Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/799

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that it is much complained of. The reafon of this, is, that the people who ufe it do not underftand the time of gather- ing it.

All plants are fulleft of juice while in the (hoot, but fulleft of virtue when they have their feeds on them. This is the cafe with Wormwood, as well as a thoufand others \ and though it in the feeding-time produces much more flavour than when younger, yet it is without that naufeous bitter of the crude juice, which gives us the diftadc to the plant., Some people have found the proper way of managing Wormwood, and have given a flavour with it to their malt- liquors, even preferable in the opinion of all palates to that given in the common way by hops.

The method is this : The plant is to be gathered when fully- ripe and the feeds upon it, and in this date hung up in (mail bunches to dry. When thoroughly dried, a certain quantity of good ftrong malt-liquor is to be impregnated with it, to the utmoft ftrengfh that it can poilibly give it. This is to be fet by for ufe, to add to all the reft. When the hops fhould in the common way be added to the beer, this liquor is to be added in a proper quantity, mak- ing the tafte the judge when there is enough of it. By this means juft what degree of bitter is required may be given to the liquor, and the bitter of this common plant thus managed, is as perfectly agreeable as that of any ve- ■ getable in the world.

The WormmtA for this purpofe fhould have its feeds care- fully preferved in the drying, and it is belt if not ufed till the year after it was gathered. Phil. Tranf. N°. 124. Many people who have been fond of the virtues of Wormwood. but diigufted at its naufeous bitter tafte, have attempted the diverting it of its tafte, and yet preferving its qualities j but it being as a bitter that this plant acts in many cafes, it is an evidently abfurd fcheme to take away that quality on which its virtues depend, in order to the rendering them lefs difagreeable to the palate.

The effential fait of Wormwood is afforded in great quantity, .and poflefl'es in many refpedts the virtues of the plant ; this is a form in which it were to be wifhed, that not on- ly this, but many other medicinal plants were more often given.

Wormwood (hares with all other bitters the virtues of an abfterfive deobftruent, and is in fome degree purgative as all bitters are. Wormwood is one of thole plants which the - chemifts have generally chofen for their procefl'es of the re- iufcitation of plants from their afhes ; and though the pre- . tended principles of this art are falfe, yet there have been fome of the artifts fo cunning to form reprefentations of this plant, that have deceived and puzzled the greateft unbe- lievers, though they have not convinced them. Phil. Tranf. N°. 74. Worms Wood-fly, in natural hiftory, a very fmall black fly, found on the ftalks of the common Wormwood in June and July. WORRALL, in zoology, an animal of the hzzard kind, of about four feet long and eight inches broad, with a forked tongue, which it puts out like a ferpent, but without teeth. It is a harmlefs animal, and feeds only on large flies, and the (mailer fpecies of lizzards. It is found in /Egypt only during the hotted months, and principally frequents the grottos and caverns in the mountains on the weft of the Nile, where it deeps during the winter feafon. It is faid to be greatly affect cd by mufic ; but experiment (hews this to be an erroneous opinion. Pococi's /Egypt. Vol. 1. p. 208. WOUGHS, in mines, are the walls or fides fometimes of hard ftone, and fometimes foft ; when foft, the miners fay they are rotten : Thefe are the bounds of an entry. Betwixt them all forts of earth, ftones, and ore lie ; or, as philoibphers fay, grow. Houghton's compl. Miner, in the Explan. of the Terms. WOUND (Cyol.) — There is nothing will give a truer light into the nature and confequencc of a deep Wound, than a due confideration of what natural actions of the body are impeded thereby. For inftance, in Wounds of the bread, when the patient draws his breath with fhortnefs and difficulty, and is at the fame time attended with an hjemoptyfis and hic- cough, we may rationally conjefture that the lungs, or the diaphragm are wounded ; fo in Wounds of the abdomen, when chyle is voided, it is a plain indication that the domach, fmall puts, or lact eals, are wounded : When excrements pal's by the Wound, the great guts are wounded. In the fame manner, bilious blood (hews the liver or gall-bladder to be divided : If urine pafles by the Wound, the urinary bladder or elfe the ureters are wounded ; but bloody urine denotes a blow on the kidneys, or a Wound of the bladder. But when there are large profufions of blood this way, it is a fign that fome of the larger blood-veffels are wounded : Vo- miting of blood, declares the ftomach to be the injured or^an^ Violent pains, attended with convulfive twitches, (hew that a nerve is wounded, or elfe that fome foreign fubftance is left in the Wound. Whenever the fenfes are difordered after a Wound received on the head, a concuflion of the brain is much to be feared. Difficulty of breathing,

