color are found in the north deserts of Africa. The Arabs take them in snares for the sake of their flesh. If fresh killed, it is hot and unsavory; if kept two days after it is boiled, it becomes excellent meat. These people, the Tartars, and Romans, agreed in their preference of this to any other food, the latter indeed chose them young, at a period of life in which it was called lalisio (See Martial xiii. 97). The epicures of Rome preferred those of Africa to all others. Full grown onagri were introduced among the spectacles of the theatre; and their combats were preferred even to those of the elephants. The manners of the wild ass are very much the same with those of the wild horse. They assemble in troops under the conduct of a leader, and are very shy. They will, however, stop in the midst of their course, and even suffer the approach of a man at that instant, but will then dart away with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow. This Herodotus mentions, in his account of those of Mesopotamia; and Leo Africanus, in that of the African. Their wildness is beautifully described in Scripture. See Job xxxix. 5-8. Yet they can be tamed; the Persians catch and break them for the draught: they make pits, half filled with plants to lessen the fall, and take them alive, when they break, and hold them in great esteem. The famous breed of asses in the East is produced from the koulan reclaimed from the savage state, which highly improves the breed. The Romans reckoned the breed of asses produced from the onager and tame ass to excel all others. The Tartars, who kill them for the sake of the flesh and skins, lie in ambush and shoot them. They have been at all times celebrated for their amazing swiftness. Their food is the saltest plants of the deserts, such as the kalis, atriplex, chenopodium, and the bitter milky tribe of herbs, &c.; they also prefer salt-water to fresh. This is exactly conformable to the history given of this animal in the book of Job; for the words 'barren land,' expressive of its dwelling, ought, according to the learned Bochart, to be rendered salt places.' The hunters lie in wait for them near the ponds of brackish water, to which they resort to drink; but they seldom have recourse to water. These animals were anciently found in the Holy Land, Syria, the land of Uz or Arabia Deserta, Mesopotamia, Phrygia, and Lycaonia. But at present they are entirely confined to the countries above mentioned. Shagrin is made of the skin of these animals. See SHAGRIN. The Persians use the bile of the wild ass as a remedy against dimness of sight.

II. EQUUS BISULCUS, the Chilese horse, in the size, number, and arrangement of teeth, as well as general appearance, resembles the horse; and is therefore ranked by Gmelin in this genus, though it differs from all the other species in having cloven hoofs. In its size, hair, color, nose, eyes, neck, back, tail, legs, genitals, and internal structure, it resembles the ass, but wants the dusky cross on its shoulders. It resembles the horse in the figure of its ears, and the sound of its voice; and, according to Molana, in the size and position of its teeth. Hence Mr. Kerr supposes, it may be only a wild horse, degenerated through the inclemency of the mountainous district it inhabits, in the Andes, in South America;

and that the circumstance of its having cloven hoofs may be exaggerated, or only a mistake.' Some naturalists are inclined to consider it as belonging to the camel tribe, and the genus auchenia.

III. EQUUS CABALLUS, the horse, has a long flowing mane, and the tail covered on all parts with long hairs. Even in a domestic state he is a bold and fiery animal: equally intrepid as his master, he faces danger and death with ardor and magnanimity. He delights in the noise and tumult of arms, and seems to feel the glory of victory; he exults in the chase; his eyes sparkle with emulation in the course. But, though bold and intrepid, he is docile and tractable; he knows how to check the natural vivacity and fire of his temper. He not only yields to the hand, but seems to consult the inclination of his rider; constantly obedient to the impressions he receives, his motions are entirely regulated by the will of his master. He in some measure resigns his very existence to the pleasure of man. He delivers up his whole powers; he reserves nothing; he will rather die than disobey. Who could endure to see a character so noble abused? Who could be guilty of such gross barbarity! This character, though natural to the animal, is in some measure the effect of education. His education commences with the loss of liberty, and is finished by constraint. The slavery of the horse is so ancient and so universal, that he is but rarely seen in a natural state. Several ancient writers talk of wild horses, and even mention the places where they are to be found. Herodotus takes notice of white savage horses in Scythia; Aristotle says they were to be found in Syria; Pliny, in the northern regions; and Strabo, in Spain and the Alps. In more recent times, Cardan says, that wild horses are to be found in the Highlands of Scotland and the Orkney Isles; Olaus, in Muscovy; Dapper, in the island of Cyprus; Leo and Marmol, in Arabia and Africa, &c. But, as Europe is almost all inhabited, wild horses are not to be met with in any part of it; and those of America were originally transported from Europe by the Spaniards; for this species of animals did not exist in the New World. The Spaniards carried over a great number of horses, left them in different islands, &c., with a view to propagate that useful animal in their colonies. These have sometimes multiplied incredibly, in the vast deserts of those thinly peopled countries, and roamed at large without any restraint. M. de Salle relates, that he saw, in the year 1685, horses feeding in the meadows of North America, near the bay of St. Louis, which were so ferocious that nobody durst come near them. Oexmelin says, that he has seen large troops of them in St. Domingo running in the valleys; that when any person approached, they all stopped; and one of them would advance till within a certain distance, then snort, take to his heels, and the whole troop after him. Every author, who notices these horses of America, describes them as smaller and less handsome than those of Europe. These relations sufficiently prove, that the horse, when at full liberty, though not a fierce or dangerous animal, has no inclination to associate with mankind; that all the soft

