the liver. The opinion of the natives is, that this formidable complaint is occasioned by the quality of the water, and with this opinion we agree. People going to India should look to this point; they should boil the water which is for drink, and then filter it. ANATOMICAL WAX FIGURES. Mademoiselle de Beheron, the daughter of a Parisian surgeon, was the first who invented Anatomical Figures of Wax and Rags. She modelled her imitations upon corpses, and they were executed with such perfection, that Sir William Pringle on seeing them said, "They wanted nothing but the smell.' LAW ON ANATOMY. It is said, that the earliest law enacted in any country for the promotion of anatomical knowledge, was passed in 1540. It allowed the United Company of "Barber-Surgeons" to have yearly the bodies of four criminals to dissect. GOLDEN AGE. The Golden Age, which we often have heard of, is an allusion to the era when the then known world was under the dominion of a single master: and this state of felicity continued during the reigns of five successive princes, viz., Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the two Antonini. Mankind was never so happy, and it was the only Golden Age which ever had an existence (unless in the warm imagination of the poets), from the expulsion from Eden down to this day. EPOCHS AND ERAS. Terms which constantly recur in history, and the elucidation of which belongs to the province of chronology. An epoch is a certain point, generally determined by some remarkable event, from which time is reckoned; and the years computed from that period are denominated an Era. The birth of Christ is considered an Epoch-the years reckoned from that event are called the Christian Era. PROMETHEAN FIRE. Prometheus was the son of Japetas, and brother of Atlas, concerning whom the poets have feigned, that, having first formed men of earth and water, he stole fire from heaven to put life into them; and that, having thereby displeased Jupiter, he commanded Vulcan to tie him to Mount Caucasus with iron chains, and that a vulture should prey upon his liver continually. Hercules killed the eagle, and thus set him at liberty. Bochart 66 will have Magog in the Scripture to be the Prometheus of the Pagans. From the above came the term Promethean Fire." He was the author of all the arts among the Greeks. STENTORIAN LUNGS. When any one declaims with a stronger voice than usual, we are apt to say, he possesses "Stentorian Lungs," or, he has a "Stentorian Voice." The term is derived from Stentor, a herald of the Greeks in the Trojan war, who had as loud a voice (according to Heathen Mythology) as fifty men. AUGEAN STABLE. Augeas, a King of Elis, had a stable which would hold three thousand oxen, and had not been cleansed for thirty years. He hired Hercules to clean it in one day, which he did by turning the river Alpheus through it; but when he had finished, Augeas refused to keep his promise of giving him a tenth part of his herd. Thereupon Hercules killed him and all his family, with the exception of his son Phyleus, who was placed on the throne of his father. Hence is derived the classical quotation of " the Augean Stable." GORDIAN KNOT. This term, also used by classical speakers, is derived from Gordius, the son of a husbandman, and afterwards King of Phrygia, remarkable for tying a Knot of Cords, on which the empire of Asia depended, in so intricate a manner, that Alexander, unable to unravel it, cut it with a sword. THE PALLADIUM. This term, so often used in oratory-for instance, "The Palladium of our Liberties"-is derived from a wooden image of Pallas, Athena, Minerva, called Palladium, whose eyes seemed to move. The Trojans affirmed, that it fell from heaven into an uncovered temple; they were told by the oracle, that Troy could not be taken whilst that image remained there, which being understood by Diomedes and Ulysses, they stole into the Temple, surprised and slew the keepers, and carried away the image; the destruction of the city soon followed. HARVEST MOON. About the time of the autumnal equinox, the moon, when near her full, rises about sunset a number of nights in succession: this occasions a remarkable number of brilliant moonlight even ings; and as this is in England the period of harvest, the phenomenon is called the harvest moon. The sun being then in Libra, and the moon, when full, being of course opposite to the sun, or in Aries; and moving eastwards, in or near the ecliptic, at the rate of about thirteen degrees per day, would descend but a small distance below the horizon for four or six days in succession; that is, for two or three days before, and the same number of days after, the full; and would, consequently, rise during all these evenings nearly at the same time, namely, a little before, or a little after, sunset, so as to afford a remarkable succession of fine moonlight evenings. PARNASSIAN SPRING. The Parnassian or Castalian Spring, a term well known to the lovers of poetry, is derived from a nymph called Castalia, who resided in Parnassus, and whom Apollo metamorphosed into a fountain; and those who drank of the waters were inspired with the Genius of Poetry. SONS OF ESCULAPIUS. 