A P I
great difference between the two medicines *, Aphrolitrum re- fembling meal^ or farina, and being of a kind of interme- diate virtue between Aphronitrmn and falt c .— [ a Officin. Para- lip, c. 53. *Brun. Lex. Med. in voc. c Gorr. Def. Med. p. 65.]
APHRONITRE, Aphromtrum {Cycl.) — Mercatus fuppofes Aphromtrum, nitrum, mid/puma nitrl, to have been much the fame, and only 10 have differed in degree or point of excel- lence. Mercai. Metalloth. Vatic. Arm. 2. c. 9. The fpuma nitrt, called by the Greeks a.<p^ T a n1§«, be- caufe lighteft, is faid by Pliny * to have been the bell. Galen however and Serapion exprefsly diftinguifh between mtrum and Aphromtrum, a Plin. Hift. Nat. 1. 31. c. 10. Greek authors exprefied two different fubltances by the word Aphromtrum, the one only a particular appearance of the na- trum, or native nitre of thofe ages ; and the other a factitious fiibftance, the froth or fpume of the veffels in which they boiled and purified their nitre. The earliefl authors, however, diftin- guifhed thefe two, calling the factitious fubftance aphros niirou and the native Aphronitron ; and Galen plainly tells us that thefe were two different fubftances. Hill's Hift. of" Kofi", p. 300.
APHROSELENOS, A^oo-.*^, among anticnt naturalifts, a denomination given to the Selenites, or lapis fpecularis. V. Mercat. Metalloth. Arm. 7. c. 11. p. 154. See Selenites.
APHTHAE (Cycl.) are fometimes underftood of ulcers in other p-rts of the body, befides the mouth and palate. Hippocrates applies the word to ulcers in the pudenda of wo- men, alfo to thofe in the afpera arteria, and Galen (peaks of the tefticles as fubjecl to the famedifeafe. V. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 63.
APHUA Gobites, in zoology, the name of a fmall fifh common in the Mediterranean and fotaie other feas, and called by us the fea-loach. It never exceeds three or four inches in length, its body is round, and flatted a little on the back, its colour is white variegated with black fpots, its eyes are placed in the up- per part of the head and are very prominent, its back fins are rigid and fomewhat prickly, and its back and the upper part of its fides are fometimes variegated with brown fpots. Rondelet, de Pifc.
APHYLLANTHES, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the lilia- ceous kind, and is compofed of fix petals which arife from the center of a fquammole and in fome degree tubular cup ; the piftil arifes alfo from the cup and finally becomes a trigo- nal turbinated fruit, which when ripe burlts into three parts or cells, which contain roundifh feeds. Tournef. Inft. p. 657. There is only one known fpeciesof this plant, which is the Montpcher Aphyllanthes, called by fome the blue Montpelicr Pinh
APIARIA, in natural hiftory, the name given by authors to a fly found only in Autumn, and frequently met with on parfley ; it is a two winged fly of a deep and mining black, and gathers wax on its legs in the manner of the bee.
APIASTELLUM, in botany, the name of two different fpe- cies of plants with different authors ; Dodonreus cxpreffing by it the common balm, and Apuleius the black bryony. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
APIASTER, in zoology, a name given by fome authors to the bee-eater, called by the generality of authors Merops. See the article Merops.
APIASTRUM, in botany, a name given by the antients to two different plants of f'uch contrary form and qualities, that it is unlucky they fhould have given occalion of confounding them together, as miftakes about them might be of fatal confequence. The one of thefe plants was the poifonous water crowfoot ; which they called Apiajlrum, becaufe of its having leaves that fomewhat refembled fmallage. The other Apiajlrum is the common garden baum, fo called by thefe writers, from their having obferved that the bees were very fond of it ; befides
- this they have in fome places called the felinum by this name,
from its refcmbling parfley, which they alfo called apium ; and fome of them have extended the name even to the ani- mal world, and given it to a fort of bird that feeds on bees. The difference between the two firft Apiajlra is fo great, that it might be fuppofed no one could err about them, yet we find that Pliny has not efcaped them, for he tells us, that baum is called by this name, becaufe bees eat it, and that it is condemned as a poifon in Sardinia, as if the fame thing was a falutifcrons herb in Italy, and a poifon in Sardinia.
APICULUM, in antiquity, a kind of thread or fillet which the Flatnens wore, in the heat of fummer, in lieu of the Apex. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p. 121. See Apex. Feftus fpeaks of the Apiadum, as a cover for the Apex ; but the pafTage feems to be corrupt.
APIOS, in botany, a name given by many authors, to thofe fpe- cies of the tithymal, or fpurge, which have tuberofe or knobby roots. See the article Tithymalus.
Apios is alfo the name given by Boerhaave to fome of the legu- minous plants, cornprifed by Linnaeus under the name glycine. Boerh. Ind. Alt. 146.
APIS, the bee, in zoology. See the article Bee.
APISTOS, a name given by fome of the writers of the mid- dle ages to the ftone called afyctos, or afii&os, by Pliny. See the article Asiictos. Suppl. Vol. I.
