He is generally a bishop, and has the power of giving the first dish from the king's table to whatever poor person he selects. ALOES. An extensive tribe of plants, some of which are not more than a few inches, whilst others are thirty feet and upwards, in height. All the leaves are fleshy, thick, and more or less spinous at the edges, or extremity. These plants are mostly inhabitants of hot climates. Some of the larger kinds of aloes are of great importance to the inhabitants of countries in which they grow. Beset as the leaves are with strong spires, they form an impenetrable fence. The negroes of the western coast of Africa make ropes and weave nets of the fibrous parts of these leaves. The Hottentots hollow out the stem of one of the kinds into quivers for their arrows. In Jamaica, there is a species of aloes, which supplies the inhabitants with bow-strings, fishing-lines, and materials from which they are able to weave stockings, and hammocs. Au aloe which grows in the kingdom of Mexico, is applied by the inhabitants to almost every purpose of life. It serves to make hedges for enclosures; its trunk supplies beams for the roofs of houses, and its leaves are used instead of tiles. From this plant they make their thread, needles, and various articles of clothing and cordage; whilst from its juices they manufacture wine, sugar and vinegar. Some parts of it they eat, and others they apply in medicine. The juice of the aloes was formerly used in Eastern countries, in embalming, to preserve dead bodies from putrefaction; and, as the resinous part of this juice is not soluble in water, it is sometimes adopted, in hot climates, as a preservative to ships' bottoms against the attacks of marine worms. One ounce of it mixed with turpentine, tallow, and white lead, is sufficient for covering about two superficial feet of plank; and about twelve pounds is sufficient for a vessel of fifty tons burden. In proof of the efficacy of this method, two planks of equal thickness, and cut from the same tree, were placed under water, one of them in a natural state, and the other smeared with this composition. They were suffered to remain in the water eight months, and when, at the end of that time, they were taken out, the former was perforated in every part, and in a state of absolute decay, whilst the latter was as perfect as at first. In the East Indies, the juice of these plants is used as a varnish to preserve wood from the attacks of destructive insects; and skins, and even living animals are sometimes smeared with it for the same purpose. There is a tract of mountains about fifty miles north of the cape of Good Hope, which is wholly covered with aloes. Among the Mahometans, and particularly in Egypt, the aloe is a kind of symbolic plant; it is dedicated to the of fices of religion, and pilgrims, on their return from Mecca, suspend it over their doors, to show that they have performed that holy journey. ALPHABET. The usual or customary series of the several letters of a language. The word is derived from alpha and beta, the first and second letters of the Greek alphabet. Letters being, properly speaking, written marks for denoting the elemental sounds of which spoken language is composed, the number of letters in the alphabet of any people ought to correspond exactly to the number of elemental sounds which have a place in their speech. But in no language is this accurate coincidence found. Alphabets are sometimes defective, sometimes redundant; defective, from the want of distinct characters to mark all the varieties of elemental sounds; redundant, as well from the admission of more than one character to express the same sound, as from the introduction of characters, to denote not only the elemental, but also some of the compound sounds occurring in the language. Hence though the number of elemental sounds in use among different people, admits of no great diversity; yet in the alphabets of different nations, the number of letters varies considerably. The English alphabet contains twenty-six letters; the French twenty-three; the Italian twenty; the Spanish twenty-seven; the Dutch twenty-six; the Sclavonic twenty-seven; the present Russian fortyone; the Latin twenty; the Greek twenty-four; the Hebrew, Samaritan, Syriac, and Chaldean, each twenty-two; the Arabic twenty-eight; the Persic and Egyptian, or Coptic, each thirty-two; the Turkish thirty-three; the Georgian thirty-six; the Armenian thirty-eight; the Sanscrit fifty; the Ethiopic, or Abyssinian two hundred and two; and the Indian or Brachmanic two hundred and forty. The Chinese have written characters; but these cannot be called alphabetic, being signs not of sounds, but of ideas, and independent of any particular language; they are generally allowed to exceed eighty thousand. The Japanese, although they read the Chinese characters in their own language, have at the same time a species of alphabet peculiar to themselves, consisting of about fifty characters. Few subjects have given rise to more discussion than the origin of alphabetic characters. If they are of human invention, they must be considered as one of the most admirable efforts of the ingenuity of man. So wonderful is the facility which they afford for recording human thought; so ingenious, and at the same time so simple is the analysis which they furnish for the sounds of articulate speech, and for all the possible variety of words; that we might expect the author of this happy invention to have been immortalized by the grateful homage of succeeding ages, and his name delivered down to posterity with the ample honors it so justly merited. But the author and the era of this admirable discovery are both lost in the darkness of remote antiquity. Even the nation to which the invention is due, cannot now be ascertained. