Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/525

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C I R

c i it

OlN"NUS;tn theantient medicine, a drink m tide of the decoction of wheat, to which was added fome flower of barley, honey, and wine.

CINQUEFOIL, quinquefolium, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of .which are thefe : the flower is of the rofdcepus kind, confifting of feveral petals arranged in a circular form ; the cup is one-leaved, but divided into feveral fegments j from this arifes a pjftil which finally becomes .a fruit of a globular figure, compofed of a number of feeds, and covered in part by the cup. To this it is to be added that the leaves grow in regular numbers on the {talks, and are always more than three on each, by which it is diftinguifhed from the ftrawberry.

The fpecies of cinquefoil enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe. i. The upright Alpine cinquefoil^ with filvery leaves.

CIRCIAS (rear, in zoology, the name of .a frefh- water fowl of the duck kind, but fmaller than any other fpecies, and known in Englifh by the name of the fummer teale. It is ail over of a duflcy yellowiih brown, the back a little variegated with white at the tips of the feathers, and the belly diluted with a caft of grey ; on the lower part of the belly there are fome large black fpots. The legs are blueifh, and the feet black ; it feeds on herbs that grow in frcfli waters. ^fli'sOrnithoLp.291.

CIRCERELLUS, in zoology, a name ufed by fome authors for the fifli ufually called ammodytes, or the fand eel. Blcctmei Muf.^de fifci p. 129. SeeAMMuDYTEs.

CIRCITOR, in the antient military difcipline, oho. whofe bufi- nefs it was to go the rounds, See Rounds, Cycl.

Circitor is alfo ufed to fignify a hawker, or pedlar, who go'es* about from place to place to vend his goods. Pitijc.

jagged at the ends. 2. The great, upright, white-flowered ■ CINUNNALIS, in botany, a name given by fome authors td

cinquefoil 3. The larger-flowered, upright, white cinqurfoil, ■ the adiantum or maiden-hair. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

4. The letter white-flowered cinqurfoil. 5. Thcjefler white- . CIRCLE (Cycl.) — Circle of dijfipation. See the article Dis^

flowered cinquefoil, with narrower leaves. 6. The common larger creeping cinquefoil. 7. The common fmaller creeping cinquefoil. 8. The yellow-flowered fmall cinquefoil, with leaves of a filvery white underneath. 9. The woolly, fmall creeping yellow-flowered cinquefoil. jo. The fmall, golden- flowered, creeping Alpine cinquefoil. ir. The common up- right cinquefoil^ with leaves filvery underneath. 12. The up- 'ght yellow- flowered cinquefoil. 13. The upright, white

SIPATION.

Circle of enrapture, in geometry^ that circle the curvature of which is equal to that of any curve at a certain point. See Curvature.

It is alfo called the circle of equi-curvature. CIRCO'LO mezzo, in the Italian mufic, is a diminution of four" quavers or femiquavers, or notes of equal value, which repre- ferit a femi-circle proceeding by conjoint degrees.

flowered cinquefoil. 14. The great upright cinqurfoil, with foft CIRCUITS. (Cycl.) — There are three circuits in Scotland* viz.

hairy leaves. 15. The fmaller cinquefoil, with pale yellow 1 South, Weft, and North.which the lords of jujliciary go twice a

flowers. 16. The low Canada cinquefoil. 17. The upright ! year, viz. in May and October. See Circuit, Cycl, and Jus-

fcairy yellow-flowered mountain cinquefoil. j8. The late 1 ticiary, Suppl.

flowering, creeping, Ajpine cinquefoil. And, 19. The Pyre- CIRCULATION (Cycl.) — The curious in microfcopic obfer^

nasan cinquefoil, with leaves hairy underneath, loum, Inft.

Cinquefoil roof, in the materia medica, the name of a root which is an ingredient in feveral of the officinal composi- tions. The plant which produces it is the common cinquefoil, which grows every where by way fides. The root confifting of a cortical, and ligneous or ftlcky part,the cortical only is ufed. It I is efteemed drying and aftringent, and antifebrile. Some have ' given It in agues in as large doles as the cortex, and have cured i

  • with it. It flops fluxes of the bowels, and is good in dif- f

orders of the lungs,- and in the fluor albus, and gonorrhoeas, et - \ ther in men or women. It is, however, very little regarded in the prefent practice.

CINQU E PORT net. See Ne t.

CINTRE, in building, the mould on which an arch is turned ; popularly called centre, fometimes alfo cradle. Davil. Courf. d* Archit. P. 2. p. 477. Neve, Build. DicTr. in voc.

CINYRA, in the jewifh antiquities, a mufical in'ftrument. This and the Hebrew cinnor, which is generally tranflated cithara, lyra, or pfalteriun},. are the fame. It was made of wood, and was played on in the temple of Jerufalem. jofephus a fays, that the cinyra of the temple had ten firings, and that it was touched with a bow. In another place he fays that Solomon made a great number of them with a precious kind of metal called eleclrum, wherein he contradicts the fcripture b , which informs us that Solomon's c'tnnors were of wood c . — [ a Antiq. 1 vii. c. 20. p. 243. ibid. 1. viii. c. 2. b 1 Kings x. 12. c Cal- met, Did: Bibl.J

CIONES, Kk>m«, in antiquity, a, kind of idols very common, be- ing only oblong ftones erected pillar-wife ; whence alfo they had their name. Pott. Archaeol. 1. 2. c. 2. T. 1 . p. 190.

