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Indentures and assignments of apprentices are to be registered in books kept for that purpose by the registrar in London, and by the collector and comptroller at any other port; and masters neglecting to register indentures within 10 days after the binding or assignment, shall for every such offence forfeit 10. Masters permitting apprentices to quit their service or the service of the ships to which they belong, except for the purpose of entering H. M.'s service, shall, for every such offence, forfeit 201.-§ 42. See the act at length, art. SEAMEN.

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AQUA VITÆ (Ger. Aquavit; Fr. Eau de vie; It. Acqua vite; Sp. Agua de vida; Rus. Wodka; Lat. Aqua vite), a name familiarly applied to all native distilled spirits; equivalent to the eau de vie, or brandy, of the French, the whisky of the Scotch and Irish, the geneva of the Dutch, &c. In this way it is used in the excise laws relating to the distilleries.

ARANGOES, a species of beads made of rough carnelian. They are of various forms, as barrel, bell, round, &c., and all drilled. The barrel-shaped kind, cut from the best stones, are from two to three inches long, and should be chosen as clear as possible, whether red or white, having a good polish, and free from flaws. The bell-shaped are from one to two inches long, being in all respects inferior. Considerable quantities were formerly imported from Bombay, for re-exportation to Africa; but since the abolition of the slave trade, the imports and exports of Arangoes are comparatively trifling. — (Milburn's Orient. Com.)

ARCHANGEL, the principal commercial city of the north of Russia, in lat. 64° 32' 8" N., long. 40° 33′ E., on the right bank of the Dwina, about 35 English miles above where it falls into the White Sea. Pop. 24,500. The harbour is at the island of Sollenbole, about a mile from the town. The bar at the mouth of the Dwina has from 13 to 14 feet water; so that ships drawing more than this depth must be partially loaded outside the bar from lighters. The Dwina being a navigable river, traversing a great extent of country, and connected by canals with the Wolga on the one hand, and the Neva on the other, Archangel is a considerable entrepôt. It was discovered in 1554, by the famous Richard Chancellor, the companion of Sir Hugh Willoughby in his voyage of discovery; and from that period, down to the foundation of Petersburg, was the only port in the Russian empire accessible to foreigners. Though it has lost its ancient importance, it still enjoys a pretty extensive commerce. The principal articles of export are grain, tallow, flax, hemp, timber, linseed, iron, potash, mats, tar, &c. Deals from Archangel, and Onega in the vicinity of Archangel, are considered superior to those from the Baltic. Hemp not so good as at Riga, but proportionally cheaper. Tallow is also inferior. Iron same as at Petersburg, sometimes cheaper and sometimes dearer. The quality of the wheat exported from Archangel is about equal to that from Petersburg. The imports, which are not very extensive, con sist principally of sugar, coffee, spices, salt, woollens, hardware, &c.

Account of the Quantities and Values of the various Articles exported from Archangel in 1847, specifying the Quantities of each sent to the different Countries to which they were exported, with the total Value of the Exports to such Countries, and the aggregate Value of the Exports:

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The total value of the exports from Archangel, in 1841, was 2,873,733 silver rubles, and that of the imports, in the same year, only 258,589 do. The value of the flax exported, in 1841, was estimated at 851,863 silver rubles, and that of the linseed at 758,163 do. (Russian Official Returns.)

The trade of Archangel has latterly been declining. It is much influenced by the demand from the more southerly parts of Europe, and especially from England, for corn. When a brisk demand is anticipated, oats are brought in large quantities from the interior, sometimes even from a distance of 1,500 miles, in covered barks capable of holding several hundred quarters. But as there are few extensive mercantile establishments here, the supplies are scanty, except when a large demand is expected for some time previously to the season for bringing them down. —- (Òddy's European Commerce, and private information.)

Monies, Weights, and Measures, same as at Petersburg; which see.

