Originally, a hospital was any building appropriated for the reception of any class of persons who were unable to supply their own wants, and were more or less dependent upon public help to have those wants supplied. Hence hospitals were of various kinds, according to the nature of the wants they supplied and the class of persons for whom they are intended. A large number of hospitals were medical; others were for the reception of incurables; others for the aged and infirm; others for the education of children of people in reduced circumstances; others for the reception of the wounded in battle; and so on.
The first establishments of this nature are believed to belong to the 4th century AD. Their primary object was to afford a shelter to strangers and travellers, and it was only occasionally that the sick and infirm were admitted. One of the earliest hospitals of which we have any satisfactory information was that established by the emperor Valens at Caesarea about the end of the 4th century, and which was conducted on a very large scale.
The Arabs in Spain, at an early period of their occupation of that country, founded a magnificent hospital at Cordova, where physicians were trained, who did a vast deal to advance the study of medicine. The Arabs have also the dubious credit of having founded the first mental hospital (then known as a lunatic asylum) in Europe, which was erected in the city of Granada. The majority of hospitals everywhere are medical, often called infirmaries. These may be divided into general and special hospitals, the former class admitting cases of all kinds; the latter class admitting only patients suffering from some special trouble. Thus there were formerly lying-in hospitals, cancer, consumption, ophthalmic, lock (for venereal diseases), fever, and small-pox hospitals. There are also hospitals for children, and for persons suffering from incurable diseases. Such institutions formerly served a double purpose, inasmuch as they not only afford the best medical advice and treatment to the poor, who otherwise were unable to obtain it prior to the formation of the national health service, but also supplied the best means of giving instruction in medicine and surgery, as in them students had the opportunity of witnessing cases of nearly every variety of disease, and observing how they it was treated by the physicians and surgeons. For this reason a good infirmary or medical hospital was considered an indispensable adjunct to every school of medicine and surgery. Research Hospital
The Imperial Cancer Research Fund is a scheme first issued in March 1902 by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons for systematic cancer research and the collection of statistical, dietetic and topographical information with a view to determining the causes of cancer. Research Imperial Cancer Research Fund
Summer is the warmest season of the year. It begins astronomically in northern latitudes when the sun enters the zodiacal sign of Cancer, about June 22nd, and terminates at the autumnequinox, about September 21st. In Britain, summer is officially the months of May, June and July with Midsummer Day the middle of the British summer, but astronomically the start of summer. In the USA, summer is officially the months of June, July and August. Short spells of warm weather in the middle of October and the beginning of November used to be known as St Luke's and St Martin's summer from the occurrence of these saints' days on October 18th and November 11th. Research Summer
Vegetarianism is a movement which originally aimed at making vegetable foods the solediet of human beings, but now refers to those individuals who keep a diet solely of vegetable foods. The vegetarianism movement began in Europe about 1850, and its followers abstain from eating the flesh of animals and birds. Some eat fish, but others do not, while strict vegetarians abstain from all food which comes from animals, such as eggs, milk, butter, and cheese.
One reason for vegetarianism is the dislike of inflicting pain, but it is also advocated as providing a more nourishing and economical diet. It is also claimed that a vegetarian diet makes persons less liable to certain diseases, e.g. cancer, and less gross in their appetites and desires, while it is also advocated on economic and patriotic grounds. Akin to the vegetarians are the fruitarians, who maintain life solely on a diet of fruit.
In the 19th century the movement made a good deal of progress in Great Britain, the USA, and several European countries. Vegetarian restaurants were opened in large towns, and other measures taken to popularise vegetarian dishes. Research Vegetarianism
The zodiac was the name given by the ancient Greeks to the heavens. It was an imaginary belt in the celestial sphere, extending about 80 degrees on either side of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun among the stars. The width of the zodiac was determined originally so as to include the orbits of the Sun and Moon and of the five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) that were known to the people of ancient times.
