transit and the instant of high-water are nearly equal; but from conjunction to the first quarter, and from opposition to the third quarter, the intervals are less than on the days of syzygy and quadrature, or the time of high-water is accelerated; while from the time of the first quarter to that of full moon, and from the third quarter to the new moon, the interval is greater, or the time of high-water is retarded. The time first mentioned (1h. 57m. 17s.) is that which is called the Establishment, at London; but Dr. Whewell recommends that the mean of the times (1h. 25m. 35s.),which he calls the mean, or correct, establishment, should be used in preference, because it differs less, on any day, from the vulgar establishment.

From Dr. Whewell's paper in the Philosophical Transactions' for 1836, we find that at Liverpool, when the moon passes the meridian at 30m. P.M., her hour-angle at the time of high-water is 11h. 18m. 16s.; when the hour of transit is 64 P.M., the hour-angle is 10h. 40m. 52s.; and when it is 11 P.M., the angle is 11h. 33m. 36s. The mean, or correct establishment, at that port, is 11h. 6m.

The acceleration and retardation of the times of high-water must evidently depend on the distance of the moon from the earth, and they are presumed to be proportional to the difference between the actual and the mean horizontal parallax of the luminary: this is called the parallax inequality of the tides; and La Place has determined, for the lunar tides, that the ratio of the daily variations, when the moon is in apogee and in perigee, is nearly as 2227 to 2899. He estimates the variation at 9m. 26 4s. for a change equal to one minute in the moon's apparent semidiameter at the times of conjunction and opposition, and at one-third of that quantity at the times of quadrature. Corresponding variations, but less in amount, take place with respect to the solar tides.

ACCENT (in Mathematics). To avoid the confusion arising from the use of many letters in an algebraical problem, and on other accounts, it is customary to signify different magnitudes of the same kind, or magnitudes similarly connected with the question, by the same letter, distinguishing these magnitudes from one another by accents. It is, therefore, to be understood that the same letter with two different accents may stand for magnitudes as different in value as those represented by different letters. The convenience of the accent may be illustrated as follows:-If a men can do b things in e days, and e men can do ƒ things in g days, we have the following equation :

afc=ebg.

Now, instead of using e, f, and g, in the second part of the question, let us use the letters which stood for the corresponding quantities in the first part, with accents; that is, let a' men do b' things in c' days. The equation then becomes

abc a' b c'.

In this new form of the equation some things are evident to the eye, to ascertain which, had the first equation been used, we must have had recourse to the question itself. For instance, that if a", b", c" express men, things, and days, as above, ab" c=a" b c", only placing two accents now where there was one before. In many investigations, the judicious use of accents gives a symmetry to the processes and expressions which could scarcely be otherwise obtained.

For the unmathematical reader, we may illustrate the use of accents in the following way :-Let us suppose a bookcase to consist of four rows of shelves, each divided into six compartments. If we call the six compartments in the lowest range A, B, C, D, E, and F, respectively, we might let the compartment directly over a be called G, and so on; but it would be much simpler and more easy of recollection to call this compartment a', the one over it in the third row A", and so on. Thus each letter would indicate a certain vertical line of compartments, while the accent would point out in which horizontal line the one designated is to be found. This is precisely the mathematical use of the accent. All quantities of the same kind, or which the problem places in similar positions, are designated, with regard to this question, by the same letter.

The accented letter a' s read a accented, or a dashed; a" is read a twice accented, or a twice dashed, or, more conveniently, though without much attention to idiom, a two dash, &c. When accents become too many to be used with convenience, the Roman figures are substituted for them. Thus a would be used for a""": at Cambridge, of late years, the i and v are an accent, and two accents joined at the base, which is very expressive. The Roman figures prevent air from being taken for a', or a multiplied three times by itself. The young algebraist should be cautious in his use of accents, until experience has taught him to do so with propriety.

ACCENT (in Music), signifies, in a general sense, emphasis, and is either grammatical or oratorical.

Grammatical accent is the emphasis, always slight, given to notes which are in the accented parts of a bar. If the first, fifth, and ninth notes of the following series are accented, the whole will be divided into bars of common or equal time:

If an emphasis be given to the first, fourth, and seventh notes, the series will divide into bars of triple time—thus:

Again, an entirely different effect will be produced by throwing the accent on the second, sixth, and tenth notes of the same series:

So important is this accentuation, that the above examples give really different tunes, although the notes are the same.

Oratorical accent is expression-is the accent dictated by feelingand not confined to any particular part of the bar. It is often required, though the composer may not have marked it by any sign, but left it to the knowledge and taste of the performer to discover and enforce. Commonly, however, the terms rinforzato (strengthened), and sforzato (violently forced), are used for the purpose, though these participles are too often thought synonymous. An acute angle () is also employed to indicate such emphasis.

The accented parts of a bar are such as naturally require some emphasis. In common time, the bar of which is divided into four parts, the first and third are accented, the second and fourth unaccented. In triple time of three crotchets, the accent is on the first; the second and third are usually unaccented; but a slight accent is sometimes given to the third or last note. In three-quaver time the accent is on the first quaver only. In six-quaver time, it is on the first and fourth quavers. Nine-quaver and twelve-quaver times, which are only multiples of the two former, and are seldom used, follow the same rule as those. The extremes, however, of slowness and quickness in times, though not altering their names, change the number of accented parts. [CLEF; TIME.]

