Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 213

In the 'Comptes Rendus' for 1864 Dr Blanchet records the case of one of his patients, a lady of 24 years of age, who had slept for 40 days when she was 18 years of age. Two years later she had a sleep lasting 50 days.

Upon a subsequent occasion she fell asleep on Easter Sunday, 1862, and did not wake till March, 1863. She was fed during this period with milk and soup. She continued motionless and insensible, the pulse was low, the breathing scarcely perceptible, there were no evacuations, and she betrayed no signs of wasting away, whilst her complexion is described as florid and healthy.

This, however, as well as other cases of a similar kind, must not be regarded as an extreme instance of healthy slumber, but as a form of lethargy or coma, as indicative of disease, as the opposite condition or sleeplessness, that is frequently an accompaniment of certain forms of fevers, inflammatory affections, and brain disorders.

Mr Durham, of Guy's Hospital, seems to have disposed of the condition that sleep is caused by the pressure of the distended veins on the brain.

A piece of bone being removed from a dog's skull so that the animal's brain could be observed when sleeping, it was found, 1, the veins were not distended. 2. During sleep the brain is in a comparatively bloodless condition, and the blood in the encephalic vessels is not only diminished in quant.i.ty, but moves with diminished rapidity; and this is corroborated by the observations of Dr Hughlings Jackson on the ophthalmoscopic condition of the retina during sleep, the optic disk being then whiter, the arteries smaller, and the retina generally more anaemic than in the waking state. 3. The condition of the cerebral circulation during sleep is from physical causes, that which is most favorable to the nutrition of the brain tissue. See BED, WATCHFULNESS.

=SLEEPLESSNESS AND COLD FEET.= The a.s.sociation betwixt cold feet and sleeplessness is much closer than is commonly imagined. Persons with cold feet rarely sleep well, especially women. Yet the number of persons so troubled is considerable. We now know that if the blood-supply to the brain be kept up, sleep is impossible. An old theologian, when weary and sleepy with much writing, found that he could keep his brain active by immersing his feet in cold water; the cold drove the blood from the feet to the head.

Now, what this old gentleman accomplished by design is secured for many persons much against their will. Cold feet are the bane of many women.

Light boots keep up a bloodless condition of the feet in the day, and in many women there is no subsequent dilatation of the blood-vessels when the boots are taken off. These women come in from a walk and put their feet to the fire to warm--the most effective plan of cultivating chilblains. At night they put their feet to the fire, and have a hot bottle in bed. But it is all of no use; their feet still remain cold. How to get their feet warm is the great question of life with them--in cold weather. The effective plan is not very attractive at first sight to many minds. It consists in first driving the blood-vessels into firm contraction, after which secondary dilatation follows. See the s...o...b..ller's hands! The first contact of the snow makes the hands terribly cold; for the small arteries are driven thereby into firm contraction, and the nerve-endings of the finger-tips feel the low temperature very keenly. But as the s...o...b..ller perseveres, his hands commence to glow; the blood-vessels have become secondarily dilated, and the rush of warm arterial blood is felt agreeably by the peripheral nerve-endings. This is the plan to adopt with cold feet.

They should be dipped in cold water for a brief period; often just to immerse them, and no more, is sufficient; and then they should be rubbed with a pair of hair flesh gloves, or a rough Turkish towel, till they glow, immediately before getting into bed. After this a hot-water bottle will be successful enough in maintaining the temperature of the feet, though without this preliminary it is impotent to do so. Disagreeable as the plan at first sight may appear, it is efficient; and those who have once fairly tried it continue it, and find that they have put an end to their bad nights and cold feet. Pills, potions, lozenges, "night-caps,"

all narcotics, fail to enable the sufferer to woo sleep successfully: get rid of the cold feet, and then sleep will come of itself.--_British Medical Journal._

=SMALLPOX.= See POX.

=Smallpox in Sheep.= _Syn._ VARIOLA OVINA. This disease, although bearing the same name as that which attacks the human subject, is a perfectly distinct malady, and incapable of being communicated to man either by inoculation or contagion. In about ten days from the time of the animal's having imbibed the contagion feverish symptoms set in accompanied with a mucous discharge of a purulent character from the nose. Red inflammatory pimples then begin to develop, first appearing where the skin is thin.

