Chivalry is a term which indicates strictly the organization of knighthood as it existed in the middle agea, and in a general sense the spirit and aims which distinguished the knights of those times. The chief characteristics of the chivalric ages were a warlike spirit, a lofty devotion to the female sex, a love of adventure, and an undefinable thirst for glory. The Crusades gave for a time a religious turn to the spirit of chivalry, and various religious orders of knighthoodarose, such as the Knights of St John, the Templars, the Teutonic Knights, etc.
The education of a knight in the days of chivalry was as follows: In his twelfth year he was sent to the court of some baron or noble knight, where he spent his time chiefly in attending on the ladies, and acquiring skill in the use of arms, in riding, etc. When advancing age and experience in the use of arms had qualified the page for war, he became an esquire, or squire. This word is from the Latinscutum, a shield, it being among other offices the squire's business to carry the shield of the knight whom he served. The third and highest rank of chivalry was that of knighthood, which was not conferred before the twenty-first year, except in the case of distinguished birth or great achievements. The individual prepared himself by confessing, fasting, etc; religious rites were performed; and then, after promising to be faithful, to protect ladies and orphans, never to lie nor utter slander, to live in harmony with his equals, etc, he received the accolade, a slight blow on the neck with the flat of the sword from the person who dubbed him a knight. This was often done on the eve of battle, to stimulate the new knight to deeds of valour; or after the combat, to reward signal bravery.
The rules of chivalry only applied to the nobility. While knights on the battle field and in combat enjoyed rules of engagement and a degree of mutual respect - with the notable exception of the Battle of Agincourt where the captured French knights were murdered at the order of king Henry V - peasants, or the ordinary common folk, were slaughtered and raped by knights as though they were not human at all, and certainly not treated in a chivalrous fashion. Research Chivalry
The camel is a group of two species of even-toed, ungulate ruminating mammals of the family Camelidae characterised by the absence of horns, the possession of incisor, canine and molar teeth, a fissure in the upper lip, a long and arched neck, one or two humps or protuberances on the back (the Arabian camel has one hump, the Common, Asian or Bactrian Camel, two), and a broad elastic foot which does not readily sink into the sand of the desert.
The native country of the camel is said to extend from Marocco to China, within a zone of 900 or 1000 miles in breadth. The common camel (Camelus Bactridnus), having two humps, is only found in the northern part of this region, and exclusively from the ancient Bactria, now Turkestan, to China. The dromedary, or Single-hump camel (Camelus dromedarius), or Arabian camel, is
found throughout the entire length of this zone, on its southern side, as far as Africa and India. The Bactrian species is the larger, more robust, and more fitted for carrying heavy burdens. The dromedary has been called the race-horse of its species. To people residing in the vicinity of the great deserts the camel is an invaluable mode of conveyance. It will travel three days under a load and five days under a rider without drinking. The stronger varieties carry from 700 to 1000 Lbs. burden.
The camel's power of enduring thirst is partly due to the peculiar structure of its stomach, to which are attached little pouches or water-cells, capable of straining off and storing up water for future use, when journeying across the desert. It can live on little food, and of the coarsest kind, leaves of trees, nettles, shrubs, twigs, etc. In this it is helped by the fact that its humps are mere accumulations of fat (the back-bone of the animal being quite straight) and form a store upon which the system can draw when the outside supply is defective. Hence the camel-driver who is about to start on a journey takes care to see that the humps of his animalpresent a full and healthy appearance. Camels which carry heavy burdens will do about 25 miles a day, those which are used for speed alone, from 60 to 90 miles a day.