ACCENT. When a child begins to read, he is apt to pronounce all the syllables of a word in the same key, with the same loudness and clearness, dwelling the same time upon each, and pausing the same time between each pair. He soon, however, learns that, in nearly every word there is one syllable at least which must be distinguished from the rest by a more impressive utterance, as in the examples respéct, respectful, respectable. If the word is a long one, it requires a second accent, as respectability, mánufáctory, immórtalise. On the other hand, when short words come together, one or two are often devoid of accent, as in the phrase on the top of a hill. When it is stated that the accented syllable is pronounced more impressively than the rest, it is not meant that all accented syllables are to be equally impressive. In the examples given above, the first accent in manufactory seems to be weaker than that on the third syllable; so the last accent in immortalise, and that attached to the prepositon on, among the six monosyllables, on the top of a hill, are comparatively very faint. The consideration of accent often determines whether or not we pronounce the initial h [See A or AN]; and, consequently, whether the article an or a is to be used before such a word. Upon accent depends the melody of verse, at least in modern languages. Of the ancient, particularly the Greek accent, it is better to abstain from speaking, because the opinions of people on the subject of Greek accent are both unsettled and contradictory. We may remark, however, that it is the practice of the modern Greeks, in which, in our printed Greek books, has the accentual mark (') on it; a very great number of instances, to put the chief stress on that syllable but, in doing this, they frequently and unavoidably neglect the stress on those syllables which we are accustomed to pronounce most emphatically. It is said that the principle of Greek versification is quantity, examination of the question, it would be found, that what the ancients or, as it is defined, the mere duration of a sound. Possibly, on a closer meant by quantity, was not very different from what we mean by accent. A writer in the Transactions of the Philological Society for 1855' (pp. 119-145), has put forward arguments to show, that to accentuate the writings of Homer, Eschylus, Thucydides, as is the present practice, is simply an anachronism, inasmuch as the accentual marks were introduced at a much later period for the very purpose of denoting the changes of pronunciation, when the distinctive vowels w and y were no longer trustworthy guides. It does not accord with the nature of the present work to enter into details; but we may be permitted to say, that the challenge to scholars contained in the paper has not yet been accepted. To return to the safer ground of our own language, the reader of our older writers, Shakspere and Milton, for instance, should know that the accents of words from time to time are changed, and even variable at the same time. Thus, the verb which verb being commonly distinguished by him in the same way as próduce we call triumph, was with Milton generally triumph; the noun and the spirit, was with him more commonly spirite, or almost sprite; and the noun and produce the verb are at the present day. What we call aspect, process, were aspect, procéss. Even in our time, advertisement has become advertisement. In these changes, the usual tendency in our language is, and has been, to throw the accent farther back from the end of the word. Such a tendency is, perhaps, inherent in all languages, and seems to arise solely from an endeavour to save labour by rapidity of utterance.

The symbols employed to denote accents are three, the acute ('), the grave ('), and the circumflex (^). We have hitherto spoken only of the first. The second in the ancient languages is said to denote the opposite to the acute, or, perhaps, the absence of it; while the circumflex, we are told, marks a compound of the two, first a rising and then a falling of the voice in the articulation of the same syllable.

These three little marks, as employed the orthography of the French , language, have a signification altogether different. As the French, like all other languages, is deficient in the number of characters used to mark the vowel sounds, it has been found convenient to employ the three symbols given above. Thus, the sounds of e, é, è, e, in the mouth of a Frenchman, differ not so much in point of accent as in the real articulation. Emphasis differs from accent, and is properly used with reference to some one word, or part of a sentence, to which a speaker wishes to draw attention by giving it a more marked pronunciation. [EMPHASIS.] ACCEPTANCE. [BILL OF EXCHANGE.]

ACCESSARY (from the low Latin accessorius or accessorium), is, in law, one who is guilty of an offence which is a felony, not as chief actor, but as a participator without being present at the time of the actual committing of the offence, as by command, advice, instigation, procurement, or concealment, &c.

A man may be accessary either before the fact, or after it. An Accessary before the Fact is defined by Lord Hale to be one who, "being absent at the time of the crime committed, doth yet procure, counsel, or command another to commit a crime." The offender's absence is necessary to constitute him an accessary, as otherwise he would be a principal; and he must have procured the commission of the crime, either by direct communication with the actual perpetrator, or by conveying his advice or command through some indirect channel. But the mere concealment of a felony intended to be committed, without actual instigation, will not make a man an accessary; as that is only a misprision of felony. It is an established rule, that where a man commands another to commit an unlawful act, he is accessary not merely to the act commanded, but to all the consequences that may ensue upon it, except such as could not in any reasonable probability be anticipated or feared: as, for instance, if he commands another violently to beat a third person and he beats him so that he dies, the person giving the command is guilty as accessary to the murder consequent upon the act, notwithstanding that it may never have been his intention that a crime of so deep a dye should be committed. But a man will not be guilty as accessary before the fact if he command another to kill A, and he kills B, because the particular crime he contemplated has never been completed. It is otherwise where the directions have been substantially pursued, although the crime may not have been committed precisely in the manner in which it was commanded to be done, as where a murder is effected by means of stabbing instead of poisoning.

