EXCITATION OF ELECTRICITY. houses, or places for tea, coffee, &c. But private houses can only be searched upon oath of the suspicion before a commissioner or justice of peace, who can by their warrant authorise a search. The office of excise has also several excellent regulations for procuring the due attention and good conduct of their officers. EXCITATION of electricity. When a non-conductor of electricity is brought into an electrified state by any other means than that of direct communication with some other electrified body, it is said to be excited; and this term is also applied to denote the like production of an electric state, even in bodies which conduct. The processes by which excitation is performed are very imperfectly understood. It is probable that they will all be hereafter found to consist in the same act; and that this will principally be governed by changes in the combination, and perhaps the temperature of bodies. 1. The electric state is produced in various bodies by heating or cooling, particularly in the tourmalin. Sulphur, chocolate, and various other substances become electrified upon congealing or becoming solid after fusion; and it is probable that this phænomenon would be found to be universal, if proper means were adopted for ascertaining the electric states. Calomel, when it fixes by sublimation against the upper surface of a glass vessel, frequently breaks through by an electric explosion. The glacial phosphoric acid was observed by Chaptal to emit strong electric sparks, while congealing. Water and other fluids become electric by evaporation. And the chemical changes of bodies have been shewn in numerous galvanic experiments, to be attended with corresponding changes of electricity. See GALVANISM. 2. The mechanical action of bodies upon each other produce clectrical effects. If two metals or other conductors be brought into contact, and separated, or if they be pressed or rubbed together, electric signs are produced; and the same consequences follow, if one or both the bodies be nonconductors: but the electricity is more manifest where the non-conducting property prevails. When non-conductors are broken or torn asunder, the surfaces which were before in contact are found to be in opposite electric states; and this difference is so considerable in Muscovy tale, that bright sparks pass between them. From these facts, there is ground to suspect, that the op posite electric states prevail amongst the parts of bodies, and may perhaps be in some manner concerned in the general attraction they exert upon each other. 3. The electricity in our common machines is produced by the friction of a conducting body against a non-conductor. See MACHINE, electric. The non-conductor may be a tube, a globe, a cylinder, or a plate of glass, and the conducting rubber is usually a cushion upon which a mixture of the amalgam of zine, with a little tallow has been smeared. It is found to be a condition, that atmospheric air should be present; and if the electricity be taken off from the surface of the cylinder while it revolves, the cushion will not restore or supply the electric state, unless it be admitted to communicate with the earth. So that if an insulated conductor be placed near the cylinder, it will receive electricity for a time, though the rubber be also insulated; but the rubber itself, after assuming the negative state, will soon cease to give any more electricity to the cylinder, than the little it may obtain from the imperfect nature of its insulation. But if a communicating branch from the positive conductor be brought within a short distance of the negative cushion, the positive sparks will fly through the interval, and supply the cushion; and in this manner the circulation of electricity may, as far as yet has been determined by experiment, be kept up for an unlimited time. It seems, therefore, as if a chemical process requiring atmospheric air, and therefore of the nature of combustion, were carried on at the face of the cushion, and that a peculiar substance on which the electric state depends, becomes deposited or disposed in a different manner from that which it possessed before; and that the relative motion of the non-conducting body carried it off to a situation where it tends to its former state, and consequently advances in a current towards such parts as allow of the restoration of that state. It seems reasonable to conclude, that the disturbances of the electric state or equilibrium, and the currents by which they are restored, are in most natural operations performed through very short and good conductors; so that though in all probability they may contribute to very important results, the immediate changes elude our observation, except in a few instances, such as that of lightning and luminous meteors. And it seems from the facts to be nearly decided, that we should never have EXCITATION OF ELECTRICITY. had it in our power to exhibit the phænomenon of the electric spark, which is electricity producing ignition by breaking through a non-conductor, if we had not fortuitously experimented in circumstances where the electricity is first made to take the form of a charge, and afterwards brought into a state of considerable intensity, by separating those bodies from each other, which produced the compensation by their opposite states. Thus in the electrical machine, (see Nicholson, in the Philos. Trans. 