Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/184

 PAL

PAN

ing the feet with warm water, and the hanging camphor near the part, and fpirit of caftor, faffron, and the like, do well to be rubbed on the breaft.

Bleeding muft never be omitted in this cafe, for without it no medicines will be able to take effect. In cafes when a hypochondriac habit confpires in the caufe of this complaint, the attemperating powders of nitre,, cinnabar, and the like, always prove of very great fervice. In cafes of a chlorofis with this complaint, bitters and chalybeates ufually prove a remedy ; and when a fuppreflion of the menfes, or hasmor- ■rhoids is the caufe, the bringing them to their priftine regu- lar Irate is a cure. It is never proper to allay the motion till the plethora, which occafions it is removed, unlefs in cafes of its coming on merely by the paflions, without any antece- dent caufe in the blood; in this cafe, gentle opiates maybe given without danger. Steel medicines and the volatile falts, when they are given in an imprudent manner, always make the difeafe worfe, inftead of doing any thing toward a cure. Finally, a change of a fedentary life, into a moderately ac- tive one, will do more than any medicines. Jumk. Confp. Med. p 626, feq.

Monfieur de la Hire was cured of a chronical palpitation of the heart, by a quartan ague. See Ftnienelle, in his Eloge. PALSY (Cyci) — Among other lemarkable cafes of this ter- rible difeafe, we have, in the philofophical tranfactions, one of a periodical palfy. The author quotes two inftances of a like kind, by way of countenance to that which he relates. The German Ephemerides mention a young paralytic man who fpoke only one hour in every four-and-twenty, and that always at a regular time, beginning between twelve and one at noon every day, and his power of fpeech ceailng always between one and two : this continued twelve years upon him. The other cafe is not recorded in books, tho' well attefted. The cafe in the tran factions, is of a ruddy fanguine young wo- man who fell into a palfy, in which (lie loft her voice and the ufe of her legs. 'J his was at firft, carried off by medicines, but afterwards returning again at times, at length became re- gularly periodical, feizing her on the Tuefday of every week, and going off" again on the 1'riday. This courfe it obferved very regularly for the firft year, except twice. After this, on taking proper medicines for fome confiderable fpace of time, me became fo well, that her fits lafted only a day and a half, coming on always on a Tuefday morning, and going off again on a Wednesday. In this manner fhe continued to have them feveral months, but flic was at length perfectly recovered. Phil. Tranf. N° 242. p. 60. This diftemper, according to Dr. Cheyne, may be cured by a total cow-milk diet. He thinks the medicines commonly prefcribed in fuch cafes may retard the progrefs of the dif- temper, but that it is never to be eradicated if the ftroke be deep, or life far fpent, but by cow-milk only. See Nat. Method of curing, p. 265.

Mr. Boyle gives an account of an hemiplegia, or palfy of one fide, occafioned by a fmall fplinter of a bone prefting on the dura mater. The patient in lefs than five hours after the bone was taken out, found himfelf able to move his finger, and within two or three days to lift his arm, which had been reduced to fkin and bone, but foon recovered its proper fize. Works Abr. Vol. 1. p. 37.

Hofman diftinguiflies palfies into ferous and fanguineous. In the firft kind, raifmg an artificial fever by hot, acrid, ner- vous, and volatile medicines, by ftrong exercife, and hot bathing, often effects a cure. But in the fanguineous kind, accompanied with febrile motions, fuch remedies ought not to be applied. Oper. T. 3. p. 19S. §. 26. There is a kind of palfy called berilwu, to which the natives of the Eaft Indies are peculiarly fubject.

The word in the Indian language fignifies a fheep ; and Bon- tius fuppofes it was attributed to this difeafe, becaufe the per- fons afflicted with it thruft out their knees, and lift up their legs fo much in walking, as in fome fort to imitate the gate of fheep. It is a kind of tremor, or palfy, in which the ufe of the hands and feet are in a great meafurc taken away ; and fometimes it extends itfelf to the whole body. The principal caufe of this difeafe is faid to be a thick vif- cous humor, which in the night feafon, efpecially in the rainy time, which holds incefiantly from November to May, falls upon the nerves, while people fatigued with the heat of the day, throw afide their cloaths and fleep without any co- vering ; by which means the phlegmatic humor which be- fore generated principally in the brain, eafily feizes upon the nerves ; for the nights in thefe countries, compared to th> days, are very cold The confequence of this is, that the joints become lengthened, the pituitous humors infinuating themfelves between the junctures, fo as to relax the nerv and ligaments. Tho' this difeafe for the moft part comes on very gradually, and by flow advances, yet fometimes it feizes a perfon all at once, as when any one being very much fa- tigued and hot, drinks a vaft quantity of any cold liquor. And thus we fee, even in our own country, that when any one has been violently heated by exercife, and drinks an im- moderate quantity of a cold liquor, it often throws him into the utmoft. hazard of his life.