An Accessary after the Fact is one who, knowing a man to have committed a felony, receives, harbours, or assists him. In general, any assistance given to a felon to hinder his being apprehended, tried, or suffering punishment, as by affording him the means to escape the pursuit of justice, will constitute the assister an accessary after the fact; but it is not so if the assistance given have no such tendency, as when clothes or necessaries are supplied to a felon in gaol. Although any act done to enable the criminal to escape the vengeance of the law will make a man guilty as accessary after the fact, a mere omission to apprehend him, without giving positive assistance, will not have that effect. Also, if the crime be not completed, at the time of the relief or assistance afforded, the reliever or assister is not judged an accessary to it; as where a mortal wound has been given, but the murder is not then consummated by the death of the party yet, the crime once complete, not even the nearest ties of blood can be pleaded in justification of concealment or relief, except alone in the case of a wife, whom the law supposes to be so much under the coercion of her husband, that she ought not to be considered as accessary to his crime by receiving him after it has been committed.

By 7 Geo. IV. c. 64, and 11 & 12 Vict. c. 46, the trial and punishment of accessaries before the fact is assimilated to that of the principal felon. Accessaries after the fact are, by the latter statute, made punishable as for a substantive felony, with imprisonment proportioned to the heinousness of the original crime, but the imprisonment is not to exceed two years. The receiver of stolen goods, whose offence is of the nature of that committed by an accessary after the fact, is, by 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, made liable to fourteen years' transportation: or now to a similar period of penal servitude; 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99; 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3. Formerly no accessary could be tried until after the conviction of the principal, the crime of the former being regarded as, in a manner, dependant on that of the latter; but the law is now altered in this respect, by 11 & 12 Vict. c. 46; and 14 & 15 Vict. c. 100. It is now competent to try and convict him without waiting for the conviction of the principal.

The distinction between principals and accessaries holds only in cases of felony.

ACCIDENT. [PREDICABLES.]

ACCIDENTAL COLOURS. A term applied to the ocular spectrum which is usually seen when the eye has been steadily fixed for some time upon a coloured object. Thus, if we look at a red wafer upon a

sheet of white paper for about half a minute, and then turn the eye from the wafer to the white paper, we see an image, or spectrum, of the wafer of a bluish green colour; this is the accidental colour of the red, and if we repeat the experiment with other colours, they will in like manner furnish ocular spectra: thus an orange colour will furnish a blue spectrum, yellow will give indigo, and so on, and it will be found in each case, that the colour of the object, added to that of the spectrum, will make up all the colours of white light; hence accidental colours are also called complementary colours. [LIGHT.] ACCLIMATION is a term applied to that change in the human system produced by residence in a place whose climate is different from that to which it has been accustomed, and which enables it to resist those causes of disease which readily act upon it before such change has taken place. A person is thus rendered similar in constitution to the natives of the country which he has adopted. This subject is one of great importance, and has not yet received the attention it demands. As far as present evidence goes, it appears that the white races attain their highest physical and intellectual development, the greatest amount of health, and reach the greatest age, above 40° in the western and 45° in the eastern hemispheres. Whenever they pass below these latitudes they begin to deteriorate and exhibit unmistakeable symptoms of decadence in both health and strength. The same law holds good with the dark races of the tropical parts of the earth. The negro who lives in the interior of Africa is killed by cold. The limits of his health and strength are found at 40° north or south. If he proceeds to higher latitudes, he deteriorates and becomes exterminated. In the northern states of America the mortality of the black population is double that of the white.

"The laws of climate show that each race of mankind has its prescribed salubrious limits. All of them seem to possess a certain degree of constitutional pliability by which they are able to bear, to a certain extent, great changes of temperature and latitude; and those races that are indigenous to temperate climates support best the extremes of other latitudes. The inhabitants of the arctic regions, as also of the tropics, have a certain pliancy of constitution; and while the inhabitants of the middle latitudes may emigrate 30° south or 30° north with comparative impunity, the Esquimaux in the one extreme, or the Negro, Hindoo, or Malay, in the other, have no power to withstand the vicissitudes of climate encountered in traversing the 70° of latitude between Greenland and the equator. The fair races of northern Europe below the arctic zone find Jamaica, Louisiana, and India, to be extreme climates; and they and their descendants are no longer to be recognised after a prolonged residence there. When an Englishman is placed in the most beautiful part of Bengal or Jamaica, where malaria does not exist, and although he may be subjected to no attack of acute diseases, but may live with a tolerable degree of health his threescore years and ten, he nevertheless ceases to be the same healthy individual he once was; and, moreover, his descendants degenerate. He complains bitterly of the heat, and becomes tanned; his plump plethoric frame becomes attenuated; his blood loses fibrine and red globules; both mind and body become sluggish; gray hairs and other marks show that age has come on prematurely-the man of forty looks fifty years old; the average duration of life is shortened (as shown in life insurance tables); and the race in time would be exterminated if cut off from fresh supplies of emigrants from the home country. Our army medical historians tell us that our troops do not become acclimatised in India. Length of residence in a distant land affords no immunity from the diseases of its climate, which act with redoubled energy on the stranger from the temperate zones. On the contrary, the mortality among officers and troops is greatest among those who remain longest in those climates." (Johnson, Martin, Tulloch, Macpherson, Boudin.) Dr. Macpherson also makes the significant remark, that the small mortality among officers compared with soldiers, in India, is due to the greater facilities they enjoy of obtaining change of climate when they fall sick. Although the constitution of the man may be so modified that comparative health may be retained, yet there is a morbid degradation of the physical and intellectual constitution. If, however, he or his descendants are taken back to their native climate, they may yet revert to the healthful standard of their original types. The good effects of limiting the period of service of our troops abroad to three years, has shown this in sustaining for a greater period the strength of the regiments; a protracted residence of the European regiments in India having been followed by the most disastrous results. European regiments in India have melted away like the spectres of a dream. A thousand strong men form this year a regiment: a year passes, and one hundred and twenty-five new recruits are required to fill up the broken column; and eight years having come and gone, not a man of the original thousand remains in the dissolving corps."

