U R I 



V K I 



URIBACO, in Ichthyology, the name of a Brafilian fea- 

 fifh, efteemed a very well-tafted and wholefome one. It is 

 fomewhat of the figure of the perch ; its back is rigid, and 

 its belly is fomewhat protuberant. It grows to ten ox twelve 

 inches long. Its teeth are fmall and fliarp, and the ends of 

 its gills and gill-fins terminate in a triangular point : its belly- 

 fins are fuilained by a very rigid and ftrong fpine : its long 

 fin, behind the anus, is fupported by flexile and fhort fpines ; 

 it has only one fin on the back, equally broad, and, reach- 

 ing nearly to the tail, fupported by prickly rays ; its tail is 

 deeply forked ; its fcales arc of a fine filvery white, with a 

 faint caft of pale but bright red ; its belly-fins are white, 

 and its back-fin and tail reddith : its fide-hnes are broad, and 

 of a fine red ; over thefe and under them, near the tail, there 

 is on each fide a large black fpot. Margraave. Ray's 

 Ichtliyol. p. 338. 



URIC Acid, ill Chmijlry. This fubftance was difcovered 

 by Scheele in 1776. The French chemifts named it I'ltbic 

 acid, from its being a common ingredient in urinary calcuh, 

 but Dr. Pearfon fubfequently changed its name to that by 

 which it 13 at prefi;nt generally known. The original name, 

 however, is likely to be again adopted, as Dr. Marcet has 

 adhered to it in his recent work upon urinary calculi. 



Uric acid feparates fpontaneoufly from fome urine in the 

 form of red granular cryllals ; or it may be procured more 

 readily in this impure Hate by the addition of either of the 

 mineral acids to the urine. The bert way of obtaining it in 

 quantity, however, is to diffolve urinary calculi compofed 

 chiefly of it in an alkahne lixivium, and to precipitate it 

 from this by a mineral acid. Uric acid, thus obtained, 

 and afterwards repeatedly well wafhed, has the following 

 properties. 



It appears in the form of a beautiful white powder, 

 which feels rather harlh, but not gritty, and is deflitnte both 

 of tafte and fmell. According to Dr. Henry, it difTolves 

 in about 1 150 times its weight of water at 21°, or in about 

 1720 times at 60'^. In boiling water it is more foluble, and 

 its folution faintly reddens litmus. It readily diffolvcs in fo- 

 lutions of the fixed alkalies, but not fo readily in ammonia. 

 It is incapable of decompofing the alkaline carbonates, or 

 any earthy or metallic fait. The nitric acid difTolves it, and 

 when this folution is evaporated to drynefs, it afTumes a beau- 

 tiful pink colour, which becomes of a fine carmine hue on 

 the addition of water. This colour is uot permanent if expofed 

 to theaftion of the air ; but paper ftainedwith it, and dried 

 arid kept in clofe veflels, retains the colour for a long time. 

 Chlorine produces a fimilar effeft upon this acid ; an effecl 

 which is quite peculiar, and therefore charafteriftic of it. 

 On being fubjefted to heat, uric acid emits a ftrong odour, 

 and yields a large proportion of pruffic acid. Submitted to 

 diftillation in clofe veifels, it yields a principle of a peculiar 

 nature, which Dr. Henry has afcertained to be a diftinft 

 acid. According to Dr. Prout's analyfis, uric acid con- 

 fifts of 



i atom or i volume of hydrogen 1.25") o fhydr. 

 2 atoms or 2 volumes of carbon 15.00 ( ^ carb. 



I atom or i volume of oxygen 

 1 item or I volume of azote 



10.00 



43-75 



oxyg. 

 azote 



2.857 

 34.286 

 22.857 

 40.000 



Dr. P., therefore, feems difpofed to confider it as com- 

 pofed of one atom or volume of cyanogen, and one atom or 

 Yolume of water. 



