law, meant the protector or guardian of some church, abbey, or monastery, or other ecclesiastical community and jurisdiction, and by their authority all contracts relating to these corporations were made; in some ancient charters we find proofs that in gifts to the church or monastery, the conveyance was made personally to the avoué. In the middle ages he was generally some feudal lord who took care of the temporal interests of the community, and defended them either in court or field. Thus Charlemagne accepted the title of avoué of St. Peter; Hugh, that of St. Riquier; and mention is made by Bolland, of letters of Pope Nicholas, constituting St. Edward, king of England, and his successors, avoués of the monastery of Westminster and of all churches in England. The avoué dispensed justice in the name of the ecclesiastical superiors in all places under their jurisdiction, and commanded the forces assembled in their defence. In German he was called "kastvogt;" the name occurs often in the history of the middle ages. AVOIDANCE OF A BENEFICE. [BENEFICE; CESSION.] AVOIRDUPOIS, or AVERDUPOIS, the name given to the common system of weights in England, now applied to all goods except the precious metals and medicines. Thus, a pound of tea is a pound averdupois, and contains 7000 grains; a pound of gold is a pound troy, and contains 5760 grains. The word has been supposed to be derived from the French avoir du poids, to have weight; but considering that averdupois is the more ancient mode of spelling the word, and that the obsolete French verb averer, and the middle Latin word averare, signify to verify (see Ducange, at the word Averare), it is more likely that we are to look here for the true etymology. It has also been supposed that the word is derived from averia ponderis, averia, and avera, being (on the same authority) words used for goods in general. The ounce averdupois is generally considered as the Roman uncia. It contains 437 grains (N. B. there is but one grain in use amongst us), while the Roman uncia, according to Arbuthnot, contains 4374 grains; according to Christiani ('Delle Misure,' &c., Venice, 1760, cited by Dr. Young), it is 415 grains; and according to Paucton (cited by Dr. Kelly), it is 431 grains. Whether the preceding be correct or not, we cannot suppose that in any case the supposition could be nearly verified, as our ancestors do not appear to have been very attentive to small weights for instance, in the list of church gold and silver plate delivered to Henry VIII. (preserved in the Bodleian library), nothing less than an ounce is mentioned, except only once, in which a quarter of an ounce is given. The ancient pound (now used in Scotland) was heavier than the averdupois, and weighed 7600 grains: the earliest regulations on the subject fix the troy weight; the averdupois is mentioned in some orders of Henry VIII., in 1532, and a pound of this sort was placed in the Exchequer as a standard by Elizabeth in 1588. The committee of 1758 found this pound to be 14 grain less than it should be as deduced from the standard troy pound kept at the Mint, which they attributed to frequent use; but considering the averdupois weight altogether as "of doubtful authority," and troy weight as the one "best known to our law," they recommended the adoption of the latter as a standard, which it has accordingly been ever since, though goods in general are weighed by averdupois weight. The committee of 1816 made no alteration in the weights, but ascertained the value of the grain, as afterwards described in the Act of Parliament 5 Geo. IV. c. 74: "A cubic inch of distilled water, weighed in air by brass weights, at the temperature of sixty-two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, the barometer being at thirty inches, is equal to two hundred and fifty-two grains, and four hundred and fiftyeight thousandth parts of a grain." The pound averdupois contains 7000 such grains. From this it may be deduced that a cubic foot of water, under the above conditions, weighs 997·14 ounces, which, being very nearly 1000 ounces, gives an expeditious rule for roughly deducing the real weight of a cubic foot of any substance from its specific gravity. For example, if the specific gravity of gold be 19:36, the weight of a cubic foot of gold is 19,360 ounces averdupois. If more accuracy be required, subtract three for every thousand from the result. The averdupois pound is divided as follows: Grains. 27號 4374 7000 Dram. 1 16 Ounce. 256 16 Pound. 28 pounds make one quarter. 112 pounds, or 4 quarters, one hundred weight. 