"

"With regard to the Bombay Fusilier European regiment, for instance, Dr. Arnot has shown that its losses average 104 per 1000 per annum; a loss equivalent to the entire absorption of the regiment in nine years and seven months. In Bengal also it is an ascertained fact, that a British regiment of 1000 men dissolves entirely away in 11 years, even in favourable times, and with all the improved conditions of the service. Dr. Arnot's statistics show that the Bengal army loses annually 9 per cent. of its numbers, giving a total loss in eight years of upwards of 14,005 men out of an army of 156,130 men.' (Aitken's Handbook of Medicine.')

Although from these facts it would appear there is an insuperable barrier to the prolonged occupation of tropical countries by white races, yet much may be done by attention to the laws of health and disease. One cause of the great amount of mortality amongst Europeans in the tropics is that they continue the habits they had acquired in cold countries when they arrive in the hotter parts of the world. An attention to diet, clothing, and residence, would do much to remove many of the causes of disease. It would appear also that many of the races that now inhabit cold climates made their way from warmer countries, and that changes gradually produced in the constitution, as by the slow advance of peoples north or south, may overcome that tendency to succumb which is so evident in the rapid removals to which the above data refer. The question of the permanent occupation of tropical countries has become one of vital importance to the two great European governments of England and France. How this can be done at the least expense of human life can only be ascertained by the study of the laws which regulate acclimation.

ACCOLADE. This French word, derived from the Latin ad, to, and collum, the neck, signifies, in familiar speech, an embrace; and this idea, or that of union by means of the neck, as when two oxen are yoked together, is that which prevails in various other derivatives from the same root, both in the French and Italian languages. Some, accordingly, have supposed that, when used as descriptive of a certain part of the ancient ceremony of conferring knighthood, the particular act which it denoted was the embrace, accompanied with a kiss, which was bestowed upon the new-made knight, in token of the brotherhood established between them by his admission into the order of chivalry. It has, however, been the more generally-received opinion, that the accolade was what we call in English (though perhaps improperly) the dubbing, the slight blow given to the cheek or shoulder of the knight, as an emblem," to use the language of Gibbon," of the last affront which it was lawful for him to endure." There is no doubt as to the great antiquity of this last-mentioned custom. Gregory of Tours, writing in the 6th century, describes the blow on the shoulder as part of the ceremony with which the kings of France, of the first race, were wont to confer the honour of knighthood. It has been derived, by some antiquaries, from the blow which the Roman slave received from his master when manumitted, or made a freeman. The blow of liberation, indeed, whatever may have been its original import, may be traced in various directions among the usages of the middle ages. The blow by which knighthood was conferred seems to have been originally given with the hand, for which the flat part of the sword was afterwards substituted.

ACCOMPANIMENT, in Music, is the subordinate part, or parts, accompanying a voice, or several voices, or a principal instrument, &c. The piano-forte or guitar part of a song is the accompaniment, the air itself being the principal, the other only the useful ally, the support. In a concerto the whole band accompany the instrument for which the chief and prominent part is composed.

Accompaniment is also the harmony of a figured base, or another word for what is, by a foolish, unmeaning term-but too generally adopted to be at once discarded-called thorough-base.

The Accompaniment of the Scale is the harmony assigned, partly by what may be called nature and partly by custom, to that series of notes denominated the diatonic scale ascending and descending, such scale being taken as a base. For an explanation of these matters, see THOROUGH-BASE. See also DIATONIC; SCALE.

Dr. Burney (in Rees' 'Cyclopædia') seems inclined to favour the opinion of Rousseau, that an accompaniment of the smallest possible number of notes is to be preferred. Rousseau had not acquired a taste for rich harmony, for with the music of the German school he was very little, if at all, acquainted; but that Burney should have sanctioned opinions formed upon the imperfect knowledge of the subject existing in the middle of the last century, is somewhat a matter of surprise. A judicious medium, in this as in other things, is the best. The old Italian accompaniment can now hardly be endured; while, certainly, many ultra-Germanists of the present day overpower melody by the multitude of notes which they are so prone to employ. ACCOMPLICE. [APPROVER.] ACCOMPTS. [BOOKKEEPING.] ACCORDION. A musical instrument which came into England, from Germany, about the year 1828.

The Accordion is in the form of a small oblong box, varying from eight to twenty inches in length. The interior exhibits a row of very small elastic metallic lamina, or springs, fixed at one end in a plate of metal, so that they may vibrate freely. The upper and lower parts of the box are united by a folding apparatus or bellows, which supplies the air required to put the springs into vibration, and to these the air is

admitted by means of valves acted on by keys, in the manner of an organ. There is also a very simple contrivance by which a base note or drone may be added, at the discretion of the performer. These instruments vary in size and in capabilities: the compass of the most complete is from & the fourth space in the base staff, to E the seventh additional space above the treble, including all the semitones. Hence the accordion is not limited to melody, but can produce the most agreeable harmonic effects.

The principle on which the accordion, and all other instruments of the kind, is founded, is fully explained by Dr. Gottfried Weber, in his Leges Oscillationis,' &c., published in 1827, who refers, as his source of information, to an article by Strohmann, in the Allgemeine Musicalische Zeitung' of 1813. This principle, however, had been fully set forth many years before by Professor Robison, in the Encyclopædia Britannica,' under the term Musical Trumpet;' and it is now known that the Chinese were familiar with it before its introduction into Europe.

