Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/142

 O E D

OEM

times En'gle, fometimes two or three together arid accord- ing to the colours of the circles, reprcfent the eyes of va- rious animals. Hill's Hid. of Fofl". p. 470. Oculus cati. See the article Asteri a- Oculus lepsiinus) a di (temperature of the eyes, called alfo eclro-

pium. father's Surgery, p. 432. See EcTROPIUM. Cc'ulus marinus, the fca eye, a. name given by lbme authors to the umbilicus marinus, from its refemblance to the fhape of an eye. See Umf.il 1 Gtis marinus. Oculus rhundi, in natural hittory, the name of one of the ferni-pcllucid gems of the genus of the bydroj'hance. It is of oiic plain and uniform colour, which is a whitifh grey, and has no veins, or other variegations. It is found in (mall maiTe-, of the fhape of our common flints, and pebbles. It has but a very obfeure degree of tranfparence, and is not capable of a fine poKfli. This done, however, though of little beauty, has this very fingular property, that, when thrown into a bafon of water, in the fpace of half a mi- nute, it begins to change its appearance, and, very foon, inftead of a pale grey, becomes of a very bright, and con- siderably pellucid, pale yellow, like that of amber, or the yellow cornelian ; this it retains as long as it remains in the water, but as foon as taken out, and dried, it refumes its grey colour, and becomes as opake as before, It is found fo far as is yet known, only in China; but the (bores of fume of our own rivers afford us ftones coming up to its qualifies in fome degree, though not fo beautifully tranf- parent in water as the oriental Hill's Hid. of Foff. p. 468. Oculus Veneris, a name given by fome to the umbilicus marinus. OCYMOPHYLLON, in botany a name given by Buxbaum to a new genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the (lower is of the damineous kind, having no petals; this dands upon the embryo fruit, which afterwards becomes an oblong quadrangular feed veffel, divided into four cells, and containing roundifh, and very fmall, feeds. Its leaves are like thofe of the common ocymum, or bafil, whence its name; and its place of growth is in damp marines. Eoc- cone has defer ibed it under the improper name of g'aux, calling it the grear, green- flowered, marjh glaux. Act. Pe- tropol. Vol. 4. p. 421. OCYMUM, bafil, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower conhfts of one leaf, and is of the labiated kind. The upper lip is e- redt, roundim, and crenated, and is larger than the under one, which is curled up, and lightly indented. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed, in the manner of a nail, to the hinder part of the flower, and furrounded by four embryos, which afterwards become as many feeds, of an oblong figure, to which the cup of the flower ferves as a capfule. This cup is divided into two lips, the upper of which is erect and bifid, and the other divided into feveral fegments, by flight notches.

The fpecies of bafil enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe : i. The clove bafil-, or acims, of Columna. 2. The great bafil, with fimbriated leaves, refembling thofe of endive. 3. 1 he broad-leaved, fpotted, and curled bafil. 4. The green Bafil, with bullated leaves. 5. The green-leaved, fimbriated bafil. 6. The common large clove bafil. 7. The largeft clove bafil. 8. The large black bafil, with a itrong finell of rue. 9. The citron-fecnted bafil. 10. The anife-fcented bafil. n. The common, or middle bafil. 12. The white- flowered, common bafil, with deep, blackifh green, leaves. 1%. The blue-flowered, common bafil, with deep, blackifh- preen leaves. 14". The middle- fized, curled bafil, with a ihort, conglomerated fpike. 14. The fmall, ferrated, nar- row-leaved bafil. 16. The fmall, narrow-leaved bafil, with bullated leaves. 17. The three coloured bafil. 18. The fmalleft hafil. 19. The leaft bafil, with purpliih black leaves. Toarn.Xn&. p. 203. OECOMENIUM, in botany, a name given by the antient Greeks to a plant called alfo tbapfia, and cymene. See Thap- sia andCvMEN'E. OECONOMiCAL chem'firy. See Chem istry. OEDEMA (Cycl.) — The perfons molt fubject to a?dc?natous tumors, are people of a phlegmatic habit, and fuch as have had fuppreflions of fome natural evacuations. Men who have had the hxmorrhoidal difcharges flopped upon them, and women labouring under fupprelEons of the menfes, are more than all others fubject to them. Perfons fome what advanced in age, are, in general, more fubject than young ones, and women with child, particularly during the more advanced (late of their pregnancy, are often afflicted with them. The long holding the legs in cold water, will fome- times alone occafion them, and, among the poorer country people, the women who make a. cudom of (landing in the water to wail) their cloaths are often affected with thefe fwellings in one or both knees. People who have received large wounds, and have had them treated rafhly, with cold applications, are alio fometimes thrown into danger of thefe fwellings. The repelling tumors of other kinds, and fome- times the finking in an erifipelas, or other cutaneous eruption, will alfo occafion them ; and fometimes people who bave been treated with too hot a regimen in acute fevers arc fubject to fwellings in their feet, which though they appear red, and

