Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/117

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NeA

NEC

out its outer coat, and the fheli then looks all over like the moft beautiful mother of pearl. Hift. Natur. Eclair. Part. 2- p. 249. SeeTab.ofFoffils, Clafso. and Tab. of Shells, N° 8-

NEALED, at fea, is ufed when the founding is deep water clofe to the more litis then faid to be moled to ; as alfo when the more is fandy, clayey, oofy, or foul and rocky.

NEAPOLITAN dtfeafe, a name given by many authors to the venereal difeafe ; and from hence came the name of the Nea- politan ointment, which is a mixture of quickfilver, and other things into an ointment, intended as a cure for it.

NEAR, or AoNeak, at fea, a word of command from him that conds the fhip, to the man at the helm, requiring him to let her fall to the leeward.

NEBEL, in the Jewifli antiquities, a kind ofmufical inflrument See Nablum.

NEBRITES, in natural hiftory, a name given by the antients to a ftoneheldfacred to Bacchus. It was of the brownifh yellow colour of the fkin of the young fawn, with fome variegations, and was femi-pellucid : it fcemsto have been the fame with Ibme of ouragates,with ayellow ground ; theantients,however, do not appear to have been very determinate in their accounts of it, for Pliny mentions another kind of it, which was black.

NEBRUS, in natural hiftory, a name given by the antients to the binnukur, a deer of one year old. In the next year it is called pattalia ; in the third dicrota ; and in the fourth dadli ; the word cerafla was ufed as the name of this animal when of a greater age than this.

NEBULGEN, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to exprefs what they call a fait generated by the moiff ure of the air falling upon ftones in the fields, and there indurated by the heat of the fun into the form of a dry fait.

NECESSARIO, in the Italian mufic. This word is prefixed to certain parts in mufic, as a dot violin: ncceffario, i. e. that muft be played by two violins ; canto ruceffar'to is ufed to fi<mify much the fame as concertante. See Co \ cert ante. Every mode has certain chords, which may be called its neccf- fary, or effential chords. Vid. Brojf. Diet. Muf. in voc.

NECHIASECH, an obfeure word coined.by Paracelfus, and ve- ry frequently ufed by him, and his followers ; he feems to un- derftand by it faline, corrofive, and corroding particles.

NECK (Cjcl.) — There are feveral forts of wounds in the neck ; fometimes the feat of the wound is only in the common inte- guments, and mufcular flefh ; this is attended with very little danger : but the moll dangerous, and, indeed, generally in- curable wounds, are thofe of the larger blood velTels in thefe parts : fuch are thofe of the jugular veins, and carotid and \ertebral arteries ; or where the afpera arteria is wounded, or the gula, the medulla fpinalis, the nerves that defcend by the nick, or when feveral of thefe parts are wounded at the fame time.

Wounds of the arteries of the neck are fcarce ever to be re- medied. The patient ufually bleeds to death, before a fur- geon can be had in thefe cafes; but even if the furgeon were prefent at the inftant the wound was inflifled, the laroenefs of the arteries, their vicinity to the heart, and the impoffibility of making a fufficient preffure upon the wounded veiled in this part, give but little hope of relief.

Wounds in the external jugular veins are not of great danger, if a furgeon be applied to in time ; but wounds in the internal jugulars are very dangerous, partly from their fize, which is of the^ thicknefs of one's finger, and, partly from their fituation, which is fo deep that no proper application can reach them to any advantage. Wounds in this vein are ufually efteemed mortal, hut it is fometimes poffible to fave life in this cafe. Wounds of the afpera arteria, or windpipe, are ufually deemed mortal, where the windpipe is entirely divided, or is wounded in its lower part, within the cavity of the thorax, or joined with a wound of the carotid arteries, or internal jugulars, which is frequently the cafe : but if the windpipe is only wounded in its fore-part, and the neighbouring vcil'els remain unhurt, it is ufually found curable.

Wounds of the gula, or cefophagus, afford very little hopes of recovery, where it is much wounded, or entirely divided, be- caufe, in this cafe, not only the office of deglutition is cut off; but the part is fo fituated that it is impoffible almoft to wound it, without injuring, at the fame time, fome of the neighbour- ing nerves, and blood veffels. But when the gula only is wounded, and the wound final], there is fome hope of a re- covery.

