Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/671

* INDICTMENT. 585 INDIGO. ways, in what are usually called 'counts,' in order to cover any uncertainty that may exist beforeliand as to the precise way in which it was committed. It is enough if the prisoner is convicted upon a single count. The indictment must charge explicitly whatever is necessary to constitute the offense. In many of our States the harsh rule of the common law, which denied the right of a person accused of treason or felonj' to have a copy of the indictment, has been abolished by statute. Consult : Pike, Ilis- iory of Crime in England (London, 1876) ; Ste- phens. History of the Criminal Laic of England (London, 1883) ; Pollock and ilaitland. History of English Law (2d ed.. London. 18!)9) ; United States Constitution, Fifth Amendment. INDIFFERENTISM (from indifferent, from Lat. indifferens, not different, from in-, not + differre, to differ, from dis-, apart + ferre, to bear). A term used in philosophy and ethics, to designate the theory that the human will is ab- solutely indifferent to all motives. The doctrine is also called indeterminism or the doctrine of the liberty of indifference, and is opposed to determinism (q.v.). See Fatalism; Ethics; Will, INDIGESTION (from Lat. indigestio, indi- gestion, from in-, not + digestio, digestion, from digerere, to digest, from dis-, apart -|- gerere, to carry), or Dtspepsi.v. A term somewhat vaguely applied to various forms of disease of the stomach or of the small intestines in which the natural process of digesting and assimilating the food is deranged. The common cause of indigestion, where organic disease is absent, is the eating of too much food, too rapidly, or without sufficient mastication. The symptoms of indigestion are by no means constant in all cases. There is often anorexia (or want of appetite), but occasionally the ap- petite is excessive, and even ravenous. Nausea not infrequently comes on soon after a meal ; while in other cases there is no nausea, but after the lapse of a couple of hours the food is vomited, the vomited matters being very acid, and often bitter from admixture of bile. In se- vere ca.ses the vomiting has been known to occur after every meal for several months. Flatulence, relieving itself in eructations, is one of the standard .symptoms of this affection, the gas that gives rise to this s^nnptom being sometimes evolved from undigested matters in the stomach. It is very apt to occur in dyspeptic patients if they have fasted rather longer than usual. Cardialgia (popularlv known as heartburn). pyrosis (q.v.), or water-brash, and gastrodynia (commonly designated spasm or eramp of the stomach, and coming on at uncertain inter-als in most severe paroxysms) are somewhat less common symptoms of indigestion. The treatment of indigestion is more dietetic than medicinal. All bad habits suggested above must be corrected. The quantity of food which can be digested by the gastric juice and intes- tinal fluids being limited (see Dioestion, Or- gans OF), care should be taken to avoid ex^ cess; moreover, the meals should not succeed each other too rapidly. With regard to the nature of food best suited to dyspeptic persons, it may be safely asserted that a mixtiire of well-cooked animal and vecetable food is in gen- eral more easily digested than either kind taken exclusively. Each patient should be advised hy his physician as to his dietary. The imques- tionable benefit which dyspeptic patients often derive from a visit to a hydropathic establish- ment is due perhaps not so much to any specific action of the water as to the well-regulated diet, the withdrawal of the mind from personal cares, and the change of scene. The use of purgatives and remedies for indigestion is much overdone by the laity, and la3-s the foundations of chronic gastric disorder that cannot be cured. INDIGIRKA, en'dye-ger'ka. A river of East- em Siberia. It rises in the Stanovoi Mountains, 400 miles east of Yakutsk, and, after tlowin<f in a northeasterly course for about 900 miles across a sparsely populated and frozen desert region, it empties through a large delta into the Arctic Ocean, 460 miles east of the mouth of the Lena (Map: Asia, 1). INDIGO (Sp. indigo, indico, from Lat. in- dicinii, from Gk. IvSik6v, indikon, indigo, from 'Ivdla, India, India ). A coloring matter first employed as a dyestuff in India, whence it was brought b' traders to the Mediterranean coun- tries. Europeans were not acquainted with its vegetable origin until the time when its im- portation assumed considerable dimensions, after the circumnavigation of Africa; and as the method of dyeing «"ith woad did not present the indigo in substance, the virtual identity of the two was not suspected. Of late years, artificial indigo has been produced from coal-tar products, and is seriously threatening the existence of the indigo plantations. For the history of artificial indigo, see Coal-Tab Colobs. «i/' Most of the natural indigo of commerce is ob- tained from species of Indigofera, of the family Legiuninosoe. The genus embraces about 400 spe- cies, widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions. The best-known and most widely cultivated species, as well as the ones which supply nearly all the indigo found in the markets, are Indigofera anil, a native of tropical America, and Indigofera tinetoria. the original home of which is not positively known, although it is said to occur wild in the Bombay Presi- dency. Indigofera argentea, a native of Arabia and parts of Africa, is a source of much of this valuable dye. Tndisro plants are extensively cul- tivated in the East and West Indies (especially in Bengal), in Central America, parts of Eu- rope, and Africa, etc. The plants are shrubby,