20 hundred weight, one ton. The pound averdupois is 45354 of the French kilogramme, and 9071 of the common French pound. That is, 904 pounds are 410 kilogrammes, and 452 pounds averdupois are 410 French pounds [WEIGHTS and MEASURES]. If decimals be employed: from one hundredth of the pounds subtract one thousandth, and from the result subtract its hundredth part. The result is about one five-hundredth part too small. We give the preceding example, and another which is an obvious verification:-17.684 llb. 112 llb. 176-84 1.12 Avoué or AVOYER is a term derived from the Latin advocatus. Avoyer was no doubt a French form or corruption of advocatus, and was applied in general to the lay champion or guardian of the church. In South Germany and Switzerland, however, a country so anciently and universally of ecclesiastical organisation, the officers who ruled as deputies of the emperor were induced to designate their authority by the title which was most general in the country, viz., the title implying ecclesiastical authority. Thus we find in the beginning of the 13th century, Berthold, Duke of Zähringen, styled the emperor's advocatus in these regions, and Rodolph afterwards was advocatus of Suevia This term, half Germanised, half Gallicised (for the Burgundians then governed the plains of Western Switzerland), became in common parlance Avoyer, and was assumed by the magistrates of such towns a had attained the rank of Imperial. This meant that they belonged nominally to the emperor, which privilege rendered them independent of, and on a level with, the feudal aristocracy. The magistrates of Swiss cities assumed the title of Avoyer, to which the German term Schultheissen is equivalent, but the title sunk everywhere into disuse, except at Berne, in which town it lasted till the revolution of 1794. In an amusing account of Switzerland (published in 1704), by Temple Stanyan, Esq., the reader will find a full description of the dignity and duties of these officers, who were two in number and were at the head of the government of the Canton, retaining their employ ments for life, but exercising them annually by turns. AWARD. JARBITRATION.] AXIOM, a word derived from the Greek agiwua, which is formed from the Greek verb ağıów, to think worthy of; and thence to desire or demand. It was not used in the time of Euclid, by whom the prin ciples which we call axioms are termed koival ěvvoiai, or common notions. The word was not in universal use as late as the year 1600, at which date we find "communis sententia" preferred to "arioma." (See Chambers' edition of 'Barlaam,' Paris, 1599.) The term axiom was originally peculiar to geometry, in which science it came to mean a proposition which it is necessary to take for granted. It is usual to define an axiom as a self-evident proposition; but this, though a true description of all the axioms which are found necessary, is not a good definition. In the first place, it is well known that the geometer must deduce the properties of space in the best way he can, from the smallest possible number of the most evident principles; and it must be his study so to choose them, that his own mind, or that of his pupil or opponent, shall be at the least possible expense of concession. But he cannot say beforehand that his science shall be deduced from self-evident principles. Imagine a person of cultivated reasoning powers first approaching geometry, and capable of being made to take a view of the general objects of the science. It would not appear to him certain that he should be able to deduce all the properties of figure from those which are self-evident; on the contrary, he might suspect that he would be obliged to have recourse to actual measurement, in order to verify some essential preliminaries. At least no answer could be given to him, if he did express such a suspicion, except a reference to the science itself; and this clogs an axiom, defined as a self-evident proposition, with a condition which can only be verified by subsequent study. In the second place, a self-evident proposition, as such, ought not to be called an axiom, because it is not admitted as such in geometry, however evident it may be, provided it can be proved from those propositions which are called axioms. That two sides of a triangle are greater than the third, has a greater degree of evidence than some of The ounce is more commonly divided into quarters than into drams the admitted axioms; yet it is not taken for granted, because it can be The usual contractions are as follows — grain dram ounce gr. dr. Oz. To reduce a large number of pounds to hundred weights roughly, from all but two figures take all but three. Thus 17,684 pounds contain 159 hundred weight, done as follows: 176 Subtract 17 159 deduced from these. The Epicureans are said to have laughed at geometry, because, among other things, it proves the proposition that two sides of a triangle are greater than the third; which, said they, is evident even to a jackass, who always makes practical use of it in going from one place to another. This evidently arises from the mistake that a geometrical axiom is self-evident, and that all self-evident propositions ought to be axioms. And the oldest remaining opponent of geometry, Sextus Empiricus, has a chapter upon the subject (Pyrrhoniarum Hypotyposeon,' lib. ii. cap. 11); on which, as on most other things of the same sort, it may be safely averred that the axioms of geometry themselves are much clearer than the axioms of psychology on which the opposition to them is grounded. For it is not to be supposed that the opponents of axioms take first principles which are more evident than that "the whole is greater than its part," or that "two straight lines cannot inclose a space." The necessity that there should be some axioms is evident from the process of reasoning. The deduction of propositions