terms of skepticism to which the philosophers of that denomination has continual recourse by way of explication or subterfuge. Their adversaries, the dogmalists, charged them with dogmatizing, and asserting the principles and positions of their sect to be true and certain.

AORTA. A large artery, called also arteria magna, arising with a single trunk from the left ventricle of the heart above the valves, and serves to convey the mass of blood to all parts of the body. It is divided into two grand trunks, distinguished by the epithets ascending and descending.

APANAGE. An allowance which the younger princes of a reigning house receive from the revenues of the country, that they may be enabled to live in a manner becoming their rank. It consists mostly in money, with the use of a princely castle and hunting grounds, attended frequently, with the right of jurisdiction over these domains.

APATHY. Among the ancients, this term implied an utter privation of passion, and an insensibility of pain. The Stoic philosophers affected an entire apathy. They considered it as the highest wisdom to enjoy a perfect calmness or tranquillity of mind, incapable of being ruffled by either pleasure or pain. In the first ages of the Church, Christians adopted the term apathy to express a contempt of all earthly concerns, a state of mortification, such as the gospel prescribes. Clemens Alexandriuus, in particular, brought it exceedingly into vogue; thinking thereby to draw the philosophers to Christianity who aspired after such a sublime pitch of

virtue.

APE. The name of a tribe of animals of the monkey kind, which are without tails, imitative, chattering, full of gesticulation, thievish, and mischievous. Like all the four-handed animals, the apes are destined to live among the branches of trees, and are especially adapted, from their size and strength, to occupy large forests. All of them have the power of assuming a nearly erect position, though on the ground this is by no means convenient, as they stand upon the outer edges, being unable to apply the palms of their posterior hands fairly against the soil, and require a staff, or other support, to maintain this attitude, except when they have been taught to stand erect by man.-They generally live in troops, and some of the species are said to construct a sort of leaves, as a defence against the weather. They defend themselves with clubs, and employ these weapons with considerable effect, even against the human race. They are frugivorous in a state of nature, but, from the resemblance of their teeth to those of the human species, it is very evident that their diet may be almost as various as that of man. Some of them, the gibbons, are very remarkable, from the exceeding length of their superior extremities, the arms being so long that the hands hang near the ground when the animal is in the erect position.

This singular conformation serves to adapt these creatures to their situations, in a manner which would scarcely be inagined, without having been witnessed. They spend their days chiefly upon the tops and branches of lofty trees, canes, and bam

boos, and, in passing from one to the other, are foreed to make great leaps. The advantage of their vast length of limb is then rendered evident, as the gibbons would be unable to cling with their hinder feet to a long, flexible branch, swayed in various directions by the breeze, were it not that they can maintain their position by balancing themselves with their long arms. On the loftiest branches of the gigantic eastern forest trees, troops of these animals are seen sitting balanced in perfect security, and some of the species at sunrise and sunset, scream forth discordant cries from such positions.

If any circumstances occur to disturb these orisons, the apes disappear with amazing celerity into the depths of the forest, springing from tree to tree, swinging themselves to great distances by their long arms, and catching as readily at the next object with the posterior hands. The orangs of Borneo attain to the greatest size, growing to be five or six feet high; and travellers speak of apes of a still larger size. They are represented, with justice, as terrible animals, and are endowed with unexampled strength of limb, one adult ape being more than a match for several unarmed nien.

APHELIUM, or APHELION. In Astronomy that point in any planet's orbit, in which it is farthest from the sun; being in the new astronomy that end of the greater axis of the elliptical orbit of the planet, most remote from the focus wherein the sun is. The times of the aphelia of the primary planets may be known by their apparent diameters appearing least; as also, by their moving slowest in a given time. They may likewise be found by calculation, the method of doing which is delivered in most astronomical writers.

APHORISM. A maxim or principle of a science; or a sentence which comprehends much in a few words. The term is seldom used but in medicine or law. We say the aphorisms of Hippocrates, the aphorisms of the civil law, or political aphorisms.

APIARY. This is a garden or place where bees are kept, and derives its names from apis, which signifies a bee. The ancient as well as modern writers on bees agree in recommending a southern aspect as the most proper for this purpose: as a general rule bee-hives should be placed in such situations as are little exposed to the wind, and enjoy as much of the influence of the sun as possible; as wind always retards the bees in their work, while the sun's beams invite them to it. Thus, though it be well known, that bees will thrive well in high and windy situations, a low one is obviously always to be preferred. In the vicinity of the apiary, there should constantly be abundance of flowers, from which the bees may collect their wax and honey. Mr. Bonner, a late writer on the management of bees, observes, that were a choice allowed him where to place his bees, it should be in an easterly situation, a hollow glen by the side of a rivulet. surrounded with abundance of turnips in blossom in the spring, mustard and clover in summer, and heath in the latter end of autumn and harvest; with a variety of other garden and wild flowers in their seasons. It is not, however, to be understood fron this, that bees will not thrive unless they are placed

in such an advantageous situation, as the contrary can, he says, be proved; for bees have thriven amazingly well in places where they were not within reach of any of the above mentioned flowers: but although they will do well in most situations, and fly far for their food, yet they will thrive far better when situated among or near good pasture, and surrounded with plenty of food. And Mr. Keys properly remarks, that the hives should be clear from the droppings of trees, and the annoyance of dunghills, long grass and weeds, as by these means insects are bred which are not only destructive to the bees, but which greatly retard them in the preparation of honey.