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Persians, the Indians, have all laid claim to the honor of this discovery; and each have named its inventor among the remote, and probably fabulous personages that figure in the earlier ages of their history. In consequence of this uncertainty respecting the author of alphabetic writing, and the high value and extreme difficulty of the invention itself, many have been inclined to attribute this art to an immediate revelation from the Deity; contending that it was communicated with other invaluable gifts from above, in remote ages, to the descendants of Abraham, and probably to the patriarch Moses, who was the author of the most ancient compositions in alphabetic writing that we at present possess. ALTAR. A place upon which sacrifices were anciently offered to some deity. The heathen at first made their altars only of turf. In subsequent times, they were made of stone, of marble, of wood, and even of horn, as that of Apollo, in Delos. Altars differed in figure as well as in materials. Some were round, others square, and others oval. All of them were turned towards the east, and stood lower than the statues of the gods, and were generally adorned with sculpture, inscriptions, and the leaves and flowers of the particular tree consecrated to the deity. Thus, the altars of Jupiter were decked with oak, those of Apollo with laurel, those of Venus with myrtle, and those of Minerva with olive. dinia, Spain, Bohemia, and other places, and the counties of York and Lancaster, in England. On account of its binding qualities, it is used in several mechanic arts, and in medicine. In dyeing, it fixes and brightens colors; it constitutes the basis of crayons; it gives hardness and consistence to tallow, in the manufacture of candles; and wood, soaked in a solution of alum, being incapable of taking fire, and answering the purpose, also, of excluding the air, is used for powder magazines. ALUMINE. In the nomenclature of modern chemistry, is the true argillaceous part of common clay. It is never found pure, in a native state. The height of altars also differed according to When pure, it is white, smooth, and of an unctuous the different gods to whom they sacrificed. Those feel, adherent to the tongue, and diffusible in water of the celestial gods were raised to a great height | With the sulphuric it forms alum. above the ground; those appointed for the terrestrial were almost upon a level with the surface of the earth; and, on the contrary, they dug a hole in the ground for the altars of the infernal gods. Before temples were in use, altars were erected sometimes in groves, sometimes in the highways, and sometimes on the tops of mountains; and it was a custom to engrave upon them the name, proper ensign, or character of the deity to whom they were consecrated. Thus, St. Paul observed an altar at Athens, with an inscription To the unknown God. AMALGAM. In chemistry, mercury united with a metal. The amalgam of mercury with lead, is a soft, friable substance, of a silver color. By washing and grinding this amalgam with warm water in a glass mortar, the impurities of the metal will mix with the water; and by changing the water, and repeating the lotion again and again, the metal will be farther and farther purified.-Boerhaave mentions it as one of the greatest secrets in chemistry, to bring off the liquor as clear as when first poured on the amalgam; which, he says, might afford a method of making the nobler metals, or procuring them from the baser metals. This philosophical way of purifying metals, may easily be applied to all metals, except iron and copper. The amalgams of gold, silver, tin, lead, zinc, bismuth, ALTITUDE. The height of an object, or its and copper, with quicksilver, are all white; and elevation above that plane to which the base is re- when the quantity of metal is large in proportion to ferred; thus in mathematics the altitude of a figure that of the mercury, they thicken into a kind of is the perpendicular or nearest distance of its ver- paste. All metals, except iron and copper, spontatex from the base. The altitude of an object is the neously unite and amalgamate with mercury; but elevation of an object above the plane of the hori-gold with greatest facility; silver the next; then lead zon, or perpendicular let fall to that plane, as a perpendicular let fall from a tower. In the Christian church, altar is a table set apart for the celebration of the Eucharist. The first altar mentioned is that built by Noah after the flood. The two principal altars of the Jews were the altar of burnt offerings and the altar of incense. Altitudes are either accessible or inaccessible. An accessive altitude of an object is that whose base we can have access