The camel is rather passive than docile, showing less intelligent co-operation with its master than the horse or elephant; but it is very vindictive when injured. It lives from forty to fifty years. Its flesh is esteemed by the nomadic Arab and its milk is his common food. The hair of the camel serves in the East for making cloth for tents, carpets and wearing apparel. It is imported into European countries for the manufacture of fine pencils for painting and for other purposes. The South American members of the family Camelidae constitute the genusAuchenia, to which the llama and alpaca belong; they have no humps. Research Camel
Dipsas is a genus of Asiatic and tropical American non-venomous snakes of the family Colubridae, of a very elongated form. With the ancients it was a snake whose bite was said to produce a mortal thirst. Research Dipsas
Antoine Fouquier-Tinville was a French revolutionary. He was born in 1747 and died in 1795. He was notorious for his ferocious cruelty in the first French Revolution. He was an attorney by profession, and having attracted the attention of Robespierre, was appointed public accuser before the revolutionary tribunal. His thirst for blood seems to have been increased by gratification, until it became a real insanity. He proposed the execution of Robespierre and alt the members of the revolutionary tribunal in 1794, but was himself arrested, and died under the guillotine. Research Antoine Fouquier-Tinville
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus often called simply Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor and philosopher. He was born in 121 AD and died in 180 AD. He was the son-in-law, adopted son, and successor of Antoninus Pius. He succeeded to the throne in 161. His name originally was Marcus Annius Verus. He voluntarily shared the government with Lucius Verus, whom Antoninus Pius had also adopted. Brought up and instructed by Plutarch's nephew, Sextus, the orator Herodes Atticus, and Volusius Mecianus, the jurist, he had become acquainted with learned men, and formed a particular love for the Stoic philosophy. A war with Parthia broke out in the year of his accession, and did not terminate until 166.
A confederacy of the northern tribes now threatened Italy, while a frightful pestilence, brought from the East with the army, raged in Rome itself. Both emperors set out in person against the rebellious tribes. In 169 Verus died, and the sole command of the war devolved on Marcus Aurelius, who prosecuted it with the utmost rigour, and nearly exterminated the Marcomanni. His victory over the Quadi in 174 is connected with a famous legend. Dion Cassius tells us that the twelfthlegion of the Roman army was shut up in a defile, and reduced to great straits for want of water, when a body of Christians enrolled in the legion prayed for relief. Not only was rain sent, which enabled the Romans to quench their thirst, but a fierce storm of hail beat upon the enemy, accompanied by thunder and lightning, which so terrified them that a complete victory was obtained, and the legion was ever after called 'The Thundering Legion'. After this victory the Marcomanni, the Quadi, as well as the rest of the barbarians, sued for peace. The sedition of the Syrian governor Avidius Cassius, with whom Faustina, the empress, was in treasonable communication, called off the emperor from his conquests, but before he reached Asia the rebel was assassinated. Aurelius returned to Rome, after visiting Egypt and Greece, but soon new incursions of the Marcomanni compelled him once more to take the field. He defeated the enemy several times, but was taken sick at Sirmium, and died at Vindobona (Vienna) in 180.
His only extant work is the Meditations, written in Greek, and which has been translated into most modern languages. This may be regarded as a manual of practical morality, in which wisdom, gentleness, and benevolence are combined in the most fascinating manner. Many believe it to have been intended for the instruction of his son Commodus. Aurelius was one of the best emperors ever Rome saw, although his philosophy and the magnanimity of his character did not restrain him from the persecution of the Christians, whose religious doctrines he was led to believe - perhaps with good reason - were subversive of good government. Research Aurelius Antoninus
Blackwater fever is a rare and serious complication of chronic malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum following quinine treatment and characterised by massive destruction of the red blood cells, producing dark red or blackish urine. The patient has fever, rigors, jaundice, vomitting, pain in the loins and thirst. Recovery may follow, or death may occur from exhaustion, high fever or suppression of urine. Research Blackwater Fever
Cholera is an acute, infectious, often fatal disease caused by the micro organism Vibrio cholerae. It is endemic in India and some other tropical countries and occasionally spreading to temperate climates. The symptoms of cholera are diarrhoea and the loss of water and salts in the stool.
In its more ordinary form it commences with sickness, vomiting, or perhaps two or three loose evacuations of the bowels; after which follow a sense of burning at the praecordia, an increased purging and vomiting of a white or colourless fluid, great prostration of strength, spasms at the extremities, which increase in violence with the vomiting and purging. Such cases may last from twelve to thirty- six hours; after this the patient generally sinks into a state of extreme collapse, and this stage in most cases passes by a gradualtransition into a febrile one, which in a majority of instances proves fatal. Sometimes the patient is suddenly stricken down and dies, collapsed within a few hours without diarrhoea or vomiting.
