words, Ab, Ben, Ruach-hakodesh, (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), and the Greek words, Σωτηρία απο Ξυλου (salvation | from the cross); but more probably, it is made up of the Greek numerals, a 1,

=2, g=100, α=1, σ=200, a=1, 60, which together make 365: for it was, 1. The name of the supreme god under whom the Basilidians supposed 365 dependent deities, who had the government of so many celestial orbs. It was the principle of the Gnostic hierarchy whence sprung the multitude of cons. 2. An antique gem or stone with the word abraxas engraven on it. There are many of various figures, e. g. of beetles, serpents, human heads, mostly as old as the third century. The letters are mostly Roman, Greek, and Phoenician. They appear to have been early sought after as amulets.

ABRA'SION, from abrado (of Lat. abrado, to scrape off). In physics, the effect produced by attrition. In medicine, the effect produced by corrosive applications. ABRAUM, a red clay brought from the Isle of Wight, with which cabinet-makers darken and polish mahogany.

ABRAXAS, in entomology, a subgenus in the classification of Leach, including the Phalana Grossulariata (magpie), and Phalana Ulmata (clouded magpie), of Latreille. Feed on the leaves of the currant and gooseberry.

ABRAZITE, Zeagonite or Gismondine, a mineral which occurs in semi-globular masses (sometimes in octahedral crystals with a square base), in the volcanic rocks of Capo di Bove, near Rome. Conts. Silica, 414; lime, 48'6; alumina, 2.5; magnesia, 1-5; oxide of iron, 2.5.-Philips.

ABREAST, (a and breast), in nautical language, the position of two or more ships which have their sides parallel, and their heads equally advanced. Abreast within ship, means in a line with the beam, main hatchway, &c. From this point the position is reckoned fore or aft.

ABRIDG'MENT, from abridge (of Beaxus, short), an epitome; a summary of a book. In law, shortening a count or declaration; e. g. in assize, a man is said to abridge his plaint, and a woman her demand in action of dower, if any land be put therein, which is not in the tenure of the defendant: for, on a plea of non-tenure in abatement of the writ, the plaintiff may leave out those lands, and pray that the tenant may answer to the remainder. ABROGATION, from abrogate, to annul by an authoritative act. The act of abolishing by authority of the legislative power. The term is derived from abrogo, from rogo, to ask, in allusion to the Roman custom which admitted no law to be valid to which the consent of the

people had not been obtained by asking; or abrogated, but in the same way, by gaining the popular consent.

ABROMA, from α, not, and Sewa, food. A genus of plants of the polyadelphia dodecandria class and order; containing two species, the A. augusta, and the A. fastuosa. They grow freely in common garden soil, and are easily propagated by seeds and cuttings. The first is a native of the East Indies, and the other of New South Wales. ABRO'TANUM, southernwood, Bgorovov (of a, not, and ẞgoros, mortal, because it never decays). A species of plant arranged under the genus artemisia. H. shrub.

from

ABRUPT, Lat. abruptus, broken; applied to the leaves of plants when the extremity of the leaf is, as it were, cut off by

a transverse line.

ABRUPTLY-PINNATE, abrupte-pinnatus, a term applied in botany to a leaf which is pinnate, and terminates abruptly, without an odd leaflet or cirrus.

A'BRUS, the knob-rooted wild liquorice, from aßgos, soft, in reference to the softness of its leaves. A genus of plants of the class and order diadelphia decandria. Europe, the abrus precatorius. It grows There is only one species known in wild in both East and West Indies, and in Africa, and produces those beautiful red seeds, called Angola seeds, marked with a black spot or eye at the one end, which have been so much used as beads for making necklaces and rosaries (whence the specific name precatorius of the plant).

ABSCE'DENT, Lat. abscedens (of abscedo, to depart). Applied to a decayed part of an organised body, which is separated from the sound.

AB'SCESS, Lat. abscessus (of ab and cedo, of morbid matter or pus in the cellular to go from), an imposthume; a collection or adipose membrane; matter generated by the suppuration of an inflammatory tumour.

ABSCISS, OF ABSCISSA, from ab and scindo, to cut. In conics, any part of the diame ter or axis of a curve, intercepted between the vertex, or some other fixed point, and another line called an ordinate. An absciss and ordinate considered together are called co-ordinates. By means of these the equation of the curve is defined.

ABSCIS'SION, from abscindo to cut off. In surgery, the separation of any soft part of the body, by an edged instrument, and as amputation is when bones are cut.

