of America. In 1789, he gave to the public the Life of General Putnam, and, during his residence in Europe, published several poems on subjects connected with the American revolution. After his return to the U. States, he resided chiefly in Connecticut, and, in 1812, was appointed to the command of the veteran volunteers of that state, with the rank of general. He died at New Haven, Feb. 21, 1818, aged sixty-five years.

HYDROCELE. (See Dropsy.) HYDROCYANIC ACID. (See Prussic Acid.) HYDROMETRA. (See Dropsy.) HYDROSTATIC BED. This is one of those happy inventions that have sprung from the practical application of science in the wants of life. It not only delights us by its ingenious novelty and great simplicity, but commands a still deeper interest when we consider the relief which it will afford in innumerable cases of protracted suffering, where hitherto the patient has been considered in a great measure beyond the power of the physician. In all diseases where the system has been much enfeebled and the patient long confined to bed, the circulation of the blood goes on so imperfectly, in some of those parts of the body that are more immediately and more constantly subjected to pressure, that they frequently mortify, or lose their vitality. The dead parts thus formed become a continual source of irritation, often exhausting the patient's strength by a slow decay, where other wise every hope might have been entertained of recovery; and when he does survive, they are removed solely by the slow process of ulceration, during a tedious convalescence. The hydrostatic bed will mitigate or entirely remove these evils; and even when they appear in a milder form, still it becomes of the utmost value, from the certainty with which those sources of irritation are removed, that arise from the inequality of pressure in a common bed, and prevent that refreshing sleep which it is always such an object to procure. This bed is constructed in the following manner:-A trough six feet long, two feet six (or nine) inches broad, and one foot deep, is filled to the depth of six or seven inches with water, and a sheet of water-proof India rubber cloth placed upon it. It is fixed and firmly cemented at the upper part of the trough, being of such a size as to hang down loosely in the inside, and floating on the surface of the water, which admits, therefore, of the most perfect freedom of motion. A light hair mattress is

placed upon the water-proof cloth, upon which the pillow and bed-clothes are to be placed. When the patient rests upon it, he at once experiences the surpassing softness of the hydrostatic bed: he is placed nearly in the same condition as when floating in water, the fluid support being prevented from touching him, however, by the peculiar manner in which it is sealed, hermetically, as it were, within the water-proof cloth, and by the intervening mattress. The hydrostatic bed was invented, a short time since, in London, under the following circumstances, by doctor Arnott, the author of the Elements of Physics :-A lady, who had suffered much, after a premature confinement, from a combination and succession of low fever, jaundice, &c., and whose back had sloughed (mortified) in several places, was at last so much exhausted, in consequence of the latter, that she was considered in the most imminent danger. She generally fainted when the wounds in her back were dressed, and was passing days and nights of uninterrupted suffering, as the pressure even of an air-pillow had occasioned mortification. Doctor Arnott reflected that the support of water to a floating body is so uniformly diffused that every thousandth part of an inch of the inferior surface has, as it were, its own separate liquid pillar, and no one part bears the load of its neighbor; that a person resting in a bath is nearly thus supported; that this patient might be laid upon the face of a bath, over which a large sheet of the waterproof India rubber cloth was previously thrown; she being rendered sufficiently buoyant by a soft mattress placed beneath her; thus would she repose on the face of the water, like a swan on its plumage, without sensible pressure any where, and almost as if the weight of her body were annihilated. The pressure of the atmosphere on our bodies is fifteen pounds per square inch of its surface, but, because uniformly diffused, is not felt. The pressure of a water bath, of depth to cover the body, is less than half a pound per inch, and is similarly unperceived. A bed having been made on this plan, and the patient placed on it, she was instantly relieved in a remarkable degree, and enjoyed a calm and tranquil sleep; she awoke refreshed; she passed the next night much better than usual, and on the following day, it was found that all the sores had assumed a healthy appearance: the healing from that time went on rapidly, and no new sloughs were formed.

When the patient was first laid upon the bed, her mother asked her where the down pillows, which she before had used, were to be placed; to which she answered, that she knew not, for that she felt no pain to direct; in fact, she needed them no more.-The hydrostatic bed will be useful, not merely in extreme cases, such as the above, but also in every instance where there is restlessness or want of sleep, from the irksome feeling communicated by that inequality of pressure which is necessarily perceived in every common bed, and to which the body becomes so remarkably sensible, when fatigued or enfeebled, as when suffering from disease. The sensation which is experienced by a person reclining on a hydrostatic bed is uncommonly pleasing. It is easy to change the position with a very feeble effort. The patient also can always take a little exercise at pleasure, with the slightest exertion, from the facility with which the water can be moved-a circumstance which will prove highly grateful to those who have been long confined to bed.

HYDROTHORAX. (See Dropsy.)
HYDRUS. (See Serpent.)

