Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/610

 D I S

D I S

who had talents and opportunities for the proper examinations. Sylvaticus, an Italian author, has given an excellent fet of rules for the difcovery of thefe frauds, and all others of pre- tended fickneffes, to which we refer the curious reader.

Diseases of infants. See Infants.

Peflilential Diseases. See Pestilential.

Soporous Diseases. See Soporous.

Diseases of Trees. See Distemperature.

DIS-ERGOT, in the manege. See Ergot.

DISGORGE, in the manege, is ufed for difcufling or difperfing an inflammation or fwelling : thus if a horfe's legs are gorged or fwelled, wc fay he muff, be walked out to dijgorge them.

DISGUISE.— Perfons doing unlawful acts in difguife are by our ftatutes fometimes fubjected to great penalties, and even decla- red felons. Thus perfons convicted of hunting in difguife in forefts, parks, or warrens, or of unlawful hunting in the night, are to fuffer as felons *. But the principal act of par- liament in this refpect is that commonly called the Black-Act, which makes appearing difguifed and armed in a forefi, or grounds inclofed, or hunting deer, or robbing a warren, or taking away fifh, felony \ The concealers of fuch offenders are alio made guilty of felony e. There are alfo rewards of 50/. appointed for thofe who fhall be wounded in apprehend- ing the offenders; and if a man be killed in fo doing, the re- ward goes to his executors or adminiftrators d. Profecutions on this act may be commenced within three years, and the trial may be in any county c. [* Stat. 1 Hen. 7, c. 7. b See the Stat. 9 Geo. 1. c. 22. §. 1. c lb. §. 5. d lb. §. 12. «Ib. §. 13, 14.]

DISH, (Cyd.) in mining, is a trough made of wood, about 28 inches long, 4 inches deep, and 6 inches wide ; by which all miners meafure their ore. If any be taken felling their ore, not firft meafuring it by the bar- matter's -D^S, and paying the king's duties, the feller forfeits his ore, and the buyer forfeits for every fuch offence forty (hillings to the lord of the field, or farmer. Houghton's compl. miner, p. 15, and in the explan. of the terms.

DISLOCATION {Cycl) — We have an inttrument of Mr. Freke's invention for the reduction of dijlocated fhoulders, de- fcribed in the Philofophical Tranfactions, N Q 470.

DISPART, in gunnery, is ufed for the fetting a mark on the muzzle-ring of a piece of ordnance, or thereabouts ; fo that a fight-line taken upon the top of the bafe-ring againft the touch-hole, by the mark fet on or near the muzzle, may be parallel to the axis of the concave cylinder. The common way of doing which, is, to take the two diameters of the bafe- ring, and of the place where the Difpart is to ftand, and di- vide the difference between them into two equal parts, one of which will be the length of the Difpart, which is let on the gun with wax or pitch, or fattened there with a, piece of twine or marlin: but an inftrument may be made to do it to all poflible nicety.

DISPERSION {Cyd.) — Dispersion of Inflammations, in medicine. The grand intention in the treatment of all inflammations fhould be to open fuch fmall vefiels as are obftructed, and to re- ftore the blood to its natural confiftence and free circulation ; and this is com monly term'd in furgery the refolution or difperfion of tumors. When incafesof thiskind the inflammatory figns are but gentle, it is always beft immediately to fet about the dif- perfing the tumor. If the caufe of the inflammation is ex- ternal and obvious, as thorns, fplinters, bullets, or any other

- foreign body ftuck in the part, this is to be immediately remo- ved, if that can be done with fafety. So when the inflam- mation proceeds from too tight a bandage in wounds, &c. or from a luxation or fracture, the firft thing to be done is to loofen the bandage, to fet the fracture, or to reduce the luxa- tion. It is after this very proper to open a vein in the arm, and after that to give a brisk but not heating purge ; and if the fymptoms do not abate, this method is to be repeated at proper intervals. Internal medicines which are watery, dilu- ting, cooling, and attenuating, do great fervice on thefe oc- ca lions.

A proper regimen is alfo to be obferved in regard to diet : all aliments that are of difficult digeftion, all pickled or falted meats, and all fpices and fermented liquors, with every thing elfe that may tend to heat and inflame the blood, are to be carefully avoided. The mod proper aliments are broths, and drinks made of pearl barley, oats, or flower. Decoctions of all the cooling plants, as forrel, endive, &c. mixed with fmall quantities of lemon juice, or any other of the vegetable acids ; and when the inflammation is great, a little nitre fhould be added to thefe drinks. Nor is there lefs care required about the external applications; for though fome to appeafe inflam- mations ufe only heating medicines, and others only coolino- ones, yet either fort if applied at random, and in all cafes, may prove pernicious, for one medicine can never in thefe cafes ferve for all conftitutions. To perfons of a hot temperament the cooling external remedies are in thefe cafes to be applied. Of this kind are the litharge vinegar applied warm on linnen rags folded together, or hot vinegar mixed with red lead, or with bole armoniac, and applied in the fame manner; oroxy- irate, or vinegar and water mixed in equal quantities ; or of