1789,) little or no electric signs are produced by a cylinder rubbed by a very flat amalgamed leather, terminating in a neat line of contact. But this rubber and cylinder will, without any alteration, afford electricity, if a flat piece of metal, or the hand, or any other flat conductor, be held over that part of the cylinder which is in the act of receding from the cushion, even though this conductor be held at the distance of an inch or more, without touching either the cylinder or its rubber. It is proved from experiment, that the conducting body thus presented acquires the opposite state, and enables the cylinder to carry off a greater quantity of electricity in the form of a charge, the interposed air being the electric. When the cushion is thick and rounded, as is the case with the human hand, which was first used for this purpose, the rounded part opposite the receding surface of the cylinder, performs the office of compensation; and the best application which has yet been made for this purpose, is that of a flap of silk proceeding from beneath the cushion, which assumes the negative state, so as to compensate the positive state on the cylinder, in a very considerable charge, which is conveyed by the rotation to the farther end of the silk, where it becomes uncompensated electricity upon the naked surface, at an intensity which could not otherwise have been produced. It has not yet been determined what are the conditions and circumstances of the change which takes place by the action of the air at the face of the rubber, nor why the surface of the glass should become positive when rubbed with one kind of rubber, as for example, the human hand ; and negative, if rubbed with another kind, such as cat-skin, or flannel, nor why glass, deprived of its polish, becomes negative with rubbers which would have rendered smooth glass positive. The most rational conjecture seems to be, that the surface which is most heated in consequence of its roughness, or the relative smallness of its dimensions, acquires the negative state. There is a certain veiocity of rotation, which is about five feet per second, at which the excitation of electricity by a cylinder nearly vanishes; but it returns again, the moment the velocity is diminished. Some who maintain the existence of a material cause-of heat, or caloric, are disposed to consider electricity as one of the states of caloric, in which the matter of heat can pass through bodies without raising their temperature, and with much greater velocity than that by which temperature is communicated. From the imperfect knowledge we possess respecting excitation, it is very difficult for the most experienced electricians to excite a cylinder with certainty and power. If the cylinder be greased all over with tallow, and then turned for some time in contact with the cushion, the silk flap being thrown back, and an amalgamed leather be applied and rubbed about upon the surface of the cylinder in motion, electric sparks are soon produced in abundance ; and if the silk be then thrown again into contact with the cylinder the excitation will, in general, be strong; but it is seldom so strong at the first time of exciting as it proves to be after the expiration of a day or more. It seems as if the amalgam and tallow required a considerable time of working to be brought into the best state for excitation. In order to judge of the degree of inten sity of an excited cylinder, we must have recourse to some standard of the quantity of effect produced by the friction of a given surface. It has not been shewn that much, if any thing, depends on the thickness of the glass, though some kinds of glass are more excitable than others, and some not at all so. If a coated electric jar be taken of about one-twentieth of an inch in thickness (see JAR, electric), a cylinder or plate, moderately excited, will require fifty or sixty square feet to pass the cushion, in order to charge one foot of the coated glass, so as to explode over a rim of three inches, which is as much as can be admitted without danger of the explosion breaking through the jar. If the excitation be stronger, the charge may be made by the friction of thirty feet to one of the jar; and the strongest excitation the editor has ever known, has been by the friction of fourteen square feet of a cylinder to charge one foot of glass. But as the labour increases by adhesion of the cushion, the stronger the excitation, it seems as if the strength of a man would be more profitably employed in turning two or more plates, or cylinders, at the intensity of thirty feet, than at any higher intensity; besides which, this power is less variable, and may last five or six hours without requiring fresh amalgam. The vulgar notion of electricity is, that it is fire which passes in a spark from one body to another. From its passage through dense conductors, as well as through the air, it seems to move with extreme velocity; and this may be sufficient, without supposing it to be essentially luminous, to account for the ignited appearance it affords, in all non-conductors, whether air, or oil, or glass, or wood, &c. and even in metal, when the conductor is small. If oxygen be present, these bodies will have their combustible parts burned; and if not, a decomposition of those parts which are ignited may ensue. EXCLAMATION, in rhetoric, a figure that expresses the violent and sudden breaking out, and vehemence of any passion. Such is that in the second book of Milton's "Paradise Lost:" "O unexpected stroke, worse than of death! Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? Thus leave Thce, native soil; these happy walks and shades, Fit haunt of gods!" Other figures are the language of some particular passion, but this expresses them all. It is the voice of nature, when she is in concern and transport. EXCLUSION, or Bill of Exclusion, a bill proposed about the close of the reign of King Charles II. for excluding the Duke of York, the King's brother, from the throne, on account of his being a papist. EXCLUSION, in mathematics, is a method of coming at the solution of numerical problems, by previously throwing out of our consideration such numbers as are of no use in solving the question. EXCLUSIVE is sometimes used adjectively, thus: "A patent carries with it an exclusive privilege ;" and sometimes adverbially, as, " He sent him all the numbers from N° 145 to No 247 exclusive;" that is, all between these two numbers, which themselves were excepted. those where the predicate 30 agrees with its subject, as to exclude