each style. To a great extent, it appears to have been treated in Gothic architecture according to the fancy of the individual architect: at any rate, it was not regulated by strict rules as in the classic orders. But it may be stated generally, that in the Romanesque, or what in England is commonly known as the Norman style, the abacus is usually square; in first pointed, or Early English gothic, it is nearly always round; and in the later styles more commonly octagonal. In French gothic however the square abacus was retained much longer than in the English.

A'BACUS, an instrument employed to facilitate arithmetical calculations. The name may be given with propriety to any machine for reckoning with counters, beads, &c., in which one line is made to stand for units, another for tens, and so on. For teaching the first principles of arithmetic, a convenient abacus would be about three times as long as it is broad. It consists of a frame, traversed by stiff wires, on which beads or counters are strung so as to move easily. The beads on the first row are units, those on the next tens, and so on. There is an instrument sold in the toy-shops with twelve wires, and twelve beads on each wire, for teaching the multiplication-table; but it may be made still further useful in judicious hands.

The abacus can never be much used in this country, owing to our various division of weights and measures. We should need one abacus for pounds, shillings, and pence; another for avoirdupois weight; a third for troy weight; and so on. In China, however, where the whole system is decimal, that is, where every measure, weight, &c., is the tenth part of the next greater one, this instrument, called in Chinese shwanpan, is very much used, and with astonishing rapidity. It is said that while one man reads over rapidly a number of sums of money, another can add them so as to give the total as soon as the first has done reading. Their abacus differs from the one described above, in having only five beads on each wire, one of which is distinguished from the rest either in colour or size, and stands for five There is one of these instruments in the East India Company's Museum. The Greeks and Romans used the same sort of abacus, at least in later times. The Russians are also much in the habit of performing calculations by strings of beads. A chequered board, such as we still sometimes see at the doors of public-houses, was formerly used in this country as an abacus, and a chess-board would now do very well for the purpose of instruction above-mentioned. The multiplicationtable is sometimes called the Pythagorean abacus.

In 1839, Dr. Reid brought before the notice of the British Association a small apparatus, which he called a Chemical Abacus, and which he had found useful in introducing his pupils to a precise knowledge of the constitution of the more important chemical compounds. It consisted of a wooden frame with cross-wires and beads on the wires; each wire corresponded to a chemical element, and the beads to atoms; while the names of the elements were placed on the frame at the extremities of the wires. Dr. Daubeny suggested that the apparatus might be improved, by having the beads of different colours to correspond with the different elements.

The advocates of decimal coinage in England might strengthen their advocacy by a notice of the possible usefulness of the abacus as a reckoning apparatus under that system.

For mechanical aid of a more complex kind, in calculating and registering processes, see CALCULATING MACHINES. Examples of a special character are noticed under SLIDE RULE.

ABANDONMENT, a term used in marine insurances. Before a person, who insures a ship or goods, can demand from an insurer, or underwriter, the stipulated compensation for a total loss of such ship or goods, he must abandon or relinquish to the insurer, all his interest in any part of the property which may be saved.

ABATEMENT. This word is derived from the old French word abater, which signifies to beat down, prostrate, or destroy. But before entering upon an explanation of the present meaning of the term, it will be well to observe, for the information of those who may not be acquainted with the history of our law, that by far the greater number of the terms of art (as they may be called) peculiar to it, are derived either from the Norman-French, or the Latin. We shall therefore give a cursory view of the circumstances which led to their adoption.

When William I., commonly styled the Conqueror, became King of England, he filled all the posts of profit and honour with subjects from his Norman dominions-the civil places chiefly with ecclesiastics. Foreign priests having thus obtained all the seats of the judges and other officers of the superior courts of justice, it was found necessary to ordain that all proceedings in them should be carried on in the Norman tongue instead of the English, of which these new judges were for the most part altogether ignorant. This practice continued until Edward III. abolished the use of French, and substitated English as the

language of such pleadings. At the same time that all arguments and judgments were spoken in French, the written parts of the proceedings, such as the writs and records, were engrossed in the Latin language, a practice which continued long after Edward III. had expelled the French tongue from our courts; for it was not until the reign of George II., that an Act of Parliament was passed, providing that writs and records should for the future be in English.

It will be evident that, under the circumstances described, the more ancient legal terms would, whenever that could conveniently be done, be translated into the French and Latin languages; and as, during the periods mentioned above, the laws of England experienced great alterations and received many additions, abundance of new terms were necessarily called for to express new notions, and were naturally drawn from the languages then in legal use. Many of the expressions thus translated, and those first invented, are employed at the present day with little or no alteration. Of this we have an example in the term which is the subject of this article.

The word abatement is used in its literal sense when we speak of abating or beating down a nuisance. Whatever unlawfully annoys or does damage to any person, is a nuisance, which he may abate, that is, beat down and remove: provided he commits no breach of the peace, and does no more injury to the thing than is necessary for effecting his purpose. If a new house or a wall be erected so near to an old house as to obstruct its ancient lights, this is a private nuisance, which the person injured may peaceably abate. If a gate or other obstruction be placed across a public road, this is a public nuisance, and any person may beat down and remove it. But a person thus taking the law into his own hands, must be careful, in every case, to do no more than is absolutely necessary to enable him to exercise or enjoy his own right.

