EXISTENCE, that whereby any thing has an actual * See Ostracism. Exorcismus tual essence, or is said to be. See METAPHYSICS, n° 220, &c. Exorcism. EXOCOETUS, or the FLYING-FISH, in ichthyology, a genus belonging to the order of abdominales. The head is fealy, and it has no teeth. It has 10 radii in the branchiostegal membrane; the body is whitish, and the belly is angular: the pectoral fins, the instruments of flight, are very large. When pursued by any other fish, it raises itself from the water by means of these long fins, and flies in the air to a considerable distance, till the fins dry, and then it falls down into the water. It is a fish that seems to lead a most miserable life. In its own element, it is perpetually harassed by the dorados and other fish of prey. If it endeavours to avoid them by having recourse to the air, it either meets its fate from the gulls, or the albatross, or is forced down again into the mouth of the inhabitants of the water, who, below, keep pace with its aerial excursion. Neither is it unfrequent that whole shoals of them fall on board of ships that navigate the seas in warm climates. It is therefore apparent, that nature in this creature hath supplied it with instruments which frequently bring it into the destruction it strives to avoid, by having recourse to an element unnatural to it. Exodiary. EXODIARY, in the ancient Roman tragedy, was the person who, after the drama or play was ended, sung the EXODIUM. Exodium. EXODIUM, in the ancient Greek drama, one of the four parts or divisions of tragedy, being so much of the piece as included the catastrophe and unraveling of the plot, and answering nearly to our fourth and fifth acts. Exodium. EXODIUM, among the Romans, consisted of certain humorous verses rehearsed by the exodiary at the end of the Fabula Atellanæ. Exodium. EXODIUM, in the Septuagint, signifies the end or conclusion of a feast. Particularly it is used for the eighth day of the feast of tabernacles, which, it is said, had a special view to the commemoration of the exodus or departure out of Egypt. Exodus. EXODUS, a canonical book of the Old Testament; being the second of the pentateuch, or five books of Moses. It is so called from the Greek [exodos], the "going out" or departure of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt; the history of which is delivered in this book, together with the many miracles wrought on that occasion. Exomphalus. EXOMPHALUS, in surgery, called also omphalocele, and hernia umbilicalis, is a preternatural tumour of the abdomen, at the navel, from a rupture or distension of the parts which invest that cavity *. Exorcism.