Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 309

=WOORA'RA.= _Syn._ OURARI, WOURALI. A deadly poison employed in Guiana, obtained from the _Strychnos toxifera_. See UPAS.

=WOOTZ.= The Indian name of steel; applied in this country to the steel imported from Bengal.

=WORM BARK.= _Syn._ CABBAGE-TREE BARK, or GEOFFRaeYA INERMIS, L. The bark of _Andira inermis_ (_Geoffraeya i._ of some botanists). A powerful astringent, purgative, anthelmintic, and narcotic.--_Dose_, 10 to 30 gr.

In larger doses, or if cold water be drunk during its action, it is apt to occasion sickness, vomiting, and delirium. The remedy for this is copious draughts of warm water.

=WORM SEED.= _Syn._ s.e.m.e.n CONTRA, s.e.m.e.n CINae, L. The broken peduncles, mixed with the calyces and flower-buds, of several species of _Artemisia_ imported from the Levant.--_Dose_, 10 to 30 gr., in powder; as a vermifuge. See SANTONIN.

=WORMS (Intes'tinal).= _Syn._ VERMES, INTESTINALIA (Cuvier), ENTOZOA (Rudolphi), L. The princ.i.p.al parasites which are generated and nourished in the human intestinal ca.n.a.l are the--_Ascaris lumbricoides_ (Gmelin), or long round-worm, found in the small intestines, and which is generally of the thickness of a goose-quill, and varies in length from 10 to 15 inches;--_Ascaris vermicularis_ (Gmelin), maw, or thread-worm, which is thread-like in appearance, varies from 1-1/2 to 5 lines in length, and confines itself chiefly to the r.e.c.t.u.m;--_Tricocephalus hominis_ (Gmelin), or long thread-worm, varying from 1-1/4 to 2 inches in length, and found chiefly in the caec.u.m;--_Taenia solium_ (Gmelin), or common tapeworm, having a flattened riband-like appearance, varying in length from 3 or 4 to 15 or 20 feet, and occupying the small intestines;--_Bothriocephalus latus_, or broad tapeworm, a variety seldom found in this country, but common in Switzerland and the north of Europe; and, _Taenia mediocanellata_, another large species, described by Kuchenmeister.

_Causes._ A debilitated state of the digestive organs, improper food, sedentary, habits, impure air, bad water, and, apparently, an occasional hereditary tendency to worms.

_Symp._ Griping pains, especially about the navel; acid eructations; slimy stools; occasional nausea and vomiting, without any manifest cause; heat and itching about the a.n.u.s; tenesmus;, emaciation; disturbed dreams; grinding of the teeth during sleep; pallor of countenance; discoloration round the eyes; feverishness; headache; vertigo, &c. In many cases these symptoms are often highly aggravated, and mistaken for primary diseases.

The only absolutely positive evidence of the existence of worms is, however, their being seen in the faeces.

_Treat._ In common cases, an occasional moderately strong dose of calomel overnight, followed by a smart purgative the next morning, is an excellent remedy, where the use of mercurials is not contra-indicated. Cowhage, made into an electuary with honey or treacle, is also an excellent vermifuge.

Oil of turpentine is useful against nearly every variety of worms, and, when taken in sufficient doses to reach the r.e.c.t.u.m, is almost specific in ascarides (thread-worms). When this is inconvenient, an occasional enema of oil of turpentine is even more effective. Enemas of aloes are also very useful in such cases. Scammony, under the form of basilic powder, has long been employed to expel worms in children. Aloes, castor-oil, worm-seed, tin-filings, and sulphur, are likewise popular remedies. Cabbage-tree bark is a powerful anthelmintic; but its use requires caution. Most of the quack vermifuges contain either aloes or gamboge, or calomel and jalap.

