Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 53

Robust, plethoric persons, with short thick necks, are universally accounted the most liable to apoplexy. In them the fit generally comes on without warning; and when once attacked with this malady they are especially liable to its recurrence. But it must be recollected that the possessor of no particular const.i.tution or temperaments, to whatever cla.s.s it may belong, enjoys immunity from the attacks of apoplexy--a disease more fatal among Englishmen than the natives of other countries.

_Obs._ A loss of consciousness exists alike in apoplexy, epilepsy, narcotism from opium and opiates, complete intoxication, and common fainting. These may be distinguished by observing that--in EPILEPSY there are almost always convulsions, and more or less rigidity of the limbs, with (generally) foaming at the mouth and gnashing or grinding of the teeth, and frequently, the utterance of noises often not unlike the barking of a dog; whilst stertor and laborious breathing, as a rule, are absent:--in the stupor produced by OPIUM, MORPHIA, &c., the face is pale, calm, and perspiring, and the respiration is tranquil and without stertor; whilst the patient can, in almost all cases, be temporarily aroused to consciousness and kept awake by being made to walk between two attendants; the odour of opium or laudanum is also frequently perceptible in the breath or ejected matter:--in the insensibility of INTOXICATION the pulse is usually feeble, and the patient may be temporarily roused by violent shouting in the ear, or by the application of nasal stimulants, particularly the common smelling-bottle (if strong); and the breath, and ejected matter (if any), smells of liquor:--in ordinary FAINTING the face and lips are pale, the breathing quiet, the pulse scarcely perceptible, the limbs mobile, and the fit lasts only a few minutes.

_Treatment for Horses._ Give in the first place a strong stimulant internally, and apply mustard embrocations to the belly and spine. Bleed, should the pulse be small and indistinct.--_In the parturient apoplexy of cows._ Bleed in the very earliest stage; give salts and croton; diluents; no solid food; let the body and legs be rubbed and clothed; use catheter; apply ice and refrigerants to head and neck; give frequent clysters of linseed gruel; remove milk every hour, and apply rubefacients to the spine.

=APOSEP'EDIN= (-din). A substance found in putrid cheese, and supposed to be a product of the fermentation of caseine. Mulder and others have shown that it is merely impure leucine.

=AP'OSTEME= (-teme or -tem). _Syn._ AP'OSTEM; APOSTE'MA, L. An abscess or collection of purulent matter in any part of the body.

=APPARA'TUS.= [L., Eng.; cla.s.s. pl., appara'tus; Eng. pl., appara'tuses--Webster.] _Syn._ APPAREIL, Fr.; APPARAT, GERaTHSCHAFT, Ger.

In technical language, the instruments, utensils, and mechanical arrangements, employed in any operation, experiment, or observation, or in any art or trade.

=Apparatus.= In _anatomy_ and _physiology_, a catenation of organs all ministering to one general purpose or function; as the digestive apparatus, respiratory a., &c.

=APP'Et.i.tE.= _Syn._ APPETI'TUS, L.; APet.i.t, Fr.; APEt.i.t, BEGIERDE, ESSl.u.s.t, Ger. The natural desire of gratification, whether corporeal or mental. In _physiology_, the instinctive inclination to perform certain natural functions, as those of digestion and generation; but appr., the natural desire for food. In _psychology_ and _philosophy_, the APPEt.i.tES (pl.) are affections of the mind directed to general objects, as fame, glory, or riches; these when subsequently turned to particular objects, const.i.tute the Pa.s.sIONS, as envy, grat.i.tude, revenge, or love. In its common and unqualified sense, the word appet.i.te is confined to the desire for food; and in that sense chiefly concerns us here.

