Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/596

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fln're, and confirms the opinion of thefe cryftattine Dews, pro- ducing real cryttals, by the account given of fome places in Italy, where cryftals are, as it is faid, frequently produced in clear evenings by a coagulation of the Dews falling on nitrous fleams. Whatever the cryftals are, which authors feem to fuppofe to have been generated in this manner, it is very certain, that they have in reality another origin ; and thefe are only the accounts of ignorant and inconfiderate people, to give credit to the ftrange and unnatural method here given ior their formation. Philof. Tranf. n° 129,

May-DE\v. See Ros-mayalis.

Orange-Dzw. See Orange.

oWDew. See Ros-folis.

Earth of 'Dew. See the article Earth.

DEX, a name ufed by many Greek writers, for a worm or maggot, hatched of the egg of a beetle, and remarkable for its eroding wood. It is alfo called thrips and enxylon. The old Greeks ufed the pieces of wood eroded by it in various di- rections as feals. See the article Thrips,

DIABATHRA, in antiquity, a kind of fhoe worn by the Gre- cian women. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.

DIABE, in zoology, the name of a prickly Tea fifli of the orbis or globe fifti kind, and in all things refembling the hiftrix or porcupine fifh, except that its fpines or prickies are all fixed into its skin by three infertions. Man-grave's Hift, Braf. I. 4- c. 14.

DIABETES (Cycl.) — In this difeafe the urine is thin and pellu- cid, and has no fediment, and is of a fweetifh tafte ; the quantity voided is always very great; and if the patients en- deavour to retain it, they are afflicted with fwellings about the loins, and afenfationof weight and prefliire in the hypochondria. Perfons fubjccl to the Diabetes. — It is a very rare difeafe, and feems to have been fo in other ages as well as the late ones. Galen exprefsly fays, that he never met with more than two perfons who had it ; the people affected with it are ufually fuch as have diforders of the vifcera in general; and it is often but a fymptomatick affection, arifing from an improper treat- ment of perfons in fevers.

Progno/ikks in it. It is always a very terrible difeafe, but the longer ftanding it is of, the more difficult it is to be cured ; it is not, however, fuddenly of fatal confequence, but the people ufually live fome time with if^ though they in the end generally die tabid, after having been afflicted with it a length of time.

Method of cure. The infarctions of the vifcera, which are the occafion of this, are full to be regarded, and are to be attack- ed with fuch aperients as are not ftrongly diuretick ; of this kind are decoctions of the roots of dandelion, fuccory, poly- pody, and the like; and of the capillary herbs. Pills alfo are to be taken, made of ammoniacum, and the other refolvent gumms, with the bitter extracts ; and inter- changeably with thefe the digeftive neutral falts, fuch as tartarum vitriolatum, and the like : during this courfe, the febrile heat, which always attends this diftemper, is to be ta- ken off by the vegetable acids, fuch as forrel and purfelain, and tincture of roles made in the ufual way. Some recom- mend the teftaceous powders in general ; and others are pecu- liarly lavifh. in the praifes of crawfiih reduced to powder whole, after baking them in an oven. The great difcharge of urine is to be leilened, in the mean time, by gentle laxatives now and then given, fuch as infufions of fenna, rhubaib, and the like ; and finally, if the difeafe goes off, or but remits confiderably of its violence, the chalybeates, and other refto- ratives, are to be given, to reftore the parts to their due ftate. It is a common error to give aftringents in a Diabetes ; for, if they take effect, they too violently conftringe the vifcera, and bring on pains and fwellings in the loins, and not rarely an afcites and death kfelf in the end.

Perfons fubject to this difeafe mould be extreamly careful of themfelves in their regimen ; they mould avoid all hot things, and beware of themfelves that they do not fall into violent pa/lions; they mould feed principally on emulfive and gelatinous diets, to make up for the wafte of flefh that always attends this difeafe. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 540.

Dr. Morgan thinks the tincture of cantharides may almoft be abfolutely depended on for flopping the immediate flow of urine in the Diabetes. The way he prepares his tincture by infufmg half an ounce of cantharides upon a pound of the elixir vitrioli ; of which tincture, from fifteen to thirty or forty drops, may be given twice or thrice a day in Briftol hot well water. Mecan. pradt. of Phyf. p. 114. Dr. Jurin found the chalybeate waters acidulated with the oil of fulphur, very fuccefsful in this diftemper. Med. Elf. E- dinb. Abr. Vol. 2. p, 469.

Allum poifet-drink is alfo faid to be an effectual cure for a Diabetes, Ibid.

DIABOLUS Marinus, the fea devil, in zoology, the name of an ugly and ftrangely ill-maped fifh, of the ray kind. Its nofe or fnout is bifid, and runs out into two horns, and its fides are both terminated by thin fins : its skin toward the head is variegated with dusky fpots. It grows to a very con- fiderable iize, being fome times caught of fix or feven feet long. Ray's Ichthiogr. append, p. 5. See Tab. of Fifties, N° 65.

