iS6] ME A twotlificrcui mensurrs nre regulated for c:!c ?,TiA tacr, which w c have already slated under the articles FicKiN', Batkel, Hogshead, vtc. Ti'C old btnudard mensnre (being kept under seal at the Guildhall, London) is employed for vine,- spirits, &c. and contains the fol- lowing subdivisions : — 2S|- solid indies form one pint (wine mea- sure) ; — 3 pints make a gallon ; — IS gallons, a rundlet ; — ] | rundlets, a-banel ; — li barrels, a tierce ; — I ] tierces, a hogshead ; — I hogs- head, a puncheon ; — 1 1- puncheons, a butt, or pipe 3 — and 2 pipes, a tun. These are the chief measures at present employed ; a knowledge of which is V( ry- useful, and necessarv, to prevent imposition. For this pur- pose, standard measures are kept in various parts of England, in con- formity to vdiich all others are di- di reeled to be made ,- so that, if any one be accidentally lost, it may be easily restored ; or correded, if it be inaccurate. MEAT, a general appellation for the tle.-,h of animals when prepared for iciou. — As we have already, under the article Flesh-mkat, given the most effeftual methods of pre.-,erving it in a iVesh state during the summer m.onths, and as we specify the simplest and best modes of pickling it under the heads of Beef and Pickle, we ^lall at present briefly .state the treatment proper to be followed, In case any pulrid meat has been ?.ccidentally eaten. As soon as this unpleasant cir- cnrastance is apprehended, or dis- covered, it will be necessary' in the
- irst place to take a brisk tmeric ;
the operation of which ought to be promoted by strong chamomile 'x:a; tl.u oi itself is an excellent MED antiseptic. The patient should, next, drink liberally of the veiic- table acids ; and avoid eating of drinking any malter that may tend to press upon the organs of diges- tion, till the latter be restored to their natural tone and energv. MEDICINE, is the art of pre- venting, curing, or alleviating those diseases, with which mankind are afllicled. The history of medicine is lost in the remotest antiquity ; and tiie researches of the most acute anti- quaries, to ascertain tlie first in- ventor, have hitherto proved abor- tive. It would be foreign to our plan, to enter into a discussion of this subjeft ; we shall therefore confine our attention to the effects of medicines on the human body, and refer the reader to the article Physician, under which we pro- pose to communicate a few Innts, respeding the nature and prattico of the healing art. The operatitm of medicines on the human body has been attributed to various causes ; several eminent physicians of the l/ih and the 18th century ascribing their tfteds to mechanism. This opinion, how- ever, has been strong!}- o[)posed, and, though the theory of tV/fw/co/ decomposition which now prevails among the medical philosophers of France and Germain', is more plau- sible, and in many instances strong- ly corroborated by fads, yet tliis, like all other conjedures tending to account for the hidden opera- tions of Nature, does not deserve the name of a ikcort/. When jufiiciousiy administered, medicines are, doubtless, very be- neficial ; but, if they be given or prescrihd at random (^ which is but too often the case widi those regu- lar and irregulai' praditioners who degrade
