ZECHARIAH, a canonical book of the Old Testament. See SCRIPTURE. ZECHARIAH, the son of Jehoiadah, a prophet of the blood royal, who was stoned to death by order of his ungrateful cousin, king Joash, in the court of the temple, for reproving him for his idolatry. 2 Chron. The name of the letter z. ZECHARIAH, the son of Barachiah, a prophet in the reign of Uzziah, whom he encouraged in well doing, but opposed when he attempted to encroach on the priest's office. 2. Chron. xxvi. 5. It is not ascertained which of these two last is the Zecharias mentioned as the last of the martyrs, in Matt. xxiii. 36, and Luke xi. 50, 51. ZECHIN. See SEQUIN. ZED, n. s. Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter. Shakspeare. ZEDEKIAH, from Heb. p and , i. e. the Justice of the Lord, the son of Josiah, and the last king of Judah before the captivity, so named by Nebuchadnezzar, who made him king, upon carrying his nephew Jecomah captive. But rebelling eleven years afterwards, the king of Babylon put out his eyes, killed his sons, and sent him in chains to Babylon, where he died. See JUDAH. ZEDEKIAH, two false prophets of Israel, under Ahab. 1 Kings xxiii. ZEDOARY, in botany and materia medica. See KAMPEERIA and MATERIA MEDICA. ZEINE. The zeine of John Gorham is obtained from maize or Indian corn, by infusing it in water, filtering and treating with alcohol the matter insoluble in the former liquid, and evaporating the alcoholic solution. We thus obtain a yellow substance having the appearance of wax; it is soft, ductile, tough, elastic, insipid, nearly void of smell, and denser than water. It affords no ammonia on decomposition by heat; though it ap proaches in its nature to gluten. ZELD, or CFLLE, a city of Germany, in Hanover, at the confluence of the Fuhse and Aller. It is surrounded with a mound and moat, but has suburbs on the outside; and the palace belonging to the royal family is surrounded by a separate wall and ditch. It has several charitable institutions, an orphan house, a lunatic hospital, a poor-house; also a school of surgery, and a society of agriculture. It is, however, best known by its court of appeal for the Hanoverian territory at large. The town is tolerably built, and has some trade; and the inhabitants, who are chiefly Lutherans, are in number about 8200. Zell was formerly the capital of a duchy belonging to a distinct branch of the house of Brunswick on the extinction of this branch, in 1705, their possessions devolved to the elector. The ducal palace was the residence of the unfortunate Caroline Matilda, queen of Denmark, from 1772 till her death in 1775; and a monument of Saxon marble is erected to her memory in the garden. Twenty-one miles N. N. E. of Hanover, and sixty-five south of Hamburg. ZELŐTTI (John Baptist), an eminent painter, born at Verona, in 1532, and educated under Titian. He died in 1592. ZEMARAIM, a city of the Benjamites, near Bethel, and a mountain so named at the foot of which Abijah defeated Jeroboam I., and 500,000 Israelites were killed. 2 Chron. xiii. 7. ZEMARITES, the descendants of Canaan, by his tenth son. They peopled Snyra in Phoenicia, near Orthosia. ZEMINDAR, in its original meaning, signifies a great landholder of Bengal: but is more strictly applicable to those who have their title constituted or confirmed by a patent or charter from government, by which they hold their lands or zemindaries upon certain conditions. It appears from history, that, in times prior to the irruption of the Mahometans, the rajahs who held their residence at Delhy, and possessed the sovereignty of Hindostan, deputed officers to collect their revenues. The word zemindar is Persian, and that language can have no currency in the countries of India, until it was introduced by the people of Persia. When the emperor Shebba-ul-Dien Chory conquered the empire of Hindostan at the end of the twelfth century, he left sultan Cutub-ul-Dien to be his viceroy at Delhy, and administer the government of Hindostan. From that time the customs and practices of the Mahometans began gradually to be established in India: their armies were sent into the countries of the reduced rajahs, under the command of omrahs, in order to preserve the conquest; and lands were allotted to them to defray the expense. ZENAS, a lawyer, who was an early Christian convert and companion of St. Paul. Tit. iii. 13. ZEND, or ZENDAVESTA, a book ascribed to Zoroaster, and containing his pretended revelations; which the ancient magicians and modern Persians, called also Gaurs, observe and reverence in the same manner as the Christians do the Bible, and the Mahometans do the Koran, making it the sole rule both of their faith and manners. The word, it is said, originally signifies any instrument used for kindling fire, and is applied to this book to denote its aptitude for kindling the flame of religion in the hearts of those who read it. See GENTOOS, MYTHOLOGY, and