Another signification of abatement is that of abating a civil action, or an indictment. Here it is taken figuratively, and signifies the beating down or overthrowing such action or indictment. This is effected in an action at law, by way of plea, stating some matter which renders it the duty of the court to put an end to the proceedings. Thus, it may be alleged that the plaintiff in such proceedings is an outlaw, or an attainted person, or otherwise incompetent to maintain an action; or that there are other persons still living who are equally liable with the defendant, and ought to be joined with him in the demand. But it is a rule that he who takes advantage of a flaw must, at the same time, show how it can be amended; and pleas in abatement must, therefore, not only point out the flaw, but disclose the remedy. Therefore, if a defendant pleads that another ought to be sued along with him, he must state where he can be found; for if he be not within the jurisdiction so as to be served with a writ, the plea is bad. Pleas in abatement have always been discouraged by the courts; and they are required to be verified by affidavit (4 & 5 Anne c. 16; 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 45). But in consequence of the ample powers of amendment conferred by the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852, such pleas are now of rare occurrence.

A similar observation applies to pleas in abatement in criminal proceedings (14 & 15 Vict. c. 100). If an indictment assign to the defendant no Christian name or a wrong one, no surname or a wrong one, he may plead this matter in abatement; and so formerly, when an addition or description of the calling of a defendant was required, an error in or want of it was the subject of a plea. This addition or description is no longer necessary. (13 & 14 Vict. c. 100, s. 24.) Misnomer then is the only case in which a plea in abatement has been usual in practice; and, at the present day, such a plea is of no avail to a defendant, for the court has authority to amend the indictment, and then call upon the party to plead to the charge (Blackst. Comm.' Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. iii. p. 325; iv. 396). Again, if a plaintiff dies, or a female plaintiff marries, the proceedings are said to be abated; and if a defendant dies, the proceedings as to him are said to abate. Whenever the interest of the person who dies survives to those who represent him, the action or suit may be revived; and so when the subject matter of the proceeding is one for which the representatives of the deceased may be made liable, the action or suit may be revived and continued against them. (Blackst. Comm.' Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. iii. pp. 463, 519.)

It is said to be "an abatement when a man dies seised of an estate of inheritance, and between the death and the entry of the heir, a stranger doth interpose himself and abate." (Co. Litt.' 277 a.) This entry of a stranger on the lands is an abatement; the effect of which is that the true owner can only recover the seisin by entry [ENTRY]. If the abator died seised, the land descended to his heir, and the right of entry at common law was gone. The true owner must then have resorted to a particular form of action. Now, however, the right of entry subsists (3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27), enabling the true owner to recover either by entry or the ordinary action of ejectment.

(Blackstone's Commentaries, Mr. Kerr's ed. vol. iii. p. 170.) ABATEMENT OF LEGACIES. [LEGACY.] ABATIS, a military term, signifying a work composed of felled trees, with the softer branches cut off, laid side by side with the ends from which the branches grow towards the enemy; thus forming an obstruction to his progress, and a breast-work for musketry to fire over. This species of defence is often used in fieldworks, where wood, not of too great size, is plentiful. Lines, flanked by bastions, are thus

formed, either simply by laying down and fastening the trees, or, if when so placed they would be too high to fire over, by sinking them in a ditch whose section is an angle with its longest slope towards the enemy. They are sometimes formed against the counterscarp of a rampart, sometimes in the covered way, and may generally be used wherever an obstruction is to be raised to the enemy's progress, provided they can be flanked by a fire sufficient to prevent his destroying them at his leisure.

ABATTOIR. An abattoir is the French name for a slaughter-house. The existing French system was first adopted at Paris in 1817, and completed in 1818. There are three abattoirs on the north side of Paris, and two on the south side, not far from the barriers, and about two miles from the centre of the city. The cattle markets for the supply of Paris are several miles distant, and the cattle are driven from them round the exterior boulevards to the abattoirs, and consequently do not enter the city. At one of the abattoirs each butcher has his slaughter-house, a place for keeping the meat, an iron rack for fat, pans for melting it, and a place with convenience for giving cattle hay and water, and where they may be kept before being slaughtered. A fixed sum is charged for this accommodation, the charge for cattle being a franc and a half per head, and the blood, brains, and entrails. In some of the abattoirs, two or three butchers use the same slaughterhouse. There are 240 slaughter-houses in all. The income of the establishment, arising from these fees, the sale of manure, &c., was above 48,000l. in 1842. An inspector is appointed at each abattoir, and means are taken to prevent unwholesome meat being sold. The manufactories of glue, gelatine, Prussian blue, hoof-oil, blood-manure, and other chemicals produced from offal, are conveniently placed near the abattoirs. Much of the fat is melted down at the abattoirs, and tripe is also prepared within the establishments. An excellent account of the abattoirs at Montmartre will be found in Household Words,' vol. ii. p. 556; and another in Head's' Faggot of French Sticks.' There are slaughter-houses under public regulations in most of the Continental cities; and those of New York and Philadelphia, and some other of the cities of the American Union, are, it is said, placed on a similar footing. The great cattle-market in Smithfield, for the supply of London, existed above five centuries, but the spot was originally a piece of waste ground beyond the city, instead of being, as at present, surrounded by a dense population. The cattle sold for the London market amount annually to about 240,000, the sheep to about 1,700,000, calves 28,000, and pigs 35,000. A large proportion of these are slaughtered within the limits of the metropolis. There are slaughtermen who kill for other butchers frequently above a hundred head of cattle, and perhaps five or six hundred sheep, every week; many butchers kill for themselves to a considerable extent, and there are few who have not accommodation for slaughtering and dressing a few sheep, either in the cellar underneath their shop, or in the rear of their premises. The slaughterhouses for sheep in Newgate Market, many of which are in cellars, and in Warwick Lane, are close to Newgate Street, and within a hundred and fifty yards of Ludgate Street, two of the great thoroughfares of London.

