Volume 1

A general dictionary of arts and sciences: or a complete system of literature ... Poetry ... and theology / by ... James Scott ... The mathematical branches by Mr. Charles Green ... Naval and marine affairs ... by Mr. William Falconer ... Botany and gardening, by Mr. James Meader ... And the other branches of literature, by a society of gentlemen.

Date:: 1765-1766

Credit: A general dictionary of arts and sciences: or a complete system of literature ... Poetry ... and theology / by ... James Scott ... The mathematical branches by Mr. Charles Green ... Naval and marine affairs ... by Mr. William Falconer ... Botany and gardening, by Mr. James Meader ... And the other branches of literature, by a society of gentlemen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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AAD. of 2000 obfervations, and may be looked upon as one certain given point in the heavens, whereby aftro- nomers' may fettle the theory of the planets, as LONGITUDE, ; ALDER, Alnus, -in botany, a genus of trees that produces male and female flowers; the male are digefted into a long cylindrical loofe katkin, and each contain four fmall ftamina; the female flowers, which are connected. into a fealy head, are without petals, but have each an oval germen, on which are affixed two ftyles, extended the length of the fcales, crowned with a fingle ftigma: when the flower is decayed, the germen becomes an oval feed inclofed in the fcale of the. fruit. ‘The fort which is moft common delights to grow in watery places, where few other trees will thrive ; they are propagated by layers, or from branches cut about three feet long, and planted in February or March: this plant may alfo be raifed from feeds. ‘The alder is reckoned very proper to make hedges in moift places, and, the wood is of great ufe to turners, &c. The different fpecies of the alder are claffed by Linnzeus with the betula or bixch., See the article Brrcu. ALDER bearing black berries. See TRANGULA. ALDERMAN, the fecond degree of nobility among the Anglo-Saxons, and now the fecond de- ree in’ cities or corporations ; the mayor being the head, the alderman the next, and the common- ‘council the third, or loweft degree, ‘The word is derived from the Saxon earlder- man; that is, afenior, or alderman, which, by de- grees, came to ftand for perfons of the greateft diftinétion, becaufe fuch were chofen to difcharge the higheft offices, being thofe whofe long expe- rience rendered them moft capable, and whofe birth. and. fortune made them moft confpicuous; and as they were generally intrufted with the government of the counties, inftead of faying the. governor, it was faid the earlderman of fuch a county ; and by degrees this word came to fignify the governor of a county, or city. While the heptarchy lafted,, thefe officers were only during the king’s pleafure , _ at laft they were for life, at leaft for the moft part, After the Danes were fettled in England, the title ‘of earlderman was changed into that of earl, and ‘however the fame dignity. or civil magiftrates of moft of our municipal or corporate cities or towns, who form a kind-of council, and regulate matters according to the po- licy of the place: fometimes they alfo. take cogni- zance of civil and criminal matters, but very rare- ALE limited, being in fome places fix, and others twen- ors, or chief magiftrates, who, at the expirationof their mayoralty, devolve again into aldermen, An alderman ought to be an inhabitant of the place, and refident where he is chofe;. and if he removes, he is incapable of doing his duty in the government of the place, for which he may be dis- franchifed. ALE, a fermented liquor obtained from an in-, fufion of malt, and differing only from beer in hav- ing a lefs proportion of hops. ‘There are various forts of ale known in Eng- land, particularly pale and. brown ; the former is brewed from malt flightly dried, and is efteemed more vifcid than the latter, which is made from malt more highly dried or roafted. Medicated Aus, thofe wherein medicinal] herbs . have been infufed, or added during the fermenta- tion. gill or ground-ivy have been infufed. It is efteem- ed abfterfive and vulnerary, and confequently good in diforders of the breaft and obftructions of the: vifcera. ALE-CONNER,, an officer in London, who. in-. ‘There are four ale-conners, who are all chofen by the common-council of the city. ALE-SILVER, a tax paid annually to the Lord- city. - defs in the city of ‘Tegea, the capital of his king- dom. tufks of the wild boar Calydon. daughter of Acheron and Night. See FurIEs. ‘The word is Greek, and fignifies envy. to be formed’in the ftomach, liver, or rather gall- attributed many fabulous virtues, a.cock. ALECTROMANCIA, imantiquity, a fpecies portions, in.each.of which was written one of the notice. taken of the grains picked up by the bird ; becaufe the letters under them being formed into a word, gave-an anfwer to the queftion. . ‘The word is Greek, and compounded of waey- Tp, acock, and warrese, divination, . %

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