ABSCO'NSIO, from abscondo, to hide. In anatomy, the cavity of a bone which receives and conceals the head of another bone.-Lat.

ABSCONSA, from abscondo, to hide. A

3. In chemistry, the term denotes the separation by heat of the volatile parts of a compound. When the part abstracted is collected, the process is called distillation or sublimation, according as the process is wet or dry.

ABSTRINGENT, Lat. abstringens. Medicines which are used to resolve obstructions, concretions, &c., are called abstringents, e. g. soap.

ABSURD, Lat. absurdus (from ab and surdus, deaf), opposed to manifest truth. In mathematics, a term employed in demonstrating converse propositions. The proposition is not proved in direct manner from principles before laid down, but the contrary of the proposition is proved to be impossible or absurd, and this indirectly proves the truth of the proposition itself. Thus the fourth proposition of the first book of Euclid is demonstrated by showing that if the extremities of two right lines coincide, the lines themselves will coincide in all their parts, otherwise they would enclose a space, which is absurd, being contrary to the tenth axiom. This is called reductio ad absurdum.

AB'SUS, the trivial name of a small Egyptian lotus (cassia absus). The powdered seeds are used in the cure of ophthalmia.

ABUN'DANT, Lat. ab-undans (from unda, a wave). In arithmetic, a number, the sum of whose aliquot parts is greater than the number itself, is called an abundant number, e. g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, the aliquot parts of 12, make the sum 16. This is opposed to a deficient number, as 14, the aliquot parts of which are 1, 2, 7, the sum of which is 10, and both to a perfect number, which is equal to the sum of all its aliquot parts, as 6, whose aliquot parts are 1, 2, 3.

ABUT'ILON, a genus of exotic shrubs, containing 26 species; class monadelphia, order polyandria, natives of South America, East and West Indies, Senegal,

Egypt, and Canaries. One species (4. Aricenna) is a native of the south of France.

ABUTMENT, from abut, to meet (chiefly used in describing the bounds or situation of land). The extremity; chiefly used to denote the solid mound or pier erected on the bank of a river, to support the end of a bridge. Synonymes, land-stool, landpier. The term, however, often means simply the masonry casing of this pier. pieces of timber is called an abutment. In Among carpenters, the joining of two this the fibres of the wood are placed as nearly as practicable at right angles to each other.

ABUTTAL, the butting or boundary of land; a headland. See ABBUTTALS.

ABYSS, from Surros, without bottom; something profound, as it were bottomless; e.g. the ocean, hell (bottomless pit).

The term has been used by some to denote a vast cavity filled with water, which they supposed to exist in the centre of the earth; and by others, to signify a deep mass of water, which they conceived encompassed the earth in its state of chaos. These waters were, according to the same authorities, collected by the Deity, into the abyss in the centre of the earth, on the third day of creation. Geology has done much of late to correct our no. tions on these subjects.

2. In medicine, the name of the expressed juice of the immature pods of the acacia vera. It is brought chiefly from Egypt in roundish masses, wrapped up in thin bladders.-3. In archeology, a roll or bag on the medals of the Greek and Roman emperors, supposed by some to represent simply a handkerchief rolled up, with which signals were given at the games: by others it is said to be a roll of petitions; others make it a purple bag filled with earth, to remind the prince of his mortality.

Plato, the founder of the academical philosophy in Greece, taught that matter is eternal and infinite, but without form, refractory, and tending to disorder, and that there is an intelligent cause, the author of spiritual being,

and the material world. ACADEMICIAN, a member of an academy, or society for promoting arts and sciences, particularly a member of the French academies; also an academic philosopher; an academist.

ACADEMY, Lat. academia, from axadnpea; originally a garden or grove near Athens, where Plato and his followers held their philosophical conferences, and ultimately, the sect of academic philosophers.

In the modern sense, a society of learned men united for the promotion of the arts and science in general, or of some special department. Hence academies of antiquity (for the illustration of whatever regards archæology, as medals, coins, inscriptions, &c.), ecclesiastical, chirurgical, and dancing academies; academies of belles-lettres, of languages, of painting, of sculpture and architecture, &c. The first modern school under this name was established by Charlemagne, at the instance of Alcuin, an English monk. Academy is also applied with us for a kind of school in which the elementary branches of education are taught.

ACADEMY-FIGURE, a draught or design made after a model with a crayon or pencil.

ACE'NA, the generic name of a Mexican shrub (A. elongata) of the class tetrandria, and order monogynia. Name axana, a prickle.