ness and ductility of his temper proceeds entirely from the culture and polish he receives in his domestic education, which in some measure commences as soon as he is brought forth. The motions of the horse are chiefly regulated by the bit and the spur; the bit informs him how to direct his course, and the spur quickens his pace. The mouth of the horse is endowed with amazing sensibility; the slightest motion or pressure of the bit gives him warning, and instantly determines his course. The horse has not only a grandeur in his general appearance, but there is the greatest symmetry and proportion in the different parts of his body. The regularity and proportion of the different parts of the head give him an air of lightness, which is well supported by the strength and beauty of his chest. He erects his head as if willing to exalt himself above the condition of other quadrupeds: his eyes are open and lively; his ears are handsome, and of a proper height; his mane adorns his neck, and gives him the appearance of strength and boldness. At the age of two years, or two years and a half, the horse is in a condition to propagate; and the mare, like most other females, is ready to receive him still sooner. But the foals produced by such early embraces are generally illmade and weakly. The horse' should never be admitted to the mare till he is four or four and a half; this is only meant with regard to draught horses. Fine horses should not be admitted to the mare before they are six years old, and Spanish stallions not till seven. The mares are generally in season from the beginning of April to the end of June; but their chief ardor for the horse lasts but about fifteen or twenty days, and this critical season should always be embraced. The stallion ought to be sound, well made, vigorous, and of a good breed. Mares go with young eleven months and some days. They bring forth standing: contrary to the course of most other quadrupeds, who lie during this operation. They continue to bring forth till the age of sixteen or eighteen years; and both horses and mares live between twenty-five and thirty years. Horses cast their hair once a year, generally in the spring, but sometimes in the autumn. At this time they are weak, and require to be better fed and taken care of than at any other season. In Persia, Arabia, and most eastern countries, they never geld their horses, as is done in Europe and China. This operation greatly diminishes their strength, courage, and spirit; but it makes them goodhumored, gentle, and tractable. With regard to the time of performing this operation, the practice of different countries is different: some geld their horses when a year old, and others at eighteen months. But the best and most general practice is to delay the operation till they are two years old, as they thus retain more of the strength and other qualities of the male. For the breeding, rearing, &c., of horses, and the technical description of the parts, &c., see the articles HORSE, STALLION, &c.; for the method of training and managing them, see HORSEMANSHIP; and for their diseases and cure, VETERINARY ARTS.

IV. EQUUS HEMIONUS of Pallas, the 'Huovos, or half ass, of Aristotle and Pliny, the czigithai of Buffon, and the dshikketei, fecund, or wild

