, a quadruped about six inches 
 in length, living in subterranean bur- 
 
 132 
 
MON 
 
 rows, which it rapidly forms by its snout 
 and feet, being able to withdraw its eyes 
 at pleasure. 
 
 MOLLUSCA, animals that have no 
 skeleton, their muscles being attached 
 to their skin, and with an irregular dis- 
 tribution of nerves. 
 
 MOLLUSCS, the second order of 
 worms, so tenacious of life, that they 
 may be cut to pieces without being 
 killed. It includes medusae, echinus, 
 Umax, and asterias. 
 
 MOMENT, the least portion of time. 
 
 MOMENTUM, the power displayed 
 by any body in a certain direction, al- 
 ways measured by the velocity, and in- 
 creased or diminished by the number of 
 atoms ; and, therefore, as the velocity 
 multiplied by the quantity. 
 
 MONADE, an atom no longer divisi- 
 ble. 
 
 MONADELPHIA, the sixteenth class 
 of the Linnaean system of plants, con- 
 taining eight orders, triandria, pentan- 
 dria, octandria, enneandria, decandria, 
 endecandria, dodecandria, and polyan- 
 dria, — with the stamina united into one 
 body by the filaments. 
 
 MONANDRIA, the first class of the 
 Linnaean system of plants, containing 
 two orders, monogynia and digynia, 
 133 
 
 MON 
 
 with one stamen, and one or more pis- 
 
 MONARCHY, a government, where- 
 in there is a limited king or emperor ; 
 called a despotism, when unlimited, or 
 when the monarch makes and alters the 
 laws at his own pleasure. 
 
 MONASTERY, a house for the re- 
 ception of monks, friars, or nuns. 
 
 MONEY, the portable and standard 
 equivalent for commodities, labour, and 
 values transferred ; and, being easily ac- 
 cumulated and imperishable, it affords 
 facilities to avarice, and is the cause of 
 the chief social miseries of mankind. 
 When it is plentiful with reference to 
 commodities and labour, they are said to 
 be dear, but when commodities and la- 
 bour are plentiful in reference to 
 money, they are said to be cheap; 
 dearness and cheapness being mere re- 
 lative terms. Stamped gold, silver, 
 copper, and paper, are, by consent, the 
 money of all nations. 
 
 MONKEY, the general name of the 
 ape, baboon, and simia tribe, the se- 
 veral varieties of which are principally 
 found in the tropical climates. They 
 inhabit forests in prodigious numbers, 
 and, though mischievous, their manners 
 are fantastical and interesting. They 
 have hands like man, and also walk 
 on two legs, but they practise no arts 
 beyond what are suggested by the neces- 
 sities of the hour. They are affectionate 
 to their young, and often exhibit great 
 sagacity, but their brain is smaller than 
 that of man, and they are without his 
 risible muscle, and less in size. They 
 throw missiles with great dexterity, and 
 live on vegetables. 
 
 N 
 
MOO 
 
 MONOLOGUE, a soliloquy. 
 
 MONSOON, a wind which, in the In- 
 dian seas, blows six months in one di- 
 rection, and six months in the opposite. 
 
 MONT BLANC, the highest moun- 
 tain in Europe; or 15,500 feet, covered 
 with snow 12,000 feet. 
 
 MONTH, CALENDAR, the twelfth 
 part of the year. 
 
 MONTH, LUNAR, the period of an 
 entire lunation, or 29 days, 12 hours, 
 4 l minutes. 
 
 MOON, the earth’s satellite, 240,000 
 miles distant, and 2160 miles in dia- 
 meter, or fifty times less than the earth. 
 She goes round the earth in 27 days, 4 
 hours, 43 minutes, and 11 seconds, or 
 from new moon to new moon, in 29 
 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3 seconds. 
 Her orbit is inclined to the ecliptic 5 
 134 
 
 MOS 
 
 degrees, 18 minutes. The moon and 
 earth are acted upon by the sun as one 
 body, and each moves round the centre 
 of the sun’s action, like two bodies at 
 the ends of a steelyard, the fulcrum 
 being about fifty times nearer the earth 
 than the moon, and this motion occa- 
 sions the waters of the earth to accumu- 
 late on the side next the moon. The 
 surface of the moon is very rough, and 
 covered with mountains and cavities ap- 
 parently dry as a cinder. 
 
 MORALITY, the rule of conduct 
 which promotes the happiness of others, 
 and renders their welfare accordant with 
 our own. 
 
 MORBID, diseased. 
 
 MORDANTS, materials which, by 
 combining with one colour in preference 
 to another, are used by dyers to produce 
 any desirable affinity. 
 
 MOREA, the southern peninsula of 
 Greece. 
 
 MOROCCO, an extensive empire on 
 the northern coast of Africa. 
 
 MORTAR, the name of a piece of 
 artillery used to throw bombs, carcasses, 
 and fire-pots, during the siege of for- 
 tified towns. It turns on the centre, 
 and is raised or lowered in its elevation 
 by moving the supporting piece nearer 
 or further off. 
 
 MORTISE, an excavation in a piece 
 of wood, adapted to receive a fitting 
 piece, called a tenon. 
 
 MORTGAGE, the assignment of an 
 estate in pledge for a sum borrowed. 
 
 MOSQUE, a Mahometan temple or 
 church. Some of them are very splen- 
 did, as the mosque of St. Sophia, at 
 Constantinople, at Mecca, &c. 
 
 MONMOUTHSHIRE, a picturesque 
 English county which adjoins Wales. 
 
 MONOCULUS, a genus of water in- 
 sects, of which there are about fifty 
 species in stagnant waters. 
 
 MONOECIA, the twenty-first class of 
 the Linnasan system of plants, containing 
 eleven orders, monandria, diandria, tri- 
 andria, tetrandria, pentandria, hexan- 
 dria, heptandria, polyandria, monadel- 
 P.hia, syngenesia, gynandria, with sta- 
 mina and pistilla distinct in the same 
 plant. 
 
MOU 
 
 MOSES, the historian and legislator 
 of the Jews, born 1571 B. C. died 1451. 
 
 MOTH, or Phalcena, an elegant spe- 
 cies of insect, whose changes correspond 
 with those of the butterfly. 
 
 Grub of the Moth. 
 
 MOTHER, the female parent, to 
 whose care, tenderness, and personal 
 sacrifices, children are indebted for their 
 existence through the helpless state of 
 infancy, and for all their early educa- 
 tion and welfare ; and to whom, as their 
 devoted friend, they ought always to 
 display unabated affection, gratitude, 
 and sympathy. 
 
 MOTHER OF PEARL, a beautiful 
 white enamel or animal gluten, which, 
 with alternate strata of carbonate of 
 lime, forms the shelL 
 
 MOTION, the successive occupation 
 or appropriation of space by a body, by 
 which power in the body is displayed. 
 As motion produces change of place in 
 atoms and masses, it is the cause of all 
 phenomena. When equally resisted, 
 its direction is always that of the force 
 impressed ; and, as it continues in a body 
 till parted with to other bodies, action 
 and re-action, or motion and reception, 
 are always equal ; consequently, no mo- 
 tion is ever lost, but in a state of conti- 
 nued transfer. 
 
 MOULDINESS, a vegetable or ani- 
 mal substance, which generates itself on 
 decayed bread and vegetable substances, 
 and appears to be a simple effect of fer- 
 mentation, which some consider as fun- 
 gi, or minute moss, and others as ani- 
 malculae. 
 
 MOUNTAINS, inequalities of the 
 earth’s surface, appertaining to all pla- 
 netary bodies, as appears by viewing 
 135 
 
 MOZ 
 
 the Moon and Venus through a teles- 
 cope. On the earth they consist of pri- 
 mitive rocks, as granite, trap, and por- 
 phyry, other rocks and earths being 
 subsequent formations of fire, water, 
 and air, abutting against the moun- 
 tains, and filling up the valleys. The 
 principal ridges are the Andes, in South 
 America, from three to five miles high ; 
 the Himalayas, in North Hindostan, of 
 equal height; the Alps, in Europe ; the 
 Stony Mountains, in North America ; 
 the mountains of Caucasus and Thibet, 
 in Asia ; those of the Moon, in Africa ; 
 those of Norway; the Pyrenees, in 
 Spain ; and the W elch and Scotch moun- 
 tains. The action of air, water, and 
 volcanic fires, waste and level these 
 ridges, and under different circumstan- 
 ces, their debris, or ruins, form by succes- 
 sive operations all varieties of earths 
 and soils. The ascent of them carries 
 men ipto colder regions, and above the 
 clouds, and presents nature under 'a va- 
 riety of novel aspects. Their height is 
 determined by Trigonometry : thus the 
 height of E is determined by the dis- 
 tance D, at which its top can be seen. 
 We then know the angle, D C B, and 
 the radius, C D, to find C E, from 
 which deducting CD, or C B, we have 
 B E, the height required. 
 
 MOUSE, a very harmless animal 
 which inhabits the holes of buildings, 
 and feeds on those crumbs of the table 
 which otherwise would he lost ; and 
 who lives chiefly in negts in the loose 
 soil of hedges and roots of trees. They 
 are very prolific. 
 
 MOZART, musician, died 1792. 
 
MUM 
 
 MUCILAGE, the name of a solution 
 of gum, and of any tenacious liquid. 
 
 MUCUS, a viscous fluid. 
 MULBERRY-TREE, a valuable fruit- 
 tree, the leaves of which afford the prin- 
 cipal food of silk-worms. The Japa- 
 nese make paper of the bark, and in the 
 Sandwich Islands a cloth is made from 
 its fibres. 
 
 MULE, an animal, the produce of a 
 horse and an ass, and which itself does 
 not propagate. It is much esteemed for 
 its hardihood, strength, and sureness of 
 foot, and is therefore preferred as a beast 
 of burden in all mountainous countries. 
 If ill-treated, it displays proverbial ob- 
 stinacy. 
 
 MULE, JENNY, a compound of the 
 spinning frame and the spinning jenny, 
 for manufacturing cotton thread. 
 
 MULLIGATAWNEY, a soup made 
 of pepper without meat. 
 
 MULTIPLE, the product of a num- 
 ber into itself. 
 
 MULTIPLICATION, an arithmeti- 
 cal operation by which the multiplicand 
 is accumulated as many times as there 
 are units in the multiplier. 
 
 MULTIPLYING GLASS, a glass 
 with several plane sides, each of which 
 presents a separate picture of an object. 
 
 MULTISILIQUzE, the 26th Lin- 
 nsjan natural order of plants, with many 
 seed-vessels, as columbines, &e. 
 
 MUMMY, a dead body preserved by 
 antiseptics, according to methods prac- 
 tised by the Egyptian priests, 
 
 136 
 
 MUS 
 
 MUNICIPAL, a term applied to the 
 rights and privileges of citizens. 
 
 MURAL QUADRANT, an astrono- 
 mical instrument fixed to a wall, in the 
 exact plane of the meridian. 
 
 MURDER, the killing of another by 
 design and malice aforethought, or by 
 the wanton use of murderous weapons 
 in an unlawful act, always properly 
 punished with death. 
 
 MURIATES, salts formed by muria- 
 tic acids, with alkalies, earths, and ox- 
 ides. 
 
 MURIATIC ACID, the name of the 
 acid, which, combined with soda, con- 
 stitutes common table salt. 
 
 MUSA, in botany, the palm tribe. 
 
 MUSCI, the 56th Linnsan natural 
 order of plants, bearing their flowers and 
 fruit on the back of the leaf or stalk. 
 
 MUSCLES, bundles of fibres, consti- 
 tuting the flesh of animals, the contrac- 
 tions and dilatations of which move the 
 bones, or perform the organic functions 
 of life. There are in man 201 muscles, 
 or pairs of muscles. 
 
 MUSES, fabulous divinities supposed 
 to preside over the arts and sciences. 
 Some writers reckon only three Muses, 
 Mneme, Acede, and Melite ; or Memory, 
 Singing, and Meditation ; but the most 
 ancient authors reckon nine, viz., Clio, 
 or glory; Euterpe, pleasing; Thalia, 
 flourishing; Melpomene, attracting; 
 Terpsichore, rejoicing the heart; Era- 
 to, the amiable ; Polyhymnia, a multi- 
 tude of songs ; Urania, the heavenly ; 
 and Calliope, sweetness of voice. To 
 Clio they attributed the invention of 
 history ; to Melpomene, tragedy ; to 
 Thalia, comedy ; to Euterpe, the use 
 of the flute; to Terpsichore, the harp ; 
 to Erato, the lyre and lute; to Cal- 
 liope, heroic verse ; to Urania, astrolo- 
 gy ; and to Polyhymnia, rhetoric. 
 
 MUSEUM, a repository of curiosities 
 in the arts and sciences. 
 
 MUSIC, a succession of sounds agree- 
 able to the ear, and in harmony with 
 its powers, produced by vibrations of the 
 air, in tones which depend on the con- 
 stituent gas affected, each being suscep- 
 tible of simultaneous perception; and 
 hence the harmonious effect of various 
 instruments. 
 
 MUSK, a species of goat, common in 
 the mountains of Thibet, and hunted 
 for its well-known perfume, which is 
 contained in a small oval bag, hanging 
 from the middle of the abdomen. 
 
 MUSKET, an implement of war. 
 
NAP 
 
 borne on the shoulder. The length is 
 3 feet, 8 in. from the muzzle to the pan. 
 
 MUSNUD, the name of a royal throne 
 in eastern countries. 
 
 MUSQUITO, a kind of knat, the 
 pest of hot countries. 
 
 MUSSEL, a fish inhabiting two shells, 
 from which, in some seas, pearls areoften 
 obtained. It is found in large beds, ad- 
 hering to other bodies by a long silky 
 beard. 
 
 MUSSELMAN, or MOSLEM, a true 
 believer in Mahomed. 
 
 MUST, the unfermented juice of the 
 grape. 
 
 MUTATIS MUTANDIS, things be- 
 ing duly changed. 
 
 MUTUAL INSTRUCTION, that 
 admirable practical system adopted in 
 the infant schools of Bell and Lancas- 
 ter, by which the senior scholars teach 
 the juniors reading, writing, and arith- 
 metic. 
 
 NAT 
 
 MYRRH, the valuable resin of a tree 
 growing in Egypt, Arabia, Abyssinia, 
 and much used in medicine. 
 
 MYRTLE, a genus of plants, includ- 
 ing the allspice, and may other valuable 
 spice-trees. 
 
 MYSTICAL, any thing rendered un- 
 intelligible by design or ignorance. 
 
 MYSTIFICATION, an art practised 
 by many writers, to conceal their igno- 
 rance, who introduce words and terms 
 with an affectation of explanation and 
 definition, while the words and terms 
 used have themselves either no mean- 
 ing, or no precise meaning. This fraud 
 pervades most books on metaphysics, 
 theology, philosophy, chemistry, m l 
 medical theory. 
 
 MYTHOLOGY, the history of the 
 mysteries and allegories of the fabu- 
 lous gods and heroes of barbarous na- 
 tions, too often respected by policy after 
 they become civilized. 
 
 N 
 
 NABOB, an Hindoo Magistrate, and 
 a name applied to Englishmen vyho have 
 acquired wealth in India. 
 
 NADIR, the point in the heavens 
 over the antipodes, and opposite to the 
 zenith, or point over head. 
 
 NAIADES, fresh-water shells. 
 
 NAIL, an excrescence of many ani- 
 mals, which in others is a hoof. Their 
 rapid growth proves the constant change 
 of the system. 
 
 NAIL, the sixteenth of a yard. 
 
 NAILS, small pieces of iron, made 
 chiefly near Birmingham, and used to 
 fasten timbers together. There are a- 
 bout twenty sorts, or shapes, according 
 to their purposes. 
 
 NAPOLEON, the most successful 
 warrior recorded in history, not except- 
 ing Caesar and Alexander. He was a 
 General of the French Republic, but in 
 1799 became chief consul, and, in 1805, 
 assumed the title of Emperor of France, 
 and King of Italy. He then overran 
 Europe; but, his army being frozen dur- 
 ing a retreat from Moscow, he suffered 
 reverses, Paris was taken, and, abdicat- 
 ing, he retired to Elba. But plans being 
 proposed to seize him, and send him to 
 St. Helena, and the treaty with him not 
 being kept, he returned in 1815 to Paris. 
 Various treacheries afterwards obliging 
 137 
 
 him to seek an asylum in America, he 
 was intercepted by a British ship, and 
 conveyed to St. Helena, where he died 
 in 1821, aged 52. 
 
 NAPTHA, a natural oil, so imbued 
 with hydrogen, that a slight excitement 
 occasions the absorption of oxygen, and 
 it explodes in heat, flame, and light. It 
 rises in many parts of Asia, and oxygen 
 explodes it by the mere heat of the sun. 
 Probably it is the origin of volcanoes. 
 
 NARCOTICS, stupifying drugs, as 
 opium and its preparations, much used 
 by public brewers, and often in wine- 
 making, to confer apparent strength. 
 
 NARWAL, one of the species of the 
 whale tribe. 
 
 NATION, families of men, living un- 
 der the same institutions and laws, ge- 
 nerally created by the ambition of a 
 chief, as in Monarchies, or by mutual 
 convention, as in Republics. Every 
 nation is large enough which is able to 
 protect itself by its own power, or by 
 alliances against the outrages of other 
 nations, and nothing is gained to the 
 people by an enlargement, while it adds 
 to the patronage of the government, and 
 to its power of enslaving the whole. 
 Governments therefore encourage a pas- 
 sion of aggrandisement, and hence the 
 wars and follies of history; but wise 
 k2 
 
NAT 
 
 men should prefer to belong to a happy 
 and well-governed rather than an ex- 
 tended empire. 
 
 NATIONAL DEBT, a sum borrowed 
 by government, on the security of the 
 existing taxes, which stand pledged to 
 the lender for the payment of the interest 
 of the sum borrowed. Thus, the En- 
 glish government, at the Revolution, 
 for the purpose of avoiding unpopular 
 taxation, borrowed, on the credit of the 
 existing taxes, of a company, then in- 
 corporated under the name of the Bank 
 of England ; and, as the system was found 
 convenient, this debt increased till at the 
 end of the American war it amounted to 
 1 30 millions ; at the end of the first 
 French war to 450 millions ; and at the 
 end of the war against Napoleon, in 
 1815, to above 800 millions, the an- 
 nual interest being above 30 millions. 
 The debt, of course, is nominal, and the 
 reality is the annual interest or annuity. 
 There never was 800 millions of gold 
 and silver at one time, and this sum was 
 raised only by diminishing the value of 
 money, or by increasing its quantity by 
 paper circulation, and equivalent pri- 
 vate debts. 
 
 NATIONALITY, a virtue, when ap- 
 plied to a love of country, combined with 
 a liberal regard to other nations ; but a 
 vice, when pursued by any people in a 
 selfish and exclusive attachment to one 
 another. 
 
 NATRON , natural carbonate of soda, 
 or mineral alkali, found in beds in 
 Egypt, and other sandy countries, sup- 
 posed to arise from a decomposition of 
 sea salt. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY, the branch 
 of knowledge which registers facts rela- 
 tive to Nature, and classifies them with 
 reference to some inherent common pro- 
 perties or characters. Its subjects are 
 Minerals, classed by Werner ; and Vege- 
 tables, Animals, Birds, Fishes, Insects, 
 and Worms, by Linne ; and all these 
 are treated at large in systems of Mine- 
 ralogy, Botany, and Zoology, and in 
 such books as Shaw’s Nature Displayed. 
 
 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, the 
 branch of knowledge which registers 
 experiments, and determines the arith- 
 metical laws which accompany antece- 
 dent and consequent phenomena, and 
 endeavours always to ascertain the rea- 
 sonable proximate cause of every effect. 
 Its legitimate pursuit is adverse to all 
 hypotheses, miracles, absurdities, and 
 contradictions; and its material being 
 138 
 
 NEA 
 
 matter, and the power of matter being 
 motion, its province is to examine the 
 special matters and motions which in 
 all cases are competent to produce each 
 phenomenon. Its foundations are ex- 
 periment and observation, and its tools 
 arithmetic and geometry, while its a- 
 buse is the misapplication of those un- 
 erring tools to hypotheses and vague 
 analogies. The progress of discovery 
 has classed its study under the sciences 
 of Astronomy, Optics, Statics, Dyna- 
 mics, Chemistry, Electricity, and Geo- 
 logy . — See Blair's Grammar • 
 
 NATURALIZATION, the confer- 
 ring on a foreigner the rights of a native. 
 
 NATURAL ORDERS, a classifica- 
 tion of plants different from the sexual, 
 founded on general common characters. 
 
 NATURE, the material world, or the 
 universe of infinite space, and all which 
 space contains, changeable, and chang- 
 ing in its parts and forms ; while in 
 the germs and wonderful contrivances 
 of beings, it affords indubitable evidence 
 of an eternal source of arrangement in 
 a Deity distinct from his creation. 
 
 NAUMACHIA, a mock sea-fight. 
 
 NAUTILUS, a testaceous worm, 
 found in the Mediterranean and Atlan- 
 tic seas, furnished with a membrane, 
 which it extends as a sail. Another 
 species inhabit a beautiful shell, divided 
 into 30 or 40 chambers. 
 
 NAVE, the centre of a wheel. 
 
 NAVIGATION, the art and science 
 by which, in open seas, ships are con- 
 ducted from port to port. This is effect- 
 ed by charts of the seas, and by keeping 
 a journal of the courses from hour to 
 hour, and the distance on each, by means 
 of the log line, each knot on which cor- 
 responds to a mile of distance. Also by 
 observations on the Sun, Moon, and 
 Stars, made with instruments, and 
 checked by tables and almanacs. 
 
 NAVY, ROYAL, the ships of war 
 which belong to the nation, as its public 
 property ; divided into ships of the line, 
 or those above GO guns ; frigates, from 
 50 to 28 guns; and sloops and cutters 
 from 28 to 6 guns. 
 
 N. B. Nota bene, take notice. 
 
 NEAP TIDES, those low tides which 
 take place when the moon is in the 
 quarters, or moving in the earth’s orbit, 
 and in the same mechanical relation to 
 the sun as the earth; and, as the.tidcs 
 arise from the difference of that relation, 
 so neap tides are merely oscillations con- 
 tinued from former tides. 
 
NEM 
 
 NEBULAE, certain bright spots in the 
 heavens, formed by clusters of stars, 
 which illuminate the entire space. The 
 most remarkable of which is in the 
 sword of Orion. Their distance and 
 real size exceed all powers of human 
 conception. 
 
 NECESSITY, a word properly ap- 
 plied to the immutable course of me- 
 chanical nature ; but unconnected with 
 the variable motives which direct the 
 wills and actions of men and animals ; 
 except that some result or other must 
 follow every action. 
 
 NECROMANCY, a pretended means 
 of conversing with the dead, by which 
 ignorance and superstition have often 
 been deluded. 
 
 NECTARINE, a delicious fruit, 
 which in England ripens only against 
 walls. 
 
 NECTARY, the glands in the centre 
 of the organs of fructification of plants, 
 which secrete the juices of the future 
 fruit. 
 
 NEEDLE, a steel implement, made of 
 25 sizes, by a wire-drawing apparatus, 
 then cut, the heads flattened and punch- 
 ed, the points filed, and the polish given 
 by working quantities with emery-dust. 
 
 NEEDLE, MAGNETIC, a piece of 
 steel brought into contact with a mag- 
 net, by which it directs itself in the mag- 
 netic meridian, and points to the centre 
 of an action and reaction, created by a 
 contrast of principles analogous to those 
 which occasion electric energy, in which 
 the globe itself takes a changeable part. 
 
 NEGATIVE ELECTRICITY, some- 
 times called resinous, but, in truth, hy- 
 drogenous or nitrogenous, being the side 
 of an electrified plate of air, or glass, on 
 which those atoms are accumulated, in 
 opposition to a surface which is, at the 
 same time, necessarily oxygenous. 
 
 NEGATIVE, properly nothing ; but 
 for convenience of operation, quantities 
 are imagined in algebra less than no- 
 thing, and marked thus — . 
 
 NEGOTIATION, the carrying on of 
 a treaty. 
 
 NEGRO, the name of the black 
 woolly-headed race of men who inhabit 
 Africa, whose low state of civilization 
 enables their governments to seize and 
 sell them for slaves, to perform the toils 
 of Christians in hot climates. 
 
 NEMINE CONTRADICENTE, ap- 
 plied to parliamentary decisions when 
 none contradict. 
 
 139 
 
 NET 
 
 NE PLUS ULTRA, the extreme 
 point, or greatest extent. 
 
 NEPHRITIC, stony. 
 
 NEPTUNE, the god of the ocean, in 
 the Greek mythology. 
 
 NEPTUNIAN THEORY, invented 
 by Werner, by which he ascribes all the 
 mineralogical and stratified phenomena 
 of the earth to the action of water, to 
 which some oppose the Plutonic theory, 
 which refers them to fire; but both 
 apply to different ages of the earth. 
 
 NETTLE, or urtica, a well-known 
 plant, which exudes an acrid juice when 
 touched. 
 
 NERVES, white medullary cords, 
 which pass in pairs from the brain and 
 the spinal marrow, as instruments re- 
 spectively of sensation and volition ; 
 of which nine pairs proceed from the 
 brain, and thirty from the spine. They 
 spread over the body like fine net-work. 
 
 NERVOUS SYSTEM, the arrange- 
 ment within an animal of the brain, 
 spinal marrow, and, nerves, constituting 
 the means of perception, volition, and 
 muscular action. 
 
 NETHERLANDS, or Low Countries, 
 or Belgium, called by the first name, in 
 England, because near ; by the second, 
 because low and flat, and Belgium by the 
 Romans. They are the most fertile and 
 populous tracts in Europe, and lately 
 formed into a kingdom, of which Am- 
 sterdam and Brussels are the capitals. 
 
 NETT, the amount after deductions. 
 
 NEUROPTERA, the fourth order of 
 insects, with four transparent wings, 
 often like net-work, but no sting; as 
 dragon flies, ephemera, &c. 
 
 NEUTRALITY, taking no part. 
 
 NET-MAKING, a useful art, by 
 which fibrous materials are knotted in a 
 regular manner, and continued over a 
 large surface. The formation and 
 commencement of the meshes, and the 
 shape of the wooden needle used in the 
 
NEW 
 
 process, is plainly represented in the en- 
 graving. 
 
 NEUTRAL SALT, one in which the 
 acid and alkaline powers are balanced or 
 masked so as not to affect colours. 
 
 NEW HOLLAND, avast tract in the 
 southern hemisphere, 2000 miles long, 
 and 1600 broad, and more properly a 
 continent than an island. The British 
 government send convicts to its eastern 
 shores. 
 
 NEW STYLE, the method of reckon- 
 ing the days of the year in accordance 
 with the Gregorian Calendar, which ad- 
 justs the odd hours and minutes, by 
 which the earth’s revolution exceeds 365 
 days, and renders celestial phenomena 
 and terrestrial reckoning equal. 
 
 NEWSPAPER, a collection of facts, 
 reports, and useful intelligence, capable 
 of doing good or mischief, according as 
 it is honestly or dishonestly, ignorantly 
 or intelligently conducted. 
 
 NEWTON, SIR ISAAC, a profound 
 mathematician, who applied geometry 
 to illustrate those laws of nature which 
 had previously been promulgated by 
 Kepler and Hooke, and who invented 
 the method of fluxions, though since 
 superseded by the differential method of 
 Leibnitz. His solutions of phenomena 
 140 
 
 NJA 
 
 are founded on the doctrine of attrac- 
 tion and repulsion, on a projectile force 
 in the planets, and a vacuum in space ; 
 but his mathematical illustrations of 
 Kepler and Hooke’s discoveries are in- 
 disputable. He died in 1727> aged 85 ; 
 he published his Principia 40 years be- 
 fore, yet only two small editions were 
 sold in his life-time, and it had but re- 
 cently been admitted in Cambridge, his 
 own University. 
 
 NEAVTONIAN SYSTEM, a phrase 
 often erroneously applied to the Coper- 
 nican or Solar system, which was gene- 
 rally adopted before Newton’s time ; and 
 by others applied to the laws of pla- 
 netary motion, first promulgated by 
 Kepler and Hooke; but strictly appli- 
 cable only to certain geometrical and 
 analytical demonstrations of those 
 known laws, whatever might be their 
 causes, though it happened that the 
 causes, owing to the superstition of the 
 times, were mistaken by Kepler and 
 Hooke, and unfortunately adopted in 
 the same erroneous sense by Newton. 
 
 NIAGARA, FALLS OF. The river 
 St. Lawrence, in Canada, after connect- 
 ing the great lakes, and running several 
 thousand miles, descends over a perpen- 
 dicular rock, between lake Erie and 
 lake Ontario, 150 feet high, the river 
 being three quarters of a mile broad, 
 and the quantity of water 670,250 tons 
 per minute. The engraving represents 
 a side view of this wonderful cataract. 
 
NIM 
 
 NICTITATING MEMBRANE, the 
 thin covering of the eyes of fishes and 
 birds. 
 
 NICKEL, a hard silver-like metal, 
 which, combined with copper, forms the 
 petit-or of the shops ; it is slightly mag- 
 netic, and forms a large proportion of 
 the meteoric masses which fall to the 
 earth. 
 
 NIDUS, a nest of eggs. 
 
 NIGER, an African river, whose wa- 
 ters are evaporated in lakes. 
 
 NIGHTINGALE, a bird well known 
 in the southern counties of England for 
 the fineness of its tones, chiefly in the 
 evening, equalled only by the sky-lark 
 in sprightliness, compass, and execu- 
 tion ; but the latter greatly inferior in 
 mellowness and plaintiveness, in which 
 two qualities the wood-lark alone ap- 
 proaches the nightingale. The next 
 British birds in power of voice, are the 
 linnet, titlark, and robin, to which may 
 be added the Norfolk black-cap. 
 
 NIGHTMARE, a spasm of the sto- 
 mach, arising from indigestion, and af- 
 fecting the brain with impressions of 
 sound and vision often terrible to the 
 superstitious. 
 
 NIGHTSHADE, a poisonous plant. 
 
 NIGHT, the time of the earth’s ro- 
 tation in which it is turned from the 
 sun, and equal, in minutes, in the year 
 to the days, though shortened by the 
 twilight. At the poles there is but one 
 day and one night in the year, and thence 
 to the arctic circle, the days and nights 
 are of months’ duration, according to the 
 distance. At North Cape, for example, 
 the longest day is six weeks. The longest 
 night, at the distance of six months, is 
 also six weeks, twilight excepted. 
 
 NIMBUS, a ray which gross flattery 
 and superstition has placed round the 
 heads of many sovereigns and saints. A 
 word also used to express that combina- 
 tion of clouds which condense into rain. 
 
 141 
 
 NON 
 
 NINEVEH, the capital of Assyria, 
 now in ruins. 
 
 NISI PRIUS, the name of a writ be- 
 ginning with these words. 
 
 NITRE, salt-petre, or nitrate of pot- 
 ash. 
 
 NITROUS OXIDE OF AZOTE, a 
 gas which, inhaled by respiration, pro- 
 duces a sense of exhilaration and in- 
 toxication. 
 
 NITRO-MURIATIC-ACID, the aqua 
 regia of the alchemists, which dissolves 
 gold. 
 
 NITRATES, salts formed of nitric 
 acid with any substance or base. 
 
 NITROGEN, the principle of nitre in 
 its gaseous state, sometimes called azote, 
 and constituting, with its hydrogen, 79 
 parts of 100 of the atmosphere, in bulk, 
 and 76 in weight. In the prismatic 
 spectrum it lies between the oxygen and 
 hydrogen, and constitutes the green co- 
 lour, modifying the adjacent colours 
 each way, and its intermediate character 
 depriving it of the power of exciting 
 the extremes. During combination it 
 does not produce light, heat, or com- 
 bustion, and is indifferent to inflamma- 
 tion and animal life, serving as a neu- 
 tralizer or dili’.ter of oxygen. 
 
 NITRIC ACID, or Aquafortis, a 
 compound of oxygen and nitrogen, in 
 ten times the quantity of oxygen con- 
 tained in atmospheric air. 
 
 NOBILITY, the titled and somewhat 
 privileged ranks of society, forming, in 
 England, one house of the legislature, of 
 about 400 members, consisting of princes, 
 dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, 
 barons, archbishops, and bishops. 
 
 NODES, the points in the ecliptic at 
 which a planet’s orbit crosses, in ascend- 
 ing northward, or descending southward. 
 
 NOMINATIVE, the subject of a 
 sentence which governs the verb. 
 
 NOMADE NATIONS, shepherd- 
 tribes, unorganized. 
 
 NOM DE GUERRE, an assumed or 
 fictitious name. 
 
 NONCHALANCE, coolness or indif- 
 ference. 
 
 NOMENCLATURE, classification of 
 words, by which they designate the di- 
 visions and dependencies of a science. 
 
 NON-PROS, a writ of non prose- 
 quitor, to terminate a neglected suit. 
 
 NON-NATURALS, air, food, sleep, 
 motion, passions, digestion. 
 
 NONSUIT, a cause lost from some 
 legal informality, by which the plaintiff 
 pays costs. 
 
NOO 
 
 NON PLUS, a state unable to door 
 say more pertinently. 
 
 NON COMPOS MENTIS, not of 
 sound mind. 
 
 NON-CONDUCTORS OF ELEC- 
 TRICITY, also called Electrics, a class 
 of bodies, the disturbance of whose 
 elementary constituent, causes, in the 
 restoration, electrical phenomena ; and, 
 therefore, other bodies which bound the 
 volume of the electric, whose consti- 
 tuents are not disturbable, set limits to 
 the disturbance in their direction. The 
 disturbance, in consequence, proceeds 
 laterally, and these last bodies A, B, ap- 
 pearing to be conductors, the disturbed 
 intervening body as C is called a non- 
 conductor. 
 
 A 
 
 E C F 
 
 B 
 
 C is a supposed stratum of an electric, 
 as air or glass, and, by excitement, its 
 oxygenous or acid constituent is di- 
 rected towards A, and its nitrous or al- 
 kaline principle towards B ; but at A and 
 B are non-electric or bounding, or 
 conducting, surfaces, by which the dis- 
 turbance of C is determined in their di- 
 rections, A and B not being susceptible 
 of the excitement, and receiving none 
 of it. The disturbed strata of C are 
 then driven towards the parts E and F ; 
 consequently the surfaces, Aj B, act like 
 conductors in those directions. As the 
 disturbance was caused by a force of ex- 
 citement, a similar and equal degree of 
 force operates from A to B to restore the 
 stratum to its natural combination ; and 
 it is this force which carries light bodies 
 backward and forward between the sur- 
 faces B and A. If a point project on A 
 or B, the whole disturbance is restored 
 through that point with light and heat, 
 commonly mistaken for a fluid, but, in 
 truth, no fluid ; and there is no electric 
 fluid, merely a gaseous disturbance, and 
 a restoration at a point. 
 
 NON EST INVENTUS, not to be 
 found. 
 
 NOON, mid-day, or twelve o’clock, 
 called apparent as shewn by a sun-dial, 
 and real as shewn by a clock; for the 
 clock is faster than the dial from Dec. 
 24 to April 15, and from June 16 to Aug. 
 31, and slower at other times, both agree- 
 ing only on those days. At other times 
 142 
 
 NUM 
 
 the true day being respectively more or 
 less than the twenty-four hours. The 
 difference is given in every almanac, and 
 the causes are the unequal motion of the 
 earth, and the oblique course of the 
 ecliptic, in regard to the equator. 
 
 NORTHERN LIGHTS, a mixture of 
 gases flowing between the equatorial and 
 polar regions, always visible during 
 polar winters, and sometimes seen in 
 southern Europe. 
 
 NORTH, the point of the horizon 
 opposite the place of the sun at noon on 
 this side of the equator, and the place of 
 the sun in the southern hemisphere. 
 
 NOSTOC, or Witches’ butter, gelati- 
 nous masses often found, by some consi- 
 dered as the matter of fallen meteors, by 
 others as frogs’ spawn, or disgorged by 
 some bird or animal. 
 
 NOSOLOGY, the classification of 
 diseases. 
 
 NOSEGAY, a small bunch.of flowers. 
 
 NOSTRUM, some medical prepara- 
 tion, by the empiric, its maker, kept care- 
 fully secret in composition, that he may 
 fill his pockets at the expense of the cre- 
 dulous, who are led to suppose it an in- 
 fallible remedy for diseases. 
 
 NOTARY, one who records transac- 
 tions as a legal witness. 
 
 NOUN, sometimes called substantive, 
 the genus or class of words or part of 
 speech which expresses the names of 
 things or ideas. 
 
 NOVEMBER, the first winter month 
 in the northern hemisphere, and the 
 first summer month of the southern. 
 
 NOVITIATE, a learner, uninitiated. 
 
 NOVELS, compositions which relate 
 imaginary histories of real life; and 
 called romances when the author does 
 not affect probability, and novelettes 
 when they are short stories. 
 
 NUCLEUS, a kernel, or solid head. - 
 
 NUMBERS, Cardinal, as 1, 2, 3, &c. ; 
 Ordinal, as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, &c. ; Prime, 
 when indivisible, as 1, 3, 5, 7> &c- Whole 
 numbers, or integers. Square numbers, 
 as 4 the square of 2. Cube numbers, as 
 8 the cube of 2. A composite number 
 is a multiple of others. 
 
 NUMISMATICS, the study of coins 
 and medals of all nations, as means of 
 history and rectification of dates in 
 chronology. The earliest coins are 
 Phoenician, and were struck or imprint- 
 ed from dies unreversed, so that the in- 
 scription was reversed. Greek coins are 
 scarce, and so are many Roman ones ; 
 but, as money was often secreted under 
 
OBL 
 
 ground, pots of it are often discovered, 
 containing coins of great rarity. 
 
 NUMERALS, Roman letters, as V. 
 for 5. 
 
 NUMERATION, the reading of num- 
 bers. 
 
 NUMERATOR, in a fraction, the 
 number of the denominator or parts. 
 
 NUMERO, usually written No. for 
 number. 
 
 NUNCIO, a papal ambassador. 
 
 NUNNERY, a religious house, where 
 single women devote themselvos, under 
 false notions, to God. 
 
 NURSERY, a room for children; 
 and a piece of ground to rear trees. 
 
 NUT, the kernel or fruit of many 
 trees, often affording much oil, as al- 
 mond nuts, and olive nuts. 
 
 NUTATION, a slight variation of the 
 inclination of the earth’s axis to the 
 plane of its orbit, 
 
 NUTG4*LLS, excrescences on oak- 
 leaves. 
 
 NUTRITION, the food of plants de- 
 rived from the soil, and of animals de- 
 rived from the materials put into the 
 stomach ; both derived from roots, 
 which in animal stomachs are called 
 lacteals. Nutrition is also supposed to 
 afford chemical antagonists, by which 
 air is decomposed and recombined in 
 respiration ; besides its restoration of 
 the parts wasted by evaporation, &e. &c. 
 
 NUTMEG, the kernel of a fruit like 
 the peach, which flourishes in the Mo- 
 luccas, invested with a rind or coat. 
 
 OBS 
 
 which is mace. In four years, from 
 1814 to 1817, l,800,000lbs. of nutmegs 
 were imported into Great Britain, and iu 
 the same years 480,000lbs. of mace. 
 
 NUX VOMICA, a narcotic poison, 
 used to poison fish, and add stupifying 
 qualities to beer. 
 
 NYLGHAU, a blue Indian antelope. 
 
 NYMPHS, local goddesses, as Ne- 
 reids in the sea ; Naiads of the foun- 
 tains ; Dryads of the woods, &c. &c. 
 
 NYMPH.E, the third stage of insects 
 between the grub and fly stage. 
 
 o 
 
 OAKUM, old ropes untwisted. 
 
 •r OAR, an instrument made with a long 
 blade end, and a handle at the end of the 
 pole, to ply against water, and force a 
 boat forwards. 
 
 OATS, a valuable grain, serving as 
 food for horses, and as the basis of 
 wholesome meal for man. 
 
 OBJECT-GLASS, the glass of a tele- 
 scope or microscope next the object, the 
 purpose of which is to make a picture 
 of the object, with the atoms of light so 
 diverging as that the picture may be 
 viewed by another glass, which fits them 
 for distinct vision. 
 
 OBLATE, a term applied to spheres 
 flattened on two sides, or turnip-like, as 
 the ear tli and planets. 
 
 143 
 
 OBLATION, which is laid on an al- 
 tar, as an offering. 
 
 OBLIQUITY, neither parallel nor 
 perpendicular, generally applied to the 
 ecliptic, which deviates from the plane 
 of the earth’s equator, 23° 27'. 
 
 OBLIQUE, not direct or perpendicu- 
 lar. 
 
 OBSERVATORY, an establishment 
 fitted with telescopes, quadrants, &c. 
 for observing and registering the mo- 
 tions of the heavenly bodies. Some of 
 them existed in Chaldea, ancient Persia, 
 India, and China ; and the most cele- 
 brated modern ones are those at Green- 
 wich, Paris, Munich, and Palermo. 
 Their accuracy is such that astronomers 
 and navigators are enabled to calculate 
 
OCT 
 
 to the 3600 th part of a minute of time, 
 and the 216 , 000 th of a degree; all such 
 calculations depending on patient obser- 
 vation, and not on any theory or system. 
 
 OBTUSE, rounded or broad. 
 
 OBSCURITY, where a thing is not 
 distinctly seen, or when, owing to loose- 
 ness of expression, or choice of words 
 of uncertain sense, the intention of a 
 writer is not conveyed to a reader with 
 clearness. 
 
 OBSEQUIES, funeral ceremonies. 
 
 OBSIDIAN, a black glassy mineral. 
 
 OBSTRUENT, obstructing. 
 
 OCCIDENT, the west. 
 
 OCCULT, a term applied to words 
 used to express causes whose real nature 
 is unknown to the writers, and then 
 adopting it as a true definition of a 
 general cause; as caloric for the cause of 
 heat, attraction for going together, af- 
 finity for the union of atoms, repulsion 
 for separating, and the like ; and then 
 assuming degrees of this verbal cause, 
 and even reasoning upon it. 
 
 OCCULTATION, the passage of the 
 moon over a star, or of a planet over its 
 satellite. 
 
 OUEAN, a term used for all the seas 
 which cover three-fourths of the earth’s 
 surface, to an average depth, estimated 
 at two miles, salt every where, owing to 
 the solution of muriate of soda ; but 
 whether this is a constituent of sea wa- 
 ter, or whether the muriate of soda is a 
 salt lying in beds, and dissolved by the 
 ocean, is uncertain; but it proves useful 
 in preventing putridity. 
 
 OCHRE, an earth combined withiron. 
 
 OCTAVE, an interval divisible into 
 eight notes, and the eighth or octave is 
 in accordance with the first of the set. 
 
 OCTAVO, the eighth of a sheet. 
 
 OCTROIS, duties of customs in 
 France. 
 
 OCTOBER, the last month of the 
 northern summer, and the first of the 
 southern summer. 
 
 OCTAGON, a figure with eight sides. 
 
 OLI 
 
 OCTANT, an instrument for measur- 
 ing angles, which by reflection it dou- 
 bles, and hence it answers the purpose 
 of a quadrant. 
 
 OCTANDRIA, the eighth class of 
 the Linnaean system of plants, contain- 
 ing four classes, monogynia, digynia, 
 trigynia, and tetragynia, with eight 
 stamens. 
 
 OCULIST, a surgeon especially em- 
 ployed in disorders that affect the eyes. 
 
 ODDS, excess over something else 
 stated ; as in a wager, or effort. 
 
 ODE, a poem written to be sung to 
 music ; a lyric poem. 
 
 ODOUR, the effluvia which affect the 
 smell, whatever the nature. 
 
 OFFING, deep water. 
 
 OFFICER, a person in authority, as 
 a military officer, naval officer, custom 
 or excise officer, or sheriff’s officer ; and 
 in the army, consisting of field mar- 
 shals, generals, colonels, majors, cap- 
 tains, &c. ; and in the navy of admirals, 
 captains, lieutenants, &c. There is, 
 also, in monarchies, officers of state, as 
 lord chamberlain, earl marshal, secre- 
 taries, called ministers, as chancellor, 
 treasurer, secretary of state, &c. &c. 
 
 OIL, called^red when thick and vis- 
 cid, and volatile when acrid, and easily 
 evaporated. Those which burn best are 
 a compound of carbon and hydrogen, 
 which, raised into gas by the application 
 of a heated body, absorbs the adjacent 
 oxygen in the air, and fixing it, thereby 
 displays heat, flame, and light. They 
 are different in name, odour, and quality, 
 according to the substance from which 
 they are made. 
 
 OIL GAS, a production of fish-oil, 
 attempted to be made in London, but 
 too costly, and in other respects much 
 inferior to gas made from coals and ve- 
 getable oils. 
 
 OLIVE-TREE, an evergreen common 
 in the woods of the south of France, 
 Spain, and Italy, and much esteemed for 
 
 144 
 
ORA 
 
 its fruit, containing a great quantity of 
 oil for the table. 
 
 OLFACTORY NERVES, the pair of 
 nerves which proceed from the brain to 
 the nose, and sensible of odours. 
 
 OLYMPIAD, a Grecian period of four 
 years, at the commencement of which 
 games were held for five days at Olym- 
 pia, from the year 77 6 B.C. to 440 A.D. 
 
 OMEGA, tv, the last letter of the 
 Greek alphabet. 
 
 OMNIPOTENCE, the Almighty un- 
 limited power of Deity. His infinite du- 
 ration and continual presence is omni- 
 presence ; and his inconceivable know- 
 ledge and skill, is omniscience . 
 
 OMEN, a superstitious sign of a par- 
 ticular occurrence. 
 
 OMNIUM, the various stocks given 
 by government to the contractors for a 
 public loan. 
 
 ONYX, a white stone. 
 
 OPACITY, bodies through which 
 light does not pass, owing either to the 
 internal structure, or to the bodies not 
 containing the atoms affected by the pro- 
 pulsion of light; for the changes by 
 chemical mixture prove that the effect 
 depends on the constituents of the sub- 
 stances - 
 
 OPERA, a comedy in three acts, in 
 which music and singing are mingled 
 with dialogue. 
 
 OPIATE, a medicine causing sleep. 
 
 OPIUM, the concentrated juice of 
 the white poppy, cultivated in Persia 
 and Arabia, from whence 600,000ib. are 
 exported annually, and used by the 
 Turks as a substitute for spirituous 
 liquors and wine, which were prohibited 
 by Mahomet. 
 
 OPOSSUM, an animal with a bag to 
 carry its young. 
 
 OPTICIAN, a maker or vender of 
 spectacles, telescopes, microscopes, &c. 
 
 OPTICS, the science which treats of 
 light and colours, and the construction 
 of suitable instruments. It is divided 
 into catoptrics, or the laws and pheno- 
 mena of light reflected from smooth 
 surfaces ; and dioptrics, or light as re- 
 fracted, or turned aside when it falls 
 obliquely on the surface of a new trans- 
 parent medium. It likewise treats of 
 colours, and teaches the construction 
 and use of the eye, and all kinds of in- 
 struments for assisting and gratifying 
 the sight. 
 
 ORACLES, secret establishments of 
 priests, by which, in ancient times, they 
 imposed upon the credulity of all ranks. 
 
 14’ 
 
 ORB 
 
 They pretended toforetel future events 
 by assumed connexion with godsandgod- 
 desses, and by the most absurd omens ; 
 and had the art of mystifying their pre- 
 dictions so as to make them come true in 
 some sense of the riddle which they com- 
 posed. They were put down on the in- 
 troduction of Christianity ; but other 
 arts of prognostication, equally con- 
 temptible and irrational, are continued 
 even to this day. 
 
 ORANGE-TREE, a native of the 
 tropics, where it produces fruit through- 
 out the year, the average annual crop 
 of each tree being from 6000 to 8000. 
 