Great improvements may be made in providing plenty of pasture for bees, and as a rich corn country is unfavorable to their industry, the practice of other nations, in shifting the abode of their bees, is deserving of notice. M. Maillet, in his description of Egypt, informs us, that the natives of that fertile country annually send their bees into distant regions, to procure sustenance for them, when they cannot find any at home. About the end of October, the inhabitants of Lower Egypt embark their bees on the Nile, and in this extraordinary Apiary convey them to Upper Egypt, when the inundation is withdrawn, the lands are sown, and the flowers beginning to bud. These insects are thus conducted through the whole extent of Egypt; and after having gathered the rich produce of the banks of the Nile, are re-conducted home, about the beginning of February..

In France, floating bee-hives are very common. One barge contains from sixty to a hundred hives, which are well defended from the inclemency of the weather. Thus the owners float them gently down the stream, while they gather their honey from the flowers along its banks. A single bee-house, or Apiary of this kind, yields the proprietor a considerable income. Their method of transporting bees by land, is also worthy of our attention. The hives are fastened to each other by laths, placed on thin packcloth, which is drawn up on each side, and then tied by a piece of pack-thread, several times round their tops. In this state they are laid in a cart, which generally contains from thirty to fifty hives, and conveyed to places where the bees can collect honey and wax. Dr. J. Anderson, whose numerous and useful works in every branch of rural and domestic economy are so justly esteemed, in a paper communicated to the Bath and West of England Society, observes, that the bees are a very precarious stock, though extremely profitable where they thrive. During the frequent mild days of Winter, and the warm mornings of Spring, which are suddenly succeeded by a sleety rain, these creatures are roused from their torpid state; and being unable to obtain food abroad, they are obliged to consume and exhaust their stores, and to perish for want. And as the warmth of the weather, in Spring, invites them to search in vain for flowers affording them nourishment, they are often chilled by cold before they are able to return to the hive. To prevent such fatal accidents, Dr. Anderson is of opinion, that no method could be so effectual as that of placing the hives not in a warm southern exposure, but actually in an ice-house at the approach of winter. Here they may be kept till the spring has so far advanced, that no danger

is to be apprehended from bad weather. During the whole winter they will remain in a state of torpor, and require no food. As soon as the mild weather invites them to appear, they will commence their labors with vigor. The intense degree of cold which the bees sustain, without the least injury, in Poland and Russia, removes every doubt or anxiety, the Dr. thinks, concerning the safety of bees in a common ice-house.

APICIUS. A name famous in the annals of gluttony. There were three persons of this name, all of them renowned in the same line of excellence. The first lived in the time of the republic, the second under Tiberius, and the third under Trajan. Of these, the second was the most infamous. Seneca, his cotemporary, tells us, that he was a kind of professor of cookery, and that he infected the whole age in which he lived. Apicius was immensely rich; and is said to have spent in his kitchen eight hundred and seven thousand two hundred and ninety-one pounds. He searched every corner of the known world for luxuries; and, in order to increase the expense of his entertainments, had dishes served up to him every day, composed entirely of the tongues of peacocks and nightingales. He was equally nice in his choice of fish; and hearing that there was a particular species, of exquisite flavor, to be found on the coast of Africa, he equipped a vessel, and sailed from Minturnæ, in Campania, that he might have the pleasure of tasting them when new caught; finding, however, that they did not come up to his expectations, he returned in a pet, refusing to land on a shore which had so cruelly disappointed his hopes. Great as his fortune was, was yet inadequate to answer the demands of his voluptuous extravagance. Finding himself likely to run into debt, he was forced to examine the state of his affairs. now saw with dismay, that of his immense fortune, he had only about eighty thousand pounds remaining; and, after seriously calculating the consequences, he poisoned himself, in a fit of despair, that he might not run the risk of starving on that pitiful

sum.

He

APIS. The character of the honey bee, or apis, has been the subject of anxious investigation for ages; and unquestionably more singularities are exhibited by it than by any other insect, or perhaps by any other animal, hitherto known. A single female lays the foundation of a numerous colony; she produces eggs which will become males, females, and neuters or working bees; for the females and males are engaged in nothing but perpetuating the race, while the neuters collect the honey and fabricate the combs. By some unaccountable law, her impregnation cannot take place within the hive. If delayed beyond twenty days from the origin of her own existence, instead of laying eggs, which produce the above variety of her species, she will never lay any than those which will be hatched into males. In the natural state, where there has been no delay, she lays numbers of them, it is true; but invariably after having produced thousands that give birth to workers. Two queens cannot exist at once in the same hive; it is indispensable to the safety of the colony that one of them be destroyed; and in the bitterness of their combats, sometimes both become