I.

ICONOGRAPHY. (See Icon.) IDEOLOGY. (See Language.) IDYL. (See Pastoral.) ILMENITE. (See Titanium.) IMAGES, ADORATION OF. (See Iconolatry, and Iconoclasts.)

IMBOSSING. (See Embossing.) INCARNATION. (See Granulation.) INDEMNITY BILL. (See Law of Exception.)

INERTIA. (See Mechanics.) INFANTICIDE. Parental affection seems so deeply rooted in mankind, by a wise provision for the protection of the offspring, that, without actual evidence, it would be difficult to credit the extent to which infanticide has extended. It is said, by Krascheninikow, that there are females in Kamschatka who use herbs and conjurations to prevent conception, and that they procure abortions by means of poisonous medicines, wherein they are assisted by skilful old women. Mackenzie, the traveller across the North American continent, affirms that the women of the Knistenaux frequently procure abortion, to avoid the distress consequent on

taking care of and maintaining their children. The Eskimaux, inhabiting the shores of Hudson's bay, according to Ellis, constrain their wives to obtain frequent abortions for the same cause, by means of an herb common in that country; and an older author, Denys, says, that if a woman of North America became pregnant while suckling her child, she obtained abortion; alleging, that nursing one at a time was enough. Other examples might be given; for procuring abortion is common over the world, and must, to a certain extent, prevail where misfortune or disgrace attends the birth of the offspring. There is too great reason for considering these motives as the cause of infanticide, where the child is actually born. The instances of it are innumerable, though arising also from different causes. Among the inhabitants of the Kurile islands, it is customary to destroy one of twins. The American Indians, in the neighborhood of Berbice, are said to do so, from believing that the birth of two children proves the infidelity of the moth

er.

Kolben informs us, that the ugliest of Hottentot female twins is put to death, under the pretext that a mother cannot suckle two females at once. At least one of twins was wont to be destroyed with the Kamtschadales; and in New Holland, the weakest and lightest is quickly suffocated by the mother. As there is greater difficulty experienced in supporting feeble and sickly children, or those laboring under prominent personal imperfections, so the parents have had less hesitation in bereaving them of existence. Diodorus relates, that all deformed children in Taprobana, which we suppose is Ceylon, were put to death. Quintus Curtius says the same of those in the kingdom of Sophitus. Promising children were reared in Sparta ; the others were destroyed; nor could parents spare those whom they chose, as they were submitted to the examination of certain persons, and, if weak or deformed, were thrown into a cavern. Gemelli Careri was told in Paragoa, one of the Philippine islands, that children born with imperfections, which would apparently disable them from working, were put alive into a hollow cane, and buried. These cruel expedients must be viewed as the result of necessity rather than of choice; because, in countries where each has to depend on his own personal exertion for a precarious subsistence, there is no room to provide for the helpless. It has even been seen, that, by a barbarous custom, originating from a similar source,

when a man perished, his widow and orphans were put to death; not from the desire of shedding blood, but because the survivors had no means of supporting them. In Greenland, when the mother of an infant at the breast died, the child was buried along with her, if the father and relations could not find a nurse. At the present day, it seems an invariable practice of the savages of New Holland to inter the sucking infant in the same grave with its departed mother; nay, the father is the first to heap the earth over the bodies of both. No concern is testified by the relatives for its fate. They seem satisfied that this is what ought to be done; for their own helpless condition deprives them of the means of providing for a being still more helpless than themselves.-The sources of infanticide may, in general, be traced to necessity, superstition, the love of pleasure, and shame. In most countries, it is the female offspring which is doomed to destruction, while the males are spared: thus, if the twins of the New Hollander be of a different sex, it is the daughter alone that perishes. Dobrizhoffer relates, that he has known mothers among the Abiponians, a South American tribe, who destroyed the whole offspring as soon as they were born; but others more commonly spared the males than the females. The ancient Arabians, especially those of the tribes Koreish and Kendah, were accustomed to bury their daughters, from. the apprehension of inability to provide for them, as also, it is said, from the grief which would be felt on their becoming captives, or from their immoral conduct. By the injunctions of Mohammed, the practice is supposed to have been abolished in Arabia. Probably it never was universal there. As the British dominions extended to the north-west of the Indian peninsula, a certain race, called Jarejahs, was found in the province of Guzerat, and the district of Cutch, where civilization had made considerable advances, and where the nature of the country removed all apprehensions of want. This race destroyed all their daughters at the moment of their birth. The British resident, lieutenant-colonel Walker, at length succeeded in abolishing a custom so revolting to humanity. Other instances may be given of that infanticide which is not restricted to females. Krascheninikow says, that there are some of the Kamtschadale women so unnatural as to destroy their children when born, or throw them alive to the dogs. The mis

