ting the study and culture of the art of music.

_Action brought by the Commonwealth_, a prosecution conducted in the
name of the public, or by the authority of the State.

_Alcoholic_, made of, or containing, alcohol, an inflammable liquid,
which is the basis of ardent spirits.

_Alkali_, (plural _alkalies_,) a chemical substance, which has the
property of combining with, and neutralizing the properties of, acids,
producing salts by the combination. Alkalies change most of the
vegetable blues and purples to green, red to purple, and yellow to
brown. _Caustic alkali_, an alkali deprived of all impurities, being
thereby rendered more caustic and violent in its operation. This term is
usually applied to pure potash. _Fixed alkali_, an alkali that emits no
characteristic smell, and cannot be volatilized or evaporated without
great difficulty. Potash and soda are called the fixed alkalies. Soda is
also called a _fossil_, or _mineral_, _alkali_, and potash, the
_vegetable alkali_. _Volatile alkali_, an elastic, transparent,
colorless, and consequently invisible gas, known by the name of ammonia,
or ammoniacal gas. The odor of spirits of hartshorn is caused by this
gas.

_Anglo-American_, English-American, relating to Americans descended from
English ancestors.

_Anne, Queen_, a Queen of England, who reigned from A. D. 1702, to 1714.
She was the daughter of James II., and succeeded to the throne on the
death of William III. She died, August 1, 1714, in the fiftieth year of
her age. She was not a woman of very great intellect; but was deservedly
popular, throughout her reign, being a model of conjugal and maternal
duty, and always intending to do good. She was honored with the title of
'Good Queen Anne', which showed the opinion entertained of her virtues
by the people.

_Anotta_, _Annotto_, _Arnotta_, or _Rocou_, a soft, brownish-red
substance, prepared from the reddish pulp surrounding the seeds of a
tree, which grows in the West Indies, Guiana, and other parts of South
America, called the _Bixa orellana_. It is used as a dye.

_Anther_, that part of the stamen of a flower which contains the pollen
or farina, a sort of mealy powder or dust, which is necessary to the
production of the flower.

_Anthracite_, one of the most valuable kinds of mineral coal, containing
no bitumen. It is very abundant in the United States.

_Aperient_, opening.

_Apple-corer_, an instrument lately invented for the purpose of
divesting