Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/139

DAM •, and i M itiol 1 i the virtiw a of .J vol. i , • htral History of and indigenous (printed at Leipzig in i "<»")• be icquainted with dcian, who has compl umptive persons with the flower-buds of the bellis nis, by stuffing young chickens with these buds, without any other lients ; tin n stewing them in unsalted be< f-tea or broth, adding a little fresh butter, and allowing the patient for three weeks no Other food but the medicated d thus prepared. At first, it affords a delicious repast. "WVYe candidly confess, we have had no opportu- nities of ascertaining the efficacy of this preparation, by die test of ex- perience ; but nevertheless we be- lieve, that in so desperate a situa- tion as that of pulmonary consump- tion, or other species of atrophy (unattended with violent febrile symptoms), it well deserves to be opportunely and fairly tried. i)AiiAsccs-Steel. See Steel. DAME-WORT, or Dames Violet, the Scentless, or Hesperis inodorayh. is an indigenous peri nial plant, which grows in pas tun s and lodges, and flowers in the month of May or June. Accord- ing to Boerhaave, it is antiscor- butic and diaphoretic, and ci great service in asthmas, coughs, and convulsions. It has also been re- commended, externally, in ip.rlam- nvations, cancers, gangrenes, and jn contagious disorders. Damp. See Linex. DANCING is the art of moving DAN [119 the l' and adjusted to the measun . ( ith< r sui It is general! > of.joy among most nations j though there are tribes in South America who dance to shew tiieir sorrow ; and it also formed a part of the fu- neral solemnities of the ancients. In the !■ of autumn and winter, when the atmosphere is loaded with humid particles, when lentary life d'-a-oses the hu- man body to hypocnondriacal af- fections, dancing is an admirable amusement. Independently of the beneficial effects which mu- sic and a cheerful company display on a susceptible mind, moderate dances possess every advantage of gentle exercise. But those mania- cal turnings and gesticulations, which have lately become fashion- able in this country, under the ap- pellation of German Vaults (or ra- ther Waken, i. e. performing a cir- cular motion, like that of a man vn the eve of intoxication), are attend- ed with very different effects. It would be superfluous to enumerate the pernicious consequences result- ing from that frantic inclination to distort the human frame : we may confidently assert, that Walxen h at present almost universally ex- ploded in the cultivated circles of society among the Germans, who consider it as a dangerous and vul- gar dance. In confirmation of this statement, we meet with a trea- tise, expressly published, On the Moral and Physical Consequences of Dancing j addressed to the guarciians of youth, by Dr. Spo- nitzer (Berlin, 1/9^) ; a ^ en- lightened physician, whose satire and judgment are equally conspi- cuous. Violent dancing, especially in the i 4 heated