any of thefe liquors may be taken fix ounces, and to this an ounce of common fait, and two ounces of either nitre or fat armoniac being added, and with this mixture linnen rags ma- ny times doubled, and applied wet to the part, will be of g reat fervice. In the night time alfo, when thefe applications can- not fo conveniently be renewed, a platter of the red lead or other cooling one, may be of no fmall ufe. This is the proper method in hot conftitutions; but, on the contrary, j n cold and phlegmatic ones, fpirit of wine alone, or camphora- ted fpirit, or either of thefe with an admixture of a fmall quantity of Venice treacle, are very fuccekful remedies for the Difperfion of inflammations, being applied on hnnen cloths doubled in the fame manner; fo alfo is fpirit of wine mixed with lime-water, or even lime-water alone, or Hungary-wa- ter with lapis calarainaris, cerufs, fal armoniac, or bole arme- nic, or a mixture of a pint of rectified fpirit of wine with two ounces of Caftile foap. This laft applied warm is hardly fecond to any medicine in thefe intentions. Decoctions of wormwood, mint, favin, fouthernwood, and other fuch herbs made with falt-water or lime-water, are alfo very good exter- nal applications ; and to thefe may be added when ncceffary, either camphorated fpirit of wine, or Caftile foap: and not only the decoction of thefe herbs, but the herbs themfelves when boiled may be applied as a cataplafm, with great fuccefs, Heifler's Surgery, p. 181.

DISPROVING, in rhetoric. See Refutation.

DISSIPATION {Cyd.) — Circle of Dissipation, in optics, is ufed for that circular fpace upon the retina, which is taken up by one of the extreme pencils of rays iffuing from an object. To underftand which, it is to be obferved, that when the di- ftance of an object from the eye is too fmall, or too great, for perfect or diftinct vifion, the rays of each pencil iffuing from the object cannot be united at a point on the retina, but be- yond it, or before they arrive at the retina; confeqtiently the rays of each pencil will occupy a circular fpace upon the reti- na ; and this circle is called the circle of Diffpation, becaufe the rays of a pencil, inftead of being collected into a central point, are diflipated all over this circle.

The confederation of the circles of Dijfipation formed by the rays coming from the extremities of objects, is of ufe to ac- count for feveral curious phenomena of vifion. See the article Moon, and Dr. Jurin's EJfay on dijlin£l and mdijlina vifion, at the end of Dr. Smith's Optics.

Radius of Dissipation, the radius of the circle of Difftpation.

DISTANCE {Cyd.) — Dijlance, according to an ingenious au- thor, cannot of itfelf and immediately be feen. For Dijlance being a line directed endwife to the eye, it projects only one point in the fund of the eye, which point remains invariably the fame, whether the Diflance be longer or fhorter. Dr. Berkeley, Effay on Vifion.

A late eminent mathematician a obferves, that the Dijlance here fpoken of, is Diflance from the eye ; and that what is faid of it mutt not be applied to Diflance in general. TheapparentZV- Jlance of two ftars is capable of the fame variations as any other quantity or magnitude. Vifible magnitudes conftft of parts into which they may be refolved as well as tangible mag- nitudes, and the proportions of the former may be afligned as well as thofe of the latter ; fo that it is going too far to tell us, that vifible magnitudes are no more to be accounted the object of geometry than words; and that the ideas of fpace, outnefs, and things placed at a diftance, are not, ftrictly fpeaking, the object of fight ; and are not otherwife perceived by the eye than by the ear. a Mr. Maclaurin in his account of Sir Ifaac Newton's difcoveries, p. 225.

Apparent Distance. See the article Apparent.

DISTEMPER, among phyficians. See Disease.

DISTEMPERATURES of Trees.— Some of thefe are in the tree itfelf, and others in the foil and other things about it. Of the laft kind are weeds, which are of the utmoft ill confequence to all forts of trees while young, and fhould be pulled up by hand after rain ; if they are too ftrong rooted for this, they muft be dug up ; and this will have a double advantage, as the ftirring the earth about their roots will do the trees very great good. When the trees are grown to any tolerable height, they require no care about weeds, for they kill them with their own dropings. Suckers are another Diflemperature of trees arifing from the tree itfelf: they muft be pulled off, or cut up clole to the plac« where they come out, opening the earth to come at them there. Over-much wet often is a very great prejudice to trees, and efpecially to thofe kinds which naturally love a dry foil. This is to be remedied by cutting drains : and if a drip fret the body of the tree by the head (which will certainly decay it) the place muft be firft cut finooth, and then fome loam or clay, mixed well with horfe-dung, is to be applied to the place, which will defend it from mifchief till a new bark is formed over it. All wounds made in trees in winter are much harder to cure than thofe made in fummer ; and for thefe it is proper to add fome tallow to the mixture of loam and dung. When trees are bark-bound, which is eafily feen by the unna- tural tightnefs and ftraining of the bark over them, it is to be remedied by cutting through the bark with a knife from the top to the bottpm of the tree. This may fecm a dangerous

remedy