HEM
H E M
HELSINGIC Character, a character infcribed on fome iloiies
found in Helfingland, in the north parts of Sweden. It differs
from the Runic ; tho' one of thefe characters may eafily be
transformed into the other. See the article Runic.
HELVE, the handle of a hatchet, pick-ax, mattock, &c.
And to helve thefe is to put handles to them. HELXINE, in botany, a name ufed, by fome authors, for the
parietaria, or pellitory of the wall. Get: Emac. Ind. 2. Helxine Cijfampelos, in botany, a name given by fume au- thors to a fpecies of bindweed, called by Mr. Tournefort con- volvulus major albus crajjiori & auriculato folio mar'ithnus. The great white -flower'd fca bindweed, with thick, auriculated leaves. See the article Convolvulus. HEM, a partition in the ovens, wherein the lapis calaminaris, or calamine, is baked. Thefe ovens have a hearth made on one fide, divided from the oven itfelf by a partition, or Hem, open at the top, by which the flame paffes over, and fo heats and bakes the calamine. HEMANDIA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which, as collected by Linnaeus from Plumier's defcrrption, are thefe : The flowers are fome male, others fe- male. The male flower is divided into fix fegments, as is alfo the female, which is fucceeded by an oval nut of a fur- ' rowed furface, with one cell, containing a globofe kernel. This nut is enclofed in the cup, which becomes very large and inflated, and of a roundifh figure, with an undivided edge. Linnseus laments that we have yet no better account thaji this of fo fingular a fructification, tinnai Gen. PI. 517. Plu- mier. 40. HEMATOPUS, in zoology, a name ufed by Bellonius- and fome others, for the bird commonly known in England by the name of the fea-pie, and called by Mr. Ray and fome authors pica marina. See the article Pica Marina. HEMEROTROPHIS, in antiquity, a meafure of capacity, the fame with the chcenix. See Choenix. It was fo called from its holding one days food.
The word is compounded of »ptsp«, a day, and rpo£u, food. HEMERALOPIA, a diftemperature of the eyes, by means of which perfons can only fee in broad day-light, and not diftin- gurfh objects at all in the dufk of the evening. It is owing to a great contraction of the pupil. HEMEROCALLIS, in botany, the name of a genus, of plants, the characters of which are thefe : There is no cup, the flower is of a funnel fliape, and is divided at the edge into fix fegments ; the tube is Ihort, and the limb is wide, and fomewhat bent back ; the ftamina are fix tubulated filaments, of the length of the flower ; they droop a little, and the upper ones are fomewhat fhorter than the others ; the anthe- ne are oblong and afltirgent ; the germen of the piftil is round- ifh and fulcated ; the ftyle is capillary, and of the length and fituation of the ftamina ; the ftigma is aflurgent, and obtufcly trigonal. The fruit is a trigonal and trilobated capfule, of a fort of oval figure. It is compofed of three valves, and con- tains a great number of fmall feeds, which are roundifh. Dilleu. Hort. Elth. p. 118. Linnai&en. PI. p. 148. Linnaeus makes this ,genus comprehend the Lilio-tfphudelus and the LiHajlrum of Tournefort ; the only difference be- tween which he observes is, that the germen in the Lilio -afpbo- delus is placed within the cup, and the flower is moncpeta- lous ; whereas in the LiUajlrum the germen is in the fame manner placed in the cup, but the flower is hexapetaloust lour nc fort's, Inft. p. 175, 194, HEMICRANIA, (Cycl.) the name of a fpecies of head-ach affecting only half the head, and owing to a congestion of blood in the veflels of that half,
Phyficians divide the Hemicrania into four kinds: 1. The idiopathic, when it is properly a difeafe of itfelf. 2. The fymptomatic, where it is properly only the fymptom of fome other difeafe. 3. The continual or fixed, where it admits of no abfolute inter minions. And, 4. The periodic, where the patient is regularly free from it at certain ftated periods. Signs of it. Among thefe are vibrative and very acute pains : The pain occupies only one part of the head, while the other part is wholly free and at eaie. The left fide of the head is ufually the part in pain. In that fide of the head where the pain is, it is not fixed to any one fpot, but wanders up and down from one part to another ; and fometimes the eye on that fide, fometimes the jaw and teeth are affected by it. When the lower part of the head is in pain, the upper part is fomewhat eafy ; and in fome cafes the pain has been known to defcend to the arm of that fide. To this it is to be added, that the patient is ufually coftive, and makes very little urine. Women are much more lubject to this diftemper than men, and among them principally fuch as live high, and ufe little exercife ; fuch as are fubject to violent paffions of the mind ; fuch as have had frequent fuppreffions of the menfes ; and fuch as live in a married fhte without having children. The principal caufe of the difeafe is a plethora, occafioned ufually by a fuppreffion of the menfes, or haemorrhoids, or fome other natural evacuation, or the omiflion of habitual bleedings at fpring and fall. To thefe caufes are to be added a diftemperature of the prima? viae, a change of the courfe of life from one full of exercife to a fedentary one i over-great
