A B I
A B L
virtues ; it feems no other than a carelefs miftake in writing the word Afbeftus. ABEVACUATION, in medicine, denotes a partial evacuation. See Evacuation, CycL Abevacuationls fynonymous with the Greek etvotuntni ; which ftands in the fame relation to xm<ni, or an univerfal evacua- tion. V. Cajl. Lex. Med. in Voc. Cenofts. ABHEL, in botany, a name given by fome to favin, an evergreen garden-fhrub, well known in phyfic in many in- tentions. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. A B I B, in the Hebrew chronology, the name of the firft month of their eccleliaftical year. This month was afterwards called . Nifan, and anfwers to our March. Cahnet. ABIES. See Fir-tree.
ABIGEATUS, abigeat, in the civil law, the crime of ftealing cattle, or driving them off, efpecially in droves, or numbers \ — {* V. Brijf. de Verb. Signif. p. 3, Voc. Abigei. Cah. Lex. Jur. p. 7. Vojf. Etym. p. 15. Voc. Ago. Sp'teg. ap. Calv, loc. cit.]
The Roman lawyers generally call this crime Abigeatus ; the orators and poets Abatlus. — The criminal who commits it is denominated Abigcus or Abigevus ; fometimes Abactor, Abiga- tor, and even Jbigeatsr, by the Greeks a-fays.®-, airi.xa.Tm, and
Abigeat was a peculiar fpecies of theft, and had its appropriate procefs : authors vary as to the efl'ence of it* arid its diftinction from furtum. Some fix its chara&eriftic in the quality of the thing ftolen, which is to be cattle : others extend it fo as to include other kinds of animals, as fowls, and even fervants. Others diftinguifli it by the quantity of the thing ftolen ; ac- cording to which, he who takes a fingle fheep, or hog, is only fur ; he that takes a whole herd Abigeus. Others make it ef- fential to Abigeat, that it be done clandestinely, as in the night, or by enticement, (e. gr. throwing corn to pidgeons) not by open force ; and that the thing be afterwards concealed. Some again make the place the eflential part, as that the thing be taken out of the fold, houfe, or pafture j not out of the fta- bles, nor ft raying in the woods, or highways. Others place it in the habit; as if furtum were the firft, or an occafional offence, Abigeat the practice, or making a trade of it. Laftly, others feem to make the frighting of cattle away, a fpecies of Abigeat.
The punifliment of Abigeat was more fevere than that of fur- tum ; viz. condemnation to the mines, banifhment, or even death it felt", according to the quality of the offender. But fome- times in Spain the punifliment was more fevere than elfewhere, in regard the people of that country were more than ordinarly adidled to it b .— [ b Brijf. <k Cah. loc. cit. Aubert. in Voc. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 7. feq.]
Abigeatus, among phyftcians, the procuring an abortion by art or medicine 3 ; called alfo Abatlus, and Abigcre partutn. See Abortion.
Hence the name Abiga, fometimes given to the herb cbama- pitys, from its ufe in that action b ; and fometimes alfo to the third membrane of the fecundities, on account of its fup- pofed office, abigere lotium, to keep off the foetus's urine from annoying it c . See Secundine, Urachus, &c— [* Brijf. de Verb. Signif. p. 3. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 7. » Plin. Hift. Nat 1. 24. c. 6. Gorr. Med. Defin. p. 504. Voc. x a P*™ i - •n>;. c Mart. Lex. Phil. T. 1. p. 2.]
ABILITY, is u fed in law, for a capacity of doing certain things, relating either to the acquifition of property, or the transferring of it.
Ability in this fenfe coincides with capacity, and ftands oppofed to difability, or non-ability.
Every perfon is fuppofed to be able, i. e. to have the power of taking and dilpofmg of effects, whom the law does not dif- able. Hale Anal, of Law, § 1. p. 3.
ABLAQJJEATIO N, (CycL) is fynonimous with baring of trees in fome Englifh writers. It ftands contradiftinguifhed from fojfio ; and perhaps from raftri and fubaratio, which were more Superficial diggings, and did not reach to the roots. Salmaf. Exercit. ad Solin. T. 1. p. 516.
This great critic cenfures Solinus for confounding rajiri with Ablaqucation, and feems to make them oppofites : aliud rajlro- rum opus in agro IS vinea, aliud ablaqueatio ; — Fojfio igitur & raftri non proprie ad radices pertinent vitium, fed ablaque- atio. Yet, elfewhere, he himfelf makes them fynonymous,
and blames the fame Solinus for diftinguifhing them. Sic
etiam erraverit Solinus, qui raflros IS ablaqueationem difcer- n'it. Id. ubi fupra, p. 512.