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pains in the brcaff, and hiccoughing, are fymptomsof a Wound in the diaphragm. It is of bad confequence for a Wound to be attended with a large tumour ; but it is of the laft confequence if it is attended with no degree of tumour at all ; the firit is an indication of great inflammation ; the laft of mortification ; fome degree or tumour is always therefore beft in Wounds. Wounds naturally, and nccejfarily mortal. We properly ftyle thofc Wounds mortal which are not to be remedied by all the art and induftry of man. Thus Wounds are of this kind which are attended with lb violent an hemorrhage, as to pro- duce inftant death : of this fort are reckoned Wounds that pe- netrate the cavities of the heart, and all thofe Wounds of the vifcera, where the large blood-vcllels are opened; fuch are large Wounds of the lungs, liver, fpleen, kidneys, ftomach, iuteitiucs, mefentcry, pancreas, uterus; of the aorta, of the iliac, cceliac, renal, mefenteric, and carotid arteries, efpe- cially if they are wounded near their origin; of the fubclavian alfo, or vertebral ; of the vena cava, the iliac vein, the internal jugular, vertebral ; renal, mefenteric of the vena porta, and of the larger veins that lie deep in the body, becaufe their fi- tuation will not admit of proper applications to reftrain the flux of blood. Heifter therefore reckons, very juftly, thefe among the Wounds that are abfolutely incurable, lince they are not remediable either by aftringents, ligature, or fire. Thofe Wounds alfo are not leis mortal than the former, which obftruct, or entirely cut off the paflage of the animal fpirits to the heart ; fucb are Wounds of the cerebellum, of the medulla oblongata, and fome violent ftrokes of the brain itfelf. There is realbn to apprehend very great danger, when the fmall veins or arteries, which are contained in the cranium, are injured ; tor the blood flowing from them into the inter- nal finufes of the brain, either produces too great a preffure upon thofe very tender parts of the brain, and fo obftructs the courfe of the blood and fpirits ; or elfe, being corrupted, it putrifies the brain itfelf, if it cannot be evacuated by the aflift- ance of the trepan, which is the cafe when this accident hap- pens at the lower part of the cranium, or in the finufes of the brain j nor is there lefs danger where the nerves, which tend to the heart, are wounded, or entirely divided ; for, after this, it is impoflible for the heart tu continue its motion. To this clals are to be referred alfo all Wounds which en- tirely deprive the animal of the faculty of breathing : there is therefore great danger where the afpera arteria is intirely di- vided ; for where it is only divided in part, it may be healed again by the afliftance of an expert furgeon : to this place alfo bulung violent fhocks of the bronchia, mediaftinum, and dia- phragm, efpecially the tendinous part of it. Thofe Wounds alfo which interrupt the courfe of the chyle to the heart, are no lefs incurable than the former ; fuch are Wounds of the llomach, inteftines, receptacle of the chyle, thoracic du£t, and larger lacteals; to which may be alfo ad- ded Wounds of the cefophagus, if they are large; though death is not fo fudden an attendant on thefe Wounds ; but, for want of nourishment, the perfons afflicted by them are weakened by degrees, and at length die confumptive. In this account thofe Wounds alfo are not to be omitted, which are inflitted upon membranous parts, that are fituatcd in the abdomen, and contain fome fecreted fluid, as on the bladder, either of the bile or urine, the llomach, inteftines, receptacle of chyle, and lacteal veflels. The fluids contained in thefe parts, when once they arc let loofe into the cavity of the ab- domen, cannot be properly discharged, and therefore eafily corrode the internal parts of the body ; and the membranes that contained them are generally fo fine, that they will not admit of* agglutination, efpecially fince no medicine from without can be applied. A few indeed have recovered after flight Wounds in thefe parts ; but fince the number of thefe inftances is but few, and the cure in them has been acciden- tal, and not performed by the furgeon's art, thefe may very juftly be added to the lift of mortal Wounds. Wounds mortal by Neglett. Many Wounds there are which, though the experienced furgeon could remedy, yet prove fa- tal, if neglected, or left to nature : Of this number are thofe which produce inftant death, unlefs relieved by prefent aflift- ance ; fuch are Wounds of the larger external blood -veflels, which might be remedied by ligature, by the application of aftringent medicines, or the actual cautery. Of this kind are Wounds of the brachial, or crural artery, unlefs they are too near the trunk of the body ; Wounds in the large arteries of - the cubit, or tibia ; of the branches of the external carotid, or temporal artery ; to thefe alfo may be added Wounds of the jugular and other veins, fituated upon the external parts of the body ; but in thefe cafes no help can be given, unlefs the furgeon be brought before there has been a vaft profufion of blood. Heijl. Surg. p. 30. ' ■'

Wounds mortal by Accident. Wounds are properly faid to be- come mortal by accident, where the patient's death, from them, is occafioned either by the ill condua of the patient himfelf, or by the negled or ignorance of his furgeon, the Wound itfelf being of the number of thofe deemed curable by the judicious praaifer. Under this head are to be reckoned thofe Wounds which the furgeon has negleaed to cleanfe fuf- ficiently, though he had it in his power to do it ; as when fome foreign bodv, which might eafily have been extraaed,