from the comparison of other propositions must have a beginning somewhere, so that there must be at least two propositions to begin with, the evidence of which is derived from other sources than reasoning. Every attempt which has been made to dispense with axioms altogether, has, as might be expected, proved unsuccessful; somewhere or other in the process assumed theorems have been found. The more modern discussions which have arisen about axioms appear to us to proceed from some fallacy of this sort, that the idea conveyed by the whole of a sentence must be more complicated than that conveyed by any one of its parts; or at least, that it must always be necessary to enter separately upon the consideration of the auxiliary forms of speech in which a simple idea is conveyed, before that idea can be said to be explained. As an instance, in that most simple of all propositions, " two and two are the same as four," which by itself is comprehended as soon as spoken, we have the (by itself) difficult phrase are the same," implying identity, and leading, if pursued far enough, to many very abstruse metaphysical considerations. These, in their proper science, and considered with reference to other objects, are not misplaced; but, as applied to geometry, are not only unnecessary, but subversive of the natural order of reasoning; for however much may be said upon maxims, axioms, first principles, or by whatever name they may be called, there remains the simple proposition, "two and two are the same as four," clearer, as a whole, than any one of the explanations, illustrations, or comments, which have been brought to its aid. There is however this to be said for many writers who have endeavoured to make such points better known than they are already; namely, that the older writers, in their love of what is called the à priori method, had filled their books with notions against which it was necessary to contend; whence sprung a confirmed habit of reasoning upon the nature of self-evident propositions. Locke (book iv. chap. 7), 'On Maxims,' can hardly be intelligible to a reader who has not some knowledge of what the school writers have said upon our simplest perceptions, which rendered it necessary to contend both against words without meaning, as when they said some such thing as that "knowledge is the likeness of the thing known, formed in the knowing faculty;" and also against assumptions of a very dubious character, such as "general propositions are known, at least sometimes, before particular ones." All the oldest manuscripts of Euclid, the summary of Boethius, the commentary of Proclus, the Arabic translations, and the earlier European editions, agree in what is no doubt Euclid's plan, of distinguishing assumptions distinctly relating to space, under the name of postulates (airhuara), from assumptions which equally relate to other kinds of magnitude, under the name of common notions (Kowal ěvvoiai). We cannot find out who first made the alteration which Robert Simson has adopted: it appears in Gregory's Greek text. This modern alteration converts the postulate into an assumed problem, and the axiom into an assumed theorem; but the distinction of propositions into problems and theorems does not exist in Euclid's work; it is an addition of editors. The more recent Greek texts have returned to Euclid's distinction, and we hope translations will in time follow them. We give Euclid's collection of postulates and common notions at length. Postulates.-1. Let it be granted, from any point to any point, to draw a straight line. 2. Also, to lengthen a finished straight line, and continue it straight. 3. Also, with any centre and radius (diάornua, meaning interval measured from that centre) to describe a circle. 4. Also, all right angles are equal to one another. 5. Also, if a straight line, falling upon two straight lines, make the angles which are within and upon the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, being lengthened without end, shall meet one another upon that side on which the angles are less than two right angles. 6. Also, two straight lines cannot inclose a space. Common Notions.-1. Things equal to the same are equal to one another. 2. Also, if equals be added to equals, the wholes are equals. 3. Also, if from equals equals be taken, the remainders are equals. 4. Also, if to unequals equals be added, the wholes are unequals. 5. Also, if from unequals equals be taken, the remainders are unequals. 6. Also, things which are double of the same are equal to one another. 7. Also, things which are halves of the same are equal to one another. 8. Also, things which fit one another (have the same boundary) are equals. Also, the whole is greater than the part. Euclid has not stated all the properties of space which he takes for granted. It is our belief that his work was not written for elementary students, but was a controversial treatise on the question, Can geometry be formed into a demonstrated system, resting upon definite postulates? We imagine that when he collected his postulates, six in number, and put them forward at the head of the first book, he did not thereby intend to collect everything which he assumed, but only his own selection from the theorems the postulation ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. I. 1. Any two points may be joined by a straight line. 2. Any terminated straight line may be indefinitely lengthened. 