 ORATORY, the art by which a speak- 
 er is enabled to affect and convince his 
 hearers ; the first of which purposes is 
 achieved by manner, gesture, modula- 
 tion, and language ; and the last by logic, 
 knowledge, and method ; which last di- 
 vides every perfect discourse into an ex- 
 ordium, a statement of the question, 
 an illustrative narration, an exhibition 
 of arguments in proof, a reply to objec- 
 tions, and a peroration. 
 
 ORBIT, the course of a planet in its 
 passage round the sun, described with 
 inconceivable rapidity ; Mercury mov- 
 ing 109 thousand, and the Earth 68 
 thousand miles an hour ; the effect being 
 produced by the sun’s central rotation 
 which carries round the medium of 
 space, which carries round the planets, 
 and by their own reaction, according io 
 their quantity. 
 
 O 
 
ORN 
 
 ORCHESTRA, a part of a public 
 place, wherein are placed the performers 
 on musical instruments ; as the place in 
 front of the stage in a theatre ; the gal- 
 lery in an assembly room ; or small one 
 in a chapel, &c. 
 
 ORCHIDEiE, the seventh Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, containing the 
 orchis, or butterfly-flower, &c. 
 
 ORDEAL, TRIAL BY, a horrid su- 
 perstition, by exposing the life of an in- 
 nocent person to the presumption that a 
 miracle would save them if innocent. 
 Sometimes the accused wa"s required to 
 liandle red hot iron, or walk among red 
 hot bars blindfold; at others, required 
 to plunge his arm in boiling water, and 
 often thrown into water to try if he 
 would drown. Such is ignorance and 
 superstition. 
 
 ORDER, system in business, and me- 
 thod in arrangement, primary qualities. 
 
 O RDE RS, different genera and species 
 which have common properties. 
 
 ORDERS OF ARCHITECTURE, 
 five in number. The Tuscan plain; 
 the Composite, as its name bespeaks, 
 an union of the others; but the Doric 
 capital is distinguished by its triglyphs 
 in the frieze; the Ionic by its volutes, 
 or ram’s horns ; and the Corinthian by 
 its acanthus-leaves in the capital. 
 
 ORE, the natural state of metals, as 
 combined with each other in alloys ; with 
 sulphur in sulphurets, with oxygen in 
 oxydes, or with acids in salts. Gold, 
 platinum, and columbium, are found 
 only as alloys, or native ; silver, mercu- 
 ry, copper, iron, antimony, arsenic, and 
 cobalt, in the four states ; lead and zinc 
 as sulphurets, oxydes, and salts; tin 
 and nickel, as sulphurets and oxydes ; 
 and the rest as oxydes. The separation 
 and refining are curious arts. 
 
 ORGAN, a collection of musical pipes 
 in an instrument, much used in places 
 of religious worship. 
 
 ORGANIZED BODIES, those which 
 grow, or grow and live, as animals and 
 vegetables. 
 
 ORION, a splendid constellation, con- 
 spicuous in our winter months, remark- 
 able for three stars in a line, called Orion’s 
 belt, and containing, by. Flamstead’s 
 Catalogue, 75 other stars; but the whole 
 constellation contains above 2000. 
 
 ORNITHOLOGY, the name of that 
 branch of natural history which treats 
 of the second class of the animal king- 
 dom, or birds. They are divided by 
 Linnaeus into six classes, each containing 
 146 
 
 osc 
 
 many genera, and the genera nearly 4000 
 species. The classes are Accipitres, 
 Picas, Anseres, Grallae, Gallinae, and 
 Passeres, according to the form of the 
 beak. 
 
 OROMASDES, the Persian name of 
 God. 
 
 ORPHAN, a child destitute of pa- 
 rents; a houseless infant. 
 
 ORTHODOXY, the opinions of the 
 majority, and subject, therefore, to 
 change. Previously to 1790, it was or- 
 thodox to believe that fire was an ele- 
 ment ; since it has been orthodox to be- 
 lieve it a peculiar matter called caloric ; 
 but in 1850, it will, probably, be ortho- 
 dox to consider it as the effect of the mo- 
 tions and combinations of atoms. T ill 
 received by the majority, all new opi- 
 nions are called heterodox. 
 
 ORTHOEPY, the art of correct pro- 
 nunciation, to be best acquired by hearing 
 public speakers, and keeping good com- 
 pany. 
 
 ORTHOGRAPHY, the art of spell- 
 ing, to be acquired best by much copy- 
 ing ; and the art of drawing elevations. 
 
 ORYCTOLOGY, the science which 
 treats of the vegetable and animal re- 
 mains, found by digging in the earth, 
 and by breaking rocks : one of the most 
 curious subjects of enquiry, for it shows 
 the gradual progress of the globe to its 
 present state, and displays numerous 
 generaand species no longer in existence. 
 The whole proves that all dry land has 
 more than once been covered by the sea, 
 for marine and land remains alternate in 
 the strata; and that owing to some 
 change, perhaps, in the component and 
 energizing parts of the atmosphere, the 
 whole of the organised existence of tire 
 globe has been changed also, while future 
 changes seem not less probable than the 
 past. Vegetables, in general, have been 
 converted into coal, or stone, and found 
 as trunks, leaves, and fruit, of species 
 not now existing. The animal remains 
 are still more perfect and wonderful, in 
 bones, horns, teeth, &c. of unknown 
 kinds ; and every thing seems different 
 and changed, though the same classes 
 are often found. Remains of fish, and 
 sea-sliells in vast masses, are found in 
 the interior of all countries, and imbed- 
 ded in rocks on the highest mountains. 
 
 OSCILLATION, the motion of a pro- 
 pelled body, as a pendulum, when re- 
 strained at right angles to the direction 
 of force ; the body, in consequence, as- 
 cends in a curve, and descending by its 
 
OVA 
 
 own accelerated weight, rises again on 
 the opposite side, continuing this oscil- 
 lation, till the friction of the centre and 
 the air have taken away, or received the 
 original force. The time is the same in 
 the same pendulum, whatever be the 
 length of the oscillation, but in pendu- 
 lums of different lengths the time is as 
 the square root of the length ; thus, a 
 pendulum of 36 inches vibrates but a 
 sixth of the time of one of six inches. 
 
 OSIER, the water willow, used in 
 basket work, and ornaments. 
 
 OSIRIS, an Egyptian deity, worship- 
 ped in the form of an ox. 
 
 OSSIFICATION, change of fleshy 
 into bony substance. 
 
 OSTEOLOGY, the science of the 
 bones. 
 
 OSTRACISM, Athenian banishment. 
 
 OSTRICH, the largest of all birds, 
 frequently weighing 80 lbs., and, when 
 walking, as tall as a man on horseback. 
 It is common in the deserts of Africa, 
 and is hunted by the Arabs, on swift 
 horses, for its feathers. 
 
 OTAHEITE, a fine island in the paci- 
 fic, discovered in 1765, by Wallis, who 
 found that the natives, among other 
 arts, built curious vessels, like that in 
 the engraving. 
 
 OTTER, an amphibious quadruped, 
 notorious for its great voracity in prey- 
 ing on fishes. 
 
 OUNCE, a weight for different pur- 
 poses, the sixteenth part of a pound 
 avoirdupois, and the twelfth of a pound 
 troy. 
 
 OUTRE, preposterous, or dispropor- 
 tionate. 
 
 OVAL, sometimes egg-shaped, and at 
 others equal at both ends, and then cal- 
 led an ellipsis. 
 
 147 
 
 OWY 
 
 OURANG OUTANG, an ape without 
 a tail, like a dwarf man, but without or- 
 gans of speech, or muscles for laughter. 
 
 OVATION, an inferior Roman 
 triumph. 
 
 OVEN, an inclosed space, adapted for 
 being heated with fire, to bake articles 
 of food or earthenware. 
 
 OVERSEER, a person authorised to 
 see that others are employed in labour ; 
 or only protected in a house of industry. 
 
 OVERTURE, a commencement; 
 whether for negotiation, or for some 
 performance. 
 
 OXYDE, the calx of metals after 
 burning, being the metal combined with 
 oxygen absorbed from the atmosphere. 
 Rust and earths are oxydes of metals. 
 
 OWL, a large screaming bird, that 
 flies abroad in the night, of which there 
 are several species, as the great horned, 
 the snowy, the long-eared, and the how- 
 let. 
 
 OWYHEE, Queen of, and daughter, 
 introduced in the engraving, to repre- 
 
OXY 
 
 *ent the dresses, in which, in 1823, they 
 visited England, with the King, but they 
 all died in London, as supposed from 
 excess. 
 
 OWYHEE, Idols of. These figures 
 shew the rude state of Sculpture, and 
 superstition among these islanders, 
 when first discovered by Cook. 
 
 OXYGEN, the most important prin- 
 ciple, and most active and operative 
 agent in nature, and the principle of 
 acidity. In its gaseous mobile state 
 it constitutes one-fifth of atmospheric 
 air in qombination with azote ; and 
 eight-ninths of water in combination 
 with hydrogen. In its fixed state it con- 
 stitutes a necessary portion of animal 
 
 OYE 
 
 and vegetable substances, of acids, salts, 
 andoxydes of metals. 100 cubic inches of 
 the gas weigh 34 grains, and it is a tenth 
 heavier than atmospheric air. It readily 
 combines with excited hydrogen and 
 carbon, by which it is fixed, forming wa- 
 ter and soot, and parting at the spot 
 with its gaseous momenta creates all the 
 heat, while it is accessory to the flame and 
 light of all combustion. Its combination 
 with carbon in the lungs, also creates 
 animal heat, and muscular energy. It 
 constitutes the red end of the prismatic 
 spectrum, and the positive side of an 
 electrified or galvanized stratum. In 
 union with carbon, it creates carbonic 
 acid gas, one half heavier than air ; and 
 the food of plants, which abstract the 
 carbon, and in the light evolve the oxy- 
 gen, restoring to purity the oxygen that 
 had been carbonized by respiration. 
 
 OXEN, the name given to the tribe of 
 neat cattle, and the engraving represents 
 the long-horned breed. 
 
 OYSTER, a well-known shell fish, of 
 which there are 81 species. Those which 
 live in the sea, and adhere to rocks are 
 larger than those reared in beds, as at 
 Colchester, and other places, where they 
 are deposited in low lands, accessible to 
 the tides. They have no power of loco- 
 motion ; but having feelings, like other 
 animals, ought not to be roasted alive, 
 as is the too common practice. 
 
 OXALIC ACID, extract of sorrel, or 
 of sugar, by the action of nitric acid, 
 hence called saccharine acid, and also 
 salt of lemons. 
 
 OX YMAZOME, animal flavour. 
 
 OXY MURIATES, salts formed with 
 chlorine, or oxymuriatic acid. 
 
 OYEZ, or O YES, hear, or attend, 
 
PAL 
 
 PA I. 
 
 P 
 
 PABULUM, the food of plants, chiefly 
 carbon combined with the gases, and 
 forming salts, oils, &c. 
 
 PACE, five feet, or a step 2} feet. 
 
 PACK, a horse’s load, or 17 stone. 
 
 PACIFIC OCEAN, the sea which oc- 
 cupies nearly half the surface of the 
 globe, from the eastern shores of New 
 Holland to the western coasts of America. 
 Owing to its size, the air on it experiences 
 no unequal action, and hence there are 
 no irregular winds or storms. 
 
 PADDY, rice in its husk. 
 
 PAGANS, people who do not believe 
 in Revelation, or nations not Jews be- 
 fore the introduction of Christianity, 
 who believed in God, the Sovereign and 
 ruler of all things, and in gods, who 
 ruled together with God. 
 
 PAGEANT, a showy spectacle. 
 
 PAGODA, an Hindoo place of wor- 
 ship, divided, like our churches, into an 
 open space, a place for worship, and an 
 interior, or chancel. 
 
 PAIN, bodily, from any undue ex- 
 citement of the nerves ; mental, from 
 the reflection of having done wrong, 
 and being without self-satisfaction. 
 
 PAINTING, the art of representing 
 objects in nature, or scenes in human 
 life, with fidelity and passion ; sometimes 
 in oil colours, at others in water colours. 
 It was coeval with civilization, and prac- 
 tised, with success, by the Greeks and 
 Romans ; obscured for many centuries, 
 but revived in Italy in the 15th century, 
 where it produced the Roman, Venetian, 
 and Tuscan, schools; afterwards, the 
 German, Dutch, Flemish, French, and 
 Spanish, schools; and, finally, the En- 
 glish school, which equals, and bids fair 
 to transcend them all, in correctness of 
 drawing, effect of colouring, and taste 
 of design. 
 
 PALACE, the residence of kings, 
 supported by taxes paid by the people. 
 
 PALLAS, a new small planet, 266 
 millions of miles from the sun, with a 
 period of four years, seven months, 
 and eleven days. One of the four Aste- 
 roids. 
 
 PALAEOGRAPHY, science of manu- 
 scripts. 
 
 PALaEOTHERIUM, a fossil animal. 
 
 149 
 
 PALATINE, with royal privileges, 
 as Cheshire, Durham, and Lancashire. 
 
 PALE, the middle of an escutcheon. 
 
 PALETTE, a painter’s colour-board. 
 
 PALLIUM, a clerical ornament of 
 black silk, with four red crosses. 
 
 PALM, three inches 
 
 PALMaE, the 25th class of the Lin- 
 naean system of plants, consisting of 
 trees and shrubs, with a stem, bearing 
 leaves at the top, being the most magni- 
 ficent specimens of the vegetable king- 
 dom, of which the date is one. 
 
 PALM-OIL TREE, a native of South 
 America, from the kernels of whose fruit 
 a rich oil is obtained. 
 
 PALM WINE, Indian toddy. 
 
 ♦PALMISTRY, foretelling by the 
 hand. 
 
 PALMYRA, a splendid city, bow n 
 ruins, in a desert of Arabia. 
 
 PALSY, or PARALYTIC, a disease 
 of the nervous or medullary system, 
 extending from the cerebellum, by which 
 the will is unable to control the muscles 
 and limbs; or from the cerebrum, by 
 which the sensations are affected. 
 
 PALESTINE, the countries which 
 included Judea and Phoenicia, no v 
 ruined by the Turks, 
 o 2' 
 
PAN 
 
 PAN, the son of Mercury, chief of 
 the rural deities, and god of shepherds. 
 
 PANADA, bread pap. 
 
 PANACEA, a medicine for curing 
 many disorders. 
 
 PANCREAS, the sweet bread. 
 
 PANDECT, a complete treatise. 
 
 PANEL, the sheriff’s list of a jury. 
 
 PANIC, an unfounded or uncontrol- 
 able alarm, like that of crowded theatres, 
 or cries of fire. Latterly, it has been 
 applied to an historical event, in De- 
 cember, 1825, when a minister, unac- 
 quainted with the necessary relations be- 
 tween taxes, profits, and circulation; 
 and, also, with the true sources of the 
 nominal public debt, in factitious mo- 
 ney, and private credits ; set about to 
 extinguish the circulation and private 
 credits, by which the bankers were stop- 
 ped, the manufacturers ruined, and the 
 fabric of British society convulsed to its 
 foundations. 
 
 PANORAMA, a circular painting. 
 
 PANTHER, the felis pardus, a beast 
 between a lion and a tyger. 
 
 PANTOMIME, a drama, in which the 
 story is conveyed by gesture and action, 
 generally illustrative of the adventures 
 of harlequin and columbine, and panta- 
 loon and his clown. 
 
 PAPE R, a useful manufacture of linen 
 rags, and, latterly, of linen and cotton ; 
 
 150 
 
 PAP 
 
 brown first made in England about 1558, 
 and white 1690. 
 
 PAPER-MAKING, an art by which 
 fibrous and other materials are so com- 
 bined as to form different kinds of paper. 
 The engraving represents the vat, in 
 which the materials are in a pulpy liquid, 
 and the man is in the act of dipping the 
 mould, which is the size of a sheet of 
 paper, made of fine wire, into it. The 
 liquid drains through the wire, leaving 
 the pulp in a consistent form, after which 
 it is gradually dried, picked, and press- 
 ed, by a succession of women and chil- 
 dren. There are above 600 paper-mills 
 in Great Britain, and about 2» millions . 
 of reams made annually. 
 
 PAPER-MONEY, a substitute for 
 coin, liable to be forged, but convenient 
 in use, if issued on good security, of 
 which governments and law-makers are 
 bound to satisfy the people. The paper- 
 money of England consists of 25 mil- 
 lions of bank of England notes, for 
 which there is no public security, and 
 of 8 millions of country bankers’ notes, 
 for which the law seeks no security, be- 
 sides bills and notes issued without limit. 
 
 PAPER-TREE, a species of mulbetry 
 in the South Sea Islands, from the leaves 
 of which fine paper is manufactured. 
 
 PAPILIO, or Butterfly, a genus of 
 insects of prodigious number of species 
 and varieties, many of them of exquisite 
 beauty. They proceed from the larva of 
 caterpillars, lay their eggs, flourish a 
 few hours or days, and die. 
 
PAR 
 
 PAPILION ACEA2, the 32d Linnman 
 natural order of plants, with flowers re- 
 sembling the butterfly’s wings, as the 
 pea, &c. 
 
 PAPILLA5,the nipple of the breast, 
 and terminations of the nerves in that 
 form which constitutes the sense of feel- 
 ing in the true skin, and of taste. 
 
 PAPIST, from Pope, the vulgar name 
 of the Roman Catholics. 
 
 PAPYRUS, a reedy grass, on which 
 the ancients wrote. 
 
 PAR, equality between Exchanges. 
 
 PARABLE, a parallel and familiar 
 story. 
 
 PARACHUTE, a large umbrella, cal- 
 culated to break the fall in descending 
 from air-balloons. 
 
 PAR 
 
 PARABOLA, a curve produced by 
 cutting a cone parallel to one of its 
 sides, and having at such section certain 
 fixed proportions ; when the same pro- 
 portions govern bodies in motion, they 
 are said to describe a parabola, and this 
 is theoretically the case with projectiles 
 from the earth. 
 
 PARADIGM, an example. 
 
 PARADISE, GRAINS OF, hot ber- 
 ries. 
 
 PARADISE, BIRDS OF, natives of 
 Guinea, and remarkable for their beau- 
 tiful plumage, for which they fall vic- 
 tims to adorn the heads of ladies in all 
 parts of the world. 
 
 PARADOX, a conundrum. 
 
 PARAHELION, a mock or reflected 
 sun. 
 
 PARALLAX, the angle of the earth’s 
 semidiameter as seen from the sun, 
 about 9 seconds; called annual, when 
 referred to the angle which the earth’s 
 orbit makes at the first stars, and not 
 two seconds. 
 
 PARALELLOGRAM, four parallel 
 sides. 
 
 PARALLELOPIPED, a solid with 
 six parallelogram sides. 
 
 PARALOGISM, reasoning from. 
 
 PARAPHRASE, a commentary. 
 
 PARASELENE, a mock or reflected 
 moon. 
 
 PARASITICAL PLANTS, those which 
 grow on others, as misletoe, ivy, & c. 
 
 PARCHMENT, prepared Goat’s or 
 Sheep’s skin, of which 40,000 dozens 
 are annually consumed in Great Britain. 
 
 PARDON, a power in the king, which, 
 owing to the unavoidable want of dis- 
 crimination in laws, ought to be con- 
 stantly exerted. 
 
 PARENTHESIS, two strokes, ( )used 
 to enclose an incidental observation. 
 
 PARIAR, an outcast Hindoo tribe. 
 
 PARIS, the gay and splendid capital of 
 France, about a third the size of London. 
 
 PARIS, PLASTER OF, burnt gyp- 
 sum. 
 
 PARISH, an ecclesiastical and civil 
 division of counties, of which there are 
 9860 in England, 948 in Scotland, and 
 833 in Wales, governed by a vestry, 
 churchwardens, overseers, and consta- 
 bles, first divided A. D. 636. 
 
 PARLIAMENT, the three estates of 
 King, Lords, and Commons, which meet 
 annually, by summons from the crown, 
 to improve and make laws, impose taxes, 
 and deliberate on the state of the nation. 
 The Lords consist of 400 hereditary 
 
 151 
 
PAR 
 
 Peers, and 26 Bishops ; and the Com- 
 mons of 658 members, elected by the 
 people, or nominated by patrons of bo- 
 roughs, within every seven years ; 45 
 are returned for Scotland, and 100 for 
 Ireland. 
 
 PARMEGIANO, painter, died 1540. 
 
 PARNASSUS, a mountain of Phocis, 
 with two tops, on one of which Delphi 
 was built. It was sacred to Apollo, the 
 Muses, and Bacchus. 
 
 PARODY’ , an application of the 
 phraseology on one subject to another. 
 
 PARROT, a genus of tropical birds, 
 well known for the beauty of their plu- 
 mage, and their ready imitation of the 
 human voice. The ash-coloured parrot, 
 found on the coast of Guinea, is com- 
 monly brought to Europe, as it speaks 
 most readily. The tongue resembles 
 that of a man, and the formation of the 
 throat, and cavity of the beak, contribute 
 to its articulation. 
 
 PARSING, a means adopted in teach- 
 ers of languages, and instructing stu- 
 dents in grammatical analysis. 
 
 PARTERRE, abed of flowers. 
 
 PARTHENON, the temple of Mi- 
 nerva at Athens. 
 
 PARTICIPLES, verbs ending in ed, 
 en, and ing. 
 
 PARTICLES, prepositions,, articles, 
 and conjunctions. 
 
 PARTNER, one jointly interested 
 with another. 
 
 PARTRIDGE, a well-known bird of 
 the genus Tetrao, comprehendin g grouse, 
 partridges, and quails, in all 75 species. 
 The common partridge (perdix) is found 
 all over Europe. 
 
 PARTY, the madness of the many 
 for the gain of the few, by which men 
 become victims of an ephemeral cause, 
 the merit of which is forgotten in the 
 following year. In the last fifty years 
 152 
 
 PAT 
 
 there have been as many party feuds, 
 in which zealots would have sacrificed 
 themselves ; but the very questions at 
 issue are now totally forgotten. 
 
 PARYS MINES, in Anglesea, famous 
 for the quantity of copper which they 
 yield, and which were accidentally dis- 
 covered in 1768, and now employ several 
 thousand persons. 
 
 PARTHIAN EMPIRE, founded by 
 Arsaces, 250 B. C. conquered by the Ro- 
 mans and Persians, 220 A. D. 
 
 PASQUINADE, a joke. 
 
 PASSERES, the sixth order of birds, 
 having a conic, sharp beak, with bent 
 and sharp claws; including pigeons, 
 sparrows, black-birds, swallows, &c. 
 
 PASSION WEEK, before Easter. 
 
 PASSIVE, inert or moved. 
 
 PASSPORT, a privilege granted to 
 those who visit foreign countries, but 
 in France, necessary to all who leave 
 their homes. 
 
 PASTE, a glutinous composition of 
 flour and water; or a composition in 
 imitation of precious stones, made of 
 silex, borax, oxyde of lead, and potass. 
 
 PASTIL, aburning perfume. 
 
 PASTORAL, a poem on rural life. 
 
 PATAGONIANS, the inhabitants of 
 the southern regions of America, of 
 whom many have been seen by voyagers 
 of a gigantic stature. 
 
 PATELLA, univalve shell-fish. 
 
 PATELLA, the knee-pan, a loose 
 bone to protect the joint. 
 
 PATENT, a legal authority for the 
 exclusive manufacture of a particular 
 article, or subject of invention. 
 
 PATERNOSTER, our father. 
 
 PATHOLOGY, symptoms of diseases. 
 
 PATHOS, mental emotion. 
 
 PATIENCE, endurance without mur- 
 muring. 
 
PED 
 
 PATRIARCH, (chief father,) the chief 
 of a family, or tribe ; and property from 
 parents is a Patrimony; a friend to the 
 welfare of his country is a Patriot; a 
 friend or protector, is a Patron ; and his 
 conduct is Patronage. 
 
 PATROL, persons who go certain 
 rounds to preserve regularity. 
 
 PATRONYMIC, a father’s name. 
 
 PAUPERS, persons who, in the ma- 
 tes and intrigues of society, are unable 
 to live, or make savings for old age, of 
 whom, in 1824, about 100,000 families 
 were provided for in workhouses, 500,000 
 out of workhouses, and as many more, 
 occasionally, making nearly half the po- 
 pulation, at a total cost of six or seven 
 millions; but, in 1826, the number and 
 cost were greatly increased. 
 
 PAUSE, a cessation of sound, or to 
 relieve the voice for any particular pur- 
 pose. 
 
 PAVEMENT, stones to walk on, and, 
 till the improved system of road-mak- 
 ing, employed, also, for carriage-ways. 
 The ancients paved baths and public 
 places with small coloured stones, laid 
 in figures, called mosaic. 
 
 PAVILION, a tent-like house. 
 
 PAWNBROKER, one who lends mo- 
 ney on goods left in pledge. 
 
 PEACOCK, a splendid and proud 
 bird, whose plumage combines all the 
 colours of flowers and tints of the 
 prismatic spectrum. 
 
 PEARL, an excrescence in the shells 
 of some species of oysters and muscles, 
 highly prized when of a large size, and 
 generally obtained by diving, in which, 
 in some seas, hundreds of divers are 
 constantly employed. 
 
 PEARL-ASHES, vegetable alkali. 
 
 PEAT, the remains of decayed ve- 
 getables, containing sufficient hydrogen 
 or bitumen to burn for domestic pur- 
 poses, instead of wood or coal. 
 
 PEBBLES, fragments of rocks, 
 broken by wind, rain, and frost, and 
 worn round by the action of tides on 
 ancient or modern sea shores. 
 
 PECTORAL, medicines adapted to 
 cure diseases of the breast. 
 
 PECORA, the fifth order of mam- 
 malia, with hoofs, and ruminating, and 
 without cutting teeth in the upper jaw ; 
 as camels, sheep, oxen, &c. 
 
 PEDANTRY, an ostentatious dis- 
 play of learning, or a degree of learning 
 which contaminates behaviour. 
 
 PEDICULUS, the louse, an insect 
 with six legs, with a sharp piercer in its 
 153 
 
 PEN 
 
 mouth, very numerous among dirty 
 people. 
 
 PEDOMETER, an instrument for 
 measuring distances. 
 
 PEERAGE, the nobility of Britain 
 and Ireland. 
 
 PEERS, the state of equality among 
 men. Hence a delinquent is tried by 
 his peers, the nobility of the United 
 Kingdom, of whom British ones are 
 members of the upper house of parlia- 
 ment, with 26 bishops, 16 Scots peers, 
 elected by the body, and 26 Irish, with 
 4 Irish bishops. The house of peers is 
 the supreme court of the kingdom, as a 
 court for appeals, and for the trial of 
 impeachments made by the house of 
 commons. 
 
 PEGASUS, the winged horse, accord- 
 to the Greeks, sprung from the blood of 
 the Gorgon Medusa, after Perseus, a 
 son of Jupiter, had cut off her head. 
 
 PELICAN, a genus of very large and 
 sensible birds, one species of which has 
 a pouch in the throat, capable of hold- 
 ing many quarts of water; another is 
 benevolent and careful to its compa- 
 nions; another, called the cormorant, 
 is used by the Chinese to catch fish, 
 which a ring round the neck prevents its 
 swallowing; and another, the gannet, 
 is so numerous in the western islands of 
 Scotland, that the inhabitants live on 
 them and their eggs. 
 
 PELLICLE, the thin and skin-like 
 substance found in egg-shells, and other 
 animal productions. 
 
 PELOPONNESUS, the southern 
 peninsula of Greece, now the Morea. 
 
 PEN, the useful tool for writing, ge- 
 nerally made of geese’s quills, plucked 
 with extreme cruelty ; but made with 
 better effect of metal, cheaper and more 
 durable, 
 
PEN 
 
 PENAL LAWS, those made against 
 crimes, and in England unwisely and 
 cruelly severe. 
 
 PENDANT, a small flag that hangs 
 from a ship’s mast. 
 
 PENDULUM, an oscillating body, 
 used to regulate clocks, because while 
 the length is the same, the oscillations, 
 whether long or short, are performed in 
 the same time, the lengths being as the 
 squares of the times. The seconds 
 pendulum, at London, is 39'14 inches, 
 under the equator 39’017, and in the 
 Polar Sea, 39’207. The half-seconds 
 is one-fourth in length. 
 
 PENETRATION, power to enter a 
 substance; and applied to mental sa- 
 gacity, acute wit, or capability to com- 
 prehend the nature of subjects* 
 
 PENGUIN, PATAGONIAN, or great 
 Auk, web-footed birds, seen on the 
 straights of Magellan. 
 
 PENINSULA, a part of an island or 
 continent almost surrounded by the sea, 
 except where it joins the main land, 
 by what is called an isthmus. 
 
 PENITENTIARIES, criminal pri- 
 sons in England-, to which felons are sent 
 and kept to labour. 
 
 PENNY, now TWO -PENNY, 
 POST, a local London post, invented 
 by Murray, an upholsterer, in 1631. 
 
 PENNY WEIGHT, twenty-four 
 grains. 
 
 PENTAGRAPH, a machine for re- 
 ducing or enlarging drawings. 
 
 PEN-MAKING, a useful acquisition 
 to all who write. The engraving re- 
 presents the progress, from the quill to 
 the pen. The bowl is first cut on each 
 side, the slit is made on the back, the 
 opposite side is cutout, and it is then 
 pointed and nibbed, having, when fin- 
 154 
 
 PER 
 
 ished, the proportions indicated in the 
 engraving. 
 
 PENTANDRIA, the fifth classof the 
 Linnacan system of plants, containing 
 six orders, monogynia, digynia, tri- 
 gynia, tetragynia, pentagynia, and poli- 
 gynia, with five stamens. 
 
 PEOPLE, ROMAN, called plebs or 
 populus, divided into thirty-five tribes, 
 each subdivided into ten curiae or wards. 
 
 PEPPER, an aromatic berry, called 
 black, white, and long. Black grows in 
 the Spice Islands, and white is made from 
 it. A strong mixture of black pepper 
 and rain water, suffered to stand in the 
 air for two or three days produces my- 
 riads of insects for the microscope. 
 
 PERAMBULATOR, a wheel for 
 measuring distances. 
 
 PERCH, 5 J yards ; alsoafish. 
 
 PERCUSSION, the momentum of 
 one body transferred to another, but the 
 interstices of the body struck are re- 
 duced when the atoms within them ra- 
 diate and excite heat. Three blows on 
 a piece of copper raise its heat 27°, and 
 
PER 
 
 several blows on a piece of iron will 
 heat it red hot, or raise it to 800’, but 
 the destruction of the gaseous intersti- 
 ces prevents a repetition on the same 
 piece of metal till its interstices have been 
 restored by fire. On the same principle 
 air gives out heat and light by con- 
 densation, or by radiating its previous 
 motion. Friction is another mode of 
 percussion, in which all the atoms in the 
 mass are excited by transferred motion, 
 without altering the general structure. 
 
 PERENNIALS, plants whose roots 
 vegetate many years ; and either ever- 
 greens or deciduous, that is retaining or 
 easting their leaves. 
 
 PERFORATION, making a hole 
 through. 
 
 PERICARP, the fruit, or seed-vessel 
 of plants, in all their forms and deli- 
 cious varieties, serving as food for ani- 
 mals, and, according to Genesis, chap, i., 
 destined for that purpose. 
 
 PERICLES, the Athenian statesman, 
 died 427 B. C. 
 
 PERIGEE, point of the moon’s or 
 planet’s orbit nearest to the earth. 
 
 PERIHELION, that point of a pla- 
 net’s orbit in which it is nearest to the 
 sun, and which, for the earth, is at this 
 time 9" 30' 5" of Cancer, the increase 
 in a century being 19' 39". 
 
 PERIOD, a small round dot at the 
 end of a sentence ; also the round 
 which completes a performance, or 
 date of years. 
 
 PERIPATETIC PHILOSOPHY, the 
 name given to the philosophy of Aristo- 
 tle, which prevailed for 2000 years. 
 
 PERISTALTIC, the name of a pe- 
 culiar motion, like the creeping of a 
 worm, of the bowels of living animals. 
 
 PERJURY, wilful and corrupt false- 
 hood. 
 
 PERPENDICULAR, the shortest 
 distance from a point to a surface, the 
 angles on each side being equal, or 
 right angles of 90°. 
 
 ' PER SALTEM, a leap from subject 
 to subject. 
 
 PER SE, in itself, or by itself. 
 
 PERSECUTION, unjust and vindic- 
 tive prosecution. 
 
 PERSPECTIVE, the representation 
 of distant objects on a flat surface, just 
 as they fall on an intervening pane of 
 glass, and the best method of practice 
 is to interpose a plate of glass divided 
 into squares, keeping the eye, or point 
 of sight, in one place, and putting the 
 objects in similar squares on paper. It 
 1 55 
 
 MIA 
 
 is, however, an art reduced to mathe- 
 matical rules. 
 
 N 
 
 o 
 
 PERSIAN EMPIRE, ancient, one of 
 the four great monarchies, founded by 
 Cyrus 556 before Christ, and conquered 
 by Alexander 324 B. C. 
 
 PERSIAN EMPIRE, second, found- 
 ed on the ruins of the Parthian empire, 
 by Sapor, 220 A. D. and continued, after 
 numerous fluctuations, as the kingdom 
 of Persia to this day. 
 
 PERSONATE, the 40th Linnacan 
 natural order of plants, fetid, poison- 
 ous, and aromatic, with an irregular 
 gaping petal. 
 
 PERSPIRATION, that evaporation 
 from the pores of the skins of animals 
 which equalizes their heat ; atomic mo- 
 tion being first received in the lungs, 
 and then parted with by the atoms 
 in the process of perspiration. Hence, 
 great exercise, which increases respira- 
 tion and fixation at the lungs, simul- 
 taneously causes increased perpiration ; 
 but, when this is obstructed, inward heat 
 or fever ensues. 
 
 PESTILENCE, plague, or contagious 
 disorders affecting man and beast. 
 
 PESTLE, a strong instrument em- 
 ployed to break things in a mortar, of 
 wood or metal. 
 
 PETROLIUM, mineral oil. 
 
 PETRIFACTION, the lodgment of 
 stony particles in the substance of a 
 body when saturated with water, which 
 is impregnated with such particles. 
 
 PETERSBURGH, the capital of the 
 Russian Empire, in N. lat. 69. 
 
 ^PETALS, the leaves of flowers form- 
 ing the calyx within which are the parts 
 of fructification. 
 
 PEWTER, an alloy of tin w'ith cop- 
 per, lead, zinc, bismuth, or antimony. 
 
 PHALANX, a very closely compacted 
 body of 8000 soldiers in an army. 
 
 PHARMACY, the art of compound- 
 ing drugs. 
 
 PHARAOH, the name of the king of 
 Egypt recorded in Exodus, and drowned 
 1491 B.C. 
 
 PHANTASM, imagination or fancy. 
 
 PHANTASMAGORIA, a magie lan- 
 
PHO 
 
 tern, the figures of which, in the slides, 
 only are transparent, 
 
 PHARMACOPOEIA, a book of medi- 
 cines by authority. 
 
 PHEASANT, a genus of birds of 
 great beauty, of which our domestic 
 fowls are one species, the cock being a 
 bird of great beauty and spirit. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, the capital of 
 Pennsylvania, in North America. 
 
 PHILANTHROPY, loving all ranks 
 of mankind, and practising benevolence. 
 
 PHILOLOGY, the science of lan- 
 guage. 
 
 PHILOMATHES, a lover of science. 
 
 PHILOSOPHER’S STONE, an ab- 
 surd fable of a stone which changed me- 
 tals by the touch. 
 
 PHILOSOPHIZING, a term applied 
 to systems of reasoning, by one of which 
 the name of the phenomenon is consi- 
 dered as thecause; thus sweetness is con- 
 sidered as the cause of bodies being 
 sweet, acidity as the cause of their being 
 sour, gravitation as the cause of weight, 
 &c. while, by another, the cause or 
 causes of the sweetness, the acidity, the 
 gravitation, &c. are examined and ex- 
 pounded in detail. The first is the 
 Aristotelean and prevailing system, the 
 latter is a new system. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY, NATURAL, the 
 department of knowledge which in- 
 cludes several sciences, as astronomy, 
 optics, chemistry, &c. which analyze 
 the phenomena of nature, their laws 
 of action, and their proximate causes. 
 
 PHLEBOTOMY, blood-letting. 
 
 PHLEGM, the watery humours. 
 
 PHCENIX, the date palm which rises 
 from its own ashes. 
 
 PHONICS, the science of sound. 
 
 PHOSPHATE, a combination with 
 phosphoric acid. 
 
 PHOSPHORESCENCE, a feeble 
 light emitted by some minerals when 
 thrown on a hot substance (asinfluor), 
 or when rubbed together (as in quartz). 
 
 PHOSPHORUS, a compound of hy- 
 drogen with fermenting matters, by 
 which the hydrogen is so gradually ex- 
 cited and evolved, and so masked, as to 
 exhibit a slow combustion at the low 
 heat of 44" ; but on the excitement 
 being increased to 148°, it rapidly com- 
 bines with the oxygen of the air, and 
 displays vivid flame, the union consti- 
 tuting phosphoric acid. This peculiar 
 combination of hydrogen causes the 
 light of fish, rotten wood, glow-worms, 
 &c.; also “the will of the wisp,” and 
 15 
 
 PIK 
 
 the luminous gas of clouds. The im- 
 portant basis of phosphorus remains 
 undetected. 
 
 PHOSPHURETS or PHOSPHATES, 
 salts from phosphoric acid, combined 
 with earths, alkalies, and oxydes. 
 
 PHRENOLOGY, a science taught by 
 the Germans, which maintains that the 
 powers of the mind and the sensations 
 are performed by peculiar parts of the 
 encephalon or brain : the front parts 
 being intellectual, the middle sentimen- 
 tal, and the hind parts governing the 
 animal propensities, degrees being in 
 proportion to the projection or bulk of 
 the parts. 
 
 PHTHISICAL, consumptive. 
 
 PHYSICS, the natural powers and 
 properties of all material subjects ; re- 
 garded as a whole; and physio is medi- 
 cal preparation. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY, the science of the 
 animal economy, which explains, or 
 affects to explain, the relations and de- 
 pendency of the parts. 
 
 PHYSICIAN, a graduate at some uni- 
 versity, who advises sick persons, and 
 writes prescriptions for their cure. 
 
 PHYSIOGNOMY, a habit of fea- 
 tures arising from habits of mind, so 
 that the former is often a general index 
 to the latter. 
 
 PHYTOLOGY, the science of plants. 
 
 PIA MATER, the membrane be- 
 tween the dura mater and the three di- 
 visions of the brain, and filled with 
 blood-vessels. 
 
 PIANO FORTE, soft and strong, de- 
 pending on the touch of the instrument 
 so called. 
 
 PIAZZA, the area or space common- 
 ly bounded by a row of pillars support- 
 ing a roof over a walk. 
 
 PICKLE, a salt mixture to preserve 
 substances ; or vinegar for vegetables. 
 
 PIC^E, the second order of birds, with 
 sharp edged bills, convex on the back, 
 including 26 genera, as parrots, crows, 
 magpies, &c. 
 
 PIE-POWDER, a court in fairs. 
 
 PIKE, a fresh-water fish, very active, 
 and often large. 
 
PIN 
 
 PIER, a very strong stone wall run- 
 ning into the water, to support the 
 arches of a bridge, or the quay of a 
 wharf, to withstand the dashing of waves. 
 
 PIETY, proper regard to the dis- 
 charge of duty to God and parents. 
 
 PILE DRIVER, a machine for driv- 
 ing pointed beams of wood into beds of 
 rivers or soft foundations, on which to 
 raise bridges and buildings. The weight 
 A is raised to B by the rope, B, C, D, 
 eoiled round the cylinder, D, G, by the 
 lever, M, P. When A arrives at B, it is 
 detached, and, falling on H, drives it 
 down. 
 
 PILGRIM, a person who takes along 
 journey, often with great privations, 
 for devotional purposes. 
 
 PILOT, the experienced conductor 
 of a ship in seas of difficult navigation. 
 
 PIMENTO, allspice, Jamaica pepper. 
 
 PINCERS, very useful implements 
 of carpenters, smiths, and other arti- 
 zans, being a double lever the fulcrum 
 of which is in the joint. 
 
 PINE, a genus of trees, of which 
 the magnificent cedar of Lebanon is 
 one species, remarkable for its size and 
 durability. The wild pine of' Norway 
 supplies the deals for buildings, and 
 often grows straight to the height of 80 
 feet. Its resinous juices resist the frost 
 and preserve the leaves during winter. 
 
 PINEAL GLAND, a small pine- 
 shaped protuberance at the basis of the 
 157 
 
 PLA 
 
 brain, so protected as to be supposed the 
 seat of thought. 
 
 PINS, an ingenious manufacture, 
 first used in England in 1543, by Queen 
 Catharine. 
 
 PINK, a vessel bulging at the sides. 
 
 PINCHBECK, an alloy of zinc and 
 copper. 
 
 PINION, a projection against which 
 the teeth of a wheel work. 
 
 PIONEER, a civil engineer in a regi- 
 ment ; who assists in forming trenches 
 or mines during military operations. 
 
 PIPES, for conveying water, cast in 
 iron, formed of clay and baked by 
 potters, or bored in trees. 
 
 PIPE, a wine-measure of 12C gallons. 
 
 PIRATE, a robber by sea, or a thief 
 in literature. 
 
 PISCES, the Linna 2 an name of fishes, 
 divided into five orders — the abdomi- 
 nales, tlfe apodes, the cartilaginii, the 
 jugulares, and the thoracici. They 
 breathe air by their gills instead of 
 lungs, the air being extracted by an ap- 
 paratus. They have the senses of land 
 animals, and can move at the rate of a 
 mile a minute. The multitude of fish 
 far exceeds that of land-animals, and 
 their varieties, forms, and habits, seem 
 equally great, though little observed. 
 
 PISCES, the last of the twelve signs 
 of the zodiac. 
 
 PISMIRE, an ant or emmet. 
 
 PISTIL, one of the organs of fructi- 
 fication. 
 
 PISTON, the moveable part of a 
 pump, which, when lifted up, forms a 
 vacuum beneath. 
 
 PITCH, boiled and hardened tar, 
 drawn from pines, firs, and coals. It 
 abounds in hydrogen, and is, therefore, 
 very combustible. Also, the tone of 
 musical instruments. 
 
 PITH, the soft inmost part or marrow 
 of vegetables. 
 
 PIVOT, the pin or centre. 
 
 PLATA, a considerable river in 
 South America. 
 
 PLANE, a level extension. 
 
 PLANETS, spheres of heterogeneous 
 materials, kept together by their own 
 two-fold motions, and the action and re- 
 action of whose gaseous and fixed parts 
 sustain all the varieties of gases, fluids, 
 minerals, vegetables, and animals, which 
 flourish on their surfaces, when the ac- 
 tions and reactions are free. Infinite 
 space is believed by analogy to be full 
 of systems, like that of our sun and its 
 planets. The planets move round the 
 P 
 
PLE 
 
 sun by the action of the gas of space 
 and their own reactions. 
 
 PLATING, coating with silver. 
 PLATINA, the heaviest known me- 
 tal, being to gold as 22 to 19. It is the 
 colour of silver, and very malleable. 
 Its ore contains palladium, iridium, 
 osmium, and rhodium, besides iron 
 and chromium. It is melted with diffi- 
 culty, but drawn into very fine wire. 
 
 PLASTER, a mixture of earths and 
 water, which latter evaporated, leaves a 
 hard consistence. Or, a preparation of 
 hydrogenous substances applied to the 
 skin to increase its reaction. 
 
 PLATFORM, a level raised surface. 
 PLANTING, the branch of horticul- 
 ture which relates to the setting of young 
 trees ; and the growers of sugar-canes 
 are called planters. 
 
 PLANISPHERE, a projection of a 
 concave or convex surface on a plane. 
 
 PLAGUE, a contagious disease, often 
 fatal to nations and great cities, but ar- 
 rested by cleanliness, or the avoiding of 
 putrid fermentations, of which it seems 
 to be an extension. 
 
 PLANETARIUM, an instrument 
 made to display the planetary system in 
 miniature. 
 
 PLEAS OF THE CROWN, connect- 
 ed with the king as plaintiff. 
 
 PLEASURE, agreeable excitements 
 in a state of health, contentment, and 
 self-satisfaction, not of those kinds 
 which produce exhaustion and disease, 
 but of which the stock is inexhaustible, 
 as those of the mind, of friendship, be- 
 nevolence, doing good to others, recon- 
 ciling differences, honouring merit, and 
 the like. The evil-minded have no 
 pleasure, either in themselves or in 
 society ; but a life of virtue is a life of 
 pleasure, inherently and by reaction. 
 
 PLEIADES, a small but remarkable 
 cluster of stars in Taurus, so commonly 
 called the seven star*, that it is supposed 
 one has lost its light. Through a tele- 
 scope, more than 50 or 60 may be 
 counted. 
 
 PLEONASM, superfluity of words. 
 
 PLENUM, a term used to signity a 
 space perfectly full of matter, but 
 ideal; though matter or atoms in re- 
 sulting circular motion, fill, every space 
 with their power ; and interstices or va- 
 cancies must be less than any assignable 
 dimensions. Space, therefore, is a ple- 
 num of power, or atoms in motion. 
 
 PLEURISY, a sharp pain in the side. 
 
 PLETHORIC, full of blood. 
 
 158 
 
 PLU 
 
 PLEA, an argument or statement 
 made by parties in a suit at law. 
 
 PLEBEIAN, the lowest of the people. 
 
 PLEXUS, a net-work of nerves. 
 
 PLIERS, an instrument, or double 
 lever, the fulcrum of which is at the 
 centre, and it enables watchmakers and 
 other artizans to take firm hold of any 
 small objects. 
 
 PLOT, a fable, or a plan. 
 
 PLOUGH, an important implement 
 for turning over the exhausted soil and 
 turning up the fresh and fertile parts, 
 so contrived to save the labour of dig- 
 ging. They are of various construc- 
 tions, according to the soil. 
 
 PLOUGH, DOUBLE, a variety of 
 plough, which has two shares, and 
 which turns two furrows at the same 
 time ; and it is used either when narrow 
 furrows are desired, or when the soil is 
 light. 
 
 PLOUGH-SHARE, the pointed plate 
 of iron which is drawn through the soil, 
 a ridge of which it turns over by the 
 rounded shape of the hinder parts. 
 
POE 
 
 POL 
 
 PLUMMET, a piece of lead for ruling 
 lines; or of larger size, to suspend by 
 string and determine a perpendicular di- 
 rection. 
 
 PLURALITY, many, but commonly 
 applied to church benefices. 
 
 PLUS, -j-, addition in algebra. 
 
 PLUTO, brother of Jupiter, and god 
 of the infernal regions. 
 
 PLUTUS, the god of riches, a fickle 
 divinity, having wings, but blind and 
 lame. 
 
 PLUVIOMETER, a rain-gauge. 
 
 P. M., Post Meridian, or afternoon ; 
 opposed to A. M., Ante Meridian, or 
 forenoon. 
 
 PNEUMATICS, the science which 
 treats of the properties of air. 
 
 PNEUMATIC APPARATUS, an ap- 
 paratus for generating, collecting, and 
 exhibiting, gases. A, is a vessel contain- 
 ing some ingredients for generating gas ; 
 B, a pipe to convey it to the glass vessel, 
 D, filled with water, which is driven out 
 as the gas enters ; C is a resting bar, and 
 a vessel of water to let in D when full of 
 gas for use. 
 
 POETRY, the art of expressing senti- 
 ments in measured syllables, according 
 to certain rules, harmony, and taste: 
 159 
 
 identified with the human mind, because 
 practised by all semi-barbarous people, 
 and with improved success, as they ad- 
 vance in civilization. It is divided into 
 blank verse and rhyme, and denominated 
 according to its subject ; as pastoral for 
 rural objects; elegiac for plaintive 
 pieces ; lyrical, or ballad ; didactic, or 
 instructive ; satirical, or humorous ; 
 and dramatic, or conversational. 
 
