Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/284

 P O R

POR

It is a creature properly of the rat kind, and is not improper- ly called by Mr. Ray mus Amerkanus et Guin'tenjis porcelli pilis et voce : the American er Guinea rat, with the hair and voice of a pig; tho' the fame author feems to doubt, whether it has not fomething of the rabbit kind in it, by adding after the word mus, that of cumculus.

It is fmaller than the rabbit, and has a ihorter and thicker body ; its ears are roundifh, low, thin, pellucid, and very wide open, and are almoft fmooth ; and are obferved to be very nearly as large in the new brought forth creatures as in the full grown.

Its nofe and beard are very much like thofe of the hare ; the long hairs which ferve for whiikers being difpofed in much the fame manner, and its upper lip is like that of the rabbit. It has no tail ; its teeth are difpofed exactly as in the rat kind, and its hairs and grunting voice are wholly like thofe of the pig.

It is fometimes all over white, fometirnes all over of a reddifh tawney; but moll: frequently it is mottled with large fpots of both. Its fore feet have four claws, its hinder ones only three, of which the middle one is much longer than the others. It fits often upon its buttocks, in the manner of the rabbit, but it does not walk in the leaping manner of the rabbit kind ; but as the hog, by fetting one foot before the other ; ,and in walk- ing bears upon the heel in the manner of the bear. It does not burrow in the earth ; it brings forth fix, feven, or eight young ones at a time ; and thefe are not blind at firft, as in the rabbit. It feeds on vegetables, and its flefh is very well tafted, and much refembles that of the hog. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 22?.

PORCO, a name by which fome authors have called the fifh more ufually known by the name of caprifcus y fuppofed to be the porcm of Pliny. IVii'ughbys Hift. Pifc. p. 153. See the articleCAPRiscus.

PORCUPINE, hi/lrix, in zoology. See Histrix.

Amencan Porcupine, cuanda, in zoology, the name of a fpe- cies of porcupine very different from the European kind. It is of the fize of the larger monkeys, and is covered all over, except on its nofe, the lower part of its legs, and the extre- mity of its tail, with fpines of two or three inches long, and has no other hair but thefe. Thefe are yellowifh for that half which is next the body, thence they are of a deep black- ifli brown, and at the very extremity they are white : they are hollow in the manner of quills ; and Hernandez affirms, that the creature has a power of throwing them from its body to a confiderable diftance- The body is about a foot long the tail fomewhat longer than that, and its farther half covered thinly with hairs much refembling hog's briftles. The ears are fmall, and are hid by the fpines which cover the head. It has two long teeth in each jaw before; the noftrils are very wide, the eyes round, prominent, and very bright and fpark- Jing; the feet are like thofe of the monkey kind, and divided into four toes. See Tab. of Quadrupeds, N 1 *. 15. It climbs trees, but fiowly and with difficulty, for want of a heej or hinder toe. It ufually twifts its tail about a bough, to keep it fafe from falling. It makes a grunting like that of a hog. It feeds on poultry, and its flefh is very well tafted. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 208.

PORCUS acuUatus, in zoology, the name of an animal, of which there are two fpecies, both of the porcupine kind ; the one with a fhort, the other with a long tail. Each of them have alfo five toes on each foot, in which they differ from the European porcupines, which have but four. Seta. Vol. I. p. 81. and p. 84.

POrcus Jluviattlisy in ichthyology, a name given by the old La- tin authors to the fifh we at this time call the cornua and aurata, and in Englifh the ruffe. It is a fpecies of the perca or pearch kind, and is diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of the pearch with only one fin on the back, and with the cavern- ous head. See Tab. of Fifties, N°. 20.

Porcus Guinienjis, in zoology, the name of the Guinea hog. This creature is of the fame fliape and make with our hog, and of a reddifh tawney colour. Its head, however, is fome- ■what more depreffed than in our kind, and its ears longer, and running into narrow points. Its tail is naked ; but fo long, that it reaches almoft to its heels. Its hair is all fhort and mining. It has no briftles on the back, but only near the rump ; and on the moulders the hair is a little longer than elfewhere. It is a tame domeftic creature. Ray's Syn. Quad, p. 96.

PORELLA, in botany, the name of a genus of mofTes, the characters of which are thefe : the capfules contain a powder like thofe of the other moffes j and they have neither opercu- lum, calyptra, nor pedicle ; and their manner of fhedding their powder is not by feparating into two parts, like thofe of the felago and Iycopodium, but by opening into feveral holes on all fides. See Tab. of Moffes, N°. 17. Of this genus of moffes there is only one known fpecies; this is called by Dillenius the bluntly pinnated porelia, and grows in wet places in Virginia, Penfilvania, Maryland, and other parts of North America. Dtllen. Hift. Mufc. p. 459.

PORFILIGON, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to exprefs the fquammae rriartis, or the fcales of iron which fly off in the fmith's hammering of it.