The sensations of hunger and thirst are seated in the stomach, and their recurrence at proper intervals is a necessary consequence of vital action, and is essential to the existence of the body in a state of vigour and health. Any alteration from their normal condition indicates diseased action of the stomach, or of the nervous system or circulation; or it may result from vicious habits. A healthy appet.i.te for food is usually a most certain indication that nature requires a supply; but in the indulgence of this appet.i.te certain regulations should be observed, and a boundary should be put to mere animal gratification. By slowly eating and thoroughly masticating the food, the stomach becomes gradually and equally distended, and the individual feels himself satisfied only after he has taken a quant.i.ty sufficient for the nourishment of his body; but, on the contrary, if the food be swallowed rapidly, and without proper mastication, it presses heavily and roughly against the sides of the stomach, and induces a sensation of fulness before a sufficient meal has been made. The consequences are, that hunger soon returns, and the party must either have recourse to food between the usual time of meals, or suffer the consequences of imperfect nutrition. Exercise and labour, within certain limits, promote the healthy functions of the stomach and bowels, through the action of the muscles of the abdomen increasing the peristaltic motion of these viscera. An inordinate appet.i.te in persons leading a sedentary life is generally indicative of the food pa.s.sing off imperfectly digested, or of the coats of the stomach being relaxed, or even diseased. More food is required in winter than in summer, in consequence of the greater radiation of the heat of the body; and hence the increased appet.i.te which is usually an accompaniment of that season.

In persons who lead a more sedentary life in winter than in summer, either no change of this kind occurs, or the reverse is the case; the want of exercise producing a diminution of appet.i.te corresponding to the increase of it that would otherwise result from the seasonal change of atmospheric temperature, or even greater. Deviations of the appet.i.te from the healthy standard, or the normal condition, const.i.tutes DEFECTIVE or DISEASED APPEt.i.tE.

Deficiency or loss of appet.i.te (AN'OREXY; ANOREX'IA, L.) generally arises from disordered stomach; but is also frequently symptomatic of other affections, particularly dyspepsia, biliousness, feverishness, and organic diseases of the lungs, stomach, and primae viae. It is a common consequence of sedentary life, and of extreme mental anxiety, excitement, or exhaustion. The _treatment_ will necessarily vary with the cause. In simple spontaneous cases the appet.i.te may generally be improved by outdoor exercise, and the occasional use of mild aperients, especially salines and aloetics. When the affection arises from the stomach being loaded with bile and crudities, an emetic in the evening, followed by a stomachic purgative the next morning, with an occasional aperient afterwards, will seldom fail to effect a cure. With heavy drinkers a gradual reduction of the quant.i.ty of the strong liquors usually consumed is generally followed by a restoration of the appet.i.te and digestive powers. The change thus gradually effected in the course of 8 or 10 days is often almost magical.

The excessive use of liquors--especially of spirits, wine, or beer, or even of warm weak ones, as tea, coffee, soup, &c.--is always prejudicial.

Hence drunkards are particularly subject to defective appet.i.te; and teetotallers and water-drinkers to a heartiness often almost approaching voracity. See BILE, DYSPEPSIA, &c.

Depraved appet.i.te (PI'CA, L.), or a desire for unnatural food, as chalk, cinders, dirt, soap, tallow, &c., when an idiopathic affection or when depending on vicious tastes or habits (as is often the case in childhood), it may be treated by admixing very small doses of tartar emetic or ipecacuanha with the objectionable food or articles. When symptomatic of pregnancy, a plentiful and nutritious diet, including the red meats, with a little good malt liquor or wine, may be adopted with advantage. When symptomatic of chlorosis, to this diet may be added the use of chalybeate tonics, and sea or tepid bathing; when of dyspepsia, a light diet, bitter tonics, free exercise, fresh air, and cold bathing, will generally effect a cure.

