EPISTYLE. 



EPITAPH. 



91 a 



Bleeding at the nose, when it occurs alone, most frequently comes 

 on in children. After ten or twelve years of age it is oftener seen in 

 boys than girls. It is frequently hereditary, and whole families exirt 

 who are liable on slight causes to bleed at the nose. It may be brought 

 on by whatever increases the flow of blood to, or retards the flow of 

 blood from, the head. Thus, mental excitement, anger, shame, pro- 

 tracted study, stooping, sneezing, deep sighing, hallooing, singing, 

 coughing, tumors on the veins, tight neckcloths, &c., may all be 

 exciting causes of the bleeding. Whatever causes absolute or relative 

 plethora, as too free living, the suppresion of accustomed discharges, 

 whatever interferes with the free circulation of the blood, as tight 

 clothes, whatever determines the blood to the surface of the body, as 

 diminished pressure of the atmosphere, as in ascending mountains, a 

 highly heated atmosphere, &c., will also produce it. 



Bleeding at the nose is not in itself a dangerous disease. It may, 

 however, come on in states of the body when the system is already 

 exhausted, and be the forerunner of a fatal result. But in inflamma- 

 tory diseases, and where the person is plethoric, it is frequently a relief 

 to the system, and is followed by a diminution of painful symptoms. 

 In persons, however, after middle age, and who are inclined to plethora, 

 this symptom should be looked upon as indicative of congestion, which 

 may proceed further, and the warning should be regarded, and a dimi- 

 nution in the indulgences of the table insisted on. 



In the treatment of bleeding from the nose, regard must be had to 

 the state, age, Ac., of the patient. When it occurs in children, and in 

 the great majority of simple cases, all that is required is to make the 

 patient assume the sitting posture, and hold the head backwards ; cold 

 should be applied to the face, and a piece of cold metal placed between 

 the nape of the neck and the clothes. Acid drinks may be given at the 

 same time. When the person is plethoric and has suffered much pain 

 in the head, singing in the ears, &c., previously, it will not be advise- 

 able to stop the bleeding until these symptoms are relieved. This 

 may be followed by the exhibition of purgatives ; and bleeding from 

 the arm should be had recourse to if the head symptoms continue. 

 When the bleeding follows the stoppage of any natural discharge, this 

 latter should be restored. Cupping on the nape of the neck, or even 

 dry cupping, may be recommended in these cases. But in the passive 

 states of the system it is frequently desirable to avert the bleeding 

 without loss of time. Under these circumstances astringents should 

 be applied immediately to the pituitary membrane. A solution of the 

 acetate of lead, of the sulphate of zinc, of iron, of copper, or of alum, 

 may be injected up the nostrils, or a dossil of lint wetted with the 

 solution thrust up the nostril. Tannin or tannic acid may be employed 

 in the same manner. These astringents may also be administered 

 internally with small doges of opium. One of the most effectual means 

 of arresting haemorrhage from the nose when other means fail is plug- 

 ging the posterior nares, which may be done by introducing a piece of 

 sponge or lint upon a ligature into the mouth, and carrying it through 

 the nares to the nostril in front. This generally exercises sufficient 

 pressure to arrest the bleeding. 



(Copland, Dictionary of Medicine ; Cyclopctdia of Practical Medicine, 

 article Epistaxis.) 



EPISTYLE, the first layer of stone placed on columns to form 

 the architrave. The term is derived from the Greek epistylium 

 (^TurruAioi'), and that from the words tpi\ (if\) ' upon* and stylus, 

 (orvAof), 'a column.' 



EPITAPH (i-rndipiov, epitdphium), an inscription on a tomb ; from 

 til, upon and Tdtpos, a sepulchre. Inscriptions in honour of the dead 

 are perhaps as old as tombs themselves ; the most ancient however 

 with which we are now acquainted are probably those of Simonides 

 upon Megistias the soothsayer of the little army of Leonidas, and on 

 the heroes who fell at Thermopylae, preserved by Herodotus. (vii. 228.) 

 Another epitaph of very high antiquity may be referred to in the 

 ancient Greek inscriptions found] in the Ceramicus at Athens, upon 

 the warriors who fell at Potidtea 432 years B.C. The original, in a 

 mutilated state, is among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum. 

 (No. 348.) The reader will find other examples of Greek and Roman 

 epitaphs in the Elgin and Townley" marbles of the British Museum, 

 published under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion 

 of Useful Knowledge. 



The earliest epitaphs of this country were those of the Romans or 

 Romanized Britons, which usually began with D. M. (l>iit Manioits), 

 followed by the name, office, and age of the deceased, and a conclusion 

 which informed the reader by whom or through what means the 

 inscription was erected. This seems to have been the ordinary formula 

 of the sepulchral inscriptions of that period. 



Whether the Saxons or the Danes used monumental inscriptions 

 among us, either in their own or in the Latin tongue, has been doubted. 

