was represented in April, and may have given occasion to the custom of sending on fruitless errands, and other tricks practised at this season. The phrase of "sending a man from Pilate to Herod" is common in Germany, to signify sending about unnecessarily. The reason of choosing the first of April for the exhibition of this scene was, that the feast of Easter frequently falls in this month, and the events connected with this period of the life of Jesus would naturally afford subjects for the spectacles of the season. The tricks of the first of April may, however, be the remains of some Roman custom derived from the East, and spread over Europe, like so many other customs, by these conquerors. In France, the unlucky party who may be fooled is called un poisson or poison (mischief) d'Avril. In the north of Scotland, he is called a gowk, which signifies, in the Scotch dialect, a cuckoo.-One of the best tricks of this description is that of Rabelais, who, being at Marseilles without money, and desirous of going to Paris, filled some phials with brick-dust or ashes, labelled them as containing poison for the royal family of France, and put them where he knew they would be discovered. The bait took, and he was conveyed as a traitor to the capital, where the discovery of the jest occasioned universal mirth.

A PRIORI; the opposite of a posteriori. To judge or prove any thing a priori, means to do it on grounds or reasons preceding actual knowledge, or independent of it. Mathematical proofs, e. g., are a priori. On the contrary, judgments or proofs a posteriori are founded on knowledge before acquired, like the conclusions of natural history, and all experimental science.

APRON, in ship-building; a piece of curved timber fixed behind the lower part of the stem, iminediately above the foremost end of the keel.

APSIDES. The orbits of the planets and comets are ellipses, in one of the foci of which is the sun. In the same way the satellites move round their planets. The nearest point of the ellipse from that focus, or the lower apsis (Greek, as), is called, in the orbits of the planets and comets, perihelion; the farthest point, or the higher apsis, is called aphelion. In the orbit of our moon, the corresponding terms are perigee and apogee. The straight line which joins the apsides, or the transverse axis of the ellipse, is called the line of the apsides. It moves slowly forward in the direction of the planet's

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course. Therefore, if the earth sets out from the apogee, it must make more than a whole revolution in its orbit before it returns to the same point. The time which it employs in so doing is called an anomalistical year. It is, therefore, longer than a tropical one. (See Year.)

APULEIUS, A. Lucius, born at Madaura, in Africa, towards the end of the reign of Adrian, descended from respectable ancestors, and flourished about the middle, and in the latter half, of the 2d century, He studied at Carthage, became acquainted with Greek literature at Athens, particularly with the Platonic philosophy, and thence went to Rome, where, he himself says, he learned the Latin language without a teacher, by great exertions,-a circumstance not to be overlooked, in judging his style. To satisfy his thirst for knowledge, he performed tedious journeys, in which he was initiated into various mysteries; again lived some time at Rome; studied law; returned, finally, to his own country; married a rich widow, and was much respected.-A. was of an ardent and active spirit, with an uncommon share of wit, though much devoted to religious mysticism and magic. His Golden Ass, a romance in 11 books, contains wit, humor, powerful satire, and much poetical merit. He drew the materials from Lucian. The finest part of this work is the episode of Psyche, called, by Herder, the most tender and diversified of all romances. It is sufficient to render him immortal, even if he be, as some have supposed, only the narrator, and not the inventor, of the story. A. was also the author of many works on philosophy and rhetoric, some of which are still extant. His style is not pure. He is fond of numerous epithets and unusual constructions, and sometimes falls into a flowery and bombastic manner. The best edition of the Golden Ass, or the Metamorphosis ("golden" was a subsequent addition, to express the value of the book), is by Oudendorp Ruhnken and Boscha; Leyden, 1786-1823; 3 vols. 4to. Elmenhorst published the Metamorphosis, with a large part of the rest of A.'s philosophical writings, Frankfort, 1621.

