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The ahtfents ufed chaff of wood to mix with their powders, in the Epitbems of the coarfer kind, and cotton in thofe which were finer. Among the dry Epitbems is alfo to be ac- counted the ufe of a bag of hot fend. This is of fingular fer- vice where heat is to be retained a longtime; and fometimes the liquid Epitbems are added to this, its heat being of power to throw them much farther in, than they otherwife would reach. The bags in which any of thefe dry Epitbems arc put, muft not be filled hard, but only the matter muft be lightly put in, that tbty may remain pliaqt and fbungy. Some make the bags, for dry Epitbems, of filk, and fome of woollen Cloth ; but linen, which has been much worn, is greatly preferable on all occafions. The figure of the bag is to be accommodated to the part it is to be applied to, and the in- tention it is to anfwer. For the head, it is commonly made in the form of a hood ; for the forehead, fquare ; for the heart, pyramidal ; for the ftomach, in form of a fbield ; for the liver, in form of a crefcent ; and for the fpleen, in fhape of an ox's tongue. When the bags are fmall, it is fuificient to fow up the end, when the matter is put in ; but when they are large, they muft be fewed acrofs in fcvcral places, in the manner of quilting, to keep the matter equally diftributed. When they are thus prepared, they are to be applied either alone, being firft warmed, or moiftened with any proper li- quor. Pigeons applied to the feet are alfo properly a fort of Epitbem. Volatile Epithem, Epithema volatile, a form of medi- cine prefcribed in the late London pharmacopoeia, and or- dered to be made of equal weights of common turpentine and fpirit of fal armoniac. The turpentine is to be kept con- tinually ftirring in a mortar, and the fpirit gradually dropt in, till the whole is reduced to a white mafs. The fpirit of fal armoniac, ufed in this mixture, muft not be that made in the common way ; with the addition of quick lime, but with the alkali fait. Pembcrton's London Difp.

EPITHESIS, in furgery, a word ufed, by fome writers, to ex- prefs the reducing, or rectification, of crooked limbs, by means of proper instruments.

EPITHRiCADIA, Je«nfi f i*«&a 3 in antiquity, a fcftival in honour of Apollo. Potter.

EPI THYME, Epithymum (Cycl.)— Many of the writers of the middle ages have fallen into great errors about this plant, defcribing it in their writings as a kind of thy mum, or thyme, different from the common fpecies, but not at all underftanding that it was a plant of a wholly different kind, and that had no fort of Connection with the thyme, other than its growing on that plant, as the plant itfelf does on the earth. ■ Some have fuppofed from this, that they meant an herb different from our epithymum, and that though the dod- der, or cufcuta, growing on thyme, be now called epithy- mum, yet, in other ages, a peculiar fpecies of thyme itfelf was called by this name. To this- it is eafily anfwered, that the virtues of thyme are corroborative, carminative, and cordial, and that thefe muft take place in all fpecies of thyme, one as well as another ; and that the virtues of cuf- cuta, or dodder, are cathartic and cholagogue ; and that thefe alfo muft take place in dodder, grow it on what plant it will. Now the authors who defcribe epithymum as a kind of thyme, ftill give it the virtues of a cathartic, and particu- larly a purger of bilious humours, and not one of thofe of the thyme itfelf : It is evident, from hence, that their defcription was bad, and that their epithymum, was the fame with ours, tho' they feem never to have feen it. It is to be obferved, that, in all thefe falfe defcriptions, the terms are very exactly the fame. They all fay it was more hard and woody than the common thyme, and approached to the nature of thymbra. This ihews that they are all co- pied one from another, and the original we can trace up to an author, whom it grieves one to cenfure on fuch an occafion, no lefs than DiofcoriJes being at the head of it. It is evi- dent that this author had no knowledge of any fuch plant as cufcuta, or dodder, growing on the feveral other vegetables, on which fome of his predeceflors had found it, and prefcribed it in medicine. The dodder growing on the pheos, or fteebe, a prickly flirub of Crete, ufed by the fullers, was called, by the old writes*, epipheos and epiftaebe. Diofcorides has writ- ten it hippopheus, the very name of the larger fpecjes of pheos, and yet has given it the purging virtues of cufcuta ; and, in the fame manner, he has defcribed the epithymum as a kind of thyme, more fhrubby than the others, and refembling thymbra. Thefe are his exprefs words, as well as thofe of later writers ; yet he has given this alfo its proper virtues, as dodder, faying, that it is a purge and a cholagogue, and thus has proved that he meant our cufcuta, though he has-deicribed it in fo very improper a manner.

Epithymum, in medicine. See Dodder.

EPITROCHASMUS, E-s^o^a^©-, in rhetoric, a figure wherein wc (lightly pafs over feveral things of great moment, by only mentioning them in general, Such is the faying of Casfar, veni, vidt 3 vid. And the following paflagc of Vir- gil, &n. 4.

