may be given, either green or dry, alone or mixed, with hay or chopped straw.
The flowers of the acacia are used by the Chinese in making that beautiful yellow with which they stain their silks and stuffs, and colour their paper, in the following manner: take half a pound of these flowers before they are fully blown, and roast them over a clear and gentle fire in a very clean copper pan, continually stirring them with a brisk motion; when they begin to turn yellow, pour on a little water, and let it boil till it become thick, and acquire a deeper colour; then strain the whole through a piece of coarse silk. To the liquor thus expressed, add half an ounce of alum, and one ounce of calcined and finely-powdered oyster-shells: when the whole is well mixed, it will be fit for use.
The origin of the bezoar has been attributed to the seeds of this plant, which being browsed by certain animals, have, by their great acidity and astringent qualities, caused a condensation of the juices of the stomach, and produced this celebrated concrete.
The acacia, or locust-tree of North America, has been applied to various parts of ship-building; and several gentlemen in the State of New-York have, after reported trials, found, that posts for rail-fencing, &c. made of this tree, have resisted the influence of the weather better than any other timber, the swamp cedar even not excepted.
In England, the acacia tree is an exotic, and, on account of its being imported from a warmer climate, is supposed to be of a tender and delicate nature, and has therefore been propagated in a luxurious soil. Thus, as it grows remarkably fast, it not only becomes less firm and tenacious, but is very apt to split, and lose large branches: it may not, therefore, be so well adapted to the various purposes of building as those American trees, which are of a slower growth, and cultivated in a poorer soil, where they have sufficient time to arrive at maturity.
Acer campestre, L. See Common Maple.
Acer pseudo-platanus, L. See Sycamore Tree.
Achillea millefolium, L. See Milfoil, or Common Yarrow.
ACIDS are obtained from vegetable and mineral substances, either by fermentation or distillation.
The vegetable acids, however, such as the juice of limes and lemons, are frequently procured without the aid of art. They are of a saponaceous consistence, and therefore, in a variety of affections, eminently adapted to the human constitution. With respect to their general effects, it may be said that they attenuate the fluids, remove obstructions, stimulate the appetite, promote digestion, quench thirst, and, in hot seasons, counteract the putrid tendency of the animal humours: they afford an excellent remedy in pectoral, bilious, and inflammatory diseases, but particularly in the true scurvy, as likewise in all maladies of the kidneys; and are the most effectual antidotes against the narcotic vegetable poisons. Thus, a most powerful dose of opium may be checked in its soporific effects, if a proper quantity of the acid of lemons be taken with, or immediately after it. For instance, four grains of opium, or one hundred drops of laudanum, form a large, and sometimes fatal, dose;