The firms of Reinisch and Steinkeller, at Vienna, sent large collections of beautiful accordions to the Great Exhibition of 1851; as did also Wagner of Reuss, and Zimmerman of Carlsfeld. The 40-keyed accordions of the last-named firm were priced as low as six Prussian thalers (178. 6d.). Small and roughly-made German accordions are now sold in England at extremely low prices. In the commoner instruments, each key is made to elicit two different tones, according as the wind is made to pass into or out of it; but, in some of the better kinds, there are as many keys as notes.

The gentle tones of this beautiful instrument are found to be so attractive to the inhabitants of rude nations, that Roman Catholic missionaries have lately, in some instances, adopted the plan of taking accordions out with them. In musical capability, however, the accordion is far inferior to an instrument of later introduction. [CONCERTINA.] The Flutina is a form of the accordion in which, by a mode of partitioning the interior cavity into cells, a peculiar flute-like quality is given to the tones.

The Organ-accordion, a recent invention, has a row of black and white keys like those of the organ or pianoforte, giving all the tones and semi-tones for three octaves. These keys are played with the fingers of the right-hand, the left-hand being needed to work the bellows. The instrument, too large to be held in the hand, is rested either on a table or on the lap of the performer. It is intended chiefly as an accompaniment to the voice.

Mr. Faulkner has invented an accordion-stand. It is an apparatus to assist in playing the instrument; it will incline to any position suitable to the convenience of the performer; and, by the action of a springtop, it can be fixed in the position chosen.

ACCOUNT, or ACCOMPT, from the low Latin, computus, is a form of action, and of which frequent mention is made in the old law books. Strictly, it lay only against a bailiff or receiver, requiring him to render an account of the moneys received by him as such; but the form of action being found to be one of the most convenient at that time, it was extended to cases where the person called upon to account was neither a bailiff nor an authorised receiver, if he had in any way received and retained money which it was his duty to have handed over to the claimant. At present, this is effected in many cases by the action for "money received to the use" of the plaintiff. The action of account is now rarely used, a suit in chancery being generally resorted to. (Blackstone's Comm., Mr. Kerr's ed., vol. iii. pp. 171, 172.) ACCOUNT STATED. This is the title of the common count in the declaration in an action, where the plaintiff seeks to recover the amount due upon a balanced account between the parties. The form states the defendant to be indebted to the plaintiff in a certain sum of money found to be due from the defendant to the plaintiff' upon "accounts then stated" between them, from which statement of accounts the law implies a promise by the debtor to pay the sum he then admits himself to owe. This form is generally introduced in actions upon simple contracts for the recovery of pecuniary demands. It is not essential that there should be cross or reciprocal demands between the parties, or that the account should relate to more than a single debt or transaction; nor need the original demand be one recoverable at law. Thus, a member of a partnership, though he cannot in general sue his partner at law for his share of the profits, may do so after a balance has been struck in his favour. But it is necessary that there should have existed some claim against the defendant, or some previous transactions in respect of which the account is stated, for an action cannot be brought in this form upon a mere agreement to pay a sum of money, the maxim being ex nudo pacto non oritur actio. It is, therefore, usual in support of this count to give evidence of an original demand or a prior transaction, and of a balance struck and agreed upon, but it is sufficient in the first instance, to prove an admission by the defendant to the plaintiff or his agent, that a certain sum was then due, without showing the origin or nature of the claim, or proving the specific items constituting the account. Thus an I. O. U., a bill, or a promissory note, is prima facie evidence of an account stated betwixt the immediate parties. The account must have been stated before the action is brought; and the admission, in order to charge a defendant, must be positive, unqualified, and unconditional, and must not be merely the admission of a debt, but either expressly or by reference, the admission of a specific sum being

due. If the plaintiff sues in a representative character, as in that of executor or assignee, he must show that the admission was made to him in that character. The statement of an account is not conclusive but only presumptive evidence against the party who admits the balance to be against him, and does not preclude him from showing, by evidence, the existence of error in the account; unless in the case of an account actually settled by payment, which cannot be opened except upon proof of fraud.

An account stated is also a good plea in bar to a bill in equity for an account. As a party may in equity open up a settled account on the ground of error, in order to support such a plea, the statement of account must be shown to have been final, and in writing. It is not essential that it should have been signed, and it will be sufficient if the account has been acquiesced in for a length of time, affording legal presumption of a settlement. A general release may thus be pleaded as a stated account, and a plea of this kind must aver that the account is just and fair, whether error or fraud is charged by the bill of the plaintiff or not. In answer to a plea of a stated account the plaintiff in equity may show either the existence of fraud, which will be sufficient ground for opening the whole account, or that the account contains specific errors, which will enable him to surcharge, that is, to show omissions for which there ought to be credit, and falsify, that is, to show that there are wrong charges which ought to be deducted. ACCOUNTANT, a person who professes skill in mercantile accounts. In a commercial community occasions are constantly arising for the employment of accountants. They are generally appointed to examine the books of traders who have been compelled by embarrassment in their affairs to summon a meeting of their creditors; or they may be called in by a trader to investigate his accounts, and to ascertain the state of his affairs. The collection of debts or rents, and the windingup of the affairs of persons deceased, or who have given up business, are matters often put into their hands. An accountant has no legal status, like a notary or an auctioneer, or appraiser, who perform certain duties which only they are allowed to discharge; but by the statute establishing District Courts of Bankruptcy, 5 & 6 Vict., c. 122, official assignees must be selected from persons in trade, or who are or have been "merchants, brokers, or accountants."