 POISONS, substances which by their 
 chemical action, or re-action, disturb or 
 suspend the circulations and functions 
 necessary to life. Some destroy the 
 parts, as arsenic and corrosive subli- 
 mate; others destroy the elasticity of 
 the stomach ; others create decomposi- 
 tion by their active putrescence; and 
 others affect the medullary system, as 
 narcotics, and suspend the energy of the 
 brain; but they act variously upon dif- 
 ferent animals. 
 
 POINT, a quantity less than can be 
 expressed in figures. 
 
 POINTS OF THE COMPASS, four 
 cardinal, N. S. E. and W. and seven di- 
 visions of each, of 11*15 each, in all 32. 
 
 POINT LACE, worked with bobbin 
 or needle. 
 
 POINT BLANK, when a gun is 
 pointed to the white space in the centre 
 of a target. 
 
 POLA, AMPHITHEATRE AT, a 
 splendid specimen of one of those an- 
 cient Roman theatres in the centre of 
 which gladiators and wild beasts used to 
 be exhibited to thousands of spectators. 
 Those at Pola, Verona, and the Coliseum 
 at Rome, are the largest now remaining. 
 
 POLAND, formerly a large kingdom 
 of Europe, but now a part of the domi- 
 nions of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 
 
 POLARITY, special direction, ac- 
 cording to some governing law, as in 
 magnetism, light, &c. 
 
 POLES, a figurative expression to 
 designate the two fixed points on the 
 earth’s surface, round which all the rest 
 turn; but their site being surrounded 
 by ice, they have never been approached 
 within 500 miles. 
 
POL 
 
 POL 
 
 POLE CAT, a large cat, emitting a 
 very noisome smell. 
 
 POLE STAR, a star but 1° 40' from 
 the point in the heavens over the north 
 pole of the earth, as high as a place is 
 distant from the equator. 
 
 POLICE, the arangement for preserv- 
 ing the peace, and suppressing crime. 
 
 POLICY, public or private wisdom; 
 best when founded on truth, justice, 
 and benevolence ; which, however, are 
 excluded from policy founded on the spe- 
 culations of political economists. 
 
 POLICY OF INSURANCE, a con- 
 tract, by which several oblige themselves 
 to repair the losses and damages that 
 may happen accidentally to a ship or 
 go xls with which it is laden, through a 
 certain sum which is paid by the owner 
 of the goods to be insured. 
 
 POLITENESS, good manners, de- 
 ference to others, the grace of life which 
 distinguishes between a boor and a gen- 
 tleman. 
 
 POLITICAL ARITHMETIC, a 
 science which treats of the population, 
 resources, and revenues, of a country. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY, a system 
 of speculations, which in sustaining 
 what is called the general good destroys 
 the operative motive of self-interest, the 
 aggregation of which constitutes the 
 general good. In regard to individuals, 
 it destroys the certainty of recompence, 
 and the stimulus of self-love, by an al- 
 ledged general compensation in which 
 the individual has no special interest. 
 The mischiefs arising from its sophisms 
 and conundrums, have been enormous, 
 and no society can flourish where they 
 are allowed to have weight. It is a no- 
 vel branch of study, whose errors have 
 brought Great Britain, in 1826, to the 
 brink of ruin. 
 
 POLL, the register of persons form- 
 ing a corporate bo ly, or the voting at 
 an election. 
 
 UO 
 
 POLLEN, the fructifying powder 
 communicated by the anther of flowers 
 at the pistil. 
 
 POLYADELPHIA, the 18th class of 
 the Linnsean system of plants; contain- 
 ing four orders, pentandria, dodecan- 
 dria, icosandria, and polyandria, with 
 the stamina united into three or more 
 bodies by the filaments. 
 
 POLYANDRIA, the 13th class of the 
 Linnsean system of plants ; containing 
 seven orders, monogynia, digynia, tri- 
 gynia, tetragynia, pentagynia, hexagy- 
 nia, and polygynia, with many stamina. 
 
 POLYGAMY, having more than one 
 wife, or husband. 
 
 POLYGLOTT, a bible in many lan- 
 guages. 
 
 POLYGON, a figure of many sides. 
 
 POLYNESIA, the groups of islands 
 in the Pacific. 
 
 POLYTHEISM, many gods. 
 
 POLYPE, a species of zoophytes 
 whose chief animal property consists of 
 having a stomach which is so constitu- 
 ted that it acts equally well if the ani- 
 mal is turned inside out. They pro- 
 pagate by stems or buds, and, when cut 
 into parts, each part becomes a perfect 
 animal, living in water, fixed at one 
 end; but myriads of them reside in 
 
POP 
 
 small cells of corals, madrepores, &c. in 
 forms like plants, and their multiplica- 
 tion and industry create rocks and whole 
 islands in many seas. 
 
 POLYGAMIA, the 23d class of the 
 Linna;an system of plants; containing 
 three orders, monoecia, dioccia, arid 
 trioecia, with perfect flowers, accom- 
 panied with one or both sorts of im- 
 perfect flowers. 
 
 POMACErE, the 36th Linnaean natu- 
 ral order of plants, having an esculent 
 pulpy root ; as the apple, &c. 
 
 POMATUM, a compound of lard and 
 rose-water. 
 
 POMONA, a goddess presiding over 
 gardens and fruit-trees. 
 
 POMPEII, a town overwhelmed, with 
 Herculaneum and Stabiae, by an erup- 
 tion of Mount Vesuvius, A.D. 79, lately 
 re-opened, and full of curiosities. 
 
 PONTIFF, a high priest. 
 
 PONTON, a temporary military 
 bridge. 
 
 PONTUS, a country of Asia, bounded 
 by Colchis on the east, and the Euxine 
 on the north. 
 
 POOR, persons without capital in 
 money, or talents natural or acquired, 
 by which to obtain subsistence, and often 
 the aged, young, blind, or decrepid. 
 The Christian religion enjoins provision 
 for all such from the superfluities of 
 wealth, but gives no countenance to 
 idleness or vice. The collections for 
 the poor in England and Wales at pre- 
 sent exceed seven millions annually, 
 besides contributions, and charities. 
 
 POPE, or PAPA, (Father,) the head 
 of the Roman Catholic Church, and in 
 certain provinces, near Rome, a tempo- 
 ral sovereign. The Bishops of Rome 
 affect to owe their origin to the ap- 
 pointment of Peter, the Apostle, who, 
 having the keys of Heaven given to him, 
 was considered as transferring them to 
 161 
 
 POP 
 
 these Bishops as his successors ; hence 
 they assumed a supremacy which was 
 admitted by all the Western Christians, 
 but'resisted by the Eastern ones, who in 
 Greece, Turkey, and Russia, have a se- 
 parate Greek Church. The vices of the 
 clergy led, however, in the 14th and 15th 
 centuries, toschisms, and a personal quar- 
 rel between the Pope and Henry VIII. 
 led the latter to assume the title of 
 the Head of the Anglican Church, and 
 recognize the principles of the reform- 
 ers, which were adopted by many Ger- 
 man princes, and the Northern sove- 
 reigns. Hence the European Christians 
 are now divided into the Roman and 
 Eastern churches, and the Reformers, 
 who again have split into numerous 
 sects, chiefly in England and Holland. 
 The Pope retains his spiritual ascend- 
 ancy throughout Italy, France, Austria, 
 Spain, and Portugal; and four-fifths of 
 the Irish are Catholics. 
 
 POPE GOING TO CHURCH, a cu 
 rious procession of priests and officer -, 
 his holiness being borne along in a sort 
 of sedan chair supported by mules. 
 
 POPE’S HAT, or papal tiara, a triple 
 crown worn by the popes on state occa- 
 sions. 
 
 POPE’S TOE, KISSING OF. On 
 certain great holidays the pope takes his 
 r 2 
 
POR 
 
 seat in St. Peter’s church, and devotees, 
 on approaching, kneel and kiss his great 
 toe. 
 
 POPULATION, number of people. 
 Asia, which has always been considered 
 as the quarter first occupied by the 
 human race, is supposed to contain 
 about 500,000,000 inhabitants, Africa 
 00,000,000, America 30,000,000, and 
 150,000,000 are assigned to Europe ; En- 
 gland and Wales 12 millions, Scotland 
 2, and Ireland 7 - 
 
 PORCELAIN, earthenware, white 
 and semi transparent, of clay and felspar. 
 
 PORCUPINE, a reptile, very active, 
 whose body is covered with long bony 
 spines, which it is capable of erecting 
 in its defence if attacked or in danger; 
 but not of projecting, as has been al- 
 leged. 
 
 PORE, a small aperture in the skin 
 for perspiration, so fine as to be invisible 
 except by microscopes of great power, 
 and so numerous that thousands of them 
 exist in a small circle. 
 
 PORPHYRY, a primary rock, con- 
 sisting of felspar, crystallized and gra- 
 nular, of two colours. 
 
 162 
 
 POT 
 
 PORPOISE, the delphinus phoccena, 
 chiefly remarkable for its rolling action 
 in the water. 
 
 PORTICI, ruins near Naples of a 
 city buried for 1800 years under lava. 
 
 PORTCULLIS, a gate to a castle. 
 
 PORTER, liquor brewed from high- 
 dried malt, and coloured with burnt 
 sugar. 
 
 PORTUGAL, a finely situated king- 
 dom of Europe, ruined by the supersti- 
 tion and indolence of its inhabitants. 
 
 POSITION, SINGLE, is when only 
 one supposed number obtains the an- 
 swer ; Double, when two are requisite. 
 
 POSITIVE, a term applied to that 
 electrical action which converts blue in- 
 fusions into red, and which is evolved 
 by rubbing glass with silk or flannel, or 
 by the zinc and oxidated side of a plate 
 of dilute nitric acid in a galvanic com- 
 bination. It is a term also applied to 
 quantities in algebra, marked -J-. 
 
 POST, GENERAL, an arrangement 
 for the conveyance of letters; yielding, 
 in 1825, 2_j million per annum. First 
 introduced in 1635, and now universal. 
 First conveyed by coaches in 1785. 
 
 POST OBIT, after deatlr. 
 
 POSSE COMITATUS, the power of 
 a county. 
 
 POSTHUMOUS, born after a father’s 
 death. 
 
 POSTULATE, a problem so obvious 
 as to need no demonstration. 
 
 POTASH, a fixed alkali, procured 
 from the ashes of burnt vegetables, and 
 found in some minerals. 
 
 POTASSIUM, a substance procured 
 by passing a galvanic charge through 
 vegetable alkali. The positive, or oxy- 
 gen side, is thus intercepted, or neutra- 
 lized in its passage, and its sole action 
 drives the intervening alkali to the 
 other side, forming a compound, but so 
 closely held together, that w hen placed 
 on water the oxygen explodes the hy- 
 drogen of the water, the flame for want 
 of carbon being the red of the oxygen, 
 and the violet of the hydrogen, while the 
 alkali saturates the water. The combi- 
 
POW 
 
 nation rudely points at the probable 
 construction of metals. 
 
 POTATOES, a productive, whole- 
 some, and nutritive, root, which yields 
 7 or 8 tons to the acre, and is now the 
 cheapest food in Europe, one-fourth of 
 it being starch. 
 
 POTENTIALITY, power, matter in 
 motion. 
 
 POT-METAL, one part lead, four of 
 copper. 
 
 POTTER, an artizan who prepares 
 plastic materials, shapes them, and dries 
 and ornaments them for use. Certain 
 earths are rendered plastic by being 
 worked with water, forms are given to 
 the plastic material by means of moulds, 
 wheels, and the hands of the workman. 
 The fluid is then evaporated, and the 
 earth is re-produced in its desired form. 
 The glazing, colouring, and ornament- 
 ing, involve much science and ingenuity. 
 
 POTTERS’ CLAY, clay with sixty 
 per cent silex. 
 
 POUNCE, powder of gum Sandarach. 
 
 POUND, a weightof 16ounces, avoir- 
 dupois; also, twenty shillings in sum; 
 and a public enclosure for stray or 
 trespass cattle. 
 
 POWER, a relative idea, indicating 
 that one thing is competent to move, or 
 disturb another thing, and universally 
 displayed and eaused by matter in moti- 
 on, either by percussion, propulsion, or 
 re-action. The power of a horse will raise 
 a weight over a pulley 80 lbs. four miles 
 an hour, which is equal to drawing a load 
 of two tons on a level road the same dis- 
 tance. A man could draw but 27, and a 
 horse will draw horizontally as much as 
 seven men. The draught of a waggon is 
 equal to l-15th, or l-30th of the weight 
 of the load, according to the road, but 
 only 100th on a railway, and in a boat. 
 
 16? 
 
 PRE 
 
 Animal power is the tension of a lever of 
 muscles acting against the ground. 
 Clock-power is the weight ; watch-power 
 the spring. 
 
 POWER-LOOM, a loom which is 
 worked by steam or water. 
 
 PRACTICE, a neat and easy way of 
 determining the amount of numbers of 
 articles at a price, by taking the aliquot 
 parts of a pound or shilling, dividing 
 accordingly, and adding the quotients 
 together for pounds or shillings. 
 
 PR/ETORS, magistrates at Rome, 
 who administered justice between citi- 
 zens and foreigners. 
 
 PRAYER, a religious exercise, pro- 
 ducing resignation and hope in votaries, 
 therefore correcting bad passions, and 
 producing mental tranquillity. 
 
 PREBENDARY, a clergyman who 
 has a prebend to officiate in a cathedral. 
 
 PRECEDENCY, the order in which 
 men and women are called at meetings 
 of ceremony, beginning at Princes and 
 Dukes, and descending to Esquires and 
 Gentlemen. 
 
 PRECESSION of the EQUINOXES, 
 a motion of the c*is of the earth, by 
 which the equinoctial points, or nodes, 
 recede, with reference to the stars, 
 1 s 2& 45" in a century. Hence, the 
 constellation Aries, which commenced 
 theecliptie'^when the signs were invent- 
 ed, above 3000 years since, is now in the 
 middle of Taurus, and so for the others. 
 It merely changes appearances, and 
 should be distinguished from the revo- 
 lution of the line of the Apsides, in 
 20,940 years. 
 
 PRECISE, the 21st Linnaean natural 
 order of plants, containing primroses, 
 and other early flowers. 
 
 PRECIPITATION, the falling of 
 any heavy substance from a liquid. 
 
 PREDESTINATION, an absurd be- 
 lief that effects go before the cause, that 
 the end precedes the beginning, and that 
 the issue governs the -previous train of 
 events; also, a theological dogma, that 
 men are damned before they are born. 
 
 PREJ UDICE, decision neither found- 
 ed upon nor consistent with reason, and 
 the error of ignorance, weakness, or 
 idleness. It is the enemy of all truth, 
 knowledge, and improvement; and is 
 the blindness of the mind, rendering its 
 powers useless and mischievous. 
 
 PRELECTION, lesson or lecture. 
 
 PREMISES, foundations of an argu- 
 ment ; also houses and dwellings. 
 
 PREMUNI RE, a forfeiture of pro- 
 
PRI 
 
 petty and liberty, for questioning the 
 King’s title. 
 
 PREROGATIVE, the special powers 
 vested in the king, as those of appointing 
 his own ministers, of creating peers, 
 proroguing parliament, dissolving the 
 House of Commons, pardoning offenders 
 after conviction, granting commissions 
 for the execution of the laws, and in the 
 army and navy ; negotiating with fo- 
 reign nations, exercising his veto in re- 
 gard to new laws, and making war or 
 peace. But the constitution of England 
 deprives the king of the power of levy- 
 ing money without the consent of the 
 House of Commons, and of the power 
 of imprisoning or punishing any one, 
 without trial in the usual forms, or of 
 dispensing with any of the laws. 
 
 PREPOSITION, a genus of words, 
 or part of speech, which indicates the 
 relations of nouns to one another. 
 
 PRESBYTERY, a body of elders. 
 
 PRESS, an instrument formed by the 
 mechanical power of the inclined plane, 
 in the form of a screw, sometimes made 
 of wood, and sometimes of metal, by 
 means of which m , rufactured goods 
 are finished and packed, books bound, 
 and cheese consolidated. 
 
 PRICKLE, a projection from the 
 bark. 
 
 PRIEST, a minister of religion. 
 
 PRIMARY PLANETS, are seven, 
 distinguished by the following charac- 
 ters and names ; viz. Mercury, <£ 
 Venus, Q the Earth, £ Mars, 2f. Jn* 
 piter, Saturn, and J^[ Herschel. 
 
 PRIMARY QUALITIES, applied to 
 matter, such as solidity, or space, filling 
 dimensions and figure. 
 
 PRIMARY ROCKS, supposed to be 
 parts of the earth as it stood from the 
 164 
 
 PRI 
 
 remote beginning, mentioned by Moses, 
 in the first of Genesis. They are 14 in 
 number, chiefly composed of silex, alu- 
 mina, and magnesia; and according to 
 their various intermixtures, called gra- 
 nite, gneiss, mica slate, clay slate, pri- 
 mitive limestone, primitive trap, serpen- 
 tine, porphyry, sienite, topaz rock, 
 quartz rock, primitive flinty slate, pri- 
 mitive gypsum, and white stone ; ail 
 serving as the foundations of secondary 
 rocks, and without petrifactions or fos- 
 sil remains in them. 
 
 PRIMATES, the first order of Mam- 
 malia, with four cutting and two canine 
 teeth in each jaw ; including four gene- 
 ra, man, monkeys, macaucos, and bats. 
 
 PRIMITIVE VEGETATION. Li- 
 chens first appear on rocks, and mosses 
 next in corners and hollows, and these 
 are followed in succession by phaenoga- 
 mous plants, generally of certain species, 
 and which do not grow in the vicinity. 
 
 PRI MO, the first, as primogeniture, 
 the first born; or primum mobile, the 
 first mover, which, by the ancient phi- 
 losophy, was the supposed sphere of the 
 stars, that in spite of their distance 
 were made to go round the earth every 
 twenty-four hours. 
 
 PRINCE’S METAL, an assay of cop- 
 per and zinc. 
 
 PRINTING, an art as applied to 
 books ; first practised about 1440, at 
 Haerlem and Mayence, but previously- 
 exercised in the engraving of seals, and 
 in the making of playing-cards, the first 
 book-printing being in carved or en- 
 graved pages of wood, called blocks, and 
 the impressions taken on one side. 
 Moveable types were afterwards invent- 
 ed, and these have lately been used to cast 
 solid pages, or stereotype. The engraving 
 represents a machine worked by steam. 
 
 PRISM, a triangular form of glass, or 
 any refracting medium, by the oblique 
 action of which the atoms whose pro- 
 pulsions, called light, are decomposed, 
 and exhibit a coloured spectrum, which 
 divided into 360 parts, the upper side 
 is hot, red, and oxygenous, and 45 parts f 
 
PRO 
 
 and the lower violet, cold, and hydroge- 
 nous, and 80 parts, with the intermediate 
 colours and qualities, as orange 27, 
 yellow 40, green 60, blue 60, and indigo 
 40. The whole being a mechanical, and 
 perfect decomposition of the elemen- 
 tary atoms of the atmosphere, the ex- 
 citement of which constitutes light. 
 
 PRISON, a building for confining 
 criminals before trial and after convic- 
 tion ; generally a den of misery, extor- 
 tion, and tyranny, owing to the culpable 
 neglect of sheriffs and others whose duty 
 it is to superintend them. Prisons are 
 also used to detain persons who will not 
 pay their debts, or who wantonly incur 
 them, but from want of discrimination 
 they are grossly abused, by being em- 
 ployed to detain those who are willing but 
 unable to pay, or who have been rendered 
 incapable of paying by misfortunes easi- 
 ly proved. Charity and benevolence 
 may always find employment in prisons, 
 which are the abode of much crime, and 
 more misfortune ; of many knaves, but 
 more dupes. 
 
 PROBABILITY, an expression of 
 the chance that a thing may or may not 
 happen ; and, if the chance that it may 
 happen is less than the chance that it 
 may not happen, it is said to be proba- 
 ble ; and the numbers which express 
 these variable chances, when ascertain- 
 ed, constitute the science of probabili- 
 ties. As applied to human life, founded 
 on tables of mortality, it serves as the 
 foundation of societies, which for cer- 
 tain annual premiums, varied according 
 to age, undertake to pay certain sums 
 to the heirs of the party, whose life is 
 thereby insured for that sum. 
 
 PROBOSCIS, a trunk or snout, 
 
 PROBLEM, a proposition requiring 
 something to be done for the investiga- 
 tion of some truth. 
 
 PRODUCE, the result of labour or 
 natural growth. In regard to agricul- 
 tural produce, an acre in England 
 averages 24 bushels of wheat, weighing 
 57 lbs. ; an acre of barley, 32 bushels, 
 weighing 50 lbs. ; and an acre of oats, 
 165 
 
 PRO 
 
 38 bushels of 38 lbs; grazed in beef, 1G0 
 lbs. ; and in mutton, 226 lbs. ; in pota- 
 toes, carrots, &c. from 8 to 12 tons. 
 
 PRODUCTION, a work of nature or 
 art, corrected in quantity by materials 
 or demand. 
 
 PROFILE, aside outline. 
 
 PROFIT, the balance gained by a 
 transaction ; and the annual balance at 
 10 per cent profitof transactions in Great 
 Britain is about 200 millions. 
 
 PROFIT and LOSS, the profit, or 
 loss, arising from goods bought and 
 sold. In book-keeping the debtor side 
 expresses the loss, the creditor the gain. 
 
 PROJECTILE FORCE, the force of 
 explosion or projection with which a 
 common ball or missile is thrown, 
 which imparted force being gradually 
 parted with to the air, and counteracted 
 by the constant downward force, occa- 
 sions the body to describe a curve line. 
 And as the planets move in curve lines, 
 Newton, by analogy, taught that these 
 also were moved by a projectile force, 
 and that a central force, like bodies on 
 the earth, draws them into orbits ; the 
 projectile force being the almighty 
 power with which they were hurled into 
 space when first created ; and the central 
 force the supposed attraction of the sun ; 
 while, as any resistance would make 
 them fall in spiral lines, he then sup- 
 ported his two hypotheses, by asserting 
 that all space is a vacu .m. But this 
 train of reasoning is fallacious ; for the 
 force which causes a body to fall to a 
 planet is local, and no such force exists 
 in the sun, while the force radiates from 
 the sun and is not directed towards it. 
 
 PROJECTION OF THE SPHERE, 
 a representation of the circles of a sphere 
 on a flat surface, effected by the Gunter’s 
 scale and compasses. 
 
 PROLEGOMENA, apreliminary dis- 
 course. 
 
 PROMISSORY NOTE, a written en- 
 gagement to pay at a time fixed. 
 
 PROMONTORY, an elevated point 
 of land, stretching itself into the sea, 
 the end of which is called a Cape. 
 
 PRONOUN, a genus of words, or 
 part of speech, invented to prevent the 
 too frequent recurrence of the noun. 
 
 PROPERTY, the possessions of a 
 person ; but when referring to natu- 
 ral powers often misused, as applying 
 to a supposed quality per se ; but pro- 
 perty m this sense is merely relative ac- 
 tion and re-action, and there is no pro- 
 perty per se. 
 
PUL 
 
 PROPORTION, a mathematical syl- 
 logism, in which the first term is to (:) 
 the second (::) as the third is to (:) the 
 fourth; consequently, the product of 
 the first and fourth is equal to the se- 
 cond and third ; and hence to find the 
 fourth, the product of the second and 
 third is divided by the first. 
 
 PROPULSION, a term applied when 
 one thing pushes another by some re- 
 action, as when a man pushes a chair or 
 table with his hands, by re-acting with 
 his feet against the ground. 
 
 PRO RE NATA, for the occasion. 
 
 PROSECUTION, legal proceeding. 
 
 PRO TEMPORE, for the time. 
 
 PROTESTANTS, a name given to 
 reformers in the church in 1529. 
 
 PROTEUS, a sea-deity, who could 
 assume different shapes. 
 
 PROTO, first, or original. 
 
 PROTRACTOR, a divided semi- 
 circle. 
 
 PROVOST, a Scottish mayor. 
 
 PROVIDENCE, the overruling ge- 
 neral cause of events and phenomena. 
 
 PRUDENCE, the art of avoiding 
 difficulties, and getting clear of them 
 when they occur. 
 
 PRUSSIA, a considerable kingdom 
 of Europe. 
 
 PRUSSIC ACID, a fatal poison, ex- 
 tracted from bitter almonds and laurel- 
 leaves, a component of Prussian blue. 
 
 PSEUDO, false or counterfeit. 
 
 PSITTACUS, the parrot genus. 
 
 PSYCHOLOGY, theory of the soul. 
 
 PTINUS PERTINAX, an insect 
 which counterfeits death when caught. 
 
 PTINUS PULSATOR, the death- 
 watch, a noise made by the males to call 
 the females. 
 
 PUBLICANS, among the Romans, 
 tax-gatherers and farmers of the revenue, 
 hated by the people, and for their extor- 
 tions classed with sinners. With us, a 
 publican is the keeper of an open house 
 of entertainment. 
 
 PUBLISHER, one who buys manu- 
 scripts and gets them printed for public 
 use. 
 
 PUDDING-STONE, the rounded 
 stones of an ancient beach, cemented by 
 the filtration of siliceous solution from 
 above, both being so hard as to become 
 one solid. 
 
 PULLEY, a convenient arrangement 
 of a rope for applying power equal to 
 weight; but, when combined, a means 
 of diminishing velocity in the weight 
 and increasing power. 
 
 166 
 
 PUM 
 
 PUFFIN, or Artica, a bird with such 
 short legs that it cannot stand except 
 quite upright. 
 
 PULP, the soft part of fruits. 
 
 PULSE, a motion of the blood-ves- 
 sels, created by the alternate dilatation 
 and contraction of the arteries. It di- 
 minishes with age, giving in children 
 from 140 to 100 strokes a minute; but 
 at puberty only 80 ; and above 60 years, 
 60 pulsations. 
 
 PULVERULENT, in a state of pow- 
 der or dust ; feebly cohering. 
 
 PUMP, an important machine for ex- 
 tracting the air from a pipe placed in 
 water, which, by pressure of the air, 
 rises 33 feet in the vacuum. The same 
 principle is applied to extract air from 
 a close glass vessel, and it is then called 
 an air-pump ; a is a solid fitting piece 
 drawn up from b, and leaving a vacuum 
 from b to a, owing to w'hich the air 
 presses the water through the rising 
 valve 6, and the water rushing into the 
 vacuum escapes at an orifice ; a is then 
 pushed down again when b closes, and 
 on being raised again makes a new va- 
 cuum. 
 
PRO 
 
 PULVERIZATION, the reduction 
 of solids into powders. 
 
 PUMICE, lava without iron. 
 
 PUNCHEON, 63 gallons. 
 
 PUNCH, a cutting tool of any 
 shape. 
 
 PUNCTUATION, the discriminating 
 use of certain marks adopted to distin- 
 guish the clauses of a period, sometimes 
 with reference to the sense, and at others 
 to the grammatical construction. Thus, 
 a full point ( . ) closes a perfect sen- 
 tence, a colon ( : ) indicates an adjunct, 
 a semicolon ( ; ) distinguishes its prin- 
 cipal part, and a comma ( , ) parts su- 
 bordinate to the semicolon. A sentence, 
 which may include several periods, ter- 
 minates a branch of the subject or ar- 
 gument. A dash ( — ) within a period, 
 calls for attention to what follows, and 
 a series of dashes indicates the energetic 
 feeling of the writer. A question is in- 
 dicated by ( ? ), an exclamation by 
 ( ! ), and it is sometimes convenient to 
 include a collateral circumstance in a 
 parenthesis ( ). 
 
 PUNCTURATION, the incision of 
 needles in the skin, to relieve the pain- 
 ful diseases of its coats, from tension, 
 obstruction, &e. called rheumatic, face- 
 ache, &c. 
 
 PUNISHMENT, personal suffering 
 according to law, for crimes, intended 
 as an example, to deter others and to 
 correct the offender ; but in barbarous 
 ages extended to death for trivial of- 
 fences. In England, besides death, the 
 punishments are transportation to New 
 South Wales, imprisonment, hard la- 
 bour, and whipping in public ; but no 
 punishment can be inflicted till a jury of 
 12 have all of them decided on guilt. 
 
 PTOLEMY, the name of a family of 
 the kings of Egypt from 315 to 50 B. C. 
 
 PUPIL, the hole in the front of the 
 eye through which the light acts, and ca- 
 pable of expansion as light diminishes, 
 
 PURIT AN, a religious zealot. 
 
 PURGATORY, condition of souls 
 after death, according to the supersti- 
 tions of the Romish church. 
 
 PURPLE, a colour produced by the 
 smallest or least efficient of those subtle 
 atoms which cause light, approximating 
 to deficiency or biackness. 
 
 PURSER, the manager of provisions 
 on ship-board. 
 
 PUS, the matter in a sore, created by 
 obstructed circulation and action of the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 PROGRESSION, A RITHME- 
 167 
 
 PYR 
 
 T1 C A L, is formed from the addition 
 or subtraction of a certain number, 
 which is termed their common differ- 
 ence ; a Geometrical Progression is the 
 continued multiplication or division by 
 a number, called their ratio. 
 
 PUTAMINEiE, the twenty-fifth Liri- 
 nacan natural order of plants, whose 
 fruit is covered with a wooden shell, as 
 the caper, &c. 
 
 PUTREFACTION, the decompo- 
 sition of animal and vegetable substan- 
 ces, the hydrogen creating an offensive 
 smell, and the process tending to excite 
 similar decomposition in other animal 
 bodies, and hence putrid and contagious 
 fevers from this cause. It follows the 
 acetous fermentation, the oxygen and 
 hydrogen in the compound forming 
 water, the nitrogen, or ammonia, is ex- 
 pelled, and the carbon remains, the ori- 
 ginal substance being thus decomposed 
 into its elements. As the action may 
 be extended to other similar bodies (like 
 the spreading action of yeast or flame), 
 this extension of like chemical action 
 to like bodies, causes contagion. 
 
 PUTTY, oxyde of tin, or whiting 
 and oil. 
 
 PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT, noble mo- 
 numents of Egyptian grandeur, about 
 twenty in number, near Memphis. The 
 largest is 481 feet in height, measured 
 perpendicularly, and the area of its base 
 includes eleven acres. 
 
 PYRITES, sulphur combined with 
 metals, very inflammable. 
 
 PYRENEES, a ridge of mountains 
 which separates Spain from France. 
 
 PYROLIGNEOUS ACID, the prin- 
 ciple by which wood-smoke preserves 
 many substances, and which, distilled 
 from wood, is applied to preserve sub- 
 stances from decomposition. 
 
 PYROTECHNICS, the art of making 
 fire-works from gunpowder. 
 
 PYROMETER, a clay thermometer. 
 
QUA 
 
 PYROPHORUS, a preparation which 
 takes fire, or absorbs oxygen, without 
 excitement. 
 
 PYRRHONISM, sceptism, doubt. 
 
 QUE 
 
 PYTHAGORAS, a Greek philoso- 
 pher contemporary with Daniel, Zoro- 
 aster, and Confucius, 600 B. C. 
 
 PYX, the host, and compass box. 
 
 Q 
 
 Q. E. D. Quod erat demonstrandum, 
 which was to be demonstrated. 
 
 QUACK, an uneducated pretender. 
 
 QUADRANGLE, with four sides. 
 
 QUADRANT, a very useful instru- 
 ment for measuring angles, usually 
 made of box-wood, with a bob of lead, 
 and the arc graduated, with two sight- 
 holes. R is an object whose angle of 
 elevation is determined by viewing it 
 through the sight-holes on D A, and then 
 B A C is the angle required, for D A C 
 is equal to the rest of the right angle, 
 or 90 '. 
 
 QUADRATIC EQUATION, when 
 an unknown quantity is also expressed 
 in the second power. 
 
 QUADRATURE, a fourth part; or 
 a square equal in superfices to a circle. 
 
 QUADRILATERAL, having four 
 sides. 
 
 QUADRILLE, a game at cards, and 
 an elegant dance of eight. 
 
 QUADRUPED, an animal supported 
 by walking on four legs. 
 
 QUADRUPLE, four times. 
 
 QUAESTORS, keepers of the public 
 treasury among the Romans. 
 
 QUAKERS, or Friends, a religious 
 society, so constituted as to secure the 
 moral character and honourable deal- 
 ings of its members, who are distin- 
 guished by their dress in the fashion and 
 colour worn by their founders, and pre- 
 served as a corrective of personal vanity 
 and ostentation. Their retired habits, 
 and mutual support, enable them to 
 acquire great wealth, which they use- 
 163 
 
 fully employ ; and, in general, they are 
 distinguished by their literary acquire- 
 ments, superior intelligence, and bene- 
 volenfce of character. They observe 
 the grammatical thou and thee in addres- 
 sing second persons, and this and some 
 other peculiarities, exposes them to the 
 ridicule of the less worthy. They prac- 
 tise several exemplary Christian virtues 
 only professed by others, and never en- 
 gage in war. Their formal affirma- 
 tion is received in law as equivalent to 
 an oath, except in criminal cases. 
 
 QUANTITY, a term applied to bulk 
 or size in mathematics, and to sound in 
 poetry. 
 
 QUARANTINE, the name of a law 
 which imposes on ships the restriction 
 of not entering any healthy port from a 
 port infected with contagious disease. 
 
 QUARREL, difference of opinions, 
 inflamed by passion, pride, obstinacy, 
 or self-interest. 
 
 QUARTAN, the fourth-day ague. 
 
 QUARTER, a measure of 8 bushels. 
 
 QUARTER DAYS, the periods at 
 which rents are usually paid : as Lady 
 Day, March 25 ; Midsummer Day, June 
 24; Michaelmas Day, Sept. 29; and 
 Christmas Day, Dec. 25. 
 
 QUARTER SESSIONS, a Court of 
 Justice, held within every quarter, be- 
 fore magistrates of the district to try 
 minor offences by Jury, after bills found 
 by a Grand Jury, the legal powers of 
 which are often very great, but the ques- 
 tions may in many cases be removed to 
 superior courts. 
 
 QUARTETTO, four parts. 
 
 QUARTZ, a siliceous, crystalline, 
 semi-transparent rock, one of the con- 
 stituents of grauite, and when broken 
 becomes sand. 
 
 QUASSIN, the bitter principle. 
 
 QUATER, called cater cousins. 
 
 QUEEN, the wife of a King, and 
 sometimes a female Sovereign in her 
 own right. 
 
 QUERCUS, the oak genus. 
 
 QUESTION, an enquiry in regard to 
 some fact, or principle, and often em- 
 
RAC 
 
 ployed to acquire knowledge in the arts 
 and sciences : the practice of question- 
 ing being the foundation of the Interro- 
 gative System of Instruction now gene- 
 rally used in civilized countries. 
 
 QUICK LIME, unslaked with water, 
 after being burnt and deprived of carbo- 
 nic acid. 
 
 QUICK RENT, a manorial claim. 
 
 QUICKSET HEDGE, a close hedge, 
 the excellence of which depends on cut- 
 ting down the young plants so as to 
 make them spread in width. 
 
 QUICKSILVER, better known by 
 the name of Mercury, 14 times heavier 
 than water, but fluid, though it freezes 
 at 39° below zero, or at 71 below the 
 freezing point of water. 
 
 QUILL, the feathers of geese, crows, 
 
 RAD 
 
 or swans ; and, to obtain the former, 
 geese are very cruelly plucked alive at 
 certain seasons. 
 
 QUINCUNX, a figure like that of 
 five on cards. 
 
 QUINTESSENCE, the result of five 
 distillations. 
 
 QUINTETTO, five parts. 
 
 QUIRE, 24 sheets of paper. 
 
 QUI TAM, an action for a penalty. 
 
 QUO AN I MO, intention. 
 
 QUOITS, a game with a discus. 
 
 QUORUM, magistrates authorized to 
 sit in sessions. 
 
 QUOTA, a share. 
 
 QUOTIDIAN, daily. 
 
 QUO WARRANTO, a writ to inves- 
 tigate the basis of an assumed authority. 
 
 R 
 
 RABBI, a Jewish Priest. 
 
 RABBIT, a harmless animal, with a 
 furry coat, often domesticated, and so 
 prolific that in five years one pair would 
 multiply to a million of rabbits. 
 
 RACK, an instrument for torturing 
 persons suspected of crimes, which they 
 generally confess, whether they are 
 guilty or not, to escape the pains inflict- 
 ed, and from the same cause often accuse 
 innocent persons as participators. It is 
 prohibited by the laws of England, but 
 practised in effect when accused persons 
 are cruelly used to extort confession. 
 
 RACES, public trials of the speed of 
 horses, practised in England since the 
 Restoration, and for which purpose 
 every county and some towns are pro- 
 vided with courses, particularly New- 
 market, at which, on successive days, 
 horses, entered for the purpose, run 
 169 
 
 single heats for sweepstakes, or the best 
 two of three or more heats for a purse 
 or plate. The period of the races serves 
 as a rendezvous for persons of rank, 
 and for general purposes of pleasure, as 
 well as gambling. Some race-horses 
 have run a mile in a minute. 
 
 RADIATION, expanding from a cen- 
 tre, like the spokes of a wheel; and ap- 
 plicable to light, heat, odours, and to 
 force when it is propagated in a gaseous 
 or fluid medium, as between the sun and 
 planets, and these and their secondaries. 
 
 RADIATION OF HEAT, a simple 
 effect of transferring atomic motion, 
 governed by the number of points which 
 a hot surface presents to surrounding 
 bodies, and, therefore, more rapid on 
 rough surfaces than smooth ones, and 
 from evaporating fluids than from fixed 
 surfaces. 
 
 RADIUS, a line from the centre to 
 the circumference of a circle. 
 
 Q 
 
RAI 
 
 RADIUS-VECTOR, a line drawn 
 from the sun to the orbit of a planet, 
 the orbit being varied in distance by the 
 varied re-action of the planet to the uni- 
 form actions of the sun. 
 
 RAFT, timbers joined together. 
 
 RAFTERS, oblique timbers in roofs. 
 
 RAGG, rough siliceous stones. 
 
 RAILWAY, rails of iron laid down 
 for carriage-wheels to run on without 
 friction, by which one horse will per- 
 form the work of ten or twelve, costing 
 about 10001. a mile. 
 
 RAIN, the return to the earth, in con- 
 densed drops, of the aqueous vapours 
 which are raised in the atmosphere by 
 the sun and wind, the condensation be- 
 ing occasioned by a change in the gene- 
 ral temperature, by a collision produced 
 by contrary currents, or by a cloud pas- 
 sing into a cold stratum of air. The 
 average annual depth in England is 
 about 32 inches ; more in the western 
 than the eastern counties; between the 
 tropics it is above 103 inches, and near 
 the Arctic circle only 16. In Peru, the 
 Andes intercept the clouds, and the con- 
 stant heat over sandy deserts prevents 
 clouds from forming, so that there is no 
 rain. Mountains receiving the motion 
 from the aqueous gas, and the clouds 
 being driven to them by their intercept- 
 ing the pressure of the atmosphere, 
 much rain falls in such districts, and 
 hence they are the sources of great rivers ; 
 while from this cause the annual fall in 
 Switzerland is 40 inches. 
 
 RAINBOW, an effect on drops of rain, 
 from the different refrangibility of the 
 rays of light which produce different co- 
 lours. Theinner bow is produced by a re- 
 fraction at the entrance of the drop, a re- 
 flection from its back, and a refraction 
 at its exit, or by two refractions and 
 one reflection. The outer bow by two 
 refractions and two reflections within 
 the drop ; and, as much of the light is 
 dispersed by the two reflections, so the 
 outer bow is fainter than the inner bow. 
 As all the drops in a shower are affected 
 at the same time, so all the colours of 
 light are visible any where to a specta- 
 tor whose back is to the sun, in circles 
 which are from 54 to 51 degrees and 
 from 42. to 40 degrees from the eye ; but 
 in the two bows the colours are reversed. 
 The -two bows may be imitated by small 
 glass, globes of water placed within the 
 above angles from the eye, or by throw- 
 ing up water with an engine. A line 
 passing from the sun through the eye of 
 170 
 
 RAN 
 
 the spectator goes to the centre of the 
 bow, so that the height of the bow is 
 inversely as the height of the sun ; and, 
 if the sun is more than 42 or 54 degrees 
 high, there can be no bow. Of course, 
 as it is a mere optical effect, depending 
 on the position of the eye, no two per- 
 sons can see the same bow. The moon, 
 or any strong light, will make a coloured 
 bow as well as the sun. 
 
 RAISINS, ripe grapes, dried in the 
 sun, or in an oven. 
 
 RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, behead- 
 ed while Lord Bacon was Chancellor, 
 1618. He colonized Virginia, introduced 
 potatoes and tobacco, and wrote many 
 learned works. 
 
 RAM, the male of sheep ; and the an- 
 cients putting an iron ram’s head at the 
 end of a long pole, and using the same 
 to batter the walls of besieged towns, 
 the instrument was called a battering- 
 ram ; and they were propelled not only 
 by the direct force of men, but some- 
 times slung, and then oscillated with 
 great force till a breach was made. 
 
 RAMPART, an elevation of earth. 
 
 RAMADAN, a Mahommedanfast. 
 
 RAN A, the name of the genus of 
 which frogs and toads are the species, 
 36 in number. Both of them are per- 
 fectly harmless ; but the toad is obnox- 
 ious for its ugliness. Toads live to a 
 great age, and there can be no doubt but 
 they are often found alive in cavities of 
 stones, where they must have been en- 
 tangled, at the formation of the stone, 
 many thousand years before, and have . 
 existed in a torpid state. The Surinam 
 toad is seven inches long, and produces 
 its young from cells in the back. Green 
 frogs are eaten by the French. The 
 bull-frog is so called from its noise, as 
 loud as a bull, and often eighteen in- 
 ches long, killing and swallowing poul- 
 try. The tree-frog lives in branches, 
 upon insects. 
 
 RANCIDITY, the union of the oxy- 
 gen of the air with the hydrogen of oil, 
 promoted by the solar rays. 
 
RAT 
 
 RAPHAEL D’ URBINO, a Roman 
 painter of unrivalled excellence, who 
 died in 1520, aged 40. 
 
 RARITY, a relative term used to ex- 
 press the diminution of atoms within a 
 given space, generally determined by 
 their upward or downward force. 
 
 RAT, a well-known quadruped, and 
 always timid except when made des- 
 perate by confinement ; as they inhabit 
 holes, those in buildings harbour them, 
 and, being very prolific, they are a great 
 annoyance to mankind in all countries, 
 but especially in warm climates. In the 
 common sewers of London they have 
 arrived at an enormous size. 
 
 RATE, an assessment by the pound 
 for public purposes ; as, for the poor, 
 the highways, church repairs, county 
 expenses, &e., amounting in 1827, in 
 the united kingdom, to at least 20 mil- 
 lions per annum. 
 
 RATIFIA, the juice of kernels of 
 fruit infused in spirits. 
 
 RATIO, the proportion or multiple 
 of one thing in regard to another thing. 
 Thus, the ratio of 2 to 4 is double, and 
 the same as the ratio of 3 to 6, or 25 to 
 50. The composition of different ra- 
 tios is effected by multiplying the ante- 
 cedents together, and the consequents 
 together. 
 
 RATIO, Prime and Ultimate, the re- 
 lation which two variable quantities 
 bear to each other when they are first 
 supposed to be generated, and indefi- 
 nitely small, hence called prime; or the 
 relation of two variable quantities to 
 each other at the instant of vanishing, 
 or becoming indefinitely small, and 
 hence called ultimate ratio. 
 
 RATION, soldier’s daily provisions. 
 
 RATIONALITY, a quality of vir- 
 tuous men, but not possessed by the 
 cruel, the sordid, the unjust, or the vi- 
 cious classes, who are irrational without 
 being generally incoherent like men 
 who are actually mad ; men are not es- 
 sentially rational, but are only capable 
 of becoming so when their passions do 
 not intervene. 
 
 R ATLINS, the steps of a rope ladder. 
 
 RAVEN, an elegant and very saga- 
 cious bird, often domesticated, and ca- 
 pable of being taught. 
 
 RATTLE-SNAKE, a poisonous ser- 
 pent, from three to eight feet in length, 
 with several horny cells at the tail, 
 which, when moved, produce a loud 
 rattling noise. They inhabit the woods 
 of North and South America, and, un- 
 
 REA 
 
 less disturbed, will not bite ; and when 
 provoked they give warning by shaking 
 their rattles. 
 
 RAY-FISH, a genus of flat fish, with 
 spiracles, of which there are nineteen 
 species ; the chief are the skate, thorn- 
 back, the sting ray, and the torpedo 
 possessed of galvanic arrangements and 
 powers. 
 
 RAYS OF LIGHT. Whether light 
 consists of travelling atoms, or atoms 
 propelled from one to another, the effect 
 is in straight lines ; but, when these lines 
 fall obliquely on any transparent surface, 
 the line of direction is bent towards the 
 perpendicular of the surface. If the sur- 
 face, then, is circular, the obliquity va- 
 ries, and the effect of all the bendings, is a 
 convergence to one point, as when the 
 rays enter parallel, as from the right to the 
 left in the engraving ; but if the rays di- 
 verge, as from the lamp to the glass lens, 
 and the lamp is in the centre of a double 
 convex lens, or in the circumference of 
 a plano-convex lens, then the rays go 
 out parallel as from left to right. 
 
 RAZOR, a sharp instrument used by 
 Christians to remove the beard. 
 
 REACTION, a name given to the 
 momentum parted with by one body to 
 another when they come into contact, 
 so that reaction is in fact mere passivity, 
 or a power of receiving motion, in the 
 body said to react. 
 
REE 
 
 READING, the art of understanding 
 those signs and characters by which men 
 express their thoughts in writing or 
 printing. In many nations this is a 
 rare acquisition, but in Britain it is now 
 universal. The method of learning has 
 hitherto been tedious ; but according to 
 the new system of Adair, children may 
 learn to read as well in three months as 
 in three years by the ancient system. 
 
 REAGENTS, bodies by which che- 
 mists detect the component parts of 
 other bodies. 
 
 REALGAR, a compound of four of 
 arsenic and one of sulphur. 
 
 REASONING, a process of the brain, 
 by which animals infer similar results 
 from similar or analogous facts, and 
 a faculty possessed in various degrees in 
 all, but improved in all by use, experi- 
 ence, and age. 
 
 REBELLION, opposition to esta- 
 blished authorities. 
 
 RECEIPT, an acknowledgement in 
 discharge of a debt. 
 
 RECIPE, directions for preparing 
 any mixture or compound. 
 
 RECIPROCAL, interchange of va- 
 lues, powers, or benefits. 
 
 RECITATIVE, speaking in musical 
 cadence, or singing tones. 
 
 RECOGNIZANCE, a bond or obli- 
 gation to appear under penalty. 
 
 RECOIL, the equal force with which 
 gunpowder acts on the piece discharged, 
 as well as on the ball ; but the ball being 
 the smallest goes the farthest. 
 
 RECORD, the enrolled entry of a 
 court of law. 
 
 RECORDER, the law officer of a 
 corporation. 
 
 RECTOR, the parson who enjoys all 
 the ecclesiastical dues of a parish, the 
 same never having been otherwise ap- 
 propriated. 
 
 RECTANGLE, or RECTANGLED, 
 signifies a figure whose sides are per- 
 pendicular to each other, or 90®. 
 
 RECTIFY, the repetition of the pro- 
 cess of distillation, till the spirit is pure. 
 
 RECUSANT, one who refuses to go 
 to the church of England. 
 
 REDOUBT, a small square fort. 
 
 REDUCTION, in mineralogy, sig- 
 nifies the restoring an oxyde or calx to 
 its primitive metal. 
 
 REDUCTION, the calculation which 
 converts the small into the great, and the 
 great into the small. 
 
 R EEL, a wheel for winding thread. 
 
 REEFING, the rolling up a sail. 
 
 172 
 
 REG 
 
 REFERENCE, a wise method of de- 
 ciding disputes without going to law. 
 But lawyers never ought to be made re- 
 ferees, or quibbles will supersede justice. 
 
