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Each of thefe ftaves is divided into three regions, whereof the firft indicates the figns, the fecond the days of the week and year, and the third the golden number. The characters engraven on them are, in fome, the antient Runic, irv others, the later Gothic character of UlfUus. The faints days are expreflbd in hieroglyphics, fignificative either of ibme endowment oi' the faint, the manner of his martyrdom, or the like. Thus»_againft the notch for the firft of March, or St. David's day, is reprefented a harp; againft the 25th of October, or Crifpin's day, a pair of fhoes ; againft the icth of Auguft, or St. Lawrence's day, a gridiron ; and, laftly, againft New-year's-day, a horn, the mark of good drinking, which our anceftors gave a loofe to at that fea- fon c . Elvius has given a diflertation exprefs on the Runic ftaff F._p Plot, Nat. Hift. Stafford, c. 10. §. 59. f Idea Scipionis Runici, 4to. 1709, Upfal. An extract of it is given in Nov. Liter. Germ. 1709. p. 296. feq.] Some think this word Almanac has been borrowed from the Egyptian aftrologers, long before the Arabs; it appearing, from Porphyry, that Almmach and Almenachica defcrtptio, (Akfumx***) were in ufe among that people in his age, for monthly predictions. V. Eufeb. de Prep. Evang. 1. 3. c. 4. See alf'o Worm, in Faft. Danic. 1. 1. c. 2. Vid. Du Cange, Gloil. Lat. in voc. Almanach.
Almanacs are of fomeyvbat different compofition, fome con- taining more points, others fewer. The effential part is the Icalendar of months and days, with the rifmgs and fettings of the fun, age of the moon, &c. To thefe are added va- rious parerga, aftronomiciil, aftrological, meteorological, chro- nological, and even political, rural, medical, &c. as calcu- lations and accounts of eclipfes, folar ingreffes, afpects and configurations of the heavenly bodies, lunations, heiiocentri- cal and geocentrical motions of the planets, prognoftics of the weather, and predictions of other events, tables of the planetary motions, the tides, terms, intere-ft, twilight, equa- tion, kings, &c.
We have a great variety of Almanacs annually publifhed, fome in books, others in loofe papers, called Sheet-Almanacs : fuch are the Oxford Ahnanac, the London Almanac, &c. Others bound, which may be denominated Booh- Almanacs. The firft author or inventor of Almanacs is conteftcd ; fome will have it to have been Johannes Regiomontanus ; of which opinion is P. Ramus. Cardan fhews this to be a miftake, fince he had feen an Almanac for the year 1414 ; whereas that of Regiomontanus only appeared in 1474. Volater- ranus s afcribes the firft Almanac to Laur. Miniatenfis, who lived at Rome. — Be this as it will, Regiomontanus appears to have been the firft who reduced Almanacs to their prefent form and method ; gave the characters of each year and month ; foretold the eclipfes, and other phafes, calculated the motions of the planets, &c h . — [e Anthropol. 1. 21. c. ult. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 32. p. 219. h V. GaJJend. Vit. Re- giomont, p. 361.]
The company of ftationers have an exclufive privilege for publifhing of Almanacs — In 1673, an Oxford Almanac was printed in octavo, with fo much fuccefs, that an edition of 30,000 was fold. This alarming the ftationers of London, they purchafed its fupprefllon for the future with a confider- able fum of money. After this, the Oxonians were contented only to publifh a fheet Almanac, which is continued to this day.
The proteftant ftates of Germany came to a refolution, in 1699, to reform the Almanac, by fuppreffing eleven days, and proceeding for the future in a method of computation different botli from the Julian and Gregorian calendar. Vid. Phil. Tranf. N°. 260. p. 459. See Calendar, Julian, Gregorian, &c. Cycl.
Evans *, Lilly, Wharton k , Gellibrand ', Booker, Gadbury, Partridge, Parker, &c. are the principal among the Englifh Jlmanac makers.— [ l V. Wood, Ath. Oxon. T. 1. p. 579. k Hemerofcopiums, or Almanacs, from 1640 to 1666. Wood, uhi fupra, T. 2. p. 684. l Wood, lib. cit. T. r. p. 613.] Sir Samuel Moreland =", Jo. Newton n , and Ro. Wood °, have publifhed univerfal Almanacs ; Blount, a catholic Alma- nac?; Le Fevre, an Almanac for 150 years 9. The royal academy of fciences at Paris r , publifh annual tables, from whence Almanacs are eafily made. — We alfo meet with hifto- rical Almanacs % bibliographical Almanacs % alphabets of Par- naflus, &c— ['" Defcript. of two Arithmet. Inftrum. Lond. 1673, i2mo. V. Phil. Tranf. N°. 94. p. 6048. n Wood, Ath. Oxon. T. 2. p. 632. ° A Specimen of a new Alma- nac for ever, or a rectified Account of Time by a Luni-folar Year defcribed in the Garter. Hook, Phil. Collect. N°. 2. p. 26. p V. Wood, Ath. Oxon. T. 2. p. 73. 1 Almanac de Cabinet, pour toutes les Annees depuis 1600 jufqu'a 1750, Par. 1714. V. Jour des Scav. T. 56. p. 327. r La Con- noifance des Temps, Par. i2mo. continued yearly. V. Jour. des Scav. 1707. p. 442. feq. s V. Mem. de Trev. 1715. p. 456. l Almanac Bibliographique pour l'Anne 1709. Par. 1709. i2mo. Vid. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 46. p. 101. feq.] ALMANAR, in the Arabian aftrology, denotes the pre- eminence, or prevalency of one planet over another. Vital. Lex. Math. p. 23.
