313 
P H Y 
•but very fliort in proportion to the lize of the nfn, fo that 
it probably does not fwim very fa ft. Yet the tail-fin is 
often more than four yards from tip to tip; it is bi- 
lobated, and each lobe is again divided, fo that it appears 
quadrifurcated, The bafe of each pedloral fin is very 
near the eye, and parallel with it, higher confe^uently 
than the opening of the mouth ; oval, but not above a 
yard long, another impediment to fwift natation. The 
belly is 1'omewhat rounded. The male inftrument is 
about two yards long, and half a yard in circumference 
at the bafe, near which, and not far from the caudal fin, 
is the vent. Its fkirt and flefh are exceeding hard, and 
difficult to penetrate. Colour uniformly blackifh. In¬ 
habits the Arflic Frozen Ocean, and the northern part 
of the North Atlantic Ocean. 
6. Phyfeter bidens. Mr. Sovverby prefented a fketch 
of the head of a new fpecies of cachalot, which he propo- 
fes to call by this name, to the Linnaean Society ; and the 
account is printed in the 7th volume of their Tranfac- 
tions. The whole animal was only fixteen feet long: it 
was ftranded in the county of Elgin. 
PHYS'GE,AH, a town of Algiers, whence water is 
conveyed to Conftantina, at the diftance of fixteen miles. 
PHYS'IARCH, f. [from the Gr. cpva-n;, nature, and 
upyos, chief.] The Governor of nature. 
To PHYS'IC, v. a. To purge ; to treat with phyfic ; to 
cure.—The labour we delight in phyfics pain. ShakcJpeare. 
—It is a gallant child ; one that indeed phyfics the fub- 
je< 5 t, makes old hearts frefti. Shahefpeare's Winl. Tale. 
Give him allowance as the worthier man ; 
For that will phyfic the great myrmidon 
Who broils in loud applaufe. ShukeJ'pcnre. 
PHYS'IC, f. [(pvawn, Gr. which, originally fignifying 
natural philofophy, has been transferred in many modern 
languages to medicine.]. The fcience of healing.—Were 
it my bufinefs to underftand phyfic, would not the fafer 
way be to confult nature herfelf in the hiftoryof difeafes 
and their cures, than efpoufe the principles of the dog- 
matifts, methodifts, or chemifts ? Lochc. —Medicines; re¬ 
medies.—In itfelf we defire health, phyfic only for health’s 
fake. Hooker. 
Be Ycapes the beft, who nature to repair 
Draws phyfic from the fields in draughts of vital air. 
Dryden, 
[In common phrafe.] A purge. — The people ufe phyfic to 
purge themfelves of humours. Abbot's Defer, of the World. 
—-In the plural, natural philofophy; phyfiology.—His 
[Ariftotle’s] Phyfics contain many ufeful obfervations, 
particularly his hiftory of animals. Warton's Effay on Pope. 
PHYS'IC-NUT. See Iatropha. 
PHYS'ICAL, adj. [from <p«r 1?, Gr. nature.] Rela¬ 
ting to nature, or to natural philofophy; not moral,— 
The phyfical notion of neceffity, that without which the 
work cannot poffibly be done ; it cannot be affirmed of 
all the articles of the creed, that they are thus necefiary. 
Hammond.- —I call that phyfical certainty which doth 
depend upon the evidence of fenfe, which is the firft and 
higheft kind of evidence of which human nature is ca¬ 
pable. Wilkins. —To reflect on thofe innumerable fecrets 
of nature and phyfical philofophy, which Homer wrought 
in his allegories, what a new feene of wonder may this 
afford us! Pope. —Pertaining to the fcience of healing: 
as, & phyfical treatile, phyfical herbs; [from (pocrixti, medi¬ 
cine.] Medicinal; helpful to health : 
Is Brutus fick ? and is it phyfical 
To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours 
Of the dank morning? Shahefpeare's Jul. Cafar. 
The blood I drop is rather phyfical 
Than dangerous to me. ' Shahefpeare's Coriol. 
Refembling phyfic ; as, a phyfical tafte. 
