2 THE KING OF FRANCE HAD FORMERLY THE RIGHT OF APPOINTING ABBOTS OVER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE MONASTERIES. THE TROUGH IN WHICH THE ORE IS WASHED IN MINES IS CALLED ABACUS, MAJOR. ABA] The Scientific and Literary Treasury ; were also other inventions similarly denominated; viz. ABACUS PYTHAGORICUS, a multiplication table, invented by Pythagoras; and ABACUS LOGISTICUS, a rectangled triangle, whose sides, forming the right angle, contain all the numbers from 1 to 60, and its area the products of each two of the opposite numbers. This is also called a canon of sexagesimals. In justice to the present advanced state of science, and at the same time, as a sincere though feeble tribute to the genius of one of the most scientific men of the age, we are bound to notice in this place a most extraordinary automatic invention by Mr. Babbage, (infinitely exceeding the powers of the abacus of ancient arithmeticians,) the object of which is to compute and print the most difficult astronomical or navigation tables, &c., such as could not otherwise be effected without immense intellectual and manual labour. We hear that the machine is not yet quite completed, but the inventor asserts, and his assertions are verified by Sir David Brewster and other eminent men, that not only can the highest operations of arithmetic be performed by this stupendous engine, but it is capable of correcting its own errors, and, when corrected, it can print off the results, independent of human aid! By this it appears that the machine consists of two parts, a calculating, and a printing part, both of which are absolutely necessary to its entire perfection. In explaining his mode of accomplishing such great objects, the inventor observes, "that nearly all tables of numbers which follow any law, however complicated, may be formed, to a greater or less extent, solely by the proper arrangement of the successive addition and subtraction of numbers befitting each table;" and he then proceeds to shew, by a series of tables and explanations, the theory of his art, as well as the mechanical execution required for its performance. The limits of our work, however, are inadequate to give a fair illustration of so skilful a contrivance, but it may be sufficient to lead the enquiring mind to farther investigation. [We may here remark, en passant, that it is to this end that a book of reference, so extensive in its aim as the present, must of necessity be constantly directed. Wherever, by reason of its brevity, or the magnitude of the subject on which it treats, it cannot enter into the necessary details, it may still excite a laudable curiosity for more elaborate information, and thereby lead to its acquirement.] ABATEMENT, in law, signifies the rejecting a suit, on account of some fault either in the matter or proceeding.ABATEMENT, in heraldry, something added to a coat of arms, in order to lessen its true dignity, and point out some imperfec. tion or stain in the character of the person who bears it.In commerce, ABATEMENT means a discount in the price of commodities for money advanced by the buyer, or some other cause. AB'ATIS, trees cut down and laid with [ABB their branches turned towards the enemy, AB'BE, a French word, literally meaning AB'BOT, was originally the name of every aged monk; but, since the 8th century, it denotes the head of a monastery. In most countries they held a rank next to that of bishop, and had votes in the ecclesiastical councils. At present they are chiefly distinguished into regular and commendatory; the former being real monks or religious, and the latter only seculars or lay-men. These last, notwithstanding that the term commendam seems to signify the contrary, have the perpetual enjoyment of the fruits of their abbeys. Anciently the ceremony of creating an abbot consisted in clothing him with the habit called caculla, or cowl: putting the pastoral staff into his hand, and the shoes called pedales, on his feet; but at present, it is only a simple benediction. It was because certain abbots and priors in England, in right of their monasteries, held lands of the crown, for which they owed military service, that they obtained the title of LORDS, and were summoned, as barons, to parliament; and THE IDLE INMATES OF A MONASTERY ARE DESIGNATED ABBEY-LUBBERS. SOME PROTESTANT CLERGYMEN, IN GERMANY, STILL BEAR THE TITLE OF ABBOT, WITH THE RIGHT OF SITTING IN THE DIET OF THE STATES. THE ABDUCTOR OCULI IS ONE OF THE MUSCLES ARISING FROM THE ORBIT OF THE EYE, AND IS SOMETIMES CALLED THE SCORNFUL MUSCLE. ABE] BY THE JEWISH LAW, ABDUCTION IS CONSIDERED A CAPITAL OFFENCE. A New Dictionary of the Belles Lettres. from this custom the bishops, in modern times, have the same honour. ABBREVIATION, a contracted manner of writing words so as to retain only the initial letters. Such abbreviations were in common use with the Romans, as they are with us, to save time and space. [For a complete list of those most necessary to be known at present, we refer to "The Treasury of Knowledge."]