The substances which have been most highly extolled for the destruction or expulsion of tapeworm (taenia) are kousso, oil of turpentine, male fern, pomegranate, and tin-filings. The first two are those on which the most dependence may be placed. Madame Nouffer's celebrated 'Swiss remedy' for tapeworm, for which Louis XVI gave 18,000 francs, consisted of 2 or 3 dr.

of powdered male fern, taken in 1/4 pint of water, in the morning, fasting, followed in 2 hours by a bolus made of calomel and scammony, of each 10 gr.; gamboge, 6 or 7 gr. 'Swain's vermifuge' is prepared from worm-seed, 2 oz.; valerian, rhubarb, pink-root, and white agaric, of each 1-1/2 oz.; boiled in water, q. s. to yield 3 quarts of decoction, to which 30 drops of oil of tansy, and 45 drops of oil of cloves, dissolved in a quart of rectified spirit, are added. All purgatives may be regarded as vermifuges. Besides our efforts to destroy and expel the worms, the tone of the primae vitae should be raised by the use of stomachics and tonics, by which the tendency to their equivocal generation will be either removed or lessened. See ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES, DECOCTION, ENEMA, PILLS, PATENT MEDICINES, VERMIFUGES, &c.; and also the several vermifuges under their respective names.

_Obs._ Parasitic worms as existing in animals are so remarkably prevalent and so widely diffused that probably no creature can be said to be secure against their attack. Among domestic animals, sheep often suffer to a most serious extent from these parasites, and more especially from the nematoid, known as _Strongylus bronchialis_. In some years lambs are lost by hundreds from the complications of disease which attend upon the presence of these worms within the windpipe and the bronchial tubes. Their existence is marked by great wasting of the body, hurried breathing, and distressing cough. After a time diarrha sets in, which quickly carries off the animal. It has been found that lambs fed on clover, and other allied plants, which had been pastured the year previously with sheep, suffer the most, and are far more likely to be affected than those which are differently managed. Remedial measures too often prove ineffectual, especially when structural disease of the lungs has followed as a consequence. The exhibition of oil of turpentine in doses of about half an ounce, mixed with an equal quant.i.ty of linseed oil, is sometimes found to be beneficial; but it must be conjoined with a corn diet, the free use of salt, and also sulphate of iron mixed with the manger food, tincture of a.s.saftida, and the essential oil of savin, in small doses, are remedies greatly extolled by some persons. The inhalation of diluted chlorine gas or of sulphurous acid gas is often exceedingly beneficial; but remedies of this kind ought always to be confided to the superintending care of the veterinary surgeon.

=WORM TEA.= A preparation sold in the shops of the United States, and much used, consisting, according to Brande, of spigelia or pink-root, savin, senna, and manna.

=WORM'WOOD.= _Syn._ ABSINTHIUM (Ph. L. & E.), L. The flowering herb of _Artemisia Absinthium_, a well-known plant, indigenous to this country, and largely cultivated for medicinal purposes. It is a bitter tonic and stomachic, and also anthelmintic.--_Dose_, 20 to 40 gr. of the dried herb, either in powder or made into a tea or infusion; in dyspepsia, dropsy, scurvy, sympathetic epilepsy, &c. See ABSINTHINE and ABSINTHIC ACID.

=WORT.= The technical name for the fermentable infusion of malted grain.

The strength of worts is ascertained by means of an instrument termed a saccharometer. "Brewers, distillers, and the excise, sometimes denote by the term 'gravity' the excess of weight of 1000 parts of a liquid by volume above the weight of a like volume of distilled water, so that if the specific gravity be 1045, 1070, 1090, &c., the gravity is said to be 45, 70, or 90; at others, they thereby denote the weight of saccharine matter in a barrel (36 galls.) of wort; and again, they denote the excess in weight of a barrel of wort over a barrel of water equal to 36 gallons, or 360 lbs. This and the first statement are identical, only 1000 is the standard in the first case, and 360 in the second." (Ure.) The last is that commonly adopted by the brewers.

