L I T 



L I T 



Seeds nigpfed. Corolla fcarce longer than tlie calyx. 

 Lttavcs obtufe, without lateral veins. — Native of fields and 

 walle places, in a dry fandy foil, throughout Europe. The 

 rcot is annual, its bark affording a fine red llain, like Al- 

 kanet, vi-ith which the country girls, in the north of Swe- 

 den, arc accufed by I^innasus of llaining their cheeks. The 

 _/?fm is bu(hy, fpreading, hardly a foot high. Corolla \v\i\te. 

 SeeJs brown, rugofe. 



L. piirpuro-cicruhitm. Creeping Purple Gromwell. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 190. Engl. Dot. t, 117. Jacq. Aullr. t. 14. — 

 Seeds even. Corolla much longer than the calyx. Leaves 

 lanceolate, acute, without lateral veins. — Native of bulhy 

 •walle ground, in the more temperate climes of Europe, 

 cfpecially where the foil is calcareous, flowering in May. 

 With us it is elleemed a rare plant. The root is perennial, 

 black and creeping. Stems herbaceous, fcarcely branched, 

 ■ while barren procumbent and rooting, othcrwife crett, 

 rour^d, leafv, about a foot high, terminating in a forked leafy 

 duller, of feveral handfon-.e purple^o-tccrT, with a pale reddilh 

 tube. The fads are often abortive. There are five blunt 

 hairy fwellings round the orifice of the tube, which, though 

 ihey do not clofe that part, render the generic charafler 

 fomevvhat ambiguous. Such however are found in all the 

 Britifh fpecies, and in fome, though not all, of the e.\otic 

 ones. 



L.. fruticofum. Shrubby Gromwell. Linn. Sp. PI. 190. 

 (Anchufa lignofior monfpelienfium, flore vlolaceo ; Barrel. 

 Ic. t. 1168.)— Stem fhrubby, erect. Leaves hnear, hifpid. 

 Segments of the corolla flightly pointed ; tube hairy. — This 

 beautiful plant occurs on rocky e.-ipofed hills and cliffs in the 

 louth of France, Italy, and the Levant. Its fhrubby bufhy 

 (km, and copious rofemary-hke leaves, diftinguifh the fpecies. 

 'The jloivers are of a mofl vivid blue. 



L. h'ijyiJuhm. BrilUy Woody Gromwell. Sm. Prodr. 

 n. Grsc. Sibth. V. 1. 114. Fl. GrKC. iued. t. 162 — 

 Stem flirubby, dilfufe. Leaves clliptic-oblong, cbtufe, 

 hifpid. Branches hoary. — Gathered by the late Prolcffor 

 Sibthorp, on rocks in the ille of Rhodes Its jlrjtucrs are 

 nearly as beautiful as the laV., but their fegments arc more 

 rounded, and the throat more inflated, that part being, in 

 both thefe, deftirtite of any marginal fwellings or appen- 

 dages. The prefent is 110^ mentioned by Willdenow. 



"L. trientak. Yellow Perennial Gromwell. Linn. Syft. 

 Veg. ed. 14. 1S5. Willd. n. 9. Curt. Mag. t. J15. 

 (.■Anchufa orientalis ; Linn. Sp. PI. 191.) — Seeds rough 

 with fliarp points. Spikes long, leafy. Leaves oblong, 

 wavy.— ^Native of the Levant ; hardy and perennial in our 

 gardens, floivering in May and June, and diilinguiflied by 

 Us full-yellow corolla, whofe fegments are rounded, and 

 orifice without fwellings. The floral leaves are fometimcs 

 iieart-fhaped, fometimcs ovate or lanceolate ; thofe of the 

 llcm oblong or lanceolate, wavy at the edges ; all hairy. 



Several peculiarly briftly fpecies of this genus were found 

 and defcribed by ForflciiU, which have been adopted by Vahl 

 and Willdenow. 



LlTHOSPERMUM Offic'ttink, feu Milium Soils, Common 

 GrcnittieU, in the Materia Medica, is found in various parts 

 of England, on a dry gravelly foil, and flowers in May and 

 June. " According to Haller, this plant poffelfes narcotic 

 powers; but its feeds only have been medicinally employed. 

