Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/724

 V I s

V I s

VIRGATA $utura t a term ufed by fome anatomifts for the

fagittal future of the cranium. VIRGILIAN Hujbandry. See the article Husbandry. VIRGINALE Claujlrum, a term ufed by fome writers to ex-

prel's the hymen. VIRGINS -Bower, Cfematttis, in botany, the name of a genus of plants; the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the rofaceous kind, and ufually confifts of four leaves ar- ranged in a circular form, and without a cup. The piftil arifes from the center of the flower* and finally becomes a fruit compofed of feveral feeds arranged into a fort of head, and each ending in a long plume.

The fpecies of Clematith, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe : I. The common broad-leaved wild Clematith, with leaves indented. 2. The broad-leaved wild Clematith, with leaves not indented at the edges. 3. The pear-tree-leaved indented Clemathis. 4. The creeping Clematitis, called by- many authors flammula, 5. The creeping fea Gleinatith. 6. The white flowered upright Clematitis. 7. The early red-ftalked upright Glematitis. 8. The geranium-leaved al- pine Clematith. 9. The blue-flowered upright Clematitis. 10. The white-flowered upright Clematitu, 11. The blue- flowered procumbent Clematitis. 12. The purple procum- bent Clematith. 13. The double blue flowered Clematitis* 14. The double purplilh-blue Clematith, 15. The double pale-red Clematitis, 16. The upright dwarf Spanifli Cle?na~ W&j, with white flowers. 17. The narrow-leaved Portugal Clematith, with fmall blue flowers.

Authors have added to this genus, the Clematith trifolia flore rofeo, which is properly a granadilla ; and the Clematith Daphnoides, which is a pervinca. Tourn. Inft. p. 293. The feveral fpecies of this plant make a very fine ornament in the quarters of gardens allotted to flowering fhrubs. They are all propagated, by laying down their branches in fpring, as is practiced in vines and other fuch fhrubs ; and in a year's tinie they will have taken fufficient root, and may be taken up and removed to the places where they are to remain. This mould be done in fpring, and a little mulch muff be laid about their roots, and they muft be watered in dry wea- ther. In two years after planting they will make very ftrong ihoots, which are to be trained up to flakes, that they may not trail upon the ground. After this, they require no farther care, than to cut out their dead branches every year, and in the fpring to fliorten fuch branches as are too long and rambling.

They may alfo be raifed from feeds, fowri either as foon as ripe, or in the fpring ; but this is a more tedious way, as they lie fix or twelve months in the ground before they appear and after that require two years care in a nurfery-bed before they are fit to be planted out where they are to ffand. VTR10ELLUS, a word ufed by fome medical writers, to ex- prefs the cpilepfy ; and by fome of the chemical ones, as a name for the common green vitriol. VLRILIS Tejlh Mufculus, in anatomy, a name given by Ve- falius, and others, to the mufcle generally known by the name of the Cremajier. VIRITES, a name by which the writers of the middle ages

have called the Pyrites. VISCAGO, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, defcrib^ . ed by Dillenius, and fince called by Linnaeus Silent, Dillen.

Hort. Elth. p. 309. See the article Silene. ViscA'go is alfo ufed by fome pharmaceutic writers, to exprefs

a mucilage. '

VISCERA {Cyd.)— Wounds of the Viscera. If any of the Vifcera fituated in the abdomen, as the liver, fpleen, or kid- ney, has received a wound from a fharp inftrument, at the firft drefling the wound muff be filled as tenderly as poffible With lint well faturated with highly rectified fp'irit of wine, or fpirit of turpentine, fecuring the dreffings with compreffes and a bandage; by this means the haemorrhage will be flop- ped, if no large veffel is divided. When this part is gained, the wound muft be treated in the common manner, and the patient kept very low ; bleeding him, if of a plethoric habit, and giving daily two or three dofes of Lucatellus's balfam ; for balfams of this kind are of great fervice in healing inter- nal wounds. This is the method to be taken with wounds of the Vifcera, which may be difcovercd by the eye or touch. But in fuch of them as are hidden, and not to be thus difco- Vered, all that can be done is to inject vulnerary decoctions, and keep a paflage open for the evacuation of fordes, or gru- mous blood. Heifler's Surg. p. 68. VISCERAL1A, a term ufed by phyficians, to denote fuch medicines as impart ftrength and firmnefs to the fanguineous Vifcera, fuch as the liver, fpleen, &c. VISCERATIONES, among the Romans, a feaft eonfifting of the intrails of animals, given to the people at the burial of great men in Rome. Danct, in voc. VISCUM, Mif.etoe, in botany, the name of a genus of plants ; .. the characters of which are thefe : The flower confifts of one leaf, hollowed into the fhape of a bafon, and ufually divided into four fegments at the edge, and fprinkled over with apices in the form of little protuberances. The embryo fruits do not fucceed there, but appear on other plants of the fame fpe- aes, and are furrounded with four little leaves ; thefe finally

become round berries full of a glutinous juice, and contain- ing flatted and heart-fafhioned feeds.