-ABBREVIA TION, a mathematical term, given to the process by which a fraction is reduced to lower terms. ABBREVIATION, (in music.) One dash, through the stem of a minim or crotchet, or under a semibreve, converts it into as many quavers as it is equal to in time: two dashes into semiquavers; three into demisemiquavers; and so on. When minims are connected together like quavers, semiquavers, &c., they are to be repeated as many times as if they were really such notes. An oblique dash through the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines after an arpeggio, signifies that it is to be repeated; for quavers, a single dash being used; for semiquavers, a double one; and so on. ABBREVIATORS, officers who assist the vice-chancellor in drawing up the Pope's briefs, and reducing petitions into proper form, to be converted into bulls. ABDICATION, properly speaking, is a voluntary resignation of a dignity, particularly a regal one; and if he in whose favour the abdication was made, dies, or declines the offered dignity, the right of the abdicated prince is reverted. Involuntary resignations are, however, also termed abdications, as in the case of Napoleon's abdication at Fontainbleau. ABDITA'RIUM, or ABDITO'RUM, in archæology, a secret place for hiding or preserving valuables. ABDOMEN, that part of the body usually called the belly. It contains the viscera more or less immediately connected with digestion, and the kidneys which secrete the urine. By anatomists, the abdomen is divided into three anterior regions, viz. the epigastric, or upper one; the umbilical, or middle one; and the hypogastric, or lower one: there is also one posterior region, called regio lumbaris. ABDOMINALES, a numerous order of fishes, which have the ventral fins placed behind the pectoral, in the abdomen; as salmon, trout, herrings, carp, sprats, &c. It includes the greatest number of the fresh-water species. ABDUCTION, the crime of unlawfully taking away, either by force or fraud and persuasion, the person of another, whether of child, wife, ward, heiress, or woman generally. The word abduction is also used in surgery, to express a peculiar fracture of the bones. ABDUCTOR, in anatomy, a name given to several muscles on account of their serving to open or draw backwards the parts into which they are inserted. ABE'LIANS, or A'BELITES, a Christian sect which sprang from the Gnostics. They abstained from matrimony, but [ABO adopted the children of others, and brought them up in their own principles. ABELMOS CHUS, the seed of an Egyp tian plant, which resembles musk in its perfume, and is used by the Arabians in their coffee. ABERRATION, in astronomy, an apparent motion of the fixed stars, occasioned by the progressive motion of light.ABERRATION, in optics, the deviation of the rays of light, when reflected by a lens or speculum, whereby they are prevented from meeting in the same point. Aberrations are of two kinds, one arising from the figure of the reflecting body, the other from the unequal refrangibility of the rays themselves. ABEY'ANCE, in law, the expectancy of an estate or possession: thus, if lands be leased from one person for life, with reversion to another for years, the latter estate is in abeyance till the death of the lessee. It is a fixed principle of law, that the feesimple of all lands is in somebody, or else in abeyance. ABJURATION, a forswearing, or renouncing by oath in the old law it signified a sworn banishment, or an oath taken to forsake the realm for ever. In its modern, and now more usual signification, it extends to persons, and doctrines, as well as places. ÁBLACTATION, a sort of ingrafting trees, by leaving the graft on its proper stock, until it be fully incorporated with the new stock. Also, the weaning a child from the breast. ABLECTI, in ancient Rome, a chosen band of foreign troops, selected from the extraordinarii sociorum. ABLEG MINA, in Roman antiquity, choice parts of the entrails of victims, called also proficia, porricia, prosecta, and prosegmina. The ablegmina were sprinkled with flour, and burnt on the altar; the priests pouring some wine on them. AB'LUENTS, diluting medicines, or such as dissolve and carry off impurities from any part of the body. ABLUTION, a