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order, orclrideae. The nectarium is turbi- 
nated, oblique, and reflexed. There are 124 
species, one of which is the plant which pro- 
duces the fruit called vanilla, and which is 
used in the making of chocolate. It is a na- 
tive of Mexico, and also of some parts of the 
East Indies. It is a parasitic plant ; the leaves 
of which greatly resemble the vine, and are 
about eighteen inches long and three inches 
broad. The flowers are of a white colour 
intermixed with stripes of red and yellow. 
When these fall off they are quickly succeed- 
ed by the pods, which at first are green, but 
afterwards, as they ripen, become yellow, 
and are gathered for use. The pods of the 
best vanilla are long, slender, and well filled 
with seeds. If opened when fresh, the cavity 
.of the pod is found to contain a humid sub- 
stance that is black, oily, and balsamic, of 
such a strong smell, that it frequently causes 
headaches, and even a sort of temporary 
intoxication. The season for gathering 
the pods begins about the end of Septem- 
ber, and lasts till the end of December. 
They are dried in the shade ; and when dry, 
and tit for keeping, they are rubbed exter- 
nally with a little oil of cocoa or calba, to 
render them supple, or preserve them the 
better, and to prevent them from becoming 
too dry or brittle. The use of this fruit is 
only for perfuming chocolate. In New Spain 
it is reckoned unwholesome, and therefore 
never used; but in England, and other coun- 
tries of Europe, it is a constant ingredient ; 
and perhaps its noxious qualities may be cor- 
.rected by the sea air. In those countries 
.where they grow, the plants are very easily 
propagated by cuttings. In this country 
they require to be kept in a stove, and also 
to be placed near some American tree, 
round which they may climb for their sup- 
port. 
EPIDERMIS. See Cutis. 
EPIDIDYMIS, in anatomy, the name by 
which some call the two bodies more usually 
known by that of para state. 
EPIGAS TRIC REGION, a part or sub- 
division of the abdomen. 
EPIGRAM, in poetry, a short poem in 
verse, treating only of one thing, and ending 
\vith some lively, ingenious, and natural 
thought, or point. See Poetry. 
EPIGRAPHE, among antiquarians, de- 
notes the inscription of a building, pointing 
out the time when, the persons by whom, the 
uses, Ac, for which it was erected. 
EPILEPSY, in medicine, the same with 
what is otherwise called the falling-sickness, 
from the patient’s falling suddenly to the 
ground. Sometimes this disease comes upon 
the patient unawares : but it more frequently 
gives notice of its approach by a lassitude ot 
the whole body, a heavy pain in the head, 
with some disturbance of the senses, unquiet 
sleep, unusual dread, dimness of sight, and a 
noise in the ears : in some there are a violent 
..palpitation of the heart, a puffing or inflation 
of the breast, difficult respiration, a murmur- 
ing noise in the belly, fetid stools, a flux ot 
•the urine, and a refrigeration of the joints : 
. in others, there is a sensation as it were of 
cold air, ascending from the extreme parts 
tywards the brain and heart. At length fall- 
ing senseless to the ground, the thumbs are 
shut up close in the palms of the hands, and 
are with difficulty taken out ; the eyes are 
distorted or inverted, so that nothing but tire 
Yol. I. 
whites appears; all sensation is suspended, in- 
somuch that no smell, no noise, nor even 
pinching of the body, is able to bring them to 
themselves; they froth at the mouth, with a 
hissing kind of noise : the tongue is lacerat- 
ed, or torn by the teeth, and there is a shak- 
ing or trembling of the joints. However, in 
different patients the symptoms vary; for 
sometimes, instead of convulsive motions, the 
limbs are all stiff, and the patient is as. im- 
moveable as a statue. At last there is a re- 
mission of the symptoms, and the patients 
come to themselves after a longer or shorter 
interval: then they complain of a pain and 
heaviness of the head, and a lassitude of all 
their joints. These fits usually return on cer- 
tain clays, or age of the moon, but especially 
about the new or full moon ; in women chiefly 
about the time of menstruation : and as to 
the prognostics, they generally leave the pa- 
tient about the time of puberty. See Me- 
dicine. 
EP1LOBIUM, the willow-herb, in bo- 
tany ; a genus of the monogynia order, in the 
octandria class of plants ; and in the natural 
method ranking under the 1 7th order, caly- 
cantheina*. The calyx is quadrifid ; the pe- 
tals four ; the capsule oblong, inferior ; the 
seeds pappous or downy. There are four- 
teen species, several of them natives of Bri- 
tain. They grow in marshes, or under hedges 
in moist and shady places ; having blossoms 
generally of a red colour, and sometimes of 
considerable beauty. The most remarkable is 
the hirsutum, commonly called codlins-and- 
cream. The top-shoots of this plant have a 
very delicate fragrancy ; but so transitory, that 
belore they have been gathered live minutes it 
is no. longer perceptible. Horses, sheep, and 
goats, eat this plant ; cows are not fond of it ; 
swine’refuse it. An infusion of the leaves of 
another species, the angustifolium, or rose- 
bay willow-herb, has an intoxicating quality, 
as the inhabitants of Kamtscliatka have learn- 
ed. These.people also eat the white young 
shoots which creep under the ground, and 
have a sort of ale brewed from the dried 
pith of it. The down of the seeds has been 
lately manufactured by mixing it with cot- 
ton, or beaver’s hair. 