sionaries affirm that the Bosjesmans, or Bushmen, an African tribe, whose history is little known, "take no great care of their children; that they kill them without remorse on various occasions, as when they are ill shaped, or when they are in want of food." It is generally agreed, that infanticide is universal in China, being either immediately committed by the hands of the parents, or resulting from exposure to the influence of the elements. The exposure of children was a privilege commonly sanctioned among the ancients: it was so prevalent, that Ælian celebrates the humanity of the Thebans, who decreed capital punishment against it: nevertheless, where the parents were in poverty, they might offer the child for a price to the magistrates, who, having brought it up, were entitled to sell it for a slave. Almost all the children exposed in China are females; and the number, though it be difficult to approximate the truth, is certainly very great. Mr. Barrow computes, from the most authentic data which may be deduced from the statement of the missionaries, that it is not less than 9000 in Pekin, the capital, and as many in the provinces. A more powerful motive for infanticide than all the rest, is that unbounded ascendancy which superstition sometimes gains over the human mind. The practice of the moderns, however, is not so explicit in this respect as what we may collect from antiquity. It is said that the Kamtschadales destroy their children if born during storms, though the necessity of doing so may be averted by conjurations. The indigenous inhabitants of Madagascar and Ceylon are likewise accused of infanticide, should the epoch of the birth of a child be declared unfortunate by their priests and astrologers. Certain periods of time, as the months of March and April, the last week of every month, together with every Thursday and Friday, are judged ominous. The child born at these times will either be animated by evil propensities, or occasion numberless disasters, from which exemption is purchased by the sacrifice of its life. Mankind have been prone to imbrue their hands in each other's blood, to propitiate or appease their sanguinary deities; but of all offerings, children were deemed the most acceptable, being a sacrifice of what was the most precious to parents. The Moabites offered up their children for propitiation in desperate enterprises. Thus," when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too sore for him, he took with him 700 men that drew

swords, to break through even unto the king of Edom; but they could not. Then he took his eldest son, that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall." (2 Kings iii, 27.) Again, it is said that Balak, king of Moab, consulting Balaam, the son of Beor of Mesopotamia, and calling on him to come and curse his enemies, exclaimed, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (Micah vi, 7.) We read that Hamilcar, on receiving similar intelligence, attended with alarming circumstances, immediately seized on a boy, and offered him for a sacrifice to the deity Kronus; while, for an opposite reason, after Hannibal had gained the battles of Ticinus and Trebia, it was proposed in the senate to sacrifice his infant son. On the occasion of an enemy being at the gates of Carthage, Diodorus relates, that two hundred children of the most distinguished citizens were offered up to the sanguinary deities to avert the danger. We read also, though with more uncertainty of the fact, that the Grecian soothsayers recommended the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, to Diana. In descending to a more modern period of history, Hacon, king of Norway, offered his son to Odin to obtain a victory over his enemy Harold; and Harold, the son of Gunild, sacrificed two of his children to his idols, to obtain a tempest for the dispersion of a hostile fleet. The modern Peruvians are said to have sacrificed their first-born to redeem their own lives when in a state of sickness, as Aune, king of Sweden, in older times, sought to purchase a prolongation of his with the blood of nine sons. It was with them as with the Israelites--"Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan." (Psalm cvi, 37.) Infanticide may, therefore, be traced to a feeling of shame on the part of the parent, which she has not fortitude to bear; to necessitous circumstances; to the pursuit of pleasure; and to the influence of superstition. We cannot affirm, however, that such are exclusively its sources; but it is not probable that many others will be disclosed.

INFLAMMATION; a disease characterized

by heat, pain, redness, attended with more or less of tumefaction and fever. Inflammation is divided into two species, viz. phlegmonous and erysipelatous. Besides this division, inflammation is either acute or chronic, local or general, simple or complicated with other diseases. 1. Phlegmonous inflammation is known by its bright red color, tension, heat, and a circumscribed, throbbing, painful tumefaction of the part, tending to suppuration. Phlegmon is generally used to denote an inflammatory tumor, situated in the skin or cellular membrane. When the same disease affects the viscera, it is usually called phlegmonous inflammation. 2. Erysipelatous inflammation is considered as an inflammation of a dull red color, vanishing upon pressure, spreading unequally, with a burning pain, the tumor scarcely perceptible, ending in vesicles, or desquamation. This species of inflammation admits of a division into erythema, when there is merely an affection of the skin, with very little of the whole system; and erysipelas, when there is general affection of the system. Phlegmonous inflammation terminates in resolution, suppuration, gangrene, and scirrhus, or induration. Resolution is known to be about to take place when the symptoms gradually abate; suppuration, when the inflammation does not readily yield to proper remedies, the throbbing increases, the tumor points externally, and rigors come on. Gangrene is about to take place when the pain abates, the pulse sinks, and cold perspirations come on. Scirrhus, or induration, is known by the inflammation continuing a longer time than usual; the tumefaction continues, and a considerable hardness remains. This kind of tumor gives little or no pain, and, when it takes place, it is usually the sequel of inflammation affecting glandular parts. It sometimes, however, is accompanied with lancinating pains, ulcerates, and becomes cancerous. Erythematous inflammation terminates in resolution, suppuration, or gangrene. The symptoms of inflammation are accounted for in the following way-The redness arises from the dilatation of the small vessels, which become sufficiently large to admit the red particles in large quantities; it appears also to occur, in some cases, from the generation of new vessels. The swelling is caused by the dilatation of the vessels, the plethoric state of the arteries and veins, the exudation of coagulable lymph into the cellular membrane, and the interruption of absorption. In regard to the augmentation of heat, as the thermometer denotes

