Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/647

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waters as arc in a proper condition to give fupport to their young. The female gnat here places herfelf on a fmall flick, the fragment of a leaf, or any other fuch matter ufually near thejwater's'edge, and places her body in fuch a manner, that the laft ring but one touches the furface of the water, the laft ring of all, where there is the paflage for the eggs, is turned upward, and every egg is thruft out vertically, and the crea- ture, when it is almoft difengaged, applies it againft the fides of the already formed clufter, to which it readily adheres, by means of a mucilaginous flicking matter with which it is natu- rally covered, like the eggs of many other infects. Ibid. p. 619. The greateft difficulty to the creature, is the placing the firft laid eggs in a proper pofition to receive the reft,, and fuftain themfelves and them in a proper direction ; thefe fhc with great precautions, places exactly, by means of her hin- der legs, and when a fufficient number of them are thus ar- ranged together, the reft is eafy, they ferving as a fupport to all the following. Ibid. p. 620. EGILOS, in botany, a name given, by Serapion's Interpreters, to the plant which that author and Avicenna call alachuin. Their defcriptions of the plant abundantly prove, that it is the fame with the achilhea of the Greek writers, and this word EgHos feems only a barbarous name for that plant, formed on a mif-fpelling of the achilhea; the fame authors give us fair ground for this fufpicion by another of their names, which is Jidrichh, this being plainly no other than a falfe fpelling of ' JiderffiS) Woundwort, another of the names of this plant, given it for the great virtue it was poiTeffed. of, in curing frefh wounds. EGITILLIA, a name by which fome have called the ftone

Mgyptilla. See ^Egyptilla. EGOITOS, a term ufed by Van Helmont to exprefs the light of underftanding, by which we reflect: and reafon within our- felves. EGRA Water, Egrana dqua, the water of a medicinal fpring, near that place, in the German dominions. It is famous for cleanfing the vifcera, obftruc~fccd with vifcid matter, and is found of great fervice in all hypochondriachal cafes, and in all difeafes arifing from infarctions of the vifcera j it gently purges by ftool j and affords a fait, known among the Ger- man writers by the name of Egranum fal, which has the fame properties, and is a fort of native Glauber's fait. The tefts which Hoffman gives, by which, to prove whether the Egra water be genuine, are thefe : 1. It makes a mani- fcft ebullition, on mixing fpirit of vitriol with it. 2. Oil of tartar, poured into it, makes no change in it, nor at all alters its pellucidity, whereas it turns almoft all other waters milky or turbid. 3. When frefh taken from the fpring, they be- become purple, on being mixed with powder ©f galls. But when this trial is made on them, after their being carried to foreign countries, unlefs they have been very carefully ftopt, the purple colour does not appear. This is a proof that thefe waters contain but a very fmall portion of that martial earth, which produces this effect in many others. 4. On mixing fyrup of violets with them, there arifes a flight green colour, which is a proof that the alkali predominates in them. 5. Alblution of the vitriol of iron throws down a yellow fediment, in form of little clufters of fmall particles ; but this is not fo much owing to any thing contained in the waters, as to the vitriol ufed in the experiment ; the acid of that vitriol uniting with the alkaline fait in thefe waters, leaving the ferrugineous part of it to precipitate itfelf to the bottom, that being a fubftance not to be fuftained in water, when not in a ftate of folution. 6. A pint of this water, chymically analifed, affords twenty- four grains of a faline fediment, which 4 on being mixed with oil of vitriol, produces no effervefcence, nor emits any vola- tile fume i whence alfo it appears, that it contains no fea fait in its natural form. Hoffman. Opera, T. 5. p. 143. Egra Salt, EgranumSal, a name given by Hoffman, and other writers, to a purging fait, extracted from the waters of Egra l by evaporation. The waters of this place are in great efteem for many difeafes, and are, by Hoffman himfelf, in fome re- ■fpects, preferred to the pyrmont, as containing lefs ochre and calcarious earth. The fait is wholly of the nature of Glau- ber's fait, as is alfo that of many other fprings thereabout, and even in our own country ; the nitrum calcarium of Dr. Lifter being plainly the fame with this, or Glauber's fait, produced in the bowels of the earth by a mixture of a vitriolic acid with that alkaline earth, which is the bafis of fea fait. This fait, or one analogous to it, is found alfo concreted into a folid form in the earth in many places. There are accounts of it in the memoirs of the Paris academy, in Spain, in France, and in fome parts of the Eaft ; and in England, we have earths which contain it. Hoffman. Oper. vol. 5. P- 143- EGUILLETTE, in the manege. SeeYERK. EIA, or Ey, in our old writers, is ufed for an ifland. Hence the names of places ending in ey, denotes them to be iflands. Thus, Ramfey, the Hie of rams, Sheppey, the ifle of fheep, &c. Eia is alfo fometimes ufed for water, and hence the names of

places near waters, or lakes, terminate in ey. Du Conge . EJACULATOR, (CycL) in anatomy, a name given by San- torini to a mufcie of the pudenda, which he alfo calls in men I