' ' "Fates in caflra tuliffem,

Implejfemque faros flammis, mtumque patremqne Cum genere exjiinxem, memet fttper ipfa dediffem.

Vejf. Rhet. 1. 5. p. 374,

EPIZEUXIS, B*»$0$« 9 in rhetoric, a figure where the fame word is repeated, without any others intervening : Thus, age, age \ adejie, adeftc ; and that of Virgil, nunc, nunc infurgite remis, are inftances of it. Foff. Rhet. 1. 5. p. 292.

EPNEUMATOSIS, in medicine, the fame with expiration.

EPOBOLIA, Ew«G,?iS«, in antiquity, a fine laid upon thofe that could not prove the indictment they had brought againft their adverfaries.

It was fo called, becaufe they were obliged to pay the fixtb. part of the value of the thing they contended for, viz. an oba- los out of every drachm. Some of thefe fums were depofited in all law-fuits, a very few excepted, before the trial could proceed. Patter, Archseol. Graec. 1. 1. c. 21. T, 1. p. 117.

EPOCHETEUSIS, a word ufed by Hippocrates, and others of the old writers in medicine, to exprefs the derivation of the blood, or juices, from one part to another.

EPODOS, in medicine, a word ufed to exprefs the Curing of difeafes by incantation.

El OICODOMESIS, Eotoixgoo^iiji?, in rhetoric, is fometimes ufed for what is otherwife called Climax. Voff. Rhet. 1. 5. p. 294. See Climax, Cycl.

EPOMIS, in anatomy, a name given, by fome authors, to a mufclc now generally known by the name of the Deltoides, See Deltoides-

EPOMPHALION, any medicine which purges, on being ap- plied to the navel.

EPOPSj Earo-^, in zoology, a name by which fome of the an- tient writers have called the bird we call the upupa, or hoopo. Ra/s Ornkholog. p. 100. See the article Upupa.

EPOSILINGA, a word ufed, by fome of the chemical writers, to exprefs the fcales which fly off from iron, when hammered at the fmith's forge.

EPOTIDES, in the antient fhip building, two large thick pieces of wood on each fide of the prow of a galley, which refembled two ears, whence they had their name. The Epotidcs were chiefly defigned to ward oft" the blows of the roftra of the enemies veffels. Pitifc. Lex. Ant.

EPSOM Salt. — What we now meet with, in the mops of che- mifts, under this name, is no other than a fait made from the bittern, or remaining brine after the making of common fait : But when the world was firft made acquainted with a purging fait, under this name, it was truly what its name exprefi'ed, being really made from the purging waters of that place. This fait is bitter, and of a ftrongly purging quality, and, when fuffered to fhoot freely, and its cryftals at a due diftance, it always form'd them into rectangular prifms, with four parallellogram planes ; by this, and by divers other pro- perties, it appeared evidently different from all other falts known at that time. It was fuppofed to partake of the nature of allum, and the waters of the place were called alluminous waters ; but Dr. Grew has evidently proved the error of that opinion ; others fuppofed this fait the fame thing with the fait of lime, or the nitre of old walls, but this was equally erro- neous. The belt method of taking it was found to be dif- folving it in a proper quantity of its own water j by this means the water was made to work both more quickly and more effectually ; and it proved of great fervice in diforders of the ftomach, as want of appetite, and the like, and in co- lics, diabetes, the fcurvy, and rheumatifm, and many -other chronic difeafes. Phil. Tranf. N°. 216. p. 76. Mr. Bolduc has given much the fame defcription of the manner of making Epfom fait, as Mr. Brown had done in Phil. Tranf. N°. 337. §. 10. and N°. 378. §. 11 ; that it is the fait which crvftalizes, after boiling to a due confiftence, the bittern, which is the liquor remaining in the fair-pans, after the fea fait is feparated. See Mem. Acad. Scienc.

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Epsom Water. — This is a water eafily imitated by art. By only diflolving half an ounce of Epfom fait in a quart of pure water, made fomewhat brifk or quick by a few drops of fpirit of vitriol and oil of tartar, fo as to let the alkali prevail. Sbaw's Lectures, p. go.

EPTACTIS, in natural hiftory, a name given by Linkius, and fome other authors, to a fpecies of frar-fifii, of the aftrophyte kind, whofe rays, or branches, at their firft going out from the body, are only feven in number ; but which very foon fpread into more. See Stella Marina, and Astro-

PHYTE.

EPULuE, Entertainments, among the antients. SeeENTER-

TAXNMENTS.

EPULARES, in antiquity, an epithet given thofe who were ad- mitted to the facred Epulis or entertainments, it being un- lawful for any to be prefent at them who were not pure and chafte. Pitifc.

EPULET1C Medicines, the fame with Cicatrizantia. See Cicatrisivh, Cycl.

EPULIDES, in furgery, certain fiefby tubercles, or excref- cences of the gums : Thefe are of two kinds, fome being of a

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