Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/33

LEFT RHEUM 17 RHEUMATISM Magnesia. The school of Rhodes fol- lowed more closely Attic models, and gained great fame through its conspicu- ous leaders Apollonius and Molon (100- 50 B. a). Hermagoras of Temnos (120 B. c.) composed an elaborate system which long retained its influence. Later rhetoricians were Dionysius of Halicar- nassus, Longinus, Hermogenes, Apsines, Menander, Theon, and Aphthonius. Among the earliest Roman orators were Appius Claudius Caecus (300 B. a), Cato the Censor, Ser. Sulpicius Galba, Caius Gracchus, Marcus Antonius, and Lucius Licinius Crassus. The instructors in formal rhetoric were Greek, and the great masters of theoretical and practi- cal rhetoric alike, Cicero and Quintilian, were both formed by Greek models. Throughout the Middle Ages rhetoric formed one of the subjects of the tri- vium; its leading authorities were Mar- tianus Capella, Cassiodorus, and Isidorus. The subject reawoke with the revival of learning, and was taught regularly in the universities, the prescribed public exercises and disputations keeping it long alive; but in later generations it has constantly languished. In the United States, however, considerable attention is paid to it as a branch of general educa- tion. RHEUM, rhubarb; a genus of Poly- gonese. Calyx inferior, petaloid, six- partite; stamens about nine; ovary superior; ovule one, erect; styles three, reflexed ; stigma, peltate, entire ; achenium three-angled, winged, with the withered calyx at the base. R. rhaponticum is the common, or garden rhubarb. It is used in the United States in the making of pies, and is often called pie plant. R. officinale, or R. palmatum, is the officinal rhubarb. R. emodi, in the Punjab Hima- laya, from 6,200 to 14,000 feet, with R. moorcroftianum and R. specif orme, are the chief sources of the Himalayan or Indian officinal rhubarb. It is less ac- tive than the common kind. The stalks of R. emodi are eaten by the Hindus. Other Indian species are R. xvebbianum, R. nobile, R. arboreum, which yields so much honey that the ground under the plants is wet with it, and R. cinaba- rinum, said to poison goats in Sikkim. R. undulatum grows in China and Si- beria. The roots of R. ribes are used by the Arabs as an acidulous medicine, and its leaf -stalks in the preparation of sherbet. In pharmacy, three leading kinds of rhubarb are recognized: (1) The Turkey or Russian rhubarb, which is wild neither in the one country nor the other, but used to be brought from China via Tur- key, and then from China via Russia; (2) the East Indian, and (3) the Bata- vian rhubarb. An extract, an infusion, a syrup, a tincture, and a wine of rhu- barb, with a compound rhubarb pill, are used in pharmacy. In small doses rhu- barb is stomachic and slighty astringent; in large doses, a purgative, but its ac- tion is followed by constipation. RHEUMATISM, a term which has been and still is, rather vaguely and ex- tensively used in the nomenclature of disease. But there is one very definite affection to which it is always applied; after this has been discussed the other senses in which it is used will be con- sidered. Acute rheumatism or rheumatic fever is indicated by general febrile symptoms, with redness, heat, swelling, and usually very intense pain, in and around one or more (generally several, either simul- taneously or in succession) of the larger joints, and the disease shows a tendency to shift from joint to joint or to certain internal serous membranes, especially the pericardium and the endocardium; rheumatism being the most common ori- gin of pericarditis, as has been already shown in the article on that disease. The usual exciting cause of acute rheu- matism is exposure to cold, and espe- cially to cold combined with moisture, and hence the greater prevalence of this disease among the poor and ill-clad. Rheumatism is not, however, a universal sequence of exposure to the cold. It only occurs when there is a special predis- position, or, as it is termed, a rheu- matic diathesis or constitution, and the diathesis may be so strongly developed as to occasion an attack of acute rheu- matism, independently of exposure to any apparent exciting cause. Men are more subject to the disease than women, but this probably arises from their greater exposure to atmospheric changes on ac- count of the nature of their occupati'ons. The predisposition is certainly affected by age; children under 10 years being comparatively seldom attacked, while the disease is most prevalent between the ages of 15 and 40. Above this age a first attack is rare, and even recurrences are less frequent than earlier in life. Per- sons once affected become more liable to the complaint than they previously were. The disease is hereditary in a consider- able proportion of cases. The exact nature of the disease poison is unknown. In the great majority of cases acute rheumatism ends in recovery; and per- manent damage to the affected joints is rare. It is, however, extremely apt to recur, either in the early stages of con- valescence, or after an interval of months or years. The chief danger