Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/240

218&#93; 2i31 'MIT MOI jcheese^. there are sereral varieties of this sp<:-c;cr5, brectling in. Hour, intai, &c. and occasioning consi- derable injury. The most effec- tual method of expelling these noxi- ous vernjiii is, according to Leeu- WENHO£K. (who was in^eldtigaWy attentive, to their generation' and growth), to place a iew uutoiegs in the sack, or bin containing' the flour ; as the odour of that spice is insuppon-able to mites : which wili thus be removed, •vvithout the meal acquiring any unpleasant fla- vour. — FuxKE advises a cheaper remedy, con.si-ting in the decorti- cated thick branches of the lilac or elder-trees, vvhlch.are to beput in the tlour, and wiil answer both as a preventive, and for their expul- sion. There are other species of mites, that breed in animals when un- cle?.n. or filthy, especially in dogs, covi'.s, &c. nay, even on iusefts. — Nor. is tfie human body exempt ivom their invasion, particularly ^vhen infected with the itch (or other eruptive disease), of which they are by many considered as the cause 3 mites having been frequent- Jv found in the watery pustules which occasion that peculiar itch- ing sensation. In dysentery, also, these vermin have been ejected with the feces ; whence it is evi- dent that they live and prey on the interior parts of the system. Mi.THiuDATE. See Venice Treacle. MITKRIDATE - MUSTARD, or Bastard-ckess, TJdaspi, L. a genus of plants comprising four- .tc en species, sixofwhicli are na- tives of Britain : the principal of tiiese is the arvense. Smooth JVli- th):iuab:;-Ma^iard, Treacle-Must- ard, or Penny-cress. It grows in co/c.-|ie]ds, espt.:iri;iy in muddy soils,' and flou'Crsia the months of June and July, The whole plant has the flavour of garlic j and its seeds possess the acrimony of mustard. It is, never- theless, eaten by goats, hogs, and cows, to tlie milk of which it im- parts an unpleasant taste .: but is re- fus(d bv hor.ses and sheep. MOFFAT- WATERS, are those sulplrdrcous springs which issue from a rock, in the vicinity of the village of Moffai, North-Britain, — The smell of this water corresponds with that of Harrogate ; its taste is saline and sulphureous, divested pf all bitterness. — It is chiefly em- ployed in cutant.ous and scrophu- lous cases } but has been found very beneficial, when applied ex- terniiily, to irritable and ill-condi- tioned ulcers. The jNIoffat-waters have lately been of considerable service toper- sons afilitted with calculous and biliar}'^ complaints ; in cases of in- digestion J and for invigorating the ahmentary canal, vvhere general weakness and inactivity prevail. The dose varies according to the constitution of the patient j but, as this water may be safely drunk at almost ever)" season, it ought to be taken libeva;iy, in such quantities, and at sucls intervals, as the per- sons aitecled can convenient!}'' bear". From one to three bottles should be taken every morning j a quanuty which produces scarcely any other sensible efiects, excepting an in- creased {low of unne. MOISTLTiE denotes a proper- ty peculiar to certain bouies that absorb humidity from the atu)os- phercj such are, sugar, saitjspongc, bic. but whiich again exhaiC the watery particles, when exposed to a drier air, or a w arnier tempera- ture. The