Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/133

 NUT

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times from their true colour. Thefe birds are called foul feather- ed. But it is a mere accidental variety, the young of fuch being often as perfect and beautiful as of any others. Moore's Columbarium, p 47. NUNCIATION, mmciatio, among the Romans, was particularly ufed to fortify the reporc which the augur made concerning what he had feen.

This he did to the chief magiftrate prefent, and the magiftrate communicated the fame to the people, and fo difmiiled the affembly, which was called obnunciation. Pitifc. in voc. NUSIADAT, a name given by fome of the chemical writers to

fid armoniac. NUSTAM, a word ufed by Paracelfus and his followers to ex- prefs the cream of milk, or the pellicle which in fome cafes fwims upon the furfaceof wine. NUT, among botanifts, a pericarpium of an extraordinary

hardnefs. tee the article Pericarpium. Nut-W) in zoology, the Englifh name of a bird, known among authors by that of fitta ; and from its climbing trees in the manner of the wood-pecker, called by fome, tho' im- properly, picus unereus, the grey wood -pecker, Ray's Orni- thol. See Sitta. NuT-|Ar, in zoology, an Englifh name for the ft'a, more commonly known among us by the name of the nut-hatch. See the article Sitta. NUTRITION (Cyd) —Dffetf of NuTRiTioKyor Atrophy. This takes its origin from the infarctions of the glands- ot the . mefentery, and evidently manifefts itfelf in the patient by a fuccefiive decay and attenuation of the parts. An atrophy differs from a hectic in this, that there is in it only an infarction of the menfenteric glands, whereas in the other cafe they are generally ulcerated : and in degree the difference | alfo is manifeil, all the fymptoms being more violent in the hectic than in the fun pie atrophy. Signs of it. An atrophy is known by a general languor both of body and mind ; a depraved and unhealthy look of the fa. e ; a light and unfettled fleep; an uncertain appetite, foraetimes voracious, fometimes naufeating all things, but ufually moft defirous of cold foods ; a ftraitnefs of the breaft, and an un- eafinefs after eating; great internal heat, and drynefs of the tongue. The bowels are ufually lubricous and moiil, and throw out the food half undigefted : in fome cafes, however, they are obferved to be dry and coftive. The urine often ap- pears to be a chylous matter : the abdomen is tumid and hard in the finf ftages of the difeafe, but afterwards it becomes more flaccid, and then on feeling it there may be feveral nodes and lumps perceived. The body by degrees waftes away, and there is a continual feverifhnefs and thirft, and that efpe- cially in the night-time : and thefe fymptoms often increafe to that violence, as plainly to refemble a hectic, and bring on an equal lofs of ftrength and fpirits.

Sometimes the atrophy arifes from worms, and then the whole face is always pale ; the noitrils are full of a mucous matter, and fometimes become excoriated : the appetite is voracious, and the patient feels an iufufferable reftleffnefs when hungry, which goes off, and they generally become inclined to fleep after a full meal. When this is the cafe in young fubjedts, the rickets and fwellings about the joints ufually fucceed the other fymptoms, and crookednefs of the legs, gibbofity of the back, and various diftortions of the fpine follow it : thefe often put an end to the atrophy ; but as they continue, and become laft- ing deformities, they are a very unhappy remedy. Perfons fubjetl to atrophies. Children, while very young, are moft of all fubject to this difeafe, and often fall into it from im- proper food : the ufe ofheavy and feculent malt liquors, and of acids, which coagulate the milk, that ufually makes a large part of their nutriment. The fupprefiion of their fvveats is another frequent caufe of atrophies, efpecially when occafioned by large draughts of cold liquors when they are hot in the night, aud fometimes by an improper ufe of aftringents to flop thofe diarrhoeas to which they are frequently fubject. Youths more grown up are often thrown into an atrophy by eating vo- jMcioufly of crude, thick, heavy and obftruent diet, or from the drinking fpirituous liquors : fometimes from their having been injudicioufly treated in fevers, and fometimes from their being violently infefled with worms in their bowels. Men grown up ufually fall into it after being debilitated by other illnefles, and by the remains of the caufes of thofe illnefles be- ing left in the body ; and by nothing oftener are reduced to this diftempered fiate than by inordinate hemorrhages. Perfons who are fcrophulous, or have infarctions of the external glands, ufually alfo are at onetime or other afflicted with this infar£tion of the internal ones, and few efcape it that labour under any other violent concretions of the internal parts. Prognofics. _ A recent atrophy is not difficult of cure ; and even the moft inveterate one, tho* ftubborn enough, is always much lefs dangerous and difficult of cure than an "hectic. The more complicated this difeafe is, the more difficult it always is in the cure j and it is hence that grown perfons are not fo eafily or fo often cured as children, becaufe with them it is ufually complicated with many other diforders ; and, in general, that atrophy which is brought on by hemorrhages, or by ill-treated illnefles, is much more diScult of cure than that which arifes

