Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/541

 PUT

(Pi8)

PUT

hence, that Bodies buried deep under Earth or in Water out of any reach of Air, lhall remain for Ages entire 5 which yet being expofed to the open Air, fhall foon rot and moulder away. See Subterraneous.

The like appears from fucculent Fruits and other vege-

the Ledgers or Poles, which lie parallel to the fide of the je£l had really been of the Animal, and not of the Vege- Wall of the Building. table Kingdom.

PUTREFACTION, or Putrifaction, in Phyfics, a This Proccfs is truly univerfal, and holds equally in all flow fort of Corruption produced in natural Bodies, gene- kinds of Vegetables, tho' ever fo different in their Nature rally by the Moifture of the Air, or fome other ambient and Virtue. Experiments have been made in the colded Fluid, which penetrating the Pores, and being agitated and mod fucculent or watry Plants, fuch as Purfiain, Sorrel therein, diffolves and fets at liberty fome of the more fub- &c. as well as with the hottell or moll acrimonious, fuch as tile Parts, particularly the Salts and Oils ; and thus loofen the Spurges, &c. and it was always found to fucceed ; but and diflocate the Cotnpages, quite change the Texture, and the fooner, as the Vegetable employ'd contain'd the greater fometiines the Figureof the Mixt. See Corruption. quantity of Oil ; tho' with the fame Phenomena.

How much the Air contributes to Putrefaction, is evident It will likewife fucceed with dry Vegetables; provided

they be moiden'd with Water before they ate thrown into heaps .- And thus we fometimes fee that Stacks of Hay will lpontaneoully take fire and blaze away ; efpecially k it was not well dried in the making.

It is,furprizing to confider, that by this means the difference table Matters, which, for all their aptnefs to putrefy, will betwixtVegetablcs may be entirely taken away.and thewhole remain a long time unchang'd ?'?z vacuo. See Vacuum. Kingdom thereof reduced to the fame common Nature ;

The perpetual Ofcillations of fo elaftic a Fluid contain'd fo that Wormwood and Tanfey, forinllance, or Sorrel and or Phut up in the Pores of a Body, may be conceived fuffi- Scurvygrafs, (hall appear as one and the fame thing ; and cient to induce this Alteration in their Form and Texture j this thing appear no otherwife than putrefy' d Flefh. yet fhould it rather feem that the Water or vapoury Matter Tho' Sorrel be famed for its power of preferving the wherewith the proper Air is impregnated, is the more im- animal Fluids uncorrupted whild they are circulating in mediate Agent. Hence Mcofia obferves, that in 'Peru, and the Body, and Scordium for its embalming Virtue, as con- others have obferv'd the fame in Egypt, where it very rarely tinuing it in a Hate of Incorruption after Death ; yet even rails, evety thing will continue a long time uncorrupted : thefe Plants are themfelvcs thus eaftly corrupted and chan- unlefs we will rather afcribc the Effect to the abundance of ged into fuch a kind of putrefy' d'Sicth as it is their Virtus nitrous Salt in the Air of thofe Places, which is known to to prevent.

rend Putrefaction. See Air, Water, Salt, iSc. This, "Boerhaave confiders as a general Law of Nature,

In effect, all Putrefactions, both of Animal and Vege- wifely edablifhed to produce wonderfulChanges in the World, table Bodies, are affirmed by the learned Boerbaave to be and prevent the Inaction and Decreafe of"M.uter on. our perform'd by means of Water alone : Take (fays hej a Globe ; this active Principle or Medium giving an eafy ar.d Pound of frefhFlefh, and keep it in a heat like that of our reciprocal Tranfition of Vegetable into Animal Subftar.ces, Body, and in few days the Putrefaction will be compleated 5 an d Animal into Vegetable.

but if you fird drain out or exhale all the watry Part from the fame in fome chymical Veffcl ; tho' the Salt and Oil remain, the Flefh will harden like a Stone, and may be

Hence we are given to underfland the Nature and Ufes of Putrefaction, with its difference from Fermentation, both in regard of the Subject, Caufe, and Effect Vege-

kept for Ages without 'Putrefaction Tho' when thus tables alone are the Subjcfl of Fermentation ; but both Ve-

harden'd, Water pour'd on it, or even the common Dew, getables and Animals o{ Putrefaction. Fermentation alfo

wiil foon fet it a putrefying.

By fuch means, Bread, Flefh, or the like Foods, may be preferv'd for Ages 5 provided regard be had to the Place : Hence it is, that in dry Countries, as Egypt, dead Carcaffes never putrefy, but dry and harden uncorrupted ; as we fee in the Mummies found buried underthe Sand. SeeMuMMY.

Even human Blood, which naturally is fo prone to Putre- faction, if you deprive it of its watry Parr, may be kept for fifty Years. Goat's Blood we aflually find kept Jo long

requires that its Subjeft be fird reduced to the form of a Liquid, or at lead made capable of floating in one, before it can obtain ; whereas 'Putrefaction only fuccceds when its Subject is half dry, or jud barely moid : which is the rea- fon why Mud put up in a wooden Veffel does not putrefy ; whilfl the Grapes from which it was expreffed, being thrown in heaps, would prefently conceive heat, and run into a date of Putrefacticn.

