HYDROCEPHALUS

(Gr. Hup, and KcfaXrj, the head, Dropsy of the brain, or water in the head. The acute fortri of this disease is almost limited to childhood: it is marked by febrile symptoms, pain of the head, and in very yourg children enlargement of it. The eyes are irregularly directed and the pupil dilated. The eyes are not perfectly closed in sleep, and there appears a degree of delirium, us far as can be judged of in children: coma, convulsions, and paralysis are frequent consequences. The ventricles of the brain are the chief seat of the watery accumulation. Bleeding from the temporal artery or jugular vein, cold an the head, and brisk purgatives with calomel, arej remedies. HYDRO CHAR ACE,E. (Hydro char is, one i. ra.) A natural order of floating Endogens, inhabiting Europe and some other places, known by their tripetaloideous flowers with an inferior ovaiy. They agree with Alismacea in habit and in want of albumen, but differ in their carpel* being definite in number. They are not of any known use, but many of the species are handsome when in flower. [s. 590]