The inconveniences attending the system of having the cattlemarket and the slaughter-houses in the midst of the metropolis were seriously felt; and, after a long opposition on the part of the city authorities, an Act of Parliament was passed in August 1851 for removing it to a spot of ground of about 15 acres, between the Caledonian Road and Maiden Lane, on the north of London. The execution was intrusted to the corporation of the city of London. It was undertaken and carried out in a liberal spirit. Considerable architectural merit is shown in the designs for the various buildings and the surrounding wall. Excellent accommodation has been provided for the animals, with a large supply of water for them and for cleansing the market, and facilities for the transaction of business, by the erection of banking-houses, hotels, &c. When completed, the old market in Smithfield was closed on September 11th, 1855, and the new one opened on September 13th. It provides space for about 35,000 sheep, 6600 oxen, 1425 calves, and 900 pigs; with lairage for 3000 oxen and 8000 sheep. There are two public slaughter-houses, at which 600 oxen can be killed weekly, the only approach made in the metropolis to the abattoir system; but still the greater proportion of beasts and sheep are driven through the crowded streets of the metropolis to be killed at private slaughter-houses, many yet remaining in Warwick Lane and the vicinity of Newport Market. But strenuous attempts have been made to lessen the nuisance even in these. By the Towns Improvement Act (10 & 11 Vict. cap. 34, 1857), they have to be registered and licensed; even for those in which private butchers slaughter at home powers of inspection are given, and provision is made for the removal of offal and ordure. These regulations are not confined to the metropolis, but are extended to all towns; and the execution of the provisions of the Act were intrusted to Boards of Health, and are now, by the Local Government Act (21 & 22 Vict. cap. 98), transferred to the municipality or other governing body of the town or place; but as the adoption of this Act is optional, the supervision in many places remains with the Boards of Health, or has not been brought into operation. These Acts are confined to England and Wales; but in Edinburgh an abattoir has been provided that may be a model to municipalities who may concern themselves for puble wood and many

other towns have provided themselves with excellent abattoirs within the last few years. In these places, however, the use of the abattoir is not compulsory and private slaughter-houses continue to exist in most if not in all of them. ABBÉ is the French term for Abbot. In France, before the Revolution, Abbé was the denomination of a very numerous body of persons, who had little or no connection with the Church, except the apparent one which they derived from this title, which frequently occurs in the literary and political history of that period. Many of them had not even received the tonsure, which is, in Roman Catholic countries, the first and indispensable mark of the clerical character. So far back as the end of the 17th century, we find Richelet, the lexicographer, complaining that there was scarcely a young man, tolerably well made, and who had acquired the air of an ecclesiastic, who did not, by an insufferable abuse, assume the style of Monsieur l'Abbé. Another author, Mercier, writing a century later, describes, with some asperity, the effeminate manners and dandyism of the same class of characters. The abbés occupied a very conspicuous place in French society, and discharged a variety of domestic functions. Many of the abbes however followed a more useful and creditable way of life, Some acted as private tutors in families, though these were seldom treated with much respect, and were consequently in general persons of very inferior qualifications. Others were professors of the university; and a great many employed themselves as men of letters, in which capacity their labours have given to the title of Abbé an honourable celebrity, and redeemed it from the universal contempt to which swarms of frivolous and intriguing sycophants would otherwise have reduced it. ABBÉS COMMENDATAIRES, were such abbés as held abbeys in commendam,—that is, with the right of administering their revenues, or a part of them. There were, before the Revolution, between 200 and 300 abbeys in France, which the king had the privilege of conferring in commendam; and it was the expectation of obtaining one of these benefices which induced so many persons to take the title of Abbé. Before obtaining such preferment, they used to be called Abbés de sainte espérance, abbés of holy hope. After they were thus provided for, they were Abbés Commendataires. The papal bull, which ratified their appointment, commanded them in all cases to get themselves ordained priests within the year, or as soon as they should arrive at the canonical age (five-and-twenty) on pain of the benefice being declared vacant; but it was common to obtain dispensations for disregarding this condition, and most of them remained Secular Abbés. The Abbé Commendataire received the third part of the revenues of his abbey, and also enjoyed certain dignities and privileges which it is unnecessary to specify; but the actual government of the house was committed to the hands of a resident superior, the prieur claustral, who was in almost all respects quite independent of the sinecurist, his colleague. ABBESS, the superior of a nunnery, or other female religious community. An abbess, in the Roman Catholic Church, possesses, in general, the same dignity and authority as an abbot, except that she cannot exercise the spiritual functions appertaining to the priest hood. According to a decree of the Council of Trent, an abbess, at the time of her election, ought to be at least forty years old, and to have made profession for eight years. It is forbidden that any person be elected to the dignity who has not been professed for five years, or is under thirty years of age.

