Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/672

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rea /y the cafe. It is found very frequently in gardens, par- ticularly on the privet hedges, and on the iingle ihrubs of that fpecies. KRINUS, in botany, a name given by Linnaeus to a genus of plants, called, by Tourncfort, and other authors, ageratum. Linttcei Gen. Plant, p. 3oi. See Ageratum.

ERIOPHORUM, in the Linnrean fyftem of botany, the name of the cotton-grafs, or cottoft-rufh, common in marfhy places, and called linagroftis by other writers. This is, by that author, made a diftinct genus of plants, whofe characters are, that the flower cup is an imbricated fpike, made up of oblong oval fcales, a little bent in, and feparaung the flowers. It has no petals. The ftamina are three capillary filaments ; the anthene are ere£t and oblong. The germen of the piftil is extremely fmall ; the ftyle is thread-like, and of the fame length with the fcales of the cup ; the fligmata are three, longer than the ftyle, and bent backward. The feed is tbree- corner'd, pointed, and covered with hairs longer than the fpike. Llnhai Genera Plant, p. 12.

ERIOPHORUS, in botany, a name given, by Vaillant, to a genus of plants, fince defcribed by Linnasus, under the name otandrygala. See Andrygala.

ERIOX, orEROX, in ichthyology, a name given by Albertus, and fome other authors, to the common falmon, called, by others, anchorage, zndfalmo. See Salmo.

ERISTALIS, in natural hiftory, the name of a ftone, men tioned by Pliny and the anticnts, and of which a very memo- rable quality is recorded by them, which is, that tho' it was naturally white, it would become red, as if with blufhing at any immodeft action, or even thought of the perfon who wore it.

ERISTICI, in botany, fuch authors as have attempted the ftudy of that fcience in a philofophical way, and have been publickly engaged in difputcs about the true foundation of its feveral diftinctions, &c, Llnnai Fund. Bot. p. 1.

ERITHACE, a name given, by the antients, to the yellow matter collected on the hinder legs of the bees, after their ex- cursions in fearch of the materials for their hives ; we ufuaily cfteem this to be real wax, and the French call it clrc brute, or rough wax : It is very certain, however, that tho' the matter, of which wax is to be formed, is contained in this fubftance, yet the Dutch, and fome other nations, have the moft juft idea of it, in calling it pain des abe'illes, or the food of the bees.

This fubftance is only the farina of flowers, and no ex- experiment has been able to feparate real wax from it. The moft probable opinion concerning it, is, that it ferves the bees as food, and that, after this, it is converted, in their bowels, into the fubftance called wax. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. Vol. 10. p. 50.

ERITHACUS, in zoology, a name by which many have cal- led the red breaft, or, as it is more commonly called, in Latin, fixe Rubecula. SccRubecula-

ERIX, a word ufed, by Galen, to exprefs the fuperior part of the liver.

ERMESIA, the name given to a compofition ufed among the antients, and famous for its effect in making people beget hand- fome children. Itconfifted of honey, myrrh, faffron, and palm wine, all beat together. This mafs was to be taken, mixed in milk. The women took it as well as the men, and many had great faith as to its effects.

ERMINEUM Animal, the Ermine, or creature whofe ftin is the Ermine, fo much efteemed as a fine furr. This creature is properly a fpecies of weafel, and is called by Mr. Ray, and other authors, ynujlda Candida, the white weafel. It is in all refpects like the common weafel, and is all over of a pure fnow white, except the tip of the tail, which is of as beautiful a black, and that it has a little yelluwifh grey about the eyes, and a mark, orfpot, of the fame colour, on the head, another on the fhoulders, and a third near the tail. Its colour is, however, very different in degree and elegance, according to the fea-fon of the year. It is frequent about rivers, and in meadows, in thofe countries which pro- duce it, and feeds on moles, mice, and other fmall animals. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. iq8.

ERNES, in our old writers, fignify the Ioofe fcattered ears of corn that are left on the ground, after the binding or cocking of it.

It is derived from the old Teuton Ernde, harveft ; ernden, to cut or mow corn : Hence to em is, in fome places, to glean. Kemiefs Glofl". in voc.

ERODINUM, a word ufed, by fome of the enthufiaftic writers in alchemy, to fignify the proguoftic, good or bad of any operation.

EROSUM Folium, among botanifts. See Leaf.

EROTESIS, EfwWtc, in rhetoric, the fame with interroga- tion. See Interrogation-, Cyd.

EROTIA, £/:w-i«, a feftival among the Greeks, in honour of Cupid, being celebrated every fifth year with fports and games. Pott. Archaeol. 1. 1. c. 20.

EROTIDIA, Epfli&a, the fame with Erotia, See Erotia.

EROTYLOS, in natural hiftory, the name of a ftone of which we have no defcriptfon left us, but which the antients are fard to have ufed in divination.