According to Dr Ure, the solid dry extract of malt, or 'saccharine,' has the specific gravity 1264, and the specific volume 7911; "that is, 10 lbs. of it will occupy the volume of 7911 lbs. of water. The mean sp.

gr., by computation of a solution of that extract in its own weight of water, is 1116; but by experiment, the sp. gr. of that solution is 1216, showing considerable condensation of volume in the act of combination with water." The quant.i.ty of solid saccharine or sugar in a wort may be determined in the manner mentioned under SYRUP.

"According to the compilers of the tables accompanying Field's alcoholometer, 18 lb. of saccharine is decomposed for the production of 1% of proof spirit; but according to our experiments, the proportion of saccharine named is rather below the true equivalent." (Cooley.)

The rapid cooling of worts is an important object with the brewer and distiller. On the large scale, the old system in which shallow coolers are employed, with all its numerous inconveniences and accidents, is now for the most part abandoned, being supplanted by the method introduced by Mr Yandall, nearly 40 years ago. This consists in the use of a 'refrigerator,' which is an apparatus so constructed that any hot liquid may be cooled by about its own volume of cold water, in a very short s.p.a.ce of time. The principle is that of pa.s.sing the two fluids through very shallow and very long pa.s.sages, in opposite directions, being essentially that of a 'Liebig's condenser' on a gigantic scale. The apparatus may consist of zigzag pa.s.sages, flattened tubes or convoluted curves, of any convenient shape, so that they possess little capacity in one direction, but great breadth and length. A refrigerator, having the pa.s.sages for the fluids 1/8 of an inch thick, is said to require a run of about 80 feet.

The success of this method is such as to leave nothing more to desire. See BREWING, FERMENTATION, MALT, &c.

=WOUND.= _Syn._ VULNUS, L. A solution of continuity in any of the soft parts of the body, arising from external violence.

Wounds are distinguished by surgeons into CONTUSED WOUNDS, INCISED W., LACERATED W., POISONED W., PUNCTURED W., &c.; terms which explain themselves. Sword-cuts are incised wounds; gun-shot wounds, lacerated and contused ones. Slight wounds, and, indeed, all those not demanding material surgical a.s.sistance, after dirt and foreign substances have been removed, may be treated in the manner noticed under CUTS and ABRASIONS.

=WOUND BAL'SAM.= See TINCTURE OF BENZOIN.

=WRIT"ING=, executed in the ordinary tanno-gallic ink, and which has been rendered illegible by age, may be restored by carefully moistening it, by means of a feather, with an infusion of galls, or a solution of ferrocyanide of pota.s.sium slightly acidulated with hydrochloric acid, observing to apply the liquid so as to prevent the ink spreading.

=WRITING FLU'IDS.= A term commonly applied, of late years, to easy flowing inks, adapted for metallic pens; in contradistinction to the old tanno-gallic compounds at one time exclusively employed for writing.

_Prep._ 1. Dissolve pure basic or soluble Prussian blue in pure distilled water, and dilute the resulting solution with pure water until the desired shade of colour is obtained. Very permanent and beautiful. It is not affected by the addition of alcohol, but is immediately precipitated by saline matter. The precipitate, however, still possesses the property of dissolving in pure water.

2. From the soluble ferrocyanide of pota.s.sium and iron, dissolved in pure water. Resembles the last, but it is precipitated from its solution by alcohol.

3. Powdered Prussian blue, 1 oz.; concentrated hydrochloric acid, 1-1/2 fl. oz.; mix in a matra.s.s or gla.s.s bottle, and, after 22 or 30 hours, dilute the ma.s.s with a sufficient quant.i.ty of water.

4. Dissolve sulphindylate of pota.s.sa or ammonia in hot water, and, when cold, decant the clear portion. It is an intense blue, and dries nearly black; is perfectly incorrosive, and very permanent and easy flowing.