very little increase of temperature, it appears to be accounted for from the increased sensibility of the nerves, which convey false impressions to the sensorium. The pain is occasioned by a deviation from the natural state of the parts, and the unusual condition into which the nerves are thrown. The throbbing depends on the action of the arteries. Blood taken from a person laboring under active inflammation, exhibits a yellowish-white crust on the surface: this is denominated the buffy, coriaceous, or inflammatory coat. This consists of a layer of coagulable lymph, almost destitute of red particles. Blood, in this state, is always termed sizy. The occasional and exciting causes of inflammation are very numerous: they, however, may generally be classed under external violence, produced either by mechanical or chemical irritation, changes of temperature, and stimulating foods. Fever often seems to be a remote cause; the inflammation thus produced is generally considered as critical. Spontaneous inflammation sometimes occurs when no perceptible cause can be assigned for its production. Scrofula and syphilis may be considered as exciting causes of inflammation. The proximate cause has been the subject of much dispute. At the present period, it is generally considered to be a morbid dilatation, and increased action of such arteries as lead and are distributed to the inflamed part.

Inflammation of the Eyes. (See Ophthalmia.)

Inflammation of the Intestines. (See Enteritis.)

INFLECTION OF LIGHT. (See Optics.) INFUSORY ANIMALS. (See Microscopical Animals.)

ISERINE. (See Titanium.)
ISKIUDAR. (See Scutari.)
ISTACHAR. (See Estachar.)
IULUS. (See Ascanius.)
IVORY BLACK. (See Carbon.)

J.

JASPER, sergeant; a revolutionary soldier, whose merits have given him a distinction seldom attained by individuals of his rank in life. At the commencement of the revolutionary war, he enlisted in the second South Carolina regiment of infantry, commanded by colonel Moultrie. He distinguished himself, in a particular manner, at the attack which was made upon fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's island, June 28, 1776. In the warmest

part of that contest, the flag-staff was severed by a cannon ball, and the flag fell to the bottom of the ditch, on the outside of the works. This accident was considered, by the anxious inhabitants of Charleston, as putting an end to the contest by striking the American flag to the enemy. The moment Jasper saw that the flag had fallen, he jumped from one of the embrasures, tied the colors to a spunge-staff, and replanted them on the parapet, where he supported them until another flag-staff was procured. The subsequent activity and enterprise of this patriot induced colonel Moultrie to give him a sort of roving commission, to go and come at pleasure. He was privileged to select such men from the regiment as he should choose to accompany him in his enterprises. His parties consisted, generally, of five or six; and he often returned with prisoners before Moultrie was apprized of his absence. Jasper was distinguished for his humane treatment of the enemies who fell into his power. By his sagacity and enterprise, he often succeeded in the capture of those who were lying in ambush for him. He entered the British lines, and remained several days in Savannah in disguise, and, after informing himself of their strength and intentions, returned to the American camp. A remarkable instance of his bravery and humanity is recorded by the biographer of general Marion. A Mr. Jones, an American by birth, was captured by the British, and confined in irons, for deserting the royal cause after he had taken the oath of allegiance. The distress of his wife, at the prospect of the fate which awaited him, made such an impression on Jasper, and a companion of his, sergeant Newton, that they determined to make an effort for his rescue. The departure of Jones, and several others, all in irons, to Savannah for trial, under a guard, consisting of a sergeant, corporal, and eight men, was ordered. Within two miles of Savannah, about thirty yards from the main road, is a spring of fine water, surrounded by a deep and thick underwood, where travellers often halt to refresh themselves. Jasper and his companion considered this spot as the most favorable for their enterprise. They accordingly passed the guard, and concealed themselves near the spring. When the enemy came up, they halted, and only two of the guard remained with the prisoners; while the others leaned their guns against trees in a careless manner, and went to the spring. Jasper and Newton sprung from their place of conceal