ABBEY, a religious community presided over by an abbot or abbess. When the superior was denominated a prior, the establishment was called a priory; but there was latterly no real distinction between a priory and an abbey. The priories appear to have been all originally off-shoots from certain abbeys, to which they continued for some time to be regarded as subordinate. The wealthiest abbeys, in former times, were in Germany; and of all such foundations in the world, the most splendid and powerful was that of Fulda, or Fulden, situated near the town of the same name in Franconia. This monastery, which belonged to the order of St Benedict, was founded by St. Boniface, in the year 784. Every candidate for admission was required to prove his nobility. The monks elected their abbot from their own number; and that dignitary became, by right of his office, Arch-Chancellor to the Empress, and Prince Bishop of the diocese of Fulda. He claimed precedence over all the other abbots both of Germany and of France. One of the first effects of the Reformation both in England and in Germany was the destruction of the religious houses; although, even in the Protestant parts of the latter country, a few male and female monastic communities still subsist. In England their extinction was complete. The preface to Bishop Tanner's Notitia Monastica' may be consulted for the most accurate account that has been given of the number and revenues of the English monasteries at the time of the dissolution. From this statement, it appears that, by the Act of Parliament passed in 1535 for the suppression of all those having a less revenue than 2001. a-year, about 380 houses were dissolved; from whose possessions the crown derived a revenue of 32,000l., besides plate and jewels to the value of about 100,000l. By an act passed in 1539, all the remaining monasteries were suppressed, to the number of 186; the revenues of these amounted to 100,000l. per annum. Besides the monasteries, 48 houses of the knights hospitallers of St. John were also confiscated Other authorities make the wealth of the monastio establishments much greater than it would appear to have been from

to the crown.

this account; and it is probable that the revenues of many of them, at the period of the dissolution, had been considerably diminished by the precautions which the abbots were led to take in anticipation of that event. Camden states the whole number of the religious houses that were suppressed at 645. In the earlier times of the French monarchy, the term abbey was applied to a duchy or earldom, as well as to a religious establishment; and the dukes and counts called themselves abbots, although remaining in all respects secular persons. They took this title in consequence of the possessions of certain abbeys having been conferred upon them by the crown.

ABBOT, the title of the superior of certain establishments of religious persons of the male sex, thence called Abbeys. The word Abbot, or Abbat, as it has been sometimes written, comes from Abbatis, the genitive of Abbas, which is the Greek and Latin form of the Syriac Abba, of which the original is the Hebrew Ab, father. It is, therefore, merely an epithet of respect and reverence, and appears to have been at first applied to any member of the clerical order, just as the French Père and the English Father, having the same signification, still are in the Catholic Church. In the earliest age of monastic institutions, however, the monks were not even priests; they were merely religious persons who retired from the world to live in common, and the abbot was that one of their number whom they chose to preside over the association. In regard to general ecclesiastical discipline, all these communities were at this time subject to the bishop of the diocese, and even to the pastor of the parochial district within the bounds of which they were established. At length it began to be usual for the Abbot, or, as he was called in the Greek Church, the Archimandrite, or Hegumenos (that is, the chief monk, or leader), to be in orders; and since the 6th century monks generally have been priests. In point of dignity an abbot is next to a bishop; but there have been many abbots in different countries who have claimed almost an equality in rank with the episcopal order. A minute account of the different descriptions of abbots may be found in Du Cange's 'Glossary,' and in Carpentier's Supplement to that work. In England, according to Coke, there used to be twenty-six abbots (Fuller says twenty-seven), and two priors who were Lords of Parliament. These, sometimes designated Sovereigns, or General Abbots, wore a mitre, not exactly the same as that of the bishops, carried the crozier in their right hand, while the bishops carried theirs in their left, and assumed the episcopal style of Lord. Some croziered abbots, again, were not mitred, and others who were mitred were not croziered. Abbots who presided over establishments that had sent out several branches were styled Cardinal-Abbots. There were likewise, in Germany, Prince-Abbots, as well as PrinceBishops. In early times we read of Field-Abbots (in Latin, Abbates Milites) and Abbot-Counts (Abba-Comites, or Abbi-Comites). These were secular persons, upon whom the sovereign had bestowed certain abbeys, for which they were obliged to render military service as for common fiefs. A remnant of this practice appears to have subsisted in our own country long after it had been discontinued on the Continent. Thus, in Scotland, James Stuart, the natural son of James V., more celebrated as the Regent Murray, was, at the time of the Reformation, Prior of St. Andrew's, although a secular person. The secularisation of some of the German ecclesiastic dignities has since occasioned something like a renewal of the ancient usage. We have in the present century seen a prince of the House of Brunswick (the late Duke of York) at the same time Commander-in-Chief of the British army and Bishop of Osnaburg. The efforts of the abbots to throw off the authority of their diocesans long disturbed the Church, and called forth severe denunciations from several of the early councils. Some abbeys, however, obtained special charters recognising their independence; a boon which, although acquired at first with the consent of the bishop, was usually defended against his successors with the most jealous punctiliousness. Many of the abbots lived in the enjoyment of great power and state. In ancient times they possessed nearly absolute authority in their monasteries. The external pomp and splendour with which an abbot was in many cases surrounded, corresponded to the extensive authority which he enjoyed within his abbey, and throughout its domains. St. Bernard is thought to refer to the celebrated Luger, abbot of St. Denis, in the beginning of the 12th century, when he speaks, in one of his writings, of having seen an abbot at the head of more than 600 horsemen, who served him as a cortège. Even in the unreformed parts of the Continent, however, and long before the French Revolution, the powers of the heads of monasteries, as well as those of other ecclesiastical persons, had been reduced to comparatively narrow limits; and the sovereignty both of abbots and bishops had been subjected in all material points to the authority of the civil magistrate.

