ENTADA

entada, in botany, a woody climber belonging to the family _leguminosae_ and common throughout the tropics. the best-known species is _entada scandens_, the sword-bean, so called from its large woody pod, 2 to 4 ft. in length and 3 to 4 in. broad, which contains large flat hard polished chestnut-coloured seeds or "beans." the seeds are often made into snuff-boxes or match-boxes, and a preparation from the kernel is used as a drug by the natives in india. the seeds will float for a long time in water, and are often thrown up on the north-western coasts of europe, having been carried by the gulf-stream from the west indies; they retain their vitality, and under favourable conditions will germinate. linnaeus records the germination of a seed on the coast of norway. entail (from fr. _tailler_, to cut; the old derivation from _tales haeredes_ is now abandoned), in law, a limited form of succession (q.v.). in architecture, the term "entail" denotes an ornamental device sunk in the ground of stone or brass, and subsequently filled in with marble, mosaic or enamel. entasis (from gr. [greek: enteinein], to stretch a line or bend a bow), in architecture, the increment given to the column (q.v.), to correct the optical illusion which produces an apparent hollowness in an extended straight line. it was referred to by vitruvius (iii. 3), and was first noticed in the columns of the doric orders in greek temples by allason in 1814, and afterwards measured and verified by penrose. it varies in different temples, and is not found in some: it is most pronounced in the temple of jupiter olympius, most delicate in the erechtheum. the entasis is almost invariably introduced in the spires of english churches. enteritis (gr. [greek: enteron], intestine), a general medical term for inflammation of the bowels. according to the anatomical part specially attacked, it is subdivided into duodenitis, jejunitis, ileitis, typhlitis, appendicitis, colitis, proctitis. the chief symptom is diarrhoea. the term "enteric fever" has recently come into use instead of "typhoid" for the latter disease; but see typhoid fever.