DRU
[ 248 ]
DRU
There are aKoDropJles of the Breafi, Pericardium, Ute- rus, Ovaries, &c. '
TheCaufes of Dropfies, in general, are whatever may ob- flrua- the ferous Part of the Blood, fo as to make it ftagnate in the Veffels 5 Or bruft the Veffels themfelves, fo as to let the Blood out among the Membranes ; Or weaken, and re- lax the Tone of the Veffels ; _ Or thin the Blood, and make it watery 5 or leffen Perforation.
Thefe Caufes are various, viz* fometimes acute Difeafes, fchirrous Tumors of any of the more noble Vifcera, exceflive Evacuations, particularly Haemorrhages, hard Drinking, &c
The /((cites, or Water-Dropfy of the Abdomen, is the moft ufual Cafe, and what we particularly call the Dropjy : ItsSymptoms are Tumors, firft of the Feet, and Legs, and af- terwards of the Abdomen, which keep continually growing ; and if the Belly be ftruck, or ftiook, there is heard a Quafhing of Water. Add to this three other Attendants, viz. a.Dyfp- mtsa- intenfe Thirft ; and fparing Urine : with which may be numbcr'd Heaviness, Liftlcfefs, Coftivenefs, a light Fever, and an Emaciation of the Body.
The Curative Indications are two, viz, The Evacuation of the Water; and the Strengthening of the Blood, and Vifcera. The firfl is effected by ftrong Purgatives, particularly Ela- terium, and Crocus Afetallorum. For fuch as are too weak to bear Purgatives, Dr. Sydenham recommends Emeticks, whereof the beS are thofe made of Lixivial Salts. Etmul- ler prefers Diureticks to either Kind. Along with the Eva- ciiants are to be ufed Stomachicks, efpecially Abfynthium, Marrhvbmm, &c.
Where other means fail for Evacuating the Water, Re- courfe is had to the tparacenttejis, or Operation of Tapping. See Paracentesis.
Mayerne recommends Mercitrius dulcis, and Nitre, and Ants Eggs, for the promoting of Urine, and draining the Tu- mour. "As for the Vifcera, they are reftored by Chalybeats, and Strengthened.
Baglivi notes, that in a Dropjy arifing from a morbid Liver, there is always a vehement dry Cough : which is never obferved in the other Species. Tycho Brahe obferves, that Hydropic Perfons usually die about full Moon. Wain- nvright extols an Infufion of Green Tea in Rhemjb Wine 5 as alfo Briony Juice, as excellent in this Difeafe.
DROWNING, the Aft of Suffocating, or being fufibcated by Water. See Suffocation.
People not accuftom'd to diving, Dr. Halley obferves, be- gin to drown in about half a Minute's Time. See Diving.
Drowning was anciently a Kind of Puniihment : In the Time of Louis XI. of France, the Chronicles affure us, that they frequently drown d their Criminals, inilcad of hanging thtm. Chron. Scand. See Punishment.
Natural Hiflorians, and Phyficians, furnifti us with divers well attefted Inftances of furprizing Recoveries of Perfons drowned : Which, if maturely confider'd, might perhaps let a little Light into the dark Notion of Life, and Death.
fpecblin, de Aer. ££ Alim. def. C. 10. gives us the Hiftory of a Gardener of Tronningholm, then living, ag'd 65 Years, who 18 Years before flipt under the Ice to the Depth of 18 Ells, where he flood at the Bottom, upright, as it were, for 16" Hours 5 when, being drawn out with a Crook ftruck in- to his Head, and wrapp'd up in Clothes, from the common Perfuafion of thofe People, that he would recover ; he was afterwards ftroak'd, rubb'd with linnen Swaths, and Air blown up his NoiVrils for feveral Hours ; till the Blood be- gan to move. Laftly, plying him with Antapoplectic, and Denial Liquors, he was reftored to Life. In Memory of this Accident, the Queen Mother fettled a yearly Stipend upon him, &c
TtJ^mttS, Keeper of the King's Library, gives us the Hiflory of a Woman he himfelf knew, who was under the Water 3 whole Days, yet brought to Life again after the fame Manner as the Tronningham Gardener : and was flill alive.
Laflly, Burmannus affurcs us, that being in the Village Bonefs, of the Parifh of c Pithou, he afftfted at the Funeral Sermon of one Laur. "Jona, an old Man of feventy ; where the Preacher related, that when a Youth of 17, he had been buried 7 Weeks under Water, and at length drawn forth, and brought again to Life. Mechlin, ubifup.
DRUG, in Commerce, a generalName for all Spices, and other Commodities, brought from diftant Countries, and ufed in the Bufinefs of Medicine, Dying, and the Mechanic Arts.
The Drugs us'd in Medicine, are very numerous, and make the greateft Part of the Commerce of our Druggifls. Some of 'em grow in England, France, &c. But the greateft Part are brought from the Levant, and the Eajllndies.