ACCOUNTANT IN BANKRUPTCY, an officer appointed by the Lord Chancellor (5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 29), who has the control, care, and management of the funds belonging to bankrupt estates. He must make an annual return to Parliament (13 & 14 Vict. c. 106, ss. 31, 36, 47, 191).

ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL, an officer of the Court of Chancery, first appointed under an Act (12 Geo. I. c. 32) "for securing the moneys and effects of the suitors." The Act recites that ill consequence and great prejudice already had, and might again, ensue to the suitors by having their moneys left in the sole power of the Masters of the Court. The bonds, tallies, orders, and effects of suitors were, it appears, until the passing of this Act, locked up in several chests in the Bank of England, under the direction of the Masters and two of the Six Clerks. The Act confirms a previous order of the Court of Chancery for adopting a different system, and sect. 3 enacts that, "to the end the account between the suitors of the High Court of Chancery and the Bank of England may be the more regularly and plainly kept, and the state of such account may be at all times seen and known,” there shall be" one person appointed by the High Court of Chancery to act, perform, and do all such matters and things relating to the delivering of the suitors' money and effects into the Bank, and taking them out of the Bank, &c., which was formerly done by the Masters and Usher of the Court." The Accountant-General is "not to meddle with the suitors' money, but only to keep an account with the Bank." He attends several times a-week at the Bank and other places for the purpose of making sales, transfers, and acceptances of stock, according to the orders of the Court. The Bank receives moneys under a power of attorney from the Accountant-General. (As to the practice in the transfer of stock by and to the Accountant-General, see Daniell's 'Practice in Chancery, 3rd edit. vol. ii. p. 1306, et seq.) His duties are in some respects regulated by the orders issued by the Court of Chancery. The salary is 3000l. a-year (under 15 & 16 Vict. c. 87, s. 22).

Before the passing of the Act 5 Vict. c. 5, which suppressed the equity jurisdiction of the Court of Exchequer, there was an AccountantGeneral of that court. The duties of the Accountant-General and Masters of the Exchequer are now performed by the Queen's Remembrancer.

There is an Accountant-General of the Irish Court of Chancery. ACCUMULATION. [CAPITAL.] ACCUMULATION. Before the passing of the statute 40 Geo. III. c. 98, a person might suspend the enjoyment of real or personal estate, and direct that the whole profits, rents, and produce thereof should be accumulated for a period not exceeding in extent that of any life or number of lives in being, and 21 years afterwards. The mischievous extent to which an individual at the close of the last century availed himself of this power of directing an accumulation, gave rise to the above statute, the object of which is to prevent the recurrence of a disposition of property so impolitic and unnatural.

The person in question was named Peter Thellusson. He was the son of Isaac de Thellusson, ambassador from Geneva to the court of

Louis XV. He fixed his residence in London about the middle of the 18th century, and accumulated an immense fortune as a merchant. He died on the 21st of July, 1797. His name is now only remembered in connection with his extraordinary will, which led to the restraints upon testamentary dispositions above mentioned.

The property which was the subject of his will consisted of a landed estate of about 4000l. a-year, and of personal property to the amount of about 600,000l. This property he devised and bequeathed to trustees upon trust for accumulation and investment in the purchase of lands during the lives of his sons, grandsons, and the issue of sons and grandsons living, or in ventre sa mere, at the time of his death, and the lives of the survivors and survivor of them; and after that period, to be conveyed to the lineal descendants of his sons in tail male. It had been long understood to be the rule of law that the absolute ownership of property might be suspended, and consequently the property rendered inalienable during lives in being at the time of the creation of the trust; that is, where the trust is created by will, at the time of the death of the testator. This period was afterwards extended so as to allow for the cases of infancy, and of a child in ventre sa mere; but it was for some time questioned whether a term of 21 years might in all cases be added to the period of suspension, though it has since been determined that it may. [SETTLEMENT.] Restraint on the accumulation of income was unknown to the common law, except in so far as the rule against perpetuities necessarily prevented accumulation from being carried beyond its limits; and Mr. Thellusson's will, by confining the restriction to existing lives, escaped the question which then existed as to the allowance of an absolute term of 21 years in addition to a life or lives in being at the time of the creation of the trust.

This will, which, in the events that happened, had the effect of postponing the usufructuary enjoyment of the bulk of the estate till the expiration of nine lives in being at the time of the testator's death, was, after many hard struggles, occasioned rather by the immense value of the property implicated (which it was computed would have amounted, with the expected accumulations, to upwards of 18,000,0007.), than by any new difficulty in the principle, finally established by the decision of the House of Lords on the 25th of June 1805. (Thellusson v. Woodford, 11 Ves. 112.)

The case of Thellusson v. Woodford gave rise to the Act of the 40 Geo. III. c. 98, "for restraining all trusts and directions in deeds or wills whereby the profits or produce of real or personal estates shall be accumulated and the beneficial enjoyment thereof postponed beyond the term therein limited." By the provisions of this Act, no person can settle or dispose of property by deed, will, or otherwise, so as to accumulate the income thereof, either wholly or partially, "for any longer term than the life or lives of any such grantor or grantors, settlor or settlors, or the term of twenty-one years from the death of any such grantor, settlor, devisor, or testator, or during the minority or respective minorities of any person or persons who shall be living or in ventre sa mere, at the time of the death of such grantor, devisor, or testator, or during the minority or respective minorities only of any person or persons who, under the uses or trusts of the deed, surrender, will, or other assurances directing such accumulations, would for the time being, if of full age, be entitled to the rents, issues, and profits, or the interest, dividends, and annual produce so directed to be accumulated. And in every case where accumulation shall be directed otherwise than as aforesaid, such direction shall be null and void, and the rents, issues, profits, and produce of such property so directed to be accumulated shall, so long as the same shall be directed to be accumulated contrary to the provisions of this Act, go to and be received by such person or persons as would have been entitled thereto, if such accumulation had not been directed."

