Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/810

 ZEN

find large droves of them areufually feen together. Ray'b Syn,

, Quad. p. 64.

ZEER, a word by which fome of the chemical authors exprefs pitch; See the articles Pitch and Tar.

ZEGI, or Zagi, a word ufed by Avifenna and others, to ex- prefs all the feveral vitriolic minerals.

Avifenna fometimes write3 it alzagtat. Some have fuppofed it only the name of the calciiis ; but Avifenna tells us, that there are feveral kinds of it, the one yellow, which is cokotbar; another white, which is cakadis ; a third green, which is thakantbum, or common vitriol ; and a fourth red, which is fory. See the article ColcothaR, &s.\ The old interpreter of Avifenna renders the word Zagi by atramenta, inks, and this has been much eenfured as fecming to exprefs their being all black ; but this is not a juft cenfuic. The word atramenium is ufed by many good authors to fign'ify ink, and all the falts of which ink is made, that is, all the forts of vitriol. See the article Ink..

ZEHERECH, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to exprefs flowers of brafs.

ZEITRABRA, a term ufed by fome of the chemifts to exprefs any thing that is fluxile.

ZELEM, in the materia medica of the anticnts, a name given by Avifenna and others to a fruit common in Africa in their time, and much efteemed by the people of that country, and called there by fome piper nigrorumj the black people's pep- per, or negro-pepper.

We have at this time given this laff, name to the capficum ; but that is very different from the plant thus called by thefe writ- ers. Avifenna tells us, that the Zelem was a fattifh feed, of the fize of a cich, and of a high flavour, in colour yellow on the outfide, and wiiite within, and that it was brought from Barbary. It has been fuppofed by fome, that the Zelcm of the Arabians was the traji, or fweet cyprus-root, dug up to be eaten in the manner of the pignut. But it is plain, from this account of Avifenna, that this is an erroneous opinion, the Zelem being evidently a fruit, not a root. He adds, however, that there was another plant, properly called fulfill alfuaden, that is, piper nigronan. This, he fays, was a feed contained in pods like kidney-beans, and was black, and of a pungent and acrid tafte.

This was the fame plant with that afterwards called piper Mthiopum, or ./Ethiopian pepper, which all authors figure and defcribe as growing in pods.

Guilandinus grofsly miftakes Seraplo, who fpcaks alfo to this effect, and fuppofes that he fays all this of the Zelem, which he only fays of the /Ethiopian pepper, or what was properly cal- led piper Nigrorum. This author, (peaking of the Zclem, calls it hab, which word the Arabians never ufe for a feed of a plant contained in pods, but always for the round and fingle fruit of a tree, as a berry, or the like. And Rhafes, where he is fpeaking of the virtues of feveral fruits, brings in this Zelem among them. From the whole, we may at leaft clear ©urfelves of a great many errors in regard to the Zelem, by proving what it is not, though we cannot cafily fay what it is.

ZELPHI. See the article Zend a, infra.

ZEMA, a word ufed by many of the old writers for a decoiStion or apozem.

ZEMASARUM, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers, as a name for cinnabar.

ZEMECH, a word ufed by fome writers as a name for lapis lazuli.

ZEMIA, z-nfMct, among the Athenians, is fometimes taken in a large and general fenfe for any kind of punifhment ; but more frequently for a pecuniary mulct or fine Lid upon the criminal, according to the degree of his offence. Potter, Ar- chaeol. Grsec. T. 1. p. 129.

ZEMPHYRUS, in the materia medica of the aatients, a name given to a precious ilone, the fragments of which they ufed as a cordial and fudorific.

It appears by their accounts, that this ftone was blue ; and hence many have too haftily judged, that it was the lapis la- zuli ; but in truth it was the iapphire.

The word Zemphyriish no where ufed, but in the writings of the later Greeks, and it is plainly formed, as moft of their names of things are, on the Arabian word, expreiling the fame thing. This Arabian word is femphir ; and this, in Avi- fenna and Serapio, is always ufed as the name of a fapphire, never as that of any other gem. We find alfo by their ac- counts, that this fapphire was not the fapphire of the antient Greeks ; but the fine blue pellucid gem we now know by that name ; for the fapphire of Thcophraftus, and the other old writers, was only a kind of lapis lazuli.

ZEND A, a general term coined by Paracelfus, by which he and his followers exprefs extraneous or equivocal generation, or the production of bodies without a feminal principle. The word zerunda is ufed to exprefs this particular fort of generation of men, and zclpbi in regard to other animals. ZENECHDON, a term ufed by the Arabian phyficians for a preparation of arlenic, for external ufe ; zeecb being their name for arfeuic.

Z E U

ZENEXTOR, one of the assay names by which the chemifis have called mercury.