mule of Pennant, is of the size and appearance of the common mule, with a large head, flat forehead growing narrow toward the nose, eyes of a middle size, the irides of an obscure ash color: thirty-eight teeth in all, being two in number fewer than in a common horse; ears much longer than those of a horse, quite erect, lined with a thick whitish curling coat; neck slender, coinpressed; mane upright, short, soft, of a grayish color; in place of the foretop, a short tuft of downy hair about an inch and three quarters long. The body is rather long, and the back very little elevated; the breast protuberant and sharp. The limbs are long and elegant; the thighs thin as a mule's. Within the fore legs there is an oval callus; in the hind legs none. The hoofs are oblong, smooth, and black; the tail is like that of a cow, slender, and for half of its length naked, and the rest covered with long ash-colored hairs. Its winter coat is gray at the tips, of a brownish ash-color beneath, about two inches long, in softness like the hair of a camel, and undulated on the back. Its summer coat is much shorter, of a most elegant smoothness, and in all parts marked most beautifully with small vortexes. The end of the nose is white; from thence to the foretop inclining to tawny. The buttocks are white; as are the inside of the limbs and belly. From the mane a blackish testaceous line extends along the top of the back to the tail. broadest on the loins, and growing narrower towards the tail. The color of the upper part of the body is a light yellowish gray, growing paler towards the sides. The length, from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, is six feet seven inches; length of the trunk of the tail, one foot four; of the hairs beyond the end, eight inches. The height of the animal is three feet nine. This species inhabits the deserts between the rivers Onon and Argun in the most southern part of Siberia, and extends over the vast plains and deserts of Western Tartary, and the celebrated sandy desert of Gobi, which reaches even to India. In Siberia they are seen only in small numbers, as if detached from the numerous herds to the south of the Russian dominions. In Tartary they are found about Taricnoor, a salt lake at times dried up. They shun wooded tracts, and lofty snowy mountains. They live in separate herds, each consisting of a chief, a number of mares and colts, in all to the number of about twenty; but seldom so many, for commonly each male has but five and sometimes fewer females. They copulate towards the middle or end of August; and bring, for the most part, but one at a time, which, by the third year, attains its full growth, form, and color. The young males are then driven away from their paternal herds, and keep at a distance till they can find mates of their own age which have quitted their dams. These animals also carry their heads horizontally; but, when they take to flight, hold them upright, and erect their tail. Their neighing is deeper and louder than that of a horse. They fight by biting and kicking, as usual with the horse they are fierce and untameable; and even those which have been taken young, are so intractable as not to be broken by any art which the wandering Tartars could use.

Yet

were it possible to bring them into fit places, and to provide all the conveniences known in Europe, the task might be effected; but it is doubted whether the subdued animal would retain the swiftness for which it is so celebrated in its state of nature. It exceeds that of the antelope; it is even proverbial; and the inhabitants of Thibet, from the fame of its rapid speed, mount on it Chammo, their god of fire. The Mongalians despair of ever taking them by the chase; but lurk behind some tomb, or in some ditch, and shoot them when they come to drink or eat the salt of the desert. They are excessively fearful animals, and provident against danger. A male takes on him the care of the herd, and is always on the watch. If they see a hunter, who by creeping along the ground has got near them, the sentinel takes a great circuit, and goes round and round him, as discovering somewhat to be apprehended. As soon as the animal is satisfied, it rejoins the herd, which sets off with great precipitation. Sometimes its curiosity costs its life; for it approaches so near as to give the hunter an opportunity of shooting it. But it is observed that, in rainy or in stormy weather, these animals seem very dull, and less sensible of the approach of mankind. The Mongalians and Tungusi, according to Du Halden, kill them for the sake of their flesh, which they prefer to that of horses, and even to that of the wild boar, esteeming it equally nourishing and wholesome. The skin is also used for making boots. Their senses of hearing and smelling are most exquisite: so that they are approached with the utmost difficulty. The Mongalians call them dshikketei, which signifies the eared; the Chinese, yo-to-tse, or mule. In ancient times this species extended far south. It was found in Syria in the time of Aristotle, who celebrates it for its amazing swiftness and fecundity, a breeding mule being thought a prodigy (see MULE); and Pliny, from the report of Theophrastus, mentions this species as found in Cappadocia.

V. EQUUS QUAGGA, the quacha, is striped like the zebra on the head and body, but with fewer lines. The flanks are spotted; the rump is plain; the ground color of the head, neck, body, and rump, a bright bay: the belly, thighs, and legs, are white, and free from all marks. This species, till of late, has been supposed to be the female of the zebra; but recent observations prove that the male and female zebra are marked alike This differs likewise in being thicker and stronger made, and in being more tractable; for instance, one had been so far broken as to draw in a cart. The Hottentots also distinguish them from the former, by the names of quagga and opeagha.

