Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/474

448&#93; 448] PUL 1. The equlnum, oiEausSTRiAN* Puff-ball, growing on the horns of cattle and sheep, bat more com- raonly on the hoofs of horses which liave been Ion? exposed to, and softened by, the weather. — This plant is brownish-white ; its stem is soUd and cylindrical ; th:'. head globuLir, hat rather concave below : ■ — it is sometimes used as a styptic. 2. The proleus, Commox Puff- ball ; Bunt; Frog-cheese; or Pnckcfist; growing in pa.>tures, and on road-sides: flowering in the moijth of August. — When burnt, it emits narcotic fumes, on which account it is occa~-ionally employed to take a li'wj, without destroying the bees. — ^This species, as well as the Orange-coloured Puff-ball (Lycoperdoii aurant'ia- cuwj is sometimes used as a styptic. All these plants, wiiiie young, are of a roundish figure, and pos- sess a soft fleshy suDstance, similar to that of mushrooms ; but, when attaining to maturity, they become hollow, and are filled with an ex- tremely subtle powder, that is very destruilive to the eyes ; cases hav- jHij occurred of persons, who were, by coming in conta3: with it, de- prived of their -sight for a consi- derable time, and also affeded with violent pain, and inflammatiori. PULMOXA IIY CONSUMP- TION, or Phthisis pidmonalis, a wastii:ig of the lungs, attended with fever, cough, and expcrtoration of matter : it is one of the most fatal disorders to which mankind is sub- ject, and therefore requires our most serious attention : as it fre- quently originates from the mast trivial causes. Persons, who possess what is termed a natural disposition for this malady, generally iiave a fiat, •oaapressed, or otherwise deform- PUL ed chest ; a long, thin neck ; tiie shoulders sharp- pointed ; the teeth are uncommonly white, and not subject to decay. — ^Two periods in life are said to be particilarly ob- noxious to phthisis ; namely, the fif.st, from the eighteenth to the twenty-fifth; and the second, be- tween the thirty-third and thirty- eighth yer.r. It has farther been observed, that men are more liable to it than females, and that it oc- curs less frequently in the West Indies than in Europe. The following are the principal symptoms which indicate this ma- lady : after a previous complaint in the chest, pains are felt under the breast-bone ; shi ering, succeeded by heat ; the voice becomes shrill ; a cough ensues, that gradually in- creases, particularly on lyingdown, so as to interrupt the rest ; the pa- tient finds hiinseif most at ease on the diseased side. The exjxicloraT tion at first generally resembles mucas, but afterwards becomes frodiy matter streaked with blood : the pulse is rather feverish. Such is the,/^/"-i^^, or infuCimmatory stage. If these symptoms are not time- ly relieved, they become extremely aggravated ; the expectorated mat- ter assum' s a yellow, green, and brown colour^ and is particularlv offensive in the morning; the cough and pains increase ; the symptoms of Hectic Fever (which see), appear regularly twice a day ; the palms of the hands bu.rn after taking meals ; the cheeks are of a glowing red ; the body and strength decline. SucU are the chara6teristic signs of the second, or suppurative period. In the third, or last stage, ali these symptoms are more violent ; trie bones project in every part of the body j the tenaples appear hol- low f