Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/510

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toarfer diet and more exercife, ufually fall into fatal le- thargies. In perfect lethargies, in which the patients can- not be wakened at all, they ufually die between the fourth and the feventh day, unlefs an eruption of fome matter from the nofe or ears happen ; which is not unfrequently the cafe in perfons who fall into this difeafe, after violent blows on the head. The coma is much the fame in its prognoftics as the lethargy ; but in this a cold fweat ufually prefages immediately approaching death. It is much better that a phrenitis fhould happen to perfons in a lethargy, than that a lethargy fhould happen to thofe in a phrenitis.

■Melhod of cure. In a lethargy the fenfes are to be roufed, and the humors deduced from the head to the lower parts by ftimulating glyfters, and acrid fuppofitories, by ligatures on the oppofite parts, by frictions, blifters, and finapifms, or fuch cataplafms as bring on heat and rednefs of the parts, applied to the foles of the feet and the palms of the hands ; as alfo by twitching off the hairs in very fenfible parts, by applying volatile falts to the nofe, by pricking with a needle, and by loud calling : and in plethoric habits, immediately after the clyfter, a vein mould be opened, and after that leeches applied to the temples ; and internally, powders of nitre and cinnabar, with the gentle alexipharmics, are to be given ; and all forts of camphorated medicines are proper to be applied externally, after {having the head. In many cafes, crudities in the prima? vise have a great fhare in bring- ing on thefe difeafes, and in fuch vomits and brifk purges are very proper.

In a coma, whether it be of the fomnolent, or wakeful kind, the fever, which is the primary difeafe, is firft to be regarded ; but with the antifebrific medicines, the nitrous and cinnabarine mould be joined, and the camphorated ones ufed externally.

Prefervatives again/} them. Every prefervative muft tend to the taking off what may prove the caufes of thefe diforders. .Por this purpofe, in old perfons of mucous habits, the mat- ter muft be by all pomble means derived from the head, and carried off by fome fafe way. In this intention, brifk purges of jalap and colocynth, and for thofe of very fan- guine habits, of black hellebore, are to be given every quarter of a year. To thefe fhould be added the bitters, and ful- phureous medicines, with the gum refins, in form of pills : thefe fhould be taken regularly at the equinoxes; and a pro- per diet muft be obferved, namely, drier foods muft be prin- cipally eaten, and the fpices frequently ufed, and the pa- tient advifed not to eat too heartily. Roafted meats, in ge- neral, are better than boiled ; and wine fhould be drank in moderation, and fome of it impregnated with bitters. Junker's Conf. Med. p. 678.

SOPRANO, in the Italian mufic, fignifies the treble.

SORA, in botany, the name given by the people of Guinea to a kind of fhrub which they ufe in medicine, boiling it in water, and giving the decoction in cafes of pain of any kind.

The leaves of this fhrub are of the fize and fhape of thofe of fena ; they ftand upon fhort footftalks, and are woolly underneath. Philof. Tranf. N° 231.

SORBUS, the fervice- tree, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe. The flower and fruit refemble thofe of the Crataegus, but differing, in that the leaves are winged as thofe of the afh. The fpecies of for bus, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The common fervice. 2. The cultivated (ervhe with a large red fruit of a turbinated form. 3. The culti- vated fervice with large turbinated pale-red fruit. 4. The cultivated fervice with a reddifh middle- fized turbinated

■ fruit. 5. The cultivated fervice with a reddifh middle-fized oval fruit. 6. The cultivated fervice with a fmall reddifh turbinated late-ripening fruit. 7. The cultivatedyerw,? with fmall turbinated fruit. And 8. the wild fervice, or forbus aucuparia. Tourn. Inft. p. 633.

SORE, among fportfmcn, denotes a buck of the fourth year.

SOREL, in the language of fportfmen, a buck of the third year. See the article Buck.

Sorel, in botany. See Sorrel.

SOREX, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of wild or field - moufe, called the clormoufe, or Jleeper. There are two kinds of this creature, a larger and a fmaller. The larger dormoufe is nearly of the fize of the common rat. Its colour is a brownifh grey, like that of the com- mon moufe, but variegated with fomewhat of a reddifh caft on the fides, and on the head. The ears are large and fmooth ; the belly is white ; and the inner part of the legs, and the lower part of the tail, efpecially toward the extre- mity, are of the fame colour. The noftrils and the feet are red ; the tail is all over hairy, and is terminated by a thick tuft of white fur. The eyes are large and prominent, and of a fine jetty mining black. The beard is partly white, and 'partly black. Round about the eyes, and round the ears, there is a fine blacknefs ; the upper part of the tail is alfo black. The fmell of this creature is the fame with that of the moufe, and its dung is of the fame kind. It lives in caverns underground, and fleeps all the winter, as fome af- / 3