ARGOL, ARGAL, OR TARTAR (Ger. Weinstein; Du. Wynsteen; Fr. Tartre; It. Sp. and Port. Tartaro; Rus. Winnui kamen; Lat. Tartarus), a hard crust formed on the sides of the vessels in which wine has been kept; it is red or white according to the colour of the wine, and is otherwise impure. On being purified, it is termed cream or crystals of tartar. It consists principally of bitartrate of potash. White argol is preferable to red, as containing less drossy or earthy matter. The marks of good argol

of either kind are, its being thick, brittle, hard, brilliant, and little earthy. That brought from Bologna is reckoned the best, and fetches the highest price. Argol is of considerable use among dyers, as serving to dispose the stuffs to take their colours the better. Pure argol, or cream of tartar, is extensively used in medicine. It has an acid and rather unpleasant taste. It is very brittle, and easily reduced to powder: specific gravity 1.95.

The duty on argol, which is 6d. per ewt., produced, in 1840, 5517., showing that 22,040 cwt. had been entered for consumption. The price of argol in the London market, a January, 1843, varied, Bologna, from 50s. 15 528. per cwt., Leghorn, 46s. to 48s. per ditto, Oporto, 28s. to 38s., Rhenish, 38s. to 40s.

ARISTOLOCHIA (Fr. Serpentaire; Ger. Schlangenwurzel; It. Serpentaria; Lat. Aristolochia serpentaria), the dried root of Virginia snake-root, or birthwort: it is small, light, and bushy, consisting of a number of fibres matted together, sprung from one common head, of a brownish colour on the outside, and pale or yellow within. It has an aromatic smell something like that of valerian, but more agreeable; and a warm, bitterish, pungent taste, very much resembling camphor.--(Ency. Metrop.) ARMS. See FIRE-ARMS.

ARRACK, OR RACK (Fr. Arac; Ger. Arrack, Rack; Du. Arak, Rak; It. Araco; Sp. Arak; Port. Araca; Rus. Arak), a spirituous liquor manufactured at different places in the East.

Arrack is a term applied in most parts of India, and the Indian islands, to designate every sort of spirituous liquor; a circumstance which accounts for the discrepancy in the statements as to the materials used in making it, and the mode of its manufacture. The arrack of Goa and Batavia is in high estimation; that of Columbo or Ceylon has been said to be inferior to the former; but this is doubtful. Goa and Columbo arrack is invariably made from the vegetable juice, toddy, which flows by incision from the cocoa-nut tree (Kocos nucifera). After the juice is fermented, it is distilled and rectified. It usually yields about an eighth part of pure spirit. Batavia or Java arrack is obtained by distillation from molasses and rice, with only a small admixture of toddy. When well prepared, arrack is clear and transparent; generally, however, it is slightly strawcoloured. Its flavour is peculiar; but it differs considerably, no doubt in consequence of the various articles of which it is prepared, and the unequal care taken in its manufacture. In England, arrack is seldom used except to give flavour to punch; formerly the imports were quite inconsiderable; but they have recently been a good deal greater, though, as they are mixed up in the official returns with rum from India, it is impossible to state their exact amount. The duty on rack from a British possession is 98. 4d. a gallon, and on that from a foreign country 228. 10d. per gallon. In the East its consumption is immense. It is issued to the soldiers in India as part of the established rations; and it is supplied, instead of rum, to the seamen of the royal navy employed in the Indian seas. It is one of the principal products of Ceylon. Its prime cost in that island varies from 8d. to 10d. a gallon; and large quantities are exported to India and elsewhere. It is sold in Ceylon by the legger of 150, and in Java by the legger of 160 gallons. In 1841 the exports from the latter amounted to 4,672 leggers, or 747,520 gallons, valued at 286,313 florins. Batavia arrack sold in bond in London in January, 1843, at from 1s. 6d. to 2s. per gallon.

Pariah-arrack is a phrase used to designate a spirit distilled in the peninsula of India, which is said to be often rendered unwholesome by an admixture of ganga (Cannabis sativa), and a species of Datura, in the view of increasing its intoxicating power. But it is not clear whether the term pariah-arrack be meant to imply that it is an inferior spirit, or an adulterated compound. This liquor is sometimes distilled from cocoa-nut toddy, and sometimes from a mixture of jaggery, water, and the barks of various trees.-(See Milburn's Orient. Com.; and Mr. Marshall's valuable Essay on the Cocoa Nut Tree, p. 18.)