A Lift of 'em would be endlefs. Some of the Principal, are, Aloes, Amber-gris, Amber, Ajfa fasti da, Antimony, Balfams, Be-zoar, 'Borax, Benjoin, Camphor, Cantharides, Cardamttm, Cajfia, Cajtoreum, Colloqtmitis, Civet, Coral, Cubebs, Coffee, Cocao, Gums Amma Armoniac Adragmith, Elemi Galbamim Gutta Labd&num Opopoum Sagape-
mrni Sandarac Lacca, Jalap, Manna, Mafic, Mirrh, Mufc, Opium, ^Pearls, ghivzrjuina, Hellebore, Galan- ga, Zedoary, Rhubarb, Sarfaparilla, Storax, Sanguis Draconis, Senna, Sperma Ceti, Spica Nardi. Scam- mony, Sal Ammoniac, Sublimate, 'Tamarinds, Tea Tur- pentine, Turbith, Tutia, Tartar Vitriol, Sec. The Natu- ral Hiflory, £5?c. whereof fee under their refpective Articles.
The Drugs ufed by Dyers, are of two Kinds ; Colouring which give the Dye, or Colour 5 And Not-Colouring, which only difpofe the Stuffs to take the Colours the better, or to render the Colours more finning. See Dying.
Of the firft Kind, are, Pafels, Wood, Indigo, Kermes, Cochineel, Madder, Turmeric, &c.
Of the fecond Kind, are, Alumn, Tartar, Arfenic, Real- gal, Saltpetre, Common Salt, Sal Gemmee, Sal Ammoniac, Cryjlal of Tartar, Agaric, Spirit of Wine, Uriize, Tin, Wheat-or ^eafe-F lower, Starch, Lime, Apes, &c.
There is a third Sort of Drugs, that anfwer both Inten- tions ; As the Root, Bark, and Leaf of the Walnut-tree, Galls, Copperofe, &c. An Account ofeachj of .thefe 2)rms, fee under their proper Articles.
DRUGGET, in Commerce, a Sort of cheap Stuff, very thin, and narrow, ufually all Wool, and lbmetimes half Wool and half Thread : Sometimes crofs'd ; but ufually without Crofting.
Thofe crofs'd, are wove on a Loom with two Trcddles, after the fame Manner as Linnen, Camelot, &c.
Mr. Savary invented a Kind of Gold, and Silver Drug- gets^ the Warp being partly Gold- and Silver-thread, and the Woof Thread.
DRUIDS, the Priefls, or Miniflers of Religion, among the ancient Celttf, or Gauls, Bri tarns, and Germans.
Some Authors derive the Word. Dmdd, ana\ Drus, from the Hebrew ZD^^^ftenij[im,Driiffim,orDriffm, which they translate, Contemplators.
The Druids were the firfl, and moft diftingui/h'd Order among the Gauls, and Britains : They were chofe out of the beft Families ; and the Honours of their Birth, joyn'd with thofe of their Function, procured 'em the higheft Vene- ration among the People. They were verfed in Aftrology, Geometry, Natural Philofophy, Politicks, and Geography ; and had the Adminiftration of all facred Things ; were the Interpreters of Religion, and the Judges of all Affairs indif- ferently. Whoever refufed Obedience to them, was declared impious, and accurfed.
We know but little as to their peculiar Doctrines 5 only that they believed the Immortality of the Soul, and the Ale- tempfychofis.
They were divided into feveral Clafles, or Branches; viz, the Vacerri, Sardi, Eubages, Semothii, or Semnothei, and Saro7ud<£.
The Vacerri are held to have been the Priefls 5 the Bar- di the Poets; the Eitbp.ges, the Augurs ; and. the Saronides, the Civil Judges, and Instructors of Youth. As to the Semo- thei, who are faid to have been immediately devoted to the Service of Religion, 'tis probable, they were the fame with the Vacerri. See Bardi, £5c.
Strabo, however, LAN. p. 197. and Vicard after him, in his Celtopcedia, do not comprehend all thefe different Orders under the Denomination of 'Druids^ as Species under their Genus, or Parts under the Whole ; but make 'em quite dif- ferent Conditions, cr Orders.
Strabo, again, only diftinguifhes three Kinds; Bardi, Vates, and 2)ruids. The Bardi were the Poets 5 the Vates t OCa.THij (apparently the fame with the Vacerri^) were the Sacrifices, and Naturalifts ; and the Z)ruids, befide the Study of Nature, applied thcmfelves likewife to Morality, See Vates.
'Diogenes Laertius affures us in his Prologue, that the ^Druids were the fame among the ancient Britains, with the Sophi, or 'Philofophers among the Greeks, the Magi among the Terfians, the Gymnofophifts among the Indians, and the Chaldeans among the Affyrians. See Magi, Gym- nosophist,.££c.
The Druids had one Chief, or Arch-Druid in every Na- tion, who acted as High-prieft, or 'Pontifex Maximus. He had abfolute Authority over all the reft; and commanded, decreed, punifh'd, c5c. at Pkafure. At his Death he was fucceeded by the moft confiderable among the Survivors 5 and if there were feveral Pretenders, the Matter , was ended by an Election, or put to the Decision of Arms.
TheDrziids, we have obferv'd, were in the higheft Efteem. They prefided at Sacrifices, and other Ceremonies, and had the Direction of every Thing relating to Religion. The Britip, and Gaulift Youth flock'd to 'em in Crouds, to be inftruCled by 'em. The Children of the Noblefle, Mela tells us, they retired withal into Caves, or the moft defo- late Parts of Forefls ; and kept 'cm there, fometimes for 10 Years, under their Difcipline.
Befide the Immortality, and Metempfychofis, they in- ftructed in the Motion of the Heavens, and the Courfe of
tht ,
