YEA
878
YEA
Yard-Arm is that half of a yard that is on either side of themast, when it lies athwart the ship.
YARE, among sailors, implies quick ; as, be rare at the helm ;that is, be quick and expeditious at the helm. It is sometimes alsoused for bright by seamen ; as, to keep his arms yare ; that is, tokeep them clean and bright.
YARMOUTH, a sea-port-town of Norfolk , 27 miles E. ofNorwich, and 112 N. E. of London . Lon. 1. 55. E. Lat.52. 45. N.
Yarmouth, a town of the Isle of Wight, in Hampshire. Lon.1. 28. W. Lat. 50. 40. N.
Yarmouth, a town in the state of Maine , 9 miles N. E. ofPortland. Lon. 70. 8. W. Lat. 43. 45. N.
YARN, wool or flax spun into thread, of which they weaveCloth. See Cloth, Wool , &c.
YAR0SL4F, a town of Russia , capital of Yaroslafskoe, 140miles N. E. of Moscow . Lon. 38. 59. E. Lat. 57. 35. N.
Yaroslaf, or Yaroslafskoi, a government of Russia , for-merly a province of Moscow .
YARROW , in botany. Sec Achilljea.
YARUM, a town of Yorkshire, in the N. Riding, 36 miles N.of York, Lon. 1. 12. W. Lat. 54. 31. N.
YAWNING, an involuntary opening of the mouth, generallyproduced by weariness or an inclination to sleep. Yawning, ac-cording to Boerhaave , is performed by expanding at one and thesame time all the muscles capable of spontaneous motion ; bygreatly extending the lungs; by drawing in gradually and slowlya large quantity of air ; and gradually and slowly breathing it out,after it has been retained for some time and rarined ; and then re-storing the muscles to their natural state. Hence the etfect ofyawning is to move, accelerate, and equally distribute, all the hu-mours through all the vessels of the body, and consequently toqualify the muscles and organs of sensation for their variousfunctions. When yawning is troublesome, Hippocrates says,that long deep respiration or drawing in the air at long intervalscures it.
YAXLEY, a town of Huntingdonshire, 14 miles N. of Hunt-ingdon, and 78 N. by W. of London . Lon. 0. 30. W. Lat. 52.28. W.
YAYYOS, or YAN VOS, a province of Peru, in Lima , com-prehending an extensive territory ; commencing 16 leagues or 48miles S.E. of Lima , and extending 75 miles in length along theAndes . It abounds with corn, wheat, barley, maize, and great va-riety of fruits. The pastures feed numerous herds of cattle, whichare sent to Lima , &c.
YEAR, in astronomy and chronology. See Astronomy,Chronology, and Calendar.
Year and Day, inlaw, signifies a certain time that by lawdetermines a right, or works prescription in divers cases; as in thecase of an estray, if the owner do not challenge it within thattime, it becomes forfeited to the lord ; so of a wreck, Ac. Thelike time is given to prosecute appeals in ; and wliere a personwounded, dies in a year and a day after the wound received, itmakes the ofl'endcr guilty of murder. There is also year and dayand waste, which is taken to be part ot die king’s prerogative,whereby he challenges the profits of the lands and tenements for ayear and a day, of those that are attainted of petty treason or fe-lony ; and the king may cause waste to be made on the lands,&c by destroying the bouses, plowing up the meadows and pas-tures, rooting up the woods, &c. unless the lord of the fee agreeswith him for the redemption ol such waste.
Year, Arabic, Mohammedan, Turkish, Ac. The Ara-bic, Mohammedan, and Turkish year, called also the year of theHegira, is a iimar year, equal to 354,days 8 hours and 48 minutes,and consists of 12 months, which contain alternately 30 and 29days.