PHILOLOGY. The Zend contains a reformed system of magianism; teaching that there is a supreme Being, eternal, self-existent, and independent, who created both light and darkness, out of which he made all other things; that these are in a state of conflict, which will continue till the end of the world; and then there shall be a general resurrection and judgment; and that just retribution shall be rendered unto men according to their works; that the angel of darkness with his followers shall be consigned to a place of everlasting darkness and punishment, and the angel of light with his disciples introduced into a state of everlasting light and happiness; after which light and darkness shall no more interfere with each other. The Zend also enjoys the constant maintenance of sacred fires and fire temples for religious worship; the distinction of clean and unclean beasts; the payment of tithes to priests, which are to be of one family or tribe; a multitude of washings and purifications, resembling those of the Jewish law; and a variety of rules and exhortations for the exercise of benevolence and charity. In this book there are many passages evidently taken out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, particularly out of the Psalms of David. The author represents Adam and Eve as the first parents of all mankind, gives in substance the same account of the creation and deluge with Moses, differing indeed with regard to the former, by converting the six days of the Mosaic account into six times, comprehending in the whole 365 days; and speaks also of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Solomon. Moreover, Dr. Baumgarten asserts, that this work contains doctrines, opinions, and facts, actually borrowed from the Jews, Christians, and Mahometans; whence, and from other circumstances, he concludes that both the history and writings of this prophet were probably invented in the later ages, when the fire worshippers, under the Mahometan government, thought fit to vindicate their religion from the suspicion of idolatry. At whatever period the Zend may have been written, we are assured by Dr. Hyde that it is in the pure old Persian language, and in the character called Peplavi. Some parts of it contain the original text, and others Zoroaster's second thoughts subjoined, for explaining more fully his doctrine. These were occasioned by the opposition of adversaries, and unforeseen circumstances which occurred during the fabrication of the imposture. About 300 years ago, when the old Persian language had become antiquated and little understood, one of the destours or high-priests among the Persees composed the Sadda, which is a compendium, in the vulgar or modern Persic tongue, of those parts of the Zend that relate to religion, or a kind of code of canons and precepts, drawn from the theological writings of Zoroaster, serving as an authoritative rule of faith and practice of his followers. The Sadda is written in a low kind of Persic verse, and, as Dr. Hyde informs us, it is bonorum et malorum farrago, having made many good and pious things, and others very superstitious and trifling. See PER SEES and ZOROASTER. ZENDICISM. See SARACENS. ZENETI. See ALGERINES and ALGIERS. with such men. Crates, the Cynic philosopher, happening at that instant to be passing by, the bookseller pointed to him, and said, 'Follow that man.' Zeno attended upon the instructions of Crates, and was so well pleased with his doctrine that he became one of his disciples. But, though he admired the general principles of the Cynic school, he could not easily reconcile himself to their peculiar manners. Besides, his inquisitive turn of mind would not allow him to adopt that indifference to every scientific enquiry which was one of the characteristic distinctions of the sect. He therefore attended upon other masters, who professed to instruct their disciples in the nature and causes of things. When Crates, displeased at his following other philosophers, attempted to drag him by force out of the school of Stilpo, Zeno said to him, You may seize my body, but Stilpo has laid hold of my mind.' After continuing to attend upon the lectures of Stilpo several years, he passed over to other schools, particularly to those of Xenocrates and Diodorus Cronus. By the latter he was instructed in dialectics. He was so much delighted with this branch of study, that he presented to his master a large pecuniary gratuity, in return for his free communication of some of his ingenious subtleties. At last, after attending almost every other master, he offered himself as a disciple of Polemo. This philosopher appears to have been aware that Zeno's intention, in thus removing from one school to another, was to collect materials from various quarters for a new system of his own; for, when he came into Polemo's ZENITH, n. s. Arabic. The point over head school, he said