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DIACAUSTIC. See Caujiic by Refraction.

DlACELTATESSON, in chemiftry, a name given by Van Helmont, to a purging preparation, procured from the fixed flowers of antimony, in the following manner : take eighteen grains of the fixed diaphorctick flowers of antimony, fixteen grains of rofin of fcammony, and feven grains of cream of tartar, make all together into a powder. Or take nine grains of the fixed antimony, nine grains of rofin of fcammony, and three grains of cream of tartar, make them into a fine pow- der. The former is the largeftdofe for a grown perfon, and the latter the leaft ; they are to be taken without any acid ; and if they operate too violently, the violence may be flopped by taking any thing acid: it is to be given in intermittcnts, fo as to finifh its operation immediately before the confine on of the fit: it is faid by the author always to cure quartans before the fourth dofe, and all intermittent and continued fevers.

Boerbaave obferves, that he had often given it with good ef- fects, but never with that great fuccefs which the author af- cribes to it; who fays, that it radically cures the gout and fevers, heals ulcers of the larynx, cefophagus and bladder, and purges the body when in perfect health, but not otherwile. This candid writer obferves, that Helmont feems always to have carried the virtues of his medicines by a fubtilty of rea- foning, beyond what will be found warrantable of them from experience. Boerh. chem. part 2. p. 338.

DIACENTROS, is ufed by Kepler, to fignify the fhorteft dia- meter of the elliptical orbit of any planet.

DIACHALASIS, in the medicinal works of the antients, a term ufed to exprefs a folution of continuity in the bones of the cranium at the futures; that is, when the bones recede from their mutual indentations, an accident that frequently happens from large wounds of the head.

DIACHRISTA, a name given by the antient writers in medi- cine to certain compofitions, whole ufe was to be applied to the fauces, uvula, palate, and tongue, for the abfterfion of phlegm.

DIACODUS, in natural hiflory, a name given by fome to the diadochos, a kind of beryll or fapphire, of which many fabu- lous things are aflerted.

DIACOPE, Aicowyffj in Grammar, the fame with what is otherwife called Tmejjs. See Tmesis, Cycl.

DIADELPHIA, in botany, a clafs of plants with hermaphro- dite flowers, whofe ftamina, by the conjunction of their fila- ments, are formed into two bodies.

The word is formed of the Greek JVs twice, and «JVAf)« com- munities. Among the plants of this clafs are the fumitory, milk-wort, broom, &c.

The characters of the Diadelphia are thefe : the perianthium confifts of one leaf, and is of a bell-like fhape, and gibbous at the bafe : this always falls with the flower. It flands on a pedicle, is obtufe at the top, and carries a drop of honey-like juice at the bafe. Its mouth or rim is divided into five feg- ments, which are fometimes erect, fometimes oblique, and always irregular, and acute. The bottom fegment, which has no fellow, is longer than all the reft ; and the top pair are fhorteft of all, and ftand fartheft afunder. The receptacle of the fructification is inclofed in the bottom, where it is wetted with the drop of honey. The flower is of an irregular fhape, and is of that kind called by authors papilionaceous, from its fomewhat refembling the wings of a butterfly. The feveral parts of thefe flowers have their feparate names ; a right un- derftanding of which is neceflary, in order to the comprehend- ing the meaning of the defcriptions authors give of them. Thefe names are vexillum, alas, and carina. See Tab. 1. of Botany, Clafs 1. Linncsi Gen. Plant, p. 335. The vexillum is a large incumbent petal, which covers the others, and ftands in a plane horizontal direction, and has its upper unguis inferted into the margin of the receptacle or cup ; in that part of it which is out of the cup it approaches to a roundim figure, and is ufually undivided, or very lightly fo, and has efpecially near the apex, a line or ftreak in the center, which ftands up above the level of the reft of the petal, and the petal looks as if deprefTed downwards: that part of this petal which is neareft the bafe, approaches to a femi-cylindric figure, and is then affixed within the cup. The disk of this petal is deprefTed on each fide, but the two fides are turned a little upwards near the edges.

In that part where the tubular part of this petal ends, to give place to its expanfion into the body ; there are two concave impreflions toward the back, which appear fomewhat promi- nent at their lower extremity, and ferve to comprefs the alas that ftand under them.

The alse, in thefe flowers, are two equal petals, a resular pair, and placed under the vexillum, one on each fide of the flower : thefe are incumbent at the edges, and placed perpendicularly at the fides, and are of a roundifh, but fome- what oblong figme, broader in the outer part than in the inner ; their upper rim is ftrait and thin, their lower fomewhat inclined toward a circular figure : the bafe of each is bifid, and the lower fegment is carried on into an unguis much longer than the other, and is inferted into the fide of the receptacle.

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