firm. It feeds on vegetables, and is particularly fond of hazel-nuts, which it ufually hoards up, when ripe, for a fcarce,r feafoni. Rays Syn. Quad. p. 219. The fmaller kind is much more common than the lamer one. This is of the fize of the common moufe, and in different countries varies much in colour. In Italy Mr. Ray obferved it all over of a reddifh tawney on the upper part except the end of the tail, and all its under part white, the tail only excepted; the tail covered with long and thick-fet hail's, and looking fomewhat like a fquirrel's. The eyes are very black and prominent. Thofe which the fame au- thor obferved in England were lefs of the reddifh hue on the back, and were not white under the belly, but only on the throat ; neither had they the white tip at the end of the tail. Poflibly the Italian and Englifh may be really diftimSfc fpecies. This creature feeds on nuts and other fuch fruits. It retires into caves in winter, and fleeps much, but not through the whole winter, as has been fuppofed, for it lays up its winter-provifion in its hole in autumn, and feeds on it at that time. Ray's Syn. Quad. p. 320. The f rex, according to the Linnsan fyftem, makes a di- ftinct genus of animals ; the diftinguifning character of which, is, that its derates incifores, or cutting-teeth, are two in number, and are ferrated, or notched on each fide. Lin- nesi Syft. Nat. p. 40.

SORGLUM, in the materia medica, the name of the grain of the milium arundinaaum, called Indian ?nillet. JDa/Ss Pharm. p. 262.

SORNI, a name given by fome of the chemical writers to iron. Caft. Lex. Med.

SORRANCE (Cyd.) — SoRRANCE-w<7r>r, a name given by our farriers to a folution of vitriol and fome other ingredients in vinegar, a medicine much efteemed in many of the difeafes of horfes : it is prepared in the following manner. Take Roman-vitriol and roach-alum of each an ounce and half, verdigreafe an ounce, copperas two ounces; reduce all thefe to powder together, and put them into a two-quart bottle, into which pour a quart of the ftrongeft and beft wine-vinegar; this is to be fet in balneo marine. The fhort way of doing which by the farrier, is this : he puts a wifp of hay into the bottom of a kettle, and then tying fome pieces of lead or iron about the neck of the bottle, to make it heavy enough to fink in water, it i; fet upon the hay fo, as to ftand very upright; then three notches are cut length- wife in the cork to give paflage to fome of the vapours when the bottle is heated, that it may not burft. When every thing is thus prepared, fo much, cold water is to be put into the kettle, that the neck of the bottle may ftand two or three inches above it ; the kettle is then to be fet over the fire, and the water is to be made to boil, and kept boiling about half an hour, the bottle being at times taken out, and thoroughly fhaken. When the falts are thus thoroughly diflblved in the vinegar, the whole is to be kept for ufe. The method in which they ufe it is this. Take an earthen pan, which will hold about twelve quarts, let this be filled with urine that has been made by found, healthy, and young perfons ; the ftaler the urine is, the better it is for ufe, and it ought indeed always to ftand, at leaft, three weeks before it is ufed. It is proper for the farrier, there- fore, always to keep a quantity of this ready, and when the water is to be ufed, half a pint of it is to be mixed with a quart of the urine, or if it be required ftrongcr, more of the water is to be added : thefe are to be thoroughly mixed to- gether, and the legs, or other affected part of the horfe, bathed with it with foft rags twice a day. The virtues of this water are highly extolled ; it is faid to cure the malanders in two, or three times drefling; it is alfo a fovereign remedy for the mange, either dry or wet, and for the rat-tails, fcratches, gourded, or fwelled legs and heels ; and it alfo cures horfes when the greafe is fallen into their heels, as the farriers exprefs it. The farcy is alfo faid to be often cured by a long continuance in the ufe of it, purging the horfe two or three times, at different diftances of time, during the time of. his being under cure by the water. They alfo find it a good cleanfer and healer of foul ulcers, and that it prevents the breeding of proud-flefh and worms in wounds, and drives away a flux of humours that were falling upon any part. They ufe it alfo in clefts and cracks of the heels, and in windgalls, efpecially in the pre- vention of the laft by its repellent qualities. The green water alone is an excellent remedy for fiftulas, cankers, and the galled backs of horfes ; difpofing fuch forrances, as they are called, not to fefter, rot, and grow worfe, as all greafy and oily medicines do, but clcanfing them, and laying the way to a very found and franding cure.

SORREL, acetafa, the name of a genus of plants, the cha- racters of which are thefe. The flower is of the ftamineous kind, being compofed of a number of ftamina ariiing from a fix-leaved cup. The piftil, which is furrounded by thefe, finally becomes a triangular feed, wrapt round in a cup : this is compofed of three of the fix leaves of the cup, the other three withering away.

The fpecies of forrel, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. r. The common mez&GW-fbjrel, 2. The white- flowered