VI. EQUU. ZEBRA has the figure and gracefulness of the horse, joined to the swiftness of the stag. He is about seven feet long, from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, and about four feet high. The color of his skin is beautiful and uniform, consisting of alternate parallel rings of black and white, disposed in the most regular manner. He is generally less than the horse and larger than the ass. The zebra is found no where but in the east and south provinces of Africa, from Ethiopia to the Cape of

Good Hope, and from the Cape of Good Hope to Congo. The Dutch have been at great pains to tame and use them for domestic purposes, but with little success. The zebra is hard-mouthed, and kicks when any person attempts to touch or come near him. He is restless and obstinate as a mule but perhaps the wild horse is naturally as untractable as the zebra; and it is probable, if he were early accustomed to obedience and a domestic life, he would become as docile as the horse.

ER, a syllable in the middle of names or places, comes by contraction from the Saxon pana, dwellers.

ERA, n. s. Fr. ere; Lat. era. According to some from A.ER.A. annus erat Augusti. See ERA. Some from Goth. ur; Swed. ar, time: time as reckoned from one particular epoch.

The Mohammedan era, reckoning from the Hegira or flight of the prophet, has of itself a strong tendency to preserve that superstition, and prevent the Mussulmans from assimilating with the other nations. Thomas. Mr. Grey's Memoria Technica was designed as an artificial language to remember numbers, as of the eras, or dates of history.

Darwin.

ERAD'IATE, v. n. Į From Lat. e and ra ERADIATION, n. s. dius, a ray. To shoot out in the manner of a ray of light.

A kind of life eradiating from intellect, &c.

More.

from whom alone are all the eradiations of true maGod gives me a heart humbly to converse with him, jesty. King Charles.

ÉRAD'ICATE, v. a. Fr. eradication ; ERADICATION, n. s. Lat. eradicare, radicis a root; Gr. padığ, a branch or bough. ERAD'ICATIVE, adj. & n. s. from e and radir, To pluck or tear up by the roots: hence to destroy completely; an eradicative (also used as an adjective) is a medicine that thus destroys dis

ease.

If a gouty person can bring himself entirely to a milk diet, he may so change the whole juices of his body as to cradicate the distemper.

Arbuthnot.

If vice cannot wholly be eradicated, it ought at least to be confined to particular objects. Swift.

Philosophy converses in more appropriated and abstracted terms; and thus by degrees eradicates the abundance of metaphor, which is used in the more Darwin, early ages of society.

ERAKLEA, or EREKLI, a town of European Turkey, in Romania, on the sea of Marmora, the ancient Heraclea. It has a double harbour, contains 7000 inhabitants, and is a Greek archbishop's see. Eighteen miles south of Rodosto, and forty-six west of Constantinople.

ERAMNOO, an island at the entrance of the gulf of Cutch, on the western coast of India, having a principal town of the same name. Long. 68° 40′ E., lat. 22° 32′ N.

ERANARCHA, a public officer among the ancient Greeks, whose business was to preside cver and direct the alms and provisions made for

the poor. Cornelius Nepos, in nis life of Epaminondas, seems to describe the office thus: When any person was reduced to poverty, taken captive, or had a daughter to marry, which he could not effect for want of money, &c., the eranarcha called an assembly of friends and neighbours, and taxed each according to his means and estate, to contribute towards his relief.

ERANES, in Grecian history, societies among the ancient Athenians, in which each member deposited, monthly, a certain sum, in the common treasury, which was destined for the relief of associates who labored under particular misfortunes. As soon as it was possible, they were obliged to refund the money, but without interest. The Athenians looked upon these societies as very useful among a commercial people, where disappointments and shipwrecks often produced sudden and unmerited misfortune.

ERANTHEMUM, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, and diandria class of plants: COR. quinquefid, with the tube filiform; the anthere without the tube; the stigma simple. Species five; mostly Cape shrubs,

ERASE', v. a. Į Fr. raser; Lat, erado, eraERASE MENT. sus, from e and rado, to scrape. Gr. parow, to cut or break. To excind; to expunge; blot out.

The heads of birds, for the most part, are given erased; that is, plucked off.

Peacham on Blazoning.

