maria officinalis, L.); sopewort (Saponaria officin. L.); white horehound (Marrubium vulgare, L.); soluble tartar (Kali tartarisatum, Lond.); honey; celandine (Chelidonium majus, L.); ivy-resin (Resina hederæ helix, L.); cherry-laurel water (Aqua Laurocerasi, L.); the two last-mentioned preparations, however, cannot be taken with safety in febrile and other states of the body, and ought therefore to be prescribed by medical men.
VII. Remedies tending to resolve stagnant milk in women:—The leaves of the alder-tree (Betula Alnus, L.) and vitriolated tartar.
VIII. Medicines for dissolving and expelling calculous concretions:—See Stone; Gravel; Lithontriptics.
Of all these medicinal substances, (excepting such as have already been described), we propose to give, in the sequel of the alphabet, a more particular and satisfactory account.
AUCTION, a public sale for the disposal of household goods, books, plate, landed estates, &c. By this method of sale, the highest bidder is always the purchaser. The origin of sales by auction is very ancient; for among the Romans it was performed by the public crier sub hasta, i. e. under a spear erected on that occasion; and the goods purchased, were delivered by a magistrate. In the year 1777, the auctioneers residing in London were subjected to a tax of 20s. per annum, and a duty of 6d. was paid for every 20s. arising by sale of furniture, fixtures, &c. and of 3d. in the pound by the sale of freehold or copy-hold estates. In 1787, the duty was increased to 10d. in the pound on furniture, &c. and to 6d. in the pound on real property.
As this method of selling goods appears to be rather founded on the principle of competition, than that of choice, it certainly deserves every encouragement in a commercial country: hence it were only to be wished, that government might be enabled totally to suppress those mock-auctioneers who infest several streets of the metropolis, and use every artifice to entice and deceive the unwary, especially the harmless visitors from the country.
AUTUMN is computed the third season of the year; and with respect to the animal body, doubtless the most unhealthy.—Hence Tertullian calls it "the test of valetudinarians;" but the ancient Germans, though acquainted with the three other seasons, appear to have been uninfluenced by the severity of autumn; as they had no particular term to express it, unless we admit the word "harvest," in modern German, "Herbst," as equivalent to what they at present call "Erndte," or the gathering in the fruits of the earth.
The circumstances which render this season the least conducive to a healthy state of the body, are the following: 1. Because the vegetable kingdom, with very few exceptions, returns the salubrious leaves of trees and plants to their primitive, maternal earth, where they undergo spontaneous decomposition. This decay, or process of putrefaction, produces a remarkable change in that surrounding medium which supports animal life, and the relative purity of which, determines the most im-
