Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/579

 DIG

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DIG

PIFFORM, is a Word ufed in Oppofition to Uniform, of Chyle, and left the Meat light, dry, and Infipid. Dr.

and Signifies, that there is no manner of Regularity in the Haven prepares a Digeftor of Oil of Turpentine, mix'd

Form, or Appearance of a Thing. See Uniformity. with Oil of Vitriol ; in which, raw Flefli, and Cruras of

The Botanifts ufe it as a Diftincfion of the Flowers of Bread being put, and the whole committed for four Hours to

plants. See Flower.

DIFFUSE, 2)iffufme, is chiefly ufed for a prolix, fpecious Manner of Writing, £?c. See Prolix.

A Diet ionary cannot be too diffufive : For a Man is never too much inform 'd of the Word he wanted 5 and he is not ob- lio'dtotead the reft.

A ^Dffi'fe Style is proper for Difcourfes in the demonftra- tive Kind. !DemoJtbenes is clofe, and concife 5 Cicero on the contrary diffufive, &c. See Style.

DIFFUSION, a ghuifi-fufion, or Difpcrfion of any Thing, upon federal Bodies, or Parts of Space.

The School-men make 3 Kinds of Diffiifwn : The firft that whereby a pure Quality is diffufed ; as Cold, Force, ckc. This they diftinguifh into Equal, whereby equal Portions, or Degrees of the Quality are diftributed upon equal Parts of the Medium : Thus, when a direct Motion is imprefs'd on a moveable, all the Parts of the moveable receive an equal Jtefetus: AndUneijual, when unequal Degrees of the Qua- lity are diftributed on different Parts of the Subject ; Thus it is, that Force is imprefs'd on a Lever, and Cold propaga- ^° j£ relUve' the ted thro' a Medium.

digeji in "Balneo Mitrice, the Meat is found diffolv'd, and. the whole together forms a thickifh Pulp : Hence, thofc Au- thors, each of 'em, conclude the Food in the Stomach to be digefted by fome fuch Menstruum's. See Digestion.

But the moft noted 'Digeftor is 'Pafin's r Dige(lor, the Effect whereof bears a more near Refemblance to the Ope-, ration of the Stomach. It is a Sort of Veffel, wherein Meat being put, together with fo much Water as ferves exactly to fill it, a Lid is fcrew'd clofe on, fo as to admit of no exter- nal Air. Then, by the Application of two, or three lighted Char-Coals, or even a fihgle irnall Lamp-flame, the Meat is in a few Minutes (fix or eight) reduced into a perfect Pulp, or rather Liquor. By a little Increafe of the Fire, or the Ad- dition of a few Minutes in time, the hardeft Bones them- felves are brought into a Pulp, or Gelly.

The Effect is accounted for from the ftrict Clofure of the

Engine, which excluding the Intervention, or Efcape of Air;

the Succuflions occafion^ by the Expanfions, and Ofcilla-

tions of Air included in the Flefii, are equable and fining,

whole into one feemingly homogeneous

, Body and mix the aqueous, faline, oleous, and other Par- The fecondKind _a{ 2), ffufionjs jhzt perform d by the ^ f ftrongly together, as fcarce .0 be feparable ; but

Motion of Bodies; Such is the Diffufwu of Light, Sound, Smell, Magnetich, EleSric Virtues, &c.

The third is perform'd partly by the Motion of Corpufcles, and partly by the Dlffufioil of aQuality; and thus they hold Fire to be diffufed.

But the modern Philofophers reject the Notion of Qua- lities, and their Diffufion. According to them, there is no other Diffufion, butthatofCorporalSubftar.ee, emitted in minute Effluvia, or Particles, into a Kind of Atmofphere all a-round the Body ; which 'Diffufion of Corpufcles lome call Atmofpherical, as being fuppofed to be tetminated by a Circle, whereof the diffufing Body is the Centre, Every Body, it is now proved, has its Sphere of Activity, or ZJif- fiiflou, within which the Particles, or Corpufcles, torn from it, and flying away, have a fenfibie Effect, as we fee in odo- rous, fonorous, iSc. Bodies : See Quality ; where the Phyfical Law of the Diffufion of Qualities is laid down. See alfo Sphere of ' Atlivtry, Atmosphere, Effluvia, iSc.

DIGAMY the fame with "Bigamy. See Bigamy.

D1GASTRICUS, in Anatomy, a Mufcie thus call'd, as having a double Belly ; from S-U, Us, twice ; and ydrnf, Selly. See Muscle. •

It arifes flefhy from the upper Part of the 'Proceffus Maftoidteus, and defcending, contrails into a round 1'endon, which paffes thro' the Stilobyoidmis, and an annular Liga- ment, which is faften'd to the Os Hyoides ; then it grows flelhy again, and afcends towards the Middle of the Edge of the lower Jaw, where it is inferted. When it aefs, it pulleth the lower Jaw down, by the Help of an annular Pully, which alters its Direction.

DIGEST, a Collection of the Roman Laws, rang'd and

while hot, to appear one Liquor, and when cold a Gelly, of a Strength proportionate to the Quantity of Fleftl, or Bones diffolved in the Water.