5. (Horning.) Perchloride of iron, 4 parts; water, 750 parts; dissolve, add of cyanide of pota.s.sium, 4 parts, dissolved in a little water; collect the precipitate, wash it with several effusions of pure water, allow it to drain until it weighs about 200 parts, then add of oxalic acid, 1 part; and promote solution by agitating the bottle or vessel containing it.

6. (Mohr.) Pure Prussian blue, 6 parts; oxalic acid, 1 part; triturate with a little water to a perfectly smooth paste, then dilute the ma.s.s with a proper quant.i.ty of soft water. The product resembles Stephen's 'patent blue ink.'

7. (Rev. J. B. Reade--patented.)--_a._ A solution of his patent soluble Prussian blue in distilled water. Blue.

_b._ Prepared by adding to good gall ink a strong solution of his soluble Prussian blue. This addition "makes the ink, which was previously proof against alkalies, equally proof against acids, and forms a writing fluid which cannot be erased from paper by any common method of fraudulent obliteration without the destruction of the paper." This ink writes greenish blue, but afterwards turns intensely black. Stephen's 'patent ink,' which does the same, is a similar compound.

8. (Prof. Runge--CHROMIC INK.) Logwood, in fine chips, 1/4 lb.; boiling water, 3 pints; digest for 12 hours, then simmer the liquid down gently to 1 quart, carefully observing to avoid dust, grease, and smoke; when cold, decant the decoction, and add to it of yellow chromate of potash, 20 gr.; dissolve by agitation, after which it will be fit for use. Cheap and good.

It resists the action of all ordinary destructive agents better than the tanno-gallic inks; it may be washed after use with a wet sponge, or steeped for twenty-four hours in water, or even tested with dilute acids, and yet preserve its original blackness. It is perfectly liquid, it scarcely thickens by age, and neither deposits a sediment nor corrodes steel pens.

9. (Ure.) From vanadate of ammonia decomposed with infusion of galls. It is of a perfectly black hue, flows freely from the pen, is rendered blue by acids, is unaffected by dilute alkaline solutions, and resists the action of chlorine.

_Obs._ The preceding formulae, under proper management, produce excellent products, all of which are extremely mobile, and most of them of a more or less beautiful colour. The blue ones, when concentrated, dry of a blue black, whilst two or three of the others, though at first pale, rapidly pa.s.s into a deep black, when exposed to the air. Care must be taken in all cases that the ingredients be pure. The Prussian blue, except when directly prepared for the purpose, should be washed in dilute hydrochloric acid before attempting its solution by means of oxalic acid. Unless these precautions are attended to, success is unlikely. A little gum may be added, if required, to prevent the fluid spreading on the paper; but in most cases the addition is no improvement. Most of the blue fluids may be used as 'indelible ink' to mark linen, and will be found very permanent, provided the part be first moistened with alum water, and dried.

=XYLOID'IN.= When starch is immersed in concentrated nitric acid (sp. gr.

145 to 150), it is converted, without disengagement of gas, into a colourless, tremulous jelly, which, when treated with an excess of water, yields a white, curdy, insoluble substance, which after being edulcorated with pure water, until every trace of acid is removed, is xyloidin. Paper, sugar, gum, mannite, and several other substances, treated in the same manner, become in great part changed to xyloidin or a.n.a.logous compounds.

_Obs._ Pure xyloidin differs but slightly from pyroxylin, or pure gun-cotton.

=XYL'OL.= A hydrocarbon, h.o.m.ologous to benzol, found in wood-tar and coal-gas naphtha.

=YAWS.= _Syn._ FRAMBSIA, L. A peculiar disease of the skin, common in the Antilles and some parts of Africa. It is characterised by mulberry-like excrescences, which discharge a watery humour. The treatment chiefly consists in alleviating urgent symptoms (if any), and the adoption of a temperate diet and regimen, until the eruptions, having run their course, begin to dry, when tonics and alteratives, as cinchona bark, quinine, and sarsaparilla, with occasional small doses of mercurials, generally prove advantageous. The master (or princ.i.p.al) yaw, which frequently remains troublesome after the others have disappeared, may be dressed with the ointment of red oxide of mercury, or of nitrate of mercury, diluted with an equal weight of lard.

