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DIU

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 325 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIU , an See also:

island and See also:town of See also:India, belonging to See also:Portugal, and situated at the See also:southern extremity of the See also:peninsula of See also:Kathiawar. See also:Area of See also:district, 20 sq. m. Pop. (19oo) 14,614. The anchorage is fairly protected from the See also:sea, but the See also:depth of See also:water is only 3 to 4 fathoms. The channel between the island on Diu and the See also:main-See also:land is navigable only by fishing boats and small See also:craft. The town is well fortified on the old See also:system, being surrounded by a See also:wall with towers at See also:regular intervals. Many of the inhabitants are the well-known See also:Banyan merchants of the See also:east See also:coast of See also:Africa and See also:Arabia. Native See also:spirits are distilled from the See also:palm, See also:salt is made and See also:fish caught: The See also:trade of the town, however, is decayed. There are remains of several See also:fine See also:ancient buildings. The See also:cathedral or Se Matriz, dating from 16o1, was formerly a Jesuit See also:college. The See also:mint, the See also:arsenal and several convents (now ruined or converted to other uses) are also noteworthy.

The Portuguese, under treaty with Bahadur Shah of See also:

Gujarat, built a fort here in 1535, but soon quarrelled with the natives and were besieged in 1538 and 1545. The second See also:siege is one of the most famous in Indo-Portuguese See also:history, and is the subject of an epic by Jeronymo See also:Corte Real (q.v.). See R. S. Whiteway, Rise of the Portuguese See also:Power in India (1898). DIURETICS (from Gr. &a, through, and ofipeiv, pass urine), -See also:DIVAN 325 the name given to remedies which, under certain conditions, stimulate an increased flow of urine. Their mode of See also:action is various. Some are absorbed into the See also:blood, carried to the secretory See also:organs (the kidneys), and stimulate them directly, causing an increased flow of blood; others See also:act as stimulants through the See also:nervous system. A second class act in congested conditions of the kidneys by diminishing the congestion. Another class, such as the saline diuretics, are effectual by virtue of their osmotic action. A See also:fourth class are diuretic by increasing the blood pressure within the vessels in See also:general, and the Malpighian tufts in particular,—some, as See also:digitalis, by increasing the strength of the See also:heart's contractions, and others, as water, by increasing the amount of fluid circulating in the vessels.

Some remedies, as See also:

mercury, although not diuretic themselves, when prescribed along with those which have this action, increase. their effect. The same remedy may act in more than one way, e.g. See also:alcohol, besides stimulating the secretory organs directly, is a stimulant to the circulation, and thus increases the pressure within the vessels. Diuretics are prescribed when the quantity of urine is much diminished, or when, although the quantity may be normal, it is wished to relieve some other See also:organ or set of organs of See also:part of their See also:ordinary See also:work, or to aid in carrying off some morbid product circulating in the blood, or to hasten the removal of inflammatory serous exudations, or of dropsical collections of fluid. See also:Caffeine, which is far the best true diuretic, acts in nearly every way mentioned above. Together with digitalis it is the most efficient remedy for cardiac See also:dropsy. A famous diuretic pill, known as See also:Guy's pill, consists of a See also:grain each of See also:mercurial pill, digitalis leaves and See also:squill, made up with See also:extract of See also:henbane. Digitalis, producing its diuretic effect by its combined action on heart, vessels and kidneys, is much used in the oedema of mitral disease, but must be avoided in chronic See also:Bright's disease, as it increases the tension of the See also:pulse, already often dangerously high. See also:Turpentine and See also:cantharides are not now recommended as diuretics, as they are too irritating to the kidneys.

End of Article: DIU

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