i;;;.;:;^::;;:-;:;:.:;-::;:;.:^;-;-;;;-;-:^:*:;.,.-- -:-::;-;---;«;-"-i^?¥3S^^»5i*="--:-::: - -" - ',1, /,•,',':,','.'." yXv,;;*,.,/-;. >« " .• ! I V,''' ('■ •.■.«;'••.■;.■•■••■' ?,'.V.V ( : i ■ ' i I ',■ vXv»!',,|,,','i'!,!v!sV>''i,',e iVi'.'.'AlvVt,'1 "'vi'''<' V '!'■'''!''''' '•'' '',|'''vX'X '■! '• '..''■'■; '' ' i'!v!,!^!,!C\.sX'''X'!'',X'''XV'Vi'i'''.''v';v'.'','v'.'' .■ *'■ •/.'-'..'.•'• •'.■.•.■; :■.•"•/'«!oO,I,.,!,l'--- ■ 'i*.V- •"■,''*v'',i-' •'■ '' Vv v! .v','/!''' ay$vXv; 1 ''.'■■' ' ' '.■■'.> : i,V,'.'. > st useful woods in the United States, particularly for covering houses, and other buildings : most of the houses of Philadelphia are roofed with shingles made of this wood. It is preferred to all other wood for the purpose before-men- tioned, as well as for fence rails, boarding frame buildings, and all sorts of inside work of houses, par- ticularly, where paint, varnishing, or paper hangings are intended ; it is preferred to all other wood, for coopers-ware, such as wooden cis- terns, tubs, pails, churns, 8cc. This celebrated tree possesses an extensive range on the Atlantic coasts, from New-Jersey southward as far as East and West-Florida. Its natural situation and soil, is the flat country, near the sea shore, and 50 or 60 miles back, where swamps, or a wet morassy soil abounds, but will grow very well if planted in higher land, provided the soil be sandy and moist.] CEILING, in architecture, is the top, or roof, of an upper room, made of plaster, laid over laths nailed on the bottom of the joist of the upper room; or, where there is no upper room, on joists made for that purpose, which are therefore called ceiling joists. Plastered ceilings are in much greater use in England than in any other country of Europe ; they are preferable to papered, orotherceil- ings, as they make a room not only lighter, but also prevent the dust from penetrating through crevices; lessen the noise from above ; check the progress of accidental fires ; CEL and, during summer, contribute to cool the air. See Mortar, and Plaster of Paris. CELANDINK.SeeCHELIDONIUM. [CELASTRUS, Climbing Staff Tree, nearly allied to Euonymus. Three species of this genus are found in the United States. C. bullatus, c. scandens or climbing staff tree: c. myrtifolius. The se- cond species possesses all the pow- ers of sarsaparilla.] CELERY, a variety of the Apium graveolens, L. originally denomi- nated smallage-, or parsley. The root, in its wild state, is thick and fibrous ; its bushy stalk attains the height of two or three feet, and bears yellow flowers in August: it grows in ditches and salt-marshes, is fetid, acrid, and noxious ; but when cultivated in dry ground, it is divested of those qualities, and then called Celery. There are two remarkable varie- ties of this vegetable : 1. The shrubby celery, which is raised from seed : it should be sown at two or three different times, in order to preserve it the better for use during the season, without running up to seed. The first sowing ought to be in the begin- ning of March, on a gentle hot- bed ; the second towards the end of the same month, in an open spot of light earth, where the plant can enjoy the benefit of the sun ; and the third in the latter end of April, or the beginning cf May, on a moist soil; where it may be exposed to the morning sun only, but not too near trees, as the wet occasionally dropping from their.leaves tends to retard its growth. Towards the middle of May, some of the roots of the first sowing will be fit to be transplanted into CEL 61 trenches for blanching. These must be cut at the distance of three feet from one another, about eight or ten inches in width, and of the same depth; the mould dug out of them should be equally laid on each side, that it may be ready to draw in again, and to earth up the ce- lery, as it advances in height. As soon as the trenches are made, the plants, having been previously trimmed, and the tops of the long leaves cut off, must be set in the middle of them, about four or five inches apart; care being taken to close the earth well around them, and to water them plentifully, un- til they have taken new root. When about half grown,the lateral fibrous roots should be carefully removed with a knife, and the earth again placed round the parent root, with- out burying the hearts. By repeat- ing this operation, as occasion re- quires, Mr. Kirchner, a German gardener, asserts that he obtained celery roots of an extraordinary size. The last crop should be planted in a drier soil; and, in or- der to prevent it from rotting in the winter, it will be necessary to cover it, when the frost is severe, with pease-haulm, or some similar sub- stance, which admits the access of air. Care should, however, be ta- ken to remove this covering as soon as the weather becomes milder; for . otherwise the celery will be apt to pipe, and run to seed. When full blanched, this root will not continue good above three weeks or a month: hence to preserve it, and insure a succession of crops, it is necessary to have, at least six or seven sea- sons of planting, proportioned to the consumption. 2. The bulbous celery, generally called, by gardeners, French Ce- 62 CEL CEL leriac, but seldom to be met with in this country: it produces a large, knobby root, of a delicate flavour, and from three to five inches in dia- meter. This plant is usually sown early in the spring, on hot-beds, and afterwards transplanted in'o a deep, and well prepared garden soil, at equal distances of ten or twelve inches from each other, where it will thrive rapidly, if it be frequently earthed up, and water- ed, as it requires constant mois- ture. Having been disappointed in obtaining the proper seed for this variety, instead of which, an eminent old botanist, of Covent- gardent market, furnished us with that of the common fibrous-rooted, or shrubby celery; we are led to believe, that the latter may be ar- tificially converted into bulbous roots, by adopting the simple expe- dient before suggested by Kirch- ner. Although we have no de- cisive proof of this useful conver- sion, which might be easily appli- ed to the-improvement of many other culinary vegetables,yet there appears to be a considerable pros- pect of a successful result in many of those plants, now vegetating in a garden at Paddington. When distilled, the seeds of both the wild and cultivated cele- ry, produce an essential oil. The roots of the former are eaten by sheep and goats, but cows and horses refuse them. As an article of food, the celery is well known, but is said to be hurtful to persons subject to nervous complaints. It is, however, considered as an ex- cellent antiscorbutic. The bulbous root of celeriac is much esteemed on the Continent, where it is preserved in sand for the winter, and eaten chiefly as sa- Jad. For this purpose, it is cut in slices, and soaked a few hours in vinegar: by such simple prepara- tion, it becomes as mellow as a pine-apple, and affords a delicious, and very nourishing repast: hence it is much relished by invalids or the aged. We doubt, however, whether it deserves the great cha- racter it has acquired among the French and Germans, for its brac- ing and restorative virtues, in cases of general relaxation and nervous debility. [Celery having a solid stalk, is now generally cultivated in and near Philadelphia. The seeds must be sown in March in a hot-bed, or in the open ground in a moist and warm situation. In six weeks the plants will be fit for putting into trenches, which must be prepared by having some well rotten manure put intt) the bottom. The black mould found on the surface in woods, which abounds with carbon, or the black earth from ditches will an- swer very well. Where manure is used, that of hogs is commonly pre- ferred, and the older it is, the less liable it will be to give the plant a rank bitter taste. When the plants are about 6 inches high,they should be transplanted, by which they will gain strength. When of a tolerable size, they must be earthed up, tak- ing care to leave out the top of the central stem, or heart, as it is ge- nerally termed, above ground. Un- less the autumn should prove very warm, the celery.will be excellent, and not run to seed. To preserve this plant during the winter, it should be taken out of the trenches late in the autumn, and put in a warm sheltered spot leaning against a bank of earth, and covered with earth or leaves. The plants must not touch each other.] CEL C EM 63 CELLARS, in modern building, are the lowest rooms in a house ; their ceilings are usually level with the surface of the ground, on which the house is built. They are also si- tuated under the pavement before it, particularly in streets and squares. On account of the great utility of cellars in preserving wines, ale, &c. various attempts have been made to prevent the generation of damp and noxious air in subterra- neous places : two of these merit particularly to be noticed. The first is that of M. Westbeck (in the Memoirs of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), who caused a vaulted cellar to be constructed, without stone or lime : instead of the former, he employed charcoal, placed in the manner of brick work; and, as a substitute for the latter, he used a cement, consisting of clay, kneaded with charcoal dust. These brittle materials were em- ployed, because they attract no moisture, or acidity, either from the air or earth ; a circumstance which renders them even more du- rable than stone. Another method, is that fre- quently practised in Germany, where the vaults are so constructed that a canal, or passage of commu- nication is opened from the cellar to the principal chimney of the house. [A communication should be made between each cellar (where there are more than one),by means of an opening over or near the doors, and next the ceiling, three feet long and one foot deep. A cir- culation of air would thereby be effected; and, for security,parallel iron bars may be placed in the openings.] By this means, the cellars may be continually venti- lated, so as to expel the damp and noxious vapours, which are usually collected in them; while the draught of the chimney is, in a considerable degree, promoted. The dangers arising from the sudden, or frequent inhalation of such air as is often generated in close, and damp cellars, have al- ready been stated; together with the most proper method of obviat- ing its deleterious effects. See Air. CEMENT, generally signifies any glutinous matter, capable of uniting and keeping substances in close cohesion. It principally de- notes compositions employed for holding together broken glass, Sec. For this purpose, the juice of gar- lic is recommended as exceedingly proper; for it is very strong ; and if the operation be performed with care, leaves very little or no mark. This is also effected, by a prepara- tion of fresh cheese cut in thin slices, which should be boiled in different waters, and continually stirred : thus it is converted into a very tough and elastic mass, which will not incorporate with liquids. After being sprinkled with a little boiling water, and worked upon a hot stone, a small quantity of un- slacked lime should be added, and the whole beat into the consistence of a paste. This composition will prove a strong and durable cement for wood, stone, earthen ware and glass: when thoroughly dry, it re- sists every effect of water. There is a cement for joining glass and china, used in Germany, and which appears to be preferable to that above mentioned. It is pre- pared as follows : Take, by mea- sure, two parts otlitharge, one of unslacked lime, and one of flint- glass ; let each be separately re- duced to the finest powder, and worked up into a paste with old 64 C E M C E M drying oil. Hochheimer asserts, that this compound is very durable, and acquires a greater degree of hardness,when immersed in water. Another composition, which is successfully employed by the Ger- mans for cementing wood, is pre- pared from pitch, mixed with bul- lock's blood, linseed-oil, and tur- pentine. The whole of these must be put over a fire, in an iron pan, and as much brick-dust added as will make them of the consistence of a thin paste. The tub, or cask, to which this preparation is to be applied, must be perfectly dry be- fore it is laid on ; and the chinks or crevices filled up with tow,while th_' cement is warm. Some melt a due portion of colophony with the other liquids, previously to the adding of the brick-dust; by which means the composition is said to be much improved. Cement, in building, is used to denote any kind of mortar, which is stronger than that usually em- ployed. The cement commonly used, is either cold or hot. The for- mer is the second above described, for cementing china, Sec. which is sometimes, though seldom, resort- ed to in the erection of walls. The hot cement, in general use, is made of resin, bees-wax, brick- dust, and chalk, boiled together. The bricks to be conjoined are heated, and rubbed together, with cement between them. If the as- sertion of foreign writers be well- founded, there is a much superior composition for cementing stones prepared on the Continent. It con- sists cf eight parts of pitch, four of colophony, two of minium, or very fine litharge ; two of white lead; and one of brick-dust, melted to- gether. Sometimes, however, the following materials are substituted for those last mentioned: Take pure quartz, reduce it to a fine pow- der, by means of the same free- stone to which it is to be applied: add one third part of unslacked lime, and work the whole into a paste with the whites of eggs, just before it is wanted. So effectual is this preparation, that in a few minutes it will acquire the com- pactness and solidity of iron. A cement of tolerable firmness, may be obtained by a mixture of gypsum and quick-lime, with the addition of water : this compound may prove of considerable service in making troughs for holding wa- ter, or lining small canals. A cheap mortar, or cement, that will not crack, may also be procur- ed, according to M. Wiegleh, by mixing three parts of the thin re- siduum after slacking the lime, with one of powdered gypsum ; but he adds, that it can be used only in dry situations. [Coarse cement for fastening handles in pestles, glass feet in electrical stools, Sec. Rosin 2 parts, wax one part, thickened with very dry powdered brick-dust, or earth- en-ware, and used hot. Cement to join china. Powdered cheese, white of egg and powdered quick-lime, worked up together and used quickly. Cement to join china by fire. Melt together two parts of borax and one of white silicious sand. Pour them out, grind them into a fine powder, mix them up with a little glue-water, and apply it with a hair pencil to the pieces of china to be joined: expose it to a heat just enough to melt this flux. Willis's cement for broken re- torts, even during the distillation of phosphorus. Dissolve 2 oz. of borax in a pint of water, thicken it CEM C E M 65 with sifted slacked lime; smear iton the crack with a spatuia. Cement or lute for distillation. Blood, quick-lime, and siliceous sand, or quick-lime and size, or quick-lime and white of egg. Where you want it to come off easily, put but a small quantity of lime. For the distillation of acid spirits. Size or blood thickened with Plais- ter of Paris and siliceous sand in equal proportions : Or in common cases, cloths smeared with white paint. Cements for Derbyshire Spar and other stones. Melt seven or eight parts of resin and one of bees-wax together, with a small quantity of Plaister of Paris (gypsum.) If it is wished to make the cement fill up the place of any chips that may have been lost, increase the quan- tity of Plaister. Knead the mass well, heat the broken pieces until they will meltthe cement, and press them together, some of the cement being previously interposed. Temporary cements. To fix glass plates to be ground for optical pur- poses, joining metallic plates to be turned in a lathe. Resin 4 oz. bees- wax j- oz. add 4 oz. of whitening made previously red hot. Pitch, resin, and a very small quantity of tallow melted together, and thickened by stirring in dry brick-dust, is employed by chasers of gold and silver articles to sup- port and hold their work. Shell Lac is a very strong ce- ment for holding metals, glass, or precious stones, while cutting, turning, or grinding them. The metal should be warmed. White of eggs mixed with a little quicklime, (or a bit of chalk burnt in a common fire and pow- VOL. II. dered) makes a pretty good cement for glass and porcelain. Gum Arabic dissolved in water, diluted with spirits : and gum am- moniac added, answers well for glass and porcelain. Isinglass cements. Dissolve the isinglass in warm proof spirit: by adding one third gum ammoniac, previously to its solution in proof spirits, the cement is improved.Ex- pose the mixture to a boiling heat until the isinglass and gum are dis- solved, and until a drop of the com- position becomes stiff instantly as it cools. When joined tobroken china or glass, the pieces should be previ- ously warm ; then lay on the ce- ment with a pencil, press thepieces together, binding them with a string. Japanese cement, or rice glue. This elegant cement is made by mixing rice flour intimately with cold water, and then gently boiling it. Papers pasted together bymeans of this cement, will sooner separate in their own substance, than at the joinings, which makes it extremely useful in the preparation of curious paper articles which require layers of paper to be cemented together. It is white, dries transparent, and is much preferable to flour paste, With this composition, made with a comparatively small quantity of water ; models, busts, statues, &c. may be formed. When dry the ar- ticles are susceptible of a high polish, and are very durable. The Japanese make quadrille-fish of this substance, which so nearly re- semble those made of mother-of- pearl, that purchasers are often imposed upon. A cement that resists moisture. Melt without water common clue, with half its weight of resin, to K 66 CEM which add some red ochre. Useful for cementing hones to their frames Cement that hardens under wa- ter. Mix clay and calces (oxides) of iron plentifully with oil. Mr. Gad, Stockholm. In Eton's Survey of the Turkish Empire, lately published in London, the following composition is men- tioned as being in common use among the Turkish and Armenian JewelVrs, to join glass or steel, or to fasten to watch cases, and as' a setting for jewellery. " Dissolve five or six bits of mas- tic, as large as peas, in as much spirit of wire as will dissolve thtm: in another vessel dissolve as much isinglass (previously soaked in wa- ter till soft and swollen) in French brandy, as will make two ounces of strong glue ; add two small bits of gum galbanum or gum ammonia- cum, which must be rubbed till they are dissolved. Mix the whole together with a sufficient heat." The process above described may be simplified by adding the gum ammoniac to the isinglass du- ring its solution in proof spirits, and exposing the mixture to a boil- ing heat until it is dissolved, when the solution of mastic in alcohol may be added. The gum ammo- niac previously dissolved with the isinglass, promotes the- union of the mastic with the mucilage. This cement has been tried in London, and found to answer well: it stands against moisture. A cement that will stand against boiling water, and even bear a con- siderable pressure of steam. In joining the flanches of iron cylin- dersandother hydraulic and steam engines, great inconvenience is often experienced from the want of a durable cement. Boiled linseed oil, litharge, red and white lead, mixed together to C EM a proper consistence, and applied on each side of a piece of flannel, previously shaped to fit the joint and then interposed between the* pieces before they are brought home (as the workmen term it) to their place by the screws or other fastenings employed, make a close joint. The quantities of the ingredient may be varied without inconveni- ence, only taking care not to make the mass too thin with the oil. It is difficult in many cases instantly to make a good fitting of large pieces of iron work, which ren- ders it necessary sometimes to join and separate the pieces repeat- edly before a proper adjustment is obtained. When this is expected, the white lead oughtto predominate in the mixture, as it dries much slower than red. A workman know- ing this fact can be at little loss in exercising his own discretion in regulating the quantities. It is safest to be on the side of the white lead, as the durabilityof the cement is no way injured thereby, only a longer time is required for it to dry and harden. When the fittings will not ad- mit easily of so thick a substance as flannel being interposed, linen may be substituted, or even paper or thin pasteboard ; the only rea- son for employing any thing of the kind, being the convenience of handling. This cement also answers well for joining broken stones however large. Cisterns built of square stones, put together with this ce- ment will never break or want any repairs. In this case the stones need not be entirely bedded in it, an inch or even less of the edges that are to lie next the water need only be so treated : the rest of the joint may be filled with good lime. CEM Another cement that will stand the action of boiling water and steam. This cement which is pre- ferable to the former for steam- engines, is prepared as follows : Take 2 ounces of sal ammoni- ac, I ounce of flowers of sulphur, and 16 ounces of cast iron filings or borings. Mix all well together by rubbing them in a mortar, and keep the powder dry. When the cement is wanted for use, take one part of the above pow- der, and twenty parts of clean iron borings or filings, and blend them intimately by grinding them in a mortar. Wet the compound with water, and when brought to a con- venient consistence, apply it to the joint with a wooden or blunt iron spatula. By a play of affinities which those who are at all acquainted with che- mistry will be at no loss to com- prehend, a degree of action and re- action takes place among the in- gredients, and between them and the iron surfaces, which at last causes the whole to unite as one mass. In fact, after a time, the mixture and the surfaces of the flanches become a species of pyri- tes (holding a very large propor- tion of iron,) all the parts of which cohere strongly together. Another cement of the same kind. Take two parts of flowers of sulphur, and one part of sal ammo- niac, and mix them together with a little water into a stiff paste. Take also borings or turnings of cast iron in the state in which they are commonly found in the works where boring and turning are car- ried on, viz. mixed with sand, and sift them finely to get rid of the grosser particles. When the ce- ment is wanted for use, dissolve a portion of the above paste in urine. CEM 67 or in water rendered slightly aci- dulous, and to tne solution add a quantity of the sifted borings. This mixture, spread upon or be- tween flanches of iron pipes, or put intothe insterstices of other parts of iron work, will in a little time be- come as hard as a stone. Blood cement. A cement often used by coppersmiths to lay over the rivets and edges of the sheet of copper in large boilers, to serve as an additional security to the join- ings and to secure cocks, Sec. from leaking: is made by mixing pound- ed quicklime with oxen's blood. It must be applied fresh made, as it soon gets so hard as to be unfit for use. We believe, if the properties of this cement were duly investigated, it would be found useful for many purposes to w hich it has never yet been applied, Itisextiemely cheap, and very durable. For an account of the mode of making a cement for terraces; and of the use of liquid pitch to render them impenetrable to water, and to secure from the attacks by frost, by C. Puymarin, see TilLch's Phil. Mag. Vol. 13. Cement for preserving wood and brick from decay, and for stopping leaks and fissures, by Silas Con- stant of New Jersey. The ce- ment is composed of the following materials ; viz. tar, pulverized coal (charcoal is esteemed the best) and fine well slacked lime: the coal and lime to be well mixed together, about four fiths coal one fifth lime ; the tar to be heated, and while hot, thickened with the mixture of coal and lime until it becomes so hard that it may be easily spread upon the surface of a board, and not run off when hot. Turpentine or pitch will answer nearly as well 68 CEM as tar, and Plaister of Paris will an- swer instead of lime; to be used in the same manner. The cement must be applied when warm, and is found to be used easiest with a trowel. The following valuable composi- tion for a cement for watercisterns, was given to the editor by captain Hunn who had used it with suc- cess. He lined the well with bricks, and left a space of about six inches between the bricks and the sur- rounding solid earth: this space he filled with mortar made of lime and pounded gravel:(probably covering the face of the pit with the hot mortar would answer.) Equal parts of pounded brick, sand and sifted stone lime, were well mixed, and worked up with hot lime-wash. This composition was spread on as fiot as possible upon the inside of the well, To prevent the cooling of the cement only a gallon must be made at a lime. A floor of the cement must be laid, and the top arched, leaving room for a pump to be put down,] A peculiar kind of cement is pre- pared at Madras with which most of the buildings erected in that In- dian capital, are cemented. It consists of sand and lime, with the addition only of a small quantity of water, in which a proportion of coarse sugar has been previously dissolved. The quick-setting of this mortar, and the great hardness it acquires, can, as Dr. James An- derson has observed (in his Re- creations in Agriculture, vol. 1.) only be attributed to one of these two causes, namely, either the su- gar added, or the quality of the lime-stone employed at Madras.... There are some kinds of lime-stone \n Britain, which afford a much CEM better mortar than others; and this also may be the case in India. Most calcareous earths are blend- ed with sand and other particles, in various proportions; the quality of the mortar or cement will con- sequently vary, according to the nature of these different ingre- dients. It has lately been discovered, that the scrapings of certain roads, consisting chiefly of levigated lime- stone, which is impregnated in a greater or less degree with the dung and urine of animals, form an excellent cement. For ordinary walls, these scrapings alone are frequently used; and, according to the account of Mr. Marshall (in his Rural Economy of Glouces- tershire,) the proportion for the best building is about one part lime to three of those materials, collect- ed from roads composed of lime- stone. By the ingenuity of speculative men, however, several other modes of forming cements, have been contrived and successfully em- ployed ; but the enumeration of these would necessarily lead us to a greater length than our limits will permit. We shall, therefore, only give an account of the prin- cipal Patents lately granted for the invention of various cements. The first, is that of Mr. John Worth, chemist, dated the 28th of May, 1771, now expired ; for a " Preparation, or cement, for the purpose of preservingHisMajesty's and other ships and vessels from worms, Sec. and for various pur- poses in agriculture and com- merce.",..This composition con- sists of fourteen pounds of pow- dered or small pieces of resin ; twenty-eight of sand, sifted and washed clean from dirt or loam j CEM three and a half of red lead ; and one pound and three quarters of oil: the resin must be melted over a moderate fire, the sand and lead gradually put in, and then the oil; care being taken, when they are boiling, to stir them constantly till they become cold, so that the mass may be uniform. When there is occasion to use this cement, the quantity required must be broken into small pieces, and a pound of what is usually denominated by the chemists, fat oil, mixed with every twelve pounds of it. As soon as this is melted, it may be applied to the object intended, either by pouring it on, or by a brush, while boiling. The quan- tity of oil to be added to the ce- ment must also be increased, or lessened, in proportion as the com- position is required to be of a greater or less degree of hardness, or softness. The second, was granted to Dr. Higgins, for his invention of a water cement, or stucco, for build- ing, repairing,and plastering walls, Sec. The component parts of this cement, are drift or quarry sand, cleansed by washing, and carefully strained from clay, salts, and cal- careous, gypsous, or other grains less hard and durable than quartz; after which it is dried, either in the sun, or on an iron plate in a fur- nace, in the manner of a sand hrat. [Sand from the Delaware only re- quires sifting.] To this must be added, fourteen pounds of the new- est lime-stone that can be procured; and which heats most in slacking, and slacks soonest when duly wa- tered ; [which is fresh and closely kept,] dissolves in distilled vinegar with the least effervescence; leaves as little as possible o!" an insoluble residuum, and contains the saiall- C EM 69 est quantity of clay, gypsous or martial matter. This must be pre- viously sifted in a brass wire sieve, as finely as possible, and slacked, by being repeatedly immersed in, and quickly drawn out of, a butt filled with soft water, till it be made to pass easily through the sieve ; rejecting that part of the lime which is too coarse. The patentee directs to continue that process, till as many ounces have been pass- ed through the sieve as there are quarts of water in the butt..... The impregnated liquor, must stand in the vessel, closely covered up, until it becomes clear, when it should be drawn off through wood- en cocks, as fast and as low as the lime subsides ; being now fit for use. Dr. Higginsdenominatesthis solution, the cementing liquor. Fifty- six pounds of lime, prepared in the same manner as before, are next to be slacked, by gradually sprinkling on it the cementing li- quor, in a close and clean place. The slacked part must be immedi- ately sifted, and the lime, if not used instantly, kept in air-tight vessels ; care being taken to reject those pieces which do not pass through the sieve. This richer lime, the Doctor calls purified lime. Bone-ash is then prepared, by grinding the whitest burnt bones, which must be sifted much finer than that commonly sold for mak- ing cupels. The principal materials beingthuspiepared,fifty-six pounds of the coarser sand, and forty-two of the fine sand, are to be mixed on a large plank of hard wood, placed horizontally, and spread so that it will stand to the height of six inches, with a flat surface on the plank. This mint be wetted with the anu-niug liquor, and what- ever superfluous quantities of it 73 C E M CEM will not incorporate with the sand, must ilow off the plank. To the Wciiecl sand are to be gradually added fourteen pounds of the puri- fied lime, tempered in the same manner as fine mortar; with this composition are, by degrees, to he mixed fourteen pounds of the bone- ash, and the whole beaten quickly together ; as the sooner, and more perLctly these materials are tem- pered together, and the quicker the cement thus formed is used, the better it will answer the pur- pose. This Dr. Higgins calls the ivater ct merit coarse-grained ; it is to be applied in building, pointing, plastering, stuccoing, kc. in a si- milar manner with mortar; the principal difference being, that as cement is shorter, and dries much sooner than mortar, or common stucco, it ought to be worked expe- ditiously in all cases ; and, in stuc- coing, should be laid on by sliding the trowel upwards on it; and that the materials used with this cement in building, ought, when it is laid on, to be well moistened with the ce- menting liquor ; which is also to be employed, if necessary, in wetting the cement, or reducing it to a fluid state. When such cement is re- quired to be of the finer sort, nine- ty-eight pounds of the fine sand are directed to be wetted with the ce- menting liquor, and tempered with the purified lime and bone-ash, in the manner already described; with this only variation, that fifteen pounds of lime are to be used in- stead of fourteen, if the greatest part of the sand be as fine as Lynn sand. This is called water cement fine-grained, and is to be used in giving the last coating to, or finish- ing, any work intended to imitate the finer grained stones, or stucco: it may, nevertheless, be applied to all the uses of water cement coarse- grained, and in a similar manner. Whenever, for any of the above- mentioned purposes of pointing, building, &c. a coarser grained and c lie ape r sand is required, fifty-six pounds of the coarsest sand, or of fine rubble well washed, twenty- eight of the coarser, and fourteen pounds of the fine sand, are to be mixed together, and wetted with the cementing liquor, as above di- rected ; to which fourteen pounds, or somewhat less, of the purified lime, and a similar quantity of the bone ash, are to be added ; and the whole tempered together in the manner already mentioned. When the cement is required to be white, colourless sand, lime, and the whitest bone-ash, are to be select- ed. Grey sand, and grey bone- ash, formed of half-burnt bones are to be chosen for making the ce- ment grey. Other colours may be obtained, by employing coloured sand, or by mixing the necessary quantity of coloured talc in powder, vitreous or metallic powders, or other durable ingredients, usually employed in making paint. This water cement, whether coarse, or fine grained, may be used in form- ing artificial stone, by making al- ternate layers of cement and of flint, hard stone, or brick, in the moulds of the intended stone, and by exposing the masses, thus formed, to the open air, in order to harden. When such cement is wanted for water-fences, two-thirds of the pre- scribed quantity of bone-ash are to be omitted, and an equal propor- tion of powdered tarras to be substi- tuted : and if the sand be not of the coarsest sort, more tarras must be added, which should not exceed in weight one-sixth part of the form- er. When a cement of the finest CEM grain, and in a fluid form, is requir- ed, so that it may be applied with a brush, flint-powder, pounded quartz, or other hard, earthy sub- stance, may be used, instead of sand, but in a smaller quantity, and in proportion to the fineness of the flint, or other powder, so that it shall not amount to more than six times, nor less than four times, the weight of the lime. According to the greater, or smaller quantity of lime, the cement will be more or less liable to crack, by quick dry- *ing. Where the sand above de- scribed, cannot be conveniently procured, or, where it cannot be washed and sorted, that which bears the greatest resemblance to the mixture of coarse and fine sand, may be selected ; provided due at- tention be paid to the quantity of lime, which is to be increased, when the sand is fine, and to be diminished, in proportion to its coarseness. In situations where sand cannot be procured, any dur- able stony body, or baked earth, grossly powdered, and sorted in a similar manner, may be substituted by measure, but not by weight, un- less such gross powder be of the same specific gravity. Sand may be cleansed from softer, lighter, and less durable matter, and from those particles which are too fine, by various methods, preferable in certain circumstances to that above described. Water may be found naturally free from fixible gas, selenite, or clay ; and may be employed in- stead of the cementing liquor ; in which state, the water will not re- quire so much lime for its prepar- ation. Where stone-lime cannot be procured, chalk-lime, or shell- Jime, which approaches nearer to stone-lime, may be substituted, in CEM 71 the manner above directed; with this exception, however, that fourteen pounds and a half of chalk-lime will be necessary, instead of fourteen pound of stone-lime. The propor- tion of lime may, without incon- venience, be increased, when the cement, or stocco, is to be applied, where it is not liable to dry quick- ly : on the contrary, it may be les- sened, and the deficiency supplied, with considerable advantage, by causing an additional quantity of the cementing liquor to soak gra- dually into the work, so that the calcareous matter of this liquor, and the elastic fluid attracted from the atmosphere, may fin and strengthen the workmanship. The powder of almost every well-dried, or burnt, animal matter, may be subtituted for bone-ash, and seve- ral earthy powders, especially the micaceous, and the metallic, as well as calcareous ashes of mine- ral fuel, and the elixated ashes of various vegetables, the earth of which cannot, by burning, be con- verted into lime, will, in some measure, answer the purposes of bone-ash : in short, the quantity of the latter may be lessened, without injuring the cement,particularly in those circumstances which admit of a diminution of lime, and where the cement is not liable to dry quickly. For inside work, it will be very useful to mix hair with the cement. The last patent, which we shall notice, was granted in November, 1800; to Mr. John Baptist De- nize, chemist, for a cement, ap- plicable to various purposes. The basis of this is petroleum, or rock- oil, in any form ; in which a small portion of sulphur is dissolved, by melting; to which is added any kind of vitrescible, earthy matter, 72 CEP such as clinkers, and scoria, from iron, or glass furnaces ; puzzolane, on any volcanic ashes, &c. These are to be powdered, and stirred in- to the melted sulphur-oil, till the whole becomes of such a consist- ence as to be easily spread with a trowel, and does not adhere to the fingers when cool. This cement is firm, durable and impervious to moisture. Those of our readers, who may be desirous of additional informa- tion, relative to this interesting sub- ject, we refer to the? translation of M. Loriot's " Practical Essay on Cement and Artificial stone," (8vo. Is.bd. Cadell, 1774) ; and to Dr. Higgins's " Experiments and Ob- servations, made with a view of Im- proving the Art of composing and applying Calcareous Cements, and of preparing Quick-lime, life. (8vo. 5*. Cadell, 1780) ; in which the matter is fully and ingeniously dis- cussed. See Mortar. [Limh.] CEPHALIC, generally signifies whatever relates to the head...... Hence those remediesthatare given for disorders of that part, are deno- minated cephalic medicines. Under this description are comprehended cordials, and whatever tends to promote a free circulation of the blood through the brain. Thus ce- phalic snuff is taken with a view to remove pains in the head, by occasioning the patient to sneeze, and, in this manner, perhaps, giv- ing vent to obstructions in the smaller vessels. Such is the im- perfect theory of chephalic medi- cines ; and, strictly speaking, we are possessed of no specific remedy for relieving a common head-ach, unless the cause from which it pro- ceeds, can be ascertained. Of the multiplicity of circumstances which may operate to produce that com- plaint, and likewise of the most CH A proper means of alleviating it, we shall endeavour to convince the reader, under the article Head- ach. Cerussa. See White Lead. Chadlock. See Charlock. CHAFER,Cock-chafer, May- beetle, Jeffry Cock, or, in Norfolk, Dor, the Scarabaus Melolontha, L. is an insect belonging to a genus, which comprises eighty-seven spe- cies. It has like all the rest, a pair of cases to its wings, of a red- dish brown colour, sprinkled with a whiteish dust, which is easily se-. parated. The necks of these in- sects are, in some years, covered with a red plate ; in others, with a black ; but they are distinct va- rieties. Their fore legs are very short, and thus better calculated for burrowing in the ground, to which they instinctively retreat. Chafers are well known by the buzzing noise they make, in the evening, when rising in the air ; but particularly for the irreparable mischief they occasion to the in- dustrious cultivator; having been found, in some seasons, so nume- rous, as to consume every vegeta- ble production. These pernicious vermin are generated from eggs, which the females usually deposit, about six inches deep in the ground. Three months after, the inclosed insects begin to break the shells, and crawl forth, in the form of small grubs, or maggots, which feed upon the roots of whatever vegetables they meet with. In this worm state, they continue for more than three or four years, devouring the roots of every plant they ap- proach, and burrowing under the ground with the utmost celerity for food. At length, they exceed a walnut in size, being large, white, thick maggots, with read heads, which are most frequently found in CH A C H A 73 newly turned earth, and are much sought after by every species of birds. When largest, they are an inch and a half long, of a whitish, yellow colour, with bodies com- posed of twelve segments, or joints, on each side pf which there are nine breathing holes, and three red feet. The head is larger in proportion to the body ; of a red- dish colour, with a forceps, or pincer before, and a semi-circular lip, with which they cut the roots of plants, and suck out their mois- ture. They have no eyes, but are' furnished with two feelers, which serve to direct their motions under ground. At the expiration of four years, these destructive insects prepare to emerge from their subterrane- ous abode. About the latter end of autumn, the grubs begin to per- ceive their transformation ap- proaching ; when they bury them- selves deeper in the earth, some- times even six feet below the sur- face, where they form capacious apartments, the walls of which be- come very smooth and shining, by the excretions of their bodies. Soon after, they begin to shorten them- selves, to swell, and burst their last skin, preparatory to their change into a chrysalis. This appears at first to be of a yellowish colour, which gradually heightens, till at length it becomes almost red. Its external figure clearly displays the characters of the future winged in- sect, all the fore-parts being dis- tinctly seen; while, behind, the animal seems as if wrapped in swaddling clothe;;. In this state, the young Cock- chafer, or May-bug, continues for about three months longer; when, towards the beginning of January, the aurelia divests itself of all its VOL. II. impediments, and becomes a com- plete, winged insect. But' it has not attained its natural health, strength, and appetite : unlike all other insects, which arrive at their state of perfection as soon as they become flies, the cock-chafer con- tinues feeble and sickly. Its colour is much brighter than in the per- fect animal ; all its parts are soft, and its voracious nature appears suspended. In this state, it is fre- quently found, and is erroneously supposed by those who are igno- rant of its real history, to be an old one, of the former season, which has buried itself during the winter, in order to re-visit the sun the ensuing summer. The fact is, the old one never survives the sea- son, but perishes in the same man- ner as every other species of in- sects, from the severity of the cold, during winter. Towards the latter end of May, these insects burst from the earth, the first mild evening that invites them abroad ; after having lived from four to five years under ground. They are then seen to emerge from their close confine- ment, no longer to live on roots, and imbibe only the moisture of the earth, but to choose the sweetest vegetables, for their food, and to sip the evening dew. An attentive observer will, at that time of the year, see every path-way strewed with them ; and, in warm evenings of May, myriads of them are buz- zing along, flapping against every- thing that impedes their flight. The heat of the mid-day sun, how- ever, seems to be too powerful for their constitution; they, there- fore, conceal themselves in clus- ters, under the foliage of shady trees, but particularly of the wil- low, which appears to be their most L 74 CH A CH A favourite food, and which they sel- dom quit, till they have consumed all its verdure. In seasons favour- able to their propagation, they are seen in an evening, in considerable swarms; their duration, however, is but short, as they never survive the summer. They begin to pair, soon after they have emerged from their subterraneous prison; and the female then carefully bores a hole in the ground, with an instrument for that purpose, with which she is furnished at her tail, and depo- sists her eggs there, generally to the number of sixty. Destructive as thes^e insects, in their worm state, are to vegetation, they would be still more so, were they not destroyed by birds, and more especially rooks, which de- vour them in great numbers. Half a century ago, they were so ex- ceedingly numerous 'rn the county of Norfolk, England, that they de- stroyed not only the verdure of the fields, but even the roots of vege- tables. One farmer, in particular, was so much injured by them, in the year 1751, that he was unable to pay his rent. Many crops in that county were then almost ruin- ed by the devastations these insects committed, in their worm state ; and, when they took wing next sea- son, trees and hedges were in many parishes, completely stripped of their leaves. At first, the people brushed them down with poles, swept them up, and burnt them. James Ebden, a Norfolk farmer, made oath, that he gathered eighty bushels ; but their number did not seem much diminished, except in his fields. Neither the severest frosts in our climate, nor even wa- ter, will kill them ; as, on being exposed to the sun and air, for a few hours, they will recover,and resume their former lively state. One of the best methods to be adopted for preventing their transformation, is, to plough up the land in thin fur- rows, to employ children to pack them up in baskets, and then to strew salt and quick-lime on the ground, and harrow it in. We have but an imperfect know- ledge of the nature and history of the insect, called by the French Vinaigrieur, and of other scarabi- vorous animals, to avail ourselves of their labours. This, however, is clear, that if such, insects as devour grubs, should take posses- sion of the soil \\ here cock-chafers abound, they must, in a short time, destroy immense numbers of the latter; and as they have five suc- cessive seasons to prey on them, till they attain their perfect state, they may be entirely extirpated, before one fly can be produced. It is a circumstance well known, that the whole of the corvus, or crow, and pie-tribes, are exceed- ingly fond of chafers, and particu- larly at a season when grain is scarce (i. e. from the end of seed- time to the beginning of harvest); they search for them with the ut- most avidity. These sagacious birds, having observed that the leaves of such plants as are attack- ed by the grub, appear withered or drooping during the day, they fly to them, dig for it with their strong bills, to the very root; and, if they do not find it, pull the plant itself out of the ground. It also frequently happens, that they mis- take the drooping leaves of plants newly set, for those injured by grubs, and seize upon these; thus finding no prey, they strike their bills into the ground, at their roots, pull them up one after another, and, if not watched, do great mis- CH A C H A 75 chief. Strawberries are particu- larly liable to the depredations of the grub; hence, sometimes, whole fields of strawberry-plants are spoiled by the rooks, immediately after they have been set. To pre- vent such devastation, it is neces- sary to guard them till their leaves assume an upright position. This damage, however, is but trivial, when compared with the real benefit occasioned by the rooks picking these vermin out of both grass and corn land. Great care ought, therefore, to he taken not to disturb these birds, especially as in fallowed lands, where grubs ge- nerally abound, they are of infi- nite service. In this case, the land should be stirred with the plough as often as the weather will per- mit ; for, if the rooks once find their way thither, they will not abandon the plough, unless driven away by violence, and each time the land is stirred, they will de- stroy multitudes of these vermin. Were this the only advantage to be derived from their destruction, it would amply compensate the far- mer for the labour and expense bestowed upon it. Independently of the beneficial effect which this management produces on the fer- tility of the fallow-land, it may fre- quently be attended with the de- struction of a whole race of grubs, in the adjacent fields. But, as this method is imprac- ticable in gardens, recourse ought to be had to other expedients.... Gardeners have observed that cab- bages, cauliflowers, strawberries, and especially lettuces, are the fa- vourite food of the grub. In order to destroy that pernicious insect, they plant a row of lettuces be- tween the rows of strawberries, in which case the insect will prefera- bly attack the former. Hence, they carefully examine the plants every day, walking along the rows with a trowel: wherever they observe leaves falling, they know their enemy is on the spot; immediate- ly dig it up, and thus destroy the grub. The whole race of these insects may probably be extirpated in stiff soils, by long continued rains, dur- ing the winter. For at that time, they having descended deep into the ground, the passage must be in some measure left open, so as to allow the water, if in abundance, to soak down to the bottom of their hole ; which, in a retentive soil, it will fill, and, if continued a sufficient time, infallibly drown them. Wherever irrigation is em- ployed for other purposes, the ex- termination of the grub may be effected by this method ; and there are many situations, in which water may be commanded in quan- tities adequate to this important purpose. It is highly probable, that if a stream of water could be spread over the surface of the grass-field, only for a few days, during any of the winter or spring months, all the grubs might be drowned in their holes: and as water is most abundant in that season, a very small stream might be so conducted, in different di- rections, as to inundate a large tract of ground. The benefit of one irrigation, thus managed, xrould be felt for five years. We there- fore venture, with Dr. Andeksox, to recommend this mode of des- troying grubs, to those who have grass-lands infested with them ; especially when they are intended To be converted into corn-land; for the injury done by grubs to the first crop, is often severely 76 CH A felt. It might even be safely ap- plied to orchards and wood-lands, provided that the water were not continued lo:,ger than is necessary to effect the destruction of the worm?. Having thus given a succinct analysis of the different methods of exterminating the cock-chafer, in its earlier stages of existence, suggested by native writers, we proceed to lay before our readers the latest discoveries made on the Continent, relative to this impor- tant subject. The Hamburgh Society for the Enc-juragtmtnt of the Arts and Use- ful Trades has published the fol- lowing methods of destroying this > orecious insect, as communicated by different authors : 1. In order to prevent the worm from changing into a chafer, it is advisable to intersect the fields with ditches: as this insect is continu- ally creeping about, it penetrates through the sides of those trenches, falls into the water which they ge- nerally contain,and cannot extricate itself from that situation ; but it is necessary to collect theworms every day ; for they will serve as an ex- cellent food for swine and poultry. 2. Take two ounces of oil (it is not stated what kind of oil) to every pailful of water, and sprinkle it on such places as are visited by the worm ; or bury twenty small pots, at equal distances, from 8 to 10 inches dc-p, and each containing from 20 to 30 drops of sulphurated oil, or thick balsam of sulphur, the exhalation of which expels the in- sects. This expedient, however, can be practised only in gardens. 3. Another correspondent sug- gests the frequent hoeing of plants, or ploughing of the soil in the months of June and July- in order CHA to bruise the insect, or to expose it for the prey of birds. He also ad- vises to pour boiling water on those less productive, or barren spots of meadow's, which may be easily dis- tinguished from others : this reme- dy, however, appears to us excep- tionable : because hot water would at the same lime injure the vege- tating roots of grasses. 4. Previous to a shower of rain, the following powder strewed on the land has been found of great service : namely, two parts of pul- verized quick-lime, two parts of sifted wood-ashes, and one part of pounded sulphur : the hepatic va- pour disengaged from this mix- ture, on being moistened, is affirm- ed to be effectual in destroying that pernicious grub. 5. The Rev. J. F. Mayer, an aged German clergyman, has in a separate essay on this subject( 1786) published the following method of extirpating the cock-chafer: he found from long experience, that irrigation of the fields towards the latter end of May, or in June ; al- ternate manuring of land with marl, street-dung, acrid and cor- rosive matters, such as quick-lime, gypsum, nitre, the ley of wood- ashes, and of tanners' waste, Sec. are the only practicable means of destroying that insect in a grub- state : besides which, he advises to drive a flock of sheep frequently over such land as has been much perforated by this insect ; to water the meadows in spring; to sow red clover early in March, or (in Germany), as soon as the snow is melted on the soil ; then to har- how in the seed, to cover it thinly with a mellow dung, and to repeat the sowing in the first three or four years, as occasion may re- quire. CH A In the Memoirs of the Agricul- tural Society of Paris (for 1 78f, vol. iii.) the Marquis De Gouffieu has suggested a very simple, but, as he asserts, effectual remedy for preventing the depredations of this injurious grub, and consequently its progressive transformation into a chafer. He observed, namely, that turf or peat ashes, strewed on the fields, produced that desirable effect. This pernicious family of insects may be effectually destroyed, while in the state of grubs, by encourag- ing the propagation of moles, for the discovery of this important fact, we are indebted to Edward Jones, Esq. who relates it in the 19th vol. of the " Transactions of the Society for the Encouragsment of Arts," Sec. He observes that, by protecting the race of moles, the cock-chafers have gradually decreased in his neighbourhood, so that they are now rarely seen on his estates; because the grubs afford a favou- rite food to those subterraneous little quadrupeds. Uses of the Cock-chafer. Al- though this numerous and voraci- ous insect is by no means calcu- lated to compensate the hundredth part of the injury it inflicts on ve- getables ; yet we are inclined to think that, especially in a grub state, it might be more frequently employed for the feeding of poul- try, then it is at present. Nor doos it appear to us impracticable, to feed and fatten great numbers of swine with these chafers, if they were previously bruised, and mix- ed with such vegetables chopped, or cut small, as are eagerly eaten by hogs. We shall farther communicate to artists, a curious fact lately pub- lished by M. Busch, a German CHA 77 writer. He informs us, that an uncommonly beautiful brown co- lour, of a reddish shade, for paint- ing, may be easily obtained from the cock-chafer ; this colour is said to be of superior lustre and delica- cy to every other water-paint hi- therto discovered. The colouring matter is found in the throat and stomach of the winged insect, and probably consists of its food, when changed into chyle. After sepa- rating the posterior part of the body, there appears to be a thin, white canal, or duct, which should be carefully opened, the juice ooz- ing out, collected on a fine pain- ter's pencil, and then deposited on a shell. Each chafer affords at least three drops of this juice, which may be employed without any farther preparation ; and is not liable to fade, or spoil, by long keeping. The most proper time for performing this operation, is the evening, and before the chafers begin to swarm ; because they will then be replete with nourishment. CHAFFINCH, or Fringilla Ca- lebs, L. a small beautiful bird, abounding in Britain, and in va- rious parts of Europe : it is chiefly valued for the variety and melody of its song. Chaffinches construct their nests in hedges and trees ; where the fe- males lay four or five dusky white eggs, spotted with deep purple ; and produce three broods within a year....They are hardy birds, and will subsist on various seeds, but prefer chaff, whence they derive their name. These creatures, though seldom attacked with di- sease, are apt to be infested with lice, unless sprinkled with wine, every fortnight or oftner......The Essex finches are generally allow- ed to be the best sort, both for the 78 CH A continuance and diversity of their notes. CHAFF, in husbandry, the husks of the corn separated from the grain, by screening or winnow- ing it. This term is also applied to the rind of corn, which in grind- ing it, produces the coarser part of the meal. By treating corn in a manner si- milar to that practised by the Tar- tars with buck-wheat, it may be easily deprived of its rind, or, in a manner, blanched; and the same effect may be produced by merely steeping it in water, and expressing the starch: but the husky part thus separated, cannot with propriety be called chaff, as it is in reality part of the grain. Nor do we think that cui straw, deserves that appel- lation ; because it is a distinct part, or the stalk of the plant. For this reason, we shall delay the descrip- tion of its properties, as well as the various machines invented for sav- ing the labour of cutting straw by the hand. Chafe-Cutter. See Straw- Cutter. CHAIN, a series of rings, or round pieces of metal linked one into another : it is of various forms and sizes, and applied to different purposes. Notwithstanding the general utility of this article, for almost every branch of extensive manu- factures, we have but lately been furnished with a chain, so con- structed as to become an effectual substitute for ropes, and in every respect as pliable, while it is far more durable. The metal rope, or chain, we allude to, is that in- vented by the ingenious William Hancock, of Birmingham ; for which the Society for the Encou- ragement of Arts, Manufactures, CHA and Commerce, in 1796, liberally granted him a premium of fifty guineas. This chain is particularly useful in the working of coal and other mines, wells, Sec. The common chains, it is well known, cannot be depended upon, and break in the welded parts, when overstrained. Such dangerous accidents cannot easily happen in the metal ropes, being woven together while cold, out of the strongest iron drawn into wire, about 3-eighths of an inch in diameter; and so tempered, that it is almost impossible to find in them a link of inferior quality. Han- cock's chains will run as flexibly on the pulley as an hempen rope of two inches in diameter, manu- factured of the best materials: they have been employed in several large iron works, and with the greatest success. Indeed, they de- serve to be generally adopted ; as thus a considerable saving would arise in the consumption of that valuable article, hemp ; and an im- portant new manufacture might be established, from one of our staple commodities. Viewed in a national light, we cannot but regret that the inventor's situation in life does not enable him to make this article for ready sale : we therefore pre- sume to appeal to the statesman, and the patriot. Chaffweed, the Small. See Bastard Pimpernell. CHAIR, in general, an article of furniture contrived for the pur- pose of relieving the lower extre- mities from the incumbent weight of the body. Chairs have been held in great estimation, in all ages and coun- tries. But, instead of recording the flying chairs of the heathen gods and goddesses, or those great arm- CH A CH A 79 chairs in which, according to an- cient custom, the successful candi- dates, after election, are carried through towns, by certain corpora- tions in England, we shall confine our account to the plain house- chair......This useful contrivance, for which we are occasionally ridi- euled by the more luxurious Ori- entals, consists, generally, of a square basis, supported by four posts, or legs. Although we are no advocates for innovation, and the quadrangular form appears to be the most eligible for strength and steadiness, yet in this instance, we venture to pronounce that it is not the most proper. Square seats are liable to many objections, when considered with respect to their influence on the health of the aged, infirm, and es- pecially persons afflicted with the piles, or troubled with ascarides.... For these, a round, or blunt, trian- gular form of a chair, resembling the shape of a saddle, would be far preferable, and more conducive to the alleviation of their complaints. The reason is obvious, because the thighs and legs, when compressed, occasion an additional irritation, on a part which is already in a preter- natural state of excitement, or, per- haps, subject to chronic inflamma- tion, as is frequently the case in the hemorrhoids. Nor do we ad- vise those patients to accustom themselves to rest upon very soft cushions, or pillows, except such as are tightly stuffed with horse- hair, dry mosses, or chaff. Hence we are of opinion, that the studious and all those who are engaged in sedentary employments, if they re- gard their health and convenience, should employ either round, wood- en chairs, slightly concave, ov such as we have before ventured to sug- gest. A patent we understand, has lately been granted to Mr. But- ler, of Catherine-street, Strand, for his invention of a c/iair-bed, of peculiar construction : but, as we have not been favoured with its specification, we cannot communi- cate farther particulars. Sedan-Chairs are vehicles, supported by poles, for carrying single persons at a short distances in town ; and borne by two men. Their number in the metropolis, allowed by act of parliament, is four hundred; and the fare to which the chairmen are legally entitled, ought not to exceed two-thirds of the rate fixed for a hackney-coach, driven to the same distance. CHALDRON, is a dry English measure, generally used for sea- coal, and consisting of 36 bushels, filled up according to the sealed bushel kept at Guildhall, London. On ship-board, 21 chaldrons are al- lowed to the score ; each of which should weigh 2000 pounds : hence a bushel of coals ought to weigh from 56 to 621b.....See Bushel. CHALK, Creta, is a white earth, abounding in Britain, France, Nor- way, and other parts of Europe, which is said to have been anciently dug chiefly in the island of Crete, whence it has received its name. This substance is found most plentifully in the county of Kent, in England, on the sides of hills, which the workmen undermine to a certain depth : they then dig a trench at the top, as far distant from the edge as the mining ex- tends at the bottom : then fill the trench with water, which soaks through during the night, wi en the whole mass falls down. In 80 C H A C H A other parts of the kingdom, it ge- nerally lies much deeper in the ground. Chalk is of two kinds : hard, dry and firm, or soft and unctuous..... The former sort is the best calcu- lated for burning into lime ; but the latter fur ishes the best manure for lands. Both these species, how- evei, are an excellent manure for sandy sods, as they fill up the in- terstices, or pores, and give the land a degree of consistence, which adapts it for the purposes of vege- tation, and totally exterminates that pernicious weed, the corn ma- rygold, or yellow ox-eye, Chrysan- themum segetum, L. which abounds particularly in sandy soils. It has a very different effect pn clayey ground ; for, so far from rendering it more compact (which is too much so already), it insinuates itself into the small pores ; and by raising a fermentation, exposes the clay more to the operations of the frost, rain,sun,and air ; by which means its too coherent particles are loos- ened, and it is reduced to a state of pulverization. It is, however, a circumstance worthy of remark, that, although the Kentish chalk agrees extreme- ly well with other clayey soils, yet, when laid on those lands in Kent, situated near the pits, it by no means answers the expectations of the farmer. This is probably owing to the Kentish clays partaking in some degree of the nature of chalk, which, therefore, has not so good an effect in Kent, as in other parts of England ; the quality of the ma- nure being nearly congenial with the soil. It also deserves to be no- ticed, that chalk, however excellent it may be in itself, when mixed with dung or any other manure, is so far from ameliorating the soil, that crops to be raised from it, receive no benefit whatever, and it totally loses its invigorating qualities. Chalk easily imbibes water: hence masses of it are employed fordryingprecipitates,lakes,earthy powders that have been levigated with water, and other moist prepa- rations. Its domestic uses for clean- ing and polishing metallic or glass utensils, are well known ; for which purposes it is pounded, and by washing it, cleared from whatever gritty particles it may contain, and then called whiting. It is also of considerable service on ship-board, when mixed in the proportion of half an ounce to a gallon of distil- led sea-water, which may be thus sweetened, and kept perfectly fresh. In medicine, chalk is reputed to be one of the most useful absorb- ents, and in this light only,deserves notice ; as the astringent virtues which some have attributed to it, are utterly unfounded, unless in so far as the earth is saturated with acid, in which combination it forms a saline concrete, that is manifestly astringent. Several years since, a person at Edinburgh pretended to have discovered a specific for curing every kind of those erythe- matous or inflammatory eruptions, which often attend the chronic ery- sipelas, or the rose, on the legs, merely by applying powdered chalk to the pai ts affected : and though we have had no experience of this remedy, it does not appear to us, as proper and safe as hot flour, the good effects of which, on such oc- casions, we have frequently wit- nessed. Chalk Lands are thus denomi- nated, from their consisting prin- cipally of chalk, with a thin layer of mould, or soil over it. They are well calculated for the growth of CH A barley and wheat, and especially of oats, which will thrive well on any kind of chalky land, however, indif- ferent. It naturally produces a small species of vetch, called the smooth podded tare, or tine (.are, Ervum tetrasperum, L. together with poppies, May-weed, Sec. Sain- foin, and hop-clover, will also suc- ceed on these lands ; and where they are of the better sort, the hares- foot trefoil, Trifolium arvense, L. will thrive. The best manure for this species of soil are, dung, old rags, and the dung left after folding sheep; a practice which is particu- larly useful here, and which, we hope, will become more general. CHALYBEATE, in medicine, is an appellation given to any liquid, as wine or water, impregnated with particles of iron or steel. Chalybeate medicines operate, like other preparations of iron, both as aperients and as astringents, the only difference being in degree..... They are likewise supposed to dif- fer according to the nature of the acid united with the metal: thus, vegetable acids impart to them a detergent and aperient virtue...... when combined with the vitriolic acid, they operate on the first pas- sages as powerful aperients; the nitrous acid renders them very styptic, and the muriatic produces the same effect, in the highest de- gree. The use of chalybeates has, oc- casionally, been attended with great success, when united with cathar- tics, especially in cases of chlorosis, pains of the stomach, and palpita- tions of the heart; but we think it our duty to caution the reader against resorting indiscriminately to remedies which are extremely precarious for plethoric, or very irritable constitutions, and some- VOL. II. CHA 81 times productive of dangerous ef- fects. Hence females, in particular, ought never to take them, without proper advice. CHAMBER, in building, a part of a lodging, or a partition of an apartment, usually intended for the accommodation of beds. We have already given a few directions for correcting a vitiated atmosphere, particularly that of bed-chambers, (see Air, and Bed-room) ; so that we may conclude this article with a short account of a curious mode of cooling the air in rooms, frequent- ly practised by the Germans. In the hot days of summer, es- pecially in houses exposed to the meridian sun, a capacious vessel filled with cold water is placed in the middle of a room ; and a few green branches (or as many as it will hold), of a vigorous lime, birch, or willow-tree, are plunged with their lower ends into the fluid. By this easy expedient, the apartment will, in a short time, be rendered much cooler; as the evaporation of water produces this desirable effect, in sultry weather, without any de- triment to health. Besides, there can be no doubt, that the exhala- tion of green plants, under the in- fluence of the solar rays, greatly tends to purify the air; and conse- quently deserves every attention of persons liable to pulmonary, or other complaints, in which the or- gans of respiration are affected. CHAMOMILE, Anthemis, L. a genus of plants comprising 21 species: of these, five only are in- digenous in England; the principal of which are the three following: 1. The nobilis, or common cha- momile, also called sweet scented or Roman chamomile, growing in sunny meadows and pastures, most plentifully in Cornwall, and also in M 82 CH A CH A other parts of England. Its creep- ing stalks shoot forth branches, and these again strike root: the leaves and flowers have a strong, though not ungrateful, aromatic smell, and a bitter,nauseous taste. They afford an essential oil. An infusion of the flowers taken luke warm, is anti- spasmodic ; and cold, a stomachic. In large quantities the former is apt to excite vomiting. Dr. Wi- thering asserts that the powder- ed flowers have cured agues, even when bark had failed, but ought to be taken in considerable doses; we suppose from one to two drams every other hour, to be repeated six or eight times during the re- mission of the paroxysm. Both the leaves and flowers of the chamo- mile possess remarkable antisep- tic properties, and are therefore used in fomentations, and poultices. From their antispasmodic powers, they are frequently found to relieve pain, especially in complaints of the kidneys, and in childbed. 2. The Cotula, fetid chamomile, May-weed, or Mathen; which grows in corn-fields, on road sides, and borders of dung-hills : it is a troublesome weed in tilled lands, very ungrateful and disagreeable to bees, and not relished by either horses, cows, sheep, goats, or swine ; but toads are said to be fond of it. By its uncommon acrimony, it frequently blisters the skin of reapers. Notwithstanding its very pungent taste, it has often been used with advantage in dis- eases peculiar to females....BECH- STE1N. In dyeing, a decoction of the whole plant, when in flower, im- parted a pennanent citron colour to wool prepared in a solution of bis- muth... .Dambournevi 3. The tinctoria, or ox-eye cha- momile, grows on high sunny pas- tures, but is rarely to be met with in Britain. Mr. Dickson found it in Essex. Formerly, it was disco- vered by Ray, on a bank near the river Tees, not far from Sugburn, Durham. This plant has doubly winged,serrated leaves, cottony un- derneath, and its stem supports a corymbus, or flowers progressively standing each on a proper fruit stalk; attains the height of about eighteen inches ; spreads out its branches, and bearsyellowblossoms in July and August. It is eaten by horses and goats; but not fondly by sheep, and refused by cows and swine. The flowers of the yellow ox-eye afford a remarkably clear and good yellow dye....Withering. If the root of nettles and a little alum be boiled together with this plant, a most beautiful yellow may be given to wool......Linnaeus. None of these colours, however, is perma- nent. ...Dambourne v. Chamomile, the Wild. See Common Feverfew. CHAPS, are flaws or cracks which appear on the skin, and are induced by various circumstan- ces. Chaps in the face generally pro- ceed from the action of external cold; which, by impeding the per- spiration of this part, or contracting the fibres unequally, causes them to be drawn asunder; so that a fis- sure succeeds, which produces very uneasy sensations; and is often at- tended with acute pain. In order to prevent or remove such chaps, the face ought never to be suddenly exposed to the cold air,after leaving the fire-side, or a warm room: nor should such part be washed with common soap. Previously to re- tiring to bed, it may be anointed CH A CH A 83 with unscented pomatum, which should not be removed till the fol- lowing morning; or honey-water may be preferably applied, and suf- fered to dry; care being taken to cleanse the part from dust and other impurities. Chaps in the lips, frequently arise from the same cause as those of the face; though the former sometimes occur in scrophulous habits, or are occasioned by acrid humours sett- ling on the part affected ; in con- sequence of which the lips are apt to swell on each side of the wound- ed spot. When the complaint is attributed to cold, the treatment above stated will generally effect a cure: in scrophulous cases, a course of medicine, adapted to the nature of that disease, can alone remove the external affection. But, where acrid humours are the immediate cause, it will be proper to procure medical advice.......The following- salve may, in the opinion of Dr. Shaw, be advantageously applied to the lips, in either of the cases above specified : Let 2 scruples of the bark of alkanet, and 1 \ oz. of oil of sweet almonds, be simmered together over a gentle fire; then strain the liquor; add 3 drams of white wax, 1 dram of spermaceti, and 1 scruple of the expressed oil of mace ; when the whole should be formed into an ointment. Lastly, if chaps on the hands, ori- ginate from scrophula, the treat- ment suggested for similar affec- tions of the lips may be advanta- geously adopted ; but, where they are occasioned either by cold, the use of hard water, or of soap con- taining quick-lime, the hands may be anointed with the fat of geese. Should, however, such fissures ex- tend to a considerable depvh, and be very difficult to heal, it will be pro- per to apply digestive ointment, and to treat them as simple wounds. CHARCOAL, or Carbon of the French chemists, a sort of artificial coal, or fuel, consisting of half- burnt wood. It is chiefly used, where a clear and strong fire with- out smoke is required; for the hu- midity of the wood is dissipated by the fire in which it was prepared. The art of making charcoal is very ancient; for even Solomon (Proverbs xxvi. 21), distinguishes that kind of fuel from common fire- wood. Among the Romans, it was held in great estimation, and /Emi- lius Scaurus, the conqueror of the Ligurians, was a charcoal-mer- chant. Pliny describes the piles of wood erected by the manufacturers of this article, and observes that the blocks ought to be placed in a pyramidal form, coated with clay, and a hole left on the top for con- ducting the smoke, when the wood is set on fire. Thus, it would be unnecessary to describe the process, for those who employ themselves in the prepartion of this article. Properties. A surprizing num- ber of pores have, by the micros- cope, been discovered in charcoal. Dr. Hoek counted, in the 18th part of an inch, 150, so that in a piece of an inch in diameter, there will be upwards of five millions. To this circumstance must be ascribed the blackness of charcoal, as the rays of light striking on it, are re- ceived and absorbed by its pores, instead of being reflected ; conse- quently, the body of coal appears black......a colour arising from the want of reflection. Charcoal may be preserved to an indefinite length of time, and in the ancient tombs of northern nation.;-., entire pieces are frequently disco- vered. It is, therefore, deserving 84 CHA CH A the attention of those, who wish to preserve valuable records from the " destructive tooth of time ;" for there yet exists, according to Do- dart, charcoal made of corn (pro- bably in the days of Cesar), which is in so complete a state, that' the wheat may be distinguished from the rye. This substance is not soluble in any of the acids, but may be dis- solved in considerable quantities, by plunging it in a solution of the liver of sulphur, to which it im- parts a green colour. Melted with colourless frits, or glasses, it gives a pale, dark yellow, reddish, brown- ish, or blackish colour, accordingly as the inflammable matter is in greater or less proportion. Fresh charcoal made of wood strongly at- tracts the air, and will absorb it for a considerable time ; but Dr. Priestley uniformly observed, that, after submitting it to distilla- tion, the expelled air was less pure than that of the atmosphere, and part of it was fixed air. Hence it may occasionally be employed in a dry and powdered state, for damp and foul habitations. Lastly, Dr. Priestley has discovered that several of the metals, such as cop- per, iron, silver, Sec. may be con- verted into charcoal, by passing the steam of either spirit of wine or turpentine, over them when red hot; and this, by ^vay of distinction, he calls the charcoal of metals. As charcoal has been separated from the purest spirit of wine in the pro- cess of making aether, M. Lavoi- sier is of opinion, that it is one of the constituent parts, or elements, of that volatile liquid. Uses. Besides the great advan- tage which charcoal affords to the artist and manufacturer, it has late- ly been employed with consider- able success, 1. In correcting the burnt or empyreumatic taste of ar- dent spirits; 2. In depriving rancid oil of its disagreeable flavour; and 3. In restoring putrid meat. For these useful purposes, however, it is fit only when kept in close vessels immediately after it has been pre- pared, so that it may absorb no aci- dity, or fixed air, from the com- mon atmosphere. When employ- ed in the two first-mentioned cases, it should be previously reduced to powder, a very large quantity of which is required for the rectifica- tion of distilled liquor; but a small- er proportion, for purifying animal or vegetable oil, so that even the common train-oil may be rendered fit for being burnt in chamber- lamps. Several manufactories of this description have lately been established in the vicinity of Lon- don, of which we shall only men- tion that carried on by Mr. Joshua Collier, of Southwark. from the great attraction which charcoal possesses for any kind of oily matter, or for that invisible something, formerly called phlogis- ton, it is excellently adapted to be- come an extensively useful agent in various branches of the arts..... We shall therefore communicate the following abstract of the late discoveries made on this subject, chiefly by Prof. Lowitz, of St. Petersburgh, [in 1786.] This phi- losopher found, that charcoal ren- dered the crystals of tartar very white and pure, when employed in preparing them ; that the marine and nitrous acids are decomposed by being distilled upon it; that the red juices of vegetable fruits are deprived of their colour, without losing part of their acidity ; that brown, rancid oils are rendered sweet and clear, by agitating them CH A for some days with charcoal in powder ; that it changes the smell of putrid vegetables to that of pure volatile alkali, and produces the same effect on fresh meat. By boil- ing coals in powder, with honey, the pure saccharine parts of the latter are said to be separated, and the honey to become a well-tasted sugar. Vinegar concentrated by freezing, and distilled from a large portion of powdered coal, is ex- tremely strong, pure, and fragrant. Corn-spirit, merely shaken with coal, loses its bad flavour ; and, if honey be added, it becomes a sweet and pleasant liquor. Even the tainted flavour of ardent spirits, when impregnated with any vege- table oils, may in a similar man- ner be destroyed ; and, if the spi- rit be distilled, the residuum is said not to be brown ; so that no incon- venience will arise from carrying ,the distillation too far. These ef- fects were produced by every kind of coal, whether fossil or charred vegetable substances ; though the latter appear to us, in many re- spects, preferable to coke. [Charcoal is of the greatest uti- lity in purifying water on ship- board. The most offensive water niay be rendei-ed perfectly sweet by merely filtering it through sponge, maple, hickory, or oak charcoal, and sand. A simple apparatus for performing this operation, shall be described under the article Fil- ter. Casks charred on the inside will preserve water a long time sweet ; but it would seem to be a preferable mode(where practicable) to permit the water to undergo the usual fermentation, and then draw it off into the charred casks. See also Fence, Cucumber, Melon.] There are considerable differ- ences in the coals of various vegc- CH A 85 tables, with respect to their habi- tude to fire : the very light coals of linen, cotton, some fungi, Sec. quickly catch fire from a spark, and soon consume: the more dense ones of woods, and roots, are set on fire with greater difficulty, and burn more slowly ; the coals of the black berry-bearing alder, of the hazle, willow, lime-tree, and ma- ple, are the most proper for mak- ing gun-powder, and other pyro- technical compositions. For the reduction of metallic calces, those of heavier wood, as oak and beech, are preferable ; because these ap- pear to contain a larger proportion of the inflammable principle, and perhaps in a more fixed state.... Considered as common fuel, those of the heavy woods afford the great- est heat, and require a most abun- dant supply of air, in order to keep them burning; on the contrary, the coals of the light woods retain a glowing heat, till they are consum- ed, without a strong draught of air; the bark usually crackles while burning, which is seldom the case with the coal of the wood itself. Charcoal is likewise of consider- able service to different artists, for polishing brass and copper-plates, after they have been rubbed clean with powdered pumice stone. Horn plates may be polished in a similar manner, and a gloss afterwards given them with tripoli. Coals of different substances are also used as pigments ; hence the bone and ivory-black of the shops. Most paints of this kind are not only in- corruptible, but also possess the advantage of full colour, and work freely in all the forms, where pow- dery pigments are employed ; but they ought to be carefully prepared, by thoroughly burning the sub- stance in a close vessel, and after- 86 CH A CH A wards reducing the coal to a fine powder....In drawing outlines, the artist avails himself of pieces of charcoal, the marks of which may be easily rubbed out. For this pur- pose, the smaller branches of a tree, such as the willow and vine, are usually preferred ; and which, after being freed from the bark and pith, afford the best drawing pen- cils. Dr. Lewis remarks, that the shells and stones of fruit yielded coals so hard, that they would with difficulty mark on paper, while those of the kernels of fruit were very soft and mellow. All these experiments must be conducted in proper vessels, closely covered (the barrels of old guns, or pistols, may occasionally serve as substi- tutes.) The Dr. levigated various coals into fine powder, mixed them with gum-water and oil, and applied them as paints, diluted with differ- ent degrees of white. When laid on thick, they all appeared of a strong, full black ; nor could it be discerned, that one was of a finer colour than another ; but those di- luted with white, or spread thin, had a blueish cast. Horns, and the bones, both of fish and land ani- mals, produced coals more glossy, and of a deeper colour, than vege- tables ; and which in general were so hard, that paper could scarcely be stained with them : but silk, wool, leather, blood, and the fleshy parts of animals, yielded soft coals. Some of these remarkably differed from others, in colour; that of ivory being superior to all, and doubtless the finest of black produced by fire. In agriculture, charcoal has, in many parts of France and the Ne- therlands, been substituted for turf- ashes, as a manure. [The utility of charcoal (oxyd of carbon) as a manure has often been mentioned by practical wri- ters, but was not much regarded until Mr. Kirwan called the at- tention of chemists to the subject. Mr. Deane says, that he had ob- served the great fertility of lands near to where coal kilns were burnt, and quotes the Complete Farmer for a confirmation of the facts.... Carbon is now known to be one of the most universal materials of na- ture. The whole atmosphere con- tains always a quantity of it in the form of carbonic acid. It also ex- ists in lime-stone in the same form, and in the black earth left by the decomposition of vegetable and animal bodies. Morasses too, con- sist principally of the carbonic re- crements of vegetable matter. By what means this solid sub- stance is rendered fluid, so as to be capable of entering the fine mouths of vegetable absorbents, is not yet decided by chemists. The present opinions on the subject, will be no- ticed under the article Manured. It is, however, sufficient for the practical man to be assured of the fact, that he will derive much be- nefit from strewing charcoal on his land. Charcoal prepared from maple wood, and finely powdered, makes a simple, efficacious, and safe tooth- powder, and ought to be preferred to any other. The way to prepare charcoal in the nicest manner, is to cut the wood in small billets, and distil them in an iron cylinder, having a tube fixed to one end, to permit the free exit of the smoke and water, which are retained in the common process of charring wood, and tend to render the pro- duct impure, and of a disagreeable taste. When no more smoke or water escape from the tube, put out the fire, and close the mouth CH A CH A 87 "with clay until the cylinder coals, or the pieces of wood may be put in a pot not closely covered, and sur- rounded with live coals, until all smoke from the pot shall cease.... Then remove the coals, and close- ly lute the cover with clay until the potcools; then powder the charcoal. Meat which has been kept too long in summer, may be deprived of its bad smell, by putting it in water, and throwing into the pot, when beginning to boil, a shovel full of live coals, destitute of smoke; after a few minutes have elapsed, the water must be changed, when the operation, if necessary, may be repeated. It is probable that meat surround- ed by fresh charcoal would keep for months. Mr. Mushet of the Carron Iron works, observes, that charcoal is preferable to coke for the manu- factory of iron, owing to the supe- rior quantity of unalloyed carbon it affords to the iron. A determi- nate quantity of charcoal by mea- sure, will smelt and convey princi- ple to three times the quantity of iron, that can be done by the same measure of pit coal. In the refinery way, it is peculiarly preferable. An engineer of considerable me- rit states, that in this respect it is superior to coke in the proper^ tion of 7 to 12. Charcoal is one of the greatest non-conductors of heat. This qua- lity renders it applicable to a vari- ety of economical purposes. See Fire-Places, Kitchen, Lamij.] Besides these various purposes to which charcoal is daily applied, it also promises to be of consider- able service in medicine ; on ac- count of its absorbent and antisep- tic properties. (See Breath.) From a late account given by Dr. Metzler, an eminent physician in Germany, we learn the following extraordinary fact: The corpse of a person that had been murdered twelve days, was brought before a coroner's inquest; and, contrary to the expectation of the court, there was not the least mark of putrefac- tion, nor any offensive smell per- ceptible. On opening the intes- tines of the abdomen, they were found in an unusually dry state. The cause of this phenomenon was soon discovered ; for it appeared in the course of examination, that the body had been kept for the whole time buried in dry coals, coarsely pounded, at least twelve inches deep. It was still more re- markable, " that the cartilaginous parts, especially thoseof the breast, had acquired a degree of softness, resembling that of butter." We submit the application of this sin- gular property to the discernment of our readers. With regard to the treatment of persons suffocated by the deleteri- ous vapour of charcoal, we shall in this place only observe, that a body in that unfortunate situation, ought to be without delay exposed to the strongest draught of cold air ; all the garments loosened; volatile spirits held to the nostrils; the body rubbed either with vinegar, or with a diluted spirit of sal ammoniac ; the face should be turned towards the ground, and the head, breast, back, Sec. either washed with, or the whole body suddenly plunged into cold water; then dried, and again washed with vinegar; stimu- lating clysters repeatedly adminis- tered, and venesection performed at the jugular vein, or, for want of medical assistance, a number of 88 CH A leeches applied to the neck and temples. Of the particular circum- stances connected with this treat- ment, we propose to give a more detailed account, under the head of Suffocation. CHARITY is one of the cardi- nal virtues of mankind, displayed chiefly in the spontaneous habit and disposition, of supplying the wants of others, whether with mo- ney, counsel, assistance, Sec. Pe- cuniary relief, being generally re- garded as the most efficacious, it merits some attention, at a time when we are most inclined to ex- cuse ourselves from affording it to the needy. Hence, we propose to impart a few miscellaneous hints, supplementary to those we have already given, under the articles Alms, and Beggars. We cannot but reprehend the selfish principle of such modern philanthropists as. practise, syste- matically, the trite, but prevailing, adage, that " charity begins at home." For, though in the dis- pensation of alms, we may find it, perhaps, altogether impossible to avoid giving charity to some unde- serving persons, yet it is a duty in- cumbent upon every good man, to bestow it at all times, without deep- ly entering into the merits of the question, and carefully to shun eve- ry species of ostentation. It may, indeed, be objected, that the pres- sure of the times is such as to pre- clude, in many well-disposed indi- viduals, the ability of contributing their mite towards the relief of dis- tressed objects ; having, perhaps, large families to maintain, as well as heavy taxes and poor-rates to defray ; yet, we venture to reply, that prudence and frugality will al- ways enable them to adjust their domestic economy ; so that, after C H A satisfying every natural and legal demand, they may have a small overplus to spare, for the assist- ance of those who are destitute of human aid. There are many other objections to the indiscriminate giving of cha- rity, which our limits will not per- mit us to discuss : and though it may appear a bold assertion, yet we pledge ourselves for the truth of it; namely, that it is chiefly pride and indolence, or some other equally disgraceful motive, which keeps the one half of the world in a sate of ignorance, with respect to the wants, distresses, and suffer- ings of the other. CHARLOCK,Wild-Mustakd, Chadlock, or Corn-Cale, the Sinapis arvensis, L. an indigenous British plant, which grows in corn and turnip fields. It is a very nox- ious weed, especially among tur- nips, to which it bears so great a resemblance, that it is said, instan- ces have occurred, of hoers taking up a whole crop of turnips," and leaving the charlock. To obviate this evil, it has been recommended to turn a flock of sheep into a field abounding with this weed; for, dur- ing the early period of its growth, they will prefer it to the crop..... Some lands are exceedingly liable to be overrun with the charlock, particularly when they have been manured with cow-dung alone, as that is very favourable to its growth. Experienced farmers, in general, are so well convinced of this effect, that they always mix horse- dung with that of cows, for manur- ing arable land. When bailey is in- fested with charlock, to such a de- gree as to endanger the crop, that weed has been mowed down with success in the month of May, while in flower ; but care should be taken CHE CHE 89 to cut of, at the same time, the tops of the barley leaves. Thus, the latter will shoot up above the weed, and it is a remarkable fact, that four quarters of grain have been obtained from such land as, with- out this expedient, would have been almost unproductive. The mo?', effectual method of extirpating the charlock is, to sow arable land with grass seeds, and thus convert it into pasture ; be- cause the former never grows where a coat of grass covers the ground. . When this plant arrives at ma- turity, it produces yellow flowers, and turgid, angular pods, contain- ing seed, which is commonly sold under the name of Durham mus- tard seed. In Ireland, and the northern parts of Europe, this plant is boil- ed, and eaten in the same manner as cabbage. It is also relished by cows, goats, and swine ; sheep are extremely fond of it ; but it is ge- nerally refused by horses. Bees de- rive much nourishment from its flowers. Instead of being spuriously vend- ed for Durham mustard, the seeds of this plant might be rendered more profitable, by expressing the excellent oil with which they abound. This has been attempted with success, in Germany ; for we are informed by B^chstein, that he obtained thirty pounds of pure lamp-oil, from one hundred pounds weight of the seed. Charlock, the Jointed, or White flower^!. See Wild Radish. [CHELIDONIUM, Celandine, or Homed Poppy. There are two species of this genus, indigenous in the U.S. 1. C. majus, greater, or common Celandine. The juice of the plant h extremely acrid. It is VOL. n. a common remedy for warts, and it is said will cure the itch, tetters, and ring-worms. From the Saf- fron coloured juice of the greater Celandine, no permanent colour could be obtained ; but Rossig, a reputable German author,says,that the whole plant produced by fer- mentation, a good blue colour, si- milar to that obtained from woadov the Isatis tinctoria, L. a fact well deserving the attention of dyers. 2.C. Glalcium, Sea Celandine, yellow horned poppy. This plant is very ornamental to sandy shores, but poisonous.] CHEESE, a species of solid food, prepared from curdled milk cleared of the whey, and after- wards dried for use. As this arti- cle constitutes a material part of domestic consumption, we find in almost every country, one or more places celebrated for the superior quality of their cheese. Hence, we propose to enumerate the prin- cipal sorts of this manufacture,both at home and abroad : introducing also an account of the mode in which they are prepared. I. Stilton Cheese is produc- ed in the town of that name, in the county of Huntingdon ; and from its peculiar richness, and flavour, is sometimes called English Parme- san. The process of making it is as follows : the night's cream is put to the morning's milk, with the rennet; when the curd is come, it is not broken, as is usually done with other cheese, but taken out whole, and put into a sieve, in or- der to drain gradually. While draining, it is pressed till it be- comes firm and dry ; when it is placed in a wooden hoop, or boy, made to fit it, as it is so extremely rich, that without this precaution, it would be apt to separate. It is N 90 CHE afterwards kept on dry boards, and turned daily, with cloth binders round it, which are tightened as oc- casion requires. After being taken out of the hoop, the cheese is closely bound with cloths, which are changed every day, till it ac- quires sufficient firmness to sup- port itself: when these cloths are removed, -each cheese is rubbed over daily, for two or three months, with a brush : and, if the weather be damp, or moist, twice a-day : the tops and bottoms are treated in a similar manner every day, even before the cloths are taken off. Stilton cheese is sometimes made in nets, resembling cabbage nets; but these are neither so good, nor so richly flavoured, as those pre- pared in the manner before de- scribed. Although the Stilton farmers are in much repute for their cleanli- ness, they take but little pains with the rennet; as they, in general, cut small pieces from the veil or maw, that are put into the milk; and, being gently agitated with the hand, break, or turn it, so that the curd is easily obtained. We ven- ture, however, to say, that their valuable cheese might be improved, and few broken ones occur, if they would prepare the rennet in the manner adopted in the west of En- gland , namely, by keeping the veil, maw, or rennet-bag (as it is differently called), perfectly sweet and fresh ; for, if it be in the least decree tainted, the cheese will never acquire a fine flavour. When the veil, or maw, is fit for the pur- pose, a strong solution of salt should be made, with two quarts of soft, sweet water, into which are to be introduced sweet briar, rose leaves, and flowers, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and, in short, almost every CHE kind of spice and aromatics, that cun be procured. The whole must boil gently,till the liquor is reduced to three pints, and rare should be taken that it be not smoked. The spices should next be strained clean, and the liquid, when milk warm, poured upon the veil, or maw. A lemon may then be sliced into it, and the whole stand at rest for a day or two ; after which it should be again strained and bottled.... Thus, if well corked, it w',11 keep good for twelve months u. on^er, possess a fine aromatic odour, and impart an agreeable flavour to the cheese. II. Cheshire Cheese is pre- pared in the following way : The evening's milk is not touched till the next morning, when the cream. is taken off, and put to warm in a brass pan, heated with boiling wa- ter : one-third part of that milk is heated in a similar manner. The cows being milked early in the morning, the new milk, and that of the preceding night, thus prepar- ed, are poured into a large tub, together with the cream. A piece of rennet, kept in hike-warm water since the preceding evening, is put into the tub, in order to coagulate the milk ; with which, if the cheese is intended to be coloured, a small quantity of arnotto[pv of an infusion of marigolds, or carrots), is rubbed fine and mixed; the whole is stirred together, and, being covered up warm, allowed to stand about half an hour, or till it is coagulated ; when it is first turned over with a bov. 1, to separate the whey from the curds, and broken soon after into very small particles: the whey being separated, by standing some time, is taken from the curd,which sinks to the bottom,and is then col- lected into a part of the tub, pro- CHE vided with a slip, or loose board, to cross the diameter of the boitom, for the sole purpose of effecting this separation : on which a board is placed, weighing from 60 to 120 pounds, in order to press out the whey. As soon as it acquires a greater degree of solidity, it is cut into slices, and turned over several times, to extract all the whey, and again pressed with weights : these operations may consume about an hour and a half. It is then taken from the tub, and broken very small by the hand, salted and put into a cheese vat, the depth of which is enlarged by a tin hoop fitted to the top. The side is then strongly pressed, both by hand, and with a board at the top, well weight- ed; and wooden skewers are placed round the cheese, at the centre, which are frequently drawn out. It is then shifted out of the vat, a cloth being previously put on the top of it, and reversed on the cloth into another vat, or again into the same, if well scalded, before the cheese be returned to it. The top or upper part, is next broken by the hand, down to the middle, salted, pressed, weighted, and skewered, as before, till all the whey is extracted. This being done, the cheese is again reversed into another vat, likewise warmed, with a cloth under it, and a tin hoop, or binder, put round the up- per edge of the cheese, and within the sides of the vat; the former be- ing previously inclosed in a cloth, and its edges put within the vessel. These various operations are pei- formed from about seven o'clock in the morning till one at noon. The pressing of the cheese requires about eight hours more, as it must be twice turned in the vat, round which thin wire skewers are pass- CHE 91 ed, and shifted occasionally. The next morning it ought to be turn- ed, and pressed again, as likewise at night, and on the succeeding day ; about the middle of which it is removed to the salting room, where the outside is salted, and a cloth binder tied round it. After this process, the cheese is turned twice daily, for six or seven days; then left two or three days to dry, during which time, it is once turned, and cleaned every day ; and at length deposited in the com- mon cheess-room, on a boarded floor, covered with straw, where it is turned daily, till it acquires suf- ficient hardness. The room should be of a moderate warmth, but no wind, or draught of air, must be permitted to enter, as this generally cracks the cheese. The outsides, or rinds of them, are sometimes rubbed with butter, or oil, in order to give them a coat. III. Gloucester Cheese is made of milk immediately from the cow ; but which, in summer, is thought too hot, and is, there- fore lowered to the requisite de- gree of heat, before the rennet is added, by pouring in. skim-milk, or, if that will not answer, by the addition of water. As soon as the curd " is come," it is broken with a double cheese-knife, and also with the hand, in order to clear it from the whey, which is laded off. The curd, being thus freed from the principal part of the whey, is put into vats, which are set in the press for ten or fifteen minutes, in order to extract all the remaining liquid. It is then turned out of the vats into the cheese tubs ; again.broV.cn small, and scalded with a pailful of water lowered with whey, about three parts of water to one of whey; and the whole is briskly agitated, 92 CHE the curd and water being equally mixed together. After having stood a few minutes, to let the curd subside, the liquor is poured off'; and the former collected into a vat, the surface of which is, when about half full, sprinkled, with a little salt, that is worked in among the curd. The vat is then filled up, and the whole mass turned two or three times in it, the edges being pared, and the middle rounded up at each turning. At length the curd is put into a cloth, and placed in the press, whence it is carried to the shelves, and turned, generally, once a day, till it has acquired a sufficient degree of compactness, to enable it to undergo the opera- tion of washing. IV. Wiltshire Cheese. The milk which produces this cheese is run, as it comes from the cow, or as it happens to be lowered, by the small quantity of skim-milk mixed with it. The curd is first broken with the hand and dish, care being taken, in first crushing the curd, to let the whey run off gradually, to prevent its carrying away with it the "fat" of the cowl. For thin cheese, the curd is not broken so fine as in Gloucester- shire ; for thick cheese, it is crush- ed still finer ; and, for what is call- ed loaves; it is, in a manner, redu- ced to atoms. The whey is poured off as it rises, and the curd pressed down. The mass of curd is then pared down, three or four times over, in slices about an inch thick, in order to extract all the whey from it, pressed, and scalded in a similar manner to the Gloucester cheese. After separating the whey, the curd is, in some dairies, re-broken, and salted in the cowl; while, in others, it is taken warm out of the liquor, and salted in the CHE vat: thin cheese being placed, with a small handful of salt, in one layer; thick ones with two small handfuls, in two layers ; loaves, with two handfuls, in three or four layers ; the salt being spread, and rubbed uniformly among the curd. Wiltshire cheese is commonly salt- ed twice in the press, where it re- mains, in proportion to its thick- ness ; thin cheese three or four meals; thick ones, four or five ; and loaves, five or six. [Wiltshire cheese is esteemed among the best kinds that are made in England.] V. Cottenham Cheese. The superiority of this cheese, both in delicacy and flavour, is not ascrib- ed to any particular management of the dairies, but solely to the fra- grant nature of the herbage on the commons. VI. Suffolk, or Skim-Cheese. The curd used in making this cheese, is " broken up," in the whey, which is poured off, as soon as the former has subsided ; the remainder, with the curd, being thrown into a coarse strainer, and exposed for cooling, is then press- ed as tightly as possible ; after which, it is put into a vat, and set in a press, for a few minutes, to dis- charge the remaining whey. When all the liquid part is drained off, the curd is taken out, again broken as finely as possible, salted, and re- turned to the press...in some large dairies, mills are employed for breaking the curd.....This kind of cheese is much used at sea, as be- ing less liable to be affected by the heat of warm climates, than the others. [Dr. Anderson remarks, that these cheeses are remarkable for " a homy hardness and indigestible quality.'*] CHE CHE 93 VII. Chedder Cheese is held in high estimation ; but its good- ness is attributed chiefly to the land on which the cows feed, as the method of making it is simi- lar to that pursued throughout Somersetshire, and the adjoining counties. VIII. Lincolnshire Cheese. By adding the cream of one meal's milk, to that which comes imme- diately from the cow, excellent cream cheese is made in that county. It is gently pressed two or three times, and turned for a few days, previous to its being sent to market. This cheese is usually eaten while new, with salad, radishes, Sec. Bath Cheese....Take 6 quarts of luke-warm new milk, to which should be added two quarts of spring water, and one large table-spoonful of rennet: when the coagulation is completed, which generally takes place in half an hour, the curd must be broken to pieces ; then suffered ^o settle ; and, after straining the whey, it should be put into square vats. In the course of an hour, it will be requisite to turn the curd; which operation must be repeated after some hours, or at night; and continued twice every day, till the cheese be fit for the table. Hafod CHEtsE....Let 30 gal- lons of new milk, and 3 gallons of sweet cream, be mixed with the juice expressed from one peck of picked marigold flowers. An ale- glassful (perhaps i of a pint) of sack or canary wine is then to be mixed ; and a sufficient quantity of rennet contained in a bag, toge- ther with cloves and mace, should be added, in order to coagulate the milk. When the curd is formed, it must be broken very small; and, after carefully expressing the whey it ought to be put into a cheese vat, covered with a wet cloth, and press- ed by the hands. A pound of newly made butter is then to be incorpo- rated with such a quantity of salt as may be required to season the cheese; and, after combining these ingredients with the curd, the whole must again be put into the vat, and treated in the manner above described. Now, the cheese must be submitted to the action.of the press; the wet cloths be chang- ed for dry ones, every four hours ; and, after having been thus squeez- ed for 24 hours, it should be placed beneath a smaller weight, and pres- sed for one week; during which it ought to be turned ever day: at the expiration of that period, it must be removed to a dry place, and shifted every other clay, till it be ready for use. Hafod Toasting Cheese, is prepa- red by warming new milk above the natural temperature; after which the rennet is added. As scon as the curd is come, it must be completely drained of the whey, and afterwards scalded with this liquor. The curd is now to be pressed in the cheese-mould, in or- der to render it as dry as its nature will admit ; when it is broken into small pieces by the hand, and sea- soned with a proper quantity of salt. Now it is again submitted to the press, and treated in the usual manner.....This process, though more simple than that pursued in Gloucestershire, produces a toast- ing cheese, little inferior to that prepared in the latter county. Having thus given an account of the principal sorts of cheese pro- duced in this country, we shall like- wise enumerate some of the most celebrated kinds prepared on the continent. 94 CHE CHE 1. The Parmesan Cheese is made of the evening's milk, after having been skimmed in the morn- ing, and at noon, and mixed with that of the morning, which has likewise been previously skimmed at noon. The whole is poured in- to a copper cauldron, resembling an inverted bell, and suspended on the arm of a lever, so as to be moved off and on the fire, at plea- sure. In this, the milk is gradu- ally heated to the temperature of about 120 degrees, when it is re- moved from the fire. As soon as it has subsided, the rennet, in a small bag, is steeped in it; and, being occasionally squeezed, a suf- ficient quantity of it soon passes into the milk, which is then well stirred, and left to coagulate. In the course of an hour, the coagu- lation is completed, when the milk is again put over the fire, and raised to a temperature of about 145 de- grees: and, while it is heating, the whole mass is briskly agitated, till the curd separates in small lumps. Part of the whey is then taken out, and a little saffron added to the remainder, in order to colour it. When the curd is thus broken suf- ficiently small, nearly the whole of the whey is taken out, and two pailfuls of water pouredin,by which the temperature is lowered, so as to enable the dairy-man to collect the former, by passing a cloth be- neath it, and gathering it up at the corners. The curd is then press- ed into a frame of wood, resembling a peck-measure without a bottom, placed on a solid table, and covered by a round piece of wood, with a great stone at the top. In the course of the night, it cools, assumes a firm consistence, and the whey drains off. The next day, one side is salted, and on the succeeding day the cheese is turned, and the Other side rubbed in a similar manner. This operation is continued for about forty days, when the outer crust of the cheese is paired off, the fresh surface is varnished with lin- seed oil, the convex side coloured red, and the cheese is fit for use. [The climate of Pennsylvania is similar to that of Placentia and Milan, where the cheeses called Parmesan are made: and it is high- ly probable, if we fail in making cheeses of equal flavour and excel- lence with the English, that we may rival those of Italy, which have a superior advantage in being found to keep in warm climates, much better than most other cheese.] 2. Green Swiss Cheese ap- pears to possess no other peculiari- ty than that derived from the fra- grant powder of the Common Me- liot, or the Trifolium Melilotus offi- cin. L. [a native plant of the United States,] which, however, imparts to it a strong flavour, rather offen- sive than agreeable to most per- sons : hence it is not calculated to become a favourite article in this country, though considerable quan- tities of Swiss cheese are annually imported for the tables of the lux- urious. 3. Dutch Cheese is likewise prepared in the manner generally adopted in Cheshire, with this dif- ference, that the Dutch, instead of rennet, make use of spirit of salt. Hence their cheese not only ac- quires a sharp saline taste, but is also said to be exempt from the de- predations of mites: its rich but- tery quality must be ascribed to the luxuriant vegetation in the low countries. CHE CHE 95 4. Westphalia Cheese, M. Hochheimer, a German author, asserts, " that it is preferred in England to the Dutch, Swiss, and even Parmesan cheese." Having had no experience of its taste, we can only give an account of the manner in which it is prepared. After the cream is removed from the milk, when in a sub-acid state, the latter is placed near a fire, spontaneously to coagulate. The curd is then put into a coarse bag, and loaded with ponderous stones to express the whey : in this dry state, it is rubbed between the hands, and crumbled into an emp- ty, clean milk-vat, where it is suf- fered to remain from three to eight days accordingly as the cheese is intended to be strong, or mild. This part of the process is called " skinning," or more properly, mel- lowing ; because it undergoes the putrid stage of fermentation, and acquires a coat, or skin, on the top, before it is taken out of the vessel, and kneaded into balls, or cylinders, with the addition of a considerable portion of caraways, salt, and butter ; or, occasionally, a small quantity of pounded pepper, and cloves. But, if it be too far ad- vanced in the mellowing process, a third part of fresh curds, likewise crumbled into small pieces, is su- peradded, to prevent, or correct its putrid tendency. In short, the whole mass requires a powerful hand to form a complete union of parts ; for it is very apt to corrupt, when imperfectly kneaded. As the pieces, when moulded, are of small size, not exceeding three or four ounces each, in weight, they soon dry in the open air, and are then fit for use. It is, however, necessary to turn and clean them, as well as to shift their places every day upon a board, in order to promote their maturity. After being nearly dry, they are sometimes (lor the palate of epicures) suspended in a wood- fire chimney, by means of a net, for several weeks, or months : and both their taste and rlavour, are said to be remarkably improved, whether kept in a dry air, or sub- jected to the action of smoke. 5. Potatoe-Cheese. There are three varieties of this curious article prepared in Germany : we shall, however, describe only that sort which appears to us the most plausible. The best mealy pota- toes are selected, and half-boiled in steam ; as, by bursting, their flavour and efficacy are diminished. When cooled, they are peeled, and finely grated, or beat into a pulp with a wooden pestle. Three parts of this soft mass, and two parts of sweet curd, after expressing all its whey, are kneaded together, and allowed to stand two or three days in warm, and four or five days in cold, weather. The mixture is then formed into small pieces, like those of Westphalia cheese, and dried in a similar manner. But, says M. Hochheimer, if you wish to procure a more deli- cious potatoe-checse, take only one part of potatoes, and three of the curd made of sheep's milk ; let the kneaded mass remain three or four days in a vat, to become mellow ; then put a stratum of it, one inch high, into a small firkin, strew a few lilac flowers, or caraways and mace, over it; spread a little fresh butter, about the size of a walnut, over these aromatics; then form another layer, repeat the same mode of seasoning the cheese, and proceed in a similar manner to the top of the vessel. When this cheese has been kept for some da\ s 96 CHE in a dry, airy place, without being exposed to the sun, it is said to ex- cel in taste the best sort made in Holland ; and to possess the addi- tional advantage, that it improves with age, and generates no vermin. We have had no opportunity of as- certaining the truth of this boasted superiority, and candidly submit the process to the decision of our economical readers. [Dr. Anderson thinks that the goodness of cheese depends more upon the particular process adopt- ed in the management, than upon the materials of which the cheese consists. The taste of the Glouces- ter, and that of a Cheshire cheese is very different from each other, though the quality of the milk of which they are made varies very little. The same thing may be said of Stilton and Parmesan cheeses, though their peculiarities are attributed to soil, or pasture, or other circumstances that seem to throw the blame of want of suc- cess from off our own shoulders. The business of cheese-making has greatly improved within a few- years past in the United Statss.... The state of Connecticut, and the islands near New-Port, Rhode- Island, have deservedly obtained a great character for cheese-making; and an English family near Fle- mington, New-Jersey, has also justly acquired the highest reputa- tion in the business. Indeed they have clearly evinced, even to the most prejudiced, (upon some of whom an experiment has been made,) that age is only required to render their cheese equal in flavour and richness to those of England. And why should they not be equal, if the same care be used in every part of the process ? CHE As no good cheese can be made without good rennet, it may be well to add the following account of the preparation of that substance, to the mode described by Dr. Wil- lich. " Dairy women usually preserve the maw, and the curd contained in it, after salting them ; and then by steeping this bag and curd, make a rennet to turn their milk for making cheese. But a method which seems to be more simple, and is equally good in every res- pect, is, to throw away the curd, and after steeping it in pickle, stretch out the maw upon a slender bow inserted into it, which will soon be very dry, and keep well for a long time. Take an inch or two of the maw thus dried, and steep it over night in a few spoonfuls of warm water ; which water serves full as well as if the curd had been preserved, for turning the milk. It is said that one inch will serve for the milk of five cows. An ingenious writer, who has made strict enquiry into this sub- ject recommends the following method of preparing a rennet, which he has found to be better than any other....." Throw away the natural curd, which is apt to taint, and give the bag a bad smell; then make an artificial curd, or rather butter, of new cream, of sufficient quantity to fill the bag. Add three new laid eggs well beat- en ; one nutmeg grated fine, or any other good spice : Mix them well together, with three tea-cupfuls of fine salt: Fill the rennet bag with this substance : Tie up the mouth : Lay it under a strong brine for three days,turning it over daily. Then hang it up in a cool and dry place for six weeks, and it will be CHE CHE 97 fit for use. When it is used, take with a spoon out of the bag, a suf- ficient quantity of this artificial butryous curd for the cheese you purpose to make : Dissolve it in a 3mall quantity of warm water, and then use it in the same manner, as other rennet is mixed with the milk for its coagulation." Whatever kind of rennet the dairy woman chooses to prepare, she should keep it in mind, that this animal acid is extremely apt to turn rancid and putrify; and take care to apply a sufficient quan- tity of salt to preserve it in its best state. For it is probable that the rank and putrid taste, which is so often in cheeses made in this coun- try, is owing to a putridity in the rennet." Deane'sN. El. Farmer."] Preservation of Cheese. Among the various productions of the ve- getable kingdom, there are per- haps none better calculated for this purpose, than the following: 1. The leaves of the Yellow Star of Bethlehem. Ornithogalum luteum, L. 2. The Tutsan, or Park-leaves, Hypericum Androsamum, L. and 3.The tender branches of the com- mon birch tree, Betula alba, L..... The two first of which, in particu- lar^ have from experience been found to possess considerable anti- septic properties. They ought, however,to be employed only when moderately dry, in which state they should be placed upon, or at the sides of the cheese, in an airy situation. The twigs of the birch are especially useful, in preventing the ravages of mites. Hard and spoiled cheese may be restored in the following manner : Take four ounces of pearl-ash,pour sweet white wine over it, till the mixture ceases to effervesce. Filtre the solution, dip into it clean linen vol. %i. cloths, cover the cheese withthem, and put the whole into a cool place, or dry cellar. Repeat this process every day, at the same time turn- ing the cheese ; and, if necessary, continue it for several weeks: thus, the hardest and most insipid cheese has frequently recovered its former flavour. Although we have devoted much room, and attention, to this im- portant subject, considered in an economical view, we shall be very concise on the physical properties of cheese. This substance, being the coarsest and most viscid part of the milk, is digested with diffi- culty; and therefore calculated only for the more vigorous stomach of the healthy and laborious. Hence, persons of a delicate organization, as well as the studious and seden- tary, ought carefully to abstain from its use; for, when eaten we.:1, for instance cream-cheese, it is apt to disagree, produce rancid eructa- tions, and impair the digestive or- gans : when old, it has a remark- able tendency to putrify, and taint the breath, even of the healthful. After dinner, a very small quantity of sound, old cheese, may do no injury ; but it neither assists the digestion of food, nor produces any additional nutriment, when the vessels already abound with ali- mentary matter....Lastly, weadvise those who know the value of health,. and are enabled to procure more salutary food, never to make a meal upon bread and cheese alone. CHEESE-RENNET, or Yel- low Bed-Straw, Galium verum L. is a native plant growing on the sides of fields and roads. It has a firm erect square stem ; short branches, terminating in spikes of small yellow blossoms, appearing in July and August, O 98 CHE CHE The flowers of this plant coagu- late boiling miik ; and it is, we ap- pi ehend, erroneously supposed that the best Cheshire cheese is pre- pared by their influence. "When boiled in alum-water, says Dr. Wi- thering, they tinge wool yellow. The roots dye a very fine red, not inferior to madder. They also im- part a similar colour to the bones of animals fed upon them. Ac- cording to the experiments related by Succow, the German chemist, a decoction of the whole plant, when in blossom, on adding vitriol of iron and spirit of salt, produced a fine green colour, which was like- wise imparted to wool and silk. Sheep and goats eat the yellow bed-straw ; but it is refused by horses, s\\ ine, and cows. In France, the flowers are prescribed in hys- teric ca:,es. The juice of the plant has been successfully used in Bri- tain ; and, from an account given in the I diubur^h J\Jeclical Commen- taries, it appears to be an effica- cious remedy for the cure of scor- butic complaints. CHEMISTRY is one of the most important branches of Phy- sics, or Natural Philosophy ; and, though not easily defined, we shall attempt the following short ana- lysis : The science of chemistry implies the knowledge of the com- ponent parts of bodies, whether ani- mal, vegetable, or mineral; that is, the art of decomposing compound substances ; re-producing them, if possible ; and ascertaining their physical properties, and relations to each other, as well as of deter- mining with accuracy, the affinity subsisting between simple earths, metals, Sec......Others have defined chemistry to signify the study of such phenomena, or properties of Lceies, as are discoverable, by va- riously mixing them, or by expos- ing them to different degrees of heat, in order to enlarge our know- ledge of Nature, and improve the useful arts......There is no doubt that the changes taking place in bodies, are caused by motion, which, particularly by means of heat, is infused into, and perpetually agi- tates, the vast corporeal system.... The chemist, therefore, inquires into the causes of this motion, and by what means it may be gene- rated, diverted, or checked. But, as these impulsive powers are not within the reach of reason unas- sisted by the observation of effects obvious to the senses, he endea- vours to ascertain their nature, by carefully attending to the different action of bodies, when placed in contact with others, either in a dry or fluid state, or submitted to the operation of fire; from which he has discovered, more by accident than design, many hidden processes of Nature. The extensive utility of chemi-. cal science, to a commercial and manufacturing nation, in almost every branch of trade, must be evi- dent to the most superficial observ- er ; for this knowledge essentially contributes to the improvement of all the productions of Nature and Art. Thus, the husbandman, the artisan in general, the brewer, dis- tiller, soap-manufacturer, nay, even the baker, and the cook, may avoid many errors and disappointments, if they are but tolerably acquainted with the first principles of an art, which daily administers to our comforts and necessities. The history of chemistry is in- volvedinmuchobscurity: Hermes Trismegistus, a noble Egyptian, who lived 1900 years before the Christian xra, is said to be its in- CHE CHE 99 ventor; though Moses, the legis- lator, probably possessed some knowledge of this captivating sci- ence. Previous to the time of Ro- ger Bacon, an English friar of the 13th century, the whole was involved in mystery, and alchemi- cal jargon. Like a bright star in a dark hemisphere, this genius demonstrated to his superstitious brethren, that, by studying Nature, and reducing her powers within the rules of Art, he could produce effects, which far suspassed the miracles of vaunting magicians, while they dispelled the whole tribe of charms, sorceries, and in- cantations. Nay, it is admitted, that he invented, but carefully con- cealed, the composition of gun- powder. But his deluded cotem- poraries were not to be rescued from the grossest superstitious no- tions, till the way had been paved by the reformation of Luther ; and another luminary arose, who was placed in circumstances more favourable to excite attention, and insure respect to his doctrines.... This was the illustrious Hook, who laid the foundation of chemical science in Britain. Others, indted, on the Continent, such as Para- celsus, Van Helmont, and Sir Theodore Mayerne, the last of whom afterwards spent 30 years in England, had successfully la- boured for the improvement of chemistry ; but the first of these was an impudent juggler ; and the second, a credulous votary of the Paracelsian system. Van Hel- mont, however, must be allowed to be the original discoverer of gaseous, or aeriform bodies; for which discovery he was called a magician, and imprisoned by the dark tribunal of the inquisition. Dr. Hook proved, 1. That the air in which we live, move, and breathe, is the universal solvent of all inflammable bodies ; 2. That it does not perform this action till the body be first sufficiently heated ; 3. That this process of dissolution generates a very great heat, or what i» called fire ; !. That light is also produced from this action ; 5. That these phenomena do not arise from the air itself as an element, but from that part cf the air which is inherent in it, and is like, if not the very same, as that which is fixed in salt-petre. Thus we find that the foundation was laid for the subse- quent discoveries of Boyle, Ma- yow, and Hale, who first ascer- tained the exact .quantity of air, or an elastic fluid analogous to air, either produced or absorbed by the burning of sulphur, or of candles, or by the respiration of animals. Hence, the last mentioned philoso- pher compares the air to " a true Proteus, now fixed, now volatile, entering into the composition of bodies, where it exists in a solid form, deprived of elasticity, and of those properties which formerly distinguished it, adding gravity to these bodies, and under certain cir- cumstances alone capable of reco- vering its elasticity, and becoming again an elastic thin fluid, and there- fore well deserving to be adopt I among chemical principles, and to possess a rank which has hitherto been denied it." In his admirable work, entitled Vegetable Statics, we perceive the first traces of the ex- istence of air in those waters called acidulous; and he not only remark- ed, that they contain 4 or 5 times more air then common water, hut also conjectured, that they owed to it their sparkling and briskness.... 100 CHE CHE The truth and practical application of this discovery to medical pur- poses, were vigorously enforced by the immortal Boerhaave, whose reputation, both as a physician and a philosopher (two great qualifica- tions, not always united), had re- sounded to the remotest parts of the globe. Previous to his time, the illustrious Becher first began to collect and compare the immense store of chemical facts, and arrange their relations towards a new sys- tem. Persecuted and despised, like most benefactors of mankind who forsake the beaten track, he fled from his native country, retired to England,and died of a broken heart at London, in 1682. His theory, however, was adopted by the saga- cious and intrepid Stahl, then first physician to the King of Prus- sia. In the opinion of these two authors, fire enters into the com- position of all inflammable bodies, into metals, and most minerals ; and in that condensed and fixed state, they called it phlogiston, or latent fire, to distinguish it from its condition, when in a free state. They farther believed that phlo- giston is actually a material body, liable to be modified and influ- enced by circumstances; and that consequently all metals were com- pounds ; and water, as containing no phlogiston, a simple body. Al- though this vague theory lias been strenuously maintained by nearly all the chemists of Europe, for up- wards of a century, and is still sup- ported by Dr. Priestley, and many of his followers in this and other countries, yet, to the honour of our age, and we venture to say, the credit of that voluntary exile, the doctrine of phlogiston is nearly exploded. To proceed in this explanation, according to the order of time in which the leading facts were ascertained, we shall first mention, that Dr. Black, our late illustrious professor of chemis- try, in the University of Edin- burgh, about the middle of last cen- tury, observed, that certain sub- stances, such as marble, chalk, and lime-stone, when submitted to the process of fire, lost half their for- mer weight; and, when treated with acids, the compound weighed less than before. Hence, it became evi- dent, that something was lost; and, from a strict chemical analysis, he proved this something to be a per- manently, elastic fluid, which he termed fixed air.....deprived of which, the residue was caustic, or quick-lime, capable of corroding all animal and vegetable substances. Hitherto, the existence of fixed air, and its combination with bodies, was only conjectured, and no phi- losopher, since Van Helmont's time, had adopted this opinion.... Thus, new views were opened in the examination of all matter, and the attention of experimental in- quirers was principally directed to the decomposition of solid bodies. Dr. Rutherford extended this inquiry, and determined the dif- ference between fixed and azotic air, another species of suffocative gas, which cannot be respired by animals, nor is it miscible with water, and therefore by some called mephitic, or phlogisticated air..... This azotic air constitutes about 72 parts in the hundred of the common atmosphere, and there- fore deserves particular attention: it was discovered by Dr. Priest- 'ley, and arises from the changes which atmospheric air undergoes in every process of combustion, CHE putrefaction, and respiration ; in short, it is of the same nature as that contained in the air-bladder of the carp, and other fish. Being much lighter than the atmosphere, the azote instantly extinguishes burning tapers,and rapidly destroys the life of animals immersed in it. The most splendid and important discovery of Dr. Priestly, how- ever, is that oivital air, or oxygen, to which he was accidentally led, in August 1774, and which will trans- mit his name to posterity. This aerial fluid, which he denominates dephlogisticatcd air, because he sup- posed it to be deprived of all its phlogiston, also forms a consider- able part of our atmosphere, so that it has been ascertained, by ex- periment, to exist there in the pro- portion of about 27 or 28 parts in 100. Thus, the composition of that boundless element in which we breathe and move, was at length, discovered,and though Bergmann and Scheele in Sweden,as well as Lavoisier, in France, claimed an equal or coeval merit with Dr. PRiESTLEY,having about the same period, in their experimental re- searches on this subject, observed similar phenomena; yet, we believe the last mentioned philosopher is justly entitled to the honour of be- ing called the author of this great discovery. The manner in which it was made, is foreign to our pur- pose ; and we shall therefore briefly state, that the ingenious and noble Lavoisier, who fell a sacrifice to the ambition and tyranny of Robes- pierre, of infamous memory, estab- lished a new and more plausible system of chemistry upon the ground-work of this contested dis- covery, by which the compotent parts of the atmosphere were clear- CHE 101 ly and indubitably determined. In contradistinction to the exploded doctrine of phlogiston, the theory adopted by Lavoisier, and sup- portedby Berthollet,Morveau, Adet, Hassenfratz, De la Place, Monge,Chaptal, Four- ceoy, and others, was now termed the Antiphlogistic System. The principal feature of the new French system is,thatthe air is a compound body, and that metals, in general, are simple substances. We cannot, in this place, enter into farther par- ticulars ; and therefore only re- commend to the juvenile reader, the perusal and study of such ele- mentary works as afford a plain and accurate explanation of that admirable and highly useful sci- ence , without a competent know- ledge of which, he will ever remain in a state of in Taney, at least with respect to the numberless pheno- mena taking place in the physical world. We regret, however, that a publication calculated completely to answer the expectations of an or- dinary reader,is still a desideratum; though there have been published within the last twenty years;a great variety of instructive books on this subject. The principal difficulty appears to arise from the unsettled state of chemical nomenclature, which has lately been, in a great measure, removed by the praise- worthy labours of Dr. Pearson, Dr.Dickson, and Mr.Parkinson; yet,whatever merit these introduc- tory works may possess, there is still wanted a concise, perspicuous, and systematic analysis of the sci- ence of chimistry, such a6 could be read, with satisfaction, by every person possessed of ordinary ta- lents. Girtanner and Senther, in Germany, have attempted such 102 CHE works ; but their manuals abound in too abstract propositions, and are written in a dogmatical rather than narrative style, that may tend to entertain the reader, and imper- ceptibly lead from the more simple to connected propositions. Al- though it be perfectly consistent with scientific arrangement, to be- gin the explanation of a system with general truths, and then de- scend to particulars ; yet we incline to think, that the young student, as well as readers in general, would acquire a more correct idea of a subject, by commencing the series of principles with such illustrations as would render every term,involv- ed in the first definition, perfectly clear and familiar to their under- standing. Thus, the immortal Ba- con was peculiarly happy in de- fining simple ideas, before he pro- ceeded to reduce them under gene- ral heads, and draw the inference, or exhibit the result, by the most unequivocal process of induction. Instead, however, of following the footsteps of this mighty genius, most of our modem physical wri- ters, either begin the analysis of the subject with general maxims ; or theydissect and divide the whole into distinct parts, and fatigue the reader with endlessrepelition,with- out affording him a view of the synthesis, or conjuncture of mem- bers(if that expression be allowed), which alone could enable him to connect the several causes and ef- fects, of which the whole is com- posed. In justice, however, to La- voisier, the founder of the new- system, we shall observe, that his " Elements of Chemistry" possess, in this respect, uncommon merit; though he dwells too long upon CHE the rationale, without exemplifying* the principles, in such a manner as to impress the mind with sensible objects, which alone can perma- nently fix the idea, and connect every link of the proposition. We claim the indulgence of our readers for this involuntary digression; and though we cannot, in truth, exclu- sively recommend any late work, published in the form of a popular, or familiar introduction to chemis- try, yet we shall mention several valuable treatises, that have suc- cessively appeared, and are entitled to attention. The different trans- lations from the French of Lavoi- siek, Chaptal, and Fourcroy, and especially that of the last, by Mr. John Thomson,deserves to be read, and diligently studied ; that from the German of Prof. Gren is likewise a work of merit, for pro- fessional readers ; and among the original English works, we shall point out Dr. Higgins's" View of the Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Theories" (8vo. 7s.); Mr. Nichol- son's " First Principles of Cltemis- try (8vo. 8s. 6d.); and Dr. Gar- net t's " Outlines of Lectures on Chemistry (8vo. 4s.); besides these, there are several smaller tracts, among which we remember with satisfaction, the perusal of that writ- ten by Mr. Henry, of Manchester. [It is much to be regretted that this noble and pleasing science, should have been so long pursued without being applied to the useful purposes of life. Of late, however, the application of the principles of thescititce to the mechanic arts,to agriculture, and the common pur- poses of life, has engaged the at- tention of soma celebrated charac- ters, and occasioned a greatincrtasa CHE CHE 103 of certainty in various domestic and mechanical arts, and consider- able benefit to whole nations. In a domestic point of view, a knowledge of chemistry would seem indispensible. The making of bread, the brewing of beer, mak- ing of wine, cyder, and vinegar, the distillation of ardent spirits ; the preservation of animal and vege- table foods; the extraction of starch, flour, sugar ; the making of butter, and cheese, the making of soap,are all truly chemical processes, which will be conducted with most ad- vantage by those who are best ac- quainted with the principles con- nected with them ; and it may be safely concluded that were the in- dustrious economists more gene- rally possessed of chemical know- ledge, domestic processes would not be often unsuccessful. To the farmer, a knowledge of the principles of chemistry is no less necessary. By chemistry he will become acquainted with the precise composition of soils and manures ; and will thence know how to distinguish the different kinds of earth in his grounds, to judge of the proportions in which they are mixed, and to determine those soils which are most su.led to certain crops : to ascertain the different qualities of the various manures, and thus know the pro- per methods of applying them ; to ascertain the best method of im- proving a poorsoil, and to effect by a mixture of earths, what is not to be done by manure alone. Indeed any knowledge that can be acquir- ed on these subjects, without the aid of chemistry, must be vague and indistinct, and can neither en- able its possessor to produce an intended effect with certainty, nor be communicated to others in lan- guage sufficiently intelligible. Thus the expressions, clay, loam, marl, chalk, convey different ideas to different persons, by which all ge- neral benefits of experience in agri- culture must be greatly limited. Chemistry may to farmers, be- come an universal language, in which the facts that are observed in this art, may be so clothed, as to be intelligible to all nations and ages. It would be desirable, for example, when a writer speaks of clay, loam, or marl, that he should explain his Conception of these terms, by stating the che- mical composition of each sub- stance expressed by them. For all the variety of soils and manures, and all the diversified productions of the vegetable kingdom are capa- ble of being resolved, by chemical analysis, into a small number of elementary ingredients. The for- mation of a well defined language, expressing the proportion of these elements, in the various soils and manures now so vaguely characte- rised, would give an accuracy and precision, hitherto unknown, to the experience of tillers of the earth. CHENOPODIUM, Goosefoot. Of this genus we have several spe- cies, as the album, viride, botrvs, (cut leaved), aristatum, (awned), anthelminticum, (wormseed, Jeru- salem oak.) The last mentioned species is much used as a remedy for worms. The whole plant has a powerful smell, of which it is very retentive. The taste is bitter, with a great deal of acrimony. The whole plant may be emploved..... Sometimes the expressed juice is used,in the dose of a table-spoonful, for a child, two or three years old. The seeds are more commonly used. They are reduced to a fine powder, and made into an electu- 104 CHE ary with some syrup. Of this the dose lor a child, two or three years old, is a table-spoonful taken early in th~ morning. The patient is to be kept without nourishment for some hours after. At night a like dose is to be given. It is often ne- cessary to continue this course for several days. See Goosefoot.] CHERRY, a species of the Pru- nus, L. or plum-tree, a genus of plants, comprising many species, originally natives of Persia; whence they were introduced into Italy, as well as other*parts of Europe; and are supposed to have been brought from Flanders into England, in the reign of Henry the Eighth. The principal species, growing in our climate are the following : 1. The Padus, or bird-cherry, or wild cluster cherry, a shrub which flourishes wild, on almost any soil, if not wet (Withering); and is found chiefly in the hedges and woods. It bears lopping, and does not stifle the growth of grass..... Sheep, goats, and swine eat the leaves, but they are not relished by cows, and refused by horses. Its fruit is nauseous ; but, when bruis- ed, and infused in wine, or brandy, it imparts an agreeable flavour. Its smooth and tough wood is made into handles for knives and whips. The inner bark is said to afford a fine green colour, on boiling it with alum. Bechstein observes, that this dwarf tree, when transplanted into a rich soil, attains the height of forty feet, and two feet in diame- ter ; and that it thrives most luxu- riantly near hedges and waters.... As its abundant white blossoms, in May,present a picturesque view, it deserves to be cultivated on the borders of parks and gardens..... HoLMBERGEB,_a Svaedish author, CHE remark?;, that the dried kernels of this cherry are equal in taste and flavour to almonds, and yield, on expression, a fine and plentiful oil. A decoction of the berries is some- times successfully given in the dysentery. 2. The Cerasus, or common wild cherry-tree, which is frequently found in woods and hedges, but is probably produced from the stones of the garden-varieties, dropped by birds. It delights in a sandy soil, and an elevated situation, and often grows from fiften to thirty feet in height, but is seldom more than nine inches in diameter. It flowers in the month of May ; its sour fruit is eaten by country people, either fresh or dried, and is fre- quently infused in brandy, on ac- count of its aromatic flavour. Cherry-trees require to be plant- ed from twenty to thirty feet distant, and to be set deeper in the earth than apple-trees; with the management of which, in other respects, they correspond. Their growth is said to be uncommonly promoted, by laying a composition of lime and night-soil on thein young stems, with a brush, which operation has a similar effect on apple-trees. The best method of raising cher- ry-trees is, to plant them among hops, in alternate rows with apples, and with two rows of filberts be- tween each : by which means they arrive very speedily at perfection, and thus amply repay the exuense and labour bestowed on them at first. The proportion (in the coun- ty of Kent, where this species is principally cultivated) is usually, to an acre, 800 hop-hills, 200 fil- berts, and 40 cherry and apple trees. The hops will stand about twelve years, and the filberts abou* CHE CHE 105 thirty, by which time the cherry and apple trees will occupy the whole land. This species of the Prunus is, according to Linnaeus, the parent- stock, from which many of the cultivated varieties are derived: there are many different sorts, which are known under the names ofBlackheart,Whiteheart,.F/position, like most of those general truths which all acknowledge,but few will defend or practise, there is every reason to trust to the good sense of mankind, that empiricism and knavery will gradually vanish from the tablets of history. In order to approach with our labours towards a plan of so bene- ficial a tendency, we have, on all proper occasions inculcated the ne- cessity of attending to that most important department of medicine, which treats of diet and regimen. From these alone, the most essen- tial advantages may be derived in all chronic diseases, especially such as cannot be traced to their sources, or the predisposing causes of which cannot be discovered, either from an intentional conceal- ment of the patient, his want of re- solution and capacity to disclose them, or other reasons, chiefly arising from the present imperfect state of the healing art. Hence, the writer of this article has, for many years, been sedulously em- ployed in collecting and arranging facts, towards a new work, in which he proposes to lay before the public an outline ,of the treatment to be adopted in a diseased state of the body ; and which will form a counterpart to his former "Lec- tures on Diet and Regimen." At present, it will be sufficient to point out the principal rules, by which the conduct of such persons, as are the victims of inveterate afflictions, ought in general to be guided. 1. When the patient is not con- fined to his bed, gentle and frequent exercise will be salutary ; but all violent commotions, whether of mind or body, are extremely pre- judicial, and cannot fail to retard his recovery. 2 The sick-room ought to be lofty and capacious, frequently ven- tilated by opening the door or win- dows, without admitting a draught of air ; and, in damp weather the apartment cleared of foul, mephi- tic vapours,either by mild aromatic fumigations, or more effectually, by the steam of vinegar. For the same reason, all soiled Iinen,as well as the mght-chair,&c. should be im- mediately removed ; the bed fre- quently made ; and an assemblage of persons never suffered to vitiate the atmosphere of a patient's room. 5. Let the temperature of the air be cool rather than warm ; yet this general rule may admit of excep- tions in particular cases: only a moderate degree of warmth should likewise, be allowed with respect to the bed-clothes, and especiallv the covering, which ought to be soft and light. When the strength of the patient permits, he should be encouraged to rise, and spend part of the day, sitting either in bed or on a chair ; but carefully avoiding a draught of air, or taking cold : hence he should not too sud- denly venture to leave the house. 1. In regard to food, he must abstain from crude and heating ani- mal flesh, such as bacon, ham, boiled beef, hard eggs, kc. from dry,flatulent,acrid, salted, and such provisions as increase the bulk of feculent excretions. Thus, white 128 CHR CHR meat in the most frugal portions, blended with vegetables of a mu- cilaginous and nutritive kind, such as cauliflower, asparagus, parsnips, scorzonera, &c. as well as light dishes of rice, barley, or oatmeal, in a liquid rather than solid form, and particularly baked or roasted apples, will be found the most con- ducive to health. In certain cases, h iwever, raw fruit may be abun- dantly allowed : but the patient must never eat any food against his appetite ; and, if, during the crisis of a disease, he should ex- press a strong desire for a particu- lar dish, no prudent physician will object to the gratifying of this na- tural inclination, unless the sub- stance claimed be obviously pos- sessed of hurtful qualities. 5. In the article of drink, a chro- nic patient cannot be too cautious. In general, he ought to give the preference to simple, pure water, or ptisan made of pearl-barley and currants ; or whey ; toast and wa- ter ; or this fluid acidulated with the juice of lemons or vinegar, and sweetened with sugar or honey.... All spirituous liquors are, in gene- ral, unnecessary and detrimental, unless required from particular circumstances. 6. The important process of per- spiration also deserves to be duly regulated : every time the patient has profusely perspired, he ought to change his linen, which should be previously warmed ; and, if there prevail no peculiar irritability in the system, flannel will always be found the most beneficial dress next the skin. In short, every object, tending to alarm or disturb the patient, should be carefully removed; his sleep rendered as qvpet and comfortable as possible ; and, if his strength and appetite begin to improve, he ought to redouble his attention, both as to the time and manner of taking muscular exercise, not less than to his mental exertions, as well as with regard to the gradual change of the quantity and quality of his aliment. CHRYSALIS, or Aukelia, in natural history, is a term express- ing that form of butterflies, moths, chafers, and other insects, which they assume, while in a state of rest and apparent insensibility; before they arrive at their winged or most perfect state. This trans- formation, says Header, a cele- brated German author, affords a beautiful emblem of man's passage to a future life. The form of the chrysalis gene- rally approaches that of a cone : while the creature is in this state, it appears to be destitute both of legs and wings, to have scarcely power to move; and, in short, to be almost devoid of life. It takes no nourishment, nor has it indeed any organs for that purpose : its pos- terior part is all that seems animat- ed, which has the power of motion, in a very slight degree. The ex- ternal coat of the chrysalis is car- tilagineous, of a considerable size, generally smooth and glossy, though some of them have a few hairs, while others are as hairy as the caterpillars from which they are produced ; and again, others are rough, and in a manner sha- green ed. When first produced, the chry- salis is 6oft, and the front of it moistened with a viscous liquor, which surrounds the wings, legs, Sec. as it hardens almost immedi- ately, all those limbs that were lie- fore separated, are consolidated in- to a mass. Having undergone its CHU change, in this state, it perforates the shell with its head, and bursts forth into day, in its winged form. See Butterfly. As this admirable part of the animal creation has, hitherto, been almost entirely neglected by eco- nomists, though it has always ex- cited the attention of the curious naturalist, we have inserted the pre- ceding concise account, to remind the ingenious inquirer, that even these apparently useless creatures may, perhaps, at some future time, become subservient to important purposes. See Caterpillar. CHUB, or Cephalus, L. is a spe- cies of the Cyprinus, a numerous genus of fish. Tt is mostly found in holes overshadowed by trees, where these fish are seen floating during warm weather, in great numbers. Chub, being very full of bones, afford but an indifferent dish ; yet they furnish considerable amuse- ment to anglers, as they may be easily taken. The best mode of fishing for them is the following: Prepare a very strong rod of suffi- cient length, and fix to the hook a grasshopper, beetle, or any other large fly. This must be dropped gently at a small distance from the fish, which will bite immediately, if it does not see the angler, who should take the precaution of con- cealing himself from it ; as, being extremely timid, this fish sinks to the bottom, on the slightest alarm, and not unfrequently at the passing of a shadow. In March and April, it may be caught with large, red worms ; in June and July with flies, snails, and cherries ; but in the months of August and September, the proper bait is good cheese pounded in a mortar, with come saffron, and a small quantity of VOL. n. CHU 129 butter. The best season for this fish is winter, as the flesh is then more firm, and better tasted. Dur- ing cold weather, the angler should keep his bait at the bottom, when it will be eagerly seized. CHURN, a vessel in which but- ter, by long and violent agitation, is separated from the serous part of milk. The inferiority of the churns in common use, has induced several ingenious mechanics to exert their skill in contriving others,lhat would render the process of making but- ter less tedious and expensive. Of [two of] these we shall give a suc- cinct account. The first is Mr. William Bow- ler's improved Churn, for which the Society for the F.ncouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Com- merce, liberally gave him thirty guineas, in the year 1795. This churn is of the barrel kind, being a cylinder, 18 inches in dia- meter, and 9 wide ; the sides are of wood, [tin would be better on account of the greater ease with which it may be cleansed] the rim a tin plate, which has two open- ings; one 8-*- inches in length, an:! four in width, through which the cream is poured into the churn, and the hand introduced for clean- ing it: the other a short pipe, one inch in diameter, by which the but- ler-milk runs out of the. churn, when the operation is finished..... The first of these openings has a wooden cover, fastened down by two screws ; and the other a cork fitted to it, while the butter is churning. There is farther, near the larger opening, a small vent- hole, w ith a peg to admit the pas- sage of any air that may be dis- charged from the cream, at the S 130 CHU beginning of the operation. An axle also passes through the churn, terminating in two gudgeons, on which it hangs; its lower part be- ing immersed in a trough, in order to hold occasionally either hot or cold water according to the season of the year. On the inside of the rim, are four projecting pieces of wood, with holes, serving to agitate the cream by the motion of the chum. This movement is caused by a pendulum 3 feet 6 inches long, that has an iron bob, weighing 10 lbs. and at its upper end a turn- ing pully, 10 inches in diameter, from which a rope goes twica round another pully, about three inches in diameter, fixed on the axis of the churn, which it causes to make a partial revolution, by each vibration of the pendulum. There are likewise sliding cov- ers to the machinery, and also ano- ther to the water trough; in order, when hot water is used, to secure the steam, and keep the cream in a proper degree of warmth. The motion of the pendulum is given and continued, by means of a wood- en rod, about three feet nine inches in length, which turns on a pin 3 inches above the bob of the pendu- lum. Explanation of the Engraving which represents Mr. William Bow- ler's improved Churn. A. A. The body of the chum. [of tin.] B. An opening, by which the cream is put in. C. The cover of the large open- ing. The small hole on the oppo- site side cannot be delineated in the print. D. The axis, or gudgeon, on which the body of the churn is sus- CHU E. The upper, or large pulley. F. The smaller pully fixed on the axis of the churn. G. G. The rod of the pendulum, hanging from the upper pulley E. H. The bob of the pendulum. I. I. The handle moveable on the pin at a, by which the pendu- lum is moved, making a traverse in the form of the dotted line K.K. L. The trough for the hot or cold water. [To be made of tin because abet- ter conductor of heat than wood.] M. A projecting piece of wood, with a shoulder which supports the handle I, when the churn is not at work. As butter is often made in small quantities, and the vertical motion of the common churn is extremely fatiguing, we consider those me- thods of applying the powers of mechanism, as valuable improve- ments. Hence we presume to re- commend the preceding improved butter-churns to be generally intro- duced ; for the facility and expedi- tion, with which butter is thus ob- tained, will amply compensate the additional expense. [WRIGHT'S CHURN. This churn is made in the form of a cube, with vertical dashers, as a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a; B, the top that takes off; c, the handle by which the dashers are turned: D, D,D,D, the form of the chum each way; e, the spindle that goes through the dashers. Churns, agreeably to this form, are made by Wright & Co. Cherry-street, Philadelphia.] Churning. As we have alrea- dy discussed the subject of butter, and treated of the management of the dairy as connected with it, we shall only offer here a few supple- mentary remarks. X 75 C H Y CIC 131 If a pump-churn be employed, it may be plunged a foot deep in a tub of cold water, and remain there during the whole time of churning; which will harden the butter in a considerable degree. This operation, as we have before observed may be much facilitated, by pouring into the churn a small quantity of distilled vinegar, which will produce butter in the course of one hour. Those who make use of a pump-churn, should endeavour to keep up a regular motion of the machine ; and by no means admit any person to assist them, unless from absolute necessity: for, if the churning be irregularly performed, the butter will in winter go back ; and, if the agitation be more quick and violent in summer, it will cause the butter to ferment, and thus to acquire a very disagreeable flavour. ....Where there are many cows, a barrel-churn is preferred ; but un- less it be kept very clean, the bad effects of it will be soon discover- ed in the butter. Particular care should also be taken, to place it, in a proper temperature, according to the change of the season ; that is, to fix it in a wamer situation in the winter; and, in the summer to expose it to a free current of air. Churn-Staff. See Wart- wort. CFIYLE, in animal economy, is that white fluid produced from the nutritious part of the food, in the first passages, after the fibrous or feculent matter has been separat- ed : it is chiefly generated in the milk-vessels of the mesentery, whence it passes to the receptacle of the chyle, situated under the left kidney, and is conveyed to what is called the thoracic duct, or the ca- nal of the chest, from which it en- ters certain veins, where it is mix- ed with the blood; in short, it is the Qnly supply of that vital fluid; and hence the great importance of wholesome food, from which alone a salubrious blood can be prepared, will be easily conceived. In this view only, we have introduced the word chyle: a liquor which resem- bles milk; has a sweetish saline taste ; easily coagulates; and con- sists of a mixture of oily, watery, and lymphatic parts (see Lymph); its milky colour arises from the combination of oil with water ; an instance of which occurs in the milk of almonds. As the chyle is, by nature, in- tended to form the blood, to supply the body with nutritious juices for the daily loss and waste it sustains, it is obviousthat this salutary pro- cess ought not to be interrupted by violent exercise after meals ; be- cause the chyle is supposed not to be completely secreted, till about four hours after the food has been taken. Dr. Darwin observes that, though the chyle, from different kinds of aliment, is very similar, and all the various constituent parts of animal bodies are ultimate- ly produced from the chyle, by san- guification and secretion, yet it happens, that some kinds of ali- ment possess a greater quantity- of these particles, than others: such materials, for instance, as al- ready contain much sugar, muci- lage, and oil, as the flesh of dead animals, or the fruits and seeds of vegetables. CICELY, the Sweet, or great chervil, or shepherd's needle, the Scandix odorata, L. is a native plant, growing in orchards, hedges, and waste places, but generally near houses ; and is chiefly found in the counties of Westmoreland, 132 C I C Cumberland, Lancaster, and Wor- cester. It is perennial, produces white flowers, w hich blow in the month of May or June, and seeds of a sweet and agreeable taste. The whole plant has an aromatic scent, and its seeds are used in the north of England, for polishing and perfuming oak-floors, and furni- ture: they also yield an essential oil, similar to that obtained from anise-seeds...The fresh leaves and stalks of the sweet cicely impart to wool a fine citron yellow dye, when prepared in a solution of bismuth; as asserted by Dambournky. [CICHORIUM INTIBUS. A species of Endive, which, by the' experiments of Mr. Wakefield and others in England, seems of prodigious consequence for the supply of summer feed. It has been sown broad-cast, but appears to answer best in drills. It has yield- ed from 20 to 40 tons of green fod- der per acre. In America it would be particulary suitable for summer feed, as the roots seek nourishment from a great depth. This root is perennial and has generally been regarded in the light of a noxious weed ; it has, how- ever, for several years past been cultivated in France as food for cattle. In Lombardy, it is sown, mixed with other herbs of pasture, and cut three or four feet high. It is reputed there to encrease both the milk and flesh of cattle, and to be very nutritious when made into hay. Horses eat it greedily; and it is an important object for summer soiling both for them and cattle.... It is also freely eaten by sheep. Chicory defies drought, being of early growth. The stalks are so thick and stiff as to support them- selves against winds and the hea- C IC viest rains. The most severe cold does not injure it. The quickness of growth renders it very valuable, because it furnishes abundance of salutary {"odder at a season when green food is scarce. It has been found to grow seven inches in three weeks, whilst sainfoin and burnet grew only four inches. Two cut- tings may be made of it the first year, and three or four according to the season every year after, in May, July, August, and Oct. never letting it stand till it become hard and sticky. Or it may be cut con- tinually, by beginning again when the whole piece is gone over, and thus yield a constant supply of fresh food during seven or eight months. The produce is said to be supe- rior, upon the whole, to that of Lu- cerne, in the proportion of three to one. A piece of ground sown with chicory, was found to yield, by the acre, the year of sowing, at two cuttings, July the 24th, and Oct. the 17th.... 19 tons, 4 cwt. Second year, at three cuttings, May 21st, July 24, and December 3d....38 tons, 9 cwt. And the average pro- duce of 4 years, was near 30 tons. The quantity of seed produced on an acre has been, the first year an hundred and an half; the second, two hundred weight, and the third, from three hundred and an half to four hundred and an half.] The leaves of chicory, when blanched, form an ingredient in ear- ly spring salads [in England], and if this plant be cultivated in a light, and somewhat moist soil, they will be divested of their bitternet :..... The roots are moderately bitter: if gathered while young, they may be eaten among other vegetables. In its medicinal properties chico- ry is cooling. C IN CIN 133 CINNABAR, in natural his- tory, is either native, or factitious. The former is an ore of quick- silver, moderately compact, very heavy, and of a beautiful striated, red colour. The latter is com- posed of six or eight parts of mer- cury, to one of sulphur ; the whole is sublimed, and thus reduced into a fine, red globe. The best is of a high colour, and full of fibres, resembling needles ; the chief use of cinnabar is for paint- ing. Formerly, the native cinnabar was much employed in medicine, as a sedative and antispasmodic powder, which is still vended in Germany, for the use of the igno- rant, who take a dose of it after every alarm, or fright. But as this metallic substance contains arse- nical particles, of which it cannot he cleared but by repeated ablution, it frequently occasions nausea, trembling, and anxiety; which, however, subside after vomiting ; ....We should not have mentioned this substance, had we not learnt from a pamphlet, published by Dr. LE'rrsoM,thata late famousQuack (whose son and widow now. con- tend in the newspapers, for the authenticity of his prescriptions ; and still trifle with the lives of un- wary persons), administered the native cinnabar, in red powders, of which he kept six kinds, con- taining different proportions of this pigment, in order to deceive the pa- tients by a greater variety of co- lours....When will this outrage on hunrmity terminate ? CINN AMON, is the bark of the true cinnamon tree, or Laurus c.'nnamomum, L......but an inferior sort, which is often sold for genu-: ine, is collected from the base cin- namon, or Laurus Cassia, L. See Bay-Tree. Cinnamon is one of the most agreeable, and useful aromatics: it is more grateful both to the pa- late and stomach, than the genera- lity of spices. It cannot, however, be doubted, that it is more heating and stimulating, than its common substitute, cassia-bark ; hence the latter is better adapted to culinary uses, especially for the young and plethoric, than the real cinnamon, which deserves the preference in medicine ; and here it is of consi- derable service in alvine fluxes, arising from relaxation, and other immoderate discharges. CINQUFFGIL,or Potentilla,L. a genus of plants, comprising thirty-five species, of which only eight are indigenous; the prin- cipal of these are : 1. The fruti- cosa, or shrubby cinquefoil, which is set with fine silvery hairs, has reddish stems, and yellow blos- soms, that appear in the month of June : their flowers are conspicu- ous for their number and beauty. This plant has been usefully em- ployed on the Continent, in tanning calf-skins ; and it is also eaten by- cows, horses, goats, and sheep ; but is refused by hugs. 2. The anserina,ov wild tansey, or goose-grass. SeeSuvER-w l;i-;d. 3. Theargentea. or hoary cinque- foil, which grows in meadows and pastures, in a gravelly soil, and flowers in June....The whole may be used for tanning, and dyeing black colour ; as it is not touched by cattle....Bechstein. 