Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/19

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is of an infipid tafte, and therefore ufually thrown away. Mem. Acad. Scienc. Par. 1699-

This is an extremely agreeable fruit, and the eating it is never attended with any bad confeqiiences; even though it be eaten in ever fo large quantities. People who are not ufed to the In- dies are apt to give this the preference to all the fruits of the place • but the natives, and others who have accuftoriied themfelves zo the fmell of the diir'ton, give that infinitely the preference. This is a large prickly fruit of the fize of a me- lon of an intoxicating quality, and of a tafte like that of fugar and cream, but with a fmell like that of rotten onions. The fmcll is intolerable to grangers, but cuftom has made it fami- liar to the Indians, and they difrcgard it. The peel or rind of the Mangoujian is a more powerful aftringent than the pomegranate bark, and is given in decoction in diarrhoeas and dyfenteries with great fuccefs, as alfo in all other haemorrhages. There is a fort of wild Mangoujian, called by the Portugucfc, mato, which grows in the woods both in the Eaft Indies and in America. The fruit of this perfectly refemjjfes the true Mangoujian, but is not eatable.

MANHEB, a word ufed by fome chemical writers to exprefs fcoriae of any kind.

MANIA, (Cycl.) Madnefs, the moft violent and acute fpecies of a delirium, arifing from a perturbation of the imagination and judgment.

Signs of it. Thefe are a bold and rcfolute afpect, and eyes fuffufed with blood j only it is to be obferved, as to the firft- mentioned fymptom, that thofe perfons who have gone mad through fear, have always in their afpecT: a mixture of that terror the object firft gave, and of that natural boldnefs which arifes from Madnefs. The patient often lays traps and fnares for the getting other people into his power, with intent to hurt them, though they never have in jured him. Sometimes mad people have been known to murthcr others; and they al- ways have fo much ftrength as to overpower almoft any one perfon; and though they have no a£tual fever, yet they are infenfiblc of the external cold, and in general of other pains or injuries; nay, they are fo loft in (peculation, as often fcarce to (eel the blows and lafhes they receive in the courfe of their cure. They often do not even hear the people who (peak to them, and are naturally of a very jocund and chearful imagi- nation, fancying themfelves kings and princes, and are delight- ed with mufic. They have a violent propenfity to venery, and fuch an abfence of fhame, that they will go to ftool, or do any thing of a like kind, before any body. This is the ufual cafe in the height of the diforder; and in its decline fome are dull and ftupid, others very forrowful and melancholy, and fenfible of their unhappy diforder. Junker, Confp. Med. p. 689.

Perfons fabjeSt to it. Thefe are principally men of a choleric habit of body, and of violently paflionate difpofitions. Thofe who have continual domeflic quarrels, are alfo frequently thrown into Madnefs by it; and women frequently incur this difeafe from long fuppreffions of the nienfes, and a habit of giv- . ing loofe to lafcivious thoughts. Suppfeffions of the hemorr- hoids, and of the evacuation of the femen, have fometimes alfo driven men into Madnefs; worms have alfo fometimes oc- casioned it, and fometimes drunkennefs.

Prognoflicks. Madnefs arifing from immaterial caufes, is much more difficult of cure than when it arifes from difordeis of the bodily organs; hence when it arifes from violent pertur- bations of the mind, or from intenfe ftudy, it is almoft in- curable. When it arifes from fuppreffions of the femen, or of the uterine, or hemorrhoidal difcharges, there is great hope of a cure by proper means. But mad perfons in general, when they fleep found, and always awake in outrageous fits, are to be eftecmed incurable, or at leaft greatly more difficult of cure than others.

Method of Cure, A briflc purge is firft to be given; after this the patient is to be blooded pretty freely, ten ounces at the leaft fliould be taken away; after this the fenfes arc to be at- tempted to be roufed by ftrong vomits. White hellebore was famous on this occafion among the antients; and there are fome cafes in which it may be given with fafety, and with great good effec-t. After this the violent emotion 'of the blood is to be attemperatcd by nitrous and abibrbent medicines; and, after thefe, the feveral remedies ufually efteemed fpecifics take place. Of this number are decoctions of the red anagallis or pimpernel, the ruta miliaria, or white maidenhair, the feveral preparations of filver, the berries of the Herba Paris, afles blood, and the like; and great care is to be taken to bring the hemorrhoidal and menftrual difcharges as far as poffible to regularity. In cafes of retention of the femen, purified nitre is to be given in great quantities, and may be alfo externally ufed, applying it to the teftes in a cataplafm. The ufe of opiates is fcarce to be fuffered in any delirium, but of all things is never to be given in Madnefs, for it never gives them any Keep, but enrages and adds to the complaint, having the fame effect that ftrong liquors would have upon them. The ufe of White hellebore, as a vomit, may be of great fervice in fome cafes; but in all hypocondriac complaints, and confequentlv m Madnejs, in the caufes of which thefe complaints have a ihare, it is certain to encreafe the difeafe. Id. Ibid, p.691. We read ol a Mania arifing from a callous phi- mater. See Med fcfl. Ldinb. vol. 4. art. 26. Sec alfo the article iVUdve^s. Suppl. Vol, II.