to, so as to measure the distance between it and that station from which the measure is to be taken.' Inaccessible altitude is when the base of the object cannot be approached. Inaccessible altitudes may be measured either by geometry, trigonometry, optical reflection, or by the barometer. The altitudes of mountains may be determined best by the barometer, for as the weight of the atmosphere diminishes as we rise, the fall of the barometer determines the elevation of any place. The altitude of the pyramids in Egypt was measured in the time of Thales, by means of their shadow and a pole set upright beside them, making the altitudes of the pole and the pyramid to be proportional to the length of their shadows. The instruments now commonly used in measuring altitudes are the geometrical square, the quadrant, and theodolite. and tin; copper, and regulus of antimony, with difficulty; iron and cobalt, scarce at all; but with all other metals and semi-metals, mercury may easily be amalgamated. AMARANTH. A kind of flower which preserves its bloom after it is plucked and dried. On this account, poets make it an emblem of immortality. AMBASSADOR. A representative sent by one nation to another. Ambassadors are ordinary or extraordinary. An ordinary ambassador is one who resides at the court or seat of government of a foreign power, as an officer of state, to maintain a mutual good understanding, to be watchful of the interests of his own nation, and to negotiate the affairs that occur. This is a modern institution: two hundred and fifty years ago, all ambassadors were extraordinary, or such as were sent upon particular and pressing occasions. These latter are now generally called envoys extraordinary. Ambassadors of kings are not to attend marriages or burials, nor public or solemn assemblies, unless their masters have an interest in them. They are not to wear mourning, even for their own relations, because they represent the persons of their princes, and must resemble them in everything. Their persons are sacred both in peace and war: so that, according to the law of nations, if hostilities break out between two nations, the respective ambassadors are permitted to depart without molestation; and if, during the continuance of such hostilities, they are received into an enemy's country for the purpose of negotiation, they are to pass freely, and be treated with punctilious civility. AMBER. This appears to be a bitumen, of fossil origin. It is found in the earth, and on the seashore. It abounds more particularly in Prussia, which, on this account, once obtained the name of Country of Amber. Several hypotheses have been set up, respecting the nature of amber. By some it is supposed to be a resinous gum, oozing from pines, and falling on the earth, or into the sea; by others, a fossil formed in the earth, and washed ashore by the sea; and, by Dr. Girtanner, an animal product, nearly resembling wax. He relates, that the old pine forests are inhabited by a large species of ant, which forms hills of about six feet in diameter, and that it is generally in these ancient forests, or in places where they have been, that fossil amber is found. This substance is not hard, like that taken up on the shores of Prussia: it has the consistence of honey, or of half melted wax; but it is of a yellow color, like common amber: it gives the same produce by chemical analysis; and it hardens, like the other, when it is suffered to remain for sometime in a solution of common salt. Insects are found in amber; among these, ants are always the most general; circumstances that undoubtedly support Dr. Girtanner's opinion. According to this gentleman, amber is nothing but a vegetable, rendered concrete by the acid of ants, as wax is in oil, hardened by the acid of bees. Pliny describes amber as oozing from certain trees of the fir kind, grown in the islands of the Northern Ocean. The liquor, he says, previously congealed by the cold, falls into the sea, and is carried by the waves to Prussia, the nearest continent. From the various accounts that are given, it is certain, that amber is found in great quantities beneath the earth, and picked up on the sea-shores, in many parts of the world. In England, it has been found in clay-pits, and on the coast. Amber is of several colors; it is commonly yellow, varying from the lemon to the orange: in other instances, it is whitish, or somewhat inclining to brown. The yellow gold-colored amber is so transparent, and so susceptible of the highest polish, that it has been ranked among precious stones, and is applied to various purposes of elegance. It is made into all sorts of trinkets. A French writer of the present age observes, that amber was once fashionable in France, and fell into obscurity when costly metals and jewels grew sufficiently common to be subservient to luxury: but the medicinal virtues of amber, he subjoins, have not suffered the same fate. These, says he, will render it, in all ages, more precious than the brightest gems. It is prepared in the several forms of a tincture, an oil, and a salt, and recommended as a cordial and nervous medicine. It is a principal ingredient in the composition of all varnishes. As a cabinet curiosity, it is valuable on account of the insects, pieces of moss, &c. that