EPILOGUE, in oratory, the end or con- 
clusion of a discourse, ordinarily containing a 
recapitulation of the principal matters de- 
livered. 
Epilogue, in dramatic poetry, a speech 
addressed to the audience after the play is 
over, by one of the principal actors, usually 
containing some reflections, on certain inci- 
dents in the play, especially those on the part 
of the person (hat speaks it. See Poetry. 
EP1 MEDIUM, barren-wort, in bo- 
tany; a genus of the monogynia order, in the 
telrandria class of plants ; and in the natural 
method ranking under the 24th order, cory- 
dales. There are four nectaria, cup-shaped, 
and lying on the petals. The corolla is le- 
trapetaious, the calyx dropping off. The 
seed-vessel is a pod. There is only one spe- 
cies, viz. the alpinum. It is a low herbaceous 
plant, with a creeping root, having many 
stalks about nine inches high, each of which 
has three flowers, composed of four leaves 
placed in the form of .a cross. They are of 
a reddish colour, with yellow stripes on the 
border. 
EPIPHANY, a Christian festival, other- 
wise culled the manifestation of Christ to the 
4 M 
Gentiles, observed on the sixth of January, in- 
honour of the appearance of our Saviour to 
the three magi, or wise men, who came to 
adore him, and bring him presents. The 
feast of epiphany was not originally a distinct 
festival, but made a part of that of the nativity 
of Christ, which being celebrated twelve . days, 
the first and last of which were high or chief 
days of solemnity, either of these might pro- 
perly be called epiphany, as that word signifies 
Christ's appearance in the world. The kings 
of England and Spain offer gold, frankincense, 
and myrrh, on epiphany, or twelfth-day, in 
memory of the offerings of the wise men to 
the infant Jesus. The festival of epiphany is 
called by the Greeks the feast of lights, be- 
cause our Saviour is said to have been bap - 
tised on that day, and baptism is by them 
called illumination. 
E PI PI ION EM A, in rhetoric, a sententious 
exclamation containing a lively remark 
placed at the end of a discourse or narration ; 
such is that of Virgil, 
Fas omne abrumpit, Polydorum obtruncat, 
et auro 
Vi potitur. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, 
Auri sacra fames? 
T his figure closes a narration in a very ad- 
vantageous manner, deeply impresses the 
thing related upon the memory of the reader, 
and leaves him well pleased with the sense 
and sagacity of the author. 
EPIPHYSIS, in anatomy, a bony sub- 
stance, or as it were a lesser bone, affixed to 
a larger or principal bone by the interven- 
tion of a cartilage. See Anatomy. 
EPISODE, in poetry, a separate incident, 
story, or action, which a poet invents, and 
connects with his principal action, that his 
work may abound with a greater diversity of 
events : though, in a more limited sense, all 
the particular incidents of which the action or 
narration is compounded, are called episodes. 
The episode, in its original, was only some- 
thing rehearsed between the parts of the 
chorus, or ancient tragedy, for the diversion 
of the audience. Episodes serve to promote 
the action, to illustrate, embellish, and 
adorn it, and carry it to its proper period. 
Episodes are either absolutely necessary, or 
very requisite. All episodesare incidents, tho’ 
all incidents are not episodes; because some 
incidents are not adventitious to the action, 
but make up the very form and series of it. 
Examples will clear up this distinction : the 
storm in the first JEneid of Virgil, driving the 
fleet on the coast of Carthage, is an incident, 
not an episode, because the hero himself, and 
the whole body of his forces, are concerned 
in it ; and so it is a direct and not a collateral 
part of the main action. The adventures of 
Nisus and Euryalus, in the ninth JEneid, 
are episodes, not incidents, ?■ e. not direct 
parts of the main action. See Poetry. 
EP1 S’ FATES, in the Athenian government, 
was the president of the proetiri. To the 
custody of this officer was committed the 
public seal, and the keys of the citadel and 
the public exchequer ; this therefore was' art 
office of so great trust and power, that no 
man was permitted by the laws to continue in 
it above one day, nor to be elected into it 
a second time. The epistates were elected 
by lot out of the pry Janes. 
EPiS’T EMONARCH, in the antient 
Greek church, an officer of great dignity, who 
had the care of every filing relating to faith. 
