Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 16

=AG'ARIC.= [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ AGAR'Ic.u.m, AGAR'ICUS, L.; BLaTTERSCHWAMM, PILZ, SCHWAMM, Ger. In _botany_, a genus of fungi, of numerous species, embracing the mushrooms and champignons. Of these plants, some are edible; others poisonous. The term is also commonly applied to the boletus found on oaks (TOUCHWOOD), and on larches (MALE AGARIC). See MUSHROOMS.

=Fly-agaric.= _Syn._ FLY MUSH'ROOM; AGAR'ICUS MUSCA"RIA, Linn.; AMANI'TA M. One of the most narcotic and poisonous of our fungi, producing, in small doses, intoxication and a pleasing species of delirium; for which purpose it is commonly employed in Kamschatka. (Hooker.) It possesses the singular property of imparting an intoxicating quality to the urine, which continues for a long time after taking it. This secretion is, therefore, commonly saved by the natives during a scarcity of the fungus. "Thus, with a few amanitae, a party of drunkards may keep up their debauch for a week;"

and the intoxication so produced is capable of "being propagated through five or six individuals." (Langsdorff.) Water in which it has been boiled is poisonous; but the boiled fungus itself is inert. The liquid from it is used as a fly-poison; whence the name mushroom is derived. It may be known by its rich orange-red colour in autumn.

=AG'ATE= (-ate, -et). [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ ACHA'TES (-ka'-tez), L. A semi-pellucid uncrystallised species of quartz, remarkable for its hardness, variety of colour, and susceptibility of receiving a high polish. It is an aggregate of various siliceous minerals, of which chalcedony appears generally to be the base. Carnelian, jasper, amethyst, and other similar minerals, often enter into its composition. The colours are often delicately arranged in stripes, bands, or clouds. Those which take an angular form, as the Scotch pebble, are called FORTIFICATION AGATES. It is the least valuable of the precious stones, and is chiefly made into rings, seals, beads, burnishers, &c., on account of its hardness. Its powder is used for cleansing and polis.h.i.+ng iron, bra.s.s, &c., and to sharpen edge-tools.

=AGEING LIQUOR.= Dissolve 3 lbs. of chlorate of potash in 4 galls. of boiling water. Add 20 lbs. of powdered white a.r.s.enic to 20 lbs. of solution of caustic soda at 60 Tw., and boil until the a.r.s.enic is completely dissolved. Add the latter solution to the former, with stirring, until the mixture stands at 28 Tw.

=AG'NAIL.= See WHITLOW.

=AGRYPNOT'ICS= (-grip-). _Syn._ ANTHYPNOT'ICS (-hip-); AGRYPNOT'ICA, ANTHYPNOT'ICA, L. In _medicine_ and _pharmacology_, agents or substances which prevent sleep; as tea, coffee, digitalis, vinegar, &c.

=A'GUE= (-gu). Ague may be defined as febrile phenomena occurring in paroxysms, and observing a certain regular succession, characterised by chill, abnormal heat, and unnatural cutaneous discharge, which prove to be a temporary crisis and usher in a remission. These phenomena are developed in an uninterrupted series or succession more or less regular, which pa.s.s into each other by insensible stages. Ague is paludal fever, and has always been observed to prevail in marshy moist districts, and in low, swampy humid countries, in which seasons of considerable heat occur.

The neighbourhood of marshes, or of a district which has been at some recent time under water; the banks of extensive lakes, and the sh.o.r.es of rivers and seas where the water flows sluggishly, and in some places stagnates; shallow rivers; extensive level tracts of forest land, where moisture is always present; and the surface of the land constantly covered with excavation from the ground,--these are the terrestrial physical conditions, in which marsh and littoral fevers are almost universally to be found, although it must be admitted that there are some marshy districts in which the disease does not show itself.

In these latter localities the effects of the miasmatic poison, show themselves in cholera or typhus. No precise knowledge of the nature and source of this subtle poison which, in default of a better name we call _malaria_, has yet been acquired; indeed it has yet to be proved that _malaria_ has a distinct existence. Science has as yet been unable to discover the presence of any poisonous principle in the air of ague on other regions.

