Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/746

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%o tc ih the fame county on fand-hills, now never ufed as potteries ; but, as he well obferves, the difference is very great between the potteries- of thofe days and of ours, fince we, who ufe great quantities- of day, and but little fend, erect thefe works where there is much clay, and bring the fmall quantity of fand we ufe to it ; whereas the Romans, on the other hand, who ufed much fand and but little clay, na- turally eftablifhed their works where there was plenty of fand, and brought their clay to it.

The Roman Urns differ from the earthen-ware made at this time in feveral particulars: r. They have no lead-glazing, which feems a modern invention, and is, in many refpects a very had one. See the article Glazinc. 2. They are compofed of a far larger quantity of fand than clay. And 3. they are baked not in an open fire, as our common earthen- ware, but have been inclofed in large earthen veflels, to de- fend them from the immediate contact of the flames 5 and hence it is, that the nataral colouf of the cky they are made of is not altered in them.

The red Urns feem to have been the mafter-piece of the work- men, and to have employed their greateft art; the emboffed work upon them is often very beautilul, and their coral-like glazing is more beautiful than any thing of the modern times, and feems to have been done by dipping them all over in fome appropriated liquor, and afterwards baking them in the clofe manner before defciibed. This has certainly been the me- thod they ufed, fince the fragments of thefe large coffins, or Cafes, are found near all the Roman potteries. Heck's Pbilo- fuphic.il Collections, p. 87.

The Romans, and nvoft other nations* contented themfelves to make their funeral Urns of potters ware, or baked earth ; but we find thefe have been fome people who have made them Of gold, on particular occafions. In the year 1685, as a pc.if.mt of the ifland of Funen was ploughing a piece of land, which had before lam barren, he turned up no Ids than fix golden feptilchra! Urns. They were all full of a grey'ifh fub- itance, which fome took to be a grey earth ; but it was much more probably afhes,

Thefe are all preferved at this time in the mufieum of the king ef Denmark at Copenhagen; the largett of them weighs two ounces and a half, and the others about two ounces and one dram each. Wormius, and fome others, give accounts, that it was ari antient cuftom among the northern nations to burn their dead, and when they were great perfons, to col- lect their allies and bury them in golden Urns; and the finding thefe feems an evident proof of the truth of that ac- 'Count.

Thefe Urns were very thin, and each had three rings of gold about their necks, and fcveral circles, one within another, with one common center carved on the outfide round the body of the Urn. They held about five ounces of liquids apiece, or a little mure than that > one near fix ounces,

Sepulchral Urns of cryfta] were alfo not uncommon ; the fame mufeeum lias fome of thefe : they are of a conic figure, and have ufually a gold wire wound round them. Urns of tills kind have been found buried in fome parts of Norway. Ano- ther kind of Urns were thofe which they called tachrymales, or the tear-Urns : Thefe were contrived to receive the tears of the friends of the deceafed, which were afterwards mingled with the allies of the burnt corpfe : Thefe were made of va- rious materials, and of various fhapes and fizes, according to the fancy of particular people. Phil. Tranf. N°. 285. UROGALLUS, in zoology, the name of a bird of the gallina- ceous kind, called alfo tetrao, and in Englifh the cock of the wood or mountain. See Tab. of Birds, N°. 25. In fhape it refembles the turkey, and approaches to it in fize. Its legs are feathered down to the toes before, and naked behind. Its breait is of a pale reddifh brown j the ends of the feathers white ; and the whole variegated with tranfverfe black ftreaks. Its belly is greyilh, and its back elegantly va- riegated with black, reddiih-brown, and grey. The ends of the feathers are all fpotted with fmall fpecks, unlefs on the head, where they are of a fine plain black; but with a glow of purple intermixed. The tail is of a reddifh brown, va- riegated with tranfverfe black ftreaks, and is white at the tip or end. It is common on the Alps, and in fome parts of Italy, and is faid to be found alfo in the mountainous parts of Ireland. Its flefh is very delicate. Urogallus Minor, in zoology, the name of a large bird common in fome counties of England, and called the black game, or groufe; and by fome authors, tetrao minor. Ray's Ornithology, p. 123. Sec Tab. of Birds, N°. 26. and the article Grouse. URGMASTIX, in zoology, a name ufed by fome authors for that fort of hzzard called cordylus. Crew's Muf. p. 45. See the article CordyLus. VROW-F/J/j, in zoology, the name of a frefh-Water fifh of the malacoftomous kind, or, as we call it, the leather- mouthed kind, caught in the lakes and rivers of Germany,

nd efleemed 1

very

delicate fifh.

