Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/1024

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

LOG

?ft!s view, and the keeping perrecfly quiet, and avoiding much talking, are greatly conducive to it. 1 he return ot abortions is principally guarded againft by a fufricient clean- fing of the womb at the time, and by bleeding in the arm about that time of pregnancy, at which the abortion hap- pened before. , , ■Child-bearing women are to he cartfidered after parturition, as wounded perfons, in whom fevers are very ealily brought on, and every thing that makes any commotion in the blood is to be carefully avoided by them. Aftringent me- dicines are to be avoided as much as poffible in thefe cafes ; and where they are found abfolutely neceffary, the milder only are to he given, and attemperating medicines muft al- ways be given between ; and if this is neglected, inflamma- tory fevers, hefiics, and often dropfies, are the confe- quence. Junker. Confpefl. Med. p. 60, feq. Supprrfftons of the Lochia. Thefe are either plenary or par- tial. In the plenary fuppreffion there is no blood d.fcharged at all, or if there was a beginning of a proper difcharge, it flops during the firft day. In the partial fuppreffion, or as it is called by fome writers, the imminution of the lochia, they keep their period of eight, ten, or twelve days, but arc in fo fmall a quantity, as to be fcarce allowable under the name of a flux of this kind. In the judging of this imminution, it is neceffary to confider the natural ftatc and conftitution of the patient; and if in the time of her not being pregnant, fhe have been ufed to but fmall difcharges 'by the menftrual flux, there is not to be expeaed a large flux of the lochia; if the perfon has had children before, enquiry is alfo to be made into the quantity difcharged at 'thofe times, and from that is to be determined what is to 'be expected. The perfons rubject to fuppreffions of the lo- chia are principally thofe of a plethoric habit, and whofe veins are fmall ; thofe who are of a timid difpofition, and eafdy fubjecr to fear, forrow, and the like paffions. Thefe are principally the natural caufes of a fuppreffion of the lo- chia, but to thefe are to be joined many accidental and adventitious ones ; fuch as the 'hidden cooling of the body, the giving very forcing medicines to forward the delivery, and the improper ufe of hot medicines. Thefe are often given to promote the lochia, when they are judged not to flow in fufRcicnt quantity, and they often produce a plenary •fuppreffion of them, inftead of a cure. Myrrh, faffron, and the volatile falts, when given injudicioufly, are of this' tribe. Sometimes alfo fuppreffions of them are brought on by violent paffions, and by the repeated and forcible efforts the perfon has been obliged to make during a hard la- bour. Pngnoflich from it. There is no kind of hemorrhage, the fuppreffion of which is attended with fuch great, or fuch . imminent danger, as this of the lochia. The natural fup- preffions are ufually either from an over quantity of blood with a fpiffitude of it, or from a turgefcence and violent emotion of it. In the firft cafe, the fymptoms which fuc- ceed are lefs violent, in the latter they are more terrible. Of the firft kind are inquietude, tolling and turning about, anxiety, and ftraitnefs of the prsecordia, pains of the head, and want of appetite. In the latter cafe, fevers of the in- flammatory kind often immediately enfue, and fometimes miliary and purple fevers, with great malignity ; fome alfo immediately fall into deliriums of the moft violent kinds, and into quinfeys. Thefe are the hidden effects of thefe fuppreffions ; but befi.de thefe, there are often left coagulati- ons, or grumes of blood in the uterus ; thefe prevent fu- ture conception, or prevent the foetus, when conceived, from receiving due nourifhment, and bring on, by that means, abortion ; and when this is not the cafe, they fub- jecl the patient to various hyfteric and convulfive diforders, and frequent faintings. Jllethocl of cure. "When the fuppreffion is but partial, and the lochia do flow, though in too fmall a quantity ; in this cafe the more gently ftimulating medicines are to be given, and even thefe only in very fmall dofes. The tincture of myrrh and faffron, and effence of amber, may in this cafe be mixt and given, twenty, or twenty-five drops at a dofe twice a day : thefe often have a very fpeedy and happy eft eel. When the fuppreffion is plenary, and efpecially when it has already held the patient fome days, it is vain to expect to bring on a regular difcharge of 'them at once by ftimulating medi- cines ; the caufes of the fuppreffion are then to be enquired into, and the febrile emotions of the blood allayed by fe- brifuges, and by nitrous medicines ; and when the blood is reftored to its proper ftate, they will again begin to flow regularly. The common method of bleeding to bring them on again, is feldom attended with much fuccefs ; when in- deed the patient has omitted bleeding at proper times dur- ing pregnancy, this fometimes proves ferviceable ; but rarely when the blood is faulty in quality, rather than in quantity. The generality of the world are afraid of nitre in thefe cafes, left it fhould bring on diarrhoeas, but it is only an immoderate ufe of it, that is liable to this objection ; for given in dofes of four, five, or fix grains, it will rather prevent, than occafion a diarrhoea in thefe ciUcs. Junker's Confp, Med. p. 80. See Delivery.