66 This term, or cognomen, as applied to medical men, is derived from the Heathen Mythology, which informs us that " Æsculapius was a son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis; and that the care of his education was committed to Chiron, who taught him Physic, wherein he was said to be exceedingly skilful." ORIGIN OF LITERARY DEGREES. The practice of conferring the honours of literary institutions on individuals of distinguished erudition, commenced in the twelfth century, when the Emperor Lothaire, having found in Italy a copy of the Roman law, ordained that it should be publicly expounded in the schools; and, that he might give encouragement to the study, he further ordered that the public professors of this law should be dignified with the title of Doctors. The first person created a Doctor after this ordinance of the Emperor was Bulgarius Hugolinus, who was greatly distinguished for his learning and literary labour. Not long afterward, the practice of creating doctors was borrowed from the lawyers by divines also; in their schools they publicly taught divinity, and conferred degrees on those who had made great proficiency in that science. The plan of conferring degrees in divinity was first adopted in the Universities of Bologne, Oxford, and Paris. (See Mather's Magnolia Christi Americana, book iv. p. 134.) It is remarkable that the celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson, when he had become eminent in literature, could not obtain the degree of Master of Arts from Trinity College, Dublin, though powerful interest was made in his behalf for this purpose by Mr. Pope, Lord Gower, and others. Instances of the failure of similar applications, made in favour of characters still more distinguished than Johnson then was, are also on record. So cautious and reserved were literary institutions, a little more than half a century ago, in bestowing their honours! ETYMONS OF SEVERAL WORDS AND TERMS. ADORE. Is derived from adorare, and this from ad os, a respectful mode of salutation, by carrying the hand to the mouth. ALLODIAL. Allodial, or free lands, is derived from odhal, implying freeholds in Norway, the first being a transposition of the syllables of the latter; hence, fee-odh, feodum, feudal, denoting stipendiary property,-a fee being a stipend. AMAZON. The Amazons were a warlike women, and derived their name, says Heathen Mythology, from the Amazon river in Asia, which flowed through a territory they inhabited. They are said to have had bloody wars with their neighbours; but were at length almost destroyed by Hercules. ADIEU! Adieu, although admitted into the English vocabulary, is nevertheless a French word; of course signifying, farewell: it is from ad Deum te commendo, i. e., "I commend you to God:" "An adieu should be heard in a sigh, If the tongue pours not on the ear: ALKALI. This term, so often made use of by chemists, is of Arabian origin, and is derived from kali, the name of a species of vegetable, from which soda is generally extracted. If we believe Albertus Magnus, the word signifies fax amaritudinis, the dregs of bitterness, the particle AL having, as he says, been added by the Arabs, with the design of expressing the superiority of the article obtained from that plant, over the plant itself. ALLIGATOR. Our dictionaries supply no materials towards the etymology of this word, which was probably introduced into the language by some of our own early voyagers to the Spanish and Portuguese settlements in the newly discovered world. They would hear the Spaniards discoursing of the animal by the name of el lagarto, or, the lizard; Lat. lacerta; and on their return home they would inform their countrymen, that this sort of crocodile was called an alligator. It would not be difficult to trace other corrupted words in a similar way. ANGEL. Angel in its primitive sense signifies a messenger, and frequently signifies men when, from the common notion of the term, it is conceived to denote ministering spirits. Angels, as celestial intelligences, have been the objects of over-curious inquiry, and of worship. Paul says, "Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility, and the worshipping of angels, intruding into those things he hath not seen."-Colossians xi. 17. APRON. Napery is defined by Skinner, Linteaminta domestica; and the word apron, notes Whitaker (Craven, p. 232), has plainly lost a letter, probably by a mistake in dividing it from the prefix A Naperoun, or an apron. In 1388, the Prior and Convent of Durham made a life-grant of the office of Keeper of the Napry in the Hostillar's Hall.-(Hist. Dunelm. Scrip. Tres. p. clviii.) ARAB. The Arabs trace their descent from Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. These children of the tent have always preserved their ancient name, for the word Arab signifies a robber, and robbers the Arabians always were, and still remain so. ARTICHOKE. The English name of this vegetable is a corruption of its Arabic name, Karchiof-as the Jerusalem Artichoke is a cor |