Lexicon medicum; or medical dictionary; containing an explanation and comparative, botany, chemistry, materia medica, midwifery, pharmacy, physiology, practice of physic, surgery, and the various branches of natural philosopy, connected with medicine / Selected, arranged and compiled, from the best authors, by Robert Hooper.

  • Robert Hooper
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lexicon medicum; or medical dictionary; containing an explanation and comparative, botany, chemistry, materia medica, midwifery, pharmacy, physiology, practice of physic, surgery, and the various branches of natural philosopy, connected with medicine / Selected, arranged and compiled, from the best authors, by Robert Hooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    altered, was still distinguishable. Accordingly, | as the conversion was more or less advanced, these fibrous remains were more or less pene¬ trated with the fatty matter, interposed between the interstices of the fibres : which shows that it • I is not merely the fat which is thus changed, as ! might at first be naturally enough supposed. It ' is true that the fattest bodies, and those parts of j the body where fat most abounds, appear to be very readily converted into adipocere ; the same is true, however, with respect to the skin and the brain, in neither of which there is any fat. Fourcroy regards adipocere as an ammoniacal soap, consisting of a peculiar oil combined with ammonia. According to the more recent ana¬ lysis of M. Chevreuil, adipocere is composed of a large proportion of margaric acid and a little oleic acid, combined with a small quantity of ammonia, potassa, and lime. Adipocere melts at about 127° F. Cold alkohol acts but slightly on it; but boiling alkohol dissolves about one fourth of its weight, which it deposits again on cooling, in the shape of small acicular crystals. It is also dissolved by boiling ether. It is de- ! composed by the sulphuric and nitric acids, with a production of carbon in the former instance, and of nitric oxide in the latter. It forms im¬ perfect soaps with the alkalis. It is rather less fusible than spermaceti, and more soluble in al¬ kohol. The chemical relations of this substance have not yet been fully ascertained. It is not known under what precise circumstances the or¬ dinary process of putrefaction is superseded by the formation of adipocere. This change has been observed in animal matter after a longer or shorter inhumation, and after long exposure to the air. Dr. Gibbes, of Oxford, found that pieces of lean beef exposed to the water of running streams, were converted into adipocere in a month ; and a substance apparently similar has been produced by the action of nitric acid on lean meat by Dr. Gibbes, and more recently by Dr. Bostock. Gay-Lussac and Chevreuil are of opinion that the apparent conversion of mus¬ cular fibre into adipocere is deceptive ; that the muscle wastes away while the fat remains : in their experiments the fibrin of blood was im¬ mersed in water, which was changed every two or three days ; at the end of three months it had all disappeared, and there was no formation of adipocere; but muscle and liver, treated in the same manner, afforded a proportion of this sub- l stance. These experiments, however, cannot be | considered as of much weight, against the ex- ] tensive observations of Fourcroy above detailed. | Dr. Thomson has published an instance of the j obvious conversion of the muscles of a dead j body into adipocere; and a similar case is re- j corded by Sir E. Home and Mr. Brande. A'DIPOSE. (Adiposus; from adeps, fat.). Fatty; as adipose membrane, &c. A impose arteries. This name has been ap¬ plied particularly to the twigs of the diaphrag¬ matic, capsular, and renal arteries, which supply the'fat around the kidneys. Anii'osic ducts. See Adeps. Adipose membrane. Mcmhrcvna adiposa. The tissue in the cells of which the animal mat¬ ter called fat is deposited, and which, till the time of Malpighi, was supposed to be identical with the ordinary cellular membrane. This anatomist suspected it to be a distinct tissue; and his opinion was supported by De Bergen and Morgagni, and confirmed by the minute observ¬ ations of W. Hunter. The question, however, cannot be considered as altogether decided ; and the authority of W. Hunter, Beclard, and other celebrated anatomists, on the one side, is confront¬ ed by that of Bichat, Cloquet, Raspail, &c. on the other. Those who regard the adipose mem¬ brane as a distinct tissue, describe it as being coarser, and composed of tougher fibres than common cellular membrane, and as consisting of spheroidal masses, varying in diameter from a line to half an inch, according to their situ¬ ation and the degree of corpulency of the subject, and separated from each other by fur¬ rows of various depth ; each of these masses is formed of smaller bodies of the same shape, and the latter of still smaller vesicles filled with fat; resembling minute pearls, and agglomerated by a very delicate cellular web. That the adipose differs from the common cellular tissue, is ren¬ dered probable by the following, among other considerations : — 1. Fluids introduced into the adipose cells, do not pass into the neighbouring cells, while in the common cellular membrane l they permeate freely in all directions: thus, in anasarca, the cellular membrane is thoroughly infiltrated, but the adipose globules undergo no ji change. 2. If the adipose membrane be ex- l posed to a heat sufficient to melt the fat without } injuring the tissue, no fat escapes unless the vesicles containing it are opened; which suf¬ ficiently proves the absence of any free com- l munication between them. For an account of I the general distribution of the adipose mem- l brane, see the article Adeps. Adipose tissue. See Adipose membrane. ADPPSIA. (rr, <e. f.; from a, neg. and Sitpa, thirst.) Absence of thirst. It is mostly | symptomatic of some disease of the brain. ADI'PSON. (From a, priv. and Saf/a, thirst.) A medicine which allays thirst. ADPPSOS. (From a, neg. and Snfa, thirst: so called because it allays thirst.) 1. Liquorice. It 2. The fruit of the Egyptian palm. ADJUTO'UIL'M. (urn, i. n. ; from ad and jnvo, to help.) A name of the humerus • from its usefulness in lifting up the arm. ADJUVANT. (Adjuvant; from adjuuo to II assist.) 1. That which assists in the cure or In prevention of a disease. 2. An ingredient introduced into a prescrip- II tion to aid the operation of the principal in¬ gredient or basis. See Prescription. ADNA'TA TUNICA. That portion of the t tunica conjunctiva which covers the sclerotic coat || of the eye has been called tunica adnata. ADNA'TUS. (From adnascor, to grow • to.) Adnate ; applied to some parts which j appear to grow to others; as tunica adnata, slip nice adnatrv, folium adnatum. ADOLESCE'NTI A. (a, ce. f.; from adoles- co, to grow.) Adolescence; youth ; the period of life between puberty and the full developement i of the frame; extending, in man, from the age I of 14 to 25, and in woman from 12 to 21.