or ANDERAVIA, an island in the Persian Gulf, lying 5 miles off the coast of Laristan, in N. Lat. 28° 40', E. Long. 53° 39'. It is a low, level, and narrow island, about 3 miles in length.

INDEX EXPURGATORIUS. In the Romish Church the Index, or Index Librorum Prohibitorum, is the list of books which are forbidden to be read. The list of books allowed to be read, after certain corrections, is called the Index Expurgatorius. The prohibition to read certain books began very early. Constantine forbade the reading of the books of Arius; and the Council of Carthage, A.D. 400, forbade the reading of pagan books. When printing afforded a rapid dissemination of books, it was thought necessary to establish a censorship of the press, by which the circulation of works injurious to the Romish faith could be prevented. Hence, in popish countries an imprimatur, or official permission, was necessary before a book was allowed to be published. In 1546 the University of Louvain, in accordance with an edict of Charles V., published a list of books considered as dangerous. Lists of the same kind were also prepared at Rome, Paris, Venice, and Cologne. The management of the Index was fully systematized by a select committee of the Council of Trent, and the ten rules proposed by them were sanctioned by Pius IV. during the twenty-fifth session of the council, A.D. 1564. The Congregation of the Index, as confirmed by Pius V., have the power to supervise all books as to their bearing upon the faith and discipline of the Romish Church. (Peignot's Dictionnaire des Livres Condamnés au feu, Supprimés, ou Censurés; Mendillon's Account of the Indices, both Prohibitory and Expurgatory, &c.)