ARK

A R M

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Athanasius refused to receive him. When that prelate was ba-nished, Arius again came to that city, but the people being enragedagainst him, obliged him to withdraw. He then went into Egypt ,Where he raised new disturbances by his opinions; on which theemperor sent for him to Constantinople , and demanded of him,whether he adhered to the Nicene faith ; to which Arius answeredon oath that he did, at the same time delivering his own con-fession, which appearing sound, the emperor ordered that heshould be re-admitted into the church, lie was then conductedin triumph by his followers to the great church, but being pressedby a natural necessity, he stepped aside, and expired on the spot,his bowels gushing out.

ARK, Noah’s. The ark, see Plate IV. has atlorded severalpoints of curious inquiry among the critics and naturalists, relativeto its form, capacity, materials, &c. The wood whereof the arkwas built is called in the Hebrew gopher zeond, and in the Septua-gint square timbers. Some translate the original cedar, otherspine, others box, &c. The learned Mr. Fuller, in his miscel-lanies, has-observed, that the wood whereof the ark was built wasthat which the Greeks called xvaa^c-c o;, or the cypress tree ; for,taking away the termination, kupar and gopher differ very littlein sound. This observation the great Bochart lias confirmed, andshewn very plainly that no country abounds so much with thiswood, as that part of Assyria which lies about Babylon, nearwhich place it is most probable Noah built the ark. The timetaken to build the ark is much disputed, some making it 52 years,others 78, 100, and 120. The dimensions of the ark, as given byMoses , are 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height;which some have thought too scanty; and hence an argument hasbeen drawn against the authority of the relation. To solve thisdifficulty many of the ancient fathers, and the modern critics,have been put to very miserable shifts; But Buteo and Kircherhave proved geometrically, that, taking the common cubit of afoot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animalssupposed to be lodged in it. Snellius computes the ark to havebeen above half an acre in area. Father Lama shews, that it was110 feet longer than the church of St. Mary at Paris , and 64 nar-rower : and if so, it must have been longer than St. Paul’s churchin London , from west to ea-t, and broader than that church is highin the inside, and 54 feet of our measure in height. Dr. Arbuth-not computes it to have been 81062 tons. It contained, besideseight persons of Noah’s family, one pair of every species of un-clean animals, and seven pair of every species of clean animals,with provisions for them all during the whole year. The formerappears, at first view, almost infinite ; but if we come to a calcu-lation, the number of species of animals will be found much lessthan is generally imagined; out of which, in this case, are ex-cepted such animals as can live in the water ; and bishop Wilkinsshews that only 72 of the quadruped kind needed a place in theark. By the description Moses gives of the ark, it appears to havebeen divided into three stories, each ten cubits or 15 feel high;and it is agreed on, as most probable, that the lowest story was' forthe beasts, the middle for the food, and the upper for the birds,with Noah and his family; each story being subdivided into dif-ferent apartmeqts, stalls, &c. As to the number of animals con-tained in the ark, Buteo computes that it could not be equal to500 horses; he even reduces the whole to the dimensions of 56pair of oxen. F. Lama enlarges it to 128 oxen ; so that, sup-osing one ox equal to two horses, if the ark had. room for 256orses, there must have been room for all the animals. But thesame author demonstrates, that one lloor of it would suffice for500 horses, allowing nine square feet to a horse, As to the foodin the second story, it is observed by Buteo from Columella,that 30 or 40 pounds of hay ordinarily suffices for an ox a day ;and that a solid, cubit of hay, as usually pressed down in our hay-ricks, weighs about 40 pounds; so that a solid cubit of hay ismore than enough for one ox in one day. Now, it appears, thatthe second story contained 150,000 solid cubits; which dividedamong 256 oxen will afford each more hay, by two thirds, thanhe c an eat in a year. Bishop Wilkins observes, that the most ex-pert mathematician at this day could not assign the proportion of avessel better accommodated to the purpose than is here done :and hence he concludes, that the capacity ot the ark, which hadbeen made an objection against sc ripture, ought to be esteemeda coniirmation of its divine authority; since, in those ruder ages,men not being versed in arts and philosophy, were more obnoxiousto vulgar prejudices than now ; so that, had it been a human in-vol. i. no. 16 .

venlion, it would have been contrived, according to those notionswhich form a confused and general view of things, as much too bigas it has been represented too little. Besides the places requisitefor the beasts and birds, and their provisions, there was room,therefore, sufficient, for Noah’s household utensils, instrumentsof husbandry, and seeds to sow after the deluge; for which pur-poses, lie might spare room in the third story for 36 cabins;besides a kitchen, a hall, four chambers, and a 'space about 48cubits in length to walk in.