3. A circle may be drawn with any centre, and any distance terminated at that centre as a radius. 4. Any point is within or without a circle, according as its distance from the centre is less or greater than the radius. 5. A line drawn from a point within a figure to a point without, cuts the boundary of the figure. 6. A straight line which passes through a point within a figure, will, if sufficiently produced, cut the boundary of the figure in two points, one on each side of the point. 7. A figure nay be removed without any alteration of figure from one part of the plane to another, and may be turned round before removal. 8. If two straight lines coincide in two points, they coincide altogether, both between the points and beyond them. 9. A straight line being indefinitely produced both ways, any line drawn from a point on one side of it to a point on the other, must cut the straight line. 10. Two lines which cut one another cannot both be parallel to any third line. 11. If a smaller area be cut out from a larger, the area left is the same from whatever part of the larger the smaller may be taken. It would hardly be possible to make a list of all the " common notions" which Euclid employs. The postulates, or notions concerning space and figure, are the things on which it is most important to dwell with precision. What is required to be conceded in the first three postulates, is not that a straight line or circle can be imagined to be drawn, in the sense usually attached to these words, but that the geometrical line can be drawn, which is length without breadth. This is impossible, mechanically speaking, the line being a conception of the mind which cannot be executed. [LINE.] The last of the "postulates" is a self-evident property of the straight line, a term incapable of other definition than that which is contained in its properties; that is, we can make no use of the obvious notion conveyed in the words "straight line," unless we admit some one or other of its distinguishing characteristics, which is more definite than saying that it lies evenly between its extreme points. We might appear to avoid an axiom by saying, let the name "straight" line be given to that species, no two of which can, under any circumstances, inclose a space; but in that case we should need another axiomnamely, we should require it to be granted that there is such a thing as the straight line so defined, and that we have not assumed any contradiction in supposing the above species of lines to exist. It must be remembered, that though the definitions are placed at the beginning in Euclid, it is not thereby implied that the terms defined are really possible. "Let lines which, being in the same plane, do not meet, though ever so far produced, be called parallels," does not mean us to assume that such lines do exist, but only, that when they shall have been proved to exist, the name by which it is agreed to call them has been given. But some of the definitions, which ought therefore to be distinguished from the rest, are tacitly accompanied by the assumption of existence of the things defined. The 4th postulate is a theorem of more difficulty than the subject requires; since, with one additional assumption respecting the straight line, it admits of proof. The assumption previously discussed, namely, that two straight lines cannot enclose a space, amounts to assuming that if two straight lines coincide in two points, or if two different points of the one can be made to lie upon two different points of the other, the portions of the straight lines lying between these points will also coincide entirely. Let it be granted, in addition, that the parts which are not between these points will coincide (an equally evident proposition), and the 4th postulate of Euclid admits of proof. Euclid's editors, in taking this postulate for granted, make use of it to prove our additional assumption, which, as they phrase it, is "no two lines can have a common segment;" that is, two lines cannot coincide between two points and not coincide elsewhere. But, of two propositions, one of which it is found necessary to assume, that one should be the more simple of the two. The 5th postulate, which is a theorem of some difficulty, neither self-evident, nor even easily made evident, is not at all required in the form given, even in Euclid. For he proves, without its assistance, that if the two lines there mentioned meet, it must be on the side on which the angles are less than two right angles. But it may be reduced to a very evident form as follows: If a straight line be taken, and a point exterior to it, of all the straight lines which can be drawn through the point, one only will be parallel to the first-mentioned straight line. The whole assumption lies in the word only; for Euclid shows, without the help of this axiom, that a parallel can be drawn, and how to draw it. This axiom is the cause of the celebrated discussion on the theory of PARALLELS, under which head it will be more fully