ERASISTRATUS, in biography, a physician, of great reputation among the ancients, born at Cos, and a pupil of Chrysippus. His fame acquired him the esteem of Seleucus Nicanor, king of Syria, at whose court he resided for a considerable time. While there, Antiochus, the king's son, was seized with a disorder for which the physicians could afford no remedy, and Erasis tratus was called in. He observed that whenever Stratonice, his father's wife, entered his apartment, Antiochus appeared confused, a blush and tremor spread over his frame, his pulse quickened, and his voice grew feeble. He instantly perceived the cause of the disease, and conceived at the same time a plan for its cure. He went to the king and informed him that Antiochus must die, as his illness was occasioned by a passion that could never be gratified. Who then is the object of his love?' exclaimed Seleucus. My wife,' answered Erasistratus. Seleucus urging him strongly not to occasion his son's death by refusing to give up his wife, Erasistratus demanded whether, if Stratonice were the object of his affections, he would yield her for the life of his son? To this the father replied, that he would willingly give up his wife, or his kingdom,

for his son; and he was informed that he might then be at ease, for that if Antiochus were possessed of Stratonice his illness would soon be at an end.

The great character of Erasistratus, however, is founded upon more solid ground than this anecdote displays. He may be considered as the father of anatomical science, at least conjointly with Herophilus. Before these physicians, the human body had never been opened for anatomical research, which had been confined to the bodies of brutes. According to Galen, they dissected living criminals: but this seems contradicted by their assertion that the arteries are filled with air only, which they must have seen to be false had they opened a living subject. They described minutely the cerebrum and cerebellum, its cavities and ventricles, and maintained that the brain was the common 'sensorium,' or source of vital action, through the medium of the nerves. He also examined minutely the structure of the heart and of the great vessels, and was the first to point out the valvular apparatus, and its peculiar form in each of the cavities of that viscus. He affirmed that the veins divided in the liver, for the purpose of secreting the bile; and knew that the urine was secreted by the kidneys.

ERASMUS (Desiderius), a celebrated writer, born at Rotterdam, in 1467. He was the illegitimate son of one Gerard a native of Tergou, by the daughter of a physician. Gerard had determined to marry the mother of Erasmus, but was deceived by a false report of her death while he was in Italy, upon which he entered into orders. The original name of Erasmus was Gerard, but he changed it himself to the Latin Desiderius, and the Greek Erasmus, all signifying amiable. When about nine years of age, he was sent to Deventer in Guelderland, where he made great progress in his education. During his residence at Deventer, his mother, who was also there, died of the plague, and his father did not long survive her; by which he was left an orphan, under the care of three guardians, who resolved on bringing him up to a religious life, with the base intention of dividing his patrimony among themselves. With this view, they sent him from one convent to another, till at last, in 1486, he was induced to assume the religious habit among the canons regular in the monastery of Stein, near Tergou. After spending some time in this situation, he obtained a dispensation from his vows, and was invited by the archbishop of Cambray to reside with him. During his abode with this prelate he was ordained priest; but in 1496 he went to Paris, where he supported himself by giving private lectures. Next year he visited England, where he was kindly received by the most eminent scholars of the age; and here he first applied himself to the study of the Greek language. His early literary works were philological, as his Adagia; De Copiâ Verborum; and De ratione Conscribendi Epistolas. In 1503 we find him at Louvain, where he studied divinity under Adrian VI. The next year he published his Enchiridion Militis Christiani, a treatise on practical religion. About this time he paid another visit to England; and