ARROW-ROOT, the pith or starch of the root Maranta arundinacea. It has received its common name from its being supposed to be an antidote to the poisoned arrows of the Indians. The powder is prepared from roots of a year old. It is reckoned a very wholesome nutritious food: it is often adulterated, when in the shops, with the starch or flour of potatoes. It is a native of South America; but has been long intro

duced into the West Indies, where forms a pretty important article of cultivation. An excellent kind of arrow-root, if i may be so called, is now prepared in India from the root of the Curcuma angustifolia. The plant is abundant on the Malabar coast, where the powder is made in such quantities as to be a considerable object of trade. Some of it has been brought to England. The Maranta arundinacea has been carried from the West Indies to Ceylon, where it thrives extremely well, and where arrow-root of the finest quality has been manufactured from it.—(Ainslie's Mat. Indica.)

At an average of the years 1840 and 1841, the entries of arrow-root for home consumption amounted to 451,893 lbs. a year. The duty on arrow root from a British possession is 1s., and from a foreign country, 5s. a cwt. It was quoted in the London market, in Jan. 1843, at from 8d. to 1s. 6d. per. lb.

ARSENIC (Ger. Arsenik; Fr. Arsenic; It. and Sp. Arsenico; Rus. Müschjah ; Lat. Arsenicum). This metal has a bluish white colour not unlike that of steel, and a good deal of brilliancy. It has no sensible smell while cold, but when heated it emits a strong odour of garlic, which is very characteristic. It is the softest of all the metallic bodies, and so brittle that it may easily be reduced to a very fine powder by trituration in a mortar. Its specific gravity is 5·76. (Thomson's Chemistry.)

Metallic arsenic is not used in the arts, and is not, therefore, extracted from the ore, except for the purposes of experiment or curiosity. The arsenic of commerce is the white oxide, or arsenious acid of chemists. It is a white, brittle, compact substance, of a glassy appearance; is inodorous; has an acrid taste, leaving on the tongue a sweetish impression; and is highly corrosive. In its metallic state arsenic exerts no action on the animal system; but when oxidised, it is a most virulent poison. The arsenic of the shops is sometimes adulterated with white sand, chalk, or gypsum: the fraud may be detected by heating a small portion of the suspected powder; when the arsenic is dissipated, leaving the impurities, if there be any, behind. Though the most violent of all the mineral poisons, the white oxide of arsenic, or the arsenic of the shops, is yet, when judiciously administered, a medicine of great efficacy. It is also used for various purposes in the arts. It is principally imported from Saxony and Bohemia.-( Thomson's Chemistry; A. T. Thomson's Dispensatory.)

ASAFOETIDA (Ger. Teufelsdrech; Du. Duivelsdreck; Fr. Assa-fetida; Sp. Asafetida; Lat. asa-fatida; Per. Ungoozeh), a gum resin, consisting of the inspissated juice of a large umbelliferous plant, the Ferula asafoetida. It is produced in the southern provinces of Persia, and in the territory of Sinde, or country lying at the mouth of the Indus.

It is exported from the Persian gulf to Bombay and Calcutta, whence it is sent to Europe. It has a nauseous, somewhat bitter, biting taste, and an excessively strong, foetid, alliaceous smell: the newer it is, it possesses its smell and other peculiar properties in the greater perfection. It is imported, packed in Irregular masses, in mats, casks, and cases; the last being, in general, the best. It should be chosen clean, fresh, strong-scented, of a pale reddish colour, variegated with a number of fine, white tears: when broken, it should somewhat resemble marble in appearance; and, after being exposed to the air, should turn of a violet red colour. That which is soft, black, and foul, should be rejected. The packages should be carefully examined, and ought to be tight, to prevent the smell from injuring any other article. Neither the imports nor the quantities cleared for consumption are considerable, though the latter are probably greater than might have been expected, amounting to about 9,000 lbs. a year. The duty is 1s. a cwt. In this country, it is used only in the materia medica. In France, it is used both in that way, and, to some extent, also as a condiment. It is worth, in bond, in the London market, from 25s. to 51. per cwt. (Milburn's Orient. Com.; Parl. Papers; and private information.)

