BUR
BUR
times fixed alkalis and abforbents are added, to hinder the avo- lation oi the metalline particles a . Some hold burning in the ftone or glebe molt advantageous ; others burning in the meal b . — [ £ Junck. Confp. Chem. Tab. 30. p. 667, feq. b Vid. Jlonz. Barb. Art. Metal. 1. 2. c. 9. Phil. Tranf. N° 109. p. 212.]
The bafer metals, tin and lead, may be burnt like plants to afhes. For gold and filver, the cafe is otherwife. Junck. ubi fupra, Tab. 32. p. 82b'.
Suj-ning, among painters— Several of the painters celours re- quire burning, to fit them for ufe, as lamp-black, umber, ivo- ry, c5V. See Colour, &c. Cycl. and Suppl. The burning, or rather drying, of lamp-black, is performed by fetting itover the fire in an iron laddie or crucible., till no fmoke arifes from it. To burn umber, they put it in large lumps in- to a naked fire, where it is left till thoroughly red-hot. Ivory muff, be burnt, to make a black, in two crucibles, luted, cover- ed with coals. Vid. Smith, Art of Paint, c. 3. p. 30.
Burking, among furgeons, denotes the application of an actual cautery, that is, a red-hot iron inftrument to the part affect- ed j otherwife denominated cauterization. Horn. Microtec. feci. 1. §• 15- p. 50. Junck. Confp. Chir. Tab, 79. p. 54.0. Cajl. Lex- Med. p. 435. voc. Inujlio.
The whole art of phyfic, among the Japonefe, lies in the choice of places proper to be burnt; which are varied according to the difeafe. Ten. Ryne, Diff. de Arthrit. P. 3. Phil. Tranf. N° 148. p. 228.
In the country of the Mogul, the colic is cured by an iron ring applied red-hot about the patient's navel. Lett. Edif. T. 9.
P- z 53> feq-
Burning is particularly recommended in the gout, as a fevere but adequate cure of that ftubborn difeafe. Ten. Ryne, ubi fup. p. 225.
The Japonefe are many of them covered with fears all over their bodies, by the frequent burnings of moxa. Idem, ibid. p. 226. See the article Moxa, Cycl. and Suppl. Burning pyramidal pieces of tow or cotton on the joints, is an antient practice revived in Europe, chiefly by Fab. ab Aqua- pendente, and Scverinus, againft pains of the joints arifing from cold and vifcous humours impacted in them. The ope- ration is alfo fpoke of by Hippocrates c and Celfus d ; the former of whom recommends the ufe of raw flax. Severinus calls it the Arabian burning, becaufe moft frequently ufed among that people, tho' common enough alfo among the Egyptians e . — [ c Hippoc. Aph. ult. 1. 6. Item, de Affectib. Text. 30 & 32. Horn. Microtec. fe£fc. 2. §. 35. p. 141, feq. d Celf. 1. 4. c. 22. c Alpin. de Medic. /Egypt 1. 3. p. 101.] Accidents have often been the means of great difcoveries, and a very remarkable one, commemorated by Mr. Homberg in the Memoirs of the Academy of Paris, inftru&ed him in the cure of a difeafe, which had long baffled his fkill. A wo- man of about five and thirty became fubject to a hcad-ach, which at times was fo violent, that it drove her out of her fenfes, making her fometimes ftupid and foolifh, and at others raving and furious. The feat of the pain was in the forehead, and over the eyes, which were inflamed and looked violently red and fparkling; and the moft violent fits of it were attended with naufeas and vomitings. In the times of the fits flie could j take no food ; but out of them had a very good ftomach. Mr. I Homberg had in vain attempted her cure for three years with all kinds of medicines; only opium fucceeded, and that but little, all its effect being only the taking off the pain for a few hours. The rednefs of her eyes were always her iign of the violence of an approaching fit. One night feeling a fit coming on, flie went to lie down upon the bed, but fait walk- ed up to the glafs with the candle in her hand, to fee how her eyes looked ; in obferving this, the candle fet fire to her cap, and, as fhe was alone, her head was very terribly burnt before the fire could be extinguifhed. Mr. Homberg was fent for, and ordered bleeding and the proper dreffings; but it was perceived, that the expected fit this night never came on ; the pain of the ■burning wore off by degrees, and the patient found herfelf from that hour cured of her head-ach, which had never returned in four years after ; which was the time when the account was given. Mem. Acad. Par. 1708.