in 1506 took the degree of D. D. at Turin, after which he went to Bologna; and thence to Venice, where he lived with the famous Aldus Manutius. Leaving Venice, he visited Padua and Rome, where many offers were made to induce him to remain; but he preferred an invitation which he received from Henry VIII. of England, and arrived here in 1510. He first resided with Sir Thomas More, where he wrote his Encomium Moriæ, or Eulogy on Folly. Being invited by bishop Fisher to Cambridge, he was there made lady Margaret's professor of divinity, and Greek professor. In 1514 we find him at Basil, preparing his New Testament, and the Epistles of Jerome, for the press about this time he was nominated by Charles of Austria to a vacant bishopric in Sicily; but when he was informed of this preferment he refused it, considering himself unfit for such a station, though, as he says, the Sicilians were merry fellows, and might like such a bishop. His edition of the New Testament came out in 1516, being the first time it was printed in Greek. This was a work of amazing labor, and much impaired his health; but, though it drew upon him the censures of ignorant and envious divines, it met with a rapid sale. The church of Rome was now thrown into a violent ferment by the preaching of Luther; and Erasmus, whose bold ridicule of the monks doubtless contributed in part to their discredit, was loudly complained of. In 1519 he received a very courteous letter from Luther, to which he replied, styling Luther his dearest brother in Christ, and adding, 'the Lord Jesus grant you from day to day an increase of his spirit, for his own glory and the public good;' but as Erasmus did not openly avow the principles of the reformer, though it is certain he approved of them in his heart, this intimacy was of short continuance. In 1720, when the pope's nuncio solicited the emperor to punish Luther, and the elector of Saxony consulted Erasmus on the occasion, he observed, Luther has committed two unpardonable crimes; he has touched the pope upon the crown, and the monks upon the belly; to which he added, 'I know that a bishopric is at my service, if I would but write against Luther; but he is a man of too great abilities easily to encounter; and to say the truth, I learn more from one page of his, than from all the volumes of Thomas Aquinas.' When his friend and patron, Mountjoy, exhorted him to the service, he replied, 'Nothing is more easy than to call Luther a blockhead; nothing less easy than to prove him so.' In 1522 he published his Colloquies, which gave great offence to the monks, who used to say, 'Erasmus laid the egg, and Luther hatched it.' He appears, indeed, to have been at a loss how to behave towards Luther, and escape the vengeance of the court of Rome; and the timidity with which he acted seems rather inconsistent with the knowledge and freedom he displayed in speaking and writing: 'I follow,' says he, 'the decisions of the court and emperor when they are right, which is acting religiously; I submit to them when they are wrong, which is acting prudently; and I think it lawful for good men to act thus, when there is no hope of obtaining more.' Eras

·

mus was next engaged in a controversy with Scaliger and other scholars, who, in their great zeal for the purity of Latin composition, were for rejecting all words not to be found in the works of Cicero, whence they were denominated Ciceronians. In opposition to these pedants, Erasmus wrote the much admired dialogue, entitled Ciceronianus, which was printed in 1528. His learned work, De rectâ Latini Græcique Sermonis pronuntiatione, was also published this year. The last of his publications appeared in 1535, entitled Ecclesiastes, or, on the Manner of Preaching. He died at Basil, in 1536, and was buried honorably in the cathedral of that city. Erasmus, on the whole, was esteemed the most learned man of his age; and contributed, by his example and his writings, to the restoration of learning in the several countries in which he occasionally resided. He had, however, many enemies; and as he did not embrace the reformation, and yet censured the corruptions of popery, he has been treated injuriously both by catholics and protestants. His works, in 10 vols. folio, were ably edited at Leyden in 1706, by M. Le Clerc.

ERASTIANS, a religious sect which arose in England during the time of the civil wars in 1647, thus called from their leader, Thomas Erastus, whose distinguishing doctrine it was, that the church had no right of discipline, that is, no regular power to excommunicate, censure, absolve, or decree, &c.

ERATO, from Epaw, I love, in mythology, the muse who presided over amorous poetry. To this muse was ascribed the invention of the lyre and lute; and she is represented with a garland of myrtles and roses, holding a lyre in one hand, and a bow in the other, and at her side a Cupid, with his torch. There was also a Nereid of this name.

ERATOSTHENES, a Cyrenæan philosopher, historian, and poet, styled for his learning Plato Minor. He had the care of the celebrated library at Alexandria: and was warmly patronised by Ptolemy Euergetes, by whose order he wrote a History of the Theban Kings of Egypt, whose succession had been entirely omitted by Manetho. He thus fixed the Egyptian chronology, and his authority is by many preferred to that of Manetho. He wrote other treatises, a catalogue of which is to be seen in Fabricius Vossius, &c. The only piece of his now remaining entire is a Description and Fabulous Account of the Stars. The fame of Erastosthenes however principally rests on his measurement of the earth, in which he ascertained that, at the time of the summer solstice, the sun at noon was vertical to the city of Syene, situate on the borders of Ethiopia, under the Tropic of Cancer. He imagined, and he was not far from the truth, that Alexandria and Syene were both under the same meridian. On these data he constructed a concave hemisphere at Alexandria, from the bottom of which arose a vertical stile, terminating at the centre of curvature of the hemisphere. Then, supposing the city of Syene to be in the vertical direction of the stile, he observed, that the arc, included between the foot of the stile and the extremity of its shadow, projected on the concavity of the