ASH (COMMON), the Fraxinus excelsior of botanists, a forest tree of which there are many varieties. It is abundant in England, and is of the greatest utility.

The ash is of very rapid growth; and, unlike most other trees, its value is rather increased than diminished by this circumstance. Like the chestnut, the wood of young trees is most esteemed. It grows on a great variety of soils, but is best where the growth has been most vigorous. It is inferior to the oak in stiffness, and is more easily split; but in toughness and elasticity it is far superior to the oak, or to any other species of timber. Hence its universal employment in all those parts of machinery which have to sustain sudden shocks, such as the circumference, teeth, and spokes of wheels, ship-blocks, &c., and in the manufacture of agricultural implements; in the latter, indeed, it is almost exclusively made use of. The want of prolonged durability is its greatest defect; and it is too flexible to be employed in building. The wood of old trees is of a dark brown colour, sometimes beautifully figured; the wood of young trees is brownish white, with a shade of green. The texture is alternately compact and porous: where the growth has been vigorous, the compact part of the several layers bears a greater proportion to the spongy, and the timber is comparatively tough, elastic, and durable. It has neither taste nor smell; and, when young, is difficult to work. The mountain ash (Pyrus aucuparia) is quite a different tree from the cominon ash, and its timber is far less valuable.- (Tredgold's Principles of Carpentry; Timber Trees and Fruits, in Lib. of Entertaining Knowledge, &c.)

ASHES (Fr. Vedasse; Ger. Waidasche; Du. Weedas; Da. Veedaske; It. Feccia bruciata; Sp. Alumbre de hez; Rus. Weidasch; Lat. Cineres infectorii), the residuum, or earthy part, of any substance after it has been burnt. In commerce, the term is applied

to the ashes of vegetable substances; from which are extracted the alkaline salts called potash, pearlash, barilla, kelp, &c.; which see.

ASPHALTUM. See BITUMEN.

ASSETS, in commerce, a term used to designate the stock in trade, and the entire property of all sorts, belonging to a merchant or to a trading association. It is also applied to goods or property placed, for the discharge of some particular trust or obligation, in the hands of executors, assignees, &c.

ASSIENTO, a Spanish word signifying a contract. In commercial history, it means the contract or agreement by which the Spanish government ceded first to a company of French, and afterwards (by the treaty of Utrecht) to a company of English merchants, the right to import, under certain conditions, a specified number of slaves into the

Spanish colonies.-(For full particulars with respect to this contract see Mr. Bandinel's valuable work on the Slave Trade.)

ASSIGNEE, a person appointed by competent authority to do, act, or transact some business, or exercise some particular privilege or power, for or on account of some specified individual or individuals.

Assignees may be created by deed, or by law: by deed, where the lessee of a farm assigns the same to another; by law, where the law makes an assignee, without any appointment of the person entitled, as an executor is assignee in law to the testator, and an administrator to an intestate. The term is most commonly applied to the official assignees appointed to manage bankrupt estates. (See BANKRUPT.)

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AUCTION, a public sale of goods to the highest bidder. Auctions are generally notified by advertisement, and are held in some open place. The biddings may be made either by parties present, or by the auctioneer under authority given to him; the sale is usually terminated by the fall of a hammer.