Ague may exist without any alteration of structure being set up; but in the milder forms of this fever a greater number of organs and tissues are morbidly altered than perhaps in any other form of disease. The parts so affected are the liver, spleen, lungs, heart, brain, and the serous and mucous membranes of the body generally. Within certain limits, the specific action of the malarial poison may be said to be in the inverse ratio of the intensity of the fever which attends its action. The affections of the liver and spleen also vary greatly according to the locality in which the patient is attacked; for instance, whilst in some parts of India the spleen is the organ princ.i.p.ally involved, in other districts of the same continent it is the liver. In England, under proper medical treatment, the patient usually recovers without any manifest derangement either of structure or impairment of function of any organ or tissue. The liver may, however, become affected if the patient suffering from the disease has been neglected for any length of time.

Notwithstanding the opinions of Finke and Professor Colin, there appears to be considerable ground for the supposition that ague may be caused by drinking marsh and surface water. In an interesting paper on the 'Indian Annals' for 1856, Mr Bettington, of the Madras Civil Service, says:--"It is notorious that the water produces fever and affections of the spleen."

In confirmation of this a.s.sertion, he brings forward what seems to be some remarkably strong evidence. He cites cases of villages placed under the same conditions as to marsh-air in some of which fevers were prevalent, whilst in others they were absent; and he found on inquiry that whilst the latter villages were supplied with pure water, the inhabitants of the former had to drink marsh or mullah water, full of vegetable _debris_. In one village there were two sources of supply--a spring and a tank, the first fed by surface, and the other by marsh water. Those only who partook of the tank water were attacked by fever. Again, in Tulliwaree the fever was so universal that scarcely any inhabitant escaped it. In this village Mr Bettington caused a well to be dug, and the result was that the fever disappeared. Similar cases have occurred in this country. Twenty years ago Mr Blower, of Bedford, directed the attention of medical men to a case that occurred in a village, in which ague had nearly disappeared when a well was dug; and to another instance which occurred in the village of Houghton. In this parish almost the only family which escaped ague was that of a farmer; the members of this family partook of well water; whilst those who did not escape the disease drank ditch water.

In the 'Indian Annals' for 1867 is a paper by Dr Moore, confirming the opinion that ague may be produced by the causes already stated, and M.

Commaille ('Rec. de Mem. de Med. Mil.,' Nov., 1868) states that in Ma.r.s.eilles, paroxysmal fevers, formerly unknown, have made their appearance, since the water supply to that city has been drawn from the Ma.r.s.eilles Ca.n.a.l.

In his report for 1870 Dr Townsend, the Sanitary Commissioner for the central provinces of India, states that the natives of India hold an opinion that the use of river and tank water during rainy seasons (when the water always contains an increased quant.i.ty of vegetable matter) will almost always cause ague. Boudin ('Traite de Geographie et de Statistiques Medicale,' 1857, t. i, p. 142), records an extraordinary case. Eight hundred soldiers, in good health, embarked in three vessels to pa.s.s from Bona, in Algiers, to Ma.r.s.eilles, in the year 1834. They all arrived at Ma.r.s.eilles the same day. In two vessels there were 680 men, without a single sick one amongst them. In the third vessel, the Argo, there had been 120 soldiers; 13 died during the short pa.s.sage, and of the 107 survivors no less than 98 were disembarked suffering from all forms of paludal fevers. We may presume that the diagnosis was correct, since Boudin himself examined the men. When the vessels started the crew of the Argo had not a single sick man aboard. The crew and soldiers of all the boats were exposed to the same atmospheric conditions. The influence of air must, therefore, be excluded. There is no mention of food, but it has never been suggested that food has ever been concerned in the production of malarious fever. It was a very different matter, however, with the water supply. In two of the vessels the water was good, whilst the Argo had been supplied with marsh water, which was offensive to the smell, as well as unpalatable. This latter was supplied to the soldiers, whilst the crew drank uncontaminated water. Amongst those who deny that marsh water is the cause of ague must be quoted Professor Colin. The professor, who is regarded as an authority on intermittent fever, in his work De l'Ingestion des Eaux Marecageuse comme cause de la Dysenterie et des Fievres intermittentes,' instances numerous cases in Algiers and Italy in which impure marsh water gives rise to indigestion, diarrha, and dysentery, but in no case to intermittent fever; and he states that in all his observations he has never met with an instance of ague having such an origin. Without contesting the case of the Argo, he views it with considerable suspicion, and doubts whether Boudin is correct in his details. Finke also states that, in Hungary and Holland, marsh-water is daily drank without causing any ill-effects. The inhalation of the fumes of oxide of zinc appears to produce in workers of this metal a variety of ague termed by Shackrah "bra.s.s ague," and by Dr Greenhow, "bra.s.s-founder's ague." The symptoms of the malady are tightness and oppression of the chest; with indefinite nervous sensations, followed by s.h.i.+vering, an indistinct hot stage, and profuse perspiration. These attacks, however, are not periodical.