 REFINING, the separation of me- 
 tals from substances with which they 
 are combined, by various means, deter- 
 mined by practice. 
 
 REFLECTION, in optics, the re- 
 bound of the action of atoms which 
 produce the sensation of light, by which 
 mirrors will fire wood at the distance of 
 210 feet; in acoustics the similar re- 
 bound of the action of the atoms pro- 
 duces echoes; the angle of incidence in 
 both cases, measured from the perpen- 
 dicular, being equal to the angle of re- 
 flection. This word is also used to ex- 
 press the result of that power of the 
 mind of animals, by which they reason 
 by analogy, and it displays itself in the 
 human species as the individual arrives 
 at maturity, till at length it becomes 
 a habit unconnected with immediate 
 perceptions, and its activity constitute* 
 the degrees of mental perfection. 
 
 REFORMATION, the term applied 
 to the correction of abuses and errors, 
 which, in the 15th and 16th centuries, 
 had crept into the Christian church, in 
 consequence of which the Protestant 
 religion was established in England and 
 other countries. 
 
 REFORM OF PARLIAMENT, a 
 question much agitated in England 
 within the last century ; for, as only the 
 same places continue now to be repre- 
 sented as were named for the first Par- 
 liament by Simon de Montfort, the pa- 
 triotic Earl of Leicester ; and as many 
 of those places have become extinct, 
 or are reduced to a few houses kept up 
 for the sake of their votes ; and as other 
 places have increased from hamlets to 
 large cities; it is contended, as reason-, 
 able, that the representatives of the re- 
 duced places should be transferred to 
 the new and populous towns, which 
 have no direct representatives. 
 
 REFRACTION, the turning aside of 
 light when passing from one medium to 
 another, as from air to glass, glass to 
 air, &c., and it arises from the atoms to 
 be affected acting or reacting parallel to 
 the surface of the body, so that the ac- 
 tion within the new surface is deflected 
 by them. It makes the heavenly bodies 
 appear higher than they are, because the 
 light from them is bent downward. 
 
 REGALIA, the rights and ornaments 
 of Sovereignty; 
 
REL 
 
 REGENT, a deputy, or representa- 
 tive of a minor, absent, or incompetent, 
 king. 
 
 REGIMEN, diet, or regulation. 
 
 REGIMENT, a body of men under 
 one colonel, in one, two, or three batta- 
 lions, of 6', or 800 men, each divided 
 into 10 companies, or captaincies; in the 
 horse called troops. There are in the 
 British Army about 100 regiments, or 
 1.00 battalions of foot, and 30 of horse, 
 and in time of war, as many of militia. 
 
 REGISTER, a parish book to enter 
 christenings, marriages, and burials ; 
 there are also various other public regis- 
 ters. 
 
 REGISTER FOR SCHOOLS, a 
 practical work, published by Blair, for 
 recording the good and bad conduct of 
 young persons at school, with a view 
 to supersede the necessity of corporal 
 punishments. 
 
 REGRATOR, one who buys and re- 
 sells in the same fair or market ; afore- 
 staller being one who buys on the road 
 to the market. 
 
 REGULAR, whatever accords with a 
 rule common to other things. 
 
 REGULATION, a rule for practice. 
 
 REGULATOR, a spring connected 
 with the balance of a watch ; or an over- 
 seer of works. 
 
 REG-ULUS, pure metallic substance. 
 
 REGULUS, a Roman General, who 
 commanded in Africa in the first Punic 
 War, and, after committing the most 
 savage enormities, was taken prisoner, 
 and put to death by the Carthaginians, 
 241 B. C. 
 
 REJOINDER, reply to a reply. 
 
 RELIEF, projection in sculpture and 
 apparent projection in painting and 
 drawing ; called, in sculptures or casts, 
 alto when prominent, and has when not 
 prominent. 
 
 RELEASE, discharge from obliga- 
 tion or imprisonment. 
 
 RELIGION, the faith and worship 
 prescribed by the law and usage of dif- 
 ferent nations, and serving to correct 
 the consciences of men, and their practi- 
 ces beyond the reach of law. In Europe 
 the religion is Christian, in Asia and 
 Africa, chiefly Mahommedan, or Idola- 
 trous, and in America, Idolatrous, or 
 Christian. Four-fifths of mankind are 
 Mahommedan, or Idolatrous, and one- 
 fifth Christian, of various denomina- 
 tions, Catholic, Protestant, &c. 
 
 RELIGIOUS HOUSES, for priests, 
 nuns, and poor, still existing in Catho- 
 173 
 
 REP 
 
 lie countries, and before the Reforma- 
 tion abounding in England. They con- 
 sisted of Abbeys, Monasteries, Priories, 
 Hospitals, Friaries, and Nunneries, 
 supported by lands and bequests left 
 them by pious persons, which became 
 enormous. Nearly the whole, above 
 3000, were dissolved, and their wealth 
 seized by Henry VIII., the monks, nuns, 
 and officers being allowed pensions. 
 
 REMAINDER, in division, the nu- 
 merator of a fraction of which the divi- 
 sor is the denominator ; as when we di- 
 vide by 4, and 3 remains, it signifies that 
 the divisor goes in the dividend | times 
 more than the whole numbers in the 
 quotient. It is also a law term for pro- 
 perty reverting after a term of years. 
 
 REMBRANDT, painter, died 1GC8. 
 
 REMEMBRANCER, an officer in 
 the Exchequer, obsolete as to duty. 
 
 REMITTANCE, money or bills sent 
 by post to pay a debt. 
 
 RENDEZVOUS, a place of meeting. 
 
 RENT, the annual sum paid for the 
 occupation of a house or land, and in 
 houses usually 10 per cent, on the cost, 
 and in land, 3 or 4 per cent., or one- 
 fourth of the annual produce. The 37 
 millions of acres in England and Wales 
 produce about 30 millions of rental. 
 The 19 millions in Scotland yield but A 
 millions of rental on 5 millions of acres 
 of cultivated land. The 2 millions of 
 houses in England and Wales yield a 
 rental of 40 millions, and the third of a 
 million of houses about 7 millions in 
 Scotland. Ireland contains 16 millions 
 of acres, and 1 and a quarter million of 
 houses, at a total rental of 25 millions ; so 
 that the total rental of land and houses 
 in the three kingdoms is 10G millions. 
 
 RENT-CHARGE, a charge on an 
 estate with power of distress. Rack- 
 rent is when an advance is covertly ob- 
 tained without power of distress. 
 
 REPERTORY, a place of deposit. 
 
 REPLEVIN, a writ to stop a distress. 
 
 REPORTS, accounts of legal de- 
 cisions. 
 
 REPOSE, effective breadths in paint- 
 ing to relieve the eye. 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE, one who law- 
 fully represents another for the per 
 formanee of any duty, according to the 
 wishes of the other and to his own ho- 
 nest judgment. Such are, or ought to 
 be, representatives in parliament, though 
 in this ease the representative often be- 
 trays his trust, and infamously sells hia 
 vote for his own personal advantage, 
 
 Q 2 
 
REQ 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE GOVERN- 
 MENT, is where bodies of the people, 
 to simplify proceedings, choose persons 
 to represent them in an assembly of 
 practical numbers. Such is the princi- 
 ple of the British House of Commons, 
 the Chambers of Deputies in France 
 and the Netherlands, and the Congress 
 of the United States. It is the best form 
 of government, only when the elections 
 are frequent, the electors free and inde- 
 pendent parts of the nation, and the 
 representatives incorruptible by the ex- 
 ecutive whom they are sent to controul. 
 But if devoid of either of these features, 
 then the system merely confers plausi- 
 bility on a real despotism, and is at best 
 but a detestable oligarchy. 
 
 REPRIEVE, commutation of pu- 
 nishment, respite being only a delay. 
 
 REPRIZE, ships recaptured, and if 
 within 24 hours the reprizal is restored 
 to the owners for one-third of the value. 
 
 REPRODUCTION, a term used for 
 the production of perfect trees and ani- 
 mals from pieces cut off them, as 
 branches planted in the ground, and 
 parts of polype and certain water-worms. 
 Also, the regrowth of limbs of trees and 
 many animals, as lobsters, crabs, &c. 
 
 REPTILES, the lowest species of ani- 
 mals, usually divided into four orders ; 
 1st, the chelonian, or tortoise like; 2d, 
 the saurian, or lizard-like; 3d, the ophi- 
 dian, or serpent-like; 4th, the batra- 
 cian, or frog-like. 
 
 REPULSION, a power ascribed by 
 the old philosophy to atoms and bodies, 
 by which they were said to drive each 
 other asunder. Thus A was said to drive 
 B towards C, and B to drive A towards 
 D, by a power of A and a power of B. 
 
 D 0 A --* B 0--- C 
 
 But as all motion is in the direction of 
 the force which produces it; and A, 
 which is assumed to be driving B to C, is 
 at the same time moving itself towards 
 D, in the contrary direction, A is not 
 only not at B to drive it to C, but its 
 force is exerted in a contrary way; the 
 assumption, therefore, that A drives B 
 to C, is absurd. And by similar reason- 
 ing it may be shewn, that B does not 
 drive A to D. Whenever bodies recede, 
 the cause must, therefore, be sought in 
 other actions, and cannot be rationally 
 ascribed to mutual repulsion. 
 
 REQUESTS, a convenient court for 
 the recovery of small debts, in which 
 174 
 
 RES 
 
 the oath of the plaintiff is, however, 
 improperly allowed to prevail over all 
 proof by the defendant, while there is 
 no public provision for prosecuting the 
 former for perjury. If the defendant 
 cannot pay, he is imprisoned a day for 
 every shilling. 
 
 RERUM PRIMORDIA, the uniform 
 atoms of which Epicurus, Newton, and 
 others, suppose all matter to consist, 
 and the varied combinations of which 
 produce the regular forms of crystalli- 
 zation But if all space is filled with 
 gas, the constituents of which are oxy- 
 gen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, we may 
 hence suppose that the universal matter 
 consists of three or more kinds of atoms, 
 and perhaps of as many as the colours 
 in the prismatic spectrum, of which all 
 bodies are probably composed. 
 
 RESCUE, forcible release of a pri- 
 soner. 
 
 RESERVE, a select portion of an 
 army, held back to protect and support 
 the other parts during a battle. 
 
 RESIDENCE, a place of dwelling; 
 and, in church-affairs, applicable to the 
 obligation of an incumbent to reside if 
 there is a parsonage. 
 
 RESIDUE, remaining part. 
 RESIGNATION, submission to un- 
 controllable circumstances, after due 
 efforts to controul them ; or the with- 
 drawing from an appointment. 
 
 RESIN, or Rosin, a substance which 
 exudes from trees, and analysed, yields, in 
 100 parts, 75 of carbon, 15 of water, and 
 10 of hydrogen, which latter, by due ex- 
 citement, combines with oxygen, and 
 the whole exhibits heat, light, and flame. 
 It is soluble in spirits of wine. 
 
 RESISTANCE, the force which op- 
 poses or seems to oppose bodies that are 
 moving or are propelled in one diree-- 
 tion, owing to the motion of the mover 
 being successively imparted to bodies 
 or atoms which it encounters ; or it is 
 the subdivision of the momentum of a 
 mass among atoms or bodies lying in the 
 direction of motion, by which subdi- 
 vision the original momentum is ulti- 
 mately destroyed, as by atoms of air or 
 water in regard to a moving cannon ball. 
 
 RESOLUTION, firmness of mind ; 
 and, in chemistry, resolving a body, 
 means into its constituent parts. 
 
 RESPIRATION, the primum mobile, 
 or first mover of all animal systems ; for 
 as all gas necessarily and essentially con- 
 sists of atoms performing circular or- 
 bits in intense velocity, so if the atoms 
 
RET 
 
 become fixed, or part with their motion 
 to the blood and lungs, they necessarily 
 communicate a momentum equal to 
 what they previously possessed ; and 
 this continually and variously aug- 
 mented momentum constitutes the 
 strength and energy of the animal as 
 displayed in its limbs and muscles; 
 while such parting with and reception 
 of atomic motion produces simultane- 
 ously the heat of the blood, and by its 
 circulation the general temperature of 
 the system, equalized as it is by corres- 
 ponding evaporation from the skin. 
 Such is the new theory of Sir R. Phil- 
 lips. The ordinary inspirations of man 
 are about 23 in a minute, and about 13 
 cubic inches of air are inspired every 
 time, i. e. 9*5 of nitrogen and 3*4 of oxy- 
 gen; and, perhaps, 0’1 of carbonic acid 
 gas. 12*75 inches in bulk are expired, 
 containing 9*3 of nitrogen, 2*2 of oxy- 
 gen, and T2 of carbonic acid gas. So 
 that the oxygen is not only fixed a third, 
 but the carbonic acid gas is maintained 
 by less motion, hence the momentum of 
 perhaps an inch of oxygen gas is ab- 
 sorbed every two seconds while a man 
 is at rest, but while in strong exercise 
 the respirations are doubled in number 
 and quantity, and hence the increased 
 power to perform exercise, and the heat 
 and perspiration attending it. Other 
 experiments make the oxygen fixed 32*4 
 inches every minute, and the carbonized 
 gas expelled 26*5- In truth, respiration 
 is a process exactly similar to combus- 
 tion, the antagonist principles by which 
 the oxygen is combined being afforded 
 by the food and the absorption of the 
 skin, while the aqueous vapour, and 
 the small quantity of oxygen fixed at 
 each inspiration prevents the display of 
 light and flame. It is, therefore, at once 
 chemical, mechanical, and galvanic. 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY, MORAL, a 
 condition which implies free agency, or 
 a breach of laws by the will of the of- 
 fender; thus Adam was punished for dis- 
 obedience, the Egyptians for obstinacy, 
 and the Israelites for idolatry ; and the 
 ten commandments and the precepts of 
 the Gospel were promulgated with a 
 view to direct the free-will of mankind 
 into the paths of virtue. 
 
 RETAINING FEE, a fee paid to a 
 barrister to ensure his assistance. 
 
 RETE MUCOSUM, or mucous net- 
 work ; that layer of the skin between 
 the cuticle and the true skin, in which 
 originates eruptions, and by the colour 
 175 
 
 RHE 
 
 of which is determined that of the body, 
 as black, red, brown, &c. 
 
 RETENTION, memory, or holding 
 fast. 
 
 RETICULATED, in a net-like form. 
 
 RETORT, a vessel capable of bearing 
 great heat with an open end. Any sub- 
 stance intended to be acted upon by 
 great heat being put into it; is exposed 
 in it over a lamp, or other fire, and on 
 being volatilized, passes through the end 
 into any other vessel adapted to receive 
 it, as in the engraving. 
 
 RETROGRADATION, moving back- 
 ward. 
 
 REVE, a bailiff, steward, or agent. 
 
 REVELATION, a communication 
 from God to man, by supernatural 
 means of unquestionable proof. 
 
 REVELRY, merriment. 
 
 REVENUE, the net amount of 
 taxes paid into the Exchequer, which, 
 in 1825, was £55,835,626 for Great 
 Britain, and £4,981,251 for Ireland, ac- 
 cording to Marshall’s Tables. 
 
 REVERBERATION, turning back. 
 
 REVERSE, the inferior side of a coin. 
 
 REVERSION, a benefit after a cer- 
 tain event. 
 
 REVIEW, a periodical collection of 
 criticisms, or essays on books, published 
 generally by parties or publishers to 
 serve corrupt purposes, mislead public 
 opinion, and influence persons to buy, or 
 not to buy, particular books, connected 
 with, or adverse to, the interests of the 
 Reviewer, or those who employ him. 
 An anonymous reviewer is, therefore, 
 either a literary prostitute, or an assas- 
 sin ; and anonymous reviews are gross 
 frauds on the credulous part of the com- 
 munity, besides prejudicing truth, and 
 the real interests of literature. 
 
 REVISION, improvement and cor- 
 rection. 
 
 REYNOLDS, SIR JOSHUA, a dis- 
 tinguished English painter, died in 1792. 
 
 RHETORIC, the art of convincing 
 
RHY 
 
 in writing and speaking, by appeals to 
 the judgment and affections. 
 
 RHEUMATISM, a contraction which 
 affects the nerves. 
 
 RHjEADEA, the 27th Linnaean order 
 of plants, containing the poppy tribe, 
 and similar genera. 
 
 RHINOCEROS, a quadruped, 12 feet 
 long, with one horn, and a coat which 
 musket-balls will not pierce. They are 
 fierce, but not offensive ; and gramini- 
 vorous, living on green vegetables, and 
 delighting in mud, like the hog. 
 
 R H UB A R B , a valuable medicinal root 
 growing in China, Turkey, and Russian 
 Tartary, of which that from Turkey is 
 the most esteemed. Rhubarb is also 
 cultivated in English gardens,. and makes 
 delicious spring tarts. 
 
 RHYME, lines ending with corres- 
 ponding sounds, a feature of poetry in- 
 176 
 
 RIG 
 
 troduced into the languages of modem 
 Europe, before the revival of learning, 
 and by which sense is often sacrificed to 
 sound. Rhyming is a mere knack; and, 
 in truth, a very low species of literature, 
 though much admired by half-educated 
 persons. 
 
 RIBBON LOOM. These Looms, ow- 
 ing to the variety of patterns and la- 
 bours, are exceedingly complicated in 
 their construction; but-a general notion 
 of their form is given in the engraving. 
 
 JM. gN. ^ 1 
 
 illSI- 
 
 Mm 
 
 mm 
 
 ilkJL 
 
 ifliiwipttimilifiiy 
 
 RICE, a plant common in most warm 
 countries, where it is the nutritious food 
 of the inhabitants. It flourishes in moist 
 situations, and its cultivation affords 
 more food and as much employment as 
 that of wheat in Europe. 
 
 RIDING, the art of sitting gracefully 
 on horseback, and keeping the seat un- 
 der irregular movements of the horse. 
 In the East they ride on Camels, but the 
 pace is very uneasy; also on Elephants. 
 
 RIFLE, a gun with a spiral inside of 
 the barrel. 
 
 RIGHTS, legal and political, claims 
 of property and privileges, the general 
 object of social strife, owing to avarice 
 and ambition. The laws secure proper- 
 ty, and a political constitution ought to 
 secure social privileges. In England, 
 in 1689, the Parliament published a de- 
 claration of rights; in 1776, the Ameri- 
 cans published one; and in 1789, the 
 National. Assembly of France published 
 a declaration of the rights of man, and 
 they are standards of this kind of know- 
 ledge. 
 
 RIGHT ANGLE, 90 degrees, equal 
 on each side, forming a perpendicular. 
 
 RIGGING, the system of ropes be- 
 longing to a ship, by which the masts 
 are sustained and ascended, and the sails 
 
ROC 
 
 managed. The names and uses of the 
 several ropes, and the dextrous manage- 
 ment of them, constitute an able sailor. 
 
 RIGHT ASCENSION, distance mea- 
 sured on the equator, east or west. 
 
 RING WORM, a circular eruption 
 which spreads, and is contagious. 
 
 RIVERS, channels, or low parts of 
 the surface of the earth, through which 
 the waters that have fallen from the 
 clouds return to the sea. They produce 
 a variety of phenomena and service to 
 the inhabitants of their banks, though 
 often destruction from overflowing them, 
 owing to inattention in not rendering 
 their courses or outlets proportionate to 
 their occasional increase. The largest 
 rivers in the world are the Amazon and 
 La Plata, in South America; the Mis- 
 sissipi, Missouri, and St. Lawrence, in 
 North America; the Kian Kiou, the 
 Hoanho, the Lena, the Ganges, the In- 
 dus, and the Euphrates, in Asia ; the 
 Nile, in Africa ; and the Volga, Danube, 
 and Rhine, in Europe. Most of them 
 from ten to sixteen times the length of 
 the Thames, in England. 
 
 ROADS, prepared ways in civilized 
 countries for travelling. The Roman 
 roads were all in straight lines. The old 
 roads in England were only wide enough 
 for two horses with panniers to pass a- 
 breast. The best roads are those Mac- 
 adamised, by so breaking stones as that 
 they fit and unite. There are at least 
 20,000 miles of road in Great Britain. 
 
 ROCHELLE SALTS, 54 parts tar- 
 trate of Potash, and 45 tartrate of Soda. 
 
 ROCKS, PRIMITIVE, crystalline, 
 without fossil remains, inferior in posi- 
 tion or arrangement, but often vertical 
 or inclined. Transition, lying on the 
 others, but containing fossil zoophytes. 
 Secondary, or floetz, or flat rocks, lying 
 
 177 
 
 ROO 
 
 above the others, and containing fossil 
 animals and vegetables. Alluvial, 
 recent formations, containing remains 
 of modern organizations. 
 
 ROE, the spawn of fish. 
 
 ROGATION WEEK, the next but 
 one before Whitsuntide. 
 
 ROLLER, an implement of husband- 
 ry, used to level grass-land for the 
 scythe, and also in gardening to level 
 walks, and in road-making to bind the 
 materials, fof which latter purpose it is 
 made very heavy, and drawn by two, or 
 more horses. 
 
 ROLLING MILLS, used for flatten- 
 ing red hot iron into plates for tinning. 
 
 ROME, a city founded by outlaws, 
 753 B. C. which gradually increased, 
 and amidst crimes and rapines overran 
 the neighbouring states, till at length 
 the entire civilized world became its 
 prey. Its kings were soldiers and ty- 
 rants, its republican institutions were 
 ruled by mobs, without humanity or 
 conscience; and its line of emperors, 
 with the exception of one in ten, were 
 as ferocious monsters as ever disgraced 
 the human form. It was the fourth, 
 and it may be hoped will be the last. Uni- 
 versal Empire. At length, in about 
 1000 years, all nations resisted the op- 
 pressions of its sub-governors, and the 
 present kingdoms were mostly formed in 
 the west. Its eastern sway continued, 
 however, till 1454, when the Mahome- 
 dans took Constantinople, and killed its 
 last emperor. In arts and literature they 
 copied the Greeks, but in 2200 years, this 
 extended empire did less honour to hu- 
 man genius and character, than the little 
 territory of Greece in 300 years, 
 
 ROMULUS, the founder of Rome, 
 in 753 B. C. 
 
 ROOD, the fourth of an acre, or 1210 
 square yards. 
 
 ROOT, or Radix, the part of a vege- 
 table which is fixed in the ground, and 
 which absorbs elementary atoms, and 
 converts them into mucilaginous and 
 saccharine substance. Root is also ap- 
 plied in arithmetic to the germ of a 
 power, thus 4 is the power of 2, but 2 is 
 the root of that power, 
 
ROT 
 
 ROPE-MAKING. Ropes and pack* 
 thread, and indeed threads of all de- 
 scription, consist of twisted fibres, of 
 some vegetable substance ; and in ropes 
 of hemp, a wheel is turned generally by 
 a boy, and a band passes over the seg- 
 ment of a circle, as represented in the 
 engraving, within which are inserted 
 rollers with hooks on the outside, to 
 which the hemp is appended, and a sup- 
 ply kept up till the desired length is 
 produced. 
 
 ROSARY, beads for numbering pray- 
 ei s before devotees could read. 
 
 ROT, a disease of the liver of sheep. 
 
 ROTACEiE, the 26th Linnsean natu- 
 ral order of plants, with one wheel shap- 
 ed petal, without a tube. 
 
 ROTATION, the turning round of 
 anybody, which is around the centre, 
 when a plane, as in a wheel, or around 
 an axis or centre of the mass, as in a 
 sphere. The globe of the earth rotates 
 every 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 se- 
 conds, and all the planets rotate in dif- 
 ferent periods, or their respective days. 
 The rotation viewed from the sun is con- 
 trary to the orbicular course, and this 
 arises from the greater re-action of the 
 near side on the medium of space, the 
 effect of which, as contrasted with the 
 force of the remote side, corresponds 
 to a few minutes. The rotation of pla- 
 nets is also a very important phenome- 
 non, by causing an unequal velocity, ac- 
 cording to the distance from the axis ; 
 and by consequence, a fall of bodies to- 
 wards the centre, according to their den- 
 sities, so that order or an equal momen- 
 tum may be the result ; for as the simul- 
 taneous orbicular motion in the earth is 
 times the rotatory motion at the 
 equator; or as 68,000 to 1000, the 
 greater motion destroys the less, and 
 nullifies the nascent centrifugal tenden- 
 cy from the rotation, thereby causing 
 the weight of bodies, and their fall to- 
 wards the common centre of the mass, 
 
 m 
 
 RYO 
 
 by disposing them in lengths, or circuits 
 of strata, whose density is inversely as 
 their distances from the centre, so tlvat 
 the momenta of the whole is either 
 equal, or forced as far as possible to be- 
 come so. Hence a dense body on the 
 surface of the earth cannot be carried 
 round in so large a circle, but falls to- 
 wards a smaller circle, where the velocity 
 is less, and the momentum equalized : 
 and such, according to Sir Richard Phil- 
 lips, is the cause of what has been called 
 terrestrial attraction, or gravitation. A 
 dense body, says he, must fall towards 
 the centre, or the centre move towards 
 the body, and the earth become lop-sided, 
 but the greater overcomes the less. 
 
 ROTUNDA, a circular building. 
 
 ROTUNDITY OF THE EARTH. 
 To prove that the Earth is round, we 
 need only look at the concavity of the 
 clouds, or at a ship at sea, the topmasts 
 of which come in sight, while the hull 
 is concealed by the intervening con- 
 vexity. But mountains at a distance 
 effect the same purpose, the tops being 
 visible, as of Mont Blanc, or the Peak 
 ofTeneriffe, at the distance of 200 or 
 300 miles. 
 
 ROUGE, a composition of hair pow- 
 der, powdered talc, and cochineal. 
 
 ROUND HOUSE, a temporary build- 
 ing for culprits. 
 
 RUBBER, two games out of three. 
 Also, the means of friction to the glass 
 cylinder of an electrical machine, 
 
 RUBENS, painter, died 1640. 
 
 RUBRIC, directions in prayer-books. 
 
 RUBY, a red precious stone, 
 
 RUDIMENTS, germs of vegetables, 
 or knowledge. 
 
 RULES OF COURT, adopted for 
 practice, and often productive of ex- 
 pense and inconvenience to suitors. 
 
 RUMINATING, chewing the eudj. 
 also applied to meditation. 
 
 RUNIC, the Scandinavian languages. 
 
 RUNNET, liquor made by soaking 
 the stomach of a calf in hot water, which 
 curdles milk for cheese. 
 
 RUNNING, one of the gymnastic 
 exercises, as decribed in Hamilton’s 
 Elements of Gymnastics. 
 
 RUPEE, a coin, value two shillings. 
 
 RUST, oxide of metal : hence, metals 
 become rusty, when exposed to air or 
 water, by abstracting the oxygen ; but 
 grease and varnish protect them, because 
 they consist of hydrogen. 
 
 RYE, coarse bread-corn. 
 
 RYOT, an East Indian peasant. 
 
SA II 
 
 SAM 
 
 s 
 
 SABBATH, theseventh day, or Satur- 
 day, kept by the Jews as a day of rest, 
 in conformity to the fourth command- 
 ment of God, commencing on Friday at 
 sun-set, and ending on Saturday at sun- 
 set. Christians, in general, disregard 
 the Sabbath of the seventh day, and keep 
 Sunday, or the first day of the week, as 
 a festival in most countries, because 
 Christ rose on that day, in confor- 
 mity to the orders of the Roman Catholic 
 Councils. A sabbath, or weekly day of 
 rest, is an institution, on whichever day 
 it is kept, highly conducive to the hap- 
 piness and comfort of mankind, and 
 ought by all good men to be respected. 
 
 SACCHARINE, sugar-like. 
 
 SACKBUT, an ancient trumpel. 
 
 SACRAMENT, the Lord’s Supper. 
 
 SADDUCEES, Jews who denied the 
 Resurrection and the existence of Angels 
 and Spirits. 
 
 SAFETY-LAMP, a wire-gauze lamp, 
 the meshes of which so much disperse 
 and diminish, the heat of flame, as to 
 prevent its exciting hydrogen gas on the 
 outside. 
 
 SAGITTARIUS, one of the fanciful 
 signs of the Zodiac, which the sun en- 
 ters Nov. 22, marked f It contains 69 
 stars. 
 
 SAGO, a substance extracted from 
 palms, and very nutritive. 
 
 SAHARA, a vast sandy desert in Afri- 
 ca, as sensible of wind as water, and 
 therefore impassable. 
 
 179 
 
 SALAMANDER, a species of lizard 
 of deep black and orange colours, and 
 perfectly harmless. Superstition ascrib- 
 ed to it the power of resisting fire. 
 
 SAL AMMONIAC, a compound of 
 muriatic acid and volatile alkali. 
 
 SAL VOLATILE, carbonate of anv 
 monia. 
 
 SALIENT, projecting outwards. 
 
 SALIFIABLE BASES, substances 
 which when combined with acids form 
 salts. 
 
 SALIVA, fluid secreted by certain 
 glands, by which the food is moistened 
 before it is conveyed into the stomach. 
 
 SALMAGUNDI, an odd mixture. 
 
 SALOP, a Persian root for tea. 
 
 SALT, compounds of acids with al- 
 kalis, earths, and oxydes, forming regu- 
 lar crystals. Common salt consists of 
 22 of sodium, and 33’5 of chlorine, and 
 by chemists is called muriate of soda, or 
 chloride of sodium. 
 
 SALT-PETRE, nitrate of potash, 
 common nitre, an ingredient of gun- 
 powder. 
 
 SALTS, combinations of earths, alka- 
 lies, and oxides, with acids, of which 
 about 2000 different kinds are known, 
 distinguished by combining the name of 
 the base with the terminations ites, or 
 ates, according to the proportion of 
 acidity. 
 
 SAMARITANS, inhabitants of Sama- 
 ria, in Judea ; who weredescended from 
 Assyrians, to whom the country was 
 given when the Jews were led into cap- 
 tivity, it being the practice of ancient 
 conquerors to transplant nations in this 
 manner, and hence the dispersion of 
 the Jews, and the settlement of other 
 
SAT 
 
 pepple in their country, first by the As- 
 syrians, and afterwards by the Romans. 
 
 SAMIEL, a hot Arabian wind. 
 
 SAND, pulverized rocks of silex, &c. 
 
 SAND HILLS, or Downs, produced 
 on sea coasts by the tide and wind often 
 encroaching on the land, and covering 
 habitations. 
 
 SANDS OF AFRICA, these cover a 
 tract of several thousand square miles, 
 and wafted by the wind, encroach on 
 Egypt, and other countries as fatally as 
 the sea itself, covering over villages, ci- 
 ties, &c. and destroying all fertility. 
 The wind wafts them in billows, like the 
 sea; but there are fertile islands in them 
 called oases, almost inaccessible to tra- 
 vellers. 
 
 SANDSTONE, particles pressed into 
 contact. 
 
 SANGUIFICATION, blood forming, 
 a process which follows digestion. 
 
 SANHEDRIM, a Jewish council of 
 Seventy. 
 
 SAP, the blood of plants. 
 
 SAPIENTEE DENTES, wisdom 
 teeth, the four last grinders, which are 
 cut at maturity. 
 
 SARCOPHAGUS, a stone coffin; and 
 that in which Alexander the Great was 
 placed is now in the British Museum. 
 
 SAPPHIRE, a hard blue stone. 
 
 SARMENTOSiE, the eleventh Lin- 
 nsean natural order of plants, containing 
 those with climbing stems and branches. 
 
 SATELLITES, small planets attend- 
 ant on larger ones, forming together one 
 system of motion with reference to the 
 sun, but the primary governing the sa- 
 tellites, and these re-acting on the pri- 
 maries. One, the Moon, attends the 
 Earth, four Jupiter, seven Saturn, and 
 six Herschel. Their distance enables 
 them to reflect solar light by night for the 
 convenience of the inhabitants. Those 
 of Jupiter may be seen with any mode- 
 rate telescope. 
 
 SATURDAY, the seventh day of the 
 week, and the Sabbath, as appointed and 
 hallowed by God, in thefourth command- 
 ment, which was respected by Jesus 
 Christ, and is kept by the Jewsto this day. 
 
 SATURN, a planet, 900,000 millions 
 of miles from the sun, 79,000 miles in 
 diameter, and period 30 years, or 10,746 
 days. Saturn has seven moons, and is 
 also surrounded by a double ring, 205 
 thousand miles in diameter, visible with 
 moderate telescopes, and very beautiful. 
 Saturn used to be considered as the out- 
 ermost planet, but the Herschel has 
 180 
 
 SAW 
 
 lately been discovered at double the dis- 
 tance; and, considering the middle dis- 
 tance of the sun to the nearest fixed 
 star, as fifteen millions of millions of 
 miles, there are, probably, hundreds of 
 planets undiscovered, for Herschel is 
 not 2000 millions of miles distant, so 
 that the space beyond Herschel to the 
 middle distance is 80 times as great as the 
 distance of Herschel from the Sun. 
 
 SATURN, in heathen mythology, 
 the most celebrated of the Titans, and 
 father of Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, 
 and Ceres. The reign of Saturn was 
 called the golden age, because the age of 
 agriculture ; but it was followed by arts, 
 refinement, ambition, wars, money, 
 commerce, &e. 
 
 SAUNDERS’ WOOD, a red dye. 
 
 SAURIAN ORDER, the lizard kind, 
 as old as the oldest secondary rocks. 
 
 SAWYERS, mechanics, who work in 
 pairs, one above, the other below, gene- 
 rally in a pit, whose employment it is to 
 saw pieces of timber into planks of va- 
 rious thickness. 
 
SCH 
 
 SCABIES, a disease of the skin, ac- 
 companied by itching, caused by insects 
 breeding in the parts affected. 
 
 SCABRIDjE, the 53d Linnacan natu- 
 ral order of plants, with rough leaves; as 
 hemp, fig, &c. 
 
 SCAGLIOLA, plaster-like marble. 
 
 SCALE, a most useful instrument 
 in accurate drawing, made of any 
 hard material. The principal divisions 
 are half an inch, and the horizontal 
 lines divide it into ten parts, or the 20th 
 of an inch ; while by sloping the lines in 
 the left-hand division, the tenths are di- 
 vided into tenths of tenths, or lOOths of 
 the half inch, by progressively ascending 
 ©r descending. 
 
 
 W 4- ffl IP g 
 
 o o O © o I 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 L -j 
 
 
 *: 
 
 ® O C o c 
 
 SCALES, receptacles at the end of 
 two equal levers, to determine the force 
 of centripetal motion or weight of bo- 
 dies by standard bodies of stamped me- 
 tal, in pounds, ounces, &c. 
 
 SCAMMONY, a Syriac gum. 
 
 SCANDALUM MAGNATUM, libel 
 on a Peer. 
 
 SCANNING, counting feet and syl- 
 lables in Latin verse. 
 
 SCANSORES, a tribe of aves, or 
 birds, containing the Woodpecker, 
 Cuckoo, Toucan, and Parrot. 
 
 SCAPEMENT, the wheel whose tooth 
 escapes by the action of the pendulum. 
 
 SCARP, the slope next the ditch. 
 
 SCE NOGRAPHY, theatrical painting. 
 
 SCHIST, slate, or splitting rocks. 
 
 SCHOLAR, a student, or a person of 
 high attainments. 
 
 SCHOLIAST, a commentator. 
 
 SCHOLIUM, introductory observa- 
 tions. 
 
 SCHOOL, a rendezvous of young per- 
 sons to receive instruction in various 
 arts and branches of useful and necessary 
 knowledge, to qualify them to perform 
 the duties of life, and acquire respect 
 and distinction in society. Their dili- 
 gence and their gratitude to their in- 
 structors ought to be unbounded. 
 
 SCHOOLMASTER, a person engaged 
 in the useful and honorable employment 
 181 
 
 SCR 
 
 of instructing young persons in the ele- 
 ments of knowledge. 
 
 SCHOOLMISTRESS, a gentlewoman 
 engaged in the instruction of young 
 females. 
 
 SCHOOLS, in Universities, places of 
 disputation in Latin, upon Logic, Meta- 
 physics, Mathematics, and Natural Phi- 
 losophy. 
 
 SCHOOLS OF PAINTING, distin- 
 guished by subjects, manner, and style, 
 as the Italian, the Flemish, the Dutch, 
 the French, the Spanish, and the En- 
 glish, the last being an improvement on 
 all the preceding. 
 
 SCIENCE, the regular developement 
 of any branch of knowledge. 
 
 SCINTILLATION, sparkling. 
 
 SCIOLIST, a superficial reasoner. 
 
 SCION, a graft or branch. 
 
 SCIPIO, a Roman General, who com- 
 manded in the third Punic war, and with 
 savage barbarity destroyed the splendid 
 city of Carthage, and butchered, or 
 made slaves of its population, 146 B. C. 
 
 SCIRE FACIAS, a writ of execution. 
 
 SCIRRUS, a hardened gland. 
 
 SCITAMINEjE, the eighth Linna?au 
 natural order of plants, including tur- 
 meric, ginger, cardamoms, and other 
 aromatics. 
 
 SCOLOPENDRA, insects with many 
 legs, often 100 to 200. 
 
 SCORPIO, one of the fanciful signs 
 of the zodiac, which the Sun enters on 
 the 23d of October, marked 1)^ . It con- 
 tains 44 stars. 
 
 SCORPION, a stinging insect of the 
 lobster shape. 
 
 SCOT and LOT, taxes and rates which 
 confer privileges on the payers. 
 
 SCOTLAND, the northern part of 
 Great Britain, 280 miles long, containing 
 33 counties, 22 millions of acres, and 2 
 millions of inhabitants. The chief ci- 
 ties Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. 
 
 SCREW, a mechanical power on the 
 principle of the inclined plane, the 
 power moving through a circumference 
 of the screw, while the pressure upwards 
 or downwards is made through a space 
 R 
 
SEA 
 
 which is equal only to the thread of the 
 screw ; and, as the power is commonly 
 applied by levers 10 or 1 > feet long, the 
 force gained is enormous. They are 
 male and convex, or female and concave. 
 
 SCRIP, the subscription to a loan, 
 before all the instalments are paid. 
 
 SCROFULA, a disease of the glan- 
 dular system, which, by a climax of im- 
 posture and superstition, the Kings of 
 England pretended for 800 years to cure 
 by touching, and down even to the age 
 of Newton, lists of pretended royal 
 cures were published by the Kings’ phy- 
 sicians, amounting to hundreds per an- 
 num. A regular form of prayer attended 
 the touching, and it was seditious to 
 doubt this authorized imposture. The 
 Guelphs discontinued the practice ; but 
 it was used by Queen Anne, and by the 
 exiled Stuart family, down to 1800. 
 
 SCUFFLER, an implement in agri- 
 culture, intended to effect the same 
 purpose as that of a hoe in gardening. 
 Its feet are like those of the dove ; it is 
 used on strong land to pulverize it, and 
 cut up the weeds. 
 
 SCULPSIT, annexed to an engraver’s 
 name, and Pinxit, to a painter’s. 
 
 SCURVY, a disease arising from salt 
 provisions. 
 
 SEA, the general name of an expanse 
 182 
 
 SEA 
 
 of water, subordinate to the word ocean, 
 as the Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea, 
 Black Sea, Red Sea, &c. These enclosed 
 seas are not subject to tides, which are 
 created by a more general mundane ac- 
 tion and re-action, with reference to the 
 moon. The water is combined with 1 *35 
 muriate of soda, a 250th muriate of mag- 
 nesia, a 400th of Epsom salts, and an 
 800th of gypsum. As the action of light 
 is obstructed by atoms of water, it ceases 
 in a thickness of 723 feet ; consequently, 
 the bottom of deep seas is in darkness. 
 
 SEA COW, Morse, or Walrus, a large, 
 harmless, and affectionate, but awk- 
 ward creature, which inhabits the N.W. 
 shores of America, and is distinguished 
 by two prominent tusks in the upper 
 jaw. It is sometimes called the Sea 
 Horse, and often cruelly and wantonly 
 butchered by seamen in the spirit of 
 destruction. The Sea Bear is the Ur- 
 sine Seal, the Sea Calf is another variety 
 of Seal, the Sea Devil is a monstrous 
 ray-fish, the Sea Owl is the lump-fish. 
 
 SEAL, an interesting and sensible 
 genus of amphibious animals, which 
 suckle their young, and have a face and 
 head like the human species, by whom 
 they are put to death without remorse, 
 for their skins and oil. The U rsine Seal 
 is even more social and sagacious than 
 the common Seal, living in families and 
 in regulated societies ; but so harmless, 
 though as large as a Cow, that they are 
 exposed to horrid cruelties from the 
 Christian sailors who visit the coasts 
 where they live. Seals have given rise 
 to the stories of mermaids. 
 
SEE 
 
 SEA PEN, or Pennatula, a curious 
 arrangement of polypes, in the form of 
 a quill, which floats in the sea. 
 
 SEAPOYS, or SPAHIES, Eastern 
 soldiers. 
 
 SEASONS, the periods of the year 
 which aredistinguishedby varied lengths 
 of the day and night, and varied degrees 
 of heat. 
 
 SEA WEEDS, chiefly cryptogamia, 
 but in hot latitudes, they almost choak 
 the passage, and are of great length. 
 
 SECANT, a line from the centre to 
 the tangent, and the co-secant is the 
 secant of the complement of the arc. 
 
 SECOND, the (iOth part of a minute 
 of time, or a degree. A pendulum 
 39*139 inches, vibrates seconds at Lon- 
 don, and a body falls 16 feet l-12th in a 
 second. 
 
 SECONDARY, OLD, or FLOETZ 
 ROCKS, incumbent on the primary, or 
 on the transition, are ruins of the two 
 former acted upon by water, or dissolved 
 and deposited in strata, consisting of 
 old red sand-stone, floetz lime-stone, 
 floetz gypsum, variegated sand-stone, 
 shell lime-stone, rock salt, chalk forma- 
 tion, floetz trap formation, and coal 
 formations. 
 
 SECRETION, the process by which a 
 giand, or set of vessels in the animal or 
 vegetable system changes a fluid of one 
 quality into a fluid of another tjuality. 
 
 SECT, a religious party. 
 
 SECTOR, a flat ruler, with graduated 
 lines for sundry purposes. 
 
 SECTOR, a part cut out of a circle, 
 as A. C. B. 
 
 SECULAR, not ecclesiastical. 
 SECUNDUM ARTEM, according to 
 
 art. 
 
 SEED, the germ of future plants, ge- 
 nerally contained in the fruit which is 
 its appendage and support. 
 
 SEER, an impostor, or deluded fana- 
 tic, who asserts that he sees visions. 
 
 SEEING, a sense of feeling by means 
 of the curious instrument of the eye ; 
 an optical arrangement which concen- 
 163 
 
 SEN 
 
 trates pictures of external objects on a 
 net-work of nerves, called the retina. 
 
 SEGMENT, part cut from a circle by 
 a chord-line. 
 
 SEIGNIOR, GRAND, the Emperor 
 of the Turks, who, in going to Mosque, 
 rides in the state represented in the en- 
 graving. 
 
 SELENOGRAPHY, a delineation of 
 the moon, with names of its parts. 
 
 SELF-LOVE, personal gratification, 
 which indulged to the prejudice of others 
 is vice, but restrained from respect to 
 others is virtue. 
 
 SEMAPHORE, a simplification of 
 the telegraph for conveying signals from 
 station to station. 
 
 SEMI, DEMI, and HEMI, half. 
 
 SENATE, the chief council in a state. 
 
 SENNA, leaves of an Egyptian shrub. 
 
 SENSES, instruments by which ani- 
 mals are enabled to feel certain varieties 
 of atoms, as the eye, the ear, the palate, 
 and the nose : each a portion of the ge- 
 neral sense of feeling. 
 
 SENSIBLE HORIZON, the place to 
 which the eye can see on the ground, be- 
 yond which the air and clouds seem to 
 meet the earth. Thus, owing to the ro- 
 tundity of the earth, a man six feet high 
 can on a plain see but three miles. It 
 may be calculated thus, add the diameter 
 of the earth to the height of the eye 
 from the general level, and multiply the 
 sum by the height, then the square root 
 of the product will be the distance seen. 
 The rational or true horizon is half the 
 heavens, as visible from the centre of 
 the earth. 
 
 SENSITIVE PLANT, the mimosa 
 pudica, which closes its leaves on the 
 approach of the hand. 
 
 SENTICOS/E, the 35th Linnsean na- 
 
SER 
 
 tural order of plants, containing the 
 rose, briar, bramble, &c. 
 
 SEPIARI-dS, the 44th Linnaean natu- 
 ral order of plants, used for hedges, as 
 the privet, &c. 
 
 SEPTEMBER, the ninth month, of 
 SO days, but the seventh when first 
 named, because the year then began in 
 March. 
 
 SEPTENNIAL, a term applied to 
 the extended duration of Parliaments, 
 the constitutional period being a ses- 
 sion, and the period settled at the Revo- 
 lution being three years. 
 
 SEPTUAGINT, a Greek translation 
 of the Hebrew Scriptures by 7 2 persons. 
 
 SEQUESTRATE, to impound, or 
 hold in pledge for other parties. 
 
 SERAPH, an order of angels. 
 
 SERGEANTS AT LAW, barristers 
 who usually plead in the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas; but allowed to plead in 
 other courts, and every judge must first 
 be a Serjeant at Law. 
 
 SERIES, a regular succession of 
 terms, or numbers, arithmetical by addi- 
 tions, as 2, 4, 6, 8, &c. or geometrical, 
 by multiplication, as 2, 4, 8, 16, &e. 
 
 SERJEANT, a non-commissioned 
 officer in a regiment. 
 
 SERPENTES, or Serpents, the second 
 order of Amphibia, including seven ge- 
 nera, the boa, coluber, anguis, acliro- 
 chordus, arnphisbaena, caecilia, and cro- 
 talus, distinguished from lizards by hav- 
 ing no feet, and from eels by having no 
 fins. Their poison, when they are poi- 
 sonous, is contained in fangs placed in 
 the upper jaw, and capable of being pro- 
 truded at pleasure. 
 
 SERPENTINE, a primitive rock, 
 composed of felspar and hornblende, 
 resembling a serpent’s skin, intimately 
 united and intermingled with veins of 
 stealite, or soap rock. The marble 
 rocks of Anglesea, and the Lizard Point, 
 are masses of it. 
 
 SERRATED, jagged, like a saw, 
 hence the term sierra applied to ridges 
 of mountains. 
 
 SERUM, the watery part of the blood, 
 the coagulated part being called cruor. 
 
 SERVANT, a male or female hired for 
 a time to perform certain duties, pre- 
 scribed by agreement, or in a book 
 called the Complete Servant ; generally 
 entitled to a month’s warning in case of 
 discharge. 
 
 SERVITOR, an Oxford scholar who 
 is educated gratuitously, and at Cam- 
 bridge called a Sizer. 
 
 184 
 
 SHE 
 
 SESSIONS, sometimes called Great, 
 or Assizes, when two of the twelve 
 judges preside ; but more commonly ap- 
 plied to those quarterly or occasional 
 meetings of justices of the peace, when 
 minor offences are tried, or business 
 performed which requires the sanction 
 of two or more justices. 
 
 SETON, to keep a wound open by a 
 thread. 
 
 SEXTANT, the sixth of a circle. 
 
 SEXTANT, an instrument for mea- 
 suring angles between objects, the angle 
 by reflection being doubled, so that a 
 sextant measures the third of a circle, or 
 120 degrees. 
 
 SHAFT, a column between the base 
 and the capital. 
 
 SHAGREEN, prepared fish-skin. 
 
 SHALE, slate clay, or soft slate. 
 
 SHAMMY, prepared Chamois skin. 
 
 SHAMROCK, three-leaved clover. 
 
 SHARP, a half note higher in music ; 
 a half note lower is a fiat. 
 
 SHARK, a voracious fish, common in 
 most seas, some species of which are said 
 to weigh 3000 or 40001b. They devour 
 almost every animal substance, but some 
 few subsist on marine vegetables. 
 
 SHEAVES, the moving part of a 
 pulley. 
 
