regular, by taking the mildest laxatives, and to guard against cold or catarrhs.
Itch, a distemper in cattle, which is either occasioned by foul litter, and inattention to the skin of these useful animals, or is communicated from others; though it sometimes arises from a disordered state of the body.—Prof. Bradley directs the infected creature to be well washed with its own urine previously warmed, and mixed with stale salt butter.
JUICE, denotes the sap of vegetables, or the fluids of animals.—See Blood, Plants, Sap, &c.
The juices of several plants and fruits are expressed with a view to obtain their essential salts, and for various medicinal purposes: they are used either without further preparation, or converted into syrups and extracts. Such juices are generally obtained by simply bruising the plant in a marble mortar, and then submitting the pulp to a press: some vegetables, however, require the addition of water in the mortar, to express their juice with greater facility. The sap of most antiscorbutic plants, abounding with saline volatile principles, may be disposed to filtration, merely by pouring it in close bottles, and immersing them in boiling water: thus, the saline and volatile particles, in which their medicinal virtues chiefly consist, may be easily preserved.—See Filtration.
Fermentation is another method of clarifying juices that are susceptible of it; for all liquors which have undergone that process, spontaneously become pellucid.—See Fermentation.
Most vegetable juices coagulate, when exposed to the air, whether they are extracted from the plant by wounds, or flow from it without any external injury: in the latter case, however, it is generally the effect of a disease in the plant, either from a species of canker, or some other internal cause.
Different parts of the same plant often yield juices of opposite qualities. Thus, the sap in the root of the cow-parsnip is of a yellow colour; while that obtained from its stalk is white. The wild or strong scented lettuce, aflords the greatest abundance of milky juice, of any known British plant. On wounding the stalk with a knife, there exudes a white ropy liquor; but, if an incision be made at the top of the stalks, a purple-tinged sap appears, as if cream had been sprinkled over it with a few drops of red wine. In a short time, it acquires a deeper purple, and thickens so, that finally a separation takes place, when the watery part floats on the surface.—See Lettuce.
JULEP, a convenient form of medicines, which require no decoction, and are mixed up with syrup or sugar, in order to dilute them properly, or to cover their pungency.
Acid julep consists of 3 drams of weak vitriolic acid, 3 ounces of simple syrup, and 2 pounds of spring-water. These ingredients are to be gradually mixed, and the whole carefully strained.—See Vitriolic acid.
Amber julep: Let two drams of tincture of amber, and half an ounce of refined sugar, be mixed with 6 ounces of spring water, and strained in the manner above-mentioned. Under this form, the tincture of amber is rendered an agreeable medicine, which way be sub-
