AUGUST  D'OR.  A  gold  coin  of  Saxony,  double,  single,
and  half,  reckoned  at  10,  5,  and  2^  rix-dollars  ;  the  august
of  1754  being  equal  to  16s.  2d.,  that  of  1784  to  \Qs.  3fc?.;
named  after  August,  Elector  of  Saxony,  who  succeeded  his
brother  Maurice  in  1553  ;  or  August  Frederick,  the  name  of
two  subsequent  electors.
AUGUSTINE.  The  name  of  a  French  pear,  doubtless  so
called  after  St.  Augustine  ;  whence,  perhaps,  the  pear  named
St.  Austin.
AUTUNITE.  A  mineral  found  in  crystals,  massive,  and  in-
vesting other  minerals,  in  granite  at  St.  Symphorien,  near
Autun,  and  at  St.  Yrieux,  not  far  from  Limoges,  in  France.
AUVERNAT.     A  wine  from  Auvergne,  in  France.
AVELLANA,  or  Nux  Pontica ;  filbert.  A  sort  of  nut,  so
called  from  Avellanum,  a  town  of  Campania,  where  they
abounded.
AVELLANE.  In  heraldry,  a  cross,  the  quarters  of  which
resemble  a  filbert  nut.     See  Avellana.
AVERNAT.  A  sort  of  grape  {Johnson)  ;  Yiroperlj  Auvernat,
from  Auvergne,  in  France.
AVERRHOA.  A  genus  of  plants,  nat.  or.  Oxalidacece,
called  after  Averrhoes,  a  physician  of  Cordova,  in  Spain.
AVERROIST.  One  of  a  sect  of  Peripatetic  philosophers
who  appeared  in  Italy  before  the  restoration  of  learning  ;  so
denominated  from  Averroes,  a  celebrated  Arabian  author.
AVICENNIA.  A  genus  of  plants,  nat.  or.  Myojioracece,
called  after  Avicenna,  a  Persian  philosopher  and  physician.
AZORITE.  A  mineral,  according  to  A.  A.  Hayes  con-
sisting of  niobite  of  lime  ;  from  the  Azores.
VERBA    NOMINAI.IA.  13


B.
BABEL.  Confusion,  disorder  {Beaumont);  from  the  confu-
sion at  the  Tower  of  Babel ;  a  name  which  has  been  ridicu-
lously derived  from  the  Hebrew  l^lbn  bilbll,  confusion,  from
balal,  to  mix  or  confuse  ;  but  which  is  more  reasonably  from
(J-u^  bdb-bel,  the  gate  or  court,  i.  e.  the  city,  of  Bel  or  Belus.