4. The rcptans, or common creeping cinquefoil, which grows in a moist, clayey soil of meadows, pastures, and by road-sides. It is perennial, and flowers from June 134 CIS to August.....A fine grained calf- leather has, likewise, been prepar- ed from this plant, on the Conti- nent.....The red cortical part of the root is mildly astringent, and anti- septic : a decoction of it has been found an excellent gargle for loose teeth, and spongy gums. Cinquefoil, the Marsh. See Purple Makshlocks. Circulation. See Transfu- sion. CISTERNS are vessels employ- ed for the reception of rain, or other water, either under ground, such as those of navigable canals, Sec. or above ground, for domestic and other pui poses. In this place we shall treat only of the latter. As the water collected in leaden cisterns is apt to corrupt, either by stagnating for several days, when the pipes happen to be obstructed, or by the deposition of feculent matter, as well as the incrustation formed in such vessels, it follows that they ought to be frequently cleansed of the copious sediment they contain. This attention is the more necessary, as lead is a metal liable to be dissolved by acids; and, in that state, proves a slow, but fatal poison. Although the acidity contained in stagnant water, which has, in its course, been impregnated with animal and vegetable particles, cannot be very considerable, yet it will be more safe, and prudent, to prevent the formation of such acids, by an early attention to the purity of the water. See Filtration. [For an excel- lent cement to line water cisterns, see Cement. The deeper cisterns are, the bet- ter the water will be kept. Where the ground is not so bad as to re- quite a round form, a cube is a CIS good figure : a double cube must be better, as it gains depth and consequently coolness. A cistern of 6 cubic feet, holds 16 hogsheads of 100 gallons each, or 26 hogs- . heads. A double cube of 5 feet would hold above 18 rum hogsheads of 100 gallons. The pit should be dug exactly by square and plumb. On the face of the pit, lay potters- clay, plasterwise, with a trowel, coat over coat (as it dries and cracks) two or three inches in all. Against this firm even face of plaster raise the brick or stone work; bed the bottom, three or four inches thick with strong clay, beat to a smooth, -even surface. Moisten the clay, and beat it with switches, or small hoop poles, but with nothing heavy. On this clay-floor, lay a double bed of brick ; and, on the margin of this, carry up the side walls half brick thick, laying them in terras. Cover the cistern over, but leave room to fix a small pump, which must be two feet from the bottom : or a roller and bucket may be used to raise the water. The above directions are taken from Mr. Bordley's Essays, and will answer where lime cannot be had to make Mr. Hunn's cement, before noted. In many places of Eu- rope, rain-water saved in cisterns is the only water drank. Stole erg says, he drank some in the vicinity of Naples,near three years old, and found it excellent. Mr. Bentham has lately taught us, that water may be kept during the above pe- riod perfectly sweet. On the flat coasts of the United States, these rain-water cisterns ought to be ge- nerally built: for the water from the ground is very bad, and occa- sions many of the disorders attri- buted to other causes.] CIT C L A 135 CITRON, or Citrus, L. an exo- tic genus of plants, comprising six species ; of which the following are occasionally reared in hot- houses. 1. The Medica, or Citron-tree, which is a beautiful evergreen, ri- ses from five to ten feet in hei ght, and forms a full head, thickly set with leaves. It is very luxuriant in its vegetation, shooting forth a profusion of sWeet flowers in the spring, and early in the summer, which are frequently succeeded by an abundance of fruit, that arrives, sometimes, at tolerable perfection. This species is originally obtain- ed by seed ; but the most certain method of propagating it, is by bud- ding it on stalks raised from seeds to a proper size. These m;■« be sown in March, in pots of rich light earth, half an inch deep, and plunged in a hot-bed under frames and glasses, being occasionally wa- tered. Towards the middle of June, they may be exposed to the open air, in which they should re- main till October, when they are to be removed to the green-house till the ensuing-spring. In the month of March, or April, following, they will be fit to be transplanted, sin- gly, in small pots, care being taken to water them immediately after that operation is performed, and to repeat it when necessary ; so that, in the course of a year, or two, the largest of those designed for stocks will be fit for budding. Previously to their being planted, they must be set for a day or two in tubs of water, to plump their bark and roots. Next, they should be wash- ed and cleaned, the roots freed from diseased parts and all the small dried fibres. They are then to be planted in pots filled with light earth, and plunged in a tan- bed, where they should remain for three or four months ; after which they may be exposed to the open air, but will bear it only from the end of May to the middle of Octo- ber. The fruit of the citron-tree yields a very agreeable acid, which is of considerable utility in medicine, particularly as an antiscorbutic... See Lemon-Juice. There is another variety of this species, growing abundantly in the British West India Islands, pro- ducing a spherical fruit of a much smaller size than the lemon, and containing an acid juice, in a more concentrated state.....See Limes. 2. The Auranlium. See Orange. 3. The Decumana, or the Giant Citron, which is common in the East and West Indies, and pro- duces a fruit, sometimes I4lh. in weight, containing a sweet pulp, and small compartments in the centre, which abound with a sub- acid vinous juice. As it requires nearly two years to arrive at matu- rity, in the climate of Europe, it is seldom cultivated. CLARIFICATION, is the act of clearing or fining liquids from heterogeneous or feculent ingre- dients. For this purpose, the whites of eggs, blood, and isinglass, are usually employed : the two first, for clarifying liquors, while boiling hot; the last, for those which are to be fined when cold; as wine, ale, Sec. The whites of eggs are beaten up into a froth, mixed with the liquor, and united with the im- pure particles floating on it; which soon indurate, and are carried up to the surface, in the form of an insoluble scum. Blood operates in a similar manner, and is principal- ly used in the processes of refining suit and sugar. 136 C L A Great quantities of isinglass are consumed in fining turbid wines. A solid piece, about a quarter of an ounce in weight, is put into a cask of wine, where it gradually dissolves, and forms a skin upon the surface : this pellicle at length subsides, carrying down with it the feculent matter that floated on the wine. Other vintners previously dissolve the isinglass ; and, having boiled it down to a gelatinous con- sistence, mix it with the liquor, strongly agitate the cask, and then let it stand to settle. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that wines treated in this manner are tainted with a very putrescent ani- mal substance, and cannot be whole- some. [See Wine,Cyder, Beer.] \The following observations are abridged from a long paper by Parmfntier, in u Annates de Chimie." The most simple method of clarifying liquids is,by repose : but this method is tedious, and tends to the formation of new products, which by changing the composi- tion of the fluid itself, no longer presents it, independent of the ab- straction of the bodies which affect- ed its clearness, the same as it was before its clarification. Thus, the juice of lemons, gooseberries, ike. when examined before or aftertheir spontaneous clarification, are so different in their taste, colour, and their domestic utility. The effects here stated take place only with respect to such liquids as are fermentable. Other fluids, as water, alkohol, xther,oil,8tc. are well adapted to this treatment. The second proof of clarifaction is by filtration. The instruments of this process are various. For water, viscous, alkoholic, or oily fluids ; paper may be used : and CLA such must be chosen as has its pores of a requisite magnitude to admit the fluid intended to be fil- tered^ without suffering any of the particles which produced the tur- bidness to pass through. For sy- rups, woolhn cloths are used ;. the operator fixes his cloth in a square frame, fastening the four corners upon pins disposed for that purpose. The boiling syrup is poured in the middle, where it always forms a kind of concavity, and the liquid passes very clear. Essential oils are filtered by in- troducing carded cotton into the tube of a glass funnel, where it is lightly pressed together with a glass rod, so as to form a kind of stopper: after which the fluid to be filtered is poured into the funnel. Concentrated acids, can only be filtered through pounded glass, which must be washed several ti mes before using; first in a larger quan- tity of water, and afterwards in an acid, in order to deprive it of the earthy substance which the acids might dissolve. Sand is also com- monly employed to clarify water for domestic uses : it must, how- ever, be changed frequently. Filtering stones are bad instru- ments to procure good water ; for the filtration is made slowly, and very often stops altogether, if the inner and exterior surfaces of the stone be not rubbed from time to time with a coarse brush, to detach the earth which the water deposits. The whites of eggs, the acids, certain salts, lime, blood, and al- kohol, may, in many cases, concur to operate the clarification' of cer- tain fluids. Experience determines the preference given to one rather than another. Most syrups are clarified by heating them, after having mixed C L A C L A 137 the whites of eggs with them; the clarification is effected at the in- stant the mixture begins to boil... It has ajso been observed that the white of eggs alone is not sufficient to clarify liquids, even though they be heatedsufficient to cause them to boil, but that it is necessary to assist its action by means of an acid, or salt with excess of acid. In proof of this, the Clarification of whey,may be offered as an example. Whey, in which the white of eggs have been mixed, does not admit of the coagulation which carries the cheesy matter along with it, unless a portion of acidulous tartarite of potash or vinegar be added at the instant the boiling begins. Most of the juices of plants new- ly expressed, may be partly clari- fied by heat. This method may be recurred to, when the viscidity and density of the juices, prevent a fil- tration. It is highly important to observe, that in general, it is necessary to separate the magma which is form- ed in liquors clarified by the white of eggs, particularly when, in order to concentrate these fluids, it is ne- cessary to evaporate them by boil- ing. Without this precaution, we shall seethe same magmadissolve, and the fluids become more turbid than they were before the clarifica- tion. For a like reason, it is that soups, which have not been skim- med in time, always retain a cloudy and unpleasant appearance. Though the whites of eggs are of considerable use in clarifying the juices of certain plants; yet the nature of these fluids is some- times changed so much, that their medical properties are partly de- stroyed. L:-.'.ris has observed, that by clarifying the syrup, of diacodi- um, with the whites of eggs, the VOL. II. medicine is deprived of its medical properties. See articles Cyder, Coj fef.,Vinegar,Wine,Bee:;.] CLARY, or Salvia, L. is a ge- nus of native plants, producing two species: 1. The Pratensis, or Meadow- Clary, which grows in dry pastures, and is found principally in the counties of Surry and Sussex. It is perennial; flowers in the months of June and July ; and its leaves are slightly aromatic. When soak- ed in water for a few minutes, its seeds acquire a mucilaginous coat, somewhat similar to the spawn of frogs. Bechstein observes, that this plant, when used as a substi- tute for hops, imparts an agreeable flavour to beer and wine ; but, at the same time, renders them more intoxicating, and pernicious to health. It may, however, be more usefully employed in tanning lea- ther, and dyeing a permanent dark brown. 2. The. Verbenaca, or Wild Eng- lish Clary, which is also perennial, grows in gravelly, calcareous soils, and blows from June to October. This species is smaller than the preceding, but more aromatic. Its seeds, when immersed in water, possess the property of the pratensis in a superior degree. Both the leaves and seeds of this plant, have a warm, bitterish, pun- gent taste, and a strong, though not agreeable, odour. They are prin- cipally, recommended in hysteric disorders, and in fUtulcnt colics. Clary-Water is composed of brandy, sugar, clary-flowers, and cinnamon, in which a little amber- gris is dissolved. It is also pre- pared with brandy, juice of cherries, strawberries, and gooseberries, cloves, white pepper, and. corian- der-seeds : the whole of winch are T 138 C L A infused, sweetened, and strained. This medicated water is said to assist digestion, and to be " an ex- cellent cardiac ;" but we have rea- son to apprehend that it is, like ail other cordials, calculated to increase the catalogue of tipplers, rather than to promote the purposes of health. CLAY is a compact, heavy, stiff, viscid, and ductile earth, when moist, which is easily dissolved, and, when mixed with water, does not readily subside. For promoting the vegetation of many plants, clay is a necessary ingredient in the soil, with the ex- ception of those species called ar- gilla aerata, or lac lunac, and ar- gilla apyra, or procelain, and other white, fermenting clays, for which no use has hitherto been discover- ed in agriculture. By its cohesion, clay retains humidity, on which, perhaps, its fertilizing property chiefly depends. In its pure state, clay is unfit for the purposes of vegetation, on ac- count of the great adhesion of ar- gillaceous particles, which cannot be penetrated by the tender fibres or roots ; but when mixed with calcareous earth, and siliceous sand, or marl, it is much .improv- ed, and of great use in tillage. It is commonly believed, that lumps of clay, in a moist state, may be rendered more friable, Ly exposing them to frost; which, by expanding the water they contain, and converting it into ice, is sup- posed to cause a farther separation of the clayey particles. This no- tion, however, appears to be erro- neous , for, unless the frost be very sudden, it will probably be attended with a contrary effect. Mr. Kik- wan observes, that clay, in its dry state, absorbs more than twice its C L A weight of water, before it parts with that fluid, and retains it, in the open air, more tenaciously than other earths ; but, in a freezing cold,clay contractsmore than other soils, and, as it were, squeezes out its water in a greater than usual proportion. As clay, by the great cohesion of its particles, is not well adapted to the growth of roots, Dr. Darwin remarks, that it may, in some de- gree, be corrected, by frequently exposing the air confined in its interstices ; for instance, by turn- ing it over with the plough, or spade. Another method is, by planting, in a clayey soil, first, those vegetables which are known to thrive in it, such as beans ; and if their roots be afterwards left to putrify in the clay they render the mass less cohesive, and enrich, rather than impoverish, the land. When clay abounds with vitriolic acid, so as to be convertible into alum, it becomes very unfavourable to vegetation, and checks the growth of trees, as well as of her- baceous plants, by corroding thv fine extremitiesof their roots. This injurious quality may be most ef- fectually remedied, in gardens, by wood-ashes, or soap-suds ; and, in fields, by mixing with such clay, lime, powdered chalk, or the sweep- ings of roads consisting of lime- stone. Clay-Lands, are those which abound with clay, whether black, blue, white, &c. of which, the black and yellow are the best for corn. Ail clay soils, as they retain too much water, are apt to chill the plants in moist seasons ; on the con- trary, in dry weather, they become hard, and obstruct vegetation. They naturally produce weeds, goose- grass, thistles, poppies, S:c. but CL A C L A 139 some will yield clover and rye- grass ; and, if well manured, bear the best grain. Such soils are more advantageously manured than any other lands : the most proper that can be selected for this purpose, is horse or pigeons' dung, malt-dust, chalk, &c. Clay ground is naturally steril, because it adheres together in masses. This defect may, how- ever, be remedied, by mixing with it burnt clay ; which tends to cor- rect the cold nature of the soil, and will, by proper tillage, yield most excellent crops. A remarkable instance of rural industry, in rendering a wet clayey soil uncommonly productive, oc- curs in the 28th volume of the Annals of Agriculture. The land was two perches in width, and gently arched up, so that the crown of the ridge was about 2, or 2j feet higher than the bottom of the furrow. These ridges were gently rounded off, so as to describe the form of a segment of a very large circle, then disposed into double beds, and well manured. The fertility of the soil was farther pro- moted, by adapting the course of crops to its nature ; namely, by sowing, 1st, beans; 2d, wheat; and, 3d. clover. In this succession, the beans were set upon a clover- lay, which saved much time, in preparing the land after the com- mon way ; and being sown just be- fore, or immediately after, Christ- mas, they were ready to be hoed in the dry weather, usually occur- ring [in England], towards the end of February, Or the beginning of March : by this management, they were brought so forward, that they could be cut in July or August. It is an error in agriculture that beans cannot be left too long on the ground. They should be harvested while most of the pods are quite green; by which means a fine sam- ple is secured.and the straw render- ed incomparably better. After the beans, wheat was sown ; and over that, in the month of March, or April, from 15 to 20lbs. of clover seed per acre, which, in the follow- ing year, was mown twice for hay. These crops are particularly valu- able on strong soils, where oats and barley never thrive well ; and even if a large crop of eitiier should be raised, it would be of a very inferior quality. Hence we re- commend a similar course to be pursued, as the labour and expense necessarily incurred, will be amply compensated by perseverance and industry. [Clayey lands are apt to be very barren in their natural state, un- less when a summer is so divided betwixt rain and su ishine, that they are kept on a medium conti- nually betwixt drought and wetness which seldom or never happens. In a wet season, plants growing on such a soil are drowned, as the closenes of the clay will not suf- fer the water to soak into the ground : and, in a dry season; the ground becomes so solid that the roots of plants cannot penetrate it. This kind of earth however, is thought to contain more of the food of plants than almost any other, but something needs to be done to bring it into action. The European farmers think their clay soils the richest, and most va- luable of their land. But map. of our farmers despise them, for want of knowing what methods to take to render them profitable ; or through fear of the labour or ex- pense of doing it. Some of these soils, without 140 C L A CL A much alteration, will bear good crops of grass, if care only be taken not to feed them close, nor to let cattle in upon them in the spring. But the farmer who wishes to keep them in tillage, must alter them by the admixture of such substan- ces as may serve to open the soil, and break the cohesion of its par- ticles. When this is once accom- plished, the land will become high- ly valuable ; holding the manure to admiration, and never returning to its pristine state. Dung is helpful towards opening a clayey soil, by the fermentation it raises, as well as by the mixture of its earthy, saline and oily parti- cles. But dung of itself will not be sufficient, unless it were laid on more plentifully than farmers can weil afford. A mixture of dung and sand is found to be a much bet- ter dressing for this sort of land, than dung alone. And if sand be not too far distant, it would be ad- visable to put on a layer of it two or three inches thick. Beach-sand is preferable to any other, as the salt- ness of it will help to make the ground fruitful. But pit-sand will do very well. In places where sand is not to be had, the ground may be loosened with other substances. Gravel, or light loam from the neighbouring spots may be carted upon it; dust from saw-pits, chips and rubbish from the back yards of houses, straw and stubble, swamp mud, the bark of trees and rotten wood, or burnt-clay. I have known a clayey spot made very fruitful merely by the remains of a rotten log fence, when mixed with the soil. When a clay soil is sanded, or any other thing laid on to open it, it will take several ploughings and harrowings to mix it, so as to bring the land to a good consistence. As the expense of mixing it at once would be too great, it is better to use it for two or three years after, for the growing of such tillage- crops, as are most suitable to a clayey soil, such as barley, flax, &c The soil will grow better, year af- ter year, till the sand, Sec. is tho- roughly mixed with the soil; after which it will be fruitful forever without large dressings. Hoed crops will mix it sooner than any other method, and without any ex- pense. A small quantity of dung, each year that it bears a hoed, or a green crop will be proper : And the most suitable dungs, are those of horses and sheep, pigeons and other fowls, which by their heat will correct the natural coldness of the soil. Folding with sheep has an excellent effect on this kind of land. Such a stiff soil is also mended by frequent ploughings. The Eu- ropeans allow three ploughings previously to feeding, to be enough for a free soil ; but to a clayey soil they give four or five. The oftener it is stirred with the plough, the more the cohesion of the particles is broken, and the more easily the roots of plants can penetrate it in search for their food. But it never shouldbe ploughed when it is sowet astopotch with the feetof the cattle, or to run like mortar. In this condi- tion the more it is worked the stiffer it will become. On the other hand, when it is very dry, it cannot well be ploughed, by reason of its hard- ness. Suitable seasons should be embraced, for ploughing it, when it is neither too wet nor too dry. At the first ploughing it comes up in large clods ; but the oftener it is CL A CLE 141 ploughed in fit times, the smaller the clods will be, and the more fine mould will be among them. Exposing the clods to the sun and air has some tendency to mel- low the soil : But a winter-furrow is of very great advantage. The frost does much towards breaking the cohesion, as I have found by experience. Clay soils, after all the amelio- ration that can be given them, will be more suitable, for some plants than for others. Those plants in general which require a great de- gree of heat, or a long summer, are not so well adapted to be cul- tivated in a clayey soil, such as In- dian corn, tobacco, &c. But it may be made to produce good crops of wheat, grass, barley, oats, flax, &c. Fruit trees in general, and I think all sorts, excepting pear- trees, answer but poorly in a clayey soil, how much soever the surface may have been mixt with other substances. The roots of trees will need to draw some of their nourishment from a part of the soil below that which has been melio- rated by mixing; but the compact- ness of it will scarcely suffer them to penetrate it. Fallowing and green-dressing may help to pulverize a clayey soil; and sowing it frequently with pease is recommended. Any crop that forms a close cover for the surface, causes the soil to rot, breaks the cohesion of its particles, and prevents the ground from har- dening by the influence of the sun. A clay soil on which water stands must be water furrowed, and ploughed in ridges. Sometimes drains will be necessary......Yc;r- Jingland Farmer. The United States abound with a variety of excellent clays, proper for even fine wares. In North-Ca- rolina a large body is said to have been found before the revolutionary war, some of which was taken to England and highly^ approved of by Mr. Wedgwood. Will any gentleman forward a specimen to us of the clay alluded to ? In that part of the South Moun- tain, where the Cotocton Mountain separates from it, in Washington county,Maryland, in Conocogeague settlement, an argillaceous earth has been found, which bears all the characters of the Argilla Porcelai- na of Linnecus. It lies in immense bodies along the strata of iron ore, and is called Mine-clay by the miners. Before the late revolutionary war, a china manufactory was establish- ed in Philadelphia, and some ex- cellent specimens made at it, are still to be found. The clay was brought from White Clay Creek, Delaware, as we have been in- formed.] CLEAVERS, or Clivers. See Goose-Grass. [CLEM ATlS,Crispa. Curled Vir- gin's Bower. This plant has weak stalks, which rise near four feet high, and by their claspers fasten themselves to their neighbouring plants. The corolla is purple, in- side curled; flowers in June. There are other species, natives of the United States. The Clematis recta, or upright Virgin's Bower, is highly praised by Baron Stoerck in inveterate syphilitic cases, in ulcers, and severe head-aches..... It acts as a diuretic and diaphore- tic. He used an extract of the leaves, but he chiefly recommends an infusion of the fresh leaves, two 142 C L I or three drams to a pint of boiling water, four ounces to be taken three times a day, whilst the powdered leaves are applied to the ulcers. Most of the species arc acrid, and corrosive, and may be used for raising blisters, where cantharides, or the American blistering fly can- not be had. The latter insect is very fond of the Clematis crispa, and it would be well for medical gentlemen in the country to pro- pagate the plant about their resi- dence, in order to secure a constant supply of those valuable insects.] CLIFF-KALE, or Sea-Kale.... See Sea-Colewort. CLERGY, Benefit of, is an ancient privilege, by which a per- son in holy orders may claim to be delivered to his ordinary, to purge himself of felony. It was formerly confined exclusively to the clergy, but has been extended, since the Reformation, to the laity. Accord- ingly, by the 1 Edw. IV. c. 12, all Lords of Parliament, and Peers of the Realm, shall be discharged, in all clergyable and other felonies, provided for by the act, without being burnt in the hand, or trans- ported....or at most being impri- soned only for one year....in the same manner as real clerks con- vict are. By the same act, all the commons, not in orders, whether male or female, shall, for the first offence, be discharged of the pu- nishment of felonies, within the benefit of clergy, on being burnt in the hand, and suffering a discretion- ary imprisonment, or, in case of larceny, on being transported for seven years, if the court shall think proper. CLIMATE, is a term usually given to any country or region, that differs from another, as well with respect to the seasons and CLI quality of the soil, as to the man- ners of its inhabitants. The climate of [England], though in general temperate, is extremely variable. The transi- tions from heat to cold, however sudden in Britain, are less severe- ly felt, than upon the Continent. Yet these frequent changes are productive of many diseases. This island is peculiarly subject to showers, and to close, cloudy, foggy weather; which must be ascribed to its insular situation. Clouds are continually waited over from the sea, by every wind, and condensed by the cold land-air, as also by the humid vapours arising from plants, and thus precipitated in rain. From this circumstance, an uninterrupted continuance of dry weather is seldom experienced in G. Britain. But, though such frequent changes, together with the moist and cold air so generally prevalent, render the inhabitants of this country liable to many dis- orders, yet the more malignant epidemics are less fatal, and occur less frequently, than in most conti- nental regions ; because we enjoy the benefit of pure and temperate sea-winds, and are exempt from the two extremes of heat and cold. The moisture of the British air, indeed, tends to relax the fibres ; but it aFo promotes accretion, while its cool temperature condenses the solids, and invigorates the whole body. Hence it happens, that the natives of Great-Britain are, in general, stouter, and more robust than those of other countries; and, though many persons here are subject to scorbutic and rheumatic complaints, arising from these va- rious causes, to which must be ad- ded their gross and solid, or luxuri- ous food, yet a far greater propor- CLI C L I 143 tion of the inhabitants of this island lives to an advanced age, than of those of any continental country. This .assertion, however, chiefly relates to salubrious farms and vil- lages, where the people are more temperate, and less debauched by spirituous liquors, than in towns. We may farther remark, that the prevailing custom of wearing light and thin dresses, especially among females, is by no means conducive to longevity ; for, as those votaries of fashion and caprice, are in all seasons, exposed to colds and rheu- matic complaints, many of them at length contract pulmonary, or consumptive diseases, and fall vic- tims of folly, at a period of life, when they ought to be most useful to society. The solid, nutritive food of the inhabitants, in general, is likewise a principle cause of many diseases originating from repletion ; yet it must at the same time be admit- ted, that such substantial nutriment greatly contributes totheirstrength, their full, athletic size, and florid complexion.....Those of our read- ers, who wish to acquire additional information on this subject, we re- fer to Dr.W.Falconer's elaborate " Remarks on the influence of Cli- mate, Situation, Nature of Country, Population, Nature of Food, Way of Life: on the Dispositions and Temper, Manners, and Behaviour, Intellects,Laws, and Customs,Forms of Government, and Religion of Mankind" (4to. 18s. DilIy....Maw- man, 1781), in which this interest- ing topic is minutely and ingeni- ously discussed. [In a work chiefly of a domestic nature, a philosophical digression into the various causes which influ- ence the climate of countries in ge- neral, and of the United States in particular cannot be expected. It may however be useful to state a few facts on the subject, from Mr. Kirwan's admirable treatise enti- tled "An Estimate of the tempera- ture of different latitudes." 1. Elevation diminishes the mean temperature of places. If this elevation be moderate, or at the rate of six feet per mile from the nearest sea, then for every 200 feet, of elevation, allow A of a degree for the diminution of the mean an- nual temperature. 2. Next to elevation, distance from the standard ocean seems to have the most considerable effect uponthemean annual temperature. Mr. K. attributes the effect of dis- tance from the standard ocean, to the unequal capacities of land and water for heat; but Mr. Dalton, of Manchester, observes, that this alone appears inadequate to the effect, and he concludes, after some ingenious reasoning, that in the temperate zones, the western coasts of all continents and large Llandst will have a higher mean temperature than the eastern coasts under the same parallel; and, particularly, will have more moderate winters. 3. All countries lying to the windward of high mountains, and extensive forests, are warmer than those lying to the leeward, in the same latitude. Countries that lie southward of any sea, are warmer than those that have that sea to the south of them. Islands participate most of the temperature of the sea, and are therefore not subject to the ex- tremes of heat and cold so much as continents. The temperatures of different years, differ very little near the equator, but they diner more and more as the latitudes approach the poles. The climate of Pennsylvania, 144 C L O east of the Alleghany mountains, has unquestionably become much milder in the course of the last forty years. To account for this fact is perhaps a difficult task. On this, subject the reader is re- ferred to Dr. Williamson's inte- resting paper in the first volume of the American Philosophical Trans- actions : and to Dr. Rush's Ac- count of the climate of Pennsylva- nia ; and for an ingenious discus- sion of the causes of the remark- able difference which exists be- tween the temperature of the United States of America, and the corresponding parallels of latitude in Europe," Doct. Barnwell's " Physical Investigations" may be consulted. In the fourth vol. of the American Philosophical Transactions may also be found some interesting observations on the climate of the western parts of Pennsylvania, particularly those in the neighbourhood of Lake Erie, by Mr. A. Ellicott.] Clock. See Time-piece. CLOSE-STOOL, a chamber implement of considerable utility to patients and invalids ; though it has lately been in a great measure superseded by the invention of water-closets. These, however, be- ing attended with such expense as to preclude many families from their acquisition, it may be useful to mention an easy method of sup- pressing the fetid exhalation aris- ing from vessels of the former des- cription, when kept in sick-rooms, especially during the night. A fo- reign writer suggests the follow- ing expedient: Take a handful (we suppose three or four ounces) of green vitriol ; dissolve it in half a gallon of boiling water; and, when cold, pour a quart of it on the feces immediately after each stool. In this simple manner, we C LO are informed, the most unpleasant stench will be effectually neutra- lized ; a circumstance of great importance in putrid and malig- nant fevers. Clot-burr. See Burdock. CLOTH, in commerce, a manu- facture made of wool, cotton, flax, hemp, See. woven in a loom. In this place, however, we shall treat only of woollen cloths ; these are of various qualities, fine or coarse, which depend on a variety of cir- cumstances. The best wools for manufactur- ing cloth are those of England and Spain, especially of Lincolnshire and Segovia. In order to use them to the best advantage, they should be previously scoured, in a hot li- quor consisting of three parts of pure water, and one of urine..... When it has soaked a sufficient time in this liquor, to dissolve the grease, it is drained, and properly washed in running water : as soon as it feels somewhat rough, and is divested of all smell, except the natural one of the sheep, it is said to be properly scoured. The wool is next exposed to dry completely in the shade ; after which it is beaten with rods upon wooden hur- dles, or on cords, to cleanse it from the dust and grosser filth, and pre- pare it for spinning, when it must be well picked, in order to separate the remaining impurities. After this process, it is oiled with oil of olives, and given to the spin- ners, who first card it on the knee with small fine cards, and then spin it on a wheel; care being tak- en to make the thread of the warp one third less than that of the woof, and to twist the former more com- pactly. The thread is then reeled, and formed into skeins : that de- signed for the warp is wound on small tubes, pieces of paper, or C L O rushes, so disposed that they may be easily put in the eye of the shut- tle ; that intended for the warp is wound on large wooden bobbins. As soon as it is warped, stiffened with size, and dried, it is mounted on the loom. The weavers, of whom there are two to each loom, tread alternately, on the right, and on the left step of the treddle, which raises and lowers the threads of the warp equally; betweenwhich latter they throw the shuttle trans- versely, the one to the other.... Every time the shuttle is thrown, and a thread of the woof inserted in the warp, they strike it jointly with the same frame : to this is at- tached the comb, or reed, through the teeth of which the threads of the warp have been previously passed ;.the blow being repeated as often as is necessary. Flaving filled the whole warp with the woof, the cloth is unrolled from the beam on which it had been wound while weaving, and given to be cleansed from the knots, ends of thread, Sec. an operation which is usually per- formed with iron nippers. In this state it is carried to the fullery, and scowered with urine, or with a species of potter's clay steeped in water. As soon as the cloth is again cleared from the earth or urine, it is returned to the former hands, for taking off', as be- fore, the smaller straws, &c. when it is delivered to the fuller, to he beaten and fulled with hot water, in which a proper quantity of sol,[j has been dissolved. Alter this se- cond fulling, it is smoothed, or pulled lengthways by the lists, in order to take out all wrinkles and unevenness. This operation is con- tinued till the cloth is brought to a proper breadth, when it is washed in clear water, to cleanse it from vol. II. C L O 145 the soap, and afterwards given wet to the carders, to raise the hair, or nap, with the teasel ( Dipsacus ful- lonum, L.) The cloth-worker then takes it in hand, and performs what is called, the first shearing, after which it is again delivered us the carders, who pass it repeatedly un- der the teasel, in proportion to the quality of the stuff. It is next re- turned to the cloth-worker, and from him to the carders, where the same operation is continued till the nap on the surface be properly ranged. Thus prepared, the cloth is sent to the dyer, who, after having given it the proper colour, immerses it in pure water, and delivers it, while wet, to the worker. The latter lays the nap with a brush on the table; and then suspends it on tenters, where it is sufficiently stretched, and brushed while wet, in order to bring it to its proper dimensions. As soon as it is completely dried, it is again brushed on the table, to finish the laying of the nap , after which it is folded, and laid cold un- der a press, to make it smooth, and to give it a gloss. When it is taken out of the press, and the papers for glossing it are removed, the cloth is fit for immediate sale or use. With respect to the manufacture of mixed cloths, or those in which the wools are dyed previously to their being wrought, the process varies but little from that just de- scribed, except in what relates to the colour. Cloth, in general, constitutes one of the most necessary articles of domestic convenience : hence ma- ny ingenious persons have attempt- ed to discover substitutes for Flax and Hem:1, of which we shall give a short account, in their alphabe- tical order. U 146 C L O Woollen cloths being liable to be stained, or soiled, by a variety of accidents, different methods have been contrived to remove such spots, and thus restore the cloth to its former beauty. When stained with grease, fullers' earth, pure pot-ash, or other absorbents, will produce the desired effect. Spots of ink, or other stains, may be taken out by the acid of sorrel, or the oxalic acid (essential suit of le- mons), and the colour restored by alkalies, or by a solution of tin. It frequently happens, however, that spots are owing to different un- known causes, which render it ne- cessary to recur to compositions possessing various powers. For this purpose, Chaptal recom- mends white soap to be dissolved in alkohol: in this solution are to be mixed the yolks of four or five eggs, to which should be gradually added, some spirit of turpentine and fullers' earth, in such propor- tion as to give the whole mixture, when stirred, a due consistence for being formed into balls. The spots, after being wetted, are to be rubbed with these balls ; when the cloth also should be well washed, and cleansed. Thus, every kind of spots (those of ink, or other solu- tions of ircn excepted) may be ef- fectually removed. In February, 1796, a patent was granted to Mr. John Grimshaw, of Strines-hall, Derbyshire, calico- printer, for his invention of certain substances to be used in clearing, or bleaching, printed, stained, or dyed woollen, and other cloths.... The principal ingredient employed by the patentee appears to be, the common grains which remain after brewing, and which are put into a close vessel, in order ta become CLO sour. This is usually effected in six days in hot, and in about eight days, in cold weather. As soon as the grains have acquired the neces- sary degree of acidity, three or four bushels of them are directed to be put into a common-sized calico- printer's copper pan, nearly full of water. Into this mixture the stain- ed cloth are repeatedly immersed, and turned over a winch or reel placed across the pan. The opera- tion is continued from five to fif- teen minutes, during which the mixture is directed to boil gently; the pieces are then taken out, and washed immediately, either in hot or cold water, and treated in the same manner as goods that are cleared with bran. When twelve or sixteen pieces have been thus cleaned, an additional bushel of sour grains is to be added, and the pan filled up with water : when it boils, the operation may be repeat- ed with other cloths, as before. See Bleaching. Cloth*. See Moths. Clotweed. See Burdock the Lesser. CLOUD-BERRY, or Moun- tain Bramble, the Rubus chama- moruf., L. an indigenous species of the raspberry-bush, which grows in peat-bogs, and on the sides of mountains. This plant seldom exceeds one foot in height, produces white blos- soms in the month of May or June, and afterwards red berries. These are not unpleasant to the taste, and are frequently brought to the table with the dessert, in the Highlands of Scotland, as well as in the more northern parts of Europe, where they are reputed to be an excellent antiscorbutic. CLOVF. a term used in weigh- CLO C L O 147 ing wool, consisting of 7 lbs. In Essex, 8 lbs. of cheese or butter make a clove. CLOVE-PINK or Carnation, the Dianthus caryophyllus, L. be- longs to a genus of plants com- prising twenty eight species ; of which six only are natives of En- gland. The carnation in its wild state, grows on old walls, and is found among the ruins of ancient castles. It usually flowefs in the month of June or July. Although clove-pinks will thrive in almost any garden soil, yet they delight most in those of a light loamy nature. They are propagat- ed chiefly by seed, in March or April, and generally come up in a month after sowing. When pro- perly weeded and watered till July, they will be fit for transplanting into nursery-buds, which should be about three feet wide, and in an open situation. In these beds, the plants are 'to be pricked during moist weather, at the distance of four inches from each other, and moderately watered ; which should be occasionally repeated, till they have taken good root. In Septem- ber, they will be fit to be finally transplanted into other beds of good earth, about three feet wide, in rows nine inches asunder. Flere they are to remain till spring ; but if the winter prove very severe, they should be shelteredwith mats. In the vernal season, they ought to be carefully weeded with a hoe, and the flower-stalks must be tied up to sticks, in order to prevent their drooping, by which their growth would be retarded. Ciove-pinks have a pleasant aro- matic odour, and are said to be cardiac and alcxipharmic. A de- coction of these flowers has been successfully used in malignant fe- vers; and, asPAULLi asserts, they raise the animal spirits, quench thirst, and powerfully promote both perspiration and the secretion of urine, without occasioning great irritation. CLOVER, a species of trefoil, or Trifoli'im, L. a genus of plants comprising 5 5 species, of which only 16 are indigenous in England: of these, the following are the prin- cipal. 1 .Thepratense,orcommon [red] clover, which is frequently found in meadows and pastures. This species thrives beston a firm heavy soil, and is raised from seed, which is usually sown between the months of February and [ April,]in the pro- portion of ten or fifteen pounds per acre. If it be often sown on the same land, the crop will fail ; it should therefore be changed for trefoil or lucerne. Common [red] clover is usually sown together with wheat, in the spring, as well as with barley and oats; but experienced farmers ge- nerally prefer wheat; ai, in dry seasons, the clover frequently over- powers the oats or barley; and, if it be sown late, in order to obviate this evil, it often fails, and the crop is lost for that season. It is also mixed with rye-grass ; and, if mown when the latter is beginning to flower, the lower growth is con- siderably increased, and a great quantity of excellent grass is ob- tained. Another advantage arises from this expedient ; for, however severe the frost may be, the clover will be completely screened from its piercingefl'ectsby the rye-gras-. The common clover is in flower from May to September, and pro- duces seeds which are known to be ripe by the stalks and heads chang- ing their colour. Cattle, sheep, and 148 C L O C L O pigs are exceedingly fond of this species, and frequently eat of it so eagerly as to become hoven or bLwn. That disorder,, however, may be prevented by constantly moving them about the field, when turned in, so that the first ball may sink into their maw before the next be deposited. Or, if cattle be turn- ed into clover belly-deep, they will, it is said, receive no injury by eat- ing too freely of it; as it is perni- cious only in its earlier state.... Should they, nevertheless, be at- tacked with that dangerous swell- ing, they may be relieved by adopt- ing the remedies pointed out under the article Cattle, vol. i. It deserves to be noticed, that the introduction of this beneficial plant into1 modem husbandry, has been attended with numerous and important advantages. Since that period, the new system of stall- feeding dates its origin. Many in- significant farms, on the Continent of Europe, have since been con- verted into valuable estates ; for, as this species of clover is annually productive of three or four crops, for two years at least, it is gene- rally ploughed in, after the last mowing, in autumn, and wheat or rye, immediately sown on the land, without any other manure, except what is derived from the fertilizing roots of that vegetable. Sometimes, however, gypsum is scattered on such fields during winter: in Penn- sylvania, this operation is general- ly performed during the months of March or April. In Sweden, the headsare employ- ed for dyeing wool of a green co- lour; and if mixed with alum, they yield a light, if with copperas, a dark green colour. 2. The medium, or red perennial clover, which is found in pastures, hedges, and on the sides of woods. It thrives on a rich soil, whether clay or gravel, and will even "grow upon a moor, if properly cultivated. It grows spontaneously on marl- land; but is usually reared from seed, which should be put in the ground from the middle of April to the middle of May. This spe- cies, as well as the common clover, is frequently sown together with flax, on a soil highly cultivated for that purpose; and, as the latter is a forward plant, it is generally re- moved soearly as to allow the clover time for growing. Red clover is sometimes sown by itself; but this practice is by no means to be re- commended ; for the crop is liable to be lost, unless it be sheltered in its infant state, during the severity of the winter, [or from a hot sun.] When red clover is intended for seed, the ground ought to be care- fully cleared of weeds, that the seed may be preserved pure. It is col- lected both from the first and se- cond crop, but principally from the former. WThen one half of the field has changed its colour, by the dry- ing of the clover heads, the reaping of them may then be commenced. In America, this is effected by two implements, which are described in the Tram,. N. Y. Agric. Soc. and were invented in Brcokhaven, Suf- folk county, N.York, by Mr.L'HoM- medieu, and for ingenuity and simplicity of construction, deserve to be greatly recommended : we have therefore subjoined the fol- low ing'representations : Dimensions. 1, 2, The shafts, 4 feet 4 inches long, and three feet asunder. 3, 4, The handles, 3 feet long, and 20 inches apart. 5, The fingers, or teeth, thirteen inches long. C L O C L O 149 iiiilllliii The wheels are sixteen inches m diameter. This machine is drawn by one horse, and guided by a man or boy; it simply consists of an open box, about 4 feet square at the bottom, and about three in height, on three sides; to the fore part, which is open, fingers are fixed, similar to those of a cradle, about 3 feet in length, and so near as to break off the heads from the clover-stocks between them, which are thrown back into the box as the horse ad- vances. The box is fixed en an axle-tree, supported by two small wheels, two feet in diameter; two handles are fixed to the hinder part, by means of which the driver, while he manages the horse, raises or lowers the fingers of the ma- chine, so as to take off all the heads of the grass ; and, as often as the box is filled with them, they are thrown out, and the horse goes on as before. This instrument is called a cra- dle, and is made of an oak board aoout 18 iin.nes in length and 10 in breadth. The fore-part of it, to the length of 9 inches, is sawed into fingers; a handle is inserted behind, inclined towards them, and a cloth put round the back part of the board, which is cut some- what circular, and raised on the handle; this collects the heads or tops of the grass, and prevents them from scattering, as they are struck off by the cradle, which m?.y be made of different sizes ; being smaller in proportion for wo- men and children, who, by means of it, may likewise collect large quantities. Mr. L'Hommedieu says, as soon as the clover is mown, it should be immediately raked into small heaps, and exposed about three weeks in the field, to pro- mote the decay of the husk, as otherwise it will be difficult to ob- tain the seed. These heaps should be occasionally turned, especially during wet weather. It may, how- ever, be easily ascertained, whether the husks are sufficiently rotten, or dry, by rubbing the heads or tops between the hands : when that is effected, they should be housed, and the seed threshed out when convenient, and cleared with a wire riddle. Lastly, this species is a valuable substitute for the common clover, as it continues much longer in the land. 150 CLO [Upon the subject of collecting cloverseed, Mr. L'Hommedieu ob- serves further; by sowing three or four pounds of s*eed to the acre, on light loamy soils, which yield eight or ten bushels of wheat or rye per acre, the clover will not be profit- able to mow, but standing thin on the ground, the heads will be well filled with seed. The fields are to be kept up next year, till the seed is collected, by the machine repre- sented above. On rich lands, no seed comes with the first crop, but the second crop being shorter and thinner, is commonly well seeded. Sometimes, indeed, considerable quantities of seed are gathered from the first crop, on land where wheat has been cut the same 1 year: the stubble, preventing the clover from growing too thick to produce seed. If the land be rich, and it is intended to sow the fiist crop, and collect seed from the se- cond, eight lbs. are not too much for one acre. Red clover is an essential article in the rotation of crops in Pennsyl- vania, and the immense riches which the whole state has acquired during the last twenty years, may, in part, justly be ascribed to this grass aided by the almost magical fertilizing power of gypsum, by which more wealth has been intro- duced than would have resulted from the discovery of a gold mine. If it is intended to sow clover upon winter barley, wheat, or rye, many farmers prefer sowing the seed in March, and when the ground is covered with snow; as it can be seen whether the seed is strewed evenly. If all the seed be sown in February or March, and a dry season should follow, while the roots are young and tender, the CLO crop of grass will be lost. Mr. L'Hommedieu therefore finds it a safer way, to sow one half the clover seed proposed for an acre, at the time the wheat is sown, and the other half on the same land, in the last of the winter, or the first of the spring. Probably the diversity of opini- on with respect to the proper time for sowing clover seed, may arise from the difference in the na- ture of the soils on which trials have been made. An experienced agriculturist (Edward Duffield Esq.) of Philadelphia county, as- sures the Editor that he repeatedly failed in obtaining a crop when he sowed his clover in the autumn or winter, and that he is uniformly successful when he sows in the spring. His soil is a light loam. The quantity of seed allowed to an acre is various, but it is evident, that the more seed, the more bene- fit will be derived from the grass, both as an ameliorater of the soiJ> and as a destroyer of weeds. The quantity of hay produced will also be much greater. Twenty pints to an acre, however, need not be ex- ceeded. Mr. Bordley says, a box for sowing clover seed on flat wheat beds rather than ridges, five and an half feet w ide, exclusive of the water or opening furrow, seven feet inclusive, was made of light half inch boards, for the sides, bot- tom; and partitions, it was seven feet long, five or six inches wide, that the seed lying thin might easi- ly shift about and not press heavily on the outlet holes. The box was three inches deep, and divided into seven parts, each division having two holes bored through the bot- tom half an inch in diameter, and placed diagonally. The holes were CLO singed with a hot iron to smooth them. Square pieces of strong writing paper were pasted over the holes, on the inside of the box. A hole was burnt, with coarse knit- ting needles, through each paper. At about a third of the distance from each end of the box, were fastened strong leather straps, by which the box was held, and a lit- tle agitated in carrying it before the seedsman, in a direction cross- ing the beds, while the seedsman walked along the beds. By an ex- periment made by Mr. B. it ap- peared, that the growth from the box sowing, was thicker, and more equally distant than that from the broad cast, and the plants were sufficiently close. The seeds were left on the ground of the field of wheat without any means used to cover them. The seven feet lands were preferred to 5| feet lands. The water furrows were included both in the 7 feet and the 5-£ feet lane's. After many experiments, beds were preferred to ridges, 1. be- cause the soil being alike in quality on the whole of the bed, the wheat grew equally well from edge to edge; 2d.in reaping, the wheat was better saved ; 3. the furrows being opened deep, the greatest rains presently glided into the furrows, and were by them conveyed into the main drains cf this flat Ian!. The beds were separated by deep water furrows formed by a double mould board plough, dipt deep by the power of only two horses. When clean clover seeds are sown on a clean ground and har- rowed in, numbers are smothered under small lumps of earth, as well as under larger ones. This waste does not take' place when seed is J eft on the ground, or under f.:.u\\. CLO 151 Clover seed of a bright yellow, with a good quantity of the purple and brown coloured seed among it, (which shews the maturity of the seed) should be preferred. When thoroughly ripe, and well got in, the vegetative power will continue for three or four years. Lancaster county seed is preferred to that of any other place. The late A. C. Du Plaine gave me the following account of a crop of clover which he raised at Kensington on one acre of ground. He ploughed deep in the autumn and manured with leached or spent ashes ; in the following spring he ploughed in March and sowed bar- ley after one harrowing; he har- rowed again ; then sowed clover seed at the rate of 20lbs to the acre: and reversing the harrow, and fil- ling the spaces between the teeth with brush, went over the ground. He had forty-five bushels of barley per acre, and a small cutting of clover the first year in September: but the succeeding summer his ground yielded light tons at three cuttings. Mr. D. was a man of the highest integrity, the account may therefore be depended upon. Great care must be taken to pre- vent cattle from becoming hoven, by feeding on green clover. This is done by permitting them to fill themselves with other pasture or food, and at first turning them into the clover field for a short time, say twenty or thirty minutes, in the midle of the dav, and tuni them out the moment they shew a disposi- tion to wander or lie .'.,'. They must never Ik turned in,during wet weather. This mode of pasturing is only recommended as the most saving to those who will not snil, as achiued under the article Cattle. 152 CLO Two kinds of red clover are sown in Pennsylvania. One is particu- larly distinguished by the name of Butch clover, and grows much better, and with a thicker stalk than the other. From this peculiarity, the hay made of it, is not equal in quality to that made from the com- mon sort, but is preferable as a preparative for wheat, if ploughed in, or after one crop ; and would answer admirably for soiling. It may be well to have both kinds of clover on a farm. Hogs thrive exceedingly upon clover, and when soiled, no food is more economical. A statement of the number of hogs fed by a certain quantity of clover, near Wilming- ton, Delaware, shall be given un- der the article " Hogs." In the State of Pennsylvania, clover is not, in general, permitted to continue in the ground longer than two years It is then plough- ed in, and other grain sown. See Wheat, Rye, Oats, Rotation of Crops, Pasture, Hay.] 3. The procumbens or hop-clo- ver, or hop trefoil, which grows in dry meadows and pastures. It ilort ers in the months of June and July. When mixed with common clover, on light land, it makes a most excellent fodder. This plant is variously called back-grass and nonsuch. 4. The repens, or white-clover, which abounds in meadows and pastures. It also delights in light land, where it will thrive luxuriant- ly, if frequently rolled. It is usu- ally sown with red clover, rye-grass, or barley, and is in blossom from May to September. It produces the sweetest hay on dry land, espe- cially when mixed with hop-clover and rye-grass ; and possesses this ad\ antage over the common clover, CLO that it will admit of being irrigated. Horses, cows, and goats eat it, hut sheep are not fond of it, and hogs totally refuse it. [ VV hite clover, whether soiled or pastured, is one of the most valu- able grasses for cattle. It is evi- dently a natural grass of the coun- try, and uniformly appears in our meadows south of the city, when closely nibbled by sheep or cattle; and a gentleman who lias travelled much through the hostile Indian country, says, he has seen fields covered with this grass. The re- port, therefore, as stated, by Mr. Strickland, to prevail among the Indians, that this plant is not to be met with but where white men have trodden, must be without founda- tion. The sweet blossoms of white clo- ver powerfully attract the bees, all summer, but it is chiefly in the months of May and June, that this aliment is collected and stored in hives : and it is observed that clo- ver honey may be easily distinguish- ed from that of any other flowers in the hive. It is much to be re- gretted, tho' the flowers of the red clover yield the greatest quantity of honey, yet the honey bees profit but little by them, because the tubes or nectaries of the florets are so long, that they cannot reach to the hot'.cm, where the honey lies; for which reason it is observed that, the red clover is hut little visited by bees....they yield place to the great hermit bees, or wood-borer, and humble bees, which being fur- nished with strong beaks that sheath their tongues, pierce the lower parts of these lubes, and suck the honey. White clover, v. hen mixed with Timothy, or green grass, (7;0<7 vi>'i- (//■^ makes excclk-iiLh-.y.Seel-lAi.] CLO The great utility of clover in fattening cattle is well known: we shall, therefore, conclude this ar- ticle with recommending the prac- tice of tippling, generally followed in the north of England, for pre- serving clover in wet seasons...... This is effected by rolling up the grass, immediately after it has been mown, into bundles, or tipples of the size of a small barley sheaf. A band is then drawn out from one side, which is twisted and tied firmly round: the tipple being placed between the knees, the part above the band is drawn through the hands with a twist, and the longest grasses are pulled out, so as to tie in a knot, which finishes the point of the cone, and forms the tipple. The advantages of this practice are obvious to the most superficial observer, as the rain is carried off in a mannersimilarto the thatch of a house ; and the sun and wind thoroughly penetrate it, so as to prevent fermentation. In Scotland, when clover is made into hay, it is formed into ricks, containing from 40 to 60 stone weight, within two or three days after it is cut; thus it remains for two or three weeks, till it is collected into long stacks, some of which consist of 10,000 stone..... Few instances occurof hay preserv- ed in this manner, being damaged by heating ; nor is there the least danger of its taking fire. CLOVE-TRFE, or Caryophyl- lus aromaticus, L. a native of the Molucca Islands, particularly of Amboyna, where it is chiefly cul- tivated. The clove-tree resembles the olive in its bark, and the laurel in its height and leaves : no grass grows under it. Adorned with nu- merous branches, it produces vast quantities of flowers, which are at VOL. n. CLO 153 first white, then green, and at last red and hard. When they arrive at this degree of maturity, they are properly speaking, cloves : in a dry state, they assume a dark yellowish cast, and at length a deep brown. Cloves acquire weight by imbib- ing water, when suspended above it, even at some distance. The Dutch, who were formerly in the sole possession of the clove-trade, are supposed to have frequently taken advantage of that property ; but such nefarious practices may be easily detected.by squeezing the cloves with the hand, and express- ing their moisture. This spice possesses a very fra- grant, agreeable scent, and a bitter- ish pungent taste, which, in a man- ner, burns the mouth and throat, Considered as a medicine, cloves are very hot, stimulating aromaiics. When distilled, they yield a limpid essential oil, which is often, though improperly, employed for curing the tooth-ach; as, from its pungent nature,it is apt to corrode the gums and injure the adjacent teeth. Club-grass. See Club-rush. CLUB-MOSS, or Lrc^dium^ L. a native genus of plants, com- prising six species, the principal of which are....l. The clavatum, or common club-moss, which grows in dry mountainous places, heaths, and woods. It is principally found in the north of England; produces a prostrate creeping stem, from one to three yards in length; flow- ers from July to August, and bears seeds, which, if infused in ropy wine, will, in a few days restore it. When thrown into a fire, these seeds emit a bright flash, and also possess the peculiar property of be- ing almost impervious to moisture, so that if they are scattered on a bason of water, the hand mav be X 154 CLU immersed to the bottom, without being wetted......In the north of Europe they are pulverised, and applied externally for curing chaps in the skin and other sores. Beau- tiful m,.ts, or summer carpets, are manufactured of the stalks of this plant in Sweden. 2. The sela% >, or fir-leaved club-moss, which is very common on the mountainous heaths in the Hi ihlands of Sco land, the He- bridcs, and in the northern parts of Engl and. This plant rises from two to five inches in height, and is in bloom 'Yrmi April to October. In the island of Raasay, in Ross- shire, and likewise in some other places, the inhabitants emplov it as a substitute for alum, to fix the co- lour in dyeing. The Swedes make a decoction of it, and apply it to hogs and cattle, for the destruction of vermin. The Highlanders also occasionally take an infusion of it, as an emetic and cathartic, but it operates violently ; and unless tak- en in a small dose, causes giddi- ness and convulsions. CLUB-RUSH, or Scirpus, L. a native genus of plants, consisting of twelve species, the following are the principal: 1. The palustris, or marsh creep- ing club-rush, which thrives on the banks of rivers, ponds/ and ditches, and is chiefly found in the western parts of England. It is perennial, grows from six inches to two feet hi;;h, flowers in the month of June or July. Hogs ea- gerly devour the roots of this spe- cies when fresh, but will not touch them when dry. They are also eaten by goats and horses, but re- fused by cows and sheep. 2. The lacustri'--. See Bull- rush. 3. The maritimus, or salt-marsh CL Y club-rush, which is found on the sea-oast mar Yarmouth, and also near Shirley-wych, Sta.Tord. It is perennial, and flowers in Uie month of July or August. Cows eat this plant ; and its tuberous roots, when dried and ground to powder, have, in times of scarcity, been used as a good substitute for flour. CLYSTERS,or Injkctions, or Lavemens, are liquid remedies in- troduced into the larger intestines, by the rectum. The most usual clystering machines are those con- sisting simply of the bladder of a hog, sheep or ox, in which an ivory pipe is fastened with pack-thread. A more convenient and durable sort is prepared of India-rubber, instead of a bladder; though the French and Germans employ, in preference, a long pewter syringe by which the liquor may, with more ease and expedition,be drawn in, and likewise more forcibly ex- pelled, than from a bladder. Both methods, however, are in many in- stances, liable to great objections, especially the former, which cannot be administered without the assist- ance of another person; even though the patient should possess sufficient strength and dexterity to perform the operation. Hence we cannot, in justice to Mr. Savigny, ofKing-street,Covent-garden,omit to mention his newly invented ma- chine for lavemens; which for sim- plicity of construction, facilitv in using it, cleanliness and durability, far surpasses every former contriv- ance. This machine is ingenious- ly adapted both for private use, and to admit of assistance. One of its essential advantages is, that the injection may be received into the body,without the least intene-n- tion of air ; because the cylinder containing the liquid is provided CLY C O A 155 with a piston, which, by gently pressing it clown upon the fluid, till it appears on the top of the ivory pipe expels the air, and thus pre- vents its introduction into the bo- wels :....ibe whole apparatus, in a mahogany case, is sold by Mr. Savigny, for one guinea and a half. Clysters form a very important class of medicines, which, if pro- perly understood and applied, might be effectually substituted for many remedies swallowed by the mouth, to the detriment of the stomach, as well as the whole ani- mal economy. For Nature never intended, that the receptacle of nourishment should become the la- boratory of drugs; the local effects of which, sooner or Filer, cannot fail to impair digestion, and lay the foundation of more serious evils than those deluded patients vainly imagined to remove. We shall not, however, in this place,ex- patiate upon the impropriety r.nd absurdity of these practices, which more properly belong to the article QUACK-MEDICINES. Clysteis not only serve to eva- cuate the contents of the belly, in cases of obstinate costiveness, but also to convey into the system me- dicinal preparations of great acti- vity. Thus opium, the Peruvian bark, &c. when they cannot be tak- en by the mouth, may be given in much larger doses, and with less danger: nay, the most nutritive and strengthening liquids may, in this manner, be administered to persons unable to swallow, so that their lives may be supported for many months, and even years, by means of clysters alone. In short, it may without hesitation be affirm- ed that injections are more con- formable to the intricate functions of the animal body, and doubtless safer than the introduction of me- dicines by the stcmach. Although clysters should never be administered too hot, or too cold yet there are certain complaints accompanied with such debil'ry of the larger intestines, and the abdo- minal muscles, as renders the ap- plication of cool liquids sometimes necessary : such Cases, however, must be determined by the experi- enced practitioner. In general, therefore, these remedies-are ghen in a tepid or luke warm state, that is from the 80th to the 96th degree of Fahrenheit's scale. The quantity used for adults, is from half a pint to one pint; and for children, according to their age, from two or three spoonfuls to Imif a pint. Anodyne Clyster...Take of either linseed-tea, or new milk, from half a pint or three quarters of a pint, and add from 40 to 60 drops of laudanum. Laxative Clyster......Milk and water, six ounces each ; sweet oil, or fresh butter, two ounces; and if a stronger dose be required, add one ounce of Glauber's salt, or two table spoonfuls of common salt. In inflammatory or putrid disorders, however, it will be more proper to inject a clyster compos- ed of two-thirds of thin gruel, and one-third of strong vinegar. For the various forms and ingre- dients of clysters, to answer differ- ent purposes, we refer to the arti- cles, Colic, Costivenkss, Dy- sentery, Flatulency, Hyste- rics, Urine, WrOKMs,-5kc. COACHES, are covered vehicles for travelling,suspended on springs and moved by wheels. Although these articles of convenience and luxury were not unknown to the 156 CO A CO A ancient Romans,yet the first coach appears to have been introduced into England by the Earl of Auun- d,el, who imported it from Ger- many, about the year 15HO. Hackney-Coaches, are those exposed to hire in the streets of London, as well as other large ci- ties, and paid at certain rates, which are fixed by legal authority. The number of hackney-coaches allowed in London and Westmin- ster, is 1000 ; which are licensed by Commissioners ; and their pro- prietors pay a weekly duty of ten shillings. Numbers, painted on tin plates, are affixed to each coach-door ; and their fares, or rates, are settled by parliament. Mail-Co aches, are post car- riages of a peculiar construction, being lighter, more elegant, and not so liable to be overturned as the common stage-coaches. For a cer- tain consideration, they carryTlis Majesty's mails ; are protected by a guard ; and subject to the regula- tions of the post-office. The time of their arrival and departure is fix- ed ; they are restricted to four in- side passengers ; generally travel seven miles in an hour ; and have been found very serviceable to the commerce and correspondence of this country. COAL, in mineralogy, a solid, inflammable, and bituminous sub- stance, commonly used for fuel : it consists of various species ; the principal of which are. 1. The Lithantrax, or Pit-coal ; a black, solid, compact, but brittle mass, and moderately hard, which retains its solidity, when heated... Its component parts according to Mr. Ki.'wax, are petrol, or as- phaltum, mixed with a small por- tion of argillaceous earth, and fre- quently blended with pyrites, or fire-stone. A red tincture is ex- tracted from this species of coal, by means of spirit of wine. 2. Culm-coal, which, together with a moderate quantity of petrol, has a larger proportion of argilla- ceous earth, and vitriolic acid, than the pit-coal, to which it bears a strong resemblance. Its texture is not so bright as that of the for- mer species ; and it burns with a flame, without being consumed, leaving a slate nearly of the same size as the original volume of the coal. 3. Slate-coal, which contains so large a quantity of argillaceous earth, that it has the appearance of common slate. It, nevertheless, burns by itself, with a flame, and is found principally in the quarries near Purbeck ; and in such abun- dance, that the poorer class of in- habitants in that neighbourhood are wholly supplied with it, for their common fuel. 4. The Ampelites, or Canal-coal, is of a dull black colour, and easily breaks in every direction. It burns with a bright flame, hut frequently flies to pieces in the fire: it may, however, be divested of this pro- perty, by being immersed in water for several hours, previously to its being used. As this coal is of an uniform, hard texture, it is readily turned on a lathe, and takes a good polish. Flence, it is used for making various toys, which greatly resem- ble those manufactured from the finest jet. 5. Kilkenny-coal is the lightest of the various species of this fossil. Although containing the largest proportion of asphaltuin, it emits less smoke and flame, produces a more intense degree of heat, and is more slowly consumed than the canal-coal. This valuable coal is C O A COA 157 chiefly found in the county of Kil- kenny, in Ireland. These are the principal varieties of coal most commonly known ; but they are not uniformly ot the same kind or nature, in the differ- ent places where they are found. On the contrary, the various pro- portions and qualities of their in- gredients, produce a great number of other varieties, which are calcu- lated for different purposes, accord- ing to the quantity and quality of their contents. Hence it happens, that various kinds of coal are often found intermixed in one stratum, and some of the finer sorts fre- quently run like veins among the coarser species. Coals are applied to various pur- poses, and are eminently useful in the smelting of ores, especially when burnt into coke (to which we refer); but, by these processes, considerable quantities of tar and pitch have hitherto been, inatten- tively, wasted. To obviate these losses, the ingenious Lord Dundo- nald erected ovens of a peculiar construction, for burning pit-coal into coke, and, at the same time, for collecting, in separate vessels, the volatile alkali, pitch, oil, and tar, which would otherVise have been dissipated. For this invention he obtained a patent, on the 30th of April, 1781, for 14 years; which term was afterwards, by an act of parliament, extended to 20 years, to commence from the 1st day of June, 1785. His ovens are so con- trived, as to admit the external air topass through the vessels,orbuild- ingscontainingthecoal, from which any of the above-mentioned sub- stances are to be extracted. After being kindled, the cods are decom- posed by a slew, but imperfect combustion, withoutdissipating the ingredients. The residuum in the oven, forms excellent cinders, or coke ; while the volatile particles are condensed in reservoirs, placed at proper distances. [Tar distilled from coal, was thought by Lord Dundonald, to be far superior to the common ve- getable tar, in preserving timber from the effects of the weather; and the bottoms of ships from the de- structive worm of the West Indies. Some comparative experiments were fried at New York about thir- teen years since, by which it ap- peared, that boards covered with common tar, and sunk in the river for several months, were much eat- en by worms, while a plank cover- ed with the coal tar remained un- touched. In consequence of this apparent proof of superiority, the bottoms of several vessels were coated with the tar, bought at the rate of 40 dollars per barrel. But the result of these trials has not served to extend and insure its character. Capt. Truxton informed the editor, that he " applied it to the bottom of a ship, and discovered nothing in it like a safe-guard from the worm;" and added, »4 that some years after Capt. Sarley, of New- York,commander of the ship Ame- rica, paved all the timbers and planks of his vessel with it, as a preservative of the wood, and I was informed on the ship's return from her first voyage, that it had caused a manifest decay of the frame." From another source, the editor heard that the strong smell of the coal tar penetrated into the hold of the America, and impreg- nated the cargo of teas which was on board. A friend also informed him, that the coal tar, put on in this city, came off like a sheet of 158 CO A limewash, and left his ship's bottom bare, at Demerara, where the worm commits s^reat ravages, and greatly injured his vessel.] It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that not less than 70 kinds of coal are brought to the London market; the value and prices of which differ, in general, from 1*. to 10s. and sometimes even ).><• in the chaldron, according to their qualities. About 45 of these various sorts are imported from Newcastle, and the remainder from Sunder- land ; the whole of which may be divided into four classes : The first class contains only six kinds of coal; called Wall's-end, Bigg's-main, Walker's, Heaton- tnain, Willington, and Hebburn- main. The prices of these sorts vary, according to their abundance in the market, from 1*. to 3s. per chaldron ; but they are generally upon a par, except the Wall's-end which is mostly 6d. or Is. dearer than the others. The second class includes three sorts; all of which run lary. They light and burn like a candle, and produce white ashes. These are usually mixed either with some of the first class, or with any of the strong sorts of the second, third, and fourth classes ; because they run large, which makes them burn in a more lively manner. These three sorts are, Hartley, Coupen- main, and Blythe; and their price is generally from 2s. to 4s. more or less, below that of Wall's-end, ac- cording to their scarcity or abun- dance in the market. Next to these are twelve sorts, which possess nearly the same qualities as the best coals, but are in general small- er, and seldom vary more than 2 v. in the chaldron, though they are C O A usually from 3.v. to 4s. in price un- der the Wall's-end. The third class,consists nearly of the same number as the second, ami is likewise divided into two sorts: the first of which burns quickly, and produces white ashes; the other is very strong and good, but, at the same time, very small, and is used by smiths and manu- facturers. The prices of this class of coals are generally from 4^. to 6s. per chaldron, more or less, un- der that of the Wall's-end, accord- ing to their abundance or scarcity. Lastly, the fourth class contains all the remaining kinds of coal: they differ also in quality ; some burn light, produce white ashes, are slaty, and very indifferent; others are small and strong, but not good enough for smiths. The price of these varies greatly, espe- cially of the lighter kind. It is, in general, from 8s. to 10s. and even 15s. lower than the Wall's-end. These different classes, and parti- cularly some of the inferior sorts, are frequently mixed together, and thus afford an opportunitycf chang- ing the prices of coal; this, how- ever, is always to the loss of the consumer, who losses 10s. or more in the quality, in the hope of saving 4s. or 6s. in the price. The following is a striking in- stance of the great variation to be found in the quality of coal: in weighing different kinds of that fossil, there was the surprising dif- ference of 30lbs. in the weight of two sacks, which were equally filled. All the coals brought to the London market are publicly sold, only by the whole, half, or quarter ship. Those who have neither craft nor wharfs to unload, at the CO A C O A 159 rate of 40 chaldrons per day, pur- chase from some of the greatest coal-merchants: this is called load- ing on account; and the former pay 1*. per chaldron for commission. Pool-measure is one fourth of a chaldron extra, on any five chal- drons ; and a room of coals of 5 ■}■ chaldrons, contains about 68 sacks of three bushels each, or somewhat less : but this quantity may be di- vided into from 70 to 90 sacks, if they are rilled up, and not measur- ed by the bushel, under the inspec- tion of a sworn meter. The pool- measure therefore,beinglarger than the bushel measure, the profit of a coal-merchant may be estimated, upon an average, at five sacks up- on five chaldrons, that is, at about 8 per cent. Coals constitute one of the chief articles of domestic convenience, especially during the severity of winter. Hence, in that season, they frequently become extremely scarce, and are sold at an extrava- gant price. To remedy this evil, in some measure, a preparation of clay and coal-dust has been suc- cessfully employed ; of which we shall communicate the following particulars. Coal-Balls : Take two-thirds of soft, mellow clay (for instance, a ton), which is free from stones, and work into it three or four bushels of small sea-coal previous- ly sifted ; form this composition into balls, or cakes, about three or four inches in diameter, and let them be thoroughly dried. When the fire burns clear, place four or five of these balls in the front of the grate, where they will soon be- come red, and yield a clear and strong heat, till they are totally consumed. The expense of a ton of this composition is but trifling. when compared with that of a chal- dron of coals, as it may be prepared at one-fourth of the cost, and will be of greater service than a chal- dron and o. half of the latter. A similar kind of fuel is prepared in the Bishopric of Liege, and is a source of considerable emolument to the inhabitants, who sell great quantititics of it annually. A cor- respondent in the second volume of the " Museum Rusticum, &.c." men- tions this preparation, and adds, that he has seen several fires of it burning in the house at that time occupied by the Royal Society, in Crane-court, Fleet-street. We therefore seriously recommend this article to the attention of those, who, together with the ability possess the means of alleviating the wants of others. A patent was granted, in the year 1800, to Mr. Frederic, of Welbeck-street, for his invention of a fuel, which burns longer than the common coal. As the patentee has published part of the process, in a separate treatise, we shall ex- tract from it the following particu- lars : The principal ingredient is clay, or where that cannot be pro- cured, cow-dung, road, or street mud, sav.-dust, turf, horse-dung, straw, andespecially tanners' waste; to which may be added broken glass pulverized, or pitch, tar, oil- cakes, or any other combustible matter, that is not too expensive. These are to be mixed with coal- dust, in circular pits, five or six feet in diameter, and paved at the bottom with bricks. In one of these pits, some clay should be pre- viously softened with water, and well worked with an iron rake ; after which operation, any other ul the ingredients may be added in the following manner : Two men 160 C O A C O A provided with a pail, should first fill one of the pits a foot deep wkn clay, and throw in the smah coal, together with theotheringrecben's, according to the quantify and pro- portion required. The whole should then be stirred repeatec'.ly with a large rake, and the pit progres- sive iy filled up, till the clay be- comes so thoroughly incorporated with the other substances, and ac- quires such a degree of consistence, that it can no longer be stirred..... More clay should be added ; and the same operation repeated till the pit is full; when the mixture should remain in it, till the water is in a great measure evaporated, and the composition becomes fit for use ; during which time another pit may be filled in a similar manner. When the mixture has acquired a sufficient degree of consistence, and is ready to be formed into cakes, a mould made of [fir] four cubic inches square, should be prepared and previously wetted, to prevent the mass from adhering to it; but, before this composition be put into the mould, Mr. Frederic recommends saw-dust to be spread over it, by means of which the cakes will dry more quickly, and burn much better. The last oper- ation is that of drying, which should be effected in a shed, about seven feet high, and as long as may be necessary. The cakes may also be dried on the ground, in the open air, but as they are liable to be wetted by rain, the labour already bestowed upon them would be use- less. A shed, therefore, if it can be procured, is most eligible, and should be divided into upright rows six or seven feet high, about three inches thick, and three feet distant; being intersected every six inches by a cross bar twelve inches in length, for receiving, on both sides, laths of about three quaiiu-.. of an inch thick ; and which si.ould be about two incbts and a halt" tl;;art. On these laths, th.' cakes are to be laid for dr. ing, which, curing the summer v.ilitake place in less than a v.vl's. This invention, we conceive, is of considerable utility, anu itflccts great credit on the patentee, who has voluntarily consented to relin- quish his privilege, and offered to explain bis process to any public establishment,or charity, that may be inclined to prepare these cakes, upon a large scale so as to sell them at a reduced price, and thus furnish the poor with that most. necessary article of domestic com- fort, fuel. Use of coals as manure. The first experiments for ascertaining the effect of pounded coals, or their ashes, on the fertility of meadows and corn-fields, we believe, were made in Germany, by Counsellor Stumpf, about the year 1791. On account of the vitriolic acid con- tained in coals, they are, for this purpose, superior to gypsum, espe- cially on cold, calcareous soils...... According to his directions, the coal-dust, or powder, ought to be scattered on the fields, late in au- tumn, about the thickness of the back of an ordinary knife, so that he employed about four.cwt. of coal to manure a German acre of 180 square roods, Rhenish mea- sure. But as there is a great dif- ference between those coals, the residue of which, after burning, consistsof cc/ca?-!°cws earth, or stone, and others, which leave an alumi- nous slate ; he advises the agricul- turist to make use of the former kind for every species of clover and grasses, as well as for wheat, rye, CO A COB 161 barley, oats, or similar grain.; and to avail himself of the latter in the culture of spelt, buck-wheat, as likewise of clover, and the different species of grain, put particularly of all the leguminous fruit, such as peas, beans, 8cc Small-coal, is a kind of char- coal, prepared from the spray and brush vvood,stripped off th e branche s of coppice wood, which are some- times tied up in bundles for that pur- pose, and sometimes charred, w ith- out being tied ; which operation is called coming it together. [The United States abound with various kinds of excellent coal. In the western counties of Pennsylva- nia, on the banks of the Schuylkill, and in Virginia, there are immense beds ; it has also been lately found on the river Rariton, New-Jersey. A few years ago, a body of coal was discovered in the county of Northampton, Pennsylvania, upon the river Lehigh, of a bright black shining appearance. It-gives an intense heat,emits very little smoke, but requires a strong blast to in- flame it. This mine will one day certainly prove a source of infinite convenience to Philadelphia: for it requires but little foresight to be able to assert, that atthe rate we go on in wasting wood, it will be, in a few years, out of the power of the majority of the people to use it for common fuel. The river Lehigh,at presentis not sufficiently clear ofob- structions,to enable the proprietors of the mine to bring the coal down to Philadelphia, but a lottery is now on foot to raise the necessary sum to render the river navigable, and it is to be hoped the proprietors will be enabled to accomplish the important object. Of the Virginia coal brought to Philadelphia^ that from Graham's VOL. II. mine is the best. It sells generally for T2^ per busbcl. It may be useful to mention that coal preserved in magazines, when not duly ventilated, has inflamed. This accident once happened at Brest, in France. In England and France (accord- ing to St. Fond), the best coal is found under freestone. The latteral straggling veins of coal, must not be attended to; when dig- ing for coal, hut the perpendicu- lar direction pursued : eighty or one hundred feet are sometimes to be penetrated before the main body of coal will be found. The burning of coal has been supposed to contribute to the heal- thiness of the cities of England and Scotland, where pestilential diseases prevailed much more for- merly,before theforrests were care- fully preserved, than since the ge- neral introduction of coal. The city of Richmond, in Virgina, has been referred to, as an example of the febrifuge operation of the smoke of coal, the febrile ailments of its inhabitants having greatly lessened since their fires were generally made of that material. Dr. Mitchell supposes that coal acts in thus keeping away dis- eases, by the volatile alkali it affords in combustion, destroying the acid- ity, which, he imagines, exists in the atmospheres of cities, arising from the putrefactive process constantly going on.] COBALT, a semi-metal of a whiteish-grey colour, and nearly re- sembling fine hardened steel: it is as difficult to be fused as copper, or even gold ; and cannot be easily calcined. If the calx, resulting from that process, be melted with borax, pot-ash, or siliceous sand, it affords the blue glass, denomi- Y 162 C O C nated by artists, smalt, which is principally employed in painting enamel, and in tinging other glass, being of all colours the most fix- ed in the fire. This semi-metal abounds in England, chiefly in the Mendip Hills in Somersetshire, and also in Cornwall, where it has lately been dug up in large quantities, and turned to considerable emolu- ment. [COBWEBS, which bespread the ground in autumn, have been supposed in North Carolina, to cause the staggers among horses ; but whether they are taken through the nose, or mouth, or both, seems to be yet unsettled. There is an interesting paper, on this subject, in the '• Recreations" of Dr. An- derson, vol. i. but the discussion of the question may be properly deferred until we come to the ar- ticle Staggei-s, by which time, the editor is in hopes to be possessed of some additional information on the subject. In the mean time, any facts respecting it shall be thankfully received.] COCCULUS Indicus,or Indian BERRY,is the poisonous fruit of the Menispermum, L. or Moon-seed, an exotic genus of plants, growing in the southern parts of Europe, whence it is imported. It possesses an intoxicating property, and is on that account too frequently mixed with malt liquors, though such ne- farious practice is expressly prohi- bited by act of parliament. The seeds of this plant are made into a paste in the Levant, where it is employed as a specific for cutane- ous eruptions. [To the great scandal of some brewers, this drug is sometimes mixed with small beer, by which means it acquires an intoxicating quality, and enables them to assert coc the superiority of their manufacture over that of the rest of the trade, though they profess to use a small- er quantity of malt.] COCCUS, a genus of insects, comprising twenty-two species, which are principally denominated from the plants they frequent. The most remarkable of these are : 1. The Coccus hesperidum, or green-house bug, which chiefly in- fests orange, and other plants in green houses. When young,it runs upon the trees, but afterwards settles on some leaf, where it de- posits a great number of eggs, and dies. 2. The Coccus melorum, or ap- ple-tree Coccus, which, as soon as it fixes on a tree, communicates a corrosive ichor, that affects the bark, even after the insect is re- moved, in a manner similar to a gangrene ; so that it becomes blotched, and full of deep holes, in consequence of which, it decays and dies. This insect preferably attacks the tender buds of young trees, and may be easily removed by means of a hard painter's brush, without injury to the plant, if it has not had sufficient time to bury itself in the bark. It also settles in such cavities as are frequently produced in the stems of trees, by incautious- ly >tearing of the branches, or by any other wound. Being thus pro- tected from the rain, these vermin can only be eradicated, by scoop- ing them out, cutting off every irregular prominence, scraping off all loose scales from the bark, and then covering it withMr.FoRSYTH's composition,which will not only de- fend it against their devastations, but by bringing on a smooth, clean bark, will admit of its being wash- ed and cleansed afterwards, without duiicuity. This process will pre- CO c C O C 163 serve the tree, both from the depre- dations of these insects, and from those of many others, which shelter themselves in the inequalities of a rough bark, and will, at the same time, give it additional health and vigour. See vol. i. article Apples. 3. The Peach Coccus, which Dr. Anderson calls gall-nut, settles only on the twigs of peach-trees, where it deposits innumerable eggs. These may be eradicated by care- fully brushing the twigs, in the spring, with a hard brush, in the direction of the buds ; by which simple means many of them may be detached, and their numbers greatly reduced. Where the in- sects are very close together at the points of the twigs, the latter may be cut off, and carried out of the garden; for,if thrown on the ground the former will re-ascend. But, if they are exceedingly numerous, all the youngtrces may even be lopped, especially if Mi'.Forsyth's plaster be apphedtothe wounds. Although by this operation, the fruit will be lost for that season, yet the tree will acquire considerable strength, and be in the finest order next year. Notwithstanding all these precautions, it will be necessary to examine the tree, with the utmost attention, towards the end of April, or beginning of May : for, at that season, the female vermin attain their full growth, so as to be easily perceptible ; when each of them should be carefully detached from the branch to which it adheres, by means of a blunt knife with a very thin blade ; then deposited in a ves- sel, and removed from the garden. Naturalists have computed, that the generation of 3,000 insects will be prevented by the destruction of each female gall-nut sothat great progress may be made in a very short time. Thus, if that necessary operation be performed with care, very few will escape ; and if the eggs also be properly extirpated,all future trouble respecting this in- sect will be effectually obviated. 4. The Coccus PhalaHdes, which is found on the phalaris or canary- grass, and is originally a native of the Canary Islands, but has become naturalized. 5. The Coccus Cacti, or cochineal insect, which is a native of the warmer parts of America. See Cochineal. 6. The Coccus Ilicis, or kermes, which inhabits a species of oak,ca!I- ed quercus coccifera, and is a native of the southern parts of Europe, It is used in dyeing a deep red colour. 7. The Coccus Lacca, or gumlac, animal, a native of the east Indies. See Gumlac 8. The Coccus Polonicus, or scar- let grain of Poland, is found there in great abundance on the roots of the Polygonum cocciferum. It is also called the cochineal of the north; as, contrary to the nature of the Ame- rican insect, it thrives only in cold climates. It is collected for the use of dyers : though it yields not only smaller crops, and is gathered with more difficulty, but the drug also is much inferior to the true cochi- neal. COCHINEAL, a drug used by dyers for imparting red colours, and also for the purpose of making carmine. It consists of an insect which is collected from the cactus cochenillifa; or, as it is differently called, nopal, or, nopalleca, the Indian fig-tree ; and is found most « abundantly in the provinces of Oaxaca, Tlascala, and Chiapa, in South America. It is nourished solely by the juice of the plant on. 164 C O C -which it breeds,and which becomes converted into its substahce„yield- ing a most beautiful scarlet and crimson colour. The cochineal insects are usu- ally gathered in the beginning of August, when they are killed, either by being immersed in hot water, or put into an oven mode- rately heated for that purpose ; or, more advantageously, by being ex- posed to the scorching rays of the sun. The last mentioned method is reputed to be of superior efficacy for preserving the colouring pro- perty; and the cochineal thus treat- ed, is of a shining silver grey. More than one million of pounds of this drug are annually imported into Europe; and it pays at present, in this country, only a convoy duty of lOd. per pound : the best sort was lately sold at from 15s. to one guinea the lb. It is remarkable, that these worms may be kept in a dry state for more than a hundred years, without being in the least affected by the tooth of time. [The true Cochineal was found by the late industriousDr.GARDEN, in S. C. and sent to England, to Mr. Ellis. Mr. Raphael Peale of Philadelphia, also asserts, that he found it upon the island of Little St. Simons, on the coast of Georgia. The cultivation of this insect, and of the Cactus Cocchine- lifer plant ought to be encouraged by the southern planters,as a source of revenue, in case their crops of rice should fail, from vicissitudes of the season'; or cotton, hem frost or caterpillars. Spanish America derives an immense revenue from the Cochineal, and from this cir- cumstance, it is probable, that lit- tle trouble is requisite in the busi- ness of attending the insect.] COCK, or Gallus, L. a species c oc of the phasianus, too well known to require any description. The cock was first introduced into Eu- rope from Persia, and is eminently distinguished for his courage,espe- cially when oppossd to one of his own species. Advantage has been taken of this peculiarity ; and, to the disgrace of mankind, the brutal practice of cock-fighting has been reduced to a regular system. In some parts of Asia, cock-fighting furnishes amusement to kings and princes; and, though it is evidently on the decline in this country, yet it imperiously demands the atten- tion of an enlightened legislature, to eradicate totally this inhuman custom. [Cock. Under the article Tapping, we shall give an account of a most ingenious improvement in this contrivance,intended to ren- der the vent in the tops of beer bar- rels unnecessary, and thus to pre- serve the briskness of that liquor, which is so frequently rendered vapid by servants carelessly omit- ing to put the plug into the vent- hole, when they have finished draw- ing the liquor. This improvement, which is far superior to the common English patent cock, is the invention of Mr. Robert Hare, jun. of Philadel- phia, who has rendered such im- portant services to the science of chemistry, by his hydrostatic blow- pipe, mentioned in vol. I. p. 320. Cock-chafer. See Chafer. Cockle. See Corn-cockle. COCKLE, or Cardium, L. a genus of small shell-fish, consist- ing of twenty-one species. They are commonly found on sandy coasts, and furnish a wholesome and agreeable food. When con- sumed in a raw state, cockles are supposed to produce poisonous ef- c oc C O C 165 fects : and, though we have no po- sitive proofs in confirmation of this conjecture, it will be more prudent to boil and eat them with the ad- dition of a little pepper and vine- gar, or at least the latter, which at the same time promotes their di- gestion. COCKROACH, or Blatta, L. a genus of insects, resembling the beetle, and consisting of ten spe- cies, the most remarkable of which is the orientalis, or eastern cock- roach. These insects are frequent- ly found in America ; they pene- trate chests, drawers, Sec. and do considerable injury to clothes..... They seldom appear till night,when they infest beds, and bite very se- verely, leaving an unpleasantsmell. Their food is bread, meat, whether raw or dressed, linen, books, silk- worms, and their cods, Sec.....Ac- cording to Sir Hans Sloane, the Indians mix the ashes of the cock- roach with sugar, and apply them to ulcers, in order to promote their suppuration. COCK's-FOOT, or Cock's-foot Grass, or Dactylis, L. a genus of plants comprising seven species ; of which two are indigenous.....1. The Stricta, or Smooth Cock's-foot Grass, which grows in marshes, and on the sea-coast. It is prin- cipally found in the eastern and southern parts of England, is pe- rennial, and flowers in the month of August. 2. The Glomeruli, or Rough Cock's-foot Grass, which thrives in pastures and in shady places, under thedrippingsof trees. This plant is also perennial, is in flower from June to August, and grows to the height of four or five feet, when seeding. It is some- what coarse, but very luxuriant, especially in the leaves, which are often two feet long: they are eaten by horses, sheep, and goats, but particularly by cows, which are ex- tremely fond of them, when grow- ing on a rich soil. Dogs and cats instinctively search for and swal- low this herb, when they incline to vomit, or to envelope the splinters of bones collected in their stomach. This vegetable is propagated by sowing its seed in moist pastures, and marshy situations. Although its culture is at present very limit- ed, yet as it grows with uncom- mon rapidity, and withstands the severest droughts, when almost every other plant is scorched, we anxiously recommend its culture to the attention of farmers. [The three following speciesare natives of the United States.] 1. D. Cynosuroides Americana, c. foot grass. Spikes, six or more, scattered numerous, flowers closely imbricate and pointing one vay ; culm, two feet high, reedy, leaves on culm, six calyxes, one flower- ed, pestills villose, very long. Pe- rennial. 2. D. patens. Spreading c» foot grass, spikes scattered, timed one way, five; flowers closely im- bricate, culrn decumbent, leaves spreading very much. 3. D. glomerata: or orchard grass : which shall be particularly mentioned under the headGxAss.] Cock's-Head. See Common Saintfoin. COCOA, or Cocos, L. a native tree of the East and Yv est Indies, where :t is of the greatest use to the inhabitants. It frequently grows to the height of 60 or 70 feet in the trunk, and delights in a moist san- dy soil, especially near aanks of rivers and the sea coast, where it is propagated by planting its ripe and fresh nuts, that generally come up in the course of six weeks or two months. Each branch pro- 166 COD COD thjces from 10 to 20 nuts, which, v n-.i bu'f r;pe, contain a sweet milky hqmr, w ell calculated to qivnch i;:rst, and of great service in many diseases of a putrid and inflauvT.atDty tendency. If the nuts are allowed '.o become ripe on the tree, this iiquor nyrdeis mto aker- n il, wi-.ich ib nardy eaten raw, and p i. i. expressed and converted into an oh, that forms an important branch ci trade in the Indies. Of the sap, obtained by incision from the sjtalka, or flower-sheath, the natives prepare wine, vinegar, ar- rack, and sugar. The leaves of the cocoa-tree are upwards often feet long, and thirty inches broad. It presents a con- stant succession of blossoms and fruit, nearly throughout the year: its trunk serves for timber and ca- binet-ware ; from the leaves are manufactured, baskets, hats, sail- cloth, mats, parasols, shingles for covering houses, paper, Sec. [The milk of the Cocoa-nut is used in the West Indies to allay vomiting in fever. It is given in doses of a table-spoonful.] COD, the Common, or Gadus Morhua, L. an inhabitant of the ocean, which is from two to four feet long, and weighs from 12 to 20 lbs. it is found only in the nor- thern parts of the world, between the latitudes of 66 and 50 degrees. The principal fishery for cod, is on the banks of Newfoundland, where they are caught in numbers suffi- cient to furnish employ for nearly 15,000 British seamen, and to af- ford subsistence to a still more nu- merous body of people at home, who art engaged in the various manufactures, which so extensive a fishery demands. The food of the cod consists of small fish, worms, crabs, See. their digestion is so vigorous, as to dis- solve the greatest part of the shells they swallow. Hence they are ex- tremely voracious, and catch at any small object they perceive agitated by the water, even stones and peb- bles, which are frequently found in their stomachs. Of the salted roe of this fish, not less than fifteen ship-loads are said to be annually exported from Norway to France; whose fishermen employ that sub- stance for the taking of anchovies in the Mediterranean. From the liver of cod, a very good train-oil is obtained; and the tongues, when salted, are esteemed a great deli- cacy, and therefore often imported from Newfoundland. Isinglass is also prepared from their air-blad- ders, by the fishermen of Iceland; a process which peculiarly merits the attention of the inhabitants of the north of Scotland, where these fish are caught in great abundance. See Isinglass. [At the first discovery of the nor- thern continent of America, lew or no cod-fish were found to the south- ward of the banks of Newfound- land and Sable Island. About 35 or 40 years ago, they were first dis- covered off Sandy Hook, in the vi- cinity of New York. It has been observed, that ever since that time, they have gradually become more and more abundant on the fishing ground of the Ncversink, in 6, 7, and 8 fathoms water; and perhaps equally so many miles farther east- ward. A few years since they ap- peared about the Capes of Dela- ware Bay, though in comparatively small quantities ; and, it is said, that they have been caught on Chingoteague shoals in lat. 38, on the coast of Maryland. From these facts, it seems probable that the cod-fish is gradually progressing COF C O F 167 Southward, and in time may, per- haps, be caught along the whole extent of coast belonging to the U. States. Hence we may con- clude that they originally inhabit- ed the Banks of Newfoundland, whence on account of their prodi- gious increase, they annually push out colonies in every direction, where sustenance can be procured.] Codbed Mouse-Ear. See Common Wall-Cress. Codlings and Cream. See Willow-Herb, the Great Hairy, or Large-flowered. COFFEE-TREE, or Coffea, L. a shrub from twelve to eighteen feet high, and originally a native of Arabia, but is now cultivated in Persia, the East and West Indies, and several parts of America : it is also reared in the botanic gardens of Europe. Its evergreen foliage resembles that of the laurel; and at the base of the leaves appear, twice annually,white fragrant flow- ers, which are succeeded by a fruit resembling cherries, but of an un- pleasant sweetish taste, each con- taining two kernels, or berries. They grow in clusters; and, when of a deep red colour, and gathered, are carried to a mill, in order to be manufactured into coffee-beans. There are three principal sorts of this drug known in commerce : 1. The Arabian, or Mokha coffee, imported from the Levant ; and which, on account of its superior flavour, is the most esteemed ; 2. The East Indian; and, 3. The West Indian coffee of the French,English and Dutch settlements; among the latter sorts, that of Martinico is generally preferred. Beside the importation and convoy duties, there is an excise laid on all the coffee consumed in England, of 1*. Id. per pound, if imported from the British colonies in America ; and 2s. 2-lrf. if the produce of any other places. Coffee frequently contracts an unpleasant flavour, when stowed in ships with rum, pepper, or any other article possessing a peculiar smell; a circumstance to w hich the inferiority of our Jamaica and East Indian coffee may, in a great, measure, be attributed. To obviate such damage, the berries ought to be well dried in the sun, before they are shipped in separate ves- sels, or properly secured, if they are imported together with other merchandize. But, when they have once acquired a disagreeable flavour, it will be necessary to pour boiling water over them, and after- wards to dry them completely in the open air, previously to their being roasted. The colour of a watery infusion, may also serve as a tolerable test for ascertaining the quality of coffee ; for if cold water, after standing for several hours over the raw berries, acquire a deep citron colour, we may con- clude that the coffee has not beea damaged, or adulterated. Since the introduction of coffee into Europe, in the 16th century, various substitutes have been de- vised for this drug ; such as acorns (which see), beet, succory-root, scorzonera, Sec. Among' the dif- ferent species of the beet root, the beta cicla v. albissima, or the root of scarcity, has been preferably re- commended for this purpose ; and, after having previously extracted the saccharine particles, it ought to be carefully dried and roasted over a moderate fire. It seems, how- ever, doubtful whether the expense and labour necessarily attendant on such preparations, may be ade- quate to the advantage thus ob- 168 COF C OF tained: hence we are of opinion, that the most effectual method of rendering coffee cheaper, and pre- venting its importation, at least for home consumption, would be that of rearing this hardy shrub in our own climate. To encourage those who are desirous of making this patriotic experiment, we shall communicate the following parti- culars ; on the authenticity of which the reader may fully depend: A nobleman in Germany found, in a bag of raw coffee, twenty green bemes resembling oblong cher- ries, and each of which contained two beans. In March 1788, he planted them in a common garden- bed, two inches deep. In April it snowed, and was so cold, that the windows were covered with ice, for two days. Notwithstanding this unfavourable prospect, five of the berries appeared above ground in the latter part of June, and all the others previous to the middle of July. They grew rapidly, being in a shady situation, and a soil somewhat sandy, but well manur- ed. In September of the same year, they had attained a height of about six inches, and dropped their small leaves about Michaelmas. During the winter, he covered them with a little hay, and afterwards with snow ; both of which were re- moved in the fine weather of April. In this simple manner, they were defended against the severity of. German winters ; and in the fifth year, four of the little trees pro- duced together seventy-six berries. By the inattention of the gardener, two of the plants died in the very hard frosts of 1798; yet the re- maining eighteen were all in blos- som the ensuing spring, and yield- ed, in autumn, three pounds and a half of coffee-berries ; the flavour of which was not inferior to that imported from the island of Mar- tinico. With respect to the medicinal properties of coffee, it is in general excitant and stimulating, though we doubt whether it relaxes the animal fibres, as has by some au- thors been supposed. Its more or less wholesome effect greatly de- pends on the climate, as well as the age, constitution, and other pe- culiarities of the individual. Hence it cannot be recommended to chil- dren, or persons of a hot, choleric, nervous, or phthisical habit; nor w ill it be so safe and useful in warm as in cold and temperate climates; but to the phlegmatic and sedenta- ry, a cup of coffee, one or two hours after a meal, or, which is still bet- ter, one hour before it, may be of service to promote digestion, and prevent or remove a propensity to sleep. In cases of spasmodic asth- ma, hypochondriasis, scrophula, di- arrhoea, agues, and particularly against narcotic poisons, such as opium, hemlock, ixc. coffee often produces the best effects: nor is there a domestic remedy, better adapted to relieve periodical head- achs which proceed from want of tone, or from debility of the sto- mach. [The heaviness, head-ach, giddi- ness, sickness, and nervous affec- tions, which attack some persons in the morning, after taking an opi- ate at night, are abated by a cup or two of strong coffee. An experiment ought to be made on a small scale, of the coffee plant at St. Marys in Georgia and in the Mississippi territory.] COFFIN, a chest in which dead bodies are interred. In ancient times, the burying of deceased persons in coffins, was COF COF 169 considered as a mark of the highest distinction. But, in Britain, the poorer classes of people are thus interred ; and, if the relations of the deceased cannot afford a coffin, it is furnished at the expence of the parish. According to Theve- not, however, the Eastern nations, whether Turks or Christians, make use of no coffins. As there appears to prevail a most iniquitous practice, of which no feeling mind can approve, that of robbing graves of corpses, for the purpose of anatomical dissec- tion, we shall present our readers with a short description of the pa- tent granted in July, 179G, to Mr. Gabriel Aughtie, of Cheapside, London, for his improvement in coffins, to prevent the stealing of bodies from them, after interment: this patent has since been assigned to Messrs. Jarvis and Son, under- takers, £:c. Charing-cross, and Great Mary-le-bone-street. The coffin may be made of any kind of wood, and bound with steel, iron, or other metal. The sides are to be curved without saw-curfs; and on the top-edge of each side are to be three or more boxes, of iron, steel, or other metal, let in on the inside of the coffin, to receive the springs fixed to the lid ; one box to contain a spring on the top edge of the head, and another on the foot, for the same purpose...... The screws for fastening down the lid, pass through an iron or metal plate, with a socket, to receive the head, and to prevent its being drawn out by any kind of instrument...... These screws are to be placed be- tween each of the springs, in pro- portion to the number of the latter, and the size of the coffin. The lid is also to be bound with steel, iron, or any other kind of metal, to pre- VOL. II. vent it from being cut or broke open ; and the screws used for fast- ening it, are to be sunk about half the thickness of the lid. Such screws are not to be notched on the head, but some of them divided with two, and others with four be- vils ; so that when they are once fixed, it will be impossible to un- screw them ; as, by turning the re- verse way, there is no hold for any tool to withdraw them. Many of our readers will, pro- bably, remember that the late Em- peror of Germany, Joseph II. about the year 1781, enacted a law, by which the interment of dead bodies in coffins was prohibited; nay,it was ordered that they should be buried in bags, and covered with quick-lime, in order to promote their putrefaction, and prevent the exhalation of noxious vapours..... This severe regulation, however, met with so universal and decided an opposition, that the enlightened monarch, from prudential motives, was speedily induced to repeal it. Although we are no advocates for arbitrary measures, by which the feelings of humanity may be wounded, yet, on the other hand, we are firmly persuaded that the custom of interring numerous bodies, in the churches and church- yards of populous towns, is at- tended with effects highly injurious to the living. [See article Burial.] And as persuasion and reasoning, when opposed to inveterate preju- dices, are not likely to produce a favourable effect on intellects but little improved by education, we venture to suggest a remedy, than which none can be more reason- able, and less oppressive : 1. That, though all deceased bodies, are to be considered as inviolable, yet the privilege of being deposited in a Z 170 C O I C OI coffin (whether kept above or under ground),in towns shall be conferred only on those who have rendered themselves worthy of such a dis- tinction, by virtuous and patriotic actions ; and, 2. That all others, in- cluding children and adults, shall either be buried at a certain dis- tance from inhabited places, or at least twenty feet deep, if their re- lations are anxious to see them in- terred in towns or villages. See Burial, and Burying-ghound. COIN, a piece of metal con- verted into money, by the impres- sion of certain marks or figures. Coin differs from money, as the species from the genus. The latter may consist of any substance, whe- ther metal, wood, leather, glass, horn, paper, fruits, shells; in short, whatever is current as a medium in commerce. The former is a par- ticular specie, always made of me- tal, and struck according to a cer- tain process, called coining. The first money in commerce was, doubtless, barter, that is, the exchanging of one commodity for another of equal value ; and from the difficulty necessarily attendant on the cutting or dividing of cer- tain commodities, men were first induced to invent a substitute for them, that should serve as a gene- ral medium. Such is the origin of coin, which varies in different coun- trie-s, according to the relative value of the different metals of which specie is composed. Severe punishments are inflicted on those who are guilty of coun- terfeiting, debasing, or even clip- ping the current coin of the United Stales. A method of taking off casts from coins : On account of the great va- lue of antique coins, and the diffi- culty with which they are obtained, few persons have it in their power to procure a complete series. We, therefore communicate the follow- ing mode, by which that desirable object may be obtained, and the industrious antiquary enabled to ascertain snany disputed points in history. The method of taking off im- pressions, by means of plaster of Paris and sulphur, is well known ; but as the former is too soft, and the latter too brittle, they can be preserved only for a short period. This difficulty may be obviated by laying a coat of the finest tin-foil over the medal intended to be taken off, and rubbing it gently with a brush, till it has received a perfect impression, when the edge of it should be pared, so as to render it of the same circumference. The medal should then be reversed, when the tin-foil will fall into a mould ready to receive it, the con- cave side being uppermost. Plaster of Paris may be poured upon this, in the usual manner; and, when dry, the cast figure should be taken out, with the tin-foil adhering to it; the convex side being upper- most. In this position, it should be kept in the cabinet; and if it receive no external injury, will endure for ages. COI COI 171 Sweden or Denmark An English Shilling A Pistareen, H n c d p 5" p d > I.P to < 3- W O ? (Gold.) A Johannes, An half Johannes, A Doubloon, A Moidore, An English Guinea, A French Guinea, A Spanish Pistole, A French Pistole, 3 <£ re •s p. >-r; re P. < ST re I* > r w o re re P ,3 r,. < P 5" (T) O "♦J O o 5" in P in r* S* re •-< P CO to 5' 3* re -s CD C/) 13 re o re re in o Ey-re C 5' 03 so -^ - 00 Oi - o i.Ti'jiaiB-oc. 'Ji/Spji puvpuvjg O 3 O O — *>■ O O O o in O OO — — — 03 — Oft ^ CJ> Oi — — ~JO>cnts3? ooooooocr-- 5' »* ^ Co <3 o c o — — o> to *- o o 09 ,— *- — — — ■{»• W £. K, oocnoooooa. O s, ^" ~ 3 ;> ft ^> 2 o IP $■ K ft. g P'S f 5 Si ■1 J6 -o o o i— — CO ^ <£! O o 09 B00eii ocoooooo?- 2^ !>. 3. 55. ^ o o o — — -* cr> co en O oo 03 _^»-,— tOln 03 (?>[»»< — "" l— ,- * oiOa>000>00?" !"*■§ g" S' 2 !5 0 4 8 0 1 0 0 0 11 o o OO — — — WtO**^ •MOO — — OCOOOjo O>O0n a, 55: 5» ft (5 1, 000 0, 2 2 2 \ 0, 2 00 o O » oisoidO'Ooe?" 'sajSwrf •sdviprj •SSUllQ j> •S}IUJ j •*7/.'7LrJ A TABLE of other foreign coins, JjtY. with their value in Inderal Money, as established by a late act of Congress. E.D.d.c.m. Pound Sterling, 0 4, 4 4 0 Pound of Ireland, 0 4, 10© Pagoda of India, 0 1, 9 4 0 Tale of China, 0 1, 4 8 0 Mill-ree of Portugal, 0 1, 2 4 0 Pviible of Russia, 0 0, 6 6 C Rupee of Bengal 0 0, 5 5 5 The Guilder of the United Netherlands, 0 0, 3 9 0 172 COK E.D.d.c.m Mark Banco of Hamburg,0 o, 3 3 5 LivreTournoisofFrance,0 0, 18 5 Real Plate of Spain, 0 0, 1 0 0 The different weights of the Federal Coins. Pure gold. Standard do. " dwts. grs. dwts. grs. An Eagle 10 7 4-8 11 6 Half do. 5 3 6-8 5 15 Q:. do. 2 13 7-8 2 19 4-8 Dollars 15 114-16 17 8 Huh" do. 7 17 10-16 8 16 Quar. do. 3 2013-16 4 8 Dimes 1 13 2-16 1 17 3-5 Halfdo. 0 18 9-16 20 4-5 Cents 8 16 of copper. Half do. 4 8 The standard for silver coins 1438 parts of pure silver to 179 parts of alloy, which is to be whol- ly of copper, or 1 1 and 1. All other gold coin of equal fine- ness, to he valued at 89 cents per dwt. and all other silver coin of the same fineness at 111 cents per oz. A mill is the lowest money of account. ..one thousand beingequal to the hcderal Dollar, Unit 0,001. A cent is the highest copper coin, one hundred being equal to a dol- lar 0,01.1 COKE, is fossil-coal charred, or having undergone a process simi- lar to that by which charcoal is macV. By this operation, coals are divested of their humidity, their acid fquor, and part of their fluid oil. They are principally used, ■wh.u-e it is necessary to excite in- tense hea':, as for the smelting of iron ere, and for processes in which the acid and cily particles would be detrimental, as in the drying of malt. Coki>oven is a kind of furnace, of a circular structure, erected for the purpose of converting coal into coke. Such ovens may, however, at the same time be applied to other COL purposes. On this account, a pa- tent was granted to the Right Hon. Henry Seymour Conway, in June 1789, for his method of adapting, or conveying the heat arising from the fire of coal, employed in coke- ovens, for working steam-engines, baking bread, &c. calcining and fusing ores and metals, also for warming rooms, Etc. heating wa- ter for baths, and for many other useful purposes, by which means the expence of the coal or other fuel is entirely, or in the greatest part, saved. The leading principle of this pa- tent appears to be the constructing of flues, both beneath and on the sides of the oven ; in which regis- ters are inserted. By means of these, the heat is conveyed to the steam-engines, baking-ovens, See. which are built upon and against the sides of the coke-ovens, and may be increased or diminished at pleasure, byopeningor shutting the registers; the same fire serving both to burn the coke, and to communi- cate the requisite degree of heat. [For an account of a lately in- vented Cokeing furnace, see Rep. Arts, vol. xiv.] COLD, in natural philosophy, is the privation, or absence of heat. Its immediate effects on the hu- man body are, contraction of the cutaneous pores, and a temporary obstruction of insensible perspira- tion. Hence we perceive what is vulgarly called the " goose skin," and the parts thus affected will not recover their usual elasticity, till the spasm be removed, either by external or internal heat, or by friction, which excites the latter. At present we shall only treat of the consequences resulting from an excess of cold ; having already con- sidered part of this subject under the article Catarrh. COL Beneficent Nature has enabled our frail and complicated frame, to support the heat and cold of differ- ent climates, with equal facility ; and though man has devised arti- ficial means of defending his body against the action of cold, or more properly, of retaining the inbred, or vital heat, yet it often happens that, by exposure to extreme cold, the fingers, ears, toes, Sec. are fro- zen : thus, the natural heat of those parts is reduced to the lowest point consistent with life. If, in such cases, artificial heat be too sudden- ly applied, a mortification will en- sue, and the Jrost-bitten part spon- taneously separate. Hence, they ought to be thawed, either by rub- bing them with snow,or immersing them in cold water, and afterwards, applying warmth in the most care- ful and gradual manner ; by which they will soon be restored to their usual tone and activity. Indeed, (a popular writer justly observes), the great secret, or art, of restoring suspended animation, consists in nicely adjusting the natural and ar- tificial stimuli to the exact tone of the irritable fibre. As moderate cold produces at first debilitating, and eventually bracing effects on the animal body, it is the most beneficial tempera- ture in the cure of febrile, and such diseases as are not attended with extreme debility; but it should ne- ver be followed by any considerable degree of heat. Sydenham, more than a century ago, pointed out the evils attendant on too much heat in sick-rooms ; he seldom would allow his patients even to lie in bed, and very judiciously directed the rooms to be constantly ventilated with cool air. The great benefit derived from this practice in the small-pox, is now generally ac- knowledged, and arises chiefly COL 174 from avoiding the stimulus of heat, after its operation. The great cold produced by eva- poration, observes Dr. Darwin, is now well understood. In ah che- mical processes, where aerial, or fluid bodies become consolidated, part of the latent heat is pressed out, as in the instant when water freez- es, or unites with quick-lime. On the contrary, when solid bodies be- come fluid, or fluid ones becomes aerial, heat is absorbed by the so- lution : whence it may be said, in general, that all chemical combina- tions produce heat, and all chemi- cal solutions generate cold. This should teach the careful gardener, not to water tender vegetables in the heat of sun-shine, or in a warm dry wind, lest the hasty evaporation should produce so much cold as to destroy them ; an effect that will the more certainly follow, as they have been previously too much sti- mulated by heat, in consequence of which, the power of life, or irrita- bility, had been already diminished. When treating on the diseases of plants, Dr. Darwin remarks, that though excessive heat is sel- dom very injurious to vegetation in this courr.ry, yet the defect of that element, or in common lan- guage, excess of cold, is frequently destructive to the tender shoots of the ash, and the early blossoms of many fruit-trees, such as apples, pears, apricots, &c. The blights occasioned by frost, generally hap- pen in the spring, when warm sun- ny days are succeeded by cold nights, as the living power of the plant has then been previously ex- hausted by the stimulus of heat, and is therefore less capable of being excited into the actions ne- cessary to vegetable life, by the greatly diminished stimulus of a freezing atmosphere. 174 COL COL In the northern climates of Swe- den and Russia, where long sunny days succeed the melting of co- pious snows, the gardeners are obliged to shelter their wall-trees from the meridian sun, in the ver- nal months ; an useful precaution, which preserves them from the violent effects of cold in the suc- ceeding night; and, by preventing them from flowering too early, avoids the danger of the vernal frosts. In a similar manner, the destruction of the more succulent parts of vegetables, such as their early shoots, especially when ex- posed to frosty nights, can only be counteracted by covering them from the descending dews, or rime, by the coping stones of a wall, or mats of straw. Having given a short account of the sensible effect of a cold tem- perature on animal and vegetable life, we shall conclude with a few remarks connected with the natu- ral history of this elementary pow- er. The properties of cold seem to be directly opposite toJ.hoseof heat: the latter increases the bulk of all bodies; the former contracts them; and, while fire tends to dissipate their substance, cold condenses them, and strengthens their mutu- al cohesion. But though cold thus appears, by some of its effects, to be nothing more than the absence or privation of heat, as darkness is only the defect of light, yet cold is probably possessed of another qua- lity, which has induced many to consider it as a substance of a pe- culiar nature. It is well known, that when a continuance of cold has con- tracted and condensed bodies to a certain degree, if then its power be increased, instead of progres- sively lessening their bulk, it en- larges and expands them, so that extreme cold, like heat, swells the substance into which it enters..... Thus fluids sensibly contract in a cold temperature, till the moment they begin to freeze, when they immediately dilate, and occupy inn re space than they possessed while in a state of fluidity. Hence, liquor frozen to ice in a close cask, is often known to burst the vessel: when ice is broke on a pond, it swims upon the surface ; a certain proof of it's being lighter, or of a larger bulk, than an equal quantity of water. This dilatation of fluids, however, is probably owing to a cause very different from that of excessive cold alone ; because the power of freezing may be artifici- ally increased, while the inlense- ness of the cold receives no consi- derable addition ; and, on'the con- trary, a substance capable cf melt- ing ice, will increase the degree of its coldness. Thus, for instance, sal ammoniac mixed with pounded ice, or with snow, melts either of them into water, and increases their cold to a surprizing degree, as is obvious from the effects of this mixture, in sinking the ther- mometer. Hence, the freezing of fluids cannot be entirely considered as the result of cold, but of some unknown property either in the air or water, which thus mixes with the body, and for a time de- stroys its fluidity. We cannot, in this place, enter into farther parti- culars relative to this curious sub- ject ; but as there have lately been invented several methods of con- verting water into ice, which may be of service in domestic economy, we shall communicate the most easy and least expensive pro- cesses of this kind, under the ar- ticle Ice. [An intense degree of cold was produced by W. II. Pepys, jun. of London, and also by Mr.'Walker COL COL 175 of Oxford, by employing Seguin's frigorihc mixture of muriate of lime and snow. Mercury was fixed, by immersing in the mixture a glass retort containing that mineral. See an interesting account of the whole experiment of Mr. P. in Tilloch's Phil. Mag. vol. iii.. p. 76. and a no- tice of that by Mr. Walker, p. 110.] COLIC, a disease attended with wandering pain in the bowels, and rumbling noise ; both abating on the expulsion of wind : there is a slight degree of thrist; the pulse is scarcely affected, and the pain is not increased by pressure, as is the case in inflammations. , This complaint may arise from a great variety of causes; the prin- ciple of which are, 1. i atulency ; 2. Tough, pituitous humours, clog- ging the intestines ; 3. Worms; 4. Bile; 5. The Piles; 6. Hyste- rics ; 7. Acrid food or drink; 8. The inhalation of vapours arising from the decomposition of lead; 9. Rheumatism; 10. The use of sour wines and cyder; 11. The gout.; 12. A sudden catarrh; 13. An acid generated in the first passages; 14. Obstructions in the intestinal canal ; and, 15. Poisonous sub- stances introduced into the stomach. Consistently with our plan, we shall but briefly treat, here, of those colics which originate from the 2d, 7th, 10th, and 13th of the causes before enumerated ; as .the reader will find the other species discussed under their respective heads of the alphabet; and the last, or 15th, under the articles Antidotes and Arsenic, in our first volume. If the colic proceed from the second cause, it is attended with frequent evacuations of viscid and glossy humours which produce only occasional relief from pain. Camphor and rhubarb ought to be taken in small doses, namely, one grain of the former, and two grains of the latter, every three hours, or oftener; and after the spasms have subsided, an infusion of catechu (which see) or solutions of alum, will be found the most effectual remedies. When acrid food, or tart and corrupt beverage, has occasioned the complaint, it will first be ne- cessary to take a gentle emetic, or if some time has elapsed, to open the bowels, by the mildest laxa- tives, such as castor-oil, a solution of manna, with a few grains of rhubarb, &.c. Colics arising from the use of sour w ines and cyder, are general- ly attended with excruciating pain, and paralytic symptoms. The most proper remedies in such cases are, the tepid bath ; emollient fomenta- tions made of chamomile flowers with the addition of laudanum, ap- plied to the abdomen ; all such re- medies as promote perspiration, and especially the volatile tincture of guaiacum. But the safest, and perhaps most effectual means of procuring relief from pain, are antispasmodic clysters: they should be prepared of a weak decoction of ipecacuanha; forinstance,one dram boikd in three-quarters of a pint of water, till the third part be evapo- rated, adding to every clyster from 30 to 40 drops of laudanum ; and repeating the injection every six or eight hours, at a temperature of about 90° A similar treatment may be adopted in those colics, which fre- quently attack persons who have a peculiar tendency to generate an acid in their stomach and bowels: but as this acidity is generally the consequence of obstipations, or ob- 176 COL COL structions of the abdomen, these ought to be previously removed by the useof laxative clysters (which see), assisted by gentle aperients taken by the mouth, for instance, calcined magnesia and rhubarb, in doses of one scurple of the former, and three grains of the latter, re- peated every four or six hours. Lastly, we think it our duty to caution the reader against the use of heating,stimulating,or spirituous remedies, in every kind of colic, except that arising solely from fla- tulency, without any other pre- disposing cause : as, however, no ordinary observer will be able to ascertain whether the expulsion of wind, which generally accompanies this complaint, be its generating cause, or only a concomitant symp- tom, we seriously recommend, in such a state of uncertainty, to ab- stain from all violent remedies; to apply no other but emollient clys- ter and fomentations; and to drink large portions of lilac-flower or cha- momile tea, or lake any other di- luent beverage, till the spasms be relieved, and the nature of the dis- ease more clearly understood...... These remedies are not fraught with danger; and, if properly per- sisted in, have frequently been at- tended with the most desirable ef- fects. For treating the colic of in- fants, see Bile, vol. 1. [In common cases of colic, relief is soon obtained by opening the bowels, either by glauber salts, mixed with cream of tartar, and dissolved in hot lemonade; by cas- ter-oil, or, by purging clysters, and by afterwards giving laudanum in small doses every half hour. But in some violent cases, a most ob- stinate costiveness prevails, attend- ed by alarming vomiting. In this case, the clysters must be repeated every half hour, some blood, taken away, and cold water dashed on the fee:. After the bowels have been well opened, opium in small doses may be given. In some instances the warm bath has produced imme- diate relief. Many persons are sub- ject to frequent returns of this pain- ful disease, which, very probably, proceeds from gall-stones. Dr. G. of New-Jersey, uses a decoction of the root of the common mulberry tree to prevent the disease, with great success. Some well attested instances of the success of this re- medy, have been communicated to the editor. Horses are frequently affected by colics, in consequence of violent exercise, or of the animal being permitted to eat too much green herbage, or of bad hay, new oats, or Indian-corn blades. The symp- toms, according to Ryding, are great restlessness, frequent at- tempts to lie down ; the hind ex- tremities are drawn under the bo- dy; and the horse rolls frequently. Two or three quarts of blood must be taken away, and the operation may be repeated, if required ; but above all, clysters ought to be in- jected, composed of the following ingredients: water, half a gallon ; salt, one handful; oil of any land, one pint; molasses, one pint; mix. This quantity must be injected by a large pewter syringe, every half hour, until the bowels are well opened. If the pain be not remov- ed, a pint of sweet-oil or caster-oil, may be poured down the throat, in order to open the whole intestinal canal; after which, clysters of lin- seed decoction, with the addition of a table-spoonful of laudanum, may be injected every hour until ease be procured. A table-spoonful of laudanum may also be poured down the throat, and the horse kept warm.] COL COL 177 [COLLINSONIA Canadensis Nettle leaved Collinsonia, horse- weed, knot-root, knot-wood. Two plants belong to this genus. I. The above mentioned, and 2. C. Scabriuscula, or rough-stalked Collinsonia, found by the late John Bartram, in East Florida. The C. Canadensis, has a perennial root, and usually rises four feet; the stalks decay in the autumn ; they are square, leaves heart-shaped, opposite and serrated. The flowers are produced at the extremity of the stalks in loose spikes, are of a purplish yellow, and appear early in July. The root is composed of woody knots, which are extremely hard; and when broken and infused in cyder have cured several alarm- ing cases of dropsy, an account of which has been communicated to the editor. The remedy ought to be tried infused in warm water.] COLOPFIONY, a black resin, or turpentine boiled in water, and afterwards dried. It is chiefly used in the composition of horse medi- cines. Coloquintida. See Cucum- ber. COLOUR is one of the most re- markable phenomena in nature, the explanalionof which, bythe ancient philosophers, was vague and unsa- tisfactory, till Sir Isaac Newton, in 1666, discovered that the colour- ed image of the sun, formed by a glass prism, was not. of a circular- but of an oblong form, contrary to the laws of refraction. Hence he conjectured, that light is not homo- geneal, or a simple body, but that it consists of rays, some of which arc much more refrangible than others. This theory was very gen- erally received, and subsequently improved upon by Dr. Hooke, as well as by other native and foreign VOL. II. philosophers; and, though the doc- trine of colours is far from being determined with sufficient preci- sion, yet we are warranted to admit the truth of the following proposi- tions ; 1. All the colours in nature pro- ceed from the rays of light. 2. There are seven primary co- lours; namely, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and violet or indigo. 3. Every ray of light may be se- parated into the seven primary co- lours. 4. The rays of light in passing through the same medium, have different degrees of refraugibility. 5. The variation in the colours of light arises from its different re- frangibility ; that which is the least refrangible producing red: and that which is the most refrangible, vio- let. 6. By compounding any two of the primary colours, as red and yellow, or yellow and blue, the in- termediate colour, as orange or green, may be produced. 7. The colours of bodies arise from their dispositions to reflect one sort of rays, and to absorb the other. 8. Such bodies as reflect two or more sorts of rays, appear of va- rious colours. 9. The whiteness of bodies ari- ses from their disposition to reflect all the rays of light promiscuously. 10. The blackness of bodies pro- ceeds from their incapacity to re- flect any of the rays of light. Flence it is, that a black body, when ex- posed to the sun, becomes heated much sooner than any other. Although, of all sensible quali- ties, colour is the least useful in as- certaining the virtues and powers of vegetables ; yet, as the follow- A A 178 COL C OL ing general positions have been laid down on this subject by Linnaeus, and as they appear to be sufficient- ly attested by experience, we shall conclude this article .\ ith specifying them. A yellow colour generally indicates a bitter taste, as in gen- tian, aloe, celandine, turmeric, and other yellow flowers. Red denotes an acid or sour taste ; as in cran- berries, barberries, currants, rasp- berries, mulberries, cherries, the fruit of the rose, sea-buckthorn,and service-tree. Herbs that turn red towards autumn, have also an acid taste ; as sorrel, wood-sorrel and bloody dock. Green indicates a crude, alkaline taste, as in leaves and unripe fruits. A pale colour denotes an insipid flavour, as in en- dive, asparagus, and lettuce. While promises to be sweet and luscious to the palate; as in white currants, and plums, sweet apples, &c. Last- ly, black indicates a harsh, nause- ous, and disagreeable taste ; as in the berries of deadly night-shade, myrtle-leaved sumach, herb-chris- topher, and others; many of which are not only unpleasant to the taste, but pernicious and fatal in their ef- fects. COLOUR-MAKING, is the art of preparing various colours em- ployed in painting. This art, tho' one of the most curious branches of chemistry ,isthe least understood. The principles that govern it, differ totally from those, on which the theory of other parts of chemistry is founded; and as the practical part is in the hands of persons who sedulously conceal their methods of preparing colours, we have only a superficial theory, and are but imperfectly acquainted with the practice. Colours are divided into various classes, such as opaque and tvans- parent; oil and water-colours; sim- ple and compound; true and false. 1. Opaque colours are those which, when laid on any substance, efface every other painting or stain; such as white and red-lead, Vermillion, Sec. Transparent colours possess the peculiar property of leaving the ground on which they are laid, vi- sible through them. These are employed for illuminating maps, charts, Sec. II. Oil and water-colours are thus denominated, from their being ap- propriated to painting in oil and in water. In preparing oil-colours, care must be taken to grind them ex- tremely fine; and, when they are put on the pallet, to mix those which will not dry of themselves, with drying oils ; and also to mix the tinged colours in as small quan- tities as possible. With respect to the application of them, if employ- ed for large pieces, they should be laid on full, in order that they may incorporate, and more firmly ad- here. If they are intended to bz glazed, particular care must be taken to paint the under-colour strong and smooth ; after which the others may be gradually added, till the whole is properly filled up. Oil-colours are, however, some- times worked dry, where only one is used, as in cameos, in which the gradations of colours of distant ob- jects are usually managedbylights, as with crayons; and in basso re- lievos, which are imitations ofsculp- ture, of every kind and colour. Water-colours are wrought in various modes ; namely, in distem- per (as artists express' it,) where the colours are prepared in size ; in fresco or painting on fresh mor- tar, in which case it is requisite that the colouring be quick, lest COL COL 179 the stucco or mortar dry,bcfore it can be laid on; and that it be neat- ly and carefully executed; each colour being properly placed, and occasionally intermingled by par- cels ; in agouache, where the colours are mixed with gum, and the pen- cil drawn along, as in paint and washings ; and lastly, in miniature, for small and delicate works, in which the colours are required to be very fine and clean, to be mix- ed with gum, and worked in dots or points. III. Simple and compoundcolours. The former are perfect in them- selves, such as red and white lead, Vermillion, the calces of iron, Sec. the latter are formed by the union of two or more colouring sub- stances; for instance, blue and yel- low, when blended together, make a green; red and yellow, an orange; and white earth and cochineal, a lake, Sec. IV. The last and most import- ant division of colours is into true and false ; the former retain their pristine tinge, without fading, un- der every possible variety of cir- cumstance ; the latter either loose their colour entirely, or change in- to some other shade. Colours are chiefly affected by being exposed to the sun during the summer, and to the cold air in winter. White lead, however, forms an exception; as, when ground with oil, it retains its white- ness, if it be exposed to the wea- ther, but degenerates into a brown- ish or yellowish cast, in a confined situation. Nevertheless, when it is immersed in water, it is totally divested of its colour, whether it be exposed to the effects of the air or not. In the making of colours, the chief object is, that they may not fade, from the influence of the weather: though it must be re- gretted that the most beautiful are, in general, the least permanent. It may, however, for the most part be assumed, that the more simple any colour is, the less liable it will be to change on exposure to the air. Having thus briefly stated the general theory of colours, we shall also give some account of the dif- ferent pigments, which are most commonly employed by colour- makers. 1. Black, consists of several sorts, such as lamp-black, ivory- black, blue-black, and Indian ink. The first of these is the finest of what are called soot-blacks, and is more used than any other. Its preparation depends on the manu- facture of common resin. , The impure juice collected from inci- sions made in pine, and fir-trees, is boiled down with a small quantity of water, and strained, while hot, through a bag; the dregs and pieces of bark remaining in the strainer, are burnt in a low oven, whence the smoke is conveyed through a long passage into a square cham- ber, at the top of which is an open- ing, with a large, sack affixed, made of thin woollen stuff: the soot, or lamp-black, concretes part- ly in the chamber, whence it is swept out once in two orthree days, and partly in the sack, which is oc- casionally agitated, in order to take down the soot, and to clear the in- terstices between the threads, so as to admit a free current of air. This method of preparing lamp-black, was originally invented in Sweden, but has also been introduced into this country; and is now carried on to a considerable extent in the tur- pentine-houses, from the refuse of resinous matter* 180 COL Ivory-Uack is prepared from ivo- ry, or bones, burnt in a close ves- sel; and, when finely ground, af- fords a deeper and more beautiful colour than lamp-black; but it is, in general, so much adulterated with charcoal, and so grossly levi- gated, as to be unfit for use. An opaque deep black, for water co- lours may be prepared, by grind- ing ivory-black with gum water; or with the aqueous liquid that settles from the whites of eggs, which have stood some time to sub- side. German Black, see Frankfort Blacking, vol i. Blue-black is said to be prepared from the burnt stalks and tendrils of vines. This is, however, seldom done by colour-makers, who gene- rally substitute a mixture of ivory- black, and the common blue used for dyeing cloths. Indian-ink is an excellent black for water-colours, and may be thus imitated. [Boil an ounce of fine lamp-black in a little water, in an earthen vessel, taking care to skim it. Add a dram (60 grs.) of gum arabic (or cherry-tree gum,) and evaporate till the mass has acquired consistence enough to be made into tablets.] 2. Whitu, of which there are several kinds : as flake - white, white - lead, calcined hartshorn, pearl-white, Spanish-white, egg- shell-white, and magistery of bis- muth. Flake-white and white-lead, are the produce of tbe same metal. [Flake-white is a purer kind of white-lead, washed and ground over again. White-lord is thus made : Eel! d or milled le'.d is twisted up in a spiral form, r.nd placed on end, on wooden cios'its in earlnen ves- COL sels. Vingar is put in the vessels up to the cross. The vessels are then put into a bed of horse dung, the tops being closely covered with a flat plate of lead. The heat of the dung raises the vinegar in steam, and corrodes the plates.... The white-lead is scraped off, and ground in a mill, and well washed. In lieu of horse-dung, larger ves- sels may be used, and a gentle fire. The vinegar may be evaporated after some time for sugar of lead. White lead is adulterated with whiting or tobacco-pipe clay. Spi- rit of salt will dissolve the whiting : or take an oz. of pure white-lead, and flux it with charcoal, and an oz. of suspected white lead, and do the same ; the different quantities of metal obtained will shew the amount of the adulterations. For substitutes for white paint see ar- ticle " Painting." (See White-Lead.) These two are the only whites that can be used in oil ; all the rest being transpa- rent, unless laid on with water. Calcined hartshorn is the most useful of the earthy whites, as it contains the least proportion of al- kali. Spanish-white is only chalk, very finely prepared. Pearl-white is made from oyster- shells,as egg-shell-white also is from those of eggs. AU these, from their attraction for acids, necessa- rily destroy those colours which are compounded with any acid or metallic salt. The magistery of bismuth is apt to turn black, as well as flake-w hite, and white-lead, when employed for a water-colour. 3. Red. The principal red co- lours used in painting, are carmine, rose-pink, vermillion. and red-leadj COL COL 181 Carmine is the brightest and most beautiful red colour known at present. [This is prepared from cochi- neal. Into a very clean tin pot with a cover, pour 10 or 12 quarts of pure water ; let it simmer but not boil: put in an ounce of finely pow- dered and sifted cochineal, and let all boil gently for five minutes,.... then add 30 grs. of finely powder- ed Roman alum, and boil again 20 minutes, remove the pot from the fire, and let it stand covered till it cools. Drain off the water when cool, gently, and the sedi- ment that falls from it, will be the finest carmine. This will happen in 48 hours. Pour off the water, and if coloured, let it settle again in another dish. The grosser sedi- ment is red lake. The finer sedi- ment is carmine when collected and dried. The sediment may be again boiled and left to settle.... N. B. In my opinion a few drops of diluted solution of tin in spirit of salt added to the solution of the cochineal, (or any other colouring matter) will produce a much finer lake, T. C. In the same way may be made lakes from Brazil wood, and madder, and kermes berries. For another receipt, see article " Carmine."] Rose-pink is a very delicate co- lour, inclining more to purple than scarlet. It is prepared from chalk, coloured with a decoction of brazil- wood, heightened by an alkaline salt, which renders it very liable to fade, and of little value. This co- lour might be made more durable, by employing for its basis the white precipitate of lead ; and by bright- ening il with a solution of tin. Vermillion consists of sulphur and quicksilver, the former of which is melted, when the quick- silver is stirred in, and the whole is converted into a black mass. See Cinnabar. [If Vermillion be adulterated with red-lead, it may be discovered by fluxing it with charcoal in a crucible ; the vermillion will eva- porate and the lead be reduced.] Red-lead is a calx, of a lively yellowish colour, which it acquires by slow calcination. Both these colours are very durable ; the for- mer, however, is the best red for oil-painting, but does not answer with water; the latter inclines to an orange ; and, like other prepara- tions of lead,frequently turns black. [Venetian red is a native red ochre, but imitated by colcothar, or the residuum of green vitriol after the old method of procuring oil of vitriol by distilling nitre with green vitriol.] 4. Orange. The genuine orange-coloured paints are, red or- piment, and orange-lake: the first of these is a sublimate formed of arsenic and sulphur; the other may be prepared from turmeric, infused in spirit of wine, having its colour struck upon calx of tin, and brightened by a solution of that metal. The different shades of orange may, however, be prepared by mixing red and yellow colours together in due proportions. 5. Yellow. The chief colours of this kind are, Kings and Naples- yellow, Dutch-pink, and Turbith- mineral. Kings-yellow is prepared from arsenic. Its colour is very beautif i, but apt to fade, on which account, as well as from its great price, it is but seldom employed. [Nu/il -s-yellow. This is a natural production found near Naples, con- sisting of a kind of lava, unchange- able by fire and by acids. The ar- 182 COL tihcial kind is thus made. Mix 12 ounces of white-lead, 2 ounces of diaphoretic antimony (the washed calx of antimony), -|- an oz. of cal- cined alum, and 1 oz. of pure sal ammoniac, pound them well toge- ther, put them in an earthen cru- cible, with a cover, calcine thein in a slow fire, so that the crucible shalf not be hotter than a dark red he:it. continue this for three hours. If a bright golden colour be wanted, add -| oz. more of antimony, and a I oz. of sal ammoniac. Do not let iron touqh this colour. Those who may wish to inform themselves more particularly con- cerning Naples-yellow, and the dif- ferent methods of preparing it, are referred to the translation of a pa- per by Prof. Beckman, inserted in Tilloch's Phil. Mag. vol. iii. Tinner's Patent mineral yellow. According to our late celebrated townsman and friend, Dr. John P e N N i x g t o k . See Chemical Essays, Philadelphia, 1790. Take 2 oz. spirits of sea salt (ma- rine acid), made according to the process laid down in the " Edinb. Dispensatory," and one pound of li- tharge, mix and put them in an iron mortar holding about a pint, and lined with a mixture of four parts sand and one of clay mixed up with water. Heat the mortar white in a furnace. Never stir the ingredients v.liile in fusion, and beware of iron through the whole process. When the mixture is fused, it is to be poured out into proper moulds made of clay, and when cold, the process is entirely finished.] Turbith-mineral is, at present, but little used in painting, though it r>;>pears to be very durable, and is therefore preferable both to Kings and Naples-yellow. [Du:ch-p''r.k. Boil { lb. of turme- C OL ric berries in one gallon of water, and add whiting to the clear liquor: the colour will unite to the whiting which should be collected and dried.] 6. Green. The only simple green of a tolerable degree of brightness, is vn-cagrease, or its different preparations : though far from being durable, it may be ren- dered more so, as a water-colour, by dissolving it in the pure tarta- rous acid. A green colour may be made by compounding Prussian or other blue, with yellow ; but it is by no means fixed, and much inferior to common verdigrease. [Brim, wick-green. This is a Ger- man colour, no', used in England. It is said to be a tartarised copper made thus : Dissolve one part by weight of sal ammoniac in water: lay in it three parts by weight of copper plates ; when a green rust forms, wash it off, and repeat this till the copper is entirely corroded. Twelve parts of copper give 17 parts of common B. green, which is precipitated by boiling it with tartar. Scheele's-green. This excellent colour was discovered by the Swed- ish chemist Schefle, and is made thus. Dissolve 2 lbs. blue vitriol in about three gallons of boiling wa- ter in a vessel capable of holding at least four gallons more. In ano- ther vessel boil together 2 lbs. of pearl-ash, and £ of a pound of white arsenic, in about 21 gallons of wa- ter ; boil it till the arsenic is dis- solved, or nearly so; then pour this last hot solution into the first while hot, it will effervesce a good deal, and therefore, the vessel should be large. The precipitate will be a finer powder, in proportion to the quantity of water used. Wash and dry it. The produce will be about COL COL 183 ■1 of colour. Common green colour may be made by precipitating so- lutions of copper by whiting and potash. Sap-green, is the inspissated juice of Buckthorn-berries obtain- ed by expression. To make a water colour from ver- digrease, pound four ounces of ver. with 2 oz. of white tartar, and boil them in half a pint of water, taking care that none runs over: stir it often. Evaporate to a consistence, then pour it into a muscle shell to evaporate to dryness.] 7. Blue. The principal blue co- lours are, Prussian andDutch Blue, Verditer, Smalt, Bice, and Indigo. Various processes have been adopted for the making of Prus- sian-blue, of which we shall select the shortest. Take 3 Lbs. of dried ox's-hlood, 4 lbs. 8 oz. of quick-lime, 2 lbs. of red tartar, and 1 lb. 8 oz. of salt- petre. Let them be calcined and lixiviated, when the ley should be poured into a solution of 4 lbs. of alum, and 1 lb. of green vitriol. This operalion will produce the finest blue ; but the quantity will exceed little more than 8 oz. and 4 drams. [Prussian-blue. The following process was recommended by Dr. John Pennington. Mix six lbs. of powdered black bones, with one pound of potash : press these in- gredients closely into an iron pot, and cover it with an iron cover, well plastered with clay or earth.. Expose the pot to a bright red heat, for three or four hours. When cool, take the ingredients out, dissolve the soluble parts in hot water, and strain through flannel. If the blue be wished of the very first quality, pour into the liquor, either spirit of iait, or oil of vitriol, until the boil- ing ceases on any fresh addition of the spirit. Pour the whole into a solution of half a pound of green. vitriol in two gallons of water. If a lighter blue be wished, add a less quantity of the spirit of salt, or oil of vitriol, to the liquor from the bones, in which case add a quarter of a pound of alum to the solution of green vitriol: then mix a little of the two liquors in a phial, and if the colour be too light, add more of the spirit: mix the whole toge- ther as before. In the instant of mixing, the two liquors, which were before colourless and transparent, become of an opaque blue; in a few hours the blue fecula subsides, and leaves a transparent liquor on the top, which may be thrown away: the sediment must be stirred up with clean hot water, and suffered again to subside: this must be re- peated seven or eight times, and then the fluid filtered through paper and dried on a large cake of chalk. The artist will find some valua- ble hints respecting this and other chemical manufactures in Dv. Pennington's Essays, Phil. 1790. Blue-verditer: add lime well burnt, fallen and sifted, to a solu- tion of blue vitriol. It is also made from the nitrated solution of copper left by refiners of silver after the operation of parting, or separating the silver by means of salt, from the nitrous solution. To this solu- tion of copper, whiting or chalk is added. Earths coloured blue by iron ore are often found native. For the above important addi- tional articles on colours, the editor is indebted to Thos. Coor-Eu, Esq. of Northumberland.] Dutch-hlue. See Blue, vol. i, p. 321. The preparation of verditer is 184 COL COL studiously concealed, so that the best chemists of Europe have been baffled in discovering its compo- nent parts. It is very bright, and has a considerable tinge of green. This colour is durable in water; but, like verdigrease, dissolves in oil, and is subject to the same in- conveniences. Smalt is glass coloured with zaffre; a preparation from [the calx of] cobalt. It is, in general, so grossly pulverized as to be un- fit for painting, and its texture is so hard, that it cannot be easily levi- gated. Its colour is exceedingly bright and durable ; and, if finely pulverized, is little inferior to Prus- sian-blue. Bice is prepared from the Lapis Armenus, a stone which was for- merly brought from Armenia, but now from Germany. Bice bears the best body of all bright blues in common use, but it is the palest in colour. Being somewdiat sandy, it is necessary to grind it very fine, and to wash it well, previously to its being used. It is as durable, and yields nearly as good a colour as Prussian-blue. Indigo is but little employed in painting either in oil, or water, on account of the dullness of the co- lour. It requires no other prepa- ration than that of being washed over, before it is used. See Indigo. 