It is now settled upon this statute, that a trust for accumulation reaching beyond the allowed period is good for the period allowed by law, and void only for the excess. (12 Ves. 295; 4 Russ. 403.)

ACCUMULATION OF POWER is a term applied to that quantity of motion which exists in some machines at the end of intervals of time, during which the velocity of the moving body has been constantly accelerated.

The simplest case in which there is such an accumulation of power is that of a heavy body, like the rammer of a pile-driving machine, which descends by the action of gravity during a certain time and impinges upon some object. At the moment of impact, supposing that the object struck does not move, the velocities of all the particles which had gone on continually increasing during the descent, are destroyed, and thus a shock is produced immensely greater than that which would result from the mere pressure of the body. The batteringram of the ancients when, being suspended from some fixed point it was allowed to swing by the action of gravity till one of its extremities struck the face of a wall, produced its effect in like manner by the power accumulated in it during its motion. In all such cases, the effect, if measured by the magnitude of an impression or indentation produced in the object struck, is, by Mechanics, directly proportional to the mass in motion, and to the square of the velocity at the instant of impact.

The accumulation produced by the continuous action of gravity, when a body has not far to fall, is commonly increased by that of a

quantity of motion obtained by an exertion of muscular power. Thus a smith, when he would strike on an anvil with the greatest force, adds to the power of gravity on the hammer the accumulation of velocity arising from a whirling motion, in a vertical plane, which he gives above his head to the hammer before he allows it to descend.

In the old coining-machines which, like those at present used, produced the impression on the metal by the power of a screw, a great accumulation of force was obtained by causing a number of men to turn the horizontal bars attached to the vertical shaft which carried the screw by the pressure of the men against the bars, while several revolutions were made about the axis of the screw, an acceleration of motion during that time took place; and the accumulation was instantaneously spent upon the metal, in aid of the pressure arising from the power of the screw alone. The like accumulation of force is obtained, but far more efficiently, in the coining-press of the present day by means of its fly-wheel; the reciprocating motion of a piston connected with a steam-engine communicates, by means of a crank, a continuous movement to the fly, and at the same time, a reciprocating rectilinear motion vertically to the cylindrical shaft (the stamper), on which the screw is formed. With half a revolution of the fly-wheel the stamper is lifted up, and with the other half it is forced down upon the metal.

When a fly-wheel is acted on by any prime mover, as wind, water, or steam, its motion continually accelerates, and a corresponding acceleration is induced in the wheel-work, in rollers, or in the stampers with which it is connected: the resistance to be overcome at what is called the working point destroys however this acceleration, and would allow the movement to be uniform, if it were not for the temporary accelerations or retardations which are caused by variations in the intensity of the, moving power, or in the amount of the resistance; and these are almost wholly counteracted by the accumulated power which constantly exists in the fly.

ACCUSATIVE CASE, a term used in the grammatical system of the Latin language, and thence unnecessarily introduced into that of the English language. In Greek this case is not called accusative, but the same idea is expressed by a corresponding term in that language. In the article ablative case, the meaning of the word case was explained. In that article it was seen that the little syllable em is attached to the end of Latin nouns, and has the meaning of motion to. But where the simple Latin noun terminated in a vowel, the e of em was absorbed by that preceding vowel. Thus, to take an example, Roma was, and is, the name of the Roman capital, though, by Englishmen, generally corrupted into Rome; consequently, to Rome was expressed by Romam (a contraction from Roma-em); so, in Romam, expressed into Rome. In Roma, without the m, would signify merely in Rome. The accusative then signifying originally the object to which any motion is directed, was afterwards by a very natural metaphor, employed to distinguish the object of any action or feeling; thus, incendere Romam, to burn Rome. The Spanish and Portuguese have, in their languages, very closely imitated the Latin in this respect: despidio de su casa à mi Dulcinea-if translated word for word would be he despatched from his house to my Dulcinea; but nothing more is meant than what we express by-he despatched my Dulcinea from his house. The despatching is with reference to Dulcinea. The employment of the letter m, with or without a weak vowel before it, occurs likewise in the Sanscrit language; and indeed in our own, in the pronouns him and whom, from he and who. The Greeks preferred the allied letter n, which is also found in some classes of the German nouns, as den Grafen, the Count, from the nominative der Graf. When the term accusative case is used in the grammar of our own language, it is only in this second or metaphorical sense, and, consequently, it is equivalent to what many grammars call by the better name of the objective case, or more simply the object.

ACETAL. (Formula, C, H,, O..) A compound first formed by Döbereiner, and called by him oxygenated ether. It is produced by the slow oxidation of alcohol under the influence of platinum black. A number of watch-glasses containing platinum black, slightly moistened, are to be suspended in a tall wide-mouthed jar or bottle, and near the surface of some alcohol which must cover the bottom to the depth of about an inch. After the bottle has been left for two or three weeks in a warm place, it will be found to contain an acid liquid consisting of acetal, alcohol, aldehyde, and acetic ether. This is to be neutralised with carbonate of potash, as much chloride of calcium as will dissolve is to be added, and the whole subjected to distillation. The first fourth only of the product is to be collected, and chloride of calcium again added. A thin oily fluid rises to the surface, which is acetal, mixed with the before-mentioned impurities. Repeated treatment with chloride of calcium, at a gentle heat, in a retort, expels the aldehyde; caustic potash decomposes the ether, and washing with water removes the alcohol. After once more rectifying from chloride of calcium, the acetal is pure.