religious ceremony of washing the body, still used by the Turks and Mahomedans. It originated in the obvious necessity of practising cleanliness, for the prevention of diseases in hot countries; for which purpose it was made a religious rite; and by an easy transition of idea, the purity of the body was made to typify the purity of the soul: an idea the more rational, as it is perhaps physically certain that outward wretchedness debases the inward mind.ABLUTION, among physicians, is used either for washing the external parts of the body by baths; or deterging the bowels by thin diluting fluids. ABOL LA, a kind of military garment worn by the Greek and Roman soldiers. ABOMA'SUS, the paunch, or fourth stomach of ruminating animals, in which the process of digestion is completed. Ruminating animals, or such as chew the cud, have four stomachs; the first, is called THE ROMISH CHURCH RETAINS ABLUTION BEFORE MASS, AND SOMETIMES AFTER. FORMERLY, FELONS TAKING REFUGE IN A CHURCH MIGHT ESCAPE PUNISHMENT, BY CONFESSING THEIR GUILT AND ABJURING THE REALM. 3 2 THE KING OF FRANCE HAD FORMERLY THE RIGHT OF APPOINTING ABBOTS OVER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE MONASTERIES. THE TROUGH IN WHICH THE ORE IS WASHED IN MINES IS CALLED ABACUS, MAJOR. ABA] The Scientific and Literary Treasury ; were also other inventions similarly denominated; viz. ABACUS PYTHAGORICUS, a multiplication table, invented by Pythagoras; and ABACUS LOGISTICUS, a rectangled triangle, whose sides, forming the right angle, contain all the numbers from 1 to 60, and its area the products of each two of the opposite numbers. This is also called a canon of sexagesimals. In justice to the present advanced state of science, and at the same time, as a sincere though feeble tribute to the genius of one of the most scientific men of the age, we are bound to notice in this place a most extraordinary automatic invention by Mr. Babbage, (infinitely exceeding the powers of the abacus of ancient arithmeticians,) the object of which is to compute and print the most difficult astronomical or navigation tables, &c., such as could not otherwise be effected without immense intellectual and manual labour. We hear that the machine is not yet quite completed, but the inventor asserts, and his assertions are verified by Sir David Brewster and other eminent men, that not only can the highest operations of arithmetic be performed by this stupendous engine, but it is capable of correcting its own errors, and, when corrected, it can print off the results, independent of human aid! By this it appears that the machine consists of two parts, a calculating, and a printing part, both of which are absolutely necessary to its entire perfection. In explaining his mode of accomplishing such great objects, the inventor observes, "that nearly all tables of numbers which follow any law, however complicated, may be formed, to a greater or less extent, solely by the proper arrangement of the successive addition and subtraction of numbers befitting each table;" and he then proceeds to shew, by a series of tables and explanations, the theory of his art, as well as the mechanical execution required for its performance. The limits of our work, however, are inadequate to give a fair illustration of so skilful a contrivance, but it may be sufficient to lead the enquiring mind to farther investigation. [We may here remark, en passant, that it is to this end that a book of reference, so extensive in its aim as the present, must of necessity be constantly directed. Wherever, by reason of its brevity, or the magnitude of the subject on which it treats, it cannot enter into the necessary details, it may still excite a laudable curiosity for more elaborate information, and thereby lead to its acquirement.] ABATEMENT, in law, signifies the rejecting a suit, on account of some fault either in the matter or proceeding.ABATEMENT, in heraldry, something added to a coat of arms, in order to lessen its true dignity, and point out some imperfec. tion or stain in the character of the person who bears it. In commerce, ABATEMENT means a discount in the price of commodities for money advanced by the buyer, or some other cause. AB'ATIS, trees cut down and laid with [ABB their branches turned towards the enemy, so as to form a defence for troops stationed behind them. ABA'TOR, in law, one who enters into house or lands, void by the death of the last possessor, before the true heir. AB'ATURES, a term, with huntsmen, to denote the sprigs or grass thrown down by the stag in passing by. ABB, or ABB-WOOL, a term used by clothiers for the warp. AB'BE, a French word, literally