After the pimples have been out about three days they a.s.sume a white appearance, and are filled with serum and pus. "Some of the vessels dry up, leaving brown scabs; others, especially in the severer cases, run together, and the scarf skin is detached, leaving an ulcerated surface. It is in this ulcerated stage that the prostration reaches its height, and that most sheep die. The mortality from smallpox in sheep ranges from 25 to 90 per cent."[168]

[Footnote 168: Finlay Dun.]

The disease being a very infectious one, the affected animals must be kept separate from the healthy ones. Thirty grains of chlorate of potash should be given three times a day, whilst the food should be nutritious and such as to tempt the animal's appet.i.te. It may consist of bruised oilcake, bran, and steeped oats. Professor Simonds recommends inoculation as a prophylactic measure.

=Smallpox Marks, Prevention of.= 1. For preventing disfigurement from smallpox marks, Dr Bernard suggests that the pustules as soon as they have acquired a certain size should be punctured with a fine needle, and then repeatedly washed with tepid water.

2. Dr Thorburn Patterson prescribes the following ointment:--Carbonic acid, 20 to 30 minims; glycerine, 1-1/2 dr.; ointment of oxide of zinc, 6 dr.

3. Cream smeared on the pustules, frequently during the day, with a feather. See also OINTMENTS.

=SMALTS.= _Syn._ AZURE, POWDER BLUE, SILICEOUS B., SMALT, AZURUM, SMALTA, L. This consists, essentially, of gla.s.s coloured by fusing it with oxide of cobalt.

_Prep._ 1. Cobalt ore is roasted, to drive off the a.r.s.enic, then made into a paste with oil of vitriol, and heated to redness for an hour; the residuum is powdered, dissolved in water, and the ferric oxide precipitated with carbonate of pota.s.sium, gradually added, until a rose-coloured powder begins to fall; the clear portion is then decanted, and precipitated with a solution of silicate of pota.s.sium (prepared by fusing together, for 5 hours, a mixture of 10 parts of potash, 15 parts of finely ground flints, and 1 part of charcoal); the precipitate after being dried is fused, and reduced to a very fine powder. A very rich colour.

2. Roasted cobalt ore and carbonate of pota.s.sium, of each 1 part; siliceous sand, 3 parts; fuse them together, and cool and powder the residuum. Used as a blue pigment, also to colour gla.s.s, and for 'blueing'

the starch used to get up linen. See BLUE PIGMENTS.

=SMELL'ING SALTS.= See SALTS, SMELLING.

=SMELT.= A beautiful little abdominal fish abounding in the Thames, and a few other rivers, between the months of November and February. It is esteemed a great delicacy by epicures, but sometimes proves offensive to the delicate and dyspeptic.

=SMOKE PREVEN'TION.= Although the full consideration of this subject belongs to public hygiene and civil engineering, its immediate application and advantages are interesting and important to everybody.

The history of smoke burning scarcely commences before the year 1840, at which date Mr Charles Wye Williams obtained a patent for this purpose.

Since that time a 'thousand-and-one' schemes, either patented or non-patented, professedly for the same object, have been brought before the public. Most of these have been supported by the most reckless statements regarding their value, made by interested parties; and the most serious inconvenience and losses have often followed their adoption.

Williams's method is to admit an abundant supply of cold air through a large number of small perforations in the door and front part of the furnace. Lark's method is based on the admission of heated air, under due regulation, both through the door, and at the bridge or back of the furnace, by which means combustion is rendered more complete, and smoke thereby prevented.

Ivison's plan consists in the introduction of steam by minute jets over the fire, which is thus greatly increased in intensity without the production of smoke, and with a saving of fuel. In Jucke's arrangement the grate bars of a furnace are replaced by an endless chain web, which is carried round upon two rollers, in such a way that each part of the fuel is exposed to conditions most favorable for perfect combustion. Other inventions are based upon supplying fuel to the fires from beneath, so that the products of combustion must pa.s.s through the incandescent coals above.

For household fires, the smokeless grate, invented by Dr Arnott, will be found entirely successful, and most economical. Its general introduction would be a great advance in both domestic and public hygiene; and, being hence of national importance, should be enforced by law.

