Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 1, A-AME

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it
jEtna.
A E T [
iEtites male fits, to prevent her eggs from being rotten
is found in feveral parts: near Trevoux in France, one
mimj can fcarcely dig a new feet, without finding confiderable
ftrata or beds of the coarfer or ferruginous kind. '1 hey
are originally foft, and of the colour of yellow ochre.
But the fineft: and moft valued of all the eagle-ftones,
are accidental ftates of one or other of our common
pebbles.
AETIUS, one of the moft zealous defenders of
Arianifm, was born in Syria, and flouriftied about the
year 336. After being fervant to a grammarian, of
whom he learned grammar and logic, he was ordained
deacon, and at length bifhop, by Eudoxus patriarch of
Conftantinople. Aetius was banilhed into Phrygia on
account of his religious opinions 5 but was recalled from
exile on the acceffion of Julian, and was much efteem-
ed by that emperor. He died, it is fuppofed, at Con¬
ftantinople, about the year 366. St Epiphanius has
preferved 47 of his propofitions againft the Trinity.
His followers were called Aetians.
Aetius, a famous phyfician, born at Amida in Me-
fopotamia, and the author of a work entitled Tetra-
biblos, which is a collection from the writings of thofe
phyficians who went before him. He lived, according
to Dr Freind, at the end of the fifth or the beginning
of the 6th century.
Aetius, governor of Gallia Narbonenfisin the reign
of Valentinian III. forced the Franks who were palling
into Gaul to repafs the Rhine. He defeated the Goths;
and routed Attila king of the Huns, who invaded Gaul
with an army of 700,000 men. But the emperor,
jealous of the merit of this great man, killed him in
454, with his own hand, under the pretence that he
had permitted the invafion of the Huns, after Attila’s
defeat,
iETNA, (in the Itineraries JEthana, fuppofed from
xiiu, “ to burn according to Bochart, from athuna,
a furnace, or a?tuna, darknefs), now Monte Gibello :
a volcano or burning mountain of Sicily, fituated in
N. Lat. 38°. E. Long. 150.
This mountain, famous from the remoteft antiquity,
both for its bulk and terrible eruptions, ftands in the
eaftern part of the ifiand, in a very extenfive plain, cal¬
led Va/ di Demoni, from the notion of its being inhabi¬
ted by devils, who torment the fpirits of the damned in
the bowels of this volcano.
Inconfiftent Concerning the dimenfions of Mount ./Etna, we can
accounts fcarcely extraft any thing confiftent, even from the ac-
conceming counts of the lateft and moft ingenious travellers. Pin-
nideof8™* C^ar, 'vk° ^'vec* abotft 435 years before Chrift, calls it
Etna. th*3 Pillar of Heaven, on account of its great height
All modern writers likewife agree, that this mountain
is very high, and very large ; but differ much both
as to its height and magnitude : fome making it no
lefs than twelve miles high, others eight, others fix,
fome four ; while Mr Brydone, and Sir William Ha¬
milton, who lately afcended to its higheft fummit,
reduce its height to little more than two miles ; nay
by fome it is reduced to 10,036 feet, fomewhat lefs
than two miles. No lefs remarkable are the differ¬
ences concerning its circumference : fome making it
only 60 miles round, others 100; and Signior Recupe-
ro, from whom Mr Brydone had his information in
this refpedl, affirms it to be no lefs than 183 miles in
circuit.
-Etna.
] A E T
We are forry to detraft from the merit of Mr Bry-
done, or to involve in obfcurity w'hat he lias been at ^
fo much pains to elucidate; but every perfon who com¬
pares the account of Mount ^Etna’s circumference, gi¬
ven by Signior Recupero, and to which Mr Brydone
feems to have affented, with its apparent circumference
on the map prefixed to that gentleman’s tour through
Sicily and Malta, muft at once be ftruck with the pro¬
digious difparity. Indeed, it is plain, that in the map,
the geographer has not left room for any fuch moun¬
tain : nor can we help thinking, that, by comparing
the diftances of fome of the Sicilian towns from one
another, Signior Recupero’s dimenfions will be found
enormoufly exaggerated.—Certain it is, that where the
geographer has placed Catania, which ftands at the foot
of Mount Aitna, on one fide, there is no more than 28
miles from the moft diftant point of the river Alcan¬
tara, which forms the boundary on the oppofite fide;
fo that a circle, whofe radius is 14 or 15 miles, muft
encompafs as much fpace as we can poffibly think is
occupied by the bafis of Mount ALtna. Thus we (hall
reduce the circumference of this famous mountain to
between 80 and 90 miles ; and even when we do fo, it
is perhaps too great.
But if we are embarraffed with the circumference of
./Etna, ive are much more fo with the accounts relating
to its height; and one circumftance, particularly, cre¬
ates almoft unfurmountable difficulties. It is agreed up¬
on by all travellers, and among the reft by Sir \\ illiam
Hamilton, that, from Catania, where the afcent firft
begins, to the fummit, is not lefs than 30 miles. '1 he
defcent on the other fide we have no account of; but,
whatever fuppofition we make, the height of the moun¬
tain muft be prodigious. If we fuppofe it likewife to be
30 miles, and that Mount /Etna can be reprefented by
an equilateral triangle, each of ivhofe lides is 30 miles,
we will have an amazing elevation indeed, no lefs than
26 miles perpendicular ! Such a height being beyond
all credibility, we muft contradt the fides of our tri¬
angle, in proportion to its bafis. We ftiall begin with
allowing ten miles for the difference between a ftraight
line from Catania to the fummit, and the length of
the road, occafioned by the inequalities of the moun¬
tain ; and fuppofing the defcent on the other fide to be
fomewhat ftiorter, we may call it 15 miles. Mount
/Etna will now be reprefented by a fcalene triangle,
whofe bafe is 30 miles, its longeft fide 20, and its
ffiorteft 15; from which proportions we will ftill find
its height to be betwixt eight and nine miles.—This is .
ftill incredible : and when all the various relations con-
cerning the height of /Etna are compared, we hope it
will not be thought prefumptuous in us to give it as
our opinion, that the true dimenfions of this mountain
are as yet unknown. The following meafures are given
by different authors.
Height above the furface of the fea, 10,036 feet.
One hundred and eighty miles circumference at the
bafe.—Faujas de St Fond, in his Volcans du Vivarais.
Height 12,000 feet.—Brydone. Tour to Sicily.
Height 2500 toifes.—La Platriere, faid as from Re¬
cupero.
Height 1950 toifes.—Diameter 30 miles.—Mentelle
Geogr. comp.
Others make its height only 2000 toifes, and its fu-
perficies 300 fquare miles.
Concerning
uncertain.