A C R
A C R
Acrid) according to Grew, properly belongs to the clafs of compound taftes. It is riot fimply four or pungent; there being bodies not Acrid, which yet are pungent, e. gr. arum : nor is it limply hot ; for there are many hot bodies which are not Acrid, as the foots of zedoary, yarrow, and contra- yerva.— The chara&eriftic therefore of Acritude confifts in pungency joined with heat. Grew, Difc. of Taftes, c. I. §. 2*. p- 281.
Acrid bodies, by the pungency and tenuity of theirparts, incide, digeft, heat, open, irritate, purge, caufe appetite, &c The eating of Acrid foods with thofe intentions, is particu- larly called by the Greek? drimyphagia. Gorr. Def. Med. p. Il6. in Voc Appafctytec.
Acrid things are hurtful to the head and eyes, and contrary to bilious temperaments ; but advantageous to pituitous ones. Abcrcromb. de Dignofcend. Medic. Plant. Virib. ap. Giorn. de Letter, de Parm. 1688- p. 185. ACROAMATIC, in the Ariftotelian hiftory, imports the fame with Acroatic, Vojf. de Sedt. Philof. c. 17. §. 9. See the article Acroatic Acroamatic, in a more general fenfe, denotes a thing fub- lime, profound, or abftrufe. In which fenfe, it ftands op- pofed to exoteric.
We fay acroamatic philofophy, acroamatic theology, an acroamatic method, acroamatic interpretation, &c. Few fedts, or profeffions, but have had two ways of teaching, if not two forts of doctrine, an acroamatic for adepts and proficients j and an exoteric for novices a . We find traces of this among the heathen as well as chriftian divines, philofophers, and chemifts. Hence the ceremonies of ini- tiations, and ablutions, the difcipline of fecrecy ; and hence alfo the origin of fables, enigma's, parables, fymbols, &c b . — [•* Vid. Zcidler, de gemino docendi more, exotertco y acro- amatico pajftm. An analyfis of which is given in Reimman, Syft. Antiq. Literar. P. 3. Sec. 2. p. 134. b Bac.de Aug- ment. Scient. 1. 6. c. 2. opp. T. 1. p, 166.] Acroamatic, is fometimes alfo ufed in a more general fenfe for any thing kept fecret, or remote from popular ufe.
In which fenfe Reimman gives the title Bibliotheca Aeroa- matica, to a defcription of the MSS. of the library of Vienna, abridged from the vaft commentaries of Lambecius and Nef- felius. Reimman, Bibl. Acroam. Hannov. 1712. 12 . ACROAMATICI, a denomination given the difciples, or followers of Ariftotle, C5'c. who were admitted into the fe- crets of the inner or acroamatic philofophy. Scbcffer. de Philof. Ital. c. 10. Bibl. Choif. T. 10. p. 174. ACROATIC, Ariftotle's lectures to his difciples were of two kinds, exoteric, and acroatic, Axg»«1ix». The acroatic were thofe, to which only his own difciples and intimate friends were admitted ; whereas the exoteric were publick or open to all ; but there arc other differences. The acroatic were fet apart for the higher and more abftrufe fubjects ; the exoteric were employed in rhetorical and civil fpeculations. Vid. Salmaf. ad Epict. p. 228. feq.
Again, the Acroatia were more fubtile and exact, evidence and demonftration being here aimed at ; the exoterics chiefly aimed at the probable and plaufible. The former were the fubje£t of the mornings exercifes in the Lyceum, the lat- ter of the evenings : add that the exoterics were publifhcd, whereas the Acroatia were kept fecret, being either entirely concealed, or if they were publilhed, it was in fuch obfcure terms, that few but his own difciples would be the wifer for them. Hence when Alexander complained of his pre- ceptor for publilhing his Acroatia, and thus revealing what Ihould have been referved to his difciple ; Ariftotle anfwered, that they were made publick and not publick, for that none "who had not heard them explained by the author, viva w, would underftand them. Vid.GV//. 1.2. c. 5. Pint, in Alex, Stanley, Hift. Philof. P. 6. c. 8. ACROBATICA, or Acrobaticum, an antient engine, whereby people were raifed aloft, that they might fee more conveniently about them. Pitifc. Lex. Antiq. Rom. T. i. p. 18.
The Acroba'iica among the Greeks, amounted to the fame with what was called fcanforium among the Latins. Vi- truv. Archit. 10. c. 1. p. 204.
Authors are divided as to the office of this engine. Turne- bus and Barbarus 3 , take it to have been of the military kind, raifed by befiegers, high enough to over look the walls, and difcover the ftate of things on the other fide. Baldus rather fuppofes it a kind of moveable fcaffold, or cradle contrived for raifing painters, plaifterers, and other work- men, to the tops of houfes, trees, Gfc, Some fufpect that it might have been ufed for both purpofes b . — [ a Ad Loc. Vitruv. b Bald. Lex. Vitruv. p. 5. Aattin. Lex. Milit. T. 1. p. 15. Buleng. de Theat. 1. 1. c. 22. ACROCHIRISMUS, a^^i^^, among the ant'ients, a kind of gymnaftic exercife, wherein the two parties contended only with their hands and fingers, without doling, or en- gaging the other parts of the body. V. Lang. Epift. Medic. I 1. Ep. 52. p. 240. Seal. Poet. 1. 1. c . 22. Cajiel Lex. Med. in Voc.
