Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/560

 C C R

COS

CORYPH/EN./E, in ichthyology, the name of a genus of fiflus of the malacopterygious kind, the characters of which are thefe: the branchiolrege membrane contains on each fide five bones, befide two others which lie under the bony coverings of the gills, and cannot be feen. The fins are ("even in number, one upon the back, reaching from the top of the head to the tail ; the head Is very obtufe at the end, or, as it were, perpendicu- larly declivious from the vertex to the mouth ; the head and body are both fomewhat compreffed.

The fpecics of this genus enumerated by Artedi are thefe : r. The cwyphana with a forked tail. This is the guaracape- ma of the Brazilians ; the h'ppurus of moft authors, and is what we often call the dolphin. Its length is fix or (hven feet ; the pectoral fins have twenty rays each, the ventral have fix ; the rays, or bones in the tail, are eighteen in number, and are ob- long. 2. The fmall coryphana, elegantly variegated, with an acute back. This is the novacula pijeii, and ptjee feftine of au- thors ; the teeth are large and ftand forward ; the tail is broad the eyes are fmall, and are fituated ori the top of the head : the anus rs nearer the head than the tail ; the body is com- prefied, and varioufiy coloured. 3 The coryphana with an even tail, and crooked lateral lines. This is the pompilus of au- thors. Arted'i Gen Pifc. 1 2.

CORYPHE, in medical writers, is ufed for the crown of the head ; as alfo fur the interior extremity of the fingers next the nails. P.lanchard.

CORYZA, {Cycl ) in medicine, a catarrhal affection, confiding in the excretion of a ferous and vifc.?us humor, by the nofe and fauces. Some alfo underftand the fame thing by the word gravedo, making this and the cor\xa fynonymous terms, but improper! y ; for the gravedo is, ftrictly /peaking, a catarrhal af- fection, in which there is no actual excretion of a ferous mat- ter, but only a congeftion of it with ftagnation ; whence it is eafy to conceive, that the fymptoms attending the gravedo, when the matter is confined, are worfe than thofe in the co- ryza, in which it is evacuated. Junfor's Confp. Med.

Signs cfa co-yza. This dileafe is generally preceded by an itch- ing, and by fneczing ; fometimes by what is called a gravedo, a congeftion of matter without excretion ; this is followed by the excretion of a ferous and vifcous matter by the noftrils and mouth, and fometimes by the eyes ; die more thin and acrid this matter is, the more feverely it affects the part through which it is evacuated, fo that fometimes it is attended with a fenfation of pain, and forenefs in them.

Perfonsfubjeft to coryzas and gravedines. Thefe difeafes are very frequent ; and among children, they ufually take their rife in; them from obftructions of perforation, or from fuppreffions ' of urine. Young people, as they grow farther up, are fubject to them from an abundant quantity of the falival matter : and in more advanced years, thofe people fall into them, in whom nature is not able to relieve herfelf, by a haemorrhage : and people of phlegmatic habits, and fleepy difpofitions, are mofti fubject to them.

Caufes of them. The general caufes of thefe defluxions, are the fame with thofe of hemorrhages by the nofe, that is, a con- \ geftion of blood in the head, by means of a difcharge of which, nature meant to relieve herfelf of a plethora : but in thefe j cafes, the blood being very abundant in ferofities, thefe being' the thinner part, are moft eafily thrown out, and fo pafs off alone, leaving the red part behind. Sometimes alfo thefe difeafes are produced by a mere retention of the ferous and lymphatic juices in and about the glands of thefe parts; but this is much more rarely the cafe. The occafional or acci- dental caufes which bring on thefe congeftions and ftagnations, are, the fuppreffion of other evacuations, fuch as habitual and natural diarrhoeas, or the evacuations by purging medicines, which perfons had long accuftomed themfelves to at the fpring and autumn feafons : the cold and moift temperature of the air, or a fudden chilling of the body in a hot and moift place : the leaving off a copious life of tobacco, and the abufe of fnuff, or other fternutatory powders. To this is to be added, every thing that impedes natural perfp'iration, and fometimes fuppreflions of urine.

Progno/lics. The fimple coryza and gravedo are attended with no great danger, not even when they are of long (landing, provided that the conftitution he ftrong and healthy in other refpects. But this is not the cafe in old and weak people ; for in thefe, this continual defluxion upon the head too often brings on vertiginous complaints, and fometimes paralytic, and even apoplectic diforders, orelfeafthma's, and fuffocative catarrhs, are the confequence : and if this matter, focopioufly fecreted from the blood, be thrown upon the lungs, it may occafton enumerations, and even a true phthifis.

