R H E 



R II E 



riot permitted to fcattcr, left: they grow and injure the old 

 pin ■ i. 



The roots continue many years without decaying, and it 

 is (aid that the old roots of the true rhubarb are much pre- 

 ferable to the young ones. The roots mav be generally 

 taken up after four years, but if they remain longer, it is 

 fo much the better. 



Thefe plants delight in a rich foil, which is not too dry 

 nor over moil! : and where there is a depth in fuch land for 

 their roots to run down, they attain a great iize, both in the 

 leaves and roots. 



Some cultivators think that the fowirig is beft performed 

 in the later fpring months ; but in this way, as the feeds are 

 flow in vegetating, there is much time loft. And a hot-bed 

 has been fometimes employed, though it is not much ad- 

 vifed. 



The rhubarb plants may be alfo increafed from offsets, 

 Separating fome of the eyes or buds which (boot out on the 

 upper parts of the root, together with a fmall part of the 

 root itfelf, having fome of the fibres to it. Thefe offsets 

 may be taken from roots of three or four years old, without 

 any injury to the plant. By this method a year is faved, 

 and the plants are not in fuch danger of being devoured by 

 vermin as thofe from feed, nor fo uncertain in growing ; they 

 are not fo tender, and only require keeping clear of weeds. 

 There is no difference in the fize of the roots thus raifed, 

 from thofe which grow from feeds. This method was prac- 

 tifed by Mr. Hays, and in Mr. Hayward's practice feveral 

 offsets were flipped from the heads of large plants in the 

 fpring, and fet with a dibble about a foot apart. Four 

 years after, he took up the roots, and found them very 

 large, and of excellent quality. On further experience, 

 when he took up his roots, cither in fpring or autumn, he 

 divided the head into many parts ; thefe he planted direftly, 

 at two feet diitance, if intended for future removal ; but if 

 to remain for a crop, at four feet and a half. 



And in the culture of this root for medicinal ufes, 

 nature of the afpect is faid not to be very mate- 

 rial, provided it be not (haded too much on the Couth or 

 welt. The iudifpenfable points are the depth and good qua- 

 lity of the foil, which fhould be light, loamy, and rich, but 

 not too much fo, led the roots be too fibrous : it can fcarcely 

 be too dry, for more evil is to be expefted from a fuper- 

 abundancy of moillure than from any aftual want of it. 

 If, with thefe advantages, the plantation can be placed on a 

 gentle declivity, fuch a fituation may be faid to be the moll 

 defirable. Where a plantation does not poffefs the natural 

 advantage of being on a declivity, narrower beds and 

 deepened trenches are among the artificial means that {hould 

 be adopted ; but moil fituations will require fome care to 

 prevent the ill effects of water remaining on the crowns of 

 the plants : therefore, when the fced-llalks are cut off", which 

 ought always to be done immediately upon the withering 

 of the radical leaves, they (hould be covered with mould, in 

 ♦ orm of a hillock. This procefs will anfwer two good pur- 

 pofes ; that of throwing off the rain, and keeping open the 

 trenches by taking the earth from them. And it is obferved, 

 that the injuries to which the young plants are moll liable, 

 are from Hugs and other vermin, from inattention to the 

 fcafon and manner of planting, and from too great an ex- 

 pofure to frolt. Little damage is to be feared from heat ; 

 and, in general, they are hardy andeafy of cultivation when 

 arrived beyond a certain term. It is advifed to take great 

 care of the nurfery bed, as the pains bedowed by conllant 

 waterings, and protc&ing the young plants from the ravages 

 of infects, will amply repay the planter. Roots that thrive 

 well here, will in three years arrive at an equal iize with 



7 



others, that have not fucceeded fo well at the end of five. 

 When a plantation is to be formed, or a vacancy filled up, 

 felect the fined and moll thrifty plants. No plant will come 

 to any thing when it has loil its principal bud. 



It is alfo obferved, that there is a difference of opinion 

 in reipect to the age at which the roots ought to be taken 

 up for ufe ; but it is probably bell done from four to eight 

 years. They are the bell when taken up in autumn, in a 

 dry time, and (hould be immediately dried and prepared by- 

 cutting into pieces and cleaning, hanging them on proper 

 firings in a dry airy place. 



And fome plants of each of the forts may alfo be intro- 

 duced in the dry borders and clumps, for the ornamental 

 effec/t of the leaves and flowers. 



Rheum, in Medicine, ftufta, deduction, a term which was 

 in common ufe in the vocabulary of the humbral patholo- 

 gifts, to denote the fluid difcharged from a part, as of 

 mucus in coryza and catarrh, and alfo a fuppofed accu- 

 mulation or congedion of fluid in a part. In their doctrine, 

 every inflammation and tumour was afcribed to a deduction 

 of fome humour in the part affedled ; but modern obferva- 

 tion has taught us, that the accumulation of fluid, in thefe 

 cafes, is generally the effect, and not the caufe, of the dif- 

 eafe ; being the confequence of inflammatory affion of the 

 veflels, which produces an increafed difcharge and an al- 

 tered condition of their fecreted fluids. Although the 

 term and the doftrine are both exploded, they have left a 

 popular appellation attached to a difeafe, which is univer- 

 lally called rheumatifm. 



RHEUMATISM, from the preceding word, a painful 

 difeafe ufually affedling the joints, and fometimes the 

 mufcles. The appellation feems to have been firfl limited 

 to this diforder by a celebrated French writer, Baillou, or, 

 as he calls himfelf in Latin, Ballonius ; and has (ince been 

 adopted both by the erudite and the vulgar. 



Rheumatifm affumes two or three forms, remarkably dif- 

 ferent from each other, independently of the varieties which 

 difference of feat occafions ; a difference, indeed, which is 

 rather nominal than real. Of the latter diilin&ions, we 

 have lumbago, when the difeafe is feated in the loins yiumli) ; 

 ifchias, or feiatica, when it occurs in the hip; and pleura- 

 clyne, when it attacks the fides, which are lined with the 

 membrane called pleura, &c. The more remarkable fpecies 

 of the difeafe, however, to which we have alluded, are the 

 acute and chronic forms which it exhibits. There is alfo a 

 third form, partaking more of the acute than of the chronic 

 fpecies, which has been called, with fome impropriety, 

 rheumatic gout, or arthritis rheumatics. It will be ncccifary 

 to fpeak of the acute and chronic rheumatifm, as well as of 

 the rheumatic gout, feparately ; (ince the treatment, which 

 they refpectively require, is conliderably different. 



R.HEDMATI8M, Acute, otherwife called rheumatic fever, 

 •, hk' moil other febrile difeafes, with fits of chillinefs, 

 which are fucceeded by increafed heat, frequent pulfe, third, 

 iofs of appetite, and proilration of llrength. Not unfre- 

 quently, however, the peculiar iymptoms appear before 

 any febrile fymptom is obferved ; namely, pain and inflam- 

 mation in the joints. The pain font I lie joints 

 alone, but often it affects alio the niulcul.tr parts, (hooting 



along the courfe of the mufcles from one joinl to another] 



and it is always increafed by the action of the mufcles, that 

 is, by any attempt to move the join) • that are difeafed. Its 

 ufual feat is in the larger joints, fuch as the hips, knees, 

 (houlders, and elbow. : the ankles and wrifts are alfo fre- 

 quently attacked ; but the (mailer joints, fuch as thole of 

 the toes a d lingers, fuller conliderably Iris. Two, three, 

 or more ol thefe joints ai "U affed id at the l.une 



ie : 