A P O
APIUM, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the cha- rafters of which are thefe. The flower is of the umbelliferous kind, and is rofaceous, or compofed of feveral regular leaves dif- pofed in a circular form. Thefe ftand upon a cup, which finally becomes a fruit compofed of two feeds, which are fmall, gibbofe, and frriatcd on one fide, and flat, and fmooth on the other ; to this it may be added, that the leaves are branched, or placed on ramofe ribs. The fpecies of Apium enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe.
1. The common cultivated Apium, called garden-parfley.
2. The Curled-leaved garden Parjley. 3] The great broad- leaved garden Parjley, called in fome places the Englifh Parfley. 4. The Macedonian Parfley. 5. The roundifh leaved Por- tugal Apium. 6. The Pyrenaean Apium, with the appear- ance of thapfia, called by fome Alpine fejeli . y. The Apium. Commonly called Anife, with large fweet-fcented feed.
8. The Apium called Anife, with fmaller fweet-fcented feed.
9. The marih Apium, called fmallage. 10. The cultivated tweet Apium, called by the gardeners cilefl. 11. The fmaller marih Apium. Tournef Inft. p. 305.
The marih Apium or fmallage is the fame with what botanifts alfo call eA»0-«Ai>w, eleofelinum, fometimes paludapium, and Apium palujhe, and is of fome ufe in medicine. V. Gofr. Def. Med. p. 132.
The root is chiefly ufed in medicine : it is about the thicknefs of a thumb, wbiiifh, fibrous, of a warm tafte, and a fragrant fmell ; being one of the five greater openers of the fhops. It is grate- ful and detergent, promotes urine, diflodges gravel, and is alfo recommended in diforders of the breaft, and to promote expe&oration. V. Sguinc. Difp. P. 2. n. 293. Junck. Confp. Therap. Tab. 9. p. 266. It. Tab. 5. p. 153. Its feed is alfo of the number of the lefter hot feeds ; and its leaves are given in deco&ion, or the expreffed juice of them^ in all nephritick complaints. The root is greatly recommended againft fuppreffions of the menfes, and of the lochia, and is faid to be alone a remedy for the kingVevil, but this wants proof.
The antients had an opinion, that being eaten by a woman who gave fuck, the infant would become epileptic. Lan?. Epift. Med; 1. 1. p. 333. *
APIVORUS Butco, in zoology, the name by which authors call the bird known in Englifh by the name of the honey- buzzard. It is fomewhat larger than the common buzzard; its beak is black, very much hooked, and protuberant in the middle, and covered to the noftrils with a black wrinkled fkin ; its mouth opens very wide and is yellow within. Its head is grey and flatted, and the bottoms of the feathers on the hinder part of the head, and the back are white ; its back is of a moufe colour, but fome of the wing feathers are white in part, and the wings and tail have a broad line of grey, and another of black acrofs them ; the tail is very long and is mottled with black and white. Its throat and tail un- derneath are of a pure fnow white, and its breaft and belly mottled with white and black ; its legs arc fhort ftrong and yellow, and its claws very fharp and black. It builds its neft with flicks covered with wool, and fometimes ufes the deferted neft of a kite to lay and breed its young in, which it feeds principally with the nymphs, or maggot worms of bees and wafps ; and it is common to find pieces of honey-combs in the nefts. It feeds on newts, frogs, and other fmall animals,- and is remarkable for running Very fwiftly on the ground : the female is larger than the male, as in moft other birds of prey. Ray, Ornitholog. p. 39. Sec Buteo.
APLUSTRE, or Amplustre, in the antient navigation, a carved tablet, fomewhat after the manner of a fhield, fixed by way of decoration to the extremity of a (hip's head. V. Schcff". de Milit. Nav. I. 2. c 6. Salmaf. Exerc. ad Solin. p. 404. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. i.p, 122.
The word is apparently formed of the Greek »$Wo*, which imported much the fame. The Aplujire is alfo called in antient writers, tabulatum, and
The rofira or beaks of fhrps were foraetimes alfo called Apluf-
tria.
But fome think that the Aplujire anfwered to what we call
the flag, or enfign. V. Moreau de Mautour, Ap. Salengre,
Mem de Literat. Tom. 7. Part. 1. pag. 445.
APNOEA, in medicine, denotes a want of breath, or lofs of refpiration.
In this fenfe is the word ufed among the antients, not as im- porting a total privation of breath, which would only be ano- ther name for death ; but to denote the refpiration very fmall, and flow, fo as to fecm quite gone, as is the cafe in fuffo- cations of the uterus, apoplexies, fyncopes, lethargies, c?V. Cafl. Lex. Med. p. 63.
APOBAMINA is ufed by fome phyficians for a liquor wherein pieces of gold, or chains heated red hot, have been exttnguifhed, in order to fortify the fpirits and principal members. V(d. Cardan, de Subtil. 1. 5. Theatr. Chem. T. 1. p. 626, Car- tel. Lex. Med. in voc.
APOBATHRiE, AwoG«9g«i, in antiquity, a kind of little bridges, or flairs, joining the land to mips, or one fhip to another. Potter, Archseol. L 3. c. 16.
3 A Thefe