from a wrong diet. And, finally, in atrophies arifing from worms, when they are deftroyed, the difeafe ufually ceafes. Method of cure. The firft thing to be done in this cafe is, to thoroughly abfterge and cleanfe the prime vie by gentle purges, among which nothing isfo proper as calomel, affifted by fyrup of rhubarb, or the like, and thefe purgatives are after- wards to be repeated at different intervals, during the courfe of the cure. After the firft purges, refolvent and attenuating medicines arc to be given ; and finally, the preparations of fteel, decoctions of arum and pimpernel root, with ground- ivy, are very beneficial, as is alio the iuice of ground-ivy given aJone ; and the refolvent falts, as tartar of vitriol, nitre, and the like, with fome of the aperient tinctures of fteel. Junker's Confp. Med. p. n?, 214. NUX (Cycl.) — Nux, the wallnut-tree, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe : the Cow- er is of the amentaceous or catkin kind, and is compofed of a gi eat number of leaves affixed to an axis, and difpofed in a fquammofe manner : under each of thefe there is placed a large clufter of apices. Thefe flowers, however, are barren, and the embryo fruit appear in other parts of the tree. Thefe finally become a hard fhell, covered by a foft or flefhy one, and eafily dividing into two halves, having within it a ker- nel ufually confuting of four lobss, divided by a fort of woody fepta.

The fpecies of waV.-nvt enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thete: 1. The common wall-nut- 2. The great wall-nut^ called the French and horfe tvaU-?;ut. 3. The tender-fruited, or brittle-fheH'd wall-nut. . 4. The double-bearing wall-nut. 5. The harder fruited wall-nut. 6. The jagged-leav'd wall- nut. 7. The late ripening wall-nut. 8 The vjall-nut tree with very fmall fruit. 9. The wall-nut tree with plain, not ferrated leaves. T-.um. Inft. p. 5B1. Nux maris, in natural hiftory, a name given by many writers to a peculiar fpecies of fea fliell It is one of the dolium, or concha globofa kind, and of that genus called gondola, and is the firft fpecies mentioned under that word. See Gondola. N x regia, the royal nut, a name given by fome authors to the

walnut C. T'aulrn, Pin. p 417. NYCTICORAX, in zoology, the name of a bird called in Englifh the n'ght raven It is of the heron kind, and is called by Mr. Ray ardea c'.nerea ?/rnor, or the fmall grey heron. It is much fmailer, and fhorter-neck'd, than the common heron ; its head and back are black ; its neck grey, and its throat and belly yellowifh ; it has on each fide of the head a white ftreak from the angle of the beak to the eyes ; and on the hinder part of its head has a creft made of three fea- thers, or hairy fubftances of five fingers breadth lono- ; its wings and tail are grey: it flies principally by night, and makes a very hoarfe and difagreeable croaking. Ray's Orni- thol. p. 204. NYCTOSTRATEGI, ^uKlo^anyoi, among the antients, offi- cers appointed to prevent fires in the night time. At Rome, they had the command of the watch, and, from their number, and office, were called noclurni triumviri. Pitifc. in voc. NYGMA, a word ufed by fome of the medical writers to ex-

prefs a wound by puncture. NYMPHAGOGI, mpfayoyai, among the antients, an appella- tion given to thofe who led the bride from her father's houfe to that of the bridegroom. Vid. Pitifc. m voc. See Bride' NYMPH {Cycl) — Nymphs of fi r, in natural hiftory, is that ftate of the fly clafs, which is between their livino- in the form of a worm, and their leaving that form fo? that of their parentfly. See Tab. of Infects,^N° 2g,feq. In this ftate, in many genera of the flys, the worm, or mag- got, makes a fhell of its own fkin, which hardens, and becomes brown, or redifh, while the whole of its body be- comes detached from it j and, after having Iain fome time in form of an oblong ball, without any vifible parts of the crea- ture that is to be produced from it, acquires, by degrees, the form of the fly, and all its limbs, and appears an embrvo fly wrapped up in an extremely thin, and fine membrane. This is properly the nymph ftate, and, in thefe flys, when the parts of this nymph are more confirmed, and hardened it is, in reality, no other than the fly wrapped up in this bag, which is {q very tranfparent that every lineament of the infect it contains may be clearly difcerned through it. The wings, however, in this ftate, appear as if they were not yet perfectly formed, but the truth is, that they are only very nicely, and regularly folded together. The creature, however in this ftate, though ever fo perfect, feems quite inanimate! When all the parts, however, have acquired their due n'ren-nh the creature puts itfelf into motion, and gets loofe from & its covering, which is no fmall difficulty ; for though the fkin of this is very fine and thin, yet as it ferves as a nice cafe to every part of the animal, the effects by which it is to get rid of it muff be fomewbat difficult to the creature. A much greater difficulty, however, it will necefiarilv be im- agined to be for the embryo fly to get out of the outer fhell, or cafe, which is ufually firm, hard, and rigid; but nature has fo ordered it, that no more force fhall be required for this great work than the creature is able to exert.

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