BUR
BUR
and with great reafon, extols this method. It is eafy, how- ever, to add to the efficacy of it, by giving the virtues of a fomentation to the water before it is ufed, by boiling in it marfllmallows, mallows, mullein, linfeed, fenugreek feed, or quince feed. Cataplafms made of the fame ingredients, art alio of great fervice, as are alfo the emollient oils of linfeed, and the like. Whatever remedies are ufed in this cafe, mould be very frequently repeated ; and when it is the face that is burnt, they mould be fpread on a Iinnen mafic, to be kept con- ft ntlymoilt by the application of the fame remedy. When the burn is fomething greater than this, and attended with veficaticn, or puflulcs, the puitulcs are by no means to be opened, which always brings on great pain ; fome of the remedies before-mentioned will always prove of more fer- vice, applied while the blifters are whole, and, by the ufe of them, the beat and pain will quickly go off, and the cuticle will i'eparate from the cutis, without either deformity or pain. Hut if thefe remedies do not abate the pain, the part is to be drefied with linfeed oil, or the litharge ointment, or the lingiienturn diopomphol!gos,orfomethint of a like kind. Thefe are to be ap- plied either by rubbing them frequently on the parts, or fpread - ing them on a Iinnen rag, and applying that, and often renew- ing it. After thefe, a plafter of the emplaftrum de minio, or any of a like kind, will keep the f. in fmoofh, and forward the renovation of the cuticle. If the burn or fcald, which ever it te, he very confiderabie in extent, and greac parr of the body be burnt, it is necefTary to bleed plentifully, even till the pa- tient faints, and to give a brisk purge. This method will often prevent III confequences, that too frequently elfe attend large burns ; fuch as foul ulcers, large cicatrices, and fometimes even gangrenes. When infants are the fuhjects of thefe accidents, bleeding being not lb convenient, the rcvulhon is to be made by repeated purges ; and, in grown perfons, a regularity of diet -is above all things to be obferved.
In the yet greater degree of 'burns, where the burnt part is co- vered by a cruft or cfchar, the cure cannot be performed with- out fuppuration. When this accident happens to the face, great caution is neceffary, to avoid making a deformed cicatrix! for thisreafon, all ointments and platters whatever are to be for- bidden, even though they are the moil valuable fecrets, as there are in almoft all families many fuch ; for the mifchief of thefe remedies is, that they all dry up the wound too faff", and contraa the fibre: and the skin, and by that means leave an uneven cicatrix. The forwarding the calling off the efchar is by all means to be attempted, and the difcharge of the mat- ter that is contained under it. The eafiefl and moll fuccefsful
- method of doing this, is by the repeated application of emol-
lients. Three or four times every day the dreffmgs are to be changed; and if, at any of thefe times, any part of the efchar is found to be loofe, it mull be railed with the forceps, and re- moved, if that conveniently may be ; at the fame time, the reft of the efchar mull be anointed with butter, and warm fomen- tations, made of emollient herbs, (0c. applied. Two, three, or four days employed in this manner, generally afford a repa- ration of all the cruft or efchar ; and the next intention is then to heal the wound. It is firft therefore to be thoroughly cleanf- ed, by means of fome mild digeftive mixed with honey of rofes, and afterwards healed up with any of the lead or litharge ointments. If the efchar in thefe cafes fhould not fcparate in°a proper time, it will be neceflary to make a deep incifion through .the middle of it, to let out the included fanies. Burns of the moft extreme and worft kind, where the burn has penetrated fo deep as to deftroy all the parts quite down to the bone, can have no relief from medicines; nor is there anv thing in the furgeon's power, but amputating the limb. Hei/ler's Sur- gery, p. 220.
BURNING (Cycl.) -The appearances of burning arife fuccef- fively, and in a certain order : a heat muft precede greater than what fuffices to boil oil ; the lighted and moft volatile parts of the body burn the firft ; the heavier are flower in taking fire, but burn the longcft. Boerh. Element. Chem. P. 2. T. 1 p. 294, feq.
Burning is a reparation of the parts of bodies made by means of ■fire ». Some confider it as a fpecies of folution b , and fuppofe it effected by a diffolvcnt power inherent in fire, which aits as
a menftruum in refpefi of the fulphureous parts of bodies.
[/ Vid. s'Gravef. Inft. Phil. Newt. n. 8+6. p. 243. b Cbauv. Lex. Phil. p. n8j feq voc. Couibii/iio.] Dr. Hooke, confidering the neceflity of air to burning-, and that heat, however great, does not alone fufnee to burn a body, does indeed take burning for a folution of the fulphureous parts of bodies; but luppofes the menftruum, by which it is done, to be the air, or at leaf! fome f'ubtilc, faline, nitrous fubftance dif- fufed in the air.
This diflblution, like many others, does not take place till the iubjeiSt body be fufficiently heated, and the operation is per- formed with fo much violence, as to agitate all the minuted parts of the body with great rapidity ; from whence alfo arifes the pulfe of light in the air ; and from the fame caufe may be deduced the origin of the fmoke, foot, allies, (0c. Hook, Mi- crogr. Obf. 16. p. 103. Walter, Life of Hook, p. 21. ap. Pofthum. Works.
Divers bodies are only fet on burning 'by the application of wa- ter to them ; as lime, oil of vitriol, fulphur, and iron-filings c . Si'PFL. Vol. 1.