victims of their mutual resentments. But without a queen the colony goes speedily to decay; the workers, however, possess the secret of converting a common worm, which would hence become one of themselves, into a worm which will become a queen, and the hive is thus preserved. The males are mercilessly massacred by the workers at a certain season, unless a queen be accidentally wanting, and then they are spared. The workers testify the greatest regard for the queen; some attend her wherever she goes, surround her, supply her with honey, and brush her limbs; others keep a vigilant watch day and night at the entrance of the hive; nothing is permitted to enter without due and cautious examination; others a reemployed in providing for the necessities of the young worms, in sealing the cells, or in building the combs. Our admiration of their art should rise still higher than it does, on reflecting, that these beautiful and delicate structures, which often yield to the slightest pressure, are all made perfect and complete in total dark

ness.

APIS. In Mythology, apis signifies a bull, held sacred by the ancient Egyptians and worshipped as a deity. Various reasons are assigned for the veneration paid to this animal. The bull, from its utility in husbandry, was consecrated to Osiris, the inventor of that art among the Egyptians; or, according to others, the soul of Osiris passed, at his death, into the Apis, where it continued to reside through a successive series of transmigrations. But the veneration paid to the Apis soon ceased to be symbolical, and the animal was worshipped as a real divinity. The apis was distinguished from other animals of the same species, by the following characteristics. He was supposed to be generated by lightning, or the influence of the moon. As this evidence of his divinity, however, was rather dubious, several external marks were added, to satisfy his votaries of his claim to adoration. His color was to be jet black, that the distinctive marks might the more evidently appear. These were a white square spot in the forehead, the figure of an eagle on his back, a knot like a beetle under his tongue, and, above all, a white crescent on his right side.

These marks, which stamped his claim to divinity, were without doubt, the contrivance of the priests. The Egyptians told Plutarch, that the mark on the side was produced by a touch of the moon, by which they probably meant, that it was produced by an instrument in the form of a crescent, by means of which they applied some caustic to the place; which burning off the black hairs, white ones succeeded them in the form of a lunette. As soon as a bull with these characteristic marks was discovered, he was instantly received as a god, throughout all Egypt; the most extravagant honors were paid to him; temples were built, and sacrifices were offered to him; and he was solemnly consulted as an oracle on all important occasions. The omen was reckoned favorable or unpropitious, according as he went into the one or the other of two stalls appointed for him. It was also reckoned favorable when he received food from the hand of the person who offered it, and very unfavorable if he refused it. Thus, superstition triumphed over reason and common sense, and the happiness of

human beings was made to depend on the appe tite or caprice of a brute.

The apis, at the expiration of a certain period, was drowned in the Nile-or in the fountain of the priests. When his death was announced, all Egypt was filled with lamentation. The priests went in quest of a successor, whom, however, we have no doubt, was already provided. Accordingly it was soon proclaimed, that apis was found; and the lamentations were succeeded by the most extravagant joy. It was during one of these paroxysins of festivity, that Cambyses returned into Egypt from his frantic and unfortunate expedition against Ethiopia. The public rejoicings ill accorded with the feelings of rage and disappointment which tormented the tyrant's gloomy soul. He summoned the magistrates of Memphis to give an account of these proceedings; and not believing their report, ordered them instantly to be put to death. The priests were next called, who informed him that the people were rejoicing because they had found their god. Upon this, the god was ordered to be produced; but Cambyses was astonished to see a calf brought forward as their deity; and being equally free from piety and superstition, he drew his dagger in a rage, and wounded him in the thigh. As immortality was not among the number of his attributes, the new god soon died of the wound; his priests were ordered to be whipped, and every one found celebrating the feast of Apis to be instantly slain.

There can be no doubt that the idolatry of the Israelites, in worshipping the golden calf, was in imitation of the rites of the Egyptian Apis. This idolatry was renewed under Jeroboam. When he wished to divert the revolted tribes from the custom of going up to Jerusalem to sacrifice, he set up two calves, one in Bethel, and one in Dan; and to these the apostate Israelites paid their homage.

APOCALYPSE. This in general, means Revelation; and, in particular is applied to one of the books of the New Testament. This book, according to Irenæus, was written about the year 96 of Christ, in the Island of Patmos, whither St. John had been banished by the emperor Domitian.

APOCRYPHAL. An epithet generally applied to certain books not admitted into the canon of the Old Testament; being either spurious, or not acknowledged as of divine authority.

APODES. In a general sense, this term denotes things without feet. Zoologists apply the name to a fabulous sort of birds, said to be found in some of the islands of the new world, which being entirely without feet, supported themselves on the branches of trees by their crooked bills.

APODICTICAL. Among philosophers, a term importing a demonstrative proof, or systematical method of teaching.

APOGEE. That point in the orbit of a planet which is at the greatest distance from the earth. The apogee of the sun is that part of the earth's orbit which is at the greatest distance from the sun; and, consequently, the sun's apogee and the earth's aphelion are one and the same point in the heavens.