Insatiable appet.i.te (CANINE APPEt.i.tE, VORACITY; BULIM'IA, L.) is generally symptomatic of pregnancy, or worms, or diseases of the stomach or the viscera immediately connected with it; but sometimes exists as a separate disease, and is even said to be occasionally hereditary. When it occurs in childhood, worms may be suspected, and vermifuges administered. In adults, a common cause is imperfect digestion, arising from stomach complaints or gluttony, when the languor and gnawing pains of disease are mistaken for hunger. In this case the diet should be regulated and the bowels kept gently relaxed with mild aperients, and tonics (as bark and steel), or bitters (as orange-peel and gentian), may be administered. When pregnancy or vicious habits are the cause, the treatment indicated under DEPRAVED APPEt.i.tE may be adopted. When the affection is occasioned by acidity in the stomach, an emetic, followed by the moderate use of absorbents or antacids, will generally effect a cure. In those cases depending on a highly increased power of the stomach in effecting rapid and complete digestion, its contractile force and morbid activity may be often allayed by the copious use of salad oil, fat meat, &c., by the cautious use of opiates, or by the use, or freer use, of tobacco (either smoked or chewed, or both). A cathartic daily, with a dose of blue-pill, or mercurial powder, every second or third day, is also often advantageous. 25 or 30 drops of solution of pota.s.sa, in broth, twice or thrice daily, has also been recommended. See BILE, DYSPEPSIA, WORMS, &c.

=APP'LE= (ap'l). _Syn._ MA'LUM, PO'MUM, L.; POMME, Fr.; APFEL, Ger.; APPEL, Dut.; APLE, Swed. This well-known fruit is the product of the cultivated varieties of _pyrus malus_ (Linn.), or the crab-apple of our hedges; a tree of the nat. ord. Rosaceae. The date of its amelioration from the wild state is probably very remote, as several kinds are noticed by Pliny in a manner that would lead to the inference of a high antiquity.

Pippins, or 'seedling improved apples,' are said to have been introduced into this country from the South of Europe towards the end of the 16th century. Don enumerated 1400 varieties of the cultivated apple; there are now probably above 1650. Rennet apples (POMA RENETTIA) are those ordered in the P. Cod. to be used in pharmacy. In _botany_ and _composition_, the term apple (POMUM) is used to designate any large, round, fleshy fruit, consisting of a 'pericarp,' enclosing a tough 'capsule' containing several seeds; as love-apple, pine-apple, &c.

The wood of the apple-tree is much used in turnery; that of the crab-tree is generally preferred by mill-wrights for the teeth of mortise-wheels.

The expressed juice of 1 _cwt._ of ripe apples, after the free acid has been saturated with chalk, yields from 11 to 13 _lbs._ of a very sweet, but uncrystallisable sugar.

Apples have been a.n.a.lysed by Fresenius, and were found to have the following composition:--

SOLUBLE MATTER-- Sugar 758 Free acid (reduced to equivalent in malic acid) 104 Alb.u.minous substance 022 Pectous substances, &c. 272 Ash 044 INSOLUBLE MATTER-- Seeds 038 Skins 144 Pectose 114 [Ash from insoluble matter included in weights given] [013]

Water 8504 ---------- 10000

=Love'-apple=. The tomato.

=Mad'-apple=. The larger Mecca or Bussorah gall. They are also called DEAD-SEA APPLES, A. OF SODOM, &c. See GALLS.

=Acid of Apples.= Malic acid.

=A'PRICOT.= _Syn._ A'PRIc.o.c.k; ARMENI'Ac.u.m MA'LUM, PRaeCO'TIUM, L.; ABRICOT, Fr.; APRIKOSE, Ger. The fruit of _armeniaca vulgaris_ (Lamb.; _prunus armeniaca_, Linn.), a rosaceous tree indigenous in Armenia, Cachmere, &c., and now cultivated in every temperate region of the world.

Under the name of _praec.o.x_ it was known in Italy in the time of Dioscorides; but it was not introduced into England until the reign of Henry VIII (A.D. 1540). Its cultivation has since been zealously attended to by our gardeners, and it is now one of the choicest and most esteemed of our wall-fruits, and is particularly valued for desserts. It is reputed to be nutritious, easy of digestion, laxative, and stomachic. The seeds are bitter and saponaceous.

Apricots are princ.i.p.ally eaten as gathered; but are also dried, candied, and made into jam. In _confectionery_, the Brussels and Breda varieties are preferred to the larger and sweeter kinds. See FRUIT, PRESERVES, &c.

