Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/138

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condriac affections^ and to the gout, or to nephritic com- plaints, and to acute fevers.

'Caufes of Costivhness. Thefe are obferved by writers to be of two kinds, the active, and the paftive. The active caufe is a certain ftricture which comes on in the rectum in many different difordersj as in the ftone, in nephritic complaints, and in general, m all the congestions of blood toward the upper parts of the body. What is called the paftive caufe of coftivenefi, is that occafioned by a fort of fluggifhnefs in nature, which leaves the periftaltic motion of the guts too languid, on occafion of which the feces are eafily indurated in the bowels' 'I he ocoafional and accidental caufe 1 ; which contribute to this induration of the fgeces are the following: a neglecting the ufual time of going to ftool ; and checking the natural tendencies, and motions toward it ; an extraordinary heat of the body, and copinus fwe its; a larger quantity of folid food taken into the ftomach than is proper for the quantity of fluids fwa! lowed, and a common life of fuch food as is dry and hard of digeftion.

Propionics in Costiveness. It is the origin of a great many dif-rders ; and, in particular cafes, is often attended with im- minent danger. In choleric habits, in which perfons arc fub- ject to large quantities of bilious matter being lodged in the prima? via;, cfiivenefs is ufually attended with colics, and vio- lent heats. The indurated excrements alfo, when they prefs upon the veins in the guts, very often prevent the circula- tion, and, by that means, bring on dangerous inflammations in the parts ; and, in general, whatever difeafe is attended with coftivetiefi is rendered worfe and more violent by it-

Method of treatment in Costiveness. An idiopathic coflive- fiefi when grown into a habit by long fufferance, is beft cured by means of drinking more liquids than ufual, and giving the body a greater (hare of motion; but this motion muff, by no means, be violent, for that always encreafes the difeafe, but when placid and cafy, it tends greatly to there- ftoring the periftaltic motion of the bowels to its proper ftate. To this it is to be added, that many people have re- fto'red themfelves from this diftemperature to a good ffate, on- ly by going to the clofe-ftool every day, at a certain hour, and only endeavouring for fo me time, but without great vi- olence, to force a ftool ; the confequence of a continual prac- tice of this, for fome weeks together, has brought nature to expect it, and, in fine, to be prepared for it, and always to have faxes at the time ready to be difcharged The eating a fmall piece of bread with a large quantity of butter fpread over it every day before dinner and fupper is alfo a good cuftom; and purges taken every fpring and autumn are a method of bringing nature into a proper courfe. When the cafe is violent, and calls for the aftiftance of medicine, there is always more benefit obtained from clyfters, than from purging medicines given internally. Thefe laft, when given, muff never be violent.

In a fymptomatic coftiveneft, the primary difeafe is always to be firft regarded, and this is, generally, not a little relieved by a proper removal of the cofttvenefs. In chronic cafes, the fame rules are to obferved as in the cure of the idiopathic cof- tivenefs ; but, in acute cafes, rccourfe is to be had to clyfters, and large draughts of warm, and weak fluids, fuch as bailey water, and the like.

When cofUvenefi is attended with no other complaint, but people enjoy their perfect health with it,the:e is no occjfionfor medicines, nature being in fome conftitutions habituated to it, and doing well with it. There are many perfons who, in ge- neral, do not go to ftool oftener than once in tlnee days ; fomc once in a week ; and there have heen Inftances of peo- ple, who, while they have enjoyed a perfect health, and eat ve- ry heartily, have not gone above once in three or four weeks. When habitual coftivenefi is to be cured by motion, and drink- ing more fluids, thefe mult be always ufed together ; for other- wife drink alone more relaxes the bowels, and motion alone diffipates the already too little humidity. Thus either of them alone mult add to the difeafe, which, when given together, they cure. The common method of attempting to cure cof- tivenefs by repeated dofes of purges, brings on a great many inconveniencics, particularly they always leave the bowels more bound than before, and by that means add to the com- plaint they were meant to relieve, and even the gentleft purg- ing medicines have this effect. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 39 1. Incafes of this kind, Dr. Huxham recommends a medicine prepared with fait of hartfhorn, faturated with fpirit of vine- gar, which not only takes away the foetid fmell of the oil of the fait, but changes it into an agreeable aromatic. Obf. de aere, et morb. epid.

OBTUNDENT1A, a word ufed by fome authors to exprefs fuch medicines as are given to obtund, or edulcorate the acrimony of the humors.

OBTURATOR (Cycl.) — Obturator externum a fmall flat mufcle, which fibs up the foramen ovale of the os inno- minatum exteriorly, and reaches from thence to the great trochanter of the os femoris behind the neck of that bone. It is fixed by flefhy fibres to the outer, or anterior fide of the os pubis, all the way to the foramen ovale, to the edge of that hole next the fmall ramus of the ifchium, under the acetabulum, where a tendon is formed, which continues

its courfe behind the neck of the os femoris toward the great trochanter, and is inferted between the gemelli, and quad- ratus, in a fmall foflula, between the apex of the great tro- chanter, and the bafis of the collum femoris. Wmjimts Anatomy, p. 21 r.

