ROYALTY. The French words re/ and royal correspond to the Latin words sex and regalia ; and from royal has been formed rayalt6 (now royaute); whence has been borrowed the English word royalty. The corresponding Latin word is regalitas, which occurs in the Latin of the middle ages. (Ducange, in v.) Royally properly denotes the condition or status of a person of royal rank, such as a king or queen, or reigning prince or duke, or any of their kindred. [im.] The possession of the royal status or con dition does not indicate that the possessor of it is invested with any determinate political powers ; and therefore royalty is not equivalent to monarchy or sovereignty. The powers possessed by persons of royal dignity have been very different in different times and places ; and have varied from the performance of some merely honorary functions to the exercise of the entire sovereignty. The kings (6..vatrres, 13acriA6fs) of the Homeric age were properly a governing class of nobles. (See Muller, 'Hist. of Liter. of Greece,' ch. iv, § 1.) Thus Telemachus says that there are many kings in Ithaca, both old and young, besides himself (` Od.', i. 394); and Alcinous says that ho rules over the Plizeacians, with twelve other kings (` 041; viii. 390). As popular institutions were developed in Greece, the office of king became, in several states, merely honorary, and was particularly connected with the performance of certain ancient religious rites. Thus at Athens, the king-archon (dpxwv BacrtAfin) was an animal officer, who bad the superintendence of religious affairs; his wife was called, during the year of office, ficerfaersa, or queen. (Compare ermann, ' Gr. Ant.; § 56.) Rome likewise retained, after the expulsion of its kings, a high sacerdotal officer, named the king of tAe sacrifices (rex eatrificulus), who performed the sacred rites which had formerly been performed by the kings. In like manner the Teutonic kings were only the chiefs of the military and sacerdotal aristocracy of the tribe, and did not possess the entire sovereign power ("nee regibus infinita ac libera potestas,") says Tacitus, Germ.; 7. [Kilo.] In popular discourse royalty is made equivalent to monarchy or sove reignty; and a king is called monarch or sovereign without any re ference to the fact whether he possesses the entire sovereign power or only a portion of it.
It may be added, that the attribute of royalty is sometimes trans ferred metaphorically to certain animals or species of animals, in order to denote pre-eminence. Thus the principal bee in the hive is called the queen-bee ; the lion is known (particularly in fables) as the king of animals ; and a species of tiger is styled the royal tiger. Compare SOVEREIGNTY.
Royalty is also used to describe certain rights in property. Thus on the working of mines of gold and silver in the United Kingdom, the sovereign is entitled to a royalty, as is also the Prince of Wales, as Duke of Cornwall, on the working of tin mines. The tern is likewise applied to the sum paid for the use of a patent or a copyright.
are external agents which cause redness of the part to which they are applied. If long continued, they may, according to their nature, produce inflammation and some of its consequences. In such circumstances they are termed BLISTERS, or ESCHAROTICS. It is however a degree of action short of what entitles them to these appellations which is now contemplated. Thus friction with the hand or warm cloths often relieves spasmodic or neuralgic pains ; and a hot poultice or warm fomentations lessen inflammation of superficial or even deep-seated parts. Etnbrocations, when of a stimulating kind, act as rubcfacients ; and blisters kept in contact with the surface for a short time only, cause redness of the part, and some remote secondary effects of a very beneficial kind. Many cases of fever in the sinking stage may be recovered by a succession of flying blisters, as these tem porary applications are termed, placed on different parts of the body, particularly over parts where the skin is thin. Their action may be expedited by previously ribbing the part with proof spirit or oil of turpentine, or by using a portion of linen steeped in the acetum can tharidis instead of the common blister. By diligent employment of such teems many valuable lives may be saved. Rubefacients are also very usefully applied to the spine in many nervous, and some cutaneous diseases.