APULIA. Iapygia, so called from Iapyx, son of Dædalus, comprehending the south-eastern parts of Italy, from the river Siris to mount Garganus, contains A. within its limits. In the most ancient times, three distinct nations dwelt herethe Messapians, or Sallentines, the Peucetians, and the Dauni, or Apulians. (See

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Niebuhr's Inquiry concerning the oldest historical Accounts of this Country, in his Roman History, part i, sect. 99, compared with Wachsmuth's older History of Rome, sect. 61.) The Peucetians were in the southern part, as far as the Aufidus; the Dauni in the northern, as far as mount Garganus. The old Latin traditions speak of Daunus, a king of the Apulians, who was expelled from Illyria, and retired to this part of Italy. According to the tradition which conducts the wandering heroes of the Trojan war to Italy, Diomed settled in A., was supported by Daunus in a war with the Messapians, whom he subdued, and was afterwards treacherously killed by his ally, who desired to monopolize the fruits of the victory. Roman history informs us of no other Apulian kings, but mentions Arpi, Luceria and Canusium, as important cities. Aufidus, a river of A., has been celebrated by Horace, who was born at Venusia, in this territory. The second Punic war was carried on for years in A. Cannæ, famous for the defeat of the Romans, is in this region. Puglia, the modern name, is only a melancholy relic of the ancient splendor which poets and historians have celebrated. It now supports more sheep than men.

APURÊ; a river of South America, which rises in the Andes, near Pamplona, in Colombia, and, after an easterly course of about 500 miles, runs into the Orinoco, of which it is one of the most important tributaries. Lon. 66° 36′ W.; lat. 7° 36′ N. APURIMAC ; a river of Peru, which rises from a lake N. of Arequipa, and afterwards, joining the Ene, with several other rivers, forms the Ucayale. Lon. 73° 40′ W.; lat. 10° 50′ S.

AQUA FORTIS; nitric acid in a diluted state. (See Nitric Acid.)

AQUA MARINA. (See Beryl.)

AQUA REGIA; the name given by the alchemists to what is now called nitromuriatic acid,-a mixture of nitric and muriatic acid, yellow, and possessing the power of readily dissolving gold, which neither possessed separately. (See Nitric Acid.)

AQUA TINTA; the art of engraving on copper, after the manner of Indian ink, by which happy imitations are made of figures that have been drawn with the pencil in Indian ink, bistre, sepia, &c., particularly those which are on a large scale. There are several sorts of it. In the first, after the outlines of the figure have been etched, finely powdered mastic 'colophonium) is sifted over the plate,

which is then warmed over coals, that the mastic may be melted. In this way, insensible spaces are formed between the particles of mastic, upon which the nitric acid is afterwards to act. The work then goes on as in the mezzo tinto, only that the scraper is used in this, and the pencil in that; and all the places where there is to be no work or shade, are covered with a thick black varnish, on which the acid does not act. The nitric acid is now poured on, and left to stand as long as is necessary for the lightest shade-about five minutes. The light shades are now stopped out with varnish, and the acid allowed to act a second time, and this stopping out is continued till we come to the deepest shades, which are bit in last. This method is best for historical and architectural subjects; but in landscapes, in which the trees require more freedom of the pencil, the second is used. In this, a good etching ground is spread over the plate, and covered, by means of a hairpencil, with oil of lavender or oil of turpentine, to which lamp-black is sometimes added. The oil softens the ground, which may be wiped off with a fine linen cloth, leaving all the marks made with the pencil apparent on the copper. Then, as in the first process, fine mastic is sifted over the plate, melted in and etched. This operation may be repeated many times, according as there are more or fewer tints in the original. By a happy union of both sorts, this style of engraving is carried to a high degree of perfection, and is particularly adapted to express the coloring of the air, where large surfaces are often represented of one tint. In France and Switzerland, the roulette is used a little wheel or roller of steel, with a rough surface and several prominences, which, when it is rolled back and forth on the plate, deepen the excavations made by the acid. They have roulettes of all degrees of size and fineness, to make deeper or more shallow impressions on the plate. From time to time, the particles separated by this process are removed with a scraper.-The aqua tinta mode was first introduced a short time since into England and Germany; and the English, particularly since Gilpin brought the art into notice, have adorned their literary works in this manner. (See Engraving.)

