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ARESKOUI, the Mars, or god of war, of the American Indians.

ARETHUSA, a genus of the gynandria diandria class; and inthe natural order, Orchideax r i'he generic character is taken fromthe nectarium, which is tubular, situated at the bottom of the co-rolla, and the inferior labium fixed tothestylus.There are fourspe-cics; all natives of America , except A. capensis, which is onlyfound attire Cape of Good Hope .

Arethusa, in fabulous history, the 'daughter ofNerensandDoris, and the companion of Diana, who changed her into afountain to deliver her from the pursuit of her lover Alpheus.

Arethusa, in geography, a celebrated fountain near the cityof Syracuse in Sicily , famous for the quantity of its waters, andIhe number of fishes it contained. Many fables were inventedby the ancients concerning this fountain. They had also a notionthat the river Alpheus runs into it through the waters of theSea, without mixing with them, from Peloponnesus to Sicily .

ARETIA, in botany : a genus of the pentandria monogvniaclass; and in the natural order, l’retia?. Calyx a perianthium,one leaf, companulaled ; permanent, corolla live-parted, with anevated tube; capsule globular, one-celled ; seeds many.

ARETIN, Francis, a man of great reading, and well ac-quainted with the Greek language, lie translated into Latin theCommentaries of St. Chrysostom upon St. John, and abouttwenty Homilies of the same father ; aho the Letters of Phala-ris ; and wrote a treatise “ De balneis Puteolanis.” He studied atSienna, about 1443; and afterwards taught law there with suchreputation, that they called him the Princ e of Subtleties. Whenold age would not permit him to go through the duties of his of-fice, they dispensed with his reading of lec tures, and regularlypaid his salary. He continued, however, sometimes to mountthe chair ; and although his lectures had now but little spirit, yethe hacl still many hearers cm account of his reputation. One daywhen the students were gone to some public- shows, there werebut forty persons in his auditory : which so mortified him, thathe threw away his book; and crying out, “ Aretin shall neverexplain law to a few persons,” retired in a passion, and wouldteach no more-.

Aretin, Guido, a celebrated musician, born at Arezzo , inTuscany , in the 13th century. Having been taught music in his•outh, and probably retained as a chorister in the service of thelenedictine monastery in that city, lie became a brother of theorder of St. benedict. In this retirement he seems to have de-voted himself to the study of music, particularly the system ofthe ancients, and, above all, to reform their method of notation.The difficulties that attended the instruction of youth in thechurch offices were so great, that ten years were generally con-sumed barely in acquiring the knowledge of the plain song; andthis consideration induced him to labour after some methodthat might facilitate instruction, and enable those employed in thechoral office to perform the duties of it in a correct manner. Thelegendary accounts that are extant in old monkish manuscripts,fay, he was assisled in his pious intention by immediate commu-nications from heaven ; and speak of the invention of the svllablesas the effect of inspiration; and Guido himself says, it was re-vealed to him by the Lord ; or, as some interpret iiis word*, in adream ; but graver historians say, that being at vespers in thechapel of his monastery, it happened that one of the offices ap-pointed for that day was the In mil to St.John, composed bvraid, a deacon of the church of Aquileia , about A. D. 770,

UT queant laxis.REsonare libris

Mira gestorum.FAmuli tuomm

SOLvepollutis.LAbiis roatum,

Sancte Joannes.

During the performance, he remarked the iteration of the words,and tlie frequent returns of ut, re, mi, fa, sot., la : he observed,likewise a dissimilarly between the closeness of the syllable miand the broad open sound of fa, which he thought could notfail to impress upon the mind a lasting idea of their congruitv ;and immediately conceived a thought of applying these'six syl-lables to perfect an improvement either then actually made byhim, or under consideration, viz. that of converting the ancienttetrachords into hexachords. Struck with the discovery, he re-tired to his study ; and having perfected his system, he commu-nicated it to the brethren of his own monastery, from whom ittnet with but a cold reception, which in the epistle to his friend,VOL. 1.—no. 14.