Year, Hindoo. The best account that we have of theHi m.oo year, is by Mr. Cavendish, in the Phil. Trans, of theRoyal Society of London for 1792. " Before I speak of the civil
year of the Hindoos (says this eminent philosopher,) it will beproper to say a.few words of the astronomical year, by which it isregulated: 1 The astronomical year begins at the instant whenthe sun comes to the lirst point of the Hindoo zodiac. In theyear 1792, it began on April 9th, at 22h. 14m. after midnight oftheir first meridian, which is about 4lm. of time west of Calcutta;
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but, according to Mr. Gentil’s account of the Indian astronomyit began 3h. 24m. earlier. As this year, however, is longer thanours, its commencement falls continually later, in respect to theJulian year, by 50m. 26s. in four years. 'Phis year is divided intotwelve months, each of which corresponds to the time of the sun’sstay in some sign ; so that they are of different lengths, and sel-dom begin at the beginning of a day. The civil day in all partsof India begins at sunrise, and is divided into sixty parts calleddandas, which are again divided into sixty palas. In those partsof India in which the Benares almanac, or as it is there called pa-tras, is used, the civil year is lunisolar, consisting of twelve lunarmonths, with an intercalary month inserted between them occa-sionally. It begins at the day after the new moon next beforethe beginning of the solar year. The lunar month is divided intothirty parts called leethees; these are not strictly, of the samelength, but are equal to the time in which the moon’s true motionfrom the sun is 12°. From the new moon till the moon arrives at12° distance from the sun is called the first teethee ; from thencetill it comes to 24°, is called the second teethee; and so on tillthe full moon, after which the teethees return in the same order asbefore. The civil day is constantly called by the number of thatteethee which expires during the course of the day ; arid as theteethee is sometimes longer than one day, a day sometimes occursin which no teethee ends. When this is the case, the day is calledby the same number as the following day ; so that two successivedays go by the same name. It ettener happens, however, thattwo teethees end on the same day ; in which case the number ofthe first of them gives name to the day, and there is no day calledby the number of the last, so that a gap is made in the order ofthe days. In the latter part of the month the days are countedfrom the full moon, in the same manner as in the former part theyare counted from the new moon ; .only the last day, or that onwhich the new moon happens, is called the 30th, instead of the15lh. It appears, therefore, that each half of the month con-stantly begins on the day after that on which the new or full moonfalls; only sometimes the half-month begins with the second day,the lirst being wanting. This manner ol counting the days is suf-ficiently intricate ; but that ol counting the months is still moreso. The civil year begins at the day after the new moon ; and inthe years which have an intercalary month, this month begins atthe day alter the new moon; but notwithstanding this, the ordi-nary civil month begins at the dry after the toll moon. To maketheir method more intelligible, we wiil call the time from newmoon to new moon the natural month. The civil month Vi-sakha, the first in the Hindoo calendar, which extends from the9th of our April to the 10th of May, begins at the day after thatfull moon which is nearest to the instant al which the. sun entersMesha, the first in order of the Indian signs, whether before orafter; however, it is not always accurately the nearest. A conse-quence ot this way of counting the months is, that the first half ofChitra, the last month in the Indian calendar, extending fromMarch the 10th to April the Jflh, fall in one year, and the latterhalf in the following year ; and whenever the sun enters no signduring a natural month, this month is intercalary. The numberof days in the month varies from 29 to 32. Indeed the Hindoomonths, both solar and lunar, consist neither of a determinatenumber of days, nor are regulated by any cycle, but dependsolely on tbe motions of the sun and moon ; so that a Hindoo hasno way of knowing what day of the month it is but by consultinghis almanac; and what is more, the month ought sometimes tobegin on different days, in different places, on account of the dif-ference in latitude and longitude, not to mention the differencewhich may arise horn errors in computation. This mode of com-puting time must be abended with many inconveniences; but inthe transactions of civil life, the Hindoos do not much regard it.
A disagreement, however, in the computation of the teethee,which sometimes also happens, occasions no small perplexity ; be-cause by the teethees or lunar days are regulated most of their reli-gious festivals. Every Brahmin in charge of a temple, or whoseduty it is to announce the times for the observance of religiousceremonies, is therefore furnished with one of their almanacs;and if he be an astronomer, he makes such corrections in itas the difference of latitude and longitude render neces-sary.”