L O C

LOCHIAL fevers, a term ufed by medical writers to ex* prefs fuch fevers as arife from fuppreffions, or imminutions of the lochia! difcharges in lying-in-women, or from any other irregularitiesduring the time of that difcharge. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 252.

LOCKER, in a fhip, a kind of box or cheft made along the fide of a (hip, to put or flow any thing in.

LOCKMAN, in the Iile of Man, the officer who executes the orders of the government, much like our under iheriff. Kings Defcript. 1(1. Man, p. 26.

LOCKS, in the manege, in French called eniravons, are pieces of leather two fingers broad, turned round, and fluffed on the infide,"to prevent their hurting the partem of a horle, round which they are clapped. An entrave is compofed of two entra-vons joined by an iron chain, (even or eight inches long.

LOCKSPIT, among miners, is the fmall cut, or trench made with a fpade of about a foot wide, to mark out the firft lines of a work.

LOCRIAN, in antient mufic, the feventh fpecies of the dia- pafon. It was alfo called hypodorian, and co?nmo>u See the article Diapason.

LOCUS, (Cycl.) among antient muficians, was ufed to fignifv the interval between one degree of acutenefs, or gravity of found, and another. The Greeks ufed the word towcc in the fame (enfe, for the fpace through which the voice moved. ffaf/is's Append, ad Ptolem. Harmon, p. 153. Arijloxenus y p. 3, 8, 9, 10. Edit. Meibom. See Motion. This motion the Greeks diffinguifhed into two kinds ; one continued, ewtx.v, the other disjunct, hxrwxnxr,, Inftances of the firft kind are in fpeaking; of the fecond in fmging ; and this they called melodic motion, or what was adapted to finging. Ptolemy in like manner divides founds of un- equal pitch, J^jk dvxTorovuc, into continued and difcrete, and fays the firft kind are improper, and the fecond proper, for harmony.

Ariftides Quintilianus a interpofes a third kind of motion between the two here mentioned, fuch as that of a perfon reciting a poem. — [ a Id. p. 6. Edit. Meibom.]

Locus, the locuji tree, in botany, is ufed by fome for the tree whofe juices afford us the gum anime of the mops. DalSs Pharm. p. 338.

Locus, in rhetoric, a topic, or head, whence arguments are brought to prove the queftion in hand. Some of thefe are called loci communes, or common topics, as being common to all forts of arguments ; thus, whether a thing be pofuble: or impoffible, more or lefs than fomething elfe, &c. Fojf* Rhet. 1. 1. p. 12.

Befide thefe, three others are mentioned by rhetoricians jujlum, utile, &honeJlum\ to which fome add jucundum; but Voffius will have this laft to be comprehended under utile. Id. ibid. p. 32, feq.

LOCUST, loaifta, a genus of infects comprehending the to- cuft, fimply fo called, the feveral fpecies of other locujh and grafhoppers, with the crickets of the houfe and field. Willugbby obferves, that in thefe animals there are always more males than females, which is contrary to the order of nature in other infects, where the females are much the moft numerous ; and Swammerdam obferves, that it is only the males that make a noife, which he fays, they do by a fwift vibration of their wings, either againft one another, or againft their legs. See Tab. of Infects, N° 3. feq. The nympha, or worm of the locuji, fcarce at all differs from the creature in its perfect ftate. It moves and eats in the nymph ftate, and all the viable difference is, that the wings are not expanded as in the perfect locuji, but are gathered up in a fmall compafs, and form four little buttons on the moulders. Swammerdam obferves, that the want of attention to this particular in former writers, had been the occafion of a very unneceflary multiplication of names ; as Aldrovand, Johnfon, Mouffet, and others, have defcrihed thefe locujh in the nymph ftate under the names of bruchi, attehedi, and afelli, fuppofing them to be fo many diftinA fpecies of animals. It is obferved, that toward the end of fummer the males are very tender of the females, three or four of them being frequently ken gathered about one of that fex, and fecming to do her all the kind offices in their power, fluttering about with their wings, and rubbing her with their fore legs. The males are always more brifk and nimble than the females ; and among all the kinds of locttjis, there are a great many naturally impel -feet ; parti- cularly many have only one hinder leg, yet thefe hop almoft as well as the reft. Swammerd. Bib], Natur. Rays Hift. Inf. p. 60.

We have in England but very few infects of this kind. The fpecies mentioned by Mr. Ray are thefe. 1. The common fmall green grajhopper. This has articulated antennae, verv flexile, and nearly half an inch long ; its belly is green t its outer wings brown, and its inner ones membranaceous, tranfparcnt, and reticulated. Its back is divided into eight or nine rings, and is of a browniih colour. The hinder legs are very long, and ftrong. There is a great variety in the colour of this fpecies, fom* have more, fome lefs g^cn,- and fome have a little yellow about them. 2. The Jarger

grey