Uric acid combines with the alkalies and alkahne earths, 

 ar.d forms a fet of falts, none of which are very interefting, 



I 



except the fuperurate of foda, which conllitutes the goiily 

 calculus, or chalkjlone. The urates may be formed by boil- 

 ing the bafe with an excefs of acid in a proper quantity of 

 water, filtering the folution, and evaporating it to drynefj. 

 The urates of potafti, foda, ammonia, barytes, Itrontites, 

 lime, magnefia, and alumina, obtained by the preceding 

 procefs, are neutral, have neither tafte nor fmell, and can 

 Icarcely be diftinguifhed from uric acid itfelf. They dilFolve 

 with great difficulty in water, urate of ammonia being moft 

 foluble, and urate of barytes the leaft. They all appear, 

 however, to form fubfalts much more foluble than the 

 neutral falts. See'UKlNARY Calculi. 



URICACHI, in Geography, a town of New Navarre ; 

 160 miles S.S.E. of Cafa Grande. 



URICONIUM, ViROCONlUM, or Vriocontum, in An- 

 cient Geography, a town of Great Britain, in the fecond 

 Itin. of Antonine, between Rutanium {near Wem) and 

 Uxacona (near Sheriff Hales). It belonged to the Cor- 

 navii, and was fituated at Wroxeter, in Shropfhire, on the 

 N.E. fide of the Severn, about three miles from Shrewf- 

 bury ; which is fuppofed to have rifen out of the ruins of 

 that ancient city. At Wroxeter many Roman coins have 

 been found, and the veftiges of the walls and ramparts of 

 Uriconium are ftill vifible. It is highly probable, that the 

 neighbouring mountain, the Wrekin, derives its name from 

 Uriconium ; for it preferves the ancient Britifh name 

 Urecon. 



URIE Water, in Geography, a river of Scotland, which 

 runs into the Don, near Inverarie. 



URIES, Cape, a cape on the N. coaft of Staten ifland. 

 See States" Ifland. 



URIGNY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Loiret ; 6 miles S. of Pithiviers. 



URIGO, a burning with a cauftic, or cautery. 

 VRIHASPATI, in JJlronomy, is the Hindoo name of 

 the planet Jupiter. In an invocation to the different planets, 

 given in the feventh volume of the Afiatic Refearches, he is 

 thus addreffed : " O Vrihafpati ! fprung from eternal truth, 

 confer on us abundantly that various wealth, which the moft 

 venerable of beings may revere ; which ffiines glorious among 

 all people." IntelleAual wealth is probably here meant ; 

 Vrihafpati being preceptor to the gods, the moft venerable 

 of beings. He is alio their meffenger in intercourfe be- 

 tween the three principal deities, being proverbial for elo- 

 quence. A cycle is called after Vrihafpati ; and it is the 

 name of a celebrated legiflator ; fo that this name, originally 

 probably of fome highly gifted perlon, occurs very fre- 

 quently in aftronomical and legal points ; though in others, 

 whatever hiftorical fafts may be connefted with it, he is 

 hidden in the veil of mythological fable. ( See Sani, the 

 Saturn of the Hindoo zodiac. ) As with the weftern aftro- 

 logers, Friday is with the Hindoos the day of Vrihafpati, 

 or Jupiter. (See Zodiac.) He is reprefented of golden 

 afpeft, clothed in red, bearing a lotos, and a ftaff in his 

 hands ; and fometimes mounted on a boar. Many of the 

 Hindoo deities have vehicles afligned them, which are called 

 ■vahan. See under that word for an enumeration of many of 

 them. 



Under our article Sultee, the authority of Vrihafpati as 

 a legiflator is quoted ; as it is very frequently in Cole- 

 brooke's valuable digeft of Hindoo law. In the article SiVA, 

 that important perfon of the Hindoo triad is faid to guide 

 the motions of the planet Jupiter, as Viflinu does thofe of 

 the fun, and Brahma of Sani, or Saturn. And under 

 Tara we have given a legend, fufBciently ridiculous, if 

 taken literally, of Vrihafpati having begotten a monkey fo 



named ; 



