Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/43

 MEL

Mel

melinus Color, MuHm xf s t**> in anti q u5t y> a coIour ofteft

mentioned in fpealcing of the habits of players. It was a red- dim yellowj or the colour of ripe apples, in Greek called (*»*«, and their colour pfteuJiK xf«>*. Hafm. Lex. in voc. MELISSA, Balm, or Baum, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is competed of one leaf, and is of the labiated kind. The up- per lip is erect, and of a roundifh figure, but bifid at the end. The lower lip is divided into three fegments. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed, in the manner of a nail, into the hinder part of the flower, and furrounded with four embryos, which afterwards become fo many roundifh feeds, ripening in an open capfule, which was the cup of the flower. The flowers of Baum always grow in the al^e of the leaves, but they do not always furround the ftalks like thofe of the fideritis. Tourn. Inft. p. 193.

The fpecies of Baum, enumerated by Mr. Toumefort, are thefe: 1. The common garden Baum. 2. The hairy ftrong fmelling Roman Baum. 3. The low broad-leav'd Baum, with a large purple flower. 4. The low broad-leav'd Baum, with a very large white flower. 5. The low narrow-leav'd - Baum, with a very large flower, 6. The fhort-ftalk'd, plan- tain-Ieav'd Pyrenean Baum.

Baum is greatly efteemed among the common people, as good in diforders of the head and ftomach ; but is lefs re- garded in the fhops. It is moft conveniently taken by way ofinfufion, like tea; and the green herb, contrary to the general rule in regard to other plants, is much better than the dry. See the article Balm.

Hoffman has contrived a procefs for the obtaining the virtues of this plant, which affords its principles better than any other, and gives two medicines to the phyfician, unknown before, but of great value.

This method might be purfued with the fame fuccefs in other cafes, and many plants, not fufEciently efteemed at prefent, might thus afford ufeful preparations.

He took a large quantity of the leaves of Baum, frefh picked from the ftalks, and filling a glafs vefTel more than half full, with them, fixing the ftopper carefully in, he put the veffel into a dung-hill, where he let it remain three months : At the end of this time he took it out, and found the whole reduced to a kind of pultice. This being diftilled in a retort, yielded firft an empyreumatic liquor, but afterwards, whenthe'fire was in- creafed, a black and {linking oil came over, in form of thin laminse, fpreading itfelf over the furface of the liquor. There remained at the bottom of the retort a black and burnt mafs, refembling a coal, which, being thrown on burning charcoal, had very much the fmell of the common tobacco. In this firft diftillation no volatile fait appeared, but the em- pyreumatic liquor being examined, was found very fharp and acrid on the tongue, and of a fharp and pungent fmell. Spi- rit of vitriol being mixed with it, it afforded no effervefcence ; but on the mixing it with fpirit of hartfhorn, fpirit of urine, or the like, a fmall ebullition always was produced, though it lafted but a few moments.

This liquor, rectified by a fecond diftillation, affords the vo- latile hit of Baum, which is a fine white and pellucid fub- ftance, adhering to the neck of the glafs, in form of fine ■white and ftriated cryftal, and a yellow astherial oil, of a - very penetrating fmell, and fharp tafte, becomes feparated by the fame rectification. Thefe are both found to be very great medicines, the fait as a fudorific, and the oil as a high cor- dial, a carminative, and a deobftruent. Hoffman, Act. La- borat. Chem. MELITENSIS Terra, Earth of Malta, in the materia me- dica, an earth of which there are two very different kinds, the one of the genus of the boles, the other of the marles. The latter is that known by medicinal authors under this name ; the former is the Malta earth now in ufe : But both being brought from the fame place, are confufedly called by the fame name.

The Maltefe bole, which is what we ufe now, is a fine earth, of a clofe compact texture, and very heavy ; when dug, it is of a very pure white, but it is apt to contract ayellownefs in drying, and become of a cream colour. It is of a very fmooth and mining furface, fcarce at all ftains the fkin in handling, adheres ftrongly to the tongue, and melts into a butterlike fubftance in the mouth. It makes no effervefcence with aqua fortis, or any other acid menftruum, and fuffers no change of colour in the fire. Hill's Hift. of Fofiils, p. 4. The Maltefe marie, which is the Terra Melitenfis of medi- cinal authors, is a loofe, crumbly, and very light earth, of an unequal and irregular texture, and when expofed to the weather, foon falls into fine foft powder ; but when preferved and dried, it becomes a loofe light mafs, of a dirty white co- lour, with a greyifh caft ; it is rough to the touch, adheres firmly to the tongue, is very eafdy crumbled to powder be- tween the fingers, and ftains the hands. Thrown into wa- ter it fwells, and afterwards moulders away into a fine pow- der. It ferments very violently with acid menftruums. Both kinds are found in great abundance in the ifland of Malta, and the latter has been much efteemed as a remedy againft the bites of venomous animals, but with how much juftice we cannot fay. The other has fupplied its place in the S u ppl. Vol, II.

