Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/460

428] . It is chiefly cultivated on account of its seeds, which are found to be best calculated for canary, and other small birds. It also nourishes the Coccus phalaridis, which is properly a native of the Canary Islands, but is become naturalized in England.

2. The arundinacea, or painted lady-grass, or ladies traces, which is occasionally sown in our gardens, on account of its beautiful striped leaves. It is of considerable utility for thatching ricks, or cottages, as this plant is more durable than straw. In the north of Europe, where its stalks attain the height of from two to six feet, it is mowed twice a year, and given to cattle, as a nutritious and wholesome food. We are, therefore, of opinion, that this species might also be successfully cultivated, for the same purpose, in Britain.  CANCER, a round, though unequal, and, at first, indolent tumor, generally situated in glandular parts, such as the breasts, armpits, &c. When this tumor grows large, is of a livid, blackish, or leaden hue, and attended with excruciating pain, it is called an occult cancer; but, when it becomes a sore, or ulcer, discharging a very fetid, ichorous matter, it is then an open, or ulcerated cancer. The latter species is by far the most dangerous, and has, by the most judicious practitioners of all ages, been considered as incurable by any internal remedies: the occult cancer, however, has sometimes, especially before it had attained a considerable size, been cured by external applications, of which we shall give a short account.

The causes of this formidable disease are not distinctly ascertained; though its origin is supposed to depend chiefly on a scrophulous predisposition of the body; which, if increased by depressing and debilitating passions of every description, as well as the cessation of periodical and salutary fluxes of blood, frequently produces that fatal malady.

The peculiar acrimony of the fluids which, by its stimulus, often changes a scrophulous ulcer into a true cancer, is of a very diversified nature; and thence arise the various forms and characteristics of this complaint, as well as the numerous difficulties with which the cure of it is attended. Hemlock and arsenic, used internally, and applied externally, have indeed, in a few instances, been attended with success; but it is, on the other hand, very doubtful whether these, or any other medicine, have ever cured a real cancer. Hence it is generally believed, that extirpation by the knife is the only certain remedy. Lately, however, a physician has appeared in the metropolis, who confidently maintains that he has discovered a method of curing a disease, which has hitherto baffled the ingenuity and skill of the most able and experienced practitioners. Although we have promised (see note to ) to analyze his medicines, and thus to ascertain whether they contain arsenic, yet having had no opportunity of performing the experiment, we are obliged to delay the farther account of that discovery, whether real or pretended, till we arrive at the article .—To compensate, in some degree, for this apparent defect, we shall communicate the latest and most important information on this subject, received from the Continent.  In