=Apricots, Briancon'.= The fruit of _armeniaca brigantiaca_ (Pers.).

Acidulous; seeds or kernels, by expression, yield HUILE DE MARMOTE.

=A'QUA= (-kwa). [L.] Water.--AQUA DESTILLA'TA or A. DISTILLA'TA, is distilled water; A. FLUVIA'LIS or A. EX FLU'MINE (-in-e), river-water; A.

FONTA'NA, spring-water; A. MARI'NA or A. MA"RIS, sea-water; A.

MINERA'LIS, mineral water; A. NIVA'LIS or A. EX NI'VE, snow-water; A.

PLUVIA'LIS, A. PLU"VIA, or A. IM'BRIUM, rain-water, soft water; A.

PUTEA'NA or A. EX PU'TEO, well, pump, or hard water.

=Aqua.= In _chemistry_ and _pharmacy_, this word was formerly applied to numerous preparations and articles now included under other heads. See EAU, ESPRITS, HAIR-DYES, LIQUORS, SOLUTIONS, WATERS, &c.

=Aquafor'tis.= [L.] Literally, 'strong water,' the name given by the alchemists to the acid obtained by distilling a mixture of nitre and sulphate of iron. The word is still commonly employed by mechanics and artists to designate the impure fuming nitric acid of commerce, and is thus also retained in trade. By these parties concentrated nitric acid is called 'spirit of nitre.' 'Double aquafortis' merely differs from the other in strength. See NITRIC ACID.

=Aqua Amarella.= A compound for hair-dyeing; is prepared with sugar of lead, common salt, and water.

=Aqua Grae'ca, A. Orienta'lis.= See HAIR-DYES.

=Aqua Mari'na.= [L.] The beryl.

=Aqua Mirab'ilis=. [L.] Literally, 'wonderful water,' a cordial and carminative spirit distilled from aromatics, and formerly reputed to possess many virtues.

=Aqua Re'gia.= [L.] Nitrohydrochloric acid, originally so called, by the alchemists, from its power of dissolving gold.

=Aqua Toffa'nia.= [L.] See ACQUETTA.

=Aqua Vi'tae=. [L.] Literally, 'water of life,' a name familiarly applied to the leading native distilled spirit. Thus, it is whiskey in Scotland, usquebaugh in Ireland, geneva in Holland, and eau de vie or brandy in France. When the term is employed in England, French brandy is understood to be referred to. See ALCOHOL, &c.

=Aqua Vitae Aromatico-Amara.= (F. Bolle, formerly J. B. Claude, Berlin).

Galangal ginger, aa, 2 parts; orange berries, European centaury, gentian, cinnamon, angelica, aa, 1 part; alcohol, 30 parts; water, 26 parts. Digest and filter. (Hager.)