 SHEEP, a well-known animal, but of 
 various breeds, as the South Down, 
 Norfolk, Leicester, Cheviot, Merino, 
 Welsh, &c. &c. whose wool is a funda : 
 mental part of the wealth of Britain. It 
 is an innocent, docile, and harmless ani- 
 mal, but capable of being domesticated 
 and instructed. In 1823, one million 
 and a quarter were sold in Smithfield. 
 
 SHEET, a breadth of cloth, and the 
 24th of a quire of paper. 
 
 SHEET ANCHOR, the strongest in a 
 ship. 
 
 SHELL FISH, a class by Linnaeus, in 
 the order vermes testacea, and classed ac- 
 cording to their structure into univalve, 
 or one part, bivalve, and multivalve ; 
 the univalves consist of perriwinkles, 
 snails, and the nautilus; bivalves of 
 oysters, muscles, and cockles ; and 
 
SHR 
 
 ynultivalves of more than two shells; 
 also into unilocular when they have but 
 one chamber, and multilocular, when 
 they have several chambers. 
 
 SHEKEL, a silver coin of 2s. Gd. va- 
 lue, and of gold 11. 16s. 6d. 
 
 SHEKH, an Arabian chief. 
 
 SHERIFF, the executive officer of the 
 law, and keeper of the courts and gaols, 
 which it is his duty to visit often, and 
 correct malpractices. In Middlesex, 
 he is elected annually by the Livery of 
 London, but in other counties selected 
 by the Crown. 
 
 SHIELD, a broad defence of the body, 
 worn on the left arm, leaving the sword 
 arm at liberty. The paintings on them 
 gave rise to Heraldry. 
 
 SHIPS, structures with which men 
 make voyages at sea; which have in- 
 creased in bulk from the open galleys of 
 the ancients of 50 or 60 tons, to a timber 
 ship of 5000. A first-rate Man-of-War 
 being from 2500 to 2700 tons, and East 
 India Ships from 1500 to 2000 : the Mer- 
 chants’ shipping of Great Britain being 
 24,000 in number,carry ing2,600,000 tons. 
 A first-rate carries 120 guns, 24 and 32 
 pounders, with a crew of 900 men ; the 
 length of her gun deck being 205 feet, 
 and breadth 53 feet, the main-yard 106 
 feet, main-mast 124 feet, fore-mast 112 
 feet, and mizcn-mast 112 feet. 
 
 SHIP WORM, Teredo, a testaceous 
 worm which adheres to the bottoms of 
 ships, and devours all wood in water, 
 by which they destroy ships and cause 
 great mischiefs to navigators. 
 
 SHIRE, a county. 
 
 SHOES, protection for thefeet, which 
 in different ages and countries have 
 been made of various materials. 
 
 SHRIMP, a curiously-formed sea-in- 
 185 
 
 SIG 
 
 sect, the white species being the prawn, 
 often boiled alive, and eaten without re- 
 gard to their sufferings. 
 
 SHRINE, a sanctified case, in which 
 the bones of pretended saints are lodged, 
 and to which superstitious devotees pay 
 homage, making offerings, which, as in 
 the case of the insolent Thomas a Beck- 
 et, amounted to millions in gold, silver, 
 and jewels. 
 
 SHROVE TUESDAY, Confession 
 day before Lent, or Ash Wednesday, on 
 which, by ancient Catholic custom, pan- 
 cakes are eaten ; and, formerly, the low- 
 est of the people used to throw at cocks 
 with savage barbarity. 
 
 SHRUBS, small trees, or bushes. 
 
 SHUTTLE, a piece of wood which in 
 weaving passes a cross thread through 
 the warp. 
 
 SIDEREAL, relating to the fixed 
 stars, or suns of systems, and to obser- 
 vations on their changes, by which it 
 appears that between 1700 and 1800, not 
 less than 13 of these suns have been ob- 
 served to disappear, 40 have become 
 greater or less, and 10 new ones have 
 appeared to come into existence. More 
 active observations will, probably, ex- 
 tend the numbers in every succeeding 
 century. 
 
 SIDEREAL YEAR, the return of the 
 Earth or the Sun to some star, which is 
 20 minutes 24 seconds of time less than 
 the return from equinox to equinox, 
 equal to 50.J seconds of a degree in a 
 year, or 25,791 years for the ecliptic. 
 
 SIERRA LEONE, a district on the 
 western coast of Africa, where an En- 
 glish settlement has been formed for the 
 purpose of civilizing the Africans. 
 
 SIGNS OF DEATH, convulsions, 
 and rattling in the throat ; but there are 
 no portents, such as death- watches, wind- 
 ing-sheets, lights in the air, noises, calls, 
 dreams, apparitions, &c. <Stc. &c. which 
 brutal ignorance and low superstition 
 have invented and imagined among bar- 
 barous tribes, or their equals in civilized 
 nations. Nothing ever takes place, cog- 
 nizable by the human senses, but actions 
 of material substances produced by na- 
 tural and competent causes. 
 
 SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, figures 
 fancifully inserted among the stars in 
 the twelve divisions of the part of the 
 
 R 2 
 
SIN 
 
 heavens in which the sun, moon, and 
 planets, move ; and curious because 3000 
 years old. 
 
 SILICA, or powdered flint and gravel, 
 an earth which, when mixed with soda, 
 and exposed to great heat, forms glass, 
 and constitutes the bulk of the primi- 
 tive rocks. 
 
 SILIQUA, a pod, or pea shell. 
 
 SILIQUOS^E, the 39th Linnaean na- 
 tural order of plants, with pods for their 
 seed-vessels. 
 
 SILK, the web of the silk-worm, or 
 phalaena mori, a very ancient fabric, of 
 which the production and consumption 
 are so enormous, that 333,652 pounds of 
 thrown silk, and 3,382,357 pounds of 
 raw silk, were, in 1824, imported into 
 Great Britain. The cone produced by 
 each worm is 300 feet long. 
 
 SILVER, a well-known precious me- 
 tal, 10£ times heavier than water, so duc- 
 tile that wires have been made of it but 
 the 750th part of an inch in diameter, 
 and so malleable that a grain may be 
 beat out into 50 square inches. 1 1 is chief- 
 ly found in Peru, Mexico, and Hungary. 
 It is soluble in nitric acid, or aqua-fortis. 
 
 SI MIA, animals resembling man, 
 among which are theSatyrusor Ourang- 
 outang, of the woods, in the Eastern 
 islands. 
 
 SIMONY, traffic in church preferment. 
 
 SIMPLE, one quality, not com- 
 pound. 
 
 SIMULTANEOUSLY, at the same 
 instant. 
 
 SINAI, a mountain on a peninsula of 
 the Red Sea, rendered famous by the 
 residence of the fugitive Israelites in its 
 vicinity, for above a year, and from 
 which the Decalogue was delivered. In 
 later ages its three divisions have been 
 the residence of hermits and devotees, 
 Jews, Christians, and Mahomedans, of- 
 ten to the number of thousands. 
 
 SINECURE, pay without labour, 
 
 SINE DIE, for an indefinite time. 
 
 SINE QUA NON, something indispen- 
 sable. 
 
 SINEW, a tendon or ligament. 
 
 SINKING FUND, a contrivance for 
 paying off the public debt, by taxing the 
 people to raise it, and assuming that an 
 individual can get rich by trading with 
 himself, hence, that a state fund can in- 
 crease on the one hand, without affecting 
 the value of property equally on the 
 other. The original sinking fund was a 
 million per annum, and 1 per cent on 
 loans, but on amounting to a certain 
 186 
 
 SIZ 
 
 sum it was appropriated by the wants of 
 government, and is now from 3 to 5 mil- 
 lions. The debt, when it was commenced, 
 was 150 millions, and it is now 800 mil- 
 lions. 
 
 SINE, the line drawn perpendicularly 
 from the arc to the radius; F. B. and 
 G. E. diameters, C. B. &c. radii, A. D- 
 a sine, C. D. a co-sine, D. B. a versed 
 sine, H. B. a tangent, C. H. a secant, and 
 A. B. an arc. 
 
 SIPHON, a crooked pipe, used to 
 draw liquor out of casks, by exhausting 
 the air from it. 
 
 SIR, a title of a knight or baronet, 
 and an address of compliment. 
 
 SIRIUS, the bright star in the con- 
 stellation of the great dog, conspicuous 
 in winter nights in the northern hemis- 
 phere, and from its splendour supposed 
 to be the nearest of the stars. 
 
 SIROCCO, a pernicious south-east 
 wind in the Levant. 
 
 SIZE, a relative term, founded on the 
 standard of our education, habits, and 
 prejudices ; for, as the universe is an in- 
 finite totality, so size, with reference to 
 an infinite being or infinite expansion, 
 is indifferent, and equal aliquot parts 
 are of all dimensions, an inch or a mil- 
 lion of miles being equal fractions of the 
 infinite whole ; and those insects, of 
 whom a thousand could dance on the 
 point of a needle, being in relation to 
 the infinite whole, as large as a whale, 
 or an elephant. The best idea of this 
 gradation is the fact, that the smallest 
 insects, when examined with powerful 
 microscopes, have on their bodies other 
 insects or vermin, and, doubtless, these 
 are equally provided, while the smallest 
 is as perfect as the largest. How small, 
 then, must be the orbits and atoms of 
 the gases by which such creatures are 
 supported in common with ourselves. 
 Size is, also, the name of a transparent 
 glue. 
 
SLO 
 
 SME 
 
 SKELETON, the frame- work of the 
 human body, containing 254 separate 
 bones, composed of phosphate of lime, 
 and weighing from 12 to 1G pounds (See 
 Anatomy.) 
 
 SKIN, the outer covering of an ani- 
 mal body, consisting of layers, called 
 the cuticle, or outer skin, rete mucosum, 
 the true skin, and the cellular membrane. 
 
 SKIN, TRUE, the combination which 
 lies beneath the rete mucosum and the 
 cellular membrane, distinguished into 
 three layers, a reticulated portion, a 
 papillary portion rising between the 
 meshes, and the corium, which last 
 adjoins the cellular membrane. 
 
 SKULL, the bony covering of the 
 brain, which, in man, weighs from three 
 to four pounds, or l-28tli of the whole 
 body; while, in the horse, it is but 
 l-400dth. 
 
 SKY, a term commonly applied to 
 the indefinite atmosphere over head, 
 and blue, because that is the colour of 
 the earth as seen from a distant planet. 
 
 SLAVES, men and women, the pro- 
 perty of a master, who makes them work 
 for him. This was the system of the 
 Greeks, Romans, and other ancient na- 
 tions, and is still the system of Russia, 
 Poland, and most Eastern countries. 
 Inmost Christian nations the slaves are 
 allowed to choose and change their mas- 
 ter; but Christians, for three centuries, 
 have kidnapped the Africans, and made 
 slaves of them in their American Colo- 
 nies, a system of outrage and injustice, 
 now generally felt and discontinued, 
 though slavery still exists jn American 
 Christendom. 
 
 SLEEP, the torpor of the brain. 
 
 SLEEP OF PLANTS, the folding of 
 their leaves, and drooping appearance in 
 the night. 
 
 SLEIGHT OF HAND, tricks per- 
 formed by persons who, by great j>rac- 
 tice, or confederacy with others, perform 
 acts apparently out of the course of na- 
 ture, which the vulgar and ignorant be- 
 lieve, and even the intelligent admire. 
 
 SLOTH, an animal, the joints of 
 whose legs obstruct its motion, and ren- 
 der it extremely awkward as well as slow. 
 
 SLOOP, a one-masted vessel ; a brig 
 having two masts, and a ship three. 
 
 SLOOP OF WAR, a vessel with two 
 masts, carrying 10 or 12 guns, and 50 or 
 CO men. 
 
 SMALL POX, variola, a disease to 
 which all human beings are subject onee, 
 but which may be avoided by a milder 
 form in the cow-pox. Till the discovery 
 of this substitute, it was the scourge of 
 the human race, destroying a fourth of 
 all born, and sometimes exterminating 
 whole nations. 
 
 SMALTS, oxide of cobalt and melted 
 glass pounded, and used in paper-making. 
 
 SMOKE, the rarefied, but undeconi - 
 posed part of a combustible, always pro - 
 portioned in quantity to the incombusti- 
 ble matter within a substance, or to the 
 matter with which oxygen does not rea- 
 dily combine. 
 
 SMOKE JACK, an arrangement of 
 wheels put in motion by the smoke ar.d 
 air, which ascend the chimney with 
 force sufficient to turn a spit. 
 
 SMELLING, that sense which resides 
 in the nerves distributed over the mem- 
 brane that lines the interior of the no»- 
 
 187 
 
soc 
 
 fcnls, and powerful in proportionSj^ts 
 quantity and formation, being farfSforft 
 sensible in some animals than in otfebts* 
 
 SMITH, one of the most useful pS a 
 tizans, for without workers in rpetals 
 little progress could be made in human 
 arts. The smith works in iron by means 
 of bellows, which eject great quantities 
 of air, and having thus brought the iron 
 into a malleable state, he is able to work 
 it into any desirable form. 
 
 SMITHFIELD, the cattle market- 
 place of London, held on Mondays and 
 Fridays, where 15,000 head of cattle, and 
 a million and a quarter of sheep, are sold 
 annually. 
 
 SMUT, a fungus in wheat. 
 
 SNAILS, a genus of insects, some- 
 times without shells, and called slugs, as 
 black, white, &c. and sometimes provid- 
 ed with shells of carbonate of lime, com- 
 bined with coagulated albumen, secreted 
 by the skin of the insect, the mouth of 
 the shell being extended by layers of the 
 substance to the margin. The eyes of 
 snails are in their horns, which they 
 draw in at pleasure. The head and 
 horns, if cut off, grow again, and if laid 
 by dry, they revive after many years, 
 and are not to be killed even by boiling 
 water. 
 
 SNUFF, the powder of the tobacco 
 leaf, but variously scented, and com- 
 pounded. It serves to excite the nerves 
 in contact with the brain. 
 
 SOAP, compounds of alkalies and fat, 
 hard soap being soda and oil, and soft 
 soap potash and oil. The engraving 
 represents a soap manufactory, which is 
 generally on a large scale, 95 millions of 
 pounds paying duty in 1823. 
 
 SOCIETY, the assemblage of men 
 under one government, including all 
 188 
 
 SOL 
 
 classes and employments ; those of En- 
 gland, "by the last census, being 773,73 2 
 families employed in agriculture^ 
 1,118,295 in manufactures, trade, and 
 commerce; and 454,960 in the learned 
 professions, or without employment. 
 
 SOCIETY, BOOK, a very useful in- 
 stitution, in which 20 or 30 persons sub- 
 scribe £l. or £2. per annum, to purchase 
 new books, and circulate them from one 
 to the other. England contains above 
 1500 of various kinds. 
 
 SODA, an alkali, when pure called 
 carbonate of soda, and impure barilla 
 and kelp, much used in making glass 
 and soap. Sodaic powders are soda and 
 tartaric acid ; and Soda-water is water 
 impregnated with carbonic acid gas, from 
 diluted sulphuric acid and chalk. 
 
 SOI DISANT, pretended, or self- 
 styled. 
 
 SOIL, the earthy materials in which 
 plants grow, formed by decomposition 
 of rocks, by wind, water, and solar heat ; 
 consisting of compounds of silica, lime, 
 alumina, magnesia, oxide of iron, and 
 various acid and alkaline combinations, 
 with the remains of animal and vegetable 
 matter, the variety being necessary to 
 healthy vegetation, and the soil is bar- 
 ren if 19 twentieths consist of one sub- 
 stance. The object, therefore, of im- 
 provement, is to mingle, as sand and 
 clay with lime, and clay or marl with 
 sand. 
 
 SOLAR SYSTEM, the system of pla- 
 nets which revolves round a fixed star in 
 the vast shoal of the milky way, which 
 star we call the sun, avast mass, above 
 800,000 miles in diameter, which revolves 
 on its axis in 25£ days, at the rate of 70 
 miles per minute, and around a centre 
 of the momentum of the system at an 
 unknown rate : these two prodigious mo- 
 tions exciting an absolute motfh^in 
 mass, of the gazeous medipm which rate 
 space, by which mechanical forces are' 
 dispersed in the plane of motion in- 
 versely as the square of the distance ; 
 and also a relative action of the atoms of 
 the gas which acts as light and heat 
 through the system. At various distan- 
 ces, and within the plane of the sun’s 
 equatorial motion, are numerous bodies 
 called planets, — as Mercury, at the dis- 
 tance of 37 millions of miles, Venus at 
 69, the Earth at 95, Mars at 144, Jupiter 
 420, Saturn 900, and Herschel 1800 mil- 
 lions of miles. 
 
 SOLICITOR, an attorney in Chan- 
 cery. 
 
SOL 
 
 SOLID BULB, the root of a perennial 
 plant. 
 
 SOLIDITY, the essential property of 
 all matter, by which combined atoms fill 
 a certain space to the exclusion of others, 
 — in truth, all we know of matter is, that 
 it pre-occupies a certain dimension of 
 space, but whether the pre-occupation is 
 by a peculiar energy of power, or com- 
 bination of powers at the spot; or whe- 
 ther there is simple solidity distinct from 
 power in a loc&l space, is a philosophical 
 question. This seems certain, that all 
 solidity is made up of primeval atoms, 
 whatever be the nature of the atoms, 
 whether simple solidity, or local power ; 
 and that these aggregates of atoms, when 
 moved, display power, or move other 
 atoms, producing change of place and 
 phenomena. Vulgarly speaking, soli- 
 dity is a relative term, for the most 
 solid bodies have more pores than atoms, 
 so that some have supposed that the 
 whole earth might be compressed into 
 the size of an orange in solid united 
 atoms. Solidity is distinguished from 
 fluidity by the fixity of the atoms in the 
 structure of. the solid, and by their easy 
 or actual mobility in the fluid. Bodies 
 are made by mixture to fill each other’s 
 pores ; thus, water will receive salt. 
 
 SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, a re- 
 fined torture of obnoxious culprits, who 
 are put into small cells, and allowed no 
 intercourse. 
 
 SOLOMON, king of Israel, who dedi- 
 cated the temple, 1004 B. C. 
 
 SOLON, the Athenian legislator, con- 
 temporary with Thales, 600 B. C. 
 
 SOLSTICES, the meridian which 
 passes over the first point of Cancer and 
 Capricorn. 
 
 SOLUTION, the combination of a so- 
 lid with a fluid. 
 
 SOLUTION, an explanation. 
 
 SOLVENT, the gaseous atoms of a 
 189 
 
 SOU 
 
 fluid exciting those of a solid, so as to 
 intermix their parts. 
 
 SOMNAMBULISM, sleep walking, 
 during which the sensitive and willing 
 powers govern the muscles, while the 
 reasoning or reflecting organs are asleep ; 
 but in dreaming it is the contrary. 
 
 SOPHISM, a false syllogism. 
 
 SOUL, the name given to the animat- 
 ing principle of men, and, according to 
 Baxter and other theologians, appertain- 
 ing alike to men and animals. Many 
 sects among the ancient Greeks, Jews, 
 and Hindoos, believed, in early ages, 
 in a soul which survived the body. The 
 Hindoos taught that souls migrated from 
 one animal to another. Christians have 
 various opinions about a future state; — 
 some believe that the soul sleeps till the 
 resurrection, or the Day of Judgment ; 
 others, that it goes at once to heaven or 
 hell, like Dives and Lazarus, who knew 
 one another ; others, that it exists for a 
 time in a state of purgatory from sin ; 
 others, that the soul and a perfect body 
 will rise together on the last day ; and 
 others, that the soul, and, by a miracle, 
 all the atoms that ever composed the body , 
 will rise together ; while the Materialists 
 deny a soul, but believe in a resurrec- 
 tion. Each of these six opinions of 
 Christian sects have zealous advocates, 
 and are corroborated by high authori- 
 ties. Mahomedans believe that the 
 souls of men go straight to heaven 
 or hell, but it is said that they believe 
 that women have no souls. The 
 ancient Egyptians supposed that the 
 soul lasted as long as the body, and, 
 hence, their arts of preservation. Ido- 
 lators believe in the resurrection of the 
 body, and, hence, bury arms and provi- 
 sions with the dead. Moses taught no- 
 thing about either a soul, or a future 
 state, but both are fundamental articles 
 of Christianity. 
 
 SOUND, an affection of the medium 
 in which we live, by vibrations like those 
 which are produced in water, when a 
 stone is thrown into it. It travels at the 
 rate of 1142 feet in a second, and differ- 
 ent vibrations affect the different gases 
 which constitute the atmosphere, and, 
 hence, their various simultaneous tones. 
 But the same gas may be variously affect- 
 ed, and, hence, different pitches of tone, 
 or octaves. If a string perform 100 vi- 
 brations in a second, the ear receives 100 
 strokes, which we call sound; and, if 
 another makes 200 vibrations, the first is 
 lower or flatter, and the latter higher 
 
SPA 
 
 and sharper, but according every otlier 
 time, so that in flat sounds there are 
 fewer vibrations than in sharp sounds. 
 Every key of the pianoforte contains 
 a determinate number of vibrations, 
 which accord at regular intervals, and 
 are completed in a second. The note 
 marked C, makes 100 vibrations in a se- 
 cond ; but the note C, three octaves 
 higher, makes 1600 vibrations in the same 
 time. It appears, by experiment, that 
 we cannot determine the sound of a 
 string which makes less than 30 vibra- 
 tions in a second, because it is too low, 
 nor of one which makes more than 7552 
 vibrations in a second, because too high. 
 These limits determine the power of the 
 human ear. The eight notes of an octave 
 are in length as follow ; — 128-144-160-180- 
 192-216-240-256 — and these are the pro- 
 portions of strings which sound the dia- 
 tonic scale, in which, at certain inter- 
 vals of 2, 3, and 5, the vibrations cor- 
 respond. 
 
 SOUP, animal juices mixed with wa- 
 ter, and rendered solid and portable by 
 much boiling. 
 
 SOU TH-DOWN SHEEP, a favourite, 
 and handsome bleed of sheep, with black 
 faces, natives of the South Downs, in 
 Sussex. 
 
 SPACE, the extension on all sides in 
 which matter exists, and acts and re- 
 acts according to mechanical laws. The 
 action and re-action of matter bespeaks 
 continuity, hence space is necessarily 
 full whenever action and re-action are 
 displayed between bodies not in contact. 
 This fullness is not, however, a solid 
 fixed structure like gold, or glass, but a 
 fulness of atoms in revolving motions 
 which fill the space with their power, 
 and not with their bulks, "and hence 
 communicate and facilitate, instead of 
 impeding, motion. Space is measured by 
 men by relations to their own dimensions 
 and powers; but, in regard to univer- 
 sal nature, it is an infinitely-extended 
 and all-absorbing totality, in regard to 
 which, all dimensions created by our re- 
 190 
 
 SPA 
 
 lative ideas become common points. 
 The same mode of thinking leads men 
 to contemplate the vast more than the 
 minute; but as every minute portion of 
 space, and the matter within it, are infi- 
 nitely divisible, the descending series is 
 quite as wonderful as the ascending, 
 while in that inscrutable minute series 
 exist the causes of all chemical and natu- 
 ral phenomena. The universe of space, 
 and, probably, of matter and phenome- 
 na, in an indefinite variety of forms, are 
 necessarily infinite in extent, or, as the 
 universe, they form a totality without 
 assignable bounds, for the notion of 
 bound and definite size is the mere result 
 of our experimental knowledge, and re- 
 lative considerations . — See Time. 
 
 SPA, springs impregnated with mine- 
 rals in the earth, as nitre, sulphur, iron, 
 copperas, &c. and useful with exercise, 
 and regimen, in curing diseases. 
 
 SPANIEL, a valuable species of dog, 
 a native of Spain, but a favourite in all 
 countries. 
 
 SPAR, shining minerals, or crystals. 
 SPARROW HAWK, a bird of prey, 
 so called as an enemy to sparrows. 
 
 SPARTA, a Grecian republic, founded 
 1302, and conquered by the Romans, 
 150 B. C. 
 
SPI 
 
 SPASM, muscular contraction. 
 
 SPATHACE^E, the ninth Linnacan 
 system of plants, nearly resembling the 
 liliaceous plants, as the narcissus, &e. 
 
 SPECIAL JURIES, men of higher 
 rank and better education than common 
 juries; but, being paid aguineafor every 
 cause, they often make, in London, a 
 trade of the employment. 
 
 SPECIES, classes of one form. 
 
 SPECIFIC, a certain remedy. 
 
 SPECIFIC WEIGHT, or Gravity, a 
 measure of the relative number of atoms, 
 within equal dimensions, determined 
 by the downward force, or difference of 
 momentum with equal velocity, and 
 measured in equal volumes of water 
 taken as unity. Hence, platina is 19*5 ; 
 gold 19*25; silver 10*741; lead 11*35; 
 copper 7*78; iron 7*78; paving Portland 
 stone 2*5 ; glass 2*8 ; white marble 2*8 ; 
 milk 1*03; olive oil 0*915 ; ether 0*739; 
 fat 0*923; ash wood 0*845 ; beech 0*852; 
 cork 0*24; elm 0*701; fir 0*55; oak 1*17; 
 walnut 0*671. Taking atmospheric air 
 as 1, then chlorine is 2*47 ; carbonic acid 
 1*52; oxygen 1*1036; azote 0*9691; 
 steam of water 0*6235 ; carburetted hy- 
 drogen 0*555 ; and hydrogen 0*0735. 
 
 SPECTRE, a phantom of ignorance, 
 created, when supposed to be seen, by 
 the mind, through its own fears or 
 guilty recollections. 
 
 SPECTRUM, an optical image. 
 
 SPECULUM, a mirror of glass or 
 metal. 
 
 SPERMACETI, a waxy substance. 
 
 SPHERE, a globe or round space. 
 
 SPHERE, ARMILLARY, a trifling 
 instrument, representing the great cir- 
 cles on the earth, or in the heavens, but 
 better drawn on a globe, 
 
 SPHEROID, oblate, or flatted poles, 
 or oblong, with lengthened poles. 
 
 SPIDER, or Aranea, a well-known, 
 ingenious, curiously-formed, and harm- 
 less insect. They display great dexte- 
 rity in the formation of their beautiful 
 geometrical webs. These they construct 
 by threads passing from four paps at the 
 extremity of the abdomen, and each pap 
 is perforated by a thousand small holes, 
 through which the finest threads pass, 
 which are spun into one by the pap, and 
 the four are then united into the thread 
 of the web, each thread being a union of 
 4000. The means which they adopt in 
 choosing positions, and to fix the points 
 of their web, entitle them to our respect 
 and admiration. At the same time, they 
 are ferocious to one another, and as cruel 
 191 
 
 SPI 
 
 as man himself to the animals which 
 they catch for food. 
 
 SPHINX, a real or imaginary ani- 
 mal of antiquity, with the head of a wo- 
 man, and the body of a lion. The en- 
 graving represents the enormous one in 
 Egypt, near the pyramids, the body of 
 which is covered by sand. 
 
 SPINAL MARROW, a continuance of 
 the brain through the vertebrae of the 
 back from top to bottom, from which 
 pass thirty nerves of sensation. 
 
 SPINNING JENNY, a machine used 
 to spin cotton, &c. by which many spin- 
 dles are turned by an horizontal wheel. 
 
 SPINSTER, an unmarried woman. 
 
 SPIRACULA, the holes in their shell 
 or coat, through which insects respire, 
 instead of a wind-pipe. 
 
 SPIRAL, a curve turning into itself. 
 
 SPIRE, an obelisk, or church-steeple, 
 built broad at the bottom, and narrow 
 at the top, for safety in standing. The 
 highest in England is that of Salisbury, 
 410 feet high, or seven feet higher than 
 the cross of St. Paul’s, and double that 
 of the Monument, at London. 
 
 SPIRITS, or alcohol, the evaporation 
 of fermented liquors, after the carbonic 
 acid gas has been expelled from the ve- 
 getable solution in water, leaving some 
 water, an excess of hydrogen, and part 
 behind, which, exposed to heat, or distil- 
 led, produces spirits of wine, brandy, 
 rum, whiskey, &c. Fermentation is a 
 process the reverse of combustion, the 
 oxygen being expelled, and the hydrogen 
 remaining, the process being promoted 
 by a little actual fermenting matter, as 
 yeast, just as combustion is commenced 
 by another lighted body. The specific 
 gravity of the purest spirit, or liquid hy- 
 drogen, is 825, water being 1000, and, of 
 
SPO 
 
 SPR 
 
 eourse, when excited by the access of 
 flame, it combines with the oxygen of 
 the air, and burns rapidly, forming wa- 
 ter, and carbonic acid gas. It never 
 freezes. The brandy consumed in En- 
 gland is 1 J millions of gallons, 3 millions 
 of rum, and 5 millions of other spirits. 
 
 SPLEEN, a part of the viscera, larger 
 than an orange, whose use is unknown. 
 
 SPLENETIC, ill-tempered, a use of 
 the word founded on a false notion of 
 the spleen. 
 
 SPONGE, a curious zoophyte animal, 
 found on rocks, and composed either of 
 reticulated fibres, or spines interwoven 
 together, and clothed with a living 
 gelatinous flesh, full of small mouths. 
 It is capable of absorbing water, owing 
 to the pressure of the surrounding air, 
 and the interception of the sides of the 
 pores. 
 
 SPOON BILL, a large bird, so called 
 from its beak being in the form of a 
 spoon.' 
 
 SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION, 
 eompounds which take fire, as linseed 
 oil, lamp black, and hemp, or cotton. 
 
 SPONTANEOUS GENERATION, 
 the supposed evolution of organised 
 beings from the fermentation or active 
 combination of elementary principles; 
 and a favourite doctrine of the chemists 
 of the middle ages, who maintained that 
 the sun converted the mud of the Nile 
 into reptiles. The origin of animalculaj 
 in fermenting fluids, and other pheno- 
 mena of like kinds, have always led to 
 controversies ; the fertilization of coral 
 islands, the growth of lichens, and mos- 
 ses on rocks, the springing of grasses 
 and certain plants in new-formed soils, 
 the growth of white clover on applying 
 lime on dry heaths, of orchises under 
 102 
 
 pine-trees, and of raspberry-bushes where 
 fir-woods have been burnt, tend to in- 
 crease the difficulties. This seems cer- 
 tain, that, wherever there is action and 
 re-action, something must be the result; 
 but the ordinary course of observation 
 bespeaks the existence of previous 
 germs and parents as indispensable. 
 
 SPOTS IN THE SUN, dark and ill- 
 understood marks, and clusters of marks, 
 which appear on the sun, are carried 
 roundby its rotation, and, changing their 
 forms, disappear. They are often larger 
 than the earth. 
 
 SPRAY, the froth of the sea. 
 
 SPRING, the season when increasing 
 solar heat restores the energy of vegeta- 
 tion ; April in the northern, and October 
 in the southern, hemisphere. Figura- 
 tively, it applies to the bursting of water 
 from veins in the earth, and to the ex- 
 pansive action of a steel spring, which 
 consists of straight steel, coiled up, and 
 acting with sufficient force to move the 
 wheel of a watch. 
 
 SPRINGS. Rain penetrates the 
 ground, and oozes into and through cer- 
 tain strata ; but, being obstructed by other 
 strata, forms cavities and subterraneous 
 reservoirs at various depths, many of 
 which, when full, force their way out of 
 the ground, and constitute springs, and 
 often heads of rivulets. Sometimes, as 
 in the engraving, the channel out of 
 them arises below the base of the cavity, 
 as at S, so that when the water rises r.o 
 higher than R, none will escape at S ; 
 but, if great rains bring a supply fromO. 
 
SQU 
 
 by which water rises above the level of S, 
 then it flows beyond S, till exhausted, 
 to R, and becoming dry again, it is called 
 an intermitting spring. 
 
 SPUNK, fungus on trees, which dried 
 makes tinder. 
 
 SPURIOUS, counterfeit. 
 
 SQUARE, four-sided ; the multiple of 
 a number by itself, the root of which is 
 the original number. 
 
 SQUARING THE CIRCLE, a silly 
 conundrum, like the perpetual motion, 
 the philosopher’s stone, the finding the 
 longitude, and the universal panacea. 
 
 SQUILLA, or CANCER, the class of 
 shrimps, prawns, crabs, lobsters, &c. all 
 of which men boil alive, under varied 
 circumstances of great cruelty. 
 
 SQUINTING, the axes of the eyes 
 directed different ways ; a misfortune 
 which creates a prejudice, while this 
 often sours the temper of the afflicted. 
 
 SQUIRREL, a very pretty agile crea- 
 ture, which frolics in the woods, and 
 even in cages, when cruelly deprived of 
 liberty. 
 
 193 
 
 STA 
 
 STADIUM, an English furlong, 
 
 STAFF, a support; and the operative 
 officers of regimental service. 
 
 STAFFA, a romantic island in the 
 Hebrides, celebrated for its stupendous 
 cave of basaltic pillars, washed out by 
 the sea, and now370 feet long, and from 
 20 to 50 feet broad. 
 
 STAG, the male of the deer kind, and 
 an animal of great power, sagacity, and 
 fleetness, often hunted by dogs and men, 
 when it runs from 20 to 50 miles before 
 it is ensnared and taken. 
 
 STAGE, properly the raised area in 
 a theatre on which players perform, but 
 the word stage often implies the whole 
 dramatic art in composition and per- 
 formance. 
 
 STAGE COACH, a public vehicle to 
 convey passengers and parcels; in fo- 
 reign countries called Diligences. Those 
 of England are the completest, safest, 
 and swiftest in the world, going at the 
 rate of seven, eight, and ten, miles an 
 hour, at a cost to each inside passenger 
 of about 4d. a mile, and outside half. 
 There are about 4000 in the United King- 
 dom, and the proprietors usually keep a 
 horse for every mile, and change the 
 set every ten or twelve miles. 
 
 STALL, a detached station, as a divi- 
 sion of a stable, or a seat in a cathedral. 
 
 STAMEN, part of the inside of a 
 flower, producing fructifying powder. 
 
 STAMP, a badge of revenue on va- 
 rious instruments, differing in value ae- 
 S 
 
STA 
 
 cording to their object. In 1823, they 
 produced in Great Britain £ 6 , 362 , 620 , 
 and in Ireland £425,000. Newspaper 
 stamps yielded £332,128 in England, 
 £16,714 in Scotland; and advertise- 
 ments £141,496 in England, and in Scot- 
 land £20,794. 
 
 STARBOARD and LARBOARD, 
 right and left. 
 
 STAR FISH, or ASTERIAS, a fish 
 whose form is best expressed by the en- 
 graving. 
 
 STARS, FIXED, luminous bodies 
 which are stationed in space at twenty 
 or thirty billions of miles distant from 
 each other ; and, therefore, out of the 
 vortex of each other’s action on the me- 
 dium of space. The number visible to 
 the naked eye, above the horizon, at one 
 time, is about 500 ; but powerful teles- 
 copes augment their number indetermi- 
 nately. Herschel was enabled to count 
 hundreds in the field of his telescope, 
 and the milky way is an assemblage of an 
 almost infinite number of stars, indis- 
 tinct to the naked eye ; but Herschel 
 counted ten thousand in a square degree, 
 the whole forming a vast cluster of stars 
 in the.space, of which our sun is one, and 
 of which all the single stars visible are 
 also parts ; and it appears that space is 
 filled with similar clusters or wonderful 
 shoals of stars, which, to the unassisted 
 eye, appear as luminous points, but 
 viewed through teleslcopes display innu- 
 merable stars at such distances that their 
 light must have been many thousand 
 years travelling to the earth. Of these 
 clusters, called Nebulae, Herschel has 
 given a catalogue of many hundreds in 
 all varieties of forms. Of course, the 
 existence of such clusters demonstrates 
 the absurdity of the principles of attrac- 
 tion and projectile force, as utterly in- 
 compatible, even if such principles were 
 rational. Herschel found, also, lumi- 
 194 
 
 STE 
 
 nous spaces in which he could distinguish 
 no stars, which may, perhaps, be con- 
 sidered as a variety of nature different 
 from the system of suns and planets; 
 but speculations on such subjects are 
 useless. Such is the natural arrange- 
 ment of the stars in space ; but the an- 
 cient astrologers, for the sake of discri- 
 minating them, covered the visible sphere 
 with imaginary figures in the parts and 
 limbs of which the stars were classed, and 
 then the names of the figures were given 
 to them. These constellations, as they 
 are called, are 91, including 3128 recorded 
 stars. 
 
 STALACTITES, the oosings or 
 drippings of water impregnated with 
 carbonate of lime ; or siliceous atoms, 
 which adhere, drop by drop, from the 
 roof to the floor of a cave, forming pillars 
 and.parts like icicles, above and below ; 
 sometimes, also, penetrating loose soil, 
 or combining with other substances in 
 the descent. 
 
 STATICS, the science which treats 
 of the weight and equilibrium of solids. 
 
 STATUES, figures of men, derived 
 from carving wood, cutting stone, or cast- 
 ing in a mould. Statuary is an art which 
 has made itself respectable by its excel- 
 lence, for it displays every variety of posi- 
 tion, action, and passion, with accuracy 
 and taste. Most savage tribes represent 
 their gods and demons in this way ; and, 
 as the art rose, the statues of the gods fil- 
 led the temples of the ancient world ; 
 not, however, as objects of identical 
 worship, but as tokens of respect, just 
 as we set up the statues of respected 
 men in public places, or as we admire 
 the picture of a beloved object. 
 
 STATUTES, laws, ordinances, and 
 acts of parliament. 
 
 STEAM, or aqueous gas, created by 
 atomic motion or heat applied to the 
 separable atoms of water ; and at 212, 
 the boiling point, every cubic inch of 
 water produces rather more than a cubic 
 foot of steam, and is then equivalent in 
 elastic force to a column of mercury 30 
 inches high. It raises the mercury to 40 
 by adding 14 degrees more of heat, and 
 every cubic foot expands to 5, and at 
 285 of heat it raises the mercury 95 in- 
 ches ; and every cubic foot of steam ex- 
 pands to 40, or 72,000 times the original 
 bulk of water. 
 
 STEAM-ENGINE, an arrangement of 
 mechanism, by which, by the alternate 
 generation and condensation of steam, 
 or by making it act above and below the 
 
STE 
 
 forcer of a piston, a lever is raised and 
 depressed with any degree of power, 
 from that of one horse to 300, every 19 
 cubic inches of water producing 20 feet of 
 steam, which is equal in expansive force 
 to the power of one horse, produced by less 
 than a quarter of a pound of coals, with 
 from 30 to 40 strokes per minute ; and, 
 in general, a chaldron of coals works 100 
 horse power for four hours. Steam-En- 
 gines are divided into low pressure and 
 high pressure ; in the latter, the steam 
 being excited by the heat of 212, that of 
 boiling water, is re-condensed by cold, 
 and a valve provides for its escape, when 
 it raises the thermometer above 30 inches. 
 But if the valve is loaded with a second 
 151b. equal to another atmosphere, then 
 the mercury will rise to 69, and the force 
 be doubled, steam being 20 times its for- 
 mer bulk ; if it be loaded with 28lb. it 
 will be again doubled, and soon; but, 
 of course, such augmentation of force 
 tries the strength of the engine. Of 
 oourse, the energy of the steam rises from 
 the motion of the oxygen transferred to 
 the combustible, and by it to the water, 
 the atoms of which evolving, in conse- 
 quence, form moving circles, and hence 
 the expansive force. The boiler is on 
 the right hand, and enmmnnioatos tho 
 steam to the piston O A, whence it rushes 
 into X and G, and raises the rods X Q, 
 and G C, which force up the beam, and 
 the beam carries round a small wheel O, 
 which works in the small one, S, con- 
 nected with the large one R, and with R 
 the works are connected. 
 
 STEAM NAVIGATION, an applica- 
 tion of the steam-engine to the propul- 
 sion of vessels in the water, by rotating 
 water-wheels at the sides. They were 
 contrived by Fulton, about 1812, and are 
 195 
 
 STI 
 
 now adopted as a safe and perfect means 
 of navigation, independent of wind, tide, 
 and current. Engines of 100 horse 
 power propelling vessels of 200 or 300 
 tons 10 miles an hour, with a consump- 
 tion of three sacks of coals per hour. 
 
 STEEL, iron hardened by combina- 
 tion with carbon, generally charcoal. 
 
 STEEL-YARD, an instrument de- 
 pending on the principle that equal 
 multiples of matter and motion produce 
 equal momenta; so that a lever revolv- 
 ing at the centre D, and moving a body 
 at one inch from the centre equal to 61b. 
 will be balanced by another body of one 
 pound at 6 inches from D. 
 
 STELLAR, relative to the stars. 
 STELLAT.<i£, the 47th Linnaean natu- 
 ral order of plants, with leaves disposed 
 
 round the stem in a etar-like form. 
 
 STENOGRAPHY, short writing, of 
 which Mavor’s system is most used. 
 STEPPE, an extensive plain. 
 STEREOMETRY, the mensuration 
 of solids. 
 
 STEREOTYPE, whole pages of solid 
 type cast from moveable ones. 
 
 STERN, the hind part of a vessel. 
 
 STIGMA, the top of the pistil where 
 the pollen is received. 
 
 STIGMATA, the pores in insects 
 through which air is respired. 
 
STO 
 
 STIGMATIZING, or BRANDING, 
 used to mark criminals, or as orna- 
 ments; in the first, with a hot iron, 
 and in the latter with punctures in the 
 skin, filled with some colouring sub- 
 stance. 
 
 STILL, an apparatus for vapourizing 
 compound fluids, and re-condensing the 
 vapours of each of the component parts 
 as they are successively raised by heat ; 
 it consists of an alembic, a worm, a re- 
 frigerator, and a receiver. 
 
 Worm of a Still. 
 
 STIMULUS, any medicine or aliment 
 which increases or excites the energy of 
 an animal. 
 
 STING, a barbed spear, projected by 
 many insects in defence from real or 
 supposed dangers. 
 
 STIPPLING, engraving in dots, as 
 distinguished from etching in lines. 
 
 STOCKS, the name given to the secu- 
 rities for Government Annuities, not on 
 deposit or fund, for the public debt is 
 merely an obligation to pay annuities, 
 the money borrowed being spent. The 
 amount of stock on which the British 
 Government pay above 30 millions of 
 annuities is about 800 millions. 
 
 STOCK-BROKER, an accredited a- 
 gent for buying and selling annuities. 
 
 STOCK-EXCHANGE, a series of 
 large rooms where public annuities are 
 196 
 
 STR 
 
 bought and sold at a price proportioned 
 to the rate of the annuity. 
 
 STOCK JOBBER, one who speculates 
 in the prices of annuities, from day to 
 day, or by anticipation for future time ; 
 a desperate species of gambling, by 
 which thousands are annually ruined, 
 and public morals contaminated. 
 
 STOCKING FRAME, a machine 
 contrived to supersede the labour of 
 knitting; often very complicated. 
 
 STOIC, a philosopher unsubdued by 
 external considerations. 
 
 STOMACH, the absorbent part of ani- 
 mals, polypi being all stomach, while 
 the stomach of animals is provided with 
 appendages of limbs and muscles for mo- 
 tion, and senses to direct the motions. 
 In another sense, the stomach is a recep- 
 tacle for nutritive soil, so contrived as 
 that the animal may conveniently carry 
 his nutrition, towards which his roots or 
 lacteals are directed ; while in vegetables, 
 which have no stomach, the roots are 
 fixed in the soil. When the stomach 
 loses its absorbent power, and its chemi- 
 cal re-agency, the animal dies. 
 
 STONES, siliceous bodies, insoluble 
 in water, and neither malleable nor 
 ductile. 
 
 S T ON E-F RUIT, those kinds of which 
 the seed or kernel is encased in a hard 
 case, covered with pulp, as cherries, 
 plums, &c. 
 
 STORAX, a resinous balsam. 
 
 STORK, a noble bird, remarkable for 
 its affection to its young. 
 
 STRAMONIUM, the thorn-apple. 
 
 STRATUM, plural STRATA, level 
 •layers of rocks and substances as they 
 would be disposed by water, or by their 
 own respective weights while in a fluid 
 state. The whole earth seems to be dis- 
 posed in strata, like the coats of an onion. 
 
STU 
 
 STRANGURY, retention of urine. 
 
 STRATUS, a level cloud, which on 
 the earth’s surface is a mist or fog. 
 
 ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, the 
 metropolitan church of London, built 
 by Wren, between 1670 and 1720, at a 
 cost of £800,000. The cross is 340 feet 
 high, the length of the building 500 feet, 
 and its circumference 2292 feet. 
 
 jiff! 
 
 
 mi 
 
 Iituin'ujiritiitiii*iitti«t 
 
 warn 
 
 STRAWBERRY, a well-known plant 
 of many varieties, the larger sorts being 
 called Hautboys. 
 
 STRENGTH, the power with which 
 bodies can overcome other power, as a 
 lever, or an animal, in regard to its mus- 
 cles, which set themselves like a lever, 
 and act and re-act from one part of the 
 body to another, the action commencing 
 against the ground, or some body con- 
 nected with the ground. 
 
 STRIATED, streaked or fluted. 
 
 STRONTIUM, a mineral substance. 
 
 STROPHE, a stanza or verse. 
 
 STRUMOUS, swellings of the glands. 
 
 STUCCO, a marble plaster. 
 
 STUDDING SAILS, extra, or added 
 sails. 
 
 STUDENT, one who is learning, and 
 the junior members of a College, or Inn 
 or Court of Law. 
 
 STUDIES, the practice of a painter. 
 
 STUDY, course of, should include 
 History, Biography, Geography, Astro- 
 nomy, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonome- 
 try, Natural Philosophy, Natural His- 
 tory, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Langua- 
 ges, Logic, Ethics, and Law ; and the 
 best elementary works, giving compre- 
 hensive views, should precede expanded 
 reading. The first object should be to 
 commit the terms to memory, and the 
 next to work at, or answer, questions, 
 and perform exercises, so that the stu- 
 dent should be forced to think for him- 
 197 
 
 SUB 
 
 self. The fourteen sciences enumerated 
 may, by a few hours attention per day, 
 be mastered in seven years, or between 
 ten and seventeen, by suitable books, and 
 moderate faculties, serving as a solid 
 foundation for pursuing the details 
 through life. The course at the Univer- 
 sities. includes the ancient Classics, pure 
 and mixed Mathematics, and Logic ; but 
 the above is a popular course for men of 
 the world. 
 
 STUPOR, insensibility. 
 
 STURDY, strong, inflexible. 
 
 STYLE, a mode of reckoning years ; 
 the old, or 365 days, 6 hours ; and the 
 new, according with the exact solar 
 year, of 11 minutes, 15 seconds less. 
 There being in 1752 a difference or gain 
 of 1 1 days, so many days were cut out 
 after the 2d of September in that year, 
 and the 2d was called the 14th. 
 
 STYPTIC, an astringent to stop 
 bleeding. 
 
 SUBACID, xi defect of acid. 
 
 SUBDIVISION, increase of division, 
 and this, in regard to dimensions, whe- 
 ther of matter, or space, and to time, 
 may be carried down to bulks and mo- 
 ments, less than can be expressed by 
 numbers ; a fact which confounds human 
 speculation relative to the origin of mat- 
 ter, and natural motion, because both 
 may begin from parts less than can be 
 expressed, while the extension of this 
 energy, through every equally small 
 point of space in the smallest moments, 
 may explain many difficulties in our rea- 
 sonings on those subjects. 
 
 SUBJECT, one under the law ; or the 
 nominative to a verb. 
 
 SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD, a condition- 
 al sense of the verb, formed in English 
 by the auxiliaries, may, can, should, &c. 
 &e. but often used improperly after a 
 conjunction, owing to an ellipsis of the 
 words “ may, or can, or should be that,” 
 as, “if this is right, then our gramma- 
 rians are wrong,” meaning “if it should 
 be that this is, &c.” 
 
 SUBLIMATION, the raising the solid 
 parts of bodies, as soot in a chimney, 
 raised from coals or wood. 
 
 SUBLUNARY", under the moon. 
 
 SUBMARINE, under the sea. 
 
 SUBMERGE, pushing under water. 
 
 SUBORNATION, bribing to commit 
 crime. 
 
