Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

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A Q U
A iamboe that she was in the habit of trying the effects of her poi-
II sons on the poor, and even on the patients in the Hotel
Auarians. y);eu> un(Jer pretence of charitably supplying them with
biscuits. But Voltaire positively denies this horrible im¬
putation, and says that she never attempted the life of
her husband, who overlooked a connection of which he
was the cause.
The information concerning the nature of the Eau de
Brinvilliers, derived from the examination of Sainte Croix’s
famous casket, is not satisfactory. It contained poisons
enough to have killed a whole community; besides opium,
lunar caustic, antimony, and vitriol, more than 75 lbs. of
corrosive sublimate, and two bottles of a liquid like water,
with a sediment in one. The clear liquid was probably
his real poison ; as none of the other substances could have
been given so as to produce death, without instantly being
detected by their abominable taste; but what this liquid
was, we can now only conjecture; for its examination, as
reported by Pitaval, shows that the physicians at that time
had not the slightest notion of the mode of detecting arsenic
even in substance, much less in solution; and accordingly,
although both the liquor and powder killed the animals to
which they were given, it is candidly admitted that the
poison of Sainte Croix surpassed the art and capacity of the
physicians, and that it baffled all their experiments to dis¬
cover its composition. We have, however, no doubt that
arsenic was the only active ingredient of all these pretend¬
ed secret poisons, as it is the only substance capable of
explaining all the credible circumstances related of them.
From the mode of administering them in small but repeat¬
ed and perhaps increased doses, there was some founda¬
tion for the belief that they could be given so as to kill in
any determinate time, while their failing in any instance
to produce death was easily accounted for by supposing
antidotes to have been administered. But although the
progress of knowledge has proved that there is no such
thing as such antidotes, it has on the other hand, by ren¬
dering the detection of poison easy and certain, put a stop
for ever to the trade of poisoner, and, what is perhaps of
equal importance, to the general alarm and cruel punish¬
ment of individuals, which have often resulted from natural
deaths being ascribed to poison. It is not because we
know less, but because we know a great deal more than
our forefathers, that the art of secret poisoning seems to
be lost. (a. d.)
AQUAMBOE, a country in the interior of the Gold
Coast of Africa, extending 20 miles along the banks of the
Rio Volta, which separates it from Aquapirn, and reaching
100 miles inland. The natives are haughty, turbulent, and
warlike; and their territory, though fertile, is indifferently
cultivated. Like all the countries in the interior from the
Gold Coast, it is now entirely subject to the preponderant
power of the king of Dahomey.
AQUAPENDENTE. See Fabricius.
AQUAPIM, a kingdom of considerable extent in the
interior of the Gold Coast of Africa, immediately behind
Acra, and having on the other side Aquamboe. This
country is said to vie in beauty and fertility with any in
the world. It is finely diversified with wooded hills and
highly-cultivated valleys, the former having usually towns
and villages situated on their summits. The people are
obedient to their chiefs, mild and gentle, and are chiefly
employed in agriculture, which they practise with consider¬
able diligence.
AQUARIANS, Christians in the primitive church who
consecrated water in the eucharist instead of wine. This
they did under pretence of abstinence and temperance, or
because they thought it universally unlawful to eat flesh
or drink wine. Epiphanius calls them Encratites, from
their abstinence; St Austin, Aquarians, from their use
A Q U 331
of water; and Theodoret, who says they sprung from Ta- Aquarii
tian, Hydroporastata, because they offered water instead II
of wine. Besides these, there was another sort of Aqua- ;fWuatinta
nans, who did not reject the use of wine as unlawful;
for they administered the eucharist in wine at evening ser- *"
vice ; but in their morning assemblies they commonly used
water, lest the smell of wine should discover them to the
heathens.
AQUARII, in Antiquity, slaves who supplied the wo¬
men’s baths with water, called sometimes Aquarioli, and
held in great contempt (Juv. vi. 331, Fest. p. 19). The in¬
spectors of the conduits or water-pipes were likewise called
Aquarii.
AQUARIUS, the Water-bearer, in Astronomy, the
11th sign of the zodiac. It is marked thus, css. The poets
feign that Aquarius was Ganymede, whom Jupiter ravished
under the shape of an eagle, and carried away into heaven
to serve as a cup-bearer in the room of Hebe and Vulcan;
whence the name. Others hold that the sign was thus called
because when it appears in the horizon the weather usually
proves rainy.
AQUATINTA Engraving, so called from its near re¬
semblance to water-colour drawings, is of modern invention,
and was much practised several years ago; and though for
some time past it has been less in fashion, it is a branch of
the art which is still pursued to some extent.
It is performed in a variety of ways; but the most approv¬
ed is by covering or immersing the copper-plate in a solu¬
tion of resinous matter, rendered so in rectified spirits of
wine, and by working or drawing the object which is wish¬
ed to be represented, upon the plate, with a prepared pig¬
ment, commonly called the bursting ground. These solu¬
tions and grounds are made of a variety of substances, de¬
scribed in recipes at the end of this article.
The work is generally commenced by etching, or tracing
the outline upon the plate with an etching needle or other
sharp instrument, which being done, and the etching
ground removed, the plate must be made particularly
clean and free from grease, with whitening and water.
The plate is then to be placed in a flat tin or earthen
vessel, in an inclined position, and the resinous solution
or ground (No. 1, &c.) poured quickly upon it from
the top to the bottom, so that the superfluous ground
may run off, and be preserved for after-use in a vessel
so placed as to receive it. Should the subject to be
engraved be a landscape, it will be advisable to allow
the ground upon the plate to dry in the inclined posi¬
tion, because the granulation of the shade or tint has
a tendency to be closer and finer in proportion as it is
nearer the top of the plate; and in this way the sky is
represented by the finest grain at the top, and the fore¬
ground by the coarsest at the bottom of the plate. Should
the subject require an equality of tint or grain, it will be
procured by reversing the inclined position of the plate
backwards and forwards as quickly as possible after the
ground has been poured on it. The spirit of wine will
very speedily evaporate, leaving the plate dry, with the
ground upon it ready for work ; but in order to render it
more secure, it may be held over a clear fire, with the
back of the plate next the coals until the resin of the
ground is a little heated, and so fixed to the plate more
completely. Care must, however, be taken, in this opera¬
tion, not to melt the resinous granulations so much as to
cause them to unite into solid masses.
The design is now to be drawn upon the plate with the
bursting ground (No. 10, &c.), exactly in the same manner
as any water-colour drawing is set about: every part where
a tint is required is to be covered over with the bursting
ground, and the lights alone left untouched with it.
When this composition is quite dry, take a broad camel-