Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/546

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fmall broad plane, by which it is inferted in the pofierior part of the apophysis maftoidaeus. It is here covered by the fple- nius, and covers a little the obliquus fuperior. It is often miftaken for a portion of the longiflimus dorfi. JVinfow's Anat, p. 236. COMPOSITE (Cyd) — Composite numbers, thofe that can be- meafured by fome number above unity ; as 12, by 2, 3, 4, and 6.

Compofite numbers between them/elves, are fuch as have fome common meafure befides unity; as 12 and 15, being both meafured by 3.

Composite /lalk. See the article Stalk.

COMPOSIT 10 menfurarum, the title of an antient ordinance for meafures, not printed ; it is mentioned in the ftatute of 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 4.

COMPOUND, in chemiftry. See Aggregate.

CoMPouND^/fottvr. See Flower, Cyd.

Compound leafy among botanifts SeeLEAF.

COMPRESS {Cyd.)— It is frequently the cuftom among furgeons, after the plaifter and other dreflings are applied, to cover all with a comprej's, which is made of the fofteft old linnen, four, fix, or eLht times doubled. Thefe are of fervice, not only by preferving the parts from the injuries of the external air, but atfo for the fecuring and fixing theplaiftcrs and other dreflings. Comprejj'es are alfo frequently applied where no plaifter is made ufe of, and that fomctimes dry, fomctimes wetted with certain liquors, which are fuppofed to be ftrengthening, emollient, refolving, lenient, cooling, &c. They are frequently dipped in the decoctions of certain herbs, into wine, fpirit of wine, vi- negar, or oxverate, and fomctimes into lime water, and are adminirtcred cither cold or hot,as thenature of the cafercquires. Comprejj'es a e of various forms; fome are fquare, others oblong, others triangular, and others in form of a crofs, according to the part they are to be applied to, and according to the occafion and fituation. Some are called ftrait, others oblique, others tranfverfe, and others annular, as thofe that furround the arm or foot. There are fome alfo neceflarily made in the form of an afterifm ; fome are divided either on one or both fides, as far as the middle ; fometimes they form a hexagon, and fome- times are round or globular, refembling a ball : thefe are ufed in luxations of the os humeri, and are placed under the axillae. Sometimes comprejj'es of a much fmaller fize are required, which are either fquare for the wounds of the blood-veflels, to refirain haemorrhages, or taper, for futures of wounds, or in ligatures of the arteries.

Comprejj'es of all kinds are intended for thefe purpofes : 1. To preferve and cherifh the natural heat of the body. 2. To fe- cure the dreflings that are laid under them. 3. To convey li- quid remedies to parts wounded orotherwife difordered, and to prolong the ufe of them. 4. To fill up any cavities or de- preffions of the parts, that the dreflings (elpecially in fractures) rnay be applied with greater fecurity : and laftly, to prevent bandages from bringing on a troublefome itching, or other pain or uneafinefs on the fkin. Heijler's Surg. p. 19.

COMPRESSED leaf, among botanifts. Sec Leaf.

COMPRESSOR naris, in anatomy, a name given by Albinus and fome others to one of the mufcles of the face, called by Winflow the iranfverfalis waft, and inferior nafi; and by Cowper, the elevator ales nafi. See Elevator.

COMPTROLLER (Cyd.) —Comptroller of the artillery, an officer whofe duty it is to infpect the mufters of the artil- lery, to make the pay-lift, and take the accounts and remains of ftorcs. He is accountable to the office of ordnance. Gull.

CONAR lapis, a ftone find by fome authors to have the virtue of preventing wrinkles, and preferving youth. We have no defcription of it ; but de Boot tells us, that in China they make fome of their veflels of it.

CONCAVE glafs, or lens, one that is flat on one fide and ground hollow on the other, but ufuully fpherical. It is called by fome a. plano-concave, and if the glafs be concave on both fides, it is called a double concave. See Glass and Mirrour, Cyd.

CONCAVITY (Cyd.) — An arch of a curve has its concavity turned one way, when the right lines that join any two of its points are all on the fame fide of the arch. Archimedes, intending to include fuch lines as have rectilinear parts, in his definition, fays, a line has its concavity turned one way, when the right lines that join any two of its points are either all upon one fide of it, or while fome fall upon the line itfeif, none fall upon the oppofite fide. Archim. de Sphar. &Cyl. Dcf. 2. Mac Laurhh Fluxions, Art. 180. When two lines, having their concavity turned the fame way, have the fame terms, and the one includes the other, or has its concavity towards it, the perimeter of that which includes, is greater than the perimeter of that which is included. Archim. ib. Ax. 2.

CONCENTRATING, in chemiftry, is the bringing the re- quired parts of a fubjecr. clofer together. Salt water is thus concentrated by evaporation of the aqueous humidity ; and wine, by freezing out, or feparating its water in the form of ice. Sbizu's Lectures, p. 9.

