Volume 1

The new complete dictionary of arts and sciences; or, an universal system of useful knowledge. The theological, philosophical, critical, and poetical branches / by the Rev. Erasmus Middleton ... the medicinal, chemical, and anatomical, by William Turnbull ... the gardening and botanical, by Thomas Ellis ... the mathematical, etc. by John Davison.

Date:
1778
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The new complete dictionary of arts and sciences; or, an universal system of useful knowledge. The theological, philosophical, critical, and poetical branches / by the Rev. Erasmus Middleton ... the medicinal, chemical, and anatomical, by William Turnbull ... the gardening and botanical, by Thomas Ellis ... the mathematical, etc. by John Davison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    deemed acceffary to liis crime ; but hot e contra. A fer- vant aflifting his matter to efcape, is reckoned an accef¬ fary ; alfo furnifhing others with weapons, or lending them money, &c. will make perfons acceflaries. Per- fons buying or receiving ttolcn goods, knowing them to be fuch, are deemed acceflaries to the felony. Alfo if the owner of ftolen goods, after complaint made to a juftice, take back his goods, and confent to the efcape of the felon, he becomes acceffary after the fa61. Accessory, a name given to a particular nerve by Dr. Willis. It belongs to the eighth pair, and arifeth by feveral filaments from both fides of the medulla fpi- nalis of the neck. ACCESSIBLE, fomething that may be come at, or approached to : thus, we fay, fuch a place is only ac- ceffible on one fide, Ac. With a quadrant you may take the admeafurement of all heights and diftances. ACCESSION, a term of various import: thus, among civilians, it is ufed for the property acquired in fuch things as are connefled with, or appendages of other things : among phyficians; it fignifies the fame with what is more ufually called paroxifm : among po¬ liticians, it is ufed for a prince’s agreeing to, and be¬ coming a party in a treaty before concluded between other potentates: again, it more particularly denotes a prince’s coming to the throne by the death of the pre¬ ceding king; and laftly, it is ufed by Romanifts for a pe¬ culiar way of eledting a pope ; which is, when one can¬ didate has got two thirds of the votes, the reft are in- rolled by acceflion. ACCESSIT, a term ufed in fome colleges abroad, with regard to the diftribution of prizes to fcholars who are the next in merit to thofe who have obtained the prizes. ACC IB, a name given by fome authors to lead. ACCIDENCE, a name given to a fmall book, con¬ taining the rudiments of the Latin tongue. ACCIDENT, in a generalfenfe, denotes any cafual event. Accident, among logicians, is ufed in a three¬ fold fenfe. i. Whatever does not eflentially belong to a thing, as the cloaths a mail wears, or the money in his pocket. 2. Such properties in any fubjefts as are not effential to it; thus whitenefs in paper is an acci¬ dental quality. 3. In oppofition to lubftance, all qua¬ lities whatever are called accidents, as fweetnefs, fbft- nefs, Ac. Abfolute Accident, in the Romifli church, an ac¬ cident which may polfibly fubfift, at leaft miraculoufly, without a fubjedl, which is unintelligible jargon. Accident, in heraldry, an additional note or mark in a coat of arms, which may be either omitted or retained, without altering the effence of the armour. Accident, among phyficians, is fometimes ufed for what is more ufually called fymptom. ACCIDENTAL, in a general fenfe, an appellation given to fuch things as happen by accident. Accidental point, in perlpeflive, that point in the horizontal line, where all lines parallel among them- felves meet the perfpe6tive plane. Accidental dignities and debilities, in aftrology, certain cafual difpofitions of the planets, whereby they are fuppofed to be either ftrengtliened or weakened. Accidents, in aftrology, denote the moll re¬ markable occurrences in the courfe of a man’s life : fuch are, a remarkable inftance of good fortune, a fignal deliverance, a great ficknefs, is’e. ACCIPITER, in ornithology, the name of a ge¬ nus of birds, whofe diftinguilhing charadteriftic is a crooked or hooked bill. This genus is fubdivided into three claffes, the parrot, the owl, and the hawk kinds. Among the Romans, the term accipiter fignified