Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/589

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j f uc ccffive Acts of Cognition neceffary to arrive at a Truth. S° tnat there is no Difconrfe in God, who under- Hands all Things truly. See Knowledge.

pISCOUS Flower. Botanifts reckon two Kinds of Plants w ith a Difcous Flower : i. Such as have the Flower com- pounded, and the Seed pappous, but the Leaves and Stalks pot milky, when broken. 2. The Corymhifefous Plants, whofe Flowers are compounded into a Difcous Figure, but their Seeds are not pappous.

Of the former Kind, are the Flea-Banes, Ragweeds, Groundfels, iSc. and of the latter, are Dailies, Chamomile, Tanfy, Wormwood, &c.

DISCRETE, or DisjunB 'Proportion, is, when the Ra- tio between two Pairs of Numbers, or Quantities is the fame, and yet there is not the fame Proportion between all the four Numbers. See Ratio, and Proportion.

Thus if the Numbers 6 : 8 : : 3 : 4, are confidcr'd, the Ra- tio between the firft Pair, 6 and 8, is the fame as that between 2 and 4, and therefore thefe Numbers are 'Proportional; but it is only d'feretely, or disjunclly, for 6 is not to 8, as 8 to 3 ; that is, the Proportion is broken offbetween 8 and 3, and is not continued all along, as it is in thefe following, which arc call'd Continual 'Proportionals, viz. 3 : 6 : : 12 : 24.

Discrete Quantity, isfuch, as is not continued, and joyn'd together. See Quantity.

Such is a Number, whole Parts being diftinct Units, can- not be united into one Continuum 5 for in d.Continuum there are no actual determinate Parts before Divifion, but they are potentially infinite ; wherefore it is ufually and truly faid, that Continued Quantity is diviiible in Infinitum. See Continuity.

DISCRETIVE Tropofitions, are thofe, where various Judgments are made, and denoted by the Particles but, iiot- withfianding, or Words of the like Nature either exprefs'd, or underilood. See Proposition.

Thus, Fortune may deprive me of my Wealth, but not of my Virtue 5 They who crofs the Seas change their Climate, hut not their Difpofition, arc call'd Difcrctive 'Proportions.

DISCUS, among the Ancients, a Name which was given to a round Shield, confecrated to the Memory of fome fa- mous Hero ; and hung up in the Temples of their Gods, as a Trophy of fome great Action. From the Figure of this Difcus, or rather of that, which the Greeks vxi&Romans ufed to divert themfelves with, efpccially at their public Games, and which is a round Quoir ofErafs, comes the Word fo much in Ufe among Altronomers, viz,, the 'Disk of the Sun, or Moon. See Disc.

DISCUSSION, in Matters of Literature, fignifies a clear Treating, or Handling of any Point, or Problem ; where the Word imports a Shaking of-' the Difficulties with which it was embarrafs'd. In which Senfe we fay, fueh a Point was well difcufs'd, when it was well treated of, and clear'd up.

Discussion, is alfo u/ed in a Medicinal Senfe, for aDifper- fing the Matter of any Tumor, or Swelling in the Body.

In which Senfe the Surgeons define it an Evacuation of fome thin Matter gather'd in any Part, by infenlible Perfpi- ration. See Discutients.

DISCUT1ENTS, or D1SCUSSIVES, in Medicine, are Remedies proper to open the Pores, and evacuate the redun- dant Humours of the Body, by infenfible Perfpiration ; or to difcharge Flatulencies, Swellings, SSc. by fliaking, jum- bling, &c.

iiifcutients are the fame with what we otherwife call Dia- fbcreticks, and Rejblvents. See Diaphoretick, Car- minative, c£c.

D1SD1APASON, in Mufic, a compound Concord, de- ftribed by Fa. 'Parran as Quadruple of 4 to 1, or of 8 to 2. See Conccrd.

The ZLijdiafafou is produced when the Voice goes from the fiift Tone to the 15th, and may be call'd a Fif- teenth.

The Voice 'ordinarily does not go further than from its firft Tone, to the i raiapafon, i. e. it does not go beyond the Compafs of it uble Octave, for the Difdiafafon is an Oc- tave doubled. See Octave.

The Voice may femetimes rife feveral Tones above aDif- iiapefon, but the Effort or Struggle disfigures it, and makes it falfe.

The antient Scale, orDiagramma, only extended to a Dif- diafafon. See Diacramma.

BifDiAvAsoti-Diapente, in Mufic, a Concord in a Sextuple R atio of 1 to 6.

VisniArAsoN-Diateffaron, a compound Concord in the Proportion of 16 to 3.

DrsDiApAsON-ffl/rcw, a compound Confonance in the Pro- portion of 10 to 2.

DisDiApAscN-o>»z/-«7rt», a compound Concord in the Proportion of 24 to 5.

DISEASE, inMedicine, thatState of a living Body, where- in it is prevented thcExercife of any of its Functions, whether Vital, Natural, or Animal : Or, Difeafe is an Indifpofition

contrary to Nature, whereby the Action of fome Part is im- mediately injured. See Function.

An ingenious Author of a late Latin Treatife de Pur'«a- tione, holds the Effence of a Difeafe to conlift in a AVant°of that Equilibrium between the folid, and fluid Parts which is' neceffary to the Maintenance of Health : Others add that all Dijeafes arife either from too fax, or too ftrict a Tenfii n of the Fibres. See Health.