vv.itcf]ingo 0*1' (tuJiei i too great heat of the body, or too Cud - den cooling of it ; violent paffions, a:, of anger, or the like,, fupprefled ; and finally, too high living, and the free ufe of firong liquors, yftpker's Conjp. Med. p, ug, Prognojlics. This fpecies of head-ach not unfrequently brings on fuffufions, and other diforders of the eyes, and often is a forerunner of the gout, elpecially if it be imprudently treated during the fit ; if the congefiion of blood be driven by repel- lents at this time to the feet, it conftitutes that painful diftem- per ; but if it fail upon the vifcera, it ufually brings on an in- flammatory fever. When it extends to the arm and fide of the affected half of the head, there is danger of a palfy com- ing on. In itfelf it is not difficult of cure in young people ; but in women advanced in years, after the ceflation of the menfes, it is fcarce ever perfedtly cured (o as not to return. Method of cure. As the primae viae are almoft always obstruct- ed in this complaint, the regular beginning cf a cure is by emptying them ; and a gentle vomit, and purging medicines are to be given. Stahl advifes, to anfwer both thefe purpofes at once, by rhubarb and tartar emetic mixed together. After this emollient clyfters are to be given - r then the violent emo- tion of the blood is to be quieted, by giving powders compo- fed of nitre, crabs-eyes, and cinnabar; and in cafes where the pain is violent and infufferable, a gentle opiate may be given, fuch as a fmall dofe of the ftorax pill,, and at other times the quantity of the cinnabar may be encreafed from five grains to ten or twenty in a dofe ; and this will fupply the place of the opiate, and produce the fame effect in giving eafe- Spirit of wine camphorated may alfo be ufed externally; and frequently bathing the feet in the decoctions of the warm and emollient herbs has often a great effect. In the abfence ofc the fit, the methods to be ufed, by way of prevention, are bleeding in the ankle to remove the plethora ; and where the fuppreffion of the mcnftrual, or any other discharge, has been the caufe, this is to be reftored if poffible to its wonted pe- riods ; and in all cafes a fedentary life is to be avoided. Bleed- ing is never proper in the time of the fit, unlefs the plethora., be very great, or the congeilion in the head fo great, that worfe confequences are to be feared. HEMIOBOLON, a weight often mentioned by the antient writers in medicine, and expreffing the half of their obolus, or the twelfth part of a dram, that is five grains. HEMION1TIS, Afson-fern, in the llnnsean fyliem of botany, the name of a genus of ferns , the character of which is, that the fructifications are difpofed in branched lines, or fuch as intermix with and interfect one another. The characters of He mionitis., according to Tournefort, are thefe : The flowers are not difcovcred, but the feeds ftand in duffers on the back-part of the leaves. The leaves are all furnifhed with broad auricles at their bale,, and are in fome fpecies fimple, and in others branched or compound. Town. Inft. p. 546.
'I be ipecics of Hcmionhis enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: 1. The common Hemionitis . 2. The exotic He~ mionitis. 3. The beautiful Portugal Hemionitis. 4. The great cinquefoJl Hemionitis. 5. The great trifoliate Hemio- nitis. 6. The hairy golden Hemionitis. 7. 'I be deeply jag- ged Hemionitis, with dully edges. 8. The laciniated curled Hemionitis. 9. The various leav'd pointed Hemionitis,. 10. The trifoliate Hemionitis, with fimbria of fine reddifh hairs. 11. The beautiful American cinquefoil Her.uanii'is. 12. The great harts-tongue leav'd Hemionitis ; and, 13. The dwarf cinquefoil round dented Hemionitis. HEMIPAGIA, a pain that affects only one half of the head ;
The fame as Hemicrania. HEMIXESTON, a meafure among the antients, containing half a xeftea. The xeftes contained two cotvles, and there- fore the, Hemixejlon was a cotyle. Cajlel. 5c Gorr. in vcc. HEMLOCK, Cicuta {Cycl.) — Many poifonous plants have had this word ufed in fome manner as a part of their name; fuch are the Hemlock dropwort, and the water Hemlock, both well known to be fatal in their effects. But the learned world feem'd divided about the, effects of the common Hem-^ lock, or cicuta vulgaris, for a long time ; the true know- ledge of which has been difcuveied by a very fatal late inlhmcc. This is a plant much more common than either of the before mentioned, growing every where in our hedges, and dittinguilhed by its painted ftalks. Cardan men- tions a man who was killed by eating a cake in which Hem* lock was an ingredient ; and Braflavola affirms, that it is fata! not only to men, but to geefe and fwine; and Matthiolus, Scatiger, Kircber, Boccone, and others, all agree with the common opinion of its poifonous qualities : Yet it has been much doubted whether this plant, growing in England, had this poifonous quality or not: And fo faithful a writer as Mr. Ray mentions, that his friend Mr. Petiver eat half an ounce of the root of it ; and that Mr. Henly, a friend of Mr. Pe- tiver's, eat in his prcfence three or four ounces of it, without any hurt or inconvenience from it. From hence it has been generally believed with us, either that the root had different virtues from the {talks and leaves, or that the plant bad very different effects in different countries, and was without that poifonous quality in England which it h;;d in hotter climates.
The