AQUA TOFANA; a poisonous liquid, which excited extraordinary attention at Naples, at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, the history of which, however, is obscure. Tofana, a

Sicilian woman, seems to have invented it. According to Lobat, after she had murdered many hundred men, she was strangled, although, on the discovery of her guilt, she fled to a convent. Keyssler, on the contrary, affirms that she was still alive in prison, 1730.-The drink is described as transparent, tasteless water, of which five or six drops are fatal, producing death slowly, without pain, inflammation, convulsions or fever. Gradual decay of strength, disgust of life, want of appetite, and constant thirst, were the effects, which soon changed to an entire consumption. That the exact day of death can be predicted, is a mere fable. The strangest stories, with regard to its composition, have gone abroad. A solution of crystallized arsenic seems to have been the chief ingredient, to which something else was added, probably to conceal the presence of it.

AQUEDUCT. (See Aqueduct.)

AQUAMBOE; one of the greatest kingdoms on the coast of Guinea, in Africa, stretching 20 miles in breadth, and 10 times that space in length from E. to W. The inhabitants are very warlike, and infest their neighbors much.

AQUARIANS. 1. Christians in the primitive church, who consecrated water instead of wine for the celebration of the Lord's supper; some for the sake of abstinence, others because they thought it unlawful to eat flesh or drink wine. 2. Those Christians, also, were denominated Aquarians, who used water instead of wine, at the celebration of the eucharist, for fear the smell of wine should discover them to the heathens.

AQUARIUS is the name of the eleventh sign of the zodiac, emblematical of the rainy season. The constellation of the same name contains 108 stars in the Britannic catalogue, and 119 in that pub

lished at Berlin.

AQUAVIVA, Claude, son of the duke of Atri, was born in 1542. He became general of the Jesuits in 1581, and died about 1607. (See Jesuits.)-There is another A., with the baptismal name of Ottavio, cardinal and papal legate at Avignon. He was renowned for moderation, wisdom and patronage of the sciences and arts. He was the particular friend of the learned Peiresc, and lived under Clement VIII.

AQUEDUCT (Latin, aquæductus); a conveyance of any kind made for conducting water. The Greeks did very little towards the construction of aqueducts and roads. The Romans, on the contrary, 27

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who were more persevering, and had abundant resources of men and money, made prodigious structures of both kinds. Some of the immense aqueducts of the Romans are still in use; some, in the state of ruins, are among the greatest ornaments of Italy. In other ancient countries, also, large aqueducts were built; e. g., under Sesostris, in Egypt; under Semiramis, in Babylonia ; under Solomon and Hezekiah, among the Israelites. The consul Sextus Julius Frontinus, who had, under the emperor Nerva, the direction of the aqueducts, has written a treatise on this subject,-De Aquæductibus Urbis Romæ,—and is of opinion, that they are the most distinguishing proofs of the grandeur of the empire. He mentions 9 aqueducts, which had 1594 pipes of an inch and upwards in diameter.-Aqueducts were either formed by erecting one or several rows of arcades across a valley, and making these arcades support one or more level canals; or by piercing through mountains, which would have interrupted the water-course. When the aqueduct was conveyed under the ground, there were openings at about every 240 feet. Some of the Roman aqueducts brought water from the distance of upwards of 60 miles, through rocks and mountains, and over valleys in places more than 190 feet high. The declivity of the aqueduct, according to Pliny, was 1 inch, and according to Vitruvius, a foot, in a hundred.— The censor Appius Claudius Crassus Cocus, the builder of the great road which was called after him, caused the first aqueduct to be built at Rome, the Appia aqua. Frontinus, as we stated, mentions 9, Procopius 14, and P. Victor 24 aqueducts; some of which were one, some two, some even three stories high, and many miles long. In almost all countries where the Romans extended their conquests, aqueducts were built; thus we find the remains of them in France, Spain and Asia. The principal Roman aqueducts now remaining are the aqua Virginia, repaired by pope Paul IV, and the aqua Felice, constructed by Sextus V. In modern times, that of Segovia may be compared with the most admired works of antiquity. At a recent period, there remained 159 arcades, wholly consisting of enormous stones joined without mortar. Louis XIV began an aqueduct, in 1684, near Maintenon, to carry water from the river Eure to Versailles; but the works were abandoned in 1688. This would have been, perhaps, the largest aqueduct in the world; the wnole length

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being 60,000 fathoms, the bridge being 2070 fathoms in length, 220 feet high, and consisting of 632 arches.-Aqueduct, in anatomy, is a bony canal or passage, in the os petrosum, supposed to contribute to the purposes of hearing.