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ALMEHRAB, among Mahometans, denotes a niche in their mofques, which directs to the Keblah, that is, to the temple of Mecca, to which they are obliged to bow their faces in praying. Vid. Sale, Prelim. Difc. to Koran, fee. 4. p. 108.
The word is Arabic, where it is properly written Al Meh- rab. ALMEISAR, a celebrated game among the antient Arabs, performed by a kind of cafting of lots, with arrows, ftrictly forbid by the law of Mahomet, on account of the frequent quarrels occafioncd by it.
The manner of the game was thus : a young camel being brought and killed, was divided into a number of parts. The adventurers, to the number of feven, being met, eleven ar- rows were provided without heads or feathers ; feven of which were marked, the firft with one notch, the fecond with two, the third with three, &c. the other four had no marks. Thefe arrows were put promifcuoufly into a bag, and thus drawn by an indifferent perfon. Thofe to whom the marked arrows fell, won fhares in proportion to their lot ; the reft to whom the blanks fell, were intitled to no part of the camel, but obliged to pay the whole price of it.
Even the winners tinted not of the flefh themfelves, more than the lofers, but the whole was dlftributed to the poor. V. Sale, Prelim. Difc. to Koran, fee. 5. p. 124. feq.
ALMELILETU is ufed, by Avifenna, for a preternatural kind of heat, a degree more remifs than that of a fever, and which fometimes remains after a fever is gone. Vid. CaJleL Lex. Med. p. 34.
ALMENE, a name given, by fome of the Arabian writers, to the prickly lotus of Africa, called by fome of the antients lotus acantbos, and by Virgil acanthus, only. In fpeaking of this acanthus, he mentions its berries ; and his commentator, Dr. Martyn, fuppofes, that by acanthus he means the Egyp- tian acacia, and that he calls the globular flowers of that tree baccas, berries. But Virgil feems juftlfiable in calling the lotus here defcribed acanthus, from fome of the other an- tients ; and this lotus does truly bear berries.
ALMIGGTM wood, a word ufed in the fcriptures, to fi^nify a beautiful and light fort of wood. It has been conjectured to be feveral different forts of woods now in ufe ; others think it has been loft long fince. But Meibom proves, from the accounts of Jofephus, that it was. the wood of the Indian pine, or fir-tree. This was excellent for its whitenefs, and for a mining levity, and therefore was ufed in mufical inftru- ments.
ALMIZADIR, among alchemifts, is fometimes ufed for ver- degreafe ; fometimes for the procefs of the philofophers ftone ; and fometimes for the aqua mcrcurialis, or aqua philofopho- rum. Ruland, Lex. Alchem. p. 31. CaJleL Lex. Med, p. 34. SeeALCAHEsx.
ALMOGIZA, among Arabian writers, denotes the limb, or circumference of the aftrolabe. Vital. Lex. Math. p. 24.
ALMOHARRAM, one of the facred months of the antient Arabs.
The word is Arabic, Al Moharram. It was the firft month of the Arab year. — On fome occafions they put off the ob- fervance of this month, to the following month Safar. Vid. Sale, Prelim. Difc. to Koran, fee. 7. p. 149.
ALMOND tree, Amygdalus, {Cycl.) in botany, the name of a genus of trees ; the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the rofaceous kind, being compofed of feveral petals ar- ranged in a circular form. The piftil arifes from the cup, and finally becomes an oblong ftony fruit, covered with a callous coat, and containing an oblong kernel. The fpecies of Almond, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The cultivated Almond, with large fruit, 2. The cultivated Almond, with fmall fruit, 3. The fweet Almond, with a foft coat, 4. The bitter Almond. And, 5. The Indian dwarf Almond. Tournef. Inft. p. 626. The Almond tree is propagated by inoculating a bud of any of the fpecies into the ftock of a plumb, peach, or Almond of another fpecies, in the month of July. See the article Inoculation.
The fecond year after their budding, they are to be removed to the places where they are to remain.
The beft fcafon for tranfplanting them, if for dry ground, is in October ; but for a wet foil, February is always found the propereft feafon. Miller's Gardner's Diet. The Almond was antiently called mix Graca, becaufe firfr, brought into Italy from Greece. Macrob. Saturn. 1. 2. c. 4. Burggr. Lex. Med. T. 1. p. 618. feq. in voc. The tree is a very early bloflbmer. Aaron's rod, by whofe budding the priefthood was preferved to him % was of this tree b . — [ a Num. c. xvii. v. 8. b Lamy. Introd. Script. I. 3. c. 3. p. 420. feq.]
There are two kinds of fweet Almonds, r, Jordan, which are the larger, longer, and dearer kind, chiefly fold to be eat with raifms. 2. Valentian and Barbary Almonds, which are thofe from whence the oil is procured. Nought, Collect. N°. 434. T. 2. p. 76.
Diofcorides c relates, that bitter Almonds kill foxes, which,
it is faid, has been fince abundantly verified by experiment.
— The like is obferved with regard to cats, cocks, hens, &c.
4. It