German fhops, and is tiled there as a cordial, a fudbrificj

and aftringent. Hill's Hift. ofFofEIs, p. 37.

MELITITES, in natural hiftory, an indurated clay, of a yel- lowifh colour, but in many refpects approaching to the na- ture of the morochthus or common French chalk. It has its name from the Greek /*eX/, honey, according to" Diofcorides, from the fweet tafte of the liquor it diiiblved into on rubbing with water ; and probably it might be alfo fo called from its colour, which does not ill refemble that of honey.

The antients ufed it much in medicine; they applied it exter- nally in ulcers, and gave it inwardly as a foporific to people who were to fuffer pain, fuppofing it would make them lefs fenfible of it. " It is at prefent very common in Italy, and probably in many other places, but is not known or regarded. It is a very fmooth fubftance, nearly as hard as the moroch- thus, of a very compact texture, and of great weighty of a fine even and gloffy furface, very fmooth and foft to the touch, and in colour of a greyifh yellow. It does not at all adhere to the tongue, nor ftain the fingers in handling ; but drawn along a rough furface, leaves a fine flender white line ; and fhaved into very thin pieces, has forne faint degree of tranfparence. It diifolves, on rubbing in water, into a yel- low thick liquor like cream, which has a lufdous or fwectifh. tafte. It does not ferment with acids, and burns to a pure white. The fweet tafte of this is common, in fome degree,' to the Jleatites, morochthus, and all the indurated clays, as are alfo their fern i- tranfparence in thin pieces, and all their other properties. Hill's Hift. of FoffiLs, p. 24.

Melitites Lapis, a name given by fome authors to fome of the rounder fpecies of echinita, from their refembling an ap- ple in their fhape.

MELITTOMA, a word ufed by the antients to exprefs a fort of fweet-meat, or confection, made with pleafant ingredients mixed in honey.

MELLAGO, a word ufed by medicinal writers to exprefs any medicine that has the confiftence and fweet tafte of honey. It is often applied to the rob, or infpilfated juice of fruits, mixed with fugar in the making.

MELLE, orMuLLi. The Peruvian.?, by gently rubbing the fruit of this tree between their hands in warm water, deprive it of all its fweetnefs ; after which they ftrain the liquor, and leaving it a few days to fubfide, it becomes a very tranfparent drink, and by boiling becomes an excellent kind of honey. Garcil. ap. Boyle's Works abr. vol. 1. p. 53.

MELLEGUETTA, in the materia medica, a name ufed by fome authors for the great cardamom, commonly called grain ofparadife- f. Bauhin. vol.2, p. 204. Jonf, Dendr. p. 114*

MELLEUM Marmor\ in natural hiftory, the name of a plain yellow marble, refembling honey or pure Venice turpentine in colour, and thence called by Csfalpinus, Marmor fpecie Mellis aut Terebinthincs. It is a very beautiful marble, tho* but of one plain colour, and 'tis a wonder it is not more im- ported into England. It is of a very agreeable colour, and is considerably hard, and capable of a very elegant polifh. It is dug in many parts of Italy, and is greatly efteemed there. It never has any veins. Hill's Hift. of Foffils, p. 464.

MELLINE, in botany, a name given by many of the antient writers to the garden plant we call Baum. It had the name Melline from its yielding honey to the bees. It has many other names, derived from the fame fource } fuch as apiajlrum, from apis the bee, meliphyllum, the honey- leaf, and from this, melijfophyllum. Many alfo are of opi- nion, that the amello of Virgil is the fame plant. He defcribes it as having a gold-colour'd flower, and purple leaves at the bottom; this they explain by obferving, that in Baum the ftamina of the flowers which ftand out, and are the moft confptcuous parts, are yellow, and the leaves of the calyx or flower-cup are purple : Thefe, they fay, are what Virgil means by the leaves at the bottom, not the common leaves of the plant growing from the root, which are not to be fup- pofed purple in any plant.

MELLISODIUM, a word ufed by fome chemical writers to exprefs burnt lead.

MELLITA, in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of the echini marini, of the general clafs of the placenta?. The cha- racters of the Mellita are, that they are plain and flatted fhells, with their edges arched and waved, and have on their fuper- ficies two or more oblong apertures, which reach to the bafe* Of this genus, there are two known fpecies ; 1. A fmooth one with a circular vertex. 2. A fcutellated kind, refem- bling the fhell of the tortoife, and with a pentagonal vertex. Klein's Echin. p. 30. See Tab. ofTeftaceous Animals, N°. 9*

MELO, the Melon, in botany. See the article Melon.

MELOCACTUS, the Melon Thijlle, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the monopetalous kind, and is tubulated at the bottom, and expanded into the form of a bell at the top, with' ferrated edges ; this ftands upon a cup, which finally becomes a foft fleftiy fruit, of the fhape of an olive, which contains a fmall feed. In many of the fpecies, however, the fruit is collected into an elegeant head.

The fpecies of MelocaStus, enumerated by Mr. Toumefort,

are thefe: 1. The common Eaft Indian MehiaStus. 2. The

K purple