to him, I am no stranger, Zeno, opposite to the nadir. ZENITH SECTOR. See ASTRONOMY, Index. ZENO, the founder of the sect of the Stoics, was born about 300 years B. C. at Citium in Cyprus. This place having been originally peopled by a colony of Phoenicians, Zeno is sometimes called a Phoenician. His father was by profession a merchant, but, discovering in his son a strong propensity to learning, he early devoted him to philosophy. In his mercantile capacity he had frequent occasion to visit Athens, where he purchased for his son several of the writings of the most eminent Socratic philosophers. These he read with great avidity; and, when he was about thirty years of age, he determined to take a voyage to a city which was so celebrated both as a mart of trade and of science. If it be true, as some writers relate, that he brought with him a valuable cargo of Phoenician purple, which was lost by shipwreck upon the coast of Piræus, this circumstance will account for the facility with which he at first attached himself to a sect whose leading principle was the contempt of riches. Upon his first arrival in Athens, going accidentally into the shop of a bookseller, he took up a volume of the Commentaries of Xenophon; and after reading a few passages, was so much delighted with the work, and formed so high an idea of the author, that he asked the bookseller where he might meet to your Phoenician arts, I perceive that your design is to creep slily into my garden, and steal away my fruit.' Polemo was not mistaken in his opinion. Having made himself master of the tenets of others, Zeno determined to become the founder of a new sect. The place which he made choice of for his school was a public portico, adorned with the pictures of Polygnotus, and other eminent painters. It was the most famous portico in Athens, and called, by way of eminence, Eroa, the porch. It was from this circumstance that the followers of Zeno were called Stoics. See STOICS. In his person Zeno was tall and slender; his aspect was severe, and his brow contracted. His constitution was feeble, but he preserved his health by great abstemiousness. The supplies of his table consisted of figs, bread, and honey; notwithstanding which, he was frequently honored with the company of great men. In public company, to avoid every appearance of an assuming temper, he commonly took the lowest place. Indeed so great was his modesty, that he seldom chose to mingle with a crowd, or wished for the company of more than two or three friends at once. He paid more attention to neatness and decorum in external appearance than the Cynic philosophers. In his dress indeed he was plain, and in all his expenses frugal; but this is not to be imputed to avarice, but a contempt of external magnificence. He showed as much respect to the poor as to the rich; and conversed freely with persons of the meanest occupations. He had only one servant, or, according to Seneca, none. Zeno lived to the extreme age of ninety-eight; and at last, in consequence of an accident, voluntarily put an end to his life. As he was walking out of his school he fell down, and in the fall broke one of his fingers; upon which he was so affected with a consciousness i. Fibrous zeolite, of which there are two kinds; of infirmity, that, striking the earth, he said, Why the acicular or needle zeolite, and common fibrous am I thus importuned? I obey thy summons: s;' zeolite. and immediately went home and strangled himself. He died in the first year of the 129th Olympiad. The Athenians, at the request of Antigonus, erected a monument to his memory in the Ceramicum. ZENO, a celebrated Epicurean philosopher, born at Sidon, who had Cicero and Pomponius Atticus for his disciples, and who wrote a book against the mathematics, which, as well as that of Possulonius's refutation of it, is lost. ZENO ELLATES, an eminent Grecian philosopher, was born at Elea about 504 years B. C. He was a zealous friend of civil liberty, and is celebrated for his courageous and successful opposition to tyrants; but the inconsistency of the stories related by different writers concerning him in a great measure destroys their credit. He chose to reside in his small native city of Elea rather than at Athens, because it afforded freer scope to his independent and generous spirit, which could not easily submit to the restraints of authority. It is related that he vindicated the warmth with which he resented reproach, by saying, 'If I were indifferent to censure, I should also be indifferent to praise.' The invention of the dialectic art has been improperly ascribed to Zeno: but there can be no doubt that this philosopher, and other metaphysical disputants in the eleatic sect, employed much ingenuity and subtlety in exhibiting examples of most of the logical arts, which were afterwards reduced to rule by Aristotle and others. According to Aristotle, he taught, that nothing