The zodiac is divided into 12 sections of 300 degrees each, which are called the signs of the zodiac. Starting with the vernalequinox and then proceeding eastward along the ecliptic, each of the divisions is named for the constellation situated within its limits in the second century BC. The names of the zodiacal signs are Aries, the Ram; Taurus, the Bull; Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Balance; Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Archer; Capricorn, the Goat; Aquarius, the Water Bearer; and Pisces, the Fish. Because of the precession of the equinoxes about the ecliptic, a 26,000-year cycle, the first point of Aries retrogrades about 10 degrees in 70 years, so that the sign Aries today lies in the constellationPisces. In about 24,000 years, when the retrogression will have completed the entirecircuit of 3600, the zodiacal signs and constellations will again coincide.
It is believed that the zodiacal signs originated in Mesopotamia as early as 2000 BC . The Greeks adopted the symbols from the Babylonians and passed them on to the other ancient civilisations. The Egyptians assigned other names and symbols to the zodiacal divisions. The Chinese also adopted the 12-fold division, but called the signs rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, hen, dog, and pig. Independently, the Aztec Indians devised a similar system. Research Zodiac
In geography, a zone is any of the five divisions of the surface of the earth characterised by their latitude or temperature differences. From north to south the zones are divided by the Arctic Circle, the tropic of Cancer, the tropic of Capricorn, and the Antarctic Circle. At the polar extremes are the North Frigid Zone (lying north of the Arctic Circle) and the South Frigid Zone (south of the Antarctic Circle). The North Temperate Zone lies between the Arctic Circle and the tropic of Cancer; the South Temperate Zone lies between the Antarctic Circle and the tropic of Capricorn. The Torrid Zone forms a belt on both sides of the equator between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. This division of zones is a rough representation of the earth's temperature or climatic zones and does not take into account differences in elevation, proximity of oceans, or the movement of air masses. The distribution of climate and biomes is far more complex than these five zones suggest. Research Zone
Cancer root or beech drop (Epiphegus Virginianus) isan American parasitic plant of the natural order Orobanchaceae, growing on the exposed root of the beech-tree. The whole plant is powerfully astringent, and the root brownish, spongy, and of a very nauseous bittertaste. It has been used in cases of cancer. Research Cancer Root
Crab is a popular name for crustacea of the sub-order Brachyura and to many of the Anomura of the order Decapoda. The true crabs (Brachyura) are characterised by having a small abdomen and the head and breast are united, forming the cephalothorax, and the whole is covered with a strong carapace.
The mouth has several pairs of strong jaws, in addition to which the stomach has its internal surface studded with hard projections for the purpose of grinding the food. The stomach is popularly called the 'sand-bag'; a little behind it is the heart, which propels a colourless lymph (the blood) to the gills (' dead man's fingers'). The liver is the soft, rich yellow substance, usually called the fat of the crab. They 'moult' or throw off their calcareous covering periodically.
They have ten legs, of which the first pair are modified as claws, and the remaining pairs are used for locomotion. There are many genera, distinguished from the lobster and other macrurous or long-tailed decapods by the shortness of their tail, which is folded under the body. Their eyes are compound, with hexagonal facets, and are pedunculated, elongated, and movable. Like most individuals of the class, they easily lose their claws, which are as readily renewed. They are generally scavengers, living on decaying animal matter, though others live on vegetable substances, as the racer-crabs of the West Indies, which suck the juice of the sugar-cane.
Most crabs inhabit the sea, others fresh water, some the land, only going to the sea to spawn. Of the crabs several species are highly esteemed as an article of food, and the fishery constitutes an important trade on many coasts. The large edible crab (Cancer pagurus) is common on the British shores, and is much sought after. Research Crab
Gulf-weed (Sargassum) is a genus of seaweeds (Algae) of the sub-order Fucaceae, of which one species, Sargassum Bacciferum, grows on tropical coasts, and accumulates in great floating beds, but does not propagate when detached. It derives its popular name from the exploded idea that it is borne on the Gulf Stream from the Gulf of Mexico. Several areas of the ocean exhibit great quantities of this and other weeds floating on the surface. One such, the Sargasso Sea, is in the North Atlantic Ocean, lying south-west of the Azores, and north of the tropic of Cancer. Research Gulf-Weed
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Hospital
