C A C 
CACOALEXITE'RIUM, f. [from mhos, bat!, and 
eAf|d: v)£su y to preferve.] A prefervative againft poifon or 
inteftious dileales. 
CACOCHO'LIA, f. [xaxo?. bad, and xoAtj, the bile.] 
An indifpofition or difeale of the bile. 
CACOCl-iY'Ll A, J. [xxxos, bad, and xvhn, the chyle.] 
Indigeftion, or a depraved (fate of the chyle. 
CACOCHY'MIC, or Cacochymical, adj. [from 
cachochymy .] Having the humours corrupted.—It will 
prove very advantageous, if only cacochymic, to clarify his 
blood with a laxative. Harvey .—If the body be cacochy- 
mical, the tumours are apt to degenerate into very venom¬ 
ous and malignant abfcelles. Wifeman. 
CACOCHY'MY, f. \_xxxm;, bad, and j/vp:oj, the hu¬ 
mour of the body.] A difeafed or depraved (fate of the 
natural humours of the body.—Spots, and difcolorations 
of the (kin, are figns of weak fibres; for the lateral veflels, 
which lie out of the road of circulation, let grofs humours 
pafs, which could not, if the vedels had their due degree 
of Itricture-. Aibuthnot .—Strong beer, a liquor that attri¬ 
butes the half of its ill qualities to the hops, confiding of 
an acrimonious fiery nature, lets the blood, upon the lead 
cacoc/iymy, into an orgafmus. Harvey. 
CACOCNE'MUS, [mm?, bad, and Kv/ipy, the leg.] 
Having the legs ill formed, or a natural defeft of the tibia. 
CACOCORE'MA, f. [xxxo;, bad, and xopea, to purge 
or cleanfe.] A medicine which purges off the vicious 
humours. 
CACODA£'MON,yi [aaxo;, bad, and frxipav, a fpirit.] 
An evil fpirit or genius which was fuppofed to prefide 
over the bodies of men, and atflift them with certain dif- 
orders. The night-mare. In adrology it denotes the 
twelfth houfe of a fcheme or figure of the heavens, fo 
termed, on account of the dreadful (ignifications of it, as 
great lodes, imprifonment, &c. 
CACO'DIA,yi [ ya.y .0 bad, and to fmell.] A 
defeft in the fenfe of fmelling. 
CACOE'THES,/. [xaxo?, bad, and r, 0 o;, cuftom or 
habit.] A medical term for a malignancy or inveteracy of 
habit or continuance of habit, as in an old ulcer. 
CACON'GO, a final 1 kingdom of Africa, in the coun¬ 
try of Congo, on the north bank of the Zaira; the inha¬ 
bitants are commercial, the manners of the people and 
produdlions of the country are fimilar to thofe of Loango. 
The capital is of the fame name, and lituated in lat. 5. o. 
S. Ion. 14. 20. E. Greenwich. 
CACOPHO'NI A,/. [xwjsof, bad, and (pmv, the voice.] 
A deleft in the organs of fpeech ; a bad pronunciation. 
In grammar it denotes the meeting of two letters, or fyl- 
lables, which yield an uncouth and difagreeable found. 
GACOPRA'GIA, f. \_xxx oc, bad, and 7t^xt1cj, to per¬ 
form.] A deleft of thofe powers of the vifeera by which 
nutrition is performed. 
CACOR'LA, a town of Spain, in the province of An- 
dahiiia, and country of Jaen. it contains two paridtes, 
and five convents : four leagues ead of Ubeda. 
C ACORYTH'MUS, f. [xecxo ( , bad, and gv 0 poc, order 
or number.] A medical epithet for an unequal pttlfe. 
CACO'SIN, a town of the ifland of Cuba: fifteen 
miles north-north-weft; of Bayamo. 
CACOSI'TIA, f. [xaxo?, bad, and o-rrw, food.] A 
loathing of food. 
CACOSTO'MACHUS, f. [xavos, bad, and ro/aap/o?, 
the ftomach.] A bad or difordered ftomach; all’o food 
which the ftomach rejefts. 
C ACO'STOMUS,/'. [ y.cty.o bad, and roy.x, a mouth.] 
Having a bad-formed or difordered mouth. 
CACOTHA'N ATUS, f. [xuxoi;, bad, and Scarce, 
death.] A painful or miferablc termination of life. 
C ACOTHY'MrA,yi [xaxo?, bad, and Svf 4 0?, the mind.] 
A vicious or difeafed difpolition of the mind. 
CACOTRO'PHIA, / bad, and r^cpu, to nou- 
rifti.] A vitiated nourilhment. A wafting of the body 
through defect of nutrition. 
