T U R 



T U R 



turbing the whole economy ; and has accordingly been 

 ufed in the dropfy, palfy, and apoplexy. 



It yields a deal of relinous matter in a fpirituous men- 

 ftruum, which Quincy obferves docs not affedl the larger 

 paffages much ; but is very aftive in the fmaller veffels, and 

 glandulous contorfions, which it wonderfully clears of all 

 vifcid adhefions. 



Some apothecaries, either through ignorance or parfi- 

 mony, fubftitute white thapiia, which they call grey turbilh, 

 or turtith garganicmn, for the true turbith ; though both as 

 to tafte, colour, and qualities, they are very different. 



Turbith Mineral, Turpethum Minerale, is a name 

 which the chemifts give to a yellow precipitate of mercury, 

 now called yellow fub-fulphate of mercury. 



For the method of preparing it, fee Hydrargyri Sub- 

 Julphasjlaviis. 



Turbith mineral may alfo be made by precipitating mer- 

 cury from its folution in nitrous acid by means of vitriolic 

 , acid, or of fome vitriolic fait. For this purpofe the nitrous 

 ; acid muft. be well faturated with mercury. 



We may obferve that turbith mineral becomes yellow 



only by being deprived of the adhering vitriolic acid, and 



that it remains white till it has been wa(hed with a large 



quantity of water ; and, in general, the nuire perfeftly it is 



deprived of acid, the deeper yellow colour it acquires. 



Some chemifts have fuppofed, that a portion of vitriolic 



acid remains united with the turbith, though not enough to 



render it foluble in water : M. Beaume affirms, that when 



fufficiently wa(hed it contains no acid; but the latter ex- 



[ perimcnts of M. Bayen prove the contrary. 



i This powder is called mineral turbith, from the re- 



i femblance it bears to the vegetable turbith of the Arabians, 



1 in ftrongly purging the moll internal receffes of the body ; 



for though it be infipid upon the tongue, yet it is poileffed 



I of very confiderable virtues. Being boiled with water, it 



\ lofes more of its falls, and thereby grows milder, and more 



I fafe ; fo it does alfo by being deflagrated twice or thrice, or 



I diftilled with fpirit of wine. 



I The powder, prepared in the manner above defcribed, 

 I proves, though not corrofive, ftrongly emetic ; operating, 

 in this intention, the moft effcftually of all the mercurials 

 that can be given with fafety. It is ufed chiefly in virulent 

 gonorrhoeas, and other venereal cafes accompanied with a 

 ' great flux of humours to the parts : it is faid likewife to 

 have been employed with fuccefs in robuft conftitutions, 

 againft leprous diforders, and obftinate glandular obftruc- 

 tions. The dofe, as an emetic, is from two grains to fix or 

 eight ; though fome conftitutions, habituated to mercurials, 

 can bear larger quantities. It may be given in fmaller 

 dofes, as half a grain or a grain, as an alterative, after the 

 fame manner as the red calx of mercury ; and even when 

 intended as an evacuant, it may perhaps, as Malouin ob- 

 tervcs, be moft advifeable to give only a fmall quantity at a 

 time, as one grain, and repeat the dofe every hour till the 

 vomiting fucceeds. Lewis's Mat. Med. and Di£l. Chem. 

 Art. Turbith mineral. 



Turbith mineral appears to have been the grand fecret of 

 Paracelfus, which, in his fcarce German book of hofpital 

 medicines, he praifes fo extravagantly for the venereal and 

 all chronical difeafes. Sydenham alfo commends it in 

 venereal cafes, given in the quantity of fix or eight grains, in 

 -ftrong habits of bod^, fo as to prove emetic ; but when im- 

 prudently ufed, it is apt to bring on a dyfentery. 



Turbith mineral has been ufed as a fternutatory, and is 

 faid to have made wonderful cures in diftempers of the eyes. 

