Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/179

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which it contains, contributes not a little towards it, fince we are not to look upon that as a mere fait, but a fait of a pe- culiar kind, formed of fea fait by the organs of the animal, and the feveral fermentations it undergoes in the body of it, in the fame manner as the nitrous and other falts of the earth ceafe to be nitrous, &c. as foon as they have been blended, with the juices of plants, and form with them a fait peculiar to that plant; and this is plainly the cafe in regard to this fait, fince it is evidently of a more penetrating tafte, and of a different fmell, from the fait left by the fea water between the feveral external fcales, or flakes of the (hell. As oiftcr (hells were found by Mr. Homberg to be a very va- luable medicine, and as one of the common methods of pre- paring them is by calcination, which he obferves cannot but much impair their virtues, he gives the following method of preparing them for taking inwardly, which was what he al- ways ufed :

Take the hollow (hells of the /sifters, throwing away the flat ones as not fo good ; wafh them perfectly clean, and then lay them to dry in the fun ; when they appear dry, beat them to pieces in a marble mortar, they will be then found to con- tain yet a large quantity of moifture; lay them again in the i'an till perfectly dried, and then finifn the powdering them, and fitt the powder thro' a fine fieve. Give twenty or thirty grains of this powder every morning, and continue it three weeks or a month. Mem. Acad. Par. 1700. 0\'s,TEB.-worm. in natural hiftory, a name given by writers to a kind of (mail worm found in oiftefs, which (nines in the (lark, in the manner of the glow-worm ; but with an univerfal light, and not in a peculiar part only, like this animal. The fir ft obferver of thefe ey/ter-warms was Mr. De Lavoye, who communicating his obfervations to Mr. Auzout, gave oc- casion to a very diitinct account of them from this author. The firft thing that prefents itfelf on the opening the 01/hrs which contain thefe worms, is only a fort of mining clammy moiHure, which appears like a Mar of a blucifh colour, and being drawn out, will extend itfelf to near half an inch long, and (nine as much for that whole length as in the contracted irate : it will alfo (hine for fome time after it is taken out of the o'ifter.

On a (Meter obfervat'ion, thefe (Inning fubftances are found to be real living worms, and there are indeed three diftinct fpecies of them. One fort is whitifli, and has twenty-four or twenty-five feet on each fide: there is a black fpeck on one fide the head, and the back exactly refembles that of an eel, when the fkin is ftripea off. The black fpeck in the head is certainly an eye, and it is remarkable that the creature has but orte. The fecond fort of thefe worms, is red : this al (0 has but one eye: its body is made up of feveral rings; its nofe is like that of a dog, and it has the fame number of feet with the former. The third fort is very different from

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the other two; it is fpcckled, and its head is like that of a foal, and has a tuft of hair on each fide. There are other worms found alfo in the rijler, particularly a large greyifh one with two horns, a great head, and feven or eight whitifh feet ; but thefe do not fhine. The two firft forts are eafily miftaken for fhining moifture only, their fubftance being fo tender, and eafily refoluble, that on the leaft fliaking or touch- ing, they turn into a vifcous jelly. This, however, has the property of fhining as much as the living worm, and when taken from the fhell, will fhine on the obferver's fingers for twenty or thirty feconds ; and if any part of this matter be let to fall to the ground, it fliines as long, and exaaiy re- fembles a piece of burning brimftone. Sometimes when fhaken off nimbly, it becomes a fhining line, which diffipates itfelf before it comes to the ground. The fhining matter in this cafe, is in fome whitifh, in others reddifh ; but yet in both cafes it gives a violet appearance to the eye. The white ones are the tendereft of all : thefe fo eafily burft, and become a mere lump of jelly, that if it were not for the feet which are feen among it, one would fcarce imagine that they were ever worms, or any thing living. When they are large and ro- buft, they move their heads and tails about, and this is a great addition to the luftre of their fhining ; every motion of this kind giving a flafh of light brighter than the reft On forcibly making the sillir in the dark, the whole fhell is fome- times feen full of lights, which are now and then as big as the finger's end; after this, a great deal of this clammy mat- ter, both red and white, may be obferved; fo that it is pro- bable great numbers of the worms are burft in their holes. In the fhaking it may be diftinguifhed, that their holes run into, and communicate with one another, like the holes made by worms in wood. This light occurs more frequently in large, than in fmall ctfltrs i there are few of thefe large ones that do not yield it in the fhells, and in fome it is feen in the oijicri tbemfelves.

Thofe fhells which are vifibly pierced by the worm, more fre- quently emit the light than thofe which are not; and the con- vex fhell more than the flat one. The worms are not apt to give light when irritated, but if they do, it lafts only a little time; but when they are at reft, the light they give ufually lafts feveral hours. The outfide of the fhell being a little fcal- ed, the communication of the holes may be (een ; the form of the worms is generally deftroyed in doing this, but there is the jelly like moifture left, and this fmells like the oijler li- quor. Journal de Scavans, 1666. OZE, a word ufed by fome writers to exprefs a fo£tw y or ///

frneU of the mouth. OZEMAN, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers for

the white of an egg. OZO, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers for arfenk^ or ratibar^.

Suppl. Vol. II.