are hot at times, yet, when drictly examined, appear to be truly {edematous. Progmftics in ibis cafe. edematous fwellings are always very ob- itinate, and tedious in their cure; but they are the more fo when their caufes are the more complicated, and more things than one confpire to their origin. None of thefe fwellings are fo eafily cured, as thofe which arii'e from external inju- ries, or Ample refrigeration; and thofe which arife from cu- taneous humors (truck in, are often found very eafy of cure, provided that they are not of very long (landing: and, in general, fuch as are very cold when out or bed, and always very hot when in it, are more difficult of cure than others. But this is to be obferved, that there is great difference be- tween a cure of thefe tumors, and the only ftriking them in ; the latter cafe being very often attended with much worfe complaints than the tumors themfelves, the too frequent con- fequences of fuch retropulfions being inflammations of the ab- domen, and prcecordia, and abfolute dropfies. Method of cure. The firfl dep towards a cure mud be the cor- recting the mucous and vifcid (late of the humors : this is bed done by the neutral falts, as tartamm vitriolatum, and the like ; and by gum ammoniacum, the roots of pimpernel, and woods of faflafrafsj guaiacum, and the like, with the warm aroma- tics, as ginger, and the fpices, and carminative feeds. The matter, when thus attenuated, is to be evacuated by purges of a drength proportioned to the conftitution of the patient, and, after this, the true tone of the parts is to be re-eitablifh- ed by chalybeates, and the part to be fecured from a relapfe with a large bandage, and with warm and (lengthening fo- mentations. It rarely happens that thefe fwellings ulcerate, but when they do, there is no application fo proper as the li- quor of myrrh. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 410. The method of treating azdematem tumors is very different ac- cording to the different caufes to which they owe their rife. The external method of treating thefe tumors in the legs and feet is ufually to have recourfe to frequent frictions with warm cloths ; thefe are to be repeated every night and morn- ing, and the parts to be rubbed each time till they appear very red, and are hot ; the limb is then carefully to be preferved from the injuries of the cold air, and it is a very proper me- thod to wear (lockings made of fome warm furr, and to lie with hot bricks, wrapped up in cloths, near the legs and feet, to divide, and attenuate the blood : a proper bandage is, af- ter thefe methods, to be applied, which is to afcend gradually from the feet up to the knees; this drengthens the limb, and prevents a flagnation, and collection, of the blood in any part of it. Proper drengtheuwig internal medicines muft be given during all this time; and, after the trying what has been already directed, (Irengthening remedies are to be at- tempted externally alio : to this end the limb may be placed over burning rectified fpirit of wine, wrapping it up in cloths in fuch manner that it may receive the (team ; this will en- dine the (tagnating fluids to efcape through the fk:n, or elfe render them fit to return into the circulation, and at the fame time will do much toward redoring the proper tone of the limb. In many families it is a fecret to apply the herb great celandine, bruifed in manner of a pukice, either alone, or mixed with the perficaria acris or water pepper, and great be- nefit is fometimes obtained by thefe herbs, for they are very active medicines, and powerful refol vents. Others apply alfo for the fame purpofe, the lepidium, or pepper-wort, and horfe- radifh root, feraped, and moiflened with white wine ; but the moft excellent remedy of this kind is the cataplafm made of pidgeon's dung, mixt with common fait and vinegar, and ap- plied warm, and often removed. A fomentation of no fmall ufe is made alfo of a lee made of oak afhes, mixed with fmith's forge water, adding a little fpirit of wine, and a fmall quan- tity of alum. This may be applied with ftuphs or the legs may be bathed in the liquor, as warm as it can well be borne, twice a day. Spirit of wine alfo, either alone, or mixed with lime water and alum, or lime water alone, are good fomenta- tions; and another from which great benefit has been received is this: take fpirit of wine, and common vinegar, of each a pint ; crude alum an ounce and half; vitriol an ounce ; mix all together, and ufe it as the foregoing. Great care mud always be taken after the ufing thefe, or the like fomentations, that the limb be well covered with bandages and dockings ; the patient mud alfo, during the time, drink fparingly, and ufe moderate exercife frequently. The medicinal waters, ef- pecially the fulphureous, often do fervice in thefe cafes, but they do not always fucceed. Dr. Harris relates, that he has cured the mod dangerous of thefe cafes, with a mixture of the aperient faffron of deel, and the bark. Others fpeak of having performed cures with the bark alone ; but there are not want- ing fome who declare this to be a very dangerous method. heifter'a Surgery, p. 232. OEDlCiNEMUS, in zoology, the name of a bird called al- fo charadrias by Gefner and Aldrovand, and in Englilh the fione curlew. It is a confiderably large bird, weighing eigh- teen ounces. Its beak is about two fingers breadth long, and is (trait, pointed at the end, and partly black, partly yellow. It has a naked, jcllowifh, green membrane under its eyes ; its legs are long, and yellow ; and it has only three toes, hav- ing no hinder one." Its thighs are naked hall" the way up, as