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
Licence: Public Domain Mark
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.
738/760 page 728
![falling down, has its superior part carried forward, and the urachus, which had been attached to the fun- dus, is torn away, and never again connected with it. This fact was first taken notice of by Lieutaud, but is still doubted by many anatomists. The womb, which in childhood was placed above the pubes, by degrees falls into the pelvis, so that in adults not pregnant it is always, in a sound state at least, entirely sunk in it. Both the bladder and the uterus acquire an oblique situa- tion in the pelvis, owing to the descent of the intestines ; and this very slight obliquity, in some degree natural to both these viscera, was observed by Gunzius and Camper. . A strange confusion, inversion, or transposition of the viscera is mentioned by ditferent authors, viz. Roemer in Sylloge Opusc.alorum Italicorum Fasciculus, i. ; Stoll Ratio Medencii, i. De Haen Ratio Medendi, xiv. ], 2 j Halleri Opera Minora, 14, I.*}; Baillie in the Lon- don MedicalJournal, 17SU; Edinburgh Commentaries ; Ludwig de Causis Preternaturalis Viscerum Abdomin- alium Status, See. j Sue in Memoires Presentees, Src. i. 2()2, ike. They are subject also to many diseases, as hidden varices, hydatids, &c. (Baglivi, 3S6). They sometimes, as we have seen, are propelled through the fibres and rings of the muscles, sometimes are naturally covered only with the peritonaeum, in ulcers of the viscera Dr. Healde, in “ two papers,” mentions the good efiects of oleum asphalli; Infarctions of the viscera include all schirrosities which prevent a due circulation through their vessels, and are, therefore, noticed under different heads, to which they more particularly belong. We now notice them to mention a peculiar remedy by a German phy- sician, Kempff, viz. the visceral clysters, chiefly com- posed of what the Boerhaavians styled the deobstruents and resolvents, or the purer bitters. Kempffhas had many imitators 'and eulogists in Germany j but the practice has not reached this country, so that we cannot speak of it from experience. Other remedies are, w'ormwood, bark, steel, the greater celandine, gum ammoniac, neu- tral salts, sulphur, and mercury. See Edinburgh Medical Commentaries, vol. ii p. l.'j?. See. from M. Portal’s paper in L’Histoire del’Aca- demie Royale des Sciences de Paris, annee 1771, 4to. Paris. VrSCUM. Bird-lime. SeeViscus. VI'SeUS, (from i^o;) ■, hoxus, misseltoe, tisewn album Lin. Sp. PI. is a bushy evergreen plant, bearing imperfect while flowers, followed by transparent whit- ish berries. It grows only on the trunks and branches of trees. Formerly bird-lime was made of the berries, by boiling them in w'ater until they burst j they were then well beat in a mortar, and afterwards washed in water until all the branny husk was separated ; but now bird- lime is made from the bark of the holly. (See Agui- FOLIUM.) The misseltoe hath been famed for its me- dicinal virtues. Superstition, in former ages, held it in veneration, hanging it about the neck to prevent the efl'ects of w'itchcraft, and giving it internally to expel poisons. As a specific in epilepsies, palsies, &c. it has been recommended ; but is seldom noticed in the pre- sent practice, though an effort has beeu lately made to introduce it. Colbatch gave from half a dram to a dram of the wood or leaves. See Raii Historia Planta- lum ; sir John Colbatch’s Treatise on the Misseltoe. Vl'SIOj (from siht, and that from video, to sec). The SIGHT. Of the physiology of vision we have spoken at some length, when the structure of the organ was before us, as well as of those diseases which depend on that structure. (See Ocui.us.) Some other defects of this function we shall now notice. Imaginary objects are often the effect of a diseased structure of the brain, sometimes a vitiated state of the vessels of the retina (Morgagni de Sedibus, &c. xiii .1). Weakness of sight consists not only iu indistinct vision, but in an inaccurate judgment of shapes, of distances, and colours. Sometimes there is no power of distin- guishing colours, and two instances of this kmd are re- corded in the Philosophical Iransactions, viz vol Ixvii. and^'lxviii In short, the accurate distinction of colours is as much a peculiar property of vision as a musical ear is of .sound. The causes of weak .sight are chiefly those of debility, viz. excesses of every kind, repelled eruptions or gout, excessive discharges, particularly of the saliva Vrom mercury, narcotic poisons, &c. The complaint is re- lieved by tonics, general and to])ical, cold bathing, to- pical discharges by enhines, if not violent, and nro- derate stimuli to the eyes. Some singularitie,s of vision are recorded, as a loss of sensibility in one half the nerve, short-sightedness of one eye, and the opposite defect to the other. Percival, in the Memoirs of the Medical Society of London, ii. 5, mentions an unple.i- sant sensation arising from square objects: iu preg- nancy we have seen an equal aversion to particular colours. VI'SNAGA; daucus visnaga Lin Sp PI. 3 !8, gini~ diitm liispanicum,S?PICK.-TOOTH, is an annual plant, growing in Italy, remarkable for the agreeable scent and stiffness of the pedicles of the flowers, used for picking the teeth only. Thevirtqesof the plant are similar to those of fennel. See Fceniculum, and Raii Historia. Vi snaga mi'nor. See Sklinum montanum. VrSUS DE'BlLISj HEBETU'DO. See Am- blyopia. VITA, (from vivo), life. We have stated that life consists in that animation of the primordial germ, which it receives at the moment of impregnation. Mr. J. Hunter considered it as seated in the blood, fol- lowing, in this instance, the opinion of an , Italian philosopher, in the early part of the last century (Hal- leri Bibliotheca Medicinae Praclicfe, iv. 3.58). Of the Brunonian and Cullenian systems on this subject we have already spoken. Vide in verbis. See also Blood. VTT.®LrGNUM. See Guaiacum. VTXiE aTibor. SeeTHUYA and Cerebellu.m. VTt/e affectio'nes, Vi'ta PROPosiTA. See Epitedeuma. VITALBA. Clematis cilalba Lin. Sp. PI. 76O, /3. Tkaveller’s JOY, is pungent and acrid to the taste, d’he young sprouts are esculent, and a decoction of the leaves is given in rheumatism, lues, and scrofula. VITE'LLUS, (because it contains the life of the chick). The yolk of an egg, is a part of the chicken, and gradually drawn into its abdomen, form- ing or supporting the different viscera. We Inive al- ready spoken of its chemical nature, and its uses as an aliment. In pharmacy it is employed os a medium tor uniting oils, resins, and balsams, &.c. with water.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22007982_0001_0738.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
