Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/813

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rent acid menftrua upon it with very great care and attention to their effects.

Diftilled vinegar was firfr. tried. Eight ounces of this dif- ; folved, in ten days time, over a gentle fire, an ounce ail but fix grains of 'Link ; and after this it ceafed to a£t upon the metal any longer, and was fweetened in the manner of vine- gar which has diilblved lead : This, however, is an expe- - riment not proper to be tried by the talte, the iblution be- ing very miichievous. Six ounces and two drams of an in- fipid phlegm were diftilled from this iblution, and after this the tire being increafed, firiae began to appear on the top of the retort ; the receiver being changed, there fucceeded to thefe ftrias a fublimation of very white and beautiful flowers of 'Link i and after this a few drops of an oil, yellow at Hrit, and afterwards green, came over into the receiver. The diftillation yielded alfo about four drams of a lulphureous li- quor, inflammable as ipirit of wine. This liquor being poured into a phial of water, at firfl fwam upon it, and immediately afterwards blended with it in the manner of fpirit of wine, and left only the few drops of oil fwimmmg on the furface. This was reddifh in colour, and of an a- romatic fmell.

This is the famous liquor called by the chemifls oil of talc, and fuppofed to have lo many great virtues, one of which is the fixing of filver ; that is, in other words, the concentrating it to the weight of gold, and making it indilfoluble in aqua- fortis, rendering it like gold foluble only in aqua-regia ; but in all probability, this oil is really nothing but the elien- tial oil of the grape from which the wine was made, whence the vinegar had been obtained ; and then how idle mull ap- pear all thefe expectations from it.

The flowers fublimed to the neck of the retort or head of the cucurbit, during the diftillation, burnt at the flame of a candle, emitting a fine blue flame. Three ounces of ipirit of fait diffolve perfectly three drams, except two grains, of 'Link ; a great heat is perceived while this iblution is making, and this acid as well as diftilled vinegar leaves untouched a fmall blackifh refiduum, from this metal. Some authors have fuppofed, that this refiduum contained mercury ; but experiments prove the contrary, and its li^ht- nefs alone makes fuch a conjecture very improbable. This folution being diftilled, yielded two ounces of phlegm, two drams of a weak fpirit of fait of a very agreeable fmell ; and afterwards, on changing the receiver, a few drops of a very acid and yellcwifh fpirit, and fome flowers, railed them- felves to the neck of the retort.

Six ounces of fpirit of nitre diflblves five drams and a half of Link, without leaving any remainder ; and the remainder left in the folutions of it by diftilled vinegar, and by fpirit of fait, is itfelf foluble in this menftruum. This iblution being diftilled, there were feparated four ounces of phleo-m, and afterwards fix drams of fpirit of nitre ; this was but very weak, and no more could be raifed ; the ftronger part of the acid remaining intimately mixed with the Link at the bottom of the veflel, in form of a vifcous transparent fub- ftance, of a yellow or orange colour.

Three ounces of oil of vitriol, with an equal quantity of water, difiolved fix drams and twenty grains of Link ; when the liquor was thus far faturated there began to be formed regular cryftals ; and after two months ftanding the whole liquor was evaporated, and a cake of tranfparent vitriol left in the bottom of the veflel. Memoires Acad. Scienc. Par.

1735- ZINZIBER, Ginger. See the articles Ginger, Cyd. and

Zerumbeth, Suppl.

Zinziber Rubrum, red Ginger, a name by which fome au-

. triors have called the officinal caffumunar-root.

Zinziber Caninum, Dog's-ginger, in botany, a name given by fome of the old writers to the perficaria urens, or biting arfmart ; a plant which is very hot, and pungent to the tafle, and grows in watry places. It had hence the nameof /;y^nj- ptper, water-pepper, among the Greeks ; and was called Zinziber caninum, or dog's-gmger, byAvifenna and others, from its heat, and from an opinion that it would poifon clogs that eat of it.

The Arabian name is Zinzibil alkeleb. Avifenna, when he gives the hiftory of it, begins with that of ginger : he fays that he repeats the words of Diofcorides ; which he really does, but coupling together the common ginger and this, which he calls dog's-ginger, and thefe being defcribed in

• two different parts of Diofcorides, the commentator on ' Garcias accufe him of having taken the name of Diofcorides, and the fenfe of fome other Greek author. This commentator is the only perfon who has given this part of Avtfenna a Latin vernon ; but when he fays, that 'the fruit is fmall and contained in pods, he errs; for the word ania fignifying fubftance, not pod ; the only meaning of the author is, that the feeds are fmall, and the mifinter- preting his words into the defcription of a podded plant . carries away the idea of the arfmart ; which is not a podded plant, but is yet the true Zinziber caninum of Avifenna, and •the hydropiper of Diofcorides.

Zinziber Caninum is alfo a name given by fome authors to the capjiatm, or Guinea pepper, Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. Suppi,, Vol, II.