We fee alfo that Vegetable Putrefaction is begun and

in the "Shops, without corrupting ; tho', if you diffolve it promoted with Heat, and finifh'd with Coction, which re- gentle Warmth, it putrefies quires a degree of Heat much greater than that excited by

in Water, and expofe immediately.

Putrefaction, in Chymidry, is a fpontaneous Opera- tion whereby vegetable Subdances, in virtue of their own Heat and Moillure, are diffblved, and turn'd into an animal Nature. See ANiMALand Vegetable.

it to a

Fermentation, as being capable" of caufing an Ebullition in the Plant, and even of turning it into a Flame i As, indeed, the immediate Caufe of Fermentation is the Motion of the Air intercepted between tho Fluid and vifcous Parts of the fermenting Liquor ; but the Caufe of Putrefaction is Fire itfelf, collected or included within the putrefying Subject. Again, the Effects of Fermentation are the Production of Flowers or Tead, the converfion of the faline part of the Throw together any of the tender, green, and fucculent fermenting Body into Tartar, or an acrimonious Acid and

Parts of recent Vegetables, whether Acid or Alkaline,

a large Heap, in the warm open Air, and prefs them down

with an additional Weight, if their own be inconfiderable ;

^ths Procefs of Fvthzfactiou is as follows :

fixed kiod of Salt, and of Oils into inflammable Spirit, retaining fometbiog of the nature of the Vegetable ; buc Putrefaction makes all the acid Salts volatile and alkaline, renders the Oils not fpirituous, but abominably fetid, ut- tetly defiroys what fets the fpecific difference between one Subject and another, and converts them wholly into a foft pulpy Mafs, of an animal Nature, without the lead Signs of any fixed Salt, tho' the recent Vegetable would, 'by together, they will yield a Heat, perceivable by the Hand, Calcination, at the fird have afforded a large Proportion - equal to that of a human Body in a healthy State ; by Or, in diort, making nearlv the fame kind of Alterarioo iii the fifth it will be^ too great for the Hand to bear without the whole Subiect, as it would undergo by pafltno through

and the middle part of the Heap will in a little time, fp taneoudy conceive a fmall degree of Heat, and pafs fuc- cefTively through the other degrees, till it arrive at a date of Ebullition, and be perfectly putrefy'd.

In the fpace of three days, trom the fird putting them

pain ; and, ladly, by the fixth, feventh, or eighth day, the Juices will generally appear ready to boil, and fome- times the Matter will even dame and burn away.

By this fpontaneous Operation, the Vegetable acquires an abominably putrid, dercoraceous, or cadaverous Tade, and Odour 5 and turns intirely into one foft, fimilar, pappy Mafs, or Craffamentum, greatly refembling fetid human Excrement in the Scent, and putrefy'd Flefh in the Tade. See Excrement.

If now this fetid Matter thus obtain'd , it remains in its fetid date, committed to a Glafs- Retort, and difiill'd with proper degrees of Fire, there will come over, 1. A Water impregnated with an urinous Spirit, per- fectly like that obtainable from animal Subjects, and fepa- rableby a frefh Difiillation flowly made in a tall Glafs, into Elementary Water ; and a large quantity of pu

a found animal Body, differing all thcAflions thereof, and being at length turned into the form of Excrement. ' See Fermentation.

This Operation may let us a little into the nature of ani- mal Digedion, or the Change which the Aliment differs in

the human Body For the Change our vegetable Foods

undergo in the Body, being fuch as brings 'em to be of the fame Nature, and afford the fame Principles with the Change induced by Putrefaction, is a prefumption that Di- be dire6!ly,^whilft geftion is nothing elfe ; at lead it apparently comes nearer thereto than to Fermentation. See Digestion.

PUTRID, Putrieus, fomething rotten, or putrify'd. See Putrefaction.

Thus we fay putrid Flefh- A putrid Humour

Putrid Limbs, i. e. mortify 'd ones, are to be cut off. See

MORTIF ICATION.

Putrid Fever, is that kind of Fever, where the Hu- mours, or part of 'em, have fo little circulatory Motion,

id putrify. See

, white, volatile, dry, alkaline Salt, not to be didinguifh'd from animal Salts. 2. A volatile, alkaline, oily Salt, that (hoots

in the Glebes. 5. An exceedingly volatile and athickfetid that'tbev faTl" Into' an inteflinc one, Cil, both which are fo entirely liketbofeof Animals. And Fever. ladly, the remainder being calcin'd in an open Fire, af- fords not the lead Particle of fixed Salt, jud as if the Sub-

This is commonly the cafe after great Evacuation, or exceflive Heat ; where there is fuch a Scarcity of Spirits,

that