The duties on property sold by auction were repealed in the course of the present year, (1845), We observed upon them in our Treatise on Taxation, as follows:"The auction duties, which were first imposed in 1777, consist of duties proportioned to its value, charged on certain descriptions of property when sold by auction. They amount to 7d. per pound sterling on the value of estates, houses, annuities, shares in public companies, ships, funds, and some other articles; and to 1s. per pound on the value of household furniture, books, horses, carriages, and all other goods and chattels. The exemptions are, however, very numerous, comprising various descriptions of movable property, with all sorts of property sold by order of the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer, or for behoof of creditors, or under distress for rent, &c. These duties were strongly, and, we think, justly objected to by the Commissioners of Excise Inquiry. As it is admitted on all hands that the exposure of property to sale by auction affords the readiest means of ascertaining its value, it seems unreasonable, by imposing duties on auctions, to prevent resort being had to them in the disposal of property. Certainly, however, the duties materially lessen the number of auctions; and very many, perhaps we might say the greater number, of the estates put up to auction, are merely exposed in the view of ascertaining their value; being, to avoid the duty bought in by the exposers, and then sold by private bargain. But it is not easy to see why, if a duty is to be laid on the transfer of fixed property, it should not be made to press equally on it whatever be the mode of its transfer, or why it should be made to fall heaviest on what has been transferred by auction. We, therefore, are inclined to approve of the suggestion made to the Commissioners of Excise Inquiry, and sanctioned by them, for commuting the duties on the sale of estates and other fixed property by auction for a small ad valorem duty upon all transfers of such property conveyed by deed or written instrument, without regard to the mode in which the transfer has been brought about. And were such commutation effected, the duty on sales of other property might be advantageously relinquished; for, while it is of no great importance to the revenue, it presses, from the number of exemptions, severely and unjustly on certain individuals."-(p. 240.)

The commutation suggested above was not, however, adopted, the duty being unconditionally repealed by the act 8 Vict. c. 15.

AUCTIONEER, a person who conducts sales by auction. It is his duty to state the conditions of sale, to declare the respective biddings, and to terminate the sale by knocking down the thing sold to the highest bidder. An auctioneer is held to be law fully authorised by the purchaser to sign a contract for him, whether it be for lands or goods. And his writing down the name of the highest bidder in his book is sufficient to bind any other person for whom the highest bidder purchased, even though such person be present, provided he do not object before entry. The following provisions with respect to auctioneers are embodied in the 8 Vict. c. 15.

Every auctioneer must take out a licence (renewable annually on the 5th of July), for which he is to be charged 102.

The statute then goes on to enact:

Auction Licence not necessary in certain Cases. It shall not be necessary for any person selling any goods or chattels by auction in any of the cases herein-after mentioned to take out the licence by this act required, viz. any person selling any goods or chattels by auction under a distress for nonpayment of rent or tithes to less amount than 20.; or under authority of the act 6 Geo. 4. c. 48., "For the Recovery of Small Debts in Scotland;" or under authority of the act 6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 75., intituled "An Act to extend the Jurisdiction and regulate the Proceedings of the Civil Bill Courts in Ireland," and the act 7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 43., intituled "An Act to amend the Laws for the Recovery of Small Debts by Civil Bill in Ireland;" or under authority of the act 7 Will. 4. & 1 Vict. c. 41., intituled "An Act for the more effectual Recovery of Small Debts in the Sheriff Courts, and for regulating the Establishment of Circuit Courts for the Trial of Small Debt Causes by the Sheriffs in Scotland;" or under authority of any other act or acts of parliament now in force in which the like exemption as by the act specified is given to the proper officer of court executing the process of such court to sell the effects seized by him by auction, without taking out or having any licence as an auctioneer, provided the sum for which such process is enforced is under 204. - § 5. E

6 Geo. 4. c. 81. s.8. repealed, and 1 Excise Licence to be sufficient. - So much of the act 6 Geo. 4. c. 81. as enacts" that every person exercising or carrying on the trade or business of an auctioneer, or selling any goods or chattels, lands, tenements, or hereditaments by auction, shall, over and above any licence to him or her granted as an auctioneer, take out such licence as is required by law to deal in or retail, or to vend, trade in, or sell, any goods or commodities, for the dealing in or retailing or vending, trading in or selling of which an excise licence is specially required, before he or she shall be permitted or authorized to sell such goods or commodities by auction; and if any such person shall sell any such goods or commodities as aforesaid by auction without having taken out such licence as aforesaid for that purpose, he or she shall be subject and liable to the penalty in that behalf imposed upon persons dealing in or retailing, vending, trading, or selling any such goods or commodities without licence, notwithstanding any licence to him or her before granted as aforesaid for the purpose of exercising or carrying on the trade or business of an auctioneer, or selling any goods or chattels, lands, tenements, or hereditaments by auction, any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding," together with the proviso thereto attached, and so much of any other act or acts of parliament by which it is required that a scparate and distinct icence shall be taken out by any auctioneer selling by auction gold or silver plate or patent medicines, or any other articles, are hereby repealed; and any auctioneer having at the time in force a licence on which the duty under the provisions of this act has been paid may sell by auction any such property, goods, or commodities, without taking out any other licence in such respect, any other act or acts to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. § 6.