M A N

MANICUM Strychnuni, in botany, a term ufed by the old Greek writers to exprefs a kind of nightfhadc, which, when taken internally, caufed madnefs. Pliny, defcribin°- this fpe- cies, fays that it has leaves like the ocymum or barn; and rheophraftus and Diofcorides fay it had leaves like the eruca or rockett. Where Pliny had his information is not eafy to gueft, for be commonly copies from thefe authors. They are, however, much more to be depended on; and as the leaves Oj the ocymum or bafil arc not at all like thofe of the rockett, Pliny is certainly wrong in his account; and the moft probable rcafon for his error is, that he miftook the Greek name of the plant, to which thefe authors compared the leaves of the : Mdni- cmnStrychnum, and tranfiated euzomon, which is the name of the rockett into ocymum, bafil; a name fomewhat like the Greek one in found, but wholly different in fignification; the two plants bafil and rockett not only having leaves very un- like one another, but being alfo of different genera. A yet greater error of Pliny, in regard to this plant, is his' placing it among the cfculent garden herbs, and faying that it was & in ufe as a food, immediately after he had told us of its caufing madnefs m thofe who eat it. This is an evident confufion of the maniac folanum with the pomum amoris or love-apple, the fruit of which is eaten in foups at this time.

MANIFESTOS Clihridis, in anatomy, a name given by Ve- fahus and others to one of the mufcles of the female pudenda, called by Verheyen fimply the mufculus clitoridis, but by Al- binusand Cowpcr, ereclor ciitoridis. Verheyen is not to be cenfured for calling it only the mufiulus ciitoridis, for it is pro- perly the only mufeje of that part, the other generally attri- buted to the clitoris, and called by Riolan and others, clitcri- dis inferior and iatus, not properly belonging to that part, but being truly a fphinfter vaginas, or as Albinus by a more coarfe name calls it, die conftri&or cunni. See the article Sphinc- ter.

MANIHOT, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the one-leav'd kind, and is fhaped like a bell, and is wide open, and divided into many fegments at the edge. The piftil finally becomes a roundifh fruit, containing three capfules joined clofely toge- ther, each of an oblong figure, and containing a feed* of the fame figure.

The fpecies of Manihot, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The common Manihot of Thevet, called jucca, and cajfada. 2. The prickly American Manihot, with vine- like leaves. 3. The American Manihot, with broad ehn-lrke leaves. 4. The American Manihot, with narrow elm-like leaves. 5. The climbing American Manihot^ with' leaves like betony. And 6. The fmafleft gcrmander-leav'd Ameri- can Manihot. Toum. Inft. p. 658.

This plant is alfo called Manioc; its juice is poifonous; but the bread made of the plant, after the expreffion of the juice, is innocent, and in frequent ufe in the Brafils, and other parts of the Weft Indies. Mem. Acad. Par. 1 700.

MANIQUE, in the materica medica, the name given by au- thors to an American root, commended greatly for curin^ tertian and quartan agues, and as an infallible remedy againft venomous bites. Redi procured fome of this famous root, and gave it many very fair trials, but could never difcover any of thefe virtues in it. Redi, Efperien.

MANNA [Cyci.)— This is a fubftance in many things very nearly related to fugar and to honey; it is inflammable in the fame manner, and It melts in water as eafily as fugar, and in the fame manner is indifloluble in fpirit of wine, except in regard to a very fmall quantity of fome feemingly extraneous particles : This is a very fufficicnt proof that falts abound in it more than fulphurs. M. Lemery, in his analyfis, drew from Manna a vinous liquor, of the fame kind with that obtained from honey. Mead may alfo be made of Manna 3 in the fame way that it is made from honey; but it is nei- ther fo ftrong, nor fo agreeable to the tafte', as that of ho- ney. From as much mead as was made from two pounds of ' Manna, M, Lemery drew off by dftillation eight ounces of a fort of brandy, and on rectifying this, procured an ounce and half of a pure burning fpirit, like in all refpecls to recti- fied fpirit of wine. This fpirit of Manna is accounted by fome a fudorific, and is given from half a dram to a dram and a half. M. Lemery having left the remaining liquor, after the diftillation of the fpirituous part of the Manna-mead 9 in a warm place for two years, found that it depofited to the bottoms of the bottles feven drams of an efTential fait of Man- na, which was white, hard, brittle, and formed into fine needles, and was of an acid tafte, with an admixture of fweet. This fait is purgative, and its dofe is a dram. All the re- maining acid liquor being diftilled, there remained at the bottom of the retort a quantity ot matter of the confidence of honey, which wcigh'd twenty ounces; fb that out of two pounds of Manna, there had been twelve ounces confirmed, to make the fpirit, and to give the acidity to the remaining liquor. This honey-like refiduum, being finally diftilled with a ftrong fire, there arofc a reddifh liquor of an acrid tafte, and with a ftrong empyrcumatic fmcll, and with this a few drops o( a blackifh oil; after this operation, the re- mainder in the retort was four ounces of a very light black coal. The coal, it is to be obferved, is here only one eighth

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