Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/509

 SOP

the bottom of the retort there remains a black feculent- matter, the upper furface of which is covered with a white faline cruft, which, both in figure, colour, and the ftruc- ture of its ftri;e, refembles the common fal armoniac. If the milky liquor be rectified, it affords a very penetrating volatile fpirit, and fome fharp volatile fait. Here we are taught what the agitation of an open fire can move, change, expel, and drive through the air by burn- ing ; flrft in the form of fmoak, then of flame, and laftly of exhalation, and how high it is able to carry them ; for a chimney is a kind of flill-head, converging in an open top, and foot is often carried up thirty or forty feet, or more, to the top of thefe, and after this a black fmoak is difcharged out of the orifice, which difperfcs in the air, and finally feems to vanifh.

This fmoak and foot confift of feveral parts ; as i. a fetid, oily, unpleafant bitter fpirit, refiding in the water that firft comes over, and is afterwards found difperfed alfo through all its other parts ; this fpirit feems to be the oily and more fubtile part of the vegetable, a£ted on by the force of fire. 2. A water, which is here contained in great plenty in this fpirit ; in the firft limpid, and in the fecond milky liquor, as alfo in the faline fpirit, and the volatile fait itfelf, and ^ven in fome degree in the oil. This water can fcarce be feparated pure by any art, being always impregnated with the bitter tafte and naufeous fmell of the fpirit. 3. A fharp volatile alkaline oily fait, which firft comes over, and flicks to the fides of the receiver. From this principle we ar^ well affured, that fuch a volatile alkaline fait always ftrono-Jy impregnates the whole air, where wood fuel is burnt. 4. A fharp alkaline fat fpirit, confift ing of the fait juft now men- tioned diflolved in water, and fo refembling fpirit in fluidity, pungency, volatility, and the other qualities. 5. A fetid black bitter naufeous, and almoft cauftic oil, mixed with an oily fait. 6. A true fal armoniac, raifed to the neck of the retort, and covering the furface of the black matter left at its bottom. If this fait be carefully collected and feparated from the alkaline kind, it proves to be a perfect and genu- ine fal armoniac ; it is of a whitifh colour, fomewhat tranf- parent, and makes no effervefcence with acids^ and if mixed with fixed alkalis, k eafily yields a volatile fait, wholly agreeing with that from the commom fal armoniac ; whence by the by it is evident, that all fal armoniac owes its origin to foot. 7. The laft fubftance found in foot, is the remain- ing black earth left at the bottom of the retort: this has an oil which tenacioufly adheres to it, and when this is driven off in a ftrong open fire, there remains a white calx.

By this accurate analyfis of wood-foot, we learn what parts of vegetables are volatile, and fly off by an open fire, and what are fixed and remain behind, and finally, what fire throws off from vegetables info the air j and hence, among other things, we may learn that even earth, which appears fo very fixed in the fire when feparated from the other principles, yet when mixed with them is, by the force of fire, thrown up to the height of forty feet, and more, in the air ; whence it afcends to yet greater heights, and finally difperfes in form of a thin cloud.

Hence we may alfo learn that foot, which contains fo many active principles, muff, be qualified for a powerful medicine Pills of dry foot are found very beneficial in all cold diftem- pers ; the volatile fait of foot pofTefTes the virtues of the volatile falts of animals. The fait which rifes Iaft is re- commended greatly by Hartman for giving relief in cancers and this is very probable, fince fal armoniac of the common kind, properly applied, is known to be of great ufe in cafes of running cancers. Soot of different fuels is not to be fup- pofed all to poflefs the fame virtues ; that of pit-eoal is found to be a fubftance of a very different kind from that of wood and that of the common turf, or peat, and of the oak wood have alfo been found, on experiment, to be very different. Boerhaave very juftly obferves, that the foot from kitchen- chimneys, where the fmoak muft have been impregnated with the effluvia of the vi&uals, muft be very different from pure wood-foot. Boerhaave 's Chemiftry. The tincture of foot is in ufe ; and Dr. Cheyne recommends it as a great and fudden relief in vapours. Nat. Meth. of curing Difeafes. SOPHORA, in botany, the name given by Linna?us to a ge- nus of plants called by Dillenius, in his Hortus Elthamenfis, trvi fpecies ; the characters are thefe. The perianthium is fhort and campanulated ; it confifts of one leaf, divided into five obtufe fegments at the end. The flower is of the five-leaved papilionaceous kind. The vexillum is oblong and ftrait ; it grows broader as it approaches the apex, and is bent back at the edges. The abe are two; they are ob- long, of the length of the vexillum, and append ic'ul a ted at the bafe. The carina confifts of two petals, of the fize of the alas, the under edges of which ftand near together fo that they form a fort of boat. The ftamina are ten diftinft parallel fubulated filaments ; they are of the fame length with the flower, and are hid in its carina. The anthene are fmall and affurgent ; the germen of the piftil Jgj oblong and cylindric; the ftyle is of the length and fituation of the

SOP

ftamina ; and the ftigma is obtufe. The fruit is an ex- tremely long and (lender pod, it contains only one cell, and is marked with protuberances where the feeds are contained. 1 he feeds are numerous, and of a foundifh figure. This genus of plants agrees with the other papilionaceous and diadelphous genera, except that in this the ftamina are diftincr. and feparate. Dillen. Hort. Elth. p. 112. Limm Gen.