This Experiment feems to hold a clofe Atialogy with the Operation of the Stomach. For tho' the Stomach do not or- dinarily diffolve, either fo ftrongly, or fo quick ; yet in Pro- portion to its Heat and Conftriction, Dr. Drake takes it to do the fame Thing : Thereby breaking and refolving into fmall, the Bodies which it included, fo mix'd, inter Mini- ma, with its Humours. Thefe, thus reduced into a Fluor, and intimately mix'd with the Liquids of the Drink, and Juices of the Stomach, compofe that laclefccnt Liquor, call'd Chyle, or Chyme. SeeCHYiE.

DIGESTION, in Medicine, call'd alfo CoticoSion, that Change of the Food taken in at the Mouth, which it un- dergoes in the Stomach, in order to affotd fit Matter to com- pofe or diftend an Animal, till it arrives at its deftinedBulk ; and to repair the Lofs of thofe Particles, which the Body, in its natural State, neceffarily undergoes. See Concoction.

The Opetation of Digefion fucceeds to Mafiication, and Deglutition. See Mastication, and Deglutition.

It includes Chylification, and is fucceeded by Sanguifica- tion, and Nutrition. See Sanguification, and Nutri- tion.

The Caufe, Manner, and means of Digefiion, have been infinitely controverted : It would be endleis to_ enter into alt theSyftems, and Hypothefes, that have been fram'd by Phi- lofophers, and Phyficians, to account for this important Ope- ration. Some contend, that it is done by a Kind of Eli- boiling of the folid, and groffer Parts of the

ration. xation.

dieeflcd under proper Titles, by Order of the Emperor Jttfti- Food, in the liquid; by the Heat of the Stomach, and the

ffy, adjacent Parts, the Liver, Spleen, ISc. See Elixation.

That Prince rave his Chancellor Triiomamts a Commif- Others, by Attrition; as if the Stomach by thofe repeated

lion for this Purpofe ; who, in Confcqucnce thereof, chofc 16 Motions, which are the Effefls of Refpiration, rubb'd, or

furifconfulti or Lawyers, to work upon the fame. Thefe, ground off the minuter Particles from the grofter Matters ;

accordinoly, took out the beft, and fineft Decifions from the and agitating, ^ and driving the reft again!! each other two thoufand Volumes of the ancient Jvrifconfulti, and re-

duced them all into one Body ; which was pubhfh'd in the Sear 533, under the Name of Digeft. This the Emperor pave the Force of a Law, by a Letter at the Head of the Work, which ferves it as a Preface. See Jurisconsulti. The Hit ell makes the firft Part of the Roman Law, and

J,Lt ^ST -, „. _ -n-j c -L~ *^:..:l T .,,.,

,.„ated, and' diffolved them. See Trituration.

Others think the Bilious Juice ; Others the Spirits, iSc. chiefly conccrn'd in the Affair.

Others will have the Food diffolved by a Menftrnum, or Diffblvent : But thefe are greatly divided, as to the Nature, and Origin of this Menflrmmi ; Some fuppofing it an Acid t

ne of the Corpus, or Body of the Civil-Law. furnifh'd by the Glands of the Stomach ; Others a Nitro-

Sce Civil Law aereous Spirit, which by penetrating the Mafs of Food, breaks

It was tranflated into Greek under the fame Emperor, and the Connexion of the moft folid Parts ; And others, a Sa-

a&'&tpandeBa. See Pandect. line Juice, which divide, and volatilize the Parts of me

The Method of quoting it is by a double jf, on Account of Food See Menstruum. r'.i,

the Greek Name 4a„deB which being firft abbreviated by Others again fuppofe 'Dlgefaon to be perform d by means

a Fioure of two nn • to abbreviate it yet further, the two oi?. Ferment, or Leaven; which, mixing with the Aliment,

Charters were joyn'a into one m, which the Latin Copifts excites an inteftinc : Motion in the Parts tnereof, by who e mu-

miftook for ff. tual * raaions > and Collifions, the Patts are attenuated, and

Crnas faysf that Digeft is a common Name for all Books diffolved See Ferment. n. . v,rmenf

difpofed in a good Order, and Oeconomy : And hence it But thefe, too, diffe, • .r. 1 their Opinions of * ft « '■

is, that Tertulliau calls the Gofpel of St. Luke, frgeft. Some taking it to be the Remains of the Food laft Ag^ed

DIGESTER, otVigeftor, an Artificial Means, orlnftru- which by „s Continuance in the Stomach, h f c %™ d ?"

' Acid Quality, which conftitutes it a Ferment ■■ utncrstaiJS the Ferment, or Principles of Fermentation to be contain d.. in the Aliment it felf; which when inclofed in the Sto-

ny a Way analogous to that of Animal Digeftion.

Mr. Leigh, in the Thilofofh. Tranfa.3. gives us an Arti- ficial Divettor to illuftrate the Natural one : It is prepared from Spirit of Sulphur, Spirit of Harts-horn, the Chyle ot a Dog, and its Saliva. A Piece of Veal, Mutton, Beef, or the like, oftheBlgnefs of a Nut, being put in a Dran Preparation, and fet on a Digefting^ Furnace

of this iwo Hours,

drew from the Flefh a Juice,

that had the Colour and Tafte the Stomach :

when mach, and heated thereby, being put in Motion, enters on its Office of Fermentation = But thefe, too are divided ; Some taking it to be the fpirituous Part ; and fome the Air in Foods. 'See Digester.

Others fuppofe this Ferment fupphed by the Glands of

And kith', ethers contend fur the Saltvd-t O * and