POROCELE, a word ufed by chirurgical writers for a callous hernia.

POROMPHALON* a word ufed by Hippocrates to exprefs a callous concretion, or a fort of tophus formed in the region of the navel.

POROTICKS, a term ufed by the antients for fuch medicines as would confume callufes.

PORPESSE, an Englifh name given indifcriminately to two different fifties, the phoca^na and the dolphin. Artedi, who has been very careful in bringing together the fynonyma of authors, tells us, that this is properly the Eng- lifh name only of that fpecies of the dolphin, the characters of which, according to his fyftem, is, that the body is almoft of a conic form, the back broad, and the body fubacute. This fpecies is the phocasna of Ariftotle, and the tirfio or turfio of Pliny and Rondeletius. Schoneveldt calls it the fmall northern or oriental dolphin, and the Swedes the marfuin. See the article Delphinvs.

We have from Dr. Lifter an account of the tooth of this creature, after death, giving an envenomed wound. The ac- cident happened to the Doctor himfelf, and he relates it thus : in difledting a porpejfe, which had been four days dead, he fcratched accidentally the infide of one of his fingers; but that not fo deep as to fetch blood, or to occafion any great pain. He difregarded the accident; but at the end of four days the whole joint of the finger became tumid, and inflamed foon after the whole finger. After this the malady increafed, and in fpite of the afliftance of furgeons, the four next fingers were in four days more affected ; and after thefe the whole hand up to the wrift, and the pain became violent. This was firft abated by the following fomentations : frog fpawn-water, fix ounces; bole armeniac, an ounce and half ; white vitriol, four ounces. And afterwards this : burnt white vitriol and bole armeniac, of each four ounces; camphor, an ounce ; and common water, a gallon. The wafhing the hand continually with thefe, took off the pain ; and after this the unguentum nutritum, and a plaifter of diaphalma over the whole hand, perfected the cure. The Doctor obferves, that befide the blue look of the parts, which fufficiently indicated the poifon, there was a continual itching and burning heat, which was conftant day and night. The fkin of the whole hand and fingers came off, and the fingers did not fo far recover, as to have their full ufe for feveral months after. Phil. Tranf. N°.23i.

The fins of this fifh are cartilaginous and flexible, not {harp or prickly, as the antients have reprefented them. There is only one fin on the back, which is placed fomewhat below the middle : on the belly there is only one pair of fins ; and the tail is formed into the figure of a crefcent by its forked- nefs; and this tail lies parallel to the horrizon, when the fifh fwims, in the fame manner that the tails of all the other ceta- ceous fifties do ; whereas the tails of all other fifh ftand per- pendicular to the horizon. The great contrivance of nature in this pofition of the tail in thefe fifties is, that it may fupply the place of the hinder pair of belly-fins in other fifh, thofeof the cetaceous kind having none fuch. Thefe fins in other fifh ferve to balance the body, and keep it under water, and an- fwers alfo in many refpects to the hinder legs of a quadruped ; and hence we fee, that thofe fifh which have long bodies, and have not this hinder pair of fins, nor the horizontal tail, can- not fufpend themfelves quietly in the water, but are forced to keep groveling at the bottom. This is the cafe of eels, and all other fifh of that kind. The ufe of refpiration being as neceffary to the porpejfe as to quadrupeds, and it wanting this pair of hinder fins, to poize or elevate itfelf with, nature has abundantly provided againft the mifchiefs that would at- tend that defect, by giving it this tranfverfe tail; by a fudden jerk of which it can in a moment throw itfelf up to the fur- face from the deep water. The whale, and all the cetaceous fifties requiring the ufe of refpiration, have alfo this manner of raifing their unweildy bodies allotted them by nature, in- ftead of the hinder pair of fins, which muft have been incon- veniently large to be capable of this office. The blood of the porpejfe is as warm to the touch as that of quadrupeds, and-the blubber, or fat, which lies in great quan- tity under the fkjn, covering the mufcular flefh of the back and fides, is to keep up the natural heat, and prevent the cold of the fea water from chilling the circulating fluid. The ftomach of this fifh is of a very ftrange make; it is di- vided into two large bags, and has feveral other fmaller ones annexed to them. The food of the fifh feems to befpeak its living at the bottom of the water ; for the common matter found in its ftomach, is the remains of fifh that live in or on the bottom. The young porpeffei are generally found to feed on the ammodytas, or fand-eels.

The kidneys in this fifh are large, and adhere clofely to the back; and the urinary bladder is oblong, but very fmall in proportion to the fize of the animal. The penis in the male is long and flender, and has a very llender and fharp glans. This part does not appear externally ; but lies buried in its fheath in the body, and is there doubled up in the fhape of the letter S ; and the tefticles He within the cavity of the abdo- men, as they do in the hedge-hog;. The diaphragm is mufcu- lar, as in quadrupeds. The heart is large, included in a pe- 5 ricardium,