ALA
ALA
AIRANI, in church-hiftory, an obfcure feet of Arians, in the fourth century, who denied the confubfhndality of the Holy Ghoft with the Father and the Son.
They are otherwife called AiranijU, and are faid to have taken their name from one Airas, who diftinguifhed himfclf at the head of this party, in the reigns of Valentinian and Gratian. V. PrateoL Elench. Hseref. 1. I. n. 21.
AIRING, in the general fenfe of taking, or going into the frefh air, is too well known to need any explanation. The word is particularly ufed for exercifing horfes in the open air ; which is of the greateft advantage to thefe animals. It purifies the blood, purges the body from grofs humours, and enures the creature to fatigue, fo as not to be hurt by it, when much greater than on thefe occafions ; and it teaches him, as the jockies exprefs it, how to make his wind rake equally, and keep time with the other motions of his body. It alfo fharpens the ftomach, and keeps the creature hungry ; which is a thing of great confequence, as hunters and racers are very apt to have their ftomach fall off, either from want of exercife, or from the too violent exercife which they are often expofed to.
If the horfe be over fat, it is beft to air him before fun-rife, and after fun-fetting ; and, in general, it is allowed by all, that nothing is more beneficial to thefe creatures, than early and late Airings.
Some of our modern managers, however, difputethis; they fay, that the cold of thefe times is too great for the creature, and that if, in particular, he is fubjedt to catarrhs, rheums, or the like complaints, the dews and cold fogs, in thefe eaily and late Airings, will be apt to increafe all thofe difor- de'rs. Nature, we fee, alfo points out the fun beams as of great ufe to thefe animals ; thofe which are kept hardy, and lie out all night, always running to thofe places where the funfhine comes, as foon as it appears in a morning. This fhould fecm to recommend thofe Airings that are to be made before fun-fet, and a little time after fun-rife ; and as to the caution, fo earneftly inculcated by Markham, of ufing thefe early and late Airings for fat horfes, it is found unne- ceflary by many ; for they fay, that the fame effect may be produced by Airings at warmer times, provided only that they are made longer ; and that, in general, it is from long Air- ings that we arc to expect to bring a horfe to a perfect wind, and found courage. Markbam's Compl. Farrier. Solleyfel, Horfeman.
AJUGA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, accord- ing to Linnaeus, which are called by Tournefort, and other authors, bugala. Linneei, Gen. Plant, p. 263. See Bu-
GALA.
AJURU-Catinga, in zoology, the name of a Brafilian par- rot. It is of the fize of a pullet, and is all over of a very fine bright green ; its eyes are red, and the fkinny circle about them is white ; its beak and legs are alfo white. Margrave, Hift. Brafil.
Ajuru-Curau, in zoology, the name of a Brafilian fpecies of parrot, of the fize and fhape of the common green parrot, of which there are two kinds. The firft an extremely beau- tiful one, with a blue crown ; the throat and fides of the head are of a fine yellow, and all the reft of the body of a chearful green ; the long wing-feathers are half black, and half of a fine ftrong yellow, and at their ends variegated with blue and green ; and the tail edged with red, black, and blue. The other kind has the fame colours differently difpofed j its head is yellow, with a whitifh caft ; the throat and fides of the head about the eyes are of a clearer yellow ; and there is a fea-green fpot near the head.
Befide thefe, there is alfo yet another variety, the fpecies of which have all the colours of the firft kind, but have an ad- mixture of black about the head, a yellow fpot on the crown, another of the fame colour below the eyes, and a blue one under the throat. Ray, Ornithol. p. 76.
Ajuru-Para, in zoology, the name of a Brafilian fpecies of parrot, of a fmall fize, all over of a beautiful green, and with white legs, a white beak, and white fkinny circles round its eyes. Margrave, Hift. Brafil.
AIZOON, in botany, a name given by fome authors to houfe- leek. Cbabraus, p. 538.
ALA, (Cyd.) in botany, a name given, by the Latin writers of medicine, in the later ages, to the hclenium, or elecam- pane. Ifidore, fpeaking of the aromatic herbs in common ufe in his time, mentions helenhim, or elecampane, which, he fays, was vulgarly called Ala. The modern Spaniards and Portuguefe call it Alia. And Macer gives Inula as the true name of the elecampane plant ; but fays, that the common people of his time called it Ala, and the pbyficians bdenium. Pliny mentions a plant called Alum ; but this was of a very different genus, being, according to his own account, a fpe- cies of wild garlic, growing in the fields and under hedges. In another place he gives Alum, or Aim, as a name ufed by the Romans for the plant called by the Greeks fymphytum petraum, or rock comfrey. It is probable that the two for- mer of thefe plants obtained the names Ala and Alum, ab ha- lando, from fmelling very ftrong ; the one being ufed for its fweet fmell, and the other known by its ftrong odour. Pliny, I. 26.
Ala has feveral other different fignifications. It moft frequently is ufed to exprefs the hollow of the ftalk of a plant, which either the leaf, or the pedicle of the leaf, make with it ; or it is that hollow turning, or finus, placed between the ftalk, or branch of a plant, and its leaf, from whence a new off- fpring is wont to put forth. Sometimes it is taken alfo for a little branch, as when we fay, a ftock, or Hem of a plant is armed with many Al& > becaufe thefe fmall branches ltand out from it, in form of fo many wings.
