Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/60

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.fcSYMNETIC monarchy, among anticnt writers on govern- ment, denotes a limited elective monarchy. Anjl. Polit. c. io. Thomaf. Pfaiiof, Praft, tab. 44. & in ftnnot. The word is originally Greek, formed from »ttr»fw»a, regno, I govern. — An atfymnctic ftate {lands oppofed to a barbaric, or hereditary one.

2ETATE probanda, in law, a writ that lay to enquire whe- ther the king's tenant, holding in chief by chivalry, were of full age to receive his lands into his own hands. It was di- rected to the efcheator of the county; but is now difufed, fince wards and liveries are taken away by the ftatutc Car. II. Reg. Orig. 294. Blount, Cowcl.

/ETHALE, a&*to, atSoXo?, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome writers to the cadmia fornacnm, or tuttv. It had this name from its being the concreted foot, or vapour of the lapis calaminaris and copper, melted together, in the making of brafs.

They who translate this word, by the Englifh foot, miftake its true meaning } for the Greeks have carefully diftinguifhed between this and foot, which they called, «<r£<As, ajbole. What they exprefs by Mthak, is that fine and thin vapour of abluifh colour, which rifes in form of a flame, from the furface of the melted metal ; and this concreting againft the top and fides of the furnace, either in botryoid clufters, or in thin flakes, formed what they generally called cadmia, but fome- tinies Mthale, the name of the vapour that formed it.

/ETHER, (Cyf/.)-Someoftheanticnts, particularly Anaxagoras, fuppofed the /Ether to be of the nature of fire. An opinion like which, divers moderns have entertained, who conceive Mther as no other than the matter of the fun, or folar par- ticles put in a violent rotatory motion, by the ftrokes of the body of the fun, from which they arc emitted. V. Verdries, Phyf. Proleg. §.2. p. 6. It. P.I. c. 4. §.5. p. 108. Mem. de Trev. 1703. p. 172. Aft. Erud. Lipf. 1707- p. 361. Works of Learn. T. 7. p. 484. Some reprefent the /Ether as 7200 times more rare than air a . Others make it more denfe than gold itfelf: for the Mther is all Mther, whereas in gold there are numerous pores filled with other matter b . Some pretend that there are feveral fpecies of Mther, of different degrees of fubtilty c . Others reject them all, judging the rays of light fufHcient to anfwer all the purpofes of an tetherial matter A . — [* Perrault, Ouv. Div. de Phyf. T. 1. Bibl. Cho'if. T- 1. p. 250. b Hook, Pofthum. Works, p. 172. c Perrault & Hook, ubi fupra.

  • Aft. Erud. Lipf. 1701. p. 391.]

A late philofopher cltablifb.es two general principles of all bodies ; the firft, Mther, or radiating particles, whofe mo- tion is from the center towards the circumference : thefe he fuppofes continually fuppHed from the fun and fixed ftars. The fecond, Air, compofed of globular particles, the motion of which is from the circumference towards the center. Hence a ready folution of expanfive and contractile forces. Ru- diger, Phyf. Divin. & in Pbilof. Synth, p. 91. fcq. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 54. p. 150. Mem. de Trev. 17 18. p. 1082. Aft. Erud. Lipf. 1716. p. 345.

Des Cartes and Huygens account for gravitation, or the cen- tripetal tendency of bodies, from the centrifugal power, and circular motion of the Mther e . The abbe de Catclan has a difcourfe exprefs to overturn this folution f . Herman goes farther, and fhews, that the centrifugal power of the Mther Ihould rather repel bodies from the earth, than impel them towards it s. James Bernouilli h , in a treatife on the gravity of the Mther, takes a middle courfe, maintaining, that the fubtile tetherial matter, difFufed through the fpaccs above the atmofphere, has its gravity, as well as the air itfelf ; and that the two co-operating together, produce thofe effefts com- monly attributed to the prcflure of the atmofphere alone. — [ c Mem. de Trev. an. 1721. p. 2087. It. an. 1722. p. 111. Id. an. 1723. p- 198. Verdries, loc. cit. c. 6. §• II. p. 166. Stair, Phyfiol. Nov. Exper. 5. Aft, Erud. Lipf. an. 1686. p. 405i Hook, Pofthum. Works, p. 16^. f V. Aft. Erud. Lipf. an. 17 12. p. 357. feq. E Exerc. trancof. T. r. Ex. 4. p. 79. Aft. Erud. Lipf. an. 1712. p. 45. h Cogit. de Gravitate /Ethcris, Amft. 8vo. an. 1683. Extracts of it niay be feen in Joum. des Scav. T. 13. p. 87. feq. & Aft. Erud. Lipf. an. 1683. p. 106. feq.]

Dr. Hook, long ago, had fome fufpidon, that the Mther permeated all bodies, was the medium of light, the fluid body in which the air is but as a tinfture, that it caufed gra- vity in the earth, or other cceleffial bodies, affifted in the aftion of fire and burning, and in the diflblution of other bodies by menftruums, in fermentation, and the like. Hook, Pofthum. Works, p. 2g. See farther concerning the exif- tence of Mther, Boyl. Philof. Works abr. T. 2. p. 504. Voter, Phyf Exper. c. 2. p. 72. feq. Its fluidity, circula- tion, elafticity, &c. Voter, ib. p. 75. feq. Verdries, P. 2. c. 3. §. 1. p. 293. Hook, loc. cit. p. 171. Its being the primum mobile, or fource of all motion, Verdries, p. 6, 63, & 107. Its influence on the air, Hook, ib. p. 380. Impe- diment to the moon's motion, Id. ib. p. 191. Its being the caufe of the planetary motions, Giorn. de Letter, d'ltal. T. 10. p. 6. feq. Of colours and refrangibility, &c. Ib. T, 23. p. 132. Of found, Ib. T. 9. P . 315. and Mem.