The title of Abbot has also been borne by the civil authorities in some places, especially among the Genoese, one of whose chief magistrates used to be called the Abbot of the People. Nor must we forget another application of the term which was once famous in our own and other countries. In many of the French towns there used, of old, to be annually elected from among the burgesses, by the magistrates, an Abbé de Liesse (in Latin Abbas Lætitia), that is, an Abbot of Joy, who acted for the year as a sort of master of the revels, presiding over and directing all their public shows. Among the retainers of some great families in England was an officer of a similar description, styled the Abbot of Misrule; and in Scotland the Abbot of Unreason was, before

the Reformation, a personage who acted a principal part in the diversions of the populace, and one of those whom the zeal of the reforming divines was most eager in proscribing. ABBREVIATION, a mathematical term, given to the process by which a fraction is reduced to lower terms. Thus, the division of the numerator and denominator of 1 by 8, which reduces it to, abbreviates the fraction. ABBREVIATION, in music, is a kind of stenography, or shorthand, which much diminishes the labour of the composer and copyist. It frequently happens, not only that the same note is reiterated, but that the same passage is repeated; and the necessity of writing at length such repetitions is avoided by the use of certain well-contrived and simple abbreviations. Those most commonly employed are:-I. One dash or more, through the stem of a minim or crochet, or under a semibreve, by which such note is converted into as many quavers, semiquavers, &c., as it is equal to in time. Ex.

are to be played thus,—

II. Two alternate notes, frequently repeated, are commonly abridged in the following manner,—

III. The groups of notes called arpeggios are thus contracted, the dash alone denoting repetition;

IV. The word simili (the same) signifies that the group of notes is to be repeated. Bis (twice) written over a bar, or a passage, denotes repetition. ABBREVIATIONS, the shortening of a word or phrase, made either by omitting some letters or words, or by substituting some arbitrary mark. familiar speech, by which two words are made one, as can't for can not, Abbreviations are of two kinds; first, those which are used in won't for will not, &c., and those which are employed in writing only; our business is with the latter.

Before the invention of printing, every expedient to abridge the ciple, once introduced, was followed where the necessity which led to enormous labour of copying would be naturally adopted, and the prinits first employment no longer existed. Latin inscriptions are not unfrequently quite unintelligible to the best scholar who has not given the most skilful. The most usual Latin abbreviation is the initial the subject his particular attention, and many are ambiguous even to letter instead of the whole word; whether a name, as M. for Marcus, P. for Publius; or a relation, as F. for filius, a son; or an officer, as C. for consul, Qu. for quæstor, &c.

copying the Bible, they carefully abstained from abbreviations, their The Rabbins carried this practice to a great extent; and although, in other writings are filled with them. They even carried their abbreviations into their common tongue, and when they had contracted a unconnected letters by the interposition of vowels. Thus, for Rabbi name or sentence, by taking the initials only, they made words of the Levi ben Gerson, they took the first letters, R.L.B.G.; and, by the interposition of vowels, made the word Ralbag.

in printing, where the employment of contractions was much less In the middle ages the practice of abbreviating increased; and even necessary, the old mode was by no means abandoned. Many writings became unintelligible; and in matters of law and government the difficulties thus created demanded the interposition of Government. An Act of Parliament was passed in the fourth year of George II., by documents; and although this was so far modified by another act, which the use of abbreviations was altogether forbidden in legal within a year or two, allowing the use of those of common occurrence, the old practice was never completely revived. A few only are still employed, chiefly in titles, coins, and commercial transactions; the most important of which follow:

ON ENGLISH COINS.

B. et L. D. Duke of Brunswick and

Lunenberg.

D.G. By the Grace of God.

Cr. Creditor.

Dr. Debtor.

Do. or ditto, the same.

No. Number.

f.o.b. free on board.