are frequently found in it. The enclosure of these objects evidently proves that amber is originally in a soft state; at which time, insects, leaves, and other casual matters, are liable to adhere. This curious production of nature is inflammable, and, when heated, yields a strong and bituminous odour. Its most extraordinary properties are those of attracting, after it has been exposed to a slight friction, straws, and other surrounding objects; and of producing sparks of fire, visible in the dark. Many thousand years before the science of electricity had entered the mind of man, these surprising qualities were known to exist in amber, and hence the Greeks called it electrum. The Romans, supposing it to be a vegetable juice, named it succinum. By the Arabs, it is denominated ambra, whence the French write it ambre, and the English, amber. AMBERGRIS. A concrete, bituminous substance, of a soft and tenacious consistence, marked with black and yellow spots, and of an agreeable and strong smell, when heated or rubbed. It is found in very irregular masses, floating on the sea near the Molucca Islands, Madagascar, Sumatra, on the coast of Coromandel, Brazil, America. China, and Japan. Several American fishermen assured Dr. Schwediawer, that they often found this substance, either among the excrements of the Physeter macrocephalus, a species of whale, or in its stomach, or in a vessel near the stomach. The medical qualities of ambergris are stomachic, cordial, and antispasmodic. AMEN. A Hebrew word, originally signifying verily, truly, has been transferred from the religious language of the Jews to that of Christians. He who pronounced the blessings at the close of the service in the Jewish synagogues, was answered by the Jewish audience with the word amen. Also, in the religious assemblies of the first Christians, the prayer made by the eldest of the worshippers, or by a teacher, was concluded by the people with this word. Public prayers are still often concluded with an amen. AMETHYST. Purple Quartz, or Violet Crystal. Plutarch says the amethyst takes its name from its color, which according to him, resembles wine mixed with water. The oriental kind, which is the scarcest and most valuable, is of a dove color, and extremely hard. The German is of a violet color. There are beautiful ones found in the Pyrenees, and in the mountains of Auvergne. The amethyst is similar in its constituents to sapphire, except that it contains also manganese. The occidental Amethyst consists merely of rock crystal colored with iron. This stone is not very hard, and may be cut with a leaden wheel, smeared with emery moistened in water. It is polished on a pewter wheel with tripoli. It is easily engraven on, either in basso or alto relievo. AMIANTHUS. An incombustible mineral flax, which may be drawn into threads and wove into cloth. It is mostly found among rocks. AMMON. The title under which Jupiter was worshipped in Libyia, where a temple was erected to him, from which oracles were delivered for many ages. AMMONIA. The volatile alkali is called am- monia. gen; and, is distinguished from the other alkalies by its pungent smell, and great degree of volatility. It seems to owe its origin to animal and vegetable decomposition. It is used as a stimulant, usually in the form of smelling-bottles, and also by bakers, to raise their bread lighter and quicker than by yeast alone. AMMONIAC SAL. The salt so called, is a combination of marine acid with volatile alkali. It was so termed by the ancients, because they received it from that part of Lybia in which the temple of Jupiter Ammon was situated; or from Ammonia, one of the Cyreniac territories. Native sal ammoniac is found in the vicinity of burning mountains, but is never employed medicinally, as it is always mixed with arsenic. That which we use in this country, is prepared from the volatile alkali of bones, soot, pit-coal, and other substances to which the vitriolic acid is added. The taste of sal ammoniac is penetrating, acrid, and urinous. AMMUNITION. This word properly signifies guns, powder, and ball, though it is sometimes employed to denote all kinds of military stores. According to some authors, it is derived from amonitio, a barbarous Latin word, which signifies subsistence; and, others suppose it to come from munitio, a fortification. equally well in air or water; such as the phocæ, or seal tribe, frogs, lizards, crocodiles, eels, water serpents, and snakes. They are remarkable for their tenacity of life; some will continue to move, even when the head is cut off. AMPHITHEATRE. Among the remains of antiquity, a building in which all the spectators, by being ranged in a circular form, had equally open view of the show. These shows were generally of a barbarous nature, like the modern bull-fights in Spain, cock-fighting in England, and leopardbaiting at Calcutta, or Bengal. AMPLITUDE. An arch of the horizon, intercepted between the east or west points and the centre of the sun or stars at their rising and setting. It is called ortive, or eastern amplitude, when the star is rising; and occiduous, or western, when the star is setting. AMPUTATION. That operation, in surgery, by which a member is separated from the body, according to the rules of the science. Though the medical art