 SUBPCENA, a summons to attend. 
 
 SUBSIDY, money paid for aid. 
 
 SUBSISTENCE, the food of all orga- 
 nised beings ; in vegetables, the air, wa- 
 s 2 
 
SUF 
 
 ter, and unctuous matter of the soil ; in 
 animals the substance of matter prepared 
 by vegetation ; and in carnivorous crea- 
 tures the substance further prepared by 
 animalization. The staff of human 
 life is the starch, gluten, or albumen, of 
 vegetables, as corn, rice, potatoes, &c. 
 These must always be at a price propor- 
 tioned to the abundance of money and 
 circulation, and to the remuneration for 
 labour, 'or the population must perish ; 
 and to decree that corn, &c. shall be 
 higher priced when money is scarce, and 
 labour ill paid, is to pass sentence of 
 death on the population. Of all trade, 
 therefore, that in the necessaries of life 
 should be allowed to find its level in ex- 
 act accordance with the means of con- 
 sumers. 
 
 SUBSTANCE, SIMPLE, a term ap- 
 plied to bodies which have proved un- 
 susceptible of decomposition, and strictly 
 mere primary atoms, whose accidents of 
 motion and combination constitute the 
 phenomena of property and quality in 
 bodies. 
 
 SUBTENSE, an included arc. 
 
 SUBTERRANEAN, under ground. 
 
 SUBTRACTION, taking the less from 
 the greater. 
 
 SUBSTRATUM, and SUB-SOIL, ly- 
 ing beneath. 
 
 SUCCEDANEUM, a substitute. 
 
 SUCCINIC, acid of amber. 
 
 SUCCULENTS, the 13th Linnaxm 
 natural order of plants, consisting of flat, 
 juicy evergreens. 
 
 SUCKER, the piston of a pump; or 
 wet leather laid on a stone, acting by the 
 pressure of the atmosphere, and not by 
 suction, which is a principle exploded 
 with attraction, repulsion, gravitation, 
 enchantment, &e. all equally absurd. 
 
 SUCKERS, twigs of old trees. 
 
 SUDORIFICS, sweating medicines. 
 
 SUET, fat of animals. 
 
 SUFFOLK PUNCH HORSE, ahorse 
 bred in Suffolk, much used for heavy 
 work. 
 
 193 
 
 SUN 
 
 SUFFRAGE, a vote or voice. 
 SUGAR, crystals of many vegetables, 
 and particularly of the Sugar Cane, ob- 
 tained by evaporating the juice by heat. 
 
 SUGAR, ACID OF, oxalic acid. 
 
 SUGAR-BAKING, a process practised 
 in countries where the sugar-cane grows, 
 and chiefly carried on by slaves. 
 
 SUI GENERIS, singular, or of R* 
 own kind. 
 
 SULPHATES, the acid or liquid of 
 burnt sulphur, combined with alkalies, 
 earths, and metallic oxydes ; — that of 
 Soda is Glauber’s Salts;— that of Mag- 
 nesia is Epsom Salts;— that of Copper 
 or Zinc is respectively green, blue, and 
 white, vitriol. When the acid ends with 
 ic, the salt is an ate, when with aits it is 
 an ite. 
 
 SULPHUR, a volcanic production, 
 soluble in oil, but undecomposable ; very 
 inflammable, and absorbing much oxy- 
 gen during its offensive combustion. 
 
 SULPHURETS, compounds of sul- 
 phur with alkalies, earths, and metals ; — 
 that of potash is liver of sulphur. 
 
 SUMPTUARY LAWS, regulating ex- 
 pense. 
 
 SUN, the, the centre of our solar sys- 
 tem, 1,384,472 times larger than theearth, 
 revolving on its axis in 25J days, with 
 its equator inclined 7 s 30' to the plane 
 of the earth’s orbit, its apparent diameter 
 being 28! 36" when nearest, and 3P when 
 farthest off; the earth at the sun subtend- 
 ing an angle of only 83". Spots of vast 
 dimensions are often observed on its 
 
SUP 
 
 surface, surrounded by faint shadows, 
 and other luminous spots, called feculce, 
 are often discovered, but their nature is 
 unknown. The sun appears to have an 
 atmosphere of its own, distinct from 
 the medium of space which intervenes 
 between it and the planets, and serves to 
 radiate its forces to them ; and the ex- 
 citement which this atmosphere produ- 
 ces on the medium of space seems to 
 produce that intense action which serves 
 as the light and heat of the planets. The 
 notion that the sun is in a state of com- 
 bustion is altogether fanciful: its vast 
 mass, probably, serves for the habitation 
 of organised and intellectual beings. 
 The sun appears to be one of the shoal 
 of stars called the milky way, and Dr. 
 Herschel observed that it moves through 
 space with all its planets, like so many 
 satellites towards the constellation Her- 
 cules, with a motion of about 68,000 
 miles an hour. But even at this rate it 
 would be 100,000 years in arriving among 
 the stars of that constellation ; so that, 
 probably, the Solar system itself is but 
 part of a larger system. 
 
 SUNDAY LETTER, that letter of 
 the first seven which corresponds with 
 the first Sunday in the year, the 1st of 
 January being denoted by the letter A. 
 
 SUN FLOWER, the helianthus, so 
 called from its turning to the sun. 
 
 SUPER, a term of excess. 
 
 SUPERANNUATION, the age when 
 the bodily and mental powers abate, 
 which in most men is after 60, when pre- 
 judice and obstinacy take place of rea- 
 son and evidence, and when, from bodily 
 infirmities, peevishness and misanthro- 
 py are substituted for good humour. 
 Men in office become public nuisances, 
 however they may be flattered, who 
 after 70 continue to hold employments 
 on which the welfare of others and the 
 progress of knowledge, and the honour 
 of their race, are concerned ; and they 
 afford special proof of want of wisdom 
 in seeking any responsibility after that 
 age. 
 
 SUPERSEDE, to set aside. 
 
 SUPERFICIAL, the surface, having 
 only length and breadth. 
 
 SUPERNATURAL, something out 
 of the ordinary course of nature, but 
 never seen, except by law-minded, half- 
 insane, or crafty, persons, and never 
 recorded except when the witnesses were 
 dead, or were parties in the fraud. 
 
 SUPERSTITION, the ascribing of 
 events or phenomena to false or impro- 
 199 
 
 SWA 
 
 bable causes, and worshipping those 
 causes either as names, or as sensible 
 idols; practices which prevailed, and 
 still prevail, in all barbarous communi- 
 ties, and among the unthinking and un- 
 enlightened even in civilized co - '.mu- 
 nities. 
 
 SUPERTARTRATE OF POTASH, 
 cream of tartar ; and superoxalate of 
 potash is salt of lemons. 
 
 SUPORIFIC, stupifying drugs. 
 
 SUPPORTER, a term used in che- 
 mistry for the atoms which part with 
 their motion by new combinations, dur- 
 ing the process called combustion, and, 
 thereby cause the heat and the atomie 
 propulsions around, called flame and 
 light. The gas called oxygen is that 
 which usually fixes and combines with 
 carbon and evolving hydrogen, but the 
 artificial gases called chlorine and iodine, 
 also produce the effect. 
 
 SUPPORTERS, figures on the side 
 of coats of arms. 
 
 SUPPURATION, expelling pus or 
 matter. 
 
 SUPREME, an epithet applied to the 
 Deity, as maker and controller, by all 
 ages considered as unity and the soul of 
 the whole universe ; the source, also, of 
 matter and motion, by which all pheno- 
 mena known to us are produced by regu- 
 lar laws of action and re-action. 
 
 SURCINGLE, a horse-girth. 
 
 SURD, an incommensurate expres- 
 sion in algebra. 
 
 SURF, a violent libration of the sea. 
 
 SURGEON, one who cures wounds, 
 and restores fractured limbs. 
 
 SURNAME, the family name. 
 
 SURPLICE, a white robe. 
 
 SURROGATE, the deputy of a Judge 
 in the ecclesiastical court. 
 
 SURVEYING, a useful art by which 
 the superficial contents of land in acres 
 is determined. 
 
 SWAN, Cygnus, a noble bird of great 
 power, and very long life. 
 
swo 
 
 SURVIVORSHIP, the reversion of 
 on estate or sura, on the death of another. 
 
 SWALLOW, a well-known bird which 
 builds curious nests of plaster in the 
 corners of buildings, and migrates in 
 autumn into warm climates. 
 
 SWEAT, or Perspiration, the evapo- 
 ration from animal bodies, consisting of 
 acetous acid, combined with carbonic 
 acid gas. Accurate analysis reduces it 
 to water, acetous acid, salt, lime, iron, 
 anjl gelatine. 
 
 SWEEPSTAKES, a deposit of many 
 stakes or bets, and the winner takes all. 
 
 SWIMMING, an art which depends 
 cm the difference between the specific 
 gravity of animal bodies and the same 
 bulk of water, which difference sustains 
 the head out of the water, but will not 
 sustain the arms and hands, and, there- 
 fore, when persons hold up their arms 
 and hands, the weight of these presses 
 down the head, and they are suffocated. 
 Action with the limbs against the water 
 tends, also, to keep up the head, and 
 propel the body forward*, and this in 
 various positions is swimming. 
 
 SWORD, an instrument in various 
 forms for attack and defence, less used 
 since the invention of more wholesale 
 means of slaughter. 
 
 SWORD CUTLER. The engraving 
 represents the position in which these 
 artizans grind and finish these weapons. 
 
 SWORD FISH, so called from the 
 form of its snout. 
 
 SYM 
 
 SIBYLS, priestesses who gave an- 
 swers to applicants to oracles, an imposi- 
 tion of the ancient world, in which the 
 highest and lowest participated in the 
 faith, so that they were consulted on all 
 subjects. Even to this day the Asiatic 
 and African sovereigns consult astrolo- 
 gers in like manner, and our Queen 
 Elizabeth kept and pensioned Dr. Dee 
 for the like absurd purpose. 
 
 SYCAMORE, a large tree, common 
 in Lower Egypt, the stem of which is 
 frequently 50 feet in circumference, and 
 of extreme longevity. 
 
 SYCOPHANT, a flatterer. 
 
 SYLLABLE, letters with a vowel. 
 
 SYLLABUS, the heads, or outline. 
 
 SYLLOGISM, a form of argument, 
 in which, by the comparison of ideas, 
 according to fixed rules prescribed by 
 logic, true conclusions may be deduced. 
 True syllogisms are reducible to nine- 
 teen forms, depending on the nature of 
 the propositions employed. Seven of 
 them require the first or major proposi- 
 tion to be affirmative and universal, as 
 man is mortal; eight of them require the 
 first or major proposition to be negative 
 and universal, as no man is immortal; two 
 of them require it to be affirmative and 
 particular, as some men live a century ; 
 the other two that it should be particular 
 and negative, as some men are not wise 4 
 and no syllogism, not in these forms, can 
 lead to a correct conclusion. Every syl- 
 logism consists of three parts, of which 
 the first two, called the major and minor 
 propositions, must be true. 
 
 SYLVANS, fauns and satyrs ; or syl- 
 va, a wood. 
 
 SYMBOL, an emblem; thus, the ser- 
 pent is a symbol of time or eternity. 
 These symbols were afterwards the basis 
 of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and of 
 the ancient alphabets; thus, a mirror, 
 was the symbol of beauty, and when a 
 planet was called Venus, the symbol £ 
 of a mirror was assigned to Venus ; and 
 so with other things. 
 
 SYMMETRY, harnSony of parts. 
 
 SYMPATHY', the affection which 
 arises between bodies when the mechani- 
 cal connexion is not obvious ; but too 
 often made use of as a cause in a miracu- 
 lous sense. It is also used in a moral 
 sense, when there is similarity in the af- 
 fections and tastes of parties. 
 
 SYMPATHETIC INK, salts of co- 
 balt, which held to the fire becomes vi- 
 sible. 
 
 200 
 
TAC 
 
 SYMPHONY, a concert of instru- 
 ments. 
 
 SYMPTOM, a coincident effect. 
 
 SYNAGOGUE, a Jewish church. 
 
 SYNCHRONISM, or SYNCHRO- 
 NIC, events happening together. 
 
 SYNCOPE, a fainting fit. 
 
 SYNDIC, a corporate officer. 
 
 SYNGENESI A, the 19th class of the 
 Linnsean system of plants, containing six 
 orders; polygamia sequalis, polygamia 
 superflua, polygamia frustranea, poly- 
 gamia necessaria, polygamia segregata, 
 and monogamia, with the stamina united 
 in a cylindrical form by the anthers. 
 
 SYNOD, an assemblage of clergy. 
 
 SYNODICAL MONTH, 29 days, 12 
 hours, and 48 seconds, the period in 
 which the moon returns to a conjunction 
 of the sun. 
 
 SYNONYME, or SYNONYMOUS, 
 the same idea in different words. 
 
 SYNOPSIS, a comprehensive view. 
 
 TAI 
 
 SYNOVIA, the name of the fluid in 
 small bags which lubricates the articula 
 tions of the bones. 
 
 SYNTAX, that division of the gram- 
 matical art which analyses the depend- 
 ence of parts of speech upon one another, 
 and supplies rules for their mutual go- 
 vernment. Thus a verb and pronoun 
 are governed by their noun, and parti- 
 cular words govern others, all which, in 
 regard to the English language, may be 
 found in the practical grammars of Blair, 
 Murray, and others. 
 
 SYNTHESIS, the uniting of parts in- 
 to a whole, or the making of compounds. 
 
 SYRIA, an extensive region of Asia 
 Major, which had a number of provinces, 
 among which were Judaea, Phenicia, 
 Palestine, &c. 
 
 SYRINGE, a small pump, the end of 
 which is placed in the water and a va- 
 cuum formed by pulling up the piston. 
 
 SYRUP, the juices of fruits boiled 
 with sugar. 
 
 SYSTEM, COPERNICAN, the ex- 
 planation of the planetary system, now 
 universally received; first promulgated 
 by Pythagorus, and revived by Nicholas 
 Copernicus, a priest of Thorn, who, 
 from fear of injuring himself by oppos- 
 ing prejudices, would not allow his work 
 to be published till after his death, but 
 it was then totally neglected, till revived 
 by Galileo 50 years afterwards. 
 
 SYSTOLE, the contraction of the 
 heart, by which the blood is expelled 
 into the arteries: Diastole being its re- 
 laxation. 
 
 SYZYGY, the moment of a new and 
 full moon. 
 
 T 
 
 TABBY, waved or watered silk, made 
 SO by engraved rollers. 
 
 TABES, consumption without cough. 
 
 TABLE, a well-known piece of furni- 
 ture ; also, the name of the perspective 
 plane on which objects are supposed to be 
 seen when drawn on the paper or canvas, 
 and the name of every series of calcula- 
 ted figures. 
 
 TABOO, a prohibition of use or inter- 
 eourse in the South Sea Islands. 
 
 TACIT, understood, not expressed. 
 
 TABOR, or TAMBOUR, a little drum 
 beat with one stick. 
 
 201 
 
 TACK, changing the course. 
 
 TACKING, a zig-zag course. 
 
 TACKLE, ropes and pulleys. 
 
 TACTICS, policy of warlike opera- 
 tions. 
 
 TADPOLE, an unformed frog. 
 
 TiEDIUM VIT^E, tired of life. 
 
 T^ENIiE, or Tape Worm, a creature 
 which subsists in the intestines, flat in 
 the body, with numerous joints, and 
 from 3 to 30 and 50 feet long. 
 
 TAFFETA, glossy silk. 
 
 TAILOR BIRD, an ingenious small 
 bird, which sews up leaves with fibres, so 
 
TAN 
 
 as to form its nest in the manner in which 
 tailors make clothes with a needle and 
 thread. 
 
 TALC, a semi-transparent stone, 
 composed of silica, magnesia, and lime. 
 
 TALENT, an ancient sum of £342 
 sterling. 
 
 TALES, additional jurors. 
 
 TALISMAN, an oriental charm, with 
 whi ch impostors pretended to work mi- 
 racles and cure diseases. 
 
 TALLOW, a solid oil, composed of 
 carbon and hydrogen, which, when exci- 
 ted into gas by any burning body applied 
 to the wick, absorbs oxygen, and the hy- 
 drogen and carbon exploding, as they 
 gradually evolve, the result displays 
 heat, creates a nucleus called flame, and 
 radiates the action called light, till the 
 whole has exploded, or, when covered, 
 till the whole of the confined oxygen has 
 been absorbed. In 1823, 97 millions of 
 pounds of tallow candles paid duty in 
 Great Britain. 
 
 TALLOW-TREE, a native of China, 
 producing a white pulp, from which the 
 natives manufacture candles. In like 
 manner wax candles are manufactured 
 from the berries of a shrub growing in 
 North America. 
 
 TALMUD, a collection of Jewish tra- 
 ditions and theological doctrines. 
 
 TALPA, the mole ; a very curious 
 animal which burrows in the ground, 
 and lives on worms and insects. It hears 
 acutely, and has eyes; the fur of its 
 skin is remarkably fine ; it forms a nest 
 under ground of moss and leaves. 
 
 TAMARIND, a West Indian tree, 
 producing a rich pulpy fruit, growing 
 in a pod. 
 
 TAMERLANE, a barbarous con- 
 queror, died 1405. 
 
 TAN, the bark of oak. 
 
 TANGENT, aline touching a circle, 
 at right angles to a radius ; or the circle 
 at any point continued in a straight line, 
 as when a stone flies out of a rotating 
 sling, but a stone does not fly in a tan- 
 gent from the rotating earth, because 
 the whole is moving in the orbit with a 
 202 
 
 TAS 
 
 far greater velocity than the velocity of 
 rotation. 
 
 TANNIN, a vegetable extract which 
 combines with animal gelatine, forming 
 a tough substance, and hence its use in 
 converting skins into leather. Oak 
 bark, and Leicester willow, yields one 
 sixteenth of its weight, but other barks 
 only a thirtieth or fortieth. Four pounds 
 of good oak bark make one pound of 
 leather ; but one pound of catechu, an 
 earth brought from Bengal, is equal to 
 81bs. of oak bark. 
 
 TANNING, the conversion of skins 
 into leather, of which, in 1823, fifty-four 
 millions of pounds paid duty. 
 
 TANTALUS, the Ibis of Egypt, a 
 bird as large as a goose or swan, which 
 subsists on the frogs and insects left by 
 the Nile. 
 
 TAPE-WORM, intestine worms, of 
 which there are above 80 species in men 
 and animals, producing many obstinate 
 diseases,- and often difficult of destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 TAPIOCA, Cassava starch. 
 
 TAPIR, the land hippopotamus; a 
 quadruped of the order belluae. 
 
 TAPISTRY, graphic representations 
 wrought in the hangings of rooms. 
 
 TAPROOT, the part which shoots 
 into the ground. 
 
 TAR, a black, resinous, inflammable 
 substance, produced from coals or burnt 
 wood. 
 
 TARANTULA, a venomous spider. 
 
 TARE, allowance for loss. 
 
 TARES, a grass or vetch used for 
 feeding cattle. 
 
 TARIF, custom-house and excise du- 
 ties imposed on goods, with their re- 
 spective rates. 
 
 TARGUM, a Chaldaic pentateuch. 
 
 TARTAN, a Levant ship, with one 
 mast, a bowsprit, and large sail. 
 
 TARTAR, a stony precipitate in wine 
 casks. 
 
 TARTAR, CREAM OF, tartaric acid 
 and potash ; and tartar emetic combines 
 antimony. 
 
 TARTARY, the central parts of Asia, 
 between Persia and China. 
 
 TARTRATES, tartaric acid combin- 
 ed with metallic oxides, earths, and alka- 
 lies. 
 
 TATTOO, the evening drum. 
 
 TATTOOING, puncturing the skin, 
 and rubbing a dye or gunpowder into the 
 wounds. 
 
 TASSO, a poet, died 1594. 
 
 TASTE, in perfect animals, is a sense 
 
TEA 
 
 which resides in the papillae of the 
 tongue and palate, or in the latter alone. 
 
 TAURUS, a splendid constellation in 
 the second sign of the zodiac, containing 
 the Pleiades, Aldebaran, &c. 
 
 TAUTOLOGY, redundant words. 
 
 TAXES, the assessments imposed by 
 law for the public service, either direct 
 and obnoxious, as on persons and neces- 
 saries, or indirect and voluntary, as on 
 luxuries and raw materials. The taxes 
 of the United Kingdom, during the late 
 wars, amounted to 70 millions, and in 
 1825 to 52 millions. Taxes not to be 
 oppressive must not exceed a fifth of the 
 private income of individuals, and the 
 private incomes are about one-tenth of 
 the annual circulation, so that circulation 
 must be fifty times the amount of taxes. 
 
 TEAK-TREE, the oak of the Eastern 
 world, and the only Indian wood impe- 
 netrable by the white ants. It is strong, 
 light, and easily wrought at all ages, 
 and is much used in building ships and 
 houses. 
 
 TEA-PLANT, a small evergreen 
 shrub, a native of Japan, China* and 
 Tonquin. In seven years the shrub rises 
 six feet, and being cut down to the stem 
 produces fresh shoots, each of which 
 bears as many leaves as a whole shrub. 
 The refreshing beverage made by the 
 infusion of the leaves was first used in 
 England in 1660, when it was sold at 60s. 
 per lb. till 1700 ; but is now so generally 
 drank, that 25,000,0001bs. are annually 
 consumed in the British islands. 
 
 TEL 
 
 TEARS, a fluid secreted by glands ad- 
 joining the eye, and increased by emo- 
 tions of the mind. 
 
 TECHNICAL, terms of art. 
 
 TEETH, bony substances placed at 
 the entrance of the stomach to masticate 
 food. Their decay, or falling out, in 
 wild animals, leaves them without means 
 of subsistence. In man they are 32 in 
 number, 20 grinders, eight cutting, or 
 front teeth, and four canine teeth. 
 
 TELEGRAPH, a machine for trans- 
 mitting signals from station to station, 
 by which a notice has been given 500 
 miles in three minutes, though the usual 
 time would be 10 or 12. 
 
 TELESCOPE, an optical instrument, 
 which enables us so to dispose of the 
 rays which proceed from distant objects, 
 that we may see the image or spectrum 
 formed in the focus of the object-glass, 
 very near, or under an increased angle. 
 The angle of the image is as the focal 
 length, or the distance from the object- 
 glass to the image, and the angle at the 
 eye-glass is as its distance from the 
 image; the magnifying power is, there- 
 fore, in the proportion of those angles. 
 The glass nearest the object makes an 
 image or picture by crossing and 
 subsequently diverging rays, which a 
 convex eye-glass of short focus renders 
 parallel for vision ; or which a concave 
 eye-glass intercepts while converging, 
 and the image then proceeds directly to 
 the eye with parallel rays. In the figure 
 annexed the arrow is the object, the rays 
 of which cross at the object-glass, and 
 
 203 
 
TEL 
 
 form an image which is viewed through 
 a convex glass by the eye. 
 
 In the following figure O R is the object, 
 rays from which cross at G, in the object 
 glass A D, forming an image, which is 
 viewed by E Y, the eye-glass, by the eye 
 at H. 
 
 D object glass, E concave eye-glass, 
 earrying parallel rays to the eye. 
 
 JE D 
 
 The first and second are the common 
 telescope and microscope, the eye-glass 
 being usually compounded of three eye- 
 glasses to set the object erect; and the 
 third is the Galilean or primitive teles- 
 eope, and also the opera-glass. 
 
 The following represents a mounted 
 telescope with rack-work for vertical and 
 horisontal motions. 
 
 TELLER, an obsolete officer in the 
 Exchequer. 
 
 TELLURIUM, a machine for the il- 
 lustration of the motions and phenome- 
 na of the earth. 
 
 TELLUS, a name given to the earth. 
 204 
 
 TEM 
 
 TEMPER, an effect of mental feeling, 
 which confers different characters on 
 men and animals, the controul of which 
 is one of the professed objects of educa- 
 tion. 
 
 TEMPERING, a process by which 
 iron or steel is hardened or softened. 
 
 TEMPERAMENT, a peculiar habit 
 of body, of which there are reckoned 
 four kinds, viz. the sanguine, the bilious, 
 the melancholic, and the phlegmatic. 
 
 TEMPERATURE, a term which ex- 
 presses the degrees with which atomic 
 momenta affect bodies by what is called 
 heat. When- increased it vaporizes 
 them, if fluid, by propulsion and radia- 
 tion; it dilates them, if solid, by ex- 
 panding the gas in the interstices; it 
 fuses them when the expansion exceeds 
 the power of the structure; and it de- 
 composes them with light and flame 
 when the hydrogen escapes. When di- 
 minished, they become liquid if gas, 
 and solid if liquid. When struck or 
 rubbed they display the effect of heat in 
 proportion to the momentum imparted 
 to the atoms in their interstices. Bodies, 
 too, in their natural state display various 
 conducting powers, and various degrees 
 of temperature, according to the nature 
 of the gas which fills their interstices, 
 to the local atmosphere by which they 
 are surrounded, and to the continuity of 
 their structure. They also absorb mo- 
 tion inversely as their reflecting power, 
 and radiate it as their surface is rough 
 or extended. The whole are palpable 
 and necessary effects of atoms in mo- 
 menta, which atoms are parts of the 
 bodies, and not atoms which are hot by 
 nature, as some whimsical persons have 
 imagined. Metals in general dilate a 
 1000th part in the heat of boiling water, 
 but silver, copper, and brass, a 500th 
 part. A pound of hydrogen consumes. 
 7albs. of oxygen, and melts 3201bs. of 
 ice ; a pound of wax, oil, and tallow con- 
 sumes 31b. of oxygen, and melts 1041bs. 
 of ice. A mixture of nine parts of sul- 
 phate of soda, six of nitrate of ammonia, 
 and four of diluted nitric acid, sinks the 
 thermometer ; and three parts of snow 
 and four of potash produce the same 
 effect. 
 
 TEMPLARS, an order of religious 
 knighthood in the holy wars. 
 
 TEMPLE, a place of worship, chiefly 
 applied to heathen worship ; also the 
 name of the sides of the face above the 
 ears, in which are the temporal arteries, 
 veins, &c. 
 
TER 
 
 TES 
 
 TENACITY', the strength of metals, 
 &c. pulled lengthwise, proving the natu- 
 ral weaving of atoms indefinitely small, 
 in the formation of such powerful aggre- 
 gates. 
 
 TENANT, the dccupier of land or 
 houses at an agreed price. 
 
 TENDER, an offer of real debt; a 
 sloop to receive seaiAen ; and a sympathy 
 of the mind for distress, in cases where 
 the mind is not hardened by usage, as in 
 fishing, shooting, hunting, and slaugh- 
 tering animals. 
 
 TENDONS, elastic, white fibres, 
 which connect the muscles with the 
 bones. 
 
 TENDON ACHILLIS, the tendon 
 which connects the calf of the leg with 
 the heel. 
 
 TENEMENT, a dwelling. 
 
 TENET, a religious principle. 
 
 TENIERS, a Dutch Painter, died 
 1649. 
 
 TENNIS, a game witl* a ball and 
 racket. 
 
 TENON, a projecting and inserted 
 piece of wood fitting a mortise. 
 
 TENOR, meaning, intention. "" 
 
 TENOR, the tone above the bass. 
 
 TENSE, the time in which a verbis 
 used, as present, past, and future; also, 
 the imperfectly past, and the perfect past. 
 
 TENTER-GROUND, a place where 
 cloth is stretched and bleached. 
 
 TENURE, the title to an estate. 
 
 TEPID, milk warm. 
 
 TERM, a step in a series, or the first 
 and last ; the four periods in which the 
 courts of law sit, called Hilary. Easter, 
 Trinity, and Michaelmas. 
 
 TERMES, a genus of insects, of 
 which there are ten species, the white 
 ant being the most remarkable of the 
 insect tribe for industry and ingenuity. 
 They flourish in Africa, Southern Asia, 
 and South America. They build villa- 
 ges of pyramids, ten or twelve feet high, 
 firm and solid, each divided into thou- 
 sands of cells and galleries of communi- 
 cation, live in regular communities in 
 gradations of employment, and hold in- 
 tercourse by sounds of voice. They de- 
 vour all vegetable and animal substances 
 within reach, leaving timbers and furni- 
 ture in mere leaves and outside forms, 
 and when assaulted make their attack 
 and defence with system and desperate 
 courage. 
 
 ' TERMS, Oxford and Cambridge, 
 bearing the same names as the Law 
 Terms, butof longer duration. 
 
 205 
 
 TERRA COTTA, baked clay. 
 
 TERRA FIRM A, a continent; and 
 the name given to South America. 
 
 TERRAQUEOUS, the land and water 
 of the globe. 
 
 TERRACE, a raised walk. 
 
 TERRASS, a kind of mortar made 
 from volcanic stone. 
 
 TERRESTRIAL GLOBE, an artifi- 
 cial representation of the whole earth ; on 
 which the four quarters of the world, the 
 different empires, kingdoms, and coun- 
 tries ; the chief cities, seas, rivers, &c. 
 are truly represented. 
 
 TERTIAN, an ague of two fits in 
 three days. 
 
 TESSELLATED PAVEMENT, a 
 pavement of coloured stones in regular 
 or figured forms. 
 
 TESTACE A, shell-fish, of which there 
 are 36 genera, and many species of each. 
 
 TEST-ACT, a law imposing the test 
 of the sacrament, according to the rites 
 of the Church of England, on all persons 
 accepting public employments. 
 
 TESTAMENT, the Old, or Jewish 
 portion of the Bible; and the New, or 
 Christian dispensation; also, the name 
 of a last will. 
 
 TESTATOR, the maker of a will : or 
 if a woman, testatrix. 
 
 TETRANDRIA, the 4th class of the 
 Linnaean system of plants, containing 
 three orders, monogynia, digynia, and 
 tetragynia, with four stamina. 
 
 TESTIMONY, the evidence of facts, 
 oral, as in a court of law, or written, as 
 in the records of history ; probable and 
 creditable when in accordance with gene- 
 ral experience, corroborated, and disin- 
 terested ; but improbable, and unworthy 
 of credit, when contrary to general expe- 
 rience, and uncorroborated, or associated 
 T 
 
THE 
 
 with any interest, passion, or prejudice ; 
 and this rule should direct the decisions 
 of all juries and tribunals of justice. 
 
 TESTS, substances which, by chemi- 
 cal action, determine the presence of a 
 particular body. Thus, vegetable co- 
 lours are changed by alkalies into green. 
 
 TESTUDO, the tortoise genus, am- 
 phibia which live on sea-shores in hot 
 climates on sea-weeds and worms, and 
 very prolific. 
 
 TETANUS, a lock jaw. 
 
 TETR ADYNAMIA, the 15th class of 
 the Linnsean system of plants, contain- 
 ing two orders, siliculosa, and siliquosa, 
 with four long and two short stamina. 
 
 TETRAHEDRON, a triangular pyra- 
 mid, with four faces. 
 
 TETRARCH, a Roman governor of 
 the fourth part of a province. 
 
 TEXT, a passage or subject of a ser- 
 mon, or commentary ; also, the name of 
 black letter in writing or printing. 
 
 THALES, a philosopher of Greece, 
 who died 572 B. C. 
 
 THAMES, the River, on the north 
 and south sides of which stands London. 
 
 THANE, an ancient title in Scotland. 
 
 THAUMATURGUS, a miracle. 
 
 THEATRE, a building for the per- 
 formance of dramatic pieces, provided 
 with a stage for the players, and with a 
 206 
 
 THE 
 
 pit, boxes, and gallery, for the audience. 
 Theatres are eminently useful in improv- 
 ing the manners of the people, and in ex- 
 posing, asinaglass, the vices, foibles, and 
 characters, of the various ranks and con- 
 ditions of society. The boxes of Drury 
 Lane hold 1200 persons, the pit 860, the 
 lower gallery 480, and the upper 280; in 
 all 2820. 
 
 THEBES, a considerable city of an- 
 cient Egypt, called Hecatompylos, from 
 its hundred gates. In the time of its 
 splendour, it became proverbial to ex- 
 press the magnitude of a city by its 
 name ; but it is now in ruins. 
 
 THEME, a subject for commentary, 
 or school-exercise in composition. 
 
 THEOCRACY, a government of 
 priests as agents of the Deity. 
 
 THEODOLITE, an instrument used 
 in surveying, for the taking of angles, 
 distances, &c. 
 
 THEOGONY, the history of gods. 
 
 THEOLOGY, the science of religion. 
 
 THEOREM, a truism. 
 
 THEORY, the reasoning by which 
 men account for phenomena, the exact 
 causes and connexion of which are not 
 palpable : but most theories having been 
 promulgated in ages of ignorance, and 
 only mended and patched in subsequent 
 ages, instead of being re-founded, they 
 aregenerally more or less absurd. Hence, 
 truth has always to combat against false 
 theories, and knowledge is often retard- 
 ed, in consequence, for many ages. 
 
 THERAPEUTIC, curing diseases. 
 
 THERMAE, hot springs. 
 
 THERMOMETER, an instrument 
 for measuring intensities of atomic mo- 
 tion, or degrees of heat, by the expan- 
 sion and compression of some fluid con- 
 tained in a bulb, and running into a fine 
 tube which is graduated to measure the 
 expansion. It is usually filled with mer- 
 cury, and begins at 32 degrees below 
 the freezing point, ascending at pleasure, 
 but 39 below zero and 660 above limit 
 the use of mercury, as it then freezes 
 or boils. Other materials are then 
 used. The highest known heat, (an air 
 furnace,) is equal to 22,000 degrees, of 
 cold 91 below zero. Ether boils at 98°, 
 alcohol at 142, water 212, tin melts 442, 
 lead 594, iron bright red in dark 755, in 
 daylight 1077, silver melts 4717, gold 
 5237, cast iron from 18, to 21,000 degrees. 
 
 THERMOPYLAE, a narrow pass 
 leading from Thessaly into Locris and 
 Phocis, in some parts only twenty-five 
 feet in breadth, where Leonidas, with 
 
THU 
 
 500 Spartans, resisted the whole Persian 
 army under Xerxes. 
 
 THESIS, a position for argument. 
 
 THEURGY, pretended power from 
 God, by which the eternal laws of na- 
 ture are impiously assumed to be sub- 
 verted. 
 
 THICKNESS, or THINNESS. A 
 grain of gold has been drawn into 500 
 inches of wire, and platinum wire has 
 been made the 30,000th of an inch in 
 diameter. Tin foil is but the 1000th of 
 an inch thick, gold leaf the 200,000th, 
 and lace-gilding but the millionth. It 
 baffles conception that 200 gold leaves 
 should only be equal to one of tin foil. 
 
 THISTLE, or carduus, a well-known 
 plant. 
 
 THOMSON, the Poet, died 1748. 
 
 THORACICI, the third order of 
 fishes, in which the ventral fins are 
 placed under the pectoral fins ; consisting 
 of flounders, turbot, mackarel, &e. 
 
 THORAX, the chest between the 
 neck and the belly. 
 
 THORN APPLE, Datura Stramo- 
 nium, the smoking of which relieves 
 asthma. 
 
 THOROUGH BASE, the accompani- 
 ment to an air, played with the left 
 hand, making perfect harmony with the 
 part played with the right hand, and 
 considered as the fundamental basis of 
 the composition. 
 
 THOTH, the Egyptian Hermes. 
 
 THREAD WORMS, creatures like 
 threads, and several yards long, which 
 subsist in the bodies of quadrupeds, 
 birds, fish, and even reptiles. In the 
 East and West Indies they getalso in the 
 human body, and become very trouble- 
 some, and sometimes fatal. 
 
 THRESHING, the act of beating ears 
 of ripe corn so as to separate the grain, 
 which on being winnowed from the chaff 
 is ready for the miller, or for use. It is 
 very hard labour, but a machine has lat- 
 terly been invented for the purpose, 
 which, like much other machinery, 
 diminishes employment for the mere 
 profit of the grower, or manufacturer. 
 
 THROSTLE, the most melodious of 
 English singing birds. 
 
 THRUSH, ulcers in the mouth which 
 sometimes extend to the stomach, and 
 when white are dangerous. 
 
 THUNDER, the report which ac- 
 companies electrical unions among the 
 elouds, or between them and the earth. 
 It arises from the rarefaction or displa- 
 cing of a line of the air, and its suddenly 
 
 207 
 
 TIL 
 
 collapsing, by which vibrations ©v 
 sounds are produced with reflections or 
 echoes from the clouds and earth. 
 
 THURSDAY, so called from Thor, 
 the Scandinavian Deity. 
 
 TIARA, a head-dress. 
 
 TIBIA, the large bone of the leg. 
 
 TIC DOULEREUX, a painful disea«« 
 of the face in fits. 
 
 TICKS, insects, of which the cheese- 
 mite is a variety, and highly curious 
 when examined through a microscope, 
 tenacious of life, active, cunning, and 
 quick-sighted. 
 
 TIDES, theriseand fall of the sea, 
 twice in every day, 50.} minutes later one 
 day than another, and higher after the 
 new and full moon than after the quar- 
 ters. They are mechanically occasioned 
 by the earth itself moving round the ful- 
 crum or centre of the earth and moon, 
 that fulcrum being the point which de- 
 scribes the true orbit of the two round 
 the sun. The waters being moveable, 
 and accommodating themselves to the 
 forces, direct themselves towards the 
 centre of motion, which being in the line 
 which joins the centre of the earth and 
 moon, the tides are always connected with 
 the position of the moon itself. But as the 
 waters on the earth are divided by the 
 continent of America, the flow is arrested 
 by it, and a returning oscillation creatts 
 a second tide. The same is the case in 
 the Pacific, by the reaction of the coasts 
 of Asia, but less sensible owing to the 
 breadth of that sea. As oscillations of 
 the whole ocean, their effects are chiefly 
 visible on its bounding shores, where 
 they rise from 20 to 50 feet; but in the 
 middle of large seas they are scarcely 
 perceptible. 
 
 TIGER, a ferocious Untameable ani- 
 mal, the size of a Newfoundland dog, 
 with the head of a cat. 
 
 TILES, baked clay, moulded flat for 
 the roofs of houses, of which 74,W<1 
 thousands paid duty in 1823. 
 
TIM 
 
 TILLAGE cultivation by the plough, 
 the proportion of which to that of pas- 
 ture for cattle and horses in Great Bri- 
 tain is as 14 to 19. 
 
 TIMBER, an article of commerce, 
 brought chiefly from America, Prussia, 
 and Norway, chiefly fir or oak, of which 
 480,832 loads, of 50 cubic feet each, of 
 fir were imported in 1824; of deals four 
 millions; of mahogany wood 12,000 
 tons; of logwood 14,000 tons, and of 
 fustic 5000 tons. 
 
 TIMBREL, an instrument with bells. 
 
 TIME, the measure of motion, and of 
 the succession of thoughts, determined 
 on our globe by the phenomena of light 
 and darkness, and returning seasons of 
 heat and cold ; the earth’s motion round 
 its axis being a day, and its motion round 
 the sun a year ; while the period from 
 new moon to new moon determines the 
 month. Longer periods are the moon’s 
 cycle of recurring phenomena in nine- 
 teen years ; the earth’s cycle, or the re- 
 trocession of the equinoctial points 
 round the ecliptic in 25,600 years ; but 
 the revolution of the line of apsides is in 
 20,900 years. These are periods of dura- 
 tion relative to our globe and to us, but 
 different to different systems, and even to 
 different animals and states on the same 
 planet; yet all included in a totality 
 of simple duration, common to the whole 
 universe, and which totality is necessarily 
 without measure, parts, beginning, or 
 ending. Time is, therefore, an acquired 
 human mode of considering motions or 
 events, and our views can have no exact 
 relation to its absolute properties as an 
 universal totality . — See Space. Every 
 thing is relative which is not infinite; 
 and all are evolved and absorbed by the 
 totalities of infinite time and space. 
 Time in the ancient mythology is drawn 
 as an old man, with a scythe and hour- 
 
 TIME IN MUSIC, is of three lengths, 
 as slow, or adagio, quick, allegro and 
 208 
 
 TO A 
 
 very quick, allegretto, the baf in one 
 case being equal to a semi-breve, and in 
 the other to a minim, the several notes 
 being in their due proportions. 
 
 TIN, a white metal for which Corn- 
 wall is famous, 7*29 heavier than water, 
 of which, in 1825, 120 thousand tons 
 were exported. 
 
 TINCTURE, infusion in spirits. 
 
 TINFOIL, leaves of tin, about the 
 thousandth of an inch thick. 
 
 TINMAN, a worker of tinned plates 
 of iron, made into various culinary 
 utensils. 
 
 TINNING, the art of coating metals, 
 as iron, or copper, with tin. It is effect- 
 ed by dipping the metals when well 
 cleaned into melted tin, and in this way 
 iron plates, called tin plates, are made 
 for utensils which so coated do not rust 
 or oxydate. 
 
 TIRE, the iron plates round wheels. 
 
 TISSUE, thin cloth intermixed with 
 gold a'nd silver threads. 
 
 TITHES, an allowance of a tenth of 
 produce to the Jewish Priesthood, a- 
 dopted in the Christian Church to enable 
 the clergy to maintain themselves and 
 the poor. They amount in England to 
 about five millions per annum, though 
 much modified in the collection, 
 
 TITHING, ten families. 
 
 TITIAN, a celebrated Venetian 
 painter in every department of the art- 
 He died 1579, aged 98. 
 
 TOAD, a harmless but unsightly am- 
 phibious animal ; very tenacious of life, 
 and believed when enclosed in stones and 
 trees to be able to exist for many centu- 
 ries ; being torpid during the winter, they 
 creep into crevices, and sometimes be- 
 come enclosed by petrifactions or con- 
 cretions. They live on small worms and 
 insects, and are great enemies of wasps. 
 The Pipa or Surinam Toad is larger than 
 our toad, and more ugly ; but its young 
 
TOR 
 
 fjrow in cells on its back from eggs to 
 tadpoles, and then to perfect toads in 
 large numbers. 
 
 TOBACCO, an herbaceous plant which 
 flourishes in Virginia, and all temperate 
 climates, and remarkable for its acrid 
 and narcotic properties, while when dry 
 it possesses sufficient hydrogen to burn 
 readily. It was introduced into Europe 
 by Raleigh, and written against and 
 prohibited by King James, because he 
 hated Raleigh. In 1823 there was im- 
 ported 13,266,9901bs., yielding a duty of 
 21 millions. When ground and scented 
 it forms snuff. 
 
 TODDY, the fermented and intoxi- 
 cating juice of palms. 
 
 TOGA, the loose upper garment of 
 the Romans. 
 
 TOLERATION, the practice of sin- 
 eere believers in one faith towards those 
 of another faith, intolerance being the 
 result of passion, excited by want of con- 
 fidence in the force of the arguments in 
 support of the faith of the intolerant. 
 Hence, every questionable religion is 
 sustained by persecutions and proscrip- 
 tions, and force and violence are resorted 
 to, owing to the professors’ own consci- 
 ousness of the weakness of their cause. 
 
 TOLU, a tree yielding balsam. 
 
 TON, (tone,) fashion ; also 20 hundred 
 weight. 
 
 TONE, the sharpness, or graveness of 
 a sound, depending on the varied atoms 
 of the air affected. 
 
 TONGUE, an organ of the mouth, for 
 assisting mastication, and modifying the 
 voice. 
 
 TONSURE, cutting or shaving the 
 hair. 
 
 TONTINE, benefit of survivorship. 
 
 TOPAZ, a yellow gem. 
 
 TOPIC, the subject discussed; in sur- 
 gery meaning local. 
 
 TORNADO, a gust of wind. 
 
 TORPEDO, a fish with parallel mem- 
 branes, which act like galvanic plates, 
 and affect those that touch it. 
 
 TORREFACTION, roasting. 
 
 2(19 
 
 TRA 
 
 TORRID ZONE, the hot countries, 
 23J degrees north and south of the equa- 
 tor, whereon certain days the sun passes 
 vertical. 
 
 TORSO, the trunk of a statue. 
 
 TORTOISE, a very harmless animal, 
 with a shelly covering, which sleeps 
 through the winter, and lives to a great 
 age. Its flesh is eaten in the West In- 
 dies, and its covering serves for on 
 ments. 
 
 TORY, one of a political party in 
 England, who espouses the policy of 
 the court, against the Whigs, who sus- 
 tain the rights of the people against the 
 court. 
 
 TOUCAN, a Tropical bird, remark- 
 able for the great size of its beak. 
 
 TOURMALINE, astone which heated 
 is electrical. 
 
 TOURNAMENTS, public games at 
 arms in ages of chivalry, in which king-', 
 princes, and nobles, took part. 
 
 TOURNIQUET, an instrument tv 
 prevent bleeding during amputation. 
 
 TRACHEA, the wind-pipe. 
 
 TRADE, the interchange of commodi- 
 ties among men, originally carried on by 
 actual barter of one article for another ; 
 afterwards by some standard of agreed 
 value, as gold, silver, &c. ; subsequently 
 by stamped pieces or coins, of fixed 
 value, as pounds, dollars, livres, du- 
 cats, &c. The greater ease and luxury 
 with which men can live by trade instead 
 t 2 
 
TRA 
 
 of cultivating the earth, have created 
 an excess and a competition in trade, 
 which render ail unhappy, and disturb 
 even the cultivators of the soil, for specu- 
 lation, forestalling, monopolizing, facti- 
 tious credit, &c. <fcc. render society a 
 scene of oppression, over-reaching, 
 anxiety, and uncertainty. The trading 
 nations of antiquity were the Phenecians 
 and Carthaginians, and among the mo- 
 derns, the Venetians, Genoese, Hans 
 Towns, Dutch, and finally the English 
 and Americans, who divide three-fourths 
 of the trade of all nations. The due 
 proportion of society ought to be seven 
 agriculturists to three of all other clas- 
 ses, but in Great Britain the agricultur- 
 ists, in 1821, were 978,656 families, the 
 other employments 1,350,239, and the 
 idlers living on the interest of the public 
 debt, rents, & c. 612,188. 
 
 TRADE WINDS, those which con- 
 stantly follow the sun from east to west, 
 between the tropics. 
 
 TRAGEDY, a drama representing 
 some events and passions which termi- 
 nate in the death of one or more of the 
 leading characters. 
 
 TRAJECTORY, line, curve, or orbit. 
 
 TRANSCENDENTAL, a term ap- 
 plied to certain curves ; and misapplied 
 to the metaphysical speculations of a 
 German writer of the name of Kant. 
 
 TRANSEPT, the cross aisle of a ca- 
 thedral, running north and south. 
 
 TR ANSFER OF MOTION, a cause of 
 all phenomena, owing to a body becom- 
 ing fixed when it parts with all its mo- 
 mentum, or moving less when it parts 
 with a portion of its momentum. The 
 juxtaposition of wholes and parts is 
 thus changed, and phenomena are the 
 results. What one body loses another 
 gains either sensibly or insensibly, so 
 that no existing motion ever begins 
 or ends, and the effect is all kinds of 
 force and power, and all changes and 
 varieties of being. 
 
 TRANSFER OF STOCKS, means 
 the entry of one name for another in the 
 books for the National Debt, for the 
 receipt of an annuity out of the taxes 
 paid by the people, for which a price 
 is paid by the new annuitant. 
 
 TRANSFORMATION, or transmu- 
 tation, an ancient fancy that one thing 
 could be changed into another thing; 
 but as impossible as the attraction or re- 
 pulsion of one thing by another. 
 
 TRANSIT, the passage of the infe- 
 210 
 
 TRA 
 
 rior planets, Venus or Mercury, over 
 the Sun, by observing which at distant 
 places, the angular size of the earth at 
 the sun is determined, and, consequently, 
 its distance. 
 
 TRANSITION ROCKS, the lowest, 
 in which are found organized beings, but 
 these consist only of zoophytes, or equi- 
 vocal animals, and shell-fish, while the 
 rocks above these contain animals pos- 
 sessed of sight and loco-motion, and the 
 still more modem ones contain perfect 
 animals, all so many unerring displays of 
 the slow and gradual production of one 
 thing out of another, in regular progres- 
 sions of complication and perfection. 
 