every other. Thus, "Virtue alone constitutes nobility," is an exclusive proposition. EXCOECARIA, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Triandria class and order. Natural order of Tricocca. Euphorbiæ, Jussieu. Essential character: ament naked; calyx and corolla, none; styles three; capsule, tricoccous. There are two species; viz. E. agallocha and E. Cochin Chinensis. EXCOMMUNICATION, in law, is of two kinds, the less and the greater, which last is the highest ecclesiastical censure which can be pronounced; for thereby the party is excluded from the body of the church, and disabled from bringing any action in the common law courts; he is also disabled to serve on juries, or to be a witness in any cause; he cannot be attorney or procurator for another; he is to be turned out of the church by the churchwardens, and not to be allowed christian burial. He may also, in some cases, be imprisoned until he submits to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as in case of refusing to answer to a suit for tithes. EXCORIATION, in medicine and surgery, the galling or rubbing off of the cuticle. To remedy this, the parts affected may be washed cften with warm water, and sprinkled with drying powders, as chalk, hartshorn, but especially tutty, lapis calaminaris, and ceruse, which may be tied loosely in a rag, and the powder shook out on the disordered places. EXCREMENT. See FECES. EXCRESCENCE, in surgery, denotes every preternatural tumour which arises upon the skin, either in the form of a wart or tubercle. EXCRETION, or SECRETION, in medicine, a separation of some fluid, mixed with the blood by means of the glands. See SECRETION. EXCRETORY, in anatomy, a term applied to certain little ducts or vessels, destined for the reception of a fluid, secreted in certain glandules, and other viscera, for the excretion of it in the appropriated places. EXECUTION, in law, is a judicial writ, grounded on the judgment of the court whence it issues; and is supposed to be granted by the court, at the request of the party at whose suit it is issued, to give him satisfaction on the judgment which he hath obtained; and therefore an execution canEXCLUSIVE propositions, in logic, are not be sued out in one court, upon a judg ment obtained in another. These are of different sorts, according to the nature of the action in actions where money is recovered, as a debt or damages, they are of five sorts; 1, against the body of the defendant; 2, or against his goods or chattels; 3, against his goods and the profits of his lands; 4, against the goods and the possession of his lands; 5, against all three, his body, lands, and goods. EXECUTION of criminals, must be according to the judgment; and the King cannot alter a judgment from hanging to beheading, because no execution can be warranted, unless it be pursuant to the judgment. This being the completion of human punishment, in all cases, as well capital as otherwise, must be performed by the legal officer, the sheriff or his deputy. Murderers are to be executed the day next but one after conviction, unless it be Sunday, and anatomized; for which reason they are generally tried on a Friday. EXECUTION, in music, a term applicable to every species of musical performance; but more particularly used to express a facility of voice or finger in running rapid divisions, and other difficult and intricate passages: it includes, in a general sense, taste, feeling, grace, and expression. EXECUTOR, in law, is a person appointed by the testator to carry into execution his will and testament after his decease. The regular mode of appointing an executor, is by naming him expressly in the will; but any words indicating an intention of the testator to appoint an executor, will be deemed a sufficient appointment. Any person capable of making a will is also capable of being an executor; but in some cases, persons who are incapable of making a will, may nevertheless act as executors, as infants, or married women; to obviate, however, inconveniences which have occurred respecting the former, it is enacted by stat. 38 Geo. III. c. 89, that where an infant is sole executor, administration, with the will annexed, shall be granted to the guardian of such infant, or such other person, as the spiritual court shall think fit, until such infant shall have attained the age of 21; when, and not before, probate of the will shall be granted him. An executor derives his authority from the will, and not from the probate, and is therefore authorised to do many acts in execution of the will, even before it is proved, such as releasing, paying, or receiv ing of debts, assenting to licences, &c.; but he cannot proceed at law until he have obtained probate. If an executor die before probate, administration must be taken out with the will annexed; but if an executor die, his executor will be executor to the first testator, and no fresh probate will be needed: it will be sufficient if one only of the executors prove the will; but if all refuse to prove, they cannot afterwards administer, or in any respect act as executors. If an executor become a bankrupt, the court of Chancery will appoint a receiver of the testator's effects, as it will also upon the application of a creditor, if he appear to be wasting the assets. If an executor once administer, he cannot afterwards renounce. If an executor refuse to take upon him the execution of the will, he shall lose his legacy under it. If a creditor constitute his debtor his executor, this is at law a dis charge of the debt, whether the executor act or not, provided however, there be assets sufficient to discharge the debts of the testator: in equity, however, there are some exceptions to this rule. The first duty of an executor or administrator is, to bury the deceased in a suitable manner; and if the executor exceed what is necessary in this respect, it will be a waste of the substance of the testator. The next thing to be done by the executor, is to prove