CAC'TUS, /. [the name of a prickly plant in Theo- 
phraftus, Pliny, &c. Athentens fays it is the fame plant 
which the Romans call carduus, the Greeks .xna^x, the 
artichoke. Blanchard is in doubt how this word is derived. 
It may be, fays he, quad y.xlxxloec^ rra pa to xxlxy^nvavy 
becaufe its down is dangerous ; or from xx-.u, to burn ; 
becaufe its feed is pungent.] - In botany, the Mei.on- 
thistle, Indiax-fig, Creeping-cereus, &c. &c. a 
genus of the clafs icofandria, order monogynia, natural’ 
order fucculcntte. The generic charafters are—Calyx : 
perianthium one-leaved, imbricate, hollow-tubular, with 
fcaly leaflets fcattered over it, fitperior, deciduous. Co¬ 
rolla : petals numerous, rather obtufe, broad; the outer 
oneslhorter; the inner larger, converging. Stamina: fi¬ 
laments numerous, fubulate, inferted into the calyx ; an- 
theras oblong, ereft. Piftillum: germ inferior; ftyle the 
length of the ftamens, cylindric ; ftigma headed, multifid. 
Pericarpium : berry rather oblong, onc-celled, um,biiicate„ 
roughened as the calyx is. Seeds: numerous, roundifli, 
fmall, neftling.— EJJential Character. Calyx, one-leaved, 
fuperior, imbricate; corolla, manifold; berry one-cellcd, 
mariy-feeded. 
Defcription. This genus confifts of fucculent plants, 
permanent in duration, lingular and various in ftrufture ; 
generally without leaves, and having the ftem or branches- 
jointed ; for the molt part armed with fpines in bundles, 
with which, in many fpecies, bridles are intermixed. 
Thefe bundles of fpines are placed on the top of the tu¬ 
bercles in the fmaller melon-thiftle, which is tubercled. 
all over, and produces its flowers between the tubercles.- 
In the great melon-thiftle, the fpines are ranged in a (in¬ 
gle row on the ridge of the ribs, Thefe are of an ovate 
or globular form. The torch-thirties, No. 3-11, on the - 
contrary, are (lender, rife up high, are jointed and branch¬ 
ed ; many of them are almoft cylindrical, with from five 
to ten (hallow ribs, fome however are fquare or three-cor¬ 
nered. They are called in the Weft Indies torch-wood, 
becaufe when they grow old they will burn, and the In¬ 
dians life them as flambeaux. Many of them are figured 
by Plumier, but are by no means perfeftly known ; they 
remain therefore to be well deferibed by travellers. They 
differ in the fize of their Items, the number of the angles* 
and the length of the fpines; but they have not all flow¬ 
ered in England. Mr. Miller received feveral-of the fpe-, 
cies from the Britifii iflands in the Weft Indiesft'o early as- 
1728. The ftrufture of the creeping certifies, No. 12, 13, 
&c. is the (ante with thefe, except that the ftems are weak 
and cannot fupport themfelves ; they therefore feek fiup- 
port from trees, and throw out roots from the ftem, like 
ivy. They are remarkable for the beauty and fweetnelii 
of their flowers. In the Indian-figs, No. 17, &c. the 
branches are jointed, and flatted like the foie of a (hoe ;. 
the bundles of fpines or bridles are fcattered over the fur-, 
face, and the flowers are produced front the edge of the ex¬ 
treme branches. In the phyllanthus, No. 23, the branches- 
are thinner, and may fairly be denominated leaves; they 
are indented along the edge, and the flowers come out 
(ingly from the indentures. This feldom has any fpines, 
Perelkia has a round ftalk with leafy branches; the leaves 
alternate, flat, and thick ; the prickles are large and ftiff,. 
and come out in bundles on the ftalk and branches,.chiefly, 
at the axils ; the flowers are produced feveral together 
from the axils alfo. In this and the Indian-figs the flow¬ 
ers are pircher-ftiaped ; in the other fpecies they are fisb-. 
cylindrical, and longer ; in phyllanthus very long. The 
fruit, in fome of the forts,, is (mall, like currants ;. but in 
moll it is larger, and fhaped like a fig, whence their name 
of Indian-fig. This genus, fcattered by the old writers 
and Mr. Miller, under the names of caClus, cerr,ts T cpuriiia 3 
and perejkia, is here collefted, after the example of Lin-, 
naeus.- Thefe lingular plants are all natives of the conti¬ 
nent of South America and the Weft-Indian iil.inds. 
