Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/887

* TTEEDINALES. 759 TJRFE. teleutospores. They are one-celled, and are formed during the vegetative season before the teleutospores. They are especially conspicuous on some species of Piiceinia that grow on oats and wheat; and most of the so-called 'rust' of these cereals is due to the development of im- mense numbers of uredospores collected in spots and lines along the leaves and stems. The most complicated life-histories, however, include still another form of fructification (Tcidium or 'clus- ter-cup'), in which the spores are found in paral- lel chains at the bottom of a cup-like structure. The cluster-cups are generally found on a dif- ferent host plant from the teleutospores, so that such rusts must depend on two hosts for the completion of their life-history. For example, in the well-known wheat rust (Puccinia grami- iiis) the sporidia germinate on the barberry, pro- ducing there the cluster-cups (^cidia) ; while the iFcidial spores are carried to wheat, oats, and other cereals, where several generations of ure- dospores (red rust) may be developed. The ure- dospores, being scattered, germinate on other individuals, spreading the rust very rapidly. Finally, at the end of the season teleutospores (black rusf) are formed. Another interesting life-history is that of the apple rust. (See Apple, paragraph Diseases.) Uredospores may survive unfavorable seasons and propagate rust the following year. This probably accounts for the abundance of wheat rust in the Western United States and Australia, where there are no wild barberries. In these regions the bar- berry (cluster-cup) phase of the life-history is omitted, and the uredospores, or perhaps the sporidia. germinate directly upon the wheat. The rust is due to certain species of Puccinia whose cluster-cups are on plants other than the bar- berry. Consult: Engler and Prantl, Die natiirlichen Pflan::enfamilien (Leipzig, 1887 — ) ; Plowright, British VredinecE and Usiilaginew. URE'NA (Xeo-Lat., from uren, the native Malabar name). A genus of herbs of the natural order Malvacefe. The bark is very fibrous ; and the fibre of Urena lohata and JJrena. sinuata, weeds common in most parts of India, is used as a substitute for flax in making cordage and paper stock. It is strong and fine and in many ways resembles jute, for which it is a good substitute. Urena lohata grows in various parts of the United States, particularly in Florida, where it has often been mistaken for ramie. TJ'RETEB (Gk. oiprTiip, ourOter, ureter, ure- thra, from oUpov. oiiron, urine). One of two canals by which the urine is conveyed from the pelvis of the kidney (q.v.) on either side to the base of the bladder. Each ureter is about 18 inches in length, and enters the bladder in so slanting a direction as to prevent regurgitation. When a concretion is formed in the kidney, the ordinary and most favorable event is that it should descend through the ureter to the blad- der. The passage of a stone through this tube gives rise to a series of violent symptoms, consist- ing of sudden and most severe pain, first in the loins and groin, siihsequently in the testes (in the male) under the thigh; the testes may be re- tracted spasmodically. Coincident with the pain there are violent sickness, faintness. and collapse, which may last two or three days, and are only relieved when the stone reaches the bladder. The treatment consists in the warm bath, and the inhalation of chloroform or opium in large doses (both of which serve to allav s[>asni and dea<len I)ain), and the free use of diluents to wash down the concretion. After the subsidence of the at- tack constitutional measures must be employed for the control of the existing diathesis. TJRE'THANE (from nr-ca + ethane or ethfil) . A useful unoflicial hypnotic drug, chem- ically ethyl carbonate. It is made by the inter- action of urea nitrate and ethyl alcohol. It oc- curs Mn colorless, odorless crystals with a slightly saline taste. It is readily soluble in water, alcohol, ether, or chloroform. A pure hypnotic, with no analgesic or depressing elTect, it gives a quiet, natural sleep in from 15 to 45 minutes after its administration. It is also used as an antispasmodic in convulsive dis- orders, and in eases accompanied by coma may be given hypodermically. URE'THRA (Lat., from Gk. oiip-nffpa. oure- thra, passage for urine, from oi'/jo^, ouron, urine). The canal by which the urine is dis- charged from the bladder. The male urethra is about nine inches long, and its office is to conduct the seminal fluid, secondarily to discharge the urine. It is divided into three parts: (1) the deep or prostatic urethra, which extends from the outlet of the bladder (with which it is con- tinuous) through the prostate gland, being the part into which the seminal ducts open; (2) the membranous urethra, less than an inch long, ex- tending from the prostate forward; and (3) the cavernous, or spongy, or penile urethra, ex- tending through the erectile tissue to the end of the penis. The female urethra is less than two inches in length, and opens externally be- tween the upper margin of the vaginal entrance and the clitoris. The urethra is lined by a con- tinuation of the mucous membrane of the blad- der, and in the male is extremely sensitive. See GONOERHCEA ; StRICTUKE. tTRFAH, ur-fa', or ORFA. The modern name for Edessa (q.v.). TJRFAHR, oor'far. A town in the Crown- land of Upper Austria, on the left bank of the Danube, opposite Linz (q.v.), with which it is connected by an iron bridge. It manufactures spirits and machinery. Population, in 1900, 12.827. URFE, ur'fa', HoNOR^fi d' (1568-1025). A Frencli pastoral romancer, born in Jlarseilles of noble family. Urfe was educated for the Church, but married his sister-in-law, Diane de Chilteau- mourand (IGOO). On the fall of the League he withdrew to Savoy and began to write in the pastoral style suggested by the Spanish Amndis de Gaul, which had been translated into French at the instigation of Francis I. ( 1540-48), and by the Greek pastoral romances which were ren- dered into French early in the sixteenth century. Fiction of this character had made a timid ap- pearance in France before LTrfe, for instance, in Fumce's Dm x'toi/ et parfait amour (150!)). It had already acquired its great masterpieces in Italy (Poliziano's Orfea. 1471 or 1472: Sanna- zaro's Arcadia: Tasso's Aminta. 157.'?; Guarini's Pastor Fiih). 1500). in England (Spenser's .S'/'cp- herd's Calendar, 1570), and in Spain (Monte-