meaning an abbot; but the character generally spoken of under the name of abbé has long ceased to be of any official nature. Before the Revolution, the term abbé designated a very numerous body of persons, who had little or no connexion with the church, except the apparent one which they derived from this title, but who followed a course of theological study, in hopes that the king would confer on them a real abbey, that is, a part of the revenues of a monastery. They were engaged in every kind of literary occupation, and exerted an important influence on the character of the country; nor was there scarcely a family of distinction in France wherein an abbé was not found in the capacity of a familiar friend and spiritual adviser. AB'BESS, the superior of a nunnery, or other religious community of women. She has the same authority as an abbot, but cannot exercise any of the spiritual functions. AB'BEY, a religious house governed by a superior, under the title of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys differ in nothing from priories, except that the latter are governed by priors, instead of abbots. The abbeys of England, at their dissolution under Henry VIII., became lay-sees; when no less than 190 were dissolved, the yearly revenue of which has been estimated at 2,853,000l.; an almost incredible sum, considering the value of money in those days. At present, an abbey is, in general, the cathedral or episcopal church of the see or diocese in which it stands. AB'BOT, was originally the name of every aged monk; but, since the 8th century, it denotes the head of a monastery. In most countries they held a rank next to that of bishop, and had votes in the ecclesiastical councils. At present they are chiefly distinguished into regular and commendatory; the former being real monks or religious, and the latter only seculars or lay-men. These last, notwithstanding that the term commendam seems to signify the contrary, have the perpetual enjoyment of the fruits of their abbeys. Anciently the ceremony of creating an abbot consisted in clothing him with the habit called caculla, or cowl: putting the pastoral staff into his hand, and the shoes called pedales, on his feet; but at present, it is only a simple benediction.It was because certain abbots and priors in England, in right of their monasteries, held lands of the crown, for which they owed military service, that they obtained the title of LORDS, and were summoned, as barons, to parliament; and THE IDLE INMATES OF A MONASTERY ARE DESIGNATED ABBEY-LUBBERS. SOME PROTESTANT CLERGYMEN, IN GERMANY, STILL BEAR THE TITLE OF ABBOT, WITH THE RIGHT OF SITTING IN THE DIET OF THE STATES. THE ABDUCTOR OCULI IS ONE OF THE MUSCLES ARISING FROM THE ORBIT OF THE EYE, AND IS SOMETIMES CALLED THE SCORNFUL MUSCLE. ABE] BY THE JEWISH LAW, ABDUCTION IS CONSIDERED A CAPITAL OFFENCE. A New Dictionary of the Belles Lettres. from this custom the bishops, in modern times, have the same honour. ABBREVIATION, a contracted manner of writing words so as to retain only the initial letters. Such abbreviations were in common use with the Romans, as they are with us, to save time and space. [For a complete list of those most necessary to be known at present, we refer to "The Treasury of Knowledge."]-ABBREVIA TION, a mathematical term, given to the process by which a fraction is reduced to lower terms.- ABBREVIATION, (in music.) One dash, through the stem of a minim or crotchet, or under a semibreve, converts it into as many quavers as it is equal to in time: two dashes into semiquavers; three into demisemiquavers; and so When minims are connected together like quavers, semiquavers, &c., they are to be repeated as many times as if they were really such notes. An oblique dash through the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines after an arpeggio, signifies that it is to be repeated; for quavers, a single dash being used; for semiquavers, a double one; and so on. on. ABBREVIATORS, officers who assist the vice-chancellor in drawing up the Pope's briefs, and reducing petitions into proper form, to be converted into bulls. ABDICATION, properly speaking, is a voluntary resignation of a dignity, particularly a regal one; and if he in whose favour the abdication was made, dies, or declines the offered dignity, the right of the abdicated prince is reverted. Involuntary resignations are, however, also termed abdications, as in the case of Napoleon's abdication at Fontainbleau. ABDITA'RIUM, or ABDITO'RUM, in archæology, a secret place for hiding or preserving valuables. ABDOMEN, that part of the body usually called the belly. It contains the