Clause 7. orders that every auctioneer, before he shall commence any sale, shall suspend or affix a ticket or board containing his full Christian name and surname and place of residence in large letters to some conspicuous part of the room or place where the auction is held, under a penalty of 201.

Clause & enacts that every person acting as auctioneer shall produce his licence, or make a deposit of 104, on pain of 1 month's imprisonment, on the demand at the time of any sale by auction of any officer of excise, customs, or stamps and taxes.

An auctioneer who declines to disclose the name of his principal at the time of sale makes himself responsible. But if he disclose the name of his principal, he ceases to be responsible, either for the soundness of or title to the thing sold, unless he have expressly warranted it on his own responsibility.

If an auctioneer pay over the produce of a sale to his employer, after receiving notice that the goods were not the property of such employer, the real owner of the goods may recover the amount from the auctioneer.

It has long been a common practice at certain auctions (called for that reason mock auctions) to employ puffers, or mock bidders, to raise the value of the articles sold by their apparent competition, and many questions have grown out of it. It was long ago decided, that if the owner of an estate put up to sale by auction employ puffers to bid for him, it is a fraud on the real bidder, and the highest bidder cannot be compelled to complete his contract.-(6 T. Rep. p. 642.) But it would seem as if the mere employment of puffers under any circumstances were now held to be illegal. "The inclination of the courts at the present time is, that a sale by auction should be conducted in the most open and public manner possible; that there should be no reserve on the part of the seller, and no collusion on the part of the buyers. Puffing is illegal, according to a late case, even though there be only one puffer; and it was then decided that the recognised practice at auctions, of employing such persons to bid upon the sale of horses, could not be sustained."— (Woolrych on Commercial Law, p. 262.)

A party bidding at an auction may retract his offer at any time before the hammer is down. Another clearly established principle is, that verbal declarations by an auctioneer are not to be suffered to control the printed conditions of sale; and these, when pasted up under the box of the auctioneer, are held to be sufficiently notified to purchasers.

Auctioneers, like all other agents, should carefully observe their instructions. Should those who employ them sustain any damage through their carelessness or inattention, they will be responsible. They must also answer for the consequences, if they sell the property intrusted to their care for less than the price set upon it by the owners, or in a way contrary to order.

An auctioneer who has duly paid the licence duty is not liable, in the city of London, to the penalties for acting as a broker without being admitted agreeably to the 6 Anne, c. 16. The establishment of mock auctions is a common practice among swindlers in London. Persons are frequently placed at the doors of such auctions, denominated barkers, to invite strangers to come in; and puffers are in wait to bid up the article much beyond its value. A stranger making an offer at such an auction is almost sure to have the article knocked down to him. Plated goods are often disposed of at these auctions; but it is almost needless to add, that they are of very inferior quality. Attempts have sometimes been made to suppress mock auctions, but hitherto without much success. (For an account of the produce of the late duties on auctions, see head of next page.)

AVERAGE, a term used in commerce and navigation to signify a contribution made by the individuals, when they happen to be more than one, to whom a ship, or the goods on board it, belong, or by whom it or they are insured; in order that no particular individual or individuals amongst them, who may have been forced to make a sacrifice for the preservation of the ship or cargo, or both, should lose more than others. "Thus," says Mr Serjeant Marshall, "where the goods of a particular merchant are thrown overboard in a storm to save the ship from sinking; or where the masts, cables, anchors, or other furniture of the ship, are cut away or destroyed for the

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