Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/381

 ROS

ROT

branch with its leaves divided into thefe filaments, yet they are fometimes found crowing to the middle nb of a fingle leaf where yet they do not want all their filaments, though there have been no vitiated leaves to form them. Reaumur s Hiit. Inf. Vol. 6. p. 251. ,, j " ., J

Though thefe galls and the fmooth ones before defcnbed are extrcamly different in external appearance, yet on a clofe examination they appear to be more nearly allied than might be fufpeaed. They are doubtlefs both the work of the fame infect, and their principal difference is that t,ie one is fmooth, and the other covered with thefe filaments. It is to be obferved however, that the fmooth ones have fometimes a fort of fhort and foft fpines upon them, and thefe feem the rudiments of thefe hairs ; and there fcem to be galls found fometimes more, fometimes lefs hairy, and indeed of all the middle degrees between the two forts. The naked galls are ufually larger and of a more fpungy texture than the hairy ones ; which is owing to all the matter, which mould have formed the filaments, being united and wrought up into the body of the galls. There is alfo another variety of the fmooth kind, which might appear an abfolutely diftinct fpecies. This is a fingle and large gall of a fmooth furface and fpungy but woody texture. When cut open, it is found to contain feveral cells, each in- habited by one worm : and when nearly examined is found to be a congeries of as many fmaller galls as there are cells, which have grown firmly together. AH thefe galls of the rofe tree afford the fame fpecies of worms, and the fame fpecies of flies. The proper inhabi- tants, however, are hardly to be diftinguifhed by the moft curious obferver from the great variety of fpecies which are found in them, all produced of the eggs of other flies, whofe worms are of the carnivorous kind, and are lodged in the gall, not to feed on the juices of the tree, but on the flefh of the proper inhabitant. When the parent fly who gives origin to the galls has depofited her eg°"s, and the tumor in confequence begins to be formed, an enemy of this kind pierces the covering, and fends in her offspring to feed on the inhabitant. Thefe are flies of the ichneumon kind, and feveral fpecies of them are of great beauty. All the flies defcribed by authors as iflu- ing out of this gall feem to have been of this kind : the proper inhabitant being a finall black fly of no great beauty is difregarded, while the others have been particularly de- fcribed. Mentzelius has given an elegant account of a fpecies whofe back is of a fine blue and its belly purple, and others have figured and defcribed greenifh and gold coloured ones, but" thefe are all ichneumons, all bred of de- vouring enemies which have fed on the proper inhabi- tants of the galls, and lived and transformed themfelves in their cells. Reaumur's Hill. Inf. Vol. 6. p. 254. Oil of Roses. See effence of Roses, fupra. ROSEA, a name given by fome authors to the erifipelas or

St. Anthony's fire. ROSLAND, in our old writers, heathy land, or ground full

of ling; alfo watryand moorifh land. I. Inft. 5. Blount. ROSMADIAN, a name ufed by the alchemiifs for what they

call mercury of the philofophers. ROSEMARY, rofmarinus, in the linnrean fyftem of botany, a diftinct genus of plants, the characters of which are, that the cup is a perianthium compofed of one leaf, tubulated, and flatted in its upper part ; its rim is erect and labiated. the upper lip whole, and the lower indented in three places. The flower is a fingle petal in form of a tube, and longer than the cup. It is labiated at the extremity ; the upper lip is fhort, erect, divided into two fegments, acute, and has bent edges ; the lower lip is bent back, and is trifld, the middle fegment large and hollow with a narrow bafe, the lateral ones are narrow, the ftamina are two pointed fila- ments bent toward the upper lip and longer than it, the antherae are fingle. The piftil has a quadrifid germen. the flyle is of the length, figure, and fituation of the fta- mina, and the ftigma fingle and acute. The cup holds in its bottom four oval feeds. Linntzi Gen. P). p. 6. The characters of rofemary, according toTournefort, are thefe. The flower confifts of one leaf, and is of the labiated kind \ the upper lip is bifid, and turned backwards and upwards, and adorned with crooked ftamina ; the under one is divid- ed into three fegments, the middle one being larger than the reft, and hollowed in the manner of a fpoon. The cup is divided into two or three fegments, and is furnifhed with a piftil, which is fixed in manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower ; this is furrounded with four embryos which afterwards become four roundifh feeds ripening the cup of the flower. The fpecies of rofemary enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe. r. The common narrow leaved garden rofemary. 2. The filver leaved garden rofemary. 3. The broad leaved wild rofemary. 4. The variegated leaved rofemary. 5. The large fpiked purple flowered rofemary. The feveral fpecies of rofemary when neither in flower or feed may be known by their having hard woody ftalks, narrow leaves, and a fmeli much approaching to that of camphor. Tourn. Inft. p. 198.

