SWA
[i$8]
S W I
This kind of Smure is principally ufed to Wounds in the Face, to prevent unfightly Scars : 'Tis likewife convenient when the Fibres of the Mufcles are cut acrofs; and where 'tis difficult or impoffible to apply a Bandage.
In the other Kinds of Sutures, the Stitches ought always to be taken at a Depth proportionable to that of the Wound; Care being had to avoid the Nerves as much as poflible. In long Wounds they are beft begun at the Ends; but in Ihort ones at the Middle.
SWABBER, the Title of an inferior Officer on Board a Man of War, whofe Office is to fee, that the Ship be kept neat and clean.
In order to this, he is to fee her wafh'd well once or twice a Week at lead; efpecially about the Gun- Walls and Chains. He ought to burn Pitch, or fome fiich Thing, now and then between Decks, to prevent Infection; and to acquaint the Captain of iuch as are nafty and offenflve. SWALLOWING. See Deglutition. " Some People," (fays Dr. Sloan, from an Inflance of an unhappy Ferfbn who had fwallow'd great Quantities of Pebbles to eafe him of the Wind, and which remaining in his Stomach to the Number of 200, had brought him into a Very lad Condition,) " from their feeing Birds lan- " CTuiih, unlels they fwallow Gravel, or fmall Stones, take •* up an Opinion, that the fwallowing of Stones helps the «< Stomach to digeft its Food; but I have been always " againft that Ptactice : For tho' the Stomachs, or Gizzards " of Birds (they wanting Teeth to grind their Food) are " made very ftrong, mufculous, and defended on the lnfide « with a Coat, by the Help whereof, and theie Stones, their " Victuals are ground; yet the Stomachs of Men being " very different, 'tis not reafbnable to think they fhould be " of Uie (or even inoffenfive) to them.
" I knew, adds he, one Mr. K , who for many
" Years fwallow' d nine or ten every Day, nearly as large as " Wallnuts, and without any apparent Harm, as they al-
" ways pafs'd; but he afterwards dy'd fiiddenly. "
A Lady, mention'd by Mr. Greenhill in the Philosophical tffetnfitEfiimSy got a large and painful Tumor in the Umbili- cus, with fwallowing Prune-Stones; which, upon the Tu- mor's breaking of itlelf, came out in gteat Quantity : Not- withstanding all imaginable Care fhe dy'd of it. > A
Lad, 16 Tears of Age, near Hall in Saxony, playing with a Knife fix Inches and half long, accidentally PwallOrW'd it. The Curiofity of the Cafe led Wolfgang Chrifi. Wefenon, Phy- fician of the Elector of Brandenbonrg, to take Care of him. The Knife was felt to have chang'd its Pofition feveral Times, and in a few Months ceas'd to be very troublefome; and in a Year was 10 much diminifli'd, as fcarce to be felt from without. At length it was drawn out (exceedingly di- minifli'd every way) thro' an Abicefs which its Point occafion'd, three Fingers Breadth below the Pit of the Stomach, and the Boy was perfectly well; Phihfophical tranfatlions, N° 219. Among the Ratifies in the Anatomy Hall at Leyden, is pteferv'd a Knife ten Inches long, Jwattow'd by a Peafant, and cut out of his Stomach 5 after which he liv'd Eight Tears.
SWALLOW-M/7, in Fortification, is a Angle Tenaille, natrower towards the fortify'd Place, than towafds the Country. S~e Queve d' Hironde.
Swallow-/^//, in Joinery and Carpentry, a particular Way of fattening together two Pieces of Timber 5 fo' as that they can't fall alunder. S?e iDovK-tail. S W AN-fori. See King's Swan-herd. SWANIMOTE, or SWAINMOTE, (from the Saxon Swung, Swain, Ruftic, and Gemote, Meeting) a Coutt touching Mattets of the Foreft; kept by the Charter of the Foreft thrice in every Year, before the Verdurors, as Judges. See Forest.
This Court is as incident to a Foreft, as a Court of Pie- powder to a Fair. See Court.
SWATH, among Surgeons, a long and broad Band to bind up any difeas'd Member, or Part. See Bandage.
SWEAT, a Moiilure killing out of the Pores of the Skins of Animals; thro' too much Heat, Exercife, or Weaknefs; or through the Action of certain Medicines call'd Sudori- ficks.
Sweat is either the Confequence of an Acceleration of the Blood's Motion, by Stimuli, or Exercife; or of a Relaxa- tion of the Pores of the Cutis; by means of either where- of, the Matter which before perfpir'd infenfiblyi is now render'd fenfible, See Perspiration.
The former is rhe Cafe in Natural and Medicinal Sweats, and the latter in morbid, fainting, and cold Sweats.
The principal O'gan of Sweat are the milliary Glands; which are fpread over the whole Ambit of the Body; and furniffl'd, each, with a Vein, Artery, and Nerve, befides an excretory Duct, thro' the Orifice whereof the Sweat is caft out under the Cuticle. This Duct is cover'd with a little round Valve, lying immediately under the Cuticle, where- by the Sweat is occafionally either retain'd or tranfmitted. See Milliary Gland.