Plant.

?:'J7-

SOPHRONISTiE, *«#.,«•*,, among the Athenians, were ten "fibers appointed to take care that the young men be- haved themfelves with fobriety and moderation. Potter. Archaeol. Grrec. I. 1. c. 15. Tom. I. p. 84.

SOPHRONISTERIUM, *fttW>#«, among the Athenians, a houfc of correaion like our Bridewell. Potter, Archsol. Graec. 1. 1. c. 2J. Tom. I. p 130.

SOPIO, a name ufed by fome of the old writers for opium, from its foporific virtue.

SOPORARIjE arteria, a name given by fome authors to the carotid arteries.

SOPOROUS rC,*/.)— Soporous difeafes, a term by which medical writers exprefs the lethargy and coma, and fome others even the corns and apoplexy.

The firft of thefe, the lethargy, is an idiopathic affection, depending on a congeftio'n of blood about the head, whence there foon arrfes a flails both of that and the other humors ; the confeqiience of which is an univerfal oblivion, or forget- iulnefs of all things. The coma is a fymptomatic>/>; rra r affec- tion, ufualiy complicated with deliriums, and taking its origin from a reftriaion of the fluids about the head in acute fevers. This is the generally received fenfe of the moderns, as to thefe difeafes, though fome invert the meaning of the words, and make lethargy iignifv a fymptomatic affection attending perfons in fevers ; and the coma to be the idiopathic difeafe, particularly the fleeping coma. To thefe fome alfo add the

■ earns, which they fay is a (lighter kind of lethargy; while others will have that difeafe to be a more violent diforder than the lethargy, and of a middle nature between that and the apoplexy, or little better than the laft. Junier'i Confp. Med. p. 666. J

Signs of them. A lethargy is ufualiy prefaged by an univerfal laffitude and inaptitude to motion, and a vertigo, or tremor in the head, or an intenfe pain in Its Kinder part ; by a continual inclination and defire to go to deep, and fleeping more found than ufual ; and finally, by a ringing in the ears, and a general hebetude or dulnefs of the fenfes. When prefent, it is known by the patient's falling into a particu- larly found deep, out of which it is very difficult to wake him, and when awaked he is wholly forgetful, both of him- felf, and of every thing about him, and has an immediate propenfity to Deep again; the pulfc, refpiration, colour, and heat of the body, are all the while nearly the fame as in health ; and when there is a fever attendant on it, it is ever a very flow, and fcarce fenfible one. The coma is of two kinds, the fleepy and the -waking, or coma vigil. In the fomnolent, or fleepy coma, the patients fall into a long and found deep, but that not fo profound as in the lethargy 5 for in this cafe, though -hey be immoveable, yet they are much more eafily Waked than in lethargies, and are not fo perfectly forgetful of all things when waked, as they are in that difeafe. In the coma vigil, of wakeful coma, the pa- tient has an eternal propenfity and defire to fleep, but can- not really get to fleep ; with this he is ufualiy delirious, and commonly keeps his eyes fhut, but is all the time very quick of hearing whatever is fpoken in the room, and opens his eyes immediately on being touched ; and fomctimes their delirium proceeds fo far, that they endeavour to get out of the bed, and to do feveral mad aaions.

Perfons fubjea to them. Lethargies principally affefl fat peo- ple, who are of a fanguineo-phlegmatic habit, and particu- larly fuch as are advanced in years, and live upon rich and moirr diets, and have accuftomed themfelves to fleeping after dinner. Old people alfo, who have been fubjea to catarrhs, whether of the head or breaft, and fuch as have been long ufed to have iffues, and have clofed them up, or to regular cuppings at certain feafons of the year, but have omitted them, on account of their advanced age, ufualiy fall into it. Thofe alfo who have been 'much ufed to tobacco, whether fmoaked or taken in fnuff, and have fuddenly left it off, very often alfo fall into this difeafe, or into apoplexies. There are alfo many other caufes, from which old men are fubjea to lethargies, fuch as long waking, cares and troubles upon the fpirits, the ufe of narcotic medicines, drunkennefs, contufions, or heavy blows upon the head, and, as fome affirm, the being for a long time together expofed to the rays of the moon. Infants alfo, which are fat, arc fubjea to the fame difeafe, from the ftrikihg back of any watery humor.

Comas ufualiy happen to people in acute malignant fevers, and are preceded by violent pains in the head, and raging deliriums, and are very often owing to the improper ufe of opiates, and ftupifying medicines. Junker's Confp. Med, p. 670.

Prognojiics in them. Old perfons, who are fubjeft to frequent

fleepinefs, unleft they change their courfe of life, and ufe 1

■3 coarfer