 Mr. Boyle relates a cure of this fort, performed by the 

 iamous empiric Adrian Glafs-maker on Mr. Vatteville, a 



Swifs ofl[icer of diftinftion in the French fervice, and totally 

 blind. This gentleman was ordered to fnufF about a grain 

 of turbith up each noftril, which immediately operated in a 

 violent manner, by vomit, ftool, fweat, falivation, and the 

 lacrymal glands, for twelve hours together ; and alfo caufed 

 his head to fwell greatly ; but within three or four days 

 after this fingle dofe had done working, he recovered his 

 fight. Boyle's Works, Abr. vol. i. p. 103. 



We read of this preparation being given to the quantity 

 of ten grains, with the fame qnnntity of camphor, and fif- 

 teen grains of the pllul. ex duob. to remove the fwelling of 

 the tefticles. This medicine, which in the beginning vo- 

 mited and purged, at laft operated chiefly as an alterative. 

 It is faid to be fuccefsful in obftinate venereal and fcrofu- 

 lous diforders. See Medic. Eff. Edinb. vol. iv. art. 4. 



Turbith mineral is an exccflive bright true yellow, of a 

 great body like vermilion ; will ftand equally well, and 

 work with oil or water much in the fame manner. Thefe 

 qualities (fays the author of the Handmaid to the Arts, 

 vol. i. p. 107.) render it very valuable for many purpofes ; 

 as it is much brighter than any other yellow ufed in oil, ex- 

 cept king's yellow, and is free from its naufeons fmell, and 

 cooler. Mixed with Pruflian blue it yields a much finer 

 green than from the king's yellow without ultramarine. As 

 it is now procured, it requires levigation in water before it 

 be ufed. 



TURBO, in the Linntsan Syjlem of Zoology, is a genus of 

 the Teftacea order of worms. Its charaftcrs are ; that its 

 animal is a (lug ; the ftiell univalve, fpiral, and folid ; and 

 the aperture ftraiglitened, orbiculated, and entire. Gmelin, 

 in his edition of LinnEus, enumerates one hundred and feven- 

 teen fpecies, befides feveral varieties. See TuRBO under 

 the article Concholoc.y. 



In Da Cofta's fyftem, the turbo is a genus of fnails, with a 

 lengthened clavicle or turban ; which have generally a per- 

 feft round mouth ; the columella, or inner lip, not much 

 faced outwai'ds, and the body fpire very bellied, fo that the 

 turban is fuddcnly, and not infenfibly, produced from it. See 

 Shells. 



The moft remarkable fpecies of the turbo, or fcrew-fliell, 

 is that called y2-rt/<7rf by Rumphius, from its fpires running 

 up hollow, or with a fpace between them. This is a very 

 fcarce and valuable fliell when large, but is often found fmall 

 in the Adriatic. 



Aldrovand, and many others of thi- old author?, make 

 no difference between the turbines and fcrew-lhells, though 

 the diftintlion of the genera is very obvious ; the ftrcw- 

 fhells having a long, large, and dentated mouth, which ter- 

 minates towards the bafe in a narrower aperture than elfe- 

 whei-e ; and tlie (hell itfelf always runs to a very fharp point 

 at the end : whereas the turbines terminate in a Icfs (harp 

 point, and have thicker bodies, and always much wider 

 mouths. The fcrew-ftiells are indeed very eafily confounded 

 with the buccina ; and it requires more accuracy to diftin- 

 guilh them, than has fallen to the ftiare of the generality of 

 writers on thefe fubjefts an age or two ago. Aldrovand 

 and Rondelctius have confounded thefe genera, and have 

 brought in a third among them, by the epithet muricatum, 

 which, when apphcd to the buccinum, is generally obferved 

 to bring into that family a fliell of the murex clafs, and 

 which might have been very properly called by that (horttr 

 name. 



For the fake of diftinguiftiing thefe, it may be obferved, 

 that the fcrew-ftiell is of a very long and (lender (hapc, ter- 

 minating in a very ftiarp point, with its fpires runnin" on 

 imperceptibly, without any great cavity, and the bafe fmall 



and flat, as well as the mouth. ^ 



Turbo 