can be produced either from that which is similar or dissimilar; that there is only one being, God; who is eternal, homogeneous and spherical, neither finite nor infinite, neither quiescent nor moveable; that there are many worlds; that there is in nature no vacuum; that all bodies are composed of four elements, heat and moisture, cold and dryness; and that the body of man is from the earth, and his soul an equal mixture of these four elements. He argued with great subtlety against the possibility of motion. If Seneca's account of this philosopher deserves credit, he reached the highest point of scepticism, and denied the real existence of external objects. The truth is, that, after all that has been advanced by different writers, it is impossible to determine whether Zeno understood the term one, metaphysically, logically, or physically; or whether he admitted or denied a nature properly divine. ZENOBIA, queen of Palmyra. See PALMYRA. ZENOBI INSULE, islands in the Adriatic. ZENODOTUS, a native of Troezene; who wrote a history of Umbria. Diod. ZEOLITE, in mineralogy, the name of a very extensive mineral genus, containing the following species :-1. Dodecahedral zeolite or leucite; 2. Hexahedral zeolite or analcime; 3. Rhomboidal zeolite, chabasite, or chabasie; 4. Pyramidal zoolite, or cross-stone; 5. Diprismatic zeolite, or laumonite; 6. Prismatic zeolite, or mesotype, divided into three sub-species,-fibrous zeolite, natrolite, and mealy zeolite; 7. Prismatoidal zeolite, or stilbite, comprehending foliated zeolite, and radiated zo lite; 8. Axifrangible zeolite, or apophyllite. The following may be more distinctly specified. (6.) Prismatic zeolite or mesotype. (a.) Acicular, or needle zeolite, the mesotype of Hauy. Colors grayish, yellowish, or reddishwhite. Massive, in distinct concretions, and crystallised. Primitive form, a prism of 91° 25′. The following are secondary figures :-An acicular rectangular four-sided prism, very flatly acuminated with four planes, set on the lateral planes; sometimes two of the acuminating planes disappear, when there is formed an acute bevelment, or the prism is sometimes truncated on the edges. Lateral planes longitudinally streaked. Shining, inclining to pearly. Cleavage two-fold. Fracture small-grained, uneven. Fragments splintery. Translucent. Refracts double. As hard as apatite. Brittle. Specific gravity 20 to 2.3. intumesces before the blowpipe, and forms a jelly with acids. It becomes elastic by heating, and retains this property some time after it has cooled. The free extremity of the crystal with the acumination, shows positive, the attached end, negative electricity. Its constituents are silica 50-24, alumina 29-3, lime 9:46, water 10.-Vauquelin. It occurs in secondary trap-rocks, as in basalt, green stone, and amygdaloid. It is found near the village of Old Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire; in Ayrshire and Perthshire, always in trap rocks; in Iceland and in the Faroe Islands. It (b.) Common fibrous zeolite. Color white. Massive, in distinct concretions, and in capillary crystals. Glimmering, pearly. Fragments splintery. Faintly translucent. Hardness as before. Rather brittle. Specific gravity 2:16 to 22. Chemical characters and situations as above. Its constituents are, silica 49, alumina 27, soda 17, water 9-5.Smithson. ii. Mealy zeolite.-Color white, of various shades. Massive, imitative, in a crust, or in delicate fibrous concretions. Feebly glimmering. Fracture coarse earthy. Opaque. The mass is soft, but the minute parts as hard as the preceding. Sectile. Most easily frangible. Does not adhere to the tongue. Feels meagre. Sometimes so light as nearly to float on water. It intumesces, and gelatinizes as the preceding. Its constituents are, silica 60, alumina 156, lime 8, oxide of iron 18, loss by exposure to heat 116.-Hisinger. It occurs like the others. It is found near Tantallon Castle, in East Lothian, and in the islands of Skye, Mull, and Canna. (7.) Prismatoidal zeolite, or stilbite. Of this there are two sub-species; the foliated and radiated. i. Foliated zeolite, the stilbite of Hany. Color white, of various shades. Massive, disseminated, imitative, in distinct granular concretions, and crystallised. Primitive form, a prism of 99° 22′. Secondary forms are, a low, oblique, four-sided prism, variously truncated; a low equiangular sixsided prism; and an eight-sided prism, from truncation of all the edges of the four-sided prism. Lateral planes transversely streaked. Shining, pearly. Cleavage single. Fracture conchoidal. Translucent. Refracts single. As hard as qu!careous spar. Brittle. Specific gravity 2 to 2.2. It intumesces and phosphoresces before the blowpipe, but does not form a jelly with acids. constituents are, silica 52-6, alumina 17:5, lime 9. water 18-5-Vauquelin. It occurs principally in secondary amygdaloid, either in drusy cavities or Its |