The fpecies of Mifetoe, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe: 1. The common, or white-berry'd Mljletoe ; and 2. The Mijletoe with red berries. Tourn. Inft. p. 609. See the article Misletoe. V iscum is alfo ufed for Birdlime. This was efteemed a poi- fon among the antient Greeks, and is feldom omitted under the clafs of deleterious things enumerated in their writings. It is called by thefe authors Ixias ; but this word has occafion- ed great errors in late writers, the word Ixias having been ap- plied for the white camelion thiftlc, not becaufe of any poi- fonous quality it had ; for they all declare it to be innocent, but becaufe of its yielding a viFeouSj or clammy juice. The black cbamaeleon Ehiftle was always efteemed poifonous among them j and hence fome have fuppofed the word Ixias to be applied to that, and the poifon Ixias, mentioned by the Greeks, to be the root of that plant. Paulus .^Egineta indeed feems to have underftood it fo, the poifon Ixias being by him placed among the roots ; but Galen, who calls it a flow poi- fon, and fays* that it kills by flopping up and glewing toge- ther the intertines, plainly enough means Birdlime, not the root of any plant. Viscum Caryophyllotdes, a name given by Sir Hans Sloane, and many other authorsj to a genus of plants of a very peculiar kind. They are called Vlj'cwn from their growing upon other trees, in the manner that the mifletoe does with us ; and Caryophyl- lotdes, from their leaves, in fome degree refembling thofe of our pinks or carnations ; but the plant itfelf, in all its fpecies, is wholly different, both from the mifletoe and pink, in all 0- ther refpects.

The feveral fpecies of thefe plants differ greatly alfo from one another j the moft fragrant fpecies in Jamaica is a very feftge one called by the common people, the wild pine. The root of this plant is compofed of a great number of brown filaments, which encompafs the whole branch of the tree on which it grows j thefe are very different from the roots of our mifle- toe, for they enter into the folid flibftance of the tree, but the roots of the mifletoe arc expanded over its furface, and are often confufedly interwoven one with another. The roots of Vifcum give a-^very firm bafts for the plant, and from thefe there arifc the rudiments of the leaves, which at length grow to the likenefs of thofe of leeks, or of the leaves of fome of the aloes, being folded one within another j they in fome fort alfo refemble thofe of the pine- apple, or ananas, and it is on this account that the plant is cal- led the wild pine. Thefe leaves are between two and three foot long, and are three inches broad at the bafe, from whence they run tapering all the way, till they terminate in a point j they are very round or convex on the outfide, and very hol- low within 5 by means of this fhape of the leaves is formed a very fine refervatory of water in every plant of this kind. All the leaves being thus hollow within, and ftanding in a circle at the bottom, form around hollow mafs, which fwells out into a fort of bulb, looking like a turnep, except in co- lour, and very large ; they afterwards draw nearer to the ftalk, and form by that a fort of neck to this bottle cavity, which is clofe and firm on all fides : in the rains, the trees 011 which thefe plants grow, drop off vaft quantities of water from their leaves, and this is in great plenty catched by one or other of the long leaves of this plant ; each of which is a fort of hollow pipe, conveying all that it receives into the bottle, or refervoir at the bottom ; this foon runs over, but in confe- quence of this, it is at laft left full, and this water it retains a long time, by means of the narrow neck they form above, which prevents the evaporation that would othcrwife naturally happen by the fun's heat : this water gives a continual fupply of juices to the leaves, which are of a pale green in the bottle part, and as green as a leek above.

In the midft of thefe leaves rifes a fmooth branched and fuc- culent ftalk of about three foot long ; this, when wounded, yields a white mucilaginous juice ; the flowers are numerous, and confift each of three leaves, ftanding in a three-leaved green cup ; after thefe come three corner'd capfules ; at the bafe of this are three fmall and fhort leaves, and within it are contained feveral feeds, of an oblong, pyramidal form, fmall in themfetves, but winged with a very long and fine down. The plant is very common in woods and forefts, and grows ufually to the branches, but fometimes to the trunks of the trees, efpecially when they are fomewhat decayed, their bark then more eafily receiving the feed, and giving a free pafTage to the roots. Phil. Tranf. N°. 252. p. 114. See the article Sowing. VISION {Cycl)-~Difincl Vision, that by which an object is feen diftinctly. An object is (aid to be feen diftinctly, when its outlines appear clear and well defined, and the feve- ral parts of it, if not too fmall, are plainly diitinguifhable, fa that we can eafily compare them one with another, in refpect to their figure, fize, and colour. Dr. Juries Eft", on dift. and indift. Vifion.

In order to fuch &ftbi8 Vifion, it has hitherto been com- monly thought, that all the rays of a pencil, flowing from a phyfical point of an object, muft be exactly united in a phy- ileal, orat lcaft, in a fenfible point of the retina. But it feems,

certain,