S T A 



degrees of violence, according to the circumftances and ha- 

 bits of body of the animals. And it occafionally takes 

 place in calves, and other young ftock of this fort. 



The difeafe fhews itfelf by the reeling, wavering, ftag- 

 gering, and imperfcft gait of the animal ; by the heavy, 

 dull, and fluggidi motion and appearance of it ; and an in- 

 chnation to become drovvfy, and the refting or reclining of 

 the head upon any convenient place near it. 



It fometimes, however, puts on a more local inflamma- 

 tory appearance, in which cafes the beads have commonly 

 a lefs heavy drowfy difpofnion, with more of the wild raving 

 or raging tendency and quality in their afpefts and dif- 

 pofitions. 



In the former of thefe ftates, the difeafe may be attempted 

 to be removed by the giving of calomel in pretty laree 

 dofes, as a drachm or more to a large beaft, two or three 

 times in the courfe of the week, and powders compofed of 

 camphor rubbed with a few drops of fpirit of wine, in the 

 quantity of about two drachms. Common nitre, or falt- 

 petre in powder, two ounces and a half; and the roots of 

 rhubarb in powder, or fome other fimilar matter, from one 

 to two ounces and upwards, in the intervals between the 

 dofes of calomel. The bead, dnring the time, (hould be 

 kept moderately warm, and have good hay and warm maflies 

 occafionally given to it, prefcrving it as much as pofTible in 

 a temperate ilale in every refpeft. 



In the latter itate it may fometimes be necellary to take 

 away blood in proportion to the fize and flrength of the 

 bcalts, as from one to two or tliree quarts ; after which, the 

 bowels may be well opened by the ufe of pretty itrong 

 purgatives of the faline kind ; then, where there is much 

 fever of the inflammatory kind attending the difeafe, a ball 

 compofed of tartarized antimony, in the quantity of from 

 half to a whole drachm, with about two drachms of cam- 

 phor rubbed as above, and from a drachm and a hnlf to two 

 drachms of prepared ammonia in powder, made up with a 

 little treacle, may be given in a hornful or two of warm 

 oatmeal gruel, once or oftener in the day to the beails, until 

 it difappears. In tedious cafes of this fort, with much 

 afleftion of the head, great relief may fometimes be gained 

 by the application of Itrong blilters about the head, or the 

 rubbing of the parts near and upon it, and on the fides 

 of the neck, with ftrong ointment of the blidering kind, 

 after the hair has been well clipped off and removed from 

 them. 



Afterwards it v.ill only be ncced'ary to let the beafts 

 have a ftrengthening cordial drink or two, and the ufe 

 of a good dry pallure, when the feafon will admit of it. 



STAGGERWORT, m /tgricullurc. See Ragwort. 



STAGIRA, or Stagikus, in Andent Geography, a 

 town of Macedonia, in the vicinity of mount Athos, upon 

 the Strymonic gulf, between Amphipolis on the north, and 

 Acanthus on the fouth. This town was the native place of 

 Ariftotlc, hence called the Stagirite. 



STAGN.A.NT Watery Land. See Watery Land. 



STAGNO, in Geography, a fea-port town of the re- 

 pubhc of Ragula, on the Adriatic, the fee of a bilhop, 

 iuff^ragan of Ragufa : about a mile from t)ie town is a for- 

 trcfs, called " Stagno Piccolo," or Little Stagno ; 30 miles 

 N.W. of Ragufa. N. lat. 43^ 30'. E. long. 17" 59'. 



STAGONIAS, a word ufcd by the old authors to ex- 

 prefs that fort of male frankincenfc which is in round drops, 

 and very clear and fine. 



STAGONIUS, a name fometimes given to ftorax. 



STAGS, in Geography. Several rocks on the coaft of 

 Ireland are fo called ; as the Stags on the fouth-eall en- 

 trance of Cork harbour, near Roches tower, where a light- 



S T A 



houfeis ereftin?; the Stags of Caftlehaven, fouth of Toe- 

 liead, county of Cork; and the Stags of Broadhaven, north 

 of Binwy-head, on the Mayo coall. 