=AQUARIUM.= A tank or vessel made of gla.s.s, containing either salt or fresh water, and in which either marine or fresh-water plants and animals are kept in a living state. In principle, the aquarium depends upon the interdependence of animal and vegetable life. The carbonic acid evolved by the animals is decomposed under the influence of solar light by the plants, and the oxygen necessary for the maintenance of the life of the animals is thus eliminated, whilst the carbonic acid essential to the existence of the plants is supplied by the animals. The aquarium, therefore, must be stocked both with plants and animals, and for the welfare of both, something like a proper proportion should exist between them. But even under these conditions the water should be frequently aerated, whether the aquarium contains fresh or salt-water. This may be done by simply blowing through a gla.s.s tube which reaches to near the bottom, or, still better, in the following manner:--Take a gla.s.s syringe which can be easily worked. Having filled it with water, hold it with the nozzle about two inches from the surface of the water in the aquarium, into which the contents are to be discharged quickly and with a sort of jerk. By this means a mult.i.tude of small bubbles are forced down into the fluid. This operation should be several times repeated. A simpler method is to take out a portion of the water from the aquarium and to pour it back again from a height. When, as not infrequently happens, the aquarium is provided with a fountain, this of course ensures a continual change of water; but even where this is the case the joint presence both of plants and animals is advantageous to the health of both. When sea-water cannot be procured for the marine aquarium a subst.i.tute for it may be made as follows:--Mix with 970,000 grains of rain-water 27,000 grains of chloride of sodium, 3600 of chloride of magnesium, 750 of chloride of pota.s.sium, 29 of bromide of magnesium, 2300 of sulphate of magnesia, 1400 of sulphate of lime, 35 of carbonate of lime, and 5 of iodide of sodium. These all being finely powdered and mixed first, are to be stirred into the water, from which a stream of air may be caused to pa.s.s from the bottom until the whole is dissolved. On no account is the water to be boiled, or even to be heated. Into this water, when clear, the rocks and seaweed may be introduced. As soon as the latter are in a flourishing state the animals may follow. Care must be taken not to have too many of these, and to remove immediately any dead ones. The loss that takes place from evaporation is to be made up by adding clear rain-water. The presence of a number of molluscous animals, such as the common periwinkle, is necessary for the consumption of the vegetable matter continually given off by the growing plants, and of the mult.i.tudinous spores, particularly of the confervae, which would otherwise soon fill the water, rendering it greenish or brownish, and turbid. In a fresh-water aquarium the bottom should be covered with a layer of fine sand and shingle, and in this the weeds should be planted. The best for this purpose are _valesneria spiralis_, _anacharis_, and _chara vulgaris_. A few water-snails should also be put in; the best are _planorbis_, _paludina_, and _amphibia glutinosa_. One plant and two or three snails should be used for each gallon of water put into the aquarium.

=AQUATINT'A.= [L., Fr.] _Syn._ A'QUATINT, Eng.; ACQUATINTA, It. A species of etching on copper, producing an effect resembling a drawing in Indian ink.

=A'QUEOUS= (-kwe-). _Syn._ AQUOSE'*; A'QUEUS, AQUO'SUS, L.; AQUEUX, Fr.; _Wa.s.serig_, _Wa.s.serhaltig_, Ger. Watery; made with, containing, or resembling water. In _chemistry_ and _pharmacy_, applied to solutions, extracts, &c., prepared with water.

=AR'ABESQUE= (-besk). [Fr.] In the Arabian manner; more particularly applied to a species of capricious, fantastic, and imaginative ornamentation, consisting of foliage, stalks, plants, &c., to the entire exclusion of the figures of animals. The designs of this cla.s.s, now so much employed in cloth and leather binding, are produced by the pressure of hot plates or rollers having the pattern engraved on them. See MORESQUE.

=AR'ABIN= (-bin). C_{12}H_{22}O_{11}. [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ SOLUBLE GUM; ARABI'NA, L. The pure soluble principle of gum acacia.

_Prep._ Dissolve white gum arabic in pure water, filter the solution, and add alcohol as long as it produces curdiness; collect the precipitate, and dry it by a gentle heat.

_Prop. &c._ Very soluble in water; basic acetate of lead, alcohol, and ether, precipitate it from its solutions. It is isomeric with crystallised cane sugar. It possesses no practical superiority over the best gum arabic, except its paler colour.

=AR'ABLE= (abl). _Syn._ ARAB'ILIS, L.; ARABILE, LABOURABLE, Fr.; PFLuGBAR, Ger. In _agriculture_, fit for or under tillage or aeration; ploughed.

=Arable Land.= In _agriculture_, land which is chiefly or wholly cultivated by the plough, as distinguished from gra.s.s-land, wood-land, common pasture, and waste. See LAND, SOILS, &c.

=ARACHIS HYPOGaeA.= _Syn._ GROUND NUT PLANT. _Hab._ Cultivated throughout the tropics of the Old and New World. _Officinal part._ The oil of the seeds (Oleum Arachis, Ground Nut Oil). Obtained by expression. Limpid, clear, light yellow, almost inodorous, or with a faint smell and bland taste. Sp. gr. 0916.--_Prop. and Uses._ This oil affords a cheap and excellent subst.i.tute for olive oil for pharmaceutical and other purposes.