Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/148

I26J SQ^U paper gnomon to be made, and affixed to a cap; and, when this artilicial nose was placed over the patient's real nose, so as to projc;>I:t an inch between his eyes, the child, rather than turn his head so tar to look at oblique obje(5ts, immedi- ately began to exert the eye which was nearest to them. But, having the misfortune to lose his fa i her, icon alter tliis method was begun to be followed, the child was neg- leded for six years, during which time the habit was conrirmed in such a manner as seemed to leave little room to hope for a cure. Dr. D. however, being again call- ed, attempted a second time to re- move the deformity, by a similar contrivance. A gnomon of thin brass was made, to stand over his Dose, with a half-circle of the same metal to go round his temples : these were covered with black silk ; and, by means of a buckle behind Lis head, and a cross-piece over the crown of his bead, this gno- mon was worn without any incon- venience, and projetted before his nose about two inches and a half. By the use of this machine, be soon found it less inconvenient to vicM' all oblique objects, with the eye next to them, instead of the eye Opposite to them. After this habit was weakened, by a week's use of the gnomon, two bits of w(xjd, about tlic size of a goose-qu.ll, were blackened all but a quarter of an inch at their summits ; these were fre- quently presented to him to look at J one being held on one side the extremity of his black gnomon, and the other on the opjxjsite. In viewing these, they were gradu- ally brought forward beyond the gnomou, and theu one was con- cealcd behind the other : by such means, in another week, he cOuld In-nd both his eyes on the same ob- ject for half a minute together ; and, by continuing the use of the same machine, he was in a fair way of being cured. Lastly, if squinting arise from any adventitious circumstance, such as terror, defluxion.s of humours, &c. the removal of those causes will also cure the disorder; but, where it originates from mal-con- formation of the organs of vision, or has been so long neglected as to become cmijirmed, it is not in the [x>wcr of art to atibrd any re- lief. SQUIRREL, the Common, or Si.iurus vulgaris, L. a lively little quadruped, abounding in the woods of Britain, ns well as in other parts of Europe, Asia, and North Ame- rica. Its head, liody, legs, and tail, are of a bright, rcddiah-brown co- lour f though, in the northern cli- mates, there arc white and black squiiTcls, the coat of which changes to a line grey in the winter, and afi'ords an elegant kind of light fur. These animals feed on acorns, nuts, the young shoots of trees, and [)articularly die cones of firs. 'Iticy construct their nests with moss and dried leaves, in the branches of trees, where the fe- males produce in April, or May, from 3 to 7 young, which may be easily domesticated ; but their sharp fore-te^lh ought to be ex- traded ; as otherwise their severe bites may prove dangerous. The hunting of squirrels affords amusement in autumn, and early in the winter, when these animals are fat : they are caught both for confining them in cages as objedts of