ACENITUS, in entomology, a genus of ichneumonides.-Latreille.

ACALOT, a Mexican fowl resembling the ibis; it is called by some the water-crow.

ACA'LYCINE, Lat. acalycinus, (a, without, and xaλvž, a calyx), without calyx or flower-cup.

ACA'LYPHA, from axaλnon, the nettle, (urtica, Lin.). 1. A genus of plants of 16 species, some of which much resemble the broad-leaved pellitory of the wall: class monacia, order monadelphia.-2. A class of radiated animals (radiata animalia), comprising zoophytes (zoophyta), which swim in the ocean, and in whose organisation vessels can be recognised. These are generally, however, "mere productions of the intestines excavated in the The acalyphæ parenchyma of the body.' are divided into two orders; the A4. simplicia (simple A.), and the A. hydrostatica (hydrostatic A.). The first swim by the alternate contractions and dilatations of their body, although their substance is apparently without fibres. The hydrostatic A. have one or more bladders, filled with air, by means of which they sustain themselves in their liquid element.

"

ACAMACU, the local name of the Brazilian fly-catcher, or todus (q. v.).

ACA'MPSY, Lat. acampsia, from ∞, not, and zaprta, to bend. The same with Anchylosis (q. v.).

ACANA CEE, a class of plants in some systems of botany, including all those which are prickly, and bear their flowers and seeds on a kind of head; name, from azavos, a prickly shrub.

ACANA'CEOUS, armed with prickles; belonging to the class of plants called

acanacea.

ACANTHOPODA, a tribe of coleopterous insects composed of the single genus heterocerus, of Bosc; remarkable for their broadish flattened legs armed exteriorly with spines: whence the name, axavba, a spine, and rous, a foot.

ACANTHOPTERA, in entomology, a genus belonging to the tribe of cerambycini of Latreille. It comprises the callichroma, purpuricenus, and stenocorus, of Dejean; name, axavba, a spine, and regov, a wing. ACANTHOPTERYGII, the first and by far the most numerous division of fishes; distinguished by having the rays of their fins bony, and many of them prickly at the extremities: whence their name, azarla, a spine, and rigu, a fin. The perch is an example of this order.

ACANTHOPUS, in entomology, a genus of hymenoptera, belonging to the apis of Linnæus, and apiaria of Latreille.

ACANTHOSCELLIS, a genus of coleopterous insects; anterior tibiæ strongly palmated; posterior short, broad, arched, and spinous: whence the name, xxxv0α, a spine, &c.

ACA'NTHUS, from axavlos, prickly. Lat. 1. In botany, the plant bear's breech or brank ursine; a genus of about ten species, receiving their name from their prickles: class didynamia, order angiospermia. The acanthus mollis is that which was formerly used in medicine: the branca ursi. It is a native of Italy, Sicily, and the Archipelago. 2. In architecture, the leaf which forms one of the ornaments of the Corinthian capital. The honour of introducing it is ascribed, by

ACA'RPIA, from ακαρπος, unfruitful. Unfruitfulness. Acarpious, sterile, barren.

genus of insects of the order aptera, or AC'ARUS, the tick or mite; a numerous those which have no wings. The acari and two-jointed tentacula. Name, from are oviparous, have eight legs, two eyes, aztiga, not divisible, as though the in

system of Cuvier, the acarus belongs to sect were too small to be divided. In the the family of holetra, class arachnides, and order tracheare.

Linnæus enumerates

35, and Gmelin 82 species of acari. They are excessively numerous, and most of them so small as to be almost microscopical. attached to the bodies of other insects, They abound everywhere, even and have been found in the brain and eye of man.

ACATALECTIC, from axaraλnztos, not defective in number. In ancient poetry, applicable to such verses as have all their regular feet and syllables, e. g. the first two of the following lines of Horace are acatalectic, and the last catalectic:-

Solvitur acris hyems grata vice Veris et Favoni;

Trahuntque siccas machinæ carinas. ACATALEP'SIA, from a, neg. and xara außava, to comprehend. Acatalepsy. In medicine, uncertainty in the prognosis or diagnosis of diseases.

ACATALEPSY, from acatalepsia, (q. v.). In ancient philosophy, the impossibility of comprehending something. The distinguishing tenet of the pyrrhonists was, their asserting an absolute acatalepsy regarding everything.

ACATA POSIS, from a, neg. and xarαivo, to swallow. Difficult deglutition.