Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/581

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coloured, an J fnining; and the peritoneum is of a fdVery colour. 17. The cyprinus with all the fins black, and with twenty-feven bones in the pinna ani. This is the common iream, the brama of authors ; the back rifes up in the ante- rior part, and before the pinna dor/alts is acute ; the belly alio is acute near the anus. 18. The five inch cyprinus, with twenty bones in the pinna ani. This is the albumus of authors, called by us the bleak ; the lower jaw in this fiih. is fomewhat longer than the upper; the fins are all white. 19. The cyprinus with the lower jaw longer than the upper, and turned up at the point, with fifteen bones in the pinna ani. This is the fifh called by the Swedes, the afp ; it is two cr three foot long; the hack is convex all the way, the lateral line crooked, and the belly fins, and pinna ani fomewhat redifb. Artedi Gen. Pifc. 4. The cyprinus nobilis, or carp, is a we'll known pond-fifh, of the leather-mouthed kind, and confequently has no teeth, but, in their place it has a fiat, triangular bone in the palate, and, over againft it, in the lower part of the mouth, two dentated bones bending toward the throat. It has properly no tongue, but nature has, in the place of one, given it a flefliy palate, which, when taken out, is fo very like a tongue, that it lias -deceived not only the vulgar, but even many very good naturalifts, into the opinion that it was one. The carp is almoft always breeding, and the belly of the female is continually filled With fpawn ; they multiply prodigioufly, and are found, like eels, in new ponds, and in lakes caufed by rains, whofe waters have no communi- cation with thofe of any other lake, or river, though none were ever put there; hence fome have pretended to argue from experience, that they were produced without the af- fiftance of parents of the fame kind. Ray's Ichthyography, p. 246.

'I he name cyprinus is originally Greek, and is derived from the word Kumpu, the name of the goeklefs Venus, and was given to this fiili to exprefs its being very much addicted to ve-

• nery, and producing a very numerous offspring.

Cyprinus lotus, the broad carp, in zoology, a name given by many authors to the common bream, if'i.lugbby '$ Hift. Pifc. p. 24S. See Brama.

CYPRIUS /apis, a kind of adamant brought from Cyprus, with which the antients ufed to perforate other gems. Hofm. Lex. in voc.

CYPRUS (Cycl.) — Cyprus bi>-d, in zoology, a common name for the aincapilla, or black cap, a very (mall bird well known in England, and much more plentiful in the ifland of Cyprus, where it is efteemed a very delicate .bird at ta- ble. Hay's Ornithol p 16;.

Cyprus wood, in the materia medica, a name given by fome^ authors to the rofc-wood, becaufe much of" it is brought from, the ifland of Cyprus.

CYRBASIA, KvfGo^i-) among the Greeks, "2 kind of caps with high tops* in form of a cone, whfch^were worn by the priefts. See Hofm. Lex. in voc,

CYROCEPHALUS, in botany, the name given by fome au- thors to the antirrhinum, the calves' s fnout, or' ' fnap-dragon. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

CYST, (Cycl ) in furgery, the bag, or membrane, in which an encyfted tumor of the fteatomatous, atheromatous^ or far- comatous kind, is included. In the extirpating thele tu- mors, if, by neglect, or accident, the cyii, or any oinfider- able part of it be left behind, the tumor will not fail to return. Indeed, if the tumor be a fchirrus, the contents are hard enough to make a clear extirpation of it, notwith- fhnding its including coats be wounded : but when the matter of the tumor is foft, or fluid, by its efcaping the tumor w.ll become flaccid ; fo that it will be hardly pof- fible to make a clesr extirpation of the c\ft, without leaving fome fragments of it behind, which muff, in that cafe, be brought away afterwards by fuppuratives, digeftives, and a proper treatment ; and when the fiuus is, by this means, cleared, the wound may be fafely healed, without any dan- ger of the return of the complaint. Hei/ler's Surgery, P- 327.

CYSPIS, (Cycl.) in botany, a name by which many of the antient Greek authors have called the alkehngi, or winter cherry. It had this 'name cyflis from the remarkable cha- racter of its fruit being contained in a fkinny bladder, or bag. It was generally, however, called halicaccabum.

CYTHINGN, in botany, a name given by the antient Greeks, to the yellow wood called alfo t- apfmn, and chryfoxykn, a wood ufed in dying cloths, and by the ladies, in tinging their hair yellow, the favourite colour of thofe times. It was called alfo Scytb'iLum lignum, Scythian wood, from the country whence it was brought; and from this lalf. name it is eafy to deduce the name cythinon. The old Greeks often wrote cythinon for Scythio.n, and the leaving cut the initial f, which was a common pra£tice among them, re- duces this word to Snthinon, the name before us Familiar inltances of this practice occur to us in the words ?m!ax, for jm'daxy maragdus for fmaragdus, &c.

CYTISOGENISTA, in botany, breom-cytifus, the name of a ge- nus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the leaves Suppl. Vol. I. ?

CYT

and flowers agree partly with the broom, and partly with \h£ cyiifus, but the leaves are placed on the {talks, fometime^ fingly, fometimes in a trifoliate order.