The word is alfo written Aerochircjis, and Acrochiria, it is originally Greek, formed from Ak^o^i^ the part employed
in this combat, which fome would needlefsly reftrain to the tips of the fingers j tho' the etymon does not make this ncceflary.
Some make this a diftinct exercife from wreftling", and fup- pofe it to have given the denomination AcrocbiriJla? x to a peculiar fet of athlete who profefted it b . Others with more probability confider it as only a fpecies, or branch of wreft- ling ; fome will have it to have been properly only a prelude to a wreftling bout, wherewith the athletre began to try each others ftrength, and bring their arms into play e . — [ a V. Mer- curial, de Art Gymnaft. 1. 3. c. 5. b Bud. in Pandec. p. 96. Lang. 1. c. c Burette, in Mem. Acad. Infcrip. T. 4.
P- 337-]
This exercife made part of the pancratium. Paufanius fpeaks of a famous pancratiaft, named Softrates, who got the firname Acrocherjites, or Aerecbeirijfes, from his having overcome all his antagonifts at the Acrccbirifm.—\t appears to have been in ufe in the age of Hippocrates, who afcribes to it a virtue of extenuating the reft of the body, and making the arms flcftiy. Ca/lell. Renov. p. 12.
ACROCHORDON, a painful fpecies of wart, very promi- nent and pendulous, having a large head with a fmall pedi- cle, or bafe. Zuing. Inftit. Pathol. §. 349. p. 210. Cajl. Lex. Med. p. 12. See Wart, Cycl. Thefe are alfo Called Penfila Verruca, or hanging warts, and ftand diftinguifticd from SeJJiks Verruca, or Myrtnecia. Others defcribe the Acrocbordon, as a harder, rougher fort of wart, growing under the cutis, ^very callous, and ufually of the fame colour with the flrin ; fmall at bottom and big- ger upwards, but rarely exceeding the fizc of a bean. Gorr. Def. Med. p. 18. Cclf. de Medic. J. 5. c. 28. Cajl. Lex. Med.
ACROCORION, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the feveral fpecies of the ipring crocufes. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.
ACROE, in botany, the name given by the natives of Guinea, to a kind of fhrub, which they ufe in wine, as a reftorativc and analeptick. It is of the trifoliate kind, and has fomewhat of the appearance of the corallodendrous, but it is not prickly ; the middle or end leaf ftands on a pedicle of an inch long, the other two leaves have no pedicles at all. Phil. Tranf. N°. 232.
ACROMONOGRAMMATICUM, among poets, denotes a kind of poem, or compofition, wherein each fubfequent verfe commences with the fame letter, with which the verfe preceding terminates.
ACRONYCHAL, {Cycl.) — Among antient writers, altar was properly faid to be acronycbal, or to rife aeronycbally, which rofe in the evening, when the fun was fet. Greek writers, it is true, ufe the term A^goyu^jias indifferently, in fpeaking either of evening or morning, by rcafon both are confidered as Ax%& twc vfxV, the extremities of the night. And hence, among them we find acronycbal applied to the riling and fetting of the ftars, either in the morning or evening. But the antients were more diftinc"t, and by the Ax ? oiwe1iof ra- ther meant the firfi beginning or approach of night, than the end or period of it ; and accordingly among them, the ftars which rofe in the evening, " not thofe in the morning, were faid to rife aeronycbally. V. Salmaf. Exerrit. ad Solin. p. 720.
Acronychal is fometimes alfo applied improperly, toanyrifing or fetting of a ftar, during the night, or while the fun is be- low the horizon. JVolf. Lex. Math. Voc. Ortus.
Acronychal is like wife an appellation more peculiarly given to the fuperior planets, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, when they were come to the meridian of midnight.
ACROSTIC, (Cycl.) — Among ecclefiaftical writers, Acrojlies denote the ends of verfes of pfalms, which the people fang by way of chorus, or refponfe to the prcecentor or leader of the pfalm. This was called finging Acrojlies, AcroJlichia y which is a fpecies of pfalmody, ufual in the antient church. V. Bingb. Orig. Ecclef. T. I. 1. 14. c. 1. §. 12. p. 666. Acrojlic in this fenfe amounts to the fame with Hypopfalma, Diapfabna, Acroteleution, and Epbymnion, which are all terms of the fame bonification.
Tho' an Acrojlic properly fignifies the beginning of a verfe, yet it is fometimes alfo ufed for the end or clofc of it ; as by the author of the conffitutions, when he orders one to fing the hymns of David, and the people to fing after him the Acrojlies or ends of the verfes.
It does not however denote precifely the end of the verfe, but fomething added at the end of a pfalm, or fomething frequently repeated in the courfe of a pfalm, anfwering to our Gloria Patri.
Some pretend to find Acrojlies in the pfalms, particularly in thofe called Abcdarian pfalms. V. l e Clerc. in Bibl. Choif. T. 9. p. 242. Du Hamel. ad Pfalm. 25. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 29. p- 511-
ACROSTICUM, m the Linnaean fyftem of botany, the name of a genus of capillary plants, the character of which is, that the fructifications are not difpofed in any regular man- ner on the leaves, as in molt of the other capillary plants j but they are fo placed as to form a heap, cover- ing the whole underfide of the leaf : the ruta muraria is of this kind.
3 ACR.OS-
