DROPSY

(Or. vSotp, tcaler.) An unnatural collection of water] fluid in any part of the body. When it takes place in the cellular membrane, it constitutes anasarca, when jn the cavity of the abdomen, ascites; in the cavity of the cranium, hydrocephalus; in the scrotum, hydrocele; in the uterus, hydromelra; and in the cheat, hydrolhorax Dropsy may arise from a variety of morbid actions, either of ihe secerning or absorbing ve els. When the fluid which lubricates the internal surfaces and cavities of the body is secreted in exce ive quantity, or is not adequately removed by the absorbents, it may so accumulate as to constitute the various forms of ihis disease; it may therefore arise out of exce ive as well as of defective action; it may also result from a variety of other causes connected with organic lesion or derangement, both vascular and nervous. The treatment of dropsy will of course vary with the cause of the disease: it sometimes requires d sy. In Botany, a disease peculiar to succulent plants, arising from an exce ive introduction of water Into in. It produces rapid rottenne , and can only be stop) by destroying all the parts affected by it, and exposing ihe Individual to a very dry atmosphere. DROSCafETER. (Yunanca köken — orijinale bakınız.) Any instrument for measuring the quantity of dew thai collects on the surface of a body exposed to the open air during the night. The first instrument for this purpose was proposed by Weidler. It consisted of a bent balance which marked in grains the preponderance which a piece of gla of certain dimensions, laid horizontally in one of the Scale*, had acquired from the settling and adhesion of the globules of moisture. A simpler and more convenient drosometer would be formed on the principle of the rain gauge; and in order to facilitate the descent of the dew down the sides of the funnel into Ihe tube, a coat of deliqueate salt of tartar may be spread over the shallow surface. Dr. Wells, In making his celebrated experiments on dew, exposed a small quantity of wool to the open sky, and the difference in its weight when laid down and taken up showed the quantity of moisture it had imbibed in the interval. [s. 381]