Obturator internus, a flat mufcle, almoft triangular, fitu- ated in the bottom of the pelvis ; it covers the foramen oyale, and almoft all the infide of the os pubis and ifchium. It is fixed to the internal labium of all the anterior half of the foramen ovale, a little to the neighbouring part of the obturator ligament, and alfo botb above and below the foramen. It is likewife fixed to the upper half of the in- fide of the os ifchium, from the upper oblique notch in the foramen ovale, to the fuperior part of the great pofterior fmus of the os ilium.

From all this extent, the flefhy fibres contracting in breadth, run down below the fpine of the ifchium, where they go out of the pelvis through the pofterior notch in the ifchium. The infide of the body of this mufcle, or that turned to the cavity of the pelvis, is pretty uniform ; but the outfide, or that turned toward the foramen ovale, and which touches the bone, has four middle radiated tendons, which uniting at the pofterior notch of the ifchium, run over it from be- hind forward, as over a pulley, each tendon Aiding in a particular cartilaginous channel. Afterwards the fuur tendons having got out of the pelvis, are pretty ftrictly united in one large flat tendon, which, crofting over that of the py- riformis, unites with it, having firft received on each fide, fome additional flefhy fibres from the two gemelli. The great tendon Hides freely, in a fort of membranous vagina, formed by thefe mufcles, and is inferted in the middle of the fuperior part of the cavity of the great trochanter, ad- hering clofcly to the capfular ligament of the joint, and being united to the tendons of the gluteus minimus, and pyriformis. WinfkvSs Anatomy, p. 209.

Obturator ligament. This is one of the proper ligaments of the offa innominata, and fills up all the great foramen ovale, except the oblique notch at its upper part. Jt is faftened precifely to the edge of the circumference of that hole, from the anterior part of the oblique notch, all the way to the fymphyfis between the os pubis, and os ifchium. From thence to the pofterior part of the inferior notch, it is fixed to the interna! labium of the edge of the circumference, forming a kind of fmall channel with the external labium; and afterwards it is fixe! to the common edge of the fo- ramen ovale, and cotyloide notch. By this difpofition, an opening is left between this ligament, and the fuperior ob- lique notch, and immediately below this common opening, there are two final] perforations in the ligament alone. Winf- low's Anatomy, p. i 24.

OBULARIA, in botany, the name given by Linnaeus to a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe: there is no cup to the flower, but, in the place of one, there ftand two leaves of the plant. The flower is compofed of only one leaf; the tube is of a bell fhape, inflated, and pervious, and the edge is divided into four fegments, which are fhorter than the tube, and are of a bifid figure. The ftamina are four fubulated filament-, arifing from the fegments of the flower, and two of them are fome what fmaller than the others. The anthers are fmall. The germen of the piftil is oval, and comprefled. The ftyle is cylindric, and of the length of the ftamina ; and the ftigma is oblong, bifid, and re- maining. The capfule is of an oval, comprefled figure, and contains numerous feeds, in form of a fine powder. Linn&i Gen. Plant, p. 297.

OCCATION, a term in the antient hufbandry, by which they expreffed what we do by harrowing, though they performed it with a different inftrument, a kind of rake. With the teeth of this inftrument, they levelled the ground, and broke the clods, and, with the hand, ftrewed the corn over this level ground. Then they brought on the plouo-h, and ploughed it in ; fo that the grain was fown in furrows, as we exprefs it, and ufually came up, as we fee it does at this time with us, in the fame cafe, in the lower parts only. Af- ter it had got a few leaves, they went over the ground again with the fame inftrument a fecond time, to clear away the weeds, and move the earth about the roots of the young plants. If they did this lengthways of the furrows,the earth being fome- what hardened, there fell but little of it among the corn ; but if they did it croflways of the furrows, a great deal fell down upon, and among, the young plants, and, in a manner, buried them ; they were ufually obferved to grow the better for this crofs harrowing, except in cold places ; and the huf- bandmen thought the vigour of the plants was owing to the burying them with new earth ; but this was really rather prejudicial to them, and the advantage they had arofe from the more deep flirring of the ground. Tuii's Hufbandry.

OCCHIO, in glafs-making, the hole in the floor of the tower of the leer. Ncri's Art. of Glafs. p. 243.

OCCIDENS, an affected name given by fome of the chemical writers to vinegar.

OCCIDENT, in geography, the weftward quarter of the ho- rizon, or that part of the horizon where the ecliptic, or ' the fun therein, defcends into the lower hemifphere.

Equinoclial