In severe cholera, the patient develops violent diarrhoea with characteristic 'rice-water stools,' vomiting, thirst, muscle cramps, and sometimes circulatory collapse. Death can occur as quickly as a few hours after the onset of symptoms. The mortality rate is more than 50 percent in untreated cases, but falls to less than 1 percent with proper treatment. Treatment consists mainly of intravenous or oral replacement of fluids and salts. Packets for dilution containing the correct mixture of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, and glucose have been made widely available by the WHO. Most patients recover in three to six days. Antibiotics such as tetracyclines, ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole can shorten the duration of the disease, but have their own long term risks in damage to the immune system.
Cholera first appeared (in recognised form) in Europe in 1829, and reached Britain in 1831, spreading thence to America. Western Europe was again visited by it in 1847, 1853, 1865, 1873, 1875, and in 1885. In 1892 Russia and Western Europe suffered severely.
By 1905 it was ascertained that the primary and essential element in the production of cholera was a constituent of the excreta of cholera patients. At the time it wasn't known what the agent was, but that it is an organism capable of propagating itself when it is taken into the alimentarycanal in food, impure water, or the like, was beyond a doubt. Dr. Koch asserted that the essential cause was a bacillus, having the form of a curved rod, hence then called the comma bacillus, and that the disease was caused by the multiplication of this organism in the small intestines.
A method of protective inoculation against cholera was tried in India, with some success around 1900. At the same time it was established that the contagion of cholera is not so likely to be conveyed by personal intercourse as by residence in an infected district. Sanitary measures proved to be the only efficacious means of arresting an epidemic; insanitary conditions decidedly favour it - quite obvious as the disease is spread through contact with infected faeces.
What is called British cholera is a bilious disease, long known in most countries, and is characterized by copious vomiting and purging, with violent griping, cramps of the muscles of the abdomen and lower extremities, and great depression of strength. It is most prevalent at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. Cholera infantum (infants' cholera) is the name sometimes given to a severe and dangerous diarrhoea to which infants are liable in hot climates or in the hot season. Research Cholera
Dysentery is of two main types, namely bacillary and amebic, caused by different forms of infection, but in both there is inflammation of the mucousmembrane lining the lower or large bowel. The symptoms are those of enteritis and colitis, diarrhaea with small loose stools containing mucus and blood, abdominal tenderness, griping pain, and tenesmus during evacuation. Bacillary dysentery is a very infectious disease caused by various specific bacterial organisms (Sonne, Shiga and Flexner bacilli) which occur in impure water, contaminated food and excreta, and are often conveyed by flies or by 'carriers'.
The incubation period may be only a few hours, and is seldom more than three days. The disease is prevalent where insanitary conditions occur, and epidemics are common especially in the tropics. The disease develops suddenly with loss of appetite, lassitude, fever, shivering, heat of the skin, and a quickpulse. These are followed by griping pains in the bowels, and a constant desire to evacuate, and prostration. In general the stools are small and slimy, composed of mucus mixed with blood. Defaecation is attended and followed by severe griping and inclination to strain, called tormina and tenesmus; they are sometimes in the early stages attended by nausea and vomiting. The natural faeces are passed in the first few evacuations. Tenesmus continues and perhaps increases for several days, the discharges being mostly blood in some cases, and chiefly mucus in others. Having generally but little odour at first, these discharges become, as the disease advances, exceedingly offensive.
Vomiting is common, and there may be a high or low temperature, with headache. The disease may be severe or moderate in its course. In severe cases there are thirst, muscular pains, blueness of the face, extreme tenderness of the abdomen, hiccough, prostration, incontinence and a high mortality rate. If recovery follows convalescence is slow, with recurrent diarrhaea and various complications such as arthritis, iritis, chronic colitis, peritonitis, piles, boils, etc. In mild cases the symptoms abate after four or
five days. Research Dysentery
Rabies (Lyssa) is an acuteinfectious viral disease of the nervous system transmitted by the saliva of infected animals, particularly dogs. The animals most liable to be afflicted with rabies are dogs; but cats, wolves, foxes, etc, are also subject to it.