Others by the accefs of a,r to them, as the phofphorus ardens. Some bodies will burn even under water, and that with vio- lence, as that . antientcompofition called Ignis Gracus, water- rockets, err. Notwitbftanding the expence in fumes, the weicht of certain bodies is iiicreafed by burning <._ [= Newent. Reh» Fhllof. Cont. »0. §. ,4. p. 224. i s'Gravef. Inft. Phil. Newt
5. bo.-, feq.] See the articles Calx, Fire, and Calcina- tion.
Burning todies are prefently extinguifhed by taking away the air. sGravef.ibid. §. 865. See thearticle Extinguishing
Burning mountains, are more particularly called mlcmm. See the article Volcano, Cycl.
The antients defcribe a meteor under the denomination of burning buckler, clypeus ardens. PH„, Hift. Nat. li 2 c. -it Mem. Acad. Infcript. T. 6. p. 9 ,, feq ' i
Burning phofphorus- The flame of burning phofphorus is diffe- rent from that of all other bodies, and comes neareft fo that of lightning: that which extinguifbes-ther fires, lights this, and what kindles this, extinguiflies others : it fpares fome bodies which others confume, and confumes others which the reft will not touch. Mem Acad. Scienc. an. 1692. p. 123, feq. See Phosphorus and Lightening, Cycl and Suppl. Travellers into Italy defcribe a burning fpot of ground at Fi- renzuola, in the Appennines, out of which a crackling flame continually arifes, yet without any cleft for it to ifliie out at Mahci fuppofes the fleams which the placeyields, to be a kind of native phofphorus ardens, which take fire on their coming in conea with the air. Maffei, ap. Mem. de Trev. an ,-«i p 19:7.
Extraordinary cafes of 'Burning.- We have inftances of perfons burnt by fire kindled within their own bodies. A weman at Pa- ris, who uled to drink brandy in excels, was one night reduced ro allies by a fire from within,- all but her head and the ends of her fingers: ■ Novum Lumen Phofphor. accent Amft 1717 S.gnora Corn. Z ngari, or, as others call her, Corn. Bandi, an aged lady of unblemifhed life, near C'efena in Romania, un- derwent the feme fate in March, ,731. She had retired in the evening into her chamber fomewhat indifpofed, and in the morning was found in the middle of the room, reduced to allies, all except her face, skull, three fingers, and legs, which remained entire with the (hoes and (lockings on. The allies were light, and, on preffing between the" fingers, v-mifhed, leaving a grofs (linking moitture behind, with which the Poor wasfmeared ; the walls, and furniture of the room, bein-r co- vered with a moid cineritious foot, which had not only flamed the lmnen 111 the chefts, but had penetrated into the c'lofet, as well as into the room over-head, the walls cf which were moi- Itened with the fame vifcous humour. Mem. de Trev an 1 73 1. p. 1923, feq.
Sig. Mondini, Bianchini, and Maffei =, have written difcourfes exprefs, to account for the caufe of fo extraordinary an event • common fire it could not be, fince this would likewifc have burnt the bed and the room ; befides that it would have re- quired many hours, and a huge quantity of fuel, to reduce a human body to allies ; and, after all, a confiderabie part of the bones would have been left entire, as they were antientlv found after the herceft funeral fires '. Some attribute the effiefl to a mine of fulphur under the houfe ; others to miracle; while others fufpcS that art or villainy had fome hantl in it ign Mondini attributes it to lightening. A philcfopher cf Verona maintains, that fuch a conflagration might have arifen from the inflammable matters wherewith the human body naturally abounds «. Sig. Bianchini accounts for it from an internal tire, ocahoncd by fpint of wine camphorated, which the lady ufed by way of bath or lotion, when fhe found herielf out of order K Maffei's fyftem is a combination of the three laft- he luppofes it owing to lightening, but lightening generated in her own body ; agreeable to his doflrine, which is, that light- ening does not come from the clouds, but is always produced in tne p,ace where it is feen, and its effects perceived '. — [' Mem. de Trev. an. 1731. p. , 922 . 1 A Jaffa, lib! fupra, p. 1921. 1 Bibl. Ital. T. 10. p. 28c, feq. ' Id. T. 14. p. 266, feq. ' Mem de Trev. an. 17-51. p. J025, feq.] The humours of her body, naturally inflammable enough, were become pretematuraliy fo, by her putrid indifpofition j and thefe, by perfpiration, had enveloped her body with an at- mofphere of the fame kind, replete likewife w"itn mineral mat- ters, whereby its aflivity was heightened. She had probably nfen in the night to ufe her lotion, and, by the fricfion of her hand, had helped to kindle the flame. Idem, ibid, p iqco, feq. r yJ
We have various relations of feVeral other perfons being burnt to death in this unaccountable manner; as Jo. Hitchell in 1613, and Grace Pet of Ipfwich, in 1744. The burning of Hitchell was occafioned by lighteriing ; but that does not ap- pear to have been the caufe of the death of many other perfons that occur in authors. We have had a late attemnt to erhblifli the opinion, that thefe deftroying internal fires are caufed i'n the mtrails of the body by inflamed effluvia of the blood, bv juices and fermentations in the ftomach, by the many com- buftible matters which abound in living bodies, for the ufes of life; and, finally, by the firy evaporations which exhale from the fettling! of fpint of wine, brandies, and other hot liquors, in the tunica yillofa of the ftomach, and other adipofe or fat 5 "J membranes 1
