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pleafure, and that under this is placed the tongue of the crea- ture. Jrijlotle.

It is plain, from this, that the author meant by the epicalym- ma, that fmall oval inelly fubftance, placed at the head of the filh, which we call the operculum, and with which it fhuts up the mouth of the ihell, when it retires into it. This oper- culum may be at any time feen in the common wilk, while frefh. And as this is the original author who ufed the word, we are always to underftand the operculum to be meant by it, if the author, who ufes it himfelf, knew what was its true fenfe.

EPICATJMA, in medicine, a crufty ulcer that fometimea happens to the black of die eye.

EPICHIROTONIA, among the Athenians. It was ordained by Solon, that once every year the laws mould be carefully re- vifed, and examined ; and if any of them were found undata- ble to the prefent ftate of affairs, they fhould be repealed ; This was called swtjj^tpofwia tu» vopm, from the manner of giving their fufFrages, by holding up their hands. See a farther account of this cuftom. in Pott. Archseol. Grsc. 1. I. c. 26. T. 1. p. 142.

EPICHORDIS, in anatomy, a name given, by fome, to the mefentery.

EP1CLEROS, Em*x*i f ©., among the Athenians, a daughter that had no brothers, and therefore inherited her father's whole eftate. Pott. Archseol. Graec. 1. 1. c. 24. T. 1. p. 127.

EPICRANIUM, in anatomy, a name given, by Albinus, to the flefhy covering of the head, divided by authors into feve- ral different mufclcs. The head is covered with a thin coat ; the hinder parts of this coat are called the occipital mufclcs, and the forepart the frontal mufclcs.

EPICRASIS, in medicine, is a gradual evacuation of ill hu- mours in the blood.

EPICRISIS, 'Eorfxpistf, in rhetoric, a clear and brief declara- tion of the fpeaker's judgment, concerning the fubjecf in hand : Thus, ego fie flatus, in optima imperatore quatmr has res inejfs oportere, &c. Voff. Rhet. 1. 6. p. 495.

EPICYEMA, a word ufed, by Hippocrates, to fignify a fcetus, or a falfe conception, or mole coming on after the conception of a former or regular feel us.

EPIDAURIA, Itafevpf*, in antiquity, a fcflival celebrated by the Atheniansj in honour of Efcufapius. Hofm. Lex. in voc.

EPIDELOS, a word ufed, by Hippocrates, for a youth in the time of his growth, from the age of kven to that of fourteen. The fame author alfo ufes it in a very different fenfe, expref- fmg by it the obfervable days in a difeafe, fuch as the fourth, eighth, and eleventh, which indicate what fort of crifis is to be reafonably expected on the great critical day.

EPIDEMIA, Ewtfapia, in antiquity, private feftivals, and times of rejoicing, when a friend, or a relation, had returned from a journey. Pott. Archseol. Graec. 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1.

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Epidemia Apollinh, a Delphian feftival, in memory of a journey of Apollo. Potter, loc. cit.

EPIDENDRA, in natural hiftory, a word ufed by Sir Hans Sloan, and fome authors befide, to exprefs thofe plants which grow upon others, fuch as the mifletoe, which grows upon the apple-trees, &c. Thefe are more commonly diftin- guifhed by the name of parafitical plants.

EPIDICASIA, E«ri&x«crta, among the Athenians— Daughters inheriting their parents eftate, were obliged to marry their neareft relation j which gave occafion to perfons of the fame family to go to law with one another, each pretending to be more nearly allied to the heirefs, than the reft. The fuit was called EmtauwMtf &**), and the virgin, about whom the relations contefted, Swiftx®*. Pott. Archaeol. Graec. 1. 1. c. 24. T. 1. p. 147.

EPIDROMUS, in the ancient (hipping, a fail near the ftern, which was the largeft but one in the fliip. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.

EPIGLOUTIS,. a word ufed, by fome of the old writers in medicine, to exprefs the upper part of the buttock.

EPIGONATIS, a name given, by foms anatomifls, to the patella. See Patella.

EPIGONION, nmyowt, a mufical inftrument among the an- tients, with forty firings. Mem. Acad. Infcript. Vol. 5. P- 167.

EPIGRAPHES, B*iyp«ftKj among the Athenians, officers that rated all thofe of whom taxes and contributions were re- quired, according to every man's ability, kept the public ac- counts, and profecuted futh as were behind-hand with their contributions. Petter, Ajrchaeol. Grace 1. 1. c. 14. T. 1. p. 81.

EPILEPSEY {Cycl.)—Hofman extols the ufe of ambergreafe in this diforder. Oper. Tom. 3. Sect. I. c. 1. §• 4- as alfo of mufk, ib. §. 9. He recommends alfo the fpirit of hartihorn, or of ivory, either ilmple or fuccinated. The decoctions of the woods, guaiacum, falfafras, fantals, &c. are alfo ufeful, ib. §. 4. He advifes great caution in the ufc of opiates, in cafes of children, and weak perfons. Ib. Cautel. Pract. §. 5.