1 he fpecies^ of cytifo genijia enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe: 1. The common, yellow-flowered, befom cytifo-gc- nijla, called common broom. 2. The white-flowered, com- mon broom eytifus. 3. The Portugal, myrtle-leaved, broom eytifus, with woolly pods. And, 4 The Portugal, broom eytifus, with very birgc flowers. Town. Inft. p. 649.

CYTiSUS, Jbrub trefoil, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the charaders of which are thefe : the flower is of the papilionaceous kind; from its cop there arifes a piftil, which finally becomes a flat pod, which feparatcs, when ripe, into two parts, and is full of oblong feeds. The leaves itand three on e„ery ffalk.

Thefpecies of eytifus enumerated by Mr Tournefort are thefe: 1. The common, hairy eytifus 2. The hairy cytifm with longer pods. 3. The hairy eytifus, with purplifh; yel- -low flowers. 4. The fmall-leaved eytifus, with tender, hai- ry flalks. 5- The eytifus with roundiih, fmooth leaves* ftandmg on very fhort pedicles. 6; The green, fmooth ey- tifus. 7. The blackifh, fmooth eytifus. 8. The hoary cyii- fus, with narrow and complicated leaved, g. The broad- leaved, Alpine cytifas, with a pendulous, cluftery fl ,wer. jo. The variegated-leaved, Alpine eytifus, with a pendulous, cluftery flower n. The narrow- leaved, Alpine eytifus, with a long, pendulous, cluftery flower. 12. The Alpine eytifus^ with a fhort, pendulous, cluftery flower. 13. The purple- flowered, fpiked eytifus. 14. The filvery, African eytifus^ with blackifh, purple flowers. 15. The prickly eytifus. 16. The dwarf, filvery, narrow-leaved 9 tifus. 17. '1 he very fmall, vifcous cytijut. i 8. The flax-leaved, filvery c\tifus. 19. The medic-leaved, Montpelier eytifus, with hairy, and very thick-fet pods. 20. The tall, Spanifh eytifus, with ana- gyris leaves, and tufted flowers. 21. The dwarf, Spanifh eytifus, with glommerated flowers. 22. The medic-leaved, Portugal eytifus, with flowers ftanding in the aire of the leaves. 23. The Portugal cytifw, with very fmall, filvery leaves, and fmall white flowers. z<f. The Portugal eytifus; with little leaves, large flowers, and broad, and woolly pods^ 25. The narrow-leaved, hairy, African cyti/us. 26. The prickly, American cytfus, with yellow flowers ftanding; in the alee of the leaves. 27. The fhrubby, American, filky- leaved eytifus. Tourn. Inft. p, 648.

We have feveral fpecies of this plant cultivated in the gar- , dens of the curious, where fome fpecies make a very aoree-

I able figure, as they grow to be eight or ten feet high, and in May are beautifully loaded with long firings of yellow flowers.

They are al! propagated by fowing their feeds, which they afford in_ great plenty, in March, on a bed of good, frefh, light earth, fifting over the feeds about half an inch of fine "mould: in a month's time the plants will come up; they muff, be kept clear from weeds, and watered at times, if the feafon prove dry. They fhould remain in the feed bed, till the March following, when they fhould be removed into nur- fery beds at a foot diftance, in rows three feet afunder : here they muff be watered, and their roots mulched till they are thoroughly rooted, and then the ground kept clear from ail weeds. They mould remain here three years, and be then removed to the places they are to remain, in October, or eLfc in February.

The antient botanifts evidently were acquainted with two ve- ry different fhrubs, under the name cyiifus; and there have been no fmall errors about the true meaning of feveral paflages in Diofcorides and Thcophraltus, on occafion of the miltaking one of thefe things for another. Diofcorides defcribes the cytijus, as being afhrub with leaves white and hoary, both on the upper and under fide, and of no ufe, or value, to mankind : as to its wood, Pliny tranf- lates this account, and add", to it from Hyginus, that it was a very hardy, and ftrong flirub, not being affe&ed by heat, or cold, fnow, or hail, or any other injuries of the wea- ther, nor of its enemies, as Pliny expreffes it, (hojlium.) It is not very eafy t>> conceive what enemies thefe fhould be ; but the molt probable conjecf. ure, as to this odd paf- fage, is, that Pliny had tranferibed it in his ufual carelefs way, and that what is called hojlium fliould be the word n-flra?n.

The fenfe then is clear enough ; the author had juft before faid that the wood was good for no ufe to mankind ; and therefore, when he was fpea'dng of the trees (landing a long time, and fearirig the injurie of no weather, he might very well add, nor of us ; for the wood being good for nothing, men would not be at the trouble of cutting it up.

- It is plain, however, that Thcophraltus means quite a different fhrub by this name eytifus ; for, as Diofcorides fays that the wood of his was white throughout, and very light, Theo- phraftus obferves, that it was black at the heart, and ::s heavy and folid as ebony ; and, in many places, where he fpeaks of the hard and elegant woods ufed f r inlaying, he mentions the eytifus wood, coupling it with the ebony, hear* of oak, and other the hardefl's and molt elegant woods known inhis time. 7 S — 3 Z Pliny