Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/964

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the crenglcs of the fails, that they muft break, or the fails /plit, before it will flip ; and laftly, the Jheep-jhank-knoty-which ferves to fhorten a rope without cutting it, which may be prefently loofened.

KtiOT-Grafs. See POLYGONUM.

KNOTT, in zoology, the name of an Englifli bird of the fnipe kind, not known among authors by any particular Latin name, unlefs it be the calidrys nigra, or black calidrys of Eellonius, which is doubtful from his defcription; and faid to have obtained its Englifli name from Canute, one of the kings of this ifland, who was particularly fond of it. It is feldom of more than two ounces and a half in weight. Its head and back are of a greyifli brown ; its rump is va- riegated with black and grey ; its breaft and belly are white, and its fides brownifh, in fome, but not in all the birds of this fpecies : there is on each fide of the head a white ftreak, running from the angles of the beak to the eyes. The long feathers of the wings are black and white ; and the tail, which is two fingers breadth and a half in length, has its feathers tipped with white at the ends. Its beak, is a finger's breadth and a half long, and is black, but it is Itronger than any other of the fnipe kind. Its eyes are large, and its legs are green. They appear in Lincoln- shire and Yorkshire in the beginning of winter, and remain there fome months, always keeping about the fea fhores. Ray's Ornithol. p. 224.

KNOWLEDGE (Cycl.) may be ufefully difHnguiflied into three kinds ; hiftorical, philofophical, and mathematical.

Hiftorical knowledge is merely the knowledge of facts, or of what is or happens in the material world, or within our own minds. Thus, that the fun rifes and fets, that trees bud in the fpring, that we remember, will, &c. are in- fiances of hiftorical knowledge.

Philofophical knowledge is the knowledge of the reafons of things, or of what is or happens. Thus he has a. philofo- phical knowledge of the motion of rivers, who can explain how it arifes from the declivity of the bottom, and from the preflure which the lower part of the water fuftains from the upper. So likewife the fhewing how, and by what reafon, defire or appetite arifes from the perception or imagination of its object would be philofophical knowledge.

Mathematical knowledge is the knowledge of the quantity of things, that is, of their proportions or ratios to fome given meafure. Thus he who knows the proportion of the meri- dian heat of the fun at the fummer folftice to its meridian heat at the winter folftice, might fo far be faid to have a mailmnatical knowledge of the fun's heat. So likewife he has a mathematical knowledge of the motion of a planet in its orbit, who can diftinctly fhew, how from the quantity of the imprefTed and centripetal force the velocity of the planet is produced ; and how from the action of this double force, the elliptical figure of the orbit arifes. Thefe three kinds of knowledge differ evidently, it being one thing to know that a thing is ; another, the reafon why it is ; and a third, to know its quantity or meafure. It is alfo evident, that hiftorical knowledge, though exten- fively ufeful, and the foundation of the reft, is the loweft degree of human knowledge. Thofe who aim at the greateft certainty ought to join mathematical with philofophical know- ledge. Nothing can more evidently fhew that an effect arifes from a certain caufe, than the knowledge that the quantity of the effect is proportional to the force of the caufe. Be- fides, there are many things in nature, the reafons of which depending on certain figures or quantities, are not aflignable but from mathematical principles. Vid. Wolf. Difc. Prelim. Logic. Cap. 1 & 2.

Philofophical knowledge is attended with advantages not to be expected from mere hiftory. See Philosophy.

KODDA pail, in botany, a name given by Plumier, and in the hortus MalaharUus to a genus of plants, called by Lin- nseus piflia. Plumier, Gen. 39. Hort, Malab. Vol. 11. p. 32. SeePiSTiA.

KOHLMULEN, in ichthyography, a name given by fome to the afellus flavefcens, or yellow cod, called by others blank and gelbe. Willughbfs Hift. Pifc. p. 173. See the article Blank.