8. Purple. The only simple colour of this kind at present, is colcothar cf vitriol, or crocus mar- tis. A beautiful purple lake may be prepared from logwood, by means of a solution of tin. As this mode of preparing colours is but little known, we shall give a few hints respecting it, under the sub- joined head of Colouring Mat- ter. 9. Brown. The chief Brown colours are bistre, and brown Pink* Bistre is prepared from the most glossy, and perfectly burnt soot, [chiefly of beechwood] pulverized, passed through a' fine sieve : [and boiled in water for half an hour in the proportion of 2 lbs. to a gallon of water. After settling, it is poured off, dried] and then baked in a little gum-water, and formed into cakes. This is a very useful colour in water, being exceedingly fine and durable, and not apt to spoil any other colours with which it is mixed. The brown-pink is said to consist of chalk, tinged with the colouring matter of fustic, heightened by fixed alkaline salts. It is, consequently, very perishable and seldom used. See also Cha- fer. Colouhing Matter is contain- ed in almost every flower and root of vegetables, and may be extract- ed by a very simple process. The Dutch prepare pigments of the most beautiful shades, for instance, a very fine azure blue, from the blossoms of the corn blue-bottle, Centaurea Cyanus, L. a delicate red, from the fresh leaves of roses especially the small French rose ; an excellent violet from the flow- ers of that name, Sec. in the fol- lowing manner : Take the roots, leaves, or flowers of whatever quan- tity is desired, bruise thtm nearly to a pulp, put them into a glazed earthen vessel, pour a sufficient quantity of filtered waterovcr them, and add a table-spoonful of a strong solution of pure pot-ash to every pint of the former. Boil the whole over a moderate fire, till the liquor is evidently saturated with the co- lour afforded by the vegetable; then decant the fluid part, either through blotting paper, or cloth, and gradually drop into it a solu- COL COL 185 tion of alum, when the colouring matter will subside at the bottom. This powder should again be wash- ed in several fresh waters, till they pass away perfectly tasteless: at length, it must be once more fil- tred through paper, and the re- maining substance perfectly dried. From this preparation are after- wards manufactured the finest pig- ments, or water-colours, of the shops, by triturating them on mar- ble stones, with the addition of a little clarified gum-water, and then forming them into cones, cakes, fkc Having already, under the diffe- rent heads of plants, mentioned the various purposes to which they may be usefully applied, in the arts of colouring, dyeing, tanning. Sec. it would be superfluous to enume- rate them on this occasion....a task we are necessarily obliged to defer, on account of the great variety of vegetables which will occur in the sequel of the alphabet. To ena- ble, however, those readers who are engaged in any particular art, or trade, to.take a comprehensive view of every useful fact connected with their respective pursuits, we take this opportunity of informing them, that we intend to give a co- pious and universal Index of Re- ference, at the conclusion of our la- bours. By the assistance of such an index, they will be enabled im- mediately to avail themselves of all the modern improvements, disco- veries, and inventions, relative to any subject treated of in the Do- mestic Encyclopadia; whether it be recorded under a distinct head of the alphabet, or only incidentally mentioned. COLT, the young of a mare, usually called a horse-colt, in order to distinguish it from the female, which is denominated a fitly. vol. ii« Colts should always be bred from a sound stud, as their future utili- ty, in a great measure, depends on that circumstance ; and also on the manner in which they are reared. In the first summer they may be permitied to run with the mare 1:11 Michaelmas, or longer, if the wea- ther continue mild. They should then be weaned, and kept in a sta- ble, with a low rack and manger, for their hay and oats: but the lat- ter should be crushed in a mill, be- fore they are given to them, as this necessary precaution will prevent the distention of their lower jaw- veins ; which would otherwise at- tract the blood and humours down into the eyes, and occasion loss of sight. We would particularly re- commend a strict attention to this circumstance; as the blindness we frequently observe in colts, is not to be attributed to the heating nature of the pats, but solely to the diffi- culty with which they are chewed. The feeding of colts with i;i\im is attended with another advantage, namely, that their legs do not be- come thick and ill-shaped, while they on the whole grow broader, and better knit, than if they were fed on- ly with bran and hay; and will J- so be more able to endure fatigue. Colts should be carefully kept from wet and cold ; as they are extremely tender, and would be greatly injured by either. During fine weather, however, they may be allowed to pass an hour or two in the open air, when they should be conducted to the stable. By this treatment, they will acquire :i habit of docility; and, when broken in, will bear the saddle quietly ; which operation should not be un- dertaken till they are at least three years of age. These young animals are subject 186 COL COL to various disorders, the most fatal of which is a cough, that generally attacks them when they are about six months old, and is accompanied with a visible decay, arising from certain pellicles, or skins frequent- ly separated from their interior or- gans, which obstruct their breath- ing, and at length destroy them. To remedy this distemper, sweet cow's-milk,in which a little mutton suet has been dissolved, or the beestings alone, would be found be- neficial. [See FIcrse.] COLTS-FOOT, or Tussilago, L. a genus of plants forming 2 I species, of which ficient; for as Mr. Bordley justly observes, often turningthe compost may weaken it as a manure, by checking the fermentation of the mass. In this way a diligent firmer may greatly increase the richness of the land, at the same time that he rids his fields of noxious weeds and briars. Several heaps of com- post of different qualities, according to the nature of the soils requiring a dressing, may be made either in the field, or in the barn yard. As the water drains from them, it should be carefully collected and thrown on the heap. And that it may not be lost by soaking in the ground while the farmer is neces- sarily occupied in attendingto other matters ; wooden troughs, or gut- ters,paved with clay and gravel,well pounded, or with lime and gravel mixed with boiling hot lime-wash, and spread with a trowel, may be made to convey the liquid to a tight barrel sunk in the ground; whence it may be thrown upon the heap at a leisure time. See Manure.] Compound. See Houses. COMPRESSES, in surgery, are very useful applications, for pre- venting a wound from bleeding, or swelling, as well as in the treat- ment of aneurisms, ruptures, and indolent tumours of every kind.... They generally consist of folded pieces of linen cloth, so contrived as to make a gentle pressure upon any particular part. After the plaster and other dressings are ap- plied, surgeons frequently cover the whole with a compress, to se- cure and fix their applications, and to preserve the parts from the in- juries of external air, which would retard the process of healing. Compresses are likewise fre- quently used, where no plasters C ON CON 193 are required ; and in this case, ei- ther dry, or moistened with certain liquors, which are supposed to be strengthening, emollient, cooling, Sec. For such purpose, they are dipped into decoctions of different herbs, into wine, spirits, vinegar, lime-water, solutions of water, sal- ammoniac, Sec. either hot or cold, according to the nature of the case. But the principal use cfcompresses appears to be that of filling up any cavity or depression of the parts, so that the dressings, especially in frcatures, may be applied with greater security ; and to prevent the bandages from occasioning a troublesome irritation or other pain, and uneasiness on the skin. Hence they ought to be cut out in circu- lar pieces, nicely adjusted to the diseased parts,and each of them pro- gressively increasing in diameter. CONDUCTORS, are long rods made of iron or other metal, em- ployed for protecting buildings from the effects of lightning. The utility of conductors is uni- versally acknowledged, yet it has not been ascertained, till within these few years, whether pointed or blunt ones were the most pro- per : the former however, are now decidedly pieferred,in consequence of several experiments, made under the inspection of the Royal Society. Instances, nevertheless, occur of houses provided with pointed me- tallic conductors, being stricken with lightning ; so tiiat this philo- sophical contrivance has not yet arrived at perfection. We, there- fore, communicate w ith satisfaction the following improvement in con- ductors, made by Mi. Pobert Pa- terson, of Philadelphia, for which the American Philosophical Society adjudged him the prize of a gold medal. He proposes first to in- VOL. 11. sert, in the top of the rod, a piece of the best black-lcad,abc\\t 2 inches long, and terminating in a fine point which projects a little above the end of its metallic socket; so that if the black-lead point should by any accident, be broken off, that of the rod would be left sharp enough to answer the purpose of a metallic conductor. His second in- tention is, to facilitate the passage of the electric fluid from the lower part of the rod into the surround- ing earth. In many cases it is im- practicable, from the interruption of rocks 'and other obstacles, to sink the rod so deeply as to icach moist earth, or any other substance that is a tolerably good conductor of electricity. To remedy this de- fect, Mr. Paterson proposes to make the lower part of the rod, either of tin or copper, whieh me- tals are h>r less liable to corrosion or rust, than iron, when lying un- der ground ; or, which will answer the purpose still better, to coat that part of the conductor, of what- ever metal it may consist, with a thick crust of black-lead previously formed into a paste, by being pul- verized, mixed with melted sul- phur, and applied to the rod while hot. By this precaution, the lower part of the rod will in his opinion, retain its conducting powers for ages, without any diminution. In order to increase the surface of the subterraneous part of the conductor, he directs a hole, or pit, of sufficient extent, to be dug as deep as convenient; into which a quantity of charcoal should be put, surrounding the lower extremity of the rod. Thus, the surface of that part of the conductor, which is in contact with the earth, may be increased with little trough or ex- pense ; a circumstance of the first C c 194 CON CON importance to the security against those accidents....as charcoal is an excellent conductor of electricity, and will undergo little orno change of property, by lying in the earth for a long series of years. [The experience of every year convinces us that metallic conduc- tors, or lightning rods, are not cer- tain safeguards against lightning : it is of infinite importance, there- fore, to state a certain mode by which all possible danger may be avoided * this we are enabled to do from the directions given by the late G. C. Morgan, in his lectures upon electricity.; (Norwich, 1794.) and the editor is happy in stating, that the method was highly ap- proved of by that distinguished philosopher, Dr. Priestley, and was the one which he constantly recommended in England, when consulted on the occasion. The foundation of each partition wall of the house must be laid on a strip of lead ; or the lead must be fastened to the sides of them..... These strips must be connected, and their dimensions not less than one-fourth of an inch thick, and 2 inches wide. A perpendicular strip on each side of the house, should rise from this bed of metallic con- ductors to the surface of the ground : there a strip should be continued around all the house, and carefully connected with water pipes, &c. The strips on the sides of the house should then he con- tinued to the roof, where the me- thod of guarding the bottom must be imitated. The top is to be sur- rounded by a strip, whose connec- tion should spread over every edge and prominence, and hence must continue to the summit of each se- parate chimney. The chimnies in particular must be protected; for Mr. Morgan was witness to a case in which a house was guarded, in most respects, ac- cording to the method just describ- ed : but from the chimnies having been left unprotected, the lightning consequently struck one of them, where its rage terminated ; but the tumbling of the chimney into the roof was attended by serious con- sequences. By guardingthe house, we make it of all objects, that which is the most likely to become the circuit of a cloud ; and conse- quently should be careful that no interruption divides the conductors; for it is there that the havoc will probably take place. The expense of a conductor, erected according to the plan de- scribed, may be considerably les- sened, by making a proper use of the leaden pipes and copings which belong to most houses ; no other skill being requisite, than that of fastening the strips of lead, so that they may be secure, and at the same time be connected with each other. Ships may be also easily protec- ted. One strip of metal should sur- round the deck ; another should be fastened to the bottom, or the side of the keel ; these stripes should be connected with others which embrace the ship in different parts. If the vessel be copper-bottomed, nothing more is necessary than to connect the metal which surrounds the deck with the copper, but in both cases, a separate strip should pass from the rest of the strips to each mast ; no injury can then possibly happen below deck. This is a circumstance of considerable importance ; for the conductors which are usually designed for the masts, are moveable, and injury has often been the consequence of CON CON 195 neglecting to place them in their proper situation. The protection of the masts must be managed by extending a metallic body along the stays to as great a height as possible. Chains are frequently employed for this purpose ; but strips of lead are cheaper ; they are not separated by any interruptions ; they are not so liable to injury from the weather and salt water as iron is, and,might be fastened without annoying any necessary movement. Conductor s, of he at. SeeHE at.] Congelation. See Ice. CONSTITUTION, is the par- ticular temperament of the body, which depends chiefly on the state of its humours or fluids, and some- times also on the solids, but espe- cially the nerves. It is curious, says Dr. Perci- val, to observe the revolution that has taken place, within the last century, in the constitution of the inhabitants of Europe. Inflamma- tory diseases occur less frequently; and in general are less rapid and violent in their effects, than they were formerly. This advantage- ous change, however, is more than counter-balanced by the introduc- tion of debilitating articles of food and drink, several of which were utterly unknown to our ancestors, but now universally prevail. The bodies of men and women are equally enfeebled and enervated : nay, it is no uncommon circum- stance to meet with a very high degree of irritability under the ex- ternal appearance of great strength and robustness. Hypochondriacal complaints, palsies, dropsies, and all those diseases that originate in debility, are now generally ende- mial; and hysterics, which were formerly peculiar to women, attack at present either sex indiscrimin- ately. A variety of causes must concur to effect so great and uni- versal a revolution. The first of these is the general use of T ea; to which article we refer. The se- cond place may, perhaps,be assign- ed to the excessive use of spiritu- ous liquors ; a pernicious custom which, in too many instances, ori- ginates in the former; as, from the lowness and depression of spirits occasioned by the continual use of tea, it becomes almost indispensi- bly necessary to have recourse to something cordial and exhilirating. Hence many sagacious persons pre- tend to have discovered the grand secret of obviating the hurtful ef- fects of that favourite drug, by mix- ing a few tea-spoonfuls of brandy with each cup of tea, especially in dull or hazy weather. Thus, they gradually become tipplers; and hence proceed those odious and disgraceful habits of intemperance, which, we fear, are at present with justice imputed to many females in the middle ranks of society, who, independently of this barbar- ous custom, would be an ornament to their sex. Indignation and hor- ror would strike our more tempe- rate ancestors, could they behold theirdegenerate progeny approach- ing with rapid steps towards that humiliating state of apathy and ser- vitude, in which many nations of Europe, both north and south of this island, languish in deplora- ble misery. See Brandy and Spirits. CONSUMPTION, in medicine, is a very comprehensive term, in- cluding all those diseases, in which the body, from a defect of nou- rishment, is gradually reduced to a state of debility and emaciation. This fatal disorder may arise from 196 CON CON a great variety of causes, such as a mal-conformation of the trunk ; straitness of the chest; intemper- ance of whatever kind ; obstruc- tions in the pulmonary vessels, sup- pression of any natural evacua- tions ; as likewise in consequence of pleurisies, coughs, catarrhs, di- arrhoeas, grief, intense study, Sec. More frequently, however, it ori- ginates from a neglected cold, es- picially in constitutions where a peculiar hereditary disposition pre- vails, without any other discover- able cause. Accordingly,as consumptions are accompanied with fever, or exempt from that symptom, they may be divided into three classes : 1. Such as are occasioned by the hectic fe- ver, which, however, is not the con- sequence of exulcerated lungs.... See Heqtic Fever ; 2. Those in which the wasting of the body, as well as the fever, arise from pul- monic ulcers : See Lungs; and 3. Where the gradual emaciation is unconnected with any febrile symp- toms. Of the last species only, which is generally called atrophy, we shall treat in this placr. An atrophy always proceeds from a want of due assimilation of the nutritious juices, so that there is obviously a defective appetite, and a vitiated digestion, from the very commencement of the disease.... What share the depression of the animal spirits, or an unusual irri- tability of the nerves, may have in the production of this malady, ap- pears to be doubtful; and they may be considered as the effect, rather than the cause of the com- plaint which pervades the whole system. Symptoms of Atrophy : General langour of body and mind ; an un- healthy look of the face ; a light and unsettled sleep ; the appetite now voracious, now nauseating, but usually most desirous of cold food ; straitness of the breast, and unea- siness after eating ; great internal heat and dryness of the tongue ; gradual wasting of the body ; con- tinual feverishness and thirst, espe- cially during the night; at length, a fever nearly resembling a hectic, and a total privation of strength and spirits. Children and young persons are very liable to this disease: the for- mer, from the unhealthy milk of a nurse addicted to passions, parti- cularly grief and anger ; the latter, from the use of improper food ; heavy and feculent malt-liquors ; the suppression of night sweats, es- pecially when occasioned by large draughts of cold beverage ; by eat- ing voraciously of crude, thick, heavy and obstruent food ; drink- ing spirituous liquors; long contin- uance of worms, &c...Scrophulous adults, and those who have lost large quantities of blood, are also subject to atrophy. Although this is one of the least dangerous species of consumption, yet, when neglected in its com- mencement, it frequently proves fatal. Hence the evacuations by stool ought to he strictly attended to, and if the stomach be foul, a gentle emetic previously adminis- tered. A diluent v.v.:\ nourishing diet, as circumstances may re- quire ; country air ; but particular- ly sweet whey, and the mucilagin- ous bitters, such as decoctions of the eryngo-leaved liverwort, and the wood of quassia, will be of emi- nent service. No remedy what- ever is, in this complaint, equ 1 to the warm bath, which should be gradually reduced to a cool, and at length toacold temperature, as soon CON CON 197 as the patient is able to hear it..... (See vol. i. p. 204 and 205)..... Among the various domestic me- dicines, which have been occasion- ally employed for the cure of what is called a nervous atrophy, we are from experience convinced, that none are better calculated to re- store an emaciated frame, than the conjoined use of the Salep-root, vulgarly denominated Female fool- stones, or Meadow Orchis (Or- chis Morio, L.) and the Jelly ob- tained from the red garden-snail (Helix Pomatia, L.) : Two drams of the former, in powder, boiled in a pint of whey to the consistence of a thick mucilage, ought to be taken twice a day ; and from six to eight of the latter dissolved over a slow fire, in equal quantities of milk and water, with the addition of a little cinnamon and sugar, should be used every morning. But, if the patient's appetite be considerably impaired, he may be- gin the course of these remedies in much smaller doses, which might be imperceptibly increased. All symptomatical consumptions, however, are so far incurable, as they depend upon the particular disorders from which they origin- ate ; and, if the latter can be reme- died by art, there is no danger to be apprehended from the former : hence it is of the utmost import- ance to distinguish a simple atro- phy from a confirmed hectic, or a pulmonary consumption. In the last mentioned two cases, all the symptoms are more violent, and either the lungs or the tracheal, mesenteric, and other glands, are cxulcerated ; whereas, in an atro- phy, those glands are only indu- rated, or otherwise obstructed..... And though we disapproveof those over-nice distinctions, which serve to perplex rather than to instruct, yet, in this case, it is essentially necessary to discriminate between an atrophy and the rickets, scro- phula, and that consumptive weak- ness of children, who pine away for want of a due supply from the breast, or in consequence of dis- easespreying upon the constitution of the mother, or nurse. Indeed, there is but too much reason to be- lieve, that the foundation of con- sumptive diseases is often laid in the cradle, by the faulty manage- ment of nurses, and the ill-judged tenderness of parents ; by keeping children too warm ; permitting them the breast too long ; and the imprudent administration of opi- ates, practices not less detrimental than common. Thus, Dr. R. Rus- sell justly remarks, the process of converting aliment into chyle is in- jured, the habit of body rendered lax, the blood becomes too serous, the glands destined to moisten 'the joints increase in bulk, the heads of the bones are enlarged, and the glands of the mesentery, chest, and neck, are obstructed, till at length those of the lungs become also affected. The alarming increase of con- sumptions, in England, affords an ample field for medical specu- lators. It is no less astonishing than true, that about one-third of those who die in London, fall vic- tims to that merciless disease, if the bills of mortality be taken as the basis of that calculation. In the three years of 1796, 1797, and 1799, the number of deaths, in the British metropolis, is stated to be 52,237 ; and among these were, under the general head of con- sumptions, 17,559. Although the framers of these bills have proba- bly classed many other chronic dis- 198 CON orders under the head of decline and consumption, so that, perhaps, one-half, may be fairly deducted from their statement, and referred to other maladies, yet even the re- maining number of about 3000 annually, in London alone, is suf- ficient to serve as a warning to eve- ry parent, and head of a family, in order to avoid those causes which Ave have before recited. [So many books have been writ- ten Upon this common disease, that it would seem impossible to say any thing new on it. It may be well, however, for the editor to add a few general remarks, which are the result of experience, and of a particular attention to this complaint. It must be observed, that the true consumption only, is alluded to : the general wasting of the bo- dy aiising from a gradual decay of the powers of nature, or from a course of intemperance or debau- chery, or from other causes, more properly belongs to the article " Atrophy." By far the greater part of all true consumptions arise from neg- lected colds. A cold is therefore never to be trifled with, but should be attended to with the greatest care. If a fever, and a sense of fullness attend it, small bleedings, (viz. 6 to 8 oz.) should be prescrib- ed, frequent doses of nitre (10 gr. three times a day) and purges of glauber salts, or soda phosphorata taken, dissolved in gruel, together with diluting drinks of barley or rice water, or infusion of flaxseed in boiling water, and sweetened with honey ; and small doses of laudanum. Confinement to a room of a temperature as equal as possible, is of great consequence. The diet CON should be more sparing than usual, for the first days ; after which the accustomed mode of living, (if temperate) may be resumed. By this plan of proceeding, most catarrhs which very commonly are suffered to distress a person for weeks, may be easily cured. But should it happen that a cold has been neglected, and symptoms of consumption appear,small bleed- ings must be repeated every four or five days, low diet used, gentle purges of the neutral salts above mentioned taken, together with small doses of nitre, and a free use of demulcent drinks above re- ferred to, jelly of calves feet dissolv- ed in water : refined liquorice, or sugar candy may also be frequent- ly dissolved in the mouth and wrill greatly assist in allaying a teasing cough. Much benefit has been derived from two or three drops of laudanum taken three times a day in a small quantity of liquid, by al- laying the cough without heating the system. But the great point to be attended to, is the preservation of an equal temperature in the atmos- phere which the patient breathes. A frequent alteration of heat and cold is death to an irritable consumptive system. Hence, if convenient, the consumptive patient should remove to the state of Georgia, in the month of November, if the attack has taken place before that time ; or he may visit that mild climate any time during the winter, should the symptoms make a formidable appearance,(which they sometimes do,) after the cold weather has commenced. It is to be regretted, that this change of climate is often delayed until a late period of the disease, when the strength is so much exhausted that sufferers can- not take sufficient exercise to assist CON CON 199 the climate in restoring health. Whereas, did they remove from our variable climate early in the complaint, they would be enabled to join the important advantages of a mild climate with regular ex- ercise. Where a change of cli- mate cannot be effected, the uni- formity of the temperature in the sick person's room day and night, ought to be carefully preserved ; for this purpose a south exposure is highly favourable. Very great mischief has been done by authors on the consump- tion, who have servilely copied each other and considered the com- plaint as originating in the lungs, and as always appearing with an uniformity of symptoms. It is with an honest pride we are enabled to state that it is to the United States the world is indebted for the disco- very of the important principles upon which the cure of this formi- dable complaint is to be founded. Dr. Rush of Philadelphia first as- serted that the consumption was originally a disease of the whole system and not of the lungs solely, and pointed out the great, the in- dispensible necessity of regulat- ing the remedies by an attention to the form which the disease assumes, that is, whether it be accompanied by inflammatory symptoms, or by those of debility. Nay, it iVequent- ly appears with great muscular debility, and at the same time the pulse is so tense and corded, and the breathing so difficult as to prove the laborious transmission of the blood through the lungs, and to render a small bleeding essential, in order to prevent the progress of inflammation, and the formation of tubercles. The treatment must be therefore varied with the symp- toms ; thus gentle tonics, and light nourishing aliments and exercise taken when the disease puts on the appearance of debility ; and mild evacuations, low diet, and rest, en- joined when inflammatory symp- toms come on. A more particu- lar account of the complaint can- not be given consistently with the plan of this work; the reader is therefore referred to Dr. Rush's works, for an original and import- ant paper on this disease, contain- ing directions of conduct, both as to medicine and diet, in the various forms which this complaint puts on. The digitalis purpurea, or purple fox glove, has of late been much praised in the consumption. It has done some good, and has also done much harm, in consequence of being given without dive attention to the state of the system, at the time of its exhibition. The digi- talis produces very powerful effects upon the pulse, which it diminishes both in force and frequency in a remarkable manner, and hence ought never to be given, unless in- flammatory symptoms are present. But the discussion of .the points to be attended to, in the use of this powerful medicine must be deferred until we come to the article Digi- talis.] CONTAGION. [By contagion is commonly understood, a specific matter generated in persons in a diseased state, and capable of com- municating the particular disease to another person by approaching within the sphere of its influence.] In some cases it is conveyed by immediate contact or touch • in others, by infected clothes, such as cotton, and particularly wool, which of all substances is the most susceptible, because it is extreme- ly porous. Contagious matter is 200 CON CON also, though we apprehend errone- ously, said to be transmitted thro' the air, at a considerable distance, by means of effluvia arising from the sick, in which case the atmos- phere is said to be infected. Some authors have asserted, that the gout and consumption are like- wise contagious ; but this appears to be very doubtful. To obviate as far as possible all infection, we would recommend to those who are obliged to attend patients, ne- ver to approach them fasting ; and, while they are in their apartment, to avoid both eating and drinking, and also the swallowing of their own saliva. Nor will it be altogether useless to chew myrrh, cinnamon, and similar drugs, which promote a plentiful discharge from the mouth. As soon as a person has returned from visiting an infected patient, lie ought immediately to wash his mouth and hands with vinegar ; to change his clothes, carefully ex- posing those he has worn to the fresh air; and then to drink a warm infusion of sage, or other aromatic herbs, which tends to [excite] a gentle perspiration. It will also be of considerable service to those who are employed about sick persons, frequently to smell vinegar and camphor, or to fumi- gate the apartments with tobacco. [Notwithstanding the able expe- riments of Sir John Pringle and of other physicians, who have pro- ved that alkalies, both fixed and volatile, are the most powerful antiseptics, or resisters of putre- faction, aRd although these experi- ments are confirmed by the daily experience of mankind, yet still the opinion cf the alkaline nature of contagion is maintained. Hence it has been imagined that by letting loose acid fumes in infected places, they will attach themselves to the contagious atoms and neutralize or decompose them : and as has been already mentioned, under the ar- ticle Air, (Vol. I. p. 25.) Guy- ton De Morveau recommends the fumes of the muriatic acid as a powerful corrector of the conta- gion ; and has published an octavo volume in praise of the remedy ; but in all his experiments, and in those which have been lately insti- tuted at Geneva, nothing was ac- complished, which evacuation of the infected places, ventilation, careful scrubbing with soap and wa- ter, and lime-washing the walls would not have effected equally well, if not better. It was also stated, that Dr. J. Carmichael Smyth of London is equally warm in his praise of the efficacy of the fumes of the nitrous acid, in destroying contagion. But, in thcexperiments which he relates to prove the efficacy of the fumes, Dr. Trotter, physician to the fleet of England, says," there was deception from first to last;" indeed it may be again repeated, that the plansof both Morveau and Smyth are in opposition to the daily expe- rience of every notable house-keep- er, and, of every careful ship-mas- ter, who, as far as regards external means, require nothing but the re- moval of tilth, and the continued attention to cleanliness to remove contagion, and to prevent its re- turn. This subject is so ably treated by Dr. Mitchell in the Medical Repository, that the editor cannot refrain from again referring the reader to that work. He will find the nonsense of these troublesome and inefficacious substitutes for cleanliness properly exposed. Dr. Willich has given some CON good directions for avoiding con- tagion. But with regard to the vinegar and camphor, our experi- ence, is by no means confirmed in the United States. When a per- son is exposed to contagion, be- sides attending to the general rules laid down by Dr. Willich, atten- tion should be paid to the bowels, which must be opened regularly every day once or twice, by laxa- tive articles of food, as roasted ap- ples, prunes, or molasses and wa- ter. The diet should be light, and nothing difficult of digestion taken. New articles of food, dishes of new cooking, and fresh bread ought to be avoided. If the bowels are not moved by the diet used, clysters composed of a quart of warm wa- ter, one tea-cupful of sweet-oil, and one of molasses ought to be in- jected daily, by means of a pewter syringe. Purgatives taken by the mouth are apt to derange the sto- mach, and it is of immense conse- quence to preserve this organ in its usual degree of tone. One single day's excess may defeat the care and precaution of a month. Exciting causes of fever, such as exposure to night air, to a hot sun, or to sudden changes in the atmos- phere, intemperance, late hours, and all causes of passion ought to be avoided with the utmost care. An extraordinary fear of sickness must be dispelled, if possible by reading cheerful books, and by some con- stant employment of the body or mind. But probably as powerful a remedy as any that have been mentioned, is a flannel shirt worn next to the skin. This will keep up an equal and free perspiration, and has been found of essential benefit to those who have been ex- posed to contagious diseases, or obliged to reside in a pestilential vol. n. CON 201 atmosphere. It has been found highly useful during the preva- lence of the malignant fever which has so repeatedly, since 1793, dis- tressed the city of Philadelphia, particularly in the autumn, when the coolness of the mornings and evenings is considerable, and fre- quently excites the fever in those who are exposed at that time, and are not warmly clad. A respectable physician of Phi- ladelphia thinks he owes his es- cape during several epidemic fe- vers, to the irritation produced by a blister on the wrist, which he kept open. Medical men will un- derstand the theory of the action of this remedy, which ought cer- tainly to be tried, when an escape from the place of pestilence cannot be effected.] Contagion, a disorder peculiar to cattle, more commonly called Distemper, to which we refer.... See also Stables. [CONVOLVULUS. Some species of this genus have already been noticed under the article "Bindweed." There are several more species, natives of the Unit- ed States; at present the C. Panduratus only will be noticed. It is called Wild Potatoe in Ca- rolina. The root is perennial, thick and long, like that cf a car- rot. Capsule two-celled and two- seeded. This species grows very plentifully about Bethlehem ; the roots are purgative, and are collect- ed and sold, according to Skoepf, for mechr.ceamu;. They are said to be escharotic.and useful totakeclown proud or fungous flesh in sores.] CONVULSION. A disease at- tended with irregular and unnatu- ral contraction of the muscles, without sleep. It differs from cpi- Ichsy.'m being accompanied neither D D 202 CON CON with any mental affection, nor with a state of torpor. The causes of convulsions are not always evident, though they generally depend on a certain irri- tability of the nervous system..... Delicate hysteric women, and men disposed to hypochondriasis, are equally subject to thisdisorder.Fre- quently,however, convulsive symp- toms take place in consequence of wounds, irritations of the stomach and intestines, worms, poisons, violent cathartics, emetics, Sec. When infants are attacked with convulsions which threaten their lives, the safest expedient will be to immerse them into tepid or milk-warm water, and keep them in that situation, by adding gradu- ally a little hot water, so as to pre- serve an equal temperature of 96 or 98 degrees, till medical assist- ance can be procured. Although we are not inclined to give implicit credit to anonymous authorities, yet we think the fol- lowing particulars worthy of inser- tion. A correspondent in the 22d volume of the Gentleman's Maga- zine, justly observes, that convul- sions in children, before dentition, generally proceed from acrid, irri- tating humors produced in the first passages, by living chiefly on aces- cent food; such fits being preceded by gripings, green stools, Sec. He therefore directs oneounceof white sugar candy to be reduced to fine powder, and 120 drops, or two drams, of the best oil of aniseed, to be dropped upon it : these should be rubbed together in a mortar, then mixed with an ounce of spermaceti, in powder. The dose .is twenty grains, to be given in a little milk drawn from the breast, and to be repeated every three or four hours, or oftener, if the uneasiness of the child should require it. To judge from the na- ture of these ingredients, we are induced to believe, that such a pre- paration, if cautiously administer- ed, may be productive of good ef- fects. In young persons, however,there is always less danger than in adults; and as we propose to communicate some important matter respecting the treatment of these complaints, under the articles Epilepsy and Spasm, we shall at present only state another remedy that has late- ly been used, on the Continent, with uncommon success: it sim- ply consists of the liquid vegetable alkali (Oleum Tartari per deliqui- um.) Dr. Michaelis,of Leipzig; Dr. Kargens, of Kiel, and seve- ral other physicians, have prescrib- ed from 15 to 25 drops of it to be taken for a dose, by children se- veral years old, as well as adults, and frecjuently repeated, according to circumstances ; though we should hesitate to administer so large a dose as 25 drops, every five minutes, to a child three years and a half of age, as has been suc- cessfully practised by the first- mentioned gentleman. Hence, we would recommend to regulate the number of drops, according to the age of children, so as to com- mence with five drops, under 12 months old, adding one drop for every year, and to convey this me- dicine in a little thin gruel, or weak broth. [Convulsions are frequently oc- casioned among children by indi- gestible food or other substances in the stomach; which is no sooner removed either spontaneously, or by means of an emetic than all the alarming symptoms disappear; and without this, every medicine will coo COO 203 fail of procuring relief. Food will often remain many hours undigest- ed, before it produces any bad effects. I have known a piece of cheese-cake lie in the stomach two days without the appearance of any bad consequences : but at the end of that time convulsions, and the most alarming faintings alter- nately followed, nor did they cease until the cheese-cake was discharg- ed, when by the help of an ano- dyne every symptom of disease vanished.] COOKING, the art of dressing or preparing food. It is effected by various methods, of which boil- ing is the most common, but also the most objectionable ; as it de- prives flesh of its nutritious juice. A better mode of dressing animal food is roasting, by which its strength is less dissipated; because a crust is soon formed on its sur- face, that more effectually pre- serves the nutritive particles from evaporation. Hence, one pound of roasted meat is, in real nourishment, equal to double that quantity of boiled animal food. Many substances, though natu- rally possessed of salubrious qua- lities, are rendered unwholesome, by the refinements of cookery. By compounding several incongruous ingredients, to produce a poignant sauce, or rich soup, the cook fre- quently forms compositions that are almost poisonous. Thus, high seasoning of every kind, pickles, and the like, merely stimulate the palate, and cannot fail to injure the stomach. Hence, the plainest dish- es are uniformly the most condu- cive to health, while they are most easily digested. This self-evident proposition is acknowledged by every reflecting person, but gives the least satisfaction to the epi- cure, who consults his taste, be- fore he appeals to his warped un- derstanding. Animal food is generally boiled in half-open vessels, instead of which, close utensils only ought to be employed for that purpose. We therefore preferably recommend the process called stewing; as it is not only the most wholesome mode of dressing meat, but at the same time well adapted to retain and concentrate the most substan- tial parts of animal food. The utility of preparing victuals after this method, having been gener- ally acknowledged, various patents have been' granted to persons for the invention of machinery, by which that object may be attained, at the smallest expense. Of these we shall communicate the follow- ing ; for the better illustration of which we have subjoined cuts. A patent was granted, in De- cember, 1793, to Mr. Stanley Howard, of St. Paul's Church- yard, iron-monger, for his inven- tion of a machine which he calls a Pneumatic Kitchen, for cooking pro- visions by steam ; in such a way, that no complex machinery is re- quired for supplying the boiler with water, to re-place the quantity dissipated by evaporation, nor any pump (the boiler being constantly supplied during the evaporation, without the aid of a cistern); which apparatus may be fixed at a small expense, without any alteration of the chimney ; and, when once ar- ranged, requires no repair. The steam-boiler, and cooking-vessels, 204 C Q O COO being made in the usual way, the former is to be supplied with water by a fountain-reservoir, marked A, which is to be placed at a conve- nient distance from it, with its dis- charging tube, marked B, inserted in a cistern, or pipe, marked C ; in which the surface of the water will, by means of the fountain, be preserved always at one height, pointed out by the letter D : and by a communication marked E, from the said cistern or pipe, with the steam boiler, marked F, the water therein will, during the eva- poration, be preserved at a height corresponding with such cistern or pipe, and always at the same level, marked G. By means of the fountain above mentioned, the necessity of cocks and pipes, or pumps, for supplying the boiler, is obviated ; and the supply rendered more immediate, more certain, and at the same time more simple, than by any method hitherto con- trived. The fountain may be made of any materials, or in any form, suited to the purpose. A patent was likewise granted in December, 1796, to Mr. James Tate, of Tottenham-court-road, iron-monger, for a portable cooking machine, for the use of officers in the army or navy, which is pro- vided with lamps. This machine, and its various component parts, may be con- structed of any of the different me- tals, of which similar articles are usually made. And, though it is at present described only as ope- rating with a lamp and oil, yet the patentee proposes to construct such as may be used with common fuel, as wood, coal, Sec. upon different scales or sizes. [A cut of the machine, compris- ing the various articles of Tate's apparatus, when made portable, is given by Dr. Willick, from the 8th vol. of the Repertory of Arts, but as it is impossible to compre- hend the arrangement of them COP COP 205 from such a view, the cut has been omitted. A plate of the aparatus in full operation may be seen in the above mentioned work.] COPAIBA, or Balsam of Co- paiba, a liquid resinous juice, is- suing from incisions made in the trunk of the Copaifera Balsamum, L. a tree growing in the Spanish West Indies, of which there is only one species. The juice is clear and transpa- rent, of a w hitish or pale yellowish colour, an agreeable smell, and a bitterish pungent taste. It is usu- ally about the consistence of oil; when long kept, ihough retaining its transparency, it becomes nearly as thick as honey; and, unlike other resinous juices, does not acquire a solid state. Genuine balsam of copaiba dis- solves entirely in rectified spirits, especially if a little alkali be pre- viously added to the liquor : the solution has a very fragrant smell. When distilled with water it yields a large quantity of a limpid essen- tial oil: and in a strong heat with- out addition, an oil of a blue colour. With respect to the medicinal properties of this balsam, it is said to be both corroborant and deter- gent. It strengthens the nervous system, tends to open the bowels, in large doses proves purgative, and promotes the stcretionof urine. It has also been recommended in dysenteries, and in diseases of the breast and lungs. Fuller observes that he has known very dangerous coughs, cured by the use of this balsam alone ; and though, being- hot and bitter, it produces good effects, even in hectic cases. We advise, however, great circum- spection in its use ; as it can be of service only in particular circum- stances. The dose of this medi- cine, should not exceed fron 20 to 30 drops. It may be convenient- ly taken when mixed with a thin syrup, or in the form of an emul- sion, into which it may be reduced, by triturating it with a thick muci- lage of gum arabic, till both ingre- dients are well incorporated, and then gradually adding a proper quantity of water. [Balsam Copaiba ought never to be given in coughs where inflam- matory symptoms are present: but in the catarrhal affections to which old persons are liable, it is an useful medicine. A convenient way to take it, is to wrap it up in brown sugar, drinking a glass cf water after each dose. In the fluor albus, or whites of women, it is an useful medicine ; in the piles it has oc- casionally been serviceable.] COPAL,improperly called Gum copal, is a resinous substance ob- tained from the concrete juice of the Rhus copallinum, or narrow- leaved sumach, a native plant of North America, known there by the name of Beach-sumach. This resin is imported in irregular masses, some of which are trans- parent, of a yellowish i r brown co- lour, others are whitish and semi- transparer.t. It possesses a more agreeable odour than frankincense, but is, unlike other gums and re- sins, neither soluable in water nor in spirit of wine. By these proper- ties it resembles amber; which has induced some to consider it a mi- neral bitumen similar to that sub- stance. It yields on distillation an oil, which like mineral petrolea, is indissoluble in spirit of wi:te. [As the directions necessary to be attended to in the manufactorv of copal varnish, apply equally to varnishes of all kinds, the whole will be treated of under the latter 206 COP article. Much original, and highly important information will be given on the subject. For an account of the tree pro- ducing the gum copal, see article Rhus.] COPPER, one of the finest im- perfect metals, is found in the bow- els of the earth, in the following states. I. Native or pure copper, which possesses the red colour, the malle- ability, and all the other properties of this metal, and is discovered in various partsof England and Wales, but more particularly in the coun- ty of Cornwall. It is formed into threads or branches, and lies in veins of considerable thickness, contained in blackish serpentine stone, mixed with a brownish red, and covered externally with a greenish nephrites. II. Mineralized by fixed air; of which there are several varieties ; 1. Red copper, or hepatic ore of copper, which is known by its dus- ky colour. It is generally mixed with native copper and mountain green. 2. Earthy copper, or moun- tain green, which is mostly found in a loose friable state, and fre- quently blended with calcareous earth, iron, and sometimes with arsenic. III. Mineralizedby sulphur,with a small proportion of iron. This is of a deep violet grey, or liver co- lour, melts with a gentle heat, is ponderous,flexible,and yields to the knife. When broken, it appears of a bright golden colour, and is the richest of all the copper ores, af- fording from 80 to 90 per cent, of copper, 10 or 12 of sulphur, and a small proportion of iron. IV. Mineralized by sulphur, with a large proportion of iron, or azure copper ore ; it varies from COP the preceding sort only in the quan- tity of iron it contains, which some- times amounts to 50 per cent. It yields 50 or 60 pounds of copper per cwt. the rest being sulphur. The principal parts of G. Bri- tain, which afford copper, are the counties of Cardigan, Chester, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derby, De- von, Northumberland, Lancaster, Salop, Somerset, Stafford, York, Warwick, Westmoreland; in the Islands of Mann and Anglesey ; and also in Scotland. Copper is less difficult to be pu- rified than iron ; and, when expo- sed to the air, calcines, being converted into a green rust or calx, which is soluble in water, and im- parts an astringent taste, as well as pernicious qualities. When taken into the human body, copper acts as a violent eme- tic, and is generally considered as poisonous: and though it has oc- casionally been prescribed by phy- sicians, it is always an unsafe and hazardous remedy. Hence, the greatest precaution is necessary in using this metal, of which so ma- ny kitchen utensils are manufac- tured. Beside the most scrupu- lous attention to cleanliness, it is extremely improper to leave any liquid to cool in a copper vessel; for this metal is more easily de- composed by liquids, when cold, than in a heated state. In order to prevent the deleteri- ous effects of copper, the vessels made of it are usually covered with tin, on the inside. It is never- theless justly complained, that the tinning of copper vessels is not sufficient to defend them from the action of the air, moisture, and saline substances ; because, even when strongly coated, they are li- able to rust. This may be reme- COP COP 207 died by a thicker covering of tin ; and a manufacture of this kind was established a few years since at.Edinburgh; in which the fol- lowing method is adopted : The surface of the copper is made very rough by means of a machine con- trived for that purpose ; then a thick coat of tin is laid on, and the copper hammered Smooth as be- fore. To prevent the tin from being melted, and the surface of the copper from being left uncov- ered, in consequence of a degree of heat superior to that of boiling water, the tin is al'oyed with iron, silver, or platina, in order to di- minish its fusibility, and render it capable of being applied in thicker layers on the copper. A patent was also granted, in August, 1770, to Mr. Maurice Crawford, of Edinburgh, for his new method of tinning copper, which would last ten times longer than that by any former process. Thispatentisnowexpired; we shall, therefore communicate the follow- ing particulars: The copper must be wrought in the common way, till it is ready for the first pickling, which should be performed in the usual mode. It is next frozen on the inside, on rough stakes, or by any other method of freezing, which opens the pores of the cop- per, and causes the tinning to penetrate. It is then to be pickled a second time, and scoured clean on both sides, when it should be coated with sal ammoniac and grain tin ; after which the copper should be well lined with a metal, consisting of one pound of grain- tin, and one pound and a half of zir.c, spelter, or other metal of equal w holesomeness and durabi- lity : when this operation is per- formed the outside should be scoured clean, and rough-planished on a bright stake. The inside is also to be rubbed with chalk and water, till the tin become clean, when it is to be polished, and smoothed hard to give it a gloss. Ladles, skimmers, and all such culinary utensils, as require to be tinned on both sides, are to be frozen on a cut .~,take, in the man- ner already mentioned, and dip- ped in the melted metal. By this process, the vessel will be much more beautiful and regular, better calculated to resist the effects of heat, and at the same time pre- vent fatal accidents. [The following new process for tinning copper and other vessels in a durable manner, is given by M. Buschendore of Leipsic, in the Journal fur Fabrik, manufacture, und Handlung, for October 1799. " That copper and brass vessels cannot be used with safety in cooking victuals or for holding ar- ticles of food, and particularly those which contain acids, is well known. It is also well known that the fin- ning applied in the usual manner is not durable, being soon worn away by cleaning, and on that ac- count must be frequently renewed. Some, therefore, have proposed enamelling for kitchen utensils of copper ; which, indeed, would an- swer exceedingly well,andbemuch safer for the health than impure tin mixed with lead, often employ- ed for tinning ; but, unfortunately, enamel is tco dear, and readily breaks when the vessel receives the least blow ; which cannot al- ways be avoided. The following process for tin- ning is attended with no claneer from pohenous ingredients, as no lead is used in it; the tinning, too, is exceedingly durable, acids 208 COP COP strength to the copper vessel and ' secures it from the action of acids much longer than the common tinning. When the vessel has been prepared and cleaned in the usual manner, it must be rough- ened on the inside by being beat on a rough anvil, in order that the tinning may hold better, and be more intimately connected with the copper. The process of tinning must then be begun with perfectly pure grained tin, having an addi- tion of sal ammoniac instead of the common colophonium. Over this tinning, which must cover the cop- per hi an even and uniform man- ner throughout, a second harder coat must be applied, as the first forms only a hind of medium for connecting the second with the copper. For this second tinning . you employ pure grained tin, mix- ed with zinc in the proportion of two to three, which must be ap- plied also with sal ammoniac smoot h and even, so that the lower stratum may be entirely covered with it. This coating, which by the ad- dition of the zinc, becomes pretty hard and solid, is then to be ham- mered with a smoothing hammer, after it has been properly rubbed and scowered with chalk and wa- ter, by which it becomes more so- lid, and acquires a smooth compact surface. Vessels and utensils may be tinned in this manner on both sides. In this case, after being exposed to a sufficient heat, they must be dipped in the fluid tin, by which means both sides wilF be tinned at the same time. As this tinning is exceedingly durable, and has a beautiful colour, which it al\va\s retains, it may be employed for various kinds of me- tal instruments and vessels, which it may be necessary to secure from rust." The Journal from which the above excellent receipt is taken, is published monthly at Leipsic, and contains a judicious selection of papers on the improvements of the arts, and many original articles on the same subjects, and on the va- rious branches of domestic econo- my. The editor has several num- bers of the work, and regrets there is no similar publication in the United States.] Copper is likewise applied to various other purposes: when com- bined with tin and zinc, it is em- ' ployed in enamel painting, dyeing, Sec. If it be mixed with a consh? derable proportion of tin, it pro- duces what is called bell-metal ; if in a similar quantity, Bronze. With zinc it forms Brass, Pinch- beck, 8cc. according to the propor- tions used. [To make hard copper, add to the copper A or -i of tin.] With respect to the poisonous qualities of copper, v.hen introduced into the stom ich, it is less danger- ous than arsenic ; as the former is more easily dissolved. And though the editors of the Encyclopadia Uri- tannica have declared that theyhave not met with any well authentica- ted instance of a person who has died hi consequence of having swallowed even verdigrease itself, yet so many examples have lately occured, that there is not the least doubt of the deleterious properties of coppe.'. Of the many cases that might be adduced, we shall select one, which is authenticated by Dr. Percival, of Manchester. A young lady had eaten about 3 or 4 ounces of pickled samphire, strongly impregnated with cup;>^r, COP COR 209 and had drank afterwards the 5th part of a pint of vinegar, on an empty stomach. She had not ap- plied for medical aid, for two days, and in the course of ten she died. Dr. Percival is of opinion, that an emetic, if it had been administered in an early stage, might probably have saved her life. Persons ap- prehensive of the pernicious effects of copper, have been successfully relieved by castor oil, or clysters ; and, if any suspicion arise of me- tallic salts having been swallowed, the same physician judiciously re- commends calcined magnesia, as it will not only decompose them, but at the same time gently con- tribute to carry off the noxious matter. [The Chinese are known to pos- sess the secret of manufacturing copper utensils perfectly white.... The discovery of this secret would be important for the arts in the United States, as copper abounds in them, and ought to be attempt- ed by the medical gentlemen on board the Canton ships. Doubt- less a pecuniary compensation would effect this desirable object. The attention of a friend (just re- turned) was directed to the sub- ject, and the artist to whom he applied on the subject insisted that the copper was not altered by any process, but was dug up white, and presented a piece of the ore as proof of his assertion. This specimen was unfortunately left in Canton.] COPPERAS, a name given to green vitriol, particularly to that of iron. It is purified and prepared in the same manner as alum and saltpetre, being passed through se- veral lixivia till it is wholly reduced to crystal. It is used in dyeingwool VOL. II. and hats black, in making ink, tan- ning leather, and in preparing a kind of Spanish brown for painters. A patent was granted in May, 1791, to Mr. Wm. Mukdock, of Redruth, Cornwall, for a method of making (from the same materi- als, and from processes entirely new) copperas, vitriol, and differ- ent sorts of dye, or dyeing stuff, paints, and colours. The patentee directs any quan- tity of what remains after the cal- cination of mundic, or such other ores as contain sulphur, arsenic, and zinc, to be taken and washed in water ; which is to be placed on the top, or on any other part of the kiln, house, or oven, while the mundic or other ores are burning ; the heat of which will cause the water to evaporate ; or the water may be evaporated to a crystalliz- ing point, by exposing it to the heat of the sun, after which it should be suffered to stand for 24 hours, or longer, when crystals of copperas, or green vitriol, will be produced. From this process ari- ses a considerable saving ; as the ores remaining after fusion, may be applied to various chemical pur- poses. CORAL, Corallina, L. a genus of insects, consisting of eight spe- cies, which are found in the ocean. There are, properly, but three kinds of coral, namely, red, white, and black ; the last of these is the rarest and most esteemed. When coral is first taken out of the sea, the small protuberances on its sur- face are soft, and yield on express sion a milky juice, which efferves- ces with acids. The cortical par«, or the external coat, is not so com- pact as the internal, and may easi- ly be separated, while in a fresh Ek 210 COR COR state. The greatest traffic in this article is carried on at Genoa and Leghorn. Coral is not unfrequently imita- ted, by artificial compositions, so as to resemble the real. But this fraud may be detected, by expos- ing it to li'-e; as the counterfeit does not afford the alkaline earth, yield- ed by the genuine coral. The co- louring ingredients employed in prepa-ing the former, are cinnabar and minium, both of which are easily ascertained. The natural coral seems to receive its colour from iron, as spirit of vitriol ac- quires from it a furruginous taste ; and on calcination, some particles are discoverable among the ashes, that are attracted by the magnet. Various unsuccessful attempts have been m ide to extract a fine colour from red coral, the Isis no- bilis, L. by means of spirit of wine. The method of obtaining it is as follows : Dissolve a pound of sugar in a little water, add to it half a pound of wax, then take a pound of coral, and boil them to- gether. Thus, the coral will part with its redness, and remain in other respects unaltered. In order to prepare this tincture, the wax and sugar must be previously dis- solved in spirit of wine. CORALLINE, or Sea-moss, a branched cretaceous substance, of a white colour. It is the habita- tion and production of polypi, found on rocks, and sometimes on the shells of fishes. It is celebra- ted as a vermifuge, and, accord- ing to Gkoffhoy, may be given in powder, from ten grains to a scruple, or half a dram per day, with considerably good effect. But we doubt whether it possesses any medical virtues, as it is perfectly insipid to the taste, and operate* merely as an absorbent earth. CORD, a combination of seve- ral threads of hemp, twisted toge- ther by means of a wheel. Co ds are extensively useful for varum-, purposes of domestic life, but more p.trt'cularly in the rigging of ships; in which case they are, according to their s ze, called ca- bles, or Ropes, to which we refer. Hence, the manufacture of these articles has become an object of considerable importance. In the common way of making cordage, it has been found, that, by being twisted too tight, ropes were rendered incapable of raising weights beyond a certain propor- tion, and that from the friction oc- casioned by their inelasticity, they were neither very durable, nor al- ways safe. Various means have been devised to obviate this defect, and several patents have lately been granted, from which we se- lect the following. In July, 1792, Mr. James Mit- chell, of Poplar, and Blackwall, Middlesex, obtained a patent for a method of manufacturing cord- age on a scientific principle. It apparently consists in subdividing the twists or cylindrical parts of ropes, or cordage, and giving them a peculiar turn, so as to make them blend and unite ; and also to operate in such a manner that the component parts act in spiral di- rections, similar to parallels. By this mode, the yarns all bear to- gether, so that the cordage ac- quires an increased degree of ten- sion, as well as greater power of resisting fluids and friction, and also a more uniform elasticity. A patent was also granted, in January, 1798, to Mr. W. Chap- COR COR 211 man, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for a new method of manufacturing ropes or cordage. The patentee describes his invention to consist in placing those parts that sepa- rately twist the rope and strands (each of which contains a number of yarns twisted together) at a cer- tain determinate distance. By such means, the process of twisting is not completed through the whole length at once, but only in the in- termediate space. With this cir- cumstance, the patentee combines a mode of twisting the cord or rope itself by an arbor or shaft, perforated either through the whole or a part of its extent, and revolv- ing round its own axis; and which, at the same time, twists its several parts, by means of separate arbors or shafts, either perforated or other- wise, each of which performs a like revolution. Thus, not only the operation of twisting the cord or rope is effected, but also that of coiling it up, by the motion of the machine, while both time and length of ground are saved, which, according to the prevailing mode of making cordage, are uselessly occupied. Another patent which we shall notice, is that granted in August 1799, to Joseph Huddart, Esq. of Islington, for an improved me- thod of forming the strands in the machinery for manufacturing cord- age. The leading principle of this invention is, to give the length of the yarns composing the strand, a certain ratio, in proportion to the hardness, or compression, with which the rope is intended to be laid, and thus to acquire a more equal distribution of the strain upon the yarns, than upon ropes made in the common way. This is effect- ed, 1. By keeping the yarns se- parate from each other, and draw- ing them from revolving bobbins, in order to keep up the twist, while the strand is forming ; 2. By pass- ing the yarns through a register, which divides them by circular holes (Mr. Huddart says, circu- lar shells or holes); the number in each being agreeable to the dis- tance from the centre of the strand, and to the angle which the yarns make with a line parallel to it, that gives them a proper position to en- ter; 3. By a cylindrical tube, which compresses the strand, and main- tains a cylindrical figure to its sur- face ; 4. By a guage, to determine the angle which the yarns in the outside shell makes with a line pa- rallel to the centre of the strand, when registering : and, according to the angle made by the yarns in this shell,the length of all the yarns in the strand will be determined; Lstly, 5. By hardening up the strand, and thus increasing the an- gle in the outside shell, which com- pensates for the stretching of the yarns, and compression of the strand. By attending to these di- rections, every yarn in the strand will bear a strain, when at the point of breaking : and, when laid into a rope, it will acquire additional strength. CORDAGE. In June, 1801, a pa- tent was granted to Mr. "William Chapman, for the application of certain substances designed to pre- serve cordage ; and which, being either with difficulty soluble, or to- tally insoluble in water, tend to ren- der such ropes more durable, than has hitherto been practicable. The usual method adopted for this pur- pose, consists in boiling tar atone, till it be inspissated to a proper con- 212 COR sistence ; but Mr. C. proposes to boil the tar in two or three different waters, till it be divested of its acid, and all the mucilaginous particles ; which, by the common process, re- main in the liquid preparation ; and, by their speedy tendency to decomposition, frequently contri- bute to the decay of the ropes, at an earlier period than would na- turally take place without such practice. He therefore adds a due proportion of suet, tallow, or any fixed oil, that has been deprived of extraneous matters, by similar boil- ing. CORIANDER, theCoMMON, or Coriandrum sativum,^, is an annual plant, growing in corn-fields, on road'sides, and dung-hills. This vegetable is raised from seed, ge- nerally sown in the month of March, in the proportion of 14-Ibs. to an acre. It is also cultivated to- gether with caraway and teazel; but as neither of those plants comes up completely and regularly the se- cond year, they are usually allow- ed to stand for the third summer. If sown with caraway, the corian- der requires great care in hoeing, to distinguish it from the former, w hich is not set out for a clop, till the latter is harvested. When reared alone, the plants of corian- der are set out from four to six inches apart, and produces whitish flowers that blow in June or July, and contain two seeds. The leaves of this vegetable have a strong, disagreeable smell; the seeds pos- sess a pleasant flavour; and, when encrusted with sugar, are sold by the confectioners, under the name of coriander comfits. They have been recommended as carminative and stomachic ; but certainly pos- sess intoxicating, if not deleterious properties: Six drams of them, COR however, have been taken at one dose, from which Dr. Withering did not observe any remarkable effect. Coriander seeds are now used only in the bitter infusions and pre- parations of senna, the disagree- able taste of which they completely overcome. CORK-TREE, or Quercus su- ber, L. a species of oak indigenous in Spain and Portugal, where it attains the height of from 30 to 40 feet; has a thick, rough, fungous bark,and oval serrated leaves, which are downy underneath. The bark of this tree furnishes that useful material, cork; which, becoming of a thick fungous na- ture, is separated from the trunk, while a new bark is formed under it, which, in the course of six or seven years, is sufficiently thick for barking. Nevertheless, the tree continues to vegetate, and another fresh bark grows under the former, which likewise affords cork in the same period of time. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1758, we met with the following curious contrivance of a cork-waist- coat, for the purpose of preventing accidents by drowning. It was in- vented by Mr. Dubourg, and is composed of four pieces of cork, two for the breasts, and two for the back, each being nearly of the same length and breadth as the quarters of a common waistcoat, without flaps ; the whole is cover- ed with coarse canvas, having two holes to put the arms through..... There are spaces left between the two back pieces and each back and breast piece, that they may the more easily be adjusted to the body. Thus, the waistcoat is open only in the front, and may be fastened on the wearer with strings; or, if it COR should be thought more secure with buckles and leather straps. The weight of this cork-waist- coat does not exceed twelve oun- ces and may be made at a very moderate expense. It is more simple in its form than any other contrivance for a similar purpose. Mr. Dubourg has made a trial of its efficacy in the Thames, and found that it notonly supported him on the water, but that even two men, with their utmost efforts, were not able to sink him. Hence it is eminently calculated for mari- ners, passengers at sea in general, and likewise for all those who re- sort to bathing-places for the be- nefit of their health ; as the most timorous and delicate person may, with perfect safety, boldly venture with one of these waistcoats into a rough sea. See Bamboo-ha- bit. The expense of providing a suffi- cient number of them for the Bri- tish navy, can be no objection to a nation so gratefully fond of a pow- erful marine establishment. Those of our readers who are desirous of obtaining farther information on the subject of cork-waistcoats, we refer to a treatise written by Mr. J. Wilkinson, and entitled The Sea- man's Preservation, or Safety in Shipwreck, printed in 1759, 8vo. Cork is applied to various uses, by different nations. The Egyp- tians made coffins of it, which being lined with a resinous composition, preserved dead bodies from corrup- tion. The Spaniards burn it, to make that kind of light colour we call Spaninh black, used by painters. They also employ it to line stone wall; an expedient which not only renders them much warmer,butal- so corrects their moisture in damp weather. COR 213 In medicine, the bark, as well as the acorn of the cork-tree, are re- puted to be astringent, after being burnt, reduced to powder, and used externally.......But in Britain, the former is principally employed for stopping bottles and casks, and lining the inner soles of shoes and slippers. [Other vegetables have been found which may be employed instead of Cork, for stopping bottles,jugs, &c. Among these is the wood of a tree common in South America, in moist places, called Monbin, (spon- dies lutea). This wood is brought to England in great abundance for that use. The spongy root of the Tupelo tree (A'yssa) a native of the United States, is also used for the same purpose, as are the roots of liquorice which on that account is much cultivated in Sclavonia, and exported. A laudable attempt has lately been made, by the commander of one of our national frigates, to in- troduce the Cork-tree into the United States, but failed, owing to bad weather on the coast. The attempt ought to be repeated ; our Consuls in Spain, Portugal, and the Mediteranean, should permit no vessel to leave the ports where they reside,without putting a young tree on board. In the States of N. and S. Carolina and Georgia, cork- trees would undoubtedly thrive.] CORN, in rural economy, the grains or seeds of plants, which are separated from the ear, and used chiefly for making bread. There are several species of corn, such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet, and rice, maize, or Indian corn, &c each of which will be mentioned in its alphabetical order: we shall, therefore, in this place, not enter into any particu- 214 COR COR Iars relative to its culture, confin- ing ourselves solely to such points as relate equally to the different species. We cannot but animadvert upon the injudicious practice of cutting corn in cold autumns, before it is perfectly ripe ; as experience has proved, that, if left standing, the ears will continue to fill, and be- come heavier, even during the au- tumnal frosts. Were this latter method adopted, a much greater proportion of flour might be pro- duced ; and the grain would nei- ther shrink, ror shrivel, in barns or granaries : it might, at the same time, be prevented from rotting, on account of its immaturity, and the softness or moisture which are the necessary consequence. Notwithstanding the great care and attention which the husband- man may bestow on the cultivation of corn, his expectations of a plen- tiful harvest are often frustrated by a variety of disorders, and acci- dents, to which corn is peculiarly liable. The first, aad most formidable is the smut, which is caused by ver- min breeding in the grain, and thus destroying its substance. (See vol. i. p. 183.) Their propagation, be- side other causes, is evidently fa- cilitated by laying on the soil too large a quantity of crude dung ; which becoming mouldy,promotes the generation oft le smut-animals. Various experiments have been accordingly tried, to eradicate this noxious distemper, with different degrees of success; a few of which we shall enumerate. In the greater part of the counties of Devon and Cornwall, on the evening before the wheat is intended to be sown, it is laid on the floor in a heap, on which is poured a solution of lime, slacked with boiling water, and re- duced to the consistence of cream: both are then mixed, and left to- gether till morning, by which time the wheat is dry and tit to be sown. In other parts of the same coun- ties, the wheat is steeped either in fresh or salt wa'er, for 12, 18, or 24 hours, when it is put to drain for an hour or two, after which, powdered lime is sifted over it, the whole being well mixed with a shovel: it is then thrown toge- ther in a heap, to dry, previously to its being sown. Few farmers, however, souk it in brine, and a stiii smaller number of them, sub- stitute animal urine, soap-boiier's ley, &c. In several other counties, there prevails a general practice of employing brine, strong enough to bear an egg, to which powdered . lime is added, till it acquires an unctuous consistence. This com- position is mixed with the wheat, the evening before it is committed to the ground. In Yorkshire, and several of the adjoining counties, arsenic is substituted for salt: some farmers render the solurion thicker by the addition or lime, while oth- ers either sprinkle the wheat with it, or steep and wash the former, then sift lime over it, and mix them as before. Another method is, to put 70 gallons of water into a tub, at the bottom of which is a hole provided with a staff and tap hose, as in brewing; to this is to be added half a hundred weight of lime- stone, and the whole well stirred for half an hour, when it is suffer- ed to stand about 30 hours. It should then be drawn off into an- other tub, and three pecks (421bs.) of salt added, which, when dissolv- ed, will make a strong pickle, fit for immediate use. But, if sea- COR COR 215 water can be procured, half the quantity of salt will be sufficient. A basket of about 2 feet in diame- ter at the bottom, and 20 inches deep, should then be placed in the pickle, and the corn gradually im- mersed in small quantities from one to two bushels ; care being taken to skim off the light grains, which ought not to be sown, be- cause many of them are infected with the smut. As soon as this operation is completed, the basket should be drawn up, and drained for a few minutes over the liquor, when it may be repeated, as often as the quantity of grain to be sown may require. This seed will be fit for the ground in 24 hours; but, where it is to be drilled, it should stand for 43 : and, if the driller meet with any difficulty in perform- ing his work, it will be necessary to make the pickle more astringent by adding lime. Seed, thus pre- pared, may be kept for 5, 6, 7, 8, or even 10 days above ground, without injury or inconvenience. Another mode of preventing the smut in corn, was discovered by Mr. R. Trefkey, of Beer, in Flint- shire ; who in a communication to Mr. Young, in the 21st vol. of " Annals of Agriculture," states,that having rubbed out a quantity of corn, he sowed part of it unwashed. The remainder, about two bushels, was well winnowed, taken to a brook, and washed in the following manner : A gallon was put into a wire sieve, that had 8 bars to an inch ; it was first gently immersed a few limes in the water, by which means' every smut-ball. <>.• animal, was easily discovered, and taken away ; next, the sieve wa< riskly agitated, for about a minute, when the whole, after being washed, and thrown into a tub with some water, was stirred round with a broom. It was then again put into the sieve, in the same proportion as before, and immersed in the brook, that the remaining particles might sink through the bottom of the sieve, and be carried away by the stream. This wheat was sown in the same field with the former, where no kind of manure could have the least tendency to produce smut- balls among either. The result at harvest proved, that the unwashed corn produced as many smut-balls as grains of wheat, while that which had been immersed in the brook, was almost entirely exempt from the disorder. We venture to recommend the last-mentioned expedient; for the superiority of gradual washing over that of throwing the whole into a vessel and stirring it, is manifest. By this method, the infectious mat- ter is not only loosened from the grains, but is carried away with the stream, while that, which is only washed in a tub, &c. cannot be totally cleared ; for the more ponderous particles sink to the bot- tom, and remain among the seed- corn after the water is poured off. Corn is also liable to be grown or sprouted, when it has partly begun to vegetate ; for, if the whole of the grain were to bud, it would be- come unfit for being converted into bread. Hence it is very difficult to preserves prouted corn.as the open- ing of the bud occasions it to heat% and the moisture it retains, dis- poses it still more to undergo the process of fermentation. It is also more subject to be attacked by in- sects, on account of its being sweeter, more tender, and suscep- tible of heat, consequently more liable to receive their eggs. If left to itself, sprouted corn heats, for- 216 COR ments, and contracts an unpleasant smell, and a bad colour: it also acquires a disagreeable sharp taste, which is communicated to the flour and bread; and finally grows moul- dy and sour : in this state, it is fit only for the manufacture of starch. Farther, it is ground with difficulty, clogs the mill-stones, chokes the bolting-cloths, and yields but little flour, which is soft and moist, and will not keep for any length of time, especially during warm weather. We have entered thus largely into this subject, because from the variableness of the climate of this country, considerable quantities of corn frequently become sprouted : we therefore extract, with satifac- tion, the following interestingparti- culars, for remedying this serious evil, from an ingenious pamphlet published in France. Sprouted corn should by no means be stacked, but housed and thresh- ed with the greatest expedition. Nor should it be put in a granary together with dry grain, as the lat- ter will thus become moist. Care should also be taken to keep the place well aired ; for, in the contra- ry case, even the latter cannot be preserved. As soon as sprouted corn is threshed, it should be spread upon the floor, and frequently turned ; a door or window, being left open to give vent to the steam. Some- times it will be necessary to dry the com in an oven, after the bread is removed : leaving the door half open, and turning the grain every ten minutes, to facilitate the eva- poration of the moisture. When it is thus dried, it should be sifted, and not put into sacks, or in heaps, till it is properly cooled ; as it will otherwise become mouldy. Although some fastidious per- COR sons may object to the trouble oc- casioned by this mode of curing sprouted corn, yet as eight or ten days continual drying will preserve it for a whole year, and render both the bread and flour of a better quality, it surely merits the atten- tion of every diligent husbandman, and will amply compensate his trouble and labour. There is another disease that frequently attacks corn, which is usually termed burnt-grain, of which we have already spoken, vol. i. To these may be added, what is called the spur, which affects both wheat and rye, but more especially the latter. The grains infested with it, are thicker and longer than the sound ones ; their outsides are ei- ther brown or black, and their sur- face rough. If a spurred grain be opened, a white flour is perceivable in it, which is covered with another of a reddish or brown colour. The latter has some degree of consis- tence, but may be easily crumbled between the fingers. Naturalists are unable to ascertain, with pre- cision the cause of this distemper ; but it is supposed to be occasioned by the bite or sting of an insect, that turns the corn into a kind of gall; a conjecture which is partly confirmed by the taste left on the tongue, after eating such grain.... The effects arising from the use of corn thus damaged, are said to be malignant fevers and gangrenes, in consequence of which the extre- mities of the body sometimes mor- tify, and spontaneously separate, without any pain or effusion of blood. Among the various insects which prey upon corn, none is more de- structive than the corn-butterfly which is generated in a manner si- milar to that of the common but- COR COR 217 terflies. It settles on one grain, and after having totally consumed it, its existence is supposed to be pro- longed by eating its own excre- ment. When it has attained its full growth, it is about one quarter of an inch in length, and half the thickness of the grain it has de- voured. To exterminate this noxi- ous insect, it has been recommend- ed to prepare a very strong ley of wood ashes, to which, when it be- comes yellow, as much quick-lime should be added, as will make it of a dusky white : while it is as hot as the hand can well bear it, the grosser part of the ley should be suffered to subside, and the ley poured off into a proper vessel ; into which the corn is to be im- mersed by means of a basket, and quickly agitated; skimming off those grains which float on the sur- face. In the course of two or three minutes, it may be taken out, and the basket with its contents sus- pended on two poles, to drain ; after which it should be spread on the floor of a granary to dry, while a second basket undergoes a similar immersion. This simple process not only preserves the grain from rotting, but at the same time destroys all those insects that may have penetrated its substance. An oven is also employed for drying the seed ; but, as it is diffi- cult to ascertain the proper degree of heat, without injuring vegeta- tion, and yet not always sufficient to extirpate the vermin, it is sel- dom practised. Another method lately discover- ed for the preservation of corn, is that of steaming it: this valuable fact was communicated by J. L. Banger, Esq. of Madeira, to Mr. Middleton, who has inserted ex- tracts of his " View of the Agrkid- VOL. n. ture of Middlesex." Our limits not permitting us to detail his various experiments, we shall only stale, that he steamed grain, which was much infested with the weevil, in January, and again in June. Three months after, it was in perfect pre- servation, being free from the de- predations of that insect: and such mode of preserving grain is strong- ly recommended by this circum- stance, that it not only yields, when ground, a larger proportion of flour; but it also retains its vegetative principle, and may be_ advantage- ously sown. Farther, as some able agriculturists attribute the smut to an insect which infests corn, Mr. Banger conjectures that such distemper may be effectually pre- vented by steaming. The following methods are said to be practised with great success on the Continent: Immerse pieces of hempen cloth in water; and after expressing the fluid, spread them on the infested heaps of grain : in the course of two hours, the wee- vils will be found adhering to the cloths, from which they must be carefully collected, to prevent the insects from escaping, and then immersed under water, in order to drown them. These vermin may also be expelled, by laying a branch of Hen-bane [or elder] in the middle of a heap of grain : in such cases it will be necessary to watch them, so that they may be caught in the attempt of effecting their escape. The last method of extirpating the Corn-butterfly, within the cir- cle of our information, is that of distributing a number of large ant- hills throughout granaries and barns, in the month of June, when these magazines have been emp- tied of grain. The ants immedi- F F 218 COR ately attack and devour all the wee- vils : this expedient was suggested in a Paris paper ; stating, at the same time, that no vermin of the latter description had appeared on the premises of a farmer, who had availed himself of those industrious insects. With respect to the manner of preserving it, corn is very different from fruits ; as, with proper care, it may be kept in granaries for se- veral centuries. I- ar from wishing to support that execrable system of monopoly, which is but too con- spicuous at present, to the injury and oppression of the groaning poor, we shall communicate the following directions, with a view to avert any future scarcity, rather than to enable the avaricious corn- dealer to withhold his stock from the public market. For this pur- pose, the grain should be welldried and cleaned before it is housed.; care being taken to introduce air- holes on the top and openings to the north and east of the granary : during the first six months, the corn should be carefully turned, once a fortnight at the least, to prevent it from heating ; after which time it will be sufficient to turn it every month, for about two years, when it will have exhaled all its igneous particles,and no apprehension need be entertained, unless from the air and adventitious moisture. Should it nevertheless heat, from any un- foreseen accident, so that there is apprehension of its catching fire, such a misfortune may be easily prevented, by making a hole in the middle, down to the floor, which will serve as a kind of chimney, or flue, for carrying off the heat. A new method of preserving this valuable grain, is the following: Let a hollow cane or tube, about 3 COR feet 9 inches in length, be provided; tapering gradually to a point down- wards, in order that it may be more easily thrust to the bottom of the sack. About 150 holes, A of an inch in diameter, must be made on each side of such hollow cylinder, to the height of about 2 feet 10 inches from the bottom ; and, in order to regulate the perforation, it will be advisable to wind a pack thread round the stick, in a spiral form ; so that the holes may be about A an inch apart at the bottom, and be gradually at greater distances as they approach the top ; being then one inch above each other; by which expedient a due proportion of air will be conveyed to the lower part of the corn. To the upper extre- mity of the cane, there should be fixed a leather pipe, 10 inches in length, and distended by means of two yards of spiral wire coiled up in it: to the upper end of such tube, a wooden fauset is to be fitted, for introducing into it the nozzle of a pair of bellows, in order to venti- late the whole sack. If grain, when first deposited, be thus aired every second or third day, for 10 or 15 minutes, all moisture will in a short time be dissipated, and the corn will after- wards remain dry and sweet in the sacks, with very little additional trouble. This simple practice may be advantageously adopted for the preservation of every kind of seeds and grain, excepting barley; which if once separated from the ears, can by no means be prevented from fermenting. But notwithstanding these pre- cautions, it frequently happens that miles reduce the greater part of the grain to dust. This serious damage may be prevented by rubbing the adjacent places with fetid oils COR COR 219 and herbs, such as garlic and dwarf- elder, the strong smell of which tends to expel them : besides, they may be exposed to the rays of the sun, which immediately destroy them. One of the most effectual means of extirpating both the white and black corn-worm, as well as to secure the grain from the depredations of mice and rats, is that of covering the corn with the branches of the alder buck- thorn, or black berry-bearing al- der, Rhamnus Frangula, L. The exhalations of this plant are so of- fensive to every kind of vermin, that they not only prevent their generation, but also effect the des- truction of those which have been carried in with corn from the fields, or granaries. We state this fact on the authority of Mr. Hochhei- mer ; and as the experiment is not attended with any considerable ex- pense, it certainly merits the at- tion of the wholesale farmer, Among the numerous sugges- tions of foreign writers, for pre- serving grain from the devastations of insects, we shall only mention those of smoking the store-houses with sulphur and tobacco (which, however renders the corn unfit for vegetation) ; of covering the heaps of grain either with thin sail-cloth or old sheets, rolling them toge- ther when the vermin are settled on the surface, and exposing them to the voracious appetite of poultry in the farm yard; of brushing them off the walls with hard brooms ; of introducing ants, their greatest enemies, into the granary; of exposing dead lobsters ; and, lastly, of ventilating the whole building, and frequently stirring the grain ; remedies which, of all pthers, are perhaps the most effi- cacious methods of averting da*^ mage. For the information of those dealers who avail themselves of ar- senic, to destroy the rats and mice frequenting their corn-floors, we think it our duty to observe, that such a dangerous remedy ought never to be employed ; as it has frequently produced the most fatal accidents, and as the excrements of the poisoned animals, where mixed with the grain, may like- wise occasion disorders, the cause of which is not even suspected by physicians. Hence we advise those mercenary economists to substi- tute a remedy, which will be found equally effectual, and is perfectly safe : it merely consists in mixing two parts of pounded quick-lime with three parts of sugar, and plac- ing at the side of it a separata shallow vessel with water. The heating nature of this composition very speedily excites thirst, and in- duces those depredators to drink eagerly : in consequence of which the lime is slacked in their stom- ach, and proves inevitably des- tructive. When corn has been cleared of all impurities, in the manner above slated, it may be kept for a great number of years, nay, for ages, by depositing it in dry pits covered with strong planks ; but the safer method is, to cover the heap with quick-lime, which should be gradu- ally dissolved, by sprinkling over it a small quantity of water. This causes the uppermost grains to sprout to the height of two or three inches, and incloses them with an incrustation, through which neither air nor insects can penetrate. See Granary. In order to ascertain the relative 220 COR value of different species of grain, corn-dealers avail themselves chief- ly of the combined criterion of weight and measure. In a com- mercial point of view, such a me- thod is doubtless the most accu- rate ; but as it cannot be explain- ed without entering into a very dif- fuse detail, accompanied with nu- merical tables, we shall communi- cate to our economical readers on- ly a few practical directions, by an attention to which, they may be sufficiently guided in the sale or purchase of corn in general : 1. Take a handful of grain from a heap, or sack, and compress it closely for a minute ; then pass it from one hand into the other, and attentively examine its flavour, whether it possess any peculiar smell, different from that which is natural to the species: in which case you may conclude that it has been repeatedly exposed to mois- ture, and undergone a slight de- gree of fermentation. The flour obtained from such corn, is defi- cient in measure, of an indifferent quality, and affords neither nour- ishing, nor wdiolesome bread. 2. If, on pressure by the hand, the grains appear so solid and smooth that they in a manner glide through the fingers, without hav- ing any foreign smell or colour, in this cas-j it may be pronounced perfectly dry, and in a good state of preservation. 3. Should, on the contrary, the corn feel rough, or if a number of grains after compressing them by the dry hand, clog together and adhere to the iing^re, it may be justly apprehended that such wheat, rye, .'he. is damp, and possessed of all the bad properties before specified. As the nature of the present COR work docs not permit us to enter into a minute analytical account of the specific gravity of different kinds of corn, and their relative proportion to each other (which properly belongs to the mercan- tile speculator), we shall supply this apparent deficiency, by the following comparative view. Every attentive observer will find, that frequently, some species of grain bears a price in the mar- ket, far exceeding its relative va- lue, or proportion to other kinds of grain, which, in many instances, may serve as excellent substitutes. From the prices which have pre- vailed in different countries, dur- ing a long series of years, we have derived the following result of numbers : Wheat,.......41 Rye,........32 Barley,.......23 Oats,........14 TABLE OF PROPORTIONS. Wheat. Rye. Barley. Oats. Wheat, 1 1 | 5 4 | 7 4 | 3 1 Rye, 4 5 | 1 1 | 3 2 | 16 7 Barley, 4~7~[~2 3 | 1 1 | 8 ~5 Oats^ . 1 3 j 7 16 | 5 8 | 1 f It deserves, however, to be re- marked, that these proportions oc- casionally vary, according as the soil of different countries is more favourable to the production of one species of grain than to the other; and likewise as there is a greater or less demand for particular kinds of corn in the market, especially in barren or unproductive seasons. Thus, in Britain, the price of bar- ley and oats is almost constantly disproportionate to that of wheat, and especially to rye, which may, consequently, be considered as the COR COR 221 cheapest bread-corn. The immense quantities of malt liquors brewed in this country, and the great num- ber of horses kept for pleasure, are sufficient reasons why barley and oats are sold at prices compa- ratively higher than their intrinsic value, in relation to wheat and rye. But if the rates stated in the preceding table be adopted in the computation of prices, and the far- mer, or corn-dealer, be desirous to know what proportion, for instance, the price of oats bears to that of rye, let him search in the hori- zontal line for oats, in the front of the perpendicular line for rye: the field or partition where both meet, contains the numbers 7 : 16, viz. that the price of oats is in propor- tion to that of rye, as seven to six- teen ; and so forth, with respect to the other species of corn here exhibited. CORN, (Indian). In the Uni- ted States, two kinds of Indian corn, or mayz, are commonly cul- tivated. The gourd seed-corn, (so called from its resemblance to the gourd seed) and the yellow corn; the seed of which is plump and round. The former kind is gener- ally raised in the states of North and South Carolina, and Georgia ; and the latter, in the more northern states. In some of the states, a white plump grain is also raised for the common and excellent dish homany. Mr. Bartram informs the editor, that he saw in the Creek nation of Indians, a small corn in general use, which consist- ed almost entirely of flour, and was easily pulverised : he thinks the most pleasant corn cakes he ever ate, were made of this kind of corn. The agent of the gene- ral government with the Creeks would render service to the state by circulating this corn in different parts of the union. Corn in England is the general term, for all kinds of grain, but in the United States, by corn, is al- ways meant, Indian Corn (Zea Mayz,) and to this, it is proposed to confine the present additional observations. In the United States, the greater part of a field of corn, in some seasons, is destroyed by birds, and ground squirrels. To prevent this loss, Mr. James Graham, of New-York, says, ( Trans. Agri. So. .**. York) he finds no plan so suc- cessful, as that of tarring the seed, in the following manner. Put as much corn as you expect to plant the next day, into warm water in the evening : the ensuing morning drain off the water ; then pour on as much hot water as will cover it, and immediately after, throw in tar, at the rate of about one pint to a bushel, stir the tar through the corn, until the grains appear to be uniformly coated with the tar, then put it into a basket to drain : after the water has ran off, throw it in- to a large tub or trough, and stir among it as much ashes, lime, (slacked) or gypsum (plaister of Paris) as will adhere to the grains; by which means they will easily separate from each other, and may be as conveniently planted, as if they had never been tarred. Mr. G. prefers gypsum, to either lime or ashes, as it will not be likely to injure the fingers in planting, and does also, in equally small quanti- ties, more powerfully promote ve- getation. The precaution of soaking the corn before applying the tar, is highly necessary, as the coat of tar and gypsum would otherwise, (especially in dry seasons) prevent 222 COR COR it from absorbing moisture suffi- cient to produce vegetation. It is important too, in all cases where corn has been soaked,to plant it immediately after the plough, when running the cross furrows. Mr. G. has experienced the good effects of thus preparing seed-corn, principally in preventing the rava- gesof crows and blackbirds,the most common enemies of our spring crops, but has no doubt that it will be found equally beneficial in preserving them from others, such as crows, ground squirrels, &x. Birds are, however, not the only enemies to corn which the farmer has to contend with. Mr. Peters observes, that the cut-worm, or grubs, destroy many of the young shoots above ground. A decoction of hellebore, mixed with sulphur, soot, and a little nitre (salt-petre) is equally offensive to vermin; and if the seed, after being soaked in this mixture, is encrusted with plaister, it remarkably forwards the growth. Replanting of corn, according to Mr. Peters, seldom answers well. Transplanting of plants raised in the garden, or in any clear and rich corner of the field, is much more eligible. This is easily man- aged, by sowing in drills, a small quantity of corn, at the time of planting the field. If the plants are not wanted, the loss or trouble is inconsiderable. Plants may also be had from hills in which too ma- ny seeds have been dropped. It is too common to have more plants in a hill, than are profitable. Three at most are sufficient. Although the places where the corn is drop- ped, are called hills, the old prac- tice of hilling is for the most part, abandoned. The necessary use of the hoe is not omitted, but the plough is chiefly used to earth and tend the corn. Great attention should be paid to destroy the suck- era, which draw off the supplies both from plants and ears. After several experiments,in or- der to find the most advantageous method of planting corn, Mr. Spurrier, of Delaware, found the following exceeded all others. Hepreparedhis land,by plowing it in the autumn, in single boughts; in the spring he harrowed it clown as smooth as possible, and plough- ed it ; then harrowed it again, and marked out the furrows at eight feet distance : in these furrows he dropped the seed single, at about the distance of every foot ; his cart loaded with manure from the com- post heap, followed in the alley between, and covered the seed in the furrows, about three or four inches thick, with the manure.... This was done almost as expedi- tiously as in the common way of covering it with mould by the hoe. By this method, the plants came soon up, and flourished very vigo- rously. When the plants were about six inches high, he ploughed between, taking the mould from the plants, throwing it up in a ridge in the middle of the alley, and with a hand hoe, cut up the weeds and superfluous plants. If they are left at two feet distance in the rows they will be thickenough. The next ploughing, he took the mould from the middle, throwing it up to the plants. Every time of ploughing, he used the hand hoe to stir the ground between the plants, and to destroy the weeds. The third ploughing, he did as the first, throwing up the mould in the middle of the alley. This is of more use than a person would im- agine, for it admits the influences COR COR 223 ©f the air and dews to penetrate to the roots. The fourth ploughing which was the last, he managed as the second, by throwing up the mould to the stalks of corn. If this last plough- ing could be so contrived, as to be done early in the morning, before the sun has exhaled the dew, it would bring those riches into the ground, which would afford a dou- ble nourishment. The land, upon which Mr. Spurrier tried this ex- periment, was between a loam and a clay. Sands and light lands will not require so many ploughings. Mr. J. of Philadelphia county, last year soaked his seed-corn in the black water of a dung heap, and in which some salt-petre was dissolved : when planting, he add- ed a small handful of gypsum to each hill ; when up he put on a a little more; and, when the ears were about to set, a small quantity was again added. His crop was very abundant, as we witnessed ; and was the more remarkable, as the field had been worn out by bad management. In rich ground, however, the application of all these strong stimulants to the grain may prove injurious, by causing too great a growth of the stalk. The second application of the gyp- sum may in such cases be omitted. Indian corn is commonly plain- ed in the beginning of May, in Pennsylvania, but if the ground be rich, and gypsum used as a manure, and the season should prove favourable ; the stalk will grow so tall by harvest, and the roots so numerous, that it will be difficult to plough among them.... Added to this, the farmer will not have time to attend to the corn, and as the season at harvest is commonly dry, it may suffer by neglect: a judicious farmer,there- fore, of Philadelphia county, plants his corn the end of May, and thus is enabled to give itthe last plough- ing after harvest. He also soaks and rolls his corn in slacked lime, to prevent the birds pickingthe grains; and finds the practice successful. Mr. Peters approves highly of this practice of ploughing after har- vest, if it be done when the weather is moist. In a drought, it is rather dangerous. He adds, " It requires a good tilth to keep down weeds. Nothing requires more clean farm- ing, than corn, which is seldom ploughed often enough....Agricul- tural Enquiries, p. 6. ' A plain farmer informed the edi- tor, that he made the following ex- periments on the comparative ef- fects of different manures for corn. He manured differercnt parts of the same field of corn, with dung of cows, horses and hogs ; and the ashes of blackberry bushes and other briars cut down from the fence side : the ground manured with the ashes produced an earlier and better crop, than any other part of the ground. The hog- dung produced the next best crop. He put two shovels full of the ash- es to each hill of corn. These facts which are the result of a lau- dible wish in a plain farmer to as- certain an important point, de- serve attention. The following account of two crops of corn, deserves to be uni- versally known, as an incitement to the spirit of emulation and in- dustry among farmers. • Mr.JoHNSTEvENs,ofHobocken, New-Jersey, and Mr. D. Ludlow, Westchester, betted fifty guineas upon the superiority of their crops- ofcorn. Mr.S.ploughedhis ground 224 COR COR three times before planting,andbe- fore the last ploughing, put on 700 horse-cart loads.of street manure ; he planted in double rows at 5A feet asunder, and dibbled each grain. To do this with expedition and ac- curacy, he bored two rows of holes in a piece of board four feet long, so as to form equilateral triangles, the sides of which were seven inches, thus: Into these holes he drove pegs, about 3A inches long. As the corn was dropped into these holes,made with this machine, a man followed with a basket of rotten dung with which he filled them up. Then came on the carts,out of which the rows were sprinkled with a coat of street manure. During the season the crop was suckered three times. The intervals were , repeatedly ploughed, and the rows kept per- fectly clean of weedsby hoeing and hand weeding. The produce of the crop was as follows ....233 -I mea- sures full of corn in the ear. A measure-full contained one bushel and a half and one pint of shelled corn ; 233| give consequently 354 bushels and 6 quarts, or 118 bush- els and 2 quarts per acre. Mr. S. is confident, that he would have had considerably more corn, had not his crop suffered very greatly by a thunder storm, which laid the greater part of it down at the time the ears were setting. Mr. Ludlow planted in conti- nued rows, fo.ur feet asunder, and eight inches from stalk to stalk in the rows, and manured with 200 horse-cart loads of street dirt. His crop was as follows : Total, 182 measures of corn in the ear. Shelled corn in full mea- sure, one bushel and a half and four quarts, which in 182 gives 295 bushels and 12 quarts, or 98 bushels and 14 quarts per acre. These are truly noble crops, and do honour to the industry and agricultural skill of the cultivators. A friend says, in New Jersey, it has been found,that corn planted after clover cut in May, and the stubble ploughed yields an abund- ant crop. There can be no reason why the same good effects ought not to follow a clover lay for corn, as for wheat, the experience of which is so familiar to us, in Pennsylvania. Mr. Bordley directs to cut up the corn stalks close to the ground, near the end of September, with sharp hoes, having first stripped the blades and cut of the tops, but always leaving the ears on : and to pile the stalks and corn in a py- ramidal form in small parcels, to cure. A friend found some years since, that by thus exposing his corn to the frost, it ripened better than if permitted to remain stand- ing in the field, as is commonly practised. Darwin also says, that the fros- ty nights of autumn inScotland con- tribute to ripen the late crops of that cold climate : he supposes the frost converts the mucilage of the grain sooner into starch. Mr. Bordley makes the follow- ing excellent remarks : " Observ- ing much irregularity in the stand- ing of mayz in the rows, I caused tha seed, after listing and crossing, to be carefully placed close to the landside of the furrows : not dropt in the careless scattering manner usual. The corn thus grew strait, and admitted the ploughs to pass near the plants. COR COR 225 The following highly valuable observations are byJosEPHjCoopER, esq. of New-Jersey, and doubtless will receive serious attention; they tend to prove what perfection may be attained by continued care and attention, while at the same time, they shew the absurdity of the common opinion of the necessity for changing seed. " In or about the year 1772, a friend sent me a few grains of a small kind of Indian corn, the grains of which were not larger than goose shot,which he informed me, by a note in which they were enclosed, were originally from Guinea, and produced from eight to ten ears on a stalk. Those grains I planted, and found the production to answer the descrip- tion, but the ears small, and few of them ripe before frost. I saved some of the largest and earliest,and planted them between rows of lar- ger and earlier kinds of corn,which produced a mixture to advantage; then I saved seed from stalks that produced the greatest number of the largest ears, and first ripe, which I planted the ensuing season and was not a little gratified to find its production preferable, both in quantity and quality, to that of any corn I had ever planted. This kind of corn I have continued plant- ing ever since, selecting that de- signed for seed in the manner I ■would wish others to try, viz....... When the first ears are ripe enough for seed, gather a suffi- cient quantity for early corn, or replanting, and at the time you would wish your corn to be ripe generally, gather a sufficient quan- tity for planting the next year, hav- ing particular care to take it from stalks that are large at bottom, of a regular taper, not over tall, the vol. if ears set low, and containing the greatest number of good sizeable ears of the best quality ; let it dry speedily, and from the corn gather- ed as last described, plant your main crop, and if any hills should be missing, replant from that first gathered which will cause the crop to ripen more regularly than is common ; this is a great benefit. The above method I have prastised many years, and am satisfied it has increased the quantity and improv- ed the quality of my crops beyond the expectation of any person, who has not tried the experiments. The distance of planting corn, and num- ber of grains in a hill, are matters many differ in ; perhaps different soils may require a difference in both these respects ; but in every kind of soil I have tried, I find planting the rows six feet asunder each way, as near at right angles as may be, and leaving not more than four stalks in a hill, produces the best crop. The common me- thod of saving seed corn by taking the ears from the heap, or crib, is attended with two disadvantages, one is, the taking the largest ears, which have generally grown but one on a stalk. This lessens the production ; the other is, taking ears that have ripened at different times which causes the production to do the same." Mr. Deane says : of all soils a clayey one may justly be accounted the worst kind for this crop. A loamy soil will not answer without a plentiful dressing. But a sandy or gravelly soil is best ; or sand, if it be not destitute of vegetable food. In the northern parts of New-England, it is not worth while to plant this corn on clay, or on mere loam : For it requires much heat, and these soils are not so G Q 226 COR COR much warmed bythe sun, as sandy and gravelly ones. On any soil it requires much tillage and ma- nure in this country ; if either be scanty, a good crop is not to be expected. I think it is not the best method to plant it on what we call green sward ground, at least in the nor- thern parts. It is apt to be too backward in its growth, and not to ripen so well. But if we do it on such land, the holes should be made quite through the furrows, and dung put in the holes. If this caution -be not observed, the crop will be uneven, as the roots in some places where the furrows are thickest, will have but little benefit from the rotting of the sward. But if the holes be made through, the roots will be fed with both fixed and putrid air, supplied by the fermentation in the grass- roots of the turf. In this way, I have known great crops raised on green sward ground, where the soil was a sandy loam. But in the course of my experi- ence, I have found peas and po- tatoes the most suitable crops for the first year. In the second, it will be in good order for Indian corn. This, however, may be pe- culiar to the northern parts of New-England. For this crop, it is certainly best to plough in the fall preceding; and again in the spring, just before planting. If the land be flat, and inclining to cold, it should lie in narrow ridges during the winter ; and if it be naturally moist, the corn should be planted on ridges; otherwise it should be ploughed plain in the spring. Some recommend gathering seed corn before the time pf har- vest, being the ears that first tip- en. But I think it would be better to mark them, and let them rei main on the stalks, till they be- come sapless. Whenever they are taken in, they should be hung up by the husks, in a dry place, secure from early frost j and they will be so hardened as to be in no danger of injury from the frost in winter. In the choosing of seed, some regard should be had to the state of the soil on which it is intended to grow. If it be poor, or wanting in warmth, the yellow sort with eight rows will be most suitable, as it ripens early. A better soil should have a larger kind of seed, that the crop may be greater, as it undoubtedly will. If twenty loads of good manure can be afforded for an acre, it should be spread on the land and ploughed in : If no more than half of that quantity, it will be best to put it in holes. In the former case, it usually comes up better, suffers less by drought,and worms: and the land is left in better order after the crop. In the latter case, the plants are more assisted in their growth, in proportion to the quan- tity of manure. If the manure be new dung, burying it under the furrows is by far the better me- thod. Let the ground be cut into ex- act squares, by shoal furrows made with a horse plough, from three to four feet apart, acording to the largeness or smallness of the sort of corn to be planted. This fur- rowing is easily done with one horse, and is by no means lost la- bour ; as the more the ground is stirred, the more luxuriantly the corn will grow. If dung is to be COR put in the angles where the fur- rows cross each other, the furrow- ing should be the deeper. The right time of seeding the ground may be from the first to the third week in May ; or a little sooner or later according to the dryness of the soil, and the for- wardness of the spring. The farmers have a rule in this case, said to be borrowed from the abori- ginals, which is, to phmt corn when the leaves of white oak begin to appear. But so much time is commonly taken up in planting this corn, it being tedious work to dung it in holes, that it will be necessary to begin in the driest part of the field a little earlier than this rule directs. Shell the seed gently by hand, that it may not be torn or bruised at all, rejecting about an inch at each end of the ear. And, if any corns appear with black eyes, let them also be rejected, not because they will not grow at all, the con- trary being true ; but because the blackness indicates, either some defect in drying, or want of perfec- tion in the grain. Put five corns in what is called a hill, and let them not be very near together; for the more the roots crowd each other, the more they will prevent the growth of each other. Four corns would perhaps be a better number, if it were certain they would all prosper. The true rea- sons for putting more than one in a place I take to be, that by means of it, the rows may be so far apart as to admit of ploughing between them ; and that some la- bour in hand-hoeing is saved, it being no more work to hoe a hill with five plants, than with one in it. If planting a second time should COR 227 become necessary, by means of the*' destruction of the first seed, or if planting be delayed on any account till the beginning of June, then it will be proper that the seed should have boiling water poured on it. Let it not soak more than half a minute, and be cooled speed- ily, and planted before it dries.... The corn will be forwarder in its growth by several days. The seed should be covered with about two inches of earth. To prevent birds and vermin from pulling up the corn, steep some corn in a strong infusion of Indian poke, or refuse tobacco, and sprinkle it over the ground be- fore the corn is up. White threads stretched over a field of corn, will prevent crows from alighting upon it. But I doubt whether this will deter any other birds. A handful of ashes on each hill, will nourish the plants, and have a tendency to prevent their being annoyed by worms. Some lay it on just before the first or second hoeing. It will have a better ef- fect in preventing worms, if laid on before the corn is up. But it is commonly designed to answer chiefly as a top-dressing ; and for this purpose it would answer bet- ter near the third hoeing ; for then the plants want the greatest degree of nourishment, as they begin to grow very rapidly. Two dress- ings, to answer the two purposes, wuuld not be amiss. When the plants are three or four inches high, the plough must pass in the interval, making two furrows in each, turned from the rows , and then the weeds killed with the hand-hoe, and a little earth drawn about the plants....... This operation we call weeding. In about half a month after, 228 COR plough again,but across the former furrows, and turn the furrows to- wards the rows. Then with the hand-hoe, earth the corn as much as it will bear. This is called moulding or half-hilling. When the plants are about knee high, and before they send out their panicles, or spindles, give them the third and last hoeing. The best way is to plough one furrow in an interval both ways. The cultiva- tor with two mould-boards would be better for this work, than the common horse-plough, as it would throw the mould equally towards each row, and save labour in hand- hoeing. The ground would thus be cut into squares, and the hills almost completely formed. In finishing them, care should be tak- en that they be not made too high, or steep, that they may not divert the water, which falls in rains, from the roots. When hills are too much raised, they also prevent the warm influence of the sun up- on the lowermost roots, by too great a thickness of earth ; in con- sequence of which, the plants are put to the exertion of sending out a new set of roots, at a suitable distance from the surface. Some think high hills are need- ful to make the corn stand upright. I never could perceive the advan- tage of it. But I am confident it is often broken by winds when the hills are uncommonly high, which is a greater evil than its leaning half way to the ground, if indeed that be any evil at all. The farmer who wishes for a large crop of this corn, should not annoy it with running beans, or pumpions; the former, by wind- ing round the stalks and ears, cramp them in their growth, and COR sometimes bend them down to the ground by their weight; the latter, by their luxuriant growth, rob the hills of much vegetable food, and by their thick shade, shut out the influence of the sun from the roots of the corn. At the second and third hoeings, all the suckers should be buried under the soil; not broken off, as is the common practice, because this wounds the plants. If the suckers be suffered to grow, they seldom, or never produce fair and perfect ears ; and they rob the ears on the main stalk of their nourish- ment. I mention the second and third hoeings, because the suckers will not all appear till the third ; and the sooner they are destroyed the better the crop will be. Instead of the common method of planting, if your land be rich, easy to till, and free from obstacles, I should think it would be best to plant the corn in the drill method, the rowsbeing of the same distance as in the common way, placing the corns about five inches asunder. I have found by experiment, that a greater quantity of corn may be produced in this method, than in hills ; and the labour is but little, if at all increased. In a small field where the dung had been evenly spread, and ploughed in, I planted one row thus, the rest being in the common way ; and it yielded at harvest, one eighth part more corn by measure than either of the two nearest rows, the corn being.equal- ly ripe and good. When there is reason to appre- hend that the ground will prove too moist for this crop, it will be advisable to plough, it into narrow ridges, and seed each ridge with one or two rows, us shall be found COR most convenient. Some of the finest crops that I have known,have been raised in this method. When a season is at all wet, this would be the best culture in almost any soil, unless the very driest be excepted. There is a kind of ridging, which would be very proper for this plant, not only on account of drying the soil, but that the land may have an alternate resting, or fallowing be- tween the rows. In the common method of plain ploughing, it com- monly happens that a hill stands precisely in the place of a hill of the preceding year. When this is the case, the plants will receive less nourishment than if the hill had had a new situation. That each hill may always have this advantage, let a ridge be formed by two furrows, turning part of a row of hills on each side, so as to meet each other, in the last year's interval: then small ridges will be formed on which the rows should be planted. If the dung be first spread over the ground, most of it will be buried, where it should be, in the bottom of the ridges. At the time of weeding, the remainder of the old hills may be turned to- wards the new rows. With such a mode of culture, land could not soon be exhausted, even by a suc- cessive cropping with maize. New- England F"armer. The uses to which this Inva- luable plant is applied in the U. States are well known. The arti- cles of diet into which it enters as a component part, are various and important. Alone, it is served up ill several forms, all of which are excellent. As a strong nourishing food for horses and swine, it is probably superior to any other grain. Many articles will fatten COR 229 animals, but it is corn alone upon which we depend for obtaining that solidity in the fat and muscle which are so valuable in slaugh- tered animals. Experience proves that corn broken by a mill, will go one third farther in feeding beasts, than when given whole. The stalks and blades of corn, if care- fully stacked and cut, have been found by a gentleman (S. B. esq.) a superior food to oats, for his coach horses. By a powerful cut- ting-box the stalks and blades were cut small, and given, sometimes alone and sometimes with oats, and were observed to increase the spi- rits and flesh of the animals in a very sensible manner. The reason is evident; the stalks,especially the two lower joints,abound with sugar, and was extracted during our revo- lutionary war; and sugar is one of the most nutritious principles in nature. Considering the importance of the use of the stalks, it is truly melan- choly to see acres covered with them in winter, in some parts, instead of having them housed for the cat- tle. In the Venician territory, ac- cording to the late Dr. Scandel- la, the blades of corn are pulled, dried, and given to cattle without injury to the crops of corn, and Mr. Bordley says, he stripped 150 hills of corn, and cut off the tops when the corn was not hard, with- out any difference being observed between the stalks so treated, and the rest of the field. Dr. S. also . states, that corn is sown broad cast, upon highly manured places near the stable,and when it reaches its highest growth, and the tassels begin to wither, the stalks .are cut down morning and evening, and given to the cattle in the sta- bles. These facts may be useful to those who want fodder, and have 230 COR COR corn ; but barley straw or hay, ought to be cut with green corn, or blades and tops to prevent the beasts from becoming hoven. It has already been said that the cobs of corn are chopped fine by mills for cattle in Lancaster. The blades of corn make a good coarse paper, and may be a valua- ble substitute for rags, in a scarcity of that article. A more particular account of this subject will be given under the article Paper.] Corn-berries, or Cranberries: See Bilberry. Corn-cale. See Charlock. CORN-CHAFER, or Curculio granarius, L. a species of insects bearing a resemblance to oblong, soft worms. They are provided anteriorly with six scaly legs, and their head is likewise covered with scales. Some species of these larvae are dreaded for the mischief they do in granaries ; as they find means to introduce themselves, while small, into grains of corn, and there fix their abode. It is very difficult to discover them, for they lie concealed within the grain, grow slowly, and enlarge their ha- bitation, in proportion to their size, at the expense of the interior meal on which they feed. Corn-lofts are frequently laid waste by these numerous insects, which devour immense quantities, of grain. When the corn-chafer, after having consumed all the meal has attained its full size, it remains within the grain, hides itself un- der the empty husk, and subsists alone : there it undergoes its trans- formation, and becomes a chrysa- lis ; nor does it leave the grain, till a perfect insect, when it makes its way through the husk. One of our foreign correspon- dents has communicated to us the following recipe for extirpating these predatory vermin, or prevent- ing these devastations in granaries: Take three or four handfuls of the purple loose-strife, or willow-herb, or grass-poly, Lythrum Salicaria, L. six or eight handfuls of water- pepper, or biting snakeweed, Poly- gonum Hydropiper, L. and two handfuls of narrow-leaved pepper* wort or dittander, Lepidium rude- rale, L....put them together in a capacious vessel filled with water, several inches above the herbs, and boil the whole from 15 to 30 minutes, by a moderate heat. Af- ter taking it from the fire, add four or six onions, a few cloves of garlic, and half a pound of Epsom salt. When cold, sprinkle the floor and walls of the granary with this decoction ; and, if the former be constructed of clay, the sprinkling must be two or three times repeated. !The herbs here employed, should not he gathered or decocted, till they are immedi- ately wanted, as they would lose their efficacy by long keeping : hence, the months of June and Ju- ly are the most proper seasons for collecting them. Lastly, the floor ought to be previously swept, and • completely cleared of all impurities, so that the decoction may be appli- ed as a preventive, in the months of August and September. CORN-COCKLE, or Agrostem- ma Githago, L. is an indigenous, annual plant which grows in corn- fields and bears purple flowere in the month of June or July. Tt is very prolific, and produces a great number of pods, each of which contains from twenty to thirty seeds, somewhat resembling those of the turnip; they impart a strong taste and an unwholesome quality to the bread baked of corn mixed COR with them : such grain ought, therefore to be employed in dis- tilleries, or the manufacture of starch. There is a variety, of this spe- cies, which produces similar, but smaller seeds than the former, and exhibits a peculiar mode of vege- tation, being found within the wheat-ear, one side of which is fil- led with good grain, and the other with a spurious one, produced by this weed. Hence husbandmen have given it the significant name or ear-co'-'-lc. It is by no means so common as the former variety, but is generally attributed to bad husbandry, by which the land is exhausted of its nutritious quali- ties, and weakened to such a degree as to be prevented from bringing the wheat to perfection ; because this plant is never found on lands that are well cultivated, and properly managed. It is eat- en by horses, goats, and sheep. CORN-FLAG, the Common, or Gladiolus communis, L. a hardy, in- digenous plant, growing, in corn- fields, from one to two feet high ; producing red and white, or pur- ple flowers, in May and June, which are succeeded by abundance of roundish seeds, in August. The common Corn-flag may be easily propagated by off-sets from the roots ; as it prospers well in any soil or situation. The small, round, tuberous root, is internally yellow, and reputed to be an ex- cellent vulnerary ; but this neglect- ed vegetable is more important on account of its mealy nature. Pli- ny probably alludes to it, in the XXlst. Book of his Natural His- tory, where he observes, that the root has a sweet taste ; and, when boiled, not only imparts to Bread an agreeable flavour, but increases COR 231 its weight. The blossoms of this plant supply bees with honey. Corn-flower. See Blue-bot- tle. CORNEL-TREE, or Cornus, L. a genus of plants comprising twelve species, of which only two are indigenous. 1. The sanguinea, wild cornel- tree, or dog-wood, which is chiefly found in woods and hedges. It produces white flowers, which are in bloom in the month of June, and are succeeded by round ber- ries. The wood of this species is hard and smooth, and is chiefly employed in turnery ware. Its leaves change to a deep blood-co- lour in autumn. The berries are bitter, and dye purple : on ac- count of their cooling and astrin- gent nature, they are said to strengthen the stomach; stop flux- es of every kind, and to be very ser- viceable in fevers, especially if ac- companied with a diarrhoea. From one bushel of the kernels of these berries, 16lb. of lamp-oil were ob- tained by expression. The plant is eaten by horses, sheep, and goats, but refused by cows. 2. The suecica, or dwarf cornel, which is found in mountainous si- tuations, chiefly on the Cheviot- hills, in Northumberland ; and in some parts of Yorkshire and Scot- land. It is perennial, produces white blossoms, that appear in June and July, and are succeeded by red berries, which are eaten by the Swedes. [Six species of the Cornus grow in Pennsylvania, and in various parts of the United States. The most useful are : 1. C. Florida, Dogwood, or Box-wood of the New-England states. This is a useful shrub growing in 232 COR inmost every part of the U. States. It flowers very early in the spring, and makes a fine appearance. The bark which possesses considerable astringency, furnishes us with a domestic medicine, and when used in infusion with black alder (prinos verticillatus,) or with the roots of the sassafras (laurus sassafras) or of tulip poplar tree (liriodendron tulipifera) forms an excellent re- medy in intermittents. 2. CornusSericea,red willow, rose willow, blue berried dogwood; leaves ovate, ferruginous, silky under- neath ; it grows about six feet high, with an upright round, branched, grey stem ; the shoots are of a beautiful red colour in winter, and are said to furnish our Indians with a red dye ; the bun- ches of white flowers which come out in August and wtpiember, and grow at the extremity of every branch, give to this shrub a fine appearance. It grows in wet pla- ces, and is used as a substitute for the Peruvian bark, to which it is but little inferior, if not equal in virtue. A chemical analysis should be made of this valuable native production, by the medical gentle- men in the country, during their leisure hours.] Corn-rose. See Red Poppy. CORN-SALAD, or Lamb'sLet- tuce, Valeriana locusta, L. is an an- nual indigenous plant growing in corn-fields and producing white- reddish flowers from April toJune. It is eaten by cattle, and its young leaves are cut and used in spring and autumn as a salad, being es- teemed little inferior to young let- tuce. Sheep and canary-birds are equally fond of this vegetable. CORNS,in surgery,are hard ex- crescences, consisting- of indura- tions of the skin, which arise on the COR toes, on 1 sometimes on the sides of the ieet, where these are much exposed to the pressure of narrow shoes. By degrees, they extend farther down between the muscular fibres on those parts, and occasion extreme pain. Variousremedieshave been sug- gested for the cure of corns, but their removal is always attended with considerable difficulty. A cor- respondent in the 63d vol. of the Gentle nan'j Magazine asserts, that after having been afflicted with corns for several years, he was per- fectly relieved from them, by the application of brown paper mois- tened w ith spittle. It has also been recummended to wrap a clove of garlic in paper, and cover it with hot ashes till it becomes soft, when it should be applied to the parts affected, as warm as they can bear it. But the best cure for these painful excrescences, in our opin- ion, is to wear constantly easy shoes, to bath the feet frequently in luke-warm water, in which a lit- tle sal ammoniac and pot-ashes have been dissolved, and to apply a plaster made of equal parts of gum galbanum, saffron, and cam- phor. By persevering in this treat- ment, the complaint may, in a con. siderable degree, be alleviated, and at length totally eradicated. But we cannot omit to caution those who are troubled with corns, never to cut or pisreu them with any sharp or pointed instrument; as such imprudent attempts have of- ten been productive of dangerous consequences. Nay, it should be remarked, that every application which is liable to occasion pain to the foot or toes, ought to be care- fully guarded against, as being im- proper and unsafe. Hence the in- efficacy of operations performed by C OR pretenders, who are unacquainted with the structure of the human body : and such expedients may be aptly compared to periodical blood- lettings, which benefit the opera- tor, but impoverish the constitu- tion of the biassed patient, whose fluids increase, but progressively become more watery. [Corns, as observed by Dr. W. universally proceed from pressure by tight shoes on some joint..... The means of prevention are, therefore obvious, and within the reach of every one : but when corns have appeared, they must be carefully pared with* a sharp penknife, so as not to draw blood, and covered with a plaster of dia- chylon.] CORPULENCY, or obesity, in physiology, is the accumulation of too great a quantity of fat or ani- mal oil, which distends the solids to an unnatural degree, by the abundance of granulated matter collected in the cellular membrane. Corpulency arises from a variety of causes, which may operate se- parately, or conjointly in the same constitution. It may, however, be principally ascribed, 1. To the in- troduction of too much oil into the habit, through the channels of nourishment, by which means it is retained in too large a quantity. 2. An over-laxity, or, perhaps, too large a structure of the cells in which it is deposited, so as to ad- mit and retain an immoderate pro- portion of unctuous matter; 3. To a peculiar disposition of the blood, which renders it liable to separate too easily from its oleaginous par- ticles, and to admit of their being strained off too plentifully by the secretory vessels; or, lastly, to a defective evacuation or expulsion of oil already absorbed, separated voi. II. COS 233 from the blood, and deposited in its cells, instead of being discharg- ed through the different emuncto- ries of the body. Obesity is promoted by whatever tends to soften the blood, and ren- der it less sharp and saline ; such as want of exercise and motion, an indolent life, indulgence in too much sleep, Sec. It may be remov- ed or prevented by the contrary causes, and particularly by the use of saline and acid food, and drink. Castile soap has often been em- ployed with success, and is strong- ly recommended in a discourse, " On the Causes, Nature, and Cure of Corpulency," by Dr. Flemyng, (8vo. l.s. 1760); who directs from one to four drams to be dissolved in a gill or more of soft water, and to be taken every night previ- ously to going to repose. [A disposition in the system to grow corpulent, is frequently ob- served to be unconnected with the quantity or quality of the aliment, or the proportion of exercise taken. The cause of this disposition is by no means understood : the female sex in the United States, are fre- quently distressed by their increase in size, and are too apt to take a variety of remedies to prevent the disagreeable circumstance. But the practice cannot be reprobated in too severe terms. All that can be done with propriety, is to dimin- ish the* quantity of animal food, confine the drink to tvater, and to take much exercise.] COSMETIC, any medicine, or preparation, that renders the skin soft and white, or contributes to beautify the complexion. Various articles have been obtru- ded on the public attention, by ig- norant and speculative persons, as possessing every property that may H H 234 COS COS tend to improve the surface of the body, but which have generally been found to consist of the most hurtful metallic ingredients, such as the various preparations of lead, mercury, arsenic, Sec. To those, however, whose decayed counte- nances seem to justify them in the use of cosmetics, or, who are de- termined to employ them, instead of attending to the more effectual means of preserving the bloom of their skin, it may perhaps be of service to point out two or three harmless external applications, chiefly with a view to prevent them from using dangerous and pernicious specifics. According to the late Dr. Wi- thering, an infusion of horse- radish in milk, makes one of the safest and best cosmetics. Another preparation for clearing the skin of pimples and recent eruptions, if assisted by gentle aperient medicines, is the fresh ex- pressed juice of house-leek, mix- ed with an equal quantity of sweet milk, or cream. Professor Pallas recommends the water distilled from flowers of the Nymphaa N lumbo, [Nelumbi- um Spcciosum, which see,] a plant indigenous in the Asiatic part of Russia, en the banks of the Volga ; and which, by his account, im- parts an agreeable softness and de- licacy to the skin of the face and hands. Frequent bathing will also con- tribute to the prolongation of youth, and preservation of the external in- teguments. To these remedies, we venture to add honey-water made to the consistence of cream, so that it may form a kind of varnish on the skin, which, especially when chapped by frost, will be much benefitted bythisapplication: and if it occasion any irritation or uneassiness, a little fine wheaten flour, or pure hair-powder, should be scattered on the hands or face. Without exception, the best cos- metic, in our opinion, is temper- ance ; as, by avoiding excesses of every kind, the body will retain its natural tone, the uniform circula- tion of all the fluids will be facili- tated, and those disgraceful erup- tions, we too frequently observe on the features of the younger part of the present generation, will be ut- terly effaced. COSTIVENESS, in medicine, a retention of the excrements, ac- companied with an unusual hard- ness and dryness, so as to render the evacuation difficult and some- times painful. Sedentary persons are peculiarly liable to this complaint, especially those of sanguineous and choleric temperaments ; or who are subject to hypochondriac affections, the gout, acute fevers, and bilious dis- orders. Costiveness is frequently occa- sioned by neglecting the usual time of going to stool, and checking the natural tendency to those salu- tary excretions ; by an extraordi- nary heat of the body, and copious sweats; by taking into the stomach a larger proportion of solid food, than is proper for the quantity of fluids swallowed ; and, lastly, by too frequent use of such nutriment as is dry, heating, and difficult of digestion. To those who are af- flicted with this complaint, we would recommend to visit the cus- tomary retreat every morning, at a stated hour, and thus endeavour to promote the natural evacuation by moderate efforts ; even though they may not perhaps be much in- clined, and should not at first suc- ceed ; for experience has proved, that Nature will in this respect, by cos perseverance, acquire a habit of regularity. The most proper lime for that purpose, is either early in the morning, or late in the evening. In many families costiveness is hereditary. It may also arise from a debilitated state of the intestinal canal, occasioned by diseases, but more frequently from the habitual use of lean meal, game, red port wine, strong malt liquors, and simi- lar articles of food and drink. From whatever cause it may originate, continual exercise in the open air, and abstinence from heating or in- toxicating liquors, will be found very beneficial. In those cases, however, where inveterate costiveness has once taken place, and the usual simple remedies have proved abortive carbon, or charcoal (divested of its oxygen by heat), has been admi- nistered with uncommon success. [By the late Dr. E. H. Smyth of New-York], who recommends two drams of carbon finely levigated, to be mixed with four ounces of leni- tive electuary, and two drams of carbonat of soda. Of this mixture, from half an ounce to one,and even two ounces, may be taken twice, thrice, or oftener, in the course of the day, as circumstances may re- quire. [Persons subject to costiveness, should avoid drinking red wines, and eatingfreshbread, which great- ly disposes to costiveness, besides being highly uneconomical. The food ought to be well chewed, and soups abounding with vegetables should compose a part of every dav's dinner. Bread composed of one-third Indian corn meal,and two- thirds wheat flour, and eaten the day after being baked, ought to be used. Rye-bread is more laxative than wheat, and may be occasion- COT 335 ally used. Stewed prunes and roast- ed apples are also gently laxative. Spinach when properly dressed is a very pleasant vegetable, and gent- ly laxative, and should be frequent- ly eaten by costive persons. Those who ride much on horse-back, are disposed to costiveness, for which a draught of cold water in the morning is a good remedy. Mo- lasses diluted with water, is a pro- per drink for costive habits. For medicine, the following may be taken occasionally. Flowers of sul- phuc, cream of tartar, each 1 oz. mix, and take a heaped tea-spoon- ful with molasses at night, when going to bed, and another in the morning. Persons have been known to be habitually costive, to have a quick pulse, loose their appetite, and the complexion to turn yellow in consequence of drinking water which flowed through leaden tubes, and even from the piston of a pump being made of lead. A case from the last cause occurred to the late Dr. Withering, of Birmingham; the person (a woman) always found herself better if she left her own house for any length of time, and was cured by changing her water.] COTTAGE, properly signifies a small dwelling-house, independ- ently of any lands attached to it. According to William Mor- ton Pitt, Esq. the ingenious au- thor of an Address to the Landed Interest; there are few parishes without several rough, encumber- ed, and uncultivated tracts, which might be converted into large gar- dens, arid on which cottages might be built, either by the poor them- selves, to be held on lives, or at the expense of the parish. If such ha- bitations were more attainable by the poor, frugality would revive amongst them, and young people 236 COT COT would strive to lay up a sum of money for this purpose. The hope of improving their lot is the main- spring of industry, in all stations of life. The prosperity of this coun- try has been attributed, not only to the spirit of enterprize of our mer- chants and manufacturers, but like- wise to the effect, which the pos- session and security of properly have on the minds of men. The produce of a garden dimi- nishes the consumption of bread, which is the most considerable ar- ticle of a poor man's expenditure : it is an advantage wholly created bythe cultivator's industry,attimes when not otherwise engaged, as well as by that of his wife and chil- dren ; consequently, there is so much labour gained to the commu- nity. Every man who is averse to in- crease the wages of labour in hus- bandry, should at least encourage the culture of gardens. The quan- tity of land to be attached to such a cottage, might be half an acre, of inferior value, namely, about 10s. per acre. The corn in the garden should be raised by dibbling ; a method already practised with suc- cess, in many parts of the king- dom. Where 10?. per acre is the value of the land, 5>. per annum might consequently be added as quit-rent: the fine on putting in a life, should not exceed one year's purchase computed on the real va- lue. The ccttager who builds a house upon this principal, acquires the following advantages: 1. A permanent property, as all improve- ments are for the benefit of himself and family ; 2. Respectability of situation ; 3. A diminution of an- nual expenditure ; and 4. That he cannot be dispossessed under any circumstarccb. Mr. W. M. Pitt farther ob- serves, that this arrangement will answer in all instances, where a labourer has money sufficient to enable him to build a cottage. But as this is not the case with many, the landlord may, without any risk, advance to any such industrious man 10/. or 15/. to enable him to erect a cottage, which would of it- self be a security for the loan ; the money to be issued, in proportion only as the work advances. The cottager should pay interest" at 5 per cent, and part of the principal, at least 10 per cent, every year. If he fail in making these payments, his effects should be liable. Thus, he would anticipate, with impa- tience, the time of discharging the whole debt, that he might enjoy the fruits of his labour, and a com- fortable situation. The landlord would also be benefitted, by being relieved from the expense of re- pairs, and especially by the reduc- tion of the poor-rates ; he would receive his quit-rent annually, and a fine also, upon a renewal, in ad- dition to the full rent of his land, as well as 5 per cent, interest on the money lent; the whole debt being liquidated in ten years at far- thest. The utility of letting lands to the poor, at an easy rate, is still far- ther evinced in a letter from the Earl of Vv inchelsea to the Board of Agriculture, in 1796, from which we extract the following particu- lars.....By the advantages arising from lands thus employed, the la- bourers and their families live bet- ter, and are consequently more able to endure fatigue. They are more comfortable, contented, and attached to their situation, while they acquire habits of industry and cleanliness, as well as a kind of in- COT COT 237 dependence, so that they set a higher value upon their character. The possession of a little property excites their industry : of this the noble Earl gives instances in the labourers on his estates in Rutland- shire ; whose first thought, after they have obtained a cow, and land sufficient to maintain her, has been how to save money enough to pur- chace another, in consequence of which, application was made for an additional quantity of land. Such facts afford a complete refutation of the frivilous objections urged against this salutary measure ; and we are happy to state from our own information, that when offers of this nature were made to indus- trious labourers, they have been unanimously accepted. We, there- fore, sincerely recommend to the landholders of this country, to pur- sue a similar spirited conduct; and are of opinion, that it would act as an additional stimulus to the indus- try of the poor, if on the comple- tion of any inclosure, a certain space of ground were allotted, for the grazing of their cows, during certain seasons of the year. With respect to the most pro- per method of building cottages, and adapting them to different si- tuations, for more wealthy families, we again recommend Mr. Soane's " Sketches of Architecture" (vol. i. p. 100) ; and, for erecting the more humble habitations of the indigent and industrious, we believe Mr. Malton's "Essay on Cottage Ar- chitecture" (large 4to. 1/. lis. 6d.) will be found an useful guide. [See also Farm-House.] COTTON, a soft downy sub- stance ; the production of theg-os- sypium, L. or cotton tree, a genus of plants comprising twelve spe- cies, all of which are natives of warm climates, though four only are cultivated in fields to a very considerable extent. This plant is propagated by seeds, and when reared in Britain, requires to be kept in a hot-house, where it will produce both seeds and its peculiar down. [In Georgia and South Carolina two kindsof cotton are planted, one of which grows upon the upland, is of a short staple, and has green seed. Another kind of a long staple and silky fineness,havingblackseed, is cultivated upon the islandson the coasts of Georgia and South Caro- lina, the value of which has in- creased from two dollars per acre in a state of nature, to thirty, and in many instances, to 40 dollars per acre, within the last seven years. The salt air, and certain latitudes, (from 29 to 32 deg.) appear to be the chief cause of the great supe- riority of the Island Cotton over the upland, for the same soil a few miles off on the fast land, yet with- out saline air, cannot be made to produce cotton of equal quality. The following mode of cultivat- ing cotton is recommended by Pierce Butler, Esq. who suc- cessfully plants that article on the island of St. Simons, state of Georgia, " If the land has been recently cleared, or has long remained fal- low, turn it up deep in winter ; and in the finst week in March bed it up in the following manner. Form 25 beds in 105 square feet of land, (be- ing the space allotted to each able labourer for a day's work) ; this leaves about four feet, two and one half inches from the centre of one bed, to the centre of the next. The beds should be 3 feet wide, and flat in the middle. About the 15th of March, in the lat. of from 29 to 32 238 COT COT the cultivator should commence sowing, or as it is generally term- ed, planting. The seed should be well scattered in open trenches, made in the centre of the beds, and covered : the proportion of seed is one bushel to an acre ; this allows for accidents occasioned by worms, or night chills. The cotton should be well weeded by hoes once every twelve days till blown, and even longer, if there is grass, observing to hoe up, that is, to the cotton till it pods ; and .hoe down when the cotton is blown, in order to check the growth of the plant. From the proportion of seed mentioned, the cotton plants will come up plenti- fully, too much so, to suffer all to remain. They should be thinned moderately at each hoeing. When the plants have got strength and growth, which may be about the third hoeing, to disregard worms and bear drought; they should be thinned according to the fertility of the soiffrom six inches to near two feet between the stocks,or plants. In rich river grounds the beds should be from 5 to 6 feet apart, measuring from centre to centre ; and the cotton plants, when out of the way of worms, from two to three feet apart. It is advisable to top cotton once or twice in rich low grounds, and also to remove the suckers. The latter end of July is generally considered a proper time for topping. Gypsum (plaster of Paris) maybe used with success on cotton lands not near the sea. In river grounds, draining is proper ; yet these lands should not be kept too dry. In tide lands, it is bene- ficial to let the water flow over the land, without retaining it. In river lands a change of crops is neces- sary. From actual experiment, it has been proved, that river tide lands having the preceding year had rice sown in them, yielded much more cotton the succeeding year than they would have afford- ed by a continuation of cotton. The mere growing of cotton is but a part of the care of the planter; very much depends on classing and cleaning it for market, after it has been housed ; sorting before it goes to the jennies; moating and remov- ing any yellow particles are all es- sential to assure a preference at a common market of competition." The month of August in South Carolina and Georgia, is the sea- son for commencing the business of picking cotton. The quantity of black seed cot- ton produced on an acre of Georgia sea island is about 200lbs. ; in Ca- rolina from 130 to 150lbs.; an acre of upland will commonly produce SOOlbs. of green seed cotton. The preparation of the ground for cotton is almost entirely effect- ed by the hoe. The plough is scarcely used. This circumstance is the more to be wondered at, con- sidering that the southern planters could not fail to see the great di- minution of labour effected by that machine in the northern states ; and that on land which has been long cultivated, it could be easily used. After cotton land has been work- ed two or three years, it is permit- ted to rest one year, or more, to recruit. During this time, if a crop of the Cassia Chamacrista.\u.^Ac\\\o- mac bean) already mentioned, were taken, much benefit to the soil would be produced : and it is re- commended to the planters to try a comparative experiment upon a small scale to ascertain the point. The cotton of the island of Bour- bon rank,s first in price at the Lon- COT COT 239 don market; that of the Georgia sea-island is the second ; the cot- ton of Pernambucco third, and after these come that of the W.India and Levant, according to the attention given in preparing the article for a market. The Bombay, the green seed or upland cotton of the United States, and the Mississippi cotton are considered in the last class. It is to be regretted that an abo- minable spirit of avarice has occa- sioned many instances of the most shameful deceptions in shipping our cotton to Europe. In some instances a bushel of seed has been found in the middle of a bale, and in other cases the fine cotton has been put over that of an inferior quality. This disgraceful conduct has occasioned loud and just com- plaints on the part of the British manufacturers, and has produced a general distrust with respect to most of the cotton shipped, which is highly injurious as well to the honest planter, as to the national character. A knowledge of these circumstances has induced some respectable planters, to mark their bales of cotton with their names, and by taking great pains to sort the various qualities, a degree of confidence has been annexed to their names, which is highly gra- tifying : so that when a sample of a particular bale is shewn, a pur- chase is made with the greatest certainty of finding the whole of the same quality. Every planter who feels a pride in having a good cha- racter attached to his name ought to follow the example above given ; and to prevent the bad effects aris- ing from the want of principle of dishonest men, inspectors should be appointed, who might have per- mission to examine every suspect- ed bale, and to mark the quality of the article. The good effects of an inspection have been long since felt in Philadelphia, with regard to the articles of flour, beef, pork, and tobacco. Cotton has accomplished for the southern states, what clover and gypsum has for Pennsylvania..... The riches of both these'have been greatly increased by these particu- lar articles of culture ; but with dif- ferent degrees of rapidity. In 1794, cotton was of so little consequence, that it was not thought of by our negociator in the treaty with Eng- land ! And yet, twenty-seven mil- lions of pounds weight of Ameri- can cotton, were exported from the United States to Europe, durino- the last year, 1802. It appears, from a great number of facts, that a capacity to produce cotton, really exists in a very ex- tensive portion of the United States. It begins in the southern counties of New-Jersey, and in the north- ern counties of Delaware, Mary- land, and Virginia, and continues through the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and the Mississippi and Ohio territories. The southern lineof Pennsylvania continued east- ward and westward, seems to be the northern boundary of what may he called, the cotton district of the United States. The facts, which proves the cot- ton to be easily produceable in the Delaware and Maryland counties of New-Castle, and Csccil, are nu- merous, and it is well ascertained, that during the revolutionary war, cotton was cultivated by several families in Kent, on Delaware, in sufficient quantities to supplv them with clothing. It has been raised also, without any uncommon care, in the borough of Wilmington, where it thrived, blossomed, and 240 COT COT yellowed in perfection. These facts prove, that much of Dela- ware is capable of producing cot- ton. The places, in every town- ship and hundred, best adapted to it, are those where the effects of frost are usually the most moderate. This point merits particular atten- tion in South-Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. It is nuclei stood, that frosts are less severe near to the At- lantic, and to our salt bays and riv- ers. It will of course grow equal- ly well in the Jersey counties of Cape May, Cumberland, Sa'em, and part of Gloucester, and in the Maryland Harford county. The inducements to raise this clean, excellent and useful raw material in every part of our country, are manifest and great. By raising it on Delaware and Chesapeake bays, manufactures will soonest take place, soonest become extensive ; and it is by manufactures that cotton must be supported in prii <■. It is our policy to wear all kinds of cotton goods, in preference to those imported of wool, silk, flax, hemp, and leather. In relation to this object, one measure is earnestly, but respect- fully recommended to the govern- ments of the Union, and of the states. It is the. introduction of the use of cotttirtHtlankets, by pro- viding them for the military, by land and sea. It is also recom- mended to the planters and farmers from Delaware and Maryland to Georgia, and the Mississippi, to introduce the use of cotton blan- kets, rugs, coverlets, and carpets. It is in those large and heavy manu- factures, that we can consume our cotton, and we see that the con- sumption of our cotton is an ob- ject of the utmost importance, even to our grain and grass farmers.... Let our planters order from the English, French, Dutch, or Ger- man merchants, cotton bluikets, rugs, coverlets, and carpets, and other cotton goods, for the use of their families. Let specimens of these new cotton fabrics be placed before our eyes, by daily use, in order that wc may learn to imitate them. Let the American cotton sacks be as famous, as the woollen sacks of Britain, at least in our eight southern states, and the Mis- sissippi territory and let the eight northern states consider well the vast advantages, which a certain and abundant supply of American cotton, with foreign and American capital, joined to ioreign machine- ry and artists, seem to promise them. It is certainly a fact of im- mense and unobserved importance, that we have reached a production of cotton, manifold greater than all the British West-India colo- nies. The effects upon our inter- nal industry and manufactures are the most promising possible, be- cause it is the raw material, in the world, most capable of being work- ed by water mills and other labour- saving machinery, in this scarcely peopled, and well employed coun- try.] In June 1796, a patent was granted to Mr. Robert Miller, calico - printer, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, for a method of weaving all kinds of cotton, linen, and worsted-cloths, by means of looms worked by water ; and which may be further facilitated by steam-en- gines, horses, or any other power: the weaving is performed at consi- derable less expense, and more ex- peditiously, than it can be accom- plished by the hands of weavers ; the cloth thus woven is of a more regular texture, and superior to COT that wrought by the hand. But, as this patent relates purely to a me- chanical operation, solely calculat- ed for manufacturers, we refer the reader to the 8th vol. of the Reper- tory of Arts and Manufactures. Another patent was granted in April, 1790, to Mr. W. Nichol- son, for his invention of a machine for printing on cotton, woollen, and otherarticles, in a more neat, cheap and accurate manner than is ef- fected by the contrivances now in use. The leading principles of this invention, appear to consist of three particulars. 