CIRCADA, a tribute antiently paid to the bifhop or archdeacon, for vifitingthe churches. DuFrefne. Blount.

CIRC/EA, a plant ca.]\ed In Engliih the enchanter's nigbt/bade. This, in the Linnsean fyftem of botany is a feparated genus of plants, the characters of which are, that the calyx or flower cup is a perianthium compofed of two leaves, which are oval, concave, and bent downwards, and which fall off" with the flower. The flower is compofed of two petals, rounded and notched like a heart, equal to one another in fize, fpread open, and rather fhorter than the Cup. The ftamina are two erect, and longitudinal capillary filaments of the fame length of the cup, and are terminated by two roundifh antherse ; the piftil is compofed cf a turbinated germen placed under the re ceptacle; the ftyle is fingle, threadlike, and of the fame length with the ftamina, and the ftigma which terminates it, is of an orbicular form. The fruit is a hairy, and oval, turbinated capfulc, bivalve, and containing two cells, and na- turally opening from the bafe all along to the extremity. The feeds are contained one in each cell of the fruit, and are ob- long, and narrower on their under than on their upper part. Ltnnai Gen. Plant, p. 3.

The characters of the circtra, according to Tournefort, are thefe : the flower confiiis of only two leaves, which ftand up- on a two-leaved cup, which finally becomes a pear-fafhioned fruit, divided into two cells, and containing oblong feeds. The fpecies of circaa enumerated by this author are thefe. 1. The common, or larger, circaa. 2. The broad-leaved, white flowered, Canada circeca. And, 3. The leave, circtsa. Tourn. Inft p. 301.

CJRCEA. Sec thearticlc Circ^ea.

The name circea is given by fome to the mandrake, or com- mon mandragora. Gcr. Emac. Ind. 2 SutPL. Vol. I.

vations have found an eafy method of feeing the circulation of the blood in the bodies of animals : for thefe enquiries it is ne- cellary to choofe fuch animals as are fmall, and eafily manage- able, and which are either wholly, or in part, tranfparent. The obfervations we may make by this means are preferable*' to any others we can have recourfe to; fince in difle&ions the animal is in a ftate of pain, or dying; whereas in animals fmall enough to be thus viewed, all is left in its ufual courfe, ; and we fee what nature does in her own undifturbed method. In thefe creatures alfo, after viewing, as long as we pleafe, the natural ftate and current of the blood, we may by pfefTure and feveral other ways, impede its courfe, and by putting vari- ous mixtures into the creature's water, induce a morbid ftate, and finally fee the creature die, either by means of this or by any other method, and we may thus accurately obferve all the changes it undergoes, and fee what occafions the trembling pulfe, &c. of dying people. Baker's Microfcope, p. 117. Jn feveral of thefe little creatures alfo, we are able not only to difcover the general courfe of the blood, but are able perfectly to diftinguifh the figure and circumftances of the globule's of which it is compounded, and the alterations they fufFer when they pafs out of larger into fmaller veflels; for many of the veflels at the extremities are fo fmall, that even the minuteft fingle globules of the blood cannot get through them, without being prefled out of their orbicular into an oval or oblong fi- gure, and the larger of thefe fine veflels firft comprefs the lar- ger or complex globules of the blood,- and then divide them into their fmaller conftituent globules.

It is amazing to fee how careful providence has been £0 pre- vent the blood from running into concretions, or coagulations,' which might be dangerous to life, even by the very difpofition of the veffels it is to run through, which, whether feparating or uniting, are fo contrived as to caufe the globules to come fre- quently together, with a brifk collifion or ftriking againft. one another. The arteries which convey the blood from the heart to the extremities, continually leflen as they recede from their fource, and the globules of blood mull rufli with force againft one another, as they are driven on impetuoully; and the veins which bring it back from the extremities to the heart, enlarg- ing all the way as they go on, and the ftreams of feveral con- tinually running into one another, each of thefe ingrefles caufes new commotions, capable, though not of difiblving the natural compages of the blood, yet of dividing its unnatural co- agulations

The current of the blood in fmall animals, that is, its pafling on through the veflels, either from, or towards the heart, is very eafily feen by the microfcope; but its circulation, that is, its running to the extremities of* the parts, and thence return- ing, is more difficult, becaufe the veflels where this fhould be feen are fo extremely minute, as not eafily to come un- der a regular obfervation.

The larger arteries are eafily diftinguifhable from the veins by the motion of the blood through them, which, in the veins, is always fmooth and regular ; but in the arteries, by feveral propulfions in the manner of pulfatlon. But this difference is not to be feen in the more minute veflels, in all which, as well arteries as veins, the motion of the blood feems even and regular. The tranfparent membrane, orweb, between the toes of a frog's hinder foot, is a very proper object to obferve the circulation of the blood in. Bakers Microfcope, p 1 22.

The tails, or fins, of fifties are alfo very fine objects ; and

when the fifh is very fmall, thefe are very manageable, and

7 D affori