Acetal is a limpid colourless liquid, of an agreeable ethereal odour, and a taste resembling that of filberts. Its sp. g. is 825, that of its vapour 4:24. It boils at 221°, is soluble in about 18 parts of cold water, and miscible with alcohol and ether in all proportions. Oxidising agents convert it into aldehyde and then into acetic acid. In contact: with the air, alcoholic solutions of the alkalies convert it into aldehydic

ACETAMIDE. [AMIDES.] ACETANALIDE. [AMIDES.]

Acetal.

ACETATE. A salt arising from the displacement of the water in acetic acid, HO, C,H,O,, by a base. Alkaline acetates and acetates of the alkaline earths may be formed by decomposing their carbonates with acetic acid and evaporating.

Acetate of Potash, KO, CHO,, is a deliquescent salt crystallising with difficulty; it is used medicinally as a diuretic. It combines with another equivalent of acetic acid, forming a binacetate, KO, C1H ̧Ó ̧ + HO, CH,O,, which crystallises readily, and when distilled is decomposed into the neutral acetate and monohydrated acetic acid. Acetate of Soda, NaO, C1H2O + 6Aq., crystallises in oblique rhombic prisms. It is formed on a large scale in the preparation of acetic acid from crude wood vinegar. The latter is neutralised with chalk, forming acetate of lime, which being mixed with sulphate of soda is decomposed into acetate of soda, sulphate of lime being simultaneously formed.

Acetate of Ammonia (Spirit of Mindererus), NH,O, CH,O,, cannot be well crystallised from its solution formed by neutralising the carbonate of ammonia with acetic acid, since on evaporation ammonia is expelled, and the solution becomes acid. It may be formed however by distilling equal parts of acetate of lime and sal-ammoniac, when binacetate of ammonia is given off as an oily fluid, which crystallises in needles. Dry ammonia converts it into the neutral salt. Acetate of ammonia has a cooling sweet taste and is a diaphoretic. Acetate of lime, CaOC,H,O,, crystallises in needles which are efflorescent. Acetate of Alumina is used largely as a mordant in dyeing. For this purpose it is made by decomposing a solution of alum with acetate of lime, in which case however the sulphate of potash, or ammonia of the alum, remains dissolved; the pure salt may be formed by substi tuting sulphate of alumina for alum, and acetate of lead for acetate of lime. According to Crum the formula of acetate of alumina is AlО„, 2C ̧H2O, + HOC,H,O,. Some of the metallic acetates are of great importance in the arts.

The Proto-acetate (FeOC,H,O), and the Sesqui-acetate (Fe,0, 3C,H,O,), of Iron, are both used as mordants by the calico printer. They are both made on a large scale by dissolving iron hoops, nails, or turnings, in crude pyroligneous acid. For the formation of protosalt, access of air is prevented; for the sesqui-salt, encouraged. In Boucherie's process for preserving timber, the wood is impregnated

with acetate of iron.

Neutral Acetate of Lead (Sugar of Lead, Salt of Saturn), PbO, CH2O, 3Aq., is prepared by dissolving litharge in excess of acetic acid; on evaporation, a mass of small white crystals is formed, resembling loaf sugar, but by careful management large transparent prismatic crystals of the salt may be obtained. It is very soluble in water and alcohol, and has a remarkably sweet taste.

Tribasic Acetate of Lead (Goulard's Water), 3 PbO, CH2O,, 3Aq., is prepared by digesting seven parts of litharge with six parts of the neutral acetate of lead in thirty parts of water. It crystallises in minute needles. There are two other basic acetates of lead,—the subsesqui-acetate, 3PbO, 2CH ̧ ̧, Aq., and the hex-acetate, 6PыO, CH ̧О,, Aq., neither of which are of importance. All the subacetates of lead are decomposed by carbonic acid, and have a strongly alkaline reaction. They are employed in the refining of sugar. The neutral acetate of copper,-verditer, CuO, C,H ̧0, + Aq., is formed by dissolving verdigris in hot acetic acid: on cooling, beautiful dark green crystals are formed. United with arsenite of copper, it forms Schweinfurth green, a beautiful green pigment.

The

The Diacetate of Copper (Verdigris), 2CuO, C,H,0, + 6Aq., is prepared commercially, by exposing sheets of copper to the action of acetic acid, produced from the fermenting mare of grapes. copper becomes encrusted with the crystalline salt, which is removed and pressed into cakes. Pieces of cloth moistened with acetic acid are sometimes substituted for the grape marc.

Verdigris is decomposed by water into a soluble subsesqui-acetate, 3CuO, 2C,H,O,+6Aq., and an insoluble tribasic acetate, 3CuO, C,H,O3 + Aq.

There are many other metallic acetates, few of which however are of much importance. They are most of them characterised by their ready solubility in water, and by yielding, on destructive distillation with lime, a volatile inflammable liquid called Acetone, q. v. Heated with hydrate of potash or soda, they yield hydride of methyl (light carburetted hydrogen).

Acetic acid forms soluble salts with many of the organic bases, some of which are of great importance in medicine.