treated. AXIS, AXE. This word is used in so many different senses, that it may be defined as follows: Any line whatsoever which it is convenient 3 D 771 AXLE. to distinguish by a specific term with respect to any motion or other phenomenon, is called the axis. Thus we have axes of co-ordinates, of oscillation, of inertia, of rotation, of polarisation, &c., under which heads definitions will be given. The word, when used by itself, generally means either axis of Rotation, or axis of Symmetry. An axis of rotation, or revolution, is the line about which a body turns; an axis of symmetry is a line on both sides of which the parts of the body are disposed in the same manner, so that to whatever distance it extends in one direction from the axis, it extends as far in the direction exactly opposite. Or if perpendiculars to the axis be drawn from all points and in all directions through the within the limits of the body, the whole of each perpendicular which body will be bisected by the axis. Such is the middle line of a cone, any diameter of a sphere, the line drawn through the middle of the opposite faces of a cube, &c. AXLE. Since the extensive use of locomotives, the theory of the action of axles, and the causes of their fracture, have been subjects of elaborate inquiry among engineers. Whether solid or hollow axles, with a given weight of metal, are the stronger, is one among these inquiries. Mr. Yorke, in a paper read before the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1843, contends for the superior strength of hollow axles; but this conclusion is disputed by others. The theory of axles may, indeed, be considered at present in a tentative state; meanwhile, patents are frequently obtained for improvements in form and in mechanical action. Hardy's patent axles have shown the possession of such a remarkable degree of toughness, that the Privy Council in 1849 granted a continuation of the patent; and remarks were made in the House of Lords relating to the lessening of railway accidents by their use. Since that period the patent has been sold for a considerable sum to a company at Birmingham, established for the manufacture of these axles on a large scale. Rowan's patent axles are intended to lessen the amount of friction usually produced by the action of a wheel on its axle. For the axle in common use is substituted a small centre revolving arm, along which are fitted five or six rollers, closed at each end; the sheath over the rollers revolves with very little friction, as it touches upon a small portion only of each of the rollers. The arm is turned truly parallel, with a bevelled shoulder to fit a corresponding bevel on the rollers; and a screw-nut is fitted in the extremity of the arm, having also a bevelled shoulder. The rollers are fitted into and carried by two rings in such a manner that they are perfectly free to move on their centres; and, when placed on the arm, are free also to move round it without lateral motion, being confined by the bevels. By this contrivance the bearing is transferred to the surfaces of the rollers, and does not affect their centres. pro Mr. Bessemer, in a Treatise on Railway Axles,' considers the bable causes why the axles of railway carriages break more frequently than those of a road vehicle, in spite of the fact that the one go upon smooth rails, while the other pass over roughly paved surfaces. He attributes it to the oscillation of a railway carriage. The flanges of the two wheels are alternately driven up close against the rails by this oscillation, and whenever this occurs, there is a momentary tendency in one wheel to revolve a little faster than the other; and thus a strain or twist is given to the axle, first in one direction and then in the other. This straining may take place five thousand times in an hour in a railway carriage in rapid motion; and Mr. Bessemer conjectures, that the iron of the axle may in this way be thrown into a molecular proTo obviate this source of mischief, he poses the use of a compound axle, formed of two pieces so united endwise that, while the ordinary action of an axle is maintained, the two halves may yield a little during oscillation, instead of being subjected to a twist in the fibre of the metal. state liable to fracture. To be the head of a the inhabitants of the concejo or commune. AZADIRINE. An alkaloid of uncertain composition, found in the 6 AʼZIMUTH, a corrupted Arabic word, which when properly written a way, a road, a path;' is as-samt, the as being the article al, assimilated to the initial letter of the word to which it is prefixed; samt means Azimuth denotes the angular distance of the horizontal point which also a part, tract, country, or quarter.' is directly under a star from the north point of the horizon. Thus if A JIN s be the spectator, z his zenith, z N his meridian, NA the horizon, and the star's azimuth, or it is the angle made by the vertical circle z A and ZA the vertical circle passing through a star*, then the angle A SN is the meridian Z N. The only instruments in use by which the azimuth could be immediately observed are the theodolite and the altitude and azimuth circle. [THEODOLITE; CIRCLE.] It is not one of those elements which are