viscera more or less immediately connected with digestion, and the kidneys which secrete the urine. By anatomists, the abdomen is divided into three anterior regions, viz. the epigastric, or upper one; the umbilical, or middle one; and the hypogastric, or lower one: there is also one posterior region, called regio lumbaris. ABDOMINALES, a numerous order of fishes, which have the ventral fins placed behind the pectoral, in the abdomen; as salmon, trout, herrings, carp, sprats, &c. It includes the greatest number of the fresh-water species. ABDUCTION, the crime of unlawfully taking away, either by force or fraud and persuasion, the person of another, whether of child, wife, ward, heiress, or woman generally. The word abduction is also used in surgery, to express a peculiar fracture of the bones. ABDUCTOR, in anatomy, a name given to several muscles on account of their serving to open or draw backwards the parts into which they are inserted. ABE'LIANS, or A'BELITES, a Christian sect which sprang from the Gnostics. They abstained from matrimony, but [ABO adopted the children of others, and brought them up in their own principles. ABELMOS CHUS, the seed of an Egyp tian plant, which resembles musk in its perfume, and is used by the Arabians in their coffee. ABERRATION, in astronomy, an apparent motion of the fixed stars, occasioned by the progressive motion of light.ABERRATION, in optics, the deviation of the rays of light, when reflected by a lens or speculum, whereby they are prevented from meeting in the same point. Aberrations are of two kinds, one arising from the figure of the reflecting body, the other from the unequal refrangibility of the rays themselves. ABEY'ANCE, in law, the expectancy of an estate or possession: thus, if lands be leased from one person for life, with reversion to another for years, the latter estate is in abeyance till the death of the lessee. It is a fixed principle of law, that the feesimple of all lands is in somebody, or else in abeyance. ABJURATION, a forswearing, or renouncing by oath in the old law it signified a sworn banishment, or an oath taken to forsake the realm for ever. In its modern, and now more usual signification, it extends to persons, and doctrines, as well as places. ABLACTA'TION, a sort of ingrafting trees, by leaving the graft on its proper stock, until it be fully incorporated with the new stock. Also, the weaning a child from the breast. ABLECTI, in ancient Rome, a chosen band of foreign troops, selected from the extraordinarii sociorum. ABLEG MINA, in Roman antiquity, choice parts of the entrails of victims, called also proficiæ, porricia, prosecta, and prosegmina. The ablegmina were sprinkled with flour, and burnt on the altar; the priests pouring some wine on them. AB'LUENTS, diluting medicines, or such as dissolve and carry off impurities from any part of the body. ABLUTION, a religious ceremony of washing the body, still used by the Turks and Mahomedans. It originated in the obvious necessity of practising cleanliness, for the prevention of diseases in hot countries; for which purpose it was made a religious rite; and by an easy transition of idea, the purity of the body was made to typify the purity of the soul: an idea the more rational, as it is perhaps physically certain that outward wretchedness debases the inward mind.ABLUTION, among physicians, is used either for washing the external parts of the body by baths; or deterging the bowels by thin diluting ABOL'LA, a kind of military garment worn by the Greek and Roman soldiers. ABOMA'SUS, the paunch, or fourth stomach of ruminating animals, in which the process of digestion is completed. Ruminating animals, or such as chew the cud, have four stomachs; the first, is called fluids. THE ROMISH CHURCH RETAINS ABLUTION BEFORE MASS, AND SOMETIMES AFTER. FORMERLY, FELONS TAKING REFUGE IN A CHURCH MIGHT ESCAPE PUNISHMENT, BY CONFESSING THEIR GUILT AND ABJURING THE REALM. 3 4 PERSONS WHO DERIVED THEIR INCOMES FROM IRELAND, AND DID NOT RESIDE THERE SIX MONTHS, WERE FORMERLY TAXED TWENTY PER CENT. ABR] THE MOST ABSORBENT SOILS ARE COMPOSED OF ALUMINOUS EARTHS. The Scientific and Literary Treasury; venter; the second, reticulum; the third, omasus; and the fourth, abomasus. It is inhabitants of Latium, when Æneas with ABORTION, in a figurative sense, any ABOUT, the situation of a ship immediately after she has tacked. ABOUT SHIP, an order to the crew to prepare for tacking. AB'RACADAB'RA, a term of incantation, formerly used as a spell or charm, and worn about the neck as an amulet against several diseases. In order to give it the more virtue, it was to be written as many times as the word contains letters, omitting always the last letter of the former, and so forming a triangle. But charms and incantations have had their day; and abracadabra, if used at all, now serves as a word of jest, like hocus pocus, and other unmeaning gibberish. ABRA'SION, in medicine, the corroding or wearing of the intestines, by sharp and acrimonious humours, or medicines. ABRAX'AS, or ABRASAX, in church-history, a mystical term expressing the supreme God, under whom the Basilidians supposed 365 dependent deities. It was the principle of the Gnostic hierarchy.