1. The manner of pre- paring the original models, casts, types, engravings, carvings, or sculptures from which the impres- sion is to be made ; 2. In applying the ink, or colouring matter to such models, 8cc. 3. In taking off the impression, or transferring the ink, or colouring matter from those models, See. to the paper, cloth, or other materials, upon which it is intended to remain. Those of our readers, who may wish farther to investigate this subject, will find an accurate and minute account in the 8th volume of the work last mentioned. In July, 1801, apatent was grant- ed to Mr. Anthony Bow den, for a new machine or engine designed to bat, or beat, and clean cotton. A mere description being inade- quate to convey a distinct idea of Mr. B'scontrivance, the inquisitive reader will consult the 16th vol. of the " Repertory of Arts," 8cc. where his specification*is illustrated by an engraving. At present, we shall' only remark, that the principle of this invention corresponds with that on which the other improved machinery of cotton-works is con- structed : its chief merit consists In giving a new distribution of me- vol. n. COT 2 a chanical power, calculated to per- form an operation, in preparing cotton for the manufacturer, which has hitherto been executed solely by human labour: and, as two- thirds of the number of labourers, consisting of children, instead of women or men in full strength, will thus be enabled to perform the same portion of work as formerly required a full complement of hands, such essential improvement deservedly claims attention. The utility of cotton is not mere- ly confined to the manufacture of different cloths : it is also capable of being converted into hats and pa- per. Experiments have shewn, that if raw cotton be beaten to a sufficient degree, and then reduced to a proper pulp, it will produce a smooth, strong, white paper, little inferior in texture to that common- ly made of linen rags. See Paper. [Cotton Manufactory. When these United States were colonies of Great Britain, it was the policy of that country to prevent us from manufacturing our own clothing ; and the only thing that reconciled the ministry to a peace, was, the prospect of our becoming one of their best customers. The preju- dices of Americans, who thought the country too young for manu- facturing ; and, that the arts, by introducing luxury, would also in- troduce vice, and wean them from- that simplicity of manners which was believed, exclusively, to belong to the agricultural life ; the pre- dilection, which nearly half the community, especially the rich,had for the mother country : and the influence, which the merchants have had in our councils: all con- tinued to prevent the introduction of clothing manufactories into the;« states. I I 242 COT Time, however, and experience, have demonstrated, that luxury and vice may find their way into a coun- try where manufacturing is discou- raged ; that, by a spirit of traffic, foreign luxuries are introduced ; and a restless, migratory life, robs a nation of its innocence and sim- plicity. Years have weaned many from their attachment to England; and the intelligent part of the mer- chants perceive, that commerce would increase by multiplying and diversifying the objects of our in- dustry. And, what is more, the ge- neral government, which has hi- therto thought of nothing but reve- nue, are convinced that clothing and other useful manufactories may be protected, as they are in England, without throwing down their idol revenue. Under these impressions the edi- tor thinks it his duty to lay before his readers such a view of the cot- ton manufactory, as is consistent with the plan of this work, and for which he is indebted to a friend who has a practical knowledge of the subject on which he writes. Since the introduction of machi- nery into this manufactory, the power of establishing it, in any country, rests entirely with the go- vernment : and, in this country, with the general government: be- cause it, alc-ne, has the controul over the duties on importation. This will be made evident from the following considerations. First, by reflecting on the ad- vantages a nation must possess which has already established the cotton manufactury. There skilful workmen are collected together... such as mili-wrights to erect the great gears; machine-makers.... turners, smiths, brass-founders, card-makers, spinners, weavers, loom-makers, reed-makers,bleech- C OT ers, dyers, dressers, Sec. all excel- lent in their kind....and the whole business being organized with so much system, they are enabled to work low, and still have good wages. For these trades are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best near each other. The capitalist can cal- culate to a fraction, what will be the expense .of his undertaking; and, within a small trifle, of the pro- fits resulting therefrom. But, secondly; if we reflect on the disadvantages a nation labours under where all those trades, and all that skill and organization, are to be created, and collected toge- ther ; at what immense expense this is to be done; and how uncer- tain and precarious the result; it will naturally lead us to this ob- vious conclusion, That, in order to balance the situations of both coun- tries, the government must lay pro- tecting duties ; and, where fashion is to be combated, a total prohibi- tion is absolutely necessary. It is true, that an objection has been made by some people, to pro- hibitory duties, as being illibe- ral, and unworthy the generous maxims of republicanism, with- out perceiving, that this is exactly the universal practice of mankind, and of those also who make this objection. You have been long accustomed to deal at a certain dry good store a few squares off, for many years, and have been uni- formly treated well: but your own son sets up, in the same line of business, next door to yourself; will you say that it is ungenerous or illiberal to order your servant to purchase no longer at the old place? and will you not consider that, al- though your son charges a little higher, it is all in the family; and will answer the same end as en- larging his fortune ? COT The connection betwixt Great- Britain and the manufacturing part of India, has been very intimate for more than a hundred years.... ■ Money, in that country, being very scarce, the inhabitants perform a great deal of labour for a small sum : hence the cotton muslins, chintzes, calicoes, Sec. might have been imported into Greai-Britain, and sold to the inhabitants much cheaper than it was possible to ma- nufacture them there. Add to this that the Germans and French could always undersell the English in their own markets, by the difference in the value of specie, if the latter had not, by express statutes, pro- tected their own manufactures..... And so far back as the reign of Edward the 3d, we find the Eng- lish government giving encourage- ment to her manufactures; for, by the statute 3 Edw. c. 4. it is enacted that "no person shall bring " intothe kingdom anyof the goods, " wares, or things herein after men- tioned, upon pain to forfeit the " same, as often as they may be " found in the hands of any person ; *' to be sold, half to the King and " half to the ^eizcr; (viz.) woollen " cloths, laces, ribbands, fringes, *' purses, gloves, Sec. Sec." and by the 1. Richard 3. c. 12. no mer- chant stranger shall bring or im- port into the realm anyof the wares made and wrought pertaining to the crafts following, /'. c. girdlcrs, point-makers, glovers, weavers, Sec. At a time when there was no thought of spinning by the power of water, or by any kind of machi- nery : and when very little cotton was manufactured in Fngland, in the reign of James I, a duty of 10 per cent, was laid on all cotton goods, over and above what was paid by- ancient statutes and cus- C O T 243 toms ; and in the reign of Wil- liam and Mary,20 per cent, more; and afterwards an addition of 5 per cent, which, altogether was found hardly sufficient to keep out the East India cottons ; a farther duty, therefore, was laid on in the 12th William 3, and by a subsequent statute in the same rei-rn, it was enacted, that " For the better em- ploying the poor, by encouraging the manufacturies of this kingdom, all wrought silks,bengals, and stuffs of the manufacture of Persia, Chi- na, or East India, and all calicoes painted, printed, dyed, or stained there,which shall be imported,shall not be worn here; but shall be enter- ed and carried to warehouses, ap- pointed by the commissioners of the customs, in order for exportation, and nottakenthence,buton security that they shall be exported, which security is to be discharged upon certificates, or proof of theiv being landed abroad, Sec. And any such goods mixed with others, or made up for sale, found in any place, (ex- cept the said warehouses) shall be forfeited and seized as prohibited and unaccustomed goods, and car- ried to the next custom-house, and sold for exportation only, whereof one-third part of the monies to go to the king, and the other two-third parts to the seizer, Sec. Besides a forfeiture of 200/. on the person having, or selling the same." It was thus, that free scope was given to the inventive genius and entcrprizing spirit of Englishmen. It was thus, that a foundation for commerce was laid, by encourag- ing the ar'.s. 1'efore the invention of machi- nery in the cotton manufactoiv, not more than a million pounds of cotton wool was imported annually into England: but,since that period 244 COT it has been every year increasing, so that according to Grellier's View of the Manufactures of Great-Britain, it amounted in the year 1799 to 35,689,000 lbs. and we are assured from other authentic sources of information that it now (1803), amounts to 40 millions. Although we have no reason to doubt the statement of Mr. Grellier as to the amount of the quantity import- ed, every person that understands the manufactory, must be convinc- ed that he has greatly erred, both as to the average price of the raw material, and also as to the value of the goods when manufactured. First, he states the cost of the cotton wool at 2s. 6d. sterling per pound, which is about 54 cents.... This is a great deal too high for the average price. The very best East-India, Brazil, or Sea-Island coUon has not averaged more than that sum : and, it is well known, that large quantities of inferior kinds are used, the average price of which is not more than 25 cents per lb. the average price, there- fore, will be full high if it be stated at 33 cents. This would make the total value of cotton wool imported into England, 13 millions, two hun- dred thousand dollars. Mr. G. is equally erroneous in his calculations respecting the va- lue of cotton in a manufactured state ; he makes it only about 3-| times the value of the raw material; whereas, if he had only been at the trouble to weigh the different kinds of cotton fabrics,from the fine mus- lin to the strong corderoys, he would have found that 6 lb. of cotton would hardly purchase one pound of the heaviest manufactured arti- cle, even from the manufacturer, and before the profits are laid on COT by the merchant and retailer. And, in some of the fine muslins, fifty pounds of the raw material would not purchase one pound of the 'fi- nished goods. W e shall, therefore, be justified in stating the average multiple of the raw material at 8, and this makes a product of 265 million 600 thousand dollars, as the value of cotton goods manufactured in Great Britain annually. All the machinery used in the cotton manufactory have beeti in- vented in England, if we except the gin for cleaning the wool,which has been a long time used by the French in the West-India islands. Of late years, it has been introduced with some alterations into the U. States, and claimed as a new in- vention. Another kind of gin has indeed been invented in the United States bf Mr. Miller, of Geor- gia, called the saw-gin, for gin- ning the green seed or upland cot- ton, which will not pass through the common roller gin. See Gin. We believe it is not known who was the inventor of the cylindrical cards ; but every subsequent im- prover on the art of spinning is indebted to him ; for, without this invention none of the other pro- cesses would have been practicable. The first carding engines con- sisted of three cylinders about two feet long each, supported, by the axis, on a wooden frame on which they lay parallel, and almost touch- ing each other. These were cov- ered round with pieces of leather, full of card teeth. The firstcylinder, about a foot in diameter, received the cotton, previously picked and cleaned; and turning slowly round, was received on the middle one, three feet in diameter, which moved with great velocity. On this cy- COT C O T 245 Under it was carded by the rollers turned round, the flat edges of the A, B, and C, cloathed also with projecting tins brushed off the cot- cards, turning slowly round. The ton from the cards, in long and cotton thus carded was stripped broad fleaks, exactly the size of the from the middle cylinder by the pieces of leather carding, nailed 01 doffing cylinder, 2 feet in diame- the cylinder. These fleaks fell ter, and carried slowly round till it into the hollow demi-cylinder, met with the wooden roller D, 3 whose end is represented at E, inches in diameter, which instead and was, by another roller, rolled of cards, had 9 or 10 pieces of tin, into a long, round, soft, r:v;?:g, projectingedgewise from the roller; about the thickness of the finger one edge of the tins being fixed in and at the same time pushed over a sawgate made along the whole the edge a. length of the rollers: as this roller This Engine was put in motion 3 inches apart, standing upright in by a winch fixed upon the centre a frame of wood, with sockets of of the main cylinder, and the mo- brass for the bottom of the spii- tion communicated to the others by dies to run in.; each spindle had a bands, which also regulated the separate band which went round a relative velocity. This was the broad rimmed wheel that rcclinedon construction of the first carding one side of the machine, at an an- engines : since which, several im- gle of 45 degrees. This position portant improvements have been of the wheel was best adapted for ^ made, and sometimes alterations turning with the right hand, while * without any improvement what- the woman drew out the threads cver. with her left. The ravings from The roving as it fell from the which the threads were spun, were cards, dropt into a basket, by which held between two pieces of wood it was carried, without being in- of the same length with the frame commoded, to the spinning ma- which held the spindles. These chine, called a Jeanie. These jea- pieces or bar of wood were sup- nies were at first only constructed ported at the ends upon carnages, with from 10 to 20 spindles, about with small trucks, which ran upon 246 COT COT two other bars of wood placed at ri^ht angles with the two ends of the spindle frame. When the wo- man tinned the wheel with the right hand, she took hold of the centre of the two pieces, which help the rovings, with her left, and drawing towards herself, and from the points of the spindles, drew out a thread of between three and four feet in length, from three inches of the roving. When the roving was well made from the cards, a beautiful and even thread was made in this way, and as fine as 30 hunks to the pound ; or seven dozen cuts, reckoning by the Irish reel. This machine was invented about the year 1768, in Lancashire, and soon after introduced into Notting- hamshire, for the purpose of spin- ning stocking yam. No improvements were made on this machine, until about the year 1775. The manner of conducting the business of spinning, at that p: riod, was thus: the man of capi- tal, had a building suitable for his carding engines, which were dri- ven by horses. He likewise had a number of Jeanies in proportion to the quantity of wool delivered from the cards. These Jeanies were let out to industrious women of the neighbourhood, who took them to their own homes ; paid about 1. a guinea for learning to spin, and were supplied with work from the same person, who had furnished the Jeanie, at so much per pound. The yarn was then sold to another manufacturing capitalist, who em- ployed weavers to work it up into janes, fustians, corduroys, Sec. As yet no fine muslin could be made in England, neither was the print- ing or dyeing of cotton, well un- derstood. It is believed, that at this period a good red upon cotton could not be nvde, either in print- ing, or dyeing in all England. The improvements that have since been made upon the Jeanie, have taken that machine altogether from the women, who worked on them at home. When the machine was increased in size, by adding a num- ber of spindles, even so many as 100, it became too large to be ad- mitted into the houses of the work- ing class. The machine became more complex ; for instead of a wheel, as above described, a long tin, or wooden cylinder, about five inches diameter, was contrived to run in a parallel line with the row of spindles, around which the hands were placed. A large wheel (at the sideor t-ndof the machine,) whose axisvvas now horizontal, was still necessary; and as the operator could not stretch out the left hand to the centre of the machine, and turn the wheel at the same time, contrivances were necessary to bring the handle which turned the wheel, nearer the centre. When the number of spindles were increased, another improve- ment presented itself, or rather be- came necessary. The shortness of the rovings, which could not be more than between two or three feet, viz. the length of the cylin- ders belonging to the carding en- gine, rendered it necessary, that the Jeanie should stand still half the lime, while the operator join- ed the rovings. This lost time was not so much perceived, when there were not more than twenty spin- dles. Another machine was, there- fore, invented, which was called a Billy, by which a young boy or girl, could join the roving. And, to preserve them from breaking, COT COT 217 they received on this machine, a slight twist to enable them to be wound on a cop. A frame must now be attached to the Jeanie, to hold these cops. The whole machinery at last be- came so complex, and being carri- ed on in manufacturing buildings, that it was necessary for men and boys, to perform the whole opera- tion, and women were in a great measure driven from the employ- ment. / In the mean while, the atten- tion of practical mechanics was turned to still greater improve- ments. It was evident that in or- der to make the thread of a closer texture, stronger, and still more equal in its size, it would be ne- cessary to lay the fibres of the cot- ton-wool longitudinally, or to lie along the length of the yarn ; whereas, by the Jeanie spinning, the fibre necessarily goes round the roving, and consequently, can- not be laid even, in spinning. This, however,hadbeen the mode of spin- ning inEngland,even when a single thread only was spun from time im- memorial. It seems to have been taken from the mode of spinning short sheep's wool, which cotton very much resembles : but the same reason which induces the manufacturer to spin sheep's wool in that manner does not hold good with respect to cotton. In the for mer, it is done with an intention of entangling and confusing the fibres, that it may full more rea- dily ; but as cotton will not full every confusion or derangement of the fibres, weakens the thread, and consequently, the fabric of which it is made. Richard Arkwright, there- fore, for this and other reasons, which shall be noticed in course, invented the method of taking the roving from the cards, so as that all the fibres should lie in parallel lines along the length of the rov- ing. This he accomplished, by an alteration in the manner of put- ting on the cards upon the doffing cylinder. Previous to his inven- tion, the cards, with which the cylinders were covered, were in pieces of an oblong form, about six inches in breadth, and nearly as long as the cylinder. There was necessarily, a space between each piece, where there were no wires or teeth, and this made a separation in the roving. To avoid this, Mr. Arkwright cloathed the doffing cylinder with one long piece of card, about two inches in width, and wound it round,spiral-wise, the whole length of the cylinder, fas- tening it firmly at the ends with small tacks. These are now call- ed fillet cards. It is not unworthy of observation, that when he ob- tained a patent for his inventions, he never specified this contrivance, and it was on that account, that his patent was laid open, after hav- ing gained several trials, in which this error had not been noticed. "c sides this fault of not laying the fibres parallel, there is another fundamental error in Jeanie spin- ning, which will always prevent the equality of the yarn. It is this; three or four inches of the roving is submitted to the draught at one time, whereby, some parts will be drawn finer than others ; and it universally holds good, that if there be an inequality in the roving, that inequality will be al- ways increased by this mode of spinning. For, wherever the rov- ing is finest, by being of course weaker, it will draw finer; and wherever it is coarsest, there it 248 COT will be drawn least, and, conse- quently, remain coarser. But this was entirely obviated, by making the roving pass through two pair of rollers. The front pair mov- ing faster than the back pair, draws the roving finer in propor- tion to the difference of velocity : and, as the rollers are not much farther distant than the length of the fibres of the cotton, the draught must be perfectly equal on every part of the roving, and produce a thread as perfect as wire, that is well drawn. Another advantage gained by Mr Arkwright, by these two inventions, was, that the whole process of spinning was capable of being put in motion by the power of horses, water, steam, Sec. but for this purpose, he found it ne- cessary, to use a fly, or heck (as it is called in some places) upon the spindle, after the manner of flax or combed wool spinning ; a ci trivance which twists and takes up the thread upon the bobbin (or spool) at the same time. Before Mr. Arkwright had produced to the world a single thread spun in this manner, he had borrowed and expended up- wards of 20,0001. sterling. He was himself a man'of no property. We have heard it often repeated at Nottingham, the town where he erected his first machinery, that when he had drawn 18,0001. from Wright, the banker, and still re- quested more, Mr. Wright seem- ed impatient and doubtful of his success, wishing, at the same time, that he had nothing,to do with it, and hoped he would get somebody else to take it off his hands. Ark- wright, who was, by that time perfectly certain, took him at hh COT word, entered into a j^artnership with Mr. Needs, a reputable ho- sier of that town, who gave him a check upon Wright's bank for the money. In a few years after, Mr. Needs retired from business with a princely fortune ; for over and above the great profits derived from spinning, he had a monopoly of the yarn to supply his stocking manufactory, which so far excelled in quality the fabrics of any other person, that he could sell more than he could make. Before we proceed to give an account of further improvements or inventions, we shall enumerate the different processes thtough which the cotton passes upon Ark- Wright's plan. The first moving power of the machinery, is either steam or water. Horses are gene- rally laid aside. The buildings are made to contain from 500 to 1000 spindles. As Mr. Arkwright purchased none but good, clean cotton, there was no necessity for gins, or any machinery to clean the cotton. It was given out to women to bat and pick out what little dirt was in it, preparatory to its,going to the cards. Fie used two sets of cards, a coarser kind to open it well, and from which it was taken without the trouble of putting it into a roving. The second cards are each attended by a boy to feed and remove the slivers. These are carried in tin cans to the ch. aw- ing frame. Three of these slivers being united are passed through rollers, which not only unite them in one, but draw them, perhaps, six times finer or smaller, than they were before ; these are again unitedby threes and passed through another pair of rollers, and drawn in like manner as before: this oper* COT COT 249 ation is performed three or four times, doubling the slivers and drawing them, till at last it comes through the rollers like a fine cob-web (the fibres all lying straight and parallel) about an inch broad : it then receives a gentle twist to enable it to be wound up- on a stick about 8 inches long, and half an inch diameter. It is then called a roving. By these repeated drawings and doublings, it is impossible but it must be perfectly even. The man- ner of giving the sliver a gentle twist without breaking, or in the least incommoding it, we are told, was the most difficult part of Mr. Arkwright's invention. Indeed, it would be impossible to discover the method of doing it by reflect- ing a priori on the nature of the thing : it must have been discover- ed only by patience and numerous experiments. The difficulties that he found, however, are evident from the complexity of his apparatus for that purpose. The roving Can (as it is called) is now much simplifi- ed. It is a tin box, about a foot in length, and six or seven inches di- ameter fixed on an upright spin- dle. As the sliver comes through the rollers, in the thin cob-web like manner above described, it falls in- to the can, which, whirling rapid- ly round, gives it a gentle twist, and coils it neatly up in the inside, until the can is nearly full, when it is taken out by a door on the side, made to open and shut for the purpose. Such a coil may be pressed together and packed up in boxes, without being injured. A boy then winds them on the bob- bins or sticks before mentioned, as they are wanted for the spinning frames. Each spinning frame upon Ark- vol. II. Wright's plan, contains about 42 spindles on each side, which are about as many as a steady girl can attend. Her business is to piece the threads as they break; to take off the spools as they are full, and put on empty ones ; to take the roving bobbins when empty, and supply their places with full ones ; to keep the frame clean and well oiled. If the yarn is to be doubled for stockings, there is ge- nerally a doubling and twisting machinery in the same building ; but if it be intended for the weaver, then it is reeled, and is then fit for sale, or for dyeing, or bleaching.... Mr. Eltenhead charges for one frame of 84 spindles, to go by wa- ter, 500 dollars. When the manufacturers speak of yarn spun in this manner, it is generally called water twist,or water spinning,in contradistinction toJea- nie spinning,which has been already mentioned,or Mule spinning,which yet remains to be described. » Mr. Arkwright brought this mode of spinning to perfection in the year 1774, and it is easy to be shewn, that the nation gained more by it than was lost by the contest with America. It was to England a mine of wealth, a rich harvest which she was reaping without the knowledge of her ene- mies or friends ; nay, the govern- ment itself was ignorant for seve- ral years of the cause of the nation- al prosperity. When it was found out, about twelve years afterwards, Richard Arkwright was made a knight and sheriff of the county of Derby. Just before that, the Scots discovered the mine also; and from that period, Scotland has displayed more enterprize than ever she did before. Ireland, it is believed , was last in this race of wealth. The K k 250 COT wretched government of that coun- try, has prevented the people from attending to their true interests. Such were the fortunes gained in a short time by Arkwright's new mode of spinning, that every man of genius bent his mind to new im- provements and inventions. And when strength and evenness of tex- ture was already attained, the next thing wanted was fineness. Peo- ple were no longer contented with 50 or 60 hanks to the lb. a thing once thought almost impossible. It must be still finer. But it was found, that upon Arkwright's principle, viz. (with a fly upon the spindle) it was very difficult to spin finer than 50 hanks. The thread was liable to break by the rapid motion of the fly when such yarn was attempted. Some genius, whose name has not been trans- mitted to us, hit upon the happy expedient of uniting in one ma- chine the advantages of the Jeanie spinning, which draws out the thread from the end of the spin- dle....twists it, and then winds it upon the spindle, without a fly.... with the two most excellent pro- perties of Arkwright's invention, the continued sliver with the fibres longitudinally,and the rollers. This machine, as partaking of the na- ture or principles of two ma- chines, was called a mule. It is probable, that it was invented by several ingenious mechanics, who communicated to each other their ideas, freely, on the subject; since no patent was ever taken out for it, though the inventor or inventors certainly deserved it more than hundreds to whom pa- tents have been granted. It has answered the most sanguine ex- pectations, as upwards of 300 COT hanks of yarn have been spun on it from one pound of cotton. At first, the number of spindles were eighty or an hundred : they are now made to carry 250 ; and, to compleat the whole, they have been made, within these few years, to be turned by water. When this is intended, two mules are set face to face : when the wheel of one mule is turned to draw out the threads, the person who attends them, is putting up, or winding up the threads on the other; and so on, alternately. So that one skill- ful person, with the assistance of a girl, to piece the threads as they break, may attend 500 spindles, and each spindle will spin one hank per day. Although this machine will not altogether supersede those with a fly on the spindle ; they are never- theless, the machines best adapt- ed for America, in the present state of things. We have mill- seats in abundance upon all our wa- ters. If the proprietor of a mill- seat would give a long lease of it, say, fifty years, at a very low rent, to a person well skilled in the ma- chinery, the rest of his land would increase in value by the population which would soon grow round it. In the southern states, the farmers might grow their own cotton, send it to the mill to be prepared, that is to say, carded, drawn, and roved, upon machinery constructed on Arkwright's principles. It might then be spun at home upon small mules of about fifty spindles,which would btand in a space of eight feet square : on such a mule, 50 hanks might easily be spun in one day. The proper size of yarn for domestic purposes, is that from 13 to 24 hanks in the pound. Jf COT COT 251 we suppose the price of preparing equal to the price of cotton-wool, and the priceof spinning the same, it is evident that the raw material is treble in value. If it be wove into janes, corduroys, Sec. for com- mon household wear, the value will again be doubled, which then makes the manufactured goods six times the value of the cotton. In this calculation, we have only in view the coarsest articles : but, if the wool be of an excellent quality, the labour employed upon it, to bring it to cloathing, will be much more valuable. We may estimate the expense upon the smallest scale, nearly as follows : Two carding engines, 400 dols. each, 800 00 One drawing frame, with wooden rollers, 50 00 One roving frame, do. 60 00 g910 00 This machinery to go by water, would produce as much roving, as would supply 20 mules of 50 spin- dles each ; which, if made with wooden rollers would cost from 75 to 100 dols. each. Mr. Eltenhead, of Philadel- phia, has offered to make the above machinery at the following pri- ces, viz. Dols. A carding engine, complete, for 400 A drawing and roving frame, (supposed to be with iron rollers) 200 And a mule of 144 spindles, for 300 This last is also supposed to be with i ron rollers, which, though no better than wood, would be cer- tainly a greater expense. His cal- culation is also made on mules of a large size, fit only to be placed in large buildings, erected for the purpose: our calculation is on small mules, to spin for family use : nevertheless, in a short time, when habits of industry were ac- quired, a surplus would be produc- ed, which it would be necessary to convey to the seaports for sale, and this also would require a mercan- . tile capital, difficult in the present state of things to be created ; and if it were, it is evident that this surplus of home manufactured goods, equal no doubt in strength and durability, to any imported, yet inferior as to shew, colouring, and finish, might as well be taken to the middle of a wilderness, and exposed to bears and wolves, as to the fashionable beaux and belles of the city, accustomed as they are, to the high finished goods of Eu- rope and the East-Indies. It will be therefore time enough for the capitalist, to engage in an extensive manufactory of goods, fit for the consumption of the ci- ties and large sea-port towns of America,when the legislature shall think proper to protect him in his undertaking, by imitating the ex- ample of England, already men- tioned. Such a person will also know, that he ought to choose for his situation, one of the largest in- land towns : and that habits of in- dustry and a steady price of labour are not to be met with in seaports. He will also avoid having his work performed by slaves : they seldom give„their minds so much to reflec- tion, as to become men of genius: and some genius is absolutely ne- cessary to understand, and keep in order, such a complication of machinery. This extensive plan 252 C O T COT will best suit the middle and New- England states. Without a great number of ex- pensive engravings, it would be impossible to give a much belter description of the machinery, than is here given. It would, however, be a desirable thing, that a work of that kind should be published,illus- trated with engravings, and the ac- curate dimensions given of the dif- ferent parts of the machinery. But the learned, who have leisure to attend to such pursuits, are (how- ever paradoxical it may appear) totally ignorant of these things.... They have been almost ahvays too much taken up with the invisible world, to attend to things substan- tial. The properties of an invisi- ble gas, is much more diverting, thancarding or roving engines. For this reason, it is not probable, that any such work will be undertaken; and our only consolation is, that the few artists in that line, which remain in the country, will very soon be employed to advantage. Alney and Brown's prices of cot- ton yarn. No. of Hanks. Cents per Pound. 10 88 11 91 12 94 13 98 14 102 15 106 16 110 17 114 18 118 19 122 20 126 21 130 22 134 23 138 24 142 25 146 30 166.] COTTON-GR ASS,or Eriopha- rum, L. is a perennial, native ge- nus of plants, consisting of five species, the principal of which are the following : 1. The ungustifolium, or common cotton-grass, moor-grass, moss- crops,or many-headed cotton-grass. It is found chiefly on marshes and bogs in the county of Stafford, on Birmingham-heath, and near New- port, Shropshire. In the Island of Skye, in Scotland,rthis plant is use- ful to support cattle in the earlier part of the spring, before the other grasses are sufficiently grown. The poorer class of people stuff their pil- lows with the woolly down of this plant, and also employ it in making wicks for candles. 2. The Polystuchion, or broad- leaved cotton-grass, which grows in the marshy parts of the counties of Northampton ; Bedford, near Dunstable ; York, Cumberland ; and very common in Scotland. Large tracts of ground are some- times covered with the white dow- ny fibres of this plant, which flow- ers from April to June; and subse- quently represents the snowy field of winter : its presence, however, indicates a soil productive of turf, or peat. Neither cattle or sheep relish this vegetable,the hairy seed- vessels of which vitiate the hay, insomuch that large conglobate masses have often been found in the stomachs of animals, that died in consequence of feeding on such provender. Hence the necessity of collect- ing the down of the broad-leaved cotton-grass, both for preventing the injurious consequences to cat- tle, and converting it to the follow- ing useful purposes. The late Dr. Gleditsch, of Berlin, made a va- riety of curious experiments with cou this woolly substance ; and found, that in combination with either sheep's wool, or cotton, it could be spun into a very strong and uni- form yarn, from which were pro- duced durable gloves, stockings, stuffs, and excellent cloth. He ad- mits, however, that this downy ma- terial is more brittle than the fi- brous integuments in which the seeds of the sweet, or bay-leaved willow, are enveloped. Neverthe- less, we have recently had an op- portunity of ascertaining, and think it our duty to announce it to the public, as a fact worthy the atten- tion of manufacturers, that both substances before-mentioned, may be prepared by a simple chemical process, in such a manner as to render them eminently fit forbeing mixed with improved animal wool, as well as cotton and silk, nay, even the refuse of flax and hemp. Clothiers, serge and stocking-ma- kers, hatters, and all other artisans employed in this branch of staple manufactures, may perhaps find it their interest to obtain farther in- formation on this important subject. Couch-grass, or Couch-wheat: See Dog-grass. COUGH, a violent, often invo- luntary, and sonorous expiration, suddenly expelling the air through the. contracted glottis. It is excit- ed by any acrid substance, either chemically or mechanically applied to those passages through which the air enters. These are lined with a membrane so exceedingly sensible, that it cannot bear the mildest stimulus, such as a drop of cold water, without throwing the muscles serving for respiration, in- to a violent convulsion. Hence the air isexpelled with a force sufficient to carry along with it the irritating substance : and thus a cough be- COU 253 comes not only useful, but indis- pensibly necessary for the preser- vation of life; as this effort frees the lungs from every kind of stimu- lating matter, or foulness, which might otherwise be attended with suffocation. A cough is, therefore, an almost inseparable companion of every inflammation of the lungs, as well as every difficulty of breath- ing; nay, it frequently takes place, when the purest air enters an ex- coriated, sore, or too sensible windpipe, and its tender branches. It may arise from too great an ir- ritability of the nervous system, or even of some particular part, such as the ear; from worms and impurities in the first passages ; obstructionsof the abdominal visce- ra ; acrimony clogging the glands, and originating frequently from a catarrhal and scrophulous disposi- tion; hysteric weakness; accumu- lation of sharp humours in the lungs, Sec. From this view of the causes which produce coughs, it will not be expected that we should expa- tiate on the treatment of the com- plaint, under every form and vari- ety of circumstances ; we shall, therefore, consider it under the fol- lowing heads. 1. The convulsive cough of in- fants, in general, proceeds from a foul and disordered stomach, in consequence of too viscid and su- perfluous food, such as porridge, puddings, cakes, gingerbread, con- fectionary, Sec. It is accompanied either with a voracious appetite, or a total want of it; difficulty of breathing, a tumefied hard belly : nausea, and often vomiting. The breath and excrements of such children are unusually fetid ; they seldom cough from the breast, but make efforts to vomit,and throw up 254 C O U a viscid phlegm ; in consequence of which, they remain easy for a longer time than usual. Their tongue is always impure, and the cough increases in violence, after meals. For the cure of this troublesome complaint, there are no better re- medies than gentle emetics, and laxatives. A child under one year old, may occasionally take a large tea-spoonful,of this mixture, name- ly, syrup of squills and rose-water, of each one ounce; powdered rhu- barb, four grains ; and ipecacuan- ha, two grains. The dose may be repeated every half hour, for three or four times, till it produces vo- miting ; and, in children two or three years of age, it may be some- what increased, butneverto exceed a dessert-spoonful. After the me- dicine has operated, a clyster, com- posed of milk and water, with a lit- tle oil and sugar, ought to be giv- en, and repeated every other, or third day, while a spare diet should be strictly observed. II. The convulsive cough of adults, likewise arises from the dis- ordered organs of digestion, and is frequently the constant lot of tip- plers in spirituous liquors, and hab- itual drunkards. At its commence- ment there is little or no expectora- tion ; and an inclination to vomit generally precedes a fit of cough- ing....The treatment of this mala- dy is similar to that of the same species in children ; but, if the pa- roxysms should be so severe as to threaten suffocation, we advise, from experience, small doses of calcined zinc, from half a grain to one grain at a time, to be taken in a spoonful of luke-warm water, and to be repeated, if necessary, every five or ten minutes. c ou III. The catarrhal cough, which is the most common, and very fre- quent, especially in the winter sea- son : See Catarrh. Its immedi- ate cause is a defluxion of humours from the salival glands, chiefly on the trachea or windpipe; thus irri- tating the throat,and producing fits of coughing. The continuance of such efforts to expel superfluous matter, generates another cause of the complaint; for when this hu- mour glides down into the air-ves- sels of the lungs, it fills many of their cavities, and becomes, in a manner inspissated, by the contin- ual exhalation of its minutest parts in respiration. The salival hu- mour, thus thickened, by the joint action of the lungs and the air in breathing, is occasionally raised and brought into the mouth, so that in its passages it excites a fit of coughing. In this situation, espe- cially after catching cold, and, with a view to prevent, rather than to cure, a catarrhal cough, the late Dr. Lobe suggested a remedy, which simply consists in chewing any kind of dry aliment. As the action of the Ynuscles, in mastica- tion, excites the salival glands, and all other adjacent glandules, to dis- charge their contained humour, and to mix it with dry food, before it is conveyed to thestomach, where it cannot fail to promote digestion, he concludes that, in this manner, a much smaller quantity of the sa- lival humour will fall into the air- vessels of the lungs, and thus the proximate cause of the cough be gradually counteracted. Hence Dr. Lobb advised his patients to use biscuits of all sorts, though hard bread or crust will answer the same purpose : 1. To eat some mouthfuls of dry food previously t« c ou C O U 255 going to bed, which often prevents those fits of coughing that other- wise would disturb their sleep.... 2. To resort to the same remedy- in the morning, when it will con- vey the salival humour into the stomach. 3. To repeat it every time during the day, when, by a tickling in the throat, they appre- hend the approach of a fit of cough- ing. By such practices, he ob- serves great benefit has been deriv- ed by himself and others. We are, however, inclined to think, that it will be useful only at the com- mencement of the complaint. And the Doctor likewise adds, that to a patient long afflicted with it, to- ' tally deprived of his appetite, and perhaps sunk down into a con- sumption, it is not so effectual, though always of some service. Those who cannot possibly swal- low any kind of solid food, he ad- vises, at least, t0 chew dry aliment, at the times before specified, and again to part with it: this expe- dient will considerably lessen the quantity of salival humour, and thus prevent, or shorten, many fits of coughing. It is a common error, that all coughs may be cured by the usual mode of administering oily,diluent, and demulcent remedies. At first, indeed, such medicines may be serviceable, to sweeten the acrid humours then secreted, and to al- lay the irritation. But, as the com- pounds of oil, spermaceti, Sec. easi- ly turn rancid, and even in a fresh t state impair the appetite, and affect the breast, we consider them as extremely precarious: hence we would prefer the chewing of the extract of liquorice, gum arabic, and similar substances, to all liquid preparations. If, however, the cough has made such progress, as not to yield to the treatment here alluded to, in this case we can con- fidently recommend the use of the following acid julep: Three ounces of sweet olive oil, two ounces of syrup of capillaire, one ounce of conserve of roses, and thirty drops of strong oil of vitriol; mix them properly, and take a tea-spoonful or two, frequently. These ingre- dients form an excellent medicine for adults ; but, for children, we would prefer a julep prepared of eight ounces of rose-water, four ounces of syrup of dry roses, and six drops of vitriolic acid; to be taken by spoonfuls, as often as oc- casion may require, especially if the cough be accompanied with thirst and febrile heat. In the lat- ter cases, the julep should be di- luted with sweet whey, which of itself is an incomparable beverage in catarrhal affections. Lastly, we cannot omit to insert in this place, a remedy which is highly praised by the late Dr. Un- zer, of Hamburgh, and the phy- sicians of that city, as being of in- estimable value in all obstinate ca- tarrhs, stagnations, and accumula- tions of humours in the breast; dry coughs; and severe bruises near the pectoral vessels, from which suppurations and ulcers may be ap- prehended. This medicine is a simple decoction of the Calagua- la, a root lately imported from South America, and now univer- sally prefered to the seneka or ral- tle-snake-root, which were formerly used for similar purposes. Dr. Unzer directs two drams of the calaguala to be boiled in a quart of water, till the fourth part is evapo- rated, and to drink several cups of the strained decoction, instead of tea. When taken sufficiently strong, and for a proper length of 256 C O U time, it evidently acts on the skin and kidnies, by determining the humours to those outlets. He cau- tions, however, against a spurious species of that root, which is fre- quently sold by druggists, instead of the genuine ; and an account of which is given by M. Galmetti, an Italian writer. We have thus enlarged on the subject, because long-continued coughs generally lay the foundation of consumptive and other disorders, which annually deprive the com- munity of thousands, whose lives might be easily preserved, if they had not neglected the first attack. Cough, in farriery, a disease to which horses are very subject. When injudiciously treated, it is sometimes of long duration; occa- sions loss of appetite, wasting of the flesh, and, ultimately, consumption, Of this malady there are two prin- cipal species : the one is loose, al- most continual, and increases to a violent degree, upon the least mo- tion ; the other is short and dry, be- ing preceded by a husky, hollow kind of wheezing, apparently aris- ing from obstructed breathing, by the retention of fragments of hay, or corn, in the passage. The latter is usually called an asthma, for which mercurial purges are recom- mended ;....the animal should first be bled repeatedly, and in small quantities,till the inflammation and irritability of the glands are allay- ed ; and the blood so attenuated by the constant use of nitre, as to fa- cilitate the circulation through the finer vessels of the lungs. This operation being performed, a ball consisting of the following ingredi- ents should be given, according to Mr. Taplin, every morning, for a fortnight or three weeks. c ou Detergent pectoral balls : Take of castile soap, aniseed, and liquo- rice powder, each 5 oz. Barbadoes tar 6 oz. gum ammoniacum 3 oz. balsam of Tolu 1 oz. and honey sufficient to make a mass; which must be divided into twelve balls. ....Should the animal not recover from this course, he must be again bled, and treated with mercurials. With respect to the long, loud, incessant, hollow cough, which in- creases on the least hurry in ex- ercise, the first step is blood-letting; then a mash should be given, con- sisting of equal parts of bran and oats, into which, while hot, 4 oz. of honey and 2 oz, of nitre, must be stirred and dissolved. This mash must be repeated, without inter- mission, every night and morning, and a ball prepared of Turkey figs, Spanish liquorice, aniseed, and li- quorice-powder, each 4 oz.; carra- way-seeds, elecampane and anis- ated balsam, each 2 oz.; saffron, ground ginger, and oil of aniseed, each 6 drams ; and the requisite proportion of honey to form the whole into a paste, which should be divided into twelve balls, one of which is to be given every morning. These balls, says Mr. Taplin, are powerful, cordial, and restora- tive ; they promote glandular ex- cretion, warm and stimulate the stomach to an expulsion of wind : enliven the circulation, and invigo- rate the whole frame. It will, per- haps, be useful to observe, that some young horses are subject to coughs, when cutting their teeth ; in such case, it is necessary to bleed and give them warm mashes, which in general, will effectually remove the disorder. Cough, in cattle, a disease called the husk, to which young bullocks c ou COU 257 are liable. In this dangerous af- fection, the wind-pipe and its bran- ches are obstructed with small ta- per worms. It is bytfarmers gene- rally considered as incurable, though we are of opinion, that fu- migations with cinnabar, or with fetid substances, such as tobacco, hartshorn-shavings, feathers, Sec. might occasionallyprove of service, especially if they be cautiously ad- ministered by means of clysters. Calves are liable to take fre- quent colds, especially if they be exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather, before they acquire suffi- cient strength to undergo the chan- ges of this climate: theconsequence is a cough, that frequently proves fatal, if it be neglected. For curing this malady, the following recipe is given in the " Cardiganshire Landlord's Advice to his Tenants;" Bristol, 1800 : Let half a table- spoonful of spirit of turpentine be poured into the animal's nostrils, which must be held upwards, in order that the liquor may flow into the throat: at the same time, the nose ought'to be smeared with tar, and the calf be kept in the house for a few hours : this treatment should be repeated as often as the cough is troublesome. COUFIAGE, or cow-itch, as it is erroneously called, Dolichospru- riens, L. is an exotic plant, grow- ing in warm climates, especially in the West - Indies. It produces crooked, leguminous, coriaceous pods, thickly set with spiculx, or sharp hairs, which penetrate the skin, and cause a violent itching. These spiculx are used in South America [and West Indies] in cases of worms, and have lately been employed in Britain for the same purpose : all the hairy part of one pod, mixed with syrup, or VOL. II. treacle, and taken in the morning fasting, is prescribed as a close for an adult. The worms are said to appear after taking the second or third dose ; and, by means of a brisk laxative, the stools are re- ported, in some cases, to have con- sisted almost entirely of worms.... Although noinconvenienceappears to arise from the internal use of this medicine, we doubt its virtues as a vermifuge. [The vermifuge powers of the Dolichos pruriens,zo\ihage,or horse- eye bean ; cannot be doubted. A decoction of the roots is esteemed a powerful diuretic, and a vinous infusion of the pods (twelve to a quart) is said to be a certain reme- dy for the dropsy : the dose half a pint, when made into beer.] COUNTRY - HOUSES, are those erected in the country, for the use and convenience of private individuals, as opposed to the splen- did villas and mansions of the no- bility, and more opulent gentry. It generally happens that most of the houses burnt in country places, take fire in the roofs, while the family is from home, on a vi- sit, or gone to church. On such occasions, children or servants be- gin to examine, with lights, the closets and lofts, which are usually filled with combustibles : or flakes of burning soot, not unfrequently, fall on the shingled roof. Country- houses are in most instances de- tached from the immediate assist- ance of neighbours ; hence, in erecting them, security against fire is a point deserving particular at- tention. In order to promote this truly desirable object, we have an- nexed a cut of a country-house, founded upon certain principles, adopted by Mr. Bordley, of Phi- ladelphia. L l 258 C O U COU The floor of the basement story should be of brick, or flag-stone, raised about a foot above the sur- face of the ground, but by no means laid on joists over cellars ; as these confine the damp air under them, render it pernicious, and there pro- duce a mouldiness and smell,which are communicated to the air of the rooms above, so as to become per- ceptible. The floor of the second or best story, should be laid with rough strong boards, or planks, not more than three or four inches wide, nailed down across solid stiff joists, and covered with a thick bed of strong cement. The whole may be spread over with carpets, and the wash-boards and surbase, be of cut stone, or marble. The floor of the 3d story>otrght to be laid with thick narrow boards and cement, and the wash-boards of ce- ment rounded off. The cellars should be under a detached build- ing, or under the stair-case of the principal house. It will also be ne- cessary to strengthen the joists of the floors, by inserting pieces of plank between them, which will prevent their being shaken. The utmost care ought to be taken to avoid the use of wood as much as possible. For this purpose, the door and window-frames may be of stone or iron, and the doors faced or lined with the same. The joists and boards for the platform-roof and floors, and also for the stair- case, if the same be of wood, should be protected from the contact of fire by cements. No outside cornice is requisite for a platform-roof, which may be constructed in the following man- ner : Joists, 12 or 13 inches deep at the big end, are jo rest on the middle walfandto be sloped thence 2-10ths of an inch per foot, to the smaller end on the exterior wall. These joists should, likewise be from 2 to 3 inches thick, and from 12 to 14 distant from centre to centre ; or they may be through- out of an equal depth, and sloping battens affixed to them, in order to give the platform-roof an oblique direction. At every 5 or 6 feet be- tween the joists, pieces of plank nearly of the same depth with the latter, should be inserted at right angles, which will augment their strength. Stout, rough, narrow boards, 3 or 4 inches in breadth, and one inch thick, are next to be nailed down across the joists, with large rugged nails ; which ought to be covered over with the follow- ing cement, 1 or 2 inches deep : Take one part of burnt, pulverized lime stone, to which add two of clean sand and brick-dust; let the whole be well mixed together, and only such a quantity slacked, as can be worked up with the trowels, and laid on while it is hot. When the cement is dry, it should be coated with a mixture of three parts of tar and one offish-oil, by means of a brush, on a hot sun-shine day. After this, a composition of tar and fish-oil, boiled down to a consist- ence between tar and pitch, should be laid on, and coarse sand, or small pebbles,sifted over the whole. Then another layer of tar only, of a similar consistence, should be ap- plied, adding likewise small peb- bles, but without any mixture of sand. By this process, the roof will acquire such a degree of hardness as to be impermeable to water. In the annexed design, is a main partition wall across the place where the chimney is erected,and whence the joists extend 2 1 feet to the ex- terior wall. 1'he stair-cases will be most conveniently placed in the c ou C O U 259 coiner rooms, or passages. These hered to, the size may be propor- principles, and the form of the tioned to the ability and intention house here represented, being ad- of the proprietor. In this design there are 2 Passages, in the clear 21 by 9-^ 4 Rooms, the corners 12 by 12 2 Ditto, 20 by 21 Feet. Feet. each 200, both 400 144, 576 420, 840 Whole aera 1816 260 C O U COW The cut consists of an elevation and plan, fronting the south. The entrance is either on the east or west sides, which require but little light. Between the ceiling of the uppermost story, and the platform roof, there should be a clear space 2 or 3 feet deep, with holes through the opposite walls. The hot air will thus be carried off, and a void space left for inspecting the state of the lower part of the platform. These air-holes may be 8 or 10 inches in diameter, with lattices of wire or twine, well soaked in the composition of tar and oil, in order to exclude birds ; and during the winter, they should have close shutters on the inside, to keep out the snow. Dimensions of the Height. Basement elevation of the walls . . . Second story........ Third story......... Vent space........ The thickness and strength of the walls should be proportioned to their height. A three-story house would have a wall 36 feet above the ground : one of two stories, 26 feet ; and that of one story, 15 feet: so that if one story require a wall one brick thick, two stories may have the basement one and a half, and three stories two bricks thick. The foundation-wall should be 3 feet deep in the ground, that it may acquire stability, and be out of the reach of severe frosts. For some families, it may be sufficient, and perhaps more convenient, to have only one or two stories of rooms. The lower the walls are, the great- er will be their strength and dura- bility. The basement and second sto- ries may be divided according to the views of the builder, rather than the annexed plan. The third story, having the four square re- cesses at the corners of the design thrown into closets about 2 5-10th feet deep, will leave an area, that may be divided into four roomy bed chambers. The middle wall, which crosses the passages, and 9+1=10 feet. 12+1 = 13 9+1=10 2+ 1= 3 36 divides the large rooms, will sup- port the greatest part of the weight on the roof, and should, therefore, be particularly strong. The joists of the platform extend from this wall, in both directions, north and south, to the exterior walls. The recesses should be as shallow as possible ; 1 and T5^ of a foot, if clear of wall, will be fully sufficient; for, if they be deeper, they will retain or concentrate heat, and harbour vermin. The last, and most important point to be considered in the build- ing of a house, is the structure of the chimnies ; but as we have al- ready discussed it, and pointed out the best and most improved mode of building them, we refer our readers to that article. [Foradditional remarkson build- ing houses, See article House.] COW, in zoology, an animal too well known to require any des- cription. A perfect cow ought to have a broad forehead, black eyes, large clean horns, a long thin skin, a large deep belly ; strong muscular cow COW 261 thighs, round legs, broad feet, short joints, and a white large ud- der with four teats. The use of this animal is equally important for the dairy, and the propagation of its species. For the former pur- pose, the Alderney breed of red cows is generally preferred, as they are supposed to yield the best milk ; though the quantity they produce greatly depends upon the nature and quality of their food. Grass growing spontaneously on good, sound, meadow land, is in general, deemed the most proper nutriment for those cows which are kept for the supply of the dai- ry. When, however, other green food cannot be procured, the tops andtenderest parts of furze may be chopped, bruised, and given to them. It is affirmed, that this ve- getable is greatly superior to fod- der ; as it increases their milk, without imparting any unpleasant flavour. Carrots, oil-cake, cabba- ges, turnips, potatoes, and bur-net, are excellent provision, and well calculated to afford beneficial win- ter-food for this useful animal. The proper periods for milking cows, during the summer season, if they are well fed, are three every day, at the least, and at intervals as nearly equi-distant as possible, namely, in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, just before the approach of night. We are well aware that such practice is not ge- nerally followed in England, the cows being milked twice only in 24 hours : this method, however, is against all the rules of good econo- nomy ; for experience has amply evinced, that if a cow be milked three times a day, she will yield a greater quantity, and as good, if not better milk, than by drawing her teats only twice, namely, in the morning and evening. We are, therefore, induced to recom- mend this circumstance to the at- tention of our agricultural readers; for, if by the bad milking of their cows, they lose only half a pint in quantity, they in fact are deprived of as much cream as six or eight pints would produce at the begin- ning of the operation, together with that part of the cream, which alone can impart a rich and agree- able flavour to butter. Every precaution ought to be taken in the choice of milkers..... When this manual work is rough- ly performed, it becomes painful to the cow ; but if a soft hand be gently applied, the animal seems rather to receive pleasure, and al- lows the milk to flow plentifully; as she possesses the singular facul- ty of retaining or parting with her milk. Indeed, instances have fre- quently occurred, in which one dai- ry-maid could not obtain a single drop, but another drew the milk in abundance, and without the least difficulty. For the same reason, when cow s are ticklish (as farmers express it,) they should be treated w ith the most soothing gentleness, and never with harshness or seve- rity. If the udder be hard and painful, it should be tenderly fo- mented with hike-warm water, and gently rubbed, in order to bring the creature into a good tem- per. Thus, she will suffer the miik to flow without restraint; where- as, if she retain, and not allow it to be drawn off* freely, it will pre- vent her from yielding the accumu- lated quantity, and eventually dry up her udder. When a cow has been milked for a series of years, and begins to grow old, the most advantageous mode that can bj adopted, will be that of making her 262 COW COW di y. To effect this purpose, a cor- respondent, in the 21st vol. of Annals of Agriculture, directs six ounces of white resin to be well pulverized, and dissolved, in the evening, in a quart of water ; and at the same time to house the cow. On the following morning, she should be bled and milked, when the liquid is to be administered, and the animal turned out into the best grass. After these preparatory measures, she ought no longer to be milked, but may be fattened with any of the vegetables already pointed out, under the articles Black Cattle, Bullocks, and Cattle. With regard to the cows intend- ed for breeding, care should be taken to select those which give abundance of milk. For about three months previously to calving, if in the spring, they should be turned into sweet grass ; or, if it happen in the winter, they ought to be well fed with the best hay. The day and night after they have calved, they should be kept in the house, and no cold, but luke-warm water allowed for their drink. On the next day, about noon, they may be turned out, yet regularly taken in, during the night, for three or four successive days , after which, they may be left to themselves. Every night, the cows thus housed should be kept till the morning cold is dissipated, and a draught of warm water given them previ- ously to their going to the field. Without this precaution, they would be apt to slip their calves ; an acci- dent which, independently of the loss it occasions, cannot fail to weaken them considerably. Where this is the case, and a cow begins to grow old, the most experienced farmers generally cause her to be spayed ; and after keeping her two or three weeks from the cold, turn her into pasture. Such prac- tice, if properly attended to, may be of considerable advantage, as the cows thus treated will thrive exceedingly, and soon be fit for sale. Having already mentioned the advantages of soiling and sweat- ing [cattle] (see page 36.) we shall only add here, that in the management of cows, a warm sta- ble is highly necessary; and if they be curried in the same man- ner as horses, they not only receive pleasure, but will give their milk more freely. Farther, cows should always be kept clean, laid dry, and have plenty of good water to drink; in consequence of which, they will produce both more milk, and af- ford a quantity of rich dung, that will amply repay the trouble and attention bestowed upon them. [In the management of milk cows, it is essential that they be kept at all times in high health and good condition. If they are allow- ed to fall in flesh during winter, an abundant supply of milk need not be expected by bringing them into high condition in summer. So well convinced of this are the Germans, who attend Philadelphia market with milk, thatihey regularly feed their cows at midnight with short feed, during the winter. If cows are lean when calving, no manage- ment afterwards, will ever bring them to yield, for that season, any thing like the quantity of milk they would have furnished, had they been kept all winter in high con- dition. Cows ought to be kept to their fullest stretch of milk, from the time of their calving, till grass can be had in abundance. Warm stables are equally necessary. The cow Germans in Lancaster county, find it economical to have warm sta- bles ; as beasts will not eat so much when kept warm, as vvhen shiver- ing with cold. Dr. Anderson, speaks highly of the bruised twigs of the common furze, gorse, or whins, (Ulex Europaus) as winter food for cows. The directions given above, to curry and keep cows clean, are of great importance. Baron D'Al- ton, in a letter to the British Board of Agriculture, says, that in Hanover, " it has been found, that currying cows fed within doors, and keeping them as cleanly as horses in a stable, are attended with the best consequences, both in regard to the milk they yield, and the rapid improvement of the cows themselves." Pure water is an es- sential article for cows. Dr. An- derson says, he knew a man who acquired great wealth by attending to things of this nature, and one of his principal discoveries was, the importance of having a con- tinued supply of the purest water that could be obtained for his cows, and he would on no account per- mit a single animal to set a foot into it, nor allow it to be tainted, even by the breath of animals. Cows in the United States are generally pastured : but the waste attending this practice has already been fully pointed out under the head Cattle. It would be well to try whether cows might not be made to thrive as well by being kept continually in the stall, and at the same time, yield as much or more milk, as when permitted to feed at pleasure in a field. Ba- ron D'Alton says, they must be trained early to it, otherwise, they do not thrive ; and yet a friend in- forms us, that during the time the COW 263 British troops were in Philadel- phia, he confined his cow upwards of a year to the stable, and by feeding her on good hay and occa- sional messes of short wet feed, with the usual attention to clean- liness, preserved her health, and obtained abundance of milk. It may happen, however, that all cows will not thrive equally well, if pen- ned up ; but the great advantages attending the practice of soiling and stall feeding, as respects the expenditure of the product of the ground, the making manure, and the preservation of the good con- dition of the land, are so incon- testibly obvious, that the trial of the plan ought to be made by eve- ry one ; where it is intended to keep calves of a particular breed, there can be no difficulty in the execution of it, for they may be easily reconciled to the confine- ment. An acre of middling soil, should produce 20,000lbs. weight of green clover, or 5,000 of dry clover. A large cow requires 1 lOlbs. of green, or 27lbs. of dry clover per day ; consequently, in 36 days, > ^ r 40,150lbs. or a trifle more than " the produce of two acres. Where- as, the same cow, fed entirely out of doors, summer and winter, would require a pasture of four acres. A writer, in the survey of the West-Ritling of Yorkshire,says, he kept thirteen cows one winter, on turnips, and oaten straw, without a mouthful of hay. They yielded thirty quarts of milk per day. To destroy the turnip taste in milk, See the article Butter. The editor has heard, that in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, there is a breed of cows, remarkable for the great __ 264 C O W COW abundance of milk they afford : and he has been assured, they vield from twenty to thirty quarts per day. But it ought to be re- marked, that the owners are noted for a regular system offull feeding winter and summer. An observing English officer, Col. P. remarked, two years since, the breed of cows near Lancas- ter, which have a fine small head, smooth and delicate hair, full eye, round rib, and straight back ; and said that the breed would be an ac- quisition to England, if introduced there- It is said by the author of the Agricultural Survey of Middlesex, that an uncommon quantity of rich milk was yielded by the produce of a cross breed between an English cow and a buffalo obtained by the late John Hunter, of London, while the creature retained an un- common propensity to fatten. The peculiar anatomy of the cow together with an account of the mode of relieving that useful ani- mal in case of difficult calving, by Dr. Eherhard, was published in 1793, by the Agricultural Society of Amsterdam, and is well worthy of an English dress.] Cows are liable, in common with other cattle, to the Distemper, (which see) and various other dis- eases (see Cattle) but more par- ticularly to a stoppage, that oc- casions the feces to dry up in the intestine, vulgarly called farthing- bound ; or, perhaps with more pro- priety, knit ; for, by the motion of the intestines, one of them, or part of it, is surrounded with a strong ligament, which totally impedes the passage, and adheres to the in- side of the loin. Animals affected with this malady, loath their food, and frequently move their hind- legs inwardly, and up towards their bellies. The only remedy at pre- sent known is, to throw them on the ground, and make an incision in the flank, wide enough to admit the hand : thus the operator will immediately find the ligament, which must be separated with the thumb-nail; when the intestine will be released, and return to its proper position. The incision may then be sewn up ; and the animal will in a short time completely re- cover. Although the disorder here described, is at present chiefly pre- valent in the weald of Kent, and in the adjacent parts of Sussex ; yet we apprehend it is not confined solely to those places, and have therefore discussed it with some attention ; which may perhaps, tend to restore to health many useful animals. External injuries done to the ud- der of a cow, by blows, falls, fric- tion, wounds inflicted with sharp or pointed instruments, by the vio- lent sucking of calves, or the rough treatment of milkers, are frequent- ly of serious consequences, and oc- casion the milk to be tainted with blood. While the inflammation continues in an indolent state, the parts affected should be anointed several times a day with fresh but- ter, or a salve prepared of one oz. of Castile soap dissolved in a pint and a half of fresh cow's-milk overa moderate fire, stirring it constantly, to form a complete mixture. But, if the udder and teats be consider- ably inflamed, it w ill be necessary to make use of internal remedies. For this purpose, take one pound of common salt, and four ounces of salt-petre, mix them carefully, and give 2 table-spoonfuls of the pow- COW der, every three hours, in a gallon of water mixed up with a little oat- meal. [Anointment made of the juice of the leaves of the Datura S'ramo- mu»/,(Jimso!i weed,) and hog's-lard is an excellent application for a swelled udder.] Should, however, from neglect, the disorder have made such pro- gress as to exhibit hard tumours, in this case fomentations, made of the following herbs ought to be used : Take of common hemlock, or co- nium maculatum ; dwarf, or small- flowered mallow, or malvi rotundi- folia ; common melilot, or trifolium melilot offic. ; of each one handful ; boil them in a sufficient quantity of water; apply them diligently, not warmer than the animal can bear it; and, as soon as the tumour opens, the sore should be properly cleansed, and then covered with a plaster of basilicon ointment, or Turner's cerate. To promote the cure of such ulcerated parts, especially in very obstinate cases, we recommend another remedy, which has often been attended with success. Take Castile soap, gum ammoniac, gum galbanum, and extract of hemlock, one ounce of each ; form them into eight bolusses, and administer one of them every morning and even- ing. Lastly, to prevent cows from sucking their own milk, we are informed that rubbing the teats frequently with the most fetid cheese that can be procured, has proved an effectual remedv. COW-PARSNIP, or Hog-weed, the Hi racleum, L. a native genus of plants producing two species. !. The Sphondylium, or Com- mon Cow-parsnip, which is found in hedges, meadows and pastures. VOL. II. COW 265 It is biennial, and bears whitish flowers, which blow in the. month of July : its stalks grow from three to four foet high. In Poland and Lithuania, the peasants prepare a liquor from the leaves of this plant, which, after undergoing fermenta- tion, is brewed, and drank instead of beer. As this beverage is per- fectly harmless, it might with ad- vantage be substituted for some kinds of ale, in which the most pernicious substances are infused, with a view to give it a head.... The inhabitants of Kamtschatka peel the roots, which afford a' nu- tritious and wholesome food. An ardent spirit is also distilled by the Russians and Poles from the me- dullary substance of the stalks, and sometimes from the whole bran- ches, which are first fermented in water with the" great bilberries(see Biliserries,) 1 om whLh they obtain a liquor of considerable strength. It is more agreeable to the palate than the ardent spirits distilled from corn ; though we must observe, on the authority of Dr. Bohmer, that it is a still more intoxicating and pernicious liquor than whiskey. Flogs, rabbits, and asses, are extremely fond of the leaves, which are also eaten by cows, goats, and sheep, but not re- lished by horses. 2. The Angustifolium, or Nar- row-leaved Cow-parsnip, which is found in woods,and flowers in July. It has no peculiar properties. Cow-Parsley, or Cow-weed. See Chervil. [COW-POCK, Vaccine, an erup- tive disease, which attacks the ud- ' ders of cows, and which, when transferred to the human system, effectually secures it from the small-pox. This disease, which may be just- M M 266 COW ly considered as one of the great- est temporal blessings conferred by Providence upon mankind, was known forty years ago in Germa- ny, and also the fact of its being a preventive of the small-pox. The same fact was likewise known in the dairy counties of England for nearly the same period, but in both countries the evident application of the important principle connected with it, was unattended to, until Dr. Edward Jenner brought it fairly before the public a few years since in England. The disease is now found in New-England, among cows. The power of the disease to prevent the small-pox, is at length proved beyond all doubt by many thousand experiments in Eu- rope and the United States. The distance, as communicated by inoculation, in its commence- ment much resembles the small- po::. Towards the close of the second day, when the operation takes effect, (that is 36 to 48 hours, from the period of inserting the virus) a light speck of inflamma- tion is perceived. On the fourth day a minute pimple may be felt rising above the skin, surrounded by a circular inflammation at its base. It now gradually increases in size, and by the close of the fifth day, begins to assume (especially if riewed with a magnifying glass) that appearance which somuch dis- tinguishes it from the small-pox. This consists in the perfect regu- larity, and beautifully circumscrib- ed form of the pock, which has a surface flattened, with a depressed centre, of a darker colour, so as to give an appearance of elevated edges. In the small-pox, on the contrary, by the sixth day, the in- oculated part begins to assume an irregular, or angulated appearance, COW and its surface is not so flattened in proportion to its diameter. This circumscribed appearance is retain- ed by the cow-pock (vaccine) dur- ing its whole progress, even during the process of its scabbing, while the small-pox becomes daily more irregular, in consequence of the confluence of the adjoining pus- tules. About the fifth day, the pock begins toe h an ge from the red pimple to a vesicle containing a fiuid,which throughthecuticle much resembles the colour of whey. This fluid is,at its first formation, in its most active state, andprobably willbe less liable to fail, if taken at this early period than if delayed -to a later day..... From the sixth to the tenth is men- tioned as the proper period for col- lecting it. About the eighth or ninth day, the pock having arrived to maturity, the constitutional symptoms begin to shew them- selves : the general disposition being preceded by swelling, and pain of the pustule shooting up to- wards the socket of the arm.... Languor,drowsiness,paleness, chil- ness, and flushes of heat, head- ach, pain and fulness of the eyes, loss of appetite, and frequency of pulse follow. The marginal inflam- mation continues to extend one or two inches in diameter, forming a beautiful efflorescence, or areola, which has been regarded as a proof that the general affection of the system had taken place. This ar- eola, however, does not always exist, an 1 yet the preventive pro- perty of the disease is perfect. The febrile symptoms vary con- siderably : and sometimes ugly sores are induced by rubbing off the scab in its forming state, or by the friction of clothes. Care must therefore be taken to avoid these causes. For the above observations, cow COW 267 w>e are chiefly indebted to the late excellentpublicationon the vaccine disease by Dr.CoxE, which should be in the hands of every practi- tioner, and master of a family re- mote from medical aid. The following concise directions for vaccinating may be found useful. 1. The vaccine pock matter be- ing generally, when first taken from the vesicle, a thin limpid fluid, it becomes, when dried, scarcely visible, either on glass, or on the end of a lancet, even on a quite new one. If the matter be taken on thread, it will be perceived by the stiffness of it when dried. 2. If the matter is not used im- mediately on its being taken from the vaccine pock, it will of course be dry; and when employed, it should be softened by the smallest particle of hot water; and, to avoid too great dilution, it should be done by a particle of hot water, hanging on the extremity of a nee- dle. 3. The inoculation must be per- formed in the same manner as for the small-pox; but it may be useful to recommend, that, 4. Matter be inserted in one place only in each arm, by a very small scratch or puncture of the skin. 5. One armed lancet should be used for only one, or at most two punctures. 6. If the infection take, there will be seen in the inoculated part, in four days, or less, a red spot, "like a small gnat bite. In six days, there will be generally a very small vesicle. In nine days, a circular vesicle appears, as large as a pea, often surrounded by a red areola. In twelve days the red areola will generally surround the vesicle, which then begins to dry, and turn black in the middle. Between the eighth and eleventh day,a slight fever often takes place. By the fourteenth day the vesi- cle usually changed into a circular dark brown scab, which should by no means be removed, but left to fall off, which it will do in two or three weeks, leaving a pit. • If in four days the gnat-bite ap- pearance be not manifest, the ino- culation should be repeated. 7. For inoculation, matter may be taken between the sixth and tenth days generally. 8. A considerable redness, like erysipelas, sometimes comes on, and spreads over the arm, about the eleventh or twelfth day, which goes off of itself commonly in a day or tw^o ; but cooling applica- tions will often be of service, and never do harm. An emollient poul- tice should not be applied, except in particular cases of phlegmonous inflammation. 9. The medical treatment is the same as that of the inoculated smn.ll-pox. 10. As the vaccine inoculation, as w ell as the small-pox inocula- tion, produces sometimes a local affection only, w ithout any perceiv- able disorder of the constitution, it will be safest, in doubtful cases, to re-inoculate the subject; and if no local disease be produced, or only an imperfect vesicle of a few day's duration, sufficient security will have been obtained by the first in- oculation. How to vaccinate sex'eral hundred pi rsons with the matter of a single ordinary vaccine pock......Frori Tilloch's Phil. Mag. vol. \:-. A member or the Vaccine Insti- tutior mixed the fluid of a sinule 268 COW C O W cow-pock with a dram measure of water of about the temperature of 70 deg. of Fahrenheit. Of three sublets inoculated with this dilut- ed natter, two took the disease in the usual way. The remaining third was inoculated in each arm with one puncture with * his diluted matter, and also in each arm, in like manner, with undiluted cow- pock matter; hut all these four punctures failed to produce the vaccine disease, the subject being an adult, and probably had had the small-pox. Though in the above directions the treatment is said to be the same as for the small-pox, yet in many cases, not a particle of medicine has been given, nor has the patient lost an hour. It cannot be commu- nicated by a near approach to a vacci- nated subject, neither has death oc- crured from it in a single instance A gentle dose of medicine, toge- ther with abstinence from animal food are neverth less proper. Clr. a' Cie ought to betaken to distinguish between a true and spu- rious co'v-pock. The difference between them, may be easily as- certained by any one who has seen the regular progress of the true pustule. To those who have not seen it, the description above given of it will be sufficient. But if any anxiety remain as to the certain- ty of having passed through the true disease, Mr. Bi.yce of Edin- burgh, has assured us that all doubts may be dispelled by the following experiment. On the sixth day after vaccination, let the patient be vac- cinated again. If the first pock has succeeded, the second pustule will run its course so rapidly as to have its areola, and to terminate about the same period as the first. In a mere local affection, that is not the case. The editor can confirm the truth of this test. It must be remarked, that in order to derive security from the small-pox by vaccination, the system must have suffered the latter disease, or at least have experienced the consti- tutional symptoms, which probably cannot be the case before the tenth day after vaccination. The small-pox and vaccine will sometimes go through their regular courses at the same time. Mr. Bryce, surgeon of the Vac- cine Institution in Edinburgh, late- ly announced to the world, that the scab, or crusts formed upon the vaccinated part, if partly dissolved in water, will produce the affection with as great certainty, and regu- larity as with virus newly taken and used in the common way...... The editor has lately tried the ex- periment in four cases with suc- cess, and Drs. Coxe and De Wees of Philadelphia, have also repeat- edly succeeded in communicating the disease with the crust. It may be proper to observe that Mr. B. considers the crust of the vaccine pock. " as the real extrac- tive matter, if it may be so called, of the most pure and active virus secreted in the cells of the vesicle." This important discovery will en- able us to preserve the infection of the cow-pock more easily, than by the limpid fluid on glass; great at- tention should therefore be paid to the preservation of the crust........ Shouldany new and important facts be made known on this disease, in the course of the present year, they will he given under the article Vaccine.] Cow-cu:akes. See Quaking- grass. COWSLIP, the Common, or Paigle, or Cowslip-primrose, Pri- 7360�3 512999999999922 cow C R A 269 tnula veris, L. a native perennial plant, growing in meadows and pastures, on a loamy or clayey soil. It produces sweet-scented yellow- flowers, which appear in April, and are used for making cowslip- wine, or balsamic tea. Its roots have a fine odour, similar to that of anise; and give additional strength to ale or beer, when im- mersed in the cask. The leaves and flowers of this plant are excel- lent food for silk-worms, which are extremely fond of them ; they are also eaten as a pot-herb, and in salads. Cattle eagerly feed on the leaves. COW-WHEAT, or Melampij- rum, S. a genus of native annual plants, comprising four species, of which the following are the prin- cipal : 1. The arvense, or Purple Cow- wheat, which grows in corn-fields, and is chiefly found in the county of Norfolk. It bears flowers of a yellow dusky-purple, which blow in the month of July, and are suc- ceeded by yellowish seeds. These, when ground with corn, impart a dusky, greyish cast, and a bitter flavour to the bread ; but do not render it unwholesome. A decoc- tion of the flower-spikes produces a tolerably durable blue colour, and, with the addition of the fixed vegetable alkali, a purplish red.... Cr< nstedt, the Swedish minera- logist^'obtained a fine blueish co- lour, from the stalks alone ; hut none from the leaves and flowers. The plant is eaten by cows and goats, but refused by sheep. 2. The prat ens c, or Common yellow Cow-wheat, which grows in woods and thickets, especially on clayey soils. Its blossoms are of a deep yellow colour, with white tubes, and appear in July or Au- gust. Hogs eagerly eat the setds, but reject the plant, which is also refused by horses. It is, however, eaten by sheep and goats, and particularly by cows, which are extremely fond of it. . Where this plant abounds, the butter is yellow, and uncommonly good. 3. The Sylvaticum, or Wood Cow-wheat, which is very rare, be- ing found only in some woody, sha- dy places, in the hilly parts of Scot- land. Its blossoms are entirely yellow, and flourish from June to August; but have not the white tube of the preceding species, with which it is frequently confounded. It is eaten by cows, sheep, and goats: if it be given them in abun- dance, they will thrive remarkably, and soon grow fat. Cox-comb : See Yellow Rat- tle. CRAB, in fruit-trees, a disease which attacks the bark, especially after transplanting them from the nursery : it destroys partic.hi iy the iuner bark, by reducing it to a blackish powder, not unlike the smut in wheat. Various conjectures have been formed, as to the origin of this for- midable disorder, which is often very destructive, especially to ap- ple and pear-trees ; but none ap- pears to us satisfactory. It is, how- ever very probable, that it arises from the inattention of gardeners, when transplanting young trees, so as to change their situation to a different point of the compass ; for instance, by placing the northern side of the trunk towards the south; where the powerful rays of the sun parch and in a manner buin, the .tender bark. This supposition is confirmed by the circumstance, that the disease generally makes its first appearance on the south 270 C R A sides of the bark ; though, we be- lieve, it also frequently originates from external injuries done to the tree, such as blows, scratches, &c. The most expeditious method of relieving a tree thus affected, is that of immediately cutting out thewhole diseased part, with a very sharp gardener's knife, and not to leave the smallest trace of its discolora- tion on the trunk ; for an imperfect excision is attended with inevitable ruin to the tree. As soon as the operation is performed, the wound- ed places must be carefully cover- ed with a plaster, made of equal parts of fresh clay, garden-mould, and cow-dung ; or with the medi- cation mentioned in our first vo- lume, under the article Canker. CRAB-FISH, the Common, or Cancer-major, L. is a species of shell-fish, that inhabits our shores, and lurks or burrows under the sand : it is sold almost exclusively to the poorer class of people. As crabs, however, generally are in a state nearly approaching to putri- faction before they arrive at the markets of inland towns, the eating of them is attended with considera- ble danger. The claws of crabs form an arti- cle of the apothecaries' shop. The tips or ends of them only are used; after being broken down and well washed in boiling water, they are levigated, and yield a whitish pow- der, which is employed as an ab- sorbent, especially where acidity abounds in the stomach and bowels. Formerly, this preparation was much employed in diarrhoeas, and especially in the Heart-burn, to which we refer. CRAB-TREE, or Pyrus malus L. is an indigenous plant, growing in woods and hedges ; it flourishes better on declivities and in shady C R A places, than in open, exposed situ- ations, or on boggy soils. Its blos- soms are white, and appear in the month of May. This is the parent-stock, from which the numerous varieties of the apple are obtained, and on which the bettersorts of them are grafted; because its roots are neither killed hy frost, nor eaten by field-mice. Grass, and even corn, will grow be- neath it. The wood of the crab-tree is tolerably hard,turns clean on the lathe ; and, when made into cogs for wheels, acquires a polish, which renders it very durable. The acid juice of the fruit is commonly term- ed verjuice, and is much employed in recent sprains, and in other cases, as an astringent or repellent. This fruit is eaten by horses, cows, sheep, goats, and particularly by hogs, which are extremely fond of it. Crab-trees abound especially in our forests, and their fruit fur- nishes abundance of food for deer, in the latter part of autumn, when grass begins to fail ; and in winter theybrouze on its branches, which are cut down for that purpose. As this species quickly attains its growth, it deserves to form a part of every plantation ; and we have only to regret, that it is not more generally cultivated, as it will in a short time amply compensate the trouble and expense bestowed on setting it. In dyeing, the bark of the crab- tree has been employed for extract- ing a yellow, and especially a ci- tron colour: Dambourney relates, that the dry shavings of this wood imparted a fine chesnut-brown to wool prepared by a solution of bis- muth. See article Fruit. [CRADLE, a frame joined to a scythe, useful in harvesting, by the C R A C R A 271 help of which, three times the quantity of grain may be cut down in a given time that can be with a sickle, and laid tolerably even for binding in bundles. This ma- chine shall be particularly describ- ed and represented under the arti- cle Scythe.] CRAG, a species of manure, consisting of the fragments of va- rious marine shells, which abound on the greatest part of the cliffs, contiguous to the British coast..... They are often found 40 or 50 feet higher than the level of the sea, and sometimes at a considerable distance from the shore. This kind of manure has but lately been introduced into rural economy, and is not yet sufficiently known. The husbandman, indeed, who is so fortunate as to discover it near his farm, finds a treasure of which he cannot avail himself too soon ; as it will not only warm and meliorate a cold, wet, clayey soil, but also restore exhausted land, and render it equal to any, in richness and fertility. See Ma- nure. Crake-berrt : See Black-ber- ried Heath. Crake-needle : See Common Shepherd's Needle Cranberry : See Bilberry. CRAMP, a kind of numbness, or involuntary contraction of the muscles, attended with a convul- sive effort of the neck, arms, legs, Sec. as likewise with a violent but transitory pain. Aged, sedentary, and infirm persons, are peculiarly liable to this complaint, for which a variety of remedies has been tried, with occasional success. Sometimes a garter applied tightly round the limb affected, will speedily remove the complaint. When it is more obstinate, a brick should be heated, wrapped in a flannel bag, and plac- ed at the foot of the bed, against which the person troubled with the cramp may place his feet. The brick will remain warm the whole night, and thus prevent any return. No remedy, however, is equal to that of diligent and long continued friction, which will restore the free circulation of the blood in the con- tracted part, while it is more sim- ple, expeditious, and more safe in its effects. If the cramp attack the interior organs, such as the stomach and bowels, it is always attended with danger ; as frequent returns of it may terminate in death. Medi- cines may relieve, but cannot cure, organic affections of this nature ; hence we seriously advise such pa- tients to adopt, betimes, a more temperateand regularmode of life; to abstain from spirituous mixtures and all fermented liquors ; to aban- don the practice of inundating their stomach two or three times a day with hot tea ; to shun smoked, salt- ed, and pickled provision of every kind, as well as fat, rancid, flatulent, and such dishes as require a vigo- rous digestion ; in short, to avoid both the predisposing and exciting causes ; the latter of which will be generally found in their own irrita- ble temper, by indulging in fits of anger ; or other depressing pas- sion: thus, the animal fibre becomes suddenly relaxed, and again con- tracted, so that a paroxysm of the cramp is the inevitable conse- quence. On such distressing oc- casions, if they value a precarious life, we conjure them never to fly to the brandy-bottle,nor to take any stimulant medicines, such as lauda- num, vitriolic xther, &c. which only prepare the stomach for sustaining a new attack, and accelerate the 272 C R A C R A destruction of the patient. On the contrary, the mildest emollient drink, for instance, gruel, barley- water, chamomile-tea, ought to be instantly procured, and small draughts of half a tea-cupful at a time be given, lukewarm, with 10 or 15 drops of deliquated salt of tartar in each, to be repeated every half hour, or oftener, as may be found necessary. See Convul- sions and Spasms. CRANE, a machine used for raising large stones and other pon- derous bodies. From the numerous accidents which attend the common cranes, several skilful machinists have attempted to contrive such as would be more safe, and at the same time more easy in their ope- rations. The first, in point of time, is that invented by the late ingenious Mr. James Ferguson; which has three trundles, with different numbers of staves, that may be applied to the cogs of a horizontal wheel with an upright axle ; round which is coil- ed the rope that draws up the weiglit. This wheel has 96 cogs the largest trundle 24 staves; the next 12, and the smallest 6 ; so that the largest revolves 4 times for one revolution of the wheel; the next 8 ; and the smallest 16. A winch is occasionally fixed on the axis of either of these trundles, for turning it, in proportion to the weight intended to be drawn up. While this is raising, the ratch- teeth of a wheel slip round below a catch, that falls into them, prevents the crane from turning backwards, and detains the weight in any part of its ascent, if the man who works at the winch, should accidentally quit his hold, or wish to rest him- self, before the weight is complete- ly raised. The second, is that invented by Mr. Abraham Andrews, of Hig- ham Ferrcs, Northamptonshire. This machine weighs the body suspended, while it is raising; an improvement, for which the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. in 1791, granted him a premium of 15 guineas. The proportion of the beam in the annexed plate (F.ig. 1.) is as 1 to 20, the large weight being five pounds,, and the smaller ± of a pound. The latter, when fixed on the beam-end, will equi-poise the former, if hung on the pulley at the end of the gib-beam, which should be placed in a right line with the crane, at the time the weight is adjusted ; otherwise-it will occasion a friction that may prevent the moveable beam from playing freely. Description of Mr. A. Andrews's Crane in the annexed Engraving, Fig. I. The gib of the crane stands on a horizontal beam, moveable on a centre, at A; and the distance of the centre A, frem the bearing of the upright, being to the distance B, in the proportion of 1 to 20, the weight placed at B, determines that of the body suspended in the same proportion. C is a stub, or piece of wood, which projects from the weight hanging at the end of the gib, and serves to prevent the beam from rising to too great a height. One of the latest improvements in this useful machine, is that pro- posed by the Rev. E. C. in the 2d vol. of the Repertory of Arts and Manufactures. It consists simply in introducing the action of a worm that communicates the first mo- tion to the crane, upon the axis of CRA C R A 273 the wheel in which the man walks. The axis of this wheel, and that of the worm, are proposed to be in se- parate parts, and occasionally unit- ed by a coupling-box. When goods are to be raised, the two axes should be connected ; when lowered, they may be disunited, and the worm turned by a winch. Thus, the ascen», or descent, of the weight may be accelerated, or stop- ped, at pleasure, by the person walking on the axis of the wheel, or turning the winch ; without the remotest possibility of being overpowered by the descending weight. Explanation of the annexed Engrav- ing, Fig. 2. A, The wheel in which the man walks. B, The coupling-box. C, The worm. D, The wheel in which it works. E, A wheel upon the same axis, giving motion to F. F, A wheel upon the axis of the windlass. G, The winch. This machinery (the ingenious projector adds) may be applied to a crane already erected upon the common principle. He proposes to put a wheel on any convenient axis in the machine, in its present state ; and, on this, a worm that may be thrown in or out of gear, at pleasure ; and to let the lever, by which it is effected, lie within the reach of a man's hand in the whefel. The goods being fastened to the crane, and raised from the floor of the warehouse, in order to be let down, the man puts the worm into gear, leaves the wheel, and causes them to descend by the winch. VOL. II. These contrivances are alike eminent for their ingenuity ; and though we do not venture to pre- fer either, yet we seriously recom- mend the adoption of some one of these improvements, as we are fully persuaded, that many fatal acci- dents may thus be easily avoided. CRANES-BILL, or Geranium, L. a genus of plants comprising 145 species ; of which Dr. Smith states only 13, but Dr. Wither- ing 17, to be indigenous. None of these, however, are cultivated. The only species reared in this country, are those brought from Africa, and other southern parts of the globe, which, from their ex- treme tenderness, can only be rai- sed in green-houses. These may be propagated by the roots, hut more abundantly by seed, which should be sown towards the end of March, in beds of light earth, be- ing carefully shaded from the sun, and frequently, though gently, wa- tered, till they are well rooted. It is, however, necessary to cover them with mats, which should be removed in mild showers, and also during the hot summer nights, that the plants may have the benefit of the dew. In the course of two months, they should be carefully transplanted into pots, about seven inches wide, and filled with light earth. They are then to be kept in a shady place, being frequently watered, till they have again taken proper roots, when it will be ne- cessary to expose them more to the air, till the month of October, in order that they may become vigorous and hardy. As soon as the cold frosty mornings approach, they should be removed into the green-house, and placed near the window, which may be open till X N 274 C R A the cold become intense. During the winter, also, they should be oc- casionally watered, and their de- cayed leaves carefully separated. They must not, however, stand under the shade of any other plants, as their vegetation would thus be obstructed ; nor will they require any artificial heat. Cranes-bill is recommended as one of the greatest vulneiaries and abstergents of the vegetable crea- tion ; and is highly extolled for its styptic power, in hemorrhages of every description. These proper- ties have been sufficiently ascer- tained by experience ; and it is therefore to be wished, that this plant were brought into more ge- neral esteem in the shops, where, at present, it is totally disregarded. [See Geranium.] CRAPE, a light, transparent stuff, somewhat similar to gauze : it is made of raw silk, gummed, twisted on the mill, and woven without crossing. It is mostly used for mourning. Crape is either crisped or smooth: the former is double, and expresses a deeper mourning; the latter single, and is worn in ordinary cases, or for more distant relations. The silk destined for the first, is more closely twisted, than that for the second; as the greater or less degree of twisting, especially of the warp, produces the crisping given it, when taken out of the loom, immersed in clear water, snd rub- bed with a piece of wax. Crapes are either black or white: the latter are used chiefly in the dress of young persons, or such as are devoted to celibacy. The former sort is always dyed in a raw state, thai it may more deeply imbibe the colour. CRE CREAM, the most oily part of milk : it is specifically lighter than the other constituents, collects and floats on the surface, whence it is generally skimmed, in order to se- parate effectually the caseous and serous parts employed for the mak- ing of Butter and Cheese, to which we refer. Cream is an agreeable and very nourishing article of food, when fresh ; but too fat and difficult to be digested by persons of a seden- tary life, or possessed of a weak stomach. It is nevertheless of con- siderable service in medicine, as a lenient (though palliative) appli- cation to tetters and erysipelas, which are attended with pain, and proceed from acrid humours. A Method of preserving Cream: Take 12 ounces of white sugar, and dissolve them in the smallest possible quantity of water, over a moderate fire. After the solution has taken place, the sugar ought to be boiled for about two minutes in an earthen vessel; when 12 ounces of new cream should be im- mediately added, and the whole uniformly mixed, while hot. Let it then gradually cool, and pour it into a bottle, which must be care- fully corked. If kept in a cool place, and not exposed to the air, it may be preserved in a sweet state for several weeks, and even months. Corsterphin Cream, is a pe- culiar form of curd, much esteemed in the vicinity of Edinburgh, where it is prepared in the following man- ner : A vessel, the bottom of which must be perforated and stopped with a peg, is filled with skimmed milk, and placed within a tub or pail nearly full of boiling water: here it is suffered to remain for 24 CRE C R E 275 or 48 hours, till the milk coagu- lates, and the watery part has sub- sided. The latter is then allowed to drain, by withdrawing the peg ; when the hole is again closed for 24 hours ; at the end of which, an additional quantity of water is drawn off, and the curd generally acquires a due consistence : it is then briskly agitated with a wooden stick, and thus becomes fit for use. In the summer season, this pre- paration affords an agreeably acid and cooling repast, which is in a certain degree nutritive ; though it should not be eaten by those whose digestion is weak or im- paired. See Dairy. Cream of Tartar. See Tar- tar. CREDIT, in commerce, a mu- tual trust, or loan of merchandize, or money, on the reputation of the property or solvency of a dealer. Credit is either public or private. Every trader ought to possess some estate, stock> or portion of his own property, sufficient to car- ry on the traffic in which he is en- gaged : his dealings should also never exceed his capital, so that no disappointment in his returns may incapacitate him from supporting his credit. Yet traders of worth and judgment, may sometimes be obliged to borrow money, in order to carry on their business to the best advantage. We cannot, how- ever, avoid observing, that the al- most unlimited credit given to wholesale, as well as retail traders, is by no means a prudential, or even justifiable practice ; for it not only tends to encourage the most shameful monopoly carried on, at present, with many articles, both of subsistence and convenience (for instance, those of bread-corn and paper;) but here also we may dis- cover the prolific source of those bankruptcies which swell every Tuesday's and Saturday's Gazette. The public national credit is said to run high, when the commodities of that nation are readily sold at a good price, and when dealers may be safely entrusted with them : also, when houses and lands meet with ready purchasers; money is borrowed at a low interest; and, lastly, when notes, mortgages, &c. will pass as currently as money. Private credit has no accurate scale, and depends entirely on the mutual confidence of the parties. When it is extended beyond a cer- tain length, without proper controul (as is" too frequently the case with families of acertain rankoyfashion,) we may safely predict, that the following generally are its concomi- tant effects, viz. inferior goods, higher charges, inaccurate calcu- lations, and law-suits, which dis- solve all future connection. CRESS, or Cresses, Sisymbrium, L. a genus of plants, consisting of forty-one species, eight of which are natives: the principal of these are : 1. The Nasturtium, or common water cress, which is found in springs, brooks, and rivulets. It is perennial, and produces white flowers that are in bloom in June or July. The leaves have a mo- derately pungent taste, and pene- trating smell, somewhat similar to, though much weaker than that of mustard-seed. Water-cresses are universally used and eaten as an early and wholesome spring salad. Being an excellent antiscorbutic and stomachic, they are nearly al- lied to scurvy-grass, but do not possess so great a degree of acri- 276 C R I CRI monv. They are also supposed to purify the blood and humours, and to open visceral obstructions. 2. The amphibium, or Radish- Water-cress, growing in watery places, and on the banks of rivers. It is perennial, and produces yel- low flowers, which blow from June to August. Its roots may be used as a substitute for common radish- es. Sheepvand goats do not relish this plant, and it is never touched by cows. 3. The Sophia, or Flax-Weed Water-cress, which is found on old walls, and among rubbish. It is annual, and bears yellow-flowers, in July, which are succeeded by long, stiff, crooked pods, contain- ing yellow seeds: these remain in their capsules the whole winter, and not only support the small birds during that inclement season, but have occasionally been employ- ed with success, as a vermifuge. The plant is eaten by cows and sheep ; but is not relished either by horses, goats, or hogs. CRICKET, an exercise or game, performed with bats and a ball.... This sport was formerly confined solely to the labouring class of peo- ple, but is now becoming daily more fashionable among those, whose rank and fortune entitle their countrymen to expect a very different conduct. Although we have, on all occa- sions, enjoined proper muscular exercise, yet we strongly rebro- bate that of cricket, which is in all respects too violent, and, from the positions into which players must necessarily throw themselves, can- not fail to be productive of frequent injury to the body. Indeed, we have witnessed several melancholy acci- dents which lately happened in our neighbourhood ; and dislocations of the hip-joint, in particular, are by no means uncommon, from the aukward posture occasioned by employing both arms, at the same time, in striking a distant object. We trust the time is not very re- mote, when this game, like that of pugilism, will be utterly ex- ploded by all who possess a correct taste, and have any regard for their constitution, as well as their res- pective situations in life. CRICKET, the Common, or Hearth-cricket, Gryllus domesticus, L. an insect which delights in new- built houses, where the moisture and softness of the mortar enable it to penetrate between the joints of the bricks or stones, and thus to open communications to differ- ent rooms. Crickets have a great partiality for kitchens and baker's ovens, on account of the continual warmth to be found in those places. They are known by their lively, chirping notes, performed by a sudden fric- tion of their wings, or by striking them against their kind-legs : thifc noise, however, is peculiar to the males,and increases towards night, when they leave their secrethaunts. The female deposits her yellow- ish eggs in the earth, or rubbish, whence the insects emerge in 12 days, and attain their full growth in six or eight weeks, after having fourtimes changed their coats. To- wards the latter end of the summer, they are observed to fly; a circum- stance which accounts for their suddenly retreating from one place, and appearing at another. An easy method of destroying this insect, is to place phials, half full of beer, or any other liquid, near their holes, whence they will CRO C R O 27f crawl into them, and cannot escape. Cats are very fond of crickets; but the vast quantities they consume, often occasion their death. Hence it is more advisable to destroy these insects, either by pouring hot-water into the holes through which they retreat, or exposing boiled peas, or carrots, mashed up with quicksilver, in places which they frequent. Another mode of exterminating them, consists of placing pea-straw near their habi- tations, and then immersing them into water,together with this straw, to which they are peculiarly at- tached. Crime. See Punishment. Crocus. See Safer on. CROP, usually signifies the corn gathered off a field, in harvest. Till the middle of last century, the best common courses of farm- ing in Britain, consisted of a fal- low, which, by several ploughings, broke up and cleaned the ground, but left the soil exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, during the hottest season, without any shading crop; and on this the far- mer sowed wheat, which was suc- ceeded by peas or beans; then fol- lowed barley, or oats (or both) on one part of the farm, for the space of ten or twenty years: the other moiety, during that time, being laid out in common pasture grasses. When any change was to be made, the part in grass was ploughed and prepared, and then thrown into the same course or rotation of crops as above : that which had been in crops, was sown with mixed grass- seeds, (hut not clover), to lie for ten or twenty years, as before.... The whole arable part of the farm thus parcelled, included neither the homestead nor the standing meadow; so that an arable farm of 300 acres admitted of 150 being in grass lay, or old field, and 150 in crops. The fields which bore crops, were seldom equal in quan- tity, but in the following plan we have ventured to consider them so, for the better comparing of the old and new systems j No. I. Acres. 37| fallow) naked, yields nothing. Bushels. 37| wheat,........555 37-£ peas, or beans, .... 555 871 barley,........740 150 in crops, 4 fields, . •. . 1859 150 in grass, of lay. 300 acres. The fallow, wheat, and baliey crops, are exhausting, that is, they deprive the land by exhalation of part of the vegetable nutriment dfc* posited in it; the peas, or beans, which operate as a manure, ame- liorate ; but the rays of the sun on the naked soil, in the hot season, cause a considerable portion of the essence of the manure, and also of the ground, gradually to exhale. The new system Of rotation or courses of crops, was introduced about the middle of the 18th cen- tury, and is founded on the follow* ing principles, namely ; 1. To fal- low, and at the same time, to have a shading and ameliorating mild crop growing on the fallow, while it is under the plough or hoe; 2. Never to sow any species of com in succession ; 3. To sow clover, or an equivalent on every field of small grain ; and lastly, by means of a course of well selected crops, to prevent the soil from resting, hardening, and running into weeds. 278 C R O CRO By this method, entire farms are continued in a constant rotation un- der .4, 6, or 8 divisions, or fields, in such a manner as to improve the soil, and consequently, to produce a larger income. No. II. Acres. Bushels. 60 barley,........1200 60 clover,........ 60 wheat,.........900 60 clover,......... 60 peas, or beans, .... 900 3000 300 acres, in 5 fields. According to this new course,the wheat and barley exhaust the soil, while the clover and peas, or beans, ameliorate and improve it. When we compare these two systems of rotations of crops, the latter is evidently the most profit- able, as the 120 acres in clover are far. superior to the 150 acres of common grasses on the hide-bound soil of the lay, or old field ; and the grain and straw are more ad- vantageous in the proportion of 300 to 184* Clover, peas, and beans, (if sown in drills, and kept clean from weeds by hoeing), are inof- fensive, and even ameliorating.... They all shade the ground during the hottest season of the year...... Every kind of corn impoverishes the soil, and, if small*, lets in weeds, which together with rest, bind and foul the land. The superiority of the new course of crops is still farther evinced, by a series of conclusive experiments made by Mr. A. Young. He di- vided three acres of old upland pas- ture into 56 squares, of 9 rods each, which he planted with beans, peas, wheat, barley, oats cabba- ges, clover, potatoes, Sec. in differ- ent rotations, with various success. From these comparative trials he drew the following practical infer- ences, which we recommend to the serious attention of our agricultur- al readers: 1. That potatoes exhaust the land more than any other fallow crop hitherto tried ; and, in some courses, to a greater degree than barley, or even wheat. 2. That potatoes will not yield a tolerable crop, even on old lay newly broken up, without the aid of dung, and not a profitable one, even with it. 3. That barley, beans, and oats, succeed much better than wheat, after potatoes. 4. That beans are the most va- luable fallow-crop on new land of this quality. 5. That the preservation of the fertility of old turf depends much on the number of bean-crops intro- duced ; as, the more frequently they are planted, the better the succeeding crops of white corn will be: and three successive years of beans are attended with an ex- traordinary produce of wheat. 6. That beans and barley, and beans and wheat, alternately, are both courses of great produce and advantage. 7. That the introduction of beans, in bad rotations, tends to remedy the evil of such courses. 8. That successive crops of white corn destroy that fertility,which dif- ferent rotationswill preserve in new ground; and that three such crops will render the land extremely foul and unprofitable. 9. That the two most productive courses are beans and barley, alter- nately ; the former being the most abundant, but the latter the most CRO * CRO 279 profitable, from the saving of til- lage. 10. That four crops of beans, and.one of wheat, even with the drawback of one year's cabbages, is the third course in profit; and the land will be left in such order, as to make it perhaps the first. 11. That the most unproductive, and in a still greater degree, the more unprofitablecourses, are those in which turnips, cabbages, and po- tatoes most frequently occur. 12. That, on such new land, oats are the best white grain that can be sown, as they yield very extra- ordinary and valuable crops. The same intelligent cultivator, consequently recommends the fol- lowing course, which is calculated to prove the most profitable : 1. Beans. 5. Beans. 2. Oats. 6. Oats. 3. Beans. 7. Clover. 4. Oats. 8. Beans. 9. Wheat. The profit of beans in every ro- tation, by which the soil is not ex- hausted, is decisive ; and oats are far more productive than either barley or wheat, while the old turf is decaying: because clover will revive the fertility, which beans in the 8th year will not lessen ; and wheat cannot fail, after those two successive ameliorating crops, to yield a plentiful harvest. In jus- tice to Mr. Young, we shall ob- serve, that he proposes such a ro- tation only for new land, as there are circumstances that would ren- der it inapplicable to other fields. For many interesting particulars relative to this great object, we must refer the reader to the 23d vol. of Annals of Agriculture, in which he will find it minutely and perspicuously treated. [The rotation of crops must ne- cessarily be regulated : 1. by the climate: 2. by the soil: 3r by the qualities of the crops, whether ex- hausting or ameliorating. At pre- sent, we can only, be expected to speak of the rotation of crops in Pennsylvania, east of the Allegha- ny mountain, and even here, no uniform system has been yet ap- proved of. Dr. Muhlenberg, of Lancaster, after many rotations, has adopted the following : 1. " Mayz, (Indian corn) fallow perhaps with some flax, wheat, rye, clover, clover ; after six years be- gin as before. The weeds are so rank as to render a fallow indispen- sible. 2. Mayz, flax and oats, clover, clover, wheat, rye. 3. Mayz, oats, rye, clover, clo- ver, wheat." The following is very frequently adopted: potatoes, barley, wheat, clover, clover, wheat. Another: buck-wheat, plough- ed in when in blossom, barley or wheat, clover, clover, wheat or oats. In Pennsylvania, quick renewals of clover in entire fields are much approved of, and with various ma- nures, especially Gypsum,are found to enrich a barren soil. As before noted, under the article Clover, this invaluable grass is cut either the first or second season, then once ploughed in with the remains of the old stuble, the ground le- velled, and wheat or barley sown. The following system of rota- tions for a grass farm, was drawn up by Mr. Bordley of Philadel- phia, for a friend who intended to retire to the country, upon a clay soil, rather impoverished. A recurring rotation of crops, is the completion of as many years crops of the same kinds, in regu- 280 CRO CRO lar changes from field to field, as there are fields cultivated ; and which form a cycle,or round of such crops, as will recur in the same or- der for ever. But where, for in- stance, there are seven fields, if the farmer proceeds on the design- ed system, yet stops short of the seven years, it is not a rotation, but is only a course of crops for so many years, as it has been continu- ed; for there is no cycle or round ofcrops completed. DESIGN. No kind of grain is to be culti- vated. No horse, ox, cow or other beast is to graze on pasture. They are to be kept up the year through. There then will be little need of division fences. Such as are on the place may be removed, and the out-fence be made perfect. The fields will then be under one gene- ral inclosing fence ; and exhibit a beautiful unit of grass, unbroken by fences, but dotted here and there with clumps of trees, and marked oft" in equal divisions by headlands, or turnings. The live stock may be two oxen for a plough, harrow, roller, and cart, occasionally, four oxen in har- ness, for a waggon, the journeys being short, and two good cows, besides carriage or saddle horses. Some ground for potatoes, a kit- chen-garden, and experiments, will be wanted : therefore, eight acres are reserved; which are to have no connection with other fields ; nor are ever to grow any corn or grain, which would require the tbresher to be introduced. These 8 acres may contain a garden for the mar- ket, or for pleasure, according to the views of the owner. In the first year, plough up all the arable land deep as the soil will ad- mit of. Then sow buck-whca;, and plough in the plants, before they produce seeds. Repeat this, for protecting the fallow from exces- sive exhalation : and for adding a manure to the soil as often as the buck-a heat :.-., ploughed in. On the lcluti A, and B,lay a quantity of rich dung : best done in the fall, on the last turning in of the buck- wheat. Sow these and the other four fields with rye for giving hay. When hereafter, clover and timo- thy seeds are sown, rye will first shelter these grasses in their ten- der state, and then be cut and cured into hay. In the second year, give dung also to C and D fields; and in the third, to E and F fields. I have not indeed ever seen rye-hay, but have heard farmers say, it is good in quality, and the crop great. To dung the whole in the first year might be beyond your power, or be very inconvenient. There- fore, a third part is proposed to be dunged in each of three years ; which, however, rather disadvanta- geous^ postpones, till the seventh year, the commencement of the de- sired course, for giving yearly, two fields of rye-hay, two of clover, and two of timothy. For effecting rotations of recur- ring crops, four articles of produce, if all annual, would require four fields. If of three articles of crop, one is annual, as in the subsequent ta- ble, and two are biennial, then six fields are requisite. With fewer fields, the system would be defec- tive, and the round of crops could not be continued. For instance, if these articles annual and bien- nial, as above, were cultivated in only three fields, in the seventh and eighth years, there would he CRO CRO 281 no clover. If of two articles of crop, one is annual, and the other tri- ennial,then four fields are requisite. The first six years of the above design, are rather preparative to the intended round of crops. (See the table.) It is the seventh year, which enters upon the designed and proper recurring rotation of crops, manuring, and work. A re- gular system- of recurring crops and business in husbandry exists on the principles of the spiral line, as well as on the circle. This is il- lustrated by reading the plan diago- nally, from A field in the seventh year, downward through B field 8, C field 9, Sec. to F field in the twelfth year inclusive ; being in all 6 fields, and 6 years ; all where- of direct to " mow timothy, plough in timothy, dung, sow rye." The like of the other articles. By wrapping the paper plan or table round a cylinder, the spiral line of crops is clearly understood. The plan is also advantageously read directly downward, taking any one field at a time ; and also laterally through all the fields of either year. Though the first six years in the system exhibited in the table, give crops except the first year, yet they are not according to the designed variety ; as they are mostly in rye hav, instead of two fields of rye, two of clover, and two of timothy. But the proper course being once entered on, the intended crops will regularly recur as long as you please to continue it. Manurings also recur in rotation and spiral order; and being fre- quent, are applied in less quantities at a time than would be requisite after the usual lengthy delays in renewing them : and also applying them frequently in moderate quan- VOL. II. tities, approaches nearer to the economy of nature, which con- stantly commits to the earth the food of plants, or the means of obtaining that food in moderate portions : not in gluts to surfeit, nor at distant intervals of time which might starve the plants. Not only the crops and manur- ings, but the ploughings and the work in general, recur orderly and of course, without the hazard of a wrong bias or fallible reasoning leading you into error, confusion, or ill-judged and irregular practices and courses. Such are the impor- tant advantages, which systematic husbandry has over random or common practices. Your live stock will give the dung requisite, after the third year: and beeves bought and soiled on cut green grass, will add to the dung- hill. Rye is sown in September or October. Clover in Maryland, in March, by strewing the seeds on the ground which is already sown with small corn ; or in July on buck- wheat,withoutany attempt to cover them. The dilated state of the ground, and the motion given to its particles by the alternate light frosts and thaws of March, and winds or dews of July, suffice for the growing of the seeds ; and the sun is too feeble to injure them, sheltered as they are by the buck- wheat or other corn plants; yet in some places it may be well to run a light roller over it: some far- mers in Pennsylvania of late, pre- fer strewing clover seed on their wheat fields in April. For the cli- mate of Maryland, about the 20th of March seems the best time. Timothy sown in the spring, would sometimes be injured by drought, and heat of the mid-sum- Oo 282 CRO CRO mer sun, whilst in its feeble state, on the loss of its grain shelter. On the other hand, though timothy is more perfect from being sown on grain in autumn, yet it sometimes overgrows and injures the crop of winter grain. But when the grain is sown for the purpose of hay and shelter only, the objection is avoid- ed : and autumn is generally the preferable season for sowing timo- thy seed. On rye being sown in September, and harrowed in, im- mediately before the soil can be settled clown by time or rain, strew the timothy seed over it, and either roll it in or leave it to the crumbling of the soil in its settling with the aid of wind and rain ; which by ex- perience, is found to be generally sufficient. Clover and timothy grow admira- bly well when sown in July, on buckwheat. The seedling plants are thus well sheltered against the scorching sun, and will have a good length of time for growing strong for withstanding the winter frosts. Two years are the most that clo- ver ought ever to be continued in the ground. Timothy would con- tinue good several years longer.... But this is of no consideration in a rotation course, which does not well admit of any grass or clover being continued two years on the ground: and it is of great advantage to turn up the ground, shift its surface and bury the sods of grass. The expense of seed for renewing grass is thought too much of by farmers. It is a trifle, when opposed by the advantages gained. The following rotations further illustrate the aforementioned prin- ciples, and shew other varieties of crops. Clover with Rye. y--------v--------< ,-) RCC 1st round /pop ofcrops. JCCR ") RCC 2. J.CRC JCCR Timothy with Rye. -. RTTT Is* round ' TRTT ofcrops. fFTRT J TTTR -) RTTT n [TRTT ** fTTRT j TTTR Clo.iSfTim'y with.shelter »---------------------------^-------------------------1 ~] CTCT \st round I CTCT ofcrops. fTCTC TCTC 2. "| CTCT I CTCT fTCTC J TCTC The want of a sheltering crop to the young clover and timothy in most years might prove very ma- terial. In the instances where timothy is proposed, orchard grass may be substituted. In some particulars they have a similarity of character: in others they materially differ.... Both are blade or spire grasses, tufty and fibrous rooted. Their principal difference is in the for- wardness of their spring growth the time of their arrival to maturi- ty, and their continuance towards winter. Oi chard grass comes early, is matured soon, and continues green late in the season ; just as clover does. Timothy is late in its coming in the spring, and late in ripening. It is not uncommon in the ordi- CRd riary husbandry, to sow lots of ground with clover and timothy- seed mixed. But a better com- panion for clover is orchard grass. Yet in a rotation system, clover ought not to admit any kind of grass seeds to be mixed with it. When clover is grown, it must be cut sooner than is usual. Timo- thy growing with clover, is cut with it, in a young and very im- perfect state. In this case the clo- ver gives matured hay : the timo- thy a crude food containing little nourishment. Horses prefer ripe, full grown timothy in hay. A system of recurring crops ; in which one field is in meadow whilst the others are interchanging crops; By Mr. Bordley. To farmers approving of the new methods of cultivation, but who contend that the arable grounds ought to lay out a number of years at perfect rest from being broken up or yielding any thing else than grass, the following design is sub- mitted; the rather, as a permanent meadow of spire-leaved grasses, certainly, is very advantageous ; especially if it he only cut for hay and never trod close in pasturing; except it may be, discreetly, the after math, and also that it be sup- ported by manures. Any sound land may be brought to yield crops of grass: but clover, requiring re- newal every second year, is insuf- ficient for a standing or permanent meadow. The present design allows a se« CRO 283 venth of time in grass ; and is ac* companied as well with the system of recurring rotations of crops, as with estimates and observations which may afford useful intima- tion. Ids. 30 acres timothy, in standing meadows, during the years in which the other fields are under a change of crops. 30 Maize. About the last of July, buckwheat and clover-seeds are sown on it; the maize having been previously manured, plough- ed, harrowed, occasionally rolled, and left quite level without the least hill or ridge*. 30. Clover. 30. Wheat. 30. Clover. Gypsumed in the spring ; if not before on the clover sown on the maize. 30. Rye and barley. A top dress- ing with raw lime stone, or shells pulverized : 6 or 8 bushels an acre. 30. Turnips and potatoes, 18 acres. Beans or peas 12 acres. 30. Buckwheat ploughed in : and in July, sown for crop. Timothy seed on it. 240. 20. Homestead; including man- sion, farm yard, stack yard, or- chard, 8cc. 260. Acres, arable and meadow. * New mode of cultivating maize. 284 CRO CRO Illustration of the whole round of crops during 7 years ; with one field continually in meadow, during the time of the rotation. A B C D E F G H 7 yrs. Tim'y. Mai Clo. Wh Clo. | Rye Pot BwV 1791 2. Tim'y. c w c R P B M j. Tim'y. w c R P B M C 4. Tim'y. c R -P B M C W 5. Tim'y. R P B M C w c 6- Tim'y. P B M C W c R 7. Tim'y. B M C w c R P The crops of the first year of this table are particularly treated of above, where it is seen that the rye field contains some barley; the potatoe field, some turnips, and beans or peas: the maize field also gives buckwheat. The buckwheat field, which is next after the pota- toe field, is sown with timothy seed, for giving a new meadow next year, which like the former is to stand out the new rotation ofcrops. This new meadow will be on field B. the next on field C, and so on. In designing a recurring round of crops, their succession is to be tried on a plan or table, drawn for the purpose, by reading the table and slightly marking it with a pen diagonally downward, and seeing that they run the same throughout; and moreover that there are not more nor less in the number of each sort in a year, any where in the table, than are in the first year among all the seven fields, or are in B field, during the seven years' rotation. The table answering in these particulars warrants a true, orderly course of crops and em- ployment which will recur for ever; but as the farmer may, in future, choose to alter it." The following is the produce of thirty-five acres of ground, 14 acres of which was ploughed ground, farmed by Mr. Wm. Johnson near Frankford, some years since. The crop was measured by a com- mittee appointed by the Farmer's Society of Frankfort, which exist- ed at the time. CRO CRO 285 1701 bushels barley. 139 do. rye. 56 do. wheat. 2561 do. buckwheat. 180 do. Indian corn. 50 tons of hay. £0 do. pumpkins. 250 bushels potatoes. 100 do. turnips. i acre flax. It will no doubt be universally admitted that the above crop is not exceeded for variety, or abundance by any on record. Mr. J. was quot- ed above under the article Cokn : this able farmer now resides in Abingdon, Phil, county.] CROSS-WORT, or Mugweed, Galium cruciatum, v. Valantia cruciata, L. an indigenous peren- nial plant, growing on hedge- banks, and in meadows. It pro- duces yellow flowers which blow from May to July, and are suc- ceeded by seeds. A decoction of this plant in wine has been recom- mended as an excellent vulnerary and detergent, and is said to be of great efficacy in attenuating and expectorating tough homours..... The bones of animals, fed on tiie roots of the cross-wort, acquire a red tinge ; and wool may be died of a similar colour, both by the roots and leaves. CROUP, or Hives, a violent inflammation of the throat in chil- dren under twelve years of age, prevalent chiefly on the sea-coast, in cold and wet seasons. It is at- tended with a peculiar croaking sound of the voice ; a sense of straitness about the throat, difficult breathing, and fever. If the croup be not speedily re- lieved, it obstructs the passage of \he air, and suffocates the patient. Hence the legs ought to be im- mersed in warm water, and after- wards mustard with vinegar, or horse-radish, applied to the soles of the feet, the neck, or between the shoulders. Laxative clysters should also be administered, without de- lay, and the child be kept cool rather than warm, and receive no other than vegetable food, and diluent, slightly acidulated, drink. No me- dicines can with safety be given internally, without medical advice ; but a dram of asafcetida, camphor, or a few spoonfuls of the express- ed juice of garlic, may be dissolved in each injection, which should be repeated every four or .six hours. [The croup is a very common and often fatal disease in the U. States. Where, however, it is early attended to, a cure may be fre- quently effected. Children under twelve years are most subject to it: but instances occur of grown persons being attacked by it, upon the translation of a disease from some other part of the body to the throat. In children the disease comes on, like a common cold, which frequently occasions an un- fortunate delay on the part of the parent: the cough is dry, and hoarse ; the peculiar croaking noise mentioned by Dr. Willich, cha- racterises the disease. It frequent- ly also comes on, in the night lime, suddenly, and sometimes termi- nates its career in twenty four hours from the first hour of indis- position. Dissections prove that the cause of the disease is a preterna- tural membrane in the trachea or windpipe commencing from above, and extending down several inches. The mo'it certain remedy for the complaint is an emetic joined with a smart dose of calomel, which may be repeated every four hours during the first day, should the dis- ease be violent. It ought to be 286 CRO CRO noted, that a larger dose of the me- dicine will be required to produce an effect, than in common cases. A child of two years old had taken nine grains of tartar emetic, before a vomiting came on, which brought up the membrane almost entire, having nearly the circular form of the windpipe. Calomel should also be freely given, during the conti- nuance of the symptoms. A child will take greater doses of this me- dicine, without injury, than many grown persons. Bleeding is often highly beneficial, and where there is a sudden attack, ought not to be omitted. Blisters applied to the throat are also useful auxiliaries in violent cases : on the removal of the blister, the part may be dressed with mercurial ointment made without turpentine. Dr. Archer, of Mary- land, discovered the great utility of the Polygala Seneka, or Seneka snake root, in this disease, and speaks with confidence as to the general good effects produced by it. The decoction of the root, is the manner in which he generally gives it ; the strength must be de- termined by the physician ; it must be so strong, as to act sensibly on his own mouth and throat in ex- citing coughing, &x. for in this dis- ease the larynx (mouth of the windpipe) in a great measure loses its natural sensibility. Half an ounceof the rootof seneka, bruised, and simmered in a close vessel, in half a pint of water, until reduced to four ounces, will probably in most cases be sufficiently strong. A tea-spoori ful of this to be given every half hour, or hour, as the urgency of the symptoms may de- mand, and during these intervals a few drops occasionally, to keep up a sensible action of the medicine in the mouth and throat, until it act as an emetic, or cathartic ; then repeated in small quantities, and so frequently as to keep up a con- stant stimulus in the same. By these means, in the course of two, four, six, or eight hours, a mem- brane is oftentimes discharged by the mouth, one, two, and three inches in length ; sometimes it is swallowed and voided by stool. Pa- tients who use the medicine should not be permitted to drink any thing whatever, for some minutes after each dose. The reason must be ob- vious to all. The powder has lately been used by Doctors Archer and Son, in doses of four or five grains, mixed in a little water, with effects equally pleasing as the decoction, and more so, unless the latter have been carefully prepared.] CROUT, Sour Croute, or' Kroute, a preparation of cabbage, originally invented by the Ger- mans. See Sauer Kraut. CROW, the Common, or Car- rion-crow, Corvus corone, L. a bird sufficiently known: it bearsa strong resemblance to the raven, both in its nourishment and other habi- tudes. The food of crows is carrion, or similar refuse, and also insects* They are sometimes very destruc- tive in corn-fields, by devouring vast quantities of grain ; and were formerly so numerous, and their devastations so great, as to be con- sidered an object worthy of parlia- mentary redress. An act was, therefore, passed for their destruc- tion, in the 24th of Henry VIII. by which every hamlet was enjoin- ed to provide crow-nets for ten years, and all the inhabitants were obliged to convene and consult, at stated times during that period, concerning the proper means of exterminating these birds. The most successful method of destroy- CRO CRO 287 ing them appears to be the follow- ing : A kind of table is to be form- ed between the branches of a large pollard oak ; on which may be laid carrion, or any other meat, pre- pared with pulverized nux vomica, a poisonous drug brought from the East Indies. By previously accus- toming the crows, to resort to the place and food, without any addi- tion, thej will be induced to take it readily when thus poisoned, and consequently be destroyed. But, though crows occasionally com- mit depredations in corn-fields, they also devour a multitude of locusts, caterpillars, and other in- sects (see Chaefer.) Farther, they may in another respect, be considered as the natural plan- ters of many trees ; the kernels of which they disseminate upon the earth ; and thus clearly evince that providential wisdom, which has endowed them with an in- stinct equally beneficial to them- selves, by securing a future sup- ply, and by rendering them con- ducive to the welfare of mankind. CROW-FOOT, or Ranunculus, L. a genus of plants consisting of 53 species ; but only 15 are indi- genous, of which the following are the principal : 1. The flammula : See Lesser Spearwort. 2.The lingua: See Great Spear- wort. 3. Theficaria : or Lesser Celan- dine : See Pilewort. 4. The auricomus, or Sweet Wood Crow-foot, or Goldilocks, which grows in woods, groves, and hedges ; produces yellow flowers in April and May ; and is so inof- fensive that the whole plant may be eaten as spinach ; the blossoms are muqh frequented by bees. 5. The sceleratus, or round-leav- ed Water Crow-foot; thrives in shallow waters, and produces small yellow flowers frornJuneto August. The whole plant is so very corro- sive, that beggars are said to em- ploy it for ulcerating their feet, which they expose in that state to excite compassion. Internally taken, this vegetable, especially the seed-bud, is extremely poisonous to man and cattle ; hence it ought to be carefully extirpated from meadows. It is however, eaten by goats; but refused by cows, horses, and sheep. 6. The bulbosus,ovBulbous Crow- foot, also called Butter-flower, But- ter-cups, &c. It grows on meadows and pastures, produces yellow flow- ers in May, and turnip-shaped bul- bous roots, which like the blossoms and leaves, are so corrosive, that they speedily blister the skin : on this account they deserve, for ma- ny reasons, to be substituted for the Spanish fly. [This is a common and very troublesome weed in our meadows, and should be carefully extirpated. It propagates itself with great ra- pidity.] 7. The acris, or Upright Mea- dow Crow-foot: See Butter- cup. 8. The arvensis, or Corn Crow- foot, is an annual plant growing in corn-fields ; and bearing small pale yellow flowers, which blow in the month of June, and are succeed- ed by flat prickly seeds. This nox- ious weed is particularly luxuriant on damp soils, and most severely exercises the patience of the farm- er. The only effectual method of extirpating it, is, to fallow the soil infested with it. In Italy, cows, horses, and sheep, are said to eat 283 CRO C RY it greedily, though it is so acrid as to poison the latter: 3 ounces of its juice killed a dog in four mi- nutes. As it thrives chiefly in corn- fields, where cattle are excluded, its deleterious qualities are from this circumstance less known in this country. Bechstein informs us, that in Germany the milk of cows becomes tinged with blood, when feeding on the fresh leaves of this plant. 9. The aqualilKs, or Water Crow- foot, which grows in ponds and ditches, where it produces white flowers, with yellow spots at the base, from May to July. In the 5th vol. of *' Transactions of the Lin- naan Society," we are informed by Dr. Pultney, that the cottagers in the vicinity of Ringwood, on the banks of the Avon, support their cattle almost entirely with this plant, which is devoured with such avidity, that it is deemed unsafe to allow them more than a certain pjiiion. The cows thus fed, con- tinue in excellent condition, and vield a sufficient quantity of good milk. These animals arc so par- tial to the Water Crow-foot, that, excepting the scanty pittance they procured on the adjoining heath, five cows and one horse had not consumed more than half a ton of hay in one year. Hogs 'likewise eat this vegetable, on which they rjmarkably improve : according to Dr. P. it is not necessary to allow thcrn any other food, till they are put up to fatten. CROW - NET, a contrivance that may be used in the day time, for catching wild fowl in the win- ter season. This netis made of double thread, or of fine pack-thread ; its meshes should be two inches wide, its length ten yards, and its breadth three ; it should also be verged on the side with strong cord, and stretched out very stiffly, on long poles prepared for that purpose. When a person arrives at the place where the net is to be laid, he should open and spread it out at its full length and breadth. The lower end should next be fastened along the ground, so that it can only be moved up and down: the upper end must be extended on the long cord, the extremity of it being pre- viously staked to the earth, by an- other at the distance of about five yards from the net, which must be placed in a straight line with the lower edge of the latter. The other end must be at least 25 yards distant, so as to extend to some na- tural or artificial shelter, by means of which a person should conceal himself from the fowl; otherwise no success can be expected. The net must, likewise, be placed in such an exact order that it may ad- mit of being played on the birds, by the least agitation of the cord, which must be expeditiously pull- ed, lest the latter escape. This net may be advantageously employed for taking pigeons, crows, or other fowl, on corn- fields newly sown, as also in stubble-fields, provided the straw be long enough to hide the apparatus from the acute sight of the feathered tribe. CRYING, the act of weeping, usually accompanied with tears; but this term is more generally ap- plied to the squalling of infants. It is remarkable, that the first symptoms of human life are uni- formly those of loud cries : hence, superstitious persons are apt to imagine that such are the prognos- tics of future misery. Those who reflect upon the previous situation of the new-born, who is now sur- CRY CRY 289 rounded by a different element, and placed in a much colder tem- perature, may easily account for this natural phenomenon. Instead, therefore, of being alarmed by those plaintive expressions, we ought to rejoice ; because they in- dicate expanded lungs, and vital action. In a similar manner, judi- cious persons will consider the fre- quent and almost instinctive cries of children, as they advance in age, unless arising from accidental and obvious causes. The conduct of those mothers, who from an excess of tenderness, and of those nurses, who from too much ofli- ciousness, exert their utmost en- deavours to relieve the clamorous noise of infants (often by the most absurd and pernicious means), equally deserve to be censured. Admitting that in some, nay, in many cases, it proceeds from a concealed pain, yet experience has sufficiently evinced, that these ve- ry cries alleviate, and often totally remove, such painful sensations as are produced by flatulency, gripes, Sec. Nevertheless, when children continue in an uneasy state for a considerable time, violently draw- ing their legs towards their belly, we may conclude that they are afflicted with cholic pains; or, if they suddenly move their hands and arms to their face, while cry- ing, we may attribute it to difficult teething; and, if other morbid symptoms accompany these loud complaints, especially if repeated at certain periods of the day, we ought, in such cases, by no means to neglect them, but en- deavour to ascertain the efficient causes. Hunger is frequently assigned as a motive for crying, but it is not always really so ; the latter is the vol, II. sole language of infants, by which they manifest all their sensations and wants. If they cry without intermission, it may be considered as an indication of the return of appetite, and they ought to be sa- tisfied either by the breast, or other means ; but, if they vociferate quickly and abruptly, it may be reasonably supposed to proceed from a sense of pain. Circumstan- ces of this nature claim the most diligent attention of mothers and nurses. We therefore earnestly enjoin them, particularly the for- mer, to study the exact distinction of the different sounds expressed by their infants; as the result of such enquiries would greatly enable the medical assistant to ascertain, with more precision, the true cause of infantine diseases. CRYSTAL, a species of stone, of various colours, of which that most generally known is the peb- ble-crystal, or sprig or rock-crystal, as it is usually called. It is com- mon in this country, and is fre- quently cut into chandeliers, vases, lustres, and other ornamental ar- ticles. [Some beautiful specimens of crystal have been found in the U. S. One which the editor saw, came from near Bethlehem, in North- ampton countv, Pennsylvania.] CRYSTALLIZATION, a kind of congelation of essential, fixed, and volatile salts, which, after eva- porating the greatest part of their humidity, are left to dry, concrete, and shoot into crystals. Opaque stones, pyrites, and mi- nerals, when regularly formed, are said to be crystalized, as well as transparent salts and stones. Ice is a true crystalization, consisting of long masses flattened on one side, and joined together in such a P P 290 CRY manner, that the smaller are in- serted into the sides of the greater, making uniformly the same angle. Melted metals, and other bodies, such as wax and starch, which be- come solid when congealed, as- sume a regular arrangement, if gradually cooled. In order to perform this pro- cess in perfection, the evaporation should be gentle, and not continued longer than till some drop of the liquor, poured on a glass plate, discover filaments of crystal. As soon as this appears, the vessel is to be immediately removed from the fire into a cooler place, and covered with a cloth, to prevent the access of cold air, which would form pellicles. From a variety of experiments, we have observed that crystalization may be remark- ably promoted, by throwing into the vessel a few small crystals of the same nature. Another method of crystalizing salts, is, by adding to a solution of salt a substance which does not act upon the latter, but which has greater alfinity with the water, and will serve to deprive the salt of a portion of that liquid which holds it in a state of solution. Spirit of wine will effect this purpose in many salts; and, if judiciously added, v/ill cause them to sepa- rate freely from the menstruum, or fluid, and form large and beau- tiful crystals. Salts have thispeculiarproperty, that, however minutely they may be divided, when formed into crys- tals, they will reassume their proper figures ; so that they may, with equal facility, be divested of their saitness and their figure. Crys- talization, therefore, is one of the most important agents in chemis- try, as it enables us to discover cue compound solutions of salts ; to ascertain their purity or impurity ; and, lastly, to separate different salts from each other. CUCKOW, the Common, or Cuculus canorus, L. is a native of Africa, whence it visits this coun- try about the middle of April, and continues here till the end of June, or beginning of July. It is about 14 inches in length, 5 in breadth, and weighs generally about five ounces. This is, perhaps, the most re- markable of the feathered tribe ; as it never pairs, nor hatches its own young, but drops one of its eggs in the nests of different birds, especially those of the hedge-spar- row. As soon as the eggs are hatched, the young cuckow, with his broad hollow back, turns out the other eggs, as well as the young sparrows. This inimical conduct is analogous to what daily happens in human life ; but it is now ascer- tained, that the cuckow does not ungratefully destroy its foster pa- rent ; on the contrary, it soon leaves the nest, as its growth is uncommonly rapid, and its appe- tite extremely voracious, its food consisting almost entirely of ani- mal substances, such as flies, bee- tles, snails, grasshoppers, cater, pillars, Uc. This bird may be, and frequently is, brought up tame, so as to become domesticated. In this state, it will eat bread, milk, fruit, insects, eggs, and flesh, whe- ther dressed or raw. When fat, it is esteemed by epicures as a de- licious morsel, being little inferior to the land-rail. Although naturalists have form- ed various conjectures, to account for the peculiar habit of the cuc- kow,in abandoning its own eggs,y et, we think, such practice is far from, cue being as unnatural as it has been commonly stigmatized. This sa- gacious creature lays her eggs at intervals of six or eight days ; and, therefore instinctively depo- sits them in the nests of other birds, because no fowl could support itself for so many weeks, while brooding, nor would it be possible for the cuckow to maintain her voracious offspring. Cuckow-bread. See Common Wood Sorrel. Cuckow-pint. See Wake Robin. CUCUMBER, or Cucumis L. a genus of exotic plants, consisting of fourteen species, of which the following are the principal: 1. The Sativa, or common Cu- cumber, which is reared in this country, at three different seasons of the year : 1. On hot-beds, for early fruit; 2. Beneath bell, or hand-glasses, for the middle crop; and 3. On the common ground, when designed for a late crop, or for pickling. The Cucumbers ga- thered before April are unwhole- some, on account of their being raised entirely by the heat of dung, without the aid of the sun : those growing after that month, are more salubrious, and are cultivated in the following manner: Towards the latter end of January a quan- tity of fresh horse-dung should be procured, with the litter among it, to which a small portion of sea- coal ashes should be added. In the course of four or five days, the dung begins to heat, when a little of it may be drawn flat on the out- side and covered two inches thick with good earth: over which a bell-glass ought to be placed ; and, two days after, when the soil is warm, the seeds should be sown, covered with fresh mould, one- CUC 291 fourth of an inch thick, and the glass again set over it. This must be screened with a mat during the night, and in four days the young plants will germinate. As soon as they appear, the rest of the dung must be beaten close together into a bed for one or more nights, which should be three feet thick, and cov- ered three inches deep with fine fresh earth ; the frame is then to be put on ; and, during the night, or in bad weather, sheltered with mats. When the soil is hot enough, the young plants must be removed into it, and set at two inches dis- tance, the glasses being occasion- ally raised,to admitfresh air,andal- so frequently turned, to prevent the wet steam of the dung from drop- ping down on the plants. These ought to be watered at stated times, with tepid, or luke-warm water ; and, as they increase in size, should be earthed up ; an operation which will considerably augment their strength. If the bed be not hot enough, fresh lit- ter should be laid round its sides; but, if it be too warm, they should be perforated with a stake, to give vent to the heat; and, as soon as the bed acquires a proper temper- ature, the holes are to be closed up with fresh earth. When the \ hints begin to shoot their third, or rough leaf, another bed should be prepared for them, similar to the first; and, wdien the soil is tho- roughly warmed, they should be transplanted into it, in holes about a foot deep, and nine 'niches broad, filled with light, fine, fresh moulc1, laid in a hollow, circular form. In each of these holes four plants should be set: and shaded for two or three days from the heat of the sun, th.it they may strike root ; after which time it will-be useful 292 CUC cue to expose them to the sun, and the air, as often as the weather will permit. When they have attained the height of four or five inches, they should be gently fastened down to the soil, in different direc- tions; and the branches afterwards produced, ought to be treated in a similar manner, as it will much contribute to forward their matu- rity. In the course of a month, the flowers will appear, and shortly after, the rudiments of the fruit. The glasses should now be care- fully covered during the night, and the plants gently sprinkled with water, in the clay time. These will produce fruit till Midsummer; and may be succeeded by a second crop, which is to be raised nearly in the same manner as the earlier cucumbers ; with this only differ- ence, that the former should be sown toward the end of March, or the beginning of April, and that it requires less care and attention. The proper season for sowing cucumbers of the last crop,orthose destined for pickling, is towards the latter end of May, when the weather is settled : they should be set to the number of eight or nine, in shallow holes, and filled up with fine earth. After appearing above ground, they need only be kept clear from weeds, and occasionally watered. Five plants are to be left, at first, in each hole ; and, as scon as they have grown a little •larger, the worst of them is to be pulled up, so that their number may be reduced to four : this crop will begin to produce fruit in July. A very ingenious method (we learn from a Foreign Journal) of propagating cucumbers for several c rops in succession, without sow- ing them, has been lately disco- vered by Mr. Burtcn, cf Staines- hcad, Sussex. As soon as there appear several flower-buds on a plant, he bends the second or third joint of a branch below the blos- som, fastens it firmly into the ground, and cuts off the capillary point of the plant. The new ve- getable speedily takes root, when he separates it from the parent stock. Thus he proceeds with the most vigorous of his plants ; and as each root has to supply only a few fruits with nourishment, he saves both room, labour, and time, while this process enables him to procure a constant succession of cucumbers for eight, twelve, and more months, from one sort, which is not so liable to degenerate, as if they were raised from a variety of seeds. Cucumbers are a salubrious cool- ing fruit, and may be safely allow- ed to consumptive patients; as they sweeten acrid humours, at the same time are gently laxative ; but, being in a considerable degree aces- cent, and sometimes attended with flatulency and diarrhoea, such ef- fects may be prevented, by eating them in great moderation ; or with the addition of vinegar and pepper, which counteract their natural cold- ness. If properly pickled (with- out colouring them with that poi- sonous metal, copper ; or render- ing them too acrid with stimulant spices), they are an excellent anti- septic ; yet we consider them high- ly improper, either for children or wet-nurses. [The fly which is often very des- tructive to cucumbers, melons, and pumpkins,may be killed by sprink- ling a mixture of tobacco-waterand red pepper over the vines. A friend E. B. Esq. informed the Editor, that some years since, nearly all the cucumbers and me- cue CUD 293 Ion vines in New-Jersey were de- stroyed by a fly or bug ; one day he had occasion to ride past a misera- ble hut in the woods, and, perceiv- ing a very flourishing patch of cu- cumbers ; he was induced to dis- mount and to examine it, upon approaching the spot he found it had formerly been a charcoal heap. He took the hint, and by strewing powdered charcoal round about the vines when they first come up, pre- serves his cucumbers effectually. Mr. J. W. of Philadelphia, 'in- formed the Editor that he enriched the ground near the trunk of a peach-tree, and sowed some cucum- ber seed, which came up very abun- dantly. He pulled up all the plants but one, and permitted the vine to run up the tree. It bore 150 cu- cumbers. The numerous creepers with which the cucumbers abounds, and the result of this experiment, would seem to point out the climb- ing nature of the plant, and the great advantage arising from per- mitting it to attach itself to a frame or tree, instead of confining it to the ground. The seeds of melons and cucum- bers are liable to run too vigorous- ly to vine before they emit a sin- gle fruit. To prevent this, Dr. Darwin advises to wash the seeds clean from their pulp before they are put away for preservation, and to keep them 3 or 4 years before they are sown. The experienced AcERCROMBiE(Mawes' Gardener) confirms the advice to plant seeds two, three, or four years old.] 2. The Colocynthis, Colocuin- tida, or Bitter Apple, which grows in Syria, and also in the island of Crete. It produces a yellow fruit, of the size of an orange, and re- sembling a gourd, the shell or out- side of which contains a very l'^ht, white, spongy pulp, interspersed with flatthh seed-. This pulp, when dried and pulverized, is one of the most violent purgatives : and though it is frequently employed for that purpose, we cannot but caution the reader against its use, which is sometimes attended with bloody stools, colics, convulsions, and ulcers in the bowels. As we are possessed of numerous native plants of similar and much mild- er virtues, there appears to be no necessity for employing this ex- otic. [CUCUMBER-ROOT. SccMk- DEOLA.] Cudbear : See Orchal. CUDWEED, or Gnaphalium, L. a genus of plants, comprising 72 species, of which the follow ing are the principal : 1. The Germanicum, or Common Cudweed, an annual indigenous plant, which grows in barren mea- dows, pastures, and road-sides; and produces yellowish flowers, which blow in the month of July or Au- gust. This plant is desiccative, and astringent; it is said to be of great service in dysenteries and hemorrhages of every kind. A de- coction of it in small beer, is fre- quently given by the lower class of people for quinsies, in the cure of which complaint it has been found very efficacious. 2. The Dioicum, or Mountain Cudweed, or Catsfoot, grows on dry mountainous pastures in the North of England, Wales, and Cornwall; also on the Newmarket, Canham, Swaffham, and Stratton heaths, Sec. Its white and pur- plish flowers blow in June and July. The late Dr. Gleditsch enumerates it among those plants, which he found useful in currying leather. 294 C U L CUL 3. The Arenarium, or Sandy Cudweed, a native of Germany, which grows on sandy fields and banks ; and produces fine yellow flowers through the whole summer. It deserves to be propagated in Bri- tain, as the Japanese, according to Prof. Thunberg, occasionally pre- pare their moxa from the down with which the whole plant is co- vered, and smoke its leaves for common tobacco. [CULMIFEROUS PLANTS in botany, such as have a smooth jointed stalk, usually hollow, and at each joint, wrapped about with single narrow, sharp pointed leaves. In some species, however,the culm is entirely naked, that is, destitute of leaves.] CULTIVATOR, is an imple- ment of husbandry, lately invented by Mr. William Lester, of Northampton ; for the contrivance of which, the Society for the Encou- ragement of Arts, &c. in 1801, re- warded him with their silver medal. As this instrument promises to be of essential utility to agriculturists, we have given an engraved view of its construction. See the Plate, p. 131. Description of Mr. Lester's Cul- tivator. A, is the beam. B B, the handles. C C, is a semi-circular cross-bar, containing several holes, by means of which the two bars D D may be placed at a greater or less distance from each other, as occasion may require. D D, represents two strong bars, that are moveable atone end upon a pivot, marked E ; and extend thence, in a triangular form, to the cross-bar C C. With the for- mer are connected the shares F, the upper ends of which are in- serted through square holes, and may thus be fixed at any requisite height. F, represents those seven shares, the lower extremities of which are shaped like small trowels, while the upper parts consist of square iron bars. G, G,G, are three iron wheels, serving to move the machine, and which may be raised, or lowered, at pleasure. H, an iron hook, to which the swingle-tree and horses are to be linked. When the machine is first em- ployed on land, the bars D D, are expanded as widely as possible : in proportion as the clods are broken, and the soil becomes loosened, they are brought closer to the centre, so that the shares occcupy a smaller space, and consequently the land will be more easily reduced to pow- der. The object of Mr. Lester's in- vention is, to shorten the labour at present required for breaking up stiff soils ; and, as these are most effectually pulverized in dry wea- ther, his implement is peculiarly adapted for such purpose : accord- ing to his account, he is confident that one man, a boy, and six horses, will break up as much fallow-land, and with the same effect, in one day, as six ploughs. In some states of the soil, it will be necessary to al- ter the breadth of the shares ; but this circumstance must be regulated by the judgment of the husband- man ; and, though the points of the shares, in consequence of such ex- pansion and contraction of the cul- tivator, are slightly moved out of the direct line, yet this irregulari- ty does not impede the progress of the implement. Mr. Lester's communication is accompanied by the certificate of a farmer, in the vicinity of CUM Northampton, who states, that he employed the cultivator, in the summer of 1800, on a turnip-fal- low ; and believes it to be very use- ful for cultivating such land ; that from its alternate contraction and expansion, it is calculated to work the same soil, in a rough or fine state ; by which means it unites the principles of two implements in one ; and he is of opinion, that it may be worked at any depth re- quired, for the purposes of general tillage. CURB, a chain of iron fastened to the lower part of the branches of the bridle, in a hole called the eye, and running over the horse's chin or beard. It consists of three parts ; namely, the hook fixed to the eye of the branch ; a chain of links ; and two rings or mailes.... Large round curbs are the best and most easy ; but due care should be taken to fix them in their pro- per place, a little above the beard, and neither too tight nor too slack, otherwise, the bit will be of little utility. Curb, in farriery, is a hard, cal- lous swelling on the hinder part of the hock, attended with stiffness, and sometimes with lameness. It generally arises from hard riding, strains, blows, or kicks ; and may at first be easily cured, by three or four times blistering the animal af- fected. If the tumor continue to indurate, the mcst expeditious and effectual cure will be, to fire with a thin iron, drawing several deep lines down the middle, from the top to the bottom, and then to ap- ply a mild blistering plaster, which will certainly remove the defect. CUMMIN, -or Cuminum Cymi- num, L. is an exotic annual plant, propagated in the Isle of Malta, for the sake of its seeds; which, on CUR 295 importation, pay the duty of 8*. 0|rf. per cwt. They have a bitter- ish warm taste, accompanied with an aromatic, but not agreeable, fla- vour ; and, though esteemed good carminatives, are seldom employed in medicine. An essential oil is obtained from them by distillation, possessing all the virtues of the seeds, and reputed to be a sove- reign remedy in rheumatic cases. They are likewise employed exter- nally, both in the form of a plaster and cataplasm. Lastly, being ex- ceedingly grateful to pigeons, ava- ricious proprietors of dove-cotes sometimes incorporate the seeds with a saline earth (see Pigeon- House), in order to allure these birds ; and thus stock their pigeon- houses, at the expense of their neighbours. CURD, is the coagulated part of milk, after the whey is sepa- rated. As curd contains the most sub- stantial particles of milk, it affords a rich nourishment, and especially when produced by an artificial co- agulation of this liquor, while in a fresh state. Many nations live on curds : thus, in France and Swit- zerland, the inhabitants almost ex- clusively use this preparation as their only solid food ; employing the whey for drink. Among the Laplanders, curd is used to cor- rect the alkaline nature of their aliment, and likewise to serve them as a substitute for an acescent con- diment. CURDLING, the coagulation of any particular fluid, such as milk. In Tuscany, it is effected by means of artichoke flowers, in- stead of the rennet employed in Britain. There are, besides, a va- riety of substances which may be advantageously substituted for ei- 235 CUR ther, especially when the whey is intended to be a cooling and anti- septic beverage; for instance, a small quantity of cream of tartar ; a few drcps of oil of vitriol, or spi- rit of salt, previously diluted in a spoonful of water, will easily coa- gulate the milk ; after which it should be strained. See Cheese. CURING, a term used for pre- serving fish, flesh, and other ani- mal substances, by adding certain ingredients,to prevent putrefaction. It is also effected by drying the bodies with the smoke of wood, or by rubbing them with salt, nitre, &c See Beef, and Preserva- tion. Curl in potatoes. See Pota- toes. CURLEW, or Scolopax aqua- ta, L. an aquatic bird, large flocks of which visit the sea-coasts and marshes, feeding on shells, frogs, crabs, and other marine insects.... In summer, they retire to the mountainous and unfrequented parts of the country, where they pair and breed. Curlews differ much in weight and size, some weighing 37 ounces, others not 22 ; the largest seldom exceed 25 inches in length, and are generally from 3 to 4 feet broad, with their wings expanded. Their flesh is extremely rank and fishcy, though some have highly commended it for its flavour and delicacy. CURRANT-TREE, or Ribes,L. is an indigenous plant, comprising 6 or 7 species, of which the follow- ing are the principal : 1. The Rubrum, or'common Fed Currant, which is found in woods in the northern counties. It bears greenish white Mowers,which blow in the month of May, and are succeeded by red berries. Its CUR leaves are eaten by cows, goats, and sheep, but with reluctance by horses. This plant is very liable to be infested by a species of plant- louse, the Aphis ribes, the depre- dations of which change the fine green colour of the leaves, that become red, pitted, and shrivelled. The best method of exterminating these vermin is, by smoking the bushes with half-burnt wood, or sprinkling them early with decoc- tions of tobacco, or solutions of lime and pot-ash, or simple soap- water. 