HEP
HER
very frequent and painful. The one or the other of theft: fymptoms occur as the gibbous fide or the other part of the liver are affected. The cough attending this difeafe is dry, and not violent, and the fwcats are continual but moderate and eafily ftruck back, or often cold and clammy. The urine for the firft days is reddifh and thick, and about the fourth day it ufually begins to depofic a fediment, the remain- ing part of it being however (till turbid ; the fediment is mu- cous and of a pale flefh colour ; it has fo much the appearance of putrid matter that many have fuppofed it to be fuch, but the diiiinction between thefe fediments and true pus is eafily made, as the pus always fubfides immediately on the making the water ; but the other fediment not till it has flood to be eold, and this fediment becomes diflblved and mixed again with the urine, if the veflel containing it be fet in hot water. This is one great proof of inflammation. Another very peculiar fym- ptom in this difeafe is, that the patient frequently changes co- lour, being at times pale, and at times brownifh or yellow- ifti ; the yellownefs principally affecting the eyes and face. In cafes where the matter in the liver comes to a fuppuration all the fymptoms become more fevere, the heat is greater, the refpiration more difficult, and the anxieties and fenfe of pain in the part, and the coldnefs of the extremities all be- come greater. Finally the breaking of the tumor is known by a fudden remiflion of the pain, with a terrible faintnefs and lownefs of fpirits, and a hectic ; and when the matter is difcharged into the cavity of the abdomen, it is known by the fwelling of that part. Caitfes of it. — The general caufes of the Hepatites are a plethora, and a derivation of blood into the liver, which there forms congeftions and ftafes. This is brought on by violent mo- tions of the body, fuch as running, dancing, leaping, and the like, and by endeavouring to lift great weights, by fuddenly cooling the body at times, when the blood is in a great heat ; by taking aftringent medicines in inflammatory fevers, and by driving back the matter of cutaneous eruptions, fuch as the St. Anthony's fire, and the like, into the blood; and fi- nally, by applying cold external medicines to the region of the liver, or by cupping upon the part. Prognoses. — The Hepatites is one of the moft dangerous kinds of inflammation, and the deeper it lies the more obftinate it is, and the more difficult to be difcuffed, and the more liable to corruption, which mult occafion immediate death, or elfe to maturating and breaking, which would be attended with no lefs danger, though not fo fudden. A vehement and un- accuftomed commotion of the humours immediately at the beginning of the difeafe, is a bad omen. The more violently inflammatory fevers attack perfons in the morning, and that without any particular caufe, the greater always is the danger. The cure of this difeafe is very difficult, and its manner of going off very variable and uncertain. In fome cafes it goes off by regular difcuffion in a longer time, fometimes by co- pious haemorrhages of the nofe, or by profufe fweats which come on on the regular critical days. Black matter refemb- ling the rob of elder, whether difcharged by vomit or ftool, is a very bad omen, in this and all other inflammatory di- feafes of this kind ; but when voided by vomit, the danger is greater than when by ftool. Method of treatment. Bleeding is very proper in the beginning of the difeafe, and after this the bowels are to be kept gently open, not by ftimulating purges, but by emollient glyffers, and the mildeft and gentlclt cathartics. The mixtura fimplex is a very valuable medicine given feveral times a day ; and in the intermediate hours the following powder is to be given : Take purified nitre, and tartarum vitriolatum, each two drams; crabs eyes, and the jaw of a pike, reduced to pow- der, and fated with lemon juice, of each four fcruples ; dia- phoretic antimony a dram. The dofe of this mixed powder is a fcruple. While thefe things are given internally, the re gion of the liver fhould be bathed externally with fpirit of wine camphorated, impregnated with faffron. If the difeafe is very violent, a gentle anodyne may be mixed with one of the powders, to be taken at night ; but this mult only be done while the difeafe is in its encreafe. And above all things, reft, moderate warmth, and a placid regimen, are to be ob- ferved. With all thefe the difeafe is oftener fatal than cura- ble. Junker's Confp. Med. p. 287. Hepatitis Lapis, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome of the antients to a ferrugineous ftone of a yellowifh red co- lour ; others called a coarfe jafper, and fome a djrty kind of hyacinth, by this name : In fhort, they feem to have called any thing Hepatitis that was of a liver colour. The itone moft univerfally i'o called, however, feems to have been of the nature of fome of our poor iron ores. HEPATOSCOPIA, *H«r*To«i>sn* f in antiquity, a fpecies of divination, wherein predictions were made by infpeiting the fivers of animals. Hepatoscopia is alfo ufed as a general name for divination by intrails. See an account of the fymptoms of the liver, whence good or evil were foretold, in Potter's Archjeol. Graze. I. 2. c. 14. T. 1. p. 316. HEPATUS, In zoology, the name of a fea fifh caught in the Mediterranean, and remarkable for its colour, which is that of a liver, from whence it has its name. It is of a broad flat
fliape, and has very prominent eyes, and a remarkably broad tail, in which near the bafis there is a large black fpot ; its teeth are round and large, and fomewhat pointed ; and it has only one back fin, the anterior rays of which are prickly, the hinder ones foft to the touch. Rondelet de Pifc. 1. 5. c. 21. This name is given by Bcllontus, Gefner, and others, to the fun more ufually called Sachettas, and by fome Channadeila. Ah thefe however are arbitrary and unexpreffive names. Ar- tedi has referr'd the fifli to its proper genus, which is the labrus, and calls it the labrus with the lower jaw longer than the upper, with a forked tail, and with black tranfverfe fines on the fides. See the article Labrus. HEPHiESTIA, 'Htpxiraa., in antiquity, an Athenian feftival in honour of 'H^« ir ^, i. e. Vulcan. For an account of the ce- remonies and games, on this occafion, fee Potter's Archaeol. Grac. 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1. p. 399. See alfo the article Lam-
PADEPHORUS.