The Sweat thus fecreted, is various, according to the Variety of the Weather, Soil, Sex, Age, Temperament Emunctories, Diet, Time of Digeftion, £5c. as in the Urine' See Urine.
In a found Body, Sweat is fearce ever found, but f> om a Fault in ibme of the fix Non-naturals : Its immediate Ef- fect is always hurtful; By Accident it fometimes does good.
The Phyficians order Sweats in cold and inveterate Dif- eafes, as the Palfy, Rheumatifm, Sciatica, and many other Difeafes. Difeafes frequently have their Crifes in Sweats.
Sweating is indicated by the Beginning of a critical Sweat, to carry otf the Difeafe; by the Tenuity of the morbid Matter difpers'd thro' all the Veffels, as in the Plague a venomous Bite, the French Difeafe, e'er yet fix'd; by the particular Temperature of the Patient, and by various Ob- fttuctions to be remov'd in the feveral Parts of the Body . particularly in fubcutaneous Difeafes, the Itch, Pfora, lie. profy, £Jfo
Matthiohts tells us, That the Sweat of all Quadrupeds, as Horfes, Affes, (§c. is venomous; and that that of other Beafts is unwholfome. tfachemus adds, that the Sweat of Horfes, particularly, is fo acid, that it pierces the ftrongeft and firmeft Boots, that are Proof againft all Water. Some Naturalifts affirm, that Dogs and Cats never fiveat, how hot foever they be, becaufe they are not found to have any Pores in the Cuticle. See Pore.
JEnglifn Sweat. See Sudor Anglicanus.
SWEEP, among Refiners, the Almond Furnace. See Furnace.
Sweep : The Seamen call the Mold of a Ship, when fhe begins to compafs in at the Rungheads, the Sweep of her, or the Sweep of the Futtock.
Sweeping at Sea, fignifies dragging along the Ground, at the Bottom of the Sea, or Channel, with a Tree-fluk'd Grap- nel, to find fome Hawfer or Cable which is flipped from an Anchor.
SWIMMING, the Act or Art of fuftaining the Body in Water, and of advancing therein by the Motion of the Arms, Legs, £5?c.
Man alone learns to fwim 3 all other Animals have it natu- rally.
Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, Swimming made fo effential a Part of the Difcipline of their Youth, that to reptefent a Man perfectly rude and uneducated, they ufed to fay proverbially, he had neither learned to read nor to fwim.
In Fifties, 'tis the Tail is the grand Inftrument of Swim- ming, not the Fins, as is generally imagin'd : For this Rea- fon Fifties are more ftrong and mufculous in that Part, than in all the reft of the Body; according as we find it in all other Animals; the motive Parts wheteof are ftill the ftrong- eft, as the Thighs of Men for walking, rhe Pectoral Mufcles of Birds for Flight, &c. See Flying, &c.
The Manner wherein Fifties row themfelves forwards by the Tail, is well cxplain'd by Sorelli de Motu Animal. Pars 1. cap. 23. The Fins of Fifties only ferve to keep the Body well pois'd and ballanc'd, and prevent Vacillation. See Fin.
M. ihemenot has publifh'd a curious Piece in French, call'd I' Art de Nager, the Arr of Swimming, demonftrated by Fi- gures. Before him, Bverard Tlighy, an Englipnan, and Nicholas Winman, had laid down the Rules of this Art : Ihevenot has done little more than copy from them.
Indeed, had he but read, with half rhat Application, So- relli's Treatife de Motu Animalium, he would fcarce have maintain'd, as he has done, that Men would fwim naturally, like other Animals, were they not prevented by Fear, which magnifies theif Danger.
We have abundant Experience againft this : Throw any Brute, newly born, into a River, and it fwims : Throw an Infant in, e'er yet capable of Fear, and it fwims not, but is drown'd.
The Reafon is, that the human Machine differs very no- tably in its Structure and Configuration from that of Brutes; and particularly, which is very extraordinary, in the Situati- on of its Centte of Gravity. In Man, the Head is exceed- ingly heavy, with regard to the Weight of the reft of the Body; by reafon the Head is fumifh'd with a very gn»' Quantity of Brain, and has, befides, a deal of Flefh and Bones, and no Cavities to be fill'd with Air; fo that ™ e Head immerging under Water by its own Gravity, the ^° le and Ears are foon fill'd : Thus the Strong carrying down the Weak, the Man foon drowns, and is loft. _ .
But in Brutes 'tis otherwife : For the Head having du little Brain, and theiebeing abundance of Sinus's therein; Its Weight, with Regard ro die reft of the Body, is ™ ucl ^' e f e confiderable; fo that they ate eafily able to keep Aat * up in the Air, and thus refpiring freely, are out ot u ser of drowning, on rhe Principles of Staticks. . .
In effect, the Art of Swimming, which is no otherwue
be acquir'd but by Exercife, confifts principally in K«l 6
the Head above Water, fo, that the Nofe and Mouth being a
Liberty, Rcfpiration may be carry'd on : For,
j to the Feet and
