Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/1043

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the patient. Fear is often known totftop the lochia, and- anger to bring on haemorrhages of ayngerous kind, and fometimes fevers and bilious diarrhc?fs, and both often

. throw the patient into faintings. The light is to be kept out of the room in a great meafure; for it often happens, that the fight is much impaired, and the eyes weakened in tender perfons; and fometimes noifes and ringing in the ears, fome- times deafnefs is brought on.

Talking much is very improper in thefe cafes, as it eafily throws the blood into commotions ; and it is to be carefully obferved, that when the excefiive flux of the lochia has ren- dered the patients very weak, and often fubjcdi^o faiptings, they are by no means to be indulged in that fljppinefs which ufually grows upon them at this time; for they fome- times die in fuch fleeps. Bags of carminative ingredients are very properly applied to the abdomen, during the firft days of lying in, for they greatly prevent flatulencies ; and it is a very good cuftom, of fome people, to apply cloths wetted in wine to the pudenda, when fwelled,.or othenvife injured in delivery. In young people, efpecially**l»«fJBf plethoric habits, all hot things are to be avoided, and wine is to be ufed with great caution and circumfpcction. If the blood is on any occafion thrown into commotions, abforbents, and nitrous medicines are proper : when the perfon is of a weak conftitution, file is not to be fuffered to get out of bed until the firft nine days are over, and not to leave her room until a month, or until five or fix weeks are over, and then it is proper to give a dofe or two of fome gentle purge. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 727, feq. See the articles Delivery, Mola and Lochia,

LYLAC, in botany. See the article Lilac.

LYMPHiEA, among the Romans, a kind of grotto's, or ar- tificial caves, fo called from lympha, water ; becaufe they were furnifhed with a great many tubes, canals, and fecret pafl'ages, through which the water fuddenly gufhed upon the lpectators, while bufy in admiring the great variety and beautiful arrangement of fhells, with which the grotto was adorned. Pitifc. in voc.

LYNCIS lapis, in natural hiftory, the name given by moft of the writers of the middle age to the belemnites. See the article Belemnites.

LYNCURIUS lapis, in the natural hiftory of the antients, the name of a ftone about which there have been various difputes among the later writers. Theophraftus has left us this account of it ; that it was hard, and ufed for en- graving feals on, and was of a very folid texture like the gems; that it had an attractive power like amber, and was pellucid, and of a flame colour.

The firft, and moft generally received" opinion about this ftone is, that it was what we call the behnnites, or thun- derbolt. This is the opinion of Woodward, C3V. but from the account we find of it in Theophraftus, this opinion is very plainly erroneous. A belemnites could never be called a proper ftone for engraving feals on ; nor is it by any means of a folid texture, as the ftones or gems, but compofed of a number of thin crufts, made up of tranfverfe flnse, and no harder than fpar, being eafily cut, or fcraped with a knife : this therefore rauft be allowed an erroneous opinion.

The few who diffent from this opinion, of the belemnites being the lapis lyncurius of the antients, of which number are Gefner, Geoffroy, bV. hold, that amber is the fubftancc which was called by the antients by that name. But we find this could never be the cafe, becaufe Theophraftus, in the account we have quoted from him of the lyncurius, compares it in fome degree to amber, and obferves, that it had an attractive power like that of amber. It is not to be fuppofed that any author could intend to compare a thing to itfelf, and confequently Theophraftus plainly af- fures us, that the lapis lyncurius was not amber. All that the antients have faid about it, determines that it was really one of the gems, and that it was of a flame co- lour ; and this defcription agrees perfectly with the gem we call the hyacynth, and this doubtlefs was the ftone they knew by that name; fince it is plain, by the antique heads we fee cut in it, that it was in common ufe among them; and it is plain from all their writings, that they did not know it by any other name ; what they called the hya- cinth being a very different ftone, and one to which that name much more properly belonged, being a bluer arae- thyft than the common kind, and fomewhat refembKng the colour of the hyacinth flower. The antients have fpoken of three or four kinds of it, that is, three or four varieties in degree of colour ; and we alfo, at this time, are acquainted with the very fame varieties. What they called the male and female lyncurius, were plainly our deeper and paler hyacinth ; and the fine lyncurius, defcribed by Plinv, our hyacintha la bella. Mil's Theophraft. p. 75. See the article Hyacinth.

LYNX, in zoology, the name of a very fierce beaft of prey called inEnglifh the ounce, aid by many Latin authors the lupus cervarius, or dear wolf, from its 'loving to feed on deer. See Tab. of Quadrupeds, N° 4, Pliny feems to diftinguifti the lynx from the lup,

pus cervanus.

