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TYMNISSUS, a town of Afia Minor, in Cai-ia. 



TYMNUS, a town of Alia Minor, in Caria, which de- 

 rived its name from the promontory called by Mela 

 Tymnias. 



TYMPAN, or Tympanum, in Archiuaure, the area of 

 a pediment, being the part which is in a level with the 

 naked of the freeze. Or it is the fpace included between 

 the three cornices of a triangular pediment, or the two 

 cornices of a circular one. 



Sometimes the tympan is cut out, and the part filled 

 with an iron lattice, to give light ; and fometimes it is en- 

 riched with fculpture, in baffo-relievo, as in the weft front 

 of St. Paul's, in the temple of Caltor and Pollux at 

 Naples, &c. 



Tympan is alfo ufed for that part of a pedeftal called the 

 trunk or dye. 



Tympan, among Joiners, is alfo applied to the pannels of 

 doors. 



Tympan of an Arch, is a triangular fpace or table in the 

 corners or fides of an arch, ufually hollowed and enriched, 

 fometimes with branches of laurel, olive-tree, or oak ; or 

 with trophies, &c. ; fometimes with flying figures, as Fame, 

 &e. or fitting figures, as the cardinal virtues. 



Tympan, in Anatomy, Mechanics, &c. See Tympanum. 



Tympan, among Printers, is a double frame belonging 

 to the prefs, covered with parchment, on which the blank 

 (heets are laid in order to be printed off. See Printing- 

 Prefs.^ 



TYMPANA, Ti/uTrava, among the Athenians, a capital 

 punifhment, in which the criminal, being affixed to the pole, 

 was beaten to death with cudgels. Potter, Archaeol. Graec. 

 lib. c. 25. tom. i. p. 134. 



TYMPANIA, in Ancient Geography, a town of the 

 Peloponnefus, in the interior of the Elide. Ptolemy. 



TYMPANITES, in Medicine, from -rvfj.va.nv, tympanum, 

 a drum, a flatulent diftenfion of the belly, which, when 

 ftruck, emits a found which has been compared to the noife 

 produced by that inftrument. It has been called, in 

 Englifll, the tympany, and -windy dropfy. 



The tympanites is a fwelling of the abdomen, in which 

 the integuments appear to be much llretched by fome dif- 

 tending power within, and they are equally flretched in 

 every pofition of the body. The fwelling does not very 

 readily yield to any preffure ; and fo far as it does, being 

 extremely elallic, it very quickly recovers its former ftate, 

 when the prefl"ure is removed. Being ftruck, it gives an 

 obfcure found, fomewhat like that of a drum, or other 

 ftrctched animal membrane. No fluftuation within is to be 

 perceived ; and the whole feels lefs weighty than might be 

 cipeded from its bulk. The uneafinels from the diftenfion 

 is partially relieved by the difcharge of wind from the 

 alimentary canal, either upward or downward. 



Thefe are the characters, then, by which the tympanites, 

 or flatulent fwelling of the belly, may be diftinguifhed from 

 the a/cites, or dropfy of that cavity, and from phyfconia, or 

 folid tumours, fometimes occurring there ; and many ex- 

 periments ftiew that the tympanites always depends upon a 

 preternatural culleftion of air fomewhere within the tegu- 

 ments of the abdomen. But the fituation which the air 

 occupies in different inftances is fomewhat different-; and 

 this produces the different fpecies of the difeafe which 

 nofologifts have dcfcribed. 



One fpecies, and indeed the moft common and curable 

 fpecies, is that in which the coUedted air is confined within 

 the cavity of the alimentary canal, and chiefly in that of the 

 inteftines. This fpecies, therefore, has been named the 

 tympimites intejinalis. (See Sauvages Nofol. Method. 



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Clafs. X. fpec. I.) To thi, fpecies, indeed, which is the 

 moft frequent, the charader above given efpecially belongs. 



A fecond fpecies is, when the air colleded is not entirely 

 confined to the cavity of the inteftines, but is alfo prefent 

 between their coats ; and fuch is that which is named by 

 Sauvages tympanites enterophy fades . (Sauv. fpec. 3.) This 

 has certainly been a rare occurrence ; and has probably 

 occurred only in confequence of the tympanites inteftinalis, 

 by the air efcapmg from the cavity of the inteftines into the 

 interftices of the coats. It is, however, poffible, that an 

 erofion of the internal coat of the inteftines may give occa- 

 fion to the air, fo conftantly prefent in their cavity, to 

 efcape into the interftices of their coats, though in the 

 whole of their cavity there has been no previous accu- 

 mulation. 



A third fpecies is, when the air is coUeded in the fae of 

 the peritoneum, or what is commonly called the cavity of 

 the abdomen, that is, the fpace between the peritoneum and 

 vifcera ; and then the difeafe is named tympanites abdominalis. 

 ( Sauv. fp. 2. ) The cxiftence of fuch a tympanites, without 

 any tympanites inteftinalis, has been difputed ; and it cer- 

 tainly has been a rare occurrence ; but from feveral diffec- 

 tions, it is unqueftionable that fuch a difeafe has fometimes 

 truly occurred. 



A fourth fpecies of tympanites is, when tympanites in- 

 teftinalis and abdominahs are joined together, or take place 

 at the fame time. With refpeft to this, it is probable that 

 the tympanites inteftinalis is the primary diteafe ; and the 

 other only a confequence of the air efcaping, by an erofion 

 or rupture of the coats of the inteftines, from the cavity of 

 thefe, into that of the abdomen. It is indeed poflible, that 

 in confequence of erofion or rupture, the air which is fo 

 conftantly prefent in the inteftinal canal, may efcape from 

 thence in fuch quantity into the cavity of the abdomen, as 

 to give a tympanites abdominalis, whilft there was no pre- 

 vious confiderable accumulation of air in the inteftinal 

 cavity itfelf ; but we have no fafts by which to afcertain 

 this matter properly. 



A fifth fpecies has alfo been enumerated. It is when a 

 tympanites abdominahs happens to be joined with the 

 afcites, or dropfy of the belly ; and fuch a difeafe therefore 

 is named by Sauvages tympanites afciticus. (Sauv. fpec. 4.) 

 In moft cafes of tympanites, indeed, fome quantity of ferum 

 has, upon diffeftion, been found in the fac of the peritoneum ; 

 but that is not enough to conftitute the fpecies now men- 

 tioned ; and when the colleftion of ferum is more confider- 

 able, it is commonly where, both from the caufes which have 

 preceded, and likewife from the fymptoms which attend, 

 the afcites may be confidered as the primary difeaie ; and 

 therefore that this combination does not exhibit a proper 

 fpecies of the tympanites. 



As this laft is not a proper fpecies, and as fome of the 

 others are not only extremely rare, but even, when occurring, 

 are neither primary nor to be eafily diftinguifhed, nor, as 

 confidered in themfelves, admitting of any cure, it will be 

 unneceffary to take any farther notice of them ; we ftiall 

 therefore confine ourfelves, in what follows, to the confider- 

 ation of the moft frequent cafe and almoft the only object 

 of praftice, the tympanites inteflinalis. 



With refpedl to this, it does not appear that it arifes in 

 any peculiar temperament, or depends upon any predifpofi- 

 tion, which can be difcerned. It occurs in either fex, at 

 every age, and frequently in young perfons. 



Various remote caufes of it have been alTlgned ; but 



many of thefe have not commonly the effefrt of producing 



this difeafe ; and although fome of them have been truly 



antecedexits of it, we can in few inftances difcover the 



3 R 2 manner 



