Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/225

 I p E I P H 211 according to the urgency of the case, have the effect of checking vomiting arising from natural causes. The nauseating and emetic properties of ipecacuanha are believed to be due to its influencing the peripheral ter minations of the pneumogastric nerve, since it produces vomiting even if injected into the blood. In nauseating doses it acts both as a diaphoretic and antispasmodic. It is also a stimulant or irritant of the mucous membranes, and is hence classed as an expectorant, and used success fully in cough, bronchitis, gastric catarrh, and diarrhoea. Some individuals are so sensitive to the action of ipecacuanha as to suffer, even on smelling the drug on entering a room where it is kept, all the symptoms of coryza, hay fever, or bronchitis. In large doses of from 60 to 90 grains, repeated if required in 10 or 12 hours, the patient lying on his back to prevent sickness or nausea, it is found to be one of the most valuable remedies in dysentery, especially in the epidemic and sporadic forms met with in tropical and malarious countries. Externally applied in the form of ointment, ipecacuanha causes con siderable irritation, followed by the appearance of pustules and ulceration. In doses of one-eighth to one-sixth of a grain it acts as a stomachic, and probably increases the- gastric secretions. Other plants to which the name of ipecacuanha has been popularly applied are American Ipecacuanha (Gillenia stipulacea, Spreng.), Wild Ipecacuanha (Euphorbia Ipecacuanha, L. ), Bastard Ipe cacuanha (Asclcfias curassavica, L. ), Guiana Ipecacuanha (Bocr- havia decumbens, Vahl), Venezuela Ipecacuanha (Sarcostemma glaiKum, H. B.), and Ipecacuanha des Allemands (Vincctoxicum officinal?, Moench. ). All these possess emetic properties to a greater or less degree. The term poaya is applied in Brazil to emetic roots of several genera belonging to the natural orders Cinchonaccss, Violacese, and Polyr/alaccse, and hence several different roots have from time to time been sent over to England as ipecacuanha ; but none of them possesses the ringed or annulated appearance of the true drug. Of these the roots of lonidium Ipecacuanha, VKnt.,Richardsoniascabra, St. Hil., and Psychotria ernctica, Mutis, are those which have most frequently been exported from Brazil or New Granada. See Pharmacographia, 2d ed., pp. 370-376; Bentley and Trimen, Medicinal Plants, 20 ; Martius, Systema Materise. Medicx Brasiliensis, p. 91-94 ; Ringer, Handbook of Therapeutics, 8th ed. , p. 406 ; Bartholow, Materia Mcdica and Therapeutics, pp. 423-428. (E. M. H.) IPEK (H 2,000) (Slavonic, Petcha; Albanian, Peja ; Latin, Pescium), a town of Upper Albania, in the Turkish eyalet of Uskub, situated in the upper valley of the Drin between the mountains Peklen and Koprionik. A small stream, bearing like several others in the Balkan peninsula the name of Bistritza (the bright or clear), flows through the town. On ono of the neighbouring heights is situated the monastery of Ipek, founded by Archbishop Arsenius in the 13th century, and famous as the ancient seat of the patriarch of tho Servian Church. The buildings are surrounded by thick walls, and comprise a large central church (Our Lady s), and two side chapels (the Martyrs and St Demetrius), each surmounted by a leaden cupola. The church dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. Among its numerous objects of interest are the body of Archbishop Nicoclemus, the white marble tombs of Ar senius and other chiefs of ths Servian Church, and the white marble throne on which the patriarchs were crowned. The side chapels have stained glass windows. According to some authorities, Ipek occupies the site of Dioclea, destroyed by the Bulgarians in the llth century. In the Turkish administration it is the seat of a pasha with two tails, and at one time the pashalik had become almost an hereditary government. The population of the town was calculated by Bou6 (1838, 1845) at 8000 and by Dr Miiller (1844) at 12,000. Jourishitch, the Servian author, states the number of houses at 4000. In the recent troubles of Turkey Ipek has suffered, and in 1876 tho Turkish officials closed the monastery. See Bouo, Itindrairc de la Turquie ; Irby, Tlie Slavonic Provinces of Turkey, 1867 ; Barth, Bcise durch das Inncre dcr Europiiischcn Turkei, Berlin, 1864. IPHICRATES, an Athenian general who flourished in the earlier half of the 4th century B.C., owes his fame as much to the improvements which he made in the accoutre ments of the peltasts or light-armed troops as to his numerous victories gained by their aid. Increasing the length of their javelins and swords, substituting linen corselets for their heavy coats-of-mail, and introducing the use of light shoes, called after him Iphicratides, he increased greatly the rapidity with which these troops could make the sudden forays that were so common in the military tactics of the time. With his peltasts Iphicrates seriously injured the allies of the Lacedaemonians in the Corinthian war, and in 392 succeeded in dealing a heavy blow at once to the vanity and the prestige of the Spartans, by almost annihilating a body of their famous hoplites. Following up his success, he took city after city for the Athenians; but his arrogance procured his transfer from Corinth to the Hellespont, whither, however, his success followed him. About 378 he accepted a command under the Persians in Egypt, and on his return thence to Athens commanded an expedition in 373 for the relief of Corcyra, which was menaced by the Lacedcemonians. On the peace of 371, Iphicrates seems to have returned to Thrace, and some what tarnished his fame by siding with his father-in-law, King Cotys, in a war against Athens for the possession of the entire Chersonese. The Athenians, however, soon pardoned him and gave him a joint command in the social war. For his conduct in this position he was impeached; after his acquittal he lived quietly at Athens. The date- of his death is unknown. See Rehdantz, Vitas Iphicratis, Chabrise, ct Timotliei. IPHIGENEIA is the heroine of several famous Greek legends. She is generally said to be the daughter of Agamemnon, and is also called Iphianassa, though the two are distinguished by Sophocles and by the writer of the Cypria. Agamemnon had offended Artemis, who there fore prevented the Greek fleet from sailing for Troy, and could be appeased only by the sacrifice of his daughter. According to some accounts the sacrifice was completed, according to others Artemis carried away the maiden to be her priestess in the Tauric Chersonese, and substituted for her a hind. In this new country it was her duty to sacrifice to the goddess all strangers ; and as Orestes came in search of her she was about to sacrifice him, when a happy recognition took place. These legends show how closely the heroine is associated with the cultus of Artemis, and with the human sacrifices which accompanied it in older times before the Hellenic spirit had modified the barbarism of this borrowed religion. They bring into connexion the different places in which this goddess was worshipped ; and, as Attica was one of her chief seats, Iphigeneia is sometimes called a daughter of Theseus. At Comana in Cappadocia, one of the chief homes of the goddess in her more barbaric form, there was a priestly family Orestiadaj ; and Iphigeneia and Orestes are named as the founders of Artemis worship in Sparta and Attica, as well as in many parts of Asia Minor and Italy (see Preller, Griech. Hythol., 3d ed., i. 250). At Hermione Artemis was worshipped with the epithet Iphigeneia, this showing the heroine to be in the last resort a form of that goddess. Iphigeneia is a favourite subject in Greek literature and ait. She is the heroine of two plays of Euripides; but none of the many other tragedies founded on her story have been preserved. In vase paintings she frequently occurs ; and the picture by Timanthes represent ing Agamemnon hiding his face at her sacrifice was one of the famous works of antiquity.