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iE S T ( iERRA, a fmall town of Portugal, in the province of Eftramadara, fituated upon the river Zatas. AERESCHOT, a town of the Dutch Netherlands, fituated in Brabant, about fifteen miles call ward of Mechlin. iERUGINOUS, in ornithology, the trivial name of a fpecies of falco. See Falco. ^Eruginous, an epithet given to fuch things are refemble or partake of the nature of the rult of copper. iERUGO, properly fignifies the raft of copper, or verdegris; but is applied indifferently t» ruft of any kind. AERUGO falis, a kind of reddilh fiimy matter, feparated from Egyptian natrum; probably a mixture of bitumen and a red earth. .fE.RUSCAT@RES, in antiquity, a kind of ftrolhng beggars, not unlike gypfies, who drew money from the credulous by fortune-telling, <bc. It was alfo a denomination given to gripping exaclors, or colledors of the revenue. AERY, or Airy, among fportfmen. See Airy. iES, properly fignifies copper, or money coined of that metal. See Copper. Ais favum, yellow Copper, among the Romans, an appellation given to the coarfer kinds of brafs. See Brass. JEs caldarium, the name of a -certain regulus of antimony, employed in preparing the fine blue colour called f?nalt. Ms uftuvi, a preparation of copper, by expofing plates of it in a reverberatory furnace, till they crumble into a powder, which is called as ujhtm. It is ufed for colouring glafs, eating off dead fielh, or cleanting foul ulcers. fESALON, in ornithology, an obfolete name of a fpecies of falco. See Falco. jESCH, in ichthyology, an obfolete name of a fpecies of falmo. See Sal mo. AESCHYNOMENE, in botany, a genus of the diadelphia decandria dais. There are feven fpecies of this genus, none of which are natives of Britain. The’calix of the asfchynomene is bilabiated, and the pod jointed. It is alfo a fynonime of feveral fpecies of the mimofa, or fenfitive plant. See Mimosa. iESCULANUS, or jEres, in mythology, adeitywho prefided over the coinage of copper-money. AESCULAPIUS’/ ferpent, or Coluber ZEsculapIi. ‘ See Coluber. ifc.SCULUS, in botany, a genus of the heptandria nionogynia clafs. There are only two fpecies of it, viz. the cattanum, and the pavia, both- natives of India. The calix of the asfculus is mondphyilous with five teeth ; the corolla has five petals unequally coloured, and inferted into the calix. jESTIM ATIQ capitis, a term met with in old law-books for a fine anciently ordained to be paid for offences committed againft perfons of quality, according to their feveral degrees. jESTIVAL, in a general fenfe, denotes fomething cbnne&ed with, or belonging- to fumraer. Hence, ssffival fign, seftival fo’ftice, 6c .
iE T H ) iESTUARIA, in geography, denotes an arm of the lea, which runs a good way within land. Such is the Briftol channel, and many of the friths of Scotland. tESTUARIES, in ancient baths, were fecret palfages from the hypocauftum into the chambers. See Bath, and Hypocaustum. .ESTUARY, among phyficians, a vapour-bath, or any other inftrument for conveying heat to the body. ETH, or Ath, a llrong little' town in the. Auftrian Netherlands, and province of Hainault, fituated on the river Dender, about twenty miles S. W. of Braffels. ETHALE, a term ufed by the ancients for the cadmia fornacum. See Cadmia. ETHALIES, a name given by the Greeks to the fedum. See Sedum. ETHER, the name of an imaginary fluid, fuppofed by feveral authors, both ancient and modern, to be the caufe of gravity, heat, light, mufcular motion, fenfation, and, in a word, of every phasnomenon in nature. Anaxagoras maintained that aether was of a fimilar nature with fire; Perrault reprefents it as 7200 times more rare than air; and Hook makes it more dehfe than gold itfelf. Whoever has an inclination to know the various hypothefes concerning aether, may conudt Shebbere, I'errault, Hook’s pofthumous works, Aft. Erucl. Lipf. 1716, Bernouilli’s Cogitat. degravitate atheris, &c. &c^ Before the method of philofophifing by indudlion was known, the hypothefes of philolbphers were wild, fanciful, ridiculous. They had recouife to aether, occult qualities, and other imaginary cables, in order to explain the various phaenomena of nature: But fihee the days of the great Lord Verulam, who may be ftyled the parent of genuine philofophy, a contrary courfe has happily been followed. He convinced the world, that all knowledge muft be derived from experiment and obfervation; and that every attempt to inveftigate caufes by any other means muft be unfuccefsful. Since his time, the belt philofbphers have followed the trait Vhich he pointed out. Boyle, Locke, Newton, Hales, and a few others, in little more than one centujry, have improved and extended fcience far beyond what the accumulated force of all the philofophers fince fhe creation had been able to effedluate : A ftriking pypof both of the comprehenfive genius of Bacon, and of the folidity of his plan of inveitigation. It muft indeed be acknowledged, that there is a propenfity in the human mind, which, unlefs it be properly reftrained,' has a direft tendency both to corrupt fcience, and to retard our progrefs in it. Not costented with the examination of objeds which readily fall within the fphere of cur obfervatioh, we feel a ftrong defire to account for things which, from their very nature, muft, and ever will, elude our riefearelies. Even Sir Ifaac Newton himfelf was not proof againft this temptation. It was not enough that he had difeovered the nature of light and colours, the application of gravity to the motions of the heavenly bodies, 6c. he muft go further, and attempt to ailign the caufe of gravity, itielf. But, how does he proceed in this matter ? Not in the