CONCENTRATION (Cyd ) — Dr. Shaw, in his eflay on the diftillery, is for introducing a method of concentrating the fermentable parts of vegetables, from which their fpirits are Io be drawn by difUUation ; which, if it can be brought to be

pra&tfed in the large way, will prove of very great ufe to the Brttifli diftillery, as it will greatly ffiortenthe diftiller's bufinefs which at prefent, including the brewing, fermenting, &c. is much too long. He propofes only to evaporate carefully th» wort, or other tindtures or decoctions of vegetables made for the diftilling of their fpirits, to the coniiftence of treacle : in this form they might be fold to the diftiller, who might keep them by him as long as he pleafed, and occafionaily ufe them, by the cafy method of reducing them into wort, by mixing warm water with them. Shaw's EfT on Diftill.

CONCEPT ACULUM, among botanifts, a kind of pericar- pium, compofed of foft and lefs rigid valves, and containing one cavity. See Pericarpium.

CONCEPTION {Cyd.) — It has been advanced by feveral wrir ters, that women may polfibty conceive in their fleep, and be with child without any knowledge of the occafion of it. As ridiculous and abfurd as this doctrine may appear to the ge- nerality of the world, no lefs an author than Genlili has thought it worthy a particular diflertation. The occafion of this trea- tife was ; that a young woman of twenty, a fervant in a fa* mily in which he was acquainted, proved with child, and at- tested in the moft folemn manner imaginable, that fhe had na knowledge of the occafion. The girl's life and behaviour in- clined people, who would have rejected fuch a ftory from an- other perfon with contempt, to believe it firmly from her. She gave the fame account on oath before the juftices of the place, and confirmed it in the agonies of child-bearing. All thatihe could recollect in regard to it was, that a certain acquaintance of her mailer's had given her once a glafs of wine, after the drinking of which, fhe almoft immediately fell into a very profound fleep : flie fufpected that there might be fome narcotic medicine in the wine, and fuppofed that the injury was done her during the deep fleep into which this threw her ; tho' flie continued to declare, in the folemn eft manner, that fhe had no remembrance of any fuch thing, and certainly not the lean: fenfibility of it at the time. The perfon accufed fwore to his innocence, and the principal juftice refolved to determine his judgment by the opinion of this author, to whom he in the moft folemn manner put this plain queftion, Whether it is or is not poflible, that a woman fhould conceive in her fleep, with- out her knowledge of the intercourfe of the man ? The doctor gave his anfwer, that he believed it was poflible; that there were fimilar inftances in Montanus, and other authors ; and that provided all the neceflary requifites to conception were em- ployed, that it could not be otherwife but that the woman muft conceive, tho* the whole was done either againft her inclina- tion, or without it. It is very certain, that conception does not depend upon the will of the woman, fince women are daily with child greatly againft their wills, as is the cafe in the unlawful intercourfes of unmarried perfons ; and among mar- ried people, fuch women as thro' a cold phlegmatic conftitu- tion, or any other peculiar temperament of body, have no fenfe of pleafure in the aition, yet conceive as frequently, and perhaps more frequently, than thofe who have their inclinations ever fo violently bent on fuch things. Not only common ex- perience {hews us this, but'the greateft writers on thefe fubjedts confirm it. There is no reafon to doubt, but that fuch per- fons would conceive as well in their fleep as if awake, fince

• their paflions or fenfibility have no fhare in occafioning it. In fhort, it feems that if the ova are properly impregnated, the woman muft conceive, and that her own fenfations have no- thing to do with it. Act. Erud. Ann. 1715. p. 122. See the article Pregnancy.

CONCERT ANTE, in the Italian mufic, is ufed for the recit- ing parts of a piece of mufic, to diftinguifh them from thofe which fing only in the grand chorus 3. Graffineau b makes concertante fignify thofe parts that fing or play throughout thq whole piece.— [_* BroJ. Diet. Muf. in voc. * Muf. Diet P- 35-]

CONCERTATO, in the Italian mufic, is ufed for a piece com- pofed in fuch a manner, as that all the parts may have their re- citals, be it for two, three, four, or more voices or infkuments : thus they fay mejfe concertate, falmi concertati, a 2, a 3, a 4 vori t &c. Brojf. Diet. Muf. in voc.

CONCERTO grojjb, in the Italian mufic, is ufed to denote the grand chorus of a concert, or thofe places where all the feve- ral parts perform or play together. Brojf. Di£t. Muf. in voc.

CONCHA {Cyd.) — Con ch & anomi a, in natural hiltory, the name of a foflile fliell-fifji, found in great abundance, and in a great variety of fpecies, but not known in any of them living, on the Ihores or in the feas of our own or other countries. In Gloucefterfhire, and fome other of our counties, thefe are found as common as pebbles on the ploughed lands in other places. They are a fort of bivalve lhell, the valves of which are of unequal extent, both of them convex, and the head or beak of the longer valve crooked, and falling over the head of the other. See Tab. of Foil*. Clafl". 9

The great general diftinch'on of this numerous clafs of bodies, is into thofe which are of a fmooth furface, and thofe whicU are of aftriated or rough one.

Of the fmooth concha anomi a we find great numbers of fpe- cies : fome are rounded at the margin, others are crenated, and others deeply finuated, and others are cornered on each fide, and end in two angles, with a broad flattifh furface between them. 3 Of