It is open to doubt whether the malarious poison exists in the form of a gas, for the observations of microscopists go to show the extreme minuteness of the germs of disease, which are probably not more than 1/70000th of an inch in size, and it is regarded as probable that the real cause of ague is the entry into the circulation of some low forms of spores of fungi, or of some minute animalcules. Ague is always to be met with in places where fungi grow, and is always a.s.sociated with what Pettenkofer calls "the ground air"--that is, the air contained in the interstices of the soil, no inconsiderable volume of which is drawn into every house which has a fire on the floor which rests on the earth. That animalcules (?) may exist in the blood is evidenced by the discovery of Dr Lewis, who found hair-like worms in the circulation; and whilst considering this point, we must bear in mind that the remedial agents employed to check ague, quinine, a.r.s.enic, &c., are drugs capable of destroying animal life, and it is not impossible that they may exercise a beneficial effect in destroying the spores or animalcules to which the disease may be due.

The best means to be employed to combat malarial fevers in any district are thorough and efficient drainage (and it must be remembered that drainage purifies both the ground-air and the ground water) and a supply of wholesome water free from decomposing vegetable matter.

That the adoption of the above means cannot fail to succeed is incontestably proved by the fact, that during the last 200 years, ague in England has diminished to a wonderful extent, in short, as good drainage and a pure water supply have prevailed, there has been a proportionate diminution of paludal poisoning.

During the protectorate of Cromwell great mortality prevailed in London, from the ravages of ague; at that time London was as swampy as the fens of Lincolns.h.i.+re. See FEVER (Intermittent).

=Ague-cake.= The popular name of a tumour felt under the false ribs on the left side, formed by enlargement and induration of the spleen, following protracted ague; also, sometimes, of indurations of the liver following ague.

=Ague-drop.= See DROPS.

=Ague-salt= (solt). Disulphate of quinine.

=Ague-tree.= Sa.s.safras.

=Ague-weed.= The herb thorough-wort ('Eupato"rium perfolia'tum,' Linn.).

=AIG'REMORE= (eg'r-mor). [Fr.] Pulverised charcoal in the state it is used to make gunpowder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Attelettes from Soyer.]

=AIGUILLETTE= (ATTELETTE). [Fr.] In _cookery_, a term applied to several small dishes, from the articles of which they consist being mounted on silver needles, or skewers, with ornamental handles or tops. (See _engr._) They form one of the varieties of the 'hors-d'uvres' of Soyer; and are commonly served on a napkin. The skewers should be about four inches long, and of the thickness of an ordinary packing needle. The person eating what is served on them takes the head of the skewer between the thumb and fingers of the left hand, and picks it off with his fork. Those noticed by Soyer are--

=Aiguillettes a l'eperlan= (_smelts_);

=Aiguillettes aux Huitres= (_oysters_);

=Aiguillettes de Filets de Sole= (_soles_);

=Aiguillettes de Homard= (_lobsters_);

=Aiguillettes de Langue de Buf= (_ox-tongue_);

=Aiguillettes de Ris de Veau= (_sweetbread of veal_);

=Aiguillettes de Volaille a la Jolie Fille= (_fowl_);--

all of which are prepared in a nearly similar manner, merely varying the sauces, &c., to suit the article and palate. See ATTELETTES, HORS-D'UVRES, &c.

=AHORNZUCKER= (genuine American maple sugar). For coughs, hoa.r.s.eness, and all affections of the throat and chest caused by cold. The raw maple sugar as imported. (Hager.)

=AILANTHUS.= The inner bark of the _ailanthus glandulosa_, a common tree growing in northern China, said by Dr Dudgeon to have proved very successful in dysentery.

The _ailanthus glandulosa_ is also well known throughout the United States. Professor Hetet, of Toulon, tried the effect of the powdered bark, leaves, and various preparations of the bark or drugs, with the result of their administration being attended with purgative effect--and the discharge of worms.