 Thefe feeds have long excited the attention of naturalifls, on 

 account of their exqiiihtely polifhed furface, and llony 

 hardnefs. The internal fubltance is foftcr, and feems to con- 

 fift of a farinaceous, fvveet, and oily matter, which becomes 

 lancid on being long kept. The llony appearance of theie 

 feeds formerly fuggefted their efficacy in calculous and 



gravelly diforders, to perfons whofe ju<igmcnt w.ia influenced 

 by fuperllitious and abiurd conceits. But though modoru 

 writers do not allow the lithontriptic charafter of the fem. 

 milii folis, yet they generally afcribe to them a diuretic 

 quality, a power of cleanfiiig the urinary palfages, and of 

 obviating iirangury, efpecialfy when emplovcd in the form 

 of an emulfion ; but Woodville obferves, that the free ufe 

 of any bland diluent would probably aiilwer thefe purpofes 

 equally well. The abforbcnt virtue alcnbed to theie feeds 

 is wholly groundlels, being irreconciltable to the priiicipk* 

 ofchemillry. Woodv. Med. Bo'. 



LITHOSTROTA, among the Ancients, pavements 

 made up of Imall pieces of cut marble of diHercnt kinds and 

 colour. See TE.s.srii-ATED. 



LITHOSTROTION, in Natural Hi/lory, the name of 

 a fpecies of foflile coral, compofed of a great number of lonir 

 and flendor columns, fometimes round, fonictimes angular, 

 jointed nicely to one another, and of a Harry or radia'^ed 

 furface at their tops. Thefe are found in confiderable 

 quantities in the northern and wcftcrn parts of this kingdom, 

 fometimes in fingle, fometimes in complex fpecim.ens. 



LITHOTOME, from XiSo- and rrfiva, a name that lias 

 beer, given to a variety of cutting inftruments, which have 

 been employed for making an opening into the bladder, in 

 order to extraft the flone. The mofl celebrated of all is the 

 lithotome, cache of Frere Cume, of whofe inltrument and 

 methods of operating v,e fliall have to fpeak in the following 

 article. 



LITHOTOMY, from >.i?o;, a Jlone, and tsuh-, ta cut^ 

 figr.ifies, in Sur^try, the operation by which a Hone is ex- 

 tratled from the bladder. 



Surgical writers inform us, that urinary calculi admit of 

 being extradled from three different fituations, viz. from 

 the kidney, the urethra, and the bladder. The queflion,. 

 whether a Hone ought ever to be cut out of the kidney, vvil 

 have due confideration given to it under the head Nepiiko- 

 TOMV ; and the removal of calculi from the urethra will be 

 treated tjf in the article Uretiir.\. Our prefent obferva- 

 tions will be confined to the Hone in the bladder, a fubjec^ 

 of infinite importance, whtlher we contemplate the feverity 

 or frequency of the afRi>!:lion ; its incurableiiefs by medi- 

 cines, or the perils and difficulties of the operation for its 

 relief; the numerous modes of cutting for the Hone, or the 

 nice judgment requifite i:ot only iii the choice of a method, 

 but alfo in the leleftion of inllruments ; the anatomical 

 knowledge which the operator ought to pofTefs ; or, finally, 

 that happy, though rare, combination of gentlenefs, dex- 

 terity, and relolution, fo effential in conintuting a diilin- 

 guiflicd and furcelsful lithotomift. We have heard of a 

 Pott, who would finifh the operation by four or five move- 

 ments, and fill every fpedlator with admiration of his fuperior 

 flcill. True Hcili, however, rather confiHs in doing a thing 

 as fafely as pofiible, than with the utmoH qiiicknefs. Now, 

 if it be certain that litho-tomy is more likely to be followed 

 by the patient's recovery, when no manual roughnefs is ex- 

 ercifed, rapid operating muH be condemned by the judicious 

 and difcerning, however calc^dated it may be to excite the 

 applaufe and admiratian of the inexperienced Hudent. Pott, 

 we are informed, was remarkably fuccefsful in his operations 

 for the Hone ; but, it mull be afl;ed, did he not lofe fome 

 of his patients ? If he did, — great as his fucccfs .iiight be, 

 we are juHified in thinking that it wonld have been Hill 

 greater, had it been his cultcci to aim at gent'enefs mere 

 than expedition. The example of Pott, therefore, is not 

 to be imitated in this refpeft ; and that lie even afled in rp- 



poCtion 