We have five or fix different fpecies or varieties of this fhrub in our gardens ; they grow wild in the fouth of France, and in Spain and Italy, on rocks near the fea where they multiply prodigioully. With us they grow the moft vigoroufly on a moift rich foil, but they are much fweeter fcented when on a poor foil, and on fuch they bear the fe- verity of our feafons much better, than where they grow more freely.

They are all propagated by planting flips or cuttings of them, in the fpring of the year, on a bed of light frefh earth, and when they are rooted, they are to be removed into the places where they are to remain. The beft feafon for doing this is in Auguft, if they are planted later than this, they feldom live through the winter ; therefore fuch as are not tranfplanted at this time fliould be left till the fol- lowing fpring, when March is a very good time for remov- ing them ; and if this be done in fhowery weather they take root almoft immediately. The plants are fometimes killed in cold winters in our gardens, but when by accident they have rooted themfelves in un old wall, as is often the cafe, they ftand all weathers unhurt, which is owing to their being ftunted and their roots dry.

The flowers of rofemary are ufed on many occafions in. me- dicine ; they are cephalic, good in all nervous and hyfte- ric cafes, and are ingredients in many compofitions of the fhops j they are eftecmed of great fervice in apoplexies, palfics, vertigoes and epilepfies. ( They ftrengthen the light, are good againft a itinking breath ; they are alfo prefcribed in obftructi- ons of the liver and fpleen : the conferve of the flowers is an excellent thing to bring other medicines in thefe inten- tions into form, when they are intended to be given in bo- lufes and electuaries.

The hungary water fo long famous in England and elfe- where, is made of the flowers of rofemary diftilled with recti- fied fpirit of wine. ROSMARUS, in zoology, the name of an animal called alfo by fome the fea horfe, and more ufually known by the name morfe. See Morse. ROSOMACHA, in zoology, a name given to a fpecies of hiaena. They are, fays Olaus, taken by hunters chiefly on account of their fk'ms, which are much efteemed by people of fortune for robes, as being variegated with very bright colours refembling flowers. Hoffm. lex univ. in voc. See the article Hijena. R.OSPUS, a name ufed by fome authors for the ftrange fifh called the rana pifcatrlx, or frog fifh. fVUlugbbys Hilt. Pifc. p. 86. See Rana. ROSSE, in ichthyology, the name given by Bellonius to that kind of the cyprinus of Artedi which we call the roach. See the article Cytrinus. ROST, in metallurgy, a term ufed by the miners at Chem- nitz to exprefs the ore of gold after it has been wafhed and powdered, and melted rirft with lime ftone, and afterwards burnt with charcoal alone. SeeLECH. ROSTEN, in the materia medica of earlier ages, a name given

to crab eyes. ROSTRUM {CycL) — The rojlrum or fnout in fifties varies xtry much in figure, and ferves as a conhderable article of diftinction. It is 1. in fomeplagioplateous or deprefled, as in the pike, &e. 2. In fome it is conic in fhape as in the oxyrynchus, &c. 3. In fome it is extended into a long and {harp point, as in the common ones ; and 4. In others it is triangular, or nearly fo, as in the rays. Rostrum is alfo ufed to fignify an inftrumertt wherewith pa- per is ruled for mufical compofitions. ROT, infheep (6yt/.)— This is the greateft of all the incon- veniencies that attend the keeping thefe ufeful animals. It is a very hard thing to prevent the rot if the year prove very wet, especially in May or June. Salt marfhes and lands, where broom grows, are the beft places of preferva- tion for them. Sheep are fometimes all cleared of the rot when not too far gone with it, only by removing them into broom fields. Scurvy-grafs, muftard, parfiey, and thyme, are alfo good for the prevention of it.

Some propofe the giving fheep half a handful of bay fait every month or oftener ; and there is great probability that this may be of fervice; but the rational way of attacking all diforders in cattle, is by confidering what are the caufes of tbsm. It will appear, upon enquiry, that wet feafons are the general occafions of the rot in iheep, and therefore it would be advifeablefor the owners, when fuch feafons come on, to remove the animals into the drieft paftures they can, and then to feed them principally with dry fweet hay, oats, bran, and the like, this would prevent the occafion ; and if they were already a little infected, fome fait given with their dry food, would be a happy means of curing them. Mor- timer's Husbandry, p. 244. ROTATED, rotatus, in botany, the name of a fort of flow- ers, fo called from their fhape, fomewhat refembling a wheel. Thefe are of the monopetalous kind, and are only a fub-diftinction of the infundibuliform flowers. Tourn. Inft. p. 116. Tab. 1. of Butany, Clafs 1. See the article Inf undibuliformis.

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