AQUILA; the chief city of Abruzzo Ulteriore II, on the chain of the Apennines, with a population of 7500. It is the ancient Amiternum, and the birth-place of Sallust. It is of military importance as the point where several roads meet, and contains a citadel which capitulated, 1815 and 1821, on the first appearance of the Austrians. (See Abruzzo.) In 1703, it suffered most severely by an earthquake. Lon. 13° 25′ E.; lat. 42° 19′ N.

AQUILEIA, also AGLAR; in the time of the Roman emperors, a flourishing commercial city on the Adriatic sea, and the Timavus, in Upper Italy. Marcus Aurelius made it, A. D. 168, the principal fortress of the empire. It was the key of Italy against the barbarians, and, on account of its wealth, was sometimes called the second Rome. It was also the seat of a patriarch, whose diocese, in 1750, was divided into the archbishoprics Udine and Gorz, afterwards Laybach. In 452, it was destroyed by Attila. The inhabitants fled to the islands on which Venice was afterwards built. An inconsiderable city afterwards arose here, which now belongs to the Austrian kingdom Illyria (circles Trieste and Friuli). The inhabitants (1500) support themselves, chiefly, by a trifling fishery, and foreigners visit the place on account of the Roman antiquities to be found there.

AQUINAS, St. Thomas, a celebrated scholastic divine, descended from the counts of Aquino, in Calabria, in the kingdom of Naples, was born in the year 1224. He acquired the rudiments of education at the school of Monte Cassino, and was thence removed to the university of Naples. At the age of 17, he entered a convent of Dominicans, much against the wishes of his mother, who persevering in her wishes to recover him, the monks, anxious to secure so honorable an addition to their fraternity, determined to send him out of the kingdom to Paris. He was, however, arrested by his two brothers on his way, and, refusing to give up his intention, was shut up in a castle belonging to his father for two years. He at last, however, found means to escape to Naples, and, in the year 1244, was conducted by John, master of the Teutonic order, to Paris, whence he soon after departed to Cologne. At Cologne, he

studied under Albert, an eminent teacher of philosophy, who foresaw his future celebrity. In 1246, he visited Paris, in company with Albert, and, at the age of 24, became a preceptor, at the university of that capital, in dialectics, philosophy and theology, and acquired the highest reputation. Princes and popes held him in the greatest estimation, and he was invited by St. Louis, then reigning in France, to his court and table. On a visit to Rome, Aquinas distinguished himself by a neat repartee: being in a closet with Innocent IV, when an officer brought in a large sum of money produced by the sale of absolutions and indulgences, "You see, young man," said the pope, "the age of the church is past, in which she said, 'Silver and gold have I none.' "True, holy father," replied the angelic doctor; "but the age is also past, when she could say to a paralytic, Rise up, and walk.'” In 1263, he returned to Italy, when pope Clement IV offered him the archbishopric of Naples, which he refused. A general council being summoned at Lyons, in 1274, for the purpose of uniting the Greek and Latin churches, Aquinas was called thither, to present the council with a book, which he had written on the subject, but died on the way, near Terracina. After his death, the honors paid to his memory were prodigious: besides the title of angelic doctor, bestowed on him after the fashion of the times, he was called the angel of the schools, the eagle of divines, and the fifth doctor of the church; and, at the request of the Dominicans, he was canonized by John XXII, his tomb supplying the necessary testimony of miracles. His writings, which were held in the highest estimation in the next century, gave rise to a sect, called, after him, Thomists. They are exceedingly voluminous, amounting to 17 volumes folio. His principal work, Summa Theologie, bears a high reputation in the Roman Catholic church, and the second section on morals is universally esteemed. The latest edition of his works at large is that of Antwerp, 1612; but his Summa Theologia has passed separately through various editions. The resemblance, in thinking and writing, between Augustin and Aquinas is so marked, that it has been fancifully said. that the soul of the one had passed into the body of the other.-Another A., properly called Philip d' Aquino, a baptized Jew, acquired much reputation by his knowledge of Hebrew, which he taught at Paris, in the reign of Louis XIII,

as well as by his Dictionarium HebræoChaldæo-Thalmudico-Rabbinicum. AQUITANIA; the name of a Roman province in Gaul, which comprehended the countries on the coast from the Garonne to the Pyrenees, and from the sea to Toulouse. Augustus extended it to the Loire. Those who dwelt near this western coast were called, by the Celts, Armoricans, and were probably of Spanish origin, driven towards the west by the incursions of the Celts. They were actively engaged in commerce. In Aquitania the Visigoths established a kingdom, A. D. 412. Since that time, it has been sometimes a kingdom, sometimes a duchy; and, more lately, it has passed under the name of Guienne. At present, the ci-devant Guienne forms the two departments of Gironde, and of Lot and Garonne.