The fymptoms of this difeafe are always imnifeft, even to the fight. There is ever an univerfal laftitude of the whole body. All motion, but particularly that of the hands and feet, becomes vitiated and depraved; and the fame fort of throbbing and titillation is felt as we feel in our fingers and toes in cold weather, only the pain is lefs acute ; and fome- times the voice is fo fair affected, that the patient can fcarce fpeak articulately.

Bontius himfelf was once afflicted with this diftemper, while in the Eaft Indies, and had this particular fymptom of it in fo great a degree, that for a whole month thofe who fat clofe by him could not, without great difficulty, hear what he faid. Thefe are the common fymptoms of the difeafe ; but befide thefe, it is at times attended with all thofe others which may be fuppofed to arife from a cold caufe.

The cure is ufually very tedious ; for thefe cold humors are very flowly, and with difficulty difcufled. The difeafe is not naturally mortal, however, unlefs it affects the breaft ; in which cafe it fometimes wholly flops the breath. In order to a cure, the patient is of all things to avoid confining him- felf to his bed ; walking, riding, and all forts of exercife are uleful; ftrong and fmart frictions arealfo very ufeful, and the Bengal fervants are ufed to thefe, and are very dextrous in. the ufe of them.

There is alfo great relief had from fomentations made of de- coctions of the herb lagondi, which has all the virtues of our chamomile and melilot, but in a much greater degree. The leaf of this plant is like that of our perficaria or arfmart ; and its fmeil very aromatic The hands and feet are alfo to be anointed with oil of cloves, or mace mixed with oil of rofes. But more than all thefe, there is relief found in a kind of naphtha, which is very common in Sumatra, and is called mintac tarnch, or oil of the earth. Tins is of a ftrong but not very naufcous fmell, and is fo great a remedy, that being rubbed on the hands and legs, it is always an almoft immediate relief. The Barbarians know as well as we the value of this precious balfam ; and the king of Achin, who is the moft powerful prince in that ifland, has forbidden its exportation, under the pain of death ; fo that the inhabitants can only bring it off by itealth in the dead of the night, to the Dutch and Engliih fhips which happen to lie in the way. Thefe are the things which give temporary relief; but as the difeafe is of the chronic kind, the cure is to be performed by long courfes of the decoctions of the roots of China, and farfaparilla, and guaiacum wood, which by their gentle heat difcufs the cold humors which are the root of the difeafe, and carry them off by perfpiration or urine. Purging at proper intervals is alfo highly neceffary; and the cathartics moft in ufe there in this cafe, are, aloes and gamboge. Bleeding is by all means to be forbid; and the relicks of the difeafe 'are ufually very happily carried off by Venice treacle, and other iudoriiic and nervous medicines, and gentle exercife is the beft remedy to prevent its return. Bontius de Medicina Ind.

PALUM famum, in botany, a name by which fome authors have called a fpecies of the guaicum tree, called the lignum fanftum, or hoiywood. Park. Theatr. p. 1587.

PALUMBARIUS accipiter, the gojhaiuk, a fpecies of hawk of the fhort-winged kind. It is larger than the common buz- zard, and is brown on the back, and very white on the belly, with tranfverfe ftreaks of brownifh black ; thefe are of an undulated figure, and laid very near one another. Its legs and feet are yellow, and its beak black, with a yellow mem- brane covering its bafe Its wings, when clofed, do not nearly reach to the end of its tail ; by which, and by its fize it is eafily diftinguifiied irom all other hawks. ■ Its tail is lon^ andof a brownifh grey, with three or four tranfverfe ftreaks on it, placed very diftant from one another. It will feize on pheafints, geefe, and even hares, but its moll common prey- is the partridge. May's Ornithology, p. 5 1,

PALUA'IBES, the ring-dove, in zoology. See RlKG-dove.

PAMBCEOTIA, Tiu^u^u, in antiquity, a feftival celebrated by all the Boeotians who aflembled near Coronea, at the temple of Minerva, furnamed Itonia. Potter, Arcbieol.Gra-c. I. 2. c. 20. T. r.p. 419.

PAMMACHION, na^^*, a name by which the exercife pancratium is fometimes called, whence the combatants were likewifc called pammachi, na^**^,. ■ Potter, Archa^ol. Grsc. 1. 2. c. 22. T. 1. p. 444.

PAMUCHLEN, in zoology, a name by which fome call the fpecies of cod-fifl}, commonly named by authors afeltus flri.tus. milugbbfsK&. Pifc. p. 1 7 2.

PANACIA, n^a.KiM, in antiquity, a feftival in honour of Panace, Potter, T. I. p. 4.22.

PANALETHES, a name ufed by many authors for a plaiftcr fuppofed to be of the greateft virtues. It is defcribed by Ae- tius. Tetrabib. 4. Serm. 3. cap. 2.

PANAMA-/;,//, a fpecies of dolium. See Dolium.

PANARITIUM, a word ufed by fome authors to exprefs a

whitlow, or paronychia. PANCALA-fl&r^, a name of a famous antidote, compofed of

many ingredients, defcribed by Myrepfus. PANCARPIA, the name of a fort of cake much ufed at Alex- andria,