STAHL, George Ernest, in Biography, a celebrated 

 phyfician and chemift, was born at Anipach, in Franconia, 

 in Oftober 1660. He ftudied medicine at the univerfity of 

 ,Tena, and laid the foundation of his fame, immediately after 

 his graduation in 1684, by commencing a courfe of private 

 leftures among the (Indents of that place. His advancing 

 reputation procured for him the appointment of phyfician 

 in ordinary to the duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1687. On the 

 ellablifliment of the univerfity at Halle, in 1 694, Frederic 

 Hoffmann, with his accuflomed liberality, folicited the ap- 

 pointment of a medical proiedorfliip for Stahl, who accepted 

 the office, and became the rival of that diftinguiflied phy- 

 fician as a teacher of medical fyitems, but not in the exer- 

 cife of candour and liberality towards his colleagues. Stahl 

 was confcious of pofleffing confiderablc mental powers, and 

 paid little refpeft to the opinions of others ; and he became 

 the leader of a f^ft or fchool of phyficians, in oppofition to 

 the mechanical theorifts, in which he was followed by many 

 eminent perfons, not only in Germany, but in other coun- 

 tries, as by Perrault in France, Gaubius in Holland, Por- 

 terfield and Simpfon in Scotland, and by Nichols and Mead 

 in England, notwithftanding the very fanciful nature of the 

 hypothcfis on wiiich his fyfiem was founded. The " Con- 

 fpeft us Medicinx" of Juncker was publiflied to illuilrate 

 his doftrines in Germany ; and a fuccinct account of the 

 fyftem was given by Dr. Nichols, in his work " De Anima 

 Medica," in this country. 



Phyficians had always remarked a cert.iin power in the 

 animal body of refilling injuries and correfting fome of its 

 diforders, which they had called nature, and ins med'tcatrix 

 naturx, and Van Helmont had already afcribed fome degree 

 of intelligence to this power. But it remained for Stahl to 

 refer this power entirely to the rational foul, which, he 

 affirmed, not only originally formed the body, but is the 

 fole caufe of its motions, in the conllanl excitement of 

 which life confills. For he maintained that the foul abhors 

 the difVolution of its body, and therefore excites and direfts 

 all its motions, the vital and involuntary as well as the vo- 

 luntary motions, to prevent that diflblution, by obviating 

 putrefiftion, and expelling the corrupted humours by va- 

 rious appropriate organs or excretories ; in a word, that all 

 the funftions of the body are entirely directed by tiie mind, 

 which intelligently perceives the tendency of all imprefiions, 

 external and internal, made upon the body, and excites 

 fuch motions as may favour the beneficial, and obviate the 

 injurious influence of all caufes afting upon it. Whence he 

 farther contended, that difeafes, fuch as fevers and fpafmo- 

 dic affeftions, were in faft the motions voluntarily excited by 

 the rational foul, for the purpofe ot opening emunttories, 

 and expelling fome oflending caufe. Generally fpeaking, 

 therefore, it was maintained, that difeafej were falutary 

 efforts of the prcfiding foul, and were to be alfilled, and not 

 interrupted, by the interference of art : yet it was fomehow 

 admitted, that the mind, irom furprife, fear, or defpair, 

 occafioned by too fudden or vehement imprefiions made upon 

 it, occafionally excited adverfe motions, wlucii it was right 

 to moderate. Independently of the vifionary charafter of 

 this hypothefis, it was julUy deprecated as loading phyficians 

 to negleft the ufe of remedies, or to ufe only the mofl 

 inert and frivolous ones ; and alfo to fet little value upon the 

 collateral fludics of medical fciencc, even upon anatomical 

 refearches, which Stahl mauitained had little or no reference 

 to the art of heahng. And, in fat^, both he and his fol- 

 lowers, trulting principally to the attention and wildom of 



nature. 