Ablaqucation v/zs pradifed by theantients on all trees *; par- ticularly the vine, and myrrh-tree b . The inftrument by which it was done, feems to Salmafius, to have been the raftn c : its defign, and ufe was, in general, to promote the fertihty of fruit-trees, by expofing their roots to the fun and air, for frefh influence ; and thus both increafe their bearing, and accelerate the ripening of their fruit d . But in the myrrh-tree, Ablaqucation is faid to have had farther views, viz. to cool its root, and hereby promote the bleeding of its gum c Modern hufbandmen alfo find it of ufe for curing the mofs f , and phyllomania « ; and for abating the exube- rance of trees*. The larger roots alone, not the leffer fibres, according to Bradley, are to be laid bare.—— -Dr, Tong takes
Ablaqucation to have much the feme tendency and ufe with crofs-hacking ; and thinks it chiefly contributes to fertility, by hindering the nourifhment of the outer coats, and circles of the roots, as well as of fuckers and leaves ; and thus Supplying a greater ftock of nutriment to the inner coats, which alone reaches to the outermoft fprigs of the laft years, on which the fruit are chiefly to be expected '.— [ a Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 17. c. 39. b Id. 1. 12. c. 33. c Lib. cit. p. 516. d Pitif. Lex. Ant. T.i. p. 8. c Diodor. Bibl. 1. 5. p.317. i Evel. Terra, p. 309. e Id. ibid. p. 327. h Phil. Tranf. N". 46. p- 916. ' In Phil. Tranf. loc. cit. J
The feafon for Ablaqucation is in autumn : an old writer fixes it before the middle of October k , for the benefit of the winter-rain, and fnow-water : a late botanic profeflbr places it in January '. — [ k Curt, de Cult. Hort. ap. Pitifc. ubi fupra 1 Bradl. Die*. Bot. in voc. Diet. Ruft. Voc. Baring,]
ABLATIVE, (CycL) thequeftion concerning the Greek ^/«- tive has been the fubjedt of a famous literary war, between two great grammarians, Frifchlin a and Cruiius b ; the former of whom ftood for, and the latter againft the reality of it. The difpute is fcarce decided to this day. Sandtius c , and the Port-royalifts a ftill maintain the affirmative ; Perizo- nius e the negative. The chief reafon alledg'd by Sandtius is, that the Roman writers often joined Greek words with the Latin prepofitions, which govern Ablative cafes, as well as with nouns of the fame cafe. To which Perizonius anfwers, that the Latins antiently had no Ablative themfelves ; but in- ftead thereof, made ufe, like the Greeks, of the dative cafe; till at length they formed an Ablative, governed by prepofi- tions, which were not put before the dative : that, at firft, the two cafes had always the fame termination, as they ftill have in many inftanccs : but that this was afterwards chang'd . in certain words. 'Tis no wonder then, that the Latins fometimes join prepofitions which govern an Ablative cafe, or nouns in the Ablative cafe, with Greek datives, fince they were originally the fame ; and that the Greek dative has the fame effect as the Latin Ablative f . — [ a Demon ftratio Gnecos non carere Ablative Argent. 1586. 410. b Antiftrigilis cum refutatione demonftrat. Ablativi Graxorum. Argent. 1586. 8vo. c In Minerva, Ed. Perizon. p. 26. d Abreg. de la Nouv. Meth. Grecq. c. 2. c Not. ad Sandt. loc. cit. f Ls Clerc, Bibl. Univ. T. 5. p. 303. feq.]
Ablative abfolute, in grammar. See Absolute, Cycl.
ABLECTI, in antiquity, a choice or feledl part of the fol- diery in the Roman armies, picked out of thofe called extra- ordinari'i. The word is Latin, formed of ablegendo, quafi ex plurimis
lecli, of the Greek dwdapii a . Pitifcus b takes the
word Ablecli for a corruption, and to have afiien from a Wiong tranfiation of flHrcAawos ; which, according to him, ought rather to have been rendered felefii : which is confirmed by Turnebus, who alters Ablecla ades in Plautus, for abjecla: ; but Aquinas defends the authenticity of AhleSH\ and urges, after Scaliger, ablegmina, on his fide, as a word of the fame origin c .— [ a Aquin. Lex. Mil. T. 1. p. 3. Kenn. Rom. Ant. Not. 1. 4. c. 6. p. 192. b Seal, in Feft. Voc. Albegmina. c Pitifc. Lex. Antiq. Rom. T. 2. p. 721. Voc. Sekcli. Aquin. loc, cit. J
ABLEGMINA, in antiquity, thofe choice parts of the entrails of victims, which were offered in facrifice to the gods.
In Feftus we find the word Albegmina 3 , which Scaliger b , and others after him c , take for a corruption of the text • the word being apparently derived from ablegere, to cull or feparate ; formed in imitation of the Greek awo>ayt», which fignifies the fame. In which knk Ablegmina coincides with amXiyiuH $ unlefs, as others fuggeft, the word be of Latin origin, and derived from atbeo, whence Albegmina, on account
of the whitenefs of thefe parts [ ■ Fell, m Albegmina
b Not. in Feft. <= Voff. Etym. p/ 2 .] *
The Ablegmina were otherwife called profcits, forricia, pro- fecla, and profegmina * : they feem to have differed 'from Jlrebula, which were the like morfcls of the flefhy parts c ; and from augmentiun, which particularly denoted a part of the liver f — [ d Baxt. & Dan. in Voc. e Paul. Diacon. in Feft. Voc. Strebula. f Varro, de Ling. Lat. I. 4. Brijf. de Formul. I. 1. p. 24. Lomcier, de Luftrat. c. 23. p. 225.] Some authors make Ablegmina'to denote all thofe parts of the vidtims which were offered to the deities ; contrary to the authority of Feftus, who reftrains Ablegmina to the exta, or entrails only.
The exta being found good, were to be profedted or parted - i. e. the extremes or prominent parts cut off, as Ablegmina, to be fprinkled with flour, and burnt by the priefts on the altar pouring wine on them g — — Tertullian rallies the heathens
for thus ferving their gods with fcraps and offals h . [e Pitifc.
Lex.Ant. T. i.p.8- h TertuR, Apolog. c.13. Kondicoqua- lesfitis in facrificando, cum enecla IS tabidofa quaque maclatis ; cum de optimis & integris fupervacua quaque truncatis, cap'i- tula & ungulas ; qua: domi pueris vel canibus quoque deftinsf- fetis.] y J
ABLET, orAi.BLEN, in zoology, a name given by fome to the common bleak, a fmaH frcflVwatei- filh, called in Latin Allumus. See Alburnus. Willoughby^ Hift. Pifc. p.263.
' The