Z U I

ZINZILLA, a name by which fome medical writers have called that fpecies of the herpes, which we ufually call the jhingles. See the article Shingles, Cyd.

ZIRBALfS Hernia, a term ufed by medical writers to exprefs that kind of rupture which is caufed by a defcent of the omentum into the fcrotum.

ZIRBUS, the name by which the Arabian phyficians have cal- led the omentum.

ZIVOLO, in zoology, a name by which fome authors have called the frnaller fpecies of yellow- bummer, from its conftant note, which is only zi, zi.

It is of the fize of the common fparrow; its beak is thick and fliort, its breait and belly yellowifh, fpotted with brown; and its head, back, wing, and tail of a dufky brown, but two of the tail-feathers on each fide have a variegation of white.

The difference between the male and female in this fpecies is, that the -male is yellower, and has fome yellow fpots on its neck and fides, which are wanting in the female. It is almoft always feen on the ground, and feeds on feeds, &c. It feems but little if, at all effentially to differ from the common yellow-hammer ; and Mr. Ray has fome fufpicion, that they are the fame fpecies. Ray's Ormthol. p. 196.

ZIZANIA, in botany, a name ufed by fome for the folium, or darnel. GV Emac. Ind. 2. Seethe article Lolium.

Zizania, according to Linnsus, is a genus of plants diftincr. from the lolium, and its characters are thefe: It produces male and female flowers on the fame plant: The male flowers have no cup, but the flower is a bivalve glume compofed of two equal pointed leaves without awns, which furround one another; the ftamina are fix very fhort fila- ments ; the antherse are oblong and fimple. In the female flowers alfo there is no cup, but the flower is a one-leaved glume of a convoluted figure, having fix nerves run- ning along it, and ending in a point terminated by a long awn or beard. The germen of the piftil is oblong, the ftyle is divided into two parts, and the ftigmata are plumole ; the fruit confifls of the flower itfelf, which con- tinues rolled up, and finally parts off horizontally at the bafe : In this is contained one oblong feed. Linneei Gem Plant, p. 455.

ZIZERIA, a word ufed by Apicius, and fome other authors, to expreis the inteftines of fowls of the gallinaceous kind, often ufed in decoctions for glyfters, &c.

ZIZIPHORA, in the Linnsan iyftem of botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The cup is a very long, cylmdric, and tubular perianthium ; it is compofed of one leaf, and is hairy, ftriated, and at the ex- tremity, is divided into five very fmall fegments, and is beard- ed. The flower is ringent, and compofed of a fingle petal ; the tube is cylindric, and of the length of the cup ; the limb is very fmooth ; the upper lip is ovated, erect, emarginated, and obtufe; the lower lip is broad and patent, and is di- vided into three rounded, equal fegments. The ftamina are two fimple, patent filaments, of the length of the flower ; the ftigma is acuminated, and inflex. There is no fruit, but the cup contains four feeds, which are oblong and obtufe, gibbous on one fide, and angular on the other. Vid. Linn&i Gen. Plant, p. 1 3.

ZIZI TH, in the Jewifh cuftoms, a name given by the Jews to the tufts or fringes, they ufed antiently to wear at the four quarters of their upper garments - ; but which they now only wear under their cloaths, fixed to a fquare piece of cloth, which rcprefents the garment they antiently wore in their own country before their difperfion. The Lizith of the modern Jews is a tuft made of eight threads of yarn, fpun on purpofe for this ufe ; each having five knots, which take up half the length. That which is not knotted, being furled out, makes a kind of tuft or fringe b. — [ 'Numb. xv. 36. Deuter. xxii. 12. b Leo of Modena, Cerem. of the Jews P. I. c. 5. Calmet. Diet, Bibl. invoc.

ZIZYPHUS, the 'Jujube-tree, in botany, the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the rofaceous kind, being compofed of feveral petals ar- ranged in a circular form ; the piftil arifes from the cup, and finally becomes a fruit of the fhape of an olive, and of a flefhy fubftance including a flone divided into two cells, each of which contains an oblong feed. The fpecies of "Jujube, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The cultivated Jujube, with large oblong fruit. And, 2. The wild Jujube. Tourn. Inft. p. 626. See the article Jujube.

The Lizypbus, according to Linnreus, is only a fpecies of rhamnus, with oval leaves, and two ityles ; the fruit, or nu- cleus of which, contains two cells, and its corolla has five fegments.

It is a native of Spain and Italy ; and the fruit, which is of the bignefs of an olive, and reddifh when ripe, was once efleemed as a pectoral, and fometimes prefcribed in fevers; but is difregarded in the prefent practice. Hilt's Hift, Plant, p. 292.

ZMILACES, in natural hiftory, a name given by Pliny to a itone found in the river Euphrates, refembhng marble, and of a bluiih green colour.

6 H ZMILAMPIS,