 TRANSITIVE, the name of a verb 
 which transfers its action from the agent 
 to the object. 
 
 TRANSMIGRATION, a silly doc- 
 trine of the ancients, who supported that 
 departed spirits, after a certain term, 
 return again in other forms. 
 
 TRANSPARENCY, a construction 
 of bodies by which they permit the per- 
 pendicular atomic actions of light to 
 pass straight through them; and when 
 oblique, with a deflection called Refrac- 
 tion. Sir Isaac Newton teaches that 
 the identical rays of light which enter 
 on one side pass out at the other ; but 
 Sir Richard Phillips, from the difficulty 
 of believing that such atoms can pene- 
 trate such solids, and from the consider- 
 ations that bodies become hot in propor- 
 tion to their opacity, teaches that trans- 
 parency is a consequence of bodies them- 
 selves containing the atoms fitted for 
 light, the propulsions of which from one 
 to the other producing the transmission 
 on the other side ; while, as such atoms 
 within bodies are parallel to their sur- 
 faces, an oblique action produces the re- 
 sulting direction, called Refraction, and 
 the arrangement of the interstices, the 
 special direction called Polcrrity. 
 
 TRANSPORTATION, a punishment 
 by the laws of England, by which per- 
 sons, convicted of felonies, used to be 
 sent to America, before the Revolution 
 of 1775-6, but since that time have been 
 sent to New South Wale-', and Norfolk 
 Island, in the Pacific Ocean, where the> 
 form extensive establishments. 
 
 TRANSUBSTANTIATION, a reli- 
 gious dogma founded on the ancient be- 
 lief in enchantment, it being alleged that 
 the bread and wine, used in the sacra- 
 ment, are not the mere emblems, but 
 the real body and blood, of Christ. The 
 
TRE 
 
 doctrine was, however, as rational as 
 that of the Attractionists, who maintain 
 that a body acts where it is not present. 
 
 TRANSVERSE, going across. 
 
 TRAP, a snare to catch unwary in- 
 truders ; and, in society, a snare of low 
 attorneys to rob unsuspecting persons of 
 costs and fees, permitted by the conni- 
 vance and neglect of legislators. 
 
 TRAP ROCKS, rocks which wear like 
 steps. 
 
 TRAPEZIUM, au irregular square. 
 
 TRAVELLER, one who prefers ha- 
 zard and fatigue to ease and domestic 
 comfort ; also, applied to traders, who 
 go from place to place to vend their 
 commodities. 
 
 TRAVERSE, an oblique course. 
 
 TRAVESTIE, a burlesque. 
 
 TREACLE, the fluid parts of the su- 
 gar cane, which will not crystallize, cal- 
 led also molasses. 
 
 TREADLE, a foot lever. 
 
 TREAD-MILL, a mill for grinding 
 corn in prisons, by steps on a wheel 
 which is turned by the weight of the per- 
 sons stepping on it. It is a very severe 
 labour, and considered very improper 
 for women ; in China, water is raised by 
 a similar contrivance. 
 
 TREASON, HIGH, conspiracy to 
 overturn the lawful authority, or to kill 
 the king, or committing any open act 
 which plainly manifests such a design. 
 
 TREASON, PETIT, is when a wife 
 kills her husband, or a servant a mas- 
 ter or mistress. 
 
 TREASURY, the establishment at 
 "Westminster, conducted by Lords Com- 
 missioners, for receiving and managing 
 the public revenues, the head commis- 
 sioner being usually considered as the 
 prime minister. 
 
 TREE, a solid trunk or stem, spring- 
 211 
 
 TRI 
 
 ing from a root, with branches and 
 leaves, from 20 to 300 feet high, and liv- 
 ing from 50 to 500 years. The leaver 
 fix the gases, like the lungs of animals, 
 and the circulations are in some respect,- 
 similar. 
 
 TRE-FOIL, clover. 
 
 TRELLIS, support for trees. 
 
 TREMELLA NOSTOC, a gelatinous 
 substance found on the ground, and con- 
 sidered by some as the substance of fall- 
 ing meteors, by others as the spawn of 
 animals. 
 
 TRENCHES, ditches cut in oblique 
 zig-zag directions, to enable besiegers to 
 approach a fortified place without being 
 exposed to the fire of their cannon. 
 
 TREPAN, a circular saw. 
 
 TRESPASS, an unlawful intrusion. 
 
 T RETT, an allowance in the purchase 
 of quantities, as the 25th book in this 
 dictionary. 
 
 TRIAL, the examination of witnesses, 
 and the production of evidence before a 
 jury, and the precedency of a judge, as- 
 sisted by counsel on each side. 
 
 TRIANDRIA, the third class of the 
 Linnaean system of plants, containing 
 three orders, monogynia, digynia, and 
 trigynia, with three stamina. 
 
 TRIANGLE, a figure having three 
 sides and three angles, called right , Y* . 
 when two of the sides are perpendicular 
 to each other, and oblique-angled, when 
 not so. The three angles are equal to 
 two right angles, the sides are propor- 
 tionate to their opposite angles, and the 
 sides of different triangles having equal 
 angles are proportionate to each other. 
 These principles are the foundations of 
 Trigonometry, and of much mathemati- 
 cal science, because all figures may be 
 reduced to triangles, and it hence ap- 
 
TRO 
 
 feM*, that every figure contains twice as 
 many right angles less by four as it has 
 sides, as 3 X 2 = 6 — 4= 2, for a trian- 
 gle, or 7 X 2= 14 — 4, or 10 right angles 
 for an heptagon. 
 
 TRIBUNE, a civil officer in ancient 
 Rome; also the commander of a legion. 
 
 TRICOCCiE, the 38th Linnaean natu- 
 ral order of plants, with a three cor- 
 nered capsule, as the euphorbia, &c. 
 
 TRIDENT, a three-forked sceptre. 
 
 TRIENNIAL, every third year. 
 
 TRIGONOMETRY, the science by 
 means of which one part of a triangle 
 may be determined by knowing the 
 other parts, and, therefore, of great use 
 in Land Surveying, Navigation, Astro- 
 nomy, &e. for as the sides depend on the 
 angles, the proportions of the sides are 
 the same, and, therefore, tables are cal- 
 culated to apply to all triangles. In 
 spherical trigonometry, the sides are re- 
 ferred to the centre of the earth. 
 
 TRIHILATiE, the 23rd Linnsean na- 
 tural order of plants, w'ith three seeds 
 marked with a cicatrix, as the maple, &c. 
 
 TRINE, a distance of four signs. 
 
 TRIO, music for three instruments or 
 voices. 
 
 TRIPHTHONG, three vowels in one 
 syllable. 
 
 TRIPLICATE, the ratio of cubes, 
 duplicate being the ratio of squares ; sub, 
 signifying inverse ratio. 
 
 TRILLION, a million of millions of 
 millions. 
 
 TRINITARIANS, those who believe 
 that God is divided into three persons, 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, a doc- 
 trine set forth by the Athanasian creed; 
 while those who believe in the unity of 
 God are called Unitarians. 0 
 
 TRINITY-HOUSE, a corporation 
 for maritime affairs. 
 
 TRINOMIAL, a root of three parts. 
 
 TRIPETALOIDE.E,the5thLinnacan 
 natural order of plants, allied to grasses. 
 
 TRIPOD, a three-legged stool used 
 in religious ceremonies. 
 
 TRIPOLI, polishing powder. 
 
 TRISECTION, division into three 
 parts, as trisecting an angle. 
 
 TRITON, a mythological sea-god. 
 
 TRIUMVIRATE, three rulers. 
 
 TROCAR, for tapping for dropsy. 
 
 TROCHILUS MINIMUS, the least 
 of the humming birds, weighing but 30 
 or 40 grains, or little more than the 
 humble bee. 
 
 TROCHOID, the curve generated by 
 the joint rotation and progress of a wheel. 
 
 212 
 
 TRtl 
 
 TROGLODYTES, inhabitants of 
 caves, like the Britons before Csesar. 
 
 TROCHEE, a long and short syllable. 
 
 TROMBONE, a great trumpet. 
 
 TROPICS, thg breadth of the earth, 
 23J degrees, or about 1600 miles on each 
 side the equator, over some part of 
 which the sun passes directly vertical 
 two days in the year. It is the hottest, 
 wettest, and most fertile, part of the 
 earth, but less favourable to human life 
 than the temperate zones. Its heats are, 
 however, tempered by elevation, and by 
 winds which constantly follow the sun 
 from east to west, and from their con- 
 venience to ships are called Trade- Winds. 
 In the plains the heat varies from 120 to 
 80 degrees, and is seldom below 65. But 
 at great elevations snow lies all the year. 
 
 TROUBADOURS, an association of 
 poets in Provence, who wrote verses, and 
 set them to music : in the middle ages, 
 many sovereigns belonged to them. 
 
 TROUT, a delicate fish, abounding in 
 the rivers and ponds of England, and 
 weighing from 4 to 25 pounds. 
 
 TROVER, an action to recover de- 
 tained property. 
 
 TROY, an ancient city in Asia Minor, 
 the ten years’ siege of which is recorded 
 by Homer in poetical narratives and by 
 imaginary personages. 
 
 TROY-WEIGHT, of which 10 lbs. 
 avoirdupois, are equal to 121bs. loa. 
 16dwts. and 16 grains troy, both being 
 equal to the standard gallon of 277 cu- 
 bic inches of distilled water. It is used 
 by goldsmiths and apothecaries 
 
 TRUMPET, a musical instrument, 
 made of brass, with very inspiring tones. 
 
 TRUMPET, Speaking or Hearing, a 
 contrivance for dispersing sound, or col- 
 lecting it, as it proceeds from the mouth, 
 or to the ear. 
 
 TRUSTEE, one invested with proper- 
 ty for a special purpose. 
 
 TRUTH, the corroborated evidence 
 of the senses, uniform experience, and 
 demonstration, founded on self-evident 
 propositions, opposed to illusions of the 
 senses, to exceptions, and to hypothe- 
 ses founded on ideal assumptions. To 
 determine truth is the business of human 
 life, and it includes what is best to be 
 done, as well as what is fit to believe. In 
 
TUR 
 
 rude ages of society, truth is over- 
 whelmed by ignorance, craft, and super- 
 stition, and the chief business of civili- 
 zation consists in combating the errors 
 imbibed by ages of barbarism, which 
 are obstinately abetted by the self-inter- 
 est which profits by them, and by the 
 prejudices of the weak and uninstructed. 
 The tenacious belief, even in our own 
 days, in Witchcraft, fortune-telling, at- 
 traction, dreams, caloric, charms, repul- 
 sion, luck, fate, &c. &c., are melancholy 
 proofs of the ascendancy of prejudice, 
 and of the want of social arrangements 
 for conferring success on truth. 
 
 TUBE, an enclosed circular cavity 
 used to convey water, air, or sound, and 
 formed of metal or wood. 
 
 TUBIPORES, a genus of zoophytes, 
 formed of upright parallel tubes, con- 
 taining coral insects. 
 
 TUBULARES, a genus of zoophytes, 
 formed of branching tubes, containing 
 coral animals. 
 
 TUFA, porous volcanic stones. 
 
 TULIP, a well-known beautiful flow- 
 er, often cultivated as prize specimens, 
 and the roots of which fetch high prices. 
 
 TUMBRIL, a carriage for war-tools. 
 
 TUMULUS, a circular mound of 
 earth, or ancient grave. 
 
 TUN, a vessel for liquids. 
 
 TUNE, a succession of agreeable 
 sounds in accordance with the sentiment 
 intended to be expressed. 
 
 TUNIC, a Roman close garment. 
 
 TUNNEL, a subterraneous passage, 
 of which there are many in England, 
 cut through hills to continue the lines of 
 canals, from half a mile to two or three 
 miles long. 
 
 TURDUS,a genus of birds, of which 
 there are 135 species, the chief of which 
 are the thrush, the throstle, the field- fare, 
 the black bird, and the water-ousel. 
 
 TURKEY, a very elegant, harmless, 
 and domesticated bird, and a common 
 ornament of our farm-yards. 
 
 tun 
 
 TUIIBOT, a fish of the German 
 ocean, weighing from 5 to 30 pounds. 
 
 TURKEY, the countries in Asia and 
 Egypt, which from 1400 to 1500 were 
 overrun by the Turks, a tribe of Mahom - 
 medans, and over which they still hold 
 tyrannic sway. 
 
 TU RKISH SOLDIERS. The soldiers 
 of the Ottoman empireare brave fatalists, 
 equipped for personal rencontres with 
 swords, pistols, and daggers, but ill-dis- 
 ciplined, and easily defeated by the tac- 
 tics and science of the Christian nations. 
 
 TURMERIC, a pulverised root. 
 
 TURNER, an artist employed in 
 forming hard bodies, as wood, ivory, or 
 iron, into a round or oval shape, by 
 means of an apparatus called a Jathe, 
 during the operation of which the work- 
 man is employed in cutting the article to 
 be turned into its proper form, for which 
 various instruments are requisite, such 
 as gouges, chisels, drills, &c. 
 
 TURNPIKE, the name given to the 
 public roads, the ancient gate being a 
 mere pole or pike. They are formed 
 under acts of parliament, and managed 
 by commissioners, trustees, and survey- 
 ors. Their extent in Great Britain is 
 above 25,000 miles, and the collections 
 made on them amount to a million and 
 a half of money. 
 
 TURNSPIT, a dog which may be 
 taught to work in a wheel and turn a spit. 
 
 TURPENTINE, the resinous juice of 
 many trees, as the pine, fir, &c., the sub- 
 stance which renders them evergreen. 
 
 TURQUOIS, a blue stone. 
 
 TURTLE, a species of tortoises, with 
 longer legs and fins. The green turtle 
 is an harmless creature, and when laid on 
 its back quite helpless. They are eaten 
 in the West Indies, and by epicures in 
 
TWO 
 
 Europe, who do not consider their toad- 
 like appearance. The hawks-bill turtle 
 affords the tortoise-shell, which on old 
 ones is 10 pounds weight. 
 
 TUSCAN, the simplest order of archi- 
 tecture, like the Doric, but stronger. 
 
 TUTENAG, white copper. 
 
 TUTTY, an oxide of zinc. 
 
 TWELVE, or DOZEN, a number ap- 
 plicable to many famous subjects, as the 
 twelve signs, the twelve months, the 
 twelve apostles of Chrisna, the twelve dis- 
 ciples of Christ, the twelve Caesars, the 
 twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve on a 
 jury, the twelve judges, the twelve hours. 
 
 TWILIGHT, that period between the 
 sun’s setting and total darkness, arising 
 from the reflection of the sun’s rays from 
 the aqueous vapours and atmosphere 
 overhead, which produce this effect in 
 our climate to the height of 44 miles, 
 or till the sun has descended perpendi- 
 cularly 18 degrees below the horizon ; 
 and as the sun does not, in the latitude 
 of London, descend so low below the ho- 
 rizon during the night a few weeks before 
 and after the summer solstice, the twi- 
 light continues all the night. 
 
 TWINKLING, an effect peculiar to 
 the fixed stars, the light from which va- 
 ries from moment to moment, owing to 
 fluctuations in its cause at the several 
 stars. 
 
 TWO-FOI.D MOTION, a contrivance 
 of harmonious simplicity, by which pla- 
 netary masses are concentrated, and 
 
 TVP 
 
 their parts precipitated towards their 
 general centres of motion; for either 
 motion performed separately would dis- 
 perse them, but simultaneously it produ- 
 ces the actual phenomena of aggregation , 
 and the fall of heavy bodies, with the 
 subordinate results of the succession of 
 seasons, and of day and night. 
 
 TYMPANUM, a hollow wheel in 
 which men and animals walk to turn a 
 machine. 
 
 TYPE, a figurative illustration. 
 
 TYPES, the letters used by printers, 
 cast of lead, antimony to harden it, and 
 some copper and brass ; the simple inven- 
 tion of moveable separate types was one 
 of the most important ever made by man. 
 
 TYPE FOUNDER, an artizan who 
 casts types with great rapidity. 
 
 TYPHUS, a putrid contagious fever, 
 or a fever in subjects unable to resist the 
 excitement, and who, therefore, are de- 
 composed by it, and their effluvia affects 
 others of like habits. 
 
 914 
 
UNI 
 
 UR A 
 
 u 
 
 UBIQUITY, every ‘where. 
 
 ULCER, an ill-conditioned sore. 
 
 ULLAGE, what is gone. 
 
 ULTRA MARINE, fine blue. 
 
 UMBELLATE, the 45th Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, with flower-stalks 
 spreading like an umbrella, as hemlock. 
 
 UMBER, brown ochre. 
 
 UMBRELLA, a contrivance carried 
 over head in hot climates as shelter from 
 the sun, and in all climates as shelter 
 from the rain. They were first intro- 
 duced in London about 177^, and are 
 now become articles of general use and 
 extensive manufacture. 
 
 UNA VOCE, unanimously. 
 
 UNC'IA, an ounce or inch. 
 
 UNCTUOUS, oily- 
 
 UNDECAGON, eleven sided. 
 
 UNDERSHOT WHEELS, those 
 which are acted upon by a stream at the 
 bottom ; overshotones acting by astream 
 at the top. 
 
 UNDERWRITER, one who under- 
 signs a policy of insurance on a ship or 
 its cargo, at a certain rate per cent, vary- 
 ing from one to ten per cent. 
 
 UNICORN, a fabulous animal as it 
 is drawn and described by the ancients; 
 but there is the rhinoceros with a single 
 horn, and thenarwal. 
 
 UNISON, coincidenceof sound. 
 
 UNITARIANS, worshippers of God 
 in unity, in opposition to those who be- 
 lieve in a triune God, of Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost. 
 
 215 
 
 UNITY, or UNIT, one. 
 
 UNIVALVE SHELLS, those of a sin- 
 gle piece, as snails, &c., all of which 
 possess loco-motion. 
 
 UNIVERSE, the totality of space, 
 and all its material contents and pheno- 
 mena, of whose boundless extent and 
 smallest parts, finite beings, thinking 
 relatively, can have no just idea ; but as 
 far as we can discover, it is filled with gas 
 in which masses of matter are equally dis- 
 posed throughout space, which masses, 
 like our sun, act as centres of motion, 
 excite luminosity, and transfer motion 
 and momenta to subordinate spheres, 
 like our earth; each centre being mil- 
 lions of millions of miles distant from 
 the others, and the vortexes of their mo- 
 tions fining off as the squares of their 
 distance, so as not to interfere with one 
 another. It appears, too, that these cen- 
 tres form among themselves distinct 
 clusters' of countless thousands of cen- 
 tres, whose distance from our system is 
 so vast, that although the clusters are 
 trillions or quadrillions of miles in dia- 
 meter, they do not appear, through the 
 best telescopes, larger than a shilling. 
 Such is the visible material universe, al- 
 ways in a state of change from the cen- 
 tres of systems to the smallest bodies. 
 
 UNIVERSITY, an establishment un- 
 der public authority for liberal educa- 
 tion, of which those in the united king- 
 dom are Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, 
 Glasgow, Aberdeen, St. Andrew’s, Dub- 
 lin, all protestant; and Maynooth, catho- 
 lic. They are governed by chancellors, 
 vice-chancellors, proctors, and beadles, 
 and every college has its master and tu- 
 tors; there are, also, public lectures of 
 professors in every established branch of 
 knowledge. The students and all the 
 members wear an ancient costume, con- 
 sisting of trencher caps and gowns, va- 
 ried according to their degrees, which 
 are bachelor of arts, divinity, law, mu- 
 sic, medicine; masters of arts, and doc- 
 tors of divinity, law, and physic. In 
 11124, Cambridge had 4700 members, and 
 Oxford 4660, of whom nearly half were 
 students. 
 
 URANIA, a mythological personage 
 
VAG 
 
 who governed the stars, after whom the 
 planet Herschel is called Uranus. 
 
 URCHIN, the sea hedge-hog. 
 
 URETERS, two small canals from the 
 kidneys to the bladder. 
 
 URETHRA, the canal from the blad- 
 der. 
 
 URINE, a transparent fluid, which 
 distils from animal bodies, somewhat 
 heavier than water, and containing not 
 less than thirty different acids and salts, 
 besides ammonia, gelatine, &c. 
 
 URSA MAJOR, or the Great Bear, 
 a constellation near the North Pole, 
 containing seven bright stars, of the first, 
 second, and third, magnitudes, and eighty 
 others recorded by Flamstead. Two of 
 them point to the North Pole star, and 
 are called the pointers. 
 
 URSUS, the bear, a genus of animals 
 of ten species, which include the brown 
 bear, a solitary animal which lives on 
 vegetables and fish; the American bear, 
 which climbs trees; the Polar bear, 
 twelve feet long, white, with shaggy 
 
 VAL 
 
 hair, and very courageous when attack- 
 ed, or in attacking boats and ships; the 
 glutton, so called from its voracity; the 
 racoon ; and the badger, about two feet 
 long, living under ground, on roots, 
 fruit, frogs, and insects, and quite inof- 
 fensive, but often destroyed amidst cir- 
 cumstances of great cruelty. 
 
 USANCE, is the intermediate time 
 between the date of a bill of exchange 
 and its maturity ; in each country a cer- 
 tain number of days. 
 
 USHER, an assistant in a school, 
 whose anxious cares entitle him to the 
 respect and gratitude of the scholars. 
 
 USHER OF THE BLACK ROD, an 
 officer of the King, who attends in the 
 House of Peers. 
 
 USQUEBAUGH, whiskey. 
 
 USURY, an extortionate exaction for 
 the use of money, the interest of which 
 is limited by law to 5 per cent, to relieve 
 the dependant borrower from the extor- 
 tions of the avaricious lender, and con- 
 fer certainty on money-transactions. 
 
 V 
 
 VACATION, the period between the 
 terms in law and at universities ; also the 
 holidays at schools. 
 
 VACUUM, space devoid of matter; 
 but there can be no such space of assign- 
 able dimensions, because the momenta 
 of atoms carry them into every space 
 not pre-occupied. All known vacuums 
 are merely relative ; thus, a cubic foot 
 of cork or air is a vacuum with re- 
 ference to a cubic foot of gold or plati- 
 num ; and the exhausted receiver of an 
 air-pump is a vacuum only with reference 
 to the quantity of remaining air, an ex- 
 panded portion still remaining in the 
 space. In such vacuums, for want of 
 the momentum of air, no animal can live, 
 for want of oxygen no flame will conti- 
 nue, for want of pressure fluids turn to 
 vapour, and for want of atoms to carry 
 off the motion no resistance of falling 
 bodies is observed, a feather and gold 
 falling with equal velocity ; but the rare 
 atoms whose affections create light, mag- 
 netism, &c. still continue to show the 
 true sources of those phenomena. 
 
 VAGARY, disordered judgment to 
 which individuals and generations are 
 21C 
 
 subject. D’Israeli enumerates three va- 
 garies of the middle ages; — 1, the philo- 
 sopher’s stone; 2, the squaring of the 
 circle ; 3, witchcraft. A modern writer 
 enumerates twelve vagaries of the 18th 
 century; — 1, attractive force; 2, repul- 
 sive force; 3, universal gravitating 
 force ; 4, original projectile force ; 5, a 
 vacuum in space ; 6, elementary caloric : 
 7, elementary light ; 8, elective attrac- 
 tion ; 9, electrical fluids ; 10, galvanic 
 fluids; 11, magnetic fluids; 12, vital 
 and nervous fluids: all akin in kind, 
 says he, to the lowest superstitions of the 
 dark ages. 
 
 VAGRANTS, persons who beg out of 
 their own parishes, and liable, on that 
 account, to punishment. 
 
 VALUE, a relative term depending on 
 the quantity of money, and briskness of 
 circulation, for on those two circum- 
 stances corn may be dear at £l, or at 
 £5 a quarter. Plenty of any article ren- 
 ders that article cheap, and prices in 
 money may, therefore, be high when 
 money is cheap ; but starvation, stagna- 
 tion, and disorganization, must follow 
 attempts of law to make the necessaries 
 
VAR 
 
 of life high priced, when there is not mo- 
 ney or circulation to purchase. 
 
 VALUE, Official and Declared, in the 
 customs of England, as fixed for duties, 
 on the market price ; hence we collect 
 that cotton manufactures exported have 
 fallen in value in the proportion of 27 to 
 15, those numbers of millions being, in 
 1(124, their official and exported values. 
 
 VALVE, a small trap-door which 
 is hung by hinges, and placed within a 
 pump, or connected with the working pis- 
 ton, by means of which water is admit- 
 ted when it opens, and its escape prevent- 
 ed when shut . — See Pump. 
 
 VALVE, SAFETY, an orifice which 
 opens to allow the escape of steam when 
 at a pressure below the strength of the 
 boiler, by which escape the boiler is pre- 
 , vented from bursting. 
 
 VAN, the foremost ships of a fleet, as 
 contrasted with the rear. 
 
 VANDYKE, painter, died 1647. 
 
 VANE, a light body placed on masts 
 and churclisteeples, which turns with the 
 wind and points to the part from which 
 it blows. 
 
 VANELLUS, or lapwing, a species of 
 the tringa genus, a well-known bird 
 which lays on the ground, and to deceive 
 intruders the female adopts various inge- 
 nious stratagems. 
 
 VAPOUR, generally applied to gas of 
 water, or to gas not permanent, in which 
 it may be presumed the atoms are larger 
 than the atoms of the gas in which the 
 vapour is floating. A greater excitement 
 decomposes the vapour into permanent 
 elementary gases, but it may be supposed 
 that in both states the atoms deflect one 
 another into circular orbits, and hence 
 their powers and energies called qualities. 
 
 VARIATION OF THE COMPASS, 
 the variable declination of a magnetic 
 needle from the true north and south. At 
 London, in 1576, it was 11 s 15' east; in 
 1662, it was 0; but in 1817, it was 24° 
 18' west, and is now diminishing. In our 
 latitude the western variation extends to 
 244° 44', and the eastern 115® 16'. The 
 causes of this varying variation are a- 
 mong inscrutable phenomena ; but it 
 doubtless arises from some connexion be- 
 tween the obliquity of the ecliptic, and 
 the causes of polarity, which are con- 
 nected with the earth’s motion, and a 
 subordinate electrical action. 
 
 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN 
 RACE, produced either by climate or 
 by different original stocks like the spe- 
 cies of animals. They are whites, cop- 
 217 
 
 VEI 
 
 per-coloured, swarthy, and blacks ; the 
 whites being Europeans and Tartars; 
 the copper-coloured, Americans; the 
 swarthy, the Moors and Arabs; and the 
 blacks, the woolly-haired Africans and 
 long-haired Hindoos. Each is a species 
 of the genus man. 
 
 VARIETIES, accidental circumstan- 
 stances of species in Natural History. 
 
 VARIORUM EDITIONS, Greek or 
 Latin authors with notes by different 
 critics. 
 
 VARNISR, a gummy liquid, used to 
 protect surfaces from the acid or oxygen 
 of the air. 
 
 VAULTING, one of the gymnastic 
 exercises; for which see Hamilton’s 
 Elements of Gymnastics and Callisthe- 
 nics. 
 
 VECTOR, a radius of a planet’s orbit, 
 drawn from the point of central force to 
 the curve, which its varied re-actions 
 generate. 
 
 VEGETABLES, organized bodies 
 which expand from the seed of parent 
 vegetables, and grow in one spot by assi- 
 milating the elements. They are the pro- 
 per food of all animals, except the dog, 
 cat, and weasel kinds, which prey on 
 other animals. The bodies of vegetables 
 are a middle existence between fossils and 
 animals, and seem to be the means by 
 which the matter of fossils are combined 
 with the elements as sustenance for ani- 
 mals. Their forms are almost infinite 
 in number, and many thousand genera 
 are displayed in systems of botany, be- 
 sides species and varieties of each. The 
 largest kinds grow within the tropics, 
 and they dwindle as they grow in colder 
 regions, whether elevated, or to the 
 northward, or southward of the tropics. 
 Forest trees seem to be the means of 
 converting iqert mineral matter into 
 earths for other vegetables on which 
 animals subsist. Linne divides the 
 whole vegetable kingdom into 58 natu- 
 ral classes, and these into genera and 
 species. Ellis assigns to them colours, 
 according to their elementary preponde- 
 rancy ; thus red and orange are oxyge- 
 nous, yellow and green nitrogenous, and 
 blue and violet hydrogenous, just like 
 the colours in the prismatic spectrum. 
 
 VEINS, the system of blood-vessels 
 which return from the skin to the heart, 
 and carry back the blood which has been 
 carried from the heart to the skin by the 
 arteries. Some connexion of the two 
 is conjectured, but not verified; and, 
 probably, there is no connexion, one 
 U 
 
VEP 
 
 ending and the other beginning indefi- 
 nitely small; and one distributing the 
 oxygenated blood, and the other collect- 
 ing it, in a carbonized and nitrogenous 
 state; hence the difference of colours, 
 and the chemical uses of respiration. 
 
 VEIN, a fissure or opening of rocks, 
 filled with soil of various colours, or 
 with ores of various metals, probable 
 products of the extreme heat to which 
 the earth, in a cometarv state, was ex- 
 posed. 
 
 VELOCITY, the distance moved 
 through in a given time, which as great- 
 er or less determines the momentum of 
 a body, all force being a compound of 
 velocity and quantity. Light acts by im- 
 pulses which reach 12 millions of miles in 
 a minute ; the earth in its orbit moves 
 68,000 miles an hour ; sound 1 142 feet in 
 a second; wind, in a storm, 120 miles 
 an hour ; a ball from a cannon 2000 feet 
 per second; a bullet from a gun 1600 feet; 
 hawks, &c. 150 miles an hour ; pigeons 
 80 miles ; crows 25 miles ; swallows 100 
 miles ; and a race horse 50 miles an hour. 
 
 VENEERING, cutting costly woods 
 into thin leaves, and laying them on 
 common wood, the cutting being effected 
 by circular saws turned by steam-engines. 
 
 VENTILATOR, a contrivance, of 
 which there are several, for removing 
 noxious air from close apartments. 
 VENTRICLE, a cavity. ~ 
 VENTRILOQUIST, one who, by a 
 particular conformation of organs, is 
 able to speak in tones which appear to 
 come from a distance, or the stomach. 
 
 VENUE, the place whence a jury is 
 summoned. 
 
 VENUS, the second planet of the solar 
 system, 68 millions of miles from the 
 sun, round which it revolves in 225 days, 
 in a plane inclined to the ecliptic 3" 23'; 
 the diameter is 7702 miles, nearly that of 
 the earth, and the rotation on the axis 
 i- performed in 23 hours, 21 minutes, as 
 appears by the spots, and high moun- 
 tains, visible on the surface, through a 
 powerful telescope. Venus is the most 
 brilliant of the planets in mornings and 
 evenings, though, as only part of her 
 enlightened side is turned to the earth, 
 she appears but as a half moon. 
 
 VENUS, the goddess of love and 
 beauty ; said to be sprung from the froth 
 of the sea. 
 
 VEPRECULiE, the 31st Linnaean na- 
 tural order of plants, briar-like, resem- 
 bling the daphne, &c. 
 
 218 
 
 VES 
 
 VERB, a genus of words, or part of 
 speech, which expresses all actions of 
 bodies and emotions of the mind, distin- 
 guishing their times and modes, some- 
 times by literal variations, and at others 
 by auxiliary words. 
 
 VERBATIM ET LITERATIM, word 
 for word, and letter for letter. 
 
 VERDICT, the legal name of the de- 
 vision unanimously and conscientiously 
 made by a jury. 
 
 VERGER, an officer of a court of law 
 or a cathedral. 
 
 VERMES, or WORMS, the sixth 
 class of the animal kingdom, without 
 vertebras, antennas, legs, or distinct 
 head ; of which there are five orders ; 
 theintestina, mollusca, testacea, zoophy- 
 ta, and infusoria; as worms, leeches, 
 snails, some shell-fish, polypes, micros- 
 copic insects, &c. 
 
 VERMICELLI, paste made of flour, 
 cheese, eggs, &c. forced through holes 
 in threads. 
 
 V E RN I E R , one of two scales unequally 
 divided, worked together. 
 
 VERTEBRAE, the spinal bones of 
 animals, composed of many small pieces, 
 with a cavity in their centre, containing 
 the spinal marrow; united with the skull 
 and ribs, and with the bones of the arms 
 and thighs. 
 
 VERTEBRAL ANIMALS, red-blood- 
 ed, with brains and a spinal chord ; other 
 kinds,or intevertebral, have white blood, 
 no skull, and no back-bone. 
 
 VERTICAL CIRCLE, or Azimuth, 
 a line which passes from the point over 
 head to that beneath the feet. 
 
 VERTICILLATiE, the 42d Linnaean 
 natural order of plants, with flowers 
 placed in whorls round the main stem. 
 VERTIGO, giddiness. 
 
 VESPERS, evening service. 
 VESPERTILLO, the bat, a genus of 
 which there are 25 species, remarkable 
 for flying only by night ; some have 
 tails, and their wings are a fine mem- 
 brane, which they fold round the body ; 
 the common bat is two or three inches 
 long, with wings nine inches wide, and 
 some have ears an inch long; the South 
 American bat has wings which spread 30 
 inches ; the vampyre is twelve inches 
 long, and its wings spread four feet, with 
 pointed tongues, with which they suck 
 the blood of animals. 
 
 VESPUCIUS, AMERICUS, discover- 
 ed South America, and gave his name to 
 the new continent, 1497- 
 
VIC 
 
 VESTA, a small planet which revolves 
 in 3 years, (56 days. 
 
 VESTRY , a room adjoining a church, 
 in which its business is transacted. 
 
 VESUVIUS, a volcanic mountain, 
 near Naples, celebrated for its frequent 
 eruptions in ancient and modern times. 
 
 VETERINARY, science of horses. 
 
 VIA LACTEA, the milky way, a shoal 
 of countless stars, in the heavens, to 
 which same shoal the sun and most of 
 the visible stars belong. 
 
 VIBRATION, going backwards and 
 forwards, like a pendulum. 
 
 VICARAGE, a parish in which g»eat 
 tithes were appropriated by the religious 
 houses, and which, on their dissolution, 
 were sold to any purchaser, and hence 
 the lay improprietors. 
 
 VICE, secondary rank ; in place of. 
 
 VICE, a griping tool used by smiths. 
 
 VICE, bad habits, originating in idle- 
 21 # 
 
 VIN 
 
 ness, and ending in misery and premature 
 death ; the best security against which 
 is faith in the Christian religion, and an 
 habitual respect to its virtuous precepts. 
 
 VICE VERSA, the contrary. 
 
 VIDELICET, Viz. namely. 
 
 VIGNETTE, the ornament of the ti- 
 tle-page of a book. 
 
 VILLEIN, a name given, in ancient 
 times, to persons not proprietors of land, 
 many of whom were attached to the 
 land, and bound to serve the lord of the 
 manor. 
 
 VINCI, LEONARDO DA, painter, 
 died 1520. 
 
 VINCULUM, a line connecting Alge- 
 braic characters. 
 
 VINE, a plant common in most warm 
 and temperate countries. In Italy, 
 Spain, and France, the vineyards cover 
 large tracts, and the manufacture of 
 wine is an important branch of industry. 
 The trees are cut down and exhibit the 
 appearance of gooseberry bushes, those 
 grapes ripening the best that are nearest 
 the ground. 
 
 VINEGAR, an infusion of vegetable 
 or animal substances in water, which, 
 excited by solar heat, and exposed to the 
 air, fixes oxygen like living vegetables, 
 and not being neutralized by their secre- 
 tions, it renders the solution acid. The 
 acetous is the union of oxygen, the vi- 
 nous is its separation. Three millions of 
 gallons of vinegar paid the Excise duty 
 in 1823. 
 
 VINOUS FERMENTATION, that 
 important process by which wine, beer, 
 cider, &c. are made, and from which, 
 by distillation, result all spirits. It is 
 effected by well combining saccharine 
 matter with water, the hydrogen of which 
 combines with the acid of the sugar, and 
 its own oxygen escapes as carbonic acid 
 gas, leaving a solution variously hydro- 
 genous, which bottled, or bunged up in 
 casks, forms useful liquors ; or acted 
 upon by heat, the hydrogenous parts rise 
 first, and constitute spirits. But if this 
 fermentation exhausts itself, a re-action 
 takes place, oxygen is absorbed from the 
 air, and the compound becomes vinegar. 
 A further action is the exhalation of the 
 gases, and the subsidence of the carbon 
 by which the original substance is en- 
 tirely decomposed. The three stages of 
 vinous, acetous, and putrescent fermen- 
 tation are the actions and re-actions by 
 which a natural compound of the gases 
 are returned to the atmospheric mass. 
 The first is the escape of oxygen, the 
 
VI R 
 
 second is its absorption, and the last is 
 dispersion of all the gaseous constituents. 
 
 VIOLENCE, manual force, the exer- 
 tion of which is corrected by wise laws, 
 and their just administration ; butif laws 
 are unjust and oppressive, then many 
 writers maintain that resistance is justi- 
 fiable ; and hence the heavy and delicate 
 responsibility of those who presume to 
 act as legislators, and the necessity of 
 their attending to the actual operation of 
 the laws, more than to party questions 
 and personal ambition. 
 
 VIOLIN, an instrument whose four 
 strings are fifths to each other, the lowest 
 being G, and the highest A, with an in- 
 tervening octave ; the lowest note of the 
 violoncello is double C. 
 
 VIPER, the only poisonous snake in 
 the British Islands, the others being per- 
 fectly harmless. They live in dry situa- 
 tions, and are from two to three feet 
 long; the ground of their bodies is a 
 dirty yellow, and their backs and sides 
 are marked with black spots, which are 
 of rhomboidal form on the back, and 
 triangular at the sides, while the belly is 
 entirely black ; their head is thicker than 
 the body, and their tail, though pointed, 
 is nottapering. The harmless snakes are 
 of different colours, and have tapering 
 tails. The bite, though painful, is not 
 dangerous, and its best cure is salad oil 
 rubbed into the wound. Other British 
 snakes may be handled and played with 
 whenever they can be caught. 
 
 VIRGIL, author of the iEneid, con- 
 temporary with Augustus and Horace, in 
 the first century, before Christ, 
 
 VIRTUAL VELOCITY, the velocity 
 from a combination of forces in differ- 
 ent directions, or from varied re-actions. 
 
 VIRTUE, government of the pas- 
 sions, and restraint of the principle of 
 220 
 
 VIS 
 
 self-love, so that the comforts and wants 
 of others may be simultaneously pro- 
 moted with our own, and it is best pro- 
 moted by studying and respecting the 
 precepts of the Christian religion. 
 
 VIRGINIAN TOBACCO, a plant, the 
 leaves of which, when dried and cut, or 
 ground to powder, constitute superior 
 tobacco and snuff. 
 
 VIRTUOSO, a lover of works of art. 
 
 VISHNU, a principal god of the Hin- 
 doos, represented in their temples as in 
 the engraving. He is one of the alleged 
 manifestations of the Deity on earth. 
 
 VISIBLE, whatever subtends, or can, 
 by instruments, be made to subtend an 
 angle of two seconds to the eye, is visible, 
 and all angles less are invisible; and 
 these include myriads of perfect animals. 
 
VOI. 
 
 VOL 
 
 and that whole w'orld of atoms, by which 
 visible bodies are formed and changed. 
 
 VIS INERT1.E, the term applied to 
 the indifference of matter to motion or 
 rest, when once moved or standing still, 
 but applicable only to a body, subject to 
 no external influence, and within a va- 
 cuum. For, if on a planet, as every body 
 upon it is urged by its twofold motions 
 towards the centre, so a force applied 
 horizontally has to counteract this con- 
 stant centripetal force ; and if it move in 
 gas or air, it impinges against the atoms, 
 which divide its force with it till it loses 
 the whole and stops. We have, there- 
 fore, no instance of a body in simple 
 via inertia, but if it could be insulated, 
 the smallest force would move for ever 
 the largest body with the original velo- 
 city of the force. Hence, doubtless, it 
 is that many gases are apparently per- 
 manent, because there being nothing 
 but their moving atoms in the space, 
 their original impulse can never be de- 
 stroyed by other equally moved atoms, 
 and their mutual collisions would drive 
 them into circular orbits, without divid- 
 ing their force, except by collision with 
 any solid surfaces bounding the space. 
 
 VISUAL ANGLE, the smallest angle 
 which the eye can discriminate is half a 
 minute, at the distance of 6 or 8 inches. 
 
 VITREOUS, glassy. 
 
 VITRIOL, green, sulphuric acid with 
 copper ; blue, sulphuric acid with iron ; 
 red, with cobalt ; white, with zinc. 
 
 VIVIPAROUS, animals which are 
 born alive, as opposed to oviparous, or 
 animals produced from eggs. 
 
 VOLATILE ALKALI, ammonia and 
 carbonic acid. 
 
 VOLATILE OILS, the aroma of vege- 
 tables dissolved in alcohol. 
 
 VOLATILITY, a name given to the 
 greater susceptibility of some atoms to 
 receive the motions of heat than others, 
 by which they are quickly radiated; 
 while the less susceptible or more dense, 
 or larger atoms, remain unmoved. Thus, 
 steam is the volatile matter of any moist 
 solid ; smoke, of burning wood and coals; 
 and spirits or hydrogen, of any ferment- 
 ed compound ; and it is this difference of 
 susceptibility which creates nine-tenths 
 of the phenomena of nature. The oils 
 called volatile, consist of those atoms of 
 vegetable and animal substances which 
 are the most susceptible of the motions of 
 heat in a still, and which, when condensed, 
 form a variety of pungent and active 
 liquids and crystals. 
 
 221 
 
 VOLCANOES, burning mountains, or 
 explosions in the earth, forming moun- 
 tains with their melted materials. Be- 
 neath the outer crust of the earth inflam- 
 mable materials appear to exist, which 
 access of water, air, or pressure, excite 
 into combustion. They are supposed to 
 consist of the inflammable bases of me- 
 tals, which ignite by access of water, 
 and then expanding into steam they 
 shake the granitic foundations, and 
 sometimes bursting through, produce all 
 the destructive effects of earthquakes and 
 volcanoes. They break forth under the 
 sea, as well as the dry land, and thr®w up 
 mountains which rise above the level of 
 the water, causing tremblings of the 
 coasts. The extent of the action is often 
 5 or 600 miles, and their effects on sea and 
 land frightful and destructive. Earth- 
 quakes always precede volcanic erup- 
 tions, and, perhaps, some eruption or 
 escape of steam and gases always creates 
 them. An open volcano, probably, di- 
 minishes the force of earthquakes by the 
 vent which it affords. It is, however, a 
 vulgar notion that there are central fires 
 in the earth. There are about 150 known 
 volcanoes, and three famous ones in Eu- 
 rope, Etna, Vesuvius, andHecla; but, 
 many districts shew the former exist- 
 ence of others, and part of Bath stands on 
 the crater of an exhausted volcano. 
 Many islands are entirely volcanic, and 
 many disruptions of strata appear to 
 have arisen from explosions, whose ma- 
 terials of combustion are now exhausted. 
 The engraving is the crater of Etna. 
 
 VOLCANOES IN THE MOON, ap- 
 pearances of bright spots in the dark 
 parts ; and, if volcanoes, they prove that 
 as the moon has evidently neither atmos- 
 phere, vapours, nor clouds, the gas of 
 U 2 
 
VOY 
 
 space is alone sufficient to suppOi't com- 
 bustion; while, as combustion forms 
 water, so in due time the moon may form 
 its volcanoes, have water, and an atmos- 
 phere; these considerations seeming, 
 also, to prove that the moon is more mo- 
 dern than the earth, and in the same state 
 now as the earth was in before the upper 
 strata covered the primitive rocks. 
 
 VOLTAIRE, author of the Henriade, 
 born 1694, died 1778. 
 
 VOLUME, a book which was formerly 
 a roll; and it also implies any bulk. 
 
 VOLVOX, an animalcule which in 
 water makes circular and other motions. 
 
 VOMIC NUT, or NUX VOMICA, an 
 East Indian tree, producing a flat nut, 
 which is a powerful narcotic, and often 
 used by unprincipled brewers. 
 
 V O RAC IT Y , the practice of excessive 
 eating, in indulging which, a French 
 prisoner, at Liverpool, ate, in one day, 
 4lbs. of cow’s udder, lOibs. of beef, 21bs. 
 of candles, and 5 bottles of porter ; and a 
 boy, 12 years old, swallowed 3841bs. of 
 sustenance in 6 days ; and another man, 
 at a meal, 9lbs. of bullock’s liver, 2lbs. 
 of candles, and 7 tumblers of rum and 
 water. The disease soon led to their 
 respective deaths. 
 
 VORTEX, the circular motion of a 
 fluid, which increases in velocity by the 
 continuity and viscidity of the parts, it 
 then diminishes and fines off till it ceases, 
 usually causing a cavity in the centre, 
 owing to the centrifugal force of the 
 parts. The vortex of the medium which 
 carries round the planets being created by 
 a central diverging force, it diminishes in 
 force in equal bulks as the square of the 
 distance ; hence, the re-action of the pla- 
 nets reduces their hourly motion, that of 
 Herschel being but 15, Saturn 22, Jupi- 
 ter 30, Mars- 55, the Earth 68, Venus 80, 
 while Mercury moves 109 thousand miles 
 per hour. 
 
 VOWELS, letters which, joined to a 
 consonant, make a distinct sound, as 
 a, e, i, o, u, and y. 
 
 VOX POPULI, the popular voice. 
 
 VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, 
 means that a ship sailing constantly west- 
 ward, round Cape Horn, or following 
 the setting sun ; or eastward, round the 
 Cape of Good Hope, towards the rising 
 
 VUL 
 
 sun, will again return to the same spot. 
 The first voyage of this kind was by 
 Magellan, in 1519, and since then many 
 hundreds have been performed, so that 
 it is now become a trading voyage. All 
 those published have been collected in 
 one entertaining volume, by Prior; and 
 the most celebrated are those of Anson 
 and Cooke. 
 
 VULCAN, the god of fire and work- 
 ing metals, in the Greek mythology ; and 
 the same as the Tubal Cain of the He- 
 brews. 
 
 VULCANIC THEORY, a system 
 which ascribes the changes on the earth’s 
 surface to fire, while others ascribe the 
 whole to water, under a theory called 
 Neptunian. Perhaps, the earth was ori- 
 ginally a comet, which, in crossing the 
 plane of the solar forces, was deflected 
 into its present orbit ; the primitive 
 rocks being formed when the mass was 
 last in its perihelion. Perhaps, likewise, 
 volcanoes formed water, and both, the gas 
 of the atmosphere; and, hence, earths, 
 soils, vegetation, and animation were 
 results, in stages, according with sub- 
 sistence, and the successive constituents. 
 
 VULGATE, the Catholic version of 
 the Bible, made by St. Jerome. 
 
 VULTURE, a genus of carnivorous 
 birds, in 17 species; as, the Condor, 
 whose wings are 12 feet wide, with quill 
 feathers, 30 inches long; the Crested 
 Vulture, the size of a turkey, but of ex- 
 traordinary strength ; the Carrion Vul- 
 ture, which feeds on carcases, snakes, 
 and reptiles ; the Secretary Vulture, 
 with long legs, which lives on lizards, 
 rats, &e. and takes up tortoises, and 
 dashes them to the ground to kill them. 
 
 222 
 
WAP 
 
 WAS 
 
 W 
 
 WACKE, soft earthy basalt. 
 
 WADDING, paper or tow pushed into 
 a loaded gun to keep the charge tight. 
 
 WAFERS, coloured flour paste. 
 
 WAGES, the reward of servants and 
 mechanics, which ought always to be, at 
 least, sufficient to prevent the plea of 
 necessity for being dishonest. 
 
 WAITS, or WAKES, holiday musi- 
 cians. 
 
 WALES, an ancient kingdom, but now 
 incorporated with England, containing 
 twelve counties, 4,7.‘>2,000 acres ; and, in 
 1821, 140,000 houses, 147,000 families, 
 and 717,438 inhabitants. The majority 
 of the people still speak and read the 
 original Welsh language. 
 