when its declination is known), the azimuth can be found by observing usually measured in astronomy. When the star is known (that is, the altitude A* and solving a spherical triangle; for in the triangle whose sides are the complements of the star's altitude, the star's declito the complement of the declination, as may be seen in the triangle nation, and the latitude of the place, the azimuth is the angle opposite z p*, where P is the pole. Similarly the latitude of the place may be For in the triangle just mentioned, z* and *P are found when the altitude and azimuth of a known star are observed at the same moment. given, and the angle *ZP; whence z P may be calculated. When the azimuth of a star is found by means of an instrument adjusted by the on account of the deviation of the needle) is termed the magnetic magnetic needle, then the azimuth obtained (which needs a correction azimuth. In this way the deviation of the needle may be found at any true azimuth by observing the altitude of a star in the manner before known place by observing the magnetic azimuth and calculating the described. An instrument is said to be moved in azimuth when it is turned on a vertical axis, so that any line in it drawn through the axis points to the same altitude in the heavens, but not to the same azimuth. Simi motions. It is hardly necessary to observe that when the star is in the horizon, and when the azimuth is less than 90°, (90°-azimuth) is the amplitude (which see); and that when the azimuth is greater than 90°, (azimuth 90°) is the amplitude. An azimuth circle is a circle all the points of which have the same AZIMUTH or ANALEMMATIC DIAL is one whose plane is azimuth, that is, a vertical circle. For azimuth Compass, see COMPASS. parallel to the horizon, and whose gnomon, or stile, is moveable in a vertical position. The hour-points are in the periphery of an ellipse, AYEEN AKBERY, properly Ayin-i-Akbari, is the title of a geogra-larly an instrument is moved in altitude when it is turned on a horizontal phical and statistical account of the Mogul empire in India during the axis. An altitude and azimuth instrument is one which admits of both reign of the emperor Jelâleddin-Mohammed-Akbar, written by his vizir Abu'l Fazl. [ABUL FAZL and AKBAR, in BIOG. Drv.] It constitutes the third or concluding part of the Akbarnameh' of the same author. The first volume consists of a summary account of Akbar's ancestors, and the second volume comprises the occurrences of his reign, from his accession to the throne down to the 47th year. A free and often abridged translation of this work into English was undertaken by Mr. Francis Gladwin, and a portion was issued in Calcutta as early as 1783. It has more than once been reprinted in England. As an original and we may say an official account of the internal organisation of the Mogul empire at the time of its greatest prosperity, the Ayîn-i-Akbari' is highly interesting. It is divided into four parts: the first three are chiefly political and legislative; the fourth part is chiefly statistical and geographical, giving a description of the several provinces at that time comprehended under the Mogul government, and a detailed account of the ancient institutions, religion, and literature of the Hindoos, which is very comprehensive, and in many parts surprisingly accurate. XII. R B M A VI. AYUNTAMIENTO, JUSTICIA, CONCEJO, CABILDO, REGI- and from o to N in tangents of the sun's declination, from zero to 234 degrees, the radius of the circle being equal to the eccentricity of the ellipse. To these graduations are annexed as many corresponding days of the month as can be introduced. In order to investigate the place of any hour-point, as R, let a be the foot of the stile for any given day. Then AR will be the direction of the shadow for the given hour; and there must be found the azimuthal angle MAR, or its supplement MAR'. Now the sun being in the plane of the hour-circle which cuts the horizon in RAR', and it being understood that, in the celestial sphere, there may exist a spherical triangle formed by arcs joining P the pole of the equator, s the place of the sun, and z the zenith of the place, or the point vertically above 0 [see fig. to AZIMUTH, and imagine s to be put in place of, we shall have PZ the co-latitude of the place, Ps the sun's north-polar distance, and the given hour-angle at P; to find the angle at z ( MAR' or MAR). In that triangle we obtain [SPHERICAL TRIGONOMETRY, formula 6], COS ZP COS P-cotan PS sin ZP cotan z= sin P which is the equation to an ellipse, having for its semi-tranverse axis m cosec ZP, and for its semi-conjugate axis m cotan ZP. The constant m may be taken of any magnitude at pleasure according to the intended scale of the dial; thus the ellipse may be traced. The hour-points may be found by giving to the angle P successive values,* as 15°, 30°, &c., and corresponding values for the half-hours, quarterhours, &c. in the above values of x and y. AZOBENZIDE (CHN). A reddish-yellow crystalline body, ob But RB (fig. above) being let fall perpendicularly on om produced if tained along with aniline, by the dry distillation of azoxibenzide. It is necessary, let Oв=x, BR=y, OA=x; then lightly soluble in