HEPH^STIAS, in the writings of the antients, a name of a plafter ufed among the furgeons to induce a cicatrix : It was principally compofed of burnt earth, or of the tiles that had been long burnt in the kilns, reduced to powder.
HEP, in the materia medica. See the article Hip.
HEPSETUS, in ichthyology, the name of a fmall fea-fifli called alfo anguelta, and by fome atherina. It is long, flender, and almofr pellucid ; its tail is forked, and its back variegated with black fpots. When the fcales are taken off, thefe fpots appear much plainer than before, and are placed in fuch or- der, that four of them ufually make a fort of rhombic figure. The fcales are alfo divided into a fort of rhombic figures by black lines. The fides of this fifh are of a lilvery white ; the mouth is large, and the teeth very fmalll ; Its eyes are large, and it has two fins on the back. It is caught on the fhores of the Mediterranean, and fome other feas, and is of a de- licate tafte, but very full of bones, whence it is not much valued. WUhghbfs Hift. Pifc. p. 209.
HEPTAMER1S, in mufic, is ufed by Mr. Sauveur for the fe- venth part of the meris or ^ of an octave. Hence the Heptameris is ^y of an octave.
HEPTANDRIA, in botany, a clafs of plants with hermaphro- dite flowers, and feven male parts or ftamina in each. The word is formed of the Greek SmW, feven ; and ««jp f male. Of this clafs are the horfe chefnut, finitelis, &c.
HEPT ANGULAR figure, in geometry, a figure with feven angles, or feven fides.
HEPTAPHARMACUM, a relaxing, fuppurating, and incar- nating medicine, compofed of feven ingredients. This is much talked of among the antient writers in medicine. The ingredients were, cerufs, wax, pitch, litharge, colophony, bull's fat, and frankincenfe. It is defcribed by Aetius in his Tetrab. Serm. 3. c. 27.
HEPTAPLEURON, feptinervia, having feven ribs ; a word ufed in botany to exprefs a fort of common plantain, every leaf of which has feven ribs belonging to it.
HERACANTHA, in botany, a term ufed by fome authors to exprefs the common wild carline thiftle. See the article Carlina.
HERACLEON, in botany, a name given by fome of the Greek writers to the lithofpermum, or gromwell. It was ori- ginally called heraclcon fporon, J!p<wiAi» ottojsm, the Herculean feed, from the remarkable hardnefs of the feed ; but the latter word was drop'd, and the Heracleon 'only preferved. There is great reafon againft ufmg the word diofpyros as a fynonym for the gromwell, becaufe it is a name given by fome of the Greeks to a very different kind of vegetable, a fort of cherry. Pliny, 1. 26. c. ir.
HERACLEUS Lapis, in the natural hiftory of the antients, a name by which many have called the loadftone. This was the name given to it by the antient Greeks from Heraclea, a city of Lydia, near which it ufed to be found ; but after writers fo far err'd from the origin and orthography of the word, as to call it Herculem lapis, as if it had been named from Hercules.
The after ages of the Greeks called it alfo wagneih lapis, ' but this was a name by no means applied to it in the earlier times, but then was ufed to exprefs a very different fubft ance, a white fil very -looking ftone, which had no power of attracti- on, but was turned into beautiful veffels for the ufe of the table : And the not attending to the ages in which the au- thors lived who ufe the word magnetis, has been the occa- fion of great errors in their commentators, who did not con- fider that in the fucceflion of a few ages, the fame word be- came the name of two very different things. Hill's Theoph. p. 79. See the article Basaltes. HERACLIA, Hawaii*, in antiquity, an Athenian feftival ce- lebrated every fifth year in honour of Hercules. TheThifbians and Thebans in Bceotia obferved a folemn fefti- val in honour of Hercules, furnamed Mr,Xi)v, becaufe apples were offered to him. Befides thefe there were other feftivals kept in honour of Hercules ; for a defcription of all which, fee Potter's Archseol. Grac. 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1. p. 398, feq. HERiEA, 'H F aia, in antiquity, a feftival celebrated at Argos in
i honour of Juno, called in Greek 'Hpn. See a defcription of
I the ceremonies attending this folemnity, in Potter's Archaol.
) Graec, 1. 2. c. 20. T. 1, p. 397.
There