Ark or the Covenant, a small che.-t or coffer, three feetnine inches in length, two feet three inches ill breadth, and twofeed three inches in height, in which were contained the golden potwith manna, Aaron’s rod, and the tables of the covenant. T hiscoffer was made of Shittim wood, and covered with a lid of solidgold. See Plate IV. The ark was deposited in the holiest placeof the tabernacle. The lid of the ark was called the propitiary ormercy-seat; over which were two figures of cherubims placed,with expanded wings of a peculiar form. Here the Schechinahrested, both in the tabernacle and temple, in a visible cloud ;and hence were issued the divine oracles by an audible voice.The high-priest appeared before this mercy-seat once every yearon the great day of expiation; and the Jews , wherever they wor-shipped, turned their faces towards the place where the ark stood.

1 n the second temple there was also an ark, made of the sameshape and dimensions with the first, and put in the same place,but without any of its contents and peculiar honours.

Ark, or Arc. See Arc.

ARKLOW, a sea-port town of Ireland , in the county ofWicklow, 26 miles irom Dublin .

ARLES, a large and ancient city of France , in the departmentof the Mouths 'of the Rhone. It was called Arelas by the Ro-mans, and is situated 430 m. S. by E. of Paris . Lon. 4. 48. E.Lat. 43. 40. N.

ARLESHEM, or ARLESIIEIM, a neat town of Switzerland ,in the canton of Basil .

ARLEUX, a town of France in the department of the North,six miles S. of Doway . Lon. 3, 1. E. Lat. 50.26. N.

ARM, in anatomy. See Anatomy.

ARLON, a town of France , in the department cf ForSts.—Lon. 5. 36. E. Lat. 49. 45. N.

Arm, in geography, a branch of a sea, or river ; also a river inDevonshire.

Arm, in horsemanship, is applied to a horse, when, by pressingdown his head, lie endeavours to defend himself against the bit, toprevent his being checked by it. The remedy is, to have awooden ball covered with velvet, or other matter, put on his c ul,which will so press him between the jaw-bones as to prevent hisbringing his head so near his breast.

Arm, in magnetism, a loadstone is said to be armed, when itis capped, eased, or set in iron or steel, in order to make it takeup the greater weight, and also to distinguish readily its poles. SeeMagnetism.

Arm of an Anchor, the part to which the fluke is set.

ARMADA, [Span, a fleet of war,] an ar mament for sea.The armada which attempted to invade England in the time ofQueen Elizabeth, is famous in history. This armada, to whichthe Spaniards, in confidence of success, gave the name of Invinci-ble, consisted of 150 ships, most of which were greatly superior instrength and size to any that had been seen before. It had onboard near 20,000 soldiers and 8000 sailors, besides 2000 volun-teers of the most distinguished families in Spain . It carried 2650great guns, was victualled for half a year, and contained such aquantity of military stores, as only the Spanish monarch, enrichedby the treasures of the Indies and America , could supply. The.troops on board were to be joined by 34,000 more which the Dukeof Parma hatl assembled in the neighbourhood of Nieuport andDunkirk. For transporting these, he had, with incredible labour,provided a great number of flat-bottomed vessels, and had broughtsailors to navigate them from the towns in the Baltic. "When thenews reached England, terror and consternation seized the inhabi-tants. A tleet of not above 30 ships of war, and those very smallin comparison, was all that was to oppose it by sea. All the com-mercial towns of England, however, were required to furnish shipsfor reinforcing this small navy. The citizens of London , insteadof fifteen vessels, which they were commanded to equip, volun-tarily fitted out double the number; and the gentry and nobilityequipped 43 ships at their own charge. The Spaniards were much3 R harassed