Acad. Scienc. an. 1720, p. Jo. Philof. Tranf. N°. 100.

P- J 5-

The misfortune is, that thefe learned authors only alTert, but

do not demon ft rate.

^Ether, in chemiftry. See the article Spiritus athertus Frohenii.

TETHERIAL, (Cj*/.)— The antlent Platcnifts and Pythago- reans fuppofc different bodies united within the human foul ;

viz. the grots, or material one; a finer aerial one; and,

3dly, the fineft. of all which they call atherial, ccelcftial, &c.

crwpct a§aj-to», AiS^.m, avyof.hi. Clldworti), Illtcli. Syft. C. 4.

Bibl. Choif. T. 8. p. 52.

Several authors confider the foul as an atherial fubftance ". Hippocrates himfelf feems of this opinion b . And hence mo- dern phyficians afcribe many phenomena in the animal occo- nomy, to the aftion of nnatheriai fubftance c . Divers alfo conceive the animal fpirits as of an atherial nature d . — [ n Bibl. Choif. T. 6. p. 244. Gorman, de Mirac. Mort. 1. 2. tit. 10. §.76. b Jour, des Scav. T. 85. p. 80. c Obferv. Halcnf. T. 11. p. 28. Jour, des Scav. T. 85. p. 51. d Mem. de Trev. an. 1715. p. 136?--] The Chaldees placed an atherial world between the empy- reum and the region of the fixed ftars. Bcfide which, they fometimes alfo fpeak of a fecond atherial world, meaning by it the ftarry orb ; and a third atherial world, by which is meant the planetary region. Stanl. Hill. Philof. P. 15. p. 1040. feq.

jEtherial phofphorus is a name generally given, by Ber- nouilli, to that called mercurial, or barometrical phofphorus, V. Bibl. Anc. Mod. T. 8. p. 227. See Phosphorus, Cycl.

^ETHIOPIAN crown, in natural hiftory, the name of a fheli- fifh, of the genus of the doliwn, or concha globofa. It is of a brown colour, but differs from the common fhell of this genus, in having the top, or head, dentatcd, fo as to repre- fent a crown. See Dolium.

jETHIOPS, [Cycl.) — A new preparation of Mthiops is given by Crugcr, a German phyfician, which is white and fair ; and, on that account, called Mthiops minerale fangulne regis ablutum : in oppofition to which, he calls the dark, or vul- gar kind, Mthiops cum Jlercore fuo. Ephem. Germ. dec. 3. an. 7. obf. 105. p. 173.

Authors are not agreed as to the merits of Mthiops mine- ral. Cheyne, and many more, commend it highly. Boer- haave, on the contrary, and fome other authors, rejeft it as ufelefs. V. Gorris, Mercur. Triumph. Aft. Erud. Lipf. an. 1717. p. 158. and Boerhaave's Chem. Part 3.

./Ethiops albus, in pharmacy, quickfilver rubbed with a double quantity of crabs-eyes, or of fugar-candy, till it is ex- tinguifhed. This has been taken by fome, without any fen- fible effect ; yet a very fmall quantity of it has raifed a high falivation in others. Quickfilver extinguifhed in prunels, lias operated much the fame way.

Mthiops of Dr. Plummcr. See Plummer'j Mthiops.

iETHYIA, in zoology, a name by which the old authors have called one of the web-footed fowl, fecming to be the utamania of Crete, or the common auk, or razor-bill. Sec the articles Alka and Utamania.

ETIOLOGICAL, fomething that affigns the caufe of an ef- fect, or appearance. The etiological part of phyfic, is other^ wife called Mt'tology.

ETIOLOGY (Cycl.) is ufed for a figure in rhetoric, whereby in relating an event, we affign alfo the caufe of it. Vojf, Elem. Rhetor, c. 16. p. 35. Thomaf. Erot. Rhet. c. 25. p. 52.

In which fenfc, Mtiology differs from color, as the former afligns the true caufe, the latter only a feigned or fpecious one. The fceptics were profefled opponents of all Mtiology, or ar- gumentation from caufes. Scxt. Empcr. Pyrrh. Hypotyp. J. 1. c. 25. Stanl. HifE Philof. p. 787.

ETITES, [Cycl.) the eagleflone. This foflil fubftance has been much renowned for its imaginary virtues. There are two or three diflinft genera of bodies, feveral of the fpecies of which, at times, form the body called by this name. The geodes, when their earthy matter is pretty firmly united within them, and will rattle on making them, are "not uncommonly called by this name ; and much more fre- quently than thefe, the heteropyra, a genus of the cruftated ferrugineous bodies with hard and folid fubftanccs, ferving for their nuclei, and fometimes loofe in them. Thefe laft are what are fold in the German fhops, under the name of atita, and are there ufed fometimes internally in medicine. See Geodes and Heteropvra.

But the fineft and molt valued of all the cagle-ltoncs, arc accidental ftatcs of one or other of our common pebbles. Thefe are fo fir from being a peculiar fpecies of foflil, though ufually accounted fuch, that they are not determin3tely of any one fpecies of pebble. That, however, which molt ufually furnifhes them, is the brown centered pebble, with whitifh, bluifh, and brown crufts. See Calculi. The plain hiftory of this remarkable foflil is this. The cen- tral nucleus of many fpecies of pebbles, peculiarly of this, is coarfer than the reft of the ftone, that is, it is made up of 3 more