ARG

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rom the lower exchequer to the higher, in order to its being ex-amined or counted.

ARGENTARO, Monte, a cape and promontory of Italy ,on the coast of Tuscany , 12 miles S. of OrbiUdlo. It juts outinto the sea like a peninsula, and is a useful land mark.

ARGENTICOMUS, among ancient astrologers, denotes akind of silver-haired comet, of uncommon lustre, supposed tobe the cause of great changes in the planetary system.

ARGENTIERA, or ARGENTIERE, a small island in theArchipelago , near Milo, so named from its silver mines. It isabout 18 miles in circumference, full of barren mountains. Itproduces the Terra Cimolia, so highly esteemed by the ancients.Long. 23. 10. E. Lat. 36. 50. N.

Argentiere, a town of France , in the department of Arde-che. Long. 4. 22. E. Lat. 44. 30. N.

ARGENTINA , a genus of fishes belonging to the order ofabdominales.—Teeth in the tongue and jaws ; the branchiostcgemembrane has eight rays; anus near the tail ; belly tins havemany rays. There are four species.

ARGENTINES, a deity worshipped by the ancients, as thegod of silver coin ; as /Esculanus, whom they made his father,was the god of brass money, which was in use before silver.

ARGEN I ON, a town of France , in the department of theIndre. Long. 1. 38. E. Lat. 46. 36. N.

ARGENTUM, Silver . A whitish metal not tarnished by theair, hard, sonorous, very malleable, and'ductile, melting with aperfect red heat; specific gravity before hammering 10.478. Itis soluble in nitric acid, and may be precipitated by copper, iron,or zinc. There are thirteen species.

Argentum Album, in our old customs, silver coin, or piecesof bullion that anciently passed for money.

Argentum Dei, God ’s fenny, anciently signified earnest-money, or money given to bind a bargain.

Argentum Mosaicum, or Argentum Musivum, a massconsisting of silver-like flakes, used for the colouring of plaster-figures, and for other purposes, as a pigment. It consists of anamalgam of equal parts of tin, bismuth, and mercury. It is tobe mixed with white of eggs, or spirit varnish, and then appliedto tire intended work, which is afterwards to be burnished.

Argentum Vivum. See Mercury and Chemistry.

ARGESTES, is used by Vitruvius for the wind which blowsfrom that quarter of the horizon, which is 75° from the south, andwestward, llicciolus uses the term to denote the west-north-westwind.

ARGETENAR, a star of the fourth magnitude, in the flexureof the constellation Eridanus.

ARGIA, in mythology, 1. the wife of Inaclnw, and motherof lo, or Isis. 2. the daughter of Adrastus, wife of Polynices,and mother of Tliersander, one of the Kpigoni: 3. the motherof Argus, the carpenter of the ship Argo.

ARGIL, a species of ardea. See Akdea.

Argil, [tirgilln , Lat.] Potter’s clay ; a fat soft kind of earth ofwhich vessels are made.

ARGILLA. Argil, a genus of earths, order argillaceous; itis composed of silica and alumina, with some oxyd of iron andinflammable matter; opuke, soft, earthy, lightish, mixing withwater or oil, either of which softens it. It contracts and In comesharder in the fire, and does not effervesce with nitric acid. Thereare 30 species.

ARGIVES , or ARG IVI, the people of Argeia. Also a namefor the Greeks in general.

ARGO, in fabulous history, the ship celebrated by the poets,wherein the Argonauts , of whom Jason was the chief, sailed inquest of the golden fleece. Jason having happily accomplishedhis enterprise, consecrated the ship Argo to Neptune ; or, asothers say, to Minerva, in the Isthmus of Corinth ; where theyadd, it did not remain long before it was translated into heaven,and made a constellation. The generality of authors represent~the ship Argo as of a long make, resembling the modern galleys;•and furnished with 30 benches of rowers, it could not, however,fce of any great bulk, since the Argonauts , were able to carry it ontheir backs from the Danube to the Adriatic sea. See Argonauts .

Argo, or Argo Navis , in astronomy, a constellation in thesouthern hemisphere , containing 48 stars!

ARGGB, in ancient geography, a canton lying beyond theJordan, in the half tribe of ilanasieh.

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ARGOL, or ARGAL, tartar.

ARGOLET1ERS, light-armed horsemen.