Wounds in the medulla fpinalis, in one part, are very dange- rous, but more particularly fo when inflifled on that parttf it which preffes through the neck. It is no wonder, there- fore, that fcarce any recover after a considerable wound of this kind ; which it is impoffible fhould happen without wounding the vertebral veins and arteries at the fame time ; and the fi- tuation of the part is luch that it is impoffible to convey pro- per remedies to them. Nor are wounds of the large nerves of the neck lefs dangerous than thefe ; for, if they, are divided, the parts of the thorax and abdomen to which nature has de- termined them, : mmediately lofe their affiftance, and of cou- hqueuce become unequal to the offices for which they were intended. J

For the cure of wounds in the neck, the method is as different as the nature of thofe wounds. Where the integuments, and

mufcular flefh alone are wounded, the common method elf cur- ing flight wounds takes place. Where the external jugular is hurt, the fame methods ufed after bleeding in that vein prove fufficient. When the internal jugular has received a fmall wound, the haemorrhage will be cafily flopped by filling the Wound well with dry lint ; or with the puft ball, or dully mufhroomj lodging, over thefe applications, fquare bolfters; and fecuring all with a bandage, drawn as tight as the nature of the part will admit. Where this method does not take place, the furgeon fhould make a proper preffure on the wounded part with his finger, till the haemorrhage is entire- ly flopped. The fame methods mull be ufed to the wounds of the vertebral veins ; and when the haemorrhage is once flopped, the dreffings applied are not to be removed for three days, and then a vulnerary balfam and plainer ap- plied to heal the wound. In large wounds, or an entire, divifion of the internal jugular, the furgeon, if prefent in time, fhould make a firm preffure with his finger on the wounded part, and make incifions; lengthways, above the wound, till he can get at the veffel, and then make a firrri ligature upon it, by the affiftance of a crooked needle. In cafe of a wound of the carotid artery, a furgeon, if prefent in time, fhould ufe the fame method as in thofe of the internal jugular vein. This method is more likely to have fuccefs in wounds of the upper and middle part of that veffel, than in thofe of the lower part of it ; and where the wound is not in the trunk of the artery, but in one of its branches near the head, you fhould fill up the wound with lint dipt in fome ftypticliquor,andthen cover it up with thick compreffes, fecuring all with a tight bandage, and ordering an affiftant to make a preffure upon the part with his hand, for fome time after : and, in thefe cafes, the dreffings are not to be removed till the third or fourtli day. In curing the wounds of the afpera arteria, the furgeon ought to clean the wound, and then endeavour to unite the parts by the help of flicking plaifters ; or where the wound is lame, by making two flitches with a crooked needle, dreffinp- up

the wound afterwards in the ufual matin

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the patient to keep his head in a proper fituation, that is, fomewhat bending downwards. The wound, thus treated, if it has been made either by puncture, or by the cutting of a fharp inflrument, willeafily heal; but if it has been made by a bullet, and any part of the afpera arteria is carried away, the future is to no purpofe ; wounds of this kind are only to be dreffed with the vulnerary balfams. If the af- pera arteria is entirely divided, and the lower end of it has fhrunk into the cavity of the thorax, fo that it cannot be laid hold on, there can be no remedy.

When the cefophagus is wounded, what is taken in at the mouth comes out through the wound, and the patient is ufually affeacd with hiccoughs and vomitings. Where tin" is entirely divided, there is no remedy ; but where it is on- ly perforated or wounded in part, the cure may be attempted by dreffing it with the vulnerary balfams, endeavouring to unite it by means of flicking plaifters, and enjoining tha patient a ftna abftinence for fome days, and giving nou-* rifhing glyfters of broth, milk, &c. If nourifhment mull be taken at length by the mouth, the wound mufl be pcr- feaiy cleaned every time afterwards, and be dreffed diily till it heals. Wounds of the medulla fpinalis are bed dreffed with balfam of Peru, or medicines of a like nature, mixed with a fmall quantity of honey of rofes, and fpread upon pledglts, and applied moderately warm. Slight wounds of this kind arc fometimes healed by this means ; but lar«e ones in this part always bring on certain death. Heifter Surg. p. 74.

In the Memoires del' Acad, royale des Sciences, Ann. i7"o we have fome curious obfervations by Mr. Window on the motions of the neck, as alfo on thofe of the head and fpine.

Neck, in the manege. See Carr vinc.

Neck of the cafcabel, in artillery, is that part betwixt the breech mouldings, and the cafcahcl.

Neck of a gun is that part betwixt the muzzle mouldings, and the Cornifh ring. °

NECOPHORON, in botany, a name ufed by Plirly, an I other authors for the fmilax afpera, or rough bindweed. Get: Emac Ind. 2.

NECROLIUM, a word ufed by fome of the alchemical writers to exprefs a remedy almoft always capable ofavertina death and continuing life to its utmoft period.

NECROSIS is ufed by many of the medical writers for a mor- tification.

NECTAR (Cyci.) is ufed by fome of the antients to exprefs ho- ney. This fignification of the word was owing to the fup- pofition that honey was the drink of the bees, as they efteem- ed the yellow, matter colkaed on their thighs to be their food They called the latter ambrofia. It feems that the antients have been more m the right as to their opinion of the ambro- fia than other authors, who have ufually efteemed that yellow fubftance to be true wax. But it appears from experiments that it is not really fo ; nor can wax be feparated from it by any ol the known proceffes of chemiftry. It feems rather that the bees eat it, agreeably to the opinion of the antients, and that after having ferved them is nourifhmmant, it is converted