KOKOB, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of ferpent found in the Weft Indies, and very fatal by its bite. It is fmaller

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than our viper, and of a brown colour, variegated with green and red fpots.

KOLERUS, a name given by Paracelfus to an old dry ulcer.

KOLLOW, a name given in fome parts of England to a black earth, being of the nature of a coarfe ochre, which is found in Derbyshire, Wales, and many other places. It has obtained its name from the old Englifli word collow y which fignifies grime, or blacking of any kind.

KOLTO, a name given, by fome writers to the plica pc^ lonica.

KOMMANICK, in zoology, the German name for the large crefted lark common in many parts of Germany, but not known in England. It is larger than our common lark, and has a much larger and longer beak. Its back is of a greyer colour, and lefs fpotted than in the common lark, and its rumpis fcarce fpotted at all. Its creft is very beau- tiful, and is compofed of eight, ten, or twelve feathers much darker coloured than the reft, and the bird cannot only raife and deprefs, but can fpread and contract them at pleafure. It very feldom is feen high in the air, and never makes any long fray there, but is raoft frequently feen about the banks of rivers. Aldrovand. de Avib.

KONNARUS, a name given by Agathocles in AthenKus to a plant of Arabia, which the defcription ihews to be the fame with the faduc of the later Arabians, the fruit of which, is called nabac or nabech.

This tree is the lotus of Diofcorides and the acanthus of Vir- gil, whofe berries he mentions. The fruit of this tree is like a cherry, but fmaller, and is ground to powder by the Africans when dried. It is very well known to all who are acquainted with the writings of the old phyficlans, that the berries of the lotus or nabac were ground down, by the Egyptians and other nations where they grew, to a fine powder for medicinal ufes. They were aftringents, and ufed both externally in pultices and fomentations, and internally in decoctions and other forms where aftrin- gents were required. AtDmaus, p. 61.

KORACHORYNCH T JS Indicus, in zoology, the nameof a fea-fifli of the Ealr. indies, called by the Dutch the raeVm heck. It has its name from its nofe refcmbling the beak of a raven or crow, and is about feven inches long; its back and tail are red, and its belly yellow ; it has alfo on each fide two pale yellow longitudinal lines, running from the gills to the tail. It is a wholefome and well tafted fhTu Ray's Ichthyogragh. Append, p. 2.

KOS, in the Jewifli antiquities, a meafure which held the quantity of four cubic inches, and fomething over. This was the cup of blefling, out of which they .drank when they gave thanks after folemn meals, as on the day of the pafT- over. — Exod. xxv. 29. — Calmet, Diet. Bibl, in voc. Cyathus. J

K.OUANIN, in the Chinefe language, the name of a tutelary deity of women. The Chinefe make great numbers of the figures of this deity in white porcelain, and fend them to all parts of the world, as well as keep them in their own houfes. The figure reprefents a woman with a child in her arms. The women, who have no children, pay a fort of adoration to thefe images, and fuppofe the deity they reprefent to be of power to make them fruitful. It has been fuppofed, by many Europeans, that thefe images were meant to reprefent the Virgin Mary, with our Saviour in her arms, but this is an idle opinion ; the Chinefe having been fond of this figure in all times that we have an account of. The ftatue always reprefents a handfome woman, very modeftly attired. Obferv. fur les Coutumes de 1'Afie.

KRUTZVOGEL, in zoology, the German name for the loxia or crofs bill.

KUHUL, a word ufed by fome chemical writers to exprefs lead ore.

KURUNDU, or Kurtjdu, in botany, a name by which fome botanical authors have called the cinnamon tree. Herm* Muf. Zeyl. p. 12.

KUSBORAH, in botany, and in the materia medica, a name ufed by fome authors, particularly Averrhoes, for the plant or feed of coriander. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2:

KYMOLEA, a word ufed by fome writers, to exprefs the foulnefs or muddy fubftance, which gathers about a ftone ufed for cutting or grinding other bodies.

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