CON 



CON 



or acrid ; having 1 this acrimony for the 

 most part residing in their oily parts. Of 

 the first, the chief is sea-salt, and it is 

 especially employed for preserving meat, 

 before it is employed in diet, for a longer 

 time than it could be otherwise preserved 

 from putrefaction. For this purpose 

 salt is applied in large proportions, and 

 so incorporated with the substance of the 

 meat, that it cannot be again washed out 

 before the meat is employed in diet. 

 Hence it happens, that when salted meats 

 are eaten in that condition, the salt is 

 often taken in, in large quantity, and dif- 

 fused in the mass of blood. If the salted 

 meats, however, be taken in moderate 

 quantity only, Dr. Cullen says the salt 

 has the effect of exciting the powers of 

 digestion ; and such meat is often more 

 easily digested than entirely unsalted 

 meats are. 



Another important condiment is sugar. 

 It is certainly antiseptic, and therefore 

 properly employed in preventing the pu- 

 trefaction of meat. It is also frequently 

 applied to vegetables ; btit from the pre- 

 paration of boiling, which is commonly 

 necessary in order to their being impreg- 

 nated with the sugar, the condita, except 

 a few that contain a large proportion of a 

 more fixed aromatic substance, can be 

 considered only as sugar. This is often 

 applied to the acid and acescent fruits; 

 and when applied in the consistence of 

 a syrup, it preserves them for a long 

 time from any fermentation, but it does 

 not destroy their acescency ; and when 

 such preserves are taken into the sto- 

 mach, the sugar introduced along with 

 them renders them much disposed to an 

 acescent fermentation. In the quantity 

 that sugar is commonly employed, either 

 for improving the relish of several kinds 

 of food, or for correcting their acidity, 

 it can only be hurtful by its- acescency 

 in the stomach, and can hardly make any 

 proper part of the mass of blood. If 

 taken in very large quantities, and in 

 greater proportion than it can enter into 

 the composition of the animal fluid, su- 

 gar, Dr. Cullen thinks, may increase the 

 saline state of the blood, and induce dis- 

 orders. 



Vinegar, another saline condiment, is 

 a powerful antiseptic, employed in seve- 

 ral ways for preserving animal substances 

 from putrefaction. We must consider 

 vinegar as a vegetable acid, that may be 

 taken with more safety than the fossil 

 acid. Acrid substances are also em- 

 ployed as condiments. These are espe- 

 cially taken from the class of tetradyna- 

 mia, and they are chiefly the mustard 



and horse-radish. Taken in with our 

 food, they stimulate the stomach and as- 

 sist digestion ; and further, as they evi- 

 dently promote perspiration and urine, 

 they obviate the putrescent tendency of 

 the system. -This has been so much re- 

 marked, that the vegetables of this class, 

 as fraught with this peculiar acrimony, 

 are justly denominated antiscorbutic. 



To the list of condiments, Dr. Cullen 

 adds capsicum, ketchup, and soy ; and 

 concludes his strictures on them by ob- 

 serving, that the whole of our seasonings 

 consists of salt, vinegar, and aromatics, 

 combined together: and ' if they are ta- 

 ken only in the quantity necessary to 

 render the food more sapid, they may 

 increase the appetite and favour full eat- 

 ing ; but they can hardly otherwise do 

 harm, unless when the aromatics are ta- 

 ken in such large quantity as to weaken 

 the tone of the stomach." 



CONDITION, in law, a restraint an- 

 nexed to a thing, one of the terms upon 

 which a grant may be made on a contin- 

 gency, upon the happening of which 

 the estate may be defeated ; as a mort- 

 gage which is to cease upon payment of 

 a certain sum. Conditions are either in 

 deed, or express ; in law, or implied ; 

 precedent ; subsequent ; inherent ; colla- 

 teral ; affirmative ; negative ; single ; co- 

 pulative. A condition precedent is one, 

 the happening of which is to precede the 

 vesting of the estate or a thing granted. 

 A condition subsequent, by happening 

 after the vesting of the estate, defeats, 

 continues, or extends it ; and this distinc- 

 tion is of frequent occurrence and great 

 importance. A condition in deed differs 

 from alimitation of an estate, chiefly in that 

 the former defines the estate, which can- 

 not exceed the limits set to it in the ori- 

 ginal grant ; but upon an express con- 

 dition in deed, the estate continues until 

 the grantor, who may take advantage 

 of it, enters to defeat it. See LIMITA- 

 TION. Conditions which are impossible, 

 contrary to law, or repugnant to the na- 

 ture of the estate, are void, and conse- 

 quently the estate, if the condition be 

 subsequent, becomes absolute, by being 

 freed from the condition ; but if prece- 

 dent, the estate can never vest. Those 

 which give or enlarge an estate are fa- 

 vourably, those which restrain or defeat 

 it, strictly construed ; and conditions in 

 restraint of marriage are not favoured, 

 unless reasonable, but must be perform- 

 ed where the thing is limited over to a 

 third person. The right of taking ad- 

 vantage of a condition can be reserved 

 only to the party, his heir, executor, or 