Ai-iE is alfo ufed to fignify thofe petals, or leaves of the papi- lionaceous flowers, placed between thofe others which are called the vexillum and the carina, which make the top and bottom of the flower. Inftances of flowers of this ftructure are feen in the flowers of peas and beans, in which the top leaf, or petal, is the vexillum, the bottom the carina, and the fide ones the Alee.
Alje is alfo 'ufed for thofe extremely flender and membrana- ceous parts of fome feeds, which appear as wings placed on them, as in the plumeria, the fruit of the trumpet flower, the fruit of the maple, and the like, which are called by bo- tanifts alated feeds.
Alje is, finally, ufed alfo for thofe membranaceous expanfions, which run all the way along the ftems of fome plants, which are therefore called alated ftalks. Miller's Gard. Diet.
AL-ffi, in anatomy, is fometimes applied to the armpits, other- wife called axillee. Thefe parts abound with glands, and are great receptacles of humours j whence a rank fmell fometimes exhales, called ftetor alarum. Cajlcl. Lex. Med.
Ala is alfo applied to the procefs of the os fphenoides. See Sphknoides, Cyd.
ALABARCHA, in antiquity, a kind of magi ft rate among the Jews of Alexandria, whom the emperors allowed them to elect, to have the fuperintendency of their policy, and decide differences and difputes which arofe among them. The origin is much contefted ; fome derive it from the He- brew Hereb, a mixture, or mob'of people, and fuppofe it to have been given by the gentiles of Alexandria, in the way of derifion a. Others derive it from Alaba, ink ; on which foot- ing, Alabarcha is fuppofed to import a fecretary, or collector of duties on cattle carried out of the country : or, as others think, an officer like our agiftor, who had the care of the cattle taken to graze in the king's foreft, and collected the money due for the fame b . Fuller deduces it from the He- brew or Syriac Halapb and Aran, q. d. intendant, or dele- gate of the fovereign. Rhenferd rather chufes to fetch it from Harab, a rabbin, or doctor of the law, and the Greek, ■Aex*!?, chief. Le Clerc thinks it may come from Aja&f, noife, or tumult, as denoting the chief of a noify, or tumul- tuous people, fuch as the Jews were rcprefented to be.— [ a Bibl. Anc. Mod. T. 17. p. 112. b Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 57. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. I. p. 67.] Some are not fatisfied with any of thefe origins : it is certain the dignity of Alabarcb was pretty common in Egypt, being mentioned by Juvenal c ; and that the emperors Val'cns, Gra- tian, and Tbeodofius, fpeak of certain cuftoms, or impofts on fait, in Egypt, called Alabarcbia d . It is not improbable therefore, that the word originally figriined an Egyptian of- ficer, who had the infpection of the duty on fait; and that it was afterwards given, by way of contempt, to the chief, or governor of the Alexandrian Jews e ,- — In this view, Ala- barcha will derive its origin from the Greek, «*t, fait, and
- fiX«» chief. — [ c Juv. Sat. 1. v. 129. d V. Pitifc. Lex.
Ant. T. 1. p. 67. Calv. Lex. Jur. p. 57. e Calmet. Diet. Bibl. T. 1. p. 84.]
In this Ccn(e Alabarcha amounts to the fame with what is otherwife called Arabarcha, fometimes Genarcka, and fome- times alfo Ethnarcha ; though Bacehius thinks, that the Eth- narcb and Alabarcb were originally different officers. Giorn. de Letter d'ltal. T. 22. p. 69. See Ethnarcha, Cyd. Rhenferd has a difTertation exprefs on the Jewifh Alabarcba, in Op. Philol. diff. 14. An extract of it is given in Bibl. Anc. Mod. T. 17. p. in.
ALABASTER (Cyd.)— It is difputed to what clafs of ftones Alabajler is to be referred. Agricola ranks it among marbles a ; to which Hoffman objects b , on account of the foftnefs of Alabajler, which rather feems to claim a place for it among earths. Yet Schroeder % and fome others, confider it as a crude, or imperfect kind of marble. — [ a De Nat. Foff. 1. 7. b Paralip. Oflic. c. 72. c Pharmac. 1. 3. c. 8. J See Ala-
BASTRIT-ffi.
The finenefs and clearnefs of this ftone, renders it, in fome meafure, tranfparent; whence it has been fometimes alfo em- ployed for windows. There is a church at Florence ftill il- luminated by Alabajler windows ; inftead of panes of glafs, there are flabs of Alabajler near fifteen feet high, each of which forms a fingle window, through which the light is conveyed. Monfauc. Dial. Ital. ap. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 28. p. 137.
Naturalifts alfo mention divers extraordinary kinds of Ala- bajler, foft, yellow, variegated, Indian, Caramanian, Ger- man d , &c. Grew * fpeaks of a bajlard Alabajler, fpotted, which he calls Gypfum variegation, whereof there are divers forts and colours in the repofitory of the Royal Society. Thefe all make a ftrong effervefcence with fpirit of nitre. 3 " They