endeavors to prevent the necessity of amputation, yet many cases arise in which it is absolutely necessary, in order to save the life of the patient. It may be considered as one of the great victories which science and skill have gained over barbarism. AMNESTY. This, in law, is an act of obliv-There is no decisive evidence that Hippocrates ever ion; the entire freedom from penalty, granted to those who have been guilty of any neglect or crime, usu- | ally on condition that they return to their duty within a certain period. An amnesty is often declared in case of the rebellion of whole districts or countries, because it is not possible to exercise on them the severity of the law, and it is often considered sufficient to punish the leaders. In domestic disturbances and civil wars, oblivion of the past is a necessary prelude to peace. But amnesties are often only deceitful assurances, of which modern history affords many instances. The amnesty, or religious peace of 1570, in France, was followed, in 1572, by the shocking spectacle of a government causing a part of its subjects to be murdered. Allusion is here made to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The French revolution is rich in amnesties; the victorious party promising them to their opponents, or securing themselves in this way from punishment. At the restoration, a formal amnesty was not thought expedient; but, all prosecutions on account of political offences were forbidden. Notwithstanding his abdication, Napoleon Bonaparte considered those who had conspired, in 1814, to overturn his throne, as state traitors, and, in the following year at Lyons, granted them an amnesty, with the exception of thirteen persons only not included in it. Prince Talleyrand was one of these thirteen excluded from the amnesty. And at the second restoration, in 1816, all who had taken an immediate part in the usurpation of Bonaparte were pardoned, with the exception of Marshal Ney, Savalette, Bertrand, and sixteen others. At the same time, the king was authorised to banish from France, the various members of the Bonaparte family; all who had taken office in the usurpation; and all who had voted for the death of Louis XVI. performed this operation. Celsus, who lived under Tiberius, has left a short description of the mode of amputating gangrenous limbs. Paulus Ægineta, about eight centuries afterwards, suggests little inprovement. The Arabians seem to have made little progress in the art of suppressing the bleeding after the amputation, which was still the most important desideratum. The greatest improvements were introduced by Pari, a French surgeon, in the sixteenth century, since whose time amputation has been performed with much skill among all civilized nations, and in the latest times, with a boldness at which former ages would have shuddered, and with great precision and success. The late wars in Europe have advanced this branch of the surgical art, perhaps, more than any former period, by the number and variety of the cases requiring amputation, which they have presented. Increasing knowledge of anatomy has continually increased the boldness of the operator. AMULET. A piece of stone, metal, or other substance, marked with certain figures or characters, which people wear about them as a protection against diseases and enchantments. The name, as well as the thing itself, is derived from the East. The word comes from the Arabic hamail, something hung round the neck. Among the Turks, and many people of central Asia, every individual thinks an amulet necessary to secure him from harm. With the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans they were frequently found. The Jews had many superstitious notions about amulets; and, by them were introduced into Modern Europe. The early Christians also were accustomed to wear amulets. Christian amulets had on them some symbol of the Redeemer; the figure of the cross; particular passages of scripture; the relics of martyrs; or images AMPHIBIA. A class of animals which live of the saints. It is almost needless to mention, that such superstitions are but little known to have influence, at the present day, with persons favored with the increasing light of science and of Christianity. The philosopher and the enlightened Christian are now induced to ascribe to a prudent use of natural means that security against danger, which was formerly supposed to come from the use of an amulet. ANAGRAM. A transposition of the letters of a word or sentence, in such a manner as to form another. Thus evil is an anagram of live. Tone is an anagram of note. In former times, such plays of ingenuity were popular, and we frequently find, in old inscriptions, the year and date indicated by means of an anagram. Calvin, in the title of his Institutions, calls himself Alcuinus, by an anagram of his name Calvinus. Of the letters which compose the words, Revolution Francaise, after taking away those which make the word veto, the following sentence has been formed; Un Corse la finira; the meaning of which is, a Corsican shall finish it. The question of Pilate Quid est veritas? gives the anagram— Est vir qui adest. Dr. Burney's anagram of Horatio Nelson is one of the happiest-Honor est a Nilo. ANALOGY. In philosophy, analogy is a certain