Fo. Folio.

4to. Quarto.

8vo. Octavo.

A.B. Able Seaman.

A.D. the year of our Lord. A.H. the year of the Hegira.

A.M. the year of the World.

A.M. before noon.

F.D. Defender of the Faith.
S.R.I. Holy Roman Empire.
M.B.F. et H. Great Britain, France,
and Ireland.

R. Rex, King, or Regina, Queen.

COMMERCIAL.

12mo. Duodecimo.

Ro. Right-hand page.
Vo. Left-hand page.

L.S.D, Pounds, Shillings, and Pence.
A.R.P. Acres, Roods, and Poles.
Cwt. Qr. Lb. Oz. Hundredweights,
Quarters, Pounds, and Ounces.

MISCELLANEOUS.

A.U.C. the year of the building of Rome.

B.C. before Christ.

cf. compare.

Cur. or Ct. the Current Month.

D.O.M. Deo Optimo Maximo; or, to
God the greatest Best.
D.V. Deo Volente; or, if it please God.
e.g. for example.

H.M.S. Her Majesty's ship.

H.S.E. Hic situs est, or Hic sepultus est-He is buried here.

1.II.M.S. Jesu Hominis Moritur Sal

vator.

i.e. that is.

ib. in the same place.

id. the same.

L.S. the place of the Seal.

MS. Manuscript.

N.B. Observe.

N.S. New Style (after the year 1752).
O.S. Old Style (before 1752).
Nem. con. without contradiction.
Nem. dis. unanimous.

Per proc. by procuration for.
P.M. Afternoon.

P.S. Postscript.
Prox. the next or coming month.
q.e.d. quod erat demonstrandum, which

was to be demonstrated.

R.I.P. Requiescat in Pace; or, may he rest in peace.

s.p. sine prole, without issue.
sp. g. specific gravity.
ss. a half.

T.O. Turn over.

ult. the last month.

viz. namely.

U.S. United States.
Xmas. Christmas.
Xtian, Christian.

ABDICATION (from the Latin abdicatio) is the act of renouncing and giving up an office by the voluntary act of the party who holds it. But the term is now applied to the giving up of the regal office; and in some countries a king can abdicate in the proper sense of that term, whenever he pleases. But the Sovereign of England cannot abdicate, except with the consent of the two Houses of Parliament, in any constitutional form; for a proper abdication would be a divesting himself of his regal powers by his own will, and such an abdication is inconsistent with the nature of his kingly office. It is, however, established by a precedent that he does abdicate, or that an abdication may be presumed, if he does acts which are inconsistent with and subversive of that system of government of which he forms a part. Thus it was resolved by both Houses, in 1688, "King James II. having endeavoured to subvert the constitution of the kingdom, by breaking the original contract between king and people; and by the advice of Jesuits and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and having withdrawn himself out of the kingdom; has abdicated the

this well-known instance, proceeded on the doctrine of an original contract between the king and the people, as the foundation of their declaration that James II. had abdicated the throne; and hence, Blackstone, in arguing upon this declaration, assumes that the powers of the King of England were originally delegated to him by the nation. (Blackstone's Commentaries,' Mr. Kerr's ed., vol. i., p. 198.)

It appears, by the parliamentary debates at that period, that in the conference between the two Houses of Parliament, previous to the passing of the statute which settled the crown upon William III., it was disputed whether the word "abdicated," or "deserted," should be the term used, to denote in the Journals the conduct of James II. in quitting the country. It was then resolved that the word "abdicate" should be used, as including in it the mal-administration of his government. It has been said that, in coming to this resolution, the Houses gave a new meaning to the word. Among the Romans the term Abdicatio signified generally a rejection or giving up of a thing, and a magistrate was said to abdicate who for any reason gave up his office before the term was expired.

ABDOMEN, DISEASES OF. The abdomen is one of the largest cavities of the body, and besides the peritoneum, with which it is everywhere lined, contains the greater part of the digestive organs, the urinary organs, and the internal organs of generation. [ABDOMEN, NAT. HIST. DIV.] Any one of these organs may become diseased, and as they are all more or less accessible by external examination, it is of great importance n cases of suspected abdominal disease, that this should be had recourse to.

There is no part of the human body so well adapted for this kind of examination as the abdomen. Its walls are soft and yielding; some of its most important organs lie immediately beneath the surface; though they cannot be seen they can be felt; and several of their morbid conditions can therefore be ascertained with clearness and certainty.

Not only are some of the diseases of the abdominal viscera visible to the naked eye, but they are even strikingly expressed; for they either cause a permanent change in the configuration of the abdomen, or they produce a temporary alteration of its natural movements, or they occasion both effects.

Both in the male and in the female it often happens that diseases not to be ascertained, or at any rate exceedingly apt to be overlooked, or mistaken, if the region of the part affected be covered with its ordinary clothing, become manifest the moment the part in question is uncovered; or if not, are rendered obvious by other modes of inspection to which the removal of the clothing is indispensable.

The external examination of the abdomen, or the exploration of it, as it is technically termed, is comprised in simple inspection, manual examination, and percussion.