ARABELLA STUART; commonly called the lady Arabella. This unhappy and innocent victim of jealousy and state policy was the only child of Charles Stuart, earl of Lennox, younger brother to Henry lord Darnley, the husband of Mary queen of Scots. She was therefore cousin-german to James I, to whom, previously to his having issue, she was next in the line of succession to the crown of England, being the grand-daughter of Henry VII, by the second marriage of his eldest daughter, Margaret. She received an excellent education. Her proximity to the throne was the source of her misfortunes. Elizabeth, for some time before her decease, held the lady Arabella under restraint, and refused the request of the king of Scotland to give her in marriage to the duke of Lennox, his kinsman, with a view to remove her from England. The pope had likewise formed the design of raising her to the English throne, by espousing her to the duke of Savoy; which project is said to have been listened to by Henry IV of France, from a wish to prevent the union of England and Scotland. The detection of a plot of some English nobles to set aside James in favor of A., of which she was altogether innocent, ultimately proved her destruction; for, although left at liberty for the present, when it was some time after discovered that she was secretly married to the grandson of the earl of Hertford, both husband and wife were committed to the tower. After a year's imprisonment, they contrived to escape, but the unhappy lady was retaken. Remanded to the tower, the remainder of her life was spent in close confinement,

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which finally deprived her of her reason. She died on the 27th September, 1615, aged 38 years. She possessed talents of a superior order, and a very pleasing person. ARABESQUE, or ARABESK. (See Grotesque.)

ARABIA; a peninsula containing about 1,000,000 square miles, and 12,000,000 inhabitants; the most westerly portion of southern Asia, extending from 33° 30′ to 59° 30′ E. lon., and from 12° to 30° N. lat. By the inhabitants, it is sometimes called Arabia, sometimes Dschesira al Arab; by Turks and Persians, Arabistan. It lies between the Red sea and Persian gulf; bounded on the north by the great deserts Irak and Dschesira, on the south by the Arabian sea, and connected with Af rica on the north-west by the isthmus of Suez. Instead of the old divisions of Ptolemy,--A. Deserta, A. the Stony, or A. Petrea (from an ancient fortified place, used for merchandise, called Petra), and A. the Happy,-the more natural divis ion is that which distinguishes the coast, covered with aloes, manna, myrrh, frankincense, indigo, nutmegs, and especially coffee, from the interior, consisting of a desert of moving sand with thorns and saline herbs. The civil divisions are 5 provinces:-1. The country of Yemen, containing about 68,700 sq. miles, and 3,000,000 inhabitants, is governed by the hereditary caliph or imam of Yemen, who recognises the supremacy of the Turkish caliphate, and resides at Sana. In 1818, the viceroy of Egypt subjected Yemen, which contains Mocha, on the straits of Babelmandel. The tribute which he obtains from it is 2000 hundred weight of coffee. Aden, the chief gum-market, lies in ruins. 2. The province Oman, under the imam of Mascat, a seaport, containing 60,000 inhabitants, to which belongs, also, the island Socotra (which furnishes the best aloes), on the coast of Africa. 3. The province Lachsa, or Hadsjar, whose harbors, in the Persian gulf, are infested with pirates, has also rich pearl-fisheries. 4. The provinces Nedsched and Jemama, the original and principal country of the Wahabees (q. v.), or Wehhabites, with their chief city, Derrejeh. This country, or Central Arabia, has become very familiar by Mengin's Hist. d' Egypte sous Mohammed Ali, and a map of Jomard, 1823. 5. The province Hedsjas, on the upper shore of the Red sea. Here is the Holy Land of the Mohammedans, containing Mecca, Medina, &c. Not far from the valley of Moses are the remarkable antiquities of Petra and Jerrasch. The