ICELAND....ICELAND FALCON....ICHNEUMON. 179

tense heat of the climate. Mr. Barkam, about the year 1718, in his voyage from Jamaica to England, in the beginning of June, met with ice islands coming from the north, which were surrounded with so great a fog, that the ship was in danger of striking upon them. One of them measured sixty miles in length....Philo. Trans. Darwin.

ICELAND, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Scotland; three hundred miles long, and one hundred and fifty broad; lying between sixty-four and sixty-six degrees north latitude; and belonging to the crown of Denmark. For two months together the sun never sets; and in the winter it never rises for the same space, at least not entirely. Many of their houses are deep in the ground; but they are all miserable huts, covered with skins. About the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century, the Normans made themselves famous by their predatory excursions.England, Scotland, Ireland, the Orkney and Shetland islands, were objects of their depredations; and in one of their piratical expeditions (A. D. 861,) they discovered this island, which from its lofty mountains, covered with ice and snow, obtained the name of iceland.... Morse, Belknap.

ICELAND FALCON, a noble species of hawk, and a first rate in respect to size. Some are white, and others varying in colour. The king of Denmark sends annually into Iceland, to buy up all that are taken. Fifteen dollars are allowed for a quite white falcon; ten for one not quite white; besides a gratuitous allowance to each falcon-catcher to encourage them in their business. In order to take them, the Icelanders strike two posts into the ground at a small distance from each other. To the one they tie a pigeon, partridge, or fowl, by a small line, two or three yards long, that they may flutter, and be seen by the falcon, and decoy him down into the snare prepared for him....Gent. Mag.

ICHNEUMON, an animal of the weasel kind, bred chiefly in Egypt. It has the strength of a cat, and is more nimble and more cunning; it easily strangles a

180

ter.

IGNIS FATUUS.

cat that is larger than itself. It takes to the water when in danger, and will live a considerable time under waMore expert than cats in catching rats and mice, they are used in Egypt for that purpose. This animal makes war with great courage and eagerness upon all kinds of serpents. If bitten by the viper or the asp, it uses a certain root that cures the poison. Its principal service to the ancient Egyptians was in discovering and destroying the eggs of crocodiles; and for its usefulness in this respect it was worshipped by that idolatrous people as a deity.... Goldsmith.

IGNIS FATUUS, or Jack with a lanthern, a flamecoloured vapory ball, that dances over bogs, commonly about six feet from the surface of the ground. Its usual motion, as it proceeds forward, is a constant alternate rising and descending; yet it keeps about the same medial distance from the earth. This curious body, which has often frightened the benighted travellers, is thought to be a collection of vapor of the putrescent kind, charged with electric matter. Though it will approach and seem to follow a person, it retreats when he turns and pursues it; and cannot be overtaken and caught. This may be owing to its electric nature; for bodies possessed of different qualities of electricity may be made to attract one another for a certain space, and then repel without ever coming into contact. Lights of this kind are sometimes observed at sea, skipping about the masts and rigging of ships. Doctor Shaw, in his travels to the Holy Land, gives a very remarkable account of an ignis fatuus. It appeared in the vallies of mount Ephraim, and attended him and his company for more than an hour. Sometimes it would appear globular, or in the shape of the flame of a candle: at others it would spread to such a degree as to involve the whole company in a pale inoffensive light, then contract itself, and suddenly disappear; but in less than a minute it would appear again; sometimes running swiftly along would expand itself at certain intervals over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains. The atmosphere that evening was remarkably thick and hazy....Encyclopædia, et. cet.

INDIAN RÁT....INDULGENCES.

181

INDIAN RAT. This sagacious animal lives in constant apprehension from his neighbor, an animal called dragon, who instinctively owes him a spite, and is considerably the largest and strongest of the two.Therefore in order to circumvent his dread foe, the rat has recourse to this stratagem. He makes two entrances to his cave, the one small, and proportioned to the bulk of his own body, the other wider at the surface, but which he draws narrower by degrees till towards the other end, it is but just wide enough to admit his passing through. Thus prepared, he, whenever the invader comes in sight, betakes himself with all speed to his cave, and enters it at the wide mouth. The dragon follows close at his heels; and, eager for his prey, presses with all his might into the funnel, till at last his body is fast wedged in, so that he is not able either to advance or retreat. The rat now, finding his formidable enemy in a condition neither to fight nor fly; instantly emigrates from his cave, through the small entrance, and falling upon his rear, demolishes him at his leisure.

