Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/122

 LYR

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LYS

other Vetfels, becaufe of their Minutenefs and Tranfpa- rency, are however exigent in all Parts of the Body ; but the Difficulty of finding them, has prevented their being defcribed in many Parrs. The Lymphatics are contracted at fmall and unequal Diftances, by two oppo- site femi-lunar Valves, which permit the Lymph to pafs through them towards the Heart, but Ihut, like Flood- Gates, upon its returning. They arife in all Parts of the Body, but after what manner, needs no great Difpute ; for, without doubt, all the Liquors in the Body, except- ing the Chyle, are feparated from the Blood in the fine Capillary Veffels, by a different Pipe from the common Channel in which the reft of the Blood moves: but whe- ther this Pipe belong or /hort, whether it be vifible or invifible, it is ffill a Gland, whilft it fufters fome part of the Blood to pafs thro it ; denying a Paffage to the reft. Now the Glands which feparate the Lymph muft be of the fmalleft kinds, for they are invjfible to the fineft Mi- crofcopc ; but their excretory Duels, the Lymphatic Vef- fels, unite with one another, and grow larger, as they approach the Heart : yet they do not open into one com- mon Channel, as the Veins do ; for fometimes we find two, or three, or more Lymphatics, running by one ano- ther ; which only communicate by /hort intermediate Duels, and which unite, and immediately divide again. In their Progrefs, they always touch at one or two con- globate or veficular Glands, into which they difcharge themfelves of their Lympha. Sometimes the whole Lym- phatic opens at feveral Places into the Gland, and fome- times it fends in only two or three Branches, whilft the main Trunk paffes over, and joins the Lymphatics which arife from the oppofite fides of the Glands, exporting again their Lympha to their common Receptacles. Now the Glands of the Abdomen, which receive the Lymphatics from all its Parts, as likewife from the lower Extremities, are the GlanduU Inguinales, Sacra, lliaccc, Lumbares, Mefenterice, and Hepatic* ; all which fend out new Lymphatics, which pour their Contents into the Receptaculum Chili, as thofe of the Cheft, Head and Arms, do into the DuBus Thoracicus, Jugular, and Subclavian Veins. Thefe Glands are round and fmooth Bodies, a- bout the Bignefs of a Hazle Nut, bigger or leffer, ac- cording to the number of Lymphatics they receive. Their Subftance is membranous, and their whole Bulk divided into little Cells, which receive the Lymph from theLym- phatics ; and are therefore improperly call'd Glands, be- caufe they feparate no Liquor from the Blood : It is true, that their exporting Lymphatics, communicating with their Arteries, do receive a Lymph from them ; but this is done without the help of conglobate Glands ; as the lacleal Veins do with the capillary Arteries of the Guts : the chief Ufe of their veficular Bodies feems to be, that the flow-moving Lympha may receive a grea- ter Velocity from the elafric Contraction of their mem- branous Cells, as well as from the new Lymph imme- diately derived from the Arteries. See Gland.

LYRA, or LYRE, the fame with Cithara, a Harp; a ftringed Inftrument much ufed among the Antients ; faid to have been invented by Mercury^ on occafion of his find- ing a dead Shell-Fifh, call'd by the Greeks Chefane, and the Latins TeJiudo> left, on an Inundation of the Nile j of the Shell whereof he form'd his Lyre, mounting it with feven Strings, according to Lttcian, and adding a kind of 3ttgttm to it, to flretch or loofen the Strings. Boeth'msxt-

lates the Opinion of fome, who fay that Mercury's LyrS had but four Strings, in imitation of the Mundane Mufic of tKe four Elements. Diodorui Sictdus fays it had but three Strings, in imitation of the three Seafons of the Year ; which were all the Greeks counted, viz. Spring, Summer and Winter. Nicomacbas, Horace, L ttctatt, and others, make it have feven Strings, in imitation of the feven Planets. This three, four, or lev en -ftringed Inftrument Mercury gave to Orpheus ; who being torn to pieces by the Bacchanals, the Lyre was hung up by the Lallans in Apollo's Temple. O- thcrs fay, Pythagoras found it in fome Temple in Egypt, and added an eighth String. Nicomacbtts fays, that when Orpheus was kill'd, his Lyre was caft into the Sea, and thrown up at Antijfa a City of Lesbos ; where the Fiftiers finding it, gave it to Terpander ; who carried it into Egypt t and call'd himfelf the Inventor. The feven Strings were diatonically difpofed by Tones and Semi-Tones, and Py- tbagoras's eighth String made-tip the Oclave.

From the Lyra, which all agree to be the firft Inftru- ment of the ftringed kind in Greece, arofe an infinite Number of others, differing in Shape and Number of Strings ; as the Pfalterium, Triton, Sambuca, Pettis, Magadis, Barbiton, Teftudo, (the two laft ufed promifcuoufly by Ho- race with the Lyra and Cithara) Epigottium, Simmicium and Pandura; which were all ftruck with the Hand or a Plec- trum.

The Lyra among Painters, Statuaries, &c. is an Attri- bute of sipoho and the Mufcs.

Lyra is alfo a Conftellation in the Northern Hemi- fphere, confifting of thirteen Stars. See Star,

LYRIC; fome thing fung, or play'd on the Lyre or Harp. The Word is particularly applied to the antient Odes and Stanza's; which anfwer to our Airs or Tunes, and may be play'd on Inftruments. The Antients were great Admirers of Lyric Y ctfes, which Name they gave to fuch Verfesasdo not come under cither of the two ordina- ry Kindsof Verfe, viz,. Hexameters and Iambics. Thefe- were principally ufed in Odes, and in the Chorus's of Tra- gedies. The Characleriftic of Lyric Poetry, and that which diilinguilh.es it from all others, is Swectnefs. As Gravity rules in Heroic Verfe, Simplicity in Paftoral, Tendernels and Softnefs in Elegy, Sharpnefs and Poignancy in Satire, Mirth in Comedy, the Pathetic in Tragedy, and the Point in Epigram ; fo in the Lyric, the Poet applies himfelf wholly to footh the Minds of Men by the Sweetnefsand Variety of the Verfe, and the Delicacy of the Words and Thoughts, the Agreeablenefs of the Numbers, and the Defcription of Things moft pleafing in their own Nature. See Ode, Song, &c.

LYSIARCHA, the Name of an antient Magistrate or Pontiff of Lycia. Strabo obferves, that the Lyjiarcha was created in a Council, confifting of the Deputies of twenty- three Cities, that is, of all the Cities in the Province ; fome of which Cities had three Voices, others two, and others but one. Cardinal Noris fays, that the Lyjiarcha prefided in Matters of Religion ; in effect, the Lyjiar- cha was nearly the fame with the s'fiarcha m&Syriarcha ; who, tho they were all the Heads of the Councils or States of thofe Provinces, yet were they eftablifh'd prin- cipally to take care of the Games and Feafts celebrated in honour of the Gods, whofe Priefts they were inaugu- rated at the fame time that they were created Lyfiarcba t Syriarcha, or Jfiarcba.

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