Jt is fumcthing like the Englifh rudd or finfeale, but its body is fpmewhat longer, in proportion to its breadth ; its back is

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brown, and its belly yellow ; the belly-fins near trie anus aYcr a little reddifh, but all the reft are brown ; the fcales are; large and filvery, and the irifes of the eyes have each, in their lower part, a blood-coloured fpot; the tail is forked - t and its ufual fize is about {'even or eight inches, though it is fometimes caught confiderably larger.. lVillughby\ Hilt. pjf c. P-253- URRY, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people of Chefhire, and fome other counties of England, to a black fat- earth found in coal pits, lying immediately over the fttatunrot' coal. It is found to be an excellent manure tor land,, parti- cularly irv cold clayey foils. Mortimer's, Hulbandry. URSUB, a name by which fome of the chemical writers have

called lead. URTICA, Nettle, in botany, the name of a genus of plants,. the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the apeta- Ious kind, being compofed only of a number of itamiua placed in a cup, Thefe are barren, and the feeds grow on other plants of the fame fpecies, which have no flowers, and are contained either in round globules, or bivalve capful es, or in- long tufts.

The fpecies of Nettle, enumerated by Mr. Tourneforfy arc thefe: 1. The great {tinging Nettie. 2. The great flinging; Nettle, with red Italics. 3. The common lefs-iharp Nettle. 4. The cororricarfniair Nettie. 5. The flinging- Nvttk, with; round balls, and feeds fhaped like linfeed. 6. The peJlitory- haved Nettle, with round balls. 7. The great Canada race- mofe Nettle. 8. The Canada Nettle, with leaves like the myrrhis. And 9. The racemofe American Nettle, with large hazcl-Iike leaves. 7ourn. Inft. p. 334. The roots of the common Nettle are much recommended i'n medicine; they are powerful diuretics, and are faid to have great virtues againft the ftone and gravel. They cleanfe the blood, and are faid to be of great fervice in haemorrhages of all kinds, particularly in fpittings of blood, and overflowings of the menfes. Authors add to this, that they are fpecifics* by way of antidote againft the poifon of henbane and hemlock 5 but this wc are not fo well aflitred of. The young fhoots of the plant are eaten in the fpring, as good againft fcorbutic complaints. Dale, Pharm.

The antients feem to have defpifed this plant, from its being common, and, though poflcffcd of great virtues in medicine neither the Greeks nor Latins have faid much about it; nor have the Arabians, who abound in the imaginary virtues of plants, thought the real ones of this herb worth their con- fideration.

It has, however, been more honoured lately, and notwith- standing its being now the moll vile and abject plant amonw us, as well as the leaf! regarded by the antients, Johannes Francus, an author of confiderable fame, has publilhed a trea- tife folely upon it ; in this he has treated at large on its hiftory and virtues. He defcribes its flings in a very judicious manner- according to the prefent doctrine of the microfcope, and gives the hiftory of certain worms of Angular kinds which feed upon it ; and adds its ufe in our own foods as a wholcfcme and agreeable pot-herb ; in our drink as a fubflitute for hops, be- ing as well capable of prefcrving it as thufe, and its great fer- vice to the farmer in fattening hens.

John Mclchiore Drefchler, in the year 1717, fuftained alfo a thclis on the virtues and ufes of this plant, which has been fince printed, ornamented with feveral cuts. In thefe two authors we find the whole account of the feveral ufes this common plant has been put to, and may be put to in our manufactures, our domeftick and medicinal ufes ; and, if what they fay be true, we muff wonder to fee fo> much value overlooked in an herb, only becaufe it is com- mon. Urtica Errans, in zoology, the name of a fca-anima], of the nature of the common Urtica marina in many particulars j but as that is always fixed down to the rocks, this fpecies is always found loofe.

It has been fuppofed that thefe creatures affected the fkm with a pain like that of the flinging of nettles on touching them, and even the eyes of thofe who only look attentively on them j but Mr. Reaumur, who faw prodigious numbers of them on the coafl3 of Poictou, declares that he found no fuch property in any of them, any more than in thofe fixed to the rocks.

Thefe in fubftance fo much rcfemble a ft iff jelly, that if they were called fea-jellies, there would want but a fhort additional defcription to makethemunderftood. Their flefh, if it may be (o called, appears of the colour as well as the confidence of a common jelly ; and if a piece of one of them be taken up, the mere heat of the hand is fufficient to make it melt away into plain water. Thefe are notwithstanding true and perfect: animals ; and thofe who have been of a contrary opinion, have not examined them with fufficient attention. There are very different figures among them ; but this is owing to their being of different fpecies, for all thofe of the fame fpecies are ever exactly of the fame figure. One great rcafon of people's fuppofing them unorganized bodies, is, that what is ken of them about the fhores is very often a fragment of a dead ani- mals not the whole of a living one ; and no wonder if all the

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