PHYS'ICALLY, adv. According to nature; by natu¬ 
ral operation ; in the way or fenfe of natural philofophy ; 
not morally.—Though the a£l of the will commanding, 
Vol. XX. No. 1370. 
PHY 
and theafl ofany other faculty executing that which is 
fo commanded, be phyfical/y and in the precife nature of 
things dirtinCt, yet morally, as they proceed from one en¬ 
tire, free, moral agent, may pafs for one and the fame 
adlion. South's Serm. —>1 do not fay, that the nature of 
light confifts in fmall round globules, for I am not now 
treatin g phyfical/y of light or colours. Locke. —According 
fo the fcience of medicine; according to tffe rules of me¬ 
dicine.— He that lives phyfical/y, mu ft live miferably. 
Cheney. 
' PHYSI'CIAN, f. [from phyfic ] One who profeftes the 
art of healing.—Some phyficians are fo conformable to the 
humour of the patient, as they prefs not the true cure of 
the difeafe; and others are fo regular, as they refpeft 
not fufficiently the condition of the patient. Bacon's Eff. 
—His gratulatory verfe to king Henry is not more witty 
than the epigram upon the name of Nicolaus an ignorant 
phyfician, who had been the death of thoufands. Peacham 
on Poetry. 
Truft not the phyfician; 
His antidotes are poifon, and he flays 
More than you rob. Shahefpeare's Timon. 
That the Greek and Roman phyficians prepared them¬ 
felves thofe medicines which they preferibed for their pa¬ 
tients, is fo well known, that it is unneceflary to produce 
proofs with which no one can be unacquainted who has 
read Theophraftus, Hippocrates, and Galen. They 
caufed thofe herbs, of which almoft the whole materia 
medica then confifted, to be collected by oth'rs; and we 
have reafon to believe that the gathering and felling of 
medicinal plants muft have at an early period been con¬ 
verted into a diftindt employment, efpecially as, many of 
them being exotics, it was necefiary to procure them from 
remote countries which every phyfician had notan oppor¬ 
tunity of vifiting ; and, as fome of them were applied to a 
variety of purpofes, they were fought after by others as 
well as by medical practitioners. Several of them were 
employed in cookery, and forfeafoning different difhes ; 
many in dyeing and painting, fome of them as cofmetics, 
others for perfumes, fome for ointments, which were much 
ufed in the numerous baths; and not a few of them may 
have been employed alfo in other arts and manufactures. 
It muft have been very convenient for the phyficians to 
purchnfe what articles they had occafion for from thefe 
dealers in herbs ; but it is probable, and can even be 
proved, that thefe people foon injured them in their pro- 
feffion, by encroaching on their bufinefs. In the courfe 
of time they acquired a knowledge of the healing virtues 
of their commodities, and of the preparation they re¬ 
quired, which was then,.extremely fimple; and many of 
them began to fell compounded medicines, and to boaft 
of pofl’effing fecrets more beneficial to mankind. To 
thefe dealers in herbs belong the pigmentarii, feplafiarii, 
pharmacopolce, medicamevtarii, and others who were per¬ 
haps thus diftinguiftied by diltindt names on account of 
fome very trifling circumftances in which they differed, 
or by dealing in one particular article more than in ano¬ 
ther. Some of thefe names alfo may poffibly have been 
ufed only at certain periods, or in fome places more than 
in others; and perhaps it would be fruitlefs labour to 
attempt to define their difference corredtly. That the 
pigmentarii dealt in medicines is proved by the law 
(Digeft. 48.) which eftabliffied a punifliment for fuch as 
fold any ope poifon through miftake. The herbs which 
Vegetius preferibes for the difeafes of cattle were to be 
bought from the feplafiarii; and that they fold alfo me¬ 
dicines ready prepared is proved by the reproach thrown 
out by Pliny againft the phyficians of his time, that 
inltead of making up their medicines themfelves, as for¬ 
merly, they purchafed them, without fo much as know¬ 
ing of what they were compofed, from the feplafiarii. 
That the pharmacopolce carried on a like trade appears 
evident from their name; but people of judgment placed 
no confidence in them, and they were defpifed on ac¬ 
count of their impudent beading, and the extravagant 
4 L praifes 