ZENG1FUR, a word by which fome of the chemical writers have exprefled cinrfabar.

ZENI, a word ufed by many of the chemical writers as a name tor vitriol.

ZENICON, the name of a poifon, compofed of feveral ingre- dients, and ufed to poifon the tips of the arrows with which the Celtic hunters (hot at the drafts they purlucd for food. The poilon was known to be of that quick fpreadin» na- ture, that as foon as the bead: was fallen, the hantfmaa ran up to it, and cut out a large piece of the flelh about the wound immediately to hinder the venom from fpreauing farther. The antidote to this poifon was fuppofed to be the Teaves of oak- beech, and other trees.

ZENITH (Cyr/.)-Z™;//;isalr,iawordufal by fome medical wrtters to exprefs the firft appearance of the menfes in youncr women. J °

ZENUPH, in the Jewifh antiquities, a kind of tiara worn by the kings of Juda. See the article Cidaris.

ZEOPH1LOS, a word ufed by Quercetan as the name of an antimonial medicine,

ZEOPHYRUM, in the materia medica, the name of the tnticum aiftnxun, or hardcum nudum, as it is called by

ZEPHYRI Rtt Ht a term ufed by Hartman, and fome other writers, to exprefs a mole, or falfe conception.

ZERICHUM, a name given by fome of the chemical writers to arfenic.

ZERNA, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to exprefs an ulcerated lepra or impetigo; the chemical authors ufe it alio as a name for the foulneflcs which they call the lepram- iallorum, or leprofies of metals.

ZERTA, the Zerte, a filh caught in the rivers of Italy and fome other places, of the figure of the chubb, and called by authors, capita anadromus, and the ilih. It very much approaches to the figure of the nafus, and has by fome been efteemed the fame fpecies of fill). It is of a Ion-/ and not flat fhape, of a bright (ilvery colour, and covered with (mail fcales. Its back is of a brownilh hue, and its belly-fins of a mixed reddiih and bluifh colour ; the fide-lines reaching from the gills to the tail, are fpotted with brown dots. Its head is thick, and its eyes large and white. Its mouth is foft and toothlels; but the beginning of its throat is armed with itrong and fharp teeth, feven in number. It feldom grows to more than two pound weight, and, at times, lives in rivers at times rn the fea ; and is efteemed a very well tailed filh' efpccially a little before the feafon of its fpawning. M„,' s I c hl thyogr. p. 257.

The Zerte is that fpecies of cyprinus defcribed by Gefner and others under the name of capita anadromus. See the articles Capito and Cyprinus.

ZERUMBETH, in the materia medica, a root found both in the Eaft and Weft Indies. The plant producing it is called by Piio and Marggrave, paco-ceroca, and by Sir Hans Sloane, zmziber Jyhejln: See the article Ginger. It is of a yellowifh grey colour on the outfide, but whiter within ; when cut, it fhews a very fmooth and glofly furface ; its fmcll is very aromatic and agreeable, and its tafte very acrid, fcarce leis fb than ginger.

It is good in nervous cafes, and on all other occafions that zedoary is. See the article Zedoary, Cycl.

ZESTOLUSIA, a term ufed by fome medical authors to exprefs bathing in warm water, by way of dillinffion from pfuchrdu- Jia, or bathing in. cold water.

ZETETiE, ZiUta, among the athenians, were officers ap- pointed upon extraordinary occafions, to enquire after the public debts, when through the neglefl of the receivers, or by other means, they were run up to large films, and began to be in danger to be loft, if not called in. Potter.

ZETUS, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers as a name tor vitriol.

ZEUGITjE, z,i 7 ,1*,, among the Athenians, the third clafs of the people, or thole who had an eftate of two hundred mc- dimns. Pater, Archieol. T. r. p. I4 ,

ZEUS, in the Linnaean fyilem of zoology', the name of a genus of fifties, of the general order of the acanthopterygii, the cha- racters of which arc, that the membrane of the trills has bones not parallel, that the body is flat, and the fcales are fharp Of tins kind are the aper, faber, izlc.

The characters of this genus, according to Artedi, are thefe • rhe branchioftege membrane does not confifl of parallel bones, as ,11 other fifties, but contains various bones, fometimes aid longitLK finally fometimes tranfverfely, and fometimes ob- liquely. The fcales are rough, and the body very broad, thin, and comprefled ; as is alfo the head. The back-fm is long, and as it were double, being cut in near the middle part, almoft to the bottom or bafe.

The fpecies of this genus are thefe : I. The Zeus with a prickly belly, and a tail rounded at the end. This is the fa- ber or Mia doree. 2. The forked-tailed Zeus. This is the faber mdtcus, or fuxe galh. 3. The red Zeus, with an even tail, and with the fnout bending upwards. This is the aper 3 of