Volume 2

The London medical dictionary; including under distinct heads every branch of medicine ... with whatever relates to medicine in natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history / By Bartholomew Parr.

Bartholomew Parr

Date:: 1809

Credit: The London medical dictionary; including under distinct heads every branch of medicine ... with whatever relates to medicine in natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history / By Bartholomew Parr. Source: Wellcome Collection.

54/760 page 44

$rliey form an universal covering for the foetus, and the n ater in ^\hich it lloats during pregnancy. I'liey con- sist of iIto membranes calledCtio»!roN, and Am NioN; the Placenta, and part of the Funis umbilicalis, vide in verbis If in labour the membranes do not break immediately upon their being pushed into the vagina, they should be allowed to protrude still fnrtlier, in order to dilate Ihe os externum.—If they suddenly burst, and dis- charge much water, and the pains soon slacken, the la- bour becomes tedious While the head of the child is yet covered with the unbroken membrane, it is smooth, soft, and slippery to the touch. Sometimes wdien the head presents, the fontanel feels puffy, and deceives us, as it is mistaken for the membranes j but this should be carefully dlstinguisiied. If during labour the waters push the menrbranes down in an oblong form, the birth will be tedious. A short broad, or round form is the best. INVOLU'CRIJM, (from the same); the calyx of an umbelliferous plant. See also Pericardium. I ON, (from Ionia, its native place). See Viola. 10 NIA. See Ch’am.i;r]tys. lONTHLA SPI, It Is cJi/pcola ionthlaspi Lin. Sp. PI. giO; found in France, Italy, and Spain, said to be detersive, aperitive, &c. but not at present used. lONTHOS, (from ion, the violet). The Grecian ap- pellation of those hard pimples in the face of a violet colour, which the Latins call by the name of varus, and gutta rosacea. lOSA CCHARUM, (from ion, the violet, and sac- char urn, sugar). SuGAR of VIOLETS. lOTACI SMUS, (from iwlcc, the Greek letter i). A defect in the tongue or organs of speech, which renders a person incapable of pronouncing his letters j or where the letter i is frequently and rapidly pronounced. lO'UI. A restorative alimentary liquid prepared in Japan. It is made from the gravy of half roasted beef, but the other ingredients kept a secret, IPECACUANHA, (Indian). Brasiliensis radix, 'herba paris Brasiliana, pobjcocos, poaio do rnutto, caa- apir ; cipo; Indiana radix, perichjmenum parvum, IPECA- CUAN, or Brasilian ROOT. Many of these names have been assigned, from the opinion of naturalists, respectingthe plantwhichproduces this valuable remedy. It has been supposed to be the root of a viola, of a peri- clymenum, and of a species of p.sycotria. Indeed the evi- dences in favour of the latter are so strong, that we have much reason to believe that its roots are at least emetic, though not the real ipecacuanha. In fact, if we can tru.st Decandolle’s description in the Bulletin des Sciences, the vchite ipecacuanha is derived from the viola, and this medicine is afforded by three species, the V. calceolaria of the species plantarum, a native of Gui- ana and the American islands; the v.parviflora of the supplement urn plantarum ; and the v. ipecacuanha ol the ■mantissa. These roots may be found among those of the true ipecacuanha, but they are a fraudulent addition, as, though emetic, theydo not possess the valuable pro- perties of the true or grey kind. They are distinguished by the size of the woody part, which, in the true kind, is a fibre only; in the white it is as thick as the bark. . The roots of different species of aselepias, dorstenia, and other genera, are sold as ipacacuanha, but with the dis- tinction false. In 1780 Mutis sent to the younger Linnaeus, Ifoiu South America, a full description of a plant, which he was assured was the true ipecacuanlia ; an account con- firmed by a medical resident, who has been stigmatised with the name of an empiric. T his naturalist referred it to the genus psijcotriu with the trivial name of erne- tica, doubting, however, whether it was the same with the ipecacuanha of Piso and Margraave. though the figures of these authors greatly resembled it. Dr. Wood- ville, in l7f)T, published an engra\ ingof a specimen preserved in spirits, sent from the Brasils. T he root was entire, and ascertained it to be the real plant; but the flower was wanting, so that the truth of Mntis’s narrative and the credit of his informant could neither be established nor invalidated. In this state of uncer- tainty, \ve received in t.SOi the description of the true plant from Felix Avellar Brotero, in the sixth volume of the Linnaean Transactions, p. n/. The author rs profe,ssor of botany in Coimbra, and professes to have drawn his description from numerous dried specimens, corrected by the observations of his friend Bernard Gomes, a diligent medical botanist, who has often exa- mined the living plants. They grow in Parnambuqni, Bahia, 8cc. and other provinces of Brazil, flower in November, December, and January, and again in Feb- ruary and March. The berries ripen in May. It Is scarcely the object of this work to tran.scribe the minute description of Brotero, which would be unin- teresting to the medical reader; and we shall prefer making a few remarks on the minute difference be- tween the callicocca ipecacuanha, the title he gives it, and the psycotia emctica of the younger Linnaeus. This genus callicoccce belongs to the rubiucece of Jussieu, and the species are all perennial. The description of Brotero greatly resembles that of Mutis. In the latter, the bracteae which separate the florets are said to be so small as to be scarcely discern- ible ; but Brotero describes the bracteae, involucri and flosculorum longitudine; but we have long since learnt that plus vel minus non mutat speciem. The stipulae, according to Mutis, are awl-shaped, and horizontal; in Brotero appressae sessiles sublineares partito-fimbriatae, lacinulis subulalis. In Mutis the flowers are said to be axillary; in Brotero terminal. In Brotero’s figure, how- ever, there is but a single flower which, though placed ter- minally, is apparently axillary. The stipulae in SirJo eph Banks’ plant seem to resemble those described byMutis. There appears, if these circumstances only are consi- dered, little doubt but that the plant of the younger Linnaeus is a variety of that described by Brotero ; but in Mutis’ plant there is no involucrum ; in that of Bro- tero a large and strongly-marked one, so that, in reality, they must be two distinct species, though they cer- tainly belong to the same genus. The involucrum is, indeed, a part of the essential character in Schreber, and in the cephaelis of Wildenow (the same genus); yet many of the species have naked heads. It has, in con- formity with the same views, been propo.sed to add as a species of callicocca the e. mutisii (psycotria emetica Lin. Filii Supplementum Plant, p. 14-i). Head naked pedunced; few flowered; leaves lanceolate, smooth ; stipules entire, awl-shaped; corolla five, cleft; chaffy bractes, very small. It is brought from the Spanish West Indies. Four sorts are mentioned, viz. the grey, brown, white, and yellow. The grey is generally esteemed the most valuable, but$