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tifying nothing but what is evident upon record. Alfothe exemplification under the great feal of the inrolment of any letters patent, is called a lonftat. Coke on Littl. fol. 225. b. The difference between a am/tat, infpeximus, and vidimus, is treated of at large in Page's cafe, Coke's t. report.

CONS TIPATION (Cycl.)— A amftipatim, or obftinate coftive- nefs, is thought by Dr. Stevenfon to be firft or lad owing to, or attended with, a kind ofpalfy of the interlines, and may fometimes be cured by fomenting the beily with wine, in which aromatics have been boiled, and drinking a little of the fame when the pulfe is (low, and the body cool. This diforder, tho' of long continuance, and come to a dangerous height, has been cured by a cold pediluvium, and by placing the patient with his bare foles on a cold floor, and darning his feet, legs, and thighs, with cold water. See Medic. EfiTEdinb. Abrid. Vol. I. p. 249, feq.

CONSTITUENT parts, in chemiftry. The canflituent pari! of bodies are their diflimilar parts, or principles, into which they may be refolved, by the rules of that art. They are thus called in diftinflion from the integrant parts of bodies, which are parts of the fame nature and properties with the bodies thcmfelves. Thus quickfilver, diffolved by aqua fortis, may be feparated from the diluted menftruum, by means of a copper plate, in its own form; this therefore was only divided into its integrant parts : but cinnabar refolved by chemiftry into ful- phurand mercury, is divided into its conjiituent parts, neither of thefe, nor any particle of them being cinnabar, or having its properties. Shaw's Leisures, p. J5.

CONSTRICTOR, {Cyd.) in anatomy, a name given by Spi- gehus, and fome others, to a mufcle now very well known by the name of the fphhiclcr am.

Constrictor cunni. in anatomy, the name given by Albinus to a mufcle called by others the fphincler vagina: ; by fome the orbicular?! pudendi, and the inferior clitoridis mufculus. See Sphincter.

CONSUALES ludi, among the Romans, tbe fame with Circenfes ludi. SeeClRCENSES ludi, Cyd.

CONSUL (Cyd.) — The right of convoking the fenate in antie Rome, on all occafions, belonged of courfe to the confuls, as the fupreme magiftrates of the city % which, in their abfeiice, devolved regularly to the next magiftrates in dignity, the pra;- tors, and the tribunes <•■—[* Vid. A. Cell. 14.7. t, Q: c E Fam. X. 12. See Tribune, Cyd. and Supbl.

CONSUMPTION. See Phthisis.

CONTAGION (Cjr/.) — Intimes of peftilential contagion, the phyfician, and others who attend upon the fick, are in the moft imminent danger of falling into the fame condition ; nor hi.. _ any of the fo'much boafted prefervatives againft this been found of any confequence ; on the contrary, the very remedies, many of them at leaft, which have been contrived on this ot cafion, are very dangerous when lodged in imprudent hand:,, as well as ufelefs and improper in all. The belt methods of -fafety are firft never to vifit a patient in any infeaions difor- der when one is fading, but fome generous wine ought al way: to be drank firft. Some are of opinion that it is proper to eat firft a piece of bread and butter, foaked in vinegar, either fim- ple, or with rue firft ftamped in it. When one is in the pa- tient's apartment, great care is to be taken never to eat or drink there, nor to fwallow one's fpittle; and it is no idle cuftom in thofe who are continually in the infected room to chew zc doary, myrrh, angelica, cinnamon, or the like warm and aro matic drugs ; for all thefe things promote a plentiful difcharge of faliva from the mouth, which it is certain, when fwallowed , cannot but often carry peftilential particles down with it into the ftomach, whence they will eafily find their way into the blood. It may be added as a good rule, thatwe never fray too long in an infefled room ; for a conftitution that could have refilled the contagion for a final I time, may eafily be over- powered by too long a continuance in the way of it. After one is returned home from a vifit of this kind, it is always proper to wafh one's hands and mouth with vinegar and water to change cloths, hanging the former in the air, and then to drink fome warm liquor, as tea of fcordium, fage, or other herbs of that kind, or, in their place, coffee; for this opens the pores, and if any fmall quantity of the peftilential viru: fhould have mixed itfelf with the blood, expels it by a gentle perforation. It may be alfo of great affiftance to all about the fick, for preventing them from being infected, to hold freftuent- ly fpunges dipt in vinegar to their nofes, and frequently tc fprinkle vinegar on a red hot iron, in the room, to correct and mend the air. Heijtcr's Surgery, p. 201.

CON TAR A, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the plant which produces the fata Sanf/i Ignatii, or St. Ignatius's bean. Pliitenct, MantifT p. 60.

CONTARII, in antiquity, a kind of horfemen, whofe chief ar- mour was the contus, a kind of long fpear. CONTIGUITY, tbe relation of bodies touching one another. It differs from continuity, which is the immediate union of the parts which compofe any natural body ; fo that it cannot be diftinguifhed where one begins, and the other ends. CONTI NENT fevers, a term ufed by medical writers to exprefs fuch fevers as continue through their whole courfe exactly in the fame tenor in which they btgun, without the leaft vifible Suppl. Vol.. I.