-ABRAXAS, or ABRASAX STONES, are very numerous, and represent the human body, with the head of a cock, and the feet of a reptile. The name of Abrasax stone is, in modern times, applied to a variety of gems that exhibit enigmatical compositions, but have not the true characteristics of the Basilidians. AB'RAUM, a kind of red clay used by cabinet-makers to deepen the colour of new mahogany. ABREAST, side by side, or opposite to; a sea term, applied to two or more ships ranged together.-ABREAST of a place, means directly opposite to it. ABREUVOIR', a French word for a watering-place, or any place dug for rétaining water, as in camps. In architecture, the interstices between two stones to be filled up with mortar or cement are called abreuvoirs. ABRIDG'MENT, the bringing the contents of a book within a short compass. The perfection of an abridgment consists in taking only what is material and substantial, and rejecting all superfluities, whether of sentiment or style: in which light, abridgments must be allowed to be eminently serviceable to all whose occupations prevent them from devoting much time to literary pursuits.-ABRIDGMENT, in law, the shortening a count, or declara. tion: thus, in assize, a man is said to abridge his plaint, and a woman her de [ABS mand in an action of dower, if any land is 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. ABROTANUM, in botany, a species of plant arranged under the genus Artemisia; called also Southernwood. AB'SCESS, an inflammatory tumour containing purulent matter. ABSCIS'SA, the part of any diameter or axis of a curve line, cut off by a perpendicular line, called the ordinate. ABSCIS'SION, in rhetoric, a figure of speech, whereby the speaker stops short in the middle of his discourse, and leaves his hearers to draw their own inferences from the facts he has stated.In astronomy, the term abscission denotes the cutting off the light of the first of three planets when the third comes in conjunction with the middle one. ABSENTEE', a word of modern times, applied to land-owners and capitalists, who expend their incomes in another country. ABSOLUTION, a religious ceremony of the church of Rome, by which the priests assume the power to forgive sins. In the ancient Christian church, absolution was a judicial act, by which the priest, in the name of the community, invoking the favour of God, announced to the penitent his remission from ecclesiastical punishment, and readmission into the bosom of the church. The fathers of the Protestant church maintain, that God alone can forgive and deliver from sin; that a judicial power over the souls of Christians is conferred neither on priests nor teachers. AB'SOLUTISM, in matters of theology, a doctrine charged on the Calvinists; whereby God is supposed to act from mere pleasure, in regard to the salvation of mankind. Absolutism is the grand obstacle to an union between the Lutherans and Calvinists. ABSORPTION, the process in animated nature, by which the digested aliments or substances that support the body are carried into the blood. In chemistry, absorption means the conversion of a gaseous fluid into a liquid or solid, on being united with some other solid. ABSORB'ENTS, calcarious earths, or other medicines which soak up the redundant humours of the body. ABSORB'ENT VESSELS, are those which absorb the digested aliment, and carry the new matter, called chyle, into the system. They are either lacteal, or lymphatic. The chyle being white like milk, gives the name lacteal or milky to the vessels through which it is conveyed. The substance contained in the lymphatic vessels is the old and worn-out particles of the system, and such others as may have been received in it from the surfaces of the body: it is perfectly transparent, on which account it is called lymph, giving the name lymphatic to its vessels.-The term ABSORBENT VESSELS is also used by some THE ABSORBENT POWER OF WATER IS A TEST OF THE GOODNESS OF SOIL. THE TAX ON IRISH ABSENTEES WAS LAID ON AT THE BEGINNING, AND TAKEN OFF ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. |