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the elevator urethra, tho' in women he calls the fame mufcie the depreffor urethral. Window calls it the inferior proftatic mufcie, and Albinus the tranfuerfus alter perinai, to diftin- guifh it from the tranfiierfus penis of others, which he calls tranfuerfus perinai. EIDER, in zoology, the name of a fpecies of fea duck, called by Wormius Anas plumis moUifftmis, the foft feathered duck. The male and female differ very much in this fpecies ; the male very much refembles the common duck ; its beak is black, it has two oblong black fpots, made of very foft fea- thers, running from the beak over the eyes, with a narrow white ftreak in the middle of each ; its neck, the lower part of its head, its breaft, and the upper part of its back and wings, are all white, but the wings and tail are black. The female is all over of the fame colour, a duflcy brown, fpotted with black. They build in the holes of rocks on the fea fllore, and lay abundance of eggs, which are very delicate and well tafted. Their feathers alfo are very remarkably foft, and fit for fluffing beds, EsV. Ray's Ornithology, p. 277. EJECTIONE Cujlodia, Ejclfment de Garde, in law, a writ which lies againft him, that cafts out the guardian from any land, during the minority of the heir. Reg. Orig. 162; Fitz. Herb. Nat. Brev. 139. Eigne, in law books, is ufed for eldeft, or firft-born. Thus we fay, baftard Eigne, and mulier puifne, for the elder baftard, and the younger lawfully born. EILAMIDES, a word ufed by Hippocrates to exprefs the me- ninges, or membranes of the brain, the dura mater and pia mater. EINBLINDER, in zoology, the name of a fort of lamprey, without eyes, called by the writers on thefe fubjefls the 1am- petra casca, or blind lamprey. It is very fmall, not ex- ceeding the common dew-worms in length or thicknefs. It has no fcales, but its body is divided, by annular lines, into eighty-four rings, juft in the manner of the large worms. Its mouth is in the under part of its head, and is round, and al- ways open. It has a cavity in the middle of its head, like the reft of the lampreys, for admitting water, and has fever, gill- holes on each fide. It has the common long fin running on the ridge of the back, but has no other, Willoughby's Hifl. Pif. p. 107. EINECIA, in our old writers, is ufed for primogeniture. It is

fometimes writ Eftieeia, and Efneey. See Esn ECY. E1KESIONE, EipEc-ia»u, in antiquity, an olive branch bound about with wool, and crowned with all forts of firft fruits, which was carrried in proceffion in the Athenian feftival, cal- led Pyanepjia. Pott. Archaeol. Graze. 1. 2. c. 20. T. I. P'428. See Pyanepsia, Cycl, EISETERIA, E(c-;rr»)pa, in antiquity, the day on which the magiftrates at Athens entered upon their office ; upon which it was cuftomary for them to offer a folemn facrifice, praying for the prefervation and profperity of the commonwealth, in the temple of Jupiter Bh** ( ©., and Minerva B«x« (a , i. e. the counfellors. Pott. Archaaol. Graec. 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1. p. 385. ELrEAGNTJS, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the gale frutex, the Dutch myrtle or gaule* Merret. I in. p. 82. Eljeagnus, in the Linnaean fyftem of botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The cup is a one-leav'd pefianthium, very (lightly divided?into four fegments ; it is placed erecf , is ihaped like a bell, is rough on the outfide, and coloured within, and falls before the ripening of the feed. There are no petals. The ftamina are four very ihort filaments, inferted between the fegments of the cup. The antheras are oblong, and lie upon thefe. The germen of the piftillum is roundiih, and is placed below the cup. The ftyle is fimple, and fcarce of half the length of the cup. The ftigma is fimple. The fruit is an oval obtufe fmooth drupe, punctated at the extremity. The feed is an oblong obtufe nut. Linnai Genera Plant, p. 51. EL./EOMELI, in the writings of the antient phyficians, the name of a fubftance, thus defcribed by Diofcorides. In Pal- myra, a country of Syria, the EUomeli, which is an oil thicker than honey, and of a fweet tafte, flows from the trunk of a tree. Two cyathi of this oil, he adds, drank with a he- mina of water, evacuate crude and bilious humours by ftool* There was much good obtained from the giving this medicine, but it had this remarkble effect, that thofe who took it were feized with a torpor, and privation of ftrength for a time j this was, however, of no ill confequence, but people knew of and expected it, and ufed always to keep thofe perfons awake who had taken it, and the fymptoms foon went off. The fame author alfo adds, that the oil was fometimes pre- pared from the buds of the tree, and fuch of this kind was efteemed the beft that was old, thick, fatty, and not foul or turbid. It was judged of a heating nature, and fre- quently applied externally to the eyes, with good effect in the cure of dimnefs of fight, and contributed to the cure of lepro- fies, and pains of the nerves. Hermolaus Barbarus has a ftrange conjecture in regard to this fubftance, which is, that it was the fame with the manna mentioned in fenpture, only ufed in medicine inftead of food ; but the account Diofco- rides gives of the eft'efts of it is a very fufficient anfwer

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