Of all Animals, Man is fubject to the moil Difeafes ; and of them, the ftudious and fpeculativc arc mottexpofc dthere- to. Other Animals have their Difeafes ; but they are in fmall Number : Nor are Plants without them 5 tho' tl ii Maladies fcarce exceed half a fcore.

The Antients deified their Difeafes .- Voffius de Idoil. Lib. VIII. C. V.

Several Authors have given us very compendiousTbicrf of Difeafes ; reducing 'cm all to fome one general Difaffeccjon : Thus, dpi Sraie deduces all the Dijeajes of the human Frame from the Scorbutus ; Mufgrave from the Arthritis ; and Dr. IVoodivard from the Bite : Others imagine them the Effects of a Pocky Virus, which has lurk'd in the Seed ever fince the Sin of Adam : Helmout, and Serreinus the Dane, take 'em to depend on fome extraneous Ferment, fbrm'd in, or out of us. Ijaflly, it appearing from the Obfervations of 'Pliny, Kircher, Langius, and Sonenio, that there are little Worms in feverifh Blood, Puitulcs, Carbo's, and the Itch ; divers Phyficians have took Occafion to fufpeel, that all the Difeafes arife from Worms. See Worms, Itch, iSc.

A Difeafe is well defcrib'd to be a deprav'd, and difor- derly State of the folid, and fluid Parts, whereby all, or fome of the Functions cither of the Body, or Mind, or both, are either abolifb'd, or impair'd.

For fome Difeafes only impair the Ufe of the Part, as the Ophthalmia, Gout, &c. Others deftroy it entirely ; as the Guttaferena, "Paljy, &c. Some affect the whole Body, as the Fever, Apoplexy, Bfilepfy, etc. Others only impair a Part* as the Afibma, Colic, Droffy, &c. Seme only ari-ect the Bo- dy, as the 'Palfy ; Qthers diffurb the Mind, as Melancholy, Delirhm, &c. Laffly, others affect both the Body and Mind, as the Mania, 'Phrenzy, 'Pains, &c.

As the Actions, or Conditions of the Body, fo alfo the Difeafes, or Defects thereof may be reduced to three general Heads : mm. 1. Difeafes of the Solid 'Parts : 2. Thofe of the fluid 'Parts : And 3. Difeafes compounded of borh.

A Popular Syllabus of Difeafes may be given, as follows: The Solid Parts, /'. e. the Bones and Flefh. may be diforder'd five Ways : viz. Render'd turgid, by Tumors 5 Cut, with Wounds 5 Corroded by Ulcers, or Canes' 's 5 Removed out of their Places, as in Hernia's, Defcents, and Dislocations ; Or difcontinued by Fraffurcs, and Coutufions.

Difeafes of rhe Fluids are either in the Mafs of the Shod, or the Spirits : Thofe of the Blood are reducible to two Kinds ; thefe that thicken, and infpiffate, or which amounts to the fame, retard its Motion ^ and thofe which attenuate, and diflbive, and of Confcquence accelerate it.

To this latter Kind belong Fevers, and feverifh Affectkm alone : All the other Difeafes of the Blood belong to the for- mer. See Fever.

In too thick a Stat; of the Blood, its Principles arc too crafs, and its Molecules too big, whence a Lentor, lazy Motion, and even. Stoppage, particularly in the finous Paflages of the Glands : H-nce ObflruEtions, Inflammations, Schirrhus's, Sarcoma's, Verrucce, Pufiules, Oedemata, Impetigines, and other Tumors, and Congejiions both in the Vifcera, and Ha* bit of the Body : And hence, again, Drowpinefs, Melan- choly, Hypochondriacal Affect ions, iSc. If this tiiick Blood be too much replete with (hatp acid Salts, it will deflroy the Texture of the Parts, and break out in Ulcers, as in 'Pbihyfl- cal, Scrophulons, Scorbutic-, and Venereal Difeafes, Gan- grenes, Carbo's, Cancers, and other Erofive Tumors, accord- ing to the Quality and Degree of Saltnefs and Acrimony, And from the fame Source arife Cephaalgia's, Cardialgia's, Colicks, Gouts, Rheumatijms, 'Pleurifies, &c. which by abrading the folid Subftance, frequently emaciate the Body. The Difeafes of the Animal Spirits, arife either, 1. from an Intermiflior, or Retardation of their Motion ; or a Di- minution of Quantity ; or, 2. from a Difbrder in their Or- ganifm, or Quality.

To the firft Clafs arc reduced the Catalcpfis, Apoplexy, Coma, Carus, Talfy, Stufor, Tremor, &c. To thefecond, belong the Mania, 'phrenfy, Delirium, Foolifbnefs, Melan- choly, Vertigo, Spafms, Fpile/fy, Hyfieric Affections, Hor- ror, &c. Add, that as all Dijeajesfif the Blood arife from external Caufes, viz. fome one or more of the Non-Natu- rals, as Food, Air, Evacuation, &c. fo thofe of the Spirits generally proceed from Diforders of the Blood.

Laftly, the Difeafes of the Fluids, whether thofe in the Blood, or Spirits, are feldom confin'd long thereto ; but pre- fently come to diflurb, and impede fome of the Functions affected to the folid Parts ; and at laft corrupt the Subftance of the Solids themfelves. Hence Ccmj aima Difeafes ; which are infinitely various.

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