ERRATIC (Cjr/.)— Erratic Fevers, in medicine, a term ufed to exprefs fuch fevers as, according to the language of medical writers, obferve no regular type, that is, are not determinate either in their attacks, or in their general period : They are thus called by way of diftinction from the typic fevers, which are regular in both. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 252. ERRHINA, (Cyd.) Errhines, in the materia medica, medicines dcfigned to purge away pituitous humoursfrom the head, with- out making the patient fneeze, tho' to be taken up the nofe. They are either liquid, foft, or folid.

The liquid are made of the juice of cephalic cleanfing herbs,, extracted by wine, or other liquors ; to which fpirit of wine; is fometimes added ; or of a decoction of fit fimples, to which are fometimes added juices, honey, fyrup, and powders. The foft are made of powders, with honey, oil, or juices, boiled to a kind of ointment.

The folid is given either in the form of a powder, and that has place, efpecially in medicines, which provoke fneezing ; or in form of a pellet, and it is called nafale, and is prepared of fit powders, mixed with vifcid extractions from feeds, gums, roots, cjrY. with wax, or with turpentine. Blan- card. Lex. Med. in voc.

ERRIPSIS, in medicine, is ufed indifferent fenfes, fometimes for a weaknefs of the whole body, lometimes only of fome one part. When applied to the whole body, it expreiTes thar. utter dejection and proftratinn of ftrength which makes a man fall down like a dead carcafe ; and, when applied to the eyes, it expreffes fuch a debility, as renders it impoilible to keep them open.

ERRONES, Erratic or JVandring Start, in aflronomy, the fame with planets. See Planets, Cyd.

ERROR Loci, a term often ufed by Boerhaave. This author obferves, that in the body there is a decreafing fcries of vef-. fels j by which he means, that the firft orders- of the veflels are adapted to receive the red globules of the blood, while the reft are, perhaps, fmaller, and receive only the ferum, the next in order the lymph, and the next the yet finer fluids. Now when the red globules of blood are propelled into the veflels deftined only to receive the ferum, or when the ferum gets into thofe veflels in which a, finer fluid only ought to circulate ; this he calls an Error Led, and attributes much to it.

ERVA Babofa. See Caraguata.

Erva De Sanila Maria, a name by which fome authors have called the dracontium, or great garden dragons. P/fo f p. 24c.

ERUCA, the Caterpillar. See Caterpillar, Cyd.

The Caterpillar ftate is that through which every butterfly muft pafs before it arrives at its perfection and beauty, and in the fame manner all the known winged animals, except only the puceron, pafs through a reptile ftate, none of them, except this, being produced in their winged form. The change from caterpillar to butterfly was long efteemed a fort of metamorphofis, a real change of one animal into another ; but this is by no means the cafe. The egg of a butterfly pro- duces a butterfly, with all the lineaments of its parent, only thefe are not difclufed at firft, but, for the greater part of the animal's life, they are covered with a fort of cafe, or mufcu- lar coat, in which are legs for walking, which only fuit it in, this ftate ; but its mouth takes in nouiiftiment, which is con- veyed to the included animal, and, after a proper time, this covering is thrown off, and the butterfly, which all the while might be difcovercd in it by an accurate obferver, with the help of the microfcope, appears in its proper form. Before it panes mto this ftate, however, there requires a time of reft for the wings to harden, and the feveral other parts to acquire thei* proper firmnefs ; this is transacted in a time of perfect reft, when the animal lies in what is called the nymph or chryfalis ftate, in appearance only a lump of unenlivened matter. There is a fettled and determinate time for each of thefe changes in every fpecies, but in the feveral different kinds the periods are very different. Some caterpillars arc produced from the eggs of their parent butterfly in fpring, as foon as the trees, on whofe leaves they are to feed, begin to bud ; after a life of thirteen days, they pafs into their chryfahs ftate ; and, after remaining at reft three weeks in that, they iffue forth with wings, with all the beauty of tucir parents. Reau- mur, Hift. Inf. Tom. 2.

As foon as they arrive at this their final ftate, their wings are fcarce dry before they feek to copulate to propagate their fpe- cies ; this done, the male dies, and the female only lives to depofit her eggs, and then follows him. This is their whole bufinefs in this ftate, and they are fo fenfible of it, that they feem weary of a ufelefs life, as foon as they have done; na- ture, never intending that they fhould eat in this ftate, has given them no organs for thatpurpofe; fo that they muft neceftarily die of hunger foon, could they cfcape their natural death, or the great devourers of them the birds. Many fpe- cies of thefe fpring butterflies have no farther being, except in the embryo included in the egg, till the fucceeding fpring ; they lay their eggs very carefully, and in extreamly nice or- der, round about the ftalk of a perennial plant, or the young branch of a tree, and there they remain thro' the heats of the 4 fummcr,,