2. The Alpinum, or Sweet Mountain Currant, which grows wild chiefly in the county of York, and flowers in the month of May. Its fruit has a flat sweetish taste, and is only relished by children. The wood is so hard and tough, that it makes strong teeth for rakes ; the leaves are eaten by sheep, goals, and horses. 3. The Nigrum, or Black Cur- rant, which has woolly flowers that blow in the month of May. Its leaves are eaten by goats and horses. The different species of currants will thrive on almost any soil; but their fruit is more savoury, when produced in a dry and open ground. They are very easily propagated, by planting slips, or cuttings, in March, upon fresh earth, which should be carefully cleared from all weeds during the spring ; and, in dry weather, the young plants ought to be frequently watered. After standing about two years, they will be fit to be removed to those places where they are intend- ed to remain ; an operation which should be performed when the leaves are just decayed, so that the plants may have time to strike root before the winter-frosts. If CUR CUR 297 they are designed for standards, they should be planted in rows 8 or 10 feet apart, and the trees in each row 4 feet distant from each other; but the more eligible way is to train them in espaliers, where they take up less room, and their fruit acquires a finer flavour. In this state, they should be placed from 6 to 8 feet apart, and all their branches trained horizontally : the same distance is also to be allowed them, when set against walls or pales. [The following directions for the cultivation of the currant are taken from the Amer. Phil. Trans. vol. 1. Plant them round the quarters in the garden, that they may have the benefit of the manure and culture annually bestowed thereon, which will consequently make the berries large, and the juice rich. The red currant is preferable to the white, as yielding richer juice, and in much greater quantity. Take the most luxuriant slips or shoot of a year's growth, set them in the ground about eight inches deep, and not less than 24 distant from each other; these never fail of taking root, and gene- rally begin to bear in two years. For the rest, let them, from time to time, be treated as espaliers, (but not against a wall) observing to keep the roots from suckers and grass. The goodness of the currant depends upon their having the full benefit of the sun and air, to ma- turate and give the berries a pro- per balsamic quality, by exhaling a due proportion of their acid wa- tery particles.] The fruit of the red and wliite currants is greatly esteemed for the tabic. They arc nutritive, but vol. II. should not be too frequently nor abundantly eaten, as they tend to produce flatulency, in persons of relaxed habits and sedentary life : hence they ought to be consumed together with other food, in which case they are emollient, gently laxative, and, in some instances, anodyne. In fevers, the juice of currants, when mixed with an equal quantity of sugar, and made into a jelly, is cooling and grateful to the stomach ; being in a slight degree astringent and antiseptic. Currant-Wine is an excellent drink during the heat of summer, especially with the addition of wa- ter. Different receipts have been given for making this pleasant be- verage. We select the following, [from the Amer. Phil. Trans, vol. 1.] Gather the currants when they are fully ripe ; break them into a tub, or vat; then press and mea- sure the juice, to which add two- thirds of water, and to each gallon of that mixture put 31bs. of soft sugar ; agitate the whole properly till the sugar is dissolved, when it may be barrelled. The juice should not be left to stand during the night, as the fermentation ought not take place, till ail the ingredi- ents are compounded. [Observe that the casks be sweet and clean, and such as never had either beer or cyder in them; and, if new, let thtm be well seasoned. Do not fill the casks too full, otherwise they will work out at the bung, which will injure the wine ; rather make a proportional quanti- ty over and above, that after draw- ing off the wine, a sufficient quan- tity may be left to fill up the casks. Lay the bung lightly on the hole, to prevent flies, Sec. from creeping in. In three weeks or a month after making, the bung hole may 298 CUR CUR be stopped up, leaving only the vent hole open till it has fully done working, which generally is about the latter end of October. It may then be racked off into other clear clean casks, but experience seems to favour the letting the wine stand on the lees till sprhi.;, as it thereby attains a stronger body, and is by that means in a great measure di- vested of that sweet, luscious taste, peculiar to all made wines: nay, ifit be not wanted for presentconsump- tion, it may without damage stand two years on the lees. When you draw off the wine, bore a hole an inch at least above the tap hole, a little to the side of it, that it may run clear oft' the lees. The lees may either be dis- tilled, which will yield a fine spirit, or filtered through flannel or sand, and returned again into the cask. In regard to the quantity of wine intended to be made, take this ex- ample, remembering that twelve pounds of sugar are equal to a gal- lon of liquid. For instance suppose you in- tend to make thirty gallons ; then there must be, 8 gallons juice, 16 of water, 24 galls, mixture, 6 galls, prod, by sugar, 30 gallons. 24 gallons mixture, 3 multiplied by, 12 | 72 6lbs. sugar, Equal to 6 galls, of liquid. A common cyder press, if tho- roughly clean will do well in mak- ing h.rge quantities; the small hand screw press is most conveni- ent for such as make less. An extraordinary good spirit may be distilled from currant juice, by adding a quart of molasses to a gal- lon of juice; to give it a proper fer- mentation. The following receipt was for- warded to.me by a friend in whose family it has been used successful- ly for many years. Take 14lbs. currants when fully ripe, 3 gallons cold water, break the currants into water and let them be therein two or three days, and stir once each day. Strain the liquor from the fruit and stalks and add 14lbs. sugar, which being well mixed with the currant liquor, the whole may then be barrelled and left 14 days without the bung: after which bung it close and bot- tle at Christmas, previously add- ing to every 10 gallons one quart of brandy. In procuring the currants care should be taken not to per- mit any unripe fruit to go amongst the liquor. The sugar should be of a good quality, or if Ilavanna honey was used it would be equally as well, adding about one third more in weight. If the flavour of orange peel (which is grateful in most wines of this description) is desired, a small quantity of the outer rind of the orange peel will give it a grateful flavour. From the quantity of currants which made one barrel of wine, another friend, J. P. Esq. of Derby, calculated that one acre planted in currant bushes would produce fifty barrels of wine. Black Currants have a peculiar flavour which many persons dis- like ; they are however, reputed to be very wholesome, and their juice is frequently boiled down in- to an extract or syrup, with the addition of a small quantity of su- gar ; in which state it is called rob, and much esteemed in sore-throats CUR and quinsies. Some persons put black currants into brandy, for the same purpose as others do cher- ries ; compositions that are less adapted to the benefit of health, than to stimulate the corrupted pa- late of dram-drinkers. An infu- sion of the young roots of the former, is said to be useful in erup- tive fevers of the human species ; and in those dysenteric distempers with which cattle are sometimes affected. CURRYING, the art of dress- ing cow-hides, calves-skins, E-:c. The principal object in this process, is to soften and supple cow and calf-skins, which are usually em- ployed in making upper-leathers and quarters of shoes, the covers of saddles, coaches, 8cc. As soon as these skins are brought from the tanner's yard, the currier first soaks them for some time in com- mon water, when he takes them out, stretches them on a smooth wooden horse, scrapes off with a puring-knife all the superfluous flesh, and immerses them again. They are next p-it on a wet hur- dle, and trampled with the heels, till they become soft and pliant, when they are steeped in train oil, and afterwards spread out on large tables, and their ends tightly se- cured. There, by means of a pummel (an instrument consisting of a thick piece of wood, the lower side of which is full of furrows,or teeth, crossing each other,) the currier folds, squares, and moves the shins in various directions, to render them supple. This opera- tion ispropeilycaI!edc7/n-f//n$-; and with a few immaterial exceptions, is that now generally followed. After the skins are thus dressed, they are coloured black, white, red, green, b-.c. which process is CUR 299 performed either on the flesh or grain side ; that on the former, by skinners, and that on the grain or hair side by curriers : these, when a skin is to be made white, rub it with clunk, or white-lead, and af- terwards with pumice-stone. But, when a black colour is wanted, the skin must be first oiled and dried, then passed over a puff, dipped in water, impregnated wbh iron, when it is immersed in another water prepared with sc.jt, vinegar, and gum-arabic. Thus it gradually ac- quires a deep dye, and the opera- tions are repeated till it becomes of a shining black. The grain and wrinkles, which contribute to the pliancy of calves and cows-leatber, are made by the reiterated folds given to the skin in every direc- tion, and by the great care taken to scrape off every excresence and hard place on the grain, or colour- side......See Comfrey and Tan- ning. Currting, a manual operation, performed on horses, with an in- strument called a curry-comb ; it may also be applied to cows, and indeed to all black cattle, that are much confined to the stall or yard, especially during the winter. In- dependently of the circumstance, tb it so useful a practice essentially contributes to the health and kind- liness of animals, it also, in a re- markable degree, promotes their thriving and becoming fat....See Bullock. CURTAIN, an article of domes- tic furniture, consisting generally of calico, dimity, or printed cotton, which may be contracted or ex- panded at pleasure, and is usuallv ar",)ended to a bedstead, or to win- dows. Curtains are at present consider- ed more as an ornament, then as 300 CUT CUT an article of conveniency, to beds; though, in many instances, they might be easily dispensed with ; especially when one person only sleeps'in an apartment. These appendages certainly occasion nu- merous accidents happening from fire ; and which often originate from the absurd and reprehensible practice of reading in bed. Those fanciful persons who can- not sleep without curtains, ought to suspend them across chairs, so that they may not exclude the ac- cess of air, by coming in contact with the bed, but that side, which is next the wall, may be wholly co- vered with the curtain. CUTTINGS, or slips in garden- ing, are those branches or sprigs of trees, which are cut or slipped off, in order to be transplanted ; an operation that may be effected in any moist fine earth. The most proper seasons for this pur- pose are the months of September, October, March, and April ; but great care ought to be taken that the sap be not too abundant in the top, lest the cut decay, before that part which is in the ground, has taken sufficient root to support it; nor should it be too dry or scanty, as the sap in the branches pro- motes the growth of the root, es- pecially if it be not planted too deep. See Transplantation. In selecting the cuttings, those branches which have joints, knots, or burrs, ought to be cut off two or three inches below the latter, and the leaves stripped so far as they are set in the earth. Small top- branches, of two or three yea's growth are the most proper for this purpose. CUTTLE-FISH, or Sepia, L. a remarkable genus of the finny tribe : the bones of a particular species, called the Officinal Cuttle, are frequently thrown out by the sea on the British shore, but the fish itself very rarely. This curious fish, when fright- ened or pursued, emits a black l.qour, which is supposed to have been used by the ancients, instead of writing-ink It was also esteem- ed by them as a delicacy, but at present is..relished only by the Ita- lians. Its parous and laminated bones were formerly employed in medicine as an absorbent; and are still kept in the druggist-shops. They are hard on one side, but soft and yielding on the other, so that very neat impressions from medals,Scc.maybe easilymade upon them, and then serve as moulds for casting metallic figures repre- senting the original. These bones, in a calcined state- are further use- ful, not only for cleaning and po- lishing silver, but chiefly for ab- sorbing the acidity and tartness of wines, which, if not completely spoiled, may thus be restored to their former briskness. [CUTLERY. The art of the cut- ler does not come properly within the plan ofthiswork,buttheimport- ance of the information about to be detailed, which probably would not otherwise obtain much circulation in the U. S. has induced the editor to abridge an excellentpaperby the very useful Mr. Nicholson, from the information of a celebrated workman, Mr. Stoddart, of the Strand, London. The f.-'lowing is an abridgement of the paper: Cut steel is used for all works which do not require welding, and particularly for fine cutlery. Huntsman's is used, but it is infe- rior to that formerly sold under that name. The best rule is to CUT CUT SOI harden as little as possible above the state intended to be produced by tempering. Work overheated has a crumbly edge, and will not afford the wire, hereafter to be de- scribed. The proper heat is a cherry red, visibly by day light. No advantage is obtained from the us of salt in the water, or cooling that fluid, or from using mercury instead of water ; but it may be remarked that questions respecting the fluid are, properly speaking, applicable only to files, gravers, and such tools as are intended to be left at the extreme of hardness. Yet though Mr. Stoddart, did not seem to attach much value to pe- culiarities in the process of harden- ing, he mentioned it as the obser- vation and practice of one of his workmen, that the charcoal fire should be made up with shavings of leather: and upon being asked what good he supposed the latter could do, this workman replied, that he could take upon himself to say, that he never had a razor crack in the hardening since he had used this method, though it was a very com- mon accident before. To heat thicker parts before the slighter are burned away, plunge the piece into pure lead, containing little or no tin, ignited to a moderate red- ness for a few seconds, that is to - say, until when brought near the surface that part does not appear less luminous than the rest. The piece is then stirred about in the bath, suddenly drawn out, and plunged into a large mass of wa- ter. In this manner a plate of steel may be hardened so as to be perfectly brittle, and yet continue so sound as to ring like a bell. The letting down, or tempering of hard steel, is considered as abso- lutely necessary for the production of a fine and durable edge. It has been usual to do this by heating the hardened steel, till its bright surface exhibits some known co- lour by oxidation. The first colour is a very faint straw colour, he- coming deeper and deeper by in- crease of heat, to a fine deep golden yellow, which changes irregularly to purple, then to an uniform blue, succeeded by white and several faint repetitions of these series. It is well known that the hardest state of tempered instruments, such as razors and surgeon's instru- ments, is indicated by this straw colour, that a deeper colour is re- quired for leather cutters' knives, and other tools that require the edge to be turned on one side; that the blue which indicates a good temper for springs, is almost too soft for any cutting instrument ex- cept saws, and such tools as are sharpened with a file, and that the lower states of hardness are not at all adapted to this use. But it is of considerable importance, that the letting down or tempering, as well as hardening, should be effect- ed by heat equally applied, and that the temperature, especially at the lower heats, where greater hard- ness is to be left, should be more precisely ascertained than can be done by the different states of oxi- dation. Mr. Hartley first practic- ed the method of immersing hard steel in heated oil, or, the fusible compound of lead five parts, tin three, and bismuth eight; oil is preferable to the fusible mixture for several reasons. Mr. Nichol- son gives an account of the tempe- ratures at which the several co- lours make their appearance upon hardened steel, while floating at the surface of the fusible mixture. The cutting instrument beini; 302 CUT C UT forged, hardened, and let down or dent, that the same stone must tempered ; it is ground upon a produce a more uniform edge if grindstoneofafine close grit, called the steel be worn away by many, a Bilson grindstone, and sold at the than by few strokes. It is also of tool shops of London at a moderate essential importance, that the hone price. The cutlers use water, the itself should be of a fine texture, or face of the work is rendered finer that its siliceous particles should by subsequent grinding upon ma- he very minute. Mr. Stoddart hogany cylinders, with emery of informs me, that there are no cer- different fineness, or upon cylin- tain criterions by which an excel- ders faced with hard pewter, called lent hone can be distinguished, laps, which are preferable to those from one of ordinary value, except- with a wooden face. The last po- ing those derived from the actual lish is given upon a cylinder faced use of both : that the turkey stone with buff leather, to which crocus, cuts fast, hut is never found with or the red oxide of iron is applied a very fine grit: that the yellow with water. This last operation is hone is most generally useful, and attended with considerable danger that any stone of this kind requires of heating the work, and almost in- to be soaked in oil, and kept wet stantlyrcducingitstemperalongthe with that fluid, or otherwise its ef- thin edge, which at the same time feet will be the same as that of a acquires the colours of oxidation, coarser stone under the better treat- The setting now remains to be ment: and lastly, that there is a performed, which is a work of green hone found in the old pave- much delicacy and skill ; the tool ment of the streets of London, which is first whetted upon a hone with is the best material yet known for oil, by rubbing it backwards and finishing a fine edge. forwards. In all the processes of The grindstone leaves a ragged grinding or wearing clown the edge, edge, which, it is the first effect of but more especially in the setting, whetting to reduce so thin, that it the artist appears to prefer that may be bended backwards and for- stroke which leads the edge ac- wards. This flexible part is called cording to the action of cutting, the wire, and if the whetting were instead of making the back run to be continued too long, it would first along the stone. This proceed- break off in pieces without regu- ing is very judicious ; for if there larky, leaving a finer, though, still be any lump or particle of stone, very imperfect edge, and tending or other substance lying upon the to produce accidents while lying- face of the grinder, and the back on the face of the stone. The wire of the tool be first run over it, it is taken off by raising the face of will proceed beneath the edge, and the knife to an angle of about 50 lift it up, at the same time pro- degrees with the surface of the ducing a notch. But on the other stone, and giving a light stroke, hand if the edge be made to move edge foremost alternately towards foremost, and meet such a particle, each end of the stone. These it will slide beneath it and suffer strokes produce an edo-e, the faces no injury. Another condition in of which are inclined to each whetting, is, that the hand should other in an angle of about 100 de- not bear heavy ; because it is evi- grees, and to which the wire is so CUT C Y D 303 slightly adherent, that it may often betaken away entire, and is easily removed, by lightly drawing the edge along the finger nail. The edge thus cleared, is generally very even ; but it is too thick, and must again be reduced by whetting. A finer wire is by this means produ- ced, which will require to be again taken off, if for want of judg- ment, or delicacy of hand, the artist should have carried it too far. But we will suppose the obtuse edge to be very even, and the second wire to be scarcely perceptible. In this case the last edge will be very acute, but neither so even nor so strong as to be durably useful. The finish is given by two or more alternate light strokes with the edge slanting foremost, and the blade of the knife raised, so that its plane forms an angle of about 28 degrees with the face of the stone. This is the angle which by careful observation and measurement, I find Mr. Stoddart habitually uses for the finest surgeons' instru- ments, and which he considers as the best for razors, and other keen cutting tools. The angleof the edge is therefore about 56 degrees. The excellence and uniformity of a fine edge may be ascertained, by its mode of operation when lightly drawn along the surface of the skin, or leather, or any organ- ized soft substance. Lancets are tried by suffering the point to drop gently through a piece of thin soft leather. If the edge be exquisite, it will not only pass with facility, but there will not he the least noise pro- duced, any more, than if it had dropped into water. This kind of edge cannot be produced, but by performing the last two or more •su-okes on the green hone. The operation of strapping is si- milar to that of grinding or whet- ting, and is performed by means of the angular particles of fine cro- cus, or other material, bedded in the face of the strap. It requires less skill than the operation of set- ting, and is very apt, from the elasticity of the strap, to enlarge the angle of the edge, or round it too much.] CYDER, or Cider, a sharp, cool, and vinous beverage, made by fermenting the juice of apples. Some connoisseurs in this liquor are of opinion, that the juice of the more delicate table-fruit is gene- rally more cordial and pleasant than that of the wild or harsh kinds ; though others assert the latter to be in many respects preferable. The apples should remain on the tree till they are thoroughly ripe, when they ought to be gathered with the hand in dry weather, that they may be protected both from bruises and from moisture. They are then to be sorted, according to their various degrees of maturity, and laid in separate heaps, in or- der to sweat; in consequence of which they greatly improve. This practice, however, appears to be useful only for such fruit as is not perfectly ripe, though some re- commend it as being proper for all apples. The duration of the time of sweating may be determined by the flavour of the fruit, as different kinds require various lengths of time ; namely, from eight or ten days to six weeks. The harsher and more crude the apples are, the longer it is necessary that they should remain in a sweating state, and not only be well dried, but the rotten parts carefully pared, before they are exposed. The utility of the sweating prac- tice, is acknowledged in all the cy- 304 C Y D C YD der countries, though various me- thods have been i'd'-pt-id in follow- ing it ; as the apples arc pikd up either in the open air, or under co- ver in houses. In the Scuth-haiiij, a middle way has been adopted, to avoid the fermentation occasioned by piling them up in root. .s. a ul which we recommend as ri.e be.-t, and most rational. Heaps of fruit are raised in an open part of the orchard, where by meai s of a free air and less heat, th>j. desired ma- turity is gradually effected, with an inconsiderable waste of the juice and decay of the fiuit, wiuch thus becomes almost totally divest- ed of rancidity. And though a few apples will rot even in this man- ner, they are still fit for use : all of them continue plump and full of juice, and heighten, in a consider- able degree, the coiour of the liquor, without imparting to it any disa- greeable smell or taste. The fruit is then to be ground till the rind and kernels are well bruised ; a process which will con- siderably improve the flavour and strength of the liquor, when it should be allowed to stand for a day or two, in a large open vessel. It is next pressed between several hair-cloths, and the liquor received in a vat, whence it is removed into casks, which ought to be placed in a cool situation, or in the free air, with their bung-holes open. These casks are to be sedulously watch- ed, till the cyder dro/sfine, when it is to be immediately racked off from the lees into other vessels. The first racking is a most im- portant operation ; as cyder, which is suffered to become foul again, by missing the first opportunity of racking it when fine, will never become what is called a prime liquor. After the clear part has been racked off, a quantity of lees or dregs remains, which, when filtered t'vough coarse linen bags, yields a bright, strong, hut ex- tremely Hat F quid : if this be add- ed to the former portion, it will gicaiiy contribute to prevent fer- mentation, an excess of which will make the cyder thin and acid. To avoid -nch an accident, the casks should neither be entirely filled, noi- stopped down too close ; and, if the whole incline to ferment, it ought again to.be racked. This latter operation, however, should on no account be repeated, uniess from absolute necessity ; as every racking diminishes its strength* When there are no signs of any farther fermentation, the casks should be filled up with cyder of the best quality, and the bung- hole firmly closed with resin. This method of making cyder is that chiefly followed in Hereford- shire. Considerable quantities of this liquor are also made in Devon- shire, where the process varies but little from that pursued in the county before-mentioned. Se- veral farmers, however, instead of racking, fine it with isinglass, steeped in white-wine, dissolved over the fire, and then boiled in a quantity of the liquor intended to be fined : in this state, it is added to that in the cask. Others, in- stead of dissolving the isinglassover the fire, digest it in white wine for the space of four or five weeks, during which time it acquires the consistence of a jelly ; a quantity of this being beaten up with some of the liquor, the whole is worked into a froth, and mingled with the rest. As soon as the cyder becomes clear, it is drawn, or bottled off, as occasion may require. Those who are anxious to pre- C YD C Y D 305 pare good cyder, ought diligently to watch every change of the wea- ther, however slight; as the least neglect at such times, is often de- trimental to many hogsheads. In summer, the danger is much great- er than in winter. There is, how- ever, scarcely any distemper inci- dent to this liquor, which may not, by a timely application, be easily remedied. If it become somewhat tart, about half a peck of good wheat, boiled and hulled in a man- ner similar to rice, may be put into each hogshead, which will effectu- ally restore it; and also contribute to preserve it, when drawn out of one cask into another. Such a re- medy is doubtless far preferable to that odious custom practised by too many cyder merchants, who put animal substances into their liquors, namely, veal, pork, beef, mutton, and even horse-flesh, for the purpose of fining them. This singular expedient, though sanc- tioned by the usage of ancestors, we think it our duty to reprobate; because it is fraught with mis- chievous effects on the constitu- tion of those who are doomed to drink the cyder thus adulterated. By allowing a small quantity to stand, in an open vessel, for two or three days in a warm room, the fetid exhalation of the liquor will easily discover its ingredients. The best cyder is thatmade from a red-streak apple, grafted upon a genn':t-moil stock. These two varieties of the apple-tree agree well together, and their trunks sel- dom canker, as others are apt to do, especially when the former is grafted on crab-trees. The fruit of the red-streak obtained from the former combination, is always larger and milder; and, when ripe, not only most delicious eating, but v :n.. n. also affords a mellower liquor than the same fruit produced,by the latter mixture. Many estates where the soil is not proper for corn, might be great- ly improved in value, by pultivat- ing the different sorts of apples that are used in making cyder, which finds at all times a ready market, and requires no fuel in brewing it; besides that the labour occurs only once every year. The greater the quantities of cyder made together, the better it usually succeeds ; but it will be necessary that the vessels in which the liquor is to be kept, be capacious and well seasoned. In this case, it will not only remain sound for a great number of years, but also progres- sively improve. An ingenious Treatise on Cyder, in 4to. was published about the year 1754, in which the reader will find several pertinent instruc- tions relative to this subject. [It has already been said that apples thrive well in all the states of United America, except in the low lands of the maritime parts of Carolina and Georgia. In such a variety of soils and climates, apples of great diversity of taste and fla- vour must necessarily grow. The cyder made from these apples ac- cordingly differs very much; but in a general way it may be safely as- serted, that the cyder of the United States equals that of any part of the world. There have been numerous re- ceipts published to make cyder, some of which have occasioned considerable losses. A few general and important rules will be given, for insuring good cyder, and after- wards some particular directions founded on experience. 1. The first and indispensible rc- R r 306 C Y D quisite for making good cyder, is to chuse perfectly ripe and sound fruit. Farmers, in general, are very inattentive to * these points, but it is utterly impossible to make good cyder unless they be attend- ed to. 2. The apples ought to be hand picked, or caught in a sheet, when the tree is shook. When they fall on the ground they become bruis- ed, and as it frequently happens that they remain for some hours before pressing ; the apples are apt to communicate a bad taste to the liquor from the bruised part. 3. After having sweated, and be- forebeing ground, the apples should be wiped, in order to remove a clammy moisture which covers them, and which, if permitted to re- main, would impoverish the cyder. 4. The practice above noted of pressingthe pumice in hair cloths is certainly much preferable to the common American custom of inclosing it in bands of straw, be- cause the straw, when heated in the mow or stack, gives the cyder a bad taste. 5. After cyder has run from the press, it has been directed to strain it through hair sieves into a large open vat,v. hich will contain a whole making, or as much as can be pressed in one day. When the cy- der has remained in this vat a day, or sometimes less, according tothe ripeness of the fruit of which it has been made, and the state of the weather, the pumice, or grosser parts of thepulp,w ill rise to the top, and in a few hours, or after a day or two at furthest, will grow very thick, and when little white bub- bles break through it, draw it off through a cock or fe.ucet hole, with- in three inches from the bottom, that the lees may quietly remain C YD behind. This operation is of great importance, as the sinking of the feculent matter would greatly in- jure the liquor. 6. On drawing off the cyder from the vat, it must be tunned into clean casks, and closely watched, to prevent the fermentation; when therefore white bubbles, as men- tioned above, are perceived at the bung-hole, rack it again, imme- diately after which it will probably not ferment until March, when it must be racked off as before, and if possible in clear weather. 7. It is of great consequence to prevent the escape of the carbonic acid, or fixed air, from cyder, as on this principle all its briskness de- pends. To effect this, various ex- pedients have been contrived. In the state of Connecticut, where muchcyder ismade, it is a common practice to pour a tumbler of olive oil in the bung-hole of every cask. Upon the same principle we have lately heard of a man, who boasted that he had drank brisk beer out of the same cask for five years, and that his secret was to cover the surface of the liquor with olive oil. Dr. Darwin also says he was told by a gentleman who made a con- siderable quantity of cyder on his estate, that he procured vessels of stronger construction than usual, and that he directed the apple- juice, as soon as it had settled, to be bunged up close, and that though he had had one vessel or two oc- casionally burst by the expansion of the fermenting liquor, yet that this rarely occurred, and that his cyder never failed to be of the most excellent quality, and was sold at a great price. To prevent a succeeding fer- mentation, put in a handful of pow- dered clay, and to preserve it, add C YD C Y D 307 one quart of apple brandy to each barrel: every cask must be filled up, and closely bunged. 8. When care has been taken to prevent the precipitation of the fe- culent matter which rises in the cyder, good liquor will generally fine without artificial means, but sometimes it is necessary to fine after the last racking, when the above mentioned article has been found to answer very effectually if used in the following way. For a barrel : cut one ounce of isinglass fine, put it into a pint of water, stir it frequently, and make a thick jelly. Dilute this with cyder, strain and mix it well with the liquor in the cask, by means of a long clean stick. The editor has known an ounce of orris root, in powder, give a pleasant flavour to cyder. A friend directs cyder to be bot- tled in July, to fill the bottles with- in two inches of the top, letting them stand twelve hours open be- fore corking.....Use strong porter- bottles, and the best velvet corks. The bottling should be done in clear weather. For the following communica- tion on the making and fining of cyder, the editor is indebted to Jo- seph Cooper, Esq. of New-Jer- sey.... k' Cyder is an article of domestic manufacture, which is in my opi- nion, worse managed than any in our country : perhaps the better way to correct errors, is to point out some of the principal ones, and then to recommend better plans. "Apples are commonly collected When wet, and thrown in a heap, exposed to sun and rain, until a sourness pervades the whole mass, then ground and for want of a trough or other vessels sufficient to hold a cheese at a time, the pumice is put on the press as fast as ground; and a large cheese is made, which requires so much time to finish and press off*, that a fermentation comes on in the cheese before all the juice is out; and certain it is, that a small quantity of the juice pressed out, after fermentation comes on, will spoil the product of a w hole cheese, if mixed therewith. When either of the above errors will spoil cy- der, we need not wonder at the ef- fect of a combination of the whole, as frequently happens. As I have very often exported cyder to the W. Indies, and to Europe, and also sold it to others for the same pur- pose; without even hearing of any spoiling; and as it is my wish to make the productions of our coun- try as useful as possible, I will give an account of my method of mak- ing this valuable liquor. " I gather the apples when dry, put them on a floor under cover, and have a trough large enough to hold a cheese at once, and when the v/eather is warm, I grind them late in the evening, spreading the pumice over the trough to air it, as the cyder will thereby be en- riched, and a fine amber colour in it produced : and here it may be remarked, that the longer a cheese lies after being ground, before press- ing, the better for the cyder, provid- ed it escapes fermentation until the pressing is completed. The fol- lowing experiment will render this evident......Bruise a tart apple on one side, and let it lie until brown ; then taste the juice of eachpart,and it will be found,that the juice of the bruised part is sweet and rich: so if sweet and tart apples are ground together, and put immediately on the press, the liquor which they produce will have the ta^te of both 308 C Y D kinds of fruit; but if permitted to lie until the pumice become brown, the cycler will be greatly improved. '* I take great care to put cyder in clean sweet casks, and the only way to effect this, is to rinse or scald them well, as soon as the cy- der is out, and not to permit them to stand with the lees, which will certainly cause them to become sour, or musty, or to smell. When my casks are filled, I place them in the shade, exposed to the nor- thern air ; and when fermentation takes place, I fill them up once or more, to cause as much of the fe- culent matter as possible, to dis- charge from the bung; when a clear white froth comes out, I put in the bung loosely, or bore a hole in it, and put in a spile, thereby checking the fermentation gradu- ally. After this has subsided, I take the first opportunity of clear, cool weather, and rack it off' into clean casks, which I prepare thus. When I draw cyder out of a cask in which it has fermented, I rinse it with cold water, and put in two or three quarts of fine gravel, and three or four gallons of water; the cask is well shaken or rolled to scour off the sediment always adhering to the cask, and which, if not removed, will act as a ferment to the liquor when returned to the cask, and spoil, or greatly injure the liquor. Afterscouring the casks, I again rinse them, and I find advantage from burning a match of sulphur suspended in the cask by a wire, af- ter putting in two or three buckets of cyder. A convenient way to per- form this process is to have a long tapering bung, so as that between the two ends it will fit any hole ; to the small end of this bung drive in a wire with a hooked end to hold C Y D the match. If the cyder stands a week or more after racking, previ- ously tobeing put away in the cellar, I rack it again, rinsing the casks, but not with gravel, and remove them to the cellar. The late made cy der,I put in the cellar immediate- ly after or before the first racking, according as the weather may hap- pen to be. The cyder intended to be kept till summer, I rack in cool, clear weather, in the latter end of February, or beginning of March ; the casks must be kept full, and bunged as tight as possible." Mr. Cooper fines with the isin- glass jelly mentioned above, but in case the liquor should not fine in ten days, he directs to rack it again, and repeat the fining as before, but says, it is best to rack it, whether fine or not, in ten or twelve days, lestthe sediment should rise,which often happens. Mr. Cooper adds, " The foregoing operation should be performed previously to the ap- ples being in bloom, but I have succeeded best in the winter during steady cool weather. I have like- wise had good success in fining cyder directly from the press; when this is done, I set the casks with one head out, but covered, put in taps, and let them remain in a cool place properly fixed for draw- ing when the fermentation ceases, and the scum begins to crack. I take it off carefully with a skim- mer, and draw it from the sedi- ment. If not sufficiently fine be- fore the middle of winter, I fine it again as above. The settlings of my improved cyder spirit, (see article Brandy) in the proportion of two or three gallons to a hogshead of cyder, an- swers as well for fining as the isin- glass jelly." The editor will only add one ob- CYD C Y D 309 servation with regard to keeping the pumice some hours before pres- sing it. In the winter of 1797, he had the pleasure to drink some very fine cyder at his friend Dr. Seaman's, in New-York ; and on inquiring into the circumstances of its manufacture, was informed by the Doctor's father, who made it, that I12 always kept his pumice 12 hours before pressing it. The prac- tice has since been mentioned to many Pennsylvania farmers, but they did not approve of it. Mr. Cooper,however,explains the pro- priety of this important improve- ment in making cyder. For an account of the best cyder apples, see article Fruit.] Cyder is a cooling, pleasant, and wholesome liquor during the heat of summer, if it has been prepared without foreign ingredients, and properly fermented. On the con- trary, when it is too new, or tart, or has perhaps been kept in leaden vessels ; or the apples and pears have, after grinding them, passed through leaden tubes, we can by no means recommend it as a salu- brious beverage ; because that poi- sonous metal is easily dissolved by the acid, and thus gradually intro- duced into the body. However agreeably such cyder, or perry, may stimulate the palate, it cannot fail, sooner or later, to produce painful and dangerous colics, as it not unfrequently generates the most desperate and incurable ob- stipations, among those who ac- custom themselves to the free use of these liquors. Cyderkin, Purre, oi'Perkin, is a liquor made of the murk, or lees remaining after the cyder is pressed : these are put into a large vat, with half the quantity of cold water, which has been previously boiled : if that proportion be ex- ceeded, the cyderkin will be small. The whole is left to digest for 48 hours, when it should be well ex- pressed : the liquor thus obtained is to be immediately barrelled, and closely stopped ; it will be fit for use in a few days. Cyderkin easily clarifies, and is used in many families instead of small beer: if boiled after pressure, with a proper quantity of hops, it may be kept for any length of time. Cyder-Spirit, an ardent liquor drawn from cyder by distillation, in the same manner as brandy is from wine. The flavour peculiar to this spirit is by no means agree- able ; but it may, with care, be totally divested of it (see Char- coal), and become an excellent substitute for those deleterious pre- parations, sold under the name of spirituous compounds and cordk h. Wholesale-dealershavelately avail- ed themselves of this liquor, and, after imparting to it various fla- vours, they vend it as a substitute for others, but especially by mix- ing large quantities of it with fo- reign brandy, rum, and arrack, without the remotest apprehension of such fraud being detected. [See Brandy.] Cyder-Wine is a liquor made by boiling the fresh juice of apples: after being kept three or four years it is said to acquire the flavour and colour of Rhenish wine. The me- thod of preparing it consists in evaporating the juice in a brewing- copper, till one half be dissipated ; the remainder is then immediate- ly conveyed to a wooden cooler, whence it is barrelled, with the ad- dition of a due proportion of veast, and fermented in the usual man- ner. 310 CYP This American process has of late years been imitated in the cy- der-countries, and particularly in the W est of England, where seve- ral hundred hogsheads of cyder- wine are annually prepared ; and being supposed to contain no par- ticles of copper from the vessels in which it is boiled, the country peo- ple consider it as perfectly whole- some, and accordingly drink it without apprehension. In order to ascertain the truth, various experi- ments were instituted by the late Dr. Fothergill ; from the result of which he proved, that cyder- wine does contain a minute portion of copper, which, though not very considerable, is sufficient to cau- tion the public against a liquor, that " comes in so very question- able a shape." Independently, however, of the danger arising from any metallic impregnation, we doubt whether the process of preparing boiled wines be useful, or reconcileable to economy. The evaporation of the apple-juice, by long boiling, not only occasions an unnecessary consumption of fuel, but also vo- latilizes the most essential parti- cles, without which the liquor can- not undergo a complete fermenta- tion, so that there can be no per- fect wine. Hence, this liquor is, like all other boiled wines, crude, heavy, and flat: it generally causes indigestion, flatulency, and diar- rhoea. Those amateurs, however, who are determined to prepare it, ought at least to banish all brass and copper vessels, from this as well as from every other culinary process. CYPER-GRASS, or Cyperus, L. a genus of plants producing se- venty-nine species, of which the following are the principal: cyt 1. The rotundus, or Round Cy- perus, a native of the East-Indies : its imported root is knotty, sur- rounded with tough,fibrous strings, of a brown colour externally, but grey internally ; and of a pleasant colour, especially when fresh and well dried. 2. The csculentus, or Eatable Cyperus (earth-almonds), growing wild in the East, in Italy, and the South of France. Its pulpy and mealy root is agreeably sweet, not unlike chesnuts, and might be ad- vantageously cultivated in this coun- try, as an occasional substitute for bread. 3. The papyrus, or Paper Cy- perus, a native of Calabria, Sicily, Syria, and especially of Egypt, on the banks of the Nile. From this noble plant, the ancients manufac- tured most of their paper, their sail-cloth, mattresses, ropes, nay, even their apparel. Perhaps, we may soon be enabled to import an abundant supply of this valuable vegetable, in British vessels. 4. The longus, or Sweet Cyperus, or English Galingale, a native plant, which is chiefly found on the isle of Purbeck, where it flowers in July. Its root is of the size of an olive, full of little knots or specks, of an oblong figure and grey co- lour ; of a warm, somewhat bitter taste; and almost destitute of smell when newly taken out of the ground. In medicine, the roots of the first, or round Cyprus, as well as those of the English galingale, are esteemed cordial, diuretic, and ce- phalic ; they occasionally have af- forded relief in nephritic disorders, as also in colics ; and may be tak- en either in powders, or in a decoc- tion. The production of the latter, or native species, however, is at C YP present seldom used ; though we presume it is in no respect inferior to some of the more costly medi- cines imported into this country. Cyphel. See Common House- leek. CYPRESS, the Common, or Cupressus sempervirens, L. is a native of the islands of Candia and Crete, but may be easily propagat- ed in Britain, from seeds as well as cuttings. The proper season for sowing the former, is the month of March, when the ground should be dug, well broken, raked smooth, and an inch of the earth drawn evenly off the surface into an alley : the seeds should then be scattered moderately thick, and the soil sift- ed immediately over them, half an inch deep. During the summer, they should be kept clear of weeds, and, in dry weather, gently water- ed : in winter, they must he occa- sionally sheltered from the frost, with mats; and, in the course of two years, they will be fit for transplanting, when they should be set in nursery-rows, two feet asun- der ; and, in three or four years, they may be removed to the shrubbery. The cypress-tree, though found in most of our old gardens, is at present much neglected : it de- serves, however, to be more dili- gently cultivated, as it not only adds considerable beauty to wilder- nesses and groves, but also affords a valuable wood, which is aroma- tic, very compact, and heavy ; is neither liable to decay or putrify, nortothedevastations of the worm, so that it is admirably calculated for chests, drawers, musical instru- ments, and other utensils. CYP 311 This tree is eminently recom- mended for purifying the air, and for the benefit of weak lungs: hence, the ancient physicians sent their consumptive patients to the island of Crete, where the cypress is very abundant. Its nuts, or fruit, is a very powerful astringent and balsamic, and is, perhaps, inferior to none of the simples employed in diarrhoeas and dysenteries. [Deciduous Cypress-tree, or Cu- pressus disticha, stands, according to Mr. Wm. Bartram, in the first order of American trees. It abounds in the southern states, where it measures from eight to twelve feet diameter, and from forty to fifty feet straight shaft. Shingles are made of the cy- press-tree, and sell from 8 to 10 dol- lars per thousand : they are com- monly two feet nine inches long for home consumption, but for the West-India market, those of 18 inches in length are preferred. The cypress is growing in Bart- ram's garden on the Schuylkill. Cypress shingles are equally du- rable as those made of white cedar, but the nature of the wood does not permit them to be cut of a greater breadth than above five and an half inches, and about the length above mentioned. If attempts be made to cut a wider shingle the wood splits. In driving nails through cypress shingles, they are very apt to split, unless holes are first bored for nails: hence, roofs covered with such shingles sometimes leak..... Upon out-houses, they answer as well as the cedar shingles. For directions to shingle houses in the best manner, see House.] D. D AC DAB, or Pleuronectes limanda,!^. a fish that frequents the English seas, where it is caught in consi- derable numbers. It is in general of an uniform brown colour on the upper side, though sometimes of a darker shade. The scales are small and rough, and the lower part of the body is white. These fish are in season from February to April: they spawn in May and June, and become watery and flab- by during the remainder of the summer. They are flat; and, though inferior in size to the com- mon plaise, the dab is preferred in point of delicacy and flavour. DACE, or Cyprinus leuciscus, L. a fish found in most of the still deep rivers of this country, where it is very prolific. It seldom ex- ceeds 10 inches in length, or weighs more than a pound and a half. Dace spawn in the month of February, and are in the highest perfection in April and May ; but they are at no season a well-tasted fish, or much esteemed. They af- ford, however, considerable amuse- ment to the expert angler, as they will bite at any fly, but are parti- cularly fond of the stone-caddis, or May-fly,which abounds towardsthe latter end of April, and the whole of May. After that month, re- D AF course must be had to the ant-fly, the best of which are those black insects found in large ant or mole- hills. In warm weather, these fish seldom refuse a fly on the surface of the water; but, at other limes, the bait should be immersed to within three inches of the bottom. The winter angling for dace requires a very different bait: this is a white maggot with a red head, being the produce of the eggs of the beetle, and which is turned up by the plough in great abundance. A number of such grubs, if kept in any vessel with the soil in which they were taken, may be preserved for several months, and will prove an excellent bait. Small dace may be put into a glass or jar with fresh water, which should be frequently changed: in this element, they live a long time, and gradually become tame. [Dactylis, glomerata, Ameri- can cocks foot, or orchard grass. See Grasses.] DAFFODIL, the Common, or Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, L. an indigenous, perennial plant, grow- ing in woods, meadows, and the sides of hedges, which is found chiefly in the north and west of England. It produces large yel- low, ill-scented flowers, which ap- DAI DAI 313 pear in March......Bechstein ob- serves, that two drams of the root afford a gentle laxative. DAIRY-HOUSE, in rural eco- nomy, a place appropriated to the managementofmiik,butter,cheese, Sec...See Milk, Butter, Cheese, Churn, and Cows. A dairy ought to be so situated, that the windows, or lattices, may never front the south, south-east, or south-west; and it should at all times be kept in the neatest order. Lattices are also far preferable to glazed lights, as they admit a free circulation of the air. It has, how- ever, been objected,that the former affords access to the cold air of win- ter, and to the sun in summer; but either may be easily remedied, by making the frame somewhatlarger than the lattice, and constructing it so as to slide backward and for- ward at pleasure. Across this frame, pack-thread may be stretch- ed, and oiled paper pasted on it, which will thus admit the light, aud effectually keep out the sun and wind. During the summer,dairy-houses cannot be kept too cool: they ought therefore to be erected, if possi- ble, near a cold spring, or running water; and, where it is practica- ble, to conduct a small stream through the premises, it will much contribute to the convenience and utility of the place. Dr. Ander- son observes, in his practical es- say on the management of the dairy (published in the 3d and 4th vols, of his ingenious " Recreations in Agriculture," fccc.) that if the water can be introduced by means of a pipjJi so as to fall from some height on the boor, it will be pro- ductive of many advantages, parti- cularly by preserving a continual freshness, and purity of the air.... VOL. 11. Dairy-houses should therefore be neatly paved, either with red brick, or smooth hard stone, and laid with a proper descent, so that no water may stagnate. This pavement should he well washed every day during the summer ; and all the utensils, here employed, be kept with unremitting attention toclean- liness. Nor should the churns be at any time scalded in the dairy; as the steam arising from hot water, tends greatly to injure the milk... For similar reasons, neither the cheese and rennet, nor the cheese- press, must be suffered to taint the atmosphere ; as the whey and curd will diffuse their acidity over the whole building. All .the utensils of the dairy should be made of wood, in pre- ference to either lead, copper, or cast iron ; for these metals are easily soluble in acids ; the solu- tions of the two first are in a high degree poisonous; and, though the latter is in itself harmless, the taste of it renders the productions of the dairy very disagreeable. The cream-dishes, when perfectly clean and cool, ought to be filled with the milk, as soon as it is drawn from the cow, and has been carefully strained through a cloth, or cloth- sieve made of hair or silver-wire: the latter of which, as Dr. Andek- son justly remarks, is more whole- some than those of other metals. These dishes should never exceed three inches in depth, but may be so wide as to contain a pallon, or a gallon and a half of milk : when filled, they ought to be placed on shelves, to remain there till the cream be completely separated.... Now it is to be taken off with nice- ty, by a skimming-dish, (without lifting or removing the milk, or shedding any of it on the floor, S s 314 DAI DAM which would soon corrupt the air of the room), and then deposited in a separate vessel, till a proper quantity be collected for churning. A firm, neat wooden barrel, which is open at one end, and has a lid closely fitted to it, appears to be well calculated for this purpose; a cock, or spigot, ought also to be fixed near the bottom, to draw off the thin, or serous part, that may drain from the cream ; arid the inner side of the opening should be covered with a piece of fine sil- ver wire-gauze, in order to prevent the latter from escaping, while the former is allowed to pass. [•ut, if notwithstanding the fatal consequences arising from the use of metallic utensils, or of earthen vessels glaze i with lead, farmers still persist in employing them, it ought to be a constant and indispen- sible rule, to scald and scour them properly with salt and water, every day, and to dry them thoroughly, before the milk is deposited in them. Lastly, it is sincerely to be wished, that all the utensils em- ployed in the dairy, of whatever materials they may consist, should be cleaned with similar care, pre- viously to their being used; and, as long as the least acid smell is per- ceptible, they ought to undergo repeated scourings, till they are completely sweetened. See Milk- House. DAISY, the Common, or Bellis perennis, L. a perennial, indige- nous plant, which abounds in mea- dows and pastures, and is in flower from March to September. The leaves of the daisy, though slightly acrid, may be eaten as early spring salad, or boiled like spinach ; its roots have a pungent taste, and are in high repute abroad as an excellent vulnerary, attenu- ant, cooling, and astringent medi- cine : yet no attention is paid to it in this country, except what it claims from the beauty of its flow- ers ; on account of which it has been introduced into gardens. It is refused by hoists, sheep, and cows. Mr. Bechstein, a respectable German naturalist, mentions a cu- rious fact relative to the virtues of the common daisy. In the 2d vol. of 'lis Concise Natural History of Plants, both foreign and indigenous (printed at Leipzig in 1797) he says in a note...." I am acquainted with a very skilful and experienced phy- sician, who has completely cured several consumptive persons with the flower buds of the bellis peren- nis, by stuffing young chickens with these buds, without any other in- gredients ; then stewing them in unsalted beef-tea or broth, adding a little fresh butter, and allowing the patient for three weeks no other food but the medicated dish- es thus prepared. At first, it af- fords a delicious repast." We candidly confess, we have had no opportunities cf ascertaining the efficacy of this preparation, by the test of experience ; but neverthe- less we believe, that in so despe- rate a situation as that of pulmona- ry consumption, or other species of atrophy (unattended with violent febrile symptoms), it well deserves to be opportunely and fairly tried. DAMAScus-Steel. See Steel. DAME-WORT, or Dame's- Violet, the Scentless, or Hesperis inodora, L. is an indigenous peren- nial plant, which grows in pastures and hedges, and flowers in the month of May or June. Accord- ing to Boerhaave, it is anti-scor- butic and diaphoretic, and of great service in asthmas, coughs, and convulsions. It has also been re- dan' commended externally, in inflam- mations, cancers, gangrenes, and in contagious disorders. Damp. See Linen. DANCING,isthe art of moving the body,agreeably to certain rules, and adjusted to the measures of music, either sung or played. It is generally the effect or indication of joy among most nations; though there are tribes in South-America who dance to shew their sorrow ; and it also formed a part of the funeral solemnities of the ancients. In the heavy days of autumn and winter, when the atmosphere is loaded with humid particles, when a sedentary life disposes the 4iumanbody to hypochondriacal af- fections, dancing is an admirable amusement. Independently of the beneficial effects which music and a cheerful company display on a susceptible mind, moderate dances possess every advantage of gentle exercise. But those maniacal turn- ings and gesticulations,which have lately become fashionable in this country, under the appellation of German Vaults (or rather Walzen, i. e. performing a circular motion like that of a man on the eve of intoxication) are attended with very different effects. It would be su- perfluous to enumerate the perni- cious consequences resulting from that frantic inclination to distort the human frame ; we may confident- ly assert, that Walzen is at present almost universally exploded in the cultivated circles of society among the Germans, who consider it as a dangerous and vulgar dance. In confirmation of this statement, we meet with a treatise, expressly pub- lished, On the Moral and Physical Consequences of Dancing; address- ed to the guardians of youth, by Dr. Sponitzer (Berlin, 1795); an DAN 315 enlightened physician,whose satire and judgment are equally conspi- cuous. Violent dancing, especially in the heated atmosphere of a crowd- ed assembly, produces a temporary fever, even in the hye-standers, who inspire an air exceedingly vi- tiated by the breath of persons ap- parently in a simi-delirious trance, and by the suffocating vapour of candles. The blood is unnaturally propelled to the breast and head... hence arise frequent colds, coughs, and periodical head-achs ; perspi- ration is wantonly checked ; the lungs are forcibly expanded, and the foundation is laid for that avenging disease, consumption, which spares neither rank, age, nor sex, and often exterminates whole families. On the other hand, we do not presume to discourage the shorter and less fatiguing dances, such as minuets and poloigneses,which are not only modest and becoming, but contribute to the graceful form and motion of the body. Every provi- dent parent, who feels the value of sound and healthy children, will readily concur with us in opinion, that so precarious a public amuse- ment ought to be regulated by the State, or at least, controlled by the superior sense of the aged; and not to be absolutely intrusted to the choice or caprice of youth, the gay, and the giddy. See Balls. Dane-wort. See Dwarf El- der. DANDELION, the Common, or Lcontodon Taraxacum, L. is an indigenous, perennial plant, grow- ing in meadows and pastures, on road-sides, ditch-banls, &c. It pro- duces yellow flowers, which blow from April to September, and have the remarkable property of ex- 316 DAN panding early in the morning, and closing in '.he evening. In the spring, while the leaves are white, and scarcely unfolded, they are an excellent ingredient in salads. In France, the i»oots and leaves are eaten with bi%ad and butter. This plant is also relished by goats, and especially by hogs, who devour it eagerly; but sheep and cows dislike it, and horses to- tally refuse it : the seeds also su - port the smaller birds, which are extremely fond of them. The root, leaves, and stalk, contain a large proportion of bitter milky juice, which possesses considerable ac- tivity. Its more immediate opera- tion is to remove visceral obstruc- tions, and promote the urinary dis- charge. The dose prescribed by Boerhaave, for this purpose, is 4 ounces, to be taken three or four times a day ; and we can, from ex- perience, corroborate its great ef- ficacy in dropsical, and those com- plaints which are connected with a disordered state of the first passa- ges ; though we have directed it to be taken in much smaller doses. The ancientGreek physicians were better acquainted with the proper- ties of this excellent vegetable,than the modern practitioners, who ap- pear to be more anxious to intro- duce exotics imported from distant countries, than to ascertain the qualities of those numerous medi- cinal plants which grow in their own climate. In short, we are in- duced to believe, that if the Great Frederic of Prussia had complied with the excellent prescription of the late Dr. Zimmerman, who di- rected the extract of dandelion to be taken in moderate portions of two table-spoonfuls each time, that extraordinary hero and philosopher * D All would have survived his last attack of dropsy, for many years ; because his constitution was unimpaired, and his mind uncommonly vigor- ous ; though he had from his in- fancy imbibed an invincible preju- dice against all physic and its ad- ministrators. DARNEL, or Lolium, L. a na- tive genus of plants producing four species, namely: 1. The parenne, or Red Darnel, or Ray-grass, which grows on road sides and dry pastures ; it attains the height of two feet, and flowers in June. As it makes good hay upon dry, chalky, or sandy soils, it deserves to be cultivated, especi- ally with clover : It springs earlier, than the other grasses ; thus sup- plying food for cattle, at a season when it is most difficult to be ob- tained. But, though it is eagerly eaten when young, it is too dry and hard when converted into hay, by itself. Mr. Swayne hints in his " Gramina Pascua," (a most valuable publication for practical farmers, w ho wish to obtain a com- plete knowledge of the different pasture-grasses;) that the common cultivated ray-grass had probably by frequent sowing, degenerated from its natural qualities, and that it was in many respects inferior to that growing naturally in our best meadoAvs and pastures. Mr. Pa- cey, an enlightened agriculturist, has lately raised a variety of ray- grass from seeds collected in old pastures, and has now multiplied it to such extent, as to sell annu- ally a considerable quantity at the price of 10s. e>d. per bushel. It has, by the most competent judges, been proved to be infinitely supe- rior to the cultivated ray-grass, and he has sufficient demand for his DAY DAY 317 whole produce....The red darnel is eaten by cows, horses,and sheep; but goats do not relish it. 2. The temulentum, or Bearded Darnel, a poisonous plant, which grows in ploughed lands among wheat, rye, oats, but chiefly among barley and flax. It flowers in July and August....Linn.eus observes, that the seeds of this plant, when mixed with bread-corn, produce but little effect, unless the bread be eaten hot; but if malted with barley, the beer becomes more in- toxicating, and we may add, the drinking of it is attended with tem- porary blindness. According to the corresponding account of vari- ous authors, the bread made of corn abounding with these seeds and eaten frequently, produces giddiness, anxiety, vomiting, purg- ing, violent colics, convulsions, palsy, delirium, and death. Hence this plant ought to be carefully ex- tirpated, by weeding, before it runs to seed....Sheep are not fond of it. 3. The arvense, or White Darnel, or annual Beardless Darnel, which flowers in July, and is not frequent in fields; it is however, sometimes very injurious to a w heat crop, but may be easily avoided, by previ- ously separating it from the seed. 4. The bromoides, or Drank ; wild Oat-grass; or Sea Darnel. It grows on loose sands near the sea coasts, and flowers in May or June. Both the last mentioned species are not possessed of any peculiar properties. Date : See Palm-tree. DAY, in general, signifies that space of time during which it con- tinues to be light, in contradistinc- tion tonight, or the period of dark- ness, while the sun is illumining the other hemisphere. Hence, the rising and setting of the sun are usually considered as the extent of the day, and the time that elap- ses from its setting to its rising again, as the night. In consequence of the unequal length of days, resulting from the peculiar revolution of the planets producing the different seasons, we are inclined to think that many persons, especially in the higher walks of life,avail themselves of this irregularity ; insomuch, that by the law of fashion in winter they convert the night into day ; and in summer exchange the most agreeable mornings and forenoons for damp, unwholesome evenings and nights. It would be a vain attempt to reprobate this unnatu- ral custom, in those 'circles where it is fancied to be equally vulgar to repair to bed in good time, and to rise early....a practice instinc- lively followed even by the lower animals. To the industrious and more domestic members of society, we venture to recommend, while in a good state of health, the following division of the day : namely, in spring and autumn to rise with the first rays of the sun; in summer,one hour after ; and in winter, one hour before that luminary appears; to allot every day (Sundays excepted,) from 10 to 12 hours to useful oc- cupations ; from 6 to 7 hours to the various purposes of dressing, taking provisions", exercise, or amusements; and also from 6 to 7, or 8 hours, to repose, accordingly as they have been more or less fa- tigued the preceding day, either by mental or bodily exertions...... Such would be both a natural and judicious arrangement of the day ; and we make no doubt that those who are disposed to devot their time and labour to the welfare of 318 DEA the community, will neither have reason to complain that the days are too long, or the nights too short, for useful purposes. See Bed-time. DEAD-NETTLE, or Lamium, L. an indigenous plant consisting of three species, of which the fol- lowing are the principal : 1. The album, or White Dead- nettle, or White Archangel, which is perennial, grows on rubbish, corn-fields, and clitch-banks,blooms in the month of May or June, and also in September. The flowers of this speeies have been much celebrated for their efficacy in pul- monary disorders, and in those incident to females ; but their vir- tues appear to be precarious. Ear- ly in the spring the young plant is eaten by the country people of Germany and Sweden, among their sanative, culinary, herbs. 2. The purpureum, or Red Dead-nettle, Red Archangel, or Dee-nettle which is an annual plant, grows in rubbish, cornfields, and kitchen-gardens, and flowers in the month of May....The leaves of both plants may be boiled and eaten as greens: the latter is relished by sheep, goats, and hor- ses, but refused by cows. DEAD-TOPS, a disease inci- dent to young trees, which may be cured, by cutting off the dead parts close to the nearest sound twig or shoot, and claying them over in the same manner as h practised in Grafting, to which we refer. DEAFNESS, the state of a per- son who is deprived of the sense of hearing; it is also used to signify -a disease of the ear, which pre- vents the due perception of sounds. Deafness is frequently the effect of eld age, and is incident to most persons in the decline of life. It DEA is, however, sometimes owing to an original defect in the organic structure of the ear ; in which case the unhappy individual not only continues deaf, but frequently also speechless. See Dumb. This complaint may indeed arise from a variety of causes; such as injuries sustained by the ear from wounds, ulcers, excessive noise, violent colds in the head ; fevers, hard wax adhering to the cavity of the ear ; or, too great a degree of either moisture or drynesss in that organ. When it is the effect of old age, or of wounds and ulcers in the ears, it is not easily remedied. If it proceed from a catarrh af- fecting the head, especially after cold-bathing, the patient must be careful to preserve that part con- stantly warm, particularly during the night: he should likewise lake some gentle laxatives, keep his feet warm, and bathe them fre- quently in tepid or luke-warm wa- ter, at bed-time. Mercurial fric- tions have, in this case, been ap- plied with success. But, if the complaint originate from fevers, it will generally disappear when the patient recovers his health ; or if it arise from dry wax clogging the ears, this may be softened, by drop- ping a little sweet oil, or oil of rosemary, into them ; after which they should be syringed with warm milk and water. If deafness be occasioned by too great a dryness in the ears (which may be easily ascertained by in- specting them,) half an ounce of the oil of sweet almonds, and the same quantity of camphorated spi- rit of wine, or tincture of asafoetida, may be mixed together, and a few drops poured into the ear every night, previously to going to bed; care being taken to close them af- DEA DEA 319 terwards, with a little wool, or cot- ton. When the ears abound with moisture, the superfluous humour may be drained by an issue, or seton, which should be made as near as possible to the part af- fected. Various other remedies have been employed for the cure of deaf- ness ; such as the gall of an eel mixed with spirit of wine ; or equal parts of Hungary water, and spirit of lavender, to be dropped into the ear. Etmuller highly extols amber and musk; and Brooks af- firms that hardness of hearing has often been cured by putting a grain or two of musk into the ear with cotton wool. Where, however, a powerful stimulant becomes abso- lutely necessary, camphorated oil, with the addition of a few drops of volatile alkaline spirit, may be con- sidered as one of the most powerful applications. It will be proper, in such case,to begin with a verysmall quantityof the alkali,and to increase it progressively, as the ear is ena- bled to bear it. In severalinstances, where the disease depended on a state of insensibility in the nerves, both the shower-bath and electri- city have been successfullyrcsorted to. We can from experience re- commend a few drops of onion juice on cotton, to be worn in the ear for several weeks, and daily renewed. Dr. Sims judiciously advisesdeaf persons to expire forci- bly, with their mouth and nose closely stopped : a simple but rati- onal expedient, which ought to be frequently repeated, though it has sometimes afforded instant relief. These various remedies, how- ever, should be judiciously adapted to different states of the disorder; for, though real benefit has occa- sionally been derived from them, yet they also often fail, and not un- frequently, are productive of injury The organs of hearing, as well as those of sight, being extremely ten- der, require the most cautious treatment, and ought not on any account to be tampered with, nor submitted to the experiments of ignorant pretenders. Hence, in- stead of having recourse to nos- trums, we recommend those per- sons, who are afflicted with deaf- ness, to keep the head warm....... From whatever cause the disorder may originate, this will always be found the safest and most proper practice ;....more real benefit has often been derived from it, in the most obstinate cases,than from any medicines whatever. [A case of deafness that ensued from plunging suddenly into water, was cured by a salivation. Medical Commentaries. This complaint frequently proceeds from hardened wax in the ears; the remedy in this case, is, to syringe the ears repeatedly with warm milk and water. When it proceeds from a violent cold, bleeding with leeches, and blistering behind therears are highly useful. When the com- plaint arises clearly from too great relaxation of the tympanum or drum of the ear, the fine powder of cantharides (Spanish flies) has been directed to be blown into the ear to stimulate the parts; but as some difficulty must occur in re- gulating the proper quantity ; we suggest the propriety of convey ing the vapour of aether into the ear, in preference.] DEAL, a well known wood, be- ing the production of the fir-tree, and of great utility for building,and other purposes. An excellent method of season- ing planks of deal and fir is to im- 320 DEA DEA merse them into salt-water, as soon as they are sawed, for three or four days ; care being taken to turn them frequently during that time. They should then be exposed to the sun and air, which will, in a considerable degree, harden them, though it will not prevent them from shrinking. See Timber, Fir-Tree. DEATH, a term more easily understood, than defined. Al- though it may generally be said, that death consists in the separa- tion of the soul from the body, yet this explanation is so far imperfect, as we possess but a distant idea of the connexion subsisting between the mind and the animal frame : nor does the definition here stated express any more than the effect, but leaves us completely ignorant of the cause of that great event, or the physical process by which dis- solution is accomplished. In order to prepare the reader for more clearly understanding the symptoms of actual dissolution, we shall briefly relate the gradual de- cay preceding this catastrophe. The human body, is, from its birth, liable to continual changes, in consequence of the different vi- tal, animal, and other functions, it performs, till it attains a certain age, let us suppose that of thirty- five years, in a state of perfect health, these changes tend to im- prove its solidity, strength, and sprightliness, without detracting from its organic vigour. After that period, which we may venture to call the meridian of life, it gradu- ally declines. The smallest fibres becomes rigid ; the minute capil- lary vessels corrugate, admit no fluids to pass through them, and at length change into fibres ; the larger blood-vessels grow hard and narrow ; in short, all the outlets of the body become contracted, and in a manner close ; whence the dry, shrivelled, and inflexible state of old age. Thus, the interior organs every day become more inert in performing their functions; the humours stagnate, thicken, and at length are partly converted into solids: hence the skull and other bones are much thicker in the aged than in other adults. Digestion is weakened, assimilation is prevent- ed ; and all the animal functions are gradually impaired : the skin, that wonderful contrivance in the animal economy, ceases to perform the important offices of absorption and perspiration....the myriads of pores are closed...the blood-vessels no longer impel the vital fluid, and are become inert as the time-piece, the spring of which has been ne- glected by the artist. At length, reduced to a state bordering on ve- getable life, in the same ratio as plants are linked to minerals, the connection that hitherto subsisted between our mental and physical nature, is totally dissolved ; or, in other words, deqth is the necessary consequence. Few persons, however, arrive at the stage of life we have just de- scribed : by far the greater pro- portion of human beings die in their infancy, or are cut off in the bloom of life, by a long and horrid train of diseases. Besides, there are numberless accidents to which we are daily liable, nay, all the elements which surround us, may prove, according to the use we make of them, either salutary or fatal....In this place, therefore, we shall give a concise view of the most unerring signs of death, if taken collectively ; and explain the treatment to be adopted in the dii- DEA DEA 321 ferent casualties, such as Drown- ing, kc in the order of the alpha- bet. Symptoms of Death : 1. Ces- sation of the pulse ; 2. Total sup- pression of breathing ; 3. Loss of animal heat; 4. Rigidity of the body, and inflexibility of the limbs; 5. Relaxation of the lower jaw ; 6. Inability of the eye-balls to return to their sockets, When pressed by the finger; 7. Dimness, faintness, and sinking of the cornea, or the uppermost horney coat of the eye ; 8. Foam in the cavity of the mouth; 'J. Blue spots of various sizes, and on different parts of the body ; 10. A cadaverous smell; and, 11. Insensibility to all external stimu- lants. All these symptoms, however, if individually considered, are far from being conclusive : they then only afford a certain criterion of death, when most or all those appearances concur at the same time, especially if the 6th, 7th, and 10th of the signs be strongly marked. One of the most infallible me- thods of distinguishing apparent from real death, is that lately sug- gested by Professor Creve, of which we shall give a short ac- count, under the head of Galva- nism. Apparent Death, is that state in which life is suspended, either because the body is not suscepti- ble of external stimuli", or the in- terior organs are in a state similar to that of palsy. Dr. STRUVE^in his Practical Es- say on the Art of recovering Sus- • pended Animation," lately translated from the German (12 mo. London, 1801, 3s. 6c/.), exhibits the follow- ing view of all the Symptoms of Life : A slight de- voi. II. gree of warmth in the region of the heart, accompanied with contrac- tions and dilatations ; a vibrating motion of the whole body, especi- ally after being sprinkled with cold water ; and a convulsive tension of some muscles. Doubtful Signs : Rigidity of the limbs, gradual smoothness of the skin, warmth and redness in par- ticular parts of the body, hiccough, contraction and hissing of the nos- trils, a tremulous motion of the whole body, mucus issuing from the nose during the artificial infla- tion of the lungs, a slight convul- sive motion of the mouth, and a firm compression of the teeth. More certain signs: Gentle throb- bing of the heart; pulsation of the temporal arteries ; a slight convul- sive motion of the inner comer of the eye ; vibration of the eye-ball; and almost imperceptible convul- sions of the muscles surrounding the neck. Distant signs of Life : A gentle motion of the jaw; gradual redness of the lips and cheeks ; contraction of the different muscles in the face; convulsive motions ot the toes; sneezing; tremor of the whole body ; vomiting ; respiration in- terrupted by coughing, and groan- ing. DEATH-WATCH, or Termej pulsatorium, L. a small insect that harbours chiefly in old wooch It is produced from a very minute white egg, which is hatched in the month of March. When these vermin first leave their shells, they are scarcely per- ceptible, without the aid of a mi- croscope : from this diminutive size, they gradually acquire .heir perfect state, when they are about 5-16ths of an inch in length, and of a dark brown, spotted colour.... T t 322 DEB They are remarkable for the tick- ing noise, similar to that of a watch, which is made by the male and fe- male, when wooing each other. This expression of mutual affec- tion was formerly considered, by the superstitious, as a presage of death in the family where it was heard; from which circumstance the insect has received its name. DEBILITY, is that feeble state of life in which the vital functions are languidly performed; when the mind loses its cheerfulness and vi- vacity ; when the limbs are totter- ing with weakness, and the diges- tive faculty is impaired. This complaint, which at pre- sent is so prevalent, even in the bloom of life, and among those who ought to form the most vigor- ous and robust part of a nation, may arise from a great variety of causes, of which the following are the principal: 1. Descent from enfeebled parents ; 2. Changes in the admixture, and component parts of the surrounding atmos- phere ; 3. A sedentary and indo- lent mode of life ; 4. Immoderate sleep ; or, in a still more hurtful degree, want of the necessary por- tion of sleep and repose ; 5. Too great exertions either of mind or body ; 6. The unnecessary and im- prudent use of medicines ; lastly, the almost total disuse, and exclu- sion of gymnastic exercise, and the general introduction of seden- tary games, the effect of which creates an almost universal apathy to every pursuit that requires ex- ertion. Debility is the source of nu- merous disorders, such as spasms, palsy, violent evacuations, hemor- rhages, putrid and nervous fe- vers, fainting fits, and apparent death. DEB The means employed for the preserving and maintaining feeble life (says Dr. Struve, in his As- thenology ; or, the Art of preserv- ing Feeble Life, 8vo. 8s. 1801), are as various as the causes on which it depends, and the disor- ders with which it is generally ac- companied. The first object that claims the attention of persons in this state, is warmth ; the external application of which ought to be proportioned to the temperature of the body, and gradually augment- ed, accordingly as the natural warmth of the individual increases. If duly applied, gentle heat posses- ses both stimulating and strength- ening properties, by which the activity of the vital principle is excited and supported. ,The com- munication of warmth may be con- siderably facilitated by the use of the tepid or warm bath, of which we have already spoken. See Bath. The next, and one of the most important objects to debilitated persons, is diet; in which respect much depends on their previous habits and modes of life. If they carefully attend to the peculiarities of their constitution, and observe whatever is to them salutary or hurtful, they 'may prolong their lives for a considerable time ; pro- vided their conduct be guided by the necessary knowledge and ex- perience. In short, to guard against excess,and pursue a middle course, will be the best means of accom- plishing the most salutary end. Debilitated persons ought to be imperceptibly hardened; the transi- tion to a severer and more invigo- rating course of life must be so progressive, that the convalescent be not subjected to any disagree- able restraint; and this method DEB DEC 323 should likewise be continued for a sufficient length of time, during which he ought never to return to his former debilitating habits. Such invalids should eat only a very small proportion of animal food, namely, white meat, which is least stimulating, together with a due quantity of the most nutri- tious vegetables. They may also partake of small portions of flesh- broth, thickened with sufficient bread, rice, &c. to render it more nourishing and less flatulent; but they ought to abstain from fat, and milk, unless the latter be given immediately after it is drawn from the cow. If solid food cannot be allowed, or if it irritate the stomach,recourse must be had to gelatinous aliment, such as eggs, nourishing soups, Sa- lop, barley broth, shell-fish, &c. which, if taken in small quantities, are exceedingly strengthening.... Persons of this description ought to accommodate their whole dress to the climate, and changes of the weather; they should at all times endeavour to procure a middle temperature between cold and heat; for instance, from 60 to 65° of Fahrenheit's scale. Woollen clothing is, in this respect, far pre- ferable to fur ; as the latter heats the body, and increases perspira- tion. Flannel, if worn next the skin, will preserve the human frame in a more equal temperature than is attainable by any other substance; and at the same time protect it from the hurtful influence of the two extremes. Individuals, in this state, require longer and less disturbed rest than those in perfect health and vigour. Labour and exercise, adapted to their habits and strength, will great- ly promote that desirable object; likewise the tepid bath ; a clean, and not too soft couch ; an airy, healthy, and capacious apartment; but particularly a calm and com- posed mind ; which last possesses a most powerful influence in pre- serving health and life ; for, with- out tranquillity, all other means will be ineffectual. For a more particular account of the causes, symptoms, and cure of debility, we must refer to Dr. Struve's ela- borate work, before mentioned, in which this subject is minutely dis- cussed. Decanter: See Bottle. DEClPPIERING,orDECYPHER- ing, the art, or act of discovering the alphabet of a cypher, or of explaining a letter written in cy- phers, or secret characters. Every language has peculiar rules of deciphering, which depend not only on the form of its characters, but also on the place, order, fre- quency, combination, and number of the letters. The importance of this science to politicians has long been acknowledged, and several ingenious philosophers of the 17th century, published profound trea- tises on this subject; but, as it would be deviating too widely from the avowed plan of this work, to enter into the theory of decipher- ing, we can only refer the curious, who desire farther information on this head, to the 12th vol. of the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1742, where they will find the art of de- ciphering deduced from principles, and explained by examples in se- veral languages. It deserves to be remarked, that there is extant, in the library of Oxford, a collection of letters written in cypher, about the time of Charles the Second, and decyphered by Dr. Wallis, the most eminent scholarthis coun- 324 DEE try ever produced, in that branch of mystical grammar. Mr. W. Wal- lis, a descendant of that learned divine (whose "Life and Sermons" he has lately published), is in the possession of another volume of DccypheredLetters,w\th their keys in various cyphers and characters ; the whole of which contains much information relative to the transac- tions of those times ; as the Doctor held the appointment of decypher- er to that suspicious king. DEED, an instrument written on paper or parchment, which re- lates principally to the conveyance, or transferring of property, and the validity of which consists in the following essential particulars..... 1. Proper parties to contract with one another, and a proper subject matter to be contracted for ; 2. A good and sufficient consideration ; 3. Writing on parchment, or pa- per, duly stamped ; 4. Sufficient and legal words, properly disposed; 5. Reading (if it be desired) before execution; 6. By stat. 29 Car. II. c. 3. in many cases signing also ; and, lastly, delivery, which must be done either by the party him- self, or by his attorney, lawfully- authorised, and expressed in the attestation. If any of these requi- sites be wanting, the deed is abso- lutely void, from the beginning. The preservation of deeds is an object that has ever engaged the attention of the lawyer and the an- tiquary : it is of still greater im- portance to those who hold estates or other tenements, in order to enable them to peruse such papers as have been kept for a series of years, and which, from moisture, or other causes, are almostillegible. To facilitate this desirable object, we select the following, as being the most simple of the many re- DEE cipes which have been recom- mended : Immerse the parchment obliterated by time, into a vessel of cold water, fresh drawn from a well: in the space of a minute, it should be taken out, and pressed between two blotting papers, to prevent it from shrivelling, while it is drying. As soan as it is mo- derately dry (if the characters be not legible), the operation should be repeated two or three times. Thus, the skin will resume its pris- tine colour, and appear through- out alike. DEER, the Fallow, Buck and Doe, or Cervus Dama, L. a well- known animal abounding in the forests and parks of this country. Deer are of various colours; be- ing reddish, deep brown, white, or spotted: they are easily tamed; and their flesh, which is called ve- nison, is in high esteem among epicures. It is an excellent ali- ment; but, to the very great detri- ment of health, venison is seldom eaten till it is half putrified, or (as connoisseurs in this important article express themselves) till it has a proper fumel ; though the flesh of this animal is naturally in- clined to putrescency. When pro- perly dressed, it affords a mellow food, and is easily assimilated to the human fluids : it ought always to be roasted or stewed, as it is otherwise apt to become dry and fibrous, from the constant motion of the deer, while alive. Hence, such food is of a heating nature ; and persons who are pre-disposed to the scurvy, or to other cuta- neous diseases, ought to abstain from it, especially during the sum- mer. Deer-skins have been long cele- brated for their softness and plia- bility ; and the manufacturing of DEF DEW 325 them into breeches and gloves, af- fords subsistence to a very numer- ous and industrious class of people. Beside their utility, as an article of food and clothing, several parts of the deer were, in superstitious times, often employed in medicine. Their blood, if drank immediately from the vein, (according to Doctor James, the inventor of the fever- powders), completely relieves gid- diness in the head : their gall is said to be detergent, to cure dimness of sight, and to remove films from the eyes ; the liver is recommended against diarrhoeas ; and their horns and suet are applied to the same purposes as those of the Stag, to which we refer. DEFORMITY generally signi- fies the want of that symmetry, and uniformity, which are necessary to constitute the beauty of an object; it is more particularly applied to the human frame. The chief cause of the personal deformity so frequent at present is the neglect of paying proper atten- tion to the clothing of infants, by which they are deprived of the free use of their limbs ; and thus in a great measure, rendered unservice- able to society. But, though de- formity may apparently be preju- dicial to health, it is ultimately a real advantage. Deformed persons, it is true, possess a less share of strength than others ; they should therefore be naturally more careful to preserve it, as well as their health ; which can be effected only by a strict adherence to temper- ance. This object will likewise be considerably facilitated by mode- rate exercise, which few, in such a situation, can want strength to perform ; and, as they are not cal- culated for violent exercise, they are consequently exempt from all the disorders arising from that source; and may thus attain a mature old age. For a further in- vestigation of this subject, we re- fer the reader to an ingenious es- say, intitled " Deformity," by Mr. Hay, in 8vo. published in the year 1753, and of which a new edition appeared a few years since, col- lectively with his other works, in two volumes, 4to. where it is amply discussed. DEW is a light, thin, and trans- parent vapour, slowly exhaling and ascending from the earth, in spring and summer mornings, while the sun is below the horizon, and then deposited on vegetables, in the form of small globules. Naturalists rank dew, in general, among the numbers of watery me- teors ; some, however, term it a liquefied vapour, precipitated in drops ; others, a vapour having a similar relation to frost, as rain has to snow, 8cc. It is admitted, that dew cannot fall before it rises; and that its origin and matter, no doubt, is from the vapours and ex- halations of the earth and water, as will be briefly stated under the article Evaporation. That dews are more copious in spring than in any other season, arises from the greater stock of vapour collected on the surface of the earth, and the previous small dissipation of it during the cold and frost of the winter. Hence the truth of Pliny's remark is evi- dent, that Egypt abounds in dews throughout the hot part of sum- mer : for as the air during the day is too hot to condense the vapours, they never form clouds, and con- sequently produce no rain ; thus, in climates where the days are ex- cessively hot, and the nights re- markably cold, the vapours, rising 326 DEW D I A before or after sunset, are readily converted into dew. In the more temperate climates, they ascend and fall in greater abundance after rain than after dry weather. There are some places in which dew is observed only to rise, but never to fall; and again others, in which it is carried upward in a more consi- derable proportion than downward, on account of the prevalence of winds by which it is dispersed. Many whimsical properties and effects have, by the chemist, been attributed to common dew; but we conceive that, in its physical nature, it differs very little from rain ; except, however, that the former is more subtle or penetrat- ing than the latter. Hence it will be found that the leather of shoes and boots is more thoroughly soak- ed by walking one hour in a dewy meadow, than by exposing them double that length of time to rain- water. See Leather. It is farther remarkable, that plants continually exhale dew through the orifices of their ves- sels, and that this moisture is not a vapour collected by their leaves, as has often been erroneously be- lieved. Each plant exhales this dew, according to the peculiar structure of its organs, and the situation of their orifices. Even shut up in vessels, and covered un- der glasses, plants have collected a greater quantity of dew during the night, than those standing in the open air. Of this nature, like- wise, is the oily or honey-dew, which is sometimes exhaled by trees, as well as herbs, during the summer, and which has been found to settle on the oak, ash, &c. May-dew, is that Avhich falls in the begining of summer, but especially in the month of May. It is of a yellowish colour, and many virtues are attributed to this liquid. It is principally used for whitening linen and wax ; which, if exposed to it, will gradually ac- quire a beautiful white. DEW-BORN, in animal eco- nomy, a distemper to which cattle are subject: it is a swelling, or dis- tention of the body, to such a de- gree, that the creatures affected are in danger of bursting. This malady is occasioned by turning them into rank pasture, or feeding them with watery grasses. When they are thus distended, they ought first to be driven, or moved about briskly, and then properly purged. Should this treatment not relieve them, blood-letting in the tail will be necessary ; after which the top of an egg should be broken off", and a sufficient quantity of white poured out to admit the powder of a nutmeg. These ingredients are to be well mixed, and the whole, together with the shell, forced down the throat of the ani- mal, which should then be gently walked about; and thus it will speedily recover. [DIABETES, a distressing dis- ease, and very difficult of cure..... The chief symptom, is a discharge of a very great quantity of limpid sweet urine. The thirst is great, skin parched, tongue white, and moist on its exterior surface, but reddish on the external edges, sa- liva white, and viscid. This disease is sometimes at- tended with fever of the inflamma- tory kind, in which case the usual remedies will be proper, as small bleedings, and low diet. But in general, it proceeds from a diseas- ed state of the stomach, and of the natural powers of digestion and assimilation The cure is perform- DI A ed by a regimen, and medicines preventing the formation of sugar, and diminishing the increased ac- tion of the stomach. Confinement and entire abstinence, from any species of vegetable matter, a diet solely of animal food, with emetics, hepatistd ammonia, narcotics, and occasionally the use of sulphur and caster oil, when requisite, compre- hend the practical means employed by Dr. Rollo, the latest writer on the disease. Dr. Richter says, he cured an alarming case, by emetics. As- tringents, as alum, and sugar of lead, (2 gr. three times a day) have been used with success in some cases proceeding from general de- bility.] Diabetes, in farriery, denotes a profuse staling of horses : it is generally occasioned by too violent exercise, or by over straining, &c. When this malady attacks old horses, or those of a weak consti- tution, it is seldom curable ; be- cause they rapidly lose their flesh and appetite, grow feeble, exhibit a staring coat, and ultimately perish. On the contrary, young horses, subject to this disease, may most- ly he cured by frequent blood-let- ting, in small quantities ; and the following decoction has often been administered with success. Take of Peruvian bark, 4 oz. ; Bistort and Tormentil-root, of each 2 oz.; boil these ingredients in two gal- lons of lime-water, till one half be evaporated : a pint of this liquor should be given three times a day; care being taken not to indulge the horse, cither with too much water, or moist food. [This disease in horses may easi- ly be distinguiscd from others of the kidneys, by attention to the fol- lowing symptoms ; the surface of D I A 327 the body is cold ; the coat rough ; loss of appetite ; a constant thirst; the animal often craving for water ; a frequent and copious discharge from the bladder, which is not truly urinous, but of a pale colour, and an insipid, or sweetish taste ; the pulse is weak and quick, attended with a gradual wasting of the flesh. If the disease be of a long standing, it is very difficult to cure. Warm mashes and clothing will be found of great service ; to which may be joined the following course of me- dicine : Take Peruvian bark in fine pow- der, 12 oz.; gentian in powder, 3 oz.; honey sufficient to form 16 balls. One of these balls may be given every morning ; and if required, the whole may be repeated. The horse should be gently exercised every day.] DIAMOND, a genus of silice- ous earths, and the hardest of all the stones hitherto discovered ; it is in general transparent, but is sometimes found of a rose-colour, or inclined to green, blue, yellow, or black. The most valuable diamonds are those of a complexion similar to that of a drop of water : their price also increases in proportion to the re- gularity of their form, and accord- ingly as they are free from spots, stains, flaws, specks, and cross veins. Diamonds are found chiefly in India and South America,whence they are brought to Europe in a rough state, in the form of round- ish pebbles with shining surfaces. There is, however, a kind of dia- monds, which are but little esteem- ed, found in various parts of Eu- rope, and also in this country, in the county of Cornwall, where they are called Cornish diamonds. These 328 D I A DI A may, with more propriety, be termed crystals ; they are found in digging the tin-mines of Cornwall, and are, in general, bright and clear, except towards the root, where they are coarse, and assume a whitish colour. It is remarkable thai genuine dia- monds, when exposed to the rays of the sun, attract light, which they again emit, and appear lumin- ous in the dark. The largest jew- el of this description, in the world, is at present in the royal treasury of Portugal: it is of an oval figure, measures about 4 inches by 3, weighs 1680 carats, or 12-1 ounces, and is valued at 224 millions ster- ling. Independently of the purposes to which the diamond is subservient as an ornament, especially in the dress of females, the smaller par- ticles of it have, since the 16th century, been employed for cutting glass ; and when reduced to an im- palpable powder, are very useful for polishing other precious stones, as well as for engraving on those which possess an inferior degree of hardness. For the valuation of diamonds of all weights, Mr. D. Jefferies, an ingenious jeweller, who published a treatise on diamonds and pearls, several years since, lays down the following rule : He first supposes the value of a rough diamond to be settled at 21. per carat, at a medi- um ; then, to find the value of dia- monds of greater weight, he directs to multiply the square of their weight by 2, and the product is the value required. On this principle, Mr. Jefferies has constructed ta- bles of the price of diamonds from 1 to 1000 carats, which the curi- ous reader will find in the work be- fore mentioned, of which a new edition appeared a few years since, in 8vb. price 12s. DIARRHOEA, or Looseness, is a frequent and copious evacua- tion of liquid excrement by stool. This malady is very common, being either a primary disease, or only a symptom or effect of another. In many cases it is a salutary effort of nature, and therefore should nev- erbe stopped, unless it continue too long, or evidently weaken the pa- tient. Infants, adults of tender and delicate constitutions, and those who are of acholeric, or a sanguine habit, are peculiarly liable to this disorder, which may be occasion- ed by too great a quantity of ali- mentbeing taken into the stomach; by the acrid or flatulent nature of the food ; by an impaired state of digestion ; by various passions of the mind; by diseases of other parts, or of the general system..... Many other causes might be enu- merated, but these will be sufficient to show the propriety of not at- tempting to adopt, in this instance, an uniform mode of treatment. Where looseness is occasioned by excess, or repletion, or from improper food,a gentle emetic may be safely administered, as it will not only cleanse the stomach, but promote all the secretions. The patient_ought then chiefly to live on light vegetable dishes, and to drink whey, thin gruel, or barley- water. If a diarrhoea be the con- sequence of violent passions, or affections of the mind, it requires to be treated with the utmost cau- tion. Very mild laxatives, some- times gentle opiates, and other an- tispasmodics, are in such cases the most proper; particular care ought to be taken, to restore cheerfulness, DIB DIB 329 and tranquillity of mind ; as, with- out this, medicines will be of little or no service. . Those persons, who, from pecu- liar weakness, or too great an ir- ritability of the bowels, are liable to periodical or frequent returns of this disease, ought to live with a constant regard to temperance, and avoid all crude summer fruit, and provision of difficult digestion..... They should, likewise, strictly guard against cold, moisture, or whatever may tend to obstruct per- spiration ; wear flannel next their skin ; and carefully avoid every inducement to the depressing pas- sions of fear, anger, &c. Nutritive drinks, such as broths, gruel, &c. with an addition of rice, or toasted bread, may be taken freely; but, beyond these, the patient should not venture without medical aid, unless he be able clearly to ascer- tain the cause on which his com- plaint depends. See Bile. DIBBLE, or Dibber, a simple but useful implement in gardening, for the purpose of settingout young plants, &c. Within these few years, it has been employed for dibbling wheat, and the whole process con- sists in making perpendicular holes an inch and a half or two inches deep, in the same manner as is usually done in planting potatoe- roots. These holes are made by a man who has a proper staff, shod with iron, in each hand ; and, as he walks backwards, is able, by looking at the part of the row al- ready formed, to keep nearly in a strait line, and to make two holes at once, about four inches distant from set to set in the rows. Two VOL. II. or more children attend him, and drop, two, three, or four seeds into every hole, which are aften^rrds covered bydrawingover them what is called a bush-harrow. This method is deservedly con- sidered one of the greatest im- provements in agriculture. It ap- pears to have originated from the planting of grain in a garden, from mere curiosity,by persons who nei- ther designed, nor had any oppor- tunity of extending it to a lucra- tive purpose. Nor was it attempt- ed on a larger scale, till an indus- trious farmer, in the vicinity of Norwich, began to dibble on less than an acre of land. The success of this experiment induced others to follow this example, and not- withstanding the ridicule they in- curred for adopting so singular a practice, their crops were not only larger, but likewise so much su- perior to those of others, that dib- bling has become the practice of every intelligent agriculturist in Norfolk, whence it has spread into several other counties. From a conclusive experiment made by the Rev. H. J. Close, of Trimley,near Ipswich, in the years 1783-4, it appears, that drilling, or dibbling, greatly exceeds the broad- cast husbandry, on the best cultiva- ted soils; and, besides the increased produce of grain, many other ad- vantages arise from the former me- thod. For instance, it employs a greater number of labourers, espe- cially women and children that cannot be serviceable to the com- mon mode of culture. Mr. Close employed the following frame for setting wheat: U u 330 DIB This implement is two feet two inches wide, and provided with se- ven tines; but Mr. C. has since experienced that a frame of simi- lar width, with five tines only,- is preferable to one of seven. The lands on which this method may be practised with the greatest advantage, are either those after a clover stubble, or where trefoil and grass-seed were sown in the spring before the last. These, after the usual manuring, are once turned over by the plough in an extended flag or turf, at ten inches wide, and the wheat is set in the manner already described. By this mode, three pecks of grain are sufficient for an acre ; which, being imme- diately buried, is equally secured against the depredations of vermin, or the power of frost. The regu- lar manner in which it rises, af- fords the best opportunity of keep- ing it clear from noxious plants, by weeding or hand-hoeing. Dibbling is peculiarly beneficial v hen corn is dear; and, if the season be fuourable, may be prac- tised with g"eat benefit, both to the public and the fe.r.ner : as it saves six pecks of see.i-wheat per acre ; arc, if generally adopted, would of itself ahbid bread for more than D IE half a million of people. It should, however, be observed, that in sea- sons when corn is sold at a low price, or the autumn unfavourable to the practice, it cannot be prac- tised with advantage. Thus, in light lands, a very dry season pre- vents dibbling, because the holes will be filled up as soon as the in- strument is withdrawn. In like manner, on strong and stiff clays, if it be very wet, the seeds in the holes cannot be properly covered by the bush-harrow. These two extremes, however, seldom hap- pen ; nor do they affect lands of a moderately consistent texture, or both light and heavy soils at the same time; so that they never pre- clude the general adoption of this useful and rational mode of saving seed-corn. DIET, in animal economy, a re- gimen or course of living, adapted both for the preservation of health, and its recovery, especially from chronical diseases. The dietetic treatment ought to be conformable to the different con- stitutions of individuals. Those whose solids are relaxed and weak, should avoid all tough or viscid food, and such as is difficult to be digest- ed. Their nutriment, however, ought to be substantial; and they should take frequent exercise in the open air. The plethoric, or those who abound with blood, can- not more effectually consult their health, than by the sparing use of whatever is in a high degree nou- rishing, as fat-meat, rich wines, strong ale, bcc. Their aliment should consist chiefly of bread, or other vegetables, and their drink of water, whey, or small beer..... See Corpulency. Persons of a lean habit ought to follow a course directly opposite to DIE DIE 331 that before suggested. Those who are troubled with acidity, should live chiefly on solid meat; and those afflicted with hot alkaline eructations, should principally use acid vegetables. Invalids subject to the gout, to low spirits, to hy- pochondriac, or hysteric disorders, should avoid all flatulent food, as also all salted, or smoke-dried pro- visions, and whatever is difficult of digestion, or apt to turn sour and rancid on the stomach. Their food should be light, spare, cool, and of an opening nature. Another important object to be considered, is the manner of life and age, together with the season and constitution. Those whose in- clination, business, or profession lead them to a sedentary life, ought to be more sparing as to the quanti- ty, and more attentive to the quality of their aliment, than others whose pursuits are widely different, or who are accustomed to take much exercise : the former ought parti- cularly to avoid the use of every thing that is sour, flatulent, rancid, and oppressive to the digestive or- gans. Persons liable to particular dis- eases, should be cautious in eating whatever tends to aggravate them. The gouty, for instance, should avoid drinking rich wines, strong soups, or acids. Those who are subject to the gravel, ought to shun all austere and astringent aliments: nor should the scorbutic indulge in animal food. The aliment in early life ought to be light, nourishing, and taken frequently, but in moderation : that of adults should be solid, and sufficiently tenacious ; the diet pro- per for those advanced in life, should resemble that of infancy.... At every period of life, gluttony ought to be sedulously avoided ; for not unlike too great abstinence, it destroys the powers of digestion; but the moderate repetition of ali- ment is necessary for restoring the continual Waste of the body. Diet ought also to be regulated according to the different seasons of the year ; because variations in the atmosphere produce corres- ponding changes in animal bodies. In consequence of the increased elasticity of the air, in the winter, the fibres are stronger, and better qualified for performing their vari- ous functions, and for digesting the stronger kinds of food. If there be no particular reason for the con- trary, generous wines, and whole- some ale, together with warm broths and infusions, may be then taken, to promote the insensible perspiration, which is in some de- gree checked ; as the cold air re- markably contracts the cutaneous pores. Some attention should also be paid to this circumstance, that the perspiration bear a due propor- tion to the liquid and solid nutri- ment consumed. In the spring, the quantity of food ought to be somewhat dimi- nished, and an additional allowance of the liquor usually drank, might be granted. In autumn, similar regulations are to be observed, as in the spring ; because the mois- ture and density of the air are near- ly the same, and the weather is equally variable ; so that perspira- tion is easily obstructed. During the summer, health may be most effectually preserved by vegetables, and diluent liquors. Considerable care should be taken to abstain from provisions that are heavy and difficult to be digested, but espe- cially from wine and brandy. The feeble and convalescent 332 DIE DI E ought to eat frequently, and but little at a time: the number of meals should be proportioned to the weakness of their frame : for it is far less hurtful to a debilitat- ed person, to eat a few mouthfuls every hour, than to make two or three hearty meals in one day : an exception, however, ought to be made with respect to those who are naturally of a delicate and irri- table constitution....See Food and Drink. Family-Diet. After the vari- ous and successful experiments made by Count Rumford, and others, who have written on do- mestic economy, little novelty can be expected in this article ; but as the present work might be consi- dered as incomplete, without some information on this important sub- ject, we have selected a few prac- tical hints which appear to merit particular attention. Dr. Lettsom has observed.... (" Hints designed to promote Bene- ficence, Temperance, and Medical Science," 8vo. 1797), that/we* are more advantageous than either roasted or boiled meat. This he illustrates by an account of a din- ner, where eight persons were com- pletely dined off a pye, consisting of 24 oz. of wheaten flour, 64 of mutton, and eaten with 8± oz. of bread ; weighing in the whole 961 oz. while 60 oz. of mutton roast- ed, and eaten with 33 oz. of bread, weighing in the whole 93 oun- ces, dined only five of the same persons. Milk pottage is far more whole- some than tea with bread and but- ter ; and, if made after the follow- ing manner, is in many respects preferable to milk alone. Let equal quantities of milk and water be boiled up with a little oatmel, which will break the viscidity of the milk, and be at the same time more easily digested than the latter in an undiluted state. Besides, oat- meal is a much warmer nourish- ment than wheaten flour, and agrees better with weak stomachs. Potatoes, if properly boiled, are an excellent and nutritious food, Particular care ought to be taken that they be good, and nearly all of the same size; the larger and small- er ones should, therefore, be boiled separately. They must be washed elean, without paring or scraping, and put into a pot with cold water, but not sufficient to cover them ; for their own juice will supply the apparent deficiency. If the roots be of a larger size, as soon as they begin to boil, some cold water should be poured in, and occasion- ally repeated, till they are boiled through to the centre : otherwise they will crack and burst on the outside, while the inside will re- main half raw. During the time of boiling, a little salt should be added, and the slower they are cooked, the better will be their fla- flour. As soon as potatoes are done, the water should be poured off, and the roots re-placed over the fire, in order that their moisture may evaporate, and they become dry and mealy ; in which state they may be served up, without being previously peeled. This method of boiling or stewing po- tatoes, is in every respect superior to that of steaming, as by the for- mer process they may be dressed in a shorter time, and will retain no moisture. Potatoes may be made into pud- dings, which will both prove an agreeable change of food, and be at the same time uncommonly nu- tritious. Dr. Lettsom directs 12 oz. of potatoes, boiled, skimmed, and mashed ; one oz. of suet, and DIE' DIG 333 an equal quantity of milk and cheese, to be mixed together with boiling water to a due consistence, and baked. An ounce of red-her- ring may be occasionally substituted for the cheese, and will give the pudding a flavour which is relished by many....See Potatoes. Barley-broth is a wholesome and nourishing dish; which, as it may be made with almost every kind of garden vegetable, is never out of season. Onions, leeks, and parsley, generally constitute part of the ingredients, to which may be added cabbage, or greens, tur- nips, carrots, and peas. These are to be mixed with 4 quarts of water, 4 pounds of beef with the bones, 4 oz. of common barley-meal, and stewed, together, for two hours, when the herbs may be added, be- ing previously cut small, and like- wise a small quantity of salt. The whole should then boil till it be ten- der, and the fat skimmed off or not, at pleasure. Onions or leeks should never be omitted. There is another article of do- mestic economy which is usually classed under the name of Pottage, for the making of which we have subjoined one or two recipes: 1. Take 31bs. of the sticking piece of beef, a part of the shin, or any coarse piece. Boil it in eleven quarts of water for two hours; then add a pound of Scotch barley, and boil it four hours longer, when 6lbs. of potatoes may be added, and half a pound of onions, together with a small proportion of thyme, pep- per, and salt. With these may be mixed other vegetables, and half a pound of bacon cut into small pieces. The whole should be boil- ed over a slow fire, that it may acquire a proper consistence. It will yield three gallons of excel- lent and nutritious pottage, and has been found amply sufficient for twenty soldiers, without bread; the nature of the food not requiring any. The expense of this was a few years ago about 2d. per head; but, at the present advanced price of provisions, would at least be dou- ble. 2. Take of beef 1 pound, pota- toes 21bs. Scotch barley, one-third lb. a similar quantity of onions, to- gether with a small proportion of salt and pepper, and 3 oz. of bacon. The whole expense of these ingre- dients will be about 18d. Let them be well boiled in a due quantity of water, and they will afford nutri- ment sufficient to dine and sup three persons, without requiring either bread or beer. Messes, or pottages like these, are doubtless far preferable to the common dishes, consisting of fat bacon and cabbage, with which a considerable quantity of bread and beer are always consumed. We, therefore, seriously recommend the adoption of such or similar mea- sures of prudent frugality, to all classes of society, especially at the present period, when all the neces- saries of life have, partly from real, and partly from artificial scarcity^ been raised to an exorbitant price. Those benevolent minds who feel an interest in this useful enquiry, we are obliged to refer to the " Report of the Society for increas- ing the comforts, and bettering the condition of the Poor," where they will find the subject minutely dis- cussed, and many gross though common, errors in domestic eco- nomy ably exposed. DIGESTER, an instrument servingto dissolve solidanimal sub- stances, in a manner similar to that performed by the stomach. This 334 DIG DIG vessel was invented by Papin : after putting meat into it, together with a sufficient quantity of water, a lid is closely screwed on, so as to admit no external air. By a mo- derate fire, the meat will, in the course of six or eight minutes, be reduced to a perfect pulp : by aug- menting the heat of the fire, or ex- tending the time of digestion, the hardest bones may be converted into a pulp or jelly. This effect is produced by the most perfect clo- sure of the vessel, which prevents the access or escape of air, so that the reverberations occasioned by the expansion of the aerial fluid, dissolve the whole into an uniform body, and mix the aqueous, saline, oleaginous, and other particles so strongly together, that they can- not be easily separated; but, while hot, appear one liquor, and, when cold, form a jelly, of a strength proportionate to the quantity of flesh or bones dissolved in the water. This useful instrument has not been hitherto applied to culinary purposes; though within the last two years an imperfect imitation of it has been vended in the shops; and we state with satisfaction, that even the latter is incomparably more economical than the various kinds of stew-pans formerly em- ployed. Cast-iron digesters are now manufactured, of various sizes and prices. We understand that the most complete articles of this description may be had of Messrs. Jackson and Moser, Dean-street, Soho ; or of Mr. Downer, Fleet- street, London; both of whom have, we believe, obtained patents for their improvements in this va- luable culinary utensil. DIGESTION, in animal eco- nomy, signifies the dissolution of food taken into the stomach, in order to supply the continual loss sustained by perspiration, the dif- ferent functions, or by exercise. As soon as the food is taken into the mouth, it is first broken and divided by the teeth, being at the same time moistened with a liquor supplied by the salival glands, and consequently formed into a kind of paste. Thus prepared, it passes into the stomach to ferment; a process which is effected, 1. By the salival and gastric juices, which have an effect on aliment similar to that of leaven, or yeast, on dough ; 2. By the vital heat of the stomach and viscera of the abdo- men ; 3. By the remains of food, which adhere to the folds of the stomach, and there become acid and acrimonious ; 4. By the agita- tion arising from the pressure of the abdomen, and the continual pulsation of the contiguous blood- vessels ; 5. By the liquor which the repeated compression of those muscles causes to be discharged from the glands of the stomach : and, lastly, by air itself, which be- ing mixed with alimentary matter, dilates by the heat of the stomach, and separates the particles of food, which, from the concurrence of these causes, are converted into chyle. From the stomach, the chyle descends into the intestines, where it incorporates with the blood; which, by its volatile nature, toge- ther with the saline and nitrous parts of the air, subtilizes the ali- ment, and perfects its digestion. These powers, however, are fre- quently impeded, or weakened, from a variety of causes, too mi- nute to be specified here, but which will be occasionally mentioned in D IN their alphabetical series. See In- digestion. [Digitalis.^ See Fox-glove.] DIMNESS of sight, in far- riery, a disorder in horses proceed- ing from blood-shotten eyes. If the eye-ball be sound, a cure may be effected by keeping the horse warm, with a linen hood fitted to his head, and by anointing his eyes twice a-day with a composition of sugar-candy, honey, and white rose- water. In two or three days, the eyes will be well; after which the creature should be blooded. In the progress of this malady, blis- ters generally rise on the eye, which it would be dangerous to touch, as they will gradually dis- appear on the recovery of the ani- mal. See Sight. DINNER, a very significant term in domestic economy, as it ex- presses the principal meal, or that which should be eaten about the middle of the day. Although most nations which aspire to civilization, have adopted the custom of taking meals at cer- tain hours of the day, and espe- cially the dinner, yet such practice does not appear to be consonant with the just principles of animal economy, or with a critical regard to health. In the present artificial state of society, however, it would probably be attended with many inconveniences, to infringe upon the established order; and to resort to the table, only when we are in- duced to take food, in consequence of the craving of a natural appetite. But those who are, in any degree, acquainted with the structure of the digestive organs, will readily agree with us, that the activity of the stomach, in healthy individuals, is never totally suspended, either du- ring profound sleep, or the most DIR 335 * intense application to study. And as the whole process of digestion and assimilation is, according to the most attentive observers, per- formed in about four hours, if the stomach has not been unnaturally distended by superfluous food, it follows, that it is contrary to the order of nature, to swallow a larger quantity of provisions, at one meal than we are able to digest during that time. On the other hand, it will be objected, that the plan, of a more regular divisions of meals could not, without difficulty, be adopted by those who have been insensibly ac- customed to take such portions of food as serves them for the support of the whole, or greater part of the day. This frivolous argument, however, will not influence the de- termination of judicious persons, who value their health, and abhor gluttony. Hence we venture to recommend to those who are dis- posed to habits of temperance and frugality, but especially to the in- valid and convalescent, instead of eating one hearty dinner in twenty- four hours, to divide the whole into three ovfour moderate meals, to be taken at intervals of four or five hours :....this arrangement will be more consistent with the rules of Nature and of Reason. [DIRCA PALUSTRIS, Lea- wood. This is a low shrub, and native of the United States, growing in moist shady places, seldom rising more than four feet high, spreading into a head, with many small and very flexible branches. The flow- ers are produced at the extreme ends of the former years' shoots; they are of an herbaceous colour, and make a tolerable appearance. The flowers, which appear in the 336 D I S DIS latter end of March, before any perfect leaves, are of a yellow co- lour. The bark is uncommonly tough, yet the enclosed wood is very brittle. It was highly valued by the Native Indians, and used in the place of cords. This plant, according to the information of Mr. W. Bartram, occupies an extensive range of territory, from Canada to Georgia.] DISCOUNT, in commerce, a term employed by traders, mer- chants, and bankers; especially by the two former, when they pur- chase commodities on the usual time of credit, and on condition that the seller allow the buyer a certain discount at the rate of so much per cent, per annum, for the time dur- ing which credit is generally given; provided the buyer pay ready mo- ney for such commodities, instead of taking the usual time of credit. Traders and merchants, also who frequently take promissory notes for money due and payable to them or to their order at a cer- tain date, and who sometimes have occasion for the money before the time elapses, procure these notes to be discounted by bankers before the time of payment, so that the latter deduct the interest which will become due by the time such notes are payable. Bills of exchange arc discounted by bankers on similar terms; which indeed constitute a considerable article of the profits of banking.....See Interest. DISEASE, is that condition of the body, in which it has declined from a state of health, so that its different functions are either great- ly impeded, or performed with dif- ficulty. Of all organized creatures, man is subject to the greatest diversity of diseases : some impairing only the use of the part immediately affected; for instance, the palsy, gout, rheumatism, &c.; others dis- ordering the whole body, such as fever, apoplexy, &c.; again, others disturbing the mind, as delirium, melancholy,and the like; and last- ly, some attack both mind and bo- dy, such as frenzy, accompanied with fever. Without perplexing the reader with conjectures on the origin and propagation of diseases, we may observe, that in proportion as men associate together in large and po- pulous places, their manners and habits become more refined; while they gradually degenerate in bodily strength, and energy of mind, so that they are less capable of resist- ing the noxious agency of the ele- ments, and other external powers. This progress towards refinement is always attended with an increase of luxury, the painful effects of which are sooner or later experi- enced by its votaries. Luxury, in- deed, has also afforded the means of lessening the sudden influence of cold, heat, rain, moisture, and other external causes; for we can occasionally guard against their se- verity ; but, on their next return, we are liable to be acted upon with additional vehemence. To this state of things we owe the intro- duction of many articles, both of food and dress, the consequences of which too frequently prove to be injurious to our bodily welfare. Thus it may be safely affirmed, that the number and variety of diseases,in a great measure depend upon the prevailing refinements in the extensive department of luxury. The passions are another fruitful source of disorders. Man is per- haps more violently attacked, and more obstinately governed, by DIS D I S 337 them than any other creature. These emotions variously affect the human body : the most hurtful and oppressive of them, however, are terror and grief; the former in particular is often attended with the most fatal effects. The reme- dies to which we resort during the prevalence of passion, too fre- quently lay the foundation of lin- gering disorders, both mental and corporeal, in which medicine can afford but precarious relief. The last source of diseases to which we shall allude, is a variety of specific contagions ; the greater part of which is probably generated in the atmosphere. Such is parti- cularly the case with respect to air that is vitiated by putrid, marshy, or noxious vapours, and by the un- wholesome effluvia of various ma- nufacturing processes, especially those of combustion, fermentation, and putrefaction. Lastly, there is another and very numerous class of contagious maladies, that per- petually migrate from one indivi- dual to another, such as the small- pox, measles, hooping-cough, in- fluenza, putrid fevers, &c. of which we shall treat in their alphabetical places....See also Contagion and Infection. Every disease weakens the di- gestive powers. The diet ought therefore in all cases to be light and easy of digestion. Paying due attention to this circumstance alone, without having recourse to those pernicious nostrums and pretended specifics, now in general circula- tion, will in a very great measure contribute to the recovery of the patient. Medicines are doubtless of considerable utility, when pro- perly and opportunely administer- ed ; but an indiscriminate use of VOL. II. drugs (such as prevails among the ignorant and fanciful), cannot fail to be productive of the worst con- sequences....See Chronical Dis- eases. Diseases of Plants are di- vided by Tournefort into the fol- lowing classes : 1. Those which arise from too great an abundance of sap ; 2. From having too little; 3. From its bad qualities; 4. From its unequal distribution ; and 5. From external accidents. An abundance of sap causes plants to vegetate so luxuriantly, that they seldom arrive at the re- quisitedegreeofperfection. Wheat is in some climats subject to a dis- ease of this nature, in consequence of excessive vegetation, without producing ripe grain. Such a de- fect may likewise be artificially in- duced, by planting any species of corn in too rich a soil : too much rain will be attended with a similar effect. When a vegetable is sup- plied too abundantly with juices, it is very apt to rot; one part of it overshadowing the other so as to prevent the access of fresh air, for want of which it prematurely un- dergoes putrefaction. In grasses, however, (fescue excepted), or in any herbaceous plant, too great luxuriance, so far from being a dis- ease, is a very desirable property. According to Dr. Home (" Prin- ciples of Agriculture and Vegeta- tion ") dung is a great preventive of diseases, arising from abundant moisture. The want of nourish- ment in plants may be easily ascer- tained by their decay : in which case the only remedy is, to remove from their vicinity such vegetables (and particularly weeds), as im- pede the growth of those we are desirous to cultivate. X x 338 DI5 DIS The bad qualities, or unequal distribution of the juices of plants, occasion but few diseases which affect vegetables in this country, so that they are principally liable to external accidents, especially to the depredations of insects, such as snails, caterpillars, grubs and flies, to which we refer. See also Beetle, Chafer, Crab, and Corn-Butterfly. The diseases which our garden- ers chiefly observe, are : 1. Barrenness; when the tree, though apparently fresh and heal- thy, bears no blossoms ; or, if it produce any, they soon fall; or, should they set, the fruit drops, be- fore it arrives at maturity. 2. Blasting of the buds, occasi- oned by a frost happening while the leaves and blossoms are wet; in consequence of which the pores are contracted, and the vital juices obstructed : thus, if the sun begins to shine suddenly, they turn yel- low, producing round fiery specks, whence frequently proceed tumors somewhat similar to warts, which rot, and generate maggots. Mr. Mortimer adds, that the want of rain, during the blossoming lime, often dispose the blossoms to drop, from a deficiency of sap ; to pre- vent which, he recommends fre- quent watering. 3. Blight; 4. Mildew ; 5. Moss; to which articles we refer. 6. Rotten roots; an incurable disease, occasioned by setting the plants too deep. 7. A kind of mildew arising from a thick fog, or too abundant dew ; which, however, affects the plaius only in a slight degree. 8. Falling of the leaves, caused by the trees sprouting too early, or when they are attacked by too sudden heat or cold. 9. The Scurf or Leprosy, a dis- ease which is confined to the bark, and is produced by excessive dila- tation of the pores, through which too great a proportion of perspir- able matter exudes ; so that by ad- hering to, and hardening on the bark, it causes the latter to chap and crack, while it obstructs all perspiration. Thus, the viscous rind or skin, furnishes a secure re- treat for vermin, which live both on the bark and on the tree. To these various diseases should be added the injury done to trees by deer, hares, and rabbits, bark- ing them. The best defence against the first of those animals, is to pale them round, or to paint the lower part of the tree; but the former method is preferable. Hares and rabbits may be kept off by tying bands of straw round the trunk of every tree, as far as they can reach. Some persons make use of a com- position of tar and lime, which cer- tainly is not less injurious to the growth of irees than the depreda- tions of hares or rabbits. In ge- neral, where any defence is requi- site, straw-bands afford a tolerable security. DISTEMPER is frequently used in the same sense as disease, but is particularly applicable to cattle.... This term implies a species of con- tagious fever, attended with an in- flammation, which is succeeded by a gangrene in the lungs, liver, or intestines. It is always preceded by a shivering and trembling of the limbs, which are followed by va- rious febrile symptoms, such as difficulty of breathing, a sinking in the flanks, and a dryness on the tongue, together with a loathing of the usual food and drink, great D I S D I S 339 heaviness and debility. Animals affected with the distemper, fre- quently shed tears ; their eyes ap- pear sometimes sparkling and in- flamed, but at intervals dull and languid. Their food remains crude in the stomach for several days after it has been eaten, from the,ir inability to digest it. This contagion spread most ra- pidly in the early part, and about the middle of last century, over several provinces in France,whence it reached this country, and de- stroyed great numbers of cattle.... Variouscauses of this malady have been assigned, but that most gene- rally admitted, is the turning of cattle into rank grass, especially after heavy and frequent showers. Different remedies were then adopted, the best of Avhich appears to be bleeding the infected animal in the earlier stagesof thedisorder; and the internal use of the Peruvian bark and red wine ; or, if these should fail to procure relief, a mix- ture of that drug and of burdock, about half an ounce of each, pul- verized, may be given twice night- ly, for two or three succeeding nights, in warm water, which will seldom fail of effecting a cure.... Tar-water; consisting of one quart of tar and four of water, has like- wise been administered with con- siderable success, in the proportion of three quarts or a gallon, accord- ing to the size of the animal. Such a dose ought to be given four times every day, but should be gradually lessened, so that the infected crea- ture never receives less than three pints, or two quarts. At the same time it should be carefully housed every night, for several weeks, and the tar-water worked off with warm gruel and malt-mash. When the pasture is very exu- berant, it will be necessary to give purgatives to cattle, especially to cows ; as such precaution will most effectually prevent the spreading of this fatal disorder. Hence a correspondent in the Gent. Mig. for 1745, judiciously advises large draughts of butter-milk to be al- lowed, till they are sufficiently purged. Should, unfortunately, the dis- temper at any future time become so prevalent as it was in the last century, we would recommend the followingdirections(extrac'.edfrom the 358th No. of the Philosophical Tansactions. for 1714) to be strict- ly attended to : 1. Those cow- keepers, whose cattle are well, ought not to approach any cows that are sick, nor permit any per- son who has been with sick cows, to come in contact with their own. 2. That not more than ten or twelve cows be kept in a field to- gether (or a still smaller number, if possible) ; it having been found by experience, that where the dis- ease prevailed among herds of se- veral hundreds, very few escaped. 3. When a cow-keeper perceives any one of his cows to be infected he ought to kill her immediately, before the disease can arrive at any height; such being the only means of preserving the others. 4. All those cows which have been so killed, or happen to die of the dis- ease, ought to be immediately bu- ried with their hides, entirely co- vered with quick-lime, and after- wards with earth, not less than six feet deep. 5. The milking-places and hells where such sick cows have stood or grazed, should be kept clear for two months (or till they have;been sufficiently cleansed by rain) before any other cat' !e be, suffered to stand or graze there, 340 D I S 6. The house in which those cows have been kept,ought to be washed very clean, and then smoked, by burning pitch, tar, or wormwood; and to be shut up for three months, at least, before any other cows are housed in them : and 7. That the same method be taken with calves, oxen, and bulls. See also Mur- rain. DISTILLING, or Distilla- tion, the art of separating or draw- ing off the spirituous, watery, oily, or saline particles of a mashed body from the grosser and more earthy parts, by the aid of fire ; then col- lecting and condensing them by the application of cold. This process is generally per- formed by means of heat raised to a greater or less degree, as circum- stances may require. The fire is either applied immediately to the vessels in which the substances are to be distilled, or mediately, by means of water, sand, iron-filings, &c. The method of distilling at pre- sent uniformly adopted, is that by ascent, or raising the spirit above the fire ; which again is called ei- ther right or oblique. The former process is managed with a common alembic, in which the liquor is raised, and then descends or drops into a receiver. This is chiefly used when the nature and consist- ence of the mash is such, as to ad- mit of a direct ascent; for instance, in vegetables. Obliijue distillation is performed laterally, and in crooked vessels, termed retorts. It is employed in distilling those more solid bodies, the particles of which are too heavy to be raised to the top of a common still, or alembic ; of this description are salts, and fossils in geneial. D IS With respect to the practical part of distilling or refining, we shall first observe, that the heat should in all cases be as gentle and uniform as possible. Accidents may be ef- fectually prevented by employing a worm of a proper width, and by rectifying spirits in a water-bath ; which, if sufficiently large, will perform the operation with all the dispatch requisite for the most ex- tensive business. The vessel in which the rectification is effected, ought to be immersed in another filled with water up to the neck, and loaded with lead at the bottom, in order to keep it firm and steady. The process will thus be managed as expeditiously as if the vessel were placed over an open fire, and without the apprehension of being disappointed ; nor will it be neces- sary at any time to raise the water in the bath to a boiling heat. [To obtain spirit from ferment- ed liquor is the business of the distiller; but to refine and purify it belongs to the rectifyer. The se- cond operation is so dependant on the first, that unless the distillation be carefully conducted, the rectifi- cation will be rendered both tedious and difficult. The art of distilling malt spirit may be reduced to the following principles. 1. To obtain spirit free from the oil of malt. 2. To raise the vapours in the most economical manner. 3. To condense them as speedily as possible ; and 4. To prevent empyreuma. The first may be clone by mix- ing a small quantity of sulphuric acid with the wash ; and the re- maining three by a proper con- struction of the still, and the neces- sary care in distillation. The still should be so construct- ed as to be capable of containing a DIS D I S 341 column of fermentable matter, con- siderably broader than high, to pre- vent the liquor at the bottom from being burnt before the upper part is heated. The top should be as wide as the bottom, to give the va- pours free and complete liberty to escape. By the common construc- tion of the stills, they are inces- santly returned into the boiler, es- pecially at the commencement of the process. Various contrivances have been adopted by the distillers to prevent the wash from burning in the still. Mr. Anderson's apparatus an- swers this purpose effectually. Rectification is simple and easy, provided the previous operations have been well managed; but if an empyreuma has been contracted in the still, or the foetid oil has been combined with the spirit, then it becomes more difficult. On the contrary, if these have been avoid- ed, nothing more is necessary than to mix the spirit with an equal quantity of pure water, and recom- mit it to distillation, when it will come over pure. When the liquor has been burnt in the still, it ought to be kept, for some weeks, in charred vessels: and a quantity of charcoal should be mixed with the spirit and water, previously to the distillation. This will, generally, be found a sufficient remedy for empyreuma, but will not correct the disagreeable flavour communicated from the admixture of the fcetid oil. Many substances have been used for this purpose, none of which, I think, are fully adequate to the end proposed. Filtration has been recommend- ed, but the oil is so intimately mix- ed with the spirit that a consider- able quantity will pass through the filter. The operationis also tedious, and some of the spirit evaporates during the process. Alkaline salts are frequently mixed with the spi- rit, previously to rectification, such as thecarbonat of pot-ash, but more frequently the carbonat of soda. They, however, are both liable to considerable objections, when un- assisted by any other substance ; for, although they combine with the oil, and, in some degree, pre- vent its rising in vapours yet they communicate an urinous flavour to thespirit,which is highly injurious. Neutral salts, quick-lime, calcined bones, and chalk, are equally liable to objection, as they do not effec- tually deprive the spirit of the oil which it hold in solution, and an improper flavour is also contracted from them. Of the accidents that too often hap- pen in performing the process of distillation. Among the accidents which fre- quently happen in distilling, the least of all is for the operation to miscarry, and the ingredients to be lost. And this being a subject of the greatest importance, we shall treat it with all possible accuracy. All accidents areoccasioned by fire their primary cause ; by want of attention they get too much head, and fear often suffers them to be- come irremediable. The first accident which may happen by the fire, is when a dis- tiller, by too great a heat, causes the ingredients to be burnt at the bottom of the still; by this means his liquor is spoiled by an empy- reumatic taste, and the tin is melt- ed off from the alembic. An em- pyreuma resembles the smell of burnt tobacco, and is produced in liquors by too great a degree of heat. To illustrate this, distil any huit, flowcrsjor aromatic whatever, 342 D I S DIS but especially something whose smell is very volatile, draw off on- ly the best, unlute the alembic, and what remains in the still will be found to have a very disagree- able smell; whence it follows that if a little more had been drawn off, it would have spoiled what was be- fore obtained. If the fire be too violent, the ex- traordinary ebullition of the con- tents causes them to ascend into the head ; and, if a glass alembic, they fall ignited into the recipient; the heat breaks it, the spirits are dissipated, and often take fire from the heat of the furnace. If the fire be too strong, the bot- tom of the still becomes red hot, the materials inflamed, and conse- sequently the fire reaches the re- cipient. When an earthen alembic is used, the closest attention is re- quisite to keep the fire from burn- ing the materials at the bottom.... The head, which is always of glass, bursts, and the spirits are spilt, and often catch fire. And the remedy becomes the more difficult,as earth retains the fire much longer than a common alembic. If the alembic be not firmly fix- ed, it is soon put out of order, falls down and unlutes itself; thus the liquor is spilt, and the vapour sets the spirits on fire. If all the joints be not carefully luted, the spirits at their first effort issue through the least aperture, run into the fire, which is propa- gated into the alembic by the va- pour. In distillations where the phlegm ascends first, its humidity pene- trates the lute, and loosens it; so that when the spirituous vapours ascend, they are exposed to the same accident. Lastly, when the recipient is un- fitted, especially if near full, with- out the greatest circumspection the spirits will be spilt and so catch fire. Hitherto, I have only given a simple account of what daily hap- pens to distillers : but the conse- quences of these accidents are in- finitely more terrible than the ac- cidents themselves ; for an artist to lose his time, his labour, and goods, is rro small matter; but it follows from what we have premis- ed, that both his life and fortune are in danger from these conflagra- tions. Instances of theTormer are too common, as well as those of the latter relating to the danger to which the operator is exposed. They are evident, and I have seen very lately, three instances suffici- ent to intimidate themostsanguine. The spirits catch, the alembic and recipient fly, and the inflamed va- pour becomes present death to all who breath it. The rectifiers who perform the most dangerous operations of dis- tillery, are particularly exposed to these terrible accidents ; the fine- ness of the spirit, at the same time that it renders it more inflammable, also causes the fire to spread with the greater rapidity. And when their store houses are once on fire, they are seldom or never saved. To prevent accidents two things especially must be known, and ad- verted to. 1. The knowledge of the fire, which depends on the fuel, whether wood or coal. 2 The manner of luting, so as to prevent the vapours from escap- ing through it, and by that means of setting the whole on fire. It is evident that the larger the alembic, the more fire is necessary. DIS DIS 343 What has not been digested, also requires more fire than th.at which has been prepared by that opera- tion. Spices require a stronger fire than flowers ; a distillation of simple waters ; more than that of spirituous liquors. The surest way of ascertaining the necessary degree of fire is, to regulate it by the materials, as they are more or less disposed to yield them spirits, &c. and this is done as follows. The operator must not leave the alembic, but atten- tively listen to what passes within, when the fire begins to heat it.... When the ebullition becomes too vehement, the fire must be lessen- ed, either by taking out some of the fuel, or covering it with ashes or sand. It requires a long experience in the several cases, before a distiller can acquire a competent knowledge in this important point. Nor is it possible to determine the degree of fi re from the quantity of fuel; judg- ment, assisted by experience, must supply this defect. Every thing being determined with regard to the degree of fire, we shall now proceed to explain the method of luting alembics. By the term luting an alembic, we mean, the closing the joints through which the spirits might transpire. Lute is a composition of com- mon ashes, well sifted, and soaked in water; clay, and a kind of paste made of meal or starch, are also used for this purpose; which, as I before observed, is to close all the joints, he. in order to confine the spirits from transpiring. Good luting is one of the surest methods for preventing accidents. An alembic, where all transpira- tion is prevented, having nothing to fear but the too great fierceness of the fire ; and that may be regu- lated by the rules already laid down. The refrigerating alembic is mostly used. The body and the head are joined to each other ; but notwithstanding the greatest care be taken in luting the juncture, there will still be some impercepti- ble interstice for transpiration; and the least being of the greatest con- sequence, a piece of strong paper should be pasted over the joint, and the alembic never left, till the spi- rits begin to flow into the receiver, in order to apply fresh paper, if the former should contract any moisture. The master himself should carefully attend to this, and whatever precautions may have previously been used, the eye must be constantly upon it. The alembic, when vinous spirits are distilled, should be luted, with clay, carefully spread round the junctures, in order to prevent all transpiration; because the con- sequences here are terrible ; for when the fire catches a large quan- tity, it is often irremediable. Be- sides,as this earth cracks in drying, it must be often moistened, and fresh applied, on the first appear- ance of any occasion for it. The retort is also luted with clay ; but as glass retorts are also used, they are often coated with the same clay, to prevent their melting by the intenseness of the fire. Lastly, the earthen and glass alembics are luted with paper and paste as above. Having thus ex- plained the great consequence cf circumspection with regard to luting, and the degree of fire, we 344 D I S DIS shall now proceed to the third me- thod of preventing them. Of the remedies for accidents, whenever they happen : The most essential, are courage and presence of mind ; fear only encreasing the misfortune. 1st. If the fire be too violent it must be covered, but not so as to- tally to prevent its action, as by that means theprocess of the distil- lation would be interrupted, and render it more difficult and less perfect. 2d. When the ingredients burn, which you will soon discover by the smell, the fire must be im- mediately put out, in order to pre- vent the whole charge of the still being entirely spoiled, which would otherwise inevitably be the conse- quence. 3d. If the spirits should catch fire, the first care is to unlute im- mediately the receiver, and stop both the end of the beak and the mouth of the receiver with wet cloths. The fire must then be put out, and if the flame issued through the luting, the joints must be closed with a wet cloth, which together with water, should never be want- ing in a distil-house. * 4th. If tlie alembic be of earth, and the contents bum at the bot- tom, the fire must be immediately put out, the alembic removed, and water thrown upon it, till the dan- ger is over; and for farther secu- rity covered with a wet cloth. 5th. If after your care in clos- ing the junctures to prevent trans- piration, you perceive any thing amiss, while the spirits are ascend- ing, apply clay, or any other com- position, in order to stop the aper- ture, and have always a wet cloth ready to stifle the flame, if the spirits should take fire. 6th. If the heat detaches the lute, or it becomes moist, immedi- ately apply another, having always ready what is necessary for per- forming it. Should the transpira- tion be so violent, that you cannot immediately apply a fresh lute, clap a wet cloth round the joint and keep it on firm and tight, till the spirits have taken their course. But if notwithstanding all your efforts the transpiration should in- crease, so that you fear a confla- gration, remove the receiver as soon as possible from the fire, and afterwards your alembic, if porta- ble ; but if otherwise, put out the fire immediately. 