The powdered bark has been given in small cases of tape-worm in the human subject, with marked success. The dose of the powder found sufficient for the expulsion of the tapeworm was from seven or eight to thirty grains.

=AIL'MENT.= Pain, indisposition; disease. Its use is generally restricted to the non-acute, and milder forms of disease.

=AIR.= [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ Aer, L. (from a?? Gr.); LUFT, Ger.; ATMOSPHERIC AIR; THE ATMOSPHERE. This name was formerly given to any aeriform body; thus, by the old chemists ammoniacal gas was called alkaline air; oxygen,--dephlogisticated, vital, or empyreal air; carbonic anhydride (carbonic acid), fixed air; hydrogen, inflammable air; heavy carbonetted hydrogen, olefiant gas, heavy inflammable air; nitrogen,--mephitic, phlogisticated, or nitrous air. At the present time the term air is usually restricted to the gaseous envelope surrounding the solid and liquid parts of our globe.

=Air, Atmospheric= (or simply, The Air). The air chiefly consists of a mechanical mixture of four volumes of nitrogen and one volume of oxygen, or more accurately--

By volume. By weight.

Nitrogen 791 768 Oxygen 209 232 ----- ----- 100 100[12]

[Footnote 12: At a meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, held on the 31st of December, 1877, it was announced that M. Cailletet had succeeded in liquefying atmospheric air.]

We may premise our description of the functions of the const.i.tuents of the atmosphere by the following quotation from Mr Blyth's 'Dictionary of Hygiene and Public Health':--"One of the most important properties of air is its power of penetration and its universality. Air is, indeed, present everywhere; there is scarcely a solid, however compact it may appear to be, which does not contain pores, and these pores filled with air. The soil contains no small quant.i.ty; indeed, if it were not so the numberless insects, worms, &c., which burrow in its interstices would cease to exist.

The most compact mortar and walls are penetrated with it, and water of natural origin contains a large quant.i.ty of air in solution. The atmosphere is supposed to extend to a very great height, from 200 to 300 miles; it used to be considered only five (forty-five) miles high, but observations on shooting stars, &c., show that this opinion is erroneous.

Owing to the force of gravity, the air is much denser near the earth, and gets more attenuated layer by layer as you ascend. If, then, the atmosphere were possessed of colour, it would be very dark just round the globe, and the tint would gradually fade into s.p.a.ce. The air is by no means wholly gaseous; it contains, indeed, an immense amount of life, and small particles derived from the whole creation. In the air may be found animalcules, spores, seeds, pollen cells of all kind, vibriones, elements of contagion, eggs of insects, &c., and a few fungi, besides formless dust, sandy, and other particles of local origin; for example, no one can ride in a railway carriage without being accompanied with dust, a great portion of which is attracted by a magnet, and is, indeed, minute particles of iron derived from the rails. The purest air has some dust in it. There probably never fell a beam of light from the sun since the world was made which did not show, were there eyes to see it, myriads of motes; these, however, generally speaking, are quite innocuous to man--some, indeed, may possibly be beneficial. Another most important property of air is its mobility; on the calmest day and in the quietest room there are constant currents of air which rapidly dilute any noxious odours of gases."

The chief functions of the oxygen are to maintain respiration and support combustion, while the office of the nitrogen is to dilute the oxygen and control its energy.

Besides nitrogen and oxygen, aqueous vapour, carbonic anhydride, ammonia, and nitric acid are met with in the atmosphere, the last especially during and shortly after thunder storms.

Although, doubtless owing to local conditions, trifling variations may occur in the proportion of oxygen present in the atmosphere, this variation is so trifling that the difference of the amount in air from places separated by very long distances will be found in the second decimal place only; thus, whilst a portion of air taken during a balloon ascent by Mr Green gave on a.n.a.lysis 2088 per cent. by vol., Dr Frankland found in air collected by himself on the summit of Mont Blanc 2096 per cent. by vol. A still nearer approximation in uniformity in the amount of oxygen present in atmospheric air is exhibited in the following table, which gives the results of 95 a.n.a.lyses by Regnault on air obtained from nine different localities:--

100 from Paris gave in 100 parts, by vol. of oxygen 20913 to 20999 9 from Lyons and around gave in 100 parts, by vol.