SQUILLA 



sgriKRKL 



Squill wa usett in medicine by the ancients, and 

 is -till largely employed. The bulb is dug up in 

 illinium, divided into four parts, the centre being 

 cut out as being inert, and the rMMiader being cut 

 into thin slices, which are quicklv dried by a gentle 

 heat. The dried slices are white or yellowish 

 white, slightly translucent, odourless, disagree- 

 ably bitter, bnttle, and easily pulverisable if very 

 dry. The bulb contains a number of active prin- 

 ciples, the chief of which is a glucpside, sci/linn, 

 having much the same action as digitalis ; other 

 active ingredients have been described under the 

 names scillitoxin, sciltin, and tcMipicrin. This 

 medicine is prescribed as a diuretic and expector- 

 ant, and occasionally as an emetic ; but it must be 

 recollected that in moderately large doses it acts 

 as a narcotico-irritant poison, twenty-four grains 

 having proved fatal. When given as a diuretic it 

 is usually prescribed in combination with digitalis 

 and calomel, when it seldom fails to produce an 

 increased secretion of urine, and thus promotes 

 the absorption of the dropsical effusion which is 

 generally present when diuretics are ordered. Its 

 dose as a diuretic is from one to three grains of the 

 powdered bulb, or about twenty minims of the 

 tincture. As an expectorant it is much employed 

 in the subacute stages and chronic forms of pul- 

 monary affections, and is very serviceable in 

 bronchitis and pneumonia of children. From its 

 property of promoting the secretion of mucus, it 

 gives relief by facilitating the expectoration in 

 cases of asthma, &c. , in which the sputa are 

 viscid. In these cases it is usually prescribed with 

 some of the more stimulating expectorants, as car- 

 bonate of ammonium. As an expectorant the 

 dose of the powdered squill should not exceed one 

 grain, repeated several times dally. For children 

 the syrup, in doses of from ten to thirty minims, 

 may be given. As its action as an emetic is uncer- 

 tain and dangerous, it should not be prescribed 

 with the view of inducing vomiting. 



Squilla. a genus of Crustaceans, representative 

 of the order Stomatopoda. The members are 

 sometimes called Mantis Crabs or Mantis Shrimps, 

 from the slight resemblance to the insecte of the 

 genus Mantis (q.v.). The body is slightly flat- 

 tened ; the carapace does not completely cover the 

 thorax ; the pincers of the large anterior forceps 

 are formed by the last joint closing on the second 

 last ; the gills are borne by the tirst five pairs of 

 abdominal appendages ; the la-st pair of al>doniinal 

 appendages form a broad tail fin. The species are 

 numerous, especially in tropical seas. They are 

 active, voracious crustaceans, fond of burrowing in 

 the mud ; they are often very brightly coloured ; the 

 young forms undergo a marked metamorphosis, 

 which has not been completely followed. 



Squint, or HAOIOSCOPE, a narrow aperture cut 

 in the wall of a church (generally about two fcci 

 wide), to enable persons standing in the side- 

 <-liR|>el, &c. to see the elevation of the Host at 

 tln> high altar. 



Squinting (technically, Strabismus} is a well- 

 known and common deformity, which may be 

 defined as a want of parallelism in the visual axes, 

 when the patient endeavours to direct both eye- to 

 an object nt the same time. It may lie due to loss 

 of power ( paralysis or paresis ) of one or more of 

 the eye muscles ; and this may depend on a merely 

 local affection, or may ! a symptom of serious 



brain disease. lint in the majority of instai -. 



and in all ordinary cases of squint '(to which this 

 article will be confined), no such condition is 

 present The squint is said to be convergent when 

 the squinting eye is directed towards the nose, and 

 divergent when it is directed towards the temple ; 

 the convergent is much the more common. Mis- 



direction of one eye upwards or downwards is of 

 rare occurrence. Only one eye can squint at a 

 time ; hut il sometimes one eye and sometimes the 

 other is misdirected, the squint is said to be alter- 

 Hitting : if always the same eye, mninti-ulnr. 



Convergent squint usually comes on during child- 

 hood, most often from the seeond to the seventh 

 year. If present at birth it is caused by some 

 serious detect in the muscles. It is sometimes 

 due to defective sight in the squint in;; eve, from 

 congenital abnormality, severe inllaiiimalion, or 

 injury; but very often no such condition is present. 

 In a large proportion of cases it is accompanied 

 by hypermetrojnii <-<< KYK, p. . r >lfi), and is due to 

 the increased effort of accommodation required to see 

 near objects, lieing associated with an increased 

 and disproportionate effort of convergence. In 

 such cases, if suitable glasses can be worn as soon 

 as the squint begins to show itself, it may be pre- 

 vented from becoming permanent. It is but sel- 

 dom, however, that the surgeon is consulted at a 

 sufficiently early stage for this treatment to have a 

 fair chance to succeed, and even at an early stage 

 it is by no means certain to prevent the develop- 

 ment of a squint. In other cases the presence of a 

 squint may be traced to the presence of worms, the 

 irritation of teething, &c. ; and it disappears when 

 the cause is removed. 



Divergent squint is very rarely present without 

 considerable defect in the sight of the squinting 

 eye, except where it is the result of over-correction 

 of a convergent squint by operation. It is often 

 associated with myopia, as the other form is with 

 hypermetropia. When the vision of one eye is 

 damaged by disease or injury in the adult, and 

 takes a faulty position in consequence, divergence 

 is much more common than convergence ; in chil- 

 dren, as has been said, the latter is the usual 

 result. 



The surgical operation for the correction of a 

 squint consists in the division of the muscle whose 

 excessive activity leads to the faulty position in 

 convergent strabismus the internal rectus, in 

 divergent the external. It is often necessary to 

 operate on both eyes in the same manner, even 

 where the squint is monocular. In some cases it 

 is requisite in addition to shorten the opposing 

 muscle (Le. in divergent strabismus, where tins pro- 

 cedure is most often resorted to, the internal rectus). 



Squire, an abbreviated term for Esquire (q.v.). 

 The same word is also popularly applied in England 

 to country gentlemen ; and in the United States to 

 local judges, justices of the peace, or other digni- 

 tary of the place. 



Squirrel, the vernacular name of the Scivrus 

 i'nli/nri.1, and in a wider sense of all members of 

 the sub-family Sciurina'. These are characterised 

 by their slender body, cylindrical hairy tail, and 

 large prominent eyes; the ears are of variable 

 size often tufted ; anterior limbs shorter than 

 posterior, the former have four lingers and a nidi- 



ntary thumb, the latter five complete toes. 



Their habits are for the most part arboreal : sumc 

 few excavate subterranean retreat*. Their distri- 

 bution is cosmopolitan, excluding the Australian 

 region. There are seven recent genera and several 

 fossil ones. ( 1 ) Sciurus, in addition to the char- 

 acters of the family above mentioned, has the tail 

 long and bushy, ears pointed often tufted, the 

 digits with long, curve,], sharp claws, skull deli- 

 cate, with long post-orbital processes, penulti- 

 mate upper premolar, when present, minute. S. 

 ru/iiarii, the common squirrel, measures 18 inches 

 long (including the tail, which is 8 inches), and 

 weighs about half a pound : its colour in summer 

 is brownish red above, mixed with gray on the side 

 of the head, white lielow from the chin ; in winter 