The yaws is not a dangerous, although a very disgusting, disease. It is contagious by contact, and, like the smallpox, only occurs once during life.

=YEAST.= _Syn._ BARM, FERMENT, ZUMINE; FERMENTUM, L. Yeast, which consists almost entirely of minute vegetable cells, termed _Torula cerevisiae_, is either the froth or the deposit of fermenting worts, according to the character of the fermentation.

The top yeast, or superficial ferment, which covers the surface of fermenting worts, is called '_oberhefe_' by the Germans; and the bottom yeast, or the ferment of deposit, is termed '_unterhefe_,' The first is the common yeast of the English brewer; the other, that used in Bavaria for the fermentation of worts from below (untergarung). Both varieties yield their own kind under proper conditions. Wort fermented with top yeast, at from 46 to 50 Fahr., yield both varieties, and each of these furnishes its own kind, nearly pure, by a second fermentation. See BREWING, FERMENTATION, &c.

_Pres._ 1. Ordinary beer yeast may be kept fresh and fit for use for several months, by placing it in a close canvas bag, and gently and gradually squeezing out the moisture in a screw press until the remaining matter acquires the consistence of clay or soft cheese, in which state it must be preserved in close vessels, or wrapped in waxed cloth. This is the method generally adopted for the best Flanders and German yeast.

2. Whisk the yeast until it forms a uniform liquid ma.s.s, and then lay it with a clean and soft painter's brush evenly and thinly on flat dishes, or any convenient surface, on which it can be exposed to the sun or air; this operation must be repeated as soon as the first coat is sufficiently solid, and so on, until the layers acquire a proper thickness, when it must be detached and preserved as before. If rendered quite dry, its power of exciting fermentation will be destroyed.

3. By employing strips of clean new flannel (well washed), as above, and, when sufficiently dry, rolling these up, and covering them with waxed cloth or paper, or placing them in tin canisters or boxes. For use, a few inches of one of the strips is cut off, and soaked in lukewarm water, when the barm leaves the flannel, and mixes with the water, which may then be stirred up with the flour.

=Yeast, Artifi"cial.= "Although the conversion of a small into a large quant.i.ty of yeast is a very easy thing, yet to produce that substance from the beginning is very difficult." (Berzelius.) Both cases are met in the formulae below.

_Prep._ 1. (_Without a ferment._)--_a._ (Fownes.) Wheat flour is to be mixed with water into a thick paste, which is to be slightly covered, in a moderately warm place; about the third day it begins to emit a little gas, and to exhale a disagreeable sour odour; about the sixth or seventh day the smell changes, much gas is evolved, accompanied by a distinct and agreeable vinous odour, and it is then in a state to excite either to vinous or panary fermentation, and may be either at once employed for that purpose or formed into small and very thin cakes, dried in the air and preserved for future use. Wort fermented with it in the ordinary way yields a large quant.i.ty of yeast, of excellent quality, which is found at the bottom of the vessel. "This is a revival of a method which, although Mr Fownes seems to regard it as new, is to be found in the 'Chemistry' of Boerhaave" ('Lancet.') It is, indeed, a mere modification of the mode of preparing leaven, as practised from the most remote ages of antiquity; but is not the less valuable on that account.

2. (_With a ferment._)--_a._ Take of bean flour, 1/4 lb.; water, 6 quarts; boil for 1/2 an hour, pour the decoction into any suitable vessel, add of wheat flour, 3-1/2 lbs.; stir the whole well together, and, when the temperature reaches 55 Fahr., add of beer yeast, 2 quarts; mix well, and in 24 hours after the commencement of the fermentation add of barley or bean flour, 7 lbs.; make a uniform dough by thorough kneading, form it into small cakes, as above, and then preserve these in a dry situation.