tuations; because they moisten the young shoots, and thus render them more liable to the injuries of the frosty nights succeeding them, but which they escape when placed in more elevated situations.—These fogs are converted into rime during the night, which thus falls on the trees, and is in some circumstances believed to shelter the vegetables by the heat it emits at the moment of its freezing: hence black frosts, which are not accompanied with rime, are said to be more prejudicial. But Dr. Darwin remarks, that where dew or mist descends on vegetables, before the act of freezing commences, and is partly absorbed by them, they become more succulent, and are thus destroyed by their fluids being converted into ice. To obviate this inconvenience, he proposes to make temporary sheds in the walls of gardens, projecting eight inches from the walls, and to be held by hooks that may be easily removed, when no more frosts are to be apprehended. Dr. Darwin successfully tried this expedient with an apricot-tree, which was preserved uninjured, either by the fog, or the frosts that followed it, during the vernal nights.
FOMENTATION, in the art healing, signifies the external application of a fluid in cases of swellings, &c. as warm as the patient can bear it, and in the following manner: Two pieces of flannel are dipt into the heated liquor, one of which is expeditiously wrung dry, and thus immediately applied to the part affected. As soon as it begins to grow cool, the first is removed, and the other instantly substituted, in order to keep those parts constantly supplied with the warm flannels. This operation is continued for 15 or 20 minutes, and is repeated two or three times in the course of the day, as circumstances may require.
The design of fomentations may be fully answered, by the application of warm water alone, unless discutients or antiseptics are required; in which cases, such ingredients must be employed as are calculated to effect that purpose.
The degree of heat should on no account exceed that of producing an agreeable sensation; for too great heat is attended with effects, very different from those which are expected from the use of fomentations.
FOOD, generally speaking, denotes those alimentary substances which are taken into the stomach, whether fluid or solid; but it is usually confined to the latter kind:—of the former we have already spoken in the article Drink.
In the early ages of the world, mankind were supported by acorns, berries, wild roots, and such other vegetables as the earth spontaneously produces. In succeeding centuries, as civilization advanced, luxury also made rapid progress; men had recourse to animals, as well as to vegetables artificially raised for their sustenance; and, in still later ages, the art of preparing food has been brought perhaps to the highest degree of perfection, of which it is susceptible.
Though originally designed to be a blessing to mankind, as well as their support, food may, in many cases, be justly considered as a curse: for we do not hesitate to affirm, that the injudicious conduct of parents and nurses, during infancy, and the early years of childhood, lays the foundation of those numerous diseases, which, at a