7th. The charge being worked off, be cautiousjn unluting the re- ceiver, that nothing be spilt on the furnace, and carry it to some dis- tance from it, that the spirits ex- haling may not take fire. 8th. Lastly observe,that whenever a remedy is required, there must be no candle used ; for the spiri- tuous vapours easily take fire, and propagate the flame to the vessels from whence they issue. All that has hitherto been said, concerns only the management of the alembic ; but what remains, is still more interesting, and relates to those who work it, that they may not by conquering the acci- dent, destroy themselves. On discovering any of the above accidents, when the flame has not yet reached the spirits, let the re- medies already mentioned be ap- plied, either with regard to the lute, or the violence of the fire. ....But if the flame has reached the alembic, the following precau- tions are to be used. DIS DIS 345 The operator must not approach the alembic without a wet cloth over his mouth and nostrils, it be- ing immediate death to inhale the inflamed vapour. In hastening to stop any acci- dent be careful to approach the side opposite to that whither the air impels the flame ; for, without this precaution, you would be in- volved in it, and could not without the utmost difficulty, extricate yourself from it. If, notwithstanding this precau- tion, the eddy of the air should force the flame to your side, quit the place immediately, and do not return till its direction be changed, always taking care to have a wet linen cloth before your nose and mouth ; and keep yourself on the side opposite to the direction of the flame: and also to have another such cloth, in order to smother the flame, and close the crevice through which the spirits issue. Should it be your misfortune to be" covered with inflamed spirits, wrap yourself in a wet sheet,which should always be ready for that purpose. Self-preservation is of too great importance, that any of these precautions should be omit- ted in such variety of dangers. If the fire has acquired such a head that it cannot be stopt, the re- ceiver must be broke,and the alem- bic, if portable, thrown down ; but no person must be suffered to go near them, especially those who are strangers to the business. In a desperate case, like that of a large quantity of rectified spirit taking fire, if time permit, the communication of the beak of the alembic, with the recipient, which is usually a cask, must be cut off, by closely stopping the bung; and vol. u. be sure no candle come near the receiver, leaving the rest, as the danger would be too great to ex- pose one's self to the flames of a large charge, and the distiller's safety should be principally consi- dered.] A patent was granted in July, 1773, to Mr. Tho. Dan forth, of Charlestown, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, for his invent tion of a method of condensing the vapour arising in distillation: as the term of his privilege is now expired, we insert the following particulars. The whole improve- ment consists in making the worm- vessel, or that containing the wa- ter to cool the worm, or vessel which receives the steam or vapour to be condensed (whether the steam-vessel be a worm,strait tube, or of any other form), so that it may act in a manner similar to a syphon or crane ; and, upon the same prin- ciples, by making it air-tight; ex- cepting a communication by a tube or part of the vessel itself, with the water that supplies it, and an aperture from a tube or part of the vessel, below the horizontal level of the surface in the reservoir where it first enters ; in order that the water may escape in the same proportion of time and quantity, as it flows into the vessel in the reser- voir. Another patent was obtained, in February 1797, by Mr. John Fal- coner Atlee, of Wandsworth, Surrey, distiller, for his invention of an improved method of condens- ing and cooling spirits in the pro- cess of distillation, by means of machinery not hitherto used for that purpose ; but as this compli- cated process does not relate imme- diately to domestic economy, we Yy 346 D I S refer the reader to the 7th vol. of the Repertory of Arts and Manu- factures. [Of the many patents for im- provements in distilling, which have been granted to ingenious men within a few years, both in Europe and America, none have been more deservedly obtained than that obtained by A. Ander- son,Esq. formerly of Philapelphia, but at present residing at Lamber- ton, New-Jersey. Mr. A's patent is taken out in general terms, " for making use of steam arising in distillation, for heating wash or any subjec. to be distilled, by means of a condensing tub in which the wash is so placed as to receive the whole heat of the steam, the wash at the same time condensing the steam." The process saves wood and labour in the proportion of 3 to 1 of the common stills. At the works of Messrs. Anderson and Hall, Lamberton, two stills are in opera- tion, of 110 gallons each, each of which charged with 90 gallons is run off twelve times in 24 hours. Explanation of the annexed engrav- ing of Anderson's Patent Condens- ing Tub, A. Still to contain 110 gallons, ex- clusively of the head, as near this shape as possible. B. Half globe made of copper 301b. to the sheet, bottom of copper, a thimble on the centre of the top, 24 inches in the bottom, and 16 high. C. Tub for holding the charge of wash, 36 inches wide in the bot- tom, 33 attop,and34deep,made of 1-i cedar or white pine. D« Small brass cock, to be opened when the charge is let into the still from the tub. DIS E. Stuffing box made of copper, to prevent the steam escaping by the spindle; the box stuffed with tow and screwed down fast. F. Pipe from the head of the still, 4-£ inches wide. G. Pipe: the lower end fitting into the pipe F, and receiving the pipe H, and large enough to slip up on the pipe H, so as to leave the head free to be taken off. H. Pipe: the lower end fits into the pipe G, and passes through the bottom, 4 inches, to prevent the condensed steam returning into the still, and fastened firmly in the bottom of the half globe. I. Pipe to convey off the condensed steam into the worm, fitted even in the bottom of the half globe; the other end fits into the mouth of the worm. K. Iron spindle, with its handle to stir the still, with the cross piece and chains. L. Charging pipe, 3 inches wide, with a large cock screwed into the bottom of the tub, and the lower end fitting into the pipe M, in the breast of the still. N. Stuffing box made of wood. O. Spindles when used by water. Mr. Anderson informs the edi- tor thathecontrived astill,precisely similar to that mentioned by Ch ap- tal, and used it five months, in 1795, before hehadheardofa simi- lar one being used in France,but he discontinued it,as he found it trou- blesome, from being liable to run foul very often, and inconvenient when the head was to be taken off.] In the distillation of compound spirits, such as clove, lemon, ci- tron-water, and the like, the pro- cess in no respect varies from that adopted in distilling brandy, &c. much, however, depends on the "****«&&«* T^atent Condons in. in diameter at the base, to the middle of which is fixed an upright bar 2 feet long, and S1- inches broad, with a sharp edge. If this cone be drawn along moist lands* 6 or 8 inches beneath the turf, either in the spring or in autumn, in several parallel direc- tions, the water will be conveyed away for a considerable space of time, without breaking the surface. With Mr. Scott's mole-plough, a man and boy with four horses may, with ease, drain thirty acres in a day ; but, at the lower side of the ground intended to be drained, there should be made an open gripe or ditch, in order to receive the water from those small cavities which are formed by the plough, at the depth of 12 or 14 inches. In very moist lands, or in very wet seasons, if a larger number than six or eight horses be employed, their feet will not sink so deeply into the turf, as each animal will draw less; should, however, the ground be so exceedingly soft as scarcely to support the cattle, that inconvenience may be obviated by fixing to the horses' feet broad wooden shoes, similar to the snow shoes made use of by the inhabit- ants of northern climates. The price of this useful plough, when complete, does not exceed two guineas and a half. In October, 1797, a patent was granted to Mr. Harry Watts, of Binley, Warwick, for his invention of an implement, or machine, for draining land, which appears to be an improvement on Mr. Scott's mole-plough. The only material difference which subsists between them, is Mr. Watt's application of a rolling cutter made of cast steel, or cast iron, in the beam of his implement, instead of the com- mon coulter,which,inMr. Scott's plough, is fastened in the usual manner, by wedges. The patentee has likewise added three cutters, which may occasionally be substi- tuted for the rolling cutter or coul- ter above mentioned. This imple- ment requires from four to eight horses, which number may be in- creased or diminished, according to the nature of the land, and the depth it is intended to be worked. But, before it is used, M. Watts observes, that the land to be drain- ed should be carefully examined, in order to ascertain the most conven- ient place for carrying off the wa- ter : hence the lowest end or side of the field must be selected for that purpose. The price of Mr. Watt's machine, we understand, is not less than ten guineas. The last method of draining up- lands, of which we shall give an account, is that practised in the county of Berks. It consists in digging a trench 2 feet deep, one foot wide at the top, and 9 inches at the bottom, with a steep descent 364 DRA to a ditch, extending along the bottom of the grounds, and made of a proper width and depth to re- ceive ana carry oh the water.... \\ ithin these trenches, is formed a channel, the sides of which are composed of hard white chalk, cut nearly into the size ct" bricks; the whole is covered with pieces of the same material, and the crevices filled up with the drippings. The mouth of the channel, where the water falls into the ditch, is con- structed with brick or flint, as chalk will not bear the frost, to which this part of the work must necessarily be exposed. On the top of the channel is placed a thin coat of wheat-straw, brambles, or any small Brush-wood. The pas- sage for the water will be some- what more than 3 inches. In digging trenches of this kind, the workmen lay the best earth on one side by itself, in order to replace it on the surface when the trenches are again filled up. But, in all cases, where land lies on a declivi- y, care should be taken, that the drains have an easy and gentle desent, for, if they have too rapid a fall, they are apt to burst, or ex- cavate ; and, their protection below being lost, the least pressure from Lbove will consequently destroy the work. II. With respect to the draining of those plains or morasses, where no fall can be procured, the water may, in many situations, be col- lected by cutting a long horizontal ditch above the level of the morass, so as to intercept all the wall- springs ; and may then be carried off* in wooden troughs, or hollow bricks, above the surface ; and, if any water continue to penetrate the morass, it may be conducted to the extremity of the ground. DRA either in open drains, or in covered brick drains, of which we have annexed the following cuts; This figure represents a hollow brick, two of which, being placed one upon the other, form the pipe, which is chiefly useful for making small drains. D, D, are two bricks placed op- posite each other, and then covered with E, a stone on the top, in which situation they will form a large drain....The mould pressing on the sides of the bricks, keeps them firm and steady: the turf taken off the soil, ought to be laid upon the stone, with the grass side downwards. The draining of low moist lands may also be advantageously ef- fected by a roller or wheel. This is made of cast-iron,weighs 4cwt.and is 4 feet in diameter: The cutting edge, or extreme circumference of the wheel, is half an inch thick, which, increasing in thickness to- wards the nave or centre, will cut a drain half an inch in width at the bottom, 4 inches wide at the top, and about 15 inches deep. This wheel is so placed in a frame, that it may be loaded at pleasure, in order to score out a greater or less depth, according to the resistance of the ground ; which being thus cut during the winter, the wheel tracts are either then filled with straw ropes, and lightly covered 10303028 DRA DRA 365 over, or left to crack wider and deeper, during the succeeding summer ; when the fissures should be kept open with twisted straw and bushes, and lightly covered with such porous soil as can be most conveniently procured. Thus hollow drains may be formed upon grass or ley-land, at little expense, and will answer every useful pur- pose. The necessity and utility of draining the surface-water from clay soils, in wet seasons, is gene- rally acknowledged; but, excellent as the different methods are in the cases before mentioned, they do not appear to be so simple, or so effectual, as could be wished in the present. Covered drains frequently fail in producing the desired effect, in consequence of the covering materials being of too close a tex- ture to admit the water to filtrate through them with sufficient free- dom. Mole ploughs, of the best construction, require such a num- ber of horses to draw them, as must necessarily injure the soil, by poaching it. Farther, covered drains are not only dangerous to full-grown sheep and young lambs, but from the quantity of clay ne- cessarily dug up, and spread over the richer surface-soil, they are also injurious to vegetation. None of the several modes of draining now in use, being subservient to the essential purpose of conducting large quantities of water from a deep soil, we feel satisfaction in communicating the following sim- ple contrivance of Mr. John Mid- dleton, just published in the 22d No. of the " Commercial and Agri- cultural Magazine." It consists merely in adding a piece of wood to the felly of a common six-inch cart-wheel, to which is prefixed a rim of iron, of a triangular form. The whole expense of this addition does not exceed one guinea. A wheel of this description, when put on the axle of a cart in the usual way, will of course rest on thj edge of the triangular rim of iron above alluded to ; and, on driving the horses forward, will make a small indent in the ground, merely by its own revolution. But, in order to press it down to the depth of six or eight inches, that side of the cart should be laden with stones, iron, or any other heavy material, until the whole of the rim, as well as the additional piece of wood, and the folly itself, if ni- cessary, sink into the soil. The cart should then be drawn in such a direction that the cutting-wheel may revolve where the drains aie intended to be formed. Sometimes it will be necessary to apply the in- denting machine to every furrow; but, where the land is level, it should be drawn over it in parallel lines, five or ten yards apart. The wheel on the opposite end of tb.e axle is a common six-inch wheel, which supports only the empty side of the cart, and consequently will not cut the ground. The advantage of this contriv- ance, as stated by Mr. Middle- ton, is, that it makes an indent in the soil sufficient to carry off the water during the ensuing winter, by pressing down the herbage, without destroying it. In the suc- ceeding spring, these drains will be nearly grown up, so that there is no injury done to the grass, lie observes, however, that this wheel should be drawn over the ground every year, on the approach of winter; but so easy is its applica- tion, that by means of it, and two old horses, one stout boy, or man, S65 DRA may drain from ten to twenty acres in eight hours. The first object in draining a bog or marsh, is, to discover the lowest spot of dry ground that surrounds it, in order to open on that part the main trench which is to carry off the water : if there be the least appearance of any stream, it should be traced with care ; for this will point out the proper spot on which to begin. The main trench, com- mencing at the lowest part, may be carried to whatever distance it is thought proper ; if it begin at the right spot, 10 acres may be detached from the marsh, however extensive, and completely dr lined; but, if the drainage be not begun where there is a sufficient fall, the labour bestowed will be to no pur- pose : the main cut or trench should be 10 feet broad in the clear, with a proper slope, to pre- vent the sides from falling in, and filling it up. Bogs are divided into two sorts, black and red. The former are solid, and make excellent fuel for common fires, or for burning lime ; hut the red bog consists of a loose, porous, fungous mass, which burns hadiy, and yields no ashes. Hence, in black bogs only, the drains ought to be cut into turfs, dried, carted, and piled. As the main canal advances, small ones may be conducted into it on either side, inclosing such spots of ground as are intended to be improved. No certain rule can he laid down for the depth of drains ; yet wc apprehend the pre- vailing practice of cutting them down to the solid ground beneath the bog, is founded on the erro- neous principle, that such depth is sufficient as will leave the surface dry. Numerous drains, however, being always useful and necessary. DRA the spots inclosed ought not to con- tain more than five acres; but in such space it is requisite that se- veral cross-cuts be made, which should be 4 feet broad at the top, and 3 feet deep. A whole year will be requisite to complete these drains; and, in the ensuing spring, it will be necessary to open, deep- en, and clear them of the adventi- tious boggy matter ; a work which should be occasionally renewed. The second year may be employed in extending the main trench ; in taking in fresh inclosures by new lateral cut:; ; and in draining Uiese by means of small transverse drains. Although this annual deepening and clearing of marshy grounds be attended with great labour and ex- pense, yet the operation is thus progressively completed, and in succeeding years both trouble and costs will be gradually diminished, in proportion as the bog subsides. As soon as the drains have ren- dered the marshes sufficiently firm for oxen to walk on them, the hea- viest rollers that can be procured should be employed, to act by re- peated pressure. Indeed, without a considerable degree of such pres- sure, during the first year, no bog can be effectually consolidated. An alternate draining and rolling, an- nually (the drains being still kept open), would, probably, contribute much to the destruction of weeds. Previous to rolling in the spring, it has been strongly recommended to sow every kind of grass-seeds, in- discriminately, such as ray-grass, hay-seed, clover, he. An instance of uncommon and successful industry, occurs in the 1 8th vol. of the " Transaction.;- of the Society fur the Encouragement of Arts," he. which in the year 1800, conferred a gold medal on John Morehouse, Esq. of Brown- DRA D R A 367 slade in the country of Pembroke, for improving 274 acres of waste moor-lands, which were formerly a common, and so completely inun- dated as to be of no value whatever. Before we conclude this subject, we think it necessary to give some account of stone drains, which are calculated for soils where the com- mon methods of draining cannot be adopted. Such drains ought to be cut 10 or 12 inches wide, with perpendicular sides; and flat stones should be so placed, as to leave a water-course at the bottom, by set- ting two stones triangularly to meet at the points. Or, the bottom may be covered with a flat stone, and three others placed upright, and the water left to work itself a passage between them. In either case, the cavity of the drain ought to be filled nearly up to the top with loose stones: screened or washed gravel, where it is found in greater abundance, has been successfully substituted. Those pebbles, however, which are often found on the sea-shores, are well adapted for filling drains ; as, be- ing smooth, and generally round, the water flows through them more freely. The principal drains ought to be 3 feet deep, and 18 inches in width; the bottom and top should be laid with flag-stones ; the sides built up to a sufficient height with com- mon stones ; and the whole cover- ed with sods of turf, but the grassy sides downwards : these again are to be overspread with earth, suffi- cient to admit the plough. The smaller drains are, in general, to be conducted at an acute angle into the main trenches. Lastly, sod or earth-drains are usually dug two feet deep with a spade, when the soil is taken out by an instrument or sccup, about four inches wide, and the drain covered with the sods first dug out, if the ground be firm enough to support them ; or, some black- thorns are put in, in order to bear the weight of the sods. Those drains which have the smallest pas- sage for the water at the bottom, are reputed to be the most durable; as the force of the water has beeu found sufficient to clear away any small obstacles accidentally ob- structing its course. Common earth-drains are some- times dug two or three spits deep, with a broad spade, the bottom is taken out with a narrow one, and filled with stones. Sometimes a furrow is drawn with a plough, and cleared by a common spade : the draining instrument Fig. 2, is then introduced to the depth of 18 inch- es from the surface ; and, after tak- ing out the loose mould with the scoop Fig. 1, 368 ~D R A DRA black-thorn bushes, or heath,which is still better, are carefully laid along the bottom, covered with strong wheat-straw, twisted to the thickness of a man's leg ; and the whole is then carefully closed in. Hollow drains, without stones, have been tried on stiff'lands: they are made narrow at the bottom, and covered half way up with sods or square' pieces of the surface- sward, resting on ledges cut for that purpose. It is much to be lamented, that we possess, in this cold climate, no grain similar to rice, that would grow in watery grounds, which cannot be drained, nor indeed any esculent roots or foliage, except water-cresses. In such situations, some plants may perhaps be culti- vated with profit to the proprietor, as the Festuca fluitans, or Floating Fescue ; Cullitrichr, or Star-grass, or Star-wort; to which "may be ad- ded the Orchis, for the purpose of making salep, by drying the peel- ed roots in an oven. If these plants should not completely succeed, other vegetables of quick growth may be raised for manures, such as the Ti'/.ha, or Cat's-tail; the Calthq or Marsh-marigold, he. which should be mown twice a year, while they are young, and abound with saccharine and mucilaginous matter, ready to pass into fermen- tation. A peculiar method of draining land with chalk, as a substitute for stones, has lately been practised in Yorkshire, with considerable suc- cess. It consists merely in cutting the trenches in the usual manner, and filling th^rn with pieces of chalk : over which is laid a thick stratum of evergreen-boughs, that are covered with the sod or earth. The extremities of the main-drains are arched to a short distance with brick-work: because the frost is apt to pulverize the chalk, and consequently the drain will be in- jured....The principal advantage thence derived is, that no moss will grow on the chalk, whereas stone- drains are frequently obstructed by its growth : hence we are induced to recommend draining with chalk to the attention of those farmers who have an opportunity of procur- ing that article, at a moderate ex- pense. In the year 1792, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Sec. awarded their silver medal to Mr. John Wedge, for his exertions in draining land. The limits of this article not permitting us to analyze Mr. W's valuable communication, which is inserted in the 10th vol. of the Society's " Transactions," he. we shall only observe, that the chief advantage consists in boring, or digging holes below the bottom of the trench : a practice, which, in some instances, is attended with the most beneficial effects ; though it is not absolutely necessary, in ordinary cases. A short but interesting " Sketch of the Drainage and Improvement of a Marsh," in the county of Corn- wall, by Mr. Richard Moyle, occurs in the 2d vol. of " Communi- cations to the Board of Agriculture." The bog contained 36 statute acres which had from time immemorial been covered two or three feet deep with water; and which, during spring-tides, were overflowed by the sea, from a river taking its course through the land. As the low situation of the marsh render- ed it impracticable to drain the bog by the aid of such river, recourse was had to a wooden pipe, furnish- ed with valves, and connected with DRA the shore at the part called Half- ebb. This expedient was attended with complete success: the soil was pared and burnt; large quan- tities of clay and other manure were carted; and, after persevering in these exertions for five years, the whole of the land was " quite alive ;" so that every kind of vege- tables flourished with great luxuri- ance. For a more detailed account of this remarkable improvement, the reader will consult the work above quoted. In the 19th vol. of the « Trans- actions of the Society for the Encou- ragement of Arts," Sec. we meet with a description of a Drain- plough, constructed according to the plan of the patriotic Duke of Bridgewater; and of which the annexed plate and following de- scription will convey an accurate idea. A, B, is the beam of the plough. C, D, are the handles. E, the share, or sock. F, the coulter, or first cutter of the sod, which is fixed to the share. G, is the other coulter, or second cutter, which separates the sod from the land, and forwards it through the open space between F and G....This coulter is connected both with the share and with the beam. H, I, the sheath of the plough. K, the bridle or muzzle, to which the swingle-tree is fitted. L, M, are two cast-iron wheels, that may be raised or lowered by screws at N, pressing on the flat irons O, O ; to which the axis of each wheel is fastened. These wheels regulate the depth, to which the share is designed to penetrate the soil. P, is the chain with an iron pin, for moving the screws at O. vol. n. DRA 369 Six horses will be necessary to draw this plough, in clay-soils which have never been drained; every succeeding year, the imple- ment must be drawn through the same gutters ; when four horses will be sufficient. In stiff, flat lands, this drain-plough cannot cut the ground too deeply ; but, if it be employed on a declivity, five inches will, in general, be a suffi- cient depth. In soft, light soils, . however, the plough should be di- rected as deep as possible ; because the sides are apt to crumble into the gutters....The best time for drain- ing land is in autumn, about Mi- chaelmas ; or immediately after the grass is eaten off; and the whole operation ought to be completed be- tween that season and Christmas. It frequently happens that, not- withstanding all the labour and ex- pense which the industrious culti- vator may bestow on the construc- tion of drains, his lands become, in the course of time, soft and wet, so that they gradually return to their former state. This unfa- vourable change is often occasion- ed by the Equisetum palustre, or Marsh Horse-tail, a plant growing on swampy ground, which has been found vegetating within the drains, to a very considerable extent, and thus, at first intercepting or. ob- structing the course of the water, then gradually weakening the cur- rent, and at length, wholly choak- ing up this drain. [Sir Joseph Banks has commu- nicated to the Board of Agriculture the following remarks on the ef- fects of the above plant on drains. At the Duke of Bedford's seat, at Wooburn, some bogs drained by under-drains, made at great ex- pense, appeared at first perfectly dry, but have since been found to 3 B 370 DRA grow by degrees less so. On ex- amination, these drains were found more or less choaked by a plant vegetating within them, and form- ing both stems and roots, the whole several yards in length, intercept- ing the course of the water, weak- ening the current by degrees, and at last,wholly choaking up the drain. This plant is the equisetum/ialuslre, a weed common in moorish and swampy ground, but little noticed by naturalists. Its root, or rather its stem under ground, is a yard or more in length, and in size, like pack-thread: from this, a root of twice the size of the stem runs ho- rizontally in the ground, taking its origin from a lower root, which strikes downward perpendicularly to a depth, Sir. J. says, (which he has been able to trace) as thick as a small finger. This root forms in some places, beds which occupy a large portion of the more solid parts of a peaty bog, as may be seen in some parts of the banks of the Duke's open drains. As the bud, by which the plant appears to renew itself in spring, is situated on the horizontal root, a yard or more in depth, the shoot must in its progress upwards, be liable to meet with under-drains, and pe- netrate into them, through the openings left for the passage of the water. When once entered, nature has given the plant powers of piercing the soil upwards, and to enable it to live in the atmos- phere of a drain. The evil, if known, Sir Joseph thinks, may be cured by casting the under- drains into open ones.] Those who wish to acquire more minute information on this subject, we must refer to Dr. Anderson's excellent " Practical Treatise on DRA draining bogs and swampy grounds," (8vo. p. 308, 6*. boards. Robin- son's, 1797): and to Mr. John- stone's " Account of the most ap- proved Mode of Draining Land," &c. (4to. 1/. 5s.) in which it is am- ply investigated. See also Ponds, with a plate. Dranx. See Darnel. DRAUGHT, in trade, is a small allowance on all goods capable of being weighed, and which is made by the king to the importer, or by the seller to the buyer, so that the weight may not be deficient, when the goods are weighed again. Thus the king allows one pound draught for goods, that weigh not less than 1 cwt.; 2 lbs. for such as weigh between 1 and 2 cwt.; 3 lbs. for those who weigh between 2 and 3 cwt.; 4 lbs. from 3 to 10 cwt; 7 lbs. from 10 to 18 cwt. ; 9 lbs. from 18 to 30 cwt. and upwards. Draught,or Di'aft,isa\so some- times used, for a bill of exchange, but generally for an order on a banker, or trader, for the payment of any sum of money that may be due, he. ; in which case, the per- son who gives the order is said to draw upon the other. Draught, in Rural Economy : See FIorse. DRAWBACK, in commerce, generally signifies certain duties, either of the customs, or excise, which are allowed upon some of our own manufactures; or upon certain foreign merchandize, for which the duty has been paid when they were imported. [DRAWING, though a domes- tic employment, and well worth attending to, yet cannot be acquir- ed by any directions which could be given in a work like the present. A preceptor is indispensible. A DRI DRI 371 very convenient machine to draw unskilful hands. In drilling, the perspectives, shall be described, ground must be in good order ; and and figured under the article Per- the seed set in trenches regularly spective.] drawn, all being nearly of an equal DRAW-NET, a kind of net for depth, which is adapted to the na- taking the larger species of wild ture of each particular kind ofseed. fowl : it ought to be made of the These seeds are also distributed at best pack-thread, with wide mesh- proper distances ; and, by being es ; the whole should be about two equally and speedily covered, are fathoms in depth, and six in length; most effectually protected fromver- verged on either side with a very min, and other accidental injury. strong cord, and stretched at each Farther, in consequence of the end on long poles. broad-cast practice, the seed falls i Draw-netsmust bespread smooth in many places too thick, in others and flat on the ground, and strewed too thin ; and, being imperfectly over with sedge, grass, &c. to con- covered, part of it is devoured by ceal them from the fowl. The vermin which follow the sower ; sportsman should likewise conceal the remainder is exposed to rain himself in an arbour covered with or frost, or to heats, either of which the boughs of trees, grass, fern, or are very hurtful. When harrow- other vegetables, in orckr to pre- edin, a considerable portion of the vent his being discovered : See also seed is so deeply buried in the soil, Bird-catching. that if the latter be wet, it putrifies DRILLING, in husbandry, a before it can vegetate. method of sowing graim or seed of Besides, when corn is thus sown, any kind, so that it may be depo- the crop will not admit of being sited in the ground at -an uniform touched afterwards, because its depth ; a circumstance of the ut- growth is irregular. The soil can- most importance to the ^production not be broken in order to afford it of healthy and vigorous plants. more nourishment; nor can even This method differs from the old, the weeds be destroyed without or broad-cast husbandry ', which is much damage and inconvenience. performed by sowing th e grain, or On the contrary, in the drill-hus- seed, with the hand ; w hercas, the bandry, the intervals between the new practice is effectet I by one of rows, whether double or single, the most useful machir .es ever in- may be horse-hoed ; and nourish- yented, and called a dr ill-plough.... ment may thus be repeatedly given It was originally into oduced into to the plants, and the weeds al- this country about sixty yearssince, most totally extirpated. Drilling, and at first violently of >posed as an however, is not calculated for every useless innovation, till it was prov- soil; yet as there are but few si- ed, by repeated exper iments, to be tuations, in which the broad-cast indisputably the best i node of sow- method is preferable to it, they ing hitherto contrived . See Broad- ought not by any means to impede cast, the more general introduction of By the broad -cast s-y stemofcul- the former. ture, the land is often sown in bad The drill-husbandry is said to be tilth, the seed is Avn vys scattered attended with many disadvantages: aj. random, and some* imes by very namely, 1. That it is very difficult 372 DRI to procure the persons'who are ac- quainted wiih the use of the drill- plough, or its proper management, when on the soil. 2. That the earth requires to be well prepared to ad- mit of it. 3. That the crop is too thinly*sown by it. 4. That drill- ed crops are harvested later than broad-cast ones. 5. That clover does not succeed, when cultivated according to the drill-husbandry. 6. That oats produce rank and coarse straw, which does not afford wholesome food for cattle. These objections appear formi- dable, and it must be allowed, that no person can acquire a thorough knowledge of the drill-husbandry in one season. It is nevertheless untrue, that the seed is too thinly sown ; for, though the quantity re- quired is nearly one half less (which is consequently saved), yet the crops of drilled wheat are, in ge- neral, so much mose valuable than those of broad-cast, whether we consider the quantity, quality, or weight of the grain, that the infe- riority of the latter is evident to every impartial observer. This reason is likewise a sufficient an- swer to the objection alledged against the expense of horse-hoe- ing, which eradicates almost every weed, even where hand-hoeing is impracticable ; and consequently in a very considerable degree pro- motes vegetation. To this, we may add, that by drilling, the seed grows more re- gularly and vigorously ; and that though the crops are harvested la- ter than broad-cast ones, yet they are gotten in with less expense and with greater safety, while the soil is left in a better state for fu- ture crops. Such are the advantages and dis- advantages attending the drill-hus- DRI bandry, which we have endeavour- ed fairly to state: after these de- cisive proofs, no rational agricul- turist will hesitate to pronounce in favour of the new system. That useful instrument the drill- plough, was first introduced in this country by the ingenious Jethro 'Full, in the beginning of the last century. Since that period, various other machines, or drill-ploughs, have been invented by different persons, of which we shall mention the principal. One of the earliest implements of this description, is the hand-drill, which is chiefly employed in the low-lands of Scotland, where it was also invented. It is pushed along by two handles, in a manner simi- lar to wheel-barrows, and sows one row at a time. The principal part of this machine is a wheel, about 22 inches in diameter, and made of solid deal, upon the axle of which is fixed a notched roller 21 inches in diameter, and 2 inches long, that turns the fore part of the drill-box. The quantity of seed intended to be sown, is regulated by a slider, which moves up and down in the fore-part of the box, by an adjusting screw fixed at the top; and has a strong brush, that projects from its lower end, and sweeps upon the notched roller.... There is also a sluice, or slider, which lies flat on the bottom, on the inside of the drill-box, and juts out between the two handles of the drill, so as to be within the reach of the person guiding it; who, by pushing the slide forwards, com- pletely covers the notched roller, and prevents any of the seed from being scattered, while the drill is turning at the end of the ridges. V, ith this implement a woman, or boy, is able to drill from 2 to 2.| Iih.4 D V Viq.3. ^ />r>- 756�5981 DRI DRI 373 acres in a day ; the rows being at the distance of 20 inches. The next contrivance, is that of the ingenious Mr. Arthur Y oung, whose indefatigab'e labours in pro- moting agriculture, are too well known to require our encomium. In the common drill-ploughs, there are generally two or three barrels, with corresponding hoppers, or re- ceptacles for seed, through which it is committed to the ground. Such an arrangement renders them ne- cessarily complex ; and to obviate the defect resulting from it, Mr. Young has two divisions in the bar- rel, and two corresponding ones in the hopper, which are more sim- ple, and doubtless preferable to moveable boards. In his drill- plough the whole machinery is fix- ed, yet he sows with it single rows at any distance, double ones at two feet, or three rows at one foot ; relinquishing the others powers of mechanism, to render the plough in all its parts stronger, and more steady. It is likewise calculated for the stiffest soil; and Mr. Young adds, that it will even deposit seed in drills cut through a clay field, without any previous ploughing. For a more detailed account of this excellent machine, we refer our readers to the 3d vol. of " Annals of Agriculture," p. 240, where it is fully described and illustrated with an engraving. The expense of this implement, when completers about seven guineas and a half, if made of iron ; if of wood, it may be es- timated at four. [Dr. Willich describes and re- presents the Rev. Mr. Cooke's drill machinery, but acknowledges that it is too complicated. It was intended to sow wheat, but the edi- tor has been informed that it is but little used, even in England, where it was invented. In this country, it certainly would not be used. A model of the pondrous machine, was imported some years since, by the Agricultural Society of Phila- delphia, and no doubt is still to be found. Under the article Turnip,a con- venient and very simple drill will be described, which may be used for any kind of seeds, by merely changing the seed box.] Description of the Plates represent- ing Dr. Darwin's improvement of the Drill-plough. Plate I. Fig. 1, a, a, are the shafts for the horse, fixed to the centre of the axle-tree, by a sim-' pie universal joint at z, from which, if the horse move in an oblique course, either spontaneously, or designedly, to avoid trampling the rows of corn, in hoeing, the per- son guiding the plough behind, may keep the coulters in any-di- rection at pleasure : b, b, are shafts or handles behind, for the man who attends the drill coulters or hoes : these handles are applied to the axle-tree before, and have a trans- verse piece about six inches from the latter at g, g, in order to sup- port the seed-box (Fig. 2). At the distance of about one foot be- hind this, there is another cross piece at c, c, called the coulter- beam, which is about4feet2 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 2 inches thick : it is perforated with 2 sets of square holes, each set consist- ing of six, to receive the coulters in drill ploughing* and the hoes in horse hoeing. The light square, holes are 9 inches distant, and arc designed to receive the coulters, or hoes in the cidtivation of wheat, the rows of 374 DRI DRI which are to be 9 inches apart: the six dark square holes are 7 in- ches from each other, for the re- ception of the coulters or hoes in the cultivation of barley, the rows of which are to be at the distance of only 7 inches. This coulter- beam has likewise 6 circular holes at one end, and 6 round iron sta- ples fixed into the edge of the other part of it: into these are in- serted the ends of the tin flues, whichintersect each other, and con- vey the seed from the bottom of the box into the drills or furrows, when the coulters are properly ar- ranged in the square holes. The person guiding the machine can raise these coulters, or hoes, out of the ground, when passing to or from the field, or in turning at the end of the land ; and may thus sus- pend them on the iron springs d, d, which, at the same time fix the shafts to the axle tree, so that the wheels will follow in a similar di- rection with the horse....e, e, are wheels, four feet in diameter ; up- on the nave of one of which is a cast-iron wheel at f,f, to turn the axis of the seed-box, which has a similar wheel, but only one-fourth of its diameter, so that the axis of the seed-box revolves four times to one revolution of the wheel. Fig. 2, is the seed-box, consist- ing of boards about one inch thick, 48 inches in length within, 12 in depth, of a similar width at the top, and 6 inches wide at the bottom. It is divided into six compartments for the reception of grain, and ought to have a cover with hinges, to exclude the rain. This box is to be placed partly over, and partly before the axle-tree of the machine, as delineated at g, g, in Fig. 1. Beneath the seed-box passes a wooden cylinder at h, h, the cir- cumference of which is excavated for the reception of grain from the six cells marked /, m, n, o, p, q \ and for conveying it to the six oblique tin flues, i, i, which inter- sect each other, as represented in Plate I. Fig. 2. By this reciprocal crossing, the seed-flues are design- ed to increase the length of the inclined surface on which the seed descends, in order that, if six or eight grains be delivered at the same time, they may so separate by their friction, when descending, that they cannot be sown together ©n the same spot, which might occasion tussocks of corn. As these seed-flues intersect each other before they pass through the coulter-beam at c, c, (Plate I. Fig. 1.), it became necessary to make 3 of the circular holes, at one end of the coulter-beam, more backward than those at the other ; and, there- fore to use iron staples or rings at one end, instead of perforations, as at w, w, (Fig. 1.) These tin flues deliver the seed into the small furrows, or drills, which are made by the coulters before them. The seed-flues have a joint at z, z, where one part of the tin tubes slides into the other part, by which means the former can be occasion- ally shortened or lengthened,in or- der to adapt them to the coulters, when placed 7 inches apart, for sowing barley ; or, at the distance of 9 inches, for sowing wheat. In the bottom of this seed-box are 6 holes, one in each compartment, for conveying the corn into the ex- cavations of the eylinder, revolving beneath them. These holes are provided, on the descending side, as the cylinder revolves, with a strong brush of bristles, about £ of an inch in length, which press hard on the tin cylinder. The holes DRI DRI 375 in the bottom of the seed-box, on the ascending side of the revolving cylinder, are furnished with a piece of strong leather (such as is used for the soles of shoes,) which rubs upon that side of the cylinder ; by which means the corn, of whatever kind, is exactly delivered, while the axis is revolving, without a single grain being cut, or bruised. Fig. 3, is the iron axis, and wooden cylinder beneath the seed- box. An iron bar is first made, about 4 feet 6 inches long, and one inch square, the weight of which ought to be about 15 lbs. it is cover- ed with wood, so as to form a cy- linder 4 feet in length, and 2 inches in diameter, represented at r, r, in this figure. The use of the iron bar in the centre of the wood, is to prevent it from warping, a circum- stance of great importance. This wooden cylinder passes beneath the seed-box, and has a cast-iron cog- wheel at one end of its axis, as at r, r, which is one-fourth of the dia- meter of the correspondent cast- iron wheel, fixed on the nave of the carriage-wheel, as in Fig. \->f,f, so that the axis of the seed-box re- volves 4 times during one revolu- tion of the carriage wheels. In the circumference of this wooden cylinder are excavated four lines of holes, consisting of six in each line, as at n, n, n, n, n, n. A similar line of excavations is made opposite tothese,on the other side of the cylinder, and between these are two other rows of holes, amounting in the whole to twenty- four excavations in the wooden part of the axis beneath the seed-box, for the purpose of receiving and conveying the corn from the seed- cells into the flues o, o, i, i, (Fig. 2), while the axis is revolving : in which respect this improvement of Dr. Darwin bears some analogy to the original design of the cele- brated Mr. Tull. These excavations are one inch in length, half an inch in width, and three-eighths of an inch in depth, which dimensions are too large for any seeds employed at present in large quantities, except beans; but which may be contracted to any dimensions required, by mov- ing the cylinder over the wooden one, as will be immediately ex- plained. Fig. 4, A, B, represents a tin cy- linder one inch longer within, than the wooden cylinder on the iron axis at Fig. 3 : it is 2 inches in dia- meter within, so as exactly to fit the wooden cylinder, which may slide within it about an inch back- wards and forwards....C,D, are two square sockets of tin, fixed on the ends of the tin cylinder to fit on the square part of the iron axis, passing through the wooden cylinder at /,/, Fig. 3, on which they slide one inch, as before. Thefollowing directions for per- forating the holes, both in the tin and wooden cylinders, which are mutually to correspond, Dr. Dar- win recommends to be strictly at- tended to. 1. When the tin cylinder is sol- dered longitudinally, and one end of it is thus fixed, as at A, six holes oughtto be madethrough it,length- wise*, on its four opposite sides; each hole must be exactly one half of an inch in width, and 5-8ths of an inch in length, which should be parallel to that of the cylinder. The centre of the first of these holes ought to be five inches dis- tant from the closed end A ; and that of the second hole, eight inches apart from the centre of the first; and the others in the same propor- 376 DRI DRI tion, till six holes are made longi- tudinally along the cylinder. Ano- ther line of six similar holes is then to be made on the opposite side of the cylinder ; and after that, two other such lines between the former; the number pf holes amounting in the whole to 24, the dimensions of all which should be exactly observed, as well as their distances. 2. The wooden cylinder, fixed on the axis, is now to be introduced into that of tin, so as to leave the exact space of one inch void, at the closed end A ; when the size of all these apertures through the tin cylinder (each of which is exactly half an inch in width, and 5-8ths of an inch in length,) should be carefully marked with a fine point on the wooden cylinder, which ought not to be previously exca- vated. 3. The 24 holes, thus marked on the wooden cylinder, are now to be excavated precisely 3-eighths of an inch in depth, to which are to be added 3-eighths of an inch at that end of each of them which is nearest to A; so that, when the wooden cylinder is again replaced in the tin cylinder as before, with one inch of void space at its closed extremity, the excavations in the former will be 3-eighths of an inch longer than the perforations over them in the latter. These excava- tions in the wooden cylinder should, likewise, be somewhat narrower at the bottom,effectually to prevent any of the grain from sticking in them, while revolving. 4. An iron screw, about three inches in* length, with a square head for the reception of a screw- driver, should be passed through the end A, of the tin cylinder on one side of the axis, as at C, in Fig. 4. The screwing part of this must lie in a hollow groove of the wooden cylinder, and be received into a nut, or female screw, fixed to the same cylinder. The head of the screw, passing through the end A, of the tin cylinder at C, should have a shoulder within the tin cy- linder, to prevent it from penetrat- ing through the end of it. A brass ring should also be put over the square end of the screw, on the outside of the tin cylinder, through which end a pin ought to pass, in order to keep the ring steady. Thus, when the square head is turned by the screw-driver, it gradually removes the tin cylin- der one inch backwards and for- wards on that of wood; so as either to press the end A of the tin cylinder into contact with that of the wooden cylinder within it, or to remove it to the distance of one inch, and leave a void space at the end A. 5. The ends of all the holes of the tin cylinder are next to be enlarg- ed, by slitting the tin 3-eighths of an inch towards A, on each side of the hole ; that part, however, of the tin included between these two slits (which will be half an inch wide, and 3-eighths of an inch in length, with respect to the cylin- der,) is not to be cut out, but bent down into th* excavations of the wooden cylinder beneath, so as to lie against that end which is near- est to it. But, before these pieces of tin are bent down, as just de- scribed, they should be filed some- what smaller at the projecting than at the other end ; because the ex- cavations of the wooden cylinder are to be rather narrower at the bottom than at the top; and these pieces of tin, when bent down, ought to fit them exactly. i DRI DRI 377 Lastly, when all these holes are thus enlarged, and the bits of tin filed somewhat narrow at their projecting ends, and then bent down into the excavations of the wooden cylinder, the other end of the tin cylinder, with its square socket, may be soldered on. Thus, when the end of the tin cylinder at A, is pressed forwards upon the wooden one towards B, by turning the screw at C,above described, all the excavations of the wooden cy- linder will be gradually lessened, and at length entirely closed ; by which means they may be adapted for the reception and delivering of seeds of any size, from horse-beans and peas to wheat, barley, and tur- nip-seed, with the utmost accuracy, so as to sow 4, 5, or 6 pecks per acre, or more or less at the plea- sure of the cultivator, merely by turningthe screw a few revolutions, in either direction. In farther illustration of these principles, or directions, Dr. Dar- win observes : 1. That in constructing tin and wooden cylinders beneath the seed- box, another small improvement may become necessary in sowing very small seeds, namely, when the screw at the end A, is turned so as to contract all the excavations of the wooden cylinder, its surface will become bare for the space of one inch from the end of each ex- cavation towards the end B, (Plate I. Fig. 4,) without being covered by the tin cylinder. On these ex- posed parts, which will be one inch long, and half an inch wide, some seeds may accidentally stick, and evade the brushes which are to prevent them from passing, while the cylinders revolve. To remedy this inconvenience, when the wood- en cylinder is placed within the tin one, in such a direction that all the VOL. II. holes are completely open, Dr. Darwin recommends a piece of the tin cylinder, about an inch and an half in length, and half an inch in width, to be cutout from the ex- tremity of each hole next to the end B, and such piece to be fixed by a few sprigs on the wooden cy- linder, exactly in the same place it covered, previously to its being cut out of the tin one ; by which means, when the tin cylinder is afterwards pushed forwards, by turning the screw at its end, so as to contract the excavations of the wooden cylinder beneath, its bare parts will be an inch and a half dis- tant from the extremities of the excavations next to the end B ; and thus will not pass under the brushes : consequently no small seeds can be lodged in them. 2. Some kind of iron staple ought to be fixed on the outside, at each end of the seed-box, to catch hold of the two springs at d, d, (Plate I. Fig. I) when the hinder part of the carriage is elevated by the man guiding it, in order to suspend the coulters out of the ground, and to connect the hinder part of the machine with the shafts before: so that, when turning at the ends of the lands, or passing to or from the field, the wheels may not deviate from the joint z, at the cen- tre of the axle-tree, but may follow in the same line as the shafts. 3. The seed-box should likewise be supported on erect iron pins, passing through staples of that ma- terial ; with a lever under the end of it, next to the wheel r, 7-, (Plate I. Fig. 3,) in order to lift easily that end of the seed-box, about an inch high, and to raise the teeth of the iron cog-wheel on its axis out of the teeth of the correspon- dent iron one, on the nave of the carriage-wheel. 3C 37$ DRI DRI 4. The construction of the coul- ters which make the drills, and of the rakes, by which they are filled after the seed is deposited, and also of the hoes, are not delineated ; as they resemble those employed by persons practising the drill hus- bandry, and which we have already described, when treating of Mr. Cooke's patent machine. 5. When the lower ends of the seed-flues are placed through the holes in the coulter-beam (Plate I. Fig. 1,) at the distance of 9 inches from each other, the rows of wheat or beans will be 9 inches apart: hence, as the wheels of the carriage are 4 feet in diameter, and therefore move about 12 feet at every revolution : and, as there are 4 excavations round the axis of the seed-box, which revolve 4 times to one revolution of the car- riage-wheels, consequently the seeds contained in the excavations of the cylinder beneath the seed- box, will be sown at 9 inches dis- tance in each drill or furrow, while the plough is proceeding. 6. By Mr. Cooke's drill-plough, the quantity of seed sown on an acre is 6 or 7 pecks, that is, about half the quantity used in broad-cast sowing. If the wheat be exactly deposited in the drill, Dr. Darwin is of opinion that one bushel will be fully sufficient for an acre, as the rows are nine inches apart from each other: for then 8 or 9 grains would be dispersed in every nine inches of the drill furrow; namely, in every square of 9 inches surface of the land so cultivated. This may be more clearly ascertained by the following data : Mr. Charles Miller, in the " Philosophical Transactions," vol. 5 8. has calcu- lated the number of grains in a bushel of wheat to amount to 620,000 ; Mr. SwanwicK, of Der- by, has lately computed them at 645,000; Dr. Darwin, therefore, concludes that a bushel, on an ave- rage, contains 635,000 grains of wheat. A statute acre comprises 4,840 square yards, each of which contains 16 squares of 9 inches : if 4,840 be multiplied by 16, the produce will be 77,44®, which is the number of squares of 9 inches in such an acre. If 635,000 grains in a bushel be divided by 77,440, (the number of squares of 9 inches in an acre), the quotient will shewr, that somewhat more than 8 grains of wheat will thus be deposited in every 9 inches of the drills. 7. If 8 or 9 grains be dropped at the same time in One inch of ground, they will, if they all should grow together, be too numerous, and form a tussock ; but, by mak- ing them slide, down an inclined plane, from the seed box to the coulters, as in the tin flues, which are crossed in order to lengthen them (Plate I. Fig. 2), some of the seeds will, by their friction while descending, be retarded more than others ; and the 8 or 9 seeds will thus be scattered over the whole 9 inches of the drill; which renders this method of sowing far superior to that of dibbling ; because, in the latter, all the seeds are dropped together. 3. When the holes in the wooden cylinder are entirely open, they are of a proper size for the sowing of horse-beans, or peas : when they are perfectly closed, there will re- main a small niche at the end of the excavation in the wooden cy- linder, nearest to B (Plate I. Fig. 4) for turnip, or other small seeds. For wheat, barley, and oats, a wooden wedge ought to be made exactly of the same shape as the DRI DRI 379 area of the hole, which the director of the plough requires, who will insert it occasionally in the holes, when he turns the screw at the end of the cylinder, in order to en- large, or reduce them, according to those dimensions. On these wedges ought to be written, with white paint, wheat, barley, oats, he. which will considerably faci- litate the accommodation of the size of the excavations to each kind of grain ; and which may be al- tered, if requisite, to suit larger or smaller seeds of the same species.' 9. In some drill-ploughs, for in- stance in Mr. Cooke's, there is some additional machinery for drawing a line, while the plough proceeds, in which the wheel that is next to the last-sown furrow, may be directed to pass at a pro- per distance from, and parallel to it. This,however, may be effected, when sowing wheat, or peas and beans, by making the wheels, while they run on the ground, at the exact distance of 54 inches from each other; and, at the time of sowing, by guiding the wheel nearest to the part last sown ex- actly in the rut last formed , by which means every row will be ac- curately made, at the distance of 9 inches. To these observations, Dr. Dar- win has subjoined some remarks, tending to evince, by comparison, the essential improvements he has made on this complicated machi- nery, and from which we extract the following : 1. The simplicity of his drill- plough consists, first, in its having a seed-box only, and not a seed- box and hopper, as is the case with Mr. Cooke's patent drill- plough. 2. The flues, conducting the seed from the bottom of the box into the drill furrows, are not dis- joined in the middle, to permit the lower part to move either to the right or left, when the horse de- viates from the line in which the coulters pass, as in Mr. Cooke's plough : this defect may be reme- died by the simple universal joint at z, (Plate I. Fig. 1). 3. In this machine, the shafts behind, between which the man guiding the coulters walks, are fixed to the coulter-beam, as well as to the axle-tree; whereas, in Mr. Cooke's patent drill-plough, all these are moveable joints, simi- lar to a parallel rule, in order to counteract the swerving of the horse ; which, in this machine, is effected by the simple universal joint at z, (Plate I. Fig. 1), already described. 4. The dimensions of the holes in the axis of the seed-box, are here likewise altered, merely by turning a screw, so as to accom- modate them to every kind of seeds which are usually sown on fields, or arable lands. 5. The strong brush of bristles, which sweep over the excavations of the cylinders beneath the seed- box, and strickle them so exactly, that no supernumerary seeds es- cape ; and yet none are either bruised or broken, which some- times happens in Mr. Tull's ori- ginal machine. Lastly, Dr. Darwin justly ob- serves, that the cheaper and more simple the machine is in its con- struction, the less liable will it be to accidents, which occasion ex- penses in its repair ; and, with the greater facility will its manage- ment be understood; all which circumstances correspond with its greater simplicity : and, we cor- 380 DRI DRI dially hope with the Doctor, that the practice of the drilhhusbandry will thus be more generally dif- fused. Plate II. Fig. 1, is a seed-box, invented by Mr. Swanwick, of Derby, who has liberally offered to shew the working models of the seed-boxes, or to assist any person who may wish to construct either this drill machine, or the preced- ing one, invented by Dr. Dar- win. Mr. Swanwick's seed-box is 48 inches in length within, and is divided into 6 cells, for the pur- pose of sowing 6 rows of seeds at the same time, similar to that above specified. At the bottom of each cell is a hole a, a, a, a, a, a, (Fig. 1), through which the seed passes into the seed-flues, as in the machine before described ; but this has no revolving axis, there being only a wooden or iron bar, B, B, (Fig. 3), about 2 inches broad, 4 feet 8 inches long, snd exactly 3 eighths of an inch thick. Through this bar 6 holes are perforated, marked e, e, e, he. each of which is exactly one inch in length, half an inch in width, and -|ths. of an inch in depth, which is the same as the thickness of the bar. The centres of these holes are exactly 8 inches distant from each other, corresponding to the holes at the bottom of the seed-box, over which it is made to slide backwards and forwards in a groove. By this sliding motion,it passes under stiff brushes which are placed over it on each end of the holes, at the bottom of the seed-box, and strickle off the grain, as the holes, in the sliding bar pass under them, which thus distribute the quantity with con- siderable accuracy. In order to increase or diminish the proportion of grain to be deli- vered, the slider is covered with a tin-case, C, C, (Fig. 4), which is perforated with six holes, corres- ponding with those in the slider : instead, however, of the bit of tin being cut out the full length of the hole, part of it is left at the end equal to the thickness of the slider: and is bent down, after the slider is put into the case, in the same manner as the tin cylinder in the preceding machine. This case is moveable about 1 inch, backward and forward, by turning the finger- screw s (Fig. 4 and 5), by which the holes are enlarged, or dimi- nished, for the purpose of adapting them to various sorts of grain, or different quantities of the same sort, exactly as in the tin and wooden cylinders in Plate I. The slider is moved forwards, by a bent iron pin, h, attached to it, which passes into a serpentiee groove, Y, (Fig. 5), fixed to the nave of the wheel: it is likewise moved back- wards by a steel spring at the other end of the seed-box, but which is not delineated in the Plate. Fig. 5. is a bird's-eye view of. the parts before described :...E, E, the seed-box divided into cells or comparfments, by the partitions d, d, d....c, c, c, the slider, with part of the apertures seen just ap- pearing from under the brushes... X is the axis of the wheel. Fig. 2. represents a side view of one of the six bridges lying over the holes at the bottom of the seed- box, on each side of which the brushes are fixed, which strickle the holes when full of corn, while the bar slides backwards and for- wards. The simplicity of this slider at the bottom of the seed- box, Dr. D. observes, may be, in Brit?pew *f <•''& Cretin J'?oiff7i A ..., -/' DRI some instances, greater than that of wooden and tin cylinders in his machine, as Mr. Swanwick's has only six holes for distributing the quantity of corn, whereas the for- mer has twenty-four. In other respects, it is, perhaps, more com- plicated; as twelve brushes are used, one on each side of the six holes, whereas there are only six brushes rubbing on the tin cylinder in the former machine. The re- ciprocating motion of this slider must be quick, as it necessarily acts once every time the circum- ference of the carriage-wheel passes nine inches forward, which may not be so easy to execute as the cog-wheel, with the uninter- rupted movement of the axis and cylinder in the preceding machine. Lastly, Dr. Darwin concludes with remarking, that the facility of adapting the holes to the dimensions required in both machines, and the circumstance, that they neither bruise nor break the grain, and are not encumbered with an additional hopper, which must deliver the quantity of seed with great inac- curacy, from the unequal shaking of the machine, considerably add to the excellence and simplicity of both. Another implement upon a new principle, was invented by Mr. John Horn, of Dover, and by him denominated an "• Universal sowing machine, for drilling or broad-cast- ing ;" for which he obtained a pa- tent, about the year 1785. It is so constructed that, whether worked by the hand, drawn by a horse, or fixed to and used with a plough, it is not liable to be put out of order; there being but one movement to direct the whole. It sows every kind of grain with equal ease and regularity, so that the quantity sown DRI 381 may be varied at pleasure, and in any degree. A correspondent in the 12th vol. of « Annals of Agri- culture," p. 481, states, that Mr. Horn's invention possesses the peculiar advantage of cultivating turnips, so as to ensure the crop against the ravages of the fly. By sowing the usual quantity of tur- nip seed broad-cast by the machine, and at the same time, striking fur- rows at proper distances in the land, part is deposited in the drills, and the rest sown broad-cast be- tween them; so that, if the sea- son be dry, it will be favourable to the drills, and, if wet, to that which is broad-cast. And if it hap- pen that the latter be injured by the depredations of the fly, the for- mer, by coming at a later pe- riod, is saved; or, if the former be destroyed, the latter is preserv- ed. If the whole thrive, the far- mer has the choice of selecting the most vigorous plants from both. The price of this valuable implement, if constructed so as to be used with a single furrow plough, is, we understand, 31 guineas: if in- tended for a double furrow plough, 4>i guineas : that of the large ma- chine, consisting of a seven-furrow plough, with Mr. Horn's additions the whole made by himself, is 71 guineas. For a more particular account, we refer the reader to a treatise on the subject, published by the inventor (8vo. 6c/. Johnson, 1786), entitled "Description and Use of the Universal Sowing Ma- chine for Drilling and Broad-cast- ing." In the 12th vol. of Annals of Agriculture, p. 17, we also meet with a communication from a Mr. J. Harvey, of Elmley, in which he announces his invention of an engine that plants every kind of 382 DRI DRI grain, in a manner, he conceives, never before attempted. It is a common wheel-plough, to which is fixed a simple piece of machin- ery, for conveying, bymeans of an engine fixed to the plough, imme- diately behind the mould-board any quantity of grain into an incision in the heart of a furrow, of what- ever depth: the seed is effectually and instantly covered by an instru- ment suspended to the engine.... The whole machinery consists of iron, yet does not exceed 20 lbs. in weight. The engine may be worked without a handle (unless at the end) which does not retard the sowing, or add much to the labour of the horses. The inven- tor observes, that it may be em- ployed on any soil, and in all sea- sons; the seed being covered to protect it from the effects of the weather....The price of Mr. Har- vey's implement, exclusively of the plough to which it is fixed does not exceed three guineas. The last of these various con- trivances, of which we shall take notice, is the Drill and Hoe-plough, invented a few years since, by a Mr. Ridge, of which an in grav- ing is given in the 60th vol. of the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1790, where its principles and mechan- ism are described. This machine is so constructed, that by means of a handle, the man employed has power to hold or guide it in a strait direction, without any attention to the going of the horse being requi- site, farther than is rendered ne- cessary in a common plough: and, whether the implement be drawn up, or down a hill, or horizontally, it deposits the corn with equal re- gularity, and at any given depth; so that none of the seed will be bu- ried too deeply in the earth, or ex- posed to perish on the surface.... Thus, it is asserted, one third of the usual quantity of seed may, in general, be saved; and, in some cases, more than one half. The wheelson which Mr. Ridge's plough moves, are half a rod in circumference; and, by computing their revolutions, when they have once passed over the field, the por- tion of seed sown may be ascer- tained, if the machine be supplied with a certain quantity. The num- ber of acres that can thus be drill- ed in one day, depends on the dis- tance at which the rows of corn are set. Stones, it is said, are no ob- struction to the drilling of corn, by means of this implement; provid- ed they be not too large to pass be- tween the tines, or tubes, which deliver the seed to the ground. The plough here alluded to, may be used for sowing every kind of grain, or seeds, not only with fa- cility and regularity, but also with- out bruising them; and, as soon as the crop grows up, it may be employed with equal advantage as a horse-hoe. Its construction is stated to be so simple, that in half an hour a common ploughman may be made to comprehend its move- ments, sufficiently to be entrusted with it for the whole season. On level soils, one horse, in general, will be fully competent to draw it; but, in ascending steep hills, or on very stiff land, two will become necessary. The price of this ex- pensive implement, we understand, is about 14 guineas. For a more particular account of the drilling system, we must refer our readers to Mr. Amos's " Theo- ry and Practice of Drill-Husband- ry," (4to. 18s.) published a few- years since, in which the matter is fully investigated, and the ad-. \ DRI DRI 383 vantages and disadvantages are fairly appreciated. But those, who wish to acquire only a general knowledge of this important prac- tice, we advise to pursue the Rev. Mr. Cooke's pamphlet, (12mo. pr.-6d.) entitled " Drill-Husbandry perfected." Before we conclude this highly important subject, it will be useful to state the extraordinary national saving that would arise from a ge- neral introduction of the drill-hus- bandry. Indeed, the patriotic Lord Somerville, late President of the Board of Agriculture, whose ex- ertions in promoting that benefi- cial science, must endear him to every friend of his country, has al- ready anticipated our calculations. Though bred to the broad-cast me- thod, which he till lately followed, that enlightened nobleman, has, in the appendix to his interesting work, entitled, " The System fol- lowed during the two last years _ by the Board of Agriculture," he. (8vo. p. 300, Miller, 1800), impartially exhibited the great advantages that might result from the national adoption of the drill-husbandry.... We regret that our limits will per- mit us only to extract a few leading circumstances from his Lordship's publication. In order to ascertain, beyond the possibility of doubt, the infinite superiority of the drilling, over that of the broad-cast method of sowing, he applied to three gentlemen alike eminent for their agricultural skill, and each of whom made use of different drill-ploughs. From an accurate statement it ap- pears, that the expenses attendant on the old and new practices, are as follow: Expense of seed-corn on 133 acres of land, sown in the usual broad-cast husbandry in 1799, was......L. 134 10 6 The expense of seed-corn for the same number of acres, according to the present improved system of drilling, . In the year 1800, the expense of 140 acres broad-cast, was Ditto,............ditto, . . . drilled, .... Which affords a saving of not less than......... in seed-corn on 140 acres of land. 100 4 6 216 10 0 92 0 0 124 10 0 Both estimates were made from actual experience, by the industri- ous Mi-.Budden, and communica- ted to Lord Somerville, by the Rev. H. J.Close, of Hordle, near Lvmington ; from whose letter we insert the follow ing computation of an annual saving that may be ef- fected by the uniform practice of the drill-husbandry ; and which, at a moderate calculation, will amount to not less than eight millions of bushels of wheat, one million of bushes of rye, three millions of bushels of barley, four millions of bushels of oats, and one million of bushels of beans and peas ! Having, however, in the course of attentive observation, during the last twenty years, witnessed many disappointments, both in statistical and political schemes, we are not so sanguine in our expectations, as to place implicit confidence on any general statement, especially when it is exemplified by round numbers. Nevertheless, in justice to the zeal- ous supporters of the drill-plough, we fully admit its superiority over the clumsy and irregular practice 384 DRI of the wasteful broad-cast husband- ry ; and posterity will ever grate- fully remember the names of Tull, Cooke, Young, and Darwin, if, by their joint labours, one half of the above stated quantity of grain and seeds, that is, together eight or nine millions of bushels, could be annually saved to the nation, before one half of the present eventful century is expired. DRINKING, is one.of the ani- mal functions, essential to the pro- per solution and digestion of food. Although the proportion of liquid to that of dry, or solid food, can- not be precisely ascertained ; yet, if the constant secretion of fluids be laid down as the basis of this computation, we should, perhaps, drink double the quantity of the solid provisions we daily consume. Nevertheless, even this proportion is but too often exceeded, merely to please the artificial cravings of a corrupted palate. Thus, we no longer drink with a view to quench thirst only, but at certain hours of the day, whether we are naturally inclined, or not. Nay, we fre- quently meet with sots in beer, ale, spirits, wine, punch, and even tea......Excessive drink, however, though it distend and oppress the stomach, and thus impede diges- tion, is not nearly so pernicious as gluttony, unless the former be at- tended with intoxication. It how- ever impoverishes the whole mass of the blood, by rendering it too thin and watery ; so that relaxa- tion of the urinary and other canals, and at length, general debility of the system, are its necessary con- comitants. On the contrary, too little drink disposes persons of a sedentary life to indigestion ; because many par- ticles of solid food are, for want DRI of dilution, passed unassimilated through the alimentary canal; and the blood becomes viscid, and in- ert in its circulation. The active and laborious should, therefore, drink more than the idle or phleg- matic ; and either of these more in summer than in winter, to sup- ply the great loss of humours ex- haled by insensible perspiration. Persons, whose natural appetite is not depraved in consequence of irregular living, may easily regu- late the due proportion of their drink to that of dry aliment; as, to them, thirst will be the safest guide. But those individuals who have become slaves to the libations of Bacchus, are unfortunately depri- ved of this beneficent instinct, which is the privilege even of ir- rational animals. If the moral turpitude of com- mitting excess in drinking, affords no argument to induce the habitual votary to abstain from such perni- cious practice, we shall only add, that he will sooner or later feel the effects of it in painful and lin- gering sickness. To a reflecting mind, it affords matter of just sur- prize, how so many persons of worth and character, while sober, can devote themselves to a custom which they cannot but abhor in their friends. For the sake of a momentary gratification of the pa- late, wines and spirits are indiscri- minately swallowed, and especially by those whose age, labours, and merit in society, often entitle them to neither. Immense quantities of valuable grain, by nature designed for the support of the poor and in- digent, are annually converted into liquid fire, or more properly, poi- son ! Where is the philanthropist, in our imperial senate, who posses- ses virtue and influence sufficient DRO D R O 385 to stem the torrent of so extensive a system of mischief? After this involuntary digression, we shall only observe, that large potations are, at all times, and in every constitution, improper; that they are particularly injurious when indulged in previously to the taking of food, and especially be- fore dinner; that all beverage is more pernicious to the healthy in a warm, than in a cold state ; that the human stomach should never be inundated with immoderate quantities of drink at one time; and that the most natural drink, and the most conducive to health, with- out exception, is pure water. DRONE, in natural history, a species of bee, which is nearly double the size of the common working insect. The head of drones is round, the eyes full, the tongue short, and the belly broader than in the other classes ; they are likewise of a darker colour, and more thickly clothed. See Bee. DROPSY, a soft, unelastic swell- ing of the whole or part of the body : in other words, a collection of water under the whole skin, or in the brain, chest, abdomen, he. This complaint may originate from various causes, of which the following are the principal: 1. Ob- structions in the intestines of the lower belly, especially after agues. 2. Suppressions of natural and pe- riodical fluxes ; polypus and other concretions in the blood vessels. 3. Obstipations of the lymphatics, arising chiefly from a free use of spirituous liquors. 4. Great relax- ation of the vascular parts, in con- sequence of poor, watery, and vis- cid nutriment, impure, damp air, £xc. 5. A general acrimony of the fluids, after repelled eruptions, or from an accumulation of acrid,gou- VOL. II. ty, bilious, and other humours. 6. General debility, consequent to copious evacuations, or convulsive diseases, which have reduced the whole nervous system : the opera- tion of all those causes is often promoted by an hereditary disposi- tion of the individual. Regimen...Dunking was former- ly considered as very injurious to dropsical patients, so that physi- cians often prohibited the use of all liquid food. Later experience, however, has evinced the fallacy of this rule ; for, in many cases, the disease has been cured merely by abundant dilution ; especially in those constitutions which are not naturally phlegmatic. Hence it has been found, that the copious use of mineral waters (see Diure- tics) has frequently been attend- ed with the best effects. Vegeta- ble acids, such as vinegar, the juice of lemons, oranges, he. di- luted with water, should be drank in preference to wines or spirits, either of which are generally hurt- ful. The aged and emaciated, however, may occasionally take a glass of wine, or, with equal ad- vantage, mustard, whey, or ginger- tea. Their diet ought to consist of nourishing and stimulating dish- es, but of easy digestion, and to be taken in moderation. White meat, fowls, and even game pro- perly roasted or stewed, may be eaten with toasted bread and bis- cuits. Horse-raddish, onions, and garlic, may be used instead of fo- reign spices, and in large propor- tions. But tea, coffee, and punch, are alike improper for irritable and nervous habits. Muscular exercise, and gentle, but often repeated friction of the parts affected, are two primary objects which deserve attention.... 3 D 386 D R O DRO The patient ought to live in a warm, dry place, not expose him- self to cold or darnp air, and wear flannel next the skin, to promote perspiration. The tepid bath has often procured considerable relief. Medicine. In the beginning of the disease,brisk laxatives, consist- ing of rhubarb and cream of tartar, may be of immediate service to the young and robust, but to aged or debilitated patients, we cannot with safety recommend either pur- gatives or emetics ; as the latter in particular, may be attended with serious consequences. In such cases, medical advice should not be neglected. In general, however, small doses of cream of tartar, namely, half a dram, six or eight times a-day ; and from six to ten grains of salt-petre, with three or four grains of powdered squill, every morning and evening, may be taken without risk, if profes- sional assistance cannot be easily obtained. All other drugs, for in- stance, bark, tartar emetic, cam- phor, opium, he. are powerful re- medies, which ought to be pre- scribed by those only who possess the ability of ascertaining the na- ture and cause of the disease. For similar reasons, we cannot impli- citly approve of the external appli- cation of oil, nor the swallowing of a table spoonful of common sand, every day : this is a curious, but cheap remedy, which has lately been announced by Dr. Guthrie, of St. Petersburg!), who informs us that it was found « to purge the patient pretty briskly, and to pro- cure a relief of all the symptomr." [The dropsy is commonly sup- posed to proceed in every case from great debility: and hence strength- ening remedies are given almost indiscriminately. But there is no truth better ascertained than, that dropsies are frequently accompa- nied by a tense full pulse, and other symptoms which denote too much action in the system. We ought not, therefore, to be alarmed when a judicious physician prescribes bleeding, low diet, and purgatives, for a dropsical patient. Those who wish to satisfy themselves of the propriety of occasional evacuations in this disease, are referred to Dr. Rush's works, in which they will find a valuable paper on the subject which indeed ought to be read by every sufferer from the complaint. The digitalis purpurea, or Fox- glove, has been much celebrated as a remedy for this complaint, and has certainly done good. See Fox- GLOVE. A watery decoction of the Dwarf elder, Ebulus, is said to have cured very desperate cases of dropsy.... Dr. Fowler relates several cases of the successful use of the infusion of tobacco i n v arious species of drop- sy, and Dr. Garnett has record- ed the history of an Anasarca cured by giving 30 drops of it morning and evening, in a cordial aromatic mixture ; and by employing tonics after the swelling was removed. Mercury, when given in small doses, so as to excite a gentle sa- livation, has frequently cured the dropsy. Artichokes are consider- ably diuretic, and have been pro- perly proposed as part of the diet of dropsical patients.] DROPWORT, or Oenanthe, L. a genus of perennial plants, con- sisting of seven species, five of which are indigenous; among these the following only deserve notice: 1. The fistulosa, or Common- Water Dropwort, which thrives in meadows, ponds, and ditches ; and flowers in July. Its naked DRO DRO 387 stalk grows only 12 inches high. The plant is refused by cows and horses; though, from experiments made in this country, it does not appear to be noxious to the former. Bechstein, however, affirms, that in Germany this species of the dropwort is a poisonous vegetable, and has been found to produce dangerous effects on man and clogs; its root, therefore, which spreads extensively in a swampy soil,ought to be carefully extirpated. 2. The crocata, or Hemlock Water-Dropwort, or Dead- tongue, Which grows in watery places, on the bank of rivers, and in ditches. Its reddish thick stalk attains a height from 3 or 5 feet. According to Dr. Withering,the whole of this plant is deleterious ; and Dr. Pulteney remarks, that the root is the most virulent of all the vegetable poisons that Great- Britain produces ; many instances of its fatal effects being recorded. Unless thecontents of the stomach, after eating any small portion of this root (which is sometimes mis- taken for wild celery, or parsnip) be immediately emptied by briskly operating emetics,there is no other chance of saving the patient's life ; because it speedily produces con- vulsions, madness, and death. As a medicine, however, an in- fusion of the leaves, or three tea- spoonfuls of the juice of the root, taken every morning, has in one instance cured a very obstinate cu- taneous disease : though we advise such trials to be made only with animals. According to Mi'.Gough, the country people in Westmore- land apply a poulice of the herb to 'the ulcer, which is sometimes formed in the fore part of the cleft of the hoof in horned cattle, and is termed the foul. The inhabitants of Pembrokeshire call this plant, the five-Jingered-rool; it is much used by them in cataplasms for the felon, or the worst kind of whit- low. Sheep eat the leaves of this vegetable, but they are refused by cows and horses. DROWNING is the act of suf- focating, or being suffocated, by a total immersion in water. The length of time during which a per- son may remain in this element, without being drowned, is very un- equal, in different individuals; and depends as much on the tempera- ture of the water as on the parti- cular constitution of the subject: in general, however, there is less prospect of recovery, after having continued fifteen minutes in a wa- tery grave. In such cases, death ensues-from impeded respiration, and the consequent ceasing of the circulation of the blood, by which the body loses its heat, and, with that, the activity of the vital prin- ciple. Dr. Goodwyn justly ob- serves, that the water produces all the changes which take place in drowning, only indirectly, by ex- cluding the atmospheric air from the lungs, as they admit but a very inconsiderable quantity of fluid to pass into them, during immersion. Hence we shall find,in the progress of this enquiry, that inflation of the lungs is one of the principal means of restoring life. Before we describe the various methods and instruments tliat have been successfully adopted, for re- covering drowned persons, it will be useful to advert (on the plan of Di'.Struve) to those circumstances which deserve to be duly weighed, previously to any active measures being taken on such unfortunate occasions: 1. The season and wea- ther; 2. Length of time the person 388 DRO DRO has continued under water; 3. The state of his mind when the accident happened : whether he was intoxi- cated, frightened, he. 4. Consti- tution of the body, and whether he was in a state of perspiration ; 5. The height from which he fell, and whether his head plunged foremost; 6. Depth of the water ; whether it was cold or warm, sea, or river- water, and how he was dressed ; Lastly, 7. The manner in which he was taken out, whether by the legs, and without receiving any injury, or by instruments; and whether he was rolled about in a tub, or what other methods were pursued for his restoration. Few improvements appear to have been made in the treatment of the drowned, since this impor- tant branch of medical science was first discussed, in a popular man- ner, by the late Dr. Tissot ; yet the names of Cullen, Goodwyn, Cogan, Hawks, and Coleman, in Britain, as well as those of Unzer, Reimarus, and Struve, in Ger- many, deserve to be respectfully mentioned: from their various pub- lications, and especially of the two last mentioned : we shall briefly State the principal rules of conduct to be observed, with respect to persons in thatdeplorable situation, Symptoms of Apparent Death by Drowning. Coldness ; paleness of the whole body ; the lips of a livid hue ; the mouth either open or firmly closed; the tongue blue, swelled and protruded; the eye-lids closed, the eyes turned, and their pupils dilated; the face swelled and blue ; the lower belly hard and in- flated. The first signs of returning animation are, convulsive starting of the muscles of the face, or feet; motion of the eye-lids, a spasmo- dic shivering of the body, Treatment. 1. After having been carefully taken out of the water by the arms, so as to prevent the least injury to the head and breast, the body ought to be carried to the nearest house (if possible, in a bier, as represented in the plate which is described, p. 392), with the head somewhat raised ; or, in fine warm weather, the resuscita- tive process may with more advan- tage be performed in the open air, especially in sun-shine. 2. When the subject is deposit- ed, the upper part of the body should be supported half sitting, with the head inclining towards the right side. 3. The clothes are to be taken off without delay, but with the greatest precaution; as violent shaking of the body might extin- guish the latent spark of life. 4. The mouth and nose must be cleansed from the mucus and froth, by means of a feather dipped in oil. 3. The whole body should now be gently wiped and dried with warm flannel cloths, then covered with blankets, feather-beds, hay, straw, 8cc. In cold or moist wea- ther, the patiept is to be laid on a mattress or bed, at a proper dis- tance from the fire, or in a room moderately heated ; but in the warm days of summer, a simple couch is sufficient. 6. If the patient be very young or a child, it may be placed in bed between two persons, to promote natural warmth. (See also the J Vanning Machine, delineatedin the second plate*and described p. 393.) 7. In situations where the bath cannot be conveniently procured, ' bladders filled with lukewarm wa- ter should be applied to different parts of the body, particularly tQ DRO DRO 389 the pit of the stomach ; or a warm- ing-pan wrapped in flannel gently moved along the spine : or aroma- tic fomentations frequently andcau- tiously repeated. 8. As the breathing of many per- sons in an apartment would render the air mephitic, and thus retard, or even prevent the restoration of life, not more than five or six as- sistants should be suffered to re- main in the room where the body is deposited. Stimulants generally employed : 1. Moderate friction with soft, warm flannel, at the beginning, and gradually increased by means of brushes dipped in oil, till pulsations of the heart are perceptible. 2. Inflation of the lungs, which may be more conveniently effected by blowing into one of the nostrils, than by introducing air into the mouth. For the former purpose, it is necessary to be provided with a wooden pipe, fitted at one extre- mity for filling the nostrils, and at the other for being blown into by a healthy person's mouth, or for receiving the muzzle of a pair of common bellows, by which the operation maybe longer continued. At first, however, it will always be more proper to introduce the warm breath from the lungs of a living person, than to commence with cold atmospheric air. During this operation, the other nostril and the mouth should be closed by an as- sistant, while a third person gently presses the chest with hs hands, as soon as the lungs are observed to be inflated. For a more effec- tual method of alternately intro- ducing fresh air into the lungs,and expelling that which is rendered mephitic, or unfit for respiration, we refer the reader to the second plate Fig. 1. 3. Stimulating clysters, consist- ing of warm water and common salt; or a strong solution of tartar emetic ; or decoctions of aromatic herbs ; or six ounces of brandy, should be speedily administered.... We do not consider injections of the smoke of tobacco, or even clys- ters of that narcotic plant, in all instances safe or proper. 4. Let the body be gently rub- bed with common salt, or with flannels dipped in spirits : the pit of the stomach fomented with hot brandy ; the temples stimulat- ed with spirit of hartshorn; and the nostrils occasionally tickled with a feather. 5. Persons of a very robust frame, and whose skin after being dried, assumes a rigid and contract- ed surface, may be put into the sub-tepid bath,' of about 65 deg. which must be gradually raised to 75 or 80 deg. of Fahrenheit's scale, according to circumstances; or the body carried to a brewhouse, and covered with warm grains for three or four hours : but these ex- pedients generally require medical assistance. 6. Violent shaking and agitation of the body by the legs, and arms, though strongly recommended,and supposed to have often forwarded the recovery of children and boys, appears to us a doubtful remedy, which can be practised only in cer- tain cases. 7. Sprinkling the naked body of a drowned person with cold water; submitting it to the operation of a shower-bath, or the sudden shocks of the electric fluid ; as well as whipping it with nettles, adminis- tering emetics, and blood-letting, ....are desperate expedients, which should be resorted to only after the more lenient means have been un- successful employed. It is, however, a vulgar and dan- SCO DRO gerwus error, to suppose that per- sons apparently dead by immer- sion under watei\ are irrecovera- ble, because life does not soon re- appear : hence we seriously entreat those w ho are thus employed in the service of humanity, to perse- vere for three or tour hours at least, in the application of the most ap- propriate remedies above describ- ed ; for there are many instances recorded, of patients, who recover- ed, after they had been relinquish- ed .by all their medical and other assistants. Treatment on the return of life : As soon as the first symptoms of that happy change become dis- cernible, additional care must be taken to cherish the vital action, by the most soothing means. All violent proceedings should, there- fore, be immediately abandoned, no farther stimulants applied, nor even the ears of the patients be an- noyed by loud speaking, shouting, he. At that important crisis, mo- derate friction only is requisite. And if the reviving person happen to be in the bath, he may either remain there, provided his sensa- tions be easy and "agreeable, or be removed to a comfortable bed, afterbeingexpeditioi'.sly dried with warm flannels : fomentations of aromatic plants may then be ap- plied to the pit of the stomach , bladders filled with warm water, placed to the left side ; the soles of the feet robbed with salt; the mouth cleared of froth and mucus, and a little white wine, or a solution of salt and watery dropped on the tongue. But alfstrong stimulants, such as powerful electric shocks, strong odours of volatile salts, he. are at this period particularly in- jurious. Lastly, the patient, after DRO resuscitation, ought to be for a shoi t interval resigned to the ef- forts of Nature, and left in a com- posed and quiescent state : as soon as he is able to swallow, without compulsion or persuasion, warm wine, or tea, with a few drops of vinegar, instead of milk, or gruel, warm beer, and the like, should be given in small doses frequently re- peated. Having stated the leading parti- culars to be attended to, in the practical treatment of persons who are on the eve of suffering from aquatic suffocation, we shall ac- company, them with a few direc- tions, addressed to those humane assistants who often fall victims, for want of due precaution in the execution of their benevolent de- sign. As many fatal accidents happen to individuals who wish to rescue others in danger of being drowned, especially when the former are un- skilful in the useful art of swim- ming, which ought to be learnt at an early period of life, we think it our duty to remind the reader of the two excellent contrivances al- ready described in our firstvolume, under the articles Air-jacket, and Bamboe Habit. Every fami- ly dwelling on the banks of lakes or rivers, or near ponds, ought to be always provided with* two or three such useful articles, to serve in cases of emergency ; as it will generally be too late to procure them on the spur of the occasion. explanation. I. Of the Plate representing the " Instruments for recovering the " Drowned." Fig. 1. A forked instrument with blunt points, for making a superficial search after the drown- Fia./ . I'ia . 2 . Fuj.3. 7 , A/.)/'/ft ttffftr.t fo< icrefe/(try //tr . ' '<< /r/wt r DRO DRO 391 •d body, and sounding the particu- lar situation in which it lies. Fig. 2. A ladder with a long, jointed handle, and which we have already mentioned, when treating of the Ice-boats : a model of these boats may be inspected in the Repository of the " Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manu- factures,", he. Adelphi, London. lug. 3. An extractor, or a linked pair of tongs, which in the plate appears closed; but, on immersing it into water, opens by its own weight, as well as by the sliding down of the iron ring o from the part marked x, to that of u. It may again be closed, by pulling the double rope fastened to the ring o, which is thus shifted upward from uto x : by means of expanding the iron arms n n, which are likewise connected with this ring,the mouth or flaps of the instrument r r, may be shut: and to prevent their open- ing till required, the two ropes are firmly tied round the iron bolts*; in which situation they remain till the body is extracted. This in- strument, together with that re- presented, Fig. 1, cost about 2/, at Hamburg. Great attention is required in preserving them from the effects of rust; and independ- ently of the weight of iron-work, Fig. 3, is perhaps, the m f com- plete piece of machinery that can be §pntrived for this purpose. II. Of the Engraving in which the " Implements of restoration f . n drowning," arc represented. Fig. 1, A pair of bellows with two separate bags, so contrived that by opening them, when applied to the nostrils or mouth of a patient, one bag will be filled with common air, and the other w iih the mephitic air extracted from the lungs; and, by shutting them again, pure at- mospheric air will be introduced into those organs, and that drawn out, consequently discharged into the room. Thus, the artificial breathing may be continued, while the other operations on the surface of the body are carried on ; which could not be conveniently done, if the muzzle of a common pair of bellows were introduced into the nostril. a, Is an intermediate board, but which admits of no communication between the two bags. In the ex- ternal board of each side, there is the usual hole, marked b, provided with a valve; and the cylindrical part through which the air is ex- pelled in common bellows, is here soldered to a copper box, wit.ii:» which two other valves are applied to the tubes conducting the air.... The cover d of this box, which may be unscrewed by means of an interposed leather ring, is almost of the shape of a funnel, to the "neck of which is fastened a flexible tube e, made of varnished silk cloth, and a spiral wire that forms the cavity. To the extremity of this tube is at- tached a small ivory pipe f, the front of which may be either tubu- lar and round, for introducing it into the nostril: or flat like the lop-piece of a clarionet, if it be in- tended for the mouth. The valves (which cannot be represented in a plate), consist of stiffened taffety, and are so arranged, that the cor- responding ones stand in an invert- ed order. If, therefore, both bags of the bellows are expanded, two of the valves open themselves to- wards the internal part of the ma- chine : one of these is fixed to one of the side-boards, but the othor !s within the box, in the mouth* of the conducting tube belonging to 392 DRO DRO the opposite bag of the bellows. By this contrivance, the air enters both bars of the bellows at the same time, and is, on compression, again expelled by means of two other valves, which open from within towards the external parts. Both bags of the bellows terminate below the valve in one particular tube of communication ; because, though the action of both bellows is simultaneous, the stream of air, conformably to the arrangement before pointed out, can only enter, and escape, alternately. In using this machine, the small ivory pipe is applied either to one of the nos- trils, or put into the mouth : in the former case, the other nostril and the mouth must be closed ; in the latter, both nostrils. When the bellows are set in action, one of the bags receives a column of atmos- pheric air through its valve ; while the other, by means of its flexible tube and its valve, extracts a por- tion of air from the lungs. But if, the bellows are again shut, one of the bags parts with the impure gas drawn out of the pulmonary ves- sels ; and the second conveys pure atmospheric air to the organs of respiration. By properly repeating this alternate process, the patient may again be enabled to exercise thermportant function of breathing. As, however, a precipitate and ir- regular method of proceeding might be productive of injury, this delicate operation ought to be per- formed by persons who are ac- quainted with the mechanism of respiration. In some cases, where the patient has, for a considerable time, lain under water, or was af- terwards neglected for want of due assistance, it would be desirable to introduce into his lungs oxygen or pure vital, dephlogisticated air, in- stead of that of the common atmos- phere ; as the latter is generally more or less corrupted on such oc- casions by the breath of many per- sons in the same room. For this purpose may be used a bladder, marked g, which is provided with a cock and pipe fitted or screwed to the board of the inspiring valve and bag of the bellows. If, there- fore, after opening the cock, the machine is set in motion, it will extract the pure air contained in the bladder, and, on the subsequent compression of the bellows, force it into the lungs of the patient. Fig. 2. A machine for injecting the smoke of tobacco by way of clyster, in those desperate cases which require the application of this remedy. It consists of a pair of bellows, to the muzzle of which is fitted a metal box, a, provided with a ring, in the middle of which it may be unscrewed, and again closed, after being filled with tobac- co, and set on fire: the pipe c,which should be perfectly round and blunt at the top of the flexible tube b, is introduced into the fundament; and thus, by means of the bellows d, the smoke is forced into the rectum. Fig. 3. A bier of wicker .work, in the form of a slanting, oblong basket, for conveying the body of the drowned, in a posture sqppe- what raised. This simple contriv- ance has the advantage, that the v • ter may easily run off, while the patient is carried: and, as many unfortunate persons are materially injured by rough treatment, before they arrive at a house of reception, so that their recovery is thus often frustrated, we recommend the uni- versal adoption of this useful im- i » n DRO DRO 393 plement. It costs at Hamburgh on- ly ten marks currency, or about 15*. Fig. 4. The Warming Machine of block tin, or other metal, was originally invented by Mr. Har- vey, of London, who suggested.it to our Royal Humane Society, and it was subsequently improved by M. Braasch, an ingenious me- chanic of Hamburgh. Its object is to procure an uniform degree of warmth, throughout the apparatus, in the most expeditious manner, by filling the hollow or double bottom and sides of the whole implement with boiling water....a is the body of the machine, seven feet long, and made of solid pieces of block- tin, to prevent the necessity of sol- dering them, and consequently the formation of iron-rust: it rests on two wooden legs ff, and may be easily carried by the handles g g. The water is poured in through both funnels d, d, in order to warm it more speedily; and each of these is provided with a stopper (as re- presented in the Plate, suspended on a chain), with a view to prevent, if necessary, too sudden evapora- tion and cooling of the water....A is the intermediate space between the two metallic plates, producing a vacuum of 2A inches, in which the fluid is diffused over the whole machine......b is a wooden desk to support the head of the patient, and to prevent it from the immedi- ate contact with the heated parts; but, on the opposite end of the machine, there is an enlarged in- termediate space c, for holding such a quantity of water and va- pour as will procure an additional, or at least a more permanent, de- gree of heat towards the lower ex- tremities, than to the trunk of the' body. For discharging the water, when it is not wanted, or changing VOL. II. it when too cold, there is a cock at e. The hollow sides of this ma- chine are about twelve inches high; and in order to insure an uniform warmth, the body apparently dead, should be placed on a straw mat- tress, and tucked in with blankets. A pailful of water is required to fill the whole machine, as a smaller quantity would warm the sides only for a short time, by means of the vapour. It deserves to be remarked, that this ingenious contrivance may also be used for a warm bath ; for which purpose, the inner space in which the body lies, should be sup- plied with water. The whole ap- paratus, in its present improved state, made of copper, costs at Ham- burgh about 200 marks, or from 14 to 15/. Lastly, we cannot conclude this subject, without affording the rea- der a view of the different articles belonging to a complete chest of instruments, and other materials, employed in the various processes for recoveringsuspended animation from drowning. The merit of these institutions in England, is due to Drs. Cogan and Hawes, the foun- ders of the Royal Humane Society at London; but the improved ar- rangement of the chest now to be described, together with the choice of internal and external remedies, were made by one of our most esteemed surgeons, Mr. Kite, in 1788, though considerably extend- ed in 1790, by Mr. Redlich, a respectable medical practitioner at Hamburgh. This gentleman is likewise one of the most active members of the Humane Society in that city, and has offered the fol- lowing articles for sixty-five marks, or about four guineas and a half. His complete chest contains : 3 E 394 D R U DRU A small bottle of rectified spirit of wine. Ditto, white wine vinegar. Ditto, sweet oil. Ditto, white French brandy. Ditto, volatile sal ammoniac. Ditto, vitriolic xther. Ditto, mustard-seed. A machine for injecting the smoke of tobacco. A leather tube, together with a pair of bellows, for inflating the lungs. Another tube of leather, for introducing medicines into the stomach. A small syringe for clearing the throat of mucus. Three woollen covers, or blankets. Four brushes and six woollen cloths, for performing friction. Several emetics. Two lancets for blood-letting. One pound of tobacco. A roller and cushion, to be used in venesection. Two quills, a sponge, and some lint. A pocket-knife. An apparatus for striking fire. Chamomile and elder-flowers. Common salt.......and a printed copy (in German) of rules and direc- tions for treating the drowned. Conceiving that a chest contain- Drunkenness may be consider- ing all these articles could not be ed as a breach of the law of na- purchased in London for less than ture, which directs us to preserve double the price above stated, be- the use of our reason. By the law side the additional trouble of pro- of this country, it cannot be plead- curing them, we have inserted this ed as an excuse for committing account; especially as the com- trespasses and crimes ; nay, any mercial intercourse between Ham- person who is found intoxicated, burgh and this country, is daily in- incurs a penalty of five shillings, creasing. or, in case of non-payment, is to DRUNKENNESS, is that state be set in the stocks. Those who in which, from the intemperate are guilty of it a second time, may drinking of liquors, reason has lost be bound in a certain sum for their its powers, and the person intoxi- good behaviour; and, if any ale- cated is unable to govern himself, house keeper be convicted of the This odious vice is but too pre- offence, he is liable to be deprived valent among the lower order of of his license for the term of three people, who, under the erroneous years. These are wholesome re- idea of drowning care, indulge gulations, and it is sincerely to be themselves in strong liquors ; and wished, that they were more fre- by gradually acquiring habits of quently enforced, as well for the intemperance, not only undermine benefit of individuals, as on account their constitution, but also become of the national character. See In- a disgrace to society. toxication. DRY DRY 395 DRY-ROT, a disease incident to timber, used for building, such as flooring-boards, joists, wainscot- ing, Sec. Dr. Darwin is of opinion, that the dry-rot may be entirely pre- vented, by soaking the timber first in lime-water, till it has absorbed as much of it as possible, and, after it has become dry, immersing it in a weak solution of vitriolic acid in water, which he supposes will not only preserve it from decay for many centuries (if it be kept dry), but also render it less inflamma- ble ; a circumstance that merits considerable attention in construct- ing houses. In the Transactions of the So- ciety for the Encouragement of Arts, we meet with the following account of the cause of the dry-rot in timber and the method of pre- venting it, communicated by Ro- bert BATSON,of Limehouse, Esq. He observes, that the dry-rot hav- ing taken place in one of his par- lours, to such a degree as to re- quire the pulling down part of the wainscot, every third year; and perceiving that it arose from a damp stagnated air, and from the moisture of the earth, he deter- mined, in the month of June, 1783, to build a narrow closet, next the wall through which the moisture came to the parlour: this expe- dient had the desired effect. But, though the rot in the parlour was totally stopped, the evil soon ap- peared in the closet, where fungi of a yellow colour arose in various parts. In the autumn of the year 1786, the closet was locked up about ten weeks: on opening it, numerous excrescences were ob- served about the lower part; a white mould was spread by a plant resembling a vine, or sea-weed; and the whole of the inside, china, he. was covered with a fine pow- der of the colour of brick dust. On cleaning out the closet, it was discovered that the disease had af- fected the wood so far as to extend through every shelf, and the brack- ets that supported them. In the beginning of the year 1787, he de- termined to strip the whole closet of lining and floor, not to leave a particle of the wood behind, and also to dig, and take away, about two feet of the earth in depth, and leave the walls to dry, so as to de- stroy the roots or seeds of the evil. When, by time, the admission of air, and good brushing, it had be- come properly dry and cleansed, he filled it of sufficient height for the joists, with anchor-smith's ashes; because no vegetable will grow in them. The joists being sawed off to their proper lengths, and fully prepared, they and the plates were well charred, and laid upon the ashes ; particular directions being given, that no scantling or board might be cut or planed in the place, lest any dust or shavings might drop among the ashes. The flooring-boards being very dry, he caused them to be laid close, to prevent the dust getting down, which, perhaps, in the course of time, might bring on vegetation. The framing of the closet was then fixed up, having all the lower pan- nels let in, to be fastened with but- tons only, so that, if any vegeta- tion should arise,the pannels might with ease be taken out, and exa- mined. In some situations, it might be expedient and necessary to take out a greater depth of earth ; and where ashes can be had from a foundery, they may be substituted for those of anchor-smiths; but 396 D U C DUC house-ashes are by no means to be depended upon. At the expiration of seven years from the period of making this experiment, the wainscot was re- moved, and the flooring-boards also taken up, when they were found entirely free from any appearance of the rot: two pieces of wood (yellow fir) which had been driven into the wall as plugs, without be- ing previously charred, were alone affected with this disease. DUCK, the Common Wild,or Anas bcschas, L. an aquatic fowl, from which the common tame sorts derive their origin. This bird frequents the lakes of different countries, and feeds upon frogs and several sorts of insects. The wild-ducks pair in the spring; build their nests among rushes near the water, and lay from ten to six- teen eggs. The mallard, or drake, though it varies in colours, always retains the curled feathers of the tail, and both sexes the form of the bill. Wild-ducks abound particularly in Lincolnshire, where great num- bers are taken annually in the de- coys, which, in that county, are commonly set at a certain rent, from 5 to 20/. a year; and there is a decoy in Somersetshire, which is rented at 30/. The birds of the former county principally contri- bute to the supply of the London markets ; as surprizing numbers of ducks, widgeons, &c. are annu- ally taken. The situation proper for a decoy, should be chosen where there is a large pond surrounded with wood, in a marshy and uncultivated coun- try. As soon as the evening sets in, the decoy rises, as it is termed, and the wild-fowl feed during the night. This rising is, in Somer- setshire, called roading. The de- coy-ducks are fed with hemp-seed, which is thrown over the screens, in small quantities, to bring them forwards into the pipes or canals, and to allure the wild-fowl to fol- low; this seed being so light as to float. There are several pipes that lead up a narrow ditch, at the extre- mity of which is a funnel-net..... Over these pipes (which are nar- rower from their first entrance), is a continued arch of netting sus- pended on hoops. It is necessary to have a pipe or ditch for almost every wind that may blow; as it depends upon this circumstance to which pipe the birds will resort; and thedecoy-man always keeps on the leeward side of the ducks, to prevent his effluvia reaching their sagacious nostrils. Along each pipe, at certain intervals, are placed skreens constructed of reeds, which are so arranged, that it is impos- sible the wild-fowl should see the decoy-man, before they have pass- ed towards the end of the pipe, where the purse-net is placed. The wild-fowl are induced to go up one of those pipes, because the decoy- ducks, trained to this, lead the way, either after hearing the whistle of the decoy-man, or being enticed by the hemp-seed ; they will then dive under water, while the wild- fowl fly on, and are taken in the purse. it often happens, however, that the wild birds are in such a lethar- gic state, that they will not follow the decoy-ducks. Recourse is then generally had to a dog trained for the purpose: he passes backwards and forwards between the reed- skreens ; this attracts the eye of the wild-fowl, and they advance towards "the animal to drive him DUC away. At length, the decoy-man appears behind a skreen, and the wild-birds not daring to pass by him in return, nor being able to effect their escape upwards, on ac- count of the net-covering, rush on into the purse-net. Tame ducks are very useful for destroying the black caterpillars, snails, or slugs, which infest tur- nip fields: hence, if they are.turn- ed into such fields, they will de- vour all the insects, and do no in- jury to the crop. It is remarkable, that ducks are extremely fond of the entrails of other animals, and almost every kind of filth. Hence their flesh, though much relished by the epi- cure, is of a strong alkaline flavour, and not easy of digestion. Those who are afflicted with ulcers, or cu- taneous eruptions, as well as inva- lidsand convalescents who are liable to eructations, ought carefully to abstain from this enticing, but hurt- ful food. If a small quantity of a roasted duck must nevertheless be eaten, it ought to be mixed, during mastication, with a considerable proportion of toasted bread, or bis- cuits, to absorb and sheath the acri- mony which it contains. It is, how- ever, equally absurd and injurious to take drams of spirituous liquors after eating such meat; for, instead of assisting the digestive organs, this momentary stimulus cannot fail ultimately to relax them; hence drinking should for a few minutes be delayed, and afterwards, water or beer may be used, in very small draughts, which will not inundate and weaken the stomach. [The white back, or canvass-back duck, is more extolled for the deli- cious flavour of its flesh, than any other of the whole order of water fowl. It breeds in the north and DUC 397 north-west regions of the United States ; and arrives on the Atlan- tic coast, towards the end of au- tumn. There they remain until the approach of warm weather. They are not found north of the Chesapeak bay : and are chiefly confined to the waters of the Sus- quehannah and Potomac. Former- ly they were common on James's River, in Virginia, but lately they have deserted it altogether. This abandonment of residence, is sup- posed to be owing to a failure of the particular food which formerly invited them there. This consists of the roots of a coarse long grass, which grows in the before mention- ed rivers, higher toward their sources,than the salt waterextends. And these roots which are large, succulent, and resemble those of cellery, are procured by diving. So powerful an effect has this food upon them, that one week before they begin to feed on this grass, their flesh is not in the least differ- ent from that of common ducks. And whenever ice covers the fresh water of the Susquehannah, and Potomac, and forces the canvass- backs to leave their feeding place, and go down to the salt water of the Chesapeak, they soon become lean, and their flesh loses all the excellence of relish for which it is so highly prized. Med. Rep. Method of fattening ducks in France. Theducksareof that kind called in patois Mule Ducks, which do not generate, and are produced by the great Indian drake and the com- mon duck. In the autumn when tolerably fat, they are shut up eight by eight in a dark place, and cram- med with boiled corn. They some- times are suffocated, but if they are 398 DUC DUE soon bled, they are not the worse for it. They pass fifteen days in a state of oppression and suffocation, which makes their livers grow large: when the tail spreads out like a fan, they are fat enough : they are then turned out to bathe, after which they are killed. Two days after killing, they are opened below, and their wings and legs taken off, and the flesh cover- ing the rump and sto:u.ach. The whole is put into a salting tub, with the neck and end of the rump, and left covered with salt for fifteen days ; after which they are cut into, fo^r quarters and put into the pot. They are first seasoned with cloves and other spices put in them..... Some leaves of Spanish laurel and a little salt-petre having been put in the brine to give the meat a red colour. The salt of Salice is much better than common sea salt; and it is ow ing to this salt that the hams of Bigorre and Beam have acquir- ed their reputation.] DUCK's-MEAT,or Lemna, L. a genus of plants consisting of four species, all of which are natives of this country, and grow abundantly in ponds, ditches, and stagnant waters. They are in flower from June to September, and afford a grateful food to ducks and geese, from which circumstance this ve- getable has received its name. In Germany, it is, on account of its various economical uses, of- ten cultivated, by removing the whole plant in pails, and putting- it in stagnant waters. When min- gled with bran, it affords excellent food for geese and other poultry'. In Thuringia, hogs are reared and fattened with a mixture of duck's meat, bran, and ground barley..... But the most profitable employ- ment of this vegetable, we learn from BECHSTEiN^who informs us, that " from these apparently use- less fibrous roots, a yarn may be spun, which is equal to that ob- tained from flax." Duck's-meatis of a cooling emol- lient nature, and has therefore been applied to inflammations, erysipe- las, or the shingles ; and also to the gout, either alone or mixed with barley-meal. Country people some- times employ it for removing the jaundice : hence they infuse it in white wine, to the quantity of six ounces, to be taken nine days suc- cessively, at the end of which pe- riod, it is said to have effected a cure. DUEL, a single combat on some private occasion or quarrel, in con- sequence of a challenge. Taking away the life of a per- son, by deliberate duelling, is, by the law of this country, a species of murder ; and consequently, it charges the crime and inflicts the punishment of homicide on the principals, and likewise, according to the nature of the case, on their seconds. It has also been enacted, that challenges to fight, whetherby word or letter, as well as the car- rying of such messages, are pun- ishable by fine and imprisonment. And, if they arise from gambling, the offender, by the 9 Anne, c. 14. incurs the forfeiture of all his goods to the Crown, and an imprison- ment for five years. Such, however, has been the prevalence of fashion, that neither the terror of severe penalties, nor any o'her consideration, have been able to abolish a practice so unjus- tifiable, and, at the same time, so unbecoming every person who as- pires to the character of a rational ager^.. It must, nevertheless, be acknowledged, that neither duel- DUM DUN 399 Ting with weapons, nor boxing is in such repute at present as it was a few years since ; and we trust, that from the good sense of indi- viduals, and the vigilance of the law, it will in a short time be com- pletely abolished. DUMBNE9S, is the privation, or want, of the faculty of speech. This unfortunate defect proceeds chiefly from total and native deaf- ness ; if it arise from a deficiency in the organs necessary for utter- ing sounds, it is always incurable. Several instances, however, have occurred of persons born deaf, who have been taught to speak distinct- ly ; to read, write, understand arithmetic, &c. The most eminent teachers of the dumb in this country, were. 1. Dr. Wallis, who, in the 61st number of the Philosophical Transactions, gives an account of two persons he had taught to speak ; and, in the 25th number of the same work, his method is explained. 2. Mr. Thomas Braidwood, late of Edinburgh, who is perhaps the first person that ever brought the surprising art of imparting speech to dumb persons to any de- gree of perfection. He first com- menced his useful labours in 1764, and, in the course of a few years, enabled many to speak, write, he. We regret that we cannot commu- nicate a clear idea of his method, which indeed will not admit of be- ing bo fully explained in writing, as to enable any person to teach it. Mr. B. used to pronounce first the sound of a. slowly, at the same time pointing out the figure of that letter, and making his pupil watch the motion of his mouth and throat; he then put his finger into the pu- pil's mouth, depressing or elevat- ing his tongue, and making him keep the parts in that position. Next, he laid hold of the outside of the wind-pipe, and squeezed it in a certain direction, which we confess ourselves utterly unable to describe. While he was pronounc- ing the letter a, his pupil was anx- iously imitating him, uncertain of, or rather not comprehending, the nature of the sound he was requir- ed to utter. In this manner, Mr. Braidwood proceeded, till his ty- ro learned to pronounce the sounds of the different letters of the al- phabet. Mr. B. then continued in the same order to join vowels and consonants, tiH at length his pupil was enabled both to speak and read. It would be injustice to omit mentioning the labours of the very ingenious Abbe De l'Epee, of Berlin,who has deservedly acquired great celebrity by his method of teaching dumb persons to speak, by signs or characters. For an account of his plan, we must refer our readers to the " New Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences," he. of Berlin for the year 1795, ("Nouveaux Memcires de L' Acade- mic Royale," Sec.) in which they will find a short account confirmed by facts. DUNG, properly signifies the excrements of animals, together with the litter. It likewise com- prehends whatever will ferment with soil, such as the green stalks of leaves and plants, when buried in the earth, &c. The value and use of the dung of most animals, are sufficiently proved by experience. Much, however, depends on adapting the various kinds of dung to different soils, the defects of which are as unlike as the dung employed to. 400 DUN improve them : some lands are too cold, moist, and heavy; others are too light and dry ; to ameliorate which, there is hot and light dung, such as that of horses, sheep, pigeons, he. as also fat and cool- ing, viz. that of oxen, hogs, and the like. The quality of the dung of dif- ferent animals depends in a great measure on the richness, or pover- ty, of their food. Thus, if cattle be fed on lint, rape, or other oily seeds, it will be of the most ferti- lizing nature : the dung obtained from those kept on oil-cake, is next in value ; then succeeds the ma- nure produced from animals sub- sisting on turnips, carrots, pars- nips, potatoes, or other succulent roots ; next in effect, is that result- ing from the best hay; after which follows that of cattle supplied with ordinary hay ; and the poorest is that obtained from straw. It de- serves to be remarked, that the dung of fat animals is unquestion- ably richer, and consequently con- tributes more to fertilization, than that of lean creatures ; which, if worked hard, and fed on straw, " is poor indeed." In the county of Middlesex, where all the produce of land is sold at very high prices in the markets of the metropolis, the soil is kept in good heart, by the im- mense quantities of dung which are brought in the carts on their return ; because no cattle, though fed in home-stalls, can produce so large a supply. But, in counties that are more remote from Lon- don, the most effectual mode of manuring, in the opinion of Mr. Middleton, consists in raising green crops, for the purpose of feeding sheep and bullocks on the land. This, says he, is the only DUN method, by which the loss of near- ly all their urine«can be prevented: for there is a great waste, equal perhaps to one half, in the stables, cow-houses, sheds, fold-yards, and dung-hills of farms, even though conducted in the most careful man- ner ; but, in those which are under ordinary management, such loss amounts to three-fourths ; whereas no waste can possibly arise, when cattle are soiled on tares, clover, he. in the field ; the whole being immediately applied to the amelio- ration of the land, without incur- ring the expense of conveyance. We do not pretend to decide on the practicability of this plan ; which, in many situations, may be applicable to a-considerable extent, and attended with great advanta- ges : on the other hand, we are firmly persuaded, nay convinced from the experience of able and successful farmers on the Conti- nent, that stall-feeding with cut hay and straw, is the greatest of all improvements made in modern hus- bandry. Dung possesses two remarkable properties, one of which is to pro- duce a sensible heat, greatly pro- moting vegetation ; the other is, to fatten and render the soil more fer- tile. The first of these is seldom to be found, unless in the dung of horses, or mules ; the great ef- fects of which, when newly made, and somewhat moist, are conspicu- ous in our kitchen gardens, where it invigorates and gives new life to every plant, supplying the absence of the sun, and affording us all the vegetable delicacies of the spring, Horse-dung, however, is equal- ly excellent for steril and poor lands ; but, if it be used when too new, or be laid on alone, it is to some soils very pernicious ; or, if DUN DUN 401 it be spread too thinly on dry lands during the summer, it proves of very little service ; its fertilizing properties being absorbed by the sun, which renders it little more than aheap of stubble, or dry thatch. Hence, horse-dung is best calcu- lated for cold ground, while that of cows is adapted solely to a hot one: when mixed together, or with mud, both form an excellent manure for either of those soils. The dung of deer, and sheep, differs but little as to its properties; and is, in the estimation of some agriculturists, the most proper for cold clays : with this intention it should be pulverized, and spread thinly over the autumnal or spring crops, in the proportion of four or five loads per acre, in the same manner as ashes, malt-dust, he. are strewed. Hog's-dung is supposed to. be fatter and richer than that of any other animal; and has been found to be the most serviceable to ap- ple, pear, and other fruit-trees. It is also particularly excellent for grass, one load of it being said to be more beneficial than two of any other manure. The dung of pigeons and hens contributes greatly to improve mea- dow and corn-lands. The former is, without exception, the richest that can be laid on arable soils ; but previously to being used, it ought to be exposed to the air for a short space of time, in order to exhale part of its fiery ingredients. It is, in general, very proper for cold clay-lands, but should be care- fully dried before it is spread: be- ing apt, during wet weather, to clod together in lumps. The dung of poultry, is of a heating nature, abounds with salts, and greatly VOL. II. tends to promote vegetation ; it is more speedy in its operations, than that of animals, feeding on the leaves of plants. Goose-dung is a very valuable and useful manure to the husband- man. Besides its fertilizing pro- perties, when laid on land, the dung of these birds contributes to the fattening of sheep ; and it is a circumstance deserving notice, that cattle, and sheep in particular, are most partial to, and fatten best, on those pastures on which the largest quantity of goose-dung has been dropped. Flowever excellent clung is from its own nature, it acquires addi- tional vigour, if mixed with lime, in the proportion of one-fourth of the latter, to three-fourths of the former. By this means a smaller quantity of manure is consumed ; the seeds of weeds, where this composition is laid on, are effectu- ally destroyed ; and the fermenta- tion of the dung promoted, which consequently heightens its fertilize ing properties....See Manure. [" The sorts of dung which are, or may be used, are that of black cattle, sheep, horses, swine, goats, hens, pigeons, ducks, geese, and rabbits, besides human ordure. The dung of sheep is more hot and fiery than that of black cattle ; it ferments quicker; it is litter therefore for cold, heavy lands.... Perhaps the best way of applying the dung of sheep to land is by fold- ing, especially in countries which are not infested by wolves. For in this method their urine is all saved, as well as their dung. But it ought to be turned in with the plough as soon as possible, that the sun and air may not deprive the land of ft. 3 F 4,02 DUN DUN In Flanders it is the practice to Great care should be taken that house their sheep at night, under horse-dung be not spoiled, by being slight sheds, the ground being over heated, or burni in the heaps, spread with drj sand, about four or before it is used. For in this coun- five inches thick, laying on a little try it is very commonly the case. more fresh every night. This is When it has been so heated as to cleared out once a week, and car- give it a white and mouldy appear- ried to a dung-hill, or applied to ance the virtue of it is gone. It is the soil. This mixture of sand and difficult to give it age, without hot dung, makes a very excellent mixing it with other substances. dressing for cold and stiff land. A mixture of horse and cow-dung For there is scarcely a richer ma- is very proper for land that is nei- nure than the dung and urine of ther too light nor too stiff. sheep. M.QuiNTiNiEthinksit the Mi'.Miller says, he has frequent- greatest promoter of fruitfulness, ly seen new horse-dung buried as it in all sorts of ground. This me- came from the stable, in very cold, thod of folding sheep in a covered moist land, and always observed fold, and of mixing their dung with that the crops have succeeded bet- earth or sand, according to the ter than where the ground was nature of the soil it is intended for, dressed with very rotten dung. is also, with much reason, recom- The dung of swine is a very mended by Mr. Mortimer ; who rich and fat manure, and so cool says, " that he has known vast as to ferment very slowly. It is so crops of rye upon barren lands, that rich and oily, as to be double in have been old warrens, -well dung- value to neats' dung. It will ren- ed by rabbits, and large oak and der the most dry and hungry soils ash trees upon the same, though exceedingly fruitful in a wettish the soil was very shallow." season, as I have found by experi- Too much can hardly be said in ence. It resists the ill effects of praise of the Flanders method of drought, and does most service in using sheep's dung. A prodigious a hot country. By its steady and quantity of good manure may be gradual supply of a rich nourish- thus obtainedfrom a flock of sheep, ment, it is peculiarly adapted for If a light soil is intended to be the growing of hops, pumpions, maniucd with this compost; instead running beans, and every plant of sand, clay, pond-mud, or the which "has long vines. Nothing mud of flats may be used, these can equal it for the growing of po- substances having been first mel- tatoes. This is so strong a manure, lowed by the frosts of winter. that it answers well, when mixed Horse-dung is a still hotter ma- with a large proportion of earth, nure, as appears by its quick for- weeds, straw, or other bibulous sub- mentation in heaps, even in cool stances. It is almost incredible weather. It is consequently fittest how great a quantity of good ma- for hot-beds, when it is new, and nure may be obtained, by supply- for nourishing those plants which ing a hog-sty with rubbish to mix require the greatest degrees of with the dung. I have heard of heat. The dung of horses that forty loads of manure being made are fed on grain, is a richer ma- a year by one hog-sty. nure than those fed on only grass « The dung of ducks and geese and hay. is deemed too hot and burning. DUN DUN 403 But if the farmer would gather it in a heap, and mix it with the dung of cattle, he would bring it to a temperate heat, and draw from it such advantage as would indemnify him for the pains he should take. The virtue of this method is known by experience. A farmer having abandoned a piece of ground to his geese for twelve years, afterwards turned them oui to let the grass grow, and it rose so thick and strong that a scythe would scarcely pass through it. Hen-dung is scattered in small quantities upon land in- tended to he sown, but on account of its heat is never used, unless when rain is foreseen. It is an excellent manure for meadows.... Pigeon's dung is much the same with that of poultry, the only dif- ference being its superior heat." Scots Farmer. I should think it better to mix the dung of poultry and pigeon's with other substances,to allay their heat, before they are applied to the soil. And thus qualified, they would be an excellent top-dressing for corn, especially in cold and wet lands. Human ordure is a very fat and hot manure, full of fertilizing salts; and therefore extremely proper for all cold, sour soils; especially if it be mixed with other dung, straw, or earth, to give it a fermentation, and render it convenient for car- riage. Some do not like the use of it, on account of its bad smell ; and others imagine, that it gives a fetid taste to plants. But in this they seem to carry their delicacy too far. Mr. Bradley says, u it is kept in pits made on purpose, in foreign countries, till it be one, two, three, or four years old : That of four years old is accounted the best, that of three years tolerable. Perhaps it may owe great part of its richness to the urine with which it is mixed ; for though the human urine be destructive to vegetables, whilst it is new, by reason of its burning sal-ammoniacal spirit, as Glauber terms it, yet time will digest the urine, and render it an extraordinary fertilizer of every kind of soil." Complete Farmer. As dung in general is so import- ant a manure, every possible me- thod should be taken to prevent its being wasted, as indeed a great proportion of it is by the common management of our farmers. In no way is it more wasted, than by its being too much exposed to the sun, air, and rains. Mixing of dry earth, or other absorbent substan- ces, with heaps of dung, will do much towards preventing this loss. Or slight sheds may be made over them, to prevent their strength be- ing too much wasted by heavy rains; and at the same time, to pre- vent a too great exhalation from them. Some cover them with turfs, when they choose to keep dung till it he old. This is not a bad prac- tice ; for the turfs in that situation wili become good manure. I would hope farmers need not be told, that the grassy side should be laid on the dung. Some build cellars under their barns, and throw the dung through scuttles down into them, to keep it from the weather. This is a far more expensive method than what I have recommended. For it is necessary in order to save the ma- nure, that the cellar wall be well pointed ; and also that a hard under stratum form the floor, or that a tight artificial floor be made. The dung in this situation will mellow the faster, for not being expqsed to any severe frost. And a cellar may be so contrived, that a cart may be driven in at one end, and out at the 404 DUN DUN other, which may render the re- moving it easy. I wish not to dis- courage any who are willing to put themselves to the expense that at- tends this method. Some caution should be observ- ed, that the strength of dung may not be diminished by shoveling and carting it in weather that is hot, dry and windy. If it be per- formed when the weather is calm and cloudy, its volatile parts will not evaporate, in any considerable degree. When it needs fermenting in the field before spreading, or put- ting into holes, which is the case of new dung carted from large heaps, the small heaps imthe field should be thinly covered with a lit- tle earth. It will not hinder the fermentation, but will prevent its evaporation. When the farmer has carted his dung-heaps away from the sides of his barn, he should take up an inch or two of the surface of the ground beneath; because much of the strength of the dung and stale has passed into it, and made it a good manure. When dung is applied to tillage- land by folding, it should be mixed with the soil, by the plough or the harrow, every two or three days, if the weather be dry. Or it may be done with the hoe or shovel. In cloudy or rainy weather, it will not need mixing so often. If this me- thod be observed, much will be saved: and half the time that yards are commonly folded, will, if I mistake not, be sufficient to fit them to produce a good crop. Our farmers seem to think it a matter of great importance to put dung in holes under the seed, es- pecially to produce a crop of In- dian-corn. Nothing makes this te- dious and laborious method need- ful, unless it be a scarcity of ma- nure, as less will answer for one single crop, than is required in the other way. The corn does not commonly come up so well, and it is more in danger of being destroy- ed by worms. If six or eight loads of dung will cause an acre to produce more corn when put in holes, than if it were ploughed in, as it undoubtedly will; yet it should be remembered, the land will not be in so good heart the year fol- lowing ; will not produce so good a crop of grain, nor be in so good order to lay down to grass. So that, perhaps, in a course of crops, it may be found that the labour of dunginginthe holes maybe spared, excepting, perhaps, in green sward ground. If soothe farmer might redeem time by it, and at a sea- son when his hurry of business is greatest. I may add that new dung is not so suitable to put in holes, as that which has lain a year in heaps.... But it has more virtue, and will add more strength to the soil; for it is next to impossible to keep dung till it is old without some waste. And this may afford another good reason for laying aside the practice of dunging in holes. N.E.Farmer.'] Dunc-hills, or Dung-meers, in husbandry, are places, where soil or dung is collected, mixed with other putrefactive ingredients, and left to digest together. For this purpose, the usual practice is, to dig a pit of sufficient depth to con- tain the stock of soil which the hus- bandman may be able to collect. Into this pit are thrown the refuse of fodder, litter, dung, weeds, Sec. which lie there, and rot, till the farmer may have occasion to make use of the compost. Dr. Dar- win, however, proposes to place the heap of manure or dung on a DUN DUN 405 gently-rising eminence, with a ba- son beneath, in order that the su- perfluous water,which would other- wise prevent the fermentation of the straw, may drain off, and be collected. Ho adds, that some earth, weeds, leaves, saw-dust, or other vegetable or animal recre- ment, should be thrown into the bason, which will thus promote the fermentation and putrefaction of the substances it contains, while the draining from the dung-heap will not be dissipated. This, doubtless, is a more ra- tional plan of constructing dung- hills, as the alkaline liquor thus collected, may farther be advanta- geously employed for steeping wheat, as other seed-corn ; which, in consequence of such saturation, will vegetate more luxuriantly, and yield a more abundant harvest. The following judicious method of raising dung-hills, is practised in the county of Middlesex: it justly claims the attention of those farmers, who find it necessary to collect dung, for the use of their lands....First, all the scrapings of roads, the mud of ponds and ditch- es, and the top-mould from gravel- pits, are spread in the most con- venient places, as bottoms for dung- hills. On these strata is carted the whole of the dung produced on their own farms, together with all that can be procured from the metropolis, and the different inns on the road ; to which are some- times added chalk, ashes, soap- boilers* waste, brick-layers' rub- bish, &c. In this state, the heap remains till within a month of the time for spreading manure on the land ; when the whole is turned, and in- timately mixed ; the larger clods are then broken into small pieces, while such as may be too dry, ar« thrown into the middle. Thus treated, the mass unites more per- fectly ; and the putrefaction will be completed, while the matters continue in a heap. By this mod* of forming the basis of dung-hills, the fertilizing liquor (that distills from the dung during the fermen- tation and heat which necessarily take place) is effectually preserved, and contributes greatly to the ame- lioration of the soil. [Dunghills may be tended, and augmented at odd times, when no other business stands in the way. That at the back-door especially may be very easily made up, of a variety of rich and fertilizing in- gredients, besides dung ; such as the scrapings of the yard after rain ; soot and ashes ; shells, lime and bones ; the sweepings of the kitchen ; oil dregs, and any fat things; woollen rags; bloody water, in which meat.or fish has been washed ; greasy water; suds ; ash- es, although the leyhas been drawn from them; old useless brine; urine ; and in short, any animal or even vegetable substance that has not too much acid. Or even acids, if they be over balanced by plenty of alkaline substances. To prevent the heaps being too much torn and spread about by swine, or by the scratching of dung-hill fowls, the heaps may be included in pens made with wide boards; or some rocks may be laid round them, to prevent their eva- porating, as well as under them, to prevent their soaking into the earth. The heaps should have such a degree of moisture as best pro- motes fermentation and corrup- tion. A cavity may be made close to the lower side of the heap, to receive the superfluous moisture as 406 D W A DYE it runs from it, after rain : and this liquid, highly impregnated with the strength of the manure, should be thrown from time to time, on the top of the heaps with a scooping shovel. In a wet season, the heaps will need some slight sheds over them. Heaps about the barn or cow- yard, maybe augmented with some of the nearest earth, swamp-mud, straw, weeds, Sec. those of the hog- sty with the same, together with the dung of fowls, or other hot manures, as the dung of swine is naturally cold....But the farmer should acquaint himself with the nature of the different manures ; and always let that ingredient in his heaps be predominant, which is best adapted to correct and melior- ate the soil on which it is to be laid. If it be destined for a sandy soil, clay will be an excellent ingredient in the composition of the heaps. If it be designed to lay on a clayey soil, sand is proper. The heaps will not ferment so fast as they ought, unless they be shoveled over once or twice in a summer. By such operations they will be more thoroughly mix- ed and mellowed, and the sooner befit for use. The seeds of weeds in them will vegetate, and be des- troyed.....A'*. E. Farmer.'] Dwale : See Deadly Night- shade. DWARF-TREES, a kind of diminutive fruit-trees, frecjuently planted in the borders of gardens, and so denominated from theirlow stature. Dwarf-trees were formerly in great request, but have been much neglected since the introduction of espaliers. The method of propa- gating dwarf-pears, which have been found to succeed better than any other dwarfs, is as follows ; They are to be grafted on a quince- stock, about six inches above the ground ; and, as soon as the bud has sprouted so far as to have four eyes, it is to be stopped, in order that lateral branches may shoot forth. Two years after budding, the trees will be ready to be trans- planted to the spot where they are to remain. They should be set at the distance of 25 or SOfeet square, and the intermediate space may be sown or planted with culinary herbs, while the trees are young ; but such herbs are not to be placed too near the roots, which would thus be obstructed in their growth. Stakes are next to be driven around the tree, to which the branches of it are to be nailed with list, while young: being trained in an hori- zontal direction, and no branches being afterwards permitted to in- tersect each other : in shortening the roots, the uppermost eye should always be left outwards. The sum- mer and autumn pears thrive most luxuriantly, when planted in this manner, but the winter pears do not succeed. Apples are also sometimes culti- vated as dwarfs; for which pur- pose they are generally grafted on paradise stocks. These do not spread their branches so widely as pears, and therefore require to be set only 8 feet apart. Some gar- deners also rear dwarf-apricots and plums, which, however, being less hardy than either apples or pears, seldom thrive when set ac- cording to this method, Dwarf-Bay : See Mezereon. Dway-berries : See Deadly Nightshade. DYEING, generally signifies, the art of tinging cloth, stuff, or other matter, with a permanent DYE colour, by penetrating its sub- str.nce. It is, however, usually confined to the art of imparting different colours to wool, silk, linen, and cloth. The materials for dyeing are so various and numerous, that our li- mits oblige us to be concise. The same difference, indeed prevails among the dyeing, as among the colouring matters. Some ingredi- ents produce durable colours,which cannot be discharged, either by ex- posure to air, or by washing with soap. Others, though they may withstand the action of soap, can- not resist that of the air. These are distinguished by the different appellations of true and false, per- manent and fading, he. ; nor has any method been hitherto disco- vered, of imparting to false colours a durability, equal to that of the true ones. This object has often been at- tempted, by combining a perma- nent with a fading colour, in the expectation that the former would communicate some portion of its durability to the latter ; which ne- vertheless uniformly faded, leav- ing the cloth dyed with the perma- nent colour. In some cases, how- ever, which have been already ex- plained, the volatile colour imparts its property to that which would otherwise continue in a fixed state. A solution of tin in aqua regia will, it is affirmed, give to many of the fading colours a high degree of beauty, and some portion of du- rability, though much inferior to the others. The most permanent dyes we have, are cochineal and gum-lac, for fine red and scarlet colours ; indigo and woad, for blue ; and, when mixed with different propor- tions of cochineal, or gum-lac, for DYE 407 purple and violet colours. Dyers- weed, and some other vegetables, for yellow; and madder for coarse reds, purples, and blacks. The fading colours are far more numer- ous, and include Brazil-wood, log- wood, red-wood, fustic, turmeric- root, anotto, archil, Sec. The whole of the operative part of dyeing depends on the applica- tion of certain colours, which the workmen call primitive, and which are five in uumber, namely, blue, red, yellow, fawn, or root-colour, and black. Each of these furnishes a variety of intermediate shades, both according to the nature of the ingredients, and the acid or alka- line substances with which they are mixed. Two only of these five colours, should be prepared with ingredients producing no colour of themselves ; but which, by their peculiar acidity, and the fineness of the earth they contain, dispose the pores of the substance to re- ceive the dye. The colours which more particularly require such auxiliary process, are red and yel- low, together with those derived from them. Black is obtained by a particular preparation ; but blue and fawn colour require none, at least for wool ; it being only ne- cessary to scour and soak this sub- stance well then to immerse it in the dyeing vat, stirring it well about, and permitting it to remain for a longer or shorter time, in pro- portion as the colour is intended to be more or less deep...The ingre- dients used in dyeing blue consist of pastel, woad, and indigo. 1. Pastel (Isatis tinctoria,) i% preparedby gathering itwhen ripe, suffering it to rot, and then work- ing it up into balls for drying; which weigh in general from 150 to 200 pounds, and resemble a 408 DYE DYE collection of small dry'lumps of earth, intermixed with the fibres of plants. In order to extract the colour, it is necessary to provide large wooden vats, from 12 to 16 feet in diameter, and 6 or 7 feet high, or of a magnitude propor- tioned to the quantity intended to be used. The preparation of the blue-vat is the most difficult pro- cess in the art of dyeing ; and the practical directions given by those who understand it, are either de- fective, or mis-stated. The copper- cauldron should be placed as near to the vat as possible, and filled with pond-water; to which if it be not sufficiently putrid, may be add- ed 2 or 3 pounds of hay, together with 8 pounds of brown madder, or of the bark of the root. The fire should be lighted about three o'clock in the morning, and the mixture boil for an hour and a half, or two hours, when the fi- quor is, by means of a spout, con- veyed into the vat, in which a peck of wheaten bran is previously in- fused. The pastel-balls are next to be put in, separately, while the liquor is running into the vat, in order that they may be the more easily broken and stirred v. ith the rake, which is a semi-circular wooden instrument, having a long handle. The mixture is occasi- onally agitated, till the vat has re- ceived all the hot liquor ; and, as soon as the vessel is nearly half full, it should be covered with a lid, somewhat larger than its own cir- cumference. A cloth should be likewise thrown over it, in order to confine the heat; after which the whole should be suffered to sub- side for four hours; when it ought to be uncovered, in order to give it air, and to mix it thoroughly. No lime, as is generally, though falsely directed by dyers, should be put into the vat, but a small air-hole left on the top: the stirring and agitation may once more be re- peated, at the expiration of three or four'hours. If the ingredients, after these operations, be not yet ready and come to, that is, if the blue does not rise to the surface, but conti- nues to foam, it will then be neces- sary, after working the mixture well, to let it stand an hour and a half longer, care being taken dur- ing that time to observe it minute- ly, in case it should cast blue. The vat is then to be filled up with wa- ter, and a sufficient quantity of in- digo, dissolved in a ley of pot-ash, pure water, bran and madder. The vat being again covered, at the end of three hours a pattern is to be immersed in theiiquorfor a similar space of time, when it is to be taken out, to inspect the state of the vat. This pattern, when first taken out, should be of a green co- lour, but instantly turn blue ; if the green be bright and good, the vat is to be stirred again, and then covered up, with the addition of a few handfuls of bran. Three hours after, the same operation is to be repeated, with the addition of more bran, if necessary, when it is to be covered up for an hour and a half longer; and, as soon as it subsides, another specimen is to be immersed in it for an hour, when it must be examined, to ascertain the state of the pastel. If the former be of a good green, when taken out, and turn suddenly to a deep blue, on being exposed to the air, another pattern is to be put in, to discover the effect of the vat, which, if the colour be sufficiently high, is to be" DYE filled with hot water, or (which is preferable, if it can be procured), with the liquor of an old madder- vat, and then stirred again. Now the vat is to be once more covered for an hour; after which the stuffs to be dyed should be immersed. Woad is the next article in the making of a blue colour ; the mode of preparing it differs in no respect from the preceding one, just de- scribed, excepting that it is weaker, and yields less colour. Indigo is-the last ingredient in dyeing blues. The vat is about 5 feet high, two inches in diameter, and somewhat narrower towards the bottom, being surrounded by a wall, and having a vacancy for the embers. A vat of this size requires from 2 to 5, or even 6lbs. of indigo; and this operation is conducted as follows: 1. About 15 gallons of ri- ver water are put into a copper to boil for about half an hour, together with 21bs. of pot-ash, 9 oz. of mad- der, and a handful of bran. 2. Im- merse 2lbs. of indigo in a pail of cold water, in order to separate the solid from the volatile particles, which will immediately rise to the surface. The watery liquor is then poured off, and the indigo, settled at the bottom of the pail, should be triturated in an iron morter, with the addition of a small quantity of hot water, that ought to be shaken from side to side; and the floating particles of indigo, which are those most finely pounded, must be pour- ed into another vessel. In this manner, the indigo remaining in the morter is continually reduced, fresh water beingrepeatedly added, till the whole is pulverized so fine- ly as to rise to the surface. The liquor, which had, during the above stated preparation, been boiling in the copper, is now puur- VOL. II. DYE 409 ed into the vat, together with the indigo, when the whole is well stirred with a rake, the vat closely covered, and surrounded with em- bers. II this operation commence in the afternoon, the embers must be renewed in the evening, and also in the morning and evening of the following day, in the course of which it should be twice gently stirred. Similar measures ought to be pursued on the third day, in order to preserve an uniform heat, and intimately mix the ingredients. A brassy scum will then be per- ceived to rise to the surface, in several detached parts: by conti- nuing the heat on the fourth day, the scum becomes more coherent; and the froth, occasioned by stir- ring the liquor, appears blue, while the latter is of a deep green. As soon as it assumes this appearance, the vat should be filled; for which purpose a fresh liquor must be pre- pared, by putting five gallons of water into a copper, together with a pound of pot-ash, and half an oz. of madder. When these ingre- dients have boiled half an hour, the decoction is poured into the vat, the whole well stirred, and, if it produce much froth, it will be in a proper stf.le- for working the next day. This may likewise be ascertained by the brassy or scaly crust, which floats on the surfitce of the liquor: and, farther, if on blowing, or sti-ring, the latter w i;h the hand, it assume a 'deep green colour, while the surface appears of a brownish blue. After the vats have been thus prepared, the dyeing of woolh.n or silken stuffs is very easy ; no other process being, required, than im- mersing them in warm water, wringing, and then steeping them in the vat for a longer or shorter 3 G 410 DYE time, according to the deepness of the colour intended to be imparted. The stuffs should be occasionally opened, that is, taken out of the vat, wrung over it, and exposed to the air for a minute or two, till it become blue: for it must be ob- served, that, in all the solutions of indigo, or other dyeing materials above described, the blue colour is produced only by exposure to the air, and the stuff, on being first drawn out of the liquor, always appears green, and will retain that tinge, unless it be exposed to the air. In dyeing blue, therefore, it is necessary to let the colour thus change previously to a second im- mersion, that the shade may be the better distinguished, as dark blues require to be repeatedly dipped.... The method of dyeing cotton or linen blue, varies so little from that already described, as to render any arther directions unnecessary. A beautiful Saxon-blue, for silk and woollen cloths, may be prepar- ed by gradually pouring from five to eight parts of sulphuric acid on one part of finely pulverized indigo. The mixture must be suffered to stand for 24 hours; at the expira- tion of which, the effervescence will subside; the solution is then to be diluted with water, when it will be fit for dyeing. 2. The next of the primitive co- lours to be considered is red, of which there are many shades and varieties; but the principal are scarlet, crimson, and madder red. The process to be adopted for ob- taining these colours, essentially differs from that of blues; as the former require a peculiar prepara- tion of the stuffs to be dyed, on the exactness of which, the good- ness of the colour in a great mea- sure depends. These preparatory DYE ingredients consist of alum, tartar, aqua-fortis, or a solution of tin in this acid. Galls and alkaline salts are also sometimes added, though they do not materially contribute to the colour. A fine orange-yellow tinge may be imparted to silk or cotton, by grinding anctta on a moistened slab, and boiling it in double its weight of pearl-ash and water: the liquor is then suffered to settle for about half an hour; when it is drawn off, while hot, into a proper vat; and the stuff immersed, till it acquire the requisite shade. In order to heighten and fix the colour, it will be proper to dissolve some cream of tartar in hot water, and to add the solution to the liquor, so as to render it slightly acid: af- ter which, the stuff may be rinsed, and dried in the usual manner. There are three kinds of scarlet, namely, that dyed with kermes, with cochineal, and with gum-lac. The first of these, called Vene- tian scarlet, is the most permanent, but the least bright: it is also apt to be less spotted than the others; but, on account of the difficulty of procuring the insects which afford the colour, it is very seldom, if ever, used in this country. The second kind of scarlet, namely, that dyed with cochineal, is less permanent than the Vene- tian scarlet, though the drug is procured at a more reasonable price. It is, however, very difficult to dye the true cochineal scarlet: the success of this operation equally depends upon the choice of the material, the water employed, and the method of preparing a solution of tin, which is the only ingredient by which that delicate colour can be produced. To eight ounces of spirit of nitre, an equal quantity of DYE river-water is to be added ; in this mixture are to be gradually dis- solved, half an ounce of the purest and whitest sal-ammoniac, and two drams of purified salt-petre. An ounce of tin, reduced to grains, by being dropped into cold water while melting, is next to be added drop by drop to the liquor thus prepared ; the first being perfectly dissolved before a second is intro- duced. The solution resembles that of gold, and, if fine tin be era- ployed,willbeperfect!ytransparent, without any dust or sediment. With this liquor are to be mixed such proportions of cochineal as may be thought proper, and the stuffs dyed in the colour will ac- quire a most beautiful scarlet. The scarlet produced by gum-lac though not so bright as cochineal, is more permanent; the best lac is that which is of a blackish brown colour on the outside, and white within. The process of preparing this colour is very difficult; but the best method, we believe, is that of previously mixing the gum with comfrey, or other mucilagi- nous roots. These should be dried. finely pulverized, afterwards boiled for fifteen minutes in the propor- tion of half a dram to a quart of water, then strained through a li- nen cloth while hot, poured upon levigated gum-lac, and passed through a hair-sieve. The whole is then digested in a modeate heat for twelve hours; and the gum re- maining at the bottom should be stirred seven or eight times. The liquor thus impregnated with a fine crimson colour, is afterwards pour- ed into a vessel, sufficiently capa- cious to hold four times the quanti- ty, and filled up with cold water. On adding a small proportion of a strong solution of alum, the co- DYE 411 loured mucilage subsides; and, should any tinge remain in the li- quor, it may be precipitated by gradual additions of alum, till it become perfectly colourless. As soon as the crimson mucilage has entirely subsided, the clear water must be carefully decanted, the re- mainder filtered,and the fluid parts suffered to evaporate. If the whole of the colour should not be extract- ed by the first operation, it ought to be repeated, till the residuum changes to a pale straw-colour. In order to dye scarlet with this extract of gum-lac, the requisite proportion of the latter dried and pulverized, is to be put into an earthen or block-tin vessel; a little hot water poured upon it; and, when it is well moistened, a proper quantity of the composition added; the whole being stirred with a glass pestle. By this means the powder, which before was of a dark, dusky purple, acquires an exceedingly bright scarlet colour. A solution of the crystals of tartar is then to be poured into the liquor, and as soon as it begins to boil, the cloth is to be repeatedly immersed in it, according to the common method. The remainder of the operation is to be performed in the same man- ner as if cochineal had been em- ployed. Crimson is the colour produced by cochineal, with alum and tartar only, without any solution of tin. For this dye, two ounces and a half of alum, with an ounce and a half of white tartar, are to be taken, for every pound of wool; and being put into a cauldron with a proper quantity of water, the solution should boil before the stuff' is dip- ped. The wool is then immersed into the boiling liquor, where it continues two hours ; after which 412 DYE DYE it is to be taken out, wrung gently, rinsed in water, and put into a bag. A fresh liquor is next prepared for the dye, in which an ounce of finc- Jy-powdered cochineal is used for every pound of wool : when this decoction boils, the stuff is im- mersed, and managed in the man- ner already directed, for scarlet. For producing the finest crimscn dye, however, the wool is again to be dipped in a weak lixivium, made of equal parts of sal-ammoniac and pearl-ashes. The preparation of the ingredi- ents for madder-YLd is always with alum and tartar, the proportions of which are by no means ascer- tained even by dyers. The more general practice is, to put 5 oun- ces of alum and one of red tartar to every pound of worsted, a twelfth part of acid water being likewise added, and the wool boiled for two hours in this solution, in which worsted is to be kept for a week ; but cloth will be sufficiently satu- rated in four days. A fresh liquor is then prepared for dyeing this wool; and when the water is near- ly boiling, half a pound of the finest madder is to be thrown in for every pound of wool; being carefully stirred and well mixed in the cop- per, previously to immersing the stuff, which is to be kept in the liquor for an hour ; during which the latter must not boil, lest it should tarnish the colour. The third primitive colour is yellow, for obtaining which there are ten different ingredients ; but four of these only yield a good and permanent dye, namely, dyers'- weed, or, as the dyers call it, weld, savory, dyers' green-weed, and fe- nu-greek. The first of these, namely, weld, in general affords the truest yellow, and is therefore preferred to all the others. Savo- ry and dyers' green-weed, being naturally somewhat green, are more advantageously employed for dyeing that colour ; and the last yields different shades of yellow. In order to dye worsted and stuffs yellow, they undergo the usual preparation with tartar and alum : of the latter 4 ounces are allowed to every pound of wool, or 2jibs, to every 100 ; of the for- mer, one ounce is sufficient for yellow ; alter dissolving both, the wool is boiled in the same manner as in the preceding colour. A fresh liquor is next to be made for the welding or yellowing, in the proportion of 5 or 6 lbs. of dyers'- weed to every pound of stuff. Some inclose the drug in a clean woollen bag, to prevent it from mixing with the cloth to be dyed ; and, in order to keep the bag down in the copper they lay a cross of heavy wood over it. Others boil the w eld in the liquor, till the water has imbibed all its colour, and the drug sinks to the bottom, when the stuff is suspended in a net: others, again, take the weld out, as soon as it is boiled. According to the shade required, other vege- tables are occasionally mixed with that drug. By varying the pro- portion of the salts employed, as well as the quantity of colouring ingredients, and the time of boil- ing, different shades may be pro- duced. The fourth primitive colour is that denominated by dvers the fawn, or root colour. It is a kind of brown, and the process for dye- ing it is widely different from those just described ; the wool merely requiring a simple immersion in water, as already directed for blue. The materials employed consist of DYE DYE 413 the green shell of the walnut, the root of the walnut-tree, the bark of alder, santal, or saunders-vvood, sumach, and soot. The green walnut-shells are collected, when the nuts are thoroughly ripe ; they are put into tubs or casks, which are afterwards filled with water, and are thus preserved till the suc- ceeding year. Santal, or saundcrs-wood, is much inferior to walnut-shells; be- cause, if used in too large a quan- tity, it stiffens and consequently in- jures the wool. It is in general mixed with galls, sumach, and al- der-bark, without which its colour could not be extracted: and though it yields very little with alum and tartar, it is nevertheless used in large quantities, on account of the solidity of its colour, which is na- turally a yellow-reddish-brown. The best of the different ingredi- ents employed in dyeing fawn-co- lours, is the bark or rind of the walnut-tree. Its shades are un- commonly fine ; its colours solid ; and it renders the wood dyed in it flexible and soft. A cauldron half full of water is placed over the fire ; and as soon as it grows warm, bark is added in proportion to the quan- tity of stuffs intended to be dyed, and the lightness or depth of the shades required. It is then boiled for about a quarter of an hour, when the cloths, being previously moistened with warm water, are immersed, frequently turned, and well stirred, till they have suffici- ently imbibed the colour. They are aired, dried, and dressed in the usual manner. Next to the rind or bark, the root of the walnut-tree is the best dye for a fawn-colour : it also af- fords a variety of shades, similar to those produced by the bark, for which it is frequently substituted. The root, however requires a clif- ferent.process : A cauldron is filled about three parts full of river-wa- ter, into which the root is immers- ed, after being tied up in a bag. WThen the liquor is very hot, the wool or stuff is plunged into it, repeatedly turned, and occasional- ly aired. The lighter stuffs are next to be dipped, till the colour is completely extracted. During this operation, proper care should be taken to prevent the liquor from boiling, as in such case the piece first immersed would imbibe the whole of the colour. The process of dyeing with the bark of alder, is nearly the same as that pursued with walnut-roots: the boiling of it is at first not very material, as this drug very freely communicates its colour. It is chiefly used for worsteds, impart- ing shades darkened with coppe- ras ; and for wool that is not re- quired to be very dark, as it equal- ly withstands the effects of the; sun and rain. Sumach possesses nearly the same properties as the bark or rind of the walnut-tree ; its colour is not so deep, somewhat inclining to green, but is solid and permanent. Where dark colours are required, sumach is frequently substituted for nutgalls, in which case a great- er proportion becomes necessary. These different substances, how- ever, are not unfrequently mingled together, and, as they are of a si- milar nature, and differ only in degree, it is easy to obtain various shades. With respect to the method of compounding the different ingre- dients with pulverized sounders- 414 DYE DYE wood ; 4 lbs. of the latter are to be put into a copper, v. ith half a pound of powdered nut-galls, 12 lbs. of alder-bark, and 10 lbs. of sumach. The whole is to be boiled, when a small portion of wa'er should be added, to check the boiling : after immersing the cloth, stirring, and turning it repeatedly, it is aired, and washed in river-water. The quantities of these ingredients may be increased, or diminished, ac- cording to the depth of the shade required. The last substance employed in dyeing the fawn colour, is soot, which is not only less solid than the others, but also hardens, and imparts a very disagreeable smell to the wool, or stuff, dyed in it: it is therefore seldom, if ever used, unless the other ingredients cannot be easily procured. The fifth, and last, of the primi- tive colours, is elack, which in- cludes a great variety of shades. In order to impart a good black to woollen stuffs, they should be first dyed of as deep a blue as possible, which is called the ground, and is to be performed in the manner al- ready directed. As soon as the cloth is taken out of the vat, it ought to be well washed in river- water, and afterwards scoured at the fulling-mill. Next, the dyeing process is performed as follows : For every cwt. of cloth, 10 lbs. of logwood cut into chips, and an equal quantity of Aleppo gall-nuts pulverized and inclosed in a bag, are to be put into a cauldron of a moderate size, where the whole is boiled for twelve hours in a suffi- cient quantity of water. A third part of this liquor is then to be poured into another cauldron, with 2 lbs. of verdigrease, when the cloth is to be immersed for two hours, being repeatedly turned and stir- red, the liquor in the mean time boiling very slowly, or rather, gen- tly simmering. At the expiration of that time, the stuff is to be taken out, and the second part "(being another third) of the liquor added to the first third, together with 8 lbs. of copperas. The fire beneath the cauldron is then to be dimi- nished, and the copperas left for half an hour to dissolve ; the li- quor being gradually cooling : af- ter which the cloth is to be im- mersed for another hour, repeated- ly turned as before, then removed and cooled. The remainder of the liquor is next to be mixed with the first two-thirds and the bag carefully expressed ; when fifteen or twenty pounds of sumach are to be added, together with two pounds of cop- peras. The whole is then made to boil: and, a small quantity of wa- ter being added to cool, the stuff is again immersed for two hours ; at the end of which time it is to be taken out, cooled, and steeped in the dye for an hour longer, being frequently turned. The cloth is then to be carried to the fulling- mill, and well scoured, till the water runs from it perfectly colour- less. As soon as this operation is performed, a fresh liquor should be prepared with the necessary quantity of dyer's weed, which is only once to be boiled, and when cool, the cloth dipped into it. This last decoction softens the texture, and renders the colour a most beau- tiful black. Few dyers, however, take so much pains ; for they are satisfied with dipping the cloth, when blue, in a decoction of nut- galls and boiling the whole for two hours. The stuff is then washed, and after adding some copperas and DYE logwood to the liquor, the cloth is again immersed for two hours, at the end of which it is washed, scoured, dried, and pressed. A hot decoction of Aleppo galls, in water, is first to be prepared in a proper vessel, in which cotton or silk stuffs, previously soaked in warm water, must be worked for some time. The superfluous liquid is now to be expressed, and the cloths should be immersed in a black dye, made by steeping al- der-bark, and iron hoops for seve- ral months, in a cask of water; or they may be plunged into a solution of iron in vegetable acids. When the stuffs are thoroughly wetted, they must be wrung out, and af- terwards soaked in a decoction of logwood, to which a little verdi- grease is added. The last men- tioned process ought to be repeat- ed, till the colouring particles be sufficiently imbibed: during the in- tervals, it will be proper to rinse the cloths in water, and to dry them in order to fix the colour. [The art of dyeing consists of three operations, viz. Fully to cleanse the substance which is to be dyed, and to remove all foreign matters which might prevent it from taking the colour. 