Method of cure. This is a difeafe which few people trouble a phyfician about, being ufually left to nature ; but it is, how- ever, in the power of medicine to do great fervice, and, ufually, wholly to remove the complaint ; which, even where it is not attended with danger, is fo far troublefome, as that any -one would wiih to be rid of it. In cafes of a gravedo, a jurt and necefiary excretion of the congefted matter muft be provided for j and this may eafdy be contrived to be made, by lefs troublefome evacuations than thofe to which nature feems to point, and by more convenient outlets ; and by continuing jhis method, the future diftempers of this kind may be antici-

pated and prevented. For the ready difcharge of the matter according to the intent of nature, errhines are to be ufed ; the powders of the cephalic herbs, as thyme, betony, lavender and the like, may be fnuffed up the nofe, and the volatile pungent falts may be fmelled to : by thefe means the mucid humor, which caufed the infarction, will be rendered thin and fitted to difcharge itfelf. After this, it will be proper to give a gentle purge And when the cure is perfected, the re- turn may be prevented by bleeding and purging in fpring and autumn. When the defluxion is very violent, Stahl recom- mends the ufe of gentle diaphoretics, and of a powder com- pofed of cinnabar, and a gentle opiate. In cafes where the matter of a coryza is verv acrid, and there is a violent pain in the head, the external ufe of camphor is of great fervice; it is in this cafe to be applied to the temples ; and the patient mould at the fame time take interfially, powders compofed of nitre and the common abforbents, and diaphoretic antimony, and afterwards mould take fome gentle purges, and frequently bathe the feet in warm water. Junfor's Confp. Med. p. 500, 5°i- Coryza, in infants. See the article Infant. COSCYLIUM, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome of the old writers to the formes, the' true nature of which they did not know, but fuppofed it to be a fort of fcabrous excrefcence, formed of the abundant juices of the tree, and of the nature of the galls on the oak, and other trees. COSENAGE, in law, a writ that lies where the trefail, that is, the tritavus, the father of the befail, or great grandfather, be- ing feized in fee at his death of certain lands, or tenements, dies ; a. ftfanger enters, and abates ; then mail his heir have this writ of cofenagc; the form of which fee in Fitzh. Nat. Br. fol. 221, COSENING, in law, an offence whereby any thing is done de- ceitfully, in, or out of, contracts, which cannot be fitly termed by any efpecial name. Weft. Symbol. P. 2. Tit. Indictment. Sect. 68. In the civil law it is called flellicnatas. See Stel-

LIONATE, Cycl,

COSHERING, in the feudal cuftoms, a kind of right of the lords to lie, and feaft themfelves, and their followers, at their tenant's houfes.

We find this term In Harris's lexicon technicum, and in 7"<7- cobs's law dictionary, which laft quotes Spelman of parliaments MSS. for it. The word cohering may perhaps be derived from the old Englifh cq/he, a cot, or cotage. See Spelm. Gloflj Verb, cofcez,

COSMOLOGY, the fcience of the world in general. This Wolfius calls general, or tranfcendental cofmology, and has writ- ten a treatife on the fubject, wherein he endeavours to explain how the world arifes from fimple fubftances ; and treats of the general principles of the modifications of material things, of the elements of bodies, of the laws of motion, of the perfection of the world, and of the order and courfe of nature. Wolf. Cofmologia generalis, Francfort. & Leipfic. J 731. 4.

COSMOPCEIA. See World.

COSSE and Cossic, is ufed in old writers for algebra. Harris.

Cossf. de genifle, an order of knighthood inftitutcd by Lewis the IX. at his marriage with Margaret of Provence. Hofm. Lex. in voc.

CASSILASO, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the poifonous plant called henbane. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

COSTA canina, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the plantago qui?iquenervia, or narrow- leaved plantain, commonly called ribwort, Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

COST ARUM depreffores proprii, in anatomy, a name given by Douglafs, from Cowper, to what Albinus afKrms to be only that part of the internal intercoftal mufcles which lie neareft the ribs. See Intercostals.

Costarum levatores, a name given by Steno, Morgagni, and others, to the mufcles of the ribs called by Albinus, the leva- tores breviores coflarum, and by others the fupracojlales, the fur coftaux of the French.

COSTIVENESS {Cycl.)— See Obstructio alvi.

Costiveness, in infants. See Infant.

COSTOHYOIDES, in anatomy, a name given by Santorini to one of the mufcles of the mouth now generally called the cora- cohyoidaus.

COSTRANGULA, in botany, a name ufed by fome for the fcrophtdaria,Qt figwort. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

COSTUS (Cycl.) — Costus Arabicus. Mr. Geoffroy has ob- ferved that this root feems to be a fpecies of elecampane ; and that our common elecampane, when plump, well fed, and carefully dried, after it has been kept a long time, ai7ume3 exactly the fmell of the coflus, and wholly differs from the common elecampane roots fold and ufed in the fhops. Me- moires Acad. Scienc. Par. 1740.

Cojlus Arabicus is an attenuant, diuretic, and fudorific ; it is given in obftructions of the menfes, and chronic cafes, arifing from infarctions of the vifcera. Its dofe is from ten grains to half a dram, but is feldom prefcribed fingly.

Costus dulcis, in the materia medica, the name of a root, which being apt to contract a bitternefs in. growing old, is called in that ftate, by many authors, bitter cojlus, and fuppofed a diffe- rent drug. It is the root of the coflus hdicus violts martis odore, called by

3 ' ^