 WALKING, the power of animal loco- 
 motion, derived from nervous direction 
 of the muscles, by which one set acts 
 against the earth, and confers an equal 
 power of re-action on another set ; all 
 animal strength being a mere transfer 
 from a set of muscles acted upon by the 
 earth to another set equally acting on 
 the earth, or some other body. Thus, 
 by motion a man adds nothing to his 
 weight in a pair of scales, and a weight 
 put into his arms is not diminished by 
 his energy in supporting it ; for a man 
 of 140 lbs. carrying GOlbs. requires for a 
 balance 2001b. of weights in the opposite 
 scale. Respiration and food create 
 nervous excitement, this directs the 
 muscles, and the muscles by action and 
 re-action, like the two ends of a lever, 
 produce animal strength and motion. 
 
 WALLACE, a renowned Scottish pa- 
 triot, executed 1304. 
 
 WALRUS, amphibious animals, found 
 in great numbers in the Northern Ocean, 
 where they live in large societies, and 
 are unsuspicious of danger till attacked. 
 The attachment of the females to their 
 young is most affecting when they are in 
 danger, but no sentiment moves the fe- 
 rocity of avarice with which they are at- 
 tacked for the sake of their oil. 
 
 WALTZ, a rolling dance, 
 
 WAMPUM, shells upon threads. 
 
 WAPENTAKE, synonymous to a 
 
 823 
 
 hundred, and a name derived from the 
 ancient practice of supplying all the peo- 
 ple with weapons. 
 
 WAR, the hostile state of nations, 
 during which governments organize the 
 population and resources of each a- 
 gainst the other, for purposes of slaugh- 
 ter and mischief. Nothing, however, 
 can justify such horrors but the most 
 palpable and obvious necessity, arising 
 from wanton aggression of one on the 
 other, owing to the wickedness or weak- 
 ness of the aggressors. “War,” says 
 bishop Porteus, “is a game which, were 
 their subjects wise, kings would not play 
 at;” and the same pious moralist laments 
 that, owing to the folly of mankind, 
 “though one murder makes a villain, 
 yet millions make a hero.” 
 
 WARD, an infant under guardians: 
 the impediments in a lock; and a divi- 
 sion in the city of London. 
 
 WARP, the threads taken lengthways 
 in a loom, the cross pieces being the woof. 
 
 WARRANT, a written authority. 
 
 WARREN, a preserve for rabbits, 
 partridges, and pheasants. 
 
 WASH, fermentable liquor. 
 
 WASHING, an operation for cleans- 
 ing linen by soap, which combines with 
 the perspirable matter and dissolves the 
 earthy accumulations. 
 
 WASHINGTON, first president of 
 the United States of America, born 1732, 
 died 1799, much honoured. 
 
 WASP, or Vespa Vulgaris, an insect, 
 the female of which has a sting in its 
 abdomen, which it employs when attack- 
 ed, or in supposed danger. Their nests 
 are highly curious structures, divided 
 into cells, with walls made of vegetable 
 substances ; as they do not lay up honey, 
 like bees, they die, or are torpid in the 
 winter; the hornet is larger than the 
 wasp, and forms its nest in holes or roots 
 of trees, but both are equally voracious. 
 
 WASTE, or WASTE-LANDS, tracts 
 in England which, owing to feudal 
 claims, are kept uncultivated, amount- 
 ing to several millions of acres, of which 
 20,000 are within ten miles of London. 
 
WAT 
 
 WAT 
 
 In France and the Netherlands there is 
 not an acre in this state, and in Britain 
 the quantity has been greatly diminished 
 by numerous enclosure bills. 
 
 WATCH, a pocket instrument for 
 measuring time, excited into action by a 
 steel spring, coiled up, and acting by 
 various ingenious contrivances. The 
 spring is in a brass box, called the barrel, 
 and combined with a pyramidal fusee, 
 on which a connecting chain is wound 
 by the key. The spring being fastened 
 at one end to the barrel, and at the 
 other end to an arbor, or axle, unwinds 
 off the fusee, turning it, and keeping the 
 watch going, while the action accords by 
 its various size with the varied energy of 
 the spring. The force being thus pro- 
 duced, other wheels are put in motion, 
 and time is exactly measured by the 
 hands on the dial. Watches were in- 
 vented about the year 1500, and the trade 
 is much esteemed in all countries. The 
 Swiss have carried it to the highest de- 
 gree of perfection. 
 
 Spring of a Watch. 
 
 WATCHMAKER, an artist who ar- 
 ranges and puts together the wheels and 
 parts of a watch, after they are cast and 
 prepared by other artizans ; and it is 
 one of the most ingenious of all the me- 
 chanical arts. 
 
 224 
 
 WATER, a fluid, of which a cubic 
 foot weighs 1000 ounces, or 825 times 
 more than a cubic foot of atmospheric 
 air ; the constituents of which are one 
 part, by weight, of hydrogen, and 7* of 
 oxygen ; and two parts, by bulk, of hy- 
 drogen, and one of oxygen. It becomes 
 solid at 32 s of Fahrenheit, and boils or 
 evaporates, and becomes no hotter, at 
 212°, though, by compression, it has 
 been heated red hot. When expanded 
 in steam, at 212 5 , it acquires 1800 times 
 its bulk, and presses with the force of at- 
 mospheric air ; at 226 a , it expands POOO 
 times, and 36,000 times, at 257° • A vo- 
 lume of ice is made fluid by as much ex- 
 citement as will raise an equal volume of 
 water, 140®. Vegetables decompose it, 
 the hydrogen forming their unctuous, 
 resinous, and saccharine principles, 
 in combination with the carbon of the 
 soil ; the oxygen being evolved by the 
 leaves, and a supply thereby kept up of 
 what is fixed by animal respiration and 
 combustion. In the ocean, it is combined 
 with l-30th of its weight of muriate of 
 soda, or sea-salt; but, as the salt does 
 not crystallize so soon as water, sea-wa- 
 ter remains liquid till the thermometer 
 is 3*5 lower than for other water. In 
 like manner, the salt does not evaporate 
 at the heat which vapourizes water, and, 
 therefore, the two processes of crystal- 
 lizing and evaporating, separate the 
 water from the salt. Hence, the clouds 
 which rise from the sea, rain fresh water, 
 and water evaporated by art, yields salt 
 in the proportion of one ton from 35 of 
 water. In crystallizing, vacuities arise, 
 which enlarge the bulk ; hence, frozen 
 water splits rocks and trees, and ice 
 floats upon water. Water combines with 
 iron, sulphur, lime, and various sub- 
 stances, under a great variety of names ; 
 
WAT 
 
 hard water arises from carbonic acid in 
 water which then combines with lime. 
 Waters are called hard when they con- 
 tain a salt which decomposes the soap 
 instead of dissolving it. The deductions 
 drawn, in regard to the decomposition of 
 water, from the experiment of discharg- 
 ing a galvanic battery through water are 
 erroneous ; for the poles of the battery 
 produce themselves the oxygen and hy- 
 drogen supposed to be produced by the 
 water, being, in fact, the constituents of 
 the solution lying between the plates, 
 and identical with positive and negative 
 electricity in all cases and circum- 
 stances. 
 
 WATER COLOURS, those mixed 
 with gum and water instead of oil. 
 
 WAYS AND MEANS, the financial 
 resources to meet the public expendi- 
 ture, or supplies voted by Parliament. 
 
 WEALTH, whatever intrinsically is 
 necessary and useful to human nature 
 with reference to nations ; and whatever 
 will exchange for what is necessary and 
 useful with reference to individuals. 
 The wealth of a nation is, therefore, 
 only increased within itself, by the in- 
 crease of the necessaries of life ; but, the 
 wealth of individuals depends on the 
 possession of whatever, by the agree- 
 ment of society, can be exchanged for 
 the labour of others, or for necessaries. 
 
 WATER-SPOUT, a revolving cylinder 
 of water, when it becomes the patient of 
 an aerial vortex, sometimes acting on 
 the clouds, and sometimes on the surface 
 of the sea ; the same effect often arising 
 in the dust of a dry road. 
 
 W r ATER-WHEEL, OVERSHOT, a 
 variety of water-wheel, by which water 
 falling on its upper periphery, carries it 
 round, not only by its force, but by its 
 accumulated weight; for, it is so con- 
 225 
 
 WE A 
 
 structed as to catch and hold the water 
 in descending, part with it at the bot- 
 tom, and ascend on the other side empty ; 
 and it is a very convenient and powerful 
 structure when the nature of the ground 
 permits. 
 
 WEASEL, or Viverra, a genus of ani- 
 mals, of which there are 45 species ; as, 
 the Ichneumon, which in Egypt kills 
 the rats and snakes; the Civet Cat, 
 which secretes a drug at the rate of a 
 drachm a day, and is a favourite per- 
 fume ; the Marten and the Sable, valued 
 for their fur, particularly the latter, 
 which sells at £l2, or £15 per skin; the 
 Pole-Cat, an enemy to poultry; the 
 Ferret, a ferocious creature which kills 
 every thing to suck its blood ; and the 
 common Weasel, which lives in the 
 roots of trees, and devours mice, insects, 
 and birds. 
 
 WEATHER, the state of the atmos- 
 phere, with reference to heat, humidity, 
 and meteorological phenomena, produc- 
 ed by so many causes as to be reducible 
 to no general rules, except in regard 
 to annual averages, the state varying 
 one or two hundred times a year, and, 
 therefore, often coinciding with the 
 changes of the moon, but without any 
 connexion as cause or effect. Combined 
 considerations of the barometer, ther- 
 mometer, hygrometer, and anemometer, 
 are the only means of prognostication. 
 
 WEAVING, a manual operation, by 
 which men form threads of flax, wool, 
 cotton, and silk into cloth, stockings, car- 
 pets, and other articles of dress and fur- 
 niture. It is effected, in a general way, 
 by lines or threads, called a w r arp, and 
 by a contrivance for lifting some other 
 threads, and passing a shuttle or needle 
 between them, with a cross thread, tiH 
 
WEE 
 
 WEL 
 
 the whole of the warp is thus crossed, or 
 interwoven. Different kinds of weaving 
 are effected by sundry variations in the 
 structure of the frame, and many are 
 highly curious and complicated. Na- 
 ture weaves' by a different process, the 
 very smallest invisible atoms uniting by 
 fitting forms, till they form large and 
 visible ones ; and the whole, solids, or 
 leaves of various strength, or cohesion; 
 but men are obliged to work with these 
 masses, or combinations, among which 
 there is no fitting and union of parts, but 
 by matting or weaving them together. 
 Weaving is an art of great antiquity, and 
 gives employment in all nations to a 
 large portion of the population. Leeds 
 is the centre of woollen cloth weaving ; 
 Manchester of cotton weaving ; Maccles- 
 field of silk weaving; Nottingham of 
 stocking weaving ; and Kidderminster 
 of carpet weaving, in England. The 
 weaving of nature, or the cohesion of 
 atoms, arises from those indefinitely 
 small first combining ; and then masses 
 applied to them have no mechanical pur- 
 chase, and hence their cohesion. 
 
 WEDGE, a mechanical power, found- 
 ed on the principle of the inclined 
 plane, a wedge being a double of that 
 power. Its effect is to diminish motion 
 and gain power in the proportion of the 
 length of the side to half the thickness, 
 the power moving through the length, 
 while the weight moves through half the 
 thickness. For purposes, where force 
 of percussion can be applied, it is very 
 powerful and convenient. 
 
 WEDNESDAY, the fourth day of the 
 week, so called from Woden, or Oden, a 
 Gothic monarch. 
 
 WEEK, a cycle of seven days, found- 
 ed on the quarters of the moon, the first 
 day, Sunday, being the Christian festival 
 to celebrate the Resurrection, in confor- 
 mity with edicts of the early Popes; and 
 the seventh, Saturday, being the Sabbath 
 of the fourth commandment. 
 
 226 
 
 WEEVIL, a small beetle. 
 
 WEIGHT, a measure of the force of 
 motion at 16 feet per second, by which 
 any body falls, or would fall if not im- 
 peded, towards the centre of the earth, 
 determined by some agreed standard, as 
 an ounce, a pound, a hundred weight, 
 &c. The whole earth has a constant in- 
 clination, owing to its two-fold motions, 
 to concentrate its mass ; and, therefore, 
 every part has an action and re-action 
 referable to the centre of the moving 
 whole. This constant force towards the 
 centre is weight ; and it is proportioned 
 to the quantity of atoms in a quiescent 
 body in vacuo, or to the proportion of 
 atoms in a body and the same bulk of a 
 fluid in which it is immersed. This 
 effect of the two-fold motions of the 
 earth may be understood by considering 
 the effect on the parts of a ship which, 
 if moving in its course with any velocity 
 and then turned round, the tendency of 
 every part would be towards the centre 
 of the mass or centre of momentum, as 
 a simple result of the double motion : 
 consequently the principles of attraction 
 and gravitation inferred from the fall of 
 bodies are mere fictions, and all infer- 
 ences from them are erroneous. Motion 
 counteracts weight ; thus, a weight of 1 
 at 6 inches from a centre D, counteracts 
 a weight of 6 at 1 inch from D, because 
 P moves round D, through 6, while W 
 moves but 1 , and 6 X 1 = 1 X 6. This 
 is the principle of the steel-yard, and of 
 all mechanical and natural force. 
 
 A gallon of oil weighs 7 h H>s. 
 
 A bag of rice — 168 — 
 
 A sack of flour — 280 — 
 
 A bushel of flour — 56 — 
 
 A peck loaf — 17 lbs. 6 oz. 
 
 A quartern loaf — 4 — 5J — 
 
 A cubic foot of water . . 1000 — 
 
 A pint of water . . . 16 — 
 
 WELDING, union when heated. 
 
 WELL, a hole dug to receive water 
 from lower strata, but better obtained by 
 boring and driving down iron pipes till 
 water rises in them. 
 
WES 
 
 WERNERIAN SYSTEM, a nomen- 
 clature of rocks and minerals, in which 
 Werner considers all rocks as chemical 
 or mechanical ; the one in regular crys- 
 tallizations, the other the effect of at- 
 trition, solution, and deposition: and 
 these he calls primary and secondary, and 
 introduces a class of intermediate forma- 
 tions, partly chemical, partly mechani- 
 cal, called transition rocks. He consi- 
 ders that most of the mechanical for- 
 mations have resulted from repeated and 
 prolonged submersions ; and this accords 
 with the theory published in 1812, 
 by Sir Richard Phillips, who maintains 
 that owing to the progression of the 
 perihelion point around the ecliptic in 
 20,900 years, the seas alternately pre- 
 ponderate in each hemisphere for 10,450 
 years, and that point having had southern 
 declination during the last 5000 years, 
 so masses of land have accumulated 
 in that hemisphere, and the masses of 
 water in the southern. He considers the 
 newest floetz and the alluvial deposits as 
 shifting and yielding materials, by mov- 
 ing which an accumulating ocean will 
 form new basins in the northern hemis- 
 phere, when the perihelion progresses 
 northward, leaving no visible land but the 
 highest chains of primitive mountains, 
 and that the retiring sea will leave new 
 countries for vegetable and animal life 
 in the southern hemisphere. Werner 
 reckons 60 kinds of rocks of which the 
 most general are granite, gneiss, horn- 
 blende, limestone, wacke, basalt, quartz, 
 and clay. The lowest or oldest primitive 
 rocks are granite, gneiss, mica-slate, 
 porphyry, and scienite, uppermost; and 
 they contain no animal or vegetable re- 
 mains. The secondary or transition for- 
 mations are grey-wacke, slate, green- 
 stone, and limestone, and these contain 
 remains of the simplest vegetables and 
 animals, none of which now exist, with 
 some carbonaceous matter. The third 
 class consists of floetz or flat formations, 
 as limestone, gypsum, chalk, coal, and 
 trap, abounding in known animals and 
 vegetables, but still of simple forms. The 
 fourth class is the alluvial, as sand, 
 gravel, clay, marl, &c. full of animals 
 and vegetables, of existing kinds. 
 
 WEST INDIES, the islands and 
 coasts lying between North and South 
 America, so called because discovered by 
 Columbus while sailing, in 1492, towards 
 the East Indies. Thirteen of the islands 
 belong to Great Britain, besides Deme- 
 rara and Berbiee, on South America. In 
 227 
 
 WHE 
 
 1823, they remitted home3,599,55G cwts. 
 of sugar; 2/2,092 of coffee; nearly 5 
 million gallons of rum; 15 million tt>s. 
 of cotton ; and two million lbs. of spices 
 and fruits. They contain altogether 12 
 millions of acres. 
 
 WESTMINSTER IIALL, avast di- 
 ningroom, built by William Rufus ; and 
 still used for coronation festivities ; but 
 the four courts of law adjoining it, law- 
 yers and their clients use it for prome- 
 nade and consultation. 
 
 WHALE, the largest and noblest in- 
 habitant of the waters, of several spe- 
 cies and from 30 to 70 feet long. Being 
 protected from cold by a case of oil, it 
 is the victim of commercial avarice, and 
 numerous vessels frequent the seas which 
 whales haunt, to take and kill them, 
 which is often effected with horrid bar- 
 barities. 
 
 WHALE-TAILED MANAT I, a mon- 
 strous animal, 27 feet long, which lives 
 in the seas near Kamsehatka, in families 
 of a male and female and their young 
 ones; and their mutual attachment 
 often affects even the obdurate feelings of 
 those who slaughter them for their oil, 
 while their sagacity is astonishing. 
 
 WHEAT, the valuable species of grain 
 which in Europe is what rice is in 
 Southern Asia. Its nutritious quality 
 arises from the quantity of gluten, or 
 glue-like substance, which it contains. 
 Its flour, mixed with water, and excited 
 by yeast substance already ferment- 
 

 WHI 
 
 WIN 
 
 big) ferments, and baked in an oven, 
 constitutes bread, a wholesome food, if 
 not whitened by alum, one-third of 
 which is sulphuric acid, which destroys 
 the stomach. A bushel weighs 56ibs. and 
 every pound yields ljlbs. of bread; a 
 sack of flour of 280lbs. producing 348lbs. 
 of bread. One pound of wheat yields 
 10 oz. of starch, £ oz. gluten and sugar, 
 and 3 oz. bran ; but other analyses give 
 the proportion of the starch to the 
 gluten, 3S 3 or 4 to 1. The cut represents 
 a wheat-sheaf as set up and tied together 
 after reaping. It is then lodged in a 
 barn, threshed, winnowed, and ground 
 into flour. 
 
 WHEEL-ANIMAL, a curious animal- 
 cule, resembling two wheels in rapid 
 motion, and generatedinstagnantwaters. 
 
 WHEEL, UNDERSHOT, a wheel, 
 the lower periphery of which is acted 
 upon by a stream of running water, and 
 a common application of power, for 
 grinding corn and other purposes. 
 
 WHEEL-WORK — Wheels made use 
 of in machinery for the purpose of 
 varying velocities and giving new direc- 
 tions to the forces. The centre of a 
 wheel is like the fulcrum of a lever, and a 
 simple action merely transfers the forceon 
 one side to the other side ; but if wheels 
 are so connected as to diminish velocity, 
 then power is gained. 
 
 WHEY, 92 parts of 100 of cream, the 
 remaining 8 being equal proportions of 
 butter and cheese, or suet and curd. 
 
 WHIG, the name of a political party, 
 whose association renders them formi- 
 dable to the sovereign, while their liberal 
 professions give them some interest with 
 the people. As a party, they are opposed 
 to the Tories, who sustain the royal pre- 
 rogatives. 
 
 WHIST, a favourite game at cards, 
 played by four, in which the good and 
 bad cards average in a certain number of 
 deals, but while either prevail, the par- 
 ties are called lucky or unlucky. 
 
 228 
 
 WHITSUNTIDE, the feast of Pente- 
 cost, fifty days after Easter. 
 
 WIG-WAMS, Indian huts. 
 
 WIND, currents of the air, produced 
 by the rarefaction from the solar heat, 
 by which the lower stratum arises, and 
 the surrounding atmosphere rushes in to 
 supply its place. These currents being 
 often deflected by mountains and crossed 
 by other currents ; the different degrees 
 of rarefaction by day, and condensation * 
 by night, ascent, and horizontal motion, 
 keep the air in a state of constant ac- 
 tivity. The rare superior parts appear, 
 however, to be more sensible than the 
 lower stratum, because balloons have 
 been carried 60 miles an hour, at the 
 height of two miles, while the moderate 
 wind below has not moved more than 15 
 miles. In England, westerly winds pre- 
 vail over easterly in the proportion of 
 225 to 140. 
 
 WINDLASS, a common mechanical 
 power, by which weights are raised, and 
 water generally drawn out of a well. As 
 power is as velocity, and as the hand at 
 the winch makes a larger circle than the 
 cylinder, round which the rope coils, so 
 the power is proportionally increased. 
 Thus, if the hand performs a circle of 
 6 feet, while the cylinder performs but 
 one foot so the power of the hand, fric- 
 tion excepted, is increased six times. 
 
 WINDOW, a frame of glass to admit 
 light and exclude the air. By the re- 
 turns of duties, it appears that 225 thou- 
 sand houses in England and Wales have 
 ten windows and upwards, and 5000 
 houses above 50 each, while 636,000 
 have not above seven windows. 
 
 WINDMILL, a machine erected in 
 elevated positions, and provided with 
 vanes or sails, which, placed in a certain 
 
WIT 
 
 angle to the wind, turns mill-stones, by 
 which corn is ground, and apparatus 
 worked by which it is sifted and pre- 
 pared for use by the baker. 
 
 WIND-PIPE, or Trachea, a tube 
 composed of cartilaginous rings through 
 which the air passes to the lungs. 
 
 WINDWARD, towards the wind; 
 and Leeward, the point to which the wind 
 blows. 
 
 WINE, the fermented juice of grapes, 
 called after the country or place at which 
 it is made. In middle latitudes the 
 vineyards constitute the chief products 
 of the land ; but vines do not require, as 
 in England, to be trained against walls, 
 but grow in open fields, cut down, like 
 our currant shrubs. Between 5 and 6 
 millions of gallons are every year im- 
 ported into England and Wales, half a 
 million into Scotland, and about a mil- 
 lion into Ireland; one-half from Portu- 
 gal, and one-fourth from Spain. 
 
 WIRE-DRAWING, a very curious 
 art, by which, by means of the power of 
 steam, water, or greatmechanical power, 
 wire is drawn through orifices succes- 
 sively smaller. Wire may thus be drawn 
 from an inch to the 1000th of an inch in 
 diameter, and silver has been made the 
 1500th of an inch in diameter. 
 
 WISDOM, the knowledge of yourself, 
 your species, your country, and nature, 
 and acting in accordance with that 
 knowledge. 
 
 WISE MEN OF GREECE, these 
 seven sages were Thales, Solon, Chilo, 
 Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, and Perian- 
 der, who flourished about 600 years B. C. 
 Their distinction is chiefly owing to the 
 national vanity of their successors. 
 
 WITCH, a woman who is imagined 
 to have supernatural powers, formerly 
 believed by sovereigns, parliaments, 
 229 
 
 WON 
 
 and philosophers, so that between 1400 
 and 1700, many hundreds, if not thou- 
 sands, of unfortunate women were, by 
 law, put to death with horrid cruelties, 
 for asserted witchcraft; but, happily, 
 this faith appertains now only to the ig- 
 norant; and belief in witchcraft, sorcery, 
 attraction, repulsion, astrology, suction, 
 gravitation, &c. is confined to the vul- 
 gar, obstinate, or unthinking. 
 
 WIZARD, a man believed to have the 
 powers ascribed to witches, for which 
 many suffered death in the age of Shaks- 
 peare, Bacon, and Newton. Queen Eli- 
 zabeth often consulted a public wizard 
 of the name of Dee; king James wrote a 
 book on their practices; and Shakspeare 
 embodied them in his plays. Such are 
 the delusions of mankind, and many 
 succeeding ages derive a lesson from 
 them, for unfounded faith still pervades 
 many human practices, and nearly all 
 branches of natural science. 
 
 WOAD,.the basis in dyeing of black 
 and blue. 
 
 WOLD, an open country. 
 
 WOLF, an animal the size of a mas- 
 tiff, untameable, and the enemy of 
 sheep. Wolves formerly abounded in En- 
 gland, but were exterminated by a tax 
 receivable in wolves’ heads. They still 
 infest all the continent of Europe. 
 
 WOLSEY, CARDINAL, a butcher’s 
 son, who became prime minister, chan- 
 cellor, and a cardinal, and died 1530. 
 
 WONDERS OFTHE WORLD, seven, 
 according to ancient authors, but one 
 hundred modern ones have been enume- 
 rated by a recent writer. The ancient 
 wonders were the Temple of Ephesus ; 
 the Walls of Babylon ; the Egyptian 
 Labyrinth; the Pyramids of Egypt, still 
 existing; the Tomb of Mausolus; the 
 Colossus of Rhodes, a brazen statue of 
 X 
 
YAR 
 
 Apollo, 105 feet high ; and the statue of 
 J upiter Olympus at Elia, 240 feet high. 
 
 WOOD, the substance of trees, con- 
 sisting of the heart-wood in the centre, 
 and the sap-wood on the outside, in 
 which the concentric circles determine 
 the age of the tree, which, in the oak 
 and chesnut is 500 or 600 years, and in 
 the apple, pear, beach, and ash, is 200 
 or 300. 
 
 WOOD-PECKER, a bird with such a 
 bill as enables it to peck holes in trees, 
 and feed on the insects in them. 
 
 WOOF, the cross threads in weaving, 
 introduced by the shuttle, when part of 
 the warp is raised. 
 
 WOOL, the hair of sheep, coarse or 
 fine, according to the breed, the manu- 
 facture from which in Great Britain 
 used to be worth eighteen millions ster- 
 ling, annually employing half a million 
 of people. But, latterly, the manufac- 
 ture of cotton wool has exceeded all 
 others, though the woollen manufac- 
 tures of Yorkshire are still very con- 
 siderable in extent if not in profit. 
 
 WOOLLETT, engraver, died 1785. 
 
 WORDS, signs, or symbols of ideas 
 and thoughts, produced by sounds, and 
 combinations of sounds, or by letters 
 and their combinations. All words are 
 nouns, or verbs, and the other parts of 
 speech are derived from them. There are 
 above 40,000 in the English language ; 
 but in languages in which syllables are 
 systematically compounded, as in the 
 Welsh, Hebrew, and Chinese, they are 
 more numerous. 
 
 WORM OF A STILL, an arrange- 
 ment of pipes, through which vapour is 
 made to pass through cold water, for 
 the purpose of condensing it into fluid, 
 or hot liquors passed for the purpose of 
 cooling them. 
 
 • YEA 
 
 WORT, infusion of malt. 
 
 WRANGLER, the highest class of 
 honours at Cambridge, the next being 
 Optimes. 
 
 WRIT, a summons to appear; called 
 a subpoena, when it requires witnesses to 
 appear; a latitat , when it is assumed 
 the party is concealed ; of habeas corpus, 
 when it is to bring up the body; of pre- 
 munire, when it incurs forfeiture of all 
 property ; and of qui tam, when to reco- 
 ver a fine, of which the prosecutor is to 
 have a share. 
 
 WRITER TO THE SIGNET, a Scot- 
 tish attorney at law, but under stricter 
 regulation than English attorneys, and 
 therefore less oppressive and cruel in 
 their practice ; but in all such cases of 
 absurd power the legislature alone is 
 criminal. 
 
 WRITING, a most important art, the 
 successful practice of which arises from 
 holding the pen properly, when begin- 
 ning to learn, as is represented in the en- 
 graving. 
 
 Y 
 
 YACHT, a small sloop. 
 
 YARD, 3 feet, and 1760 to a mile. 
 
 YARD, of a ship, the beams across a 
 ship’s masts, to which the sails are fixed. 
 
 YARD, for ship building, called dock- 
 yards, and some of the greatest establish- 
 ments in England, particularly the pub- 
 lic yards at Chatham, Deptford, Wool- 
 wich, Sheerness, Portsmouth, and Ply- 
 mouth, for ships of war. 
 
 230 
 
 YARN, coarse worsted. 
 
 YAWNING, an affection proceeding 
 from the diaphragm, and sympathetic. 
 
 YEAR, the relative period in which 
 the earth performs its revolution round 
 the sun, which, from star to star, is 365 
 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 12 seconds ; 
 but with reference to the sun’s centre, is 
 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 49 se- 
 conds; of which the halves are unequal. 
 
ZER 
 
 owing to the orbit being larger on the 
 aphelion side, where the earth moves 
 slower than in the perihelion. The time 
 from the spring equinox to the autum- 
 nal is 18G days, 11 hours, 20 minutes, 
 and from the autumnal to the spring but 
 178 days, 18 hours, 29 minutes. 
 
 YEAST, the viscid bubbles and ex- 
 crement of fermented beer. 
 
 ZOD 
 
 YEOMAN, a master farmer, or coun- 
 try householder. 
 
 YEOMAN OF THE GUARD, 170 in 
 number, established by Henry theVIIIth, 
 as personal guards to the king, and their 
 office and dress continue the same. 
 
 YOLK, the unctuous matter on wool, 
 and the yellow part of an egg, composed 
 of fat, oil, and serum. 
 
 Z 
 
 ZEALANDERS, NEW, inhabitants 
 of two large islands in the South Seas, so 
 untractable and savage as to be unsuscep- 
 tible of every effort to civilize them. 
 
 ZEBRA, an animal the size of an ass, 
 distinguished by its striped skin, and 
 wild and common in Southern Africa. 
 
 ZENDAVESTA, the name of the 
 book which explains the tenets of the 
 ancient Persian religion. 
 
 ZEPHYR, a mild wind. 
 
 ZERO, the commencement of the 
 scale of a thermometer, and in our ther- 
 231 
 
 mometers, 32° below the freezing point 
 of water, and 212 below its boiling point. 
 In other thermometers zero is the freez- 
 ing point of water. 
 
 ZINC, a hard metal of a bluish white 
 colour, whose specific gravity is from 
 6-86 to 7*2. It melts at 700° of Fahren- 
 heit, and when red hot, burns with a 
 white flame and smokes like flowers. 
 
 ZIRCON, or jargon, a Ceylonese 
 stone. 
 
 ZOANTHUS, the animal flower. 
 
 ZODIAC, a space round the heavens 
 among the fixed stars, 15 degrees wide, 
 the centre of which is the plane of the 
 ecliptic, and it corresponds in breadth 
 with the inclination of the sun’s axis of 
 7° 30', which thereby produces a max- 
 imum of force in that plane of the medium 
 of space, but expanding as it diffuses 
 around. The distant stars within it are 
 divided into twelve portions, called signs, 
 six to the north of the earth’s equator, 
 and six to the south, altogether fanciful, 
 but referring to the business of the sea- 
 son, when first applied, though to these 
 superstition has annexed whimsical in- 
 fluences. The names of these signs, 
 their hieroglyphics, and the days on 
 which the sun enters them, are as follow : 
 Northern Signs.— Y' Aries, the Ram, 
 21st of March. $ Taurus, the Bull, 
 19th of April. Gemini, the Twins, 
 20th of May. 53 Cancer, the Crab, 21st 
 of June. ^ Leo, the Lion, 22d of 
 July. TCfc Virgo, the Virgin, 22d of 
 August. Southern Signs. — Libra, the 
 Balance, 23rd of September. Jj|. Scor- 
 pio, the Scorpion, 23rd of October. £ 
 Sagittarius, the Archer, 22d of Novem- 
 ber. Yf Capricornus, the Goat, 21st of 
 December. ££ Aquarius, the Water- 
 bearer, 20th of January. Pisces, the 
 
 Fishes, 19th of February. As we reckon 
 
zoo 
 
 the year by the earth’s motions, and the 
 solar year is 50'25'' of a degree shorter 
 than the sidereal, so the time when the 
 sun is on our equator is earlier every 
 year by 20 ' 23" of time ; hence the equi- 
 noxial points recede among the stars, but 
 as we always call the ascending point 
 Aries, so the original stars go forward, 
 and the equinoctial, with reference to 
 them, recedes 50' 25" in a year ; 1» 23' 45" 
 in a century; a sign in 2150 years; and 
 the whole circle in 25,791 years. It is, 
 however, a mere change in relative ap- 
 pearances, and produces no mundane 
 affection whatever. 
 
 ZODIACAL LIGHT, the visible effect 
 of solar impulses on the medium of space 
 around the solar equator. 
 
 ZONES, a division of the earth into 
 the hot, or tropical, 47 deg. wide; the 
 temperate, 43 deg. wide; and the frozen, 
 as far from each Pole as the two tropics 
 are from the equator, each in tempe- 
 rature running into the other. 
 
 ZOOGRAPHY, a description of ani- 
 mated nature, divided into ornithology, 
 or birds, ichthyology, or fishes, ento- 
 mology, or insects, &c. 
 
 ZOOLOGY, the science which de- 
 scribes all living organized beings, which 
 have been divided by Linnaeus into six 
 general classes, founded on common ge- 
 neral resemblances: — 1, Mammalia, or 
 animals which suckle their young, which 
 include all quadrupeds and bipeds, the 
 whale and bat tribes ; 2, Birds, or ani- 
 mals covered with feathers ; 3, Amphi- 
 bia, with lungs adapted to air or water ; 
 4, Fishes, which breathe by gills; 5, In- 
 sects, provided with two antennae, or 
 feelers ; 6, Vermes, or worms, creatures 
 which have no head. These classes are 
 
 ZOR 
 
 again divided into orders, founded on 
 resemblances less general ; these into 
 genera, founded on exceptions, these into 
 species, and these again into varieties, 
 founded on mere accidental differences. 
 The permutations and alternations are 
 so numerous, and so nicely blended, that 
 from 50 to 60,000 have already been re- 
 corded. 
 
 ZOOPHYTE, organized subjects, be- 
 tween animal and vegetable, animal in 
 substance, but without the animal cha- 
 racteristics of blood-vessels, vertebrae, 
 spinal marrow, and connecting muscles 
 and limbs for loco-motion. The animal 
 and vegetable running into each by im- 
 perceptible distinctions, just like the 
 vegetable and mineral, so that the three 
 kingdoms of nature have, in their ap- 
 proximating genera, no broad marks of 
 discrimination, but run one into another 
 by nice gradations of varied, added, and 
 subtracted powers. There are four clas- 
 ses of zoophytes; 1, resembling shells; 
 2, resembling mother of pearl; 3, re- 
 sembling crusts ; and 4, resembling 
 horn ; as madrepores, millepores, tubi- 
 pores, corals, corallines, sponges, &c. 
 described with engravings in Shaw’s Na- 
 ture Displayed. 
 
 ZOOPHYTES, the class of vermes, 
 which approximate to vegetables, pos- 
 sessed of a stomach, but neither of 
 brain, nor organs of sense, living chiefly 
 in water, and mostly incapable of loco- 
 motion. They increase by buds, and 
 may be multiplied by cutting. Polypes 
 and coral insects, in all their varieties, 
 and microscopic animals, belong to this 
 order. 
 
 ZOROASTER, a Persian philosopher 
 and legislator, who died 1051 B. C. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 Erratum. — By an inadvertency of the Printer, the Barometer has been reversed in 
 many copies, an error ivhich it is hoped will be excused. 
 
 23 * 
 
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY POOLE AND EDWARDS, AND TO 
 BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1. SCRIPTURE LESSONS, for Preparatory Schools, containing the 
 most popular subjects in the Old and New Testament, and illustrated 
 with sixty-two engravings. By James Adair. One Shilling. 
 
 2. THE LITTLE SPELLING-BOOK, on a new and original plan, 
 designed to facilitate and greatly abridge the labour of teaching and 
 learning. By James Adair. 9d. 
 
 3. POPULAR LESSONS, for Preparatory Schools, treating of all 
 the Games and Amusements of Children, with sixty engravings. By 
 James Adair. One Shilling. 
 
 4. THE LITTLE ENGLISH GRAMMAR, on a plain and easy plan, 
 for the use of Preparatory Schools and Junior Classes. By James 
 Adair. One Shilling. 
 
 5. THE FIRST LATIN GRAMMAR, for Preparatory Schools and 
 Junior Classes, containing the rudiments and accidence complete, with 
 every thing essential, and nothing superfluous, by M. L’Abbe Bossut, 
 Author of the Latin Word and Phrase Books, &e. &c. &c. One 
 Shilling. 
 
 fi. A RETIRED GOVERNESS’S LEGACY TO HER PUPILS, in 
 a series of Lessons, adapted to reading classes in Schools ; and treating, 
 in a comprehensive and popular manner, of every branch of liberal 
 Female Education. Five Shillings. 
 
 7. THE ELEMENTS OF GYMNASTICS for Boys, and of CAL- 
 LISTHENICS, for Young Ladies, the only work of the kind, with 44 
 engravings. By G. Hamilton. Five Shillings. 
 
 9. A SPELLING AND PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY of all the 
 Words in the English Language, for the Use of Schools. By the Rev. 
 S. Barrow. 
 
 THE INTERROGATIVE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 
 
 This System of Instruction is a practical method of teaching youth, 
 founded on those obvious and experienced principles by which know- 
 ledge is universally acquired. Memory and Reflection are the 
 faculties by which all knowledge is appropriated by the mind, and their 
 simultaneous exertion is indispensable. It is therefore an essential 
 characteristic of every well-founded system of instruction, that it ad- 
 dresses itself at once to the memory, and to the powers of reflection 
 in the pupil; and if it fail in such joint effect it will be abortive and 
 inefficient. To produce this two fold result is the design of the Inter- 
 rogative System. It provides Elements of the subjects to be acquired, 
 as materials for memory ; and on these Elements it founds exercises^ 
 in the form of Questions or Interrogatories, the answer or solution of 
 which by the pupil, as constituting an exercise of reflection and rea- 
 soning, perfects his knowledge of the subject. 
 
 The system itself consists of Miscellaneous Questions, Exercises, and 
 Experiments referring to different passages in able Text-books; some- 
 times simple or applicable to a single fact, and at other times compli- 
 cated or applicable to facts and principles scattered throughout the 
 Text-book. Each of the series of mingled questions extends to about 
 five hundred in number; and the Pupil is required, as a private exer- 
 cise, to furnish an answer to each question in his own phraseology. 
 The questions are purposely mingled ; and, with a view to compel the 
 youqg Student to turn over and examine every part of the Text-book, 
 
INTERROGATIVE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 
 
 they are not given in the order of the Text. It is, therefore, presumed, 
 that he must and will become familiar with the whole of the Text- 
 book, long before he has answered the whole of the five hundred ques- 
 tions. 
 
 A thorough acquaintance with the Text-book, must, of course, be 
 simultaneously accompanied by a familiar acquaintance with the 
 Science or subject treated of in the Text-book; while the constant 
 exercise of writing the answers to the questions, necessarily improves 
 the Pupil in the important arts and practices of Spelling, of Gram- 
 mar, of Thinking, and of Composition. 
 
 The simplicity of this system is one proof of its adequacy, or effica- 
 cy, for it is by the simplest means th&t all ihe great ends of nature are 
 effected. It serves the purpose of forcing the student to reflect upon, 
 and to work at, the subject of his study; and this intellectual labour is 
 all that is desirable or is wanted. 
 
 The scope of practical education, which has been thus accommo- 
 dated to the business of schools, and to the habits and mental powers 
 of juvenile scholars, is, by the machinery of a well-adapted series of 
 elementary Books, extended to the following useful and elegant 
 sciences : — 
 
 UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 In two works, by Goldsmith, and in his outline Maps, or Copy-books, 
 and Atlasses, aided by Prior’s Universal Traveller, and his Voyages 
 round the World. 
 
 BRITISH GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 In Goldsmith’s British Empire, and his Wonders of the United 
 Kingdom. 
 
 ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 In Robinson’s Abridgment of Hume and Smollet, and in the Five 
 Hundred Questions ; Adair’s Questions on Goldsmith ; Galt’s Pictures 
 on Stories from the Chronicles. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY, 
 
 In Mavor’s Elements. 
 
 UNIVERSAL HISTORY, 
 
 In Robinson’s Grammar, and his volumes of Ancientand Modern History. 
 BIOGRAPHY, 
 
 In Goldsmith's Biographical Class Book; in Mavor’s Nepos, and 
 Plutarch; and in Watkins’s Scripture Biography, and Dictionary. 
 SACRED HISTORY, 
 
 In Barrow’s Scripture Narratives, or School Bible, Rundall’s Grammar, 
 and Watkins’s Scripture Biography. 
 
 CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, 
 
 In Barrow’s Questions on the Old and New Testaments, and School 
 Sermons. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF GRAMMAR, 
 
 In Blair’s English Grammar, Adair’s Questions on Murray, and 
 Adair’s little Grammar. 
 
 ENGLISH COMPOSITION. 
 
 In Irving’s Elements, and Blair’s Models of Letters, with Topics for 
 Exercise. 
 
 LATIN, 
 
 In the Questions on the Eton Grammar, printed as a Copy-book, and 
 in Bossut’s little Latin Grammar, Latin Word, and Phrase Books. 
 
 FRENCH, 
 
 In Bossut’s Word Book, Phrase Book, French Grammar and Syntax, with 
 Exercises; and in Noehand La Place’s Lemons Fran^aises. 
 
INTERROGATIVE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 
 
 ENGLISH POETRY, 
 
 In Aikin’s Infantile Volume, and Pratt and Mayor’s Classical Selections. 
 
 CLASSICS, 
 
 In Johnson’s Grammar of Classical Literature, with its Copy Book. 
 
 TRADE AND THE ARTS, 
 
 In the Book of Trades and its Copy Book Questions. 
 
 BOOK KEEPING, 
 
 In Morrison’s System. 
 
 ARITHMETIC, 
 
 In the Works of Joyce. 
 
 MATHEMATICS, 
 
 In Nicholson’s Popular Elements, and Mitchell’s Mathematical Die 
 tionary. 
 
 PHYSICS AND PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 In Blair’s Grammar of Philosophy. 
 
 ASTRONOMY, 
 
 In Squire’s Grammar, and the Wonders of the Heavens. 
 
 GYMNASTICS AND CALLISTHENICS, 
 
 Hamilton’s Elements. 
 
 GENERAL SCIENCE, 
 
 In Blair’s Universal Preceptor, Mitchell’s Universal Catechist, Blair’s 
 Class Book, the Legacy of a retired Governess, Clarke’sWonders of the 
 World, Shaw’s Nature Displayed, and Watkins’s Portable Cyclopedia. 
 
 ENGLISH LAW AND CONSTITUTION, 
 
 In Gilford’s Abridgment of Blackstone. 
 
 The means of teaching these different subjects with facility and effect, 
 are afforded by the several Elementary Text-Books, and the connect- 
 ed series of Questions and Exercises ; while the Answers contained 
 in different Keys serve to relieve Tutors from the necessity of previous 
 preparation. 
 
 The following is a list of the Sets of 500 Questions, printed in 
 thick post Copy-Books, with spaces for the answers. 
 
 Questions on Robinson’s Abridgment of Hume and Smollet’s Histo- 
 ries of England. 
 
 Johnson’s Grammar of Classical Literature. 
 
 Mitchell’s Universal Catechist. 
 
 — ~ — Blair’s Universal Preceptor. 
 
 The Old Testament. 
 
 The New Testament. 
 
 Barrow’s Scripture Narratives, or School Bible. 
 
 Blair’s English Grammar. 
 
 Murray’s Grammar, and Irving’s Elements of Composition 
 
 Goldsmith’s History of England. 
 
 • Goldsmith’s Grammar of Geography. 
 
 Goldsmith’s British Empire. 
 
 Goldsmith’s Biographical Class-Book. 
 
 ■ Blairs Grammar of Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Clarke’s One Hundred Wonders of the World. 
 
 Squire’s Grammar of Astronomy. 
 
 — Bossut’s Grammar and Exercises. 
 
 the Eton Latin Grammar. 
 
 Gifford’s Abridgment of Blackstone’s Commentaries. 
 
 Book of English Trades. 
 
 Robinson’s Grammar of Universal History. 
 
 ■ ■ Robinson’s Modem History. 
 
 — Robinson’s Ancient History. ry 
 
INTERROGATIVE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION. 
 
 Nothing more is requisite than to place the several Text-Books in 
 the hands of the pupils ; to direct them to commit to memory, or copy 
 fairly, one or two paragraphs, every evening; and in due time, or 
 when they have become familiar with the contents of the Text-Book, 
 to reply to the questions, or perform the exercises, so that the answers 
 or results may correspond with those in the Keys, which the Tutor is 
 supposed to reserve for his own private reference. 
 
 In the practical subdivision of various studies, through the periods of 
 youth usually allotted to education, an arrangement something like the 
 following, varied for different capacities, has been found to answer : — 
 
 Previous to the eighth year. Adair’s Little Spelling Book — The London 
 Primer — Mavor’s Spelling Book — Pelham’s First Catechism — Adair’s 
 Popular and Scripture Lessons — Blair’s Reading Exercises — Aikin’s 
 Poetry — Book of Trades — Barrow’s Young Scholar’s Dictionary, with 
 500 cuts. 
 
 Eighth arul ninth years. Barrow’s School Bible, with engravings — 
 Watkins’s Scripture Biography — Mavor’s Nepos — Blair’s Class Book 
 —Lynch’s World Displayed, in verse — Bossut’s Latin Word-Book and 
 French Word-Book — Joyce’s Arithmetic — Blair’s English Grammar 
 —Bossut’s Latin Grammar. 
 
 Tenth and eleventh years. Goldsmith’s Biographical Class-Book — 
 Robinson’s Hume and Smollet — Pratt and Mavor’s Classical Poetry — 
 Barrow’s Questions on the Old and New Testament— Goldsmith Gram- 
 mar of Geography, and his Geographical and Astronomical Copy Books 
 — Bossut’s French Grammar and Adair’s Latin Grammar — Mavor’s 
 Natural History — Gall’s Historical Pictures — Blair’s Models of Letters. 
 
 Twelfth year. Blair’s Universal Preceptor, or Mitchell’s Universal 
 Catechist — Bossut’s French Exercises and Latin Exercises— Robin- 
 son’s Ancient History — Mavor’s Plutarch — Wonders of the World, and 
 Wonders of the Heavens— Robinson’s Grammar of History — Rundall’s 
 Grammar of Sacred History — Goldsmith’s British Geography, and his 
 fascinating volumes describing the Wonders of the United Kingdom. 
 
 Thirteenth year. Noel’s Lemons Francises, and the Latin Classics 
 — Johnson’s Grammar of Classical Literature — Mitchell’s Universal 
 Catechist— Goldsmith’s Illustrations of Geography — Robinson’s His- 
 tory of England, with Questions— Hamilton’s Gymnastics, and Cal- 
 listhenics— The Governess’s Legacy. 
 
 Fourteenth and fifteenth years. Irving’s Elements of Composition — 
 Blair’s Grammar of Natural Philosophy — Gifford’s Blackstone — Squire’s 
 Astronomy — Nicholson’s Mathematics — The Book of Trades — Robin- 
 son’s Modern History— Prior’s All the Voyages round the World, and 
 Universal Traveller — Morrison’s Book-keeping--Hamilton’s Elements 
 of Drawing — Shaw’s Nature Displayed — Watkins's Portable Cyclope- 
 dia, and Mitchell’s cheap Dictionaries of History, Chemistry, and 
 Mathematics. 
 
 The system thus recommended includes the reading of English prose 
 and verse ; English Grammar and composition ; the French and Latin 
 Languages ; Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and their various appli- 
 cations ; the Christian Religion ; Geography ; History, Ancient and 
 Modern ; Classical Literature ; Natural Philosophy; Natural History ; 
 Astronomy ; Knowledge of our own Country and its Laws and Consti- 
 tution ; Trade and Manufactures ; Book-keeping ; and Drawing : — a 
 compass of Juvenile Education never before attempted, but now ren- 
 dered perfectly easy and practicable, by means of the books enumera- 
 ted ; while a Tutor’s Key to each enables all instructors to introduce 
 the respective subjects into their course. 
 
 D. Sidney, Printer, Northumberland Street, Strand. 
 

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