EPILESMON, a term ufed, by the old writers in medicine, to exprefs lofs of memory. Suppl. Vol. 1.

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EPIMEDIUM, Barrenwort y in the Linnaean fyftem of bo- tany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The cup is a four-leav'd perianthium, the leaves of which are oval, obtufe, hollow, and fet wide open ; they are fmall, and are not placed alternately, under the petals of the flower, but one immediately under each. Thefe fall with the flower. The flower is compofed of four petals, of an ob- tufe oval form, fomewhat hollowed, and fpread open. It has alio four nectaria, formed like fo many fmall cups ; thefe are obtufe at the bottom, and of the breadth of the petals on which they lean. They are affixed to the receptacle at their rims. The ftamina are four pointed filaments, applied clofe to the ftyle; the antherae are oblong, erect, and contain each two cells, they are bivalve and fpUt longitudinally. The - germen of the piftillum is long, the ftyle fhorter, and reach- ing to the length of the ftamina ; the ftigma is iimple. The fruit is an oblong, pointed pod, compofed of one cell, but divided by two valves ; the feeds are very numerous and ob- long. Linnaus, Genera Plant, p. 47. There is only one known fpecies of this genus, which is thus characterized by Tournefort : The flowers confift of four leaves, difpofed in form of a crofs ; thefe are all tubulated. The piftil arifes from the cup, and, at length, becomes a pod unicapfular, and compofed of two valves. Town. Inft. p. 232.

EP1MELIS, a name given, by the old writers in medicine, to a fpecies of medlar, or, as fome will have it, to a kind of fummer apple.

EPIMETRON, in antiquity, an allowance given the tax- gatherers in the Roman provinces, over and above the juffc quantity of wine or grain they were obliged to furniih. The Epimetron^ or over-meafure, in different provinces, was dif- ferent, being always greater in thofe that were remote, than in the nearer provinces. The different kinds of things wherein it was given, made likewife a difference in the quan- tity allowed. The rcafon of allowing an Epimetron, or over- meafure, was to make good the leakage of the wine, and wafte of grain, that would neceJuuily happen by tranfporting it to Rome. Pitifc. in voc.

The provinces whefe taxes were converted into money, and paid in fpecie, were free from the Epimetron. Id. ibid.

EPIMORIOS, an epithet given, by Galen, to certain differences in the pulfes, with refpedt to their inequality as to the time of their beating. All times, rythms, or modulations of the pulfe, according to number, confift, he obferves, of equal, or unequal proportions. Of equal, when the time of the diftention is equal to that of contraction ; and of unequal, when the one of thefe exceeds the other ; and this inequality may be from certain or uncertain exceflcs The certain ex- ceflcs may be either in multiple proportion, or as number to number, which is the epimorion.

EPIMULIS, a name given, by fome anatomifls, to the patella, or knee-pan.

EPIMYTHION, E«>j*v0w, in rhetoric. See Fable, Cycl

EPINENEUCOS, in the old writers of medicine, a word ufed to denote a fort of unequal pulfe, beating differently in the different parts of the fame artery ; as when it rifes ftrongly againft the two middle fingers of the phyfician who feels it, and weaker at the extreams ; this fort of pulfe is defcribed by Galen as common to hectic patients, and is called alfo perine- neucos.

EPINEPHELOS, in the writings of the antient phyficians, a term ufed to exprefs the cloudy matter feen floating in the urine in fevers, &c.

EPINEUX des Lombes, in anatomy, a name given by Winflow, and fome other of the French authors, to certain fmall muf- clcs of the loins, not mentioned by the old anatomifls ; but called, by Albinus, inter fpinalis iumborum^

EPINYCTIS, in the writings of the antient phyficians, a term ufed to exprefs a fort of malignant puftule, which commonly breaks out in the night. It is ufually of about the bignefs of a large pea, and is fometimes white, fometimes black, ac- cording te the nature of the humour it contains, and always has a violent inflammation all round it, when it is opened there is an efflux of fanies, and a mucous exulceration is found within ; it is attended with violent pain, and ufually breaks out in the upper parts of the body. This is the account Cel- fus gives of the Epinyciis ; but Paulus and Aetius underftand it rather to be a puftule, which gives no great pain in the day, but is very troublefomc in the night. Both accounts, how- ever, may be right, and it may both firft appear, and be raoft painful in bed.

EPiPACTIS, in botany, anameufod, by fome, for the helle- borine, or wild, or baftard black hellebore. Rondeletius aifo ufes the fame word as the name of the herniaria, or rupture- wort. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

EPIPEDOMETRY, in mathematics, fignifies the meafuring of figures that ftand on the fajne bafe. Harris.

EPIPETRON, in botany, a name given, by Thcophraftus and Ariftotle, to a plant, fuppofed by many to be the fame with the empetrum of Diofcorides. But there is great reafon to doubt whether the Epipeiron of the two older authors be the fame plant ; and whether, if they mean two different plants by this name, either of them agree with the empetrum of Diof- 10 1 corids^.