=SMO"KING.= This is done, on the large scale, by hanging up the articles (previously more or less salted) in smoking rooms, into which smoke is very slowly admitted from smothered dry-wood fires, kindled in the cellar, for the purpose of allowing it to cool and deposit its cruder part before it arrives at the meat. This process requires from six days to as many weeks to perform it properly, and is best done in winter. In farm-houses, where dry wood is burnt, hams, &c., are often smoked by hanging them up in some cool part of the kitchen chimney. When the meat is cut into slices, or scored deeply with a knife, to allow the smoke to penetrate it, it is called 'BUCANING,'

"The quality of the wood has an influence upon the smell and taste of the smoke-dried meat; smoke from beech wood and oak being preferable to that from fir and larch. Smoke from the twigs and berries of juniper, from rosemary, peppermint, &c., impart somewhat of the aromatic flavour of these plants." (Ure.) The occasional addition of a few cloves or allspice to the fuel gives a very agreeable flavour to the meat.

Hung beef, a highly esteemed variety of smoked beef, is prepared from any part, free from bone and fat, by well salting and pressing it, and then drying and smoking it in the usual manner. It is best eaten shredded. See PUTREFACTION, SALTING, &c.

=SNAKE-POISONING, Mortality from.= The 'Lancet'[169] quoting a letter from T. B. Beighton, Esq., of the Bengal Civil Service, magistrate of the Culna district of the Burdwan province of Bengal, says:--"The Culna district comprises, we presume, 80 or 100 square miles, and has a population of about 300,000. Mr Beighton says that deaths from snakebite are singularly common in the subdivision. An average of one per day is reported through the police. The actual deaths are probably double the number reported. If this daily average is meant to apply the whole year round, we should thus get in a comparatively small district the frightful death of 700 persons from snakebite. It is lamentable to think that despite the supposed remedial discoveries in this direction, we still seem to be without an agent to neutralise the effects of the bites of poisonous snakes."

[Footnote 169: 'a.n.a.lyst,' 11th, 1870.]

=SNAKE-ROOT.= See SENEGA. For 'Virginian snake-root' see SERPENTARY.

Snakeweed (_Bistortae radix_) is the root of _Polygonum Bistorta_ (Linn.).

=SNIPE.= The _Scolopax Gallinago_, a well-known bird indigenous to this country. It is fine-flavoured, but rather indigestible.

=SNOW, Foreign Bodies in.= M. Bondier[170] having lately made an examination of snow, records that of the solid matters floating in the air and retained in the snow, the most abundant was found to be soot; next some cells of _Protococcus virictis_, and spores and filaments of other cryptograms; then granules of starch and cells and fibres of various plants. Epithelial cells and hairs of animals were also present, as well as fibres of wool and silk. These last, being dyed, indicated the presence of man, as did also the fibres of hemp, cotton, and indigo. The amount of foreign matter was greatest in the snow collected at the lowest levels, especially in the vicinity of human habitations and of woods, which are both fertile sources of floating particles. Permanganate of pota.s.sium was used to estimate the amount of organic matter dissolved by the filtered snow water.

[Footnote 170: 'Journ. Ch. Soc.']

Immediately mixed with the soot were the ferruginous corpuscles observed by Tissandier. These are regarded by the author, in opposition to the opinion of Tissandier, as of terrestrial origin.

=SNUFF.= _Syn._ PULVIS TABACI, L.; TABAC EN POUDRE, Fr. A powder, prepared from tobacco, for the purpose of being sniffed up the nose as a stimulant or intoxicant.

The finer kinds of snuff are made from the soft portions of the best description of manufactured leaf-tobacco, separated from the damaged portion; but the ordinary snuffs of the shops are mostly prepared from the coa.r.s.er and damaged portions, the mid-ribs, stems, or stalky parts that remain from the manufacture of 's.h.a.g tobacco,' the dust or powder sifted from the bales, and the fragments that are unfit for other purposes.

_Prep._ The proper material being chosen, and if not in a sufficiently mature state rendered so by further fermentation, they are sufficiently dried by a gentle heat or exposure to the air to admit of being pulverised. This is performed, on the large scale, in a mill, and on the small scale, with a kind of pestle and mortar. During the operation the tobacco is frequently sifted, that it may not be reduced to too fine a powder, and is several times slightly moistened with rose or orange-flower water, or eau d'ange, which are the only liquids fit for the superior kinds of snuff. In preparing the dry snuffs no moisture is used. The scent or other like matters are next added, and, after thorough admixture, the snuff is packed in jars or canisters.

