Volume 1

Cooley's Cyclopædia of practical receipts and collateral information in the arts, manufactures, professions, and trades, including medicine, pharmacy, and domestic economy : designed as a comprehensive supplement to the pharmacopœia and general book of reference for the manufacturer, tradesman, amateur, and heads of families.

  • Cooley, Arnold J. (Arnold James)
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cooley's Cyclopædia of practical receipts and collateral information in the arts, manufactures, professions, and trades, including medicine, pharmacy, and domestic economy : designed as a comprehensive supplement to the pharmacopœia and general book of reference for the manufacturer, tradesman, amateur, and heads of families. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/916 (page 6)
    ABNORM'AL. [Eng., Fr.] Syn. Abnoe'mis, L. In medicine and the collateral sciences, con- trary to, or without system or rule; irregular; deformed; unnatural. In a diseased or un- healthy state. ABOMA'SUM. [Caillette, Fr.] The fourth or rennet stomach of ruminants, the analogue of the single stomach of mammals. ABORTION IN ANIMALS. Abortion consists in the expulsion of the ovum or foetus, before it has attained sufficient development to live apart from the mother. Abortion may be said to take place, in the Mare, if the foetus be expelled forty days before the normal period, in the Bovine species, thirty-five days, in Sheep and Goats twenty days, in the Pig fifteen days, and in the Bitch or Cat seven days (Fleming). Bitches, Cats, and Pigs rarely abort; Sheep and Goats are somewhat liable; Cows and Mares, especially the former, being most liable to the accident. Abortion in animals is described as Sporadic, when isolated cases occur over a considerable area, without obvious connection; and as Enzootic or Epizootic, when the animals in one farm, village, or district miscarry in large numbers. Abortion, Sporadic Causes of. According to Fleming the most important are : exposure to cold, wet weather; bad, indigestible, or frozen food; water taken in large quantity, filthy water; certain plants, such as horse-tails (Equisetacese), sedges (Cyperacese), &c, and the leaves of beetroot. Rue, savin, ergotised grasses and grains, will often cause serious loss; excessive muscular exertion, railway travelling, and blows and shocks of all kinds, especially on the abdomen, excitement, fear, or anger, are common causes. Badly fed and neglected animals are also somewhat predisposed to abort. Abortion, Epizootic. Epidemics of abortion are but too well known, though the cause is very obscure. There would appear to be a connection between them and wet, cold seasons, in which the forage is bad and badly won, leading to the belief that the fungi, and parasites which are freely de- veloped under these conditions in the forage, are largely responsible for the epidemics. Epizootic abortion is often curiously local, sparing some districts and raging in others close by; whether it be due to some specific poison, or organism, is very uncertain, but the facts are difficult to ex- plain except on some such hypothesis. Treatment is preventive and remedial, and only the general principles of it can be given here; removal of all known causes is an obvious pre- caution. If abortion appear to be imminent narcotics may be given, one to two and a half drachms of laudanum, every half hour in very small enemata (not more than half a wineglassf ul at once) ; the animals should be kept very quiet, alone, and in the dark if possible, the abdomen should be gently rubbed for some time, small quantities of easily digested food or gruel given from time to time, till all danger is passed, and the stall should be kept well littered. Epizootic abortion seems to be best treated as an infectious disorder, viz. by isolation of affected animals and their attendants, the observation of the most scrupulous cleanliness in the stables and cowhouses, removal and destruction of all excreta and fouled bedding. The stalls should not be occupied by healthy animals until they have been thoroughly cleansed and disinfected and exposed to light and air for many days. Animals which have aborted or show symptoms of abortion should at once be removed from contact with others which are pregnant. Animals which have once aborted, especially cows, have a tendency to abort again; the period of gestation after each abortion is however usually longer, and cows will reach their full period at about the third pregnancy after an abortion. ABRACADABRA. A word of unknown origin. It occurs first in a poem by Q. Severus Sammo- nicus. It was a cabalistic word, used as a charm, and believed to have the power, when written in a triangular arrangement and worn round the neck, to cure agues. T. A. G. Balfour (1860) has pointed out that the combination ' abra/ which is twice repeated in this word, is composed of the initials of the four Hebrew words Ah, Ben, RuacJi, Acadosch, signifying Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ABRA'SION. [Eng., Fr.] Syn. Abea'sio, L. The rubbing or wearing down of surfaces by friction. In the arts, the reduction or figuration of materials by the use of an abrasive tool, or grinder, of which the effective portion is an exact counterpart of the form to be produced. Abrasion. In numismatics, the ' wear and tear,' or waste of the substance of coins, in the pocket and circulation. It forms a large item in the expense of a metallic currency. The means employed to obviate, or to reduce it, consist in either alloying the metal to render it tougher and harder, or raising the borders so as to lessen the surface exposed to friction. In well-formed coin both methods are adopted. Abrasion. In pathology and surgery, a super- ficial removal or injury of the skin by fretting or friction. Treat., 8fc. Careful cleansing and the applica- tion of some simple ointment or carbolised oil. If the injured surface be large or exposed, it is well to protect it from dirt and from further injury by a piece of lint kept in place by a bandage. See Excoeiations. ABRUS PRECATORIUS. Indian Liquorice Plant. Indigenous to India, now found in all tropical countries. The root has been used in place of liquorice, but is considered a bad sub- stitute. Abrus Seeds, Jequirity Seeds. The seeds of the above plant are used for necklaces and other ornamental purposes; also in India as a standard of weight under the name of 'retti' (= 2-x% grains) by Hindu jewellers and druggists. They are the size of a small pea, with a fine polish, prettily coloured black and red. The seeds are poisonous ; they contain abric acid, oil, and some albuminoids. Dr S. Martin obtained from them a globulin and an albuminose, which he classes with similar bodies occurring in papaw juice and the venom of snakes. Action. An infusion applied to the eye causes inflammation of the conjunctiva, and is used to produce purulent ophthalmia in order to cure granular lids. Infusion of Abrus Seeds. Abrus seeds in pow- der three parts, cold water 500 parts; mix, then