water, and easily soluble in alcohol, fuses at 149° Fahrenheit, and distils without alteration at 379°. AZOBENZOYL (C,,H,,N). An unimportant neutral solid, obtained amongst other compounds by the action of ammonia on oil of bitter almonds. AZOERYTHRIN. [LICHENS, COLOURING MATTERS OF.] AZOLEIC ACID. One of the acids formed by the action of nitric acid on oleic acid. AZOLITMIN. [LICHENS, COLOURING MATTERS OF.] AZOTANE. [NITROGEN, CHLORIDE OF.] AZOTIC ACID. [NITRIC ACID.] AZOXIBENZIDE (C2,H,N,O,). A yellow, crystalline, inodorous, and tasteless substance, obtained by the action of caustic potash upon an alcoholic solution of nitrobenzol, AZULMIC ACID. This name has been applied to the brown flocculent matter which is deposited when an aqueous solution of cyanogen is exposed to light. B, which occupies the second place in the Hebrew alphabet, and those derived from it, is the medial letter of the order of labials. It readily interchanges with the letters of the same organ. 1. With v, as habere Latin, avere Italian, to have; habebam Latin, aveva Italian, I nad. In Spain, and the parts of France bordering upon Spain, the letter b will often be found in words which in the kindred languages prefer the v. This peculiarity has been marked in the following epigram by Scaliger :Haud temere antiquas mutat Vasconia voces Cui nihil est aliud vivere quam bibere. The modern Greeks pronounce the b, or second letter of their alphabet, like a v: thus Barineus, basileus, is pronounced by them vasilefs. When they write foreign words, or words of foreign origin, it is not unusual for them to express our sound of b by μn (mp). It appears probable that the ancient Greeks pronounced the more like the Spaniards and modern Greeks than we do; for they wrote the Roman names Varro, Virgilius, thus Báppwv (Barron), Bipyiλios (Birgilius). The Macedonian Greeks wrote Φίλιππος thus-Βίλιππος (Bilippus). B Baal was the god of the Sun, as Astarte was of the Moon. The cruel worship of Baal, together with that of Astarte, was practised by the Egyptians and Assyrians, and was frequently introduced among the Israelites, especially at Samaria. As the Greeks, Germans, and other nations frequently form the names of men by compounding them with the names of God (for example, Gottlieb, Gotthold, Fürchtegott, ✪eópLÀOS, Oeódwpos, Tiμóleos, &c.), so the Phoenicians and Carthaginians frequently formed names by composition with Baal, as Ethbaal (yans), with Baal, the name of a king of the Sidonians (1 Kings xvi. 31), whom Josephus calls 'Ieóẞaλos and Eìtúbalos, from by in, that is, with him Baal; Jerubaal, that is, Baal will behold it. Hannibal is written in Punic inscriptions by, that is grace of Baal; Hasdrubal 217, that is, help of Baal. In Hebrew also many names of cities occur, compounded with Baal, from the idol so called; as Baal-Gad, Baal-Hammon, Baal-Thamar, &c. Balbec in like manner signifies the city of Baal. The statues erected to Baal were called Baalim, or rather B'alim, The temples and altars of Baal were chiefly built on the tops of hills under trees and also on the roofs of houses. In the sculptures discovered by Layard at Nimroud, representations of the symbolic tree of Baal-corresponding to the grove of the Scriptures are very numerous. So also are representations of Baal himself, who, in a bas-relief from the south-west ruins of Nimroud, is figured in a walking attitude, raising an axe in one hand, and grasping an object resembling the thunderbolt placed by Greek sculptors in the hand of Zeus in the other; he is also represented in front of a circle, the radiating lines of which seem to typify the sun's rays; but very frequently only the symbol of the deity (the circle and radiating lines) occurs above the head of the Assyrian king. Very similar symbols are frequently met with over the doorways of Egyptian temples. Pliny says that obelisks were regarded as typical of the solar rays, and dedicated to Baal or the Sun: and it has been suggested that the image of gold set up by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iii. 1), was really such an obelisk. The proportions of the image, threescore cubits high and six wide, are evidently unsuitable for an image of a man; while, as Mr. Bonomi (Nineveh,' p. 450) has pointed out, they "agree perfectly with those of an obelisk, most of the Egyptian obelisks being about ten times the width of the base in height."-Indeed, there is still standing among the ruins of Karnak, in Egypt, an obelisk of a single block of granite 90 feet high by 9 feet wide-the dimensions of the image of Nebuchadnezzar, "and we have only to fancy that monument to be covered with plates of gold, to have present to the imagination the image of the plain of Dura." 2. The interchange of m and b takes place very frequently, especially when they are followed by the liquids or r. Thus malakos and blaks are two Greek nominatives, signifying soft. Melit, in the same lan-. guage, means honey, and blitto signifies "I remove the honey from the comb." So bro-tos, the Greek for mortal, and mor-i, the Latin for to die, contain a common root. An interchange of a similar nature marks the difference between the Greek molubos or molubdos, lead, and the Latin plumbum. If an m