_Adult._ During the grinding of tobacco it is frequently mixed with dark-coloured rotten wood, various English leaves, colouring, and other matter. Ammonia, h.e.l.lebore, euphorbium, and powdered gla.s.s are common additions to snuffs to increase their pungency. We have seen powdered sal ammoniac sent by the hundredweight at one time to a certain celebrated London tobacconist. The moist kinds of snuff are generally drugged with pearlash, for the triple purpose of keeping them damp and increasing their pungency and colour. The dry snuffs, especially 'Scotch' and 'Welsh,' are commonly adulterated with quicklime, the particles of which may be occasionally distinguished even by the naked eye. This addition causes their biting and desiccating effect on the pituitary membrane. "We were once severely injured by taking snuff which, after our suspicions were awakened, we found to contain a mixture of red lead and umber." (Cooley.)

The following circ.u.mstance related by Dr Garrod[171] in a lecture at King's College Hospital leads to the inference that the custom of packing snuff in lead is not free from danger. The doctor says:--A gentleman, a resident in India, began to suffer some time since from nervous exhaustion, anaemia, and debility of both extremities; he was a great snuff taker, taking on an average as much as an ounce in the course of a day. He consulted several medical men in India, and they attributed his symptoms to inordinate snuff taking. He, however, continued to take snuff and to get worse, and at last came to England to seek further advice. When Dr Garrod saw him he discovered a blue line on the gums. His suspicions were directed to the snuff, which he found to contain a considerable quant.i.ty of lead. To ascertain whether or not the presence of lead in this circ.u.mstance was an accidental circ.u.mstance, six packets were ordered from the house in Calcutta with which the gentleman had been in the habit of dealing. The snuff was contained in sheet-lead packages, which were all found to contain lead to about the same extent as the first specimen. Dr Garrod exhibited a solution, which he tested in the following way:--Ten grains of snuff were burned in a platinum crucible, and the ash was treated with nitric acid, the crystallised result was dissolved in water with the addition of a small quant.i.ty of acetic acid, and then tested with iodide of pota.s.sium, which threw down an abundant precipitate of yellow iodide of lead. The leaden packages were labelled 'best brown rappee,' and bore the name of a well-known English firm, from which they had been exported to India. The snuff itself was rather moist. Where it adhered to the sides of the case it was dotted with white spots, probably consisting of carbonate of lead, formed by, Dr Garrod suggests, the fermentation of the damp snuff.

[Footnote 171: 'Lancet.']

Since Dr Garrod's attention has been directed to this subject, he has spoken to a medical man recently returned from Calcutta, who told him that he had quite lately met with three cases of lead-poisoning, which, on investigation, were found to be due to the use of snuff.

_Var._ Snuffs are divided into two kinds--DRY SNUFFS, as 'Scotch,'

'Irish,' 'Welsh,' and 'Spanish snuff,' 'Lundyfoot,' &c.; and MOIST SNUFFS, or RAPPEES, including 'black' and 'brown rappee,' 'carrotte,' 'Cuba,'

'Hardham's mixture,' 'prince's mixture,' 'princeza,' 'queen's snuff,' &c.

The last three also come under the denomination of SCENTED SNUFFS.

The immense variety of snuffs kept in the shops, independently of the above-named conditions, depend for their distinguishing characteristics on the length of the fermentation, the fineness of the powder, the height to which they are dried, and the addition of odorous substances. Tonquin beans, essence of tonquin bean, ambergris, musk, civet, leaves of orchis fusca, root and oil of calamus aromaticus, powder and essence of orris root, and the essences or oils of bergamot, cedra, cloves, lavender, pet.i.t grain, neroli, and roses (otto), as well as several others, either alone or compounded, are thus employed. TABAC PARFUMeE AUX FLEURS is perfumed by putting orange flowers, jasmins, tuberoses, musk roses, or common roses, to the snuff in a close chest or jar, sifting them out after 24 hours, and repeating the treatment with fresh flowers, as necessary. Another way is to lay paper, p.r.i.c.ked all over with a large pin, between the flowers and the snuff.

MACOUBA SNUFF is imitated by moistening the tobacco with a mixture of treacle and water, and allowing it to ferment well.

SPANISH SNUFF is made from unsifted 'Havannah snuff,' reduced by adding ground Spanish nutsh.e.l.ls, sprinkling the mixture with treacle water, and allowing it to sweat for some days before packing.

YELLOW SNUFF is prepared from ordinary pale snuff moistened with a mixture of yellow ochre diffused in water, to which a few spoonfuls of thin mucilage have been added; when dry, the colour that does not adhere to the snuff is separated with a fine sieve.