 The few which we have for people of the Saxon times are the com- 

 position* of a later date. Three or four small slabs, however, bearing 

 crosses and some female names, supposed to be those of nuns, were 

 dug up at HartleppoL 



The regular series of English epitaphs begins in the llth century, 

 when they were still written in the Latin language. One of the most 

 remarkable of this period is that preserved in Sir William Dugdale's 

 Baronage, for William de Warren, earl of Surrey, who died in 1089, 

 copied from the abbey register of St. Pancras, Lewes, of which he was 

 the founder, where it is said to have been engraven on white marble. 



Hie Gulielme Comes locus est landis tibi forces 

 Hujus fundator, & largns sedis amator. 

 Iste tuum funus deeorat, placuit qnia munus 

 Pauperibus Christ!, quod prompta mente dedisti. 

 Ille tuos cineres servat Pancratius hieres, 

 Sanctorum castris qui te sociabit in astris. 

 Optime Pancratie, fer opem te glorificanti ; 

 Daqne poll sedem, talem tibi qui dedit eedem. 



A mutilated epitaph for Gundreda, daughter of William the 

 Conqueror, and wife of this earl of Surrey, is still remaining in the 

 church of Southover near Lewes ; she died in child-bed in 1085. The 

 generality, however, of the epitaphs of this period are neither so long 

 nor so laboured as the earl of Surrey's. Vitalis, the twenty-first 

 abbot of Westminster, who died in 1082, had only these lines 



A vita nomen qui traxit, morte Tocante, 

 Abbas Vitalis transiit, hicque jacet. 



In the 12th century our epitaphs are few. The tomb usually con- 

 sisted of a single figure ; and the inscription added to it was little 

 more than a mere designation of the person : such as that at Hereford, 

 of the year 1148, 



Dominus Eobertus dc Eetum episcopus Hcrefordensis ; 

 or that in the chapter-house at Gloucester, 1176, 



Hie jacet Ricardns Strongbow, films Gilbert! Comitis de Pembroke. 



Early in the 13th century we begin to find the epitaph in French, 

 occasionally accompanied by promises of absolution to such of those 

 who passed the tomb as might pray for the soul of the deceased. 

 Weever gives an instance of this in his ' Funeral Monuments,' in an 

 inscription for Robert the third earl of Oxford, who died in 1221 : 



Sire Robert de Veer le premier Count de 

 Oxenford le tierz git icy. Dieu de 1'ame si lui 

 Plest face merci. Ki pur 1'alme priera XL 

 Jors de pardon arera. + Pater noster, &c. 



At the church of Kingswear, in Devonshire, we have an epitaph of 

 this kind in rhyme : 



Vo qui ici venez 

 Pur 1'alme Philip priez. 

 Trente jours de pardon 

 Serra vostre gwcrdon. 



Henry III.'s epitaph, in the same language, with a prayer for mercy 

 to him, still remains embossed in old capitals round the ledge of his 

 tomb in Westminster Abbey, 1272. 



The epitaph in French continued till the middle of the 14th century, 

 after which time inscriptions in the vernacular tongue became common. 

 One of the earliest, perhaps, was that upon a stone over one of the 

 Savile family at Thornhill, in Yorkshire : 



Bonys emongq stongs lys ful 

 Bteyl, gwylste the sawle wan- 

 dcris weie that God wylethe. 



Blomfield, in his ' History of Norfolk,' has preserved a curious speci- 

 men of the English of the time, in an epitaph from Holm Church in 

 that county, about 1404 : 



Henry Notingham and his wyft 1 lyn here 

 That maydcn this church, stepull, and quere, 

 Two vestments and bellez they made also, 

 Christ them save therefore fro wo ! 

 And to bringe thcr soules to hies of heven 

 Saith Pater and Ave with mylde Steven. 



Gough, in his ' Sepulchral Monuments,' whence much of our 

 information has been obtained, gives the following from the church of 

 St. Peter at St. Albans, 1420 : 



In the yerc of Christ on thousand and four hundryd ful trew with four and 



sixteene 



I Richard Skipwith gentylman in birth late fellow of New Inne, 

 In my age twenti on my sowl partyd from the body in August the ICth day 

 And now I ly her abyding God's mercy under this ston in clay, 

 Dcsyring yow that this sal see unto the Meyden pray for mee 



That bare both God and Man, 

 Like as ye wold that other for ye shold 



When ye ne may nor can. 



The clergy and religious, however, still preferred Latin, perhaps, as 

 their more familiar idiom ; and one or two instances occur, even so 

 late as the middle of the 15th century, where the epitaph is given in 

 Latin rhyme. The last edition of Hutehins's ' Dorsetshire ' mentions 

 the following as engraved round the arch of the church door at 

 Durweston, near Blandford, 1459 : 



Hie jacet nb tumulo Downton Willielmns humatns ; 

 Rector crat vilto Durweston: Okfordie natus. 



The generality of the Latin epitaphs of this period were on strips of 

 brass, and began most frequently with orate pro anima, perhaps 

 followed by miserrimi peccatorit ; an address, says Dr. Johnson, to the 