INDULGENCES, licences from the Pope of Rome for committing sins of almost every description and denomination according to stipulated prices. They were first invented by Pope Urban II, as a recompence for those who engaged in the crusades; and the pretended principle on which they were granted, was as follows: According to the doctrine of the Romish Church all the good works of the saints over and above all that were necessary towards their own justification; are deposited, together with the infinite merits of JESUS CHRIST, in one inexhaustable treasury. The keys of this were committed to St. Peter, and to his successors the Popes, who might open it at pleasure, and by transferring a portion of this superabundant merit to any particular person, for certain sums of money, might conwey to him the pardon of his own past sins, a release for any one in whom he was interested, from the pains of purgatory, and a good warrant and right to commit sins in future. In the year 1518, Pope Leo X, wanting money for finishing St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, published a general sale of indulgences. They were pub licly retailed in ale-houses in Germany, where their pro

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182 INFLAMMABLE AIR.....INFLAMMABLE EARTH.

duce in particular districts was rented out, in the manner of a toll or custom; and a man could purchase for a shilling, an indulgence for almost any crime. This abominable traffic awakened the zeal of Martin Luther, an Augustin friar; who, by his preaching and writings, shook the whole fabric of the Romish Church,

INFLAMMABLE AIR, a kind of air, which, as its name imports, is liable to catch fire and burn. It has been found to be twelve times lighter than common air; it cannot be breathed; it is generated in mines, in coal pits, in subterraneous caverns, in burying-grounds, and places where dead animals are exposed to putrifaction. The white dittany, when in flower, generates so great a quantity of inflammable air, that the atmosphere around it has been observed to catch fire. In swamps, pools, and other stagnant waters, where a number of plants are putrifying, we find a species of inflammable air, which is known by the name of marsh-air, or most commonly is called ignis fatuus, or Jack with a lantern.... Willich.

If a

INFLAMMABLE EARTH, a kind of earth that will catch fire, and burn like a taper. In some parts of Persia the earth has this surprizing property, that by taking up two or three inches of the surface, and applying a live coal, the part which is uncovered immediately takes fire almost before the coal touches the earth; the flame makes the soil hot, but does not consume it, nor affect what is near it with any degree of heat. cane, or a tube of paper, be set about two inches in the ground, confined and closed with earth below, and the top of it touched with a live coal and blown upon, immediately a flame issues without hurting either the cane or paper, provided the edges be covered with clay; and this method they use for light in their houses, which have only the earth for floors. Three or four of these lighted canes will boil water in a pot, and thus they dress their victuals. Lime is burnt to great perfection by means of this inflammable earth; the lime-stones must be laid on one another, and in three days the lime is completed....Gent. Mag.

INK....INOCULATION....INQUISITION. 183

INK, a black liquor used in writing, generally made of an infusion of galls, copperas, and gum arabic. The ancients who lived before the invention of printing, were much more attentive to the making of ink, than the moderns; insomuch that manuscripts that were written from the fifth to the twelfth centuries, are much more plain and legible than the writings which have been preserved only two or three hundred years. It is of the utmost importance, that records, wills, and other valuable papers, which cannot be printed, should be written with ink of a durable quality. The ink of the ancients is thought to have been composed of ivory black....Encyclopædia.

INOCULATION, the transfering of distempers from one subject to another, particularly of the smallpox, and cow-pox. In the year 1721, Dr. Cotton Mather, one of the ministers of Boston, having observed in a volume of the Philosophical Transactions, printed in London, some communications from Constantinople and Smyrna, giving a favorable account of the practice of inoculation; he recommended to the physicians of his acquaintance, (as the small-pox was then beginning to spread in the town) to make trial of inoculation. They all declined it, excepting Dr. Boylston; who began with his own children and servants. But the degree of odium which he drew upon himself by this measure is scarcely credible; his house was attacked with so much violence, that he and his family did not consider themselves safe in it; he was assaulted in the streets, loaded. with every species of abuse, and execrated as a murderer. Benjamin Franklin, (since so celebrated) who was then an apprentice in the printing office of his brother at Boston, employed his opening talents in opposi tion to Boylston, and in favor of the deluded party...." Miller. See VACCINATION.

INQUISITION, a spiritual, or rather diabolical court in Roman Catholic countries, established for the trial and punishment of heretics. This court was founded in the twelfth century by father Dominic and his followers, who were sent by Pope Innocent III, to inquire into and extirpate heresy; hence they were called inquisit