The early symptoms of rabies in the dog are such as restlessness and general uneasiness, irritability, sullenness, an inclination for indigestible and unnatural food, and often a propensity to lap its own urine. As the disease proceeds the eyes become red, bright, and fierce, with some degree of strabismus or squinting; twitch-ings occur round the eye, and gradually spread over the whole face. After the second day the dog usually begins to lose perfect control over the voluntary muscles. He catches at his food, and either bolts it almost unchewed, or, in the attempt to chew it, suffers it to drop from his mouth. This want of power over the muscles of the jaw, tongue, and throat increases until the lower jaw becomes dependent, the tongue protrudes from the mouth, and is of a dark, and almost black colour. A peculiar kind of delirium also comes on, and the animal snaps at imaginary objects. His thirst is excessive, although there is occasionally a want of power to lap. His desire to do mischief depends much on his previous disposition and habits. He utters also a peculiar howl, and his bark is altogether dissimilar from his usual tone. In the latter stages of the disease a viscid saliva flows from his mouth, and his breathing is attended with a harsh, grating sound.
The loss of power over the voluntary muscles extends, after the third day, throughout his whole frame, he staggers in his gait, and frequently falls. On the fourth or fifth day of the disease the dog dies, sometimes in convulsions, but more frequently without a struggle.
With regard to man the rabid virus seems to be more violent when it proceeds from wolves than from dogs. It appears to be contained solely in the saliva of the animal, and does not produce any effect on the healthy skin. But if the skin is deprived of the epidermis, or if the virus is applied to a wound, the inoculation will take effect. The development of the rabid symptoms is rarely immediate; it seldom takes place before the fortieth or after the sixtieth day, but in some cases has occurred after six months or even longer. It begins with a slight pain in the scar of the bite, sometimes attended with a chill; the pain extends and reaches the base of the breast, if the bite was on the lower limbs, or the throat, if on the upper extremities. The patient becomes dejected, morose, and taciturn. He prefers solitude, and avoids bright light; frightful dreams disturb his sleep;
the eyes become brilliant; pains in the neck and throat ensue. These symptoms precede the rabid symptoms two or three days. They are followed by a general shuddering at the approach of any liquid or smooth body, attended with a sensation of oppression, deep sighs and convulsive starts, in which the muscular strength is much increased. A foamy, viscid slaver is discharged from the mouth; the deglutition of solid matters is difficult; the respiration hard; the skin warm, burning, and afterwards covered with sweat; the pulse strong; the fit is often followed by a syncope; the fits return at first every few hours, then at shorter intervals, and death takes place generally on the second or third day. The treatment for rabies at the start of the 20th century consisted in preventing its development, which may be effected by applying a ligature, where possible, to impede the circulation from the wound, by sucking it, and thoroughly cauterizing it either with nitrate of silver or with iron heated to a white heat, the pain of cautery being less as the temperature is greater. If these means are not available, any burning substance and most acids were used.
Louis Pasteur put forward a method of preventing the development of the disease by a system of successive inoculations with rabid virus of greater and greater intensity; the inoculation being made the first day with marrow which has been extracted from the rabid animal 12, 10, and 8 days; then the second day with marrow extracted 6, 4, and 2 days; the third day with one day's marrow, etc. Louis Pasteur's method was favourably reported on by an English commission (1886-1887), but there is doubt regarding the number of cures really performed. As a contemporary critic of the Pasteur system remarked, every one who is bitten and inoculated is counted in the list of cures, though there is nothing to prove that he ever contracted the rabies. Despite the lack of scientific proof, Pasteur's dubious innoculation are still in use 100 years later, and there is still no cure for rabies though with careful medical attention patients have survived. Research Rabies
A Tantalus cup is a philosophical toy, consisting of a siphon so adapted to a cup that, the short leg being in the cup, the long leg may go down through the bottom of it. The siphon is concealed within the figure of a man, whose chin is on a level with the bend of the siphon. Hence, as soon as the water rises up to the chin of the image, it begins to subside, so that the figure, Like Tantalus in mythology, is unable to quench its thirst. Research Tantalus Cup
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
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Abbreviations
Research Chivalry