2. To dis- pose it by particular compositions to receive and retain the colouring principle, and 3. To .prepare the bath of colour in which it is to be immersed, and to work it accord- ing to the roles of the art. The article dyeing is left as Dr. Willich has inserted it, but it conveys little information; and that little is inaccurate. At present, gum lac and kermes are no part of a dyer's establishment. To give all the processes for dyeing differ- ent colours and shades of colours, would of itself occupy a large DYE 415 work. The following sketch, com- municated by M. Cooper, of Nor- thumberland, may be uself. Substances to be dyed are, silk, woollen, cotton, linen, and skins. Of these, some have more affinity to the colouring matter of vegeta- bles than others, as silk and wool- len, more than cotton or linen. But this affinity is in all cases increas- ed by the intermedium of the earth of alum, or the calces of iron and tin: The compositions in which these enter, when applied to the cloth are termed mordants,and they serve as the basis on which the co- lours stick and are fixed. Thus, if without preparation, a piece of lin- sey-wolsey be boiled in a decoction of madder or weld, the linen will come out white, the woollen part will be tinged. If part of a piece of cloth be run through a hot solu- tion of alum, it will take a deeper and more permanent dye than the part not so treated. The mordants, then, in common use, are alum, iron-liquor, which is iron in the acid of vinegar, and tin in the nitro-muriatic acid, or aqua regia. Alum is bought every where ready prepared. Iron liquor is made by putting old iron into beer brewed on purpose, or any other mode of obtaining the acetous acid. It is left to stand in the cask and repeatedly drawn off and pour- ed in again for 6 months. In Eng- land it is a trade to make it, though till of late years every dyer made it for himself. The mordant of tin is made thus, to two parts of aqua fortis add three parts of spi- rit of salt, dilute it with an equal bulk of water : add small pieces of grain tin, till no more be dissolved. Put in but one small piece at a time. The principles of dyeing silk and woollen are much alike. Those 416 DYE who would dye silk, may peruse to advantage Maccojer's treatise on this subject, and the art of dyeing wool by Hellot, is also translated into English under the title of the Art of Dyeing. The work of Ber- thollet on dyeing is by far the most scientific yet produced ; but none of them are accurate as to the actual processes. The mordants are always kept ready in a dye-house, in a concen- trated state, ready to be diluted as occasion may require; the strength of the colour until it arrives at its maximum, depending on the com- pound ratio of the strength of the mordant and the quantity of the co- louring drug. In the following ge- neral recipes, I cannot give the exact proportions,because they vary with every shade of colour, and with the quality of the drugs : but a little experience in the dye-house, will teach the method of proceeding. The processes immediately fol- lowing, are calculated for woollen or silk. It is to be noted, that, in all the colours dyed on woollen, where the mordant is the earth of alum, the dyers use white or red argol, or the tartar of white or red wine. This is usually supposed to brighten the colour, by means of the acid contained in it, but the reel effect is to produce a solution of the earth of alum in the acid of tartar by double decomposition. The proportions used are, 2 parts alum and 1 part tartar, which latter might be increased with advan- tage. Scarlet and Crimson. Immerse the woollen for an hour in a hot li- quor composed of about A a pint of the solution of tin to a gallon of wa- ter : then for another hour in a hot (not boiling:) solution of cochineal: repeat it till you get your colour: DYE brighten it by running it through the tin liquor of half the above strength. A slight alkaline solu- tion will give it a crimson cast. Some dye it first with alum li- quor made with argol, in the pro- portion of a quart to the gallon, and then in a bath, or decoction of brazil wood to the amount of A of a lb. to the one pound of woollen. Then use the alum solution, and then the cochineal, and brighten finally with the tin liquor. Purple. Add to the mordant of tin, about A of a pint, or less, of a solution of iron in common aqua- fortis, and proceed as above. This gives according to the proportions of the mordant, all the shades of violet and purple. A false or fugi- tive purple is also made by means of logwood with the tin liquor, and a small proportion of vitriol of cop- per. Red. Alum liquor with argol, as a mordant,then madder in the pro- portion of A lb. of madder and a lb. brazil, or brazil-letto, to the piece. Red-wood, and nicaragua wood are bad substitutes for brazil. A false red may also be made by substitut- ing log-wood in part for madder. Chocolate. Add to the alum li- quor with argol, about one half of the acetite of iron and proceed as for red. Pink. Take bastard saffron or the carthamus tinctoria, usually called safffower. Put it in a bag, wash it well in cold water, treading it, untill all the yellow colour is ex- tracted, and the water no longer tinged. Then put it into an alka- line ley made of peaii-ash in the proportion of about A lb. to the gal- lon of water : this will extract the pink colour from the safffower, and give it out to the woollen or silk immersed in ir. Old pieces of DYE DYE 417 pink cloth may be immersed in an alkaline lixivium, and the colour extracted will dye afresh. Fc//o7c....Alum with argol: then for a fast yellow weld, or querci- tron bark,(quercus tinctoria of Mi- chaud.) For a false yellow, fustic. Orange and Nankeen....Dissolve anetta in caustic alkali, and add of this solution to hot water ac- cording to the required tinge : or, For a faster colour, take iron in the nitrous acid, as much as may be sufficient to produce the requir- ed tint, and then run the goods through lime-water : or, . Take the alum liquor with ar- gol, then dye with a decoction of mahogany: then run the goods through the tin liquor, and again through the mahogany liquor. The precipitate of platina from aq. reg. by sal ammoniac gives a beautiful nankeen, but too dear to be used. Blue....The fast colours are made by means of the blue vat with indigo : the false colours by. means of the vat of pastel or woad: or by means of vitriolated copper and logwood. The blue vat is made in differ- ent ways ; by caustic alkali ; by urine, or by lime alone, and it may be hot or cold, A vat with caustic alkali may be made thus : to a pound of in- digo well washed, add \\ lb. of pearl-ash, and 2 lbs. of lime, fresh- slacked, with about 2 gaft. of water; boil them for two hours, then add them to about 20 galls, of hot wa- ter, to which add A lb. of green vitriol, (vitr. iron) and as much red arsenic ; stir it frequently*; when a green froth has risen, it is ready : or, Grind a pound of indigo in urine, fresh or stale; add it to about forty ±a\h. of urine ; stir it with a rake, vol. n. till the green scum rises, and the indigo appears dissolved. The vat, with lime alone, is not so good. Dip the cloth in this, till the vat be exhausted. The attempts to dye with Prus- sian blue, have not succeeded in point of expense. Saxon blue....Take indigo and grind it well, wash it in hot water, till there be no more foulness in the water: to each pound of indigo add 1 lb. of oil of vitriol, Avhich will not answer the purpose, unless it weighs 29| oz< to the wine pint. This should be made in a glass re- tort, and a warm place, but not with heat. Green....First dye a yellow, and then a blue. Olive...Take equal parts of alum liquor and iron liquor, and then dye with the yellow drugs. Black....Iron liquor, with a small quantity of verdigrease ; then a dye liquor of about 1 lb. of the drugs, to 1 lb. of wool; the drugs being a mixture of madder A, and log-wood -|. The colour is mend- ed, by adding a small quantity of nitrated iron to the mordant, and a small quantity of galls to the drugs: the verdigrease with the log-wood, gives a blue tinge. Lessen the mor- dant in strength, and you get all the shades, approaching to black. DYEING OF COTTON. Drab....Mordant; alum and cop- peras, in equal parts....Drugs; fus- tic and sumach. 0/^f...Mordant,blue vitriol,with copperas, for a greenish olive.... Drugs; fustic and log-wood : for a brown or reddish oiive,add sumach. Mud....Mordant, alum, and cop- peras....Drug ; sumach. Bloom... Mordant; alum and cop- peras ; or,jnstead of alum, tin in 3 II 418 DYE DYE spirit of salt....Drugs ; log-wood, and sumach. Purple....Mordant; tin in spir. salt, or aqua regia : drugs ; log- wood, if not a blue purple, add bra- ziletto. Chocolate and Brown...Vitriolat- ed iron, and fustic ; then vitriolated copper and logwood : or if a bright chocolate is wanted, brazil and the tin mordant. Buffs and Nankeens.... Anotta and fustic : Or, for a good and tole- rable fast nankeen, take equal parts of alum and argol, and dissolve them : this will produce a tartarite of alumine, and sulphite of potash. They should be dissolved in as small a quantity of water at may suffice, in 2 lbs. of alum and 2 lbs. argol to \\ gallon of hot water; of this solution add a quart to a gallon of hot water ; immerse the cotton for an hour; take it out; immerse it in a hot decoction of mahogany shavings,lib. to the lib. of cotton ; let it simmer till the dye is exhausted ; finish by run- ning it through the tin mordant about \ a pint to the gallon of wa- ter ; then wash off. Fast Buffs....Tinned iron plates dissolved in aquafortis, then raised in lime. Ye//.:;-;'....Alum liquor, and a smallquantity of verdigrease, with weld or fustic. Green..,.B\\ie vitriol (vitriolated copper) with fustic and logwood. Crimson and Scarlet.....Tin in aqua regia. Then Brazil. Brazil- letto or Nicaragua will not give the required colour. Pink.....See the process with safffower, above given. Turkey Red....Bo\\ the grey cot- ton for 3 hours in pearl-ash and fish-oil, about an ounce of each, to each pound of cotton, and wa- ter enough to cover it; wash it and dry it. Immerse it during ten days in fish-oil. Squeeze or rince it well, and hang it up to dry. Run it through a hot solution of alum, in the proportion of alum, one part; water, forty parts by weight. Then run it through a mixture of cow-dung and hot water. Again through the alum liquor. Then through a decoction of galls or su- mach ; an ounce of galls to the pound of cotton. Then through a dilute solution of glue. Alum it again after washing. Madder it with j a pound of madder to the pound of cotton. Alum it again and madder it again, with from A to \ pound of madder more tor the pound of cotton. Brighten it by boiling it for half an hour, in a ve- ry weak solution of white soap. This colour may be imitated, thus : Boil the grey cotton in pearl-ash and oil, as above. Wash it and dry it. Alum it as above, and then run it through the cow-dung liquor. Wash it. Take the com- mon printers mordant, of alum lib. sugar of lead 21bs. water one gal- lon. Dissolve. Add another gal- lon of water. Immerse the cotton for a day in this hot solution.... Then madder it with -|of a pound of madder and one ounce of galls, to the pound of cotton. The above may be relied on." Observations on maddering, toge- ther with a simple and certain pro- cess for obtaining with great beau- ty and fixity, that colour, known under the name of the Turkey, or Adrianople red: By J.M.Hauss- mann*. Trans, for Tilloch's Phil. Mug. I have already indicated in the * From the Annates de Chimie, No. 122. DYE DYE 419 Annates de Chimic*, and the Jour- nal de Phisique, that earths and me- tallic oxides have more or less the property of attracting and retain- ing the colouring parts of vegeta- ble and animal substances; alu- mine and the oxide of iron possess it in a greater degree, than the oxide of tin : but the attractive force of the latter, far surpasses that of the other earths and metal- lic oxides, in regard to the colour- ing parts of the said substances. Alumine and metallic oxides do not retain, with the same force of adhesion, the colouring parts of all animal and vegetable sub- stances indiscriminately; that,of madder adheres much stronger than those of the other colouring substances, which may be classed in the following order; kermes, cochineal, logwood, yellow India- wood, woad, quercitron, brazil- wood, red India wood, yellow ber- ries, See. ; the gall-nut, sumach, and other astringent colouring sub- stances, act principally, by means of the gallic acid ; and, in regard to their degree of fixity, may be placed immediately after madder: the case is not the same with the Prussic acid, which communicates * We must here mention, that C Chaptal, minister of the interior, a good judge in matters of this kind.when he communicated these observations, wrote as follows: "C. Haussmann, manufac- turer of printed cotton, at Laglebach, near Colmar, in the department of the Upper Rhine, well known among those chemists, who apply the discoveries of science to improvements in the arts, transmitted to me the annexed Memoir. In my opinion, it will be of utility to make it known in your Annals ; and the author, on my re- quest, has consented to its being publish- ed.". ...Note qfthetditortofth* Jnnalesde Chimie. acolour to different metallic oxides, from which it can be separated cold, by alkaline leys. To judge of the fixity of colours arising from animal and vegetable substances, the best method is to employ a ley of oxygenated muri- ate of potash, or soda, with excess of alkaline carbonate. The longer or shorter resistance which the co- lours make in this ley, will indi- cate what they will make, when acid, alkaline, saponaceous, and other re-agents are employed. In the art of dyeing, and that of cotton printing, the name of mad- dering is given to that process by which the colouring parts of mad- der are transferred, by means of water with the aid of heat, to alum- ine, or to the oxide of iron fixed in any kind of stuff. The brightness and fixity of the colours obtained from maddering, depend notjonly on the process, but also on the state and purity of the water, as well as of the madder.... It is,therefore,absolutely necessary to avoid, or to render inactive every acid, alkaline, or saline substance that may be contained in the water, or in the madder itself. I have shewn;that, by adding carbonate of lime (pounded chalk,) madder, which I suspected to contain gallic acid, was corrected : but, that my friend, Charles Bertholdi, pro- fessor in the central school of the Upper Rhine, afterwards found, that it was sulphuric acid, united to magnesia. The important discovery of this addition of chalk, which I made 25 years ago, has given birth to many manufactories, and improv- ed all those established near waters which do not ron over, or hold in solution this earthy salt, without which, it is absolutely impossible 420 DYE DY E to obtain beautiful and fixed mad- be taken away by clearing, if the der colours. heat has not been properly regula- Thus chalk since that time has ted during the process of dyeing. become a new object of commerce; I have often observed, that mad- and as the price is very moderate, der and other colouring substances, 1 have not yet determined the just when long exposed to the atmos- proportion to be employed : in ge- pheric air, do not give colours of neral, I take one part for four, five, the same intensity, and the same or six of madder. brightness as before, either be- In order to obtain the bright- cause these substances absorb the est madder colours, it is not only oxygen of the atmosphere, or that sufficient to attend to the quality of they procure this radical from the water and of the madder; it the water which they attract, or is necessary,also,to observe the de- which they naturally contain as gree of the heat of the bath : a low a constituent principle, and which temperature will check the attrac- is decomposed by a slow and in- tion of the colouring parts, and sensible fermentation. The expo- prevent them from being extract- sure, on the grass, of cotton or ed, while one too high will favour linen dyed a dark madder red, the adhesion of the yellow parti- might support the idea of a change cles of the madder, which obscure to a reddish yellow ; for this dark and tarnish the shades intended to colour becomes clearer, but faint- be produced. The only colour er, by the exposure, and then as- which gains by increasing the heat sumes a more agreeable shade of is black. I have always observed, crimson. I have shewn in a Me- that on withdrawing the fire from moir on indigo, inserted in the below the boilers, when the hand Journal de Physique, for the year can no longer be held in the aque- 1788, that nitric acid changes this ous vehicle which they contain, if blue fecula into a yellowish sub- the maddering be then continued stance : a similar change takes for two or three hours, the most place by exposing, on the meadow, satisfactory results will be obtain- the same fecula fixed on any stuff ed, as the furnace still retains a whatever ; and the yellow result- sufficient quantity of heat to main- ing in these two ways is more so- tain the vehicle at the same tern- luble in warm water, than in the perature, especially when, accord- same liquid when cold. It however ing to custom, large boilers are appears, that the combination of employed. Besides, it would be oxygen is not the only cause of the very difficult to fix a determin- change of colours, since curtains ate degree of heat by the ther- of any stuff dyed or coloured any mometer, when the furnaces are shade whatever by vegetable or large. animal substances, and exposed to The yellow parts of the mad- the fight, lose their colour entire- der, as well as of other colouring ly in the course of time on the side substances are, it is probable, no- exposed to the solar rays, while the thing else, than the colouring parts opposite side retains it for a consi- themselves, combined with oxy- derable time. If the rays of the gen. The product*of this combi- sun then give more vigour to liv- nation, by acquiring solubility, suf- ing bodies of the animal and vege- fers itself with more difficulty, to table kingdom by disengaging from DYE DYE 421 the latter oxygen gaz, it appears, that they act with destructive influ- ence on the same bodies deprived of life, by decomposing their con- stituent principles. In all cases, it will be proper to preserve the colouring ingredients in dry places, sheltered from the light, which acts upon these bodies, perhaps, only by decomposing the constitu- ent aqueous part, the oxygen of which may join the carbon to form carbonic acid....resinous and oily substances should be preserved in the same way. These conjectures prove at least, that the action of the sun's rays, or of light on these bodies in general, presents a vast field for interesting experiments to be undertaken. If in maddering, brighter colours are obtained, by carefully regulat- ing the heat, a sacrifice is made at the same time of a small portion of the colouring parts of the mad- der, which cannot be entirely ex- hausted, except by then increasing the heat to ebullition ; but, as the colours thus obtained, are degraded more or less in the ratio of the quantity of the madder, the gall- nut or sumach used : this method must be employed with caution, and principally for common effects, either in regard to cotton or linen. To avoid as much as possible, the loss of madder after the maddering of good articles has been termina- ted ; and before the common ones are put into the boiler, powdered gall-nut or sumach must be added, with a new but small portion of madder: the process must be ma- naged also in such a manner, that the ebullition shall not take place, till two hours after. I several times tried to exhaust the madder by simpfe ebullition, and without adding any thing else than chalk; but I found that this was unfavourable to all colours, black excepted : it even appeared, that the effect of the madder was much less, than when the heat was mo- derately applied,, and when the ac- cumulated caloric easily decom- posed the colouring substance. It is this tendency to be decomposed, and particularly by fermentation, however it be moistened or diluted with water, which has hitherto pre- vented me from obtaining a sub- stantial colour, pretty dark and suf- ficiently fixed to be applied on any kind of stuff. I observed also, that if the heat was carried too far the first time, in circumstances when it was proposed to madder a second and third time, it prevented me not only from obtaining bright and agreeable shades, but also, of the requisite intensity. The aque- ous vehicle of the madder, at too high a temperature, never fails to weaken the adhesive force of the alumine and the oxide of iron to the stuff, and to take from it a por- tion, which an experienced eye may easily remark, on examining the bath. I shall here repeat, that for com- mon and low-priced articles, it is indispensibly necessary to employ gall-nuts or sumach, which will save one half, and even two thirds of the madder ; but the colours obtained, are neither so fixed nor so bright. The addition of chalk, however, must not be omitted ; otherwise, the gallic acid will carry away a portion of the alumine and coloured oxide of iron, which will weaken the shades, and by tar- nishing the stuffs, will also attack the white, which may have been preserved in them. Without the addition of gall-nuts or sumach, it seemed to me impossible to exhaust * 422 DYE the madder entirely of its colour- ing parts, which made me presume that their adhesion is favoured by the viscid nature of the tanning principle of these astringent sub- stances, which carry away and com- bine w ith themselves the colouring parts. I shall observe, also, that gall-nuts, as well as sumach, lose the property of dyeing black ; and acquire, on the other hand, that of dyeing or colouring alumine yel- low, oxide of iron, olive-green, by the addition of chalk, the calcare- ous base of which unites itself to the gallic acid. Do these yellow and olive-green colours arise from any peculiar substance contained in the gall-nuts and sumach, or are they indebted for their origin to the tanning principle ? This remains to be examined. The quantity of madder to be em- ployed in dyeing, ought not only' to be proportioned to the extent of the surfaces to be maddered, but also to the concentration of the acetite of alumine and iron, impro- perly called mordants; that is to say, to the greater or less quanti- ' ty of alumine and oxide of iron, which these saline liquors, either insulated or mixed together, when they dry on the articles to be dyed, may have left or deposited there by the evaporation of the acetic acid. If the objects to be dyed are not numerous, and in particu- lar, when bright shades only are to be produced, they may be maddered only once; but when they are nu- merous, and intended to have dark shades, the maddering must be re- peated twice, and even thrice.... Three quarters of a pound of mad- der of a good quality, are sufficient for dyeing a piece of white Indian cloth, of ten ells in length, and three quarters broad, intended to DYE exhibit only a few coloured objects: the quantity of the colouring sub- stance must be increased in the ratio of the mass of" alumine and oxide of iron, fixed on a piece of stuff of the above dimensions. It may be extended to 6, 8, 10, and even 12 lbs. for a ground well co- vered with a lively and very intense colour. Intelligence and practice in the management of a dye-house, will not fail to indicate nearly the proper proportions. Whatever care may be employ- ed in maddering, to avoid the ad- hesion of the yellow parts, the co- lours obtained will be far from hav- ing all the beauty and fixity which they might acquire by clearing, preceded by very large ebullition in exceedingly pure water. This ebullition alone, by the addition of bran, will serve to brighten the co- lour : more rosy reds will be ob- tained, by employing soap with or without the addition of bran ; car- bonate of pot-ash, or of soda, sub- stituted for bran, will make the reds incline to crimson ; but I must observe, unless the workman choos- es to run the risk of making the reds entirely brown, and in such a manner, that it will not be possi- ble to restore them, it will be ne- cessary before soap and alkalies are applied to the stuffs, to expose them to the action of the strongest heat that can be communicated to water. This operation will be at- tended with success, if as little passage as possible be afforded to the steam, and if the boilers em- ployed be converted into a sort of digesters. The fixity of the co- lours will be proportioned to the time employed in exposing them to the action of the boiling water. It is needless to\observe, that there is no danger of spoiling the co- DYE DYE 423 lours by soap and alkaline carbo- nates, when the maddering, in- stead of being directed with a mo- derate heat, has been carried to ebullition, as is practised in many dye-houses ; but, in this case, the colours obtained are more difficult to be cleared. As water charged with oxygina- ted muriatic acid, easily carries away the colouring parts of mad- der, as well as other vegetable and animal substances, by decompos- ing them ; and as acids more con- centrated may, in their turn, take from the stuffs, the colourless alu- mine and the oxide of iron ; it is impossible for me to adopt the idea of a chemical combination of the colouring parts with alumine and metallic oxides, which, in my opin- ion, when fixed and coloured on my stuff, form only compound ag- gregates. The clearing of objects printed on a white ground requires modifi- cations, which I shall detail on a future occasion, when I find lei- sure. It will therefore be sufficient at present to state, that after con- tinuing for some time my experi- ments on the Turkey red, inserted in the Annates de Chimie, for the year 1792, I at last found a red much more beautiful and durable, than that of the Levant, by fixing alumine on cotton, thread, and lin- en, by an alkaline solution of this earth mixed with linseed oil. The following is the process I employed: the process. After making a caustic ley, of one part of good common pot-ash, dissolved in four parts of boiling water, and half a part of quick- lime, which I afterwards slaked in it, I dissolved one part of pow- dered alum in two parts of boiling water ; and while this solution of sulphate of alumine was still warm to avoid re-cry stillization, I speedi- ly poured into it successively, al- ways stirring it without interrup- tion, the above mentioned caustic ley, till the alumine it had at first precipitated after saturation to ex- cess with sulphuric acid, had been re-dissolved. I left at rest this so- lution of alumine, which exhaled ammonia, and which, on cooling, formed a precipitate of sulphate of pot-ash in very small crystals, I then mixed a thirty-third part of linseed oil, with which the alka- line solution of alumine formed a kind of milky liquid.* As the oil gradually separates itself from this mixture under the appearance of cream, it must not be employed till it is again shaken. The skains of cotton, or linnen ought to be successively immersed in it, and equally pressed, that they may be then exposed to dry on a pole, in the order in which they have been taken from the mixture. They must be dried under shelter from rain in summer, and in a warm place in winter, and be left in that state for 24 hours: they must then be washed in very pure running wa- ter, and be again dried; after which, they are to be immersed in an alkaline ley, pressed and dried a second time in the same manner as the first, taking care, however, to recommence the immersion in the ley, with those skains which have been last in the oily mixture, because the first never fail to carry away a larger portion than the last ; it will be proper, also, to * In fact, a saponacious liquor is form- ed, containing ulumine....^. Tillqch. 424 DYE DYE consume the mixture each time' that it may not have leisure to at- tract the carbonic acid, with which the lower region of the atmosphere is always charged, especially in manufactories ; for the alkali, by passing to the state of carbonate, suffers the alumine to be precipi- tated, and loses the property of mixing with the oil. Two immersions in the alkaline solution of alumine, mixed with linseed oil, will be sufficient to ob- tain a beautiful red ; but by conti- nuing to impregnate the skains a third, and even a fourth time, with the same circumstances as the first, colours exceedingly brilliant will be produced. The intensity of the red, pro- posed to be obtained, will be in proportion to the quantity of the madder employed. By taking a quantity of madder equal in weight to that of the skains, the result will be a red, which, by clearing, will be changed to a rosy shade ; on the other hand, shades of crim- son, more or less bright, will be obtained by employing two, three, and even four times the weight of madder, without ever forgetting the addition of chalk, if the water employed does not contain some of it. Four parts of this colouring substance will produce a red too intense and beautiful to be employ- ed in commerce, as it would be too dear to find purchasers. By making an oily alkaline so- lution of alumine, with two or three parts of water, and impregnating the skains twice, and even four times, in the manner above men- tioned, bright shades will be pro- duced without the use of much madder; but they will not have the same intensity, as those pro- cured with even as little madder by means of the same solution con- centrated. The best method of obtaining shades, lively as well as bright, is to expose the dark reds for a con- siderable time, when they have been cleared, to the action of a ley of oxiginated muriate of pot-ash, or of soda, with excess of alkaline carbonate, in order to have such a degree of shade as may be requir- ed : but it may readily be con- ceived that this method would be expensive. To have the oily alkaline solu- tion of alum, nearly in the same state of concentration, it will be necessary to employ an hydrome- ter, to determine the degree of strength of the caustic ley, before it is employed for the solution of the alumine. This caustic ley must be made with the best com- mon pot-ash that can be procured, and the degree it gives by the hy- drometer must be noted, in order that if pot-ash of an inferior qua- lity be afterwards employed, the ley obtained may be carried to the fixed degree of evaporation. Caustic ley, made with four parts of good common pot-ash,* cannot contain a large quantity of foreign salts. By making it on a large scale, when the limpid part has been decanted, it will be ne- cessary to shake the deposit, for some time, twice every day, that the rest of the alkaline liquor may be decanted ; and that none of what still remains in the deposit may be lost, it ought to be diluted with more water, which may be afterwards employed to lixiviate * I have no doubt that, where pot-ash cannot be procured, soda might be em- ployed. The Author. DYE the cotton, which must be well purified and cleaned before it is dyed; which may be done by lix- iviating and soaping, or merely boiling it in water and then rinsing and drying it. As wringing with the hands may derange the fila- ments of the skains of cotton and linen, and consequently weaken the thread, it will be proper, in opera- ting on a large scale, to squeeze them by means of a press. In regard to thread or linen, to be dyed of a beautiful dark and fixed red, it must be well bleached, and impregnated, at least four times successively, with the oily alkaline solution ; because not on- ly alumine and metallic oxides ad- here with more difficulty to linen than to cotton, but because these mineral substances, when coloured, abandon linen much easier than cotton when cleared. It still re- mains to examine whether, be- tween each impregnation with the oily alkaline solution of alumine, cotton or linen thread requires to be left at rest for a greater or short- er time, before it is rinsed and dried. All fat oils may be employed in the mixture, with proper precau- tions ; but linseed oil mixes bet- ter, and remains longer suspended in the alkaline solution of alumine: I never tried fish-oil, which per- haps would be preferable. It is probable also, that in operating on a large scale, it would be best to diminish the quantity of linseed- oil, in the mixtures with the alka- line solution of alumine ; for I have had reason often to observe, that too much oil hurts the attraction of the colouring parts of the mad- der: a thirty-third part of linseed- oil, always produced the best effect; in my trials on a small scale. VOL. II. DYE 425 In regard to the process of dye- ing cotton and linen thread, suffi- ciently charged with alumine, by the oily alkaline solution of that earth, the skains must first be dis- engaged from every saline sub- stance, as well as from the super- fluous oil, by rinsing them a long time in very pure running water; after which they must be arranged without drying them, on an appara- tus which the operator may con- struct according to the form of the boiler, in which it is to be placed, in such a manner,that during the pro- cess of dyeing, the skains may be continually shaken and turned; in order to catch every where, and in an uniform manner, the colouring particles. The bath must be com- posed with madder, mixed with a sixth of pounded chalk, and diluted with about 30 or 40 parts of water. ....The heat must be carried only to such a degree that the hand can be held in the bath for an hour without being scalded; and it is to be maintained, at this degree, for two hours, either by diminishing or increasing the fuel. Three hours dyeing will be sufficient to exhaust the madder: the skains when ta- ken from the bath, must be washed in a large quantity of water to cleanse them : they are then to be cleared by boiling them a pretty long time,in water containing bran, inclosed in a bag, adding soap ancl alkaline carbonate, to give the red a rosy or carmine shade. As I never had occasion to dye cotton or linen thread, on a large scale, I employed a small boiler, which served me at the same time, for the process of clearing ; in the latter operation, I confined mvself to boiling the skains, properly ar- ranged, in water containing a bag filled with bran, for eight hour* 3 I 426 DYE successively; and, that I might not interrupt the ebullition, I re- placed the evaporated part by the addition of more boiling water. In this clearing, I employed nei- ther soap nor alkali; yet I obtain- ed a red, superior in beauty and fixity to that of the Levant, and which, in every respect, will bear a comparison with the colours dyed in France. For dyeing my red, I employed three parts of the best madder for one part in weight of dry cotton thread. With the precaution I took to obtain an uniform shade, I could have dyed at one time, but I should always recommend performing this operation at two different times, taking each time, half a portion of madder and of chalk, if the skains cannot be continually turned in the boiler, it may serve also for clearing, by adapting to it a cover, so as to suffer very little of the vapours to escape, because it would be too expensive to replace the part evaporated by more boil- ing water. By operating on a large scale, and concentrating the heat in the boilers, keeping them almost close, there, perhaps, would be no need of employing eight 1 hours ebullition, to clear and fix the colour. I have every reason to believe, that this clearing of the Turkey red, gave rise to the idea of bleaching with steam : it must have been seen that colours, by be- ing cleared, lose considerably in regard to their intensity ; and per- haps it has been observed at the same time, that the pack-threads, employed for arranging the skains, were bleached during the clear- ing, especially when alkalies were added. A great variety of colours, and of different shades, may be obtain- DYE ed, by following the process herd described for obtaining beautiful and durable reds. In this case the oily alkaline solution of alumine, must not be employed till the re- quired shade of oxide of iron, or in- digo blue, has been given, but whatever may be the colour, or shade, which you wish to give, be- fore you fix the alumine on the skains of cotton or linen, these skains must always be first well boiled, by which means the adhe- sion of the indigo fecula, as well as that of the oxide of iron, will be increased in the same manner as that of alumine, coloured by the colouring parts of madder, when subjected to the action of the heat of boiling water before they are im- pregnated with the oily alkaline solution of alumine. As the me- thod of dyeing indigo-blue, in all its shades, is well known,it is needless to detail it ; and as to giving a rusty yellow colour, which may be done at little expense, nothing is necessary but to moisten the skains well with the solution of sulphate of iron, to press them equally, and then to immerse them in a caustic ley of pot-ash, which will precipitate and fix the oxide of iron of a disagreeable colour, but which will not fail to assume a rusty yellow shade, by attracting and becoming saturated with the oxygen of the atmosphere: thus yellow will become more or less dark according to the quantity of the sulphate of iron in solution. More intensity, and even more equality, may be given to the rus- ty yellow, by moistening the skains a second time in the ferruginous solution, and immersing them in the caustic ley, Care, however, must be taken not to use soda for this operation, bacause it general- DYE ly contains sulphur, which black- ens oxide of iron by mineraliz- ing it. The skains coloured blue and rustly yellow, treated with oily al- kaline solution . of alumine, will produce by maddering, dark pur- ple and chamois colours, violet, li- lac, puce, mordore, &c. It may be easily conceived, that if, instead of maddering, the same skains prepared for maddering, be dyed with kermes, cochineal, and Bra- zil-wood, log-wood, wood of St. Martha, woad, yellow-wood, quer- citron, yellow berries, he. a great variety of colours will be obtained: the shades may even be varied ad infinitum, by mixing the colouring ingredients with each other in dif- ferent proportions. The affinity of adhesion of the colouring parts of all these ingredients, varies also, to such a degree, that the shades aris- ing from a yellow or olive green, will be changed, or totally meta- morphosed, by a second dyeing with madder, kermes, cochineal, or Brazil wood ; and will furnish orange shades, capucuie, carme- iite, burnt bread, bronze, he. As the preliminary preparation of the skains by the oily alkaline soluti- on of alumine, might be too expen- sive for some of these colours, the process I described in the Annates de Chimie, for theyear 1792, p.250, may be substituted in its stead. The process consists in treating the skains, alternately, with soap and sulphate of alumine, the excess of the acid of which has been satu- rated with one of the alkaline car- bonates, or with lime: this method is very expeditious. In the course of a day, especially in summer, the skains may be prepared and dyed red as well as other colours ; which, for the most part, may be DYE 427 subjected to ebullition, and will bear clearing with bran for a quar- ter or half an hour, and even some of them for a whole hour. It is also to be observed, that there are none but madder colours, the alumine and oxide of iron, bases of which have been fixed on the stuffs, by means of the oily alkaline solution, that can acquire perfect fixity by the action of heat of boiling wa- ter ; and that the fixity is very in- ferior in all madder colours, the earthy and ferruginous bases of which, have been applied to stuffs by means of acid solvents. Alumine fixed in abundance on cotton or linen stuff, by means of a highly concentrated alkaline so- lution attracts very easily the co- louring parts in the process of mad- dering. The case is not the same when the same earth is applied, by the most highly concentrated acetic solution of alumine ; and it is absolutely impossible to finish maddering at one time, even when a profusion of madder is employed, and the operation is repeated three and even four times*. This cir- cumstance will give rise to new and interesting experiments ; but my observations prove in the mean time, that maddering, in general, requires to be managed with the nicest attention. Process for dying wool, in the grease, a permanent blue colour. From the " Annates des Arts et Manu- factures" " Mr. Favieux, chemist, of Tou- louse, has communicated a very * Concentrated acetic solution of ox- ide of iron, is attended with nearly the same difficulties, 428 DYE economical process for dyeing wool, in the grease, a blue colour, from the darkest to the lightest tint: this process is of the greater utility, as the colour is more per- manent, and stands any trials to which it may be subjected, better than if the wool had been washed previous to the operation. Take four ounces best indigo, re- duce it to a very fine powder, and pass it through a silk sieve. For every 4 oz. of indigo, take 12 lbs. of wool in the grease ; put the whole into a copper, large enough to contain all the wool to be dyed. Commence the operation by cover- ing the bottom with a thin layer of indigo powder, on which put one of wool, then a second of indigo, and thus alternately one of each, till the boiler is full; taking care that the first and last layer be of indigo, and the wool be well separated in layers of equal quantity. A ley should be previously prepared, of wood-ashes or pot- ash, marking two degrees on the hydrometer, and in sufficient quantity to fill the boiler, and co- ver the materials entirely ; before the ley is poured on them it should be warmed, but not made so hot as to prevent the manipulations. As soon as the boiler is filled, the wool is pressed down equally all over, and worked with the hand, that it may imbibe the liquid in an uniform manner. A gentle heat is kept up till the next day, with small coal, or only hot ashes thrown underneath the boiler ; attention must be paid to raise the degree of heat, before and during the mani- pulation, and to work the wool eve- ry day for about a week ; the more labour is bestowed on mani- pulation, the greater uniformity and intensity it acquires. DYE As soon as the requisite colour is obtained, the operation is termi- nated by washing and drying the wool ; a light blue may be produ- ced by diminishing the quantity of indigo, and proceeding in the same manner. The liquor remaining from dyeing may be again used, to produce light blues. This very simple process is,. without doubt, within the reach of country people, for whom it was principally contrived, by Mr. Fa- vieux ; and it is the most econo- mical process existing for the purpose. The author asserts, that the co- lour is as beautiful and permanent as the finest blue produced by woad ; but a still more important object is, that by this method of dyeing wool, it loses less in weight than if it were previously scoured." A late writer in an American pa- per, says, that he tried some ex- periments on the sea nettles, which are cast on shore by fishermen, and found that a liquid which they contained, dyed woollen, cotton, and silk articles^ a bright and beauti- ful purple, which increased the of- tener it was washed. As sea net- tles abound on many parts of our sea coast, the above hint deserves attention. POKEBEURY-DYE. Mr. MoSES Lindo of South Carolina, in 1764, boiled j- of a pint of the juice with a pint of rain-water about i of an hour. He then took pieces of flan- nel, and numbering them 1 and 2r boiled them in a separate pot with alum a quarter of an hour, and rinsed them in cold water. He then dipped the flannel No. l,into the pot of juice, and after it had simmered five minutes, he rinsed it in cold water : a crimson dye was fixed in the piece superior to DYE the colour of the juice itself. He then dipped the flannel No. 2 in the juice, and washing his hands, which were stained with the juice, in lime water, he found the colour change to a bright yellow. He then threw a wine glass full of lime water into the pot where No. 2 was simmering, which turned both juice and flannel to a bright yellow. Thus he found that alum fixed the crimson, and lime water the yellow colour. These experiments deserve at- tention. If the dye of the Phyto- lacca, could be fixed, a most valua- ble acquisition would be made to the national resources. For observations on the use of Safflower in dyeing, See that article.] A patent was granted to Mr. James Baylez, of St. Leonard's Shoreditch, dyer, for his invention of a machine for clyeing, staining, or printing handkerchiefs, &c..... The patentee employs frames of wood, brass, copper, or other me- tals, on the faces of which are small blocks, projecting in such a man- ner, that when the face of one frame is placed against that of another frame, the blocks are all exactly opposite, and correspond with each other ; thus an hand- kerchief, he. being put between, and the frames fastened together, the dye will be communicated to every part of it, excepting those places which come between the blocks, and retain their original colour. These frames are provi- ded with handles for raising them out of the copper, 8cc. by means of pullies ; and may be put toge- ther to any number, according to the length of the article to be dyed; as they are conjoined on both sides with planks, having screws and 0 ■. DYE 429 nuts at each end, for the purpose of keeping them steady. Another patent was lately grant- ed to Mr. Samuel Greatrix, of Manchester, for a new invented process of dyeing and staining co- lours upon cloth. The process is shortly this: For dyeing black, Mr. G. takes tar, and iron liquor, adding to each gallon three quar- ters of a pound of fine flour, which he boils to the consistence of a paste, and then puts into a tub that forms part of a rolling-press ma- chine, of the common construction. The goods are passed through the paste between two rollers, which diffuses it equally and com- pletely over the whole piece. They are next dried in a hot stove, afterwards soaked in a liquor made of cow-dung and water, scalding hot! in the copper, then washed and rinsed in clean water. Lastly, the goods are dyed in a decoction of su- mach, madder, logwood, or other dyeing drugs, in the usual manner, The patentee also employs other mordants,such as iron liquor,paste, or gum, alum, Sec..The chief im- provement in this patent, consists in employing, instead of the usual methods, a rolling-press to fix the mordant on the cloth, which ren- ders the process somewhat of a middle kind between dyeing and calico-printing. The art of dyeing, though in its infancy, has lately been considera- bly improved, in consequence of the numberless discoveries made chiefly by French chemists. Among other useful facts, the enumeration of which would fill a volume, we shall at present only mention one, of the greatest importance tod vers, M. M. Guyton and Van Mons have found by repeated experi- ments, that the acid of wolfram p 430 DYE affords one of the most effectual means of precipitating the colour- ing matter of vegetables. The former, in particular, observed that this acid not only rendered the co- lour of silks dyed with the juice of aloe more brilliant, but also im- parted to them (according to the different strength of the acid em- ployed,) a variety of shades, from the most delicate lilac to the most beautiful violet, and from the deepest orange to the most lively red. But he ingenuously adds, that, in the different trials he thus made with wool, the result did not give him equal satisfaction. Among the latest publications that have appeared on this subject, we shall mention only the Art of Dyeing,tYans\ated from the French of Berthollet, by Mr. Hamil- ton (2 vols. 8vo. 12s.) published about the year 1793; and Mr. Haigh's Dyers'' Guide, (12mo. 3s. 6rf.)....For an account of the different methods of dyeing parti- cular substances, we refer the reader to the articles, Bones, Hats,Leather, Marble,Paper, Wood, &c. DYERS'-GREEN-WEED, or Wood-waxen, Genista tinctoria, L. is an indigenous plant, growing in pastures, and on the borders of corn-fields. It produces yellow flowers, which blow in the month of July or August, and are succeed- ed by numerous seeds. This herb is eaten by horses, cows, sheep, and goats :....the flow- ers afford a yellow colour, which is preferred to every other, for dye- ing wood green. This plant also yields the fine yellow lacker of painters, by boiling the stalks and leaves in lime-water, and again placing the clarified decoction over the fire, with chalk and alum. DYE A dram and a half of the seeds, when pulvorized,operat«s as a mild purgative. A decoction of the whole plant is said to be diuretic, and has been given with success in cases of dropsy. DYERS-WEED, or Yellow- weed, Reseda luteola, L. an indi- genous annual plant, growing in meadows, pastures, on walls, and barren uncultivated spots, particu- larly on the rubbish thrown out of coal-pits. It has a cylindrical, hol- low, furrowed stem, and produces yellow flowers, which blow in the month of June or July. This plant is not relished by cattle, few eat- ing it, except sheep, which some- times browse it a little. The dyers'-weed imparts a most beautiful yellow colour to wool, cotton, mohair, silk, and linen, and is principally used by dyers for that purpose, as it affords the brightest dye. A decoction of this plant also communicates a green colour to blue cloths and consti- tutes the basis of Dutch pink. The tinging properties reside in the stems and roots, which should be cultivated in sandy situations ; be- cause rich soils render the stalks hollow, which consequently do'not impart so delicate a colouring mat- ter. As the durability and bright- ness of the colours obtained from this plant greatly depend on the circumstance, whether a just pro- portion of alum and cream of tar- tar have been used for the ley, in preparing the goods before they are dyed, we can from experience re- commend three parts of alum to be used to one of tartar : if more of the former be employed, the colour will be pale; if a greater quantity of the latter, it will acquire an orange shade....M. Gadd informs us, in the 29th vol. of the Transac- DYE lions of the Swedish Accademy, that he found the following proportion of ingredients to be the most prac- tically successful in making the preparatory lixivium : viz. for one pound of wool, two ounces of alum, six drams of cream of tartar, to be dissolved in three gallons of water, to which are to be added two hand- fuls of wheaten bran. After re- maining twelve hours in this decoc- tion, the wool is to be taken out, rinsed, then half-dried, and after- wards boiled, together with one pound of dyers'-green-weed, in four gallons of water; and after it has been some time over the fire, the plants should be removed, and half an ounce of the purest pot-ash (which must contain no lime, like the Essex ashes) added to the li- quor ; when the wool must be gen- tly agitated, till it acquire the pro- per shade of yellow. The colour maybe heightened by an additional portion of pearl-ashes, or salt of tartar ; but its durability will thus be affected....If silk or linen are to be dyed, both the tartar and bran must be omitted, and the colouring matter fixed with alum and pot-ash: but, in woollen cloth or yarn, the permanency of the colour is re- markably promoted bythe addition of wheaten bran. [A water colour is made from Weld, and used by paper-hanging manufacturers, for elegant work. It is the small seeds of the plant only, which afford the colouring matter. Messrs. Collard and Frazer, of London manufacturers of weld yellow, have published in Tilloch's Phil. Mag. vol. 13, the following process for preparing this elegant yellow colour, and they observe, that when made, it will fall into a fine powder, and require no grind- *** DYE' 451 ing. They further remark, that there is not to be found, either in the vegetable or mineral kingdoms, any other substance which yields so elegant a yellow colour as the weld. Take of pure carbonate of lime, (fine washed whiting) any given quantity : say four pounds : put it into a copper boiler, and add to it four pounds of soft water : put a fire under the copper and raise it to a boiling heat, and keep stirring with a deal stick till the whiting be completely divided and form with the water a consistence quite smooth. Then add for each pound of whiting three ounces of alum previously pulverised tolerably fine. The alum must be added gradu- ally, and the operator should keep stirring with, his deal stick during the administration ; for a double decomposition is effected, accom- panied with effervescence, and car- bonic acid is discharged. Thus, if the alum were not administered gradually the boiler would overflow from the violence of the efferves- cence, and if the whiting were not well divided previously to the in- troduction of the alum, the distri- bution among the whiting would be unequal, and the colour injured. When the effervescence ceases,the basis is properly prepared. The fire may then be drawn and it may remain for any length of time with- out injuring,till the other materials are ready. Place the weld with the roots uppermost, in another copper boiler, pour in soft water enough to cover every part con- taining seed, and boil them not more than fifteen minutes ; then take them out, place them, with their roots uppermost, in a tub to catch the liquor which runs from them, and pass the liquor in the n. . 432 DYE copper with what runs from the weld in the tub, through a flannel filter, to intercept the seeds and fe- cula ; and thus the colouring mat- ter is prepared. It is impossible to say what quantity of welds should be em- ployed to any given quantity of whiting; for some bundles will contain three times as much seed as others. It is well however to know, that if too much colouring matter be prepared, it may be kept in an earthen or deal vessel for ma- ny weeks, without sustaining any injury. Having filtered a sufficient quan- tity of the weld, put a fire under the boiler containing the basis, and add the weld liquor till the colour be attained. When sufficient co- louring matter is added to the basis the fire should be raised to a boil- ing heat and the work is finished. In order to be satisfied when the greatest strength of colour is at- tained, take a little out on chalk, which will absorb the moisture in- stantly, when it may be laid on pa- per with a brush, and received per- fectly dry in a few minutes. The contents of the furnace -should then be put into a deal or earthen vessel to precipitate. The next day the liquor may be poured off, and the colour may be placed on large pieces of chalk, which in a few hours will absorb the mois- ture, and it will then be fit for use. The liquor poured off from the colour, may, with the addition of water be used again, and the old welds may be boiled a second time, and taken out previously to the ad- dition of fresh welds, so that no co- louring matter will be lost.] DYKE, or DIKE, a sort of clam constructed of earth, timber, fas- cines, &c to oppose the entrance DYE of water from rivers, and from the. sea. Dykes made to exclude the sea from marshes, are built with sods cut out of the marsh, so as to make' a ditch near the dyke, or else a ditch on each side. The sods are laid as a wall sloping on both sides; they should be laid very close, that the water may not enter; and some slender bushes should be laid be- tween them, that the work may hold together the better. Some of the bushes should have roots to them, that they may grow, and more strongly bind the sods toge- ther. Shrubs without roots will not live placed in the dykes at mid- summer, the time when dykes should be built. A dyke seven or eight feet wide at bottom, and three at top, and made a little higher than the high- est spring tides rise, will be suffi- cient on high marshes. When a dyke passes through a low place, or through a creek, it must be wider at bottom in proportion to the depth of the hollow, or creek, so that the sides of the dyke may be perfect inclined planes. Though this will make it very thick at bottom, it is necessary, that it may resist the greater pressure of water against that part. When we build on an oozy soft spot it is best to fill the mud with piles, driven as deep as they will easily go, and then cut off, even with the surface. This will give stability to the foundation, and pre- vent the water's undermining the dyke. On a sideling place, stakes should be driven through the dyke into the marsh, to hold the sods in their place. In the creek, or creeks, there must be sluices, larger or smaller in proportion to the quantity of D YS fresh water that will need to pass out. New England Farmer. DYSENTERY, or Bloody- Flux, an infectious disease, attend- ed with a discharge of blood and purulent matter by stool ; violent gripings ; a continual inclination to go to stool; pains in the loins; fever, See. Unwholesome night-air, damp places, and a suppression of insen- sible perspiration, may be consi- dered as the principal causes of this disease; which is also,though rare- ly, occasioned by the immoderate eating of unripe, acrid fruit. The opinions of practitioners, on the cure of the dysentery, being at great variance; one class of them propos- ing to cure it by bleeding and eme- tics (considering it as a " rheuma- tism of the bowels"); another by purgatives and astringents; a third by violent sudorifics (treating it as a "fever of the intestines"), we shall not detain the reader with their dif- ferent notions, but briefly observe, that the treatment of the disorder chiefly depends on two circumstan- ces : 1. Whether it be accompa- nied with fever; and, 2. Whether the patient be of a sanguineous temperament, and plethoric habit, or the contrary. In both the for- mer cases, we advise the reader not to attempt the cure of a disease which has often baffled the talent of the most learned and experienced, but immediately avail himself of medical advice, especially as the malady is contagious. If, however, the dysentery be unattended with febrile symptoms, and the patient of a phlegmatic rather than choleric temperament, he may then take, at the com- mencement of the disease, a brisk emetic of a scruple or half a dram of the ipecacuanha-root in powder, VOL. II. DYS 433 and afterwards one grain of it every four or six hours : such medicine having, by experience, been found singularly efficacious. Hence, we do not venture to suggest either opium, antimonial tartar, rhubarb, or any other drug; as they can be of service only in particular cases. But the greatest advantage in this complaint will generally be derived from the application of clys- ters, which should consist of de- coctions of the bruised ipecacuan- ha-root, namely, one dram boiled in a pint of water, till the third part be evaporated; or alternately,three quarters of a pint of fresh milk, in which one ounce of mutton-suet has been dissolved, should be ad- ministered lukewarm, and both re- peated every six or eight hours. The regimen in dysentery is of the utmost consequence. Animal food, whether solid or liquid, must be abstained from, till the violent symptoms have subsided, when chicken-broth may be allowed. The use of the salep-root, in the form of jelly, and the white of an egg and starch, taken in small por- tions, will afford sufficient nou- rishment, while they tend to re- store the natural and abraded mu- cus of the intestines. In the de- cline of the disease, a solution of fresh mutton-suet in hot cow's- milk, to which a little starch and sugar may be added, after the fat has been removed from the top, affords both a wholesome and pala- table dish. The copious use of ripe grapes has, in this disease, often procured very great relief; and, though the unlimited and promis- cuous eating of fruit, in every stage and species of dysentery, may not always be proper, yet, in those cases where Nature points out such indulgence, by the ardent de« 3K 434 D Y S D Y S sire of the patient, or where the blood appears to be in a broken, dissolved state, and a putrid acri- mony infests the bowels, there is no danger to be apprehended from a free allowance of ripe, sub-acid fruit, which will, in general, be at- tended with happy effects. [The dysentery often prevails in the country settlements in the United States, with great mortality. The cure must be begun by giving repeated doses of Glauber's salts, or Castor-oil, and after the bowels have been well opened, opium in small closes may be given to pro- cure ease. If fever attend it, some blood may be taken away with ad- vantage. The warm bath is highly useful to allay the violent pain in the bowels, and may be taken every day. The drink should be of a mucilaginous nature, such as calves-feet boiled into a jelly, infu- sions of flax-seed in water, or ar- row-root jelly. These liquids may also be injected into the bowels with advantage. Mutton-suet boil- ed in milk, also forms a very useful injection. The dysentery often is followed by a tedious diarrhoea, or looseness, without fever, which is difficult of cure. A gentle saliva- tion raised by small doses of mer- cury, has proved an effectual cure for this form of the disease. Lime- water has likewise succeeded in some obstinate cases. When the dysentery prevails as an epedemic, it is observed to be highly contagious. If flight cannot be conveniently effected, frequent purges of Glauber's salts, or Castor oil, must be taken to prevent the dis- ease. These have been found in some instances highly beneficial.] E. E AG E AG EAGLE, the Golden, or Falco chrysatos, L. a bird of prey, which chiefly inhabits the northern parts of Britain: it weighs about twelve pounds, and is nearly three feet long; but, with its expanded wings, measures above seven feet. These birds possess the senses of sight and smell in an uncom- monly acute degree: they are also remarkable for their longevity, and their long abstinence from food. There are instances of eagles hav- ing attained an age exceeding one hunched years, and of one which existed twenty-one days without sustenance. Eagles are very destructive to Iambs, kids, fawns, and all kinds of game, especially during the breeding season, when they carry vast quantities of prey to their young. These pernicious birds are particularly mischievous in the Orkney Islands, where a law is in force, which entitles every person that kills an eagle, to a hen out of every house in the parish where such bird was killed. [We have four species of eagle in the United States, viz. 1. Grey eagle, which is the largest: 2. Bald eagle, (Falco leucocephalus): 3. fishing eagle : 4. Black eagle. EAR EAR 435 Besides these, we have many spe- cies of Falco, or Hawks....W.Bar- tram.] EAR, the organ of hearing, or that part through which animals receive the impression of sounds. This organ is extremely tender, and subject to a variety of disor- ders. If it be suffered to continue for any length of time without be- ing cleaned, a species of wax accu- mulates in it; which, if not spee- dily removed, becomes tough and hard, diminishes the acuteness of hearing, and produces at length total deafness. An abundance of ear-wax, if thin and acrid, occasions pain, and is sometimes accompa- nied with a running in the ears: hence these parts should be strengthened by washing them every clay with cold water; by which the sense of hearing will be considerably improved and pre- served. The most common disorder to which these organs are liable is, Deafness. Having already treat- ed of that malady, we cannot avoid animadverting on the impropriety of employing the common ear- trumpets, which, though they may afford temporary aid, ultimately destroy that useful sense. Deaf persons, however, may still be en- abled to receive sounds, and in a more perfect manner, through the teeth and other bones of the head, than by communicating such sounds to the ear by the common trumpet. A better method, there- fore, may be attempted by means of an ivory tube, of a cylindrical form, from 12 to 24 inches in length, and from A to ^ of an inch in diameter. If it be hollow throughout, the lower extremity should be made much wider than the part placed between the front teeth, through which the necessary vibration may thus be communi- cated to the internal ear. To this may be added the dis- tressing complaint denominated the ear-ach, which usually proceeds from an inflammation, though it is sometimes occasioned by a sharp serous humour, stimulating the membrane that lines the canal of the ear: this painful affection also sometimes originates from insects that have penetrated the cavity of the ear; in which case, some sweet- oil should be introduced into the orifice, and the person ought to lie on that side of the body, the ear of which is the seat of complaint. By such means, the worm or insect may be extracted, and the pain consequently removed. The ear-ach may be also occa- sioned by exposure to a current of air, from wet feet, and likewise from blows, or similar accidents. For persons peculiarly liable to take cold, the best preventive will be, to keep both the head and feet warm and dry. In ordinary cases, Dr. Dancer is of opinion, that the patient will be relieved by holding the painful side over the steam of warm water, and afterwards put- ting into the ear a piece of camphor wrapped in cotton, which has been previously moistened with a few drops of laudanum, or vitriolic Ether...Electricity may also be em- ployed, in some instances, with great success. Should the pain, however, be extremely acute, and accompanied with throbbing, and other inflam- matory symptoms, it will be advis- able to resort to blood-letting, and to apply blisters behind the ear, or to the neck. If an abscess be ap- prehended, warm poultices should be frequently laid on the part aft 436 EAR EAR fected, before they become cold; and when such abscess breaks, mUk and water, or chamomile-tea, with the tincture of myrrh, must be repeatedly injected by means of a syringe. EAR-WIG, or Forficular auri- cutaris, L. a well known insect, which has received its name from penetrating into the human ear, where it causes the most acute pains, and even, as some have as- serted, eventual death. Various remedies have been ap- plied to extract this noxious insect, such as the holding of a slice of apple to the ear ; pouring of Ma- deira wine or brandy into that or- gan, &c. But the safest, and we conceive, the best remedy is, to pour olive-oil into the part attested, and to avoid on every occasion sleeping on the ground, particu- larly during the autumnal months. Ear-wigs are likewise extremely destructive in gardens, especially where carnations, nuts, or filberts, pears and apples are reared. They are so peculiarly fond of the flowers first mentioned, that if they be not timely prevented, they will entirely destroy them, by con- suming the sweet part at the bot- tom of the petals or leaves. To prevent these depredations, the usual practice is, to put the bowl of a tobacco-pipe, or the claws of lobsters, upon the sticks support- ing the flowers, because ear-wigs creep into cavities and dark places during the day. The placing of hollow reeds behind the twigs of wall-trees, has been found of con- siderable service,if they be examin- ed and cleared every morning. A visit at midnight, however, is pre- ferable, as more vermin may then be destroyed in one hour, than can be exterminated in one week by the other means ; and the gar- den will in a short time be, in a very considerable degree, if not totally, freed from their depreda- tions. The following method of extir- pating these mischievous insects, is recommended by Mr. Forsyth, who has successfully practised it for several years. Let old bean- stalks be cut into tubes, about nine inches long ; then be tied up in small bundles, either with pack- thread, or the pliant twigs of young willows ; and be suspended on nails against the wall, in the vicinity of trees. Early in the following morn- ing, a boarcl about 18 inches square should be procured, and a small wooden trowel: the bundles of such bean-stalks are now to be taken down separately, stricken against the board, and the ear- wigs be destroyed with the trowel, as they fall out of the stalks. If this method be repeated daily, or every second morning, the in- crease of the insects will speedily be checked. The propagation of these vermin may be still more certainly pre- vented, by immersing the shreds taken from trees that have been unnailtd in autumn, in boiled soap- suds, for three or four days previ- ously to using them again : in this simple manner, the eggs of ear- wigs,aswelias those of other insects, will be effectually exterminated. EARTH, in general, signifies, that solid, incombustible substance which forms the basis of the globe we inhabit. Chemists have, hitherto, made us acquainted with eight different species of simple earths, namely, 1. The siliceous, or flint: 2. cal- careous, or lime ; 3. magnesian, or talc ; 4. argillaceous, or clay ; 5. EAR ponderous, or barytes (Derbyshire spar) ; 6. Strontian, (from a place of that name in Scotland), 7. Cir- con, or jargon of Ceylon ; and 8. glucine earth, very lately discover- ed by Vaucujelin, and also called sweet earth of beryl.....We cannot enter into an analysis of the differ- ent earths here enumerated, and shall, therefore, content ourselves with stating, that simple earths are rarely found in that state of purity ; that all the strata of rocks (which compose in a manner " the shell of this globe," on the surface of which the vegetable mould is im- mediately incumbent) principally consist of siliceous, argillaceous, cal- careous, or other compound earths, derived from the primitive kinds before specified ; that stones are only earths in an indurated state ; that the characteristic difference between earths and alkalis arises 'from the insolubility of the former, while the latter may be dissolved in water or other fluids ; and lastly, that most of these earths unite with acids, and neutralize them, like alkalis. As we treat of those species of earth, which may be usefully em- ployed in domestic economy, un- der their respective heads of the alphabet, (see Clay, Flint,Lime, he.) we cannot in this place en- large upon the subject. EARTH-BANKS, in husband- ry, are a kind of fence, very com- mon in the vicinity of London, and in several other parts of England: where stones cannot be easily pro- cured, they are preferable to other fences, both for soundness and du- rability. The best method of making earth-banks is, to dig up some turfs in a spot abounding with grass. EAR 437 about a spit deep, and four or five inches thick: these are to be laid even on one side by a line, with the grass outwards, and on the back of them is to be placed another row of turf, leaving the space of one foot of solid ground on the outside, to prevent the bank from slipping in, lest any part of it should be de- ficient. On the outside of this, a ditch is to be dug ; otherwise, botu the sides must be made with a slope two feet in depth, which, however, will be no detriment, as they Will both produce pasture. The soil dug out of the ditches, or from the slopes, should be thrown in, between the two rows of turf, till the whole is made level, in a similar manner, and the bank is raised to the height of four or more feet, at the same time in- creasing the width of the founda- tion, in proportion to the height. As the bank ascends, both sides must be made to slope naturally, so that the top shall be about 2£ feet in width. There is one caution necessaiy to be observed in constructing this kind of fence ; that is, never to raise it during the dry seasons, be- cause, if violent rains should fol- low, the earth contained between the sods would swell, burst out, and destroy the beauty and solidi- ty of the bank. The top may be planted with quick, which, if re- peatedly clipped, will grow very thick, and afford excellent shelter for cattle. EARTH-NUT, a native plant of two species, namely, the Bunium bulbocastanum, or Great Earth- nut; and the flexuosum, or Com- mon Earth-nut, or Pig-nut. Both are perennial plants, growing in sandy or gravelly meadows, pas- 438 EAR tures, orchards, and woods; they flower in the month of May or June. The roots of these plants are at present searched for only by hogs, which devour them with avidity ; but as they are very little inferior to chesnuts, we think they might form an agreeable addition to our winter desserts, and be eaten either raw, boiled, or roasted. [The earth-nut, or ground-nut, of the southern United States, is the Arachis hypogaa, L. They are also called pinda by the negroes, by whom they are chiefly cultiva- ted. They are a sort of dwarf- pea: after the blossom falls off", the young fruit turns down, and enters the earth, which is carefully heap- ed about the plant. When ripe, a cylindrical shaped husk, contains generally two beans, which, when slightly toasted in a hot oven in the husks, are pleasant eating, be- ing sweet and oily. Mr. W. Bar- tram informs the editor, that a preparation of these kernels, com- bined principally with the dry bark of sassafras pulverized, is an excel- lent substitute for chocolate. In Cochin-China, the oil of the ara- chis is used for lamps, as a sub- stitute for olive-oil. It thrives best in a sandy soil.] EARTHQUAKE, is a sudden and violent concussion of the earth, which is generally attended with uncommon noise, both/in the air, and under ground ; in consequence of which, whole cities are at once levelled, as well as rocks; the course of rivers is altered ; and the most dreadful devastations are thus occasioned. There is no phenomenon in na- ture, more calculated to impress the human mind with awe, than an earthquake J but it has not till EAR lately been investigated with phi- losophical precision, and the his- tory of these events still remains very incompleted Of the observations, which inde- fatigable naturalists have been able to collect, the following are the principal: 1. Where there are any volcanoes or burning mountains, earthquakes may naturally be ex- pected to occur more frequently, than in other countries. 2. Earth- quakes are, in general, preceded by long droughts; but they do not always happen immediately after them. 3. They are, likewise, fre- quently indicated by certain elec- trical appearances in the atmos- phere, namely, the aurora borea- lis, the falling of stars, 8cc. 4. A short time previous to the shock, the sea swells with a loud noise ; fountains are disturbed, and become muddy ; and the irrational animals appear frightened, as if conscious of approaching calamity. 5. The air, at the time of the shock, is in general, very calm and serene; but afterwards becomes dark and cloudy. 6. The concussion begins with a rumbling noise, similar to that of carriages: a rushing sound resembling the wind is sometimes heard ; at others, explosions not unlike the firing of cannon ; and the ground is agitated in different directions. A single shock sel- dom exceeds a minute in its dura- tion ; but frequent concussions suc- ceed each other, at short intervals, for a considerable length of time. 7. During the shock, chasms are made in the earth, whence flames, but oftener vast quantities of water, are discharged. Flames and smoke are also emitted from spotsof ground where no chasms are perceptible; and though the abysses formed in the earth are in general not extcn- EAR E A U 439 sive, yet in violent earthquakes they are frequently so large as to bury whole cities. 8. The water of the ocean is, on such occasions, affected perhaps still more than the land; the sea now rising to a pro- digious height, now divided to a considerable depth, and emitting great quantities of air, flames, and smoke. Similar agitations occur in the waters of ponds, lakes, and even rivers. Lastly, the effects of earthquakes are not confined to one particular district or country, and frequently extend to very distant regions; though there is no instance of the whole globe having been convulsed at the same time. The cause of earthquakes, or the theory of this tremendous pheno- menon, is but imperfectly under- stood. It is, however, certain, that they arise from the confine- ment of air within the bowels of the earth, where it is generated by sulphureous vapours acting on dif- ferent metallic ores, the principal and most copious of which appears to be iron. In confirmation of this theory, we shall only observe, that artificial earthquakes may be easily produced, by burying equal quan- tities of iron-filings and sulphur, mixed in a moist state, and con- fined in a vessel, so as to exclude the access of external air, and prevent the escape of the inflam- mable gas thus generated. In a few days (and, if large quantities be employed, in a few hours) this composition grows remarkably hot, and will explode with a violence and impetuosity resembling the natural phenomenon : but we do not advise our junior readers to at- tempt such dangerous experiments. .....As it would be deviating from our plan to enter into farther par- ticulars, we can only refer the in- quisitive to the 73d vol. of the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal Society, for 1783, where they will find an ample account of the latest and most awful earthquakes that have happened in Europe, within the memory of man. EARTH-WORM, or Lumbri- cus, L. a well known insect, which is destitute of feet; it is of an ob- long form ; round shape, and co- vered with a soft, slender skin, marked with annular ridges and furrows. It is common in all parts of this country, at little depths beneath the surface of the earth ; and is not unfrequcntly found in the human intestines, as well as in those of the lower animals; in which state it has been supposed to be a different creature, and is therefore called by various names. See Worms. Earth-worms were formerly re- puted to be of great virtue in me- dicine ; but are at present more usefully employed in feeding poul- try and other birds. EAU-DE-LUCE, a kind of li- quid volatile soap, of a strong pun- gent smell, which is prepared in the following manner: 10 or 12 grs. of white soap are dissolved in 4 oz. of rectified spirit of wine; after which the solutionis strained. A dram of rectified oil of amber is then added, and the whole filtra- ted ; with this solution should be mixed such a proportion of the strongest volatile spirit of sal-am- moniac, in a chrystal glass bottft, as will, when sufficiently shaken, produce a beautiful milk-white li- quor. If a kind of cream should settle on the surface, ft will be re- quisite to addasmall quar.iitvoi'the spirituous solution of soap. Those who may wish to have this liquor 440 EBO perfumed, may employ lavender, or Hungary water, instead of the spirit of wine. This celebrated composition is, however, seldom obtained in a ge- nuine state, when purchased at the shops. Its use, as an external re- medy, is very extensive; for it has not only been employed for curing the bites of vipers, wasps, bees, gnats, ants, and other insects, but also for burns, and even the bite of a mad-dog, though not always with uniform success. Besides, it affords one of the safest stimulants in cases of suffocation from mephi- tic vapours, and in that state of apo- plexy (which see), termed serous, as likewise after excessive intoxi- cation, and in all those paralytic complaints, where the vessels of the skin, or the muscular fibre, require to be excited into action... Nevertheless, it ought to be used with due precaution. EBONY, an exceedingly hard and heavy wood,imported from the East-Indies ; it admits of being very highly polished, for which rea- son it is used chiefly for veneering cabinets, in Mosaic work, he. Ebony is of various colours, viz. black, red, and green; but the first is that most generally known, and used. Cabinet-makers, inlayers, and others, frequently substitute pear-tree, and other wood, for ebony, by giving the former a black co- lour; which some effect by wash- ing it in a hot decoction of gall- nuts ; and, after it is dry, by rubbing it over with ink, and polishing it by means of a hard brush and a little wax: others heat, or almost burn their wood, till it become black, so that it acquires such a degree of hardness, that, when properly po- lished, it can with difficulty be dis- tinguished from genuine ebony. ED D ECONOMY, a term of exten- sive signification, and if its mean- ing be properly understood and practised, the result cannot fail to be attended with the happiest ef- fects. It is, in particular, applied to rural, domestic, animal, political, and other objects, but more gene- rally to the two first mentioned, which form the basis of the pre- sent work. As, by our plan, we are confin- ed to the alphabetical order, in which the different subjects of eco- nomy are discussed, according to their greater or less importance, we cannot consistently enlarge upon its theory. Those readers who are seriously inclined to adopt practical rules of economy and fru- gality, will consult the particular articles connected with these mea- sures : others, who wish to acquire more extensive information on rural and domestic economy in general, will be highly gratified by the pe- rusal of Mr. J. Bannister's Sy- nopsis of Husbandry, (8vo.9.9. 1800) and especially the collection of the Reports of the Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor ; a work which merits a place in every fa- mily library. [EDDOES, a variety of the Ar- um Esculentum, L. Another va- riety, is the Tanniers. Both these resemble each other, except that eddoesare smaller, more acrid, and require longer boiling than tanniers. They are planted in South-Carolina, in the latter end of March, in small beds, or hills, three or four feet apart; the leaves are very large, from eighteen in- ches to two feet long, and from twelve to fifteen inches wide. For seed-plants, the small fruit of the last year, or the larger fruit, cut in two, is planted. During the EDU EEL 441 growth, the earth is drawn up once or twice around the root, and the grass hoed from them ; they are dug in before the heavy frosts com- mence, and put away in cellars, covered with earth and straw, or pine leaves. They are excellent, when boiled and eaten with butter, like yams. A rich mellow soil, inclining to moist, such as is ge- nerally found along declivities of land, just before it becomes wet and boggy, answers best for ed- does and tanniers.] Edged Tools: See Tools. Edifices : See Building ; CouNTRY-houses ; and Farm- house. EDUCATION, is the art of rearing, forming, and instructing children, according to the most -appropriate rules and maxims.... many volumes have, from time to time, been published on this most important subject j and though al- most every writer aims at giving to the public a system peculiar to himself, yet all agree that the grand object of education is the gradual improvement of our moral, physical and intellectual faculties. Thus it happens, that the means to be adopted for obtaining this salutary end, constitute all the difference of opinion prevailing among men. It would lead us too far from our li- mits to lay clown only the general principles by which a good and ra- tional education ought to be regu- lated. And as this subject has lately been investigated by the edi- tor of these pages, in the Prelimi- nary Lectures to Doctor Struve's Familiar Treatise on Education ; besides which, there have been published several useful works, that are briefly reviewed in those lectures; the curious reader will probably avail himself of the ori- vol. II. ginal sources, from which we have no room to insert copious extracts. EEL, or Murana, L. a genus of fish, comprising seven species, two of which only are found in the wa- ters of this country ; namely, 1. The Anguilla, or Common Eel, which is very frequent in all our fresh Waters, ponds, ditches, and rivers. This is a very singular creature, and in some respects par- takes of the nature of reptiles; be- ing known to quit its element, and to wander during the night along the meadows, both to change its habitation, and to obtain' prey; feeding on snails as it glides along. During winter, the common eel buries itself deeply in the mud, where it continues in a torpid state, similar to that of serpents. It is extremely sensible of cold, and will eagerly take shelter in a wisp of straw thrown into a pond in severe weather, which stratagem has been successfully practised to catch these fish during the winter season. Eels are- exceedingly voracious, and destructive to the fry of other fish; and are remarkable for their tenacity of life, as their dissevered parts move for a considerable time after they are flayed. Common eels grow to a large size, some- times weighing 15 or 20lbs.; but are, in general, from 1 i to 2 feet in length....Their fat is reputed to be vulnerary, and has been recom- mended externally in cases of deaf- ness, and in the hemorrhoids..... When this fish is half fried, and its fat carefully expressed and cla- rified, the oil of eels is the most suitable for watches, and other di- minutive machinery ; as» it never thickens, and consequently pro- serves the iron from the effects, of rust. 3. L 442 EGG EGG 2. The Conger, or Conger-eel, grows to an uncommon size, and is found chiefly on the coast of Cornwall, where great numbers of them are taken, and when split, are hung on a frame to dry, and then exported. Conger-eels are some- times lOOlbs. in weight, and ex- tremely voracious, preying on other fish, as well as on crabs, when these have cast their shells, and are in a soft state. Being exceedingly fond of carcases of any kind, their flesh, though difficult of digestion, is very agreeable, and in great request among epicures. Persons afflicted with nervous, asthmatic, and consumptive disor- ders, ought, however, carefully to abstain from eel-pies, or any dishes prepared of that luxurious fish. EGG, a body formed in certain female animals, and which- con- tains an embryo or fetus, beneath a cortical surface, or shell. This shell is lined throughout with a thin, but tough membrane, which, dividing at or near the obtuse end of the egg, forms a small bag, and contains what is called the albu- men, or white, and the vitcllus, or yolk. The chick in the e^ is first nou- rished by the white, and when that is consumed, by the yolk.... A short time before the exclusion of the animal, the whole of the yolk is taken into its abdomen, and the shell, at tite obtuse end, fre- quently appears cracked, which is occasioned by the instinctive ope- ration of the beak. Eggs vary much in their colour, size, and form, according to the birds that deposit them, and the different modes of dressing them. Those chiefly used for culinary purposes are the new laid eggs of hens, being without exception the most wholesome. Eggs are an agreeable and nou- rishing food ; but they ought to be perfectly fresh, and gradually co- agulated in hot water, from 5 to 10 minutes, instead of being boiled. To ascertain whether they have been well preserved, it is only ne- cessary to examine their transpa- rency by a candle, and to reject all such as appear of a turbid colour: fresh eggs also, on being exposed to the fire, will exhale a percepti- ble moisture. Amongthe variousmethods con- trived, of preserving eggs for the winter season, the chief requisite is to exclude every access to the air. For this purpose, solutions of lime, with the addition of alkalis, have been employed; but these, as well as the varnishing of eggs with wax, are too expensive for general use. The greasing of eggs with unctuous substances, such as mut- ton fat, oil, &c. has also been prac- tised ; but it is neither cleanlyr, nor calculated to effect the object in- tended. One of the best methods, seems to be that of covering the eggs with a cheap varnish, by which the air will be prevented from penetrating the pores ; or of suspending them in running water, by means of a net. [Eggs are very easily preserved by putting them in a keg of salt, in a cool place, and by turning the keg every day. Probably dipping them in melted tallow, (of which Dr. W. speaks too lightly), would tend to increase the preservative power of the salt. The eggs ought to be as fresh as possible, when put up.] The shells of eggs serve for va- rious purposes, but chiefly as a ELD colour; when finely levigated, they are preferred to flake-white. They are prepared by peeling off the inner skin, and after being finely pulverized, the powder is carefully washed....See Colour-making. The yolks of eggs are employed in different medicinal ways, but most frequently in emulsions. One yolk, if gradually beaten up with three ounces of pure water, and reduced to the utmost degree of thinness, has been found of great utility in removing contractions of the limbs. The whites are chiefly applied externally, in the prepara- tion of eye-waters, on account of their cooling, agglutinating, and astringent qualities. They have also been used with advantage, in burns, and are recommended as a specific for the jaundice, of which we have had no experience. In February, 1791, a patent was granted to Mr. William Jayne, for his composition, which is calcu- lated to preserve eggs....He directs one Winchester bushel of quick- lime, 32 oz. of salt, and 8 oz. of cream of tartar, to be incorporat- ed with such a quantity of water as will reduce the mixture to that consistence, in which an egg will float with its top above the surface. ....In this liquor the eggs are to be kept; and the patentee asserts, that they may thus be preserved perfectly sound, fir the space of two years at the least. ELDER, or Sambucus, L. a ge- nus of plants consisting of 6 spe- cies, two of which are indigenous. 1. The Ebulus, Dwarf Elder, or Dane-wort, which is perennial, grows in hedges and on road sides, and flowers in the month of July. The green leaves of this plant are said to expel mice from granaries: neither hogs, cows, goats, sheep, £ L D 443 nor horses will eat them....Its ber- ries impart a violet colour, and their juice mixed with vinegar dyes raw linen, as well as Morocco leather, of.an azure blue....In its medicinal effects it is more violent than the following species, and therefore requires greater caution. 2. The nigra, or Common El- der, which thrives in woods, and damp hedges. In May or June it produces white flowers, which are succeeded'by black berries....This plant is extensively useful: its wood being hard and tough, is made into meat-skewers, tops for angling rods, and needles for weav- ing nets ; it is also employed by turners, as it works extremely well on the lathe. The leaves are eaten by sheep, to which it is of great service, when diseased with the rot ; for, if placed in a situation where they can easily reach the bark and young shoots, they will speedily cure themselves. Accord- ing to Linnaeus, the plant is re- fused by horses, cows, and goats, though others assert, that cows eat it eagerly. Every part of this, as well as of the preceding species, has a narcotic smell, which ought lo caution persons against sleeping beneath its shade. The inner green bark, is an ingredient in the black dye ; it is likewise purgative, and may be used with advantage where strong laxatives become requisite. In small doses it is diuretic, and has been successfully used in glan- dular obstructions, and in dropsies. The leaves are possessed of cathar- tic properties similar to those of the bark, but are more nauseous. They form an ingredient in several cooling ointments : and if turnips, cabbages, fruit-trees, or corn, be whipped with them, and also with 444 ELD ELE the green boughs, they will be ef- fectually secured against the de- predations of turnip-flies, cater- pillars, and other noxious insects, with which those vegetables are infested....The flowers are some- times infused to impart a flavour to vinegar; but should on no account be given to turkies, as they will prove fatal to those .birds.....The berries are likewise poisonous to poultry ; but their juice, when boiled down to an extract, and sweetened with sugar, (this com- position being termed rob), is a gentle aperient, and promotes per- spiration. The juice is likewise converted into a pleasant liquor called eldtr-wine, and is also em- ployed to communicate a red co- lour to raisin or sweet wines...... Dambourney observes, that linen may be dyed of a brown colour with the juice of these berries; and that wool, previously managed with bismuth, acquires a beautiful blue- jsh grey, which is very permanent. In Germany, a very pure and strong spirit is distilled from this fruit, especially after it has been sweet- ened by night-frosts. On the trunk of the common elder frequently appears a fungous excrescence, wrinkled, and turned up like an ear, whitish on the out- side, black within, and intersected with several small veins......These are commonly called Jew's ears, and are reputed to be serviceable for inflammations and swellings of the tonsils; for sore throats, and quinsies. [The following receipt to make elder-wine was forwarded by a fiend, S. W. J. Esq. who has followed it for many years : Take twelve and a half galls, of the juice of the ripe elder-berry, and i7\ gallons of water that has been recently boiled, and to every gallon of water add 3^-lbs. sugar, or 4*-lbs. Havannah honey, which will in- corporate while warm. Add of ginger -*- oz. and pimento -| oz. to every four gallons of the mixture, and when the whole is cooled to about 60° of Fahrenheit, add about \ pint brewer's yeast, and let it ferment very slowly for about- 14 days, the bung being out; bung it and let it stand six months; then bottle it off. This wine is a most excellent cordial.] ELECAMPANE, or Inula, L. a genus of plants, consisting of thirty species, of which four only are in- digenous, and the principal of these is the Hclenium, or Common Ele- campane ; which is perennial, abounds in moist meadows and pastures, and flowers in July or August. It is eaten by horses and goats, but refused by hogs......its roots, when bruised and mr.ccrated in urine with balls of ashes and w hortle-berries, dye a blue colour: when dry they possess an aromatic smell, and, on chewing them, be- come acrid and pungent: they are likewise in some repute for pro- moting expectorations in asthmas and coughs. If liberally taken, they are diuretic, and said to be of great service in removing visceral obstructions.....V decoction of this plant has been employed by farm- ers for the cure of the scab in sheep; and, externally applied, for removing disorders of the skin..... Prof. K:.ACKsrAEDT,of St. Peters- burgh, has lately prescribed the elecampane both ways, and ft.and it a remedy of singular efficacy, in curing the scald head, itch, he. ELECTRICITY, is the power of attracting light substances, Sec. when excited by heat, or friction ; and which may be communicated EL E E L E 44S to ether bodies. This term also im- plies that branch of natural philo- sophy which investigates the na- ture and effects of this power, and of other elementary agents con- nected with it. The science of electricity has made a most rapid progress within the last fifty years ; it was little attended to previous to the year 1600, since which period it has been carried to a considerable de- gree of perfection.....It would be transgressing our limits to enter into the history of this subject, as few can be ignorant of the names of Newton, Grey, De Fay, Priestley, Franklin, and Ca- vallo : farther, as the theory is too diffuse, and requires the aid of too many experiments and ana- lytical explanations, we shall con- fine our account to medical electri- city. This has often been succes- fuUy employed for relieving the human frame from painful mala- dies, though it has till lately been treated as an empirical pro- cess. Being one of the most pow- erful stimulants, its effects may be considered both as general and lo- cal. When the vital principle is in a manner extinguished by too violent shocks, it may again be kindled or excited by such as are less powerful. Hence, electricity promotes a free circulation of the fluids, and particularly the blood ; increases animal heat, perspira- tion, as well as all the secretions and excretions of the body. As many professional electricians arc little concerned about the pro- priety or safety of this potent re- medy, when patients apply to them as candidates for the operation, we think it our duty to give the follow- ing practical hints: 1. Electricity is always improper in active, inflam- matory, or sthenic diseases : 2. I* is also hurtful when a high degree of excitement is felt in the organs of sense, as well as in those of vo- luntary motion, and when both are accompanied with relaxation or de- bility: 3. If any local irritation prevail in the body, such as ulcers, inflammatory tumors, eruptions of the skin, S;c. In these cases, the electric stimulus has a direct ten- dency to produce congestions, or a local accumulation of humours.... It has, however, sometimes been found highly beneficial in remov- ing the periodicaf obstructions of females, though its application re- quires great precuation. In pas- sive, chronical, or asthenic disor- ders, it has likewise been of con- siderable service; but the mode of imparting the electric fluid de- serves more attention than has, in general, hitherto been bestowed upon it; and violent shocks, for the sake of experiment, ought ne- ver to be communicated, where less powerful ones might be suffi- cient. Thus, the electric bath, and the gentle application of sparks to any particular part of the body, under the conditions before stated, are equally safe, and advantageous. On the contrary, the move violent methods of electrifying have so of- ten been attended with mischie- vous effects, that they ought to be applied to those personsonly,whose capacity of receiving external im- pressions is diminished, and whose excitability is in a languid state. Deafness, paralysis, head, and toothrachs,however obstinate, have frequently yielded to the powerful effects of electricity. Similar suc- cess has attended its application to parts affected with the cramp, gouty and rheumatic pains, palsy, and sometimes even epilepsy ; be- 44d E L E sides which, moderate electric shocks have, in various instances, contributed to the resuscitation of persons whose vital functions were destroyed by drowning : it ought nevertheless to be resorted to only in particular cases, and under the immediate inspection of a medi- cal practitioner. For an account of the different medical apparatus employed, and the various modes of electrifying, we refer the curious reader to the late Mr. Adam's "Essays on Elec- tricity and Magnetism," (8vo. 9.s.) He will also find much valuable information in Dr. Priestley's " History of Electricity," (4to. 1775, or 2 vols. 8vo. 1/. Is.) and Mr. Cavallo's " Treatise on Electri- city," 3 vols. 8vo. 18.v. ELECTUARY, a form of me- dicine, consisting of powders, or other ingredients, incorporated with honey, conserve, or syrup: it is divided into closes, to be taken as circumstances may require. Electuaries are composed prin- cipally of the milder medicines, which are more pleasing to the palate. The more powerful drugs, as emetics, opiates, &c. are seldom administered in this form, on ac- count of the uncertainty of the dose. Acid, bitter, and fetid sub- stances, should never be given as electuaries ; nor is this form well calculated for mercurial, and other ponderous matters, which are apt to subside. The lighter powders require thrice their weight of honey, or syrup boiled to the consistency of that drug, in order to convert them into an electuary. If syrups of the common consistence be employed, double their weight to that of the powder will be sufficient. A very cheap and excellent substitute for ELE either sugar or syrup in making electuaries, might be obtained by baking unripe pears in close ves- sels, with the addition of a little soft sugar, by which means a con- siderable portion of saccharine juice may be readily obtained. The quantity of an electuary, to be administered at one dose, va- ries according to its component parts; but it seldom exceeds a large tea-spoonful, or two drams. ELEPHANT, a well-known ani- mal, which is a native of India, and the southern parts of Africa. It is the largest of all quadrupeds, and generally about 16 feet in length from the front to the tail ; 25 feet from the end of the trunk, and about 14 feet high. It has no fore-teeth in either jaw ; but its dog-teeth are very long, and afford the beautiful ivory, which is con- verted into combs and other useful articles. It is also provided with a long pliable prpboscis, or snout, with which it can seize any objects, and also convey its liquid nutri- ment to the mouth. Elephants are remarkable for their uncommon sagacity, as well as their social disposition. When tamed they are the most friendly of all animals, and can easily dis- tinguish their master's or driver's voice. They are sensible of the language of anger, of command, and of satisfaction, so that they act accordingly. They receive or- ders with attention, and execute them with precision and alacrity, bowing themselves for the conveni- ence of those who wish to mount them ; raising burthens with their trunk; and laying them on their back. These animals delight in shining harness and trappings ; though when yoked in a cart or waggon, they draw cheerfully, un- ELM ELM 447 less abused by unjust chastise- ment, in which case they seldom fail to take vengeance on their ty- rannical master. If the elephant be properly ma- naged, he attains a very considera- ble age ; even though employed in servitude and labour. Several in- stances have occurred, in which these creatures have reached the age of 130 years in captivity ; and in a natural state, they often ex- ceed 200 years : their full growth is said to require not less than 30 years. The flesh, gall, skin, and bones of elephants, are used me- dically by the Chinese.....See also Ivory. Elixir : See Tincture. ELM-TREE, the Common, or Ulmus Campcstris,L,. an indigenous tree, growing chiefly in a loose soil of hedge-rows, and abounding in the more southern parts of this country....its flowers have a plea- sant smell, similar to that of violets, and blow in the month of April. This wood may be propagated by the seed, and by layers or suck- ers taken from the roots of old trees: those raised from layers, always strike better roots, thrive more quickly than the other, and do not shoot forth so many suck- ers : for which reason this method deserves to be more generally practised. The elm naturally delights in a stiff, strong soil, where it grows comparatively slow ; but if it be planted in rich, light sand, it vege- tates most luxuriantly. In the latter case, however, its wood is light, porous, and of but little value compared with that produced on richer soils: the latter is of a closer and stronger texture,and possesses, near the heart, the colour and al- most the weight and 'hardness of iron. On such lands, therefore, the elm becomes very profitable, and is one of those deciduous trees, which ought to be industri- ously cultivated. This beautiful tree is of great value ; and well adapted for plant- ing shady walks, as it does not de- stroy the grass, and its leaves are relished by horses, cows, goats, hogs, and sheep, all of which eat themeagerly. Its wood, being hard and tough, is used for making axle- trees, mill-wheels, keels of boats, chairs, and coffins : it is also fre- quently changed by art, so as com- pletely to resemble mahogany; for this purpose it is sawed into thick planks, stained with aqua-fortis, and rubbed over with a tincture, of which alkanet, aloes, and spirit of wine, are the principal ingredients. This plant affords subsistence to a variety of insects that prey upon it, but more particularly to the aphis of the elm, which generally causes the leaves to curl, so as to make them a secure shelter against the weather. No effectual me- thod of extirpating them has hi- therto been devised. Silk-worms devour the leaves with great avidi- ty ; and though we doubt whether they afford wholesome food to these insects, yet when alternately given or mixed with lettuce, elm-leaves may become an useful substitute, in situations where the mulberry-tree is scarce. A decoction of the inner bark of the elm-tree, if drank freely, has sometimes procured relief in inveterate dropsies. It has a bit- terish taste, and abounds with a slimy juice, which is recommend- ed in nephritic cases, and also ex- ternally as an useful application to burns. The outer lurk is bitter, contains but little mucilage, and is 448 ELM E L M totally destitute both of smell and taste. The internal bark of the branches is more bitter than that of the trunk, and is, probably on that account, more efficacious. It is chiefly used for cutaneous com- plaints, such as the herpes, or shingles, and the leprosy. [We have two species of the ulmus,ov elm, in the United States: 1st, the red, or slippery elm; the Uhnus Americana, or American rough-leaved elm of Marshall, [Ul- mus Rubra of Muhlenburg;] 2d, Uhnus Mol\folia, American soft- leaved elm. The first mentioned species, on account of its many valuable pro- perties, deserves particular no- tice. It rises to the height of 30 feet, with a pretty strong trunk, dividing into many branches, and covered with a light coloured rough bark. The leaves are ob- long, oval, and sharp pointed, un- equally sawed on their edges, un- equal at the base, very rough on their upper surface, and hairy un- derneath. The flowers are pro- duced thick upon the branches, upon short, collected footstalks, and are succeeded by oval, com- pressed, membranaceous seed-ves- sels, with entire margins, contain- ing one oval compressed seed.... The inner bark, by infusion, or gentle boiling in water, affords a great quantity of insipid mucous substance, that is applicable to a variety of important uses. Dr. Mitchell says he has eaten it repeatedly, and found it to agree with him perfectly well; and when mixed with sugar or lemon juice, it became very palatable. This fact may be of service to travellers who may lose their way in our wilds. Mr. M. says, it has been beneficially administered in ca- tarrhs, pleurisies, and quinsies ; it has been applied as a poultice to tumours, and as a liniment to chaps and festers.....Letter to Dr. North, Amer. Museum, vol. 7. Dr. Joseph Strong, of Phila- delphia, communicated to the Edi- tor some facts respecting the me- dicinal qualities of this mucilage, which deserves serious attention from the physicians of the United States. He states that, during the time he served as surgeon in the western army, he experienced the most happy effects from the appli- cation of poultices of the elm-bark to gun-shot wounds, which were soon brought to a good suppura- tion, and to a disposition to heal. It was applied as the first remedy. When tendency to mortification was evident, this bark, bruised, and boiled in water, produced the most surprising good effects. Af- ter repeated comparative experi- ments with other emollient ap- plications, as milk and bread, and linseed poultice, its superiority was firmly established. He thinks that the mucilage is slightly sweet. He particularly stated the cases of the wounded in the action in which general Wayne defeated the Indians in August 1794, as proving, in the most evident man- ner, the beneficial effects of this poultice. In old ill-conditioned ul- cers, in fresh burns, equal benefit was derived from it. In diar- rhoeas and dysenteries, the infu- sion of the bark was used with ad- vantage as a diet drink. A soldier, who lost his way, supported him- self for ten days upon this muci- lage and sassafras. The red elm tree may be considered as a highly valuable addition to our stock or* medicines, exclusively American, and ought to be carefully searched E L O for by the medical gentlemen in the country, and preserved from the indiscriminate axe. No farmer should permit this tree to be cut off his plantation, and the young trees should be transplanted from the woods to the vicinity of the house. When the innerbark is taken away for medicinal purposes, it would be well to try to renew the external bark by means of the application of cow-dung,sand,.and lime, as direct- ed and practised by Forsyth on fruit-trees, with so much success. It is highly probable that, by keep- ing out the weather, the bark would be renewed, and thus the tree saved.] Dambourney obtained from the bark of this tree, a yellow-brownish colour in dyeing; and De Vi- lette manufactured of it a strong brown paper. ELOCUTION,generally speak- ing, signifies the selecting and adapting of words and sentences, to the things or sentiments intend- ed to be expressed. It is also used to denote the just and graceful management of the voice, counte- nance, and gesture, when speak- ing : in which sense it is synoni- mous with what is variously called a good delivery, eloquence, or the art of speaking and writing with accuracy, elegance, and perspi- cuity. True eloquence depends princi- pally on the vivacity of the imagi- nation ; for it not only communi- cates grace and ornament, but also life and motion to discourse. It would be deviating from our plan, to specify the various component parts of elocution, viz. emphasis, pauses, tones, Sec. we must there- fore, refer the reader to Mr. She- ridan's "Lectures on Elocution," (8vo. 7s.) and to Mr. Walker's vol. II. t E M B 449 " ElementM of Elocution," (8vo. 2 vols. 12.9.) in the latter of which, in particular, he will find excellent and perspicuousTrules concerning this subject. Marrjf pertinent ob- servations on the elbdtttion or elo- quence of the bar, are contained in the elegant work, entitled, "The Study and the Practice of\hfc'Law considered in their various relations to Society," (8vo. 6s.)....Some ju- dicious remarks on the eloquence of the pulpit, in this country, occur in an essay on this subject, prefixed to " Select Sermons," translated • ,' from the French of Bos suet (12mo. 3.?.) and which, it is sup- posed, come from the elegant pen of Mr. Jerningham. Embankment : vid. Sea. EMBROIDERY, a work m gold, silver, or silk-thread, wrought by the needle upon cloth, stuffs, or muslin, into various figures. In the embroidery of stuffs, the work is performed in a frame, as the easy manner of working them depends upon the proper expansion of the piece. Muslin is spread upon a patern, on which the figures in- tended to be wrought, are delineat- ed. Embroidery on the loom is less tedious than the other me- thod, in which, while the flowers are working, it becomes necessary to count all the threads of the muslin ; this latter mode, how- ever, is much richer in points, and is likewise susceptible of greater variety. Cloths which are milled too much, will not easily admit of puch ornament. The thinnest and finest muslins only are left for this purpose, and are embroidered to the greatest perfection in Saxony, Of late years, this work has been attempted in England and Scot- land ; but it has not yet arrived at that degree of perfection to which 3 M $$•-■• - 450 E M E it has been carried in prance and Germany. There are various kinds of em- broidery, namely, T. Embroidery on the stamp j^Kvhere the figures are raised arid rounded, cotton or parchment being placed beneath, in order $d support them. 2. Low embroidery ; in which the silver or gold lies low upon the sketch or pattern, and is stitched with silk of the same colour. 3.Guimped embroidery, which is performed either in gold or silver : a design is first made upon the cloth, and then placed on cut vellum ; after which the gold or silver is sown on with silk-thread. 4. Embroidery on both sides ; wdiich is thus deno- minated, from its appearing on both sides of the 'stuff. 5. Plain embroidery ; where the figures are flat and even, being totally desti- tute of ornaments. By the statute 22 Geo. II. c. 36, no foreign embroidery, or gold or silver brocade, shall be import- ed, on pain of being forfeited and burnt, and a fine of 100/. for every piece. Nor shall any person sell or expose to sale, any foreign em- broidery, gold or silver thread, lace, fringe, brocade, &c. or make the same up into any garment, on pain of having it forfeited and burnt, and of paying a penalty of 100/.: the mercer or other per- son in whose custody it may be found, incurs a similar fine. EMERALD, a genus of preci- ous stones belonging to the order of siliceous earth. This is perhaps the most beautiful of all the gems: when heated in fire, it changes its colours to a deep blue, and be- come phosphorescent ; it resumes its natural green on growing cold. Emeralds are divided by jewel- lers into two classes or kinds, EME namely, the oriental and the occi- dental. The former is at present extremely scarce, being found only in the kingdom of Cambay, in In- dia. The occidental emeralds are chiefly imported from Peru, in South America. A very inferior sort is also obtained from Sile- sia, which, however, is little es- teemed. Genuine emeralds being seldom to be met with, several experiments have been made, and directions given for imitating them ; from which we select the following: Take of natural crystal and of red lead, each 4 ounces ; verdigrease 48 grains; and of crocus martis, prepared with vinegar, 8 grains. The whole is to be finely pulver- ised, sifted, and put into a crucible, the space of one inch being left empty. It is then to;be well luted, set in a potter's furnace, and left for the same space of time as earthen ware. When cool, the crucible is to be broken, and these ingredients will be found convert- ed into a mass of a fine emerald colour; which, after being proper- ly cut and set in gold, will at least be equal, if not superior, to genu- ine oriental emeralds. EMERY, a kind of metallic stone, found in several mines, but chiefly in those of iron, being a species of rich ore. It is usually of a dusky brownish red Jon the surface ; but, when broken, is of a fine bright reddish iron-grey, spangled with glittering specks ; which are in a considerable degree impregnated with that metal. It is also sometimes red, when it usually contains veins of gold. This stone, or ore, is divided into three sorts, namely, the Spa- nish, the red, and the common eme- ry. The first is found in the gold I EME mines of Peru, and is interspersed with small veins and specks of gold whence it is conjectured to be a kind of ore of that rich metal, and is prohibited to be exported. From the experiments made by natural- ists, it appears to be the metal call- ed Platina, to which we refer.... The red emery is discovered in cop- per-mines, chiefly in Denmark and Sweden; whence a small quantity is imported. The common emery is dug up in great abundance in the island of Guernsey. It is also obtained from some iron-mines in England, and is the only sort which is consumed in very considerable quantities, by locksmiths, glaziers, lapidaries, masons, cutlers, and others, who employ it for cutting and polishing glass, marble, and precious stones; as well as for the polishing and burnishing of articles made of iron and steel. This spe- cies of emery is of a brownish co- lour, inclining to red; is extremely hard, and consequently, very dif- ficult to be reduced to powder; an art which has been discovered in this country, and is effected by means of certain mills, invented for the purpose: when pulverized, it forms a considerable article of ex- portation. This native ore, when fused with lead or iron, possesses the property of hardening those metals. It is also said to increase the weight,and heighten the colour of gold....It deserves no notice ei- ther as an internal medicine, or as a dentrifice. EMETICS are those medicines which are either given with a view to discharge the foul or poisoned contents of the stomach, or to vel- licate the coats of that organ, and thus to produce certain changes in other parts of the animal economy, not immediately connected with EME 451 the process of digestion. With the latter intention, small nauseat- ing doses are generally adminis- tered, especially in catarrhal and other diseases of the breast. In this place, however, we shall but briefly enumerate the cases in which vomiting may be excited, with a probability of success ; and also, those instances in which this re- medy cannot be safely adopted. Emetics may be of great ser- vice : 1. immediately after swal- lowing narcotic and other poisons (see Antidotes, vol. i.); 2. For the purpose of evacuating viscid, bilious, and putrid matters, or un- digested food from the stomach ; 3. To assist nature, when there is a spontaneous effort to vomit; 4 To expel substances fallen into and obstructing the passage of the gul- let; 5. To promote the expectora- tion of mucus and purulent mat- ter, collected in the lungs and wind-pipe; as well as on many other occasions. On the contrary, the greatest precaution is required in the fol- lowing cases, where a precipitate use of emetics may be attended with fatal effects, from bursting a blood vessel, &c. 1. In all plethoric persons, but especially such as per- ceive a strong propulsion of the blood to the head, breast, stomach, or liver; 2. In actual inflammation of the intestines; 3. In states of ex- treme languor and debility; 4. In every species of ruptures, and pro- lapses; 5. In violent pain proceed- ing from stones confined in the bi- lious or urinary passages ; 6. In obstructions of the bowels, and other abdominal parts ; 7. In per- sons of very rigid fibres, for in- stance, the aged and emaciated; 8. In a very weak or affected state of the lungs, liver and stomach; 452 EMO 9. In a deformed .structure of the body, or some particular parts; for which reason emetics might prove dangerous to persons trou- bled with a hump-back, a very short neck, narrow chest, &c. Having stated the principal cir- cumstances, which either indicate or prohibit the taking of emetics, we trust the reader will agree with us, that they are potent remedies, and that it requires the judgment of an expert and medical practi- tioner to determine their utility. With respect to the different substances employed to induce vo- miting, we refer to those heads of the alphabet, under which they are treated, such as Ipecacuanha, Tartar Emetic, Sre....One of the mildest emetics may be made, ac- cording to Dr. Lind, by plunging red-hot pebbles into weak wine, or flint-glass thus heated into cold water; a tea-spoonful of either may be taken every five or ten minutes, till it produces the desired effect. Another easy way to induce vomit- ing, is, a strong infusion of green tea, drank lukewarm, without milk or sugar, and assisted by the occa- sional irritation of the fauces and larynx, by means-of a.soft feather. See Vomiting. EMOLLIENTS are those me- dicines, which are supposed to soften and relax the fibres of the body, either by mechanically dis- tending such as before were too closely,that is, preternaturally com- bined ; or, by penetrating into the interstices of the elementary fibres, and supplying those particles, from a deficiency of which they were too intimately united. Amongthe reme- dies of the former class, are chiefly heat, and all unctuous applications; s ich as lard, wax, fat of venison, ^Tj to the latter belong all juicy, EN A mucilaginous, and saccharine sub- stances, serving both as nutriment and medicines. Of this descrip- tion are the expressed vegetable oils, fresh butter, decoctions of the marsh-mallows, infusions of lin- seed, Sec. Emollients are indicated: 1. When the fibres are in too rigid a state; 2. When they are spasmo- dically contracted; 3. In all active inflammations; and 4. In obstinate costiveness, or accumulations of feces in the intestines. EMULSION, a form of medi- cine resembling milk, and which is often prescribed with a view to sheath and neutralize acrid hu- mours, especially in heat of urine and stranguaries, as well as for ner- vous and irritable habits in gene- ral. Emulsions are frequently made, by boiling the oily and farinaceous seeds contained in kernels ; in which case they are soon decom- posed, on standing. In short, wc cannot even approve of almond- milk, as it soon becomes ^rancid in summer, and is, upon the whole, inferior to emulsions made of gum- arabic, or merely of decoctions of pearl-barley, blanched oats, wheat, rice, Sec...If these simple medi- cines are expected to be produc- tive of any advantage, they ought to be taken in draughts, amount- ing at least to half a-pint every hour, rather cool than lukewarm, (to save the stomach from relaxa- tion) and to be continued for seve- ral days, without eating animal food. In hot weather, or where no objection to acids prevails, a table-spoonful of lemon-juice, or good vinegar, may be added t« every draught of the emulsion. ENAMEL, in general, signi- fies a vitrefied matter, interspersed EN A with some solid substance; and possessing all the properties of glass, excepting that of transpa- rency. The basis of enamels is a pure crystal glass or frit, ground toge- ther with a fine calx of lead and tin, prepared for that purpose, with the addition of a small proportion of the white salt of tartar. These form the principal ingredients of all enamels, which are made by adding various pulverized colours, and thoroughly incorporating the whole in a furnace. For white enamel, it is sufficient to add man- ganese to the matter which consti- tutes the basis; for azure, zaffre mixed with calx of brass; for green, calx of brass with scales of iron, or crocus martis ; for black, zaffre with manganese or crocus martis, or manganese with tartar ; for red, manganese, or calx of copper with red tartar; for purple, manganese with calx of brass ; for yellow, tar- tar and manganese; lastly, for vio- let coloured enamel, manganese with brass, that has been three times calcined. Enamels are used cither for the counterfeiting or imitating of pre- cious stones, and for painting; or by enamellers and artists working in gold, silver, and other metals. That species of enamel which jew- ellers employ, is imported from Holland, or Venice, in small cakes of various sizes, which are in ge- neral, about four inches in diame- ter, and have the mark of the ma- ker indented on them. [The artist who is desirous to see the latest improvements in this art detailed, is referred to Til- lgch's Phil. Magazine, (vol. xi.) and Nicholson's Journal, (8vo. S vol.) In the latter, all the pro- cesses of the Scvre China manu- E N C 45S factory, are detailed by the prin- cipal of the establishment.] Enamelling, is the art of lay- ing enamel upon metals, such as gold, silver, copper, Sec. whether plain or painted. The latter pro- cess is performed on plates of gold or silver, but generally on those of copper, prepared with the white enamel; on which certain objects are delineated with the colours, and afterwards burnt in the fire, where they acquire a brightness and lustre resembling glass. Painting in enamel is held in greater estimation than any other branch of that art; on account of its peculiar and permanent vivaci- ty, the strength of its colours not being effaced by time, but always retaining their pristine splendour. It is chiefly employed in miniature, as it cannot be easily performed on a large scale; the enamel being very liable to crack on a plain sur- face, so that even the smallest plates must be somewhat of a con- vex form. ENCYCLOPEDIA, or Cyclo- paedia, signifies the circle or chain, which connects the differ- ent arts and sciences. In the present work, we have preferably adopted the term " En- cyclopaedia," for reasons which the philological reader will easily discover. But upon the motives which have induced us to combine this word with the epithet " Do- mestic," we cannot in this»place expatiate; as such an account will appear with more propriety in the preface. Many attempts have been made by writers, to reduce the whole circle of the arts and sciences to a systematic order, and exhibit a con- nected view of them, by represent- ing what has emphatically been 454 E N C ENC called " The Tree of Knowledge;" but we confess our disappointment on such occasions, as we never have met with a satisfactory ar- rangement. Nor can it be expect- ed that we should succeed in this arduous attempt, so long as there is no accurate and established meaning attached to the very words, which it would be indispen- sibly necessary to adopt, in order to distinguish the physical from the metaphysical sciences. The lat- ter, indeed, are, at this uncritical period, in a manner exiled from the studies of the inquisitive; tho' they appear to be so closely ce- mented to the human mind, that they will constantly intrude on our attention, engage the faculties of speculation, and absorb the powers of reflection, even when in amanner proscribed. Conceiving, therefore, that it would be a fruitless innova- tion to introduce any new terms in the present state of philosophical nomenclature, we shall content ourselves with simply enumerating the-heads of the different branches of the arts and sciences. I. Divinity; comprehending Church History, Criticism, and Exegesis; Polemical and Dogma- tical Essays; Theological Morali- ty; Sermons and Homilies; Cate- chetical works ; Liturgy and books on Devotion; Translations and Edi- tions of the Bible. II. Jurisprudence or Law: which may txdividedintoEnglish, Scotch, and peculiar private Law; into Ec- clesiastical, Political, and Crimi- nal Law ; theoretical and practi- cal Jurisprudence ; its literary His- tory, he. III. Medicine; comprising Ana- tomy ; Physiology ; Pathology; Symptomatology, or the doctrine ©f Diagnostics ; Therapeutics, Sur- gery ; Midwifery ; Pharmacy; the Veterinary Art; Medical Police and Jurisprudence; domestic or popular Medicine, &c. IV. Philosophy: viz. Logic and Metaphysics, or Speculative Philo- sophy ; Psychology, or the prac- tical study of the human mind ; Ethics or Moral Philosophy; The- ory of Education; Law of Nature; and Political Economy. V. Mathematics; comprizing Arithmetic ; Geometry ; Astrono- my ; Architecture ; Fortification ; and pure Mechanics. VI. Natural History ; including Meteorology ; Geology ; Hydro- logy ; Mineralogy ; Botany ; and Zoology. VII. Universal History ; name- ly, Geography ; Statistics; Diplo- matic Transactions; Heraldry ; Chronology ; Genealogy ; Numis- matology, or the knowledge of Medals and Coins ; Antiquities; Mythology ; Archxology; Biogra- phy, and Topography. VIII. Belles Lettres, or Polite Literature-..See vol. i. IX. Philology; Grammers, Dic- tionaries, Editions and Translations of Greek and Roman Classics, as well as of Modern Languages, such as the French, Italian, Spa- nish, German, Scc....Study of the English language, which ought to precede all other pursuits; as without a thorough knowledge of the native tongue (of which' very few of our modern scholars can boast), it is impossible to make great progress, in foreign langua- ges, or to become intimate with any complicated art or science. X. Economical Sciences, includ- ing -all the Mechanical Arts and Manufactures; as well as Trade, Commerce, and Navigation : but principally Agriculture and Gar- EPI E P I 455 dening; the Arts of rearing Cattle, cultivating Trees, and managing Bees ; Hunting ; Fishing ; Cook- ing, &c. XI. Physics; namely, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Mineralo- gy, &c. XII. Miscellaneous Literature ; for instance, Encyclopaedias; scien- tific works on a variety of sub- jects ; treatises on Freemasonry ; Literary Quarrels; Books with obscure titles ; critical journals, monthly magazines, and news-pa- pers. Endive : See Succory. Engine : See Fire. ENGRAFTING: See Graft- ing. ENRICHING PLANTS, a term employed by gardeners to de- note such plants as ameliorate land, in consequence of which the same soil will produce a good crop of corn ; as, without attending to the culture of such plants, a very in- different one would have followed. See Crops. The necessity of sowing such vegetables has, however, been in a great measure superseded by the general adoption of the drill, and horse-hoeing husbandry, by which all weeds are totally eradicated, and consequently they will not ob- struct the growth of the corn or other grain that may be sown..... See Drilling. EPIDEMIC,in general,denotes a spreading disorder which, as is supposed, arises from some cor- ruption or malignity in the air, and attcks great numbers of people at certain seasons. Mankind have always been more inclined to search for the most dis- tant causes, in order to explain physical events, rather than to avail themselves of those which are within their reach. [The inhabitants of every country believe that their own is the spot la- voured of heaven, which alone is to be exempted from the disgrace of producing epidemic diseases, and uniformly trace them, with great clearness, to importation. It is only necessary to read the account of any epidemic, to be convinced of this. But Providence does not irfterfere with the affairs of men, so as to de- stroy the rule of philosophising, es- tablished by the great New ton,v'iz. the tendency of the same causes to produce the same effects, in similar circumstances. Hence we act un- justly in ascribing diseases to our neighbours, when it is more than probable the " sin lieth at our own door." Much irritation ha% un- happily been caused by the dis- cussion of the question, whether the fever, which has of late years ravaged the U. States, was im- ported or of local origin. This is not a place to discuss the point. Those who wish te see it fully and ably canvassed, may consult Rush's 7Iw£s,Caldwell's Mvd.and Phys. Memoirs, and the Med. Rep. of New-York. Dr. Heberden's late work onthe"Increase and Decrease of Diseases," and Webster's his- tory of epidemic diseases, ought also to be read with attention, as a greater number of facts are collect- ed on the subject, than ever before appeared in one work, and are elu- cidated by much perspicuous rea- soning. * Dr. Benjamin MosELY,of Lon- don, in his late publication, (Medi- cal Tracts, 1800,J has also ably treated the subject of pestilential diseases. His observations are highly worthy of consideration, be- ing the result of original thinking, and extensive research.] The plague, which-formerly de- stroyed great numbers in London, 456 E P I was not always imported, but pro- bably originated at home, where, in those ages, cleanliness was not so generally attended to as it is at present. Hence this domestic vir- tue has guarded us against many epidemics, to which other less cleanly nations have been subject. But there is still great occasion for improvements, especially in the houses of the narrow courts and alleys of the metropolis, where the progress of a contagious ma- lignant fever has lately excited considerable alarm. The Society for bettering the condition of the poor, (according to the printed Report of the philanthropic T. Ber- nard, Esq.)have proposed another benevolent institution, to check the ravages of contagious distem- pers among that class of persons, who are most liable and exposed to their influence. Farther parti- culars relative to this interesting subject we propose to give under the head of Infection: See also Contagion. EPILEPSY, or Falling-Sick- ness, though hitherto considered an incurable disease, has often been relieved by the conjoint power of medicines and an appropriate diet. Hence, a pure and fresh air, light but nutritive food ; chearful com- pany, and moderate exercise, will be here of greater service than the most celebrated nostrums, which are daily imposed upon the credu- lous. t On the other hand, epilep- tic, patients should carefully avoid all strong and heating, as well as hot liquors, which equally relax the stomach ; abstain from swine's flesh, very fat meat, [and all articles of food which they find difficult of digestion.] In a disease of so formidable a nature as the epilepsy, no medi- EPS cines can be taken with the least probability of success, without having previously ascertained the cause, which may be extremely various : for this obvious reason, medicaladvice cannot be dispensed with unless it be superseded by the pretensions of quack medi- cines. Among the numberless means and expedients contrived for the purpose of checking epileptic at- tacks, we shall only mention one: Dr. Lysons, in his " Practical Elssays," relates the case of a suc- cessful application of ligatures to the legs, on the first approach of the fits, which were always ob- served to commence their course from the lower extremities. EPSOM SALT, was formerly obtained by boiling down the mine- ral water found in the vicinity of Epsom. It is at present prepared from sea-water, which after being boiled down, deposits an uncrys- talized brine, that consists chiefly of muriated magnesia, and is sold in the shops, under the name of bitter purging salt....It is of consi- derable service in colics, scurvy, rheumatism, and other chronical complaints. Epsom water is that saline spring, which rises at the distance of about half a mile from the town of Epsom, in the county of Surrey. It is transparent, and colourless, at first almost insipid,buta short time after it has been drunk, it leaves a bitter, saline taste on the tongue. It does not suffer any material al- teration by being exposed to the air : and, if closely corked in clean vessels, it may be preserved for several months in a fresh and po- table state. As this water contains only a small portion of the salt, namely, ERY from one to two scruples, in the quantity of half a pint, the patient ought to drink from two to three pints successively, within a short space of time, in order to produce the full purgative effect. If taken in this dose, it will operate in a mild and efficacious manner, but if in a smaller, its action is determin- ed to the kidnies. Epsom water is of considerable service in a. variety of disorders, namely, hypochondriasis, ^an im- paired state of health accompanied with cedematous tumours in the ex- tremities, and a depraved digestion; to which sedentary persons are peculiarly liable. Those who are afflicted with hemorrhoidal and scorbutic complaints, will be bene- fited by the liberal use of this sa- line water, which likewise affords considerable relief in obstructions of the viscera. i This mineral water is easily imi- tated, by dissolving half an ounce of Epsom salt in a quart of pure water, rendered somewhat acid, by the infusion of afewdrops of spi- rit of vitriol, and oil of tartar. Erhines. See Sneezing. Eruption. See Skin. ERYNGO, or Sea * holly Eryngium, L. a genus of plants, consisting of eleven species, two of which are natives of this coun- try, viz. 2. The maritimum,oY Sea-eryn- go, which is perennial, grows on the sea-shore, strikes its roots 20 feet deep into the soil, and flow- ers in the month of July or Au- gust. 2. The Campestre, or Field- eryngo, which is also perennial, grows chiefly near the sea-side, and likewise flowers in the month of July or August. Both species possess the same VOL. II. ESC 457 properties; the leaves being some- what sweet, and having an aroma- tic warmth or pungency. The sea-eryngo, however, is much stronger than the latter species.... The young, flowering shoots, when boiled, have the flavour of aspara- gus, and are an wholesome and nutritious summer food. The roots of the first species are princi- pallydirected for medical use: they possess no remarkable smell; but, when chewed, have a pleasing, and somewhat aromatic sweetness. Boerhaave considered this plant as one of the principal aperients, and he usually prescribed it as a diuretic and antiscorbutic : at pre- sent, however, the roots only are candied, and preserved as sweet- meats : those of the second spe- cies are thick, pulpy, sweet and nourishing, on which account the Germans boil and eat them as a culinary vegetable....See Hectic In dyeing, these plants afford but an indifferent yellowish brown colour : hence they are, according to M. Meyer, of Prague, more advantageously employed in that city for extracting soda, or mineral alkali. Erysipelas. See Rose. ESCHALLOT, or Shallot, Allium Ascalonicum, L. is a native of Palestine, whence it has been introduced into our kitchen gar- dens. It is raised from suckers, which are set about the end of February, in beds or furrows at the distance of about three inches from each other. Towards the end of June, the stems are tied up; andinthe course of another month, the. plants are pulled out of the earth : when they are exposed to the air to dry, and afterwards pre- served in some dry airy place. The roots of the eschallot are very 3 N 458 ESP ESS pungent; have a strong but pleas- ing smell, and are preferred to onions, as ingredients in highly-fla- voured soups and gravies. They are also pickled, in which state con- siderable quantities are consumed in the East Indies. This plant when mixed with vinegar, rice, and honey, is said to be serviceable against the bite of a mad dog, we doubt, however, the efficacy and propriety of such an application. It is also recommend- ed as an excellent cephalic, especi- ally when inhaled through the nostrils; but its most beneficial pro- perties are those of creating an ap- petite, and expelling foul air. ESPALIERS, in horticulture, are rows of trees, planted in gar- dens or hedges, in such a manner as to inclose distinct lots of ground; hence they are trained up regularly to a lattice of wood-work, in a close hedge, for defending tender plants against the injuries of the wind and weather. The trees chiefly planted for espaliers, are apples, pears, and plums. While they are young, it will be sufficient to drive a few stakes into the ground on both sides ; the branches being fastened to them in an horizontal direction, as soon as they appear. At the ex- piration of three years, an espalier is to be made of ash-poles, of which two sizes, large and small ones, should be employed ; the former are to be driven upright into the ground, about a foot distant; the latter or smaller poles, are to be nailed across these, at the distance of nine inches. There is another kind of espa- liers, made of square pieces of tim- ber cut to any size ; and which are certainly more handsome and regu- lar, but on account of the extrava- gant price of wood, less economi- cal than those constructed with ash-poles. As soon as the espalier is thus framed, the branches are to be affixed to it bymeans of ozier twigs* being trained in an horizontal di- rection and at equal distances. Fruit-treesmanaged in this manner are preferable to all others,because they not only bear more delicious fruit, but also requires less room in a garden; and consequently do not retard the growth of such plants as may be cultivated in their vici- nity. ESSENCE, or Essential oil, as it is variously termed, in medi- cine, denotes the purest, most sub- tle, and balsamic part of a body, extracted by distillation. There are a variety of essences drawn from flowers, fruits, &c. which are used on account of their agreeable flavour by apothecaries, perfumers, and others : the princi- pal of these are the essence of rose- mary, of turpentine, of anise, of cloves, of cinnamon, and of lemons. The essences sold by perfumers, chiefly consist of the oil of bitter- almonds, to which they impart the odour of jessamine, roses, cinna- mon, and other flowers and spices. When essential oils have been dis- tilled, they should be suffered to subside for some days, in vessels loosely covered with paper,till they have lost their disagreeable, ardent odour, and have become limpid ; they should be put into small bot- tles, which ought to be completely filled, closely stopped, and kept in a cool place : by observing these precautions, they will retain their virtue for several years. But, if essential oils be carelessly manag- ed, they gradually lose their fla- vour, and become thick : in this ETC E T H 459 ease, they should be put into a still, with fresh ingredients for dis- tilling the same oil ; by which means they will saturate them- selves with the odoriferous par- ticles, and regain their former strength and purity. Essential oils,medicinally consi- dered, agree in the general quali- ties of pungency and heat: with respect to their particular virtues, they vary as much as the vegetables from which they are extracted. Thus,the carminative properties of aromatic seeds, the diuretic effects of juniper-berries, the stomachic virtues of mint, and the antiscor- butic powers of scurvy-grass, are in a great measure concentrated in their oils. These oils are never given in a pure state, on account of their ex- treme pungency, which in some is so great, that if a single drop be deposited on the tongue, it will oc- casion a gangrenous eschar,or scab. They are readily imbibed by pure, dry sugar, being the most conve- nient form in which they can be administered. The more mild and grateful oils are frequently used as ingredients with other medicines, to render them less nauseous. The more pungent ones are externally employed in paralytic complaints, numbness, colds, aches, and in other cases, where particular parts require to be heated or stimulated. [ETCHING, Mr. Fred. Accum lias lately shewn, that the art of etching was known in Germany in the beginning of the last century ; but it appears to have been forgotten, or lost. Scheele dis- covered the fluoric acid, and re- invented the art of etching on glass, in 1771. " A mode of etching, wherein the ground appears in very minute chrystals, first brought into vogue in England, by Paul Sandby, and now much used, from its soft- ness, almost equal to Indian ink drawings, is the following : Dissolve rosin in spirit of wine ; pour it on your plate, then pour it off again: as the spirit evaporates, the rosin chrystallizes, leaving a ground to be eaten by aqua-fortis. For rosin, sandarac or mastic may be substituted. Or, sift lightly some finely-pow- dered rosin, through a small lawn sieve, upon the plate. Hold the plate over the hot charcoal, at such a distance as the bottom part of the rosin will just melt suffici- ently to adhere to the plate without one particle running into the other. If melted, the ground will be uni- form, which is to be avoided; for interstices are to be left between the tparticles, wherein the aqua- fortis is to bite." The above were communicated by T. CoopER,Esq. of Northumberland ; and may be considered as most important infor- mation for American artists.] ETHER, or dulcefied spirit of vitriol, is a very subtle penetrating fluid, prepared by distilling equal proportions of rectified spirit of wine, and vitriolic acid. This spirit is the lightest, most volatile, and most inflammable yet known ; it floats on the surfiice of the most highly rectified spirit of wine, as oil floats on water: and, if it be dropped on a warm hand, it exhales immediately, diffusing a penetrating fragrance, and leaving no trace of any moisture. Ether is often successfully em- ployed in medicine. It sometimes affords immediate relief in violent head-achs, by being externally ap- plied to the painful part; and sup- presses the tooth-ach, when laid 460 E U P EUP on the affected jaw. It has also been given internally, with consi- derable success,in hooping-coughs, in hysterical cases ; in asthmas ; and, indeed, in almost every spas- modic affection, from a few drops, to the quantity of half an ounce, taken in a glass of cold water, which should be expeditiously swallowed, to prevent the exhala- tion of this volatile liquor. There is another preparation of a similar nature, but more power- ful in its effects, called naphtha aceti,0Y acetous ether, which is sel- dom kept in the shops of this coun- try. Its flavour, is more pleasant than that of the former, being pre- pared by mixing six ounces of concentrated vitriolic acid, with 10 ounces of rectified spirit of wine, and pouring this mixture gradually on 16 ounces,of regenerated tartar, in a glass retort; and then drawing off" about ten ounces, over a very moderate fire. This affords an ex- cellent, but expensive remedy in all the cases where the vitriolic ether is generally used. [EUPATORIUM, a genus of plants, of which several are natives of the United States. The species most used, is the E. perfoliatum, commonly called Thorough-wort. This plant is annuafand rises from 2 to 3 feet high, is hairy, and the leaves at each joint rough, from three to four inches long, and about one inch broad at their base, gra- dually lessening to a very acute point, of a dark green, and covered with short hairs. This plant cer- tainly possesses active properties, and deserves the attention of Ame- rican physicians. A strong infu- sion in water will vomit and purge. A weaker dose will sweat power- fully. A still weaker infusion, drank for some weeks, has done good in cases of deranged circula- tion, producing scabby and other eruptions, which are commonly said to proceed from ''bad blood."] EUPHORBIUM, a gummy- resinous substance, which exudes from a tree of the same name, growing in Africa ; whence it is imported in drops of an irregular form. These are externally of a pale yellowish colour ; but, when broken, appear to be white inter- nally. If applied to the tongue, they affect it with a very pungent taste ; and, if held for some time in the mouth, they become ex- ceedingly acrimonious, inflaming and exulcerating the jaws to a vio- lent degree. Hence this substance is unfit for internal use, though it is sometimes employed as a ster- nutatory....See Helled ore. Externally, this gum is the prin- cipal ingredient in variousresolvent plasters, and has been found ser- viceable in cleansing foul ulcers, and also in exfoliating carious or rotten bones. At present, it is employed chiefly by farriers, for curing the farcin, or the scab in horses. Formerly, the tincture of euphorbium, mixed with the oil of myrrh, was much used for discuss- ing scrophulous tumours, as well as for effacing spots and smoothen- ing inequalities of the skin, pro- ceeding from the small-pox. [EUPHORBIA, Ipecacuanha, Linn. This plant is peculiar to light dry, sandy, soils, and grows abun- dantly in New-Jersey, and the ma- ritime districts of the southern states. It is a pretty plant, the stems rather procumbent and dif- fusive in their manner of growth, leaves remarkably variable in their figure, but generally oblong or broad lanceolate, whilst others are long and narrow, some almost li- EVA EVA 461 niar, like grass ; but all are of a full, dark, crimson colour, except such as grow in shade, which are of a livid green, elegantly reticu- lated with crimson veins. In me- dicine it is a sure and powerful emetic, but perhaps too drastic, and ought to be administered with caution, and by such as have in- vestigated its properties. It is an Indian medicine, yet commonly used by country people. We have several other species of this genus, two of which are very handsome plants, viz. E. Co- rollata, Y..Pieta. Wm. Bartram.] EVACUATIONS animal eco- nomy, is the act of diminishing, attenuating, or discharging the hu- mours. The due evacuations of the body, and its proper nourishment, are equally necessary ; and it is an ob- ject of the.utmost importance, that nothing remain in the constitution which should be discharged ; and that whatever is conducive to its preservation, may not be uselessly wasted. If the evacuations be dis- ordered, the most rigid adherence to dietetic rules will not contribute to the continuance, or restoration of health ; these rules, however, may often be dispensed with, pro- vided the evacuations be regular. It is not only the noxious, or corrupt matter, which is removed by this process, but also the useful fluids, if they abound, such as the milk, blood, Sec. to which subjects we refer, and likewise to the arti- cles Ear, Nose, Urine, Sec. EVAPORATION, is the con- version of fluids, chiefly of water, into vapour, which is specifically lighter than the atmosphere. There is no subject that has oc- casioned a greater variety of opi- nions than the theory of evapora- tion ; but, consistently with our plan, we shall recite only a few established facts. Evaporation is one of the great chemical processes, by means of which Nature supplies the whole vegetable kingdom with the dew and rain necessary for its sup- port. Hence, it takes place at all times, not only from the surface of the ocean, but also from that of the earth. Nor is it confined to these : it is even carried on from the leaves of trees, grass, Sec. with which the earth is covered. Great part of the water which is thus raised, descends again during the night,, in the form of dew, being absorbed by those vegetables which yielded it before. One of the most beneficial effects of evaporation is, to cool the earth, and prevent it from being too much heated by the sun. This property of producing cold, by eva- poration, has but lately been ob- served by chemists, who have accordingly availed themselves of it in its fullest extent; though their mode of procuring cold, by means of those expensive fluids, ether and spirit of wine, can only be em- ployed by way of experiment. The most simple method, however, of producing cold by the evaporation of water, may_be applied to various useful purposes, especially in warm countries: thus sailors are ac- customed to cool their casks of liquors, by sprinkling them with sea-water....See also Ice. Dr. Darwin justly observes, that the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the earth, pro- duces so much cold as to injure those terrestrial plants which are too long covered with it. Hence 462 EVE EVE such parts of wall trees as are shel- tered from the descending dews, by a coping stone on the wall, are not so liable to be injured by frosty nights ; because they are not made colder by the evaporation of the dew, and also have less water to be congealed in their vessels, and to burst them by its consequent expansion. EVENING, is that part of the night which commences with sun- set, and properly terminates when the prudent and industrious repair to their couch....long before mid- night. In countries surrounded by the ocean, the evenings are generally damp and chilly, so that the tem- perature of the air is many degrees colder than in the preceding day. Hence the necessity of adopting a warmer dress than usually worn, if we are obliged to expose our- selves to the evening-air : invalids and convalescents ought not to leave their apartments after sun- set, even though the sky be ever so serene, and the weather uncom- monly mild. Nor is it proper for the healthy to pursue those occupations in the evening, which are attended with proportionally greater fatigue of mind or body: such pursuits ought to be followed in the morning, and the easiest purposely deferred to the latter part of the clay ; an ar- rangement by which a more com- posed and refreshing night's rest will be .ensured. Beside this in- convenience, the eyes necessarily suffer fronVcandle-light. See also Bed-time. EVERGREENS, in gardening, are those perennial plants which continue their verdure, leaves, Sec throughout the year, such as bays, hollies, pines, firs, cedars of Le- banon, Sec. In the evergreen shrubs and trees of this climate, such as heath, rue, box, laurel, Sec. the leaf does not die in the autumn, but continues to supply nourishment to the bud in its bosom during the fine days of winter, and in the 6pring, and survives till near midsummer, or till the new bud has expanded a leaf of its own. Hence Dr. Dar- win supposes, that these ever- greens lay up in summer no store of nutriment in their roots, or al- burnum, for . the substance of their ensuing vernal buds ; and thus have probably no bleeding season, like deciduous trees. Mr. Milne, in his Botanical Dictionary, under the article De- foliatio, observes, that " an ever- green tree, grafted on a deciduous one, determines the latter to re- tain its leaves. This observation is confirmed by repeated experiments particularly by grafting the laurel (Laurocerasus) an evergreen, on the common cherry (Cerasus) ; or the Ilex, an ever-green oak, on the common oak." All these, adds Dr. Darwin, want further expe- riments to authenticate the facts so delivered on the authority of ingenious men. Evergreens are not only very great ornaments to a garden, at all seasons, but they also contribute to the purity of the air, when planted at a proper distance from dwelling-houses. Although their verdure, especially that of the pine and fir-trees, when scattered in rooms, exhales a narcotic and in- toxicating effluvium, not unlike that of hops, yet the boughs of all evergreens may be usefully em- ployed, particularly in winter, for EXC E X C 463 •orrecting the stagnant air in a room: with this intention, the branches are plunged with their root-ends into vessels filled with fresh water, and exposed to the rays of the sun ; but not suffered to remain in the apartment during the night, or~>n the shade. Everlasting. See Cudweed. Ewe. See Sheep. Excess. See Drunkenness. EXCHANGE, in commerce, implies the receiving or paying of money in one country for a similar sum in another, by means of bills of exchange....See Bill. The laws of all commercial na- tions have conferred great privile- ges on bills of exchange ; punctu- ality in liquidating them, is essen- tial to commerce : as soon, there- fore, as a merchant's accepted bill is protested, on account of his in- solvency, he is considered a bank- rupt. A regular bill of this description is a mercantile contract, in which four persons are concerned, viz. 1. The drawer, who receives the value. 2. The drawee, his debtor, in a distant place, upon whom the bill is drawn, and who must accept and pay it. 3. The person who gives a valuable consideration for the bill, and to whom, or to whose order it is to be paid : and 4. The person to whom payment is to be made, and who is creditor to the third. By this operation, recipro- cal debts, which are clue in two distant places, are paid by a kind of transfer, or permutation ofdebt- •rs or creditors. Beside those merchants, whocir- culate among themselves their re- ciprocal debts and credits, arising from their^importation and expor- tation of goods, there is another class of men who deal in exchange; that is, in the importation and ex- portation of money and bills. When, however, balances are to be made, exchange becomes intricate ; and merchants, being engaged in their particular branches of trade, com- monly intrust these complicated calculations to certain agents, who are thence called exchange brokers, and have made this a most lucrative employment. The course of Exchange, is the current price between two places, which is always fluctuating and un- settled, being sometimes above, and at others below par, according to the circumstances of trade..... When the course of exchange rises above par, the balance of trade is said to run against that country where it rises. But, though the course of exchange be in a per- petual fluctuation, and rise or fall, accordingto various circumstances, yet the exchanges of London,Ham- burg, Amsterdam, and Venice, regulate those of all the other trad- ing places of Europe. Such read- ers as are desirous to make them- selves acquainted with the laws of this country, as they relate to cash bills, and bills of exchange, will find ample information in Mr. Chitty's " Treatise on Bills of Exchange," he. (8vo. 7s.), where the subject is perspicuously and ac- curately treated. EXC EXC [The following very useful table of calculations, shewing the value of 100/. sterling, in Pennsylvania curency, according to different rates of exchange, above and below par, has. been published by the brokers of Philadelphia. Above par. Pounds Pennsylvania Dolls. Cu. sterling. currency. 480*' 0 8 per cent. 108 180 0 0 7i- 107| 179 3 4 477 77 2 7 107 178 6 8 475 55 6^ 106^ 177 10 0 473 33 2 6 106 176 13 4 471 H s£ 1051 175 16 8 468 89 2 5 105 175 0 0 466 67 *£ 1041 174 3 4 464 44 2 4 - 104 173 6 8 462 22 si 103^ 172 10 0 460 0 2 3 103 171 13 4 457 77 2L 102§ 170 16 8 455 55 2 2 102 170 0 0 453 33 i£ 101*: 169 3 4 451 11 2 1 101 168 6 8 448 89 i ICOf 167 10 '0 446 67 2 PAR, 100 166 13 4 444 44 Under par. | per cent. 99| 163 16 8 442 22 l 99 165 0 0 440 0 !i 98f 164 3 4 437 77 2 98 163 6 8 435 55 2i 97\ 162 10 0 433 33 3 97 161 13 4 431 11 3i 96| 160 16 8 428 89 4 96 160 0 0 426 67 41 9b\ 159 3 4 424 47 5 95 158 6 8 422 22 5^ 2 » 94* 157 10 0 420 0 6 94 156 13 4 417 77 ei 931 155 16 8 415 55 7 93 155 0 0 418 33 71 2 921 154 3 4 411 11 6 92 153 6 8 408 89 *i 91* 152 10 0 406 67 9 91 151 13 4 404 44 91 2 90* 150 16 8 402 22 10 90 150 0 0 400 0 EXC EXCORIATION, or frettingof the skin, is a complaint sometimes arising from want of due atten- tion to infants, or in persons unac- customed to ride on horseback, or those who are unfortunately bed- ridden. If the excoriation be only of a superficial kind, the application of a little hot flour, or covering the part affected with fine silken oil- cloth, will generally heal it in a few days: but, if these simple means do not succeed, an ointment consisting of one ounce of the finest mutton suet, and a dozen drops of the common oil of turpentine, gra- dually added, while the former is melting, has generally been found of service. In those cases, however, where the true skin is affected, so that the excoriation is attended with considerable pain, it will be useful immediately to apply the plant call- ed self-heal (prunella vulgaris) finely pounded in a marble mortar, with the addition of a few grains of alum. Thus, the inflammation of the contagious parts may be pre- vented ; but, if this have already taken place, it should be previous- ly reduced" by a timely application of emollient Poultices, to which we refer. Excrescence. See Wart. EXCRETION, in animal eco- nomy, is the discharge of foul or noxious humours, by stool. As the food and drink daily con- sumed must necessarily deposit fe- culent and useless matter, mode- rate evacuation by stool, are both necessary and beneficial, especially to those who are troubled with costiveness, head-achs, flatulency, spasms, and the numberless un- pleasant disorders thence arising... See Costivkntss. VOL. II. EXE 465 Persons in a good state of health ought to have one evacuation at least, and sometimes two, in the course of twenty-four hours—Mo- derate exercise and a tranquil mind equally tend to promote these salu- tary excretions, which should be in a state neither too fluid, nor too concrete. Hard and continued la- bour, ardent spirits, or heating li- quors, as well as long abstinence, render them extremely tenacious in the strongest and most healthy individuals. When such a habit prevails, it at length generates costiveness, with all its attendant evils. Those who indulge either in ex- cessive eating or drinking, are ge- nerally troubled with loose and frequent stools ; because their ali- mentary matter is expelled, with- out being properly assimilated. Indeed, thin and copious discharg- es are a certain evidence of indi- gestion. Regular and daily evacuations, therefore, essentially contribute to the preservation of health. This desirable object may be attained, by taking sufficient, but moderate, exercise ; by adapting the food to the nature of the constitution, and using a proportionate quantity of drink ; by observing strict temper- ance in both ; and lastly, by not in- dulging in too much sleep, which is in a peculiar degree hurtful after dinner, to those whose digestive powers are impaired, and whose evacuations are uncommonly lan- guid.....By attending to these few practical suggestions, a due excre- tion of the noxious and superabun- dant fluids will be promoted, and the greatest of blessings, health, consequently ensured. EXERCISE, in general, is such an agitation of the body, as pro- ^3 O 466 EXE EXE duces salutary effects in the animal economy. Exercise may be divided into two classes, active and passive: the former includes walking, hunt- ing, dancing, running, leaping, swimming, riding on horseback, fencing, the military exercise, and, in short, all such games as require muscular exertions. Passive exer- cise comprehends riding in acoach, Bailing, swinging, Sec. all which we shall notice in their alphebetical order. Exercise in the open air is, in every respect preferable to that in houses, and close apartments. It ought, however, to be commenced and concluded inagiadual man- ner, and by no means abruptly. It should be continued only while we enjoy it without fatigue, and ought to be relinquished as soon as it be- comes a task. The best time for this purpose is the forenoon, or some time before dinner, when the stomach is not too much dis- tended: thus it increases the circu- lation of the blood ; attenuates and divides the fluids : and promotes a regular perspiration, as well as a due secretion of all the humours. It likewise raises the animal spi- rits, strengthens the muscular parts, creates appetite, and aids di- gestion. Hence those who take proper daily exercise, are in gene- ral robust, and afflicted with few diseases. On the other hand, violent exer- cise, or even fast walking, immedi- ately before or after meals is ex- tremely pernicious; for it impedes di^estion,and impels to the surface of the body those fluids which are intended to promote the solution of aliment....Immoderate exercise weakens the body, destroys the elasticity of the fibres,and necessa- rily accelerates both respiration, and the circufttion of the blood ; which may cause a variety of acci- dents, ramejy, the burstingof small blood-vessels, inflammations, and collections of blood towards certain parts of the body, such as the heart and brain. The saline acrimony of the fluids being thus more disen- gaged, the fat liquefies; and ardent fevers, palsies, Sec. are the melan- choly consequences. Of still greater importance is the exercise of children; for on its pro- per regulation, their future health and straitness, in a great measure, depend. This subject having very lately been perspicuously treated by Dr. Struve, we shall subjoin only a few elementary principles from his work on Physical Educa- tion : 1. Children ought to enjoy perfect liberty to move, leap, and take exercise at pleasure. 2. They should not be taught to rely on the assistance of others; but endeavour to make every effort consistent with their own strength. 3. When in the act of falling, they ought not to be seized by the arm ; and, after a fall, should not be too much pi- tied. 4. Every kind of spontaneous exercise is preferable to' that taken by compulsion. 