1. The simple inspection of the abdomen often affords valuable information. The mere alteration of its form is sometimes of itself sufficient to determine the seat and the nature of the disease. In each case of diseased organs the change is different; in each it is peculiar, and even characteristic. The abdomen may be affected with spasm, as in the disease called colic, or with inflammation, as in the disease called enteritis. Life may depend on the promptitude with which the true nature of the affection is detected. One set of remedies is required for one of these diseases, and a totally different set for the other. Remedies essential to the preservation of life, if the disease be inflammation, may be destructive of life, if the disease be merely spasm; and if under the notion that the disease is spasm, the remedies proper for inflammation be not employed, death may be the consequence of the error in less than twenty-four hours. In both affections the pain may be the same, and several other symptoms may be similar, but the form of the abdomen may be alone sufficient to determine the true nature of the malady; for, if it be inflammation, the abdomen will be rounded, enlarged, and distended; while if it be spasm, it will be drawn in and contracted. There are affections which place life in the most imminent danger, especially in children, in which it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine, from the symptoms alone, whether the seat of the disease be in the brain, or in the inner coat of the intestines. Suppose it be in the brain, one set of remedies are required, which must be applied to the head; suppose it be in the intestines, a different sort of remedies is required, which must be applied to the belly. An index is sometimes afforded to the real seat of the disease, by the mere form of the abdomen; while its size, combined with its form, oftener affords a still more certain guide; and so does any deviation from its natural movements.

2. Manual examination affords still more correct and complete information relative to the condition of the abdominal organs. The size, the tension, the temperature, the sensibility of the abdomen, the presence or absence of unnatural tumours or morbid growths within its cavity, the presence or absence of fluids, the nature and extent of the contents of the intestinal canal, may be ascertained with considerable precision by touch combined with pressure. Increase of temperature on the surface of the body is a most important sign of internal disease. Increase of temperature arises from a preternatural increase in the action of the arteries, and denotes inflammation of the part affected. All acutely inflamed organs are hotter than in their natural state, and if the inflammation be intense, the neighbourhood of the inflamed part gives to the hand of the examiner the sensation of pungent heat,

which is always a sign not only of discase, but of exceedingly severe disease.

Diminished temperature, which arises from diminished action in the arteries, and an overloaded state of the veins, is no less important as a sign of disease. It always denotes a most dangerous condition of the system, the danger being in proportion to the coldness. It is the concomitant of the worst forms of fever which are ever witnessed in this country; fever with a cold skin being incomparably more alarming than fever with even a pungently hot skin. In the cholera, the first, the most sure, and the most alarming sign of the invasion of the malady, is coldness of the system, and especially of the abdomen, the main seat of the malady; and it is uniformly found that there is no one sign which affords a better criterion of the extent of the danger, in any case, than the degree of coldness of the system in general, and of the abdomen in particular.

3. That mode of external examination of the body termed percussion -namely, the mode of eliciting sounds from the surface, the nature of the sound produced affording a knowledge of the condition of the parts beneath has opened to the modern practitioner a new source of information, the careful and skilful employment of which has afforded practical results of far greater precision and importance than could possibly have been anticipated. This mode of examination has been applied principally, and with the most valuable results, to the detection of the diseases of the chest; but its application is just as necessary to diseases of the abdomen. The size of the liver, the part of the intestinal tube distended with air, and a variety of other particulars, may be obtained by the aid of percussion.

An account of the various diseases to which the abdominal viscera are subject, and their treatment, will be found in this work, either under the head of the diseases of the various organs, or the special terms by which such diseases are designated. [KIDNEYS, DISEASES OF; LIVER, DISEASES OF; ENTERITIS; PERITONITIS; DROPSY.]

ABDUCTION (from the Latin word abductio, which is from the verb abducere, to lead or carry off) is an unlawful taking away of the person of another, whether of child, wife, ward, heiress, or women generally.

Abduction of Child. [KIDNAPPING.]

the star to his eye. We should however premise, in order that the reader may not form too large a notion of aberration, that it is never so much as 21", that is, the apparent place of the star differs from its real place less than the ninetieth part of the apparent diameter of the sun. It is no wonder, therefore, that practical astronomy was considerably advanced before this discovery was made. If our sense of vision were perfect, or if light moved no faster than a rain-drop we should have terrestrial aberration, that is, objects would change their relative places when we begin to move, and if we went as fast as a ray of light moved, the utmost confusion would be the consequence. When we ride in a carriage into which the rain is beating, we mistake the direction of the rain: for the cause of which phenomenon, see MOTION. But as light moves with a velocity which imagination cannot conceive, about 192,000 miles in a second, its motion is so great compared with any we can give to ourselves, that its passage from any one terrestrial object to another may be considered as instantaneous. The motion of a spectator on the earth, which goes round the sun at the average rate of about nineteen miles in one second, though less than the ten thousandth part of that of light, is nevertheless sufficient to cause a small variation in the place of the star, perceptible by the aid of good astronomical instruments.