ARGON AUTA, in conchology, the name of one of the Lin-naean genera: animal a sepio or clio ; shell univalve, spiral, invo-luted, membranaceous, aud containing only one shell. Thereare tw'o species, the most remarkable of which is the argonautaargo. (bee Plate V.) The animal which is the inhabitant of thissliell attracted the notice of the earliest writers on natural history.It is a native of the .Mediterranean and Indian seas, and is sup-posed to have taught mankind the use of sails, and the art ofnavigation: it is the nautilus of English collectors. When thislittle creature intends to sail, it discharges a quantity of water, bywhich operation its specific gravity is rendered less than that ofsea water ; and rising to the surface, erects its arms, and expandsa membrane between them, by means of which it is driven beforethe wind, like a vessel under sail ; at the same time that two ofits arms, which hang over the side of the shell, serve for oars and arudder. In this manner it sports on the water in calm weather ;but on the first indication of a storm, it lowers its sail, draws in itsarms, takes in water, and sinks.

ARGONAUTIC, something belonging to the Argonauts .The argonautic, expedition is one of the great epochas, or periodsof ancient history, which Sir Isaac Newton endeavours to settle,and from thence to rectify the ancient chronology. This lie shows,by several authorities, to have been one generation, or about 30years earlier, than the taking of Troy, and 43 years later than thodeath of Solomon. See Chronology. *

ARGONAUTS , in antiquity, a company of 51 heroes, accord-ing to Valerius Flaceus, or, according to Apollonius Rhodius , of44, who embarked along with Jason in the ship Argo, for Colchis ,to obtain the golden fleece. But Julius Ilyginus, who gives a listof them with their genealogies, enumerates no fewer than 69 Argo-nauts. Hercules, Theseus , Castor, Pollux, Amphion, Telamon,Meleager , &c. were of the number. Calais and Zethes, the sonsof Boreas, who were said to have had wings at their head and feet,were their pilots. Jason, according to the table, before he couldobtain the golden fleece, had lo engage its guardians, a monstrousdragon, and two hulls with brazen.feet, which breathed fire fromtheir nostrils : all which prodigies he performed by the help ofMedea, daughter of zEeles, king of Colchis , and carried off boththe fleece and the princess ! The occasion of this expedition isthus represented by Greek writers. Phryxus , flying with hissister Ilelle from the rage of their step-mother lno, the daughterof Cadmus , went on board a ship, whose ensign was a golden ram,and sailed lo Colchis, now Mingrelia , part of Georgia. Ilellewas drowned by the way, in that sea which from her was called theHellespont ; now the Dardanelles . This, according lo some, wasthe ground of the poetical fable, that a ram with a golden fleeceswam away w ith them to Colchis ; and that the Argonauts under-took their famed expedition, in order to find that fleece. ButStrabo and Arrian inform us, that it was a practice of the Col-chians to collect gold on mount Cauca-us by extending fleecesacross the beds of the torrents; and as the water passed, the me-tallic particles remained entangled in the wool: hence, accordingto those historians, the adventure w as named the expedition of thegolden fleece. Sir Isaac Newton thinks that this expedition wasreally an embassy sent by the Greeks, during the intestine divi-sions of Egypt in the reign of Amenophis , to persuade the nationsupon the coasts of the Euxiue and Mediterranean seas, lo takethat opportunity of shaking off the yoke of Egypt , which Scsostrishad laid upon them ; and that fetching the golden fleece, was onlya pretence to cover their true design. The most judicious andsatisfactory account of the Argonautic expedition seems lo he thatgiven by Dr. Gillies in his history of Greece . “ The northerndistricts of Thessaly being peculiarly exposed to the dangerousfurv of invaders, the petty princes of that province entered into aconfederacy for their mutual defence. 'They assembled in springand autumn at Thermopylae a place afterwards so illustrious, andthen governed by Ainphictyon, a descendant ot Deucalion. Thecentral stales gradually acceded to their alliance; and about themiddle of the 14th century before Christ, Acrisius king of Argos,and other princes of the Peloponnesus , were allowed lo sharu thebenefits and security of this useful association. After this event,the Amphictyons appear to have long confined themselves to theorimnal purpose of their institution. But it was not to be ex-pected that their restless activity could be always exhausted in‘ ' defensive