5. Exercise, though at an early period of infancy, must be uniform, that is, not confined to particular limbs of the body, nor at any time carried to excess.... W e sincerely recommend these rules to the serious consideration of those who are engaged in the ardous and important task of rear- ing children ; as we are fully per- suaded that, by a timely attention to those circumstances.many acci- dents, and much deformity, maybe effectually prevented. Many persons, being prevented from walking, riding, See. in the EXi •pen air, either by the inclemency of the weather, or from want of leisure, we have subjoined the fol- lowing figure representing a con- trivance, that may serve as a sub- stitute for dumb-bells. The engine consists of a wooden •ylinder c, which turns on two central pivots, e, e, inserted in the upright posts..../', b, are two rods, that may be made either of iron or of strong wood. These bars in- tersect each other at right angles, and are furnished with leaden weights at their extremities, c, c, c; which turn.the cylinder with great velocity, when the rope d, attached to and passing round it, is pulled downwards. Farther, such weights draw the rope up again with con- siderable force, while it is wound backwards and forwards over the cylinder...As this machinery may be fixed in a garret, or other spare- room at the top of a house, the rope may be conducledthrough the ceil- ing into a lower chamber ; so that sedentary persons, or invalids may take sufficient exercise, without quitting their habitation, or expos- ing themselves to the vicissitudes of the weather. E X H 46T EXHALATION, generally speaking, denotes effluvia or steams whjch arise from the surface of the earth, or other bodies, in the form of vapour. Plants and flowers afford a grate* ful exhalation, provided their fra- grance be not too strong: hence they should never be placed in confined apartments, as instances have occured of persons being al- most suffocated, by sleeping in rooms where quantities of fresh flowers were exposed. In serene weather, however, fresh plants or ever-greens (but by no means flowers) may be strewed with ad- vantage, during the day, in the apartments of valetudinarians , as such vegetables, especially in sun- shine, generate a vital air, which produces salutary effects on the lungs. The exhalations arising from vast numbers of burning candles, as also from the breath of many persons respiringin the same room, are peculiarly unwholesome to weak and consumptive habits. This inconvenience may,however* be re- medied by means of conical tubes, the funnels or broad end > of which should be placed so as to commu- nicate in or obove the windows, with the open air : thus, the latter will be impelled into the rooms with considerable force and ven- tilate them more effectually, and at much less expense than is ac- complished by fumigations, or other methods. The vapour arising from char- coal is particularly hurtful: and, in close apartments, often produc- tive of fatal accidents: the greatest precaution is therefore requisite, when charcoal is employed for cu- linary or domestic purposes. In a similar manner, humid air of every kind is very detrimental to health* » 468 E X O and we seriously reprobate the keeping of clamp linen, wet clothes and even wet umbrellas in dwel- ling-rooms ; as, by paying due at- tention to this circumstance, many serious accidents might easily be prevented. EXOTIC, an appellation given to plants, which are not natives of Britain. The generality cf exotic plants do not thrive in this country, with- out particular care and culture ; they require the warmth of their own climates: hence hot-beds, green-houses, Sec. become neces- sary....See Green-house, and Stove. The best method of packing exotic plants for a voyage, especi- ally if they be such as will perish above ground, is to set *heir roots as closely as possible in wooden boxes, filled with proper 201I, and provided with handles ; this oper- ation may be performed three weeks before they are shipped. During fair v.eatlvrr, they should be exposed upon the deck, but in wet or unfavourable seasons, they ought to be removed, or covered with a tarpawftr. If exotics are conveyed to a cold- er climate, they require very little moisture ; but, if they are sent from a cold to a warmer country, it will be necessary to water them li- berally ; and, if they be sheltered from the scorching rays of the sun they will safely arrive at the place of their destination. There are, however, several plants that will live for a consider- able time without earth, such as the Eschallot (to which we re- fer,) and other succulent exotics. These vegetables require only to be carefully packed in boxes, with some moss : a little hay should EXP likewise be added to prevent the different roots from rubbing against or bruising each other ; the boxes should also be perforated with holes an expedient by which the plants will be preserved from heating, and consequent putrefaction. With these precautions, they will not be materially injured by a voyage of two or three, or even four orrfive months. Several trees will like- wise arrive in safety, if packed up in this manner, after they have ceased to grow ; such as oranges, olives, capers, and pomegranate- trees, of .vhich great numbers are annually imported from Italy : and, though they are generally three or four months in their pas- sage, yet they seldom receive any dam? ge. EXPECTORANTS, are such medicines as promote expectora- tion, that is, the discharge of mu- cus, or other matters from the breast, lungs, and wind-pipe, by coughing, bringing up phlegm, Sec. Expectorants operate in differ- ent ways ; for if the humour se- creted, be acrid and thin, and the pores of the glands be too much constricted, these medicines gene- rally relax, soften and widen the passages : diminish the acrimony of the animal fluids; and coagulate those parts which are too thin and watery : for which purpose, the li- quorice-root, honey, spermaceti, saffron, mallows, and oil of al- monds, are very frequently used. But, if a considerable quantity of thick, viscid matter be lodged in the lungs, so as to obstruct breath- ing, it will be necessary to aid ex- pectoration by means of such sub- stances as may dissolve the tough and glutinous humours. This ob- ject may be effected by taking de- EXT EYE 469 eoctions of the Greater Celandine, Scabious, Elecampane, and "other pectoral herbs.....See also Cough, and Catarrh. Great* caution, however, is ne- cessary in administering expecto- rants of whatever kind. Hence, we cannot but censure the injudicious practice of those mothers and nurses, who often load the tender stomachs of infants with a variety of preparations, both of swsrt and oily substances, with the view o? relieving coughs ; but as children have not sufficient strength to pro- mote the evacuation of matter from the vessels of the breast, such po- tions, far from being of any real service, must necessarily occasion no small injury. Indeed, this prac- tice is the mere dangerous, as the cough, and consequent stricture of the chest, may arise from a variety of causes, too numerous to be here recited. EXTRACTS, are those medici- nal preparations obtained by boil- ing vegetable substances in water, and evaporating the strained de- coetion in broad, shallow vessels, to a thick consistence. Thus the most active parts of the plants are separated from the useless insolu- ble earthy matter. As extraction is a chemical pro- cess, generally performed by the apothecary, we shall only observe that the following extracts are di- rected to be kept in the shops by the London College : viz. extract of broom-tops ; of cascarilla; of chamomile; of Peruvian bark, with and without, its resin; of colocynth compounded with aloes,scammony, Sec-; of gentian ; of liquorice ; of black hellebore; of jalap ; of log- wood; of white poppy; of rue; of sa- vin; of senna; ofwildcucumbers,Scc. EXTRAVASATION arises from the bursting or breaking of one or more of the blood vessels, after contusions, fractures, and other injuries of the head, as well as other parts of the body: this ac- cident is attended with such a co- pious discharge of blood, as fre- quently occasions the most violent pain, aid death itself, unless the patient be timely relieved. As soon as the seat of the in- jury is discovered, the extravasated blood should first be discharged ; after which, the wound is to be cleansed, and all splinters or foreign bodies extracted. The assistance of a surgeon is, on this occasion, immediately required, because a vein must be opened, and as much blood taken away, as the patient's strength will permit; by which the extravasation of more blood is prevented. A brisk laxative is next to be given, to lessen the quantity of the fluids ; the head is to be fomented with medicated bags ; and a plaster of melilot ap- plied to it; while volatile salts, or spirit of hartshorn, may be held to the patient's nostrils ; and decoc- tions of betony, lavender-flowers, or other attenuating liquids are admi- nistered, in order to support his strength. These applications will not, probably, be effectual at first; but they should be continued, espe- cially if the more alarming symp- toms appear to abate. And if the patient seem to have received be- nefit from the bleeding, it will be proper to repeat it a second or even a third time, particularly if he be of a robust and plethoric constitu- tion. Meanwhile, no animal food, nor any stimulating liquors should be used, and every degree of men- tal and bodily irritation should be carefully avoided. EYE, the organ of sight, by means of w hich visible objects arc represented to the mind. 470 EYE EYE It would be deviating from our plan, to give a minu'e anatomical description of this most useful or- gan ; we shall, therefore, confine our attention to the necessary treat- ment of the eye, in a diseased as well as healthy state ; in order to ensure a sound sight, to the latest period of life. The eye is extremely tender, and liable to a varitty of diseases, the most common of which are the following: 1. The eye-lids are sometimes infested with tumours of different kinds, and more particularly the stye, which grows on the edge of the eye-lid ; is attended with heat, stiffness, pain ; and unless proper means be taken, with suppuration. It is a kind of abscess, which in genevft, may he removed by dis- cntient applications; hut, should these prove ineffectual, a small emollient poultice ought to be ap- plied to induce a suppuration, af- ter whichthetumourwill spontane- ously heal. In case, however, it should not have the desired effect, a surgeon murt open the stye with the point of a lancet ; when the matter will he discharged. 2. Warts, and other tumors, which require the same treatment as when they arise on other parts of the body. But if in extirpating such excrescences, part of the eye- lid should be corroded, the lips of the sore must be laid as nearly to- gether as possible, and the matter hardening on it, frequently remo- ved, without the application of any dressings; for these, however mild, will only irritate and inflame the ball of the eye. 3. The eye-lashes are, in some cases, so much inverted as to rub upon the eye, and thus produce pain and iu.llamnu.tion. This com- plaint arises from a variety of eauses, without a complete know. ledge-of which it would be danger- ous to attempt any application.... Persons afflicted with this, or any other disease in the eye* ought, without loss of time, to avail them- selves of professional advice, or to consult an experienced oculist, who is able to ascertain the true source from which the disorder pro- ceeds. 4. A protrusion of the eye, if it amount to a considerable degree, is attended with much deformity and uneasiness, arising not only from a large portion of the lining of the eye-lid being turned outwards, but also from too great an exposure of the pupil. If this defect proceed from an enlargement of the eye- ball, or in consequence of a drop- sical swelling, the affection of the whole system must be attended to, without applying any local reme- dies ; but, if it originate from tho cicatrix of an old wound, or an ab- scess, it may be relieved by care- fully dividing the skin, and taking the utmost precaution to guard against the effects of inflammation: such operations, however, should be performed only by skilful hands. Lastly, if k be originally produced by the small-pox, scrophula, Sec. or arise from old age, the eyes should be bathed daily with cold water, or with some astringent, and saturnine solution. 5. Specks are sometimes formed upon the white part of the eye, but more frequently upon the cornea, or the transparent horney coat, which covers the sight. In the for- mer case, they are seldom attend- ed with much inconvenience ; but in the latter, they frequently cause either a partial or total blindn.ss. Such specks are generally conse- quent to inflammation; and, if vi- sion be materially impaired, it will EYE EYE 471 be requisite to resort immediately to surgical assistance. 6. A membranous excrescence, called pterygium, frequently ap- pears upon the white part of the eye, and often spreads over the cornea, in such a manner as entire- ly to destroy vision. It is either occasioned by external injuries, or arises from a general disease of the whole system, as in the schro- phula, or scurvy, Sec; but inflamma- tion is always the immediate cause. In this, as in the preceding com- plaint, the patient should not tam- per with the delicate organs of sight; as, by one injudicious appli- cation, that sense may be lost, be- yond the possibility of recovery. 7. The eye is sometimes enlarg- ed by an accumulation of the aque- ous humour ; which occasions a sensation of fulness in the eye-ball, gradually impedes the motions of the eye-lids,rendersvision progres- sively more imperfect, tilfthe un- fortunate patient can at length only discriminate light from darkness. As the disorder increases, the ball of the eye becomes greatly enlarg- ed, and the cornea begins to pro- trude ; so that if a puncture be not made, the eye will burst, and discharge itself. In the early stages of this disease, the sight may per- haps be preserved by proper treat- ment ; but we earnestly exhort all patients, if they feel the value of their eyes, to avoid those perni- cious nostrums, vended under the name of collyria, eye-waters, Sec. 8. inflammation of the eye. See Inflammation. 9. Blindness. See vol. i. 10. Blood-shot eyes. See vol. i. 11. Cataract. See Gutta Se- rena. 12. Short sight, though it can- not be strictly considered as a dis- order of the eye, is nevertheless a serious evil. Those who ure natu- rally near-sighted, are seldom re- lieved from that defect till they at- tain a certain age, when the un- common rotundity w hich occasions it, gradually decreases. In order to remedy this inconvenience, they have recourse to eyr-giasse8,wh\c.h, on certain occasions, are of real utility ; but instead of using both eyes at the same time, or at least alternately, they absurdly close one, while they view the object through the glass with the other ; by which means they can only inspect it sideways; a practice that deserves severe censure, inasmuch, as the eye which is not exercised, must necessarily become useless. See Spectacles. These remarks are equally ap- plicable to those persons who can distinguish objects only at a dis- tance ; for eye-glasses to them also become necessary, to enable them to behold more minute objects with greater precision. Weak eyes are chiefly occasion- ed by residing in confined situa- tions ; hence, so many persons, liv- ing in towns, complain of this mis- fortune, which can only be attribu- ted to the want of a pure atmos- phere, as well as to the confined circle of vision : the rays of light being reflected from smooth walls which dazzle the eyes, cannot fail to injure those organs in a very material degree. Those parents, consequently, who have a just regard for the health of their children, cannot testify it more effectually, than hy exposingthem daily and frequently to the bracing influence of the fresh air; and, if it becomes necessary, to confine them in nurseries, instead of selecting the smallest and lowest 472 EYE EYE apartment, the loftiest and most airy should be appropriated to that purpose. For a similar reason, in- fants ought to spend a considerable part of their time near the win- dows, where distant objects may attract their attention ; a practice which is highly conducive to the improvement of sight. Those adults who are afflicted with weak eyes, should always burn two candles, placed in such a di- rection that their flame be neither too high nor too low ; or rather make use of proper lamps : See vol. i. and also, the article Lamps. Persons of this description should never approach strong fires, nor live in hot rooms ; for heat dissi- pates the natural moisture still re- maining in debilitated eyes, so that it materially tends to weaken that organ, and at length induces total blindness. Rest, after long exer- tions, is very necessary and useful to the eyes, but the lids should never be too closely shut, as a con- tinuance of that practice is very pernicious. Similar effects arise from a rude and frequent friction of these tender parts. Few remedies for preserving the eyes are more refreshing and invi- gorating, than cautiously bathing them in cold water, three or four times in the day ; the eye not be- ing abruptly immersed, and the washing expeditiously managed. The drying of the eyes should like- wise be carefully performed, lest that organ be too much stimulated, and at length inflamed. [In common inflammations of the eyes, a very cheap and efficacious remedy is a solution of ten grains of sugar of lead, in half a pint of rain, river, or snow water. Scarifying the whites of the eyes with the point of a sharp lancet, (a simple operation), affords immediate re- lief. Leeches are also highly useful in this complaint. Eyes naturally weak may be strengthened, by fre- quently washing them with weak brandy and water, and by wearing a white hat, with black underneath, in summer. In chronic sore eyes^ the following ointment has been used writh great success : Fresh butter, three ounces; red precipi- tate of mercury,.:one drachm, (60 grains) : a small quantity is to be put in at the corner of the eye, when retiring to bed, and washed out the next morning with cold water. Dr. Cutbush, of the Ame- rican navy, informed the Editor, that he learned, while in the Me- diterranean, that the Egyptian sore eyes, which proved so troublesome to the troops lately employed by France and England in that coun- try, were speedily cured, by ihe application of a blister to the fore- head.] Eyes of Horses.....These are liable to a variety of diseases,which proceed either from a defluxion or rheum, or from some internal in- jury. If a defluxion be the cause of the malady, it will previously be necessary to ascertain, whether it arises from the eye itself, or from some other injured part, as, in the latter case, the healing of that part will g-nerally cure the eye. In the former,it will be requisite toad- minister remedies which cool the animal's blood,; with this intention, two ounces of Glauber's salts, and two drams of nitre, may be mixed, and given every day with his bran; but if he should loathe his food, an equal quantity of the liver of antimony may be substituted, till his appetite returns. When the eye has received ex- EYE tternal injury, the following appli- cation is recommended : Take of hog's lard ; the oil of roses ; and of elder, equal parts ; and as soon as those ingredients are incorporat- ed over the fire, anoint the eye af- fected, which will soon recover its former energy....Some horses have naturally weeping eyes, which emit a sharp, acrid humour. These, however, may be easily cured, by washing or bathing them every day with brandy. [Inflammation in the eyes of horses, must be treated by general as well as local bleeding, purging, short allowance, and darkness ; the eyes may be washed with weak lead-water, three times a clay. Haws, or warty excrescences in the eyes of horses, may be remov- ed by the following operation :.... Pass a thread, armed with a needle, through the upper eye-lid, and top of the ear, and draw them together, until the eye opens sufficiently ; then pass another thread through the upper edge of the washer of the eye, until the haw is exposed, and can be fairly laid hold of, it must then be carefully dissected out with a scalpel. This was the mode practised by a farrier from Europe, in the American army, during the revolutionary war.] EYE-BRIGHT, or Euphrasia EYE 473 officinalis, L. an annual indigenous plant, growing on heaths, dry, bar- ren meadows, and in pastures ; it flowers from July to September. This vegetable is remarkable for not thriving in any situation, unless it be surrounded by plants that are taller than itself. It is eaten by cows, goats, horses, and sheep, but is refused by hogs. Eye-bright is somewhat astrin- gent and bitter : it imparls a black colour to a solution of vitriolated iron. Its reputed efficacy in cur- ing various disorders of the eyes, appears to us doubtful: several au- thors, however, strongly praise its virtues, and maintain that it is par- ticularly useful to eyes impaire by long-continued application, and also to those which are dim and watery, in consequence of old age. For this purpose, Mr. Bradley advises the powder of the driecl leaves to be frequently taken inter- nally, after mixing it with the yolk of an egg, and likewise to make daily use of this herb among culi- nary vegetables, or to apply a de- coction of it in simple water exter- nally.......In common with many other plants, the eye-bright has also been recommended in the jaundice. We confess our inex- perience of its salutary effects. vol. n. 3f F. F AC FACE, generally signifies the visage of any animal; it is more particularly applied to the human countenance ; being the only con- spicuous part of the body. The human face is called the image of the soul, because it is the seat of the principal organs of sense, and the place where the ideas and emotions of the mind are most obviously displayed. It has always been considered the most comely and expressive part of the frame, so that various lotions, pow- ders, &c. have been invented for beautifying and restoring ugly or decayed countenances. Such prac- tice, however, though sanctioned by the folly and caprice of fashion, cannot be too severely censured. Having already pointed out this absurdity, and mentioned such pre- parations as may be safely used by those who are determined to em- ploy them, we refer the reader to the head Cosmetics. F ACE-ACH, or Tic douloureux is an acute pain in the face, which is sometimes accompanied by sup- purating tumors: it mostly at- tacks persons of delicate habits, and those who are uncommonly sus- ceptible of cold. To remove this distressing affec- tion, the use of volatile salts, and other cephalics, is generally insuf- ficient. Hence the tincture of va- lerian, with vitriolic sether, may with more advantage be resorted to, both externally and internally. Relief has, in some instances, been derived from the compound tinc- tures of castor and of asafcetida ; but if these various remedies prove FAG ineffectual, the feet should be bath- ed in warm water, a foetid clyster be administered, and recourse had to electricity. A draught of vine- gar or warm water, has occasional- ly procured ease ; but, in very vio- lent cases, opium only, under pro- per medical guidance, is capable of suppressing the pain. Lastly, a new and efficacious cure for the face-ash, has been discovered by Dr. Haighton.....He directs the nerve proceeding from the infra- orbital hole, to be divided ; but this operation ought to be perform- ed by a skilful surgeon ; as, other- wise, irreparable injury might be committed on the eye....(See Med. Records and Researches.) With a view to prevent a return of this malady, the patient should undergo a course of tonic medi- cines, namely : lake a copious draught of spring-water, early in the morning; repair to the tepid, or, if his strength admit, to the shower-bath ; and use the Peru- vian bark. FAGGOT, a bundle of pieces of wood, tied together for fuel, or other purposes. In making up faggots, the work- men trim or cut off the superfluous branches, from the sides and end, which they insert in the middle of the bundle, where they can be of little service. Instead of continu- ing this wasteful method, such su- perfluous leaves and boughs ought to be scattered on the ground, which will, in consequence, be considerably ameliorated : for this kind of mar.ure is particularly be- neiicial to bad and exhausted land F AL F A L 475 which may thus be converted into an excellent garden mould ; and the growth of young trees will be remarkably promoted. FAiNTiNG....See Swooning. FAIR, a public place, where merchants, traders, and other per- sons, from remote parts, assemble on some fixed day in the year, to buy and sell commodities, and to partake of the diversions usually to be met with on such occasions..... See'Market. Fairs are of a very ancientorigin, and, though in former times, wdien the commercial intercourse of dis- tant towns and countries was more difficult than it is at present, such establishmepts were useful, and perhaps necessary ; yet, we are of opinion, that their gradual abolition would be attended with real benefit to the community. Many scenes of idleness and profligacy mi&ht thus be obviated, and an additional numberof valuable house and shop- keepers might be maintained in country towns and villages, in order to furnish the necessary commodi- ties....instead of those unsettled dealers Who spend one half of their time in travelling from fair to fair, and thus consume the profits of their trades, without materially contributing to support the bur- thens of society. FALCON, a formidable bird of prey, of which there are two spe- cies, namely : 1. The Jer-Falcon, Falco Gyr- fulco, L. which is but seldom found in Scotland and the Orkneys: next to the eagle, it is the most intrepid and voracious of the fea- thered tribe, and likewise the most valuable species for the purposes of falconry. The stork, the heron, and the crane, fall easy victims to its bold attacks ; and it kills hares, by darting upon them in a direct line. It is remarkable that in this, as in all other birds of prey, the females are much larger and stronger than the males, which last are employed in falconry to catch only the smaller birds, such as the crow, the heron, and the kite. 2. The Gentil-Falcon, which is less ferocious, and also rarely met with in Britain. FALL, or the act of tumbling from an erect posture, or, from a higher place, is sometimes attended with serious consequences ; espe- cially if it should be neglected in the beginning. Hence the neces- sity of examining the whole body, whether the fall has been produc- tive of violent bruises, dislocations, or fractures ; in which cases sur- gical aid should be immediately procured. But, if the person fallen, remain motionless, and in a swoon- ing state ; or, in order to prevent him from fainting, it may be use- ful to administer a wine-glass full of sweet oil of olives, which will greatly tend to calm and compose the whole body. After a fall from a precipice, or high place, it will perhaps be ne- cessary to open a vein ;. but we cannot approve of that superstitions remedy, on this occasion, advised by the late Prof. Bradley ; ac- cording to whom, the blood issuing from the comb of a large cock, and gradually drank, after every clip- ping with a pair of scissars, gives so much vigour and strength to the wounded, as to enable him to be dressed. Falling-Sickness. See Epi- lepsy. FALLOWING, in agriculture, 476 F A L is the mode of preparing land, by ploughing it a considerable time before it is ploughed for seed. Lands are laid fallow either dur- ing the summer, or during the winter, according to the nature of the soil, and the judgment of the cultivator. It is not dur intention to enter into the dispute relative to the necessity or inutility of summer fallows : as very able arguments havef)een alledged as well for, as against it, by skiftul agriculturists. Both summer and winter fallows, however, are occasionally useful on different soils. The advantages to be derived from fallowing are : 1. By repeat- edly turning spils over, much car- bonic acid, or fixed air, is produced in a fluid state, which remains united with the vegetable recre- ments, or with volatile alkali, or calcareous earth. 2.Thepartsof the soil become better incorporated, and thus reciprocally ameliorated; so that they may afford more uni- form nourishment to the roots of plants. 3. The pulverized soil is more easily penetrable, and thus exposes a greater surface of its ca- vities to the vegetable absorbents. 4. All unprofitable plants,or weeds, being thus eradicated, or continu- ally ploughed under the soil, while yet young, a considerable propor- tion of vegetable nutriment will be reserved, and farther increased, by the saccharine and mucilagi- nous matter cf the young vegeta- bles buried by the plough. Lastly, some plants, during their herba- ceous state, do not exhaust the ground on which they grow, before the s-eed stems arise; as turnips, for ft -lance, when pulled up, and carried away for the purpose of •feeding cattle, or sheep, on other ground:.. This benefit appears to F AL arise from the soil being shaded by the thick foliage of those vegeta- bles, and consequently ameliorated; for its nutritious properties cannot have suffered by evaporation so much, as if the land had been ex- posed to the scorching influence of the sun. Dr. Darwin, when treating on this subject, justly observes, that, though a summer fallow may be of advantage to a poor soil, which has nothing to lose, yet it must be in- jurious to a rich one, which has nothing to gain. A Fallow-elcdnsing Machine was invented by a Mr. Aaron Ogdon, a smith, at Ashton-under-Line, near Manchester. It consists of two large rollers, armed with iron spikes, to which the inventor pre- fixed an harrow so constructed,that it may be set to go to any depth in a furrow, without weighting ; and will pulverize the soil, raise the roots, or weeds, to the surface, and at the same time not be obstructed by their accumulation, though it should raise as many weeds as would load a cart within the short space of five yards. There are se- veral other pieces of machinery be- longing to this implement; but as they are intricate, we refer the reader to the third vol. of the work, entitled, " Museum Rusticum et Commerciale," where its parts are minutely described and illustrated with a plate.....The design of this machine is to clear fallowed land from quick and all other weeds, in a better ancl more expeditious man- ner than is effected by manual la- bour; and Mr.OGDEN is of opinion, that two men, with three horses and his implement, may perform as much work as forty men in the ordinary way, beside' saving one fallowing season: an object of the F AR FAR 477 utmost importance to the specula- tive farmer. Family Diet. See Diet. Family Mill. See Mill. FAN, a well known contrivance employed chiefly by females to raise wind, cool the air by agitat- ting it, and defending their com- plexion. This kind of toy was introduced into Britain from the East, where it is very generally used for shading the face from the sun, and guard- ing it against troublesome insects. Although the practice of fanning be sanctioned by fashion, it does not appear to be conducive to health, nor consistent with the ope- rations of nature; because the eva- porations of perspirable matter on the human skin has a greater ten- dency to cool the body, than the incessant fanning, wiping, and rub- bing of the face. Nevertheless, fan's may be useful for affording protection against the rays of the sun, for which purpose, however, parasols will be more convenient. Fan is also an implement of husbandry, employed for winnow- ing corn. See Winnow. FARCY, a disorder peculiar to horses, but which sometimes also affects oxen, and other cattle. The farcy is infectious, and spreads among horses, in a man- ner similar to the distemper. This malady is generally occa- sioned by sudden changes of ex- cessive heat and cold ; it may also take place when the animal is gall- ed by rusty spurs, snuffle-bits, Sec. or after being bitten by an in- fected horse. [The farcy is a disease of the lymphatic system. It is common- ly, hut erroneously supposed to be a disease of the blood-vessels. The corded tumors which appear, are called buds, ancl generally are on the inside of the thigh, neck, and shoulcltrs. They are very painful at first, but nearly insensible after they have suppurated. On open- ing them, an ulcer, very difficult to heal, is formed. The causes are principally pu- trid matter, coming in contact with the skin, changes from heat to cold, or the contrary, want of ex- ercise, ancl of cleanliness. To cure the disease, blood must be taken away ; smart purges of aloes and calomel, mixed with honey or mo- lasses should be given; ancl 1 oz. of mercurial ointment, joined with camphor, rubbed every day below the tumors, until a salivation be produced. Applications of sal-am- moniac dissolved in water, (one oz. to a pint of water) will also'be highly useful. By the above treat- ment, the editor had the satisfac- tion to cure a very fine horse, be- longing to a friend, last year, which had been given up as lost. If the tumors cannot be dispers- ed, they may be opened with a lancet, after being fully maturated, ancl then dressed with bees-wax and oil. Proud flesh must be kept down, by red precipitate; and pow- dered antimony be given freely. If the horse become emaciated, the diet should be generous ; but if in high flesh, the allowance snould be short. The common practice of firing these tumors, is highly cruel and absurd. There can be no reason, why lymphatic swellings should be treated differently, when they occur in horses and in human creatures, in the latter case, firing would not be thought oft] Farina. See Flour and Pol- len. FARM, a small district of land, 478 FAR FAR on which is erected a house, with other conveniences; hired or taken on lease,or otherwise, for the pur- pose of cultivation. Having already, in the course of this wort, discussed various sub- jects of rural economy, we shall at present confine ourselves to expe- rimen'al farms, as the articles ne- cessarily connected with farming, appear in their alphabetical order. The national importance of agri- culture appears to be universally admitted : and though, much has been said by others on this subject, we cannot but consider the engross- ing, or concentrating of several farms into one, as a principal cause of the poverty discernible among the lower class of husbandmen, and the late exorbitant price of provisions. Population thus neces- sarily becomes checked ; for many industrious persons who, while in a state of servitude, would be stor- ing up their little earnings against a future period, are deterred from Acres. 20 Pulse and roots, fallow crdp. 50 Barley. 20 Clover. 20 Wheat. 20 Clover. 20 Rye. 120 acres in six fields. The first course requires one of the fields to be continued in clover for two years, unless it be cultiva- ted with buckwheat, potatoes, or other roots; when the first year's clover is turned in, after the spring settling, by the dismal prospect of being unable either to support themselves as day-labourers, or to take a farm consisting of several hundred acres. Hence such indi- viduals as are better provided with pecuniary means, enjoy what would otherwise maintain, perhaps, ten small farmers and their families, together with such assistants as it would be requisite for them to em- ploy. In reflecting on this topic, it is matter of just astonishment, that no experimental farm, though fre- quently proposed, has been hither- to undertaken, in a country where agriculture is peculiarly valued j as, in the western hemisphere, where the arts and sciences are still in their infancy, various insti- tutions of this nature have lately been established. The following plan of a grain-farm, is extracted from the observations of Mr. Bord- i.EY,an intelligent American,whom we have repeatedly mentioned. Acres. 17\ Maize, fallow crop. 17^ Ditto, for which may occa- sionally be substituted buck- wheat. 17| Barley or rye. 17-± Clover. 17^- Wheat, which may be sown with buckwheat and clover, if the soil be rich. 17"^ Clover. 17 j Roots. 120 acres in seven fields. mowing. The potatoes (in Ame- rica) should be planted in June ; for in that late season the roots, while bulbing, will receive little injury from the scorching heat of tthdsummer. Mr.BoaiiLEvrccom- FAR mends them in preference to buck- wheat; as this, by running to seed, is apt to impoverish the soil: on the contrary, potatoes, turnips, and other roots, do not materially ex- haust the soil: and, if properly cultivated, are, in his opinion, even meliorating. If, according to this plan, one field be manured in each year, the six fields, consisting of 20 acres each, will be all manured in rota- tion; and those containing 17 acres each, in seven years : an object of the utmost importance ; as, inde- pendently of the abundant crcps raised in consequence of this ope- ration, the soil will thus renew its fertilizing properties. The net produce of the different sorts of grain and pulse, as well as their respective quality, and specific gra- vity, ought, in each experiment, to be minutely recorded. Mr. B. pro- poses to continue the annual ma- nuring of each field in rotation ; ancl particularly recommends the saving of the dung in compact masses, sheltered from the sun ; and also, in some measure, from the rain : though he allows, that the manure is not materially in- jured by the dropping of the rain on the area of the dung-heap, as some portion of moisture is abso- lutely necessary for promoting its fermentation. He farther advises the making of experiments on de- tached parts of the soil with lime, gypsum, clay, Sec. in order to as- certain with precision their effects on different soils. In the 4th volume of Annals of Agriculture, (1785), Mr. Arthur Young bitterly and justly com- plains of the unparcfonahle neglect and indifference shewn to the in- terests of agriculture, by the sove- reigns and courtiers of all ages ancl FAR 479 countries. Since that period, how- ever, an exception prevails in Bri- tain ; a Board of Agriculture has been established ; and though we cannot boast of many evident ad- vantages which have resulted from that excellent institution, yet there is every prospect that a national or experimental farm will, at length, be adopted, in order to " hold out as an example to the nation, the most vigorous system of modern substantial improvements in hus- bandry." As the late President, Lord Somerville, has proposed such an establishment to take ptare only after the expiration of four or five years, we devoutly hope the first President of that Board, Sir John Sinclair, will be enabled to carry this desirable measure into effect, by private subscription, at a much earlier period. With respect to the expenses and profits of farming, we cannot enter into any detail, as such par- ticulars necessarily depend on pe- culiar circumstances. The com- mon allowance on a farm, was, in Mr. Tull's time, three rents or assessments ; one for the landlord, a second for the expenses, and the third for the tenant's subsistence, and for other purposes. There are, however, few farms, even in the present improved slate of agricul- ture, that will constantly afford this increase, or which can be cur- ried on* ancl maintained at such a charge. For instance, in a farm worth 100/. per annum, if the land be worth 20s. per acre, 100/. will perhaps be sufficient to defiv.) the expenses necessarily incurred.. ... But, if the soil of a farm, which is let at the same total amount of rent, be worth only 10.?. per acre, an allowance must be mi;;!- of 120/. or 130/. per annum, at the , 480 FAR FAR least for charges ; and 250 acres of land must be computed to be the extent of the farm, in order to make up the rent, otherwise con- siderable loss will necessarily be incurred, unless the land be capa- ble of great improvements. It should, however, be remarked, that these proportions subsisted in Eng- land about 80 years since, but are now greatly altered ; for instance, an acre of land then rented at 20s. per annum, pays at present from 2/. to 3/. and the price of manual labour is raised nearly in a similar proportion. According to the modern im- proved state of agriculture, the ex- pense of cultivating a farm of 1000 acres, consisting partly of pasture, arable, meadow, and other land, (the annual rent of which is, by Mr. Macro, of Barrow, Suffolk, stated to be 415/.) amounted in the year 1786, to 2208/. 2s. and 6c/.... In order to balance this expendi- ture, the profits of a farm should be about^e times the annual rent: and if the combinations of engros- sers be suffered to proceed with impunity, they will, no doubt, in a short time, amount to six or seven times the value of the rent actu- ally paid. FARM-HOUSE, in rural eco- nomy, is applied particularly to the dwelling occupied by a farmer. The principal objects to be at- tended to in erecting farm-houses are, convenience, and a salubrious situation ; points highly important to every inhabitant of the country, as the health and welfare of all, in a great measure, depend on the choice of the latter. Beside the general salubrity of the spot where dwellings are to be erected, the air, water, and soil, also require to be particularly at- tended to; the first should be pura and temperate; the second, whole- some, and easily obtained; and the soil, rich. The most healthy place of the farm ought to be selected for build- ing the house, which should be ex- posed neither to the summer heats, nor to the rage of winds ancl storms during winter. Many parts of this country abound with rivulets and streams, which, however, are sel- dom attended to, though a judi- cious choice, in this respect, is of the utmost consequence. A quick flowing stream, that has a clean channel and dry banks, will con- siderably add to the beauty and healthiness of the place ; but, if the water be over-run with weeds, or other strong grass, such a situa- tion should be carefully avoided ; for, as it affords a secure shelter to every kind of putrid filth, noxious vapours will arise, and produce ef- fects very injurious to health. If, nevertheless, such places must un- avoidably be chosen, a northern as- pect is preferable to a southerly one; for, as the north winds blow more briskly than those from the south, the air is in general cool, putrefaction is checked, and there will not only rise fewer vapours, but in consequence of the greater density of the air, they will be speedily dissipated. Respecting the construction of farm-houses, we have little to add ....Instead, however, of thatching them, it would be highly desirable that they should be uniformly co- vered with slate, or tiles, in all situations where these materials can be procured. But, where nei- ther slate nor tiles can be had, we recommend the covering, both of farm and out-houses, with heath oi- ling ; either, when well laid on.. Ls FAR FAR 481 preferable to straw; and at the same time so cheap, that in any country adjoining to heath-moors, it may be procured for the mere labour of cutting and carrying it to the premises. Having already, in former parts of this work, communicated a va- riety of practical directions, rela- tive to the construction of houses, in general, we refer the reader to the articles Building, Cement, and Country-House. [FARM-YARD. To give the plan of a complete farm-yard, is not to be expected. Farmers differ so much in their situations, pur- suits, resourses as to capital, ancl in their opinions of the necessary arrangements, that it is next to impossible to lay down the plan of one that would be deemed perfect. All that can be done in a work like the present, is to give the general outlines, with proper refer- ences to works in which various plans may be seen. " The whole yard and its build- ings should be in view from the mansion, and at a proper distance therefrom. The food near the housed live-stock. The yard com- pact, ancl the doors of the buildings, and the gates of the yard seen from the mansion. The yard contain- ing cattle to be housed, is never to be littered with straw, but all litter carelessly dropped on it, is to be raked off, for security against fire. When the beasts are let out to be watered, they are instantly to be returned to their stalls, regularly in detachments. The home-stead includes this yard ; together with its stack-yard, the garden,orchard ancl a few acres, for occasionally letting mares, or sick beasts run in, at liberty. The mansion ought to be airy VOL. II. on every side. Offices on the north- east ancl north-west angles, leave the mansion open to the south, the east, and the west, in a clean lawn ; ancl from the north rooms, there should be a view of the farm-yard, and its business. No stairs ought to proceed from the kitchen, as they would open a passage to dust ancl clown from the bed-roms. An arch of brick is to be laid over the ash-hole and oven, as a barrier against fire; the stairs may be over the arch, from with- out. The poultry-house and yard to be roomy, and frequently swept out: fresh sand ancl gravel to be strewed in the yard. [To fatten them, see article Poultry.] The Laboratory will be treated of and figured, under that article. The milk-house may be joined to the laboratory, which may be a scalding house to it; or it may be detached from the laboratory, and sunk two feet under ground. The offal-milk may be conveyed to the pigs in wheel-barrows, or through a [grated] tube, under ground, to the pig-stye....Water from the pump to be admitted through pipes to an upper shelf, and passing round the room, may fall on.the under shelves, ancl run off. The ice-house will be best de- tached from the milk-house, that it may be clear of all moisture, and receive air on all sides. The ice-house at Gloucester point, be- low Philadelphia, strongly recom- mends that it be half above ground. Pigeon-house. Pigeons feed expensively on corn alone, but they also feed on many wild seeds. They make an agreeable variety on the table, [and form an important article in that ceconomical dish, a pye. See artftie Diet.] Thev .3Q 482 FAR FAR ought not to be suffered to become too numerous. [See article Pige- on-house.] The Fabiily-tard, is a barrier against farm-yard intrusions. It is covered with a clean,close sward. Its margin only may be admitted to grow flowers. To be fenced by a sunk fence, on the top whereof may be a low light palisade; which with the bank may be hid by rose trees, planted in the ditch, which may slope gently up towards the mansion. The white rose-bush or tree is the tallest, most hardy, and handsomest sort; but the damask is best for yielding the fine distil- led water. The pump may serve both fami- ly ancl farm-yard purposes, and may be worked by a brake or han- dle on either side of the palisade. This large expense of water is ad- vantageous to its quality. The pump nozzle delivers the water five or six feet above the surface : and at every time of being worked, a portion of the water is delivered into a vessel, whence proceeds a tube three feet under ground, to the kitchen, where some of it is deposited in a cistern ; the rest may proceed also under ground, to the milk-house, only leaving on the way a small part, in a recep- tacle of the mansion, for wash-ba- son uses. For the boiling house, which takes much water, either the water must be conveyed through the pipes, or in casks on barrows, or a pump must be placed near the boiling house." The arrangement for the distri- bution of the water in Mr. J. Coop- er's yard, is excellent, for by the disposition of his spout and fences, he waters four kinds of beasts at the same time, Thus, « The Sow and Pig sties. The of- fal milk may be conveyed to the troughs in the styes, from the milk- house. Sticks in a frame may be fixed over the troughs, rack like, to prevent the hogs from getting into the troughs. Swine must be kept clean, and littered in their shelters. [If the house be situated near a creek, t ne stye may be fen- ced on each si£e down to the edge of the creek, and thus the ani- mals afforded an opportunity of washing themselves in clean water at will. Such a stye the editor saw on State Island, south of Philadel- phia.] Stercories may be four feet under ground, two or three feet above, and walled. Over them may be supported by short standards, a co- vering of brush wood or straw. One of these should be near the stable,to receive the urine from the FAR FAR 483 animals, which is of immense be- nefit to the manure." The bottom and sides of the stercories ought to be covered with Mr. HuNN'scement, formerly men- tioned, to prevent the loss of urine by soaking into the ground. " The sheep-house and yards ought to be roomy and airy, in di- visions. The granary should be long and narrow, with partitions across it, without any communication be- tween the rooms ; by which the different grains will be kept from mixing, and a general access to the rooms will not happen, when only one sort is to be carried in or ta- ken out. Each outer door should have a lock. Windows facilitate thefts. None are required to the lower rooms, if an ail hole be made between every two joists, close un- der the second floor, the vapour and heat, naturally ascending, will pass off at the air holes."....Mr. Bordley. For other plans of farm-yards, the Annals of Agriculture, by A. Young : the country reports drawn up for the British Board of Agri- culture ; and the works of Mr. Marshall, may be consulted. The Barn is a most important building in a farm yard. Under this article, some account of the English barns was given by Dr. Willich ; what is now to be said will refer exclusively to those of Pennsylvania. The barns in Pennsylvania are certainly superior to any in the world. This assertion is made with reference to those which are re- presented in books of agriculture. Our barns are in general, models of neatness, durability and conve- nience. In Lancaster county espe- cially, they form one of the most prominent ancl attracting objects, which arrest the attention, and force an expression of admiration from the passing stranger. When a hill can be had, it is cut down seven or eight feet perpendi- cularly, and one end built close up to the bank. The ground sto- ry for cattle is, therefore, seven or eight feet high, the next may be thirteen feet. If the bank be not so high as the second floor, it must be raised up to it. But this is so expensive that, if possible, it ought to be avoided. Under the bank is a vault, proof against frost, and opening into the stable. The joists of the threshing floor, are ve- ry effectually and conveniently sup- ported by pillars and stauncheons, so disposed, as to serve for dividing the stalls for the cattle, ancl, there- by, answer a double purpose. The roof is invariably supported by posts and braces resting on the in- terties which lay at right angles with the purlins, and divide the threshing floor from the mows. The braces and posts receive the purlins, and discharge the weights of the roof, and as they may be multiplied at pleasure, the roof may consequently be extended to almost any span, without increas- ing the size of the timbers. The second floor with the roof contains the sheaves of grain, to be here threshed. On the other side, part of the hay is stored. Loaded carts and waggons are driven in on this second floor : and in some large buildings, a waggon may easi- ly turn, but if the waggon be driven directly into the barn, it may be as directly backed out again : and thus much room and expense sa- ved. Besides, if the lively, briskly 484 FAR FAR going one horse carts, be prefer- red (as they ought) to the tedious heavy loaded waggons, there will be no necessity for much width of floor. Air iscommonly admitted either by loop holes or windows, but lat- tices moving on a centre at each end, with louff ers (which see) are certainly preferable ; because they will keep out the driving snow, which frequently finds entrance into the barn, and occasions much trou- ble. By means of loufl'ers, also, light may be excluded or admitted in an instant, and rain or snow effectual- ly prevented from entering. The first barn built in the north- ern townshipsof Philadelphia coun- ty, upon the very excellent Ger- man plan, was by Edward Duf- field, Esq. in the year 1789, and since that period his model has been copied by many in the neigh- bourhood. The following particulars re- specting it, deserve notice from all economical farmers. There are no door frames, ex- cept to the main door opening on the threshing floor. They are hung upon hooks and eyes, but in a dif- ferent manner from the common mode, the hooks being welded to the hinge, ancl inserted into the eye, which is let in between two stones in the jamb of the door-way, Thus. The advantage of this plan is, that if the hock breaks, it is much more easily supplied by a new one when wekftd to the hinge, than when the hook is in the wall and the eye in the hinge. The threshing floor is let into a rabbet, in the cross girder. The rabbet is about five inches deep. The partition between the mows are scribed down to the floor, and nailed to the rabbet, and thus the leaking of the grain, which is so seriously complained of by most farmers, is prevented. The floor is of white oak plank, well seasoned, and the boards broad; both edges are grooved, and. put together with tongues. The sill of the threshing floor, is a long stone, and the upright post of the frame rests upon two stones which join, the one forming the sill. By this arrangement there is little inequality in the rise from the bank, and the wheels of the cart or waggon go over easily. The joists are of saplin hicory trees, cut and barked in the spring. Mr. D. says, such joists are more durable and stronger than any other which can be put in a barn : ancl that trees cut and barked in the spring, escape attacks from the wood worm, whereas if the bark be permitted to remain on a felled tree, it will inevitably be attacked in the course of the season. Mr. D's barn is 61 by 37 feet: but he observed that the nearer a barn approached to a square, the more economically it might be built. . <*: fcs/tf. j. *. 3. 4. J- 6- 7- ° -* (^/eva/ton c/a J fa// . oSto^^c , MeA'cm. a tf'ffc^/j h \ k \ ^ FAR The racks of Mr. Wm. West's stalls are upright, and the perpen- dicular falls on the inner edge of the trough below, which has a shelv- ing leaf, as represented in the plate. When a beast pulft out the hay, some will fall on the leaf, ancl thus slide down into the trough, where it is secured from the breath of the animal. The distance between the bottom of the rack and the trough is sufficiently great to permit the heads of the animals to enter, in order to get at the dropped hay. The racks are 2 feet 4 in. deep, and two feet at top from the edge of the rack: they are planed with- in, and thus the hay falls to the bot- tom of the rack, as it lessens in quantity; and the cattle saved the pain of a long reach, which they are obliged to make in the com- mon stables. Mr. W. feeds from the entry, which is six feet wide. The hay is dropped through a trap door from the mow above. The construction of Mr. J. Coo- per's stalls may be easily under- stood from the plate. The upright slats prevent the horses from wasting the hay, or from blowing on it. For the animals cannot look round, which they are very apt to do, when a person en- ters the stable ; neither can they run their heads over the whole trough ; the slats oblige them to feed directly before them. Mr. Morgan's " stalls have a fixed iron chain, by way of a hal- ter, to prevent the cattle from turn- ing round and dunging in their mangers. This chain is fixed by a staple to the front sill of the man- ger, and consists of two parts: One has 16 links, and is two feet long, measuring from the staple : The other, containing 26 links, FAR 485 measures about 39 inches, and serves as a collar. This collar-chain has, at one end, a ring about one inch in diameter, and at the other end, a key three or 4 inches long, having a hole at its middle, by which it is joined to, and freely plays in the last link. The first chain, which, by one end, is fixed to the manger, is, by the other, linked into a middle link of the collar-chain ; and thus forms two arms, which, being thrown round the neck of the beast, and the key thrust through the ring,and placed at a bar across it, make a very se- cure fastening....The collar-chain for a horse is like that just describ- ed ; but the chain linked to its mid- dle must be 3 feet long, and may be fixen to a standard, mortised into the sill of the manger, and the joist above." Columb. Mag. 1756. A very convenient barn, coach- house, and stable, under one roof, was built a few years since, by D. Peterson, Esq. on Mount Pros- pect, Bristol road, upon the gene- ral plan of Mr. DuFFiELD's,thotgh improved. It is of the just pro- portions of 36 by 45 feet, and 18 feet to the eves. The bridge Js in the middle of the building on the longest front, and was raised tc the threshing floor, the building hav- ing been erected on a level. The door is 12 feet wide and 12 high. The depth from the top of the bridge to the ground is seven feet: on one side the bridge, and below, is a window ; on the other side is also a window, but opens into a latticed crib,which answers jtokeep corn, and extends to the level of the top of the bridge : below it, is a poultry cage with roosts and proper divisions, and extending to nearly three feet of the ground : in the lower division ducks are 486 FAR kept: this poultry cage is conti- nued round against the side of the bridge. The coach-house A, (See the Plate), is 18 by 20 feet, ancl is on the same front as the stables; next to the coach-house, is a shed C, 10 feet wide'; under this shed, which is the whole length of the barn, carts, waggons, and the farming utensils are protected from the weather; the top of this shed ought to be on a line with the roof of the barn, to prevent chaff and dust from remaining on the shed, and thereby rotting the shingles. The upper part of the shed and on the level with the threshing floor, over C, c, are the bins for grain on the one side, and a corn crib, or store room on the other over C. The entry bet ,veen the stable and coach-house is 4 feet wide. E,E, aue cow stalls: over these, on one side of the threshing floor is a hny-mow: on the other side of the threshing floor, over the coach- hcuse and stalls, is another mow, which is divided by the stairs at D. In the annexed Plate is repre- sented the plan of a substantial and convenient barn and stables, built by Mr.John Miller,stone-cutter, of Philadelphia, at his farm in the Va lley, Chester county, Pennsyl. Foi* this the Editor is indebted to his friend Mr. A. Traquair. The follow ing particulars, respect- ing* the construction of this barn, deserve attention:...'.All the wood- en rills of the internal doors or hatches, are raised above the com- mon floor to prevent their decay. The: external doors have sills, jambs, and lintels of stone. The divisions are by stone walls, and are covered with two-inch plank.... Th e intention of this is to preserve the walls; for commonly they are FAR left uncovered, and the top stones are frequently displaced. A staunchion rises from the middle of the coping, and is con- nected with the timbers of the floor above, thereby throwing some of its pressure upon the partition walls....thus, Mr. Miller suggests the pro- priety of placing two staunchions at each edge of the wall to fix the coping more firmly....thus, Slabs of stone, three or four feet long, would be more durable, and when used, the staunchions will be unnecessary,stone being sufficient- ly weighty to resist a common impulse, which might displace a v->''mwrhd 'i/2/ee/. A ^//cypijutc. ^ -^ -1 1 ^ } ejSk*^ &f^/?cJ&: R4JJ_LU *j/™ , ,-.;.,rm„ M J=L j=r: /£ Xadctei n J i.SSi-iajnuia' fece'l. __ r. rriout- K ^ _c: / ,« ^: /*. "• •*"■ *"• ^ 4s- 7° /ee/. FAR FAR 487 plank. The range of stalls, ten accommodate large and small cat- in number, are contrived so as to tie, by a descending floor, thus, ly injurious to grain in barns, as well as to ice-houses, and dwell- ings. An effectual mode of secur- ing all buildings against them, shall be fully described under the article Rats.] Farm-Yard Manure. •' For conducting the business of a farm to full advantage, the farm- er is to pursue objects which sys- tematically embrace such a regular course of particulars, as shall best follow and depend on each other, for obtaining the one whole of the design of farming. It is not imme- diate product alone that we aim at; for, whilst we wish to obtain re- peated full crops,our reason assures us,that it isindispensibly necessary to that end, that the soil be preserv- ed in full vigour. The mind then is employed, principally, on the ob- jects of preservation and improve- ment of the productive powers of the earth. Observations on the state of common farming fix the opinion, that no unconnected, random pur- suits, tend to ensure a succession of advantageous husbandry, for any length of time. Well chosen rotations of crops, together with due culture, are be- lieved to be so favourable to the ground as to need but little manure in comparison of what the com- mon or ill chosen crops absolutely Two white-oak girders divide the barn into three parts longitudi- nally, which sustain the weight of the joists and floor, and of the im- mense quantity of hay and grain which this barn is capable of hold- ing. Each girder is composed of two pieces in length, and 14 by 10 inches square, to prevent them from swagging.....thus, The treshing floor is double; the lower floor is" of white pine, the upper of heart pine. This method, though more expensive than Mr. Duffield's, effectually prevents any grain from being lost, as the upper floor covers the joints of the lower floor. The whole barn is plastered, ancl there are Venetian blinds to all ihe windows. Rats are well known to be high- 488 FAR require. Still the steady and atten- tive application of manures, is held to be an essential duty in farming, a great link of the chain, in every instance. If rich soils require, com- paratively, but a moderate quanti- ty, in a rotation where ameliorating crops are prevalent, yet middling and poor soils want all that can be obtained ; and, under the old Ma- ryland courses especially, all soils eagerly demand more manure than can be readily procured. These ex- hausting courses we see continually impoverish the soil. Too many farmers, therefore, incline to move to fresh lands; where they would precisely act the same murderous part over again. The principal links in good farming, are, due tillage, proper rotations of crops, which are treat- ed of above, and manures, of which it is wished the occasion would ad- mit of more than the few observa- tions which follow. In the American practice, hay and fodder are stacked in the fields; and the cattle are fed round the stacks and fodder-houses: the dis- advantages whereof are, 1. A wasteful use of the proven- der. 2. The dung lying as it is dropt, without straw, or other vegetable substance brought to it, the manure is little in quantity ; ancl, 3. That little not lying in heaps, is reduced abundantly by exhalation and rain; without leaving any thing to the soil. In the English and Flemish practice (feebly observed by a few of our husbandmen), cattle are carefully housed, or otherwise con- fined to a fold-yard, in which are shelters against cold rains, during the whole winter, and as far through the spring as food will FAR last: the advantages of which, are, 1. A fair expenditure of the provender, without waste. 2. Less exhaustion of the juices; because of the clung lying together in large heaps. 3. The dung being mixed with the straw, and other vegetable sub- stances brought to the beasts as litter, the whole is trod together, and forms a large quantity of very valuable manure. It may be no exaggeration to affirm, that the difference in the quantities of manures obtained from an equal stock of catfle by those several methods, may be as three to one. If six acres may be annually manured by the inferior method, then may eighteen by the superior. Now, on a supposition, that manured land is kept in heart five years, without repeating, in the one case but thirty acres will al- ways remain in good order; in the other, ninety acres : a very im- portant difference. Indeed it is all the difference between an husband- man's poverty and his riches., Do cattle, when foddered round hay-stacks and fodder-houses, or ricks, give twelve loads of manure each ? Do they yield one such load? It is a fact stated, I think by Mr. Young, that, in the course of a winter, cattle kept up and littered in a yard, have yielded full twelve such loads each beast; ancl if soil- ed or fed well during the summer with cut green grass, or clover, they may be expected to yield more ancl richer manure ; especially when they are kept up, on a full quantity of litter. Here, by the way, it may be noted, that a por- tion of grass only sufficient to keep one beast in pasturing, has sufficed five in soiling: and what is of im- mense importance to the state of FAR the ground and of future crops, the ground being untrod, in soiling, is left light and mellow. Another favourable circumstance attends soiling: the beasts are kept in shade, and considerably protected from flies ; especially when the house is kept dark during the heat of the day, with only air-holes near the ground and above their heads. " It will be said, the ground round the stacks receives the dung dropt, as a dressing to so much of the field : but we knovr this extends to a very small distance, and the effect is in no part considerable. The place chosen is some eminence ; the rains and winds of half the year, wash away and evaporate, from the frozen ground, most of the rich substance of the dung so dropt about; and the ground,whilst unfrozen, is troden close,and poach- ed to adegree that untills it nearly- equal to the value of the dung left on it uninjured. This is illustrated: a fodder-house, (a hollow rick made of maize tops in the way of thatch), was set up in a field, as is usual ; it was fenced in. At the south front, maize was husked, ancl the husks were sheltered in the fodder- house. In the course of the winter they were given out to cattle, in front of the rick. In April, the fod- der-house being then empty was pulled down, and the covering of maize tops was given to the cattle. The ground thus sheltered by the fodder-house for six months, Oc- tober to April, shewed marks of richness greatly superior to the ground on which the cattle were foddering during the same time : grass weeds and crops, during the four or five following years of my remaining on the farm, shewed this in their great growth. Where VOL. II. FAR 489 the fodder-house, three hundred feet long and twenty broad,, stood and sheltered tjie ground, the rich- ness of the soil was strongly mark- ed ; when but a faint superiority over the common field appeared on the part where the cattle were foddered. Litter is an essential, to cattfe, when let into yards, without which yard manure is of small account ; and, unless it be in full proportion to the number of cattle in the yard, it is not thought highly of; but is as a half done thing. Good farmers in England deem full littering of cattle, when in yards, of such im- portance, that after reaping with sickles and inning their wheat, they cut the stubble ancl stack it for lit- ter. Besides straw and stubble for litter, they apply to the same use, fern, and such other vegetable sub- stances as they can procure : and they buy straw from common farmers who are not in the prac- tice of littering. In all countries, common farmers are indifferent to improvements : they look not beyond old habits; ancl it is prudent that they venture not on extensive new projects, without first making experiment. A full littering is three loads of 12 or 1300 lb. of straw to each grown beast. Maize stalks may be carried from the field in great quantities, in a ske- leton frame cart, if not cut up and fed when fresh, they are more nou- rishing, owing to the saccharine juice with which they abound.".... Mr. Bordley. Many farmers feed in theiryards in racks, ancl suppose that they gain every possible advantage from the practice, by the saving of the dung dropped, trampled and watered by the cattle ; ancl though this practice is certainly preferable 3 R 490 FAR to wasteful pasturing, or to feeding in racks in the fields, yet it ought to be recollected, that the manure will be much inferior to that made and preserved under cover. Mr. Young justly observes, Annals M. p. 161. That "a great deal of tramp- ling in a large surface, gives a very fallacious appearance of rottenness, for it arises v. ly from rains, Avhich should, if possible, be kept away : it is not water but urine that is the proper ferment for dung: the tread- i..g of dung as fast us it is made impedes fermentation. Itought,on the contrary, to lay loose and un- trodden for the air to penetrate it. Butthere areotherobjectionswhich may be offered against the prac- tice of yard feeding, v'::. Danger from a vicious beast injuring ano- ther ; the irritation arising from their contentions for food, ancl wor- rying by flies, all of which are avoided by feeding in stalls under cover. Where cattle are yard fed, or stall fed in yards, under sheds ; it is of great consequence to defend the beasts against the cold and damp N. E. winds, and the cold blasts from the N. West. Mr. E. Duffield, therefore, advised a friend who wished to have a com- plete farm-yard, to erect a range of buildings in a S. E. direction, to have double stalls below, leaving the S. \V. and S. E. sides open, to admit the sun in the- winter, and give fee entrance to the prevalent winds in the summer.] h ARRIftllY, the art of prevent- ing, curing, or alle\iating the dis- orders of horses. 'i he practice of this useful pro- fession has, till within the last 15 or 20 years, been almost entirely confined to a class of men, who were utterly ignorant of the anato- FAR my of the horse, and the general principles of the art of healing. Their prescriptions were as absurd as the reasons they assigned for administering their draughts, bo- lusses, drenches, See. An institu- tion has at length been established where the diseases of that noble animal the horse, are the subject of peculiar attention ; we mean the Veterinai~y College, which we are happy to state, is patronized by the most respectable of the no- bility and gentry. As, however, in this work, we treat of the principal diseases, as well as the shoeing and general management of the horse, in their alphabetical order, we shall here only mention a few of the most es- teemed works published on farrie- ry ; namely, Mr. Clark's " Trea- tise on the Diseases of Horses" (Svo. 8s. 6r/.) ; his " Observations on the Shoeing of Horses" (8vo. 4s.) ; Mr. Taplin's " Gentleman's Stable Di- rectory" (2 vela. 8vr>. \5s.) ; Mr. Lawrence's " Philosophical and PracticatTreatise on Horses"(2 vols. Svo. 17". 1797); [and likewise, Riding's Veterinary Pathology,just published ;] from which the inqui- sitive reader may collect the latest and most essential improvements. Concerning the propriety of ad- minisleringHoRSE-BALLS indiscri- minately, on the suggestion of ig- norant blacksmiths ; or of resort- ing to the most absurd external ap- plications, such as Bags for reco- vering a lost appetite, while the /'■roper internal remedies are ne- glected, we shall briefly remark, that such conduct is equally injudi- cious, as the blind reliance on quack-medicines ; though it were to be wished, that the latter may be exclusively given to horses and other cattle. FAS FAS 491 Farthing-bound. See Cow. FASELNUT, or Areca catechu, L. one of the most curious Indian plants, which attains its greatest perfection in the island of Cey- lon. It grows to the height of 25 or 35 feet, without any branches, but has very beautiful leaves ; the trunk is remarkably straight, ancl the leaves form a round tuft at the top. Its fruit is contained in a yel- lowish shell,externally smooth, but rough and hairy within, resembling that of a cocoa-nut, though in size not exceeding a large walnut; its kernel is not unlike a nutmeg, ancl contains in its centre, while soft, a greyish and almost liquid substance. The ripe fruit is astringent, and its consumption in the East Indies is perhaps more general than that of tabacco in Europe ; as every person chews it, together with the leaves of betel, after mixing it with lime made of sea-shells. This mastication occasions much spit- ting, cools the mouth, ancl fastens the teeth and gums ; it is likewise said to sweeten a fetid breath, and to strengthen the stomach: for these conjoint purposes, it may, even in our colder climate, be ad- vantageously employed ; and as we possess perhaps no plant of a simi- lar efficacy, it might be easily im- ported. FASHION, in general signifies the prevailing mode of taste, and is particularly applied to dress. In this respect, it frecjuently supplies the place of reason ; especially when the two principal rules, namely, propriety and conveniency, are neglected. We cannot enlarge on this ar- ticle, which, though it frequently undermines the health of bloom- ing youth, and frustrates the fond- est hopes of parents, yet is suppo- sed essentially to contribute to the flourishing state of traces and ma- nufactures ; hence we doubt, whe- ther the most appropriate censure of that tyrant, whose shrine is re- vered by all the young, the gay,and the frivol;)its, would be productive of any good effects. This much, however, we venture to say, that fashion, Vi-hen trespassing either on the rules of health, propriety or convenience, ought to be univer- sally exploded , and treated with a similar degree of silent contempt which moral and political innova- tions generally experience, when they are nol supported by a just and solid basis. FASTS, or Fasting, denotes abstinence from food, particularly for religious vtasc-nt;. Fasting has been transmitted to us from the earliest ages, as a duty necessary to be performed at cer- tain periods, in order to deprecate those calamities, with which the innate depravity of man is said to be justly punished. Having already considered the effects offasting, under the head of Abstinence, we "shall only add, that it is particularly injurious to tender and debilitated habits in the early part of lh= day ; because the fluids of the human body, after circulating for several hours with- out any alimentary refreshment, at length acquire a putrid tendency, which is obvious from the stroirg alkaline breath of the most "v. althy person, after rising from his noc- uiiiial couch. There a,e, how- ever, instances of fanatics, who have subsisted for many days, and even weeks, without any susten- ance ; but, though such persons i:k;V occasionally survive these un- natural attempts, yet their health 492 FAT is, in consequence, miserably im- paired....Similar effects often arise from a total abstinence from animal food, whether on account of religi- ous or other motft es. Thus a late Professor in the University of Glasgow, shortened his life, by abandoning the use of flesh meat at an age exceeding 60 years ; and, after living upon vegetable aliment about six months, he was reluc- tantly obliged to resort to his for- mer mooe of diet; but these chang- es had so unfavourably affected his constitution, that he died in a very short time after making the expe- riment. FAT, an unctuous, solid sub- stance, deposited in little mem- branous cells, in various parts of animal bodies : it serves to defend the muscles and bones against cold, to temper the acids of aliments, and probably to the support of the whole frame. The fat of several animals was formerly kept in the druggist's shops, as hog's-lard, the fat of deer, geese, and also human fat, With respect to their real virtues, much depends on the manner in which they have been purified and preserved. The method of preparing fat for medicinal purposes is, to remove all veins, skins, fibres, he.; when it is to be washed, till the water conges from it perfectly insipid and colourless. After this preparation, the fat is to be melted by a gentle heat, with a small quantity of water, till the latter be evaporated ; it is then to he strained off" into an far- then vessel where it will settle, and be preserved from the air. When thus purified, fat is almost totally divested of taste, and smell. With regard to the properties of fat and marrow, when used as food, FE A they produce a solid and nourish- ing juice, increase the blood and fluids in general ; but are difficult to be dissolved, and apt to become rancid on the stomach of many persons, whose digestive powers are weak, and who are not accus- tomed to take much exercise.... Hence, if fat be not duly assimila- ted to the fluids, it impairs the stomach and bowels, occasions di- arrhoeas, heart-burns, head-achs, and spasms, especially in those whose habits are easily irritated. Fat-heh. See Wild Orache. Fatness. See Corpulency. Fattening of Animals. See Bullock and Cattle. FATTENING of Colours, is a term employed by painters, and signifies a coagulation of the oil, which is occasioned by mixing it with several kinds of pigments.... hence, when it has been kept for a considerable time, it becomes so viscid and glutinous, as to be whol- ly incapable of being worked either with the brush or pencil. In this state, a due proportion of fresh oil should be added. Colours will also fatten, after they have been laid on the proper ground ; so that one part of the oil will run off in small streams or drops, while the other adheres to the canvas with the colours, but without drying. This defect, we conceive, may be remedied by eva- porating the watery parts of the oil, and grinding the colours more carefully, so as to prevent their precipitation. Oils will likewise fatten, when they have been too long kept, or exposed to the sun and air. Fea-berry. See Rough Goose- berry. FEATHER, a general name, expressing the covering and wings FEL of birds, by which they are ena- bled to fly. The feathers chiefly used in this country are those of geese, from which animals they are plucked three, four, ancl even five times in the course of one year: thus, in cold seasons, many of these birds fall victims to that barbarous cus- tom....The feathers obtained from the county of Somerset are esteem- ed to be the best, as those brought from Ireland are reputed to be the worst. Great quantities of goose and other feathers are annually im- ported from the North of Europe; which, however, are insufficient for the demand : hence poulterers dispose of vast numbers of the fea- thers of cocks and hens, and also of ducks and turkies ; all of which are much inferior to those of geese. The best method of curing fea- thers is, to expose them to the sun in a room ; and as soon as they are thoroughly dry, to put them loosely in bags, in which they should be well beaten, in order to cleanse them from all dust and filth. Feathers are chiefly used for the stuffing of beds, which are certain- ly less wholesome than wool or horse-hair matresses, and tend greatly to relax and enervate the human body. Within the last two or three years, they have been ma- nufactured into hats ; a mode of employing them far preferable to that we have just mentioned,...See Plume. FELT, a kind of stuff, which derives its consistence merely from being fulled or wrought with lees ancl size, without being cither spun or woven. The mechanism of felt- ing is equally simple and curious ; though its theory is little under- F E N 493 stood, even by professional hatters. ...As the surface of hair and wool, is by no means smooth, but form- ed either of plates resembling the scales of fish, or of zones placed over each other, as we find in the structure of horns, it follows that hair or wool, when promiscuously entangled, cannot be easily disen- gaged, on account of its rough sides, which may be readily per- ceived, by drawing a hair between the fingers against the root-end. Thus, each inequality of surface accommodates itself to that of ano- ther hair, and forms at length a natural texture. Felt is made either of wool alone, or of a mixturejof that article with camel's or other hair, ancl is used principally in the manufacturing of Hats, to which we refer. FEN, a place overflowed with water, or abounding with bogs.... See Bog and Draining. The most extensive fens in this island, are those of Lincolnshire, which afford considerable advan- tages to the inhabitants, who take large quantities of fish, and wild fowl : the latter are even sent to the London market. Fens generally abound with sa- line plants, which are very nourish- ing to cattle, and exceedingly fat- tening to sheep and horses. Oats will also thrive wrell in several fen districts ; and, in prosperous sea- sons, yield abundant crops. Coleseed is likewise cultivated to a very considerable extent on the fens, which indeed might be made more fertile, if the practice of pa- ring and burning them, to the depth of an inch and a half, were more generally adopted. Fen, the name of a very perni- cious disorder, to which hops are subject. It consists of a kind of 494 FEN FEN moss, or mould, which grows ra- pidly, and does considerable injury to the hop-grounds, unless it he eradicated immediately on its first appearance. FENCE, in rural economy, is a hedge, waft, ditch, ban':, or other inclosure, made round gardens, woods, fields, etc. The fences employed .or parks, and sometimes for gE. dens, are ge- nerally of paling ; which, if made of winter-fallen oak, will continue sound for many years. For this purpose, the pales should be cleft thin, and the rails cut triangular, in order to prevent the wet from being deposited on them. In parks. where fallow-deer are kept, it will be sufficient if they be 6-*- feet high; but where there are red deer, it will be requisite to make them at least one foot higher. Various kinds of plants have been recommended for constructing the common fences, of which we shall point out the principal: 1. The White-Thorn is the most pro- per for fences, as it grows quickly, is very durable, and makes a very handsome appearance. It thrives on any soil, where a ditch ancl a new hank are prepared for its re- ception, unless the soil consist en- tirely of sand or gravel: it will ne- vertheless grow even in such situ- ations, if the planting be succeeded by heavy rains. 2. Black-Thorn is another excellent shrub for a fence : it is, however, much infe- rior to thewhite-thorn,as its growth is not so certain ; and, w here it thrives, its roots spread, ancl are apt to run in too much upon the land. For dead hedges and mend- ing open places, the bushes of this plant are superior even to the white-thorn ; they are likewise less liable to be cropped by cattle. 3. Furze, to which we refer. 4. To these may be added, the Holly, which is indeed ^referable to either of the pftnt?, above-mentioned ; for, though i:3 growth is slower, a::d more uncertain, yet where it succeeds, it amply compensates for the delay and expense incur- red, by its thickness, height, and strength. The best mode of making a fence with these trees \s, to plant them with th-- qu.'.ck or vzhite-thorn, in the proportion of one of the former to four of the latter. Both will flourish; and,asthe holliesincrease in size, the white-thorns may be pulled up : so that when the trees have attained their full growth, they will require the whole of the space occupied by the thorns, and will make a most durable fence.... If any vacancies should intervene, they may be easily closed, by bend- ing down, and covering the lower branches with earth : thus, they will shoot forth in the ensuing year, and form a barrier impene- trable to cattle. Beside these, alder, and even elder, make, in certain situations, excellent fences. If sticks or trun- cheons of the latter, from ten to twelve feet in length, be set in a sloping direction each way, so as to form a kind of chequer-work, they will grow speedily, and con- tinue for several years. This plant is excellently adapted to watery places, as its lowest roots are con- tinually spreading, and thus pre- vent the banks on which they stand, from being undermined, or washed away by the current. The last tree which we shall mention, is the Horn-ream. It is chiefly used in Germany for the purpose of fencing lands ; and is propagated from sets or slips,which FEN FEN 495 are planted op a parapet of earth, with a ditch on each side, in such a direction, that every two plants may interact each other. The bark is then scraped off the place where they meet, and which is co- vered with bands of straw : in con- sequence of this operation, the two plants become coujcined, and put forth horizontal slanting shoots, Forming a kind of palisade ; which., if lopped annually, will render eve- ry part of the fence equally impe- netrable to men and cattle....See Hedges. [The daily growing scarcity of wood in the United States, renders the inclosure of a farm, very ex- pensive. It behoves the farmer, therefore, to adopt every means to preserve his fences. It' is well known, that the decay of posts al- most universally commences at the surface of the ground, and pro- ceeding gradually to the centre, eats through the post. To prevent this, many farmers are in the practice of charring the post a few inches above and below this part. This practice is highly proper..... Charcoal is known to be indestruc- tible by the common causes of de- cay, by which wood is destroyed. It has been suggested, also, by a writer in the Philadelphia Magazine, June, 1798, to charr the ends of the posts, and even the whole fence ; to place the broad part of the rail uppermost, and the an- gle downwards; to prevent the lodgment of rain. The cedar rails brought to Phi- ladelphia, generally come from the immense swamps of Delaware and New-Jersey ; ancl are made in so slight a manner, as greatly to di- minish their natural tendency to durability. In a grazing farm, where cattle pasture at large, it is of the greatest consequence, o have strong rails, in order to resist the violent attempts to level them, which are frequently made by un- ruly beasts. Mr. Wm. West,of Delaware county, therefore, who does every thing about his farm in the best manner, procured his rails from Jersey, e'even feet long, and had the.ii split in the manner of square rails, strong and thick, in preference to broad-rail fashion.... The mortices in his posts, are 2-t laches wide. These directions are worth at- tention by the farmer, in whatever plenty he may have wood for fence, because the time which will be sa- ved to him, by not being obliged to renew his fence every seven years, is a great object; but to persons living near the great towns, wood is a serious expense : and we ought to begin in time to plant hedge:, to inclose our grounds.... The most proper mode of plant- ing these shall be fully disclosed under the article Heuge. See also Inclosure.] FENNEL, the Common, or Fennel Dill, Anethumfaniculum, L. a native perennial plant growing on chalk cliffs, ancl common on the western coasts. Its yellow flowers appear in July or August. The tender buds of this aromatic plant are useful in salads; its leaves are boiled and used in sauces for several kinds offish, and also eaten raw with pickled salmon, kc..... The seeds yield an excellent aro- matic oil, which is carminative, re- solvent, and diuretic, without heat- ing the body : on account of these valuable properties, as well as for its strong, pulpy, and esculent root, this plant is industriously cultivated on the continent ; it de- lights in a rich, but not too moist 496 F E R soil; and the seed is put in the ground soon after it becomes ripe. There are two varieties cf this excellent vegetable reared in Italy, both of which might be cultivated in Britain ; namely, 1. The dulce, or sweet fennel; and 2. The azo- nicum, or Italian fennel. The for- mer easily degenerates, and re- quires a frequent supply of seeds produced on its native soil ; the latter is a delicious plant, the stalks of which according to Bechstein, are thick, pulpy, and from four to five inches broad : they are high- ly esteemed by the Italians, who blanch ancl eat them as salad, pre- pared with flour, vinegar, and pep- per. Hence the popular adage in that country, according to which "fennel and bread are the Italians repast." Fennel, the Water : See Wa- ter Starwort. FENUGREEK, or Trigonella fanumgracum, L. is a native of the southern parts of France, Ger- many and Italy, whence its yellow- ish seeds are annually imported. They possess a strong, disagreea- ble smell, ancl an unctuous, farin- aceous, and somewhat bitter taste. These seeds are chiefly employed in cataplasms, and fomentations, for softening maturating, and dis- cussing tumors: they are also occa- sionally used in emollient and car- minative clysters. FERMENTATION is, strictly speaking, a chemical process, and one of the most obscure pheno- mena in nature, which all the in- genuity of philosophers has hither- to been unable to explain. Instead, therefore, of perplexing the reader with different theories on the sub- ject, we shall briefly relate the practical part of this interesting FER process, together with the circum- stances attending it. Fermentation may be defined to consist in a visible internal com- motion of different bodies reduc- ed to a fluid state ; emitting bub- bles of air, and a sparkling pun- gent vapour. But, more properly speaking, it is a gradual ancl spon- taneous change of a body, consist- ing of different ingredients vari- ously mixed, and which are now decomposed and converted into a vinous liquor. Thus we obtain, according to the methods after- wards pursued, wine, ardent spi- rits, beer, or vinegar. Hence fer- mentation is confined to the vegeta- ble and animal kingdoms ; and is divided into three regular stages ; namely, the vinous, acetous, and putrefactive. Vegetables only are susceptible of the first; the flesh of young animals in a slight degree undergoes the second ; and all ani- mal substances are peculiarly sub- ject to the last stage, or putrefac- tion. The most essential requisites in every process of fermentation, are: 1. That the substance be in a fluid state ; 2. That there be a proper degree of uniform warmth, that is, in general between the 70°. and 80°. of Fahrenheit's thermome- ter: and 3. That the atmosphere be not entirely excluded from the fermenting bodies, nor that they be exposed to a current of air. If, in the elementary mixture, or component parts of a vegetable body, there exist a portion bf in- flammable air, this spirituous in- gredient will be disengaged at the very commencement of fermenta- tion : hence we obtain wine, bran- dy, cyder, beer, he. from grapes, apples, pears, and other fruit, from FER F E R 497 every species of corn, as well as from saccharine and mealy roots. Their productions, however, so far differ from each other, that wine contains a greater proportion of spirituous, and less of mucilagi- nous particles, than beer; and that distilled spirits are deprived of all earthy and viscous ingredients. But, as all fermentable bodies, be- side the inflammable spirit, possess a portion of acid ancl saline parti- cles, which are not disengaged dur- ing the first, or vinous stage offer- mentation, another separation of constituent parts takes place, im- mediately after the former is ef- fected, without any farther dis- charge of air-bubbles, or intestine commotion of the fluid; though a volatile elastic vapour is observed to escape: thus, the spirituous parts, unless they have been pre- viously drawn off by distillation, are communicated to the atmos- phere, and this stage is termed the acetous fermentation; because its productions are the different sorts of vinegar obtained from wine, beer, fruit, corn, he...Although, in most of the fermentable substances, these two stages naturally succeed each other: yet, by improper treat- ment, the acetous fermentation sometimes appears before the vin- ous can possibly commence, espe- cially where the process is mis- managed by too great a heat; or, in those bodies which possess little or no inflammable matter in their elements. On the contrary, such vegetables as originally contain a sufficient proportion of aerial and fiery constituents, will easily fer- ment, by the simple means of warmth and water. But, if those elementary ingredients be in a manner deprived of their activity, by too many crude and viscid par- VOL. II. tides being combined with them, it will then be necessary to make certain additions, partly natural, and partly artificial, in order to dispose them more readily to fer- ment. These means, or additions, are such as have either already un- dergone fermentation; or are ea- sily disposed to ferment: of the former kind are yeast and leaven ; of the latter, honey, sugar, especi- ally in a state of molasses, and other sweet substances, which, however, but slowly promote fer- mentation ; nay, if they be previ- ously diluted or dissolved in too hot water, ancl in that state added to the fermentable materials, they will entirely check that process. There are, besides, other means of pro- moting it.; for instance, the dried leaves of the vine in a state of pow- der ; cream of tarter, especially af- ter it has been repeatedly moist- ened with stroijg vinegar, and after- wards dried ; the crumb of bread prepared in a similar manner, and reduced to powder, he. If fluidity, warmth, ancl fresh air, forward the fermentative pro- cess, the contrary of these, name- ly, dryness, cold, and exclusion of air, inevitably tend to prevent it.... There are, however, cases in which it may become necessary to impede its progress; and we may then safe- ly resort to the means above allud- ed to....But a certain degree of heat, such as we have before stated, ap- pears to be indispensibly necessary to conduct that process with suc- cess : an undue continuance, or the least increase of heat, proves detri- mental, while an appropriate tem- perature, in a remarkable degree promotes fermentation. These different points of heat should be accurately noted and settled by the thermometer, or other certain me- 3 S 498 FER FER thods ; though, for common, or all economical purposes, they may be limited to what is in general term- ed a tepid and a fervid heat: the former is the bane of all vinous fer- mentation ; the latter, or impercep- tible warmth, is the great promoter of it. And if, notwithstanding a due attention to a proper tempera- ture ancl all other circumstances, the liquor will not work of itself, it should then be ass-sted by such sub- stances as are called ferments, and of which we have already given some account. In the Memoirs of the Philoso- phical Society of Manchester, Mr. Henry states the result of some experiments, in which he produced a fermentation both in bread and wort, ancl even in punch and whey. Conjecturing, therefore, yeast to be simply a quantity of fixed air detained among the mucilaginous parts of the fermenting liquor, he boiled some wheaten flour and wa- ter to the consistence of a thin jelly, which he put in the middle of Dr. Nooth's machine for communica- ting fixed air to water. A consider- able portion of gas was absorbed ; and the next day the mass was in a state of fermentation. T he third day it bore so great a resemblance to yeast, that an experiment was made on some paste for bread ; for which purpose it answered tolera- bly well, after being baked four or five hours. Mr. Henry made another ex- periment with some wort only; part of which was impregnated with air in the same manner as the flour and water, and when poured into the remainder, a brisk fermen- tation ensued in 24 hours; a strong head of yeast began to collect on the surface, which on the third day was fit for tunning. In the course of the experiment, good bread was made with the yeast taken off the surface. The dispute which has arisen concerning Mr. Henri's mode of producing fermentation, may be easily decided by a comparative trial. Let two gallons of wort be put into a separate vessel, and kept in a moderate heat for a certain time: let also two other gallons be impregnated, either wholly or in part, according to Mr. Henry's method, be put into a similar ves- sel and deposited in the same place. If the fermentation commence in the liquor impregnated with fixed air sooner than in the other, the air may be rationally conjectured to induce such fermentation. At all events, Mr. Henry's experiments, with respect to bread, are certainly decisive, ancl those relative to li- quors may thus be easily ascertain- ed; an object of the utmost impor- tance to the public. [A true theory of fermentation is not yet settled: and it is foreign to the nature of this work to enter upon the subject. The reader is referred to an admirable paper on it, by Mr. J. Collier, in the fifth vo- lume of the Manchester Transac- tions, and to Fabbroni's Treatise on the Arte di Pari il Vino, published in Florence, in 1788,and translated into French by Cit. F. R. Baud, (1801). Fabbroni denies, that al- cohol is the product of the vinous fermentation, and asserts, that it is formed in distillation. See his note on the subject, Annates de Chimie, vol. 30, and Nicholson's Journal, vol. 4, p. 46 : Also, some judicious remarks on the theory of Fabbroni, in a late volume of the Journal de Phisique of Paris, by Chaptall, extracted from an admirable trea- tise on the Vine, in the 10th vol. FER FER 499 of the Cours d' Agriculture, pub- lished as a continuation of the same work, formerly edited by the abbe Rosier. In the paper alluded to, the singular theory of Fabbroni is ably controverted by Chaptall. The Chemical Essays of the late Dr. Pennington, of Philadelphia, may also be consulted.] FERMENTED LIQUORS,are those obtained by the process de- scribed in the preceding article. See also Beer, Brewing, Cyder, Wine, he. All liquors which have under- gone the vinous fermentation, are considered as great antidotes to pu- trefaction : hence the total absti- nence from them is assigned as one of the chief causes why the Turks are more liable to the plague, ancl other contagious diseases, than those nations among whom beer or wine is the common beverage. It has farther been remarked, and per- haps with justice, that since the custom of brewing and distilling liquors has prevailed in Europe, many of those cutaneous as well as putrid diseases, with which our forefathers were afflicted, have been less severe, and less frequent than they occurred in former ages. On the other hand, it is certain that all fermented liquors contain a considerable portion of air, which appears to combine the spirituous with the viscous parts, and which must necessarily be disengaged, before they are carried through the different organs of secretion. The developement and discharge of these aerial particles, however, is not effected without considerable efforts : hence it may be safely as- serted, that fermented liquors are less conducive to a sound and vi- gorous digestion of food than plain water. Yet, with respect to their influence on the human mind, it cannot be denied that such liquors in general have the effect of enli- vening and exhilarating the spirits, especially of those who are natu- rally deficient in mental energy, or possess a weak and debilitated frame. Some writers, however, are of opinion, that they also have a strong tendency to corrupt the morals of mankind; an effect which they evidently produce, even in temperate climates, when taken to excess. On the whole, we think a moderate use of malt liquors and wine, is less injurious to the body than the daily drinking of tea, cof- fee, ancl other hot liquors, which threaten to emasculate the present and future generations. FERN, the Female, or Pteris aquilina, L. an indigenous plant, growing on heaths, in woods, and dry barren places, and flowering in the month of August. This weed is extremely difficult to be eradicated, as its roots, in soft and deep soils, have been found at the depth of eight feet. One of the most effectual methods of extirpating the fern is, to mow the grass frequently ; and if the field be ploughed up, and well dunged, this plant will not thrive : ....urine is said to be of considera- ble efficacy in checking its vege- tation. It may also be easily de- stroyed, by means of an instru- ment consisting of a stick, in which is inserted a blade, with blunt edg- es, and with which the stems of the plant are to be bruised. Several acres may thus be cleared, even by a woman, in the course of one day ; the next morning a gummy matter will exude from the in- jured stalk, and the fern will gra- dually disappear. But, however troublesome this 500 FER FER vegetable may prove to the indus- trious husbandman, it is not alto- gether useless, and might well de- serve to be regularly cultivated in those places where few other vegetables will grow. For covering the roofs of houses, fern affords a valuable substitute for straw : in order to apply it to this useful purpose, it should be pulled up together with its roots, m the beginning of October, when it is perfectly pliant, and not liable to break ; if these precautions be attended to, the thatch will conti- nue sound for thirty years. It also produces excellent litter for horses and cows; and when dry, is eaten by cattle, for which purpose it should be cut from the middle of August to that of September. Hogs are particularly fond of its roots, which render them exeedingly fat; and, it has been found by ex- perience, that if the stalks be scald- ed for a few minutes, and mixed with bran, for store hogs, half the quantity of bran will be saved; so that from February to June these animals may be kept at one half of the expense, by a weed growing abundantly on waste lands. It ought, however, to be remarked, that young pigs should not be fed with this plant, as it is naturally too heating for them, and might be productive of dangerous con- sequences. Fern may also be employed as an excellent manure for potatoes ; for, if it be buried beneath the roots of the latter, it seldom fails to produce a good crop....It is like- wise a proper substitute for coal, where the latter is scarce, for the va- rious purposes of brewing, baking, heating ovens, and burning lime- stone, as it emits a powerful heat. The ashes of fern, when burnt, are frequently used by the manu- facturers of glass, especially in France, because they afford a tole- rable pure alkali....In several parts of Britain, the poorer class of peo- ple mix these ashes with water, and form them into round masses, which they call fern-balls: these are next heated in a fire, before they are made into a ley for scow- ering linen. Mr. Friewald ob- serves, in the 4th volume of the Transactions of the Swedish Aca- demy, that his countrymen mix the fern ashes with a strong ley, previously to forming them into balls, and afterwards dry them : thus, a very cheap substitute is prepared for soap; and the linen washed with it, not only becomes perfectly white, but is at the same time free from that disagreeable smell, frequently contracted by linen imperfectly washed with the common soap.... According to Prof. Beckman, fern produces the 9th part of its original weight, when burnt to ashes; and Sheffek, in his Chemical Lectures, published in German, remarks, that it yields the largest proportion of ashes among all known vegetables. M. Gmelin even affirms, that it af- fords no less than the third part of its own weight in vegetable alkali. Beside the multifarious use to v/hich the fern is subservient, it may be applied to a purpose still more important. In the " Memoirs d' Agriculture," for 1786, we find that this vegetable furnishes the inhabitants of Palma,'one of the Ca- nary isles, with their daily bread: in digging for its roots, they first taste them, and reject those which are bitter, as useless. Such facts require no commentary. FER FER 501 FERN, the Male, or Male Po- lypody, Polypodium Felix-mas, L. is an indigenous plant growing in woods, heaths, and stony places, and flowering from June to October. This vegetable has nearly the same qualities, and is used for the same purposes as the female fern. In Norway, the dried leaves are infused in hot water, in which state they afford a wholesome food to goats, sheep, and other cattle, which eat them eagerly, and some- times grow fat by their constant use. The inhabitants of Siberia boil the male fern in their ale, on account of the flavour which it imparts to that liquor. The roots, when pulverized, are an excellent vermifuge, ancl have been given with great success, in the propor- tion of two or three drams, for the expulsion of the tania, or tape- worm. [The vermifuge powers of fern are well known. It appears to be particularly active in expelling the tape-worm, which is very trouble- some. Dr. G. Jones relates the case of a lady in New-York, who after taking many worm medicines with partial good effects, drank a decoction of fern in water, (a pint a day) until some gallons were taken, when a dose of Castor-oil brought away the remnant of the worm, measuring 45 feet! The fern is the famous remedy of Mad. Nouffer, of Switzerland, for the tape-worm. She acquired the knowledge of the remedy from her husband, who was a surgeon, and obtained a great price for the secret from Louis XVI. of France, by whose order it was published. The powdered plant was generally preferred by Mad. N. and may be given in doses of from 60 grs. to two drams.] FERRET, or Mustelo Euro, L. an useful animal, which is origi- nally a native of Africa, whence it was introduced into Spain, and subsequently into this country. It has red, fiery eyes ; the colour of its whole body is of a pale yellow ; and its length, from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, is about 19 inches. The ferret requires to be kept carefully within doors, as, unlike other wild animals, it is incapable of procuring its own subsistence. The female is of a smaller size than the male, ancl produces twice annually from five to six, ancl some- times even eight or nine young ones, after a gestation of six weeks. These animals are employed for the purpose of hunting rabbits, to which they are mortal enemies.... They are always muzzled previ- ously to being admitted into the burrows, in order that they may not kill the rabbits, but only drive them out of their holes into nets, spread out for the purpose of tak- ing them. In the west of England, they are frequently kept in farm- yards and barns, for the purpose of destroying the mice and rats in- festing corn-stacks.....Ferrets are reared in casks or boxes, where they are. provided with beds of hemp or flax. They sleep almost continually, and, on waking, very eagerly search for food, which con- sists chiefly of bread, milk, &c. They are easily tamed, and ren- dered docile, but are extremely irascible ; and as they at all times emit a disagreeable odour, it in- creases ancl becomes extremely offensive when they are irritated. Their motions are nimble ; and they are at the same time so vi- gorous, that they can easily con- quer a rabbit, which is at least four 502 FES FES times larger than its adversary. FESCUE-GRASS, or Festuca, L. a genus of plants consisting of 39 species; though only 12 or 14 are indigenous, of which the fol- lowing are the principal: 1. The ovina, or Sheep's Fescue- grass, which is perennial, grows in dry, sandy soils, and flowers in the month of June. This plant is eat- en by cows, horses, goats, ancl es- pecially by sheep, which are very partial to it, ancl soon become fat from its use. 2. The rubra, Creeping or Pur- ple Fescue-grass, which is peren- nial, grows on elevated heaths and dry barren pastures, ancl flowers in the month of June. This grass is of great value in the fattening of cattle, as its succulent leaves, which continue to vegetate during the whole summer, at all times furnish abundance of wholesome food. It also possesses the ad- vantage of retaining its verdure throughout the winter, when al- most every other vegetable is de- cayed. 3. The duriuscula, or Hard Fes- cue-grass, which is also perennial, grows as well in dry places, as in low and flat meadows; and flowers in the month of June. It has not hitherto been cultivated, though it claims the attention of the intelli- gent farmer ; for it frequently at- tains the height of three or four feet, shoots forth very early in the spring, is very luxuriant, and af- fords a wholesome and grateful food to all kinds of cattle. 4. The elatior, or Tall-Fescue- grass, which grows in boggy mea- dows, and at the sides of wet ditch- es, where it often attains the height of four or five feet. It is peren- nial, flowers in the month of June ©r July (sometimes twice in the year), and makes excellent pas- ture, but requires a rich soil....It is eaten by horses, cows, sheep, ancl goats. There is a variety of this grass, called by Mr. Cuktis, the Festuca pratensis, or meadow fescue-grass, which will thrive not only in very wet, but also in dry soils. This variety possesses a property, on account of which it deserves to be more generally cultivated, name- ly, that of producing abundance of seeds, which speedily grow, and are easily collected. It bears a close resemblance to ray-grass, though it is in many respects greatly su^ perior to the latter, at least, for the purpose of making and improving meadows; as it is perennial, larger, more productive of foliage, and very hardy. 5. The fluitans, or Flote-fescue grass, which is common in wet ditches, ponds, and marshy places; it flowers from June to September. This plant is remarkable for its small but very sweet and nutritious seeds: they are collected in seve- ral parts of Germany and Poland, under the name of manna seeds ; ancl used in soups, gruels, and pud- dings, both for their excellent ali- ment, and agreeable flavour. When ground into meal, the seeds may be converted into bread, which is little inferior to that made of wheat. The bran, separated in preparing the meal, is given to horses troubled with worms ; but no water should be allowed these animals for seve- ral hours afterwards. Beside the useful purposes before mentioned, the flote-fescue is a valuable grass for cattle; being so remarkably grateful, especially to horses and hogs, that they will endanger their lives in obtaining it; but as it grows only in waters which have a miry FE V F E V 503 bottom, it cannot be cultivated. .....The Cottenham and Chedder cheese, in a great measure, derive their celebrity from this grass. 6. The myurus, or Wall Fescue- grass, or Capons-tail grass, which grows on walls, dry, barren places, and road sides ; it produces violet stalks from 16 to 24 inches high, and affords a sweet, nourishing pasture : hence it might be culti- vated with advantage, on the poor- est soil where few other grasses will thrive. FEVER, a general term for a numerous ancl diversified class of diseases; in which, after shivering, succeed increased heat and a quick, irregular pulse ; while several of the animal functions are impaired, and the muscular strength, parti- cularly that of the joints, is re- markably diminished. In most of the febrile actions taking place in the human body, nature endeavours to remove some noxious foreign matter; and the evacuations which take place in fevers, are principally those by the pores of the skin, and the urinary passages, sometimes, also, by vo- mitting ancl diarhceas, less fre- quently by hemorrhages or fluxes of blood, and very seldom by cu- taneous eruptions. In the small- pox and bilious fevers, especially of scorbutic patients, a discharge of saliva occasionally intervenes, which, though it cannot be called critical, ought never to be sup- pressed. In all fevers, there is either an in- creased, progressive motion of the blood, which is manifest from the quickness of the pulse ; or an ac- celerated internal commotion of the fluids, which is obvious from the unusual degree of heat accom- panying them ; in most instances, however, both symptoms occur in the same individual. Hence, the proximate cause of these com- plaints appears to be morbid mat- ter contained in the fluids, and thence stimulating the nerves..... Frecjuently, indeed, an irritability of the nervous system alone seems sufficiently to account for the pro- duction of a febrile disease, yet in these cases, also, the material cause has probably pre-existed,and been only excited by the additional stimulus. On the other hand, a fever may arise from any debilitat- ing or exciting cause; for instance, wounds, passions, acrid purgatives, he. without any pre-disposition of the individual. Thus it may, in some measure be explained, why rude ancl uncivilized nations are but seldom afflicted with febrile disorders; because these affections are peculiar only to persons of a nervous and relaxed habit. The following facts render it highly probable, that the morbid matter of fevers is much disposed to putrefaction : 1. All remedies which are successfully administer- ed in fevers, are of the antiseptic class; such as salts, acids, cam- phor, Peruvian bark, 8tc. 2. Ani- mal food is in almost every febrile case detrimental to the recovery of health. 3. The excrements are uniformly of a putrid nature. 4. All foul matters easily produce fe- vers ; for instance, putrid exhala- tions and ulcers. 5. The genera- tion of heat is most remarkable in putrid fevers, and continues even for some time after death. It is, nevertheless, rational to suppose, that no fever can arise,even though adisposition should pre-exist in the sojid parts of the body, till the ner- vous system becomes affected by the stimulus of acrid or morbid 504 F E V particles ; and till a certain degree of acrimony has been generated in the fluids. The remote or pre-disposing causes of fever may be ascribed either to an improper mode of liv- ing, with regard to the six non-na- turals, namely, Air; Aliment; Ex- ercise and Rest; the Passions and Affections of the Mind ; Wakeful- ness and Sleep; Repletion, and Evacuation : or they are to be at- tributed to a certain general influ- ence ; such as famine, unwhole- some provisions, an unusual and irregular temperature of the air, he. For the treatment and cure of fever, in general, it is impossible to lay down any precepts which are applicable to every individual: we shall, therefore, confine our ob- servations to the following points: 1. The nature of the fever ought to be ascertained by professional men, who will accordingly endea- vour to remove, if possible, the proximate cause. Thus, where bilious impurities abound, they are often most effectually evacuated by emetics ; where a plethora or ful- ness of blood prevails in the con- stitution, bleeding is occasionally useful; wire re the humours appear to be in an acrid state, it will be necessary to take diluent liquors, such as ptisan, gruel, he. a tea- cupful every half hour, and to ab- stain from all solid food, eggs, and even broth. 2. To promote the crisis, or as- sist the efforts of nature by all pro- per means: thus, if the pulse be- come softer and fuller, diaphoretic or sweating remedies will then be necessary ; but nothing ought to be more guarded against in fevers, than a precipitate and excessive use of medicines. This caution is FE V so well founded, that the ancients cured the most obstinate and ma- lignant fevers almost entirely by a strict attention to diet and regimen. Hence, the air in the patient's room ought to be pure, and never to exceed 70°. of Fahrenheit ; during the cold fit, additional co- vering may be allowed, but which should be instantly removed, as well as all feather-beds, when heat and perspiration commence. Both food ancl drink must be of a cool- ing and diluting nature ; the lat- ter, in particular, should be plen- tifully given, without over-loading the stomach. AH subacid, ripe fruit, particularly cherries, rasp- berries, strawberries, 8cc. are there- fore of singular benefit in all inflam- matory and putrid fevers ; apples, pears, ancl plums being less juicy, are inferior to the fruit before men- tioned, though some kinds of mel- low and saccharine pears are equal- ly proper. The juice of lemons and oranges, mixed with water, also affords a cooling and salutary beverage. In short, all those rules which we have stated under the head of Chronical Diseases, are, with a few modifications, also ap- plicable to febrile complaints. Al- though fevers are divided, by au- thors, into inflammary, putrid, bilious, pituitous, hectic, and con- sumptive, eruptive, sporadic, epi- demic, infectious, endemic, topi- cal, vernal, autumnal, complicat- ed, original and symptomatic, re- gular and irregular; yet the fol- lowing division is better calculated to answer practical purposes. I. Intermiltents, or Agues, which see. II. Inflammatory fevers, or those which are attended with an inflam- mation of any internal part of the body ; such as the breast, lungs, FE V throat, 8cc. or some external part, for instance, the Rose. Eor a de- scription of the former kind, sec Pleurisy, ancl Inflammation.... Sometimes, however, there is no locai affection discoverable, though all the symptoms of an inflamma- tory disposition of the blood are evident, in which case, the disor- der is termed a simple imllamma- tory fever. III. Putrid fevers, which are ac- companied with certain symptoms of putridity, either in the first pas- sages, or in the mass of the blood, or in both....These malignant fe- vers are highly infectious and de- structive; though they have lately been most successfully treated by large doses of fresh yeast, diluted with water; a cheap and easy re- medy, of which we propose to give a farther account under its alpha- betical head. IV. Bilious fevers, are thus de- nominated from an undue secretion of the Bile, to which article we refer : no time should be lost here in applying for proper advice, as they frequently terminate in putrid fevers, if mismanaged in the be- ginning....See also Yellow Fe- ver. V. Nervous fevers, in which the whole nervous system is originally affected ; these maladies are chief- ly of modern origin, and have fre- quently been relieved by the pro- per use of the tepid bath. \V e can- not in this place expatiate upon their treatment, as they appear in a thousand different forms, and re- quire the assistance of professional men, more than any other class of diseases. VI. Hectic fevers, are those which emaciate the body, and arise in consequence of the corruption of any particular organ or viscus in VOL. II. F E V 505 the system: for instance, obstruc- tion, suppuration, or ulceration of the breast, lungs, liver, &c. See Hectic....These fevers, however, are to be distinguished from the slow, consumptive, and cachectic febrile affections which are fol- lowed by a general decline of the constitution, though there appears to be no organic injury, or local disorder, in any part of the sys- tem. VII. Eruptive fevers are term- ed those, in which the skin or sur- face of the body discovers an erup- tion which consists either in vesi- cles, and pustules, such as the small- pox, scarlet fever, See. or in spots somewhat elevated above the skin, and uneven to the touch, such as the measles; or in mere stains or spots, marked only by a discolour- ed surface ; for example, in the petechial fever. It wruld he superfluous to give farther explanations on the differ- ent kinds of fever, a subject which is but imperfectly understood in theory, though the generality of these maladies has, in consequence of many important discoveries in chemistry, been lately treated with greater success, than our medical predecessors were entitled to ex- pect, from their deficient know- ledge of natural philosophy. Thus, an attempt has been made to re- duce all fevers to one generic source, and to ascribe their origin to an undue proporticn of azote, and a deficiency of oxygen, in the human system. Although we can- not approve of that uncommon fond: ess for generalization, which has been productive of incalculable mischief in meciicj.l practice, yet there appears to be some founda- tion for those eccentric opinions maintained by a foreign professor, 3 T 506 F E V Dr. Reich, of Erlang, in a treatise " On Ferver;" a translation of which has just been published in English. This ingenious practitioner has cured the most malignant putrid fevers, by the liberal use of mine- ral acids, and particularly the mu- ria'ic, or spirit of sea-salt. He acknowledges that acids have long been employed in fevers, though only in very small quantities, and chiefly as auxiliaries, especially the vitriolic, and those of the vegeta- ble kind ; but the muriatic acid has seldom been used. In the year 1773, indeed, Sir W. Fordyce highly recommended this acid to be given internally, in putrid and malignant fevers, and to be applied externally in the form of a lini- ment, or gargle, to the sloughs in the throat, frequently accompany- ing such fevers; but his liniment consisted only of twenty drops of the concentrated acid to one ounce of honey of roses; and his antisep- tic febrifuge contained five drops of the acid mixed with two ounces of a strong decoction of Peruvian bark. In a subsequent pamphlet, concerning the virtues of the mu- riatic acid, which appearedin 1790, Sir William recommends it as the best remedy in all putrid dis- eases of the worst kinds; in.pete- chial, camp, and jail-distempers, as well as the malignant sore- throat; so frequently fatal in this country ; ancl afterwards in the small-pox and plague. The origi- nal discovery of this ir valuable me- dicine appears to belong to Con- stants k Rhodocanacidi s, who in 1664, published a treatise on the internal ancl external use of tins acid, the extraordinary power of which he derived from the univer- sality and approved value of com- mon sait. Hence he recommended FE V it to be mixed with food and drink, to the amount, if necessary, of 100 drops in 24 hours, both as a pre- ventive and remedy for the plague, and as a general antiseptic. Dr. Reich observes, that the quantity of acids necessary to ef- fect a cure of fevers, depends on circumstances, and can only be determined by experience. It is, however, more advisable to begin with small doses, and to repeat them frecjuently; for instance, if a mixture be made of from one dram to half an ounce of the acid, eight ounces of water, ancl two of syrup, let the patient lake a table- spoonful or more every hour, or two hours. But, in time of clanger, from forty to an hundred drops, properly diluted, may be given at once, and such doses often repeat- ed.... As we propose to insert a few additional remarks on the use and efficacy of this acid, under the head of Typhus, we shall conclude with observing, that we have pre- scribed large doses of this powerful remedy only in two cases of com- plicated bilious and nervous fevers, in which it at first produced alarm- ing symptoms, such as diarrhoea, vomiting, he. though it was even- tually attended with success. In short, it is one cf those medicines which may be safely administered by the experienced hand of the practitioner, but which is apt to be misapplied by dabblers and em- pirics. Fever in horses, a disorder to which these creatures are subject from varftus causes. The svmp- toms are: great restlessness; the animal's flanks beat; his eyes uie red and inflamed; his breath is hot, and smells strong; his i.ppe- tite is lost; he dungs link, but frequently; his urine is of a very FE V high colour, is discharged seldom, ancl with great difficulty ; he ap- pears to be thirsty, yet drinks lit- tle, though frecjuently; and his pulse is uncommonly high. The first remedy to be applied is bleeding, when two or three quarts of blood may be taken from the animal, if it be large, strong, and in good condition. A pint of the following drink is then to be given four times in the course of the day : Take of baum, sage, ancl chamomile flowers, each a hand- ful ; of sliced liquorice-root half an ounce ; nitre, 3 ounces : the whole is to be infused in 2 quarts of boil- ing water, and, as soon as it is cold, it is to be strained, the juice of two or three lemons squeezed in, and sweetened with honey ; or, instead of the infusion above di- rected, an ounce of nitre, mixed with honey, may be given in the form of a ball, three times a day, and washed down with any small liquor. The animal's diet ought to con- sist of scalded bran, allowed in small quantities ; or, if he refuse this, a little dry bran sprinkled with water may be substituted. It will also be necessary to put some picked hay into the rack, as horses will frequently eat it, when they relish no other food : their water should be scarcely luke- warm, ancl given them frequently, but in small quantities. Their clothing ought to be moderate, for too much weight on a horse is highly improper in fevers. If, in the course of two days after this treatment, the animal's appe- tite begin to return, and he eat a lit lie bran or hay, careful nursing will be sufficient to complete the cire ; but, if he continue to loathe his food, it will be necessary to F E V 507 take away more blood, and to re- peat the drenches.....The following clyster, consisting of two quarts of water-gruel, fat-broth, pot-li- quor, a handful of common suit, 4 ounces of treacle, and a pint of lin- seed-oil, should be administered every day, while his excrements continue dry or knotty. Such clys- ters are more proper than those consisting of marsh-mallows, cha- momile flowers; ftnnel-seed, and other purging ingredients. An opening drink prepared of 4 ounces of"Glauber's salts, or cream of tartar, and an equal quantity of lenitive electuary, dissolved in bar- ley water, or any other liquor, should likewise be given every se- cond day, when the clysters may be omitted ; the nitre balls, or the drink above mentioned, being con- tinued every clay as usual, unless the clysters be ad ministered. In the course of four or five days, the horse will begin to pick his food if he be not beyond the power of medicine ; and, though his flanks will continue to heave for a fort- night, yet this may be effectually removed by walking him in the fresh air, ancl allowing him plenty of clean litter in the stable. FEVERFEW,or Matricaria, L. a genus of plants consisting of six species, three of which are indige- nous. The principal of these are : I. The parthenium, or Common Feverfew, which grows in waste grounds, hedges, ancl walls, and flowers in June or July. "This plant is refused by horses ; the whole ha:; a strong disagreeable smell, a bit- ter taste, ancl yields an essential oil by distillation. It was ioi\ner!y celebrated for its e .icacy in hys- teric, and other affections o. the lv-rves ; os well as for its tonic, stomachic, a.d resolvent proper- 503 F E V ties. Dr. Lewis, however, thinks it much inferior to chamomile, with which it agrees in all its sen- sible qualities, excepting that the common feverfew is much weaker. But us odour, taste, and other con- stituents, prove that it is a medi- cine of considerable activity. In Germany, it lias been usefully em- ployed ftr tanning ancl cunying Lather. 2. The chamomilla, or Chamo- mile Feverfew, which grows in corn-fields, dung-hills, as well as on road-sides, ancl is in flower from May to August. Its proper- ties are similar to those cf the common chamomile : it is eaten Ly cows, gouts, ancl sheep, but not relished by horses ; and hogs to- tally refuse it. According to cor- ner, the flowers of this species of feverfew afford a fine yellow pig- ment, which may be rendered more permanent by the addition of alum, cream of tartar, and gypsum..... Scheffer, another German che- mist, inform us, that a decoction cf these flowers imparts a beautiful yellow colour to silk, if a solution of tin, saturated with cream of tar- tar, be gradually dropped into the liquor, till it acquires a deep yellow tinge. Berthollet, however, on this occasion, remarks, that pure water must be employed, which doe., not precipitate the solution of tin, and that the dyeing bath should be kept in a hot, though not boil- ing state. FEVER-POWDERS are gene- rally understood to be those origi- nally prepared by the late Dr. Ro- bert James, and by many still l.eheved to be a certain remedy for fevers of every description. Ac- cording to the recipe deposited in the records of Chancery, (when Dr. James took out a patent for the F E V sale of his powders), they consist of antimony ca'oft.ed with a continued pro'"i\icted heat, in a flat, unglazed earthen vessel, adding to it from time to time a sufficient quantity of any animal oil and salt, well dephlegmated ; then boiling- it in inched nitre for a considerable lime, t.nd s«.pa.-;.uing the powder from the nitre, by dissolving it in water. The chief intention in this process, is to divest the antimony of its sulphur, by mixing it with some animal substance, to prevent its running into glass during the calcination. Vv'htn this once celebrated em- piric first administered those pow- ders, he usually added a small pro- portion of the red precipitate of mercury to each dose ; but he soon relinquished this practice, after ob- serving that some patients were salivated by the use of his nos- trum. Hence we find that he has conscientiously annexed the fol- lowing clause at the end of his specification given into Chancery : " The dose of this medicine is un- certain ; but, in general, thirty grains of the antimonial, and one grain of the mercurial, is a mode- rate dose." Signed and sworn to by Robert James. It is to be lamented that regular practitioners have sometimes de- viated from the more rational path of medical science, and degraded themselves by following the nu- merous herd of quacks : nay, it is still more surprising, that even in- telligent physicians have often hu- moured their prejudiced patients, by prescribing those fever powders, of which the inventor himself had but an indifferent opinion. For it is a well-attested fact, that the Peru- vian bark, and not the antimonial powder, was the remedy to which FIE FIE 509 the late Dr. James generally trust- ed in the cure of fevers. He gave his powders only to clear the sto- mach and bowels ; after effecting that purpose, he poured in the bark as freely as the patient was able to swallow it ; for he has re- peatedly declared to Dr. Monro, (see his Medical and Pharmaceu- tical Chemistry, vol. i. p. 366, and foil.), that if there was a possibility of curing a fever, the bark was the remedy to be relied upon ; and, if the disease did not yield to the latter, he was convinced, that it could not be removed by any other medicine. However empirical this declaration must appear to every professional man possessing a mo- derate share of medical knowledge, yet it is amply sufficient to evince the fallacy of Dr. James' Fever- powders, which, from the nature of their ingredients, are so violent in their operation, that we trust no prudent person will in future pur- chase, or use them, without sub- mitting his case to the discretion of an unbiassed and competent judge. FIELD, in agriculture, a piece of land inclosed, either for the pur- pose of tillage, or for pasture. The best season for laying land down to grass, is the latter end of August, or the beginning of Sep- tember, when the roots of the young plants will have time to strike deeply, before the frost sets in. Moist weather is the most pro- per for this purpose, as the earth will then be sufficiently warm, and the seeds quickly vegetate : but, if that season prove unfavourable, they may be sown in the middle of the month of March following. In order to obtain a fine pasture, the soil should be thoroughly clear- ed from all noxious weeds, by re- peated ploughing; for, if any of them are suffered to remain, they will speedily outgrow, and destroy the young grass. These weeds ought next to be raked up into heaps, burnt on the land, and their ashes spread as a manure; but, if the soil be clayey and wet, it will be necessary to make some drains to carry oft' the water; which, "if suffered to stagnate, will both chill and sour the grass. Previously to sowing, the land ought to be laid as level and as fine as possible : thus, if the grass-seeds be clean, three bushels will be sufficient for an acre. After sowing, they should be gently harrowed, and smooth- ened over with a wooden roller.... When the grass comes up, all the vacant spots are to be provided with fresh seed; which, if it be, properly rolled in, will in a short time attain the height of that first sown. Few circumstances are of great- er importance in rural economy, especially to graziers, than to as- certain the most valuable field for pasture. For this purpose, Mr. David Young (" Agriculture, the primary Interest of Britain," 8vo. 1788, 6i.) proposes to weigh all cattle previous to their going into each field, and to allow them nei- ther food nor water for 12 hours before. After the wdiole pasture is consumed, they should stand for a similar length of time, withoutfood and drink,andthen again be weigh- ed. Thus, the increase of weight in each animal, may be easily de- termined. Fields ought not to be kept too long in pasture. When land is first laid down, with a view to ameliorate the soil, the common practice is to leave it in that state for many years: for it is the gene- 510 FIG F IG ral opinion, that the longer it is thus suffered to lie, the richer it will become for bearing corn. But, th >ugh the truth of this position be evident, the most important ob- ject of inquiry is, to ascertain the most beneficial rotation ofcroj:?.... (See CKOp.)....The best criterion, perhaps, is to take up pasture for corn, as soon as the grass begins to be deficient both in quantity and quality; ancl, after a few crops, to lay it down again with grass-seeds: by this method the land may be kept in good heart, and consider- able expense saved, while in the end, the soil will produce larger crops, and consequently afford greater profit. FIG-TREE, or Ficus, L. a ge- nus of plants, comprising forty- three species, of which one only is cultivated in this country; namely, the carica, or common fig-tree. It is propagated either by suckers arising from the roots; by layers; or by cuttings. The first are to be taken off* as low down as possible ; all ragged and superfluous parts being removed, and the tops left entire, especially if intended for standards. These are to be planted in nursery-rows, two or three in- ches apart ; or, they may be set in the spot where they are intended to remain. They are then suffered to branch out and form a head, care being taken that the branches never be shortened ; for, as the figs are always produced on the upper part of the yoang shoots,if these be cut oft", no fruit can be expected. The best season for raising fig- trees by layers, is in autumn; the young pliable lower shoots are first to be selected from the moist fruit- ful branches, which are to be laid in the usual way , the body of the layers being covered with soil to the depth of three or four inches, and the top kept as upright and entire as possible. In the succeed- ing autumn, they w ill be fit to be separated from the parent-stock, when they may be planted either in the nursery, or in the place of their ultimate destination. The time for propagating by cuttings, is either in autumn, or at any time during the month of March. The shoots to be selected for this purpose, ought to be those of the preceding summer; short, and strong; from 12 to 15 inches in length ; and to have at least an inch of the two years wood at their base ; the tops being left entire. These cuttings are to be set 6 or 8 inches deep, in a bed of good soil, in rows 2 feet apart: and, if tfey be planted in autumn, it will be requisite to protect the tops from the severity of the winter, with any kind of loose, long litter. Fig-trees require a free exposure to the rays of the sun, at the side of an espalier : they ought to be frequently watered; ancl, accord- ing to Bechstein, wood-ashes are for them a more proper manure than dung. Towards the winter of our colder climate, the root of the fig-tree ought to be somewhat loosened, and the trunk bent down in the form of a bow, and covered with straw, to protect it from the severity of the frost. * There is a mode of increasing and ripening the fruit of the do-. mestic fig-tree, by means of in- sects : it is practised in the Levant, ancl known by the name of caprifi- cation. The principal of those in- sects appears to be the cynips pscnes that deposits its eggs in the ligs; from these arise small worms which, when covered with the pol- len or flower-dust, migrate from FIG FIG 511 the male flowers, take shelter in the female ones, and thus effect fructification. In consequence of this natural process, the figs not only ripen more speedily, but also become much larger : so that a fig-tree which formerly produced about 2 5lb. of ripe fruit, now yields nearly 3001b. Later experience has proved that caprification may be successfully imitated in gardens, by wounding the buds of the figs with a straw or feather dipped in sweet oil. Bechstein advises a drop of olive oil to be introduced into the calyx of the figs when half ripe, and to repeat this unc- tion every four or five days : as it will remarkably promote the growth ancl maturing of the fruit. Plums and pears also, when wound- ed by insects, have been observed to ripen at a more early period, and the pulp about the wounded part to acquire a more delicious flavour. The principal varieties of the common fig are, the brown, or chesnut coloured Ischia fig, the murrey, or brown Naples fig ; the common blue or purple fig ; and lastly, the Turkey fig, which is in the greatest estimation, and is im- ported in considerable quantities into this country. Figs contain a large portion of mucilage, and a small quantity of oil. They are grateful to the sto- mach, and more easy of digestion than any other sweet fruit; they abound with saccharine matter,and are very nutritious,though they are apt to occasion flatulency, when eaten without bread or other mealy substances. A decoction of figs af- fords excellent gargles to cleanse the throat and mouth : this fruit also forms an ingredient in lenitive electuaries, and pectoral diaughts; it is likewise applied externally to soften, digest, and promote matu- ration. When in an unripe state, figs, as well as the whole tree, yield an acrid milky liquor, which, if taken as a medicine, proves both purgative and emetic ; but exter- nally affords a mild caustic: hence, it is frequently employed for the removal of warts. This juice has also^een substituted for sympathe- tic ink ; as the characters written with it, clo not appear visible till they are exposed to a fire. In dyeing, a decoction of the green branches and leaves of the fig-tree imparts, according to S'uc- kow and Dambourney, a deep gold colour, of a brown-reddish shade. The latter observes, that the young branches communicated a delicate brown to cloth prepared with a solution of bismuth; but the leaves alone yielded a very deep yejlow colour. It is remarkable, that the substances dyed with any part of the fig-tree, retained a very agreeable fragrance, resembling that of the tuberos, even after be- ing washed and kept for five months. Hence, they might be usefully'employed as ingredients in other dyeing drugs, which pos- sess a less agreeable, and some- times offensive, smell....The wood of the fig-tree is almost indestructi- ble, and was formerly much em- ployed in the East, for the preser- vation of embalmed bodies. [Figs ripen very well by the mid- dle of September, in Philadelphia, when enjoying a free exposure to the sun. In the southern states they flourish luxuriantly, ancl might become an article of extensive ex- port and home consumption, if pains were taken to introduce the large Levant fig.] i' LG WORT, or Scrophularia, L. 512 F I L FIL a genus of plants consisting of 21 species, four of which are natives of Britain ; the principal of these is the nodosa, or great figwort, which is perennial, grows in woods and moist hedges, and flowers in the month of July. It is eaten by goats, but refused by horses, cows, sheep, and swine. The animals last mentioned, when diseased with the scab, may be cured by washing them in a decoction of these leaves. Bechstein remarks, that the fibrous root, when over- grown with small knobs, is said to afford a good remedy for the worms in hogs. Filberts. See Hazlenut- tree. FILE, a tool employed by smiths and others, for the purpose of smoothing, polishing, or cutting metals. This instrument is composed ei- ther of iron or forged steel, cut by means of a chisel and mallet, in small furrows of various depths, and in different directions, accord- ing to the grain or touch required. After being thus cut, it is temper- ed with a very hard and dry soot, which is diluted and worked up with urine, vinegar, and salt, to the consistence of mustard. The process of tempering consists in rubbing the files over with this pre- paration, covering them with loam, and then placing them in a char- coal fire, whence they are remov- ed as soon as they become red-hot. Immediately after being taken out, they are immersed into cold spring water; and, when cold, cleaned with charcoal and a rag; after which operation, they are laid up in bran to prevent them from be- coming rusty. Files are of different forms, siz- es, cuts, and degrees of fineness, in proportion to the various uses and occasions for which they are designed ; such are the common square, flat, triangular, or round files ; the rough-toothed files, which are intended to cut more speedily than any other ; and the fine-tooth- ed file, which cuts more slowly, and is appropriated to finer work- manship. The best and most du- rable instruments of this descrip- tion are manufactured at Sheffield. FILM, in farriery, is a thick pellicle or skin, that is formed on the eyes of horses ; in consequence of which their sight is impaired. In order to disperse the film, it has been recommended to reduce common salt and sugar of lead, to a fine powder, and put a little into the eve, so as to corrode the film. Another remedy consists in apply- ing a small quantity of finely pul- verized sal ammoniac daily to the part affected, till the obstruction be removed. FILTRATION, in chemistry, as well as in domestic economy, is the process of straining or filtering liquors by means of woollen cloth, cotton, linen, paper, or other mate- rials. It deserves to be previously remarked, that in every attempt at purifying fluids in the mariner here alluded to, we can divest them only oi those foreign ingredients which are mixed with them, and not of such as they hold in solution. The former may be separated from them, by proper filtration ; but the latter must be disengaged, either by precipitation or distillation. Al- though the utility of filtration is thus limited to the noxious parti- cles mixed with liquid bodies, such as foul water, yet it is sufficiently important to deserve some atten- tion. The common filters are of two FIL FIL 513 sorts ; namely, simple pieces of paper, or cloth through which the fluid is passed ; or similar materi- als twisted up in the same manner as skeins or wicks ; they are first wetted,then squeezed, ancl one end put into the vessel, which contains the liquor to be filtered ; the other end is to be suspended beneath the surface of the liquor, the purest parts of which drop gradually out of the vessel, leaving behind the coarser particles. These filters, however, are not calculated for domestic use : hence different machines have been in- vented for the purpose of purify- ing turbid water. But among these various contrivances, few appear to possess the advantage of sim- plicity, combined with that of af- fording an ample supply of a fluid so essentially necessary to the pre- servation of health. A patent has lately been granted to Mr. James Peacock, of Finsbury-square, for a filtering machine, which is stated to be superior to any hitherto in- vented. It completely accomplishes the purpose of filtration, by caus- ing the turbid fluid to ascend through a medium of fine gravel, of progressive degrees of fineness, by which means the foulest water or other fluid becomes perfectly freed from all (mixed) impurities, without any noxious mineral qua- lity, which pumice or other com- mon filtering stones are suspected to communicate. Should, from continual use, its operation become in any degree impeded, it may be completely cleansed with the great- est facility in the short space of one minute ; an advantage posses- sed by none of the common ma- chines that operate by descent. Be- side these useful properties, Mr. Peacock's filtering machine does vol. n. not occupy more room than a large drip-stone with its apparatus, and yields a constant and pure stream of more than 300 gallons in 24 hours. A specimen of this ma- chine is deposited for inspection at Guildhall, London. As we are, from a principle of justice to the public, no advocates for patent inventions, that upon the whole arise from the same merce- nary and contracted source as pa- tent quack medicines: we shall re- commend a very simple and effec- tual apparatus, by which the pur- est water may be easily procured. This contrivance is calculated on the plan of the celebrated filtering machine erected at Paris, in the vicinity of the Samarataine, and by means of which the foul water, of the river Seine is so completely pu- rified, as to be divested of its laxa- tive properties. Besides, this ma- chinery, if constructed on a large scale, is well adapted to supply the largest breweries, or dyeing works, with any quantity of pure water at •a trifling expense, and is attended with very little additional trouble. When we reflect on the method which Nature pursues in the fil- tration of water, we find that such waters as descend from hills, tho' passing through sand and rocks, are seldom perfectly pure; but that those are the most limpid, which by ascending, ooze out near the foot of a mountain. The cause of this difference appears to be ow- ing to the circumstance, that if the water only descends through sand, the finest and most weighty fo- reign particles gradually penetrate through the sandy strata ; on the contrarv, when it is forced to rise through sand, all such ponderous ingredients settle at the bottom ; because, from their greater speci- 3 U 514 FIL FIL fie gravity, they cannot ascend to the top. The lighter particles of fluids, consequently, in both cases remain in the upper strata of the earth or sand. From these considerations, Pro- fessor Parrot, junr. of Paris, was induced to give his filtering ma- chine the form represented in the following cut: The principal part of the ma- chinery consists of a square vessel, bent in the form of an inverted syphon. The curve may be circu- lar, eliptic, or in any other direc- tion. This vessel is filled with fine, pure sand, till nearly the height of the dotted line x, y, which denotes the ascent of the water to D, whence it flows into the receiver. The part marked A, B, should always project above this line, according to the size of the filtering machine. To A, B, there is attached a woollen bag, which is open at the top, and the lower part of which touches the sand. It serves the purpose of col- lecting the coarsest impurities, and thus preserves the sand for a longer time from becoming foul. The bag, therefore, may occasionally be removed, and rinsed in clean water. It is evident, that the wa- ter flows at A, through the bag into the filtre, ancl rises at the place marked D, which is considerably lower than the former. It affords a veiy agreeable sight to observe the most limpid fluid penetrating the uppermost stratum of sand, perfectly similar to that oozing from the purest natural spring. Prof. Parrot remarks, that he procured a filtering machine made of block-tin, for ascertaining by experiments the purity and quality of water, that may thus be obtain- ed in a given time. It consisted of the following dimensions: the small diameter E, D, was eight Pa- ris inches; the large diameter of the whole machine, eleven inches ; consequently the thickness of the vessel was one inch and a half. The perpendicular height of the lower side, from C, its basis, to the rim D, whence the water issues, was four inches and one-twelfth; the opposite height of the mouth A, B, eight inches and three-fourths ; and the height of the sand on the side marked D, was three inches and one sixth. Although, in experiments of this nature, much depends on the re- lative size and purity of the sand which necessarily afford different results, yet Prof. Parrot has, af- ter repeated trials, deduced the following conclusions, which ap- pear to be well-founded. 1. That the difference of the ni- veau, or water-level, has an essen- tial influence on the quantity of the purified water thus obtained. 2. That a prolongation of the stra- tum of sand does not considerably diminish the product of the filtre, FIL but remarkably contributes to the purity of the fluid. 3. That if the water be forced to pass through the sand with increased velocity, it will be less pure than by allowing it a proper time for its passage ; and, 4. That a machine of the dimen- sions above described, will furnish about three quarts of water in an hour, or eighteen gallons in twen- ty-four hours. This quantity, how- ever, being too large in proportion to the size of the machine, it is advisable, either to lessen the dif- ference of the water-fall; or, which is still better, to prolong the stra- tum of sand, in order to reduce the filtration of the water to half the quantity above stated, and to obtain it in greater purity. Thus, a fil- tering apparatus, eighteen inches long from A to D,two inches thick, and four broad, would afford every hour six pints of very pure water. If, therefore, so small a machine, containing a very moderate stratum of sand, and requiring only a dif- ference of two or three inches in the height of the water, furnishes a clear and pure fluid, it follows, that an apparatus on a larger scale, provided with a bed of sand from five to six feet long, and admitting of a difference from twelve to eighteen .inches in the fall of the water, might be usefully employed in public wells, hydraulic ma- chines, and even in camps, for the supply of an army. In the construction of large fil- tering machines, Prof. Parrot justly observes, that they should not be extended in the direction A, C, D, to a greater length than is absolutely necessary; as, in this case, they will not require any con- siderable difference in the fall and rise of the water: on the other hand, their breadth and thickness FIL 515 may be accordingly increased...... Thus, the diameter of such a ma- chine would still more resemble that of a syphon, as is represented in the annexed cut. This form might be also adopt- ed for smaller machines, especially such as are designed for travellers, two of whom might be amply pro- vided with pure water, and in a very short time, by a vessel of the following dimensions: from P, to Q, eight inches long ; from P, to R, twelve inches high ; and the whole four inches in breadth. If the form last delineated be employed on an extensive scale, there should be a trap door in the lowermost part marked R, so con- structed, that it may fit exactly, and admit no passage to the water: this aperture would serve only for the removal of the sand, when it is rendered foul by long use. In the smaller machines, intended for travelling, such a door is unneces- sary, as they may be easily emp- tied of theircontentsthrough either of the orifices P, or Q. Instead of this addition to the latter, the upper room (which in the first of these cuts is circumscribed with the let- ters B, F, E), might serve as a re- servoir of pure water, that could either be decanted, or drawn off by means of a cock applied to the centre of the machine, marked F. We think, however, this latter arrangement, which is proposed 516 FIL by M. Parrot, in many respects objectionable, and therefore advise the reader to make use of the more simplified construction. Hence we shall only add, that every filtering machine ought to be provided with a cloth cover, to prevent the dust from rising with the water, with- out impeding its filtration. It is needless to expatiate on the great advantages of filtering ma- chines in the different processes of dyeing, baking, brewing, distilling, and all the domestic arts. As no particle of real nutriment can be assimilated to the human fluids, without being previously macerated and reduced by water (whether this fluid be introduced into the sto- mach, in the form of beer, wine, spirits, tea, he.) it will be easily un- derstood that im/iure water cannot fail to produce, however slowly, many dangerous, and often incur- able diseases...the source of which is seldom suspected...See Water. [A filtering machine was invent- ed a few years since in Paris, by- Mr. Smith, which purified a great quantity of water : it would con- tain about eight gallons of water, ancl being wickered, was rendered very portable: the whole machine not taking up more space than half a barrel. It is understood, that the process consists of passing the water, first through spunge, and then through alternate layers of chalk, sand, and charcoal. The editor was present at an experiment last year with the ma- chine, which was highly satisfac- tory. Water was taken from the gutter in the street, and drank per- - fectly pure, in twenty minutes af- ter having passed through the ma- chine. These experiments were repeated at the editor's house, in the presence of Dr. Joseph Priest- FIL ley, last spring ; and demonstrate the great utility of the machine. Mr. Raphael Peale, of Phila- delphia, some months since, made the following experiments, before the Amer. Phil. Soc. and afterwards at the coffee-house, before a num- ber of mercantile gentlemen, which shew a cheap and easy mode of filtering water by means of the above agents...." He used 3 eight- penny flower-pots; one of which was half full of charcoal, and the hole in the bottom loosely closed with a piece of spunge, to prevent the coal from passing through ; the se- cond half filled with fine river, pit, or beach sand, its hole likewise stopped with spunge ; the third was empty, with the hole in the bottom tightly corked ; the one containing sand was placed in that which held the powdered moisten- ed charcoal; and the empty one within that which held the sand ; one end of a long spunge was fas- tened to the inside bottom of the upper empty vessel, by means of a stick, crossing from side to side, the other end hanging below its outside, bottom ; the upper pot being filled with the bad water, and the spunge wetted, acted as a draw ing syphon carrying the water thro' the spunge into the sand, leaving the grosser filth behind ; then through the sand which deprived it of the remaining colouring matter ; and lastly, the charcoal completed the defecation: the waters used were of three kinds: first, from a stagnant pond, of a bright green colour, ancl offensive smell; the second was putridity itself, a mass of watery matter from the macerating tub of an ana- tomical theatre.; and lasty, dish- water"....Most of the gentlemen present drank of these waters after passing through the pots." F IR FIR 517 The editor was present, at the above experiments at the coffee- house, and tasted the water perfectly pure, after having passed the filtre. " On board of a ship, a barrel, keg, or bucket may be used, by boring a hole in its bottom, and instead of spunge, a piece of loose oakum may prevent the coal from escap- ing with the water ; one third of the vessel is then to be charged with powdered charcoal, or com- mon coals extinguished by water ; another third with sand, or, if not to be had, pounded crockery, or bricks from the camboose; the up- per space left for the water desired to be purified; the water, though ever so obnoxious, will pass thro', cleared from all foreign matter, as sweet and pellucid, as the finest pump-water." The reader may expect some ad- ditional observations on the means of preserving water at sea, under the article Water.] FINCH, or Fringilla, L. a ge- nus of birds, comprising one hun- dred and eight species, of which ten only are natives of this coun- try ; the principal of these are mentioned in their alphabetical or- der.....See Canary bird, Gold- Finch, Linnet, Sparrow, &c. Fining : See Clarification. . FIR-TREE, the name of seve- ral species of the Pinus, or pine- tree, of which the following are the principal: 1. The sylvestris, or Scotch fir, which is a native of Scotland, and flourishes best, in a poor sandy soil, especially,if it be mixed with loam: on rocks or bogs, it seldom attains a large size; if planted in a black soil, it becomes diseased ; and, on chalk-lands it perishes. This species of fir thrives most luxuriantly on the north and east sides of hills, where it not only grows more rapidly, and attains a greater height, but the grain of its wood is also more compact, and the treesare fullerofsapthanif they had been planted in another direction. The Scotch fir is propagated from seeds, which are obtained from the cones or fruit it produces. The proper time of sowing, is in the latter end of March, or begin- ning of April: if the seeds be set in a grove, the tree becomes tall and naked; if in open situations, exposed to the sun, it becomes branched. At the age of four years, it is to be transplanted to the place where it is intended to re- main ; during which operation the utmost caution should be taken, that the central or tap root be not broken off, or in any manner im- peded in its growth ; as, in that case, the stem would cease to shoot upwards, and the tree remain a dwarf. But, notwithstanding every care taken by the industrious plan- ter, his hopes are often frustrated by predatory animals, such as squir- rels, that strip the whole bark off the young tree, in consequence of which it dies, and is broken by the first high wind. The hare is ano- ther enemy to young firs, though less dangerous: it is affirmed that hares may be drawn away from them, by sowing in their vicinity the Cytisus Laburnum, a species of the Bane-trefoil, the young shoots of which they prefer to firs. This species of the fir, is one of the most useful plants in the whole vegetable creation: it furnishes us with the best red or yellow deal, which is employed in the making of masts, floors, wainscots, tables, box- es, and for numberless other pur- poses. The trunk and branch of this species, in common, with the 5ia yiE FIR rest of die pine-tribe, afford ex- cellent pitch and tar....The tops, or young tender shoots, are an use- ful substitute for fodder, especially during the winter season: see vol. i. The roots, when divided into small splinters, are employed by the poor as a substitute for candles.....The outer bark is of considerable use in tanning leather; the inner rind is, by the inhabitants of Loch-Broom, in the county of Ross, converted into ropes. In the more northern parts of Europe, it is, in times of scarcity, made into bread: for this purpose, the inhabitants- select a tree, the trunk of which is smooth, and contains the least portion of resin : they strip off the bark in the spring, dry it gently, then re- duce it to powder, and knead it with a small quantity of corn-meal and water, in which state it is bak- ed into bread.....The young eones, when distilled, afford an essential diuretic oil, somewhat resembling that of turpentine : a resinous ex- tract is likewise prepared from them, and believed to possess vir- tues similar to those of the balsam of Peru. An infusion of the buds is highly recommended as an anti- scorbutic. [An experiment is now making with the fir, as a hedge, by Mr. Coxe, near York-Town, in Penn- sylvania, whose experience of the tree in Europe, has induced him to import them, and attempt their propagation.] 2. The Abies, or Spruce-fir, which is a native of the northern parts of Europe, whence it has been introduced into this country. It is propagated in the same man- ner as the Scoth-fir, and delights in a dry, gravelly situation, though it will thrive in almost every soil. It also succeeds on a loam, and even on a hard, dry rock; but fre- quently decays at the end of 18 or 20 years, if planted on a stiff, wet clay. The same precautions as are to be observed in transplanting the Scotch-fir, ought to be more care- fully attended to with respect to the Spruce-fir, which should be set exactly in the same direction in which it stood before; as, by turn- ing the bark to another quarter of the compass, the tree generally pe- rishes. There are two varieties of this species, namely, the white and black spruce; the wood of both is very light, and decays when ex- posed to the air for a considera- ble length of time: it is chiefly em- ployed for packing-cases, musical instruments, and the like. Its branches form the principal ingre- dient in preparing the essence of spruce, from which spruce beer is brewed. A fine clear turpentine oozes from these trees : the In- dians of North-America are said to employ it in curing green wounds, as well ascertain internal disorders: the resin which distils from the White Spruce-fir, in particular, is supposed to be a sovereign remedy in fevers, and in pains of the breast and stomach. In Britain, this re- sinous juice is boiled in water, and strained through a linen cloth, by which process, it acquires a solid consistence, a reddish brown co- lour, and an odour by no means disagreeable ; whence it is call- ed Burgundy pitch. In obstinate coughs, affections of the lungs, and other internal complaints, plasters of this resin, by acting as a topi- cal stimulus, are frequently found of considerable service. 3. The picea, or Yew-leaved Fir ; which is a tall ever-green, and a native of Scotland, Sweden, F IR FIR 519 and Germany. This species also produces two varieties, viz. the Silver Fir, and the Balm of Gilead Fir. The former grows to a great height (in Germany sometimes rising tp 180 feet), and has receiv- ed that name from the white ap- pearance of its leaves. It is very hardy, and will thrive in any situa- tion ; but prospers remarkably in a rich, loamy soil. The balm of Gilead fir is eminently calculated for ornamental gardening, on ac- count of the beauty of its form, and the fragrance of its foliage..... It ought to be planted in a rich, good earth, as it grows best in a deep, black, sandy mould, where its roots have sufficient room to strike freely. From this variety exudes the resinous juice, errone- ously called Balm of Gilead, on ac- count of its possessing the same properties as that which is produc- ed from the Pinus balsamea, or Hemlock-fir, a native of Virginia and Canada, but seldom cultivated in England. In common with the other turpentines obtained from the pine tribe, thatof thebalm of Gilead fir is a hot, stimulating, and deter- gent medicine: small doses of it have sometimes been successfully used in chronic rheumatisms and palsy. The different species of fir are infested by a variety of insects : the most formidable of these, is a brown grub, about -^ of an inch in length, which changes into a brownish moth, resembling those producing the grubs which infest apple and pear-tree. These moths deposit their eggs in the heads or tops of the firs, where they are hatched in the month of May, when the young grubs eat their way into the leading branches, and consume the pith in their course. They con- tinue their depredations till the be- ginning of June, when they assume the form of chrysalis, and lie in a torpid state till mid-summer, at which period they become perfect moths. As these insects multiply most rapidly, the greatest caution is necessary is planting firs, that they may not be propagated from an infected nursery; in which case, it will be extremely difficult to ex- tirpate the vermin. The only ef- fectual method of destroying them is, to lop off, in the month of May, the branches thus infested; for, af- ter the trees have attained a height exceeding ten or fifteen feet, there is no remedy. END OF VOLUME SECOND. THINTED BY ROBERT CARR, NO. 10, CHURCH-STREET. I The Domestic Encyclopaedia. Volumes 2-5. Willich, A.F.M. Philadelphia: William Young Birch..., 1804. National Library of Medicine Bethesda, MD CONDITION ON RECEIPT: The full leather bindings with leather spine labels were worn, particularly at the comers, edges, endcaps, and joints, and were deteriorated. The leather was powdery. A few labels were lifting or detached. The joints and internal hinges were broken, and the board attachment was very weak. The sewing was weak, but intact. Most of the pages were dirty, discolored, and acidic. They were slightly brittle. Some pages were foxed or stained. Notations in graphite pencil appeared on the exterior leaves and pastedowns. A bookplate was adhered to the front pastedown of each volume. TREATMENT PROVIDED: Treatment was documented with color slides. The pH was recorded before and after treatment: before 4.0 after 5.5. The volume was collated and disbound. The inks were tested for solubility. The head, tail, and pages were dry cleaned where necessary; the pages were washed and then alkalized (deacidified) with calcium hydroxide. fears were mended and folds guarded where necessary with Japanese kozo paper and wheat starch paste. The volume was sewn on linen tapes with linen thread. Handmade paper endsheets with linen hinges were attached. The volume was case bound in full cloth and titled using labels from the previous binding. 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