will, which may be done either in the common form, by taking the oath to make due distribution, &c.; or in a more solemn mode, by witnesses to its execution. By stat. 37 Geo. III. c. 9, s. 10, every person who shall administer the personal estate of any person dying, without proving the will of the deceased, or taking out letters of administration within six calendar months after such person's decease, shall forfeit 501. the If all the goods of the deceased lie within the same jurisdiction, the probate is to be made before the ordinary or bishop of the diocese, where the deceased resided; but if he had goods and chattels to the value of 51. in two distinct dioceses or jurisdictions, the will must be proved before the metropolitan or archbishop of the province in which the deceased died. An executor, by virtue of the will of the testator, has an interest in all the goods and chattels, whether real or personal, in possession or in action of the deceased; and all goods and effects coming to his hands will be the assets to make him chargeable to creditors and legatees. An executor or administrator stands personally responsible for the due discharge of his duty; if, therefore, the property of the deceased be lost, or through his wilful negligence become otherwise irrecoverable, he will be liable to make it good; and also where he retains money in his hands longer than is necessary, he will be chargeable not only with the interest but costs, if any have been incurred. But one executor shall not be answerable for money received, or detriment occasioned by the other, unless it has been by some act done between them jointly. An executor or administrator has the same remedy for recovering debts and duties, as the deceased would have had if living. Neither an executor nor administrator can maintain any action for a personal injury done to the deceased, when such injury is of such a nature for which damages may be received; in actions, however, which have their origin in breach of promise, although the suit may abate by the death of the party, yet it may be revived either by his executors or administrators, who may also sue for rent in arrear, and due to the deceased in his life-time. By the custom of merchants, an executor or administrator may indorse over a bill of exchange, or promissory note. An executor or administrator may also, on the death of a lessee for years, assign over the lease, and shall not be answerable for rent after such assignment, nor shall he be liable for rent due after the lessee's death, from premises which in his life-time he had assigned to another. An executor, or administrator, is bound only by such covenants in a lease, as are said to run with the land. The executor, or administrator, previous to the distribution of the property of the deceased, must take an inventory of all his goods and chattels, which must, if required, be delivered to the ordinary upon oath. He must then collect, with all possible convenience, all the goods and effects contained in such an inventory; and whatever is so recovered that is of a saleable nature, and can be converted into money, is termed assets, and makes him responsible to such amount to the creditors, legatees, and kindred of the deceased. The executor, or administrator, having collected in the property, is to proceed to discharge the debts of the deceased, which he must do according to the following priorities, otherwise he will be personally responsible. 1. Funeral expences, charges of proving the will, and other expenditures incurred by the execution of his trust. 2. Debts due to the King on record, or by speciality. 3. Debts due by particular statutes, as by 30 Geo. II. c. 23; forfeitures for not burying in woollen, money due for poor-rates, and money due to the post-office. 4. Debts of record, as judgments, statutes, recognizances, and those recognized by a decree of a court of equity, and debts due on mortgage. 5. Debts on special contract, as bonds or other instruments under seal; and also rent in arrear. 6. Debts on simple contract, viz. such as debts arising by mere verbal promise, or by writing not under seal, as notes of hand, servants' wages, &c. The executor is bound at his peril to take notice of debts on record, but not of other special contracts, unless he receives notice. If no suit be actually commenced against an executor, or administrator, he may pay one creditor in equal degree the whole debt, though there should be insufficient remaining to pay the rest; and even after the commencement of a suit, he may, by confessing judgment to other creditors of the same degree, give them a preference. Executors and administrators are also allowed, amongst debts of equal degree, to pay themselves first; but they are not allowed to retain their own debt to the prejudice of others in a higher degree; neither shall they be permitted to retain their own debts, in preference to that of their co-executor, or co-administrator, of equal degree, but both shall be charged in equal proportion. A mortgage made by the testator must be discharged by the representative out of the personal estate, if there be suffi cient to pay the rest of the creditors and legatees: where such mortgage, however, was not incurred by the deceased, it is not payable out of the personal estate. EXECUTORY devise, is defined a future interest, which cannot vest at the death of a testator, but depends upon some contingency, which must happen before it can vest: it is called so to distinguish it from a remainder from which it differs in being less strictly restrained by technical rules. EXEGESIS, a discourse by way of explanation or comment upon any subject. EXEMPLIFICATION of letters patent, a transcript or duplicate of them, made from the inrolment thereof, and sealed with the great seal. These exemplifications are by statute equally effectual, and may be pleaded as well as the originals. One may exemplify a patent under the great seal in Chancery; also any record, or judgment, |