Abduction of Wife may be either by open violence, or by fraud and persuasion. The law in both cases supposes force and constraint, the wife being unable to give a valid consent. The remedy of the husband in such a case is an action, by which he may recover, not the possession of his wife, but damages for taking her away; and by statute 3 Edward I. c. 13, the offender shall be imprisoned for two years, and fined at the pleasure of the king, that is, of the court. The husband is also entitled to recover damages against such as persuade and entice the wife to live separate from him without sufficient cause.

Abduction of Ward. A guardian is said to be entitled to an action if his ward be taken from him, but it is added that, for the damages recovered in such action, he must account to his ward when the ward comes of age. But it is very doubtful if such an action will now lie. It was grounded originally on the interest which the guardian, according to feudal notions, had in his ward's marriage; but since the abolition, in the reign of Charles II., of all the feudal tenures except socage, the ward's marriage has been of no value to the lord or guardian. An action would lie for loss of services, if the ward really rendered any to the guardian.

It may be added, that all questions between guardians and wards are now in general inquired into and determined by the Court of Chancery.

Fig. 1.

B

M

We know [MOTION] that if a body ▲ be struck in two different directions at the same instant, with impulses which would separately carry it through AB and AC in one second of time, the result of the combined impulses is that it moves in one second through AD, the diagonal of the parallelogram, whose sides are AB, AC. Again, if the spectator and the object at which he is looking are both in motion, the appearances presented by the motion will be preserved, if we render the spectator stationary, provided we give to the object a velocity equal and contrary to that which the spectator had, in addition to its own. Hence, if the spectator move from P to Q in one second, while in the same time the object moves from A to c, and if AB be equal to PQ, the spectator, who does not perceive his own motion, will imagine that the object moves through AD in one second, he himself remaining at P. Hence, if rays of light move parallel to AC, and he can distinguish them, they will appear to him to move parallel to AD. Though he cannot see the light itself, he will mistake the direction of the object from which it comes; and if asked to point it out, will place his finger in the direction PN instead of PM. The following illustration will place this in a clearer light.

Abduction of Heiress. By 9 George IV. c. 31, when any woman shall have any interest in any estate real or personal, or shall be heiress presumptive or next of kin to any one having such interest, any person who from motives of lucre shall take or detain her against her will for the purpose of her being married or defiled, and all counsellors, aiders, and abettors of such offences are declared guilty of felony, and punishable by transportation for life, or not less than seven years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour. The taking of any unmarried girl under sixteen out of the possession of a parent or guardian is declared a misdemeanour, and is punishable by fine and imprisonment. The marriage, when obtained by means of force, may be set aside on that ground. In this case, as in many others, fraud is legally considered as equivalent to force; and, consequently, in a case where both the abduction and marriage were voluntary in fact, they were held in law to be forcible, the consent to both having been obtained by fraud.

Abduction of Women generally. The forcible abduction and marriage of women is a felony. Here, and in the case of stealing an heiress, the usual rule that a wife shall not give evidence for or against her husband is departed from, for in such case the woman can with no propriety be reckoned a wife where a main ingredient, her consent, was wanting to the contract of marriage; besides which, there is another rule of law, that a man shall not take advantage of his own wrong," which would obviously be done here, if he who carries off a woman could, by forcibly marrying her, prevent her from being evidence against him, when she was perhaps the only witness to the fact.

ABERRATION (OF LIGHT), an astronomical phenomenon, being an apparent alteration in the place of a star, arising from the combined motion of the spectator, and the light which brings the impression of

Let us suppose the rays to move so slowly, that a spectator can be furnished with a tube long enough for light to take some perceptible time in passing from one end of it to the other. This will do for our purpose, since, though by such a supposition the aberration will be very much increased, yet the effect, and the reason of it, will be of the same kind as if light were supposed to have its real velocity. The star being at an immense distance, the rays which reach the spectator in different parts of the second may be called parallel, without sensible error. Thus, while in one second the spectator moves from A to B, he receives rays of light in the direction indicated by the dotted lines. The question now is, in what direction must he hold the tube, so as to see the star through it? If he were at rest, that direction would evidently be AC. Fig. 2.

Let AB be the line described by the spectator in one second, during Join which time let a ray of light move from a to B, or from c to A. Aa, and let aa be the length and direction of the tube. Divide the second into any number of equal parts, say six, and carry the tube into the various positions which it will successively occupy. Consider a ray of light as a succession of little particles moving one after another in a straight line. Then when the eye has come to P, the particle a will have come to p; when the eye is at Q, the particle will be at q, and so on. We have then so placed the tube, that its motion will not interfere with that of the ray, which moves as freely in the moving tube as it would do if there were no tube. To the spectator, who does not perceive his own motion, the tube is stationary, and the ray of light appears to come down it; therefore Aa will be the direction in which he sees the star, instead of ac. The angle CAa, contained between the real and apparent directions, is what is called the aberration. Here as is the diagonal of the parallelogram Baca, in which ac is equal and opposite to AB, as before noticed. To apply this, we must remark,1. That the above figure is much distorted, since A B is not the ten thousandth of a B; whence the aberration will be very small. 2. That the aberration is in the plane passing through A B, the line of the earth's course for the moment, and through the real direction