he ascribes undoubtedly to its true cause, envy. His interest,however, with the abbot, and his employment in the chapel, gavehim an opportunity of trying the efficacy of his method on thehoys who were training up for the choral service, and it exceededhis most sanguine expectation. “ To the admiration of all,” savscardinal Baronins, “ a boy thereby learnt, in a few months, v hatno man, though of great ingenuity, could belore that attain inseveral years.” r i he tame ot Guido’s invention soon spreadabroad, and his method of instruction was adopted by the clergyof other countries. He wrote a tract on music, intitled Micro-logus, i. e. a short discourse. Most authors who mention Guido,speak of the Mjerologus as containing the sum of his if elrine :hut it is in a small tract, intitled, Argumentum novi Cantus pi-veniendi, that his declaration of his’ use of the syllables, withtheir several mutations, and in short his whole doctrine of solmi-sation, is to be found, 'i'liis tract makes part of an .epistle to anintimate friend of Guido, whom he addresses, BeatissimO atquedulcissimo fralri Michaeli, at whose request it seems to have beencomposed.

ARETOLOGI, in antiquity, asort'of philosophers, chiefly ofthe Cynic or Stoic tribe, who haunted the tables of great men,and entertained them ill their banquets with disputations on vir-tue, vice, and other popular fopics. These are sometimes alsodenominated Circulatnrcs PhilosopkL In this ,ense, the wordis derived from the Greek virtue, and discourse.

Some authors derive it from ajdo;, griitus. “ agn cable ;” anddeline Arelologi, persons who strive to entertain their audiencewith jokes and pleasant tales.

ARKTOLOGY, [from ap'S) virtue, and xsy tu , to discourse'.]That part of moral philosophy which treats of virtue, its nature',and the means of arriving at it.

AREZZO, antientiv Arf.tivm, a citv of Italy, in Tuscany ,seated in the territory of Florence . It was the birth-place ofMeca'nas. Long. 12. 2. E. Eat. 43.27. N.

ARGEA, or ARC El, in Roman antiquity, 30 human figures,made of rushes, thrown annually by the priests or vestals intothe Tiber, on the day of the ides of It! ay.

ARGEIA, or ARGOLIS, a district of Peloponnesus , situatedbetween Arcadia on the tV . and the Egean Sea on the E ; socalled from Argos , the capital; now Romaniadi Morea.

ARGEII, or ARGIVI, (as the Romans called them,) theArgives , inhabitants of Argeia.—They were a colony wildmigrated, it is said, from Egypt , under the command of Inachus.

ARGEMONE, prickly poppy: A genus of the monogyniaorder, and polyandria class of plants; in the natural order, Rhaaclea-.Corolla six-petaled; calyx triphyllous ; capsule ova!, pentangularone-celled ; seeds small and numerous. It has three species in-digenous to the West Indies .

ARGENCES, a town of France, in the department of Cal-vados, 10 m. E. of Caen . Long. 0. 10. W. Lat. 40. 15. X.

ARGENT, in heraldry, by itself is used to signify purity!innocence, beauty, and gentleness; but according to O. Leigh;it signilies, when compounded with

Azure , ...Courtesy; Sable, ...Religion;

Gules, ...Boldness; and

Purpure, ...Favour; Vert, ...Virtue .

ARGENTAC, a town of France , in the department of UpperYeinne, lomilesS. E. of Tulles. Lon. 2. 3. E. Lat. 45. 5; N.

ARGENTAL MERCURY, a native amalgam of silver, andwas formerly so called; it is found in the'mines of Hungary .'1 his mineral contains 72.5 parts of mercury to 27.5 of silver ;it appears to he a real chemical combination, and not. a paste-likemixture of the two metals. Us specific gravity is 14.1192, whichis greater than that of either of the metals of which it.is composed.

ARGENTANGINA, the silver quinsey ; a disease to whicha lawyer is liable, when, having received a fee from both parties;,he pretends, while pleading at the bar, to be suddenly taken ill,in order to favour his client’s opponent.,

AllGENTARIUS, in civil law, one who adorned militaryarms with silver or gold.

Argentarius, in Roman antiquity, a money changer orbanker. The argentarii were monied people, who made a profiteither by the changing, or lending of money at interest. Alsoan officer entrusted with the custody of money.

Argentarius miles, in our old writers, an officer of the ex-chequer, whose business it was to carry up the bag of money

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