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intermiffion : they are thus called in opposition to the continu- ous fevers, which, though they never regularly go off fo -is to have interm.ffions, yet have frequent renditions. Of the num- ber of continent fevers are the ephemera, whether it be ftrifllv diary, or continues more days ; alfo the> K fa, which is called Med 2"-? y "^ ° f emi " cnce - >•*»'» Confp;

CONTINGENCY ofhhoi, in the writers of the laws of Scot-

CONTINUALr^T 1 "! 1 - 7 * bl00d ' *"* Crim - Uw - P- « 8 ' t_UIN LINUAL(C,d.) —Lox-iiKVM pnjnrtimih. When in a

fer.es of quantities, the firft is to the fecond as the fecond .0 fifth Z' * e th n d, t0 thef °« r *' ^d the fourth to the

nnMrnm,! 1 '" Ca ' IcJ '"""""" 'Proportionals.

CON JNUA1 O, in the Italian mufic/is ufed to direft a finder, or player, to continue or hold on a found, in equal ftren^th or manner; or to continue a movement in an equal decree of time all the way. Bnjf. Dift. Muf in voc

CONTINUED (C,,/.) Continues zode, or fide, in arch£ teflure. See Socle, Cyd.

C IfYTtP ( n >AJ r A " ^entmamematician has fi.pl pofed what he calls a law of continuity to obtain in the unf- verfe, by which law every thing that is executed or done in na- ture is done by infinitely fmall degrees. He urges, that good fenfc dictates this truth, nature, n,n ,.peratur per hit um, or~that nothing can pais from one extreme to another, without pafiW through all the intermediate degrees. Bernoulli Opera,Tonf 3. p. 9, feq.

This law terns fubjea to difficulties. Rigouronfly taken, it fup- pofes aflual, and yet infinitely fmall changes, which fome phi- lofophers cannot relifh ; and if we fuppofe changes only im- perceptible tc .our fenles, but finite, the law of cmtinuit,^ no lels v,olated,than if the univerfc were to be fuddenly deftroyed as M. Maupertuis juftly obferves. Mem. del'Acad. de Berlin' I om. 2. p 284. This law of continuity led Mr. Bernoulli to reject all hard-bo-

CnNTmnn e - aS \ an T n, a. turcll y„ im F"»™e. See Hard-M„.

CONTINUO, in the Italian ,nu,,c,is fometimes applied to hallo, o figmfy the thorough bafs Thus haffi conti„u:% the eo& I.ua, or thorough baCs. It ,s Cometimes marked in mufic books by the letters B. C. Graff.,,, Muf. Di& in voc

Contj.vuo is alfo ufed for a fpecies of harmony mentioned by Julius Pollux and wh.ch, fays Zarlino, anfwers to the perpe- tual burden of our hag-pipes, which now and then mult be

CON 1 INUOUs fevers, a term ufed by the medical writers to exprefs fuch fevers as have no intermiffions, but have fome fort of regular remiffions from the violence of their fymptoms eve- ry day. They are thus called by way of diftindtion from the continent fevers, which never have the leaft remiffions Of the number oi cmtinu. us fevers, are the auoti iana canii- nua, and the catarrhal fevers, which are more violent every dav toward evening, and are much more mild in the middle of the day. Junker s Confp. Med. p. 2^2

CONTOP^CT*. K,^„,„, m antiquity, a fort of artifts who fupported a pole on their foreheads fo firmly, that boys could play, dance, and wreftle together on it. Hofm Lex in voc. who quotes St. Chryfoftom.

CONTOR, or Cantor, abirdofPeru, find to be the lameft in the world. With its wings expanded, it meafures 1 6 feet from the tip of the one to the other ; a fingle feather of it is four feet two inches long ; its beak is ftrong enough to tear off the hide, and rip up the bowels of an ox. Two of them will

mSSSV) ' 3nd devourhim - Phil. Tranf. N° 208. p.6r.

CON I RA formam co'.laUor.is, was a writ that lay airainft an ab- bot, or his fuccefibr for him, or his heir, who had given land to an abbey, tor certain good ufes, and found a feoffment made thereon by the abbot, with afli-nt of the tenants, to the dif- inhenlon of the houfe and church. This was founded on the ftatute of Weftm 2. c. 41. See Reg. of writs, fol. 238. and J-ttz. Nat. Br. fol. 210.

Contr A formam Feofamc-ti, a writ that lies for the heir of a te- nant, enfeoffed of certain lands, or tenements-, by charter of feoffment of a lord, to make certain Cervices and fuits to his court, and is afterwards diftrained for more than is contained in the find charter. Reg. of Writs, fol. 17 6. Old. Nat Br fol. 162.

CONTRARY ''Cyd.) - Contr atv propofitions, in logic, uni- verfal propofitions, one of which affirms, and the othe? denies, the fame predicate of the fame fubjedt ; as' every f^are is a pa- raildogram, and m fquare is a parallelogram. Thefe propofi- tions differ ,11 quality, but not in quantity, and therefore are diftinguifhed from contradictory propofitions, which differ in quantity andqual.tv. See Contradict oRy, Cycl. Contrary propofitions cannot be both true, but may both be falfc : whereas, in contradictory propofitions, one is neccffarily true, and the other falfe. . '

S T " V ■#•*"?,.<* fi"j ■■"■ ?« P°"" <f contrary fix*,. CUN I RE queue d Inronde, in fortification. See Qjjeu t. d' arcn-

de, Cycl where queue d' annde is corruptly written for queue

d hronde, or rather, queue i' hircndelle, which is French, and

imports a (wallow's tail. CONTUS, in antiquity, a long fpear, chiefly ufed by the horfe.

fitife. Lex. Ant. in voc.

7 K CON-