Another not lefs remarkable cure of this kind was communi- cated to Mr. Homberg by a phyfician at Bruges. A woman had been long fubje£t to terrible pains and fwellings of her legs and thighs, and had been accuitomed, by way of remedy, to rub them with brandy by the fire-fide night and morning. One evening as fhe was doing this, the whole quantity of brandy took fire by fome accident, and burnt her, but not vio- lently; fhe ufed the common means for the burn, and, in the night, all the water which had been ufed to fwell her legs, voided itfelf by urine: in the morning, the limbs were found free from the fwelling, which never afterwards returned. Thus accident often does more than medicine ; and it is pity that its good effects are not more common. It is certain, that, among the people of earlier times, thefe violent remedies were much more in ufe, and perhaps difeafes were Lured by them, which now baffle all our art: and it is very certain, that acci- dent has taught the lavage inhabitants of many nations to cure difeafes in this manner greatly to their advantage ; and many of them are fond of fuch remedies, becaufe they are painful,
and give them opportunities of mewing their courage. Mr; Homberg, who was born in the illand of Java, fays; it is a common practice with the natives to cure violent colics, by burning the foles of their feet with hot irons ; and that, in the common cafe of a whitlow or felon on the finger, their reme- dy is to dip the finger into boiling water, and repeat this as often as neceffary, at a minute's diftance between each time. The accounts travellers give us of cures of other difeafes among the lavages by burning, are very numerous; and even at homej we fcem to know its efficacy very well, daily experiencing its falutary effects on horfes and other animals, though we are too delicate and tender to fuller it ourfelves. We feem to prefer long and lefs violent pains to fhoiter and (harper; and even in that terrible cafe the gout, cannot bring ourfelves to the burning with moxa, the moft flight of all cauterizations; Mr. Homberg, however, gives an account of a Dutch gentleman, who tried this under his care, and was by it relieved from a fit of the gout in feven or eight days, which he otherwife expect- ed would have held him two months, and ever afterwards had the returns much lefs frequent. Mem. Acad. Par. 1708. ^Burning for difeafes may cure three ways ; firfl, by fetting the noxious humours in a violent emotion, and by that perhaps de- termining them to new courfes ; or, fecondly, by rendering the juices fluid, which were before tough and vifcous, and by that means fitting them for being carried off ; or, laftly, deftroying a part of the veflils which furnifh them to the part in too large abundance.
Burning alive, among the Romans, a punifhment inflicted on deferters, betrayers of the public councils, incendiaries, and even coiners : it was called crematio. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 1. p 58!?. voc. Crematio. Idem, ibid. p. 952. voc. IncenAere. The Jews had two manners of burnings ; one called burning of the body, performed with wood and faggots ; the other, burning of the foul, eombujlio anuria, performed by pouring fcalding hot lead down their throats. 7'his lafl was not frequent; The criminal was let up to the knees in the ground ; two per- fons (trained a towel round his neck till they found his mouth open, upon which the lead was poured in ft . The priefPs daughter, who committed whoredom, he that lay with his own daughter, or grand -daughter, or his mother in law, were burnt alive b .—.[ a SchQeig, Lex. Ant. p. 1422. b Godzvyn, Mofes and Aaron, 1. 5. c. 7. p. 201, feq,]
Burning on the forehead, Froniis inujlio, was antlently this pe- nalty of a calumniator H . In the middle age, we find frequent inftances of burning in the cheek ; a punifhment allotted to bondmen or villains guilty of theft h .— [_' B Kenn. Rom. Ant. Not. P. 2. 1. 3. c. 18. b DuCange, Glofl". Lat. T. r. p. 1073. voc. Combujio. Item, T, 3. p. 4SS. voc. Maxilla.]
Burning is alfo a denomination given by phyficians to divers diforders, on account of a fenfation of heat that attends them. In which fen(e we fay, a burning fever. See the articles Fever. and Causus.
Among the divers fpecies of madnefs incident to dogs, one is called the burning madnefs. If a mare which has been cover- ed, and the colt knit within her, be covered by another horfe, he is faid to burn her. Cox, Gent. Recr. P. 1. p. 131.
Burning is more particularly ufed for the herpes, or ignis facer, called eryftpelas and arfura. Du Cange, Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p. 344. voc. Arfura. See the article Erysipelas, Cycl. and Suppl.
Burning is alfo applied to the action of divers things which are cold to the touch, or do not contain fire. In this fenfe, aqua fortis is faid to bum cloth : There are cer- tain fogs which burn or fcorch the corn : Virgil obferves, that fevere cold itfelf will burn, that is, have much the fame effects on the parts of the body, as fire itfelf in caufing gangrenes. Vid. Hift Acad. Scienc. an. 1709. p. 594. Seamen talk much of the burning of fea water ; by which they only mean its yielding a brifk light, which it fometimes does to that degree, that the water, as it paffes off the oars, appears like liquid fire, chiefly during eattcrly and foutherly winds. Phil. Tranfadt. N° 27. p. 497.
Some confider the fmutting of corn as a kind of burning ; the belt way to prevent the burning or fmutting of grain, is to iime the feed, Rays Collect. Loc. Words, p. 130., feq. Seethe article Smutt.
The tradition concerning Archimedes and his £w«w£--glafs, though defended by fome modern writers % is held for a fable by the more intelligent in optics; and the rather, as neither Polybius, Livy, Diodorus, nor Plutarch, make any mention of it: Lucian b indeed affurcs us, that Archimedes burnt the ene- mies veffels by art or ftratagem ; but does not fay it was done by burning fpecula c . Wolfius fuggefts divers reafons for the impoffibility of the thing d . But of late Monf. Button h?.s put the poffibility of the thing beyond all doubt, by the combination of a multitude of plana jbccula. — [ a Liebkntxht, Diff. de Spgcul. Cauft. c. i. JValch. Lex. Philof. p. 310. VoJf.de Math. Scien. c. 24. §.7. p. ioi.-Item, in Addend, p 442. Naucl. Synt. Mil.
1. 2. p. 658. Budd. Obferv. ad Hift Phyf. $.31. i» lucian. in Hippia, T. 2. p. 742. c Fabric. Bibl. GrWc. 1. 3. c . 22. T.
2. p. 552. d Wolf. Elem. Catoptr. §. 217.] See the article Mirror.
Archimedes has a work extant on burning-mirrors*, tranflatcd into Latin from the Arabic by Gogava ; though by feveral au- thors fufpe&ed for fpurious, and by f >me attributed to Pto- lemy.