a hawk, and which, from its being very carnivorous, they confidered as a bird of bad omen. Odimus accipitrern, quia femper vivit in armis. Ovid. Pliny, however, tells us, that in fome cafes, parti¬ cularly in marriage, it was efteemed a bird of good omen ; becaufe it never eats the hearts of other birds ; intimating thereby, that no differences, in a married ilate, ought to reach the heart. The accipiter was worfhippfcd as a divinity bv the in¬ habitants of Tentyra, an Aland in the Nile, being con¬ fidered by them as the image of the fun ; and hence we find that luminary reprefented in hieroglyphics, under the figure of a hawk. ACISSMUS, in antiquity, implies a feigned refufal of what a perfon earneftly defires. Acissmus, in rhetoric, is a fpecies of irony. See IRONY. ACCLAMATION, a token of ]oy or applaule, whereby the public teftify their efteem and approbation. The word is Latin, acclamalio, and compounded of ad, to, or at, and clamo, to fhout, or cry aloud. The forms of acclamation, among the ancients, were different among different nations. The Hebrews ufed to cry Hojannah, and the Greeks etyaSn rexn, good fortune. Herodotus mentions fome magiftrates at Athens who were elected by acclamation, though it was not indicated by fhouts, but by holding up of hands. The Barbarians tellified their approbation by a confuted noife or clalhing of their arms. Among the Romans there were three different kinds of acclamation, that of the people, that of the fenate, and that of the afiemblies of the learned. The acclamations of the people were fhewn at the public entries of emperors and generals ; at the thews given by the magiftrates ; and at the triumphs of con¬ querors. Thefe acclamations were originally nothing more than the confufed flrouts of the multitude tran- fported with joy ; the Ample undifguifed expreffions of public approbation. But, under the emperors, this im¬ petuous motion, to which the people abandoned them- felves as it were by enthufiafm, became an art, and a ftudied harmony; a mufician fet the tune, and the people giving two chears, alternately repeated the fcrnl of the acclamation. The moft common forms were fc- liciter, longiorem vitam, annos fellces : thofe of triumph were verles in praife of the conqueror, the foldiers and people crying out at certain intervals, io triumphe. The acclamations of the fenate, though more ferious, had the fame end, that of honouring, and often flatter¬ ing, the prince. The forms generally ufed to teftify their approbation of his propofitions, were, omnes> omnes, esquum ejl, jujlum e/1. It was cuftomary for men of letters to recite their compofitions in the Capitol, or fome temple, before a numerous aflembly ; and the acclamations were there given nearly in the fame manner as at the public fhews. ACCL1VIS, in anatomy, is the name by which fome writers call the obliquus a/cemlens. ACCLIVITY, the rife or afeent of a hill, in op¬ pofition to the declivity or defeent of it. It is ufed for the talus of a rampart by fome writers in fortification. ACCLOYED, in farriery, fignifies pricked. Thus a horfe’s foot pricked in fhoeing, is laid to be accloyed. ACCOLA, among the Romans, fignified that a perfon lived near fome place. ACCOLADE, in antiquity, one of the forms of conferring knighthood, in which the prince laid his arms about the neck of the young knight, embraced him, and, fome fay, gave him a blow on tire cheek, neck, or fhoulder, in imitation of the form of maim- million among the Romans. ACCOLEE, fometimes fynonymous with Acco¬ lade, which fee. It is alfo ufed in divers fenles in heraldry : fometimes it is applied to two things joined , at other times, to animals with crowns, or collars about their necks, as the lion in the Ogilvys’ arms ; and laftlv to kews, battons, maces, fwords, Ac. placed faltier-wife behind the fhield. ACCOMMODATION, making two or more things agree with one another. Among divines, it is applying what is originally faid of one perlon, or thing, to another : thus the words of Ifaiah to the Jews of his time, are, by our Saviour, accommodated to his contemporaries, and by St. Paul to his. In law, it fignifies the amicable iffue of a debate, which is ef- fedted fometimes by mediation of friends, fometimes by lubmiffion, and fometimes by a divifion of tire fub- je£t in debate. Accommodation, or Accommodating, in geometry,