relation and agreement between two or more things, which in other respects are entirely different. There is likewise an analogy between things that have some conformity or resemblance to one another; for example, between animals and plants; but the analogy is still stronger between two different species of certain animals. Analogy enters much into all our reasoning, and serves to explain and illustrate. A great part of our philosophy, indeed, has no other foundation than analogy. It is natural to mankind to judge of things less known, by some similitude, real or imaginary, between thein and things more familiar or better known. And where the things compared have really a great similitude in their nature, when there is reason to think that they are subject to the same laws, there may be a considerable degree of probability in conclusions drawn from analogy. Thus we may observe a very great similitude between this earth which we inhabit, and the other planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. They all revolve round the sun, as the earth does, although at different distances, and in different periods. They all borrow their light from the sun, as the earth does. Several of them are known to revolve round their axes like the earth, and, by that means, must have a like succession of day and night. Some of them have moons, that serve to give them light in the absence of the sun, as our moon does to us. They are all, in their motions, subject to the same law of gravitation, as the earth is. From all this similitude, it is not unreasonable to think, that those planets may, like our earth, be the habitation of various orders of living creatures. There is some probability in this conclusion from analogy. But it ought to be observed, that, as this kind of reasoning can afford only probable evidence at best; so, unless great caution be used, we are apt to be led into error by it. To give an instance of this: Anatomists, in ancient ages, seldom dissected human bodies; but very of ten the bodies of those quadrupeds whose internal structure was thought to approach nearest to that of the human body. Modern anatomists have discovered many mistakes the ancients were led into, by their conceiving a greater similitude between the structure of men and of some beasts, than there is in reality. ANALYSIS. The separation of a compound body into its constituent parts; a resolving; as, an analysis of water, air or oil, to discover its elements. This is what is called chemical analysis. Indeed, to analyze bodies, or resolve them into their component parts, is the chief object of chemistry. In literature, analysis is used for a kind of syllabus, or table of the principal heads or articles, of a continued discourse, disposed in their natural order and dependency. Analyses are more scientifical than alphabetical indexes; but they are less used, as being more intricate. Analysis is likewise used for a brief, but methodical, illustration of the principles of a science; in which sense it is nearly synonymus with what we otherwise call a synopsis. In logic, analysis signifies the method of tracing things backward to their source, and of resolving knowledge into its original principles. This is also called the method of resolution; and stands opposed to the synthetic method, or that of composition. The art of logical analysis consists principally in combining our perceptions, classing them together with address, and contriving proper expressions for conveying our thoughts, and representing their several divisions, classes, and relations. In mathematics, analysis is properly the method of resolving problems by means of algebraical equations; whence we often find that these two words, analysis and algebra, are used as synonymous. Analysis, under its present improvements, must be allowed the apex or height of all human learning. It is this method which furnishes us with the most perfect examples of the art of reasoning; gives the mind an uncommon readiness at deducing and discovering, from a few data, things unknown; and, by using signs for ideas, presents things to the imagination, which otherwise seemed out of the sphere. By this, geometrical demonstrations may be greatly abridged, and a long series of argumentations, wherein the mind cannot, without its utmost effort and attention, discover the connexion of ideas, are hereby converted into sensible signs, and the several operations required therein effected by the combination of those signs. But, what is more extraordinary, by means of this art, a number of truths are frequently expressed by a single line, which, in the common way of explaining and demonstrating things, would fill whole volumes. Thus, by mere contemplation of one single line, whole sciences may be sometimes learned in a few minutes time, which otherwise could scarce be attained in many years. ANATHEMA. This word is the form of excommunication from the church. Hence, to pronounce the anathema, or to anathematize, means, in the Roman Catholic church, to excommunicate the living from the church, and the dead from salvation. How important an instrument of spiritual power the anathema was, in the hands of the popes, in the middle ages, how much disorder they gave rise to, and how little they have been regarded in |