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but there feems not the leaft reafon for it. The principal colours of this creature are a whitifti, and a purplifh yel- low, variegated with numerous very beautiful round fpots like eyes, in the manner of the leopard; thefe are ufually black. Sometimes it is feen alfo of a plain fox colour on the back, and full of black fpots, and grey on the belly, and inner part of the legs, with the like fpots as on the back and fides, but larger, of a fomewhat pakr colour, and fewer in number.

The hairs of this creature, as well fuch as appeared reddifh, as thofe which were grey, when nicely examined, are all found to be truly of three colours in each finglc hair ; the middle part being of a reddifh tawney, the bot- tom grey, and the top white ; but thofe which compofe the ■black fpots are only of two colours, there being no white at their ends. j^%"his creature's eyes are extremely bright and vivid, and ftiew plainly that it has a very piercing fight. Its ears are like tflofe of a cat, but have this peculiarity, which di- ftingui'fhes the creature from all the animals of the fame clafs; they have a fine pencil of black hairs growing out at their extremities, very fmooth, and of -a deep black like velvet, and two fingers long. Its tongue is rough like that of the lion. The lynx is found wild in Italy and Ger- many, but the greater number are in Alia, and thefe are much finer coloured than the Europxan. They all differ confiderably from one another, ;it times, in the number and difpofition of their fpots. Rafs Syn. Quad. p. 166.

LYRA, (CycL) in ichthyology, the name of a fifh of the cuculus, or gurnard kind, of which there are two fpecies. The one the tibicen. See the article Tieickn. The other the lyre cornuta, or horned harp fifh. This luff is a fifh of an octagonal form, covered all over with bony fcalcs : thefe are of a rhomboidal figure, and each has in its middle a fharp and ftrong prickle bending back- wards. There are in reality only fix orders, or ranges of thefe fcales, but to a flight obferver they appear eight, two being larger than the reft, and appearing double. It is of a red colour, and its head is very large. Its fnout divides toward the extremity into two long horns, on which are placed two perpendicular fpincs, and a third above makes an acute angle with thefe. It has one very long fin on the back, and another anfwering to it behind the anus ; alfo two large ones at the gills, and two fmaller on the belly. It has only two filaments, called fingers, behind its gill-fins. Its mouth is large, but has no teeth, and there are fevcral beards on its under jaw ; two of which are longer than the reft, and are branched. It is caught in the Me- diterranean, and brought to market at Rome. It is a fcarce fifh in other places, and at Montpelicr was once fhewed to Mr. Ray for the remora. See Tab. of Fillies, N° 45. Gefner de Pifc. p. 610.

Lyra is alfo the name of a beautiful fea fhell of the genus of the concha globofa, or dolium, There are three fpecies of the lyra, or harp fhell. 1. The common lyra, which has thirteen rofe coloured ribs running along its body. 2. The eleven ribbed lyra. And 3. the noble harp, or lyra nobilis. This is a moft elegantly variegated fhell ; its ground co- lour is a deep brown, and its variegations very elegant and black.

LYRATUM folium, among Botanifts. See Leaf.

LYRODI, among the antients, a kind of muficians who played on the lyre, and fung at the fame time. See the ar- ticle Lyre, CycL

Lyrodi was alfo an appellation given to fuch as made it their employment, to fing lyric poems compofed by others. Pitifc. in voc.

LYSANDRIA, ^va-arfyia., in antiquity, a Samian feftival ce- lebrated with facrifices and games, in honour of Lyfander the Lacedaemonian admiral. It was antiently called herea, which name was abolifhed by a decree of the Samians. Potter, Archseol. Gnec. 1.2. c, 20. Tom. I. p. 413.

LYSIMACHIA, willow herb, in the Linnsan fyftem of bo- tany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The cup is an erect perianthium divided into five fegments, and remaining after the flower is fallen. The flower confifts of a fingle petal, which forms no tube, but is divided into five oval oblong fegments at the edge. The ftamina are five tapering filaments cohering together at their bafe : thefe are but of half the length of the flower. The anthene are pointed ; the germen of the plftil is roundifh; the ftyle is flcnder, and of the length of the ftamina ; the ftigma is obtufe. The fruit is a globofe cap- fule, containing only one cavity, which has ten valves. The feeds are very numerous, and of an angular figure. The receptacle is g'.obofe, very large, and dotted. Linnai> Genera Plant, p. 65.

The characters of lyfunaJna, according to Tournefort, are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf, and is rotated, and divided into fegments at the edge. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed into the lower part of the flower, in the manner of a nail, and afterwards ripens into a fhell, or fruit, nearly of a globular figure, and opening