The London medical dictionary: including, under distinct heads, every branch of medicine, viz. anatomy, physiology, and pathology, the practice of physic and surgery, therapeutics, and materia medica ; with whatever relates to medicine in natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history (Volume 2).

  • Parr, Bartholomew, 1750-1810.
Date:
1819
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The London medical dictionary: including, under distinct heads, every branch of medicine, viz. anatomy, physiology, and pathology, the practice of physic and surgery, therapeutics, and materia medica ; with whatever relates to medicine in natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history (Volume 2). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    10/874
    KAVDI-F'RVATAM. A small East Indian shrub, th« ihoic of «hich is lactescent; the juice destroys lon^s but this plant also has not yet been noticed by rcT.tcmatic botanist, or the indigenous name has not been preserved. See Raii Histona. N\\Ul-UOBA,/f«'///ra acandena Lm. bp. t^'-»*^'' used in St. Domingo, where it grows, as a remedy tor the bites of serpents. NAP,orNAPE'CA. SccCEnoplia. N APE'LLUS, (from its bulbous root resembhng the tuniip napus). N \ PIL^-'. AQ. See Acrantium Hispanicum. N \'PIITHA, an Arabian word, applied by the Ara- bians toA.MnEn,(bce Ambra,) 72««a, terrct oleum It is the thinnest of the liquid bitumens, perfectly Huid, clear, colourless, of a strong smell, not highly fragrant, extremely subtile, so light as to swim on water, spread- ing to a large surface, exhibiting prismatic colours, and highly inflammable. It has the same appellation whe- ther it is separated by nature or art from thick petro- leum or grosser bituminous matter. There are three kinds as it arises naturally, the white, the reddish, and the grosser deep coloured, but each, by keeping, seem- ing from the addition of oxygen, becomes a dark re- sin. Naphtha issues from the earth, at Baku, in Persia, on the borders of the Caspian; is collected from the Murfacc of wells in the same regions, and sometimes found on the watei-s of Italy. Naphtha and petroleum are probal)ly fonncd by the decomposition of bitumens by subterraneous fires; and the lighter fluid naphtha usually appears on the surface. The true naphtha dissolves resins and balsams, but not gum resins or clastic gums: it is useful as an external application for removing old pains, chilblains, nervous disorders, cramps, coiiiiaciioiiK of the limbs, paralytic affections, Sec. See I'ktuolkum. NA'PIUM, (from its resemblance to na/ius, navew). Sec Lampsana. NA'PTA. (Sec Naphtha.) A name also for the tumour, called nata or natta. NA'PUS, (a Rabbinical term). The seeds of this plant furnish a stimulating oil, called rape oil, used in liniments. See Bumas. NA'PY, (from m, nor, and w««, to eat; because it was thought not eatable from its pungent taste). See Si- NAPI. N ARCE, »«^«», the torpedo, (from »«^«««, to stufxify). \ torpor, stupor, or dulness of sensation, either from disease or medicine. NARCrSSUS LUT.E'US SYLVE'STRIS, (from ihe youth, who, in poetical fable, is said to have been changed into this flower). Bulbus sylveslris, narcissus paeudo-narciasus .inglicus Lin. Sp. PI. 414. Wild DAFFODIL. The roots are slightly purgative and emetic; the dose two drachms in infusion. NARCO'SIS, (from »«^»«, to stupify). A stupe- faction. NARCOTIC A, (from the same). See Anodtna. NA'RDUSCE'LTICA,(from the Syriac word ncrrf). Spica celtica, arliunca, Celtic spikenard, Valeriana celtica Lin. Sp. PI. 46, is a small species of valerian, with uncut, oblong, obtuse, oval, leaves, a native of the Alps, from whence we have the dry roots, consisting of a number of blackish fibres, with the lower parts of the stalks adhering : the last are covered with thin yel- low scales, the remains of the withered leaves. l,ts N A R virtues resemble those of valerian, which it possesses in ^^¥he'm'ountain nard is only the root of the large Jndica^sMca nardi, Indian spikenard,.nahd, or Syrian KARD androfio^on nardus Lin. Sp. PI. 1482. D^^scorides^thinks, without reason, the Indian and the Syrian nard to be different. They are the bushy op of the root, or the remains of the withered stalks and ribs of the leaves of an Indian grassy leaved plant. Linnxus, as just mentioned, has referred it to the genus andropogon; and Dr. Blane,in the Philosophical 1 rans- actions for 1790, considers it as another species ot the same genus, of which the trivial name is the native ap- pellation, xizjivarancusa. Sir W. Jones, however, in the second and fourth volumes of the Asiatic Researches, refers it, with much reason, to the genus Valeriana, with the trivial name jatamansi. The error of suppos- ing it a grass arose seemingly from the term spica; but this species of valerian rises from the ground in hairy spikes like ermines' tails. Dr. Roxborough, in the fourth volume of the Researches, has given a figure of this appearance, and indeed of the whole plant. The nard, as brought to us, is a congeries of small, tough, reddish brown fibres, cohering close together, but not interwoven so as to form a bunch or spike, about the size of a finger. The spikenard of India and Syria alike resemble valerian in their virtues ; but the Indian is warmer than the Syrian, and somewhat pun- gent and bitterish. It also agrees very nearly in its virtues with cypress. The nard was highly valued in the east as a spice and perfume; and it was an ingredient in the theriaca and mithridate. Among the ancients the unguentum nardinum was used at the baths and feasts. All the ancient physicians recommended it in dropsy, gravel, and pains of the stomach, both internally given, and ex- ternally applied on wool. In the latter mode Galen relieved the emperor Marcus Aurelius in cholera. It is used in India as a febrifuge. Na'rdus Ita'lica. See Lavendula latifolia. Na'rdus rustica et Montana. See Asarum. NA'RES, (from the Hebrew, naker). The nos- trils ; nycteres. The internal nares, or cavity of the nose, fiator nariu7n, comprehend the whole space be- tween the external nares and the posterior openings immediately above the arch of the palate, by which a probe may be passed from the nose to the fauces. From thence these cavities reach upwards to the lamina cri- bosa of the os ethmoides, where they communicate for- ward with the frontal, and backward with the sphe- noidal sinus. The two frontal sinuses, the two antra highmoriana, the cellulx of the os cuneiforme under the upper spongy bone of the nose, open into the nostrds, and from thence discharge their mucus. The spongy bones, two in each nostril, are covered with the mucous membrane also, and thus the secreting sur^ face of the nostrds ,s enlarged. The olfactory n!rv es without the dura mater, pierce through the hofes in the me^hZl hr^^ 'P'f ^ themselvls on the mucous ^aralso Th °'K^'' '''^ ^^^^^^ ^'^^ the fifth par also. 1 he membrana pituitaria, which lines th« WW '> ^^'^ '^^''^^'' ^^ papillous at those parts where it is most exposed to the stream of the air. The whole membrane is full of small glands which separate mucus, and from this membrane polypous excrescence<.