in the middle of a word be followed by either of these liquids, the m is retained, but is strengthened by the addition of a b, just as a d inserts itself between n and r. Instances are to be found in nearly all languages: mes-emer-ia, mid-day, was reduced by the Greek ear to mesembria; the Latin cumulare, to heap, has been changed to the French combler; the Latin numerus, number, to the French nombre, &c. The Spanish language affords examples of a still greater change. Thus, if a Latin word contain the letters min after an accented syllable, we find in the corresponding Spanish term the syllable bre or bra: homine Latin, hombre Spanish, man; femina Latin, hembra Spanish, female; famina (middle-age Latin), hambre Spanish, hunger. This corruption arises from a previous interchange of the n into an r, as in diaconos Greek, deacon, diacre in French. The Spaniards have carried this corruption even further, by changing the Latin suffix tudine (tudo nom.) into tumbre or dumbre; consuetudine Latin, costumbre Spanish, coutume French, custom; multitudine Latin, muchedumbre Spanish, multitude. 3. B interchanges with p. Of this the pronunciation of the English language by the Welsh and Germans presents sufficient examples. 4. With f. Thus the term life-guards appears to have meant originally leib-guards, body-guards, from the German leib, body. The word was probably introduced by the Hanoverian dynasty. 5. Du before a vowel in the old Latin language became a b in the more common forms of that language. Thus, in the old writings of Rome, we find duonus good, duellus fair, duellum war, &c., in place of bonus, bellus, bellum. The Roman admiral Duilius is sometimes called Bilius; and in the same way we must explain the forms bis (duis) twice, and viginti (dui-ginti) twenty (twain-ty compared with thir-ty, &c.) 6. Bi before a vowel has taken the form of a soft g or j in several French words derived from the Latin: cambiare (a genuine Latin word), changer French; rabies, rage, French; Dibion, Dijon; so rouge has for its parent some derivative of rubeo, and cage is from cavea. 7. In some dialects of the Greek language a b exists (apparently as a kind of aspirate) before the initial r, where the other dialects omit it: as brodon, a rose, &c. Again bl and gl are interchanged in dialects of the same language. Thus balanos Greek, and glans Latin, are no doubt related words; as well as blandus Latin, signifying 'soft, mild, calm,' and galenos Greek, which has the same signification. For the forms of the letter B, see ALPHABET. and m. In the Sanskrit alphabet the letter b is classed in that division of the consonants called mutes, and in that subdivision of the mutes called labials. The subdivision of labials contains four letters-p, ph; b, bh; The p and ph are called hard (surd) consonants; the b and bh are called soft (sonant); bh is the aspirated sonant corresponding to ph the aspirated surd. (Journal of Education,' No. xvi. p. 341, &c.) BAAL (from the root, he governed or possessed) means literally lord, owner; hence also husband. Baal, with the definite article, by, the Baal, means the deity of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, whose complete title seems to occur in a Maltese inscription, as is bya namba, Malkereth Baal Tsor, that is, King of the City, Lord of Tyre. (See Philosoph. Transact.' T. 54 pl. lin. 1.) The name Malkereth is a contraction of king of the city. Hence it appears likely that Baal and Moloch are names of the same idol. The worship of Baal gave employment to a numerous priesthood, who burned incense, sacrificed children, danced round the altar, and if their prayers were not speedily heard, cut themselves with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them. By this self-chastisement, the priests expected to excite the compassion of Baal, and thus to obtain the object of their prayers. 66 The general character of Asiatic idolatry renders it likely that Baal meant originally the true Lord of the universe, and that his worship degenerated into the worship of a powerful body in the material world. Sanchoniathon states that the Phoenicians worshipped the sun 23 μόνον οὐρανοῦ κύριον, “ the only Lord of heaven,” called Βεελσάμην Beelsamen (that is, by, Lord of heaven); and that this Beelsamen was the Greek Zeùs, Zeus. In the Septuagint, Baal is called 'Hpakλñs, Hercules, called in the Phoenician languagez is Or-cul, that is, light of all. Some mythologists have asserted that sidered Baal to be the planet Jupiter. A supreme idol might easily Baal was Saturn (compare Servius ad Æn.' i. 729); others have conbe compared with those of other nations; hence arose this variety of opinions. that the Phoenicians and Syrians worshipped the sun, is confirmed sun on Carthaginian coins and Palmyrene inscriptions, as i bya, The name of Baal occurs frequently with epithets, as Baal-B'rith, the Greek Zevs öpкios, and Latin, Deus Fidius, Judges viii. 33; ix. 4. (b) that is, lord of confederacy, or God of treaties, like Beelzebub, (by, that is, lord of flies,) corresponds to the Greek Zeùs àτóμvios, μvíaypos, Zeus the fly-chaser (Pausan. v. 14): compare Hercules μvíaypos. He had a temple at Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. |